#THANK YOU FOR THIS ASK JAK

[targentis]

my good friend tief what authors do you recommend :3c

OHOOOO OHOHOHO I AM GLAD YOU ASKED!!

here are some of my absolute all time favorite authors for your reading pleasure:

V.E. Schwab - absolutely adore her unique and lyrical prose and richly developed characters. i also love that she writes a Lot of different types of stories and never really sticks to just one expectation of her “brand”. for you i recommend Vicious and its sequel, Vengeful (superhero duology from the perspective of the “villain”; protag is canonically aspec with the most wonderful found family of misfits)

Caitlin Starling - she writes mostly historical fantasy/horror and she Also creates some of the most captivating characters and plots i’ve ever read. of course i recommend The Death of Jane Lawrence (autistic protag marries a surgeon for Practical Reasons and finds out his spooky mansion outside of town may be haunted. it’s one of my favorite books Ever. but it is in fact pretty heavy on the horror elements esp wrt body horror if im remembering right so Beware)

Gillian McAllister - to me, she is the master of pacing. she writes books that are the epitome of “unputdownable” because every sentence—especially the final sentence of each chapter—is another hook. it’s awe-inspiring to witness. she mostly writes pretty standard thrillers but i recommend Wrong Place Wrong Time (high concept thriller where a woman witnesses her son commit a murder and the next day she starts waking up in the past)

Samantha Downing - oh boy! she is the queen of “unlikable” protagonists. i absolutely ADORE her, because she writes these bad people doing bad things for fun and revenge with such depth and delight and i wish more authors would do this. also, her plots are twisty and fun. i recommend For Your Own Good (grumpy teacher at a snooty private school poisons people and it all gets So out of hand. i read this in one sitting. it was that good.)

some honorable mentions are Chuck Wendig (horror writer and author of Damn Fine Story; if you want to read a book on writing craft that is both full of incredible advice and is really fun to read, read that book first. then read his other work to see him put it into practice. it’s awesome), Lisa Jewell (prolific thriller writer; her work isn’t really anything special, but she’s reliable in that every single book she makes is about the same quality so i use her as palate cleansers in between books sometimes AHFJSJ), and Kristen Lepionka (she made the private investigator genre fun again)

[boba-beom]

I CAN'T -

I CACKLED WHY IS THIS SO BEOMGYU CODED 😭😭😭 thing is though he knows you’d damn well buy him those legos and in between he’d kiss you with said kissable lips, and just before he takes the makeout up a notch he’d remember the lego and go back to building like LMFAOOO

[ageofzero]

What does Jak's prison garb say?

(I also am really fond of the Precursor alphabet and working out what each word said was a special joy of mine)

There are two parts for his prison garb! The red text across his chest says "Criminal", and the text on his left leg (I think) says "Cell B".

I went diving for the chest bit for an inktober drawing I was doing (https://ageofzeroart.tumblr.com/post/166380998324/inktober-3-hey-so-the-writing-on-jaks-prison), and it took me FOREVER to get enough visual data between blurry screenshots and moving cutscene videos to figure it out, haha.

I took this screenshot tonight to show that the texture actually gets flipped during a cutscene and the "nal" of criminal is mirrored and reversed for some reason? It's not always like that so I thought this was funny. (under the back of Daxter's foot, you can just barely see the "i")

editing myself to say actually now that I'm looking at a 1080p video, looks like that half of his prison uniform is always backwards, but that last symbol is very much not a K, so it's still supposed to say "CRIMINAL", it's just... "CRIMI LAN" in practice. Maybe they weren't thinking about how their texture would wrap around the 3d model and it didn't matter on the ps2

The leg is harder, and I can't really make it out based on the videos I was watching tonight, but I can see three of the symbols well enough, and the fourth one is a specific enough shape that I'm confident in it.

The first one's too blurry to really make out (it's a vague red-ish blotch at the high point of a dark green stripe), but reading down from hip to leggy, I'm pretty sure it's E-L-L-B, so extrapolating makes it "CELL B".

In case you wanted to know which cell specifically he's in for fanfic accuracy purposes!

bonus: Erol's right shoulder says Commander.

[aces-to-apples]

No bells just whistles with 1

For this ask meme

"no bells, just whistles" (huh, not the fic i expected to get any asks about lol)

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

Ahhhhhh, this fic. I had a lot of fun with this fic, trying to find a serviceable Jak voice when we don't exactly get him doing a lot of expository dialogue, and also I had a lot of feelings that led to it. I love Jak and Daxter so much, the games and also the guys, and their relationship and all its little layers is so fascinating to me. Some Doylist (and meta) descriptions of them and also Jak in general kind of drive me up the wall because it seems like the writers/developers wanted Jak to be this hardened, badass, grimdark jerk who's constantly on the edge of flying off the handle, including at Daxter, and I legit just don't get that from the actual games. I get a lot of warmth and heart between Jak and Dax, and again Jak in general, and so when I mindlessly replay the games I tend to do a lot of musing about relationship stuff we don't see in the game because of time constraints but also sorta get implied through character development (and also cut content). And I've just always really enjoyed Jinx and found it funny how similar he and Daxter are—despite the travesty of having neither Jak nor Daxter actually interact with him (and Grim and Mog) in the sewers—to the point where I genuinely decided that I think Jak would feel a certain level of comfort with Jinx's nonsense purely because he's so used to Daxter's nonsense.

Which of course leads to a bit of introspection in the ficlet itself about how basically nobody besides Daxter treats Jak like just a normal dude, and Keira and Samos are outright disturbed by the changes he's undergone, so it must be a breath of fresh air to meet a dude compulsively incapable of being normal to Jak but in just an annoying Daxter-ish way. And of course I love a dumb ship and it drives me absolutely crazy just how incredibly gay Jinx's little nicknames for Jak were. Like I get that this was like 2002 and the culture was different and all but come on.

In a 15-minute mission Jinx derisively calls him "pretty boy", sassily calls him "sugar" (pronounced suga'), randomly brings up his hair, calls him "blue boy" because he apparently didn't want to say pretty twice in a row, says the words "You're pretty handy with that iron, blondie" in cold blood completely unprompted, says he's "got the magic, man" after Jak saves his life for the dozenth time, admiringly says "nice moves", again completely unprompted snickers "sweet as a ballerina" while Jak is jumping because he is abnormal and unwell, tries to encourage Jak by yelling "knock 'em silly, Jak", yet again calls him Pretty Boy and then also "tough guy" if Jak wonders away from the group, commits a third Pretty Boy Crime™ if you smack into him a couple times, and caps it all off with a smarmy little "buddy" at the end of the mission. He drives me insane. I'm sure the reason for all of *gestures* that is because they just let Cutter Garcia let loose and have fun in the booth but what they ended up with is a 30something-year-old man who is down horrendously for an obnoxious, over-powered teenager and simply unable to be normal about it. I love it, 10/10, no notes.

ANYWAY, I wrote it like that because I'm obsessed with Jak and Daxter (and also Jinx) in a way that is mildly concerning to feminism, thank you for asking.

[miqojak]

🎵 for jak then, and one for jak now!

Jak then:

Part of coping with her trauma was just... shutting everything off. Going numb - and the sick irony of it is that she tried to OD on somnus out in the Thanalan desert one night, after her twin brother abandoned her to go chase boys, and all she had left was the trauma, indentured servitude to a gang, and the constant numbness. She made this offhanded comment about how she wished she could just feel again.

And then a weird one-eyed child showed up at Little Ala Mhigo the next day, near a now-convalescing-Jak, and when Jak couldn't help but offer up her own water she desperately needed to a child in need... she got her flask back with a Dark Knight soul crystal tucked inside it, and the child was gone! No one knew who she was, or had ever seen her before - and boy, did Jak ever start to feel things again. And most anything that's not anger... was/is confusing, and just got translated to anger; to outrage at an unjust world. She had a hard time keeping things in check with that soul crystal, at first - the part of her this animates has a lot of grudges against a world that turned against a child soldier who was made a prisoner of war - and she still has a bone to pick with Ul'dahns about how they treated her, and her people when they needed help the most.

Jak Now:

You'll find more than one song on her playlist about being a god - for all her self-loathing, she has a bit of a god complex. She trusts herself the most, and no one else will put you first and foremost like you can, so why shouldn't she elevate herself? She sees most people around her as 'sheep', anyways - simpletons who are beneath her, and incapable of even beginning to understand her mindset, or the bigger picture(s) in life; distracted by the simple, the mundane, the ignorant bullshit of life. She's got a lot of skeletons in her closet, though, and old problems don't go away when you wear the mask - or the crown - but the more you distance yourself, the more power you have; the safer you are. And she isn't a woman - she's a force of nature, if you ask her.

But being a god is both boon and bane - you're set apart, you're incomprehensible, you're too much for average people. And while these are, ostensibly, the very thing she wants... it's lonely, being misunderstood, and misunderstanding the world around you because of who you are, and how you see things. (And is it any wonder that a song NIN worked on is yet another in my roster?) So many lines in this are evocative for Jak though: "Maybe I could be a better human with a new name"/"Maybe I could be a different human in a new place" - her name isn't even Jak, at the end of the day. Jak is a creation, a new skin entirely.

[exile-on-uwustreet]

(this is one-trash-alek i just can't switch from my main blog 😞)

How was YOUR weekend and also if you don't like things that are too sweet what are your favourite sweets? 🤔

Hi!!

My weekend is great! I cleaned my whole flat and have been writing a lot and watching anime. What else do you need

Honestly my favourite sweet thing is liquorice... But I love sweet things in general, I could eat sweets all day, just not too sweet.

[black-eco-sage]

Btw, love your OC Viris. Their design is just 👌

Aw, thank you!! V is the hardest one for me to draw, so it's great to hear that others enjoy their design. <3

[detragallery]

1) how would you describe your style

2) what's your favorite thing about your style

22) what inspires you

ERM............ that's a good quastion...... probably like...uh... lively and expressive???? i feel like my art just suits me as a person, which is what i'm going for <3

i LOOOOVE how i do lineart. like. i started doing "sketchy" lineart after watching one of my favorite artists draw and something CLICKED in me. it's so easy and painless for me, and i can adapt it whenever i need to, and it looks so fucking good.

i just answered 22, but shoutout to the Art Nouveau movement for being so epic <3

[detrasystem]

The Ring and the Ribbon

ahhhhh The Ring and the Ribbon is very special to us because it is one of our oldest stories, the first First Draft to ever be “finished”/make it to 50k words, and it’s kind of become the primordial soup for all of our other stories since.

it’s a new adult fantasy about an imperial family that must confront the dichotomy of magic as they know it when a group of mages begins attacking their safest harbors. it’s the first book in a pretty ambitious trilogy. but really it’s about old gay men and mental illness. <3

[bribinart]

I first saw your art through your spread of Jaks and I JUST found the one in spec ops equipment and !!!! His EYES!! You have such incredible talent I was already in love with the way you draw expressions but the eyes themSELVES hold SO MUCH I’m in love thank you thank you thank you for sharing ❤️❤️

WHAAAAT!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! 💕💖

this made my whole week omg thank you so much for your kind words they mean the world!!

i'm so glad you like jaks' eyes!! he's got a mean case of resting bitch face but he tries his best to convey his emotions otherwise 👁👁

[targentis]

❌What WIP do you find the most challenging? Why?

👻Is there a scene that you find intimidating that you have yet to write?

❌: it’s Falcon. lmao. EUFKEJFKDJ

it’s a combination of a lot of things, to be honest. Falcon was written at a time when we were just learning how our writing process works, and how plots work. it started out with a really solid structure, but thinking that rewriting from scratch was Required, we rewrote the whole thing and it was…not as focused as the first draft. too much restructuring, too much overthinking, and it sort of lost its spark for us.

also, it’s a fanfic, so that means that our loss of interest in professor layton has sort of made us lose interest in this project, too. plus, our whole reason for writing it was out of spite for the way people used to talk about Bronev, but these days people are pretty chill about his character so it’s no longer so much of a pressing issue to write it. i’m pretty sure we’ll come back to it, but we’re REALLY burned out from it at this point.

👻: at the moment, EVERY scene that hasn’t been written feels intimidating. it shouldn’t be! but Editing Brain hasn’t quite turned off yet.

i’m mostly intimidated by all the scenes we wrote and NAILED in the first draft but need major reworking so we can’t keep those words. now that’s our nemesis.

[ramenwithbroccoli]

Mam nadzieję, że rozumiesz, jak bardzo się cieszę, gdy pojawiasz się na moim telefonie. Nie mówię tego w dziwny sposób, to jak pies widzący swoją ulubioną zabawkę. To właśnie czuję, będąc twoją wzajemnością.

damn naprawdę miło to słyszeć. cieszę się że moja obecność tutaj jest trochę pożyteczna, skoro sprawia ci radość :] to jak minięcie się ze starym przyjacielem podczas przechodzenia przez ulicę <3

[clownleys]

Cowboy!!!! 🤠

date idea: we drive through the desert together pointing at cows and listening to my mix tape (and we're both tumbleweeds) 🤠

COLOUR MY LIFE INBOX

[theladymuses]

@jaksrpbox asked:

Does the mun read fanfictions and if yes, what is you opinion on them?

Esmé: ❝ She does, a lot. I dare say she reads more fanfictions than she talks! The kind of things she reads do say a lot about her, but I also think it's helped her develop her writing. Perhaps she uses them as characterization practice because she most certainly does not shut up when a character is...out of character, or when she thinks she can do better. She does criticize shows and things a lot, too. Maybe she should publish that thing she spends all day writing before she opens her mouth about others' work. ❞

Bianca: ❝ Oh, yes... Is that bad? I think her reading list is concentrated on characters she heavily relates to, but she is too selective. I thought these kinds of things are read for fun; she seems to read them for a different purpose. Oh, but she probably looks at them like a writer, maybe. Odd way to practice, but, I'm not an author so I don't think I can judge her methods! ❞

Miharu: ❝ 'Course, she does! The girl's lonely as all hell and craves attention so I think she reads those little things to make her self feel better. Pathetically obsessed with those fictional guys, if you ask me. ❞

Does the mun stay up long or goes to bed early?

A collective answer: ❝ It depends. Variable. Her sleep has no schedule whatsoever! ❞

How often do you annoy the mun? And with what?

Esmé: ❝ I drive her insane when she's trying to put me in the romance genre. It's a little amusing, but I have better things to do than fawn over a man. ❞

Bianca: ❝ I...I'm not annoying! ...Am I? Wayna? ❞

Miharu: ❝ It's not annoying, but she's a weakling! I won't be owned by a woman like that; she'd better step up her damn game or I will. ❞

[miqojak]

⭐ XVII - The Star : Inspiration, generosity, serenity, regaining hope, looking forward to the future.

(( So I think a few of these asks came in shortly before I went on a hiatus, and I kinda forgot about them - so have a thing that I wrote and re-wrote a lot, and I actually started writing in like, January of last year while on a train ride, then started again in the fall, and... kinda polished off today. I still don't feel fully satisfied with it, but probably because it's right after This Post - and is supposed to lead into talking about how meaningful this next tattoo is/was (especially in the face of all that she's lost), since it's related to Ketsuchi/his nickname for her, but I never finished this piece, and never got further than this! Maybe one day I'll write a more in-depth thing about the Robin tattoo and all the layers of meaning that has for her (every tattoo has special meaning for her - and tell you exactly who she is!). For now, it's a look at a more mature Jak - one who has grown as a person and is... indeed displaying some of that generosity and altruism that she always says isn't real - even if she's framing it as 'repaying' someone. Too bad no one ever catches her in the act to prove her wrong...))

Her feet still knew the way – after all, it was only a little more than two years - maybe two and a half? Since she'd run these streets – hungry, dirty, in debt… a street rat if ever there had been one. Just another forgotten refugee haunting the streets of Ul'dah – but now, now the word was that the Sultana had an initiative to employ refugees...to help them learn a trade, to get them home. Fewer, the Mhigan faces haunting the filthy back alleys... and part of her relished that, even if no such help had been handed down to her.

It never had been.

Who would she be, if it had been?

Would I be the one haunting shells of old hovels, lamenting the loss of those who've abandoned me?

It didn't matter, the 'what if' – the past was written, and she was the product of her past as much as anyone else was.

Tonight, her feet led her to Crying Dove's establishment – hood pulled up, tail tucked low beneath her cloak...better not to be recognized; best not to be seen either for who she was (who knew if she had wronged one of the faceless wretches that passed her now and again in the alley), nor for what she was: a small, attractive, and seemingly weak woman. Around here, that wasn't wise.

And yet, she couldn't help but wonder if her Wolf's eyes followed her, even here. Did he know? Did her attempts to go incognito, and slip past all others still manage to catch his ever-watching eyes? Funny, that there was comfort in it anymore, as opposed to the oppressive paranoia such thoughts had brought her, once. He'd promised, even - at her behest - to keep his eyes on her, and relief had flooded her. She could protect herself, but… he could, too. If something happened, he'd know. The irony, oh, the irony of it all – that she'd once choked on anxiety at the thought that his people would see her when that unknown 'something' happened. That she'd fuck up, and he'd know.

But now, oh...now… given what she was on her way to do, it made it all the more hilarious, really, how things had been turned on their heads.

She was at Dove's door before she knew it – watchful and wary as she was, it was almost a surprise how quickly she found herself at the threshold, letting herself in... letting herself briefly drink in 'old', but familiar sights and smells. Heady incense, and draped silks - only the finest, for Dove's little birds, after all. This could have been her fate, in truth, if she hadn't crossed the wrong man… or the right one, in truth, and ended up working for the Yakuza in the East.

Before she even had her hood fully lowered, the buxom Roe who ran the brothel was crossing the lobby in lengthy strides, arms open, “All little birds come home to roost, in time!” The far smaller Miqo'te rolled mismatched eyes - but couldn't help the ghost of a grin that hovered at the corner of her lips – Dove had been the only person who'd ever tried to help her when she'd been a hungry stray. Dove's Nest was a safe haven, and Jak had ducked into the establishment more than once when on the run from the Blades, and Dove would take the opportunity to cajole her and try to convince her to become one of her little birds – it was safe, it paid decent, and she'd have a roof over her head, and three square meals a day.

She'd had her twin to think of – though Dove would likely have gladly hired him, as well – but back then, sex had still seemed… grotesque. Frightening. Painful. You don't survive what she had and retain a sense of desire for physical intimacy of any kind - anyone's hands on her was still deeply disturbing.

All save for one.

But here, now, she couldn't be happier to see the gentle giantess...and allow her the hug she wanted. A rare occasion, hugs – any touch was unsettling, and intimate ones more so, but hugs? Hugs felt like traps. Exposing your belly to strangers, pressing your most vulnerable places to them... and most of the world was larger, and stronger than her. A hug could very well be a trap, in her mind - and not one easily fought out of, with your arms pinned.

Here, and now, she just let it be a warm, safe reminder that every now and then... she found someone worthwhile.

Paranoia be damned.

“I was never one of your little birds, Dove.”

“Oh weren't you, though? You don't have to rest your head in my roost, to be under my wing, Jackal.”

“Just... Jak, now. Finally picked a name, and stuck with it. I... ah,” she managed from the chokehold of a hug before, finally, the larger woman loosed her crushing hold, and the little Calico could breathe again, “I brought you something, for once, instead of just... showing up to ask for something.”

The woman settled her massive hands on the smaller's shoulders, and put a little space between them, to eye her better, “You look well. Healthy. In one piece. Not even out of breath from running from the law. And I can see that you've got some damn fine garb under those nasty robes, little bird. Tell me your tale... and do tell ol’ Dove what you've brought her, hm?”

Crying Dove loosed her hold, and led them back to her office, shouting for one of the girls to come and watch the lobby, the better to let Jak take as much time as she needed to...' tell her tale' – from when she went missing from the streets, up to this very moment. It took the little woman time, and alcohol, and plenty of blushing and swearing – both on her part, and the Roegadyn's, at points, but it was...nice.

Only when she was done with the tale, did she procure the gift – sliding a promissory note across the desk between them, next to the now-emptied bottle of top-shelf liquor Dove had produced from practically nowhere almost the instant the door had shut behind them – this woman had taste, no matter what anyone said.

“Well, ‘thank you’ might be in my vocabulary now, if… sparingly used,” here, the feline woman perks a thin brow upwards, as if to drive home the fact that it does mean something that she came to thank this woman, “But the importance of ‘please’ was impressed upon me, as well.” Wry, the faint curl of lips that follows… and precedes the following words, “So… while I did want to finally re-pay you for all you did for me,” - here, the giantess waves a dismissive hand the size of the smaller’s skull, though it does descend to pluck up that note, as the more feline of the two speaks, “I did want to ask if you’d lend me your tattoo artist again - I find that I’d like to return to hands I know, for my next piece.”

[stellarresults]

[ 🤪 ] what is your muse’s sense of humour like? are they known for being joking, or serious?

[ 🩰 ] is there a type of fashion your muse prefers, or do they not pay attention to their appearance at all?

[ ⚽️ ] is your muse athletic? are there any sports they like playing?

headcanon meme

[ 🤪 ] what is your muse’s sense of humour like? are they known for being joking, or serious?

Not to repeat lines but it really depends on the person, I will say Kade is a lot less of a joker with people he doesn't know all that well. He might be occasionally snarky if he thinks he can get away with it with whatever type of personality he's trying to portray, but really his humor is mostly reserved for people he cares a lot about. Partially due to his own choice, and partially because at times... humor just goes over his head.

With people he doesn't know he'd almost rather appear to be dense over a joke, than possibly laugh at something not intended as a joke. But other times he really just is that dense and doesn't completely recognize the tone of the humor. This doesn't happen all the time but it does occur sometimes.

His sort of humor appears to be very blunt however, mostly to the point statements thrown out at specific moments to get reactions.

[ 🩰 ] is there a type of fashion your muse prefers, or do they not pay attention to their appearance at all?

Well when you're raised in the life of luxury, you might as well take advantage of it while you can; even to the point of spite. Kade very much pays attention to his appearance, he's not exactly what I would call vain but he knows how much a first impression can matter to people, so he tries to appear as well put together on sight as possible. Plus it just does a nice number on his confidence to actually feel like he does look nice.

He tends to not give a fuck about gender norms however and when fancy events come up he might take advantage of a prompt to wear an expensive dress. He'd never be able to afford it outside of his family and he knows they'll be mumbling complaints, and he doesn't care. He prefers it to a tux or a suit by a long shot, though he doesn't tend to take advantage of this in normal wear that often. But maybe once in awhile, as a treat.

[ ⚽️ ] is your muse athletic? are there any sports they like playing?

He does exercise regularly by walking around the city he lives in for awhile, if not using equipment to do so at a gym. But he's not absurdly athletic by a long shot, and he's never been particularly fond of sports.