#and it'll probably go out of style again but i don't give a shit

[autumnhobbit]

people out here saying they can't tell the difference between a bbl and real butt cause they don't feel different........good thing they look completely different huh?

[rebouks]

Hello! Do you have any suggestion for someone who wants to start storytelling on simblr? Thank you <3

Hiii nonny! I'm a lil honoured you'd ask me this ngl 😳 Have some rambling advice ❤ (using the word advice lightly here - please believe me when I say I'm winging it)

General writing advice:

DO THE THING! Seriously, just start!

Tell your story because you enjoy it. If you're not enjoying it, think about why n' switch it up.

Try and avoid comparing yourself to others. Easier said than done, but it'll only lead to self doubt and demotivation, so quit it!

Personally, I'm not a planner.. but it can be useful to have something set out to begin with, even if it's as simple as an idea or a basic beginning/middle/end kinda deal.

Any writing advice you come across out there is simply that, advice. Take it with a grain of salt and just do you.

Give your characters depth. No one's perfect, and we're certainly not black and white. We all make questionable decisions sometimes, but we're not defined by singular actions. A villain and a hero are equally boring without a decent backstory. Maybe it's not your thing, or it's boring.. but digging into psychology can really help with this one. I kinda find it interesting anyway ¯\(°_o)/¯

Regarding the above and backstories, don't bore everyone by spelling it out at the beginning.. we probably don't need to know. Drip feed us it bit by bit so we can figure out the why and the how behind every character slowly, it's way more interesting and engaging. No one needs to know all the facts from the get go.

Think about the why behind everything. Say someone steals some money, why did they do it? Did they have no choice? Was it to feed their family, or their drug habit? How does that make them feel? Were they bullied or forced into doing it? Did they do it for the thrill, if so.. why do they need that rush? So and so hates the snow, why? Do they just prefer warm weather? Does it make it harder for them to do what they enjoy? A bad experience? Why why why, all the time!

This one's gonna sound a bit weird, but bare with me here. Try and think in terms of but and consequently, instead of and then. For example.. X happens, consequently Y happens. Or your character was gonna do X but Y happened so consequently they've gotta do Z instead. It makes for a more interesting set up rather than a bunch of scenes with little correlation. A happens and then B and then C etc etc.. boring! Consequences have actions!

Similarly to the above, don't rush! Sometimes X and Y have to happen before we get to Z. Take romance for example, we all love a good slow burn. Those big pay off scenes are worth a little patience.

If you're having trouble piecing things together, try and keep the above two points in mind. If you need to get to Z but don't know how, just think about what has to happen before you can get there.. aka X/Y. I do this one all the time because I don't plan much.. so I'll get an idea but I'll have to piece together a bunch of other shit happening in the background first before it makes sense to end up there, y'know?

Split your story up into chapters/arcs, especially if it's a big 'un! It'll make it easier to plan/manage.

Don't worry about plot holes too much. Planning can help you avoid 'em but meh, you can always figure out a way to explain or cover 'em up later.

General Tumblr advice:

Okay, so first things first (I know, I know.. it's been said a million times and it's bleh but) you've gotta do it for you. Make a story YOU want to tell in YOUR way. Screenies and dialogue, sure! No dialogue? Sure! A few screenies and a bunch of prose underneath, sure! Comic/manga style? SURE! Do whatever you want, it's your hobby. It's SO important that you're enjoying yourself, whatever you decide to do.

DO THE THING! (again ahaa) Try not to hesitate or worry about what people may or may not think. I know it's hard putting your shit out there and you might be insecure, but take the leap! It'll be worth it.

If you want engagement (ew - I hate this word lmaoo but this is social media after all) you've gotta give what you take. Other people enjoy you interacting with their stories and characters just as much as you do.

Notes matter.. we wouldn't be putting our shit out here if they didn't, but try not too get to hung up on them, especially not at first. You might be shouting into the void for a while; it can take time for people to find your stuff (that's where the above comes in ⚆_⚆) Also take quality over quantity, it's always nice to have a few avid readers/commenters/mutuals.. and they will come!

Have fun and be awesome!

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

Just finished watching Providence. I'll probably have some more thoughts to share about it after sleeping on it, and possibly later if I rewatch S3 again (😍).

Providence and S3 spoilers ahead!

The first thing I can't stop thinking about is that upon giving the Psycho-Pass subreddit a quick look before watching the movie, the only post I saw was about how "this movie should have come out before S3". I didn't read the body of the post in fear of spoilers, but throughout watching the movie, I kept thinking about how much I disagree with that. How insignificant would Akira be if you didn't know he was Kei's brother? How random would Atsushi be as a character if you didn't know what he meant to Arata? Imagine this random kid showing up. No one would react positively to Arata, Maiko and Kei. Akira would feel like a side-character we only cared about for a split second and Atsushi would be confusing in the wrong way. Season 3 wouldn't be the same without the mystery of Tsunemori's incarceration. Objectively a wrong take if you care about the storytelling and characters at all imo.

With that out of the way, while Providence answered some of our burning questions, some have been left unanswered, such as:

Did Gino change his haircut so drastically all of a sudden because he realised the wind blowing in his face meant he couldn't see shit?

I'd be willing to buy that he just enjoys changing styles regularly, though.

Since I'm looking at her... do we know what Frederica's deal is, exactly...? I also can't help wondering - is there a reason why Shimotsuki hates her this much? While she's always complaining over petty things, she seems to hold a pretty specific dislike towards Frederica. Is it really just her personality? (I'd be willing to buy that, too...)

I feel like we have gained a net zero information about either Homura Sr. or Jr. Or Bifrost.

I feel like I had another serious question... before I started joking about Gino's hair. It'll probably come back to me. I guess there's always "can Shou's backstory get a Moment? Anyone else remember how S2 didn't give its new cast the same amount of time S1 did? Babyboy's still kinda just Here rn."

I'm still a bit confused about Jackdaw and Vixen, and the fact that I only just realised that Vixen is a woman probably does not help.

I miss Azusawa and Obata...

Oh right, I think I remembered what I meant to talk about. There are events that clearly happened between Providence and S3 that haven't been detailed, such as Gino leaving the Bureau to join Foreign Affairs, Kunizuka running the fuck out of there or even, I believe, Arata and Kei being appointed as Inspectors. We know that Tsunemori contributed to the latter - I wonder if we may learn more about her reasoning in the future. I think we can also infer that Gino, who stated in the movie that he intends on protecting Tsunemori, had to change plans one way or another due to her arrest.

I feel like we still don't know enough about Akira's relationship to his brother or to Atsushi, and I don't know whether that will be forever left in the air of if it will be detailed. The exact implication of Stronskaya Sr. and her relationship to her daughter are also vague.

Honestly, there's a lot going on in this movie. A lot of politics... a lot of religion... and a thick wall of the story's context. It's complex, and it's interesting how Psycho-Pass is continuing in this direction that already stood out in S3.

I'll just say I'm upset about Saiga. Evil evil bad. I'm really hoping for more content with Arata, Maiko and Kei in the near future because I seriously love them!!! And I want closure for them!!!! Akira was a pretty interesting character, though his quick death was frustrating - which I assume was not not on purpose. Though it happened maybe a little too fast due to the movie format (compared to an episodic format), the revelation of his allyship was set up pretty well. Like I said, details are definitely missing - Atsushi didn't explain why Akira was so willing, and he was interrupted before he could say who he was in his own words.

It was pretty nice to see Kougami be a little cringefail. I didn't enjoy his characterisation in S3, but in Providence, it feels a lot more sensible - like he can really feel that he doesn't have control. I'm satisfied with his and Tsunemori's dynamic in the movie, wherein they care about each other deeply - dare I say, Kougami might even care a little more than she does at this point? - how does that dynamic shift feel my guy? - but Kougami's wrongdoings have weight and the narrative doesn't force him back on her. You can feel that he wants to be back, you can feel that to Tsunemori he never really left, but like I mentioned in a more personal post, Gino's her source of comfort, her trustworthy teammate; Kougami isn't welcomed back by default. This feels natural. This feels like the writing cares about their feelings.

What else... Oh yeah... Did anyone else feel like Saiga was kinda................. hot?

[the-good-bad-truth]

Pregnancy reveal on Grammy's nomination week?

Christmas jingle?

The Voice guest coach?

What's next? Let me guess some option.

1. Winter wonderland elopement?

2. Some New Age religion baptism for the child?

3. Vow renewal after two months?

4. Face reveal of the baby for some campaign?

5. Very unusual baby name?

6. Wedding sponsored by a high fashion brand?

7. Wedding footage sold to a reality TV network?

8. Honeymoon sex tape?

9. Divorce with no prenup?

10. Paparazzi knowing their location while she looks at the camera and he can't fake being annoyed, every time? How both of y'all actors, but can't act.

11. Diddy trial?

12. Custody battle?

13. Diddy party footage?

14. Child support settlement?

15. Another billionaire white party?

16. Another Kardashian cameo?

17. Another overdose CDAN rumor at a Roc Nation event?

18. Another public meltdown & temporary breakup?

19. Another Snapchat rumor of him cheating with a porn star? Notice how Teanna Trump seems closer to "his only type".

20. His first baby momma finally mustering the courage to stop hiding and speak out about all the BS he must have put her through? If she shares her truth, it'll probably be when her daughter’s in her mid-20s... if he’s still around or relevant enough for anyone to care in 10 years.

21. Somebody hopping on a podcast to share a hook up story?

22. Somebody on instagram sharing how they got an STD?

23. Third baby momma?

24. DV allegations?

25. Rehab?

26. Old tweets being exposed?

If I had to choose, I would say pap photos of them definitely, she will be posting and showing off her stomach in revealing clothes because that is now a popular trend for pregnant celebrities to be doing. So maybe she can rebrand her style as being a hot mom or something. I would also say there will be articles of how he is absent or that Megan feels his not mature to be a father blah blah. They already did that when they were engaged of how she wasn't sure he was the marrying type and later from her own mouth she said marriage wasn't her thing. I don't see them marrying at least until baby is born because that will only extend and give them more things to shove down our throats. Even then I do not see marriage in the cards for them since she had already shut down that fantasy of his, so he will be feeling too insecure to ask her again.

She will most definitely be choosing a weird baby name, and I feel like he would not have a say in the name. He would just go along with it. Because I notice when she shares something that embarrasses him or paints him in a bad light, he usually tucks his tail between his legs and takes the hit for her. Which I totally understand because if I feel if he were to speak up or go against her narrative people would just shit on him because she has been blacklisted, and a woman and he is the man who Eminem forced to switch genres.

Megan chose a perfect man to bully and I'm just going to say it cuz no one wants to admit, abuse. She is abusive to him 100%. But you know how she wants to say she is not seen as a perfect victim, well actually Megan it's Colson who is not the perfect victim cuz he is a man, cuz he disrespected eminems daughter and lost the beef cuz he is the punching bag and the but of the joke for the media and public.

Also, I know people are saying she won't show this baby, but I doubt it. She has done it in the past on her insta she had many photos of her children, and she has also done pap walk with her children at places and times where it was "family" time. I can see her doing magazine shoots with this baby or doing something for a mommy/baby brand. But I think she will do it without Colson which will only help feed into her I'm alone in this world and men aren't shit and absent fathers' narrative

[queer-crusader]

🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

🦋 ⇢ share something that has been on your heart and mind lately 

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

<3

🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

Depends on where I am and who is closest! If it's the Netherlands, probably @zwergenmaedchen or @thatsthewrongwallcraig. If I'm back in Edinburgh, @residentofthedisc all the way, that creative brain will absolutely know what to do and we'd have SO much fun. You and Riley are on the list too of course but like you both ARE a little further away I fear

🍄 ⇢ share a headcanon about one of your favourite ships or pairings

Armandaniel are Peak Morosexual. Armand will tell Daniel (correctly) "you want me so bad it makes you look stupid" and Daniel will reply (equally correctly) with "I look so stupid it makes you want me so bad". They're idiots your honour

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

This requires me to know what the popular and unpopular opinions are lmao. Tho if I'd have to pick, Steve Harrington from Stranger Things is NOT an anxiety-riddled uwu in my opinion I'm Sorry. A lot of the fics written with him are written in such a way that make go "no?? That's. That's Generic Cardboard Cut-Out With Fandom Flavour Anxiety" and just. He just keeps his head down and is Some Guy who happens to be a Mom

🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

Take. A. Break. And I don't mean a day, or a week. These breaks can last months if needed. Also, I saw a comic once I believe that compared the creative process like breathing. Exhaling is when you produce, but there will be a time where you need to inhale. Put the pen down. Read some books for a while. Absorb the works of others, study them maybe for learning preferred writing styles and techniques but preferably don't even do that. Take a break! Give your brain a break!! Don't fucking force that shit. Allow it its natural course. It'll come back to you. It's okay. Be kind to yourself. Go easy ❤️❤️

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

I mean any comment is a good comment of course! But I love those that are like "here's a snippet and this is what it did to me mentally/physically", or those that go into detail or analyse things. But seriously to those anxious about leaving comments, All Comments Are Good Comments

🦋 ⇢ share something that has been on your heart and mind lately 

The future. Going back into theatre, and finding my way back to it career wise. Finding my way back to Scotland or staying close to my family. Lots of hard decisions that shape the future. Doing the little course again does make me more certain that I need to go back tho. The question is just how, and when

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

Idk if I have a favourite piece! Instead I'll give you a link to a piece that has recently driven me a little insane which is this one. It's broken, it's beautiful, it fucks with me bc I could almost see it be canon, you know?

Thanks for asking these!!

[jaynovz]

copying my reply verbatim to do the thing Properly:

hello public use silver 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

I decided to answer the first one and just tag the others who asked heheh 😂 @hms-tardimpala @etoilesombre

So a very long time ago, in 2021, I was sort of batting ideas around with various folks about ship's whore of the Walrus John Silver instead of ship's cook. As in, to make up for stealing the page he would be thrown into the fuck tent because he can't cook anyway and he can't sail so what good is he ahem, except for certain things? And historically sailors were all very gay about getting needs met while at sea ESPECIALLY using pretty little boys like John Silver bc uh. Look at him?

Around that same time then I read a hazing fic by @asterofthevoid which was particularly inspiring and I wrote a lot of notes down in my concept doc but then went on to other projects for a while.

And so anyway I was starting to think about it again recently and about how no one even made any crass remarks about fucking him and that's not very historically accurate, is it? Like even if they didn't actually go through with it, sailors are pretty vulgar and need to blow off steam by making ribald jokes which is a thing they do all the time in other representations of this period and they would ABSOLUTELY make mention of how pretty Silver was it's frankly NOTICEABLY ODD how Black Sails avoids it.

Anyway all that to say I started drafting a Silver messes up with the pig during careening ep somewhat alt canon where they don't immediately go after the Andromache and the crew are Done with his shit and want a piece of his ass to soothe their tempers. And so instead of having it forced he sets it up all snakey scheming but still very dub con.

All of this is of course a setup to make Flint very possessive and have weird feelings about it and then a funneled into a borderline fetish hurt/comfort with its own FASCINATING powerplay/power imbalance sort of scenario after the actual public use Silver part comes in with the entire Walrus crew.

Some prelim dialogue notes for your viewing pleasure --

(Silver gathering the crew in the galley, addressing them very 2.2 style, dramatic, flourish-y, sultry, showman) "I humbly apologize for joining under false pretenses. And I wish to make it up to you. All of you. By offering myself as a gift as apology for leaving you unsatisfied in your suppers. But I will improve and in the meantime I guarantee full satisfaction for every man in this ahem, particular endeavor." -- (Flint reaction during the act, hissing at Gates) "You have to stop this, it cannot be allowed to continue." (Gates eyeing Silver and the crew publicly fucking him, all cheering etc, with calculating expression, then makes a face, shrug) "Nah, the lad is right, Captain. It would have happened one way or another. Pretty little thing like that on this ship? He's a good lad, good that he knows it. Look at him, it's like he was made to take it." "If I were a few years younger I'd give him a go myself." (ironic chuckle, completely unfazed by this) "It'll keep the crew happy, even more so that he's doing it willingly. Unless you're keeping him all to yourself, might as well let it play out." (Flint turns to Billy with wordless rage/frustration but he agrees) (Billy distasteful expression but resigned) "Hate to admit it Captain, but they've been restless since the disastrous careening. It'll stay another mutiny attempt."

Anyway!! this will probably get written in a fugue state one weekend (because I'm finding it very hard to write things during the week when I'm working.) But I have basically the whole thing outlined so it'll just burst out of me like a flood of... Well. 👀

Thanks all three of you for asking!!

[sapphicgarland]

karkat or Dave playing animal crossing for the first time and getting really into it please!!!!

I interpreted this as davekat as it gave me more room to work with since I could have dialogue. It was a bit hard to expand on the prompt since there's no conflict but I did my best! I hope I made it cute enough to be interesting

“Okay, so how does this thing work?” Karkat asks as if they haven't had a Nintendo Switch for a whole year now.

Dave just shakes his head and gets up from the couch, once again showing him how to set it up. “How are you this bad with electronics?”

“Listen, last time I tried to do something more complicated than open a Google Chrome window I got a computer virus so bad it killed my crab dad. I think I'm allowed to just give up and accept that I shouldn't touch this shit.”

“Maybe you're right,” Dave says with a bit of a smile. “Okay, I got it hooked up. Ready?” He asks as he sits back down on the couch. 

Karkat follows and sits next to him, grabbing his pair of controllers. “Ready!”

“Okay, so, Jade said this isn't immediately two player so I figured we'll take turns setting up our characters and stuff and then play it together?”

Karkat nods in agreement, so Dave starts up his profile first and opens up Animal Crossing for the first time. “This game better be worth the $50 plus tax or I'm making Jade pay us back.”

Karkat laughs a bit and playfully slaps Dave's arm, a gesture that Dave has gotten used to over the years. No more flinching now that he knows it's a safe affection. “Shut up, I'm sure it'll be fine. Besides, it's not like we can't afford it.”

Dave just shrugs and goes quiet as the game continues. He mumbles the dialogue and text aloud so that he's not skipping too fast or too slow for Karkat. Karkat gives a chuckle, which causes Dave to stop and look at him. “what?”

“Oh, I just like the little voices,” he says with another chuckle. Dave cracks a small smile and nods in agreement before continuing. 

“pick your style…oh yes. The two genders; short hair or ponytail,” Dave chuckles.

“Hey they say style!” Karkat chuckles. “which will you choose?”

Dave lingers for a moment before just picking the short hair, non-pony tail one with a shrug and continues on. They debate on which island to pick before finally settling on the one with the River cutting the island straight through into 3 sections, and finally moving on.

“If you could only bring one thing…huh. What do you think, babe?” Dave asks.

Karkat thinks for a moment, “well, presumably there'd be something edible on the island. I'd say a lamp? Though I'd prefer aflashlight.”

“That makes sense but there'd be no electricity. Once the battery dies you're screwed if you can't make a fire.”

“You'd have to make a fire anyway to cook a lot of the food you'd be eating.”

“Ah but if you bring food you can buy yourself time until you can make weapons and figure out what's edible or not.”

“See, this is why I always say a survival guide based on the biome and general geographical location of the island.” *karkat says with a huff,* “why isn't that an option??”

Dave rolls his eyes and picks lamp, a small smile on his face, “because they don't have your brain, I guess.” 

They move on and finally arrive on the island. Their first two villagers are Canberra and Raold. They rush through Tom Nook's dialogue a bit, Dave reading it out loud quickly. They're bored at first, too much exposition for their taste. Though, Karkat isn't complaining, and Dave knows that this is just how games work sometimes. It probably means there's very little non-skippable dialogue for the rest of the game. 

“Finally.” Dave says as they are released into the wild to explore.”okay, we've gotta put up our tent. Where are we putting this bad boy, babe?” 

“Uhhh probably pretty close to the plaza right? I'm sure we'll be doing a lot of walking back and forth.”

“Agreed. I'm sure there's a way to move it in the future.” Dave sets the tent right next to the plaza. They go back and Dave finishes the beginning missions while Karkat watches. Eventually, Karkat's Head is in Dave's lap, just quietly watching as Dave gets their island ready. It takes a bit but eventually Dave stops and looks down,* “Okay, ready to join?”

Karkat nods and sits up. They switch profiles so that Karkat can get his character ready. 

“Okay, so should I just keep going or do we wanna switch back to your profile?” Karkat asks once his character is ready and his tent is placed.

Dave shrugs, “Nah. Go ahead and do some…uh….collecting? I was about to say mining,” he chuckled, “this isn't minecraft. Whatevering. I'll watch you for a while.

Karkat nods and just continues. Eventually Dave's head is on Karkat's lap, watching Karkat play. This continues for a couple of hours actually. Before long, almost everything that can be set up in just a day with no time travel is already set up. They switch profiles so that Dave can finish up some stuff that only he had permission to do (much to Karkat’s snarky disapproval). 

“I'm not sure what else to do for right now." Dave says after about another hour of playing with Karkat's Head in his lap. His hand goes down to pet through Karkat's hair a little. "I feel like we should wait for all this stuff to open up y'know? Like the museum and stuff.”

Karkat nods, “I mean we could grind a bit and get a bunch of…what was it, bells? But I don't want to sell all the resources and find out we actually needed them. Oh, we could bug the villagers, though.

Dave smiles a bit and nods, going to talk to Raold first and then Canberra. They both smile.

“aw the villagers are kind of cute. Okay, okay, I see what Jade meant,” Karkat admits. “I really like this game. It's cozy and really relaxing.”

Dave nods in agreement, “this is fun. We should play tomorrow too.”

[coridallasmultipass]

It took me, ugh, MONTHS (2), to get to cleaning the two shrimp tanks I have... I had IRL issues going on that would have made it extremely difficult to do a water change especially while injured, and I just had to keep putting it off. It's just shrimp, so it wasn't like, the worst situation, especially since I have established plants and the tanks are a couple years old. There was just a lot of algae build-up on the glass, and, well... Let me just say it was not contributing to my mental health and well-being while the tanks were in that state.

I tested the water before I started cleaning and the parameters were fine (like, I could have left the tanks even longer if I would be okay with selling my soul to the Algae Collective), and the plants and shrimp look fine, too (I mean, I've obviously been keeping an eye on the tanks bc I sit right next to them). Actually, I'd wager to say that the plants are looking really great (the lilies haven't died off [yet? This is the longest period of time I've seen them stay... foliage... fol... foliated? Idk.] and the cryptocoryne in the 10gal is fucking huge and needs to be rearranged, just not right now). That fucking algae was a motherfucker to get off the 10gal (it's a plastic tank and I think that makes the algae grip harder than the glass 5gal).

[Also, fyi, depending on the tank's needs and stability, recommended water changes are a small one every week or every other week. My parameters don't seem to do anything dramatic, so I usually aim for a 20-30% water change every third week (just depends on how much vacuuming needs to be done and how cooperative the shrimp are with moving aside). So 2 months is still a lot. I still did the normal 30% ish amount, since doing more will risk the shrimp's well-being if there's a sudden change in everything, and my water parameters indicated a change was unnecessary - but I don't test for more than the minimum freshwater tests, so there could be a buildup of some mineral I'm not testing for, which is why the change IS actually necessary regardless of what my test kit says - because these tanks were evaporating a lot in summer, it condenses the minerals added with each water addition, even tho I usually top up with R.O. water.]

My back is fucking killing me lol. It has been killing me since spring when it 'went out' for the first time, and I'm not getting any relief, it sucks. But this had to be done.

The 5gal is looking pretty cloudy still, since the filter was super gunked up and I accidentally spilled gunk back in, so I may need to retest the 5gal parameters tomorrow just to make sure I don't have to do another water change, but it'll probably be fine, right? Shrimp love mulm and detritus. I did give both tanks a big ole algae tab for their trouble, tho. (I need a fuckening dish for the big tank. I really wanna clean off that white quartz rock again, but being white means it's an algae magnet, and it's just gonna go green again after a month or two.)

Anyway, shrimp tax:

I lov thees widdle oange bebies.

Wish I could take better pictures rn, but I am. Like. Dying. My recommendation: never live in an A-frame style room if you have the option. The wall above my tanks is slanted, and NOT fun for my back to bend underneath the wall for maintenance. (My only flat wall in the room is for my TV/PC.) Also, treat your back nicely, in general. I unfortunately have not had the option to treat my back nicely since spring (fall now), because 'when it rains it pours,' and heavy shit that needs to be moved will not move itself. Once I get a few more things in my room in order, I will hopefully be done with the IRL chaos, bc I have Halloween socks to knit, and I'm not putting that off for another year. (I'm still mad that I couldn't make the ones I planned last year. And I found more Halloween yarn I forgot I bought, so I'm gonna try to make multiple socks.) And I just really need to fucking chill and knit and stop having panic attacks and meltdowns.

[eldritch-spouse]

Hi! I wanted to ask a few things as your art has made me pretty confident about posting mine (I'm getting there!) And I wanted to start drawing + writing yandere OCs of mine but I'm unsure how to start or introduce them (if that makes sense)

While you probably won't answer this or this will get lost in the hundreds of asks you have, I just wanna ask this as I need some suggestions for starters.

Whenever you get this, please make sure to stay hydrated and eat something 💕

This is silly, isn't it?

You've already started posting about your ocs (at least one of them I think). And it seems you've already gathered an audience by making a name for yourself in actual fandoms, so I'm not exactly sure what advice you could possibly want from me- Given I'm mostly just an oc blog, you'll surpass whatever reach I have on your own, automatically basically. People will tune into it much faster, it'll take them less to find you.

I know posting about your own characters can feel embarrassing or "cringe", and honestly, getting over it is something only time allows. Never go into it expecting the same amount of numbers you'd get from talking about mainstream characters, but that's not anything you don't know already.

The way I introduce my characters generally has a cheesy line like "Say hello to ___", a drawing of them, and then either a short fic or a sort of mildly humorous intro about them- But only because that's my style, a goofy side of teratophilia mostly. I think your introductions need to lay your style out first and foremost. I can't exactly tell you what type of information you should put in the intro, because I don't respect the usual "Name: Age: Height: Sexuality: Likes: Dislikes:" formula. It bores me. You seem like a person who enjoys having things very organized, and I feel bad, because my blog is a fucking swamp in comparison and I don't always introduce characters in the same way...

Again, you look like you've been around Tumblr longer than I have, and as such, you can probably write in a way that appeals to a broader range of people (if that's what you're aiming for) much more naturally. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that I'm an awful example to request advice from, because I know the stuff I put out puts me in a "niche". I don't write the more typical yandere things, so I won't get the attention of most. Plus, I have hard kinks. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I think what you need the most is to let things sit. But again, I don't feel qualified to give anyone any sort of advice, considering I often just throw shit at the wall and find out what happens to stick. With no professional/experienced input whatsoever.

I think most people should go into showcasing their ocs with below the ground standards for interactivity. I never did it for the engagement, even if I'm grateful and very surprised, I did it because I love these characters and I thought I should put them somewhere so people could look at them occasionally. Some peeps enjoyed it, and to this day, I don't know why. I wish I could give you a concise formula, but I'm unable to.

I'd say the worst thing you could possibly do is just show an image of them and say "Okay, now feel free to ask about them"- That doesn't seem to garner a lot of attention on its own (unless you already have a large-ish or very interactive following). Make them feel alive, make content on your own about them, don't wait for questions. They will come in their own time.

Good luck, and sorry if I sounded cynical.

[dragonmage]

After watching the game play I'm still on kinda hype but kinda anxious about it.

TLDR; some probably wrong theories about what we're getting, mostly positive but also seems like not as much New Fun things tm

-I loved the animations and art style and backgrounds

-Levels: I think its gonna be like Inquisition and parts of 2 where the levels are more 'set paths' kinda things with beautiful backgrounds very much like Val Royeaux - which is kinda iffy on how little was in Val Royeaux but I imagine there's gonna be 'open world' areas much like the Hinterlands. Idk why I expected something different but I did, and am just worried about how much we'll actually get to explore

-The Combat was Kinda Good Kinda Bad - it was hard to tell exactly how much was button combinations or just spamming X; it looked like there was a parry and a dodge option, and as some others said reminded me of Jedi: Fallen Order - which I really enjoyed !.

-I can already kinda guess though that at higher difficulties the enemies are just gonna be health sponges; idk what difficulty they were playing at its already seemed like the baddies weren't that hard but just didn't go down quickly

-I don't/didn't particularly care for switching between party members, but I also think it will be missed - there was so many times where I had to play Cassandra 1v1ing a dragon bc the rest of my party went down lol. I think it added a level of strategy - again not that I used it much, but it was a mechanic of at least 2 and inquisition that I relied on for harder fights.

-I really really liked the rain effects in cutscenes and on characters - i hope that theres a blood option like that lol.

-I was on the fence about Varric Dying and everyone's theories that he is, but there's no way he's not after that game play lol. I saw a tiktok saying that they could see it where Varric's the one in charge/leading/gathering the Veilguard and with his dying is how Rook becomes leader of the Veilguard and yeahhhh that seems pretty accurate.

-I like the companions commenting on your personality, it's always been a fav component of mine and it seems it might pop up more than in Inquisition.

-Oh the entire opening/showed sequence reminded me so much of the Inquisition one which is kinda :/ but it was good , but also sad in how much it feels like a repeat of a climatic/cinematic set piece (ala bridge collapse, demons, sliding, the veil fucky). The magic effects look gorgeous tho.

-Obligatory comment about Varric not being blonde/ginger

-Saw some others comment on dialogue/voice acting; for me it seemed on par with Inquisition, and again a neither bad nor good thing lol. I can see the faults of it having to establish what happened in Inquisition for new players, but again seems like par for the course.

-The different factions seem very interesting to me, and with how much it was showed in the 'tutorial' I'm curious if they're making it even more apparent than again previous games, at least dialogue wise

-I really think that regardless of class, everyone might be getting some 'extra/magic' abilities - someone pointed out that Harding might have some little extra oomf, and with the limited party, ON TOP OF Veil fuck shit, I think it's very possible to see not only party members with interesting mechanics, that Rook has the potential to arcane stuff - I mean the whole thing with the Veil was that Solas was opening it and giving elves magic (iirc, and the funny hahas about Fenris running around with mage spells lol) so it'd be interesting if that was something race effected as well.

-but overall positive, I think it'll feel like more of the same which isn't bad, but I had also hoped with how much time in development There'd be Something More - this is also based off just some sneak peak stuff. I just don't want a repeat of Andromeda where they change the entire feel to something watered down thats for a bigger audience but essentially not Dragon Age/Bioware

-I would love to comment on the story because at the end of the day thats why I play. - game play wise, it seemed expected, story wise I like how many potential things were brought up but its way too early to tell how much we're going to get. It seems more than Andromeda and Inquisition with the factions and new characters and I can only hope that it has as much depth as breadth that its showing

[sburbian-sage]

Hey, speaking of Dames... I have a Dame in my current session, a Dame of Light. He's a guy. And he kinda sucks. One of those conservative conspiracy theory types.

He has, shall we say, some OPINIONS on transgender people. We can mostly put up with it though- I'm agender, which is technically trans, and he's not tried to kill me for it or anything (gotten into heated arguments about it sure, but it's not gotten violent).

The issue of course is that he's totally convinced the game is trying to "turn him trans", and that's why he's been assigned Dame.

I've tried to tell him that the game just bugs out and gives supposedly gender-restricted classes out to just anyone sometimes, but...

Well, I think deep down, he's actually just fucking trans. I think he's using the game assigning him Dame as an excuse. "Oh no, I HAVE to act girly or it'll mess with my ARC levels!" that kinda thing.

Well, that all sounds fine, right? Just let him delude himself into thinking he's being forced into this, he'll (or rather, she'll, by then) probably come out of it a better person.

But like... I do have some concerns.

Firstly, he might just be right? Like, Sburb is not above doing fucked up shit to get people to mature. Forcibly transing a transphobe's gender doesn't feel like it's typical style, but like... how would I know, right?

This presents a problem. Maturity tends to go away at the end of a session. Is he gonna load into a new session, and just have a fuckton of trauma immediately from the game making him think he was trans, when he actually wasn't/isn't anymore/once more thinks he isn't?

Secondly, I consider myself a gender abolitionist. I try to be chill about it, I don't hassle people over having genders or anything, but when people ask why I'm agender, I will bring out my arguments about why I think the concept of gender is stupid. I'm sure there're people who'd find what I have to say upsetting. Is Sburb gonna decide one day that I'm a problem, and try and force a gender on me or something? I would assume not, but if it really doesn't care, why are classes ever gender biased at all?

Thirdly... IS HE FUCKING UP HIS ARC LEVELS IF HE DOESN'T ACT LIKE A GIRL??? I had assumed of course not, that the game doesn't give a fuck if Dame's "act girly" or whatever. But... why does the Dame class get assigned to girls more often? He's the Dame, and he's saying that's how this shit works, and it's not like I've ever rolled Dame, so is he actually right??? If I roll Dame one day, will I need to act girly for the stats?????

"Maturity goes away at the end of a session"? I don't know what you mean by that. Putting aside issues I'll get to in the next paragraph, the game doesn't mindwipe you or anything once you're done with a session. "Losing maturity" typically refers to the metaphorical slump in your soul that comes naturally when the game yoinks all your stats (and your powers and your items and your everything) when you begin a new session, which will naturally make anyone feel worse. Or like all that personal development they went through doesn't mean anything because now you gotta do it again. It's a figure of speech, not a literal construct, and you get used to it eventually.

That nitpick aside, no, SBURB doesn't forcetrans anyone. Another mistake is being made here, SBURB only assigns a meaningful title the first time. I was a native Sage of Mind because I needed that, all those years ago, and here I am now. Literally everything after that was purely randomly generated nonsense. Nonsense I had to "play the role" for, but nonsense nonetheless. If SBURB decided that you being agender was an issue, it would have done that in your first session. And I'm assuming it didn't, because the game is never that direct about stuff like that. If you're trans or genderqueer or whatever, any effect this has on your "maturity arc" is incidental at best. Some people have talked about how "SBURB made me realize I was trans", but that's flowery language, they went on their self discovery lovequest while playing the game and maybe they got some special insights they wouldn't have if they weren't a replayer. I couldn't imagine what that "special insight" is though, unless it's referring to the replayernet. Most people tend to realize they're queer through online communities, the replayernet is the only online community now (split into several sub-communities but still), and as we all know everyone who has ever touched a computer is gay and all the funniest shitposters are trans.

Now the elephant in the room. It is true that the game does sometimes bug out and give gender-restricted classes to people of the wrong gender. There's some debate that the "gender-restricted classes" just have a heavy gender bias but it's ultimately random (the dearth of female Knights supports this), but for all intents and purposes let's imagine that they ARE gender-locked. Dame is a female class, and it going towards this guy is a bug. However... Because SBURB does take data from your mind, it does mean that if you identify as female and your body isn't, the game registers you as female, and will assign classes accordingly. The "gender restriction bug" is extremely consistent in that manner. To the point where, let's not kid ourselves, it's not a fucking bug. Not to say that "every time you encounter this bug it's because the game knows", only that the game does recognize player gender, even if the player themselves is unaware. We're currently at a crossroads where it could be a sincere bug, or a sincere closet case, and there's not enough information to tell. If you're Weird and determined to get to the bottom of this transvestigation, you might want to check what gender their dreamself is. "Wrong gender dreamself" happens for the same reason "wrong gender class" does, but if BOTH happen then it's probably not a bug.

And no, the game doesn't count "acting girly" as part of the Dame's roleplay coefficient, that's stupid. The game hands out RP for acting as your title, not acting as your title's gender. I can't tell you why they made Dames a female class, because I didn't design the game, but it's probably an aesthetic flourish. Same reason why Princes are a predominately male class, it's called Prince, and Prince is the male form, ergo it's a male class. Except when it's not, but it's still called the Prince. If you're dead set on transvestigating, making up this obvious lie and then bemoaning the fact that "oh no, I have to act like a girl now or else the game will kill me, I hate that I have to act like a girl now but I have no choice" is either some MAJORLY sussy pantomiming, or he's cis and just very, very sexist.

My final note is that if you determine he's cis and don't want to hear him complaining about WOKE SKAIA'S plan to FORCIBLY TRANSITION these MINOR PLAYERS (with the brains of adults), think provocation might "pierce the veil and help bring her home", or just want to be very funny in a way that makes them not want to talk to you for a while, try busting out the classic "it's obvious that you're a woman because you're acting hysterical about this" line. Tactical Misogyny is a foolproof idea with no possible recourse or downsides.

[disco-elysium-via-polls]

4. "I'm not just doing *any* police work -- I've got *THE DOORGUNNER MEGAMIX* here! An era-defining work. Let's do four reál."

BIRD'S NEST ROY - He purses his lips. "Four reál is offensively low... but just this once. For the *musique concrète* cop."

3. "Thanks for the discount, man. Here's the money for the boombox."

BIRD'S NEST ROY - "And here you are. Quality sound reproduction on the go. It'll play anything. Wherever. Turn *any* tape into a conversation of sounds and shapes."

TAPE PLAYER "HARMON WOWSHI W02"

This is the reel-to-reel boombox of everyone's youth. A little banged-up, a little chipped, and honestly, not that loud either. Looks cool, though. Excels at being carried on the shoulder, allowing you to play audio tape items and blast music into the face of unsuspecting strangers.

Let's play the tape.

THE GREAT DOORGUNNER MEGAMIX - The porta-reel is just what you needed -- the reels attach to the apparatus with a satisfying click. The tape is routed behind the magnetic reader.

Play the tape.

Don't play the tape. [Put porta-reel away.]

THE GREAT DOORGUNNER MEGAMIX - You push 'Commencer' and the tape starts spinning. Violent static and machine sounds fill the air....

"...this isn't Revachol," a man's voice says. "This is a fucking village, I can almost see the elephants." Another loud screech. Some kind of machinery.

KIM KITSURAGI - "The harbour." The lieutenant takes out his notebook. "That's the sound of a Kvalsund crane."

THE GREAT DOORGUNNER MEGAMIX - More static. "When this shit is done I'm gonna tear that place up, Soldier of the Apocalypse style -- kill shit, dogs and chickens too..."

"Gonna rent a room, Korty, a real nice one..." This part is unintelligible. "I don't give a shit, I'm fucking done. I'm done mentally."

"I'll fucking do them all in, rape that disco cunt on the counter. You know, the dancer whore upstairs. Do it Co Hoi-style."

"Never did get that taste out of my mouth..." A click -- then silence. The rest of the tape is empty.

KIM KITSURAGI - The lieutenant presses the button marked 'Arrêter' on your porta-reel; the tape stops spinning.

"What was that at the very end? Silence?"

"What do you think?"

"Who's this *Korty*?"

"What's Co Hoi?"

"Okay then. What now?" (Remove the tape.)

KIM KITSURAGI - "End of recording."

2. "What do you think?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "It seemed authentic enough. Probably recorded off their shortwave, then *edited* to seem more incriminating. He sounded like he was on patrol around the harbour walls."

"I agree. He also sounded inebriated."

"But he *did* say he's going to do it. You can't edit words into someone's mouth."

"I think he sounded all right. Just letting off some steam."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Still..." The lieutenant looks at the tape. You are familiar with this look now -- it's his *look of suspicion*.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Easy: Success] - There's more going on here than we know.

3. "Who's this *Korty*?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "Korty could be short for Kortenaer. One of the other mercenaries, the one he was talking to -- probably the mountain at the harbour gates. Mr. *Right To Work*."

4. "What's Co Hoi?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "A village on the Samaran isola, in South Safre. Graad committed war crimes there -- the kind of thing he talks about."

"You think he was there?

KIM KITSURAGI - "Who knows? Maybe the tattoos would have an answer. We would need to know the story of this man's service."

5. "Okay then. What now?" (Remove the tape.)

KIM KITSURAGI - "I think we've got a few more questions for Klaasje, don't you?" He looks around. "This seems to contradict her testimony. At least to some degree."

THE GREAT DOORGUNNER MEGAMIX - As you take out the tape, the boombox tunes itself back to the cheery radio again, spewing out beats like it's a Friday night.

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - The contrast feels chilly -- inappropriate even.

Ok, now let's play the *other* tape.

"SMALLEST CHURCH IN SAINT-SAËNS" - The porta-reel is just what you needed -- the reels attach to the apparatus with a satisfying click. The tape is routed behind the magnetic reader.

Press play on tape.

Not now. [Put the tape away.]

"SMALLEST CHURCH IN SAINT-SAËNS" - You press the large button marked *Commencer* and the tape starts spinning. There's a small delay before the song starts playing...

Press your ear against the speaker.

Keep the porta-reel at the harmless distance and wait.

"SMALLEST CHURCH IN SAINT-SAËNS" - It sounds like someone's moving in the room, getting comfortable. Then the organ starts playing a simple melancholic tune, echoing in the hallway. A lone singing voice joins in...

Telling you about the tiniest church in Saint-Saëns, surrounded by even tinier yard. You almost feel the seaside mist on your skin. It's *mega* sad.

INLAND EMPIRE - Within seconds you know -- this is the one. The *real shit* you've been looking for. The one you trashed your room to. This one tells it like it is. This is your tune.

"SMALLEST CHURCH IN SAINT-SAËNS"- A click -- then silence, for a bit. Then the tape stops spinning.

Could I sing this for karaoke? I think I could sing this.

No, I couldn't! It's too sad, I might cry and trash the room again.

Scratch that, I'm already crying. And I look dumb. And old.

INLAND EMPIRE - Crying is good, it gives your performance authenticity. Besides, you already know the lyrics since you've listened to it, like, a million times!

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Easy: Success] - Yup. They're all here. All three verses.

INLAND EMPIRE - *And* the B-side of the tape contains the instrumental version. It's like the world itself is telling you to do it. Only one obstacle stands on your way...

What?

Nothing can stop me now.

INLAND EMPIRE - Garte. You have to convince Garte to let you sing karaoke in the Whirling. After you've won him over, you can *express* yourself. Let the pain out. Make everyone understand.

KIM KITSURAGI - The lieutenant looks at you as you remove the tape from the boombox. He doesn't say anything.

Keeping the boombox equipped plays an upbeat tune, tinnily over the radio.

[sardonic-sprite]

I'm Back!

Wow, so Lent is over now, so my tumblr fast is also over and I'm still a little in shock, lol. I had hoped the past six weeks? I don't know, Time is weird, would be more productive but at least I got SOME stuff written/posted. Anyway, I have one more month of school and then fucking FINALS so expect sporadic updates at idiot-o-clock hours of the night, and maybe yell at me to sleep, eat, study, or drink water whenever i do post 😅

I am up to SO EFFING MANY wips rn on so many different fronts you guys have no freaking idea 😭 so here's a status report for EVERYTHING on or going on sardonic_sprite. (Its gonna be a monster post, y'all, bear with me)

in absolutely no particular order:

Wayne4Ham: We have a LONG way to go with this one, so just be patient and I'll slowly but steadily plug on through. Aaron Burr, Sir, should theoretically take me no longer than end of april

Wayne-Crazy: there's like 4 specific requests on it, plus a few 'series' i started, but after those, say 6-7, i'll probably mark as complete and only re-open if someone offers me an idea

Batman Beginners: i'll tell y'all up front, this one will take me forever. i don't even know what all I intend to cover, but know that i'm halfway done with the DITF arc, and it'll probably come out in the next two months

Just A Kid: this was my shits-and-giggles fic that got like 3000 notes in a weekend lmao. it's something i do intend to continue bc its so fun and i enjoy the concepts in it, but i don't have plans to actively write more of it in the immediate future.

Rev Wayne: just gave y'all Jason's fic, so the next probably won't come until late in summer, extrapolating from my few data points. if anyone has ideas for timmy's intro, let me know, i'd love some inspiration

Celeb Batwaynes: reported separate from wayne-crazy for reasons. i think theres like 12 specific requests plus 2 ideas of my own. i may put out a poll for the next one to write, but not until after school's out, because these fics are HUGE time-eaters for me. speaking of, are non-tumblr-users able to vote on polls?

Welcome to Gotham U: this was again, me doing shit bc why not. will probably add more in the style that i first posted, but i doubt i will write any prose for it. if you would like to give it a try, please reach out, i'd love to see what you write!

One Diamond: every time i touch this i make the cliffhanger worse lmao. i finally do have a direction, but execution is gonna have to wait a while.

The Young, Innocent, and Righteous: this is mostly just for me anyway, but i'm just gonna say that i'm waiting until i finish watching miraculous season 5 before i go any further

AS you wish: i have 5 more requests to do and i am so sorry to everyone waiting you do not deserve this lmao. i promise im trying, i love your ideas, it just takes me a really long time to fill in the rest and then actually write it. the next one on my list is particularly hard to pin down and so it's halting the ones behind it to. if not before, then after finals i will sit and bang my head on the keyboard until something good comes out

Light Isn't Fadin': soooooo many people have asked me about this one oof. SOMEDAY, i swear. right now its a huge, nebulous, hulking monster and im sorry it's just not happening yet.

A christmas carol: wait until december. please

Father's Day: june.

A Little Problem: over the summer, i will watch marvel movies until they once again hijack my brain and fuel this to completion. maybe.

easter eggs: how the fuck did i forget this lmao. i'm doing as much as i can in april, but when the month is done, i'm sorry, we'll all be waiting until next lenten season. hopefully it won't come to that.

aaaaand i THINK that's finally it. there's also a bunch of random paragraphs in word and google docs that may appear, not to mention ideas that kidnap me in dark alleys. but i also have like a good half dozen other wips for other places that im trying to attend to, so please be forgiving if it seems like its taking a while to post something as sprite.

as always, i love questions, comments, concerns, even some complaints, so feel free to interact.

See ya when I see ya!

sprite

[masked-feature]

🥀...LEARN THE ABCs: SALEM

masterlist

A - "Ain't no party like a MASK party! Who's ready to dance until their feet fall off?"

B - "By the power of dance, I summon thee...my next victim!"

C - "Can someone explain to me why we're all wearing giant inflatable dinosaur costumes?"

D - "Don't be alarmed, but I may or may not have accidentally set the studio on fire with my sick dance moves."

E - "Everyone keep calm and follow my lead. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm pretty sure it'll look cool."

F - "Faster! Louder! More chaos! That's what our performances need."

G - "Going on tour means we get to live out of suitcases for weeks at a time. Isn't that just fantastic?"

H - "Hurry up and get in formation, people! We have a dance battle to win."

I - "I don't always dance, but when I do, I make sure to do it in a full suit and tie."

J - "Just when you thought our dance routine couldn't get any weirder, we throw in a synchronized cartwheel."

K - "Keep your eyes on me, folks. I'm about to pull off the most epic dance move you've ever seen."

L - "Let's see if we can break a world record for most spins in one dance routine."

M - "More glitter! More neon lights! More cowbell! We need more everything!"

N - "Nobody panic, but I think I may have accidentally stepped on the lead singer's foot during the chorus."

O - "Okay, I'm gonna need someone to explain to me why there's a giant inflatable unicorn in the dressing room."

P - "Practice makes perfect, but let's face it, we're already pretty perfect."

Q - "Quick, someone grab me some ice for my sore muscles. Who knew dancing could be such a workout?"

R - "Ready, set, dance! Let's show the world what we're made of."

S - "Salem's in the house and ready to dance. Brace yourselves, people."

T - "This is it, folks. The moment we've all been waiting for. Let's give it everything we've got."

U - "Underneath these fancy outfits, we're just a bunch of sweaty, exhausted dancers. But hey, it's worth it for the art, right?"

V - "Variety is the spice of life, and our performances are like a buffet of different dance styles and genres."

W - "Who needs sleep when you have dance rehearsals until 3 am? Not me, that's for sure."

X - "X marks the spot where I'm gonna drop the sickest dance move of all time. Get ready."

Y - "You thought you knew what dancing was before you saw us perform. Think again."

Z - "Zero chill, zero mercy. That's how we approach our dance routines. Let's do this, MASK."

a/n: Salem is probably the most chaotic here. He's also the motivator of the group! Unfortunately, he's shit at it because everything that comes out of his mouth sounds sarcastic.

[beinfriends]

( Alright, pretty sure I've basically collected everybody in the Mother RPC at this point, so looks like it's time for me to say... hello! I'm Rabbit, or better known as Psy in this community (which you can see I continue to go by... because I am too fucking lazy to redo my promo assets. But I still really do just use Psy still.), and I was in the Mother RPC previously from 2018-2021 (I think? or 2020, I don't really remember) and wound up leaving due to mental health reasons, but recently I randomly got the urge to come back, so here I am with a remade blog. I was previously twinsmily, pigmonarch/allhailkingp, and beinfriends, a blog I have since moved from in order to make this blog.

I've added a lot of muses since the previous iteration of this blog. I feel like I should warn people, even if you knew me prior to rejoining (i.e. Neg and Star. hi btw) that my muse priorities have shifted quite a bit, although Lucas/Claus/Porky are still main muses for me. I replayed Mother 3 last June and got really into the Tazmily villagers for some reason, hence why I added all of them to my muse roster. If you remember the original version of this blog, my list was like <10 muses. We're at 50 now, and I didn't even list everybody.

As to why this even happened... I was playing chapter 3 and read Paul's text during the scene where Fassad tries to get everyone to pick up Happy Boxes and he said "I don't need happiness. It's standing right next to me." and I just really admired his wifeguy-ness... I thought that was so cute, since I'd never really thought about him before. And then my brain decided I liked literally all of them so here we are.

As mentioned in my rules, I did recommend the worldbuilding page + considering reading my fic recs per each character, but overall, I feel I should plug this directly. If you're interested in seeing the Tazmily that I have built in excruciating detail, consider giving A Change of Heart a read. The fic is about Leder telling everyone the truth about their past and everyone being forced to reckon with their trauma and memories.

Up front, it's 200,000 words. But it's a fic I wrote over the course of 5 months last year and is a huge basis for how my Tazmily now functions. The main verse of this blog is directly tied to this fic. Per my timeline, the final events of ACOH concluded one year prior to the events of this blog. BUT it's okay, I do not expect you to know all this shit. I will tell you things as necessary, I just thought I could cut out the middleman a bit is all.

What do you need to know about the default universe of this blog? Here's a few simple things to make it clearer:

The events of Mother 3 concluded 4 years ago.

ALL Tazmily villagers have regained their full memories of the past. The story is generally gone, though people didn't abandon their roles/jobs.

Tazmily has been rebuilt in the old style, but the world is a mix of old and new; people still use DP, but bartering has come back in a major way in terms of doing business.

There are multiple new settlements to account for all the New Porkers.

In all, it's pretty simple, but again, highly recommend you check out my worldbuilding page for a more in-depth rundown of the world, but still shorter than a 200,000 word fic lol. I still have some stuff I wanna add, but I got a lot of it done yesterday.

Also, I have a lot of posts queued from my personal about villager lines, or edits I made, so on, so expect to see those posts in the coming days. I have chronicled a vast majority of lines you can possibly see the villagers say. I got plenty o' lines you've probably never seen. There's only a handful of lines I cannot find, and am assuming went unused. So yeah, enjoy that!! It'll be your crash course on the villagers if you, like everybody (including past me), know very little about the villagers. I look forward to it.

This blog may or may not wind up being low activity, but it remains to be seen. I start my new job today, so I'll see how the work-life balance is. Bios are still a WIP. As I said yesterday, I have 19/50 completed. I will hopefully do the secondary bio batch soon, but probably not today, and probably not tomorrow, because work. But everyone in the main tier has a bio, so check 'em out!

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I hope I get to know all of you better in the coming days and weeks! Starter call will come after this post for everyone. See ya soon! )

[ekebolou]

The Substack is Live

Heya friends

So the substack now has the first five chapters of Kostas (starting here), all of Academy Days: Arrival (starting here), and one bit of personal rambling! Which I'll also just post below the cut.

I've decided I'll go back to my roots and publish Kostas serially, but wanted to give you enough of something to go on, so first five chapters are up. Maybe I'll get tired of it (I love/hate routine!) and go on a spree eventually, because there's 46 chapters, but for now I thought it might be nice to have some dependable material to look forward to each week.

Publishing serial-fashion also provides me a basis for pushing myself to write something about process each week, which is honestly probably good for my health. I used to do it a lot more, but it's felt sort of extraneous lately, so it'll be nice to share thoughts again (I say, petrified of sharing thoughts). No promises on quality.

Anyway, this'll be on the substack too, under Assorted Ramblings, because I'm not exactly sure how on-theme I'll be. In true old-school internet goblin fashion, I've just typed it the fuck up in the editor, no drafts no gods no masters, so expect whatever that means for style and comprehension.

I'll get all the side stories up and some of the other material like Tenor Group on there probably starting next week (it's controlled compulsion, right? Gotta space it out or I'll end up down a burnt-out rabbit hole). I'm trying to keep as non-annoying as possible, which means I'm hopeful there will be enough interest that it will be shared word of mouth, and those interested are welcome to subscribe, but hopefully won't be bothered with a million emails or anything. I can't vouch for substack itself, but I'm going to try to keep it to notifications of posts and that's it. I don't even know what else you would want to know about it.

Check below the cut for the sort of sample dumbassery you can expect from the Assorted Ramblings, including a brief story about what happened when I had my first irl friend read the manuscript! (it wasn't great)

Hello and welcome, I suppose, though there is a welcome page somewhere. This is an inaugural post in what I hope will be series of posts about, generally speaking, my writing, world building, and other, loosely-associated things.

These are generally off the cuff. But, honestly, so is most of this stuff - that’s part of what makes it fun. Needless to say, I wouldn’t take any of this as advice, exemplar, or dictum. I just like this stuff and my liking of stuff can sometimes have the air of method but it’s really just loosey-goosey, this is what happened here, not a place of honor stuff.

And speaking of advice, exemplar, and dictums…

The original title of the original file of the original story-that-would-become Kostas is titled ‘never finish’ (dot odt, I think… I can’t recall but it may have gone back to my WordPerfect days). It more or less, quite seriously, ‘came to me in a dream’, which doesn’t make it more valid or good - my dreams can be vivid shit - but did make it compelling, as it was so complete. Not the plot (fuck me, it’s never the plot), but the concept. The concept is essentially a bundle of tropes, so that makes sense, but still: very vivid, very compelling. Very much not what I wanted to write or what I was writing at the time or what I imagined myself being comfortable with writing in the future. But too much to not write it down so I did and thought maybe it would exorcise itself from my skull.

It did not.

And there was an inherent challenge in it that I should have realized would be too provoking to ignore.

Anyway, many permutations of it and life later, I thought, yeah, fuck it, let’s try to actually publish it. You wrote it, it’s novel length (absurdly over that, actually), let’s do it.

There’s a lot of writing advice out there, and a lot of publishing advice, and they’re two different things. And the thing about publishing is that you’re asking the carnies for tips on how to win the carnival games (Nothing against carnival folk or publishing people, both are lovely). Obviously my advice and perspective there isn’t useful, but I did come around to the idea that it wasn’t doing anything to actually build my skills in the ways I wanted them built and the prize was actually quite shit (fun shit? possibly! fun games? sometimes! Worth it? YMMV). Lots of things are like that.

One of the first things I did was get a friend to read the manuscript. My first venture out of the safely anonymized and largely self-selecting audience the stories had online, and an incredible risk, in my eyes. One I knew I had to be ready to take, for sure, but nonetheless.

If not the first sentence, then somewhere in the first paragraph or so, I used a perfectly cromulent word. I don’t remember what it was - it’s fallen out of the text since then, but some real Victorian doozy of a descriptor. A real word, natch, but a humdinger of English vocabulary. The suggestion to remove that word - which I resisted, it was the right word, you see - was the only thing my friend had to say. After that, my friend redirected to watching a piece of media they particularly enjoyed and had wanted to show me, and the meeting ended (as did any interest in that piece of media, an unfortunate side effect of how underwhelmingly terrible this first venture had gone).

In terms of writing critiques for the ages, this doesn’t even chart, but it did solidify something for me in the sea of crap (it’s not all crap) advice for writers I was swimming in at the moment.

The readers are either on board, or they’re not, and the sooner you can let them figure that out, the better. That’s what a whole chunk of writing advice out there is trying to get you to do. All this stuff about ‘no prologues’ (I have a prologue), ‘start in the middle of excitement, action’, ‘draw the reader in’ etc etc, is not because the advice works somehow, but because it gets people to that ‘on board or not’ question faster, and for the most part, the aim of published writing is to get people on board.

And, look, there’s a lot of good reasons to do that, and it can absolutely be good, productive, non-cynical advice. But if they’re not on board, fuck ‘em (that is very much not what the writing advice is leading you to).

That is, I realized, that this was the story. That didn’t mean it was some of kind pure muse-puke being fed to me baby-bird-like, or unchangeable - after all, the ‘right’ word did eventually fall out, though I think I held onto it for a bit out of sheer stubbornness, and the first chapter of Kostas is, indeed, a fine distillation of dropping readers in the middle of the action - but, you’ll also notice, that almost nothing like that happens again until the climax of the story.

There is totally a mass-market publishable version of this story in there, a version that might’ve kept my friend’s attention for more than a millisecond, but that wasn’t what I had done or what I was interested in doing with it. You can win a game of horseshoes in your backyard and fuck up the ringtoss at the fair. I was interested in using Kostas to learn about writing and get better at it. It was, essentially, a challenge to myself (had been, from the get-go, to write in a genre I was neither comfortable with nor writing in at the time, but which I had this idea for). What the first chapter (or prologue, actually, because there’s a prologue, y’all) had to do was not get the readers on board, but let them figure out if they could withstand the story for the long haul. Because it’s not a military action story, it’s melodrama in uniform. That perfectly cromulent word was perfectly cromulent. It didn’t make it to the final drafts because it wasn’t elegant.

I wrote the prologue after, read a bunch of self-serious horseshittery about ‘any submission with a prologue I throw in the trash’ and did what I was going to do anyway (and probably ended up in the trash!)

And all of this is in reflection of finally re-reading this thing for the first time in a few years and going ‘oh holy fuck, did you overdo this?’ I mean, damn. “Regret was a luxury of peace, and Cole knew they warred still” - who talks like that? Holy shit. “He did not carry the burden of preferring humility” - well, actually, that’s a good bit of characterization. There is no ‘blessed are the humble’ here.

Actually, no, I did write it that way on purpose.

That opening image, of the bloody leaves - it’s exaggerration. We’re not talking shell warfare here. People aren’t getting annihilated by artillery. It’s psychological. It’s the peak of a peak of absorbing, personal, ever-present violence. It’s how it feels, and has felt for so long it’s like nature, and this arrogant creature is of it, and it’s all coming headlong to an end, and like a cat overshooting its bowl he’s about to faceplant into a wall.

The audience needs to get really hard into it at the highest pitch and feel it abruptly end. And if you can’t withstand “the mist rising” and “ponderous leaves” and “Cole knew they warred still” you’re not going to like the story. Because the major emotional moments hinge on high melodrama, and you’ve got to at least be into it a little. So while hopefully there’s some narrative variety (there’s got to be, the fucker in interminably long), the first chapter puts on display the key kinds of things the reader will need to put up with to get into it. And maybe they won’t, and it’ll be a classic wallbanger (though for the sake of your digital devices, I hope not), but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Anyway, it’s also serial fiction - that’s why it’s so long - and not a novel, and maybe that’s what I’ll talk about next time, since I’ve opted to re-post it in that way to try to review the story’s best sides, so to speak. Or maybe I’ll just post a bunch of pictures of temperate broadleaf forest biomes and talk about trees. who knows.