#AND there's room for tons of fun actual character exploration

[franollie]

i do sometimes wonder how the gang's chemistry and dynamics would shift if they actually did have to co-parent a baby because realistically none of them should have children. ever. but the idea of dropping a baby in the hands of five incredibly unqualified alcoholics is oh so very amusing to me

[livefromthedas]

That Time Flirting Accidentally Worked

(Also up on AAO3, here)

Summary:

Rook Ingellvar, famously a dumpster fire amongst Mourn Watchers, manages to fall face-first into dating one Emmrich Volkarin.

Nice.

Notes:

I swear to God I intended to start DATV fanfic writing for my Lucanis/Rook playthrough... but this came out instead. Strike while the hyper-focus iron is hot, I guess.

I tried to write this Rook (F, Mourn Watcher) as vaguely as possible while still making sure she was reflection of the character in my head, so hopefully that works for readers.

Please note that while I'm utilizing quite a bit of canon knowledge about Navarra and Navarran culture, here, there is also a ton about the place that we just do no know, so a lot of information here is extrapolated (aka, pulled directly out of my butt.) I had fun though, at least, exploring more of the place, and creating my own little pocket of extra romance content for Emmrich and Rook as well.

And yeah, this will probably get spicy. Just a heads up.

———————————

Chapter 1: Hot Date for a Hot Mess

The needling fire of over-exertion kept a purposeful momentum in Rook’s stride the entire journey home from their latest magic-riddled battle with the Venatori in Arlathan.

That fight, deep in the autumn hewn forest - an apparent ambush - had been jarring and brutal. Had Davrin not been with them, with Assan to serve as their own surprise attack from the sky, Rook was quite certain that, for all of their combined competency, she and Emmrich Volkarin may very well have met a swift, very bloody end that day.

There had just been so many of them - Scarlet scythe’s crackling with arcane energy, and corrupted magic churning in the air like a turbulent storm. Then again, when it came to Venatori, there always seemed to be a limitless supply.

Rook breathed in deep as she strode through the Vi’revas - the eluvian unique to the Dreadwolf’s hideaway in the Fade - close on Emmrich’s heels. One moment they were in the Crossroads, wild and untethered to reality as it was. The next, they were striding into the cool, dark nethers of the Lighthouse.

“Ugh,” Davrin grumbled, reaching to pull something that looked suspiciously like viscera from his hair as he strode through the eluvian’s surface in the pair of necromancers' wakes, “I’m going to go wash up. See you two at dinner?”

Rook smirked bemusedly - of all of the blood the Gray Warden was soaked through with, Maker forbid a bit of viscera get in the handsome elf’s hair. She nearly went to nod, when Emmrich spun on his heels to face the pair of them.

“Actually,” the Professor poised, hands clasping before him as his bangles glimmered in the unnatural light of the corridor, “Would you be so kind as to let Lucanis know to be expecting two less settings at the table this evening? Rook and I will be dining in Navarra.”

Rook’s eyebrows rose curiously - this was news to her.

“Yeah, no problem,” Davrin grinned. He gestured a hand over one shoulder as he made for the door, “You kids have fun.”

Kids . The word lingered humorously in the air - Emmrich barely stifled a chuckle at it, even in the gray warden’s absence.

“A trip home is a nice surprise,” Rook mused, mischief and curiosity a glint in her eyes.

The senior necromancer, dashing as ever, offered her an arm, and she was quick to place a hand at his elbow as he guided them from the room, and up the stairs.

“Forgive me, darling, I had hoped to ask you properly once we were settled in,” Emmrich said, gloved hand resting warmly upon the slender hand she’d offered him, “Reservations at the Pnemoix are scarce at best this time of year, and I received word of an opening just prior to our departure to Arlathan.”

“Yeah, that got chaotic rather quickly,” Rook admitted, ever as tired, but relieved they were alive to tell the tale at all. For all of her raised hackles that needled up her spine over the ambush in the woods, a tickle of excitement wiggled its way into her belly, “And I’ve heard of the Pnemoix!” Her sudden excitement was palpable. Word amongst her peers back at the Necropolis had it that the Pnemoix was one of the most exclusive- and enchanting - dining experiences in all of Navarra City. It was not far from the city’s main entrance to the Grand Necropolis itself, in fact. Emmrich could scarcely stifle the humorous glimmer in his eyes as the bounce in her step hastened as they strode. He finally slipped a chuckle when her expression then screwed with uncertainty, “Aren’t they ridiculously expensive, though?”

“Hardly any concern of yours, my darling,” Emmrich laughed.

Cresting the top of the stairs that overlooked the Lighthouse’s eerie library, the Professor stopped before the long hall that led to his study. Rook watched curiously as something shifted in his demeanor - warm laughter settling into something warmer still, slender hands and their menagerie of golden rings gracing her arms with an almost reverential care.

“I had hoped, should the temptation arise,” Rook felt a wildfire blush ignite to the tips of her ears at his sudden unusually intimate word choice, before he’d so much as finished his sentence, “We may enjoy the privacy an overnight at home might afford us.”

Emmrich’s grin broadened at the blatant blush that flooded the young woman’s typically cocksure expression, a softness in his gaze despite the hint of mischief that lingered there, “You so scarcely find a moment alone in the Lighthouse, my love. You’ll forgive an old man his selfish desire for attention undivided.”

“I-I… of course,” Rook managed, despite her blush, a dizzying flutter in her chest and her tongue-tie of nerves.

“And the decision is entirely yours,” her breath caught in her throat as he pressed a kiss upon her forehead, one hand affectionately upon the back of her head, “But do consider it, darling, hmm?” He seemed absolutely tickled at Rook’s uncharacteristic shyness as she nodded, green eyes alight with racing thoughts. This was hardly a woman prone to speechlessness, after all. “I’m going to change, and request Neve look after Manfred until we return. Meet me at the Vi’Revas when you’re ready.”

Rook managed a nod before Emmrich swept off airily, stride as confident as ever.

——————-

“Okay… Oookay,” Rook finally managed to breathe again once the ancient chamber doors of her quarters sealed shut behind her. Gaze darting around the dancing light of the aquarium that dominated the far wall, she huffed a ragged sigh, palm to her forehead.

Embarrassment immediately flooded her veins.

“He finally brings it up and you… freeze? Seriously?” She groaned morosely.

At best, Rook was disappointed. It was hardly how she’d imagined reacting to such an opportunity, after all. The Rook of her imagination was unflappable in her confidence - *she* surely would have managed an air of alluring …. *Something* in response to such a proposition. A wicked flirt. A lingering kiss. A clever quip of any make or model at all.

But no. Only overwhelm. Rook had been flooded with a timidness utterly foreign to her usually fearless brogue.

Scythe-wielding Venatori, raging demons, blighted gods… Such larger than life dangers too surreal and too vast to seem anything shy of absurd? That she could handle with a finesse and fearlessness that defied logic. It was precisely why Varric had brought her into the fold in the fight against Fen’Harel to begin with.

“But actually have the fellow you’ve been pining over for the last decade make a pass at you, and your brain breaks ? Maferath’s balls.”

The sordid swear she’d picked up from Varric early in their journeys together at least managed a smile from the woman. She shoved off from the door, kicking off muddied boots and unbuckling the patina’d gloves of her Mourn Watcher gauntlets as she went.

Rook had had little choice but to be honest with the Professor once her shoot-for-the-moon flirtations had, to her own genuine surprise, actually succeeded in swaying his interest so many weeks prior.

This was all… very new to the junior Mourn Watcher. So much of her time growing up had been spent clawing desperately for a sense of self. For the sort of identity that a complete lack of kith, kin or clan denied her for the whole of recent memory. Certainly until one Varric Tethras had swaggered his way into her life and corralled her under his wing.

Something as complicated as dating just never found its foothold with her focus, amid so many years of simply trying to find herself.

She was an elf in a largely human community, a non magic user - despite her endless fascination with the craft - in a society that prized its mages above all. Both facts of which pushed many of her superiors throughout her collegiate studies to blow off and even mock her ambitions towards more magic-focused areas of study.

Rook was an academic at heart - A voracious learner and reader. But for all of her passion, she was still very much an outsider. She was the foundling discovered abandoned deep within the Necropolis - lucky to have been found alive at all - Taken in by a kind and doting pair of elderly Mortalitasi, Gunter and Eloise Ingellvar, who had even gone as far as bequeathing their inheritance to her upon the last of their dual deaths some years later.

But they had gone too soon - Rook had barely been 12 when the old woman had died - and she was once again left as a ward of the Necropolis and its Watchers, who seemed to see less value in an orphaned elf with no magical talents to speak of. Frequently outright denied access to her preferred areas of study due to their prized and limited availability (such courses should be reserved for mages who might make the most use of them after all, and the university’s donors were rife with promising young mages as heirs) she was relegated, instead, to training as a fighter. A protector. A watcher of the Watchers themselves.

Just one extra corpse between demons and the ones whose work actually matters, more like, she thought. She swung open her ornate wardrobe, eyes scanning her limited choice in clothing critically as her thoughts poured from one memory to the next.

Those days were rife with turmoil. Rook had volleyed equally between hours of grueling fight and defense training, classes in basic sciences, necromancy, anatomy, funerary preparations and the Fade, and time dedicated purely to stirring up shit in the streets of Navarra City.

Fights. Petty theft. Stirring up chaos in the market square with a prank or three - one of which had, to her own amusement and pride to that very day, saw a surprisingly large number of bees in a leading role.

Throughout her years of collegiate learning, Rook carried the rage of a clever mind stifled and of dreams dashed, and it had landed her under the threadbare patience and steely gaze of the headmaster more times than she could count. That the Mourn Watch had been tasked with her care as much as her training was likely the only reason she hadn’t been thrown out for good.

It also hadn’t hurt that Rook had proven incredibly adept at combat despite her general lack of interest in the task (outside of a good tavern fistfight, at least.) There was also the curiosity that was her study habits. Her grades in basic courses were passable at best from sheer lack of interest, yet when time and little pockets of determination allowed, she could be found holed up in the Necropolis’s expansive library for hours, even days on end, pouring over every tomb her low-level clearance would allow, creating many tombs further of dense, meticulously detailed notes.

She was at least trying, in her own way, her superiors knew. And where their interest in her full potential failed her, her own thirst for learning minded the gap. Even if she was denied the chance to pursue her major of choice… lectures in the Grand Necropolis’s halls of learning were as free and frequent as the availability and seating of its various expansive lecture halls would allow.

Those educational sermons were hardly for the faint of heart or feeble of mind. They required many dedicated hours, copious notes, and a level of existing understanding of necromancy, the occult and Navarran history as a whole that *should* have been enough to bar a student of Rook’s study tract access by sheer lack of access to advanced classes alone.

But Rook had done the work. Had soaked up every scrap and parcel of knowledge she could, entirely on her own. And in each and every lecture, perched dutifully in the shadows at the back of the room, she soared.

Which was precisely where the good Professor had graced her peripherals, time and time again.

Even nearly a decade prior, Professor Emmrich Volkarin was something of a legend on campus. Prodigiously intelligent and equally skilled in both oration and genuine fondness for the eager young minds he fostered, Rook was hardly immune from the childish swooning over the otherwise utterly unattainable genius that captivated his students with every speech and demonstration.

“Volkarin’s hangers-on.”

Johanna Hezenkoss’s recent jeer at Rook’s expense still made her cheeks run hot. Rook had never been that - certainly not as the insult Hezenkoss intended.

But Rook and Emmrich were both well aware of whom the half-Litch referred to.

Hair a little darker and warm eyes a little bit brighter then, The Professor was too clever and adept at reading people around him to have remained oblivious to the fact that not only were the large majority of doe-eyed students trailing him from office to lectern and back largely of the female variety, but they were also almost always a bit more coy than was comfortable to be sharing a room with for too long. It was always impressive, then, to Rook, just how coolly and kindly said attentions were quite unanimously blown off by Emmrich himself.

He was never once cruel or condescending, but ever the consummate professional. He paid his students’ motivations no mind outside of whatever question he was fielding, or what knowledge he wished to impart, either.

Rook later overheard whispers among a gaggle of gossiping young mages in the privy that, apparently, “half of the fun” of flirting with the man to begin with was trying to “find a crack” in their charming yet unflappably stoic Professor’s perfectly tailored facade.

Of which there was nary a one, as far as Rook knew at the time. The man simply did not budge.

Which was why, despite never having had the stones to so much as approach Professor Volkarin with a question before meeting with him in the catacombs with Bellara months prior, and with nearly ten years of confidence that only incredibly hard work and some life experience could provide, Rook was genuinely floored when her own good-humored and (mostly) unserious swings at flirting with the man *actually worked.*

Rook had only dared shoot her shot with the man with the full confidence that in all likelihood (and at absolute worst) he would simply glance past the attention with his usual jovial kindness. She took a swing at it for younger-Rook, who would have thought it the coolest thing ever, future-Rook finding the sort of confidence her younger self found so foreign.

And the man actually expressed interest. Just fully (warmly as ever but with a degree of coyness Rook had no idea actually existed prior) stated that if, in fact, her projected interest went beyond mere flattery… he was down.

“Hell of a bullseye on the first draw, there, Ingellvar,” she had mused to herself and inevitably shared with Emmrich multiple times since, much to the Professor’s amusement.

Rook pulled the only pretty, non-Mourn Watch related article of clothing she owned - a deep purple gown and its immaculately tailored overcoat - from the wardrobe, before clipping the doors shut with her heel.

Naive shock aside, it wasn’t as though Rook hadn’t been equally delighted by Emmrich’s unexpected response. She had become even more enamored with the fellow in the past many months, as he spoke with her not as a student but as a colleague. An equal.

He adored her thoughts and her intellectual curiosity, and had said as much - often. He was ever the academic, as enthusiastic about answering any question she had as she was to learn the answer. But he was also genuinely interested in all of the knowledge she had gathered in the past ten years - Her interests in Navarran archeology within the ever-ancient Necropolis halls. His in Necromancy and the Fade. It had become a frequent, deeply adored line of conversation between the two of them, in fact - just how often their individual fields of study crossed in application.

Emmrich Volkarin was every bit as charming as his passionate yet professional demeanor would imply. But what Rook came to learn very quickly upon reconnecting with the man was that, on a personal level, he was one of the most compassionate individuals Rook had ever met. He cared deeply, about everything - particularly, it seemed, about the ragtag troop of adventurers she and Neve had since managed to assemble. At 52 years of age, he also, as it turned out, had zero qualms about dating someone - regardless of gender persuasion - over 20 years his junior. He’d simply taken his work as an educator far too seriously when he was young enough to find any interest in university students, let alone misuse the power dynamic between teacher and pupil - and they had, decades later, well since lost their appeal.

So, now, here she was. Two months into the most absurdly romantic courtship she could imagine, given the sheer chaos that surrounded them otherwise.

Fancy dinners. Time spent exploring the Necropolis to feel more grounded - that little bit of home going a long way to keeping them both fixed on the battles that just kept on coming. A recent night stroll through the streets of Navarra City during the ancestral pageants, their darkly artful city glistening with lanterns and wisps.

Emmrich Volkarin was ever a man of his word, too. Early on, when a bashful Rook mentioned her lack of experience in any such relationship, he had promised they’d take things slow, and they absolutely had. Endeared and warm as they were, his kisses were chaste, and his presence around her respectful of her space and autonomy. It had only been since she had started pushing boundaries that he had reciprocated in kind.

Longer, deeper kisses. Tousled hair. Hands wandering with far more bravery - and far more urgency - from both parties, amidst long nights full of even longer conversations.

The cracks in Emmrich Volkarin’s perfectly tailored facade were showing. And, Rook grinned to herself despite the blush reaching her ears, they were admittedly * delicious.*

Rook fastened the copper skull-shaped buttons upon her overcoat before fishing for Varric’s shaving mirror and checking her hair.

She wasn’t entirely sure how she’d expected the acceleration of their relationship to go. Perhaps more spontaneously, and likely in the Lighthouse, despite neither of them having particularly comfortable quarters - his with little more than a cot to sleep on that was otherwise hidden away, and her own space often as chilly as being overlooked by an enormous deep water aquarium would imply.

She certainly didn’t expect it to turn into a Pnemoix-worthy event.

It was, frankly, the first time Emmrich had taken the lead on the direction of relations between them. He had planned every romantic gesture their messy schedules and frequent travels would allow, sure, but every acceleration where intimacy had been concerned had been entirely on Rook.

But, it felt right, the timing.

She wondered if this was his way of saying he felt the same.

Rook slipped on a pair of gold-rimmed glasses (her vision never had been the best, but she’d only just taken to wearing them more faithfully at Emmrich’s encouragement, and insistence that he thought them, “Positively charming.”)

With a flutter of excitement in her chest Rook spared a careless hope that she might make it all the way downstairs to the Vi’Revas without any of their friends asking enough questions to rattle her nerves anymore than they already squirmed.

——————-

The journey was quick and blessedly uninterrupted. Punctual as ever, Emmrich had already arrived. He turned to greet her as she strode his way, having been surveying the towering Eluvian with an air of curiosity just moments before.

Lean and immaculately dapper as ever, golden rings and bangles over luxurious shades of black and jade, a smile swept his features so genuine that it stole a smile from her own.

“Rook,” he mused warmly, “You look exquisite.”

“Could very well say the same to you, Professor,” Rook teased, hand once again gracing the elbow he lent her.

“Shall we?”

[earthstellar]

what are some other nice moments from Rescue bots?

This show is loaded with them!!! :)

Here we go, some nice moments in Rescue Bots!!

I'm going to write this with the assumption that some people reading this may not have ever seen Rescue Bots or might only be somewhat familiar, as I realise the target audience skews much younger than most Transformers media does, so I'm not 100% sure how popular it was outside of that demographic in total.

Off the top of my head:

-There is an in-universe VR game called Element Quest that has a couple really good episodes, the design is cute and there are tons of meme references. Blades, at one point, goes "I used to like video games. Then I took an arrow to the knee." LOL

-I think it's cool how they actually do tie in their continuity with TFP's continuity. For example, "What Rises Above" (RB) canonically comes before "Nemesis Prime" (TFP), and this is directly referenced in the dialogue in TFP when Optimus says that he is late arriving to the base as he was exploring an underground energon deposit-- This is the deposit he explores with the Rescue Bots.

-THERE IS A MUSICAL EPISODE. IT IS EXTREMELY GOOD

-Woodrow Burns, the Chief's brother, is kind of an idiot asshole, although he's not actively malicious. But he is great with the kids and for whatever reason the only thing I can ever remember about this character is when he goes up to Cody after it's been a long time since he saw him last and says "You've grown a whole foot since the last time I saw you-- Now you'll need three socks!" IDK I just think that's a real cute dad joke thing to say to a little kid lol :')

-There is an episode where they explore the local folklore of Griffin Rock, and TL;DR the local lore is that their island is where literal griffins used to nest seasonally. So throughout the episode, there's this kind of vibe of "OK are these electrical magnetic pulses or whatever like a science problem or a magic problem" and it's actually a very cute and fun vibe, especially since Cody is talking about the lore in the first place as part of his work towards a Scouts badge and Blades is very cute in this episode, the bots are all like "okay magic isn't real but uhhh what if magic's real?" for a minute and it's great :')

-Doc Greene/Green creates a ton of fun science devices throughout the show, but the names of some are just so doofy and fun. I love the "Torna-Don't", which is a thing designed to dispel tornados. Of course. lmao

-All the weird small town local events are also very silly and cute, and weirdly realistic for those of us who are familiar with this kind of local event thing, lmao. One of my favourite concepts is one of what seems to be several crawdad-related festivals, in which there is apparently a televised crawdad race. It's a bunch of shrimps put on a tiny racetrack, like Olympic runners. LOL

-At one point, Blurr shows up, and when the Rescue Bots are trying to acclimate him to working with humans, Chase is like "Humans seem to have two genders, which are defined by how many cooties they have." This implies that as far as the Rescue Bots are aware, 1) cooties are real and 2) human gender is defined solely by how many cooties a person has, and not by anything else, thus leaving their understanding of human gender fairly open (and it is also clear they have solely learned about gender from young kids in a small town which is likely why they state there are two genders but then make it clear that gender is a cooties thing and not an inherently physical thing, which makes sense in context and is kind of great because it gives more leeway for gender diversity than I expected) and I love this a lot. What is human gender? Cooties. That's all. So someone with a particularly high number of cooties could be another gender altogether, because why not?

-There is a body swap episode, which treats us to Blades in Dani's body trying on dresses in her room. He picks an orange and white one, which matches his paint job. I also love this a lot.

-Heatwave is gruff as hell especially at the start of the series and constantly starts shit or perpetuates shit with Kade, which is super funny. Just this centuries old Cybertronian fucking with this doofus boy who keeps leaving donuts in his cab. God dammit Kade, lmao.

-There is an episode where Cody is aged up via Science Device, and we get to see an older Cody, who more closely resembles his father than his older brother does. It's cute that he'll look like his dad when he's older. :')

During this episode, he assists in a rescue, and the girl his brother has a crush on tries to hit on him, but he clearly doesn't get what's happening and thinks it's icky because of course he does, he's a kid. I just think this scene is handled well and it's cute that his reaction to being hit on is still "ewww girls" but his brother is still absolutely pissed off about it anyway LMAO like jesus Kade, relax

-Kade's mostly an asshole but he's shown to be a really good rescuer who genuinely cares about people, and he has moments where he really comes through for his family and realises on his own that he should shut up and back down on his bullshit, thus making him a better developed and more realistic asshole brother character than 99% of asshole brother characters in most shows. I think this is pretty solid because it does lead to effective character development here and there, and it makes his positive moments with his family and the bots that much nicer. :)

-Cody is such a good kid. He is often willing to give people or ideas a chance when nobody else will, and even though he's too young to actively participate in most missions, he stays involved by helping at their dispatch centre. He's a smart little dude, who has a lot of heart and a ton of potential. One of the few child characters in anything that I actually like, because I think they write him extremely well: He is young, but he is not stupid. He is not treated like an accessory or like the property of his family, he's his own person with a distinct personality within his family, with a reasonable amount of autonomy. And he's a person who is still learning and has valuable contributions while also needing guidance or support at times. 10/10

-Dani gradually gets better at helping Blades deal with his flight anxiety (and sticks up for him when the others might mock him a little for it), and this is not only inherently very nice and cute, but it also makes a lot of sense as she is a first responder/medic and we see her offer the same reassurances towards the people she helps to rescue.

-The writing for the Burns Family in general is some of the best family group character writing in anything tbh, they handle the family dynamic so well in this show, and it's extra cute as the Rescue Bots all learn a lot from observing how the family takes care of one another and the townspeople they rescue. :')

-Blades has anxiety. I also have anxiety, so I am biased and clearly love this dude, lmao. He's so fucking relatable and even though sometimes the others rip on him, it is clear that they're also very proud of him for trying his best to deal with a situation which for him is particularly difficult (he was forced to take a flight capable alt-mode when this is something he is explicitly not comfortable with) and his team mates do support him, even though Heatwave is a douche sometimes (although it is clear this is usually due to stress or something else and that the actual problem isn't Blades). Over the course of the series, Blades does develop a little more confidence, and it's very cute and nice to see him puffing himself up a little more. :)

-The overall attitudes the bots have towards humans in this show is sweet. It's clear they don't really understand humanity or humans as a whole, but it also doesn't really matter because they are so specifically oriented to their local population on the island and their focus is a relatively small community of humans. They take their duties seriously and will protect this population, even if they don't really understand the people outright. They gradually start to respect the locals (and the Burns Family) more and more as they work with them, and get acclimated to Earth. They love their dumbass weird little humans :')

This leads to a lot of fun shenanigans with the bots not understanding things, or only understanding things as they have been explained by the children, which is hilarious.

-There is an episode where local thieves steal Chase, and inspired by Cody's school drama project, he decides to go undercover after watching a bunch of old detective movies. This includes him narrating things to himself, which he is called on when Dani enters the garage and asks him "Why are the lights off? Are you talking to yourself?" lmao

-Although it isn't explicitly canonical, it's easy to interpret both Chase and Blades as being neurodivergent. Both of them display various behaviours and traits which can potentially be understood in this way, and I'm just glad that there's a show for kids where two of the main characters, who are rescue workers, are shown to be competent and skilled at their jobs and accepted by the community for who they are while also being neurodivergent. <3 It's such a good vibe when the other characters support or defend these two in particular, especially when Chase or Blades might be confused or upset about something. Chief Burns is especially great working with Chase.

-Any episode where Optimus shows up in Rescue Bots usually has some gems of cuteness/silliness. The Elvis line still takes me out, LMAO. "You're bigger than Elvis!" "I have not met this Elvis, and I am unaware of his size." 10/10 writing, I fucking love Rescue Bots

-The bots constantly call out a bunch of details that are entirely appropriate for robots from space to notice and recognise as somewhat weird, whereas a lot of the human characters are so used to 1) being human and 2) living on this incredibly weird little technologically advanced island that nothing really phases them anymore. So we can actually identify more with the bots at time, despite the fact that they are also providing an outsider point of view, which is really clever! :)

-The theme song is a fucking banger. It's so good. I love this song so much. I wish we got a full version of it, but this is the best extended version of it that I've been able to find. Enjoy!!!

-There's a lot of fairly adult stuff in the show, more than I think people realise! The tone can never get too dark outright as it is intended for young kids as the primary demographic, but there's a lot of situations, conversations, etc. that are genuinely engaging and interesting from an adult perspective, which is a large part of what makes it a great watch for all ages.

Some situational examples include scenarios where children are imperilled in natural disasters, accidents, even kidnapping at one point.

Non-kid related situations include risks and threat to civilians from AI development and the dangers that uncontrolled or poorly thought out technology can cause or exacerbate, which is significant in context and also interesting to think about given our current relationship IRL with rapid tech development and concerns around how that technology is being made and applied, either in reality or in theory.

Some dialogue examples include scenes where the bots mention their grief over being unable to save Cybertron, a sense of guilt that they were in stasis for so long even though this was beyond their control, awareness that they may be the last Rescue Bots team in operation on Earth or anywhere else in the universe (a sense of loneliness and a responsibility as the last upholders of their specific creed), struggles with their sense of duty and concerns around their ability to fulfil their expectations for themselves and meet the expectations of others while rising to the demands of their unique situation, and so on.

--

this is already pretty long lmao, there's a ton of stuff I really like about Rescue Bots, but I hope this might encourage others to check out the show if you haven't before, it's well worth a watch! :)

[alevolpe]

Could I bother you to do a dump of your thoughts on everyone's favorite undercooked and over-punctured hero, Chiba Mamoru?

Hmm, thoughts, i have a lot of thoughts about Mamo, but at the same time, not as many as others would think.

I like him, i think most people who follow my blog know this. He’s a very nice addition to the cast despite his many.. problems.

I’ll first address the elephant in the room.. he should not be a part of the main cast fighting along the girls.

Sorry, I know some people love that for him, but for me it just doesn’t work and he doesn’t organically fit in the story after season 1. He’s basically stringed along to be just the damsel in destress to motivate Usagi in most cases and that’s not compelling for me or is a good turn for his character.(there’s nothing there, there’s no character for me to care about. Just pretty guy looks pretty, wow, I’m compelled)

He should’ve been mostly done after season 1. After that he should’ve been a supporting character helping Usagi as a regular guy trying to go back to his regular life while being a loving and supportive boyfriend to Usagi. (It’s also such a missed opportunity with this dynamic that you NEVER see. A female superhero and his bf being the normal guy trying his best to keep up with wtf is going on with his gf and magic beings while also studying for his diploma, living the life of a regular guy trying to make it through school and his job and trying his best to also be a nice and helpful person to his gf’s team/best friends. Most of whom don’t have the highest opinion of him lol).

It’s genuinely what he deserves, he doesn’t need to be stringed along this journey as a puppy for Usagi to be chase after. LET THE MAN GET HIS HUMAN LIFE BACK TOGETHER!! (And maybe some therapy) His whole existence is not just Usagi/moon romance/future bullshit, he’s his own person ffs.

Sigh.. ok with that out the way I’ve already talked about my problems with the “miracle romance” here (tldr, I wanna keep it I like it, just workshopping needed).

Now, is there a way I could possibly organically integrate him into the story as an equal and distinct identity to Usagi.. yes.. do I want to? Not really.

In short I don’t really have a ton of interest in exploring that outside of the first season. That’s where his character gets introduced, where he has the most connections, with Serenity and with the 4 kings and Beryl, that’s where his character peaks and where he deserves to have his “happy ending”. My story is mostly centered around the bond around the girls and the world around them, not romance (even tho there are moments of it, yes, it’s not mainly a romance unlike the manga). Also trying to fit him without having the girls take an active step back is really difficult and has never been executed right.

In the manga him and Usagi are the main characters and in the anime everyone is written to be useless til he shows up. You basically have to scale down everyone else for him to shine and I don’t vibe with that.

Also also, in my version he has no Crystal. People have no Crystals, just the senshi. having a Crystal in you is a strictly senshi thing, him having one never made sense to me (if you like it, good for u, I don’t care for it, idc if it’s explained in canon). So he’s just a regular guy, he’s a smart reincarnated regular guy who committed a bunch of heists and some breaking and entering, but like.. tf he gonna do against a senshi.

TLDR: I like Mamo. Mamo is good, good character, but scale him down to supporting cast and make him a more supportive boyfriend to Usagi and honestly give him more of his own person outside of his reincarnation or future self.

ALSO SMALL THING BUT actually have him interact with the girls in some way, with different and fun levels of chemistry. Like him being awkward cause he knows both him and them want the best for Usagi, but like Rei.. is Rei, Mako’s pissed at him for being a dirty thief, Mina just fucks with him 24/7 and Ami, idk I guess Ami does kind of vibe with him, but like, they are both awkward nerds. I wanna see that!

[judgeanon]

So about that DETECTIVE COMICS #1084...

As a big Shiva fan, I really, really liked that. Maybe my favorite issue with her since Hill's Outsiders run. I made a thread in another site about it but I liked that issue so much that I'm gonna take a sec to repost it here too, so hit that jump if you wanna read an in-depth analysis of 'Tec #1084... or at least, its backup feature!

I'm kinda kidding, I actually enjoyed the main story too. I liked seeing Bruce and Talia reunited in a very touching moment of romance that gives way to grim tension as the unfortunate complications of the strange and violent world they live being to slowly rip them apart once more... and then Shiva happens. For one panel and in a flashback but it was really fun to see Talia call her a friend for a bunch of reasons.

The most serious one is that I genuinely think that, given enough room to work with, Talia and Shiva could be a very compelling pair. Shiva is known to be interested in people who are in a state of flux, who find themselves in crossroads trying to figure out where their true path really lies. And Talia, for better or worse, has been there for, like... years now. I've always thought that Talia, endlessly torn between her love for Bruce, her love for her father, and her love for the world, might even find something tempting about Shiva's absolute detachment, about her comparative freedom from all connections. Which would be fun to explore.

The other reason comes from the issue's backup story by Alex Paknadel and Robbi Rodriguez, which I didn't expect at all but ended up being a huge treat for me, since it aligned so much with a lot of what I consider the most interesting elements and perspectives in Shiva and Cass' relationship.

Right from the start, we have Shiva being able to read Cass and figure out what's wrong with her just from a couple of fighting moves, which I absolutely adore. What looks like a fight is really just them having a conversation, at least for Shiva, who is very quickly able to get at the deeper emotions troubling Cass and holding her back.

(Also, that one panel of Snake Style ThodThodThod's really made me smile. I love the idea of Shiva using stranger, more exotic martial arts than anyone else, especially in Gotham)

On my first read I wasn't really onboard with Shiva's words about not killing Cass, like there was something about them that didn't quite click, but after mulling them over for a while I feel like they can be read as Shiva intentionally picking at Cass' perfectionist nature and competitive spirit. It's less "I spared you and now you owe me" and more "You trying to be Batman makes you suck, here's why, now be better." But I might be reaching a bit there.

Still, it does work, which I really enjoy. I like Shiva being able to prod Cass into reaching deep within her, figuring out what's wrong and improving herself. And we get a lot of that in the next couple of pages, where Cass grapples with the Azmer while also grappling with her own nature. Cass' training with David is an extremely defining element of her character. It's her instincts, her mother tongue, her main method of expression, but it's also something that causes her a ton of inner turmoil, due to the intentions of that training.

Cass is presented in this story as someone inwardly ashamed by her nature, worried of the assassin skills that are weaved into her very nature and what that may say about her. Of course, this is something that Cass has been through before and has developed quite a bit, maybe even outgrown but with Batman dead and gone, it probably makes sense for her to lapse a bit back into self-loathing without that symbol to guide her and with her failure at trying to emulate it. Which I think is a very human thing to happen. Your worst traits are never really gone, and tend to slip back into you when you're at a low point.

Which is why I really like the last few panels of this story.

Although first, Shiva calling Talia an "associate" makes me giggle a bit. C'mon Shivs, don't be so tsun-tsun... anyway.

On the most basic level, we have Shiva offering Cass some solid advice that ties the whole story in a neat bow. But it takes on an even stronger quality when you remember this is Lady Shiva talking here. Shiva, who we know wants Cass to be more than just a Bat. Shiva, who understands the strength that comes from finding your own path and following it. Shiva, who maybe more than anyone knows exactly how strong Cass can be once she embraces all aspects of her own nature and finds harmony in herself.

From almost any other character, that last phrase would just be a nice little canned moral. From Shiva's lips, it carries the weight of decades of character work for both Cass and Shiva. It's a solid ending that's elevated by the history between its characters. It hits SO many of the notes I want to see, the things that I think make Shiva's relationship with Cass genuinely compelling. Shiva being able to "read" Cass through a fight, her wanting Cass to be herself more than anything else, and all of it unhindered by any kind of easy moral judgment from Cass or the story itself.

Shiva is not presented as a monstrous villainess who Cass must reject, but as her own character with her own story that happpens to cross with Cass' for a moment. And from Shiva, there's no berating Cass for being a hero or choosing not to kill. There is berating, sure, but it works because it speaks to something a lot more personal for both characters than generic notions of good or evil. It speaks about Cass' need to find and be herself and stick with it no matter what.

(Which this arc also touched upon a couple months ago in 'Tec #1082, which very elegantly made it clear that Cass had the heart of a hero before she even knew what a Batman was -- an incredibly powerful statement made in just two captions)

So this is a story that hits pretty much all the right notes for me. I wish it would hit them a bit longer, or in a few different ways that didn't involve Batman, but it's just a perfect example of most of the elements that I think make this relationship worth exploring. Even the fact that this makes it the sixth major appearance of Lady Shiva in a row that is ultimately dedicated to her relationship with Cass doesn't bother me because this is precisely how I want this relationship to be written. If they were all this good, I wouldn't even mind.

And on top of all that, this issue is also a good example of something I'm always thinking about: tempting as it is, you don't need to make every Shiva appearance be huge and bombastic and lead to some massive story arc. It can be something small but meaningful, a quick appearance with some very choice words, Shiva walking into an ongoing story to, in her own way, help others get through an inflection point.

If I had to say something I disliked about it, I do think it's a little blunt in its themes and execution. Paknadel has Shiva quite literally spell out the problem for Cass, which I guess is fine given how short the story is, but it does lose a bit of elegance because of it. Still, it was a great little treat and while I know Ram's 'Tec run is coming to its end, I do hope he'll find a place for one last bit of Shiva in it.

And I also hope he gets to write her for more than just one wordless balloon because Ram V's Lady Shiva is a dream book in my book.

[petrichor-idyllic]

Hii Petri, I want to request for headcanons please, it's maze runner boys x fem!reader and she was one of the first to go up in the box, she's been in the glade for enough time to pass for the transition of 'cute little girl who's happend to be there with a lot of boys' to 'really hot girl in the middle of tons os guys', and I want to see the moment that clicked for each one of them that "oh, she's a girl". I think it would be fun cause they're a bunch of virgin dudes stuck in a place with only one girl that they know since "forever" and then suddenly she's not that little kid anymore and it clicks that they'd could be the one to date her.

I am completely doing my requests out of order, but I really like this idea and headcanons are so much easier lol.

Also no Newt here, the boy likes men.

DEVELOPMENT

MASTERLIST | MULTI-CHARACTER MASTERLIST

SUMMARY: See above. Movie based fic.

WARNINGS: Inappropriate language, awkward teenage boys, you're the boss, everyone is useless, mild suggestive themes, the Thomas one is really bad 'cause I had no way of actually writing that based on this prompt.

You were the first person in the Glade, a young girl with no memories or idea what you were doing. Yet, somehow, you managed to survive for a whole month on your own. Then, one after another, the boys started joining you. And you went from soft girl to a leader they could rely on - though, it takes them a bit to notice this.

THOMAS

Being one of the later arrivals to the Glade, Thomas doesn't have the same reaction the others do.

You're just a badass from day one to him.

He thinks you're cool and calculated and you seem to know what you're doing.

He respects you from day one.

He doesn't get to have the whole realising you're cool moment that everyone else does.

He just thinks you're sick.

And he's like, stressed as shit, so he doesn't really have the time to think otherwise.

MINHO

Now, this is where it gets interesting.

Minho was one of the first boys to follow you into the Maze, just after Alby and Newt.

So he's witnessed your whole transformation.

From the early days of exploring the Maze together, to you making him Keeper, to the drunken nights where he'd had a rough day and you had to drag him to bed.

You've been together through thick and thin.

And some of Minho's confidence has definitely rubbed off on you.

The moment where Minho realised you were in face a girl, and not the one he first met was actually quite simple.

You'd had a long night, and with one of your Runners out of commission, you realised you hadn't told Minho to cover another route that day as you'd made arrangements for a new Runner to do a more simpler route- which meant switching up everyone's routines.

Fresh out of bed, wearing a sports bra and baggy trousers that hung off your hips, you went to the Map Room.

It wasn't uncommon for you to dress like this. The Glade is warm, and you basically mothered all these boys.

You whistled as you entered, gaining their attention.

"Oi, boys, listen up - I'm switching routes around today. With Sam off on sick and Darren being new, he's taking the easiest route. Minho, I need you to deal with covering the outer sections more. And Ben I need you to stick to your path for a change instead of going awol - your maps make no sense."

"Aw, what? But that's boring."

"I ain't shuckin' askin', Ben - do as you're told."

Oh.

Oh God.

Minho doesn't know why this is what made it click.

His eyes fell on your body, your words becoming static as he drunk in your figure.

Had you always been this attractive?

Had you always been this assertive?

Was Minho into dominant women?

Should he be concerned?

After this point onwards, Minho started looking at you differently.

In fact, you became the only thing he couldn't take his eyes off.

Minho would go from your confident and reliant friend to slightly awkward, but also occasionally flirty.

Like he can't actually decide what to do with you now.

It'd take a while, but after some near death experiences, he'd become more outwardly flirtatious.

Though, he still wouldn't be able to get over the admiration and awe for you.

GALLY

Gally would be your number one problem child in the Glade.

He always has been.

But, you normally left Alby or Newt to deal with him.

Especially at the start since he's a big dude with a big temper.

Gally always saw you unfit as a leader.

Too timid, quiet, anxious.

You name it, he thought it.

That was until the day him and Minho got in a particularly nasty fight.

You don't know why or what it was, but Gally had gone for the Runner. Alby was busy sorting out the Maps, and in light of Newt's recent injury - it was left up to you.

Jeff came running into your hut, panicking about the fight, leading you to running out after him.

"That's enough!"

You grabbed the boys, yanking Gally away by his collar.

"The shuck do you slintheads think you're doing?"

"He started it!"

"I did not!"

You'd had a hard day.

You didn't need this.

"I don't give two klunks who started it! We ain't got much choice to act like adults 'round here - and you two are actin' like diaper-klunkin' sissy babies! Get a shuckin' grip! I expect better."

Minho apologised quickly.

Gally did not.

"What? Why should I apologise when this shank can't shut his mouth?"

Well, you weren't having that.

"Because I shucking told you to. You're under my care and my order- what I say goes. You may be a Keeper, but that's up to me. Suck it up and do as you're told."

"...sorry.

"Better. Get back to work."

The way that Gally watched you walk away made it obvious to everyone who witnessed the scene that something had changed.

He'd always seen you as weak and a pointless leader, but now?

You'd put him in his place.

Initially, he was embarrassed.

But then he started seeing everything around the Glade, the power you actually held.

He also started to notice how attractive you actually had become.

Safe to say, he started to feel things after you basically called him a bitch.

He'd start showing you more respect after that.

Maybe a bit more than respect.

FRYPAN

Frypan has always liked you.

He's always respected you and been a good friend.

And he used to make sure that you were okay when things got too much.

But as you got older and more confident, you started to not need that comfort as much.

Unlike the others, there wouldn't be a specific moment where he realised.

He'd just be proud as he watched you grow as a person.

And you'd take charge.

It'd be a slow burn of feelings from friendship to genuinely having a crush on you.

You'd make sure his kitchen is always stocked and the Track-hoes do their job and the vegetables are up to scratch.

Though, his feelings came more with the physical transformation side of things.

You hit puberty, and went from being awkward to confident along with it.

Now, Frypan is probably one of the more respectful guys around.

But he can't help but stare when you bend over, or stretch or even just look at him with a smirk.

He's a teenage boy and you're the only girl around.

He's trying his best.

Though he did go from:

"Hey, everything okay? You look stressed."

To:

"H-hey uh, you uh, you need help, or...?"

Man's is down bad.

ALBY

Alby would probably be the person you're closest to.

He's the mouth and the power to your brain

You basically work side by side.

But, he'd always see you as someone he needed to look after and protect.

Then, as you grew up, came into yourself, that would change.

Especially when you started actually being in charge.

For the most part, he really doesn't care.

He noticed the others starting to act differently, but he didn't change much.

Apart from that one time you'd just come out of the shower.

And he just couldn't take his eyes off you.

And he kinda realised you're a woman.

But apart from that.

He's just... there.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed :))

Helping you lead.

Sorry for disappearing, this is not my best work but I am currently in full corpse mode.

[eleanorandphantom]

Get to know me?

I kinda realized I never really introduced myself, so uh, hi!

My name is Echo :D I am pansexual and genderfluid, as for pronouns, I have no preferences, just don't call me an 'attack helicopter' and we'll be chillin'

I am 16, currently in Junior year, actually really enjoying it right now!

In most of my DR's my name is Eleanor, which is why its my user! I just feel connected to both names

Some non-shifting facts about me:

I have olive-green eyes

I have been singing/playing guitar/acting for around 10 years and I danced for 8 years (still dance for theater and funsies)

I play acoustic, electric, and a little bass

I am in a band as a lead singer and guitarist, we are called "Vessels of Rebirth"!!!

I am an alto-soprano! which is very fun as I can sing very diverse styles of music (my favorites being folk, rock, and gospel)

I am a Christian and follower of God, to whom I love dearly

Although I am a Christian, I do a lot of tarot reading, and I also see and speak with the deceased as well as have prophetic dreams on occasion. I currently have 3 spirits residing in my house, they are quite nice! (Also if you guys have any suggestions on incense please let me know! I need to add to my stash)

I do a ton of art, whether it be sewing, drawing, painting, photography, or making things out of materials, you will always find me with a new project (I'm currently working on a plushie bee for my friend in my Java class!!)

Speaking of java I am loving coding, that shit is cool

At the moment, I am leading in two shows (one is a murder mystery comedy, like clue, where the audience decides who the murderer is! The second is Spamalot, and I am the female lead, Lady of the Lake!!) I am also in the ensemble of Hadestown and doing crew for Little Mermaid! So a ton of theater stuffs going on (would you believe me if I told you I have 6 different theater-based DR's?? teehee)

I do a ton of reading, I love books; it's one of my dreams to have a Hobbit-inspired book room in my future house, complete with a circle door

I have a massive collection of plushies and stuffed animals, all of which I have named and remember perfectly (I love them sm)

My favorite colors are: forest/emerald green, sunset orange, TEAL!!!, deep purples, navy blue, maroon, pastel yellow, and blue/ashy grey

I am very Portuguese, and I love Portuguese food, my favorite being Bifanas

I have two pets, a 7 year old golden retriever named Ridge and an 11 month old ragdoll cat named Dexter (short for Dexteria, yes I am a DnD nerd)

Speaking of DnD, I am currently DM'ing three campaigns, and I'm in around 10-15 other campaigns, I love DnD a lot, it's one of my favorite hobbies

Onto shifting related stuff!

I have been shifting(minishifting partially, still shifting though!!!) since I was around 8 I guess? I didn't realize that was what I was doing at the time, and around 2021 I found out about shifting through a classmate (who brought it up at the most random time possible, an ELA class lol)

The first actual DR I ever made was a My Hero Academia reality, and by birds all mighty that script was ROUGH

But I still hold it close to my heart, even though it was so cringy

I took a break from shifting for like 7 months to a year at most, I believed in it, I just felt more content in my CR, but now I am at a point where I want to explore and be fully happy and learn and grow as myself!

Here is a list of my main DR's!

MPHFPC

Waiting Room

Phantom of the Opera

DnD homebrew (x3)

Better CR

Ever After High DR (x2)

Theater related (x6)

Apartment DR (x2)

Big Bang Theory

ASOUE

College DR (Harvard obviously)

Mad Scientist DR (before you ask, it's a book I'm writing, and No I am not the mad scientist)

Hogwarts (Not my favorite, but definitely for the vibes, witch-craft and ooo riding brooms is super fun! I kinda stay away from the main characters to the best of my ability, besides George tho, that man has my heart)

Those are my most recent ones, they all have their little quirks and loveliness that make them unique to me, if you have any questions about them I would be happy to answer!

I mainly post about my MPHFPC DR and more recently my Waiting Room, since they are the two realities I go to

I hope you guys enjoyed and got to know me a bit better, my asks/comments are always open so feel free to stop in and say ahoy!

Bye-bye for now :D

[megaderping]

Saw a rather mean post last night, and genuinely, I do not understand how people can play Persona 5 (particularly Royal), and come out thinking Akechi genuinely hates Joker when Morgana outright states for the audience, "You don't really hate Joker, do you?" Akechi laments how they didn't meet a few years earlier and how they could've been "great rivals, perhaps even friends." o_O Like... is this a vanilla thing? I genuinely don't get it. The interrogation room wasn't even his idea (SIU director mentions as much). It's not even about the ship- the game spells out that their bond is more complex, and it just so happens that a lot of people like to explore it as one. Even as platonic, tho, there's a shit ton of depth. Idk, any time I see discourse (especially people making fun of Shuake fans and stuff), I just question how many people actually paid attention to the dialogue. Even the "I hate you speech" reads as him being extremely emotionally constipated and conflicted. Plus, y'know...

Very hateful. Sure. :p Idk, maybe certain playthroughs of the game remove all those moments where the game spells out that they have a special bond (Maruki even states it isn't based on hatred, but that's only if you get his third awakening). Just wish people would get off their high horses, if anything. Sometimes I see people get really condescending about liking Akechi or liking Shuake, and like... just block the tags if you don't like these things instead of posting untagged ship/character bashing and making fun of fans? At least have the decency to tag it as something that Shuake fans can filter because some of those posts are really mean-spirited. :/ You think we haven't heard it all before? I may be new to the fandom, but I have heard that this BS has been going on for years.

I don't think it really matters if there are "healthier" ship options because some of us prefer the messiness, the depth, and complexity. It's not for everyone, and I respect favoring more straightforwardly sweet and wholesome dynamics or wishing your favorite pair got more spotlight. I'm a Riku and Kairi shipper in Kingdom Hearts, for crying out loud. :P I get it, but you're not gonna win anyone over to your side by telling them that [insert ship here] is better. In my case, it makes me more averse because of how deeply their relationship in the confidant, engine room, and third sem touched me and seeing people go "yeah, but you are wrong for feeling that way, THIS is better" is just... yeah. :/ (Also, people gotta learn the difference between hitmen and serial killers. Akechi is the former, which I've ranted about before, but yeah.)

So many fandom problems could be solved if people didn't take the piss out of others for shipping something they don't personally like. x_x; By all means, feel the way you feel, it's okay to not like things.

[samandmaxmansionplay]

Mansion Play hiatus + discussion of story

If you didn’t know, this project is currently on hold due to the fact that I’m making my own videogame, unrelated to Sam&Max. In fact, I have a lot of different projects I want to work on, and there is also the fact that I have a personal life, so you can see why Mansion Play might take a very long time for its release. This was always a project made for fun, and it is not abandoned forever, I would like to come back to it from time to time, and maybe one day I’ll have something worth showing.

However, it’s true that there is a lot I would like to talk about this ‘game’, and I tried not to talk about it too much when a closer release was possible. But now that it isn’t, I think I would like to discuss a lot of the ideas, events, characters, ect I have for this game. There will be spoilers ahead, but nothing too big, I won’t reveal who the murderer is or a bunch of other twists, but I will still talk a lot about the story, show a couple of art I’ve drawn and a bunch of the script!

This will be long, but I’m excited to talk a lot. Enjoy!

-Early Development

Mansion Play was my idea for how Sam&Max would handle a murder mystery, I thought it was an extremely fun idea and I’m still surprised they’ve never done it before. I had a lot of very clear ideas since the beginning. I knew I wanted the murder to take place in a glamorous party with celebrities and rich people and I knew I wanted the story to take place in a snowy day, which is why one of the first decisions I made was to give Max a more blue-ish white than usual.

I always liked the idea that the cancelled Sam&Max game ‘Freelance Police’ had, that it had a lot of minigames that made the story flow better. The telltale games tried to do that a couple of times, but it was clearly not the same. A big idea for this game was to revive that concept, aside from the usual puzzles, you would have to go through the occasional minigame to progress the story. It’s one of the reason why this game is called ‘Mansion Play’! Just not all…

I and many others were big fans that the Devil’s Playhouse let you play as Max, so this ‘game’ was going to present a Max feature as well, but only on certain rooms. He doesn’t have psychic powers, he’s kind of useless, but we love him for that!

Overall the idea I had for this game was very vague, but it started to develop further and further and I really liked where it was going. I decided who the murderer was very very early on, it was not a last minute decision, it could not be someone else other than that character and the moment I came up with that idea I was so excited to continue with this project.

(^ actual notes I wrote.)

-The Characters

The game features new side characters and tons of NPCs. These are a bunch of them!

They will help you with puzzles, with the mystery or maybe they won’t and they just give you a bunch of fun dialogue.

But then there is the secondary characters, who have a lot of protagonism and are very important for the story and mystery.

One of the characters has a fun game mechanic, and that’s the fashion designer, who is enjoys reading murder mysteries and would like to solve this one just for fun. She features an Ace Attorney-like mechanic where you can present her objects and she can tell you something about them, or even reveal something you hadn’t seen before.

-Mansion and Game Structure

The game is divided in the different parts of the mansion you can explore, although the game does allow you to walk around freely most of the time.

The mansion is very luxurious but seems to have a lot of toys laying around as well, given the fact that Manny Money, the owner of the mansion, is also the owner of a big Toy company, which is the reason why he’s so rich in the first place.

In the different areas, there is an important character you’ll need to interrogate, but they won’t let you interrogate them that easily, you have to earn it!

Aside from that, there are a lot of secret rooms, some you will need to find to progress the story, others you can find if you want, to learn more about the sam&max mansion play lore.

The game starts outside the mansion and you proceeds to a couple of different areas: the entrance, the main party room, the restaurant and even a kid’s play area. Then a murder happens, whoops, and now it’s time to explore the rest of the mansion!

You start with the Casino/VIP play area. There you will find the capitalist pig character, who is too distracted playing poker and having a good time to waste his time with you two.

Then you will go to the Pool/Aquarium area. There you will find the fish character, they are very anxious and you need to find a way to calm them down.

Then you will go to the library/computer area, you want to talk to the fashion designer character but it seems she has questions for you too. She is a reporter after all, nevermind if it’s for a fashion magazine.

After that you go to the theater area, to talk to the theatrical skeleton supervillain character. But he wants to enjoy some good theater, you shouldn’t bother him, he has minions and a gun. You should find another way to convince him to talk.

After that well… a lot happens! Keep exploring the mansion, maybe the mystery will start to make more sense. Or maybe it will make less sense, which means you’re doing a good job!

Aside from the mansion. Each chapter begins with a short flashback with Sam and Max as kids! It will make sense later.

-The Demo

Maybe I can’t talk much about the rest of the game… but I think we can talk about the first chapter! In fact, I would like to summarize it. I want to share some of the story already, I don’t mind if it’s just the beginning. There will be spoilers though!

You have seen the opening already. (And if you haven’t, here it is!)

After that you already know (another video!) that you need to convince the body guard that you’re totally one of the guests of the list. You collect a bat in the process. After that, you enter the mansion! You get to briefly talk to a woman with a gossip podcast and to one of the butlers of the mansion.

---

Sam: This sure is a nice party, huh?

Gossip Lady: Oh, you bet! I can’t believe how fast Manny Money has organized it despite the short time… and the break up, and his company crashing and burning as we speak… I guess he really needed this party, huh?

Sam: You know normally my partner and I go through a dialogue tree and a tedious amount of object hunting to get the information we need, but you’re just giving us those unfortunate news about Mr Money like an old classmate in a highschool reunion.

Gossip Lady: What can I say? That’s my job.

Gossip Lady: By the way, did you know Mr Money is actually 46 years old? A whole. year. older. than what he says he is!

Max: Scandalous!

Gossip Lady: I know right?

---

You go use the elevator (or the stairs, in Max’s case) and arrive to a hallway. Suddenly, the capitalist pig shows up and shoves Max out of the way, what a jerk.

---

Sam: You okay, Max?

Max: I will be when I break that guy’s legs!

Pig: Mhm? Oh I’m sorry, I’d say that was an accident…

Pig: But it wasn’t! I just like pushing people inferior than me!

Max: Well how about I push YOU down the stairs?!

Pig: Hah! I’d never use such a commoner thing like the stairs! Good luck trying to push me off a high class elevator, though. Now, I must leave, I hope you think about this experience tonight, crying helps you fall asleep easier!

Max: Grr!!

Sam: Just ignore him, Max, I’m sure that guy will get enough punishment in the afterlife

Max: I’ll gladly help him get there as soon as possible.

---

You walk down the hallway, there are two doors: the kid’s area and the main party area. But outside the kid’s area there is a kid playing with an electric toy car. The toy works with a mic, which you might need later. For now, you talk to the kid and find out he’s Manny’s nephew. And he’s a jerk too!

---

Max: Sam, I normally love kids who are massive jerks. Why do I wish for this kid to fall down the stairs?

Sam: He’s rich, Max.

---

You make your way to the main party room, and you see all of the main characters having… a conversation? Not a super pleasant one, though. Here shines the personality of each one of them.

---

Manny: It’s about time you show up. I was starting to get excited you were not coming!

Pig: Ohohoho, Manny, your attempts to embarrass me in front of so many people are pathetic, even if it’s working.

Manny: Forgive me, old friend, I know you’re not good at comebacks

Pig: … Heh.

Manny: Before you interrupted us, we were having a bit of a predicament. I was wondering if someone else would like to give a speech by my side.

Mysterious Woman: Why would you want that?

Manny: It’s yearly event, dear! We are all busy important people, when is the last chance we’ve gotten a chance to all meet together?

Mysterious Woman: Don’t call me ‘dear’.

*Skull shows up* Skull: What is this I heard about a speech?

Manny: Ah, hi Skull…

Skull: I would love to join you, Manny! You know I love a good audience. I give speeches all the time to my enemies- That is to say, to my business clients.

Manny: Right.

Manny: That is… so kind of you-

*Fashion designer shows up* Fashion designer: Mr Money, hi, can I have a few questions?

Manny: Oh! Is this an interview? I’m great at those too! Gossip magazines love me, I’m great at creating conflict, right Mr Pig?

Fashion designer: No, fashion magazine. So, what are you wearing? Tell us.

Manny: Ah. Well, a… beautiful expensive blue suit.

Fashion designer:…

Fashion designer: Mr Money do you know anything about fashion?

Mysterious Lady: He doesn’t.

Manny: Ah! Hahahah! You got me! I suppose this old man knows more about kids toys.

Fashion designer: It seems he does, yes.

---

Manny then reveals that this is going to be his last party! But why? Oh well, it seems his mic is broken and can’t make his speech, so if you want to talk to him you might need to help him out with that. But before that, you have characters to talk to! Like a talking goat that just became a millionaire for winning last week’s lottery, a fun music band that is excited to play in a billionare’s party for the first time and both the fashioner designer and the fish characters!

---

> Magazine

Sam: This is a big party, a good opportunity for your magazine, right?

Fashion designer: Yeah I guess, but it’s all what I expect… I wish there was something interesting in this party this year…

Max: Like what? A robbery? Oooh or maybe someone stealing some celebrity’s jewelry, creating a big commotion!

Fashion designer: That’d be cool.

Max: We can make it happen if you ask us to!

Sam: Maybe later, Max.

Max: Ooooh what if there is a murder?!

Sam: Don’t scare the nice lady, Max. Forgive him, he’s always like this, so I’ll keep him away for a while-

Fashion designer: No, that’d be cool too! You know a bit gruesome, I would not want to see the body, but I’ve read a couple of mystery books lately so you know, it’d be a fun coincidence, I guess.

Max: Let’s cross our fingers and wish really really hard!

Fashion designer: Looking forward to it!

Sam: As long as it isn’t me, sure.

Both Max and Fashion designer, at the same time: Spoilsport.

> Manny Money

Sam: How much do you know about Manny Money?

Fashion designer: As much as anyone. He inherited his father’s toy company, the company was successful for years but lately it’s getting close to bankruptcy and for whatever reason Manny keeps making more and more toys, even if it will probably be his downfall. Really weird, but I do like the company’s mascot, it’s cute.

Sam: Well, we didn’t know any of that.

Fashion designer: ...

Max: Stop giving her perfect set-ups for insults, Sam

Fashion designer: It’s fine, I won’t say anything.

Max: To our faces.

Fashion designer: Yeah, you might not want to check my magazine this week.

----

> Life of a celebrity

Sam: How is it like being a celebrity?

Fish: Stressful.

Sam: Yeah, I guess most jobs are.

Fish: Most things are for me.

Sam: But it’s worth it if you have fame right?

Fish: Oh no, I don’t really like being famous.

Max: What? I always thought the main objective was fame! And the ability to be a complete jerk with no consequences!

Fish: Not me, I just really enjoy acting. And making fans happy is nice too… I’m not great at talking with fans but I’m not that good at talking to crowds in general. I’m just glad to inspire people or make them feel emotions with my performance.

Sam: That’s nice, kid.

Max: If I was famous I would ask my fans to make an altar of me and pray every night to give me enough power to become a god.

Fish: W… why?

Max: I need to have something to do after I retire!

Sam: See? It’s a good thing he’s not a celebrity.

Fish: Maybe.

---

You leave the room and ask Manny’s nephew to lend you his mic, but the kid won’t share. They both enter the kids area, and there are a bunch of kids really really bored. It seems like the entertainer is not here, apparently his suit burst into flames or something, so you feel kind of bad for the kids. Maybe you might be able to help each other. They ask you to bring them a bag of candy that is in the kitchen and they will help you with the toy car problem, they hate Manny’s nephew anyway.

When you go back to the hallway to take the elevator, suddenly you see Pig grumbling something to himself about Manny. Weird.

You make your way to the kitchen, there are a couple of NPCs here as well: a grumpy but passionate chef, a celebrity couple that really do not want anyone to know that they are dating (but they totally are), an influencer girl too busy with her phone to talk to you, a kind bartender man and a sad depressed horse. It seems like Mysterious Lady and Skull are here as well.

You try to enter the kitchen, but the chef is strict, if he thinks his food is not ready then it’s not ready, you don’t rush art! You might need to find a way to enter the kitchen without him noticing but how?

---

> We don’t care.

Sam: You’ve got it wrong, we didn’t mean to bother you or find out about your relationship

Celebrity man: W-what relationship?

Celebrity woman: Wait, you’re not paparazzis?

Sam: Huh? Why would you think that?

Celebrity woman: You keep interrogating people and picking random objects. That’s what paparazzis do.

Sam: No no, we’re detectives!

Max: And we’re nobodies! We have no one to tell gossip to. Except each other. Hey Sam, did you hear? These two might be a couple!

Sam: No way…

> So are you two together?

Sam: So are you really dating?

Celebrity man: *sigh* Yes, but it’s meant to be a secret. I’m sorry, honey…

Celebrity woman: It’s fine, I was nervous too, I would have probably panicked too!

Celebrity man: *gasp* Sweetie…

Celebrity woman: Honey…

Celebrity woman: Um… platonic honey!

Max: Platonic honey should be a thing.

----

> The chef

Sam: Do you know the chef personally?

Bartender: Yeah, you could say I do.

Sam: How much do you know?

Bartender: Well, I’m married to him.

Max: That doesn’t answer the question!

Bartender: I know plenty about him.

Max: That’s better!

Bartender: Why? What is he up to right now?

> Candy.

Sam: A bunch of kids have asked for the bag of candy in the kitchen, but your husband seems to have strict rules about the kitchen.

Bartender: Oh yes, he is extremely passionate about his culinary job. Which I find endearing, since I’m passionate about mixology.

Sam: I bet dinner time in your home must always be paradise

Bartender: I don’t like to brag. But yes.

Max: One time I tried to make Sam dinner and the food became sentient

Sam: I appreciated the gesture, little buddy.

---

Skull: Gah! You two!

Sam: You know us too?

Max: Wow, two guests in total! It’s a new record

Skull: What are you doing here?!

Sam: Well, technically we’re only here for a mission. But we should probably tell people that we’re just regular invited guests.

Skull: Ugh, unbelievable… Well… Even though we share a deep rivalry… For the sake of the guests and this party, we should postpone our personal missions with our destinies. For now, we are but strangers sharing a nice evening, but don’t believe this will last. For next day, we’ll be back from the very beginning.

Sam: … Huh?

Max: What’s your name again?

Skull: Hah. Very good, you’re already in character! Anyway, strangers, you’re bothering us, please leave.

Max: Wait, we haven’t said anything yet!

> Manny’s friends?

Sam: We don’t really know much but in some way you seem to know Manny.

Skull: Manny and I have met in plenty of occasions. We both have a large amount of wealth, we both have our own companies, … Things we have in common brought us together, so in a way, you could say we are friends. Although I prefer the term ‘business partners’. Our accompanies are completely unrelated from each other though, I just simply prefer the business title.

Sam: Fascinating. What about you, mam?

Mysterious Lady: …

Mysterious Lady: Yes, I know him.

Sam: …

Sam: Great, thanks.

---

You find out that the chef always gets distracted by a good performance, especially a singing performance. He appreciates other people’s art, but it has to be good! So now you have to find someone that can give a good performance, you start asking around, but you might need the help of the gossip lady to know whose celebrity here is really good at singing.

Sam and Max can perform a song together, it would be a silly optional minigame, but the chef is not impressed. You can also ask Skull to perform and he will read a chapter of his memoirs. It’s quite impressive to everyone except the chef.

---

Sam: That didn’t work at all.

Max: Well it certainly wasn’t for the lack of talent, I almost weep like a baby watching that!

Sam: Yeah, as overdramatic as he is, I feel like a different person after watching that.

Max: Me too! If I didn’t know I like men already, he would have definitely made me realize it!

Sam: I can see that.

Max: We should buy his book! Or at least wait for the movie adaptation!

---

You go talk to the gossip lady, she shares a couple of interesting information about the main celebrities of the story. You find out that the mysterious lady is a famous singer, so you go ask her to sing. She doesn’t seem to want to. But suddenly, all the lights start flickering and the floor starts trembling a little. But just in a couple of seconds, it stops. What was that? Everyone seem a little scared and suddenly the mysterious woman gets on stage and starts performing, to calm everyone down. The chef goes out, he seems to love the performance! Now it’s your chance, you take the candy and go back to give it to the kids. The kids are happy but still bored, so you get a little cute scene of Sam and Max playing with them. After that they all go right next to Manny’s nephew and the kids take his toy car and threw it off the window. Now he has no toy car to play with so you get the mic!

---

Nephew: My- my toy!!!!!

Kids: There you go!

Sam: We could have done that ourselves.

Max: No way, his uncle would have sued us.

Kids: Yeah! So you’re welcome!

Sam: Thanks kids, you are the true life of the party.

---

After that, the entertainer shows up, with another entertainer following. One of them seems to be extremely energetic, the other one is really tired. They give you a map of the mansion as a thanks for taking care of the kids while they were gone. Now it’s time to give Manny the mic!

… Then when you are back, a butler gives Manny a new mic. However, Manny noticed all the effort you did for him, so he wants to thank you! He offers you to go on stage with him for his big speech. And well… I’ll just let the script talk for this final part.

Manny: I wanted to give a speech with someone tonight, but alas, all my friends have left me… Why don’t you two join me instead?

Sam: Uum… are you sure? I mean, this is a pretty important event and you wouldn’t want Max to say something inappropriate that would disturb or disgust your guests.

Max: Yeah!

Manny: Just one of you two is fine, and I suppose you’re right, not all my guests have as good of a sense of humor as I do, hahah! Sam, right? I’d love to have you there with me!

Sam: Oh, I don’t do well with crowds…

Max: Come on, Sam, just imagine everyone naked or something.

Sam: I’m kind of used to that with you as my partner. Manny: Oh oh! It’s starting! Come on, Mr Sam!

Sam: Oh brother…

- All the guests gather in the party room, Sam and Manny are at the top of the stairs. Max is in the crowd and is soon joined by the Fashion Designer. -

Fashion Designer: Oh hey

Max: Hi!

Fashion Designer: You got that mic in the end?

Max: Yeah, but- eh, we shouldn’t have bothered. Sam just likes puzzles too much

Fashion Designer: …

Fashion Designer: Say, be honest…

Fashion Designer: Have you been on this mansion before?

Max: Huh? No, it’s the first time Sam and I have ever been here

Fashion Designer: Okay then, have you been here on your own?

Max: I don’t really go anywhere without Sam, so, no. Why?

Fashion Designer: …

Fashion Designer: I have a friend who thinks they saw you last year.

Max: Mmm… Oh! It was probably that rich guy that looks like me!

Fashion Designer: … I don’t think so.

Max: Um…

Fashion Designer: Sorry, I’m a reporter, I’m just curious about things.

Max: But you’re a fashion reporter.

Fashion Designer: Yeah, so?

Max: You ask strange questions, but I like you!

Manny: Good evening, everyone!

-We switch back to Manny and Sam.-

Manny: Thank you for coming once again to my annual party. Seeing all of this support is what motivates me to make each year better than the last!

-audience cheers-

Manny: This year I’m joined by a new friend, Sam!

Sam: Um… hi.

-audience remains silent-

Max, in the audience: Woooo!! That’s my best friend!!

Manny: Sam and his friend helped me, a complete rich stranger, in a time where I needed it, even when my closest friends were not there for me.

Pig: [Bleep] you, Manny.

Manny: Hahah! But back to my guest. Sam! How did you find the solution to the broken microphone?

Sam: We made a kid cry.

Audience: …

Max, in the audience: Just kidding! I don’t know this guy!

Sam: Mhm.

Manny: Ohohoho! Splendid! What a hilarious guy, right everyone?

-audience cheers-

Manny: But now I wanted to get serious for a second… Everyone, these events have always meant a lot to me. They have helped me through rough times, they have helped me disconnect from all my hard work. Lately it’s been especially difficult, you’ve probably heard some bad news about my toy business.

I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I for one, I’m not scared. Folks, it’s possible that this might be my last party, but not for this reason I want to end things on a sad note

This is not the end, but merely a new beginning.

-The audience gets emotional, some seem to be crying, probably fake tears but who cares. They all give a polite clap.-

Manny: So what do you say, everyone? Let’s have one last joyful party! And let’s find out together, what the next chapter of Manny Money’s life will be like!

-Suddenly, you hear a strange sound. Sam and Manny look up, but before Sam can react, Manny pushes Sam out of the way. Something has fallen from the ceiling. The screen turns to black.-

Max: Sam!

-Max makes his way to the top of the stairs-

Max: Are you okay?!

Sam: Yeah, I’m fine.

Max: Phew that’s good. Sam: But I don’t think Manny... Mr Money are you okay…?

-We see that Manny’s body is laying inert under a big chandelier lamp.-

Sam and Max: …

Max: Well… this is bad, right?

---

And that’d be the end of the demo!

-Conclusion

Hope you enjoyed reading this! This is a very fun project that I wish to continue someday, and I will! For now, let’s hope we get an actual real new Sam&Max game one of these days (that isn’t VR this time).

[angstsplatter]

For the TMNT Ask Game.

1, 4, 12, 23 and 28 :)

Hiiiiii, lovely anon!

From this post.

1.) What was your first exposure to TMNT?

The 90s movies! I have no idea why or what for, but we owned the VHS tapes, and I fucking loved them. I remember trying to learn the Ninja Rap dance in our spare room, lol. The second movie came out the year I was born, and TMNT is so not up my parent's alley, so I really have no idea how I came into possession of them, but the series was one of those shows I could watch over and over again even as I complained about my sister doing that with Matilda. Those movies were my gateway to giving the 2003 show a shot when it came out, which led to me joining a TMNT forum and writing fanfic.

4.) When did you become a fan of TMNT?

Whenever I watched the 90s movies for the fist time, I know I was immediately sold. We moved a lot, so judging by the state I was living in, that was sometime between 1999 - 2003.

12.) Which version of Donatello is your favorite?

Oooh, hard choice! I think Donnie has had some of the most versatile personality changes throughout various series, so he's an excellent one to ask about.

I love how adorkable the 90s Donnie is, out of the loop on all the slang even his brothers are using and being mechanically inclined, giving him the interactions with Casey that later iterations gave to Raph. 2k3 Donnie being such a gentle, curious spirit but who's also so protective over his brothers makes him probably the one I'd most like to hang out with. Rise Donnie's sarcasm and utter off the walls wildness and slight tinge of evil scientist is hilarious and welcome.

But I think I actually have to go with poor, overworked 2k7 Donnie just trying his best to fill Leo's shoes. "It's not that kind of hotline!" is a line that sticks with me and never fails to make me laugh. Something about Leo leaving and Donnie deciding the best thing to do is to try and fit in and live in a world that will never recognize or accept them is just so funny (and a little sad if you think too hard about it). The breakdown of him and Raph's relationship as he takes on the leadership mantle is so fascinating, and I think there's a ton more fanfic potential there than I ever came across. This Donnie is a Donnie that was a child genius and settled into apparent adult mediocrity because he is burnt the fuck out and this is all he has left. And that's so, so relatable. This Donnie's just getting by, and boy do I feel that.

23.) What is one of your favorite TMNT fics?

Oh, I have soooooo many lmao.

There's ofc Nekotsuki's Underdark, which I mentioned in another ask game. The constant self-sacrificing of Mikey and Leo to protect each other is just so beautiful. Also a fantastic older/younger brother study.

I was obsessed with Goblin Cat KC's Bad Places trilogy back in the day. Goblin Cat's writing is what opened me up a lot to what if's and AU's and alternative character readings with the way they often treated Splinter with more disdain as being strict and harsh. It wasn't my reading of Splinter at all, but I found the reading fascinating and it pushed me to more deeply explore character relationships, development, and growth. Also, the Leo angst. On point.

Errosion by Caleigho has always stuck with me emotionally. I don't even remember much of the plot anymore, but I remember always being absolutely devastated by every update. It lives on in my browser history to go back and re-read one day rather than chapter by chapter as updates came out, only half-remembering what was happening.

And there's one I found rec'd on tumblr that I fucking loved and brought me back to the old days of staying up way too late to finish it that I managed to lose track of. So if anybody has that human AU of the boys in HS where Leo learns his "friends" all hate him and make fun of him behind his back and he starts internally self-destructing trying to make them like him, please link me to it. ;~; The angst was delicious. It's the first longer piece of TMNT fanfic I'd read in years, too. [EDIT: It's Stare Directly Into the Sun by remrose, who I'm told has a ton more awesome angst, so yeah, will be checking out their other stuff, too.]

28.) What is one thing you would like to see explored more in TMNT art/fics?

Ooooh, probably more exploration of side characters. Side characters are fun because there's less canon for them, so there's a lot more you can create for them. Back in the day, I'd tried to start an Abigail Finn (monster hunter) Round Robin and couldn't get any bites. I'd been so excited to see different ideas on how to develop her, lol. For Rise, Sunita is a GREAT character and could be a prime candidate for more attention imo.

[chiisana-sukima]

I've been watching Severance and really loving it; stellar acting, stellar writing, stellar cinematography, stellar everything really. And Helly&Helena have fast become my favorite female character of all time.

But (there's always a but), I'm beginning to get the uncomfortable feeling I get when a story has bitten off more than it can chew in ways that end up being Unfortunate. There's this thing a lot of media does where it goes 'what if we had this horrible, speculative trolley problem that's like real life in some way, BUT NOT REALLY! Here are some implications that will hook you in and make great water cooler debates, but don't worry, IT'S ALL IN FUN!'

Which, you know, it is. I'm having a huge ton of fun with it.

Buttttt... I mean. "What if two individuals shared the same body, and direct communication between them was extremely difficult or impossible and they had overlapping but not perfectly congruent goals--who would have the right to that body and how should they treat each other?" isn't actually speculative. That's a very common real world problem with at least a couple of variations (pregnancy, plurality/DID/systems culture) that society as a whole is in the process of imperfectly working through, often at great cost to the individuals involved.

I think there are legitimate philosophical questions to ask here; that's not my issue here exactly. I personally feel very strongly, for example, that in the case of pregnancy, the body belongs to the mother, and ultimately the fetus has no rights whatsoever; and I feel equally strongly that in the case of plurality, it depends on the total circumstances of each individual case what's best for the whole person/system, but cooperation is best if possible. These are not congruent beliefs, and it's worth exploring why I hold them both.

But I've noticed for the most part in the tag, people who are systems are being careful to say "this isn't plural representation, though it has some fun overlaps", and pretty much everyone is ignoring abortion, even though Severance itself has made pregnancy and childbirth front and center. I can see the reluctance to address abortion, since pregnancy and severance are at least not a one-to-one correspondence. But plurality and severance are very, very close. (And I would argue even closer now that we have the creeptastic Jame/Helena single egg "I wish you'd take it raw" breakfast, since traumagenic plurality is so often stereotypically associated with csa.)

And as is often the case with things I find complicated about situations in fandom, I think this is more a problem of the source material than with the response to it. There's now no reason Mark S and Mark Scout can't communicate. All they have to do is walk back and forth across the threshold of the cabin and pass notes. So like, any question of "who has a right to have their agenda met" seems pretty facile to me? They're both standing in the same room and they both do. That's how the structure of the show was set up. And maybe the show will address that in the next episode and I'm being premature. But if it doesn't, and instead pretends tragedy is inevitable, that's a failure of the text imo.

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

I am so excited for you current wip! I love alt history, and the premise you are working on sounds really cool. Also, I know I'm just a stranger on the internet but I hope you're not putting too much pressure on yourself? You're a great writer and as long as you have fun with it I'm sure we'll love it too!

Also, great to hear you've considered a sequel to TOSMM. Ever since I read it, I kind of thought it'd be great if we could have more written for this specific universe. The premise offers so many possibilities of interactions between Paul and other characters.

hey anon!! thank you for this message, it's so sweet :)

I do probably put myself under a lot of pressure in certain ways, but it hasn't sucked out the joy of writing so I wouldn't worry too much about me for the time being. I feel like partially it's just the price I pay for letting a story stew inside me for literal years before actually starting to write it; it creates anticipation for myself more than anyone and so I feel compelled to deliver.

Yeah, my sequel idea for Paul was actually specifically Linda-focused because I think it would contrast TOSMM in interesting ways, but there's a ton of other scenarios which would be worth exploring, including what it might entail to revisit memories from early childhood. (Also, this is a longshot but I would actually find it very cool if other authors wanted to write something in the "Nothing-verse", as I've dubbed it.)

I also have a John perspective story in mind, a bit more general in scope, sort of capturing his experience through the years (both of these projects are only about 1k words long, to be clear EDIT: I just checked. they're 400 and 650 words long lol). The reason I started that was that, when I first started working on the fic three and a half years ago, the very first thing I wrote was the end (which I then completely rewrote before publishing); because I only had a vague notion of the full plot at that point, a lot of the original dialogue of the end scene was essentially lore-dumping and a fair amount of that lore (e.g. who John's "first" was) got left on the cutting room floor and I wanted to find a way to share it without overloading the TOSMM's last chapter.

I don't know yet what will become of those projects but know that they do exist and I may return to them one day :)

[tomb-of-flora]

I am a huge fan of Darkest Dungeon. I've played it like 3 times all the way through and like 10 times part of the way through before college demanded my time and I forgot about it. But I am only now getting to the Darkest Dungeon corner of Tumblr and seeing that there are tons of consistent ships and head canons. I am delighted. Next time I have a free day I'm just going to explore wildly.

Every time I do a full playthrough I take intense notes on all my characters and their dynamics and stuff. I have a notebook that is filled with pretty much exclusively Darkest Dungeon character details and ships and how characters degraded over time or what their deaths meant to each other. And I always do my character too, but she doesn't get THAT much detail cause it's more fun to focus on the characters who you actually see. It's perhaps a little embarassing how often I play out full conversations doing character voices alone in my room while going through a dungeon. I want so badly now to find that notebook so I can just pour over everythng I'd written and see what characters I ended up favoring.

I remember in my first playthrough I had a Graver Robber and a Vestal in kind of a rivals to lovers situation, and a Hellion that fiercely loved my best Antiquarian. That was just one party, but that was probably my favorite one. I have no idea what ships people think/talk about the most though because I literally don't know a single person other than me who is into this game.

Anyway, all this to say my mind has been opened to possibilities never before concieved already and I am very excited to learn more about what people have been saying at this party I am insanely late too. IF ANYONE SEES THIS AND WANTS TO DO ME A HUGE FAVOR, PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE TAGS ARE FOR SAPPHIC SHIPS BECAUSE THAT IS SOMETHING I REALLY WANT TO EXPLORE/SEE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE THINKING ABOUT

[bytedykes]

Artist Asks! 1, 5, 6, 10!

Do you prefer traditional drawing, or digital?

i used to draw almost exclusively digital but lately ive been reallyy getting back into traditional art... i think overall i prefer traditional more currently! i think i have better control over the lines i made when im using a pencil or pen than when i do digital if that makes sense

another thing is that digital art strains my eyes really badly :( i can look at my computer for hours at a time no problem but as soon as i start Drawing on my computer its only maybe an hour or two before i have to stop and give my eyes a break which sucks

ive also been trying to explore more mediums in traditional art this year which ive been having a lot of fun with! i think my watercolor skills have really improved :) and im even giving gouache another try akjskg

5. What’s your favorite thing to draw?

yaoi LMAOOOO

no im kidding i think my favorite thing to draw. well the honest answer is The Characters eating my brain. but more generally i love drawing people i think its really fun. esp faces!! an overly specific bit is um i got into xianxia stuff this year and i reallyyy like drawing the collars on the robes jkasfj like all the overlapping clothing layers...

6. What’s your least favorite thing to draw?

LEGS. I HATE HGJKHAKGK I HATE!!!! i can NEVER get the proportions right on the first or even second try and i just really struggle w them for some reason?? feet too. maybe my new year's resolution can be actually doing anatomy studies and improving my leg drawing skills

10. Are you confident about your art?

honestly yeah!! i definitely think i have a ton of room to improve especially in anatomy and the skill of actually like, finishing pieces instead of just sketching bullshit all the time, but i like my art and comparing my current stuff to a few years ago ive really improved a lot :)

[erstwhilesparrow]

9, 18, 20?

ao3 wrapped game

hi!! :]

9. Favorite pairing you wrote for this year?

oh gosh that's difficult! the vast majority of my work exists because i'm deeply interested in and delighted by the character relationships i'm writing; how do i pick a favourite! i'm gonna say e1 gem/jimmy is my favourite, because that's a really crunchy relationship that i have written stuff i'm happy with but still feels like there's more room to explore :3

18. The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

i waffled on picking someone that was purely [i haven't this person's pov so i don't actually know their deal] but really i think it's life series lizzie. some of this is probably the usual [i don't know this character very well], but some of it is also like... lizzie is incredibly funny and can/does play up the funny bit even if it makes her look worse, i think? and figuring out how to translate that into the more serious tone i wanted for a fic without losing lizzie's voice/mannerisms was. tricky. i'm still not sure i got it right, but all things considered, i'm fine with it if she came out more serious/grim than she is in her videos.

the other complicating factor is i knew how the fandom talked about her long before i actually watched her videos, which means that while also having to learn What She's Like, i had to consider what fanon thinks she's like and make decisions about how much weight i give to that? because sometimes fanon is like that because people genuinely know stuff i don't! and sometimes fanon is like that because mcyt fandom loves to just decide things are true when they did not happen even a little bit. frustrating to navigate. but i survived!

20. Which work of yours have you reread the most?

oh god who even knows. nothing sticks out to me, both because i don't reread a ton in full generality and because all of my stuff on ao3 is stuff i'm really interested in! which means i'll probably reread it at least once. i wrote it to be perfectly tailored to my interests, after all. we'll say bring me water, bring me wine because i wrote all in 48 hours and didn't have time to get sick of it while i was writing, so rereading it is just fun, and i'm proud of how it turned out, given i'm pretty sure i wrote it while slightly sick and trying to study for a final :]

[martymcflown]

Oh boy, okay. I just finished Veilguard. I'm going to split my thoughts into non-spoilery and spoilery. I yap a lot.

Non-spoilery:

In terms of enjoyment? I'd say a 8/10. I was emotionally invested in all the characters. I enjoyed the fight mechanics a lot as a warrior (we'll see how I feel in my mage playthrough). I actually felt a lot of motivation to complete as many quests as humanly possible, which is quite different from how I felt during DA:I where a lot of the time I felt like I was running in circles most of the time to complete quests that felt like they didn't matter (and I say this as a DA:I defender).

I do completely understand the critiques from people who say the lore is really lacking. I didn't personally feel like the rich history of Dragon Age mattered much during gameplay. Even choices that can be made in the beginning for your Inquisitor didn't seem to matter much for me (I didn't even get to see the partner I'd chosen for them, kind of lame). I've only heard tell of one variation that matters to the narrative and it's only at the very end. I wish choices like that mattered more, and that the sociopolitical aspects of the series had a greater impact.

HOWEVER, I'm also not as invested in the lore as others clearly are so it didn't detract enough from gameplay for me to say I was unhappy. More like, I think it could have been better. Most of my negative opinions are in the spoiler section though. So, uh. I do recommend this game! I think it was a ton of fun! I'm already playing through as a different character because I was itching to try different choices, even knowing the ending. This is definitely one I'll replay a lot, potentially even more than the last game which I invested hundreds of hours into.

Spoilery thoughts:

Complaints:

-The Varric twist had some emotionally impactful moments, but also I find it pretty cheesy and hard to believe? It was something I'd guessed early on because Varric never interacted with anyone else, but then I convinced myself it was too cheesy to be the actual twist. WELL.

-I thought the ending was pretty anticlimactic, all things considered. I'm pretty sure I got the "good" ending (I only lost one party member...well, two in my opinion because I count Assan as a party member). I guess I sort of expected something like DA:I where there's a celebration at the end where you get to have pleasant goodbyes, as opposed to just "Hey we're about to die but I love you kiss kiss."

-In general, the pacing of the game felt kind of bananas. I can't tell how much in-narrative time passes in the entire game, but if you told me it was only a week I'd believe you. I don't know if I have a great solution to that. Maybe some indication that seasons are passing, or maybe a wait time is necessary between certain quests ("We have to wait for the frost to melt before we can go through the Gate of Blorbus" or something). Part of my disbelief for the Varric twist in part is that NOBODY talks about his death, not even Harding? They've known each other for years. But I guess the breakneck pace is partially to distract you from that.

Random things I really liked:

-Manfred and Assan. I REFUSE TO BELIEVE ASSAN IS GONE, BYE. I also just realized some people have played a version of this game where you lose both Manfred and Assan. I'm so sorry. ANYWAY. Positives. I just think they're precious.

-Loved the environments. Dock Town was probably my favorite, but I enjoyed exploring every map I encountered. Which, big improvement on DA;I (where if I saw one more green expanse where I had to run for three hours to get to a quest marker I would have killed everyone in this room and then myself).

-Thought it was a great touch that companions would continue their conversations after a fight. "Where was I?" etc. It's a small thing but I found it really added to feeling engrossed in the world.

-I like that the companions all have relationships to one another and that there are little touches throughout the game to show they each think about each other. I know there were complaints that everyone...acted like friends? Which, I dunno man. Have you ever made friends? I guess to each their own but their bonds all made sense to me, as well as how the various pairings developed their relationships.

-Even if some of the gender identity stuff felt clumsy at times, I love that it's an option to explore. I love that being trans or nonbinary provides specific dialogue options or changes Rook's relationship to certain characters. I can't imagine playing the game as a cis Rook now.

-I thought there were some fantastic performances from a lot of the cast. I really liked my Rook's VA and was shocked at how moved I was at certain moments in the ending. I think the performances were a major contributing factor to how attached I became to everyone, particularly Lucanis and Emmrich and Taash for me. Oh man, and Harding during her personal quest? Amazing.

-THE LIGHTING!!!! SO GOOD!!!!

My romance with Lucanis:

-Loved it. This is one thing I really don't understand the complaints about, but maybe that's my asexuality showing. I found his character arc really moving and I think the romance added a really nice layer to that. Also, the fanfic potential of Lucanis falling asleep and Rook + Spite playing naked cards? Come on.

My friendship with everyone else:

-I think most of the companions had one really strong theme that carried through each of their narratives. Some of them connected more with me personally than others, but I enjoyed all the personal quests and I cried at pretty much all of their resolutions. I think the only one I found lacking was Neve's? But that's probably my fault for certain choices I made. I'm so sorry, Neve. I doomed our city for the sake of Crow bussy.

-Some of the writing for Taash's storyline felt a bit cheese. However, I'm coming at that from the perspective of a trans and gender nonconforming person who's consumed a lot more media that discusses queer themes than vidya games. So, Taash's storyline sometimes felt like "baby's first coming out", but that was probably for more general audiences who consume the game (and I think the complaints about the game being "too woke" are just...outrageously stupid).