#hopefully this was interesting!

[alicesadventuresinffxiv]

Telling "The First Step" as Background NPCs

One of the interesting quirks of the FC I'm in is that we often help a Youtube Let's Player record his FFXIV videos. Last year is when he did the Stormblood patches, and when I and a dozen friends got together for a special project!

Since the Lodestone short story "The First Step" would otherwise not be in the Let's Play (nor would the SMN 80 quest) we wanted to convey the plot beats of that story in another way. Specifically, we designed a handful of "scenes" that the Let's Player would naturally run across as he progressed the 4.x MSQ.

The goal was to make it look as though "Arenvald," "Fordola," and the rest of our cast were overworld background NPCs who changed position after every patch, much like the B-Team Scions do in the Rising Stones!

Our first scene could be found in Rhalgr's Reach at the tail end of 4.3. Here, Fordola and a few other Garlean prisoners are being conscripted into the Ala Mhigan Resistance. The idea was Raubahn’s, so Arenvald and Pipin are on hand to pass along the details as various Resistance and Alliance soldiers chat and train nearby.

(Credit to @halcyonlioness - here playing a Meteor-lookalike Garlean prisoner - for the first screenshot!)

.

Come 4.4, this same mix of soldiers could be seen early on in Ala Mhigo. The Resistance and the Alliance are collaborating on something, it appears...

(This screenshot by @shepspencil, with his character Anri as an Immortal Flames soldier! You can also see the Let's Player's Lalafell samurai in the background, where Alisaie and Thancred would appear for a quest at this point in the MSQ.)

Later in the same patch, more "NPCs" could be found by approaching the steps to the Royal Palace. Here, Fordola and Arenvald are being introduced to the Immortal Flames' Summoner squadron from the SMN 60-70 quests:

(More screenshots by @halcyonlioness!)

Of course, in the real short story, the scene where Fordola meets the summoners actually takes place outside Forgotten Springs. But the Let's Player wasn't going to pass through a random ARR village, so we picked a different location… albeit one that required getting our alts through a good chunk of the MSQ. It was quite the journey!

(Double Pipin shot by Pipin's player, who is a delight but does not have a tumblr!)

.

By the 4.5(6) MSQ, things might be looking dire for the Warrior of Light, but our "background NPCs" managed to defeat Ifrit offscreen, so they could be found celebrating in the Seventh Heaven bar...

And what a celebration it is! A few people were called away for Savage raiding important military errands throughout the day 😉, and we also had some random other players go AFK in the middle of the Rising Stones. As a result, the tableau actually evolved quite a bit as the Let's Player ran in and out a few times for the patch quests.

Here's where we ended up by the finale!

Some fun little details I’d like to highlight (with thanks to @halcyonlioness once again for all these screenshots):

-The summoners and the thaumaturge are all using Ifrit weapon drops now, and Crispin has his Ifrit-egi out to further emphasize the point of what we were up to.

-The Resistance thaumaturge was wounded in the fight and saved by Fordola, so she and Pipin are checking up on him again here.

All in all, it was an extremely fun creative challenge to "adapt" a written story to this unusual storytelling format. It was also quite an intense undertaking to organize! Even before the actual Let's Play recordings, we had weeks of rehearsals where we worked together to come up with our "stage blocking" and determine when in the MSQ each scene would be visible.

Ultimately, while I might have been the instigator of these shenanigans, I couldn't have pulled any of it off without such an awesome and talented cast.

Some of whom are also on tumblr! In addition to @halcyonlioness (Hyal) and @shepspencil (Anri), I'd like to shout out @darquingdragon (Arenvald) and @newsiesgirl (Alexia)! Thanks for putting up with my wild ideas. :)

As for me, I haven't done a project this involved before or since... but who knows what the future might bring?

[mistype360]

hi! i'm an entj 3w4 386 so/sp would love to see your input !!! i'm also a big fan of your blog, dare i say it's the best we have on here ??? ♡

my assumptions awwhh tysm this is the sweetest thing i've read this week 🥺

if you were an plant you would be a cactus. specifically the short small ones with flowers growing on and the juicy ones that taste very yummy

you always order fruit drinks at stores rather than coffees or teas

i don't think you're AS intense, and this is prob not accurate at all, but when i saw your type i was immediately reminded SO MUCH of azula lmaoo.

i also have a feeling that you don't really like the characters with the same type as you because you're a good person in general and they are way too exaggerated stereotype☠️

i have a weird feeling you're a brunette

you prefer writing with pens rather than pencils. you also love when pens write really smoothly and basically obsessed with them

if you were a food, you would be lobster or some fetuccini alfredo

you DON'T like reality tv and think it's dumb

you listen to a lot of rap n rnb. maybe like the weeknd, asap rocky, etc. i think you might also have a soft spot for pop and things like taylor swift

you HATE when people don't do work in group projects

on the outside you generally entj like person but you doubt yourself on the inside sometimes and are a little perfectionistic

you might like organizing and cleaning (working in general hahaha) - and even though people hate doing it you think it's very relaxing

on the same note you like watching the cleaning videos on tiktok

i also have no clue about anime but i remember seeing one with a bunch of gambling girl students in red uniforms (idk the name 😭). i think this is your favorite one to watch

you have a secret guilty pleasure for watching internet drama lmaoo

your favorite color is emerald green.

you're more of a silver > gold person

you're favorite shape is a triangle

if also went out of my normal beach theme banners and went with this one bc if you were a flower you would def be this one

[ritualvirtuality]

please do look it up if you dont know the date bc there may be at least an approximate answer and otherwise the last option will completely dominate and this poll will be boring.

and dont be like 'but i cant sing'... just answer the earliest tune you know well enough that you COULD sing it

periods of western classical music provided only for reference

[shepscapades]

Your highness… I don’t feel so good

[chalkrub]

KOFI

commissions: here!

membership: here!

more in-depth explanation above lol but yes, opening up my kofi for the above stuff! i'll still be posting art to my socials as usual, but there'll be more consistent/exclusive/early-access art and wip posts for members on kofi, along with all the benefits above

thank you very much for any support as always! muah

[apocalypse4draws5nigh]

A collection of quotes concerning the character of Longlegs, and how Cage's performance and appearance was developed. I think the first one is the most interesting because it shows that gender non-conformity was in fact a part of the process for Longlegs. Important parts have been highlighted.

Tagging people who I've seen talking about the coding of Longlegs:

@jelliclepaw @steveyockey @shaynabobayna @scarymovies @itsrainingaga1n @rorykillmore @silliestiestgoob @gayiconwaluigi @pyr0cue @mmanyhandss

[damianito]

The holy trinity (close up ↴ )

[calmlb]

It’s been clear that the Tanizakis aren’t siblings from the very beginning

here’s some evidence now that it’s been confirmed canon…

everyone who’s read irl Tanizaki’s book knew that Junichiro & Naomi weren’t siblings as soon as they introduced themselves

BUT just because the Tanizakis aren’t siblings doesn’t mean you can’t feel uncomfortable about them. if you feel uncomfortable, GOOD. that’s exactly what they want

the Tanizakis, Mori— they all use these disturbing ruses to disarm or distract people in order to protect themselves, or to accomplish their goals. this is a writing device that asagiri commonly employs as a way to parallel the irl literature (it’s actually ingenious)

there are 4 main indicators that have always made it clear to me that Junichiro & Naomi are not siblings:

1. most obviously— their character designs. Harukawa is extremely intentional with character designs, & she very intentionally made Naomi & Junichiro look nothing alike

their eye shapes are purposely different

their color palettes are contrasting

even their differing styles of clothing have meaning

this was all done so that the audience could PLAINLY see that they’re not related— so that WE know that they’re lying when they say they ARE related

2. how the people around them respond to their act.

the general reaction is “don’t question it”— which is exactly what they want. “be distracted by how uncomfortable you feel so that you look away from what we’re hiding” (this is likely a protective measure)

3. most importantly, this is meant to parallel irl Tanizaki’s book “Naomi,” where the main character Joji picks up Naomi to raise her into his ideal woman, but since she's so young (& a minor) they call each other cousins (Joji makes no sexual advances on young Naomi btw)

however, his plan backfires because when Naomi gets older & they get married, she flips the script on him & manipulates HIM so that he's under her thumb (which is why bsd Tanizaki is at a domineering Naomi's mercy). Joji let her have her way because of his masochistic tendencies

4. lastly is the emphasis that Asagiri and the Tanizakis themselves put on calling each other siblings.

over & over, it’s “my brother this” & “my sister that”

like they’re desperately trying to convince us that it’s true (“don’t let your lying eyes deceive you”)

here are just a few of many examples from the light novels…

again, if you’ve read “Naomi” you knew that Junichiro & Naomi weren’t siblings as soon as they introduced themselves

just like if you’ve read irl Mori’s works, it’s clear that bsd Mori isn’t a pedophile

just like if you’ve read No Longer Human you know that Dazai’s an unreliable narrator. he makes you think he’s a bad person bc he believes he’s a bad person, but those around him see him differently (btw this doesn’t mean he’s never done anything “bad,” though bsd isn’t about morality— but that’s another discussion)

anyway, i’m so excited for the Tanizakis backstory to be revealed so that we can better understand why they use this defense!!

also let this be a reminder to READ THE LITERATURE if you’re able to!! even reading synopses & analyses of the coordinating books makes bsd make much more sense 🥹

reminder that this how you’re supposed to react while reading bsd:

also, if you’re interested in a post explaining how Mori isn’t a pedo, i wrote this analysis on twt. OR you can read this document that one of my moots sent me (remember: analyzing a character does NOT mean you condone any actions they may or may not commit!)

[starry-bi-sky]

Out of Context Stuff for a Danyal Al Ghul au i haven't posted - Pit Beast Danyal

Damian, 13: Look, Danyal, -- I am so sorry for everything that happened between us in the League, I hope you can forgive me.

Danny, 10 (allegedly): (has been secretly plotting to murder Damian this whole time, is still gonna do it obvs, but is going to make it significantly less painful now)

Danny: I-- of course, older brother. :]

--------

Bruce: what do you have there, Damian?

Damian:

Danny: (a hulking 10ft pit beast standing beside him, growling idly with ram horns gouging out his eyes and a second set of horns jutting into the air, spines down his back, and a long, spiked tail with an animalistic, skull-like face)

Damian, who smuggled him in (they've made amends): a smoothie, father

----------

Damian: this is my little brother Danyal, i murdered him when he was five. He festered in rage for the last half-a decade, took over a League mountain base in Switzerland, murdered everyone inside and then tried to murder me when I went to investigate with Drake.

Danny: hello!

Damian: we're cool now

----------

Damian: thoughts on resurrection

Danny, (a full ghost): i will succeed in murdering you if you try it

Damian: we'll put a pin in it then

----------

Danny (still instilled with League values): why don't we just murder him??

Damian, on patrol (Danny followed him): we don't murder people, Danyal

Danyal:,,,,are you sick, Dami?? Have you been possessed? Why not!?

(There is raucous laughing through the comms)

----------

Danny, five, pre-death: Dami! :D

Danny, dead, vengeful: Older brother (:

Danny, post-forgiveness: Dami! :]

-------

For some actual context: Danny is fully dead in this au, its a result of the classic DPxDC Demon Twins "death duel" trope but instead of Danny getting revived, he stays fully dead. Danny was five, Damian was seven. His ghost lingered though, and due to the proximity of the pits his ghost steadily absorbed the ambient energy it was letting off. The pits are not corrupted ectoplasm in this au, it's just liquid ecto.

Which means Danny's corruption from an angry and hurt little ghost boy to an unrecognizable monster is from his own doing. It's a result of him stewing in his hurt and anger for years, it physically warped him. He's very powerful. Danny can travel between League Bases but chose a small, out-of-the-way base in the Swiss mountains to fester in and then just. Never Left.

His influence steeped into the very foundations of the building, allowing him to transform and warp the rooms and hallways for his own bidding, Meaning he could turn it into a seemingly unending labyrinth if he so wished to, and block the entrance.

Eventually, blinded (both metaphorically and physically) by his own rage, Danny grew powerful enough to appear physically in the living realm and attacked everyone in the base, slaughtering them all and leaving the base abandoned. He attacks anyone who dares enter -- whether that be other league members, or the unfortunate hiker who stumbled across the base. His conscious is steeped into every nook and cranny of the building, there is nowhere you can hide where he can't find. Nobody leaves without his explicit say so. Nobody ever does.

Him appearing as ten years old before Damian in the skits above is his own physical doing. First it was to prevent Damian from being suspicious of him. Damian initially thought Danny was revived with the pits, he was too busy with his own training afterwards to notice that Danny never showed up again, and when he did notice, he assumed it was because Danny was too ashamed of his loss to face him. He'd always forget to ask about him.

Then it becomes a personal choice to appear as ten. It's how old he would've been had he been alive.

danny forgiving Damian is kinda for an offshoot branch of the main au. Whereas the main au takes the form of a ps4 first person horror game where Damian and Tim are investigating the Base for Plot Reasons. There's no sign of the rumored "monster" living inside until the end, where Danny, who was found inside the Base and has been happily "helping" them look around, manages to persuade Damian into splitting off from Tim in order to "show him something."

This something turns out to be Danny revealing that he never really forgave Damian for that fight, and he reveals through a horrifying transformation, that he was the monster the whole time. Which the game subtly hints at throughout as Danny's strange behavior becomes harder to ignore.

First from his insistence to only refer to Damian as "older brother" (when before the duel he always called him Damian or Dami), to him right off the bat denying the existence of a monster when questioned. ("There's no monster here, older brother. It's just me.") To other various things, like his knowledge of the outside world not matching up to modern times or things going on with the league outside of the base, or what happened to the other league members.

This whole idea was inspired by the song "Scylla" from Epic the Musical, with Danyal being the voice of Scylla as well as Odysseus, while Damian stands as Eurylochus. The instrumentals after Scylla says "hello" is him turning into the pit beast, and Scylla's "drown in your sorrow and fears" part is danny, as the pit beast, snarling at Damian while he attacks him.

There's a Good Ending, a Bad Ending, and a True Ending. The Bad Ending results in Damian being killed by Danny, it happens when Damian decides not to question or suspect Danny and treats him kindly. The Bad Ending is a cutscene, where Danny kills Damian quick and painlessly.

Meanwhile the Good Ending is Damian killing Danny. This is a boss fight, and it happens when Damian treats Danny coldly and suspiciously the whole time. Danny as a result, decides to make Damian's death painful as he had planned to, which is why it's a boss fight because it only causes him to double down on his anger.

The True Ending is Damian escapes with Tim. It happens when you treat Danny warmly up until the last minute, where when Danny proposes to Damian that he wants to show him something, Damian goes to talk to Tim and finally, reluctantly agrees that something is off with Danny, and that he'll be careful going in. It starts off with the boss fight until a third through, where it then changes to a cutscene where Tim manages to get the door open and Damian escapes out. It's then a chase scene down a never-ending hallway as the building actively works to keep you trapped inside. But you eventually make it to the exit so long as you avoid all the projectiles and doors.

Remember when I mentioned that Danny only lets people leave when he wants them to? That's where the treating Danny kindly throughout the game comes into play. It causes him to second guess himself and, eventually, reawaken and strengthen the love and admiration he had for Damian prior to his murder. It's why in the Bad Ending he kills Damian quickly -- because by then, he loves him enough that he doesn't want him to suffer, but is still so consumed by his rage and need for vengeance that he kills him anyways. That quiet part is what allows Damian (and Tim) to find the exit, because some part of Danny still loves Damian enough that he wants him to live.

The True Ending ends with a cutscene of Damian and Tim tumbling out into the snow/grass outside of the base. Damian looks up back to the entrance to see Danny standing there. But rather than a ten year old boy, there's a little five year old Danyal Al Ghul instead. He stares at Damian emotionlessly, blood seeping from his chest, staining his clothes, and little, bloody sword in his hands and tearstains on his cheeks, before he turns away and disappears back into the building.

[chloesimaginationthings]

Will you sell The stickers outside The patreon???

Maybe in a year or so from now if I have any leftovers!! But to guarantee you’ll get these stickers it’s better to join the Patreon ^^

I plan on eventually making some FNAF merch that is for my shop though!

[viperwhispered]

Notes on Jamil's speech patterns

I was supposed to just pick out some examples of typical Jamil lines. How he speaks, the vocabulary he uses, things like that. Something I could easily refer to when writing to get the tone right.

But then it kinda blew up, oop – because it’s hard to talk about how a character speaks without also dipping into why they say whatever they say.

Plus then I wanted to get examples of Jamil in different moods, and could not resist some poignant things that were more related to his character or backstory rather than strictly the speech patterns themselves, so… It expanded a bit.

Anyways. Some things I noticed he tends to do:

Sighs (more than I realized)

Snarks

Tch (though could be a more general twst writing choice too)

Stutters when he’s flustered / embarrassed / caught of guard (what a cutie)

Goes ahem like an old man when he’s trying to get back on track in those off-kilter moments

Kinda formal with his manner of speech and choice of words (especially in servant mode) (I always worry I exaggerate this but he sure does do that)

But there’s still some animatedness with the way he emphasises words, for example

(so long-suffering and ready to bark out directions to Kalim oh boy - the way the directness just comes through when he loses it)

sugarcoating his opinions if he doesn’t feel like he can say them plainly (tyrant becomes rigorous, etc.)

sarcasm, sometimes with a side of deadpan, sometimes with a smirk

“Good grief” (another thing I didn't realize was that much of a catchphrase)

Very mild on the level of insults & swears honestly, (I mean, "drat"?) but I imagine this is more of a result of the game's rating (I guess for in-game reasons we can say he's been very conditioned by his upbringing)

I put the screenshots that seemed telling, and some related notes, on to a google sheet. That way one can filter and order it in various ways.

The sheet is probably best viewed on a computer or another larger screen, the screenshots might make it a bit difficult to navigate on mobile.

I did go in with the assumption that Jamil might speak differently pre-overblot (when the servant mask is firmly in place) and post-overblot (at least those occasions where he allows himself to be more honest). Like, there’s the sycophantic (as Leona calls it) flatterer, versus when Jamil’s honestly voicing his own thoughts. Which also shows in how I chose to categorize the screenshots.

Of course events are a bit wibbly wobbly in relation to the main story so can’t be placed in the timeline in the same way, but there are still those occasions where it seems you can tell the difference between the servant mask and a Jamil who’s not saying things just for the sake of appearances.

So, to explain the logic of the sheet:

First column has a screenshot of something Jamil says. The second two columns give the source.

The column for whether or not this happened before or after the overblot is only really used for main story things, since event stories are kinda murky timeline-wise.

Next is whether Jamil seems to be putting on the servant mask or speaking more honestly. This is where get more to interpretation territory, and I’ve not applied it to every screenshot (either because that didn’t seem like the relevant part for that line, or because I couldn’t tell).

The last column of the sheet is where we get most to my personal interpretations. So of course you might read these lines differently than I do, and that’s completely fine, these are simply the aspects that seemed poignant to me. Some notes are simply pointing out specific word choices or style of speech, others delve more into character analysis side of things.

Totally fine if you want to copy this file or modify it to your own needs. All I ask is that you don’t pass off anything I wrote as your own thoughts.

Order of lines is based purely on the order the pics were in my screenshots folder, so guess this is also an insight on the order I played things in, lol.

Tagging some jamil peeps in case y'all find this useful:

@crystallizsch @diodellet @moonyasnow @twstgo @lex752

@majestickitty @viperbunnies

[parisoonic]

'So, there's been something I've been meaning to tell you...' Some progress pics under the cut for fun.

Blockout / Shapework and a Little Rendering / Lighting Solidfication to Bring it Closer to Original Sketch / Details and Grade

[captain-astors]

The Crown Prince

[14dayswithyou]

Where are we sitting, angels? ✈️

[zu-is-here]

A gift for @window-nv by your Secret Santa (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)☆

˚✧₊⁎Merry Christmas!⁎⁺˳✧༚

And a big thank you to @utsecretsanta for hosting the event ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

Nightmare by jokublog

Killer by rahafwabas / rahaf-wabas / rahofy-sketch

[psystirene]

i've been thinking about this reddit comment ever since i read it. the sheer rage. almost tearful i think. the horrendous take. underestimating the ability of sapphics to find sickly little leech women irresistible.