#has a LOT of spoilery stuff

[inkblackorchid]

WIP Snippet 2 (Ch. 1)

“See you,” Aki said as they left, before turning to walk in the direction of the academy garage, her steps quickening as she reached Yusei, who sat on his runner, waiting.

Knowing that her friends had already left for the poetry club and that not many students usually wandered around this part of the grounds at this hour, she indulged in grabbing his face to pull him in for a kiss immediately.

When she pulled back, allowing her hands to slide down to his shoulders instead, he looked up at her with adoring eyes and a lazy smile playing around his lips. He could not have looked more handsome.

“Hey there. Had an okay day?” he greeted, gently placing his hand on her waist.

"Perfectly unremarkable," she answered, but then remembered the security car. She hesitated a moment, wondering if she should bring it up. Ultimately, she said, "Feels a bit like the day might not be so unremarkable for the city, though. Am I going crazy, or are there a lot of security patrols around right now?"

Yusei's expression immediately shifted to a more contemplative one, his brows furrowing ever so slightly. "If you were going crazy, then Crow and Jack would be, too, because they said something similar. And I've been noticing it, too. Something's weird. Crow's got a theory that something happened to put them on high alert. He's even been considering phoning Trudge about it."

Aki shook her head. "That's weird, though, isn't it? If something had happened to put sector security on edge this much, it would have made the news, wouldn't it? Maybe I should phone Carly, ask her if she knows something..."

"Jack might have already beaten you to that. He was talking about it before I left," Yusei told her, shrugging.

"Ah. Then it might be for the best that we get back to the garage, maybe. Who knows, maybe they found something out." Taking a step back, she added, "I'll go fetch my runner, then. Be right back."

When she received a nod from him, she took that as her sign to walk into the academy's runner garage, where she had to walk past the priority spots reserved for teachers and other staff first before she got to the back, where the student parking spots where.

[daisywords]

second chance wip intrigues me so much i need to know more abt it. i got no questions im just standing outside ur wip tags like LET ME IN

hiiiii so to be clear "second chance wip" is the tag I use for my wip with the title Deep and Dark, Beautiful and Bright, because that was the working title I started the wip with before I named it properly and I've been too lazy to update the tag for literal years now lol

but yeah imagine you and your situationship wake up no memories no context in a post-post-zombie-apocalypse world and you're starting to piece together what happened and then she turns out to be a zombie so you have to kill her except haha joking that was only a piece of her because turns out the Entity that normally possesses only dead bodies got into her when she was alive so now she can regenerate indefinitely. and it turns out that in your past life you were an undead exterminator destined to destroy a great evil and your situationship/employer/partner/friend/frenemy/crush was the chosen one supposed to wield the power of a god to save the world from disaster. And you guys were trying to figure out how to do that but then the god who inhabits her turns out to be the evil zombie entity who will destroy everything if its full consciousness is ever freed so you had to kill her and dismember her into pieces and lock those pieces away in secret chambers in the far corners of the earth to keep it imprisoned forever but before you could seal away the last piece she regenerated and made you absorb the other half of the god (which everyone has been using as a power source for thousands of years), causing an apocalyptic technological shutdown but also giving you the power to destroy the god. So now you have to go find and kill each regeneration of her to reassemble her original body so you can gather the god's consciousness together in order to destroy it. But in order to do that you have to remember where all the pieces are which means that you have to remember that you were in love

...

or imagine that there were a lot of different versions of you with questionable continuity and you were playing 5d chess with a god that was also a part of you but also you were still just yourself. and even though you couldn't stay dead, it would hurt every time you died. and even though you needed to know what happened, it would hurt every time you remembered

[houseofscribbles]

Some visual notes on the robotics of ISO! Also, an extra mess notes about them under the read more :]

[isatartdump]

Getting this out of the tags because !

KINDA?? Uh this is gonna be really out of the topic of the blog so I won't tag with the sketchtag (I don't even remember if I have been tagging my recent posts with it)

UHHHHH I tried my hand at it a few times, yes. Like- A FEW few times, I probably have 6 or so fullbodies of this one guy here (They're for a game project of mine but don't think highly of it I know jack shit about coding and I've been fighting for my life on RPG maker)

So like ! I tried my hand at it a few times. I thought on doing some finished pixel art with isat characters to try and get more used to it but didn't quite got the time due to comms and studying (trying) to get into uni next year. Here u guys can see some other tries, as a little treat since I haven't been doing the requests (I WANT TO I just have been fluctuating between doing comms and weirdly obsessing about FMAB and ISAT and everything else I already said)

This guy here had a (sorta) drastic design change but also he's the only one to get a full spritesheet

Anyway yeah!!!! I've. Been tipping my hands into pixel art for a ltitle while now. And definitelly having a hard time figuring out what works best for me... Sorry for spamming the ISAT art blog with oc stuff! Just won't say it won't ever happen again because it has a small chance of happening again. Giggles. I'm sorry I love this project even if I am very much stuck at the start of it by months now

Haha... Sketches I made over the time and didn't post! At least I don't remember posting any of these so I'm sorry if there's any doubles lmao

These here are made on Aseprite, because I was taking a look on it. Making sprites is hard someone PLEASE help me out

[14dayswithyou]

This Angel has another question! \o

{For those of you who haven't played the game yet this may be a little spoilery}

So I just saw the relationship charts you made about how the characters feel about each other and when I saw that Olivia was in love with REDACTED I almost choked on my hot chocolate X∆X like wha?? I get that she like, liked him and stuff when she saw him in the store (like you said love at first collision) but love?? Damn (although I guess I shouldn't really be too surprised, we fell pretty fast for him too lol)but like does she still love him even after what he said to her at the store?? Cuz when we met her again at the apartment (if I remember correctly) she didn't really seem all that interested in him more annoyed or something or maybe she was just annoyed with us?? Cuz he went with us instead of her after completely shutting her down??(Sorry I can't recall much about that interaction in the complex, I know she said some stuff about him but I can't remember what)

Also is there a reason why her love was aimed (the red line in the chart) at REDACTED and not Ren? Or am I just overthinking this, like it doesn't matter because they're the same person. Sorry that this is a bit long I had to get it off my chest 😅

✦゜ANSWERED: Olivia and [REDACTED] have met before!! The souvenir shop wasn't their first meeting, and Olivia has a lot more going on with her backstory!!

But!! As for Olivia's feelings towards Ren (not [REDACTED]), she's the type of person who falls for someone hard and fast and can drop them just as quickly. She's very wishy-washy(?); one minute, she'll be obsessed with someone, and the next, she'll act as if they didn't exist.

I'd like to say that Olivia is still attracted to Ren — but it's very on-and-off. She's also into Teo as well!

[cloudkohv]

A shortened rant on the chasm scenes because I could go on forever: an essay

One of the main conflicts that we're introduced to in The Stormlight Archive is racism based on eye color, which exists because of the caste system. Kaladin goes through horrific trials and tribulations the entire book (1,000+ pages!) and realizes in multiple scenes how the lighteyes mistreat darkeyes.

We expect, as readers, that this incredibly important problem will continue to be addressed in greater depth and detail as the series progresses. It is this conflict, actually, that was of the most interest to me because of the potential it had to explore the issues parallel to it in real life.

While the explorations of class disparity are shallow and poorly informed (another essay), it's the portrayal of the "eye racism" (hereinafter referred to as just racism) that betrays something insidious about the messages of these books.

Before it gets spoilery, I will just say that anyone expecting race/class issues to be addressed well by Brandon Sanderson should stop for their own wellbeing. In his works, a member of the oppressed underclass is generally the bad guy if they insist on being upset about injustice. If not a bad guy, then their suffering or beliefs are just a joke. On the other hand, the oppressive ruling class runs around with their bigotry not just unchallenged, but rewarded. This is exemplified in the chasm scenes.

A lot of readers like the chasm scenes. It's got the forced proximity trope. Grumpy ecks sunshine and so on. Unfortunately, it's between a bigoted slaveowner and a former slave who has been victim of the ruling class.

In these scenes, we finally get the chance to see Kaladin finally share his grievances about the caste system to Shallan, a lighteyes who's never been challenged about her station (and also stole his boots in the most racist way possible). To put it simply, Shallan asks Kaladin why he's such an "unpleasant" person, and Kaladin tells her very reasonably that it was because she mistreats people beneath her. “What?” she said, taking it like a slap to the face. “Where would you get that idea?” “It’s obvious.” (It really is lol) “To whom? To you only? When have you seen me treat someone of a lesser station like a plaything? Give me one example.” “When I was imprisoned,” he said immediately, “for doing what any lighteyes would have been applauded for doing.” “And that was my fault?” she demanded. “It’s the fault of your entire class. Each time one of us is defrauded, enslaved, beaten, or broken, the blame rests upon all of you who support it. Even indirectly.” “Oh please,” she said. “The world isn’t fair? What a huge revelation! Some people in power abuse those they have power over? Amazing! When did this start happening?”

Kaladin not immediately saying the boots here is odd, but he is still correct, since her class does support the mistreatment of darkeyes, whether directly or indirectly. This is because that is the nature of the relationship between darkeyes and lighteyes. Lighteyes exploit darkeyes. It's literally the main plot of the first book. Day one stuff.

Shallan's response is to blame individuals who have power over others abusing their power, not systems who give certain individuals power specifically over other individuals. Which, ironically, is the same argument Sanderson uses to "discredit" Kaladin's arguments against the oppressive behavior he's faced.

As the scenes go on, the narrative sets up Shallan to """""counter""""" Kaladin's arguments against her.

He snorted, then moved on more quickly. “No,” Shallan said, practically running to keep even with him and his long stride. “You’re not wiggling out of this. You don’t get to imply that I’m abusing my station, then walk off without a response. You did this earlier, with Adolin. Now with me. What is your problem?” “You want a better example of you playing with people beneath you?” Kaladin asked, dodging her question.  (where did he dodge her question, author, because it looks like they're still having the same conversation) “Fine. You stole my boots. You pretended to be someone you weren’t and bullied a darkeyed guard you’d barely met. Is that a good enough example of you playing with someone you saw as beneath you?” She stopped in her tracks. He was right, there. She wanted to blame Tyn’s influence, but his comment cut the bite out of her argument. He stopped ahead of her, looking back. Finally, he sighed. “Look,” he said. “I’m not holding a grudge about the boots. From what I’ve seen lately, you’re not as bad as the others. So let’s just leave it at that.” “Not as bad as the others?” Shallan said, walking forward. “What a delightful compliment. Well, let’s say you’re right. Perhaps I am an insensitive rich woman. That doesn’t change the fact that you can be downright mean and offensive, Kaladin Stormblessed.”

Did you get that guys? Kaladin Stormblessed is mean and offensive :( what did he do exactly? Who knows :( all we know is that he's not the bootlicker that their culture expects him to be >:(

There isn't a single place you can point to in the entire book (1,000+ pages!) where Kaladin is "mean," nor is he offensive. He's direct and short with the people he interacts with, because they are insufferable lighteyes. Would you want to interact with people who:

call your mistrust of the ruling class because you were enslaved "a chip on your shoulder"

give you a nickname based on the job you had as a slave

steal your boots and threaten to tell the people in charge that you sexually assaulted them?

imprisoned you because you had the wrong eye color when you saved the highprince's bigoted (he's working on it) son?

No, and neither does he. And yet, he works with them anyway. There's a massive opportunity here to explore Kaladin's internal beliefs and whether or not they align with him working for the lighteyes. What does it mean to be a minority person working in the same places that mistreat your kind? What does that say about the person? About the systems that govern their society?

But we don't get this internal reflection at all, because that would require the author to understand this internal tension, and he doesn't. He gets Kaladin's "beliefs" just as well as Shallan does, which is to say, barely, if not at all.

This ignorance is displayed as the scenes continue.

“That’s it?” she asked. “I apologize, and all I get in return is a shrug?” a chocolate coin to anyone who can point to the apology. “I am what the lighteyes have made me to be.”

This is to say that Kaladin's "distant" behavior is a direct result of the mistreatment he suffered at the hands of the ruling class. I didn't bat an eye at this because he's right. And yet, somehow...

“So you’re not culpable at all,” she said flatly. “For the way you act.” “I’d say not.” “Stormfather. I can’t say anything to change the way you treat me, can I? You’re just going to continue to be an intolerant, odious man, full of spite. Incapable of being pleasant around others. Your life must be very lonely.” That seemed to get under his skin, as his face turned red in the spherelight. “I’m starting to revise my opinion,” he said, “of you not being as bad as the others.” “Don’t lie,” she said. “You’ve never liked me. Right from the start. And not just because of the boots. I see how you watch me.”

???????????

?????

I think the boots were the start, Shallan! I think that whole stupid charade with the boots was the start and cause of it all, brightness!

This doesn't make sense. Of course he didn't like you. There was no reason to.

I don't want to keep re-reading it, so I'll summarize the rest of the chasm scenes as: Kaladin learns just how strong and brave Shallan is and that he made invalid assumptions about her and that she was stronger and braver than he ever was and then he also develops a crush on her because it wasn't enough that he just completely lost his mind and forgot everything that happened to him up until that very scene that gave context as to why he doesn't like lighteyes. Andddd done.

And after they """""""""reconcile""""""" (Kaladin is forced to agree that he was wrong for ever disliking Shallan), we get more """banter""" with glorious moments like this.

In one scene, Shallan tells Kaladin she wants to exile the parshmen since they're the "Voidbringers."

“And who will replace them?” Kaladin said. “Darkeyes?” “I’m not saying it would be easy,” Shallan said. “They’d need more slaves,” Kaladin said, contemplative. “A lot of honest men might find themselves with brands.” “Still sore about what happened to you, I assume.” “Wouldn’t you be?” “Yes, I suppose I would. I am sorry that you were treated in such a way, but it could have been worse. You could have been hanged.” “I wouldn’t have wanted to be the executioner who tried that.” He said it with a quiet intensity. “Me neither,” Shallan said. “I think hanging people is a poor choice of professions for an executioner. Better to be the guy with an axe.” He frowned at her. “You see,” she said, “with the axe, it’s easier to get ahead. . . .” [cut for length] Well, onward, then.” She took a deep breath. “Through soreness and exhaustion we go. You wouldn’t be willing to carry me a little ways . . .” He glared at her. She shrugged with a smile. “Think how grand it would be! I could even get a reed to whip you with. You’d be able to go back and tell all the other guards what an awful person I am. It’ll be a wonderful opportunity for griping. No? Well, all right then. Off we go.”

Why was this supposed to be funny? Where are those POC beta readers?

These are not the words of an apologetic woman. Nor is this the framing of a sympathetic narrative. In these scenes, Kaladin's character is completely flattened for the sake of propping up the bigoted character who is never made to reflect on her actions. She is rewarded by making jokes that we're supposed to find "funny," or at the very least "charming." For a few chapters, Kaladin is no longer the darkeyed man who struggled with his morals and what they meant in the role he chose to occupy in working for lighteyes. He is not the man who remembers the way he was abused and mistreated by the system. He's just the Grumpy guy who needs a little Sunshine. A little racist sunshine. Give me a break.

This isn't the last time this kind of stupidity happens in this series. This is actually a major theme throughout the books. The oppressed person is shut down because they were Too Angry and it made the oppressors look like Bad People.

The chasm scenes are just particularly insidious, because it has this oppressed person, who's well educated and has strong beliefs, falling for the oppressor, who's still making jokes about his mistreatment to his face.

Yeah, you can keep that, thanks.

[yunuen]

i love the end notes on jellyfish!! really interesting stuff that adds a lot of context and fun tidbits. do u have any other fun facts and the latest chapter to you’d be willing to share with us or would that be veering into spoilery territory?

i can tell you that the '''''sex'''''' scene wasn't planned at all, that viktor's relationship with chione is supposed to mirror his current situation with jayce (according to viktor! jayce calling her stupid for letting herself be caught, him giving her treats because he knows he's going to have to let her go, etc. etc.), that the dancing was set to work song by hozier almost exclusively, and also, that the final twist was supposed to happen during chapter 6 (lmao i thought i could cram 6-7-8 into one single chapter imagine that!) as i explained, chione is based on the snow child quest from sunless sea. in that quest you create a snow child and they join your crew, but after a while this snow child starts to melt. you have to race against the clock to save them, and if you don't they basically become a puddle and dies. that has something to do with the fact that snow is melting which means viktor's blood won't be stored in ice and therefore teleportation soon won't be possible.

and also that the idea for this chapter was basically "viktor is saying goodbye to jayce while jayce thinks they're getting closer", and that viktor's heartbroken expression when jayce implies that "he'll be waiting for viktor when he makes it across" is because viktor knows that jayce won't be there.

[sizzleissues]

Its May.

Okay so this is in the same AU I had last year its just changed and evolved while also being the exact same. Except now I have 15,000 words of it written, like 7,000 words of planning and lore and hours upon hours of research that I will be pointedly ignoring. Will be posting more stuff this month about the AU and my hopes and dreams for it

Also slight art improvement check? I’ll put their original mermaid designs below the cut.

It’s Marinette as a mermaid and … its not Adrien or Chat Noir but a third worse thing (Catwalker but in the purest manifestation of it being a curse and not who he wants to be) I will be making designs for mer!Ladybug, and mer!Adrien as its own thing later on.

Okay if you want to indulge me look below the cut

Old mermaid designs first. I am going to be talking about my design thoughts, thoughts and ramblings about this AU and what I’ve been up to. You have been warned

As you can see, some things have changed but neither design I hated, I just wanted to go further with it.

My brain is quite specific about mermaids and how I want them to generally look. I wanted to distinguish biological merfolk from transformed humans by having them being anatomically different. So Adrien has a vertical tail instead which is also way faster underwater. His transformation is quite distressing for him and very chaotic. Of course when he accepts it he’s not so raggedy.

Marinette similarly avoids her life as a mermaid by becoming human and I wanted her mermaid design to hint toward her fascination with humans. She wears a top she fashioned from human fabric she found in a sunken merchant vessel. In general all other merfolk either forgo clothes or wear things fashioned from materials available to them. There’s deep fear of humans and human things so even though human clothes are available to them (off dead bodies but…. Whatever) they choose to difference themselves as much as possible. The same taboos don’t exist for them and their bodies are already adapted from the temperature of their environment. Adrien has stray bits of netting and seaweed on him because he’s not exactly the best at controlling his speed and often crash’s through fishing nets and patches of seaweed resulting in stuff being caught on him.

A lot of their designs are still being worked but I’ve definitely pushed them the right direction!

On to the AU. You might have seem me cryptically talk about something I’m writing the past few weeks. This is because it’s been in my brain since last May and been on and off writing it since then. I decided I’d talk about it once May came back around but and then when I finished writing it, start posting sneak peaks and more spoilery art until it was fully edited and I felt confident in it to post with an aim for it to finish posting once May rolled around again. Oh god.

It’s set in the late 1700s in a fictional version of France that’s actually fragmented over a bunch of islands. I have done more fashion research than I ever thought I’d do and in the end we will still be taking creative license but know I do know what they actually wore! I ALSO did a butt tonne of research about sailing ships and turns out they are super complicated and now I know too much and yet too little still about them. It should be super fun and action packed if I can manage. Have some really good scenes already in my head I know you’ll love. We’re already three ships battle deep and I’ve only written four chapters. (It chills out for a bit after that)

This is entirely self-indulgent by the way. I’m writing this for me, you guys are just a bonus. I literally don’t care as long as it satiates my rabid need for the fic that only lives in my brain at the moment. Saying that, I do want to put my best foot forward.

The next thing I will be posting for this is their human forms and more blabblerings about that. For I am insane and all.

[stygiansun-totaleclipse]

Hello??? Where are the horny asks??? Don't tell me you've succesfully tamed this fandom

Of course I have. Never underestimate me ☝️The new shock collars have been very successful in keeping all of you dogs at bay 🫵 (I say, as I am currently getting mauled).

(nsfw ask answered under the cut)

Kieran: sensitive along the scalp; pulling their hair is sure to make them groan and turn their eyes dark and glazed over. They prefer a more romantic setting—sincere expressions of devotion will get you far; they like knowing their feelings are requited. They’re a hopeless romantic. But they also like the build up foreplay/impassioned tension brings, so an argument is a great set up to get them right where you want them 👍😏 They are also veeeery sensitive along the bare skin of their lower stomach—touching there would have them biting back a moan/whimper to their own embarrassment and would make them weak in the knees.

Nihm: they’d shiver if you trailed your fingers along their spine and would get weak if you pinned/cornered them from behind. Gotta be careful with them bc if you come on too strong too fast their soul is gonna leave their body and leave them just a gibbering mess or incapable of speech entirely. So. You know. Maybe leave that until after you’ve gently coaxed them into very stiffly following you to bed like a little penguin. Which you can do by being forward with your intentions (they’re very oblivious) and also being a gentleman/woman/person. Kiss the back of their hand like a prince/ss/ps would. :3 Anything with the hands, really. They are most vulnerable with their hands so being very sweet/gentle with their hands would give them butterflies. 🦋

Lilith/Lucien: I mean they’re a horndog so they’re pretty much always in the mood and will very easily get turned on by a LOT of things but if you wanted to get them aroused in like a flustered sort of way, you’d have to take them by surprise—so like i.e. a very cool and collected or gentle mc suddenly getting very dominant and backing them into a corner/forcing them into a more submissive role (pet play 👀), or like if they were having a more sentimental moment with mc on their lap or vice versa and they suddenly got aroused without meaning to. 😰 If they get aroused without meaning to, they’ll get very embarrassed and hide their face and hope to gods mc doesn’t notice their arousal. They also will get embarrassed by headpats and very sincerely given thanks/praise no matter what.

Samira: sensitive along the back of the neck—touching there would make her shiver; also carding your hands through her braids would make her weak in the knees/swoon. Also anything to do with her blood bond with mc—if she lets you you can literally use that to MAKE her physically turned on or feel your own arousal, among other things. Very versatile. 😳 Post relationship (after much time), she’ll get a bit devilish if mc expresses interest in something very kinky spoilery >:3

Aurynn: very difficult to arouse pre relationship; he’s used to a fine degree of control over his own arousal and will only get turned on if he wills it. Post relationship, he still has that control but can still play along with more fun/kinky stuff for sure and will initiate it/abuse MCs turn ons when he is reeeeeaaaaally in the mood to get railed, but if you want to make him just melt and be at his knees despite himself, he’ll be weak for body worship and declarations of love/devotion and just a hopeless romantic of an mc who reassures him when he gets insecure.

Parim: doesn’t get super easily turned on—it takes him time to build up to that. Foreplay 👍 But if you wanted to speed things up you’d probably really have to throw yourself at him. Just straight up can’t-wait-any-longer-get-your-clothes-off-now desperate type of horny. Which would be difficult for him to handle at first cuz woah this is a lot but if you take over and start kissing his stomach then yeah. Ok. 😳

Aurora: depends on the day—she’s aspec and her sexuality fluctuates so some days she is entirely impossible to turn on, tho don’t think she doesn’t know exactly what you’re trying to do. Other days, your efforts to trail your fingers over her bare shoulders and around to the back of her neck will work and she’ll catch your naughty little hands and now the punishment begins 👍 >:3

Castor: Also difficult to arouse. Don’t try anything in public cuz he’s not into pda and greatly prefers privacy for intimacy. If you really want to get him riled up, get into an impassioned argument and then flip things into being tense in a different way—either by shoving him into the wall or goading him into backing you into one to set up the position ☝️—and then get sentimental on him :3 ❤️💕 youre mad bc you love him 💕💕��

Ember: pretty easy to get him in the mood; you can just start suggestively teasing him by touching him or yourself, or talking dirty or just bluntly telling him etc. They prefer straightforwardness to subtlety and might miss some hints, so they’d prefer not to dance around the topic. If you’re trying to fluster or torture them, you can be mean and toy with them by getting them riled up and then playing the innocent card like you thought you two were just having innocent fun teasing and wdym, why would anything you just said have a double meaning?? Explain. You don’t get it. :3 ☺️💕❤️

[m0r1bund]

Things have been quiet lately on account of my house burning down. Nobody was hurt, and I haven't lost my physical / digital art pieces, but I have no way of working on them right now... which means I'm going a little stir crazy! haha! ha !!!

I had the foresight to draft a post with some of my favorite panels from my twine game, Threadbare. I was originally just gonna use them to promote the game, but this is all I can to work on right now, so you're getting the director's commentary reel I guess. but first

Play Threadbare!

Or don't, I can't control you.

I started making Threadbare so that I could weasel my way out of drawing comics. it was supposed to be a low-effort way of telling Frey and Kairos' story, which is, in the grand scheme of things, ancillary to everything happening on wasteland Earth.

(honks clown nose)

the art is also made to be low-effort, even if it doesn't stay that way. unremitting red/white/blue/black takes the guesswork out of painting in color, and also feels like propaganda art. mapping characters to certain colors makes simplifying them easier. Frey can be reduced to an angry blue smudge and Kairos can be a stupid red hat on a triangle.

I had already written out most of the Frey-Kairos scenes back in 2023. The holding cell scene is actually one of the first things I drew LOL. Everything else sprang up from the twine game format. I knew I wanted some buffer between Frey breaking out of the Abattoir and Frey confronting the Oracle, so that we could learn more about the two of them, and also the Archive, without rushing into prophecide. This ended up changing the structure of the story more than I thought it would... and created a lot of self-inflicted scope creep... which is for me to unpack at a later date (when I'm done) (girl help im not even done)

but probably the biggest addition is

her

and ES I guess.

ES and Rhodes were originally funnie little nature spirits, but I long suspected that Rhodes would make a kickass ex-secutor, and I needed some NPCs to explore the Archive with, so. here ya go. I promise I'm going somewhere with them. Rhodes is filling the shoes for another old character concept I had (which was partly cannibalized by the Oracle of Caeres, funny enough.)

<more spoilery stuff under the cut. play my twine game.>

The other characters like Petrei and the Undertaker were designed on the spot, which is to say I just opened a canvas and started painting and hoped for the best. because this was supposed to be low-effort. haha.

I want to go back and figure out Petrei's anatomy because the idea of doing horrible manweevil origami is fun.

The other big surprise in all of this was having sound and music figure so strongly into things. My last twine game, Killswitch, had maybe three little songs to set the mood, and no SFX. I guess something broke in me and I decided I wanted to make an ace attorney game this time. You're all getting bespoke vox files now. my gift to you. and part of why this took like 9 months

I feel lucky that I found the musician ROZKOL, whose work is featured prominently in the twine, just as I was dipping my toes into audio editing and really scripting the meat of things. I was not expecting to find a musician in the Creative Commons scene who had totally figured out what a ceaselessly grinding imperial death machine sounds like. I have a hard time thinking in music, even though it motivates so much of my work... sometimes I feel like I have aphantasia but for compositions LOL. So I really enjoyed this kind of post-hoc surprise collaboration, it was cool to watch the scenes start to mold themselves around ROZKOL's music.

The slideshow-quicktime-event-fight-scene is especially molded to ROZKOL's song "Good Soldier." A fun return to the fine tradition of warrior cats AMVs that I was raised on. bringing in player participation is something that I would like to explore in a more elegant way in the future, I really like the idea of a music video being an active, participatory experience and not a passive one. and honestly I just want other people to feel the same unhinged rush that I feel when I put a song on repeat 70 times while painting.

There's I think four different routes in the first part of that encounter, leading to some variant panels like these.

depending on your choices, Frey gets roughed up a little more or a little less, ES may or may not stick their neck out for you, and the Oracle has choice words for you if you're a good soldier dancing partner.

(fun fact: if you don't choose to act during this scene, Frey picks a route and acts at random.)

I'm still learning what does and doesn't make a meaningful player choice. is there a branch because the possibility of choosing to / choosing not to see it is compelling, or is there a branch just to be a branch? I don't really think that you need to fundamentally alter the narrative to have fun with it. little things like ES and Rhodes remembering your name still feel meaningful to me, even if they don't change the outcome of anything. but I'm also bending to certain limitations that I cannot fully discuss until I finish this damn thing.

Speaking of finishing, I made the denouement in a deranged fever haze. I got sick twice in the span of, like, a month. It was pretty miserable. but hey, at least I had time to finish my twine.

^^^ how it feels to finish your twine (she doesn't know her house is about to burn down)

further in the vein of things burning down, I'm glad I found the song "In Your Mind" and didn't get cold feet about keeping it in the tracklist. I was struggling to nail down the tone of the ending scene, until I gave it a few listens and things clicked. but at the last minute, I nearly swapped it for "Burn it All Down." It's a really good song, too, but it's probably for the best I briefly possessed Kairos' gift of prophecy and didn't pick the one about uhhhhh. burning.

I think that's all I got for now. thanks for playing and/or flirting with the idea of playing by reading this post. kill petrei for me. and try not to be on fire.

[dreadfutures]

regarding sept 19:

This needs to be clarified because misunderstanding has resulted in some usually very nice people getting incredibly nasty and bullying others.

This past week, many people - press, and content creators - were allowed a hands-on experience of the new Dragon Age game. They played for about 6 hours. The attendees of this event are under an NDA until Sept 19.

After September 19th, the people who played the game are allowed to speak about it in some amount of detail. The press embargo is lifted, so to speak.

No one who attended this event has come out, twirled their mustache, and said they're going to spoil major game stuff without warning.

If you think you're about to tell me that yes, someone did - no she didn't. I know it's too much to hope for but someday you must learn to not hear every tweet and text as if the other person was personally intending to harm you. Few people really are so malicious. If you approach text neutrally you can tell when people are, or not. Really.

They have instead warned that there will be info shared from this event, probably tagged and warned about (hopefully), but the reporting, sharing, reposting, etc., of that info will be - like all things in fandom - a mess dependent on individual fans. If you care about spoilers at all, get your filters and blocks ready for that. For sure!

But again, it only seems like they had 6 hours or so to play. I doubt the people who attended will be malicious or rubbing stuff in our faces. I doubt the people who attended will even be spilling every single deet. Most people who we know & are connected to the fandom that were in attendance have said they themselves avoided main game stuff, because they didn't want to be spoiled either.

So that is the real information, as best we know it, without fear mongering about a flood of spoilers - and do with that what you will!

A lot of people are starting to wholly block all of the new game's tags because they don't want to see anything else until it drops! This is definitely the time to start. Maybe you do need to go dark and hop off the internet to keep your boundaries, or maybe you feel confident in your dashboard, your friends, and your filtered content, that you won't be seeing untagged spoilers being shared. (I'm in the latter category; nothing has appeared on my dash without being filtered, for months.)

Control your space with the tools you have, but cruelty should not be one of them.

A lot of people (on twitter, love DA twitter, where the worst aspects of all your friends' personalities come out 😒) have been incredibly, viciously belligerent to those who attended this event. They have used really terrible language to bully them as individuals and make personal attacks against them. The dog-piling has been amplified by certain people who were not invited to that event, and by the wording of others who are giving "warnings" about spoilers running rampant, floodgates opening, mayday, everyone is going to be rubbing spoilers in your face after Sept 19.

Whatever you think about the marketing about this game - whatever you think about what EA thinks are spoilers - whatever your personal stance on what you want to know going into the game (or not):

Content creators and press, their job is to talk about the game. In detail. It's their job! Ideally they do it as (is typically done! as many of them have already been doing!) with warnings/tags/whatever when something spoilery might come up.

Harassing them and wishing them harm or calling them terrible things and slandering their character is just an expression of your own frustration, lack of control, whatever - and it's not a good look.

[pissterdaniel]

TIT AUCKLAND FINAL RECAP

the spoilery stuff is at the bottom of the post, the rest is safe

Since June there has been a discord server going for everyone at the Auckland show. It was amazing to make so many friends before even going to the show. We all got to know each other in the months leading up to the event. Super cool!

We all met up for lunch before the show to hang out and exchanged our crafts. (craft haul x) It made me so happy to see people excited to meet Carlos and my dolls :).

@peter-must-die with his amazing shirt holding Carlos

We made our way to the KTK theater, and I bought some merch. Literally shouted when I opened my photocards to see BLONDE QUIFF PHIL!!!!!! :O

I came PREPARED for my meet and greet, had an agenda broken down into 3 steps. I had been overthinking this for months and have lost so much sleep from tit anxiety. The plan was very helpful! I was revising it in the line.

My hands were totally full. Sister Daniel kept on escaping my grip, we think she was trying to run away. I also recall repeatedly doing my Christophe Giacometti (from yuri on ice) impression in the line.

In the meet and greet line I discovered that I randomly have a lot of upper body strength 😅. I was giving out VERYYY tight deep pressure hugs to people who wanted them. It was very calming. I also got a stopwatch out and we did some 4/4/8 breathing. Then our time was almost up, and WE COULD SEE DAN.

I filmed Max's meet and greet for them first. So that was good getting to spend a minute or so in front of Dan and Phil before it was my turn. I had briefed Max on my agenda, so they knew exactly what to do. My full meet and greet post with photos and the video are here (x). THANK YOU SO MUCH @shitwheresfoxy FOR BEING THE BEST GLAMOUROUS ASSISTANT EVER!

Phil did not seem like a human. I stupidly told him he was like an animatronic robot. He is just SO BEAUTIFUL IT DOESNT SEEM REAL. You need to understand, PHIL LESTER IS SO ETHERALLY GORGEOUS IT IS OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!!!!!! He's just so 🥰. No wonder Dan can't stop looking at him like that in the videos. I get it now.

Dan definitely led my m&g, and I've heard others say this too. He does most of the talking, offers to take the photos, and he had the biggest reactions to things. I made him cackle a few times and I will wear that like a badge of honour. Some other highlights include:

Dan's first reaction to Carlos "uhh.. what?"

Dan's crab hands in our selfie

Dan talking to my camera whilst I fetched something from Max

Their first reaction to my dolls

Phil waving and saying bye to me

BONUS 1 MINUTE AND 39 MINUTE VIDEO OF PHIL HOLDING CARLOS, THIS MEANS THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE TO ME

I am slightly embarrassed about how excited I got, I went a bit nuts. Told them Carlos was "the love of my life" 🤦. Was completely hyper after the m&g, had major zoomies and couldn't calm down. That's when we caught up with the silver VIP people from the server.

@totally-srs-all-the-time made this STUNNING bedsheet cape and wanted to put it on me to have mega bed sheet titfit. Only when she held it up to me, I thought she was wanting to use it as a weighted blanket to calm me. So I lay on the floor 😂, she still put it on me and got this pic.

Met the phiwi backpack too!!!

I recorded our preshow and put it on youtube (x). Can't believe Olly's figure skating question was answered! That was wickedly cool. There is a very small group of us who got SUPER into ice skating these past couple of months. So to have our niche acknowledged by Dan himself was PHENOMENAL.

We all danced to HOTOGO, @einsteinfrizz 's amazing video from the balcony can be found here (x)

And then it was time for the show.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!

I took notes during intermission and after the show of what I remembered.

Our conspiracies were:

Toilet, Clothes, Bus, and Vegas

"They share clothes." Went on about how their nipples touch the same cloth and did weird nipply gestures.

Lawyer Dan banned Australia, wrote erotic fanfiction about Gollum, and went to jail for killing phil. (Phil then said "hopefully he was not a CEO" and everyone CHEERED SO LOUDLY FOR AGES. They were both caught off guard by the big audience reaction, and it seemed like Dan was genuinely surprised/shocked that Phil said that.

Linguist Phil's favourite word was 'perky nana', he liked to help old ladies cum, and had a secret collection of lesbians.

Phil's 1 minute improv was on stationary. He thought the person said penis, but he changed it to pens, and then decided to change it to stationary. He told a story of how he had a cola scented gel pen and would fill in an entire page and just sniff it.

Early on in the show Phil thought he swallowed a fly and started choking. He then yelled for a "minion" to fetch him water. Dan was taken back by this and it was about a minute before a crew member walked on with his water bottle.

(I'm sensing this show is a lot of Phil saying off-script random shit and dan being shocked by him. Which honestly checks out.)

"Jesus but more shippable" IM SORRY WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY DAN

Phil said reject modernity embrace tradition correctly.

They still think the phanniversary was "last month."

Everyone yelling "gay" together in unison was so healing.

Phil messed up the song lyric again and said "I got the tattoo" instead of "you"

SISTER DANIEL HOLY FUCK WHERE DO I BEGIN. I was in the 4th row on the left side which is where she stood. I knew all the spoilers going into it BUT NOTHING COULD HAVE PREPARED ME. I screamed at the top of my lungs when I first saw her come out. I AM SO THANKFUL FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF GETTING TO SEE HER IN PERSON I WILL NEVER TAKE THAT FOR GRANTED. She is so AAAH. Religious, eye-opening experiences were certainly had. AND SHE WAS IN DOC MARTENS. I'm never gonna be able to put into words how feral she made me.

I would say that I was very familiar with the show content before I got there. But in reality, everything was 100x weirder than I thought it would be. I mean that in the best way possible!!! Dnp were OFF. THE. RAILS. They were still the same people you see in the videos, but uncut and UNLEASHED.

AND THEN THERE WAS THE FACT THAT I WENT HOME WITH AN ACTUAL PROP?!?!?!

At the end of the show, I rushed to the front of the stage to steal the confetti. (I'm a hoe for collecting show confetti, I did the same thing at WAD).

Whilst I was collecting confetti and taking pics of Carlos, one of the stagehands came out a few times, handing out the Australian props to random people standing at the stage.

THIS IS THE GREATEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME!!! Here are some close-up photos I took of Obi Wan, and a video of what he can do (x). I walked into TIT with a Sister Daniel and Father Philip doll, and I came out of TIT with Phobi Phan Phenobi.

I also got one of the role model or no-le model cards, it is blank on the other side apart from their signature.

I also got to get up and close with other people's props. I even got to play Max's ukulele. I played the TIT song and I can tell you first hand that that thing was VERY out of tune. I know Dan was only fake playing it, but at least tune it first 😂.

The day after, a big group of us went to Auckland Zoo! Man that was a lot of fun. We signed TABINOFs, and I got a bunchhhh of pics of Phobi Wan, my photo dump is here (x). @spanielt0wel also got a doll, so I made sure to get some photos with them together.

The post-tit depression is REALLLLLL. I miss being surrounded by like minded people. It was so easy to unmask and just be completely myself. I have never felt more like me than when I was surrounded by all the queer, neurodivergent phannies. This was the happiest I've felt in years. So thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who came to talk to me, and to all the friends I've made through the discord 💙.

Now I am back home and terrible influencing up my room cause I never want to forget this amazing experience.

The box frame was inspired by this one

The posters I got signed are looking GOOOOOD. Also Phobi Wan looks so silly sitting with my monster high dolls. I'm gonna treasure him forever. HE MAKES ME SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also thank you to everyone who voted on my poll you've convinced me that #4 is the way to go and I shall be ordering that flag soon.

THANK YOU TIT AUCKLAND

[untitledrockstar-if]

I asked this way back when before the demo launched but I think it got buried beneath the barrage of asks that came in on launch day lol!

If not spoilery/if you want to answer ofc, what is each RO’s favorite scandal/rumor (true or not) they have either been involved in or heard about?

Also what is each of their ways of dealing with that kind of stuff? Are they a random tweet at 2am to address the situation or are they ignore it until their PR team drafts up a response? (Or ignore it completely lol)

I adore this demo so much (been here since before the title days, it’s come so freaking far!) and your writing is absolutely astonishing never stop what you do it’s a gift fr ❤️❤️

"Hollywood Heartthrob Caught Using Fake Italien Accent for Years -- Even Their Family Was Fooled" (milan/margo)

"Legendary Lead Singer Caught Running Fan Account For Rival Band -- Fans Appalled By News!" (ronan/roxanne)

"Bassist Quits Band in Protest -- Rejoins 24 Hours Later After Realizing No One F***ing Noticed" (samuel/scarlett)

"Hollywood Shock: Talent Agent’s ‘Star-Studded’ Client List Turns Out to Be Just Their Ex-Lovers" (charles/colette)

"Small-Town Hero Moves to Big City -- Immediately Pretends They're From France" (????)

R tends to ignore any and all drama. they don't care much for public opinion but are known to like a shady tweet or two in their defense by fans that usually makes things worse and ends with them locked out of their Twitter account.

S has the PR team draft a concise response and shuts down rumors fairly quick. they don't engage with it directly however.

C doesn't really have many rumors/scandals surrounding them since they're more so someone operating behind the scenes. they also release proper statements however if it ever comes down to the media coming for them.

M has a bad habit of snapping back and it's something C and their mother are working with them on to change. they're found liking posts a lot or making things worse by directly replying to gossip rags/addressing rumors in interviews. which is bad for their otherwise pristine image.

???? doesn't address anything ever. they're not really famous so any rumors about them tend to be spread by people in their own field of work and they decided early on to ignore the noise and move on for sanity's sake.

glad you enjoyed it so far <33 thank you for the sweet compliment as well!! I leaned a little more into silly rumors w this ask but there's def been. worse things that turned out to be true.

[chainofclovers]

hacks s4 thoughts!

Oooooh I loved this season. It got off to a bit of a rocky start for me but imo every bit of it paid off and there were many moments that rival s3 (perfect, perfect s3) in terms of how much I loved them.

When I'm watching a play, a part of my mind never forgets that I'm taking in live action artifice, that a series of decisions are playing out before my eyes, that performance is playing out before my eyes. I think I've tried to apply that same awareness to my TV and movie watching over the past several years. Some of that comes from having been in fan spaces that have allowed me to learn a bit more about how TV is made, and from watching shows that have forced me to process how life and art intersect.

For me, none of the magic of live theater or TV or film is lost by devoting some of my headspace to considering the act of creation. Why did they choose this take instead of one that ended up on the cutting room floor? How might tonight's show feel different than if I'd attended the show last night? What grace do these writers and performers deserve simply for having written and performed? These are all satisfying questions to ponder that don't take away from how the characters still feel "real" in that I have opinions about their lives just as I have opinions about my life and the life of people I know in 3D reality. Thinking about a show (in any medium) as a fallible, imperfect, searching-for-brilliance performance that brings fiction to life just makes me so happy. And Hacks adds so many layers to that since the characters are always bubbling with their own version of these questions.

Spoilery thoughts (hopefully not very long-winded) abound after the cut.

I LOVE that the big climactic love-motivated and morality-motivated decision to end the show took place in 4x9 instead of the finale. It felt so right that that moment of brilliant clarity (and that includes Kayla and Jimmy, not just Deborah and Ava) got lots of breathing room to feel shocking and beautiful and overwhelming. Deborah really did change over time. And I was able to truly believe it, which felt stunning.

And it also feels so right that 4x10 is about...not so much picking up the pieces, but floating miserably through the aftermath.

Some brilliant Hacks-watchers including @thesumdancekid and @bristler are really hoping that s5 ends up being about Ava's own career, and the way that some part of Deborah's legacy becomes about not only what the Deborah/Ava creative partnership did to evolve Deborah as a comedian, but what it will do to influence the career that Ava will (tragically) have for decades after Deborah is gone.

I really hope for that too. But I think it felt right that their headspace in 4x10 was still focused on what Deborah has lost. It was clear that they are both lost, and Deborah is having some three-quarter-life crisis, and Ava wants to work but on what, and everything Deborah said about it being sad that a twenty-something's only friend is her could also be flipped into the sadness of a seventy-something whose only friend is Ava. But it's not really necessarily sad forever, and I have every reason to believe that the bliss of intimate creative collaboration will be theirs again, even if it's going to have to look different.

Other random stuff:

I know people cough sometimes and it could just be naturalistic acting that Deborah has a little cough in the souvenir shop in Vegas, but the dark side of my split-brain "characters are real" / "the imperfect act of creating fiction is visible and beautiful" style of TV viewing is that I think everything means something and I'm scared lol

We didn't see much of DJ this season, but what we did was incredible and the work DJ has done to understand her mother and to understand her lack of understanding of her mother and to understand Ava and her mother is....spectacular storytelling

I had so much fun with Kayla and Jimmy. While I didn't love watching Dance Mom, I do think the way she wore out her welcome on Hacks was very, very important storytelling about how many people show biz is luring in and sucking dry all the time. We tend to only hear about the people who are doing great and the total crash outs. If we never hear about her again, that would be depressingly real. If we do hear about her again, I hope she's been able to quit drinking. <3

Confident, assured Marcus was wonderful

Stacey the HR rep was sooooo funny. Having her as a unifying force for Ava and Deb due to them getting the chance to be mean girls with a common laughing stock? Perfection

I am still giggling about all the social media bits that staffer has to make Deborah do while she's hosting Late Night. The one where she has to pretend to catch and throw a bag of Fritos is especially funny to me, I'm not sure why

Something I found super important about this season is how even if Deborah and Ava are not really great at introspection, a lot of what they observe about the other applies to themselves too, and we did get to see some scenes in which Deborah is alone and dealing with the coyotes, dealing with her dogs, muttering to herself about her role as a caregiver and her failures there. It felt like a really good complement to the articulateness she has while announcing the end of her show in 4x9. I could feel that brain working and getting her to that place where she isn't afraid (at least not all the time) to care about Ava

Yay Hacks! :)

[thestormfly]

Since it's now been over a week since doom of the darkwing came out I think I'm gonna start posting slightly spoilery stuff (this is major spoilery stuff btw) for me and the other two people that have read it over the next couple of days just as a warning if you're waiting to read it and don't want spoilers!

So, warning: Spoilers for doom of the darkwing!!!

CRESSIDA WHAT THE HELL IM SO CONFUSED

WHAT?? HUH???

WHAT DOES THIS MEANNN?

IM GOING TO COMBUST

I have four theories about this whole thing, which are most likely completely wrong because let's be honest, there's not much point to guessing what Cressida Cowell will do next, but here they are anyway:

1. This comes from a theory that all the Bog Burglars are descended from Chinhilda that someone posted on here a while ago, that I cannot find for the life of me, but if anyone knows who posted it then please credit them because it's such a cool idea. Basically this would mean that Camicazi is a descendant of Chinhilda, and therefore have a claim to the throne just as much as Hiccup, and this might lead to them fighting later, but I really just can't see that happening to be honest.

2. Camicazi ends up becoming queen by marrying Hiccup which really weirds me out. It was kind of insinuated at the end of the 12th book that they could get together, but although I'm not completely against it, the whole idea just feels a bit out of character to me.

3. Hiccup becomes a crazy evil dictator and Camicazi has to fight him to save everyone. This idea will make a hell of a lot more sense if you've read Creativecookie's new wilderwest fic on ao3 (ITS SO GOOD GO AND READ IT).

4. I am completely wrong about everything and have misinterpreted it all. They will actually become enemies because Camicazi sings an annoying song about his hair at him and Hiccup gets mad, and the queen piece just signifies that Camicazi is going become an avid chess enthusiast.

I just really hope that this whole enemies idea will resolve itself in a way that means they're not ACTUALLY enemies it's just some kind of intriguing plot device because if my children end up hating each other it will be as if the world has been turned upside down, thoroughly shaken, and then harassed with fireballs. Anyway, knowing Cressida Cowell, she'll find a way to end everything in a really good way, I mean just look at book 12, I genuinely can't think of a better ending that I've read, especially for a kid's book series.

If anyone has other ideas, pleaseee comment them because I need someone to talk obsessively about theories with.

Thanks for reading my huge rant <3

[omegastation]

Here comes my review (mostly writing & lore) of the Mass Effect Official Cocktail Book. I also included a list of all characters named with all page numbers related to their mentions.

I’m including this for our Andromeda Appreciation Week because the last part of the book is Andromeda-related :)

Introduction:

Cassandra Reeder is the recipe developer and Jim Festante is the writer.

The book is written by two writers in-universe. The first one is an asari calling herself “Ambree T’Sia” who is a lot like Gossip Girl (“you won’t guess and I’ll never tell” is an actual line in the book). We have to guess her identity but she doesn’t mind spreading a lot of stories about people and their drinks. 

The second writer is an angara called Roa who decided to add recipes to T’Sia’s existing ones, but more adapted to the Andromeda Galaxy. Roa dreams of a better world for everyone. He’s friend with Dutch and Anan from the Vortex.

Each writer presents drinks based on locations: bars and spots in the two galaxies. There also some snacks recipes as well.

Review: 

It’s hard for me to say anything about the recipes, though I will say it seems like there are different ingredients so a bit of everything for everyone. The difficulty can be adjusted: I thought some drinks looked really complicated to make (and some use other drinks in the books as base), but if you want to do a simple cocktail/mocktail, there are at least 10 good options.

Some recipes are directly named after characters or inspired by characters, so it might be fun to try some based on your favs. 

One drink seems weird to me, and that’s the N7 Shooter (mostly because of the mix of ingredients). If you try it, tell me what you think. 

Regarding American measurement: if you want to be precise, I would wait for a translation. Otherwise, I would get a cup and google some stuff before making it.

The drinks I'll try at some point, in a mocktail version only:

Tuchanka Sunset - 22

Perfection - 54

Tupari Blast - 61

Denorian Beer Granita - 64

Tequila Se’lai - 70

Shadowbrokertini - 74

The Mindfish - 83

Calibration Cooler - 95

Pink Marble - 130

Marljeh - 142

Kadara Sunrise - 143

So that’s pretty much it for the food & drinks, sorry!

My review is more about the lore and the writing.

I found the witty tone enjoyable. I like that there’s a distinction between how T’Sia writes and how Roa writes at the end of the book. T’Sia gossips a lot but there’s no malice. Roa is very earnest and seems quite adorable to me.

You’ll see I wrote down all the characters named and the pages, sometimes it says something about the writer, sometimes not.  A good example: Samantha is mentioned 5 times by T’Sia. She finds her charming and young, and mostly links her to drinks and other people (a full EDI/Traynor-like drink is in there). Meanwhile, Drack is mentioned 4 times, Vetra 3 times, but Roa has an entire page about how fascinated he is by Vetra.

Regarding what we learn, lore-wise: not a whole lot. It mostly plays on what we already know. 

What we do learn has to do with some characters. Without being too spoilery, it’s very light and fun for the most part - like Joker and Steve having a challenge, Vega seducing T’Sia, characters loving specific drinks (like Traynor), etc. Some characters (like Kaidan and Miranda) are sharing their woes or backstory. Roa, in the later part of the book, talks a lot about Dutch and their meeting is very very cute.

My favorite anecdote is that Liam’s movie night spreads to the Nexus and becomes a tradition :)

Some characters are very absent while others are more present. I would say it’s logical in a way, but it’s one thing to be aware of. If you’re a fan of Jaal, there are no mentions in the book. Though, like I said, a mention doesn’t always mean a lot: Peebee is mentioned once but we learn nothing new.  I also found it a bit sad that Ashley is not in the book. Obviously, I’m happy to have Kaidan there, but Ashley would have been a wonderful character for fun anecdotes here.

Characters named and pages:

Note: if you find that I forgot a mention, drop me a DM. I’ll add the page and/or character!

Joker - 12, 98

Sel Vass - 14

Solem Dal’serah - 21

Karin Chakwas - 25

Padok Wiks and and Urp - 26

Wrex - 26, 65, 106

Aria - 19, 27

Oleg Petrovsky - 27

James Vega -29, 46, 112

Shepard - 33, 30, 41, 93

Garrus - 37, 38, 95

Samantha - 42, 43, 73, 97, 106

Kaidan - 49, 106, 116

Miranda - 54

Kasumi - 55

Doran - 59, 60, 61

Grunt - 66

Fist - 69

Anderson - 71

Elijah Khan - 81, 88

Emily Wong - 93

Jack - 94

EDI - 97, 106, 

Steve - 98, 120

Tali - 101

Aethyta - 51, 57, 106

Dutch smith - 123, 126, 127, 131, 156

Anan T’Mari - 123, 127, 131, 156

Ryder - 123, 128, 133, 135

Drack - 133, 134, 137, 152

Umi Henon - 133, 134, 135, 138

Vetra - 137, 144, 154

Peebee - 137

Sloane - 138

Lexi - 138

Khan Dagher - 141, 143, 147

Kesh - 150

Suvi - 154

Buxil - 156

Niilj - 156