#Readability score

[a-concert-just-for-me]

Musescore 4 is such an improvement I’m going to cry

(This one goes out to @toomuchstuffnotenoughcreativity)

[zodiacoracle7]

Scores from the weekend.. .. . (Sits on wet cement)

[neetily]

↳ EVENT 44. Sam & Kent (Jealousy Sex & Incest)

— ✧ warnings: Jealousy Issues, jealousy sex, Incest, Competition, Established Relationship, father/son bickering, Double Penetration, Anal, Cheating — ✧ word count: 2,780

— ✧ A/N: reposting from my old account since i was asked to! formatting might be off, but it's still readable.

Sam has always been competitive, ever since he was a kid. Sometimes, to an unnaturally high degree— in other words, a problem. Taking challenges on a personal level, almost. As if his very existence hinges on the thrill of competition itself. It's exhilarating, don't you think? To be on the cusp of something great, something unrivalled in emotion; to be the best at something.

He does well not to let it cause him to act out, accepting loss as it comes (and it comes). But it's something so innate to him, ingrained in his being from birth. It's why he continues to suck at pool every Friday night in an effort to become better, willing to put himself through bouts of cheeky laughter and playful jabs from his beloved friends so long as it means that he's improving, y'know? So long as he can feed that near insatiable need to improve himself, to exceed expectations eventually, then he'll strive towards it.

That's why he's with you too, right? Never once stopping in his pursuit to be your boyfriend, continuing down the path of trying to earn your attention and affection no matter how many times he may have 'lost'— and God did he try. More than anything he's ever tried for in his life, to be honest. He could never imagine faltering in his efforts to score you, to become a better man infinitely for you, because you deserve the best. And he's working on it, don't you worry, babe.

But it's funny, how despite how many steps he continuously takes forward, all it takes to get him going is an off-handed comment. A mere joke tonight, if he thinks about it. You know, your dad's pretty hot, Sam. If he wanted to, he could have even taken it as a compliment, misconstrued your pretty clear intentions as something innocent instead, avoiding the ticking time bomb buried in his chest upon your jesting confession. Especially given how often you say that he resembles his old man in spite of the grumbles it gets outta him. But something needier is triggered within him upon your spilled secret. That same age old itch he's felt since birth, nagging away at the back of his mind enough to prompt him into impulsive action.

He just wants to be the best for you, wants to be your number one, the same way that you're his in all aspects. He can't allow any competition to worm its way through his defences, tight squeeze or not.

Or, that's what he tells himself anyway. Burying the scathing burn of jealousy in his tummy when his dad thrusts so heavily into you that you end up falling froward against his chest, scowling over your shoulder as you're forced to rest your head against his, the fucking smirk Kent wears when staring back at him is downright infuriating, in part because he sees himself in that faux smile.

But that's exactly what he needs right now, right? Helping you steady yourself between two cocks, both him and his old man sat with their heels behind them, your legs wrapping ever so tightly around Sam's sturdy waist as your tits squish up against his chest so nicely, if not for the fact that it's his fathers doing. He needs some anxious energy right now; just enough to motivate him, he doesn't want to topple over before the shows fully started. And for that, he's thankful his dad is situated behind you right now, cock balls deep in your tight little ass that Sam's fucked plenty times before— absolutely no fucking way was Kent getting your cunt.

After all, who do you think Sam picked up his competitive tendencies from?

The best.

No chance was he giving you up on a silver platter like that; he knows his dad well enough to know that if given the opportunity, you'd be taken two loads down your cunt tonight. No, a simple stipulation. Wanna fuck her? Take her ass. "You good, babe?" Sam questions you, eyes never leaving his father as his brows furrow before him, a non verbal proposition. You're not gonna win, old man. Partially because he's at least checking in on you, making sure Kent hasn't completely ruined you from the rough treatment he's shown you thus far; seems his competitive streak isn't the only thing he's stolen from his father.

"Course she is, look at the way she's tremblin'." Kent huffs from behind you, still sporting that stupid smirk that irks Sam to no end. Like he knows something that he doesn't, the thought alone causing an uncomfortable weight to settle thick in his tummy.

"Yeah, okay, I think I know when t'check up on 'er, considerin' I'm, y'know. Dating her." Sam retorts, rubbing soothing circles against your lower back as you grow accustomed to the feeling of two fat cocks stretching you wide open; count that as another similarity, as annoying as it is to admit.

Kent only grunts in response, big rough hands reassuringly groping at the meat of your thighs despite his otherwise impatient attitude. The brief pause between familial bickering allows you space to speak, but all Sam hears instead is this meek little mewl directly down his ear. Like you can't bare the act of verbalising your feelings, let alone the thought. The feeling of your body shivering in his hold as he makes sure his cock is allll the way in for a second or tow has him grinding his teeth in frustration, tip all twitchy for your dulcet tones, leaking precum to stain your copiously lubed up cunt already. And he figures Kent must have felt the throbbing too, given the way his father chews on his bottom lip, avoids his gaze with a light dusting of pink on his cheeks.

A one up, so soon? Perhaps the situation is finally settling in for his dad, now that their cocks are practically touching inside of your warm, squishy little body. Perfect angel cunt stretched over his heavy cock, insides attempting to suck him off further as he makes you wait for it. It's for your own benefit, one of him is enough, let along a bigger, stronger version of him, he muses to himself. And surely, your cute little asshole is an even tighter fit right now, yeah? Though he's fucked it and stretched it many times before, he knows exactly what Kent must be going through too. The little squirms and sucks, as if your body was begging for more already. And they haven't even fully begun—

Fuck, you should only be giving him that sort of treatment, right? That's why you're in this position in the first place, so that you can ultimately choose him. Have you ever found him so difficult to take, huh?

Spurred on by the burning bile in his tummy, he tightens his jaw and takes a decisive grip of your waist. Eyeing his father up once more with a determined glint. It's easy to ignore the seed of inadequacy in his chest when Kent merely stares back, awaiting further instructions, because he can feel the way your lips press gently against his neck, sucking on the sensitive skin just a little to leave him breathlessly confident.

That's right. You might be squirming on Kent's cock right now, but it's him that you're seeking comfort from, right? Legs wrapped tight around his waist, arms even tighter around his neck, nails digging into his back to convey just how much they fill you up; so full, aren't you? To the fucking brim if the amount of slick that drips down to his balls are anything to go by. And God, the way your cunt just sucks him in, pulsing around his whole length as he shifts his weight around a little more, preparing for movement. Really, it doesn't really matter what your true answer is to his self serving thought, he takes it as a win regardless. Convinced from the get go that of course he's gonna win this stupid competition because he knows you so well, yeah? There's no way he'd fail in the sport of taking care of you! Cooing sweetly down your ear when you babble nonsense for his attention, he can't help but to grow giddy with excitement at the prospect of finally beating his dad.

"Gonna make y'feel all better. Me, okay? Promise—"

"C'mon," Kent interrupts him, annoyance present in his fathers tone, an intimate timbre from the childhood he spent with him. Even now, Sam simply brushes him off, idly pinching at your waist as if you were the only person in the room with him right now. And you might as well be, given how hard he's gonna fuck you, fuck, can't fucking wait to fuck you truly stupid in front of the man you called hot. "Cocks fuckin' achin' over here. Can we get a move on, or—"

Shit, shut up— is what he wants to say, but coaxed into sudden movement by the way your cunt sucks him off so perfectly, and the familiar craving to come out on top of his father, Sam drags his hips back to draw a high pitched whine from your lips, only to effectively shut you up in a silent gasp for more when he thrusts all the way back inside, not even clueing his father in before settling into a brutal pace, one full of persistence, perseverance, all of his hard work and effort to be the best version of himself for you culminating in precise fucks upward into your tight fucking cunt— god, fuck— sound so fucking pretty when you can't even breathe properly from his fast pace.

Though his father is not far behind, wising up to the situation with a chuckle, making sure to swing his hips in tandem to his sons thrusts. And Sam is honestly a little surprised at just how well Kent can keep up with him, tongue poking against the inside of his cheek in sheer sexual frustration of the fact, both impressed and irritated by the revelation. Sweet sounds of balls slapping against your underside; whose is whose? Can you even tell from the amount of broken moans and sobbed sighs you let out? Ah, he hopes you can tell which cock is making you feel the best, huffing harshly against your shoulder as his eyes squeeze shut with how tightly your cunt wraps around him, making sure to pull out all the stops as he angles his hips in such a way so as to hit your sweet spot— resulting in the prettiest sound he thinks he's ever heard you make. Take that, Kent.

But, it seems like his dad is a quick learner too. Leaning further into you, gripping at your ass cheeks to spread em wider; for your benefit? Or for his own perverted viewing pleasure? Sam sure knows which would be his reason, anyway.

"Fuck, kid—" Kent rasps from behind you, fucking his too fat cock in and out of your well prepared pretty asshole like it was a trained effort. Something second nature, rather than the first time experience Sam knows it to be. So fucking annoying. "So fuckin' tight, arent'cha? God, ain't fucked somethin' this tight in a while—"

"Babe—" Sam gasps for you, begging for your attention as he helps aid your bounce up and down on their cocks. It's much easier to ignore his dad when he's got you wailing against his neck, burying his face in the crook of your own so that you've got no chance but to hear how heavily he pants for you, how loud he sighs with every pass of his tip against your insides, and though he'd loath to admit it, every rub of Kent's cock thinly veiled against his own is stupid good, too. "Takin' it so well, please— keep squeezin' like that—"

This is where they differ though, and were Sam thinks he can gain the upper hand. His dad, rough around the edges, is all tongue and cheek. Smacking at your ass loud enough to be heard over the slap of their balls, even over the squish of your fucked full little angel cunt; but Sam? Only offers encouragement. Not only with his words, but with the way he carves his shape out of your insides, making you feel every single twitch and throb your pretty pussy sucks out of him, bullying his way to your cervix as a means to prove himself to you; look at how hard I'm trying for you, isn't that hot? Isn't that hotter than the cock in your ass right now? Hotter than my dad?

But you always were a little spoiled. Probably down to how much he does for you, yeah? All in an effort to be the best, allowing you to rely on him to make all the decisions for you. How hard to fuck, how fast to fuck, when to cum. Even now, you relying on him. Not his dad, not yourself, but on him to make you feel all better again as you subtly shift your hips to be pressed more against his pelvis just so that you can rub your puffy little clit against him, unable to communicate just how much you need him, and yet still he's able to pick up on your desperation. Even with Kent humping your ass so unfairly from behind, ending up fucking you forward a little, pressing you between two rock hard bodies so snugly that Sam feels as though even he's suffocating. Bearing the full weight of your meagre grinds and Kent's hefty cock, it's upsetting how every time he feels his dads dick brush up against his own through your holes, he shivers in response; because it feels so fucking good, he can only imagine how it must feel to take it.

And he does his best to ignore the yearn in his heart to feel it for himself, instead focusing on how your cute cunt clamps down on his fat cock, how he's so close to the finish line he can almost taste it. Even now, as he's about to cream your puffy pussy right in front of his father, he can't help but to yearn for the win. It's almost more important to him than anything else right now, if not for the way he catches sight of Kent's pained expression and he has to fight himself not to let out the most pathetic fucking whine of his life.

What's worse is when Kent continues to buck fervently into your tight asshole and decides to taunt Sam so nonchalantly with: "Already? C'mon Sammy, y'can give more than that, cant'cha? My son? Bowing out already?"

He wants to defend himself desperately, to whine like a child about how you feel too fucking good, ask his father why he isn't as close as he is right now, and with victory so close on the horizon too—

In the end, he should have known better than to challenge Kent. Spent a lifetime of losing to his father, the feeling of your gushy cunt squeezing around his cock so frantically, of course, inevitably does him in. Creaming your cunt as soon as you start to choke on his name, big fat load fucked right up to your cervix from how eagerly Kent starts to thrust against your backside at the first sign of incoherent babbling from you both, as if he was merely holding back until now. And the slick rub of his dads cock against his own only has him cumming harder, tip twitching as it drools seed against your walls, painting your insides white while Kent fucks it all back out of your stuffed hole.

And Sam hopes for a break. Resolved to accept the loss on the promise of a round two, though he's not sure how much of that resolution is selfish in nature, shivering into the feeling of your cum stained cunt dripping back out onto him every time Kent thrusts balls deep in you again and again. But his dad doesn't let up. Doesn't stop, nor does he slow down. Fucking both you and Sam into overstimulation territory as you hold onto him for dear life and he's left wincing up at Kent.

"Not done yet, son," He grunts, more focused than ever now that you're left all for himself, that same look of determination flashing over his fathers face for a second or two, long enough for Sam to recognise the predicament he's truly found himself in tonight. "That's it, fuck— you're mine."

Sam isn't sure if he means you, or him.

[miquellah]

⚜️ SOTE Impressions Survey Results ⚜️

Earlier, I cycled around a survey to get opinions on the story of Elden Ring's DLC, and 101 respondents answered!! Following through with my promise, here are now all the results as recived.

Most all of these responders are likely from Tumblr, with potentially just a few from Twitter. To my knowledge this was never posted anywhere else, so these results can likely be best considered the thoughts of a good chunk in the Tumblr sphere of players!

I've done my best to make everything sufficiently readable, but there's still quite a bit in length here, apologies. The text on the actual charts may or may not be difficult to actually read, but I've given small summaries after each question to try and mitigate this.

First, the basic demographic questions:

These two were optional, but almost entirely filled by all respondents nonetheless. It’s a pretty good split between gender! I half wish I’d made it more specific just for curiosity, but eh. Age range is primarily 19-25, with 26-30 second place.

A question to determine how familiar players were with Fromsoft’s soulsborne genre and writing. Most respondents are indeed Fromsoft regulars.

Most respondents fully expected Miquella to be Morally Grey before DLC release, with only a somewhat smaller amount expecting True Good over True Evil.

These speak for themselves. Base game lore has consistently high scores, whereas while DLC lore still has high peaks, there’s still much more of a spread haha.

Despite it all there’s more people saying the DLC lore coheres with base game more than not??

Have you changed opinions on the DLC's lore at any time since it's release? If so, how?

No (no elaboration) - 18 No change, i feel negative- 15 No change, i feel positive- 10 Yes, I feel worse- 2 Yes, I feel better now- 18 Yes (no elaboration)- 6 N/A- 7

And wherever there’s nuance it’s usually a lot of “yeah I see the vision, but some execution could ultimately have been better.” In hindsight this is also a question I should’ve made multiple choice…

A very high chunk of people were spoiled to any degree beforehand!

This question was due to all of the comparisons to Miquella as being similar to Griffith/initially expecting that of him before DLC. I think Berserk is a bit more popular in the Twitter/Reddit circles of fans, though.

Primarily high impressions of Marika, with veeeryy low levels of believing she’s justified. Only a sliver of hate.

VERY high opinions of Messmer! Very small justifications of his actions, much in line with his mother.

Very high impressions of Mohg overall, with a small slice of dislike, a tiny sliver of hate. People largely feel his actions are nuanced, with a small slice of more justified than not.

Miquella is by far the most divisive character! Albeit he still has some good chunks of Like and Love. Justification scores are much the same as Mohg, primarily complicated/nuanced.

More people feel Miquella is a child only in body, with a near-equal chunk feeling it’s open-ended/nuanced.

Surprisingly, most respondents do NOT believe in Mohg having sexual misconduct with Miquella… though perhaps some people felt this meant just with Mohg as a perpetrator, and not that there wasn’t iffy stuff at all? Nonetheless, this headcanon seems pretty prevalent in the community as a whole, but maybe that’s just due to all the loudest people with the crass jokes.

How do you feel about the writing choice of Radahn as Miquella's chosen king and consort?

Okay rather than try and take the stats for this one, I’m going to try and summarize the bulk of responses best as possible:

The least generous replies say this sucks ass. The most generous usually say “yeah, I see what they were going for, but the execution of this feels very flawed nonetheless.” One respondent states that the emphasis of Miquella’s plotline seemed to be on his choice of consort entirely, rather than his actual motivations or journey to get here.

Many people lament Malenia’s lack in things at all within DLC, past a single mention. A notable amount of people note that they would’ve been more accepting of the consort if it had ended up being Godwyn instead, because of the amount of weight he seemed to have in the base game lore alongside Miquella. At least one respondent laments the disservice “done to monsterfuckers everywhere” that we didn’t even get a physically  monstrous boss in the end.

There’s a couple of people who go “oh yeah this makes sense for the both of them and/or I saw the signs along the way”, but they never go on to elaborate… the longest responses are always from people who are most unhappy, or are fairly understanding, but still ultimately unable to end up terribly pleased with this plot point.

Overall the reception to this plot point is decidedly poor, with the main grievances being how little foreshadowing or apparent basis there was, and how it changed the context of things in base game– such as Radahn’s first boss fight, the battle of Aeonia itself, Jerren’s wishes, and the sacrifices of all the soldiers between both armies. Even any concerns over implications of incest are honestly low priority here.

By far my personal favorite response is “I couldve written a better plot twist with three hoyrs of sleep and a coca col”, so shoutout to that one.

(Bonus) Optional because she's not relevant in the DLC. How do you feel about Ranni as a character and her actions?

I’ll be honest, this one was just because I think people’s thoughts on Ranni are a great judge of narrative comprehension. HAHAHA. But out of 91 responders to this one, most everyone cleared!

The bulk of responses are ultimately “yeah what she did to Godwyn was fucked up, but ultimately I understand it”. A few respondents note her narrative of female autonomy, and state their own reflection in this. Several note that she is selfish, but some aren’t particularly condescending with this and say that by all means, she’s just like the rest of the demigods if not still better than them.

A small handful also note that Ranni and Miquella are essentially foils to one another, where Miquella gives up everything for the sake of his Age of Compassion, but Ranni finds a means to keep her soul. It’s noted that even with his well-intentioned ambitions, he still ultimately fails as a reflection of Marika, whereas Ranni cuts herself from the cycle entirely.

A good handful of responses are little more than “hell yeah girlboss” and “fuck yeah that’s my wife” lol. On the other end, there’s a couple of responders who talk about how much they hate how she’s waifu’d, some disliking her purely because of this. Only about 2-3 responses in here are ones I’d truly consider character hate (without any seemingly justified reason) though.

Overall she’s more praised than not, with most everyone acknowledging her motivations, complexity, and role in the story. She’s often noted for her foils with Miquella, her goals of autonomy and the subsequent sympathy here from cis and trans female responders alike, with many acknowledgments that she is still by no means a saint.

And that's all! Thanks again to all of those who responded, and once more to those who've now read all the results. I still have the individual responses saved, so if I wanted I could go through and try to discern if there's any patterns related to how certain outcomes in opinion happen... but I'm tired!!! Hopefully if nothing else, this survey was a nice way to reflect and to sate some curiosity ✨

[moreofthatdrowse]

Kris Guštin Hair Debate: Results

The results are in. First off, I'd like to point out that this survey/research was carried to investigate if there might be any cultural patterns in the debate regarding Kris's hair colour. I don't believe there's any definite answer to the question apart from whatever Kris says. Other than that, though, it's just about culture and language being different. Results below the cut!

The end results were as follows: Brunette 82, Blonde 45, and Ginger 4. We got answers from 34 different countries! Apologies to the Scots. I had to lump you together with the English since some people wrote UK, some wrote England and some wrote Scotland.

The lower the score, the bigger advantage for blonde. The higher the score, the bigger advantage for brunette. A score of 0 means blonde and brunette were equal. I don't know if Jan would approve of my usage of the term 'coefficient' but you probably get what I mean.

Here are the results mapped out. @sparkles-oflight very kindly helped me with making the maps more readable, so thank you @sparkles-oflight! If you click on the links, the maps are also available interactively.

Brunette answers

Blonde answers

Ginger answers

And finally, the results of comparing the blonde/brunette coefficient

To me, there seems to be a geographical/cultural difference on people's stance in the question, with Northern Europe leaning more towards brunette and Central Europe leaning more towards blonde. What do you think? Do you think we can draw any conclusions?

[canmom]

100%ed neon white.

it took about 32 hours. lots to say about this game...

mechanics/design

it is fr an absolute tour de force of mechanics and level design. call it a platformer or an FPS (it's kinda both), it delivers a sense of speed and flow like few games I've played. since this is a pretty big inspiration for types of game I might want to make (such as the backburned THRUST//DOLL project) let me break it down a bit.

the learning curve is excellent. like many games, it gradually introduces new movement options with interesting ways to combine them, and levels themed around the new movement option. but the shortcut hints system adds an extra dimension. essentially, levels are scored on time, with bronze/silver/gold/ace medals; generally speaking the level will guide you along a route, and a clean run will get you the gold, which will unlock a hint to guide you to a shortcut which will let you reach the ace. the ace times are far from optimal, but do tend to require a bit of execution skill.

the result of this design is that it's hard to get stuck, but you are gradually given an introduction to speedrun routing over the course of the game. I was, inevitably, the type of player to insist on getting an ace on each level (and grabbing the gift) before moving on, but it is totally optional. that said, it's perfectly designed to retry levels until you nail it: restarting is near instant, the music doesn't get interrupted, and it's very easy to get into a flow state, gradually getting more familiar with the level and discovering new tricks.

along with this is the gift system, required to unlock additional dialogues and backstory scenes. every level has a gift box hidden somewhere, and while this isn't timed, it takes on more of a puzzle aspect as you have to figure out the right way to use the level's movement resources to platform to the gift.

the design of the levels has something in common with a Sonic level: a series of rapid dashes forwards interspersed with moments of floating in the air, when you need to spot the next thing to target. generally speaking it's built to facilitate flow: if you're on the main route, you typically get a movement card just at the moment you'll need it, mixing between sections of shooting and using the discard to keep you on your toes. (even so, it does kind of have a rhythm game aspect). the level design, colour palette etc. does a solid job of guiding your eye towards the next place to go.

enemies are stationary, and only barely a hazard - generally more of a tool. they're part of the level design, with many of the later levels designed around specific enemies which either kill other enemies or help you move. since most levels require you to kill all the demons 'when to kill which enemy and how' is a large part of the routing, but generally speaking you kill enemies nearly instantly if you're on pace.

I ended up playing most of the game on controller; there is a pretty helpful aim assist that makes this possible at all, though I switched to kb+m on the last few levels where rapid aiming became more important. in my previous post I said the controls are 'tight' - what I mean by that more precisely is essentially loads of air control. indeed, you have pretty much the same horizontal acceleration in the air and on the ground, making it very easy to steer into position to line up moves.

in general I think a huge aspect that makes this game work is that it's very predictable. there is essentially zero RNG beyond the chaos of physics; enemies have predictable attack patterns and always stand in the same place, so you can plan like 'I'll grab the shotgun and shoot that guy then dash through that guy which will give me the rifle and let me dash into that balloon' etc. etc. it is also very visually readable, making it pretty easy to make a split second judgement of where to go next while hurtling through the air.

this is exactly how speedrunners tend to approach games, minimising sources of randomness and exploiting predictable behaviours; in general the genius of this game is to take the jank out of speedrunning so that you don't have to master complicated tech or rely on RNG to get the experience of gradually refining your movement through a level.

but, it's not just 'easy mode speedrunning'. even just looking at friends' times, I can see there is a huge degree of room for improvement; the global leaderboard even more so. there are special secret red medals if you can beat the lead developers' times, of which I have so far managed to get only one (it took me by surprise on a late-game level), and even then I'm still like forty seconds behind a friend's score on that level. I bet there's some crazy tech in the fastest runs. maybe at some point I'll go back and see if I can tighten up my times on other levels, though I feel pretty satisfied as thing stand.

all in all, should I manage to return to solo game dev projects (or even if we ever make a speed game at work), there is a lot to learn from Neon White.

narrative/aesthetic

so mechanically, very positive. on the aesthetic aspect: it's a very slick game, particularly with machine girl's latter-day breakcore soundtrack (machine girl is the most trans-ass name for a band but is actually two guys, unless some eggs remain uncracked here...). the UI flows very nicely - not quite as flashy as something like Persona 5 but definitely in that direction. it's a game that wants you to know it's stylish; Paradise Killer comes to mind.

and visually it's very solid! the levels are varied and, while generally consisting of 'floating architecture over an ocean', appealingly lit and coloured. the enemies have distinctive silhouettes and there are some cool unusual designs, like the giant laser heads, as well as some classics, like mimic chests (not particularly stealthy).

but of course the main visual aspect is the character portraits, illustrated by Rebecca Ryan. which is to say: white clothes with monochrome accents according to each character's colour name (curiously the characters are known only by colours in both life and death), animesque illustration, and hannya masks. and a bunch of symbolic manga-like expressions (blush, anxiety gloom, etc.) these portraits (plus, here and there, CGs) show up in the visual novel-style story sections and generally speaking, they work - if in a very 'Americans paying tribute to anime' way.

the story... most of what people react to is the whole weebcore thing it's got going on, finding it either cringe or endearing depending on taste. I feel like there is little to say about this that has not already been said. apparently the intent was to fit the style of dubbed anime, and... yep, it does.

instead I want to talk about... the religion thing! because what's going on there!

well, it's not that complicated on one level. the smarmy 'believers' stormed heaven and killed god, setting up essentially an american mall in its place. but this 'heaven' is actually Sheol; God was managing it using two macguffins called the Books of Life and Death. your goal turns into restoring God to His rightful place. these Books come with a Star of David on the cover, with a bunch of smaller ones around it...

the game is also however full of crosses, which generally speaking seem to be the Believers' symbol/weapon, as seen here in the Third Temple area (you know... not clear why this is in the afterlife as opposed to Jerusalem)

so it's fairly easy to read: most of the old school 'Heaven as it should be' stuff is associated with Jewish symbolism, but the dang Christians ruined everything.

the plot, meanwhile, rather heavy-handedly focuses on a theme of the importance of forgiveness. broadly speaking the story is that our lovable MCs - dorky MC White, slightly dommy love interest Red, childish and violent Violet, and laid back bro Yellow - who were all treated as disposable tools by the group's abusive leader Green. who is basically Vicious.

right down to the hairstyle!

the characters in this game, while decently voice acted, are all terribly one note archetypes. the story flashbacks almost all concern the botched job where Green - with White's support - led the whole group to their deaths for the sake of a long held grudge.

later in the story, Green gets a new 'destroy this shoddy universe' motivation, but it is honestly pretty unconvincing. probably the best aspect of his character is the dark yaoibait interactions with his object of obsession White, but this isn't the kind of game to go all-in on that front (its attitude to sexuality is very much a 'tease but don't depict').

all this leads up to a final decision to basically decide whether Green goes to heaven or hell. if you send him upstairs, White also gets to move on (I picked this since the game was blatantly angling very hard towards this being the true end); if you don't, White apparently remains trapped in Sheol until the next cycle. the thrust of it is basically you need to forgive and move on instead of obsessing over those who have wronged you.

Green remains unrepentant throughout - if you Book of Life him, he's not exactly happy about this, going like 'what do you have to gain from this' lol. the point is pretty explicitly not 'your enemies deserve forgiveness' and more 'don't let them live rent free in your head' I guess.

as a theme this is... reasonable enough? probably best not to stay mad about shit if you can avoid it, though certainly easier said than done. but the presentation suffers a lot from, well, telling/showing issues. you know this is the theme because towards the end of the game, the characters talk about it, a lot. ironically for a game in which you get sermonised at by comedically smug preachers in between chapters, it feels very much like sitting in a sermon: abstract ideals that don't really connect because the characters are so one-dimensional.

(it turned out, reading the credits, that one of the co-writers of this game was Aevee Bee, of WKTD/HWBM. I have lingering beef with her because she joined in brigading a friend of mine out of the indie game sphere over spurious vague accusations back in the day - a peripheral player but still very much on the wrong side of it, and to my knowledge she never apologised or anything. so it all feels kind of 'bit rich coming from you' for her to go off about the importance of forgiveness and moving on. but, even aside from that, on a craft level the story's approach to its theme already felt heavy-handed and unconvincing.)

beyond that... I'm just plain not convinced that resurrecting God is all that. the game's presentation of God is basically distorted audio and blurry shapes for text, with the characters reacting as if they understand; the Angels are presented as cute cartoon cats with the explicit conceit that this is just White's brain comprehending the incomprehensible (though we do get a brief wheel of eyes appearance near the end). but the reason the plot has to play out as it does, with God essentially choosing White to put things right because of the remorse in his soul... well, let's just say I don't much like chosen-one narratives in general, and the Abrahamic set dressing does not help. it feels very arbitrary, but also a bit straightforward and comfy for all this vague guesturing towards being strange and alien.

all that said, as much as I'm ragging on it, I do appreciate that it tried for something. a distinctive identity which doesn't fit my taste is better than a game with no identity. the character interactions are generally pretty charmingly silly. White and Red do at least make a convincing couple. Sungwon Cho is there, playing a father-figure office worker angel in his characteristic style.

other observations

the game's team is very small, with one developer (Esposito) doing most of the programming and mechanics; besides that we have a couple of level designers, a couple of artists... However, it had the funding of Annapurna Interactive, who recently made the news for basically imploding, but have been a pretty big player in the indie sphere of late. and obvs Machine Girl are kinda huge in their scene, but really a lot of the names are also pretty familiar ones if you've been hanging around indie games for a while. it's sort of like... indie but by broadly established names. still, small team makes me wonder: how feasible is it to make a game along these lines, either as a solo project or with a similarly small team at work?

what is notable is that it seems to have gone through a pretty long period of iteration; apparently an earlier version of it used randomly drawn cards, before the current predictable speedrunning focus came in as a clearly better approach. which is interesting: it has such a laser focused design that I would have guessed that it would be a speedrunning game from the outset. definitely a testament to experimenting around different ideas, which is really the essence of game dev.

the main thing I feel like I should take away if I return to working on THRUST//DOLL - which had a very similar planned structure, of fast levels that focus on time and visual novel sections to tell the story - is that if you're moving at high speed, it's absolutely essential that the information that you need to make a decision is readable, and acting on it is not too finicky. I might have to rethink the bullet-hell aspect, and introduce similar 'snap to enemy' mechanics to the dash abilities in the later stages. something to think about another day, anyway, I'm not sure when I might be able to continue that project.

all in all, fun game, very addicting, I have so much work to catch up on now...

[detectivemarvelingcomics]

Ik you're working hard on the next nycv chapter buuuuuut if it's okay can i ask for more cute pre-isekai!batsis stuff with the batboys 🥺 if you're okay with it ofc!

Oh I'm always down for writing stuff about NYCV, sure I'll do like some bullet points or something

Not a chapter but y'all get some NYCV stuff too! Also to those who haven't read it this should be readable without having prior knowledge of the series so feel free to sit back and enjoy some Batboys fluff!

Tag list since it's technically NYCV content: @gabytodd @peachydokii @marshmallow12435 @f0leysgurl @luminaaz @lolsnacks @akuri-shinsou @pansinspace @time-shardz @lovely-maryj @urminebutidontwantyou @y3oudsc @rainnyydaysworld  @underworlder @franini @mayo-0-o 

NYCV!Batsis & the Batboys

[Not Your Classic Vigilante Masterlist]

Dick Grayson

As we all know, he's the first batsib, talk about a high bar to reach (ba dum tss), and luckily for you he was an amazing older brother.

Fun where it counts, doting 24/7, protective when the situation calls for it, and stern when he has to be. There's a reason why you looked up to him more than your father in some regards.

Whenever he's off on a mission somewhere far away, he sends you postcards. You keep them in a box under your bed and you haven't thrown a single one away! Each card had a cheesy joke written on them, something to make you smile while he was gone is how he signed them all off with.

There was one time he was on 'Babysitter Duty' (as they later put it) and you ended up staging a bank robbery in the ballroom while he played the Boy Wonder (of course) who saved the day! (Poor Alfred was nominated to be Condiment King).

He's actually insufferable, his coworkers used to hate him because of how often he'd pull his phone/wallet/photobook/whatever could physically hold your picture just to gush and say "Look at my baby sister isn't she perfect?!" "Dude, that's, like, a whole ass teenager" "Shut up."

Although you'd always shown interest in his vigilante work, up until after the whole "I will never be a vigilante thing" much later, Dick was always very very careful in keeping you away from it. Hell, you didn't even know he was a Robin until you wandered into his room one evening when he came back from patrol.

By the time you'd figured him out, he did everything he could to keep you away from harm's way. You just weren't trained to handle yourself, and Dick would be a leader before he was your brother, as much as he'd hate to admit it. So, to keep you safe, he kept you away.

But, when he was there, he made sure to be the best older brother you could ask for. Gifts, advice, jokes, confidants, anything you'd ask. After all, he had competition.

Jason Todd

AKA, the Competition. He's the next batsib you got and so far he apparently holds the title for 'Best Sibling' (according to a ranking system you didn't know about that's being score kept by Alfred, in second place is Cass, for those wondering).

If Dick was the doting older brother then Jason was the annoying one. The kind of brother to open the door to your room, stare at you for five minutes, and walk away like nothing happened. The kind of brother to pull a 'I'm not even bothering you!' kind of move.

But, when it comes down to it, oh this dude's taking a bullet for you. I mentioned it once in the story but he'd always wanted a younger sister and bam he got one, sure he thought you were a spoiled brat at first (and in some ways you were) but hell he's damn sure he'll keep you that way if it meant you'd always be, well, you.

There were some days he'd wonder what it would be like if you'd switched places. If he was the one with the silver spoon and you were the Gotham street rat and nope, shake that thought out of his head. Without you he's sure he'd have gone off the deep end in this vigilante shit.

As much as you'd argue that you both secretly hated each other, you'd remember the time when Jason broke his hand punching Conner Kent in the face. He'd just come back to the family and while you were both getting caught up, you let slip that you broke up because he fell in love with someone else and... whoops. Good thing Tim was there to talk some sense into him.

For the record, Conner did lose his footing, but he argues it's because he was caught off guard, while Jason swears up and down it's because the Lazarus Pit made him stronger, or something like that. You try not to think about it, you're surprised you're still allowed within Titan tower.

He'd never admit it, but of the batsibs he actually knows you best. If the others have questions about what you'd like or how you'd react to something they'd ask Jason. He'd always answer in a way that would wave them off, but he's never been wrong.

Jason, as cold-shouldered as he could be, he has a soft spot for you. If he ever saw you in trouble he's definitely going to step between whatever's going on, don't doubt him on that.

Tim Drake

The first younger brother and, in his argument, therefore the best. Ironically since he was the first younger one you did dote on him a little too much, being the one "good cop" figure in the manor while he was training to be a Robin.

Of course, though you were on the civilian side of things, he actually looked up to you in ways he never could with Dick or Bruce. While they're mainly for the vigilante stuff, you're just there to make sure he doesn't forget who he is: Timothy Drake and not just a Robin.

You were really trying to replicate what your older brothers did for you with Tim, though it was only a little more difficult with his background. Hard to get gifts for someone who probably already has it, and hard to keep secrets and surprises from someone who's good at figuring them out, but you always figured out a way, and those ways always made him happy to see.

Thursdays are Tim and (Y/N) days, everyone in the family knows it. It started out as a mini tradition to get Tim out of the house every now and then and soon it became routine, it was the time you both took to catch up with each other and this especially became true after you went to college. Those times were precious for him, and he always looked forward to it.

Until, that is, other members started crashing it. It started with Dick coincidentally running into you both and suddenly now Jason's already sitting at your booth? And Stephanie? And Cass? Barbara?! What happened to Tim and (Y/N) time?!

But, he had to admit, it was rare to see them all getting along well like this. He couldn't complain, as long as you all got to spend time together that's all that mattered. And, in the end, it was always you two anyway. You are one of his greatest confidants, and he is one of yours likewise. Despite the short age gap, you often found that you shared a lot in common with him. Maybe it was because of your similar backgrounds, or maybe it was because you doted on him so much.

Tim looks up to you. More than you think, and more that you'd expect. Every time you reminded him that you were just a civilian part of it seemed wrong to him. You're as much a part of the family as he is, or as anyone is, and usually it would be him to remind you of that when he caught you distancing yourself again.

You couldn't hide anything from each other, you could read him so easily and he was just good at finding things out. And when it came to being middle siblings, well, that's a pact in and of itself.

Damian Wayne

When you'd heard about getting another younger brother, a blood related one at that, you were ecstatic. Of course, you had Tim, but Tim had his responsibilities to the Drakes too, Damian was a Wayne and so were you, it was a little different.

Sure, his appearance was... sudden. His first impressions not so great either, but you could read him well. He was so young when he came into your father's care and underneath the harsh training and the poisoned words was still that little boy he is and you were determined to help him remember that it was okay to be a boy.

Taking him to the arcade, buying him books, and treating him out for meals were just a few points off of a list of things you've done to make him feel comfortable. You're not a vigilante, you can't help him with training or anything else, but you can help him in other ways and you tried to show that to him.

It took forever. Maybe about a year or so for him to finally open up to you, but once he did it was like a triumph to you, and you knew that you did well when one day you woke up and saw him fast asleep at the foot of your bed, still clad in pajamas and eyes slightly puffy from whatever happened the night before. He's still a boy. You'd remind that to everyone when necessary.

After a while, he would come to you to ask about civilian things, troubles at school, troubles with making friends, and even troubles at galas. And every time you were there to help him out, giving him a few tips and tricks on how to avoid the paprazzi, maybe a clue here and there about what to look out for when looking for friends, and, of course, study tips so he didn't lose his mind in academy.

One day, while waiting to pick him up, there was a knock at your window. It was a woman you'd never seen before. She wore a headscarf that covered her hair and a pair of sunglasses that partially concealed her identity and, hell, if you didn't know any better you'd think that was your own mother. But something told you that she wasn't there to just say hello and, naively, you opened your door and let her in.

She sat at the passenger's seat, everything about her poised and elegant to the point that you were near in awe at her disposition and, quietly, she spoke, "thank you, for everything you've done for Damian." Talia al Ghul, she had to be, why else would she be here? You hadn't heard much about her, you'd barely even seen a few pictures of her from Damian's belongings, but here she was. "Of course," you'd answer, "I know it's not the same, but I know a little bit of how it feels to be alone." And to this she nodded, with a small smile, and with one glance out the car she left, moments later being replaced by Damian.

"So, where are we going today?" He'd ask. You'd give him a list of places, ask him to choose one, and you'd head there with him in tow. One of his favorites had always been the park.

Bonus: Bruce Wayne

I had to include bat-dad. Despite how I write him, he actually really is a good father, just not in the way you'd expect him to be. Y'all hold out for his arc, I promise it will be good!

When you were first dropped off at the manor, you didn't know what to expect from him. He was this huge imposing figure who was clad in black with a scowl on his face, you thought he hated you already. You were so young at the time, how could you have known any better?

Whenever he spoke to you, he'd crouch down and speak in a gentle voice. Whenever you'd ask him of something, even if it seemed like he didn't hear you, you'd see your answer within the next few days. He'd build you a whole other manor if you asked for it.

If only he wasn't so busy, juggling his role as CEO and Batman, he barely had enough time for the both of those, let alone time to raise a daughter, but he tried to show you that he was there in other ways. Fully funding your schooling was a given, but whenever you'd show interest in anything suddenly you'd see more of it in the manor.

When you'd expressed to Dick that you were interested in the piano, you found one in the house the next day. When you'd told Jason that you wanted to read more of a certain author, her entire collection was in the library. You once told Tim that you wanted to go to Metropolis U for college and, out of nowhere, there was an offer for a full ride. You and Damian used to go over to the Kent's to play a certain video game since neither of you had the time to bring it over and, would you look at that, the manor now has a game room.

A series of misunderstandings is what plagued this relationship. One from a father who barely felt the love of a parent and the other from a daughter who vyed for it. You both found your own way of communicating with each other, and it wasn't until the very end where it got strained.

But could you blame him?

You called him a monster.

You didn't even let him explain himself.

But, truthfully, even if you did...

He wasn't sure if you'd understand it.

Hell, he didn't even understand it himself.

All he felt was the heartbreak of realizing he made a mistake that couldn't be undone.

[pyrotechnicarus]

What program do you write your scripts in?

Google Docs, haha. It's definitely not the preferred or industry-standard way of doing it; it gives older writers at my program hives when I drop a Docs link in the homework folder. But I was raised on it and it's a great collaboration tool, so I haven't made the switch yet (and maybe never will? Actually probably will once Google inevitably starts charging money for it. But not quite yet!).

Through my school I have a free Final Draft license, so I use that for screenwriting (which has a lot more pesky formatting rules and things), but I'm not planning on buying it once my license expires because A. I don't write films that much and B. I can probably hard-code it into Google Docs for free.

If you're insane like I am and wanna use Google Docs for scriptwriting, here's some formatting tips under the cut:

We're gonna be using a page of the Ghost Story script to demonstrate!

I use Times New Roman because Deborah Brevoort recommended it as a more readable (and slightly more condensed) font than Courier. Your font should adapt to your style; I tend to write short, snappy lines with a lot of back-and-forth, so I use Times which is a common font style for comedy writers (despite not writing comedies.) If you write a lot of long monologues, Courier New might give you a better sense of how your script flows on the page. Basically, you want to space your writing so it comes out to 1 minute of performance time = 1 page of writing.

Scene headings are centered and in bold.

Stage directions that start a scene are left-aligned and in italics; in NAMT-standard style, these are center-margin aligned, like this:

But it's kind of your personal preference.

4. All names are centered and underlined

5. Any stage directions that take place during a scene and cue a line of dialogue are centered, in italics, and in parenthesis. If they can start eating whenever while they're talking, I'd put They start eating left-aligned between two lines of dialogue. However, it is important to me that Hao and Józef start eating before Hao says his next line, so I put it center-aligned.

6. When you get to a song it looks like this:

Basically, songs should be numbered and come after a stage direction (even something basic, like "He stands up.") The enter after the stage directions isn't kosher, it's a Google Docs thing I'll get into later. Then you close the parenthesis on the stage direction and put a page break. Songs should always start on a new page. This is because when you integrate the book and score, you can just take those lyric sheets out and put sheets of music in. Nifty!

7. Lyrics are always capitalized. When two people sing the same thing at the same time, you can put both their names over it:

But if they're singing something different, I usually put it in two columns (there is some debate among musical theater writers on what the proper notation for this kind of thing is. But columns are easy on Google Docs, so I use those. When I have four or more people singing different things on top of one another, I use a 1x4 table and make the lines between the cells invisible, haha.)

Google Docs Specific Formatting Stuff

Ok, so, if you're lazy like me and don't want to be hitting 800 buttons while you're writing to format everything correctly (and please, god, format while you're writing -- going back and doing it later sucks) you can use the Google Docs headings to format your writing! And it will even make a nice little outline for you!

So, the default of these settings (on the left) is useless and ugly. But mine looks like this (on the right!)

If you want yours to look beautiful and be useful like mine, you can format some kind of text the way you want it to (for example, I want all my names in 12 pt Times New Roman, centered and underlined.)

Then I go to some random heading and I hit "Update heading to match"

Now, anytime I type a name, I can go back to this menu and hit "Apply Heading 5"... and it will automatically make it centered, underlined, and 12 pt Times New Roman! I make one of these for all my categories of text: stage directions, song titles, scene headers, etc.

But, ok, you still have to open all those menus while you're writing. Well! See this thing?

All of these have keyboard shortcuts (the Windows ones will show up on a Windows computer). You can really easily hit them after each name/stage direction you type instead of fiddling around with font settings. You're a formatting machine!

And here's the bonus: If you do all this correctly, you can get a really nice outline like this one embedded in your document on the left (this is where the song titles on a new line come in; I make a heading style for them so they show up on the outline, but headings only show the start of the phrase that they are part of in the outline. Ignore the numbers being wrong, lol. There's a secret song 3 that we haven't released yet.)

And it's clickable, too-- like I can jump right to Your Face from the outline without having to scroll down 20 pages.

Is this all needlessly complicated and doing manually something Final Draft will do for you? Yes. But I'm set in my ways, and it's free, so maybe it'll be helpful to another Musical Theater writer out there working with someone else on Google Docs.

That's it! Thanks for the question.

[beanieman]

I hate how spellchecking programs will mark down your work for using words that are "too big" or "too uncommon." For multiple reasons, seeing a word you've never seen before and then using context clues to define its meaning is a good thing.

For one, you can't learn what a word means if you don't know it exists. People expand their vocabulary by seeing new words and going, "Oh! I didn't know there was a word for that. That's neat." And two, it's important for media literacy that someone can look for context clues.

Someone should be able to figure out what the word "accumulate" means from seeing it in the sentence "She wanted to accumulate as much money as possible." And if big words are discouraged, then people are less likely to learn that skill because it's not being actively taught. Which is a blow to media literacy overall.

To further prove my point, I put this post in Grammerly and I was given a 73% readability score. The words they docked off points for were "accumulate," "uncommon," "vocabulary," "discouraged," and, most ironically, "literacy."

[xxnashiraxx]

With Stars to Fill My Dream (14) - I've Held On but I Feel a Storm Approaching

Ahhhh I'm so exicted for this one!! I still remember the first draft a few months ago- fights are hard to write, btw- and how long it took to get it readable, and I'm proud! And so excited at the build-up this chapter brings to the story! God, this is the one, guys- we've surpassed 100K!!! I am so so so proud of myself and I know it may just sound like words, but I have never committed to a story like I've committed to this one, and I would like to announce that the rest of the story is fully outlined- there will, of course, be things I'm sure I'll tweak or add, but buckle up because this fic will see a spectacular end and a sequel! Thanks for hanging with me on the journey so far!!! 🫶

✧˖ Release Schedule: Every 2 Weeks ˖✧

Summary: The group frees Halsin and works their way through the shattered temple, facing down it's three leaders: Minthara, Dror Ragzlin, and Gut. As they fight through the scores and goblins with a bear at their side, Astarion and Ofelia continue their dance of blind longing and bitter manipulation until she's forced to finally confront her feelings at his demand.

Some silliness, and some angst layer today's installment for your enjoyment! 💕

Pairing: Astarion x female!Durge

Warnings: 18+. Mentions of past abuse and trauma. Canon-typical violence and gore.

Word Count: 6,945

AO3

Here are some screenshots, and a bit of funny dialogue below the cut that's been one of my favorite bits I've written!

✧˖Tag List: @khywren @allymcfee @pinkberrytea

“I have several scrolls and potions of feather fall. If you feel the ladder is too perilous, we can use one of them together and I will hold your hand as we descend?” Astarion doesn’t even have time to cut off Gale’s pathetic offer before Ofelia is violently shaking her head, taking a step back.

“No thank you.” Her voice is meek as a mouse and Lae’zel rolls her eyes.

“This seems to be one of the many passageways to the Underdark,” Halsin says, stooping low to inspect the hole before rising to address them. “There are still many of them, most forgotten, and I’d wager this one hasn’t been used in a hundred years, back when this temple was last active.”

“I wonder what lies beneath,” Wyll murmurs, his reverent gaze seeming to penetrate the shadows as he peers down below.

“The Underdark, probably,”

“Ha ha, Astarion.”

[springbudeyes]

Please enjoy the first installment of a new series I'd like to call Gamemode 0!

If you're waiting for Mianite Season Four (ha), this will hopefully tide you over. Gamemode 0 is a highly produced mini-series that tells a story through text, dramatic audio narration, a musical score, and images. It stars a villain who was an edgy Grim Reaper in 2015 and it poses the question—how much has Kikoku Botan really changed since 2015?

That question will be answered over the course of – I'm guessing – seven-ish chapters? The first chapter, which you're about to read and hear, is based on a Minecraft RP session held in a single night. Those present for the session include World Historian's original writer (me) and a group of talented role-players. More info under the cut!

Here's the cast:

Moth @robotmothpie as Ginkgo Belshem

CloudF11 @silent-moons-camp as Cloud Endernatus

Metal @mx-metal as Omu Vulcan

Honor @cult-of-athar as Fateshaper (the Big Bad)

Matthew (me) as World Historian

(All characters are voiced by me.)

Background:

The project was Mianite Etherealis. We played on a private 1.12 server for two years, ending in early 2023. The chapter you're about to read (titled Session One) covers the RP session that brought World Historian into the narrative.

I would almost go so far as to say that you're about to experience a canon World Historian mini-series with implications for all World Historian content in existence.

Is it actually canon? I don't know. It's as authentic as you'll ever get for WH, that's for sure. I've spent the last nine years developing the cosmology being used here. I planted the seeds for it when I created World Historian in 2015.

But no, Gamemode 0 isn't Dec-and-Tom-approved canon. And my astounding co-writers aren't offical Mianite writers. And Etherealis isn't a piece of lost Mianite media, though you can think of it that way if you'd like.

Vision:

Gamemode 0 will follow the plot of Mianite Etherealis for one more session, then embark on its own original plot centered on World Historian.

That being said, my aim with Gamemode 0 is to dig up a piece of the past and link it to the future. This series is one of many projects that could result from that effort. If it sees enough support, it could grow beyond text, images, and audio. We have endless headroom here.

If you're looking for Botan's history in Ruxomar, you'll find it. If you're hoping for a glimpse into Akemi and Mina's lives, you'll get it. If you seek all manner of strange World Historian lore, consider it yours. If you just wanna sink your teeth into a juicy hunk of Mianite meat, go get a napkin, you menace.

We have plenty of chapters to take us from the past, to the future, and back again. I could just list the plain facts about World Historian in a lore post, but I could never be satisfied with that. I'm a storyteller.

Disclaimer:

The players own their characters. Most of the dialogue and actions in Session One come straight from the corresponding RP session. I'm just putting it all to a narrative and making readability tweaks for first-timers.

Shout-outs:

Happy birthday yesterday, Honor! We love you!! I guess this is one of your presents. Thanks for letting World Historian take over as the big scary dude for a session. And sorry for writing out our best boy, Oleander. We should co-write something someday.

Cloud, thanks for going back to our defunct Minecraft world to set everything up and take the awesome shadered screenshots for Session One. Also thanks for making c!Cloud such a great POV character. He carries Gamemode 0.

Thank you, Moth, for the un-shadered screenies, for being my PR person, and for supporting me generally all the time. PDA PDA aaaaa!

And thanks, Metal, for being the cool one. B)

Calls to action:

Mianitees, shower love upon my friends. I know Moth and Cloud would jump at the opportunity to answer asks about their passionately crafted OCs. And so would Honor and Metal, I suspect. With the right motivation, who knows what they could create?

The link will send you to my Substack blog, where you'll be able to read, listen, like, and subscribe to my newsletter. The paid subscription has no advantage over the free one; most of you will pick free, but if anyone would like to support me financially, that would be super appreciated. (If we get some traction with subs, I'll set up sub goals and a budget for upgrades to my production.) I plan to release Gamemode 0 chapters as frequently as I can, but I will post something to my Substack every month—Mianite related or not.

Also please like and reblog this Tumblr post if you dig it and want to see more.

Now go and enjoy your food.

[does-it-like-women]

hi hi just really wanted to compliment your decision to do adjusted scores on the final reblogs, really clarifies the actual score and is super readable and fun :3 also like the addition of scores over 90% becoming “loves” and the opposite for “hates”- i jsut really like how you run the place! very cool!

Thank you! It's always nice to be appreciated.

[neonfretra]

how i write alt text/image descriptions

these are written descriptions of media attached to posts, for those who may be unable to view them (primarily screen reader users, but this is also helpful for when images arent loading, explaining what is happening in an image, and so on), while fairly dauntin startin out its honestly a fairly simple process! :)

alt text can be added by clicking the meatball menu on attached medias (3 horizontally oriented dots, lower right corner of media in post editor), typically these would be a brief summary of the most important aspects of an image. alt text is embedded in the image.

image descriptions (sometimes shortened to id) are written in plain text like a caption. these may be longer/more detailed than alt text. typically, these are formatted with brackets to indicate when descriptions begin and end (i personally preface with "[Image description:" and close with "End description.]")

typically i focus on these 4 elements:

media type photograph, tweet, art, scoreboard, news headline, etc important for me as someone who posts photos alongside art to specify this difference because i dont want to be responsible for implying my drawings are reality LOL other details about the type of media are helpful if relevant, like quality (poorly drawn, run through with jpg artifacting) or stylization (realistic, monochromatic, minimalist, significant color choices)

text a piece of advice i saw was that you wanna just transcribe all text in an image, this works for stuff like tweets and dialogue but this is a sports oriented blog, sometimes you will come up on text that is just completely incomprehensible to transcribe. a game clock, any score readings? i approach it like reading it out loud and instead structuring the information in sentences (the score is this, in favor of this team. probably the one that isnt the sharks LMAO)

subject usually this means naming players and sharing relevant information about them (are they on opposing teams, is the position they play significant)

action the whats goin on? again, as a sports oriented blog, this tends to look like a brief play by play. goalie makes this save, player dodges around another player. these guys are kissing nasty again. this can also include emotion and tone. this person is angry, this action is particularly noteworthy, this situation is funny.

its kinda like takin notes, i only focus on the important stuff! you dont really gotta the avatar of a user, what ad is on the boards, what color is the background for every single image.

when writing your alt text/image, it helps to keep in mind that these are intended to be read out loud. use punctuation, avoid excessive emojis. if something in the original text does something that affects readability, it helps to just type it in plain text and note what stylization is missing.

because its meant to read out loud, you also gotta order your stuff in what makes the most sense. group things in chronological order, what order the viewers supposed to be seein things in. i tend to write things in order of media -> subject -> action -> text myself!

and when in doubt just copy someone else LMAO of course theres always someone smarter than you out there, check out what other peoplere sayin on how to do it if this isnt doin it for you

happy description writing! :) its okay if you are unable to write your own descriptions for any reason, i for one skip some posts just because theyre wayy too much to write out HAHAHAHA

accessibility is a group effort and were all here to help each other out <3

[chirpingfromthebox]

My favorite bits from the Boston post-game press interviews after PWHL Finals Game 4

You can find the entire interview here! Be sure to give them some views/likes/nice comments/etc.

At the table were Aerin Frankel, Alina Müller, and coach Courtney Kessel.

Since we're so close to the end now, I just went ahead and did the full transcription so as to be sure y'all didn't miss anything. I'll still put dividers between the questions though, just to aid in readability.

All that and a handful of my closing thoughts after the break.

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REPORTER: For all of you, did you think that game was over before it was actually over?

COURTNEY KESSEL: I didn’t think it was over, I thought it was goalie interference. But you never know, right? So you challenge and kinda wait. So, no.

AERIN FRANKEL: Obviously being in the net, I didn’t really know what happened other than the fact that I was pushed. But I didn’t know who pushed me into the net. It kinda just all happened really fast. But then after seeing the replay I was confident they would maybe overturn it. Obviously it’s tough being in their rink, and second overtime, and stuff. But I’m glad that they made the right call.

ALINA MÜLLER: Yeah, same. I had no doubt that it was goaltender interference. And I knew- I mean, that’s tough when you get a goal overturned. The momentum is for the other team, for sure. For us.

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REPORTER: Maybe to follow up on that, Alina, or for anyone who wants to take it, how did you guys kind of keep the emotions of that in check? Or did it really feel like you knew that the momentum was going to be in your favor?

ALINA MÜLLER: Yeah, just really saw the play and knew that this could be a good challenge for us, so just try to stay in the game. As I said, I think once it got overturned we had more power, more speed, more legs. So, yeah, it was on our side.

R: Aerin, do you have a thought on that? Like how do you lock-in as the goalie, knowing that the game is either over or you have to go back in?

AERIN FRANKEL: You just gotta force yourself to. You don’t have the option. We made it that far into the 5th overtime, so at that point you’re playing for everyone in our locker room. It’s just a family, so it doesn’t matter how tired you are, but everyone just competes until the job is finished.

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REPORTER: And for Courtney, Aerin has played 7 overtime periods now and hasn’t been scored on yet. What can you say about the way that she’s been able to rise to the occasion in the most important parts of a hockey game?

COURTNEY KESSEL: I think we’ve seen that she’s the Green Monster. Tremendous. I think from the moment we came back from World’s we’ve come back with a different group and the resiliency has been tremendous. They’re gonna kill me, but I think it starts with our goaltending and it starts with Franks. Just her ability to stay calm through all these ups and downs. And her ability to keep us in games and win games for us. And that’s what you want heading into the championship. If you have a hot goalie you can win.

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REPORTER: Aerin, when you first heard of “The Green Monster,” what was your reaction to it?

AERIN FRANKEL: Coach actually sent it to me and I was laughing. I thought it was funny. My teammates have started saying it as a joke. Yeah, I think it’s cool, because Boston’s one of the greatest sports cities and obviously that’s a big part of the history at Fenway Park. So, I think it’s cool. Kudos to whoever thought of that. It’s pretty awesome.

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REPORTER: Alina, congrats on the game winner. Can you take us through what you saw in the play?

ALINA MÜLLER: Uh, yeah. I just tried to put my body against the wall, against the other player, trying to break the puck out and then somehow try to get inside positioning and the puck bounced to me. I think it was a good forecheck and I tried to get it off as quick as I can and as high as I can. I didn’t really see much.

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REPORTER: For either of the players, so when the goal gets taken off you mentioned the word momentum. What is that like to now realize you have this new opportunity? Do you feel like you have the advantage in that moment? Is it a mental thing? Take us in your minds right there.

AERIN FRANKEL: Yeah, I think so. It’s obviously deflating when you’re playing a game this long and you think you score a goal and then you’re celebrating on the ice and it gets called back. I think right away we just kinda hit the reset. We’ve been in overtime so much already this year and we just stuck to the systems that have been working for us this year.

ALINA MÜLLER: Yeah, same. I think the advantage was on our side just from a mental side. It reminded me of the World’s Final, I think it was Finland against the U.S., where the same thing kind of happened. It’s pretty tough if you’re on the other side.

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REPORTER: For Courtney, wondering if you can speak to what you’ve seen from Jessica Digirolamo tonight and through these playoffs?

COURTNEY KESSEL: Yeah, Jess is- it’s funny, I coached her since she was like 13 years old, so it’s pretty special to be standing behind the bench now she's a grown adult. I think her physicality, you know, her physique, her build, is built for this game, this style of hockey. And she’s raised the bar since we’ve been back from World’s. And I’m not surprised at all. I really do think she has all the skills to be on the national team one day if she continues to develop and work hard.

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REPORTER: Do you [Courtney Kessel] have a thought on Alina’s game winner?

COURTNEY KESSEL: I’m not surprised. I’m not sure who I spoke to, yesterday or two days ago, but they asked me who we should be watching out for and I said Müller. She’s just a tremendous 200-foot hockey player that can put the puck in the back of the net. We’ve been waiting for it all year and I know it’s there and I’ve been telling her that it’s there. Just so happy to see that happen and just watch her grow this year, in the first year with this league.

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REPORTER: Alina, your coach talked about your goalie, can you describe just being on the ice with Aerin and what the- if you’re often amazed, do you see all the stuff- you know, just what it’s like and speak to just how much she kept you in the game for the chance at the game winner?

[It might not looks that way, but for the record: this was a beast of a question to transcribe. The reporter was really fumbling on their words here and I had to rewind it a ton to try and get it down right.]

ALINA MÜLLER: Yeah, I mean, she’s the best goalie in this league, in the world. I got the chance to get to know her really well through Nordeastern already. We’re really good friends. I trust her so much. She makes it so much fun in practice too, trying to shoot on her. Just the competitiveness. The fitness, just everything is elite. She deserves all the success there is.

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You know, I said I was hoping Boston would battle back in true Boston-style and sure enough: they did! This game felt very different from the other games this series to me. Reminded me more of how a lot of other playoff games seemed to go...except with a lot more Boston-style physicality.

If anything it has shown once again that you never want to get into a defensive war of attrition with Boston.

And now the shoe's on the other foot. Boston seemed a little defeated after last game and now it's Minnesota's turn. The difference is that Minnesota either refused to do a post-game press session or I just can't find it. So I can't really say how they compare. While I can understand not wanting to talk to the press after something like that, I can't say that it bodes well for their mental state.

[they did do one! It just got posted wicked late for some reason? I dunno. I haven't got a chance to watch it yet, but it exists!]

As the players here noted, it's hard to mentally come back from what Minnesota had to deal with there. It certainly had an effect tonight.

But we'll have to wait until Wednesday to see if they wind up letting it weigh them down or fuel them forward.

We already know you never want to put Boston into a corner. And if Minnesota comes out for blood in Game 5? Should be a spicy end to the finals.

(and hopefully that end is a more decisive, less "what is even happening right now?"-styled one)

[catoperated]

I’m begging people look at the chart on this website and then check your actual blog colors contrast score cause I can barely read a lot of blog headers lately

I even re-did mine cause red on black is only “good” and with adjustments it’s now even more readable.