#2023 dev camp

[frostbeees]

Lake Michigan Dinner Cruise

[reavenedges-lies]

Arizona Coyotes Dev Camp Roster (July 3rd - 7th, 2023)

With 46 total players, including 26 forwards, 13 defensemen and 7 goaltenders, we're in for a good time.

[delilaahh9]

Baby Shark 🦈

(Intro)

June 28th, 2024

“Emily” The brunette heard behind her, she turned from her bestfriend and looked to her father standing with a young boy.

“I want to introduce you to Macklin, he’s gonna live with us next season” he says and she smiles at him.

“Nice to meet you Macklin, congrats on the draft”

“Thank you”

“You two talk for a minute, Emily I’m gonna go get my keys” he says to the girl, patting her on the shoulder as he walks away.

“has he been talking your ear off all night?” She asks Macklin when Joe is out of ear shot.

“Not all night” he chuckles

“well, when you get to know him you’ll find out he likes to talk”

“I hope so, might ease up my nerves a bit, I don’t want to overstep on your family stuff by living with you guys”

“You won’t overstep at all, don’t be nervous, well, maybe when you meet river, I’m pretty sure he’s gonna be in the WWE, kid doesn’t stop fighting”

“how old are your siblings?” He asks.

“Ayla is almost 13 and River just turned 11. They are pretty chill, river also might ask you 1000 questions”

“That’s alright, do you guys also play hockey?”

“I did, until junior year, but I had quit because of an injury, Ayla plays for her middle school and rivers on like.. 3 teams- can I introduce you to someone” she gasp with a smile.

“Go for it”

“Marlee!” She calls to someone behind Macklin, soon a blonde appears next to her.

“Macklin, this is Marlee my other half, Marlee this is Macklin, the rookie”

“Nice to meet you Macklin” she smiles and he seems very interested in her eyes. “Nice to meet you”

“Are you staying with us for dev camp? or in a hotel”

“Hotel, me and smitty are roommates

“Smitty?” Marlee asks.

“Will smith” he says, she turns to Emily with a raised eyebrow. “Isn’t he an actor?” She whispers making both the brunettes laugh.

“No babes, he got drafted last year, the cute blonde, goes to BC” Emily smiles, not even realizing how she described him.

“ohhh him- gotcha- so Macklin didn’t you go to Boston U”

“I did..” Emily zoned out for the rest of that conversation, remembering the blonde she met a year ago, would be returning in just a few months, weeks even.

June 28th, 2023

8:34 pm

“Dad, mom wants to know what time are… I’m sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt” she trails off when she realizes her dad was talking with the kid who just got drafted.

“No you weren’t interrupting, I actually wanted to introduce you two, since you’re the same age. Will, this is my daughter Emily, Emily, this is Will”

“Nice to meet you” he smiles.

“tell your mom we land back in San Jose at 8 am.”

She thumbs up and walks away with her phone ready to type.

“Emily, em?” Marlee says to the brunette, snapping her attention. “Sorry what” she noticed Macklin disappeared.

“You were clocked out for like 10 minutes, Macklin went home and your dad is waiting for us, let’s go”

The cute blonde is coming back

[luke-hughes43]

hughes little sister and went second in the 2023 draft and maybe just her brothers realizing how much their sister has grown up and it’s not the little girl who use to hide in their beds when she was scared or would cling to them when they had to leave

oh yes!

she ends up at the ducks with trev (which scares luke and quinn and excites jack) and the boys are so happy for her.

after her draft party, the 4 of them end up in the same room, all semi drunk/tipsy, and cuddling on the same bed like they did when they were kids.

they all just have one big pile of each other and just reminise on their childhood and how much fun they had together. jack says, "remember when quinn ripped off my braces and y/n, you clung to me for days and refused to talk to quinn for like a week."

"i remember. and i remember me and luke always being paired up during mini sticks so you two could beat on us. it's why i became a forward. to be better than you jacky."

"how'd that work out 2nd overall?"

"pretty damn good. we all know it won't matter until games start. as long as my rookie year goes better than yours, i'll call it a win." y/n snides back at jack jokingly.

quinn and luke laugh while jack pouts. luke pulls y/n as close to him as he can. those two were inseperable growing up, being the youngest. luke says quietly to no one in particular, "this is the last time we're gonna be in the same room until next summer."

"no it's not. we have the rest of this trip and the rest of the summer."

"y/n you have dev camp in a few weeks so you'll be gone. i'm going to see dylan and a few of the guys for a few days beofre dad starts training. jack is going to new york to see trev. and quinn is going god knows where. we all have plans for the rest of the summer. and you guys won't be in new york/new jeresy at the same time, ever."

"i guess your right luke." quinn says.

there's a silence over the room that gets broken by y/n, "i'm gonna miss you guys. i wouldn't have gotten where i am and i don't know what i'm gonna do without you guys."

"we're gonna miss you too y/n."

"at least you'll have trevor in anahiema and quinn isn't that fair away and you'll see him 4 times next season." jack says trying to look at the bright side. y/n scoffs, "because having trevor around is supposed to make me feel better? i'll end up babysitting him."

"yea she has a point jacky." quinns says. luke stays quiet not wanting to think about losing his baby sister to the nhl. jack and quinn are the first pass out but y/n and luke can tell that they are both still awake. y/n can also tell that luke is lost in his thoughts.

"penny for your thoughts lukey?"

"i'm not ready to lose you yet. not to the likes of zegras anyways."

"you're not gonna lose me. especially not to trevor. luke, i'm your little sister, i'm always gonna be the biggest thorn in your side and your best friend at the same time. besides, who else am i gonna go to when there's a big spider in my room or who's bed am i gonna hide in during thunderstorms or who's gonna be my first call after my first game? it's gonna be you moose, my big brother who basically my twin. i'm not going anywhere."

"you're going to anahiem."

"i know. but this was the dream luke. we're finally living it. this is a good thing, i know it's sad in the moment but this is a good thing. we're finally living the dream that we've talked about for i don't know how long. we're always gonna have each other and we'll never really lose each other either."

"i know. i just hard seeing you grow up."

"i know. have i told you what number i want in anahiem?"

"no." he shakes shaking his head. she responds softly, "43."

"really?"

"yea. after my big brother, twin flame, and partner in crime."

there's no words said after that. both of them letting their exhaustion consume them. later on that night/early the next morning, ellen pops her head in to check on her kids and see them all cuddling in one bed like the used to when they were little. she snaps a few pictures before leaving them be.

she shows the pictures to jim and gishes about how her babies are all grown up now. jim just says softly, "we did good honey. we did real good. the rest is up to them."

once all the kids wake up, they decide to spend that day as a family and deal with their friends and thte media later. today was about the family and they loved the idea of that.

[hypnotisedfireflies]

I miss Lachie! I specifically miss Tess and Lachie, their family friendship warms my heart every time. Would you perhaps consider giving us a snippet of the two of them? Perhaps a late night conversation while they’re camping out on their way towards Jackson? (I’m desperate to hear anything more about their road trip)

(Also will Lachie make any appearances in IO???)

Hi anon! Thank you for your ask (and giving me the chance to pop back into Driftersverse!)

I don't think Lachie will be appearing in IO. I tend to keep the OCs to their respective universes, DD/SQ, IO, Charro, etc. But who knows??

Hope you like this little ficlet. It's set during the events of TLOU while Ellie and Joel are off Ellieing and Joeling and Tess is making the trip across country with Lachie. This is as they begin to reconnect after the Firefly crew has perished, and Lachie is experiencing the earliest trouble with his lungs that later leads to something worse.

Autumn, 2023 Wisconsin.

In Little Hope, Wisconsin, Lachie did something that he hadn’t done in years.

Dear Mum, Dad and Col.

Lachlan Maynard had penned letters on scraps of paper up and down the USA and posted them in every undamaged mailbox he could find.  He was very careful to address them neatly and correctly.  If everything got back on track – one day, eventually – those letters might make their way home.  Somebody had to empty the mailboxes eventually, right?  And when that happened – if, if that happened – then Lachie wanted that chance of some small piece of him finding his way home, even if he was long-dead and nobody remembered his name anymore.

Some time ago – when exactly, who knew – Lachie had stopped.  The hope that those letters might one day find their way across the ocean had not dwindled (however increasingly unlikely it seemed) but there were fewer things to say.  Sometimes, he didn’t really want his family to know what he’d done.  It was increasingly difficult to explain or justify the confusing nature of the Firefly cause, which sometimes seemed so righteous and other times seemed like a poorly organised terrorist chapter. 

There just wasn’t much he wanted to write home about anymore.

But on this bright, golden autumn day in Little Hope, Lachie felt the urge tickling his fingers once again.  He dug around until he found a pencil.  Lachie sharpened it carefully with his smallest knife and lifted the shavings to his nose.  He breathed them in.  Fresh, new pencils!  His cousin, Shannon, had a box of Derwents that she only used for special occasions.  Nobody else was allowed to use them, but sometimes Lachie liked to lift up the tin lid and have a good, long sniff. 

I am in Wisconsin, he wrote.

“Lachlan.”

He looked up.  He was sitting on the bonnet of the truck to soak up the sunshine.  Tess only called him by his full name when she really wanted his attention.  He looked right and saw her standing against the vibrant backdrop of autumn leaves.  Many were still doggedly clinging to their branches like they could outlast winter.  Lachie could feel its cold, deadly little talons digging deeper into every day.  It made him cough in the mornings.

“Everything okay?”  Lachie pined the paper to his thigh with the side of his hand.  The wind buffeted up a little whirlwind of dry, crackling leaves.

“Your … friend,” she said with as much tact as he could expect, “has a much warmer jacket than mine.  I’m gonna take it.  I just wanted to … tell you before I did it.”

“Oh.”

Lachie glanced at the low ditch on the side of the road where Toni lay.   She’d fallen and suffered a terrible gash to her leg the day before, and had died in the back of the truck during the night.  Catastrophic blood loss.  Lachie used to think Toni was all right, but Toni hadn’t liked Tess, and Toni had made it clear – loudly and often – that Tess would be easier to transport with her vitals preserved in jars.  Dev (before he got himself ripped up by two clickers) told Lachie Toni’s prejudice was rooted in fear, and she was convinced Tess would turn eventually.  Some of the others were, too.   Toni also wanted Tess on reduced rations, and she wanted her restrained at all times. 

Tess gained her full freedom when the numbers of their team dwindled so pitifully that they desperately needed the extra, free hands.  Toni mouthed off only once more after that.  Tess decked her with two hard, savage hits, breaking the other woman’s nose.  The others just looked on – Toni had said some shit, after all.  And Lachie grinned as he gathered up some supplies to treat the injury.  He suddenly felt just that little bit safer.

Tess never had held back.

“I’ll help you,” he suggested.

Lachie jammed the paper in his pocket and pencil behind his ear.  He followed Tess to the ditch and helped skin the thick, fleece-lined jacket down Toni’s arms. 

“You want her boots?”

Tess considered it.  “No, they’re too small for me.”

“Let’s take her jumper too, just in case.”

“Jumper,” Tess repeated, grinning at him.

“You know what I mean.”

“What happened to your accent?”

“It has its moments.”

They completed the grisly task of stripping Toni for the last of her worth and then covered her body with leaves.  The ground wasn’t too hard yet.  They could bury her.  But Lachie didn’t see the point in going to that effort.  They needed to conserve their calories.  And Little Hope was a nice enough place in the world to become bird food.  Toni could do worse.

“Guess that makes you two even for the hard time she gave you.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Tess muttered, shedding her own jacket and dressing in Toni’s.  She emptied the pockets of meaningless trinkets, then turned up the collar.  “Thanks for making that easy.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“I know she was your friend so … I’m sorry.”

Lachie squinted as another squall twisted a pile of leaves up into a new dance.  “It doesn’t matter.”

The breeze lifted Tess’s hair.   She had long, silver strands throughout now.  It was still kind of hard for Lachie to believe she was really standing there, really alive.  He’d never had any doubt that she’d made it through the years – if anyone could, it was her – but the fact that their paths had crossed again was a miracle he couldn’t overlook.  It was almost more incredible than her surviving becoming infected, for fuck’s sake.

“We should make camp,” Lachie suggested.  “I reckon we’ve come far enough today.”

Tess was scanning the handful of crumbling old buildings.  This must have been a charming little town, once.  There was next to nothing here, but it had a postcard-selling vibe. 

“You feel up to trying a building or two?”

“Sure.” Lachie shrugged.  “What are we looking for?”

“I want to get you out of the cold, for starters,” Tess said, already pulling out her handgun and checking the load.  “The coughing in the morning’s getting worse.”

“Nah, that’s just – yeah, nah, that’s nothing,” Lachie tried to wave it off.  “That’s just – I had asthma kind of bad when I was a kid and sometimes it acts up a bit, that’s all.”

“Well, the cold can’t be helping.  Let’s find something with a bit more shelter tonight, okay?”

He was kind of stoked that she gave a shit.  Tess had looked out for him when they were in Indy, too.  He was definitely just an afterthought behind Joel and Tommy and Rachel, but the fact that she’d given a damn at all had meant something to him then, and it still did now.  And well – hey.  It was probably just strategy on her part.  Two of them stood a better chance of making it cross country than one alone.  But then she met his gaze and he recognised a softness entirely separate to survival. 

“Okay?” 

Lachie nodded.  “Yeah, okay.”

“Let’s try that one first.”

“You’re the boss.”

Tess, who had already turned away, stiffened.  Lachie looked on ahead.  Had she seen something?  And then Tess snapped the cartridge into place and plowed on ahead to the building.

“Come on, move.”

The town had been abandoned by living, dead and infected for a very, very long time.  The general store had been turned over of absolutely everything of value and there was a single, crumpled human who had perished at some phase of infection.  They were almost skeletal, their body and ragged clothing ruptured by powdery, dry fungal plates. 

At the back of the general store was a room claimed by the sky.  Half the roof was missing.  Tess and Lachie built their fire here, where the smoke could pour up into the air, and the walls around them would provide some warmth against the coming night.  Lachie pulled out two FEDRA-issued dinner ration packs.  The grade was excellent.

“Do you want Butter Chicken or Beef Ragu?”

“Have we got any of the Chicken Italiano left?”

“Nope.”

��Ragu, then.”

They prepared the meal packets in boiling water and ate inside their sleeping bags on two sides of the fire.  Tess had been right.  He felt warmer with the wall against his back, and there was no wind in the old structure, save that which whistled through the cracks.

“You know what really pisses me off about these?”  Tess said, poking around her bag with a fork.

“That they’re better than what ration cards could buy?”

“Yes,” she answered, sounding mildly annoyed that he guessed right. “The shit we used to eat in Boston sometimes, you know?  We knew what they were feeding the soldiers was better than what we got, but this is something else.”

Always we.  We did this, we did that.  Tess couldn’t name Joel, but he was always moving in and out of the conversation. 

“Fireflies didn’t have this stuff most of the time either,” Lachie admitted.  “Think we were eating better than most civilians though, if you were stationed outside the zones, that is.”

“Like you were.”

“Yeah, like I was.  Funny when you think we were only a few miles apart for years.”

Tess didn't respond.

“Anyway,” Lachie continued.  “Fireflies were raiding stuff all the time, but when they got their hands on premium rations like these, they stockpiled them for the big ticket events.”

“Like a cross-country trek?”

“Yeah. Build up the strength, that sort of thing. Speaking of.  We should reach that Firefly supply cache tomorrow, all things going well.”

“White Earth Reservation?”

“Yeah?” Lachie shot her a suspicious glance. “How'd you know that?”

“I've been listening. My ears weren't handcuffed.”

“This is gonna be awkward for awhile, isn't it?”

“Till the day you die, Lachlan.”

He coughed softly and set his meal aside. They'd argued about this many times already:  he'd plead his sorry case and she'd stonily stared him down.

“White Earth Reservation,” he confirmed, pulling out a map.  He held it up to Tess and followed a general route along the top of the country with his finger.  “So we’re … like … hereabouts.  We come up north into Minnesota – avoid Minneapolis, I’ve heard shit from there that’d make your hair curl – and come at the Reservation this way.”

Tess was studying the map with great interest, so he passed it into her custody. “Is anyone stationed there?”

“Supposed to have been deserted for a few years. Unless they sent someone up there from the east, I dunno. Seems unlikely, though. So yeah, nah. We'll scoop in and grab the gear, then go down through the Dakotas.”

“To Salt Lake City?”

Lachie held his breath while he calculated his answer. He sighed and picked up his chicken. That had been the original mission. Evacuate Massachusetts, empty the final Firefly caches cross country and regroup with the dwindling remnants of the cause out west. Deliver the subject - Tess - to Salt Lake City for further study.

There was nothing in that mandate about locating Tommy Miller out in whoop-whoop Wyoming or reuniting the subject with her spiritual husband.

“Maybe after,” Lachie mumbled around a mouthful of rations. “See if that dickhead Tommo’s all right first, maybe.”

“How… how was he last time you saw him?”

“I didn't know there was a problem till he fucked off without saying goodbye. I knew he wasn't happy but … shit, is anybody? You really think he's in trouble?”

“Maybe.”

“This trip was really for Joel, huh? He needed to know what was what.”

“It was for us both,” Tess quietly answered. “I don't know if we ever meant to stay so long.”

“In Boston?”

“We had an apartment,” she continued, eyes on the fire. “Living every day in a fucked up dollhouse for thirteen years.”

“A lifetime.”

“A parody.”

“Why didn't you leave?”

“Go where?”

“I dunno. Tommo said you'd come from some place up in the mountains. South? Could've gone back, tried for it. If anyone could've made it, it was you two.”

Tess shook her head slightly. “Bit past happy endings by then, Lachie.”

“Well,” he finished his meal. “Guess it's a good thing it's now. Hey Tess? Can do shitloads with now.”

“You're still painfully optimistic.”

He laughed a little. Sure. It was easy to have hope in and for other people. The heat was off.

He waited until Tess was asleep before digging out his letter again. He deliberated over the cordial lines and wondered what he could add. So deep in concentration was he that the bottom of the page caught on an ember and smoked. He swore softly and smothered both flame and another coughing fit.

Going to Yellowstone.

He didn't write any more until the following morning. Tess helped him sit up as a more aggressive spate of coughs woke him.

“This is asthma?” She asked, passing a flask of water.

“Woodsmoke doesn't do me any favours,” he managed, rubbing his watery eyes.

Tess didn't seem convinced. She did most of the packing up and loading while Lachie got himself together.

“I'll drive,” Tess announced.

“Yeah, no worries.”

“You ready?”

“Yeah, just give me a sec.”

Lachie looked down at his measly letter. He glanced at Tess, who was circling the truck and checking the tyres.

Catching up with some old mates.

He pushed the letter into a mailbox as Tess turned the ignition over.

[krakenshipwreck]

stucky cup 2024

well, they went from a 3x3 tournament at the first ever kraken dev camp in 2023 to 4x4 last year and i guess this year we finally have enough prospects to play 5x5. i was initially a bit disappointed because it's so much harder to notice individual details when there's 10 goddamned players on the ice, but i came around pretty quick. it was nice to see them play their actual positions, and also very interesting to see how they do in 5x5 traffic.

ty nelson skates very low to the ice and he's like a wrecking ball going straight through everybody. honestly can't tell if that's because he's physically able to force his way through traffic or if it's because everyone else kind of gets out of his way because they Do Not Want this dense pit bull bod barrelling into them.

berkly catton is completely the opposite style but just as effective, he just slides right by people into the zone. it's also extremely fun to watch him slip passes through impossible seams. the nelson/catton/firkus combo was pretty unstoppable. you can really tell when ty's on the ice, he makes the forwards look so much better.

julius miettinen had the most dominant faceoff win of the day, maybe he's not the most skilled but the size and strength matter. it was fun to watch him and my guy VIKING GUSTAFFSON get into it. lleyton roed also had a very nice end to end goal.

i was right about visa vedenpaa: team nelson scored 5 goals on the first period goalie but only once on him.

it was really cool for them to announce the contract signings, but i have some other gripes about in-game production. if they could give us a goal horn and kraken sound effects for the pride tournament, i don't understand why they couldn't today. the announcer also kept mispronouncing jagger firkus's name as "yaeger." ty nelson's acceptance of the stucky cup this year was also way boring compared to his outstanding showmanship last year. no trophy hoist, no victory lap, no fun. also why bother to name 3 stars if you're not going to have them yeet fish?

berkly catton lingered on the ice after everything was over, doing tight turns. that is a personality trait i always like in a hockey player. he and caden price are clearly saskatoon buddies and i love that for them and for us.

[royalsunshinehotel]

social media preference (dev patel)

Anwar Kharral (Skins UK): Anwar is the only one on this list active on TikTok. He's not an uncomfortable teen anymore - he's being cringe on main and setting trends. I bet he's got 90K followers at least! He uses Threads and Instagram to back up his TikTok, not much else.

Sonny Kapoor (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 1&2): For the benefit of the hotel, Sonny is active on Reels to promote the corporate 'brand'. He likes the chance to be creative, and the 'Board' likes the chance to show off the handsome CEO.

Neal Sampat (Newsroom): Neal is an OG Tumblr user, who joined the site as early as 2008. As demonstrated on the show, Neal is adept at using Twitter to cross-reference and fact-check various sources, I do think he'd be a prolific shitposter on a side account, rivaling our king @dril.

Deon Wilson (Chappie 2015): Deon is self-explanatory. he likes to support the indie social media sites that sprung up in the wake of the Fall of Twitter. He's a fan of SpaceHey because he went to Computer Camp with the engineer who started it (it's based out of Germany), which he's always wanted to visit!

Sheru “Saroo” Bierley (Lion 2016): I find it harder to deny with each passing day that Saroo Brierly isn't an Instagram thot. Look at @brockohurn on IG and tell me that they don't have the same respectful bro energy. I think Saroo likes the chance to use all the photos in his camera roll, and I think the MILFs of Instagram are grateful for the content.

Jay Menha (The Wedding Guest, 2019): The closest Jay gets to social media is the Polaroids he likes to stick up on the wall of your shared room. Sometimes, if he's having a bad time, he likes to sit in his beanbag and look at the wall. He only gets a ghost Facebook account to keep up with relatives- nothing ever is posted, ever.

David Copperfield (The Personal History of David Copperfield, 2020): I think David would do numbers on Medium.com because he can write self-prompted think-pieces that no one ever asked about, AND get paid for them! He's writing analyses of "Jeyton vs Brucas vs Leyton: One Tree Hill", and he's actually making money. It would be magic to him!

Joshua Madika (Modern Love, 2019): Joshua's social media is all on Tinder. He's perfected his profile, and he likes talking to people. It's all genuine and zero malice. Who wants to be alone with their thoughts?

Sir Gawain (The Green Knight, 2021): I once read a post about Edward Cullen texting that read, "just saw a snail . . . effervescent," and I think that's as close as Gawain should get to the internet. It's just like shitposting, but it's all for you.

Dr. ZZ Chatterjee (The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, 2023): ZZ keeps his drama on Facebook. He's definitely showing up in comments to defend someone's mutual friend from accusations of bias when she broke up with her tiny boyfriend because she was having neck problems*. With a doctor on her side, she didn't have to post X-rays of her neck! ZZ will be beefing!

The Kid (Monkey Man, 2024): "Ted, the movie hasn't even come out yet! How can you say The Kid is a Pinterest girlie?" It's all pretty pictures with an indefinite scroll. I also bet he's a big fan of putting things in categories (see also: skittles). We'll see who's right.

*true story circa 2018 on my Facebook page.

[three-headed-monster]

shane wright at dev camp 2023

[frostbeees]

what's your hockey nickname?

[j-nipper-95]

Seven (but is it really) Sentence Sunday

Yes, I’ve given up with picking six sentences at the moment. No, I’m not sure if that will last, but we move! 

Thank you @aroace-genderfluid-sheep​ and @confused-bi-queer​ for the tags today!

I’m back with more from my COTTA 2023 piece, and this is the most ‘pantser’ story I’ve every written. We’re just going with pure vibes, baby (and the plot of The Road to El Dorado, but details!). I’m writing during Camp NaNoWriMo, and yet again, NaNo continues to show me just how much I can actually write if I put my mind to it. 12,500 was my word count goal for the whole of July ... and I’m already at 7,683!

So, without further ado, have a bit of Dev and Baz being absolute nightmares and embarrassing the shit out of Niall.

“What the hell happened to you out there today?” my cousin asks, giving me that patented Pitch eyebrow raise.

“Rope burn,” I say. I don’t mutter it, I certainly don’t mumble. I just don’t say it as loudly or clearly as I could have.

“You and Snow getting into the kinky shit now, are you?” Dev sneers, and Niall smacks him in the side.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” I say, turning my back on them. “Running out of ideas for the bedroom?”

“Baz!” I glance back to see Niall has turned a shocking shade of red. It’s nothing compared to when Snow works up to a bluster, but I’ll give Niall his dues, he’s pretty close.

“It’s the twentieth century, Niall. Don’t tell me you’re still embarrassed by the sight of an uncovered ankle. Something tells me you’ve seen far more of my cousin than that.”

With that, I leave Niall gasping and gaping like a fish, trying to formulate a comeback, and Dev eyeing him in a way that tells me he’s imagining more than just Niall’s ankles being uncovered. 

It’s double the promised ‘seven’ sentences this Sunday, but I couldn’t leave off half this conversation. Some of it just demanded that shred more context. but a shred is all you’re getting 👀🙈

Tagging: @artsyunderstudy @aristocratic-otter @palimpsessed @dragoneggos  @prettylightsbigcity  @stardustasincocaine @fatalfangirl @cutestkilla @ileadacharmedlife @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @chen-chen-chen-again-chen @ebbpettier @martsonmars @erzbethluna @hushed-chorus

[lovebirdgames]

Happy 2024, Bandits!!! I hope the new year is treating you well thus far and that the winter doldrums aren't hitting you too hard.

It feels so weird to have passed 2023 because we were anticipating it for so long. And it was truly a great year, which I’m really grateful for, especially after such a hard 2022. It was an awesome year for video games in general!! So many great ones came out! Perfect timing for our break from game development. But I’ll be excited to get back to it this year. May 2024 be a great year for all of us!

To start: In case you missed it, the BCB OST is available for purchase on Steam, Itchio, and Bandcamp! I'm jamming out to Suicide Mission as I write this post.

Next, we are proud to announce that Band Camp Boyfriend has been accepted into the Storyteller's Festival for the second year in a row! This festival highlights video games with a strong and memorable narrative so be sure to check out any deals or livestreams happening. Speaking of which...

THE FINAL BOSS APPROACHES!

We hope you'll join us for our own Developer Livestream happening Monday, January 29th & Friday, February 2nd at 7pm EST on our Steam page! Three guesses as to which route we'll be streaming. Come hang out with the devs, make in-game choices, ask questions, or simply bask in the presence of the One True Himbo: Doug.

Now that the soundtrack is released, our next step is the digital art book. We are not graphic artists so don't expect anything too fancy, but we'll still make it special. <3 Here's a little preview of what I worked on this past week: expression charts!

We're aiming to release that around the time of our 1st anniversary!

Hope to see ya'll at the stream! Stay warm!

[delilaahh9]

This Love - Will Smith

☁️ Will Smith and Emily Thornton ☁️

“Do you believe in love?” “Yeah, Because of you”

summary : Emily Thornton lives and breathes hockey, her father being Joe Thornton and all, she’s lived in California her whole life, loving the beach and sun, but all the sudden, a boy from the east coast arrives in San Jose to play hockey.

She never intended to fall for him, but it’s hard when he’s in her house a lot.

Meet Emily!

Nicknames: Em, EJ, Emmy

Born July 7th, 2005

She’s studying sports physiology at San Jose State University, so she lives it home.

She was able to start university a year early, due to an exchange program.

Freshman year she was able to study at the university of Michigan, where she also did an internship with the hockey team.

She loves Gracie Abrams and Lizzie McAlpine.

She has 1 younger sister (Ayla) and 1 younger brother (River)

Closest Friends: Marlee, Logan, Reagan

Meet Will!

Nicknames: smitty, William, Willy

Born March 17th, 2005

He attended Boston college for freshman year.

Was on the U20- World Juniors Team 2023-2024 which they came in 2nd place.

Very into country music but he has a soft spot for Adele

He has an older sister (Grace)

Closest Friends: Ryan, Gabe

Will + Em

They are very in between coded.

Favourite thing to do together is either nap with many blankets, or fast food dates.

Timeline

June 2024

- after the draft, Joe introduces Emily to Macklin Celebrini, who will be living with them this season.

August 2024

- Macklin visits San Jose for dev camp and gets close with Will

- Emily and Macklin also hang out a little bit with her siblings since they are going to be living together.

- Macklin also introduces Will to Emily

October 2024

- Macklin, Will and Emily spend more and more time together

- Mack and Emily have gotten close, almost forming a sibling-type relationship

November 2024

- will definitely notice he has growing feelings for Emily but he gets a little nervous with how close her and Macklin are

- Emily also thinks she might be catching feelings for will, but she thinks about her last relationship and all confidence is out the window.

December 2024

- The whole Thornton family notices a change in Emily, like she’s a little more sluggish, Joe decides to try and talk to her but she practically shuts down. While she has a break off school, she decided to take a trip to visit a friend in Michigan.

January 2025

- she sees will for the first time in months and he kisses her.

March 2025

- Emily and will start go on there first date and have there first kiss. After she goes home all happy and smiley which Macklin convinces her to tell him about it.

April 2025

- unfortunately the sharks didn’t make it to playoffs, but Will gets to go back home to Boston, Macklin goes to Vancouver while Emily travels down the coast to San Diego with Marlee.

June 2025

Will isn’t as busy, so he decides to invite Emily to Boston for a week, where they figure out what they are and start dating

[luke-hughes43]

connor bedard!!!

hughes little sister and the first pick of the nhl 22 draft she went (you can pick) and maybe she met connor during game when they were young kids and they stayed friends and started dating when they were 16 only their family and friend know wanting to keep it private from the media. they are really excited when they are going to play each other for the first time and they haven’t see each other in a while so after the game (whoever’s is the home game) they go to one of their apartment and just spend the whole night talking catching up in perosn and cuddling up together and maybe a slight sad goodbye when one of them have to leave in the morning

oooo ok I love this!

so hughes little sister is born in like July of 04 and goes 1st to the Wild which she's excited about especially because she'll have familiar faces in brock faber and matt boldy.

I say that her and Connor met during the 2022 world juniors, a month after the draft and they like run into each other in the hotel or something and he is just blown away by her.

he starts the conversation by congratulating her on the draft. and they exchange numbers and start texting frequently. even though hughes little sister was drafted 1st overall, she decided to still go to college for at least a year at umich like Quinn and Luke.

that made her able to play in another world juniors. she made the team in 2023 just like Connor did. with texting and calling often over the last 4 months, Connor finally decided to ask her on a date during world juniors.

she said yes and they both snuck away from their teams to go on this date. the date went well and Connor asked her to be his girlfriend a few nights later after sneaking away again for a second date.

they decide to keep it just to themselves for a bit given the media attention on both of them. after a few months, they decide to tell their family and a select few closest friends.

and maybe after dev camp that summer, hughes little sister decides to sign her elc with minnesota and makes the team out of camp. and like no one outside her family or Connor's family besides like 3 or 4 people really know about her and Connor and so she struggles for the first few weeks in the league.

lots of late night phone calls between her and Connor just trying to talk each other through everything and through their struggles. they don't get to see each other until December because of their schedule but when the Blackhawks visit the wild, both of them are so excited to finally see each other.

even though the Blackhawks lost, Connor doesn't care. he just wants to see his girl. after the game, he tells his coach that he has a friend in the city and that he's gonna go visit her but will be back in time to leave the next morning and his coach is ok with it.

he immediately gets to hughes little sister's apartment as fast as he can, and they just cuddle in bed for the rest of the night. it's a very soft and fluffy night between the two just cuddling and talking about everything and anything that's happened since they last saw each other despite talking everyday. lots of soft and meaningful kisses shared between the two of them as well.

the next morning is sad because they know they have to say goodbye. it's not a forever goodbye it's more of a see you later but it's still sad because they know won't see each other for another 2 months. they stay in bed for as long as possible and delay Connor leaving for as long as possible.

Connor does eventually leave but they both feel a little better since they finally got to see other and just hold one another.

Connor totally gets chirped by the Blackhawks when they see him retuning to the hotel the next morning in his clothes from the night before and slips up a little bit to the guys about a possible girlfriend. and hughes little sister gets a text from brock faber who lives on her floor saying "why did I see Connor bedard leaving your apartment this morning?"

hughes little sister then tells Connor that the cat might be out of the bag to her team bc brock saw him this morning and Connor tells her that he slipped something to he guys so they agree to tell their teammates and that they are keeping it on the down low which they obviously respect.

both of them feel a little better about their teammates knowing since they spend so much time with them nd they don't have to sneak around as much.

[downtoithaca]

WIP Intro:

LAST RITES

tw: disease/pandemic, gore, violence, psychological abuse, detailed medical imagery,

About

MEXICAN GOTHIC X DRACULA X THE STORY OF BURKE & HARE

A queer Gothic Historical Horror set in Victorian Edinburgh ft. mushrooms, cults, the cutting edge of (1800s) medical science, spooky manors and bodysnatchers.

Synopsis

Dr Ernest Mayweather is the only patient he can't treat. He's dying, and he's looking desperately to find a way to stop it. When a colleague of his at the prestigious University of Edinburgh Medical College discusses the avant-garde idea of using one disease to cure another, he begins a pursuit of the thing that will save his life. It leads him to a strange illness wherein strange flowers and funghi grow within the body. Curious, and keen to study it, he visits Auchindrain House, a sanctuary for the illness run by two mysterious aristocrats and their Italian acquaintance. When the horrifying nature of the house and its occupants come to light, Ernest must soon choose between accepting a quick and quiet death or chasing something potentially endless, with all the blood and horror that might come with it. What will Ernest's conscience allow him to do to survive?

Snippet

Status

It currently stands at around 69k, though by the end of this draft I think we'll be looking closer to 120k.

As of October 2023 I'm currently working on the second draft! I did a detailed re-outline after the first draft which I completed in April 2021 for Camp, and now I'm filling in all the extra scenes I need before I rewrite the novel again following the comprehensive developmental editing plan I've made, focussing on adding extra detail and coherence, especially in terms of the plot. I was initially hoping to finish this by the end of October, but at this rate, it's looking like that's not going to happen, so I'll probably pick this up again in February. (One thing you have to know, is that each month I shift projects to another one of those in rotation. I aim to always have one new project, one dev edit project and one later-stage project in rotation at all times to reduce fatigue!)

[sodapaladin]

✨Top 10 Games of 2023✨

It’s time for my annual list. As usual, these are games I played this year, not that came out this year. So despite all the hits this year, don’t expect to see many of them!

10. Fire Emblem Engage

While I was wary of the new character designs and anniversary excuse-story, Engage turned out to be more enjoyable than I expected. Not my favorite Fire Emblem, but a good one nevertheless.

9. Paradise Killer

What *style*! I went and bought this game immediately after my friend showed me the song “Paradise (Stay Forever).” Going in blind was wild. I sure didn’t expect the protagonist to be part of an extra-dimensional cult. I love exploring the vaporwave island.

8. WarioWare: Move It!

A worthy successor to Smooth Moves. While the amount of extra context seems oddly lacking for a WarioWare game, I love all the creative uses for the joycons. With the major exception of Jimmy’s boss minigame, everything works shockingly well.

7. Super Mario RPG

I debated where to place this. On one hand, I don’t feel like the remake added too much. The QoL improvements are nice, but the SNES original is still perfectly playable. It’s also quite short for an RPG, and on the easy side. But it’s just so charming anyway.

6. Darkstalkers 3

AKA Vampire Savior, not to be confused with another game. On the quest to capture the magic Third Strike had for me, this comes pretty close. If only I could find online matches now.

5. Suika Game

I had to see what the hype’s about, and I understood. So simple and cute, yet challenging. A great way to kill a few minutes.

4. Advance Wars 1+2 Reboot Camp

I held off on this for a while, since I have both original games, and it didn’t seem like much was changed. The QoL improvements have been nice, though, such as speeding up the CPU’s turns. Most importantly, it no longer cheats during Fog of War, so you can actually strategize as intended instead of cheesing certain maps.

3. It Takes Two

Playing this co-op game with my brother was a blast. Solving puzzles through teamwork is a satisfying joy, and I’d love to play again as the other character sometime.

2. Vampire Survivors

So addicting. It was hilarious to find out the dev works on slot machines. Now it’s quite clear that they know all the right bells and whistles to set that dopamine off.

1. Monster Girls and the Mysterious Adventure 2

It’s incredible when you can feel the amount of love poured into the development of a game. I picked up this solo-dev passion project thinking it’d be a cute little indie game. I didn’t expect it to be my favorite mystery dungeon experience.

Everything from the writing and QoL features show how clearly the dev loves this genre and wants to make the best version of it. The balance is wonky, some of the recruitment requirements are questionably difficult, and the English translation is extremely rough, but I can’t help but be charmed by the whole package anyway. I’ve put in around 50 hours getting to the “final” boss of the story, and there’s still a massive postgame dungeon. I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, but for fans of mystery dungeon games, absolutely.

[bunnymcfoo]

Herein is Every Sharks Dev Camp attendee!

2023 Draft Class:

1. Will Smith (4th) 2. Quentin Musty (26th) 3. Kasper Halttunen (36th) 4. Brandon Svoboda (71st) 5. Luca Cagnoni (123rd) 6. Axel Landén (130th) 7. Eric Pohlkamp (132nd) 8. David Klee (196th) 9. Yegor Rimashevsky (203rd)

2022 Draft Class:

1 Filip Bystedt (27th) 2. Cameron Lund (34th) 3. Mattias Hävelid (45th) 4. Michael Fisher (76th) 5. Mason Beaupit (108th) 6. Jake Furlong (140th) 7. Joey Muldowney (172nd) 8. Eli Barnett (195th) 9. Reese Laubach (217th)

2021 Draft Class:

William Eklund (7th) 2. Ethan Cardwell (121st) 3. Artem Guryev (135th) 4. Theo Jacobsson (177th) 5. Yevgeni Kashnikov (199th)

2020 Draft Class

Ozzy Wiesblatt (31st) 2. Thomas Bordeleau (38th) 3. Tristen Robins (56th) 4. Daniil Gushchin (76th) 5. Brandon Coe (98th) 6. Alex Young (196th) 7. Timofey Spitserov (210th)