#I do have some more characters for that fanmade chapter idea I had

[seven-thewanderer]

Idk if anyone saw a while ago, when I posted a drawing of these 2 deltarune ocs I had under a mistletoe, but I did actually redesign them!! This is Wix (the candle one) and Lam (the mushroom lamp one, who used to be called Lampshroom, but was shortened to Lam)

(sorry that they're cropped weird, I don't have access to the exact photo, but I did have access to the version I sent to myself through Discord, so I cropped it to zoom in on them mainly)

As I never really explained before, Wix is a shopkeeper, who sells a bunch of candles

and I mean a bunch

Lam isn't a shopkeeper, but she does make coats, since their (imaginary) chapter is a cold spot (it's a thrift store, and in their Dark World it looks like it's snowing, and it's cold like it's snowing, but the snow is really just dust) (and I'm pretty sure dust isn't what the monsters turn into for Deltarune, so being surrounded by dust should be fine... I hope)

But yeah Wix makes candles & Lam makes coats

And here's what they were based off of!!

Wix:

(the peach candle from SNL)

Lam:

(a mushroom lamp found in a random thrift store, idk where, I just found it when I searched up "mushroom lamp thrift")

[maddy-k-reads-all-day]

Amanda the Adventurer Fantapes Series Masterpost.

Hey hey hey everybody! It's Maddy K, the writer of the Amanda the Adventurer Fantapes series! These are just a series of fanmade tape ideas of what could appear in future games. Obviously, since I can't tell the future lore and stuff I had to make up my own, but you guys seem to be having a great time with it.

Here's the current order of the fantapes (this may be edited and revised at any time)

Edit: since Tumblr will only allow ten links per post I'm making separate posts of 8-9 tapes and putting the links to those here!

But don't worry! Here's a list of the current planned tape list!

Part 1

Let's Go To The Library!

Let's Go To The Park!

When You Get Sick.

Let's Go On A Hike!

Let's Start The Day! Version 2

When You Get Sick. Version 2

Our New Friend!

Part 2:

Getting Ready For A Slumber Party!

When You Have A Bad Dream.

Let's Tell Bedtime Stories!

Let's Go To The Library! Version 2

Do You Remember?

When Friends Drift Away...

Let's Go Shopping!

When We Lose Someone

Goodbye!

Check part 3 to see the tape ideas!

I have some ideas for part 3 as well, but it depends on what we do for the ending of part 2. I don't want to get too ahead of myself. :)

Don't worry I plan to write more than just these! However, these are all my ideas and current fics and wips for the time being. This will be updated and rearranged as time goes on.

Oh and btw here's the fic lore if you don't mind spoilers for the fics!

(This will also be updated from time to time as I get new ideas!)

[karmirage]

fic masterpost

yeah i do have other marvel fics on my ao3 but some of them i wrote in high school also some of them i don't vibe with anymore

note that some of these are from a while ago! my perceptions and takes on characters change and grow, so if i wrote something, sometimes i won't agree with the characterization later. keep that in mind.

on that note: many of the old fics name Xuân as Xuyen, bc that was the fanmade actually-Vietnamese alternative to Xi'an before her name was changed in canon.

Family Colors (2018): 1,679 words. Standalone (there used to be a second chapter but I didn't like it so I got rid of it). Gen, Kamala-centric, Civil War II era. To whom do the Captain Marvel colors belong?

cloudburst (2019): 423 words. Standalone. Sam Guthrie/Roberto da Costa. ever wake up to a thunderstorm?

Retail Therapy (2020): 1,209 words. Standalone. James Proudstar/Terry Cassidy. Early-krakoa era -- I wrote this just a bit after krakoa became A Thing, when we didn't know what had recently happened with more minor characters like terry. also i think they're very cute.

Morning Song (2020): 955 words. Standalone. James Proudstar/Terry Cassidy. idk I think Jimmy would like cooking.

if you don't mind me saying so (i love you) (2020): 25,423 words. Part 1 of "love like fools." Sam Guthrie/Roberto da Costa. my funny little fake dating indulgence. the epitome of "I wrote it for me but you can read it if you want" (as so many of my works are). i haven't actually reread this one i have no idea if it's good or not. but it sure exists.

Days Off (2020): 1,523 words. Standalone. Sam Guthrie/Roberto da Costa. Sam wakes up sick and Roberto tries to help.

sunlight (2020): 2,090 words. Standalone. Sam Guthrie/Roberto da Costa. Seasonal affective disorder strikes Roberto.

the whole 'not being dead' thing (2020): 1,094 words. Standalone. Gen. Early-krakoa era. Jay is resurrected and catches up with his new nephew.

Winner Takes All (2020): 2,006 words. Two chapters (so far. might fuck around and add another chapter idk). Sam Guthrie/Roberto da Costa. Utopia-era. sparring and unsaid feelings and also Doug's new ability to read body language.

i don't want to spend my life (without your kiss goodnight) (2020): 1,702 words. Rated M for non-explicit making out. Standalone. Sam Guthrie/Roberto da Costa. the world has not ended so obviously let's party

my home in you (2020): 2,122 words. Standalone. Sam Guthrie/Roberto da Costa. patching up the other's wounds.

The Meaning of Family (2021): 10,926 words. Standalone. Gen. Ruth-centric. Ruth bonds with her family -- because she does have family, and no x man is truly ever alone. Also, possibly, she might kill someone in the future.

live our life like we know we could (ONGOING/HIATUS): 22,300 words. Part 2 of "love like fools." Sam Guthrie/Roberto da Costa. Post mission, post reveal, navigating uncharted relationship waters.

in the name of the moon! (2022): 4,382 words. Standalone. Gen (though it's tagged as Sam/Roberto, and you can certainly read it like that if you want, but that's not the focus). Sam textile artist real To Me. also: halloween and sailor moon.

i mean every word i say (2023): 1,559 words. Rated T for mention of sex. Standalone. Sam Guthrie/Roberto da Costa. Sam's been keeping secrets, and that makes Roberto nervous.

we will never be forgotten (2023): 2,689 words. Standalone. Sam Guthrie/Roberto da Costa. Roberto gets mindwiped, knocked out, and a visitor in the infirmary (in that order).

you're never gonna get a second take (2023): 2,166 words. Standalone. Dani Moonstar/Xuân Cao Mạnh. don't you just love those undercover missions where they have to dress in fancy clothes? yeah so does xuân

nothing holds me back at all (2023): 1,461 words. Part 1 of "the memories that make us." Gen. Dani-centric. Dani rides a horse for the first time (with her father's help).

you can never take this part of me (2023): 1,691 words. Part 2 of "the memories that make us." Gen. Sam-centric. Sam goes fishing with his dad and his gaggle of younger siblings.

~~~

works in progress (that I'm posting to hold myself accountable so I actually finish them someday):

- the rest of "the memories that make us" (i.e. the other 13 parts, one for each of the original nine and the six academy x era students. all of it is me practicing writing kids)

- king/lionheart Sam/Roberto medieval au. even tho I hate royalty the aesthetics kind of slam

- megafic (62 chapters planned! six tie ins! almost fully canon compliant all the way up to war of realms!) the ties that bind & related works wrt the better endings au

- rewriting document of high school fics (mostly samberto. I'm more or less a one trick pony)

- several shorter smaller things that I just have to work up the courage to post (including practice with NSFW writing)

- not a fanfiction: but my long ass academic paper (fully cited) that talks about the mutant metaphor and the actual minorities within the x men and my huge large spreadsheet that goes with it.

[rielzero]

Some information About the bg3 fancomic I'm working on

Still undecided on an actual title for the series, ''oh noes there's tadpoles'' is a placeholder. There's more themes and story in it that I am writing that is unique outside of the videogame. Some ideas I've had were ''A baldurian nightmare'' or ''Take me to Baldur's gate'' but it feels too generic, so its still in the works. The placeholder remains for now. I will not fully shade pages from here onward, most stuff will be flatcolor aside from direction, mood, day and evening lighting (softshade, its subtle.) Unless there's a very cinematic page, I need to reduce how much energy this takes so I can enjoy working on it better without loss of quality. Consistency however is not guaranteed at any point and I get sick pretty easily for those who do not know why this takes long. I don't do this comic for profit. I have no interest in setting up donations or patreon, I'm a disabled person whose income is dependent on government aid. I'm technically not even allowed to earn money. How far is the script? Script tends to get revisions or rewrites before I start thumbnailing, even then I will tweak dialogue or cut corners when I can. Not every element or dialogue from the game will be included, some things are changed because my and my friend's character kind of function as unique ''origin'' characters, which means at times Tav responses or entire scenes do not fit and are rewritten to suit the narrative surrounding our characters better. There's always the troubling thing of ''lore friendliness'' and because I value creative control, DND lore might not always be highly accurate, but I will try. I will make up my own things as I go, too. There's already backstory stuff in connection to some OCs that are not lore friendly. This is a fanmade project made mostly by me, with some input from my friend when it comes to his character. (His character will be introduced in a later chapter.)

These are the current Act 1 Chapters that are scripted. (still tweaking so now and then) I write in between working on the art. If you like the comic, feel free to reblog and link it to your friends! @ohnoestherestadpoles is the account I post it on. for wips and overal just me blogging about random stuff, follow Rielzero, (this account). What about Man Made Fire? My webtoon is on hiatus for the foreseeable future, as you know.. Hyper fixations tend to be intrusive sometimes, so I cannot focus on it at all without getting frustrated with my need to consume Baldur's Gate 3 content and related things. It does not mean I have lost interest in my more personal work, it simply means I don't have the mental resources to prioritize it. I want to have fun when I work on comics. I have a question about something related to this! I have an ask box, feel free to send in. If its spoilery, intrusive, or too invasive, I may toss it instead. Remember to be respectful, I am a person too.

[ifearifearifear]

The FNAF Multiverse (4/10)

Part four, we're getting in it, now.

Chapter 4: Universes

In our last two chapters, we defined the different two main genres of universes in this multiverse. Canon and fanmade. But I never really took the time to explain what a universe is. So here, we’ll be doing exactly that.

Universes, in the context of the multiverse, are independent ‘worlds’ that exist between Z0 and Z-1. They may be part of larger systems, but they function normally without the support of external bodies.

For example, the GAMES universe does not need the TRILOGY universe to function, and vice versa. A piece of fan content like AVS or BTC - while they couldn’t be created independently, due to influences from the canons - can exist independently without issue, as are both fully formed worlds. And the same with other fanmedias, like Spring-trapped, DSaF, the House Party comics, or Tony Crynight’s FNAF series. (I know some of those are real throwbacks. My apologies.) They can exist independently because they aren’t built as elaborations upon canon, but instead as reinterpretations, what-ifs, and stories built to stand on their own.

On a smaller scale, things can be defined a bit differently.

Locally, universes are exactly what they sound like. They’re universes. They can be different in any number of ways, have different events, different characters, different themes, different settings. In this multiverse, the universes typically have some amount in common overall, though what exactly that is varies widely. Some universes merely have their character designs linking them to canon, being functionally distinct, but still recognizable. Most, though, have more shared ideas than just designs.

Typically, universes have a main story, sometimes with alternative timelines that aren’t the creator’s main focus - though some take the form of elaborate webs of timelines, in the form of games with multiple paths, and choose-your-own-adventure stories. These auxiliary timelines functionally exist in the same universe as the main timeline, running in parallel. Note that the term timeline is typically used only to an alternative series of events documented by the creator of the universe, and not fanworks that document a hypothetical series of events. And yet other universes have no particular story, at all.

The most interesting part of universes, however (on the multiversal scale), is how they interact with other universes, and, on occasion, reality. Because they can, and frequently do, interact. Admittedly, canon is quite restricted - but fanmade universes are much freer in terms of interactions. I’ll go further in-depth at a later point, but for now, I’d like to touch on the ways that universes - on a multiversal scale - change with time.

There have always been ‘trends’ within the fan-creator community. As people’s understandings of characters have evolved, many shifts have occurred over the years.

For example, looking further back - or in spatial terms, towards the edges of the multiverse - there’s a particular interpretation of a character, which doesn’t really exist anymore. That being: Purple Guy. Today, that moniker is mostly used in jest - but at one time, it was the only name we had for the man responsible for most of the story. And it was reflective of our rather limited knowledge of him. Which, in turn, allowed for more freedom of interpretation, for better and for worse.

Today, many universes that used that name have been deserted, for any number of reasons. Loss of interest, inaccuracies, toxicity, simply being too busy to continue.

And very fact that raises a question. What happens to universes that are abandoned? What becomes of stories that are discontinued? That’s what we’ll be covering in our next chapter.

- Chapter Navigation -

- 1 * 2 * 3 * 4 * 5 * 6 * 7 * 8 * 9 * 10 -

[arkacarian]

What’s going on with my AU projects

I figured a post like this was in order. I’m going to briefly go over the status of all my AUs and even mention some projects I’ve never mentioned before. But because of me thinking on some things, I’ve decided to make this

Ravagers of the Stars- RotS isn’t going anywhere! I’ve had the idea for it since May 2023, and it’s my oldest and most developed Kirby AU. Hell, probably my most developed AU as a whole. Nothing is happening with it, except that I may remind a friend she promised to do art of the main characters so they can have references

A Forsaken Painting- I was supposed to make a intro post about this one but stuff has been happening in my life so I haven’t yet. But this one is fine too! Another one I’ve had the idea of for a while. It’s one of my more lighthearted AUs because it takes a serious idea and puts a very joking twist on the whole thing

Praefecta Patrya- The last in my trilogy of Kirby AUs I came up with in May-June of 2023, and… yeah this one is still good. Obviously I wasn’t going to touch any of them. These are the first three I came up with

Ado-ption- Ok, this… This one is in a weird place. I offhandedly said I canceled it, but… People really seemed to like it. So, it isn’t canceled, it’s on hiatus. Right now I’m not sure how I feel about Adeleine being like siblings with the Dark Matter Swordsman

ID-A64- One I’ve literally never posted about that’s getting canceled for good reason. Too dark and messed up. I’m not even gonna mention what it was. The title gives away not much, but some information

Dark Matter Dagger- An AU where Adeleine is Dark Matter. Canceled in this form, but I may bring it back differently later on. Removing any influence from DMS because… well, same thing I said in the one for Ado-ption

Friendship Simulator- I’ve actually posted some stuff for this one before, just not the big intro post. Expect to see a lot of it because I can actually draw the characters! It’s a Rain World AU that’s basically a little slice of life thing where all the slugcats live in this weird void together and Enot just wants friends

Deltarune: The Scrapyard- A post-game fanmade chapter I’ve been formulating for a bit! Not technically an AU but it also kinda is because of some stuff. Won’t get a fangame for a long while because I can’t code

Here’s a little list of things I might turn into AUs that I’m putting here because they fit the “what’s going on with my AUs” because I might make these into ones:

- Rain World AU where Rivulet is given lots of genetic modifications by Moon to survive through Saint’s time

- Kirby AU where Elfilis wins and the first thing he does is see what happened to the humans (which doesn’t end well for a certain someone…)

- Deltarune AU where… things happen (not elaborating, this one is very tentative to even get made, unlike the other two)

And, of course…

Deltarune: The Determined Ones- It’s canceled. I’m sorry. It probably won’t ever get uncanceled. Some things happened with it and now I don’t want to make it anymore. The point of it would be ruined or I wouldn’t feel comfortable continuing it after what happened

[vickyvicarious]

do u have any atla fic recs? all time faves? can be shippy or not

Fun fact, I am incapable of holding back on reclists. In other words: brace yourself, anon. There’s a reason I put most of this behind a cut.

First off, these are almost all Zuko-centric, because I shamelessly play favorites. I’ll sort them by author rec, gen, shippy, and then by other characters because honestly the numbers break down well that way. Within those categories it’ll be more just as I think of it, so no special meaning to the order. I’m not always good about bookmarking even my faves, so some excellent stuff will no doubt be missing, especially since I haven’t read a lot of the more recent stuff yet/forgot some really old stuff, but this will definitely still give you plenty of fic to enjoy.

There’s a good number of FFN links on here so apologies to people who dislike it, but a lot of great stuff is still on there so give it a chance.

Author recs

Everything by @awesomeavocadolove​​  Such hits as Another Brother (Zuko adopted by Hakoda pre-S1), and currently has a Zukka soulmate fic I’ve been meaning to start reading, as well as Unchained Melody, one of my favorite Zukka fics ever. Always quality, you can’t go wrong.

Everything by KimberlyT.  I do not kid. She’s written a variety of ATLA fic ranging from Zutara/other romance to gen, seriously emotional to cracky cabbagebending. I think my favorite is probably Mismatched (S1 Zuko adopts a baby) but honestly just go read it all.

Everything by @emletish-fish​​. She has a very fun writing style and honestly her end-of-chapter notes on why she’s made the choices she has are fun minimetas worthwhile in their own right. Some of her top fics are the Stalking Zuko series (S3 suspicious Katara to Zutara) and The Worst Prisoner (the Gaang kidnaps Zuko in S1 and can’t get rid of him). I think there’s still a good amount of her fic that can only be found on FFN so check there too.

Everything by @botherkupo​​. Especially her Undying Fire series (healer!Zuko) but also just literally everything she writes, it is all so great. Tends toward Zutara but strong gen fics as well sometimes and a lot of fun. Check it all out!

Everything by @muffinlance​​. Loves to toy with her readers’ emotions in the best of ways. Tons of fantastic gen Zuko-centric AUs, I have adored every single fic I’ve ever read by her, can’t praise them enough. Very productive as well, her tumblr is a hub for the ATLA renaissance and her fics inspire lots of others. Has also organized a fanmade ATLA coloring book for charity so get that once it’s out. In the meantime read everything she’s written.

Everything by Haicrescendo. My favorite is What We’re Given (the series where Zuko finds more air bisons and raises them), but there’s a lot of good Zukka fic too. I tend to steer away from explicit works in this fandom unless it’s a smaller part of a much longer plot-centric fic, so there are a number I haven’t read, but I really like the Pokemon!AU Zukka.

Everything by @gaycinema. I really love the EK fight club series (Zuko fights in Rumbles/etc.) but all of it is a good read. Some Jetko, mostly a lot of introspective or emotional oneshots. Which isn’t really a great depiction of how good they tend to be, you’ll just have to read them and find out. You won’t regret it, trust me.

Everything by @captainkirkk. So far eight stellar fics, starting with kind Fire Lord Zuko and ranging to Floating Tea Shop!Zuko who doesn’t want to hunt the Avatar. I love her style and have laughed out loud at multiple of these. 

Gen Zuko fic

Bringing Out the Blue by maguena1. [unfinished, long] Definitely worth the read. The first ATLA fic I ever got really sucked into. The Blue Spirit never gets knocked out so Aang doesn’t know his true identity; he joins the Gaang on a recurring basis, while Zuko attempts to tell himself this is only for information on how to catch them, they definitely aren’t his friends.

It’s Impossible by Sandra Phillips. [abandoned, long] One of the earliest Avatar!Zuko fics (sort of) and a really interesting take on some spirit stuff.

Embers by Vathara. [complete, long] A landmark fic in the fandom, and for good reason. I didn’t love everything about this fic, but it is very well-written and an absorbing read certainly worth the praise. 

the art of description by incandescens. [oneshot, short] Five descriptions of Zuko and Toph’s field trip from various perspectives. Short, sweet, and funny.

Breaking Point by Kryal. [oneshot, short] Zuko isn’t banished but instead sent to serve in the Home Guard. I love Zuko loving his people, and alternate canon explorations, and this is exactly that.

The Alternative by Lunatique. [oneshot, short] The reason Zuko is so determined is because he fears what will happen if he isn’t the next Fire Lord. An idea I support in canon, to a degree, written well.

Hands and Knees by gigerisgod. [oneshot, short] Zuko reflects on the choices he’s made, and experiences he’s had, when joining the Gaang. A nice introspective fic.

Relative Misery by peroxidepest17. [oneshot, short] Toph complains about her family and Zuko takes her on a field trip. Not a fic I take too seriously, but funny in a sad way.

Second Nature by lazyartisan. [possibly abandoned, long] An AU stemming from Zuko’s capture at the North Pole. Well-written and characterized, an old favorite that I actually find needing to reread to give you more detail, but I can promise it’s good.

Year One by peroxidepest17. [oneshot, short] Lessons Zuko learns in his first year being Fire Lord. I really like explorations of Zuko’s journey as Fire Lord and this is a lovely little window into that.

Soft by PenPistola. [oneshot, short] Zuko and Toph bonding after the Ember Island Players. Short and sweet.

The New Phoenix King by JoeMerl. [oneshot, short] Fire Lord Zuko is overthrown, and no one but him is bothered at all. In fact they help. Hilarious crack.

First Name Basis by JoeMerl. [oneshot, short] There’s some popular posts going around Tumblr lately about Zuko not knowing the Gaang’s names, but this fic did it first back in 2008. As amusing as you’d expect.

Male Bonding by glamaphonic. [oneshot, short] The original ‘Zuko and Sokka bond and are also dumb idiot boys’ fic. Katara is permanently rolling her eyes.

it’s not the waking, it’s the rising by isamagicdragon, thegracious [ongoing, series, medium] Azulon tells Ozai to kill Azula instead of Zuko, which leads to heartwrenching fire sibs adventure. I haven’t caught up on the last chapter yet but god is it fantastic and also just a really interesting and new perspective on what could have happened.

Doe-Eyed by Anonymous. [complete, medium] Zuko is a baby, Azula is a loving big sister. More fire sibs and a great exploration on Azula’s POV of turning against Ozai.

kintsugi by discordiansamba. [ongoing, series, long] Zuko doesn’t have Iroh after being banished, and winds up hired as a guard to protect the frail Beifong daughter. Fantastic preseries Zuko+Toph found family fic.

Legacies by WildInkling. [ongoing, medium] Far in the future, a historian studies the journal of Fire Lord Zuko. Also, he was secretly a famous author but no one knows. A funny and poignant outsider POV.

#UndercoverZuko series by naggeluide. [complete, series, short] A completely cracky concept written straight enough to be actually quite touching in parts, but also just really funny. Zuko goes Undercover Boss on his ship pre-series.

Avatar Ficlets by JaggedCliffs. [series, oneshots, short] An ongoing series of disconnected oneshots, mostly post-canon and mostly Zuko-centric. Some a pretty fun, one is a great view on Zuko and lightningbending, all worth the read (and follow for when more come out).

The Blind Leading the Blue by BrusselsSprout. [ongoing, medium] An epic Zuko and Toph field trip set in S2. I love them and this.

half in the shadows, half burned in flames by r_astra. [oneshot, short] Iroh dies, Zuko gets caught on the Day of Black Sun, everything ends up all right but damn does it hurt getting there.

A Tale of Earth and Fire by chiiyo86. [complete, medium] Zuko and Toph are married for Politics in a FN Wins AU, and follows them slowly bonding as friends to beginning a revolution. They’re married but it’s not romantic, just some good friendship.

Eight Principles of Yong by psocoptera. [oneshot, short] An exploration of immediate post-show FN politics (sort of), calligraphy, and Zuko. Also has some lovely non-fighting firebending; I always love when people explore other uses of bending.

Healing Properties of Cinder Sage by Dawen. [oneshot, short] Zuko gets very sick in the Western Air Temple. Some good interaction when he’s new to the Gaang, and Toph+Zuko friendship.

We Ourselves Must Walk The Path by WinterSky101. [complete, medium] The Gaang agrees to make Zuko their prisoner in the WAT. Speaking of new-to-the-Gaang, tension, this fic has plenty of it, and also features some good Toph and Zuko.

Frozen by Aris Merquoni. [oneshot, medium] Zuko is captured in the NWT. Some politics, lots of angst, and eventually, healing. Also actually makes me somewhat like Hahn? Incredibly enough.

Reluctant Hero by PAW_07. [ongoing, long] Avatar!Zuko fic. I got to beta it way back when for a little while before I got too busy, and have always been a huge fan of this fic. Great concept, one of the best executions of it I’ve seen, and also one of the first. Definitely read this.

Morality Chain by Pureauthor. [abandoned, long] Azula and Zuko were always on each other’s side; how this changes canon. I love this concept and would happily read a lot more fics with it (please guys, I need more fire sibs).

A viper-lizard’s tales series by Yumi_Take. [ongoing, long] The world needs more of Zuko adopting pets and small children, and those are just facts. This only has one of the two, but it’s a EK baby! Jet plays a big role in this fic as well, a weird kind of uncle-ish to the baby/friend/murderer Zuko needs to watch closely and hold back kind of thing.

(life happens) wherever you are by howlikeagod. [ongoing, long] Katara doesn’t find Zuko and Iroh in the teashop, and canon takes a sharp left turn. Excellent Gaang fic.

The Best Path series by EudociaCovert. [series, ongoing, long] Zuko meets Jet in ‘Zuko Alone’ and winds up getting claimed as theirs by the remaining Freedom Fighters. Really really well-written, I got quite emotional over some scenes.

Shippy Zuko fic

Balm by Thyme In Her Eyes. [Maiko, oneshot, short] A sweet little fic about Mai’s thoughts on Zuko’s lightning scar.

The Black Games by Mrs. Pettyfer. [Zutara, complete, long] Hunger Games-esque AU. It’s the first in a series, and I lost interest after this one but I remember enjoying the fic and it was more personal preference rather than a drop in quality that had me leaving.

Lie To Me by Inkcharm. [Toko, oneshot, short] I’m not actually a fan of this pairing romatically (at least until years down the line), but this little fic of Toph and Zuko bonding through lying to one another is sweet. I choose to ignore the more shippy parts and enjoyed it.

Zutara? What the heck is that? by Ryxl. [Zutara, oneshot, short] Complete crack, have a good sense of humor and I think you will enjoy. Just the mental image of the Gaang finding a Zutara propaganda flyer had me chuckling.

The Three Chores series (1, 2, 3) by Fandomme. [Zutara, threeshot, short] Zuko and Katara slowly bond as he helps with chores. I will admit it’s been years and I barely remember this, but what I do recall is lovely and I always appreciate people lightening Katara’s load.

read the inscription by suzukiblu. [Zuko/Song, complete, series, medium] When Zuko is banished, he is left alone in the Earth Kingdom to fend for himself. Very touching, and I love Song in this.

Hooked by TGP. [Jetko, complete, long] A classic ‘Jet didn’t see Iroh warming his tea’ fic. They’re almost all this premise but so many well-written and very long ones. 

Something To Hold Onto by Wildgoosery. [Jetko, complete, long] The EK fell and Li stayed to fight with the Freedom Fighters to protect the city during its foreign rule. Jet didn’t see the tea fic that goes very AU from canon.

Foxfire by Rahar_Moonfire. [Jetko, ongoing, long] Zuko loses his memories Jetko fic, but with heavy spirit influence and lovable EK OCs, both of which I adore and should be in far more fics.

Once Upon A Teashop by anaer. [Zukka, Jetko, ongoing, long] Cracky Ba Sing Se AU that gets gradually more and more serious. Jet hits on Zuko a lot and Sokka gets a job in the teashop to keep an eye on both of them. Endgame Zukka but heavy Jetko, and both pairings are handled pretty well, not a love triangle that makes me too mad, although as always bear in mind Jet’s messed up. 

Names by TGP. [Jetko, complete, long] I feel like I’m forgetting some more excellent Amnesia!Zuko fics, but this is one I do know of. To be honest I don’t remember it super well because it may be mixed up with other Jetko/amnesia fics in my mind, but I think it was really good. I’ll have to reread myself.

Epistles by Lady_of_the_Flowers. [Zukka, ongoing, long] I love epistolary fic and I love Zuko and Sokka bonding earlier in canon. I will be honest I haven’t read this in a long time and been updating all the while, but the premise alone (Zuko and Sokka become messenger-hawk-pals in S1 and then fall in love) is fantastic. 

Ozymandias, King of Kings by Think_of_a_Wonderful_Thought. [Zukka, ongoing, long] Zuko rebels earlier and actually is sent to the mines, until he is ‘rescued’ by the Water Tribe. Dark but getting lighter over time, and more reluctant-to-rule Zuko which always wrenches my heartstrings. I prefer super loyal and dutiful to his people Zuko but this trope always makes me feel things.

Crossovers

Fallen Drops of Fire by Chasmfiend. [Fullmetal Alchemist, ongoing] Young Azula and Zuko somehow appear in Amestris, and encounter Roy Mustang. I adore the fire sibs, and their relationship in this strange situation is the star of this fic for me, but it’s also fun seeing the FMA perspective of these two.

The Dragon-King’s Temple by Kryal. [Stargate SG-1, long, complete] The best crossover fic out there. Zuko and Toph get stranded on the other side of a Stargate. I don’t know anything about SG-1 but it didn’t matter, the fic was fantastic, they were badasses, it explored language and culture from an outside perspective, and it was just a ton of fun. Must-read.

Other character fic

Loyalty by Julia451. [oneshot, short] The ship captain didn’t misspeak when he called Iroh and Zuko “prisoners” in the start of S2. A lovely look at a nameless character, giving depth to a small moment and humanity to a FN soldier which I always love.

The Only One by HarlowR. [oneshot, short] An excellent exploration of Azula’s mindset regarding Zuko, her desperate need to be loved and jealousy of him matching his own. I think Azula was one of the greatest tragedies of the show, and this fic makes me feel it.

Blood by theAsh0. [oneshot, short] Katara-centric thinkpiece on bloodbending and healing. Dark but really interesting.

Touch and Go by Cadence. [oneshot, short] After Iroh’s struck by lightning, Toph doesn’t let Zuko drive them all away. A momentary alliance and the seeds of friendship. More Toph-focused but still heavy on the whole Gaang.

Shortcomings by Menamebephil. [oneshot, short] Iroh thoughts during his imprisonment, on the theme of mistakes. I love this man and don’t understand why I am so drawn to fic about him that makes me sad.

Watch And Review, Please by Becca Stareyes. [oneshot, short] The Ember Island Players receive some constructive criticism... sort of. Funny and quick.

Azula Redemption Trilogy (1, 2, 3) by Mistress of Sarcasm. [threeshot, short] Second person and deeply introspective, three short little fics delving into Azula’s head and bringing her closer to redemption.

Echoing Refrains by catie_writes_things. [oneshot, short] I really like nuanced explorations of the whole FN royal family. It’s perfectly fine to write Ozai as pure evil bastard, but exploring  what might have been or how he got there, or even as in this fic his talent for music being inherited by Zuko is really interesting too. Iroh-centric.

our curse by ohmygodwhy, and the last dragon by thesometimeswarrior. [twoshot, complete, short] Stay away if you don’t like to cry. In the first Zuko learns Ozai is executing Iroh, and isn’t able to stop it; the second is even worse because it’s Iroh’s POV. I put this in the other characters section because honestly I adore the second fic even more than the first, but they are both fantastically written and will hurt you a very great deal.

Finally, I’m not quite bold enough to put my own fic on a reclist, but just shameless enough to mention I’ve written a few Avatar fics I quite like if anyone feels the desire to check them out on my AO3. ;) But seriously give love to all the rest of these, they deserve it. (And as I said, there’s lots more excellent stuff, this fandom is so prolific and well-written!)

[dancingdimitri]

Well, it’s officially been a year. On March 23, 2020, I unboxed the secondhand Switch we had obtained by some incredible stroke of luck, solely for the purpose of playing Fire Emblem Three Houses, and started my first ever playthrough--Blue Lions route, of course--which I affectionately dubbed “Dimitripocalypse.” I chose this name because immediately prior to actually playing the game, I was aware of several facts:

- I was somehow already in love with Dimitri. - The Blue Lions story was both 1) centered on Dimitri, and 2) tragic. - I do not handle tragedies well.

(spoilers following, obviously. And lots of introspection.)

I knew about Three Houses since its release, but waited until many months later to actually play it for a few reasons: we (“we” meaning myself and my twin, Aki) didn’t yet possess a Switch; getting our hands on a system, plus the game, was an investment of several hundred dollars; there were no Switch games other than Three Houses we had significant interest in playing at the time, and besides, we were already plenty occupied with Fire Emblem Fates and the multitude of older games keeping us entertained on our outdated handheld systems. Our original plan was to buy a Switch for our birthday in May of the year following the release of Three Houses. Once the news of an impending lockdown started to spread, though, it became apparent that if we were going to get a Switch any time in the foreseeable future, that time was now. Our in-person shopping was mostly fruitless--no Switch, but we got our copy of the game while we were out (we like our physical copies)--but by some miracle we managed to find a previously used system for sale online: in retrospect, probably one of the last ones to be sold for a very long time after that.

By restraining myself from actively seeking out fanmade content, I managed to avoid significant spoilers for Three Houses. Inevitably, though, as months passed after the game’s release, I absorbed tidbits of knowledge that happened to roll by on my social media feed. I probably learned about the general concept and organization of the game (for example, obviously, the fact that there were three houses; more specifically, that it was a tragic story, and there was a timeskip somewhere in the middle), and the names of a few characters, but my recollections of my initial phases of information osmosis are fuzzy at best by now. My earliest memory of having a cohesive thought about anything in the game was sometime around September of 2019, when I happened upon Dimitri’s post-timeskip portrait. Immediately upon setting eyes on it, my heart went: He’s the one.

I still haven’t figured out what my heart does or how it works in such tight coordination with my eyeballs, but I have this tendency to abruptly fixate on one character in a given series, thereby selecting my single, immutable favorite character for that series. Yet, even as I subconsciously judge these characters based purely on appearance, when you also factor in aspects like personality and backstory, which I inevitably learn later, I somehow manage to also have a very consistent and predictable “type.” This was exactly what happened with Dimitri. Granted, it took me until February 2020 to form a significant emotional attachment to him, to the point where I was thinking about him constantly, but I never doubted from the beginning that it was Dimitri who would be the source of my “brainrot.”

I always wonder how things might have been different if I didn’t know about Dimitri beforehand: would I still have picked the Blue Lions house, solely because blue is my favorite color? Would Dimitri still have drawn me in through his many characteristic charms? Or would I have picked a different route, a different favorite character? How many things would be the same as they are today? But then I remember one of my favorite passages from what has been my favorite manga since my adolescence: [There’s] no point in thinking about the things I could have done, because there’s no guarantee that any choice is the right one. Alas, the timeline that exists right now is the only one that I know for certain, so it’s the only one I can discuss at length.

Sometime in the months that passed between finding that portrait and the beginning of lockdown, my knowledge of Three Houses had grown more cohesive, as vague as it still was. I knew that Dimitri was a tragic character who, due to some sort of traumatic events earlier in the story, became significantly more emotionally troubled after the timeskip. Looking back, I think this ended up being just the right amount of knowledge to have about the game before I started playing, because at any given point I had the faintest idea of where the story might be going, but no clue whatsoever about how it got there, and, perhaps most importantly, I still did not know how it ended. Nevertheless, another notable reason I hesitated for so long to play Three Houses was because I knew I was faint of heart and not adept at coping emotionally with even fictional tragedy; knowing what I did about Dimitri, I assumed playing Three Houses would leave me in a significantly worse emotional state than I had before playing the game. (I already struggled with generalized anxiety, a stressful family life, and recurring nightmares.)

Fortunately, I was very wrong. Even so, with no way of knowing this at the time, I figured that a lockdown would be the perfect time to start my playthrough. I was temporarily furloughed from my day job for the foreseeable future and obviously had no plans to go anywhere or do anything, so if I was going to get emotionally wrecked and needed significant time to recover, I might as well do so while I was stuck at home anyway.

(Side note: we could have gotten a Switch Lite with much less hassle if we wanted to, but we opted against it because we wanted to utilize the large television we had in our living room at the time. This ended up being an excellent decision. Second side note: it took me a few days to figure out there was a button on the system itself for taking screenshots, but I’m too sentimental to delete my lower-quality phone pictures.)

On the first evening after dinner I played for only about 45 minutes, enough to select my house. I ended up restricting myself to playing only in the mornings after that, because I lost practically all of my sleep to speculating. I primarily remember wondering about the deeper aspects of Dimitri’s character--what kind of person was he, really? I wrote an unnecessarily detailed paragraph about all of my guesses, based solely on his dialogue up to that (very early) point in the game, synthesized with things I knew about myself. I supposed, with the reservation that these were just wild guesses, that he might be very much like me. Every last one of my guesses turned out correct.

I experienced the story roughly one chapter at a time in two- to three-hour sittings, to allow myself ample time for emotional processing. I figured I might need it, and again, I was right.

As they say, the rest is history. Writing out all of the impressions I recall from Dimitripocalypse would make this post more needlessly long than it already is, and you can gather most of those from my regular posts, anyway. For the sake of as much brevity as I can muster, I’ll skip to the most important conclusion: I’m so glad I played this game.

Again, things could have easily turned out much differently. I very nearly stopped playing the game entirely after Dimitri’s sudden outburst at Remire Village gave me a panic attack so awful that I struggled to manipulate the controllers because my hands were trembling so badly. (I would have quit then and there, but I didn’t realize what was happening until after the fact.) But, after having Aki look up the ending to the route to confirm that it was indeed happy (for Dimitri, anyway--an important distinction), I persisted, also keeping in mind another favorite quote: something about the importance of continuously making an effort to understanding someone you love, even though not understanding them is “the greatest fear.” In retrospect, with how Dimitri’s character arc continued to develop, putting in the effort to reach that understanding at that specific point in the game saved my butt and made the vast majority of what happened later much, MUCH less of an emotional slap in the face. And with how the story progressed, I needed as much free cognitive space for emotional processing as I could get. The post-timeskip reunion with Dimitri led to my first good, cathartic crying session that I could remember in probably seven years. If I remember correctly, think it lasted a total of an hour and a half.

Even with that in mind, or maybe because of it, Dimitri’s renewal halfway through the second part was the single most cathartic moment I can recall ever experiencing. With how hopelessly attached I already was to Dimitri even before knowing the grisly details of his upbringing, the development of his story felt quite literally like something chipping away at my soul. Dimitri’s second peripeteia, then, wherein he realizes his past mistakes and decides to change for the better, evoked the sensation of my soul gently being reassembled, each broken shard softly being set perfectly back into place. I’m still not entirely why a fictional story felt so much more therapeutic than any therapy I had ever gotten up until that point. Somehow, though, just by experiencing that moment, I no longer carried with me a background-noise level of emotional anguish that had, at some point, become my default state.

With all of that said, I’m not entirely sure how to start wrapping this up.

It’s been a year since I took my first fateful step into the world of Fire Emblem Three Houses. There was no way of knowing where the steps after that would take me, even if I did predict a few aspects of the story. I’m certainly happy I was wrong thinking that I would end the game in a worse place than I started. Now I’m standing here looking back, one year later, amazed at how all of these experiences culminated into the present I know today.

I was always entertained by how, when you select which house to lead at the very beginning of the game, Rhea responds with “Your heart has made its choice.” My reply is always: “Yes... yes, it certainly has.” Maybe in some alternate timeline, it is true that this path was a choice I consciously made for myself. But in my current reality, that is not the case. Somehow, my heart makes its own choices independent of the thoughts in my head, and this particular choice is just one river joining the flow of time that continues to sweep me along.

My recurring nightmares never stopped entirely, but they significantly declined in frequency and severity. Moreover, for once, I even recalled a few good dreams I had: those, for me, are rare. I can count on one hand the number of such dreams in which Dimitri unquestionably appeared. One in particular sticks out in my memory to this day. I think of it whenever I have to negotiate with my estranged mother and I resort to perhaps unnecessarily diplomatic, emotionally distant and yet affable language; when I converse with someone about  how it is crucial to discern when to change what is unacceptable and when to simply accept it anyway, even if--especially if--when the thing in question is something about yourself; when I keep in mind that, as much as I’d like to care for others until all of their needs and wants are met, because it brings me joy to see them happy as much as it pains me to see them hurt, there are times when I have to care for myself first, or else I will have none of myself to give.

Oddly, or perhaps, just as it should be, this dream did start out more like a nightmare. I recall feeling very anxious. But the difference this time was that Dimitri was there. Though I seldom experience such vivid sensations in dreams that I still remember them after I wake up, this time, the physical contact our bodies made as we embraced felt real.

“Dimitri,” I murmured, though I didn’t know why, “I’m so scared.”

His response, in perfect tune with the sound of his voice in the game:

“It’s all right. I’m here. Even when I’m not by your side, I’ll always be with you.”

[blastoisemonster]

Meitantei Conan: Karakuri Jiin Satsujin Jiken

My review will focus on the "Murder at the Temple of Karakuri" episode (featured in the cartridge shown above), since it's the one I played thoroughly, but it needs to be said that all five games look very similar and apart from, obviously, the different plots -or the lack of colour in case of the two gray cartridge games- they all feature the same mechanics and controls, along with the same quality in audio and graphics department. Later games might also show a few cosmetic upgrades but nothing experience changing.

After choosing our save slots out of the possible three, we're immediately launched into the opening cutscene, giving us context for the upcoming investigation. Right off the bat, the Meitantei Conan videogame shows offs some rather impressive backgrounds and spriteworks, with nice panorama views of the places we're visiting as the protagonist and portraits of the speaking characters, which also change expression depending on their speech lines. The soundtrack isn't immense, but definitely has solid tunes, too: the title screen even plays the main theme straight from the anime! This elaborate sound and video combination makes it feel like we're watching an actual toon episode. As soon as the initial scenes are done, we're off of "cutscene mode" and into "investigation mode", which controls and feels exactly like a classic top-view RPG for Game Boy, with the prerogative that Conan can run and move diagonally. Suck it, mainline Pokèmon games!

In this particular chapter, Conan's gang is initially tasked with finding Satomi Togawa, one of Ran’s friends who has recently gone missing. The search leads them to an ancient temple in the mountains, once home to a ninja clan and therefore still filled with traps, but that now hosts several people. Conan plans to look around discreetly, but all changes when one of the other characters living in the temple, Yuuji, is found dead in his room. Police arrives to the place, and the kidnapping investigations are moved aside in favour of the murder ones. During the game, Conan can obviously look around interacting with various objects and characters to round up clues and/or solve a few puzzles, but he has also other tricks up his sleeve- er I mean, main menu: by pressing Start we gain access to the Map (useful in order to memorize the most complex exploring areas), Character Profiles that display name, picture and basic info of everyone we've encoutered in our adventure (a feature strikingly similar to Phoenix Wright's Court Records), and last but not least all the Key Words of the case: this section pretty much gathers up all clues, thoughts and discoveries we find during the game and by "Considering" them (simply clicking on them, that is) Conan comes up with associations and ideas. If pressed in the right order until a coherent line of thoughts gets formed, the story will progress and new "scenes" are unlocked until the culprit is caught and their motives and modus operandi are explained. We can also stick close to the crime scene and examine the body and murder weapon, which are represented with perfectly gruesome close ups, and thoroughly described where the Game Boy's pixel screen reaches its true limit; we get a description of wounds, state of the body, and approximate time of death, all useful information in order to unveil the mystery. This chapter in particular also had an interesting murder puzzle with seemingly more than one killer at the same time, which made the experience even more pleasant to discover. Among some secondary game mechanics, the player may come across a few multiple choice answers of which only one is correct and guarantees progress; however, if the other two are chosen, there's seemingly no other malus than making Conan act like an idiot, though without changing the order or nature of future events. Conan can also "swap" roles with other playing characters if he talks to them (for example, while in the Karakuri temple we also have the choice of fooling around as Ran or Kogoro). This is not necessary in order to complete the case, but I understand it could be a welcomed touch for fans of the series that would like to experience a certain scene from different point of views; quite infact, it's interesting and funny to see how different characters react to clues or interactions, and NPCs also respond differently depending on who they're talking to. For example, suspects have a hard time responding to Conan while the police is investigating because they feel like it's not a kid's business; also, we learn that Kogoro is a record breaking asshole, as considering Key Words with him leads to absolutely nothing.

After all requirements are met and we're ready to point the finger at whodunit, one final puzzle is triggered in form of a questionnaire: similar to Gyakuten Kenji's logic thinking, Conan tries to summarize the case and put all events and intrigues in order with a series of questions that the player must reply correctly. However unfortunately it seems that just like the other multiple choices we get through the main game, these ones too end up feeling kinda useless for the unfolding of the events. Unmasking the culprit feels kinda a letdown, sadly, as it is presented not as an interactive section but rather as a long cutscene that, as said before, is not even influenced by how many answers the player got right during the "recapping" inner monologue. We don't even get to shoot Kogoro with sleeping needles; the game does it all by itself. That was very unnerving and unexpected, especially for an investigation game, and frankly the most negative point about it. We also get an epilogue where we save Satomi (remember her?) and some minor plot points that link this chapter's plot to the next one, tempting players to get the upcoming new cartridge. And after this, our very last gaming screen: a rating. Turns out that fooling around giving wrong answers only contributes to a less than stellar final score and nothing else in the game, which is honestly a shame, considering that it could have been potentially used instead to present different scenes, ways of investigating, and even possible bad endings. One could argue that this particular choice was made due to capacity limitations for data, but in that case why leave us the illusion that our choices matter? The character swap count is also shown on the score screen: I'm not sure if this counts towards a negative score or not, but I do hope developers didn't mean to penalize players for wanting to explore the game with different point of views (which, honestly, is what a good detective would do instead!).

In Short What's positive about Meitantei Conan? It's a little jewel in term of graphical and audio quality, and an impressive technical experiment that brings a complicated genre such as the murder mystery on a simple console such as the Game Boy, with a positive result. Easy to maneuver, it offers an intriguing story that can be enjoyed just fine either as alone or as a chapter from a saga, since the main plot links every single cartridge together. And it's also so bloody! Once you see this you'll definitely want to see fanmade Phoenix Wright cases on Game Boy. Let's start some projects!

And, what's negative about it? Well, it could have definitely been much more interactive. Except for the main examination part, the player mostly gets to follow the case through cutscenes, and the fact that they can't control any character during the final showdown is definitely disappointing. The multiple choices and logic thinking recap are useless to the story when they could instead add a lot of depth and replayability, so it does feel like developers missed a big chance. Also the fact that we only play through one investigation makes the game feel very short... I would have at least preferred to have two "episodes" per cartridge, but I imagine this was due to capacity limitations.

And that's the game! Very interesting and inspiring, but unfortunately not perfect. Nonetheless, an interesting piece for every kind of collection!

[imasimpforstevengrant]

I can see you

Author's note:

First, I never thought I would write a fic after almost two years later. I had this idea after watching a fanmade video about Arthur and Harleen falling for each other. I had fun while writing this, since Arthur is a completely new character (not following the comics). Please note that this is written purely for amusement and I don't profit from it.

Second, sorry for any typos. English is not my first language (Chilean Spanish for the win, everybody!). I hope you like it.

_________________________________________

Warnings: angst, self hatred, a bit of swearing, sexual themes and stalking.

Words: 1.730

Summary: Arthur Fleck doesn't live. He barely manages to exist, devoid of any bond. Until one day, a woman reminds him of how much of a human he is.

_________________________________________

He had seen her several times, but he never had the courage to talk to her. He usually avoided her when she was too close to him.

Arthur knew himself too well to know what would happen: his hated laughing fits. Therefore, he preferred to love her from distance, without her noting his existence. It was better this way.

The first time Arthur saw this young woman was in the hallway. She was going down the stairs to the seventh floor of the building. He cherished every move she did. This stranger danced while listening to music, thinking no one would notice her. She shook her figure as she mouthed passionately the lyrics of whatever song was listening. Arthur hid near the wall that divided the halls, and thus, the apartments.

He glared at her like a predator. His mouth watery caused by the hunger she woke within him. Arthur swore he could feel her in his arms, dancing vehemently to a song. He wondered during long periods of time how it would feel to touch her skin.

His lust was a loud, thundering storm that kept troubling his already cursed mind. But in the outside, the silence suggested indifference.

It kept like this for months. Arthur had also yearned for innocent things, such as a smile or even a kind word from her. He constantly fantasized about her and the guilt and regret fought after the lustful desires roamed through his fractured psyche. This was too much for him to bear. He wrote about the woman in his journal, dedicating pages of misspelled but honest thoughts. Arthur found a new way to cope with insomnia.

It was a rainy day when his feelings took another radical turn. Arthur returned to his flat after another shitty day of work. He headed towards the elevator, pressing the button to open it. He waited patiently. The bell rang and the sliding door opened.

"Fuck!", he hissed lowly when he saw her. She was carrying a bag and had her hair done in buns. Arthur thought she couldn't be more beautiful.

"Hi" she chirped, grinning at him.

"Hi" was all Arthur could reply after his failed attempt to keep his gaze in the ground. Was she actually talking to him? The beloved stranger noticed a trace of blood in his lips and sweetly asked:

"Are you alright?"

He remained silent for a few seconds, studying her expression. It was so kind and sincere.

"Yes".

"Are you sure you're okay?" Her question echoed through his mind. Even her voice turned out to be as smooth as her appearance. Arthur inhaled deeply.

"I am, miss. Thanks for asking" he replied puzzled, trying to figure out why would she even care.

The door opened and she politely waved goodbye to him and wishing him well. Arthur didn't give a verbal answer but he certainly waved back to her.

Arthur smirked. And his gesture did not disappear until he arrived home.

He built a routine in his free time. If he couldn't be with her, he was satisfied enough to watch her. At night, he usually followed her to the now empty playground. The woman was swinging in a rope made out of clothes stretched and extended in what seemed a big, dome-shaped cage like. The blonde had the habit to exercise there, not bothered by some bystanders (mostly men) who whistled at her.

Despite the jealousy that grew within him, Arthur understood it wasn't strange. He surely wasn't the only one after her affections.

He took a liking to this new scene: watching her move as if she was practising a gymnastic routine was fantastic. Her movements were so delicate, yet sensual. She seemed to go along with the air, soaring with it.

But she didn't notice, obviously. The girl would probably had gone running and screaming for help if she had discovered him.

Arthur was wrong. He was so wrong.

One day, he sneaked around wearing his yellow hoodie to preserve his identity. He was outside the building, hiding in the shadows. There she was again: beautiful and unreachable. Her long, platinum blonde hair fell like a waterfall. Arthur was amazed. She moved her arms in a graceful way once again, to flow through it in a twirl that swinged her back and forth. The girl seemed to smile before the risky move, congratulating herself in silence on this apparent progress.

Arthur laughed out loud, amazed. But he soon clasped a hand in his mouth. She turned around immediately to his direction. Arthur felt the panic and tried to run.

She called him. Not berating him but genuinely interested. There was no violence in her voice. Arthur argued with himself over and over about if this was a good idea from the beginning. The man was walking around like a disoriented dog while grasping his curly locks, out of fear and guilt. He stood still for a while, without saying a word.

He then realized the woman kept calling him.

Arthur tightened his eyelids, fighting the urge to run away. He kept still during long seconds until he finally decided to face her. It was now or never. Little did he know that she was just a few feet away from him.

Once Arthur turned around, he almost tripped taking a step away from her. He stared at the young woman: she showed no signs of fear or disgust. In fact, she seemed curious about him. She clawed at the fence that separated the playground from the building and dead end alleys. He imitated the action, staring directly at her eyes, blue like summer sky. She smiled at him, her perfect teeth shining like pearls. And it was in this moment when Arthur could pay more attention to her attributes. The girl in question was the owner of an astounding beauty: expressive blue eyes, pink full lips which formed a sweet smile. And that was only her face. Arthur was infatuated. Her face lit up once her lips curved into such expression. Was she hypnotizing him?

He wouldn’t mind, of course.

Arthur stared at her mouth, and wonders how it would feel against his own cracked, dry lips.

But her body was another wonder. She wore a white, long, sleeveless shirt adjusted to her body shape, leaving nothing to imagination. God, if he only could trace his fingers down her hips he'd die happily.

He continued his private appreciation watching the grey shorts that left her most of her thighs uncovered. He then darted his eyes up to her hair. Her long, slightly wavy strands of hair were dyed in two different colours: the right side was strawberry pink from the half down. Same with the left side, except the colour was a electric blue. It added a dreamy touch to her.

Arthur pictured himself playing with her hair, doing little curls with it. It looked so silky.

"You've been enjoying my show, have you?"

Arthur looked up to her again.

"Yeah" he muttered, ashamed.

"Why the long face, babe? It's not like I'm upset", the woman said.

Arthur stared at her again, but out of confusion.

"Are you not upset?"

"At all" she quickly replied, "I like when people see me, actually".

Arthur felt a cold shudder in his back. It was in this moment he sensed something in his chest. He perceived it as the natural reaction to the first conversation he held with someone else without the other significant being weirded out of him. This common trait was enough to give him hope of a new, happy chapter on his mirthless life.

"Yeah... You know, I like when people see me too".

The woman nodded and leaned her face into the fence. Arthur took a deep breath and it didn't take too long to emulate the pose. She was bold enough to let him come closer to her as if she wanted him to kiss her.

"What's your name?" He hummed against her face.

"Harleen Quinzel", she answered "and you are...?"

"Arthur" he rushed to give his reply, "my name is Arthur Fleck--".

A chuckle escaped his throat.

'Oh, no. Not now, not now please', Arthur silently begged as his loving expression fade away so shame would take its place.

His brain of course showed no mercy.

The laughing fit lasted almost ten minutes. It was the first time in years that he truly believed he was going to die of suffocation. He struggled with choking more than two times every minute. Arthur wasn't completely drawn into his fit. He looked for a fraction of seconds at the girl. Harleen shocked at first. After a few moments, she joined him believing innocently he was laughing out of amusement.

"You know, you can tell me the joke so we can laugh together".

Arthur wasn't able to silence his noisy curse. He only covered his mouth, shaking his head trying to make her see the desperation in his eyes. Harleen's facial expressions morphed from fun to actual worry when Arthur's hand reached his throat in an useless attempt to breathe, still clawing at the fence with the one that left free. Her eyes widened in horror. Arthur felt too powerless to even show her the card explaining his fucking condition. It was alright if she wanted to run away. He already accepted his shameful defeat.

However, to his surprise, she nimbly climbed up the fence to help him. The stalker was too weak to keep standing but when he was crumbling into the ground, Harleen helped him to stand up.

She spoke to him, reassuringly. And she spoke so many things he couldn't process while taking him to a bench to contain him. So far she was a few seconds ago and now she stood with him throughout the painful laughter.

"I'm sorry--" Arthur tried to hide his face in his arm but Harleen seemed to understand... Or at least took pity on him.

The laughing fit finally ended and Arthur got a card from his pocket. He remained silent, disgusted with himself. The blonde took it and read it carefully. Her serene gaze towards the object comforted Arthur slowly. Once she finished reading it, she returned it to his owner. Harleen seemed truly surprised... Or maybe scared. He didn't know and felt too embarrassed to even talk to her. One thing was for sure:

Arthur Fleck never felt uglier in his life.

[bunny-wk-fanfic]

In My Humble Opinion: Reboots/Revivals/Sequels/Prequels/Spin-Offs

I’ve written and rewritten what I’ve been trying to say about... we’ll call them refreshers, to fandoms. It’s just, refreshers can be a bit complicated, so coming up with a clear and structured response to them is a little tricky.

In general, I have nothing against refreshers. They tend to revive the fandom, which in turn; revives the interest in fanmade content that already exists, brings in new fans, starts up a wave of new fanmade content... Let’s just say it greases the wheels of the fandom and helps keep things going. So, are refreshers good? Bad? Do we need them? Want them? Sometimes we get them when we didn’t ask for them, the responses to such refreshers are mixed. Sometimes fans ask for them for years, and when they do get them, the responses are mixed.

Refreshes tend to come with a mixed bag of responses to them. It’s part of the deal, as the creators behind them try to please everyone, which is impossible. A lesson that is never learned despite the history of refreshers.

So a good refresher, one that allows a new audience to connect with the fandom while the older fans can appreciate something new. Let’s use She-Ra for an example. It aired originally in the 80s that lasted no longer than a year if I read the information correctly. Then in 2018, they revived it and the older fans were not happy, most of them. The changes to the series were significant. She-Ra was made younger, the style in which the series was done in was completely different, the themes in the series changed as well. Why? To allow a newer, younger, audience the ability to connect to this character. All of these changes pissed off a lot of the older fans, which were predominantly adult males, whereas the female fans seemed to have appreciated the redesign. But pushing those older man-fans aside, one has to remember 32 years had gone between the original and the reboot. Things needed to change, because the audience of today would not be able to connect with She-Ra otherwise. Or, at least, not as well. So this is an example of what I see as a good refresher.

A bad refresher, is the complete opposite. It tends to push the older fans away for various reasons, which will confuse newer ones as they will more likely go to the internet to try to connect with the older fans, only to have the older fans pointing out what they see as wrong and thus sway the newer fans to agree and leave/ignore the refresher. Whew, that was a mouth full. These sorts of refreshes feels as if they lost sight of the creative direction the original fandom was going in, or that certain aspects either get watered down or boundaries are pushed until the concept is lost entirely. Yes, some changes are needed, especially if the creators want to keep the fandom significant due to the changes of time. So things that were “hinted” at in the past, can now be open for display for the fans in the refresher. Time has allowed a lot to be published; there is a lot more gray areas in fandoms where before things were more black and white. However, creators tend to go for the whole buffet rather than focus on a few key points, making the refresher a big hot mess. At the moment I can’t think of a refresher to a fandom that falls more into this category that’s already been done, but I’m sure there are plenty.

But let’s get to the subject at hand, I’m going to go on about Hanyo no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogi Soshi, the supposed sequel to Inuyasha. I will use supposed a lot, as this is all still very new. So the idea of a sequel in and of itself for Inuyasha, is not... too bad. I think. I personally don’t see the need for one, and the original series had focused on the Shikon, and at the end of the original, the Shikon had been dealt with. The last chapter had closed that rather well, in my personal opinion.

What was shared, concept wise, about the supposed sequel... Well, to be honest, left a bad taste in my mouth. So it’s about the daughters of Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru respectively, nothing wrong with that. How they went about with these daughters is what leaves a lot to be desired. The daughter between Inuyasha and Kagome has no happy memories of her parents, which pretty much pissed the whole fandom off. Even those that don’t ship Inuyasha and Kagome. The original series with its original fans all agree that Kagome would never neglect nor abandon her children nor would she allow Inuyasha to do so either, just look at how she interacted with children when she herself was 15 throughout the original series. If she was that motherly at that age, then it’s hard to see her as a horrible mother in the sequel. So everyone seems to be in an agreement that Inuyasha and Kagome must be dead in the sequel, most likely died off when their daughter was still very young. Or missing.

Now for Sesshoumaru’s daughters. It’s said the mother was an unknown human woman, but a lot of fans speculate that it’s Rin. Now, to those that ship the pairing, they are more likely over the moon at the idea. For the rest of us, not so much, but I’ll leave that particular discussion for another post. And that’s not even scratching at what happens to the twins. One falls through the Well and gets adopted by an older Souta. I mean, kudos for him for doing so, but after the original series, a child showing up with demonic attributes and dressed in fashions of the past, he should have realized that this child was from the past and sent them back on their way. If he couldn’t do so, I could then see him adopting her as a viable option until things could be figured out on how to get this girl back to her family. Besides, the original series had the Shikon as a catalyst that allowed the Well to be used for time travel, so with it gone, how did this girl travel through time? Sure there was one incident where Kagome didn’t need the shards to do so, but... technicalities. And if the Shikon is not needed, then anyone and anything could use the Well to travel through time when before only Inuyasha and Kagome could do so. Why though? What changed? And can Kagome use it to visit her family now? Did she return to the future and end up stuck? As for the other twin, she has her memories of her sister stolen from her. Okay... I mean, for immediately after the disappearance understandable, not far fetched, but what about the long run? Sesshoumaru is the father, I highly doubt he would let one of his children roam about in the future, so he would go collect her, since the Well allows anyone through it now. Nor would he allow his other daughter to continue thinking she was an only child. He would see to it that that was fixed up right away. At the least, family and friends would remind her of her sister, showing evidence of such. In the worst case scenario, Sesshomaur is dead or missing as well to allow something like this to continue.

That’s about it in the concepts that were share, but it’s a hot mess already. If the sequel is real, that it’s going to happen, a lot of us are hoping that things change by the time it’s published. Otherwise...

What most of us are asking, is why now? Was the sequel already planned for, but for various reasons is only happening now? Understandable if that’s so, life is the way it is. If not, then why do it now? Is it due to the various other fandoms that are going through revivals/reboot/sequels? Is this just a bandwagon thing? If so, then it feels very unnecessary.

Some are willing to wait to see, as the concepts are still very new and can change by the time the sequel does come out. But for many of us, it’s either forbidden fruit or rotting fruit, something best left alone. So, with that said, I’ll finish my opinion here.

I welcome comments and arguments, healthy ones, about what everyone thinks on the idea of an Inuyasha sequel. Do you agree? Disagree? Please let me know.

[moonguilt]

please give me more kl headcanons.😔

OKAY people this got WAY out of hand and i wrote 7 pages of an entire au plotline so uh. sorry everybody but it’s gonna be split into at least a couple different postswe’ll call this CHAPTER 1: (chapter 2 can be found HERE)I roleplay on MMORPGs so you’re gonna have to deal with my self indulgent online roleplaying AU. There will be klance but I have to SET THE STAGE first so bear with me. basically this is just multiplayer online video game roleplaying garbage. on that note, enjoy.

hunk and pidge were the first ones to discover the video game “Voltron.” they dicked around on it just to test out the game controls and perhaps get coding ideas for a game they are trying to create, but they ended up kinda enjoying it. the gameplay has its issues but is overall pretty fluid.

hunk plays a rogue. he has to turn the game volume down sometimes because of the gross gorey noises the game makes when he stabs people. he probably would have rerolled as a different class just to escape the gruesome sound effects, but he really likes being able to enter stealth. he says it makes him feel “safe”

pidge plays a mage. hunk is under the impression that it’s because she wants to play a class with high intelligence points, and pidge doesn’t correct him. but really she just likes the idea of turning her enemies into frogs

shiro is hanging out with matt one day and ends up watching pidge play. he wants to be Hip and Cool so he decides to create a trial account and see if he likes it. turns out, he’s TERRIBLE at the actual gameplay (his computer reflexes are Bad and he keeps dying to basic mechanics on literally every boss fight. matt downloads the game and creates a priest out of pity just to help keep shiro alive while he levels)

“this is demeaning for everyone involved”

“you’re the one who has died seven times now to haxus. literally all you have to do is not stand in the fire. you’re a FULLY ARMORED PALADIN TANK how are you dying so quic—wait a minute. shiro. shiro why are you still wearing your level 1 starting gear.”

however, he finds out that the server they’re playing on has a roleplaying community! he figures he doesnt need swift reflexes to roleplay, so he starts dipping his toe into RP and discovers he really likes it. he enjoys writing stories about his heroic character, and enjoys combining those stories with the stories of other people he meets in the game. it’s like collaborative fantasy fiction writing, and it quickly becomes a passion of his

pidge and matt tease him endlessly for it. hunk is an angel and is very supportive of shiro’s new hobby. he is the only one who will listen to shiro gush about his character. unfortunately when shiro designed the character, he did not have a good grasp on roleplay, so the character is goofy looking and has an overly dramatic backstory involving dragons and a lost royal bloodline. hunk kindly chooses not to comment on it, and instead helps him develop new ideas and plots for his character’s adventures

eventually shiro manages to convince hunk to give RP a try. hunk is very careful and does a lot of research on the Voltron universe lore. he reads all the fanmade wiki pages, roleplaying guides on the game forums, etc., until he feels confident he can create a good character. he does (and eventually goes on to be a popular community figure who hosts huge server events and is friends with literally everyone, but that is several months down the line), and he and shiro begin their roleplaying adventures together

hunk gets Really Into It. fast. like faster than shiro. and he takes it SERIOUSLY; he is a total lore nerd & WILL tell you (in a very gentle, caring tone) if your character’s story/actions do not comply with the game’s established lore

“your character’s outfit is so cool! btw tho, I noticed you mentioned your character was born in the castle of lions—just wanted to let you know, it was actually only rediscovered and unlocked about 10 years ago in the game’s timeline, so it wouldn’t really make work for your character to be born there, since they’re 27 D: but if you want I can help you come up with a different birthplace :)”

keith, lance, and allura had thus far managed to resist the voltron bug. they just aren’t into mmorpg stuff, they insist. single-player games, sure, but open-world multi-player? sounds weird

lance falls first. Hunk hits him with the puppy dog eyes and its all over for him

he creates the most ridiculously beautiful character he can

“i dont care about whether my guy is a freaking dps or not, hunk, i need him to have an ass like a kardashian. WHERE IS THE BUTT SLIDER HUNK. i have a NICE ASS and i want it IMMORTALIZED IN PIXEL FORM”

he does, in fact, end up picking dps. hunk shows him the archer class and he lights up like a christmas tree

“i know you always wanted to bone legolas, so”

“i wanted to BE legolas, not BONE him, HUNK”

“sure lance”

allura falls next. her and lance’s weekly “self-care spa sessions” turn into lance rambling about all the wacky stuff he and hunk and shiro got up to that week, and she eventually cracks under the pressure because she Hates when there’s a new fad and she doesn’t understand it

“and then this guy came up to us and started roleplaying with us in ALL LOWER CASE and shiro and i wanted to d i e but hunk was all ‘nooo he’s just a newbie in need of some pointers’ and then spent the next TWENTY FREAKING MINUTES giving this guy tips and tricks about grammar and punctuation–”

within 2 days she has gotten almost halfway through leveling her new druid healer because she is Determined damn it

coran, allura’s uncle, also begins playing shortly thereafter. allura never says why exactly, but it does seem to be a direct result of her influence somehow. he plays a gunslinger class because he’s “always wanted to be a ‘rooting & tooting cowboy,’ as you call it!”

for whatever reason, he is Very Good at the game, like freakishly skilled. everyone is kind of afraid to question it so they just accept it and move on

he and pidge are really the only ones who are focusing on the actual game content anymore, so they start doing high-level raids together and then begin to gain something of a reputation as a terrifying duo in player-versus-player combat.

keith is resilient. he is a notoriously stubborn boy and no amount of puppy dog eyes from hunk or persuasive lectures from shiro will convince him to step outside his comfort zone

but lance, well. lance knows exactly how to get keith to do what he wants

“i bet you just know my character’s way cooler than yours would be”

“?? no. i literally dont care about your character or anybody else's”

“huh. guess i will just always be better at video games than you”

“are you seriously still trying to hold your killbot phantasm score over my head. you got lucky”

“i am the peerless king of video games–”

“are you listening to yourself. do you actually hear the words coming from your mouth.”

“–undefeated because you are too much of a coward–”

“fuck OFF send me the fucking download link you loudmouth”

keith takes. forever. to design his character.

lance is leaning over the back of keith’s chair, giving outrageous suggestions (and blatant lies) that keith pointedly ignores

“keith. keith if you give him neon orange hair it boosts your speed, did you know that?”

“choosing big ears gives you greater perception stats keith”

“keith listen to me, you gain the ability to breathe underwater if you choose a broken nose—OW, what the hell–”

keith takes SO LONG that eventually lance has to leave for dance lessons and when he gets back keith is only JUST finishing up

turns out he took so long because he wanted to use every resource available in the game to make the character look like a carbon copy of himself. the end result would have been impressive if it wasn’t so eerily accurate

“you’re seriously naming him keith kogane.”

“it’s my name!”

“keith it’s a ROLEPLAYING game. you’re supposed to play a ROLE”

“and my role is keith kogane.”

“that doesnt even fit the naming conventions for the humans in this game! hunk would be having a FIT right now if he was here”

“good thing he’s not”

keith selects the warrior class because, as lance repeatedly and petulantly insists, he is a “boring basic bitch fuckboy”

“im the fuckboy?? thats rich coming from a guy who plays an archer because he has a big fat crush on orlando bloom in a blond wig”

“HUNK is spreading LIES okay I do NOT have a cru–”

“i dont know what you see in him. he’s literally just a white lotor”

“you TAKE THAT BACK”

to be continued :)

[miss-writes-a-lot]

I'm not proud of my persona 6

As some or none of you know, I've been writing my own fanmade Persona 6 based on a concept by Crosspawgames and for those who do know and have seen my work...I'm too proud of it.

Before, I was proud of my writing skill and how I was writing this series and I assumed others thought so too until I saw on wattpad people were no longer interested. Not just in that series, but in others. So I went in, read my stories as a reader and not the author who wrote it and....I realized how blind and bad I am. And I came to some conclusions as to why that really should have been easy to see.

1. I'm too lazy and I'm afraid to write more

I'm a known procrastinator who comes up with a lot of ideas but loses steam easily. I think if I write too much or describe something in too much detail and I end it at a meaningless cliffhanger or a dumb sentence or moment so I can either end it there out of fear that it could be too long and boring, stop writing because it's taking so long, or so I can spit out the next chapter before I lose my audience. But that's not a good thing. Not only I'm leaving people on a crappy line but the laziness shows and it's not appealing. My writing is noticeably boring and lacking something, and I'm not doing it justice. Millions of people write longer pages of work every day so why can't I? Short answer is: I'm lazy and it needs to stop.

2. Fanservice in every chapter

Now, I won't lie. I'm a sucker for love subplot as long as it's not the whole story and is done write. The problem is I don't practice what I preach. I started my first persona 6 at thirteen and for some reason decided "hey! Why not ship everyone with everyone and make it so that way everyone on wattpad will like it!"

That was a mistake. Big mistake.

Not only does every interaction is just romantic fanservice between the characters but there's no indication as why they're friends or why this is even in here. It's just too much and overflowing to the point where it's just bad and it's just ship baiting which wasn't ever my intent. I wanted to make a story written by someone who knows what she's doing, not a relationship obsessed four year old trying her hand at writing only for it to be all fluff and kisses (not saying you can't do that, but for me, it depends on the situation.)

3. Fight scenes are boring

I don't write good boss battles or casual fight scenes. They're boring, uncreative, and...awful. I need practice and it shows. I don't know how a fight should look but I try to and it's not a good result.

4. Dialouge and who's context?

My dialogue is unrealistic and not how teenagers would talk (well, at least, teens in persona.) They're dull, unfunny, and unbelievable as human. And context is lost. You hardly know the characters motivations or histories and a jumbled mess. Don't even get me started on how many inaccurate portrayals there are.

So why am I bringing this up? Well...I had an idea. I wanted to rewrite Persona 6. But I didn't want to do it right away. I've disappointed a lot of people with my writing and my disgusting habits. And this would be a way to redeem myself. I thought about editing it but there are so many things I want to change, it would be unsatisfactory. If editing can possibly salvage it, tell me please. If you would like to see it, give me some feedback. If you don't care, you can go back to whatever you were doing. I doubt anyone will read this anyway.

Have a nice day, peace out

[pride-vns-blog]

LGBTQ VN Week: Day Two! (6/19)

Welcome back for my second day of LGBTQ visual novel recommendations! If you didn’t check out my first post, I recommend at least skimming the "One note before we get started” section to get a handle on what this series of posts is. (And especially, as the case may be, what it isn’t.)

Today’s topic is “crafty creative design”, so I’ve pulled out Marccus’s Eldet, Geek Remix and ChicMonster’s Pairanormal, and Team Rumblebee’s Love Is Strange to talk about their development teams’ ambition (and ability to deliver), followed by a discussion with Boys Laugh+ about their 2017 NaNoRenO entry, //TODO: today!

Keep on reading to hear about treasure hunts with hot guys, mysterious twists and turns, power in reimagined narratives, and why taking time to look for brand-new visual novels you’ve never heard of before can be worth your while!

ELDET (MARCCUS)

Kickstarter Tagline: "A medieval fantasy themed visual novel with emphasis on LGBT characters and people of color.” Genre(s): Historical fantasy. Release Date: July 1st, 2017(?) (updated demo); TBA (full version). Content Warnings: Fantasy violence.

When it comes to aiming for new heights with visual novel storytelling and art, Marccus’s Eldet is one of the most standout examples of ambition — if it’s a possibility or a feature you could potentially implement, you’ll probably be able to find a mention of it somewhere in Marccus’s Eldet development updates on Kickstarter. They’re jam-packed with information about ways he’s exploring different ideas for interlocking narratives, replay value, or using the absolutely gorgeous art to its full potential. If the final version lives up to even a tenth of what Marccus has demonstrated working to include over the past two years, that ambition and drive to see things through as much as possible will almost definitely provide one hell of a visual novel.

Strictly looking at the demo alone, though, still provides a uniquely detailed experience where focus on trying out new things that suit the story is crystal-clear. The writing is sharp and captivating, with an interesting plot and gorgeous scenery that’s complimented by a smart use of animated effects. There have been more and more visual novels that have branched into the use of things like Live2D or animated sprites, but for me as a player, it’s been interesting to see how far use of effects like that can go before they just plain old start to be distracting. Idle animations or things like blinking and breathing can be charming, but the uncanny valley is very real and very easy to dive headlong into if you’re trying to include as many of those as possible.

So Eldet’s demo is noteworthy to me not just for trying out all of the visual effects it can manage, but even moreso for knowing by and large where to place those effects and varying sprites for the best possible impact. Characters are integrated into different backgrounds for special conversational scenes, or specific parts of event graphics glow, and none of it — to my eyes, at least — felt overused or poorly-executed. In fact, it all seemed especially suited to the fantasy genre Eldet is fitting itself into, with all of the pieces working together to create a world that feels alive and breathing. And it’s a world that seems well worth waiting for a final version of!

Eldet’s demo is available now on Kickstarter; you can also keep up with the final version’s progress on its development blog, or follow Marccus on Twitter and Patreon (18+).

PAIRANORMAL (GEEK REMIX, CHICMONSTER)

Itchio Tagline: "Love is a mystery and so are ghosts.” Genre(s): Mystery, romance.  Release Date: April 1st, 2018 (Chapter 1); TBA (Chapters 2+). Content Warnings: Glitches and static (can be turned off); jumpscares.

There have been a couple "real person dating sim" visual novels in the past few years, but I've never really been all that interested in actually playing any of them; I can see the connection back to all those elaborate magazine quizzes about which celebrity you'd date, so I think they're interesting conceptually, but none of them have really pulled me in. I'm equally wary of the trend of Western visual novels from first-time developers that want to "subvert genre conventions" because of how many have fallen woefully flat of even understanding what that means beyond a very limited scope — I'm talking "oh, I don't really like or play any visual novels, the whole medium isn’t for me" visual novel developer commentary, here — so if an EVN promises a twist on a genre, or even if its players do, it's unfortunately a lot harder to sell me on it.

To my pleasant surprise, Pairanormal's demo sold me on both its "real person-inspired characters" aspects and its departure from the dating-based focus I'd been expecting into sharing space with another genre! I don't want to spoil anything about the plot, but upfront, the turn in the demo alone was a genuinely interesting look at a “blank protagonist” and well-served by being placed where it was. That’s to say nothing of the charming art style! Mechanically and visually, it's also one of the most interesting visual novels I've played; the character movement, the individual soundfonts, and the pacing of the dialogue all come together to work consistently well. (I love smartly-used soundfonts! Please give me all your VNs with good soundfonts!)

Even as someone who's watched a handful of YouTube playthroughs by two of the YouTubers being shown here, Mari and Stacey of Geek Remix, the writing in Pairanormal was sharp and fast-paced enough to actually make my brain draw a pretty easy divide between the real Mari and Stacey versus "Mari Sashimi" and "Stacey Croft". I'm sure there's plenty of rewarding jokes for their primary audience of a Geek Remix fanbase, too — but one of the strongest merits of Pairanormal for me as a player was the experience of having so little personal familiarity with most of the people these characters were based on and still finding the characters enjoyable, well-defined, and interesting.

Chapter 1 of Pairanormal is available now for free; you can also follow development of the coming chapters on Chicmonster’s Patreon, Twitter, and Itchio.

LOVE IS STRANGE (TEAM RUMBLEBEE)

Blog Tagline: "A fanwork based off of Life is Strange.” Genre(s): Slice of life, romance. Release Date: April 1st, 2016. Content Warnings: Drug use; underage drinking; mentions of severe bullying.

Do those characters and that title look familiar? If you’ve paid attention to the gaming scene at large in the past three years, you probably recognize the acronym "LiS” or Max Caulfield’s character design — Team Rumblebee’s 2016 debut project, Love is Strange, came to life as a Life is Strange (DONTNOD Entertainment) fanmade visual novel! In Love is Strange, set a year later after the original game in a completely different timeline, protagonist Max never gained her canonical magical powers and many of the tragedies that gripped Arcadia Bay never came to pass. Instead, she’s given a week to team up with one of her four love interests — Chloe, Kate, Rachel, or Victoria — and win a photography contest together.

There’s a lot to love about it beyond any connection you may or may not have to Life is Strange itself — everything, from the art to the music to the writing, pulls together seamlessly. But the biggest strength of Love is Strange as a fanwork, in my opinion, is the way it’s not trying to totally remove itself from the original canon tonally or trying too hard to conform to that tone without it seeming natural. Max’s character arc is reflective of some anxieties she’d had in the original story, which goes doubly for the explorations of her love interests’ arcs, but it’s fundamentally a different story where her priorities are different. Love is Strange loses what isn’t necessary or what doesn’t help the story — including the teacher-turned-[spoilers] from the original series, Mr. Jefferson — then fills in a lot of the blanks with the same charm and same compelling characters that captivated fans in the first place.

My favorite example here is Rachel Amber, one of the four routes but the lone one who never appeared in the text of the original Life is Strange itself, and a route that felt as wholly comprehensive as the rest. Love is Strange takes the perpetually absent, long-since-departed Rachel and recreates her from whole cloth, giving her a distinctive speech pattern, a history, and a set of beliefs that all work together as a perfect answer for the void around her character in the original text. She feels as real and authentic as the rest of the pitch-perfect cast, a character it’s difficult to imagine the original Life is Strange without. So in both enhancing the original text’s characterizations without ever losing its charm and standing alone as its own thoughtful, genuine F/F dating sim that is just as enjoyable without any fondness for the canon, Love is Strange easily cemented itself as one of my favorite visual novels — so strongly, in fact, that I’m still planning to cheer on Team Rumblebee’s individual and collective outputs for years to come.

Love is Strange is available now for free on the development blog. You can also follow Team Rumblebee on Twitter, Tumblr, and Itch.io to be the first to know if they decide to release anything next!

//TODO: TODAY (BOYS LAUGH PLUS)

Itchio Tagline: "A visual novel about figuring out life with the help of an AI.” Genre(s): Modern sci-fi. Release Date: March 31st, 2017 (Part 1); August 2018 (Part 2). Content Warnings: Depictions of severe depression.

Player personalization is one of the more tricky things for developers, largely in part because there’s no way to write something every player will be happy with; while some people prefer being able to insert themselves entirely into a protagonist with minimal predefined personality and more vague actions, so they can headcanon more easily, other audiences would rather explore specific situations with a smaller number responses that each more clearly reflect the defined protagonist’s personality. It’d be nearly impossible to please both of those groups at once — and there’s dozens of other, more specific takes that other players can have on visual novel protagonists!

As someone in the latter camp out of just those two examples, I thought //TODO: today’s handling of their protagonist Teal (plus their love interests Joyce and Phoenix) was right up my alley, so I reached out to Felix and Rohan of Boys Laugh+ to talk about their work on its story!

IVAN: Pleasure to be talking to you both today! Can you give me the elevator pitch of //TODO: today that you might give to an interested attendee at a con? You're both free to answer this if you'd like, haha.

FELIX: Sure, thanks for having us! //TODO: today is a slice of life visual novel about the aspiring artist Teal who already struggles to make ends meet but things get a little more complicated when an AI suddenly appears in their computer, with the intention to help Teal get their life back in order.

Perfectly put! (I like the phrasing of "aspiring artist Teal", haha, I feel like I'm reading their Twitter bio.) The gender/sexuality/pronoun options (and what I've seen of the dialogue variations) for the protagonist plus the romanceable characters are comprehensive, but never in a way that feels insincere or bland. I really feel like Teal's character — and that of both love interests — shines through strongly no matter what! What went into designing the personalization system as it currently exists, and why did you choose to include it in the first place?

ROHAN: Haha, yeah, Teal is the type who's a bit insecure about their art. So it's easier to say "aspiring artist" even though Teal has been drawing for a while. :'D Although our protagonist has their quirks and own background story we wanted the player to be able to identify with Teal. The player can choose to change Teal's name in the beginning of the game too. And the gender and sexuality options are based on this idea. :3

Back when we were developing the concept for //TODO: today in 2017, we had a close look at other recent VNs. And Date Nighto's Hustle Cat got us thinking about using "they" pronouns then. Hustle Cat's protagonist "Avery" has a gender-neutral design too. That got the ball rolling for us to think how we could make the typical romance situation in //TODO: today inclusive and enjoyable for queer people as well!^u^

FELIX: We also tried to keep the additional work for this fairly small. For the three main characters all pronouns and their variations are stored in variables. That makes it pretty easy to use the same base dialogue regardless of the characters' gender. But in addition to that, we used conditional statements to add some custom dialogue whenever it made sense. The romantic preferences are pretty much the same. They mainly decide the gender of the romanceable characters but there are a few moments where dialogue varies depending on the preferences the player chooses.

That also means that there are some things that people will miss if they don't make a specific selection of gender or romantic preferences but we wanted to make sure that those choices are also part of the characters and the writing and not purely cosmetic. All in all we tried to make the game as inclusive of LGBTQ identities as we could without making the scope unrealistically big for a two person team.

I think you definitely struck a good balance there! If I'm not mistaken, the two of you work in Ren'Py, right? What kind of Ren'Py limits or perks do you take into consideration when working to augment a story with more complex pieces of code other than dialogue variables, like deciding what your upcoming project Defaction's cellphone (?) can do? Anything you've unfortunately had to give up on? (And are there any lines of dialogue or features you're especially proud of including in //TODO: today?)

FELIX: Yeah, we're working in Ren'Py. I can't really think of any limits aside from smaller issues where different systems and languages intersect but there have definitely been a lot of perks! I really like Ren'Py's screen system which is where at least 80% of the work for the phone in Defaction happens.

The python integration is also really nice. In //TODO: today I barely used any python aside from if-statements and variables but being able use custom code pretty much anywhere in the script makes the engine really flexible!

As for feature decisions, so far we mainly based them on what we wanted to include from a narrative design standpoint and then tried to figure out how or if we would be able to implement them. I can't think of anything we had to cut for technical reasons so I think it worked out pretty well so far :'D

//TODO: today was the first bigger visual novel I worked on and aside from the gender and preference options for the characters, something I'm pretty proud of are the optional work and gaming scenes. They are pretty much the first piece of non-linear writing I ever did and it was a fun challenge to make sure they make sense regardless of what in-game day the player sees them on.

ROHAN: I think the most obvious feature we're proud of are the preference options we included, haha. We really wanted to take a few steps aside of the otome or exclusively hetero male-oriented genres out there. And to make the experience feel tailored to the player there are the dialogue features Felix has described before in combination with the visual designs of Joyce, the AI, and Phoenix, Teal's bookstore co-worker.

It's integrated into the story that Joyce has been made just for the Teal. Other AIs in the world would look different depending on their owners. That's why you get a feminine or masculine looking Joyce that match the player's preferences.

Of course there are limitations, I mean, we can't read the players mind to know what they like. And we couldn't include too many unique character sprites due to the scope. But I'm very happy about how the different designs turned out in the end. It was generally fun to visually design the game. Cute colours everywhere! >u<

On another note I think what really went well, too, was how AI Joyce behaves. We took some liberties with sci-fi magic, but Joyce is a being with their own set of characteristics, goals and values. They were made to serve, yet they're on eye-level with Teal and you get some funny situations out of it.

That's right, I'd completely forgotten that the work and art contest scenes weren't confined to the story's timeline on any specific dates — they definitely always felt like they matched up. And I'm so glad you brought up the designs, Rohan, that was actually my next question! The overall world design and character stylization of //TODO: today clearly had a considerable amount of care put into making sure they all meshed well and looked good individually! Can you talk a little bit about why you settled on the design aesthetic you did and what influenced //TODO: today's style or character designs? (Also, who are each of your favorite characters out of the cast, visually or personality-wise?)

ROHAN: Ah, well. First and foremost we were under a good amount of time-pressure during the NaNoRenO '17. Thus I had to decide for an artstyle that I could pull off for the game's assets to be produced in time. There's no complicated shading, not too much intriciate line-work. It was also the first time for me to create art for a visual novel. I was mostly a concept artist before. So I wanted to play it safe. That's one part of the story at least.

The other thing was that by the end of 2016 a lot of artists have emerged online who experimented with reduced palettes, pastel tones and comic and anime inspired shading. I was really intrigued by the charm of this combination. I wanted to make myself feel okay that although I'm a guy I can express myself in shades of pink, haha. This kind of aesthetic also matches the overall cute but realistic story of //TODO: today. I wanted the reality of the game to feel like our world but with some intense photo filters on top, haha. And my favourite character(s)? As the artist who designed them, I'd say visually all of them! xD But character wise, I think it's a close head-to-head of Joyce and SuuJ. <3

FELIX: I think my favorite character is Snow. I also really like Zen's design and his relaxed personality, but Snow was really fun to write! They're reserved and don't show much about their insecurities or problems, but Snow is still fairly confident and mature for their age.

I think a lot of that personality was also inspired by the art. Snow's design really brings across how introverted they are and because Snow doesn't have a lot of facial expressions, this definitely influenced the way I wrote some of their dialogue.

As a big fan of pastels/pinks, I can definitely empathize with that desire to express it more in art regardless of gender, haha! If you could each add any one feature to your projects that's currently beyond of your technical/artistic capabilities, a "wildest dreams" kind of thing, what would those two features be?

FELIX: I'm really intrigued by the idea of procedural narrative. Not in the sense that a story is random, but rather that it's systemic and somewhat non-linear. That's not really something you can just add to any project though and it probably also involves a lot of trial and error before it works but maybe one day :'D

ROHAN: Oh, nice question! I think it would be super cool to have hand-drawn animated cutscenes in a game. But that's completely beyond our budget of...everything...right now. TuT

Haha, I would love to play a procedural visual novel with animated cutscenes! (Although those two things combined would add even more work to each other, huh? #gamedev!) One final question — do you two have any LGBTQ visual novel recommendations from any other teams or creators?

FELIX: Ladykiller In a Bind left a pretty strong impression on me. In general, Christine Love's visual novels are usually really interesting mechanically in addition to their LGBTQ themes.

Most people probably already heard of Butterfly Soup but I really liked how heartfelt it is and the way the story is told!

And we already mentioned Hustle Cat, which is interesting in the way the main story and the romance routes are intertwined in addition to allowing you to romance all characters regardless of gender.

ROHAN: Hahaha, just imagine creating cutscenes for every generatable piece of story. That would be a killer xD And yes, I'd agree with what Felix wrote. The games by Christine Love, are really well written. Butterfly Soup is a fun ride and way too relatable for people growing up with Asian families. I also play The Arcana on my phone right now. I don't like the payment system too much but the story and characters are well-developed. And the artstyle is just gorgeous!

But one should also keep an eye on indie devs who aren't too well-known. Visual novels seem to generally be on the rise right now and we'll surely find some nice surprises if we keep looking! :3

Definitely agreed that people can find some really pleasant surprises by doing deep dives into places like Itchio's VN tag — or hopefully even from my list and these interviews, haha! Thank you both so much for talking to me, Rohan and Felix, it's been a pleasure.

The first half of //TODO: today is available now for free, or you can follow Boys Laugh + on their Twitter and Itchio accounts to find out more about their progress on the second half!

[sailorplanet1997]

i’ve been making stories for like almost a year now, it started with when i played sims 4 (for real lol) and it inspirated me to make an actual story about it, a good person one and a bad person one (i completed that story called “The Cause Lost 1, eventually i completed Cause Lost 2 and Cause Lost 3 too and Cause Lost 4 is running” i might make more once Cause Lost 4 is completed but for now most of them is drafted for now) then i was making an another story based on Tinkerbell and Terence (Tinkerence as a ship name and i completed that one too but it was a lot of challenges, i can tell you all but i made it and i got 39 votes now) then i had a story i had on my mind for a year about Sailor Moon (aka Usagi/Serena Tsukino) meeting a sister, a twin one and it’s still running but i have troubles making a new chapter and it’s on writings block for now then i got more and more ideas, i hardly saw an fanfic about Wedding Peach but i have a writers block for now since i don’t know what next chapter should be about so it’s still running lol then the genius me decided to make a sims story based on me being stuck in the sims world, it’s based on sims 4 and how to deal with it since i sometimes have weird, strange but at the same time funny dreams so i thought why not making a story of it so it will looks like i make my dreams come true lol (also lots of challenges but i completed it, i completed it a few weeks ago after like 5 months haha and besides i saw a story very simular but in sims 3 version, and that inspirated me to do my version of it just less drama lol) then i have the homeless challenge to try it out on sims 4 and after awhile i decided to make a story of it and it’s still running just like with Sailor Moon and Wedding Peach i have a writers block there since i run out of ideas there but it’s still running though then for the Tinkerbell fans (yay) i created a story where all of Tink’s female friends change into humans and in a sailor suit and for the Sailor Moon fans, the inner and outer scouts are in there too but only plays the cameo ones, it’s kind of a crossover ones, Sailor Crossover to be exact and it’s still running, also on writers block, it has to do with saving the world and beat the enemies like normal Sailor Moon series do, also on writers block then we have that sims 4 serie called “Little Liars” where there are dramas (i mean DUH the tittle explains a lot) and it’s very simular to that story, just more drama in the further chapters but just like any other stories i have troubles with the story also on writtings block, the credit goes to ForeignSimmer since i didn’t maked the characters, none of that then once i discovered the teen runaway challenge and the rules of that one i decided to make a story of that, and in less then 2 weeks i completed that story already since it was easier then i thought on that one, but i was pretty much exhausted since it often took me hours and hours till i was done with a chapter lol (this one is obviously completed) then i decided to make my story of what i watched on YouTube but with triplets instead of twins who reunited with each other and works as a team to destroy the plant and save the whole world, it wasn’t that bad since i finished it also a little faster then i thought expect it’s kind of a short one compared to other stories (this story also completed) then i have the realistic story that can happens in real life because i want people to see the realistic things since i had to find out the hardest way about friendships so i decided to make a story about that, so they can see that it isn’t what it’s always told to and must prepare for that to happen in real life too once you get older but it’s on writers block since i’m out of ideas now we then have part 2 of that runaway story since i read the story about something simular which is deleted now and because of it i run out of ideas and are on writings block too (besides i don’t want people to see it’s a sin, ilness, thinking it’s just a phase and just have to “get over with” since they were born with that sexuality, YES SEXUALITY, YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT, since it’s based on all kinds of sexualities) then 2 months or so back right before i got in Quarantine i decided to make my own challenge with my own rules about gardening challenge, i use it in sims 4 while at the same time i’m making a story of it on Wattpad, it’s still running and on writings block this is just like the only one (besides that one other story i’m about to mention it) i don’t have troubles with for now and is still running and how i came up with that idea....it’s because i watched that sims 2 series called Unexpected where the 2 sisters likes the same guy, just different versions of it and in sims 4 version too, i want dramas in the sims 4 ON MY OWN STORY, (the story is called 2 sisters liking the same guy) the next one is called “Trapped in Pixie Hollow” i just like started with that one last week (1/5 week now) and already nearly finish it, for the Tinkerbell fans, Tinkerbell and her friends are in the roles too but just the supporters one since it’s mainly based on me and my friend, this story was easier then i thought, i’m working on my finale (20) chapter now, it’s sometimes exhausting since it takes me hours most of the times since i have to read stories from others, but it’s still running and is almost completed, it’s kind of like in “me being stuck in a sims world” with how i get that dream and all to make that dream come true lol just A LOT MORE DRAMA in that story then the sims 4 one where it was based on me, i nearly finish this one then the last one i just like recently made a few days ago for the Tinkerbell fans, it’s called “Tinkerbell - love at first signs” but i have thinking to do since i don’t know how to start but they are DEFINITELY NOT fairies, but humans this time expect this time in an completely human form then the “Tinkerbell in a Sailor Suit“ story i’ve mentioned, and the tittle explains it all, love at first signs, 2 people met each other and eventually falls in love and just like the “Tinkerbell and the true love of Terence adventures” Tinkerbell and Terence are falling in love eventually but in some bad circumstances this time instead of the good with the “ Tinkerbell and the true love of Terence adventure” tittle when you compare these 2 and i have a storyline on my mind and the point is, most of the storylines are based on female ones (expect the Nature Gardening challenge one since on this one it’s completely based on a male character trying to survive himself after he lost his memory and “Tinkerbell and the true love of Terence adventure” it was halfly based on Terence, a male one, but other then that, everything else is based on female ones) and the real question is: should i make a story based on the male ones this time? it’s based on sims 4 realm of magic pack, and it also looks a little like Harry potter but i’m making my own characters on this one, so do you think it’s an good idea to make a story where the focus is on the male ones? i want to know your opinion on this one if it’s an good idea to play the male one on the main roles or not and if you guys have ideas on my other stories (the stories that are still running) then let me know too because i like if i hear ideas from others since i’m out of ideas now maybe i might be able to break that writing blocks if you guys have ideas, advices or anything related so i can do something about it and see what i can do about it, i won’t stop you guys giving ideas for me to write i’ll tag like every Fanmade stories and Selfmade ones (including sims challenges) so it might give you ideas with the stories

[jungkookienoona]

The Meme and His Tutor

Part 11: The Day The Tutor Had To Go Home

Recommended Song: As I Told You covered by BTS

|All Chapters|

Summary:

It was the day you had to leave and it was a day you would not forget.

Genre: Fluff, comedy

Pairing: Jungkook X Reader (Y/N)

Warnings: Swearing

Word Count: 5313

Length: 11/?

You had just finished re-packing your suitcases when you got a text from Jungkook saying he was waiting outside. There was a frown creasing your features since your plushies and Munui did not fit in any of your cases since they had already been stuffed to the brim. You text him that you're on your way and grab your coat from the back of a chair. Leaving your room, you spared a parting glance at the plushies and panda sat solemnly beside your luggage. They had to go home with you which meant either shipping them in boxes or buying another suitcase. The thought of shipping them seemed ridiculous so you made a mental note to ask Jungkook if he could take you somewhere to buy a suitcase.

The elevator seemed to take forever to reach you and then another eternity to get to the ground floor reception. You were surprised to see Jungkook sat on one of the black leather sofas. He hadn't noticed you yet so you took a moment to admire what he was wearing. A white mask with his usual pair of sunglasses donned his face while he wore a dark blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up and black slacks held up by a belt which the shirt was tucked into. There was a twisting in your gut as you made your way over to him. The clock was ticking on your time left in Korea. With only hours left before you'd be saying goodbye for god knows how long, you told yourself to get a grip and make the most of the morning and afternoon with Jungkook.

Since his face was glued to his phone screen, you quickly jogged up behind him and covered his eyes with your hands. "Guess who?"

"Noona!"

You could tell by the sound of his voice that he was smiling.

You pulled your hands away, "Correct."

He hopped off the sofa and turned to face you.

"Is Noona ready for another awesome day together?"

"Ye. But I need to buy another suitcase while we're out, I don't have space for Munui and the others."

He chuckled, "We can't have you leaving them behind. Can we?"

You shook your head with a frown.

"How about we grab a suitcase and then go looking for souvenirs to fill it with."

"Sounds like a plan."

Jungkook grabbed your hand and started across the hotel lobby towards the exit.

"Where's the car?"

"With Jin-hyung. We'll be getting a taxi to the shopping district."

He successfully flagged down a taxi and opened the door for you. Once you were both inside he told the driver where to go. You giggled when you realised BTS was playing on the radio. His eye roll was just visible through the dark tint of his glasses and he knocked your elbow when you began humming along to 21st century girls under your breath.

"Stop it."

"What? I like this song."

He shook his head in mock annoyance and turned to look out the window. A few minutes later the taxi pulled up alongside a curb and Jungkook paid before getting out and holding the door for you. You took one look at your surroundings and felt your heart stop.curb and Jungkook paid before getting out and holding the door for you. You took one look at your surroundings and felt your heart stop.

"A- are we in Gangnam-gu?"

"Ye."

"But this is an expensive high-class district?! It's why PSY wrote the song Gangnam Style! Because this is where designer shit is!"

"You need an extra suitcase."

"Yes, a cheap suitcase that I can throw the plushies in and then either sell or store away as a spare when I get home."

You paused, staring at the glass storefronts ahead of you. The majority had security guards out front and what looked like gold door handles glinting in the morning sunlight. Jungkook took this pause as a sign to speak.

"Please don't throw the plushies. You'll hurt their heads."

"Is that all you care about? Not at all worried that your Noona is about to go bankrupt because you want her to buy an overly expensive suitcase."

"Who said anything about you paying for it?"

"It's my suitcase. Why wouldn't I pay for it?"

Jungkook shifted from one foot to the other. "I told you when you got here 'Jungkookie take care'. I will pay."

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

He snatched your bag and took your purse from it, stuffing it into his trouser pocket.

"Now you can't pay."

He was right. You didn't want to risk accidentally grabbing somewhere inappropriate to get your money back.

"Give it back."

"No," Jungkook said with finality and turned to the street ahead of him. "We're wasting precious time arguing when we could be shopping. Let's go."

You huffed but relented and followed him when he started off in the direction of, hopefully, a shop that sold reasonably priced luggage. Even if Jungkook was paying you didn't want him to spend too much.

The shop Jungkook led you to did, in fact, sell reasonably priced luggage. But he seemed to gravitate to the more expensive cases. You had to physically drag him away from the designer items on display. Which was no easy feat.feat.

"But this one has a discreet pocket for important documents and a protective layer between the outer casing and inside lining to make it bulletproof."

"Jungkook, why do I need a bulletproof suitcase? Who's going to be shooting my plushies?"

"No one hopefully." He twirled the suitcase on its four wheels. "I think it gives peace of mind. These are the ones we have."

You palmed your face. "You're going to drive me insane Jungkook."

"And your precious plushie will be safe for it."

You sighed. There was no point in arguing with him. He was just going to continue being stubborn and the time you had left in Korea was ticking down.

"Fine. Get the plushies a bulletproof suitcase to travel in. You're the one paying for it."

"You won't regret it Noona!"

Too late.

You stood to the side while Jungkook paid for the case. The man behind the counter was kind enough to offer to hold the item while you continued to shop so not to burden you with its awkwardness.

The two of you left the shop, hands swinging between you like children. Jungkook seemed oblivious that he was doing it and you couldn't help but brighten when you heard his low humming. You were going to miss this.

"Oh!"

Jungkook used your joined hands to drag you into a shop that had knick knacks in the window display.

"This shop sells great headphones and figurines."

You ducked under his arm which held the door open and greeted the cashier rearranging a display of Disney figurines.

Jungkook called to you from the other side of the shop after a few minutes of looking about and you went over and joined him.

"What have you found?"

"OVERWATCH FIGURES!"

"That's great for you but I thought we were buying souvenirs for me."

His face fell as he put the Widowmaker figuring back on the shelf along with her fellow characters. "Have you seen anything you like?"

"Not yet."

He grabbed your hand and dragged you over to another section of the shop to where different anime themed merch such a notepads and fanmade poker decks.

"I noticed some things like these in the background when we Skype and you're in your bedroom."

You picked up a Tokyo Ghoul themed pack of poker cards and turned the pack over in your hands, scanning the design.

"These are really cool."

"Sold!"

Your eyes went wide.

"Kookie- wait! These... these are the limited edition official ones! How did they end up in this shop?"

"Welcome to Gangnam where the suitcases are bulletproof and the poker cards limited edition."

As much as you knew you should tell him not to buy it (it was probably ridiculously expensive) you found yourself selfishly saying:

"Can you get that for me? Please~"

You stuck your bottom lip out, hands clasped together. It probably looked ridiculous but there was no harm in using aegyo to persuade him was there?

He stared at you for what felt like a full minute, eyes scanning your features. You're about to apologise for being so straightforward when one of his hands came to ruffle your hair. "Aigoo, I can't resist that face. Noona can have what she wishes."

"Thank you! Kamsahabnida!" Out of sheer happiness, you wrapped your arms around Jungkook in a hug and jumped up and down.

His arms came to engulf your waist and before you knew what was happening he had lifted you off the floor and was spinning you around.

"Jungkook!"

He put you down and you wobbled slightly.

"If my Noona is happy then I am happy."

You blushed as he led you to the counter.

"29,000 won"

"£20 for a pack of cards!"

"Noona. Gwenchanha."

The shopkeeper said something and Jungkook nodded in understanding and handed the money over.

“He said that it's because they are cards that could only be obtained in a contest but the original owner sold them to him."

"That's so cool!"

The man handed Jungkook his receipt and a little paper bag with the shop name embossed on the front. You thanked him once more before making your way out into the street, a grin plastered across your face. You let out an excited squeal. You had LIMITED EDITION pack of TG playing cards!

"Noona is acting like such a child."

"Says the maknae who gets excited whenever they spot any IronMan merch."

"IronMan is a true hero. He deserves to be celebrated whenever and wherever." You rolled your eyes and clutched the paper bag to your chest.

"I shall cherish these forever. Thank you Kookie."

"Good. Oh! A hat shop! Let's get matching beanies!"

"I think that's a bad idea. ARMYs will think we're a couple since... you know... couple outfits."

"They think we're a couple already."

"Exactly-" You're cut off when darkness invaded your vision. That little shit.

"Ya!" You peeled the floppy hat off your head and used it to smack his shoulder.

Jungkook pretended to be hurt by the hit and pouted.

"I want something that matches Noona to remember the time you spent here."

You had to admit that was pretty sweet but you didn't want dating rumours to start up.

"How about... matching phone cases?"

"Phone cases?"

"Ye."

The one you were using was a few months old and had started to fray at the edges. It would be nice to upgrade. And if he was paying...

"Okay."

He cheered, putting the hats back and pulled you out of the hat shop. He led you straight past a few clothes shops then turned a corner. Next thing you knew you were in a market looking area with merchants selling various things. Perfect for souvenir shopping.

Everything from clothes to whole fish hung from the metal rods above the stalls. There's a haziness to the air and when you licked your lips you tasted a smokiness that is only possible through barbeque. A look to your right confirmed this as there were queues forming in front of men and women grilling meats and vegetables. But you weren't here for food and Jungkook guided you through the crowd to the stalls selling the likes of knick-knacks and gifts.

"Ah! Here it is."

In front of you was a stall selling various device cases. They seemed to specialise in anime, cartoon and comic designs.

"Noona said she likes Marvel so let's both get Marvel cases."

He shuffled over to a rotating stand, spinning it slowly to analyse the styles and designs.

You come to look over his shoulder as he pulled one out of its slot.

"Noona! Look! I found IronMan!"

"You already have 2 IronMan phone cases. But there's an awesome Avengers one here."

You picked up the case and showed it to Jungkook. It was the Avengers as chibis doing cute things in little panels. Jungkook took it from you and looked it over. You worried he might find it too cutesy for a dude to have.

"Woah, this is so cool!" He turned to you, bunny teeth peeking between his lips. "Do you want this one?"

"Only if you're happy."

"I love it! They're adorable."

You both found the right case for your phone type, Jungkook handing over money to the vendor. Getting your phone out of your pocket, you popped it out of its old damaged case and put it in its new one. Jungkook copied your actions.

"Can we look around this market? I feel like I'll find awesome things to buy here."

Jungkook was more than happy to escort you around the market, pointing out to you certain stalls he had visited previously including a vendor selling lamb skewers.

"What does Noona want to buy to take back home?"

"I think I saw some cool looking chopsticks being sold. There was also some Hanji that I spotted and snacks."  

Jungkook smiled taking you to the Hanji stall first where you picked out a beautiful fan that had a cherry blossom design.

"This is beautiful." You said running your fingers over the flowers. "It looks hand painted."

Jungkook put a hand on your shoulder as he peaked round from behind you to take a closer look.

"It is. You can see the brush strokes. It must've taken a long time to do."

You closed and then reopened the fan and waved it a little in front of your face. Jungkook droped his head to the crook of your neck. "Noona, stop! It's cold enough already!"droped his head to the crook of your neck. "Noona, stop! It's cold enough already!"

You froze, surprised by the contact. Your breathing hitched and your body stiffened due to the feel of his breath brushing against your sensitive skin through the mask he wore. He noticed your apparent discomfort, taking a step back with a sheepish expression, scratching the nape of his neck.

"S-s-sorry. I didn't mean to make Noona feel uncomfortable."

"I-i-its okay... I'll pay for the fan..."

"No!" He swiped the fan from your hand and made his way over to the cashier. "I'm paying. Stay here."

You stayed put and cursed yourself for being so awkward. Way to go Y/N. Things were going to be weird now and you only had a few hours until you were going home...

Jungkook appeared holding a little paper bag. "Here."

You took the bag from him and he was quick to grab your free hand. He led you through the maze-like market towards the chopsticks. On your way there you spotted a few cute or interesting things and tugged him over to them. You insisted on paying for your own souvenirs. Once you finally reached the chopsticks you spent some time looking at the designs and materials of them. You ended up choosing ones with roses painted on.

"Jin Hyung would approve," Jungkook said from beside you as the cashier put them in a box and wrapped it up in tissue paper. "He has a collection of chopsticks."

"That doesn't surprise me."

You took the bag, thanking the man, and added it to your growing collection. "Where to now?"

"I was thinking ramyeon then snacks."

"Last time I had ramyeon the bowl was so big, I couldn't finish it all."

He laughed, "If Noona can't finish it, I'll finish it for her. Now come on, I know a place that's awesome but hardly anyone knows about."

You followed him out of the market and across a few main streets until the people began to thin and the roads narrowed. "How come you know of all these secret places?"

"Idols value privacy. We search for places in quieter areas or where the demographic is older so we are less likely to run into fans."

"It seems very well thought out."

"The last thing any of us want is to be harassed when eating after a tiring day. "

"Fair enough."

He stopped outside of what you assumed to be the ramyeon restaurant, but outward appearances made you do a double take as it looked more like a bookstore to you. With its small windows and wooden door, it definitely didn't look like other restaurants you had been to which normally had huge windows to proudly show off customers.

Bookshelves lined the entrance hall and if it weren't for the little check in counter just ahead of you, it would have felt like you were intruding in someone's home. A lady appeared through a doorway to your left at the sound of the door shutting. Her face lit up at the sight of Jungkook.

"Ah, Jungkookie! Neo dol-a wass-eo! (Ah, Jungkookie! You're back!)" Her eyes rolled over to you, "Geurigo neoneun chingureul delyeowassda. Jebal deulleuseyo, neowa Namjoon-ui pyeongso sigtag-eun mulyo ya. (And you've brought a friend. Please come through, your and Namjoon's usual table is free.)"

"You and Namjoon-oppa normally come here?"

"I like the food. Namjoon-hyung likes the books."

You made a sound of understanding as you were led to a lone table situated in the corner. Jungkook pulled off his mask and sunglasses, allowing you to finally see his face properly that day. Once you were both seated the lady appeared once more with a single menu for you.

"Jungkookie-neun eonjena ttoggat-eun geos-eul jumunhayo. (Jungkookie always orders the same thing every time.)"

"Geuge mwoyo? (What's that?)"

"Kimchi ramyeon."

"Naneun ttoggat-eulgeoya. (I'll have the same then.)" You said glancing at Jungkook to see if that was alright.

He smiled and turned to the lady, "Hajiman kimchireul ileohge maeunmas-eulo mandeul suneun sueobs-seubnikka? Geunyeoui migag-eun ajig hangug gijun-e michiji mos haessda. (But can you not make the kimchi so spicy? Her taste buds aren't quite up to Korean standards yet.)"

"Dang-yeonhaji. (Of course.)" She took your menu and your drinks order before leaving the two of you alone.

"Not up to Korean standards yet?"

"Noona is my friend, so I want her to visit as often as possible."

"Jungkook-"

"And Noona wants to teach English. She can teach in Korea."

You let out a large exhale and propped your chin on your hand to stare at him. He didn't look at you, eyes watching his hands which fiddled with the elastic of his face mask.

When you finally spoke your voice was small, burdened by all the reasons keeping you based in the UK. "You know if I could I would."

His eyes snapped to yours, "I'll pay. I'll-"

"It's not about money Kookie. I've got exams coming up. Then after that, I have to prepare for uni. Then I'll actually be in uni. I won't have much free time."

He frowned.

"But I want to see my Noona."

"I know but that would only happen if by some miracle I manage to study over here."

Jungkook was silent for a moment before finally speaking, "I see."

"But we'll still Skype! And who knows, maybe next summer if I have enough money saved and I'm not working I can come visit." You spoke with hope but he only seemed to deflate further.

"That's over a year away."

"I know."

"I can't wait that long."

You hated seeing him like that. You wanted to see him smile again.

"How about... after exam season is over I come for another visit? I'll have to work my ass off to get enough money-"

"Noona doesn't have to pay. I want my Noona to visit so I'll pay."

His face had lit up like a child's on Christmas day. A child that had gotten exactly what they wanted.

"I'm not letting you pay!"

"Why not?!"

"Because I have no way of repaying you!" You said raising your voice a little. Thank God you were seated in a corner. Guilt filled you as Jungkook's eyes widened in shock. "I'm sorry."

You palmed your face in shame. Why did you have to shout?

"It's okay." He peeled your hands off your cheeks. "Noona, please don't be sad. It's okay."

"No, it's not. You've been kind enough to ask me to be your friend, send me merch then fly me out here. And what do I do? I shout at you."

"I did all those things because you're my friend. Friends do things for each other. You're  teaching me English, which is a lot easier in person by the way, so I'm repaying you. You don't have to worry about paying me back."

"My English lessons have no monetary value."

"They allow me to talk to international ARMYs."

"But still..." You trailed off at the sight of the lady returning with a tray of food. She set it down on a spare table and took the two bowl off, placing them before the two of you.

"Hana maeun. Hananeun geuleohge maebji anhda. Jeulgyeo. (One spicy. One not so spicy. Enjoy.)"

"Thank you, we'll eat well!" Jungkook said picking up his chopsticks.

You picked up your own pair and had to admit you were a little intimidated by the size of the meal. Cautiously you used the chopsticks to grab a mouth full of the noodles, blowing on them before slurping them up. As much as the sound made you feel like a pig you knew that in countries like Korea it would be an insult not to be noisy while eating. You were delighted to find that the spice levels were just right. A hum slipped past your lips in appreciation.

"Good?" Jungkook asked between mouthfuls. "It's not too spicy?"

"It's perfect."

"This place is the best. It's why you have to come back if not for me for the ramyeon."

You laughed as you watched him eagerly shovel noodles into his mouth. At the rate he was going he would be finished in half the time it would take you.

"Tempting. I'll consider it."

You went back to eating your food and weren't surprised that you were correct in your assumption. He even ordered a second bowl, which the lady seemed to have prepared, as if expecting him to order more.

"Hungry?" You asked, taking a sip of your drink as you took a break to let the food in your tummy settle.

"I have a big appetite."

"I can see that." He was still a growing man after all. "I don't think I'll be able to finish all of mine. I'm not used to such huge portions."

"How big are your bowls in England?" He asked curiously.

You made a rough estimate with your hands. "About half size of this."

His eyes widened in shock, "How is that even remotely filling? Don't you feel starved?"

"There are big bowls but they tend to be used for cooking. When I was living with my mother she would make this delicious creamy soup. I loved it so much she had to find the biggest bowl in the house for my serving."

A wistful smile graced your lips and Jungkook gave a small chuckle.

"I'd like to see Noona eat a whole bowl of soup. Can your body even hold that much food?"

"Ya!" You shoved his shoulder causing the noodles to fall from his chopsticks. "I can eat big portions too! I just find noodles filling.”

Jungkook's phone went off and he quickly sent a reply.

"Eat as much as you can. We need to collect your suitcase and then Jin-hyung will meet us outside to pick us up and take us to the hotel to get your things. Namjoon-hyung, Yoongi-hyung and Jimin-hyung will be with him. Too many of us and we may be noticed in the airport."

Time was running out and when you eventually set your chopsticks down, physically unable to eat anymore, you felt as though you could stay in this little restaurant forever with Jungkook. Hidden away from all commitments waiting for you at home, from the members waiting to pick you up.

"Noona?" Jungkook was already stood with his coat on. "Are you coming?"

No, I want to stay. "Yes."

With a sigh you stood up, grabbing Jungkook's mask as you did then walked the short distance over to him. You couldn't help the small smirk appeared when you noticed the ramyeon broth that stained the corners of his lips and spilt over onto his cheeks ever so slightly.

"Are you always this messy?" You asked then licked the pad of your thumb, bringing it up to scrub away the orange that tainted caramel skin.

He didn't answer and you could feel his eyes on your face. Were you careless too?

You took a step back once he was clean and self-consciously wiped at the corners of your mouth. Why was he staring at you like that?

"Kookie?"

"You'd make a good eomma one day."

You blushed and looked at the ground, "My younger siblings call me mini mama."

He laughed and you looked back up at him. Remembering you still had his mask in your other hand, you went up onto your tiptoes and put it on for him. He took his sunglasses out of his pocket and put them on. The two of you went to pay. He insisted on paying for your last meal and you let him save another discussion about paying him back.

Jin was waiting for you outside the shop where you bought your suitcase and you climbed in while Jungkook put it in the back.

"Did you have a good day?"

"Ye. Second best day here. I really liked the market area Jungkook showed me."

Jungkook climbed into the car and sat next to you.

"Busan-eneun deo na-eun sijang-iissda. (Busan has better markets)." Jimin said with a polite smile.

"Busan sijang-eun saengseongwa sinseonhan haecho-e aju johseoyo. (Busan markets are great for fish and fresh seaweed)." Jungkook agreed.

"Geugeos-i geulibnayo? (Do you miss it?)"

Jungkook and Jimin looked at each other with small smiles. "Ye. Urineun hal su-iss-eul ttaemada doedol-a galyeogo nolyeog hajiman gyeolko chungbunhaji anh-eul geos-eoyo. (Yeah. We try to go back whenever we can but it'll never be enough.)"

Jimin nodded in agreement, "Naneun haebyeondeul-i geuliwo. Naneun hana-eseo iship bun-eul sal-assgo, jumal-eneun chingudeulgwa eoullyeo nol-assjiman, ijeneun naegahago sip-eoss deolamyeon hana sigan isang geollil geos-eoyo. (I miss the beaches. I used to live twenty minutes from one and would hang out there with friends on the weekend but now if I wanted to do that it would take over an hour.)"

The car pulled up outside of the hotel and you hopped out, Jungkook following you. He quickly popped the trunk and grabbed your new suitcase then went with you to collect your luggage.

It was adorable when the plushies were being packed. He insisted on being the one to do it, kissing each stuffed toys head before putting them into the bulletproof case and patting them gently.

"You be good for Noona."

You gave the room a final once-over and took your luggage down to reception, Jungkook insisting on wheeling the suitcase with the plushies in. Once you had checked out, you piled back in the car and tried not to let any of the members know how sad you were to be leaving. Jungkook on the other hand, did not care about hiding his disappointment, mainly speaking in English and confusing Yoongi and Jimin.

"I don't want Noona to go home. I only got to see her for three days! That's not enough!"

"Kookie, Y/N can't stay longer than she has. Her holiday is ending."

"You should've made her stay the night and look after me Hyung."

"That wouldn't have been appropriate. A single girl staying overnight with seven guys. Nope."

You picked up his hand, turning it over to look at his injury from every angle. "And you were fine. It's healing nicely."

Jungkook suddenly cried out in pain causing Yoongi and Jimin's heads to whip around in panic.

"Noona~ My finger! It hurts! You can't leave me in pain like this!"

"You're such a liar! Your finger has been fine all day."

He pouted, "I've been distracted all day."

You reached and ruffled his hair, "Then keep yourself busy and you won't remember it hurts."

"Only Noona can make it better since Noona hurt it."

You rolled your eyes, repeating the other night's actions by grabbing his hand and pressing your lips to his finger.

"There. Now stop moaning. You're not a baby."

"I'm the Maknae."

"Doesn't mean you can act like a baby."

Jin and Namjoon were idly chatting amongst themselves at the front while Jimin and Yoongi had their own conversation.

"Kookie... thank you... for everything."

"You're welcome, Noona." He gave your hand a squeeze. "I'm sorry I couldn't spend more time with you."

"It's alright. I understand."

"Thank you too. For being my friend and teaching me English."

"We're here," Jin announced pulling into the parking lot.

It took a couple of minutes to find a space but eventually, you did and everyone got out. Your bags were taken from the car and given to you, Jungkook once again taking charge of those plushies like they were his own children. Everyone pulled a mask and either a hat or a pair of sunglasses on and led you to the lift that would take you into the airport.

Your heart was pounding in fear that someone would recognise the members and nervousness to be travelling back home.

"Hold hands and walk together," Namjoon said from behind you. "You look like a couple and will make people less suspicious."

You hesitantly reached out and grabbed Jungkook's free hand, careful of his finger. He was quick to intertwine your fingers. He must've heard Namjoon too.

Before you knew it you were at the departure gate and the members gathered around you. The first one to say farewell was Jin with a somewhat awkward hug, next was Jimin with a similarly awkward hug. Namjoon patted you on the head with a warm affectionate smile. Yoongi gave you a firm handshake.

Then finally it was Jungkook's turn. He pulled down his mask to show you a wobbly smile and spread his arms as if to hug you... but instead, he made a surprised sound and you were both staring into each other's eyes as his lips made contact with yours. Spicy. You stumbled backwards, breaking the kiss and slapped a hand over your mouth. What the fuck just happened?

"Y/N-"

"Ah, your mouth is so spicy!"

"M-m-mianhae. (Sorry)" he whipped round and pointed accusingly at Yoongi, "Hyung! Wae?! (Hyung! Why?!)"

Yoongi put up his hands, "Accident".

You were in shock. You and Jungkook had kissed. You weren't sure if the tingling sensation on your lips were from the kiss itself or the spice of the kimchi ramyeon broth that remain on his lips. A dark shade of crimson took over your face.

"He pushed you?"

"Ye! I didn't- I..." He trailed off, hand scratching the back of his neck. You stayed silent wanting to hear him out. "It was an accident..." It sounded like he had more to say but he went quiet, head hanging shamefully.

"It's okay."

You gave him the hug Yoongi had just declined you of.

You felt his arms wrap tightly around you, "Have a safe trip home Noona. And try to sleep while on the plane. Think of me."

Your blush deepened. With what had just happened you didn't think you couldn't NOT think of him.

"I really did enjoy my time here. I'll message you when I'm home."

He broke the hug and gave you one final smile before pulling his mask back into place. He handed over your case full of plushies.

"You better."

A lump formed in the back of your throat and you managed to swallow it down.

"Thank you, really."

"You're very welcome Noona."

"See you on Skype."

He waved to you and you returned it before finally turning around and making your way to the gate.

A/N: She’s gone! No! But at least she got an accidental parting gift. Don’t forget to scream at @tragicshadows and I. We’d love for you to talk to us!