#ch3: tristan

[dantehart]

WHEN: June 3rd, 2023 WHERE: Obsidian City Fire Department / Station 2 WHO: @walledupward​ & @kai-pak​

Dante was never one to hide his life from people, save for a few key facts that he tucked away, only to ever be thought of late at night when he was counting his regrets. As for the rest of it? He was an open book, always encouraging questions and curiosity, like the more people knew him, the more the other things might not matter anymore. That maybe he was balancing an invisible scale. One that determined he was worthy of all of this, to keep living and breathing, and enjoying the kind of life that his could never could anymore.

It was this line of thinking that made him realize how little he had his friends see this part of who he was. The Dante that was on the job. Full gear, kitted out, keys to a fire engine in hand. None of that had been on purpose. Only that most of the time, he was too busy, and he couldn’t speak to everyone’s else's schedules. They were all adults with their own lives, and Kai had just gotten his back.

He opened his arms in greeting as they both arrived. “Hello, MTV, and welcome to my crib.” The joke aged him more than he might’ve liked, but Dante took everything, even aging, in stride. As far as he saw it, growing old was an accomplishment few on this island ever really got to experience. He’d cherish every moment.

[bryceslahela]

okay finished ch3 so there are some spoilers ahead!!

tristan has some nerve. he stole mc’s phone because he was curious, let random guys into her bedroom, ruined the money exchange because he was bored and now he’s trying to make mc pay him back for it with a kiss?

[hazbinextgeneration]

Hazbin Worlds Collide Ch3

iridescence, Aldo, tristan, and mako belong to Palettepainter. Vaggie, Baxter, and Crymini belong to Vivziepop. Dexter, Angel-Cake, and Gem-stone are mine.

88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

He stopped in his tracks. His horror striken face didn't go unnoticed by the demons in the lounge. Quickly, he whipped back around and ran back to the basement. "Dexter! What's going on?!" He ignored her as the basement door flew open and he fumbled down the steps. His heart pounding in his chest. His eyes locked in horror at the scene before him. "G-Gemmy?" She laid motionless on the ground as Baxter examined her carefully. Mako was leaning against one of the shelves, breathing heavily, a gun in hand with many cuts lining his body. Aldo stood between the two. Keeping Mako back. He glanced between the bullet wounds on his sister.....and the gun in his hand. "........*grrrr*" The small growl got Baxter's attention as his head snapped up."......Dexter, no!" The wolf didn't listen as he crawled on fours ever so slowly down the rest of the stairs and towards the grey hound. "Dexter! Stop! She's just unconscious!" It did no good as his pupils dialated more and a hellish scream burst out from his open mouth.

Mako fired a round that successfully hit him in the shoulder. For a moment, it worked as he stood there stunned.....but an even louder screech came out from the feral k-9. Mako backed away quickly, falling over in the process to escape the rabid blue wolf. In a state of panic, he fired again, but it seemed nothing detoured his attention. Even in this form, Dexter used tactics and began to back the other wolf into a corner. "Get Crymini! Someone get Crymini!" A hiss was forced from his mouth before Dexter lunged. "AAAAHHH!!" Mako screamed as sharp teeth dug into his leg. Dexter began to pull him backwards and drag him. Desperate to get away, he began to kick out his other leg. He managed to make him let go after hitting him in the muzzle, And scooted away. He growled and looked ready to murder. Crouching low to the ground, he rolled his shoulders- "Dexter!" His ears perked up and he whirled around towards the stairs. A cookies n cream wolf stared down at him. A few others were on the stairs and crammed into the doorway to watch the scene unfold before them. She slowly descended the stairs and carefully made her way over to him. Carefully stepping over broken glass and lab equipment. Dexter never taking his eyes off her. "Dexter....Come to Mommy." She held her arms out. He whined before looking back and growling at Mako. "Dexter, no! Bad boy!" He whined again. "C'mere now!" Whimpering like a beaten puppy, he crawled over to her and she cradled him in her arms. "There, there. Mommy's little tyrant was just trying to protect his little sister......Speaking of which..." She gave Mako a death glare. "Ya mind tellin' me why she has so any bullet holes in her?" .................................................................................................................................................................................................. Baxter proceeded to wrap up another cut on Mako's face. Making the wolf hiss in pain. Across from him, Angel-Cake was busy helping Dexter with first aid while Crymini removed bullets from her children. Gem-Stone glared at him while holding her mother's paw. "Well....maybe next time you'll take it back." "Keep your f--king brother away from me. You're both f--king mental cases!" "Uncle Bax, can you tie some of that around his muzzle?" "That's enough you two. Now. it's gonna take even ta fix that machine." "What even happened back there?" Angel-cake turned to the one eyed demon. "Dexter has this......condition to snap when full demon. Only Aunt Crymini can calm him down for some reason." "Probably because he's a Mama's boy," A smaller spider joked. "I AM NOT!!" "AHAHAHAHA!!" "Hey....Where's your brother?" "Tristan? He went ta find this world's version of our mom." .................................................................................................................................................................................................. The one eyed demon looked up at him from the couch. "I'm sorry. I don't understand how I can would know." "You're still my mother from another dimension. Would you even have the slightest idea who my dad might be?," he asked desperately. He stepped back a few feet, "Here. Take a good look. Don't I look like anyone you know?!" "...." Her one eye trailed over him carefully...before shaking her head and giving him an apologetic look. "....I'm sorry. I don't anyone who looks like you......or a moth." "What about someone with some kind of connection to moths or butterflies?" "The only other person with besides me with a connection to moths I know is my daughter." "So.....you don't know?" "'Fraid not. Like you said, we're from different dimensions. Must be someone she knows better than me." He sighed and turned to walk away. "Thanks anyway." "No problem. Sorry I couldn't help." SHe watched him walk away before shaking her head."....Poor kid. I wonder what else the other me did."

[eamesandbellamyaremyheaven]

Somewhere, Now and Then Ch3 || Arthur x Sansa (Kalots/GoT Outlander AU)

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword x Game of Thrones  Outlander AU (there’s no such thing as canon)

Warnings: Violence, blood 

Summary: England, 1945. After serving in the war as a nurse, Sansa Bolton (former Stark) seizes the opportunity of going on vacation with her husband Ramsay to rekindle their relationship. But what happens when Sansa finds herself travelling back in time, to the 6th century, where she meets the King Arthur and his Knights?

A.N.//- Needless to say, this is loosely based on the Outlander premise. The story is told through Guy Ritchie’s interpretation of the Arthurian legend, and for that locations and traditions - and the time itself - had to be adapted to work accordingly. Any questions you have, feel free to ask!

Prologue || Chapter One || Chapter two

Chapter Three - A Merry Group

Sansa leaned over the dark wood table, pushing books and old parchments aside as she gave them a quick look, noticing how the sunlight bathed the weathered paper, magnifying the familiar smell she had always been fond of.

The library was always Sansa’s favorite room from the Eyrie Manor. She had moved in in her aunt Lysa and her husband Petyr at the tender age of eleven, when her parents died, and had spent most of her time at that table, as Petyr recalled the tales and stories of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

The Moon Door, her uncle had named the room, it stood at an impressive height of twenty feet tall, in the least, and had book-filled shelves that covered most of the walls. But its name was due to the large skylight at the center of the room, a massive round glass window bay that was directly above the table, allowing both sun and moon to be as clear as a painting on the ceiling.

“So, what do you think of my discoveries?” Petyr inquired, expectantly, as Sansa examined the page in her hand “This is it, I can feel it”

Sansa looked from the paper to her mentor, arching her brow “Are you sure?”

Petyr walked towards her, holding her shoulders, shaking them lightly.

“Sansa, we found Camelot”

※※※※※

Sansa tried to find a rational explanation for everything she’d been through since she woke by the stones, but the truth was, as much as her skeptical mind tried to reason against it, she knew deep in her heart that she was no longer in the 20th century.

But where - when? - was she then? The historian in her was telling her she knew exactly where she was, and the logical was telling she was behaving like a fool.

It’s impossible she had travelled back in time!

Isn’t it?

Sansa watched as a small group of men followed Bill into the site, just as she had stopped the cut from bleeding. They were taken by surprise by her presence, they all eyed her with curiosity, but none dare to say a thing. Bill instructed them to gather wood and start a fire, and then he walked closer to where Sansa was tending Arthur. 

“How’s he?” 

Sansa turned her head around to face the man “I stopped the bleeding, but I still need to clean and disinfect the wound before I can dress it” 

Bill stood motionless, with a blank expression. 

“You know, remove the dirt and apply an agent that discourages germs and promotes the healing?”

Bill scratched the back of his head, oblivious to her meaning “Germs...?”

Sansa sighed “I need clean water, clean bandages and iodine” 

He eyed her as she was speaking some foreign language. 

“Merthiolate?” she tried again. No response. 

“Dilute Carbolic?” she pressed, this time sounding more impatient. And yet, nothing. 

“For fucks sake, do you have alcohol!?”  

Shit. 

She’d yelled this time, her patience long gone. Now everyone was looking at her with shocked expressions, even Bill looked surprised, wide-eyed... Was that a smirk on his face? 

“There you go, miss, that we have plenty” A man approached her, pushing a flask of an heavily alcoholic mead towards her, the smell alone was enough to itch her nostrils

 “Thank you...”

 “Wetstick” he nodded, and then went back to his chores

 Quickly they had gathered everything she needed, and Sansa was able clean the wound better, and see the damage properly. It wouldn’t require stitches after all, but there was still something unpleasant she needed to do...

 “This will hurt” Sansa looked from the alcohol-drenched cloth to Arthur, who gave her a nod

 “Just get on with it, Red”

 She pressed the fabric against the open wound, and he flinch for a second, but quickly regained his composure. This is a man that’s used to the pain, she thought, as she dressed up his lower abdomen. She’d seem many, in the three years she spent in France. Soldiers. Fighters.

 She noticed the exchange of looks between Arthur and Bill.

 “Now that you’ve finished...” Arthur spoke, as he pushed his shirt down, his voice calm but domineering “Why don’t you tell us your name and what you’re doing here, alone, in the woods”

 Sansa used the remaining of the water to wash the blood off her hands, while simultaneously thinking of what to say. She was a combat nurse, and any officer knows that the basic rule of withstanding an interrogation is to speak as truly and simple as possible, only leaving out essential details that must stay secret.

 “My name is Sansa Stark” she had no idea why’d she gave her maiden name, but now she couldn’t take it back without sounding like she was hiding something “I was traveling from Salisbury with a manservant to visit relatives when we were set upon by highwaymen. I managed to escape but had to leave everything behind...” she paused, as she dried her hands, and since no one objected, she continued “I wandered through the woods for a while until I found myself thrown into your... quarrel with the vikings”

“To where”

“Excuse me?” Sansa turned towards the voice, it was of a man that stood watching from afar, a tall, strong figure of darker skin, who spoke slowly, yet very assertive 

“To where were you traveling?”

“London”

 “Don’t you mean Londinium?”

 Londinium? As in the ancient city? What in the...

 “Yes, of course” Why not? Whatever to have them off her back.

 They seemed to ponder on her words, trying to find a flaw on her story. She waited, her head held high, trying to look as convincing as her story, but honestly, the events of the day had taken its toll. She was assaulted, beaten, nearly raped, and apparently, now under interrogation.

 “We’ll take you back with us to the castle, from there you can easily get to Londinium” Arthur offered as he stood and walked towards the horses

Oh no.

“Thank you, but there’s no need..-” Sansa spoke quickly, feeling herself tensing. London was 90 miles away from the stones.

“It’s a day ride, and you’re on foot” He cut her off, as he walked back to her, pushing the cloak he held on his hands towards her “I insist”

※※※※※

The ride was difficult, to say the least. Since Sansa had no horse, Bill offered to take her with him. They left right after lunch, and rode until the sun started to set. Sansa was an experienced rider, her father used to own horses, but she had never rode so many hours at once. By the time she stepped down her horse, her back hurt like hell and her legs trembled like she had never took a step before in her life.

They set up camp at a clearing, on a small hill. They had supper - wild rabbit, courtesy of Bill - and by then everyone was already fast asleep around the bonfire.

Sansa rose from her spot, holding the cloak tighter. It was a beautiful night, with clear skies and bright stars, but it was also a cold night, the frost was settling in the grass and the autumn breeze chilled her exposed skin. 

She zigzagged through the men carefully, hoping no one would hear or sense the movement. Once she was in the clear, she took a last glance towards the men, who stood still in deep slumber. She walked towards the edge of the cliff, that stood over a stream, raising her head towards the sky, as she took a deep breath.

As they ate, Arthur made a point of introducing her properly to the group. Bill was, in fact, Sir William Wilson - as in, Petyr’s ancestor - Wetstick was actually named Sir Tristan, the older man was Sir Bedivere and the two other man are Sir Percival and Sir George.

Sansa had the honour of travelling alongside King Arthur and his group of merry Knights, as he so humorously informed her, to which Bedivere snickered, Bill and Tristan snorted a chuckle, George remained serene and Percival sulked. A merry group, indeed.

Sansa looked towards the horizon, as far as her eyes could see. There should be lights ahead - electric lights, that is. But the night was pitch black, with the exception of the starry sky and the grand full moon.

Somehow, Sansa had managed to travel through the stones, and back in time, into the Arthurian era. She couldn’t deny it anymore. Petyr would be proud of her. Or jealous.

“You’re not considering jumping, are you?”

Sansa yelped, startled, turning around quickly towards the voice. Arthur stood at a short distance from her, but not close enough to make her uncomfortable.

 A sly smirk passed through his lips as he crossed his arms in front of his chest “I had to go after you and the water seems bloody freezing”

 “And risk you open your wound again? Just sounds like more trouble for me” Sansa added, mimicking his gesture, then nodding her head “Does it hurt?”

 “A bit, yes”

 “Good” she spoke cheeky, and he laughed, carefree and wholehearted. She’s disarmed by the sound of it, and briefly smiles back at him, but immediately tried to cover it, adjusting her cloak tighter around her shoulders.

 Arthur uncrossed his arms, extending one hand towards the camp “You should try to get some rest, tomorrow we’ll ride longer, if we’re to make back to Camelot before the sun sets”

 Camelot.

Petyr had been wrong about the whereabouts of the legendary castle, after all. Sansa wanted to believe that one day she might show him the exact location of it, but the further she travelled from the stones, the less she believed she would ever return back, to her family, to Ramsay, to her own time. Back to where she belonged.

Taglist is OPEN! @anonymousme86 @goodqueenkaro​ @purple-moon123​ @elvensansa​

[dr-astormylasthurrah]

💎⛰️🔬🎢☀️🎵⭐ + 😊 "retract your final bid goodnight and breathe again. i need you to wake up because i can't do this without you."

YEAAAAAAAAA (spoilers under the cut!)

💎- What was your favorite part?

i’ve answered this already but as soon as i posted that i remembered a whole bunch of other things SO here’s some of my other favorite parts:

the ch4 trial. just the ENTIRE ch4 trial after chiyo figures out that maru killed ririka and iris. ryouji mcfreaking losing it. alexei living.

actually just about anything with ryouji in it. the fight in 5-1 hurt me to write and i care him so much. but also the cooking day in 2-3... the conversations with chiyo in 4-2, 5-3, and 5-5... the reconciliation with maru in 6-1... i think just, adding ryouji atsui to any scene makes it better. point of fact.

this is a tiny thing but i think the moment after maru voices that prospero has to be clause, and there’s this dead silence until caliban starts laughing

⛰️-  What was the hardest part?

i feel like every time i am asked about what i didn’t like abt aslh i say “case planning” and i feel like every time i’m asked people expect me to say something different. no. it’s always case planning. case planning sucks so much. it’s also really hard for me to outline in formal documents so i’ve just decided i don’t do that anymore. sparrow you’ve seen my planning process but for those of you who haven’t seen it, i just have a writing server, and i’ll just complain and spitball for about 50 messages and then suddenly in the middle of it i’ll switch to all caps because i had a galaxy brain moment. that’s how i plan my stories.

🔬- Was there one scene you were building up to/knew you had to get just right?

this is another list.

THE CHIYAL KISS... again, chiyal wasn’t at all planned, so i wanted it to be meaningful and poignant

in a similar vein, the ch3 body discovery. ha. haha.

ch4′s body discovery was like this too

ch6 obviously but especially claude’s reveal, and alexei shooting him. i think those two moments in particular are THE most cinematic in the entire story

ALSO THE CH2 TRIAL BUILDING UP TO TRISTAN ACCUSING TIANA

in general, a lot of the finer points of aslh weren’t actually planned from the start, so i had to get them right enough that they didn’t seem unplanned. the other thing is that i tend to get really poetic and rambly and i wanted the moments to hit properly without dragging onwards! or finding the right words

🎢 - Were there any scenes you were nervous about? For audience reception or otherwise?

a lot of the scenes i was building up to for the previous questions were ones i figured would throw people for a loop. i always worry about getting big enough of payoff, i’m definitely like... if i were to be a mastermind, my aesthetic would be very claude-adjacent, and i want to pull out all the stops and milk everything for maximum drama. if that makes sense? so i’m always worried about getting enough of a reaction LOL

on a more serious note i’m actually really self conscious about my poetry so pretty much the entire time during interludes i was worried about people calling it out on being bad. iris’s poem i’m so sorry

☀️ - Was there symbolism/motifs you worked in?

not really “symbolism” but i have a lot of flowers associated with people in the cast, and the forget-me-nots ended up being brought up again and again. amal’s eyes are compared to suns a lot so i guess there’s a sun/moon thing going on with amal and chiyo? ch1 has ryouji making cake for maru because chiyo wanted to get to know them better, and ch6 has ryouji making cake for maru because he wanted to apologize, sort of. that was accidentally circular but i think it vibes

also, did you know that for the five “alt routes” of aslh that i’ve made, a different weapon becomes the incredibly symbolic one? the one in aslh’s main route, affectionately dubbed prospero route, is the gun. (antonio = sword; desdemona = sledgehammer, miranda = knife; emilia = ariel/birdbot)

🎵 - Did you have a playlist/piece of music that went with this story?

sparrow i love you but i’m not linking all the playlists. take this though

⭐ - What’s a scene/paragraph you’re proud of?

okay tbh yeah claude’s reveal was probably just the most climactic of the whole thing. however, i also think the ch5 execution + aftermath is The defining aslh moment and it was iconic, legendary, and the moment

😊 - Leave your favorite line from my story in the ask and I’ll tell you what I was thinking. "retract your final bid goodnight and breathe again. i need you to wake up because i can't do this without you." 

okay full disclosure i took “i need you to wake up because i can’t do this without you” from a writing prompt post that i found 3 years ago. that, apparently, a hamilton blog made. i am so sorry, i am not a wordsmith, merely a word magpie that plucks gems of literary charm to place in the eyes of skulls. and stuff.

that said when i was writing the ch3 body discovery... i do my writing in chunks of different documents and then daisy-chain them together because i tend to get distracted and bored easily. so when i was writing the ch3 body discovery i’d been having a bad night and i was tired and crying and i was like “you know what? fuck it.“ and drafted it out. there’s a lot of moments of aslh that are very clear and crystalized in my mind in terms of what i was doing when i was writing them, and that’s one of them - i remember sitting at my desk in pitch black and my phone on my charger, and i was still sort of crying but stopped as i started to write.

interestingly, while there are several scenes in aslh that i wrote while crying, only two of them have actually made me cry: ririka’s death, and the post from takeshi and kiyoshi in X-3. scenes like chiyo dying and stuff were things i’d been emotionally preparing for, so i got to write them on my own terms in isolated documents when i felt ready to do so. ririka’s death, however, i tried to write in a restaurant while waiting for an order, and i thought about it too much and started tearing up. then a lot of the scenes in X-3 weren’t planned very meticulously, so i think it was writing that post that made me realize that hey, this is ending. this story is over. so many people are gone and they aren’t coming back but they loved each other and that has to have been enough. i might cry if i keep writing this post.

thank you sparrow i owe you my life

[dxmichelle]

‘Ghost in the Machine’ fic snippet

From Ch3

The only “catch” that Tristan brought up triumphantly (he had been looking for a loophole to Mokuba’s perfect vacation since he had dropped off the trip documents to the Game Shop), was that they needed to find their own transportation to the train station.

Considering the entirety of their trip was covered, that was not a huge ask.

“How long is the train ride, anyway?” Téa had asked.

“Seven hours,” said Mokuba, “I had the option to pick the speedy train, but I didn’t want to. I thought Seto could use the time before and after to unwind, and I’ve never been on one before!”

“Well, we had a not-so-great experience the last time we were on a train,” said Tristan.

Mokuba’s eyes widened. “Really? What happened?”

Joey snorted. “What didn’t happen?”

“Did you break down or something?”

“Or something,” said Tristan, and he started tallying off on his fingers. “Let’s see. First the passengers all disappeared like they weren’t even there. One of those illusions Dartz created or something. Then the cars came apart and stranded me and Joey with Rex Raptor in the middle of nowhere.”

“Let’s not forget that the Pharaoh and I were on the runaway half of the train, and we had to duel Weevil on top of it, and got pitched over the side of a cliff when the whole thing derailed!” said Téa.

Mokuba’s eyes grew the size of saucers. “When did this happen?”

Joey shrugged. “About the same time your brother was duelin’ ‘top that plane.”

Yugi wrinkled his nose. “You said that with such calm, as if Kaiba does that on a daily basis.”

Joey raised both eyebrows innocently. “You mean he don’t?”

“No!” Mokuba huffed. “Geez, Joey! And I don’t think that was a duel he particularly enjoyed…since, you know, the plane was crashing!”

Joey snickered and turned to look out the window of the station at the train sitting idly at the platform. “Bet he still got a rush from it.”

Yugi shook his head slightly. “Is this your way of saying that you want to duel on top of an airplane, Joey?”

“I mean, why not?”

“Technically, you all dueled on the blimp…” said Téa as an announcement paged over the station’s intercom. “That’s an aircraft. And if I remember correctly, Joey, you almost lost your cards your first trip up there!”

“If you’re all done,” said Seto, annoyed, “We’re boarding.”

“Oh, we are?” Tristan looked around the station. A very small handful of people were heading outside.

“I only heard the call for first class,” said Joey.

Mokuba sighed as he reached up, waving the stack of tickets in Joey’s face. “Joey… we are traveling first class.”

[dr-astormylasthurrah]

DR:ASLH AMA (10/21/2020)

so today i decided to sit down and answer a whole bunch of questions on discord!

this DOES contain spoilers up through the end of ch5, just a warning! if you’re on mobile i’m so sorry.

Who is your favorite character?

THAT IS THE MEANEST QUESTION YOU COULD EVER ASK DID YOU KNOW THIS. This varies a lot depending on the day but usually... tied Chiyo/Tatsumaru. I love them both so much. I think Ryouji's my favorite to write, though. If ASLH were someone else's story, I think my favorite would undeniably be Chiyo, because I'm nearly always biased towards protagonists.

What’s been the most enjoyable part of the story process? Why?

Honestly? Getting to see how people react to it. It's the validation luv. Maybe it's selfish, but I really do like seeing how people are affected by my work LOL.

who is on what side of the pineapple on pizza discourse?

Likes it: Amal, Kanemori, Claude, Aster Neutral: Tristan, Tatsumaru, Sentarou Hates it: Ryouji, Chiyo, Ririka, Brendan Doesn't like pizza: Tiana, Hirono, Alexei, Tsukino, Iris Ryouji, Chiyo, and Ririka make fun of Amal.

For the trials of aslh, which trial has been your favorite so far? In terms of planning the case itself, plot beats, character developments, anything really. But which one still makes you lose it when you think about it.

That's a tough one, I don't like writing trials. I liked the structure of ch3, though. The way that the trial stops being "who killed Amal" and instead becomes "who is Aster". The Tatsu POV. The story title drop. And the way the execution just wrecks everything, immediately? Yeah, vibes.

I also feel like ch4's trial deserves a special mention because of how I wrote it while I was sick with the flu, and yet if you ask me that was still probably the most emotionally intense trial- wait I forgot ch2- and ch5- y'know what, forget it. At least it's on par!

If you could change anything about aslh on any level, what would it be & why?

In general, I think it needed more planning. I'm a very on-the-fly planner and writer, but there were a lot of unknowns I didn't consider until late-game that made it hard to bring up and resolve cleanly. It could also probably have used a little bit more clarity with regards to the lore - things like "how does the memory replacement work" weren't decided until super late in the project. I didn't have a backstory for Tatsu until I wrote ch2 or ch3, so before that point their scars were much less extensive and I think they were cut-shaped instead of burns? That was kind of important for at least continuity's sake, and it irks me.

Also, Hirono deserved better. I didn't plan out her arc as extensively as the others (she was, pre-story, the last survivor to be locked and she had traded with Kanemori), so she sort of stagnated in the story. Which wasn't a bad thing, because not everyone's going to get shoved off a balcony or watch their friend get shot, but it kind of sucks that the most "defining" moment she had was that Ririka and Iris died, neither of which she actually witnessed, or the name confession in ch4 trial which kind of got brushed over. Like all the rest of the survivors have Big Defining Moments, except her.

To be honest, ASLH is the first huge writing project I've ever completed, so there's a lot of things I could have done better. But it was also the first huge writing project I've ever completed, so I'm cutting myself some slack there.

What's your philosophy, or even your strategy when it comes to character design? What do you go for first or emphasize, where do you think you could experiment more?

Most of my designs are based around a core "ooh I want to try this thing". Sometimes I take character inspirations, sometimes it's a cool garment, sometimes I'm just redesigning characters. I mostly emphasize clothing, patterns, and colors, but I also reuse a lot of the same clothing styles and patterns. I could definitely experiment more with shape language and silhouette - usually, that's like the last thing I think about, but one of the more important things to have in an ensemble cast. Mostly, though, I just like drawing clothes.

What do you think is the crowning moment of aslh? Like if someone asked you what would be a moment that gets to the heart of the story the most. What would it be?

DEFINITELY the ch5 execution. Like, the emotional resonance? The narration shift? The drama of it all? Peak ASLHcore.

what factored most into your decision-making progress? why did you decide this death order and this mastermind(s)?

My decision making process is entirely me sitting in a fugue state mumbling out details that I need to fix and then sporadically sitting bolt upright and screaming a parallel or tangent I've pieced together.

The mastermind question is easier to put together - I'd always had in mind that this was going to be a revenge game, and that one mastermind was so difficult to take seriously it wasn't even funny and that the other decided to bail halfway through. So I built the characters around that. The points I usually pay attention to with fangan planning (these days) are: ch1 is to establish the status quo and tone of the story, ch3 is to overturn the status quo, and ch5 forces ch6 to happen. So the ch3 case revolved around Sen dying, and then I was like "how can I fuck up the status quo more" and killed Amal and Aster too.

The biggest factor in my decision making process is "what would be really cool". I tend to make a lot of decisions that fuck up the structure of what a fangan "should" be because I think it goes hard as hell when we throw out rules that the characters are unaware of anyway.

was there a draft of aslh that looks drastically different from what we ended up with?

Great question, and fuck you for reminding me!

ASLH actually started as a bullet point fangan called What Tempestuous Despair. It was a much more international cast until I was like "fangans are supposed to be mostly Japanese casts!" and changed a bunch of characters' nationalities, which in hindsight was dumb. Ririka, Kanemori, Tsukino, and Iris were victims of this. Also Amal was the protagonist and I am SO GLAD that didn't stick they are SO DIFFICULT to write the POV from.

I've spoken on a few occasions about how the cast itself changed, and I never got around to plotting out arcs (other than "Amal learns to trust people and allows themself to truly grieve Rin after holding everyone at length for so long"), but some assorted things:

The cast had a bunch of characters who were swapped out. Included in this tally are Rin Matsumoto (whose personality was recycled into Hisaichi, Ryouji's cousin, and their name was recycled into Shuichi's school friend), Leon Mercury Kahahawai (who’s in CYAH), Haywire Asturias, Puck Ganka (who’s also in CYAH), a few characters/designs who I ended up giving away... And also Hayato Kikuchi.

Iris was always a killer, because I really wanted her to have a downfall-that-wasn't-a-downfall-but-rather-a-reflection-of-the-true-self arc. This was always a lategame case so I'd have time to establish her as terrible. Originally, she killed Leon.

Tiana was also always a killer. I think he killed Hayato via electrocution, so as you can tell that's always been around in some form or another.

(Tristan killing Chiyo in ch5 in the current version, btw, was specifically to mirror Tiana's murder. While Tiana killed to get themself out of the KG, Tristan killed to get everyone else out.)

who was considered for mastermind throughout making aslh? what would their reasons have been?

The masterminds have never changed, except that the characters for them didn't exist back in WTD. But the personalities of the characters they replaced were about 1:1 anyway, so yeah basically they've never changed.

what is one thing you really loved about the beta and what is one thing you really hated about the beta

One thing I really loved about the beta was the ch3 case (which I've spoken about at length before), but other than that... honestly Tiana? Tiana's the one character that I had fully developed as of WTD, they just sprung into my head completely materialized. Their entire personality and design somehow stayed the same since conceptualization.

One thing I really hated? I would say "all of it", but specifically, we don't talk about white Tristan. That was so bad. I was trying so hard to design him so that he'd look nonthreatening and I was like "why is this so hard" and then I changed his ethnicity and I was like "oh right, white gamer boy characters just have cursed energies" and moved on with my life.

what would be an ideal day for tiana murdock. what would make them happy.

An ideal day is honestly one where they get a lot done. They're not one to relax or know what to do with free time, but they get a lot of satisfaction out of being productive, so if they manage to finish a lot of work and not end up exhausted? They're happy. They've probably gotta work on learning to enjoy their free time. They do like traveling, though, and- oh my god I should make them friends with Tsukino.

What would the cast's careers be if they lived to be adults?

Chiyo: Elementary school teacher and scifi author! Really wish I'd leaned more into the fact that she loves scifi, honestly. Amal: Journalist, probably, except they'd actually take classes in it this time instead of just writing op-eds constantly Tatsumaru: LIBRARIAN TATSU TRUE ENDING!!! Sentarou: Freelance pianist/composer. I have this whole headverse where he and Alexei are somehow friends with Claude, and together they plot to kill Enji Sekisada. Or Claude and Alexei plot to kill Enji and Sen sits there with his head in his hands. Iris: In universes where she's able to reconcile with academia, she works in ecology + chemistry. In universes where she doesn't, she's a florist. Aster: SERIOUSLY depends on the AU because every time I try to put Aster in a normal AU they're different. Jokes about becoming a flight attendant to travel with Tsukino. Claude: Secretary. No, seriously. May have something to do with killing Enji Sekisada. Hirono: Photojournalist! Photography reminds her of Ekuko. :') Alexei: Veterinary assistant for a specialized bird clinic Tsukino: Pilot, obviously Brendan: Mechanical engineer but sometime around age 30 has enough stress to just quit and become a college professor instead. Tiana: Museum docent, he's coworkers with Laurent Sinclair thanks Ryouji: He's... not sure. In normal AUs does take up food service for a while before getting uncomfortable with his family and quitting. In ASLH canon, he skips this step and goes into law with the intent of helping other killing game survivors sort out their lives. Tristan: Web designer, still makes a few games on the side with his friends. Mostly point and clicks because he ain't about this life Kanemori: Volleyball coach, because he knows a lot more about that than soccer honestly

what part of aslh was the hardest to write?

Deadly life. Always. I can crank the chapters out really fast, but I hate the case part of fangans and they're painful to plan.

For each case, what is your out of universe reason for wanting each person to die when? Like not counting the motives or anything, but why you wanted each person to die then?

- Brendan: He was the OC I had the longest. He had to die. Goodbye you little shit. - Kanemori: He was actually a survivor originally, and Hirono was the ch1 killer for the same "OC longevity" reason but then I realized I don't have anything for Kanemori to do. So... Sorry dude.

- Claude: Y'all ever notice how no one... EVER... puts plot relevant information in ch2s? Anyway. - Tiana: As discussed, they've always been a killer. Putting them as a killer here was a good balance - far enough from ch1 to build up their relationship with Tristan, but also not so far into the story that it conflicts with the general endgame fall-apart-ness.

- Amal, Sentarou, Aster: This case sprung into my head entirely materialized. Like, this was the one that BUILT the story, so it didn't change much. Mostly I just thought it'd be narratively fun to kill off the deuteragonist, the mastermind, AND the ??? in one go. I didn't plan for Chiyal to be a thing so when that became a thing this chapter got better/worse.

- Iris: I always wanted her to be a killer to really expose that "she's not a good person" stuff (she was more of a snake in WTD), but she didn't become a victim until when I was actually writing. She was supposed to have a trial and then I got sick of writing her. Whoops. - Ririka: I had arc ideas for everyone else, and it could have gone either way between Ryouji and Ririka getting that "close to my best friend who is now dead"... in the end it went down to gender balance in survivors. At the time it was Ryouji or Ririka + Kanemori + Tsukino + Tatsumaru, but then once Kanemori got swapped to Hirono just... yeahhh Ririka got stuck in ch4. Sorry. - Alexei: Special shoutout, he was supposed to die in ch4 as just an "oh no this is what happened, how sad" but then it was super narratively unsatisfying and now he's alive.

- Chiyo: For the sake of pain. But like, poignant, meaningful pain. I don't believe in making plot decisions just because they hurt, they've also got to mean something. Considering that a major theme of the story is "death before its time is a complete tragedy", and Chiyo's motifs include death... uh. Yeah... yeah. When it came time to ask myself who'd die in ch5 for this motive, well. I miss Chiyo. - Tristan: Meant to mirror Tiana's killing in ch2, as stated above, had the "selfish kill vs selfless kill" thing. Look if you're going to have a duo in a fangan and don't get to make cool dichotomy/theming what's the POINT. Ended up surviving because when there were only four survivors, there were... really no stakes for the ch6 trial.

- Tatsumaru: I just wanted them to be alive. I didn't know WHY, exactly... I just knew I needed them to live. So. I guess they're alive? Also I thought it'd be really interesting to have a killer protagonist, and a remorseful killer protagonist. - Ryouji: To be honest I didn't have a solid arc for him, aside from Ririka's death I'd decided I was going to figure it out as I went. And I guess I did? I love him. And not gonna lie, since Tatsu became the protagonist and Ryouji's still pissed at them, the perspective/dynamic became VERY INTERESTING. - Tsukino: Originally in beta!ASLH, her schtick was "gilded exterior with a heart of jerk with a hidden, smaller heart of gold" but that didn't transfer over to ASLH itself. Then when I realized "oh shit Tsukino wants to be a hero" it was all over. At first her arc was very "tone yourself down and stop rushing into things" which wasn't... ideal, I think you can still be enthusiastic and upbeat while being mindful and that was not how I had gone about it lol. Fun fact, Tsukino's survived every draft of ASLH, including the beta one - I think she and Amal were closer friends in that. - Hirono: See Kanemori, I just thought she had more survivor potential than him. The problem was that by the time I made the decision to swap them, everyone else was sort of locked by necessity, so Hirono became a survivor by default. Again, I didn't quite have an idea of what she was going to do other than get leeched off of by Iris. Ririka wasn't even part of it, we just had that cooking thing in 2-3 and Ririka was like "this is my problem now" and I was like "what?" so now we're here.

What's everyone's coffee/tea/other preferences?

Coffee: Tiana, Tristan, Brendan Tea: RYOUJI, Tatsumaru, Chiyo, Iris Hot chocolate: Claude, Sentarou Soda: Amal, Ririka Soda but only fruit flavored: Tsukino Water, thanks: Aster, Kanemori, Hirono, Alexei

What was the hardest decision to make, writing wise, for aslh? Like you wanted the story to go one way, but you couldn't force it, or a scene you felt you needed but was difficult to decide upon, anything like that?

Hm... okay see the thing is I'm generally pretty good at writing on the fly so if I make decisions I CAN force them to happen, so there's really not too much that comes to mind. Mostly this happens with trials - I make outlines for my trials and drag my cast along with it. Except they tend to go off-topic, and then I have to drag them back on topic. And sometimes the points don't make sense when you go out of order so I have to ad lib stuff. Ch4 trial was the most off-script one, it was supposed to be a lot slower and made more sense but then the cast just went out of order and I was bonking my head against the wall trying to get it to make sense.

The only real thing I had consistent difficulty with is locations. I did not fucking plan any of this shit and hate making maps so much- oh my god I need to do the ch6 map still.

who would deliberately salt their coffee and who would accidentally do it

Deliberately: Tristan, Tiana, Tsukino, Hirono Accidentally: Kanemori, Amal, Sentarou, Chiyo, Brendan, Iris "Why?": Claude, Alexei, Aster, Tatsumaru, Ryouji, Ririka