#also im back from the Woods!

[teh-inggris]

pvp civ nation...... this aint much but pls take my contribution for this series bc im going insane i love hate this man so much get him out of my head

[boarloved-art]

Wei Wuxian should be able to get drunk for once. I think he'd either be singing bawdy drinking songs on the roof of the Jingshi or he'd be getting irrevocably lost no matter where he is. He's found in the bushes behind the mountains like a cryptid, and then he's like "I can't believe you all got lost" (extremely slurred) as if he didn't get embarrassed by something Lan Wangji had said and just somehow disappeared when everyone looked back at him

oh ABSOLUTELY im walking with u and nodding and agreeing, i can see him becoming an absolute menace to keep track of at his drunkest.

anyway heres wonderwall The Gang (Wangxian & their fave group of ducklings) in a city known for its STRONG wine and wuxian being like well. ur all grown now, youre technically not juniors anymore. we have to see whos lasting the longest against this stuff!, smash cut to a suspiciously wei ying-less group of the worlds drunkest cultivators being wrangled through the woods by designated driver hanguang-jun, with at least 2 of them clinging to his robes at all times.

[megamindsupremacy]

I need to marinate more thoughts for this but. okay so gravity falls au. partially inspired by this. fiddleford has the memory gun and he's This Close to using it on himself to erase what he saw in the portal. he pauses. he thinks, just because I forget doesn't mean stanford will stop building the portal. he thinks it's all or nothing. he goes to stanford's shack in the woods. he sneaks in through the side door and sees stanford sleeping on the couch. it's dark outside. the lights are out. fiddleford can barely make out the shape of his former-friend's body. fiddleford looks at Stanford one last time. he types into the memory gun, Stanford Pines. he points the gun. half a second before he fires, Stanford stirs, as if sensing the danger he is in. he manages to get out "who-" before fiddleford, panicking, pulls the trigger before he can chicken out completely.

stanley wakes up on a couch he doesn't remember falling asleep in, with a terrified looking man standing over him, holding a glowing gun, and thinks this is one hell of a situation i've gotten myself into

[tapestryundone]

thinking about the narrators lines in the beginning of the game

"no more birds"

self explanatory. the long quiet is represented through birds, theough feathers. the narrator is represented through birds, but a more grounded version of them. less draconic. but the princess is tied to birds more abstractly- HEA exemplifies this. the construct is her birdcage

birds are highly symbolic throughout the entirety of slay the princess. they represent death, change, the concept of free will. is it any question that the long quiet is a bird, when he acts of his own free will the most?

"no more trees"

the woods are the first thing the long quiet ever truly sees. before awakening, it is the first thing he even knows. trees are the anchor of the construct, and the last to change as the long quiets perception of the princess changes the construct itself. but they are discarded by the heart of the shifting mound- only the cabin is visible, something created of the woods. trees constructed into something new. trees are not static, even as the narrator relies on them being so

just as significantly, the princess is on occasion depicted through vines, and trees. even the shifting mound is highly reminiscent of the shape of a tree. more specifically, she calls to mind a deciduous tree- a tree that changes through the seasons. life that is not static, but is still sturdy, long lasting

the long quiet, however, hears the narrators description of a forest and immediately thinks of coniferous trees. trees that retain their leaves, and remain relatively static through a year. but they still grow. they are still, but not forever. the construct retains the shape of these even as the cabin and the woods erode away, leaving nothing but the imprint of the woods

and perhaps most problematically of all, no more people

ive discussed this before, just how deeply tied to people that the long quiet and the shifting mound both are, so i wont repeat it all, but above all else, the two are deeply interested in and care about people. people are the reason that the nature of reality is questioned at all, and it is the narrator- the original narrator- who grants them humanity at all. the shape of something human. as far removed as either may be or become, that humanity is never fully lost. it can never be discarded or forgotten

being a person is not a "you are or you arent" thing. the long quiet often thinks of himself as a person, but the shifting mound discards it entirely. they are both right, and they are both wrong. because being a person involves the experience of life, but also the experience of death. and yet it is also the capacity to know what you are experiencing, to feel the world around you and to know that it is. the long quiet and the shifting mound arent 'people' in a literal sense, but how else would one describe the experience of being? the ability to care about others? the ability to care about yourself?

'people' are just one lens that can be looked at to interpret the world. the two are many lenses, but those lenses are all their own people. the voices and the vessels are all people that make up the sum of two vast people

the narrator, within his first moments acting in the construct, is calling to mind all the most important things to the long quiet and the shifting mound immediately, intentionally or not. the capacity for agency and free will and the nature of the self, change and permanence as concepts that can and do coexist as forces in nature, and above it all, how these concepts tie into the experience of life itself. a constant that does not last forever and is experienced by and to life. from a writing perspective, it is incredible how one line feels so powerful with the context of the whole narrative

[silvermeww]

for your Kalosian Woods AU, I have two questions! (1) what’s the direction you’re gonna take Amourshipping/Ash and Serena’s dynamic in? Their friendship along with the romantic subtext felt like it had a lot of potential in XYZ-proper but never really got utilized. And (2) how’re you gonna tackle Showcases? I’ve been meaning to work on a Showcase restructure but I’d love to hear your ideas :D

Hey there!!!!! For the first question, I 100% acknowledge the force of Serena’s crush on Ash in the XY series— even if I did tweak it so that she would fall after meeting him for the first time, watching him train for the Gym and having seen him fall off Prism Tower inspiring her to see him through tinted lens (and how it evolved from the admiration she had for him when they were kids so long ago). While XY anime itself had the weird notion of making everyone down for Ash (a terrifying scene after coming out of the professional haters of BW and literally every series before it) (ngl though I am a believer of the polycule + Bonnie idea lol, it exists in my heart), I can’t deny that side of Amourshipping even if I’m not a shipper myself or even much of a good writer for romantic relationships imo. In my AU I want to show how that love for him grows and eddies throughout the series: from their first meeting to taking up her own dream of showcases to seeing Ash lose himself in his endless hunt for strength— how she puts him on a pedestal because he was the first Trainer she knew, the strongest one she knew, and back then how she didn’t know better, relying on him instead of taking the risks herself and working with other people for a change. You’re absolutely right in the potential their relationship have in XYZ especially; with Serena coming to the tail end of her first Showcase season, ending up in the same place as before but with a totally changed perspective, and Ash fixating more than ever on being the best of the best, distancing himself from everyone else… and of course, all of that feelings and realisations coming to a head in Snowbelle, the Crisis, and the aftermaths. And also having both of them face each other at the end of it all and realising how much changed. I’m not really sure if I’m wording any of this right or if what I’ve said even makes sense heh, especially since I’m not too far ahead in this AU, but their friendship and that romantic subtext is definitely going to play a part in this series, and even if the plot details changes like the weather I’m going to do my best in keeping it as true to its potential as it should be (because a girl can be in love and also grow as a person, in spite and despite and even with it— you’ve just got to find the right angle).

(Also I’m going to have fun with that crush, so it might meet some light-hearted banter and miscommunications and all of that stuff. I mean, hey, these are kids on a journey lol. There are going to be awkward moments for everyone at some point, but they’ll grow past it as with everything else. Also fun memories. :P)

For the second question, wow, I’ve been giving it so much thought lol. I’m nowhere near the Showcases right now (although it is closer than what canon gave us in my AU) and yet it’s all I can do to plan for how it works. I have spitballed a few ideas with friends but for me (so far) I honestly want more of it to be outdoors. Showcases as a whole has this pesky problem of being a one-to-one copy of Contests but ‘declawed’ by having no battles, and it really gets me because if we’re discarding battles then we have to actually redefine Showcases as a whole— because the battle portion is the ultimate showing of precision and control with your Pokémon and their moves, which is what Contests are all about. Especially with AG and DP, we see examples of atypical Appeal rounds with Harley going for a more terrifying show of power, while Kenny (as :/ as a character as he was) goes for showings of strength— even though they are not ‘beautiful’ they still get to pass, because it really is about how your bond can perfectly translate to moves that can command the audience and grab their attention, naturally highlighting the Pokémon. With Showcases though, to me, they are more about creativity— about how a Performer can work with their Pokémon to get past certain obstacles which are based off a certain characteristic the Kalos Queen should have (the Theme round or whatever it was called lol) and then the Freestyle showing off what they uniquely bring to the table, their own brand, what they want to be remembered by (in which I thought that they could bring props to that originally but eh, that’s what my AU is for!). Sheesh, I went through such a big rant and I still feel fired up heh, but ig this is to say that since Showcases are about creativity, the outdoors location would be a great way to show how they deal with everything. On a sunny day, would they use Grass or Fire Types? Would they call out a Rain Dance and form a rainbow? Of course they wouldn’t actually have an open venue if it’s raining or snowing, but in different terrains can you see the characters stand out, I feel like. Also giving all sorts of Pokémon room like Flying or Ground. I have a bunch more ideas of course, about it being connected to PokéVision (still mad about how that concept got dumped) and having small events where people can get to know the up and coming Performers, getting hints for the Theme section so we don’t get the most unbalanced group of people and have a real competition (that always bothered me ngl), as well as other tweaks to that whole system. Showcases can be good in their own light, it’s just the rep of it being baby ‘only girls’ Contest (still thinking about the girls bit ngl) along with the stupid popularity bit of it (not that the concept is bad in and of itself, just that it should have a place and not be the be all end all of passing to the next stage) (it’s only good for the Freestyle, can I say that?) that makes it flop. Also because it came in so late and left so early. And the rivals kind of sucked because they weren’t given any time to grow. And the way Serena wasn’t challenged enough through them. So basically, I’ve got A Lot of thoughts about it and it’s going to be a headache to go through because it desperately needs a redesign to be viable in any way. But that’s the fun bit about an AU, isn’t it heh. Tell me about your ideas, I’d love to hear about them and thank you so so much for the ask!!! :D <33

[robot-singularity]

Alright, in honor of @oldbutchdaniel 's Fan Fiction Fridays, I had an idea for how the 70s chase era of devil's minion might go, but I'm not great at full fledged writing so! Plot beat bullet points:

Daniel wakes up in a drug den, dried blood down to his ankles, massive neck wound, and the knowledge that vampires are real. He then realizes that, shit, he doesn't have the interview tapes/any solid evidence that would prove it.

Goes back home, patches himself up, and within a week decides to backtrack to Divisadero street and try to remember which apartment they were in. Maybe Louis left something, anything that could be concrete evidence that vampires exist and he was attacked by one. Or better yet, he might find a single cassette of the hours of recorded tapes.

So, Daniel heads towards Divisadero, and, with the slightest bit of self preservation, decides to go during the day. Vampires can't go out in the sun, so. Should be safer, right? 👍

Cut over to Armand, in the main room of the apartment, cleaning up, patching the wall, trying to fix the northward slant of the floor, when he looks up and Daniel's standing in the doorway. (Maybe the door wasn't locked, maybe Daniel picked it, maybe he went to pick it and found it was unlocked.)

They stare at each other for a beat. Armand thinking that there's no way this boy is That stupid. Daniel thinking oh shit, I just broke into this guy's house. This kind of? familiar? looking guy? Which could either be deja vu or I'm still mildly concussed.

They talk back and forth for a minute, until it eventually devolves into Daniel getting told to leave, refusing, and then Armand asking hey, how fast can you run? I'm going to hunt you down, so. Go, now. Start running.

Daniel books it, out the door, down the stairs, door opens, door closes. Starts down the street, only to slow, stop, think it over, and starts going in a different direction, patting down his pockets to see if he has any money for either a payphone or a taxi or maybe a plane ticket if he can manage to get to the nearest airport.

And! The chase begins.

[ohsweetflips]

my neutral dragon age trait is that 50% of the time i'm like "the more i critique the games, the more i love them. i can appreciate each game for what they are but my criticism and frustration over what they could be are a sign of love" and the other 50% is like "this is the writing of the dragon age series. sure. why not. this may as well happen."

[orcelito]

Been largely absent today bc I've been Out but CHECK THIS OUT

I bought this thang

Here's it in my actual new apartment. I wanna put it together so bad!!!!! But it's nearly midnight and I don't have the tools to put it together anyways

Later... later, I shall.....

[arolesbianism]

GUYS.

New dupe real! Also new pod????? Olivia is that you girlie speak to me

[loveableabomination]

Being ace but also being people-pleasing enough that I think I'm not ace cuz I like to make my partner happy...is a mind-fuck.

[wodensdayfriggsday]

So I did some stuff and listened to a bunch of guided visualization things and now I have a spirit guide and a, uh. Spirit... Familiar? I guess? Except that the guide is like. New at the job. And the familiar is basically a puppy. I got the spiritual equivalent of my actual teething puppy and an intern.

[crystalkitty1220]

Man I wonder where the leader of the fear realm could've gone, it's alMOST LIKE NEVIN HAS AN

[s4pphoiduser]

you make a snippy comment and she snips off your tongue

[orcelito]

Good News for me, it seems like my application to the new apartment is being accepted :]

The leasing coordinator messaged me to say she's sending the lease to me to sign tomorrow, & so long as I submit the payment by the start of the term (April 30th), then the apartment will be Mine.......!!!!!

Wonderful News!!!

[arolesbianism]

I wanna take a crack at making some fake screenshot graphics for my Sif Odile duo loopers au but I do not feel confident enough in my ability to mimic isat's art style and I also have a crippling fear of drawing backgrounds

[possum-tooth]

was ab to make a post, got a call, then net zeroed myself completely