#and its really cool turning into a whole different person/creature

[cult-of-the-eye]

Love spending at least an hour every week dissociating in the mirror painting my face with eyeshadow into avant garde makeup looks. It's pretty much free therapy.

[slitherpunk]

games i liked in 2023 (And Other)

I like games ! You know that ?! and I played a lot 2023! and I liked a lot :). They aren't in any specific order, it's just a little highlight of games that stood out to me this year. I've attempted to write a few thoughts on each so I hope take a look. I wrote playtimes for some also but that is very subjective.

-Ones that actually came out 2023-

Lunacid https://store.steampowered.com/app/1745510/Lunacid/ I think I mentioned enjoying this in 2022 but it officially released so I can say it was one of my favorite games in 2023 :3! I like to feel around this game's walls for secrets. I like the npcs that are full of hope and whimsy despite the bleakness of its world. Chill and occasionally spooky first person dungeon crawling around moody caverns and ruins varying from underground forests to vampire castles and blood lake. (Blood lake!!!! Lake of blood!!! Big creature there.) Lots of fun weapons and spells to find, I like the one that lets you turn blood into coffins.

~20 hours

Orbo's Odyssey https://feverdreamjohnny.itch.io/orbos-odyssey If you played the massively popular demo for "Peeb Adventures" by feverdreamjohnny then you know that Johnny makes some fun and funny games and this is certainly one of them. speedy and satisfying platforming! funny dracula moments! short and sweet.

~2 hours

A Walk in the Woods https://mooncaller.itch.io/a-walk-in-the-woods Quaint little GBStudio game :) Made by some friends of mine for a jam :) It's cute I like it. There's minigames where you catch bugs and birdwatch.

~30 minutes long

Undertale Yellow https://gamejolt.com/games/UndertaleYellow/136925 I've only completed the pacifist run and checked out a neutral run so far. as the title somewhat implies, this is a prequel to Undertale where you play as the fallen human who had the yellow colored soul. This Undertale fangame has a lot of charm!!! A lot of battles really feel like they could have been in the original, with quite a bit of extra flair in some circumstances.

~10 hours

vs really cool bird https://bobacupcake.itch.io/vs-really-cool-bird you know that really cool bird that rob bobacupcake made well you can fight it in undertale and it's really fun. yeah two undertale fangames. . . wat of it …

~30 minutes

Misericorde: Volume One https://xeecee.itch.io/misericorde I wont lie the main draw for me into this was cute anime nuns I sure didn't know a whole lot else about it when I dug into it. But it's (the first part of) a VN murder mystery! And I enjoyed it a whole lot. All the characters are memorable and I really enjoy how all of them have differentiating designs. The protagonist is so failgirl. She sucks so much and I love her. I'm very intrigued by the mechanics of the game's world, it clues you in near the beginning to expect something a bit supernatural/fantastical, which gives you (and later the protagonist) a curiosity about what's real and what isn't. The music is all very impressive too, with the ost reaching past 100 tracks varying through post-rock, folk, drum & bass, and others. (Remembering when the track "Scandal" played and my friends and I took a moment to be like- okay hang on this track pwns.) Big fan of its haunting locals and how the aesthetic of the game fits them well. Also the humor is a lot of fun, and I love all the moments getting to know the different characters. Very excited to see the eventual continuation of this.

~12 hours

Absolutely Perfect Specimen https://chambersoft.itch.io/absolutely-perfect-specimen It seems like a lot of people are craving toxic horror yuri lately. Here's a recommendation. It's a VN about the android maid "Pan" and the mad scientist girl who created her. Horrifying & gut wrenching & largely about having other people define you. The art and music is haunting & poignant and matches the ever increasing feeling of dread throughout. It's yuri with the chunks. Peak robotgirl horror for those who can stomach it.

~90 minutes

Wordhopper https://kokoscript.itch.io/wordhopper Very quaint word search type puzzle game for ms dos! I think its style is very slick and that's pretty impressive to see. Chill game with nice vibes and eyecandy visuals. also it was so cool to have played this and then ended up seeing the dev's booth at Vintage Computer Festival Midwest. I was like omg woah I just played this.

~bunny

Bossgame https://lilyv.itch.io/bossgame This game is yuriful as f*ck. Delightful humor and fun character dynamics! A simple-to-understand-difficult-to-master boss rush battle system that makes you satisfied to get it right, and enticing to get just a little farther if you get it wrong. There's a lot of detail and charm to this game's menus and dialogues and win screens, I remember noticing that once you beat a boss there would be some marquee text that would pass by with some prose on it. I love how it balances its silly moments with its heartfelt moments and its high octane moments. I like the character development and revelations had throughout the plot. & I like how good the protagonists are for each other :) It's very sweet. It's hype as hell. if you want some boss rush action paired well with that sweet sweet girl's love, you *will* play this game.

~5 hours

Elly's Adventure https://bikwins.itch.io/ellys-adventure Very cute and witchy!! You are the little witch girl "Elly" on an adventure to get your toys back!! Feels like a pretty authentic gameboy type experience, it takes a lot of design cues from Kirby's adventure and the like. I am a big fan of how playful it feels.

~1 hour

Nour https://store.steampowered.com/app/1141050/Nour_Play_with_Your_Food/ This was a treat for me, but I understand that not everybody is going to get it. It's a game where you play with food(and food accessories). And that's it. It knows what it was going for. I think a lot of people were expecting something else for some reason. It's a cute little toy game and I felt satisfied with my time with it.

~food

Hi-Fi Rush https://store.steampowered.com/app/1817230/HiFi_RUSH/ Do I have to say this game is super fun? It's a big one everybody probably already knows it. This game's dopey humor made me laugh a lot and I'm not afraid to admit it.

~12 hours

WHISKEY.ST2007S https://bonicle.itch.io/whiskey-st2007nes One of the last games I played in the year because it released super last minute. Does anybody else get a rush when running a shopping cart down the parking lot? This emulates that feeling. Short game where you collect whisky stones in the whisky stone dimension because you forgot to go christmas shopping until the very last minute. it rules. It's very short you can go play it right now & get a highscore.

~5 minutes

re:curse https://devpalmer.itch.io/re-curse Discovered this one near the very end of the year also. Fun little rpg maker horror/humor game about a weird scientist lady, her butch, and an evil clown computer virus that figured out how to warp reality. I got a kick out of it. and also enjoyed digging through the game's files, which was actively encouraged by the dev, which I thought was very fun.

~90 minutes

-Didn't technically get to until 2024 but released last year-

SWOLLEN TO BURSTING UNTIL I AM DISAPPEARING ON PURPOSE https://1207.itch.io/swollen-to-bursting-until-i-am-disappearing-on-purpose People love to dunk on a lot of indie rpgs for being "quirky Earthbound inspired and about depression" or whatever. Earthbound's great. If people can nail the kind of humor and absurdity it likes to pull off while also balancing difficult topics I think that deserves a high mark. SWOLLEN TO BURSTING was fun. Bizarre and charming places to explore & distressing secrets to find. I like how it blends meander-around-the-town gameplay with Yume Nikki sort of exploration and effects. Also I'm a big fan of the music. I like how it has the lofi sound which matches the early 3d look of the game.

~6 hours

HalOPE https://starbage.itch.io/halope Another for the fans of sweet little rpg maker games that have a lot of heart. HalOPE is about an incomplete little angel wondering through worlds. Each has a theme, usually to do with an emotion or feeling, and they do well at evoking that feeling as well as its antithesis. a lot of the music is very homey and charming at moments and unnerving at others, sometimes lonely, all doing well in their corresponding chapters to further the feeling of its specified theme. There are so many delightful characters and designs in this & I found myself feeling really attached to their tiny little stories. The narrative at the core of it all hit me. If I may be vulnerable, I cried a whole lot at various moments in this game. It was really cathartic. I feel very excited for people to experience this game.

~5 hours

-Favs I finally got around to that didn't come out 2023-

An Outcry https://quinnk.itch.io/an-outcry Kind of sad it took me so long to get to this one, but glad it meant I got to play the "definitive" updated version of it. Apartment wandering RPG maker horror. Bum smokes from your neighbors and use them to save the game. I wish I could unwrap a lot more of what I like about this game than I can without spoiling too much. But if I could, I'd probably go on for too long. Let me attempt to be succinct & not giving too much away. You can tell pretty early on that An Outcry is about taking action when necessary & not turning a blind eye. What it explores about player vs protagonist agency is very fascinating to me as well, and I enjoyed learning about the inspirations for why the game's narrative works the way it does. The character Anne is such a sweetie and I love her a whole lot. This game has a very tangible feeling, this apartment complex is dirty and crumby, it smells of smoke, and there's a surrounding desperation you can feel.

~5 hours

Pigments https://punkcake.itch.io/pigments Honestly I had gotten this game in a bundle and while I was playing it I hadn't looked at the name and I just kept calling it FRUIT. On call with my friends I'd be like "hey im gonna play more FRUIT". I straight up didn't read the title screen. But it's called Pigments. You play as a fruit and you try to paint the whole floor and not get sliced by buzzsaws. Fun little arcade type game.

~fruit

Bridge, October 3rd https://lowpolis.itch.io/bridge-october-3rd Very short vignette. I like it. It's what it says it is. I'm not going to overexplain.

~like a minute

-Other Games I Want To Mention-

Pseudoregalia https://store.steampowered.com/app/2365810/Pseudoregalia/ I think a lot of people might have already known this one but I felt like it was a pretty fun 3d platformer. There were a few issues I had with it (boss fight at the beginning was frustrating, and I got lost a lot [but it looks like there's been a map patch by now, so, perhaps for some that is a fix]). I enjoyed it but sure felt weird that the only accessibility option was to give the protagonist pants. What kind of joke is that?

~5 hours

Mushroom Musume https://mortallymoonstruckgames.itch.io/mushroom-musume (Disclaimer, this game is still early access, but I saw a lot of people talking about it last year. SO I will mention here?) Haven't played much of this yet, but I have enjoyed what I played so far!! As of writing I've gone through 6 playthroughs, I feel like I've hardly scratched the surface and I've been so impressed by its depth. It's very charming, you never know what sorts of fairytale shenanigans are going to happen, and it's very cool to see how your different stats will affect things. It very much plays out like a roguelike vn. Which is not the sort of thing you may expect to make much sense but it pulls this off well. Also all the mushroom girls are very cute and I love them very much. I hope the sad goopy one who had bugs in her skin rests in peace.

~mushroom

Knuckle Sandwich https://andybrophy.itch.io/knuckle-sandwich -_- Hm. Where do I start with this one. I was pretty excited for this one since the demo and kickstarter in 2018. I felt like the demo was a hell of a hook that got me curious & horrified. As time went on, it seemed to be shaping up into something really cool. turn based combat with action commands and wario-ware-type microgames?? with a banging soundtrack?? like, count me in!! Then it released and well, the gameplay, art, music all delivered. It was very fun and engaging in those aspects. But the story… oh it just devolves into disappointing nonsensical randomness. The whole hook at the beginning seemed to be completely thrown away for the wild goose chase plot that ensues, leaving you to wonder if it was ever going to be relevant again. It felt like it had no idea what it was trying to say or do. It disappointed me that a game that has so much good in so much else about it gets brought down so much for me by this plot.

~12 hours

Rhythm Doctor https://store.steampowered.com/app/774181/Rhythm_Doctor/ (Putting this one in mentions because it is early access.) I really enjoyed the act 5 release. When I first saw this game, I kind of shrugged it off, thinking "that base mechanic doesn't seem like it will last". I thought it was basically just that one ghost shooting game from Rhythm Heaven which I Hate. Well let's just say I am now seeking penitence for my previous transgressions. It's really fun. There's a lot more to it that I didn't know when I first took a look. Also, consistently amazed by people's custom levels, I had no idea that its level editor allows people to do so much in it, I look at some levels and think "This editor seems as complex as an industry standard video editor". I'm looking forward to what they're planning next, very curious how they could possibly one-up the last update.

~rhythm

El Paso Elsewhere https://strangescaffold.itch.io/el-paso-elsewhere This was really fun & funny so far but unfortunately I had been encountering an issue with a certain level where the game would crash. I reported the issue, got a response, and there has been an update since then so I think there's a possibility that it got fixed but I have not tried yet. I would like to return to this sometime but having to relearn controls midway through is always daunting to me.

~?

-Things that looked good but didn't get around to-

Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood https://store.steampowered.com/app/1340480/The_Cosmic_Wheel_Sisterhood/ Still don't know a whole lot about this. But there are witches, and I like witches.

Casette Beasts https://store.steampowered.com/app/1321440/Cassette_Beasts/ I haven't felt thrilled about Pokémon lately. I know a lot of people seemed to really enjoy this little monster-collecting-rpg. The style is appealing to me as a die-hard gen 5 fan. I started playing it but haven't set aside the dedicated time for it yet, but I'm excited to dig in more when I do.

Little Goody Two Shoes https://store.steampowered.com/app/1812370/Little_Goody_Two_Shoes/ Started watching a friend play this, and I'm certainly curious.. Some sort of horror fairytale but also there's yuri? Yum. Enjoyed the style and animation in the nightmare segments that I saw.

Venba https://store.steampowered.com/app/1491670/Venba/ I've picked this up a while ago but still haven't gotten around to it, but I'm eager to, I've heard nothing but good things.

Goodbye Volcano High https://store.steampowered.com/app/1310330/Goodbye_Volcano_High/ I think there are gay dinosaurs in a band and it's going to be the apocalypse? I have also heard nothing but good things about this.

-Things I watched friends play-

Signalis https://store.steampowered.com/app/1262350/SIGNALIS/ This was a pretty big one. You probably already know it, right? Watched a friend play this and I missed various parts but I understood a solid bit of it. hey. robotgirls are always getting put in these fucked up situations. have you noticed this? one time i got really high and cried about it. it isn't fair

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk https://store.steampowered.com/app/1353230/Bomb_Rush_Cyberfunk/ This one was also probably big enough you don't need me to sing its praises. but it looked really neat. swag.

-Various Thoughts-

Lately I've been thinking more about design and narrative. I feel like I haven't been doing as much analysis as I should be when it comes to games. I want to dissect more what games are saying and figure out meaning. Also attempt to see how the mechanics aid in that. I feel like most of my own work is pretty abstract & random. I simply make what I like. While that's fun and all, I still want to improve in a lot of ways, especially in having more of a theme or message. Figuring out how other games accomplish this is obviously a good step toward this.

If you saw games here that interest you I highly urge you to take a look, many are pretty short, and I pretty explicitly wanted to highlight some smaller titles. If you know me you know I like to uplift small games. (Save for the occasional big game, but that's rare these days) I think it's healthy for you to play and support independently developed & published works. I don't want to ramble too much this time about why that's important, but I hope that you might have found something you may enjoy here and if not then I encourage you to find small stuff that you would like. And I would like to encourage everybody to share their findings as well! Little games need our help to be seen and talked about! They don't have the budgets the big ones do for advertising, and advertising on your own is a whole ton of work. If you like something, spread the word! I'm sure the developers would very much appreciate that.

[holmsister]

I think one of the things Dungeon Meshi is definitely about is how different people deal with being an outsider/marginalised/neurodivergent/what have you and basically what im getting at is that Kabru is TEXTBOOK "high functioning [insert diagnosis here]". Its that how they say it still? Don't care.

Basically. This man shows up and you listens to him talk and see how his party treats him and you think. Oh this is a cool guy who has his shit together. And then after like two pages you find out that he has constant flashbacks to Utaya that make him completely freeze, anxiety attacks, thought spirals, is incapable of analyzing his own feelings, is a stuttering mess when the stakes are high, has never done a chore in his life, keeps putting himself in triggering situations and re-traumatising himself, and the icing on the cake is when you read the extra material and it turns out he regularly forgets to eat and lives in a depression nest of dirty clothes and self-medicates insomnia with alcohol and also is 22. Which also kind of puts Misilril not wanting to let him go in another light - yeah for sure she's controlling and infantilising and also its not like she was really helping his issues but also she was not entirely wrong in her judgement. This man does NOT know how to take care of himself. He knows how to do the bare minimum so when he shows up at work the next day he can fool his coworkers into thinking hes got it together enough. For a bit.

He is DEEPLY unwell and he knows it but he is carried by the desperate wish to avoid another catastrophe. If he stops for a moment he KNOWS he'll collapse so he doesn't.

I also think this is why him acting nurse to Mithrun is such an important part of his arc. Its like. This person who has spent all of his adult life focused on a single objective disregarding everything else is faced with what happens when you do that for too long. And the result is a wet tissue of a creature who looks like he doesn't know where he is most of the time.

He is a man on the brink. I have no doubt he felt relieved when he decided he could trust Laios - not even in a Labru way, straight up because he knew he could not keep going like this.

But also like. Of all the characters in the manga, I think Senshi and Kabru are the most lonely ones. Except Senshi seems to be OK with solitude - for sure it's not entirely healthy to be alone for as long as he was but he definitely did well enough. He is very good at taking care of himself. Meanwhile Kabru *knows* a lot of people but can you really say he has friends? Rin, maybe, arguably, but even she does not seem to truly know him, you know? He keeps himself hidden from everyone. I think the only time we see him entirely honest is when he says to Laios that he wanted to be his friend, and hes so shocked when it comes out, you can tell he did not mean to say it. And differently from Senshi, he does NOT fare well alone. He likes people, he needs people. Again compare with Mithrun - he has like a squad of people taking care of him. If Kabru had a breakdown of that size can you say his party would go out of its way to help? Im not sure. Not because they're bad people, but because he's simply not that intimate with any of them.

Idk man it just struck me all of a sudden. Laios is weird and offputting and doesn't care about other humans the way Kabru does and YET he is infinitely more successful at building deep, meaningful relationships and taking care of himself as well. I think this is part of why Kabru is so fascinated with him as well. He can tell Laios has something he doesn't have. Wait this is turning into a whole another post I'll write this next time.

[maodoodle]

Hello fellow Darcy enjoyer/enthusiast/whichever more accurately applies, can you pretty pls grace us with your Darcy ramblings?

Tbh, I've seldom seen a lot of people talk abt them in-depth when they have so much untapped story/character/lore that'd be rlly cool to explore. Plus, I thought it was super cool someone else was just obsessed with them as I am and I always adore hearing people's thoughts on my fave :]]

Sorry if I come off as rude in this

You're not rude at all! I would honestly love to ramble about Darcy more on here since I usually do it on other socials lol. I highly agree that people don't talk about Darcy enough, despite being a very detailed and unique character, I've honestly never seen a character quite like Darcy. There's been many possession arcs in shows, many villains that have the mixed goofy yet threatening personality, but not like how Darcy is. Plus, it goes deeper than just a possession arc, this is canonically a new reborn being that is taking steps to become an immortal God because it craves not just power, but also life. Its biggest fear isn't even losing control, although it definitely doesn't want to. Its biggest fear is death and irrelevance. It is why change (the message of Amphibia as a whole) is hated for both the Core and Darcy; change does include the life cycle ending with death.

Also the amount of mischaracterization Darcy gets sadly must be addressed. Darcy is separately credited from Marcy and the Core for a reason; because she is not just one or the other. She is not evil Marcy or simply the Core using Marcy's voice, they're genuinely a fusion that has plans on altering their own personality, to get rid of what they hate and keep what they like, becoming their own new person as a way to "start over". Yes, the Core is in main control, but to say that Marcy's host body doesn't affect them or how they act/think is very inaccurate, it most certainly does. It's why Darcy would not be Darcy if the Core had decided to possess someone else, such as Anne, Sasha or Andrias. They would have a new name, new personality and have different traits and interests. (Also Darcy is canonically a multiple pronoun user, she/they/it, I've also personally never seen another character with multiple pronouns either besides the Collector from Owl House. I think that's super neat!)

But yes, I really love that Darcy is an immortal God in the making. She's a perfect blend of cold and calculating with the mix of goofy and entertaining, she has such a wonderfully unique design, one that is so iconic that whenever another character with horns rolls around, you'll usually see the "Is that Darcy from Amphibia" comment somewhere. Also the way that their eyes function!! I headcanon that their pupils are very expressive, since the round pupils turn into scratchy lines when Darcy experiences fear in "All In". Plus the chest eye functions like them too, that's such an eerie detail. Darcy is very creature coded; a bunch of newts within the Core have no idea what having a human body is like until Darcy is "born", plus, they are finally experiencing their dream. To be alive again, to breathe, to feel, to consume. Speaking of consuming, I will forever be sad that Darcy's insatiable hunger and craving for food was toned down in the final version of the show, it's SUCH a fitting detail that helps the audience remember that this is a character that FEARS DEATH and LOVES LIFE. That is its TRUE biggest dream, the conquering and calamity box aside. Of course we can't forget about her iconic scythe and how much of a skilled fighter Darcy is, despite the Marcy journal confirming that Marcy's physical body was not at 100%. It was still injured and weak. And yet Darcy can beat a dual-wielding warrior and a toad leader with a legendary hammer in a 2v1 fight?? Darcy may have lost at the very end, but they had Sasha and Grime down for the count up until Andrias was a distraction for them. Darcy's ego was her true downfall; and it fits very well, in my opinion. Some people have issue with the cord being the way to kill Darcy, but I think the cord was planned to be temporary up until the success of the invasion. I believe this since Matt stated during a comicon signing that Darcy would've waited a few years before "freezing" themselves and finally becoming an immortal being with all their new and advanced tech, if they had won the invasion. So it makes sense that the cord was more of a temporary beginning stage of Darcy, and that it was just sadly an easier target at the time. HOWEVER, people that say Darcy can be quickly beaten due to it are very mistaken. Darcy may have let their ego put their guard down, but in a fight where they're focused on their opponent, there is no way you could just cut their cord. They're very skilled and agile, and can attack and block very fluidly, as seen in the All In fight.

I think everyone can agree that Darcy deserved more screentime, and it makes perfect sense as to why. They're such an important part of the entire season 3 plot, especially in the finales, it's crazy that someone with such crazy lore and unique premise and high importance only has around 11-13 minutes of content. And that's including their short appearances in Broken Karaoke and Chibiverse, so if you only include the canon show, it's just under 10 minutes! It's also crazy that despite Darcy clearly being one of the fan favorites, people who usually talk about Amphibia don't talk much about Darcy. Either that, or if they do, it's....basically the mischaracterization issue. I've heard many times that folks believe it's an evil version of Marcy when that's further from the truth. If you DO want to hear a very accurate and amazing analysis on Darcy, please check out my friend Quinnamon's recent Amphibia video and click the Darcy section (although the entire video is worth a watch, it's all super well done):

There's a lottt I could ramble about with Darcy, but if I said all of it on one post, we'd be here all month AND it wouldn't be as fun to continue rambling on more specific things regarding Darcy if they're asked in my inbox after this post. Like I said, I'd love to talk about Darcy more on here since I normally just repost and lurk around here lol. Maybe that'll change and I'll post my art more on here if that interests people too! I really appreciate seeing more Darcy fans around, especially when they understand how complex Darcy is and how important and intriguing they are to the entire series. Sorry if this is all over the place, I wasn't fully sure what to ramble about since the question wasn't specific (not your fault at all, its just how my brain works LMAO). Thank you so much for inboxing me!!

[blackberryshortcake]

"A Quest"

Chapter 4: Fireball Fixes Nothing.

Sebastian Michaelis x Femreader <3

Master List

Synopsis: With nothing else to turn to this demigod does what she can do best, get shitfaced.

Warnings: This fic will contain mature content such as foul language, alcohol consumption, smoking, general inappropriate behavior (MDNI 18+), mentions of blood, weapons, and death

If you are sensitive to any of the above warnings pass this one up.

It was 6 a.m. now. The sun had already begun to rise in the east, almost fully effaced beyond the horizon. Sebastian had begun the day's preparations nearly two hours ago, and the servants had already arisen to greet the day. He had spotted her running outside the manor when he arrived in the kitchen at 4 a.m., silently watching her from the shadows and the kitchen window.

She was fast, even if she wasn’t running at full speed. He observed the way her toned legs flexed when her foot planted itself on the ground. He saw the way the demon dog matched her pace evenly at her side. She looked nothing short of athletic, like a true Olympian. Sebastian knew that the master wanted to keep her around to use in his game. However, what the master had yet to see was that she was a loose cannon, she was a liability.

The gods were completely silent. Not a sound, a sign, nothing. Perhaps it was her fault. After all, she wasn’t living in the woods for no reason. Maybe this was a punishment, a personal nightmare crafted by Dionysus himself. She’d always been a bit of a nuisance to the gods. It wasn’t until everything happened with that Poseidon kid that it all boiled over.

The bottle of Fireball wasn’t going to last very long; it was already half empty, and she felt nothing. Maybe that blonde guy she saw in the kitchen might know where to find something stronger. Wine and whiskey just wouldn’t cut it.

She tiptoed silently around the manor, bare feet making gentle contact with the ground. She had her heart set on making it to the kitchen without running into anyone, especially that demon. After the first day, she had settled on treating him as just another warm-blooded, thinking creature like everyone else in the manor. That was until yesterday.

The way he reacted was out of character for him or at least the character he presented himself as. She remembered the day she got here, when she reacted purely on instinct, bringing her sword to his throat. He didn’t flinch. Hell, he didn’t even blink. But yesterday… he reacted like a caged animal.

Maybe she went too far. After all, she didn’t even have a complete understanding of what HE really was. What she did to him wasn’t even that bad… right?

Sebastian remembered it differently. To him, it was awful. He had never really been intoxicated before. Sure, he’d seen the effects alcohol and other hallucinogenic substances had on humans. He even had the power to make mortals hallucinate. But what she did to him made him feel weak.

In that split moment, he saw a glimpse of the Underworld its bleak, stony environment bathed in cool black tones and the sound of the River Styx's rushing water. Listening closely would reveal the moans and cries of those trapped along its banks, unable to enter the afterlife.

Then he saw a grand city from the highest point, bathed in gold and carved from marble. The sound of an argument could be heard behind him. The language spoken between those arguing was one he hadn’t heard in millennia.

The third and final thing he saw was a tree on the hill. The roar of a Minotaur being slain could be heard in the distance, but that wasn’t what overtook his senses. It was the smell of dew in the grass and the faint, smoky aroma of a campfire in the distance.

Why was he seeing this? How was he seeing this? He was a demon, a creature of old. One whose sole purpose was to tempt humans and consume their souls to ensure they had no right to enter God’s kingdom. Why would she do this to him? How did she do this to him? The whole situation drove him mad.

It wasn’t the power she had over him that made Sebastian feel weak. It was the fact that in those brief moments—those minuscule glimpses of chaos and locations that were mere fiction in this world, he felt mortal… human.

She had made it all the way to the servants’ ward in the basement of the manor. Her hair was wet and cold from the icy bath she had taken merely thirty minutes beforehand. Her feet made almost no sound as they made contact with the concrete below.

Her head peeked through the kitchen door and she surveyed the room before her. Sebastian was nowhere to be found—only the blond man who stood at the counter with an unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth.

“You know you have to light those for them to work.”

He jumped slightly. “Hasn’t anyone told ya not to sneak up on a man with a knife?”

She pondered. “I’m pretty sure I was taught to always sneak up on the person with a knife. You announce your presence and that’s how they getcha.” She made an abstract stabbing motion in the air.

Baldroy—as she came to know him—took a second to take in her appearance. Her hair dripping wet, shoes nowhere to be found, and a nightgown Sebastian had given her that she had modified slightly to account for the summer heat. She had cut the sleeves into straps and most of the length off so it now sat at mid-thigh.

The cook blushed slightly as he rubbed the back of his head, clearly the only one in the manor truly put off by her provocativeness.

“Is there anything I can do for you, ma’am? Breakfast won’t be ready till 8.”

“Well, don’t call me ‘ma’am,’ and yeah, I need a favor.”

He narrowed his eyes at the woman. “What exactly would you need from me?”

“Have any booze by chance? Something stronger than wine.”

Baldroy widened his eyes a bit at her question. “I dunno if Sebastian would like that, seeing as you're a guest and all.”

“Well, Sebastian isn’t here. And as far as I can tell, he’s not the boss of me.”

“He is the boss of me.”

“Fair point. However, what he doesn’t know won’t kill him.”

Baldroy sighed, clearly sensing her desperation. He jerked his head to his right.

“There’s a bottle of gin up there, but you didn’t hear it from me. Got it?”

“Got it.”

................

A soft knock on her bedroom door went completely unnoticed to the now-intoxicated demigod. The combination of gin, cinnamon whiskey and wine is made from a pitcher of water taking full effect. The sheer amount of booze in her system would have probably put a normal person in the hospital,considering the ‘bottle’ the cook gave her was nearly a entire handle. The discarded bottle now completely empty. 

The knock rang out once more. For most, it was entirely unacceptable to be drunk at 8:30 a.m. in the middle of the week. However, for the daughter of the god of wine, it was a regular Tuesday.

When Sebastian received no answer, he took it upon himself to enter the room. The previous day’s events sat unwell with him. At first, the presence of the girl was entertaining, to say the least—having found her unconscious with a large black dog curled into her side. He had assumed this would bring him some form of entertainment in the long haul of this contract. However, when she beat him in a trivial arm-wrestling match, he came to learn a new emotion: worry. Or perhaps doubt.

Would this girl become an issue?

He knew all too well the young master wanted her around not only for his own amusement but rather as a pawn. Having a demigod on one’s side could prove rather useful, especially when said demigod could cause intoxication with just a look in the eyes. Against his better judgment though he found himself with a strange infatuation for her. She was a divine being but raised as though she was human. He should know better than to trust or even keep her around yet he agreed with the master she could be very useful. 

And when the master finally did call upon her, he found said demigod face down in bed, empty bottles of gin and Fireball at her side, and a noticeable smell of booze and cigarettes in the room.

The demon punched the bridge of his nose, frustrated at the sight. He reached a gloved hand for her shoulder and shook it violently.

She merely groaned and turned to the other side, away from Sebastian’s hardened gaze. Odysseus seized the opportunity to jump off the bed and walk calmly out the door, most likely in search of Finnan, as the two had grown close in the past week.

“How unbecoming of you,” Sebastian sighed once more before advancing to the other side of the bed to violently yank the curtains open.

Sunlight poured into the room, causing the girl to flinch and draw the covers over her head.

“Madam, I suggest it is time you arise from your slumber.”

“Sebastian, leave me alone,” her words slurred, hardly intelligible.

“I suppose I shouldn’t have expected anything less from a child of Dionysus.”

“Keep my dad’s name outta your mouth,” she peeked out from the comfort of her bed, merely to stare down Sebastian.

“Oh, I am quite certain your father was renowned for stumbling around Olympus drunk and rather rowdy, if I do say so myself.”

If she hadn’t been so wasted, perhaps she would have realized Sebastian was baiting her.

“Yo-you don’t know shit about mah dad.”

“Hmmm, I see. Well, I suggest you sober up. The master has requested your presence. I suppose I’ll have to inform him the meeting must be pushed back to this afternoon.”

She merely hummed, sinking back into her sheets.

Sebastian glanced at his pocket watch, then made a quiet exit. He had more pressing matter to attend to then a geeked out demigod passed out in her own slobber.  He stopped in his tracks, though, just outside the door. The distinct sound of her vomiting made him grimace.

Even immortals can’t hold their liquor sometimes.

................

Here she was, just outside the door to Ciel’s study, a pair of sunglasses she had found in her bag upon her face. She was dressed in the leggings and crew neck she had awoken in. With no access to a typical hangover cure like ginger ale or advil she had to tough it out like it was the Stone Age.

Ciel was honestly baffled when she opened the door without even announcing herself. He had requested her presence nearly four hours ago, and here she was late and hungover.

Ciel scoffed as she sat in the chair across from his cluttered desk.

“I requested you hours ago, and here you are, four hours later, smelling of booze and rife with bottle-ache. Sebastian tells me he found you passed out drunk at 8 o’clock in the morning.”

She winced at the volume of his voice. This was going to be a long day.

“Can you keep it down?” she groaned as the dull ache in the back of her head took hold.

“I suppose I should not be surprised, considering your lineage,” the boy scowled.

“Oh, whatever. What do you need?”

She hardly noticed Sebastian entering the room not until he set down a cup of hot tea in front of her. She picked up the cup gently, inhaling the aroma of ginger it brought forth. The smell alone calmed her nauseated stomach.

Ciel spoke as he handed her a file. “It has been brought to my attention that, over the past week, five girls from a small village just outside London have disappeared under rather concerning circumstances.”

She took the sunglasses off her eyes and brought them to the top of her head, waiting for Ciel to continue.

“All the disappearances happened in the late hours, with little to no witnesses. In addition to that, a message was found inscribed on a stone wall nearby.” Ciel looked at her expectantly. There, in the middle of the file, was a crude reconstruction of a language she truly hadn’t expected to see.

Her heart thumped in her ears as she attempted to transcribe the text. She drew her eyes up from the paper to Ciel, then over his shoulder to Sebastian. Surely, he also knew.

Her voice caught in her throat as she attempted to speak.

“It’s Greek. No—not the kind you’ve probably seen before. It’s Mycenaean Greek, the language that would have been spoken around the time The Iliad took place,” she rambled. Her head swam with thoughts that these girls were most likely missing because of her.

“Can you translate it?” Ciel’s voice was sharp, like a knife. He knew she had some hand in this. And although Sebastian had a faint idea of what it said, he wanted to hear it from her.

“W-well, it’s hard to make out, but I can read the word Zagreus. I think this is ‘child,’” she pointed to some characters. “I’m pretty sure this is ‘sister’... and that’s ‘murder,’” she trailed off, refusing to make eye contact with the pair.

She felt like a child being interrogated in the principal’s office—perhaps for something dumb like recording a school fight.

“Who is Zagreus?”

“My father. It’s an epithet for Dionysus.”

“Do you know who did this?” Ciel’s voice was stern, clearly unhappy to be handed another supernatural case from the Queen.

“Sort of… Quite a few months back I got attacked by a group of harpies just outside of camp. I killed two, but one got away—not before digging her claws into my side.” She rubbed the now phantom wound just below where her ribs ended. “She muttered something before taking off. Ody chased her but couldn’t catch up.”

Ciel was honestly shocked how fast she had straightened up, having practically stumbled her way into the study just moments earlier.

“And you believe this harpy is responsible?” He could hardly believe that not only was she here in the first place, but she may have brought a monster with her.

“Well, I mean… a few weeks after that, there had been quite a few reports of missing girls and women around New York, but it was the rumors that threw me off, really. I had overheard a few satyrs talking about some ‘deformed-looking bird monster,’ as they put it. But hearing about this makes me think… maybe this one got her hands on some Circe-level magic and is turning girls into harpies?”

The idea alone was practically absurd. Sure, there were stories of harpies kidnapping folks and telling prophecies of death, but actually turning mortal women into monsters? That was insane let alone plausible.

She flipped more through the file. A photo of each missing girl along with a short summary of who they were was inside. But perhaps that wasn’t the worst of it.

There, in black ink, were the details of the suspicious deaths of four men from the same village. The cause of death…. blood loss due to excessive lacerations. Claw marks.

The harpy wasn’t just kidnapping girls but also mauling men.

She dragged a hand down her face.

This is fucked.

Sebastian hadn’t said a word this whole time, merely studying the demigod’s words and movements. He had now come to believe she may pose a threat to his master, his contract.

“I believe you and Sebastian will be able to handle this, do you not?”

“I mean, yeah. Harpies are low on the threat list. But this… this is a Pandora’s box. In my world, monsters and mortals do not mix—or at least, they’re not supposed to. The gods make sure of that. But the gods aren’t here. Who knows what could go wrong?”

“I see. However, there isn’t anything Sebastian can’t do, and I believe he will need your help with this one. I suggest the two of you get to work. Now leave me. I have a lot of work to do.”

“Can I take this with me?” She held up the file.

“Very well.” Ciel waved her off, already nose-deep in the stack of papers on his desk.

The door had barely shut behind her for she was choked slammed into the wall. Sebastian had his gloved hand wrapped tight around her throat. He squeezed hard before leaning in unnecessarily close to her face. She struggled regretting letting the alcohol wrap its intoxicating tendrils around her grey matter. The pounding in head was worse than before and the unwelcome smell of brimstone flooded her senses. 

“So help me if this little ‘quest’ of yours places my master in harm's way I will not hesitate to gut you where you stand.” he seethed.

He released the pressure on her throat slightly allowing her to speak. 

“We just have to lure them out.” She croaked wrapping her hands around his wrist. 

Their eyes were at a stalemate never breaking contact.

“Yes however if one monster could get her so can others, the master's soul is mine.” 

So that's what he's worried about a monster stealing Ciel's soul. 

“I don't think monsters are into that sort of thing just you” 

Her whole body was on fire and the sheer amount of malice leaking from him was suffocating. The way his eyes had shifted nearly lighting up the hallway with their crimson glow. 

“Do you believe you can handle these creatures?” 

Sebastian had never seen her in action; he wouldn't know if she could really kill one of these things let alone 6 of them. His hand had shifted from her throat to the juncture of her neck and shoulder. He was exhausted, for many years he was able to avoid all the fuss of other demons and grim reapers and any other supernatural freak who dared to cross his path but in a few short years he's had more runs than he'd like to care for. And this was really just the icing on the cake: a demigod, her monster dog and now winged creatures that were mauling humans to death. The whole situation gave him a headache. 

She took a moment to look at him. He was clearly depilated and desperate at this point. She didn't even know that demons could feel emotion or anything really. She just assumed that the way he acted was because of the odd Faustian deal he made with Ciel. How could she not feel for him she'd seen even the cruelest of gods crack ever so often what made him different.

Sebastian didn't really comprehend that fact that this godchild didn't know much about demons or what they were capable of, she wasn't raised in an environment that taught her to fear them and their tempting ways. He had recalled the Greeks as being rather morally grey, less heaven and hell more respect the divine and you'll be fine. 

The air around them shifts from one of anger to that of understanding, or perhaps one-sided empathy. He saw the way she had been looking at him. He should feel sick or perhaps amused that an immortal being was gazing at him with a sullen gaze, yet he didn't, he couldn't. He shouldn't feel anything let alone shame for choking her less than two minutes ago.

She glazed up at him, eyes flicking down from his eyes to his lips and then back up. Surely, she wouldn't. She hated him, for the way he treated Ody to the way he was clearly taking advantage of everyone around him but why did she feel like this. Why was she feeling sympathy for him? He was very good at hiding it but she could see just beyond that face he wore around. But something in her told her that maybe he wasn't all that bad. Or maybe it was the fact he truly looked perfect, a picturesque version of a man. 

He had taken note of her wandering eyes. He hated the way she was so crass and brutish most of the time but the way she warmed his very being drew him right back in. She was everything he could never be— divine. Without a second thought he surged forward meeting her half way with a kiss that wasn't as sinful as he was used to. It wasn't one made of love or lust but truly supernatural. The way she moved her lips against his was captivating. He couldn't pull away if he wanted to and neither could she. They were caught in a dance that they both new well however this time it felt different. This time it felt like he had hung the moon just for her and she gave him the sun. She was the one who had pulled back first, every bit of air stolen from her lungs. 

Where the hell did that come from? 

She stumbled over her words “I uu-mmm gotta go make up a plan for how were gonna catch these thing” 

Smooth Y/N real smooth.

Sebastian released the death grip he had on her hip stepping back allowing her to make her less than graceful escape. 

I can not believe we just did that.

................

A Quest had finally unveiled itself, yet it seems this little gods mind is elsewhere. Whatever shall she do.

Stay Tuned

................

Another chapter on the books, keep an eye out for chapter 5 soon things are really gonna start ramping up ;). Love, Shortcake <3

[styrmwb]

Rambling About Magic the Gathering X Final Fantasy - Final Fantasy V

Did you know FFV is one of my personal top favorite FF games? Haha. Yeah.

Gaelicat

I'm not sure why it gets stronger with artifacts, but the art on this is good, and it's a good choice for a monster to fill out the generic ranks.

Restoration Magic

Krile appearance! These tiered spell cards are a really cool way to do the different levels of magic. I really really like the rendition of Krile here, in her White Mage garb with the little ears.

Travel the Overworld

Bartz is the perfect card for this more generic JRPG concept. It's like, his whole character. There's a few towns that could be in the art, but I'm leaning towards Tule, since it's the first town you visit, and has blue roofing. Honestly, I feel like this could just Be Bartz's card, over his actual card.

Evil Reawakened

The art on this almost looks a bit like a 3D or clay model, but I kinda love it. The representation of the crystal room is a very cool thing.

Tonberry

You GOTTA have a Tonberry in this set. The stun counter makes me think of how they have a delayed actual attack in the games, where they have to approach you first, and of course once it can actually attack it's gonna rush in for the kill. A very very minor nitpick, but I wish the art was in that damp cave you find them in. It's still awesome though.

Coral Sword

Faris appearance!!!! It really, REALLY hurts that my 2nd favorite character in this game only gets an art appearance, but I'm happy she's at least here at all, in what seems to be her Knight outfit. As the coral sword is usually lightning aspected, I think that's what the first strike represents. Also, can I just say, I love how they depicted the sword itself.

Gilgamesh, Master-at-Arms

HERE HE IS! THE BIG MAN ON THE BIG BRIDGE! My FIRST favorite character in this game, and I could not be happier about how his card turned out. First, both his arts are incredible, the main art having that in front of the moon jump, and the alt having a more classic, japanese style befitting the samurai that he is. His ability perfectly fits his search for weapons, but the fact that it's six cards feels like it's his multiple arms. Searching the library could also be interpreted as jumping through dimensions, but that could be a stretch, maybe.

Sandworm

For as little V cards as there are, I think I would have preferred the X sandworm, purely for Shooting Star bias. Regardless, very cool art, and I like how it bursts out of the land to fuck up said land and switch it around.

Self-Destruct

They could have just used a bomb, but they instead decided to represent a story moment, and I'm really appreciative of that. Using the moment where Gilgamesh sacrifices himself to defeat Necrophobe makes me sad and happy, and I love the art rendition of it, where you can still see his silhouette in the explosion

Bartz and Boko

This is Bartz's aformentioned actual card, but it really just feels like a Boko card where Bartz is also there, considering the bird centric theming of it. I do like the art though, Bartz's outfit is one of my favorite designs in the series, and the two of them do deserve to be together.

Galuf's Final Act

Galuf appearance! Something I'm realizing going through all of these is the amount of legendary creatures does make gameplay difficult, but cards like this I think are the perfect way to represent someone without Just making them a creature. Having Galuf's most important story moment as an actual card is great, I love how the creature gets stronger then passes its strength down to someone else, just like Galuf and Krile. The art is also incredible, this is definitely one of my favorite cards.

Exdeath, Void Warlock/Neo Exdeath, Dimension's End

THE LAWS OF THE UNIVERSE MEAN NOTHING! I'm a little sad that he's not a tree, but I'll accept the green as that, and the fact they labeled him a spirit does show they know what they're doing. Similar to Cloud of Darkness and Xande, him getting his power from the graveyard (the void) makes a lot of sense. Might have been cool to make it exile though? Neo Exdeath's art looks like it's a high quality version of his sprite, in a good way, with the background giving that feel of the original.

Genji Glove

A perfect choice of equipment, with its usual wielder depicted in the art. I'll never be mad over more Gilgamesh. Though, ironically, while it's an FFV card, it feels a little more like later incarnations of the Genji Glove, like the VI version, where the double strike equals the "hold multiple weapons" trait. I'm not mad about this.

Magic Pot

MAGIC POT! One of my favorite enemies, though I prefer the XI version, this is obviously the one they should pick. I think the exiling is the equivalent of giving him something? Then of course once he leaves you get treasure. It's not a 1/1 recreation, but I think it works for what the gameplay needs. I also like how it has more defense than attack.

Gohn, Town of Ruin

I know these multicolor lands are mainly functional, like the effect came first then the theming, but for that fact I think I would have liked to see the Forest of Moore for this coloring, but it's a really minor complaint, you know. The art's incredible, really representing those vast plains Gohn lays in, with the mountain field around it. I see someone there, the blue tells me it's Bartz? Maybe?

Swamp

For our generic land, this swamp is the Ship Graveyard, which I think is an excellent choice. There's nothing specifically FF about this, but like a good shirt, the people who know get the real enjoyment out of this, and non fans can still get something too. I love the glow in the back.

Cid, Timeless Artificer

FFV's Cid looks properly wilty as he does, and Mid even gets to show up! I want to say they're specifically in the library of the Catapult, which I'm glad gets to get acknowledged if I'm correct.

This totals up to 16 out of 309 cards, for 5.1% of the deck. I'm honestly surprised at this, cause it felt like less. But I am grateful there's more than I thought. I do really wish they got more alt arts, like those numbered background cards, but to stay positive I think this has some cards that are a good way to represent characters while also spreading out the types of cards.

Things I would have added: ANY appearance by Lenna, like, they combined Balthier and Fran, what if we got a Tycoon Sisters card?? Come on, I'm begging you. Also, for the game with my FAVORITE incarnation of the job system, I really wish it got any job cards. Someone could have gotten a job master gimmick. When V is one of my top favorites, if not my favorite, it makes me sad to see it not get the love it deserves. But I got something.

[lady-nienna-the-magi]

GOD-LEVEL MOBY-DICK QUOTES that made me stare at the empty wall for minutes after reading them

There, then, he sat, holding up that imbecile candle in the heart of that almighty forlornness. There, then, he sat, the sign and symbol of a man without faith, hopelessly holding up hope in the midst of despair. There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody’s expense but his own. Here goes for a cool, collected dive at death and destruction, and the devil fetch the hindmost Beelzebub himself might climb up the side and step down into the cabin to chat with the captain, and it would not create any unsubduable excitement in the forecastle. And had you watched Ahab’s face that night, you would have thought that in him also two different things were warring. While his one live leg made lively echoes along the deck, every stroke of his dead limb sounded like a coffin-tap. On life and death this old man walked. Then Captain and crew become practical fatalists. - - Few or no words were spoken; and the silent ship, as if manned by painted sailors in wax, day after day tore on through all the swift madness and gladness of the demoniac waves. While in various silent ways the seamen of the Pequod were evincing their observance of this ominous incident at the first mere mention of the White Whale’s name to another ship. And as for Pirates, when they chance to cross each other’s cross-bones, the first hail is—“How many skulls?”—the same way that whalers hail—“How many barrels?” And that question once answered, pirates straightway steer apart, for they are infernal villains on both sides, and don’t like to see overmuch of each other’s villanous likenesses. they know what shipwrecks are, for out of sight of land, however inland, they have drowned full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew. Now, as you well know, it is not seldom the case in this conventional world of ours—watery or otherwise; that when a person placed in command over his fellow-men finds one of them to be very significantly his superior in general pride of manhood, straightway against that man he conceives an unconquerable dislike and bitterness; and if he have a chance he will pull down and pulverize that subaltern’s tower, and make a little heap of dust of it. that strange forbearance and unwillingness to stir up the deeper passionateness in any already ireful being—a repugnance most felt, when felt at all, by really valiant men even when aggrieved—this nameless phantom feeling, gentlemen, stole over Steelkilt. But, gentlemen, the fool had been branded for the slaughter by the gods. - - - Yet complete revenge he had, and without being the avenger. For by a mysterious fatality, Heaven itself seemed to step in to take out of his hands into its own the damning thing he would have done. Consider, once more, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began. - - Consider all this; and then turn to this green, gentle, and most docile earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself? For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the half known life. God keep thee! Push not off from that isle, thou canst never return! A chance-like apparition of life

the only thing i can say is POETIC FUCKING CINEMA !! Herman my man really had to go that hard, oh my FUCKING GOD - at times he's playing with the language like a cat does with a mouse and both know how it ends, he keeps lifting these characters out from the backround, pointing out O YOUNG AMBITION, WORDLY GREATNESS IS BUT DISEASE - and flinging the poor damn soul directly to hell

as a writer i am both making notes, crying, giving up, and madly in love, bitch what the hell ???? gothic sea tale is taking more and more gothic turns before better to perish in that howling infinite..

[inventors-fair]

High Perfects: LRW/SHM Winners!

Our winners this past contest are @bergdg, @deg99 and @wildcardgamez!

@bergdg — Gilt-Leaf Faultless / Safehold Warden

Easy transformation mechanics make for a pretty good time. You have the part of the turn, you've got it as a single-transformation change, and once you read the backside you know what's about to happen. I'll talk about the mechanics secondarily, but the easy switch from Lorwyn's jerk elves to Shadowmoor's preservationists is represented quite well here. It's not even selfish on the front side, just a whole vibe of personal antagonism—and yet, the Warden turns it into a kind of selflessness that makes the Lorwyn elves seem all the stranger. I loved the fact that elves on this plane have a bit of a mean streak. Shadowmoor's elves are equally mysterious and mystical to me, and those motions are represented here with all the mono-green goodness that you can imagine.

Whether or not we get another three-color MTG set on a return plane is something that I can't speak to. The double-hybrid allowing for this to remain mono-green in all its multicolored identity is really cool because you've really mashed together all the things that green can possibly do besides trample, and it works! Not gonna lie, this is a lot of text. All of it groks, but it's still quite a bit, especially with the flavor text. But what the heck, it's done right enough that it's still an awesome way to work up the early grind of beefing the Faultless before the Warden spreads the love. It would for sure make me excited to see some of the counter synergies that one might work up, and I like the gameplay potential of one side building resources and the other side using those resources across the board. Really neat!

@deg99 — Gloryblaze Flamekin / Smoldering Cinders

Hey look, we're using the ol' art contest art! I really love that, actually—Ashling was depicted in one of them, I recall that, and that black-bone Cinder feeling is on point for sure. Also, what a strange and unique card! Mono-redness for the Flamekin checks out, and the disturbance balances mechanically as well. It's odd, but it's possible to put the counters on an opponent's creature and then have that tick down too, which seems... Well, it seems like a niche application but one that's got potential for brewers! Aggressive attacks with your own set of beaters seems like the right plan too. It'll burn out, but that's the point of it. Getting a +3/+3 aura (essentially) for two mana in those colors after your turn-two beater hits the bin? Not insignificant for sure.

I think that the story here is minimal, but this is a bottom-up design that utilizes the worlds of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor to the prompt in a way that I still genuinely appreciate. The front-side Flamekin rushes out, and the flame dwindles because it rushed out too soon. And when it's reduced to cinders, that burning passion becomes hatred, the spite of the Cinders. That flame is snatched up and devoured by whomever claims it. Removal by speed, removal by avarice. It's not necessarily deep and it's not asking to be; the Disturb mirror affects each creature in a similar enough way, just with different frames of mind. I appreciate that a lot! I think both mono-red and Rakdos aggro decks in a standard environment would appreciate this immensely, and I can see how any amount of evasion can stack this up for sure. I think you did a great job here.

@wildcardgamez — Pyrelight Ritualist / Darksmoke Ritualist

The only mechanical wonder I have is the mana-ability-transforming part and the stack, but I suppose that day/night doesn't use the stack in that sense either, so—maybe weirdness is just inherent in transforming DFCs, who'da thought. A 1/1 haster that can ramp you out isn't so strange. The Flamekin have had their share of rituals, and at uncommon for this rate, it's reasonable to see this be not too overpowered. Adding RRRR would be way too much, I think, especially because that would take away from the backside mirror. I love the way that you make the player work for that transformation, because it's both a cool poke into the limited themes, potentially, as well as a fantastic flavor indication of what happens to the Flamekin in the darkness of the Aurora.

The flavor text being mirrored here is absolutely stellar work. You've perfectly encapsulated the feeling of joyous embers to insidious miasma, where the viewer and their relationship to the cards is what matters here. This is the same character in a mirror world, with skills of their other life but none of the same emotions, which is precisely what I was hoping we'd see more of in this contest. The fact that they share the same typeline is really awesome as well. What exists in one world must exist in the other somehow, though not as it first may seem. Yeah, no, I got nothin' else but praise for this execution. Bringing aggro rituals to limited is definitely niche but great for bombs if you can get them off. Bringing this kind of focused worldbuilding is even better.

[biomic]

Hi! I see a lot of screenshots and such from your blog for things like (I believe) Kamen Rider(?) I might be wrong please forgive me if so. I have always had a sort of vague interest in sentai media but never knew good hopping on points, do you have any personal recommendations for where an absolute beginner might jump in to watch shows like that?

if you're interested in tokusatsu, you can really start anywhere that looks cool or interesting to you! most seasons, aside from some anniversaries and the very rare sequel show, are pretty self-contained for the most part. diehard fans will make a big deal out of "good and bad starting points" but the truth is every show has been someone's first and hooked them on the genre, even the "bad" seasons (the poor quality of which is often exaggerated by fandom anyway) or the experimental entries not indicative of the wider franchise they're part of

but! if you want some real beginner friendly, you'll-probably-have-fun-with-this toku, my go-to recs for The Big Three™:

if you want to follow a team of heroes grow together as they fight evil in increasingly silly scenarios, super sentai's probably the series for you (and my favorite ^_^)

watch kiramager if you want a straightforward throwback to classic sentai. it's a back-to-basics season that gives you a good baseline of what sentai as a whole can be, while elevated enough by its stellar cast and infectious energy so as to never feel generic

shinkenger takes a more dramatic approach to the usual sentai formula, following a team of samurai recruited to serve under a lord who isn't telling them everything he knows. an incredibly stylish show that's almost sure to leave an impression

kamen rider began as a tragic hero, kidnapped by the villainous organization shocker and turned into a cyborg against his will, ultimately escaping and using his newfound abilities to put an end to their evil. since the original story, kamen rider has gone through a whole host of various different tones and storylines, arguably becoming the most versatile of the big franchises, though certain elements remain consistent like the near ever-present bug motif or our heroes using powers derived from evil for the sake of good

created in the wake of the 2011 tohoku earthquake disaster, kamen rider fourze was made with the goal to make children smile again, and that desire led to something really special. arguably The Power of Friendship™ show to end all others, and while its upbeat tone might not exactly be in line with Classic Kamen Rider™, it stands as a great entry point thanks to the passion behind it and its clear love for the genre

probably best experienced as blind as possible, kamen rider build is a rollercoaster of a series full of high stakes, mystery, intrigue, and Heated Drama Between Men™. if you want something more serialized that'll keep you on the edge of your seat throughout, build's one of the very best

i also wanna mention kamen rider gotchard, the currently airing series! we're only 8 episodes in at the time of this post, so you could catch up quick while still going through the backlog. very much a back-to-basics season, introducing pokemon-style creatures for our protagonists to catch in addition to the usual superheroics. it's been pretty cute so far :)

ultraman is a sci-fi series that typically follows a defense team created to defend the earth from aliens and kaiju, aided by the giant of light, ultraman. as opposed to the other two franchises where there's often a serial plot to follow and a centralized villain faction, ultra typically thrives with telling standalone sci-fi stories, usually aligning with a show's overarching theme and often compared to shows like star trek or the twilight zone, though recent seasons have been more willing to switch up the format

ultraman x is for anyone who's ever asked, "but... what if we could be friends with godzilla?" young XiO scientist daichi becomes bonded with the alien ultraman x and work together to protect the earth and fight for a future where humans, aliens, and kaiju can coexist. to me this is like, the platonic ideal of what ultraman is, and a perfect starting point because of it. also features several crossover episodes with past ultra seasons throughout the show, but it's all still very new-viewer friendly and could even entice you to check out some of those shows yourself!

ultraman orb, the 50th anniversary of the series, changes course by making the defense team a background component in favor of following amateur investigators and the mysterious, lone wanderer who's suddenly entered their lives (hint: he's ultraman). another iconic entry in the Heated Drama Between Men Cinematic Universe and a nice balance between ultra's classic status quo and a more modern ongoing narrative

i'd also be remiss not to mention the currently airing ultraman blazar, which i unfortunately have not been able to keep up with due to outside circumstances but have heard NOTHING but glowing praise for. it's simulcast on youtube every week with english subtitles AND an optional english dub!

pretty much all of these can be snagged over at nyaa(.)si, and x and orb can be watched legally over on tubitv(.)com!

[circlejourney]

Finished TOH season 1, here comes my bullet point cascade about episodes 14 - 19.

(As a side note, I don't usually get a chance to externalise my thoughts about a work of fiction to this level of detail because I usually binge straight through it. But yeah I tend to think about writing on a craft level a lot and this is part of why I like to go into something with absolutely no spoilers, I get a lot out of seeing how stories craft twists and reveals)

Seeing the final 2 episodes really shows me what this show can do when it's not trying to cram a full plot structure into every episode. I am so here for a society of control plotline. An autocracy that limits what magic people can do in order to control them, uses schools as instruments in furthering it, and produces this sense of dire competitiveness that sometimes turns spiteful...is a theme that really gets to the heart of my own life growing up. I like how the show has kind of gradually built up the nature of this world without playing all of its cards right away.

I think that, although Luz had never quite been shown doing all the things she did with magic in the finale double ep, it all followed on both her personality (rash, resourceful, going where no one else would) and the skills we had seen her learn. I gained a lot of respect for her in the finale of the last episode because she really got her act together.

Speaking of Luz, she has kinda put a target on her back? Surely if she starts spreading her way of doing magic, she's going to become seen as a threat in some way, especially if wild magic and mixing types of magic is so frowned upon? But of course, she is doing magic straight from the island, rebuilding it from first principles and all, so she is living embodiment of the kinds of magic Belos tried to eradicate/sever the people from

Also interesting she can't do her spells in the human world so she must be channelling the ambient power from the environment; no one can take it from her as long as she remembers how to draw the symbols and is able to draw them in some way

The reveal about the curse and its circumstances was really good...it explains so much about Lilith's personality and motivations and makes her split intentions between the emperor and Eda make so much sense. “Why were you so easy to curse” and generally Lilith mocking her about the effects of the curse is so awful though, given she did it to cheat at the entrance test. Wow in hindsight this makes it super in-character that she empowered Amity during that fight. She is not at all averse to playing dirty and this hasn't changed. (I like that a lot of characters' hair colours have changed…some sort of symbolism about different selves there)

Fight between her and Eda was really fucking cool...the animation...I wonder about the implications of them both now being significantly weakened. Definitely feels like a passing of the torch...to Luz and Amity? Luz is definitely growing into the role, does she now get to use Owlbert? Does Eda get to keep her ability to turn into creature?

Also, considering the petrification was televised, I wonder how Amity is going to feel about the whole happening, considering how people she cared about were involved...and whether Lilith betraying the emperor will move her away from joining his coven.

Speaking of Luz and Amity, taking 2 steps back...they're so. Cute. I am all about this. I love how flustered Amity gets around Luz to the point of going completely OOC. I love the dance fight sequence, the way they seamlessly performed magic together, unpremeditated, and defeated the Grom while dancing. The way they portrayed Amity's anxiety about asking Luz to the dance and how Luz did so anyway. The whole episode is really efficient. Also, as of the end of S1, I find it more believable that she is attracted to Luz now.

Also really liked Understanding Willow. Is it just me or does Willow feel like she could be read as plural coded? I don't know if the show peers into anyone else's mind as a landscape but...she always struck me as having some mental health stuff going on, what with the way she would flip out, so I was really nervous when the episode premise was looking at her memories and. God. I care her. I only wish that they had given her a bit more time to process this new information about that formative memory of being cast aside by Amity

Ok, Emperor Belos is definitely not supposed to be alive right now, but he has been consuming stuff that prolongs his life unnaturally (like the green fire stuff)? Given the bloom of eternal youth thing this has clearly become a part of his life routine. that seems like a pretty big vulnerability if true! So he reached some sort of god-king status ages ago, maybe way back when giant things died, and speaking of which...

What happened with the Titan. Did he take control of/kill the Titan and claim their power or simply use their name to prop himself up. Why is their heart (I think) just hanging behind Belos, seemingly disembodied. Whether that's the Titan's heart or something else, it is some extremely cool set design. Eda referred to the Titan in the same way as a deity, "Titan help me" but IDK if giant beings are universally thought of as deities?

There's more than one giant though, unless the Bat Queen was the Titan's palisman...giants have to be a whole species considering she said "a giant". I want to know more about giants.

Ok this Day of Unity thing spooks me; it's going to involve bridging with the human world which has completely lost contact with the magic/demon world for an extremely long time except via the door…if Belos says he doesn't intend to invade them, then is he trying to assimilate them? (day of unity and all) His play so far has been to harness societies towards propping up himself. Why does he care so much about the human world/humans? Is there some sort of resource inherent in that that he can use/turn to his advantage? The show is clearly not averse to themes like exploitation of bodies and lives, and idk how hard it leans in the imperial direction, but I really hope that it's something in that tone.

[sp-growingpains]

Hi hi again!! I havent gotten around to answering your ask yet, but in the meantime let me ask about your girl Jean once more 🫶🫶

1. How would you define Jean's style and aesthetic? What kind of clothes does she wear: is it more form or function? What clutters her room?

2. Does she have pets/would want pets in the future? If so, what kind of pet?

3. I'm not sure if you've answered this one before, but what kind of job would Jean have? And do you have a Post Covid design for her?

4. Since I asked about her SOT AU last time, can you tell me about her TFBW/superhero version?

Hi you!! I'm so glad you're back! You genuinely brighten my day! When I get over my crippling fear of being annoying, you will be bombarded with love back!

LET ME COOK CHAT!!

What an Ass-testic!

I've always seen Jean as a person who prides comfort over style.

When she's a kid, she's all about overalls and things with pockets. The front pocket of her overalls has any cool bug she finds and/or a cool lizard! The freakier looking the creature the more likely it's going to stuffed into the pocket, at least until someone makes her put it back.

Middle school turns to gym clothes mostly. Jean is 100% that fucko who's wearing basketball shorts in the cold, the baggy kind that come down to your knees. But this is also where she starts wearing more band shirts! Dio, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, Black Sabbath...the whole nine yards!

High school, there's not much of a change. The only difference is that she starts to embrace the fact that she is in fact a woman. It's around this time where she begins the uphill struggles of accepting her body. Jean honestly thinks for a long time that she's a lumbering, giant. (I won't go into this too much because I'm working on a tiny fic that goes into her inner monolog). Long story short, through the help of the other girls, she begins to wear skirts. She starts small, putting shorts under them and if it gets to be too much she carries a pair of jeans with her. But this era of Jean is what I could only lovingly describe as "Tony Hawk Underground 2 grunge."

When she's an adult, she grows a little more and gets comfortable in her own skin. She realizes that her height shouldn't restrict what she wears and rocks the punk/80s rock style.

If we had to pick a defining clothing item, the "poof ball hat" or the "orange parka" for her, it would he her blue jean jacket. The one with her patched all over them. That jacket she keeps as long as she can, each patch she has on there is for someone special to her. (I plan on redrawing that soon!)

Her space!

Oh man, is it embarrassing to say that I've redone her room like three times in the sims? Her room is what most can relate to where it's an ADHD mess. Like, she understands where everything is because it's in its own little special place. If she cleans it or organizes it, it might as well be gone. That's not to say her room is insanely messy... just well lived.

For starters, lots of posters and pictures. The picture with her and Stan gives a good little look. Jean has those lights and printed photos along her walls, hanging from her ceiling. Posters of horror movies and different bands she's seen live! Beside them are her different instruments. Guitars of different sizes and colors, a few bases, maybe a few records.

The only guitar that isn't up on the wall is her purple one. That stays beside her bed or on her back. When she's bored or feels the need to practice, it's within arms reach. I can see her also having a few energy drinks within reach as well.

She chooses sentimental over material value. The only thing she really splurges on is her bed! She's a tall lady and treats herself to many blankets and pillows. On it is her old stuffed tiger. You know the kinda plushy that's old as hell and has clearly been patched up too many times, so it looks kinda creepy? Yeah, that's just sitting there in her room, sometimes on her beanbag chair.

Pets~!

While Jean would have loved a dog, especially when she was younger, she's not really responsible enough for one. She neglects herself quite often, and even though I just went into detail about her room, she's not home if she can help it. Jean understands that it's not fair for any pet, so she doesn't really get one until she's an adult. Though she does live vicariously through Stan with Sparky. Or Cartman with his cat!

I can see her doing some research and getting a snake when she's an adult! Probably a Western Hognose Snake! She'd fall in love with their goofy little faces. Letting it rest on her shoulders and neck when she finally gets comfortable with being home. That little guy makes it easier to want to be home!

Poss-Cauvid

I do have a design for her! Maybe once I finish the mountain of projects I have, I'll post an actual picture! I don't see Jean changing too much!

This one is pretty close, though! Jean keeps up with her body, growing to really love it! The only real difference that I would add is that she kinda ditches the braids and starts putting her hair up in a bun. The only time she cut her hair was when she was a kid, and she looked a little too much like Tweek and swore never again. So she keeps her hair long, and the braids just get to be too much. That and she gets a few tattoos! But those are on her back and on her calves, and I'm still debating an arm one for her. (One of them will be a call out to Rhea Ripley because that's who I based Jean's body type off of!)

Professional Dumby

I have talked about it before, but it never hurts to say it again! I kinda said it in passing anyway!

Jean stays in South Park her entire life. That mountain town is her home, it's a part of her. It's something she loves with all her heart.

So, of course, she centers her career around the very thing that made her who she is. Music!

Jean is a high-school music teacher full time! It isn't until the very last minute of high school that she figures this out. Teaching some younger kids how to play guitar because she got roped into volunteer work, and she finds that she's pretty good at it!

The music and arts are very important to her! Especially in such a little town!

Fractured, Broken Even

Oh baby! You know AUs are my favorite thing to ramble about! So yeah, I have a design for her Superhero!AU design. I scrapped it a few times and I've got to work on it again but I based it heavily off of Pizzaz from Gem and the Holograms!

She's not a hero, just like her TSOT!AU, she's an antagonist!

If we're talking about them being kids: She puts on this 80s glam wig, paints her face these vibrant colors of orange and green. Grabs her stupid little guitar and causes problems! Why should Professor Chaos have all the fun? He shouldn't be the only one! Besides, it's unfair that South Park has two superhero teams and theirs only like one antagonist (and Cartman). She's goofy and plays up wanting an arch-nemesis so bad it makes her look stupid!

As for the AU: Jean Wellman only wants one thing in life, the consistency in every universe, and that's to be remembered and loved. What better way to do that than to carve your name into music. So she takes to the stages and gives the people all that she is.

That is until a fight between The Freedom Pals and Professor Chaos crashes into one of her shows. Electricity from the Professor goes haywire, hitting the wanna be Rockstar. Stage lights, wires, amps, the screams of the crowd. It's all she hears before things go dark.

Wires

Amps

Sound

...

Wires

Amps

Sound

...

Music

She hears it. Feels it thumping in her veins. She's not carving her name into music, it's carving itself into her.

And fuck does it feel good. It makes her feel alive. More alive than she's ever felt on stage.

That's when those buzzing fluorescence lights pry her eyelids open. When she comes to, her body feels like energy. Feels like a power cord.

Her hair's changed. A single bolt of blue through her raven locks. It's puffed out just like those 80s glam rockers she grew up loving so much. It won't go down anymore, but why would she want it to?

It's when she checks herself out of the hospital, her legs taking her back to the stage where it happened, that every step feels like she's walking on air. It's when she pulls her guitar out of the wreckage, seeing how it's still in great condition. It's when she slams her nails across the metal strings, and it plays the perfect note; that it all clicks and makes sense.

She cackles, it crackles.

She laughs, it echos.

She's a star baby, and everyone is gonna know it.

Name: Hologram

Class: Blaster/Support

》 Hologram uses a mix of short-range attacks mixed with long-range support moves. She is by no means an ally to anyone, however. Constantly playing both sides. She's a hero when it's convenient and fun, a bad guy when she thinks the tides are a little unfair. Her favorite thing to do is to get the crowd going! Order has no room in her life. It's all about the show!

○ First Move: Catch The Rift- Hologram pulls a cord on her trusty guitar, and in a straight line, enemies are staggered back by the sick rifts. (Causes enemies in a straight line, up to 3 spaces, to get knocked back. Causes confusion.)

○ Second Move: Amp Up- Hologram strums her guitar, and the music heals the soul, rejuvenating her allies. (Small AOE heal in a cross pattern from her location. Cures debuffs)

○ Third Move: Punk Tactics - Hologram brings down the axe crushing legs and hitting below the belt. (A front melee attack that deals massive damage, Causes stun. Can be used every other turn)

☆ Special: Backstage Pass- Hologram steps up to the stage and demands the attention of the crowd. All eyes on her, her song causes the crowd to get lost in the music! (Attacks the entire battlefield. Enemies are charmed and shocked. Allies get an attack up. Does no actual damage.)

How Well She Plays With Others

Fastpass: Is her favorite hero, one of the only heroes in her eyes. Not only is he a true hero, but he's fun! He's so much fun! His speed makes every fight a challenge. Less a game of cat and mouse, and more like two lighting storms going at it. Flashy, hard to predict, charming. What's not to love?

"Fastpass! Can I get an autograph!? Wanna sign the guitar? Come ooooon buddy! Surely you have the time?"

> Will most likely team up with

> More likely to quip with (which she loves)

> Will try to outrun just because it's funny

Captain Diabetes: Her second favorite hero. This is the other true hero to Hologram! She knows that when it comes down to it, he will always do the right thing. Which means he's perfect for the show! Hologram often puts him in a predicament where he's forced to choose. Chase her or save the victims? Knowing him, he always chooses to save civilians. Hologram then makes a scene about it.

"Look at you! You'll do anything for these people! God, you're amazing! You're my favorite superstar!"

> Will never team-up with him, despite really wanting to.

> Loves getting him riled up, even though it's incredibly bad for her

> It's absolutely a game of cat and mouse with him

Toolshed: The fix it hero. He was the one who brought her to the hospital. The reason she can hear the music. The reason why the electricity hit her in the first place. If he hadn't dodged that attack. If he hadn't been there. Well, she wouldn't be the main event. He made her. So she owes it to him to make him a real hero! Hologram knows if she breaks it, he'll always fix it. Make it better! Like he did her!

He's a hero, sure, but he's not a real hero. Not yet. He's got some imperfections, little kinks that she's more than happy to work out! The day she knows she's won is when he acknowledges her as his arch-nemises.

"Look at me! You made me a star! You made me something! It's the least I can do for you, Toolshed! You need me to make you a hero!"

> Will never team-up with him

> Wants more than anything for the city to love him like they love Mysterion

> Acknowledgment or not, she's gonna make him a hero

Human Kite: An alien? From the stars? How fucking rad is that!? At least Hologram thinks so. Her favorite thing to do is to knock him out of the sky. It's a game to her because, in actuality, no one flies higher than her. No one is ever allowed to make her look like a stage hand! She's the main event, and no one from this planet or the next is gonna take that from her! If he remembers that and stays out of her way, they can work together. She'll even let him play alongside her...if he's good.

"You never fucking learn, maybe you need another lesson. Call for backup, I want them to watch me knocking you outta my sky."

> Will team-up with him sometimes, but she'll be pissy about it.

> She does think it's really fucking cool that he can shoot lasers out of his eyes and that he's an alien, it's all jealousy really

> If she successfully knocks him out of the sky, she'll make a show of catching him, smirking the entire time.

Professor Chaos: What a funny guy. What a perfect opener, like those small bands that open for the main event! He's got plans that are beyond her understanding, but they're fun! If they leave room for her and they don't get in the way of her goals, then he's fine! If the city starts to love Mysterion a little more because of him, though, she's gonna have some words for the Professor.

"Look Proff, I owe ya. You're part of the reason I'm like this...but lets not pretend you're the only one playing games. Some of us want a turn too."

> Will team-up with him with no complaints, even follow orders to a degree

> If she thinks it's funny, she'll turn the tables and go rogue

> Is a pain in the ass for both sides, it's only fair!

Callgirl: The last and final true hero on her list. This woman can do no wrong in her eyes! This woman's presence both online and in person leave Hologram star-struck. She's the one person who's allowed to share a stage with her. If only the female hero could see that!

"You're her! You're Callgirl! I'm a huge fan! Can I write your theme song?"

> Will always team-up with her unless Toolshed is involved!

> Constantly tries to get a photo with her. Often photo-bombing if she can help it

> Was a fan of Callgirl before she became Hologram, still follows her social media!

As for the others? She's not really concerned about them. They're small stuff. Boring. Or at least they haven't given her a reason to give a shit. Although, Wonder Tweek's lightning is fun. She loves the feeling of it, tastes like coffee for some reason?

[peaterookie]

Had to post this late because below is like a whole indepth analysis of this drawing + Perrin's history

Happy Birthday Perrin!!! It's really been 10 whole years... it's honestly astounding to even say this. Lil bro's so old...

Ok! if you clicked the keep reading button, expect to be here for a while, for i will be walking you through every single design and aus in this drawing and the history behind it!!

Perrin, or his old name, Peater, is a silly, bastardly little boy that has the magical powers to make people's dreams into reality. But that's just his canon lore. He also used to be a winged swordsman, a kirby with a repeater hat, and a little alien that escaped a lab. In different universes, he's a phantom thief, a god, a demon, or just a simple schoolboy!

Essentially, I use him for almost any story ideas that i find cool. He's one of the first ocs that I made and he gets involved in almost anything due to him being the favorite oc. His personality, still, has been very consistent, but you should just read his Toyhouse page if you wanna learn more because I don't want this to get any longer than it already is rn

Ok! Let's get started on the first design!!

~ Kirby Era ~

Before Perrin was a human, he was a puffball!

I used to be a huge PvZ and Kirby fan (still is) and so Perrin was born as a combination of both of those things. The general gist is that its a Kirby with a Peashooter hat. Simple enough.

The left design however, was I think another concept for Perrin that I had earlier or around the same time as Kirbypeater (this is the name for the Kirby version of Perrin) So I also considered that design a Perrin design as well. Also it's just super fucking funny because of how much it stands out. It straight up looks like a Mary Sue.

These two designs have absolutely zero lore, most of their lore will be coming with the next designs!!

2015 was honestly peak Kirbypeater era in terms of development. I drew him a LOT and gave him some personality and powers.

There were also a lot of design variations aside from these four (ignore the human one for now) most of them comes down to his bandanna color, his shoes, and whether he's wearing the repeater hat or not.

I was also a big Strikeforce Squad fan during that time so I reaally reaaally wanted him to be part of the lore and be a member lmao

You can notice that I changed the Peashooter to Repeater, which is my favorite plant in pvz. Around the end I changed it to Primal Peashooter, but that change was something I ended up not approving of in the future.

The katana is inspired by Zoro from One Piece, which is my fav OP character. His swordsman skill came extremely early on. The green hair guy (the one that got hit by the pea) is just mid 2015 Kirbypeater without the hat. Sometimes he has black hair however, which hairstyle was based off of Len Kagamine/Glutamine (the utaite)

~ 2016 - 2017 ~ The Blue Bitch Era

Sadly, the Kirbypeater era has now come to an end, because shortly after 2015, I decided to transition from drawing little funny kirby creatures to little funny boys.

Okay, let's go back to the guy riding the roadroller, because that was Perrin's first human design !!

The roadroller was a reference to this vocaloid song, if you didn't know already.

The first human design takes the black hair design from Kirbypeater, and the sweater was clearly inspired from my Undertale obsession back then 😔 little did he know that sweater was gonna stay for so damn long...

The part that did not stay long however were the green eyes and the black hair, that drawing was mostly a proof of concept only and didn't really reflect on what he'd become later.

ngl, this drawing is pretty damn good for a first time. I think i really didn't want to screw up back then.

THEN OUT OF NOWHERE?? HIS SWEATER THEN TURNED BLUE!!

I call this little era the blue bitch era because the sweater he wore turned blue for no damn reason, like no, you're suppose to be green, not blue... the disappointment i hold is immense right now.

Other than the blue, his iconic green hair first appeared during this time!! I also changed his eyes to brown, maybe as a way to make his design more grounded to real life? at least i think thats what little me was going at.

The second picture is the first AU i made for Perrin, based off of my playthrough of Pokemon Crystal where I named my pokemon after my Sony Sketch friends (hence Pokesketch.) Perrin would be the trainer and yeah.

I have no fucking idea what I was cooking for the third reference sheet, I think i wanted to imitate the ref sheet style a friend had and ended up making something INSANELY cringe. the undertale fan stink radiates off of that drawing and you guys are free to make fun of it as much as you want.

alright!! now its this fucker!!

this design was made as a sort of inside joke between my friends one day, where all of us just decided to have the same profile pic and name as this one other friend. the pfp (center) was of their ink sans oc and it was fucking funny as hell

it lasted like one day but i think that design is too good to not include in the art piece. you can see him fighting the chara perrin guy as a little nod to their similar inspirations #iloveundertale

~ 2018 - 2019 ~ Ninja Perrin makes an appearance ! Also these weird guys are here for some reason.

This era is kinda weird because there's nothing really stands out in terms of changes. But that's ok! Life isn't always just bumps and... idk where i was going with that uh anyways NINJA PERRIN

his swordsman ass is back again and now as a funny ninja guy!! honestly i cant recall lore wise why he was a ninja but i think it mightve been based off of naruto (i dont even watch naruto) also wow look guys his sweater finally stopped being blue! and now he has shorts!!!

also scratch that entire part about me saying there wasnt any significant changes because there was a time where i almost made perrin's hair NOT GREEN. that's right. absolutely BLASPHEMOUS. i shouldve been pelted with rocks for even considering such things.

but being real, i think a part of me back then felt? insecure about the fact that perrin's hair was an unnatural color for a while? green especially was not a common color to use back then so i felt like people didn't like him for that reason so i changed it to brown for a while to see if i liked it. uh spoiler alert i didnt and i changed it a month later i believe.

dude wait until 2019 peater sees gon from hxh

also you might be wondering why i only drew mid 2019 perrin wearing the ninja outfit and not early 2018. that is because that one drawing of ninja perrin from 2019 got meme'd to fucking DEATH by my friend because it had a funny face. i was forever scarred and so i decided to draw it as a funny reminder of that time.

oh yeah christmas tree peater. yeah bro.

moving on, here's the collection of weird perrins from this time.

the first is art i drew for art fight 2019, where I drew perrin with outfit themed with the team i joined which was team dream. i fucking lost horrendously that year. if i had a team i regretted joining it was team dream

next is!!! these four fucks!!!

these little guys are what was supposed to be representing peater's main personality traits, i made designs for them then that was it i did nothing with them. they were kinda dumb anyway

hopefully one of you guys know that thomas sander series with the four personality traits because that was what inspired these :smill:

and yknow what? I should probably cover all of the christmas perrins all in a row because getting rid of all of them rn would better fit the writing flow better-

oh. there's a picture limit. god fucking damn!!! see you later then!!!

Second Part

[palepinkgoat]

(warning, kind of gross and about mental health. Such is my life.)

I've had intrusive thoughts my whole life. Like, for as long as I can remember. A young child. Not just random thoughts that pop into my head, or even ones that are negative self-talk for example.

No, I'm talking about the ones where I can't stop thinking about seeing my fingers broken, or seeing them with the tendons hanging out or skin stripped off, or just anything gross you can think of, really. I'll be lying in bed and the thoughts will come, and I'll squeeze my eyes shut tight, trying to will the images away. But they persist. I imagine the worst things, the worst damage. I pull my hands out from under the blanket and stare at them. They're safe. I'm safe.

But then there it is again, not even a half hour later. And that's when I crawl out of bed and take an Ativan, and try to relax. But it's all so exhausting to think about. It runs me ragged. The worst times are when it seems just normal. I'll be doing something and an image will pop into my head, and I shake my head and keep doing the dishes.

Hey look, your skin is falling off.

No its not.

What if it DID though? What if it breaks and bones stick out? Like tiny little bones that -

Stop it. Leave me alone.

These are different than hallucinations. I have had those too. This is about my thoughts. I don't SEE my hands like this. I see them as normal fingers. But the THOUGHT of them being injured is so real. So real I can ALMOST see it.

This is about persistent wild jabs into the soft creature of my brain. One day the thoughts will leave me, and won't come back in this form probably. It will choose something else. So I just get to wait and see, I guess.

Being a mentally ill person is hard. Sometimes it's so boring, and sometimes when I feel things in episodes it's just so normal to me that it's hard to imagine other people don't live like this. Then sometimes it's me trying to heal myself from the inside out, staring at my hands, chanting "you're safe, you're safe, you're safe."

I told my doctor about them. Pychiatrists are cool because when you say something that other people would be like "Gross, that's crazy" they are just kind of like "oh, okay." At least that's how mine is. To be understood that way is deeply comforting.

I think this whole thing was triggered by a relative's upcoming hand surgery. It's like my brain heard that, woke up and pounced on it, a bright shiny thing it turned over and over, fascinated, unable to look away. Take that and run it through the wires and this all comes out instead. Lost in translation.

This won't last. I know that. My brain will set the shiny thing down and walk away toward the next shiny thing. But being mentally ill? The bipolar? That's forever. There is no cure. Meds aren't a cure, they are a tool. Underneath all of it is my sick and vulnerable and brilliant brain, looking for something to destroy for a little while. It never gets tired of that mission.

But I'm tired.

[unma]

The Great Time Trio's take on its DustFell trio (see Merg's video on it here) is amazing and really addresses my main issues with Dust fangames: how the attack patterns are set in stone. Absolutely lovely how the patterns used (save for the phantom section) change each attempt. Not to mention the atmosphere set with the sprites. But there's much more to say about this. Excuse me while I ramble for a bit.

BadtrapBBits has said the reason they have unique designs so wildly different from the usual Dust Trio is because he can't draw hoods too well, but I think he did a really good on their designs. Especially their battle sprites, the way they move and subtle change adds so much to the fight.

Sans shows up in different states of being covered by shadow and he even has his smoke surround him near the end which is just so fucking cool.

Papyrus' hoodie has the word written on it change during the battle, his head comes off to attack you, his sprite seemingly seems to clip into its boundaries and partially show up on the other side, and while I'm not sure that last one is intentional (rewatching the battle as I write this and I'm certain it's 100% intentional) it really adds to the atmosphere of the fight.

Chara's whole look is just awesome tbh and I strive to pull off something nearly as cool as them, and don't get me started on when they get their wings and their mask is replaced with that smile we know all too well. The halo too. All that, accompanied with the delta rune on their sweater, really does such a lovely job of leaning hard into that fallen angel part of their character and forcing you to look at it while the trio beats you within an inch of your life over and over again.

Also the fact that they very obviously resorted to determination is just the icing on the cake. Perfect. Explains what the fuck is going on with Papyrus too, who feels less like a monster and more like some ambiguous creature made purely of horror. Sans is 100% the one with the least fucked up shit going on with his body by the end, lol.

The trio designs are awesome too. Nothing much has changed about Phantom Papyrus, he just has the scar that regular Underfell Papyrus would have. Fellswap Sans is... honestly I don't know what the fuck is going on with him but that's just perfect tbh. Fits the whole schtick going on with DustFellSwap (that's a mouthful) Papyrus to a T and it's lovely. Little fucked up creature of horror. Asriel's design almost certainly evokes a strong image of just how he died and there's quite a bit to be gleaned from how you can't even see his face anymore. (Personally, I'd take it to mean that Chara can't remember or recall his face anymore, possibly due to guilt, but those are just my initial thoughts).

All of this does an excellent job at keeping up the downright oppressive feeling the player is burdened with from the fight select screen into the start of the fight. It feels like you're playing a horror game, and with how stacked the odds are against you, that might as well be the case.

Finally, and perhaps most important, the fact that they win is essential to this. You shouldn't be able to beat them, even when it was just one of them. The point of Dust (or at least my take on it, I should probably refresh myself on the original blog) is that the very best the player can hope for is simply retrying endlessly. With all three of them, and especially with Chara encroaching on your ability to save and load, it makes complete sense that you just plain lose. Especially love that they abuse that method to restore themselves to before their amalgamation took a turn for the worse, it's really cool that they've decided to exploit the save system for their own benefit.

I guess that's all I have to say for now until the next update (and Merg video). All in all, really awesome fight.

[eyes-that-decieve]

Tal and Dreaming, one of the guys who was in the corridors with you came in for a statement. Just thought I'd let you know.

Recorded it, I got permission to send the transcript (the actual file corrupted and broke after playing it back once, I didn't mean to record it on my phone), so if anyone wants to read it!

[Recording begins. The device seems to be in a pocket, the view is tilted and obstructed about halfway down by a table. A visibly shaken boy, maybe 17, sits on the other side of the table. His skin is pale and has an almost gray look, possibly the lighting. His brown eyes dart around nervously as he fidgets, occasionally using one hand to fix short black hair, three pronounced white streaks near his temple that appear to be natural.]

Styx: Why here, and not the institute?

Penn: I got pulled in through a door over there, you have to know if that happens in your place, right?

Styx: Right. Want to tell me about it?¿

Penn: Yea- Yes.

[Sound of a quiet breath, a few muttered words from Styx]

Penn: I was in here for a coffee before catching the bus home- [Speaking very quickly, cutting himself off before speaking much more normally.] Long day and all. There was a really brightly painted door over there. Black background, neon I believe?

[Penn gestures to one wall, his hand going out of frame]

Penn: I hadn't been in here before, so I didn't think it was out of place. It just felt a little off. It opened from the other side, someone beckoning me, claiming something about free food. When I come to think of it, I can't remember what they looked like. The second I stepped over the threshold, the door snapped shut and was gone.

The person who led me in was gone too. I turned around again and a flippin' dragon was right in front of me! Thought it was kinda cool for a second, all shiny black scales and purple and yellow eyes. It laughed for a second, in two different voices? This sounds ridiculous.

[Penn pinches the bridge of his nose with two fingers, but keeps talking.]

Penn: They jumped at me and I started running. They didn't chase me. The whole place must have been too confusing, even for a dragon. It was like the door, everything was dark and neon at the same time, edged in bright colors. It all hurt my eyes, I ran straight into a lamppost right in the middle of the path after a few minutes. I kept walking, but my head still hurts from it. That must have messed up my eyes worse, because everything got more confusing. Branching paths, curving back on each other. I swear I ran into that same lamppost three times. I was going in circles.

At some point it hit me. And by 'it' I mean a person. The whole place had been shaking for a few minutes, then someone comes hurtling down from the ceiling and knocks me to the ground. They had. . . Wings? Feathered ones, I remember the sound. Other than that, I don't remember what they looked like. 'If nothing was a person' comes to mind, but I don't remember why. They immediately ran over to a tree while I was still reeling, and straight up punched the thing. The whole place shifted, from dark and neon to colorless. The floor was gone, the trees were gone, the little buildings were gone.

I don't know how long I wandered that emptiness. I thought I was going to die there. Or at least almost die, again. At some point I saw a door open in the distance, and the same dragon walk in. It was talking to someone else, still outside the door. It started painting on the void with its tail. I headed over there, because of course, it's something different from the void I'm stuck in.

Another creature came through the door. It looked kinda like a little kid? Green dress, big smile, curly red hair. It was talking with the dragon, then seemed to notice me.

Asked if I knew who it they were, and where I was. It shoved me back towards the dragon. I looked up at it, and it had too many teeth. Far too many. The dragon pushed me back towards the kid, and I ran. I heard the child say something about no way out and no one coming for me. The dragon followed after that, though I could just see its eyes, two one one side, purple and yellow, and blue on the other. Those and it's smile. Like a Cheshire cat? I turned a different way from it, I thought it was going to bite me.

The child cornered me. It said I wasn't myself, I was gone. It shoved me towards the dragon, who I didn't even realize was behind me. It's wings closed around me. No way out. No escape. I thought it was going to kill me.

[Penn laughs quietly, almost hysterically]

Penn: Next thing I know, I'm waking up on the sidewalk.

[Pause]

Styx: That it-? [Penn cuts them off]

Penn: That makes three, you know.

[Slight fabric sounds, camera is shifted slightly as if Styx is leaning forward a little.]

Penn: Three times I've nearly died in the past week. Almost hit by a car, almost fell off a balcony, ALMOST got killed by a dragon. Each time, all that's running through my head is 'is this when my luck is going to run out?' I'm not a cat, I don't have nine lives!

[Styx makes a quiet 'hm' noise.]

Penn: I don't.

[Long pause]

Styx: Statement ends.

[They clap their hands, standing up. Camera view is shifted up, no longer obscured by the table.]

Styx: Alright, thank you! [Sarcastic] I will keep dragons out of my cafe in the future.

Penn: That's it? That's all you're going to say?

Styx: Yeah, that's about it. If you have any more near death experiences like that, feel free to let me know!

Penn: Oh. Okay.

[Penn stands up, video cuts]

[inventors-fair]

Victorious: One-Word Winners ~

Our winners this week are @curiooftheheart, @horsecrash, and @xenobladexfan!

@curiooftheheart — Maroon

Sometimes you just have to have that sweeping effect, don't you. It's a big uncommon spell that does a lot of work to remove some massive threats and/or save your own permanents, and you can just redraw things if need be. It's a serious thinker of a card that forces choices in a way that I'm thoroughly impressed with. Now, to delve into the flavorful aspect, I feel that there's a sense of abandonment that could be attributed to marooning that could've gone on a bunch of different types of cards. The choice to abandon being left up to the permanents' controller is pretty cool to me, and the drawing feels like a nod of affirmation: if you survive this, I'll match you card for card.

What a limited blowout at parity if this resolves, though. Maybe this card feels at first like a lot of text, but it's strong enough to be grokable and it's grokable enough to be a stellar example for this contest. Sometimes you need all that space to tell what the card needs to do. I still think that a little art direction could've been a personal touch, but that's not really necessary on a card that's explaining exactly what's happening through its rules text. When the rules are the story, and the story's part of a larger trope on an established world (and like, I assume Ixalan, but I'm flexible), then there's power in the card's own overall presentation that's being evoked here. Good job in knowing where to draw that line, and good job playing with big blue space. The octopus is a good touch. Keep that around.

@horsecrash — Scowl

Before I get into the flavorful aspect, I think that the mechanics here are pretty much just what wither wants to do. Wither's return is...lemme check real quick. Wow, a seven on the storm scale? Really? I guess that's fair because of R&D and -1/-1, but whatever. I think the world can make it happen just like how madness happened. A "bite" spell that can sink a creature down permanently is pretty much exactly what an uncommon slot would want, so no complaints there. It's not hard removal, but it's removal to me, as all bite spells want to be. If your opponent isn't attacking into a stalled board, too bad! This card forces your favor and forces interaction, and I love that little precision.

But that flavor text. Gadzooks. It's curt, it's emphatic, and it's final. "I'm going to Scowl" is a hell of a line to drop across the table, and there's that side to Lorwyn elves that really differentiates them from the rest of the elves in the multiverse—that utter disdain, that hierarchical horror. The sense that they can just twitch their brow and have something shrivel from the utter disdain is something I can clearly picture here without a shred of doubt. It's a clear marriage between the effect of the card and the world in which the card is presented, and what could be better than that? There were a few ideas that I thought were neat, but in the inbox, this was one of the first cards where I could clearly distinguish a favorite. Huh. I really hope Diedra appreciates that, because it's a little awkward to gush knowing that the elves would've expected this outcome...

@xenobladexfan — Eternalize

Straight up, we were a little surprised that this specific kind of effect hadn't been done. I guess it makes sense considering that there would've been no room for it in the sets leading up to the whole Eternals thing in Magic. All the same, though, it's all-around sensible, innit? The flavor is something we've sort of seen before, but not in the sense of an overdone trope—more like, we know that it's an event that's happened in the past and it's an expected situation resulting in a cool card. Having the rites of initiates turn into a book of sorts is neat as well, although I'm not sure how well it meshes with lore? Eh, having a book of rites makes sense. It's a fitting end to a scroll, actually, and it's got a good horrific feeling without being over-the-top. This is what it means to be eternalized from the voice of a writer.

And the effect is exactly what we'd expect! Pseudo-cloning your own ETB effects or making an Army even bigger in the long term is fun, but milling an opponent and stealing one of their value creatures is fun too. And getting something big off the board is relevant at five mana. I think in hindsight I was too enamored with this card to note that it should be a rare, because multiple removal-and-present effects at uncommon would be a little warping. I think in the end that would be my only criticism, because I want this effect to happen and I want to play with it. Literally the closest thing I could find from a cursory search is Nemesis Trap or Supplant Form, neither one of which does this exact effect. I could have sworn... But this card knows what it wants to be. It's a moment from the Bolas arc, it's a strong removal spell, and it's a limited-designed hella strong effect. Glory to the god-dude.

And who's right behind them? Let's find out soon. @abelzumi