#hoping I'll be able to come up with some new developments in the process that would be cool akaks

[aberooski]

The worst part about being out of state is that I actually want to write but I don't have the time or brain power or anything to allow me to do so except on my phone which I don't prefer 🥲

[hauntedwitch04]

Little one

Sam Winchester x reader

Words: about 3.9k words

Warnings: smut, smut, I forgot to say smut, DESTIEL BECAUSE I LOVE THEM, dirty talk

Author’s note: Hi loves! I finally managed to write some more after the crazy week I had. Hope you like it, your witch Becky

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KINKTOBER ...........-..........KINKTOBER TAGLIST 2023

DAY 5: Size kink

"Hey little one do you need a hand?" You hear Sam ask, hearing in his tone of voice that silly little sly smile you hate so much. You huff as still with your back turned you don't even turn to look at him, knowing you couldn't help but melt under the gaze of his green eyes. You feel him coming up behind you, his chest brushing against your back as you see his hand reach for the book you've been reaching for for more than ten minutes. His presence behind you almost makes your knees give way.

The two of you have been playing this game for weeks now, provoking the other but at the same time neither of you seems to have the courage to take matters into their own hands and drag the other into your bedroom. A few days ago Sam realized how sensitive you are to the size difference between the two of you. You have never considered yourself short, you have always been average, but next to him you look little more than a smurf. He is literally a giant, and that doesn't mean he is merely tall, but because of the life you lead he has developed a lot of muscles in his arms and chest, as well as perfect abs, and that makes him imposing, and fuck if that isn't attractive. You get lost in thinking what it must be like to be under him, enclosed between his warm body and his bed, but almost immediately you are interrupted by a cough behind you. You turn and see him with a raised eyebrow looking at you amused. Now the two of you are face to face, or rather you have your face at his chest level, and in fact you have to look up to stare into his eyes.

The man in front of you seems to be quite amused by this, in fact he leans forward a little, thinking you would move for that movement, and instead you stand still, not showing weakness.

"Careful little one your neck will hurt if you keep holding it like that. Maybe we should buy a stepladder at least you'd be able to look me in the eye without any trouble." Says Sam, a breath away from your lips.

"You giant asshole, I swear I'll cut your balls off if-" You start to threaten him, but you are interrupted by a new voice. Castiel has just entered the room and is looking at you with a questioning expression before shouting.

"Dean they are doing it again." He says to the other hunter who immediately responds to the angel, threatening you as well.

"Home run before you see things you don't want to see. And you two stop circling around the fact that you want to fuck. There's too much sexual tension in the air and no one can take it anymore. You better find a solution or I swear I'll have the next witch I meet charm you." Says the brother of the man in front of you, from the kitchen, making both you and Sammy blush.

"Fuck you Dean." Sam manages to say, not looking you in the eye. Immediately you turn away from each other, going in different directions.

You arrive in your room, close the door, and lean against it as you take a breath of relief.

You can't deny that there is not that sexual tension between the two of you that Dean accuses you of, but at the same time you don't have the courage to take that extra step for fear of being rejected because treacherously you think Sam intends all that as a kind of game between the two of you, but nothing more. You stay for a moment thinking again about the feeling of his body so big and muscular against yours. You felt so small and helpless, and yet you were not afraid, in fact all your brain could process were rather spicy situations with the youngest of the Winchesters. Then suddenly you violently detach yourself from the door, as your mind was again training itself in those overly specific thoughts of what it would be like to be fucked by Sam, placed on all fours on his bed, while he on top of you, with his chest pressed against your back, holding the bed keyboard with one strong hand to make stronger, firmer thrusts. You get lost in thinking about what it must feel like to have his kisses on your bare back with the light beard he has, what one of his strong hands gripping one of your hips must feel like, or his cock pushing in. You decide it's time for a cold shower at the very moment you're left thinking about whether the size of his member is directly proportional to everything else, hoping that at least that might bring you back to your senses a little.

You've never been much of a person who likes to go to parties, but you certainly can't say no to a nice evening with your favorite people spent drinking and singing your favorite songs. By now it is very late and both Dean and Cas have gone to bed, no matter how much the last one doesn't sleep, but by now since they had declared themselves to each other they had created a routine, thanks to which the oldest of the Winchesters is finally able to sleep without nightmares. You are happy forni your friends, they both deserve the small portion of happiness that fate has reserved for them, and on the contrary you wish they had fi more. Since they've gone to bed, though, you and Sam are left alone, with more than ample amount of alcohol in your system, which is a bit dangerous considering the thoughts some days that led you to take a shower so cold that even penguins would beat their beaks for cold.

You and young Winchester spent those days avoiding each other, and when you couldn't, all you could do was avoid each other's gaze and not blush.

You remain silent again, enjoying that peace to which you are not very accustomed. You are sitting side by side, and you can't help but slowly move closer to his body, attracted by the warmth it produces.

It seems like hours go by, and maybe it's only a few minutes, but eventually he interrupts that state of stillness.

"Can I ask you a question?" Sammy asks, turning toward you, and you can't help but be a little annoyed by his question, but you nod as you down some more alcohol. He seems to consider what words to use.

"Have you ever thought of anything more than this between us?" The man asks, looking you in the eye. You pause with your glass in midair, petrified by that question. For a moment it crosses your mind that he has figured out how you feel about him, but then you look at him and see him waiting for your answer and realize that he is really only asking you out of pure curiosity.

"Why did you think of that?" You ask in turn defensively. You see him hesitate for a moment as you did a few seconds earlier, but eventually he flashes you a smile, regaining all the resourcefulness he has shown in this last period.

"Oh little one, I'm afraid I'd scare you if I told you all the things I've been thinking about doing with you." He says in a rough, sensual voice, and you immediately feel a shiver go down your spine. You feel him move closer to you, while you remain still, afraid that if you moved even a finger, this whole situation would vanish like a soap bubble. You think more than once that all this is a dream produced by the alcohol in your system, then you feel his lips on your neck and realize that it is all true.

"Well you could show me a couple of things you've imagined doing with me, and I'll tell you if they're the same things I've thought of." I say in a whisper, as he continues to nibble on my neck, leaving sweet kisses at times.

"You're going to fucking kill me sooner or later." Sam comments before standing up, and with a smooth, quick movement, hoisting me onto his shoulder. I let out a soft yelp, before starting to bombard him with threats and questions.

"Sam Winchester, let me go now! Where are you taking me?" I ask, trying not to give away that just that simple gesture that showcased his strength and how much bigger he was physically than you was turning you on.

"In the room, unless you want to be fucked here where anyone could walk in at any moment. I didn't take you for that kind of person, but we could always try it another time." He says chuckling, while you in response punch him lightly in the back. "Besides, from here I have a first-class view of your ass." He continues nonchalantly, and you can't help but blush.

"Sam!" You take him back, but he immediately doesn't give you time to continue.

"Little one, don't be an angel, because we both know how many times you've thought about doing dirty things with me, and you can't even lie because it was all over your face." Notices Sam, scolding you as one scolds a child who has eaten too much candy.

"Like you had a marble mask on, and you couldn't see all the times you looked at my boobs." You comment, as you try to figure out by now where you are, but the corridors of the bunker are all dark and you can't quite get your bearings.

"It's not my fault you have particularly nice tits." He replies, as if it were a given, and you can't help but laugh at the situation. Your laughter is interrupted, however, when Sam throws you onto what you recognize to be his bed.

The playful air that had been created disappears in an instant and gives way to a new tension, steeped in passion and mischief. The youngest Winchester slides all the way down your body until his plump lips are inches from yours. The feel of his body, so large compared to yours, is even better than you had imagined. He spends a few seconds teasing you, kissing all over your face and the area near your mouth, but he doesn't touch your lips a single time, until you slip your hands into his hair and force him to do so. He smiles against your lips, and when you pull away to get some air, he teases you.

"Someone is a little impatient, what can't you wait to feel my cock inside you anymore?" He asks rhetorically, while his hands begin working to remove the several layers of clothes you are wearing.

"All promises Winchester, it's time to keep them." You say, trying to answer him again in kind as pleasure begins to work its way through you.

"You'll regret this shamelessness little one, another time, not today, but next time I won't be as good to you as I will be this time."

Quickly he removes the few clothes you have on while you do the same to him, a little groggy from pleasure and a little from alcohol.

He kisses your neck, leaving red, biting marks as he slowly moves down to your breasts, to remove the bra you still have on. He takes one of your nipples in his teeth, while the other teases it with his hand.

Once he is done torturing your breasts, he goes down to your navel with his kisses and then gently bites your panties. A shiver runs through you again as you feel his lips graze the skin of your legs, while he stares into your eyes and pulls them off with such slowness that you feel faint before long at how hard your heart is beating.

"You better get moving Winchester." You try to threaten him, once he completely peels off the penultimate layer of clothing that stood between you and him, since he still has his boxers on.

"Or what small thing? I don't think you're in a position to threaten me." He comments amused, before returning to your center, and leaving sweet kisses all around in your inner thigh. You can't help but sigh as you slip a hand into his soft, long hair, trying to take him where you most desire.

"Fuck you." That's all you can say in response, and he can't help but laugh. Eventually Sam lets you guide him where you want him, and finally his lips meet those of your pussy. You can't help but let out a moan mixed with a scream as the man squeezes your clit between his teeth as he had done with your nipples earlier. With his tongue he continues to lick you, slowly increasing the pleasure.

Suasult when you also feel his fingers join in the torture, as he rhythmically works them into you. His fingers are long and big, enough to reach all the right places, and make you wriggle between the covers of the now unmade bed, making you clutch the sheet so tight you thought it would tear.

Eventually, faster than it had ever happened to you, you feel the orgasm coming, with the impetuosity of a wave ready to sweep whatever it meets in its path.

"Sam- fuck- please don't stop." You beg him, as you continue to move your hips under his mouth to create more friction.

"Oh my little one is cumming?" He asks, pulling away from you slightly.

"Sam, please." You beg him again as you run a hand through his hair again, and he can't help but moan as you do so.

He doesn't respond to you, but his actions speak for themselves as he again begins to lick your center as he speeds his fingers entering your pussy. A few minutes pass and you finally reach orgasm, and for a second you think you lose contact with the whole world. All you hear in your ears is blood pulsing, your eyes narrowed as your lips hold back a scream, while your hands continue to cling tightly to Sam's hair. Once you regain your breath and some clarity you stop and look at Sammy who is now looking at you seriously. Around your mouth you can still see the remnants of the otherworldly experience you just had.

"Are you okay?" He asks you as he licks his lips.

"Never felt better." You answer, as you signal for him to come up. He complies and comes with his face at the same height as yours. You kiss him softly, and he can't help but do the same. It is very different from the kiss you shared earlier, passionate and impetuous, but no less sensual and beautiful. Then suddenly you take him by surprise and reverse the situation by finding yourself on top of him.

"Now it's my turn to torture you a little." You whisper in his ear before moving down to his boxers. You slip them off him the same way he took off your underwear, which is with your teeth, and you hear him cursing as you brush against his now very obvious erection. Then unable to hold back you take his member with your hands, and like everything in your body it seems to be huge compared to you, but in this case you don't really know if it is your point of view or is objective. You tease his entire length with your tongue, before starting to suck lightly at the tip, while moving your hand along everything else you don't touch. Immediately his hand, almost as big as your head, gets stuck in your hair and begins to send you further and further down, at the pace he likes best. That's how Sam begins to fuck your mouth, at first slower, going steadily increasing, so that the last thrusts you feel his cock coming down your throat, and you can't help but get aroused when you feel the air miss you. He continues this game for a few minutes, until with a series of moans where he screams your name he doesn't cum in your mouth, and you swallow everything he gives you.

"That's my girl." Sammy comments as he catches his breath, but you see a spark in his eyes that tells you you're not even close to the end.

"So far we've been playing, now comes the main course." He continues, as again he reverses the situation, bringing you under him. You feel one of your thighs open, and with his knee he stimulates your pussy. Immediately you let out a scream that he silences with his lips. You begin to kiss more and more passionately as you feel him driving his cock in front of your entrance. The moment he is about to push in for the first time, you stop him by asking him a question?

"Are you sure it fits?" You ask slightly frightened by his size, and excited at the same time. He looks at you and chuckles a little, throwing his head into the crook of your neck.

"It's just that I've never had anyone so ...great, it's no laughing matter Winchester!" You continue, chuckling in turn. He kisses you gently on the nose before answering you.

"I promise in case it does you, you'll just have to tell me and we'll stop right away, okay?" He asks seriously, watching you as he moves a strand of hair away from your face. "Besides, I think the orgasm has prepared you well honey." He finishes by winking at you. He kisses you again but this one more gently, trying to distract you. You feel him enter you, and for a moment you think you have died and are in your own little piece of heaven.

"Are you okay little one?" Sam asks seeing your closed eyes and clenched fists holding the pillow.

"Oh God, Winchester you better move your ass and fuck me before I come at this exact moment." You whisper, as you release one hand to bring him to you and kiss him. You feel him begin to thrust in and out of you, picking up a rather fast pace as he stimulates one of your breasts with one hand and his lips are busy making more marks on your neck, lest he cry out your name in pleasure. You are not much better off, so much so that at one point you feel an iron taste of blood in your mouth from how much you bit your lips to keep Cas and Dean from hearing you. You keep moving in unison, seeking pure pleasure.

"God baby, you are so perfect. You don't know how much I've dreamed of having you under me, screaming my name, rocking your world." Sam comments, before kissing one of your breasts. "I love your body, so small compared to mine, so much that I'm afraid I'll break you every time I touch you, but at the same time so sinful that I can't stop myself from doing the worst sins they ever came up with even in hell."

You fail to respond too caught up in everything the boy is making you feel. You feel like it's the first time in years you've breathed again, the first time you've really tasted oxygen.

"Sam, please, I'm going to-" You are interrupted by a kiss from him.

"Me too baby." He replies after pulling away from your lips. "Your pussy is squeezing my cock so hard, I think I'm about to go crazy." He comments, and it seems that his words are the keys to reach again that already before, only with his fingers had you tasted, but that was but a paltry appetizer, this was of the magnitude of a wedding feast. Your whole body quivers with force, as your center, in pleasure, tightens even tighter around his size, making you feel the size of his member even more.

Just as Sam's words were for you, for him it seems that your orgasm triggers his, in fact when you finally seem to have regained some mental clarity, after spending several minutes with your mind clouded, drowsy with pleasure, you feel your womb being filled with his seed, and you have another orgasm, smaller than before, but still quite important.

It is some time before both of you have caught your breath, in each other's arms. You remain in silence enjoying the warmth of the naked body of the person you love by your side. Then without saying a word Sam moves to your side and encircles you with his arms, having spread a blanket over your uncovered bodies. You fall asleep within minutes, with a smile on your lips, both of you happy to be close to the one you love, and especially happy to know that the one you love loves you back.

BONUS (I can't help it, I love bonuses too much :) )

Dean sits at the kitchen table as Cas hands him a steaming cup of coffee. He thanks him with a whisper before sipping his drink in silence. The only noise in the room is that of the liquid slipping over his lips as the two lovers stare into the void, lost in their own thoughts. Eventually it is the angel who breaks the silence.

"We need to soundproof the rooms better." He comments, and Dean can make no more than a sound of approval. They had not slept a wink because of your shouting, and as happy as they were to know that now the tension between the two of you had been cleared up, they also did not want to hear how their nephew was created, since his brother and you had not made much effort to be quiet. And this was not the first time. Since you had come out to each other now almost a month ago, every night you had done nothing but shout each other's names in pleasure, so much so that often both Dean and Cas had decided to go for a drive, but they couldn't take it anymore.

"You're damn right." Dean says before taking another sip of coffee. "You know I almost preferred it when they hadn't come out, now I'm afraid to turn the corner and watch them procreate on the library table." Dean comments amused, finishing his drink as he sees his boyfriend shoot him a look and a smile.

"As if we never did." Cas says, laughing.

"But they don't know that." Dean replies, giving him a wink, then getting up and leaving a gentle kiss on his forehead and heading out of the room, obviously checking to make sure you are not in it.

TAGLIST

@laurennnomg @deanwinchestersgirl87 @samanddeansannoyingsis @ash04w3 @l3viathanpup @mysteriouslydeafeningwerewolf @wafflezo @the-house-of-rose-and-ember @shodowbane09 @acidicpickle @supernatural-lvr

[lj-lephemstar]

Progress Checkup! (Aug. 2024) | Scratchin' Melodii Devlog

Hello again, strangers! I thought it was about time to add another devlog again! This time I'm trying out a more in-depth approach to this, to somewhat make up for the lack of gameplay previews. Let me know what you think!

For starters, I've revamped the rhythm system 🤯 (like... again! 🤯) Don't freak out, though. Surface level gameplay-wise, it works mostly the same as it did in the last demo, so you won't have to re-learn much. I just needed to redo some things so it'd be easier for me to work with in the long-run while developing the rest of the game. Way less headaches await me now when working on new levels. In the process, I was also able to incorporate some neat new aspects to it and make the core aspects of it better. If you're familiar with older rhythm games, it's now a tad closer to what the dog was doing.

The opponent's icon has been covered up to avoid spoilers. I might be updating all of the character icons soon, actually.

I still plan to revamp the game's tutorial at some point. Something I've noticed is that often, new players don't seem to understand the purpose of the beat dots. Initially, I thought the idea that "on the beat dot = on beat" would come as second nature to new players without need for explanation. However, I hadn't considered that many players are likely to be more familiar with rhythm games that don't even have beat dots in this manner, so they're probably inclined to focus more on getting as close as possible to matching the order of the suggested inputs, and in this game, even at the cost of being off-beat if they aren't keeping up. So, I think the most important thing I need to emphasize when I give a new in-game explanation of the mechanics is the beat dots and really getting new players into the mindset of prioritizing the tempo. I think I should also have the tutorial's gameplay portion try to discretely get the player used to the control scheme to help people who haven't particularly memorized where all of their controller's buttons are without looking. This'll probably result in the tutorial song shown in the demo being replaced in the full game. I do still like its instrumental though, so maybe that will be repurposed for another game feature, at least.

There's probably some guy out there who just REALLY loves Astral Advisory as the tutorial song that will be very upset to hear this. In solidarity with them, I've depicted their enthusiasm with this rather silly image I've created.

As for other levels, now that I've got the updated rhythm system up and running, the 3rd rival battle of act 2 is almost complete. If you didn't like the Pow-Notes in Supastar Tennis, you might not like me very much after this! So far, I think this level has some of the best and most ambitious animation work I've done yet, so I hope you'll look forward to it. Not sure when I'll show a gameplay preview of this level, but I probably will at some point.

Also, I've made a new logo for the game! I'll gradually be phasing this one in to replace the old one, but until the full game releases you'll probably still see the old one hanging around too in some places.

That's all I can talk about for now, but thanks for reading! - LJ

[foxglovegames]

Trouble Comes Twice - the Postmortem

We celebrated Trouble Comes Twice's anniversary around a month ago! We'd hoped to post this postmortem back then as well, but it's taken us a moment to find the right words haha.

Anyway, we hope that this postmortem can give our players and other visual novel devs some insight into what the development process looked like for us. It's also a great way for us to look back at what went well and what went less well.

We'll be taking about the ideation phase, our (lack of) marketing for the Kickstarter, and also sharing (what we can) on our earnings from the game!

Coming up with Trouble Comes Twice

The original tone of Trouble Comes Twice was a lot more comedic and packed to the brim with anime tropes we enjoy. Most didn't make it into the final game, but some stayed and evolved e.g. all of the love interests are based on popular visual novel archetypes - the childhood friend, the tomboy, the shy girl, and the bad boy. 

Some, like Cameron and Zoe, changed a lot from their concept while Adrian and Stephanie stayed quite loyal to our original ideas of them. Cameron's character actually underwent the most changes after the initial reception to the demo, where a lot of people felt like he was too much of an ass haha. (Fortunately, he became a fan favorite when we dropped the new demo!)

The premise with the bet was something we invented to create some drama and establish a common plot thread throughout each route. Honestly, looking back, we would probably have approached the bet differently if we wrote it today and a lot of our pre-planning was... clumsy, at best. Still, it was a labor of love and I'll never forget the fun and excitement we had everyday balling ideas for the characters and coming up with their designs.

As Melli and I are just writers with limited coding experience, we worked with a past game jam friend to code the GUI and set up the base for the game (though the actual scripting was done by us and Melli put everything together in the end). Our biggest expenses pre- and post-demo was the character art and CGs, meanwhile we relied on free music and BG packs to save money.

Why a bisexual romcom?

So, this was sort of a no-brainer to us. We had decided right from the start that both twins could date both the male and female love interests, and (at the time) we feel that a lot of similar games had playersexual MCs rather than established bisexual/pansexual MCs. While playersexual charas are also awesome, we wanted to write a romcom where the main cast are always queer regardless of who you end up romancing. 

At the same time, bi/pan people don't all approach romantic relationships the same way e.g. Cameron is confident and has experience dating people of all genders, while Adrian's demi and Jace still struggles a bit with his attraction towards men. We know that some of our players felt like that made certain routes less romantic than others and we hear you on that feedback and have 100% taken it into consideration for our future romance games. But anyway, that was our thought process behind Trouble Comes Twice's romance dynamics!

Preparing for Kickstarter & the actual Campaign

Our Kickstarter launched at the start of August and let me tell you, we were nowhere near as prepared as we should have been. 😭 We hadn't set up a Steam page yet, we were trailer-less, and we only had a couple of hundred followers across our socials at best. I feel that there's a lot more successful Kickstarter projects to refer to and even a lot of marketing guides and advice now, but mostly it's on us for not researching more. 

The Kickstarter campaign did surprisingly well despite the lack of promotion and only having a rough alpha demo - we were even able to double our goal! - but we  wouldn't recommend what we did for other devs.

You should invest time into making a good demo, spend time building an interested audience before launching your campaign, and research so you've got some kind of marketing plan. We were lucky with word-of-mouth and that other visual novel devs with larger followings helped share our game, but we should have made more effort reaching out to bloggers, streamers, and game sites. Some crowdfunding successes may seem like they came out of nowhere and were just pure luck, but there's usually a lot of grinding behind-the-scenes that you don't notice.

The post-Kickstarter era, at least for us, was the harder bit. We now had 353 loyal backers who had expectations based on promises we had made and we had to make sure we met those expectations while also staying true to our wants as the devs. It was a learning process for sure, but we're fairly proud that we always did our best to keep our backers in the loop. It's frustrating to write an update explaining that the game has been delayed again, but backers are more open to being understanding than you think as long as you communicate!

A tip we'd give to new devs considering Kickstarter: Don't overestimate what you can do, but overestimate what you need. There's always hidden costs, unexpected taxes/fees, and other unknown obstacles that might eat up your budget. In our case, we made enough to make the game as planned, but had to change CG artists around halfway through development which meant our original budget didn't cut it anymore. Fortunately, we had earned a decent amount from our Patreon and pre-orders that we were able to use to complete the CGs, but that isn't always going to be an option for everyone and that also meant we were unable to use that money ourselves. (We didn't take any money from the original Kickstarter campaign, so whatever was earned through patreon and pre-sales was our only "salary" at the time.) 

Writing the game

Writing is, for obvious reasons, one of the most important parts of a visual novel. Melli wrote Jace's routes and I wrote Hazel's routes, which removed some pressure off our shoulders compared to trying to write over 300,000 words all on our own. 

It's fun working with another writer, but there are also some unique issues and considerations that come up when you're writing a game with two protagonists split between two writers. Especially because at the time, there weren't many visual novels with a similar set up to refer to.

The main things we learned, were:

Consistency. We wanted each couple to have their own dynamic, but the characterization needs to remain consistent between routes. You don't want Adrian in Jace's route to feel like a totally different character in Hazel's route. Additionally, we had to be careful that the tone and writing style of the protagonists' POVs still felt like you were playing the same game. Some routes can be more comedic than others, but we've got a problem if Hazel's routes are all (unintentionally) more serious/angsty in tone than Jace's or vice versa.

Watch out for your word count! Longer does not always equal better and writing eight routes, we had to put some restrictions in place. Even when writing on your own, it can be tough to guess how long your story should be, and it was important to us that the routes were roughly the same length so that none felt more "canon" than the other. However, with two writers who have different writing styles and ways of planning, it was tricky to compare our outlines and we struggled at times when it came to matching each other's word counts. Moving forward, we're probably going to be more lenient when it comes to word counts - some routes have to be longer than others, it doesn't mean that route is automatically more "important". We're also doing more regular meetings and frequent check-ins to make sure we're on the same page. In the future, we hope that should save us a lot of trouble when it comes to pacing! 🙈

Balancing your own wants with the wants of your players. In theory, these overlap most of the time. But making a commercial game (that people had already "bought" through the Kickstarter), there is some pressure when it comes to meeting certain expectations. We can't always just write what we want and assume everyone else is going to love it, but we also don't want to neglect what we personally like. We had a survey for the beta where we were able to get regular feedback and a lot of helpful advice. We definitely want to continue with surveys in the future - they are a great way to gather opinions from different players and figure out what works versus what doesn't! 

We took on too many tasks outside writing that distracted us. This bit is sort of inevitable for indie devs like us. 😅 Working with a limited budget and limited resources, you just end up having to wear a lot of hats! We think we did quite well sharing these duties though, and moving forward (thanks to you guys) we can afford more hands on deck to help us out. 

Marketing

The bane of every indie game dev's existence... although secretly, I kind of enjoy marketing but don't tell anyone that!

Having learned a thing or two from promoting the Kickstarter, we spent more time researching games marketing but in the end, trial and error was the best teacher.

As we got closer to the release date, we were posting almost daily on social media and grew our Twitter to over eight thousand followers. We didn't have any viral posts, but we saw a consistent growing interest in our game and it was such a motivation boost to see comments from potential players being excited for the game. We know a lot of devs have said that Twitter didn't help their game much but according to our stats, a decent number of our players found us through the platform. 

We saw less success here on Tumblr. Perhaps we haven't cracked the code here yet or maybe we're just comparing our numbers from Twitter unfairly! We're not hung up about it though, we love it here because it feels easier to connect with our followers and other devs there, and it's nice because we're able to write longer posts like this one! 💓

Aside from posting on social media, we reached out to several streamers and some bloggers prior to release to send them free game keys. 

We also commissioned some art from other artists to share, as we obviously couldn't reveal ALL our CGs before the release lol and visual posts tend to do a lot better in our experience. It was so much fun to see the characters in other art styles and we hope we can afford to commission guest art pieces a lot more frequently in the future!

In hindsight, we definitely regret not releasing a trailer sooner! We underestimated how much interest a good trailer could garner and delayed setting up our Steam page because of it. Steam was the platform where we sold the most copies and most of our buyers found the game through Steam itself.

Also, posting your trailer on youtube adds another site where you're promoting your game so there's really no reason not to get that trailer done as soon as you can. 

Final Notes

After the initial stress, we were pretty happy with our release! Although there were some things we would go back and change if we could,  that's just the nature of these kind of things. For the most part, we're proud of what we achieved and happy that we have learnt so much from Trouble Comes Twice that we can take into consideration for future projects.

We can't share exact numbers, but we wanted to open up a bit about our earnings for the game to help other aspiring devs: As of writing this, Trouble Comes Twice has earned close to 85,000 euros. This counts our profits from 2020 to now (the Kickstarter, Patreon, pre-sales, and actual sales). Removing fees, taxes, the salaries of our talented artists and other freelancers, as well as the money invested into our next game, our personal pockets did not see anything close to those numbers. But we're super proud of how much our little game has made and so grateful that it's allowed us more creative freedom with our next title! 

So, what's next?

You might have heard but for the past year, we've slowly been working on the demo and upcoming announcement for our next visual novel:

A 17+ supernatural neon-noir romance game about monsters, love, and other horrors. 

Play as vampire detective Circe (female protagonist) or hellhound cop Dante (male protagonist) and delve into the mysteries of North Haven, where demons, vampires, and supernaturals hide in plain sight among humans.

The game features six routes, with three romance options available to each protagonist. Dante only has male romances and Circe has both male and female romances. 

The game tackles a darker, more angsty tone compared to Trouble Comes Twice. Still, we hope that those who decide to check it out will enjoy it! We plan to announce the game this coming Autumn. Follow our Twitter (we're still not calling it X sorry) or Tumblr to stay up to date.

[imaginedanvrs]

encrypted relations

part 1 l masterlist

summary: yelena belova x reader. when natasha takes you under her wing, she becomes like family, and the last thing you want is to lose that. but when you meet her younger sister who you know is off limits, you have to decide between what you really want and hope for minimal damage

word count: 3.6k

warnings: alcohol, mentions of past toxic relationship and manipulation, sexual themes, implied death

“I cannot believe you met Nat's sister before me!” You exclaimed as you threw yourself down on your sofa and glared up at the ceiling, furious at the universe's mockery. 

  “Dude, I know! I wanted to call you but every time I was about to, someone started shooting at us again,” Kate said with a huff. “But I got her number and told her to text me next time she's in town…she hasn't been responding yet so it might be a fake number,” you could hear the pout.

  “Kate!” You whined, earning a curious glance from Marty who jumped up onto the sofa to settle down on top of you.

  “I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you,” she tried.

  “I'll hold you to that,” you huffed until a smile crept onto the corner of your lips. “So tell me everything,” you grinned as you held the phone closer to your ear. You always loved hearing about Kate's missions. Having known the young archer since before you managed to introduce her to her favourite hero, you had witnessed Kate's adventures transgress from more delinquent than crime fighter, to taking on the KingPin single handedly. You were confident her first fight with aliens was right around the corner. 

  At that, Kate lit up, springing into an animated recollection of everything that had happened in the past few days. Her account was no doubt exaggerated and a little out of order with how often she got side tracked with minute details, but you were able to gain at least an overview of the events that led their paths to cross. In short: widows. 

  Yelena had been able to trace down the small group of assassins who had slipped under her radar, due to their inbuilt paranoia now that the red room’s foundation had crumbled, and led her to New York. The widows, acting on their manmade instincts, had made some trouble in town that Kate had stepped in to deal with without knowing the full scale of what she faced. Fortunately, Yelena had jumped in just in time to stop Kate getting killed but in the chaos of it all, the widows got away. 

  After a great deal of persistence from Kate, Yelena eventually gave the archer the rundown and in doing so got herself a companion for the rest of her time in the city until they were swiftly able to find the widows once more and release them from their chemically induced trance. 

  “So what was she like?” You asked once you had processed Kate’s story. 

  “Total badass,” Kate summarised. 

  “Knew it,” you muttered as you scratched behind Marty’s ears.

  “Anway, I gotta take Lucky for his routine checkup so I’ll talk to you later,” Kate said before you could ask any more questions. 

  “Good luck, Lucky,” you called down the phone, hearing a distant woof in return before the call ended. You immediately opened your messages. 

  Me: yelena was back in town??? You typed out furiously. It took less than a minute to get a response, that meant that Nat was probably doing paperwork.

  Nat: haha yeah, you guys meet up?

  Me: no she was too busy hanging out with kate!! 

  Nat: i didn’t get to see her either :( you frowned as you read over the message, surprised that Yelena hadn’t gone to see her sister when she had the chance. 

  Me: what?? :( you paused, tapping your thumbs against the sides of your phone.

  Me: you free for lunch? 

  Nat: come by the tower? She was definitely doing paperwork. There had been so many times in the past where Natasha had been too swamped with paperwork to go out with you for lunch that you had developed somewhat of a routine for you to go and have lunch with the Russian as she worked. Much to her credit, her ability to hold a conversation while recollecting her missions was admirable. 

  Me: omw

  “Come on, Marty. We’re going to the tower,” you said as you patted his back. Your dog was quick to scramble off of you and make his way to the door, grabbing his collar and leash off of the hook while you grabbed your jacket. You took it from his mouth gently and fastened it on before making your way out. 

  It didn’t take you long to get through the security at the Avenger’s tower. In earlier years you had some issues, especially with the addition of Marty, because you had to sign in as a visitor even though you were accessing floors visitors couldn’t. Eventually, Tony had gotten you a pass that let you whizz through the gates and checks. 

  “Hey, Steve, how’s it going?” You greeted the soldier as you entered the common room. 

  “Hey kid, not so bad. I haven’t seen you in a while though, how’ve you been?” He asked as he crouched down to give Marty all the attention he had been anticipating. 

  “Same old,” you shrugged, settling into an easy catch up with the blond as he recollected his latest pop culture enrichments and visits to see Peggy. The pair of you didn’t get to talk for too long though, because Nat appeared at the other side of the room with her arms crossed across her chest. 

  “Mind if I steal this one away, Rogers?” Natasha asked with a slight grin. 

  “Course not, see you around, y/n,” Steve chuckled as he picked up his lunch and took it away. As soon as he did, Marty dashed across the room to the Russian with his tail wagging madly. It was obvious who his favourite was in the tower, same as you. 

  “Hi, Mutt,” Natasha cooed as she pampered the dog.

  “I told you not to call him that,” you said with a roll of your eyes even though it was hard not to smile every time. 

  “Why not? That’s what he is,” Natasha pointed out as she stood up and gave you a fond hug. You went through to the corner of the conference room with the sofas where Natasha had her laptop and two plates of pb&j sandwiches. 

  “So how come you didn’t get to see Yelena while she was in the city?” You asked right away. You and the Russian had never had a small talk type of relationship. 

  “She hadn’t been planning to come to the city in the first place, that was just where she was led to, but once she had handled everything she needed to, she was being called to chase another lead,” Natasha explained with an air of disappointment. 

  “I guess between Kate and the widows she was more than preoccupied while she was here,” you said as you reached for your sandwich and pondered Yelena’s general mission that took up so much of her time. In fact, it seemed to be an almost constant thing. 

  “Yelena’s been at this for what? A year now? Is she anywhere close to being done with it all?” You asked, knowing that the scale of what the young Russian had taken on was great but that the work she put in was greater. 

  “She reckons so,” Natasha said with a spark of hope in her eyes that was impossible not to catch. “I want her to come home, wherever that may be to her,” the spy admitted, knowing that her sister wouldn’t want to stay by her side forever. 

  “Even if you’re not home, you’re a pretty great timeshare.” You thought that was a nice thing to say, but the pb&j sandwich Nat threw at your face said otherwise. You grinned back at the redhead, knowing she didn’t have to worry about Yelena growing distant with her again and hoping the same would always apply to you. 

*

“So if Steve could lift mjolnir and they ruled Asgard together, would that make them some kind of power couple?” Kate asked as she leant against the wall next to your door. 

  “Like work husbands?” You rummaged around in your pockets for your keys while the archer continued. 

  “Royal work husbands,” she corrected. 

  “You’ll definitely have to ask them at the next party,” you chuckled as you eventually found your keys and started opening your apartment door. 

  “I wanted to ask at the last one but I thought as it was my first time meeting them that I should-”

  “Kate Bishop.” You and Kate spun in the direction of the voice as you fumbled for the light switch. “Y/n l/n,” the Russian continued once you had a light on her. 

  “Yelena!” Kate exclaimed with a broad smile as Lucky immediately dashed over to the blonde. Marty stayed close to your side as you stared at Yelena in awe while she greeted the labrador. “You know you don’t have to break into everyone’s apartments the first time you go to them, right?” The archer asked, placing her jacket on your coat rack while you continued to stand glued to the spot. 

  “I did not break anything and you were taking forever!” Yelena argued defensively as she stood up and set her eyes on you. “Y/n l/n,” she greeted. You could feel her assessing you, just like her sister had the first time she stood where the blonde was. 

  “Yelena Belova,” you said, taking in the Russian in front of you. Her blonde locks were loose over her designer jacket that had various broches scattered across it and had been matched perfectly with black trousers that fit comfortably enough to highlight her figure. She was clearly someone who took pride in how she looked and you understood why, she was beautiful. 

  You watched a smile inch at the corner of her lips and wondered what kind of assessment she had made of you. Had she noticed that your eyes had lingered a little too long on the curve of her hips or trace of a smile? You swiftly looked away, reminding yourself that maybe you shouldn’t be looking so intently at Natasha’s sister. 

  “It’s about time you guys met, huh?” Kate said as she glanced excitedly, though oblivious, between you both. Yelena was still looking at you, a fact you were aware of because her gaze was as intense as her sisters. 

  “Of course, my sister’s told me a lot about you,” Yelena informed as she observed you take Marty’s lead and collar off. 

  “Likewise,” you said with a brief glance in the Russian’s direction in hopes of avoiding picking up on any more of her perfections. “What brings you over here?” You asked to at least distract yourself. 

  “A lead,” Yelena tore her eyes away from you and moved to where Kate was sitting comfortably on your sofa. 

  “Already? It’s only been a few months since you were here last.” You listened to the pair converse as you strolled to the sliding glass panel that separated your bed from the rest of the studio apartment and threw your satchel down. 

  “This is bigger than last time,” Yelena explained, her voice dropping to that of a serious one. “I called Natasha but she didn’t pick up,” the Russian huffed. 

  “She’s in the Philippines,” you added as you reemerged, meeting Yelena’s emerald eyes. “They all are.”

  “So you want us?” Kate jumped in, clearly unbothered that she was the Russian’s second choice. 

  “I heard you’re good with tech, think you can access this?” Yelena held out a small device in your direction. You took it without letting your fingers brush and recognised the device right away. It was a sort of USB stick, though slightly modified so that it couldn’t fit into any ordinary USB port. You hadn’t seen one in a while but fortunately you had an adapter you could use to get started on it. 

  When you didn’t confirm if you could in fact access the device’s information, Kate didn’t hesitate to do it for you and started asking the blonde what her plan was and how she could help and how come she didn’t respond to the memes she sent her. Instead of listening, you brought out your adapter and set to work on analysing the task ahead of you. It didn’t take long to realise the coding it required was advanced. Not too advanced for you, but enough of a challenge that you wouldn’t be able to hand the device back over that night. 

  “It’s gonna take me a while,” you admitted openly to the Russian. “I’m sorry, I know it’s probably time sensitive but it’s just a little-”

  “It’s okay, y/n l/n,” Yelena was quick to assure. In your line of work, you weren’t used to patience so you looked at the blonde sceptically, wondering if she actually understood how long ‘a while’ could be. “Just text me when it is ready and I will come back.” Oh. So she did know. 

  “You can stay if you want,” you offered as Yelena stood up. She gave you a smile, one that you knew you would be thinking about for the rest of that evening because it felt like it was just for you. 

  “Yeah, it’s friday night and we have jello shots in the fridge,” Kate added, already setting off in the direction of the kitchen. 

  “Some other time,” Yelena said as she went to leave. 

  “So you do know how to use a door,” you couldn’t help but quip as Yelena stood in the doorway. 

  “See you soon, y/n l/n,” Yelena smiled with a glint of something promising in her eyes. The moment she shut the door you spun around in your chair to face Kate. 

  “She’s kinda intense.” Kate shrugged as she carried a tray over with a few snacks and shots on. Anyone else would have thought she lived with you. 

  “You get used to it.” 

  “I didn’t say it was a bad thing,” you muttered as you joined the archer on your sofa. She didn’t miss your comment. 

  “She’s also kinda cute though, don’t you think?" Kate commented as she flicked through your tv. You didn’t answer until you finished your first cup of jello. 

  “I guess,” you said nonchalantly. Kate hummed, about to pry further to confirm her suspicions when her phone chimed. 

  Yelena: meet tomorrow at central park? Bring the bow and arrow

  “Be careful, Kate,” you vocalised your concern. 

  “Always,” she assured with a nudge to your shoulder. “Guess that means these are all for you though,” the archer said, pushing the shots your way. Just as you downed the second one and Kate picked a film, your own phone chimed. 

  Unknown number: you need better locks on your window

  “Did you give her my number?” Kate looked over at your screen and chuckled to herself. 

  “Nope,” she said simply, amused that the blonde had managed to get it on her own. 

  Me: i dont usually have to worry about spies breaking in you typed out, choosing not to mention that you lived in a S.H.I.E.L.D apartment as that clearly wasn’t adequate enough.

  Yelena: really? How have you made it this long?

  Me: im kind of friends with the best spy in the world

  Yelena: we’re friends already?? You rolled your eyes at that and bit back a smile. 

  Me: we’ll see ;) 

  You turned your phone off and took another shot just as your phone chimed again. Kate gave you a questioning look as you ignored the device and tried to give all your attention to the tv. “I knew you guys would get on great,” she said smugly. 

  “She’s pretty cool,” you admitted nonchalantly before sneaking a glance at your phone once more. 

  Yelena: see you soon ;)

>>>

Slam.

  You jumped, spinning around to face her as she stepped into the living room. You never hear the keys jingle on the other side of the door. You never even hear the door open or the two steps into the apartment before she slammed the door shut, eyes already set on you. The control she had over deciding when you’re aware of her presence had always been something your girlfriend found entertainment from and took full advantage of. She never hid that, she didn’t have to. It wasn’t like you were actually going to voice your discomfort. 

  “Hi,” you greeted, cautiously searching Rae’s eyes for any indicator of what the mood of the evening was going to be. She doesn’t respond and that’s what you were hoping she wouldn’t do. Instead, she looked at the screen behind you as she ventured forwards. You glanced back at the monitor and can’t see how it’s anything of much interest. To anyone else it might be, but your girlfriend had seen it all before. 

  “Find anything good?” She asked as she stood so close to your side that her arms were brushing your own. 

  You were on NASA’s website, the secure part, the part you had to do some amateur hacking to get into. You had done it before. In fact, you frequented the site from time to time though not nearly as much as you used to. It had lost its appeal since the first time aliens invaded and had put an end to the question of life on other planets. S.H.I.E.L.D held the information that was of real interest to you, but NASA uploaded prettier pictures in their reports. 

  “They think they’ve found a black hole that’s going to collapse in on itself in a few thousand years. Last month S.H.I.E.L.D said Carol Danvers confirmed it collapsed years ago,” you shrugged. Your girlfriend hummed. “How was your day?” You asked after a long moment. 

  “Shit. I need you to look up a report for me, something under the name Dmitriev,” she continued. You didn’t push it, no matter how much you wished you could talk normally about your days like other couples did. Instead, you made your way into S.H.I.EL.D’s system as your girlfriend disappeared to grab a drink, knowing it could take you a while to get in in a way that ensured you wouldn’t be detected. Dozens of challenging (though not impenetrable) firewalls later, you were browsing the system as Rae spelt out the name to you. Nothing appeared. You heard a frustrated huff behind you and tried again in an encrypted corner of the system. Nothing. You could feel the fuse shortening, closing in on something eruptive. 

  You swallowed the small lump in your throat and tried to take a moment to think. You had never searched anything specific in S.H.I.E.L.D before, only ever browsing through the categories that caught your interest, making you question more what your girlfriend wanted with such specific information from the division. She had never asked for anything like that before, only ever sharing your curiosity in what was going on beyond your atmosphere. Hacking wasn’t your job, just a hobby. 

  You heard the barstool scrape across the wooden floor a couple feet behind you and a dull clink as Rae set her drink down on the worktop and sat down, eyes boring into the screen the same way they did to you when she wanted something you were reluctant to give. Then an idea came to mind and you hurriedly ran your homemade scanner extension over the screen, revealing a single report file titled ‘Dmitriev’. Rae was at your side in an instant. 

  She didn’t stop you from opening the file yourself, nor did she say anything as you realised you were reading a forty page document about a Hydra operative that was currently in a S.H.I.E.L.D safehouse. You frowned as you read on, willing yourself to stop because you knew information like that was harmful to possess and that you had put yourself in danger the moment you opened the document. Yet you continued and sat there in silence for a full half an hour. You only stopped reading once you felt light kisses being peppered along the side of your neck. 

  “Good job,” Rae muttered against you as you craned your neck and she moved to straddle your legs. Her lips moved to the side of yours as she held your face in her hands, helping you forget all of the questions that were building. She always had a way of making you disregard right and wrong. “Good girl,” she continued and finally kissed you properly. Your head was spinning, it wasn’t often she got like that. 

  Her hand ventured into the waistband of your sweatpants in a silent promise of a long, tender night. She was gentle, insatiable and rewarding at every moment’s peak until you had nothing left to give. You were entirely consumed in one another both in motions and mind, as though there was nothing outside of your proximity and an illusion that nothing would ever compare that connection of sensations. She was your universe and it was devastatingly easy to forget that you were far, far less than that to her. 

  Rae’s strikingly good mood lasted for several more days that you were glad to have cherished. Your willful illusion of peace was shattered when she threw a vase at you, one that you had bought a few weeks prior. As the emptiness crept up on you, so did the questions about your S.H.I.E.L.D search that you would never ask aloud, until one night, when Rae was out with people you had never been introduced to, you returned to your computer and went through the motions to find the file. This time, when you opened the document, blood red letters covered the entirety of the first page. 

  ‘Deceased’. 

  There were several new paragraphs in the document. You didn’t read them. You logged off the sight, turned your computer off and went to bed. What you didn’t know couldn’t haunt you. 

[larvasmoon]

New Year writing tag

Thank you for the tag @cinnamontails-ff <3

What's been your biggest learning point this past year?

Trying to be a little more confident? I've been trying to work on that s because I feel like my self-depreciation habits are hindering me when I write.

How has your writing developed this past year?

It's my first year writing again, I stopped writing somewhere during my college years and only found the courage to do it again in 2024. My writing is still pretty flawed and I keep learning as I go, but it's part of the process :) There's always room for improvement! I'm starting to know my writing style better and I finally understand how punctuation works in English haha! A win is a win!

Good writing habits?

Trying to build a writing routine and being a little less messy. I plan my stories a better and I try to write everyday!

Bad writing habits?

Working on multiple projects (because I can't help it) and editing while I write (because I'm crazy and I like to suffer) but I'm working on those, I promise.

Favorite thing you wrote?

I really love Portrait of the pale elf , I'll probably always love it, it's my first long fic and I'm very emotionally attached to it. I have to say though that some part of me loves my silly Christmas AU Starry Nights even more. I didn't expect it to happen but I love Maven so much! It's taking me longer than planned to finish it, but if you still want to know what will happen to Maven and Astarion, the last two chapters should come out in January :))

Favorite reads?

I really liked Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk, it's a very beautiful sapphic vampire novel with a gothic feel. Also enjoyed Once upon a broken heart by Stephanie Garber. I read the Caraval series when I was young, and I think I like this one even more.

Biggest win?

Never giving up. My mental health hasn't always been good during this year but I'm glad I never yielded to the bad thoughts and stopped writing altogether. I wish I had finished a project though! But I hope I'll be able to do that this year ;)

I'm also exceedingly grateful for all the beautiful people I got to meet through this fandom <3 Thank you so much for being a constant source of inspiration as well as the sweetest people I've ever met.

Goals for the new year?

Finishing Portrait of the pale elf

Writing a novel

Starting another project, most like an Arcane fanfic or Lord of the rings fanfic

Your favorite words of the year, aka the words you check each chapter for, making sure you didn't repeat them 788 times?

Gaze, eyes, stare, "and yet", after all ... And so on, I have far too many of those!

What are you excited for in the new year?

Excited to continue writing my ongoing projects and keep getting better at writing :) I'll probably make the jump and start writing original fiction as well at some point, I'm so excited!

No pressure tag: @anacdoce @pinkberrytea @roguishcat @obsessedwhyyes (sorry if you've been tagged already)

[larkingame]

hello folks! I hope that January has treated you all well and that the beginning of 2024 has been kind to you so far. welcome to the second public update for larkin's monthly development of 2024! 

Personally, January seemed to fly by for me, and while it did provide a lot of time for work, it also posed some challenges and taught me a few things. The first of which, is the fact that the new Larkin is a //big// undertaking, bigger than I think even I realized when I first set out on this journey. While turning Larkin into an RPG, with dice rolls, stat checks and the like is a decision that I'm still very happy with and proud of my progress on--it's going slower than I'd necessarily like. To illustrate this to you, the prologue of Larkin currently sits at about 55k words, while the original twine prologue was at just about 21k words in it's complete scope. The big difference there being, in those original 21k words I managed to get the plot moving and the Preacher and Wyatt on their way to Nevada, but in the time that I've been working on the RPG version of Larkin, I've only just about gotten finished with the first major encounter. It's slow going, and I'm working really hard to ramp up the production speed--adjusting my schedule to wake up at 5:00 am to work for a few hours before work and school, and then coming home and working on larkin until about 1:30 am (as much I hate this fact, I //do// in fact need //some// sleep.) Even with all of my free time dedicated to work on Larkin or catching those few precious hours of sleep, I'm still not entirely happy with the speed at which I'm working on it--and I'm still experimenting to try and figure out what works best that helps me produce quality work with a quick turn-around. 

That being said, one of my new systems I've implemented to try and alleviate my production stress is that I've started dropping two updates to the game every week. The first update comes on Thursdays and is called what I've dubbed a 'Bulk' Update, it essentially builds on the choices/routes that have already been presented to the player, giving you room to explore your environment/develop your character compared to the Sunday 'Streamline' Update, that furthers along the plot of the story. Later tonight I'll be posting an update roadmap for the month of February on Patreon. 

Other brief updates about the progress of the game. For one, I've been working with two artists—one who is producing some art that'll be used as future patreon physical rewards and another who's putting together portraits of all the game's main characters that I am. Sickeningly excited about, considering that this artist is my current favorite working artist of all time. In total there's going to be sixteen character portraits that you'll be able to unlock throughout the course of the game, with slight variations depending on our relationship with that character. Other than that, me and my assistant Phillip are in the process of really trying to build a bigger social media presence for Larkin, so we'll be launching twitter/threads/bluesky/instagram and editing the tiktok pages for Larkin, that I'll drop in a card later tonight as well. I’ve also introduced another patreon tier of $1 for those of you who are wanting more consistent updates on the game development on Patreon!

STATS: 

PROLOGUE WORDCOUNT: 55, 750 words

ROUTE TRACKER: 1.5/11

PROLOGUE WORDCOUNT GOAL: 150k

[twstbookclub]

I really like the writing about Silver until now and I hope you don't mind a request

Can I request him? Quite angsty. Where MC and Silver kinda failed to tell their feelings for one another, until MC had a chance to go home and given a choice to stay or to go home to their original world.

Tho I prefer a happy ending. So I would like to see how it ends :")

It all changes overnight.

Summary: You and Silver are genuinely in love, but neither of you wish to tell each other as to not ruin the relationship that's already been developed. You find out that a way home has been found, and you can finally leave... but do you really want to? POV: 2nd POV Pronouns: Gender Neutral Admin/Writer: Kai⚔️ Tags: Silver, MC gets to go home, angst, angst with a happy ending, romance, request Word Count: 1,452

A/N: I am so sorry that this took so long to write ;; I'll be honest, I didn't even know how to start this. The other admins and I discussed time and time again and we would get stumped just trying to figure out what could make Silver have to suddenly leave or for the moment to be interrupted. That, and I had moved homes, had to find a new job, and lots of other life events, so it put my writer life on hold. Now that the job I have is a lot more laid back, I can finally go back to freely writing and being able to post again. To our regular readers and those who are just finding this page again; thank you all for waiting and reading. We will do our best to bring back the page even if it is a slow process, and we will come back with more ideas(trust me, we have a lot already planned out and ready to write) Enjoy your request finally being posted, requester.

“He fell asleep in the classroom again…” You whisper softly, while standing in front of the silver-haired boy’s desk, with a gentle smile.

“You’re lucky to not have your club today.”

Your eyes stay on him while carefully moving hair strands out of his face. You loved him. It was like a fairytale based on love at first sight. Meeting him was something very unexpected. Well, finding yourself in the world of Twisted Wonderland was weird enough as is.

The light of the sunset would shine on his perfect and kind features, his gentleness visible from miles away. You take your hand away after a few more seconds and look away, getting ready to leave the classroom.

“Prefect?” A voice calls out, which quickly catches your attention, and you turn to see Crowley standing at the classroom door. You look at Silver one more time before walking away to talk to the Headmaster.

“Well, young student, I have some good news for you.” The Headmaster began to speak, and the term “good news” made you perk up.

“Ah, I see you’re interested. So, I’ll tell you.”

You nod once and listen attentively. “Is it news about me getting to go home?” You ask, that topic being the only thing you could call good—amazing news even.

Crowley turned his expression into one that was deadpan and unenthusiastic. “Now you’ve ruined my surprise.”

“I—” You were about to retort, but then Crowley’s words began to click. “Wait… What? I can finally go home!?” Your voice was filled with excitement at the realization.

“You can. I was able to confirm that what we found out before was true.” The headmaster was excited for you, and all you could do was feel relief.

Before you knew it, the figure you had been taking care of was standing beside you.

“Prefect.”

“Silver…” You say with a bit of surprise, turning your head to see him.

“Silver! Have you heard about us figuring out a way to send the prefect back home?” Crowley said with excitement. Silver’s expression became surprised before he looked at you. After that, Crowley left and you were left with a slightly awkward situation.

You didn’t know what to say, so you gave Silver a nervous smile instead. “Oops…?”

Silver took a moment before laughing lightly and starting to walk with you. The pace was slow, but the tension was thick enough to break a knife. You mostly stare around, but occasionally share small smiles and glances with him.

Walking all the way to his dorm, by the time you both arrive, it’s almost curfew. You stop at the start of the bridge ahead and look at him, feeling a bit guilty. “I’m sorry for not telling you. I just—”

“Why are you apologizing?” His words caught you off guard, yet they were warming your heart somehow. “You get to go home, and that’s amazing. You’ve been here for so long, and who knows what’s going on in your world.”

His words were genuine and they made you smile, but the feeling of letting this place go was painful. “I know, but Silver—”

“Go back home. You deserve to go back home.” Silver had a gentle smile on his face, yet it only hurt more. You wanted to scream about how you felt about him, just before it was too late.

“Silver… I—”

“Silver!!!” 

A loud voice from across the bridge calls out to the silver-haired boy, and instantly catches his attention. It was Sebek.

“Malleus-sama is looking for you!”

You were in a bit of disbelief at the timing, but you knew that Malleus was the first priority for the students of the Diasomnia dormitory. You could only give him a bitter smile to convince and reassure him. “Go see what Malleus needs. We can talk at another time.”

Silver only looked at you with slight disappointment, before he returned your smile. “Thank you. Tell me what you want to say another time, okay?”

You nodded and walked off to go back to your own dorm. You wanted to tell him, just in case you wouldn’t see each other again. Even just telling him would be enough, but it didn’t seem like life wanted that for you.

The next day, the morning sun greeted everything with a beautiful hello, but you were standing right in front of the Mirror Chamber with the portal open to go home. You were hesitant to even step through. You really didn’t want to go home, but you had a life apart from this vastly different world.

It hurt. You knew that a way home was right in front of you, but deep down, you weren’t ready to leave yet. The thought of leaving everything behind was creating a tight feeling in your chest. It was a loss. Leaving Twisted Wonderland and going home wasn’t what you wanted, but never returning home didn’t sound proper. You had to go home. This story shouldn’t have happened.

You took a breath and stepped forward, but stopped at the sound of the door to the Mirror Chamber opening. You turned around and saw Silver standing there, heavily breathing and looking worried. “Prefect…”

“Silver? How did you—” 

“Lilia told me. Crowley told all of the housewardens that you decided to go home,” he said as he moved closer to where you were, but still kept his distance. “Were you planning on leaving without saying goodbye?”

“I didn’t w—I mean—” You didn’t know how to explain in a logical way, so the last resort was to just let everything out.

“How could I say goodbye when I don’t even know if I want to leave? I don’t want to leave you, my friends, or anything at all here.”

“Then why didn’t you talk to someone first?” Silver was careful and gentle with his words, like he always was with you, but that’s what made you want to burst.

“Because the only person I wanted to talk to was you! I wanted you to be the person that convinced me to stay, but we never got that chance,” you spoke with a pain in your heart. Your breathing was getting shaky just trying to hold everything in.

His eyes widen at what he’s hearing, but he keeps his tone soft. “What are you talking about? We’ve had that chance—” 

“No, we haven’t. I didn’t want to tell anyone, until Crowley gave me the confirmation that I could go home. I tried to tell you yesterday, but I know how important it is to attend to Malleus, so I let you go. Then, you told me that I deserved to go home, so I gave up on trying,” you explained and watched him get closer to pull you away from the portal.

Silver slowly placed his hands on your shoulders and began to speak firmly, “Call me. Text me. Even if it’s at the brink of dawn, if you need someone to listen to you, I will fight off my drowsiness to be there for you, as long as you need me to be there. I will not leave you alone. I will not leave you to suffer alone. If you want me to be there for you, then I will do that. I will not leave your side until you push me away, but even if you do that, I will not leave until I know you no longer need me.”

His words were like bandaids plastered to your broken heart, keeping you from falling deeper into the despair of the situation. The urge to cry was there, but instead, you let out a small string of words without realizing it.

Yet, he said the same words along with you.

“I love you.”

Both of you looked at each other with surprise, yet it would slowly melt into affection the more you stared into his eyes.

“As much as you deserve to go home, don’t go. Deep down, I don’t want you to go.”

Your eyes widen at the sound of him practically pleading for your stay. It was so new to you, but you could feel the impact of his words regardless.

“I know you have a life back in your world, but you have a life here too. You can keep going to Night Raven College, hang out with us and, while this isn’t something that could convince you completely… You can be with me,” Silver spoke while looking directly at you, giving you a smile at the end of his words.

You felt your heart grow warm, but you began to feel your face getting hotter from how flustered you were getting.

Maybe staying in this world wouldn’t be so bad.

[sagau-my-beloved]

I hope I'm not too late for some more Avian Venti brainrot!

If you'll humor me, here's a brief discussion of bird anatomy: when bird feathers are still developing, they're called pin feathers! They're covered with a protective keratin sheath, which needs to be removed when the feather is fully developed. Birds usually remove the sheath when they "preen", but they need help (either from humans, or from other birds) to remove the sheaths from hard-to-reach places.

Now that we've established some base knowledge, consider: Venti needing help after molting and growing new feathers. He can reach some of them, thanks to having, y'know, hands, but the feathers near the very base of his wings are a problem. It's also a little more difficult to remove them, since birds' beaks are shaped better for the task than our hands.

So if you help him with the process of removing those pin feathers, once they've grown in and are starting to feel uncomfortable-- he'd be over the MOON with gratitude. It's super relaxing, too-- you can have him in your lap, with his back toward you, gently caressing his wings and slowly easing out the itchy little sheaths of keratin. As if he didn't already enjoy having you touch his wings, Venti would be totally blissed out as you take care of him, the tension relieving him with each new feather you help him unfurl.

Never too late, you could come to me 50 years down the line, long after this blog's inevitable end, and I'll rise from the depths like some unholy lovecraftian creature true story

So, really thinking about it, the entire backside of his wings would count as a hard to reach place since they're so big and hands only reach so far, kinda cute to imagine him trying to do it himself though, just reaching as far as humanly possible with a concentrated expression only to lose his balance and have to pull himself back up with a huff

I did look into it a bit more and it seems to be either a yearly or bi-yearly experience depending on the bird, so I imagine he just intensely looks forward to the collection of days you'll indulge him, I wouldn't even put it past him to mark it on a personal calendar (that he mainly dedicates to events relating to you) just to be able to cross off the days till

Just imagining him completely blissed out, only half conscious enough to protest if you even think about moving your hands away, 👌

It'd probably take multiple hours, knowing how big his wings are, so by the end of it he'd be completely and wholly out of it

And I'm 100% sure that you'd be the only one he'd let do it, maybe in the past when he only had some closer friends to help out he'd be more open with who he asked to partake, it's not entirely an 'intimate' act by nature, and attempting to do it all himself would just lead to frustration and possible injury, so he couldn't really afford to be picky

But now that you're here, his incredibly benevolent savior, you're the only living being he'd ever want for any act involving his wings, especially if you've taken any interest in them at all

And of course he's so incredibly grateful, unbelievably greatful that you indulge him so, but all it really does is make him that much more possessive of you

He can't help it that he needs you, both mentally and physically, you provide so much for everyone whose lives you touch so it's difficult to get you all to himself, but he needs you so much more than anyone else, he couldn't imagine living day to day without you and this is just another reminder of that

But now, imagine that exact same scenario with the addictive touch au, I think it might actually kill him, but that's probably the way he'd want to die anyway so—

[angelofthemornings]

Okay, I came up with an action plan. I sort of want to share it with others, so after I review it with my therapist next week I'll post it to r/hikikomori. I'll show you folks too.

I decided to come up with an action plan about my condition based both on personal research and input from my new therapist. I'll make reminders in my phone calendar and come back with three month, six month, and one year updates. If anyone would like to do the challenge with me, please comment and update as well! I'm doing this publicly partially because I think it would be a little easier for me to do something for others and not just myself. If I'm a success story people can look at, then others might figure out how to help themselves too.

Some background on me:

I was a healthy, active, and industrious kid. Very curious, always doing something, a hard worker. The only thing wrong with me was some autism, very mild.

However, I developed severe insomnia around the age of thirteen and was unable to sleep until two or three AM. My parents decided I was "being obstinate" and refused to take me to a doctor or even get me OTC sleeping pills. Instead, I'd get locked in an empty closet hoping I'd pass out from boredom (I didn't), or dragged out of bed and onto the floor at six AM by my arm or my hair and forced to go to school on only a couple hours' sleep. Maybe an adult could handle that kind of sleep deprivation and still function, but for a child this was torture, especially because I was screamed at and sometimes hit every morning because I struggled to get up and going. I completely collapsed mentally - I even started bedwetting - and dropped out of school within a few months of my insomnia appearing, becoming a hikikomori. I spent over a decade more or less in captivity, and, possibly due to the stress of isolation, I developed bipolar disorder and epilepsy (I'm pretty sure, at least, that both came after I entered social withdrawal and weren't the cause) and I also struggled with alcoholism for a bit. I have some other trauma from things like relationships - I ran away and lived briefly with an older man as a teenager and it was really bad - and some other things, but that's not important right now.

I spend all my time lurking on social media looking for cheap dopamine hits and reading ebooks on my phone and that's just about it. After a LOT of trying and failing I'm able to draw and paint on a tablet for at least a few minutes most days as well.

So, as for the challenge.

My first step was stabilizing my health (bipolar disorder and epilepsy are in control and my sleep schedule is good, and I stopped drinking using the Sinclair method). That's taken care of.

Here are my instructions to myself for the rest of my healing process:

1. Accept that you were driven into a fragile and fearful state that is so normal to you now that you don't even notice it. Try to notice it. There are lots of things you want to do and don't do, and things you do that you don't want to be doing, and they grate on you. Pay attention to those moments and challenge and interrogate them, like:

"I don't want to get on social media this morning. Why do I feel like I have to?" Once you have answered that: "Is that true? Do I really have to? What will I feel if I don't do it and is that feeling really going to be intolerable?"

"I want to pick up a little, but I can't make myself. Why is that? Okay, it feels like I'm afraid my back will hurt. But how much will it hurt and will I go all to pieces if it does get sore? No, I think I can handle it."

"I need to clean the snow off of the car and I can't do it, but I can't identify why. What is something I could do to make myself more comfortable doing it? Maybe I'm hungry and could eat lunch first to get myself energized and to move around a little before doing any labor, or maybe I subconsciously realize I'm not wearing warm enough clothes."

Now is where all the research you've undoubtedly done about ADHD and autism stuff will come in handy. "Oh, it looks like I feel like I'm not going to be on time so I won't do anything before my telehealth appointment, even quickly change the clothes I've been in for three days...I know from my research that I can use a visual timer to help with that."

You'll have to talk to yourself like a mother negotiating gently with a very young child, or like someone rehabilitating an abused kitten, and that's okay. "Reparenting yourself" is a very common technique in American psychology. Remember that the father of hikikomori studies, Saito Tamaki, is really against firmness and force. He often compares it to "driving someone into the corner." Your job is not to discipline yourself and try to get tougher, your job is to coax yourself out of that corner. Again, the "abused kitten" model of thinking about yourself should work well here according to him - I don't think telling a feral kitten that Marcus Aurelius wouldn't approve is going to make it stop cowering. Kindness and creating a safe emotional atmosphere so it feels comfortable expanding its boundaries will.

Understand that "making yourself comfortable so you can do things" is much different than just "making yourself comfortable"; the latter is the kind of retreat that led to your unhealthy lifestyle. The former is purposeful healing.

Also understand that this "mindfulness" will take time to do consistently and is sometimes going to get annoying and cost energy. But if you can manage to do it for even one thought/action you want to change a day, that's still significant and will grow into serious progress.

2. Move physically. I don't mean go outside and jog for an hour right away, that's like, step nineteen. Moving physically and "being in my body" or "aware of my body" is difficult for me because of self-hatred and possibly some sexual abuse trauma, and after all this sedentary isolation I feel very detached from it. You'll want to start with very small stuff like chair yoga or those under-the-desk pedal things, and for only a few minutes. You can work your way up to true exercise later, for now, your job is just to get used to yourself as having a body.

3. Go outside by yourself, with no particular reason at first to decrease pressure. To start, I want to drive to the park at least twice and then three times a week, I don't even have to get out of the car, just practice being there. After I can regularly go to the park without feeling stressed, I can go to the public indoor pool and swim, just to practice being visible around others (water is really soothing to me). Then I'll attend virtual meetings for something - I've found some groups for autistics, LGBT, etc. After establishing regular attendance at virtual groups, I want to start going to the open art studio held at the library every week. That is attended exclusively by old ladies and they're always happy to see younger people, and older women generally have good social skills that'll compensate for my bad ones, and it's way less pressure than trying to create a social circle with people my own age. I also can either sit there quietly and make art or choose to socialize a little, nothing is obligatory.

If I struggle too much with the virtual groups or open art studio, I might attend an adult day care center for the disabled and have people pick me up to go, so that I'll have something external pushing me.

After I get used to that, I need to focus on one-on-one stuff which is very hard for me. To do that, I want to get virtual lessons in language learning (expensive but I'm going to try to squeeze it out of my budget) (on italki you're paying the tutor to be nice to you and you're not talking in your native language, so you're going to stumble and be awkward by default, no shame) or in violin so I can improve my skills and express myself. After I get used to people that way, I can try to join things like book clubs in my area and meet people in their 20s and 30s naturally.

4. This is about where I can start considering maybe a part-time job or school. It might be useful to take a class or classes on Coursera first, that way I can practice structure and doing things consistently for weeks on end.

5. In general, I want to make a list of three things to do every day. At least one of them should be a fun thing that I'd like to enjoy but struggle to do, like playing my violin. Another one should be something challenging and productive I can do on my phone, like use a language learning app, because phone activities are easiest for me. The remaining slot can go to obligations like doctor's appointments or cleaning up.

Advice: Studies show (source: Tiny Habits, written by the director of the Stanford Behavior Design lab) that you actually have a very limited window to reward yourself for good behavior, as in, less than a second. Saying you'll eat ice cream after dinner if you do something in the morning isn't effective. What you need to do is, after you've done something you want to reward, give yourself a bit of congratulations. I personally started playing the Final Fantasy victory sting in my head once I've done something I want to do. (The author of the book says he does a little dance or goes "Yay me!" when he does something like his pushups.) I also got the Do It Now app, which gives you points for tasks you set so you can watch yourself level, and I added not only obligatory stuff (cleaning, brushing teeth, appointments, etc.) but entertaining things that aren't sitting on a screen that I'd like to do more of but are hard for me (violin, listening to music, etc.). These two tools can give me tangible, psychologically appealing rewards. I don't know why being able to press a button in an app and watch a number go up is so satisfying, but it is.

Also, meditating helps (especially because it makes you more aware of your thoughts, that's useful for step one). I financed a Muse S meditation headband that reads my brainwaves and rewards me with audio cues when I reach a relaxed state, but I'm not going to say that's necessary because I want this challenge to be as cheap as possible for everyone.

Above all, be gentle, and give yourself points for trying even if you can only do something for a minute or two.

[lady-vincent]

New Year Writing Tag

Good Morning 2025!!!!! Thank you for tagging me @cinnamontails-ff I've been meaning to go in depth about my writing this past year :)

What's been your biggest learning point this past year?

Perserverance. And how that goes hand in hand with patience. With hyperfixating on things and burning too quickly through all my passion for a project, I am known for starting something in a rush and then just never returning to it. Despite having my ups and downs this year with consistency. I kept coming back to a project, even if it wasn't what I wanted it to be right away. I haven't been able to keep up with myself on those terms since the early days of my writing.

How has your writing developed this past year?

I've been trying to learn the balance between cutting down and expanding on an idea. Getting rid of filler words has tidied up my writing a lot, but because I'm a certified yapper I'm sure I'll continue working on that in the new year. The expansion usually comes into my drafting process when I'm trying to set a scene or connect themes across chapters. (Shout out drafting! You were my enemy for so long, and this year I finally gave you a chance!)

Good writing habits?

Writing things down when I think of them. I'm not perfect at this yet, but I spent many workdays scribbling on scrap pieces of paper and now my life is littered with multi-colored notes. But that's better than my overarching habit of saying "oh, I'll just remember that."

Bad writing habits?

Comparison and self-talk. For as many hours as I spend writing I spent twice as much time beating myself up for it. There are very few cases where a good writing flow and positive feelings about the words on the page actually line up. But the unreasonable standards I hold myself to are a constant lesson I'm having to reteach myself. Perfectionism you win again.

Favorite thing you wrote?

Honestly? Probably my holiday au. I wrote thousands upon thousands of words for my long fic and there are some scenes that I think about constantly. (Shoutout sunset scene you know who you are!) But with how much fun I had switching up to a modern, rom-com style, I fear it has to take the award.

Favorite reads?

I had a very lame published reading year. Again with the not finishing things trope. But "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo was one of my completed reads and I absolutely adored it.

Biggest win?

I think getting past the brain dump stage of writing and actually making headway towards finishing a long work (or even a short one). And even though it seems silly, having my writing read by one of my favorite writers (who tagged me in this no less!! I hope this isn't cringey behavior) has got to be one of my top events of 2024. It's very hard for me to allow people access to my work. Friends, family, people I look up to. I literally fight it tooth and nail, despite having a need for feedback and shared joy. So, this was really something special and I think of it very, very fondly.

Goals for the new year?

Finish something. I want to complete at least one work and hold it in my hands, maybe even learn a little book binding to make it feel real and prove to myself that I can pull through.

Work on my personal novel projects. I really want to have a first draft of a publishable story.

Give myself grace and room to breathe when it comes to critiquing myself.

Your favorite words for the year, aka the words you check each chapter for, making sure you didn't repeat them 788 times?

"perhaps", "eyes", "look", "hand", "given", "quite". There's a lot of Astarion angst words that I had to look out for. "Churning", "broiling", "aching", "burning". A looooot of drama words.

What are you excited for in the new year?

Already being so close to achieving one of my biggest goals. I have a short story on the cusp of completion, and I can't wait to experience that feeling of success.

Working on building a writing community. I haven't had a group of writers around me since my middle school days. I think it would help me feel less like I'm projecting words into the void by having people around who know the ups and downs of this passion.

Tags! Pretty much all of the people I have in my repertoire have already been mentioned, so I'm gonna pass the sword to anyone who sees this and wants a reason to write out their goals and achievements!!! Happy New Year!!

[trsf-theblog]

I just want to say that I really, really appreciate your fanfiction. I have been glued to my screen for the past week out of pure suspense, trying to finish because I am just so engaged. You are an insanely good writer, and I aspire to write like you someday. I especially like your dialogue, because it seems like something that the real characters would say, and not forced or fake, and the portrayal of Dean's inner voice. How do you do it?

Incantessant,

Hello! Thank you for your question and for the wonderful compliments. I am so honored and happy to hear you enjoyed reading mah little beastie of a story! As for how I do it, haha, oh boy, what a question. I admit some of it comes naturally. I've always been good at stringing words together in a powerful or effective manner. That part I can't really explain because it's not something I learned. The rest of it, though, comes from practice, exposure, and a whooooole lot of observation! For the writing portion of it, anytime I come across writing that hits particularly hard or that I like, I jot it down. Every once in a while I read through that list, both for inspiration but also to remind myself there's a thousand ways to write and maybe I should try something new in my own writing! It's how I ended up developing my own style, one bit at a time. I kinda plucked things I liked from all over the place and slowly worked them into my own writing until I created a style that was unique and wholly mine. For nailing dialogue specific to characters that already exist, that's all observation! I really enjoy character studies, both ficitonal and real. You know how people in your life (friends, siblings, parents, etc) act and talk. And they each talk differently. They favor different words, have individual cadences, emphasize things differently, lean towards humor or sarcasm or seriousness, monotone vs excitable, and so on. You can almost treat it like a game - try to predict how someone will respond to a specific question or situation. Something internal will tell you whether or not what you came up with sounds like that person. You may not nail the word choice perfectly and whatnot, but you'll be able to make a good general guess. Then I go and do the same things with characters! Once you have enough data (enough dialogue and screen time for a character), you can start trying out different scenarios for them and what they might say. The more familiar you get with the character, the easier that becomes. If you find yourself struggling with a specific character, try out a bunch of dialogue prompts and scenarios to play with how a character might respond. I'll admit to plenty of times where I had to stop writing because I couldn't quite nail down a character's dialogue. The key there was to let go of what I wanted to be said and focused on what the character would actually say. It's hard when you're writing and want the story to go a certain way, or have certain things that need to be said (either plot-driving lines or zingers and one-liners, etc) but sometimes what you want doesn't actually match the character. The hardest part is letting go of that and writing true to the character, even if it takes you someplace you weren't planning on. Adjusting plot and circumstance is generally easier than trying to force a character to do something that's not in their nature. That's how I do it, anyway! 😁 Hope it helps you on your own writing journey. I love talking about the writing process, so feel free to ask me stuff anytime. Thanks again for taking time to let me know you enjoy my work! Cheers,

Silence

[aswegoalong72]

July 2024 Writing Update

Hello again! It’s been a few months since I’ve done one of these, and I apologize for that! Between art, life, and illness, I haven’t had as much time as I had hoped for writing.

I'm going to be very busy these next few weeks still, especially when I get a chance to get a new art pen, but I'm hoping to still make some steady progress when I can from time to time!

My last update was on March 6th, 2024, back when I would do weekly updates. Instead of doing that and adding unnecessary pressure unto myself, I'll just be doing monthly updates!

Before I formally begin the update, I would like to share a bit of news in regards to the project; I'm re-writing almost the entirety of Piercing The Veil!

Back when I had a bit of downtime to read what I had over in April, I found I had way too much exposition, not enough dialog, or character development. PTV is the first book I ever wrote, and a lot of the early chapters are definitely showing their lack of experience and age. I started PTV in like... 2021, I think. A lot has changed, and I want to fix it up to better represent all that has since then!

I think, or at least hope, that this will be the final re-write before I get the time to actually finish it. There's still yet a lot to add even once this rewrite is done, as this is going to definitely be considered a saga or epic. In my outline, I have roughly 101 more chapters I plan on adding before I can consider PTV "done". Even then, once I do finish it, I'm going to let it simmer while I work on the first four opening novels.

It's going to be a very, very long process before any of these books come out, or are even considered done. I'm hoping that once I get my art pen back, finish my art backlog, and finish reading my friend's webcomic outline, I can devote myself full time into writing. Until then, thank you for sticking along and keeping me company on this journey!

Without further ado, here's my progress since March!

Dawn - 12% complete (9,323 words) -146 words since March, rewrite for "Alkan's Will" underway Yuniv & Semat - ~1% complete (0 words) Planning stage, waiting on Dawn to be finished Deep Freeze - ~1% complete (0 words) Planning stage, waiting on prior books to be finished To Touch Tenav - ~1% complete (83 words) No change, partial intro only, planning stage Piercing The Veil - ~22% complete (120,531 words)/(8,610 rewrite) +8 words since March, rewrite well underway Head Above Water - ~2% complete (483 words) No change, partial intro only, planning stage Book 7* - ~1% complete (0 words) Planning stage, waiting for prior books to be finished Universal Ideal - ~1% complete (0 words) Planning stage, waiting for prior books to be finished

That's about where things stand. I expect to maybe get back into the art scene by late this month, finishing my backlog by late September if I push it enough, with writing resuming by early or mid October. I will most likely pour all my time into Piercing The Veil, and maybe a little bit of Dawn as well.

Once I get finished with those two, I'll get into the process of getting beta readers, fixing typos & plot holes, finishing an accurate timeline, and getting art for the covers and chapter titles. I'd like to get a decent part of the way into Yuniv & Semat before I publish as well, that way I don't have as much pressure to release things in a "timely" manner as well.

If, and this is a very big if, all things go according to plan, I should be able to publish Dawn by Q2 of 2025. Dawn is a collection of short stories spanning from the prehistory of Lyratet to the stagnation of civilization in what would be the early 1100s in the Gregorian calendar. It's sort of a primer for understanding Lyratet civilization, their early days, and what drives them in their quest for a better society.

Thank you for reading, and for continuing to stick around! Have a lovely day!

-GB

[thetruearchmagos]

Worldbuilding Wednesday ask for you is,

Restructuring of forces! I recall you having quite an extensive focus on military worldbuilding so I'm wondering if any troops have been redeployed later on during the conflict under different designation. Perhaps due to some changes in military doctrine or reassignment and merging of regiments which have been drastically reduced in combat.

Hope ya enjoy, and drink some tea!

Thank you so terribly much for the Ask! To be honest, I'd say you've packaged a ton of very, very different questions in one Ask here, but I've picked which of these possible topics I would go with, and I've very much enjoyed the whole process of coming up with my answer.

Tagging @athenswrites @theprissythumbelina @hessdalen-globe @lividdreamz @caxycreations @thatndginger

I've spent a lot of time charting the organisational evolutions of military organisations within the UC, but for the sake of not boring everyone*, in this piece I'll be covering the restructuring and reallocation efforts of battlefield units, in this case those of the UC Army of Upepwani in the Chainbreaker War.

Tested In Battle; The Continuing Evolution Of The Commonwealth Infantry Battalion

I've brought up the changes in organisation, equipment, and doctrine of the UCA's infantry battalions prior to the Chainbreaker War before, but I'll briefly cover them here. In short, the late 60s A.S. would see the Army begin a programme to convert itself from a solely peacekeeping and policing force into one able to wage large scale warfare against another similarly powerful adversary. Most of the experimentation that would inform these changes would take place within the 'Trials Mobile Force', under the command of then Major General Faiz al-Saqr. Well known within his service for his modernising zeal, al-Saqr would recreate the three Regiments of the TMF - the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd - in his own image and according to what he viewed as necessary to fight the battles to come.

Aftermath

Those battles would be fought in the autumn of 75 A.S., marking the beginning of the Chainbreaker War between the Fuhrati Empire and the United Commonwealth, for the sovereignty of the former's breakaway province of Upepwani. While the Trials Mobile Force, redesignated as the United Commonwealth Army of Upepwani, was successful in beating back the imperial invaders over the border, it would take heavy casualties in the fighting, which would reveal major flaws in the organisation and methods of UCAU's three Regiments.

As It Was

Probably the most radical departure from the Army's existing practices under this system was the massive increase in the battalion's firepower, especially at the small unit level. Individual Platoon Leaders controlled two machine guns and six sharpshooters each, and with four Platoons per Company these supporting units amounted to thirty two machine guns in the whole Battalion. The Battalion HQ also directly controlled a Platoon of between four and eight mortars, able to provide punishing indirect fire.

Such an excess of firepower would come with significant concessions, in this case by significantly decreasing the 'bayonet strength' of the unit as a whole. Previous Battalion organisations, with their peacekeeping focus, were organised around Platoons consisting of four 'Lines' of twelve soldiers each, which made the task of conducting constant foot patrols and garrisoning outposts easier. These were replaced by three smaller 'Sections' of ten, reducing the amount of riflemen across the whole Battalion by nearly three hundred. Still, in light of the new weaponry being introduced, this was deemed an acceptable sacrifice.

Another groundbreaking change to these Battalions was the introduction of motor vehicles. Indeed, the TMF's original mission was to experiment on and develop the usage of modern motor vehicles at a large scale within the Army, paving the way for a more general expansion of motorisation. Each of the TMF's three Regiments commanded their own Motor Trains Battalion, which controlled enough Danho Type-D 'Duster' lorries to haul an entire Infantry battalion in one go. Common practice would be to distribute the MTB's Companies across the Regiment's Battalions, allowing each to move small elements of their own units by vehicle.

Hindsight

While this particular set up had performed while in exercises back home, when push came to shove in the struggle for Upepwani a myriad of issues were brought to light.

A major discovery, and a singularly annoying one to al-Saqr, was just how slow and sluggish his new Battalions were. While motorisation had promised lightning speeds over far greater distance than on foot, the sheer amount of heavy equipment and ammunition even individual Platoons had to lug around made rapid and responsive movements difficult. On the Northern Front, dominated by freezing taiga and hills with nary a well built road in sight, the 21st and 22nd Regiments were forced to leave half of their infantry's machine guns behind before setting off on their trek.

A second revelation concerned the strain imposed on junior officers, especially Platoon Commanders. Once only concerned with the activities of their four Lines, PC's now had to manage and position thirty riflemen, two MGs, and a section of marksmen on their own. The strain was less noticeable when on the defence, when time to prepare positions and analyse the terrain was available, but when conducting the quick offensive movements called for by their commander's aggressive mindsets coordination frequently failed.

Finally came the question of 'mass', or sheer numbers. Machine guns and mortars were lethal tools, but in numerous instances of fierce, close in fighting between the infantry ranks of both sides, those of the UCAU would frequently rack up brutal losses which could render entire Companies out of action in a single engagement, whatever losses they inflicted on the Imperials in turn. While modern war machines were supposed to spare the Commonwealth the worst of war's bloodshed, commanders in the field would quickly realise that they would lose soldiers either way, and when Platoons had as many crewing their MGs as they did carrying rifles, those three hundred shaved off bodies would be sorely missed.

Course Corrections

With the effective break in the fighting brought on by Winter, UCAU's first order of business was to withdraw from the field. As reports and assessments were made of the three Regiment's remaining strength, their results would give rise to the name 'Butcher's Autumn'.

Of the nine Battalions of Infantry which UCAU had entered the theater with that June, four were classified as entirely unfit for service. Most of their losses were, of course, concentrated in their fighting ranks, but nonetheless all four would be sent back to their respective Military Districts for reconstitution. The remainder weren't in a much better state; in some cases, Companies commanded by their most senior Lieutenants were down to two Platoons each, and even those had to be put together from the shattered remnants of their brethren.

al-Saqr would devote an entire branch of his Staff to analysing the fighting of the previous month. Their sharpest findings pertaining to UCAU's infantry are outlined above, and here we shall go over their recommendations.

Remove the MG and Marksmen Sections from Platoons, replacing them with an additional Rifle Section.

Half the amount of MGs assigned to each Battalion, and centralise both MGs and Marksmen into their own distinct Company directly under Battalion supervision.

Push down Signals equipment to the Company level.

These account for the immediate alterations to UCAU's existing Battalions, but in reality many were quite unfeasible in the immediate term. As additional Battalions poured in from across the United Commonwealth, however, they would be retrained and reorganised in light of UCAU's experiences, even as further technical developments were initiated within the Army in hopes of solving the tactical challenges faced thus far.

Closing Words

The problems and solutions I've outlined here are only a small part of the vast story of the UC Army's evolution over the course of this single conflict, and its even broader history. As new technologies entered the battlefield and the character of the Chainbreaker War changed as it churned onwards, even more reforms and alterations would be made to its Infantry Battalions to reflect it.

[forthlin]

Hello ! First off hope you're doing well. Huge fan of your works , especially your lucky break. As someone who's trying to get into writing, I'm intrigued about your writing process . How do you approach writing a fic ? And do you always start at the beginning or randomly write scenarios for the fic that come to your mind ?

hii thank you sooo much! i'm so glad you enjoyed my fics, i loved writing your lucky break! and i'm doing okay (classes/work are hitting hard) hope you're doing well too <3

to be honest, i work best when i'm hit with inspiration for a new idea and am able to pull an all-nighter to finish it!! otherwise, i'm a big outline user. most of my outlines are extremely specific with intense bullet lists, though some are as vague as 'go to record shop > listen to music > kiss in alleyway > end' :') though some people work really well without using an outline, i'd suggest writing down at least a few important events in sequential order if it's gonna be anything longer than a few thousand words. you can always deviate from that script or expand/adjust it later!

i always start at the beginning given my exhausting outlines but if i'm trying to kick off a project and one random scene is calling to me, i'll try and write it out for inspiration!! i write wayyy quicker when i have a fully developed scene in mind than when i'm trying to force myself through a vaguely planned scene. also! sometimes when i have writer's block, i let my fingers fly with an unrelated fic idea i had in mind just so i can get some words on the page/screen. you'll never know what'll happen with those random scenes- your lucky break was originally just going to be a PWP but then i ended up slamming out near 20k across a few nights :')

hope this helps a little :) it's really awesome to hear you're getting into writing btw, feel free to send me a link once you finish up your first project (or a draft)! i'd loveee to read it and gush in the comments!!

[celestialcrownsvn]

10/22/23

Y'all ready for this?

3D Camera

I've got some nifty new updates coming! I have been experimenting with the ren'py 3D stage and it was far easier than I thought it would be. It allowed me to do some camera effects that I'd wanted to try but hadn't been able to make smooth enough with just ATL on the sprites or backgrounds.

I also figured out how to use Flatten so that the ATL doesn't show the characters naked when dissolving 🥲

Lots of new coding revelations! I will not be posting a new demo update anytime soon I think, but this is the sort of polish that I'm aiming at for the final version.

Falcon Punch

Betel now has a sprite! Along with the elusive Andromeda falcon. I hope that this will make it clearer which falcon is being talked about when--as long as let you get more attached to your little buddy! Your falcon can have a blue or red chest.

NSFW?

I have added a choice at the beginning that will let people toggle NSFW on or off, so that people don't miss this option when just starting the game.

Sahi's Route

Aalam's route is in full beta testing now, and I'm on to Sahi's route! I've finished the route proper as well as the good and bad ends, and I'm currently editing the best end! I hope to finish within the next few days and move on to Lune's route.

The second draft of the entire game very well maybe completed and tested by the end of the year, or close to it!

The third draft will be all about polish, copyediting, and of course, implementing tester feedback on the routes, adding things people may have felt were missing, etc.

In the meantime the other artists are still working on the additional backgrounds and CGs of course, so there's still a long way to go!

Min Art

I've always planned to draw the start screen myself, and while I like the current picture it was more of a temporary solution. I've been working on a new start screen! It's about 2/3 done.

Additional Min art will include additional sprite outfits, crowns for Sahi and Lune if they're made King of Lauté, and I've decided I will go ahead and do horseback sprites, as I've made such good time with the writing and should have plenty of time while the other artists are finishing up the art.

Ko-Fi

Follow my Ko-fi shop!

I've been slowly adding the Celestial Crowns merch to Ko-Fi! Right now you can get the stickers from the last Kickstarter campaign and two new wallpapers that are incidentally part of the new start screen.

Kickstarter rewards

I'm still waiting to hear back from Kickstarter about the pledges going through. In the meantime, love letters are being recorded, and I streamed the first three scenes of Aalam's route. I'll be recording a clean copy to send to backers once pledges have been processed!

Pinups

You can follow me on twitch (harlevinvns) to see me draw the rest of the pinups live. We're currently working on Leo's.

Conclusion

All is well on the development end. Thanks everyone for joining me on this journey 💖