#I've been going over all of my stuff to select some things to post on other platforms and this occured to me

[pointdotiozao]

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[five-rivers]

Little thing inspired by various Justice League summons Danny posts I've seen about.

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Interdimensional travel was hard.

It was a true statement, and one that, in retrospect, was obvious. Of course interdimensional travel was hard. It was reaching out of your reality and into one that had an entirely different set of rules. However, having an interdimensional portal in one's basement tended to skew one's understanding of these things. That was why it took Danny so long to realize that the Observants were actually worried about him.

"Wait," he said, looking up from the (admittedly very passive-aggressive) report the crowd of Observants had just dropped on his (already crowded) desk. "You want to change my summoning ritual because you think other dimensions might hurt my human half?"

"Some of them certainly will," said one of the Observants, testily.

"I didn't know you cared about that," said Danny, still somewhat stunned.

"We normally wouldn't," admitted the Observant, "but although the position of Ghost King is, politically, a figurehead, you are metaphysically vital to the Realms as a whole. Damage to you is to be avoided, when possible."

"Uh huh," said Danny, looking back down at the summoning ritual change paperwork. Although, through a combination of Danny's own nature and the nature of time across dimensional barriers, Danny still looked fourteen and spent a great deal of his time going to school in Amity Park, he had years of experience interpreting the Observants' paperwork under his belt. "Yeah, it's just that I don't think this is the best way to, like. Do that."

"It is the best way to protect you!" said the Observant who had, apparently, been selected as the group's spokesperson.

"Maybe," agreed Danny, who wasn't entirely sure that was true. "But I feel like some of these modifications would kind of be a problem for wherever I wound up."

"Then they ought not to summon you."

While Danny agreed with that sentiment in spirit (getting summoned was almost always inconvenient and annoying), in practice, he wasn't so sure. "I don't think there's any way to communicate that to the guys who are summoning me. Like, some of them get me with old Pariah Dark rituals. And most of them don't really care if their mistakes screw over other people, so..."

"Next to the well-being of the Realms, that is a minor concern."

Danny didn't disagree with that, but he wasn't about to waste time arguing with the Observants about it. They just didn't get it. He tapped his finger on another section that was bothering him. "Also, this seems to keep me from getting out of the summoning circle at all. If someone is summoning me to ask for help, that's going to keep me from doing much."

"It will also keep you from inadvertently exiting into a hostile environment."

"Even in my home universe?" asked Danny, pointedly. "This seems like something more geared to imprisonment than protection."

The Observants were silent.

"Oh, come on, guys, really? Again?"

The Observants scattered.

Danny sighed and picked up the paperwork. He didn't think it was all bad ideas, honestly, but he needed a second opinion that hadn't tried to stuff him in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep Mark 2.

Maybe Clockwork would look it over for him.

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"It isn't an entirely terrible concept," said Clockwork, "except for the obvious drawbacks."

"The whole being trapped in the summoning circle bit," said Danny.

Clockwork nodded. "To be fairer than they deserve, there is no way to modify that portion of a summoning ritual in some types of universes but not others. Not from our own side of things, in any case."

"And I mostly can't get at the other side," said Danny with a groan. He perched on the back of Clockwork's chair. "I do want to make sure that I, I don't know, fit with other universes enough that I won't completely demolish them just by existing."

Clockwork hummed. "There are some ways to do that. There are drawbacks, however."

"Bigger drawbacks than accidentally nuking a planet because my radiation is different than theirs?"

"It depends on your perspective, I suppose."

Danny sighed. "Go ahead and tell me, then."

Clockwork picked up a pen. "You are a shapeshifter. You have multiple forms, one of which cannot be harmed through any normal means and which similarly would have little negative affect on the environment unless you acted to cause negative effects. Change the current ritual so that a summoning puts you in that form, and then further change it so that you cannot leave the circle unless you are in a form that will not automatically cause harm or be harmed by the laws of that universe."

"You mean my Ghost King form."

"All your forms are your Ghost King form."

"You know what I mean."

"I do," said Clockwork, smiling.

"It freaks people out, though."

"Your current form might, as you say, freak people out," said Clockwork. "If your summoners were, say, ants."

"Is that likely?"

"Not particularly. But consider the multiverse. Not all of your summoners will be human."

Danny crossed his arms, frustrated that there wasn't an easy solution. "I guess I could always shapeshift into something nonthreatening after. Hard to see if it's something safe without running into

"You can do more than that."

"I can?"

"Yes," said Clockwork, setting the pen to paper. "Let me show you."

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The summoning circle shimmered and shivered as Constantine and Zatanna recited the chant, their voices rising and falling. Batman and other members of the League stood by, watching, waiting.

This, this ritual, wasn't their first choice. It wasn't their second, third, or fourth choice, either. But nothing else they had tried worked, and the entire world was at stake.

They were summoning the King of All Ghosts. An eldritch monstrosity that had once tried to conquer all realities. But the alternative was worse. Much worst. At least, with the King of All Ghosts, there was a chance that they could negotiate and that it'd want the Earth more or less intact for the sake of conquering it. At least, with this kind of summoning, they could offer a sacrifice, a bargain, a deal.

And if Constantine was good at anything, it was deals.

The lines of the summoning circle flared green, then pure white, and, without any other fanfare, the King of All Ghosts was there.

It filled the circle with starry darkness, struck with nebulae and aurorae. The clouds rippled as a star died near its heart, fiery cataclysms spreading throughout the being. A crown like the accretion disk of a black hole burned around its highest extremity.

Something like a voice, echoing and many-layered, emanated from the being. "Nghftùsh phlarûm âzgûm (1)." It paused, and the League felt it examine the area more closely. "Ko wgâ âzgûm nghftùsh derza. Ko gok hubhûfh fhtù gâh mglwnuh...(2)"

Constantine swore. "Oh, bollocks, I don't know that one. Would it be too much to ask that one of these things speak English? Just a little?"

"Nghftùsh ak. Ko ngngi. (3)"

"Zatanna," said Batman, "could a spell let us understand one another?"

"Kù-nghînku bùr fùmúu umni snîgûrip. (4)" It seemed to bend closer for all that it didn't move. "Nghftùsh laglúfhâk krîk ko phlî ak phlorza. Chthe nî hîhnâ, ka. (5)"

"I think I understand a little," said Captain Marvel, raising a hand. "I think it understands us just fine."

"Hagthu. Nghftùsh ngngi ùk nî chthe kûmpù nû gâ. (6)"

"It wants to get out of the circle," said Captain Marvel.

The veils of green light that shrouded the being rippled. "Dal phlù. (7)"

"Not without an agreement in place, you're not," said Constantine.

"Gagthashîzgathg. (8)"

"God," whispered Flash, "that hurts my throat just hearing it."

Batman shot him a glare, then stepped forward. They'd prepared a list of demands. Most of them were negotiable, but it was better to start something like this with things you were willing to remove or throw away. It took several minutes for Batman to read the whole thing.

"Ku. Chthal lohúfhâk hagthu. Fhta nghftùsh kâk phlorza ko thru. (9)"

"What did it say?" asked Batman.

"I'm... I think it said it'll do it, but it needs something from us in return."

Batman nodded. They'd expected something like this. Whatever it asked for, it would, without a doubt, be exorbitant. Then, they'd go back and forth, reducing each of their demands until they'd reached a deal both sides hated, but could accept. Constantine had bet that, at minimum, the King of All Ghosts would want the entire population of Earth as slaves.

"Nghftùsh kâk hû ko mglwno nî phnglâ gho-lobi. (10)"

"Uh," said Captain Marvel. "I think he said one of our lives."

"Hik! Rlo phlarâk kruk nîk ghû. (11)"

"Not just any of us," said Marvel. "It has to be someone who's a parent."

A tension fell over the room. They'd known they'd have to sacrifice something. A single life wasn't much, but for the King of All Ghosts to specify a parent...

"But are you sure it's just one?" pressed Constantine.

The King of All Ghosts gave off a sense of... exasperation? "Úzg, hû. (12)"

"One," said Captain Marvel. "Just one."

"And just us, not our kids or anything?"

"Nghftùsh ngngi ùk e nghuu. Gù phlarâk fush ko du? (13)"

"No, it doesn't want children. They're... wrong, somehow?"

"And it's not a sex thing?" Constantine sounded... strangely hopeful.

"Hik! Fhtùl! (14)"

"No," said Captain Marvel. "And... something about fat, maybe?"

"Oh, we're definitely getting eaten, then," said Constantine, with forced cheer. "I volunteer, then. It's not like my kids are sitting up waiting for me or anything."

"Hik nuk. Ngngi ko. E hâta phlarâk lerzaolûm. (15)"

"Not you, there's... something wrong with your soul."

"Oh, he's a picky eater, too, huh?"

"Let's not antagonize him, okay?" said Flash. "He's kind of-- He's kind of looming, right now."

And so it was. Somehow. Without moving.

"Who will... satisfy you?" asked Batman.

The entity did not move, but it managed to indicate Batman anyway.

"Very well," said Batman, before anyone could even attempt to talk him out of it. After all, his life for the lives of everyone in this universe was a very good deal. "Take me."

For the first time, the King of All Ghosts moved, all that darkness, all that light, rushing towards Batman.

There was a burst of blinding light.

When everyone opened their eyes again, a boy with black hair, blue eyes, and a jawline that bore more than a passing resemblance to Batman's was stepping out of the summoning circle.

"That's much better," he said, stretching. "No offense, dude, but you kind of suck at Ghost Speak." He turned to Batman. "What I was asking for was a template so I could exist in your universe and do what you want without accidentally blowing it up because of incompatible physics, but whatever. Not sure how you guys got me eating you out of that."

"You wanted a human appearance so you could better conquer this world?" asked Batman.

"Uh, no? You've got a pretty strong clause against conquering the world in your paperwork there. You're probably thinking about Pariah Dark, but he's old news." The boy smiled widely. "Let's get started on your problem, okay?"

I've been summoned.

You haven't summoned me before. You have a nice space station here...

I can. You can't.

Inter-dimensional language differences are so annoying.

I hope you can do something. This will be difficult, otherwise.

Good. I don't want to be in this circle forever.

Close enough.

Figures (literally, 'certainly').

Okay. That sounds good. But I need something from you.

I need one of you to be my template (literally, life-pattern).

No! It's like being a parent.

Yes, one.

I don't want your children. What is wrong with you?

No! Gross!

No way. Not you. You're crazy (literally, your soul is cracked).

[marsprincess889]

Yoni animal observations

I did something similar with nakshatras. This is them in a very simple way. This is based on traditional associations as well as my own observations of real life and art. 💕 The word "yoni", as well as meaning the female reproductive organ, also means "origin". Yoni animal represents the instinct of the nakshatra and ultimately, reveals its true core nature.

Also, disclaimer: it's very sad that I have to say this, and apologies if you're not one of those people, but if you're going to correct anything in this post by writing one or more long paragraphs of why you think I'm wrong, you might as well just start your own blog or make your own post about the subject. I've been observing yoni animals for years and I'm kind of sorry if any of this offends you, but I'm not trying to attack anyone personally, or even a specific placement (nakshatras in this case), cause that's just dumb. Of course, everyone is free to express their opinions but please do it politely and have some respect for the person who took their time to gain and share knowledge. It's very easy to correct others, it's very hard to be faultless yourself. So, factual corrections are always welcome(say someone got someone's chart placement wrong, or they have written a factually incorrect association, like if they were to write that Jyeshta is fierce as opposed to sharp/cruel in nature.), but, once again, everyone's view is different and so either respect mine or don't write anything at all.

With that being said, you can now enjoy this post💕

Horse yonis

Ashwini and Shatabhisha

Keywords: activity, simplicity, masculinity(solar/yang), independence, healing.

Straightforward people. They might tend to have black and white thinking, can be very blunt with their delivery and definitely prone to "deafness": not hearing others' views. Simple and utilitarian, goal-oriented. Their presence might not be really noticed until the moment they suddenly speak up about or act on something. Love to point stuff out. Either quiet or very precise while speaking. Not aggressive but can be combative. Most likely will oppose someone before making peace. Independence>sharing. Don't like anything "unnecessary", love to get to the point.

Elephant yonis

Bharani and Revati

Keywords: slow, authority, time, timelessness, strength, transitions, protection, completion, gentleness, complexity, depth.

Not revealing their innermost selves, only revealing it to a select group of people, if to anyone. They attach meaning to things based on their experiences. Protective and gentle with each other, closed off to most of the others. Very private. Not really concerned with trends. Observant but not quick to act. Can have many sides to them that some others might fail to understand. Have an air of wisdom, but not that of arrogance. Still, they are the most likely to knowingly take the high road but still protect their peace, making them very exclusive, although it's never for show. Defensive but quietly so. Accomodating to some degree on the outside, there's always more to them than what's obvious. See the bigger picture in every situation. They have a certain quiet strength and power. Nurture is important to them. Do not appreciate unnecessary aggression and try to dominate over anything they consider harsh/crude.

Sheep yonis

Krittika and Pushya

Keywords: precision, structure, minimalism, choosiness, contained.

Do not like excess in anything. They have a sense of balance, usually in almost everything. Prioritize sctructure and basics/essentials. Like clarity and clear-cut lines in their lives and around them. Can be snappy, but in a passive-aggressive way. Not harsh in a heavy/overwhelming way but still harsh about details. Have a soft demeanor with strangers and acquaintances, sometimes even people close to them in everyday life but can judge them quietly. Neutral to friendly on the outside, but if they have uncomfortable emotions they try hard to release them quietly/without much fuss. Might bottle up resentment in result. Very utilitarian and practical.

Snake yonis

Rohini and Mrigashira

Keywords: enjoyment, ease, materialism, basic awareness, growth, progress, sensory indulgence, instincts.

Very placid and calm. They focus mainly on material things but can live without luxuries, and can also share them, although privacy is very important to them. Very aware of their surroundings and their own presence. Attuned to their senses. Can get easily attached to people and things. Can exhibit selfish tendencies(or that's how it looks to others) when they feel like their desires are ignored, but Rohini and Mrigashira each do it differently.

Dog yonis

Ardra and Mula

Keywords: upheaval, critical point, rebelling, release, change, anchoring.

Tense but not frail. Might look tortured sometimes. Do not like to and probably even cannot focus on details, at least not how it's traditionally done(different to each situation). Like to display their individuality in one way or another. Dark humor or sassy comebacks. Either quiet or very loud, but either way, opinionated. If they're neutral then they're opinionated about being neutral. Can be kind of nihilistic but at peace with it. Contrarian and unapologetic. If they don't care about something you can't make them care. If they do care, they care intensely.

Cat yonis

Punarvasu and Ashlesha

Keywords: accumulation, buildup, purity, safety, protection, preservation, cycles.

Concerned with what influences them, not so much what they put out. Self-focused but also highly aware of others' needs. Can adapt to surroundings and can change their behavior based on what they need or really want. Not unkind but laser-focused on the boundaries. Always keep their cards close to their chest, not out of malice but simply to preserve their safety. Look more unnaproachable than they really are, and know more than they share with most.

Rat yonis

Magha and Purva Phalguni

Keywords: dispersion, creativity, planting seeds, the self.

Can be egocentric. Prideful and nonchalant. Love to show off. Might be aware of surroundings to some degree but even if they are, they rarely care. Getting what they want is the priority, along with self-expression. Not very moralistic, don't care much about labels. Sometimes they can be too detached. Will almost never catch them crying in front of others, although they can be dramatic if they want and can, without a problem, attract their dwsired attention. Their happiness is more warm and generous than loud and euphoric. Might have a poker face, they rarely show strong emotions. The strongest emotion I've seen them express is that of defensiveness, and that's not even an emotion. When they get defensive it's almost always because something has touched their pride or triggered their ego. Focused on what they can do.

Cow yonis

Uttara Phalguni and Uttara Bhadrapada

Keywords: stability, the long-term results, natural, softness, power/influence, unity, calm.

Stubborn. That's the only defense they have, because otherwise they're very soft. Naturally honest. They have an effortlessness about them that feels easy to be around, and they are pleasant to be around but not accepting of everyone. They avoid people they don't like from early on and stick to the ones they consider better. Not hesitant to defend themselves or people close to them, but not quick to waste that energy on just anyone, and when they do become defensive they still maintain "the high ground". Backing their allies and fighting proudly is natural for them. Again, very stubborn, so they rarely, if ever, give up on something important. Although they're tough, they're not sharp or cruel. They are mostly in a state calmness and assuredness rather than anxious defensiveness. Very fixed and comfortable in their ways.

Buffalo yonis

Hasta and Swati

Keywords: materialism, gain, comfort, strength, feminine(yin), ease.

More attached to material things than other yonis. Individuality is defined through connections and surroundings. Love comfort and ease. Interdependence>independence. Can be curiously neutral and accomodating. Self-focused but not selfish. Often phlegmatic and slow. Genuinely caring but can be cunning. Not the most direct people. They will let others know their views but won't push them aggressively on others. Almost everything about them is filtered through that neutrality.

Tiger yonis

Chitra and Vishakha

Keywords: building, gradual, defensive, expression, buildup.

The most defensive. Can look sweet on the outside but are not all soft. Can range from extremely forgiving to extremely vengeful. Aggression comes out while speaking. Rarely, if ever, present in a state of calm melancholy. They moreso go from happy/fun to agitated. Focused on development/building, and always look for more than what's natural for them. Witty but emotionally so. If they're highly agitated, it's very hard for them to exercise restraint in the moment. Not that direct in general but unfiltered during critical moments. It's easy for them to put on a mask, whether out of neccessity or just for fun. Can be very judgemental. If they're not aware, it can make them act in a "mean" way when they feel not their best.

Rabbit/Deer yonis

Anuradha and Jyeshta

Keywords: society, organization, status quo, responsibility, transpersonal, maturing.

Very non-aggressive on the inside, despite how they might look. Naturally have endurance and a sense of responsibility. Can be judgemental but also understanding. Love to give advice. Competitive but respectful. Can become arrogant. Love everything "classic" but want to establish their own, new structures. Choosy and sometimes exclusive. More warm than they appear, and capable of more emotions than how it seems. Often traditionally intelligent. Have a very civilized behavior.

Vanar yonis

Purva Ashadha and Shravana

Keywords: flow, alliances, connections, support, creation and preservation.

Good at reading between the lines, anything too structured is harsh for them. Otherworldly aura/mannerisms. Most likely to posses what others might consider as "quirks". Value their own individuality and uniqueness. Seeks to be different from what they consider boring, normal or basic. Not very reactive. When they get defensive, they get quiet. Can romatisize sadness and melancholy. Capable of seeing both sides but are often willingly biased.

Mongoose yoni

Uttara Ashadha

Keywords: independence, solitude, practicality, victory.

Truly neutral and unbothered. Value honesty and integrity. Not attached to material things at all. Easy to be around but their regal nature might put some people ill at ease. Naturally take on leadership positions. Might feel lonely but won't trade solitude for tiring/uninteresting company. Value practicality and simplicity, and are practical themselves. Surprsingly warm and feeling in certain moments, but can also be uncaring towards others.

Lion yonis

Dhanishta and Purva Bhadrapada

Keywords: notoriety, flashiness, power, aggression, pride.

Very unfiltered and loudly so. Unashamed and bold, proud. That pride and confidence fuels their calmness, but they can lack patience. In everyday interactions they can look very unreactive but if something "triggers" them, they will not hesitate to be a little(or not so little) aggressive. Love to spread their influence. Might strongly dislike anything that looks subtle and quiet to them, as it arises distrust in them. Rarely, if ever, use/appreciate sarcasm. They prefer directness. Can slip into being a bully, or can become a proud voice for others.

[archaeren]

Hello!! I hope you're having a good day ^^ I came across your post about writing non-linearly on Notion and I'm excited to try it out because the advice resonated with me! Though, I'm really new to using the app and, if possible, need help with how to do this part: 'where every scene is a separate table entry and the scene is written in the page inside that entry.' ;v;

Hello! Thank you so much for messaging!!! Since that post about writing non-linearly (linked for context) blew up roughly ten thousand times as much as anything I've ever posted, I've been kind of meaning to make a followup post explaining more about how I use Notion for writing non-linearly, but, you know, ADHD, so I haven't done it yet. XD In the meantime, I'll post a couple screenshots of my current long fic with some explanations! I'd make this post shorter, but I'm unable to not be Chatty. XD (just ask my poor readers how long my author notes are...) (There is a phone app as well which syncs with the desktop/browser versions, but I work predominantly in the desktop app so that's what I'm gonna be showing)

(the table keeps going off the right side of the image but it's a bunch of unimportant stuff tbh) So this is more complicated than what you'll probably start with because I'm Normal and add a bunch of details that you might not need depending on what you're doing. For example, my fic switches POVs so I have a column for tracking that, and my fic follows a canon timeline so I have a column for dates so I can keep track of them, and I also made columns for things like if a scene had spoilers or certain content readers may want to avoid, which they can access in my spoiler and content guide for the fic. (As I said, I'm Normal.) I also do some complicated stuff using Status and estimated wordcount stuff to get an idea of how long I predict the content to be, but again, not necessary. Anyway, you don't need any of that. For the purposes of this explanation, we're just gonna look at the columns I have called Name, Order, and Status. (And one called Part, but we'll get into that later) Columns in Notion have different types, such as Text, Numbers, Select, Date, etc, so make sure to use the type that works best for the purpose of each column! For example, here I'm using Select for Character POVs, Number for Order and WC (wordcount), and Text for the In-Game Date. Okay let's get into it! Name is a column that comes in a Notion table by default, and you can't get rid of it (which drives me up the wall for some purposes but works totally fine for what we're doing here). As you can see on the scene I've labeled 'roll call', if you hover over a Name entry, a little button called 'Open' appears, which you click on to open the document that's inside the table. That's all default, you don't have to set anything up for it. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like when I click the one titled 'I will be anything for you' (I've scrolled down in the screenshot so you can see the text, but all the data fields also appear at the top of the page)

(This view is called 'side peek' meaning the document opens on one side and you can still see the table under it on the left, which is what mine defaults to. But you can set it to 'center peek' or 'full page' as well.) All my scenes have their own entry like this! Note that I've said scenes, not chapters. I decide the chapters later by combining the scenes in whatever combination feels right, which means I can often decide in advance where my chapter endings will be. This helps me consciously give most of my endings more impact than I was usually able to do when I tried to write linearly. So hopefully that gives you an idea of what I mean by writing inside the table and treating the table as a living outline. The 'Status' column is also pretty straightforward, and might require a little setup for whatever your needs are. This is another default column type Notion has which is similar to a Select but has a few more specialized features. This is how mine is set up:

(I don't actually use 'Done', idk why I left it there. Probably I should replace it with 'Posted' and use that instead of the checkmark on the far left? whatever, don't let anyone tell you I'm organized. XDD)

Pretty straightforward, it just lets me see easily what's complete and what still needs work. (You'll notice there's no status for editing, because like I mentioned in my other post, I don't ever sit down to consciously edit, I just let it happen as I reread) Obviously tailor this to your own needs! The Order column is sneakily important, because this is what makes it easy for me to keep the scenes organized. I set the Sort on the table to use the Order to keep the scene ordered chronologically. When I make the initial list of scenes I know the fic will have, I give all of them a whole number to put them in order of events. Then as I write and come up with new scene ideas, the new scenes get a number with a decimal point to put them in the spot they fit in the timeline. (you can't see it here, but some of them have a decimal three or four digits deep, lol). Technically you can drag them to the correct spot manually, but if you ever create another View in your table (you can see I have eight Views in this one, they're right under the title) it won't keep your sorting in the new View and you'll hate yourself when it jumbles all your scenes. XD (And if you get more comfortable with Notion, you probably will at some point desire to make more Views) The Part column isn't necessary, but I found that as the fic grew longer, I was naturally separating the scenes into different points along the timeline by changes in status quo, etc. (ex. "this is before they go overseas" "this is after they speak for the first time", stuff like that) in my mind. To make it easier to decide where to place new scenes in the timeline, I formalized this into Parts, which initially I named with short summaries of the current status quo, and later changed to actual titles because I decided it would be cool to actually use them in the fic itself. Since it's not in the screenshots above, here's what the dropdown for it looks like:

(I've blocked some of the titles out for spoiler reasons)

Basically I only mention the Parts thing because I found it was a useful organizational tool for me and I was naturally doing it in my head anyway. Anyway, I could keep talking about this for a really long time because I love Notion (don't get me started on how I use toggle blocks for hiding content I've edited out without deleting it) but that should be enough to get started and I should really, you know, not make this another insanely long post. XDD And if anybody is curious about how the final results look, the fic can be found here.

[tinyraptorhands]

Pro Hero, Pro Mama, No Problem pt. 3

((Tw: reader is harsh on self, post partum depression symptoms))

You had forgotten about how crazy the paparazzi could be.

Blinding, flashing lights. Crowds of people throwing questions at the two of you, mainly you.

"(H/N)! How's being a mother!?"

"Any plans on coming back to the hero scene!?"

"Who are you wearing?! We love it!"

Each question punctuated with a bulb flash.

"How much do you weigh now!?"

"Are you trying to get back in shape for your comeback!?"

That one made you falter in step, and Katsuki's bicep flexes. Your eyes look up at him, and you can see he's visibly holding back.

Hes been doing that more lately, holding his anger back at the media and his fans.

You can only assume it was because of Katsumi.

As you both enter the venue, the paparazzi fade away. The venue is bustling with pro heroes, their spouses, popular sidekicks and select journalists. You try to spot anyone from class A, or even class B.

Theres a tight feeling in your chest as you see some of your friends. Wordlessly, Katsuki walks you both over to them. Mina, Kirishima, Sero and Kaminari look up, their smiles wide.

"Heeey! If it isn't Kacchan of the Bakugos!" Kaminari teases. "And his lovely wife, (y/n) of the Bakugos!" You gave a small smile as Katsuki clicks his tongue.

"Told ya to quit callin' me that." He mutters. Sero smirks as Kirishima slings an arm around your husband, and Mina greets you similarly.

"So. How's being a dad?" Kirishima grins.

"You ask me that each time I see you, dumbass." Katsuki rolls his eyes. Mina giggles.

"Well, how about you, (y/n)? You look good! Haven't seen you since the month after your maternity leave!" She said, giving you a little squeeze. She takes you away from the men, and walks with you towards the refreshments.

Can she feel how soft you are now? Your brain seems to echo. You give a small smile.

"Oh, y'know," you watch as Sero, Kaminari and Kirishima mess with Katsuki, "baby's growing like a weed, I'm just being a mom for now." You say as she pours punch.

You hesitate, and she notices. "Oh, dang! Forgot! Breast feeding, right?" She sets the full cup down. You nod, fiddling with your necklace. "Well, I think there's some sparkling water somewhere...ah, here!" She takes a small bottle of sparkling water from the table, and gives it to you. "Also, looks like the stylist I recommended did wonders for you! You look radiant!"

You give her another polite smile, and soon you see Ochaco and Tsu come over.

"(Y/n)! Ohmigosh!" Ochaco brings you into a warm hug. You return it, and Tsu does the same. "We thought you got swallowed up in dirty diapers! How have you been??" Ochaco beams.

"Yeah, you barely talk on the group chat, kero." Tsu mentions. You give an apologetic smile.

"I'm just really tired. I've been doing mostly everything for Katsumi, and pretty much on my own for the most part-"

"Hold up. Bakugo doesn't help out??" Mina gives you a concerned look, as do the other two.

"O-oh! No, it's not like that! He's just...y'know. Pro hero stuff."

"Oh, yeah. Thats gotta be rough." Ochaco sighed. "But he's good with the baby?"

"Oh, for sure! It was bumpy at first, but we have a method and it's working!"

You didn't mention the slight animosity you might have felt from time to time, but overall, you felt things were...okay.

They wouldn't wanna hear that anyway.

You saw Momo, Jiro and Hagakure walk up, and soon all the A class girls were together again. You gave hugs all around, and soon you were all talking as if you were back in the U.A. classroom.

Until suddenly, newer topics came up about the hero scene.

"Oh my god, when I tell you-Denki doesn't file paperwork like he *should*-"

You cock your head. "Denki? You're on first name basis, Jiro?"

Mina gasped. "Oh shoot, that's right! Jiro and Kaminari are going out! Their agencies are planning to merge!"

"Yeah, there was kind of a mini-party we all had-" Jiro rubbed the back of her head. "You were invited but..."

Right. You couldn't go. You chuckled, waving it off. "Right, I was still in the thick of things! No big. I forgot about that, baby brain, y'know?" You said, smiling. "Congrats, though!"

Jiro smiled politely, nodding. "Thanks, yeah it's been alot-"

"Heeey! I know! You can come to the after party tonight!" Mina started to say, but Ochaco leaned into her ear.

"Uh, don't you think that's a bit too much for her right now?" She whispered to Mina. You pretended not to hear, and Mina gasped.

"O-or we can do a raincheck! We should all get together once we have the time!"

"Yeah, hero work can really eat up time, huh?" Jiro sighed.

"Totally. Even with crime being at an all-time low, duty always calls." Hagakure chuckled.

"Yeah. Maybe another time-we can all get together!" Ochaco smiled at you.

Isolating.

You smiled back, "For sure."

As they all continued to talk, you realized half the things they talked about you were out of the loop in.

Momo noticed, and said, "So, how has motherhood been, (y/n)?"

You perked up. "Oh! It's been crazy. Katsumi is doing this hilarious thing with her hands, and Katsuki says it looks like she's trying to release some explosions like him! I have a video!" You searched for you phone in your clutch, and soon brought up the video. As they watched, the girls cooed and giggled.

"Ohmigod. She's adorbs!" Hagakure squealed. "She looks like friggin' Bakugo, it's insane!"

"No, she totally looks like (y/n)! Lookit her hair!" Mina said.

"I wonder who she'll take after?" Tsu said, cocking her head with a finger to her lips.

You chuckled as the video finished, and slipped it back into your clutch. As you continued to talk about Katsumi, suddenly a photographer came up. "Ladies! Can we get a picture? It's for Pro-girl magazine!"

The girls all nodded, smiling. Pro-girl magazine was an exclusive Japanese Pro hero women magazine, highlighting all the fresh, young women of the pro hero industry. You went to join them, only for one of the photographers to stop you.

"Oh, uh, apologies, (h/n), this is...er, rather embarrassing-"

"Hey, c'mon, (y/n)! What's the hold up?" Mina called out. The girls looked confused. So did you.

"Well, you see...you don't fit the demographic right now..." he fumbled, and then it hit you.

You weren't a fresh faced, pretty hero anymore. To the media...

You were...a mother.

Used. Washed up. Not fresh or...

You nodded, giving a polite, strained smile. You looked over to the girls, who hadn't heard a thing. "Sorry! I just forgot something! Take the picture without me!"

"Eeeeh? But wait-" Mina called out, and you swiftly turned away, speed walking to the restrooms.

You weaved through the crowds, and found yourself in a bathroom stall.

The world you thought you belonged in, strive to be in, loved the most...

Didn't seem to think you belonged anymore.

No. The world didn't have time for pro heroes that prioritized motherhood.

Hell, they probably thought you being here was redundant.

They all thought you were giving up your pro hero career.

You fiddled with your pearl necklace, and took some calming breaths. You felt isolated. Sweaty. Tired.

And you were pretty sure your breasts were full. You looked down at them, and groaned.

You needed to pump.

By the time you were done, everyone had scattered. You found yourself alone, in a sea of heroes and other notable figures.

Who *were* you, really?

Why were you even here?? You couldn't even keep up with conversations anymore, the media had gotten their fill of you at the entrance, you did your job for the night. Hell, you couldn't even relate to anybody anymore- were sure of that.

You felt a familiar heat in the back of your eyes.

"Shoot..." you muttered. It had to be post partum hormones. You were *not* going to let anyone see you cry. That would be embarrassing to you and Katsuki.

You gathered yourself up, and went to look for Katsuki.

You noticed him with the guys, plus Mineta.

Oh, joy.

"Eeey, there she is!" Sero smiled over to you. "See Bakugo? She's fine! Right mom of the year??"

You chuckled. "Ah, yeah. Just had some stuff to do."

"Enjoying your new MILF status?" Mineta leered at your breasts shamelessly.

"Watch it, grapehead." Katsuki hissed, his hand snaking around your waist.

"Hey, all I'm saying is she looks a little thick like a new mom should." Mineta grinned. "In *all* the right places."

"I'll kill you." Katsuki said, eyes narrowing as his grip tightened on your waist. You weren't listening.

As Kirishima tried calming Katsuki down, Kaminari shook his head. "Have *some* standards, dude. She's not a MILF! She's a mom now!" He hissed, and you, nor Katsuki didn't miss that.

What the hell?

"Oi, so what if she is??" Katsuki suddenly barked. Kaminari flinched.

"I didn't mean, like..uh-"

"Let's all just chill-" Sero was cut off by Katsuki.

"No, I wanna know. What the hell are you sayin'?"

"I-I'm just saying you don't...hit on moms cause...eh...uh...they got...they're moms dude! M'not into it!" Kaminari said, exasperated.

"Oh, I see. So they're not women anymore-that it?" Katsuki's tone got cold. You put a hand on his arm.

"Katsuki-"

"No, this is bullshit. You're still you. Mom or not."

"Okay, dude. No one's insulting (y/n)." Kirishima finally cut in. "Mineta, don't be a creep. Kaminari, we get what you're saying, just be more mindful. It sounded insulting to (y/n). Right, (y/n)?"

You suddenly felt like this wasn't right.

Being here.

"Its fine." You found yourself saying. "I'm used to Kaminari and Mineta's braincells being a little screwed up."

"Hey!" The two offenders whined. You chuckled.

Katsuki's hand went to your lower back. "C'mon. Let's get you something to eat. Haven't seen you eat yet." He says quietly.

"We'll be here, man!" Kirishima calls out to your retreating forms. You hear Kirishima saying something to Kaminari and Mineta. It sounded admonishing.

Your brain began to spiral.

*Thick*.

*Not a woman anymore.*

*Just a mom.*

You suddenly wanted to go home. To Katsumi.

To scream.

You were surrounded by people who couldn't relate to you anymore.

And that? That was the most isolating thing in the world to you.

"Babe? Oi." You were shaken out of your thoughts.

"Yes?" You said, smiling.

Put on your best smile, (y/n). Don't let your stupid hormones, the damn media or pervy people ruin tonight.

Be (h/n). Because that is who you are right now.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes. "I said, go find something to eat for us. I gotta meet up with Best Jeanist. Wants me for some PR crap, probably. I swear, if he asks me to model his dumbass jean line again..."

You nodded, smiling. "Go ahead. I'll wait at the refreshments for you." He patted your back softly, and walked off.

You bit the inside of your cheek.

Would it hurt to call Mitsuki and Masaru? Maybe they were struggling, Katsumi *was* teething lately, early as it was.

No.

They were fine. They would've called. Stop it.

As you went to the table with all the finger foods, you grabbed a plate, grabbing things both you and Katsuki liked.

"Woah, there. Loading up, hm?"

Hawks. You almost dropped your plate. "Oh! H-hello, Hawks!" The president of the HPSC smiled, and looked at your plate.

"Thats alot, huh? Guess it makes sense, mom's gotta eat so kid can, yeah?" He grinned. You chuckled nervously.

"Ah, yeah but some of this is Kat-er, Dynamight's. He just asked me to get stuff so-"

Why are you justifying what you're eating? You chuckled nervously again.

"So. When are you thinking of coming back?" Hawks asked, smiling politely. "The public misses their (h/n)!"

"Oh, uhm...probably when Katsumi's fully weaned. That could take a bit." You looked down at your plate.

*Cow.*

You blinked.

'Go away, bad thought!' You swallowed, meeting the retired hero's gaze. "But, uh, yeah! I'll be back kicking ass before you know it!"

He hummed in response. "Alright. Well, it's good to see you're doing well! Let me know when you think you'll be coming back." He patted your shoulder, and added- "maybe start thinking about training soon. Helps in the long run."

As you watched him walk away, you suddenly felt ill. Did...he call you fat? You discreetly took your portions off the plate, leaving Katsuki's. You instead grabbed another sparkling water.

You could skip a few snacks, or whatever these finger foods were.

Even though you hadn't eaten in a few hours. You would eat when you got home.

And then cry about it, probably.

As you looked for Katsuki, you finally found him.

With three female heroes. They were newer to the hero scene, it seemed. Maybe sidekicks? They looked like they were talking him up. And normally, that wouldn't bother you.

Until one of them placed a hand on his arm, trailing it up slowly to his shoulder. You were too caught up in the hot feeling bubbling up your stomach to notice his visible flinch. He looked strained as he tried to move away, but you had already started running to the bathroom.

You slammed the bathroom door shut, and raced to the sink. Leaning your hands against it, you turned on the faucet, running your hands under it.

You were hurting. Your head pounded, and your dress suddenly felt restricting. It felt like you couldn't breathe. Your heart was racing, and black spots dotted your vision. Were you dying?

You had to get home. To Katsumi. To safety. To comfort. Away from all of them.

All of them.

Hate, hate, hate them all.

You felt angry. At them all.

For excluding you. For thinking you were just an anxious mom.

For insulting you.

...They were, weren't they?

Suddenly, you felt doubt creep in, and the feeling caught you tight in your chest. You tried to breathe deep.

You felt sick. Your ears were ringing.

You leaned on the sink, your forearms pressing into the marble. Your hands continued to catch the water, soaking the edge of your sleeves.

And then you looked up.

Confidence was a hell of a thing. Under the harsh bathroom lights, you saw every detail, every flaw on your skin. You could see how the foundation settled on the dry patches of your skin. The slightly uneven texture making your skin look off. Your slicked back hair was looking a little frizzy, if you looked hard enough.

Which you definitely were.

God.

What were you *doing* here??

Your nails bit into the skin of your palm. Why was everything so *humid*?

Your eyes looked tired. You felt tired.

Really tired.

You pushed yourself off the sink, shutting off the faucet. You slowly walked out into the ball room again, your ears roaring.

Where was the refreshment table again?

Katsuki was probably too busy with those women.

Pretty women.

Unlike you.

'Shut up, already!' You thought angrily. Another wave of unsteady rage swam in your stomach. Your head felt like it was going to fall off your shoulders.

Everything felt like too much.

Too, too much.

And suddenly, you found yourself bracing against the wall. You heard someone say something to you. They sounded worried, but your ears felt like they were stuff with cotton. Before you could look to see who it was, your vision suddenly swam, and then...

*Darkness.*

((So, I keep basing this off what I experienced during my first year post partum. I was at a Nowruz party (my father in law is Iranian) and they're like...Uber fancy parties. I was 4 months post partum and it was my first time out without my baby. And it sucked. I was pumping in a fancy as hell bathroom in a fancy ass dress feeling all kinds of gross. And then I almost passed out because, yes, I was tired and stupid me thought I could handle it. My body could not. Be kind to your bodies, post partum or in general! Sorry if this chapter seems too long or too rambly.))

[mysteryshoptls]

Cater Diamond Shared Lines

Tutorial: Let's have some fun together.

Level Up 1: Yay! Watch me get even stronger ♪

Level Up 2: Feelin' like #Cay-kunsAtTheTopOfHisGame♪

Level Up 3 / Buddy Level Up: Let's keep on truckin' together ♪

Level Max: I always thought it'd be fine so long as I was having fun, but I guess it's not bad to get serious from time to time. ...Plus, I gotta look cool for anything I upload to Magicam ♪

Vignette Level Up:  What, you and me are buddy-buddy? Wow, really～? ...What's with that look? It's not like I said I didn't like it, right? It's more like I don't really know how to respond to hearing something so straightforward.

Spell Level Up: Hmm, so you're the type to do this kinda stuff, huh. Thanks ♪

Friendship Level Up: Thanks for the great time! If you ever want to invite me back over, I’ll definitely come. I’m sure the guest room will look even more amazing next time I come, right?

Friendship Level Max: Maybe I’ll try making some furniture with you next time. The style you got going right now’s pretty rockin’, but we do a collab, maybe you’ll end up even more attached to Cay-kun. What if, right? ♪

Uncapped: I've still got potential for growth, huh? Ahahah. 'Kay then, try and keep up!

Groovification: Ain't I the coolest I've ever been? This rocks ♪

Lesson Select 1: We should totally study together. I guess as your upperclassman, I should probably show you how it's done, right? ♪

Lesson Select 2: You're really the type to focus up hard, huh. You hear that a lot? ...Uh-huuuh, I totally thought so!

Lesson Select 3: Hey, now, relax a bit. It's not worth getting that tense just for class.

Lesson Start: 'Kay, let's get this done quick 'n easy.

Lesson Finish: It's finally over～ Time to check Magicam between classes.

Battle Start: Make sure to post and share my cool side ♪

Battle Won: You’ve had more than enough now, right? Bye-bye ♪

Trouble 1: Sorry, sorry! I just got too heated up. That wasn’t like me at all.

Trouble 2: Eeeh～? I wasn’t really angry or anything. We were just chatting ♪

GIFT CALENDAR 2023: “How will you be spending the day?” Maybe I’ll surf Magicam for some ‘cammable spots that’re only available in the winter. Stuff like diamond dust, or hotels made from ice… Knowin’ they’re only limited to the season really gets me psyched up!

Birthday Login Message 1: You remembered my birthday? Thanksー! You’re so nice to come out of your way to celebrate it with me. I’m so happy that I think I’ll upload a picture to Magicam. Alright look over here～!

Birthday Login Message 2: Thanks for coming to celebrate my birthday! I’m super stoked! You’re gonna give me whatever I want for my birthday? Well, if you say that… it might make me want to ask for something huge. I’m kidding, don’t worry! How about we go skateboarding together? We can do some sweet tricks and post some pictures online!

Birthday Login Message 3: Heyo, [Yuu]-chan! Ooh… Did you come to wish me a happy birthday? Oho, then maybe I’ll use my Unique Magic and ask for a gift for each one of me～ Eh, you’re still cool with that? I was just kidding, though. Well, Cay-kun here is just tickled to death that you’d go that far to celebrate my birthday! Thanks ♪

Birthday Login Message 4: A little quiz for you, [Yuu]-chan! What do you think is Cay-kun’s lucky charm for today? The answer is… a present! The more I get, the happier I’ll be, my horoscope says～ That’s why I’m on the lookout for people who might have presents for me. Are you that someone, [Yuu]-chan～?

Birthday Login Message 5: Thanks for the birthday wishes! I got a thing with the Pop Music Club after this, but you wanna come with me, [Yuu]? I mean, it’s not really like we’re going to be doing anything special. We’ll probably just be snacking and chatting, like usual. Ah, I just had a good idea. One sec, let me reach out to Lilia-chan and Kalim-kun. …Niice～ Looks like they’re both on board. “'Kay, then we’ll go with the plan I just sent you guys” …And send. So basically, we’re gonna throw an impromptu Cay-kun Birthday Performance. Come and enjoy the celebration!

Requested by Anonymous.

[midnight-nexus]

Thoughts about the toys & bigger bodies aging

Okay so, I've decided to ramble about this because I've been thinking about it and I want to post about some headcannons I have that are influenced by the aging thing.

So, I know that there is a bit of conflict between people about whether the toys age or if they're stuck as immortal kids and I decided to share my thoughts on their ability to age and my reasoning.

///

Okay so, to start I don't think that its a clear cut everyone ages or everyone doesn't; I think that the majority of the bigger bodies (e.g. Mommy, Dogday, Doey) were made with the intention for them to continue to age mentally, this is because they were used as caretakers of a sort and it makes more sense to have them age in order to watch over the kids and be able to deal with issues that might come up. I think that they would have attempted to induce amnesia and condition the BBs to be their characters though, in order to control them as they grew; I do think this had varying results though, with it being effective on the critters, in-effective on Mommys hatred of adults(but otherwise effective) and in-effecting on Doey altogether.

I don't think this goes for every BB though! For characters like Bunzo, PJ and Yarnaby I don't think they were allowed to age and may have even regressed to a younger mentality from their transformations. It is much easier to train a terrified child to be a background character or pet than someone who grows and can understand how much more powerful they are than those around them. I also think a few of the BB critters may have stayed as children too, like Crafty and Hoppy, not to say that they were like 6 or something but they didn't age past when they were made.

For the mini toys I think that they were made to stay as children for the most part, other than a few abnormalities; but after they started to make so many of them, I think they started to select a few who would be medium toys/Carers (A bit bigger than the minis but nowhere near as big as the BBs) and they would allow them to age to their teens before stopping their aging; however they do it. These toys would then be used as caretakers to manage the mini toys so that playtime wouldn't need to hire people to do so instead. Kinda like how in the military they delegate command to a sergeant or whatever to keep order but everything has to go through higherups? Don't know if I'm explaining it well.

I think that this makes sense as an overall idea as well, because if you look through the chapters you'll notice that the younger kids (based on this) all flock to BBs that are able to age; Mommy with bunzo, pj and whoever else, Catnap with the feral minis, and Doey with safe haven. They all became the Parent/Leader/Oldest and so, in charge of the younger kids even if they weren't kind or caring. This is something that you can see in scared or lost kids, with them running to an adult for help, only due to their situation there isn't really anyone who can help like they need it (Doey being the exception as far as I can tell).

///

Some people wont agree with this idea and that's fine but it is how I personally see it and my art stuff will be following this idea.

Gonna focus on Doey next and explain how he works in this... AU? I guess? There isn't anything that goes against cannon so... I don't know what to call it; but whatever, next up is the dough guy and the intricacies of him and how he works and how the doughboys in him work cos I wanna talk about them.

Oh and if anyone has any questions go ahead and ask! I don't mind and I'd love to ramble about this stuff!

[directdogman]

hey dog! sorry to bug you with a coding question, but i'm learning rpg maker mv for a fangame & i'm wondering how you did a couple things. if it's not too much trouble, could you quickly explain some of it? i've scrounged around as much as i can but i cant find what i need so i thought it'd be worth asking directly ^^;

how did you get the players name to show up in the message log? i know theres a plugin that adds the name windows for other characters & i've got that figured out, but i have no idea how to get the players name to show up in the history after selecting stuff

how'd you get the graphic for the route diverging choices to show & play During choices? so far ive figured out that looping the images recreates the visual but then the game doesn't progress, bc its just stuck in that loop...

how'd you disable ( + grey out) dialogue options after selecting them??

how'd you add the fullscreen option? i found a code that was supposed to add a fullscreen option to the optionscore settings but that one just breaks the plugin & i simply Don't know enough javascript to figure it out myself

i'm using all the same plugins that dialtown has so clearly these are possible without extra ones, i just don't know how to do it,, thanks for explaining your pronoun system a little while ago btw! i wasn't the one who asked but your post was super helpful when i was setting it up for myself :D

It's been close to 6 years since I started making DT, and I had to figure out a few solutions to specific issues that cropped up which I've likely forgotten now, but I'll answer what I can remember. I'm also gonna give you some advice and advise you not to use RPG Maker for projects like these.

I basically Scott Cawthon'd DT and forced the engine to yield to my demands because I wanted to use the one I knew best. A few of these solutions are over-complicated because the easier ones (which would've worked in other engines) had to be constructed differently. I'll also mention a few solutions to problems you might not have encountered (but inevitably will if you try to recreate DT.) With that out of the way...

1)

You'll want these settings for the backlog plugin. the \c[x] commands refer to standard name colours. Log special inputs set to true, followed up by this below:

\n<\c[4]\n[1]\c[0]>%1

With \n[1] being the name you want and the number after the first c being what colour you want.

I'll also save you a potential future issue: I'd actually recommend you find the backlog plugin I used in DT's files (located inside the www/js/plugins folder) and use the version I have instead of the official release if you're not already, because I made a small change to fix an error. Basically, it breaks slightly with the plugin that lets you bring up the menu during dialogue because text reloads when you leave the menu and re-enter the text box, causing text to be logged at least twice after you pause it. If you keep bringing up the menu, you'll get constant duplication. I simply added a line of code that tells the log not to have two duplicates in a row. Not a programmer, but it seems works.

2)I did it in a funny way to ensure the engine wouldn't screw it up. Basically, there's 3 steps to the event and it's kinda hard to explain (and would be annoying to reproduce without a lot of trial and error for a beginner.) It's easier if I show my code. The first thing I do is run a common event (you can also just paste this code in and run it from the event) that renders the frames used by the popup, so they're loaded into memory + ready to go.

As you can see, they're set to 0 opacity but now ready to be used. Obviously they have to be on a layer that isn't being used by anything else in the scene (and won't be during this part of the game.) I run this event ahead of time, usually 4 messages before the choice comes up or so, so even slower PCs should have time to get them up.

The 'if head' thing just switches between the files for phone/typegingi's heads. I render each frame on separate layers and toggle their opacity from one to the next on a single frame to avoid flickering (bc RPG maker's renderer is hot trash and I have to work around it. Case in point.)

Step 2 is a second command event that orders the frames to fade in.

One layer is the text (which doesn't move) and the other is the first frame of the little head animation. A switch is also turned on at the end, and this signals the animation to go, which is handled by an event on any map where a choice like this comes up.

The event page that handles the animation itself has 2 pages, one to handle the animation as it goes and the other to handle when it stops (note that you could use one page and simply use a conditional branch. I didn't.)

Set to parallel so it runs in the bg behind normal events. As you can see, every 17 frames, I command one image to fade out over a single frame and another to fade in. It loops perfectly, cycling from middle frame, to left, to middle, to right, back to middle. Finally, when you select any route diverging choice, it sets off a second switch, which activates the second event page and commands the game to dispose of the graphics and then turn itself off.

Basically, it's the same animation but with a twist. The text is faded out over 60 frames and then the same animation is played as before, except the values it fades back into go from 255, to 170 to 85. Each of those commands is also followed by a 17 second fade to the opacity of the next frame. So, frame one renders in one frame at 255. Then seventeen frame fadeout to 170... Next frame renders for 1 frame AT 170, then fades out gradually to 85. Then next frame renders at 85 during 1 frame, fades to 0. This is how i synced the turning animation to fade out convincingly.

At the very end, I turn both of the switches this event page uses off so both event pages don't continue on loop. I also have a check for the first event variable to check if the game should still think the animation is running, as a failsafe. I don't remember if this mattered.

3)It's a function in the YEP Extended Message Pack. You'll see the commands for hiding (temporarily removing) + disabling choices (greying them out) as you scroll through the help list, almost 2/3 down. The thing you have to remember though is that messages that are commanded to be hidden/disabled will STAY disabled unless you turn them back on. So, ANY time there's a possibility to make a choice with a disabled or hidden message, add this plugin command to EVERY selectable choice

ClearChoiceSettings

This will ensure the game doesn't break from having a choice permadisabled. If you use loops or labels to make the game return to a previous choice, make sure the looping point is BEFORE any logic that may disable/hide a choice so it doesn't autoenable everything if the game has to go back.

4)Make a new RPG Maker project, copy the js folder from www/data/js and open the new project alongside your other one. Then check my YEP Option core plugin and follow this path in the plugin editor

This code should work.

On a similar note, I'd also take a look at how my plugins are ordered, if your list is different. I had to meddle with the list to make sure some plugins functioned correctly. This engine is held together with duct-tape and spite, so do what this advice what you will.

Hope this helps!

[gummilutt]

250 followers Custom Memory Bonanza

It's finally time! To thank all you lovely people for your support, I have been working hard to get this ready for upload and here we are. Today I am sharing my custom memory object, and my library of a whopping 201 custom memories. Based on the wonderful Tattered Diary by DiLight over on MTS, and the tutorial she shared of how to make your own custom memories.

I've always cared a lot about memories, to me they tell the story of the Sims life. Some of you from MTS may recall when I did the whole several year rebuild of my hood, replicating every last detail of the original. I'm memory crazy, okay? And when DiLight gave me the power to make my own, I may have gone a tad overboard. Or just the right amount, you get to decide :P DiLight taught me most of what I know about making custom memories, and the base BHAVs are from her, but as I've learned more I've added some bells and whistles that I hope you will enjoy. It's a new clone and separate GUID from the original tutorial object set up by DiLight, so if you have your own you can have mine too without issues :) Found in misc/misc, costs 1 simoleon.

Download on simfileshare

Features - Brand new form, created by me. Resized BV photo album with new mapping and new texture (seen above, in game pictures at the end of this post). I wanted something that was uniquely mine, and that you don't necessarily have to hide away in the attic or under the foundation. If you don't like it, you also have some additional model forms you can switch between through the pie menu. - Adaptable dynamic menu. Thanks to a really neat trick from @picknmixsims the menu reflects the memories you put in your downloads. If no file with the correct guid is found, the option for it won't show. Which means that although I am crazy enough to have 201, you can go ahead and only pick your favorite ones and the object will automatically detect and adapt the menu to that selection. - Memories all have a custom icon, that's made from game icons from TS2 or TS3. Some I am quite proud of, some are admittedly not great. Not everything is easy to convey through game icons, but I've tried my best, I hope the effort shows. 5 memories have icons that are not from the game, but I tried to match them to the aesthetic as best I could. - Memory subject menu shows only relevant age groups. For example, if the memory is about having a baby, only baby/toddler Sims will show as options. Goal being to keep menu as concise as possible. If you wish to assign memories retroactively, please see jonasn's excellent Memory Commander object, which has support to add my custom memories without age limitations. As well as a whole lot of other useful memory-related stuff. - Extensive documentation detailing everything you may need to know about the memories (text, icon, background, who can get it, who they can get it about, repeatability, where to find it on the object) to help you select the ones you want for your game, and familiarize yourself with them. - English and Swedish translations of memories, and object menu. If someone wants to add their language, that would be great but it's a lot of work so I don't expect it. You are welcome to share your translated versions directly if you wish, or you can send them to me for me to update files shared here :) If you want to learn how to translate the files directly, Episims has a great tutorial found here.

Examples of types of custom memories included - Extended family members memories (got cousin, got aunt/uncle, got sibling, got twin sibling, got great grandchild, got stepparent, got stepchild) - Birth related memories (pregnancy, becoming parent, late in life parent, had multiples birth, premature baby) - Marriage related memories (divorce, parental divorce, custody things, alimony) - Relationship related memories (fighting, breakups, additional love memories) - Woohoo related (memories for specific woohoo locations, repeatable generic woohoo/public woohoo) - University degree related (declared major memories, got a minor degree memories, got a major degree memories, for remembering having studied multiple things and being able to see what major your Sim chose without looking at their diploma) - Loan related, for remembering taking and paying off loans of different types - Moving memories (first apartment, child moves out, various memories for sims moving in with others) - Kids related (child's first day in school, got their own pet, nursery rhyme, giving up for adoption, living at orphanage)

Mods automating delivery of my CC memories (more to come) Learned nursery rhyme from - Found here, by me Wrote restaurant guide - Found here, part of jonasn "Novel Writing Improvements" mod

Credits: DiLight, @picknmixsims, @morepopcorn, @latmosims, @joplayingthesims, maxon, @keoni-chan. For detailed info on how they all impacted the creation of this, see readme :) Policy: Give credit to DiLight, beyond that, totally open. Enjoy!

[amrass]

A take on Micah Bell's full backstory

So this is a new kind of post to me, a big-ass fan theory of sorts, but I've always enjoyed the more out-there takes in fandom. Also I've been sitting on this for months so it's nice to get it out.

In short, I made up a full backstory for Micah from the few scraps of information that are given in game. I'll go through some of those details first, then go through my own take in four sections:

Part 1: The way of the grandfather/the legacy of Micah Bell the First Part 2: Early years/Competitive survival Part 3: Young Adulthood/O'Driscoll Boy!Micah Part 4: Later Adulthood/Evil Bounty Hunter!Micah

(Note that the 1st and 2nd part will spoil my fanfic series The Devils, but it can still be read, as it's full of juicier details.)

Canon and semi-canon details from his backstory

So we don't know a whole lot, hints only given by select dialogue and a newspaper clip. Micah is the third in line in a family of outlaws, and ran together with his father and brother Amos for a while. His father was wanted for murder all over the place, and seems like a man with dark charm ("Ain't life grand?") and a temper (nearly killing Amos). Amos, who ran away from the family tradition, wanting nothing to do with it. You can read about them on various online encyclopedias, but know that some of those are written by uh, creative fans, and AI, so there is often errors. It's irritating, but it is what it is.

An interesting bit is the interview with Micah's actor Peter Blomquist (I have tried to google but am having trouble finding it; please send link if you have it!) is the mention that Micah's father was bad, but his grandfather was worse. Tbh I think this is a bit from a backstory that was among the things that were scrapped from the final game.

So, of his grandfather we know almost nothing, except that he was wild. And that he was maybe worse than Micah III's father. But that also means that the Second was also better than the First somehow.

My take

Part 1: The way of the grandfather / the legacy of Micah Bell the First

I think the grandfather was the head of the family as long as he lived. I also think he imposed a terrible burden upon Micah Bell II (and III).

It's interesting if the Second tries to be better than the First in that when he got a woman pregnant, he tried to hide her and their two children, because he didn't want to force the Bell training upon them. But it slipped out one evening due to drink. The older forced the younger to reveal the locations of the woman and the two sons.

And so the training of the two new Bells begins, harsh and unrelenting. Shooting, robbing, killing. And more 18+ than I feel is necessary in this post, but yeah, disturbing stuff.

Micah being the one to inherit the name most likely means that he is older than Amos. But the thing is that Micah gives off serious little brother vibes to me. I dunno exactly why. Vibes, man.

So, I thought an interesting twist would be: what if the name of Micah Bell was something that had to be earned? What if they'd been given different names originally, Amos and something unknown, before the latter was the better outlaw and became the Micah Bell III we know. He is one of the fastest shots in the game, and a competition like that, begun from early age, could've given him initiative to train harder, desperate to earn the name.

I am a cruel writer. How can I make this crueler? I got it:

Their grandfather identifies quickly that one brother is weaker and easier to manipulate than the other. Not in physical strength, but in terms of familial bonds. Maybe he is less charming than Amos, and makes fewer friends, because idk he is busy eating bugs (he seems like the kind of kid who would eat bugs). Or maybe their mother, before the arrival of the men, makes the boys attend a local church school, and Amos finds love in the religion while his brother stares out the window. Not because he's evil but because he's easily bored.

So the grandfather only tells one brother of the competition about earning the name, and it's not Amos. He also says the one who loses the right to the name has to be killed by the winner because there can only be one Micah Bell for each generation, that's how it has always been done. Maybe he speaks the truth, maybe he lies, but no matter what he is efficiently cutting the bond between the two brothers.

Part 2: Early years / Competitive survival

So, that is how Micah Bell III becomes Micah Bell III, as a boy and as a youth. I'll just go back to calling him Micah to make it easier, also because calling him anything else would kind of feel like waving a death sentence in the face of a child after I wrote The Devils. Because even people who commit atrocities have been a child once.

Growing up, Micah's survival depends upon winning over his brother. This is where his idea of winning and losing comes from. It doesn't help that his father yaps on and on about a similar philosophy, but where he's all words, Micah is all acts.

Micah never finds out that Amos doesn't know about the competition. He resents him from not trying harder. For making Micah look bad, training so hard so he can kill his fool brother, lying awake at night and mentally preparing for it. But if friendships are rope, then familial bonds are chains; almost impossible to cut.

He lies awake at night and stares at Amos on the other side of the fire, missing when they curled up together back when it did not feel like sleeping next to an enemy. It eats the child up, all that training. Not much left of who he was or could be. Hey, at least he doesn't have time to eat bugs.

But maybe, if their grandfather falls ill, Micah is the one to kill him. Unable to cope with the idea of killing his brother, he shoots him in the face. And then he turns to Amos, grinning, because they're free.

Amos does not see himself as freed. He sees murder. He thinks it is only because Micah saw their grandfather as weak, when he secretly had been the strongest force in their life. Micah walks towards him, covered in their grandfather's blood (I do like a dramatic scene), and Amos turns away, throws up and tells him to stay away. Micah feels shock, then loss, then rage. Micah Bell II would probably react with pure rage, but Micah is so used to surviving things at this point, he survives that too. None of their relationships are all that salvageable from this moment, especially not after Amos runs away.

This makes me think of another HC of mine, namely that Micah is the one to kill Amos, which has its own post and arguments here. But if you add in the theory present in this post, it makes even more sense to why he'd killed Amos, finishing what he had been trained to do since he was a kid.

Part 3: Young adulthood / O'Driscoll Boy!Micah

Did you know Micah's outfits have a bunch of half-hidden, green accents them? I've seen it on his scarf, his gloves, his horse saddle ...

This is basically copy pasting a bit from a Twitter thread I made, but I just really like the idea of Micah being an ex-O'Driscoll Boy mainly due to his green scarf. It's more of a teal, but maybe it's a faded O'Driscoll green. Colm would've valued a gun like him. His ruthlessness and boot-licking, too. Especially if he was younger, lonelier and easier to sway. After his brother leaves and his father dies, he'll have no one.

And while he is a bit of a lone wolf hermit, Colm could've reminded him of his father, like Dutch probably does, but I really like the thought of Colm reminding Micah of his grandfather. He wouldn't be too unfamiliar with the gang dynamic, and find more homeliness in that than in a normal family. There's a well-known tendency among abused kids to unconsciously seek out relationships that mirror their broken families. Paradoxically, the lack of safety feels safe.

Of course, the Bell heritage is too alive within him to render him into another nameless O'Driscoll Boy, so he and Colm eventually fall out. He goes back to being a lone wolf, but maybe he's made some connections, which make gathering a troop easier, especially for bank robberies (Skinny, Cleet, Joe...). But he mostly stays alone.

During RDR2, when Colm was hanged, maybe Micah felt the green scarf catch strangely, while in camp or while out riding (or even watching the hanging happen from a dark back alley in Saint Denis). Micah reached behind to the nape of his neck, feeling as though someone had held him there, squeezed, and then let go.

Part 4: Later Adulthood / Evil bounty hunter!Micah

So I'm a total sucker for the theory of Micah being a form of a hitman that's like an evil bounty hunter. The main reason for this is the fact that Dutch's bounty poster can be found at Micah's camp outside Strawberry. But also because my first thought when we first met him in the game was "Omg, Loco from The Great Silence, my favorite evil bounty hunter villain!" They have some of the same color scheme in the winter outfit, and I think it's a reference.

Loco has the same life philosophy as Micah, as seen in this quote: "You're on the side of the law. We, we're on the side of the law of survival… survival of the fittest!" and kind of in this one (ok I'm putting it here because it's so cool, he's just burst into the hideout of his own evil bounty hunter gang) "Since when are wolves afraid of wolves?"

I like the idea of Micah is sick to death of gang life but knows enough of it from his time as an O'Driscoll to infiltrate hideouts and gangs easy, to reap bounties from the lawful people he's been robbing up to now and occasionally still do. Maybe the Van der Lindes weren't the first gang he brought down. That's fun to think about.

Also, I love it when asshole villains do the "right" thing. Partly why I love Micah's character; as an antagonist, he brings down Arthur and John, directly and indirectly.

(Ooh this is beside the point, but that's actually one of my issues with the narratives of the RDR and GTA games. They have this core of nihilism that actively hinders their stories from becoming as great as their characters, but also makes the games sell easier. Maybe another post, or maybe fandom isn't the place for critiques.)

Anyway, Micah just didn't think anyone could ever get to him, but then again he'd never met anyone like Dutch. Hell, the man even had the same dark charm like his father, enjoying similar exclamations. I think he hoped to recreate something of his old family dynamic with Dutch, who was kinder than his grandfather, father and Colm. We all know how that went. His last words was still a compliment to Dutch though. As if it was still a competition, or a game, in the end.

*walks a few steps away, twirls, shrugs, falls face first into the snow*

Here's another pic of Loco (along with the GIF in the beginning):

The end

Yeah I have not much more to say here lol. Feel free to use and expand upon this theory, or make your own by taking out of some of the foundations, could be cool to see. I'd love a shoutout, but it seems shoutouts are going out of fashion, which is sad. Put the community back into fandom! Stop it with the competition! Make friends! Lmao "be less like Micah", but yeah, I guess it stands. I see so many people worship canon like a deity. Please have more fun!!!

Anyway, thank you for reading ☺️

[reality-detective]

Some of you may not realize this 👇

I've been on a 5 year hiatus where I've been staying low key and biding my time, waiting for certain developments that I knew were coming.

My posting on social media has been limited compared to what it used to be, and I don't write as much on my Substack, or do as many videos, and some of you have commented on this.

I've been preparing for a whirlwind of activity related to the 'relaunch' of SpyGate.

We're almost there.

There's still a few more things that have to happen before I fully burst out of this shell and shift back into third gear.

For now, all I'll say is this: 👇

There are gonna be revelations in the SpyGate declass that are going to knock people's socks off.

Nobody knows better than me the airtight op sec that was in place when it came to the SpyGate investigations, those that went public and those that didn't.

Durham actually started his SpyGate-related investigations by April of 2017. That did not leak for over 2 1/2 years.

Chuck Dolan's name did not leak in DC for almost 5 years, until Durham was good and damn ready to reveal that this key Clinton family strategist was a source for several of the Steele Dossier's fake allegations.

A federal grand jury being led by... SOMEBODY...was all up in the electronic comms of over 70 key persons inside and around our US Congress from late 2017 thru the early Spring of 2021. The people spied on by this grand jury included Adam Schiff, who was the chair of the House Select Panel on Intelligence at the time, and a member of the Gang of Eight. This op sec was so good, even SCHIFF had no idea he was being surveilled for more than 3 years.

None of this is controversial. All of this is public record. The people handling this... DO. NOT. LEAK.

But now that Trump has ordered the declassification, because the time has arrived and the house has been cleaned, and the right people are in the right jobs...

Stuff that didn't leak for years will now come to light.

It will only come out now that Trump has declassified it.

You will see social media influencers on here screaming the Heavens that 'the public had a right to know!', all pissed off that none of this stuff leaked out in over 8 years.

Too bad, so sad.

It was done RIGHT.

It was done according to the LAW.

It was done so that it will STICK and STICK GOOD.

It was done so that there will be NO escape or any clever lawyering that allows any of these traitors to escape.

Emotions do not come into play here at this level of this deadly game in The Silent War.

Emotions blind you, impatience robs you, and being stuck in a mental loop handed to you by people who frame events the wrong way for you leads you astray.

STAND READY... It's not gonna be much longer now.

They branded me a traitor. History will call me a hero. Stay in the know: 🤔

- Edward Snowden

[ominous-faechild]

Hey how do you do the color gradient thing for your dialog tags?

Assuming you mean these things, I've actually been meaning to make a guide of my own for a while lol.

For one, you can only do this on computer/the website of Tumblr! There's no option to select this stuff on the app.

STEP 1: CREATE A NEW DOC / GO TO SETTINGS

It opens a dropdown menu/whole screen full of options!

From there, select the "text editor" dropdown, which starts as displaying "rich text".

Select "HTML"

And it should change how the entire post looks!

STEP TWO: CHEAT

Yeeeeeaaaaah, so I use a website for this lol

I inserted my colors for faeries (#30853C) and Cloud (#6DC1B4) for my example of "these things" earlier. To make this easier, I most often have two windows open at a time while working on uploading my scripts to Tumblr.

To get colours to insert into the Text Colorizer website, you can use any kind of hex color picker or even this one website I've used to yoink "thematic" colors from photos!

Personally, I've developed a massive library of colors over time for this exact purpose lol. Using my old colors as a "base", I can change it accordingly to the kind of "new color" that I want for a specific character or thing!

(I'll use the website to also make gradients for "in-between" colors lol)

STEP 3: INSERT TEXT / DESIRED COLORS

To make Nova's gradient, I start with #A600D9, my color for Magic, and end with #F56745—their individual color. However, being as it's short, I'll use a quote from them instead lol.

Once you've inserted your text and colors, you will click in the text box I highlighted in red, ctrl+a and ctrl+c to copy it all, and go back over to your new tumblr post tab!

From there, you'll ctrl+v to paste the entirety into the HTML area, which pastes the code into your post!

AND VOILA!

You have gorgeous gradient text!

However, I want to give a fair warning and a bit of advice! If you didn't notice wayyyyyyy back when...

Tumblr warns that this all can break your formatting!

It doesn't do it too often, but take it from someone who does an obscene amount of formatting... it's 100% true.

STEP 4: CHEAT SOME MORE!

For this reason, I personally have a whole separate draft post full of my characters' colors (and names lol) that I use to copy-paste them in from rather than using the "html" text editor on every post!

I mentioned earlier I often have multiple windows open while editing? Here's what that looks like!

Additionally, I'll use a separate tab off on the left (my "current wip post" side) with the "html editor" enabled for me to copy-paste stuff!

(Also here's yet another example of how many colors I have)

Once again, you can ctrl+c these things to paste them into another tumblr post with the correct colors!

And it's ONLY possible to do on the website!!!

EXTRA INFO!

WARNING:

Tumblr will only allow each "paragraph's html to be so many characters long, so you can't have too big of anything in a gradient!

And by "anything"... I mean you really can't have that big of a gradient in general. RIP lol.

It straight-up won't save the post so long as you have that "overflow" in the character block! MAKE SURE YOU'VE FIXED IT, OR YOU CAN AND WILL LOSE ALL PROGRESS ON YOUR POST!

SINGLE-COLOR TIP:

You don't need the website for a single color! If you'd like, you can just change the "color code" within the html editor to change specific colors!

MAKE SURE COLORS CAN WORK ON DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS!

On desktop, you can use shift+p while not on any sort of textbox to change the color pallet! I always do tests to see which colors work best before settling on any!

(Tho, the blue background SPECIFICALLY is nightmarish to work around. So if that's the ONLY thing I can't make work, I often ignore it and let you guys who use it suffer lmao)

(Hopefully this'll give you guys some respect for me and how much I do to make my posts aesthetic af lol)

Also hopefully this all helps???

divider by @cafekitsune

[wings-of-ink]

Future IFs Poll

So, in case you have not seen me post about it before, I am considering a project to do on the side while I work on God-Cursed. This will help me take breaks from my main work and stretch my creativity muscles with different characters and settings. I'd like a bit of feedback from what readers are more interested in from the best ideas I can potentially pull from right now. Feel free to vote, comment, or even send an ask if you want to be anonymous.

Over the last year or so, I have jotted down many basic plots I could expound on, but only a few have really stuck out to me as ones I could really expand in a meaningful way.

So, a couple housekeeping things to keep in mind. Whatever ends up getting written, it will have a modern-day setting. The fantasy playground is fun, but I really want a more real-world setting for this one. I am also debating about all ROs being gender-selectable. Since this side piece is supposed to be a little oasis for me too, not having each RO as customizable would ease the work that goes into it, and it might actually mean I can have more than just a few options for you as well. I am also considering a middle ground and having one or two characters customizable still while the others will be set.

Below I have given some details on the ideas I'm working with and further down is a poll that you can vote for the one that calls out to you the most. I have 2 ideas so far that are standouts among the others, but I've included 4 in the poll that I can work with. The winner isn't guaranteed to be what I end up writing, but I am very strongly going to consider the results while I decide. I like all these ideas and they sound fun to write - so none of this telling me to write what I want - I already want to do them all, lol (looking at you @elegantunknownphantom). There are caveats to each one, of course, and I'll explain that in the details.

Options:

Serial-killer crime drama:  "Daddy was a Killer" (title sounds like it came from a Lifetime original movie, but I really like it)

No doting daddies here, readers. Play as the traumatized child of a serial killer with repressed memories of the horrible things they witnessed daddy do. Get accused of a murder you didn't commit (probably), and try to catch your darling dad while dealing with the psychological devastation of all the horrors you've seen before he can kill again (and again, and again). Discover where your daddy disappeared to all those years ago, and what really happened to your mom.

Downsides:  I have a decent grasp of the plot on this one, but it would require a good deal of research (which I tend to do anyway to an extent), since I'd like a fairly realistic feel to the actual crime-solving stuff. Either that, or I can go the "rogue detective" route and play it fast and loose. This work would be in a wheelhouse I've never quite been in before, which is fun on one hand but nerve-wracking on another.

RO ideas include:

A smarmy detective (of course!)

A neighbor concerned for your well-being (mostly because you scream in your sleep)

And the child of one of your daddy's victims.

2. Supernatural mystery:  "Shivers" (title up for adjustment, but I kinda dig it)

Play as an MC with a bizarre anxious tic - an intense and chilling shiver that you get seemingly out of nowhere. It only lasts a couple seconds and you've dealt with it since childhood, so it's easily dismissed. That is, until you experience a sudden surge in occurrences. Your doctor writes it off as stress from dealing with the erratic behavior of your mother. But after a near-death experience, during which this mysterious tic guides you to safety, you know there is more to it than stress. With the help of your best friend(s) and a shady medium, find out what has attached itself to you and what seeks to claim you, discover who your real father is, and embrace or deny your own strengths as a medium.

Downsides:  I feel like there's a lot of supernatural IFs already, some of which are already similar to this or have similar aspects. This one probably won't have the drama/emotional potential that some of the others do, which may be a boon to some readers as it would be a little lighter.

RO ideas include:

the best friend(s) (potentially 2 besties to choose from - twins)

a (mostly) fake spiritual medium

a brave EMT who came to your rescue

and something…otherworldly.

3. Gritty Drama:  no title  (more of a framework to build from)

This one would be completely riddled with warnings, and I kinda just see it as being a fun outlet for some angst, smut, unhinged shit, and violence. 👍

The ideas for this one didn't start around a firm plot, but around a setting/scenario stemming from one of my OCs. The vibe here is very much "sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll" and fits into the seedy nightclub/crime ring thing. It would be a playground of questionable characters and life-choices. You would choose the dire straits that put your MC in the employ of a dangerous kingpin. Perhaps MC owes a lot of money to someone, got into trouble with a rival faction, or was framed for a crime, etc.... You'd get to choose the MC's line of work under the organization - be it in drugs, entertainment (music/dance/alcohol/sex), or security. The issue that leads to your employ under a sex-peddling drug-trafficker will haunt you in your new life in the middle of a war between the rulers of the underground.

Downsides:  Not super fleshed-out plot wise, but I don't think it would be too hard to build on either. I may want to use this setting (or something like it) and my OC for a different project one of these days, but I'm unsure about that as well. And, the obvious, red flags and triggers everywhere for a setting like this.

RO ideas: 

One person from each potential "job" (the head of security, a chemist who seems too pure to be making hard drugs, a sex-worker, the clumsy bartender, a cute DJ)

A member of a rival faction

And for the brave and stupid - your boss - a clever and unhinged woman with an affinity for knives. And, no, she will never love you.

4. Futuristic:  no title (needs the most work)

Including this one to just get a feel for how it's received, but I anticipate that it won't get quite as much backing as the others. I have the character-creation concept in mind which lends itself to a plot, and a RO or two, but that's about it. I think I could do something fun with it, but I've also never written anything futuristic or scifi before. This would be akin to "Detroit: Become Human."

Though the setting would be futuristic, I am pretty sure I wouldn't want to do a dystopian thing. There's a lot of that out there already and we're basically living it IRL; it's a blast to read, but I want the main focus to be on something else if I do this. There would still be pockets of grittiness to the setting, because if we're talking humanity, there's gonna be grit somewhere. But this world would be more post-dystopian. Say, the rebels won and life has gotten better across the board for people? And though everyday life has a lot of tech enhancements, we haven't seen sentient machines - yet. That's where you come in.

The MC Concept is that they are an android - of course! One of the nice made-to-order kind that only the rich can afford. But what makes the MC unique is that while everyone else requests specific things about the androids they purchase - such as gender, looks and even downloadable personalities - an order comes in that's blank. It only requests that the android be allowed to choose who they are and how they look. "The Buyer" will pay for whatever personality, enhancements, or clothing they want - but the android must make the choices themselves.

As your MC goes through these initial choices, equipped only with a basic "education" software full of un-opinionated information about the world and how it works, something unusual begins to spark within them (not that they know how unusual it is yet).

RO ideas:

The Buyer–a gender-selectable person who sets your creation in motion. They're wealthy, well-respected, earnest, and incredibly lonely. Who are they really and why did they do this?

The Scientist–a hopefully trustworthy person that's very interested in your development

The Punk–someone who wants to give you the "real" human experience.

Make your selection below. Comment your thoughts and ideas as well if you like. This is set for a week and I will reblog here and there so it has a chance to reach as many of you who would like to vote as possible.

[natsury-kazuki]

Valentine cards 2024

Hi, this time I found them all at once, enjoy the answers from our dear NRC students and teachers! :)

----

HEARTSLABUYL

My dear friend

Thank you for your gift. I’m not an expert, but I once read that this type of thing can help relaxation. I’ll certainly try it out soon? I’ll make you herbal tea sometime as a token of my gratitude.

Riddle Rosehearts

-

Heya, pal-

I never thought you'd get me something so fancy! It's got just the kind of scent I like. You've got perfect taste. I'm gonna use it soon-thanks! As for what to give you in return, well.. Got any requests? Just don't go too overboard.

Ace Trappola

-

My good friend-

Thanks for the gift! I didn't think it'd be something so fancy. You've got a good eye for this stuff, Prefect! It's nice having a fresh scent in my room to help me focus when I'm studying! Wait until you see what grade I get on my next test.

Deuce Spade

-

Eyyy, friendo!

Thanks for the totes' Cammable gift! It looks nice, AND it's

got a fragrance that's right up Cay-Cay's alley. I'm super excited for the gift-back, and hope you are, too! I'm gonna get you something you'll be amped to post about on Magicam.

Cater Diamond

-

Hello, friend-

Thank you for the lovely gift. I've been busy lately, so it's nice to have something to help me relax. You're always going the extra mile for everyone around you. I'll bring some homemade sweets over soon to say thanks, okay?

Trey Clover

---

SAVANACLAW

Hey-

Allow me to thank you for your generous gift. Heh. Can't believe you actually picked out a halfway decent fragrance. I might actually keep this. I thought about sending you something in return if the mood struck me, but this thank-you note should do the job just fine, right?

Leona Kingscholar

-

Hey-

Thanks for the gift! I don't buy things that aren't albsolute necessities, so it's nice getting something like this. Don't get me wrong, though. I'm REALLY not picky when it comes to people giving me presents, so feel free to keep giving me whatever you like!

Ruggie Bucchi

-

Hi.

Thanks for the gift. This is the kind of subtle fragrance I can see myself using, I don't like being indebted to others, so I'll think of something to send in return so we're even. Don't expect too nuch. Just sit tight.

Jack Howl

---

OCTAVINELLE

My boon companion-

Thank you for your wonderful gift. You have quite the eye for quality and chose a fine fragrance. That said, I prefer not to accept gifts without providing anything in return. Expect something from me of equivalent value soon.

Azul Ashengrotto

-

My good friend-

Thank you for your lovely present. Did you know that morays have keen senses of smell? I'll quite enjoy this. I'd like to treat you to a drink at the Mostro Lounge in return. What do you say?

Jade Leech

-

Dear Little Shrimpy-

What a neat choice for a present. Did you pick out this scent 'cause it reminded you of me? Kinda funny if this is the vibe I give you. I guess I'll use it if I feel like it. No promises.

Floyd Leech

---

SCARABIA

To my dear friend

Thanks for the gift. You picked this fragrance out for me,right? I’m flattered! Ooh, I know? Next time you’re in a gift-giving mood, you could take me shopping to help pick it out! The more the merrier, right? Then again, that might defeat the purpose of the gift… But let’s not sweat the details!

Kalim Al-Asim

-

Hello

I was surprised enough just to receive a gift from you, but a fragrance? You never fail to surprise. It couldn’t have been easy selecting this. I’ll have to gift you something appropriate in return

Jamil Viper

---

POMEFIORE

Dearest friend-

Thank you for your gift. It was a rather thoughtful choice; I can use this when I'm doing stretches. What would you like in return, I wonder? You're getting something hand-picked by me, so I've no doubt you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Vil Schornheit

-

 Bonjour-

And merci boucoup! Did you choose this just for me? I'm delighted. The design is so lovely and elegant. I normally avoid using fragrances unless it's a special occasion, in which case I shall happily wear one-the one you gave me, of course.

Rook Hunt

-

Dear classmate—

Thanks for the gift! I don't know much about fragrances, but this one's mighty fine! It makes my dorm room feel a smidge more fancy. I'd better get you something nice in return. Its kinda fun thinking up ideas for that.

Epel Felmier  

---

IGNIHYDE

@YOU

Uh, are u saying I stink? Is this like a passive-aggressive gesture or sth? I have questions but since u gave it to me, I greatefully accept? I donc’t pay much attention to grangrances, but this one smelled p. dece when I gave it a whiff.

Idia Shroud

-

Hello, Perfect

Thank you for the gift! It’s a fragrance, right? So this is how you perceive me? That’s fascinating! I’m about to do a thorough analysis of its composition? Who knows? I might discover something neat. Let me know what fragrances you’re into sometimes!

Ortho shroud

---

DIASOMNIA

To my good friend-

Thank you for your gift. Hmm... This fragrance is meant for pleasure and relaxation? What a tasteful choice. I rather like it; perhaps I shall take more of an interest in these things. You would be welcome to pay me a visit, by the way, should you feel so inclined. I would enjoy sharing an old tale or two. –

Malleus Draconia

-

Salutations-

Thank you for your gift. This smell is so nice and relaxing, it makes me want to nod off. I hope this improves the quality of my sleep and helps me to wake up sooner when my alarm clocks go off. I'll let you know how it goes, Hopefully well.

Silver

-

Human-

I've received your gift. Fragrances are a part of one's personal grooming, and you had the nerve to gift one to ME? Challenge accepted. I'll come up with the perfect thing to return the sentiment. You're going to get what's coming to you-mark my words!

Sebek Zigvolt

-

Greetings!

Thank you for picking something out for me. It's a rather nice gift. Immersing myself in an unusual fragrance reminds me of my days visiting other lands. I know! I should cook you some foreign cuisine as a token of gratitude! I can hardly wait.

Lilia Vanrouge

---

NRC STAFF

Dear esteemed student

I was quite taken aback when an unexpected package arrived at the headmage’s office ! To think you would send me something so thoughtful… Hmmm. This fragrance suits my taste nicely. Normally I wouldn’t be able to accept personal gifts, but I think I’ll make an exception for this, seeing as I’m so kind,

Dire Crowel

-

Dear pup

What is this? Giving personal gifts to teachers is hardly good pup behavior. But the moment I opened the wrapping, I could tell you picked this out for me. This design is suitable enough, as is the fragrance itself. I suppose I must commend your knack for gift-giving. Good boy.

Divus Crewel

-

Dear juvenile

I generally decline gifts from students, but you clearly chose this scent out of respect for me. I won’t use it around Lucius, but it might be nice to use in the staff room every once in a while? I gratefully accept.

Mozus Trein

-

Dear student

What is this? Did I give you homework assignment that involved getting me a present? Kidding, of course. This is the perfect scent for a guy as cool as me! I’ll teach you how to make my signature Vargas protein drink in return!

Ashton Vargas

-

Heya, my little imp!

What is up? Did you pick this out just for me? It’s fantastic scent, thanks! If you’re interested in this type of thing, I happen to have a fine looking forward to your next visit.

SAM

---

Other

Dear minion

Mrah?! I was expecting tuna, but instead I get some weird thing called fragrance? What IS this thing? I woulda taken tuna in a heartbeat, but since my hench-human picked this out for me, I guess a proper boss would put it to good use. Be grateful for my kindness, partner!

Grim

[portsandstars]

Revisiting Red Spring Studio's Interview with Blerdy Otome - Select Quotes

It's been almost a year since RSS had this interview, but I think that many people have not listened to it, or recently revisited it. I thought I'd highlight some quotes from it, though the entire interview is worth watching! Some of these quotes I have lightly modified for clarity or succinctness but the majority are direct transcripts.

23:30: "Touchstarved is a horror romance visual novel where the entire cast is made up of characters where you're like, "I can fix them!" but you actually can't. I think that Touchstarved is a very complex and mature story with really really complex themes and interwoven routes and obviously it's very sexy at the same it's a romance - and I think it's one of those games that I've always wanted to see exist and I think that a lot of the team has always wanted to see this game exist as far as being this kind of like dark, broody, moody, but also very deep, right, and authentic and honest exploration - Monsters, and the feeling of being a monster - feeling of being an "other", right, whether you're queer or POC or anything like that… we've created a game that's not only really fun and action-packed and bloody and all that kind of stuff… but very heartfelt in a way that I hope readers can pick up on.

Imo, this line of reasoning ("you can't fix them", and the cast's monstrous nature and how it intrinsically ties to/is an analogy for being queer, or POC) - makes me think that even in the good endings for the game, your character won't be minimizing the character's monstrousness. For example, even if your character has the Power of True Love, it's not going to make Vere nonviolent or absolve Kuras's guilt.

25:35: "These themes are pretty complicated in a way that's messy and honestly bloody and I think for that reason is why we're looking at a mature rating - that said, when we set out to make the game our goal wasn't really to be explicit, it was much more to focus on sexiness . . ."

Just clarifying that there won't be explicit sex scenes in the game.

28:55: "What are some aspects of the story that you are most excited to showcase?" "I'm so excited that people get to die terribly, that just gets me so pumped up. Like in previous jobs I have not been allowed to brutally murder . . . main characters permanently and it's very important to me that I now have the power to write really just messed up awful endings…Don't worry, there's also good endings there too, they just get as much passion and all that stuff as the bad endings… but the bad endings, oh my gosh, those are some of my favorites."

This line makes me curious about whether the main characters are just MC, or if the other characters will brutally die as well!

30:50 "A little while ago we posted Kuras's character reveal and people really like the fact that he can't cook so for me it's really cute and innocent seeing people obsess over that fact and I really just want them to see the contrast between that version of Kuras in their head and what he's actually like in his route. Like I just really want to see them react to like the terrible things he's going to do. . . They're all awful in different ways that I'm really excited for people to see it - it's very funny to see everyone be like _Literally name any of the characters of the cast and be like "they're my little meow meow" and it's like, oh. good. I hope this continues once they learn more about the characters. Obviously they're all wonderful - right, the characters are all awful but they're also all wonderful".

32:26 : "the theme of monstrousness and how each character kind of approaches it differently . . . because they're all monsters, even if they're not literally monsters . . .it also plays into each character's brand of horror in their own way as well that ties into their monstrous nature."

This line especially (to me) hints at how Leander is likely not SPECIFICALLY a monster, but a human with a monstrous nature.

34:30: - Ais was the first character they made and each of the other characters build upon him, so they spent a lot of time getting him right. Vere was the easiest to create and they made him in a weekend. Kuras was the hardest to create (especially visually).

38:00 "This is a romance game and a big draw of the game is making a love connection with these characters - do you all plan on including platonic friendship routes in addition to romance routes, or is it strictly romance?" The way that we planned out this game is that we wanted to focus on the intimacy of these individual relationships between the main character and the love interest and the route that they're on, right, so this is the way we had planned the game from the beginning. We really like poly romances, for example, and friendships, but we think that it wouldn't have made much sense for the characters in the story that we had written for them because this entire story - with who the main character is and why they're having to turn to these mysterious monstrous strangers - there's a level of intimacy involved in the themes and stories that we really focused on for how we're writing…

It's almost like a narrative design intentionality we did early on because each route that you'll be able to play from the main five cast is very driven and each character is like a ticking time bomb in their own way. So if you choose to romance Vere, Kuras's route still continues and you can see the effects of what not choosing Kuras is in Vere's route when you're playing Vere's route. So the world is meant to be very interwoven and interconnected where you can see the ripples of everyone's choices even when you're not romancing them and in that way we've designed this cast that's woven together. So if we did want to do a poly route, we would probably have to do entirely new characters . ."

43:30: "One of the fundamental goals of this game was to have, as you've been saying, a living world - a world that's evolving, and one of the ways that we wanted to communicate that was with the idea that these characters are not doing great… um, they're all in very very bad situations, uh, they're all essentially doomed if you do not go with them and it's seeing that carried out in each route that I hope will be really interesting for people.. it will be very sad, in a good way".

ARGHHH this is the WORST. This means that if you choose a character, you're essentially dooming the others. Though this will undoubtedly manufacture delicious angst, I'm soooo sad at imagining each of the other characters faltering and ultimately failing on their paths because you didn't chose them. Though, I wonder if there are some routes where multiple characters turn out ok, or if the entire cast is doomed as soon as you don't select them (in different ways depending on the route)?

54:30: "I also want to clarify too that even though we've been talking about blood a lot and all that kind of stuff and death and we love those parts of the story, um, if you get those endings there's a reason why, you know what I'm saying - you have to actively try to get those endings - poke the bear with a stick."

Definitely referencing Vere's bad ending in the demo. Personally I am too curious to avoid them, but it's encouraging that some of the MC deaths appear to be because you deliberately make dangerous choices, rather than simply "tricking" the player and surprising them.

Let me know what you think of these quotes, and the whole interview is definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it!

[ultimatefartwizard]

NOT FUCKING AGAIN! THE MUSICAL ( TF EARTHSPARK MESSAGES AND MANDROID'S GENOCIDAL HORRORS EDITION)

Holy shit I am losing my mind... @monocle-teacup you better read this <3 (dead serious though cuz wtf)

Also of course as always, spoilers ahead this time for season 2 of earthspark so dont want it? skedaddle (s2 isnt worth caring about though, trust me)

Also again nobody go witchhunting or harassing anyone, this is discussion of media and someones poor takes on some clear themes in a show.

Okay you're using THE TERRIBLE WRITING OF S2 TO PROVE YOUR LITTLE HORRIBLE SLIMY GENOCIDAL GREASEMAN IN THE RIGHT???? WHY ARE YOU VOUCHING FOR HIM. WHY DO YOU SAY HIS IDEAS ARE RIGHT AUUUUGH-

How you continue to have terrible takes astounds me 💀 You can't be serious man how are you this like,,, braindead? And ignoring all of what S1 is trying to teach even before S2 came out? oh wait.

You choose your attraction of a gross ass man over LITERAL IN YOUR FACE PLOTPOINTS BECAUSE YOU'D RATHER MEATRIDE YOUR BABYGIRL MANDROID OVER EVERYTHING THE SHOW HAS BUILT UP. Not like you probably ever cared to connect any of the dots.

Oh, to help you do that, I have a previous post I made where I pinged you! You should read it before you read anymore, it'll help with what I'm about to preface here. Please READ IT.

Okay, time to dig into literally EVERYTHING ALL OVER AGAIN BECAUSE YOU CAN'T SEEM TO LET GO OF THIS MAN AND HIS OBVIOUS LACK OF HUMANITY IN HIM AND CONTINUE TO SEE SOMETHING THATS NOT THERE. I will start off by saying the quality of the writing for season 2 and season 2's entire disregard for season 1 don't discredit season 1, no matter what nonsense there is. I hate season 2 for all its going for thus far and its just genuinely a waste of my braincells to try watching it again. There are also things not specifically related to mandroid but are also pet peeves that show your lack of attention to detail.

How. Did you miss this. Humans have been living with bots for 30 to 40 years at this point they don't bat an eye at them because THEY THINK THEY'RE JUST SOME BOTS CASUALLY WALKING AROUND. They don't give a fuck about the terrans; only a select few know they are even earth-born bots. Transformers have been living amongst humans casually don't you think they wouldn't give two fucks and know not to gawk at random robots walking around like they just started existing?

You saw the Philadelphia episode (I hope? because you act like you haven't) or really any episode they are just chilling and walking around, you didn't notice nobody gave a damn? What about Optimus, Elita 1, and other bots? Would you randomly gawk at a group of sapient beings walking amongst you who've been there for a lifetime?

No.

They had to hide FROM GHOST not FROM THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE. Ghost would have tried to capture them and imprison them by deeming them a threat for merely existing, not humans as a whole. The fact you miss this entire detail is incredibly sad.

Okay now onto Mandroid stuff because you never stop meatriding him MY GOD

Huh, maybe you need to USE YOUR BRAIN and realize he was not protecting earth. He -thought- he was, because he perceived them as vermin who need to be wiped out and a threat to humanity. Like I said before in my last post DECEPTCONS DO NOT EQUAL ALL OF TRANSFORMERS OH MY GOD. Plus with this season its clear there can't be the same writers on this team. They have sacrificed the story for toymaking opportunities DON'T YOU THINK MAYBE HE'S NOT RIGHT JUST BECAUSE S2 SOMEHOW SAYS THE -CONS IN SPECIFIC (NOT ALL BOTS MY FUCKING GOD)- ARE TO NOT BE TRUSTED AND ARE DANGEROUS? USE YOUR CRANIUM THAT EVOLUTION HAS GIVEN YOU. Mandroid conflated every single transformer with a twisted ideal in his head born out of hate, not from a true sense of danger nor did he separate cons and autobots or unaligned bots in his head from the conglomerate "evil" he thinks they are.

As above so below, you're DEFENDING HIS TERRIBLE GENOCIDAL BEHAVIOR BY BEING LIKE "HE MIGHT HAVE DONE BAD STUFF BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY HE WAS JUST PROTECTING EARTH" over a giant guardian robot who's being mind controlled and had no intention to do this or will of her own. Why are you so adamant on convincing yourself he was a good or commendable man? Where is your basic comprehension of anything in this show at all. HE TRIED TO COMMIT GENOCIDE ON A WHOLE RACE OF BEINGS WHO HAD BEEN COEXISTING ON EARTH FOR YEARS. It's not something you can go 'erm acshually-" on.

He literally killed EVERYONE who was a transformer; even if their death wasn't permanent they still died because he saw them all as a disease needing to be eradicated.

He has no sense of humanity, only hate in his heart and the need to destroy. How do you think he was protecting earth when he had succeeded at murdering an entire population off the face of the earth even if it's only for about 5-10 minutes? HOW ARE YOU THIS BLIND TO MEATRIDE HIM THIS HARD.

I honestly doubt they knew about her, let alone understood the glyphs everywhere. They were just mapping ancient tunnels and figuring it out; Croft also probably forbid anyone from entering due to the DWELLERS, not Terratronus; she was well off course and well protected/hidden by dirt and freaky alien monsters. Even if they somehow DID know, GHOST probably just utilized Terratronus to justify imprisoning dozens of transformers; whether they were cons, neutral, or autobots that didn't want to be part of a government mass incarceration and control program. Mandroid probably didn't give a shit at the moment because he was busy trying to squash literal children like bugs. Shut up about this stupid attempt at the executives making money off of random plot bullshit and toymaking opportunities.

AS STATED IN MY LAST POST: YOU ARE CONFLATING DECEPTICONS WITH ALL TRANSFORMERS, AS MANDROID DID. ONE GROUP DOES NOT EQUAL ALL OF THEM, AND DOES NOT MAKE TRANSFORMERS AS A WHOLE DANGEROUS IF THERE ARE INDIVIDUALS WHO CAUSE TROUBLE. MANDROID SAW ALL TRANSFORMERS AS A THREAT EVEN IF THEY HAD BEEN LIVING WITH HUMANS PEACEFULLY FOR DECADES. YOU ARE HERE SIMPLY REITTERATING A STUPID AND NULL POINT THATS PROVEN WRONG AGAIN AND AGAIN IN S1. His reasoning behind his actions are "we need to get rid of these filthy dangerous vermin who are invading our precious planet." Also the chaos terrans being born evil is a horrible plotpoint and groups being born evil is terrible writing, just like the entirtey of Season 2 because these new writers on the team understand nothing about the show as is. (Yes, most of the writers in s2 never worked on s1)

This one. this one enraged me. This is the most recent post I'd seen about mandroid as of writing (june 8th) and you have SERIOUS AUDACITY to say this. HE KILLED ALL OF THE MALTO BOTS AND TRIED TO KILL ROBBY AND MO; WHAT MAKES YOUR FUCKING MANDROID LOVING SHRUNKEN AND POCKED BRAIN THINK THAT HE WOULD TEAM UP WITH THEM LIKE SOME BUDDY BUDDY ADVENTURE? HE ATTEMPTED AND COMMITTED GENOCIDE, UNETHICAL EXPERIMENTATION, CHILD MURDER, AND MORE.... HE WOULDN'T MAKE JUST """""SMARTASS COMMENTS""" HE'D STRAIGHT UP HATECRIME ALL OF THEM.

I'm not gonna be nice with this last one. You are incredibly media illiterate if not just lacking basic cognition to think he of all people would willingly team up with people he wanted to kill off during season 1. You watched the finale of season 1 and GATHERED NOTHING FROM IT. You, in all your 34 years of life, somehow have not obtained a single gram of "maybe I shouldn't vouch for and defend a person who's xenophobic and wants to commit genocide" despite enjoying writing and HISTORY. HOW ARE YOU ONE TO ENJOY HISTORY YET MAKE NO CONNECTIONS TO ATTROCITIES COMMITTED BY PEOPLE TO WHAT MANDROID IS DOING AND HOW THEY ARE WRONG AND ENTIRLEY UNFORGIVABLE. At this point I believe you to be willfully ignorant to pass off your crush on this man as okay and convince yourself he is right somehow; even going as far as to utilize this new season as an excuse for him.

Your audacity to think he is anything other than a pathetic horrible man with terrible and morally bankrupt goals and actions somehow will be nice to groups of people he hates astounds me to no end. The show gives you all you need to connect the dots and you haven't. I'm aware i'm likely talking to a brick wall because you're likely willingly ignorant to excuse yourself or will never read this but I will call out this nonsense regardless. It comes off as extremely weird and bordering on you just believing in the ideologies he spouts.

I will say this again to make it clear; Mandroid is a stand-in for people who believe in racist and xenophobic ideas, and will stop at nothing to destroy them. The transformers are an allegory for refugee immigrants, and the terrans are first gen decedents. You continuing to believe his lies and defending him just borderlines on you upholding racist ideals. (That might sound deranged af of a claim but considering the context... yeah)

TLDR for lazy people: This fool pinged in this post is claiming a character who ATTEMPTED TO COMMIT GENOCIDE as being in the right somehow with his ideals/actions and not a total morally bankrupt person. Meatriding getting in the way of logic.

-No cheers to you, Wizard and Cupid