#I'm doing this because I've been itching to make a poll

[ao3cassandraic]

Flooding the zone

Like many in the US right now, I'm having trouble holding my shit together. It's a day-by-day, night-by-nightmare thing. I do not read mainstream news. I have what social media I have left (including this hellsite) filtered to hell and back, because it doesn't take much to send me into a spiral.

So if that's you too right now, I feel you, and I swear I'm not writing this post to make it worse.

I'm writing it to ask us to think about what we're saying and doing and how we're spending our energy.

I'm not a political scientist, but I read a few. I'm not a labor theorist, but I am a union member and officer. Our situation in the US rhymes with other situations, geographically and historically, and one thing that's crystal clear is there are ways to stop this shit and it takes numbers and actions and often time.

The numbers are maybe smaller than you think? That one surprised me. Active resistance from maybe 5% of the population has stopped coups cold.

The rub is, best I can tell, that it's hard to say exactly which actions are gonna turn the tide, never mind when -- this shit's complicated and contextual and frequently opportunistic (as with President Yoon's faceplant in South Korea) such that even hindsight gets a bit murky.

So it seems to me that what it makes sense to do is flood the zone, as they say in American football, and keep flooding it. And yeah, that's a Steve Bannonism too, but what our enemies lack in ethics and care they make up for in cold hard strategy, so why not steal it from them?

(Part of my thinking is George Lakoff, too. Smart dude. Decent one, too. Check him out.)

Flood the zone with truth. Flood the zone with defiance -- it's our country too! Flood the zone with hope.

And not just once, but many times, because we can never know in advance the one time that'll put us over the top. Also because like almost any serious endeavor, resistance takes practice. As we practice, we get habituated to the practice and we get stronger and better at the practice!

I can attest to this myself. I spent most of my adult life pretty lousy at civic engagement (never mind resistance), if I'm honest. I voted routinely, but that was about it. I started switching it up in 2011 (I'm a Sconnie and Scott Walker sure did happen), though -- protests, donations, working the polls, union membership and then service, contacting my legislators, more protests, campaign work, some other stuff.

And now a lot of the above list is plain old routine, for me? It's ordinary as weather. It's just part of how I live my life. I bet civic engagement, including in the form of resistance, can become that way for you, too.

I believe a fair few of us can step onto the same road I've been on if we redirect some of our existing efforts -- because doomscrolling is an effort, venting is an effort, doomsaying and amplifying doomsayers is an effort. Let me gently suggest:

Instead of doomscrolling or ruminating: meditation, spiritual or religious practice if you have one, exercise if it's available to you, reading books or fanfic, doing puzzles or brainteasers (I have developed such a Squaredle habit).

If you can't scratch the doomscroll itch unless you're looking at something political, try Mariame Kaba or Rebecca Solnit or even Ezra Klein. If the problem is the doomscroll finding you, filters and blocks and getting away from algorithm-personalized platforms can likely help, and that last is a good idea all by itself.

Instead of venting to social media or into the void: vent at elected officials! You don't have to start with phone calls, or do them at all (I rarely do) -- remember, we're flooding the zone, and the zone's pretty big. Email or Resistbot or postcards are totally fine. More fun in groups -- postcard with friends!

If you can, try to angle your conversational contributions online and off-, including what you reblog/retoot/boost, away from venting and toward action and hope. This doesn't have to be because you're actually feeling hope -- it absolutely can be (and for me often is) a conscious strategy to develop fellow travelers and discipline my own mind and hands.

Instead of doomsaying, express hope and love and solidarity. Again, you don't always have to feel it -- it's a conscious organizing strategy, get me? If it helps you feel more hope and more solidarity yourself, and it may (especially as others respond to it), that's a grateful bonus.

Or consider a swear-jar strategy. Catch yourself doomsaying? Make a donation or email a legislator or whatever -- just decide on a useful action you'll take when you slip up, and hold yourself to it. Every time.

It's not hard to find people who say that all the above is performative, it's not action, it's not effective, ka-blah-ka-blah-ka-blah. I say that we damned well don't know that and that lots of small efforts from lots of people is totally how zones get flooded.

I also say that everyone starts somewhere, and that the zone ain't gonna flood itself.

Redirect even a little effort to flood the zone with me, please? Thank you. And my love to you and to all of us in these times.

[shadowsofdread]

inspired by the poll about theron shan's romantic chemistry with each of the origin classes, i wanna pose a somewhat similar question because i love thinking about it. it's a big thing in the swtor fandom that people tend to write relationships between their mains of each of the origin stories, and certain trends/combinations tend to be common - namely, sith warrior & jedi knight, jedi knight & jedi consular, sith warrior & sith inquisitor, etc.

so an open question i'm putting forward for anyone to reply to is what are your favorite pairings of classes - platonically, romantically, secret third thing, antagonistically, etc. you don't have to name an "underrated" one, but my question is based more on the chemistry between the classes, like, in general as opposed to specific iterations of that class. i.e., by all means use your OCs as an example of why you like that pairing, but like. i am talking more broadly about archetypes than specific characters. does this make sense. anyway, some of mine:

sith warrior & jedi knight

you knew this one was coming. i think the SW and JK are positioned pretty well to act as foils to one another, and there's something very interesting about how the transitions between Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 of each campaign mirror each other, with the finales of their respective campaigns leaving them on opposite sides of a current or future antagonist - with the SW ending up on that same side as the JK by ziost. i've interpreted this as a shared sense of personal responsibility - through their actions, one way or another, they make the most sense for being the emperor's number one enemy, which may lead to a sort of alliance between the two characters, depending how you spin it. or, hey, maybe your sith warrior is actually loyal to the emperor even still, at least until they are ultimately betrayed by valkorion. in which case, lifelong, bitter enemies. where maybe they should've had a common cause, maybe the pieces should've been there all along for them to fight together, but against all sanity and reason, the SW chooses again and again to stand by vitiate/valkorion.

sith warrior & imperial agent

next to SW&JK, this is the dynamic i keep coming back to over and over again - there's a reason why taizi's met most of @tiredassmage's agents. it's also the one i have the hardest time explaining why i like so much. there's the appeal of like ... hypercompetent pairing with vastly different skills but very good at those skills. it's kind of like a variation on what scratches my brain about SW & quinn in that there's a lot of toying around you can do with sith/imperial power dynamics - made even more interesting depending on the type of agent you're playing, and regardless an agent who has had their literal brain fucked with by the dark council, i.e. the castellan restraints.

sith warrior & jedi consular

listen. have i actually gotten to use this one much in the "playing blorbo barbies with my friends" sphere? not exactly. it's a very new one that i'm still rotating, and i don't know how to explain what it is i like about it but i really, really want to see more of it. i think it could be delicious, brent. please let your warriors and your consulars talk to each other more. one thing i will put forward is i think SW & JC scratches a similar itch to SW & JK to me, but in, like, a slightly different font? i dunno, man. i just wanna see it more.

honorable mentions:

jedi consular OR jedi knight & trooper: it's like jedi / clone trooper but without the ethical issues and cognitive dissonance! /lh

sith inquisitor & jedi consular: could be taken so many different ways, i just don't think enough about SI to do much with it

imperial agent & jedi knight: only really seen a few iterations - two of them being my own - but like. something in here's really fucking good.

[bokettochild]

⭐️ Crown Admist Courage ⭐️

I'm really enjoying the story so far! 💕🥰

Oh boy!

So, obviously, I REALLY like the Prince Legend trope, yeah?

This fic was mostly born out of a need to write a Legend centric fic again after not having written him a long-fic of his own since, what, Feathered? I mean, other than ABFHP, but that is..... we don't talk about that...

*goes and sobs in unfulfilled ideas and a writing style changed by a years work and no longer what it was for that project*

*ahem*, anyways! Clearly, I wanted to play with something, and I don't remember what it was precisely, but for ages now, I've had this thought in my head of all the knights just...finding out legend is royal and losing their shit. Not gonna lie, the thought of him perched on a throne (not sitting properly on it because he's just Like That) while the rest stand around with swords drawn and Legend smirking his freaking face off at the camera has been haunting me for the last few years.

I like the idea of Legend eventually weaponizing his status when he needs to, although I doubt it will ever actually appear in a fic. That said! After writing Legend as a prince in ABFHP, the idea of playing with it again but this time in the boys' home environment (AKA the outdoors) was sort of itching at my brain.

Honestly, it was probably someone in the LU-Legend community here on Tumblr that inspired the actual fic with some sort of post about Legend and knights or something, but my brain got to working and thinking and eventually I decided to make it an official draft.

I actually put it up to a poll to determine what my next fic would be, and ACAC was one of like, six options I put out there for my next major fic. I think the other ones were a Warriors dies/is forgotten, the boys get trapped in Time's world post LU, and a mix-and-match fic where the boys get separated and paired off with a random princess and have to find each other across time and space again; but now with said princess in tow. ACAC won the poll though, and so I started writing it- um...... *checks calendar* almost six months ago?!?!?!?! Holy cow? Like it's the start of a new month but sweet snap-dragons!!!!

Anyways!

Starting a fic is generally torture for me, at least when I know it's going to be a multi-chap/longfic. The first chapter sets the mood for the whole thing and establishes the interpretation of the characters and all that, so I was wracking my brain for what to do to get this thing off the ground. In the end, I ended up opening a random google-doc and just writing whatever my brain would spit out, wondering where to go and what to do and just rambling out every concept I could think of.

I debated so hard on whether or not Legend would actually know about his heritage or not, but since Feathered used the approach that he was in the dark, I thought it would be fun to do one where Legend's known all along, is totally aware of where he comes from and the history surrounding it, and it just stupidly ignorent to the fact that everyone around him is slowly figuring it out.

I knew we'd have some angst, since the royal-prince theories have been pretty dark since I first entered the fandom, so, for a bit of humor, I decided to go the route of "everyone eventually knows but also assumes they're the only one that knows", so, to any readers who were hoping that the boys would compare notes and use their brains, sorry to disappoint! Nobody is likely going to share their knowledge on purpose. if anything, I think it will be Legend that eventually 'outs himself', but only after everyone already knows. Until then, we'll just have all the boys convinced they are the sole knower of a very important and dangerous secret that they cannot share with the rest of they want Legend to stay alive.

That in mind! I had to start the fic I a way that wouldn't start it too slow, nor too fast.

The first draft actually was done in an echo of Feathered where I would recount about how Legend learned the truth, ages and ages ago, but it set up the imagine of a very innocent, sweet, baby-fied Legend (who, to be fair, would actually have been like nine at the time so it's not too bad) and it would make transitioning to the actual plot really tricky. That, and it just felt like a cheap knock-off of my previous works, and I didn't want that. So, instead, I tried to figure out a way for somebody to learn about the truth, and Sky ended up being the one I wanted to find out first.

I ran a few scenarios in my mind, but in the end, I decided on using the temple/Palace of Hylia plotline that we see in the fic. I figured that having Legend interact with ancient artifacts meant for the gods alone might set it up nicely, and putting them in an ancient building meant that I got to have written explanations dotted about for Sky to see for himself, and read, while the rest likely wouldn't be able to.

Sky coming to grips with the situation, with Sun's help, had many versions. I had them flirting and teasing and assuring each other in every direction, but very little of it was consistent with the point I was trying to drive: Legend is connected to Hylia somehow. I ended up cutting a TON of Sky/Sun interactions/moments in order to stay on track, including a chapter from Sun's perspective on the whole matter. I do like what I came out with though; it feels like a good balance of the plot and some character/dynamic building while also providing substantial lore to set up the story the way that I wanted to!

I was not actually intending on dragging the boys all the way to Warriors time so soon either, because I wanted to have them explore the surface village and meet people, but in the end I ended up cutting that too because it felt more rambling, and really could just be boiled down to a single paragraph instead.

Fun not though about their entrance into the captain's world! The portal is actually made by Lana! Technically speaking, the boys were yoinked across time and space because Lana needed backup and just summoned the first person that came to mind, and he ended up coming with eight other heroes in tow! I intended to make a note of this or otherwise touch on it in-fic, but, obviously, there was a lot of exposition happening and I couldn't find a good way to make it come up naturally. It might still be brought up, but I'm not sure.

Now, obviously, if you've been watching my Tumblr, you probably know that I put out polls to see who would find out next in any given update, and I wasn't actually planning on it being Wars, but what the people wanted, the people got! The appear of having knight drama was just too strong!

Initially, I was planning on leaving it at Warriors seeing the vet use similar magic to Zelda and putting the pieces together and just leaving it at that, but then, while making dinner one night after a few rounds of HW, I ended up just.... accidentally imagining/daydreaming the whole bit with Impa explaining things to Warriors. No lie, I did not plan a single line of that! I thought it and then grabbed for my computer and started typing as fast as I could while the spark was still there, trying to cover everything from the imaginary conversation in my head. In the end, I had to cut the scene in two because it just was so MUCH, but I loved the ideas I came up with there. it is, by far, the best theory I have come up with in regards to the princes' of Hyrule and the royal family as a whole, ever! Enough so that I've started referencing it in other fics too (although to a lesser extent, but TBoHH now has nods to it now, and I'm sure it follow elsewhere as well, going forwards .

Warriors reactions are made to be sort of a mirror to the way that Wild used to act in the memories we see in BOTW, and I actually really wanted to include a scene that sort of mirrors that first memory we locate where Flora yells at Wild for following her everywhere. Chapter 12 was supposed to include Legend shouting some very similar choice words at Wars, but I ended up scrapping it (and the whole chapter draft) when it kept petering out and rambling off into nowhere. I still intend to touch on the parallels there though!

Speaking of parallels, I am loving getting to play with the Flora & Legend parallels! The first time I ever compared them was actually in the OG TBBU series, where Wild observes to Warriors and Time that Legend is very similar to his princess in many ways, and that comparison has stuck in my head since. I have intentionally played into it in this fic, from the first chapter where Wild lends Legend his slate to the present one I released this weekend. The purpose of this is to mess with Wild's head but also to sort of endear Legend to him so that he's not just being a knight, like Wars, but actually uses his experience from being Flora's knight to navigate his supposed duty to the vet better than the captain is. For example, rather than acting stiff and soldierly, he's being friendly and appealing to Legend's interests so that he can manipulate circumstances to let him stay close to the vet and thus protect him better.

Honestly, I love the dynamic potential between the two of them, and having Flora as a sort of a base model for Legend's behavior makes it easier to write him in this AU where he's experiencing things that JoJo's Legend would never actually even see, realistically. It also makes for some great Wild angst/character building, because it plays into his memory loss and issues regarding failure, while also giving him context for new situations and ways to help.

Legend's Magic

I had no intentions of bringing Legend's magic into the fic at all, save a single throwaway line to reference my theories about Legend post-Koholint (do NOT ask me about these unless you want an angst-fest that may or may not have wrecked more drafts than I care to admit, and which might go on for hours/pages). For spoiler reasons for several fics now, I can't explain the magic thing in full, but I really just meant it to be an explanation for why Legend's not freely using holy magic left and right, but you guys seemed to really enjoy the concept, so I've been leaning more into it!

The heart issues are actually a side effect of his magical condition, and I like to think Legend's had poor health his whole life as a result of his magic being too strong for his physical form (much like how Impa spoke about in fic). Being that he's a twin, he's actually the weaker/smaller sibling, and sue to the conditions he was raised in, that was aggravated by a lack of food, medical care, and his early start to adventuring, all of which contributed to making his body weaker even as his magic continued to get stronger.

None of this is the fault of the vet's Uncle, but because Legend's parents died when he was very small, Uncle was left providing for him single-handedly, while trying to fly under the radar of the crown, so they were pretty poor all around and genuinely couldn't afford what was needed to help Legend grow up properly. In contrast, Zelda did have these things and thus doesn't suffer the same issues.

The Plot Going Forwards

Again, I did NOT intend to really delve into Legend's magic in this fic, not much, but I realized over time that, once the boys all find out, it might be nice to have an actual conflict for them all to face, legend of course being at the center of it, and it would be pretty cool if magic/godly heritage ended up being a major plot point. And yes, this line of thought can be blamed entirely on @weepingtalecowboy, who has been flooding my brain, and the LU-Legend community, with killer ideas about the vet and who kindly gave me permission to try my hand at some of them.

Currently, the idea appealing most to me is the boys being stranded in Hyrule's era and having to deal with some cultists, because I've never really played with that before and it would be so fun to really hurt them all via ritual sacrifice and torture >:)

Of course, things might change, and I have no set plans for this fic and really am just going where it takes me.

Epona

Legend's a horse girl and I feel it is a great crime that we haven't touched on this fact more My man used to be able to speak to animals just passively (as per the OoS manga/his games), and while it is hinted this is part of his magic, and thus no longer something he can do in this fic, I really wanted to touch on it.

I fully intend on playing with Epona more in the fic and making her relevant to the story in some way, although HOW, I'm not yet sure. As a result though, I think Twilight might be next to learn the truth about the vet (also because I desperately want to use a fun line/reference in the fic but it only works with Twilight)

Trivia

Legend honestly has so much random trivia related to him that your average LU fan likely doesn't know about. From his knowledge of telephones to the fact that he's canonically a boxer, there are so many little asides, characters, facts, traits, and skills that I so rarely see in fics, and I'm making an effort to lean more into the Legend lore in this story and include them!

So far, I've gotten to include the factoid about Legend's ability to speak to animals, his boxing skills, Ghanti's whole existence, and, of course, the whole technology thing! I want to toss in a few details every few chapters, and maybe bring in a few characters we rarely see in fics, but there's no promise that I CAN. (I will be trying though)

The Princesses

So far, only Sun has really gotten any spotlight, but I do want to include a fair bit about the princesses where I can in this fic, making them actually plot relevant rather than just passing background characters who show up just for a cameo and then disappear again, like they have in my other fics. Again, I have no concrete plans and am sort of winging this whole thing, but I do enjoy having the girls play a role of some kind. I was hoping to have Artemis involved more, before, but Impa ended up taking over instead.

-

And that's it for now! We haven't gotten all that far in the story, technically speaking, and only three out of eight have figured anything out!

That said though, I am just here for the ride, and have no clue where we're going, so who knows what's next and who knows how close/far we are from the end LOL

I wanted to thank everyone who's been reading and commenting though, for their kind words, fun ideas, theories, suggestions, and general encouragement! It's been fun and I hope it continues to be so!

[suzukiblu]

Hi sorry I'm new here so I'm not sure how the whole WIP thing works - is it only things you're actively writing? I'm not trying to pressure you or anything, I've just been fully brainrot consumed by your Red Hood omegaverse WIP and I haven't seen anything about it in almost a month. Again, sorry if this comes off as pushy ;-;

You're all good, man, I am always of the "ask if you don't know" mindset! Just makes the most sense, imo. And thank you, glad to hear you're enjoying . . . um presumably the DickJay one since that one specifically namedrops "Red Hood" in the WIP tag and also I don't THINK I've updated my other Jason-related omegaverses in the past month-ish, but heck if I actually remember either way, haha. 😅😅

Basically the way it works around here is I have about eight hundred billion WIPs I consider "active" ( there's an alphabetical but still slightly chaotic list of specifically the DC ones right here; just make sure to open that link in a browser if you're on the app 'cuz sometimes the app gets tetchy with it ) and I work on whatever I'm vibing with unless either:

a) I am actively running WIP Wednesday or a similar writing meme, in which case I will put up a post about said writing meme and its rules and what the options to request from are (WIP Wednesday typically goes up 12:30pm EST the weeks I do it, but other request memes I just do randomly )

OR

b) someone donates to me on Ko-fi, in which case I write them thank-you words or sentences, word count and specific WIP depending on if it's a one-off dono or a specific subscription tier ( those explanations/rules are a little hard to summarize down to an elevator pitch but are all on my Ko-fi page if/as needed ).

Otherwise, like I said, it's just whatever I'm most vibing with. Sometimes I also just randomly write more of something because someone's interested in it and as a result told me something that gave me the itch to work on it or because somebody I know is bummed out or having a tough day/week and I know they like a specific WIP, or I'll take votes via poll or things like that; it kinda just depends? Also sometimes I will ask weird questions like "hey spin this wheel and tell me what random quote you got" and will write based off the responses people, well, get, haha. Lately I've been picking one WIP to dedicate a specific amount of time to and posting daily in it during that time; right now we're doing a month of "think pink" 'cuz I was feeling it and also I knew people would appreciate seeing more of it; next month, who knows! Maybe four fics!! Maybe no fics!! It'll be a surprise to us all, especially me, hahaha.

So yeah I am very, very ADHD, if that was in any way at all subtle, lol.

[wings-of-ink]

Hear ye, hear ye!

All of you who have been anxiously awaiting Chapter 4 can send a big thank you to the Microsoft mayhem that happened on Friday. Because of it, I have had two entire, unprecedented, days off of work during which all I did was write and edit chapter 4! Stuff like this never happens to me either, so I ate it up. My work computer is still super broken too, so who knows what will happen tomorrow, lol.

So, chapter 4, barring anything disastrous that I do not yet foresee – is coming very soon. Like, any day this week soon. For now, I am looking for bugs and other errors until I feel comfortable getting the update loaded. I will also be updating the warning list and some things on the itch page. I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something I wanted to do, and am having a hell of a time remembering what it was…

Anyway, if it interests you, more details below!

In going through some of the Google Error Reports, I had a couple that I either could not resolve or find.

It was reported that checking player stats in chapter 1 would not work – that it would flash only for a moment. I could not recreate this. If anyone else has seen this, please let me know.

In the end of chapter 2 where there are multiple ways to spend your time there seems to be some issues with how choices become unselectable after certain clicks and it just doesn't seem to function correctly. I have fixed the issues I have found, but could not recreate all of the instances that were reported. This section may get an overhaul in the future since I understand the coding a bit more now.

It was also reported that fonts are not changing. There is definitely a weird issue with this and it will take some time for me to sit down and hammer out. The fonts do change for me, but notably, I don't think they are switching to the correct font types. They don't even appear to be the same fonts from when I first starting this project, lol. This issue is on hold for now.

The last 2 bonus segments for the end of chapter 3 are being pushed aside for the time being. I kept finding myself feeling like I was hammering them into the chapter and it was a little exhausting. If I force it, it will be less enjoyable to read. The segments that are missing are the ones for hanging out with Zahn and Nathanael. Zahn's is easy to wiggle in elsewhere at least, but I'm not sure if Nathan's will make it in or not. We'll see, my motivation was purely for chapter 4, so now that it is ready to go, I'll have another crack at it before I drop or move them completely. They aren't super important to the story, but are just for fun (and if Oswin got his, it's only fair that Zahn gets theirs too). That last section of chapter 3 ended up way too long, so it may get adjusted later anyway.

As with any work in progress, I can't guarantee that your old saves will work. That's probably how we are going to have to roll for a bit until I really get things nice and smooth. Eventually, I will add an option to start from a later chapter and go through and make the (MANY) relevant choices to skip ahead. This may be implemented when Chapter 6 is ready to go since all the ROs will be available.

I also want to figure out how to implement named saves to make it easier for you to sort. I appreciate IFs that feature this, but I do not yet know how to do it, but I'm going to research. I like to play through with several MCs, and I'd like to offer enough info in the saves and/or Stats Menu that you can do this and easily know who you are playing as. Let me know what you would like most in the Player Stats Menu too. Note, that some options do not appear here until you choose them in the story.

Coming up…

Since Chapter 4 is down, I will soon be posting a big poll about future IFs. I've been compiling info for it here and there for a couple weeks on possible options for me to write in conjunction with God-Cursed. So, stay tuned for that in the coming days.

I will FINALLY get to my inbox in earnest as well! I will keep reaction asks paused until further notice since they take me the longest to answer. Feel free to still send in comments or quicker questions. If your question is too spoilery to answer, I will not be able to post about it.

Anyway, hope you are all doing well! I can't wait to see what you think of chapter 4. I hope you enjoy it. I'll get it out just as soon as I feel comfortable enough with it. ^_^

[mortish-writes]

Hi! Hope you are having a nice weekend 💙 So, first of all, I know there's been talk about opposites attracting, but I've finally decided on the personality and traits for my Zealot MC, so the Heretic doesn't get lonely, and. well, the Zealot ended up having a white bond with Serax and gold with Val... On unbound... Idk if with such a gap Serax is jealous over the ~vibes~ he's observing, but I assume he is. (Also I LOVED the final scene for non-weaver Zealot. The one with the bath kiss. That's probably my fav scene with Val out of all I have seen so far 🤌) Now for the questerinos: which channel of perception is the dominant one for each of the boys, i.e. sight, touch, smell?.. Also, do you have a writing\inspo playlist? Or character\lore themed playlist?

Thank you! I'm kind of sad this weekend 'cause I had to go on a diet. I miss candy.

Valdricht is a tough one because he's very attuned to his sixth sense, loosely tied to what he refers to as aevyrvenaeth, or his higher self. It's something that will take me several scenes to unpack in a way that readers can understand, but the best way I can describe it is have you ever randomly thought of someone just before they called you out of the blue, or had the sense that something was very wrong, only to find out that a loved one had been hurt? It's almost like there's a level of existence that we can sometimes brush up against, but not quite harness. Valdricht is very tapped into that realm and much of his perception flows through that sense. If you read his alt POV scene on Itch, you'll notice that he perceives Serax's mental state in colors prior to attributing said colors to emotions. It's something we'll explore a lot more in his future scenes and also in his conversations with the MC, as she will also be able to tap into this ability.

Serax is much more grounded. He tends to make snap judgements based on sights and smells, but is also quite tactile. I'd say that touch is his strongest medium of perception, and a big reason he's often motivated by carnal pleasures.

I have a writing playlist but I'm so old and like 90% of the audience is Gen Z, they'd probably be bewildered by choices. That said, I've been thinking of adding a "Song of the Night" to my release posts, giving readers a song I think most reflects the mood of each night. Song suggestions always welcome, I love new music.

Probably my #1 song for the early arc of both MCs is "Home" by Gabrielle Alpin. It really beautifully encapsulates the arc of feeling like you don't belong in the place of your birth, then breaking away from what you knew and building a new life, while being cognizant that you'll always carry pieces of your beginning with you.

"From Eden" by Hozier could have been written for Val. The narrative of a wicked sinner preying on a wholesome person because they remind him of the innocence he lost a long time ago...shivers. Serax is more complicated, I feel like if I threw out songs for him readers would be bewildered because no one knows Serax yet despite the myriad hard opinions about him (:

Ok, now a question for you as one of our resident BoS enjoyers who isn't able to participate in Patreon polls because of region shenanigans. Which tendency do you feel like would improve your Zealot that isn't in the game yet?

[tricitymonsters]

I know I put a lot of attention on Steam because of the sheer size of the marketplace and the effort Steam itself takes in marketing for devs but I really wanted to take a second to shout out TCM's numbers on itch.io because I really feel like the game found it's first platform there and I especially want to highlight what a great community it is for Indie Devs of all experience levels.

So I have TCM split up between 4 titles on itch- the main one is for all the new stuff and then each beta has it's own homepage. Downside, it kinda splits all my metrics up but the plus side its much easier to navigate for yall so I'll refrain from complaining lol.

Now given we started with just the Mori beta in late 2021, and added chapters slowly over time, here's where we're at right now.

Views: 312k

Downloads: 22.3k

Browser Plays: 35.6k

Ratings: 347

Collections: 5295

Comments: 189

So there are a couple really interesting things going on with this data. Let's analyze

Firstly, the numbers on the main chapter beat the *hell* out of the beta numbers. BUT this makes sense as more people are going to find the main game or PLAY the main game first at a vastly higher rate. So even though that game page has been up the least amount of time, it gets *by far* the most traffic. For example, if we take away the main page numbers, here's how the betas are doing on their own:

Views: 63.3k

Downloads: 5.4k

Browser Plays: 18.2k

Ratings: 133

Collections: 847

Comments: 42

So, if you were an indie dev posting your game on itch.io, these numbers should tell you to carefully consider how you're going to organize your game- especially if it comes in multiple parts. When I was going through the betas I did consider keeping everything on one page and therefore aggregating all of my traffic stats into one place but there are pros and cons.

Mostly, I went with separate pages because:

It's easier to organize files for downloads per character/game piece than to have a huge list of system-specific builds for every character that players have to scroll through. It's just hard to parse out.

Second, I thought that breaking up the chapters like this might help me better gauge each character's popularity via their stats. This... sort of worked. Because the Mori beta went up almost a year before Amir's, his numbers are MUCH higher and I have to be careful not to conflate that with his raw popularity. Another tricky note is that since Mori was the first chapter uploaded, many people will play his beta and then if they decide they're not into the game, won't play the other two characters, which again inflates Mori's numbers.

It was obvious in the gap after Spooktober 2021 and Amir's chapter that I had a project worth pursuing but the way I structured itch.io has made it hard to accurately gauge how popular exactly each character is.

Most of you know I'm running a popularity poll right now for some milestone art and while I expected Mori to lead (even with all the caveats I just listed, he does tend to be the most popular of the bunch) but I did not expect Akello to be *right* on his ass, even before weighing the patreon votes so.

Goes to show you that understanding structure and traffic trends can really go a very very long way to engaging your audience and build a stable, fun community around your game.

Another huge advantage to itch is that- in generalities- the community and ecosystem there is much kinder to beginner devs and passion projects. On steam, I'm taking up the same marketplace space as AAA multimillion-dollar games and while the eyeballs that comes with that is great for TCMs longevity hopefully, it also comes with the reality that I'm marking a queer niche adult visual novel right next to Mainstream Gamers. Now, I do want to be extremely clear that my experience with Steam so far has been really good- TCM has good and (more importantly) honest reviews, people have passed constructive critique to me and been extremely reasonable, I've managed to connect to some content curators who have similar tastes... But Steam is also the home to like. "Oooh Naur Woke Games Kill Art" Lists and stuff so. My experience on Itch is that- while some of that exists to a certain degree- the general ecosystem is much more forgiving and less sharply fractured.

I'm not sure that I would change anything I've done in the point leading me here so far, I think that by and large I've made the best choices I could given what I knew at the time and also managed to roll with the punches as the come but my experienced advice at this stage is definitely for an indie dev who hasn't landed a solid success yet or a hobby dev looking for feedback to start with Itch.io as a place to build your game's community.

There are other game hosting sites too, like Gamejolt, for instance, but while TCM used to be on Gamejolt their content policies and audience demographics were not a great fit, as was my experience with Newgrounds.

So. there are MANY choices but in all I'm grateful I didn't jump right into steam and also that my itch.io audience has been SO supportive and so enthusiastic about rating/commenting/and curating TCM to help spread the word. Especially since early in the project I had basically no marketing budget (I have a very small one now that covers the occasional blazed post but still).

ANYWAY thanks for reading my big dumb rambling posts but I really wanted to shed some light on the virtues of Itch after I've been chasing my own tail trying to get Steam working for me the way I want.

[myreitha]

Costume time!

Okay, you know what, I want to share this process and I've chosen y'all to suffer with me.

SO! A friend of mine doesn't have a spooky show to produce this year, and so is putting all his energy into a cool-ass halloween event (Fancy paper invites, puzzles to solve, challenges, games, seances, etc). The whole thing is themed around this fake secret society that we're all now part of, and the dress cose and we're being encouraged to come up with cool fancy clothes/outfits to match the theme to come in. Best description I can come up with for this theme is "Fancy witchy-vampire" (Like, think VtM, but witchier). THAT SAID. I'm still out of a job, so, I've got to be strategic. AND I've got the itch to make things. Even better. (More past the cut!)

I don't have photos for a lot of these earlier decisions and stages, sorry. BUT I go through my closet and costume tubs (the for-fun-or-cosplay costumes as well as the circus/performing ones) and have a nice closet-runway to figure out what I'm starting with and settle on this one burgundy satin wrap top with big-ass sleeves that I love. . .that unfortunately doesn't go with much that I have in my wardrobe that vibes with the theme. (There's like. . .one or two things it works with, but I want to be FANCIER). So I sketch around and come up with an idea based around this shirt (and a statement necklace collar I have that was some of the best $5 I've ever spent)

I have this old dress I'd bought at a flea market years ago and had altered to be an overskirt for a hoop skirt, and then it's been worn as a bustle with the bodice tucked away more times than it's felt hoops. It's a similar color as the top, so I figured I'd finally take the bodice off it, pull it in to be something I could walk in that wouldn't trail on teh ground, and I could set it under a corset in the center. Bing-bang-boom! Genius!

No. The skirt and the shirt were similar-but-different enough colors and textures that they clashed. Damnit. Well, I can ditch the skirt and figure out the rest! Some skinny moto pants. A decorative corset - I could embroider a corset (Myr no), or, ooh, use gold appliques (Okay, more realistic, proceed).

Next step was to mock things up as I'm trying to find what I want without purchasing a bunch of shit, which got me to this:

Okay okay okay. Cool, I've got a direction (that's not the shirt, but it's the closest I coudl find online to use, so I used it). Now for the endless internet and thrift store (No fingers, not thirst store, dear god) and internet thrift store searching to find me some cool-ass pants and a corset and some shoes that'll work with this. You'll notice, though that my statement necklace has been swapped out for cool-strappy-thing. Because statement necklace-collar is geometric and GOOD LUCK finding geometric applique. Harder than I expected. Took me a couple months to find things that weren't lots of money that I could afford. BUT I EVENTUALLY DID IT. This included buying multiple corsets with the intention of returning things. Benefits of modern shopping. The happy "lets try everything on" day was this weekend!

SO FAR SO GOOD. Took a poll from friends and the short corset is the winner. It's definitely the best constructed of the three, though the pants aren't QUITE high enough waist to be able to wear under it without some adjustments. But it'll do. The shoes turned out to be dark brown instead of black, so I need to see about making them black (and fixing them so the tongue doesn't decide to go deep diving towards my toes.) Other things to do: bring in the wrists of those sleeves some, they're a bit too big (Here they're clipped with bobby pins), decorate the corset, maybe add some gold detailing onto the pants? They've got that gold ridging along the thighs that you find on moto-pants, but that's absolutely invisible most of the time, so I think if I just brush some gold paint along the tops of those ridges, it'll make them pop in a good way. You'll note that none of these photos have the strappy-thingy, and instead we're back to the statement necklace-collar. Turns out the differece between the image I found on the internet and teh shirt I own is enough that you BARELY SEE the strappy. Also, I decided that instead of using applique, I'd buy some gold paint, make a design that'd work, and paint it on the corset. Only time will reveal whether this was a good or a bad idea.

Other thing this showed me is that this doesn't feel FANCY enough. So I'm coming back to that half-skirt idea. This time, though I'm thinking about something sheer - either a burgundy to match the top, or a black with gold accents (OR A FULL DESIGN?!?!?!).

Last night I got flat photos of the corset for figuring out the design, since the shape I was working with in my sketches doesn't match the chosen corset shape. Pls to enjoy some of the designs I was playing with:

Proooooobably going to see about adjusting the eye design. I think it fits the theme best.

Last night I started on the alternations by taking in the waist of the pants. Please have this photo that happened 30 seconds before my thread was attacked.

[modernlex]

Modern Musings #3 - wrapping up the wips era + other ramblings

Oh hey, this could be long and incoherent so buckle in buckaroos!

With the my ultimate townie wip post finished and out there, that concludes step one of my save file journey. it may have taken me about a year and a half with lots of breaks because real life loves to get into the way of my favorite obsession, but i'm honestly quite excited to have made it this far. some of you may have been around long enough to know that this was in fact my third attempt at hitting every townie once, so i feel like i've achieved something monumental despite this being the tip of the save file iceberg lol.

since i finished up last week i've been doing lots of game maintenance - reorganized/cleared up my cc folders, updated my game & essential mods, finally installed relight, and started a fresh spreadsheet to create a new resources page that i hope to have up next month-ish. andddd i've also gotten the itch to start yet another legacy so i started working on my founder. not sure if it'll ever see the light of day, but i haven't touched live mode in over a year and i need some variety as a start working on individual townie lookbooks.

which brings me to lookbook format - i'm not sure how i want to approach it this time around. in previous attempts i've done 5 outfit lookbooks, with or without cc links and traits. i definitely plan on including links to keep the wcifs lower as a post, but i want to make it a little more interesting. i've been inspired by so many cool layouts on simblr recently and want to try coming up with something to showcase more about the sims, but i'm also considering doing regular lookbooks and separate 'character' posts to showcase likes/dislikes/etc so i'll have to think on it more. i'll probably be doing some polls to see which sims i'll post first so stay on the lookout for those or let me know in the comments.

until my next blab, thank you if you read this and thanks for being part of my silly little sims blog 🖤

[angelofbenignmalevolence]

Last week I left a job that was doing terrible things to my mental health. It has been a week and I have stopped having such terrible insomnia (though it hasnt fully gone away), my anxiety is a little quieter, and I'm starting to get the itch to work on creative projects again. Characters are coming alive again, as if out of a hibernation and tugging gently on my sleeve for attention.

However, because in the last week I have moved house and been through many teeny tiny decisions that have just left my decision making shot, I have lots of ideas and no energy to make a decision.

So now it comes time for another poll because I want to be creative and I don't want to make my own decision XD .

The Lantern Beneath the Waves - (Gordon, Scott?, John?, EOS?) - Thriller?, Horror? - Gordon finds an old, abandoned city beneath the sea and finds more than he bargained for

Would that be the Worst Thing - (Hood/Havoc) - Angst - Same Universe as Bathroom Trash. Havoc has the conversation with the Hood about having his child

Untitled Chaos Crew Origin Story - (Hood, Havoc, Fuse) The first of many origin headcanons that I have in my mind for the Chaos Crew (I have a massive soft spot for them). A glimpse into Fuse and Havoc before they met the Hood and why they chose to go with the Hood.

Untitled Virgil/Minor Canon Character Fluff Piece - (Virgil/Minor Canon Character) I have one of those very bizarre rarepair (may be the only one that ships it) ships that I just want to have a little fun with. From the episode "Path of Destruction," Sophie (the greenhorn) gets a little crush on Virgil and Road Hog is determined to help her greenhorn get a date.

Bad Things Happen Bingo Card Story - (Variable characters involved, Angst, Hurt/Comfort) These got stalled for a bit when my mental health suffered. Should I go back to one of these?

Untitled AU - (Ensemble Cast, Contains OCs) - AU, Sci-Fi - Lucille had a life as part of an experimental program before she escaped and met Jeff and created a family

[bilightningwhumper]

Alright, I'm impatient with myself so my new lady whump story idea poll is going up tonight instead of tomorrow. It's a week-long one, so plenty of time to answer if interested. It's just been digging into my brain for over a week and I need to share at least part of it now. Holding myself back from writing the beginning so I don't delay the October prompts has been difficult enough, so I'm hoping this at least eases the itch somewhat until the month is done. Hoping today isn't busy so I can get some writing done at work to make more progress on those prompts. Like, I have the benefit that everything is thought out and I know what I want to do for each, I've known those since first looking at the prompts lists. It's just actually getting the time an energy to do it has been hard. That and getting over my own internal blocks.

Anyway, that's the update for now. Day 19 is up for all of them if you didn't see last night. Links on the masterlists are accurate up till Day 18, currently. I'll mass fix the newer stuff when I get more done. Because you know, time and energy.

[vinnymauro]

make me write: 5k edition

hey hi hello it's been a while! tbh i've been in a gif rot hell hole and while i still have a couple of sets i need to do (about 4 in total) i kind of have an itch to write. and since i can feel some of my life returning to normal i figured i'd start up one of these again!! yes. they're the same wips as they have been because ya boi (gn) here has not posted anything in a while. or finished anything. and i'm already thinking of rewriting the third part to tied me to you for the 2nd rewrite. sigh. help a friend out pls<3

acey’s poll breakdown

this poll is to determine which of my wips will be worked on for 1 week for a goal of 5k

in case of a tie, i’ll split 2.5k between both

the writing won’t start until sunday 12 am and will end the following sunday 12 am (est)

you may (and it’s highly encouraged!!) periodically message me for snippets of which won

you may reblog and random people may vote idc

if you’d like to do this, may i point you to the original poll post that i’m basing this off. but also feel free to do what you want bc, after all, this is for fun!!

the wips

another life

pairing: eddie munson x nancy wheeler prompt: things you said when we were on top of the world plot: musician!nancy wheeler & actor!eddie munson are getting a divorce! read all about it on page six. in an era of social media and high expectations, two people fell in love with versions of themselves they no longer know or recognize.

city lights

pairing: eddie munson x nancy wheeler prompt: things you said when you thought i was asleep plot: affectionately called bartender au where nancy is a bartender, currently lost and trying to find herself in the new city she’s been living in for the past year. eddie is a musician in this but not terribly successful, playing small clubs here and there. there’s a past. this one is the closest to being finished, not quite 5k left so if this wins, the rest of the count will go to 2nd place.

tied pt 3

pairing: steve harrington x chrissy cunningham prompt: things you said when you thought i was asleep (pt 4 will also be this one) plot: the third part is supposed to go to new years 1990/1991. i just need to figure some shit out so make me figure shit out faster.

before sunrise au

if this wins, i'm proof reading it and giving 5k automatically to the second place winner. it is a stargyle fic based on before sunrise that i wrote, finished, and abandoned because i did not feel like i wrote it well.

[tssdresses]

Hi y'all!

I hope everyone's had a good start to the new year so far. I'm solidly in week three of class, already behind, and having a grand old time.

Some little life updates from me, a "so far in my year," if you will:

Started doing yoga!

(Accidentally?) Joined a LARP group!

Ripped off half my pinkie nail (I am devastated).

Went to a doctor for ADHD testing, and they told me to go talk to their ASD specialist, which. Okay, fair.

Reacted poorly to mountain weather (fucking pressure fronts) and had a week-long headache! I plan to fight God shortly.

All in all, so far so good.

On to what y'all're really interested in, let's be honest:

The Dresses!

I'm working on getting the Roman Mini Project set up to finish, since I am so close to done! In short order, I need to:

Neaten up the skirt hem

Add in a waistband

Figure out the blouse top

Make a proper master post for the dang thing

Photoshoot!

Still aiming for the end of February to have that completed, tentatively thinking I might have it done by Valentine's Day (because Roman).

Orange Dress!

For the poll dress, I'm feeling much more into it and I'm super excited. I've got the design finalized (!!!) and just need to place a fabric order. I'll have a few more polls up in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for those if you want a say in accessories and some light shenanigans!

Aiming for mid-March to have this project done! Hopefully the weather lightens up and I can do some cool photoshoots outside.

I've been itching to sew in the last few weeks, so here's hoping.

[sichore]

I made that poll because I was up at a stupid hour for a thing more bothersome at the moment than a dilemma I've been inarticulate about for months now. (It was just a stupid dream.)

so when it comes to art, what I was most known for, I just put out anything I'm even remotely happy with. I'm not seeking notes, I'm not making it a job, I'm just learning to enjoy it again. I've always thought I was a better writer than illustrator, especially with this little rennaisance I've had since finishing Metalocalypse, and that's always been something I did for myself because no one kept up with me for writing.

And now that I'm getting the itch to type and actually share what I write, I'm indecisive about the current climate here on fandom tumblr and how to go about it. Like do I care about numbers or do I wanna do me. Do I deliberately tone down my work to make it palatable or do I write for me knowing I'm gonna mald about numbers.

To out it plainly, in regards to fic, if it's not about canon characters, people wanna read 2nd person/insert narratives rather than ocs. Which is cool. But knowing a story would be better received if I did that with vague descriptors for the main character, as opposed to just being like 'this a Black trans and fem protganist' bothers the fuck out of me. Realistically, I know there's people out there who want to and would happily read the latter. I also know, realistically, how fucking racist and not-all-that-inclusive fandom is, and my stubborn ass is tempted to just keep it to myself unless it's art.

I've got much bjgger things to worry about than getting into my own gay ass feelings over this and I'll probably delete that poll before it's over.

[wings-of-ink]

Are you already thinking of making another IF after this one? if so what kind

Oooh, this is a topic I've been itching to talk about a bit.

I do plan on working on another IF as a side project. Once God-Cursed is in a happy place, at maybe 5 chapters, I will consider going ahead with adding a new IF to the mix. I debated about starting another while doing GC, but I also see the value in writing something totally different to avoid burnout. GC is a huge project, and I think I'm going to need something to take my mind off it here and there.

I have a number of ideas jotted down. I typically come up with a premise and see if I can simply grow it. GC took on a life of it's own. The central plot popped in my head and I remember furiously typing up a note in my phone. Then, I just kept going back to it to add more and more. I haven't had that moment yet with another IF idea, but what I know for sure about my next one, is that it will be in a modern-day setting. I need something that's just opposite from GC in a few ways.

I have one premise that I super love. It's much darker in tone, maybe a bit screwed up even - the MC would not be in a very happy place. No supportive and loveable dads here. But I've only been able to really get the premise, which is great, but the rest isn't really coming to me. Granted, I haven't just sat and really brainstormed. It will also require some research on my end because I'd want it fairly realistic.

The other idea I've been kicking around lacks a premise. I have lots of ideas for the MC and even some ROs and their situation - but the WHY is missing as is the, like, plot. lol This idea is also in a darker area, and I can see it being trigger-heavy. I see potential in eking in the supernatural though, which also appeals to me.

I had considered running a poll to see what people are most interested in reading with the ideas I currently have. I'm not feeling particular, and it may help me work up those creative juices!

Thank you for the ask, Anon! ^_^

[strivingforsanity00]

So I'm out here, setting myself up being a thot and trying so fricken hard to be honest with myself and with him(or if I am really being honest, trying to avoid honest transparency with all that I am) and I fucken fucking fucked up. I don't need to ramble about why I'm unworthy or shitty or as he would put it, a cockroach. Y'all already know and God knows what a fucken stupid loser I am and how I lie to myself all the time.

Looking back on my most recent mistake; I should have seen it coming. I did, I must have, and I must have lied to myself and forged on pig-headedly and all as I often do. I was tattooing her, we were confiding, I changed in front of her, I had the whiskey, I told her she could crash, it must have been written on my stupid fat red face that i just wanted to be fucking held...it happened I guess. Anyway why am I prone to things like this? This isn't the first time and I have made all the excuses for myself before, both wholeheartedly believing them and also just shitting out justifications. I like sex, I'm of a very much more sexual nature than many, I believe in openness and that love is to be spread and shared and not hoarded or possessed, I'm lonely, I can't say no, it's just girls doing girl stuff, I don't have anyone to answer to, it's just scratching an itch, it's just to feel some sort of evenness; fairness; to level the ground on which my heart sits so painfully, something, something, something, yada yada yada.

The fact is that that's probably all bullshit and I am just a cunt with no regard for anyone's feelings but my own, so I do what I want with only that in mind. And truth be told, I do not often consider anyone's else's feelings because who considers mine? I literally left and still have to live my life by what she wants and I fucken-

Fuck bro it's been however long he said and I still cannot reconcile this. Logically, I've made my peace. She was here first, she is his peer and I am some whore. There's other factors and responsibilities to keep in mind here, not everything is about what I want. What do you expect? You don't even dare ask or say because you know it's dumb bullshit. Shut the fuck up. Very sad, no one cares.

While we are on that note, what the fuck do you want Athena? You act like you want to keep him and be someone's wife and you bitch and gripe and moan about your bullshit jealousy but do you even want that? Are you even equipped to be that? Of course not, be realistic, get on the fucking ground. Look at yourself, bro. No wonder you come second because you are the definition of second rate. Maybe that's why you act this way. Maybe one of us is telling the others that we don't want this. If I try to take a poll, we are all lonely and sad and pathetic and very deeply desperately hopelessly in love, drowned to death in the throes of a love unprecedented.

We are all horny, we are all enamored; absolutely wound the fuck up in the man that is my everything, my only thing, the man that I worship, the man I want to feel guilt for, the man whose feelings I want to consider forever and follow around like a dog on my knees until I die. The man whose happiness is more important than my own or anyone else's.

But it is so fucking painful and he spoke about respect. Do I have any respect for myself? This whole relationship is a disrespect and I am not one to accept that, I have grown tremendously and don't accept less any more. But this...I'm a living toy. I'm a plaything. And I eat it, I will always eat it, I cannot help but live my life this way because I love him so fucking much that any love I can get is better than none. Even if I have to be a mistress, even if I have to be alone when I need him, even if I think I am not worthy or equipped of and for making a man's needs met. I can barely meet my own, let alone the kids and let alone his; and that's exactly why I am living drenched in absolute bullshit. Disrespect, he says. I miss the days when I could at least get the shit beat out of me and I knew what I was. What am I now? Does one of me prefer to give up, and to be alone because of the fear of pain? That's cap, man. Weak