#but there's no way I'm finishing an update while out of state :'D

[pkmn-redirect]

Chapter 2 - Page 21

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Heads-up that I'll be across the country visiting family over the next week! There won't be a proper update for the 22nd- but there will be something in the feed all the same!

[loupy-mongoose]

SUICUNE!!! :D

Here, if anyone's interested. They released Gouging Fire and Raging Bolt at the same time, but Suicune Walking Wake is my one true love <3 Although Raging Bolt's plush face is weirdly adorable. I may end up getting both of them later.

He's such a baby I love him!! Super soft and high quality! I expected him to have the same posability as other big plushies, but I also expected him to be a little bigger than he is. I mean, look how itty his face is!!

And his little hands!! He holds them so shyly, it's cute! (Even though my in-game boyo is Brave natured, lol)

He's got pants!

And his mane is entirely connected by points of being sewn on. No complaints, but the temptation to (temporarily) remove his mane is stronger than I wish it was. XD

Also, through this boy I learned that Walking Wake has a single set of stripes that are asymmetrical.

I thought it was a misprint at first, but turns out it's an actual design element in-game!

And while I'm at it, I'll also update on my creative endeavors.

I've still been chugging away at writing, but I've noticed a "problem" that writing has that comics haven't presented in the same way; As I'm writing, I keep going back to tweak earlier chapters to better fit later chapters.

While it would make for a better reading experience overall to do the same for comics, I feel can get away with posting comic parts as I finish them and not worry too much about how they tie into later comics. (Minus certain arcs that I have been drowning in thoughts about, lol)

But with writing, I'm more hesitant to post parts as I "finish" them because I don't feel they're actually finished.

Sooooo... I don't know when I'll actually start posting the story. XD

I also haven't felt much like drawing, and I want to have art to go along with parts, so that's holding me back a bit as well.

Like last time, this isn't an apology or me asking for permission, it's just me putting the state of my creative things out there. ^^

[sugarpasteltmnt]

I've been compleatly OBSSESED with neon void so far!!! It's by far my favorite fic of any I've read!! After every chapter I have to take a second to do the happy stimmies because you write all of the scenes so well. Whenever I see a new update I clear the next hour for reading it and the subsequent geek out sesion for how AMAZING it always is. You write extremely well, you convey the characters so acurately, the fight scenes are creative, the way you write Leo's perspective is AMAZING, love the font changes, the angst PALPABLE, and just over all I love everything you're able to do with this concept. The way you can see Leo's mental state deteriorating through out the fic is just *chefs kiss*. There's so much I love about the fic that I can't possibly list everything.

Also the established difference between teleporting and portaling is so great, it adds to the pure panic that void causes for the boys aside from, y'know, crazy dude capable of beating Big Mama within an inch of her life and STRAIGHT UP OFFING a buch of other yokai. It does wonders for establishing him as a threat even though he technically isn't for the turtles. Plus I'm sure that once they find out who Void really is, it will add a bunch of tension since they'll need to stop Leo from literally SCATTERING HIS ATOMS ACROSS SPACE.

AND THE CHAPTER PREVIEW ISTG I've never gotten so much serotonin from being in this much pain ;0; The gif is perfect to set the mood, I can't wait to see what happens. You're ablility to choose just the right thing to stab so many people directly through the heart is nothing short of super-natural. BUT PLEASE give the boi some happiness, if not for his sake, for mine-

ANYWAYS this is all a VERY long way of saying, I absolutely love this and I had to draw the silly boi being the silly boi. I needed to draw him happy for the health of my heart ;-; (don't worry though, I'm working on some tasty angst right now)

Can't wait to see where everything goes, GOOD LUCK TO CASEY but there only six chapters left so we're getting to the end game now >:D

Please have a wonderful rest of your week :D

THANK U SO MUCH ;w; I’m so so happy that my fight scenes are followable/enjoyable, and tho they are a binch to code I’m so happy you enjoy the funky fonts and formatting ;w; i know reading blocks of text can be intimidating/tiring for readers, so i try to break it up to help with the pacing and sprinkle in some fun, spooky fonts as treats 🩵

Something i really, REALLY loved about Rise was the fights. Not only was the animation amazing, but it was always so creative. I try my best to make the fight scenes as silly as the boys can be, while utilizing their adaptive skills to use their surroundings to their advantage.

And bruh trying to balance Leo’s insanity in a believable way has been such a (fun) challenge so it makes me so happy to hear you like it 😭🥺 and I’m so glad people seem to like the ‘teleportation’ gimmick I’ve got going on (and that it hopefully makes sense omg)

(And i will admit I’m a little proud of my chapter previews because they are so fun to write, and i like to reassure readers that 1) i have a plan and 2) I’m keeping myself accountable to finish LOL)

Also aksdlaskdhaksdh thank u for this art this part especially is SENDING ME WHEEZE 🤣🩵❗️

[ataleofcrowns]

Chapter 11 Progress [14/MAY]

Hey everyone, it's been a minute since my last update on the blog!! Happy mother's day to all the moms out there 💖

By the time of writing this, I have 40k words written for CH11, and I am both happy and mildly horrified to report that CH11 is looking up to be the biggest chapter yet by a mile. It's very likely the total word count will break through 90k words, primarily due to the LI routes.

First, I've finished the first draft for X's route for CH11 and am mildly exasperated by my inability to properly estimate how long these sections will be.

I thought it would amount to 10k at most, but X's route ended up with 18k words. This is mostly due to all the Imperial Court variations in their opening scene, because I'm a masochist. A single playthrough of X's route is more like 14k words, though, depending on the variations you get.

I'm also close to finishing R's route and have 8k words written for it so far. Their and A's routes will be a little less in word count, since they got more content in CH10, but they'll both likely still be 10-12k words. D's will likely be closer to X's route in word count, around 14-15k.

Altogether, this chapter's LI routes alone will likely be close to 60k for all four. So that leaves the rest of the 30k for the main plot, which I haven't started yet. I literally only have words written for R and X, as well as bits and snippets for A and D so far lol.

Please pray for me so that I can release this chapter in July and give you all a summer miracle 🙏🏼

Anyway, enough about the word count!! I've got some preview posting to catch up to, so beneath the cut you'll find various snippets for X and R's routes in CH11 that were posted on the Patreon.

Hopefully I'll be able to post some for A and D soon as well, once I dig into their routes in the coming weeks.

Here's a small preview of a bit you might see occur across all LI routes, though it still depends on who is appointed to your Imperial Court (and the Lord Samal referenced here is specific to X's route as well):

“Chief Minister, is this allowed? There must be procedure for the appointment of officials—” “It is all at the Crown’s discretion,” Chief Minister Karwan states simply, turning away from the representative again to face forward instead. “But this is highly unusual!” The Minister breathes an exasperated sigh. “Oh, quiet down! Were you not using the same technicalities to get your way a moment ago, you insolent dog?” “Do not speak to me that way!” Lord Samal erupts. “I serve Mîr Behram!” “And I was already serving the Crowns of this Empire when your master was still suckling at the teat!” the Chief Minister snaps. “Now be a good boy and come to heel, we have many more matters to discuss.”

Here's a preview for X's route:

“Why do you have that dagger?” You turn to look at $aname, taken aback by how stunned $athey appears. “$xname gave it to me.” “$cxthey gave it to you?” $aname repeats incredulously, glancing back down at the dagger in your hands. “Did $xthey tell you who it originally belonged to?” “It belonged to someone else?” You assumed $xname was the only one who owned it, but looking at it again, you can notice subtle wear and tear despite its well-cared-for state. Little scratches along its sheath, the edges of pearl looking a little worn along the handle. “Whose was it?” “$cxtheir mother’s.” Your fingers tighten around its sheath in shock, then twitch with the urge to put it away. “$cxtheir mother’s? Why would…” You look down at the dagger in complete disbelief. “Why would $xthey give it to me?”

And finally, here's a preview for R's route:

Your hands reach for $rthem, but then halt and hover in mid-air, uncertain of whether you should even touch $rthem while $rthey’s in this state. “It’s alright,” Perjin speaks quietly from beside you. “You can hold $rtheir hand, if you wish. Your magic won’t cause any problems.”  You take a slow, deep breath, calming yourself as you sit down on the edge of the bed and gently take $rname’s hand in yours. “$crtheir fingers are cold.” Alarmed, you rub $rtheir hand, feeling how clammy and cool $rtheir skin is. You turn to Perjin. “Why does $rthey feel cold? What’s happening to $rthem?” 

That was it for this update ✨

I’m posting further updates and CH11 previews on the Patreon for all tiers, as well as all sorts of fun extra LI/Crown snippets, so if you’d like more AToC content while you wait for CH11, consider pledging!!

As always, thanks so much for your patience and support 💖

[outcastotome]

Hey Hey!!!

As the description of this blog states, this is my safe place to talk about all things Otome (mainly the Ikemen series by Cybrid)! I'm still not exactly sure what I'm going to do on here, but expect a mix of route reviews, opinion posts, memes, and other shit like that. Feel free to ask me anything or suggest games for me to check out!!!

Disclaimer

This is an 18-plus blog!!!! I'm 99 percent sure on the app store it says that all the cybird games are 17-plus, so I just decided to round up to the legal age of adulthood in my country! Also, I know these games deal with some pretty heavy topics (some handled good, some not so much) so I will definitely try and add trigger warning to any of my posts that deal with such topics! If I miss adding a warning to something that could potentially be triggering, please reach out and tell me so that I can add it! I want this blog to be a fun place for people to discuss the games they love while also keeping it a safe place!

My history with Otome :D

I started playing otome games years ago. I'm not even joking. I remember when Arthur's English route was released and that being a big deal in the Fandom. I was also around before Ikemen Revolution was discontinued (fly high my sweet prince). What I'm basically trying to say is that I'm ancient and have been around the block a few times. I've downloaded and deleted and re-download Cybrid games since I've been in middle school (definitely too young to be exposed to that kind of content, but that's what happens when you have unrestricted access to your electronic devices). Despite the fact that I've been in the Fandom on and off again for years, I haven't actually finished that many routes. I intend to use this blog as a way to change that. If im constantly posting about it, then I can't procrastinate playing the games :D

Games I intend to post about

To be completely honest, I'm still not 100 percent sure of all of the games I want to talk about here. However, the current list is:

Ikemen Sengoku (the first Cybird game I ever played)

Ikemen Revolution (yes, I know the game was discontinued, but I prefer to live in my fantasy world and pretend that it'll get an update one day)

Ikemen Vampire (my personal favorite otome game I've ever played)

Ikemen Prince (the last time I was really into Cybird games, I'm pretty sure this one had just been released? I've never played it)

Ikemen Villians (I had no idea this game existed until yesterday when I decided to make this blog)

Mystic Messenger (probably not as much as the others, but I downloaded this game in middle school and have refused to delete it ever since despite the fact that I probably haven't played it in 3 years)

Dangerous Fellows (My favorite fever dream)

Cinderella Phenomenon (If this game has no fans, then I am dead)

Obey Me (I was developing normally as a child until I found this game. I still love it, though)

[utilitycaster]

I'm Reading the Drizzt Novels and You Can't Stop Me: Homeland (and some anticipated questions)

Welcome to yet another ongoing series from me, a person who should be doing other things and may abandon it but also frankly will do this for her own entertainment regardless of whether anyone else cares. Let's back up first; if you're not in this car with me, get out of the rearview mirror.

Until now I have pretty much only read the Drizzt novels in situations where I was unwell, tired, or without another easy means of entertainment. Specifically, I read the first few while quarantining with a mild but still unpleasant case of COVID in late 2022, and then some others while dealing with catching up at work/post-illness fatigue/the general vibes of December in the northeast and Midatlantic states of the US. This caught me up to book 6, which represent the scene-setting; more on this later.

I then read Book 7 on a long train ride with nothing else to do, while very tired and probably a little hungover, in January 2023. I enjoyed it, in part because Wulfgar, who I do not care for, dies. (spoilers I guess? I'm not explicitly avoiding spoilers because these books are 30+ years old, but I'm not seeking them out, and I believe he comes back to life eventually).

I then proceeded to read Real Books (TM) for the remainder of 2023, some of which I can recommend highly and some of which were dumber than Wulfgar. Flash forward to getting my car serviced in the tail end of December 2023. I intended to bring my laptop. I did not. I also intended to bring headphones. I did not. And so, with a phone with so-so battery and little interest in watching HGTV, I read book 8. And I thought "what if I started doing this, because I can knock out one of these motherfuckers in a day if I try hard enough." I then thought "what if I slam books 1-7 again and do a book a week in 2024?"

Clearly I did not do this, because again, I have other books to read and things to do. However, I have finally, after another long-ass train ride, finished a reread of book 1. And so, with an unclear but hopefully from now on twice a month at least (?) update schedule, I bring you: Homeland. The rest of these posts will probably be way shorter.

For anyone who is not familiar with Drizzt or Forgotten Realms or whatever: this is a weird choice you've made. Anyway. Forgotten Realms is THE iconic D&D setting; it's where both the Baldur's Gate series is set as well as the D&D movie plus all kinds of adventures. What's it like? Well, it's basically The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, for all my Diana Wynne Jones fans out there. Do none of these references work for you? You'll just have to pick it up as we go along.

The Legend of the Legend of Drizzt is basically, as far as I know (and I don't know much) R.A. Salvatore was hired to write some cool adventures in a D&D setting in the early 90s. The plan, per the suits, was to follow Wulfgar, who was big and blond and very Conan The Barbarian which is, I should note, way more the vibe of D&D than LOTR much as we (D&D players) are loathe to admit it. However, Wulfgar had brains made out of one of the boring adult cereals: dull, and only slightly more fibrous than the fun cereals like Honey Bunches of Oats. Meanwhile, Drizzt, his drow buddy, fucking ruled. And so, after writing three very sword-and-sorcery (or more accurately, scimitar-and-wizardry) books, Salvatore returned to fill in Drizzt's backstory. And thus we begin in Homeland.

Drizzt Do'Urden is a drow, or dark elf, which in this setting are almost universally evil because they worship Lolth the spider queen. Is this Not Great? Yes. I also am reading The Wheel of Time, which is Even Worse About Biology As Destiny. The main purpose of this book is to cover Drizzt's childhood from when he leaves the underground drow city of Menzoberranzan.

Drizzt's mother is called Malice, unironically. The naming of drow makes no fucking sense, while we're at it; Malice, Zaknafein, SiNaFay, and Alton DeVir are all supposed to be from the same language? I'm not buying it. ANYWAY. Drow society is matriarchal bc spiders and because, as this post says, Salvatore REALLY wanted to be stepped on. Drizzt was born the third son, and was going to be sacrificed to Lolth because third sons are useless. His birth was ALSO being used by Malice to fuel an attack on House DeVir, because if you slaughter a whole-ass house in Menzoberranzan it's admirable of you, bc ontologically evil; and Lolth powers are increased by childbirth or some jazz.

Several important things happen here, pretty much all simultaneously, heralding Our Chosen One (Drizzt):

The attack on House DeVir goes super well for House Do'Urden

The second oldest brother, Dinin, kills his wizard elder brother (known as the elderboy by the creative geniuses of Menzoberranzan) which means Drizzt can survive because they need a replacement wizard boy.

We learn that Drizzt's father (one of Malice's several consorts) is Zaknafein, who fucking hates his life and how shitty drow society is but also is really good at murder and so he kind of hangs out doing that for House Do'Urden

A wizard who melted his face off fails to kill Alton DeVir, the last of the house of DeVir, which means technically House Do'Urden's attack was illegitimate. However, Masoj Hun'ett, of another powerful house, kills the faceless wizard and Alton takes the wizard's place, but desires VENGEANCE.

Drizzt has lavender eyes but is not blind. His eye color will come up approximately a zillion times. I considered counting, but trust me it's SO many.

The rest of the book covers the following, roughly in order:

Drizzt is super good at everything from a young age; he is placed in the care of his only full sibling, Vierna. Zak manages to successfully argue that Drizzt's dexterity is SO good that he HAS to be a fighter and not a wizard, which permits him to train Drizzt, who is, as discussed, good at everything. He almost mercy-kills him before school because he'd rather his son die innocent than become a drow, but also he hates the idea of killing a child, and also Drizzt is a really good fighter, and so it doesn't happen. They depart on bad terms though.

Drizzt then goes to fighter school (instead of wizard school) and is an excellent fighter but not naturally deceptive and backstabbing because he is Pure of Heart; he is constantly skirting trouble by asking such questions as "why do we all want to murder each other all the time though" and "why is our graduation ceremony a drug fueled spider goddess orgy"

Masoj and Alton scheme; Alton eventually learns in a hoisted by his own petard way that the faceless wizard was also of house Hun,ett, and that house is willing to help him strike back at house Do'Urden

Masoj has a magic panther named Guenhwyvar who likes Drizzt more than him.

Drizzt goes on a surface raid and fucking loves the surface, and feels bad about murdering the surface elves, so he fakes the brutal slaughter of an elven girl. Lolth sees this and doesn't like it one bit and blames the whole house.

Drizzt proves himself on other patrols, and realizes Masoj Hun'ett keeps trying to fucking kill him, notably on a patrol where they run into deep gnomes (svirfneblin). Drizzt spares one of them as well. Dinin is growing suspicious.

Malice realizes that Lolth is mad and assumes it's Zaknafein, known problem, but Lolth tells her someone already knows

Drizzt tells her about Masoj, under questioning

Drizzt and Zak reunite and realize they are kindred spirits who are like "wait our society is MAD fucked up and miserable" and excitedly decide to run away and stop being miserable, BUT Malice is Scrying on them the whole time.

Drizzt goes out to clear his mind and gets cornered by Masoj and Alton. They try to kill him. Joke's on them! Drizzt kills Masoj, Alton's own wand blows up and kills him, and Drizzt gets the panther.

HOWEVER joke is also on Drizzt because Malice approaches Zak and tells him she's going to murder Drizzt, to which Zak tells her to kill him instead. She does so.

Drizzt learns of this and runs away.

The entire book is threaded through with Drizzt's first person reflections, which are actually quite touching at times but also definitely kind of overwrought so I do keep reading them as if they are Sex and the City/Scrubs/Winona Ryder in the 80s (Beetlejuice, Heathers) diary entries

And so our stage is set. If I recall correctly book two is "you have your father's morals; and his tendency towards clinical depression" so we're going to have a rollicking good time (genuine).

[arleniansdoodles]

Hello there! First, let me say that your story idea is so amazing and well thought out! I am craving more content involving these characters and to see someone trying to address one of the biggest loose threads of the new God of War duology while also building up the worlds and letting the characters shine through? Astounding.

I did have an idea i wanted to run by you in this case. As we see in the games (and history) , the Nodic people have a tradition of their last names showing their parentage (prime example: Thrud Thorsdottir). I was wondering if Atreus, being Nordic and this never being brought up in the game, travels the realms stating he is Loki Kratosson (or even Laufeyson if he's either feeling a bit disheartened from his father's secret past that he kept from him or simply trying to be discreet and not let people recognize who his father is). Another thing that would absolutely shatter my soul (in a good way) is that after getting to the 8 realms and reconciling with Kratos, Calliope took up the surname Kratosdottir. It may not need to happen because you mentioned how strained their relationship is and fixing it will take a lot of work. I just thought it'd be a nice addition. Whenever you can, let me know your thoughts

Heyo! Thank you so much for your kind words!! <333 Even though I haven't finished the story yet (and I do have a writing update to share after this) I'm glad to hear you like the route I'm taking with it so far! :D

Interestingly (from my loose research), Loki in the Norse myths uses the name Laufeyjarson instead of taking after his father's name. From what I've heard, using a patronymic is the general custom, so Loki kinda stands out because of that. In the case of GoW, I'm honestly not sure which one he'd go with because he has a good relationship with both. I could see him using either name in different situations - for example, with the Giants, they might be more comfortable using the name of someone they've known and lived with, so they call him Laufeyson (like with Angrboda often referring to him as Loki instead of Atreus). To other Giants, he may be called Loki Faurbautison (using Kratos' Giant name), and to others in the Nine Realms in general, just Kratosson if they're not familiar with the Giants' name for him.

On the other hand, if Atreus were to interact with people in Greece, I think it'd be safer if he didn't use Kratos' name at all. From what I've seen, Ancient Greeks' surnames could include patronymics, occupations, descriptions of the person, etc. In my story, Calliope always introduces herself as "Calliope of Sparta," and Atreus is known as a Northman (or a northern barbarian to unkind folks). So I honestly think which surname they pick just depends on the situation ^^;;

As for what Calliope would pick, I think she'd stick with "Calliope of Sparta" for now. She may even refer to herself as "daughter of Lysandra" or "sister of Atreus," but it may take some time before she starts using Kratosdottir (or Faurbautisdottir to the Giants). I agree with you though, it would be a very nice addition to the story! Thank you for sending me your ask, it was lots of fun to think about <333

In addition, here's my update on the fic's status, if people are interested (and asking for my GoW followers' thoughts wrt to the fic):

Unfortunately, I believe I have officially burnt myself out on GoW T_T I haven't been able to write anything new for this fic since my last update, approximately - and I'm also back in university on top of working full-time. I thought I got my motivation back, but it went right down the drain soon after (and honestly, I think it's just how big the fic has gotten that's overwhelmed me, plus the expanded cast of characters, so I only have myself to blame for that loll)

So here's what I'm wondering: should I just post all the chapters I have now instead of waiting until I've finished the whole thing (which I don't know when will happen), so would y'all prefer that I stick to my original plan and wait? Chances are, if I start posting now, I might get the motivation to continue writing, but currently I can't say for sure.

[harushinkai-daily]

State of the Blog and Plans Going Forward

Hello friends! I wanted to share my plans for this blog now that we've gone through all the episodes and documented more than four years(!!) of good, good Harus.

The bottom line up front: this blog will still be updating, but there is going to be a drop in frequency, and I will take requests via the askbox if there's something you want to see! The rest is under the cut to spare your dash, but read on if you're curious!

First of all, I want to assure everyone that this blog is NOT going away. I care about it way too much to just abandon it. That said, I really don't have it in me to keep it updating daily at this point. There are nowhere near enough "new" Harus I could post, and while I suppose I could start the anime over again from the beginning, I want to make this transition on a high note, and there's nothing I could do that would be more satisfying than (somewhat-accidentally-but-then-totally-on-purpose once I saw it was possible) lining up the end of the anime to coincide with Haru's birthday. Plus, I always want this blog to be a labor of love and joy, so I really do need to make this adjustment before it starts feeling like a chore or obligation to update ^^;

So what does that mean? It means there will still be some new posts to this blog, but they're going to become much more sporadic in nature. I haven't exactly figured out what this looks like yet. It might be every week, it might just be when I feel like it. I still have some manga panels to go through and some anime-related "bonus materials." Plus, there are some stats and compilation-based photosets I want to make (and my personal top 10 Harus? You betcha!). Not to mention finishing the poor, neglected blog index, if you've ever looked at this page on desktop!

That actually brings up another one of my goals for this project: archival and general Appmon news/promotion. In terms of archival, I want to export the contents this blog (screenshots and captions) somewhere outside of Tumblr; I'm thinking a Neocities page or something. I also might use this space to reblog whatever Appmon-related news we might get in the future (few and far between, obviously, but it could still happen!). There are also some other Appmon-related projects that are rattling around in my head that I would also like to get out there (character comparison by director and/or Caught-Up Old Man supercut, anyone?). So things might look kind of quiet as I do some work on some backend HTML and other behind-the-scenes stuff, but progress will probably be happening on those fronts, slowly but surely!

All that said, if you really can't get enough Haru, there are several ways you can help to keep this blog going!

Send me a date on the calendar, ANY date, and I'll reply with all of the daily Harus that got posted over the years! The only exception to that rule is July 1, since that day's dedicated to reblogging fanworks :)

Send me ideas for photosets! With 4 years of backlog, I'm sure there are some interesting ones that could be made.

Send requests for gifs! I only did this sporadically during the original run, but if there's something you want to see that I didn't make already, I'll do it.

Let me know what YOUR favorite Haru(s) are. It doesn't have to be all about me! :D

Send me Harus or requests for Harus that I'm missing? This blog has always accepted submissions. But please note I will not post more than individual Appmon manga panels, because Naoki Akamine, the mangaka, has requested that any art they've shared and posted on social media not be reposted. If it's not directly from the anime, I also have a strong preference for original, official images WITH SOURCES, because I've noticed there are a few AI-upscaled versions of things like card art floating around out there. I will always do my best to track down the original image, and will not use images that have been enhanced with AI on this blog. A sure way to tell: any text on the image looks fuzzy (and wrong!)

Last but not least (and I know I say this a lot, but bear with me): thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for sticking with this blog, whether you're a longtime follower or a relative newcomer. This whole project started on a whim, as a passion project early in the COVID-19 pandemic, and I could not have guessed that it would have taken me this long to make it through the whole series, one good Haru at a time. I have spent a truly shocking amount of time working on this blog, but an equal amount of love, for one of my absolute favorite Digimon series and gogglehead protagonists.

Love from your HaruShinkai-Daily mod,

@citrus-cactus

[im-fruity-and-bored]

Why requests may take a while, featuring my most recent sketch of a smol, happy,

owl boi :]

Im very lazy and rarely finish my sketches. And me completely finishing art? Psh- that's rarer (is that proper English?) than seeing a unicorn. I live in a constant state of artist's block and often forget about sketches cuz ADHD lmao- But if you put in a request, I'm going to try my best to complete it. It just might take a while and I apologize for any inconvenience. If you want an update on any request you put in, just message me and try to be patient with me 😅

Reassuring words or just any interaction from my followers would be really helpful! I love social interaction, but I'm also really awkward at talking to people I don't know when it's irl. I'd love to answer any questions you guys have for me, and take more requests :D

Thank you to everyone who's put in a request already, and all of my new followers! I'm amazed at how quickly y'all came pouring in out of nowhere. Thank you so much ❤️

Have this sketch of my tiny owl child because Just Look My Way broke my heart, and none of us are ready for the Full Moon episode 😭 Plus he's just so damn cuuute 🥹

[5sosxqueen]

Ashton Sick From Stress

< Part 1 , < Part 2 , ~Part 3~

Okay, two as promised. Sorry about that.

Warnings: graphic depictions of illness, vomiting, mild scat, hospital

Written in 2018

Published (Wattpad) - Feb 05, 2018

Word Count: 1239

Updates are every Tuesday and Thursday

Also Available on Wattpad and AO3!!!

Part 3:

Michael's POV:

     The car ride to the hospital was a living for poor Ashton. He was sick the whole way there and he had another accident. He was constantly mumbling that he was sorry. All of us we're trying to tell him it was ok, but he didn't seem to listen. Luke reached over and felt his forehead, but it wasn't too bad.

     Once we got to the hospital we were given a clipboard full of paperwork, told us to give it to them when it was finished, and sit down and wait for the doctor. I was the one working on the paperwork while Luke helps get Ashton changed and Calum cleaned the bucket. I, of course didn't know everything about Ash's medical history so I had to wait for them to return. Luke handed Ash a sickness bag and gave Matt the bucket while Ashton sat down with a long sigh. He leaned his head back against the wall with his eyes closed. "Ash, I'm sorry, but I need you to answer a couple of questions that are on here for me." He lifted his head off the wall and looked down at the paper.

     "My social is 142-01-2895. (AN: that's a completely made up social... So don't think anything of it.) Just put traveling for the address. Hold on..." He reached up and rubbed his eyes. I could tell he wasn't all here mentally. I don't blame him either. He leaned his head back against a wall again and took deep breaths trying fight the latest wave of nausea. I doubt it was working because he opened the bag. He suddenly let out a mix between a gag and a wretch and stood up. He sped walked to the bathroom and as he opened the door I saw him jolt forward with an unproductive heave and run.

     "Damn! I've been abandoned...." I muttered and looked over to Calum.

     "Maybe I can help with this. How much do you have left?" Luke stood up and walked over and took Ash's previous seat. We managed to finish the paperwork and Luke handed it back over to the front desk.

     "I'll go check on him." He stated before heading over to the bathroom.

Calum's POV:

     As soon as I walked in the bathroom I heard Ashton wretching along with other sounds. I sighed and walked over to the large stall, after coming to the conclusion he was in there. "Bud, can I come in?"

     "C-c-can't un- *wretch* lock the d-door. Can't g-get up." I slowly made my way under the stall door. I got up and saw Ash still hadn't been able to get anything up, as he was practically empty, but stomachs tend to toy with us while we are sick, so you never know. He heaved heavily and I heard the crinkling of the bag and grimaced. He vomited one time before he started dry heaving, only bringing up bile.

     "I think you're empty Ash." I put my hand on it back and he shook his head.

     "D-don't th-th-think so... I still-ll feel it." He was left dry heaving for around 10 minutes before his stomach settled. I took the bag from him and let him clean him self up. He went to get up, but his body was so weak, I had to help him out to the waiting room again. No sooner had we sat back down his name was called. He groaned loudly in annoyance as he got back up, with mine and Michael's help. We were brought to a room and I sat him down on a chair. His breathing had sped up again and he reached for the bag. I quickly handed it to him and he wretched loudly, just as the doctor walked in.

     "Ah, so I don't have to fully question why you're here then." The doctor said upon seeing his patient try to vomit. "How long has this been going on? What are his other symptoms?" He asked.

     "About two hours for the vomiting. He's had diarrhea for the same amount of time. This morning he stated that he was achy. He later told me that he had shortness of breath at some point. I brought him back to our hotel room after he fell over. He told me he had a sudden migraine and he decided, after taking some meds to take a nap. After a few hours of him being asleep, he woke up and vomited onto the bed and you see where that led us." Michael spat out. Ashton managed to get a bit more up and leaned his head on my shoulder.

     "I see... Well Ashton I'm going to need to check your vitals and some over things. Seeing as how you have been diarrhea as well as the vomiting, I will have to put you on an iv." Ashton nodded sleepily. "Ok Aston I'm going to need you to sit up for me. I know you're tired and I'm sorry." Ash sat up and the doctor put the thermometer under his tongue. When it beeped he looked at it. "100 on the dot, not too bad, but that is a mild fever. Ok lift your arm for me."Ash lifted his arm and he had a blood pressure cuff placed onto it. The doctor put a finger heart monitor on his finger and the doctor looked puzzled. "Hmmmm. Elevated heart rate." He wrote down the information on a pad. "I'll be back with your iv." He left and we all looked at Ashton, who was fast asleep against my shoulder.

     After 2 minutes the doctor reentered the room with the iv in his hands. He placed it on the hook plastered on the wall above us and I gently shook Ashton awake. The doctor hooked him up to it and gave him medicine for the nausea and diarrhea. After the iv finished the doctor took Ashton for a couple tests and we had to go back into the waiting room. Soon enough we we're called back and they we're in the room we had been in before.

    "So I have the results from Ashtons tests." We looked at in a 'well keep going' sort of way. He chuckled. "It's stress. He explained to me about your band and travels and how you guys never get a break. He said that your manager is here. Is that true?" We nodded and Matt stepped forward.

     "You need to find some way to ease up on these boys, or else this will happen again. It could get worse too. You need to be careful." The doctor explained to Matt. He nodded and walked out the the room to call management. "Hopefully that helps you guys out." The doctor smiled and we all returned the smiles. "You are free to go. I have prescribed Ashton with some medicine. He will need to take both of them every 4 hours." We nodded and gathered Ashton up and led him to the car.

     "I'm there manager." He said as he took another step forward and shook his hand.

     Matt came back and apologized for his and managements actions. He informed us that we will have two weeks off to rest and we all got excited. Ashton was asleep so he didn't hear, but he was excited when we told him. It took a couple days before he felt 100% again. Management was true to there word and they eased up a touch on us.

[lizzybeth1986]

I’ve just dived into your perfect match posts, specifically the ones about the different dialogue for the various Haydens. Holy crap, PB put so much coding behind those and yet these days they can’t handle more than one meaningful romance route at a time, or get a GoC characters pronouns right.

Also I am just amazed at the depth you’ve explored some of these stories……wow!!!

Thank you Anon! I'm so glad to see my Hayden Young Project posts are still helpful, almost 4 years after I put it up! At the time I had planned an essay series to go with it, but I was too drained by the time I finished uploading all the screenshots to continue. Maybe one day...

But yes. Hayden was such a perfect example of customization done with purpose and thought towards the differences, while still giving the character itself a strong default core. No matter which trait/personality type you went for, there were certain things without which Hayden would never be Hayden: their questions about life, their thirst for knowledge, their fierce protectiveness, their desire to make sense of themselves and the world around them. They went through so much growth over the course of those two books.

Even so, in the larger fandom that effort and care for characterization was often ignored. More often than not, when PM was still playing, readers would find excuses to hate on Hayden and pretend they had no value. They spoke of Hayden as if they were an object, they hated on Hayden for normal emotional reactions - while their favourite Damien was hailed for his "incredible growth" even though we never once saw him apologize to the people he hurt - and even after the books ended, I would often see posts about how Hayden is "whiny" (fandom loved to wave around the "he's traumatized!" card for Damien yet waved away the abuse Eros had done on Hayden and the hostility they constantly faced like it was nothing). In fact, the whole reason I started the Hayden Young Project in the first place was because several stans (specially Damien stans) were lying notstop about how Hayden didn't have that many variations beyond the first few chapters.

For a character that really was crafted with a lot of care, the fandom clearly seemed reluctant to show any appreciation. And it's a pattern I see with a lot of the early customizable characters. They are far more easily written off as bland and boring and devoid of any development, meanwhile default white/exoticizable brown mains who get hundreds of diamond scenes yet still stangnate as characters - because their writers don't want to admit to their flaws - are hailed as the best written characters ever.

I definitely agree with your point about the current state of characterization in PB! (though a lot of my info is secondhand, so don't blindly believe me on this). I sometimes have a term for the way PB uses customization now - "bandaid customization". It has struck me, ever since I saw the note (post-BLM statement) from the company, as well as their one-year-later update, that they believe making their single main LI customizable is enough. But that doesn't allow for the character themself to explore aspects of their story related to gender or race (eg: TNA with an f!Sam skips over certain things related to sexism, that should affect her, but doesn't really) because the writers themselves seem unable to move out of the headspace that the "default" is definitely white and mostly male. And this is at a time when they prove that they KNOW how to change dialogue to reflect race or gender (eg. The D&D MC's responses to Luke when they discuss his father, or to Hamid when the two speak about racism). So you can get a black character, you can get a female character to romance...but it won't count for much. Because it's a lot more likely the writer is seeing a white and male main when they're penning the lines, and it shows...now more than ever.

Did these problems exist with the early customizables? Yes, definitely. But there was still a little more care and purpose to the way they were written, and not all the advancements PB has the ability to code in now were there before.

I call the currect state of customizable characterization "bandaid" because the company views this specifically as a solution for the lack of race representation, yet it really doesn't solve the core problem. But I may be wrong, and the new books that I haven't heard much about, could be better in this respect.

To go back to the subject of Hayden - not only was the PM team consistent about divergences in traits, but they also did the same for their different skills (polyglot, animal lover, music, massage). I found a number of incredible and really fun scenes that replaced a skill scene - my favourite one being Sloane trying to liven up our first real visit to their house with "baby-shower games" in PM1 Ch7 instead of us playing with Dipper 😄 Oh Sloane. You're such a treasure 💖

I just found the way they built Hayden so fascinating, and I wanted to share it with the fandom too...whether most of them wanted to admit to the value of such a character or not.

I definitely will try to get that essay series done, someday. Thanks so much once again, anon!

[cru5h-cascades]

2023: A Year That Existed (Wrapping Up the Year)

Hey everyone! Now with xmas outta the way practically nothing else is really happening this year except for New Year's Eve, which means 2023 is another year in the books!

Here's a highlight reel of the year in order (sort of idk):

January - My track Blissful Ecstacy gets frontpaged on Newgrounds and a month later gets noticed by luminoghost himself!

February - The Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass gets revealed to the world, launching me as well as others into speculation on whatever the hell Side Order's plot is gonna be, a state of insanity that would last until Spetember (unless if you're like me and found out about the leaked Side Order files that were datamined sometime in the summer!)

March - Wave 1 of Splatoon 3's Expansion Pass comes out alongside Fresh Season 2023. Anyways, Cereza and the Lost Demon came out and boy was it hella fun to play!

April - My birthday was on the 13th and we also had the Zelda splatfest that month, which was pretty neat :D. Also, Cult of the Lamb's first major content update came out. I wouldn't be able to actually play this thing until a few months later because of some bug connected to the reclics room.

May - Tears of the Kingdom came out and I'd end up spending a month plus away from S3 trying to finish the game.

June - The disapointment of a season known as Sizzle Season 2023 comes out and I'm still working on TotK, only finishing it halfway through the month and then finally experiencing Sizzle Season myself shortly after finishing TotK. Also, school went out for me that month :D

July - It was either this month or August where we got the summer nintendo direct. Still no Side Order, but we got the announcement of Princess Peach Showtime tho!

August - School started up again and it felt like being dragged back to hell. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, formerly known as the Jet Set Radio 3 that never was, came out but I didn't get to play until September.

September - A bombshell hits the Splatoon community shortly after the catastrophe known as the fallout after Shiver v Frye v Big Man as a full trailer for Side Order comes out in the September direct, revealing that Agent 8 would be returning to the game, Pearl has been turned into a drone, the Inkopolis Square we play in isn't the actual Inkopolis Square but a replica of it, and most importaintly DEDF1SH WOULD BE AN IMPORTAINT CHARACTER IN THE DLC. Also I consumed as much media related to Dear Evan Hansen this month for some reason.

October - Spooky month. Nothing much happened this month besides me ending my long running Hellbent Concept OST series tbh so moving on...

November - My track Hellfish Heretic would get frontpaged on Newgrounds and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off released on Netflix.

December - To cap off the entire year I basically turned into a full fledged victim (the Killers fan) by listening to a bunch of their music & listening to video essays on folks tryna piece together the story of the Murder Trilogy, even doing so myself over here on tumblr some time ago. Also I finally played Deltarune and I'm currently starting Undertale (now I have to unlearn everything I did in Deltarune just so I can play Undertale lmao).

This year didn't start off that great for me, but it eventually improved as the months went by, to be honest. Got two more tracks on the front page of Newgrounds, my art improved a bunch over the past year for the most part, and I've gotten a few more followers across all my socials (not a lot but it's something!), so this year wasn't too bad.

Now, what am I gonna do in the next year when it comes to my own content? Well, of course I'm gonna continue with my usual writing pieces, art, music, ect., but I'm also gonna throw in some extra bigger projects into the mix as well! Because Side Order comes out next year, I'll be starting finally writing my Splatoon OCs' Side Order arc stories (I've been teasing the arc for a while now), as well as reworking and finally writing other stories about my OCs as well. Also, I plan on starting a seperate blog for a story surrounding Ribbon & WD sometime next year! The story is being worked on right now and I plan on structuring the blog as part ask blog for Ribbon & WD and part comic sorta thing, so something similar to that one fannmade Splatoon comic #14 crush.

Anyways, hope y'all had a great year and I hope y'all have a greater 2024. If you've been sticking around my blog this entire time, thanks for being there to see my stuff. If you're just finding out about my existence via this post you should give me a follow if ya want :D

See y'all on the flip side (of order)!

Can't wait to finally play Side Order in a few months yay!!!

[bciwasinlove]

So this half-written post has been in my drafts for a couple weeks now didn't really think I would bother finishing it but after tonight thought I should. I have seen some [on both Tumblr and Twitter] have such a double standard when it comes to H&L and don't really care for both like they claim. Maybe some should just be say their a solo stan bc you only care about Harry bc he's Louis bf not for much else and are always one foot out the door from stanning Harry.

PSA This is my thoughts if you don't agree or don't do any of this just please keep scrolling. Also, some of these points may be relevant to only Twitter while other points only Tumblr but I'm posting this on both apps so I'm just putting all my thoughts collectively into one post.

From what I constantly see from my time on both apps especially this last year is that there is a huge double standard when it comes to L&H...

1) Some of you will defend Louis against every little piece of hate he receives but the problem lies when you turn a blind eye to some of the awful stuff said about Harry.

2) Some have stated [actually a lot] that they won't call themself a harrie bc toxic solo harries exist and they hate Louis but are fine calling themself a louie even tho toxic solo louies who hate Harry exist. Sounds like you only pretend to care about Harry as stated before bc he's Louis bf.

3) Back when we got Italy Elounor date pics everyone made memes and jokes about it or kept saying things like "poor Louis hate that he is forced to stunt with Eleanor" [did not blame Louis at all for it] but when we got Holivia Italy date pics I saw some of those same people [including a former mutual] get mad and fully blamed Harry for it as if it isn't the same situation. Where is the difference between both stunt vacations ?? Neither had a say in it and both were forced to do this bc both are closeted.

I feel like some think just bc Harry gets more media attention and promo that means he has more say and is more free but that is not the case. It's been pretty clear since last October when Jingle Ball was filmed Harry has not been well. He seems so fuckin done with everything since than and the only time he seemed decently happy was when he was filming a movie where he plays a gay man and slightly when performing bc he has missed doing so.

Don't even think some heard the full line correctly bc after he says it's about sweetness and a fan yells p***y he says "It's about female o****am" AND THAN "that's totally different it's not relevant" [the name of the song came from a book about that.] A lot of major UAs cited it as "so that settles that" which isn't correct and changes how to perceive what he meant. Also some seem to forget their are three other guys on the writing credits for WS who are into women.

4) We all know the solo harrie UA HSD who was exposed in a way for hating Louis and being very toxic saying lies about Louis and a ton of larries were like I dont care if they give fast/good updates on Harry they hate Louis so don't follow there's other UAs. Well some time later a popular solo louie UA got exposed for being run by a tumblr r*d who says awful stuff about Harry.

They even claimed Harry and his team helped start BG to ruin Louis careers and some of those same larries who said unfollow HSD bc they hate Louis said "I don't care what this acc [the SL UA] says elsewhere I'm here for updates" so when it's hates against Louis unfollow but when it's hate and lies about Harry it's turn the other way who cares ???

5) Just a few days ago we had that ss of Eleanor's text about football from "daddy" clearly meant to mean Louis and having him listed as "daddy" is sexual but everyone just found it funny and brushed it off like who cares we know they aren't actually together but when H says one line at a concert everyone loses their shit.

So that could easily mean the sweetness part is about himself and the other meaning [that he says isn't relevant] is about the other writers who most likely know what THAT is like compared to Harry [who regadless of his sexuality] has been with Louis since he was 16. Or like stated the book he read that gave him the idea of the song title.

Here is a good ask/post about WS meaning and how it can have multiple meanings NOT just one.

https://daisiesonafield-blog.tumblr.com/post/663910079575326720/hiii-im-from-argentina-and-last-night-on-midnight

TBH I don't even see a big deal in this and why it really matters. The biggest reason I have seen people complain about it is we will get more hate for this but how much more hate can we really get that makes a difference or is anything we haven't heard before? Whether this was said or not I had already been told every phrase in the book like "you're delusional" "go seek help" " go to a psych ward" ext. and it doesn't change the fact that Larry is still real. I know some can't handle those things [those who can't should definitely step away from online fandom for a while] I'm just saying we got told all those things before it's nothing new the amount we get at this point is a blur.

The second biggest reason I have seen is this gives antis the incentive to sexualize him but didn't they have enough incentive before when they kept shoving the WS meaning down our throats along with the womanizer image? Plus whenever Harry did something before Illuding to something sexual [example medicine and how he acts on stage when singing it mainly with his mic] everyone would be like yeah Harry 🤩 but now with this people are saying he shouldn't have said this bc this eggs antis on to sexualize him ??

So he just shouldn't have done half of the things he did on stage during HS1 tour bc a lot of how he acted on stage mainly during Medicine egged them on. We could get a picture of Harry sitting on a chair and they will find a way to sexualize him [I have personally seen it happen.] They have never had human decency and would have still acted whatever way they will act in the coming future regardless of this.

If I get hate from antis for what he said well I got told all those things after Louis bullshit tweet, Liam calling Larries delusional, Gemma saying false goodnight when asked if Larry was real, the twins saying Larry isn't real, Louis saying he will marry Eleanor one day ext. And anyone else who was around for those event mostly just ignored what all of them said or laughed at it so why is Harry saying this much different? All those things fueled antis just as much as this would so what does it matter at this point? The bullshit tweet from Louis 2012 was enough for them say all they had I really don't see this changing much.

This isn't the first time something like this has been done clearly and it won't be the last if it's an issue for you every time this happens it is probably best for you to just leave the fandom. If it's ONLY an issue when it's Harry saying something to allude to Larry not being real or playing into the "I'm straight" image just unstan Harry.

Someone did dmed me saying I think those mad at Harry from a newer stans perspective are not used to this type of situation and were expecting Harry to be coming out but got things like this instead and an older stans perspective has seen shit like this time and time again like in 2014/2015 when we thought they might be coming out but we got Dani and babygate instead.

If you were/are only here bc you want or expect them to come out just leave now bc you will not survive another year in this fandom where the endless cycle of them going one foot forward out the door to two steps back in the closet keeps happening. I've been a fan for 10 years I've seen it all became a Larrie after Haylor happened I guess I just became numb to all this.

My main point of this post is I'm tired of seeing people treat L&H differently when it comes to them being in the closet and having to go about being seen as straight. You can't say one is "forced to do and say things" but than say the other is "free to do and say as they please" when things related to closesting happen.

For any stunting related thing either both choose to do what they do and to be in the spot their in or neither is anywhere near free and has a say in what they do. One getting more promo and media attention doesn't make them any more free when they are heavily tied up in s*ny's ropes as their "golden boy" money maker 🤑🤑🤑. If you treat Harry completely different than you do Louis for the same thing then just be a solo stan please.

[wilderlingdev]

devlog #05 - a quick update!

hello, everyone!!

before i dive into the update for briarheart, ICYMI: the hanging heart won the interact-if game jam!!!!! which is wild!!!!! i'm sooooo happy i still can't believe it lol if you haven't played the hanging heart yet, please give it a try here!!

yesterday was my first day at my new job. it went really well and i'm excited to be working there (so far, at least).

i tried to split the free time i had before this job started between briarheart and learning the tech said job uses. i ended up using it waaay more to study, mostly because i'm an anxiety driven mess who really needs to keep this job lol they use a framework i had never touched before, but since it's based on stuff i already know it hasn't been terrible to learn. so that's good, i guess!

that doesn't mean there hasn't been any progress for briarheart. i wrote the beginning of chapter one and am at the moment going down of the routes/possible passages. my plan for now is to write a route from beginning to end before moving on to another. this way at least i can release them for my beta-testers to play around (i'm still looking for beta testers btw. just shoot me a message if you are interested!!!). also, i'm finding this more manageable, since i only need to keep a single world-state, so to speak, in mind instead of many when i sit down to write.

chapter one has two main routes, kind of. one is way shorter than the other, since choosing it closes off most places you can visit in the chapter (and opens an exclusive one). the other is a bit more complicated, since every location behaves a bit different depending on what the player character knows. i'm choosing to write this one first, to tackle the hard one now while i'm still relatively unburnt (lol).

one big challenge i have right now is to figure out how i want the dice rolls to work and how they interact with the player's stats. i'm doing some reading on the matter and researching how other games (IF or not) do it to figure out how exactly i want everything to go. this is a huge part of the gameplay so i don't to mess it up just because i'm dying to release this thing to you guys (and i really am D:).

so, that's all for now. i work better under pressure so i giving myself until march 15th to finish this route. i'll let you guys know how it goes!

[chelleztjs18]

Chelle! God it's been a while but I hope life has been treatin u well :)

I've been really good! But summer feels just as busy as spring sometimes and I hate the heat, so I feel you with your weather talk 😅 I think I've got a bit of writer's block too (it really sucks now that I have more time to write, yet can barely manage). Though your response was a while ago so I hope you aren't dealing with that anymore!

The only thing I haven't read yet is Half Love. I really wanted to wait until it was finished so I could binge it all, but I figure I might read it after I finish writing this! I really like Ten Days, characters who are a bit oblivious to the fact that they like the other is always fun to watch. They're both secretly simps for each other if you ask me hehe.

I ALSO finally took the time to read up on all the chapters of Lost in Assistance and 63 was definitely a rollercoaster of emotionss, I think you captured the dark theme really well at the end there! I WAS NOT expecting things to go left like that

You said something about wanting to write a dark wanda or dark nat fic and I hope you try it, I think it'll be lovely :) Coincidentally I made a wandanat fic a few days ago which I plan on posting- it's not dark or anything (though I want to try my hand at it eventually) but yeah! You still haven't followed me yet but maybe that's a hint >:)?

I really didn't know how to continue this convo since it has been such a long time, but like I said earlier I hope you've been good 😌

- 🗿 <3

Hiiiiiii!! Oh my god! Yes, it has been a long time!

Sorry for the delay too. How are you?

I just started to feel better after got all fucked up for a week because I got Covid. It was torture so I haven't been really writing that much.

I just started back into writing since the last time I told you that I got writer's block but then I got covid.

It gets hotter and hotter here. It's humid as well. I dont like it and really really hope that summer to end. I love when it rains or thunderstorm here though because it's cooler temperature and the lighting is crazy and thunders are so loud. I literally can feel it shakes the house wall. Have I ever ask where you from? I forgot. I'm sorry. If you are from U.S, which state are you at? You don't have to answer if you dont feel like to.

It has been a while so I forgot what was the last story I posted since our last conversation.haha

About Half Love, well it's still a long way to the end of the story so if you plan to wait until it's done to read it, it will be a while. :D

I'm pretty proud with Ten Days even though it was inspired by a romcom. I love it because that series has the most humor I ever put in my writing. It has been a while I havent update it, i gotta write that soon. ahaha.

Yaay, you finally read ch, 63.. I think that was the fic I posted the last time I talk with you. I already posted ch. 64 and starting t work on the last chapter of the series. Ch. 63 was my first trying to write something dark and i'm glad it worked out.

I also finally wrote my very first Dark!Wanda oneshot and my very first Natasha fic! Yaaay! Can't wait to hear what you think about them. Also, I really wanna read your work.. Too bad after I follow bunch more tumblr writer, I still havent found you and followed you :( I will follow more then.ahahahah.

Who do you write for, wanda, nat and wandanat or other characters as well?

I hope you have been good as well and we can talk more. I'm glad i hear back from you!

Cheerio!

[popcorn-kitten]

new hiveswap info and development timelines just dropped on the Kickstarter ✌️

Over the years, a lot of misinformation, as well as deliberate disinformation, has spread around about the history of Hiveswap. The purpose of this post is to clarify these matters for backers who've been wondering what the truth is.

The Kickstarter was planned by the What Pumpkin business development team in mid-2012. One member of the team was a crowdfunding specialist who led the planning process and managed the contracts with the developer. Prior to the Kickstarter opening for pledges, What Pumpkin worked out a plan for a flexible game concept that could be refined according to how much the campaign ultimately brought in. As Hussie was still working on Homestuck full time at this point, the plan was to hand over his game concept and story outline to a development company that could deliver the project.

The crowdfunding campaign finished out at a gross total of $2,485,506, as well as a gross total of $207,930 from PayPal pledges. But because of platform fees, as well as the costs of producing and shipping merchandise to backers of the campaign, the effective budget was significantly lower than the gross pledged total:

The above deductions from the gross total do not include taxes.

After determining the final budget for the game, What Pumpkin signed an agreement with the contracted game company (hereafter “GC”) to develop Hussie’s game concept. WP and GC entered into a development contract on November 30, 2012, shortly after the conclusion of the Homestuck Kickstarter. WP paid $788,000 to GC in late 2012 for development.

Because there was an understanding that delivering the complete game development documents would take some time, during which it would be difficult for GC to make meaningful progress on the Hiveswap game build, GC inquired about getting involved with other Homestuck-adjacent projects to do immediate work. WP let GC know about the Act 7 animation plans. With an assurance that this work could be done in parallel with a flexible timeline and would not impact the development cycle of Hiveswap itself, Hussie and What Pumpkin saw this as a good opportunity to establish a working relationship with this organization prior to the start of development and agreed to contract GC to do animation work for the Act 7 project. WP and GC agreed that this project would have a separate budget from the Hiveswap Kickstarter money, paid for from WP’s regular operating funds. As the existence of this animation itself would not be revealed until its release in 2016, this was not publicly announced at the time. GC and the lead animator on the project specifically requested not to be credited upon release of the animation.

Hussie initiated the “Megapause” on April 14, 2013 in order to devote his full attention to finalizing the Hiveswap development documents. What Pumpkin soon provided its story documents so that GC could formally begin core systems development. In July of 2013 WP and GC mutually agreed to push back GC’s deliverable dates without penalty. Hussie would share an update in 2013 detailing the state of predevelopment:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game/posts/708686

In 2013 following receipt of WP’s deliverables, GC enthusiastically assured WP that it was positioned to begin development. GC would deliver its first prototype in early 2014.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qSXwWKD5Km1yL-3Cj_W5IevW-IA978zJ/view?usp=sharing

This prototype, linked above, was sent to WP on 2/18/14. At this point, it was becoming a significant concern among backers that WP had yet to show proof that the game was being made, so WP was looking for any sort of tangible progress update from GC that was suitable to share with the public. But Hussie and WP found the quality of the prototype somewhat alarming, and decided that sharing any shots from the game would only cause embarrassment for GC. Nevertheless, WP was still willing to assume that this was a very early draft of something that would develop into a more promising product soon, and gave GC some more time to improve on it.

But the improvements didn’t come. No other advancements on the prototype were ever made. After waiting weeks with no update other than assurances that progress was carrying on smoothly, Hussie initiated the “Gigapause” both to take care of personal matters and later to get directly involved in the development of the game himself. He decided to move to southern California from the east coast in hopes that working directly with the GC could help them overcome whatever obstacles they were facing with Hiveswap’s development. GC responded positively to the prospect of Hussie’s involvement, but when he made the move and tried to coordinate a time to visit the GC offices and meet, GC insisted it was a bad time due to office renovations and a busy schedule. Here is a timeline with quotes from emails exchanged between Hussie and GC:

May 12, 2014 - from Hussie to GC

“Just letting you know I actually moved to the west coast recently. I'm only an hour or so away from LA now.

I could drive down and check out the office, see how things are going with the game and animation in person some time soon. Is there a time that would work for you guys? In a week or two maybe?”

May 15, 2014 - from GC to Hussie

“That's awesome about being on the west coast. It'd be great to have you come to the studio.

Dev has slowed a bit on our end, as we wanted to take a step back and really evaluate what was needed and the best way to achieve the features that have been coming online in the docs. We're continuing to break that all down so we can build and plan most effectively moving forward. We also wanted to find some simple formats for input from your writing team for dialogue content and are getting that squared away.

The best time to come by would actually be right after E3. Things are a bit nuts until then.”

May 18, 2014 - from Hussie to GC

“[Name redacted], sounds good. I'll set aside some time after E3 to make the drive down. As we approach the date, just let me know what works for you.”

E3 was June 10-12, 2014. GC did not invite Hussie to visit at this time.

Hussie and WP representatives were in LA over July 4th weekend, 2014. When they inquired about visiting the offices again they were still not welcome. A GC representative insisted that they meet at a restaurant instead. Yet GC continued to telegraph that they were receptive to the idea of inviting Hussie to the office well into the summer:

Aug 18, 2014 - from GC to Hussie

“We'd love to set up a new time for Andrew to come to the studio as well as a skype chat to meet the other team members.”

Despite apparent enthusiasm about meeting with Andrew in their email correspondence, GC continued the pattern of refusing to meet at the office or supply any signs of progress on the prototype.

Over that summer, GC delivered several pieces of concept art that WP had been requesting since January. Hussie did his best to present this publicly as a positive development as WP felt it would be counterproductive to the project and harmful to GC to publicly detail the development troubles at the time.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game/posts/883860

There was no indication from GC that the Act 7 animation project was in any way in conflict with Hiveswap development. GC was enthusiastic about taking on this project, and bidded against other animators for the contract. They saw it as a useful tie-in to concept art work on Hiveswap, as GC leadership conveyed in an email to WP in early 2013:

WP also does not have any reason to believe that the Act 7 project in practice created a conflict that was not disclosed by GC to WP. Act 7 was a 2D animation project, and Hiveswap at the time was a 3D game, so it did not pull GC’s programmers or 3D artists away from work on Hiveswap. GC never mentioned the development needs of a separate project at all to WP, or cited any such reason as distracting from work on Hiveswap; GC instead repeatedly provided WP with various assurances that everything was still fine with Hiveswap.

Had GC communicated that they had scheduling conflicts or some other impediment preventing them from developing Hiveswap, WP would have terminated the contract even sooner.

WP moved to terminate the agreement with GC late summer of 2014, and Hussie pivoted towards establishing a new independent game studio while consulting with a designer who had stepped up into a leadership position during the GC development period. That individual lived in NYC, which is why that location was chosen to establish the new studio rapidly. They helped build the studio through a local network of professional contacts. While this “What Pumpkin NYC” studio shared a name with What Pumpkin, it’s important to note that all of WP NYC’s studio staff save for the aforementioned individual were hired without any prior affiliation with WP and thus had no association with the GC contract. WP documented this development on Kickstarter on October 30th, 2014. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game/posts/1035099

At this point, negotiations were very amicable; both parties agreed the project simply wasn’t turning out to be a good fit for GC, and were both ready to move on. There were no signs given at all that WP was about to have trouble recovering the remaining funds.

WP is legally permitted to discuss details of the resolution of the dispute only under very specific circumstances. WP may make additional disclosures outside of this post to individual backers in accordance with legal obligations.

Following resolution of the GC contract, in Spring 2015 the WP NYC studio was running at full capacity on Hiveswap. The main problem was the fact that WP management was blindsided by the revelation that much less money would be coming back than expected. The WP NYC project manager had designed the schedule based on the good faith presumption that most of the development funds would be recouped. When it was finally revealed the return was far short of what was expected, and the repayment plan could in no way keep up with the schedule as currently drafted, it threw the project into a period of chaos as plans were quickly redrawn. The length of Act 1 was slashed, and other modifications were made to try to fit the rest of Act 1 into the newly shortened runway. But in the end, the revisions still weren't enough to save the game as it existed, and the studio needed to be closed in order to reserve what funds remained to finish the project in some form.

This may have come across as a sudden or spontaneous decision. Part of this is because the WP NYC senior staff and WP ownership were doing everything in their power to save the project, including injecting WP regular operating funds into the project, until it was determined that going any further would be disastrous for the future of Hiveswap. Another is that WP was legally unable to give any detailed disclosures about the financial troubles, even to many of the WP NYC staff.

It should also be noted that originally the NYC studio was not going to be permanently closed, but only frozen for a reassessment of the project. But during this freeze period, there were some dramatic events. One staff member behaved in a destructive and threatening manner. For the protection of those involved, details shouldn't be disclosed. But these events made navigating the post-freeze issues impossible. Communication between ownership, management and staff broke down because of these events, and the freeze turned into full closure. This version of the project was then abandoned for many reasons, including these events.

Some misinformation claims that at the time the WP NYC studio was shuttered, its iterations of Act 1 and 2 were complete. This is wrong. Act 1 was very far from a shippable state and absolutely no work on Act 2 had been completed besides some concept and 3D art. Here you can see a video documenting one of many major bugs with critical path progression in the final build produced by WP NYC, where it becomes impossible to re-focus on the Simon Says toy if Joey fails and then exits out of the puzzle:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M2mmkMx8Wkwp1VU_5IpMKDvngmUFS0IG/view?usp=sharing

At the point the WP NYC studio was frozen it was still difficult to finish a full run of the critical path without the debug tool, and the UI was far from complete. With that build, Act 1 ended the moment Joey passed through the portal on Earth. The current version of Act 1, where Joey makes it to Alternia and meets Xefros, is more indicative of the original length of the NYC version of Act 1. Not only did it need to be slashed from what the original script proposed, the NYC version of Act 1 still wasn't that close to resembling a shippable product after those changes were made.

Because of the amount of time and resources already devoted to this project, WP was initially very reluctant to lay anyone off or scrap the work being done. It was for this reason that the studio stayed open for months after the contract with GC was resolved; WP made every effort to deliver a game with that team, but at the time WP NYC was shuttered, the funds just weren't there to keep the studio running at its current burn rate and schedule slips. The game was never going to reach delivery with the funds available. The studio urgently needed to be frozen for a full reassessment, and then it was closed after the freeze due to the reasons stated above. This was the only course of action that could have saved the project.

To WP's knowledge every artist whose work was used in the final release of Act 1 was included in the credits. The final version of Act 1 was in large part built off concept art and storyboards drawn during the WP NYC era, and many of the artists who made them continued to work on the team that produced the final version of Act 1; the roadmap for the completion of Act 1 was specifically planned because WP had determined that the existing 2D concepts could easily be refined into a final product that would both be visually appealing and more economic to produce. Unfortunately due to the transition to 2D WP no longer had a place for the 3D artists or the original 3D engine, and all of those assets were dropped. They were not used as a basis for the finished assets in Act 1, and visual similarities to WP NYC 3D assets are due to the fact that final Act 1 assets are in large part refinements of the original concept art. Any artist whose work was used incidentally was included in Additional Contributions.

Both the GC and NYC phases of Hiveswap were setbacks to the overall fulfillment of the project, but not insurmountable. WP reorganized the budget to establish a new version of the studio, and Act 1 was released two years after the closure of NYC.

As an addendum, WP has identified the primary source of a disclosure to a well-circulated document of the Hiveswap development process. WP has been aware of a pattern of false claims this former employee has made since the end of their employment at the beginning of 2014. As this individual was not present during the end of the development contract with GC, nor the WP NYC development period, all of the information they have shared is based on speculation and conjecture.

At this time, WP does not wish to invite more controversy into the lives of anyone previously involved with this project, and considers these matters to have been resolved long ago. The goal for years has been to turn the page on flawed attempts by earlier studios, and simply move forward and bring Hiveswap to completion without sparking the chaos, disruption, and threats to personal safety that would have resulted from disclosing many of the details stated above. Doing so would only make it more difficult for the staff to rebuild the project during these periods immediately following the termination of the GC agreement and closure of the NYC studio. Since preservation of the project was the primary responsibility to the backers, making destructive disclosures that put the project at risk along the way would have been at odds with that responsibility. This policy also served to protect individuals from personal or professional harm, including those who were responsible for serious setbacks with the project. Please respect the privacy of any persons affiliated with GC and WP NYC.