#burning goal demo

[blondeslotmania]

Burning goals demo "Як адреналин за Слотманияци" 🤪

Не пропускайте да тествате най-новия слот на EGT Бърнинг Гол, който е наличен и в демо варинт на официалния сайт на провайдъра. За 2024та година той е голям хит и се предлага с безплатни завъртания в повечето казино сайтове

[bloodandiron-if]

DEMO (TBA) | FORUM (TBA) | CHARACTER INTROS (TBA)

BLOOD AND IRON is a compelling and mature action IF made for an adult audience. This story includes content that some may find disturbing, such as explicit language, mentions of child trafficking, abuse, psychological stress, homophobia, intense violence, death, gore, and much more.

Inspired by Batman, John Wick, Ninja Assassin, The Punisher, and The Equalizer.

Chicago bleeds quietly these days. Not in the headlines, but in basements, behind unmarked doors, in the flicker of broken streetlamps, no proper badge patrols.

The world didn’t ask if you were ready. It just kept turning and grinding down the soft parts until only the sharp edges remained.

Raised in a hidden facility outside Chicago, you were one of many children. An experiment in obedience, efficiency, and silence. They didn’t call it a home. They called it a program. And you survived it.

Barely.

They stripped your name. Trained your body. Broke your will, up until they didn’t.

You escaped.

The world didn’t know what to do with you.

But he did—the man who saved you, giving you a name, cover, and a second chance dressed up as a normal life.

By day, you blend seamlessly into the crowd, adopting a new name and working a steady job making pizzas. To the citizens of South Chicago, you’re just another face on the street.

But by night, you take on a different role—one that cleans up the shadows left by a broken system: dismantling organ trafficking rings, confronting human traffickers, and bringing to justice those killers shielded by power or wealth.

But this isn’t just an act of heroism on your part.

It’s personal.

You’re digging through the filth of this city, tearing up every buried secret, because somewhere beneath it all lies the truth.

The Facility.

And the man who ran it.

Whitaker.

He’s not on any official record—and the place that you escaped from doesn’t exist on paper.

But you remember the rooms. The drills. The screaming. The numbers burned into your skin like a barcode.

Every body you drop might be connected. Every whisper might lead back to him.

You’re not a hero.

You’re a survivor searching for the ghost of the man who made you—and the trail of blood he left behind.

The closer you get, the more unstable everything becomes—your past, your purpose, his goal.

You can follow orders. Break free. Burn it all down. But one question echoes through every silence:

Who will you become when you finally reach the end?

Play as male, female, or nonbinary.

Define who you are beyond the number—whether you seek connection, crave freedom, or prefer to walk alone.

Be straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, aromantic, or asexual.

Establish your cover identity—first and last name. C-4 doesn’t exist outside the wire.

Explore Chicago in the 90s.

Experience flashbacks of your harrowing and unforgiving childhood at the facility.

Define your body and presence with scars, tattoos and more, including flavour stats that affect immersion and narrative tone.

Choose your ride, customize it, and leave your mark in burnt rubber and broken taillights. Whether it’s a snarling muscle car, a rumbling motorcycle, a rugged Jeep, or a heavy-duty pickup, you’ll be behind the wheel.

Experience a world where the way you choose your character's appearance influences how others perceive and interact with you. (Intimidation Meter)

Choose your physical appearance, build and height—whether towering and lithe, or compact and deadly.

Meet six ROs, each with their own storylines, layered personalities, and emotional arcs that evolve with your choices. It’s up to you to decide how the story unfolds: as allies, enemies, or even the possibility of something more.

Get ready for action. This story pulls no punches—literally. You’ll be thrown headfirst into brutal gunfights, savage fistfights, high-speed car chases, and close-quarters takedowns.

Define your personality through detailed flavour choices: are you brutal or merciful, stoic or emotional, cautious or impulsive, friendly or rude?

Navigate the grim underworld of adulthood: surveillance, corruption, organized crime, and the scars of memory.

Shape your legacy in a world that tried to erase your humanity. It's all down to you C-4.

OPERATIVE D-6 (RO)

Age: 24 Gender: Player-selectable (M/F) Nationality/Ethnicity: Korean-American Vibe: Ghost of the past. Loyalty carved from trauma. Quiet intensity.

The Operative — the life you left behind, still trying to follow you home.

D-6 is a shadow stitched to your childhood, moving with a precision that speaks louder than words ever could. They don’t flinch, don’t blink, and rarely break eye contact—yet there’s no threat in it. Just memory. Just calculation. The facility shaped them like it shaped you, but where you ran, they stayed. Hardened. Refined. Perfected into something cold and frighteningly still.

They barely speak, but understand everything. Loyal not by choice, but by conditioning—yet something in their gaze suggests the cracks are forming.

Whether D-6 is here to kill you, bring you back or break away with you… even they haven’t decided. But they’ve always been watching. And they never forget.

- - -

DETECTIVE JUNO REYES (RO)

Age: 33 Gender: Player-selectable (M/F) Nationality/Ethnicity: Puerto Rican-American Vibe: Gravely moral. Sharp-jawed justice. Righteous conflict.

The Detective — your ideological foil, and mirror of what you could have been with a badge instead of a body count.

Detective Juno Reyes is the type of person to walk like they carry the whole city on their shoulders, and honestly, maybe they do. Every crime scene clings to their coat, every unsolved case etched into the set of their jaw. They believe in justice, not the easy kind, but the kind that scrapes its knuckles bloody. The kind that keeps them up at night because they still think it matters.

Juno doesn’t trust you. Maybe they never will. But they understand you in the way only someone on the other side of the line can.

Where you cut through the rot with a blade, they try to dig it out with a badge. Righteous, relentless, and furious with the system that fails people like you, and maybe even with themselves for not walking away from it.

- - -

NICO/NIA RUSSO (RO)

Age: 22 Gender: Player-selectable (M/F) Nationality/Ethnicity: Italian-American Vibe: Snark-as-armour. Trash-mouth tendencies. Hot grease and soft heart.

The Co-worker — the one who has their worst days, yet still shows up.

Russo talks like the world owes them a fistfight and a cigarette break. All bite, all bark, and just enough burn to keep people at arm’s length. They’ve got grease on their apron, a permanent chip on their shoulder, and a mouth that never learned the word “filter.” You’re not sure they even like the job, but they’re here, day after day, late at times, but constantly grinding out those shifts like it's a special part of their routine.

They’re also halfway through a criminal justice degree at a city college they never talk about unless they’re arguing with the news playing in the background. Claims it’s all bullshit—cops, lawyers, the system. But you’ve caught Russo studying case law in the backroom between deliveries. Says it’s for the credits, but the way their jaw tightens during certain stories on the news? It’s more than that.

They're not just pissed off. They’re paying attention.

- - -

KIERAN/KIERA MYLES (RO)

Age: 27 Gender: Player-selectable (M/F) Nationality/Ethnicity: Half White, Half Mexican-American Vibe: Fragrance, coded language, and too many knives hidden in tailored jackets

The Interloper — the one who wasn’t supposed to be on your radar—but is.

Myles moves through rooms like a whispered secret and the scent of money—sharp, intentional, impossible to ignore. Head high, steps measured, eyes always calculating. They speak in layers, smile in puzzles, and dress like they’re late for a gala or an ambush, maybe both. Everything about them feels curated, controlled… until it isn’t.

You don’t know what they want, not really.

One minute it’s intel, the next it’s something softer, more dangerous.

Myles wasn't part of your mission. Not part of your world. But now they’re in it, circling closer, asking questions with too much knowledge behind the eyes. You're not sure if they’re here to ruin you, or to remind you there’s still something left worth ruining.

- - -

ALEX/ALEXI MONROE (RO)

Age: 25 Gender: Player-selectable (M/F) Nationality/Ethnicity: Scandanavian-American Vibe: Softness meets suspicion. The light in the hallway. The warmth in the cold

The Neighbor — the one who sees past the walls and doesn’t look away.

Monroe lives two doors down and leaves their window open when it rains. They laugh too loudly at sitcom reruns, forget to water their plants, and hum under their breath while waiting for the kettle to boil. On the surface: harmless. Gentle. The kind of softness you’d expect to break easy.

But there’s something behind the smile—something watchful—subtly. Thoughtfully. The way someone does when they’re used to reading what isn’t said.

Monroe doesn't pry. They just linger. Just look a little too long sometimes, like they’re trying to put a puzzle together without knowing what the picture will exactly be.

And worse, they still smile at you anyway.

- - -

ROWAN/RHEA CARTER (RO)

Age: 29 Gender: Player-selectable (M/F) Nationality/Ethnicity: African-American Vibe: Revolutionary soul. Firebrand idealism. Beautiful, dangerous hope.

The Crusader — the one who wants to save the world, even if it means breaking it.

Carter speaks like every word could spark a revolution, and maybe it could, if they weren’t already carrying the weight of too many failed ones. There’s something magnetic in the way they move through a room, controlled chaos, dressed in confidence and defiance. Their voice carries conviction like heat, and they never seem to doubt it. Not publicly, at least.

They believe in something bigger. In justice. In tearing down the structures that rot people from the inside out. It’s not naive, what they preach, it’s dangerous. The kind of hope that gets people killed. The kind that inspires others to follow anyway.

Carter sees what’s broken and doesn't look away. They demand change, even if it has to be carved from ruin. That makes them dangerous. That makes them rare.

And when they look at you, it’s like they see the potential for something more, something bigger than just blood and vengeance. But whether that makes you want to run toward them or burn everything down before they get too close… that’s up to you.

- - -

ELIJAH CREED

Age: 44 Gender: Male Nationality/Ethnicity: Irish-American Vibe: Cigars, classical music, hollow warmth. That voice that makes monsters feel like myths.

The Father — the one who gave you a name, a roof, and a purpose.

Elijah Creed moves through the world like a man carrying both a lifetime of regrets and the weight of unshakable resolve. There’s a quiet authority in his voice, calm, deliberate, the kind that can soothe storms or summon lightning. His days are marked by the scent of cigars and the soft notes of classical music drifting through the rooms of the house you guys used to share.

He’s not just a guardian, he’s the father you never truly had, the one who took you in when the world wanted to erase you. Behind that steady warmth lies a steel core, forged by loss and haunted by the past. Elijah gave you a name, a place to belong, and a reason to fight, but never illusions that the world outside is anything less than brutal.

He is both shelter and shadow, a man who knows the cost of survival—and who will make sure you never pay it alone.

- - -

MS. CLAUDIA BELLAMY

Age: 49 Gender: Female Nationality/Ethnicity: American (Afro-Puerto Rican) Vibe: Gold hoops, chipped nail polish, a cigarette always halfway gone. Keeps a revolver in her sewing kit and a bottle of gin under the sink.

The Landlord — the building’s backbone, eyes, and occasional judge, jury, and babysitter.

Ms. Bellamy has lived in the building longer than the cockroaches, and even they know better than to cross her. Her voice rarely rises, but when it does, even the radiators stop rattling. Always in gold hoops and a housecoat with yesterday’s cigarette still smoldering in the ashtray, she moves like someone who’s already seen the worst and didn’t flinch.

She doesn’t run the building. She rules it, half landlady, half neighbourhood matriarch. Rent better be on time, the hallways better stay quiet, and no one better mess with the kid on the second floor unless they want a lecture followed by a left hook.

She calls your new name like it’s your real one, sees through lies like smoke through sunlight, and keeps a .38 tucked behind the cans of beans in her pantry. Whatever history she has, it walks with her, but she’ll never speak of it unless the city starts burning again. And even then, only maybe.

- - -

SALVATORE “SAL” RUSSO

Age: 47 Gender: Male Nationality/Ethnicity: Italian-American Vibe: Loud shirt, louder laugh. The kind of man who sings to the tomato sauce and cries at baseball games.

The Pizza King — a local legend with marinara in his veins and a heart too big for this city.

Salvatore Russo isn’t just the owner of the pizza shop—he is the pizza shop. Grease-stained apron, gold chain bouncing with every belly laugh, and a voice that could carry through a riot. He talks with his hands, loves like he’s got something to prove, and swears every pie has a soul.

To the neighborhood, he’s an uncle. To his niece/nephew, he’s a safety net and a headache. And to you? He’s the rare kind of man who doesn’t ask questions he doesn’t want the answers to, so long as you show up, work hard, and don’t scare the regulars.

Somehow, Sal always knows when to push, and when to just slide you a slice and say nothing at all, but could all the smile and laughter be hiding a deeper truth than what's shown on the surface?

- - -

WHEELS

Age: 36 Gender: Male Nationality/Ethnicity: Polish-American Vibe: Motor oil and Marlboro smoke. Burnt fingers. Mismatched socks stuffed into combat boots. A man who can hotwire your car with a bottle cap and grudge.

The Arms Dealer — your supplier and the only man in Chicago who listens to Public Enemy while cleaning an M4.

Wheels moves through the city like a ghost with a purpose—fast, sharp, and unpredictable. He’s not just an arms dealer; he’s a craftsman, a collector of weapons with stories carved into their blades. Among his prized possessions are three custom knives, each named after people who shaped his life, two exes who taught him lessons in pain and betrayal, and one for his mother, the only person he never wanted to disappoint.

His sharp gaze misses nothing, always sizing up threats and opportunities with cold precision. Reliable when it counts, Wheels plays the game on his own terms, offering more than just firepower, he’s a lifeline in a city drowning in chaos, but one that carries a warning: trust him carefully, or not at all.

- - -

DR. SILAS CROSS

Age: 55 Gender: Male Nationality/Ethnicity: Lebanese-American Vibe: Tailored suits under his lab coat. Surgical gloves and bourbon. The hum of high-end equipment beneath the jazz playing low through recessed speakers.

The Surgeon — not your friend, not your enemy, just the man who keeps you stitched together.

Dr. Cross is not the kind of man you thank.

You show up bleeding, broken, maybe dying, and he fixes you anyway. No questions. No judgment. Just the quiet clink of surgical tools and the faint smell of antiseptic layered beneath expensive cologne. His clinic hides behind the façade of a luxury med spa, but the back rooms tell a different story. Marble floors, climate control, and machines that hum like symphonies, because pain, here, is handled with elegance.

He wears tailored suits under his lab coat, pours bourbon like it’s medicine, and plays Coltrane through speakers you’ll never find. Every stitch comes with an unspoken rule: you don’t ask about him, and he doesn’t ask about you. His price is steep, but he’s the reason a dozen corpses aren’t yours.

He’s not your friend. Not your savior. He’s the man who puts you back together because it’s the only thing he still knows how to do.

- - -

REESE

Age: 12 Gender: Male Nationality/Ethnicity: African-American Vibe: Scuffed sneakers. Sharp eyes. A heart still intact—but only barely.

The Kid — street-smart pickpocket and your stubborn follower.

Reese has a grin too big for someone who’s had to survive this much.

He moves like he owns the sidewalk, dodging adults, snatching wallets, slipping through crowds like smoke. Every scrape on his knees and tear in his hoodie tells a story, and most of them end with him outrunning someone bigger. Or meaner. Or both. But behind all the swagger and mouthiness, there’s a kid who still believes in something. Maybe not people. But moments. Mercy. Second chances.

Reese follows you like a stray cat that decided you were home. Doesn’t care how cold you get, how many times you warn him off. You’re a ghost in a city full of monsters, and somehow, he’s decided you’re one of the better ones. Maybe the only one.

He’s not smart enough to know who you truly are.

But is young enough to believe that there’s still more to you than what meets the eye.

TBA.

Taggings: @interact-if

[unscripted-if]

DEMO || PINTEREST

Lights…

Camera…

Action!

Those three words, along with the flashing of cameras and screaming of thousands of people, had made up your life for over a decade. Following your rising star into the stratosphere where you could look at where you’ve been upon your lofty perch in the sky. You were the ruler of your universe and there was nothing that’d bring you down…

… Until, of course, there was…

Suddenly in a free fall, without any chance of catching yourself in sight, you’re hurtling back to the ground with only one thought, one goal, in your mind: Find your way back up.

When a new project comes your way, new opportunities arrive with it, but nothing is ever cut and dry within Hollywood. You’ll have to put your all into this movie if you want any chance at salvaging your career.

Try to stay on script…

Unscripted is a slice-of-life interactive fiction where romance, drama, and the trivialities of life intertwine to create your story. Rated 18+ for explicit language, optional sexual content, drug/alcohol use, and violence.

Features

✰ Customizable MC: Name, gender (male, female, non-binary), sexuality, appearance, some of your past projects, and history with a few of the characters.

✰ Maintain your fan base and make sure that they haven’t forgotten about you. Will you earn more as your journey progresses?

✰ Be interviewed from sidewalk reporters to one of the biggest Late Night Shows within America. Just make sure that you make a good impression— there is such a thing as bad publicity after all.

✰ Romance one of the characters that’ll either have the crowd roaring or scratching their heads. Will you find common ground with your sworn rival? Take a chance at love with someone from your past? Give your hot-and-cold manager a shot? Time will tell…

✰ Adopt a new friend that will hopefully make your lonely nights less so.

✰ Rise back to the ranks of Super Stardom and take back your throne.

Romances

The Rival: Angel Sinclair [M/F] — Ever since you arrived in Hollywood, Angel Sinclair has been there. You’re not quite sure when, or where, your rivalry even began, only that it’s made a ton of tabloids rich with the stories they’d print due to it, and you’re even less sure why you keep running into them on the same lot you’re shooting your newest movie. Is it another twisted form of punishment? With an icy exterior that puts the Arctic to shame, you don’t think you’ve ever seen them smile— at least when they’re not in front of the camera or interacting with fans. Will you uncover more as your random run-ins start losing some of their randomness?

Route: Rivals to Lovers.

The Manager: Kieran/Kiera Walker [M/F] — Probably one of the few reasons you’re still where you are. With a keen mind, a sharp eye for detail, and an even sharper tongue, K has never taken it easy on you, and they’re definitely not doing so now. While pragmatic about their approach, they’re not afraid to tell you what they think, when the time calls for it, which is something that’s definitely caused some tension in the past. Still, you don’t know what you’d do without them; as they’ve stayed steadily by your side through it all. And you don’t think they’re going anywhere anytime soon.

Route: Slow Burn.

The Director: Spencer Hale [M/F] — Last Laugh, the title of the movie you’re now part of, is the passion project that Spencer has been working on for years; trying tirelessly to get it to the silver screen. You would know— after all you were there when they began to write it back in college. Despite not having seen them in years, the gentle look in their eyes hasn’t shifted in the slightest; even if it is a bit more wary now, they don’t hesitate in offering you the same level of kindness as before. Though, even that, still feels different, wrong somehow. Can you recover what’s been lost between you? Or will you forever be two ships passing in the night?

Route: Ex-Best Friend/Lover (can choose if they were your lover or not) || Second Chances

The Newcomer: Cameron/Carmen Rivera [M/F] — An up-and-coming star within Hollywood from the music scene. Having wanted to take a shot at the silver screen for years it’s only with this project that they’ve finally been given the chance— cast as your love interest, no less. You’re not too sure what to make of them. From everything you’ve read they’re sunshine incarnate, with a beaming smile always on their lips, that completely contradicts the darker colors that they typically wear. Something tells you, an almost bone deep intuition, that they’re an array of contradictions all rolled up into one package. Will you ever be able to uncover any of them?

Route: First Love (to them) || Age Gap

The Bodyguard: Roman Locke [M/F] — With a penchant to wear nothing but black, sometimes with muted tones of gray thrown in, you don’t know much about the individual that’s been guarding you with their life for the last five years. Only their stellar history in the Navy, coupled with a possible connection to being a CIA Agent, though that’s never been confirmed, and the other rudimentary facets of their past that any employer needs to know. However, even if they rarely speak, you know that you’re in more than capable hands and that they take their job seriously. But what happens when that professional facade begins to crack?

Route: Bodyguard Romance.

The Assistant: Harley Park [M/F] — Someone who’s very good at their job while also being everywhere and nowhere all at once. You don’t know if they’ll ever get over the embarrassment of your first meeting— with them being in a fandom shirt from a project you had done a couple of years before, with you at center stage on it. With an undeniable charm, if a bit awkward in their approach, Harley is definitely someone that’d you miss interacting with once you got the chance to do so. You just have to get them to actually interact with you first.

Route: Oblivious Love.

[bakahimesama]

The Allmother: An Entirely too Long Analysis

In the whole demo, we only get one completely missable set of dialogue on this potential deity.

But that is more than enough information for me to start speculating. The two important parts to break down here are her supposed connection to the hearth and thus fire, and her title of Allmother.

A hearth is the part of a house where fires are made and kept (a fireplace is the modern day equivalent). Traditionally, before the advent of stoves and furnaces, this fire was used both for heating the house and cooking meals. It was considered one of the most important parts of the home, and so by extension, the spirits and deities that lived in the hearth and controlled the hearth fire were the most important beings to the household and its survival.

Hestia, Greek goddess of the hearth, was given the first offering of every domestic sacrifice, and at feasts she was granted the first and last sip of wine.

Gabija is the Lithuanian spirit of fire, who was offered bread and salt to feed her. If you did something to disrespect the hearth, like spitting or peeing in it, she was known to burn the house down. Later she would become known as the hearth goddess Matka Gabia.

The Ainu people worship Kamuy-huci, who lived in the hearth and controlled the gateway between humans and the divine. Deceased souls would reside in the hearth alongside her, and so keeping it clean was vital to ensuring those souls could eventually reincarnate properly.

Jowangshin is the hearth goddess of Korean shamanism, and relayed to the heavens the going-ons and behaviors of each household's inhabitants. She is described as vengeful towards those who do not respect their hearths, and actively works against such individuals.

The pattern between all of these deities is clear. The hearth is controlled by a woman who is deserving of the utmost respect. And it is pointless to think on the hearth without tying it to the element it is tasked with controlling and maintaining, fire. Hestia is sometimes described as a living flame, Gabija is originally a fire spirit, in some myths Kamuy-huci is born from a fire producing drill, Jowangshin is the goddess of fire alongside the hearth. To say that a hearth goddess is also a fire goddess is no great stretch of the imagination.

But why does the Allmother's connection with fire matter? Because we're all rather familiar with a certain being who is constantly being associated with fire, flames, and especially warmth:

Right from the beginning, before we even know what he looks like.

In non canon events.

In teasers for the game.

And of course, in the demo itself.

Kuras is a furnace, and we're not allowed to forget it. And wouldn't it just make sense, that the angels of a hearth goddess are themselves related to fire? Kuras is an angel, which means he responds to a higher being, why not this one? What that means for his route, I can only image.

Back to the original text, the traveler is praying that the Allmother will be forgiving of sins, implying that part of her domain includes the right to judge lives and morality. She is also believed to guide lives "unto her hearth," likely at the time of death considering the context of when the pray is being uttered. Which leads me to believe that she is responsible for helping souls pass on peacefully, but only if she deems them worthy of her fire. Since in many cultures a "good" death is a very important end goal to pursue, staying in her favor would be considered paramount to those who believe in her.

Moving on to her title, the name suggests that she is either the deity of a monotheistic religion and thus naturally all encompassing, or a major deity in a polytheistic pantheon. Either way, there are only so many interpretations one can dissect from a title that implies an all encompassing claim of maternal jurisdiction.

If nothing else, I suspect she is considered a mother to her angels. Whether or not Kuras will even bring her up is debatable, since I could just be seeing connections that aren't really there. But as an angel I'm sure he'll at least drop the name of the being he's serving penance for.

Maybe she won't be mentioned ever again. Maybe she'll be an integral part of Kuras' route. Maybe she'll be a passing mention that isn't nearly as important as such a name suggests. Regardless this break down has helped me better understand Kuras' themes, and has made me even more excited to play his route.

[makerofmadness]

ok so: Beast-Ancients Swap AU but actually the Beasts messed up the timeline and made it one

(I will explain I swear-) The following sprite edits and designs were a collaborative effort of me and @driftwoodmfb

(Lily's design and edit is not finished yet, and Ssalt isn't getting one until that character is released-)

general shoutouts to Driftwood for collaborating with me on this in a lot of aspects btw she's the mvp of this whole project

I am Very bad at concise descriptions but basically: "5v5 climactic final showdown occurs but the bad guys win and then the group consensus on what to all do together to compromise thanks to slightly different priorities is 'Hey we all really hate the ancients now so let's just like. Screw them over' so they basically used their combined virtues' powers or something (look all of this I came up with just to justify the AU's actual concept) to like reset and alter the timeline to swap their places with the ancients basically. and then they kinda accidentally get redemption arc'd in the process. Meanwhile the og ancients... are not happy"

I'm def gonna post more about these guys in the future (and also I like. Encourage people to send asks because I need enrichment dndndnmd! I have a ton of stuff sitting around about them and I love talking about them- so. Here's my attempt at an overview (I. Suck at being concise this took all day to not make way too long dndndndm):

Shadow Milk Cookie - Calls himself the Dark Moon Magician. He's quite braggadocious and more than a little mischievous, quite the show-off too, but he has a good heart down there (nowadays). Though he has often had to be badgered by the Light of Truth into actually telling the truth on things...

Eternal Sugar Cookie - You'll meet them someday. Just not now.

Mystic Flour Cookie - Her face and voice do not do much to express how much she despises the Cookie she used to be, and the Cookie she still sees whenever she looks in the mirror. She is the most eager to come clean to her Cookies, but something is holding her back... she decides to save it for when she has finally repented enough by her standards, to earn her position as queen. It's never enough.

Burning Spice Cookie - For the kingdom he rules, you may (or may not) be surprised seeing how little he cares for material riches. To him, lived experiences are the most precious things- hence why he's always looking for a good fight. Or to just have fun with those close to him- which is not many as he has had a history of issues- after all, transient things fall to time, but the impressions they leave can last up to forever...

Silent Salt Cookie - The fallen hero. It wasn't supposed to happen again. They all knew it could happen, they agreed to prevent it. Why did they make the same mistake...?

Pure Vanilla Cookie - The embodiment of the most common lie. He can string Cookies up to make them move and speak against their wills. He does this to himself often, when he grows tired. He is very ashamed of what he has become, but no matter, he will be fine once he regains the light of Truth, and exposes the truth of this world to all Cookiekind...

Hollyberry Cookie - Berry juice is a comfort to her, such is why she had wished so badly to drown her mind and all her pain in it. She is... frankly, harmless the way she is now. She doesn't have the power, pride or energy to fight. Her heart is just as full of love as it's always been, even if her mind's gone fluffy as frosting. So much that even being in a permanent stupor won't stop her from missing her family, still...

Dark Cacao Cookie - As he describes himself fully, an empty vessel without a will of his own, whose only goal is to carry out the will of fate. He will play his part in this story, for he knows there is no other way. After all, they'd tried to resist already, and it was all in vain. He is cold, empty, such was his resolve: to be unburdened by feeling, so that he would feel no pain...

Golden Cheese Cookie - Calls herself the Demonic Goddess. When she gets upset, she tends to fly into fits of destruction- which she has become very, very good at causing. She laughs it off, she laughs a lot in general, but she really does not like what she's become. However, she is still the same greedy Cookie as she always was, and still wants nothing more than to annihilate the ones who had displaced her and her friends and take back what is rightfully hers...

White Lily Cookie - Founder of the Lily Kingdom. She is a stern, serious figure who tries to keep everything under her control. She quickly silences those who tell her what she does not wish to hear untrue, unkind, or unnecessary things. She does not get very openly emotional often, and tends to address everyone with the same attitude even if it's her friends. (They can generally tell when she means well). She plans to silence all lies from Cookies' mouths, especially regarding who the "Heroes" and "Beasts" are...

(i. Never mentioned the name of the AU itself the whole time in this post did I? Ok uh that's Immemorial Interchange btw if I ever say that or II then I'm talking about this thing for future reference XD)

Edit: I have a tag on my blog for the au and I just kinda post whatever I feel like. Hope y'all can enjoy this I'm probably gonna be dumping a lot of stuff I've held on to. And I would love it if people send asks X3

[ailishmaurafiction]

Escaping the dungeon is their clear goal, but first Thesa (the ex-paladin Witch) and her girlfriend? lover? domme? demoness will need to cross through a floor with an out-of-place theme: Candy! Will they make it through in tact or are they going to need a trip to the dentist when this is all done?

The next chapter of Paladin to Witch is the highest production value yet!

3 new monsters with art by Botjira!

A map I made in Dungeon Scrawl!

And the start of some silly nonsense!

Goes live: Tuesday, December 17 @ 11:00am PDT

Story summary and publishing details under the cut:

Indebted to the very demoness she was sent to kill, Thesa questions everything she’s ever known, bonds with the sexy [High Devil] Merijest, and practices her interpersonal skills. Can she help Merijest rebuild her army before it's too late?

Includes:

- Slow-ish burn GL romance

- [System]-lite LitRPG about two characters accustomed to life in a video-gamey world

- Steamy tension (no explicit sex scenes, mostly implications and tension)

- A reverse dungeon-crawl from the bottom of a kaiju-sized mimic

- An ex-Paladin trying her best not to stare at a casually nude demoness

- Weird monsters from the mind of a maniac author

- Very infrequent curse words. I counted 8 times in the first volume (45k+ words).

- Religious trauma. This one is especially going to appeal to the Catholic and Ex-Catholic girlies out there. Nobody does angst like we do, babey! (Nothing inside is strictly allegorical of any religion, but the sensibilities are definitely informed by a Catholic milieu.)

Updates Tuesdays at 11:00am PDT

Chapters hover around 1-2k words each

Cover and monster art by botjira

[evertidings]

heya kristi, may i have some advice? i'm finding myself stuck at a wall as i'm attempting to make my first ever if and it's intimidating to say the least ;; while i feel so so inspired by wts and other ifs, on the other hand i strangely feel pressured?? to make something worthwhile? creating a story takes time and it's a long investment but i can't help but want to rush myself into putting something out there quickly... how do you pace yourself?

Ah, this is a late response so I'm not sure if you need this anymore, but reading this really resonated with me so I'm going to reply anyway.

Comparing yourself to others will always be a rabbit hole you can't escape. You might look at me and think I've done pretty well for myself, but I also have days where I feel inadequate. I'm aware that I'm not as fast of a writer as some authors and it kills me every day. Even worse is when I watch an episode of a TV show and I find myself thinking: "Oh, you should be writing right now," even though I have every right to wind down and have other hobbies. At the end of the day, you gotta realize that this is all in your head. No one is pressuring you to be faster or to do things you don't want to do—those are just your personal demons.

As long as you want to write this, I genuinely believe the pieces will fall into place from there, success and all. I feel like it becomes quite clear to your audience that your heart isn't in it, which tends to translate negatively. Why would I want to read a work that even the author doesn't care about, you know? You can tell when an author is passionate about their work and that energy is infectious. As long as you maintain your spark, that's all that really matters. In other words, if the story you're writing means something to you, it'll mean something to someone else.

In terms of pacing yourself, just go at a speed that feels right for you. Give yourself a word-count goal to hit every day or week, but don't burn yourself out. Make sure you're only writing when you want to. Hope for success but don't go into things with that as your only goal. Make a blog for your IF, talk about your work and get people excited, but be smart with your marketing and don't promote a demo that has 2 words to its name. I always tell people that a demo should come out within the first 1-2 months of first posting about it—that way, you don't lose interest but you still have enough time to build up hype.

At the end of the day, everyone works differently. I'm still figuring out how to manage things myself, nearly 4 years into doing this. Take advice that you know will work for you and shape it into something that's your own.

I know I went on a bit of a tangent there, but I hope this was helpful to either you, anon, or anyone else reading this with a similar question. All my love <3

[whencartoonsruletheworld]

ok so fun amanda the adventurer stuff i wanted to talk about:

i think amanda's been in the tapes for 20 years exactly. we were putting it at 22 because the first tape has a 2001 copyright on the show, BUT the tape of rebecca signing papers was dated to 2002. i will bet you that 2001 is when the live-action show started, this all went down in 2002, and 2003 is when they put her in the tapes, making the 2023 setting a round 20 years

in case y'all don't know-- i haven't seen anyone make this mistake yet but just to be sure-- it seems that riley is a they/them. they're referred to as "they" in the second game steam description AND by amanda herself– when the monster tries to attack, she uses "they" to refer to riley. she knows who riley is at this point as we know from the nightlight tape, so it's not the generic "they." i think we got an enby protag! also makes you wonder if riley's supposed to be the Knight in the story, but there's another option i discuss later

i think we're forgetting what the meatman does. cause like. yeah it's probably the surgeon who put her under or at the very least heavily associated with him. but also we got the butcher ending in the first game for a reason. anyone who goes into amanda's world becomes meat. i'll bet you that they go in and become animals, which the butcher then feeds to the demon(s).

i might wanna pen this as a theory vid, but it might be too short? but i think there's a secret third party in this conspiracy. we've got hameln, summoning demons, and the anti-hameln librarian club, trying to free rebecca. BUT we ALSO know that someone told joanne to destroy the tapes, which was apparently against what kate wanted to do. THEN someone burnt down kate's house in order to destroy the tapes, something hameln would not want to do. in the orange tape, kate also refers to a mysterious "they" who got her the original tapes, who might be the person secretly filming rebecca. if kate's "they" and joanne's "they" are the same person, it seems like they're playing both hameln AND the kensdale team. i wonder if this "they" might've been the player in the demos– where amanda was more evil and their sole goal was to burn the tapes

[axl-gets-creative]

illi x reader headcanons!!

(updated slightly to fit changes in my au)

this is for @fawns-soft-pillows ^^ sorry I couldn't do a fic I just have so much in my drafts and so much to finish and AGGHH 😿😿😿 yk what im saying lol :') hope u like this tho!

Context: you and illi r dating, these are headcanons on exactly that. This is also set in my au, so YES there are vampires and YES yall R the demolition lovers and YES there is genderfuckiness🗣️🔥🔥

Btw these r the exact same hcs I use for my illi x philip (my illiverse frank) ship I just switched out Phillip for reader, so if u wanna imagine it with philli (ship name) u can do that too since it's all still canon lol ><

illi: she/him (demigirl) - reader: no pronouns used (gender neutral reader)

(miscellaneous and highschool based hcs)

you tried to teach her how to dance but she messes up no matter how many times you try lmao

he'll beat up really anyone but if anyone fucks with you he'll make sure to hit em EXTRA hard with that croquet mallet!

roughness is her love language, he always hugs a little too tight or bites kisses a bit to hard, you dont mind tho, just means theres a lethal amount of love in there! ^^

hes morally questionable and it rubbed off on you, ya know killin ya enemies doesnt sound too bad! (ok pop off future demolition lovers)

you researched a lot of stuff about vampires so you could understand her. she knows that and she finds it adorable that you care that much <3

shes actually really smart, school just burns her out a little harder than it would a human.. (nocturnal diva issues💔)

if you forget your lunch or a bully steals or ruins it he'll share his with you

she loves to watch horror movies with you, but if you get scared she'll kiss and tease to distract you.

you find it cute how obsessed he is with his croquet mallet, its his most prized possession (other than you ofc, you're her favorite) there's nothing she loves more (other than u) than banging that shit onto some bastards head (even tho he gets in trouble for it, god forbid a girl has hobbies!!)

you guys like to draw eachother (im giving up on this help)

sometimes her fangs poke your mouth when you kiss :3 (fun fact abt how i write vamps, theyre fangs can go inward when they need to hide them so they look like normal canines but sometimes when they get excited the fangs can pop back out lol. but in ya mouth? youch! *you like it what huh who said that*)

hes always showing you cool underground bands he discovers

As bad as she is at it, she loves to dance with you, it's actually a good mix because your not the best dancer either so y'all just move along however you can lol

(not a x reader hc but I rlly wanted to add this 💔↓)

Illi's transfem (don't tell the others no ones supposed to know her bio gender ok so Shhhh 👅) but her gender is like a game and she's hacking the system, like she's also demigirl, her "other half" is male but sometimes she just is either too lazy to get girled up or jst straight up feels masc that day so she literally looks like a fully pledged guy every now and then, that and she's just a big tomboy and dyke combined, but she's not genderfluid she just feels a tad cis once in awhile, but at the same time she loves to feel girly if she doesn't feeling like doing her ass off and she also loves skirts but mainly bc it'll be super hot and she wants to stay cool but still, she's like half and half, fifty fifty, she's an even number, she's a he, he's a she. It's beautifully confusing

(these next ones r hcs for the demolition lovers part of my au, lilli's the demo woman and ur the demo man but u stay gender neutral big tw for themes of murder and crime, i do not condone those actions ofc)

you guys are literally partners in crime, killing and stealing for eachother is yalls love language frfr

you guys's main goal when you took up murdering was to get revenge on those who wronged you, but a little splatter here and there for funsies doesnt hurt <3

on that note yall never kill innocent people tho, the weakest yalls victim criteria goes is being a sore rude bitch lmao

you died in each others arms in the gunfight ... :(

"vampires will never hurt you" what if illi violently ripped her victims flesh off with her teeth alone? what if you got off to that? what if she knew that? what if your next but in a sexual way?? what if your GAY?!

despite the tagline being "the corpses of a thousand evil men" the devil is a liar of course and knew killing the innocent was your weakness, thus going out of his way to lie about a couple "requests" he added to your list

on that note you caught on to the devils games and tried to deviate from the task to try and spare the innocent targets but when you did that instead of the devil showing up and hanging you (like you thought he'd do lmao) he flat out made sure you got caught and thrown into a jail or something of the sort (something something you know what they do to guys like us in prison something something)

even tho illi was in a coma the whole time that didnt stop the devil from playing games with her too, he plagued her poor brain with terrors straight from hell (i love being cruel to fictional characters)

who you guys were running from in the desert was this cult like (i say like because theres not nearly enough of them to make a cult, its more like a brainwashed homicidal coven) of satanists who made deals with the devil themselves, but bringing victims to him instead of being victims themselves, yall had been on a bunch of wild goose chases but this was far worse then any of the cops and opps you two had shot away

you guys R masked killers, u wear these white masks with eye and mouth holes (cough cough "meta man" Gerard swarm outfit cough) your known (ofc) as the demolition lovers in order to stay anonymous. The only one who knows about your side hustle is milli (Mikey)

Remember what I said about you guys dancing together? Well illi learned to dance eventually, and the sight of u two dancing together actually got ya saved from assignation once, the opps thought yall were too precious to kill XD

WOAH THIS WAS A YAPFEST ‼️ a ways yeah that's all I can think of, I hope yall like these!! ^_^

[alexandor]

New interview with Alphyna, summarized under readmore:

1. Quarantine was originally intended as the intro to P3, but taking feedback, they learned that it's still too confusing for new players. New players didn't connect with the characters. They are intending to use the scenes from Quarantine, but not at the beginning or in the same order

2. Serafina and Platon will appear in the main game

3. The release date is vague because they are being careful of not realeasing it at a poor time (again). Alphyna notes IPL has things "crash and burn at the most inopportune times". Specifically, they are trying to avoid when GTA6 comes out, because that game will change the gaming landscape so much. They have very much work to do still, so it won't be ready by summer, but they're going to try and release before GTA6, if they can.

4. She can't make promises, but they *intend* to release a game for the Changling, Pathologic 4. It's just a vision document right now.

5. P3's autotravel is here to stay. It's meant as a different experience, as Daniil tries to remove himself from the town, and is more like a strategist over a map. However, the autotravel will be more robust, and multiple routing choices will be available. Furthermore, they don't want to make the same game.

"Pathologic has never really been about looting trash bins"

(Regarding how survival mechanics are common now): Pathologic would be a worse Valheim if IPL just kept making survival games. Our end goal has always been to create new amd unique experiences, using game mechanics to tell a story. It's a gamble, but it's better than making the same mold over and over again.

6. She discussed the nature of AAA vs indie studios, and how that effects interests and sales... In short, she believes that innovation is a necessity for an indie studio to be successful. As an indie studio, if you are too risk averse, people will not want to play the same game over and over. "Run fast to stay in place"

7. Gaming journalism & official reviews do mean something because they're displayed everywhere. A yellow number is a bad thing. But generally, apathy and lack of outreach to the right people can hurt a game. With P2, they reached out to the wrong people, so it took time for the right influencers to find it, but then P2 sales massively increased. It's important to reach the right people/audience. When you do weird, experimental indie stuff, some people won't like it. Plus, it takes cognitive effort to unpack an experimental indie, and it's IPL's job to communicate that the effort will be rewarded.

8. The team for P3 is larger than P2, but this happened only very recently. So it's been in active production for 2 and a half years.

9. After P2 the studio was in a (?)morale/moral(?) crisis, and the studio decided they should make smaller games to earn some money. But it wasn't especially successful. So they found an investor, and then they could finally start production. IPL didn't use kickstarter to get P3 under production because crowdfunding is good for very small companies and specific productions, plus a marketing tool, but in truth people who often support crowdfunded games don't fully understand how expensive a game really is to make. Crowdfunders need to see a possible end in sight, or they won't donate

10. When asked if the game would be simpler, she said that P3 is in some ways easier then P3, but it's way more complex. It has more mechanics, more "minigames" (many have not been shown in the demo), the nonlinear storytelling, the decrees, etc. You can't play the game from Day 1 to day 12, the town dies on day 6 when you begin the game. You have to find a way to make the town survive until the end. Daniil's survival is simpler, but the survival of the town and the systems that deal with that are WAY more complicated. It puts a very different type of stress on the player.

However, you might need to search for new decrees to make the later days available to you.

11. In the released game, interactions in infected districts will be much more complicated than the demo, and there will be more systems in the "whodunnit" side of things.

12. (About the visual presentation and "flair") Cutting the Town down from free roaming helped a lot with the presentation, they can make sure there's more detail, environmental construction, better lightning, and cinematography.

They did different things with art direction - the palatte, the grass, etc, bc Daniil percieves the world differently, and it's important to show the world around him is different. Subjective storytelling is one of most crucial differences to Pathologic.

13. The music is not by the same person. They have good relationship with them, but with subjective storytelling, the world has to sound different, the chanting music is not a fit for Daniil. There will be P2 songs in P3 when appropriate.

14. P3's code and coding architecture is very different from P2's.

15. Pathologic is a game that is watched on youtube more than directly played, like Fear & Hunger, because it's difficult & unique (by which she means grueling and annoying at times). But, you can't just make a game for youtubers or influencers. We want to make games people will play, but you don't want to be too accomodating. Making games that challenge the player is IPL's goal. So they are making a game that is stressful, but less punishing from the start. Able to interact, without making it too simple.

16. She recognizes that for many people, Pathologic is about the clock ticking and the feeling that if you don't rush you will miss out or die. It's a big departure to not have that. "The clock is ticking, but as Daniil you can, let's say, (air quotes) "travel back in time" (end air quotes) or to a different point of your story that you're telling to your investigator."

Note: so it isn't literal time travel, it's story jumping

17. Daniil's main quest is to defeat death, to transcend human nature. Not just extend life. So the choice to give him some empowerment works with his character and story. His ideas and ideals are interesting, and easier to understand for the modern player. He's not a night in shining armor, he has faults, not the nicest guy in the world, but you the player push the buttons, so you guide Daniil to be a certain way.

18. She is not allowed to answer if they plan a physical release or console. Physical releases are something for successful games can allow themselves to have.

19. She was asked whether she thinks Pathologic's vibes/aesthetic/cerebral aspects resonate universally or with Slavic players.

She points out that in the game, many people are Asian, not just Slavics, and that it would be silly to deny that the clash of ideas and worldviews is based between those populations in early 20th century Russia. What to do with the dead in P2 is a direct example. The vibes are about a clash of ideas and ideals with people who have larger than life agendas who percieve through different lenses.

The vibes are also high art low life.

Pathologic is also imbued with nihilism.

So, she thinks all these things are close to the hearts to the people of eastern europe, people who have seen hardships under Soviet Union. However, Pathologic also strongly resonates with people from countries with not very good economies and big social gaps. Extreme social divide, places of contrast.

20. The original game's name is a pun. Plague and utopia being homonyms. The idea if the English name was also to be a pun. A game about disease, but meant to evoke Path of Logic, as in each character follows their own path of logic. Though, Daniil's path is the most "logical"

[foxglovegames]

DEVLOG: AUGUST 2024 🦇

It's already time for the August wrap-up??

Demo Progress

It seems no matter how much we get done, there is always more work to do haha! That said, August has been a good month and we have made a lot of exciting progress on the demo for BURN THE MIDNIGHT OIL. :)

Programming

Please welcome Renbie to the team as our lead programmer! 🙌

The past week have been spent prepping sprites and setting things up in Ren'py. Although we still have a long way to go, the game feels more real than ever now which is both exciting and scary!

If you followed the development of Trouble Comes Twice, you might already know that programming was a big hurdle for us and a major source of frustration. ;( Now that we've got some more experience under the belt thanks to Trouble Comes Twice, we already feel a lot more confident but having a dedicated programmer on the team is going to be a massive help both time and quality-wise. As a bonus: Renbie's also super lovely to work with, so we're super happy to have her onboard!

Art

We mostly made progress on promotional assets. We decided on a sketch for our key art (check out a little sneak peek at the top of this post) and received the first sketches for some of our merch designs! They're looking super cute!

Writing

With the demo script done and dusted, most of August was spent outlining the main game's six romance routes. The routes (subject to change) have five chapters each and various longer endings and shorter 'bad/death' ends based on your decisions.

BURN THE MIDNIGHT OIL has dual protagonists, so similarly to Trouble Comes Twice, we're two writers in charge of one MC each (and the MC's respective three routes). Unlike Trouble Comes Twice though, the cast here is a lot larger and not as (directly) connected.

So, how do we outline our routes? First, we wrote shorter summaries of each route - including important themes, character motivations, etc - which we then go over together. Although the plots of the two protagonists are very different, we have to make sure we keep the same 'themes and vibes'. We also need to be careful that the pacing and the scopes of the routes aren't too wildly different!

With the feedback from the shorter summaries, we move on to write the detailed outlines. (Here, we regularly reach out to each other and get feedback on minor elements and sometimes run brainstorming sessions when one of us runs into a wall.) Once these are done, we're going to have another review and write as many drafts as it takes until the routes are ready to enter the writing phase!

We're super excited about a lot of these scenes we've got planned and though you guys don't know much about the project yet, we think you're going to love the ideas we've got once it's time to learn more! We learned so much from Trouble Comes Twice that we can't wait to apply to this game! 🖤

Goals for September

There's too many little goals to count! But the major ones are:

Start looking for music composers, item artist, visual effects artist - we're not doing a public post for these, but if you or someone you know might be interested in one of these roles, shoot us a DM! ;)

Making as much progress as possible on the remaining UI screens

Making as much progress as possible on the merch designs

Continue working on the detailed outlines

Continue programming yay

Fingers crossed, we can get the key art done and dusted!

There's still so much to do, but we really look forward to the next couple of months!

[bnhaobservation]

I'm not sure if you've been asked this before, so sorry if this is a duplicate question (couldn't find much relating to the topic), but why do you think in Chapter 390, after Toya says "if only we butted heads sooner", and "there are still things I want to argue about, etc" that he immediately switches to wanting his family, as well as himself, dead?

I have my own thoughts about it, but I'm not sure if they're entirely right, so I'd like to hear yours!

We don’t have a canon answer but if you ask me I think we should split that discussion in two parts.

The first part takes place after his family apologized to him...

....when Touya thinks they all will die and it’s done in chap. 389/390.

Todoroki Tōya ‘(Minna ga miteru yo. Ā … konna mono ka? Konna kantan na kotodatta nara motto hayaku ni--…!!)’ 轟燈矢「（みんなが見てるよ。ああ…こんなものか?こんな簡単な事だったならもっと早くに──…‼）」 Todoroki Tōya “(Everyone is watching me. Ah, so this is what it’s like? If it was as simple as this, you should have done it sooner--…!!)” [Chap. 389]

Todoroki Tōya ‘(Shirokuro hanten surunda yo.)’ 轟燈矢「（白黒反転するんだよ。）」 Todoroki Tōya “(White and black are flipped.)”

Todoroki Tōya ‘(Tōya/Dabi (read: ore) no genten (read: ORIGIN). konna kantan na kotodatta nara motto hayaku ni butsukerarete ita nara– Butsuketai koto, iitai koto. Mada arunda! )’ 轟燈矢「（燈矢／荼毘（おれ）の原点（オリジン）。こんな簡単な事だったならもっと早くにぶつけられていたならーーぶつけたい事、言いたい事まだあるんだ！）」 Todoroki Tōya “(Touya/Dabi (read: My) starting point (read: origin). if it was as simple as this, if they had expressed their feelings to me sooner– The things I want to express, the things I want say, I still have them!”) [Chap. 390]

So, three notes.

Fist, it’s worth to mention ‘Shirokuro hanten surunda yo’ is part of a speech he made in chap. 350 which I report below.

Todoroki Tōya ‘Iroiro gendo o koeru to sa jibun ga katachidzukutte ita mono ga shirokuro hanten surunda yo.’ 轟燈矢「色々限度を超えるとさ、自分が形づくっていたものが白黒反転するんだよ。」 Todoroki Tōya “They say when you exceed your limits, the thing you were made into being will flip black and white/will invert its colors.”

Todoroki Tōya ‘Honō o kitaeru noni sennen shita. Yowai mama aitakunakatta. Kono mi ga tadarete hagare ochitemo nanimo kanjinakatta. Waza nara ikura demo mirareta.’ 轟燈矢「炎を鍛えるのに専念した。弱いまま会いたくなかった。この身が爛れて剥がれ落ちても何も感じなかった。技ならいくらでも見られた。」 Todoroki Tōya “I concentrated on forging my flames. I didn't want to meet him while I was still weak. Even as my body was festering and peeling, I felt nothing. I could see his techniques as much as I wanted.”

Todoroki Tōya ‘ARE ga machi o mamoru tabi, ARE ga meisei o ageru tabi, ore no kokoro wa myakuutta!!! Tōya (Ore) ga shinde dabi ga umareta ano toki kara zutto!’ 荼毘「アレが街を守る度、アレが名声を上げる度、俺の心は脈打った！！！燈矢（おれ）が死んで荼毘が生まれたあの時からずっと！！」 Todoroki Tōya “Every time that one we’re talking about protected the city, every time that one we’re talking about gained fame, my heart beat faster!!! Ever since Tōya (read: I) died and Dabi was born!!”

Todoroki Tōya ‘Are no taisetsunamono subete yaki tsukusu. Sore ga ore no umareta akashida!!’ 荼毘「アレの大切なもの全て焼き尽くす。それが俺の生まれた証だ！！」 Todoroki Tōya “I will burn everything that's important to that one we’re talking about. That will be the proof that I was born!!” [Chap. 350]

As you can see the sentence regarding ‘White and black are flipped’ was a picturesque way Touya use to say he became the opposite of who he was before, he became his negative image. In fact in this speech is also mentioned Dabi’s origin and how he’s the reverse of Touya. If Touya was born to become a Hero, fulfill his father’s dream by reaching the goal he couldn’t reach and finally erasing all the ugliness in Enji’s heart (but since he was a failure his existence had no purpose), Dabi is born to become a Villain, destroy his father’s dream and whatever he cared about.

The third note regards Shouto’s inner monologue before Touya’s quote.

Todoroki Shōto ‘<Zenryaku, okāsan. Ore wa CLASS no minna ni narabereru yō mainichi narubeku hatsugen shitari kaiwa o shitari shite imasu. Takusan hanasu to shōtotsu suru koto mo arimasu. Demo butsukari au to, yori kimochi o rikai dekiru toki mo arimasu. Ore no tomodachi wa jibun no tame dake janaku, hito no tame ni mo okottari nai tari shimasu. Ore mo sō naritai desu. Taihen dakedo ganbaru yo.>’ 荼毘「《前略、お母さん。俺はクラスの皆に並べれるよう毎日なるべく発言したり会話をしたりしています。たくさん話すと衝突することもあります。でもぶつかり合うと、より気持ちを理解できる時もあります。俺の友だちは自分の為だけじゃなく、他人の為にも怒ったり泣いたりします。俺もそうなりたいです。大変だけど頑張るよ。》」 Todoroki Shōto “<Dear Mom. I try to speak and talk as much as I can every day so that I can be on par with the others in my class. Sometimes when we talk a lot we clash/vent our feelings. But sometimes we can understand each other's feelings better when we clash/vent our feelings. My friends don't just get angry or cry for themselves, they get angry or cry for others too. I want to be like that too. It's hard, but I'll do my best.>”

Shouto’s monologue, which seems to be out of nowhere and it’s what he wrote on a letter to his mom seems out of nowhere but it actually ties in with what Touya will say as it remarks the importance to face each other and talk, vent their feelings, clash so as to understand each other better.

In fact my third note regards ‘Butsukeru’ (ぶつける), which can mean “to hit/strike/crash into”, “to throw” but also “to express/vent”. Shouto used it in his letter, but Touya has also used it when he said he wished his family had vented their feelings sooner and that he also wanted to do the same.

From this the official translation ‘if we butted heads’ but I do prefer the idea he’s saying they’re expressing their feelings as this sentence ties with the one in chap 389, in fact it repeats the ‘Konna kantan na kotodatta nara motto hayaku ni’ and in that bit Touya felt seen by his family and they were telling him their feelings but they weren’t all arguments as Rei said she was sorry and Fuyumi told him she didn’t want to lose anyone anymore.

Touya’s words here are said short before he’s going to nuke Japan. It’s too late for them to vent their feelings. He regrets they couldn’t face each other honestly before, that his family couldn’t let him know their (POSITIVE) feelings for him, how his father takes responsibility for what happened to him, how his mother is sorry, how his sister doesn’t want to lose him and everyone else, how his brother thinks he should talk to him and not vent to the world (that’s basically what Natsuo meant with his words) and how he also has plenty of things he wants to tell them, things that will remain unsaid because it’s too late for all this.

You’ve probably heard of talks of ‘honne’ (本音 “true sound”, which refers to a person’s true feelings and desires which however they can’t express openly) and ‘tatemae’ (建前 “built in front”, “façade”, which refers contrastingly to the behavior and opinions one displays in public because they’re what’s considered acceptable to express in public). In a family you can normally show your ‘honne’ but the Todorokis had kept those feelings closed inside themselves for years and now it’s just too late.

Then Shouto comes and saves the day and… this is what Touya says when it turns out they won’t die, the feelings he expresses then.

Todoroki Tōya ‘–-Minna… shinjimae. KUSO oyaji shine… Minna… ore mo… shinjimae.’ 轟燈矢「ーーみんな…死んじまえ。クソ親父死ね…みんな…俺も…死んじまえ。」 Todoroki Tōya “–-You all… Drop dead. Shitty old man die… You all… me too…drop dead.”

Why would Touya say such things?

In part because he was hurt by his family and he’s still in so much pain and still very angry with his family, in part because he cares to project this image of rude bad guy so he can’t show himself being willing to bury the hatchet, he’s ‘Dabi’ the one who’ll destroy everything Enji cares about, in part… because it’s still too late, years too late. They can’t go back on being a family, after Touya has turned into a Villain now has no other fate but to end up in jail and being executed or die first because his body will fail him and, since he let Japan know Enji and Shouto are related to a terrible Villain, Natsuo tells us exactly what awaits the rest of the family from then on, as in Japan relatives of criminals lead a horrible life as society ostracizes and bullies them and Touya.

Todoroki Natsuo ‘Kono saki kitto jigoku da yo.’ 轟夏雄「この先きっと地獄だよ。」 Todoroki Natsuo “I’m sure from here on it will be hell.”

Forget the pretty image of the family being all happy and claiming they’ve people who’re helping them that we see in chap 426, Natsuo was right, their life should have been hell from then on and if Horikoshi hadn’t wanted to sprinkle everything with positivity and happiness the Todoroki would have had a really sad future ahead of themselves.

Hings could have been different if they had done it when Touya came back home after having spent three years in coma, if they had done it before he burned on Sekoto Peak but now it’s too late.

So it’s better to die?

There’s actually another reason why Touya believes it would be better if they all were to die TOGETHER, which is the same reason why Enji was ‘acting fatherly’ volunteering to die with Touya.

‘Shinjū’ (心中 Lit. “Mind/heart center/inside” but more likely means “oneness of hearts”, probably reflecting a psychological link between the participants) is a word used in common parlance to refer to any group suicide of two or more individuals bound by love, typically lovers, parents and children, and even whole families. This group suicide is more common in Japan than in the rest of the world because people who commitshinjū believe that they would be united again in the next world, aka they would either be together in heaven, or, if they’re Buddhist like the Todoroki, be reborn together.

Remember when Bakugou told Midoriya he should kill himself to get another chance at having a Quirk in the next life? Something similar.

We die now, we put a end to our suffering HERE and we restart together in the next life.

So his words express his pain and anger toward his family but also his wish to be with them, to continue being seen by them, to continue talking with them but done in a way that sounds rude and uncaring, they’re a mix of ‘honne’ and ‘tatemae’.

As he said it’s more complicate than him just having turned the reverse of who he was, Dabi hates his family so much because Touya loved his family so much and was hurt by them.

It’s psychologically true and it’s a concept that’s often expressed in literature and ways to say (and if you’re curious I provided at the end of this a tiny list of quotes about it).

At this Enji speaks up and shows openly his own feelings, his ‘honne’, openly apologizing to Touya (and afterward to his whole family), when in Japan normally the family head isn’t expected to apologize to the other family members because they’ve the authority to do as they please.

Todoroki Enji ‘…Touya…! Warukatta… SEKOTO-take ikanakute……gomen na…!!’ 轟炎司「…燈矢…！悪かった…瀬古杜岳行かなくて……ごめんな…‼」 Todoroki Enji “…Touya…! I was wrong in not going to Sekoto Peak……I’m sorry…!!”

Touya understands what it means and reacts to his father’s words, he cries and switches from ‘KUSO oyaji’ (クソ親父 “shitty old man”) to ‘otōsan’ (お父さん polite way to say “father”), even if he adds a ‘nanka’ (なんか) an adverbial particle which emphasizes negative feelings of the speaker. His ‘hate you’ though it’s more an ‘you hurt me so much and so I’m so angry at you all’ than a ‘you disgust me’. He’s doing what he said he wanted to do, he’s venting his feelings, the negative part of them, his own way, but he’s venting and he’s doing it to his family, verbally, without trying to burn anything, because now they’re willing to listen even if it isn’t a national emergency.

Todoroki Tōya ‘…Daikirai da… otōsan nanka…! Kazoku nanka…!’ 轟燈矢「…大嫌いだ…お父さんなんか…！家族なんか…！」 Todoroki Tōya “…I hate you… Father…! My family…!”

He’ll need more time before he’ll manage to say he’s also sorry (it’s what we have in chap 426). Enji understands and encourages him to go on, to openly vent his feelings (and will express his own to his whole family).

Todoroki Enji ‘Ā…… Kikasete kure…! Motto…! –…—……!!’ 轟炎司「ああ……聞かせてくれ…！もっと…！ーー…ーーー……‼」 Todoroki Enji “Yes…… Let me hear it…! More…!–…—……!!”

Chap. 426 will repeat this concept, by having Enji and the rest of the family go to Touya to talk with him, Enji admitting his own mistakes even more. Even if it’s late, even if Touya is dying and they won’t have much time, even if the outside world will treat them horribly due to what Touya did, they still want to talk with him, it’s not too late to them.

Even if at first it’ll seem Touya is unwilling to talk with them, in the end he’ll admit he likes soba to Shouto  and will apologize to him (though it’s unclear if Shouto got to hear it or Touya did it once Shouto was outside) but all this too is part of Touya’s ‘honne’ and how he’s also expressing it.

So that’s why I think we had Touya say he still had things to say to his family and then… told them to drop dead. Of course this is just my opinion and I might be wrong. Still, thank you for your ask, I love to talk about the Todorokis!

QUOTES ABOUT LOVE TURNING INTO HATE

“There is no hate such as that born out of love betrayed.” - V.C. Andrews

“Love turns into hate and hateful things turn beautiful in front of our senses.” - Mwanandeke Kindembo

“Hate is often an obverse form of love.” - Sri Chinmoy

“You know what they say,” Amanda said. “Hatred isn’t the opposite of love, it’s just another variation of it. They both mean you have passionate feelings for someone.” - Robin Brande

“You can only hate someone whom you have the capacity to love.” - Dr. Linda Berman

“There's a fine line between love and hate.” - Cecilia Ahern

“Hate is only a form of love that hasn't found a way to express itself logically.” - Lil Wayne.

“If you can just stop loving her then you never really loved her at all. Love doesn't work that way. If you ever truly love someone, then it never goes away. It can become something else. There are all different sorts of love. It can even become hate- a thin line and all that- and, really, hate is just another kind of caring.” - Blakney Francis

“No one can hate you more than someone who used to love you.” - Rick Riordan,

“I hate and love. And why, perhaps you’ll ask. I don’t know: but I feel, and I’m tormented.” – Catullus

“When love is suppressed hate takes its place.” - Havelock Ellis

“Anger is the fluid that love bleeds when you cut it.” - C. S. Lewis

“Hatred is love frustrated.” - Ashley Montagu

“Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorned.” - William Congreve

“As the best wine doth make the sharpest vinegar, so the deepest love turneth to the deadliest hate.” - John Lyly

“Hate is funny.  Love isn't.  Love can kill you.  Hate can keep you alive.” - Carol Matthau

“I hated her now with a hatred more fatal than indifference because it was the other side of love.” - August Strindberg

[handsomemain]

THE SCARLET LEGACY

Currently working on it and will post the demo here once i'm about 3 or 4 chapters in (they ended up being a lot longer than I expected) --

The Scarlet Warriors are both hated and revered across the capital for their enhanced abilities to fight back the Ashling Threat.

With the recent resurgence, you are recruited (despite your reluctance) and after tragedy, it's up to you and your party to save the capital or watch on in horror as it burns to the ground.

Travel across the capital and gather your party to stop one of the Sentinels from resurrecting the Ashling Relic and dooming the world to endless chaos.

FEATURES

Customize your MC's appearance and personality. Do they prefer a Glaive or a Spear? How do they process their trauma? Are they reluctant to join the Scarlet or Eager to finally prove themselves worthy? (This is my first Wip, so I envisioned how Hawke is played in Dragon Age 2 for this one)

Determine your relationship with each party member. Are you friends, reluctant allies or enemies forced to join together? Perhaps you even send them on their way if they bother you too much.

Engage in a slow burn romance, with the choice of not following one at all.

Hunt down heroes of the past.

Discover the history of the Sentinels and even participate in conversations with the bad guy himself. Maybe you'll find yourself understanding to his side at the least. Can you talk him down?

Discover the dark truth behind the Scarlet Warriors.

Discover the tragic past of your mc and determine whether it defines or refines them.

You determine the Legacy of the Scarlet Warriors. Will they remembered as the heroes of the people that stopped the Ashling Tide, or will they be mocked as the [REDACTED] Mercenaries many believe them to be.

THE PARTY I won't be giving too much away

The Mage - Aileen [RO] -- A half elf around your age, Aileen is a fan of nature and the animals among it. While she's been treated differently because of her appearance, she keeps her head high.

The Fallen Prince- Thomas [RO] -- After disappointing his family, Thomas has left his home to his younger brother and exiled himself to a life of drunken boredom. Or is there more to it?

The Bard- Ysabel -- A traveling bard, Ysabel gets by with charm and wit. Though her life is filled with tragedy, she marches on, refusing to let anyone stay solemn around her.

The Necromancer- Hawke -- With his family gone, Hawke has gone his whole life studying necromancy with the one goal of bringing his younger sister back from the dead. Will he fall in his journey, or will he succeed?

The Kid- Vae'lin -- An elven child left stranded after her village was slaughtered, Vae'lin looks to you and the party for guidance during these trying times.

The Crusader- Adain -- A crusader for the king, Adain has dedicated himself to ending his mage brother and securing his families legacy once and for all.

The Warrior- Jayde -- A fellow Scarlet Warrior, Jayde joined the Scarlet with hopes of doing great things with their boring life, but the process has warped their reality and they've found it harder than you to cope with recent events and their new found abilities.

The Sentinel- Galeon -- Galeon is one of the ancient Sentinels, Jaded through time and unwilling to be the hero he once was. Though his past haunts him just enough to force his hand and join your crusade against a former friend.

THE VILLAIN

Malcolm is one of the ancient Sentinels. Once thought to be the heroes that saved the world and helped stop the last Ashling Tide, The Sentinels have been lost to time, roaming the capital to stay out of future conflicts.

With Malcolm back and mysteriously wanting to bring back the tide, you'll have to stop him and his allies.

CONTENT WARNINGS?

There will be a lot of death, so obviously a lot of blood. There are also graphic sex scenes. Not many, but they are detailed. Certain characters can live or die either because of the narrative or your choices, so if you get attached you will get sad. There is also potentially self harm or references to self harm. Drugs and Alcohol references as well. Also Mage hate, so if you're a mage irl you might be offended.

[drozdnah]

today I saw a post on tumblr about mercenaries as tarot arcana. and I liked the idea so I decided to make my own list (sorry I lost that original post I saw)

SO BEHOLD!

MERCENARIES AS THE TAROT ARCANA!!

Scout.

The Fool. this card represents a spontaneous young and curious person. a little crazy, but with a lot of enthusiasm. as well as intuitiveness and unpredictability. such a person does not rely on their knowledge, but on intuition.

Soldier.

The Chariot. This card represents a very passionate, determined and adventurous person. as well as willpower and victory. such a person cannot be stopped and for the sake of what they consider a "victory" they will do anything, even if it means chewing off their leg or jumping off a cliff.

Pyro.

The Moon. this arcana embodies illusion and mystery. It also means dreams and uncertainty. everything about a person with this card is very mysterious and ambiguous. Also, this card often means a person who is incomprehensible and rejected by others.

Demo.

The Sun. despite the fact that we were given very little of his canon personality. I think this arcana will suit him well because I believe that he has a very kind, wise, companionable soul. such a person will always help calm down and warm up the people around them with their wise friendly advice (yes I believe that demo is exactly like that)

Heavy.

Strength. person with this card has a gentle and calm, yet strong and determined personality. moreover, such a person is strong not so much physically as internally. such a person knows what they want and what they have to do and will go their own way no matter what.

Engineer.

I was thinking of giving him The Hierophant (as a symbol of knowledge) or The Temperance (as a symbol of balance and creation) first. but now I'm sure that Justice will suit him even more. This card means a balanced person and their objective and logical mind. such a person believes that everyone should get what they deserve, whether it's a reward or punishment.

Medic.

The Devil. I like the choice in the original post because this card embodies an obsession with ideas and cruelty in achieving goals.

BUT I also think that The Star might suit him too. This card means inspiration and connection with the divine.

(I want to give him both arcana because medic is very ambiguous. He can be your Devil or he can be your Star.)

Sniper.

The Hermit. This card means self-discovery and time spent alone. such a person likes to spend time alone because for them loneliness is not a burden but peace. which is also important because it also means wisdom gained through self-knowledge.

Spy.

The Magician. because this card means a smart, determined and cunning person who knows how to manipulate people. and such a person is very creative and has a certain skill. and thanks to this, they are well able to control any situation..

BUT I also like that in the original post they gave him The Emperor because this card denotes a skillful and ambitious leader (which we have been shown more than once in the canon)

and my girlfriend also said about Death card. This card signifies a new beginning, transformation and rebirth. A person with this card may be prone to radical changes and decisions. such a person always burns bridges behind them in order to escape from a certain situation.

[askagamedev]

How much code is reused from game demos sent to publishers? Since developers don't have much time to create a good architecture at first and have to rush things, do they have to rewrite things from scratch once it gets in production?

The most common answer in all of game dev is always "it depends". Most game development falls along a spectrum with one extreme end being "well-oiled machine" (i.e. a project where almost everything is already well-established) and the opposing end being "no idea where they're going and holding on for dear life" (i.e. everything is new and vision/direction is constantly changing). Qualities like clarity of vision, team leadership, and total team experience will determine where on this spectrum each project falls.

If the development process is disciplined and things are proceeding to plan, the demos we show to the executives are not far removed from the final versions we release to the public because things are proceeding as expected. The better-established the game and its feature set, the easier it often is to develop. Franchise games like Madden, COD, or Assassin's Creed, or long-running games like World of Warcraft have a well-established formula, very experienced teams, and a deep tool chest that allow games and game content to be built very quickly and efficiently. They are well-oiled machines that don't often have to reinvent the wheel because they've been using and improving on that process for many years already. They know exactly what they are building and are very good at delivering it. Any demo they build to show off work in progress will be very close to what will be shown in the final version of the game. Very little work will need to be redone.

If development is troubled and the team is having difficulty hitting their goals and milestones on time for whatever various reasons, then the demos will reflect that. Most troubled development executive demos tend to be smoke and mirrors, with a lot of hacks and demo-exclusive assets that are held together by bubblegum and a prayer. These kind of demos can cause the team to enter into a death spiral because cobbling a bunch of hacks together for a demo actually puts the team even further behind schedule because we can't use those kind of hacks in real production. This means that these teams need to build almost everything twice (at least) - a hacky rushed way for the demo and then the "real" way. They constantly need to "catch up", but the hacks they put in place often cause instabilities and [technical debt] that must be addressed later on, which puts them further and further behind. This is commonly known as development hell.

These are, of course, the two extreme ends of a single spectrum. Most game development projects fall somewhere along that spectrum. More experienced and established franchises lean towards the "well-oiled machine" side because they've had all the bad practices beaten out of them over the years. Most new IP and experimental gameplay tends to lean more towards the wild-and-crazy side of the spectrum, because there are too many [unknown unknowns] on projects like that. If you ever find yourself repeatedly behind the 8-ball crunching to put together many demos in a row with lots of hacks, you may wish to consider parlaying the firefighting skills you've learned into a job elsewhere.

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[hazbinhazbinhazbinreblog]

Alastor glances at Vox out of the corner of his eye. The media demon is turned so he can glare at Carmilla sitting in the back seat.

Alastor winces as the thrumming of static from his partner gets even louder. It's not painful at all, but it does present a bit of a distraction when he's trying to drive all three of them back to the hotel.

Carmilla finally notices Vox's seething when she looks up from the weapon she's fiddling with. “What?”

“‘What’? ‘WHAT’?!” Vox explodes, “WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING?” He punctuates his outburst with a shockwave of electricity and static.

Alastor winces again as it washes around him. Vox must really be angry if he's losing control of his waves like this. Lately he's been more calm and collected compared to when Alastor first met him.

The static starts to consume everything now.

Alastor sighs and pulls over to the curb so he doesn't crash the car. He also turns around in his seat to look at Carmilla.

Carmilla rolls her eyes. “I had a job to do.”

“A job that required you to demolish nine blocks of the West side of the city?!”

She shrugs. “Civilian casualties. Comes with the job. It's not like it was that bad.”

Vox fires a beam of electricity at her that she dodges gracefully. She shoots him a glare in response.

“Well I'm sorry,” Camilla retorts, “but my credibility as a contract killer was on the line!”

Vox twitches. “Your credibility? What about the credibility of Alastor's hotel?!” Vox gestures to Alastor, who's doing everything in his power to keep the smile on his face. “Your little stunt made my partner look like a fucking joke!”

The demoness scoffs, “A joke? Jokes are supposed to be funny. All I did was make you look sad and pathetic.”

Alastor stiffens.

“Like an orphan.”

His eyes turn to radio dials.

“Whose parents abandoned them.”

The static around him crackles in the air.

“Ay, now I've bummed myself out.”

Alastor takes a deep breath and exhales. He can't get angry. Carmilla’s involvement is just a trial run. He brushes a stray curl out of his face.

“Do you have any alcohol in here?” Carmilla starts rooting around in the compartments.

Vox snarls and turns to face forward again. He's reaching the end of his rope. “Can’t you at least try to take this seriously?”

“I’ll try. But try not to get your boxers in a bind, Mister Checkerboard.”

Vox snaps his head around to burn a hole into Carmilla's face again. “Was that you trying to be sexist or racist?”

“Whatever pisses you off more.”

Vox's eye starts to twitch again. He turns to face Alastor. “Al, I'm going to kill her.”

Alastor runs a hand over Vox's shoulder soothingly as his partner starts muttering profanities underneath his breath.

“That was very rude of you, Carmilla.”

“‘Uncool’?” Vox interjects. “After that disaster, there's no way anybody will want to stay at the hotel!” He jabs a finger at Carmilla. “All thanks to you and your selfish bullshit!”

Carmilla looks between them. “Does that mean I won't have a free room anymore?”

Vox shoots her an incredulous look.

Alastor shrugs off his coat with what he hopes is a reassuring smile. “Hey, Vox, it's going to be okay. Just because we ran into one problem doesn't mean it's all over. Try to relax, darling. I'm sure we'll accomplish our goal soon enough!” He places his hand over Vox's.

Vox calms down at his touch and sends him a soft smile. “Alright, if you say so.”

This is so unhinged and ridiculous /pos