#how to write 3rd person after getting trapped writing in 1st person for years. that thing along with the hi3 fic is most likely

[aria0fgold]

AO3 Tag Game!

Thank you for the tag @misty-wisp :D This looks so fun!

How many works do you have on AO3?

12! And it's steadily increasing as I get more (and randomly) ideas to write fics bout >:3c

What's your total AO3 word count?

126,004! Whoooaaa... That's a lot :o Ngl, I barely visit the statistics of my ao3 account so I didn't expect that one.

How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

Okay, so... it's 5? I think. On my main ao3 account it's 2 though! OMORI and Mahoyaku! Buuuut! I've written for Persona 5 (with Magic Kaito) but I'm... too shy to put it in my ao3 account so it's just in my tumblr. The other 2 is somewhere else... (I've written a oneshot for Genshin Impact in an old ao3 account that I don't wanna open up again cuz it's so embarrassing for me... I don't even wanna read that oneshot, I'd die of embarrassment. And the other one is Honkai Impact 3rd, I forgot where I put that one but I do know I wrote a oneshot with Bronya and Seele for it).

Top five fics by kudos:

It's all from OMORI!

Once again, from the beginning - I did not really expect this one to have as much kudos as it has now, like, tbf yea it's my most well planned one but it's still so crazy to see the kudos on it-- wai when did it pass that number-- I never really check the kudos but wtf happened here.

The Tune of the New Morning - How did this one get that many kudos too??? This is my very first OMORI fic and ngl, whenever I look at it I get the very strong urge to rewrite everything from the beginning cuz of how badly planned it is. If OAFB is well planned, this one is terribly planned. I literally make things up as I go.

Magician in the Mirror - Is in the top 3!!! Lookit!!! :D The work I'm proudest in cuz this is my 2nd fic and also the one I just went ham on! I wanted it out during anni and it was all a last minute thing but I'm so glad it turned out well despite that!

The Pawn and the Bishops - I didn't expect to see this one here but alas... it is... I quite like this one though! It's the first one I've written with a fairly heavy and gloomy atmosphere and I think I did pretty good on it!

And thus, the snake ate no more - I see you're here too... This one is actually like a mix of my planning between OAFB and TNM in which that it's in the middle of well planned and terribly planned. Think of it as the middle child of my longfics. With OAFB being the spoiled youngest and TNM the unplanned first child.

Do you respond to comments?

YES! As much as I can! I like receiving comments and I like responding to them as best as I can but I also get pretty nervous bout it... so I end up barely responding anyway oh boooooo.

What's the fic with the angstiest ending you've ever written?

I??? Don't think? I have written any with an angsty ending yet? I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort so most of the fics I've written so far always had a happy ending so! Maybe in the future 👀 Maybe.

Do you write crossovers?

Is the Kaito Kuroba from Magic Kaito in Persona 5 now as Akiren and Co.'s friend stuff I've written considered crossover? If so then yes! It's actually pretty fun to write one! :D

Have you ever gotten hate on a fic?

I don't think so? Pretty happy that I haven't yet, thank goodness!

Do you write smut?

Nope! I don't know if I would though, truth be told I don't have much knowledge with writing smut, I barely read any stories (novel wise) with it as a guideline cuz I... I can't visualize it well enough, my brain is not equipped for it (I try to read smut and spend the next few minutes figuring out the characters' positions. Yall smut writers out there impressive with it cuz honestly how).

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope and thank god for that!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I HAVE!!! AM SO HAPPY BOUT IT!!! :D Someone translated Magician in the Mirror to Chinese and it's so cool!!! I think there's only a Chapter 1 of it but it's so cool and nice and sweet and awwwwww.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Alright, sit down. This is very important. I need you to listen closely, attentively, and carefully... I Love CaiOwe/OweCai. I LOVE CAIN/OWEN!!! OWEN/CAIN!!! CAIN&OWEN I LOOOOOVVVEEE ANYTHING WITH CAIN AND OWEN!!! It's my all-time favourite ship, nothing can compare to Cain and Owen from the hit japanese game, Mahoutsukai no Yakusoku aka Mahoyaku aka mhyk aka Promise of Wizard. They're my most favourite ship I'd go to war for em, I love em so so much, I adore em sooooooo much, I see any fanart of em and my day gets better immediately. They're my lifeblood, my ambrosia, my everything. I love caiowe/owecai with all my heart...

What’s a WIP that you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will?

Looks at oafb, tnm, and attsanm... I'd like to believe that regardless of how much time had passed, I would be able to finish any of those three though. Hyperfixation gone or not, I wanna finish em!

What are your writing strengths?

I think it'd be monologue? Inner monologue? What do you call that thing where it's just the narrator focusing on the characters' thoughts and feelings and their overall view on the situation??? I think I'm pretty good at that, maybe. And somehow I'm good at accidentally setting things up, I don't know how but I just accidentally do things that connects stuff.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Dialogues... I'm so bad with dialogues most of the time I spend in writing is getting the dialogues right. I'm also really bad at descriptors, I'm bad at describing things so I just try to either describe something as best as I can with the help of searching through the internet or get around that part by just being poetic.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fics?

I think it's pretty neat! :o I feel like I've seen fics like that before but can't really remember though I did think it added detail to the story of it!

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Uhhh, I think it waaaaass Honkai Impact 3rd? I think it was the Bronya and Seele fic I've written somewhere that or it was the Genshin Impact fic instead. It was either of those two.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written so far?

Magician in the Mirror!!! It's my favourite I've written so far and the one I'm proudest of! And a lil biased, but the latest favourite one that I've just recently written is Look back, Orpheus which is a fic for caiowe from mhyk! Once again, from the beginning is the 2nd favourite though :3

Thank you again for the tag! Dunno who to tag though but for anyone that sees this, feel free to do it! :D

[strawberrythighddemon]

I Created A Gaming Channel To Deal With Grief

I used to be a writer. Well... I still am, but not so much these day. About a year ago I got fed up with everything and just said "the hell with this bullshit" and I focused on other things. My writing is not bullshit. That's just the cynicism that grew over the years with my long-standing burnout. But with the person I am, I turn it into satire. I twist my words and articulate it by saying, "My soul has been shattered and my mind has turned into madness." Just like the souls games I play that are dark and lack the light of hope.

It's interesting on why I'm intrigued by games that display absolute grim. And happy endings isn't necessarily a happy ending with the games I play. In Bloodborne you have 3 choices.

1st: Get beheaded and wake up to the morning sun, but forgetting all that was learned. Meaning become blind and ignorant once again to the horrors just around the corner.

2nd: I fight Gehrman and take his place as keeper of the dream. Trapped for eternity. But at least the doll will be their to keep me company.

3rd: I fight the creator of the dream world, the Moon Presence, and become reborn as a creature with the ability to create the dream that destroys humanity.

All very grim choices.

It's the reason I have an affinity to write Dark Fantasy and basically villainous characters. I don’t write happy endings. And I don't make it easy for my characters to obtain peace. It's a reflection of my mind as it strives for serenity. Nah! That's me literally spewing bullshit. To write stories, my mind has to decend into chaos for a while. But the practice is when I break away from my writing, that I remind myself I'm not the narrator anymore and those characters I'm writing aren't me either.

After a while, balancing so much shit and just basically being human is a lot of dang work. I'm long overdue on the burnout. I think I busted my brain too in the process. Imagine it steaming from circuits sizzling. My motherboard has some charred areas with a side of crimson rot from playing Elden Ring too much. The games I'll play for the peeps who subscribed to my gaming channel. I even branded myself as a unskilled gamer who happens to be a strategist. I managed to beat games without skill, because that's just how my dang fried up brain works. It can still calculate 1k scenarios in a matter of seconds. Maybe now add a few more seconds of delay with my brain lag. Lets just face it, my latency is not up to par.

Now the root of my grief.

Pfff... Life just sucks.

The End!

[whelmed16]

9. Plot Graph

12/20/22 

Plotting the Short Story

STORY [working] TITLE:  A Realm Not my Own

Setting:   My story is in the:        past      present      future    

Point of View:   1st person             3rd person

Topic:   My characters are going to have to deal with:  external journey to gain an item to save the world.

Theme:   My character ends up transforming by realizing: they gained something more valuable on said journey.

MICE: My story/conflict is rooted in milieu, idea,  character, event ← also events drives the plot 

( Writing scenes that apply)

1. Introduction/Exposition:

*Must introduce the hero, the villain, and the world of the story, as well as the story’s dramatic question, and it must do this with enough energy to grab your reader’s interest right away

“In the beginning, the world had no light and no sand. roaring rivers and lush forests covered the lands. All was well and good until a being made of cold frost and bitter ice known as Shita’ (she-ta-un) covered the healthy forests with ice and snow.”

“Mother, why would they do that?” “

“Shh, little sweet flower, I'm not done.” the woman cleared her throat and spoke again.” The grounds of this once beautiful flourishing paradise become hard and crude with the years of endless winter. all hope might have been lost if not for a brave little Deeryid(deer-id), the little Deeryid found a mirror of great beauty and power.” “With this mirror I shall trap Shita’ and free the land at last.” “ The little Deeryid spoke loud and true. with the mirror the little Deeryid rose to the highest mountain in the lands where Shita’ ruled. with the mirror the little Deeryid defeated Shita’, and all lived happily ever after.”

“That story was amazing, mama do you think I’ll ever be that brave?”

“Of course sweet flower, and if you ever need help, I’ll always be here.”

17 years later.

I had that dream again, or was it a memory? “If you ever need help, I’ll always be here.”

What a beautiful lie that was mother.

Notes: this story is the explanation for the plot and a way to ground the Mc’s feelings towards the mother.

2. Inciting (complicating) incident:

*Beginning of the conflict/threat/trouble, essentially this sparks or begins the plot

The market is always busy, as long as I keep my head down and voice sweet I’ll get through the day.

“Excuse me, how many of these do you have in the shop?” an older woman with a shal and bright patterned dress spoke in a raspy voice.

“ We have about 50 in the back, its 5 bits a piece.”

“ Oh wonderful, I’ll take them all!” her eyes light up as if she were a child given cold ice in the middle of the sweltering summer.

“ give me a moment, will you, it will take awhile to pack it all.”

The back of the shop is always on the chilly side, it's quite pleasant compared to the endless heat outside.

I bend down to grab the first batch when a gust of cold wind crawls up my bare back, how is that even possible?

I look down to see..ICE? my breath is now visible and my hand start to cover in frost, screams and shocked gasped can be heard out the store.

What is going on?

Notes: giving a “simple” slice of life to the Mc, before introducing the conflict

( I also added the intro to the love interest in the story itself here in editing )

3. Rising Action: 

*Once the story has begun, it is important to create tension by raising the stakes. You must raise the stakes along the way and create obstacles of ever-increasing intensity while keeping your eye firmly fixed on your conclusion

“so your telling me that, that stupid story my mother told me as a child was real?:”

“yup, any other questions love?”

“Just a few, who the hell are you? how did you get into my house, what the hell are you wearing? and what's with your accent I've never heard someone speak so odd”

“ My name's Maraline Fox, your..cloth isn’t exactly a sturdy door, this is my uniform, and I reside up in the north.”

“Well that's wonderful, I have a pirate in my home.”

“ I'm more of a captain, but well..” my glare could have frozen her in place better compared to the storm outside.

Maraline clears her throat, “Ghaba, I need your help, your a Deeryid, Deeryids can gain access to the mirror.”

“ Oh for the love of god, listen pirate, sorry captainnn, but if you looked around you, there is a village full of Deeryids.”

“ yes but none of them are related to your mother.”

“What could you possibly know of my mother? she left me years ago!”

“ She was a mentor of sorts, your family has a special connection to the mirror since your ancestor was the one to trap Shita’ in the first place.”

This can’t be real, it isn’t real. my mother abandoned me because she didn’t see me as useful, why now? and why mentor some pirate in the north.  

“ I’ll pay you!”

“what?”

“ If you help me, I’ll pay you, more than enough to well..afford a door.”

This is insane, surely I’ll get myself killed if what she's saying is true. I look outside to see the raging storm. The only thing keeping me warm is Maralines device. I have nothing else.

“ Alright Fox, You have a deal.”

Notes: establish Mc internal conflict (feelings towards mother)

4. CLIMAX: 

*The pinnacle of your plot…this is where the protagonist either succeeds or fails i.e. the “boiling point”

I'm face to face with a figure made of ice tall and slim, an angular face and sharp clothing, Shita’. No, No, No, not now please not now. We don't have mirror. Maraline draws her blade and charges for Shita’ head on. “Come at me, you big popsicle” Maraline yells as she runs.

“MARALINE DON'T!” Shita’ shifts slightly and Maraline is sent flying into a wall of ice.

I try to run over to Maraline to see if she alright when a cold chill grabs my body. “ Well, well” Shita’ giggles “So, your the little Deeryid that's going to stop me?”

Shita’ conjures a blade made of nice, “ then take a stab at it.” they giggle menacingly once more “pun intended.”

My body trembles in place, what do I do? Shita’ gazes at me with anticipation and amusement. There is nothing else I can do. I charge at Shita’ just as Maraline once did. The blade stabs Shita’ in the gut and they fall to the ground.

Is it done?!?

Shita’ cackles and rises once more. “Now that was a good laugh, I haven’t had this much fun in eons. Now.” Shita’ slowly glances towards me. “it's your turn.”

I look over to Maraline who is finally conscious, I can only think of one thing left to tell her.

“RUN!”

my body tenses, my vision blurs and everything is so  cold, I look down, I’ve been impaled with a spike of Ice. Now I feel nothing, its dark.

Notes: meeting/facing the external conflict

5. Falling action:

N/A

6. Resolution: 

N/A

she dies so, no ending :)

[tarysande]

Writing Tips from an Editor (Who Also Writes)

People throw around the phrase “Show, don’t tell” all the time. But what does it mean? Really?

When I’m editing a client’s work, I always explain what I mean when I say “Show, don’t tell,” so I know we’re on the same page (pun intended). 

FYI: This advice is really 2nd or 3rd draft advice. Don’t tie yourself in knots trying to get this perfect on the first go. First drafts are for telling yourself the story. Revisions are for craft. 

Ruthlessly hunt down filter words (saw, heard, wondered, felt, seemed, etc.). Most filter words push the reader out of narrative immersion, especially if you’re writing in 1st person or a close 3rd person. “She [or I] heard the wind in the trees” is less compelling than “The wind rustled through the trees” or “The wind set the bare branches to clacking.” Obviously, the point of view character is the one doing the hearing; telling the reader who’s doing the hearing is redundant and creates an unnecessary distance between the character’s experience and the reader’s experience of that experience. Was/were is another thing to watch out for; sometimes, nothing but was will do, but in many instances—“There was a wind in the trees” “There were dogs barking”—“was” tells, whereas other phrasing might evoke—“The wind whispered/howled/screamed through the trees” “Dogs snarled/yipped/barked in the courtyard/outside my door/at my heels.” 

Assume your readers are smart. What does this mean? Don’t tell the reader what your characters are thinking or feeling: “Bob was sad.” How do we know? What does Bob’s sadness look like, sound like? What actions, expressions, words indicate Bob’s sadness? Does Bob’s sadness look different than Jane’s would?

It also means that you need not repeat information unless you have something new to add to it—even if it’s been several chapters since you first mentioned it. I think a lot of readers fall into this trap because writing often takes a long time. But what takes a writer days or weeks or months to write might take a reader fifteen minutes to read. So, if the writer keeps telling the reader about so-and-so’s flaming red hair or such-and-such’s distrust or Bob’s blue eyes or Jane’s job as a neurosurgeon, the reader gets annoyed. 

The last thing you want is your reader rolling their eyes and muttering, “OMG, I KNOW” at the story you’ve worked so hard to write. It certainly means you don’t need to have characters tell each other (and through them, the reader) what the story is about or what a plot point means.

Along these same lines, let the reader use their imagination. “Bob stood, turned around, walked across the room, reached up, and took the book from the shelf.” Holy stage directions, Batman! A far less wordy “Bob fetched the book from the shelf” implies all those irrelevant other details. However, if Bob has, say, been bedbound for ten years but stands up, turns around, and walks across the room to fetch the book, that’s a big deal. Those details are suddenly really important.

Write the action. Write the scene with the important information in it. Let the reader be present for the excitement, the drama, the passion, the grief. If you’re finding yourself writing a lot of after-the-fact recap or “he thought about the time he had seen Z” or “and then they had done X and so-and-so had said Y,” you’re not in the action. You’re not in the importance. Exceptions abound, of course; that’s true of all writing advice. But overuse of recapping is dull. Instead of the reader being present and experiencing the story, it’s like they’re stuck listening to someone’s imperfect retelling. Imagine getting only “Last week on...” and “Next week on...” but never getting to watch an episode. I’m editing a book right now with some egregious use of this. The author has a bad habit of setting up a scene in the narrative present—“The queen met the warrior in the garden.”—but then backtracking into a kind of flashback almost immediately. “Last night, when her lady-in-waiting had first suggested meeting the warrior, she had said, ‘Blah blah blah.’ The queen hadn’t considered meeting the warrior before, but as she dressed for bed, she decided they would meet in the garden the next day. Now, standing in the garden, she couldn’t remember why it had seemed like a good idea.”

That’s a really simplified and exaggerated example, but do you see what I’m getting at? If the queen’s conversation with the lady-in-waiting and the resulting indecision are important enough to be in the narrative, if they influence the narrative, let the reader be present for them instead of breaking the forward momentum of the story to “tell” what happened when the reader wasn’t there. Unless it’s narratively important for something to happen off-page (usually because of an unreliable narrator or to build suspense or to avoid giving away a mystery), show your readers the action. Let them experience it along with the characters. Invite them into the story instead of keeping them at a distance.

Finally, please, please don’t rely on suddenly or and then to do the heavy lifting of surprise or moving the story forward; English has so many excellent verbs. Generally speaking, writers could stand to use a larger variety of them. 

(But said is not dead, okay? SAID IS VERY, VERY ALIVE.)

[flautistsandpeonies]

Drastic Changes- MDZS If It Was XiXian Instead of WangXian - Part 1

So I had an odd thought “How different would a Lan XiChen/Wei WuXian story be from canon? How would the story change? Would it be shorter or longer than the real deal?

And then I couldn’t stop thinking on it.

If we go by canon Lan XiChen would fall in love at first sight right? XiChen first meets Wei WuXian when they are about to go deal with the waterborne abyss. So Lan XiChen’s first impression would be that Wei WuXian is a very smart and cunning individual who is selfless and willing to save those in danger. (remember he took care of the water ghouls under Lan WangJi’s boat and saved Su She). Wei WuXian’s first impression would be that XiChen is kind, smart, and a powerful cultivator. After this event comes the speculation; would XiChen try and befriend Wei WuXian? Would Wei WuXian - who I imagine would up at this point still be trying to befriend Lan WangJi cause of the night they met on the rooftops and fought- consider befriending Lan WangJi a lost cause try and get closer to XiChen?

Time passing, Wei WuXian leaves the Cloud Recesses; would XiChen write to him as he is more socially active than his brother? Would WuXian write back? If they do start writing to one another how would this affect the situation in Lotus Pier- would Jiang Cheng become more bitter that Wei WuXian is talking to someone above his station; or would he simply slip into his homophobic rants? How would Madam Yu respond to Wei WuXian conversing with the heir to the Lan Sect; would she start throwing out accusations, whip him, send him to the ancestral hall, or would she take her anger out elsewhere?

Time skip to the Qishan Archery Competition; there wouldn’t really be much change except that Lan WangJi wouldn’t leave the competition early cause Wei WuXian wouldn’t accidentally tug off his forehead ribbon. The winning ranks would therefore change:

Canon: WWX 1st place, LXC 2nd place, JZX 3rd place, LWJ 4th place, Wen Chao 5th place

XiXian Ver.: WWX 1st place, LWJ 2nd place, LXC 3rd place, JXZ 4th place, Wen Chao 5th place

Now, we could speculate that there would be more conversation and bonding between our two because they are social beings, and if we go with what’s above they have been sending missives between one another for two years, so they could possibly already be closer than WangXian was in canon.

However, all good things come to an end. The Cloud Recesses is of course burnt down and XiChen goes into hiding. The indoctrination happens and Wei WuXian is of course sent with the Jiang disciples. The only difference in this section would be after the Xuanwu emerges. I can still see Lan WangJi pushing Wei WuXian out of the way and getting dragged by the Xuanwu because even if he isn’t in love with Wei WuXian, he’s still a good person who doesn’t want innocents to die. So WangJi and WuXian would get trapped and I can imagine they still slay the Xuanwu together. The major difference is that there is no WangXian song. Lan WangJi has no reason to write a song or sing for Wei WuXian so he would simply look after him until help arrives.

Weeks after the Xuanwu, the Wens of course still take over Lotus Pier; Wei WuXian is blamed by Madam Yu and Jiang Cheng despite it not being his fault and Jiang Fengmian and Madam Yu order Wei WuXian to protect Jiang Cheng. Fast forward, Jiang Cheng losing his core, Wei WuXian and Wen Ning saving him, the transfer, etc. Lan XiChen at this time would probably be hiding out with Meng Yao.

Fast forward once more, XiChen has now returned and the war has started. He’s now sect leader, his home was destroyed, his father killed, and the man he loves is missing. Three months later, Wei WuXian returns with the power of necromancy and sorcery. Let’s speculate. Would XiChen ask Wei WuXian to come back to Gusu with him? How would he approach this situation? Would it end better than WangXian’s argument did? If we continue with what we had before, Wei WuXian knows that XiChen cares for him deeply because of their long relationship. How would be respond. He wouldn’t agree to go to Gusu, but what would he do? How would there relationship be affected throughout the war? How would XiChen deal with the love of his life pretending to be arrogant and and controlling armies of the undead? How would Lan WangJi react to Wei WuXian now that he isn’t in love with him? In canon, Lan WangJi’s following of his rules left him not helping Wei WuXian in his first life; in this version would he actually try and bring Wei WuXian back to Gusu to punish him? Would they argument many times during the war? How would that affect WuXian relationship with XiChen?

Time skip to the end of the war, Lan XiChen becomes sworn brothers with Nie MingJue and now Jin GuangYao. He has a sect to lead and Wei WuXian has his responsibilities in Yunmeng Jiang. How would XiChen deal with people constantly gossiping and slandering his beloved’s name? Would he say anything? Would he go and try and talk to Wei WuXian in Yunmeng like CQL’s version did? What would they talk about? Would XiChen try and get him to come to Gusu?

To the Phoenix Mountain hunt, how would XiChen deal with Jin ZiXun attacking Wei WuXian over talking 30% of the prey? Would he say something?

Fast forward once more, Wei WuXian saves the Wens and takes them to the Burial Mounds. Jiang Cheng declares him the cultivation world’s enemy. How would XiChen react? Would he claim “Wei WuXian’s heart has really changed” like he did in canon, or would he try and get to the bottom of this? Would he wait a year to go see him like WangJi did or would he go to him immediately; would he go to him at all? How would his family react to his relationship with WuXian? Would Hanguang-jun set himself up to bring down the cultivation world’s demon? Would Lan Qiren warn XiChen about his father’s mistake? How would the elder’s react? How does Jin GuangYao deal with Lan XiChen’s love; how does he manipulate him in this?

Possibility 1: XiChen does go to the Burial Mounds and finds out the truth of the Wen Remanants. How would he respond? Would he gather support for his beloved? Would he pull a move like his father and spirit Wei WuXian and the Wens to the Cloud Recesses? Would he end his sword brotherhood with Jin GuangYao; how would GuangYao turn this situation around?

Possibility 2: XiChen doesn’t go to the Burial Mounds precisely cause he doesn’t want to repeat his father’s mistake. He never learns the truth.

Fast Forward to Jin Ling’s one month, Jin ZiXuan dies, Wen Qing burns, and then Nightless City happens. Would XiChen take Wei WuXian to safety; where would that be, Yiling or the Cloud Recesses? Would he try and apprehend the love of his life?

Possibility 1: Seeing as he knows the truth of the Wens would he try and save hsi beloved, or would he leave Wei WuXian to his fate and try and get the Wens to safety? Would he speak on their behalf if he hasn’t already?

Possibility 2: Not knowing the truth, XiChen tries to capture the man he loves. (Does he still love him in this scenario?)

Either way, Wei WuXian dies -either by execution or a siege; would XiChen go into seclusion?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was a really long post; what do you guys think? Any thoughts?

Jiang Cheng Stans and people who ship XiCheng Don’t Clown on my Posts

[howlingmedic]

Coming Home: Chapter 5

Coming Home: 

Previous | Next

Synopsis: what happens when the person who finally made their world make sense is taken from them? What happens when the people who were supposed find her can’t?

Relationship: Stucky x Angel!OFC

Warnings: angst, references to religion, references to torture, references to wounds, poorly explained technology, probably incorrect science, shifting POV because I’m the worst, my shit writing

A/N: This chapter is two parts. One part is like normal. The other is actually something I wrote a while ago in 1st person from Allie’s POV, and is what inspired this whole story. I tried to change it to 3rd person, and I hated it like that, so I switched it back and left it as is. It also used to be a standalone chapter, but I decided both chapters were too short, so now they’re one weird chapter. 

Chapter Five: How they Got Here

“We gonna talk about it?” Bucky asked as they walked to the bikes they had acquired through their travels. Steve smirked. “Talk about what? It was just decorative,” he answered coyly despite knowing full well what Bucky wanted to talk about. The questioning looks had been impossible to miss while they got dressed. Honestly, Steve was surprised Bucky had held his tongue this long. “Steven Grant Rogers, you did not make a design alteration to your uniform based solely on aesthetics after a day like today, now spill,” Bucky huffed as he dumped his essentials in the saddle pocket. “I don’t want to serve the public anymore, at least not today. This is about us. The star… it didn’t seem right, not while I’m being selfish, so I took it off. Now, Let’s get our asses in gear. Jet should be touching down in an hour.” That firmly ended the discussion. It was that simple; Steve’s tone made that part clear, and his expression made it clear they could talk later when all three of them could be involved. Bucky shrugged and swung his leg over the bike. Steve decided in that moment that if they made it out of this, he was buying that man a motorcycle.

Five hours had elapsed since Tony’s phone call. Fury had called and informed them he had returned their status to active duty - Steve only slightly cringed at the comment - and that this was now an official mission. All requisite communication devices and extra weapons would be waiting for them on the jet. They also had been granted the full force of the Avengers - minus Banner, who would be standing by with Loki, Cho, Strange, and an entire med team on a separate jet. They were to meet the team just outside the tiny town they had been using as a base of operations in the southernmost part of Spain. They would then fly to Chad, which was where the heat signature had been. The rest was a rescue mission just like any other, except it wasn’t at all.

The tone on the jet was tense, and the air was electric. Nobody dared to speak a word for the first 10 minutes. Natasha gave Bucky a gentle squeeze on the upper arm, Tony clapped Steve on the shoulder and gave him a firm nod, and Sam gave them both one-armed hugs. Even during those silent exchanges, you could hear a pin drop. Once the jet had reached their cruising altitude, Natasha cleared her throat and stood. “Look, none of us like this situation. We all take this one personally because it is, but we’ve got a job to do. Everyone should have the plan shared to their tablets, I’ll pull it up on the big screen, and we can go over it one more time, but I think we’ve all committed it to memory by now.”

Steve lost track of what she said after that. He knew his part. It was the same as any other mission: use his shield, knock out or kill the bad guys, and don’t die. This time it just had the added task of rescuing the woman he loved. At some point, he stole a look at Bucky, who seemed equally zoned out. Everyone else’s faces were focused intently on their tablets. Natasha caught their gaze and gave them a weak smile; she always had a way of knowing. Once she finished talking, the jet fell silent again. Everyone seemed to be absorbing the gravity of the situation. Steve’s eyes remained fixed on the glowing blue form on the screen that had 45 Amps next to it. He wished they could pull the scan down, that he could forget that reading was far too low. Tony had told them it was one-tenth of what it usually was 6 hours ago. It was another hour of flying to Chad. Steve wasn’t sure if it had changed since Tony had first told them it was low. Nobody had commented on it, so he had to assume everything was staying stable, but somehow having a number tied to Tony’s comments made them more concrete.

Every once in awhile, he saw the form move. The first time it had given him hope. It had proved she was alive. After a little while, he couldn’t help himself, he studied every movement. Sometimes, it was just a shift. Like she was trying to get more comfortable. Others, he saw her jerk, and the number would drop. 45 down to 42, then it recovered to 44. 44 dropped to 39. Steve froze. Bucky looked up and sighed at the screen. Steve wasn’t sure if the sigh was from something Bucky was contending with internally or a reaction to the changing energy measurements. Steve quickly decided he couldn’t care right now, and his attention returned fully to the screen. When the number rose back to 42, Steve decided he preferred things when it stayed in the 40s.

Some of the panic seeped from his mind when the numbers on the screen stopped changing, and the eerily incandescent blob that represented Allie seemed to calm on the sceen. Steve glanced over at Bucky, and smiled softly at what he saw. Bucky’s eyes had fallen closed, but his breathing hadn’t steadied like he was sleeping. If Steve strained, he could hear him whispering. “C’mon, doll, just hang in there. We’re coming.” Then Steve’s eyes flicked back up to the screen eager to see if he might be able to watch Allie react. At first Steve’s heart soared: the number rose slightly to 43. Then, the world froze while the figure on the screen thrashed harder than Steve had seen yet before going inhumanly still. “Bucky! Stop!” Everyone’s eyes went wide, and they stared at Steve, who just gaped and stared at the screen: 43, 39, 35, 20, before coming to a halt at 17. “Fuck, Clint, fly faster!” Steve cried, his voice high and desperate.

The number on the screen didn’t look like it was going anywhere, which wasn’t the best outcome, but it was better than free falling. Bucky sagged in his seat, and Steve blew out a hard breath before he could focus on him. “I know what you were trying to do, babe,” Steve said under his breath so only Bucky could hear him.

“Doesn’t matter what I was tryin’ to do, Steve. Matters that I mighta almost fuckin’ killed her.”

“You had no way of knowing that would happen, so don’t you dare get all hard on yourself now. We don’t have time for that shit right now. We just gotta get in there, get her, get out. We’ve got at most three hours till she’s in the hands of the most capable people in the cosmos and back in our arms. She’s strong. She’ll pull through, pal,” Steve promised and hoped to anyone who was listening that it sounded more confident than he felt.

“Alright, alright, quit bein’ sappy before we go to work,” Bucky snarked. Steve knew it was nothing more than a brave face, but he knew better than to argue right now. Instead, he turned his attention back to the screen. 20 Amps. How many did she need to live?

It wasn’t supposed to go like this. I wasn’t supposed to be laying in a cell, filthy and chained up. I certainly wasn’t supposed to be drained of all my grace to the point where I couldn’t even hide my wings in a pocket dimension anymore. No, it wasn’t supposed to have gone like this at all.

I wasn’t even sure how long I had been gone. Over two weeks, but beyond that, I had no idea. Three weeks? Months? I was reasonably confident it hadn’t reached the point of being missing for years, but it was possible. Without knowing how long I had been unconscious, I couldn’t be sure of anything. Hell, maybe I was dead and in an angel’s version of Hell. Reports of The Empty were sketchy at best, so it was all theoretically possible at this point.

There was a whisper of Bucky’s voice in my head again. It was just barely audible, but he was begging me to hold on, promising me he was going to bring me home. I twisted and writhed against the chains again, felt the edges of the cuffs dig deep into the cuts on my wrists, ankles, and the joints of my wings. I screamed again, and my voice came out raw and broken, and the scream left me coughing and gagging with no moisture left to soothe my irritated throat. To spare what little grace I had left and try to heal it was to risk dying  - actually dying… or dying in whatever hellish delusion I was stuck in.

“How the fuck had it gone this wrong? How the fuck did they overpower us, and how did they know about angel cuffs? We had destroyed them all, destroyed any trace of them, and yet here they were,” My brain cycled through the usual questions that consumed my thoughts when I was coherent. Bucky’s voice crying, pleading with me not to let go, cut through the drone of my reflection once more. I ripped against the chains harder in hopes that maybe this time I could break them. I felt my shoulder pop out of its socket, and I tried to scream again, but no sound would come out. I had lost my last asset, my one way to punish my captors. At least my screams made me a nuisance, it made me unpleasant to be around, but now I had nothing. No way to resist them, no way to fight back.

And as if being trapped here wasn’t enough of a punishment, my own brain had finally turned against me. I was hearing my lovers’ voices calling out to me when I knew the cuffs binding me would block any prayers. The only conclusion I could come to as I slipped unconscious again and relived the moments that landed me here one more time was that I had to have lost my mind and begun hallucinating.

It started like any other day of clearing out some cell trying to carry out Thanos’ mission - there had been a surprising number since his defeat and the reversal of the snap. Identify, negotiate, fail to reach an agreement, arrest, clear the base, and destroy it while agents interrogate each member of the cell.

That’s where it had gone wrong. There had been more of them - enhanced members - hiding in a room below the floorboards, and they had ambushed us. Someone strong, stronger than any natural human, had clamped the cuffs tights over my wrists. The sudden lack of grace flowing through me had dropped me to my knees with a shriek, but the others couldn’t come back. They were evenly matched with their combatants. This crew had studied each of us meticulously. They knew what they were up against, and they knew the best way to get to three of the best hand to hand fighters in the world was to take one of them out of the equation and use that to distract the other two. I happened to be the one with a kryptonite.

Whatever had happened next was a mystery. I had come-to in a damp, windowless, and quite possibly subterranean cell somewhere in the Saharan Desert. Food had been chucked my direction once every so often. If it was daily, I had spent at least 14 days stuck in this hell hole hoping someone could find me, and that hope was the last thing I had binding me to any semblance of sanity, but that seemed to have slipped away.

Footsteps. That was the first thought I could form when I came to again. They were drawing closer, and I muffled a scream as I pulled myself into a ball. Maybe if I pretended to still be unconscious they would spare me for a day.

[tigerkirby215]

5e Teemo, the Swift Scout build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Riot Games)

So funny story: Teemo was originally going to be a Death Cleric and I had this massive joke about how “Illaoi was a Cleric with no Cleric levels and Lux should’ve been a Cleric but wasn’t and then the Devil himself ends up being a Cleric” but midway through writing this build I realized that another class made a lot more sense and I had to scrap like half my work.

Even on Tumblr Teemo annoys me.

GOALS

Swiftly - Teemo is literally called “the Swift Scout.” You’ll never guess what subclass we’re going to pick.

That's gotta sting - We’re going to need to fight dirty with poisons and blinds to overpower our foes.

Got a little surprise for 'em - Your enemies should never feel safe walking into your territory, knowing that a trap could be there just waiting for them.

RACE

One may think that to be a small Swift Scout one would want to be a halfling, but there are plenty of small races in 5e to choose from. This may come as a surprise but I’m actually going to suggest playing a Deep Gnome. Your Intelligence increases by 2 and you have Gnome Cunning for advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws against magic.

As a Deep Gnome your Dexterity increases by 1. You have Superior Darkvision of 120 feet, and advantage on Stealth checks to hide in rocky terrain thanks to Stone Camouflage. I mean, it’s not a bush but you could probably stealth in the jungle.

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - You don’t get the title of “The Swift Scout” by being slow on your feet. (Excluding the fact that you have 25 movement speed.)

14; INTELLIGENCE - Knowledge of guerilla warfare would be more intelligence-based.

13; WISDOM - Teemo is a survivalist, having to spend months in the jungle with nothing but mushrooms to keep him company.

12; CONSTITUTION - Even if Teemo is squishy in-game it’s still nice to have a bit of extra bulk.

10; STRENGTH - Teemo needs to be able to carry all his equipment, which is where Strength comes in.

8; CHARISMA - FUCKING TEEMOOOOOOOOOOOO. (Memes aside feel free to make your Strength lower I’m mostly just dumping Charisma for the meme.)

BACKGROUND

As a Survivalist the Outlander background is pretty good to take. You get proficiency in Athletics, but I’m actually going to suggest swapping your Survival proficiency with Medicine for reasons that are going to be clear later. Why Medicine? I think Teemo would remember to bring some health pots. Regardless you also get proficiency in a musical instrument of your choice (Spirit Blossom Teemo has a Flute so take that) and a language of your choice. (Which of course has to be Infernal kekw. But really pick whatever you think will be useful.)

As an Outlander your Wanderer feature will help you remember the layout of the map you’ve been on for 10 years, and you can find food and water for yourself and 5 other people due to your adept survival skills. Captain Teemo on duty!

(Artwork by Riot Games)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

Starting off as a Rogue for the extra proficiencies. Take Acrobatics to swiftly run away, Stealth to... well, stealth, Deception to trick foes into walking onto your mushrooms, and Perception to gain vision with your traps. You also get Expertise in two skills: Acrobatics and Stealth will make you the master of hit-and-run.

Speaking of hit-and-run Rogues get Sneak Attack, allowing them to do an extra d6 of damage if they attack with Advantage, or if an ally is within 5 feet of the target they’re attacking. The attack has to be with a ranged weapon which is a good segway to talk about Teemo’s weapon. Blowguns do exist in 5e but they’re trash, so unless your DM is willing to give you a seriously strong blowgun I’d personally suggest just using a Light Crossbow... for now.

But if you meet any other Bandle Scouts out in the wild you can communicate with them using Thieves’ Cant, a secret code only taught to scouts and other Rogues.

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

Hey it’s everyone’s favorite ability: Cunning Action! As a Bonus Action you can now Move Quick to Dash or Disengage, or use your passive to Hide. Of course Hiding with Expertise in Stealth and then popping out to shoot a poisoned “dart” (crossbow bolt) at an enemy is a good way to get a sneak attack off.

LEVEL 3 - ROGUE 3

Third level Rogues can choose their Roguish Archetype, and hey isn’t it funny that Rogues have a subclass called “Scout?” Scout Rogues are Skirmishers, allowing them to move up to half their movement speed away from an enemy if they end their turn within 5 feet of you as a reaction.

And remember how I told you to drop Survival proficiency? Scout Rogues gain free Expertise in both Survival and Nature thanks to the Survivalist skill! Now would be a good time to point out that D&D Beyond will let you change the proficiency in your background if you get it past level 1. Also your Sneak Attack increases to 2d6.

LEVEL 4 - ROGUE 4

4th level is our first Ability Score Improvement: for some Guerrilla Warfare take the Skulker feat to hide more easily in bushes, not reveal yourself when you attack, and see better while hiding in the brush.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

LEVEL 5 - WIZARD 1

Hey look everyone it’s my favorite class, because Teemo perpetually frustrates me! If you can’t tell this was going to be Cleric levels and I’m writing this immediately after scrapping like half my build so... a little annoyed. Yay.

Anyways Wizards at level one get Spellcasting: you get a Spellbook where you can write down 3 cantrips and four 1st level spells. Your cantrips are always ready but you can prepare a number of spells equal to your Wizard level plus your Intelligence modifier. Seeing as your INT mod is 3 that means you can prepare all the spells I list! (At least for level 1)

CANTRIPS

For a ranged source of poison damage take Infestation to both poison and confuse your foes to make it harder for them to approach you.

For a melee source of poison damage take Poison Spray for a lot of damage! What do you mean Poison damage is commonly resisted? I don’t know what you’re talking about.

To strategize with your team Message will let you keep quiet while preparing to ambush!

SPELLS

Snare is a trap spell that will let set up a trap. Not a mushroom trap, but a snare trap.

If you want to use your traps for information however Alarm will let you ward an area so you know if someone passes through it. Or you can make the alarm loud so everyone knows!

For some poisoned darts Ray of Sickness lets you do... exactly that. Shoot posioned darts to poison your foes.

Finally to Move Quick take Longstrider, which increases your movement speed by 10.

You also get access to Arcane Recovery, allowing you to recover Spell Slots on a Short Rest equal to half your Wizard level rounded up (with some finer details please read the description of the ability that I’m too lazy to describe.) Teemo has a lot of supplies to survive in the wilderness, so it’s not surprising he packed more darts.

LEVEL 6 - WIZARD 2

Second level Wizards can choose their Arcane Tradition and I’m actually going to suggest a bit of a wild card here: go for the Bladesinging subclass. Yes it’s meant for Elves only but I have never met a single DM who enforced that rule.

Regardless as a Bladesinger you have Training in War and Song for Performance proficiency, Light Armor proficiency (which you already have), and proficiency in one type of one-handed melee weapon. (Scimitars are the only Finesse weapon you don’t have proficiency in as a Rogue so that’s basically your only option.)

But the main feature of the Bladesinger is of course their Bladesong. You can activate your Bladesong as a bonus action for 1 minute. During Bladesong your AC increases equal to your Intelligence modifier, your walking speed increases by 10 feet, you have advantage on Acrobatics checks, and you get a bonus to Concentration checks equal to your Intelligence modifier.

“But Teemo doesn’t use a sword!” I hear you say. Well Bladesong ends if you use two hands to make an attack but you know what doesn’t take two hands to shoot? Well for one Blowguns, but since Blowguns in 5e suck: Hand crossbows! Get a Hand Crossbow to supplement a blowgun, and boom you’re still a ranged character! Yeah much to my surprise Bladesinger doesn’t have any restriction on using ranged weapons: you just can’t use two hands to make an attack. Regardless you have two uses of Bladesong per short or long rest.

You can also add two more first level spells to your spellbook like Detect Magic and Identify to help you know what you find in the wild.

LEVEL 7 - WIZARD 3

Third level Wizards can learn second level spells like Blindness / Deafness for a blinding dart, and Invisibility for more Guerrilla Warfare.

LEVEL 8 - WIZARD 4

4th level Wizards get another Ability Score Improvement but you know what we don’t have enough of? Feats! Take the Crossbow Expert feat to ignore the loading property on crossbows, ignore melee range disadvantage with crossbows, and attack with a hand crossbow with your bonus action after making the attack action. Stinger attack speed’s gotta sting!

Additionally you can learn another two spells at this level along with a new cantrip! For your leveled spells grab Misty Step for Flash and Enlarge / Reduce, because size doesn’t mean everything. For your cantrip Mending will help you keep your scout equipment in check.

LEVEL 9 - WIZARD 5

At level 5 you can learn 3rd level spells. You know what we haven’t gotten yet? Mushrooms. For a very expensive trap Glyph of Warding will let you put down a near-invisible glyph in an area for a mere 200 gold and 1 hour of set-up time. You decide what triggers the glyph, be it something complicated or something simple like an enemy walking near it.

When the spell activates you can choose one of two effects: the simple solution is just to make it explode for 5d8 acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage. Alternatively you could store a spell of third level or lower into it, and have it target whoever activates the glyph or the area around them. I’d highly suggest reading Glyph of Warding over in full before using the spell. It’s a powerful spell but it’s costly and requires a lot of set up time.

But you know what’s a simple spell? Fireball. Weaponize your shrooms for a big explosion of damage.

LEVEL 10 - WIZARD 6

6th level Bladesingers get an Extra Attack! Yup: that’s it! Because you’re a fake Fighter. But yeah this is primarily why we took Crossbow Expert, so you can still attack twice with a crossbow.

Well, you can also add another two spells to your spellbook. To move incredibly Swiftly take Haste. Other than that you can truly grab whatever spell you want as there isn’t much else that’s truly “in character” for such a simple character as Teemo. My out-of-character suggestion is to take Mirror Image from second level for a great boost to survivability. The only thing more annoying than one Teemo is three Teemos.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

LEVEL 11 - ROGUE 5

Back to our swift scouting ways 5th level Rogues get Uncanny Dodge, letting them use their reaction to reduce the damage of an attack by half. Your Sneak Attack damage also increases to 3d6.

LEVEL 12 - ROGUE 6

6th level Rogues get Expertise in two more skills: Perception will let you make good use of your wards, and Deception will let you make good use of your mushrooms.

LEVEL 13 - ROGUE 7

Isn’t Teemo really annoying and hard to kill? Well with Evasion he’ll be even harder to kill since he’ll take no damage on a successful Dexterity saving throw and only half damage if he fails. And your Sneak Attack increases to 4d6 too?!

LEVEL 14 - ROGUE 8

8th level Rogues get another Ability Score Improvement and you know: I don’t think we have enough Feats. Fade Away is a Gnome-specific feat that will let you get use out of your passive by turning invisible when you get hit as a reaction. You remain invisible until the end of your next turn or until you attack, deal damage, or force someone to make a saving throw. You can use this reaction once per short or long rest and it uses the same reaction as Uncanny Dodge, so use it wisely!

(Artwork by Riot Games)

LEVEL 15 - ROGUE 9

At 9th level your Scout training gives you Superior Mobility for 10 extra feet of movement speed. "Hut, two, three, four!" Your Sneak Attack damage also increases to 5d6.

LEVEL 16 - ROGUE 10

10th level Rogues get another Ability Score Improvement to help compensate for all the feats. Increase your Dexterity and Wisdom by 1 for even Ability Scores.

LEVEL 17 - ROGUE 11

11th level Rogues get Reliable Talent so any roll with a skill you’re proficient in can’t be below a 10. If you roll a 9 or lower it counts as a 10. Whenever I get this ability I like to do a tally of all the skills you have and what the lowest potential roll is, so...

26 in Acrobatics (with Advantage if in Bladesong)

26 in Stealth (with Advantage to hide in rocky areas)

25 in Nature

24 in Perception or Survival

22 in Deception

18 in Medicine

16 in Athletics

15 in Performance

And to top it off your Sneak Attack damage increases to 6d6.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

LEVEL 18 - ROGUE 12

12th level Rogues get another Ability Score Improvement and as much as I want to take more Feats (believe me I do) let’s finally cap off that Dexterity score for the deadliest darts.

If you aren’t playing with Standard Array and want some more Feats here’s a few I could suggest:

Poisoner (Yeah duh)

Svirfneblin Magic (More blinds, among other things)

Alert (To always be ready for a fight)

Observant (A half feat to spot any incoming danger)

Tough (Just because you aren’t a tank doesn’t mean that Grasp of the Undying is a bad rune)

LEVEL 19 - ROGUE 13

With 13 levels in Scout you are an Ambush Master. You have advantage on initiative checks, and in addition the first creature you hit during the first round of a combat becomes easier to hit. Attack rolls against that target have advantage until the start of your next turn, because it’s pretty hard to defend yourself when blinded. "Smell that? That's fear." Your Sneak Attack also increases to 7d6.

LEVEL 20 - ROGUE 14

Your final level is the 14th level of Rogue for a 10 foot Blindsense, allowing you to sense any hidden or invisible creature near you. Clearly they only have camouflage.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Turns out I got a proficiency in killing - Up to three attacks per turn with a +11 to hit means it’s more than likely you’ll hit your 7d6 Sneak Attack. Not to mention the strength of Wizard spells, notably Fireball.

Wars are won with men, not machines - Rogues are skill monkies and it turns out you’re quite the asset outside of combat. Expertise in 6 skills, notably the ones to keep alive in the wilderness. And of course the ability to cast Ritual spells like Detect Magic and Identitfy.

Never underestimate the power of the Scout's code - So Teemo’s pretty annoying right? Well I didn’t realize he’d be so damn elusive! +11 to Dexterity saves with Evasion, 35 feet of movement, Advantage on all mental saves, insanely good stealth skills, reactions to get away from danger... And this isn’t even mentioning the benefits from being a Wizard! Bladesong lets you increase your AC by 3 (up to 20 if you’re wearing Studded Leather!) and increase your movement speed to 45... Oh and you can just turn invisible! As well as blind the enemy and speed yourself up.

CONS

Size is a liability - A few feats too many means not enough ability scores, yet somehow we don’t have enough feats for things like Poisoner. Perhaps reserve this build for when you can use Point Buy. Or at least ditch Skulker because you really don’t need it when you can, ya know... turn invisible?

You'd be surprised how quick fur ignites - Of course the lack of Ability Scores means that your Wizard DC isn’t fantastic. Granted most of your spells are utility but a lot of them require saves, and a lot more of them are rather weak. Poison damage is one of the worst damage types in the game and both your cantrips are poison, not to mention Ray of Sickness. Feel free to grab other spells as you see fit.

Lots to do before I punch out - Teemo is squishy in League and Wizard levels don’t help in D&D. Even with the +1 to CON you’ll likely have a little over 100 health by level 20, which easily puts you in Power Word Kill range. You’re elusive yes but a bit of bad luck and you’ll be six feet under.

But you’re not meant to be the strongest: you’re meant to be annoying. Hit-and-run, hide in the shadows, and whittle the enemy down before you win the war of attrition. You’re in it for the long-con, and not just the end game. You’re engaging in psychological warfare: tearing at your opponent’s mental state until nothing remains. You are a master of anger and temptation. You are a demon; a devil... Or you might just be a hamster with a blow gun.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

[arisamsara]

The change of relationship: breaking point of Yoo Jung

Cheese in the Trap Season 4, Ep. 30

WARNING: This post contains several spoilers of the story released up to this particular chapter. The selected plot points are needed for explanation of the chosen topic. If you haven't but plan to read Cheese in the Trap (much reccomended), please avoid this post or read at your own risk.

Cheese in the Trap (치즈인더트랩) is a Korean manhwa (aka comic) series created by Soonkki (story and artwork). It was published on online platform Naver Webtoon in 2010-2017. Later the story was published in print, translated into English on Webtoon app, made into a TV series and live action film. The English translation is in its last 4th season and still has around one year worth of material yet to be translated.

The story revolves around Hong Seol, a hardwoking and little overthinking 3rd year university student majoring business management who is suddenly approached by her same major sunbae, very rich, handsome and popular 4th year student Yoo Jung. It would seem Seol hit a jackpot, attracting attention of such a guy as Jung; however, there is no promise of typical romance in sight. Why?

Maybe because Seol knows that Jung is not as nice as he pretends to be in public?

Or maybe because the previous year Seol's university life was turned into hell and the main puppetmaster behind all those evil schemes seems to be... Yoo Jung?

Relationship that began shrouded in misunderstanding, antipathy and suspicion. Can it ever be turned into romance? Or is it just another Jung's masterplan to get back at Seol?

THE ANALYSIS

In this post I will:

1) do a quick recap of "Jung's attitude towards Seol" evolution (in approximate data graph form in interval -10 to 10 because they're business majors, duh);

2) explain what happened in this episode, what was mistranslated in Jung's monologue and what character details are hidden here;

3) clear the mistranslation of Jung's repeated "Seol" in this episode.

Important parts are highlighted with colour (setting/situation) or bolded (particular events). The words in "..." are actual quotations. The words in '...' are rephrased sentences. Lets begin!

[1st Part] RECAP

How Jung's attitude towards Seol changed since the beginning of previous year aka flashback year? Jung returned from military service to the 3rd year, Seol returned to the 2nd year; they first met during comeback drink party. Seol got wasted (she can't drink much), picked up thrown ciggarettes from the ground outside (for Bora) and kept side-eyeing Jung all evening (how he spilled drink on clingy girls). Jung's first impression of Seol was bad, around 0 to -1 (she's "pathetic"). Then Seol kept saying hello and smiling to him (he was sunbae and popular/respected as well) but Jung flat out ignored her (thought she's another leecher).

During Jaewoo's study group Seol was the only girl there (they thought she outsmarted other girls and came alone to be closer to Jung); Jung caught her laughing at him (he thought she was mocking him and saw through his "nice sunbae" mask; she was just laughing at her imagination of Jung as aloof prince) and his impression dropped to -5 as he really disliked her now. Seol tripped on waxed floor and Jung caught her saying "Be careful" (not about tripping but about her behaviour towards him).

Seol then badmouthed Jung in public (said he was distanced, chose with whom to mingle, acted a bit fake); he found out about it and started to hate Seol (drop to -8). Seol tripped again and dropped papers, Jung kicked them and said "You keep making mistakes. I told you to be careful" (again not about tripping but about making him seem WEIRD to others in public). So he began to act nice with Seol to make Juyeon (black-haired girl who crushed on Jung) jealous and ruin Seol's life (in study related matters)

Then Younggon badmouthed Jung during basketball game (something like 'Jung pities you clingy people', which was true). When everyone turned their backs on Younggon, who went to talk to him, comfort him with snacks? Seol. Jung saw that and likely thought 'So these Jung haters team up now, huh? They deserve each other'. Jung's hatred for Seol got even bigger (drop to -10). When Younggon came to Jung asking for forgiveness, Jung was tired of his sh*t and wanted to go home already (he sighed and ruffled his hair). Juyeon told Younggon he and Seol would be a great couple; they asked for Jung's opinion and he was like 'Yeah whatever you would look good' with a fake smile to be left alone and not involved in unnecessary rumours and drama. He also didn't stop Inha from taking his phone and writing Younggon (pretending to be Jung and advising to send Seol gifts etc.), because, well, he disliked Seol and couldn't be bothered thinking about her. However, Jung had no idea how far Younggon would go during summer break (stalking, threatening and assaulting Seol).

When Seol came straight to Jung and asked if he really told Younggon Seol liked him (and Jung found out how obsessed Younggon was) Jung was shocked and felt bad. Yes, he hated Seol but didn't wish her to be hurt/threatened. Then Juyeon sent homeless woman to the library where Seol was and Seol got cut with a glass. It was Jung (if I remember correctly) who secretly called security guard to save Seol (yet Seol thought Jung was there knowing what happened and did nothing). Jung was really mad with Juyeon for this.

More things have happened that I forgot a bit, but essentially Jung kept noticing he and Seol are somewhat similar. He overheard her phone call with her parents and learned she was also lonely and not fully appreciated by her family. They both were diligent and hardworking in studying (both often were the ones who were used in team projects and ended up doing most of the work, or even did all work alone so their grade would not be affected by other people's laziness). They disliked petty drama. And found it difficult to speak their worries to others (Seol was too self-conscious and afraid to burden her friends, Jung had no one to speak to at all). So Jung's hatred for Seol started to decrease and he occasionally found himself thinking about her and even smiling when doing that (which made him frustrated and confused).

Jung looked for opportunities to speak with Seol but she always ran away, avoided to be left with him alone. During festival Jung made her a part of his preparation group, assigned her an easy job (sort out boxes) so she wouldn't overwork herself as she usually does and so that they could have time to talk alone. Jung didn't know silverware arrived earlier than planned and those boxes were heavy instead of light (Seol thought Jung gave her that job on purpose, to get back at her and just make her more miserable). While working they kept glancing at each other (Seol saw Jung wipe his sweaty face and cough - he caught a cold and felt really sick, but kept working). As others ran home early avoiding work, finding ridiculous excuses, Jung said Seol will help him clean up, but when everyone left, he told her to go just home (no one will appreciate her sacrifice and hard work, he knew that from experience). Seol wanted to leave, but seeing how Jung was sick, she went into rain to place directions towards their bar space. As she got back to take her bag, she saw Jung cleaned the place and lied back on the sofa, mumbling with fever. She couldn't just leave him there, bought him medicine, placed a wet towel on his head and fell asleep on the other couch. Jung woke up feeling better and was surprised to see Seol who was also sick and grabbed his hand in her feverish sleep (Seol's habit). The way they both tended to each other as both were sick (such caring gesture) made them closer but still confused about each other.

Jung left umbrella to Seol (she didn't take one and got wet while placing directions outside) and next day didn't take it back immediately between lectures so they could speak in person when she returns it, but that plan failed (Seol was too sick to keep running after Jung; she didn't want to be alone with him; the students' pissed her off saying 'Poor Jung, got sick working all alone'). In episode 29 sick Seol mistook Jung as Euntaek and asked him for money (initially 10$, then changed her mind and said 2$ was enough). Jung was happy to help her (he knew Seol wasn't like other students who hanged out with Jung only because of his money; also she approached him first and he hoped now they could talk) and offered 40$ (possibly all the cash he had on him, as Jung seemed to favour his card for paying). However, Seol recognized him and ran away again thinking Jung was showing off his money and pity, humiliating her. He followed her and saw her crouched (she vomited), tried to approach her but couldn't (street between them was drawn as an abyss); during next break Jung bought a health drink for Seol but she collapsed and was carried to the infirmary.

Then this episode happened (explained in detail in 2nd part). After that, Jung found out Seol was taking a study break. He was desperate to keep her at university so he could finally get close to her (it was going to be Jung's last year, so if she took a break, they would likely never meet again). Having no other idea how to do that, Jung blackmailed Assistant Seo to make his research paper dissapear (Assistand Seo had stolen and used Jung's credit card, so Jung gave him a chance to be forgiven; once research paper was gone, Jung's grade would drop, Seol would become first in business department, get the scholarship instead of Jung and stay for another year). Then the first chapter of CITT happens when Jung approaches Seol all smiles and offers to buy her dinner (bomb food and triangle rice). So during this 'realization' period which started after Younggon's assault, Jung's like/dislike bar towards Seol jumped from -10 to a decent 8.

[2nd Part] EPISODE EXPLANATION + JUNG'S MONOLOGUE MISTRANSLATION + CHARACTER DETAILS

This whole chapter is from Jung's POV, so it's a rare opportunity not only to see him behave but also hear what he's thinking. Infirmary part is the breaking point is Seol-Jung relationship: it's Jung's last effort to stop being bothered and confused by his feelings towards Seol; and his utter defeat as his opinion of Seol changed completely. Jung was getting worried of her and her health before, but here we see the extent of it. Jung is super diligent when it comes to studying (a bit later, during their first movie date at the cinema Jung was hangover and asked Seol to wake him up if he falls asleep; but it was Jung who stayed up watching boring historical film without breaking attention because it was homework; while Seol quickly fell asleep). It is absolutely outrageous to see Jung deliberately skip important lecture (which has attendance marks) in the middle of it just to go and see Seol. It shows how much he worried about her without even realizing.

Then Jung quietly stared at Seol for a long time with a serious, cynical face as if criticizing, evaluating. Although Jung has dated many girls before (they asked him out and he said ok), he has never had any romantic feelings for them and had no experience with love. So here Jung tried to rationalize whatever newly experienced softness he was feeling towards Seol, remembering past incidents (how she fell several times and got her hand cut). But his concentration broke as soon as Seol moved and Jung was controlled by the unconscious desire to touch her HAND. Seol woke up (delirious) so Jung put his HAND over her eyes to make her sleep (it mirrors how Seol put her HAND over Jung's eyes to calm his rage after Sangcheol pushed them and Jung hurt his HAND). Seol grabbed Jung's HAND half asleep, thanked he was still there and told him to go already. Since she spoke in banmal (informal language), she must have mistaken Jung for Euntaek again, as she never spoke informally with Jung before. Obviously a HAND motif is extremely important in the story. Seol keeps grabbing people's hands (usually Jung's after they became close, ex. when he asked her to become his girlfriend, during volunteering etc.) because she pushed away grandmother's hand; Seol had her hand cut by homeless woman; Inho got his hand hurt during assault; Jung's habit to tap his fingers when he's thinking. I can say this hand grabbing was one of the deciding elements that defeated Jung and last effort of resistance, but why exactly this gesture has such an impact on him is revealed only at the end of the story.

The part time job paper he found in her pocket softened him more. Jung's monologue is MISTRANSLATED in English version on Webtoon app; in essence Jung said he was frustrated about his feelings towards Seol but now feels better (weird), it means he changed (that's weirder). Seol caused a chaos of emotions inside him and she was the only one who could contain that chaos and bring back peace to his heart. He had no proof they could get along as their relationship was dissapointing so far but he wanted to try once more and make sure of it. He admitted he had never regretted his actions so much as he did now (things he did to Seol). Jung realized he couldn't run away from Seol, was fascinated by her, worried (her call with parents), touched by her kindness (she cared for him at festival), apologetic (she crouched after asking for 2$). Suddenly realization hit Jung like a lightning -  he lost the battle and got taken over by affection and crush towards Seol. Jung fell in love for the first time. And here started his obsession with food and having dinner with Seol.

[3rd Part] MISTRANSLATION OF "SEOL"

Why Jung kept repeating "Seol" like crazy? The way it's translated in English on Webtoon app, there is no difference between Jung addressing Seol as he first got into the infirmary and at the end of the chapter. In original Korean version there is a huge difference. For ex. Seol never adressed Jung as Jung; he was Yoo Jung or Sunbae (the latter even after they started dating). Titles of hierarchy or full names are used between people who are not very close and are in official respectful relationship, mostly professional. Family members, close friends and lovers use banmal (informal speech) and address each other using each other's name (there are exceptions; also Bora and Euntaek also often called Seol as Hong/Hong Seol but it may have been a tease). So people who are very close would usually add ending -ah to other person's name as a form of endearment.

When Jung first entered the infirmary, he adressed Seol formally as "Hong Seol" (a fellow student and hoohae of the same major). But after Jung realized he fell in love with Seol, he smiled and called her name softly as "Seol-ah", suggesting she became a close person to him, a dear friend and a possible future lover. Being first time in love, Jung was fascinated by how lovely it sounds and kept happily repeating it.

AFTERTHOUGHTS

CITT emphasizes the importance of subjectivity of one's point of view. This post was written explaining Jung's point of view, how he saw Seol and judged her behaviour. However the story is written mainly from Seol's point of view, so the reader identifies with her and can clearly understand only her actions and thoughts. Most of the time Jung looks weird, unreadable and suspicious to the reader because Seol sees him like that, affected by her past experiences which were caused by misunderstanding between them (and also because Jung is a complex person in general who on top of that is inexperienced in expressing himself clearly).

Nothing like that would have happened if Jung and Seol had sat down and talked everything out in the beginning. But these two do not openly speak about things. Instead they observe, overthink and internalize, judging people by subjective patterns of their own experience. Seol and Jung are similar in this appproach, only their patterns differ.

Seol grew up nice, diligent, disliked troubles and drama, smiled at sunbaes and was often underappreciated. And Jung was always at the center of attention. Seol thoght it was unfair, but she didn't know that people hanged out with Jung only for his status, money and connections, looking for personal gain. When Seol tried to be nice to Jung because she was just raised like that, Jung thought she was another leecher as he only knew such people.

Money was a touchy issue in Seol's family and she had to work several part time jobs to earn for tuition. Jung never thought about money at all or give it much importance. He was collecting expensive watches because he hd nothing better to do (habit came from the childhood as he was lonely and wanted to have a hobby). His issue was not using money for other people (paying for team dinners; Jung is generous) but for people using him only for money. So when Seol paid for her dinner (like she was raised to do) she thought Jung considered her a fool. Actually, he was impressed and surprised (sge's a first who did that) and even felt a little mocked. So he had no issue to give her more cash than she asked - 'I have money, you need it as you're sick, take it all'. She felt humiliated as if Jung was showing off.

Jung made her part of his festival preparation group only to have a chance to speak with her. She thought he did it to make her life hard. Whatever nice Jung did later, he was misunderstood by Seol as having evil intentions. Even when he "lost his paper" and gave up his scholarship so that she would stay at University, he avoided telling her the truth as Seol could (and eventually did) misunderstand and judge him resorting to blackmail (Seol is very righteous). But she would not open to him or ask him for help otherwise, so Jung had to repeatedly help her from behind the scenes and later get scolded.

Also, I wanted to clarify Jung's line "I'm all you got" from episode 27 that generated a lot of discussions about his 'inappropriate, sketchy and manipulative' behaviour. The sentence does sound creepy, but it was partly the fault of translation. Actually this sentence does not mean Seol has no family or friends and has to rely solely on Jung. It is a mistake to take this one sentence out of context, as the sentence was a continuation of Jung's train of thought about unconditional love and trust; about putting someone always first.

Read the colour coded dialogue below:

Jung Seol

"Next time tell me anything. Even if it's just a suspicion. Didn't we agree to share everything? That night, at my house... We talked about it."

"Yes we did, that conversation. Well, I was suspicious of him (Sangcheol) for being a thief so I had to be cautious."

"Seol, when you get suspicious, you had a good reason to be. You can tell me."

"What? How can you be so sure? Aren't you trusting me a little too much?"

"Of course. Who else would believe you and take your side if not me? See? I'm all you got."

Jung never experienced unconditional love and trust; his father never put Jung, his son, first above everything else. Jung was told to give beloved picture frame (mom's treasure) to a boy who simply liked it. Father told Jung to stop whining and be nice - apparently how other people saw Jung was more important than what Jung wanted. Jung's father considered him weird and the lack of trust was expressed by making Baek twins spy on Jung and report back (twins were manipulated too). Father even seemed to like twins' company better than Jung's as father was always smiling and laughing around them, but giving Jung a cold shoulder and scorned face. In Jung's mind, he was never first to Inho too although they were best friends. Jung went to see Inho's favourite musician and get autograph in Inho's name. And Inho kept reporting to Jung's father about Jung, laughed about father liking him more than Jung and caused a scandal about being a second son in the family. People at work and University also don't care about Jung as a person, only about his status in society.

Seol's life is different, she has family and friends yet she can relate to Jung a lot too. In episode 29 Seol said: "No matter how hard I try, there is someone else who's on a whole different level from the beginning. Do I really need to feel this way even at school?" and a picture of Seol's brother Joon appeared. Seol was never put first too - her brother as the only son in the family was the most important. Grandma used to favour Joon and bring him more snacks. Parents sent him to USA to study (Seol also wanted that) and sent him money frequently but Joon stopped his studies and went home. Meanwhile, Seol took a break and had several jobs to earn money for her tuition. No one at home asked how she felt, what she wanted; no one noticed how sick she was (father said no one around the house was useful). Seol had Bora and Euntaek but they had their own problems at home and Seol couldn't find strength to tell them everything thst bothered her. This lead Seol to keep stuff to herself and just brace through it alone.

For Jung, Seol is his girlfriend, the girl he loves and by far the closest person he has. Despite rocky start she eventually tried to know him behind the façade. She bought him a watch (he collects them) with her scarce savings when her time, interest and honesty were more than enough for him. After arguing she would still come and try to work it out and understand him (the night they talked at Jung's house). She often worried about him to the point where she thought she would trouble him with her "small" problems. So that's what Jung talked about - he wanted Seol to share even the smallest worries with him, not bottle everything inside. When friends can be very close, they both are a couple. For Jung couple means people who are ultimate, the most important for each other. "I'm all you got" means "the ultimate/the last one/ the only one to remain with you when everyone turns their backs on you and leaves". It means that as her boyfriend, Jung is the only one who ALWAYS puts Seol first above others, supports her and is on her side no matter what, even if she is wrong or mistaken. That is unconditional love and trust they haven't experienced from their family and friends, so have to give to each other instead.

END

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

[chesh-cat-rus]

I watched “Trapped” for the 3rd time in the last 15 days, and I was crying at the end of the last episode because I knew that now I am able to let go of the series, and move on... (Although it doesn’t mean I won’t relapse and re-watch it some day.) Initially I wanted to check for the moments when Tang Yi wears his fringe down (which means he lets his guard down with the people around him -- in the last episode he lets in down in the bedroom scene with Shao Fei) or when he smokes (because he hadn’t smoked before Tang Godun’s death, and when he does now it means some serious things), or other moments from the novel, but in the end I totally forgot about this intention and just enjoyed the series.

Thoughts with spoilers under the cut:

I still have a few questions that are left unanswered.

1) Who exchanged information via lockers? Initally I thought those people were the trairor policeman and a mobster who served that guy from the 1st episode who later almost helped the traitor policeman escape. But! That fatty who took the documents from the locker actually looked like one of Wenhao’s men, and in one of last episodes Wenhao’s lawyer-friend said something about the information on Tang Yi from the locker. So, that probably means Wenhao’s men exchanged info either with Jake or with some other person from Xintian Meng. But I’m not sure, because then how does Wenhao meeting Jake in a restaurant makes sense???

2) Second, I have so many question about Tang Godun!!! First, was he in love with his friend Wenhao? (There was a moment in the novel where after Lee Chen left the prison meeting room and Wenhao was yelling that he’d kill him, Tang Godun said under his breath that he could’ve never betrayed him, and that got me thinking that it might be the case.) Was he asexual? I mean, my folk need representation, I’d be happy to know that he’s one of us. Next, why didn’t he help Wenhao get out of prison? He promised to get him out of there in several months after he would’ve dealt with the rival gang’s attempts to kill his friend, but in the end Wenhao spent 24 years in prison! Yeah, Tang Godun said to Tang Yi that he has a friend he owes so much he cannot repay, but... Man, that’s incomprehensible! (Also, when he said that thing to Tang Yi, Tang Yi first asked, “Are you talking about a woman?” So... that also got me thinking...) And also, did he actually know that Tang Yi is Wenhao’s son? Or did he truly believe that Lee Chen aborted the baby, and it was all a coincidence? Did he see something familiar in Tang Yi’s face then, and that is why he adopted him? If he knew that Tang Yi is Lee Chen and Chen Wenhao’s son, did they plan to tell it to Wenhao (and Tang Yi) at the meeting “four years ago”??? I need answers to these questions, Tang Godun is really the most mysterious person of the series! And this idea about three... let’s say friends as the starting point of the whole story is fantastic!

I was really amused by the thought (and also I cried at the realization) that Wenhao and Tang Yi are truly father and son not only because they loved tea so much, but also because all those years they both were driven by their desire for revenge. And then they found truth and redemption in their love for their police sweethearts. They’re truly father and son. (Still thinking that them not organizing their own tea club is a letdown.) Also, Tang Yi was his parents’ son, son of a mob and a policewoman: he was the head of a mafia group who legalized the business and stopped drug trafficking.

I was happy that they made Jake and Zhao Zi’s relationship more consensual. In the novel their relationship was off-putting because of the lack of consent. But their dynamics still didn’t do much for me. Just nope.

There was a nice parallel in the series when former police boss said to Shao Fei that Shao Fei remained untainted and pure. This is the same thing that Tang Godun said to Tang Yi about keeping the heart (the core of the Lotus root) pure. It was a really nice thought-out parallel.

I was also thoroughly amused by how Tang Yi began messing with people’s relationships for fun. First, he teased the doctor, then he compromised Jake. Sure, before that he tried to set up a date for his sister, yet that was out of serious concern for her happiness, but now he does it for fun! xD Did he become such a prankster because of his boyfriend? Or was it always a hidden part of him? ;D Though he truly does care for the people around him! And he always settles his debts! XDDDDD (I’m totally thinking about the bed scene, LOL!)

I think I can write essays on how good this series is!!!

Now (I think) I can move forward and leave the series behind. I have some ideas for a crack!video, but they are really odd, and actually I don’t know/don’t remember how to edit videos.

[kbeeds]

Pre-Assumptions and Post Mortem

Pre Assumptions - Your pre-assumptions (what you thought about the brief, team, lessons from last semester both good and bad)

  This semester the brief requires us to create a 3rd Person Game in 3D, and after some voting, the genres available were racing and platforming. I thought that developing a racing game would be boring and uninspiring so I was really looking forward to making a platformer because you have so much more creative freedom. 

  Since it is a 3rd Person game, there is a lot of work that needs to be done in comparison to a 1st Person game because your character needs a model and animations, but since I am a programmer I started shifting my focus towards taking what I knew from the 3D 1st person game and applying it to a 3rd person setting. There were a couple of other things I was worried about such as AI agents which was something I never learned before but I was looking forward to it because it would be challenging. Despite this Brief being a little bit more challenging, it was also very exciting because as a team we could develop anything as long it was a platformer.

  When it came into assembling a team, we were allowed to work with who we wanted, and this was the best part because it meant that you could assemble a balanced team of people who you can trust to work on the game with you. Our group was made up of Me, Harry, Will, Thomas and Jay. Our group was really solid because some of us had worked together in previous modules and previous year but we also all specialised in different areas of game development. Me and Harry were both programmers, however we liked to write scripts for different things, for example I like working on parts of the game like collectables, and minimaps and some of the programming side UI elements, and I also volunteered to develop the Enemy AI. Whereas Harry likes to work on character movement and setting up Interactables. He also likes to be involved in level design which is very helpful. Jay specialises in 2D UI Art and 2D Animations which are crucial for the game. Finally Thomas and Will are both Environmental Artists so they can work on developing the level in which our game would take place by modeling various assets.

  This time around we essentially had all of the tools to make a great game to submit at the end of the semester and there were definitely lots of aspects of game development that we wanted to avoid and improve upon. For example, more people should have access to the Unity collab so that sharing work would be easier, but also if one of our versions encountered any problems then we had multiple ways of backing it up. Also Time management is a big one, I wanted to manage my time more efficiently so that I can also help the people in my group if they needed help. This was great, because we had people specialise in what they liked doing so that everyone could be as efficient as possible

  There were lots of lectures that I found helpful last semester such as the week 3 lecture where we did a workshop where we had to create a theoretical game on pen and paper, and at first we had these rules that we were supposed to follow and we had 15 minutes to create this game. Once the publisher looked at the game, they then wanted to add lots of different features and we as game designers had to meet their requirements by adding various things to the game, and removing others. This lecture helped me get a better understanding of how when you are developing a game you have to account for a variety of different things and you have to be ready to adapt if something does not work, but if you have a solid foundation then you can change parts but keep your integral idea.

  The other lecture that I found quite useful was the developing mistakes lecture. This lecture was very useful and helped me understand what makes a good game and what traps to avoid. For example, it doesn't matter how good the story of a game is if the gameplay is lacking and this is something a lot of people end up doing. A lot of the time developers are worried about aspects of the game that are not the core game itself and the game sufferers because of that.  

Post-Mortem - (your reflective analysis on the project, looking back at your pre-assumptions and comparing with reality)

Looking back on this project there is a lot that I learnt from but there is a lot that given different circumstances, I would like to improve on.

Starting off with the Covid-19 Pandemic, this was something that nobody could have predicted that it would have happened or planned around it, but this really impacted my work in a multitude of ways. Firstly I was not able to work on scripts for a long time which put a bit of a break on the game, however it also meant that I had to adapt and change what I was doing to make sure that I could keep working, so I started working on documentation. Since I lost the majority of the resources available to me at Uni I also had to account for that and we as a group made a few changes to the game to help us continue to work on it even during the lockdown. Despite this, I think we created a game that we were all happy with and whenever a new problem surfaces we as a team would figure out a way to work around it.

As for group choice, I was really happy with the people I worked with. Having another programmer by my side at all times sped up the development process a lot, and if I had any issues or he had any issues we helped each other trying to fix the code. We also had 2 Environmental artists and this helped a lot in terms of creating new assets and building the scene. Because we also had a dedicated 2D UI artist who also specialised in animation, assets like menus and various animations were created with no issue. This was only possible because we had a team that covered a lot of groups, rather than having a team made up of random people who’s skills can overlap with someone meaning that sometimes you could have somebody working on something that wasn't their specialty,worst case scenario would be an artist who is forced to do programming. There were some other advantages of allowing us to pick our group of people, in our case because we are all part of the same friendship circle, communication was very easy because we all spoke to each other regularly and it was quite rare when we were not talking about the development of the game at some point in the day.

Finally looking back at the Pre Assumptions, we wanted to make sure everyone had an updated copy of the game at all times and that we had back ups, and I think we all delivered on that aspect, despite this not seeming like a huge deal, I believe that if the fear of losing your work at some point because a program decided not to work in the way that you expected it to is eliminated, people can be more productive and focus on working part of the development work for the game. As for Time management, I would say it was really good minus the weeks where the health crisis was at its peak, but not counting that I would say that I was able to manage my time quite well, and I feel like this applied to my group as well since we all had assigned roles so we were able to be efficient. Overall I was happy with the work i put out, and I was not only happy with the group I was able to work in, but also the game we made as a team.

[hcneymilkks]

Christmas Prompts Requests

As this decade is coming to a close and another Holiday is creeping up, I decided to open up my request....

But with a few exceptions:

(request on my ask or pm me) 

REQUEST GUIDELINES

- Any k-pop idol, male or female (these prompts are mostly romance ones though sooo...)

- Main character name can be your name, a made up name or just Y/N

- choose between bullet point form, drabble under 1000 words, or full-fledged imagine

- and prompt number(s) (can request more than one number)

EXAMPLE

- Got7's JB

- Name: Y/N

- bullet point

- prompt numbers 11 and 12.

<Without further or do, I present prompts taken from different tumblr blogs with full credit.> 

< these ones in bullet point form are credited to the original creators! Mine is found under the cut!> 

christmas writing prompts

winter/holiday prompts

holiday prompts

OTP christmas scenarios

[FULL WARNING: IF THE PROMPT CROSSED OUT THAT MEANS IT HAS ALREADY BEEN REQUESTED!]

1. Getting trapped in a shopping mall together during after-hours in which they were christmas shopping too hard.

2. SWEATER PAWS AND CUDDLES. “If you don’t grab me a blanket, I’m breaking up with you.” “I’m watching Barbie Nutcracker.”

3. Losing S/O at a christmas market and having to make an announcement over an intercom as to reunite them again (I’m thinking early 80’s era with fluorescent jackets and big old scarfs and brick phones that they left at home).

4. “Are you humming the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy?” Falling asleep in front of the fire whilst their S/O is playing them ‘dance of the sugar plum fairy’ on piano. They pull a blanket over them and curl up beside them.

5. Spilling hot chocolate/coffee/a hot-fucking-beverage on the other and insisting on paying for a new drink and new clothes for them, unaware that they’re rich and very capable of buying themselves another coffee. Besides, they don’t know that this jacket is Louis Vuitton and cost more than the knock-off Gucci belt that had caught their eye in the first place (probably looking a little lower than the belt, but we digress).  “So you wanna… hot chocolate and chill?” “If you ask me that one more time, I will dump my hot chocolate on you.”

6. First christmas with their S/O and panicking to their best friend/sibling about what to get them. Somehow, a plushie didn’t seem exactly suitable when they knew the other had bought them an engagement ring.

7. Being gifted tickets to see a family member overseas, but having to leave their S/O at home for christmas, not expecting them to turn up on their doorstep on christmas morning with a bouquet of roses.

8. Buying animal-proof fairy lights, confusing their S/O, but it all makes sense when there’s an ENTIRE puppy in their living room on christmas day.

9. Falling asleep in the passenger seat whilst their S/O drives them to a family members house for christmas, but not wanting to wake them for further directions because they look so p e a c e f u l.

10. Sleeping in until midday because they just want to be in each other’s arms and it is so warm with them right here beside them.

11. Making out under the christmas tree because the lights reflecting in their S/O’s eyes just looked too ethereal for them not to kiss them until they lost their breath.

12. Falling asleep on their significant other’s chest whilst they’re wrapping christmas presents, meaning that some aren’t wrapped the next morning because the sellotape had RUN OUT.

13. Failing to get the right meat and their S/O sending them back multiple times until they end up going together and realising that they weren’t even going to the right store.

14. “Wanna go skating in Central Park?” “Who even came up with ice skating? Do you know what a terrible idea it is? Its like,,, strapping knives to your feet before getting on ice which you may or may not fall through.” Ice skating and them BOTH BEING REALLY GOOD ACTUALLY.

15. Avoiding the mistletoe at all costs, however, everyone is trying their best to get the otp there.

16. Neighbour au in which one gets drunk on mulled wine and ends up knocking at the other’s door, drunkenly trying to seduce the other and- instead- passing out in their living room

17. Crawling into their roommate’s (S/O’s) bed because it is too cold in their own and they want cuddles.

18. Person A tries to get their friends to kiss under the mistletoe, and they completely forget about their crush on Person B until they both end up under the mistletoe.

19. Person A and Person B sitting next to the fire, drinking hot chocolate, maybe even cuddling. “So you wanna… hot chocolate and chill?” “If you ask me that one more time, I will dump my hot chocolate on you.”

20. Person A stays out late one night to find the perfect gift for their partner. Does Person B scold them for being out so late?

21. Imagine them being complete fools while playing in the snow. Bonus points if they have a dog or another pet that joins them. “Let’s make snow angels!” “Are you nine?” “How can you possibly look good with snow in your hair?”

22. Person A comes home freezing, so Person B happily cuddles with them to warm them up.

23. Matching. Sweaters.

24. Person A is ready at 3 am on Christmas morning, while Person B isn't ready until 10 am.

25. Person A plays Christmas music in October, and Person B is just Done with them. “Can we PLEASE watch something else? This is the 3rd time we’ve watched elf today. And it’s November 1st.” “Nightmare Before Christmas is a Christmas movie, not a Halloween movie.” “If you turn down the Christmas music, I’ll murder you.”

26. “We made too many cookies.” “Are you sure your family can eat all these cookies?” “What? No! These are just for us!” “You burnt the holiday cookies!”

27. “You’re impossible to shop for!”

28. “Who brought the fruit cake? I just wanna talk…” “ALRIGHT, WHO SPIKED THE EGGNOG?” “Wait, that wasn’t sparkling grape juice? I drank like 5 glasses of it! No wonder everything is so funny!” “I got apple cider up my nose.”

29. “I can’t believe I got stuck on a ski lift with you, of all people.” “Listen, it isn’t my fault you broke your wrist trying to snowboard down that hill.”

30. “Who walks on an ice covered pond anymore? Don’t you know how stupid that is? You should’ve died in that pond. Natural selection.”

31. “You’re either terrible at wrapping presents, or you’re one of santa’s elves. There’s no in between.” “There’s more tape on that present then wrapping paper.”

32. “Don’t you think gingerbread houses with gingerbread men in them are kinda morbid? I mean, it’s a house made out of flesh.” “Everyone knows you’re not actually supposed to eat the gingerbread house. Those things are stale as hell.”

33. “It’s not what’s under the tree that matters, it’s those who are gathered around it.” “Shut up and give me my present.” “We all know damn well that Mariah Carry cares about the presents underneath the Christmas tree.” “You’re getting coal this year.”

34. “Christmas is so close, I can almost smell the mistletoe I’m never going to get kissed under.” “Oooo, we’re under the mistletoe!” “No No No No- mphh!”

35. “Come outside and and have a snowball fight with us.” “I don’t really feel like it…” “That’s because you know that you’ll lose…” “Don’t you dare bring that snowball in the house, DON’T YOU DARE-“

36. “Bath and Body Works was having a sale on their holiday scents so I bought twenty bottles of lotion.”

[katehuntington]

You have found the mother load! Stories written with a base of good ol’ Supernatural blood and gore, a shot of fluff and maybe a speck of smut if you’re lucky. Add a bag of angst to that and you’ve got the ingredients to my writings. Enjoy!

Dean fanfiction:

I Can See Clearly Now - ✓ updated -  After a falling out with Y/N, the Winchester brothers are on the road trying to find her again. Then Dean gets a disturbing phone call and he needs to move fast if he wants to save her life. ➤ Dean x female reader. Angst. One shot, 1st person (Dean’s POV).

As I Live And Breathe - ✓ updated - Y/N and Dean go out after a case, in need of unwinding. But when they arrive at the motel after a night full of beer and shots, they decide to unwind some more. ➤ Dean x female reader one shot. Smut, fluff. One shot, 3rd person.

He Is The Reason - After a case almost goes wrong, Y/N reaches her breaking point. She tries to wash the memories away in the shower, but the only one who can really help her, is Dean. ➤ Dean x female reader. Angst, comfort, smut. One shot, 3rd person.

November 2nd - The 2nd day of November, the day Dean’s mother died is always a tough one to get through. This time however, Y/N is by his side to offer him support. ➤ Dean x female reader. Angst, comfort, fluff. One shot, 3rd person.

Three Days Ago - Dean and Y/N finally decide to settle down. But before they do, they take on one more case, which will turn out to be their last. ➤ Dean x female reader. Angst. One shot, 2nd person.

Wedding Bells - ✓ updated - After solving a case in Las Vegas, Nevada, Dean passes a chapel, and can’t help but wonder. ➤ Dean x gender neutral reader. Fluff. Drabble, 2nd person.

If The Bunker Had Windows - ✓ updated -  When a Djinn case doesn’t go as planned, not everyone makes it. Dean, who is burdened with guilt, holes himself up alone in his room for days, until Y/N comes in to check on him. ➤ Dean x female reader. Angst, comfort, fluff. One shot, 3rd person.

Winchester fanfiction:

My Brother’s First Hunt - Fourteen year old Dean takes his younger brother on a simple salt and burn, but soon regrets his decision when the hunt doesn’t go as planned and Sam finds himself in harm’s way. ➤ Sam & Dean, pre-series. Angst, adventure, nostalgia. One shot 1st person (Dean’s POV)

The Battle at Taco Bell - Dean and Reader can be competitive sometimes, even when it comes to food. When she devours her tacos faster than the hunter, he can’t help himself and tries to out do her. ➤ Sam & Dean & female reader. Comedy. Drabble,1st person (reader’s POV)

Series:

How You & I Will Be - When a hellhound case in the mountains goes sideways, Dean and Y/N find themselves trapped in a small cabin, miles from civilization. A serious injury forces the two hunters to come to terms with their true feelings for each other. Rescue is on its way, but will it be in time? ➤ Dean x female reader. Angst, comfort, some fluff. Mini series, 3rd person. Completed.

All I Want (work in progress) - Sam and Dean come across an object that could be the solution to Michael. The Pearl of Baozhu grants the beholder’s deepest desire. Once Dean focuses on his wish, the archangel remains caged in his mind however. Instead his former girlfriend Y/N shows up, who was killed in 2010 in Detroit, by no other than the Devil himself. ➤ Dean x female reader. Angst, smut, some fluff. Mini series, 3rd person. WIP.

Ride With Me (work in progress) - Y/N is a talented horse rider who is on her way to become a professional. In order to convince her father that she deserves the loan needed to start her own farm, she goes to Arizona for six months, to intern at a ranch owned by Bobby and Ellen Singer. Her future is set out, but then she meets a handsome horseman, who goes by the name of Dean Winchester. A heartwarming series about a cowboy who falls for the girl, letting go of the past and the importance of family. ➤ Supernatural AU - Cowboy!Dean x female reader. Slowburn. Angst, fluff, smut. Series, 3rd person. WIP.

Supernatural: the Sullivan Series (work in progress) - Huntress Zoë Sullivan (OFC) has a tainted past and buried secrets, which have molded her into a survivor with nothing left to lose; confident, reckless and borderline insane. Her life takes another turn when she teams up with the Winchester brothers. Their lives and destinies are threaded together, all three of them a part of a much bigger picture. ➤ Dark!Supernatural. Original character insert. Angst, smut, fluff, comfort. Multi season series, 3rd person. WIP.

It is in no way allowed to copy my work. I appreciate every single one of you, but if you do want to give me some extra love, you are free to reblog my work or buy me coffee (Link in bio at the top of the page). Thank you for reading!

[addytheheartbreaker]

Dolls of Dugsalan gang/Guilty Blood gang information

Dolls are human like dolls who are connected to the owner, they are act like human and they are served their owner and treated in return after task to task. The Dolls are used to be humans after death and it is revived to the owner who are strangers to them, only the owner found their souls connected to the dead humans soul to be chosen because in the future they are found to be fond or loyal of the owner or the dead human calling help for any reason the owner must known them clearly.

•How does Dolls are made?

It all started was the owner, they must go to the cemetery to find out who will going to revived with the help of the DEaF power eyes to analyzed which dead soul to be rightfully chosen perfectly, the soul that the owner must find out who it is and be chosen were two things; the shine from the soul that glimmer to the eye while looking and a warm embrace that gives the owner attention to follow where their gravestone is. Once the owner found the right gravestone from the dead person, they must write the name and find the info of the chosen dead human and its cause (date of death, identity and cause of death). Before they could dug out of the dead humans grave, the owner must find a body to revived the dead human.

There are people who are working of making the dolls body called Dolly Costumizer who are responsible of making dolls body but has human function. There are variation types of dolls you can find to choose, the dolls appearance must copied the exact replica of the dead humans original appearance when they are alive before death (but the appearance will have changes in either the owners desire to put one on the doll or the cause of they death created the mark of it) and also human organs to become a realistic doll that acts like humans, beside that was the brain is different than other parts. The brain was a technology chip contains with all of the dead humans past and other past from other people (dead or alive) with a device to search every single memory that involves the dead person before putting it to the dolls head so they could bring the dead humans bones to burn into ashes to put in the heart-shaped container as they're battery and put it inside the dolls new body.

After the ashes and the memory chip put together into the dolls body, the dolls body will soon change immediately into 15 seconds which will change the dolls body parts the damage that resembles their death. For example is Tristan, died in the car accident that gave him a small crack on his left below eye, which is a result the car accident his left head got hit injured. Malik, died by sacrifice, he was known to be the first doll who isn't a stranger to Addy but his head injured that cause to have 2 different eye color (right eye was a blue diamond and right eye was a black and white), his memories he had was hazy and unreadable but took some time to remember stuff and having insomnia. Due to the memory already restored but his death cause him to reject his memories on purposed. Daniel of course, died by commiting suicide by shot in the head. He shot his head on his right and similar to his brother, his right eye has a crack below his eye and other features, having migraine and insomnia is a result cause by his death.

(The parts of a Dolls body with the heart ashes of the former's bone ashes and the memory chip.)

•Dolls age and stay the same age appearance and change name

After the Dolly Customizer finish the final result of the doll, the doll's body must have the same age appearance. Because of the dead human died from that age the doll should look in the same age of their death that stops them ageing. Along with the personality's and memories involed to the doll. When the doll died in old age, the doll must revived to a young age appearance first and when the doll died they can revived again to a another type of doll body in a different age.

(Paper doll young Alex, his first appearance and Ball-Jointed doll current Alex in today)

For example, my 1st doll Alex, he is formally a Paper doll in age appearance 12 and died and destroyed by burning the mansion when me and my 2 soul brothers trap in the Run away guilt era then 3 years later revived to a new body was a Ball Jointed doll in age appearance 21 but his real age (in today) was 92 years old.

The former human will also have a different name because their old self's died a long time ago then they revived as dolls giving them a new name that is naming by the owner.

As for the name of the former human that is revived to a new doll body, the owner must name the new doll in the same first letter from the former humans old name. For example is my 2nd doll Tristan, his real name is Tao Pollux Castor and I gave him his new doll name Tristan, new full doll name is Tristan Pollux Castor.

The former humans personality will going to have the same personality and behavior but has been added behavior later on. If the owner doesn't want to put all of the former humans memories they could also erase the negative and tragic memories and the cause of death as well.

•Roles of working in the owner and return treatment

There are several roles as a doll, they are humans revived to a doll body that functions like they used to but they will have a job picked by the owner to do it or whether or not which fate the doll would do if they like to obey the owner or be free to what ever they like but still link to the owner because the doll's dead soul is connected to the owner after reviving. It is according to the dolls old self in they're old life (the old life about they're intelligence, skill, talent, etc), once picking the right job for the doll will be position to them for the owner. The dolls will work 24/7 for the owner but the doll will also get tired over the time. Like the dolls are human like, they could also needed rest and food. The owner must treat them in return (its a strict rule of the gang) or else the doll will break apart and died in 4 hours unless you treat them immediately.

Dolls are like humans, they all have physical, emotional, mentally and psychological problems similar to human has and their old self's. That's one of the reasons why you must take care of them while they treated you 24/7.

•Dolls powers, ability and loving praise

If the owner could train they own dolls to fight or guard to the owner they can, the dolls could also gunna have they own powers giving by the owner according to they skills belong to the doll's former self. But if the doll's former self has a skill of fighting combat like karate, sword training, or any professional sports will be perfect to become a fighting doll but needed the owners training to understand, needed extra boost of the dolls ability and how to use they powers properly.

Dolls could also earn the DEaF power eyes after they're awaken. On how the dolls manage to earn them without commit sin is because they already commit sin from their old lives before they meet they're demised then revived becoming a doll, the masters will identify the possession they earned.

A certain warning is that Dolls loves to be praise like complements, head pats and hugs by the owner or other affection. Because thats how dolls are because dolls are well... dolls is similar to how the owner and people could do, for example is my 3rd doll and 4th doll; Malik and Daniel wanting my attention after doing they're job done and must treat them in return, they are both rivals of getting the most loved from me. Both of them loves to get complements, rubbing to the cheek by me and they wanting more and more then ever by impress me and do they job better even though I wanted them to be equal is because I loved them all but they both denied it to become my favorite dolls.

[ryqoshay]

How to Handle a Nico: En Passant

Primary Pairing: NicoMaki Pretty Much Assumed Pairings: RinPana, NozoEli, KotoUmi Words: ~1.3k Rating: G Time Frame: Middle’ish of Maki’s 1st year and Nico’s 3rd year in high school Story Arc: Stand Alone

List of all HtHaN scenes

Author’s Note: After several Anon Asks, a cute illustration by myon, lots of thinking and even more banging my head against things, my µ’s muse finally let me write this scene.

“Oh, what are these, nya?” Rin asked, poking at the bag on the clubroom table.

“Nico-chan and I found some props for the Wonderland photoshoot.” Kotori replied, opening the bag and retrieving two items. “I thought these would look wonderful on Hanayo-chan and Rin-chan.”

“Crowns?” Hanayo blinked.

“For the king and queen pieces of a chess set.” Nico explained.

“Chess?” Rin asked. “I thought Alice met cards?”

“In the first book, yes.” Nico nodded. “The second book had a chess theme.”

“So which one is the queen?” Rin inspected the crowns in Kotori’s hands.

“This one.” The costume designer held it up.

Rin quickly grabbed it, turned and placed it on Hanayo’s head. “It looks cute on you, Kayo-chin.” She grinned happily at her friend.

“I think it would look cute on you as well, Rin-chan.” The youngest µ’s member replied.

The cat-like girl grinned as she took the other crown. “Rin likes this one, nya!” She placed it on top of her head. “Rin and Kayo-chin can now rule together!” She pulled the other girl into a hug and nuzzled against her, not caring that the motion knocked both crowns off their heads.

“What other pieces do you have in there?” Honoka inquired, leaning over to get a better look in the bag.

“Two knights, two bishops and two rooks, just like the primary pieces of chess.” Nico explained as Kotori began setting out the props. “And one pawn for the ninth person, even though there are actually more pawns than that.”

“So, how should we decide who gets to represent which piece?” Umi asked.

“Perhaps we could draw for them?” Eli suggested.

“I think Umi-chan would make a fine knight.” Kotori said. “And we found these for the knights.” She handed the archer a prop sword.

“Umi-chan would definitely make an awesome knight.” The leader of µ’s agreed. “Ne, ne, what pieces are next to the knight?”

“The knight starts between a bishop and a rook.” The former student body president stated.

“Then Kotori-chan and I should each be one of those.”

“If that’s the case,” Nozomi spoke up, “I believe Honoka-chan would make a good rook.”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“Because the rook moves in straight lines on the board.” The shrine maiden smiled at her junior. “And you’re always driving us forward.”

Honoka grinned. “I like that idea! Say, which one of these is for the rook?”

Kotori handed her the crown in question.

Honoka’s smile only grew as she placed the prop on her head. “µ’s! Forward!” She pointed straight ahead of herself as though giving an order to advance. This earned her a laugh from some of her friends.

“So, does that make Kotori-chan a bishop then?” Rin asked.

“I think that would suit her well.” Hanayo said before her gaze turned to one of the third years. “And with her spiritual powers, I think Nozomi would also make a good bishop.”

“I’ll happily represent the bishop with Kotori-chan.” Nozomi accepted her crown from the mentioned second year.

“And that just leaves three more, nya!” Rin looked back and forth among the girls in question. “I think Maki-chan and Eli-chan would be good as either a knight or a rook.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Nico nodded before something clicked in her mind. “Hey, that would just leave the pawn for me!”

“Exactly.” Nozomi laughed.

“Nico is not a pawn!” The raven-haired girl protested.

“I dunno, Nicocchi, you’re pretty easily manipulated…”

“I am n…” Nico cut off as she realized she was playing into the trap of the purple-haired girl. She crossed her arms defiantly. “Nico should be a knight or rook. Maki-chan can be the pawn.” She turned to the redhead. “Right, Maki-chan? You don’t care what piece you represent, right?”

Maki, who up until now had remained silent, merely shrugged and twirled her hair around her finger. “Not really.”

Truth be told, she was looking forward more to seeing the outfits Kotori and the photography company had put together for them to wear. She had seen Kotori’s proposed designs and was curious how the final results would look on everyone. And it wasn’t as if she didn’t appreciate the addition of the accessories to compliment the theme, but it really didn’t matter which piece she ended up representing; Rin, Nico and Nozomi would probably find a way to tease her about it.

“We could still draw for it,” Eli pointed out, “even just with the three of us.”

“I think Eli-chan would make a lovely knight.” Kotori spoke up. “And then she could be next to Nozomi-chan.”

Nozomi chuckled. “I’d be fine with that, though Elicchi and I don’t always have to be next to each other for everything.”

“Maki-chan would also make a good knight.” Honoka pointed out.

“And Eli-chan is good a driving forward like Honoka-chan.” Kotori considered. “Perhaps she would make a good rook.”

“But that still leaves Nico with being a pawn!” Nico groused.

“Nicocchi is still complaining?” Nozomi held up her hands and flexed her fingers.

“Geh!” Nico took a step back, turned and retreated behind a taller redhead. “Maki-chan! Save me!” She cried before sticking her tongue out at her aggressor.

Maki wasn’t sure why, but the next thing she knew, she had a prop sword in her hand and she was turning to face an approaching Nozomi.

“Yup, Maki-chan is definitely a good knight, nya!” Rin proclaimed.

Nozomi dropped her hands and offered an amused smile. “I couldn’t agree more.”

For a moment, Nico felt her heartrate increase and warmth spread through her chest. She had only intended to tease her favorite first year and hadn’t expected Maki to actually react in such a way. She had decided months ago that she wanted to protect Maki, but after this display, she realized perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to let Maki protect her in return. But only every once in a while. Nico was the older one, after all, so it was only right that Nico protected Maki more. Then she saw red spread to Maki’s ears.

“I… I, uhm…” The pianist sputtered as she dropped the sword back onto the table.

And with that, it was back to teasing. “Dwaaa!” Nico cooed, glomping onto the younger girl from behind. “Maki-chan looked so knightly when she defended Nico from the mean ol’ Nozomi!”

“Nico-chan… I just…”

“And you know, Nicocchi,” Nozomi smirked, “a rook shouldn’t need protection from a knight.”

“For the record,” Umi spoke up, “the pawn should never be dismissed offhand. They have the potential to turn into any other piece on the board, even another queen.”

“Another queen?” Nico raised an eyebrow.

“If it reaches the opponent’s side.”

“Which means the pawn needs to be protected.” Nozomi pointed out. “Like, say, by her knight.”

Maki’s blush had almost faded, but now it returned full force.

“And the pawn has a lot of special rules that allow it to do things no other piece can do.” The blue-haired girl continued. “For example, it can move farther on its opening move, or capture a piece simply by moving behind it.”

“Moving behind it?” Rin perked up. “Then Nico-chan just captured Maki-chan, nya!”

“I did, didn’t I?” Nico giggled as she shifted her embrace so she could rest her chin on the other girl’s shoulder.

“Captured?” Maki questioned, despite not resisting being held. “What the heck?”

“Also, I believe Alice was essentially the pawn in the story.” Hanayo added.

Nico blinked. “You know, I think you’re right Hanayo.” She grinned. “Nico in Wonderland has a nice ring to it, I believe.”

“I don’t get it.” Maki sighed.

“Fine, fine, Nico will be the pawn.”

“Wait…” Rin thought for a moment. “Aren’t there something like nine pawns? Nine Nico-chans?”

“There are eight pawns.” Umi stated.

Maki’s shoulders slumped. “The universe can barely handle one…”

“Nico-nii is pretty amazing.” Nico agreed, though probably not in the way Maki intended. “Nico can see how nine would be overwhelming.”

“Eight.” Umi corrected again.

“Whatever.” Nico dismissed. “Still, there can really only be one true Nico-nii.”

“Idiot…” Maki muttered.

“You like it.” Nico laughed.

“… Maybe…”

“Well,” Eli clapped her hands together “now that that is all decided, let’s work on the next set.”

Seven other girls agreed enthusiastically while one was still thinking about multiple pawns and being captured from behind.

Author’s Notes Continued: 1, 2, 3. Three Anon Asks about the Wonderland set. (Ah! Ah! Ah!) I think my readers really wanted a scene about it, and I can only hope this at least comes close to their expectations. And if it isn’t, perhaps the scene I’d like to write about the photoshoot itself might better suit their fancy... whenever I get around to writing it.

Also, this amazing work by @myonmukyuu played a large part in deciding Maki’s actions to defend Nico. The fact that she has a sword in the card’s depiction and that she was released alongside Nico already had the gears grinding in my mind. Myon’s pic sealed the deal as it made me realize I wasn’t the only one thinking along those lines.

Next, for those readers not well versed in chess, the title of the chapter refers to a special move pawns can make to capture another pawn. It is referencing the fact that Nico captures Maki after moving past her. And yes, for those better versed in chess, I realize that Maki has basically accepted the role as knight at that point and the move cannot be used on that piece. Also, generally speaking, one does not capture friendly pieces.

I tried to keep the chess rules chat overly simplified because I do not see any of the girls being experts. And the point of the scene wansn’t intended to be an in-depth discussion of the game. However, I can see Umi and possibly Hanayo having played a game or two in their time and thus at least knowing the basics; enough to try to help placate a grumpy Nico.

Finally, my original draft had Eli or Nozomi offer to have Nico be part of the secondary focus pair (SSR), but I still have yet to decide how to deal with those in the HtHaN universe. As such, I may come back to this scene later if I eventually figure things out.

Cards Referenced:

And here is the rest of the µ’s Wonderland set if you want to bask in the adorableness.

[blackrigante]

David Eddings, an amazing author

I know lots of people I follow Nd follow me on here love urban fantasy, but what about classic fantasy adventures?

David Eddings published High Hunt in 1973 and the novel only did okay. I personally never read it because most fans of Eddings have said its not that great and its also his only non fantasy novel. One day he was walking by a book store and in the front window they had Lord of the Rings and thought to himself something along the lines of 'how is this guy still around' and decided to try fantasy.

In 1982 he published Pawn of Prophecy book one of a five part series. His book was a huge success and one of his secrets was that he co wrote with his wife. Because of the era he kept it a secret till the 90's. Because of the team work Leah made the females come to life, she had full say about them so aunt Pol today is still a woman that I respect.

His novels always had a way of capturing me and he puts so many minor things into his books that it took me a few re reads that are amazing. For example in the Belgariad the series is about an accident in the universe that caused its purpose to split into two different purpose, two different awareness and two different prophecy. Whenever the two would meet the light prophecy would have blue involved and the dark would have black or shadows. Even the most smallest of clashes they would.

Even the titles of the novels are connected to this struggle. PAWN of Prophecy, QUEEN of Sorcery, Magician's GAMBIT, CASTLE of Wizardry, Enchanters' END GAME. I full capitalized the part of the title that shows the struggle and its a huge chess game they play.

His novels are what got me into the world of magic, and it's a shame he and his wife have passed on so we can not enjoy more amazing works.

He wrote 5 different Fantasy worlds. His first world is about Garion, a young man who is a pawn of the light prophecy (see what I did there, I'm that dorky) and comprised two 5 part series The Belgariad and The Malloreon as well as Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress as back stories of the two most recognized sorcerers in the series. They involve the struggle of light and dark and fixing the universe. He also wrote a codex for this series called the Rivan Codex to learn about the world.

His second world is around a Pandion knight named Sparhawk. The Pandion order is one of 4 holy knight orders of their one true God who practice magic of the Styric Gods (I know it's confusing but they are special) the church is simular to the Catholic Church in structure and early Christian mentality. The 4 orders are like Paladin knights (hence the name Pandion) and Sparhawk is extra special because he is also the champion of the throne of Elenia. It starts with his queen poisoned and trapped in a diamond throne encased to save her life as they find a cure while Otha an immortal emperor tries to invade. This is my favorite world he made and comes in two trilogies the Elenium and the Tamuli.

The Dreamers is his last series and generally not a fan favourite. Before his books has structure and are amazing. Here not so much and I think it had to do with fan pressure and Leah's health. They retired after the Redemption of Althalus and Rigina's Song and fans pushed for more. Under that pressure they started this series. From 2003-2006 and Leah died in 2007. So though the series is not nearly up to par can you blame them? I can't.

Redemption of Althalus is his first stand alone book. Althalus is a thief, spy and your usual criminal guy. But when hired to steal a book from an abandoned house he becomes the champion of the world. I love this novel for when you just need a book to read. Many say it's a rushed novel but it was published just before retirement and I think he wanted to share one more world for us. I also love this book because it's one of his few books that don't leave me in tears at the end of the series.

Final his last novel Regina's Song, this book is so different from the rest of his work that he gets some backlash for it, why? Because people can't accept that this book has no magic, its set in Seattle and changes writing style from 3rd to 1st, when I point that out most people don't believe me but it is 1st person. Regina is the remaining identical twin sister from a brutal rape murder of her twin. The story is told through the eyes of Mark, he is kinda a big brother cousin to the twins because his dad and their dad are best friends and they grew up together (Mark is a few years older too). Mark is working on his doctorite when Regina comes out of her insanity and he helps her adjust. All the while Seattle has another serial killer. It's far better to read then I can do it justice for.

Please everyone consider this couple for the amazing books they offer and try them. If you do not want to invest to much start with Althalus or Regina's Song. If you want a good mid read go with the Elenium, love that try the Tamuli. If those are amazing start with his first world. These authors is who I use as the benchmark for when looking for a new book. They taught me that a good author needs to 1 know how to write a story and 2 they need to know before a book is started how it will get from A to Z. so many authors like Martin, Jordan and Goodkind know how to do 1 and others like Suzanne Collins can in my mind do only 2 but authors like Eddings, Rowlings, Riordan can do both and they are what makes a series amazing. So I beg you to read Eddings.

Side note: I have never heard the Dreamers on audio book and the Redemption of Althalus is done horribly but the rest are great.

[dfroza]

the mystery of righteousness revealed

(An open gift of grace)

for God Himself is our life, our breath, our treasure, our peace.

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 3rd chapter in the Letter of First Timothy:

If any of you aspires to be an overseer in the church; you have set your heart toward a noble ambition, for the word is true! Yet an elder needs to be one who is without blame before others.

He should be one whose heart is for his wife alone and not another woman. He should be recognized as one who is sensible, and well-behaved, and living a disciplined life. He should be a “spiritual shepherd” who has the gift of teaching, and is known for his hospitality.

He cannot be a drunkard, or someone who lashes out at others, or argumentative, or someone who simply craves more money, but instead, recognized by his gentleness.

His heart should be set on guiding his household with wisdom and dignity; bringing up his children to worship with devotion and purity. For if he’s unable to properly lead his own household well, how could he properly lead God’s household?

He should not be a new disciple who would be vulnerable to living in the clouds of conceit and fall into pride, making him easy prey for Satan. He should be respected by those who are unbelievers, having a beautiful testimony among them so that he will not fall into the traps of Satan and be disgraced.

And in the same way the deacons must be those who are pure and true to their word, not addicted to wine, or with greedy eyes on the contributions. Instead, they must faithfully embrace the mysteries of faith while keeping a clean conscience. And each of them must be found trustworthy according to these standards before they are given the responsibility to minister as servant-leaders without blame.

And the women also who serve the church should be dignified, faithful in all things, having their thoughts set on truth, and not known as those who gossip.

A deacon’s heart must be toward his wife alone, leading his children and household with excellence. For those who serve in this way will obtain an honorable reputation for themselves and a greater right to speak boldly in the faith that comes from the anointing of Jesus!

I’m writing all this with the expectation of seeing you soon. But if I’m delayed in coming, you’ll already have these instructions on how to conduct the affairs of the church of the living God, his very household and the supporting pillar and firm foundation of the truth.

For the mystery of righteousness is truly amazing!

He was revealed as a human being,

and as our great High Priest in the Spirit!

Angels gazed upon him as a man

and the glorious message of his kingly rulership

is being preached to the nations!

Many have believed in him

and he has been taken back to heaven,

and has ascended into the place of exalted glory

in the heavenly realm.

Yes, great is this mystery of righteousness!

The Letter of 1st Timothy, Chapter 3 (The Passion Translation)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 20th chapter of 2nd Kings that documents the healing of King Hezekiah along with a miraculous sign of rewinding time, and a card and gift given to him as well:

Some time later Hezekiah became deathly sick. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz paid him a visit and said, “Put your affairs in order; you’re about to die—you haven’t long to live.”

Hezekiah turned from Isaiah and faced God, praying:

Remember, O God, who I am, what I’ve done!

I’ve lived an honest life before you,

My heart’s been true and steady,

I’ve lived to please you; lived for your approval.

And then the tears flowed. Hezekiah wept.

Isaiah, leaving, was not halfway across the courtyard when the word of God stopped him: “Go back and tell Hezekiah, prince of my people, ‘God’s word, Hezekiah! From the God of your ancestor David: I’ve listened to your prayer and I’ve observed your tears. I’m going to heal you. In three days you will walk on your own legs into The Temple of God. I’ve just added fifteen years to your life; I’m saving you from the king of Assyria, and I’m covering this city with my shield—for my sake and my servant David’s sake.’”

Isaiah then said, “Prepare a plaster of figs.”

They prepared the plaster, applied it to the boil, and Hezekiah was on his way to recovery.

Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “How do I know whether this is of God and not just the fig plaster? What confirming sign is there that God is healing me and that in three days I’ll walk into The Temple of God on my own legs?”

“This will be your sign from God,” said Isaiah, “that God is doing what he said he’d do: Do you want the shadow to advance ten degrees on the sundial or go back ten degrees? You choose.”

Hezekiah said, “It would be easy to make the sun’s shadow advance ten degrees. Make it go back ten degrees.”

So Isaiah called out in prayer to God, and the shadow went back ten degrees on Ahaz’s sundial.

Shortly after this, Merodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan king of Babylon, having heard that the king was sick, sent a get-well card and a gift to Hezekiah. Hezekiah was pleased and showed the messengers around the place—silver, gold, spices, aromatic oils, his stockpile of weapons—a guided tour of all his prized possessions. There wasn’t a thing in his palace or kingdom that Hezekiah didn’t show them.

And then Isaiah the prophet showed up: “And just what were these men doing here? Where did they come from and why?”

Hezekiah said, “They came from far away—from Babylon.”

“And what did they see in your palace?”

“Everything,” said Hezekiah. “There isn’t anything I didn’t show them—I gave them the grand tour.”

Then Isaiah spoke to Hezekiah, “Listen to what God has to say about this: The day is coming when everything you own and everything your ancestors have passed down to you, right down to the last cup and saucer, will be cleaned out of here—plundered and packed off to Babylon. God’s word! Worse yet, your sons, the progeny of sons you’ve begotten, will end up as eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “If God says it, it must be good.” But he was thinking to himself, “It won’t happen during my lifetime—I’ll enjoy peace and security as long as I live.”

The rest of the life and times of Hezekiah, along with his projects, especially the way he engineered the Upper Pool and brought water into the city, are written in The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. Hezekiah died and was buried with his ancestors. His son Manasseh became the next king.

The Book of 2nd Kings, Chapter 20 (The Message)

A post from my thought-life that points to a rewinding of time:

my personal reading of the Scriptures for friday, december 25 of 2020 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible, along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

A post by John Parsons about the birth of Light into the world:

Though the promised birth of Yeshua may have occurred during the holiday of Sukkot (Tabernacles), with the incarnation occurring during Chanukah (the Festival of Light), many people of good faith observe the traditional “Gregorian Calendar” date of December 25th. Regardless of your particular conviction regarding the date of Yeshua’s birth, the most important thing to remember is that *He was born to die* (see Heb. 10:5-7). After all, the story of his birth is only significant in relation to His sacrificial death for us (Mark 8:27-33), and the “manger” scene leads directly to the altar of the cross. Indeed, in Jewish tradition the day of one’s death is more important than the day of one’s birth, since death summarizes the meaning and significance of a person’s life in this world. Birth represents potential, whereas death represents inheritance... Therefore the Jewish custom is to commemorate the anniversary of a person’s death (i.e., yahrzeit: יארצייט) and not the date of his or her birth. This custom is derived from the Scriptures themselves: “A good name is better than precious oil, and the day of death than the day of birth” (Eccl. 7:1).

The day of Yeshua’s death (on Erev Pesach) represents the message of the Gospel story itself: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This is of “first importance”: Yeshua was born to die for our sins, to make us right with God, and was raised from the dead to vindicate the righteousness of God (1 Cor. 15:3-5). “For our sake God made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). The birth of the Messiah (or rather His incarnation) was the “first step” toward His sacrifice for our deliverance (Heb. 2:9-18). As Paul said, “I decided to know nothing among you except Yeshua the Messiah - and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2).

Yeshua came to earth and emptied himself (κένωσις) of His regal glory and power in order to be our High Priest of the New Covenant. The life he lived in complete surrender to the Father was meant to demonstrate that He alone is the efficacious Healer and High Priest (Mediator) of us all: "But [He] made himself nothing (εκενωσεν), taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men; and being found in human form, he brought himself low by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:7-8). "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Yeshua the Messiah. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Yeshua the Messiah from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:1-4).

Though Christmas is customarily the time that many people observe the birth of the Messiah and Savior, it is surely appropriate to celebrate Yeshua’s glory as our risen King and Lord every day of our lives.... Therefore I sincerely wish each and every one of you a wonderful Christmas Season. May we all take time to reflect upon the profound gift of the One who was so great that He emptied Himself (κένωσις) of all His regal glory and power to be clothed in human flesh in order to die as our sin offering before the Father.

Finally let me add that it is one thing to speculate on the anniversary of the birth date of Messiah, and quite another to submit to His rule in your heart at this present hour... We must be careful. “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor is he able to know them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). Note that the “natural person” mentioned here is not carnal or bodily-focused (σαρκικός), but is soul-focused (ψυχικὸς), emphasizing the life of the intellect and rationality. The “soulish” person may find the idea of God or matters of religion “interesting,” but not as a matter of life and death. The Spirit of God must first awaken a person to reveal their need for a healing so radical that everything will be transformed, and a new “spiritual person” (πνευματικός) will be quickened to receive the truth of God. The Scripture says we are to ask in order to receive, but we do not know enough to truly ask until we accept the reality about our condition. When we ask according to God’s will, however, God sets in motion the miracle and the answer to our heart’s cry. Regarding these matters, I quote Augustine of Hippo:

.

In necessariis unitas (in essentials unity),

In dubiis libertas (in doubtful things liberty),

In omnibus autem caritas (but in all things love).

Follow the path of peace, chaverim! [Hebrew for Christians]

https://hebrew4christians.com/

12.24.20 • Facebook

Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research

December 25, 2020

God Gave Himself

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

It is singularly appropriate that we look at this greatest of all verses on Christmas Day, for it records the greatest of all gifts. The theme of giving is very prominent in the Bible, with such words as “give,” “gift,” “gave,” etc., occurring more than 2,100 times. The first is Genesis 1:16-17 when God created the sun, moon, and stars “to give light upon the earth,” and the last is Revelation 22:12 when Christ will return with His rewards to “give every man according as his work shall be.” “He...gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons,” as well as “life, and breath, and all things” (Acts 14:17; 17:25).

But the greatest gift, clearly, was when God gave Himself for a lost and undeserving world. It was the greatest gift because it met the greatest need, revealed the greatest love, and had the greatest scope and purpose of any gift that could ever be conceived in the heart of an omniscient Creator.

That was not the end of His giving, of course. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). “Trust...in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17).

This great gift of God is abundantly sufficient to provide salvation and everlasting life for the whole world. But a gift only becomes a gift when it is accepted, and the greatest of all tragedies is that this greatest of all gifts has been spurned and even ridiculed, or—worst of all—simply ignored by multitudes who need it so much. When they brazenly refuse God’s free gift of everlasting life, they can only perish in everlasting death. God did all He could do when He gave His Son; for when He gave His Son, He gave Himself. HMM