#and if that goes a certain way there may be yet Another update to my carrd lol

[heartbeetz]

Carrd update. Added those dragons to my f/o list aaaaaand added rough anniversary dates for different f/os. If anyone is into that kinda thing.

[anonymousdisco]

How’d I get Isikia’d into Yandere Obey Me Chapter Ten-Unexpected Opportunity Part Three

(Y/N)’s POV:

It flippen hurt all over my body, but the pain was worth it. I meant what I said when I said I was willing to break my own bones to get what I want. At the end of the day the only thing that mattered was the plan. I couldn’t see glitch since I was busy pretending to be passed out but I used my thoughts to communicate. “What did they discuss when they left?”

“Exactly what you predicted. Although there is a new development that goes awry from your plans. Your other brothers are on their way.” Glitch explained to me.

“What?! There not supposed to know yet! The plan was to hide my injuries even further to increase the sucker punch of guilt they’d feel later!” I freaked out to Glitch mentally.

“I know. Will you move up the timeline?”

“Yes. I don’t have any other choice. It’ll take some adjustment and I’ll have to lie here pretending for a while then that I’m passed out. Bummer.” I sighed mentally preparing myself for a long haul. This was gonna suck. I can’t stand staying still.

It was not even ten minutes later when the door banged open and in came a flood of worried brothers. As I thought, they weren’t cruel, just traumatized by the loss of their other sister.

“Yo nurse! Explain this! Why is she just lying there looking half dead!” Mammons frantically whispered as loudly as he could without waking me from my supposed pass out. Truly a tusndere until the person he cared about is hurt.

“Please be quite while the patient rests. She is not well enough now to receive visitors. You may direct your questions to your Brother Lord Lucifer whom has been updated on the situation.” The nurse was about to usher them out when an idea struck me. Maybe I could shorten this pretend period.

I whimpered quietly, twitching in pain. I made sure to still seem passed out as one small little tear escaped my eyes. I couldn’t tell who did it but I felt a gentle almost scared hand brush against my cheek before holding my hand tightly.

It wasn’t till he spoke that I realized who it was given my eyes had to remain closed. “It’s okay (Y/N)…. Your big brothers are here now. We haven’t been the best but we’re ready to make that up to you. If anyone touches you again I’ll choke them to death.” What is it with Belphegor and murder via choking?

I made myself whimper in pain again despite it making me feel pathetic. I heard footstep approaching me before a nurse yelped. “Please unhand me. I need to give the patient something for pain that will make her rest easier as she recovers.”

“Next time ask before approaching our sister so carelessly.” Could Beelzebub really sound so… stern and cold? He wasn’t like that in the game. This made me feel a little uneasy. I felt a needle poke my skin and tried not to flinch from fear. Not long after sleep overtook me for real this time.

Satan POV:

I felt like I was burning. Like my skin itself was on fire. My vision was completely red. I had to be locked in my room by my brothers given what a rampage I had been on. It wasn’t until an hour ago I had been let out. 

Three days. She had been sleeping for three days already. We’ve been following Barbatos’s directions on how to infuse her with magic but it hasn’t helped her at all yet. 

It didn’t matter how many times I went under the castle to Barbatos’s torture room to obliterate that filth that hurt her. The rage still buzzed through my veins. The worst part was the anger was mostly direct at me. I had no excuse for ignoring her. I hadn’t lost Lilith. I hadn’t had to watch my siblings fall to what for all they knew could have been certain death. I don’t even know why I did it.

This is all my fault. Even Lucifer hadn’t messed up as much as I did. A realization that just fueled my rage to another level. Shoot they’ll probably have to lock me up again till I’m calmer.

Asmodeus POV:

She looked like death when we barged into her patient room in the castle. She hadn’t improved since. It’s been three days. I did her hair in the picktails she likes. I didn’t realize she liked such cute things till now. We could have bonded over such things but I was a fool.

I thought I was too beautiful for misfortune to befall me, but I was wrong. This hurt. Seeing her pain hurt. She was constantly sedated for her comfort in healing, but sometimes she’d flinch in her sleep from pain anyways.

What are we going to do? How are we going to fix this? We did all those horrible neglectful things! She’d been only three thousand when we fell. Only three thousand…

Beelzebub POV:

I couldn't eat. Belphie kept trying to make me but I just couldn’t. The idea of eating after all I was responsible for made me nauseated. I didn’t dissect to fill the perpetual hunger I had after hurting my little sibling so much.

It wasn’t just my misery I felt. I could feel Belphie’s as well. He wouldn’t sleep no matter how comfortable I tried to help him feel. Not only was I a failure as a big brother, but also as a twin…

Belphie’s POV:

He wouldn’t eat, and I couldn’t sleep. We took a kind and caring individual, our own little sister, and then just neglected her. She shouldn’t have even fallen with us in the first place! This was all Lucifer’s fault! Sure we all shared some of the blame, but it was Lucifer’s idea to rebel. And it was his idea to reluctantly accept another sibling despite planning an uprising. He could’ve refused! That way she wouldn’t be lying there in a medically induced coma so her magic wouldn’t kill her.

I was worried about Beel. I hadn’t felt such self loathing from him since Lilith died… what was I going to do? All I knew was those bastards were gonna pay in blood for what they did.

Leviathan POV:

I sat by her side a lot these past few days that she's been unconscious. The nurses said she can’t hear us and that’s probably a good thing. I doubt she’d want to hear a yukky otaku crying next to her.

I don’t know what to do. I know I’m one of the oldest, but I’ve never had anything like this before. None of us had ever been hurt this bad since the fall. Back then all we could do was pile up in one of the castle’s guest rooms in pain as we got used to the changes in our bodies. Oh Diavolo! She went through that alone didn’t she! Darn it! How much do we suck brothers?!

What have we done…?!

Mammon POV:

I walked past (Y/N)’s set up in Diavolo’s castle while she’s healing when I heard sobbing. I peaked in and there was Levi crying his eyes out. I approached him and reached out to hold him.

We sat there together for a while listening to the beeps and noises of (Y/N)’s medical magic devices. “I know that this is… hard.” I hesitated as I tried to figure out how to comfort him. I wasn’t as good as Lucifer at comforting our younger brothers. But I do remember him stretching his wings out to help hide us a comfort when we were younger. So I did just that after changing to my demon form. I hid Levi and let him cry all he needed to.

“Just how horrible are we?” His tone of voice hurt to hear. I brushed his head with my hands.

“Based on what Lucifer and Diavolo showed us, it's pretty horrible.” Before he could cry again I continued speaking. “But unlike most, we’re getting a second chance.”

He nodded in realization. “Your right for once Mammon.”

“Hey, respect your older brother! What do you mean for once?!” I demanded glaring.

Levi simply laughed at last and went to leave. “I should get some rest. It's late at night by now.”

I simply grumbled as he left. After a bit I moved by (Y/N) and held her hand. “It’s gonna be fine I promise. Lucifer always makes everything okay.”

Lucifer POV:

I drummed my fingers against my desk. I was doing my work in my office in the castle, but it was difficult to focuse at the moment. If I’d been a little bit later to save her… I sighed looking at the damage I did to the desk with my nails in my rage. This simply wouldn’t do. I couldn’t focus like this.

I know Lord Diavolo was fine with me taking some time off to take care of my family, but what was I even supposed to do? All this burden was becoming hard to shoulders as the oldest. Not that I’d say that out loud though.

“Knock, knock.” Lord Diavolo said leaning on my office door.

“Hello, Lord Diavolo. Is there something you need?” I ask straightening my posture.

“No. Is there something you need, Lucifer?” He gave my desk a pointed look when I started to shake my head no.

“Yes.” I reluctantly gritted out. “I am in need of… a friend at the moment.”

“Say less.” Diavolo grabbed an armchair and moved it next to me. “So what are we doing, Lucifer?”

“Working on the schedule for the plan you mention (Y/N) helped craft a proposal for. I don’t want her work to go to waste just cause she’s hurt.”

If Diavolo noticed the glassy look in my eyes he ignored it carefully as he remained steadfast at my side. It was times like these that I was grateful for our friendship. It lessened the burden I carried. Although despite his care this time I still felt a knowing empty feeling inside. I barely know her, yet I miss my little sister’s smile already. At least those brothers of mine will handle the scum while I handle this.

Diavolo POV:

Lucifer wasn’t like himself. Usually he carried himself like a rock steadfast against the other elements. Right now he was akin to glass in a way. There wasn’t anything I could do other than provide the best care for his sister, and remain at his side through this trying time. 

“I’m sure she’ll be ecstatic when she wakes up. By the time she does the plan should be in action. The human realm accepted yesterday, and we already have the celestial realm’s acceptance as well. She was rather convincing in her words to the celestial realm.” I look over the documents with Lucifer as I speak. “Those scum will be dead before she awakes. We’re letting Satan and Barbatos end them tonight if you want to get any last hits in.”

“Just make it hurt. I have too much work to do to stoop to such an unnecessary level of disheveledness.” Lucifer scowled.

“I’ll let Barbatos know you’ll be stopping by before midnight.” I smiled a bit as his scowl deepened. “After so long as your friend I know better than to think you won’t land the last blow yourself. Especially when it comes to protecting your family, Lucifer.”

He simply chuckled dryly, shaking his head. “Shall I open some demonous for while we work? I was given a new vintage last month by another Nobel.” 

“That sounds great.” I grabbed some glasses from inside a cabinet. “You know Lucifer we should discuss something regarding your sister. A special way to protect her for life, and ensure she doesn’t leave the nest too far. Why don’t we talk about it tomorrow night?”

Barbatos POV:

I straightened up the blanket (Y/N) was sleeping under. The poor child felt so cold to the touch. I’d have to talk to the maids and scold them for not taking better care of her.

Cold rage dwindled in my veins for every moment those lesser beings of scum were alive. Soon that would be rectified. And tomorrow a whole new development for all the realms would happen. Something truly shocking. Something (Y/N) helped happen. If it weren’t so unlikely I’d think she was a genius. She’d make a fine leader someday, a queen worth serving.

I was about to turn around and handle the fireplace when I heard her mumble in her sleep. I was by her side in an instant, smoothing hair soothingly. I felt shocked and happy when she actually opened her eyes.

I smiled and bowed to her. “Good morning, My Lady.”

Lucifer:

Affection: 65%

“She's in readable thorough when planning something. This research and proposal couldn’t have been easy. When she wakes up I’ll show her the fruits of her labor.”

~Relation: Determined and Tired Big Brother

~Danger Level-Orange (Listen to me you don’t want to enter Red level. Don’t let it get past 89%. Then again you never flippen listen to me.)

Mammon:

Affection: 57%

“I should have noticed that she was being bullied when I treated her ankle and she cried into my shoulder. I really am stupid.”

~Relation: Greedy Overprotective Brother

~Danger Level-Yellow (Do you even read my messages to you??? Just asking since you never seem to listen. I can’t even do much to help you since my boss has me monitored.)

Leviathan:

Affection: 56% (wow that’s a feat. Getting injured really does do wonders for gaining affection. You're almost scary how smart you are in manipulating people.)

“I know I’m worthless, but I didn’t think all of us would be trash as brothers. We have to make up for this.”

~Relation: Regret filled Big Brother

Asmodeus:

Affection: 57% (Dang keep this up and he’ll love you more than he loves himself. Then again I shouldn’t tempt you. Forget I said that..)

“What on earth have we done? We’re terrible even for demons. You’d think we had never even been angels in the first place.”

~Relation: Depressed Big Brother (Prepare so much skin care for him later. Poor guy is gonna need it given all the stress.)

~Danger Level-Yellow (Yeah I’ve described there’s no way you actually are taking my advice to heart.)

Satan:

Affection: 59% (Stop waving red flags in front of bulls. Leave this one alone.)

“I couldn’t wait for tonight. I might end up sharing with Lucifer of all people, but in order to kill those scum it would be worth it.”

~Relation: Vengeful Big Brother

~Danger Level-Yellow (Is it even okay to use the same scale for this one? But we don’t even have any other scales… just be careful. Something tells me this one wouldn’t mind murder to keep you. And I really don’t want the overtime that would cause me.)

Belphegore:

Affection: 60%

“I don’t know what to do, but if I do know that I want to murder of those scum tonight with the others. But first I need to feed Beel something..”

~Relation: Sweet Dream Guaranteed for Life Bog Brother

~Danger Level-Yellow (What is it with you and poking bears…?)

Beelzebub:

Affection: 60%

“Maybe if inuse a frying pan I can knock Belphie out to sleep? But I don’t want to hurt him. I know I’ll offer to carry him over to (Y/N) and he can sleep next to her! Maybe he’ll sleep that way knowing that she’s safe.”

~Relation: Scary Dog Privileges for Life part two

~Danger Level-Yellow 

Diavolo:

Affection: 65% (Yet again, I feel the need to ask why you poke bears…)

“I look forward to my discussion I have planned with Diavolo. After all, it's best to get permission in such matters. Although no isn’t an answer of course.”

~Relation: Mr. What’s your head size for a crown just casually asking for a friend…?

~Danger Level-Orange (I’m not mad, just disappointed af this point. This is gonna be so much overtime. I can tell that already.)

Barbatos:

Affection: 70% (Just… how?!)

“She's awake at last. How lucky that she’s awake just in time for tomorrow.”

~Relation: Planning a wedding for you and his not his son but still his son Diavolo

~Danger Level-Yellow (Deep breaths and do not engage.)

[bodybeyondstories]

Story prompt: a guy asks his ex to meet him to talk about the end of their relationship (the person who asked the date was cheated on by him and wants revenge), before asking for the meeting he cast a curse on him, every time he says the word "ego" his dick and balls will swell, the goal is to make him become a human parade balloon. ;)

If I were a better writer, I would've worked in a runaway growth scene triggered by someone blasting a mashup of Ego (Beyoncé) and Alter Ego (Doechii). Alas!

And PSA: Please try and talk things through with your significant other before resorting to chaos magic. You will be held responsible by municipal services.

1010 words

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"Look, I know endless apologizing and groveling won't make things right, but I'm here to listen and put aside my ego-ooof..."

"Hm? Your what?"

"Sorry, I'm just really...um...uncomfortable, in these--"

"I'd be uncomfortable too, trying to set aside an ego that big."

"I--aughhh--meant these pants. They're really--don't give me that look."

"Oh don't worry, everyone in the park has seen how great your legs are. You got your daily ego massage."

"That's not fair. What's that supposed to...to...mean...sorry is it hotter out here? It's hotter, right? I feel very..."

"Stuffy?"

"Stuffed. Look, I'm really trying to be present, but I have a little bit of a...situation developing."

"Yet another 'situation,' of course. My mistake to take up a whole five minutes of your time. I thought you were putting down the ego--"

"Ego, ego ego! Yes, I am, I just mean--AUGHHH!"

"Shit, are you okay?! What's...what's that sound."

"I think it's my zipper."

"Your...oh wow, that's a lot to stuff."

"It won't...stop...growing. I don't know what's going on."

"A lot more..."

"I feel like my pants are about to bur--wait, what?"

"...A lot more than I expected..."

"You've got to be kidding me. You did this didn't you?"

"It--it was just supposed to be a small hex."

"This doesn't look very small."

"I mean it was just supposed to manifest by a certain percentage when activated by the trigger word. So whenever someone says--"

"Don't."

"--ego."

"Fuck! There goes the zipper. Was the goal to get me in trouble for public indecency? My briefs don't have much longer, and they're already soaked through. Was that also part of the curse?"

"Not even a full curse! Just a hex. A small hex. I wanted to teach you a lesson and make your most prized possession reflect your ego."

"Fuck, that was a big one. These pants are done for, they're in tatters."

"You know I'm still learning spell craft. I just maybe got the order of operations wrong."

"Yeah, maybe. Jesus, this thing's huge. It's not even fully hard and it's pulling my underwear apart. Can you please pause whatever this is? I can't even wear normal clothes at this point."

"Ok, um, maybe I can fix this. I just updated my spellbook app, there should be a straightforward reversal incantation. What's the opposite of ego? Oh shit."

"Ughhhh. It's...it's so big...it's not stopping."

"Are you actually getting hard?"

"I can't help it. It feels so good. It reaches up to my lips, that's so hot. I wonder what I taste like."

"You actually found a way to flip this in your favor."

"I'm already a freak, thanks to you. Just let me enjoy this."

"It's...just...massive..."

"Maybe the biggest cock ever. And it's all mine."

"A little egotistical, don't you think?"

"Wait, please, stop!"

"Whoa, it's past your head now."

"I noticed. It's not...it's not stopping. Why is it not stopping?"

"I don't know! I didn't say ego--"

"Fuck, that was the biggest spurt yet. My dick is about to rival my entire body, we have to hide somewhere until I can get this down."

"I don't think we're going anywhere. Look at your balls."

"Why? I can't even see them. Help me up--oof!"

"Careful, careful, they're weighing you down. They're already the size of beanbag chairs."

"Please, babe, you have to reverse this. I don't think it's stopping!"

"Okay, okay, I'm checking the app and...well there may be not be an easy fix."

"Are you fucking kidding me?! You're always doing reckless shit like this. Always half assing, not thinking anything through."

"Oh so now it's about me?"

"Yes, per usual, you have successfully managed to make it about you. Congratulations, yet again."

"God, you were always so insufferable, what was I ever thinking falling in love with a massive, throbbing--"

"Do not say it--"

"Ego!"

"Oof, I'm pinned to the ground. This thing's taller than me. This is messy even by your standards. I can feel it pulsing, it feels so good, so full."

"Messy?! I think it was pretty messy to hook up with your boyfriend's coworker at the holiday party!"

"Look, please, it was just the one time, there was the mistletoe over the doorway and we were being cute--"

"You should see how cute he is now. I don't think he'll be able to fit those cheeks through a typical doorway ever again. Oh, did that turn you on? You'll drown in your own precum, it's like a broken faucet up there. Maybe your boy toy around the corner can help clean up?"

"Please, that was just a fling, I made a mistake, I thought we already worked through that."

"Or the hunk from the moving company can help ferry you around with those balls."

"C'mon, were we even exclusive at that point?"

"Actually, they might soon be bigger than his truck. Looks like you're really enjoying this, huh? I can almost hear the eruption building."

"I, I, I can't help it. It's...too much...my dick is a monstrosity, just like my actions, I think you've made your point. C'mon, it's the size of a flagpole."

"Not quite, but almost! Maybe we can rush things a bit since you keep trying to rush closure. Maybe the whole world should see the manifestation of your egocentric--"

'Wait, no!"

"Egotistical,"

"Can we please just talk about this--"

"Ego--um--ist behavior!"

"Ooo I can feel it stretching, my balls are churning they're so full. It's...it's too much, I can't think, I'm...I'm losing control."

"Now you know how it feels. Your cockhead can probably be seen across half the city, and these balls are the size of SUVs. You want to be community dick, go ahead and flood the neighborhood with jizz."

"Can't, can't move. Gonna...cum..."

"I can already hear sirens a few blocks away. And looks like some news trucks beat them to it. We're gonna put on a show. So everyone can see how big that ego really is."

[lunarthecorvus]

Post Crooked Kingdom Canon Compliant fanfiction recommendations part of Lunar's soc fanficiton rec series

-------------------------------✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧----------------------------------

Vol. 1: Council of Thieves by lizaudreys

Wordcount: 122,891 Chapters: 45/45 (part of a series and is continued afterwards)

Characters: Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, Jesper Fahey, Wylan Van Eck, Nina Zenik, Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s)

Tags: BAMF Inej Ghafa, Fluff and Angst, Jesper Fahey Has ADHD, Kaz Brekker Needs a Hug, Crime Children, Five Years Later, Post-Book 2: Crooked Kingdom, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn

Author's summary/notes: Five years after the Auction, the Crows have gone their separate ways. That is, until the Council of Tides demands that Kaz Brekker help rescue one of their newest initiates. Grisha all over are being targeted by ships disguised as slavers, rumors of a new form of jurda parem are spreading, and the fate of it all is yet again dependent on an unlikely gang of criminals. My summary/notes: Some fascinating council of tides lore, and the side/original characters in this fic are so interesting. Be prepared this fic has some wesper angst and some definite kanej angst, but there are some adorable moments. Goes into the crows friendships, especially Jesper + Inej and Kaz and Wylan (it does go into more dynamics). To finish it I will say there is a sort of ⊹hiest⊹.

---------- ☾₊ ⊹

and you asked me to dance, but I said "dancing is a dangerous game" by sarathedreamer

Wordcount: 28,439 Chapters: 5/5

Characters: Inej Ghafa, Kaz Brekker, Wylan Van Eck, Jesper Fahey, Prince Ilya

Tags: Fluff and Angst, Fluff without Plot, Healing, Post-Book 2: Crooked Kingdom, Post-Book 2: Rule of Wolves, Hurt/Comfort, Canon Compliant ish

Author's summary/notes: “My darling Inej," he started in a very proper intonation, "treasure of my heart, feared Wraith of the Barrel, Scourge of the Seas, Bringer of Justice and Slayer of Men… would you like to dance with me?" Inej, Kaz, Wylan and Jesper get a very important invitation to the betrothal celebration of a certain Nina Zenik... angst, fluff, and yes, dancing, ensues between the King of the Barrel and the Queen of the Seas. This is part two of my kanej x cowboy like me series! I would highly recommend reading part one first before you dive into this :) Spoilers for RoW and obviously the Soc duology. Most of this is canon compliant because I love to play by the rules (except that we forget about the last two pages of Rule of Wolves for the sake of fluff and angst only... hehe) My summary/notes: Part of the kanej x cowboy like me series, which is such a good series, if you want kanej fluff then that is the series for you. This fic is Inej and Kaz being head over heels with each other for 5 chapters straight, featuring some wesper and Nina. May I intrigue you into this reading this fic by saying it has Kanej flirting and Captain Ghafa. Also THEY DANCE.

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Dealing With Our Demons by @ravenyenn19

Wordcount: 807,697 Chapters: 174/? (updates generally every few months)

Characters: Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, Jesper Fahey, Nina Zenik, Wylan Van Eck, (as well as many other original characters and six of crows side characters)

Tags: Romance, Friendship, Love, POV Kaz Brekker, BAMF Inej Ghafa, Fluff, Romantic Fluff, Eventual Smut

Author's summary/notes: Inej's first letter back to Kaz after she leaves on her journey to hunt slavers, reunion ensues! Will they continue to learn how to battle their demons in order to get close to one another? My summary/notes: A classic Kanej fic, almost every Kanej fanfic reader knows this fic, the writing is impeccable. This fic made me fall in love with both Anika and Pim and then Pimika. To me this fic is canon. Now for a summary, this fic take you on a journey of healing and growing with both Kaz and Inej. You will come out of this fic a changed person.

[writingtraumaforever]

Uncontrolled Chaos: Chapter 14

Notes: Heads up! I won’t be updating a few days. Still feeling crummy and a bit loopy on meds, so I wanna wait for my head to be on straight before I continue. Thank you all for your patience and support! ^^

Summary: Rouge gets this ball rolling while Sonic finds himself curious and intrigued by this new and nicer Shadow.

Chapter Select!

Link to my AO3!

Start:

“Wait. Soo.. Shadow isn’t our Shadow??”

“Nope,” Rouge mumbles, phone held to her ear as she leans back against the clay wall behind her. She’s standing outside Tails’ home, Sonic and Shadow inside trying not to be awkward around one another.

“That.. can’t be good.”

“I don’t really know what it means, right now,” she sighs, rubbing a hand back through her hair before fiddling with the ends behind her neck. Twirling a piece around her finger, she frowns a bit, “I just worry for what it means for our Shadow..” she pauses. Swallows and closes her eyes, “Do you think he’s—“

“I’m sure he’s fine, Rouge..,” Knuckles’ voice is reassuring but firm on the other end, a softness to the way he mumbles, “Shadow can take care of himself. You know that.”

“I should’ve been there with him..,” she hugs her arms around herself, keeping the phone pinned between her shoulder and cheek, “I should’ve put my foot down with Commander Tower and just—“

She sighs, hearing Knuckles’ soft voice coming through her anxiety.

“Hey.. hey, don’t do that. Don’t beat yourself up. You and I both know that even if you had convinced your boss to let you go with him, Shadow wouldn’t have wanted a babysitter.”

Rouge can’t help the tiny smirk on her lips as she speaks, “You’re right..” she sighs again, frowning as her head tilts up against the wall behind her. Her turquoise eyes staring at the blue sky..

“I’m always right. The sooner you realize that, the better,” Knuckles teases through the phone, earning a scoff from the bat. Her eyes roll in an annoyed sort of way, but she smiles. She knows he’s just trying to get her head out of the clouds..

“You keep tellin’ yourself that, himbo.”

“What’s a ‘himbo’???”

“It’s—Nevermind. Doesn’t matter. You’re just proving my point,” she waves her hand dismissively, “Anyway.. we have this running theory the reason this Shadow even ended up here is because he played with artificial chaos energy..”

“Ah,” Knuckles hums, seeming to now understand why she was calling, “You called because you need my knowledge of chaos energy.”

Not because you need me. That goes unspoken, but Rouge still hears it plain as day.

“I called because I know if I can depend on anyone, it’s you,” she adds with a knit in her brows, “…I don’t want to call your treasure hunt short, but—“

“It’s an emergency. I get it,” Knuckles assures calmly, “I’ll come back. May take a few days, but I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Thank you, Knuckles,” Rouge breathes, a sigh of relief flooding her as she looks down at her shoes with a frown, “I owe you one.”

“You owe me more than one, bat,” Knuckles replies with a smirk in his tone, “Lucky for you, I suck at counting.”

“Why am I not surprised?” she chuckles, smiling to herself at him trying to cheer her up.

He’s sweet when he wants to be.

It’s one of his more endearing traits.

“I probably won’t be able to do much, though, if I wasn’t there when he initially used Chaos Control..”

Rouge purses her lips at that, “What if I could get you the readings on his Chaos Energy right after he was found??”

“That would certainly help.. I’d need the emerald he used, too. And a real one.”

“We’ll get on that,” she nods, making mental note of what she’ll need. Looks like yet another hunt for the chaos emeralds was on. As always.

Seemed to be an endless cycle for them.

“Good. I’ll get in contact with my ride and head back as soon as I can.”

“Great,” a pause, she swallows before adding, “Be safe..”

“You too. Don’t be too trusting of this new guy just because he looks like your friend, Rouge.. Can’t be too careful.”

“What do you think I am, a softy??”

“You’re certainly softer than you allow others to believe.”

She just stays quiet at that. He’s not wrong, per say, but she won’t admit it.

He just chuckles at her silence, “I’ll see you soon.”

“Whatever,” she huffs before adding a bit softer, “.. Bye Knuckles..”

She hangs up.

Inside, Sonic is leaving Tails another voicemail, “Hey buddy! Sorry to bug ya, but I really need you to call me back. Can’t tell ya through a message, but it’s important. Alright, hope you’re doin’ good! Take care!”

He hangs up with a frown, tossing the communicator Tails had built him specifically for the two of them onto the nearby chair before plopping onto his back on the couch with a groan.

“Why won’t he answer??”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Shadow assures from his spot in the kitchen, helping himself to a snack since he’s starving, “He’s a smart kid. He can take care of himself.”

“I know that,” Sonic sighs, sitting up to look at Shadow through the doorway, “He’s just never been off on his own for this long.”

“Isn’t that the point?” Shadow questions with a raise of his brow.

“Well- yes,” Sonic admits, crossing his arms with a little pout, “Doesn’t mean I have to like it..”

Shadow can’t help but smile a bit at Sonic’s little pout.

His instincts tell him to go over there and kiss it away, rub the little furrow between his brows smooth with his thumb and comfort cuddle him.

But that’s a no-no. So he just chuckles to himself and looks down at his sandwich to take another bite.

Sonic looks back to him a bit curiously before hopping up off the couch to walk over, sitting on the edge of the table Shadow is eating at.

“So you like— eat normal food, huh??”

Shadow snorts a bit at that, looking up at Sonic with a questioning look, “What else would I eat??”

“I dunno,” the hero shrugs, “The sun??”

Shadow blinks at that, deadpanning at Sonic, “..You think I photosynthesize??”

“No?? What does pictures have to do with eating??”

“I—… nevermind,” Shadow rolls his eyes, looking back to his sandwich to take another bite.

“Seriously, though. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Shadow eat. I thought he just didn’t have to because he’s the ‘Ultimate Lifeform’,” Sonic puffs out his chest and drops his voice comically as if that’s how Shadow actually sounds.

“Surely your Shadow doesn’t sound like that.”

“He totally does.”

“I don’t have to eat.. well.. not as much as most,” Shadow explains, swallowing his bite, “I still need sustenance to keep my energy levels high enough. But not near as much as you do.. though, sometimes I just eat because I like to. Food is good.”

“Ay-yo, that’s a good point,” Sonic nods in agreement, a little grin on his muzzle as his legs kicks aimlessly from where they’re dangling from the edge of the table.

“Especially chilidogs.”

“Especially chilidogs,” Sonic agrees, eyes wide and deathly intense like it’s the most deadass statement ever.

Shadow smirks a bit at that, taking another bite a before reaching for his water to sip.

Sonic watches with a bit of curiosity in his eyes. Like something about Shadow eating is just so intriguing. So mundane.

Shadow puts his water back down and looks at Sonic with a quirked brow, “…Did you need something??”

“Huh?? Oh- no. Sorry. It’s just..,” he pauses, pursing his lips a bit to try and find a way to put this, “you’re.. way easier to talk to than the Shadow from this world.”

“How so?” Shadow questions, tilting his head at Sonic as he continues eating.

“Well Shadow Number 1–“

“Shadow Number 1??”

“Yeah. You’re Shadow Number 2, obvi.”

“What if I wanna be Shadow Number 1??”

“You can’t be Shadow Number 1.”

“Why can’t I be Shadow Number 1?”

“Because you’re from the second world.”

“But your world is the second world to me.”

“Yeah, but mine is obviously the canon world.”

“What does that even mean??”

“I don’t know, just— okay. I’ll call you something different. Our Shadow will be Shadow. You can be…”

Sonic hums in thought, tapping his chin as he furrows his brow and then looks back to Shadow, “Got a nickname??”

“Um.. well, my friends call me ’Shads’ sometimes—“

“You hate when I call you that.”

“I seriously doubt the other version of myself hates it as much as he says he does.”

Sonic smirks a bit at that, chuckling before shrugging and, “Well alright. Shadow is Shadow. You’re Shads. Easy enough.”

Shadow nods with a small smile, “Anyway, continue.”

“Right. Shadow is kind of an ass is what I was gonna say.”

Shadow quirks a brow at that, his smile turning to a frown as he speaks, “Yeah, so I’ve gathered.. you all have called him grumpy more than anything else since I’ve been here.”

“Yeah, that’s because he is,” Sonic assures, huffing with an eye roll as he thinks on all the times Shadow has been a serious jerk, “He’s such a downer. And thinks he’s so much better than me like— all the time.”

“I’m sure that isn’t true.”

“No, it is. He’s always telling me how weak I am or how I’m stupid or annoying—“

“That doesn’t sound like he’s better, that sounds like jealousy,” Shadow observes with a shrug, “I dunno, though.. I do know he’s definitely not thinking he’s better than you.”

“And how do you know that??” Sonic asks with a huff, “You’ve never even met the guy.”

“Because he probably hates himself,” Shadow answers, and Sonic’s casual demeanor fumbles at that.

Sonic frowns instantly, looking at Shadow a long moment before looking down at the ground with a thoughtful look, “…Why would you think that??”

“Because I hated myself for a long, long time..,” Shadow answers simply, finishing his sandwich before turning fully to Sonic to give him his full attention, “After everything that happened.. my past.. it was hard not to.. I blamed myself for a lot that I couldn’t control.. that’s also why I would be so bossy and harsh with everyone for awhile. I was stressed beyond belief, feeling this unbridled need to control everything since so much was out of my control. I didn’t want anything to happen under my watch again..”

Sonic snorts a bit at this, glancing to Shadow with a small smile, “You sound like you’ve been to therapy.”

“I have,” Shadow confirms with a nod, no shame in it.

“Oh,” Sonic blinks, a bit surprised by this, “I didn’t mean to—“

“You didn’t offend me,” Shadow assures with a shake of his head, “..I know it’s stigmatized. But I don’t mind admitting I needed the help.”

“So it helped you, then?”

“Well.. that and you,” Shadow admits a bit softer, a tiny smile on his lips as he looks at Sonic. His head tilts at the way Sonic’s lips part to form a tiny ‘o’ shape, the blue hedgehog’s cheeks growing pink.

Shadow chuckles and corrects, “Well.. Sonic Number 2.”

Sonic snorts at that, giggling with an eye roll as he quickly looks away and rubs under his nose casually, “So I’m Sonic Number 1, then??”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Hey!” Sonic laughs, punching Shadow in the shoulder playfully to which Shadow snickers and shakes his head.

Their moment is interrupted by the door opening, both looking to see Rouge entering with a stressed look on her face.

“Alright, boys, I’m gonna have to leave you two be for a bit. Momma’s got some errands to run.”

“Can you bring me back a chili dog, mommy~?” Sonic coos, batting his eyes dramatically at her. Rouge just smirks at this, “Only if you’re a good boy.”

“Ooo. Spicy,” Sonic teases playfully before hopping off the table to turn more towards her properly, “So what’s up?”

“I have to head back to GUN and try and sneak out whatever files they have on Shadow’s last op and his medical scans,” she explains with her hand on her hip, “It’ll be cake. The real challenge comes after.”

“What comes after??” Shadow questions, standing with his empty plate in hand to put it in the dishwasher.

Rouge seems to brighten up a bit at this, “A good old-fashion treasure hunt. And lucky for you two, you’ve got the best hunter around.”

[ultimateempath]

Welcome Home Theory

ALRIGHT SO. I've had a thought about what's going on in the world of Welcome home for a while, and this newest update gave me a little more to work with so I'll finally be sharing my thoughts.

I personally believe that Home itself is not evil, but that it is being used as a vessel by the unknown entity that affected the puppets and caused whatever incident that got the show shut down.

As we've seen, there's a massive swirling pit beneath Home that appeared to be getting bigger. I think what happened is that the Playfellow Workshop made the terrible mistake, intentional or not, of building the set for Welcome Home right on top of some kind of paranormal hotspot, triggering that pit to begin forming and Home to be taken over by the entity released from it.

Wally, as the one living within Home and right on top of the pit, was the first be affected and 'wake up' as it were. He was the first to become sentient, the first to realize the truth of their existence...and he is/was the worst equipped to handle it. He was supposed to be the child stand-in, the one learning lessons from the others. Now he's stuck as the one trying to "help" them, trying to reach out, to bring their show back, to fix it. I don't know if he's intentionally coming off as malicious about it though, for now it's unclear if he's genuinely trying to help or if the entity is controlling his actions in some way.

Eddie and Frank appear to be the next two to 'wake up'. We don't know what exactly happened with Frank yet, but it's clear from him switching from 'Mr. Dear' to a hushed 'Eddie' in the homewarming video that he became sentient as well and is aware of the need to stay in-character. As for Eddie, we saw it happen with our own eyes. He finally gets to relax for the first time, perhaps seen as 'breaking character', and immediately experiences some kind of dissociation and hellish realization complete with Home ominously staring into him.

Eddie is strangely not present in the new content on the main 'innocent' website. While he simply may have been busy during these particular escapades, it's also possible he was removed from the main cast for some unknown reason. My guess is that it would be due to either something with his and Franks relationship, or possibly because Eddie and/or Frank ended up breaking character too much, likely out of concern for one another, and Playfellow and/or the entity responded by getting rid of Eddie. Wether his puppet was sent elsewhere or he was straight up murdered is another unknown, if he was in fact removed like we think.

The rest of the puppets don't appear to be sentient yet at this point in the story, but that will most definitely change as time goes on. I believe the change from cartoon hands to puppet hands may be a clue as well since Wally and Eddie are currently the only ones we've seen with puppet hands and Eddie's changed during his hellish epiphany. So if we see the animated povs of other characters, it's a good idea to keep a look out for that switch to puppet hands.

My final note: the new website can't stay uncorrupted for long, I'm certain we'll hear from Wally and/or the others again at some point.

Thats all for now, just wanted to share my thoughts on what might be going on. Sorry if I'm late to this particular line of thought.

Edit:fixed a typo and tweaked my phrasing in one section.

[darkfictionjude]

Etymology nonnie here!

Bugs non withstanding, I really enjoyed the update! So much so, that I don't know still what branch I prefer the most. Fortunately my save is right there where we choose where to go.

What I loved most, however, was how Imre's personality finally began to show more. So far, maybe because I'm playing my MC as someone who is overall kind, agreeable and polite, as well as going for the amicable romance options; Imre has only showed a rather kind and approachable persona. Fake, of course, but still incredibly charming.

Yet now, it's possible to see some of his worst aspects showing. His need for control, his prejudices, how he wants to have MC for himself and how is testing his current influence, and even his jealousy. It's fascinating truly, because I wouldn't say the mask has fully fallen off, but some cracks began to show quite clearly.

For instance, I do enjoy that, if so far you have only romanced him, that he clearly considers stopping MC from going with Lorcan (I believe this is also the case if you aren't romancing Imre, but I cannot test it with my current save). Now, it's possible to justify this (from Imre's perspective) as wanting MC to be involved in actually progressing the investigation, and for Imre, Lorcan is not a real helping hand. Yet for me it's clear that there can be another reason. And that's jealousy. In the example I described it's not possible to actually see if it's jealousy or not, but in one of the branches where you go with Imre, MC can ask about how Lorcan may be doing on his own. And Imre goes into a rant of how useless Lorcan is. He obviously gets mad MC brought Lorcan into the conversation. And that's delightful. I'm very much aware MC does not realize this may be jealousy (since, so far, he probably does believe Imre would be interested in him), but I cannot see it as anything else.

No, that's a lie. Now it occurs to me it can be a manipulation tactic too. Imre may want to separate MC from Lorcan, since he does such a low concept of the latter. But even then, it would be a rather bad tactic to use. It makes clear to MC that these are Imre's thoughts about Lorcan. It doesn't make MC agree in spite himself, or begin to doubt Lorcan possible contributions (especially because this is literally the first thing they are doing as team, so judging how well Lorcan performs depends on how he does in the current mission).

At the very least, it may be possible the jealousy is fake. Simply because it's clear Imre is intending to seduce MC, now that it's clear MC does have some interest in him. So, what easier way for MC to feel desired? Especially with the added fake dating, the heavily erotic touching, and the overt charm Imre shows towards MC.

Of course, there is also the fact that Imre and Lorcan hate each other. They hate each other in a way that they would be shipped to oblivion if this was anything but an interactive fiction story where they are romanceable by the player. Simply because it's way too deep, way too explosive and memorable as to not be turned into homoerotic lust. In any case, I pity my MC who always has to get in between the two of them so they don't fight. Which it's such a funny image, the idea of MC who just left the mental hospital, being the rational one of the three.

That said, there is a crack that is not that enjoyable, and is the fact that Imre took credit for the discovery of certain things even if MC was the one who actually got the information (either by blackmailing Candace's mother, or while talking with Amanda). MC also noticed that, and I think it was a slip from Imre. Seeing himself as the only one capable around, the hero who'll solve the mystery. And it's taking others contributions for granted.

There is also the possibility that he is gaslighting MC about a lot of things, but I'm rather conflicted about how purposeful it may be (if it's happening at all). Simply because, while I understand Imre is not an angel, it would be rather perverse to begin to gaslight MC so early. Especially so because it's clear Imre is intrigued by MC, and is harder to access and investigate what makes MC interesting if you are manipulating him to such a huge degree. But maybe it's just me who thinks like this.

On the other hand, Lorcan is a sweetheart. Sure, he may be a foul mouth, but he is sincere. He has a good heart underneath his rudeness. And is clear that, in spite of himself, is possible to grow a friendship with MC. Which gladdens me.

I'm very excited to see how this team continues to interact and grow. Now with Nia as she joins in the following episodes.

I do have some ideas about the mystery itself, but those are for another ask.

Also, I guess I need to have a question. Since often what I give are my observations, and this is called an ask. Therefore, a question is required. So, I wonder, can you say why Imre has chosen to be such a tease with MC? Or is something that varies depending on the kind of romance you are going for (I have not played the antagonistic romance route, so I don't know)?

“Bugs not withstanding” 😔

I was waiting for you to come along with your analysis! Like I said I love in-depth player reactions it’s so fun. I love how you’re so unsure of what imre is doing haha that’s perfect. But also what a dick, taking the credit especially when mc is being so proactive and assertive for the first time ever.

And yes I adored lorcan in this episode. His thing is he hates people throwing their weight around to intimidate others (before someone says it yes orla did this but you know he has a blindspot there) and in that trailer Daryl is bigger and he doesn’t like the injustice of it, it’s like “yeah I can call mc dumb, stupid and tell them to die BUT YOU CAN’T!” Also if I’m not wrong lorcan grabs mc’s hand as they leave regardless of romance, which is nice, I think we have such rare cases of platonic handholding.

I feel like Imre likes to see mc flustered, I think it’s exciting to him to cause such an affect in a person who has never received that type of affection. It’s like teasing a kid you’re going to throw him into a cold pool, you have him in your hands and you dangle them over and when they shriek you pull them back and then do it again. Whatever other motives he has he finds mc’s reaction to him very delicious. In antagonistic romance, it’s much more aggressive I would say, he grabs them roughly and it’s a form of revenge, of getting the upper hand when mc manages to one up him.

[valeriefauxnom]

Another Stealth Edit in Dragalia Lost!

So, as I unfortunately cannot find the vocal lines for, Leonidas was known in his Gala to have a vocalized line that said the name 'Euden' whereas before Dragalia went to hell and back to obscure any mention of his name despite the obvious fact that it is his name. Whether it was with "Your/His Highness" "Prince" "Turkey" or "Brother", they were quite creative in monikers to avoid saying Euden.

They, predictably, changed it incredibly fast to 'my brother', but the original line, was, if I recall, something like "Whatever awaits in North Grastea, I am certain Euden will find his way to the truth of things". They just substituted 'my brother' for Euden and then voila! No more 'Euden' vocalized.

But oh, I remember.

I, however, just happened to notice another stealth edit today, though, that they did similarly quietly.

Where? The Blood that Binds, you know, the story where most the fam teams up to kick the Replica(-aaaaaaaaaa!) Alberius' butt?

It's in the second part of the story, where not!Alberius nearly murders everyone before they're saved by Euden and Zethia finally arriving to provide some much-needed reinforcement as Euden goes toe-to-toe with Alberius as Zethia heals.

When the twins show up, however, Alberius comments this, per the wiki:

Indeed, I found this line captured in several videos of people recording the event as an archive.

However, others (and I do mean plural, this isn't just one person), instead recorded a different line Alberius says at this exact interval!

The line in question?

Now, when I first saw this, I thought maybe that this was the original line and that they changed it just to again keep any mention of the Forbidden out of Dragalia and appease the great Nintendo on high. The former feels a bit more awkward, even if one can still kinda see the air of 'ugh, how many more can there be?' attitude to the sheer number of descendants trying to fight him. To me, I honestly thought it would be the changed, the hurriedly slapped-in edit as ordered to keep Dragalia that much Purer.

But when I looked at the dates of these uploads, I found something curious. Those that had the first line where actually updated earlier than the ones with the later line. Unless several people all got their recordings earlier than the others but then somehow chose to wait a week-month to upload their clips, the second line is the edited version!

Which means that the Dragalia translation team slipped in a comment from Alberius' replica expressing the sentiment of, 'damn that dude had a lot of sex'. Color me surprised!

What's funnier is the implications, because this replica knows Alberius' memories. He's the most capable person 'alive' in any sense to be fully capable of commenting truthfully as to what Alberius got up to, even if it is through his own lens corrupted by the Progenitor.

However, it's also a bit of a logical fail. The replica also knows Alberius lived 300 years ago, and yet seems surprised and annoyed with how many descendants there are. Even if Alberius only had one kid, 300 years is more than enough time for the blood to multiply into the size of the family there is today. Additionally, Alberius himself seems to intend to have multiple children:

...And yet he's personally attributing the fact that there are 7 heirs in front of him to Alberius. Perhaps he thought he woke up to a world as if Alberius were Genghis Khan, bloodline incredibly far-reaching where it seems you can't throw a stick without hitting one of his descendants?

To that, I'd like to just claim the comment's because of the potentially lacking knowledge of this replica. Sure, he may know how to fight, Alberius' life, all that, but that doesn't necessarily mean he has the best grasp on how quickly natural reproduction in humans can boom a single bloodline's number. A silly little goof much as the dragons make goofs regarding human lives and their qualities, like Zodiark failing to realize that humans cannot fit in a chamberpot or that they do not eat raw meat. I still wonder what drove the translators, though, to make that change.

Whatever might have driven that comment, though, that doesn't change the fact that the replica of Alberius flat-out said that his original was, ah, busy, which was not the new lore I had intended being able to be found in Dragalia!

That just leaves the question as to whom, since Dragalia also had a severe allergy from discussing any of the queens in Alberia's history. Myriam, of course, died alone before Alberius ever created a kingdom. The only other character of note in Alberius' vague shipping world is Midgardsormr, as long-joked about in the fandom from both comics and stories, but he doesn't exactly complete the apparently-full love story either, with Alberius having at least one descendant. It's too bad, since the only other note of relevance about the subject at all is Midgardsormr expressing severe doubts of his dating prowess:

...Did Midgardsormr end up being a wingman to Alberius? If so, what did that look like?

"Hey, how are you doing?" (cue massive, revered dragon landing behind him)

"Why are you running, aren't dragons cool???!"

Listen, I've just opened up a whole can of worms unintentionally here, because somehow Dragalia decided to say of all things that Alberius had a storied love life, shall we say.

I wonder how many other little changes the devs might have made over the years, if they're willing to tweak things like this. Does anyone know anything else about little stealth changes the team tried to sneak in without anyone noticing?

[ktempestbradford]

UPDATE: He's home and tweeting.

UPDATE: Ekpeki is on his way back to Nigeria.

This tweet says that he was denied entry to the US and was sent back yesterday. I don't think he's yet in Nigeria, which is why no one has heard from him so far.

Original Post

SFF Community, some of you may be aware of the situation regarding author and editor Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki. If not, the short version is that he flew into LAX on Thursday to attend the NAACP Image Awards Friday and has not been heard from since landing.

Obviously, people are concerned about this. Ekpeki is Nigerian, here on a famously fraught to acquire visa, and US CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) doesn't have the best reputation for treating brown people like humans.

CPB took his phone and that's probably why no one has been able to communicate with him. And some friends of his claim they contacted CPB and got confirmation he was detained by them, but no updates since. I've seen lots of people calling for action and contacting US electeds.

I don't think that will work. Unlike when Ekpeki got the visa, putting pressure on Congressbeings isn't likely to have an affect here because it may be that he technically broke the rules or at least ended up on the wrong side of not very well spelled out rules.

The "best" scenario is that CPB sent him back to Nigeria, though why he's been out of communication so long is a mystery to me. (If anyone has insight, please share.) Here's what may have happened, pieced together with what I'm seeing on Twitter.

Ekpeki initially got his visa to attend WorldCon in September. The B1/B2 visa is for business purposes and tourism and is valid for 2 years(?) but it doesn't mean you can stay in the US for those whole two years. It means you can come in and out for that time.

When you enter, you get a stamp telling you the date you must leave by, though you can leave before then. And as this article explains, sometimes the entry stamper will default to 6 months, as that's the longest, or specify a shorter timeframe.

After WorldCon, Ekpeki wanted to stay in the US to attend World Fantasy a few months after. Not a problem. At the time he indicated that he planned to stay the full 6 months, go back to Nigeria, then come back for ICFA. The timing of all this likely changed when he got the Image Award nomination.

Regardless, he went back to Nigeria for a week, I believe (this is fuzzy and my sources aren't good, so I welcome corrections) before coming back to the US. And this is where I think he made a mistake. Again I point to the article I linked above.

Twitter user DuertoD pointed out something called Visa Carouseling, where a person leaves the US for a short time to then come back and get another 6 month stamp. It's apparently not really allowed to do that. (He goes into a bit more detail here.)

The thing I don't know is whether this is stated anywhere in the documentation. As in, do they say you have to be gone for a certain period before coming back explicitly? Or is it one of those fuzzy things that are up to whoever is working the desk you get to that day?

At any rate, DuertoD also pointed out that Ekpeki said publicly he intended to stay the whole 6 months and also that he had to buy a return ticket he "wouldn’t need", meaning that when he entered the US the first time the US thought he was leaving on a certain date, yet he didn't.

I do not know the details of when that return flight was supposed to have been. From what I gather talking to folks, open-ended stays on this visa are not to the US gov't's liking.

Complicating this whole thing is that a group of trolls have been stalking and harassing Ekpeki for a while now and I know they were aware of him going out then coming back into the country. It's entirely possible they maliciously reported him.

It's entirely possible that CBP wouldn't have noticed or cared on a normal day, but did once they'd been alerted. Also entirely possible they wouldn't have cared if they'd been alerted if Ekpeki wasn't Black, or Nigerian. There's a whole constellation of annoying possibilities.

The reason I said that I don't think getting Congressbeings involved will help is that, in the end, CBP may be entirely within the law to have detained him over concerns of Visa Carouseling. And his rights, such as they are, are very limited from what I understand.

I've heard that there are some efforts by a lawyer to help out, and that may be why Ekpeki isn't already tweeting that he's been sent back to Nigeria (which would be a "best" case at this point… cuz being in CBP custody as a Black person is cause for concern).

In this case, it may end up being a sad but not tragic outcome for Ekpeki. Others who've been flagged for this have been barred from the US for a time, and maybe that will be the case for him.

Thinking to the future, I'd like to see SFF community entities do some work around this whole US visa process and how we can help writers and editors from marginalized groups and countries navigate this better. For now, I hope we find out soon that Oghenechovwe is okay.

If I have any of the details or legal stuff wrong, please let me know! I want to spread good information and will update this post accordingly.

ALSO NOTE: The trolls I mentioned have been all up in the twitter replies and may come here as well. Do Not Engage With Them. They find harassing and provoking people fun and exciting. Block or ignore.

[thsc-scattered-stars]

RULES

Heya! You can call me Saisk or Star! So, just a beforehand- I have never run an ask blog before, so here's to hoping this goes well... but!

This is an Au where post Valiant Hero, something shifts and goes wrong- what, you may ask? Well, that's just what you're going to find out as you follow a certain pilot that's been displaced. Though I will say this is not a crossover of any kind, Charles has been displaced in a different way.

Another little note, you can find my main blog here! I don't really use it much, except for reblogs- I honestly should probably clean it up a bit, but- I'll get to that eventually-

Currently Open for Asks: VH Charles, VH Henry, SSaT Henry, SSaT Ellie, SSaT Chester

Timeline for VH: SE(Sneaky Escapist)-UB(Unseen Burglar)-GSPI(Government Supported Private Investigator)-PD(Presumed Dead)

Timeline for SSaT: BBO(Badass Bust Out)-JPE(Just Plain Epic)-PBT(Pure Blooded Thief)-CA(Convict Allies)

Now, before we get to the actual rules... some notes!

This is an AU, and while I will be trying to keep the characters as canon as possible, some things will not be exactly as what you think of the characters! The Henry Stickmin fandom, from what I have seen, tends to be really chill with this- but I still thought I'd say!

I... do not have a schedule. I'll post as much as I can, if I'm not posting, I'm likely busy! I do have a life outside of drawing and writing, sadly.

If you click on characters, you'll get a bio :) And maybe other things, I haven't decided yet. I'll update this if I do something more besides bio's

I don't mind like or reblog spam! I know some blogs do, but I don't :3

If you want to send an ask towards me instead of Charles(or other characters if/when they become open), feel free! I might not give an answer to some questions if the answer would be a spoiler, but still!

My submission box is also now open! I didn't really expect any fanart of any kind, but thank you so much to those that have either expressed the want to do so, or have done so! It means so much to me that people are liking this so much that they want to!

RULES

1. No M!A's. Sorry, I know they can be fun, but that's not something this blog will be doing.

2. Don't use anonymous to be unkind or anything like that, please. If it does happen, and it happens a lot, I will be turning it off. I don't expect that to happen, but still.

3. Don't repost my work! It's not kind, as I put work into this. Reblogs are very much okay though :3

Extra Notes

I will have tags for things! As things change, or tags get added, I will add more things here

Comic: #scattered stars comic

Pages with in-character asks: #asks

Out of character asks(Or asks directed at me!): #ooc asks

Bios: #bios

Extra stuff like art: #extra stuff

Art that is still thsc related but not related to the SSaT au: #unrelated au art

SSaT related are: #scattered stars art

Polls: #polls

Fanart of the comic: #fanart

You can find the beginning of the story here!

You can also find all the characters side by side with others of their faction below! I also plan to update these everytime new character's appear for each faction, so keep an eye out for that!

SSaT Toppats

SSaT Gov

SSaT CCC

VH Gov

[red-man-of-mustache]

Rules and other relevant information(Mobile view)

Rule 1. I'm not at all selective with who I'll role-play with. I'd prefer mutuals, naturally, but I think if we're interacting with one another that'll come with time so I won't harp on it. I don't care about your writing length but just know sometimes I can get carried away with mine so be warned. I also don't mind doubles! Mario and Mario, Mario and Dr Mario, Shadow Mario, whatever variation is welcome. I don't do exclusivity with muses either(unless discussed). Also, I don't mind role-playing with anons either. Basically, my blog is a free-for-all. Random anons, random asks for the hell of it, go for it.

Rule 2. Personal blogs are welcome here. I'll be reluctant to follow them though as I like to keep my dash a certain way. Should you rp from a side-blog then you know what to do: lemme know.

Rule 3. This blog is multi-ship and multi-verse(ew dirty word). The main verse of course has continuity between threads so keep that in mind if you see Mario mention or otherwise reference your muse and events that happened surrounding their interaction. Verse exclusive interactions will be tagged properly. Posts without a verse tag are to be assumed main verse.

Rule 4. This is a personal mish-mash of everything Mario: the games(mainline and spinoffs), comics(Super Mario adventures primarily, Super Mario-kun is lightly followed) and the cartoons. The recent Super Mario bros movie is an origin story and I'm not sure if I'll make a verse for it yet as Mario is fresh to the kingdom and hasn't been on any adventures yet. I have headcanons that I toss into my interpretation of Mario and I'll be getting a headcanon tag going soon along with updating these rules with said tag for ease of access. I say all that to say that if I do something that you may consider off-color for Mario let me know! I take criticism. Love it actually.

Rule 5. I will reiterate: there is no set way to begin interaction. Toss me a random ask, random starters are also accepted, and my starter calls are always open(might make a perma one, who knows). My messages are open for plotting purposes or general shenanigans. Discord available upon request and I also rp there as well.

Rule 6. I will not be writing any smut. It makes me uncomfortable to try and think of Mario in that light. Sorry. No italian sausage.

Rule 7. Relationships aren't just romance. If you see potential for an ongoing friendship, maybe frienemies, partners in some grand project, let's get to working those deets out.

Rule 8. I personally don't consider much "read-more" worthy but triggers will be tagged. They won't be in the same style as my other tags, simply "tw:wires" or something.

Rule 9. Almost forgot! No god-modding.

Rule 10. If I'm taking a bit to reply and you see me replying to others then gimme a poke. Message me, tag me again, I don't mind. Most likely I forgot or real life got in the way and flipped my perception upside down. Happens more then you'd expect, trust me. Also, I reserve the right to drop a thread for any reason. I'll of course let you know should that happens. I used to be real bad about that kinda thing. This goes double for messages by the way!

This blog is quite the casual place to be( of course that's just my opinion) despite the graphics and whatnot. I'm here to have fun and indulge an old hobby of mine. If you read this far: there's no password. Just like the post so I know you read it. Catch ya on the flipside.

[firedragon1321]

Missing Digidestined Theory

Hi and welcome to my humble abode. Tonight at 4 am, I'm going to (try) to make sense of some Digimon shit. Namely the number of Digidestined in Adventure's world, and how that correlates to a certain statement from the producers. This is entirely headcanon, possibly AU, and also made at 4-6 am. It also contains spoilers for the new 02 movie. There is a brief mention of child death. And it ends with complaints about the timeline and epilogue.

EDIT: This is no longer solid for several reasons, mainly conflicting information in 02 the Beginning, the presentation of clear AU as a theory, and the use of a ship blog as a source. On the first, I had not seen the movie yet (and now have doubts that Lui was really "the first", but that's a theory that basically ends in "Daigo/Maki's group were still first"). On the latter two points, I really should know better, and I apologize.

I have closed notifications due to some rude behavior, so I won't see any updates on this. However, I also deleted the original edit mentioning that since it itself was rude. There's really no reason to leave this up, except I like the idea generally and for archival purposes. If you still wish to read it, it is stored below. Just get ready for 40 year old Lui, lol.

I'll hook you with this- there weren't five Digidestined globally in Maki's time. There were eight.

This goes off a statement from one of the producers. You can read it all here.

Basically, the number of Digidestined worldwide would double. This ensures everyone would have a Digimon partner by 2027 (aka, the epilogue).

Doing the math- the number would exceed the global population (approximately 8 billion people) in 2020 (becoming 16,777,216 to be precise- 2019 cuts it close with 8,388,608, but the math is not wrong either way).

The exact statement says this "doubling" occurred from the Parrotmon incident forward. I personally believe that's BS because Willis exists. He receives Gummymon and Kokomon around the same time that the original Botamon spawns. There's also Meiko, Ken, and Ryo (depending on how you interpret the WonderSwan games). Meaning the number of Digidestined is higher than 8, and possibly already doubling.

Let's assume Lui is the first Digidestined. He seems to be around his early 20s (or ages really well- maybe it's Maybelline). Then Daigo and Maki's team came after him. Then Adventure team and so-on.

This all rides around this comment, as there are no official ages for Daigo, Maki, or Lui and we need them. User SharpeBB from With the Will points out the following, which I used as it's the only logical explanation I can find.

So based on this theory- assuming they were 11/12 when they were chosen, and Maki's age in the flashback is as SharpeBB claims, the original Digidestined would have set out on their mission in 1987 (using the age of 9 as a baseline for reasons I will explain later and computing in Maki's age of 21).

I assume for this theory that Maki was a Digidestined for at least two years prior to losing Tapirmon (referring to the flashback involving the Harmonious Ones). My tri. knowledge is a bit rusty. But since that flashback occurs in the Digital World, I'll have to assume she met Tapirmon in the real world, there was time fuckery similar to Adventure, adults were looking for the members of that team in the Real World, or any combination of the three.

So- 27 (Maki's age) minus 9 (assumed age when first she became a Digidestined) is 18. 18 years before tri. in 2005 was 1987.

There are five of these "original kids"- Daigo, Maki, and three unnamed ones. But you may notice that five is not an even number, nor a multiple of two. The lowest number of Digidestined that must exist globally at that time is eight. This doesn't mean for Maki's team specifically- they could be in another country, like the numerous American Digidestined.

So going backwards- there would be four Digidestined (globally) in 1986, two in 1985, and one (Lui) in 1984.

Incidentally, Lui was born on a leap year...which 1972 is. Using the baseline of 12 years (based on the above image), he would be 40 in 02 the Beginning. Let's just say he ages well.

So I bet you're tired of BS- let's get to the meat and potatoes. How many Digidestined really exist by the time of Adventure? Well, with 12 years between 1987 (original Digidestined) and 1999...the answer is 32,768.

Remember that not all Digidestined go to the Digital World. Some of this number might have died (we can't rule out "accidents" in the Digital World entirely, nor death via other means). Others might have stayed in the Real World and never went to the Digital World. Still others might have let their inner child- and partner- die (see Kizuna). But given the time gap between Daigo/Maki's team and 1999 alone, I don't think all 32,000+ of them were twiddling their thumbs.

There's more threats out there that we don't know about. There's more dead kids than we can fathom. And worse still, this only accelerates the amount of time until everyone has a Digimon. It would exceed the global population in 2009 with 16,777,216- that same number from the start- three years before 02 the Beginning.

Yet we can see that this is not the case. Ukkomon's MO is to give everyone a Digimon partner, which the world is not ready for. Recall that the production team claims the worldwide doubling occurred starting with Tai's team. Including those eight and the four outliers I mentioned, everyone would have a Digimon by 2019 (with an estimated 12,582,912 partnerships- this exceeds the global population). In 2012, this number is merely 98,304. Which makes sense for the Ukkomon plot.

So I wasted your time. Except...

I still feel this math doesn't account for things like Daigo/Maki's team and Lui. The producer's math states there are 64 Digidestined globally by 2002. But this cannot be the case as how do the Digidestined from before- or even kids like Willis- factor in? Like, they fit numerically, but how did they find their partners? Why were they chosen? Especially those before 1999, if it all connects to the Botamon in Japan? Also- assuming Lui is as young as he looks (i.e.- around Davis's age) makes Maki older than him...which makes no sense, given the average age someone becomes a Digidestined and her own assumed age.

It makes more sense for Lui to look really good for forty than the entire timeline does if we assume that the doubling began in 1999.

And this is because of two issues. One is "left hand not talking to right hand" throughout the Adventure timeline. There's simply no communication between departments (especially for the WonderSwan games, the canonicity of which is flaky even in my own personal timeline). This has resulted in other plot holes throughout Adventure canon.

Another is a hardcore determination to keep the epilogue canon, despite conflicting elements from tri. on forward. The link at the very beginning attempts to explain the epilogue, yet includes some absolutely bonkers explanations for things like why Matt became an astronaut (basically, there's extraterrestrial threats made in response to digivolution, and the Dark Masters are implied to be one of them, despite actually being linked to Apocalymon- is he also an alien???).

There was supposed to be a season 3 that would have evened out a lot of this (I'm afraid I forgot the link- if someone has it, let me know so I can add it). But we never got it, so the epilogue will never make logical sense. Almost all attempts to canonize it cause batshit lore to enter the chat, or it simply does not mesh with batshit lore from tri. onwards.

Both of these elements cause massive plot holes that make the 1999 doubling pace simply not work. So I'll play with this AU/headcanon some more. Besides, I personally find the idea of Digidestined hiding for decades interesting...

Thanks for surviving to the end!

Edit

Fixed a calculation to include Meiko (forgot her by accident.).

[ham-st4r]

Attention ‼️

Please read this!

I do not mean to be rude but it’s really stressful for me when my readers do these things

I understand you like my writing and you want to see me updating part 2’s and all that but the request and spamming part 2 when I stated that it bothers me is really discouraging and stressful for me I can’t keep up with the demands I’m one person and I can’t think of a plot and write it down in the same day I know a lot of you try to be friendly about it but even saying “no rush” makes me feel like I need to rush I’ve been constantly updating since I’ve been here and I do my best to put out good fics and I know some of you appreciate my hardwork but behind the scenes I have a life and sometimes I get writers block or I’m working or busy whatever the case may be some days it’s just a lot for me and the worst part is I get less feedback and more what feels like demands on updating

I really hope no one is offended but I needed to get that off my chest

A great example of what crossing those boundaries look like for me is “just a call away” I never even intended to make a part 2 for that but so many people wanted one so I wanted to give it to them but once again the constant asking for part two put a load of pressure on me and that’s why I have yet to post a part 2

On top of that I know everyone says I make nothing but “masterpieces” but I don’t feel that way so if something is not the way I want it I’m not entirely okay with that I appreciate the positive words but I need to feel 100% about my works and I don’t feel that way about half of them

Another example is road trip however the demand for that was a lot less so I was able to put out more parts and currently work on a 4th part even

Plus I really feel like I always have to outdo myself and that’s hard to do when you pump out fic after fic my brain doesn’t get a chance to really reset and put out the best work

Example number three “wasted time” I haven’t even begun to think about what could happen in a part four but people want it so I’m trying

I have a few rules that are easy to follow please respect me and the chances of me being motivated to write will def be higher

This is also why I don’t take requests cause the work piles up on you in a blink of an eye but even still I made exceptions with “professor lee” and “angels like you” however I will not make any more exceptions especially when people don’t even read my rules in my bio

I feel slighted cause not only are all my posts getting labeled but also I feel under appreciated for what I go through

For those of you who comment frequently and send feedback in my ask box I love you🩶

For the people that just ask for part two and aren’t really active until I post something please understand how I feel all I’m asking for is respect my rules that’s it

Cause at the end of the day I write for your entertainment so the least you could do is show me some love even if it’s just a little

And please no one come for me cause this is just the way these things make me feel it may not even be anyone’s intention but it comes off a certain way to me and that’s what matters cause this is my blog

I think I said everything I needed to but just be mindful of what others go through not just what’s in your face and that goes for anything not just writing but life in general

Thank you all for reading this🩶

[catsclawz07]

A Lore Journal!

Sneak peak at a lore journal I’m working on for a story! This journal is set way in the past from the main character of my story, and will set up why the characters have certain sayings/why they act the way they do because of what happens to this character the journal is about.

Basically, this Lightfog (a species I made up) called Crimson Spring met a Nightfore (another species) called Eclipse, and it all goes a bit downhill from there. Although they spark a new, unforgettable and unique friendship, their families and others in their own species do not like each other. Nightfores have been known to be these big, scary beasts to Lightfogs.

With a new discovery Crimson and Eclipse made, they have to fix their mistakes in order for tensions to clear. But what they don’t realize is that what happens will spiral into something more, something none of them can stop.

On their journey, Crimson comes across an old letter (I aged the paper with coffee grounds^^) for someone called Marie from her lover, Jack.

Since this is set in the past and there are no direct names for the seasons yet, I’ve just used some terms Warrior Cat fans may recognize. (For variation I didn’t mean to make them like WC seasons. Flower-Bloom, Blossom-Fall, Leaf-Fall, Leaf-Bare)

This is all I have for now!! I might post another update on how the journal is going a bit later.

[magnus-sm-writes]

May 2024 Monthly Wrap-Up

Didya miss me? I’ve posted several 10k word updates this month, so this monthly wrap-up will be a little different. I don’t get a lot of attention on my 10k updates or my monthly wrap-ups, so this is mostly for myself and my favorite coworker/friend who reads my blog. Hi!

May has been… mm. Fun. Writing-wise, it’s been a month of editing short stories, making introductions, and continuing Greenest. I adore writing Greenest and my short stories, so I’ve been having a pretty good time with it all!

That is, until I got a little burnt out at the end. 

My day job is decently intense, let’s just say. We’re constantly making and breaking our records this year trying to hit the record demand this year. It’s been… a lot. All hands on deck, really. Following the conclusion of my Big Work Project, I’ve just been a little out of it. Exhausted, irritable, bored with it all. I’ve been doing some intense self-care to try getting out of it, but I do genuinely think it’s all just a result of working so hard for so long. It’s going to be like this until July, so I’m trying to maximize my relaxation time out of work.

Y’know, because it’s always super important to try to squeeze the most relaxation out of your self-care time. A super healthy way to look at self-care.

It’s hard for me not to throw myself into my work and get way too involved, whether it’s my day job or my writing. Everything is personal to me. And I’m a perfectionist, which makes it worse. I easily exhaust myself.

I’m going to attempt not to burn out next month. Fingers crossed. 

WHAT HAVE I WRITTEN?

I’m not sure what I should call my editing, since it’s part rewrite, part editing. So I think I’m going to separate things pretty loosely based on what I rewrote or what I edited. If I did the first couple rounds of edits (rewrites), they’ll be there. If I did the second round of edits (line edits), they’ll be in the “editing” section. A distinction no one but me cares about, but it’s important to me.

I wrote the ending for “The Boy & the Hag Stone”, which I hand-wrote months back and had yet to digitize. I much prefer this ending to the original. Then I quickly did my first round of edits (rewrites), because I was excited that I’d finished it and super motivated to write more of it. As I mentioned in my first May 10k post, Banshee is a pretty fun character to write for, and I love him with all my heart.

The next short story I edited was my AI story “Certain Boundaries”, which got named this month! Good for it. I’ve been struggling to find a good name for this bad boy for some time, and when it comes to it, I think “Certain Boundaries” suits the content quite well. There are boundaries that are crossed.

(I’m pretty sure that I ripped that title from a lecture in college. A lot of my titles in my Title Inspo document are quotes from conversations I’ve had. Like my story “One Screen to Another”, which I borrowed from my lovely professor Jennifer.)

“Certain Boundaries” had a rewrite. I’d never been fully happy with it before, despite the numerous rewrites it’s received since its inception. The last time I watched Ex Machina was in… 2022, I think, which is when this idea came about. I’ve been working on it since. Not the longest I’ve spent on a work (that award goes to Lessons in Humanity from a Future Physicist, with a whopping ten years and going), but a large piece of time to be unsatisfied with a work with a word count under 5k.

I’ve been working on my goal of writing more for Greenest. Greenest is one of my oldest fantasy novels because it is around three years old. Maybe I should eat a cupcake in its honor? I’m sipping a glass of pineapple chili wine (my personal favorite wine, semi-sweet and spicy, something I think Mavuto would adore), so I’ll take a couple mouthfuls for Greenest and Sigma, my beloved son.

I did write a character intro for Sigma. He’s one of my favorite and longest-running fantasy characters, being optimistic, sweet, excited to learn, full of love, and green. Sigma is a pretty unique character in my line-up because he is optimistic and full of joy because he grew up in a blood cult and never lost his childlike innocence. My son is just like me.

Mostly, I worked on one of my favorite scenes: the one where Valor and Sigma meet Experiment #24. Yes, I’ve written it about three times. Yes, I’m going to continue writing it as I continue to develop them all as characters. As Sigma has grown as a character, his perspective has become more and more unique. Instead of being a self-absorbed, vain bastard looking to have a cosmetic procedure done, he is a naïve young man trying to understand himself. I guess they’re for similar reasons—the procedure is cosmetic in nature—, but the core behind them is different. This Sigma is ten years younger. He isn’t the same person I wrote about when I first wrote the meeting between him, Valor, and Experiment #24.

To put it shortly, I’ve been rewriting pivotal scenes as my characters change. As the plot of the Greenest series has changed and I’ve come up with more plot points, I have to go back and fix things. Especially pivotal scenes in the first book of the series!

So, yes, this is one of my favorite scenes for the series. It’s… fun. Neat. Sigma’s full of excitement about seeing the curiosity cabinets in Dr. Von Stromm’s surgery the same way I would be. I got to come up with all sort of fun, gothic medical trinkets that I could describe. That’s my paradise! I have a whole Etsy page dedicated to gothic shit I want to put in a curio cabinet! It’s my interest!

10/10, I have been having the best time with writing this scene. I could describe everything through Sigma’s eyes and have the time of my life.

Shockingly, I also wrote something for Lessons in Humanity from a Future Physicist. This book, if you’ve been around for a while, is my everything. I’ve been working on Lessons in Humanity for ten long, long years, and still, every time I write for it, I get giddy like it’s the first time I’ve ever written anything for it.

It’s a super simple scene about change and hating your friend’s taste in romantic partners. That universal bitchy conversation I think we’ve all had. (If you have a friend with bad taste in partners, you know what that’s like.)

It was just… fun. Really fun, actually. I’d been in a writing slump until I wrote that scene, and it helped me crest that.

EDITS

Yeehaw, editing section!

This month has been very edit-heavy. I don’t love editing, per se, but I do know it’s important to the process of being published and improving my work. Call me Sister Mary Loquacious (from Good Omens), because I never shut the fuck up. Editing is vital to keeping my works readable.

And dammit, I need to get published to get my name out there. Literary magazines are the only time when exposure is actually an acceptable form of payment.

(FYI to anyone who doesn’t know: most literary magazines are unpaid because all the money that they possibly make goes into producing the magazine. They are a labor of love from the volunteer staff. Please remember that. I worked on a literary magazine and didn’t see a cent because everything went into printing.)

So I did a lot of editing this month. Much more than I typically do. So much so that I made an edit to my goal of hitting daily word count for next month. I’m deciding that I’m going to consider myself successful if I either hit my word count or edit for an hour. A little treat, if you will.

The editing I did ranged from complete rewrites (addressed previously) to line edits, the most tedious type of editing. Have you ever wanted to read your work so much that even looking at it pisses you off? You, my friend, need to line edit.

But it’s useful. I cut down a good amount of superfluous words. Which is what I’m certain people would love me to do with my writing updates. But my blog has no word limit, so I get to be as Extra as I want! Ha!

WHAT HAVE I READ?

Reading was pretty sparse this month in favor of writing. In fact, I didn't finish a single book, which is kinda sad for me. It's just been a long long for me.

SUBMISSIONS

I met my submission goal this month! For putting myself out there, I am quite pleased. None of these submissions were through Submittable, which meant I had to either fill out one of the magazine’s forms or send an email. And I had to use manuscript format. Luckily, my Publishing class (and the professor for that, who is a saint) prepared me for this sort of situation.

If you’ve never done manuscript format, it’s a little bit like giving yourself a headache trying to figure out if the title is the correct amount of spaces down the page and how much of the title you should include in your header. A nightmare! And you use Courier New, which is the same font used in screenplays. As someone who likes a nice, bold font, it’s… different. Definitely different.

I refuse to let this ruin my excitement at having met my goal. A little headache is nothing compared to the high of reaching one of my (absolutely-obtainable) goals for this month.

I was hoping to maybe get a couple more submissions squeezed out before the end of the month, but we did inventory yesterday, and spending so much time walking around the factory left me in so much pain I didn't do much once I got home. It kinda sucked. But that's okay. I need rest to heal from my pulled foot muscle.

GOALS!!!!!

This month has been alright with my goals. I started off ambitious and charging full speed ahead with a library and cafe visit in one weekend, then met 20k words before half the month was over. 

Then the burnout happened, and I wasn’t really feeling audiobooks, and so on and so forth.

What I’m trying to say is, I did okay at hitting my goals for the month. That’s why I set them to be achievable, if slightly ambitious. I’m hoping to hit my goals, even when I’m feeling pretty meh for half the month. That’s part of setting myself up to succeed. 

When it came to goals I did achieve, I’m decently satisfied with them.

Submit to 3 literary magazines

Go to library 2 times

Finish 4 poems

Write in cafe 3 times

Maintain submission & word count journals

Make monthly wrap-up

Continue Greenest

Edit Q1 short stories

Here are the goals I did not meet:

Finish 2 audiobooks

Read 10 pages/listen to 10 minutes of audiobooks every day

Post to Instagram 4 times a week

Write 500 words a day

Finish reading 4 books

Finish 1 short story

A lot of these are “number” goals, or “every day” goals. I can be pretty bad at consistency. I often “break the chain”. The way I work isn’t exactly the most sustainable for every day. Sometimes I write 3k in one day, and I don’t write anything original the next. (Fanfiction isn’t counted, though if it were, I would consistently be hitting my word goals.) I wasn’t particularly feeling very interested in reading books either. It was a bit of a “blah” month in some aspects.

However, the goals I completed were the most important to me. So I didn’t technically meet my word goal every single day, and I didn’t finish my two audiobooks or finish four books, and I didn’t write a brand-new short story. What I did do (especially submitting to all of the literary magazines and editing my short stories) was more important. It’s what I need to do in order to meet my publication goals. I’ve got an okay-ish backlog of short stories that need edited and published for the moment. So though I didn’t meet all my “super achievable goals!!!!”, I’m alright with that. I like documenting when I technically “fail” so I can track what works for me and what doesn’t.

NEXT MONTH’S GOALS!!!!!

I’ve been thinking a lot about intentionality lately. Finding what works for me and doing it on purpose. A little riff of that Dolly Parton quote. What is sustainable for me? What goals do I consistently meet? What goals do I consistently fail? How can I set myself up for success?

I have high hopes for June. I have high hopes for every month, of course, but Pride Month is… special to me. As I feel it is for most queer people. (Not all; my husband doesn’t particularly care about Pride Month, but he’s… a little weirdo [affectionate].)

At the very least, I hope the fruits of my labor begin to crop up, so to say. I’ve had a couple submissions cooking for a while that I’ve got high hopes will find a home somewhere in the month of June. Maybe it’s silly to rely on gut feelings when I have so many digestive issues. But I stay silly.

I’m keeping my goals mostly in-line with what I’ve been doing the past couple of months, with some adjustments. Mostly numbers.

My goals for June are:

Submit to 4 literary magazines

Go to library 2 times

Finish 1 audiobook

Finish 5 poems

Read 10 pages/listen to an audiobook for 10 minutes

Post to Instagram 4 times a week

Write in a cafe 3 times

Submission & word count journals

Write monthly wrap-up

Continue romance novels

Write 500 words a day/edit for 1 hour

Finish reading 2 books

Finish 1 short story

Edit Q1 short stories

Write 10k updates

ABOUT THE ROMANCE NOVELS

So, I mentioned romance novels in my goals for June. This is because I’ve actually been cooking up a couple romance novels in the background for a little while. Nothing super super serious, but I’ve had a secret Pinterest board for them for about half a year, and playing all the HuniePop and Baldur’s Gate 3 that I do definitely gives a guy ideas. Partner that with the delicious rumor about me dating my favorite coworker, you have the perfect recipe for some romance novels.

Mostly, they fall into my same favorite tropes: friends to lovers, fake dating, reunions, only one bed. That sort of thing. My old tried and trues. Thinking about trying to do an office romance, but workplace romances squick me out most of the time. They’re kinda HR nightmares. And since my mother is an HR manager, I don’t really need more of those.

My current favorite one is (title likely to change) Home for the Holidays, a friends to lovers fake dating at Christmas thing that has so much fluff and nostalgia in it that it makes my damn teeth hurt. I’m a sucker for queer people with messy flirtationships with their friends (as a queer person who has had a lot of messy flirtationships with my friends), so of course I have to write that sort of thing to please the Muse (me).

So, Home for the Holidays features Oscar Moody and Viko Volkova. Mama Moody invites Oscar and his “sweet boyfriend from those Instagram posts” to the Moodys for Christmas, and Viko seizes the opportunity to have a family Christmas after not having one for years (homophobic family back in Serbia). Oscar and Viko have a lovely Christmas in Cincinnati that features all of Ohio’s Biggest Winter Hits, a good time with the Moody family, and yes, some steamy holiday romance. I can’t help myself. As much as I hate Hallmark movies (on in my parents’ house year-round), I am a sucker for a good “my mom invited us to the holidays but we’re not actually dating but I can’t tell her that” story. Anyone else?

There’s another that’s less of a romance romance novel and more of a “dealing with trauma with a side of romance” novel. I don’t have a name for it. I’ve been calling it “I am Mac’s Hangover”, because I love referencing Fight Club, and Mac is always hungover.

Mackenzie “Mac” Lone Bear and Flynn Von Brandt II did not exactly break up on good terms. In fact, Flynn dumped him so as to not lose the favor of his homophobic father in their freshman year of college. In the summer of their senior year, after identifying his mother’s corpse, Mac returns to his job at a coffee shop to find that a certain Von Brandt has been added to the roster. Between those two things, he is not coping particularly well.

I did a lot of research about living as a Native American in the United States, including watching several documentaries, and it’s honestly heartbreaking to see the intergenerational trauma that is passed down as a result of colonialism. It was a major interest of mine last autumn, and I’m still very much interested in it. 

It’s not a typical enemies to lovers experience, since I’m not a typical enemies to lovers guy. I much rather prefer bitter exes to lovers instead. This was definitely brought on by my love of Doctor/Master from Doctor Who, because I choose to read the Master as The Gallifrey Wife, and reading them as bitter exes just adds more drama.

I just like writing characters that have a lot of (justified) anger at the world. It’s nice to give them a happy ending. Cathartic. I’m all for catharsis.

CONCLUSION

This post is pretty long, even for one of my monthly wrap-ups. I’ve included a lot of auxiliary information that probably didn’t even need to be addressed. But I write these mostly for myself, and I’m a man of many words. I want to know exactly what I did for the entire month of May, and dammit, I’m gonna post it for the world to see.

[chipped-chimera]

Okay since I'm actually awake now, (proper) HAIR UPDATE! ❤️🖤❤️

I wanted to add this onto my post from last night but tumblr hates reblog photosets. Anyways I was very aware that posting my V in the darkest corner of an apartment with black hair wasn't really ... showing anything - but it was very much her vibe and that's been the point of this entire project, buckling down and learning Blender from nothing, reverse-engineering mods and systems I was only NEW to about a month or so ago so I could figure out how to bring 'back' her hair, but like ... even more how I wished it was.

And it's finally done (well ... structurally).

More development rambles beloooow ~

I'm not releasing this (yet) as I'd now put myself in 'polish' phase, where I'll be tweaking some physics and other stuff like the vertex painting which influences the shine - brighter hair colours look a bit too blown out at the moment, and I'm not sure if this is because it's too shiny or because of my custom normals (may have to tone them down a bit, idk). You can see what I mean below -

Shadows are also behaving oddly at certain angles, and I wasn't sure if it was a harsh lighting situation but upon changing the lighting up ... no. Something weird is going on. So that'll need troubleshooting (for lighter colours at least). Also some textures just are acting weird on certain parts when I don't think they should look that way so yeah ... more ... troubleshooting ahead. :V

I'm also going to look into if there's something I can do for the 'efficiency' of this mesh because I noticed some pretty severe frame slowdowns taking close up shots - though only sometimes?? Not sure what that was about at all. I'm assuming it's my gpu being pushed harder as I get closer to the hair, but upon changing the hair in the character creator to another and then back it just went away again? So no idea what the hell was going on there. It felt a bit almost like a memory leak, but I didn't do a check to see what my system was doing so I'll have another look if it happens again.

Possible (hypothetical) causes:

Could be texture size, these hair cards have 2k textures apart from the alpha (4k) which is double vanilla textures so that is also a possibility as a fix (though I'd be loathe to do it).

Double rigs. I noticed last night when in my rigging phase with UUH4V that reducing it from three meshes and rigs to TWO meshes and two rigs significantly improved framerate lag (I mean it was minor but noticeable enough) in the character creation screen, so it could hypothetically be something to do with calculations of running two rigs at the same time. If that is the case, I could probably just rig this to the Alt hair rig. Currently I'm using Alt's for the back and left side of the hair, whereas the fringe at the front and the curl over the shoulder is rigged to Old Rogue. I'll probably still keep using UUH4V just … one rig only.

Last in the list? Hair cards. There are a lot. Maybe too many. They're also of a higher poly than last time. That said I've looked at other mods with heavier polycounts than mine (what gave me the courage to push further in the first place after my very low poly attempt 1.0) that caused more obvious frame slowdown in just the character creator alone. I feel there is still a minor slowdown currently but it's on the edge of noticeable (like, 30fps vs 60fps). As it goes though, this is still pretty insanely efficient (thank YOU Hair Tools for Blender).

BONUS: Mods. Other mods. The thing I use to hook in a DLL for pose control. Could always be that?

So uh, guess that's what I'll be working on. I don't know how much time I should be spending on getting this 'frame efficient' considering anyone using this would be primarily be for screenshots, and given the specs I'm currently running (AMD Ryzen 5 CPU and an RTX 2060) are being re-classed as the 'bare minimum' with Phantom Liberty coming out, and I am planning on upgrades to my PC anyway.

We'll see? (Though in my heart of hearts, I have have had potato PCs for years and I want to support the lowest specs I possibly can). I dunno let me know what you think about that one as a possible mod user (and someone who actually reads these, wow).

Anyways all that matters is jesus christ I finally did this. I taught myself hair. From scratch.

Promised tutorial ... soon. After I maybe do nothing for a few days lol.