#I got inspiration for her outfit from a game I actually don't - and have no plans on - play: FF14

[sakurarisen]

Normally I’d post something like this on my art blog first and reblog it here, but given it’s a Kitten’s birthday today, gonna skip that step and post directly to here! <3 I actually finished this earlier this month but there’s no better time than today to share Sera’s Genshin Impact redesign!

A snow leopard born in Snezhnaya, she’s long since escaped her homeland and traveled down towards Mondstadt, where she’s set herself up with husband Zack ( @honorisen​ ) and works as a jack of all trades. Sera is something of the Mondstadtan counterpart to her elder brother, Thoma ( @yoroiis​ ), and quietly considers herself a ‘fixer’ just as he, tending to the various needs and jobs of the people of the country she’s come to hall her home... Despite the fact her birthplace is out for her head, for reasons she refuses to speak of.

I wanted to incorporate touches of both Snezhnaya and Mondstadt as a result of this, and while I need to update the GI section of her carrd, this is her design for that verse going forawrd! <3 Happy birthday to my girl - Here’s to another decade plus with her! <3

[weaselmcdiesel]

ok so it's not a comic hope thats ok with you but instead it's karkat n nepeta but designed by someone whos madly in love with them both

some more au explanations + transcript beneath the cut

they're maybe around 30-40 yo? This was mostly just an exercise to give both of them adult designs. uh. i'm only calling it an au because I made bs some explanations behind their designs while i was drawing them. so uh, in this universe, sburb never happens + things that happened because of sburb don't happen either, but the alternian society is relatively unchanged. i dont actually know.. what.. karkat does.. like i cant figure out why he wouldnt be culled but it doesnt really matter i just wanted to draw him looking cool! (i am. open to hear about speculation if you have any). also i figured that Kanaya would go to the brooding caverns after her lusus dies, bc the wiki said her lusus would die regardless of the game taking place n whatever, and probaly do something with the matriorb there idk. thats all tho! ill prolly draw them more and maybe develop more lore as i do ^^;

--

Transcript!

i don’t know what their dynamic is in the canon of this au… but that won’t stop me from making them kiss :]

The Vigilant adult karkat on alternia

new highly developed shoosing skill

honestly has a calmer demeanor because he’s learned what’s worth exploding about… though he probably developped a crazy resting bitch face

pleased (arrow to karkat with a neutral face)

The sash doubles as a sling for when he visits Kanaya in the brooding caverns. He’s also very tranquil around grubs because they don’t cause unmanageable problems. He’ll get mad if someone else bothers one

(yes i’m obsessed with dilfkat that’s why i drew this)

The Predator adult nepeta on alternia

Taller than karkat <3

still a silly goober, but better at getting what she wants

she probably got her title from a history of single-handedly slaying fearsome lusii. she likely takes assassination type of jobs because of her stealth. one of the more easy-going trolls from the group

--

also! fun fact. i was having trouble designing kk's outfit so i looked in an old antiques catalog book from the internet archive to get inspiration from objects that had the same colors as those that i wanted to use in his design? not sure why i did that. just had a hunch that it would be fun. so this is the object i found that strangely enough inspired kk's fit

haha.. and i also found one for nepeta, though it was easier to design her fit and i didnt actually need a reference object

the book was "Antique Trader antiques & collectibles 2009 price guide"

[goldensunset]

hi! I know next to nothing about kingdom hearts but could you tell me a bit about Strelitzia? she shares a name with my favorite flower that I was kinda rebranding to at the same time I saw you talking about her (back in october. cough I've been so busy 😭 cough) so I was caught really off guard lolll

but you seem to like her a lot and I'm really curious to learn more! I'd love to hear all the blorbo thoughts :)

hello tumblr user the—plant. i hope this ask finds you well. attached please find nearly four thousand words about a two dimensional mobile game character. best, goldensunset

blorbo brain ACTIVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE

hi ok so strelitzia is a character from kingdom hearts union x (but the x isn't really an x but don't worry about the titles in this series just don't worry about them trust me.) she doesn’t have a lot of screen time but she is SO important like she is actually foundational to the plot it is insane. gist of her personality? she’s quiet and shy, considers herself weak, doesn’t have a lot of friends (she has like one named acquaintance but otherwise just clings to her older brother), is kind of odd (she likes sitting on top of the roof lol) and can be somewhat spacey. to me she is like the naïve young beautifully tragic heroine of her own little fairytale

anyway one day strelitzia.... doesn't really meet but more like just notices the player character of the game (your customizable avatar) from afar. she thinks they're really cool for the way they start to like question things around them and think for themselves (bc the town they live in is kind of cult-y where everyone is loyal to one of five factions (called unions) that compete but like even the five factions are under the order of one greater cult. but that's not important rn lol). especially bc she's so shy all the time it's an inspiration to see someone so brave and unique like that. this is me kinda projecting but it might also partially be loneliness bc i think she recognizes that they are lonely too like her

the player never sees her though like they never even learn she exists until it's too late but she starts having a kind of like parasocial relationship with them. like a platonic crush. a squish, if you will. every time the two of them end up in the same place she reeeeeally wants to work up the courage to go say hi so they can be friends but she's too shy every time. my poor darling

so i mean. i lied i do have to mention some plot stuff for this to make sense of course. i promise it's interesting. there is a War approaching. bc the tension between the five unions is getting ugly. they're all convinced everyone else is evil. which is by design of the true mastermind sicko behind all this. he created problems on purpose but set himself up as a good guy and then left to go get milk and his naive homunculus furry children (his students, who each have a deadly sin for a name and an animal for a mask) (they’re the leaders of the five unions) almost all decided to take his words at face value and stick to the peacekeeping instructions he left them. which actually is what causes the war lol. they were never meant to get along! the mastermind sicko claims that that was written into fate (bc he can see the future) (or so he claims). but they still played their part. so is fate or free will responsible for this? well this is all a complicated and juicy section of the lore that isn't really necessary for an infodump about strelitzia. don’t worry about it

anyhoo only one of the naive homunculus furry children was actually fully intended to properly do the job she was told to do. like she's far and away the most important of them all. her name is ava (from avaritia, latin for greed) (so pronounced kinda like short for avocado lol) and she's the coolest of them all bc she's got a pink fox outfit. the instructions given to her were basically like hey so the war is definitely coming and almost everybody here is gonna die bc they're gonna stay loyal to their unions to the end and get involved in these petty fights like the obedient little sheep they are. (is this a good time to mention that they're all children?)

but it's ava's job to try to recruit as many strong and good-hearted people as she can to a sixth, neutral-party pacifist group. these guys are called the dandelions bc the idea is that like the seeds of a dandelion, they'll scatter on the wind and fly away to another world... poetic. that is to say daybreak town is getting massively screwed over by this battle (and arguably some other things lol) so they can't stay there anymore. you either fight and die in a stupid useless war or you say goodbye to everything and everyone you know who wasn't recruited and you run away, basically. the dandelions will be responsible for essentially rebuilding the world. like the survivors of a massive storm

the other thing is that the current union leaders won't be there in the new world either. they're about to disappear (to this day we still don't fully know exactly what happened. we can verify they're all alive though. except ava.. who knows what happened to her). so all these literal children are responsible for governing themselves now yippee! so there have to be five new chosen union leaders to replace the missing furry homunculi. this isn't ava's call though-- she's given a specific list of names she has to recruit. (ava mostly accepts fate and follows instructions instead of her heart! mostly. except when she doesn't)

these guys are understandably a bit unsettled bc as new union leaders they're warned in advance a bit more thoroughly about the imminent fate of daybreak town than the regular dandelions. like everyone has heard by this point the rumor that there could be war on the horizon and some people are in denial about it and others are like yup sounds good let's fight! some people think ok i'll only fight in self defense to stop the other people who are trying to fight! you fools. you're making it happen. the dandelions are like basically people who both believe the rumors they're told and who agree that it's a stupid idea to even get involved or to die loyal to your union. iirc some were personally recruited by ava and some just got recruited by other dandelions

but the union leaders were specifically and personally approached by ava-- lady ava, master ava, a foreteller, basically a member of the nobility-- with an ominous warning that's like 'fate is written in stone. i've read the prophecy of the future that our master saw and wrote down. the war is a guarantee. if you stay here you will die. i need you to help form the foundation of a new world. here's this cool book it serves as your id and proves you're a legit chosen one leader ok enjoy the responsibility don't tell anyone about this until afterwards ok byyyyeeeee'. not fun

FINALLY back to strelitzia. so as you might have guessed she's one of the five names on the list- she's been recruited to the dandelions AND now she's receiving a very special honor. she's kind of amazed that someone introverted and unremarkable like her could be chosen to help lead the new world. my little skrunkly. but then she panics bc she realizes that her parasocial best friend, her squish, the player character, isn't a dandelion! oh no! she doesn't want them to fight and die she has to convince them!

(and honestly as a side note it’s really fascinating bc this story as a whole primarily revolves around the new union leaders as its protagonists and yet the person you play as is someone who was warned and invited to join the dandelions multiple times but explicitly turned down the offer bc they felt like it would be a cowardly or traitorous move to abandon their friends. which is sweet of them to be worried about, and really interesting bc fr, how did recruitment work actually? did everyone actually get the offer or were some people just left for dead bc they weren’t strong or cool enough? the player takes issue with the concept. again- props to them for rising up and challenging authority and fate. but dude are you really going to join the child military instead???)

strel doesn’t know any of that though she’s just determined to reach out and be a friend. she knows that this is her last chance to finally work up the courage and reach out to this person and be friends, although it’s too bad the circumstances are so dire… like social anxiety is strong but the fear of losing someone who means a lot to her is even stronger. like she HAS to warn them and save them. she receives her official rulebook/warning/nomination what turns out to be the day before the war officially begins. that night she almost goes out running in the dark to go find this mystery person but realizes ‘wait that’s stupid i’m not gonna go out at night alone and i don’t even know where this person lives or would be rn’ so instead the next morning she sets out on a mission to find them. yayyyyy she’s finally found her courage!

yeah uh. she doesn’t find them though … what she does find is an ominous dark abandoned house (it was her little magical cat’s idea to go look in there bc it was pretty sure it saw the player around there a moment ago. i mean it was right but they were already gone smh). no little flower girl don’t go in there! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! first person to die in a slasher movie type vibes. yeah there is Someone or Something in there and in the first iteration of this scene the screen just goes dark and we hear a slash sound and then we see strelitzia on the floor. and a shadowy hand picks up her book that fell to the floor and leaves her there. in the like ‘updated’ version of this flashback she cries out for her older brother. AUGH. she manages to stumble to her feet and limp to the door, knowing that she’s dying, and in her last moments, she reflects on all those missed opportunities and expresses her regrets… ‘ i wish i’d had the courage…’ Augh. then her body fades away into sparkles bc this is kingdom hearts

so like… she’s the center focus of a murder mystery. but the characters don’t even know there’s a murder mystery. but the audience does!!! it takes a loooong time for anyone in the story to learn she’s even dead. her older brother (yes that’s right! this tragedy will not go unmourned!) realizes that he hasn’t seen her in a while but assumes she’s simply missing. i mean people in daybreak town take extended leave to work on their own little missions all the time. it’s not like the siblings can spend every day together. his name is lauriam and he’s a very nice refined polite young man who is going to have the most delicious fall from grace negative character development in the series eventually

ik you asked about strel but like i can’t talk about one of the flower siblings without the other and clearly you like flowers and plants so it’s worth mentioning. lauriam has tons of plant and flower imagery going on. the tattered edges of his vest resemble a leaf rotted by plant blight. his name is arguably supposed to resemble ‘laurel’ (although it’s actually an anagram of something else so like that couldn’t have been the original plan). his keyblade is rose-themed. the scythe he later gets is named graceful dahlia. his original appearance in the series gave him cherry blossoms and his remake-appearance gave him rose petals. plus he’s one of the new union leaders of the dandelion and his sister is obviously named after the bird of paradise flower… you get the gist. we could make a whole bouquet for this guy. his concept is supposed to be like a graceful, beautiful grim reaper of sorts—he’s associated with both flowers and death. goes crazy. so it makes perfect sense that retroactively they gave him a backstory where his flower-themed sister dies and he goes mad with grief over it

anyway he goes asking around trying to find her and slowly gets more and more worried bc oh shoot he actually hasn’t seen her since the war… for all he knows she might not have even made it to the new world… oh this isn’t good… he meets up with strelitzia’s only named acquaintance who provides a bit of useful information (and sees something incredibly ominous. basically like a digital flashback into the past of strelitzia’s final moments. like a vision of a ghost of sorts).

eventually the other new union leaders start realizing that lauriam’s little personal sidequest to find his sister is actually more important than they thought bc something is up with her. this isn’t just some random girl that went missing. they eventually realize that she was supposed to be one of the new union leaders (cuz it turns out one of them actually is in possession of the original list of names that ava received. why precisely did she even bother giving that information to him when it would become evident who the new leaders would be very shortly? who knows… maybe she knew something like this might happen). and the fact that she’s missing is therefore VERY ominous bc obviously a dandelion union leader wouldn’t have fought and died in the war so we can’t write it off as a probable casualty. something is very very wrong here.

the replacement. the name that wasn’t on the list. the shadowy hand. if one leader dies then we need a new one. someone who wasn’t supposed to be there. an impostor among the five. uh oh.

that kid though. that unusual boy. ventus. he swears up and down he has no idea what happened or why he’s not on the list. he swears he was personally chosen and given the book by ava but his memory is a total blur. his friends are nice they don’t like accuse him or murder or anything they just want to understand how the switcheroo happened. for all they know strelitzia is still alive and just gone somewhere. and then ven starts having some horrible flashbacks and nightmares. a nightmare where a shadowy demon shapeshifted into ava and led him into this dark abandoned house… a nightmare where he was possessed, brainwashed, whatever you want to call it… where in the blink of an eye the darkness within him lunged out at this unknown girl in that dim room and she collapsed to the ground and he was commanded to steal the book she dropped… augh.

and at the same time that all this is happening. lauriam is once again off doing his own personal thing which is picking a fight with someone but unfortunately he’s a toothpick and gets beat up so badly he starts hallucinating. thennnn we get the really heartbreaking flashback of happy memories of lauriam and strelitzia… she’s like venting about her day and how tired she is but her brother is someone she trusts and can go to… she’s like i’m not strong enough on my own can we please pair up in battle? and he’s like pffft leaning on me like that isn’t gonna help you grow y’know. then they talk about the dandelions and strelitzia talks about her squish and lauriam teases her about it (in english he explicitly asks if she has a crush and she’s like NO NO NO) and it’s so adorable AUGHGhhh. basically the scene is him reassuring her how much he loves her and looks up to her and saying if something happens he will come running to protect her (are you dying like I am yet. the tragedy………) and she’s like no yknow what? you’ve given me a challenge to get stronger and be able to protect you and i’m gonna do that someday! (augh.) then the flashback turns into a nightmare and she disappears then reappears in an ominous white cloak and starts floating and it’s really freaky and then he wakes up yay! it gives lauriam a really bad ominous feeling…

back to ventus the killer-not-killer. ven isn’t guilty of anything bc it wasn’t really him but like. he thinks he is. he thinks he needs to confess. lauriam is already in an incredibly unstable mental state (and physical state. he’s limping) when he enters the room where all his other friends are and he overhears them saying strelitzia is probably dead. he starts basically attacking and fighting them demanding answers. then in walks this innocent eleven year old saying ‘it was me i’m sorry…’ do you think lauriam handles it well? noooo. no he doesn’t. remember when I said he was a very nice polite young man? yeah uhhh the only thing stopping him from straight up killing the guy is the fact that the shadow demon pops out and ven collapses and uhhh wat going on here

after some battle stuff lauriam is finally successfully convinced that it wasn’t ven’s fault he got possessed and he never wanted any of this and he feels horrible for having attacked and blamed ven. after waking up ven basically reabsorbs the shadow demon bc there was no other way to defeat that monster and that knocks him out cold again for the rest of the entire story. and they never get to meet ever again aughhh. there’s a scene where lauriam is like watching over ven as he sleeps and he’s apologizing while grieving but then he questions like. if the shadow is in fact inside ven then in order to get revenge he almost considers violence again- but then he hallucinates strelitizia!!!! ARUGHGHGHG. she stops him she’s like ‘this isn’t you… you need to let it go… whatever happened to my kind and loving brother?’ and then disappears. AUGH. then lauriam feels such horrible pity for this little kid and vows to take care of him… like his big brother instincts are still there…

and then a whole bunch of plot stuff later long story short everyone gets separated from each other forever and most of them lose their memories of all of this! YAYYY! khux is so evil. lauriam’s future self, having lost his memories, knows there is something he’s missing. he knows there is someone he’s grieving but doesn’t even know who. he becomes a villain in an attempt to get something or feel something again. he thinks if he can manipulate other people’s memories he’ll be able to understand how memory itself works and maybe he’ll be able to unlock his own. he gets the cool scythe he gets the death motif and he gets this massive like.. monster., familiar.., jojo style stand if you will. he gets this specter that assists him in battle and dude i swear the thing looks JUST like strelitzia it’s ridiculous. like some part of his heart still knows her. and the most insane thing!!! remember in the flashback i mentioned how they were talking about what it would be like to protect each other and fight by each others’ side? the way in which the specter assists him is exactly like how strelitzia said she would… ouhhhhh

what actually happened to strelitzia after death though? well in kingdom hearts it can get pretty wacky. there are a lot of ways to die and a lot of different things that can happen to you afterwards lol. for the longest time we had no idea at all and presumably she was just Gone. our beloved tragic fairytale heroine, lost to the sands of time… quietly faded away along with her world with almost no one left in the world who would even have a chance at knowing she ever existed… the most hope we had being the fact that another white-robed figure (like the one that appeared in lauriam’s hallucination) appeared and seemed to have been rescued and sent to the future. that person being referred to as ‘the true dandelion’. but a few years ago we got a pretty substantial update. and it’s driving me bonkers bc i can’t make sense of it yet and we’ve gotten no news since. i would go into detail about what appears to have happened but it would be way too much for someone who didn’t know kh lore to grasp

long story short it appears she somehow ended up in like a parallel plane of existence-- the same place that the main character of the series has ended up in. that’s right- literally the most important dude in kingdom hearts + girl who used to be considered an obscure one off character from a game that’s looked down upon are about to be a duo! afterlife besties! will they ever get back home? is there even a home left for strelitzia? it’s been hundreds of years. did I mention that when everyone got separated at the end they were also sent forward to random points in the future. yeah daybreak town is gone. also did I mention the person she had a squish on and was desperate to meet also dies at the end of khux. but then they get reincarnated and live a long fulfilling life! but then they die again. but like maybe they got reincarnated again maybe there’s another chance!! but in any case i just KNOW strelitzia will find her brother again someday and he will remember her and they will be happy again oughghghhg

ANYWAY

sorry that was a lot of lore. i love that your interest in the plant has stimulated interest in the character bc for me it was the reverse! bc I love strelitzia I’ve become obsessed with the bird of paradise flower. it’s such a cool plant for being so vibrant and unusual it’s symbolic of like freedom and victory and a bunch more bold and beautiful and striking things i don’t fully remember the details. it’s such an interesting namesake choice for a girl who is very quiet and shy, who doesn’t draw attention to herself, who most certainly isn’t free and most certainly does not achieve victory or glory or anything. khux’s plot was released on an episode-by-episode basis and it was pretty iconic in a horrible way for them to introduce her in one episode, make everyone fall in love with her, and then kill her off in the very next update. like it’s both hilarious and incredibly sad. they told a whole entire short story, a self-contained narrative arc, a tragedy with a moral to the story, in two episodes. that is why i fell in love with her. she lives a short quiet life and then dies in secret and is washed away with the rest of her world, lost to time for now. with just a few scattered seeds of hope that she is still alive in some way in some world in the future. but like that flower is such a specific choice it has to mean something. me personally I think it’s a sign that she’ll have a bright and glorious comeback. that shy forgotten girl will finally rise from the grave for real and become someone again. she’ll be vibrant and loud and beautiful and loved… i know it….

[gurt-the-great]

During Rosie's intro post, I mentioned that every Sonic character has been aged up by 10 years! Well I went ahead and designed five of them.

Most of these characters have a connection to Rosie, Shadow and Tails having the strongest bonds to her. This will officially be the 10 years later AU, or just Gurt's Sonic AU since it adds and focuses on my ocs.

The individual refs and more info for everyone will be under the cut

Sonic was a little tricky to figure out in this AU. He's not the type of character to settle down and he wouldn't have a typical job since he's not one for authority figures. Also he's 25 now, he's got to grow up at least a little bit, especially now that the down-time between Eggman's schemes have gotten longer. He needs SOMETHING to occupy the time.

Then I thought "what if he was a professional air-boarder?" Sonic Riders was the COOLEST Sonic racing game and Sonic being an extreme sports Tony Hawk-esque guy made sense to me.

The design was easy to figure out once I decided on his profession. I brought his riders sunglasses back, the SOAP shoes from Adventure 2 and gave him a cool racing jacket with new gloves.

Sonic doesn't have a strong bond with Rosie but he does know her since Tails was friends with her growing up.

Tails was easy to age up, all I did was give him a ponytail, some accessories, new shoes, and some brown fur on his limbs and ears.

Tails is an Engineer in the AU! He already makes gadgets and trinkets, why not make a career out of it? He actually made Rosie's boots!

Tails and Rosie have a very close bond, the two had accelerated courses in school together due to their high intelligence. They visit each other frequently and Tails feels like a part of her family.

Rouge was pretty fun to design for this AU! I took elements from the elite agent outfit in Sonic Forces speed battle, Rouge's outfit in Heroes, and her regular look as well. I gave her bangs too but I like to think she messes with her hair often.

I don't have many notes on Rouge, She's still a G.U.N. Agent but also she's married to Knuckles! This is the only ship I'm canonizing in my AU for now. I might add more ships later on, we'll have to see.

Rouge works with Rosie pretty frequently and tries to get her to come out of her shell. She thinks that Rosie is pretty and could use that well, but Rosie is hopeless when it comes to using charisma. Rouge still likes her though and tries to teach her.

I did not NEED to design Cream but I really wanted to! She ended up being my favorite design here. I didn't really have a major direction to go in for Cream's design since she's still a teen without any job. I took inspiration from different Cream designs I seen online and just merged some concepts I liked. The only big change is making her tall, I thought it'd be cute if I based her on a Flemish Giant rabbit! I wanted an excuse to make her taller than Tails for comedic purposes.

Cream is still the polite sweetie she was as a kid but now she does work with Chao! She volunteers and donates to local Chao gardens and trains Cheese and Chocola for races. Cheese evolved into a hero Chao! Being with Cream throughout the years and going on some adventures helped him evolve. Chocola is neutral fly type Chao! It's one of my favorite Chao evolutions and I wanted Chocola to be more different from Cheese.

Cream and Rosie don't have much of a connection but I'd say they get along well enough. They're both friends with Tails so I'd say they all hang out sometimes.

And finally we reach Shadow! Shadow was easy to design as well. I just gave him a cool jacket. I don't think Shadow would visibly age much since he's the ultimate life form.

He's still a G.U.N. Agent and an incredibly important person to Rosie. Rosie idolized him as a kid and wanted to be like him. Shadow took on a mentorship role to Rosie, seeing great potential in her. He would personally teach Rosie the various ways that chaos control is used and would also teach her chaos spear. He does care about her even if he's tough on her at times.

If you read all that, thank you! I've put a lot of time and thought into this AU and I'm excited to share more! If you have any questions about my AU or ocs, my askbox is open! I hope y'all enjoyed the post!

[stephstars08]

Cover Girl

Jack Champion x Reader

Warnings: Insecurities, Negative Thoughts, Self Doubt, Body Issues, Anxiety, Adult Language, Eating Disorder, Angst, Fluff, Arguing, And Jealousy.

Summery: Y/N and Jack have been best friends since they were toddlers. They grew up together always having each other's back. Jack continues to be there for her even when he is away filming a movie but what he doesn't know while he is away is that Y/N is hiding something from him. As Y/N got older she started to feel insecure about the way she looks and her body but another thing is that she started to develop feelings for her best friend as well. Jack also has a secret that he is planning on confessing to her while they are on a beach trip with two of their other best friends. Will Y/N confess her secrets to Jack on the beach trip of will she continue to hide her dark thoughts from him?

Inspired by Cover Girl by Big Time Rush

Word Count: 3,335

Author's Note: Hello Everyone! BEFORE YOU ALL READ THIS I JUST WANT YOU ALL TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE PERFECT AND BEAUTIFUL JUST THE WAY YOU ARE! This one shot does have some sensitive content so I would definally read the warnings before reading! This one shot includes one of Jack's real life best friends named Romeo. This was inspired by the big time rush song but also inspired by the beach trip Jack took with his friends. NEXT WEEK THERE WILL BE NO NEW STORY SINCE I WANT TO TAKE A SMALL BREAK WITH POSTING SO I CAN CATCH UP ON MY WRITING! I hope you all like this one shot and don't be shy to tell me what you think!

Y/N was at home sitting in her room looking at a Vogue magazine. She was lying on her bed on her stomach. As she flipped through the magazine those negative and insecure thoughts started to flood her mind once again. Y/N hasn’t always been insecure about the way she looks. It all started when she hit high school, that’s when it all changed. She couldn’t help but compare her looks to the way all the other girls looked at her school. Once she graduated, she then started to compare herself to celebrities like models and actresses. She especially compares her image to her best friend, Jack’s female co-stars.

Y/N and Jack have been best friends since they were toddlers since their mom’s actually grew up together. Jack had got into acting at a young age. It all started when Jack turned fourteen and got a tiny roll in Avengers End Game and that same day, he got a bigger role in Avatar the Way of Water and since then he’s been in so many big movies including Scream VI and a new movie with Liam Neeson called Retribution that is coming out in August. As the movie rolls kept coming Jack still found a way to be there for Y/N but he doesn’t know about her insecure thoughts.

As they got older Y/N started to develop feelings for her best friend which scared the shit out of her. Does she want to be more than friends with Jack? Hell yes! Will she ever make a move? Most likely not! The reason for this is because Y/N doesn’t think that Jack is into girls that look like her. She looks at the girls Jack stars in movies with and she has no shot going up against them. They wear pretty and glamorous outfits while Y/N normally wears t-shirts and baggy jeans. Sometimes even baggy sweatpants. She also thinks that way too because she doesn’t come from a wealthy family.

When Y/N flipped the page to the magazine she saw three models posing in bikinis. “Why can’t I look like that in a bikini?” Y/N mumbled to herself. Before she could turn the page, someone came into her room. “Hey girl!” Stella said with a big smile walking over to Y/N with Romeo following her inside the bedroom. Y/N shot two of her other best friends a glare for barging not just into her bedroom but into her house. Yes, when Y/N is home alone she keeps the front door locked like her parents tell her to do but her friends know where the spare key is outside.

“How many times have I told you two to knock?” Y/N said in an annoyed tone closing the magazine. “You can chew us out later because we have a surprise for you in the living room.” Romeo told her which confused her. “What?” Y/N asked in a confused tone. “C’mon lazy ass!” Stella said, grabbing her arm and pulling her up off her bed. “Close your eyes!” Romeo told her with excitement. “But- “Y/N started to say but Stella cut her off. “Y/N will you just relax and trust us!” Stella told her. “Fine! If I bump into anything I’m going to beat both of your asses.” Y/N told them in a warning tone and closed her eyes.

She let Stella and Romeo guide her to her living room. They made her stand in the middle of the room and backed away from her standing behind her. Y/N didn’t feel Stella or Romeo’s hands on her arms and hand, but she did feel a present of someone standing right in front of her. “Can I please open my eyes?” Y/N asked, starting to get annoyed again. “You can open your eyes now, Y/N/N.” She heard a familiar voice tell her which made her heartrate speed up.

When she opened her eyes, they went wide in surprise. “You going to hug him or what?” Stella asked her, which earned her a nudge from Romeo silently telling her not to ruin the moment with her big mouth. “Come here!” Jack said wrapping his arms around her tightly. Y/N wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. She let out a little squeal when he picked her up off the floor. It seems like he missed her more than she missed him. “Jack!” Y/N squealed with a laugh as he spun her around. He laughed as he put her back down onto her feet.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on a movie set right now?” Y/N asked him letting go of him. Jack has been away for weeks filming a movie called ‘Everything’s Going to be Good’. This ain’t the first time Y/N and Jack have been away from each other but while he’s away filming, they always text, call, and facetime but it’s still hard on them for not seeing each in person. “We got to wrap a few weeks early.” Jack told her with a smile so happy to be back home with his best friends again. Jack loves his job and being on a movie set, but he does get homesick, missing his family and friends. “That’s great!” Y/N said with a big smile on her face. She hasn’t smiled this big in a while.

“You know what else is great?” Romeo asked her. “My grandparents are letting us stay in their beach house for a whole week!” Stella answered Romeo’s question before Y/N could guess which earned her a glare from him and Jack. “Oh, so we’re going to be going to the beach together. For a week?”  Y/N said as her smile wiped away from her face as those insecure thoughts quickly took over her mind. She doesn’t want to show anyone the way her body looks in a swimsuit, especially Jack. She broke out of that thought when Romeo spoke. “Yeah, we figured why not celebrate Jack finishing up another movie by going on a beach trip!” Romeo explained. “Oh, I don’t know.” Y/N said as she looked down at the floor. “What’s wrong?” Jack asked her with concern. “Do we have to go to the beach? Can’t we go somewhere else to celebrate?” Y/N asked still staring down at the carpeted floor. “Why don’t you want to go to the beach?” Romeo asked which Y/N just responded with a shrug. Stella knew why but just stayed silent since it wasn’t her place to say it.

“Please come Y/N/N.” Jack said taking both of her hands which made her look up at him. “It’ll be fun.” He added as he gave her his signature puppy dog eyes which work on her every time. “Okay! I’ll come.” Y/N said giving in. “Yay!” Stella said with an excited squeal as she jumped up and down. “Awesome! We’ll pick you up tomorrow morning at around eight.” Romeo told her with a smile. “We’re heading home to go pack.” Jack told the girls. “See you tomorrow.” He said to Y/N and gave her hand a kiss. She’s always used to Jack giving her hand a kiss, but it always makes the butterflies in her stomach go into a frenzy. Jack and Romeo walked out the front door just leaving Y/N with Stella. Stella lives in the house right across the street from Y/N, so the boys first came to her house and then they walked across the street to Y/N.

“Wanna tell me why you don’t want to come to the beach?” Stella asked her as she folded her arms over her chest. “You know why.” Y/N told her with a sigh as she walked over to the couch and plopped down onto it. “Y/N, you need to stop looking at those stupid fucking magazines.” Stella told her in a stern tone as she sat down next to her. “You are beautiful just the way you are.” Stella added, which just made Y/N roll her eyes. She’s heard that like a hundred times and she’s over it. “I need to go pack.” Y/N said standing up and walking back to her room which made Stella sigh in frustration.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/N was sitting in the back seat of Romeo’s car with Stella while Jack was sitting in the passenger seat. Before they hit the road, they stopped somewhere to get breakfast. Everyone got something to eat but Y/N. She just got something to drink. Jack questioned her about it, but she told him she ate something before they picked her up. They had been on the road for more than an hour and the girls fell asleep.

“You know a beach trip is a perfect time to tell your best friend that you’re in love with her.” Romeo told Jack, which earned him a glare. “Dude!” Jack hissed, which made Romeo laugh. “Bro, relax! Her and Stella are passed out back there.” Romeo reassured him as he kept his eyes on the road. “You really think I should tell her?” Jack asked him. “Hell yeah!” Romeo told him, nodding his head.

Jack has always seen Y/N as his closest best friend till he recently found out that he loves her more than a best friend. When Jack is away filming a movie, he craves for Y/N. When he’s facetiming her, he wishes they could stay on there all day. When he first started feel like that he flipped out. The first person he told was his mom which told him that he’s starting to fall for Y/N. It brought tears to his mom’s eyes when he told her since his mom already sees Y/N as a daughter. The second and last person Jack told was Romeo who agreed with his best friend’s mom.

“How should I do it?” Jack asked him in a curious tone. He’s never told a girl that he’s falling for her. “Take her for a walk on the beach. Do it when there is barley anyone there.” Romeo told him shooting him a quick glance and then back to the road. “Okay, sounds good.” Jack said with a nod as he looked at the review mirror at Y/N peacefully sleeping. He felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest and just the sight of her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they arrived at the beach house it was around four in the afternoon so after they put all of their belongings away, they decided to go on the boardwalk. As they walked the boardwalk, they went into many stores. Y/N and Jack were in a sunglasses store trying on a bunch of random glasses together. Both of them couldn’t help but take a bunch of pictures with each other with some funny looking sunglasses. Everything was going great till one of the young girls who worked at the store came over and started to flirt with Jack taking his attention away from Y/N. She could tell that Jack was completely oblivious to the girl’s flirtation, but it still made Y/N’s blood boil in jealousy.

Y/N let out a heavy sigh as she put the sunglasses she was holding back onto the rack and walked out of the store. She took a seat down onto a wooden bench. “Hey Y/N!” Stella said walking up to her with Romeo by her side. “Where’s Jack?” Romeo asked her. Y/N pointed in the direction of Jack and the girl. “Who’s she?” Stella hissed, looking the girl up and down in disgust at how desperate she was acting. “She works there and just walked up to Jack and started to flirt with him.” Y/N answered as she glared at the girl who was now helping Jack out at the counter. Jack decided to buy a nice pair of sunglasses that were gold and black with blue lenses.

He walked out of the store and over to the group. “There you are.” Jack said to Y/N. “Why did you leave?” He asked her. She still had a dirty glare in her eyes. “Oh, sorry I thought you would rather speak to Ms. Pretty by yourself.�� Y/N answered in a snappy tone as she stood up from the bench. She wasn’t just jealous of the girl taking Jack’s attention, she was also jealous at the way the girl looks. “What?” Jack asked confused and shocked by the tone in her voice. Romeo and Stella knew that Y/N was jealous but again, Jack was oblivious.

“Can we just go back to the fucking house.” Y/N snapped and started to walk away. Stella and Romeo shared a look and followed her. Jack was still shocked and confused by Y/N’s sudden burst out as he followed his friends. For the rest of the night Jack kept asking Y/N what was wrong, but she kept avoiding the question or telling him that she’s fine or just tired.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the week went on Jack has been worried about the way Y/N had been acting. Whenever they are on the beach together, she just sits on a beach chair just wearing the bottom of her swimsuit and a long T-shirt. Jack kept trying to get her into the water and swim with everyone, but she would just shake her head saying no. He was confused since when they went to the beach when they were kids all the both of them would do was swim in the water. When they would go eat out somewhere Y/N would barely eat anything. All she would eat at a restaurant is a salad. And again, when Jack would mention something about it, she would tell him that she isn’t really hungry.

Y/N was sitting in the room she shares with Stella lying on one of the beds flipping through a Cover Girl magazine. When she got to one page, one of the models looked like the one girl from the sunglass store. They weren’t the person, but they had so many similarities such as their body type. Of course, those insecure thoughts appeared again in her brain which made her eyes start to tear up. “Hey Y/N can I- “Jack started to say as he walked into the room, but he cut off his sentence when he saw tears in Y/N’s eyes. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Jack asked with concern, startling her as he quickly walked up to her. “Nothing!” Y/N said quickly sitting up and wiping the tears out of her eyes. “Why won’t anyone fucking knock!” Y/N said with frustration and annoyance in her tone.

“Okay, what the fuck has been up with you?” Jack asked with frustration now in his tone, finally having enough of Y/N’s attitude. “It’s like ever since we came here you barley eat, you don’t want go into the water, and you are always looking at those stupid magazines!” Jack explained to her with annoyance. “IT’S BECAUSE I DON’T LIKE THE WAY I LOOK OKAY!!!” Y/N yelled at him as tears quickly returned to her eyes. Jack’s eyes went wide in shock since he wasn’t expecting her to yell at him since she’s never raised her voice at him. He’s actually never heard her raise her voice. “I want to look like those models in those magazines. I want to look like those actresses that star in those movies with you. I want to look like that girl that was flirting with you in that sunglass shop.” Y/N told him as hot tears ran down her face. “But Y/N you are- “Jack started to say but she immediately cut him. “Just fucking forget it!” Y/N snapped standing up and pushing pasted him, running out of the room.

Jack was completely stunned by what Y/N just told him. He had no idea that she was being completely hard on herself. He had no idea that she didn’t like the way she looked. Jack couldn’t help but think that he’s a bad friend for not sensing that something is going on with her. He should’ve known that she was feeling down on herself by her actions.

Jack quickly made his way downstairs into the living room. He only saw Stella and Romeo in there watching TV. “Hey, do you guys know where Y/N went?” Jack asked, getting their attention. “She told us she was going to go sit on the beach.” Romeo answered. “She said that she wanted to be alone.” He added. “Is she okay? She looked like she was crying?” Stella asked him with concern in her tone. When Y/N walked into the room she told them that she was going to go sit on the beach and she wanted to be alone. Before she or Romeo could say anything, she was out the door. “No, I need to go tell her something important.” Jack said and walked out the front door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/N was sitting in the sand watching the waves crash on the shore. The sun was setting on the horizon. There were some people walking closer to the shore just letting the waves go over their feet. “Y/N!” She heard Jack say her name behind her. “Leave me alone!” Y/N told him in a stern tone as she continued to stare out into the ocean. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were feeling bad about yourself?” Jack asked her in the same tone she used now standing next to her. “Because you have your own life to live. I don’t need you to be worrying about me.” Y/N told him with frustration still not looking at him with tears streaming down her cheeks. Jack let out a sigh as he sat down next to her.

“You were the only person that I had on my mind when I was away filming.” Jack told her which made her finally look at him. “While I was away all I wanted to do all day was facetime you so I could see your beautiful face.” Jack told her. She felt her heart skip a beat when he called her beautiful. “You think I’m beautiful?” Y/N asked as she stared into his brown eyes. “I think you’re the most beautiful girl in whole world.” Jack told her as he took one of her hands into his. “But why me? I don’t wear all of those glamorous clothes your female co-star’s wear.” Y/N said as the frustration inside her came out again. “I don’t give a fuck about that.” Jack told her in a stern tone.

“Y/N, you are beautiful just the way you are. Just because you don’t wear expensive clothes doesn’t mean that you aren’t beautiful in what you wear. What you wear is your style and I love your style.” Jack told her letting go of her hand, putting his hand on her cheek wiping away her tears with his thumb. “I’m falling in love in with you because I love everything about you.” Jack confessed which made her eyes go wide. She was completely stunned because he just told her that he feels the same way she feels. Jack leaned in and connected his lips with hers. Y/N completely melted into the kiss. Their lips fitted just like a puzzle piece. When they released from the kiss they stared deeply into each other’s eyes.

“Since tomorrow is our last day here, how about we spend the whole day together for our first date?” Jack said to her. “I’d love that!” Y/N said with excitement as a big smile formed on her lips. Jack returned the big smile as he wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders bringing her close to his body. Y/N rested her head onto his shoulder. “Thank you for always being here when I need you.” Y/N said in a soft tone as he rubbed his hand up and down her arm in comfort. “I’m always here for my girl.” Jack told her and gave her a soft kiss on the top of her head which made her giggle. Y/N and Jack stayed in that position as they watched the beautiful sun set.

Tags: @athenalive

@pagesfalling

[knockknockitsnickels]

My Personal Best & Worst Skins for Each Don't Starve Character bc I love to yap

Based purely on personal opinion, though if anyone wants to share their own thoughts pls feel free. I'm going to be basing these mostly off of the in-game sprites, which tend to have more vibrant colors than the portraits. I'm sorry for not including said sprites, but I was unable to find good pictures of them all. Also this won't be including the Culinarian/Challenger skins, since those are pretty simple and same-y.

Wilson: Imo the quality of Wilson's skins vary from pretty good to just kind of mid. Nothing stands out as a skin I really want, but there's nothing awful either. My personal favorites are a toss-up between the Verdant, Victorian, and Mad Scientist, but for now I'm going with Verdant because I like the vibe. Worst is between Survivor and Merrymaker - Survivor probably deserves the spot for being bland, but I decided on Merrymaker just because I hate the berries in his hair. I think the holly leaf motif is a cute idea, but the berry placement feels kind of random.

Willow: Willow's in a similar situation to Wilson where there are no skins I really love or hate. Best is probably forlorn doll - all of the details on her head make her in-game sprite a little busy, but the yellow eyes and red dress are cute. Honorable mention to Snowfallen and Victorian for also being cute though. Worst goes to Woeful because a) I have no idea what concept it's going for (Lizzie Borden???) and b) I hate whatever's going on with her hair.

Wolfgang: I recognize that the reference to Hulk Hogan has perhaps aged poorly but I can't not love the Giant. Look at his sick sunglasses and try to tell me this skin is bad. Worst is Incredible Strongman (mostly because of how his hair is drawn. It looks like he's wearing swiss rolls on his head).

Wendy: Best is the Moonbound - I like the hair color change (though the washed out portrait colors don't really do it justice), and the markings under her eyes which resemble tears (like runny mascara, if that makes sense) are a fun detail. Wendy doesn't really have any skins I hate, but my least favorite is Survivor - it's just a little bland, and I don't care much for the "bone" motif (her flower & the ones around her neck).

WX-78: WX is the first character discussed in this post where I think that almost all of their skins are fantastic. It's difficult to choose a favorite - I think using a nutcracker motif for the Christmas-themed Merrymaker set was an inspired choice, Snowfallen gives them this cool, ice-themed supervillain look (literally, I think it was inspired by the character Mr. Freeze from Batman), and while I get why people don't really like the color scheme, I can't not love the super sentai theme of the Midori Roboto (it also just appeals to me as a fan of cheesy 80s rock). With all of that said - I'm sorry, I adore their Guest of Honor outfit, it's so dumb. I think objectively Experiment is probably their actual best skin but I have to be true to myself. Worst goes to Gladiator - it doesn't look so bad in the portrait, but in-game all of the different colors - red, gray, & multiple shades of yellow - around the face area make this skin really busy. Concept's cool, but the execution's flawed.

Wickerbottom: My girl. She's got a few nice skins - Snowfallen gets points for making her look like an ice queen, & I think I like her Moonbound skin more than most other people (I just think the 3rd eye is a cool idea for her). That said, I think the Bewitched is the best one - it looks lovely, the witch theme is fun, & it's the only one which significantly changes up her silhouette. Worst is Volt Goat (a lot of the early Halloween skins were kinda bland, I'm surprised this is the first one I've mentioned).

Woodie: I was surprised by how many good skins Woodie has, since I remembered them being a bit underwhelming. I like his Roseate, Merrymaker, and Snowfallen skins quite a bit, and the last shred of Canadian patriotism in me really enjoys the Hockey skin, but his stupid hippy Halloween costume is too conceptually funny to not include. Sorry I'm really predictable at this point. Worst goes to Masquerader - it's way too busy, and on his in-game sprite you can barely see his mouth.

Wes: Triumphant is hands-down his best skin but shoutout to Lover for that smug lil pose he does in the portrait. I honestly don't think Wes has any bad skins - even the ones I personally think are ugly make really fun use of the clown scheme - so the crown goes to Mandrake for being boring.

Maxwell: Poor Maxwell, man. He's stuck with some of the worst skins in the game. Klei, please PLEASE stop trying to give this man facial hair it does NOT look good. Anyway his best is Gladiator for looking cool (though the portrait colors are REALLY washed out) and making way better use of the "dark magician" theme then some of his other skins dark wizard. Snowfallen is also pretty cool however it DOES lose points for the facial hair. Anyway everyone hates Dark Wizard and while it DOES look goofy as hell Moonbound is worse. I don't know why ppl don't mention it, Moonbound is way worse. #StopTryingToGiveMaxwellABeard #ShaveThatMan

Wigfrid: Like WX, I think almost all of Wigfrid's skins are really good and im gay. Moonbound wins the prize bc she looks like a magical girl and I love that. If I had to pick a worst one I guess I'd choose Guest of Honor. I still like it, the outfit's just a little plain.

Webber: Webber my beloved. I love the Rebel on concept alone & the Victorian for making him a lil sailor boy, but Snowfallen has my heart. I love the way he's colored to look like a snowman (the legs on his head being the "twigs") and that the fluff on his body resembles a sweater. Survivor is probably the worst, it's almost identical to the original aside from some messy hair and spiderwebs. However even the worst Webber skin still belongs to Webber, and is therefore adorable.

Warly: Warly my also beloved, who's also got a lot of great skins. I really like the Candyman, but Roseate is probably the best one - I like the little rose shape in his hair. Worst is ABSOLUTELY Carrat, but shout out to Head Chef (the chef hat in the portrait isn't actually part of his sprite) and the Triumphant for being disappointing (come on, "evil chef" is such a fun idea. Why didn't you make him Bobby Flay).

Wormwood: I probably should've used the in-game sprites for this post, since the coolest part of his skins (the blooming) isn't shown on the portrait. Case in point, my favorite Wormwood skin, Triumphant, looks really bland in the portrait, but when it blooms it opens up into this really cool & striking red eye. I tried to include a picture but it was really big & this post is long enough as it is so you're gonna have to trust me, it's cool. I again don't think Wormwood has any bad skins - I guess I'll go with Roseate since the leaves on his head look Uncomfortably like hair, but it's still good.

Winona: I am EXTREMELY gay All of Winona's skins are really hot fantastic and no I am NOT biased. I want to gush about all of them (SNOWFALLEN! VICTORIAN! THE FIXER! THE ONLY GOOD SURVIVOR SKIN!) but the best is the Swashbuckler. She's so good I'm going insane. I guess her worst is Moonbound? I like some of the ideas but I think it just looks kind of messy, esp whatever's going on with her hair & shoulders.

Walter: WALTER MY BELOVED! I mentioned earlier that Wigfrid's Moonbound skin makes her look like a magical girl, but Walter's actually IS a magical girl skin - his portrait even has him striking the Sailor Moon pose! I think some of his other skins are probably objectively better, but this one's still my favorite. Honorable mention to Triumphant just bc I like the idea (turning a boyscout into a dennis-the-menace style troublemaker). I'm going to give worst to Bee Costume just bc the eyeballs on his head freak me out (but I do think the idea of him dressing up as a bee for Halloween bc he's allergic is fun). Side note, a lot of Walter's skins have hats in the portrait but not in-game? I dunno what's up with that, I guess it's so they don't interfere with equipment?

Wortox: Unfortunately none of Wortox's skins really stick out to me in a positive or negative way. Favorite is probably a tossup between Survivor & Masquerade - went with the former based purely on vibes. I also kinda like the sea-serpent theme of Swashbuckler & gargoyle theme of Victorian. Worst is going to Draconic for being kinda bland & similar to the original. I guess you could make a similar complaint about Uncorrupted, but it's that way for LORE reasons so I wouldn't want them to change it.

Wurt: I really like aquatic monster designs, so i enjoy a lot of Wurt's skins, but the best is Victorian bc a) it's cute and b) deep lore. S/out to Merrymaker's cute sugar-plum fairy motif tho. I will give the worst to Verdant because I don't really like the colors (purple, green, yellow, cream, & brown are a lil clashy).

Wanda: Finally, Wanda. I really like the star motif in her Masquerader fit, and while Tinkersmith is super cute, it looks a little too similar to her original outfit for me (I'm also not a fan of Triumphant's sunglasses, but I like that her hair looks like a shadow hand).

Anyway the moral of the story is don't give Maxwell a beard. Thanks.

[especiallyhaytham]

The Mystery of Hope and Gist in Rogue

So, here's the backstory. I always thought it was odd how Hope Jensen's character design is so... Victorian. No, actually. As someone mildly versed in Georgian fashion, her clothes are quite literally from another time, and she looks nothing like the other characters in the game. It's such an anomaly, not to mention ugly (subjectively), and it's bothered me for years.

First of all, I happily recognize that Assassin's Creed is allowed to take liberties with fashion history. In any historical entertainment piece, there's usually a few good reasons why the clothing isn't 100% accurate. I also recognize that certain design choices might be made to convey a character's personality, which is a whole other kind of analysis that isn't going to be relevant here. We're purely talking about the physical style components from now on.

While Ubisoft can sometimes go a little crazy with character designs, they aren't in the habit of bouncing completely off-the-wall. They do know the rules, and they know how and when to break them. Many of the designs in Assassin's Creed are actually quite clever in how they play with fashion history. Connor's look seems inspired by military uniforms. Shay is clearly partial to greatcoats. If it was possible to be "sensibly Rococo", Haytham is.

But Hope is another story. Her dress isn't a well-researched artistic interpretation of the 1750s; her silhouette is from another century. Puffed sleeves absolutely do not belong here, and neither does that frilly brooch or layered nightmare skirt. Nothing about her evokes Colonial New England, except for her lace cuffed sleeves (it should be said, that's the only part of her outfit that I like). She looks far more like a Frankenstein amalgamation of the late 1800s.

At first I thought this might just be some weird one-off on the developers' part, since Assassin's Creed doesn't have the best track record visually designing female characters compared to male ones (Like Élise? Not as diabolically out-of-place as Hope, but still pretty bad). But then recently, I found myself taking a good look at Christopher Gist. "What in the world?" I thought. "There's another one?"

His design is also very oddly Victorian. The waistcoat is what tipped me off, since pinstripes and decorative lapels were very much not a thing during this time. Lapels hardly existed at all in the 1700s, and only ever functionally (essentially an extra piece of fabric on your coat that could be pinned back in summer and buttoned up when it got cold), and pinstripes didn't first appear until much later, during the Victorian era. Perhaps Gist stands out a bit less than Hope, since his hat, cravat, and overcoat are pretty ambiguous when he's standing next to other 18th-century characters, but alone he looks like he'd be more at home in Red Dead Redemption.

So now there are not one, but two Victorian characters in a game that takes place over a hundred years before. Now I'm thinking that it's likely that they both came from the same source. The funniest thought I had was that maybe there was a junior developer who was really into Victorian fashion, and with the time and budget constraints, no one bothered to revise the designs. A less entertaining explanation is that maybe they were scrapped characters from Syndicate, which would have been in early development stages at this time.

Syndicate is the most plausible explanation, but at the same time Gist and Hope don't strike me as "Victorian England". I really don't know enough about 19th-century fashion to say for sure, but after making the comparison to RDR, they certainly seem to be leaning more American Western. It is the same time period, but styles varied slightly across the continents.

After doing some research, I found a game published by Ubisoft in 2013 titled Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, which is set in *drumroll* the Old American West. Considering Rogue was released only a year later, as well as Rogue being infamous for borrowing so much from Black Flag, I would not be surprised if assets from other projects also found their way into the game.

The thing though, is that Call of Juarez was not directly developed by Ubisoft, while Rogue was, and I don't know how feasible it is that they would share assets. Again, maybe they were stolen from Syndicate, since I can't pinpoint any part of their designs that would say otherwise (other than Gist generally looking like a cowboy). A third explanation is that perhaps Ubisoft was developing their own Assassin's Creed Western game which was scrapped early, though I haven't found anything solid on this.

It's a mystery that we can't really solve without directly speaking to someone who was on development (which believe me, I have so many questions about Rogue I would sell my soul to interview someone). But in lieu of that, even though I can't parse over every single detail, I think I've come up with some reasonable speculations. If you're like me and ever wondered why Hope and Gist look the way they do, hopefully now you know a little bit more.

[abitlikelemon]

Before I get any further into the 1900's, let's take a quick moment to reflect back.

For anyone just joining us, I am currently playing through a cc free (ish) decades challenge. I'll post expanding on what the (ish) means at some point, but I'm doing this for a number of reasons, the big one is I want to know if you can do it. Can you dupe the vibes well enough to feel emersed during each decade? I've got all the packs. This is easily a thousand-dollar game I now have. Yes, I am ashamed saying that. But, with all this money spent, I should be able to make this work.

With the 1890 decade complete, I wanted to share how I dressed or wished I had dressed my sims during this decade. Posts like this, shout out to out to Ashubii, really helped me along the way- so I want to return the favor to the community.

To start: -I am using zero CC clothing, hair, accessories etc. -I do have some "body" cc (lashes, skin overlay, body blush) -I am not a CAS simmer, so I'm not revolutionary in my styling -Between the limitations of what is available in game and my basic knowledge of the decade, don't expect accuracy just inspiration -If you want to know what pack an item is from, please ask! I am very WCIF friendly

I think it's also a good callout that I played the 1890s very 'country' focused. The 1900s outfits I have planned, I think, could easily work for 1890s if you were starting in more of a 'city' so come back for that post if you need fancier inspiration!

Here we have our main man, Bobert Pancakes showing off his everyday, formal, athletic, sleep, party, and cold weather outfits. He was a farmer, so his outfits were simple, and repetitive. His swim wear was his sleepwear, minus the socks, and his hot weather was his athletic wear plus the bandana from his every day- so I just saved a little room and left those off.

Here's Eliza 'I don't have a favorite child' Pancakes rocking an extra outfit because you know she has to be showing off. I have her everyday, formal, athletic, sleep, party, hot weather, cold weather outfits. Eliza is pretty country, maybe a little more than she would have liked. So, her outfits are also simple, repetitive, but with an extra bow. Her swimwear was a dress from Eco Lifestyle- but she never swam so I'm leaving it out, though you can see mouse nose Nora wear it in some gameplay screenshots.

Speaking of Nora! I grabbed her to show off some teen outfits. Though, these are more outfits I wished I dressed her and Hazel in. I also grabbed Arthur, Herbert, and Walter to show off their actual outfits. I've got, for the boys, an everyday for Walter and Arthur and party for Herbert. Nora is styling everyday, hot weather, and party. I dressed the teens, mostly, like adults because teenagers weren't really a thing in 1890, so I imagine they are wearing a lot of hand-me-downs. What I like about the outfits above is that they blend in the 1890s with newer fashion I will be including in the 1900s, I wish I did more of that sooner. I imagined those pieces were the few new items Eliza made for them.

So! Here we have Thomas rocking everyday, formal, party, hot weather, and cold weather. Hazel is wearing everyday, sleep, and formal. Children are tough to dress. Or, rather, dressing Hazel and the gals in this age group was painful. Some of her outfits are so bad, I won't share them. If you wanted to get a little CC in your life, this would be a spot I'd consider adding to. I was feeling so limited because all the skirts are short or very themed to Island Living. Swatches also were very modern, so there just felt like a million restrictions. You can see in the rest of the outfits, I have a preferred color pallet, so Hazel stands out (to me) like a sore thumb in comparison.

I'm grouping infants and toddlers together and, for the first time, showing off Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Harold's children. This is where my lack of interest in CAS really stands out. I do actually think this age group has good options but... I don't careeeeee. Again, I'm not a CAS simmer and this is where it shows. Generally, my toddlers and infants aren't going to events or honestly even leave the house. They are also this ae for only a few days. So, I repeated these looks for almost every little one. This is also probably why I couldn't tell the Pancakes' kids apart until they hit childhood/teens.

I hope this was as fun to skim over as it was to compile! Again, super open to questions or honestly suggestions. I'm having so much fun with this challenge I'm already thinking about doing it again, so I'd love ideas for the next round!

[lilikitsune18]

Hey? I know it's been a long time, but I don't want to be rude or rush you or anything, but how are you doing on making the dark creatures version of Hoppy Hopscotch aka Killer Bunny and CraftyCorn aka BloodyCorn.

If you haven't made them yet, I understand. Take your time on making them when you have some free time.

I am doing well on my Smiling Critters AU, The Hour of Despair and I really appreciate you making them.

I made sure that I credited you for making them and I hope your artwork gets recognized after doing such an amazing job on making the Dark Creatures come to life.

If you got this message, please reply back and thank you for your efforts in making the Dark Creatures.

Also in case you need some inspiration on what Killer Bunny and BloodyCorn should look like then these pics made by Trashy Roadkill should help you out.

Thank you and have a great day,

NeoDracunyan

Well this was a necessary surprise.

These two have been done since the beginning of September.

Then they were promptly forgotten about because of a huge essay I had to do for class.

By the time I turned in the essay I’d remembered that I finished these, and forgotten that I never posted them anywhere.

Which is a downright shame because I really enjoyed working on these two!

So @neodracunyan ya got a twofer here, Bloodycorn and Killer Bunny.

They’re both loosely inspired by the designs @trashy-roadkill made back in march with my own little twist on the designs.

Of course as usual I have the sketches and rambling under the cut.

Ok, let’s talk about Hoppy first!

I had a lot of fun designing the outfit for her casual design, it’s not a dress but instead a giant t-shirt. (Think big enough for that ice cream guy from lilo and stitch) Paired up with a belt it makes for an easy to put on and comfortable outfit. In contrast since she’s supposed to be quick and ninja-like in her Killer Bunny fit I gave her a sort of leotard. I hugs close to her body and makes it so she doesn’t have to worry about it catching on things during a fast chase. The equipment belt its paired with can be versatile and hold whatever she wants in her arsenal at that time.

Crafty’s turn!

Firstly, I wanted to bring some of her original color palette back into the design. I do love the red and black, but I wanted my design of crafty to still have some of her original teal in it.(The critters are a rainbow after all) I decided that since she is a magical alicorn now, she gets to be glittery, and that I could use that method to bring some of her teal back into the base design. Her horn has teal glitter on it as well as the tips of her ears and her cheeks. (You may need to trust me on this one as I’m not sure how much tumblr is going to butcher the image res) as for her outfits I decided to work with the red/teal color combo I’d stuck myself with. I also decided that she can choose to use magic to alter her appearance in slight ways to her desire. (This allows her to have the bone wings and actually functional alicorn wings, as well as the softer rounder bits on her casual becoming more sharp in her BloodyCorn fit. If she wants to appear more threatening in a fight then she can easily do so, but there is no reason for her to constantly present herself as such.) Her BloodyCorn dress is also inspired by one I saw in a game of thrones clip (The original is like a dark blue) because I really liked the silhouette it would give her.

[tomssexdoll]

WAIT CAN YOU DO A KIM POSSIBLE INSPIRED FIC WITH BILL AND LIKE YOU KNOW HOW PRINCESS GET CAPTURED BY THE VILLAIN WELL I WAS THINKING THAT THE READER GETS CAPTURED BY A VILLAIN AND BASICALLY BILL SAVES HER?

(this is my first time asking for a request from anybody LMAOO)

LMAO YES THIS SOUNDS SO FUN!!

Mario and Princess Peach

PAIRINGS: Bill 2010 x Female reader CONTENT: FLUFF SYPNOSIS: Y/N and Bill have been transported into a video game, specifically Super Mario, Y/N is turned into Princess Peach and Bill into Mario, Bowser kidnaps her and Mario has to save her. Only to find out.... A/N: i love this sm, this isn't from the actual game btw I don't even know how the game goes all I know is bowser kidnaps peach

Me and Bill were playing super mario on the tv, clicking at our consoles trying to save Princess Peach from Bowser. Then suddenly I felt a strong wind coming from the TV, I looked over at Bill and saw him being sucked into the TV, I gasped as I began to be dragged into the TV too.

We woke up, rubbing our heads and looking around. I yelped as I saw Bill in a mario costume, looking down at myself and realizing I had Princess Peaches outfit on, her beautiful bright pink dress with her white silky gloves.

"What the actual fuck is going on right now" I looked up at Bill in a panic "i knew we shouldn't of gotten that stupid console, the guy was so sketchy" he groaned, rubbing his temples in frustration.

I heard a loud melody play and looked up, in the sky the words 'Ready 3, 2, 1 go!" play, I looked at Bill confused "what do we do?" he shrugged, looking around for answers.

Then suddenly the sky went black, dark clouds forming everything and lightning bolting into the floor. "Holy shit!" I clung onto Bill, my whole body trembling in fear. "Are we gonna play the game but..as ourselves, does that mean you're gonna get kidnapped?" Bill eyes widened as a huge hand came closer to us and snatched me away, I gasped "Bill!" I screamed, reaching out for him.

Bills POV: I watched as Y/N got taken by a big yellow hand, I looked up and it was bowser, he was massive. "Y/N!" I screamed back, panicking. I knew I had to finish the game to get her back, who knows what would happen if I lost?

I started to do all the obsticles, jumping on the mushrooms and getting coins. Fighting all the bad guys and nearly dying a million times.

I finally got to the last boss, Bowser, I winced as I saw Y/N locked in a cage, high up in the sky. "3 2 1 GO!" the game said, showing a health level on bowser. Nearby, I saw a little candy gun and I picked it up, shooting it at him repeatedly. His health didn't go down by much and I cursed under my breath "fuck..how will this big motherfucker die" I grabbed a sword and just decided to go all in, battling with Bowser. His health became significantly low and I continued to slash at him.

He then took a big swing at me, hitting me and sending me flying nearly off the edge. My heart was beating so fast as I slowly got up, running towards him and battling with him again. My adrenaline was so high, I felt unreal, invincible almost.

I finally got the last blow, defeating bowser. His large body fell to the floor and a big green text popped up in the sky "success!" it read. I sighed in relief, Y/N's cage lowering, a key landed in my hands and I unlocked the huge padlock and removed all the chains surrounding it.

Y/N leapt into my arms and we got teleported to a loading screen. Y/NS pov: "That was terrifying Bill, I thought I was going to fall out of the cage it was so high and so rusty of my god" I nuzzled my head into his chest, his arms wrapping around me.

I woke up suddenly, realising it was all a dream and none of that happened. I sighed in relief to see Bill next to me, sleeping peacefully. I smiled and kissed him softly, wrapping his arms around me and falling back asleep. E/N: THIS WAS SO FUN TO MAKE OMG

[maggplays]

Thank you so much for all your hard work on your Immersive mods, they're a joy to play! You've inspired me to give modding a try, and I've got like a billion questions, but just off the top of my head: 1. What came first for you, the dialogue or the cut scenes? (And how did you learn how to do the cutscenes omg they're perfect) 2. What made you decide to involve other characters in your Sam/Sebastian mod? 3. What other tools do you use to see your additions in action? Is there a command you run to play your cutscenes or to manipulate the time of day to test something? Thank you in advance :)

Wow, you're going to make me think for a second, haha! This is a long answer so keep reading...

I start with the basic heart level daily dialogue first, then move on to dated dialogue. If I think of an event I want along the way, I will just hop over to the events and write that, then go back to dialogue. It's easier for me to keep it consistent if I go back and forth. I do have a basic overall story in mind before I start so I can generally plan events along a heart-level timeline.

I added the characters that are involved in my main character's life the most, family and close friends. Then in Seb I added some stuff for Alex just because I wanted to have a mini story with him. So it's just whichever characters seem to want to be in your story or dialogue. If I were to write one for Abigail, Sam and Seb would be in it along with her parents. Leah and Elliott don't have a lot of town connections, so other characters would be less involved or more at a surface level unless I wanted to add a story/connection for them. Elliott would have something with Willy and possibly Seb. Leah has virtually nothing in vanilla so would have to be all new.

Coding events... that is a real challenge to learn, the online resources are kind of there but limited. I pieced it together from looking at code on other mods, the Stardew modding wiki (articles on event modding and creating i18n files), and the Content Patcher GitHub instructions. I really don't recommend using my mod as a beginner reference, it's huge and full of stuff you probably don't need. I'd use a somewhat simpler one that's updated for 1.6 like Immersive Characters - Shane. The structure is similar, but my mods use a lot of dynamic tokens and conditional code that I added along the way making it much more advanced. Join the Stardew Valley discord, they have a modding help section and they are super quick to answer questions.

I also make custom sprites for events, I don't really advise doing this unless you're prepared for some extra headaches. Players DO NOT like when you mess with their sprite mods and you'll end up either ignoring a lot of complaints or making patches for Seasonal Outfits mod in particular.

To test your events, code it all up the best you can, then run debug ebi eventID in the SMAPI console. This plays your event immediately. There are some twitchy things about this involving conditions you'll learn along the way. You also need CJB Cheats Menu mod, this allows you to skip time, change friendship levels, change weather, all kinds of stuff you need for testing dialogue without actually playing the game. Bottom line, it's really trial and error. And running debug ebi like a million times on each event as you watch your characters literally walk off screen, turn the wrong way, farmer's hair pops off, so many bloopers!

[yakool-foolio]

see maybe this is just me, but As A Character Designer Myself i think the rain code designs are some of komatzuzaki's best work yet. they're weird and campy and yet they work so well. i do think the characters' personalities shine through on first and second glances. I don't even usually like neon colors but I think the combo of bright neons with understated neutrals is so fascinating and memorable. no one else does it like this. a lot of the small details on the designs are actually packed with symbolic meaning (esp. yakou's - I'd love to see you unpack all that) and the overabundance of logos is evocative of the corpo-cyber-future setting. the rain code designs feel much more cohesive in terms of that setting than the DR designs do - which makes sense bc DR is more about disparate people being united by their circumstances - dialed to 11 in v3 where the designs are at their wackiest. but this ain't about her this is about rain code.

I love that characters you wouldn't expect (zange, fubuki, priest...) have weird facial piercings and tattoos. I love that the animal ears are never explained. I love desuhiko's tboy swag and yeah, the golden yellow and the dirty blonde and the neon yellow accents don't look great together - and I think the clashing colors work wonders to establish his personality. this kid dressed himself and thought it would make him look cool. you idiot. aphex's hat is stupid. zilch's ears are stupid. vivia's bandages-instead-of-clothes are stupid - and yet reading into that choice is very insightful. (he puts on a lazy air but if he was really lazy he'd just put on an oversized emo band tee instead of wrapping himself up like a mummy every day. he actually does care about how he comes across to people.)

there's a few videos about fashion YouTubers judging the DR fits, and at one point they brought in Yuma and shinigami and they hated yuma's outfit so much because it's dorky and they wouldn't wear it. but like!!! that's the whole point is that it's dorky!!!! his little trainee shorts. his stupid fkin bowl cut making him look like a little boy whose mom still cuts his hair. (which of course turns out to be a meaningful deception. his haircut influences how the audience and other characters see him to great effect.) and yet he has the coolest fkin shoes ever and when he puts his hat and cape on he's got such an iconic silhouette. teru teru bozu lookin ass /pos.

anyway yeah. i wasnt a fan of komatzuzaki's designs in the beginning but over the years ive come around. I'm a firm designer that a character design doesn't necessarily have to look good to be a good character design. I like it when they aren't afraid to make the characters look cringe - I love cringe. I eat it up. thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

Even more perspectives! I think your take of 'bad-looking designs can be good actually' is a great way to look at Rain Code's characters. To put it simply, it's unique! 'Nobody does it like Komatsuzaki'-kind of campiness. Honestly, Rain Code's designs remind me a lot of Danganronpa 2's designs in terms of color. That cast is full of much brighter colors compared to the lesser saturation of DR1 n V3's cast colors. And it makes sense cause it's a brighter game overall in terms of setting and upping the ridiculousness of the killing game in every way! Rain Code sorta follows that with its own designs by crankin' up the neons to really ride the idea home that this game is wacky right from the get-go and it's a Resident Evil game in disguise! And y'know what Resident Evil loves to indulge in? Campiness! Rain Code wears its inspirations on its sleeve, and that's totally chill.

As a sidenote to your sidenote regarding Yakou's clothing details, I have actually written a bit about how he might perceive them, but I haven't yet written about what they could truly mean in terms of how they relate to him narratively. The meaning of the phoenix patterns are painfully obvious though heh. And I also greatly appreciate the recognition that Vivia really does care about his appearance despite his 'laziness'. His hedonistic lifestyle includes his own attire, wearing whatever he pleases no matter the effort! Like I've preached before, Vivia has the energy, he just prefers to use it only when necessary.

Thank you for the TED talk *golf claps*

[coolearistrashcollection]

Tag Game: Write Yourself!

I've been tagged to do this challenge by @slutshamethesquirrels , so this piece is naturally inspired by her entry (GO CHECK SHAMESY NOW!)

I think I got a bit carried away tho lol, that's what 6h worth of travel and no internet does to someone bored on the notes app I guess lol

Moreover, I don't know many people so like, do it if you want?

@alt--er--love you’ve now been tagged pookie (edit)

You catch sight of her in the distance, rushing towards you, her headphones barely stuffed into that overly-decorated backpack. Every step echoes with the jingle of a dozen keychains and pins, announcing her presence like a warning bell. She's definitely more fidgety than usual, and her dark circles seem darker– no doubt the aftereffects of another late night. You've heard all about her thesis and her sworn vendetta against the university's computers. You can practically hear her voice: “I swear, the university servers are run on potatoes. My old PC is a supercomputer by comparison!”

Typical engineering student– powered by coffee and, occasionally, spite. She'd probably laugh if you teased her about the stress, eyes lighting up in that way they do when she's preparing to fire back, “Shear, tensile, or fatigue?”

She reaches you, breathless, her all-black outfit blending with the gloomy weather. Today, she's bundled up in that enormous faux-fur coat. The only speck of colour you see on her is actually from her hair, messy red-dyed streaks and racoon tails she dyed herself on impulse.

“I swear I left the house on time! Public transport fucked me again!” She says with a grin that flashes a glimpse of her sharp canines. As she speaks, her fingers find their usual targets– first picking absentmindedly at the skin around her nails, then moving to fidget with the ring she always wears. It's a telltale sign: disrupted routines make her restless, you know. That's when you notice her nails, usually painted in her signature metallic cherry, are a chipped pink pearl instead. It's rare to see her change colours, and given the already peeling polish, you figure she was either too busy to apply the top coat– or too stressed to care.

You shrug, pulling your bag off the canteen seat you saved, waving her worry away. It's lucky to even have a spot here with the recent swarm of first-years flooding the place, and you can already tell she's relieved.

She drops into the seat, immediately digging into her bag for her Tupperware, and just the scent alone– sweet, buttery, familiar– makes you salivate. You're in luck, she made her famous scones this time. You don't even get the chance to thank her before she shoves one into your hands, insisting you take it without a second thought.

As she settles into the seat, her tension seems to ease slightly. She sighs, taking in the lively chaos of the canteen around you. You notice her shoulders relax as she tucks a few red-streaked strands behind her ear, where her earrings –a mix of hoops, charms, and mismatched studs– dangle with every slight movement. She glances around, her big glasses framing bright blue-grey eyes that pop against her heavy eyeliner, giving her gaze an intense, almost electric focus.

“God, I needed a break,” she mutters, more to herself than to you, but then she turns back, studying you with that familiar glint in her eye. She takes a slow, deliberate bite of her scone, a hum of satisfaction slipping out, before raising an eyebrow at you. “So,” she begins, leaning in like she's about to reveal a big secret, “you've gotta tell me– have the scones been perfected?”

“If this is another recipe experiment, you know I'm not the only one who wants to be a test subject,” you laugh, reaching for another one. "But yes, they're even better than last time."

“Test subject? Please,” she scoffs playfully, flashing her signature toothy grin. “I prefer the term ‘lab rats'– though yes, you and the others are all my little testers.” She gives a dramatic roll of her eyes, a mock sigh of pity. “The things you all endure for the sake of science.”

You can't help but grin too, taking a bite of the scone while she watches you, her expression one of amused concentration. She may not say it, she isn't one to pour out affection in words, but you've learned to read between the lines of her cooking. This is her way of showing that she considers you a friend– testing her creations on you, perfecting each recipe like it's a lab experiment and you're her chosen subject.

“Well, I'd say your lab work's paying off,” you tell her, as the buttery, flaky pastry melts in your mouth. “Though maybe you should think about ditching chemical engineering and open a bakery after your thesis instead.”

Her laugh is genuine, and she leans back, clearly satisfied. “That's actually my retirement plan. I'll open a bakery, and always make extra for you.”

[x-digitaldollhouse-x]

🦋Digital Dollhouse Makeover Challenge: A 12 Day CAS challenge all about makeovers!🦋

Hello Simblr! Since joining the community like a month ago I've been really interested in CAS Challenges, and while participating in other people's challenges, I got inspired to make my own.

This challenge mostly focuses on dressing up or reworking existing sims rather than creating new ones, so it's good for players who have a lot of sims they're already attached to. I also largely wanted to avoid the typical "nerd girl takes off her glasses" type of movie makeover and instead tried to come up with prompts that involve a different type of transformation than just "'''''ugly'''''' to '''''pretty''''''".

RULES: not many tbh. Do all 12 or pick and choose, do them out of order, just have fun! However, make sure to include Before and After photos for each makeover!

Take one of your favorite sims and make them over into the complete opposite of their usual aesthetic!

Humanize an occult sim, or occult-ify a human sim!

Imagine that a "What Not To Wear"/"Queer Eye"-type show exists in your Sim universe-- make a before-and-after of a sim that got made over on that show! (It's up to you whether the makeover is actually any good— you remember those old 2000s makeover shows that made everyone dress so boring, right?).

Download an "ugly to beauty challenge" sim from the gallery, but give them a makeover that embraces their existing features instead of completely changing them.

Take a randomly-generated townie in a wacky outfit and try to make them over in a way that maintains their general appearance and vibe! Refine their outfit, make them more cohesive, adapt them into your own style-- but keep them recognizable as the sim you started with.

Put a sim in drag!

Imagine what would happen if two of your sims gave each other makeovers.

Make over one of your LEAST favorite premade townie's original EA version without changing any genetics! Skin details, hair, clothing, defaults, etc. are fair game, but you can't change any sliders on their face or body.

Take one of your earliest Sims you have saved (a sim you made years ago, or whenever you were just getting started with TS4) and update them into your current style! If you don't have any of your old sims to update, remake and update a sim from a previous Sims game!

Show a sim who's had a physical change that mirrors some sort of development they've had as a person/character. I.E. they started dressing different after a major life event, made a change reflecting a change in personality, etc. Use an existing storyline from one of your saves or make up a hypothetical plotline/backstory!

Give a sim a fairytale transformation like Cinderella.

Dress one of your sims in a randomly generated aesthetic. (Generator 1 / Generator 2 / Generator 3 )

If you do any part of this challenge, PLEASE tag me and/or use the tag #DDCasMakeovers so I can check them out! I'd also love to just find new blogs to follow through this :)

[ironladders]

of every ashrah outfit in all timelines, canon or even unused concept arts if they exist, which is your favorite? im very curious 👀

this got kind of long & out of hand im sorry i just like gushing about this girl (+ i have to air out my thoughts on her skins. i have opinions on literally everyone's outfits)

sadly ashrah doesn't have many costumes to choose from because she's only been in 3 games 💔 oh well though

i think my #1 look for her has to be her mk1 union of light skin:

like it's probably one of the prettiest skins in the entire game. insanity. it's so elegant/beautiful and her hairstyle is really cute, i like how it frames her face. in a way it kinda reminds me of her original design but updated to have more detail. the flowers are so pretty and ugjhghgljgkljg idk what else to say i just love this skin so much

that said i don't dislike any of her outfits, they're all great!

the only one that i actually think needs some help is her ood skin; it looks fine at first glance but the more you stare at it's just. hmmm. this could've marinated a bit longer

there's also the issue that this doesn't feel like an Evil Version of ashrah, which i think is a problem when the whole point of the ood skins is that they're supposed to be darker versions of the mk1 cast. but i digress

also if i may say something controversial..... i don't dislike ashrah's classic mkd/mka looks, i love them! BUT:

now that we've got a game where ashrah has distinct demonic features, i wish they did that for her older appearances. because as much as i love her deception skin and want them to remake it in mk1 (please @ nrs we need another skin for ashrah), she just looks like some lady? if that makes sense? like,,,, i would see deception ashrah in the grocery store and pay her zero mind:

i guess before mk1 the other demons also just looked like regular humans but idk... some facial markings similar to the ones sareena had would've at least been nice. they've got the kanji on her hat translating to "demon/ghost" and that's it.

and i know that's sort of the point, that she's supposed to look like a normal human upon first glance, but idk man! she wasn't done with her absolution yet, midway should've let her look a little strange 😭😭 there's some people who want her to have a normal human face if/when nrs gives us deception ashrah as a skin, but i'd rather they keep her demonic features

on the topic of mk1: i love the contrast here on her mk1 default between ashrah's clothing — clearly inspired by angels — versus her actual appearance. it's really smart and imo reflects how much she tries to distance from her origins as a demon. it really sells the idea of her being an ascending demon & i hope everyone that makes fun of her hairline + face steps on a lego

when the banished trailer first revealed ashrah some people were sad she didn't have her hat, but tbh???? i feel like her mk1 default is fine without one. it would've been nice and probably helped older fans recognize her but i'm not sure if this outfit needs a hat. yknow.

the only other ashrah outfits to talk about (because again she has SO little it's criminal) is the ones from mkd concept art that didn't make the cut:

i have no strong opinions about either of these, they're here i guess. the first one is cool, i like the idea of ashrah with super long hair and she reminds me of a jedi there lmao. the second one is also okay but something about ashrah with a mask feels weird so i'm glad they didn't go with it

speaking of concept art CAN NRS SHOW US THE CONCEPT ART FOR THE MK1 DEFAULTS because i really want to know the early ideas they had for ashrah. we get the final character concepts for everyone which is fine but i desperately want to see the initial ideas they had. i hope they get added to the shrine in the future 🥲

idk how to end this so boom. ashrah face

[k0xytocin]

3 and 6???

Hey, thanks for asking me!

I wasn't expecting any asks but I can go for it. :)

I rambled a lot haha. Curse of Strahd spoilers below.

So, I DM Curse of Strahd for two different groups of players. I'll call them A and B.

3. What did your players do with Doru?

A: My players' characters are very sweet and are trying to help Doru.

They've been taking him along with them and protecting him. They tend to keep him out of conflicts, even though he's still stronger than them by this point. The Warlock (Great Old One) has even been giving Doru vials of his blood to keep him fed.

They recently met Van Richten (who is very against vampires regardless of the context in my game) and managed to persuade him to spare Doru so long as he doesn't harm anyone.

The party heard about the Abbot from Donavich, so their plan is to try and take Doru to him. In my game, there is a "cure" for vampirism, but it involves fully killing the vampire and reviving them as a mortal once more. Since Doru sees himself as an abomination in the eyes of the Morninglord (who hates undead in the lore), he agreed to it.

B: Most of my players' characters are unhinged lmao.

They're also taking Doru with them. The Warlock (Raven Queen) is mostly in charge of him, and she always intimidates him into listening to her. They mostly get him to do silly things, like wear the "maid outfit" in the Death House (Durst Mansion).

But they take good enough care of him lol. The Artificer in the group is very sweet to him, too.

Like my other group, they heard about the Abbot from Donavich. They have a similar plan. However, the Warlock intends to kill him if he endangers them or if the "cure" doesn't work. Her patron, the Raven Queen, doesn't like undead because they defy the natural order of life and death. So if the cure doesn't restore Doru's mortality, she'll just make him dead-dead.

6. Did you make any NPCs more sympathetic than in canon? Or less sympathetic?

I'm using the same lore for both groups so I don't have different answers for this one.

In general, I made the characters more sympathetic. I feel like a lot of the characters are badly written in 5e, they feel too one-dimensional and one-note. Somehow, so many characters are just secretly irredeemably evil. Like, that's their whole thing, and that' s all they get to be.

Even someone like the Abbot who is built up as this light in the oppressive darkness is secretly evil and unreasonable. I expanded his backstory to be more sympathetic and changed his goals. He's still cooking up flesh golems, but for a different reason (in summary: he thinks if he can recreate the night of Sergei's murder and have Strahd see the error of his ways and choose differently, he can lift the curse). He's also actually reasonable in my game lol.

And don't even get me started on Strahd! I could write an essay about him, haha. When it comes to the I, Strahd Novels, he has a lot of depth, and his evil actions are given a lot of sympathetic context. Meanwhile in 5e, he's just this emotionless husk who couldn't be reasoned with to save his life (unlife?). I won't go off here, but suffice it to say, when it comes to Strahd, I'm much more inspired by the I, Strahd Novels.

I made Rahadin much more sympathetic, and not outrageously evil. I removed the whole "Patrina is killed, which leads to Strahd ordering Rahadin to punish the dusk elves, which leads to Rahadin killing all the dusk elf women so they can't have anymore children" thing. It wasn't just to make Rahadin more sympathetic, but also because I just despise how women are treated in this module lol. (I'm even keeping Patrina alive and plan on doing something completely different with her).

I'm making Baba Lysaga more sympathetic by expanding on her backstory and having her motives of love and protection come through. But she operates from the shadows, because she knows deep down Strahd wouldn't accept her and it breaks her heart.

The Vistani as a whole got a revamp. I wanted to characterise them as a people with their own history, culture, and reasons for being in Barovia. Not just a bunch of messed up stereotypes Wizards of the Coasts defined them as.

My one exception is Van Richten, I guess. I'm keeping his backstory as sympathetic as it's described (with what happened to his family). But, given that he's planning a hate crime on the Vistani (who are already handled horribly in the module lol), I really don't see a way to make that sympathetic. When it comes to racism, I wouldn't want to spin it in a sympathetic way, either. I could just remove that from his story, but I feel like this type of story (with Van Richten being more of an antagonist) resonates more with my players.

Thanks for the ask! And thanks for reading.

I love Curse of Strahd so I could go on and on lmao.