#I just am so excited to start actually sharing it!

[gyeomsweetgyeom]

⋆⭒˚.⋆ Self-On Kode with Haechan ⋆⭒˚.⋆

idol!Haechan x f!idol!reader

summary: what better way to promote your new music than to do an interview with your boyfriend?! Does he know that? No!

(cw: f!reader, idol!reader)

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

You were grinning widely as you sat in the pink chair. You bowed to the camera introducing yourself with an excited smile, "Hi everybody! I'm so excited to be here today. The staff and I have planned a bit of a prank today."

Your friendship with Haechan had started when you debuted. Haechan was one of the first idols around your age that you felt comfortable with. He was funny, nice, and was a good friend. He gave you a lot of advice on how to handle the long days, how to speak up with your company, and how to take care of yourself when it all got to be too much. And perhaps... taking care of yourself meant indulging in your friendship with Haechan, in private and in public.

The fans had surprisingly been pretty cool about both of you being close. It wasn't very often that fans got to see two idols from different companies have a genuine friendship. They liked seeing the two of you play around backstage, the random mention of each other in YouTube vlogs or lives, and the very few and far between posts you shared of each other.

When the edits evolved from 8 whole minutes of the two of you being the best of friends to the both of you being secretly in love for 11 minutes, maybe, just maybe, you both began to see each other in a new way. Maybe you guys went on a date to test the waters and maybe that date meant that the two of you became something more and maybe this video would be one of the first times you both directly acknowledged your romantic relationship. Well, beyond standard wordy posts that your companies put out to disclose your relationship.

You smile at the camera, "today I will be pranking my boyfriend Haechan. He thinks he's doing this interview with someone else and has no clue its me!"

Finally, on the other side of the wall, enters the set and sits himself in the blue chair, "Hello, I am Haechan from NCT. Today I will be using the screen name Sunshine and I am excited to figure out my partner is. I think I'll figure it out very easily."

On your side of the wall you, cup a hand over your mouth to suppress a giggle, "I'm going to be so annoying!"

"Hey," you type, biting your bottom lip to keep yourself from laughing.

"Oh, it's starting!" you hear Haechan exclaim. You phone vibrates with a message that reads, 'hey.'

"Geez, he's really boring isn't he? Let's make this more exciting!" You laugh, typing back something you don't think you'd ever tell your boyfriend to his face, "wow, I know this is a handsome man I'm talking to. Tell me, are you handsome?"

Haechan flushes in front of the pink wall with his jaw dropped in shock, "w-what?!"

You calm down a bit, not being as bold with your flirtation so that the both of you could progress the conversation. You both make small talk, talking about base level interests. Then comes the home screen exchange. You'd been preparing for this!

Since no one ever really saw your homescreens, you and Haechan had decided to have cute matching backgrounds, a cute couples selfie you'd taken together. What he didn't know, and you didn't tell him because he was so whiny, was that you had changed it. So he sent you an blurred version of his usual background, a picture of the two of you with you biting his cheek and his eyes screwed shut laughing. You knew the picture well, not only because you lived it but also because you had the picture that followed as your own background before you changed it for this interview.

Haechan's phone dropped from his hands, eyes blown wide in shock again. The staff were busy laughing behind the camera while you sat with a smug smile, listening for his reaction. "Is this real? Is this actually your background?" You read the message that had been sent to you.

"Why wouldn't it be?" You message him back.

Haechan doesn't even look at his phone again, he locks his screen and sets it on his thigh. He groans, rubbing his hands through his hair and over his face, "how do you turn someone down nicely?"

You bite your lip when you hear that. Your plan had worked, your precious Haechan was flushed and embarrassed. You type back, "do you know NCT Haechan? He's so talented and funny. I'm a big fan, are you?"

"Yeah, it couldn't be more obvious," Haechan grumbles, staring at the homescreen. He can't look at any of the apps or notifications because he's staring at his own face! A collage of pictures of him-- only him. Pictures of him from his debut to pictures of him from his last performance.

Maybe he was speaking to some kind of comedian, it was some kind of joke that happened to revolve around him. He'd watched some of these interviews before and it never worked out that one person knew who they were texting and the other didn't. This had to be some kind of strange coincidence.

He somehow expertly turned the conversation around, evading your question and changed the conversation into something more lighthearted. Then comes the first Would You Rather. The question: would you rather make a burping sound while farting or farting sound while burping?

You take a second to think, considering the question then finally send your answer, "I think I'd rather make a farting sound while burping."

"Really?" Haechan replies, "why is that? I mean I agree, but I'm curious to hear your reasoning?"

"Tell me yours first," you reply.

"Well mostly I don't want to feel the rumbling feeling of a burp in my butt," Haechan types out.

"He's so gross," you mutter as you read the screen, "he's such a guy." And yet you type out a message, "wow, that's so manly of you.."

Haechan runs his hand through his hair, "how would someone read that and find it attractive?"

Again, he doesn't address your flirting. He maneuvers around it, he doesn't want to be the guy that hurts yours or anyone's feelings, even a stranger's.

By the time the both of you get to the end of the interview having just sent the most recent pictures in your camera roll to each other, Haechan feels a horrible ball of anxiety in the pit of his stomach. You had sent him a picture of a flower from some bush outside and he had sent you a picture of the products that had been used on his face before the interview. (He'd sent the picture to you.) How is he going to handle this?!

He looks up from yet another flirty message with a look of unease, "you guys don't do these things with crazy fans right?"

The staff reassure him that no, they absolutely would not ever do anything to put him or anyone else in harm's way. His partner is just a silly person, a jokester.

You, on the other hand, are a ball of excitement to reveal yourself. The time comes to meet your partner, though you already know yours. You prop yourself on the wall, one hand outstretched against the wall and the other on your hip.

Haechan rounds the corner and sees you. You flip your hair, winking at him with a, "hey, handsome."

He falls to his knees, hand clutched over his heart while he lets out a sigh of relief and a loud exaggerated whine, "how could my own lover do this to me?!"

It takes both you and the staff to calm Haechan down, but you eventually get him to sit in the chair of the high top table and get the frown off his face. He's still pouty of course, and he lets you know so, "how could you do this to me?"

"With the help of my managers, your managers, the production here at Kode... duh," you answer, squeezing his knee beneath the table reassuringly.

"You're so funny," he deadpans, "but seriously, I was so stressed that I was going to have to see a real life crazy person and turn them down while maintaining my safety. Thank goodness it was a real life crazy person I already knew."

You shove his shoulder with a laugh, "so you had no clue who it was?"

"Absolutely no clue," Haechan confirms, "I did think that this was going to be easy at first, but you came on so strong that I had to mostly focus on getting us to have a normal, not flirty conversation. Did you have fun stressing me out, my menace?"

"The best time ever," you nod with a proud smile.

Haechan lets out a breathy laugh, more of a soft exhale of air as he pulls your hand up and pressed a kiss against the back of your hand, "I'm never doing an interview with you ever again."

"You say that now, but you're my biggest fan. Don't you want me to be successful? How can I be successful if even my handsome, sunbaenim boyfriend won't help me?" You tease, looking at him with a look all too innocent to be real.

"Oh right. Please make sure to check out my girlfriend's first solo debut. The music is amazing, her voice sounds like angels singing, the music videos are award winning, the outfits are out of this world and there is nothing like it in all the world. Please support her... or I will have to," Haechan states with a fake smile while looking right into the lens of the camera, letting his smile drop into a pleading face for the ending.

"Yes, please make sure to check out my solo! I appreciate it," you smile at the camera, bowing to show your gratitude. While you fulfill your promoting duties you miss the adoring look on Haechan's face. The way his eyes soften and he looks at you with a calm, serene look of love.

You look at him with a soft smile, "can you forgive me for my prank?"

He tugs you into his side, his arm wrapped around your shoulders, "I can make an exception if you promise this will be the last time you prank me."

"Well, of course," you answer too quickly. A lie, of course.

The conversation between you dwindles down and the two of you take your selfie. You smile brightly at the camera with your head tucked beneath Haechan's chin, Haechan smiles sweetly at the camera with his usual close-lipped smile. It's the first selfie as a romantic couple that anyone will see of the two of you and it makes you slightly nervous, but more than anything you're excited for people to see just a sliver of the dynamic you and Haechan share, the love that's there.

"Thank you to the team at Kode for having us and thank you to the fans in advance for all the love and support. I hope you love it," you smile at the cameras.

The video ends with the screen fading to black, but if fans listen closely, they can hear Haechan reassuring you, "everyone is going to love it, honey. How could they not love anything you do?"

[pancake404]

Thoughts on Chapter 4 of Poppy Playtime

This isn't a drawing like I usually do but since I managed to play Chapter 4 blind without any spoilers, I felt inclined to share my thoughts about Chapter 4.

Right after I first played it, I, of course, a fan of the game, thought it was the best chapter in the series. But after the excitement died down a little, I put some more thought into it and read others' reviews on Chapter 4.

So here are my totally serious opinions you should absolutely think are facts as I am never wrong.

Insane Spoiler Alert for Chapter 4!

Pretty much the Chapter:

The Doctor bullies you and everyone else throughout the whole chapter.

Doey, the ally turned enemy as he tweaks out after we might've caused the Save Haven to blow up.

Every Smiling/Nightmare Critter watched JJK apparently because all they do is JUMP YOU.

We continue the trend of almost every toy we've encountered dying indirectly or directly by the player.

Prototype makes fun of everyone as he pulls the most epic prank and reveals he's been Ollie for presumingly a long time now(who would've guessed) so every plan Poppy discussed should be thrown out the window because he already knows about it.

Huggy is back to give us a warm reunion hug after we kind of unintentionally dropped him fifty stories.

Now starting with the central characters:

Player Character:

At this point, they are without a doubt, questioning their existence as all they came for(presumingly, I'll get to later) was to see if their coworkers were still in the factory by an unknown, vague note. Now, they're tied up in a conflict between the toys and they're helping out Poppy(semi-forcefully as there weren't many options) by killing the Prototype and freeing the..."still alive" human Orphans(X to Doubt) kept asleep by the Prototype.

Their name is still unofficial, where they worked in the factory is still not confirmed though hinted to be one with the lab coats, and even Dr. Sawyer is questioning why they even returned.

I do like how the Doctor questions the player's morals and reasons for coming back since these questions have been lingering in some people's heads as well. It's also been explicitly clear that there's something different about the capabilities of this unknown employee as the Doctor states that he was trying to figure out what made the player so different.

Speaking of the Doctor, Harley Sawyer.

I liked him.

He was a really cool villain with interesting dialogue and his views on the Player as he constantly tests them. His voice, the TVs, his behavior, it all made him terrifying and strangely attractive to certain people in the fanbase.

However, I do agree that there could've been a little more done with the Doctor and the concept they went with. The TVs could function like cameras alerting Yarnaby if we get spotted such as the trailer of Yarnaby implied, we can have optional dialogue from Harley depending on our actions throughout the game(or just more of it), or we could have one main controlled TV robot that Harley uses to defend the system holding his consciousness.

I also do agree that his death was a little sudden and underwhelming compared to the chase leading up to it. You just press a button after running a bit and he screams. Then no more.

But overall, a nice addition.

Yarnaby:

I like Yarnaby as well, it was a shame he died halfway through the game as I would've liked to see Yarnaby try to defend Harley when we tried to shut him down rather than him getting caught/stuck/bit on some chains and randomly combusting into fire...I think we may need some more visual clarity on how that happened unless I wasn't looking closely enough.

But the way he moved and functioned always put me on edge and it fit well to what he was described in the ARG.

Is it bad that I wished the Doctor killed Yarnaby instead to mirror the Prototype killing Catnap?

Pianosaurus:

Dude got cheated so hard.

Like actually, it's kind of funny.

I can see why people were disappointed when his one shot in the trailer was literally his whole screen time before Doey killed him a second later. I think most, myself included, would've preferred if Pianosaurus, someone they've hyped up to be an antagonist for Chapter 4, had an area where we have to survive from him and when he backs us up in a corner, then Doey would've saved us from death. Similar to Miss Delight except Doey is the executioner instead of the player.

Doey:

He was decent.

I have to admit, I don't often get attached to characters such as allies like Dogday, Kissy, Poppy(absolutely not), and Doey is no exception. In other words, I didn't care much when he died.

His story was objectively tragic and he was overall a cool character with cool concepts. The fact that he became hostile to the Player by snapping after the Save Haven was wiped out was also an interesting and yet another tragic twist where the only option now is to kill Doey.

Not surprised he died. I did notice that like Dogday, a lot of the fanbase wished to save Doey as well and some may have been angry about this turn out on him. My response to that would be...it's a horror game, killing characters you like would be the go-to move to ensure it is tragic, disturbing, and scary. It would also show that you can't hope for the best in anything because the game can kill anybody.

Advice: If you like a character in a game like this, just expect them to die...or make a fanfic of saving them as coping.

Baba Chops and the Nightmare Critters:

Clearly, they have a vendetta against the Player if they're this. Fucking. Hostile.

There are hardly any moments with them when they're not just jumping you. But I think a nice edition since you have to use the flare gun more. I had a neat idea where they climb on top of each other into a large mass like a hivemind to make a big monster made up of mini critters but that could still work with Chapter 5, we'll just have to see.

Kissy Missy:

I was kind of surprised she was alive but I do like how despite her survival, she was still badly injured and couldn't help much...not that she helped much in the previous chapters without injuries. But she did try to help the player proving her to be generally a good person trying to help us.

Then again, that also relates to how good of a person the Player is and/or something we don’t know about her.

I'm expecting her to die in Chapter 5.

But first, I was to see a fight between an injured Huggy and an injured Kissy.

Poppy:

So....she wasn't that helpful. She pretty much told us what to do, we did it, then we get blamed for it by Doey because someone(Prototype) screwed over the explosives, he tried to kill us, and we killed him, Poppy then blames us for things we both did and didn't do, Prototype call, and she runs off.

I think in one of the VHS tapes(there are two about Poppy), we see a conversation between her and Ollie which shows us directly that she isn't exactly a cunning, evil betrayer but more of a scared experiment like the rest of the orphans with a very... tunnel-visioned plan and mindset. Or very, very desperate to blow stuff up.

She does run off and abandons the player and Kissy because the case must've sucked that badly which is weird because I would rather prefer being asleep in the case than being anywhere outside of it where toys could rip me to shreds. But hey, it's her opinion I suppose.

I am surprised not a single character had not mentioned or tried to drop-kick her. Killing her shouldn't be that hard...right?

Right...I'm guessing the reason why is because she doesn't stick around enough near the player to even encounter any of the big villains.

Ollie/Prototype:

Let's face it. We all knew it. The only person who was surprised was Poppy herself.

I actually enjoyed the reveal though, I think it was intense but very funny on how it was done.

Poppy blames us and then Ollie calls, the first thing he does is do the Playtime Equivalent of doxxing our location. Dude might as well just said our address over a COD lobby.

Then he pretty much makes fun of Poppy by telling her she needs to stop pretending to be stronger than she actually is(which is true).

Then he makes fun of the player by saying, "I got the bombs, thanks for getting them for me BTW!" as we hear beeping sounds below us.

Does a whole speech before Poppy bolts, abandoning us and he proceeds to make fun of that.

Then the floor explodes and we're in the Labs now.

Either the Prototype is a (10/10) funny character or maybe my humor is broken.

Long Story Short:

It's an improvement in many ways from previous chapters but I, like many others, think there could've been just a couple of additions to make it Peak but there were some good moments. Some good lore drops and information that may or may not have screwed over a couple of Au's(depending on who's in it) but it could be worked around.

They dived way deeper into how terrible Playtime Co. in the inside from both the perspectives of the workers as well as the toys. I love that.

I will still say that Chapter 3 is my favorite even with all of this considered(Because I love Catnap) but I do hope that they truly take their complete time on Chapter 5 to make it the best possible.

Anyhow, I can't wait for Chapter 5 to bring back Catnap(yes, I AM coping), totally bring him back, if Huggy could survive a fifty-story fall, Catnap could either be shocked back alive and/or survive a stab to the head. These toys were able to tank bullets in tapes, they could survive a bit of brain damage(or piercing) and burns.

Man...the Player might not be an "angel”.

[oopsiedaisiesbaby]

Can I please get pregnant Bucky headcanons if you have them? 🥹 https://www.tumblr.com/avonne-writes/774220758667935744?source=share

Abso-freaking-lutely 🙌 That gif set has all of us in a chokehold 😄 As it should lol

Bucky absolutely uses the baby and puppy dog eyes as a deadly combo to get his way (i.e. driving 20+ minutes out of the way for milkshakes in the winter, getting out of a task, getting something for dinner absolutely no one else wants… etc)

He’s absolutely rolling over in the middle of the night, waking Gale up, and telling him that the baby wants something specific that Buck hates like McDonald’s fries. Yes, Gale gets out of bed at 2:30 AM and gets those fries while John falls back asleep and decides the baby didn’t actually want those fries when Buck gets back with them.

He has one hand on his belly at all times once the baby starts moving, almost like a reassurance that it’s real.

Bucky never stops talking to the baby. He’s narrating what he’s doing at all times, having full on one sided conversations, asking the baby its opinions… just never shuts up.

I think he’d be so excited the whole time, like not an ounce of worry, until right when he goes into labor and then has an existential crisis about whether or not he’s gonna be a good parent and starts bargaining with the baby to stay in a little while longer so he can read one more parenting book, meanwhile Gale is like “??? we need to go” but after a certain point he’d pull himself together and pull a whole “great under pressure” kind of attitude.

He’s already talking about the next one before the first one is even born.

He is a certified liability (tripping hazard, fall hazard… etc) when he does decide to do something by himself and it stresses Buck the hell out. It’s not because he’s careless he’s just excited and eager to do things and he forgets his center of gravity is a little different now sometimes.

When people ask him what they’re gonna name the baby, he gives increasingly whacky names to throw them off because he wants it to be a secret. Excerpt he really commits to the bit and their friends are low key a little worried he’s serious. At one point Brady approaches Gale for a possible intervention because “you guys can’t name your kid Meatball, Buck.”

John’s finding out the sex the second he’s able to.

I’m gonna stop here for now but I would so love to hear everyone else’s head cannons for pregnant Bucky ❤️

[lightningbastard]

Chapter 1138 was insane!

Imma start with the huge lore drop at the end

Also I loved Frankys first thought being how exited Robin would be to see this! #FrobinFTW

I can't believe we're not only getting void century lore, but also lore beyond that including the time the world ended pre joy boy. The left most part of the mural seems to depict Imu & the gorosei vs Joy Boy and allies with the rightmost side sharing similar qualities to the hieroglyphys we saw in Enels cover story (Enel confirmed to return please???) I just can't wait for more lore, with a potential flashback arc from Joy Boys POV!!!

I also wonder if the central tree is an ester egg to Oda's pilot of One Piece where there was an actual tree that devil fruits came from?

I'm so excited to find out more about the old worlds, who these characters doomed to never meet or meet again are and who these other Gods are!

I also can't believe we may be bumping into the mysterious figure (Shiki? Gaban? Other?) so soon.

I am intrigued by the decision to overlay his panels whith Luffy's words about the Roger pirates. If intentional on Odas part this would hint to the figure being Gaban who was a key part of the crew or Shiki who was a rival to Roger and would have been familiar with Shanks and co. Regardless we may only have to wait a week for the reveal.

And lastly, its revealed that Shamrocks sword is able to transform into Cerberus. Now this does destroy a theory I liked about BB having a mythical Zoan Cerberus, as a potential explanation for why he can eat multiple devil fruits. However, it is interesting that Oda doesn't give the name of the devil fruit, but rather just the creature, similar to how the Gorosei were introduced in thier mythical forms. So this could mean Shamrocks sword doesn't have the devil fruit, but is an immortal creature like the Gorosei.

I also wonder if this means Shamrock himself os like Shanks and doesn't have a devil fruit ability, opting to use a special sword instead.

Hopefully it won't be too long till we see him fight. The most obvious opponent would be Luffy or Loki, but he could also take on Zoro or Sanji, or even Kidd if he does reappear.

I'm so glad theres no break next week!

[verdantglow]

Yesterday I decided to let myself get started on the actual prose for this fic from the beginning.

Today I finished writing chapter one.

Y’ALL.

It is 6.3K long.

And I stopped part way through what I had outlined for chapter one because I realized if I kept going, this chapter was gonna be like 10k+, and maybe that’s Too Long.

There was supposed to be at least two more scenes in this chapter.

This is gonna be CHONKY.

[myokk]

For writers:

What’s your favorite piece of writing you’ve done, and why??

Idk I just woke up thinking about this & now I’m curious!!! & may or may not be compiling a tbr based on your responses since I really haven’t had the time to read any hl fics yet🫶🫶🫶

[california-112]

Travels Afar - Chapter 1 (/6)

General Audiences | No Archive Warnings Apply | Gen | English

Fandom: The X-Files

Characters: Other Character Tags To Be Added

Additional tags: Season/Series 02, Other Additional Tags To Be Added

Chapter summary:

Chapter 1: No Satellite I've Ever Seen The residents of Pan, Iowa have a midnight encounter with something out of this world.

Fic summary:

"More travelling?" Scully asked suspiciously, "I've already been on a plane for three hours this morning, Mulder, how much further is 'a bit'?" "A, uh, couple of hours," Mulder replied hesitantly, "maybe a bit longer. But it's worth it, I promise." They exchanged a look over the car's roof that was on one side sheepish and the other mildly annoyed. "It had better be." was all Scully said, before opening her door and disappearing into the passenger seat. As soon as they pulled out of their parking space, Scully was all business. After taking a moment with her eyes closed to recall the sparse details that Mulder had given her in his phone call the previous day, she delivered her planned reply to his claims in a wry tone. "So, the case. A Christmas crop circle, if I recall? In somewhere called Pot?" -or- Mulder and Scully make an unofficial visit to rural Iowa to investigate an alleged alien visitation, and a series of potentially related phenomena. Over the course of the case, they learn a little more about eachother, too. This is a work in progress, with updates planned to be daily between the 27th and 31st. Happy New Year! BRIEF REFERENCES TO SOME EVENTS IN S1

Link to AO3

Taglist | DM for addition or removal

@today-in-fic - @tressknight - @pwhlboston21 - @azure-firecracker

[nerdgirlnarrates]

Found out I matched on Monday (🥳), but now waiting till Friday to find out where is KILLING me. The match has felt like this distant, looming horror for so long, and it's finally become real, and it's actually happy, and now I'm desperate to know where I'm going.

[marigoldbaker]

rather loquacious but ultimately cheerful writing-creative-thoughts post under the cut :'D

i do know that part of developing a readership is writing consistently over a long span of time, but the switch is really making me sort of simultaneously aware of and affectionate towards the readership i developed while writing for jenny :') got very used to the certainty of knowing there were quite a few people looking forward to what i would put out next, because of course there were! been doing that for eight years! so to switch tracks and realize i'm starting from scratch a little is kinda cool, now that i know what's going to happen. i am nothing if not consistent in my interests when i find them.

i am looking at these fic projects like yeah actually this is going to be the next few years For Sure. the thought of not finishing marigold's deal is truly unthinkable, in large part bc i made her! she exists in my head which means i totally have to finish this for her! which is ngl a lot more fun than writing a girl who isn't mine and who im holding together w scotch tape.

was talking to my bonus mom about the diff btwn writing mari + my girls / writing jenny. jenny was very much mine inasmuch as jenny didn't really exist within the narrative, sooooo really anyone trying to write jenny kinda HAS to go a little oc with it to write anything substantial. but mari is all mine. home grown. as are so many of the girls who surround her.

it's a really special and exciting shift and it's fun to sort of have this slow roll-out! to have her bleed into here and know that someday people will get to know her :') to have the time and space to just be silly with it without readership anxieties.

idk man im just feeling a lot. i went crazyyyy trying to write for some imaginary gold medal. i think i really stopped enjoying writing prior to the fandom track switch because i was just soooo stubbornly entrenched in this idea of not letting go ever, to prove some sort of point to someone, or to myself, but sometimes letting go is necessary and important and lovely. you're allowed to put things down when you feel like you're done with them. and it's so fucking wonderful to be in the middle of exploring literally everything without any worries about how good i am at it! i am doing this For Fun. i am doing so many things For Fun lately.

[chocolate-cream-soldier]

//

[crossbackpoke-check]

nosy anon again making a return because i think what my brain did was read that i helped find some kind of writing and then did not fully process what the writing was?? but upon rereading i am very intrigued if you ever get the urge to share i will be all eyes/ears/senses required to enjoy things!!

I GET TO DO WIP WEDNESDAYYYYYY!!! the writing exists mostly in the form of a tag (fantastic! 'verse) and also a thirty-two page doc of snippets and planning, so the sense you will be using most is imagination:

don't think i have ever actually formally written out anything about fantastic! 'verse but! the tl;dr of it is that it's a semi-college au: joel is still a hockey player for the lv phantoms, but morgan is a college student-athlete. it's incredibly relevant to the plot that joel falls in love with morgan in the check-out line of a wegman's, lies a little bit, and ends up going back to get his degree.

most of it is just good fun about college kids growing up, but i think there's a lot of parallels between making your way through a development system where traditional "success" isn't always guaranteed (ahl -> nhl, completion of higher education -> pursuit of a career) because that development system isn't always designed for you to "succeed" or have opportunities. heavy quotation marks around success because part of that struggle is learning what you want in life and how you define success. are your dreams achievable? are they still the same dreams you always used to have? it's infinite branching universes of would you still love me if i was a worm (ahl player forever) (a college dropout) (a college graduate) (older) (realizing the fallibility of your body) (uncertain of the future) (human).

silly little snippet:

[sevicia]

I wanted to make a cleaner summary of last week's classes and also review the classes I have this week since the material is already uploaded beforehand but I was feeling so horrible throughout the day that when I sat down I was just gonna look at the ones for tomorrow but I think I'm just gonna go to bed because I just gave my little numbers game a few tries and not even the joy of tribial elementary school-level math games is bringing my brain cells and/or full sentience back

[yansurnummu]

ok I lied I'm gonna talk about it more

90% of the narrative changes I made to the necrom story in my fic are mostly because when put into the format of written word, they don't go over as well as they do within the context of the game (mostly stuff that boils down to fetch quests, or quests that rely heavily on game mechanics like combat & exploration) I wanted to keep the core ideas and essence because I did really love it! I have a real love for cosmic/eldritch horror and high fantasy and mystery, and I think they did a fantastic job of blending those elements together in a way that still felt very ESO. Some details I don't really vibe with and think they could've done better (why put such an emphasis on the dusksabers being vampires if you're not going to use that in any interesting way, for example)

Mostly what I think it boils down to is the kind of story I want to focus on vs the focus of the story in-game. Like I could go for a one-to-one novelisation, but frankly I would find that boring. In shifting the focus to drals and his self-discovery journey, I do feel like I've had to pair down on some other elements (having gadayn as more of a background character, cutting out meln's ghost and leaving him as a figure of drals' past) in order to keep the focus on drals' relationship with azandar and friendship with leramil. Also dialling back the world ending-ness of it and just having apocrypha and mora being the ones in danger, lowering the ultimate stakes but still giving them all a reason to be extremely invested in the Plot.

Haven't planned as far ahead as The Reveal yet, but honestly? I might leave out the whole ithelia thing and come up with some other big dangerous secret mora's hiding. Not because of anything against ithelia, but because it does end on that kind of cliffhanger and sense of impending doom, and I think I'd prefer it if I could just end the story there and allow the characters to rest after a bittersweet victory.

[studio-paris-green]

I wanted to announce that I am working as a character cleanup artist on a short film :’) yay

[martyrbat]

👍👍

[poppyseed799]

I have this problem that’s like the opposite of nostalgia or something where some things I remember liking a lot as a child I look back and only remember the bad times.

This is specifically about Animal Crossing, loved that game as a kid, but I have literally no idea why, cuz it was just pure hell for me from what I can remember.