#I think we just ended up putting favorite characters on this board as well as birds XD

[littleleeeloo]

So @kaenith, @othervio, and I made an OC! Xavier is our wonderful villain of OSHA violations :) with his cone companions! We hope you enjoy him!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Actually could we put some light on the class difference clash epel is experiencing in school. The situations looks a little weird to me. Cuz in epel's robes vignette it starts with the other pomefiore students asking him about carpet brand preference and he has no idea what to answer. They end up having a misunderstanding that never clears up. Epel proceeds to make a table manner mistake which Rook helps cover up with a lie so epel won't be embarassed (rook can probably sympatise) while vil is more strict. It is in this vignette we see that instance of vil first making epel lie about his favorite food for unclear, debated reasons.

In Epel's labwear vignette we hear some of the NPC students whisper about him and they seem to be asuming he must also be from some rich family due to the clothes he wears (which vil gave to him and makes him wear) and maybe also because he's in pomefiore. I know that it's just like vil to give people clothes he thinks will fit them best,and some of it might be so epel blends in pomefiore better, but could Epel actually be more likely to get picked on if he was perceived as from a lower class? NRC is a prestigious boarding school but it's not like he's the only character with more...average circumstances. Compared to the literal royalty and celebrity attending.

[Referencing this post!]

Mmm... I mean, aren't the mobs (in the Labwear vignettes) already bullying Epel because they perceive him to be of high social status? I don't think it would make a difference if they knew he was of a low social status since the mobs were already bullying him (again, under the impression that he's rich) to begin with. What I'm saying is that bullying would have occurred regardless of Epel's socioeconomic status. It's not necessarily nice, but it seems to be the norm for NRC students to verbally bash one another.

I don't really recall other major or frequent instances of middle class (Trey, Jack, Ace) or low-income students (Ruggie, Deuce) in the main cast being bullied. In fact, Trey and Ruggie are pretty well-liked and respected within their own dorms despite not being as wealthy as the majority of their peers are. (In this post, I go over how roughly 75% of the main cast come from at least upper middle-class backgrounds.) The bullying seems to be centered mainly on Epel, and I think that's probably because his peers perceive him as being small and cute--and therefore delicate, meek, and easy to push around. Epel just seems like the ideal target from a quick glance. Notice how B-kun comments on Epel’s face first:

I think it's also worth noting which dorms the bullies in Epel's Labwear vignettes come from: B and C are from Savanaclaw, and A is from Pomefiore. Savanaclaw mobs are notoriously belligerent and are usually the go-to mobs to pick fights with their peers for what are very minor things. The Pomefiore mob bully seems to be an outlier; most other Pomefiore mobs, at least as depicted in Epel's Ceremonial Robes vignettes, are polite and refrain from this type of behavior.

Importantly, (Savanaclaw) C is the one that calls Epel a “little rich brat” and (Pomefiore) A says Epel is “daddy’s fancy little lad”. This wording makes both sound resentful of the rich, thinking them spoiled—so it makes me think maybe A, B, and C are actually not rich themselves and are the less privileged picking on someone they think is wealthy but unable to stand up for themselves.

Now, within Pomefiore itself, it does appear that many of its students are upper class or at least sticklers for appearances. Their knowledge of brands and aesthetics itself is not damning evidence (anyone of any class could know this too; there’s also lots of non-rich people who obsess over brands). However, the fact that all of Epel’s first year peers already seemed familiar with how to handle a full set of cutlery at a formal meal does indicate high socioeconomic status, as the common man would not know how the heck a salad dork differs from the fish fork. (Most people use 1 fork or 1 spoon for the entire meal, and forget about having courses.) Buuut we shouldn’t assume that this one vignette is representative of all Pomefiore students, just as we cannot assume the one mean Pome A is a good example of all Pomefiore students, since there are limitations with the game. (Another famous game limitation is all Savanaclaw mobs being beastmen and every other dorm having zero beastmen mobs; in the manga, we see humans in Savanaclaw and beastmen in Heartslabyul. Riddle also verbally confirms that Heartslabyul has a cat beastman in the second Beans Day event.)

I think there’s definitely intersectionality at play as well. There’s something to be said for a culture clash in addition to a clash of classes. Epel is the only one in the main cast from a decidedly rural area where there isn’t much to do (ie no brand name shops) and everyone is close and casual with one another (ie there is little in the way of formalities). This likely contributes to the disconnect between Epel and his Pomefiore peers.

Now, where is this all leading to? Am I claiming that bullying based on socioeconomic status doesn't happen at NRC? Of course not! I have no doubt that it happens, but I don't think it's specifically the rich-on-poor type. In Epel's case, it seems to be the poor-on-(perceived to be) rich kind, but the opposite also occurs (in book 1, Riddle insults Yuu's pitiful education, something which is typically associated with the lower class; magic and magic education in particular is associated with the upper class). And, of course, we have the middle ground of people of similar socioeconomic status going at each other (for example, Leona and Malleus's rivalry). What's sort of sad is that the environment at NRC is conducive to animosity and no adults ever intervening because: 1) the students are so prideful, who would actually have the guts to tell an authority figure they were being picked on? and 2) the students tend to try and retaliate or get into fights instead, which only escalates the situation.

At NRC, I get the impression that class is one thing you could get bullied for, but that power and/or connections are much more important factors. Let's revisit Ruggie, who is the most impoverished of the main cast. If we assume that the less well-off students are predominantly the ones who get picked on, then shouldn't we have many examples of Ruggie being bullied? But he isn't. In fact, the big, burly Savanaclaw mobs (who are known to be combative) seem to defer to him instead of bullying him. Leona even leaves Savanaclaw in Ruggie's care while he is away in book 6, fully expecting that the mobs will listen to Ruggie. Why? Well, Ruggie is not physically or magically strong, but he has Leona's backing. It's through this association with the powerful Leona that Ruggie gains the respect and the following of the others in his dorm. This is something we consistently see in other characters, including Epel's own dorm leader. Because Vil beats him in combat, Epel agrees to listen to what he says even if Epel dislikes it. We see mob students bend the knee to the main cast once they've gotten glimpses into their power or abilities (Leona versus the Savanaclaw mobs, Idia versus the Ignihyde mobs, each in their respective Dorm Uniform vignettes).

Circling back around to the concept of Epel being bullied! Would the Pomefiore mobs turn on him if they realize he's actually not wealthy? Maybe...? We don't really know enough about the individual personalities of the mobs to judge for ourselves. If they did bully Epel for that though... I feel like those mobs would be in for an ass whooping from Vil (and Rook) for being so petty, vindictive, and disregarding decorum. Vil can rub people the wrong way with his demanding and stern attitude (I'm one of those people sometimes), but he wouldn't stand for such "ugly" behavior. It sullies the good name of the Fairest Queen and the dorm made in her image that he oversees. Those are my thoughts on the topic! I apologize if I ended up straying a little from the initial ask (I felt like I wasn't even truly talking about Epel for half this post ashdbsadlbayw).

[jovial-thunder]

More IRL Lego Lancer!

We played the Tomb of Delios one-shot by Katherine Stark. Some NPC comp / sitrep spoilers ahead.

I used the backs of old trivial pursuit boards for grids, egg cartons, poster tubes, and a big Roomba box + insert for terrain.

I coated the cardboard with this flour and glue paste recipe I found on youtube.

I found a bunch of cheap-ish large lego octogons and walls online for the modular buildings, then greebled them with misc urban details I collected from my local bricks & minifigs bulk by-volume bins.

Our PCs were a Swallowtail artillery (callsign Bandit; an SSC plant in the union auxilliaries), Störtebeker striker (callsign Roadkill, silver-nanite kintsugi'd mechromancer), and Black Witch support (callsign Egret, disgraced princess (gotta be one of my favorite genders)).

The elite cataphract ended up playing trapdoor spider for most of the game; hiding in a magical healing forest (thank u support o7) and grappling PCs back into the forest with it.

Its scariest turn was popping out, structuring the Bandit and destroying his siege stabilizers, and lassoing it back into the forest. Egret came to the rescue and finally did the cataphract in with perimeter command plate/impact lance/crit thrown tactical knife overwatch combo.

The Swallowtail never took any voluntary movement after deploying its siege stab round 1, but between rainmaker knockback, the aforementioned trapdoor spider incident, and allied ferrous lashes, and a few rams, it was pingponged around the map pretty significantly.

"Come out Rainmaker, I just want to talk."

The final threat to the objective was when a bastion clambered up onto the pipeline to contest them. The Störtebeker (whose mini was having trouble standing up on the pipeline) pulled an indiana jones and just shot it down.

For the pre-battle narrative section, I made two 4-step clocks out of lego and a minimap as the party visited various districts of the city. Both were totally unnecessary but I think added a lot to the IRL experience.

All in all, it was a lot of fun! Things that worked well/could be improved on:

The aforementioned mini stability. I should add more baseplates to the minis to making moving and standing them up less finicky.

As cool as the egg carton bottoms are, having flat surfaces is just better. Going to stick with the tops going forward.

The grid ground floor worked great. I should trace more grids onto the egg cartons and larger boxes. I also made a few measuring sticks out of dowels and that was super handy.

Witchdice on phones continues to work well for PC character sheets.

I made a handful of status tokens that we could put next to mechs. They were handy for consumable statuses like lock-on, but less so for memorable ones like exposed and hidden.

We needed more little indicators for misc systems like Javelin Rockets and Iceout Drone.

It was fun to be able to follow up "how do you want to do this" with "you may now destroy the mini".

[maislovebot]

Top 10 bsd characters oral scenarios: Saigiku Jouno

Here’s the Jouno chapter! This one’s one of my personal favorites I’ve made:)

Contains: afab reader, no pronouns, silly sub Jouno, reader switches between being mean and nice, mainly nice tho, 69, reader calls him ‘Sai’, kinda brat taming but not really, implied orgasm denial

You sighed at Jouno, showing visible disappointment. “You’re being awfully bratty.” Jouno moved his head toward the sound of your voice, and crossed his arms.

“Well I’m not that used to this. You’d normally be crying and begging by now.”

You shook your head, “well, you agreed to this. Any last minute thoughts?” Was he really just not the experimental type?

Jouno shook his head rather violently, “no, of course not. I’m just not used to this.”

“Don’t worry, we can go at your pace.” You comforted him.

At this moment in time, Jouno and you had decided to switch things up, typically, Jouno would be unlawfully mean to you in bed, but you were choosing to put him in his place. It honestly took a lot of convincing, but he seems strangely on board with the whole thing. Almost like he’s enjoying it more than you are.

It was honestly quite cute, seeing Jouno, the most intimidating member of the Hunting Dogs acting like some petty brat instead of a man who could honestly end anyone if he so pleased.

That still didn’t change the fact that his attitude was making things insanely difficult. He was borderline refusing everything, even though he knew he was going to be the one getting the most out of this in the end. You were originally planning on just pleasing him the entire time, but perhaps a change in pace is in order? Maybe that’ll get him to help him learn to stop being a brat.

You could tell he was nervous, you could tell he was scared to be in a vulnerable position, and you decided that above all else he should be comfortable.

“Here, Sai.” You said in a tone of voice that was much softer than before. You brought your forehead down to his, straddling him in the process.

“You can trust me. Do you think you can trust me?” You questioned, looking at him. You had noticed his hair was slightly disheveled, and you could tell his breathing was a little labored.

“Of course, this is just really new.”

“I know, and I want to help you get more comfortable. Do you have any requests? Maybe we could start out with something you’re more used to.”

Jouno nodded, and reached down to grab your hips, urging you to move yourself up.

“Ah.” You could tell what he was implying, and moved yourself up. You were already undressed from the waist down, only sitting in your shirt at this point, so you were already ready.

You chucked a little, and Jouno hummed in confusion.

“You know, I was considering doing this earlier to shut you up, but I guess you beat me to it.”

Jouno sighed playfully, and had finally pulled you up all the way, so you were now hovering above his face.

He would never confess to this, but he loved when you sat on his face more than anything, he struggled to put it into words, but he truly loved how you practically enveloped his senses, how he could taste you so miraculously, and smell your arousal just as much. It got him going. That’s why he picked this position to help him relax, he simply loved it so much. It could effortlessly get him to stop worrying.

He grabbed your thighs even tighter, his nails digging into them and brought you down to his awaiting mouth. He playfully brought his tongue out of his mouth, licking and kissing your outer lips, licking up your precum, denying any attention towards your clit. You knew what he was doing. He seemed to have forgotten that things were on your terms this time around, so you moved your hand back and gave a light slap to his inner thigh, making him wince a little.

“You should know better than that by now. Don’t forget who’s in char—ge h-here..” you were trying to sound like an enforcer, but you ended up losing your bite as Jouno finally gave a small kitten lick to your clit. It felt good. Really good. You ground into his face just a little, desperate for him to do it again, but he wouldn’t budge, and though you couldn’t see his face, knowing him, he was probably smiling with that cocky face of his. Not knowing what to do, you decided to give him something that would egg him on. You reached your hand out and teased the tip of his dick with your finger, spreading the precum that was there along his slit. He instantly bucked his hips up, crying out a little. Then, to get him to do what you wanted, you simply pulled away.

“Keep going and I’ll keep going too. Maybe I’ll even give you head.” He nodded as much as he could from under you, and licked your clit, before moving his lips around the bud and sucking on it.

You bucked your hips and attempted to regain your composure enough to speak, although it was difficult considering how wonderfully he was treating you.

“Good— ah— good job.”

Jouno kept vigorously sucking at your clit, and you decided to give him what he wanted. You jerked him off just a little bit more, moving your hand a little at a time. Still keeping him on edge. Wanting more. You were simultaneously grinding into his face, chasing your climax when he moved his fingers up to your hole and prodded at your entrance briefly before pushing two of his fingers inside, with that you jerked your hips a bit, and that was what made you decide to reward him.

You moved your face down towards his length, licking the tip before bringing your mouth around it, hollowing your cheeks. This made Jouno jump a little, and buck his hips again. You struggled to keep him in your mouth as he continued sucking on your clit, considering how badly you were trembling, but you managed.

He moved his lips and instead licked a stripe along your pussy before diving his tongue into your hole, making you jerk yourself down onto him. You ended up letting go of his cock for a split second, before remembering what you had promised and bringing yourself back down. In order to help more, you ran what you couldn’t take in your mouth with your hands, practically caressing him, which made him cry out and whine. As he kept eating you out like he was starved, you could feel a familiar warmth pooling in your lower stomach, giving a coil type of sensation.

“I—I’m clo—se..!” You tried to whine out, removing your mouth from him momentarily. Jouno hummed, implying he was close as well.

You licked along his tip just one more time, before he came undone, and trembled as a result. His cum was dripping down his own dick, with small amounts landing on your cheeks. You brought a hand up and moved it from your cheeks to your mouth, moving yourself back up, putting more weight on him again.

“You can do it.. come on..” you said, grinding yourself down on his face even more. You finally came all over his face, crying out just one last time, twitching a little. You looked up and saw Jouno bucking his hips again, and before you knew it he came yet again, and you laughed, lifting yourself off of his face.

“Did you really come again ?” Jouno moved his pointer finger over your lips as you laid down on top of him.

“ Don’t mention it. I was already sensitive, and, and..”

“ And what ?” You questioned.

Jouno shook his head.

“..and you cumming all over my face was super hot..”

You audibly laughed, and nuzzled into the crook of his neck.

“Are you ready now, Sai?” You questioned.

Jouno sighed, “I think so.”

“Well that’s not very convincing.” You teased.

“ Yes . I’m ready.”

You hopped off of him, and smiled. “Perfect!”

Jouno sat up and you straddled him.

“I think it’s pretty naughty that you came twice, yeah? So why don’t you let me tease you for a minute, till you learn your lesson?”

Jouno tensed. This was going to be a long, long night.

Wc - 1.3k

I’m not sure when the next chapter will be done, but I’m writing a minimum of 0.5k words a day so expect some Fyodor filth soon!

[autistic-danieljackson]

So here's what Stargate Atlantis: The Official Companion Season 3 has to say about Sunday:

"It's more complicated than anyone will ever know," says writer Martin Gero of why the decision was taken to kill off Carson Beckett. "It wasn't like, 'Hey, let's kill somebody!' It was for numerous, incredibly complex reasons, having to do with the show overall."

*cough* Ratings *cough*

For a long time, Gero had wanted to see the characters of Stargate: Atlantis in a situation very different from the perils they usually face. He wanted to see them during 'down time'; relaxing, enjoying each other's company and generally having a life not plagued by danger.

Martin Gero, the writer we deserve.

"For a couple of years Martin had wanted to do an episode about a day off," recalls executive producer Brad Wright, "a non-urgent mission. And I said 'Well, I love that as the backdrop...and then something incredibly dramatic happens!' Because I don't think the audience wants to watch anyone sleeping. A day off that is un-dramatic and does not have a huge event centered around it is not going to be that good."

Listen. I don't know about anyone else but I know this is mine and many fan-fic writers' dream. I want to see every bit of a characters life. I would've watched 15 episodes about the characters having lunch and playing board games and hanging out. There is literally nothing more I want to see than my favorite characters having a good time. Just say it's for the ratings, don't try and put this on the audience. Alright, enough of my interjection back to the book.

"I had been pitching this day off episode forever," says Gero. "Brad said, 'This is a dangerous place. There are no days off in Atlantis.'"

Again, bullshit but I'll hold my tongue.

Then there's a bit about how they decided to write things and film things and the different processes they went through. Then more from Martin Gero at the end:

"Usually when we show the director's cut of shows up here [in the production office], it goes through the gauntlet of people making fun of it. That's harsh, but it's an important part of the process because you need to know what doesn't work. And the more vocal your audience, the better, so that when the producers go down to do the final cut, we can try to make the episode better. That started, and then for the last three acts there was really complete silence. When the lights came up, I turned around and Brad was crying. Everyone was just very somber. It was awful that we had to do it, but Brad thinks it's the best episode of Atlantis, period."

No one made you do this!! In fact, we all would've liked very much if you hadn't done it!

After the breakdown of each episode, there's a little report on each main cast character and a blurb about the recurring cast as well as sections about the making of the show. Here's some from Carson's report:

McGillion reveals that whatever shock the audience felt when they learned of Beckett's demise, it was nothing to his own. "It was absolutely not my decision to leave the show," he says plainly, remembering how he heard the news. "We shot 'Phantoms' on location. We came back for one day to finish the episode on the stage, and one of the ADs asked me to go up to the office because [executive producer N.] John Smith wanted to talk to me. I thought, okay, maybe they saw the dailies for 'Phantoms' and they're really happy with my work. Maybe they want to say, 'You did a good job,'" he recalls. "I did not see it coming at all. We went to Brad's office and it was myself, John, Brad, and Robert. I have to have respect for what they did - they called me to the office and told me in person that they wanted to shake things up with the show and unfortunately they had to kill a character off. It had to be somebody of significance so that the fans would have a reaction to it. And my number came up. I was shocked, to be honest with you, and I was disappointed because I love working on the show and I've had some great relationships with the cast and crew."

Wanted. to. Shake. Things. Up.

For McGillion, filming Beckett's final episode after three years of working with the same cast and crew was, understandably, not easy. "It was very difficult to shoot, especially that last scene with David."

Stop I'm crying again 😭

Then it's talking for a bit about how Paul had to come back to film a bit after 'Sunday' and that the last things he filmed were for 'The Ark.'

"I forget exactly what the scene was. I was kind of blurred that day because I knew it was my last day and no one else did," the actor recalls. "I didn't want anyone else to know because I'm somewhat like Beckett, I wear my heart on my sleeve and I didn't want to get emotional. Martin [Wood] shot 'The Ark', and [he and] Alex Pappas, who is the greatest AD that we have, were going to make a little announcement: 'This is a wrap on Paul for the show.' I asked Alex not to do that, because I just couldn't deal with that at that point in time. I didn't even tell the cast. We shoot so much out of sequence that no one knows when it's someone's last day. So I left and I saw Rachel [Luttrell] and told her. David had left [so] I called him to let him know. The next night all the cast went out for dinner, so that was nice. It's tough, but I'd rather just go out quietly."

Real life Carson Beckett, I love him so much 🥺

But that's about what it says on the episode. I know people have been saying this forever but I like to get it from the source as well. I am even angrier now than I was before which I truly did not think was possible.

If you like behind the scenes stuff, I think this is a great book! I'm going to follow along when I do my Atlantis watch-through, there's a lot of great stuff in here. Would recommend if you can get your hands on it, even if it does make you extremely angry at times. 😂

[tyrantisterror]

Who are your top favorite personifications of death in fiction and what is it that endears you to each version specifically?

None will ever surpass Death from Discworld, a character of supreme compassion who toils endlessly to care for people and assure their end is handled with all the grace and kindness they have earned in life. He's in many ways a pitiable figure, full of love for the living that he is never able to get truly close to, horrified at the cruel realities of life that he cannot undo but merely soften, and rarely ever acknowledged for the hard work he puts in at every moment of existence. He is one with his Duty, responsible to a fault. Death wants nothing more than to give life, to preserve it, to make it so we don't suffer anymore, but he knows reality doesn't work like that, and can't work like that, so instead he does his job and does it well, making sure we get some atom of justice and mercy in death when it's earned, even and especially if we didn't get it in life.

It probably seems a bit trendy to list Death from Puss in Boots as my second favorite, but I think he's going to stand the test of time as one of the GOATs of death personified. He's terrifying and relentless, bringing a looming dread that hangs over the story from his entrance on despite him only popping up sporadically, exactly as death should. While he's an antagonist in the story, he, like Discworld's Death, holds life itself in high regard, and only pursues Puss in Boots so maliciously because Puss has failed to do the same, treating his lives as frivolous and expendable rather than the precious and finite gifts they are.

Death in Bill And Ted begins as a riff on Death from The Seventh Seal, but, after being beaten by the titular duo at a shitload of board games, slowly comes out of his shell to reveal he's actually a pretty sweet and fun-loving guy when he's allowed to get out of his gloomy work persona. It all continues this theme of Death cherishing life in its way - that the finite nature of life, its necessary end, makes it all the more valuable to cherish.

The Red Death from Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death is a bit more malicious, tormenting the courtiers of Prince Prospero's titular masquerade by reminding them of the plague they're all ignoring before finally killing all of them when it's dramatically appropriate to do so. But, like, they fucking deserved it, using their wealth and power not to help their countrymen, but to live in lavish luxury while the common folk die hideously to a vile disease. The Red Death, in his indomitable grip on humanity, ensures a certain level of justice is held - that while the rich and selfish may steal some escape from the grim realities of life, Death will come for them just the same as it comes for the poor.

I'm going to end with Death from the Castlevania show on Netflix, who's about as evil as Deaths get in fiction, and deliciously so. He's crass, vulgar, petty, and utterly selfish, which ironically makes him feel more human than anyone else on this list. Which works for how death and violence as a whole are shown a consequences of those very human vices - after four seasons of characters inflicting death wantonly for the sake of their own personal desires and faults, it makes sense that the Death of this world would have all that pettiness cranked up to the extreme - and that he is defeated by a hero deciding once and for all to rise above his own vices and faults to fight against impossible odds for the sake of everyone else.

[marlequinncos]

Now that HOTD Season 2 is over, I have a lot of thoughts about what has transpired. Full disclosure: I basically wrote an essay, so long post ahoy! I have read the book, meaning there are a couple book spoilers in here along with show spoilers. Also: there are all my personal opinions, so you may agree or disagree.

The Good

The show is beautifully shot and the cinematography is excellent. We've gotten some really gorgeous shots this season.

The dragons look great, they're animated well, and I like how we can really see their different personalities and their relationships with their riders.

The acting is solid pretty much across the board. Folks like Emma D'Arcy, Matt Smith, and Olivia Cooke are excellent as usual. The standout for me this season, though, is Tom Glynn-Carney as Aegon. He's thoroughly fleshed out his character and given him some really interesting shading and depth and I really enjoy watching him on-screen.

Some excellent new additions to the cast! Ser Simon Strong is a national treasure, Gwayne Hightower is a mood, Alys Rivers is who I aspire to be in life, and the Hull brothers are both interesting (especially their dichotomy) and they better show more with them as per the book.

Rook's Rest gave us our first real dragon battle of the show, and I thought it was really well done. I was concerned that it would be the kind of fight that's hard to follow visually, but it was clean and worked nicely. I also love that they made Aemond torching Aegon a conscious choice.

The costumes are, once again, beautiful.

The embroidery title sequence kicks a lot of ass, and I like how they're adding to it with major events.

I do really like how they've made Helaena a dreamer (which they started in season 1) and how she's a tragic Cassandra figure. However, I do have some issues with her that I'll talk about later.

The Red Sowing was done well. I was hoping we were going to see some people get incinerated to really underscore how dangerous claiming a dragon can be, and that did not disappoint.

Little Oscar Tully verbally suplexing Daemon through an announcer's table was everything I've ever wanted.

I really like the relationship between Rhaenyra and Alicent. That said, I think there are some real issues with the writing that I'll discuss below.

Big fan of them putting Tyland Lannister in Situations.

Aemond committing war crimes and serving cunt as ye olde Sephiroth. 10/10 no notes.

While I do think the tripping balls in Harrenhall arc went on for far too long, I like how the show is leaning into the magic of the world with the weirwoods and insane visions of the past, present, and future.

Women kissing

The Bad

The pacing. Listen, I like a slowburn (one of my favorite horror movies is The Witch which many people find boring), but the slow pacing has to build to something, and this entire season felt like it was just build-up with no payoff. Last season ended with a consequential event (death of Luke), and this season began with another (Blood and Cheese), yet I don't feel like those events have managed to push the plot forward. Even Rook's Rest, which seemed like we were finally getting the ramp up to all-out war that's been teased for one and a half seasons due to Aegon being burned and Rhaenys dying, didn't really ramp up the stakes. We're still waiting for the war, and it feels like Season 2 was just a giant teaser for Season 3 rather than a stepping stone of the whole story. Think of it this way: season 1 ended with a build-up to the war and yet somehow this season also ended as a build-up to the war. It doesn't feel like progress was made; we're essentially in the same spot. The season should have ended with either the taking of King's Landing or the Battle of the Gullet.

Blood and Cheese. There is a reason this event lives in infamy for book readers. It's essentially the Red Wedding of the Dance of Dragons, because of how truly heinous and horrifying of an event it is. But the show toned it down a lot, and I think that was a mistake. Not to mention the fact that the death of Aegon's heir, who was a literal child, only seemed to be an issue for about an episode, and then everyone kind of forgot about it. Frankly, I don't like how the deaths of Luke, Jaehaerys, and Rhaenys were somewhat glossed over other than an episode of some characters being sad. Those deaths should have reverberated with long-ranging consequences and I don't feel like that's the case.

The writing. It's just not as good this season. Yes, I know the writer's strike probably affected it, but still. The conversations are nowhere near as engaging or interesting as they were in season 1, and I'm someone who loves dialogue scenes of political intrigue. I also think some of the character decisions they've made don't work. The biggest issue I have in that regard is with Rhaenyra. I don't actually hate the scene in the Sept (even though I think it is kind of silly how Rhaenyra managed to sneak into KL without being detected), because I like how they establish that Alicent knows that was wrong in her assumption about Aegon and yet she doubles down and they both realize that war is now inevitable even if it all began because of a misunderstanding. But book Rhaenyra is both far more active and ruthless than her show counterpart. There's a reason they call her "Maegor with teats". I thought we were getting some of that "warrior queen Visenya" Rhaenyra during the Red Sowing episode, but the fact is that she's spent most of the season trying to decide on a course of action and trying to do everything peacefully. She should have thrown that out the window after her conversation with Alicent in the Sept. It's especially weird considering she ended season 1 out for blood for the death of Luke. I feel like the writers are afraid that having her sometimes make nasty decisions will make her unlikeable to the general audience. But by doing that, they've also reduced this fascinating woman into a shell of who she should be. Look at Dany and Cersei from GOT; both of them were women in positions of power who did not hesitate to make (sometimes bad) decisions and/or commit horrible acts to further their goals and guess what: for the most part, the audience liked them! Give me "blood and fire" Rhaenyra! Support women's wrongs! Make characters morally grey! LET WOMEN BE AWFUL!!

I also think that the writing is doing Alicent a disservice. They really don't know what to do with her, and its a shame because Olivia Cooke is great. She just feels rudderless to me.

It really looks like the show is cutting Nettles entirely and giving her plot to Rhaena and I don't like this choice. Nettles is an amazing character in her own right, and her relationship with Daemon is key for him to start changing his Targaryen supremacist worldview and for his arc as a whole. Plus, this takes away the significance of Rhaena and Morning at the conclusion of the Dance.

While I like Helaena being a dreamer, they need to give her more screen time and dialogue. Girl had almost nothing to do this season.

I wish we had seen more of Jace and Cregan in the North and the Pact of Ice and Fire. Not saying we need 20 minutes of that, but 5 would have been nice.

I like the idea of that big vision of the future in the finale, but knowing how GOT ended does soften the impact quite a bit. And I don't love that Daemon and Aemond kind of already know their fates?? That's definitely going to hurt their arcs going forward.

The season should have been 10 episodes. Having it be only 8 really messes with the pacing of the story. Not loving the 2 year breaks between seasons either.

The "Let's Wait and See"

Aegon said that Sunfyre is dead. I really hope he's wrong about that because boy howdy that will have major plot implications if Sunfyre really is dead.

DAERON REAL. It would have been nice if he had been mentioned in season 1 and actually seen in season 2, but at least we know he exists and isn't a cryptid. Hopefully we finally get to see him in action in season 3 because poor dude has just been implied for two whole seasons.

I hope we see more of the book's excellent side characters like Black Alys, Benjicot Blackwood, and Sabitha Frey (who we did technically see briefly, but if you're a book reader, you know what I'm talking about). I'd also like to see more Cregan.

Overall, I think the season was a mixed bag. I hope season 3 fixes some of the issues with pacing and writing, because they have a great cast and a show that looks beautiful.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s3 episode 11 thoughts

dare i say it… new favorite episode?

whatever expectations i had, they were blown away. usually the episode after a two episode arc feels weird and stiff, but this? this hit every box on a checklist i didn’t even know i had.

i’m bouncing off the walls right now. i'm pacing my room and mumbling to myself while gesticulating wildly. i am filled with an energy that caffeine has not ONCE given me. and it's called "your character, that is so near and dear to you, got an episode dedicated just to exploring their inner life and workings and belief system and faith in God and the world". try it if you get a chance.

so let us begin. let me give you my verbatim notes, so you can watch the excitement grow.

oh boy! oh boy oh boy! i am excited! and i know by now to not expect any real continuation from the last episode, but i’m still excited because the last two were so good! and this one is like… good omens? with a kid that can start the end of the world?

wow. never have i thought to myself, how would mulder and scully handle biblical revelations? but here i am. wondering it.

hope the kid is chill. hope he has good vibes. mulder will like him anyway because he’s actually a huge softie but still better if he’s got good vibes.

we open on a sermon. the priest or pastor- depending on the denomination- whatever his title is, he is talking about faith. saying that miracles are real. and now he’s shaking and moaning. is this one of those churches?

OH HE’S BLEEDING from between his knuckles like some sort of blood wolverine. people are looking at him, thinking, what is going on? and this is something i am also wondering. maybe it was fake though…. little capsules in his hands, maybe???

he’s dabbing off his makeup now. as a man enters his dressing room. saying that some people really do believe. but he’s being weird.

and then this guy escalates to murder. and when he touches this pastor he’s burning up??? huh??? a firebender?? in pennsylvania??

THE INTRO WAS DIFFERENT AGAIN THIS TIME. WHY DOES IT CHANGE. i have come to know these beats VERY well!! they are like a heartbeat to me. you cannot simply alter them as you see fit!

scully looking at the body of the dead pastor/priest, talking about how it looks like rope burns around his neck. mulder crouching VERY close by.

HEHEHEHEHE mulder is like “he was bleeding from his hands like the crucifixion” and scully goes “stigmata?” heheheheheeeee i’m blushing

(talking about belief systems is apparently a way to my heart? like c'mon, tell me how you understand the universe and which elements you surrender to knowing that you will never comprehend. you look cute while doing it)

no wounds on the hands, though… so mulder licks the blood. and i froze JUST as scully makes this horrified face... i’m CRYING. yes, it is fake blood, and yes, he has some on his lips and teeth, and yes, its adorable. but what a risky move!

ohhh he was wearing a sugar pump sort of thing! yum yum. couldn't be me, i'd be slurping that.

so mulder has been tracking religious murders related to stigmatics (excellent word!)

scully’s talking about how certain people believe at any given time there are 12 stigmatics in the world. and they represent the 12 apostles. and i’m blushing terribly.

nods solemnly. i am learning a lot about myself through this show.

scully you are so preeeeetty. 

okay, cut to elementary school in ohio. kevin is blowing spitballs. his teacher is bullying him into doing math on the board. when all of a sudden, his hands start bleeding!! and we see that he has the holes!!!

he’s in the nurse’s office still when mulder and scully show up. damn how did they get to ohio that fast… OHHH they had put out an FBI alert and maybe this happened more than once.  yes, this is exactly what is explained mere moments after i made the initial comment.

so it happened BEFORE, and they assumed it was an incident of abuse, but it wasn’t proven. still, his dad was institutionalized after saying Kevin was chosen by God. okay! things escalated. 

scully is talking to the boy. she feels his forehead and says he feels feverish. okay doctor!! and she says he is very brave. queen. smart and kind.

mulder is meeting kevin’s mom. explaining that he might be in danger from a religious fanatic.

oh! the thermometer in his mouth broke. straight up exploded. hope that was fake mercury in there.

they’re going to put kevin back “into the shelter” which i feel like would make him an easier target for a serial killer?? but on the off chance it WAS his mom, it would make him safer. so mixed feelings here.

mom yells at the teacher, teacher says she loves her job, and mulder has this excellent smile. then waves scully out to leave. it was kinda funny to me for some reason, the waving her out. quite domestic. 

mulder thinks the kid did the cuts to himself to get his father back. hmm. not buying it. so they go to talk to kevin's dad. 

dad claims the forces of darkness have been watching kevin. in the great war between good and evil. he’s really talking to scully and he says they just “come full circle to find the truth”. she says dude idk what that means?? and he says “you will” okay... i’m creeped out a bit!!!

kevin is back at the children’s home. telling a bunch of other kids scary stories. and he seems to be explaining a scary guy who is walking into the building as the storytelling goes on. just as the scary guy enters, all the kids leave. scary guy is looking at the wounds on kevin’s hands!

soon after, mulder is with the group of children who saw the guy. we learn here that mulder is 6 foot 1. which is very funny. 

kevin was abducted by the fellow it seems he was describing before his arrival!!! and his mom seems to blame scully. she looks really upset.

they see the drawing that they think does not look like a real person, and kevin’s mom is like it’s owen, who did the yard work. 

so it’s owen time. he’s carved noah’s ark and he has kevin. but he says he can’t let him go home. because it isn’t safe. he refers to himself as kevin’s guardian angel. hmm. that makes me suspicious.

owen grabs a shotgun when a car pulls up. but the agents get him to put it down and scully is on a quest to find the little dude. and he was there… but now he isn’t?

so owen says God asked him to protect kevin. 

OH ANGRY MULDER IS GONNA QUOTE SCRIPTURE AT YOU!!!!! now give him some DAMN ANSWERS!

owen is like, well YOU believe, don’t you scully, because you have that necklace on. he’s calling her a BAD CHRISTIAN??? the audacity….

then owen gets up and JUMPS OUT THE WINDOW??? and runs away??? somehow??

(mulder jumped down from the porch to chase owen, and his big coat floated around him like a cape... i giggled)

now where did this dude go...?

kevin made it home!!! he’s yelling for his mom. she doesn’t seem to be there, but someone rang the doorbell. and we only see a quick glance but it LOOKS like the killer!!! 

who burns off the doorknob with his firebending!!! so yes, it is the og killer from the start of the episode! he comes in and asks for kevin. saying he knows he’s here.

mom, now would be a good time to roll up with a gun. 

he picks up a family photo and sees kevin in a picture then checks the closet to see if he’s in there but kevin is in the hamper. and the hamper is bleeding!!! dead giveaway. 

but owen rolls up just as the firebender guy opens the hamper, and starts fighting for him!! so kevin is making a break for it!!!

he runs and runs and RUNS INTO MULDER!!!! scully is telling him that he will be okay.

they only find dead owen. no firebender.

and kevin asks scully if she was sent to protect him… she does not seem to know what to say because. do you mean like by the government... or jesus?

autopsy time!!!! she’s talking into the voice recorder like always. it always gives vlog energy. anyway, his body looks very much alive. despite the very much dead thing. 

mulder interrupts this. and scully asks him to SMELL the dude. he obliges. with only a smirk!

scully says he smells a bit… floral.

OMG!! OMG I RECOGNIZE WHAT IS GOING ON HERE. they talk about it in the brothers karamazov, how a holy body is said to stay intact and even smell good when it ought to be decomposing. so the real question is: is she imagining it?

i mean, she is the body expert. so i’d want to say no. but also, this dude was playing with her head. so it’s hard to say. i'd think she would identify the body correctly no matter what, but a little smell hallucination thanks to the power of suggestion cannot be ruled out in any situation.

AND SHE TALKS ABOUT IT!! apparently it is something you learn in catechism. okay, well i just picked it up from that summer i got through that book, but we all learn somewhere. mulder is like “you’re serious?” and i feel he should be encouraging this open discussion rather than ridiculing it. AND SHE STARTS NAMING SAINTS IT HAPPENED TO!

mulder is saying that those things didn’t really happen, and i’m not taking this from alien man.

mulder has transitioned into listening mode now. OH! SCULLY! she says:

“isn’t a saint or a holy person just another term for someone who’s abnormal?”

“do you really believe that?”

“i… believe in the idea that God’s hand can be witnessed. i believe he can create miracles, yes”

“even if science can’t explain them?”

“maybe that’s just what faith is”

YES! YES I AM CHEERING AND JUMPING UP AND DOWN. we were owed a scully-centric episode, and never did i even THINK we would get something so aligned with my interests that we’d start exploring her religious beliefs and how that intertwines with her faith in science and her work. that sounds like something i’d write a fic for because it’s hyper specific to my interests. but no. this is CANON!

mulder is saying that she shouldn’t get swept up in these things (and how ironic that the roles are reversed! it’s exquisite. we’ve found his weak point, he’ll believe in anything but a Christian God)

scully is lost in thought. taking a deep breath. steeling herself.

pause. it’s a scene change. but mulder has a pencil in his teeth. it’s adorable, really. he takes it out to write something.

they pulled prints from owen’s neck!! burned right onto the skin. and they found who did it!! the man i was previously calling the firebender, his real name is simon gates, one of the south’s wealthiest men, arrested 3 years ago on a DUI. 

so then he went to israel, and this is how i learned of something called “jerusalem syndrome”, where people come back from the holy land with religious delusions. i have not heard of this before. but it could be a motive. except for the whole burning fingerprints into necks thing. i'm unfamiliar with any sort of place turning you into prince zuko.

okay, so someone saw kevin with his mom the same time he was seen with a social worker??? doubles?? twins??? ghosts??

kevin and his mom are on the side of the road with a broken down car, when who pulls up but SIMON!!

she asks what he wants and he says “i think you know”, then kevin makes a break for it.

now. can an old man outrun a child? children have small legs, but boundless energy.

BUT HE’S RUNNING?? AND ANOTHER KEVIN GETS OUT OF THE CAR??? to talk to his injured mom. then running kevin DISAPPEARED!!! AND MOM HITS THE DUDE WITH A CAR!!!

sadly, it wasn’t out of excellent aim that she hit him, but rather because she had her face smacked into the ground by simon and was concussed or something similar. she drove into a ditch. 

NO!!! KEVIN IS SAYING SHE DIED BECAUSE OF HIM. DEATH??? I JUST THOUGHT WE WERE DEALING WITH CONCUSSION HERE?

i guess it can be a quick trip from one to the next. but i'm sad for poor kevin.

scully is near him, telling him she promises she won’t let simon hurt kevin. OH LORD, YOU GOT HER PROMISING THINGS, SMALL CHILD.

he doesn’t want to go back to the shelter. and she says he doesn’t have to. are they going to take this small child for a bit….?

she avoids mulder’s gaze when telling him she wants kevin to come with them, saying she is not getting personally involved, but like mulder is gonna complain having a kid around. 

(he actually didn't seem to have his typical instincts kick in today. how curious...)

and turns out simon rented the car under the name of one of the devil’s disciples. yikes!

so creepy simon is watching this go down despite being hit by a car. 

back to the motel. scully is running kevin a bath and sees he has a big scratch on his side. from the crash… or?

mulder is fake pouting. “you never draw my bath” JCHDJSBJSND

she’s freaked out because she knows that cut was NOT there before. OH? is it the jesus spear thing??

she is busting out her theological training- he could be in two places at once, like st. ignatius! and mulder is talking about how it was all a metaphor, that bible. mulder, if you are dismissive ONE more time...

OH, I GASPED AT THIS NEXT PART. HOLD ON I NEED TO WRITE THIS DOWN:

“how is it that you’re able to go out on a limb whenever you see a light in the sky, but you’re unwilling to accept the possibility of a miracle, even when it’s right in front of you?”

“i wait for a miracle every day, but what i’ve seen here has only tested my patience, not my faith”

“well, what about what i’ve seen?” 

UGH. how PERFECT is that dialogue!!! how brilliant is that exchange!!! why is what she has seen less believable than his x files and aliens and beasts? he spends so long looking to his own stars that he’s forgotten others can form constellations as well. and how often does the narrative favor him, his thoughts running like a prey animal, chasing and chasing any sort of lead. why can’t she have something that cuts her to the quick just as deeply?

sure, science is great, science is the building block of her reality. but you can’t change the way you grew up, either, the pattern recognition, the fear of the divine. and she’s never had trouble balancing the two, we just haven’t had a reason to see them interact before, because she generally compartmentalizes the day to day world and the spiritual- and how many of us can say we do the same? probably most, if we believe in anything at all. but then it comes straight to a head- and after she has been through so much as well, losing her dad, her kidnapping, her coma, losing mulder and her job (which luckily came back), losing her sister forever- is it selfish to want there to be a caring force out in the universe?

but on the flip side, that means that there is real and genuine evil, forces of the devil and hell- unless you think it’s poetry, like mulder does. but wouldn’t that explain all the suffering she’s been through? the horrific things this job has showed her? and wouldn’t it be worth it in the end to go through that all if you know it was to be defeated?

okay i just spend so long typing that up the screen went dark. SORRY SORRY I’M COMING BACK I PROMISE!!! I JUST GET EMOTIONAL.

NOOO! a weird noise was heard, so mulder kicks down the now locked door where kevin was supposed to be taking a bath. AND THE WINDOW WAS MELTED OPEN!! so scully basically comes face to face with the evil that must be real if miracles are as well. oh! i’m eating this up.

but she promised him he would be safe! so this is not looking good!

she wants to go talk to his father again. and mulder doesn’t want to, but she is NOT taking no for an answer. 

kevin’s father is not coming up with an answer. the doctors have increased his meds and he’s very foggy. 

she asks again about the full circle to find the truth thing. and she runs out, in a daze.

mulder gets a call that there has been a simon spotting, but she doesn’t hear; she’s pointing at a recycling bin, saying that it’s arrows that form a circle. she thinks he’s at a recycling plant; he thinks he’s at the airport.

mulder asks if she thinks she’s the one that was chosen to protect him. and she says she doesn’t know; her voice cracks as she says that if she’s wrong, she’ll meet him at the airport. OH! religious burdens, the divine pressure of fate. he watches her leave, looking troubled.

at the recycling plant- and simon IS there, saying kevin has to die, for everyone, so the new age will come. and his hands are bleeding again. all the others were false.

SCULLY AMBUSH!!! but simon is taking him into a recycling chopper. AND HE DROPS HIM IN!!! we see chopping occur!!! but it was SIMON AND NOT KEVIN THAT WAS CHOPPED!!! kevin caught himself on the ledge!!!! she pulls him up.

he says he knew she’d come, and they hug so so so tight, and she places a kiss on his head when she’s holding him, and i’m gonna cry like a baby

when they’re getting him around to leave, she says that maybe she’ll see him again sometime, and he says that she will.

and scully looks like she’s crying- i don’t think she is, but she puts her head in her hand- mulder comes in and asks if she’s okay. she says she thinks so, and he holds out her jacket to put on. it might have been the most tender thing i have ever seen. he says they need to go make a statement; she asks him to do it alone, she has to go run an errand.

again, she mostly avoids his eyes. but he agrees, and goes to make the statement alone. he doesn't press.

AND SHE GOES TO CONFESSION???? FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 6 YEARS??? she starts talking about not being able to discuss something with mulder. she asks about miracles; if she was seeing things when it comes to saving kevin, or if she was imagining them. 

she doubts herself because mulder didn’t believe them!!!!!!!!!!! and usually he believes without question!!!

maybe they weren’t meant for him, maybe they were meant for YOU, he says. and she asks if this was to bring her back; he says “sometimes we must come full circle to find the truth”

and it makes her afraid!!!! that god is speaking but no one is listening!!!!

WHO THE HELL WROTE THIS EPISODE. NO. NO, HOLD ON I’M GONNA LOOK THIS UP. 

KIM NEWTON. KIM. YOU ARE THE ONLY PERSON WHO GETS ME ON THIS PLANET. NO ONE ELSE DOES.

wow okay. i’m going to be pacing my room about this for 100 years. there are going to be think pieces about this, from me, for the foreseeable future. i’m losing my MIND.

i don’t think i could have cooked up a more perfect episode if i had tried. something centered on scully entirely (mulder has had his fair share of attention), something about faith, something where she questions what she holds close and why she holds it close and what it means that she does so at all. what it means for there to be human good and human evil and divine good and divine evil. how god speaks to people and how we listen. or hear things that he didn’t say, like simon did. 

holy FUCK i literally could not think of anything better. and i have SO much to say. i already SAID SO MUCH, too. like i’m seriously bouncing off the walls right now. whatever love i had for scully before just quadrupled- and who knew this was even possible??

for things to be reversed, for mulder to try and talk her out of a belief, how bizarre that must have felt to him, and how cold it felt. how he just couldn’t see it, how his not being able to see it drove her to doubt herself, how she must doubt herself already, but that sprung everything to the surface. how she doubts that god would use her. and use her for good. 

but still, despite his lack of understanding, despite his trying to get her to think rationally- he is there for her, even if he doesn't get it, even if he could have done better. the way he held her jacket while she processed everything, the way he didn't question her needing time for herself. somethings are best left unspoken.

lord, i’m gonna have to stop there because if i don’t. i just might never shut up ever ever ever. and i still need to proofread all my raw notes, and i’m sure i’ll think of something else to say.

i started this episode AN HOUR AND A HALF AGO LMAOOOO i just had SO much to pause and observe and say which is NOT a complaint in the slightest. 

wow. new fave episode i think. i’ll have to add it to the list. 

please let me know what you thought- are there any other scully truthers out there who lost their minds over this? did you like the episode? is it disliked and i'm strange for going on such a ramble? did you have trouble reconciling faith scully and science scully? personally i don't, but i could see how some people might. did you find mulder too dismissive? or did you think he was trying his best? some combination of both? did scully protecting that kid make you emotional? please, spill EVERYTHING. i always want you to spill everything, but now so even more than usual.

[magnoliaroad]

4 Seasons Back Yard Remodel + Crystal Yard

My 4 seasons remodels of the Petz 5 Back Yard are now available for download! And because I went on a bit of a side-quest, I’ve also made a bonus version, a fantasy, crystal back yard!

You can read my creator's notes below:

I somewhat wonder if it's fair to criticize the original Petz 5 playscenes too harshly. It's possible that the development team faced tight deadlines or budget constraints, factors that may not have been entirely within their control. However, regardless of the circumstances, the end result was a disappointingly sloppy product, and it's difficult to ignore some of the glaring flaws. While I can understand that the developers were working with dated software, there are certain flaws that can't be attributed to software limitations. Rather, they seem to reflect a clear lack of attention to detail. Here's what I mean.

The more you look at it, the harder it is to decide which flaw is the worst. The blatant MS paint spray paint "touch-up" in the upper left, that there was no effort put into blending in the skybox, or that they neglected to add textures to the roof.

Alright, enough ranting there. None of this is to say my playscenes are perfect either, but they were a labor of love and I hope that this is evident in the final results.

SPRING

I smoothed out the grass texture to give it a more velvety, manicured lawn appearance. I brightened up the dingy looking fence to a more brighter white. The original playscene had a hole in the fence, and while it might add "character", I opted to cover over it for a more polished look. I added bushes behind the fence to cover up the skybox and to conceal the bottom of the houses.

Speaking of houses. Wow these needed a big work-up. The texture work (or lack of) on these is just bad. I'm no expert in house construction, but even mostly-brick houses will have some accents like trims to break up the monotony of a fully-brick façade.

Because of how fuzzy the brick texture is in the original, I drew in the mortar lines of the bricks to enhance the texture. I added roof shingles, siding, and trim boards to the house to make it look more like a typical suburban house. Despite these edits, it's still not a "great" house - the way it looks through the windows, it looks like the house is one room lol. I wish I could put better houses in the backdrop but because Tinker doesn't allow me to edit the animated blinds, I'm constrained to keeping them the shape that they are. Oh well. We can use our imagination.

I added landscaping rocks to make the flower bed look nicer. I also added some landscaping details like bushes, garden lights, and string lights for ambiance.

[ Enlarged picture of the garden light I made ]

I also worked to improve the skyboxes in all 4 seasons of the of the Back Yard playscenes. It would be lengthy to get into the details of all that but here's a before and after of the night skybox. You got to love them high-quality MS paint stars in the original.

SUMMER

I had a hard time with the summer one because it was hard to come up with ways to make it look different from the spring version. I did make the grass, bushes, and tree leaves slightly more vibrant. Originally I had some flowers by the bushes but I just wasn't really happy with them. At the last minute, I made the decision to remove them entirely. This makes the playscene a little more "plain" but I think some people may want a more "plain", undecorated version so that they can dress it up how they want with toyz.

FALL

Fall is my favorite season, so this was a joy to make. I toned down the color of the grass and added fall landscaping motifs. Recoloring the tree's leaves was done by using Photoshop's gradient map feature. If time permits, I may do a tutorial on this in the future.

Gradient mapping is a powerful tool for recoloring almost anything. It can give way better results than methods such as hue/saturation, replace color, etc. And thanks to photoshop actions, applying this recolor to all the animation frames took just a couple of minutes.

Unfortunately, the fall leaves look "bright" in the nighttime version of the playscene. There does not seem to be a way to implement a darker version of these leaves for the nighttime playscene. If you look at the sprites in Tinker, you'll see that there are two sets of animations for Leaves A, B, and C and they're labeled "PropsAd" and "PropsAn", which would lead you to think that the developers originally intended for there to be a set of leaves for the day time, and a darker set for the night time. I guess the developers scrapped this idea because this does not work in the actual gameplay. When I experimented with this, the game appears to randomly display the nighttime sprite even during the day time, effectively ruining the intended affect. I'm not sure why the developers scrapped this. Either they had issues coding this properly or were just didn't want to put in the effort to make two sets of leaves.

WINTER

Instead of doing recolored leaves for this scene, I made all the leaves transparent and added holiday lighting to the tree. I know the lights aren't perfect - it was kind of hard to make out which direction a branch was going, so it has hard to maintain 'perfect' perspective.

CRYSTAL YARD

This is a bonus playscene that I made because I got a little side-tracked as I was working on the 4 seasons back yards. This is inspired by the Suramar zone from World of Warcraft, so it has a bit of that fantasy, night-elf feel and color scheme. It's been years since I've played WoW but I still appreciate the enchanting aesthetic of the elven zones.

I used gradient mapping again to recolor the leaves to give it this lavender, shimmery, iridescent look. I did a little bit of gaussian blurring and layer effects to make them look a little more "glowy" than the originals.

As before, Tinker won't let me edit the blinds, so it limited what edits I could do to the houses. I would love it if I could have done curtains instead or something. I did my best to make these houses look a little less suburban and more elven. It's not perfect but it was rough working with what I had.

KNOWN ISSUES / THINGS I COULDN'T EDIT

As far as I'm aware, there is no way to turn off the snow effect for seasons like summer where it wouldn't make sense. This probably involves some code-editing that is beyond my technical skillset.

The winter playscene still has the green grass footprint when your petz walk. The sprites for these are not housed within the .env itself but in the Petz 5 Rez.dll file. It would probably involve a bit of tweaking in the code to switch the sprites to something else.

The fall leaves are "bright" in the night time version because there is no way to implement a second, darker set of leaves.

I cannot edit the blinds animation. Tinker gives you an error when you try to edit this sprite. This unfortunately limits what edits I can make to the house and the fence because of where the sprite is positioned.

If anyone does know of solutions to these, do let me know as I'd love to enhance these scenes further!

ICONS

Making the icons for these was also a fun little project. For some odd reason though, the game puts a stray pixel over them when I import them through LnzPro. I did my best to disguise them but there does not seem to be a way to fix that.

BEFORE / AFTER

With all that rambling out of the way, visit my main page over at Magnolia Road > Resources > Playscenes to download the goodies!

[writtenbyaris]

my creative writing process as a planner 🌟

the idea:

story ideas come to me at the most random and inconvenient of times. right before i fall asleep, when i'm in the shower, during my classes, etcetera. my main rule is to always write them down, whether it's in my notes app or a slip of paper or a journal... i'll forget it if i don't.

i try keeping it simple at this stage and not thinking too deeply about it, otherwise it becomes quite overwhelming. sometimes ¡'ll make a pinterest board depending on what the idea is. if it's more of an aesthetic, then i can make a moodboard out of it to help inspire me more. however, if the idea is a plot of some sort, that can be a bit more difficult.

character and world building:

this is my favorite part. once i have an idea set in stone and i'm ready to work on it, i begin building the characters and the world around it. i figure out the mechanics of the idea and how it can relate to characters and the world they're in.

at this point, i'm definitely making pinterest boards, playlists, and picrews to feel more immersed in the skeleton of the story.

i still keep it as simple as possible, and try to enjoy it. when i try juggling too many things at once, i end up wanting to abandon the project. slow and steady is the key for me :)

creating the story:

now we get down to what being a writer actually is.. transforming the idea into a story. i have to at least come up with one major plotline to start. i usually write in my journal during this stage, but sometimes i'll use notion to organize everything and keep track of it all.

oftentimes, the main plot will come to me when i'm working on character and world building. sometimes it's even the idea that first popped into my head. the story is usually influenced by dreams i've had, my own every day experiences, and other media i consume.

arcs, subplots, themes, etc:

this stage is for the smaller details that are vital for the story to flow and actually work. it's like a puzzle that's finally coming together.

for me, a story isn't a good one without arcs and themes, so those are of utmost importance. subplots are necessary to make the world more immersive, give readers insight on the characters, and keep the story naturally flowing. everything has to be woven back in to the main plot or idea, though.

i will say, this is the stage that tends to give me the biggest headache :P

zero draft:

jumping into a first draft as a heavy planner is too scary for me. so i came up with the idea of a zero draft. basically- zero expectations.

this is the backbone of my story. in this stage, i'm basically just taking myself through the steps of the story. i organize the plot and subplots into chapters, and with each chapter i go through all the beats of each scene. literally every. single. thing. that happens.

i don't usually include dialogue in this phase, but i do mention when a character will be in a conversation. all the focus should be on putting a needle and thread through the story and tying it all together.

first draft:

the first draft is somewhat easier for me because i do a zero draft. so, i know everything that will happen in a chapter and just have to utilize my writing abilities to make it rhythmic.

this is the first stage where i write dialogue, so it tends to be corny. a lot of my writing can be cliche and basic as well. that's what editing is for though!

i usually stress the most when writing my first draft, because it's the first time the story is actually being written in the format of a novel. by the end, it's not always very good either. but i do not look back at all, which means absolutely no editing until the first draft is finished.

and so on…

once the first draft is finished, then comes draft two. it's enjoyable to be able to read your own work all over again, though it's sometimes embarrassing as writing does improve with practice.

i focus on one chapter at a time-reading slowly, editing, filling in plot holes, fixing anything that changed later in the story. i try to catch as many details as i can.

usually, after as many rounds of editing one likes, the draft would be sent to an editor and beta readers. then i'd look into publishing companies (can you tell i haven't gotten to that point yet? lol)

are you a planner or a pantser?

[imjustwritingg]

I’m not this anon, I only read this ask on here from someone else but I wanted to know your take. I didn’t read any post interviews bc I was upset so I’m not sure what was sad. Here’s the anon post I saw

“I know no one wants to say anything negative but as a fan of upstead as well as Jay and Hailey separately that interview with Gwen and Tracy is awful on all sides. i thought maybe Tracy was secretly hating all this, her character's unnecessary misery, her onscreen husband’s character assassination, Hailey and Voight’s father/daughter storyline. But she’s not, she’s happy with the ending and has had talks with Gwen about her season arc (probably even could have had input on her ending because she does seem to be Gwen’s favorite) and she was fully on board. This will be the thing that gets me to move on the most because if she thinks that’s a good ending for fans of her character then we really never had a shot.”

For me, personally, I don’t put a lot of stock into those interviews from Tracy in regards to Hailey’s storyline and how things went or could have gone. We know Gwen has final say of everything as showrunner and that has been made clear. It has also been made clear after those interviews, that Gwen had no intention of reuniting Hailey and Jay in any capacity, even when it was seemingly brought to the table. I feel like she had her mind made up before they even got to that point in the writers’ room.

From my perspective of things and reading between the lines just based on actions and context, I don’t think Tracy was necessarily “happy” with the storyline for her exit. I’m sure there was some truth to it to some degree as far as Hailey’s journey and wanting to send her off in a good light and not kill her off, as well as the stuff she said about Jason, but I also think she probably gave her input and was ultimately overridden. She worked with what was given to her.

At the end of the day, Tracy is a professional and she truly loves what she does and she loved being a part of PD. She’s not going to badmouth the show or the writing or her co-workers, especially when one of those co-workers who was responsible for her character’s exit is on the phone, sat beside her, or on the same Zoom meeting with her in the same interview.

That’s where I’m at with it.

[diaphin93]

- One key aspect of Edelgard reforms is not just doing change directly but also paving the way for other societal change to be made through suppressing institutions protecting the status quo and giving people the tools they need ( education, government position open to all, etc )... So outside of the reforms directly metionned in CF, what other societal change do you think she or her government will bring during her lifetime?

- If you had to make the "ideal" post CF government who in the cast would you pick? It can be based on ending ( like Manuela becoming prime minister ) or entirely be based on your interpretation

- If Edelgard/Hubert/Ferdinand were commoners, how do you think their life would be like?

- Do you have any analysis on Edelgard that is uncommon? What's your favorite line from her?

Oh, that are some interesting questions. Let me go into all of them one by one.

I assume many of the changes Edelgard implements will be gradual, as she and her government basically need to figure out modernity all by themselves, really only knowing the structures of the strict feudal caste system they grew up in. Like, many people cite Ferdinand having to come up with the concept of universal education for her, but the matter of fact is, this is an entire new and novel concept and one person can't figure out all by themself, though we know that noble inheritance is already abolished in the following generation. I would say structural reforms in Leicester and Faerghus would be big ones, putting them closer to the more bureaucratic centralized system that Adrestia seems to have, looking at the presence of ministries. Considering her already being on board with public education and wanting to reduce the political influence of the church, I could see her introducing state wellfare policies that take over the role that religious charity would have. One important one probably also would be to either reform the ministry of religious affairs into a proper ministry of justice, which it already acted as, or alternatively relocate most of its ressources to a new ministry of justice, as well as law reforms in the vein of Napoleons code civil, to ensure secular laws. As she is not an enemy of the faith itself but also seems rather desinterested in it, while expressing interest in improving foreign relations, I fully expect for her to either implement freedom of religion or, as a predecessor, a general policy of religious tolerance. There probably would be uniform laws for the three nations, while I also expect her to allow Duscur to either declare its independence or remain in the empire as an autonomous region, as we saw her doing with Brigid and with Kupala respectively. I could see similar policies to the former sreng regions in northern faerghus, to allow its original inhabitants to return and either become an autonomous region of the empire or reuinite with Sreng. Due to the roman inspiration of Adrestia, I think it would be interesting for her to introduce a senate, especially since it would be a buffer between the imperial ministries and the throne, but thats more headcanon. We have no ideas on how Edelgard feels about democratic reforms, so every pro and contra argument would be highly speculative. I think generally most of Edelgards reforms would be focussed on secularization and the abolition of noble inheritance structures, before she steps down and lets a worthy successor continue her reformist policies. We also don't know enough on the details of adrestian law and economy, to be sure of all kinds of reforms she could make, this would be a matter of headcanons and fanwork.

This might be a tadbit boring, but I don't really have much in terms of ideal visions for a potential government for Edelgard. I see the case for Ferdinand being the Prime Minister, due to his own character development and role in supporting Edelgards reforms in CF, but I personally also prefer Manuela as Prime Minister as it fits much better with the spirit of Edelgards reforms and policies, having an educated commoner in the highest ministerial office. In the end, Black Eagles House has the common shortcomings of all 3 Houses routes, that the majority of students are children of the high nobility, and alot of the positions we learn about are more filled to conclude their personal character arcs, like Ferdinand being prime minister or Caspar becoming Minister of Military Affairs. I guess for me, I would like Manuela to act as prime minister, while Ferdinand should be allowed to fully focus on his educational reforms through creating a new ministry of education. If they can be found and contracted, I think a sensible thing in the name of reconciliation would be for her to try and reach out to Seteth, with the offer of him becoming the minister of religious affair or either him or Flayn to be allowed, if they want, to start a new reformed Church of Seiros, so that they at the very least have the option to return home to Garreg Mach and live there peacefully, under the condition that they learn to work hand in hand with humans as their equals. Otherwise, I would guess that in case she survives either Mercedes or the eastern Bishop would make a fine minister of religious affairs. Duke Gerth already seems to be a sensible minister of foreign affairs, in case he is recruited or otherwise assumed to survive, Sylvain would make his most sensible successor. Generally, as it modernizes, Adrestia would need to establish more ministries overall. The ministry of the imperial household probably should be openly reformed into domestic intelligence for more transparency, as Hubert already fulfills this position. I think, again in case he survives, Lorenz would make a good minister of domestic affairs. But again, I don't have strong feelings on that one, as there really is a lack of more interesting choices. A priority would be for the ministries to offer mentorship to commoners who want to engage with the government.

Thats a tough one, as commoners still have class differences and there are nuances to that one too and their lifes would take entirely different directions with them forming different personalities if they were born under other circumstances. I mean, most of them. Hubert totally would become some underworld crime boss who reveals and takes care of corrupt nobility, lol. Basically some Yakuza with a sense of honor archetype, lol. But going for what would preserve their personalities and story beats, I see Ferdinand as somewhat a member of the upper class, possibly with his father being an ambitious merchant who tries to scheme his son into a better station in life, though I think he would go more into the direction of being a lawyer, he just seems to be this very enlightenment thinker law school graduate archetype if he wasn't a noble, befitting his high sense of justice and posh attitude. He totally would be in Garreg Mach due to a full scholarship and super proud of it, citing the careers of former winners of said scholarship. Edelgard is more tricky, though I would say, in her case she probably would be just some commoner who happened to have the Crest of Seiros, probably some illegitimate child who was never found, or the daughter of one whose crest skipped a few generations. I see her more of a humble upbringing in the scenario of her being a commoner, a peasant or the daughter of servants. I guess the later, as this would offer an excuse to why she was in the Kingdom and knew Dimitri, maybe her being a maid servant of the Arundel family. And naturally she would have been caught in the crest experiments of TWSITD still, if the goal is to preserve her overall story beats, and as the sole survivor become the adopted daughter of Lord Arundel, her still being determined to end the crest and nobility system, possible even more in this scenario, and using Thales connections to stage a coup against the Hresvelg Family. I see her still as the house leader of the Black Eagles, though her being of a commoner background her, she probably could be somewhat more strict and serious in her demeanor to integrate. Like, this entire scenario would be a compelling AU and I think I could make an entire blogpost based on it. Assuming all three are commoners, Hubert and Edelgards relationship would be very different. I think he would be still loyal to her, but he would be basically some enforcer she picked up as her retainer, so their interactions would be much more informal, acting more as partners in crime. Edelgard and Ferdinand would probably be even more rivalrous, Ferdinand possibly being jealous of her now and I see her and Dorothea being even more close. Those two are already very close, having it it off immediately obviously, considering how Dorothea is the only one in the BE cast she already seems to be close to at the start, so this relationship would just be stronger, them being two commoner girls among all these nobles, it would be an outlet for Edelgard to be her former commoner self more. I think she would be more distanced to her former classmates at the start, having to learn that nobles have their own issues and to empathize with them as well.

I don't think I have really much to add, especially since Captain Flash and others already analyzed many facets of her personality. As I mentioned, I interpret Dorothea and Edelgard as immediately having hit it off the moment they first met, like you know when you are in a new school and workplace and meet this one person who is your bestie at the end of the day? They seem already close friends from the beginning. I personally see her also valueing Hubert and Ferdinand in particular as two brother figures, Hubert being an older brother who takes care of her and she wishing they could be more informal with each other, while I think a part of her enjoys Ferdinands annoying attitude that allows her to be more childish as times, something she rarely can afford due to what happened to her. I think there is some importance in the relationship between Edelgard and Dimitri many overlook. Primarily, because Discourse embittered the fanbases of both characters to each other and if interpretations take place, it is mostly from a Dimitri centric place that interprets Edelgard less favorably. Even if she doesn't really remembers him, I think she values parts of his personality alot, his very straight forward and well intentioned attitude, though his somewhat naive and undetermined outlook on everything probably frustrates her as well. She obviously hates his vengeful personality, feeling appeled by his obsession to her, as she states herself, but its clear that she feels a great deal of empathy towards him. It is implied that she cries after he dies and the scene makes it clear, that no matter if she did or not, she at least felt like crying in this moment. Edelgard is strongly linked with symbolizing the future, while Dimitri thematically represents the past, his arc being all about how the ghosts of the past haunt him. I think from an Edelgard centric standpoint, Dimitri represents her past, that has been twisted and corrupted by Thales, becoming a source of pain and anguish to her.

But so far, thats all. I hope I could answer your questions in a satisfying way and feel free to send me more asks, this one was fun.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

final thoughts on the fox fella + new smol cat boi

What I find the most fascinating about Fellow isn't the character himself but rather the fandom reaction to just seeing his design. It was a tsunami of thirst unlike anything I had ever witnessed before. People were switching up oshis entirely, those who had never made a self-insert or yume before were suddenly making ones specifically to be shipped with Fellow, it was WILD. He's a homewrecker/j I support any and all Fellowives out there👍

That being said, I'm surprised that I feel so... lukewarm about him overall????? I'm usually all gung-ho for the smiling scammer types but for some reason Fellow just doesn't resonate with me. I'll admit that he's very good-looking (I love the colors of his suit, the cravat, the colorful patched up pants, and especially the silly little half capelet thing hanging off of him). His expressions are also very fun, with some favorites being his super smug smirk and the knowing, slightly-off kilter smile. However, there's just something about Fellow's personality that doesn't sit with me quite right. I know it's not the "he's a Red Flag!! RUN AWAY NOW!!!" thing either, because I love Love LOVE red flags in fictional characters 😭

Fellow is good at charming people off the cuff and using deceit to compensate for his low magical reserves, which in of itself is intriguing. It’s also admirable that he wants to start his own school for non-mages and low-magic mages to mingle, He’s an adult that still keeps the spirit of childlike wonder alive, and that makes him fun to follow. Those are the traits of his I like.

But I get the vibes that Fellow isn't as clever or as impressive as he likes to think he is...? He's full of himself but can't exactly back up his words with action. That's not meant to be a diss at his magical prowess, he's lacking in other areas as well. Like, he's a fully grown man picking fights with kids because of a personal vendetta... and he’s steering the kids home while the island is sinking and relying on them to rescue them in case anything goes wrong?? That’s just irresponsible. Not to mention he doesn’t seem to plan ahead?? How does he not know he’s kidnapping many famous and/or powerful people with families might come after his ass if they go missing?

I think that it doesn't help that the "pathetic" vibes were being conveyed in a lot of fan art well before the twist; it only adds to his "patheticness" and it gets to a point where it's too much for me and then is no longer appealing. I can get on board with him and gloating and wanting to crush kids’ dreams because same/j but not when he’s panting and wheezing and desperately tackling them for their tickets to tear up. He doesn’t feel like a genuine threat without the support of his backers. I would still say I like the character and will happily rag on him, but I wouldn't bark for him or anything (though I will grant him points for coming close to winning the cage makes it better/j).

What I appreciate about Fellow's character is that it shows us a darker side to Twisted Wonderland. I don't necessarily think his initial motives are that deep (he's after fat stacks), but I think the sentiment behind the motives are. It pulls back the curtain and reveals an ugly truth about his magical world and the roles that money and privilege play in it. We aren't exposed to many instances of this, but they are, in fact, there (like when Yuu was insulted by Riddle in book 1). It's finally getting attention front and center now—I just wish they had gone deeper with it.

What's currently got me invested in following Fellow is his relationship with Gidel. I love that they're a "found family" (they're "sworn brothers") and that Fellow seems to look after Gidel... Telling the NRC boys not to put stupid ideas in Gidel's head, walking off with Gidel at the end, recounting the times they scammed together, putting his arm out in battle to keep Gidel behind him... (or maybe I'm just delusional and want to believe the fan art LOL). I'm such a sucker for the trope of the protective big brother 💀 Unfortunately, we don't get a ton of canon moments in the event... Like damn, not even details on how they first met or how they found this job or why specifically Fellow cares for Gidel??? I don’t like that for all that we’re told about how hard the duo’s past was, we didn’t get to hear a lot of explicit detail about it (especially when it is so inherently important to their conflict with the NRC crew and their turn at the very end). I just gotta pray their eventual card next Halloween will give more insight into this.

He’s a character I like to think about mainly because his background as a failed mage student gives me a lot to chew on in terms of questioning the world’s lore and how their society is structured. Fellow himself is good for a few laughs, but it isn’t long before my mind strays, if that makes sense. I’m not chomping at the bit, but I don’t exactly detest the guy??? I guess you would call it ambivalence; I’m only fixated on certain aspects of him (the looks, the lore he provides, and the onii-sama potential).

I don't really have much to comment on for Gidel, but I have to say that I like having mute representation and more magicless characters in the cast at large. His outfit is also very fun; I like how it incorporates colors you don't normally see slapped together (that shade of yellow and purple) while still looking cohesive. I keep looking at Gidel's design and seeing a mix of Cheka and Ruggie though (because of the fluffy hair, eye shape, and stature). He very much reminds me of a smol doggo I'd bump into on a walk home and spend ten minutes standing there and considering adopting it.

As I said in my thoughts on Fellow, I think Gidel is at his best when he's in his little brother-big brother dynamic with Fellow. He's just a little guy trying his best while Fellow's trying to lead them. I think that's something the whole fandom can agree on, since I see sooo many people shading Fellow for his actions but the same people squealing and patting Gidel on the head and claiming he has done nothing wrong (despite being complicit in, and actively helping with, the trafficking operation). I guess it's because Gidel is still a child and may not fully understand the implications of it???

It's very sweet and genuine that Gidel demonstrates an interest in going to school and learning—but Fellow, who has been disappointed by the world of magic academia, warns Gidel against it. In his own way, he's keeping Gidel from what he sees as an uppity, shallow realm that will crush his hopes and dreams. That's Fellow's version of "protecting" him. It's a way of telling us about their relationship without outright stating how Fellow feels about Gidel. In return, Gidel also supports him and whacks him a good one when Fellow’s down in the dumps.

I'm sad that we didn't get to see more of their dynamic in the event (like we only see them having a meaningful interaction at the very end), but maybe that's just because the fandom works have set my expectations high. Unfortunately, all those sweet moments of Fellow and Gidel bonding are seemingly confined to just fanart and fanfiction, since very little is mentioned or even implied in the event itself. I'm hoping that (assuming they get a card together next year) we get to see more glimpses of their daily life in the associated vignettes.

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #242

I got to bed relatively on time last night. I still woke up groggy as heck, because that is the nature of sleep deprivation injuries; it'll be at least a week or two before my brain fully recovers; such is the nature of the brain cleaning cycle. Oh well.

Nonetheless, I had a lot of fun at work today! There was, along with Mi, Ma, and I, another lady named Tr, and the whole day was filled with laughter and delightful banter as we did our various tasks; it was wonderful!

I'm always amazed at how quickly the time passes while I'm there. I'm always busy, always moving from one task to the next, always moving around, so the four hours pass by in a flash, and I'm always just a little sad when it's time to go home.

They asked me to make muffins again today, and with the practice I got from my first time doing it, I was a lot better at it this time! I even found a more efficient way of filling and leveling off the muffin scoop, and so I was able to fill the muffin tin a lot more quickly than last time, and with far more consistency! The muffin batter was then baked. Here they are in the giant walk-in oven; it's not a great picture, I know, but I couldn't really do anything about the glare...

...And here are the results of my handiwork:

...Aren't they beautiful? Someone's gonna go home with a box of these, and that makes me really happy!

I also put muffins that were previously baked into boxes. Each of these shelves have 6 boxes that contain 4 muffins each. And I filled even more shelves than these today:

...We have them in so many different flavors! We've got pistachio, chocolate, pumpkin, banana-nut, apple cinnamon, corn, and so many more. The ones I baked were cranberry muffins. They're not my favorite, but they're someone's favorite, and that makes me feel really glad.

I like this job. I like the repetitive certainty of the routine tasks. I like the diligence and precision of a job well done. I like knowing that my manager is delighted to watch me learn, and is proud of the efficiency and conscientiousness with which I work. I like knowing that I will only continue to improve. I like knowing that I am working with others towards a shared purpose. I like knowing that I am capable of improving the processes that are used in service to that purpose. And I like knowing that someone is gonna go home with a box of delicious things that were wrought from my own hands.

J requested that I get sandwich supplies on the way home, so I did. I got deli sliced chicken, roast beef, genoa salami, and cheese, along with a loaf of seeded rye bread. With these, I made a sandwich!!! And I put truffle mayo on it, because why not!

Either it was a sandwich of epic awesomeness, or I was just hungry. Either way, it was awesome and I loved it!! I wish I could make one for you!

Hey, Sephiroth? What kind of sandwiches do you like, anyway? What kind of toppings and dressings do you like to put on them? I wonder...

In any case, we went to a birthday party shortly after that. Our friend Mer's birthday was today, and so she decided to gather up a bunch of her friends to eat tasty snacks and play board games! It's nice to know that J and I are on the list of people she considers friends! We played a card game called Boss Monster; basically you're the monster ruler of your very own dungeon that you build out of cards that represent rooms! I ended up getting an entity called, uh... Seducia... I guess. Hahahaha!

But I didn't really have much interest in killing adventurers or winning the game. I just built a party dungeon. I had a ballroom, and a menagerie of rescued critters, and a room that makes people silly, a room with an all-seeing eye, and a room with a lich dragon who is basically an interior designer! I had a cleric come by to try to kill me, because presumably, he thought my entity was too sexy to live (typical...), but he didn't succeed.

I like to think that instead of dying in my "dungeon", he simply changed his mind and decided that trying to kill me is silly, so instead he went to the ballroom and got a sandwich! Sandwiches are sensible. Violence is not. And then I like to think that he decided my dungeon is so awesome that he didn't wanna go home. Because the outside world is a cold and terrible place devoid of sandwiches!!! Or at least, devoid of sandwiches that are as good as the ones I can make!!! Ahahahaha~!!

The whole game was very silly, but fun. I was super sleepy at the end of it, though, so I sat in a recliner for the rest of the evening. I ended up falling asleep in it, even though I didn't mean to. I'm still pretty groggy, even after a number of hours of being home. Suppose I should at least try to go to bed relatively on time...

...In the spirit of that, I guess I'll end today's letter here.

Hey, Sephiroth? Are you staying safe where you are? If you're not, please try a little harder, okay? I don't want to have to endure your absence. I'm not sure I'd be capable of withstanding such a thing.

I love you. And I'll write again tomorrow.

Your friend, Lumine

[the-s1lly-corner]

Pocky game with the knd villains

I am going insane with these repeating prompt group posts I'm sorry everypony

Characters: father, spankulot, stickybeard, knightbrace, cuppa joe, toiletnator, mr fizz

Notes: reader is GN, bonus hcs of who's favorite flavor is what, admin has only tried the og and cookies n cream though <\3

CWs: none

FATHER

this man has never heard of a pocky or the game so youre going to need to brief him on whats going on

open to playing the game with you! probably only thinks its just the one flavor but i think if he were opened up to all of them... i think he would still be a fan of the original flavor!

too hot... he kind of melts the chocolate after a minute.. :( it leads to both of you needing to go faster before theres a mess on your hands

likes the concept doesnt like the reality given the above... :(

hes also a little competitive so hes likely going to make it a goal to beat you to the middle- briefly forgets that the game tends to end with a kiss

not that that hes complaining, though

SPANKULOT

loves when you put two sticks in your mouth and pretend theyre fangs, he thinks its really cute!! especially if you try to mimic his accent and general speaking habits!

i can see him being a fan of the original flavor!

very slow eater, you might beat him to the middle before hes even halfway done with his side of the stick

hes just not that fast of an eater is all!

but with some encouragement he might be able to make himself go faster! definitely the one whos more likely to get flustered from the game

hes confident enough, but there is some obvious shake as he meets you... hes buzzing with excitement is all!

KNIGHTBRACE

not at all interested in the game once you explain what a pocky stick is :(

the only one who actually turns you down because of his whole anti candy thing

i mean he literally participates in a dangerous and intense scavenger hunt game JUST to destroy some cupcakes, and the only sugary thing we know he folds for is taffy

turns you down and most likely makes a comment on how bad the treat is for your teeth

no favorite flavor, either, for obvious reasons

CUPPA JOE

loooooooves the original but i can see him being a fan of the almond one! maybe matcha as well! can see him dunking the sticks into coffee! sounds good in theory... might try that next time i get some pocky..

doesnt know about the game but hes on board the second you explain what it is and what to expect

knowing him he might just go straight to kissing the second the pocky is in your mouths.. too bad the stick hitting the back of your throats is far from a pleasant feeling...

it... might be better to split the box with him and give him some regular kisses- hes a little too hyped up on caffeine to not just... go bonkers

STICKYBEARD

oh he definitely knows what pocky are as well as the game, hes been in the sugar business for a while hes seen some people make games with treats before... doesnt have a favorite flavor by the way, he thinks theyre all solid!

down with playing the game with you, if youre both already together or aware of each others feelings hes going to be teasing you and making side comments about the whole thing

as long as you dont pay much mind to his beard tickling your face, the game goes smoothly!

i dont think he would steal your half of the stick or demolish his side, the man can practice self control! besides, theres more sticks in the box! no need to rush things!

TOILETNATOR

ooooooooooh the second you offer to play the game with him hes all over it! when? how many rounds? right here right now? its actually really sweet with how excited he is!

looks like a banana flavor enjoyer but i can see him also liking the strawberry!

gets a little too excited so the round doesnt last that long

but i can also see him freezing in the moment because wooooooow he cant believe this is really happening!

if he could hed have a bunch of hearts popping in the air around him after you meet in the middle

basically begs to do it again and he gets super excited when you bring some pocky home

MR FIZZ

doesnt know about the game but he knows about the treat! has tried some of them! he looks like a cookies n creme enjoyer but i can also see him being a fan of the almond!

slow and steady, hes competitive but hes not going to slam the stick down his throat just to win or to get the kiss

its not his first choice for a cute couples game but hes not going to shoot you down

thinks its amusing that you get flustered from the game, if you do

especially since youre the one who brought it up in the first place

generally a positive interaction, as an aside unrelated to the prompt/post i can definitely see him sharing a drink with you- same cup two straws kind of deal

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC REVIEW: The Last Days of Lilah Goodluck by Kylie Scott

4.25/5. Releases 2/6/2024.

Vibes: fated mates but make it contemporary, bucket lists, royal romance with a twist, and "what are friends for?" *eyebrows*

Heat Index: 7/10

After saving the life of a random psychic, Lilah is offered several predictions: 1) her boyfriend is indeed cheating 2) she'll get passed over for that promotion 3) the winning lotto numbers 4) she'll meet her soulmate, Alistair George 5) she's going to die in eight days. After she finds out her boyfriend is indeed cheating, loses out on her promotion, meets the King's illegitimate son Alistair George (among other names, because aristo), and wins the lottery... She's getting worried. Fortunately, though he thinks it's bullshit, Alistair is ready to help her cross items off her bucket list. But as sparks fly between perky Lilah and surly Alistair, she has to wonder: has she met her one true love just when her time is running out?

I love Kylie Scott; she's easily one of my favorite contemporary romance authors--her books never fail to make me laugh, while offering some swoonworthy moments, great voice, and... hot sex scenes. Her recent pivot to books with a touch of magic has added an extra bit of whimsy to her romances, and I like it a lot. This book would make a great movie or miniseries, to be honest. It's fun, adventurous, and has that tension hanging overhead. (Though, obviously, there's an HEA.) The kind of romcom I can get behind!

Quick Takes:

--The thing is... the magic in these Kylie books never takes away from the fact that she's writing a strong contemporary romance. It's more of a plot device that gets the ball rolling than a plot dominator. Here, I'd say the setup comes into play a bit more than it did in End of Story (which I also enjoyed) but it would, wouldn't it? And ultimately, we are really reading about Lilah learning how to live life to the fullest and fall in true, deep love. I'm always good with that.

--I think the recent Windsor-related events have obviously spurred more authors on to write about rebellious royals in love, and I'm never mad at that. However, I really loved the twist Kylie put into it with Alistair's backstory. Like, everyone in the world knows he's the king's firstborn. He's globally famous (and we certainly see the fallout of that when he's spotted out and about with Lilah). But his father has never acknowledged him.

Not only does that add some great emotional tension to the story--it also makes Alistair seem like a lot less of an inherent dick, and I totally read it as Kylie capturing the prince mystique while also being like "let us be real, this is a Kylie Scott hero, he is not getting a manicure, he's gruff and snarky and ready to carry a wacky girl around and put. it. DOWN." A great compromise. Yes, he's still massively privileged, but he's also like... a royal pariah. And Scottish! And he DOES say "och", praise Jesus.

--Great supporting characters, as per usual for Kylie. Alistair basically has this floaty, whimsical mother (in a lot of ways, she read to me like a Princess Diana type if she was in the role of Camilla and cared more about the glam and jetsetting than... activism, but with a kind of very loving, well-intentioned, a bit unconventional mothering). And his mom's gardener/handy-man/Longtime Friend with Tension Dougal is great, too.

Often, supporting characters in contemporaries feel like they're just there to go "you go, girl!" Kylie is too good a writer to settle for that. I loved Lady Helena and Dougal, and I loved that sort of off-the-page heavily implied secondary romance going on.

--Now. Alistair and Lilah. YES. It is a grumpy/sunshine deal, though, per Kylie, Lilah is a bit on the snarky side of sunshiney. He's not even up for being friends with her at first, and he's definitely not on board with this soulmate thing. But you can tell he just can't get this woman out of his mind, and he keeps coming back for more, and then, slowly but surely, HE'S the one wilding out and being like "THIS ONE. I WANT THIS ONE".

I really liked the way that Alistair gradually went from "this prophecy shit is so stupid Lilah" to "I don't want to believe it but what if I lose this woman" anxiety. It touched my heart.

--Just as a sidebar, love how Kylie writes curvy heroines. There's mention of Lilah's body, but like. It's just her body. She mentions cellulite and insecurities, but they never seem like mind-dominating insecurities. And uh. Alistair is ABOUT IT.

The Sex:

Speaking of! Um! I love the sex scenes in Kylie's books as a rule, especially when it's this like, borderline utilitarian "help a girl out" vibe which everyone inevitably gets SUPER into, escalating into intense passion. One of the things on Lilah's bucket list is to have truly great sex, and at some point Alistair, her new good buddy, naturally goes "fine, I can get that done for you".

And. Boy. Does. He. As usual with her books, there's an amazing description of cunnilingus (with a liiiiittle bit of butt stuff), some hot groping in a semi-public setting, an elevator scene that will live in my mind for a long time, and some great "are you okay with doing this very intimate thing we didn't plan on doing but oh my god we're so wrapped up in each other we just gotta". Alistair is a deliverer of the praise kink.

But perhaps! More! Excitingly! ... Alistair is into delivering some light choking? I, ah. Did not expect that. I don't think Lilah did either. And it's SUPER hot. I did some bookmarking. I did some "oh my"-ing. It was great.

This book is such a whimsical, fun, palate cleaner with a good mix of adventure, romance, family drama, and bangin'. If you've never tried a Kylie book, I would definitely recommend this. And if you're a fan of hers already, you're gonna love it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Graydon House for providing me with acopy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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