#i am big into the vibes of this game and am tempted to try to play through it at some point

[fauxfroot]

really interesting video about a piece of lost media. if you like obscure rpgmaker horror games, i definitely recommend checking this out.

the first bit of the video is talking about the time it took to merely FIND the game, which is itself very interesting. it was quite the process lol

it's not a full playthrough in that a lot of the gameplay is edited out, but it does go through the entire game and explain what is happening story- and gameplay-wise. as there was (at the time) no english translation of the game, Marsh does the work of explaining the important dialogue.

[fishing-lesbian-catgirl]

kinda fucked up for you to see a gender non conforming woman (samsus) and automatically make them trans. you get what i mean about how thats just reinforcing gender stereotypes (that cis women are feminine and would never commit genocide even a little while transwomen would do masculine evil things like shoot gun (because they’ve kept their man vibes) or whatever

yeah

I can’t tell if this is like a shitpost or a really poorly worded commentary because I have no idea who you are. Frankly I would normally assume the worst block you, buuuuut since I like talking about it I’d love to explain why Samus Aran is extremely transgender.

Tbh I am still tempted to block you but the terrible grammar, spelling error, and nonsensical nature of the ask almost make it seem like a shitpost

First of all Samus being trans-coded was very core to her character from the very beginning. Regardless of the reasons they did it, the original Metroid was intentionally made and marketed to have people assume she was a man. This isn’t even just because people would see a person in a power suit and assume they were a man, the games manual explicitly refers to Samus with he/him pronouns. The immediate assumption that she’s a man because she’s tall, broad shouldered, badass, and wears a power suit that obscures her feminine features until the big reveal is inherently a trans theme. Taking that away makes her a less compelling character. It’s also continued in that Metroid media has continually joked that a lot of the Galaxy assumes that Samus Aran, the greatest bounty hunter in the Galaxy, is a man.

Secondly there was that one Metroid dev who said in an interview that Samus was transgender. The terminology used was outdated and it was explicitly a transphobic joke, but it’s too late she’s ours now.

Thirdly she is (was) built like one of us. That is, prior to the later zero suit designs trying way too hard to be sexy. Like seriously when I first found this image a few years ago I was the same height and weight as her. I miss the big buff broad shouldered Samus design so much and her later redesigns are honestly kinda pathetic by comparison

Fourth, Samus was raised by the Chozo and trained to become a powerful warrior. Part of what they did to make her strong was body modification via Chozo DNA splicing to make her stronger and more agile than a normal human. This is a sci-fi setting where she was raised by an extremely advanced alien race who could change her very DNA, acting like she couldn’t look like she does and be a trans woman is simply not even an argument.

Now, of course, you could refute all this by saying “but Cordelia, we know what Samus looked like as a kid from Metroid Zero Mission and the manga and she was clearly a little girl not a boy.” Now even without addressing the fact that it’s very possible for people to realize they are transgender as children and that children don’t even really have secondary sex characteristics to make it easy to tell what their gender is, this what Samus actually looked as a child:

The combination of all of this gives us trans women a lot of good reasons to believe she is transgender. But also, literally none of this is necessary for me to headcanon a character as trans. Trans women come in all shapes and sizes with all different stories and not a single thing in Metroid canon even remotely suggests that Samus Aran has to be cisgender. And if you try to say “but Samus has no bulge in canonical zero suit Samus depictions!” you’d have to be intentionally dense. Samus Aran is a chimera with a cocktail of human, Chozo, and Metroid DNA and, again, was raised by a race of super advanced aliens. Not only could they have easily given her bottom surgery, but they could’ve even changed her fucking sex chromosomes if she wanted them to. There is literally nothing in Metroid canon that even remotely gives me a reason not to insist that she’s transgender. To be honest, there is more evidence for her being trans than against.

To anyway anyone who actually read this far, I hope you understand the truth. Nintendo’s redesigns are too afraid to show us, but you and I both know that her cock is huge

[lutawolf]

My Dear Gangster Oppa Commentary Ep 2

This episode will be much or of a reactionary commentary than a synopsis, cause I'm playing around with how I prefer to write things.

Anyway, Episode 2 starts off where the episode 1 ended. Guy in his drunken sleepiness had pulled Tew to him. Tew finds himself waking up in that position. I admit to feeling gooey inside. Clingy Guy and unsure Tew are adorable.

When Tew tries to remove himself from the octopus, he finds himself dragged back. Where he lays for just a minute, indicating to us that he is reluctant to leave the position. I think this confuses him.

I mean, look at that face. It has confusion written all over it. With a touch of want.

Thanks to the gangster storyline, we now know that Tew is a boss. So no low lever gangster. The conflict is that some thugs are being sent to try and find Tew because he beat up a rich daddy's son for getting handsy with one of his employees. Unlike Tew, she was not appreciative of the groping, valid.

Wahl is freaking because he doesn't know where Guy is. I've seen a few people say this red flags him, but I'm withholding judgment at this time. I am just as possessive of my friends and if I didn't know they were safe, I'd freak too.

When Guy wakes up, there is no longer a big guy on top of him. And all indications point to him not even knowing he slept with the big guy. He is confused about where he even is until Tew walks into the room to clue him in. We learn that Tew carried Guy!

You know, completely normal behavior for a gangster. Tew is super friendly this morning. There are smiles and he even makes Guy hangover food. I think the cuddle time really had an effect on Tew, who was likely touch starved.

If Tew wasn't already a goner, having Guy feed him broke the camel's back.

👀 Tew asks Guy if he likes whales because he mentioned them in his sleep. Oh, no Guy! Don't bring up Wahl. But inner dialogue says Tew isn't scared off. Awkward moment where Guy sees Tew's back scars, but then we are in the vehicle and heading home.

You guys, this face says it all. My boy is all in. Guy don't know what he has gotten himself into. The way we see Wahl watching Guy and Tew as they talk does give creep vibes. Wahl giving third degree does scream possessive, but again, I'm withholding judgment because third degree is common in close friendships. We want to know everything.

Guy explains that Wahl wouldn't know his friend because he's an online gaming friend. I find it interesting that Guy is asking Wahl if he is okay with Guy being friends with Tew. Then Wahl says, "Of Course Not!" like a petulant child. This feels very double standards to me. Okay, but then he explains that he was worried sick about Guy, which is valid. And he has some valid points as to why getting drunk and staying with a stranger is dangerous. While I respect that Guy is trying to set some boundaries between them, so he can have his own life. A friend isn't really a friend if they aren't concerned about your well-being. Even if you are grown.

Then to Tew driving and thinking about Guy. Oh yeah, he is smitten. But he has to put that aside to get back to gangster business.

Wahl and Guy are back to being friendly and Wahl invites Guy to each with him. Dude, Wahl, I've been trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, but right after inviting Guy, you're busy. He has to fit your schedule. Not cool.

More troupe gangster shit. I'm gonna be honest. The gangsters are laughable. Especially permed hair, dude.

Guy really doesn't want to go to Wahl's, but he goes. And the gf is there. They are being so cute it makes me want to gag, but thankfully his guild start contacting him. Then he reaches out to Tew to once again try to tempt him into meeting up with all them. Guy is being clearly flirtatious and Tew is eating it up. Then Wahl interrupts and is clearly jealous of this gaming friend. Ugh, all the signs point to Wahl going to look at Guy's phone. Not fucking cool.

The smile Guy gives when Tew agrees to meet. Too cute.

Now we meet the gamer gang.

They are hysterical and I already love them. Coconuts, the bunch of them. The way Guy is describing Tew, awwww. The way Guy adjusts his clothes to make sure they are laying right when he sees Tew. Yeah, boy is feeling Tew as well.

The look they both give muffin when she offers for Tew to sit next to her. 🤣🤣🤣

The accident hand touch troupe.

She is me. Furthermore, once she notices, she calls Muffin out on her flirting. I really like her. And now the whole table knows about Guy being drunk, hahaha. Oh no, your drinking again, Guy. Just say no. 🤣🤣🤣 Around the six drink, you can see Tew getting concerned. He even tells him to slow down or he'll end up like last time.

Me again. 🤣🤣🤣

Tew was right. I feel like we are meeting an awful lot of troupes in just one episode.

It should feel cheesy but oddly enough, doesn't. It's coming off too natural to be cheesy, if you know what I mean.

I snort laughed when Guy offers to demonstrate that he can in fact stand up straight. The way Tew backs away with a nod is so "yeah, go ahead dumbass, I'd like to see this."

See, I told you. Wahl looked at Guy's phone. Otherwise, how else did he know that Guy would be there. Did he really just ask him why he was that drunk? Bitch, no. A bestie's job is simply to help out, not be unsupportive and ask why. I know he also didn't accuse Tew of doing this to Guy. There is an instant change to Tew's face. He does not like Wahl.

Look! It's males in the wild having a pissing contest!

And once again, they end on an element of suspense. I'm excited about the next episode!!! Hope you guys enjoyed this 💜💜💜

[phneltwrites]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to other writers. Spread the self-love~ 🫶🏻

💚

it's tempting to pick the long fics because they took the most work and have the most Stuff in them (themes, narrative experimentation, whatever) so i want to think a little more widely about the stuff i've written.

Bad Thing Twice (Not Me, Todd/Black). Ohh I love Not Me so much. What a fantastic show about a group of people taking down the biggest billionaire in Thailand. The main romance is great, the gang is fantastic, it's beautiful to watch... and then right at the end the most perfect best friends to enemies ship appears. otp of two guys who keep trying to kill each other over ideological differences but can't because they love each other so much. So then I wrote 64k to take that friends to enemies and add on a ...to lovers. One of my faves because I got to get into some themes that I love, like how and when to compromise, what to do when the love is real but the situation is hard. Also because I don't see anything glamorous or admirable in being rich and I wanted to wallow a bit in how much money fucks things up.

Say All That You're Feeling (MDZS, wlw wangxian). lesbians!! Genuinely the process for writing this was just coming up with a big list of all the things that I thought would be hot. lwj woodworking. wwx making leather bracelets and then playing with the leather bracelet on lwj's wrist. But then ALSO this fic is about comphet. Stage 2 comphet. Stage 1 is 'is it possible to like girls???' Stage 2 is learning to be ok with experiencing attraction. It's scary to be horny! It's vulnerable. And there's so much baggage around unwanted attraction and being predatory but like. it's beautiful and fun. We all know a useless lesbian who is like 'idk if that was a date or just friends' and I'm always like WELL did YOU say if it was one or the other?? and they never do. Useless. But also we've all been there so this is like, a fond and generous read on that situation (i hope)

Retrieved from Impossibility (Leverage, Eliot/Parker/Hardison). Possibly the most Me fic I've ever written. Android Eliot desperately clinging to his humanity, Parker's fierce sense of what's okay and not, and Hardison being so smart and caring and also into robots. I love books about cognition and humanity and agency and I also am very weak to a trope about heisting a person so they can be free, so.

Falling Til Four in the Morning (MDZS, wangxian). I sure do love a hyperspecific AU. Like this, technically, is a coffee shop AU, however it's set in the 90s and wwx aspires to dotcom and lwj works in radio. I researched so much for this fic and nothing makes me feel better than people in the comments say it captured the vibe of the era. In case anyone reading this has read that fic and wondered: wwx disassociated himself from the Jiangs because he was doing AIDS activism and it was communicated to him that he was shaming them.

Standing in Sharpening Wind (Game of Thrones, Jon/Tormund). A fave cause I think the setting comes through clearly, which is always something I'm working on. I feel cold in the spaces in the sentences. I can't believe I never had any fic writing inclination for this show until the end of S8 pissed me off SO bad. Not even the point of this fic but Brienne/Sansa forever I can't believe that show fucked me so bad. uhh anyway yeah north of the wall vibes, some culture clash stuff, Tormund pining like an idiot, lots of fun for me to write

[crazylittlejester]

DAILY BRAINROT

Since you enjoyed my opossum facts, I would like to inform you that there is a breed of chicken called the Transylvanian naked neck. :)

After some fact-checking, I have determined that the Buster sword in FFVII is about 6 feet tall, putting it at 1-2 feet longer than Four is tall. I'm guessing Fierce Deity's sword is probably of a similar size, though, so that's going to have to be close enough.

Sort of related to that, I have been introduced to ✨ FFX ✨ and am now in love with the idea of the guardians. It scratches that itch. Anyway, I think Sky and Wild would fit that type of role relatively well because the guardian's job is to protect their summoner no matter what, even if it means dying. Wild literally died protecting Flora. It's perfect.

I am slowly dying on the inside because I don't have the time to be entertaining these thoughts. I don't know enough about FF to think about AUs. But it's so extremely tempting.

Alternatively, I have thought about embracing my BNHA roots to mix-and-match elements into a vigilante AU. We don't have enough of them, I only counted 2 when I did my directory. (I'll add it to the ideas list for later.)

It would give me the perfect opportunity to throw Twilight & Warriors & Sky together as a trio because they're around the same age and I feel like they'd work together just well enough to be the main characters of a vigilante AU plot. I feel like Time would throw off the vibes a bit and the younger ones would fit into different roles a little better. Especially since Twilight would be the guy to take home stray science experiments kids and try to personally help them. A big part of his game is literally about rescuing children, after all.

I’m convinced that whenever they need to name a new bird they throw darts at board with nouns and adjectives on it and just pick whatever it lands on. Like you cannot tell me otherwise /j

SKY AND WILD BEING THE ONLY TWO (to my knowledge) WITH GUARDIANS IN THEIR GAMES MAKES THAT SO FUNNY. But also thats so perfect and I love it

those bnha roots hide deep down in all of us i fear… it haunts us all in little, sometimes helpful ways. GENUINELY OBSESSED WITH A VIGILANTE AU THATD BE SO COOL

[seismic-lawns]

Gladiator Big Talk: Foundations, Blue

So on the gladiator discord, (Gladiator is a competitive singleton format using the Timeless card pool on arena and you should check us out, it's great) I do a series of long, hastily written thoughts on every single new-to-arena card and call them Big Talks. Foundations is a very big set, so I've decided to move them over here! Some notes:

This is comprehensively talking about every single new-to-arena card in the main set of Foundations. If I don't bring up a card, it's probably because it's already in the format or in Jumpstart Foundations, which I'll cover later.

I'm sorting this by collector number, which, for this set is somewhat baffling, so Ctrl+F is your friend if you want to find a specific thought.

Each card is also a link to it on scryfall, so you can follow along without having the full set open.

Without further ado, let's start off with Arcane Epiphany:

Arcane Epiphany: I think we have much better options, and I'd be surpised if you would be going for this option specifically, but I'd be glad to be proven wrong 

Archmage of Runes: 5 mana is just a metric ton for a guy that's not idiotic, protected, or having an immediate impact on the game 

Bigfin Bouncer: Vibes Report: D-, come see me after class, these vibes are rancid, dude looks like he would shove me into a locker in 6th grade and also jesus that nose(?)

Cephalid Inkmage: This creature is super interesting, but ultimately it does a couple different things that are just done so much better by others that it’s not really worth trying a super inefficient creature for it.

Clinquant Skymage: Today I learned what “Clinquant” means - It does not mean “a flying creature that is playable in gladiator” for what it’s worth, but rather glittering and/or tinseled. Neat!

Curator of Destinies: If I had a nickel for every creature that FoF’d or Steam Augury’d, I’d have a decent number of nickels. If I had a nickel for each one that’s good today, I don’t think I’d have any, including this one unfortunately. 6 mana is just a ton when 1 mana more gets you things like Atraxa, and you already have options like Dream Trawler if you do want to hard cast a 6 drop.

Drake Hatcher: 2 drops with vigilance and prowess are legitimately hard to be so bad they can’t find a home, and this one has a pretty good effect too so I think it’s a shoe in for u based blitz and tempo decks. 3 toughness with prowess is also a very exciting statline, as it means someone will dodge bolt by casting any noncreature spell.

Elementalist Adept: I don’t think this is anything, but flash and prowess really pique my interest and make me want to think about playing blitz and flash decks more. Vibes report: C, dude’s outfit is too monochrome to be fun at parties imo

Erudite Wizard: The problem with the “Draw two” archetype is that the bar for how good your payoffs need to be to be gladiator/constructed playable means they essentially will never go at common or uncommon and be playable in gladiator. If it’s any consolation, this one looks like it’ll be bad in limited as well.

Faebloom Trick: I think this card is surprisingly good especially for being an instant, but I don’t think there’s sincerely a home for this in Gladiator. It’s a very good limited uncommon, but it is still mostly just that.

Grappling Kraken: I really love this effect, but I’m allergic to this effect at 6 mana, so I think I’ll pass. If this effect ever comes around at 4 mana I will be very tempted though.

High Fae Trickster: I am a huge fan of cards like Tidal Barracuda and Yeva, that give you flash on things and still contribute to the board, and this does it the best by a good margin. If you’re not concerned about countermagic but you are concerned about interaction otherwise, this is an absolute slam dunk. That said, the fact that it’s a lot worse into countermagic might make it really only worthwhile in a post-Mana Drain world.

Homunculus Horde: This isn’t even good in Ux Draw-twos, mainly because it just always folds to even the thought of a wrath and doesn’t contribute to the board in a way that actually appeals to winning games. It also often takes a turn to get going at least and that’s a tough sell on a 2/2 with no protection or other text.

Icewind Elemental: Vibes report: C+, this could be much higher but I really wish it had another type to show how goofy it is, like Elk.

Inspiration from Beyond: Any more ways to put Time Warp into my hand is going to catch my eye, and one that can do it twice is extra spicy. The 7 mana flashback is a ton, however, even if it is gravy on an already helpful plate.

Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator: This card's kinda not ok when you're even remotely ahead, and when you're close to parity it does a lot of work. Making 2/1s as a pretty cheap - ability and the fact that a couple fliers getting in refunds that loyalty really boosts my standing on the card. This might make me try doing WU skies again

Kiora, the Rising Tide: The good news is that this is flooting on a 3 cost body, so it can be reanimated quite easily and fills up the graveyard well, and that’s the big appeal I see. That said, it also is there so it can make an 8/8 and it’s quite vulnerable if your goal is to use it for that purpose. All this is to say that you shouldn’t be counting on the 8/8 even if threshold is trivial, but the card can be good without the attack trigger if you’re set up for it.

Lunar Insight: I’m a little cynical of this card, but I think there’s a home for this if you can consistently draw 3+ cards with it. If paradox ever becomes a more played deck, then this will be a choice quantity based draw spell.

Mischievous Mystic: I am very glad for this card to simply be the best version of the “draw two, make a dude” cards, and it plays very well as a piker flier and as a token producer. Emrakul’s Messanger was a little nice, but having the resultant bodies actually be able to kill the opponent puts it a step above, truly.

Refute: Jeez, billy, why'd your mom let you have two futes? This card seems aight, this ain't like saruman's trickery but it is a cancel with significant upside

Rune-Sealed Wall: Double the scryfish, 1.5x the cost! That said, scryfish have never been all that, and it continues here. Vibes report: C+, not doing anything special, but quite cool.

Skyship Buccaneer: Very limited-coded. We have 5/5 fliers for 5 these days, y’know?

Sphinx of Forgotten Lore: Tired: This needs to ambush something to be good, and it’s so hard to do that with 3 toughness. Wired: This evasive 3/3 that snapcasters on attack also gets to come in after my opponent commits to a wrath!

Strix Lookout: Better storm crow is still very bad, so Vibes Report: A, the dude’s got lil goggles! omg look at him all cute n happy :3 :V

Uncharted Voyage: Strictly worse than another unplayable limited common, so welcome back to Vibes Report: B-, it’s very cool to have a removal spell that’s not so negatively poised, and instead is still depicting a progression, just, somewhere new. I think that’s neat.

Aetherize: It’s exciting to see this card land here for the first time, but it’s always a bit awkward to actually use. It is useful as a replacement for settle in non-white control decks to still act as a blowout when you can’t have the more well-known option.

Extravagant Replication: It’s cool to see cards like these make their way onto arena and into standard, but it is very bad and you should not play it.

Fleeting Distraction: Cantrips can only get so bad, and while this one does require a target, it also has the benefit of being active on the board while also being a cantrip. I don’t think this beats out the big 2 of Opt and consider, but it’s still quite good if you’re going deep on the slot.

Time Stop: I haven’t seen much of Discontinuity lately, but Time Stop is an incredibly fun card and everyone should play it at least once in their life. Is it good? Probably not, all things considered, but god is it fun.

Starlight Snare: I’m gonna be real: seeing “When this Aura enters,” as a complete phrase on a Magic card makes my eyes hurt for a second right now, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it. Bad Vibes Report: D for it though.

Arcanis, the Omnipotent: I don’t think we’re gonna see a great resurgence of Paradorks anytime soon, but this is the kind of card that pushes the deck one step further to really shine as a density based combo deck. That said, it hasn’t aged particularly well in the last 2 decades.

Dictate of Kruphix: I really don’t think we need or want to go deep on Howling Mine effects, but this does keep us moving in that direction. I think it’s almost defensible in a flash deck, but until Mana Drain/Dig Through Time are not major players in the meta, more ways to give your opponents cards and by extension flexible options is more bad than usual.

Flashfreeze: There are cards that fall into the camp of “ok if you know exactly what your opponent’s on in the finals of the season,” and then there’s cards like flashfreeze, which are bad even if they’re going into their preferred matchup.

Fog Bank: This falls into a subset of cards that don’t do anything but buy you a bit of time each turn, and while that can add up, you buy the same time better with just a counterspell or removal spell.

Harbinger of the Tides: This card is a classic, and I really love the mechanic of “pay 2 more for flash”. While I don’t think the merfolk typal deck is at its peak, this is a good thing that the mana for casting it represents a lot of things, like a mana drain, aetherize, subtlety, etc.

Mystical Teachings: I like this card’s vibes quite a lot, but it does suffer from costing roughly a million mana in this format. This format is just too fast for this card’s ideal play, where you get a legal target for it, then immediately cast that legal target, but the options of Mana Drain and Tainted Pact cost a ton of mana to get that going for. The card’s still playable, but the game has gotten much faster since it last was in a new constructed format.

Sphinx of the Final Word: I remember when this card was first printed and there was a lot of hope for it, but it just fell flat because it was 7 mana in a format where getting to 7 also meant being able to cast good eldrazi. Here, it’s even worse, where you just have to contend with things like Dream Trawler and give me a reason to play a 7 mana dolt instead of a 6 mana cooler one.

Confiscate: There’s an unfortunate truth that this kind of effect sucks to play below 6 mana without some restriction, but also is just not good enough for a constructed format below 6 mana, and that means cards like Confiscate just ain’t it unless they’re a classic Mind Control, which is to say at 4 mana.

Rite of Replication: I actually like this card a little bit more than I should, but it’s partially because I like cards like Doppelgang so seeing another version of the effect does make me raise an eyebrow for GUx ramp decks.

[tobiasdrake]

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan, Episode 9 - Give Me Your Hand....

I just want nice things for Yuki. But there's still half a season left to go.

(Two parts)

That one's on you, bruh. You practically summoned her by tempting fate like that. Haruhi can feel people minding their own business and enjoying life in her vicinity.

Are we going to get to see the final match of it?

YES I'M STILL BITTER

Well, that's their mistake and they should be made to regret their bad life decisions, Ryoko. Gonna yell even louder now just to make sure they feel my disapproval at their decision to get bed rest instead of what they should be doing: paying attention to me, goddammit.

It sure has. Ryoko says this like she's thrilled to see them getting along so well but once again I'm not sure she still has credibility as a matchmaker.

Yep. There it is.

Ryoko supports Yuki in trying to woo Kyon but she doesn't want her to succeed.

Look at her, Haruhi.

Someone could just pick her up and walk off with her. As someone who routinely picks people up and walks off with them, you should be able to understand the danger here.

The abject terror in her eyes that this ship is actually setting sail. I've been poking fun but, to be serious for a moment.

I'm not sure if Ryoko has romantic feelings for Yuki or not. But I am sure that, whether she does or doesn't, she has a comfortable domesticity with Yuki. Which is now threatened by Yuki, someone whose time Ryoko previously got to monopolize, now setting sail with a potential boyfriend.

It. Sucks. When someone who's been a big part of your life now has to be shared with another person like that. It's so easy to become possessive of a codependent. To become addicted, without even realizing it, to the way that being needed feels.

When you're addicted to being needed, it's too easy to feel threatened when the person who needs you actually has opportunities to expand their life and grow. It can be terrifying to see them flourish. To lose that control, that reliability of having someone whose happiness and wellbeing depends revolves around you.

To suddenly be asking yourself: If this person didn't need me, would they even want me?

Ryoko wants Yuki and Kyon to get together, but Ryoko wants to keep Yuki away from Kyon. This seems like the sort of thing where you'd have to pick one, but I honestly think both desires are genuine. Ryoko wasn't faking it when she supported Yuki's efforts. I think she really, truly, honestly wants Yuki to get what she wants and be happy.

But she also feels threatened by it in a way that she doesn't seem to fully understand. Because she's young and stupid. She hasn't lived a life of self-discovery and mistakes yet. She's actively making her mistakes right now.

She wasn't emotionally prepared for Kyon to threaten her codependency. In fact, she probably doesn't even realize that it is a codependency. I'm sure she's never thought of Yuki in those clinical terms. But now that it's happening, she's terrified of it.

Ryoko may or may not have a romantic attachment to Yuki. I don't know. But this feels deeper than something so petty as a love triangle. Mom Friend Ryoko is staring down the barrel of Empty Nest Syndrome. And she hates it.

Stalkers from right to left:

Ryoko: Grr, my codependent! Haruhi: Grr, my love triangle! Itsuki: I'm just happy to be included.

Itsuki is such a vibe.

Oh holy shit she was fantasizing Kyon and Yuki going out to do the snack run together and being stalked by the rest of the group.

In the middle of this card game, Ryoko abruptly froze up and had an anxiety attack for three minutes. Nobody here has any idea why, but Yuki can relate, I'm sure.

Itsuki calmly pulling out his emergency mental wellbeing kit while Ryoko's frozen and slowly cracking during those three minutes.

Yuki quietly sneaking the Joker into Ryoko's hand while she was frozen and slowly cracking during those three minutes.

Absolutely bloodthirsty play by Yuki, but she learned it from watching you, Ryoko.

Today I learned that Haruhi sleeps like a fucking cat. If there is a person to lay on then she invites herself. Doesn't even matter who. Ryoko's laying there passed out from emotional exhaustion and Haruhi perks up like "Oh shit, nap spot just opened up!"

Either these two are going to have a nice romantic evening or they'll die in the woods. Either way, no skin off Tsuruya's back. These are the risks you accept when you buy from the Crane Shop. It's all there in the Terms and Conditions.

Speaking of which:

HER FAMILY RUNS AN ACTUAL CRANE SHOP

You have no idea how happy that makes me. I don't know if they sell cranes and crane accessories. But. There is a shop. Crane Shop.

To have been in that room just after Yuki and Kyon left, when Ryoko was abruptly woken up by a RED ALERT hitting her Snoop Sense. And then raced out the door, dragging the cat along by the back of her kimono.

Incidentally, there is something hilariously cathartic about someone else treating Haruhi like luggage.

Ryoko putting her codependency into words. It's good that she's worked out why she feels this way. Identifying the problem is the first step to overcoming it.

Ryoko is grieving for a relationship dynamic with Yuki that is coming to an end. If Yuki and Kyon's relationship takes off then things are going to change for Ryoko. That's scary. Especially at a time in your life when a lot of things start to change.

Ryoko feels like she's losing Yuki. She's not. Her relationship with Yuki is simply evolving into a new form. But, quantifiably, there is going to be less Yuki in her life moving forward, and that can be agonizing when so much of her life up to this point has revolved around Yuki.

In a codependency, there is usually a Giver and a Taker. It's so easy to see how the Taker relies on the Giver. But we don't often think about how much the Giver relies on the Taker. But so much of the Giver's identity can become wrapped up in providing for the Taker that they start to lose their own sense of self.

Who even is Ryoko Asakura if she isn't Yuki's Giver?

This is where codependencies risk becoming abusive. The Taker in this relationship just fractured their equilibrium. For a Giver, it is so easy to let that fear and that hurt turn into possession and entitlement. How dare you? Do you have any idea how much I've given you? How much of my life I've sacrificed to be here for you? You're just going to abandon me like this, you ungrateful bitch?

That's not where Ryoko is. But it is the peril of the road she's on right now if she can't identify and come to grips with her feelings and her insecurities.

Which makes it such a good thing that she's sitting here having this conversation with Haruhi and talking it out like this. That she's opening up and letting herself grieve.

UNHELPFUL AS ALWAYS HARUHI THANK YOU

It will. You're wrong. Unhelpful platitude.

Ryoko's relationship with Yuki is going to change. But. Like. That's life. Especially when you're a teenager. What's important is that even though Ryoko's relationship with Yuki is changing, it isn't going to end.

It's going to be different now. Yuki doesn't need Ryoko anymore. But Yuki still wants Ryoko. She wants to sustain this relationship, even outside of the material benefit it provides to her.

And, as frightening as it is to make the jump from being needed to being wanted? In the end, the result is a much more fulfilling relationship with another human being. Even if there is less of it in terms of quantity.

[synobun]

Please tell me about the music event you manage!

ok here I go I'm gonna force myself to reply to this at 3 AM

SO!

I play an online game called mafia. It can be played IRL but I do not. The communities I'm a part of have a side game/activity called walruses.

Walruses are a music event where a host/judge sets a series of category prompts, and then people send a song they feel represents that prompt. Usually the expectation is that the person submits music they like themselves, but it's not mandatory. The host listens to every song, scores every single one, and then also tacks on a little write-up about their thoughts for every song. Then, everyone gets together in a Discord voice chat where a bot plays the music from worst to best (usually) and we all have a big laugh about the host's opinions, the submitter's choice, etc. Typically it's one category per reveal, because they can take a long time to get through.

I run one every year and they've grown to be a big event! My first was in 2021 and had maybe a dozen people. This year it had 44! Which means, since it was a walrus of 8 categories, I listened to 352 songs. x) Most multiple times. It was a lot of work.

But yeah! It's a lot of fun. Usually other people's walruses are more technically minded, where they spend quite some time on history, trivia, music theory, etc. I do not do that. Both because I don't know anything about it and I don't really find it fun. I just go by vibes, make jokes, and try to make sure everyone is in on the joke so we all have a good time every week for 2-3 hours just bantering and getting to know new artists.

It's become a big part of my social life and it's revolutionized how I listen to music. It's also really broadened my horizons. I'm a little sad because the community I'm part of has been dead for a while and convincing others to host their own event has thus far failed. This year I almost considered canceling, as a week before the deadline I only had 7 entrants. I got a humongous push at the very last second. It was close, though. I'm not sure how it'll go next year, if there's a next year. (For reasons. One of which being my ex. But that's unrelated to the question. >_>)

So the two playlists I sent you a while ago are a new thing I'm doing, because people always ask me what my music tastes are whenever I run these. I figure it's easier to just put together all the songs that either (a) won a category, or (b) ended up on my auditions list for a while.

(My "auditions list" is my playlist where any song that seems potentially interesting goes. I listen to my auditions list primarily, and eventually every song on it goes to a failed playlist or onto my daily playlist.)

With how receptive you were to all the new music, I admit I was tempted to invite you the next time one is being run, if you're still on Tumblr/still talking to me then. But I have no idea if you'd be interested in that sort of thing! It can be a pretty significant social commitment. And it'd be a lot of strangers and inside jokes that can be tough to insert yourself into (though I encourage it).

Anyway! Now you know. Maybe.

[poisonedfate]

for the character ask game

Elyan with number 6, 14, and 20

arthur with number 7, 8, and 19

gwen with 5, 7, and 22

hi angel!

elyan -

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

our urge to just...disappear sometimes <3 and if that's not enough, perhaps the mom friend vibes. they come across differently - he's the protective kind, i'm more the "what do you need, i got it" kind, but i recon we're both similar in the "lecture them into take a break" way

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

another bad mood board incoming... i call this: big hoodie, cool pant, silly ass accessories couture

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

i am tempted to say precival or gwaine, but honestly...i think him and lancelot would've been great together. they're both serious enough to play off each other, and i think they both have the silent chaos vibe. elyan is a tad bit more serious in my head and lancelot is obviously the more chaotic one, but i think that's what would've made them great friends. there's just something about them that goes so well together in my mind.

arthur -

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

i LOVE when people put him under the microscope. there are so many interesting characters in merlin, but arthur is so truly dysfunctional in different ways. it all plays so well into his upbringing and his relationships and it's always a good time when we get into dissecting him

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

make him black and white. he's not a saint, but he's also not the most horrible person to exist. yes, he obviously did things that weren't always completely justifiable (merlin fandom buzz word of the week/month), but he's also not popping around the kingdom being malicious on purpose at all times of the day. characters have flaws and characters have depth and built foundations of who they are and who they're becoming. it's okay to discuss these things and even dislike them or attempt to reason them, however i don't appreciate the idea that he has to be either completely good or completely evil. good people do bad things and vice versa, but beyond that - characters are allowed to make mistakes and they're allowed to do things you disagree with. they're allowed to do things that aren't justifiable or even understandable, they're allowed to be dysfunctional and wrong. none of it has the be taken as the be all end all.

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

again, the kind of easy answer here is uther or agravaine, but it's not even that i dislike them. they're uncomfortable or maddening, but they're interesting. i can't think of a single relationship i dislike, though perhaps i can twist this and say that i simply wish we had more of him and leon, i would've loved to see more of their dynamic.

gwen -

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

i'm horrible at these but i went through my playlists and i'm assigning her hello cold world by paramore

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

try and wife her up any chance they get <3 no, really, i love to see people loving her and i especially love it when people talk about her in a way that highlights her courage and her intellect and her strength.

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

i love when she's chaotic in fics - in on the jokes etc etc. i don't like it when she's there only as a plot point.

[bronanlynch]

approximately a million years later I have finished aai and also this post so here is The Lawyer Rankings (of whose file clerk I would rather be) (aai took me a long time to play but also I finished it forever ago so like. take these with a grain of salt)

miles: it would be interesting at least, sometimes your boss goes on a trip for a week and gets caught up in like 4 different murder investigations and all of them are absolutely bonkers, so those would be some fascinating documents to skim while you’re filing them. however. not entirely sure about what his job actually consists of at this point so it’s possible that you wouldn’t have much real work. 6/10, I’m not sure he’s like, consistently employed

miles (flashback): I know that I could not fix 20 year old miles edgeworth, especially not as his minimum wage employee whom he does not listen to, but it’s almost tempting to try because wow I’m very sad abt him. however. he’s so smug, is the thing. he needs you to know that he knows more than you and you’re like, dude I’m just trying to scan all of these exhibits I truly do not need to know or care abt your clever courtroom strategy or whatever. also I’m allergic to smug men talking down to me, it makes want to out-pretentious them and that would end badly for both of us. 4/10, which is more than I gave him for the aa3 flashback because 1) he didn’t call anyone a bimbo this time and 2) this one made me so sad

portsman: imagine this scenario: I am portsman’s file clerk, I poke my head into his office to ask if he has a file that someone else needs (he does, and he’s been ignoring my emails because I won’t talk to him about ~the big game that weekend), I get accidentally hit in the face with a baseball because he’s playing catch with himself in his office, I go to hr and I quit immediately and also fill out some workplace injury paperwork. 2/10, annoying and bad to interact with but not quite insufferable enough to go lower

payne: so forgettable that his coworkers can’t be bothered to remember he exists, which is valid but might mean they would also forget you by association, and that could be inconvenient when you’re trying to track down paperwork and schedule meetings. 3/10, no one would take me seriously by extension and I would get annoyed when my emails didn’t get answered

franziska: the international travel is a big plus as long as you get to travel with her, and if not then you get left alone to do your thing a lot of the thing, which is also a plus. however she doesn’t seem like a great boss on account of how she’s still always threatening to cut gumshoe’s pay which I would not enjoy, but at least she’s generally on top of things which makes your job easier. on the other other hand, at least once per post I’m obligated to say that I would simply not want to work for cops and. y’know. interpol prosecutor is like. double cop. 4/10, my pay would probably be low enough without getting cut tyvm

franziska (flashback): absolutely not, I’m taking a strong anti-child labor stance, and also working for a child prodigy would actually realistically mean working for her father which uh. see below. 1/10, sorry fran

manfred von karma: aside from the injustices he’s committed and also just his rancid vibes, he seems like he’d be incredibly unpleasant to work for. asks you to do an impossible task and then when you figure out a way to do it anyway he makes up something to scold you about even though it wasn’t something he’d originally asked for. and god forbid you not have something sent the courts on time even though he’s the one who emailed you the document to print at 4:55 on the day of the deadline when the mail goes out at 4:50. you’re still getting blamed. 0/10, absolutely not, I don’t care what the benefits are

calisto yew: my answer here changes based on whether I know she’s the yatagarasu, because I wouldn’t be able to have any respect for her if I thought she was actually just defending corporations, but if I knew that she was setting up their downfalls I would love to help. however she would probably make fun of me for taking my job too seriously and trying too hard, and she seems like the kind of casually disorganized that would drive me bonkers, so it might not be the greatest work environment. 8/10, as long I know she’s the yataragasu, otherwise 5/10, only if I’m desperate

byrne faraday: again, depends if I know about his extremely cool and valid crimes. aside from that, he seems like a dependable kind of boss who answers your emails and wouldn’t be too strict or mean, and if he needs you to do something that you’ve never done before he’s willing to show you how to do it. 10/10, if I can be the yatagarasu’s file clerk, otherwise 5/10

aa1 | aa 2 | aa 3 | aa4

[amadwinter]

for the emoji fanfic ask: 😈, 🛒, ✨, 💖, ❌, 🦅, 👀 and 🧠 (but dont feel pressured to answer all of them if you don't want to <3)

I love a good challenge!

For this ask game.

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

Absolutely. I mean, I try not to, but cliffhangers are oh so tempting to use. I can't think of anything off the top of my head, and spoiler: I won't ever write a fic where one of the main couple dies and stays dead (not counting the undead, of course), so it won't ever be anything too bad

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

I feel like I'm always writing a scene where they are in bed together in the dark! That may be a subconscious thing, since I do like to incorporate secretive or illicit vibes into Obikin, but really, it's just a pain to be like "oh fuck, can you actually see his face that well in that lighting? ahh screw it let's say yes." I need to start writing Obikin fucking nasty with the lights on over the covers

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

.~. my nemesis. Well, I did say I like a challenge. Alright so I guess I'm very good at coming up with ideas and plotting them out. Like I have dozens of fics fully plotted out and my idea list is.... too long to count. Sometimes, I'm really able to hit on a vein of characterization and hammer the hell out of it.

💖 What made you start writing?

When I was a young thing, I didn't want my favorite stories to end, so I started writing more of them. And I never stopped. But all the fun and lovely people in the Obikin fandom have made me write and publish more in the last year than ever before

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

Major Character Death and cannibalism. Monsters/undead don't count for either of those.

🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?

I am a prolific outliner. I live and die by my outlines

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

I have like... 3 Sith Obi-Wan long fics planned (entirely separate from the one I have posted and haven't updated in months).

1. Is a forbidden romance during the Clone Wars where Sith Obi-Wan seduces the young Jedi Anakin

2. Is a time travel fuck up where Sith Obi-Wan has to deal with a redeemed Vader

3. Is an omegaverse fic where Sith Senator Obi-Wan's revenge plan backfires and he accidentally marries Anakin

I guess I really like Sith Obi-Wan.

🧠 Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favorite headcanon for them.

You didn't give me a character so I'm picking Obi-Wan (big shock).

My all-time favorite headcanon, which may actually be a Legends thing that I'm misremembering, is that Obi-Wan's memories of his brother were actually visions he had of the Lars family.

[blackjackkent]

Clicking around randomly in our little hell room opened up a new conversation with...someone; I can't really see anyone that we're talking to but it's definitely happening.

I'm getting big vibes of the Gauntlet from DAO.

Say what?

LOL.

Okay, I'm not entirely sure what this means. I'm *assuming* it means you can add extra people to your party beyond the ones you already have? EDIT: Springy has informed me that it's just a last-minute party reshuffle if you want to do one, and also that if you do said reshuffling, someone is going to end up stranded in the hellplane and the game never makes it clear that there's any way for them to go home. XD

So we're not going to change things up here, but I am going to go down the list quickly, because I'm quite amused by some of these as options; Caden really has a pretty narrow list of people he'd actually like to fight alongside and most of them are already with him.

Anomen. Caden met Anomen in BG1 for like a mission and a half and then he was summarily dropkicked out of the party to make room for Minsc and Dynaheir. He was a Super Honorable Paladin guy and he and Caden were pretty bemused by each other at best.

Cernd. Last seen after (according to my liveblog records) handing his son off to unrelated druids and wandering out of the party.

Dorn. Met very briefly in BG1 and was a complete jerk iirc.

Edwin. ???? Fuck that guy.

Haer'Dalis. LOLOLOLOLOL. Can you imagine? Last seen stalking off in a cloud of aggrieved thespian pride after Aerie tossed him to the curb for trying to fight Caden to the death for her heart. I don't know what he would do on being summoned into a hell dimension by Caden, but it would involve a long speech, a dramatic flourish, and the most incredibly stupid actions possible.

Jan. We met this guy once and saw him get carted off to prison; he sat in the journal for quite a while and Caden and I never gave enough of a shit to follow up on it.

Keldorn. Aw. Paladad. If it weren't for the 6-person party limit, Keldorn would be one of the few that Caden would be tempted to pull into this whole mess. He liked Keldorn, in spite of his faults. (That said, we left him trying to recover his broken relationship with his wife and Caden wouldn't want to interrupt that, especially not given how likely it is they all might just die in here.)

Korgan. Literally who? (Wait, was that the evil dwarf that we had in the party for like 0.5s in BG1?)

Mazzy. YAY MAZZY. The only person in this list Caden would unequivocally bring along if the game allowed it. Best halfling fighter buddy, good head on her shoulders, gets along with everyone in the party, and is voiced by Jennifer Hale. 10/10 no notes.

Nalia. Good kid, naive. Caden wants good things for her, but those things do not include fighting at his side in hell.

Neera. Oh god. Neera aggravated Caden to no end on the 3-4 occasions they spoke together, each of which was about 5 minutes at most. Basically all he knows about her is that she has a history of making weird magic shit happen for no reason. Not someone he wants lighting every fuse in the place.

Valygar. We met Valygar for one mission back in the middle of BG2 and Caden liked him well enough but that was a very surreal quest and he really doesn't feel the need to extend the relationship.

Viconia. LOL. Everyone remember the conversation where everyone shouted at Caden simultaneously for like ten minutes?

And then finally, scrolling down the list...

o.o;

Oh.

:'(

I have no intention of either bringing him or abandoning him in a hell plane, but I did click on this with the intention of reloading just to see what happens, because a) Caden could use closure if some is available, as Yoshimo's betrayal was one of the deepest cuts he ever endured and b) that boy is DEAD. So I'm curious how this would be addressed.

:(

I think Caden actually did make this request, not really expecting anything to come of it, but hoping against hope that perhaps Yoshimo's shade could be brought back just long enough for them to...talk? Reconcile? But even the boy with the god of death inside him has limits to what he can command.

[manonamora-if]

Retrospective 2022 (4)

Last post, I promise!

After looking back in the past, time to look forward!

Going back to the super cool infographic I made, there's still a lot. BUT, I will try to follow a resolution this year:

Get things off my desk and shelf it for good.

I honestly have too many working projects on my hands, too many "completed" projects I should finish (or give a nice send off like I did for Meeting the Parents). So this will be my goal for this year: finish and shelf as many projects as I can.

To this, I was tempted to add and not starting any new ones. But knowing myself, that's not something that I can realistically promise. With a couple of jams and comps I had planned on participating/hoped to take part since last year, I have a feeling there will be a few additions to the game pile by the end of the year. Will this be a terrible idea? 100%. Will that stop me from trying to squeeze a few jams/comps? Nope. Not at all. I have no self control...

With that announced, the more detailed expectations/schedule with no date below the cut.

OH! and continue to do word crimes :P

The "list" should be the planned arrangement (first to last) for the year. Unless I get bored and change my mind. Because, let's be honest, that's what my brain does best...

I won't give any timeline, because I can't keep it and I can't seem to be able to predict how much time all this work will take me. Maybe I'll be quick, maybe I won't. But I'll announce the release/updates about a week or two in advance.

P-Rix - Space Trucker

What I had been working on during the End-of-Year Holidays was editing the missing content and code it. This will include opening the world to the player and introducing new mechanics (technically already coded but missing the flavour text).

Since the UI is currently static, playing it on mobile is not advised. It will be a headache, but that needs to be done. Also needed: more QoL settings (animation toggle, timer/typewriter amount etc...).

On this blog, expect an actual shareable Intro Post with all relevant links/features sometimes... *shrugs*

La Petite Mort

Because of the 4h time constraint of the EctoComp, I wasn't able to include all rooms I wanted to include. You were supposed to explore the whole house/garden and not the current available rooms/space, and interact more with other NPCs. A proper/more-than-one-line ending was drafted too. The journal would get crossed off then a task was completed, and you'd get some codex/diary when finding some stuff about the Grandma.

So that's the plan on the addition (with some quick UI edits for the Dialog boxes). And the English translation to go along (because you should all be able to experience this fun puzzle/quest bit.

Oh! and an actual Intro Post as well.

Goncharov Escapes!

Made quickly and not edited before posting, Gonchy needs a bit of TLC. I also want it to fit the whole vibe I'm going for with all my projects (the logo/manonamora presents/etc...).

And a French translation (because I can/want to share my games in different languages). Since there are like 4k words total, it might not take me too long. When I get to it.

Exquisite Cadaver

Planned already for the last semester, but didn't get to it (yay writer's block!). Well not completely. I did open my file during the autumn, but didn't write more than a handful of words. The main issue with this project is that all rounds have an ending (distinct from the other endings) which have not yet been written or drafted (unlike the actual rounds). So I am left with 15-20 workable/potentially playable rounds but no endings. And, stubborn as I am, I don't want to upload a round without its linked ending.

So writing, editing, coding, writing, editing, coding, etc...

Maybe a complete release this year? Big Question Mark on it.

ALSO: that is when the whole game is done, I would want to try and port it into French. There are some HUGE challenges (gendered languages/adjectives going before OR after the noun/etc...), but it's something I'd want to take a crack at. BUT, that's like super future. Next year or year after that timeline-wise.

The Trials and Tribulations of Edward Harcourt

Chapter 3 coming when the edits are done. The ball is in MelS's court, but we are in the final round of editing (after more back and forth than the other chapters, we kept bickering about some sentences).

Any further update is dependent on MelS and the free time he has. Chapter 3 may be the only update this year, or maybe we'll have a couple more after it. We will seeeee...

The Thick Table Tavern

Now we are really going into the maybe territory. This would be dependent on the time/energy because there are a lot of things in there that either need fixing, re-coding, adding. Because this was always a large project, it won't be something easy to get off my desk (unlike the ones above).

BUT, if the stars align and ladida...

Addition to the story would come only in form of storylets (like the ones currently in the game) and other events (like the Brom shenanigan). Ideally, I would want to add the recurrent NPCs, but the 14-day story would need some/a lot of re-organising.

Opening the possibility of playing the full 14 days or creating a way to spend the coins earned.

Achievements!

Fixing/Balancing the mixing elements

More stuff that is written on a paper at home somewhere in a drawer...

I know some of you would want this to be ported for mobile, but I don't think it would be realistic considering the Bar Gameplay/UI. I might take a crack at it, but don't hold your breath for that one.

Crimson Rose & White Lily

The I really want to update this but words are not coming out project. The I definitely went over my head with this one project. But also the I promise this is not abandoned project. After updating the story 3 times last year (with the last one getting a long edit/re-write), I've had a hard time continuing/going back to the story itself.

If I can't get Scene 5 out this year (which is probable, it looks to be chunky), I would like to try to get one small variation out at least (the Scene 2 secret forking or the Harbour afternoon). Even that, I can't promise it happening. All dependent on the above projects.

Honestly, my only hope is being able to start writing more than 10 words on the document at this point... Maybe even if it is just a prompt.

SugarCube Template

Obviously this is coming back! Creating weird templates is really fun. And I want to create more shapes (like maybe a circle/oval?) with the page.

There's that promised Space/Sci-Fi one that are still not here (my SeedComp! entry will probably become that, but in a more simple form, and mobile accessible).

Since I've been working on adding more accessibility in my projects (hopefully it actually works for people), I've been wondering if having a basic Settings/Accessibility Macro Template could be useful to people. Like a Copy-Paste for the JavaScrip/CSS for Font Change, Toggle for Animation/Notification, Theme Change, KeyBinding. I might even try to get through the Audio macros once and for all and create a volume slider/mute button. If there are other options I should take into consideration, let me know!

SPS Iron Hammer

That's a super long reach. I would actually be amazed if I make some progress on this project honestly. Especially if I finish the ones above. The only reason I would start the re-writes of SPS IH without having completed the projects above would be because I threw the whole schedule out the window. I am trying not to do that.

Long story short on what is planned:

Puzzles!

More day-to-day job stuff (with more interactivity for each)

A nicer Codex page and functioning stats bars.

Mysteries :o

A brawl.

And more :P

Other

Didn't I just say I'd try not to be involved in Jams/Comps this year? Welp I lied.

There's the @seedcomp-if that I am involved with. Round 2 which is starting soon and last until March 1st. Since I released a seed for the first round, I do want to make a small 5-10min entry for the second one (think Gonchy size/style).

Having done that, I am kind of interested in organising smaller Jams (à-la Fortnight Fiction during the height of Covid or the Sci-Fi Twine one last month). I'll wait until the SeedComp is further ongoing, maybe somewhere in March to plop something. Probably with a word count/time limit.

Also, the @if-confessions's box is still open. Feel free to drop something! It's all anonymous :) It's been fun to get stuff and add to The Discourse TM. Would be nice to get more positive/happy ones tho...

And finally, #coding support is still a thing. Still ongoing. Still down to make tutorials, even for small/basic stuff. Just drop an ask with your question!

I missed answering coding questions...

That should be it? A lot planned, a lot of things I hope to achieve, a lot I will prob not do because I decided to just do jams this year :P Who knows!

2023 is going to be fun!

Last note: I should try to play a few more games/WIPs, and write some reviews...

[lunarmote]

Week 10: Ups and downs

This week I: worked on a bunch of schoolwork (studying for midterms, lit reviews, presentation), weeded out some emotional stuff, went to Osaka!

There are definitely differences in mood in between weeks; this week I am feeling a surge of positive, prosocial emotion.

I started hanging out with a different group of people - sometimes someone looks really good with you on paper but you turn out to not totally vibe, and that’s okay.

Ambiguity and feeling unsafe

I will not go too deep into it now, but an interpersonal thing happened a couple of weeks ago that left me rattled.. and I was thinking back to this thing and why it made me feel so unsafe to venture out, and it has to do with ambiguity, and being connected to people in ambiguous situations.

I’ve been trying to unconsciously combat it with purposefully living.

I’m happy with my group of acquaintances and friends here. Things have been more set in stone, and not only things but certain patterns of activities. As a person I really crave stability (ok, I require stability, though parts of me look for quick dopaminergic rushes, and that’s kind of what was going wrong in the first few weeks, me being lead by the first tangent I saw, worrying that if I didn’t take this chance or that chance I would not experience Kyoto “fully”)

Looked back at discord server a while ago, all these new names I couldn’t put faces to, feeling so overwhelmed and scared. There was nothing to worry about all along, but I had to go through the process of getting worried and finding out it was no big deal.

Things that make me feel safe(r)

1. Doing fun new things, but not necessarily “risky” things (things that leave me feeling vulnerable and unsettled). Things I would do back at home with friends anyway. There are just things that make me feel bad... Bar-hopping is not fun to me, speed-dating is not fun to me, even ditching classes and tempting fate to see what one can stumbleupon is not fun to me. Just because I’m challenging myself to do new things doesn’t mean I have to do exactly the opposite of the kind of things I like. I come into this trip with prior knowledge of myself.

Here are things that ARE fun to me: finding an iconic dish and wanting to recreate it here with limited ingredients: going on a day-trip trying to find said ingredients.

Going on a day trip trying to find an exotic musical instrument.

Trying out gross ice cream flavors or fire ramen with friends.

Meeting an acquaintance at a random cafe neither of us have been to.

Walking around. 

2. Doing things that feel authentic to me. These have NOTHING to do with Japan and they shouldn’t. Things like painting for me, staying grounded and connected with music, playing old pixel horror games (IB! Crooked man!)

3. Doing school. 

There’s a part of me that takes pride in taking thing seriously, taking learning seriously and I am no longer going to stamp that part out.

Short entry this week...

[tacticalvalor]

«────── « HEADCANON » ──────»

TAGGED BY: @vendettavalor TAGGING: you!! if you read this, feel free to steal this and tag me in it <3

MUSE PLAYLIST || APOLLYON

► MAIN: Brutus - The Buttress

↳ My name is Brutus and my name means heavy, so with a heavy heart I'll guide this dagger into the heart of my enemy. My whole life you were a teacher and friend to me; Please know my actions are not motivated only by envy. I too have a destiny! This death will be art! The people will speak of this day from near and afar. This event will be history, and I'll be great too; I don't want what you had—I wanna be you.

► SILLY: When I Rule the World - Liz

↳ When I rule the world, then I'm gonna make you sweat, dog collar 'round your neck, on your knees and scrub the deck. Oh, there's a spot over there, so I'll drag you by the hair. So scrub it, rub it, whip it, dry it, 'till I tell you to stop. When I'm on the throne, it's a total freak zone; You can call me mommy and I'll throw a dog a bone.

► DETERMINATION: Run Boy Run - Woodkid

↳ Run, boy, run! This world is not made for you. Run, boy, run! They're trying to catch you. Run, boy, run! Running is a victory. Run, boy, run! Beauty lies behind the hills.

► BATTLE: Autotheist - Baby Bugs

↳ Dear God up in heaven: How do I fucking get in? You tried to make me scared of hell, but I'm living there. I'm living there. And if I was God, I'd kill the people who believe in me. And if I was God, I'd make everybody bow to me. And who says that I'm not God? I am God to me. And if I was God, I'd make you all believe in me.

► SAD: God Complex - Violent Vira

↳ I wanna be the true savior, the one with the terrible demise. I wanna be the Messiah, Pariah, the one who never dies […] Darling, won't you just plead, or should I begin to bleed? God, I could try to be the one. To be the one. I'll tear down the sky. What do you want?

► RELAXED: It's Ok, You're Ok - Bonjr

↳ // No lyrics to this one, but I think it fits Apollyon's character because of that. When she does have moments of peace, there isn't much to be said about them. As for the tone of the music itself, it's still got an energy to it. Like it could be thrown over a battle scene, if you catch the vibe. And that, again, I think fits her character. Even when relaxed, there's that drive.

► CONTEMPLATIVE: Blood Upon the Snow - Bear McCreary & Hozier

↳ To all things housed in her silence, Nature offers a violence. The bear that keeps to his own line. The wolf that seeks always his own kind. The world that hardens as the harsher wind holds. The parent forced to eat its young before it grows. Every bird, gone unheard, starving where the ground has froze.

► HAPPY: Schism - TOOL

↳ I know the pieces fit, 'cause I watched them fall away, mildewed and smoldering; Fundamental differing. Pure intention juxtaposed will set two lovers' souls in motion. Disintegrating as it goes, testing our communication.

► HARD WORK MONTAGE: Shut Eye - Stealing Sheep

↳ You should've got a better bed, better for your head, better heads need shut eye. You should've got out of the red, in the red you're better off dead; deader than the red dead sea, promise to me, promise me the sea.

► LOVE THEME: Cigarettes & Feelings - The Haunt

↳ You got me stumbling; You never give me a break. I know one day this thing will kill me. You're my favorite mistake […] I know you see me there. You're always playing this game. You've got me breathless, got me begging you to drive me insane. I always fall for the things that will hurt me.

► BREAKUP / HEARTBREAK: Broken Crown - Mumford & Sons

↳ Touch my mouth and hold my tongue. I'll never be your chosen one. I'll be home, safe and tucked away. You can't tempt me if I don't see the day […] I'll never wear your broken crown. I took the road, and I fucked it all away. Now, in this twilight, how dare you speak of grace?

► FAILURE / DEFEAT: Ptolemaea - Ethel Cain

↳ Suffer does the wolf, crawling to thee. Promising a big fire, any fire, saying I'm the one; he's gonna take me. I'm on fire, I'm on fire, I'm on fire. Suffering is nigh, drawing to me, calling me the one; I'm the white light, beautiful, finite. Even the iron still fears the rot, hiding from something I cannot stop. Walking on shadows, I can't lead him back.

► FINAL BATTLE: REVIVED - Derivakat

↳ Driving off the tracks, but I'm back, and I've seen Hell, but this is more my style. I'm alive, I'm revived, I survived, you surprised? Gonna cry about it? You should see the other guy. I'm returned, and I've waited my turn, a decade of time to make everything mine.

[minetteskvareninova]

Minette watches Medici, part 9 (Old Scores)

- Yes, my friends, the triumphant return of Minette watches Medici is here! The series that noone liked, Minette least of all... Like, you thought reading it was painful?! Try writing this shit!

- Okay, first off, the theme song - FUCK the theme song. Either reuse Renessaince, or don’t. Do NOT fucking cheat by using its inferior knockoff. Understood?!

- The characters aren’t good enough for me to fall in love with, but I still Vibe with them in general. Except for Lorenzo, who is hot, smart and in general a veritable boyfriend material - well, except for the whole “banging a married woman” thing, but it’s renessaince Italy, people are having extramarital shags left and right, we can’t go all Savanarola on their asses, not when real Savanarola is just around the corner...

- Speaking of clergy! My stupid ass mistook Piero for some kind of family priest. Would the Medici even have a family priest at this point? Like, maybe, they were of course loaded and their household might’ve been big enough to warrant it...

- The evil Pazzi brother has a strong “if villain evil why hot” energy. What can I say? Minette loves herself some good cheekbones, and I strongly suspect this guy is going to be the old Albizzi of this season. Helps that his most evil act so far was beating the shit out of Giuliano, and I personally don’t care about Giuliano.

- The most thrilling subplot of this season is “did Sean Bean keep true to his vow to stop feeding the meme machine and never ever take another role where he dies?”. Also, Ned Stark did NOT age well. Which, okay, he’s not there to be hot, and his show son is hot enough to cover the raging unsexyness of not only his father, but also his stupid brother.

- Speaking of! Lucrezia’s boyfriend is apparently played by Halbrand from The Rings of Power. Yes, the man meant to be Sexy Sauron that doesn’t end up being all that sexy. Honestly, I cannot fathom how the producers over there at Amazon looked at this show and were like “why, yes, wouldn’t EVERYONE be tempted to join the dark side by this hot piece of ass?”. Like, no, I personally wouldn’t be tempted into a game of spin the bottle. Baby Pazzi’s personality doesn’t help any, like him and Lucrezia are just Mehmet Giray and Fahriye hardboiled without salt. I mean, it is just the first episode, so maybe they get better later, but still.

- “We raised Sandro as our own” - NO. Show, I am willing to swallow anything, but do not try to convince me the Medici family has taken in Sandro Boticelli of all people as their ward. From now on, I am just pretending this is some kind of Lorenzo’s artist buddy, who just happens to be named Alessandro, and very much not the author of The Birth Of Venus and Primavera.

- Political stuff is still the best part of this show bar none. Just... A+++ out of the gate, no notes. “Did the Pazzi family orchestrate the attack?” may not be as exciting a premise as “Who killed old Giovanni?” (or “is Sean Bean going to die again?”), and probably doesn’t have an answer that interesting, but it still gives some juicy, juicy drama. Though if the whole thing was orchestrated by the guy who wanted to marry his son to Lucrezia, I will get pretty mad at the blatant ripoff of the last season, where a third party also turns out to be the real villain.

- One annoying thing that persists (and if anything seems to have only gotten worse) is the attempt to whitewash the Medici family. Like, I get that we want to add layers(tm) and likeability(tm), but the show’s attempts to pretend they are anything but ruthless protocapitalists trying to make their way in an oligarchical political system do sometimes go way too far. Lorenzo is already hot and smart, I won’t get mad if he isn’t also perfectly good and saintly and shit.

- Contessina had a cameo in this episode! Yay! Also, I wonder if Piero’s second daughter appears in the show; I mean, she doesn’t have to, considering she was already married at this point, but you know. It would be nice.

- Overall a nice return to form, no big complaints from me so far...