#I really need to finish that art gd

[owoshrike]

May we all be Alhaitham havers today

[crescencestudio]

Intertwine Post-Mortem

i lied. i don’t know if this qualifies as a post mortem. i don’t even know what a post mortem is LMFAOkxkak

but this is my post intertwine release “devlog” chock full of dev experiences, behind the scenes looks, and more for those who want to know more about the process of creating intertwine and thoughts i’ve had in reflection of release/experiencing otojam!

it’s long bc in usual crescence fashion, a bitch loves to talk. so buckle in gamers!

my thank u offering for all the downloads and reviews

Committing to OtoJam

for those who didn’t know, i entered otojam on a sort of Whim. because i am deep in the alaris trenches, i didn’t want to distract myself for too long from my main game, especially when there are people who have paid to support development. after talking to some friends, i thought otojam would actually be good for me. i’d been struggling with burnout and was in a creative rut. on top of that, i’d been doing this dev thing for almost 2 years with no full game to show for it (cries). even if otojam would take time away from alaris, perhaps it would give me what i needed—a kick of Motivation, a dash of Creativity, and some GD Fun.

so i decided about two days into otojam to officially enter it! And thus Intertwine made its appearance

the graphic that started it all

Oh, we are Otojamming

the intertwine editing team assembled and we got to work. because i already had a pretty solid idea of the game (it had been an idea i was sitting on for a while), there was less time spent on brainstorming and more time spent on writing and editing the script. for playtesters, i already have a group for alaris, and a couple of them kindly offered to playtest intertwine for otojam. i spontaneously decided to cast a va after some discussions with the editing team, and max joined. then, with One Week left of otojam, faefield productions entered the scene!

regarding development, the first month was largely dedicated to the script. weeks 1-2 were writing and fleshing out. weeks 3-4 were dedicated to editing and fine tuning. when my editors were reviewing the script, i was creating all the art assets. after the first month, i would say we had most of the gui, one cg, and the base sprite done!

at that time i felt pretty good. we were making good progress! i even was productive on alaris and irl work!

then the Second Month happened lmao.

i always forget the Horrors of fine tuning a build. i’m projecting right now, but i’d argue a lot of developers forget or underestimate the fine tuning/ quality testing stage. during the 4th-6th weeks of otojam, i wrapped up all the assets needed for the beta build. i finished the remaining cgs, all sprite expressions, and the rest of the gui. then i coded all the features into a beta version: learning how to create a messaging system for the first time, nailing the multiple iteration mechanic, cutting and editing the voice acting audio, and other Horrors that i’m sure i’ve since blacked out from my memory all happened during the sixth week of otojam. i was truly in the Coding Trenches.

BUT i got the build done and was able to send it out to playtesters for a week of quality testing. spoiler alert: the build wasn’t perfect and there were many bugs that needed fixing. the seventh week—the second to last week of otojam—was dedicated to this as well as my own tinkering so that the build felt completely Perfect (making sure expressions r exactly how i want them, transitions and audio fade perfectly, animations are perfect, that godforsaken clickable string to get to the next iterations that No One was clicking. all of the tiny aspects that make a game feel really polished). I am Not good with grinding. Suffice to say this was probably the most miserable week.

me every hour: DID U CLICK THE STRING

But once again WE MADE IT! Near the end of the seventh week, orpheo of faefield productions reached out to me and after gushing to each other about how big of a fan we are of one another, we spontaneously collaborated for a custom OST. Enter the eighth week, and we were ALL grinding. playtesters trying out a second build within only two days. editing team making fine tuning edits for the best script. coding. voiced lines that needed the slightest bit of tinkering.

Come 3PM on june 30th (otojam ends 6pm june 30th) and i’m coding the new music room, adding and double checking the new ost, and more. Two hours pass and it’s 5PM. We have less than an hour to submit. 5:30something comes by and with shaky hands, i release the game page and submit to otojam.

flashbacks to college 11:59 deadlines fr

On top of last week crunching, i was also dealing with extreme prerelease stress. i’ve never released a full game before. a demo, i can change. i can still tinker. this isn’t the final product. But a Full Game? My god. what if ppl hate it? or worse, what if ppl are so apathetic, they don’t even look at it and it gets sent to the void? after all, this year’s entries are stunning. they are Bold and Creative and Fun and intertwine is so….

Boring?

Some Lessons—Take Them or Leave Them

lesson 1. don’t listen to prerelease anxiety. that is the devil talking to you. if u have friends at least they will play and be nice to u. if u don’t have friends and no one plays, well it’s not the end of the world!!!! there’s always the next game. and u fckn know what? at least u Made that shit. keep ur head high, icon.

lesson 2. have fun and take care of yourself. the reception to intertwine has been amazing. i couldn’t be happier with it. but at the end of the day, the reason i look back on otojam fondly is because of the very dear friends i had to support me and have fun with me thru it all. life is meant to be enjoyed. it’s meant to be about memories, not metrics! never forget what’s truly important in life (cheesy, everyone boos me, but i’m right idgaf)

where would i be without them

lesson 3. plan. there is room for spontaneity and flexibility. after all, u can’t guarantee everything will go to plan. but with otojam being a crunch, plan as much as you can beforehand to not stress urself out during it. with intertwine, i had a somewhat outline and at least a pretty good idea of the concept, game mechanics, narrative design, mood board, etc. i had character concept art of van. if i had to do all of this during otojam we wouldn’t have made it i’m so srs. i also think when u plan as much as u can before, u have more room and time to have fun during! more polished build and more loving memories it’s a win win.

early concept art tbh i never thought it’d see the light of day

Typical Brand of Crescence Cheesiness

if you’ve made it this far ur a real one. all i have left to say is thank you for the support. while i was proud of intertwine (until the last week of otojam lol), i didn’t know what the response would be. to receive so many kind words has been unbelievably heartwarming.

as i said before, i’ve been in this game dev thing for 2 years with nothing to rly show for it. but during otojam, i could really feel the skills and experiences i’ve gained shine thru. i had a better handle on narrative design, coding things, integrating gui, and even more dev friends to talk to (thank u to all my friends who have played and messaged me U DONT KNOW HOW MUCH I LUV U). it was rewarding in a different sense compared to releasing a game, and i really am glad i did otojam to give me that perspective <3

a lot of things seemed to cockblock otojam this year (or so i’ve heard) between the sheer amount of entries (go us tho), the release of a lot of aaa otome games, and then twitter literally breaking less than 24 hours after otojam ended. even with all that, i’ve been so humbled and honored to see ppl enjoy intertwine. the comments i’ve gotten have honestly made me emotional, with many of you comparing it to games that i heavily admire and or expressing emotions i never would’ve dreamed to have been able to instill.

the otojam experience has been incredible, from the memories to the game to the reception. and i’m very grateful for all the people who made it that way! thank you for enjoying our silly little game made with our grubby little fingies. i hope you all continue to enjoy intertwine (and the other otojam entries from this year) and van!

i luv u all!

[6ad6ro]

ok. i finally finished final fantasy vii rebirth. and i wanna talk about it. i guess you could call this my "review". this post will be vague and spoiler-free unless you click on the "read more".

i do love this game, but it's an absolute mixed bag: story: 10/10 combat mechanics: 9/10 music: 9/10 art direction: 10/10 voice acting (jp): 10/10 open world (non-quest stuff): 4/10 sidequests: 6/10 minigames: 3/10 pacing: 1/10 does this game have flaws? yes. is it as good as the og ff7? no. but is it worth playing? absolutely. i almost feel like this game needs a "cheat sheet" in order to know what parts to play and what parts to avoid. but the good parts (mostly the linear main story stuff) is SO gd good that it's still a must-play game. ok but now i'm gonna go into details (and spoilers) under the rm cut.

so i'll go over some of my scores. firstly, the story is the main reason to play this. they def fuck around a lot, maybe they bait and switch a bit too often, but in the end it makes for a very compelling (or at least interesting) narrative. at first, i was REALLY worried that this game was gonna turn into just some "fan pandering nightmare". and it felt like it was "ff7 without it's claws". esp when everybody was dancing like pop stars and aerith and tifa kept high fiving. but... it def got into that good ff7 trauma we know and love later on. and respect to them for following through with killing aerith. yes, they did what i sorta expected. they teased tifa dying instead, teased aerith NOT dying, and then killed aerith anyway. they EASILY could have left her alive, but they didn't. they kept in the loss angle, which imo is what makes ff7 "ff7". i kinda LOVE that now you have a batshit cloud "seeing" aerith's ghost like it's star wars. and everyone else seems almost... afraid of him. and rightfully so. also i LOVED the zack stuff, even though it was absolutely confusing. i like that they're hinting at zack somehow breaking through his reality into the rm universe. i also like the tease that... idk... will there be another "party" involving zack, kyrie, biggs (if he's still alive or not)? regardless, a great story!

the combat feels mostly improved over rm. the gameplay is fantastic with very few flaws. difficulty is way more balanced than rm, with easy feeling a bit harder and normal feeling less unfair. the only times i felt frustrated by the gameplay was when they laid the "stone" status effect on too thick in parts bc it felt cheap. is it as good as the og combat? no. it still def has the unfun "you desperately need to heal but don't have a charge and the enemy is immune to everything so you just die" thing. but credit where its due, the "free item a few times per battle" materia fixes a lotta those issues.

the music is incredible. the remakes of old songs generally kick ass. some of the new music was pretty good, too. though it gets a point off because a lot of the open world stuff music felt... generic? this is just a situation where the og game's music is TOO GOOD, so the new music will always be fighting this sort of uphill battle.

the art was perfect. just the shading alone... like jesus this game is absolutely beautiful. i took so many goddamn screenshots in game, and they'd often end up looking like key renders, even tho it'd just be a random ss i could take at any angle. this game went above and beyond all expectations.

the voice acting... there was SO MUCH and it was all SO GOOD. tho i did switch to jp voices. bc... in this sorta storytelling, eng just sounds like "drama club"? idk there's a reason the language of origin cast is usually better and that's just how it is. it was perfect.

ok now we're gonna get into some of my issues, starting with the open world. it's not ENTIRELY awful? some was genuinely fun and exciting. but the majority was busywork. like it's so weird when the mainline stuff was so good that this would feel like a shitty ubisoft game. and chadley... fuck that dude. worst character in the series. but for SOME gd reason he ends up talking to you nonstop! i hit the point where i'd wince any time i heard his "radio" turn on. he took an already mediocre open world and made it way worse. fuckin chudly.

the sidequests that weren't just repeated busywork were usually neat. tho some were bad, and others withstood their welcome. the cutscenes/dialogue were usually fun or genuinely great, but they too often came at the cost of wasting your time. they often had shit rewards. and they often incorporated the shittiest "minigames" ever (i'll go into this more in a minute). example: you gotta find ingredients for a character who is learning to cook. but it isn't just going out to find them in the world. no no no. you gotta follow a dog (ftr i love the song) as they slowly meander through a jungle, running into every mob they see. and when you finally get to where the "salt" is, there's a dumb scavenger hunt minigame where you need to find only the 5(?) salt piles that look like the photo. THEN you gotta get on your chocobo and look for mushrooms in a confusing, puzzle-like terrain. which also involves a smelling/follow the direction minigame, which always leads you into mobs. and once you get to each mushroom? there's this STUPID picking minigame. after all that, what reward do you get? an accessory that functions like maybe the worst materia in the game, but also takes up the accessory slot, making it even more unusable. FUCK this game sometimes, lol.

speakin of "fuck this game", the minigames. the 200 minigames (exaggeration, but it really feels like that many). some are genuinely incredible, like the piano minigame? which might be one of my favorite minigames of all time, it's legit THAT good. or "red xiii rocket league". but for every good minigame, there was a mediocre one. and then a terrible one. or one that gets WAY too hard in higher difficulties, like the mog game which starts fun but ends up dogshit and unplayable a few levels in. even tho the good and passable minigames are the majority, the bad minigames? they're maybe some of the worst minigames i've ever played in my goddamn life. like, by design, they're almost anti-fun. i genuinely believe some of the people in charge of the bad minigames should be blackballed from the industry. it's bewildering.

and finally that brings us to the pacing. if you play the game the way they seemingly expect you to play, getting to each new area and sidequesting a bit before continuing on with the story? then you'll spend five hours of mediocre/bad sidequest for each hour of good story. that's even worst if you're a "completionist" at all, you can triple or quadruple that number. we all loved remake because it "expanded the midgar section". we were all hoping they'd do the same with the og open world. the very idea of "big open world, but so much bigger" seemed incredible. but they certainly gave it to us! like they gave us exactly what we said we wanted, lol. when i first started playing rb, i was mostly completing each area. by the second or third area, i was more than 50 hours in. "burnout" is a gross understatement. all the mediocre sidequests combined with the sometimes unplayable minigames ALSO COMBINED with fuckin chudly? and i actually started to hate this game. it made me miserable. i'd get to a new area and just roll my eyes. i'd see a new minigame tutorial pop up and i'd mash "cancel". but wouldn't you know it, once i started skipping most minigames/sidequests? i started havin a ton of fun. turns out this pacing issue can be mitigated a lot. straight up you can ignore most of the open world, and i would actually strongly recommend it. if you DO wanna sidequest a bit between story, i'd say put on a podcast, set the difficulty to easy, and turn the voices down (bc chudly). and don't do everything. oh no. just do enough to unlock the chocobo, to buy the best materia chudly has from that area, and maybe get the summoning. even THAT is probably too much. bc near the end of the game, you get the opportunity to go back and finish a bunch of the stuff you missed the first time. and i actually enjoyed a lotta that stuff then! it was almost like a period of rest and relaxation before the end story stuff.

there are ways, intentional or not, to make this game feel even BETTER than remake. when you skip most of the side stuff, it's paced incredibly well. so it's hard to say it's a bad game. it's actually a really GOOD game with "too much side content". if you treat the open world stuff as just like, a living, detailed world you glance at as you zoom by? it's actually really cool that it's there. i have a couple more pros/cons that i wanna mention, but i don't know where else to put em. like the end fights. thematically, i adored em. in execution, it went on for way way WAY too long. it was like a 15 (yes FIFTEEN) phase fight. on normal, i swear it felt like it took close to two hours, full of unskippable cutscenes and only like one checkpoint. it also takes away al of your team composition too, consistently forcing you to use characters you don't wanna use in the hardest fights in the game. first time, i got through to the very last sliver of final sephiroth's health, only for him to cast some dogshit unblockable "everyone is at 1hp" move at the end. it was ok bc "i'd prepared for this". so i instantly had one character use a gigapotion on the other, who i switched to so they could dodge just to be extra safe. the potion... missed? how? and then before i had a chance to use another, he killed the remaining character. bad game. shit game. but whatever, i hit retry. and i couldn't believe it. it sent me back 7 phases. i was livid. it had sucked the air outta the room. so i said fuck it and restarted the whole fight from the start on easy, because i can't tolerate that kind of scumbag game design that wastes a player's time. and wouldn't you know it, turns out i'd been at the very end of the fight when i died. if the potion had gone off like it shoulda, i would have won, no question. ironically even on easy, that trash situation happened again, but the potion actually went off this time, that was the only difference. but yeah. fuck that fight. it was cooler thematically than the final fight in rm, but it was three times as long, and three times more unfair. fuck whoever designed this fight, they too should be blackballed from the industry, lol.

the last thing i wanna talk about is queens blood. bc my feelings on it are sorta all over. so it starts out kinda boring, like as basic as ff8 triple triad, but wayyy less fun. and you're very limited in who you can play and what cards you can add to your deck. the ai seemingly "cheats", but it's so "linear" that you can win anyhow. and they musta known they'd lose most players, so they legit give you the ability to "flip the game board" at any point in the match and start over with zero punishment. they knew the game wasn't rly fair by design. but it's still good they had the easy retry feature, or they woulda lost me too. the qb experience sorta continues this way until you get to the latter junon area, where suddenly you run into... idk what to call it. intense difficulty spikes? like this dickwad who's playin a rockabilly guitar. FUCK that dude's deck and FUCK his ai. almost single-handedly got me to drop qb altogether. i was absolutely done, had decided qb was just a poorly designed game. thankfully, right after junon they have this big tournament on the boat to costa del sol and it's really fun. you suddenly are getting cards that have actual strategy. and suddenly qb opens up. there was a slight misstep after the boat where they make you play these stupid "puzzle" versions of qb, but you can look up guides and, even if they aren't fun, they help teach you about the game. anyways, i cautiously started playin more matches in later areas (skippin fights that seemed too lame), and before i knew it, i'd kinda fallen in love w the game. it also helped that they started incorporating this fun n bizarre story, too. so idk. i'd say play qb the same way you play the side content, skip a lot of it until you get to the end game? and then go back with cards you bought or won and finish the ones u missed. it's so weird that so much of this game works this way. and i could see someone arguing that "it's just a bad game". because when most games hand you content, even side content, most players expect they should at least give the content a fair shot. it really is kinda poorly executed. but! there are so any ways to mitigate the bad and focus on the good. knowing what i know now, i like this game even more than remake (which i really REALLY love). rebirth was fuckin great. and thank fuck i didn't get spoiled, tho i never wanna hafta try n rush through a 100+ hour open world ever again. i'm really excited for part three, just hopin i can remember to skip over a lotta the optional stuff. also hoping i won't have to buy a fuckin ps6 or whatever just to play it.

[sburbisk-webcomic]

<[The Beginning: SBurbisk.]>

Our story begins with a Sony-enjoyer-renowned trophy hunter, venturing to his local game disc outlet to peruse the clearance bin for Remarkably Shitty and/or Underrated titles during Fall Midterms 2025. The folks who run the shop greet him as a well-liked regular. 

B: “SBurbisk party pack,” huh? “Pack contains four copies of SBurbisk complete edition. Inspired by the wild success of HS Studios’ Sburb/Sgrub, BootLegs Gamers Inc. presents a game you play with four people. BootLegs Gamers Inc is not responsible for rage quits, flipped tables, or destroyed friendships.”

GamesHub Employee: just got that in yesterday! The Guy brought in a ton of super rare vintage titles and a suspicious number of nintendo consoles as well. 

B: . . . I’m not seeing anything on google about it. Must be a Really Small Studio.

Employee: it’s 20 bucks, 25 if you want the weird book he brought in with it.

B: For the whole pack? I’ll take it. Ah, what the hell, I’ll take the book, too.

Our renowned gamer returns to his dorm at Penn Psychology Institute. He sits at his desk and wakes up his Fancy iMac. Many skûpe messages await him. He clicks through some assignment websites before answering them.

MESSAGE FROM: gravitronsDisrupted.

gD: Losing my mind studying for midterms. My art history professor must be chugging my asshair if he thinks I’m going to be able to sculpt a musculature-accurate David by the end of next week. Ugh

pH: oof, I’m sorry. ngl though, you should’ve started that like, last month. or you could commission Clouds for it, the dude works crazy fast. 

gD: I might have to. Not sure how he would ship it to me in time, Topeka’s pretty far from Nashville. I can’t seem to catch him when he’s awake either.  . . . Did you find anything noteworthy at Games Hub?

pH: actually, yes! Some vintage PS2 shooters, most notably this party pack of what looks to be a Sgrub knockoff slash tribute? It’s called “sburbisk,” I didn’t find anything on the web about it. It’s multiplayer, four copies. The box art is drawn on copy paper, check it out.

<platinumsHunted sent 2 photos.>

gD: You paid real life money for that?

pH: It was $25! Four complete edition copies, and it came with this lore book too, but it’s not in english or any language I can make sense of. I was thinking we could play it with Clouds and his girlfriend after we all finish midterms.

gD: Sure, why not. Let me know if you see him online, I gotta get this stupid Michelangelo done or I’ll have to take art history again in the spring.

pH: will do. He should be getting up soon, it’s almost noon his timezone. I gotta talk to Bunni and find out where to send her copy.

-------- 0 -- -- 0 -------- 0 -- -- 0 ---------->

Another of our heroes is just waking up. He rubs overtired sleep from his eyes, grogily rising to unplug his phone across the room. Three missed alarms, skûpe notifications, and a reminder to brush his teeth.

S: glad it’s saturday. I’d be absolutely fk’d to oversleep that much this week. 

S: ugh, what does she want. it can wait for my wakeup routine.

MESSAGES FROM: gravitronsDisrupted.

gD: Clouds.

gD: Clouds, get up.

gD: This is time sensitive, Mr Chronic OverSleeper. 

gD:  I need to commission an unreasonably detailed sculpture.

cD: its fuckin saturday, relax ur tuck.

cD: i just woke up

cD: what do u need?

gD: My art history midterm is a 1:24 scale model of Michelangelo’s David. It’s due in two weeks and I can’t sculpt worth shit. Baker said to ask you. 

cD: kinda cutting it close there, don’t u think? cD: i can make the thing, but i’m gonna have to charge extra for the priority shipping. cD: send me a PDF of the assignment requirements.

<gravitronsDisrupted sent a PDF file.>

<cloudsDroidborg pasted a comms.com link.>

cD: jfc this professor gotta be huffin his own tenure for breakfast. how strict is the rubric?

gD: I asked some of the art history seniors, they said it has to be exactly ten inches tall, and he really likes detail in the arms, specifically the hand veins.

cD: aight. i got nothing to do today, hopefully i can have it in the mail by monday.

gD: Don’t bother with the progress updates. I trust your artistry way more than your erratic sleep schedule.

cD: your faith in my hyperfocus is flattering but maybe be nicer to the guy who’s saving your ass on such a tight deadline.

<cloudsDroidborg has gone offline.>

-------- 0 -- -- 0 -------- 0 -- -- 0 ---------->

Our third hero sits high strung in her bedroom, overwhelmed by petty tasks amidst the stress of college life. She has just commissioned her ex-boyfriend to commit academic dishonesty to save her graduation timeline. She sighs heavily as she fills out his commissions page, dejectedly forking over $100 total for materials, labor, priority shipping, and a reasonable comms tip.

N: This is really cutting into my expendable budget for the semester. Preferable to paying tuition to take sistine chapel appreciation again, I suppose.

She picks up her acoustic guitar to practice a piece she wrote for a jazz/classical fusion project. Her fingers glide over the fretboard, calluses softened from long hours of playing tedious scales and replicating Judas Priest solos. The afternoons fades into a blur of harmonics and subtle corrections of her passing tones until she hears a bleepitybloop for her computer. She brings her song to an acceptable resolution and returns her guitar to its stand.

MESSAGE FROM: cloudsDroidborg.

cD: yo. Little David’s in the kiln. tbh i kinda enjoyed makin his biceps so juicy.

gD: wtf. I’m not gonna ask how you got that done so quickly, Bakes did say you work crazy fast. 

cD: eh, i’ve done harder projects in 8 hours, appreciate u filling out the comm forms before i got too absorbed. i had to take it to the ceramics club to bake, so i’ll go back on monday to pick it up.

gD: EIGHT HOURS?! fuck. >:C I’m glad you messaged me, I have a date tonight and got caught up practicing my jazz piece.

cD: lol polishing. sorry. no i’m not. anyways good luck on ur date -_-.

cD: i’ll have ur David thing in the post by tuesday. i gotta take my dog for a walk.

<cloudsDroidborg has gone offline.>

-------- 0 -- -- 0 -------- 0 -- -- 0 ---------->

Our fourth and final hero sits in her room, scrolling ASMR beadwork videos between carefully balanced essays. Her term papers are coming along in good schedule, and she has spent her Saturday making small edits to her papers, periodically messaging her boyfriend to make sure he takes bathroom breaks during an intense studio session.

dB:  it’s almost 9pm your timezone, Mr Stratus. just wanna make sure you ate dinner. <3

cD: oh shit i almost forgot. ty Bunbun. took the dog for a walk when i got back from the studio and aint even think to feed myself. i had like four javys today tho >_>; 

dB: java monster is not real food, young man! Go make some leftovers, I know there’s real food you’re too lazy to cook, lol

cD: i mean yeah. I’m starting to get the shakes a little bit from Proprietary Blend Overload lmao. while i’m raiding the fridge how’s ur term papers coming along?

dB: pretty much done, I’m just editing them now. I’m way ahead of the deadlines, soo much better than last semester. oh, and Plats asked me about some weird game he bought?

cD: ? i haven’t heard from him. then again i spent literally eight fucking hours on this sculpture for Nova’s art history midterm so i haven’t checked.

dB: yeah, he said he’s gonna send me a copy, you and Nova too, and the four of us can play it together. It’s some kind of multiplayer adventure? Apparently the book that came with it is written in moon runes or something, lol.

dB: here, look at the cover art.

<dreamscrollBunni sent a photo.>

cD: lmfao holy shit. what the dollar tree off-brand tumblr html is this. Did some sburb incel make this in his moms basement i gotta talk to Plats about this egregiously beautiful colored pencil on copy paper headass game, holy mothereffing soup.

dB:  lol.

-------- 0 -- -- 0 -------- 0 -- -- 0 ---------->

Our main hero is beside himself with laughter. He is simply unhinged by the outright hilarity of this video game cover. The printer paper. The clingflim shrinkwrap. The fact he hasn’t heard about it directly from the source is merely an afterthought to the sheer absurdity in picture before him.

cD: BAKER.

cD: explain urself, my good brother in Chust, 

cD: why i receive this ludicrous image, taken with your own camera, from Bunni, and i’ve yet to hear a bleepblorp from your skûpe handle regarding such a gut busting venture.

pH: oh whoops. My bad. I got caught up with revisions after I told the girls about it. plus, I figured you’d be busy with some sculpting.

cD: yeah Little David’s in the kiln already. tell me about this “multiplayer adventure,” i keeled over laughing when Bun sent me the cover art.

cD: she’s not really into games so she didn’t say much besides it being four players.

pH: I don’t know all that much about it myself, man. It was super cheap for four full game copies, the back of the box was super vague, and the book that came with it is written in some weird ass language I can’t even recognize, let alone read.

pH: I’m sending a copy each to you, Nova, and Bunz, with the distance and how slow the post had been this year, I was thinking we could play it together after we all finish midterms.

cD: lemme see the back of the box. with homemade cover art like that it’s gotta be funny af

<platinumsHunted sent a photo.>

[ next chapter ==> ]

[ruinedgautier]

sorryyy if this is odd but i loveeee the dynamic between lita and sylvain.... i know obviously probably litavain is the most fleshed out, but are there any friendships or other dynamics that lita has? :)

Not weird at all! I'm just so excited about people liking my oc waow 🩷💗💖💞💖💕💞💕💗

Litavain is for sure the most fleshed out! But I also did make Ingrid and Lita friends before the whole fake dating thing happens.

ITS A LOT SO IM GONNA PUT THE FULL ANSWER + MORE CHARACTERS UTC LMAO:

Ingrid really cares for Lita, and she dislikes how much Sylvain is messing with her. The Faerghus Four, including Dedue, are aware that both parties are consenting to the plan— it's just that Sylvain is lying about the reason for it. Ingrid, for the most part, lets it slide because Lita and Sylvain seem to be equal parts invested in the relationship. It isn't until Ingrid begins checking what they think of one another that she realizes how one-sided it actually feels. Here's an excerpt about that:

Ingrid's also noticed how Lita looks when she's describing Sylvain. She likes him, maybe a little more than she lets on. She just can't really convey whatever feelings she has, so whenever Ingrid asks about Sylvain, Lita gives short, generic answers.

“He’s nice to me,” she would say. “And he’s not that bad looking either!”

It's always variants of the two. However, more things slipped past her short responses the longer these past few weeks have gone on.

“He’s nice to me!” turned into, “I lost my mother’s ring in the library the other day, and he spent the next day trying to track it down for me. Turns out, some guy found it and gifted it to his girlfriend. He had to fight the boyfriend for it, but he said a black eye would be worth it if it kept me happy. He’s so… He’s really sweet, Ingrid.”

Then, “He’s not that bad looking either!” turned into, “I think Sylvain’s gotten more tan these past couple weeks. And you can see more of his freckles, too! I tell him that I think they're cute, but he never believes me.”

Ingrid frowns. She doesn’t seem to remember such comments coming from Sylvain. Whenever she asked him about Lita, he’d brush her off and say things like:

“Oh, you know! She’s great.” Or, “We have a study date today in her room. Do you think I’ll score big?”

It frustrates Ingrid to no end. Is he really all that selfish? He’s hurting Lita while he’s just trying to mess around. Sure, Ingrid hasn’t caught Sylvain running off with other girls in the meantime, but that doesn’t ease her mind at all. Maybe he’s just gotten better at hiding from her watchful eye.

——

Ingrid, the poor girl, feels stuck between a rock and a hard place. She doesn't want to hurt her friend by making Sylvain tell her how much he's lying to her, but at the same time, she's tired of needing to clean up Sylvain's messes and thinks that Lita would set him straight after he confesses.

Or something like that, I haven't exactly finished hammering out the details yet 🤧 just know that Ingrid and Lita are friends LMAO

As for other dynamics, she has a small (unnamed) friend group. They're not really mentioned often, but they like teasing Lita about dating Sylvain. They don't know that Lita and Sylvain are pretending to date.

Lita also enjoys hanging out with the Golden Deer a lot. She tags along with Lysithea to learn makeup tips from Hilda– they get ready for the ball together ♡ She goes painting and sketching with Ignatz and values his crit when creating art.

Adding on more to Hilda and Lita's friendship, Hilda passively mentions that Lita should join their class since she seems to get along with everyone there already. Lita always declines, saying that she likes the BL class, but she'll always hang out with her friends in GD. They kiss a little bit in my brain teehee ✨️

Ummmm I FEEL like that's all of them? I want to build more on her relationships in BL, but I have yet to sit down and figure them all out 🤧🤧

[jtl07]

Okay so the gripe I'm starting to have with the writing in s1 of Warrior Nun (idk if the same things will apply in s2) is that the dialogue is there without any action to support it. I mentioned in my ep3 rewrite how it felt really heavy, sluggish and feeling even more of the same in eps 5 and 6. There's only so much I can take of folks literally talking at each other (no matter how pretty they are).

The thing that I'm thinking about is how action can be used to add, or sometimes even contradict, the words characters speak. I went hunting through Robert McKee's "Dialogue" book and this passage explains it best:

The axiom “nothing is what it seems” expresses the primal duality of life: What seems is the surface of life, the activity we see and hear, the outer behavior of what a character says and how she behaves. What is is the substance of life, the action the character takes below the surface of activity. … Therefore, no line of dialogue is finished until you’ve answered this question: In the subtext of my character’s verbal activity, what action is he in fact taking? Consider ice cream. We never eat ice cream simply because we’re hungry. Like all behaviors, a conscious or subconscious action underlies this activity. What is the ice cream eater really doing? … Those actions—drowning sorrows, rebelling, or rewarding—find expression in the activity of eating ice cream. The same with talk… Behind the textual activities of the characters, what subtextual actions actually drive the scene?

Now, I love action sequences as much as anyone - I grew up in martial arts, trained in it, absolutely love the work in Warrior Nun so far. The thing is, a fight is never just about the fight itself - in a sense, it's a sort of dialogue, and it has to make sense in the context of the world. It has to push the story, the characters to some sort of change - thus the fight itself has to have a story within itself (kinda like how in musicals, a song will feature the character having undergone some kind of change or having made some sort of decision). For a fantastic explanation of this, check out this video by Accented Cinema.

The problem with a lot of the "action" in episode 5 is that there is no narrative - we get kind of different beats, but there's no real emotional charge. So for my rewrite, I want to focus on both subtext and building up to the violence.

The focus of episode 5 - as I understand it, folks please lmk if you have other readings! - is Mary and Lilith chasing down Ava, leading up to the tragic fight with the tarask. Canon has Mary and Lilith literally butting heads (and fists and feet etc) but there's no tension, no build up.

So first, I'd add some level of tension by having Mary and Lilith having to cooperate with each other. Maybe they need to pretend to be employees of the ferry so as to not draw attention to themselves, to the OCS. Lilith would of course chafe at this (the woman was walking around in the open with a gd sword strapped to her back; plus there was that line from Mary about calling too much attention to them and Lilith just not caring), and Mary would try to reason with her. Maybe something like, "we've already lost one, we don't need to lose anymore."

And maybe it's unclear if she means the OCS in general or just Lilith or both, but maybe Lilith takes it to mean just herself (self-centered and self-serving as she is lately) and she shoots back something like, "Didn't think you cared." And Mary, what I would give to have Mary give an echo of that devastated look she gave Beatrice in ep 1 when Bea said "she's right" - because of course she cares but also she's still very much haunted by Shannon and grieving and angry and yeah, I want all the angst lol

So we have them pretending to be ferry employees right, maybe show off how the OCS can be secret agent-y. But of course, they start sniping at each other, verbally then physically, getting in each other's way, sabotaging each other, etc. They don't want to fight each other, at least Mary doesn't, but their intentions are at such odds at each other that it inevitably starts to escalate.

And then when they finally come upon Ava - I'd have them both happen upon her at the same time - Lilith drops the ploy completely, symbolized visually by her ripping off the ferry employee disguise.

But just as she's about to attack Ava, Mary steps in, blocks the blow. And maybe she tells Ava to run and Ava's confused - and let's have this in a sort of confined area so that Ava has to witness Mary protecting her from Lilith (because idk, I didn't feel the connection between her and Mary). Meanwhile, throughout the fight, Lilith is getting all the more aggravated by being so close yet so far from the halo - and maybe Mary's trying not to really hurt her but Lilith starts playing dirty, maybe starts pulling out weapons (blades, etc) as well.

Ava will escape somehow - maybe just phases through a wall or something - and Lilith will take out her anger fully on Mary, not just through her fists, but with her words as well. They'll burst out from whatever confines they were in, and Lilith will just rip into Mary, her fury overpowering Mary both verbally and physically - how she failed to protect Shannon, how she can't change anything (and maybe it won't be completely clear, as she's dealing some ground and pound onto Mary, if she's talking to Mary or talking about herself), and maybe even have Lilith say outright, "She's not Shannon" (which would be a lovely call back to my favorite Avatrice scene thus far).

And then she'll leave Mary, bloodied and barely conscious, a snarl on her face as she stalks off to follow Ava. Perhaps we'll have the camera linger on Mary's face, devastated and disappointed - but what if she sees some kind of sign, maybe a cross or something that reminds her of Shannon - and we see her hand tense around one of her shotguns and she whispers, "I know."

We'll cut to the warehouse place with Ava and JC, Lilith stalking them like a horror movie villain - maybe Ava obviously is looking for Mary maybe even asks about her and Lilith mocks her for supposedly caring and Ava falling back into anger. We'll keep the attempt to cut out the halo as written and Mary stepping in and the tarask appearing.

So when I initially watched this episode, I had a very loud "wtf?!" moment when Lilith gets impaled though - I had no clue what the heck she was trying to do. Was she aiming to attack Ava? Was she aiming for the tarask? (Also why the heck did she step into Mary's line of fire? Was she counting on Mary to cover her?) It just didn't make sense to me.

So I'd adjust this to have Lilith and Mary instinctively start fighting off the tarask when it first appears - but getting pushed back, literally (maybe still have Mary get thrown into that car). Then the tarask will turn towards Ava and Mary will try to distract the tarask by shooting at it but what if Lilith then attacks Mary? And Mary realizes that Lilith is counting on the tarask to kill Ava for her and Mary lets her anger out, gets Lilith off of her somehow, attacks the tarask with renewed vigor.

And what if. What if Lilith has just had enough of Mary, has had enough of her getting in the way, of her showing compassion for this girl who is not worthy, who's just in the way of her becoming the halo-bearer, and what if - what if she holds the sword with the intent of attacking Mary? And what if it's in that blind run towards Mary that the tarask swings around and gets her?

I haven't yet watched the rest of season and I'm not as familiar with the nuances of Lilith's character arc, but idk, this feels like it could add layers to what she goes through, fully turning on the OCS. Not to mention it could also add more grief and guilt for both Mary and Ava, having Lilith's death on their hands.

Anyway, just some thoughts. Kind of a fun exercise, actually

[avocodas]

I am DONE

Hello yall😭 I missed you and i missed the tumblr fandom so much.

As yall know i had a tough year aka the graduate year.. after all the hard work to sustain and lift up my Computer Science breath techniques, i want to announce

I AM DONE AND HAPPILY GRADUATING✨🧚🏼‍♀️

It feels like a dream😂 one that i am afraid to wake up from.. I can’t believe I finished 4 years in this hellish country in studying a major that i hated but found the route to combine it with my passion 🙏❤️

Which came to be

VIRTUAL REALITY GAMES

My BS thesis was to create a VR meditation experience targeting anxious and overwhelmed college students. I loved the VR technology and i wanted to do my senior project with it instead of the cliche websites and image detectors projects .

In my university we never got to learn game development, so i had to learn all the technical things by myself without a team, mentor, or even a laptop or a VR headset🥲

I felt alone, i climbed up to my university to work in the lab even on holidays to learn about unity, VR design, 3D modeling..etc and of course deducting an objective research about mindfulness and breathing techniques

Oh right.. BTW..

here i’ll borrow@demonslayedher ‘s pun

My ✨research ✨ was fully inspired by Demon Slayer.

The idea of superpowers with breathing techniques sounded odd to me when i first watched the show, i was like “ Are the industry really out of ideas for superpowers’ sources and causes?” .

And as I understood the show, and my gym class’s teacher integrated meditation to our curriculum and stressed that we need to learn to breath properly, because we live in a rushing world that we forgot how to even breath and take out the tense from our souls.

This was one hell of a senior project, it got me separated from gym, tumblr, and even drawing😭but i am grateful i found that my passion could be reflected in my degree and find amazing chances to grow as a storyteller.

If you read my tags in my posts, I always always make my art with a story in it. Each piece I’ve made there is a story that i often summarizes in the tags. That’s why most of you feel the sincerity ( and fun) in my art.

I want to thank two people that I thank God daily for their existence

To The GD instructor, who we met by chance, introduced me to VR by chance, but she willingly cheered me all along my journey 💖

And Huge Thanks to Buriko! Her blog, closet play, cooking attempts, and her spontaneous arts’ posts notifications, drew a smile on my face in the midst of dark and hopeless moments where I thought I could never be happy again @demonslayedher. 💖🤍

Welp, here we go for new journeys!

[cass1x1]

🧡 for a friendship-themed headcanon / 😴 for a sleep-themed headcanon / 🐈 for a pet/animal-themed headcanon | keira, liora, adra, owen!

@gerrykecy

keira

🧡 for a friendship-themed headcanon

keira has a little crew of pals from art school who have no idea about her crime career for obvious reasons. she keeps up appearances with them by turning forgeries that don't work out into shitty avant-garde art that she claims she's working on.

😴 for a sleep-themed headcanon

keira doesn't sleep well when she's inspired because she gets too hyper-fixated but then after a big project is finished, she has like a mega crash and sleeps a concerning amount of time. she believes in the idea of a sleep bank big-time.

🐈 for a pet/animal-themed headcanon

keira doesn't have any pets but if she did, she'd want a reptile or fish or something. doesn't want animal hair in her home even though she likes cats/dogs when other people have them.

liora

🧡 for a friendship-themed headcanon

liora's childhood bestie (calling her michelle) still calls her and they get coffee together once a year or whatever. liora is bad at calling her but she calls when she's feeling sentimental or whatever. liora is godmother to michelle's kids

😴 for a sleep-themed headcanon

liora's bed is comically overwhelmed with blankets and pillows and whatnot. she's sUCK a sucker for like a gimmicky bedtime tool (like those cube pillows or weighted blankets or whatever else) and she just sorta...keeps them all on her bed so she can decide what she wants in the moment.

🐈 for a pet/animal-themed headcanon

liora's favorite pet she had growing up was a guinea pig. her class had one as class pet but her teacher didn't want to take it home for the summer so they gave it to her and she just...took to it. so her parents offered the teacher a new guinea pig so she could keep that one and it worked. she loved him so gd much.

adra

🧡 for a friendship-themed headcanon

adra has a little collection of online friends that she talks about fae shit with on various sites. she doesn't have many irl friends.

😴 for a sleep-themed headcanon

because adra's sleep schedule is so messed up, when she arrives at the fairy court, they go into a sort of frenzy of "is everything we knew about humans no longer true?" but as she re-regulates herself, they're like "oh no this one is just bad at taking care of herself..."

🐈 for a pet/animal-themed headcanon

adra and safiya's father is a bird lover so they have three pet birds. all lovebirds. they're actually really sweet and good pets but adra is occasionally resentful because they are inevitably noisy when she is trying to listen to recordings or whatever.

owen

🧡 for a friendship-themed headcanon

other than dina, owen's best friend is another friend from college named will. will is a chill hang in a very low-stakes, "we don't have to talk personal stuff we can just eat pad thai" way.

😴 for a sleep-themed headcanon

owen isn't much of a napper. he will if he needs to but generally he doesn't like the feeling of waking up from a nap. if he's tired he sorta just sits and spaces out or like reads on his phone to rest emotionally.

🐈 for a pet/animal-themed headcanon

owen and dina often talk about fostering pets as like a plan they're going to execute one day but they can't agree on what pet to foster (cats? dogs? other?) and it never seems like a good time and i think the secret is that they know they shouldn't...

[mynamisfab]

A tag game of sorts! Thank you @bookwyrminspiration :)

Rules!

-Make a new post

-No reblogging

-Tag people you wanna get to know better

Favourite Colour: I don't think I have a favourite colour, a forest green is pretty good though. Or pink! Or like a turquoise

Currently reading: I am not currently reading anything for myself, aside from webtoons that km waiting for updates on (Stray souls by Maf, The Croaking by echorise, Castel Swimmer by Wendy Lian Martin, and TACIT by KimDazzi). I am, however, reading the odyssey for my classics class. Homer really liked coming up with different names for gods.

Last Song: Ghost Duet by Louise Zong

Last Movie: Uhhhhh, idk, i don't watch movies very often- I don't have the attention span- I guess it was the Odyssey (Classics again), but for myself, hmmmm probably the Matrix

Sweet, savory, or spicy: 65% sweet and 35% savory, i need a balance between the two. I physically cannot handle any spice at all, I am a weak boy :<

Three Fav Ships: Of all time? Kappa x Siren from castle swimmer, Mialek x Joen from Stray Souls, and Gaston x LeFou maybe (or Percabeth, I guess)? Man, its hard to rank ships. Tropes are easier (Enimies to lovers, idiots to lovers, big buff softie and little twink evil incarnate)

First Ship: Dude I don't know, I was a weird little child. Going back as far as my memory would allow... Maybe Kai x Skylor from ninjago??? I don't really know what this one was asking of me, there are many ways to interpret it.

Currently working on: At least two drawings that are more complicated than I usually do. One is Fintan in his firey glory, and one is an oc that I've shoved into sci-fi land because he loves the stars so why not

Comfort food: I am assuming anything to be put in someone's mouth to calm them, so I would say chocolate!

Favourite time of the year: Autumn. Very autumn. Or spring. The only times of the year when I can escape the muted greens of the land around me. And spring/summer is when the Kōwhai trees flower and the Tui rush to get the nector. (Fun fact! Kōwhai tree leaves turn into the seeds, and they're similar to fern I guess and you can pluck the tiny leaves and throw it on people like its confetti)

Favourite fanfic: I don't think I have one, but mostly anything mermaid related, My Sweetest Devil by DemonicPiano on ao3 or Time ticks on without you by XxRainbowHeartxX on ao3

Tagssss: @fintan-pyren @its-lord-fintan-to-you @dolentsnows and anyone else who wants to :)

[tenthgrove]

If you're not busy then may i please have the la squadra boys having their lives saved by s/o? Like from a hostile stand user for example

The Rescue

La Squadra x Reader (GN), Romantic, SFW

Formaggio- Honestly the fact he hasn't had more near death experiences is edging on a miracle at this point. Formaggio treats mission plans as loose suggestions at best, frequently trying things on a whim where the risk is far higher than the reward. So it's only a few weeks into your relationship that you find yourself rescuing your hapless lover, saving him from being squished by a target he just insisted on hiding using his sleeve to hide it. Formaggio is in a slight state of shock as you carry him away from the scene, repeating breathlessly how glad he is you came for him. There's no way this is going to put an end to Formaggio's reckless ways for good, but it will certainly give him food for thought.

Illuso- Illuso's stand certainly makes the art of assassination safer for him than perhaps anyone else in the team. He can escape any danger by leaping into the nearest shiny thing, and avoiding perilous stand fights is as simple as not giving the stand entry. That said, he sometimes puts a bit too much faith in the ability of his stand to save him, and behaves recklessly as a result. When you took out the second target he'd forgotten about, seconds before a bullet could be fired at his head, Illuso yelped. He had no idea the mark was so close to him. Illuso spends the car ride home blubbering frantically about how he'd sworn the man would be too confused to escape the area he'd left him in and there was no way Illuso could have predicted it. He still thanks you though, many times.

Prosciutto- This should never had happened. Prosciutto doesn't do mistakes. He's a master of his trade, an expert in dealing with every potential eventuality of a hit. He's meant to be the one saving the asses of newbies like you when it comes to dangerous missions like this one. When one of the targets figured out the ice trick and managed to last long enough against GD to almost get the jump on him, Prosciutto saw his life flash before his eyes. He'd been saved by you, his apprentice. What has his life come to? Prosciutto gives you a flustered nod in acknowledgement of your actions, before hurrying himself along with checking the targets' vital signs so you can both get out of here. He says no more on the event until after you're home and in private. He apologises for his carelessness and thanks you profusely, before gifting you the most tender kiss of your life.

Pesci- He isn't stupid, he knows the risks this occupation brings forth but that doesn't make him hate them any less. In spite of his low confidence Pesci is truly a prodigy, and mistakes are less common than you might think. That doesn't make it any less terrifying when a target manages to nick him in the chest with their knife right before Beach Boy does them in. Your panic is greater than his, dashing over to see to his injuries without a second's hesitation. It soon becomes clear the wound poses no threat to Pesci's life as long as it's given some basic care, but the fear he felt before that was known to you was real enough. Pesci hugs you very tight, words of thanks spilling from his mouth as you lie on the target's living room floor. You end up staying there so long that Prosciutto comes inside to see what the hell is holding you too up. Pesci doesn't care about the telling off, he's just thankful to you for saving him.

Melone- His job is precarious and he knows it. Seeking out the most aggressive hosts possible often goes about as well as you'd expect, and even if he survives them, it's always possible the target could track him down while he's busy training his hell-spawn to do something about them. Perhaps Melone should except the others' offers to guard him more often, but on this occasion, he was just lucky you're nearby. As Melone seizes up in terror, you run up behind the target and finish them off in one blow, leaving Melone alive to tell the tale. After a brief moment of shock, he calms down enough to give you the reward you deserve, approaching you languidly before placing a kiss on your cheek.

Ghiaccio- He never expected to be the one saved by you. In raw power alone he's the team's best warrior, the one they send when the enemy's stand is too powerful for the likes of Risotto to confidently counter. The thought he let his guard down enough to need saving by you feels him with great shame, and he goes uncharacteristically quiet after this happens. You can tell he's angered, from the brutal way he smashes the remaining targets into shards of ice. But either way he's not speaking up about it. That doesn't change when the two of you get home, but the rest of his behaviour does. With a look of almost fear on his face, he throws off the covers of your bed and pulls you into it, before curling into a ball, hugging you tight. You know in your heart, he is thankful.

Risotto- No. He should have been the one protecting you. He is your captain, your mentor and your lover. You shouldn't have to worry about saving him from some petty mistake when you have your own life to worry about. All he can think about when you finish the target off is whether you'll ever believe him again when he promises to protect you. Clearly he isn't fit for it. Deep down, Risotto knows these thoughts are unreasonable- everyone slips up on missions once in a while and even he can't expect to be perfect. But he beats himself up so much for failing like this he just can't see reason. He is very rueful on the way home. Once you are in the privacy of your room, you see to his injuries while he spills his apologies for how stupid he was. You silence him with a kiss, and he understands.

Sorbet and Gelato- The most experienced assassins on the team may be no strangers to risk, but it's for a reason. With as many years under the trade as they have they can afford to be a little reckless, with the skills to counter anything that might come their way. When one of their gambles doesn't pay off, saved from disaster only by you're intervention, they're a little embarrassed, a little shell-shocked, but very, very proud. You really have come so far in such a short time, haven't you. It warms their heart to know they've helped create something so powerful in you, and now look at you, saving their asses. Even though they're injured, they take you home and fuss over your own state first, cleaning you up and urging you to rest. Don't worry about them- they're absolutely fine. All thanks to you.

[shwazzberryswriting]

Twisted, Act 3

*Day 25*

Haechan😘🙄☺️: gd morning babe hdyf need me 2 go 2 target

Lawan: Babe I got big news

Haechan😘🙄☺️: ?

Lawan: I have to buy new bedsheets CUZ MY PERIOD CAME LAST NIGHT my sheets are ruined I spent the last 20 min scrubbing my mattress

Haechan😘🙄☺️: alot of tmi babe but does this mean i can take u out for shots wanna smoke a celebratory blunt

Lawan: 🙄 its not even 9AM yet babe

Haechan😘🙄☺️: where r u getting bedsheets

Lawan: you were saying something about Target?

Haechan😘🙄☺️: want me to come get u we can go to 119

ill help u finish cleaning

ill make u lunch

Lawan: see u in 20?

Haechan😘🙄☺️: 15

Lawan: 😘

Lawan watched Haechan in the driver’s seat of her car, his blue hoodie covering his messy brown hair. He looked at home singing along to the music as he adjusted the volume to the sound system. His confidence in parallel parking made her grateful that he offered to drive them as they were out running errands.

She needed a bit of a break. She’d woken up early to find herself looking like she was in a horror movie, her pajama shorts and blue bedsheets were ruined with large red period stains. Currently, her room stunk of all purpose cleaner and antibacterial spray. She had been nearly done with cleaning her mattress when Haechan had texted her.

“So you’re not pregnant but your bedsheets are ruined,” Haechan said, turning the car off.

“I’d rather have a crappy morning cleaning my mattress than have a baby in like, 8 months or something.”

They shuddered together before exiting the car. 119 was a tea shop that opened early on the weekends. Haechan enjoyed going to 119 for the free upgrades. A couple of his NCT frat brothers worked there, and that morning Mark was working. It was easy to talk him into giving them discounts.

“Are you going to get a milk tea or fruit slush?” he asked her as they stood in line. She rested her hands over his arms wrapped around her waist from behind. “Coffee milk tea or strawberry milk slush?”

“So you’ve been keeping track of my orders?” she said, trying to keep her eyes open as Haechan kissed her cheek.

“We spend so much time together babe, I just know what you like,” he said, resting his head against hers. “What will I order?”

“Coffee milk tea or white grape slush,” she replied. His hold on her tightened for a second.

“I think you like me more.” His voice had made her nipples hard, which caused her cheeks to grow hot.

“Haechan?” a familiar voice said from behind. Loosening his hold, Haechan turned his head over. Lawan followed, and felt her whole face turn hot. Renjun, another NCT frat brother, was arm in arm with his girlfriend, Alexandria. “Hey, Lawan.”

“I knew it,” Alexandria said with a wide grin, shaking Renjun’s arm. “Renjun, didn’t I tell you last night that I thought they were, like, hooking up?”

“You were gossiping about us?” Haechan asked. Lawan wanted him to release her. It was hitting her that she and Haechan were legitimately dating. As in, their friends would know that they’d been doing more than just watching movies in each other’s rooms. He held her firmly against him as her nerves made her feel like her knees would give way. “But yeah, I guess you can say it’s official.”

“How did you two go from bickering about homework to...this?” Alexandria asked. Her eyes were shining bright as the corners of her eyes crinkled up and her mouth widened into a big smile.

“We’ve been getting along better,” Haechan replied, giving a shrug.

“Why? Because you were hookups first?” Renjun asked. He broke out into an innocent smile as Haechan let go of Lawan, his eyes narrowing.

“Hey! What’s up, guys?” their cashier, Mark, greeted them, relieving the tension in the air. “Yo, dude, my manager stepped out for the day. Johnny came in here and piled on the free shit. You want a cookie with your order?”

“We’ll just get our drinks,” Renjun said stoically, but began stuffing a few individually wrapped cookies into his leather bag.

“Don’t mind Renjun,” Alexandria said to Lawan, resting her body against the counter. “I’m happy to see you two together, but I do want to know how this all happened.”

“Haechan bought me a pineapple daiquiri,” Lawan replied before trying to rub her tongue up against the roof of her mouth. It felt like rubbing a sponge up against a brick wall, her mouth parched. “He’s helped me a lot lately.”

Haechan handed her a sugar cookie decorated to look like a pineapple with royal icing, distracting her and Alexandria. Despite Alexandria smiling at the gesture, Lawan didn’t know how to feel. She wanted to find the gesture sweet, but she worried that Haechan was only doing so to look good in front of their friends. The idea sounded absurd, but she couldn’t stop herself from worrying that Haechan was only putting on a show.

“Um, dude, I think that’s overdoing it,” Mark said, reaching over to stop Renjun from grabbing all the treats placed on display.

“So you like Johnny more than you like us?” Haechan asked.

“What if I told you I could double the boba in your drinks?” Mark replied.

“Not Dria’s, please,” Renjun said. Haechan seized the opportunity to tease Renjun for being so caring about his girlfriend’s drinks preferences.

As Haechan and Renjun heckled Mark, Lawan thought about what she and Haechan would say to their friends about how they became a couple. They hadn’t exactly lied, but Renjun’s joke had Lawan sweating for a second, thinking that he knew their whole history.

She was able to feign a smile and banter with their friends about why they were up so early. Renjun and Alexandria were trying to beat the large crowds at a new art museum that was featuring a collection of works done by Frank Stella in the 1970s through to the 1980s. By the way Haechan nodded passively to Renjun’s excited ramble, Lawan felt relieved to know that she wasn’t the only one who didn’t know who Frank Stella was.

Alexandria invited them to join, and take advantage of their student discounts. The first weekend of the month meant the tickets were discounted by another 5% on top of the 10% student discount. After thanking Mark for the free upgrades and cookies, Haechan and Lawan declined to join. She spent the rest of her day with Haechan, but she still struggled to let go of her worries.

*Day 30*

The lunch rush had been busy and frantic, but she’d gotten a lot of large tips. There was a tech fair near the university campus, so the out-of-town visitors gave generous tips. Since she’d worked 3 days in a row, Lawan had her entire weekend off. It didn’t mean much since she was stacked with homework.

“Lawan, can you check the front locks before leaving?” Ruby asked from the back office in the kitchen. They were the last people in the restaurant, the pair to clean up and set up for the dinner shift.

“All right,” she called out as she put the strap to her purse over her shoulder. Ruby and Lawan had done the lunch rush so often, they’d come to clean up in less than 30 minutes with their routine. “See you later, Ruby!”

“Bye.”

Her eyes were shut as she sighed when she exited the kitchen to check the front door’s lock. She was going down her list of errands before heading home. HMart for rice and produce, bank to withdraw money she owed her roommates, and then home for dinner and homework. She needed to take some aspirin for her headache and sore feet.

When she opened her eyes, the last thing she wanted to see was staring her in the face. She stopped in her steps as she stood beside the back end of the restaurant’s bar. Seated at the second to last chair nearest to her was Haechan, two pineapple daiquiris in front of him. Her face turned hot as his gaze was steady, his expression did not change as he turned his body toward her direction.

“Are you trying to ghost me?” Haechan asked.

She pressed her lips together and looked down at the daiquiris. Of course, Ruby wouldn’t warn her about Haechan paying her a visit. They hadn’t talked about Haechan when Lawan said she didn’t want to, but the fact that Ruby brought up Haechan at all was telling enough that Ruby liked Haechan and Lawan dating.

Seeing him in the flesh made the guilt she’d tried ignoring come rushing forth, making her whole face hot. Pulling out the metal chair before her, she sat down beside him, and set her purse down onto the bar counter. After the day she got her period, Lawan had gotten cold feet and ignored Haechan’s texts, telling herself her schoolwork was more important.

“I need time to think,” she replied, her eyes fixed on the daiquiri sitting closest to her. The maraschino cherry was slowly sinking into the deflating whipped cream.

“You could have texted me that,” he replied, his tone remaining level. “I would have understood.”

“Right, because you’re the perfect boyfriend,” she said with a scoff. Guilt clouded her vision immediately and she shut her eyes before looking up into Haechan’s face.

“I don’t have to chase you, Lawan,” he replied, his expression unmoved. “If you don’t want to date me, that’s fine. Just don’t be an asshole about rejecting me.”

“Haechan,” she said, feeling her throat tighten. She blinked away the tears that threatened to come. “I’m sorry. I like you, I’m just...feeling insecure. You deserve better.”

“What’s up?” he asked, turning his body toward her, touching his knee to hers. His eyebrows furrowed slightly.

“That morning we ran into Alexandria and Renjun, I just,” she paused as she looked away. She felt ashamed to think about the judgment her mom received for being a young mother. The world felt more modern than old patriarchal standards of her grandparents’ age (hell, even her mom’s), but the threat of potentially being knocked up while in college scared the shit out of Lawan. “I don’t want people to think you and I were stupid that day we hooked up. It all came from such a cynical place.”

“You think our relationship is cynical?” he asked, his eyebrows raised. He grabbed one of the daiquiris and took a drink from the red straw.

“You really wanted to date me after we hooked up?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “Like, you really think we would have begun dating had the condom not broken?”

“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “Life didn’t work out that way. Maybe I was feeling horny and you were too, and that was supposed to be it between us, but like, come on. I know my concerns for you weren’t cynical, especially last week. Is that how you see our relationship? You only dated me because you don’t want people to judge you for being a horny idiot? Condoms break all the time.”

“Haechan,” she said with a laugh, furrowing her eyebrows as she sat up straight. She looked around despite knowing that they were alone. Reaching out to touch his wrist, she apologized as she saw him frown, his jaws tightening. “I like you. I like you so much. Every night I’ve been going to bed, crying, thinking about you, knowing I can’t just stop talking to you. I haven’t been fair to you, I’m sorry. It’s not you that is the problem, it’s me remembering how tough it was to grow up seeing my mom struggle a lot. All that hard work she put into raising me, and I could have been in a similar situation.”

“I would never walk out on you,” Haechan said, leaning closer to her.

“It’s not about you,” she replied. “It’s about me. It’s about how scared I was. I just...I needed time to sort through my feelings. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want to worry you.”

“So you shut me out?”

“I’m sorry,” she said, standing up. He had a point. It was a shitty move not to consider his feelings. “I really am. I’ll need to communicate with you more. I want you to be my boyfriend, Haechan. I want to be your girlfriend. Will you forgive me?”

He sighed and shut his eyes. A few tears rolled down his cheeks and it was her turn to sigh. Whenever he scrunched his eyes shut and opened his mouth into a wide grimace she knew they were crocodile tears. Instead of calling him out, she kissed his tears away and combed her fingers through his hair. She planted two kisses onto each of his beauty marks, one near his eye and the other on his cheek.

“I’m so sorry, babe,” she said softly, pulling him into a hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

His arms wrapped around her waist and he lifted his head to plant a kiss onto her neck.

“Let’s go home,” he said, standing up with her. He draped his arm over her shoulder.

As they began on their walk to the NCT frat house, Lawan pressed herself closer to Haechan. His body was warm, and his hold was comforting.

“Are you always this forgiving?” she asked. She’d expected him to do a little more guilt tripping. Perhaps go on a scripted monologue about how she iced him out with her cold heart.

“No,” he replied, looking down at her for a second, “but I did make a promise to you at Costco, do you remember?”

“You did?”

“If I was your boyfriend,” he said plainly, “I’d never let you go.” They were just a few steps away from the driveway to the frat house.

“Don’t finish that,” she said. They’d stopped walking. Despite herself, a smile was growing on her lips, hurting her cheeks. “You’re my boyfriend. You don’t need to-”

“Keep you on my arm, girl-”

“Stop. I don’t like this Bieber song.”

“You'd never be alone.”

“Donghyuck, I mean it.”

“And I can be a gentleman, anything you want.”

“Haechan.”

“If I was your boyfr-”

She shut him up by grabbing his face and kissing him.

---

Thank you for reading! 💚

[scary-monsters]

did not sleep well At All last night .. so much is happening in my silly little brain and i’m having such a hard time dealing with it; i haven’t struggled like this in such a long time. i know it’s the bipolar acting up but it still doesn’t change just how exhausting it is :((((

by “did not sleep well” i mean i got maybe 2 hours.. now i’m wide awake in a fit of anxiety bc i’m stressed about money. haven’t stressed about that in a long time but my manic-induced purchases are catching up with me. living paycheck-to-paycheck fuckin sucks

i stupidly agreed to hang out with a coworker yesterday (on one of my two days off, i normally reserve one of them for being alone and not speaking to anyone) after he called and woke me up from one of the deepest sleeps i’ve had in a long time. i should have ignored it and gone back to sleep but i felt guilty bc he thinks i’ve been ignoring him which isn’t necessarily the case, it’s just that when people get overbearing with me i immediately run away. i’m an introvert, he is not, so i guess he doesn’t get it. but i hung out with him knowing full well that i’d be spending today (my second day off) with my mom, who often drains my battery especially fast bc we don’t have the best relationship. 

after today i work nine days in a row and i’m exhausted just thinking about it, i have to close every night, but unfortunately closing, these days, means staying there for as long as it takes the closing manager to finish up what she needs to do. i’m supposed to leave at 11:30 at night, but often i’m there until midnight (which doesn’t sound that bad, but it really just drains me so fast when i know i could be at home relaxing)

they still haven’t approved my vacation.. my paid time off that, if i don’t have approved, would mean i couldn’t go on vacation. i’d be losing too much money. and the idea of not having a much-needed break from everything is like. driving me insane. i need to be away from all of this, for just a week, that’s all i ask.

i’m sort of spiraling back into existential dread again, i don’t know where i’m going, i don’t know what i’m doing, i don’t know what i want to do with my life.. i’m terrified that i’ll be stuck in retail forever. it’s just eating away at me so badly, i rarely feel joy for life most of the time, unless i’m indulging in hobbies (which i often can’t due to lack of energy; i also recognize that that’s partly due to the depressive phase i’m in)

idk man i’m just so tired of living like this and feeling like i have no other options. and it sucks bc when i talked abt opening commissions i had so many people say “oh nice! i’ll definitely want one” and now that i actually did it i’ve gotten None :’) i’m not saying i expect to get them, but it sure would be nice to feel like i had a shot at doing this art thing as at least a side-gig. it’s what i love to do and most of the time i feel like it’s not something i’m capable of excelling in. i just wish so badly that i wasn’t so tired all the gd time.. i’d be unstoppable if i could just find a job that didn’t completely suck me dry lmao

[causticsunshine]

i was tagged by both the lovely @dyingstars-x and @harrymegirlfriend to answer twenty questions about myself! this was a lot more candid than i anticipated but here we go~

💗what do you prefer to be called name-wise?

alex!

💗when is your birthday?

july 21st! cancer season baybee

💗where do you live?

in the US! i've been in the pacific northwest for about eight years but i'm definitely still a californian at heart

💗three things you’re doing right now?

1. jobhunting 2. trying to open my online shop 3. attempting™️ to finish deadline stuff and this HSLOT drawing i've been working on since saturday 🤞🤞

💗four fandoms that have piqued your interest right now?

i go through little phases where i have my one big primary interest—one dee since returning to it last summer—that sticks around for awhile and then some smaller, less involved ones that tend to come and go, so i'd say right now the only other 'fandom' i'm kinda in is for MDZ/the untamed/cql, even though i'm a very late member to the party!

💗how is the pandemic treating you?

okay i guess? i'd really like to be moved out already as being in therapy and gaining confidence since my big mental breakdown last fall—accompanied with quitting my job of nearly four years that didn't get me anywhere in life—i've realized how many unhealthy behaviors and mindsets are perpetuated in my household and how they're....really not good for me at all. but i also know i can't get to the place i'd like to be mentally and emotionally without moving out, i also can't move out until i find a 9-5 with bennies with all my health problems + me losing my insurance in the new year so it's been....a time.

buuuut besides the soul crushing terror of being an adult living at home with people who don't understand you, i'm confident now and a lot of my mindsets have changed to healthier ones and i've regained my love of art and being creative?

💗song you can’t stop listening to right now?

it's a combination of 'i wish i never met you' by loote, 'crowd' by sophie cates, and...... 'stay' by the kid laroi + justin bieber (although i think that one's just an earworm i need to work out lmao)

💗recommend a movie

i just got to rewatch 'cowboy bebop: the movie' and it's sooo fun....(spoilers) i know the ending of the anime is supposed to be purposefully open as it just covers a section of time in the characters' lives where they're all together but i kinda wish i'd watched the movie after as opposed to when it takes place because it's a little bit...of a nicer (and much clearer) wrap up!

💗how old are you?

twenty five 🧓

💗school, university, occupation, other?

currently jobhunting for a Boring grown up job just for some regularity and insurance (and $$ to get my ass OUT) but i want to take on freelance commission work again too! i dropped out of uni in like 2018 because the school i was going to kept fucking me over with credits just to get my associate's but maybe i'll go back one day.....maybe.....

💗do you prefer hot or cold?

HOT only because it's so gd cold and wet where i live now and even when the summers are warm they're super short and don't compensate for the months i spend not moving out of arthritis pain and freezing my ass off

💗name one fact others may not know about you.

i always come up with fun ones when i don't have any reason to share them lmao but i guess.....staying on-brand with 1d stuff, and i might've said this before, but louis gave me my first bout of gender envy that i recognized as actual gender envy when i was like, fifteen? and as i was coming out of my obvious emo phase into one more subdued, i totally dressed like twink louis for almost a year....haircut and everything....

if i can find the one photo i'm thinking of i'll post it but until then use your imagination sjkgdf

💗are you shy?

i can be? i think once i vibe with someone enough it becomes easy to talk to and open up to them but before that i can be pretty closed off and a bit impersonal.

💗do you have any preferred pronouns?

they/them!

💗any pet peeves?

i'm one of those 'people talking or random noise being made near me while i'm trying to concentrate on something fuels my murder response out of nowhere' people but otherwise...outside of common courtesy/manners stuff being ignore, i don't think so? although i genuinely hate when people walk right behind me or right in front of me...shit makes me anxious and ticks me off dfjkngdf i got shit to do!!

💗what’s your favourite “dere” type?

am i boring if i say tsundere just because it's relatable? although dorodere is kinda fun in the right setting....i love a good character twist!

💗rate your life 1-10. 1 being really crappy and 10 being the best you could ever be.

i'd say a 5? there's a lot more i want to do and achieve and things i know i could have right now if my ADHD and anxiety didn't still have such a death grip on me but i'm also in the best headspace i've been in in years so i'll take that as a win!

💗what’s your main blog?

this one!

💗list your side blogs and what they’re used for.

swmpwxtch is my art-only blog because i'm slow at finishing things and know there's no point trying to make this an 'art blog' when i reblog so much, and then prickelndauge is my insp blog (so if you're wondering why there's a startling lack of fashion and art on this blog, it's mostly over there!), then i have one for creepy/spooky stuff (bonepickng) because i know not a lot of people want to see that on main, aaaaand am-ref a ref blog for art tips, life things, donation pools, etc.! (and some old urls i have saved)

💗is there anything you think people need to know about you before becoming friends with you?

at the risk of sounding like a YA protagonist: my heart is full of love and i try to be as understanding and open as i can be but i also have a very short bullshit fuse, so while i'm still happily understanding of certain behaviors and mindsets, if you cross the line that i put very bluntly in the sand, you're not crossing back over.

(ie i love my friends but don't be a dick and if you are you get one warning and that's all <3)

uhhh i know a lot of people got tagged already and have done this so! i'll be tagging @grimmpitch @hershelsue @niallnailme @dragmedown @ialwaysknewyouwerepunk @justmehernthemoon @non-binharry @genius0flove @mamaharry @theymetinthetoihlet @saintqueer and uhhh anyone else that would like to!! and if you've done this already please ignore me~

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Comic buff with a thought, I notice the P5MM art and composition is more striking and closer to p5's art and style than the other manga, which is fine, but kinda... flat. (I find myself thinking there's something missing when I read it, then I look back at P5MM and I notice how there's more clever paneling, imagery, and stylistic choices akin to the games in it (like that one goro panel ya had a rant about) and I realize what's missing) That could be why P5MM is brought up more, just a guess. I dunno how you feel about all that though, I'm curious.

Under the cut cause it gets long cause of pictures:

I am very big on art style and visual presentation. I do actually judge a book by it's cover (manga, game, movie, show, yadda). If I find something pleasing to my eye I'll read it.....even if the contents are trash. Domestic Girlfriend is one, horrible manga (didn't finish, was holding out for Momo, aka best girl, and getting closure for her....then I bounced). Didn't watch the anime (didn't need to I was way ahead in the manga I think), but I know that opening is wasted on it. ldskfjaf Don't invest your time into it, it's not worth it, you would probably learn better morals from P5.......probably. But yeah I found the art style pleasing enough to try it out (I's not amazing by any means, but I like looking at it....or did.....that writing man....dat was bad ;w;).... *waves hands vaguely in air* yeah.

Fun fact, it's why I got into Persona. I happened across an ad for P4 on the PS2 in the Gameinformer magazine, it showed a screenshot from an animated cutscene plus one of the fully body art for the chars and I was like "Yes this is my jam!" (which only doubled down when I read what it was about, and it was a murder mystery and the article also talked up "the mystery of the glasses" which fakldjsalkfs yeah). So yeah it really clicked for me.

Tbh it's why I'm probably going to get back into freaking Bleach, and it's why I got into it and Naruto over One Piece (I don't think I'll ever read ON I'm sorry). Tite Kubo has sexy art what can I say? Can't trust a thing that man writes now but eh. It's also the reason I read a lot of Shojo (and now Yuri) manga, cause their art style is usually what I find very appealing (even if I've read the same gd shojo love story just by a different name for the 1000th time, give me the flowers and sparkly eyes! they are my life blood!)

And I've mentioned I really like Saito's art style. I've (attempted) to color some of his pieces on top of animate some manga frames (most of which I haven't actually published......I...I should....get around to finishing those up....haha...aha....haaaa). I really like his art, it's pleasant. But even with good art, I can still see past it and see what BS it's peddling and it can hamper my enjoyment of it. If I don't look at the context of the scene or the words on the page, I can be down with it. But when I'm reading.......I get annoyed. I balk at anything with Goro. I guffaw whenever Makoto's on screen (cause Saito nails her from P5, she acts useful but really she's useless but the narrative views her as useful it ironically makes her useless......it's the weirdest thing I've ever witnessed >.>). Like Saito really.....gets P5 it seems, down to it's flaws even (tho he can actually make the good parts of P5 shine, or at least parts that P5 failed to execute....execute in a way). But he also makes the flaws.....shine that much harder for me.

Now the Reg manga? it's nothing special art style wise, in fact it starts off VERY wonky, and while still wonky, has gotten a lot....better/cuter (esp Ryu). Not like shojo cute just.......I wanna squish their wittle faces cute (at times when it's not serious).

Like when it comes to Reg Manga these are the two pieces that have appeared in it that I feel kinda hit the P5 mark in terms of style:

(look at Mona, coming into this world like the pustule that he is 8U)

Which isn't much, but it's something. At least Reg's AOA is better looking than the anime. 8U

But I dunno, as the chapters go on, the Mangaka allows for more cuter expressions, and I just like their neat:

(btw I colored that page)

I dunno, it's not as overtly cutsey as Saito:

But they are still charming in a more simple way (without out having them go full chibi), it subtle but it gives it flavor. "Silly why are most, if not all those pics of Ryu and Anne?" I dunno guys maybe you should ask them how their backs are doing, cause they're the ones who are carrying the Reg manga when it comes to this! 8U

Tho I do think the first ch or two of Reg does a better job capturing P5's feel than the rest of the chapters, I think the mangaka is just.....bogged down by exposition and the game's BS that a lot of text on their pages so it almost reads like a novel:

ALots of text, not the most dynamic of framing with the panels. It's kinda eh. I haven't really read the manga past the 2nd dungeon tbh (I mean......as the residential #1 Makoto hater, I think that's fair.....that I'd start to zone out during my least fav dungeon....and then continue zoning out during my 2nd least fav dungeon askfdjaflk)

But during the first two dungeon arcs, I liked how.....bad the PT were at thieving, I liked how green they were. It was obviously a learning process. I also like some of the fight choreo (Saito did the best hand to hand one in the series in P4U's Yu vs Sho....which I actually animated....spoiler.....no I have no released that...my dumbass wants to tempt fate and see if I can redo it in color even tho it took me 4 days non stop to get that animated in just black and white.....but I am a fool so alas 8U). I mean it's not mind blowing, but it was simple and decently thought out, which is more than I feel like we usually get (esp with the anime shows....or at least P4/5's).

But I think what draws me in is....it's lack of P5 style. P5 style has them being still oh so cool despite being new at everything. It's tired me out. P5's how identity is style. It's....style over substance (gonna rile some feathers with that....Cvit(?) vid title). But P5 is overtly stylish, to the point it......weighs on me. Drags me down. Tires me out. I don't think they're cool, I'm bored with it. Ironically, Reg manga lacks that, which......def would make someone (and me usually) give it much of a passing glance. It's very basic I guess. But.....consider me, being in P5 hell, surrounded by all it's nausea inducing stylishness, sees a small break in the hellish hurricane to see.......normalcy. It kinda makes me connect better with the kids (kinda, it's still P5).

They feel like normal kids, trying to do their thing (sometimes trying to look/act cool and failing), and.....it's just the absolute antitheses to P5's brand......and I think that's why I like it. KLFJDSAFLKJA;

Anyway, who knows, maybe when I catch up on Reg in english and re-read MM with the official translation I might change my mind about a few things, or at least how I rank them. But for post length sake, and my sanity sake, I think I should keep the anime and mangas out of the "Which entry do you hate least" post......because I should just make another post where I go into both mangas as well as compare and contrast the anime! :D I'm just delaying some insanity for later haha....

Wait.........I just remember Day Breakers exists......and I liked it....still do....don't have much issue with it. Well shit, that is probably the one entry I hate the least. fklsdjfalkjdfkla;jsL;FJljsfdlskafaj *sobs* nO NO, I committed, and that's just a sad loophole. fdklsajflakfj *sobs* I still need to the game thing, cause let's be honest, the games are where it counts.

So right now my ranking for manga/anime is:

Daybreakers>Reg manga> MM>>>>>>>>>>TV Show Anime and it's OVAs (may the burn in the hell fire from which they spawned)

Oh, one last thing, forgot to put it in but I dunno where to put it now. I like how the manga tones down the pervyness some:

I mean Ryu is a fellow monkey. u_u .......but it's for the best I don't have to see his ape expression. ;w; (iirc the pyramid scene was a lot shorter/faster, but that's by the grace of reading and books rather than animation I suppose).

[apenapaperandadoofus]

Hi! Can i request the RFA + V and Saeran with mc who can’t cook like she can’t even turn on the stove but she tried to cook for them as a way to cheer them up?? How do you think they’ll react to it? Thanks, have a good day 😁

Sure! And honestly that’s the perfect way to describe me lmao I can’t cook shit (ALSO EVERYTHING GOT DELETED SO I HAD TO WRITE IT AGAIN GD TUMBLRRRR!)

RFA+V and Saeran with an MC who can’t cook:

Zen:

He was a bit depressed since he was having a hard time with his role

Rehearsal was beginning in a few days and Zen still couldn’t get a feel of the character

So he was pretty sad

And you decided to try to cheer him up!

By cooking!

You asked Jaehee about his favorite food

Lamb kebab!

You waited until Zen went out for his jog and started working!

You put on a cute aprond and started working!

Everything was going well

Lmao who are we kidding everything was a disaster

First of all, you made the rice way to soggy so that sucks

And then while you were trying to grill the rest of the food it got burnt

And it set off your fire alarm

Which made everyone in the apartment fire because they thought there was a freaking fire

They called the fireman and everything

Until you explained that it was just the smell of your burnt cooking and that everything was fine

After everyone else calmed down and went back to their apartments, you saw Zen running towards you and giving you a tight hug

He had seen the fire truck go all the way to your place and he panicked

But you mumbled that it was because you burnt some food and set off the fire alarm

He laughed because he found it so cute, but when he saw your pouty face he grabbed your hand and guided you towards your home

He did try eating your food but it was burnt so you decided to just go an eat some fish shaped bread!

“Babe~ Thanks for trying to cheer me up! I love you~”

Yoosung:

You guys always ordered fast food because the two of you didn’t know how to cook lmao

Recently you saw Yoosung was pretty stressed, since finals were coming up and he was studying like crazy

That may have been because you promised no kisses unless he got some good grades

So he was working hard! But you didn’t want him to over do it

You decided to cook his favorite food!

You woke up early, while Yoosung was still making up for his loss of sleep due to the all nighters he was pulling

You diced to make him some omurice!

You turned on the stove and started cooking

I mean it was going fine until you had to cut the chicken and the onions!

First of all, you were paranoid while cutting the chicken because you didn’t want to cut yourself

But then you finished! And so the crisis was adverted!

Then you proceeded to cut the onion!

But while you were cutting it you started crying a bit

And you didn’t see where you were cutting and accidentally cut your finger

Just at that moment Yoosung was yawning and saying a lazy mornin’ while making his way to the kitchen

But he stopped when he saw you

You were bleeding a bit and your face was filled with tears

He immediately panicked and started shouting asking you what had happened

You tried to explain but he would let you talk

So you cupped his face and made him look at you

“Yoosung, I’m fine! I was trying to cook for you but while I was cutting the onion I started crying and accidentally cut myself. But it doesn’t hurt!”

Yoosung was immediately relieved and when you told him you were cooking for him he was so moved

He will eat everything you made for him, and later he will even try to return the favor!

Jaehee:

She was a bit stressed with the cafe, since she was having a bit of trouble getting the hang of everything that she had to do

So you decided to make her some lunch for work the next day!

You left the cafe early and went home to make Jaehee a cute chicken bento box!

Whenever you cooked you did it with Jaehee since she was the expert, but right now you wanted to surprise her!

You were doing a good job! You peeled the apples to have the forms of bunnies, put the rice on one side and the chicken teriyaki on another side!

Then you wrapped it up so you could give it to her the next day!

When you gave it to Jaehee she was so happy! And she even diced to feed you a bit

But then you tasted it and you wanted to barf

You had put wayyyy too much soy sauce!!!

“Jaehee! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

Jaehee only shook her head and smiled at you

“Y/N, whatever you make is delicious, and I will gladly eat it no matter what.”

Beautiful please marry this woman 🥺

Jumin:

He was pretty busy with work

And didn’t get to spend much time with you :(

So you decided to make a romantic dinner for him!

You told the chef to take a day off and started working before Jumin came home

Yea but it didn’t work

He had a really weird stove

How?

How does that work?

Someone help me please?

You spent sooooo long trying to get the damn stove to turn on

You even started crying a bit

Jumin came home and he saw you sitting on the couch, holding your knees, with your head hung low

Elizabeth was beside you, purring and trying to get your attention

“Love? Is everything alright?”

He quickly made his way over to you, and sat beside you, rubbing you back

“J-Jumin” you sobbed “I-I tried cooking for y-you but the-the freaking stove didn’t want t-to turn on! And-and I really w-wanted you to e-eat my food b-but the stupid stove didn’t want to work!”

Jumin was relieved, since he actually thought he’d done something wrong, but then he chuckled and hugged you

“Love thank you. I’m sure your food would’ve been delicious, but you don’t need to worry about me. Just sleeping in the same bed as you cheers me up every morning.”

He kissed your forehead and after you calmed down Jumin showed you how his stove worked, although he never really used it

And you both cooked together!

Saeyoung:

Saeyoung was having a gloomy day D:

He was isolating himself in his office, and nothing you or Saeran did could bring him out

So you decided to cook for him!

Saeyoung honestly liked everything, so you decided to make some ramen!

Saeran did ask if you needed some help, but you told him that you wanted to do it yourself!

And so you started cooking, putting on your favorite songs and dancing around

While you were placing the ingredients in the pot you were dancing to one of your favorite songs

And you accidentally knocked it over with your elbow

You screamed as the pot burnt a bit of hand and your feet

Saeyoung ran to the kitchen, Saeran following close behind

“Y/N! Are you alright?!”

You bit your lip and cried and explained that you had knocked the ramen pot while you were dancing

“What? Ramen pot? Why the hell were you making ramen?” He asked while he checked your foot and hand

“I-I saw you were feeling a bit down so I wanted to cook for you and try to...sniff...cheer you up!”

Saeyoung looked at you surprised and sighed

“Y/N...you didn’t have to do this for me...”

You told him that you really wanted to, and he hugged you and kissed where you had gotten brunt

Saeyoung carried you to the kitchen and with Saeran they cleaned up the kitchen and made some food for you!

That night Saeyoung will hold you tight and whisper so many thank-you’s

V:

V was feeling a bit down since he had a bit of art block

So to cheer him up you decided to cook some pain de campagne which was one of his favorite food!

You wanted to make the bread from scratch, so you were working hard!

Finally you put the bread in the oven and went over to the living room to talk to some of the RFA members

Well you forgot that the bread was there

Later when V went to the kitchen to drink some water he smelled something burning

And he discovered the bread!

“Umm, love? Y/N, can you come here for a second?”

You quickly made your way to the kitchen and gasped as you remembered

You had made bread for him!!!!

And you forgot to take them out of the oven!

You became red in the face and started apologizing while explaining to V that you wanted to try and cheer him up

He chuckled and held your hands

“Thank you Y/N...that was so sweet of you.”

He will definitely feel better!

And later you will both cook some bread together!

Saeran:

Even though Saeran had gotten out of mint eye, he still had his ups and downs

One day he wasn’t feeling good, so he stayed in bed all day

To cheer him up you decided to bake some cookies for him!

Saeran was always making things for you and you wanted to repay him!

So you started getting everything ready

While you were making the cookies the whole kitchen was a mess

I mean you accidentally opened the flour and made it go all over your face

And then you put a bit too much sugar

When you started mixing you may have gotten the whole place dirty lmao

Then you put them in the oven and waited paintently!

Whenever Saeran has nightmares you had stayed up with him at night

So you were a bit tired

Nd you didn’t notice that you started dozing off for a bit

Until you remembered the cookies! And you got them out of the oven

They were a bit burnt :(

Saeran had finally woken up and was going to cook some lunch

But he saw you there with the cookies and he smiled

“Princess? What are you doing?”

You explained that you had made some cookies for him and Saeran looked as if he was about to cry

I mean you were both literally about to cry, Saeran because he was so moved and you because you had burnt the cookies a bit

Saeran kissed you and gently cupped your cheek in one of his hands

“Thank you. No one has ever cooked for me like this and...thank you. I love you, Y/N”

Then he takes a bite of the cookie and you laugh at the funny face he just made

He will definitely eat the cookies since you made them for him!

But next time he’ll help you lol

[sindrafalcone]

I think I’m close to biasing BOTH men, they both fill different parts of my needs lmao. I feel like Tabi’s more like of what I like, and GDs more what I am, I think. I too am a little chaotic in the way I dress and have times where I /need/ a party haha. But other times I’m in need of a stay-at-home time with some wine lol.

In other news, I’m not a fan of gd’s friends either. I just think our personalities match well. My confusion might’ve been slightly influenced by him being my highest (celebrity) astrological compatibility person lollol. But with Tabi I’m also over 100%, GD is higher tho (not sure how or why they’re both over the supposed limit lol). Idk, GDs such a cutie, but so is Tabi. ㅠㅠ that’s it. I’m biasing both..!

Brave of you, #1. Very brave. lol But totally understandable! Maybe, as a gift for you, I can finally finish my “Double Combo fic (TOPxGDxReader) That I’ve been working on forever. :D

If I look at this astrologically. As a Sagittarius I’m not at all compatible with  Leo GD. But I’m totally compatible with Scorpio Tabi! My best friend was a Scorpio and so is my son! I get along great with them. hahaha As for partying, I’m more of the fancy clothes and theatre/jazz orchestra/art gallery sort of person. I don’t really do clubs and all that. We don’t really have any around here & I’m just old I guess. :p