#but i'm not good at working out what elements fit in these scenarios so i just left it deliberately vague

[dandelion-wings]

Tonight's not-so-much-warm-up-as-wind-down presented with absolutely no context, except a warning for non-graphic but extensively discussed domestic violence/child abuse. There's an establishing backstory fic-bit in my head that I have absolutely no time to write any time soon, but this was much shorter and a good mental cooldown, so have a very AU version of teenage Jean being talked into a bit of vigilanteism!

---

Jean catches Kaeya and Rosaria going out the window of one of the storerooms on the cathedral's upper floor.

Rosaria has her spear with her, and Kaeya his sword. That only makes certain what Jean has suspected for a while--that their pretense of hiding away to fondle each other has been exactly that. No matter what they say, she can tell that Kaeya is comfortable with Rosaria in the same way he is with her, different only in degree, not kind. His affection is a false front, overblown, and Rosaria has never sold the lie at all. There's something else they're up to.

"Where are you going?"

Rosaria pauses with one foot on the window, reaching back to grip the haft of her spear where it's strapped to back, though Jean is certain she wouldn't actually draw it. Kaeya looks back and smiles at her, theatrically sheepish.

"We're just looking for a little privacy."

"With your weapons on you?"

"Sister Victoria does say it's dangerous out there at night."

"Kaeya-"

"We're going to put the fear of Barbatos in Gottleib Spitz," Rosaria says shortly, over her shoulder. "You can help, or you can stay out of the way."

Jean frowns. She doesn't have to ask why. "That's something the Knights of Favonius should be taking care of."

"Unfortunately," Kaeya says, "they seem to be falling down on the job."

"If we could just get a report filed-"

"Elsa has lied to them the last three times she's come in here. If it was just her, I wouldn't care." That's a lie and Jean knows it; Rosaria had dug in too determinedly with all her questions about the reporting process and why the Knights couldn't just take the nuns' word over Elsa's, the first time the woman came in with her bruises and her flimsy lies, not to care. "But now that he's putting Clara in the same state, that's not just her business anymore."

She isn't wrong. Jean knows what she'd seen last time, when the senior nuns handed Clara off to her to heal while they tried to badger Elsa into finally reporting her husband to the knights. Kaeya had seen it too, when he sat down to entertain Clara for her while she worked. All Rosaria would have had to do was look at their faces while Clara was distracted to know what kinds of injuries Jean was tending.

"Under other circumstances, the Knights might take the same stance," Kaeya adds, soothing, as if he thinks Jean's objection here is the offense to the Knights. "But given everything that's going on, they must be stretched a little too thin. It only makes sense for the Church to step in while they're overextended."

"By terrorizing Gottleib Spitz in the middle of the night?"

Rosaria rolls her eyes. "By dealing with someone who hurts kids the way he deserves to be dealt with. Isn't that what you got your Vision for, anyway?"

Jean's breath catches at the careless cruelty of Rosaria's words. That isn't what she did--that wasn't what her mother was. Her mother was grieving, and hurt, and had no one giving her (them) the help that she (that they) needed to deal with the weight of all that grief. That things came to a head the way they did wasn't anyone's fault, except maybe Jean's.

"I wouldn't put it that way," Kaeya says, catching something of that protest in her expression before she can find the words to make it. "But you've said yourself that it's your duty to Barbatos to protect the innocent and defend the weak. Leaving the Spitz situation alone won't help anyone."

"Unless you want to wait until Clara ends up in the same position as your sister," Rosaria adds.

"That wasn't necessary," Jean snaps, but already the breath is coming back into her lungs, determination flowing with it. "Just let me get my catalyst. I'll come with you."

[tojisun]

"...but you were a stray piece, unable to truly fit in." GHOAP WHEN I CATCH YOU. WHEN I CATCH YOU!!!!!!

I think what I really enjoy about hyde is seeing the strength and selflessness they have in this situation, even at the expense of their own self. Because it is a Herculean task to leave the person you love and the person you grew a connection with, even if the extent of those relationships fell short of what you wanted. But there's also an element of hope in their character, at least for me there is. This same strength could easily pick the pieces of themselves back up. It could easily hold those pieces together again. It could easily allow them to move on. But the human aspect of their character is that they'll likely hold onto them (figuratively) for as long as they can, even when they don't know the way Ghost had begun to warm up to them, the way Soap was filled with sorrow once he found out they had left. It's just the way grief works - you gotta go through the waves before there's any chance at moving on.

It makes me wonder how Ghoap fare after they find out Hyde left. We know they grow a little connection to them, especially Ghost since he doesn't warm up to people well, but did the boys have a deep enough connection to grieve for what could've been? Does Soap even know that Ghost was warming up to Hyde? That he was looking forward to the three of them? Did Soap truly want a poly relationship? Do they realize how selfish they had been for indulging in each other freely but stringing Hyde along with scraps of their affection? all thoughts, all wonder. no need to answer any of those questions btw, just wanted to share my thoughts!!

im so sorry it took so long to reply to this ask because of how much it meant to me. im so so happy to see the love for hwwl and hyde, and how even amidst the dogshit i put them through, you guys indulge me anyway 🥹

and absolutely!! going into writing hwwl, as inconsistent and short bursts they are, i have always known two things: hyde will always leave, and ghoap will always face some type of hurt because of it. i guess another thing to glean from that is that hwwl wouldn't have a happy ending in a romantic way. there's no good suffering (hyde and their selflessness leading to a requited love) nor a chase (ghoap running after them to bring them back into their fold) nor a revenge arc (someone else loving hyde the way they should, and it being thrown to ghoap's faces). it is just a quiet splintering, as everything is with hyde.

i'm so so glad to see you mention the element of hope in their character. hyde deserves that at least. yes, they let themselves be dragged into the mess with ghoap because it had been the only way they can even have ghost in their life, but they also deserve to step back. there were sooo many scenarios i wanted to bring out that would end up with hyde leaving - some of them explosive, and some of them so entrenched in turmoil - but just thinking about how they left in the midst of mending things with ghost (that one-sided animosity that ghost held onto) was such a sweet release. it's like when an over-inflated balloon is held carefully, and the tight hold on the rubbered end loosens up slowly until enough helium leaves so that no explosion happens. and it's as peaceful as it could be; a kind escape, and hyde deserves a quiet parting so no... ghost (ha!) can haunt them in their new voyage.

thank you so much for this and teehee i answered ur questions!! mostly because i do love shaping hwwl like this, through asks, but also the next instalment is being a bastard and i can't finish it ugh </3

but did the boys have a deep enough connection to grieve for what could've been?

i thought about this day and night because i know in my heart of hearts, ghost wouldnt. johnny would, at least for what it was - before it was ghost and soap and hyde. he would miss that slip of thing that only he and hyde had. and i think johnny needs to feel guilty every time ghost comes over to pull him in ghost will always wait for him, of course he will, but i see this distance creating another friction, then another cause for ghost's resentment to hyde

Does Soap even know that Ghost was warming up to Hyde? That he was looking forward to the three of them?

he will never because ghost will deny himself, and therefore johnny, any moment of regretting. hyde left them, why would ghost let their past haunt him? (it always does).

Did Soap truly want a poly relationship?

not at first. he was... selfish. he just wanted them for himself; with no commitment. he rationalized it by saying that in their bleak reality, with such a thunderous life, it was difficult to have anything more than pressed bodies and hot kisses. but when he is alone in his bunk - hyde had already started pulling away by then, and ghost is away on a mission with gaz - johnny thinks and feels and yearns

Do they realize how selfish they had been for indulging in each other freely but stringing Hyde along with scraps of their affection?

ghost knew hyde loved him. he know hyde only agreed because that arrangement was only ever the extent that ghost would give of himself to them. and he used it to tag them along because johnny liked - loves - hyde, and ghost loves johnny so he will give him everything johnny knew. he just... pretended he couldn't see because he trusted hyde to pull away if they don't want this fucked up arrangement anymore. he just didn't expect them to leave

[within-your-eyes-if]

A Few Updates

Hello everyone!

I have some exciting news and a few thoughts I want to share. Another long update, I'm sorry!

Codex Update: As you know, I've been working on updating the Codex. I've put a lot of thought into each entry, balancing new ideas with existing lore. While a lot of elements were already established, delving deeper into some topics has inspired some new ideas, and I want to ensure everything fits seamlessly. With this in mind, I'm considering releasing what I have so far while I continue to ponder over some of these newer concepts and refine older ones. In the next few days, I'll be going through more feedback to address some issues found before I plan to release the update.

New Story: I'm excited to share I've released a prologue and first chapter for From Here to Again! Writing something different is meant to help me grow as a writer and expand upon things I might not have considered before, especially when writing Twine.

I will not be making a Tumblr for this story right now, sorry!

I know I've shared other stories that I planned, and here are some updates on those:

Nautical Lost would definitely benefit from a later release as Within Your Eyes grows, as this story will expand upon the world lore and some events that will happen.

The Innkeeper (a working title), I decided to hold off on because I'm terrible at management games, it seems. It was meant to be a fun little story with shenanigans. However, I do want to revisit the idea later.

Short Stories: I've expressed I want to make some short stories, but I feel like there's a point in WYE I want to pass first before getting into them. But I do have one I'm working on that I want to release alongside Part Two that delves into the past.

Worries About Burnout: I know some of you are/might be worried about burnout, but I feel like I have a good system for myself. Writing is a journey I haven't explored much before. I did write, but it's something I didn't think I was good at because, honestly, I was told I wasn't. I know I'm not the greatest, but I want to grow and learn as a writer. I've been taking breaks to focus on other things I enjoy, even if it's still writing out ideas for other stories.

I appreciate all of the concern in this regard, not just for my well-being, but also for the love of my story. To see it abandoned would be heartbreaking not just for my readers, but for me as well. 'Within Your Eyes' has been an idea long in the making, shifting and growing. It's something I've always wanted to share, and I'm so happy I have!

Time for Questions: I'm ready to start answering some of your questions regarding Part One. Enough time has passed, I believe, to start delving into these. To respect those who haven't caught up yet, I'll include any spoilers under a 'Read More' tag. However, be mindful that some questions themselves might contain spoilers.

Regarding certain asks/scenarios, I think that discovering the answers through the story rather than in a post might be more rewarding. While I may still respond to these, I'll be thoughtful about placing them under a 'Read More' tag as well.

Regardless, I've been thinking more about how I should approach questions, not only in a way that's satisfying to you, but also benefits the story.

Closing Thoughts: Sorry again for the long update. I've been very reflective after releasing a second story, and I hope no one sees this as me diverting from WYE. I'm grateful for every one of you and for all of your words of encouragement and love. I hope you enjoy From Here to Again (if you decide to check it out) and continue to look forward to our Warden's journey.

Thank you!

[lovemyths]

hear me out: zosan pro wrestling au

i'm a huge wrestling fangirl and i've been thinking about how zosan really fits into this. let me lay out my argument:

pro wrestling is a mix of sports + theater/entertainment right? so while there is a sports element, pro wrestling has storylines, characters, and wrestlers engage in more dialogue-based scenes (promos) outside of the ring. HOWEVER pro wrestling as an art form has the blurriest fourth wall EVER. they often blend reality and fiction. things in storyline are represented as Real. but more often or not, Reality is brought into storyline. a big example of this is that when 2 wrestlers dislike each other irl, good business practice is to turn it into a storyline. so a feud can be a mix of fictional elements mixed with real animosity. MESSY!!

also because it's scripted, everyone in the match/storyline has to agree. which means you have to be willing to lose, or "put someone over" (make them look good). obvs if there's real beef between 2 wrestlers the politics of that can get testy

similar to acting wrestling has CHEMISTRY. it's very clear when 2 wrestlers just click in the ring. in fact there is a term called wrestling soulmates, which people use to describe a pair of wrestlers who simply bring out the best in each other naturally.

so. zosan.

often rivalries have a babyface (hero) and a villain (heel). i have so many one piece pro wrestling au Opinions and scenarios, but my ideal one for zosan is:

it takes place in the indies. babyface!sanji (nicknamed black leg) and heel!zoro come up in the business around the same time. they wrestle for different promotions (companies; side note: indie wrestlers are not contracted like in wwe so they can wrestle wherever whenever) for several years before they so happen to be booked for the same show. because they're both rising stars, they are scheduled for a match together. they're already familiar with each other's work, but there's an immediate tension there bc they are both trying to be The Indie Wrestler of their era. and their personalities clash. they clash a LOT while planning the layout of their match together.

but when they get in the ring, it's magic. inexplicably it's as smooth as butter when they wrestle each other.

which is good for both their careers, but also bad, because they hate each other and now companies all over the country want to book them together. so they're stuck in a storyline together, and unfortunately, it's the best work they've done in their careers so far. the wrestling is great, and their promos against each other are heated and leave crowds coming back for more beause they can't tell what's real or not. backstage though they get along like cats and dogs, especially when it comes to deciding who wins each match + how they can still look strong in defeat. the bookers don't mind they're both such divas because they put on a damn good match whenever the bell rings

but obvs working so closely together leads to bonding anyways, not to mention the intimacy of wrestling as a sport. some wrestling rivalries last multiple years, or decades, and rivals often are forced to team up for storyline purposes to.

what i'm saying is that maybe their storyline ends up leading to them being a tag team and going on the run of the century. maybe sanji turns heel and they're just an evil wrestling duo wreaking havoc around the country (they're both nice people irl).

i have a gajillion thoughts on this but i will stop here.

[nellie-elizabeth]

What We Do in the Shadows: The Promotion (6x10)

Aww! This was so great!

Cons:

This show doesn't have a lot of consistency/follow-through from earlier elements, and I do find myself wishing that there would be an acknowledgment of Laszlo raising Colin Robinson from a baby. There's this whole thread with Cravensworth's Monster this season, where the two of them are basically co-parenting, and it would be funny to tie back that earlier father/son dynamic to what's happening now. But there's never any mention of it, which I just think is a missed opportunity!

This isn't really a complaint about this episode, but rather a fervent hope for the finale next week... I hope that the documentary gets a proper payoff, even in some small way. The moment where Jordan is trying to call "cut" at the end felt like it needed a punch-up, a bit more of a grand reveal about the documentary that's been in progress for such a long time. I guess we'll see if they have a good final bit about this next week!

Pros:

This was a great culmination of the Cannon Capital plot thread from this season! We've got the whole big office set, and our entire vampire gang coming along to a party that's supposedly in part to honor Guillermo as he gets a big promotion. What worked so well about this plot thread was that it managed to fit the predicted beats, but then have real emotional catharsis too.

Because of course Jordan is a jerk who is just stringing Guillermo along. Of course the gang is going to come to the party and cause shenanigans, escalating into more and more ridiculous scenarios. Of course, Guillermo is going to get disappointed once more.

But... Guillermo decides he's done with the cycle. He says no. He stands up for himself. And then, even more astonishing, Nandor stands up for him! It's so funny that Nandor hears someone describing the basic dynamic he had with Guillermo for years, but suddenly sees it for the injustice that it is. It was, not gonna lie, pretty sexy to see Nandor slam Jordan up against the wall, and even sexier to hear Guillermo say "drop him" with such command in his voice. And Nandor obeys! Oof! My favorite small moment was when Guillermo says, looking over his shoulder at Nandor, "it's his documentary." There was something so sweet and intimate about his tone. The shared inside joke. The shared victory over this asshole who mistreated Guillermo and got Nandor fired.

And then we get Nandor telling Guillermo that they are destined to have this unbreakable alliance together. That Guillermo doesn't belong with the humans, he belongs with vampires. When Guillermo says "I'm not a vampire" and Nandor says "no, you're something even cooler," you expect there to be some sort of goofy punchline. But Nandor says "you're a warrior." Which is just perfect and sincere and everything! Of course, their hand-clasp of camaraderie and dedication is broke up by Nandor telling Guillermo his hands are too clammy. Very typical of this show to mix the oddly emotionally affecting with another instance of Nandor being dismissive of Guillermo in some way.

In subplot news, I like that Colin took a stand against Laszlo and stood up for the Monster, who then declares himself to be "Robinson's Monster" instead of "Cravensworth's." Of course, in the end it turns out he thinks of both of these men has his fathers, and wants them to kiss in the elevator. And Nadja gets scammed, thinking she's got a new job, and all she had to do was send $10,000 and feet pictures to her new "employer"! This is the kind of ridiculous shenanigans I tune into this show to see. Just in general, the fact that they all turned up to support Guillermo, even if they'd never admit that's what they were doing, was heartwarming. And Nadja even got to take a souvenir in the form of the severed head of one of her favorite and most annoying former co-workers. It's the little things, really.

I'm genuinely a little weepy about this show coming to an end next week. It's the perfect kind of cozy sitcom where wild stuff can happen at any moment and yet you always know a general status quo will reassert itself. Sometimes that can be frustrating as you want things to be pushed a little further, but usually at the end of the day it's nice to know what you're going to get.

9/10

[singular-yike]

Getting into Len'en Lore: Part 1

Cause I mean there's a lot of it, isn't there?

With the 10th anniversary coming up I thought it might be nice to share my personal recommended reading order(?) for all the Len'en material, for people who really want to dig into the lore.

Of course, I'm sure most folks reading this are already neck-deep into the lore swamp but hey, on the off chance that it reaches someone new, right?

Getting the information in English

To start off, you'd either have to learn Japanese, or find a good translation for the series and its associated materials. Here I'll go with English, since it's, well what I'm writing in.

The Len'en wiki, for 99% of all cases, will absolutely be where you want to go to read up on the lore and translation of Japanese material.

All of the translations on the wiki have been diligently worked on by me and other brilliant translators, and even now we revisit old translations to polish them up, so I guarantee it's quality (I suppose there's no reason to trust me, but I do promise).

Now the wiki also has links to English patches for all 4 of the shmup games, if you'd prefer to read the dialogue in-game, though I must note that they won't be the most updated version of the dialogue, and have further paraphrasing to trim things down to fit textboxes.

Still, they're more than enough for getting a basic understanding of the plot, and the visual elements of the game are not to be missed out on, so do give the games a go!

The Reading List

Now that the preamble is over with, let's actually get into my recommended order for lore-exploration. Forewarning: It's a lot, so brace yourself for some good old reading.

Major Entries in Release Order

The first place to start is of course each of the series entries in release order, though there are some curiosities about how this series tells its story through changes to the games itself, so I'll walk you through those as well.

These are separated into "story reading order" and "additional reading", the first ones are pretty much necessary to, well, understand the story.

Additional reading, on the other hand, are not as crucial to grasping the story, and will be ordered from most important to least.

They often contain little tidbits of lore tucked within, and are fun reads perhaps only for fans of JynX writing or those who really want to dig deep.

Game 1: Evanescent Existence

We of course start with the first game in the series, Len'en Mugenri ~ Evanescent Existence (often abbreviated as EE in English).

Story Reading Order

Prologue

Yabusame Houlen's story — Main Story → Bad Ending → Good Ending → Extra Story

Tsubakura Enraku's story — Main Story → Bad Ending → Good Ending → Extra Story

Official Profiles

Additional Reading

Music Room Comments

Spell Cards

Documentation Pages — omake.txt, manual.txt, readme.txt, readme.txt (trial ver.)

Note: Bad Endings Bad endings are non-canon in all of the games, in the sense that the events depicted within haven't actually occurred. They're still very useful to read as "what-if" scenarios though, since they actually provide a lot of interesting information.

Game 2: Earthen Miraculous Sword

Moving onto game #2, simple enough. Here's Len'en Tasouken ~ Earthen Miraculous Sword (abbr. EMS).

Story Reading Order

Prologue

Main Story (Any character order is fine) — Yabusame Houlen: Story → Bad Ending → Good Endings A & B — Tsubakura Enraku: Story → Bad Ending → Good Endings A & B — Kuroji Shitodo: Story → Bad Ending → Good Endings A & B

Extra Prologue

Extra Story (Any character order is fine) — Yabusame Houlen, Tsubakura Enraku, Kuroji Shitodo

Official Profiles

Note: Good Endings A and B The two endings differ only in a single textbox at the very end, so no need to read it twice, just jump to the very end to see the difference. Or honestly, since it doesn't affect the story at all, you're free to just read either one and be done with it.

Additional Reading

Music Room Comments

Spell Cards

Documentation Pages — omake.txt, manual.txt, readme.txt & readme.txt (trial ver.)

Note: On the EMS Documentation Pages EE and EMS were actually released at the same time, as a result some files are unnecessary to read. ・omake.txt: Only different in the game title ・readme.txt files: Identical in every way in the trial version The manual and readme files are however different, so give them a glace if you'd please.

Game 3: Reactivate Majestical Imperial

Onto the 3rd entry: Len'en Reiretsuden ~ Reactivate Majestical Imperial (abbr. RMI). This game first introduces the team system, so each story features 2 playable characters.

Story Reading Order

Prologue

Main Story (Any team order is fine) — Shrine: Story → Bad Ending → Good Endings A & B — Bottle Opener: Story → Bad Ending → Good Endings A & B — Slaver: Story → Bad Ending → Good Endings A & B

Extra Prologue

Extra Story (Any team order is fine) — Shrine, Bottle Opener, Slaver

Official Profiles

Note: Good Endings A & B This time, the two endings have more differences, stemming from a slightly different outcome of the main scenario. So I'd personally recommend giving both a read. Though to be fair there's no functional difference between the two in terms out final outcome. So I wouldn't say that you must read both to understand the plot or anything.

Additional Reading

Music Room Comments

Spell Cards

Documentation Pages — manual.txt & readme.txt

★ Len'en Kanji Change

It is while working on the next entry of the series that JynX decided to change the kanji "Len'en" is written with, from 鏈縁 to 連縁, changing the first character, as you can see above.

There's actually quite a bit to read about this, though since it doesn't relate to the story, I'll just mention that this happened for now, more on this later. Onto the next game!

End of Part 1

This actually got so long that I couldn't fit it all in one post, so let's end things here and move onto part 2!

[darkfictionjude]

About your angst vs lighthearted games question.

So, I don't think this question truly applies to me. Well, not in the sense that I could give you a clear preference.

First things first, I will avoid both extremes. I despise purely comedic stories and what not, so if it's something like that (imagine a sitcom like scenario), I will just skip it. But I also find totally unappealing a game that is 100% bleak and where it seems clear there's 0 chance for a good ending. My reasoning is that a game without stakes is bland and a game without "reward" (aka good ending) isn't worth my time. I think a good game has both angsty and sweet and/or funny moments, but ultimately the player CAN obtain what can be considered a good ending out of it. Otherwise, why put the effort, you know? So any game I play, it means I'm under the assumption good endings are possible, even if the path there is very angsty or even hard to achieve.

Now, I do love drama, but I basically like a story that has balance. If it's only angst, I will get bored. If it's too positive, I will get bored too. I'm a sucker for hurt-comfort, so it tracks.

To give more context to my opinions, it basically all relates to interactive vs non-interactive media. In non-interactive media like movies or books, you just have to watch or read the piece of fiction you're "witnessing it", and that's it. You don't have to "actively" DO anything. Since you're not putting in any "actual effort", you don't need a "proper reward". It sounds weird said like that, but basically, because of that, I accept that sometimes a piece of non-interactive media has a bad ending or that it's fully lighthearted without stakes because, you know, I'm just there watching or reading it and I don't have to "fight for it". But with interactive media, the player puts in real effort. It doesn't matter if it's a classic RPG where you have to literally fight, explore the world and what not, or a text based game like IF and VNs where you have to make the right choices and think about your decisions. At the end of the day, you are fighting for a reward and facing the consequences of YOUR actions. And so, if I decide to do that, I need a reward at the end of the journey. Some people will say that there's catharsis in a bad ending sometimes, but I personally don't experience that. I didn't hate all bad/sad endings to pieces of fiction I witnessed, but every single bad/sad ending just left me frustrated and was the opposite of cathartic, even if it wasn't always hated per se. It was always a "not bad as a whole, but the ending was mediocre". Only exceptions are "objectively bad" endings that to me feel "subjectively good" for a reason or another, but this is too much of a case by case thing.

So yeah, all in all, I most like balance of angst and lightheartedness.

Honestly, my main criteria to decide I will play an IF are: 1 - that the game contains romance (this is not a must in other types of games, but I play IF for that specifically). 2 - that the game allows me to have a male MC. 3 - that the game doesn't have random aspects, and if it has random elements, then it has to allow saves or have checkpoints (I'm a "one canon playthrough kind of player, so I need to be able to easily recreate the same results on each playthrough, meaning if random elements are into play, I need to be able to save scum easily).

As long as these two conditions are fulfilled, I can be interested in the game. Well, obviously, some kinds of plots won't appeal to me, but most of the time it can work at least in theory.

Sorry for rambling! It's an interesting question that ties in with a lot of thoughts I have about fiction as a whole!

I’m kind of like you tbh

I don’t mind bad endings in IF but I don’t want that to be the only type of ending but I do LOVE bad endings or sad endings in other media forms

For WWC the endings I have in mind go from bittersweet to really bad. I can’t add a completely happy Disney ending cause it doesn’t fit the tone. But like the bittersweet will be 70% happy

I also only play games which allow romance and not just any romance I need it well written I’ve played IFs where the plot and writing is superb but then the romance feels flat, like it was added last minute and to fit a quota. And I see this when they do the tell and not show of romance cause like give me DETAILS.

Which is also something I don’t do in stuff like books (I gravitate towards those that have little to no romance) and in movies I like the ones where the couple don’t end up together

I also don’t play gender locked games 😭😭 and it’s for 2 reasons 1) so much of the media I’ve consumed has been about men and at this point in my life I just make an effort to go to things that have women in important roles or allow me to play as a woman 2) I like gender to be commented on in game and I just find that looking through the eyes of a woman is much more interesting (again this is my opinion)

I’m also a one playthrough person and the only things I change are romances. I do dislike that save mechanism on like Hosted Games and CoG are at the writers discretion cause I hate having to start over cause I fucked something

[sdwolfpup]

I just finished reading HFoG and oh. Oh. My. God. I need to rant (you can totally ignore this if you'd like).

First of all, the scenario you've created fits them so well. Brienne as a mechanic is an amazing idea. She's still doing something stereotipically male (and kicking ass) at best unnoticed and at worst cast aside as no one takes her seriously or they outright mock her. You've kept her under patriarchy's thumb, and also as a powerful, simmering force waiting for someone to turn up that heat!! What an excellent mirror to her situation in the books.

Second: the extremely high risks + high adrenaline + mightily physically demanding + high rewards of F1 is another excellent transposition of their survival/quest situation in the books. I feel like that, as a setting, is what makes it feel very genuine to them as characters. Your characterization is great too! They're slightly different to the books but still familiar (they would probably act like this in this more modern, more subtle flavour of a patriarchal society). I mean. just. Man. MAN.

Also, turning a bit more to Jaime: The way all the events unfold was incredible. We go steady, quite calm but with an undercurrent of stress and anxiety, building, some doubts, triumphs, more building, more triumphs and then BAM. The dreaded doldrums where we pick up the pieces of a horrible shipwreck. Jaime never getting to that P-1 absolutely broke me. I literally held my breath reading those paragraphs, where time stops for the whole circuit after the crash, and the heavy moment of silence before Brienne hears him over the radio... MAN. I thought you were going to give him at least one P-1 before he lost his hand, making it bitersweet already at that point, and when you didn't I was SCHOCKED. You held back on that element and it worked WONDERFULLY towards the end. JB'S P-1 felt so earned, so fought for. Talk about good storytelling. AAAAHHH!!!!!

I ate it up between yesterday night and all of today. I slept at most, like, four hours. I couldn't stop reading. Congratulations, honestly. I usually don't read fics this long (or leave reviews this crazy under anonimity lol) because authors tend to meander (not a bad thing necessarily but it does get tedious at this scale) but this was SO not the case. Every. single. paragraph. mattered. MAN!!!!! (man counter: IIII)

I know you're probably quite done with it (and what a fucking project you did, my god), but if you ever want to write about JB in that universe again I see myself forced to BEG YOU ON MY KNEES to do more of their radio banter in your missing scenes section. I absolutely love it, the subtle flirting, the encouragement, and the oopsies (Jaime forgetting to turn the radio off and accidentally exposing himself as a I LOVE MY CAR MY CAR IS MY GF guy is soooooo funny). Ugh. Swooning. It has started an itch I need to scratch so bad (I feel like im going crazy a bit ngl. Give yourself a big smacking pat in the back.) that I'm just going to start re-reading it for those parts and also to get that thrill that is there between them at the beginning which is also so good! And so yummy!!!!!

Ok im done now i think.

TLDR: xoxo mwah mwah mwah i loved HFoG i worship and kiss the ground you walk on, etc etc etc. im obsessed, great job!!

"ignore this"?! Are you kidding, anon -- I'm gonna print this out and wallpaper my bedroom with it. 😂💕

I have been re-reading this ask off and on all day, wanting to respond appropriately to make sure you know how much I so sincerely appreciate you taking the time to leave this for me, and I just don't know if it's possible. I'm just... man, I'm grateful. (Man count for this post going up!!!) Seriously though: thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm gonna be riding this high all week.

(Also, I fought with myself about allowing Jaime to win the World Driver Championship and then lose his hand, so I'm always glad to hear that that choice worked for others. It was the right thing to do, but wow did that hurt to put him through it, heh. And pacing of long fics is a thing I take very personally, so I am ALSO pleased to know that worked for you, too!)

Anyway. THANK YOU. I'm gonna go back to re-reading this comment, hee.

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Whole Series Overview

I started this series in January. It took me just under nine months to finish and in that time, I've become the most relevant Higurashi blog according to the Tumblr algorithm. I'm genuinely upset that it's over.

All the way back in my first post for Abducted by Demons chapter 1, I said "This is a story about repentance, forgiveness, and second chances." When I said it then, I didn't intend to repeat it as many times as I did during the second half. But it just so happens to fully encapsulate what I think this story is about.

The first half of this series is about everyone screwing up and causing horrible tragedies either directly or indirectly. The second half is instead about them overcoming those faults and working toward a better future.

Now you might think "All their actions get undone and they don't remember anything. None of the bad stuff they do actually happens so there's no point to all this forgiveness stuff since there's nothing to forgive." But that's not really true. The stuff they do each arc gets undone, but everything they've done coming into each arc and the effects those actions have on them are still there.

Even if Keiichi doesn't murder his classmates in a paranoid fit, he still assaulted a bunch of children with a toy gun and accidentally shot a girl's eye out. Even if Shion doesn't kill all the village leaders out of a misguided desire for revenge, she still resents her sister for the mixup when they were little and the village for how it treated Satoshi. Even if Rena doesn't kill people who are trying to extort her father and hold her class hostage due to suffering paranoid delusions, she still blames herself for her parents' divorce and is always afraid she'll lose everything she loves if she isn't diligent.

Each of these bad timelines are what could happen because everyone doesn't confront the worst aspects about themselves and truly strive to become better people. The question arcs are all scenarios where those negative aspects of the characters are allowed to fester and act completely unimpeded. The answer arcs meanwhile begin to address them and bring everyone together. Most importantly, the answer arcs continuously assert that what you've done in the past doesn't matter as long as you are actively trying to be a better person now.

The turning point in the entire series is in Atonement chapter 11. We've had some allusions to Keiichi's past but this chapter airs out all his dirty laundry. And we the readers might think "Oh Keiichi is not a good person after all for hiding this from us" but when he confesses to his friends, they all agree that he didn't need to tell them this because he's actively trying to be a better person because of what he's done.

Shortly after, Keiichi is flooded with the memories of what he did in Abducted by Demons. For normal people who don't truly have the power to traverse worlds, this might feel more like a premonition of what could have happened if he didn't address his personal issues or kept himself distant from his friends because of them. And this drives him to reach out to Rena and show her similarly that she has people she can go to even with what her past is.

In the final chapter of the entire series, Dice Killing chapter 6, everyone comments on the idea of a world where none of their crimes and sins happened, and they all agree that they're better off in this world because it allowed them to become better people. They still regret what they've done, and it will affect them all their lives, but it's ultimately best that they learned from them.

This series has a lot of fun with throwing supernatural and occult aspects at the reader. We start the story with a premise that there's some secret death cult running the village. Then as we keep going, we get things like the dead coming back to life, doppelgangers, death curses, and the mortal incarnation of a god.

All these different elements become a tangled mess that the reader is left to try figuring out how they come together. And in the answer arcs, we get to find what is true and what is false. And it turns out most of these supernatural elements are actually mundane coincidences or misunderstandings. In fact, Atonement seems intent on proving there isn't anything supernatural going on by introducing a new element, mind controlling alien parasites, and showing how we could mistakenly think that's a thing.

But as the story shows how some supernatural elements aren't real, it doubles down on others. As we learn that aliens, doppelgangers, and zombies are not part of this story, we're also shown that Oyashiro is real, Rika is Oyashiro's reincarnation, and they both have something to do with everything going on.

And all these strange elements were ultimately a distraction. The main point to it all is there is a conspiracy to destroy the village and Rika's death is a core aspect to it. Once all the occult mysteries are solved, we get to focus on the main plot.

Digging into a bit of what I can surmise about Ryukishi07 based on his work here, he definitely believes strongly that a person's mental wellbeing needs to factor heavily into the actual culpability of their crimes. Nomura and Okonogi are the only ones in the story who are painted as truly evil. They did everything they did with full soundness of mind. Most everything else is done by people who are repeatedly shown that they would never do what they did if they were in their right state of mind.

Massacre chapter 1 refers to a heavy-handed example of Keiichi. We're introduced to him by watching him go mad and kill his friends. But subsequent arcs show us that that behavior is very much the exception. Ultimately, every person is a very bad situation away from doing something they would never do normally.

One of the notes in the epilogue to Festival Accompanying is Irie would release a thesis on how changes to the brain affect personality and it will make people reconsider whether people should always be blamed for their actions. So part of the good ending of the story is that mental illness and wellbeing are factored into how to approach the guilt or innocence of a crime.

The ultimate shift from researching Hinamizawa Syndrome as a weapon to researching treatment and prevention is also part of that good ending.

I've gotten this far and I feel like I haven't really talked much about actual media itself. So this is a manga adaptation of a Visual Novel. The arcs were all written and released concurrently over what I'd say are three primary waves. The first wave saw Abducted by Demons, Cotton Drifting, and Curse Killing release at the same times followed by Time Killing releasing after. The second wave was Beyond Midnight, Eye Opening, and Atonement. Finally, Massacre and Festival Accompanying released together with Dice Killing releasing after.

This would really explain why manga sites at the time hosted each arc as it's own separate series since they were treated as their own separate series. When it was given an English release, the volumes were released one at a time as part of the Higurashi series rather than as their own individual series.

If she were allowed to, I bet Karin Suzuragi would have done the art for every arc. Looking at the series by release order, she was involved in the manga adaptation from start to end.

Each question-answer arc pair having its own artist really added to the sense that each arc is a different story and these are different worlds. I don't know if there were any real-world reasons for why it happened, but Hinase Momoyama adapting Massacre rather than Jiro Suzuragi reprising her artist role for it ended up being one of the best examples of how different artists made each world feel inherently different. Massacre is a world unlike every other world and it ends up looking like none of the other worlds.

And I've pointed out multiple instances of it throughout the series, but the team involved in the adaptation knew how to use the manga medium to its maximum. From page layout, to visuals, to shading; the team knew how to give the make everything have the most impact on the reader. The team LOVES the Higurashi VNs and they wanted their favorite moments to leave the same impression in manga format that they felt when reading it as a VN.

Sadly, not everything could be adapted into the manga. There are details about the world that are told to the reader of the VNs that just cannot be carried over into the manga in an effective way. If you wanted to experience both, you're better off reading the VN first and then the manga. It would have the same impact as reading your favorite book and then watching a (good) movie adaptation. Your imagination fills in the visuals as you read what happens, then you get to enjoy those vivid ideas being blown up into a beautiful visual medium.

Two of my favorite personal challenges when putting all this together was choosing a favorite panel and giving each arc a different ending type during each arc recap. I didn't intend to do them back when I started. I originally just posted my favorite panel from Abducted by Demons to emphasize Suzuragi's skill at making mudane things creepy and I came up with the different ending types to contrast Abducted by Demons and Cotton Drifting. But then I realized that both of these would be fun things to think about for each arc.

To recap, this is what I said each arc's ending was:

Abducted By Demons: Bad Ending

Cotton Drifting: Neutral Ending

Curse Killing: Evil Ending

Time Killing: Apathetic ending

Beyond Midnight: Epilogue ending

Eye Opening: Zero ending

Atonement: Trap ending

Massacre: Lead ending

Festival Accompanying: Golden ending

Dice Killing: Tarnished Gold ending

I think that's everything I have to say about this series as a whole so I'm just going to end with a few notes I either forgot to mention or changed over time.

First, I mentioned Shion wasn't a main character in Eye Opening chapter 4. I bring it up several more times as a light joke throughout the series, and I want to mention that I originally intended to be far more aggressive about that than I ultimately was. I planned to put several instances of "(and Shion)" into every mention of the group whenever Shion was with them.

I realized early on that the degree I was going to use that joke would stop getting funny and start getting mean really quickly. I stand by my statements that she's ultimately part of the secondary cast and she's not anywhere near as close to any of the main cast as they are to each other, but they still consider her a friend and she's always welcome to join club activities any time.

I also wanted to tie Beyond Midnight to a few instances of talks about the future but kind of forgot about it when those moments happened. In particular, that arc can never happen in Festival Accompanying since it hinges on Hinamizawa being a ghost town in 2004. So I'd like to know what happens to Otobe and Towada in a world where their story can never happen.

I wanted to make one or two references to Eriko (The girl who was fed to chickens in Festival Accompanying) near the end of the series but it didn't work out. When I read Festival Accompanying chapter 4, I wanted to mention her during the very last chapter of the arc by saying something like "Everyone lived happily ever after, except Eriko and all the other children from the orphanage. They died horribly." And then when Hanyu tells Rika how everyone is living their best lives in Dice Killing, I was going to mention that maybe Eriko also got to live a happy life as well.

I'm pretty sure that once or twice, I mentioned Resident Evil when talking about Tokyo's plans to use Hinamizawa Syndrome for military use. If I didn't, then I intended to and forgot. I was going to add RE1's original release as one of the things Rika can look forward to in the future and was going to joke that it was secretly inspired by Tokyo's plans to use Hinamizawa syndrome in biological warfare, but I couldn't figure out how to fit it in.

I'm working on one last thing for this series before I begin my next one. I'm putting together a post where I try to show what events happened concurrently across arcs. I'll hopefully have it done within a week.

I hope you've enjoyed this series as much as I enjoyed writing it.

back

[shoechoe]

i would love to see a jojo game where you get to use stands to their full potential. i'm sure it would be very difficult to make work mechanically, but i think not being restricted to "being fair" could lead to some very fun scenarios! i suppose if it wasn't a pvp fighting game, but a more open game with npcs and elements other than combat. even a super powerful stand like GER could have lots of potential! even if it mainly written to just get the story over with, i think the implications of its ability are still there! that's not even to mention regular goldie...

honestly, i could see jojo actually making a good game with exploration and puzzle elements alongside combat. i doubt something so large-scale would ever come into fruition, but it's fun to think about sometimes. like... i own asbr, and i would love to play as pesci and ghiaccio without being limited to complex combos * to use beach boy, or white album's strengths being compromised by the game format. (why is ghiaccio vs hol horse so hard. there's a whole arc about why you can't just shoot ghia. maybe it's just a "skill issue" on my end but it annoys me so much.) (also why is prosciutto the lead character for the prosciutto + pesci duo? pesci is way more suited to fighting one-on-one, shouldn't prosciutto just come in as support + status effects? i have many gripes.)

that way, you could also put more focus on stands that don't work as well in a fighting game format, like moody or talking head! and that's just the part 5 stuff i can think of!

i guess all that would be fitted to a ttrpg... i have heard people talk about jojo d&d. i would just be happy to be able to play as my favourite side characters with their cool stands and get to actually explore the potential of them. (anime games are usually limited to fighting games or gacha anyways, it seems.)

Yeah, I definitely get what you're saying. Whenever I see those Jojo fighting games it always occurs to me that a lot of Stands have to be either really nerfed or buffed to stand a fighting chance against each other. Of course, that's the way it has to be for a game like that, but it's a little disappointing.

Like you said, I imagine a Jojo video game (especially like Eyes of Heaven) where you can use Stands to a real "full" potential that's canon-compliant with what they can do would be very hard, even if it's limited to just one part or a small set of characters. But it's definitely fun to imagine.

The easiest way to implement a game where you use Stands to their full potential would definitely be one that allows for more player imagination, like a D&D type role-playing game where you decide what you want to do to advance the story, or a card game with a player-led story. I could actually imagine that working out really well if it's done right.

Though you'd probably need to work through how you'd get Stands, because if it's a card game where they're randomly drawn and one person draws GER while another person draws, like, Survivor... (maybe there could be a function where you can "evolve" stands into different forms, like if you have Silver Chariot or Gold Experience and you acquire a Stand arrow you can turn it into its Requiem form, if you get Whitesnake you can do some series of events to get Made in Heaven, etc. Maybe the "win" conditions can depend on what Stand you get too. I'm just throwing ideas out, though.)

[adamwatchesmovies]

Mixed Nuts (1994)

Remakes are rarely what they should be. In theory, what you should do is take a movie that’s either bad or almost but not quite there and try it again, taking the opportunity to fix the blemishes. In execution, we most often get something akin to "cloned with damaged DNA”. I haven’t seen Le père Noël est une ordure so I’m assuming Mixed Nuts is the latter because it shows promise and then builds to an ending so lame and lazy it sours the rest of the film.

In California, on Christmas Eve, Philip (Steve Martin) is the head of the suicide-prevention hotline “Lifesavers”. The organization is about to shut down thanks to the eviction notice from the landlord, Stanley (Garry Shandling). On what is sure to be Lifesavers’ last day, Philip and his co-workers Mrs. Blanche Munchnik (Madeline Kahn) & Catherine O’Shaughnessy (Rita Wilson) will have to deal with a trailer-trash couple, an annoying neighbor that loves to make up bad songs (Adam Sandler), a depressed transvestite (Liev Schreiber), angry rollerbladers (Parkey Posey and Jon Stewart) and the “Seaside Strangler”.

Directed by Nora Ephron (which she co-wrote with her sister, Delia), a fair number of jokes land - particularly if you’ve got an off-kilter sense of humor. All of the characters are so neurotic that a normal, everyday scenario would end up with tears, outrage and a gun being fired. On Christmas Eve, at a suicide-prevention hotline, in a building whose elevator is out of commission and whose tenants are all being evicted, with a serial killer on the loose, the question is how big of a mess this will become and how the weirdos will fit together. Despite all this, I swear Mixed Nuts isn’t as ridiculous as it initially sounds.

I probably shouldn’t have enjoyed the film as much as I did and I must confess that thinking back, I can only think of a few times it made me laugh. The most noteworthy element of the film is Liev Schreiber in his film debut. His character is over-the-top like there’s no tomorrow but the performance is surprisingly sensitive when the jokes simmer down. Also enjoyable are key interactions between Catherine and her callers. She’s so empathetic towards them it’s a wonder she can do her job. While this raises some questions about how the operation could’ve possibly worked and requires you to find the humor in suicidal thoughts, it just might be bizarre enough to make you smile.

The ridiculous feels-like-they’re-improptu-but-they-actually-aren’t songs courtesy of Adam Sandler’s character (who speaks in the same annoying childlike voice he chooses when he isn’t playing a fantasy version of himself), the various neuroses and escalation lunacy manage to rack up enough points for you to like the film. You're having a good time, wondering why people are so down on Mixed Nuts. Then, we get to the final act. The conclusion doesn’t come out of nowhere but that's only because someone went back once the script was finished and added hints of what was coming retroactively. It starts by making you cringe, then keeps getting worse until you’re sitting there, wondering “Did I somehow convince myself I was having fun earlier, or was the whole movie like what I'm seeing now?”.

There are a lot of big names in Mixed Nuts and they should’ve added up to a Yuletide comedy for the ages. It doesn’t live up to its potential. In fact, I’m now in the position of trying to defend a movie that I’m not even sure I enjoyed that much in hindsight. I thought of concluding this review with "Mixed Nuts is a mixed bag" but I'm filled with such doubt about the end results that I'm not sure I can even muster that statement. (December 20, 2021)

[lackoftrumpets]

The TTRPGs I played in 2023: Part 2

Near the end of November, I asked for recommendations on one page TTRPGs I should play for a event I ran. The goal was to play a TTRPG for about 40-50 minutes before swapping to something new. While I sadly didn't get around to playing all of the recommendations, I still appreciate all of the games people showed me. Reading new game is something I enjoy doing, so I still had fun even if they didn't make it to the table.

Before I go into each TTRPG individually, there was a common running theme between playing all of the games that I feel like I should say. As much as I enjoy the concept and writing one page and other extremely small TTRPGs, I will admit that playing them was a rough experience. Working with that small amount of mechanics and concepts was something me and the table were not used to and I'm not sure if these kind of games are something I will play more of later. Whenever I got excited by a mechanic is one of these games, I always felt like I wanted something more. I think these types of games are great thought experiments for game design, but I can understand why these type of games haven't gotten much traction in the mainstream (with a few exceptions). However, don't let my thoughts discourage you from writing these type of games. I still love making them because its a fun challenge to see how much content you can cram into such a small space. This was something that most of these games did fairly well, so lets move onto that. If you want to check out any of these games or their authors, I have everything linked on this post.

Rollers of the Lost Artifact by JayBlnk6

This was the starting game and it left a good first impression. In this game players are archeologists looking for special artifacts. The simple skill system was nice, but what I really loved was the inventory system. Each item size has a certain shape and you have to fit it into a 3x3 square. I always love inventory systems that force you to play a Tetris (turning a mundane thing into something fun), and this game did a good job fitting it into a smaller system. Since we were playing multiple games at once, the players didn't get to sell the artifact, but I still appreciate the rules where players get a choice on what they wish to do with it.

Rats in Space by Jay Writes

I think the title of this game explains itself. The players are rats in space looking for a special piece of cheese. The theming of this game was a lot of fun to play with. The morale system was also an interesting addition to the d6 system I've seen a lot of one page games (including my own) use. It was fun to see the players start to panic as their moral system got lower because of a large streak of bad rolls. I also really liked the d6 table for determining one last consequence when the cheese is found. The players thought they finally found it, but then realized they had one last obstacle to conquer (that being the horrible smell in the room).

Rough Beginnings by @tornioduva

This was the most unique game I played that night and despite some odd moments, I had a lot of fun with it! The players are simple group of adventurers, but there is a small element of mystery to it. They each have a secret personality trait and one of them is secretly try to sabotage the rest of the group. I love the creative ideas this game had, but it was a bit of an awkward play. In order for the adventurers to escape, the GM needs to roll a 9 from a 2d6 on the scenario table. The first round, I rolled a 9 for the first scenario. The second round, I rolled a 9 after the players went through about 15 scenarios, the majority of them being the players getting HP for succeeding. I love the concept of this game and I think it inspired me to make my own deception based TTRPG, but it was rather clunky. I have no issue with that at the end of the day. I love playing games that take risks and try new things!

By String and Song by @efangamez

I've enjoyed participating in game jams run and reading some games by efangamez before, so when somebody at the game community mentioned one of their one page games but couldn't remember the name, I knew where to find it. While the game they were recommending was Barbaria, I ultimately ended up going with this game because bards seemed like more fun to play and most of the games in this series seemed like they were reskins of each other. I feel kind of bad saying this, but the game just felt like one page D&D 5e. It's a d20 game which seems to be rare for one page TTRPGs and the way everything was written with Skill Checks and attacking seemed to invoke that game. I guess if you wanted to introduce smaller games to people who have only played D&D I guess this could be a good starting point, but I think most people would just ask to go back to D&D. If I had to guess, most of my negative feelings about this game likely come from me just being burnt out of D&D. It was written well and the enemy descriptions were flavorful, but I don't ever see myself going back to play this.

Honey Heist by gshowitt

Whenever I hear one page TTRPGs discussed, this game always seems to be recommended. After playing it, I can see why. The concept of being normal bears trying to break into a convention was already an instant sell. I loved the idea of the balance of trying to keep your bear and criminal parts from not taking over. It was one of the most interesting ideas for a fail state I've seen in a game. This the game we played for the least amount of time because it was near the end of the meeting and we were all tired, but the random animal chaos mixed in with surprisingly intricate criminal planning made for a fun mix.

[quirkwizard]

Hello Quirkwizard. This question popped up in my head after seeing for the 5th time your post of quirks that would help with survival in the wilderness. Now what original quirks of yours would be great for the exact same scenario ? I don't know when this will arrive and when it will catch your attention so happy Christmas holidays Quirkwizard and be well.

Once again, I'm going to avoid anything that would let the user straight up escape the scenario since that defeats the purpose of it.

Cubism: Given the variety of ways the user can shape the cubes, it can work in a lot of ways, from providing shelter to using them as weapons and the like.

Fallout: This doesn't excel at any one part of survival, but it's a good as a general tool, working to reduce the need for food and medical attention. All thanks to all natural sunlight.

Grow Up: This is going to be a case by case choice, but there's probably going to be some foliage around. If there is, the options are limitless, including food, shelter, defenses and all kinds of stuff from plant life.

Adaptation: The elements are going to be one of the hardest aspects of survival to work around, especially if you aren't prepared. So just building your own body to fit whatever biome your dealing with would be helpful.

Hazmat: If there's one thing I've learned about survival is that infection can demolish you. So having something that can clean whatever you want, such as your food, your wounds, or yourself, it is going to be good physically and mentally.

Self Help: While this could have some help with survival, pulling out certain versions as needed, it mostly helps with psychological issues. Being out on your own can do a lot to you mentally, so might as well get use to talking to yourself.

Cornucopia: Well, this would certainly solve the food and water issue. All the user would need to do is find some of each and their entire supply multiples without much threat to effort on the user's part. And hey, it can be used as a weapon.

Makeshift: This may seem like an odd choice, but I do think that a user of this could still try to engineer something out of the various objects around them to help them survive. Think some of those crazy survival primal tech videos online.

Swiss Hand: A swiss army knife is already going to be a super useful given how many tools you'll have access to. Having a suped up version of that would cover a lot of the hassle of survival, like starting a fire and defending yourself.

Greenery: This may just be the best option, at least in how much it can cover. It can help heal the user, can promote plantlife, makes you more resistant to natural hazards, keep animals from attacking, and promotes the best plan for survival: staying put.

[mvrkieboo]

So I think I'm not defining sex work loosely enough bc I saw the previous TW and I was like "OH NO SHE DIDN'T" but false alarm.

Tbh I thought at first since it's loanshark biz (I still haven't watched the show) it might have something to do with extortion/coercion rather than smth not related to the main aspect of the business (it's wishful thinking ik what could she do as a minor). But ik how unrealistic that would be. Then I found out it was dancing and I was like ok not the worst case scenario, still fucked up since it involved a minor.

Also I want to discuss the TW. I feel like what she did then shouldn't fall under the category of sex work bc it gives the assumption it's done voluntarily. And since she was a minor I think it's more of child prostitution. Without the minor element it's human trafficking for the involuntary dancing and the forced labour also falls under this category. I just don't think sex work applies anywhere in the story. It might give the wrong assumption of the story.

Also I want to be violently mad at the fact that they would turn on her, but imma be chill for now and see where things go. Yoonsu I'm thinking of hundreds of violent ways to return the favour so I better not catch u.

i made a loanshark like yoonsu based on the actual villain in the original bloodhounds kdrama tbh—he is a loanshark, but the reason why he's such a successful one is because he expands his revenue income and business. casinos, clubs and whatnot—you name it, he has it.

yoonsu as a character however just emphasises on how nasty and exploitative men like him would act like when once he comes across a victim from the most vulnerable demographic of all—an underage girl. especially with how underage girls (mostly teens) are viewed by the global society—a barely ripe forbidden fruit desired by all.

and for the TWs...yeah, thanks for discussing/calling me out on that. TBH i only put sex work because i couldn't really think of another TW that would be more fitting but YES! THANK YOU, IT'S ACTUALLY CHILD PROSTITUTION. I LOVE YOU MUCH FOR THIS, MY BRAIN FOG HAS BEEN BLOCKING MY VOCAB AND TERMS LIKE A BITCH RN 🩷

and im so sorry for disappointing you guys but yoonsu coming back will eventually lead to them turning on y/n. it'll probably make you scream and tear your hair out, but the reward is going to be sooooooo good istg

[angelicsjn]

OC UPDATE

— JAE AND KAIDAN

I have decided to keep our two (insane) lovely yanderes, though they aren't as popular as the others, it'd be a waste to remove them when I now see people do actually like them - just like myself, obviously.

The boys are here to stay.

— TWO NEW YANDERES?

Yes, I will be creating two new yanderes. I have listened to your thoughts and I am building them up as I gain inspiration and ideas through you guys also.

One character is more fleshed out already due to the fact I have written characters like him anyway - I am considering using a character I had written years back, I loved him and he fits what I'm going for, and what you guys seemed to be interested in.

The other, I will be going down the fantasy/mythical route, just deciding which way to go before I fully decide and post anything about him - because even though I do love fantasy inspired characters, I do like elements of realism - so I'm trying to make that work, lol.

— REQUESTS.

I always take requests. It's a good way to evaluate the boys and what they'd do in different scenarios, so you are always free to send in requests. Just remember to read my rules beforehand.

I will be posting more about the characters off my own back, with information about them. So it'll be mostly facts, profiles, things you'd like to know about them, about their motives and what makes them human.

— POSTING.

I do not have a post schedule. It will be sporadic as I have work, lol. So be patient and please give feedback on my work! I love hearing opinions and seeing people gush about their favourites lmao. I've seen a few of you do it, and I love seeing your thoughts on them all.

[dcviated]

symbol scenarios so send :: s'open

send an emoticon for my muse to find yours...

@runefactorynonsense sent: ✮- Stargazing 👀 (Lynguna)

Mt. Gigant serves as a fantastic place to gather items related to the wind element. For forging and other crafting, you couldn't want for more outside of the monsters simply handing the things to you instead of having to send them back to the Forest of Beginnings. But Raguna can't exactly talk himself out of every scenario, and it's too late for that kind of thing anyway. But the walk back to town would be good nonetheless.

Gather a few flowers on the way back that had been growing wild.

The unexpected find was... Lynette? A frequent traveller around town to be sure but Raguna doesn't often expect to find her near the caves or up in the wilderness. They aren't exactly her element. But then, was her element even something that could be found in Kardia? In Norad? It had yet to be seen. The townspeople have worked to make accommodations but political subjugation and frozen temperatures are best not put on the table.

"Lynette? Are you... stargazing?" Sightseeing was out of the question, given her gaze was up oh wait she snapped around oh crap she's-- "Wait! It's just me! Raguna!" Hands shoot up defensively as her instincts whirl into focus. A shade of darkness masking her features before she relents and with a huff sheathes the daggers and turns away.

"You surprised me. Don't skulk around it's hardly fitting for you. Nor are you good at it. Just lucky." Again. Raguna frowns at her chastising, but at least he's able to relax again.

"And you scared me. I wasn't expecting to find anyone up here this late at night. But if you're looking to see the stars, I can't think of a much better place. Must be something, huh?" Raguna offers the fighter a comforting smile, egging her on to some discussion as he steps next to her near the ridge.

"...there's differences of course. What you can see. And what you can't. More of the former really. But this view is..." Raguna lifts a brow as her voice trails, seeking descriptors that would be neutral rather than overly saccharine or endearing. "...interesting. I'm sure you have silly meanings for the arrangements. Names and what have you rather than navigational assistants."

"You mean constellations. We sure do. When I spent that time in Trampoli I learned a lot about it. There was a wizard from the city that was visiting with her grandparents. That star over there, for example." Raguna points up. "If you follow it up like this. And then there. That's the hairpin constellation."

Raguna looks to Lynette with a smile, but she seems hardly convinced beyond it being just a cluster of lights in the sky. Scientific anomalies and distant lands that would remain safe from whatever chaos their people, or Earthmates might wrought upon them.

"Hm. So. Why the flowers?"

"What?! Uh-- I was just gathering em since I was up here. No real reason I just like picking stuff up, you know?!"

"Picking stuff up..."

"Geh-"

Whatever situation was starting to develop, consider it summarily defused- another scenario the Earthmate isn't talking themselves out of...