#i completely redid what i originally had when i realized

[pequenaotaku]

Hello again~

It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

(I have to confess that I’ve been stalling on getting back to writing and making my posts, but that’s not the point right now…)

Anyway, these are the Leclerc twins, my other precious girls. I ended up keeping the original base (Nina’s model, made by @candysweetposts), but I completely redid the design (I think the only physical thing I kept was the heterochromia, and even that seems like it went from water to wine).

Currently, the twins live in the center of Amoris, as roommates sharing an apartment. But they were born and raised in the countryside, with very traditional and strict parents. And despite that, or maybe because of it, they always attended schools in the city, no matter how long and exhausting the trips were every day. They definitely don’t miss that time at all.

Speaking of nostalgia though… High school was, without a doubt, a very impactful time in their minds, full of drama, discoveries, and teenage hormones. It was at the peak of her 16 years that Lilian discovered and accepted herself as a woman, and also fell in love for the first time. It was at the peak of her 16 years that Louise realized what she wanted to do for the rest of her life as the troublemaker she always was, though secretly.

Going back to the initial train of thought, the two moved back in together after Dante’s life was cut short by that tragic accident. Louise wanted to comfort her sister, to stay as close as possible to help her through her grieving period. Two years later, Lilian discovered, with frustration, that time doesn’t heal any pain, it only softens it. She’s generally doing well, has moved on like anyone else would have, had to piece herself back together, but she’s not thinking of finding someone else to love anytime soon; she still occasionally sees ghosts from the past. They continue to live together because they’ve gotten used to each other’s presence again—it’s fun and makes things lighter.

Lilian Leclerc

She is 30 years old.

She is exactly 7 minutes and 38 seconds older.

She pursues a career as an interior designer at a company that emerged in the field a few years ago called Essence Intérieure (EI).

She is a transgender woman.

She realized she was trans after a prank that happened in high school. It was a themed event where boys had to dress as girls and girls had to dress as boys. In other words, crossdressing. It was something really silly and simple, but after the party, alone in her room while looking at herself in the mirror with a pretty wig and some clothes borrowed from her sister, things started to make sense.

Because they were very traditional, it was a mess when her parents accidentally found out—almost like a war. Louise, who had already talked to her sister after catching her posing in front of the mirror, fought in Lilian’s defense. The two even ran away from home for a week, hiding out in an abandoned building nearby until they were found and dragged back home. Their father, Anton, was so devastated by their disappearance that he realized what was more important, and it didn’t take long for him to try to approach, understand, and accept her, fortunately. Lurdette, their mother, still insists on calling her by her deadname, though. Even though it’s hard to endure, she followed her father’s advice to ignore these slights to avoid big fights until both of them were old enough to leave home properly. In the end, she knows it could have been much worse.

She has a more peaceful, sweeter personality. Sometimes, she spends too much time lost in her own little world, but she’s very dedicated, persistent, and has a good touch with people.

She’s always had a melancholic look, whether before or after her mourning. At the same time, her heterochromia always gave her a different kind of glow. Dante used to call her Lys Stellaire, or Stellar Lily, because it seemed like her eyes held the cold beauty of sideral space, and that was the first thing he fell in love with.

She loves soft, light colors like baby pink and baby blue, egg-yolk yellow, but mostly white.

She does gardening in her free time; in fact, she’s not sure if she loves the flowers or the bees more.

Speaking of animals, when Dante was killed, one of her concerns was who would take care of his two pets, Nova and Nebula. At the time, the couple lived together, so she was already used to the two snakes, although she wasn’t the one responsible for feeding them, cleaning the terrarium, helping with shedding, etc. She had never had much courage for that, being afraid of getting bitten even though she knew they were tame and non-venomous. However, after what happened, she forced herself to learn everything she needed to be a good caretaker. She was sure that if Colette, her sister-in-law, became the new caretaker, she’d do a good job too, but she didn’t want the snakes to go through the stress of a new routine. Honestly, she has no idea how a snake’s emotional state works, or even if they have one, but she likes to think that every now and then, they wonder where their dad is and miss him.

As mentioned before, Lilian and Colette grew much closer after the tragedy. Colette really sees her as an older sister. She makes a point of visiting her practically every weekend, and they always have video calls to gossip about the strange customers she’s dealt with at the record store. Very specific, I know.

Louise Leclerc

She is 30 years old.

She is exactly 7 minutes and 38 seconds younger.

She works doing odd jobs, mostly as a hobby, because she loves trying new things. She’s been a pizza delivery girl, an aspiring doll stylist, a waterslide tester, a fortune cookie writer, a Zumba teacher, a skydiving instructor, and many other exotic jobs like that. But in reality, she’s an ethical hacker by passion. She works within the law, as strange or curious as that might seem. She basically mitigates company vulnerabilities, investigates incidents, and develops secure software for computer systems, networks, and applications. A bit of boring office work sometimes—why not?

Unlike her sister, she has a more chaotic and bold personality, always trying out new things. She’s extroverted, communicative, and often quarrelsome.

She loves dressing in things that reference the '80s for some reason. Brighter colors, exaggerated accessories, a much more extravagant fashion, but adapted to modern times. She even likes to say that those who criticize '80s fashion lack a distinctive artistic sense.

She loves summer, loves organizing trips to the beach with the most important people in her life, and enjoys building sandcastles.

She drives a Beetle.

She’s a very free-spirited person and has had several flings, but no serious relationships in recent years. She’s quite happy with that, for now.

She would love to have a dog, specifically a Labrador, but unfortunately, she’s allergic to animal fur.

Out of curiosity, here is the prototype of the twins before the renovation as a bonus.

[bazeartstuff]

Various Judolai (Jude+Nicolai) Comics

Compiling from newest to oldest because I am deathly embarrassed of previous Jude designs, as will be discussed. Alternative shipnames for this are QUEEN and Nude (Nicolai+Jude)

Most recent one page comic. Done to develop the style I'll use for the current comic I'm doing. Also, just a funny idea that appeared to me. These are their current designs. It'll be evident how much I changed them as the post goes on.

Again, current designs. I'm still figuring out how to do Nicolai's hair. It's funny, there was a point where I was satisfied with Nicolai's design but viscerally dissatisfied with Jude's design, but now it's the opposite case. Albeit, I'm good with Nicolai's design conceptually but I just can't execute it as I'd like. Also, both these comics entertain the idea that Jude is very violently devoted to protecting Nicolai, in a sort of yandere way. I've foregone any kind of shame and unabashedly admit I somewhat enjoy that sort of trait, the gap moe produced by a seemingly cutesy and pleasant character having the capacity for major violence. This shift in his character was inspired, and I speak completely truthfully, by Finland from Hetalia. I wish I was lying.

So at this point I hated what I originally had with Jude and redid it, but was never quite satisfied with the hairstyle. Nicolai is notably his old design. Also didn't translate the Japanese on the third image because it's probably wrong.

And now I reveal probably the oldest longform comic I did and also Jude's old design, which I hate a lot for reasons I'll explain after.

I get his hair might look weird and stuff, that isn't why I hate the design. Moreover, this was when I somehow pictured their narrative to be set in the medieval times, so his hair being so weird made sense (it doesn't but alright).

Anyway, I cringe about this Jude design not necessarily because it's bad, but more because of how it was me reflecting a digestible ideal of gay dudes where there's explicit feminine and masculine dynamics. It's just shallow. These dynamics aren't necessarily bad or anything, but the fact that I really did portray Jude so femininely and had narratives about it just kinda weirds current-me out. I was young and didn't really see it that way, but now I realize how sort of embarrassing it is. I honestly feel embarrassed even posting these T_T but I mean who will see it, it doesn't matter. Ultimately it's more emblematic of my own youth, so in a way I should appreciate this design, even if I will never draw it again.

Yeah, the tangents will only get worse with every post. Conclusion: I am happy with current Jude's design after I have wrangled with it for years. Nicolai, that's a work in progress, but he's close.

[always-coffee]

The Kind That Might Drown a Man

I have a piece of art that I love. It’s a siren, clearing drowning a man. It was painted by an artist who I considered a friend, who I spoke to nearly every day for three years. He used a rather artsy photo I had taken as a reference photo, with permission. (If we are mutuals, you may ask to see it.)

I was elated when he wanted to use my photo, to make art out of a piece of art (photos are art) I was proud of. I said yes, immediately. He was going to do a series of mythological characters, and I'd be the perfect siren.

When he showed me a photo of the finished piece and also when he posted it, I was happy. Then, he sent the original painting to me as a gift. I was over the moon. It felt cool. I felt cool. Seen, valued. It did something to combat an old wound of mine.

In the past, artists—people who I thought were friends, but who were only ever actually interested in getting into my pants (nooooope)—had asked to paint me. Reference photos were even sent. But the interest quickly fizzled when they realized that what was on offer was only friendship. It wasn't good enough, so those connections faded like sun-seared fog. No one is required to make art of someone, but when something flattering turns out to be wildly disappointing it is, at best, weird. At worst, it’s dehumanizing.

But back to the point: my friend made gorgeous art out of a photo I dearly loved of myself. It felt good, and I felt special. Fast-forward to years later, and I have severed that friendship. It turns out that, despite all the conversation and all the camaraderie and even the co-working we did together, he was a liar.

There were things he casually and purposefully lied about for no discernible reason. And when I discovered the truth, it gutted me. It felt worse than a romantic breakup in a lot of ways. I don’t like being lied to. At all. Tell me the awful truth, and I’ll deal with it. But purposefully, repeatedly, and knowingly abuse my trust? Absolutely unforgiveable.

I’ve spoken elsewhere on the internet about the details of the lies—the utter pointlessness of them. (Imagine, for instance, lying about who redid the landscaping in your backyard.) It was during the pandemic where we began talking in earnest, having entered each other’s orbit through a mutual friend in the art world. He seemed safe. We shared good news with each other, vented about the insanity of the world, swapped cute animal photos and funny memes. But the context of it all was impossibly and completely different than what I was told. The curated image I was given was a lie. Things were deliberately kept from me, information was twisted and distorted—and the kicker was that he lied to other people about me.

Again, for no reason. We’d done professional work together, and it was very public! And very fun at the time. But he apparently claimed we weren’t friends. The moment things started to feel wrong between us was easy to brush aside. Easy to explain away. Easy to understand. He was stressed, job hunting. I was dealing with myriad stresses of my own. No relationship is unmarred by life’s more than occasional weirdness. It’s easy to shrug things off. To ascribe to something banal, innocent.

Then, the truth came out. And honestly, I’m still sifting through the ramifications. The ways the deceit stuns me, even now, not just in the moment. How it felt peculiar to suddenly and wildly not know someone.

In the moment, I took the piece down. I put it away. I didn’t want to look at it. I couldn’t. It was too big of a reminder. It felt like mockery. Because what was it all about? What was the point of any of it? (These are questions that will never have answers.) I was—and still am—angry. Angry at the broken trust. The carelessness of it all. The cruelty too, so unnecessary in its articulations.

But what do I do with the art? Initially, I thought I’d burn it dramatically like Sylvia Plath and the letters. Or chuck it in the trash, as symbolic gesture of getting rid of it all, of closure. (Because there is none of that here, and that is fine. I do not want it. Nothing said could fix or mend or ease.) Getting rid of it, however, feels wrong.

It’s still beautiful. It’s still art. It’s still me.

But for now, it won’t hang where I can see it. It will not be a reminder of heartbreak and betrayal. It will not sit a monument to a lost friend, who was such a small, sad creature in the end. Because to act with such malice—and there was malice in the threads of it—is not the act of a kind or good heart. And I do not have space in my life for anything other than warmth and genuineness.

Someday—I don’t know when—I’ll put it out of the dark and either hang it up or give it away. Someday, maybe someone I love will want it, and I will want to give it to them. A moment of captured beauty, the kind that might drown a man—offered with love.

I’m glad I didn’t burn it, even as I am glad to have burnt that bridge.

[themanwiththeplan05]

Guess whoooooo...

I'm back! I've been busy, but I am now ready to show off the next character in my

Explicitly Magical Homestar Runner AU

Strong Sad lovers, this one is for you! Strap in, 'cuz this one is a doozy!

If you already read my first post (featuring Marzipan) then you know what's going on. If you haven't, too bad. Read that one first. This one will make a tiny bit more sense if you do. Or maybe not. I dunno.

Anyway, here is Strong Sad! And as you may note, he is special because...

He gets two forms! They each represent the different characterization he's had over the years, with the physical form representing his early and more depressing days, and his ghostly form being more like his modern incarnation.

I will refer to the different forms he has as "Husk" and "Ghost" forms respectively, and they will get their own descriptions below.

(Also, unrelated, but I really like how the sketch of this looked. That's pretty much it.)

With that out of the way, let's get to it!

Husk Version:

Before I basically redid the entirety of this AU (more on that later), I was having trouble really tying all of the Brothers Strong together in a cohesive way. Eventually, I can up with one connection to signify their familial bond: all of them are considered constructs, a concept I may explain in a later post.

Man, I'm really setting up a lot of stuff up, huh? Ah well, moving on.

Despite this connection, Strong Sad is still treated differently by his siblings because of his origins. The parents of the Brothers Strong were already content to have two young boys, but when a ghostly duo came to the Mother Strong with an even more sickly ghost child, begging for her help, she couldn't find it in herself to deny them. Since he has an actual soul (unlike his older brothers) he isn't fully accepted as a full brother (at least, by Strong Bad's standards). He was supposed to fully integrate into his form were he to have a normal life, but he never could. He's not quite sure why, and he feels quite self conscious about it.

Like his brothers, he was brought to Free Country for his controversial origins.

Main Power: Astral Projection (or whatever the equivalent of that is, I dunno)

Secondary Powers: N/A

Ghost Version:

Alright, I already mentioned it before, but this AU used to be almost completely different to its current version. It focused almost solely on Marzipan (as stated before... I think. I don't remember if I was clear on that) but it also focused on Strong Sad! Before, the ghost form was his only form, and looked completely different. Below is the only image I have of this early design.

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\/

Ignoring the fact that he simultaneously looks like a beached seal creature and a sad beach ball, the AU itself was supposed to be more romantic before I realized I had no interest in this ship nor did I have any knowledge on how romance happens. Speaking of, if y'all notice anything resembling romance in the future, it's purely accidental.

Main Power: Shadow Manipulation

Secondary Powers: Possession and Aura Reading.

Yeah, that's it for now. Next up on the chopping block is our favorite old man in green footies, Coach Z!

Rock On! \__/,

[theoracleparadox]

Adjustments to Etro’s Blessing: Andromeda: 

1. Split up some chapters so they wouldn’t be so long; hence the appearance of extra chapters. Before revisions, the fic was 14 chapters or 113 pages (standard printer paper) long. After revisions, it is 28 chapters or 137 pages long. 25 pages of additional detail and scenes have been added. 

2. Added some brief scenes in the first two chapters alluding to r*pe (the cruelties of war).

3. Removed that dream scene between Andromeda and Luna, because it was just stupid and actually impossible for it to happen over such a great distance. 

4. Redid the scene when Andromeda’s chaos magic first truly manifested: it did not cause a fire, but simply threw Chad out a window and down to the sidewalk several stories below. It also caused a lot more property damage and probably a car crash or two. There were many witnesses. 

5. Cleared up the arrangements when Linda sent Andromeda away: Andromeda was officially placed in foster care, with a family outside of Insomnia. Linda was rushed to make a decision and very much regretted it later. 

6. Monica and Dustin become involved much earlier. Unbeknownst to Andromeda, while she was learning to ride chocobos in chapter 9, the Crownsguard pay a visit to Sheila and Trevor, who already know what is Wrong with this girl. It is during this secret meeting that it’s arranged for the old couple to look after Andromeda, even though they wanted to get out of fostering kids and certainly weren’t looking to adopt at their age. Considering that Kingsglaive were sent the first time around, Sheila wasn’t about to hand Andromeda over. 

7. Andromeda accidentally uses her chaos magic in front of Glaives, but they assume it’s some new Nif tech. 

8. Chapter 10 is just about completely rewritten. A scene is added in which Sheila and Trevor offer to adopt Andromeda on her birthday. It’s a very happy moment. She needed a break. And she gets a cell phone! What she doesn't know was that it was arranged and her adoptive parents get subsidy payments from Insomnia.

9.  Later Andromeda joins a search party to find Ian, a hunter who had gone missing. That’s when she first learns she can heal starscourge. Originally, she had been led by a dream to find the hunter, but that was really stupid. 

10. Andromeda only attends college for one year, instead of two. 

11. Chapter 11 has been split up and the first part is completely rewritten. The Imperial base that Andromeda vandalizes belongs to Caligo, yet I completely skipped over any interaction before because I wanted to rush on to Verstael. Caligo now confronts Andromeda about what she did. It goes better than you’d expect. 

12. The dialogue in the first encounter with Verstael is tweaked to reflect information that is already known and all the other changes in the fic, and just make it all smoother. 

13. The dreams involving clones have been made slightly more terrifying. 

14. Andromeda tries to interact with the lab assistants in the First Magitek Production Facility. Tries.

15. The military ball has been split into two chapters, and the interaction between Andromeda and Luna has been altered as it is the very first time they are meeting. 

16. After the ball, Andromeda is visited by Mila, her guide in Gralea. Or who she thinks is Mila. In either case, Andromeda angry drinks and accidentally shares her secrets. 

17. I previously glossed over when Andromeda finally saw her chaos kill someone for the first time. So I included something small in her first excursion in Galahd. She doesn’t have to think real hard before she realizes that she’s been killing people all along. Around the same time, she starts to plan to kill her handler, then run to the Galahdians to let her kill her. Her plan fails. 

18. Dalton brutally beats Andromeda, then starves her, in retaliation for her attempt at killing him. 

19. Andromeda goes mute for the six months she’s in Galahd with Dalton. 

20. I went over the dreamwalking chapter with a fine-toothed comb. The huge chunk with Linda was removed: I wrote it originally to show readers what had happened to her after Andromeda left Insomnia. Later, I actually wrote out a whole thing from Linda’s perspective, so keeping it in this chapter was moot. It did nothing for Andromeda nor the readers. 

21. That scene with Luna that I cut in the very beginning? It has been repurposed and added to Chapter 25. 

22. Although it’s Ardyn who burns down the village n Tenebrae in his rage, it’s pinned on Andromeda because she was there. She actually believes its her own fault for having gone there in the first place, and has guilt for it. Technically she has caused more death in Tenebrae than Galahd. 

23. As everything now happens a year earlier, Andromeda does not know that there is a second woman with Etro’s Blessing until after she leaves Niflheim. Etro has not yet thought to bless another person. 

24. Andromeda sees the clones for herself. They almost overcome her, but Etro saves her. I have made the conversation between them more emotional, as Etro seemed to be ambivalent to whatever Andromeda was going through before. In the previous version, she asked a lot from Andromeda, but gave little in return. I have made Etro more caring and supportive, and willing to fight for her Blessed One. Niflheim will know her wrath. 

25. Andromeda doesn’t speak to anyone in the First Magitek Production Facility. Especially to Ardyn. It’s like a deer in headlights situation, after he attacked and infected her. And he does it again in the facility. 

26. Since her coma was reduced to 2 months, Andromeda spends a lot longer in the facility before breaking out. About four months. She no longer has that confident attitude she had the first time around because every waking moment is terrifying. She joins the hive mind of the clones off and on. That and solitary confinement do wonders for one’s mental health. 

27. The last chapter has basically been rewritten. Etro actually does a lot more than she did previously. In return, Andromeda is a little more useless during the whole thing and at one point becomes hysterical that Etro will not give in to her bloodlust. Etro does not like that. 

28. Andromeda does still get away with the spy, but she is very much broken. 

Fic Playlist: 

This is a playlist I complied on Spotify for various chapters of this fic. I think the music writers use to get them into the mood for their fic/assign to their writing is very telling of what they’re trying to convey. 

1. Antumnos by Eluveitie

2. Ogmios by Eluveitie

3. Esvs by Eluveitie

4. Belenos by Eluveitie

5. The Spell by Cellar Darling

6. I Will Be by Florence + the Machine

7. Too Much is Never Enough by Florence + the Machine

8. Dare to Enter by Nightwish

9. Unwanted by Avril Lavigne

10. Voice in my head by Amy Lee and David Eggar

11. Where is the Edge by Within Temptation

12. Canvas of Life - Acoustic Version by Epica

13. I Am Only One by We Are The Fallen

14. Tear the World Down by We Are The Fallen

15. As Above, So Below by In This Moment

16. Holy Man by In This Moment

17. Once Upon a December by Invadable Harmony

18. Youth by Daughter

19. Love and War by Fleurie

20. Roots by In This Moment

21. Svcellos II (Sequel) by Eluveitie

22. Dureddu by Eluveitie

23. From G to E Minor by Nightwish

24. Hey Buddy by Nightwish

25. Heart Lying Still by Nightwish

26. Witches by Daughter

[blackdevilwhitedemon]

P5 x HS AU no one asked for (part 2)

Ah, I forgot I had some more stuff about this AU in my Google Docs. Just gonna dump this here as well ig.

Link to part 1.

Wow! First chapter and I completely redid it because I did not like the first idea. :DDDD This chapter’s plot was a lot better. 

Anyway, just wanted to explain everyone's horns real quick since I forgot to last chapter???. 

Akira originally was going to have the same horns as Arsene, but then I realized his ‘horns’ are ribbon-like and changed shape. The most common shape they take is weird looking and is too hard to describe, so I opted to give him Satanael’s horns. Which I think works well with Akira because they are basic looking.

Goro’s horns are the same as Loki’s. Pretty straight forward. ^^

Ann has the same horns as her halloween costume in Dancing in Starlight!

Makoto has the same horns as Anat. (Just not as low on her head, obvs.)

Haru’s horns are based on how Astarte has a crescent moon on her head. I imagine Haru’s horns are very uneven like that and if you drew a line from one end of her horn and connected it to the other, it would form the shape of a crescent moon. Does that make sense? 

Yusuke was almost given horns to resemble Susano-o’s mask/helmet thing, but I decided it would be more fitting to give him little tiny horns resembling his fox mask ears. It’s so cute???

-

Your name is AKEERA KURUSU and you are a SEADWELLER. Your BLOOD color is FUCHSIA, making you a MUTANT seeing that you are male, not female. You like meowbeasts and your friends. FLARP isn’t really your thing, and you are quite the quiet fellow. By the way, your glasses are totally fake. 

You have a pet meowbeast named Morgana. He's a needy fellow, but I did mention how you love meowbeasts? You'd forgive him anytime for any transgressions. Not sure what transgressions he could possibly carry out but…the point still stands. 

Your horns are ram-like. Curving in majestic swirls. The horns always seem to get people's attention; your friends love them. 

Weirdly. 

Your right horn is damaged. A good two inches of the tip has broken off. You always tell different stories each time to get asked how this came to be. You like to get ridiculous with your stories, downright outrageous so people know you're joking. 

You're a funny guy like that. 

The real reason behind the battle scar was the altercation you were a part of a couple of suns cycles ago. Where you had been found out and exposed for what you really are, a mutant. 

Being a mutant under the new Empresses rule was a finicky thing. No one could quite agree what to do with them. If they should be put to death for their threat to the hemospectrum or coddle as a lowblood. 

Her solution for it now was simply to bring in all mutant bloods to her palace which she would store them away in a special sector. You knew that she was probably coddling them and making sure nobody culled them, but who’s to say when she decides they’re not worth it? What if she puts them all down herself, thinking it to be soft 

[luckyturt1313]

G3 with Papyrus

draw prompt

@trifoyle wanted toriel g1, papyrus g3, and grillby e3

@plantmomstories wanted sans e3

[trishmishtree]

I seam ripped an entire skirt apart and re-sewed it entirely by hand, all in a day, and now my hands are ouchy

Yeah, this^ fucker

So I made this skirt around March of 2021. It's pretty and swishy and I get lots of compliments when I wear it in the office.

But it was one of the first items of clothing I had ever sewn and I had No Flipping Clue what I was doing at the time. And now that I have had 1.5 years of experience in hand sewing and making my own clothing, I cringe every time I look closely at this skirt. Let me count the ways this skirt was a mess:

The pockets were too small. Yes, I thought to add pockets to the side seams. No, I did not take into account the fact that the opening for the pocket has to be wide enough to fit not only my phone (which it does...barely) but also the width of my hand (which it just barely does if I really struggle to get my hand through it).

It's a circle skirt cut from a quilting cotton fabric. Which is woven. And because I was a noob to sewing, I didn't realize that you're supposed to hang up garments that are cut on the bias (which circle skirts are) to let the bias edges stretch out before you hem them. So for the past year, the hem of this skirt has been 2 inches longer in the front and back than at the side seams. Which looks silly and is really hard to unsee whenever I look at it.

Also, because it's a circle skirt, the waist line is also cut on the bias. Which stretches. Which I didn't realize when I was making the skirt and trying it on. So when I oh so cleverly calculated the diameter that I needed for the waist, I didn't account for the fact that the waist would stretch out if I tried it on before attaching the stabilizing waistband. So the waist of the skirt ended up too big. I tried to make up for this by pleating down the extra width. I added 4 pleats to the center back and 2 pleats to the center front. Except I backstitched through the pleats to hold them in place, and didn't bring the waistband down far enough to hide the backstitching. Oh, and the pleats in the front are completely wonky and angled wrong.

Even with the fancy pleating, the waist still ended up being too big, so the skirt always sat awkwardly low on my hips. The misplaced hook and eye keeping it closed didn't help either, since they were overhanging the edge of the waistband, which only made it gape even wider

I don't know how Past Me put that side zipper in, because it was Not how I would have done it now.

I've picked this skirt up a few times over the last year, trying to see if I could find a quick fix for the above issues I had with it. Each time, I would put it back down without doing anything to it. Why? Because I have no fucking clue what Past Me was thinking when she sewed those seams. As far as I could tell, there was a backstitch involved, but then there was another row of backstitching on the seam allowances? Was I trying to flat fell the seams because I hadn't learned how to properly fell yet? Was I trying to do a French seam on a seam where the allowances on either side were supposed to be finished separately because there were pockets inserted? Did I backstitch the seam allowances down before backstitching the main seam? It made no sense and I concluded that I would have to take the whole thing apart and do it again properly for this skirt to meet the standards I have today.

So yeah, this morning I took a deep breath, sucked it up, and seam ripped the entire thing and pressed out the creases until I had the original pieces back. And then I chopped off the extra-long biased hem and proceeded to hand stitch the skirt back together, correctly. And then felled the seam allowances down, correctly. And reattached the zipper and hook and eye, correctly. And redid the pleats to make the waist actually fit me, and moved all the pleats to the back because the front ones looked stupid. And then I put in a 1/4 inch double folded hem at the bottom because the original hem was 1 inch wide and I have no idea why Past Me did that. I also ripped off the tiny pockets and am planning to make some giant pockets, but I didn't get around to doing that today because all those alterations took me all day to sew.

The end result doesn't look all that different from the before photo, but I'm much happier with it, and I'll be even happier when I put in the giant pockets.

Anyways, my hands are ouchy.

[be-ready-when-i-say-go]

I wrote this the other idea. And then a thought happened.

Enjoy.

Gender Neutral Reader Insert

_____________________

“I’m going to take you out.”

You hum in response, pulling at the last part of the cardboard box. The tape snaps, a soft pfft echoing. You bought new curtains for the kitchen. It was premature given that the curtains would only really go once the backsplash was done and the cabinets repainted. Your delay for both of those was Calum. Though you had painted cabinets before while helping a friend move into their place, Calum insisted that the two of you be the ones that redid the kitchen. Not just you.

The project inevitably got delayed. Calum dragged his feet on nonessential things and with things slowly moving back to normal, he was busier than ever with the band. So you understood--that took priority over cosmetic changes to the house. And you know that you couldn’t nag him into doing anything. So you poked him in a different way, buying the kitchen curtains that would only sort of match with the rest of the kitchen. It wouldn’t bother him at first. It would take a couple of weeks before he sighed, pulled out his old t-shirts and the sandpaper and paint that you had already bought.

Calum hums in your ear. “What do you say? We dressed up fancy too.” He punctuates the end of his sentence with a kiss on your neck.

“Fancy? And go where?”

“Oh, that’s for you to decide.” He rests his chin on your shoulder, but you don’t miss the way his arms snake around your torso.

“When did you want to go? This evening?”

“No,” he says and then drags his lips up your skin. “Right now.”

You chuckle, though the end of it is interrupted by a sigh, the tingles running down your spine. “There’s nowhere fancy to go in the middle of the afternoon. And why fancy?”

“Because you have that outfit in the back of the closet and I think it’s time to break it out.”

You originally bought it for your anniversary with Calum two years ago. But the pandemic through a major wrench into the plan. That one passed and so did another and you weren’t sure when you’d be able to wear it ever. But couldn’t return it because you adored it too much.

His lips are hardly touching your skin, but you feel electric. “You know, we could just make this easy,” you return, pushing your hips back into his. “Besides, you said you were waiting on a call.”

His teeth nip at your skin and the heat of his breathe trails up to your ear. It doesn’t shock you when his tongue teases the shell of your ear, but it does make a warmth spread through your stomach. “I can take the call anywhere.”

“Then take it from the bedroom.”

Calum laughs before pulling away completely. “Oh, I absolutely could. But I want to take you out. Because I know this week I’ve been holed up with writing and you deserve more of my time. And we’re dressing up. And you’re going to think of the place right now.”

Without the pressure of his weight holding you to the counter and the warmth of his kisses, you can think a bit clearer. Somewhere fancy to go in the middle of the afternoon felt insane. You turn, using the completely deconstructed box as a shield. “You’re a dangerous man when you wanna be,” you tease.

He smiles, a bit of a blush taking over his cheeks as he leans into the counter next to you. He makes a show of holding his arms to his chest. “I can behave. When I wanna.”

“When you want is so important. But I don’t feel like I’m getting less time. I know this record’s taking some extra TLC.”

“And my darlin’ deserves some TLC too. So c’mon. It can be anywhere. We’re just getting fancy is all I’m asking.”

“The only thing I can think of is a museum? Contemporary Art?”

Gently taking one of your hands, Calum presses a chaste kiss to the back of it. “I’d be honored. I’ll hang these curtains and then get ready.”

“Thank you. I’ll take Duke out.”

He nods and watches you, eyes taking in the length of you. “And I know the curtains are you trying to get me moving faster about the rest of the kitchen.”

“The only thing about the kitchen I want to hear is if it’s on fire or if you’re planning a day to remodel it.”

Calum shakes his head with a hiccup of laughter coming from him. Of course, you would. Of course. He grabs the stepstool you keep between the fridge. It’s not long before he gets the curtains switched out--thankfully the ones you bought fit on the rod already installed. The scratch of Duke’s paws coming closer to the kitchen alert Calum that you’ve gotten back inside.

“What if we do the cabinets on Saturday?” he asks, hearing the fridge crack open. He shakes out some of the creases in the last curtain.

“I’ll be disturbing you bright and early then.”

“Sounds lovely,” he returns, stretching up just a little to get the first part of the curtain onto the rod. Just as he steps down, a cup settles onto the counter in front of him. Water by the looks of it in the glass and then your feet shuffle down the hardwood floors.

You and Calum manage to get finished at about the same time getting dressed. But it doesn’t get past you that a few buttons on his dress shirt are not all the way done as he moves to pass you to grab shoes from the closet. “Sir, I don’t know what you’re playing, but those few buttons are playing with fire,” you tease getting the last of your outfit into place.

“Look who’s talking,” he laughs but steps back over to you. “Hmm, everyone warned me about you.”

“Warned you about me?” This is the first time you’re earring of anyone having a problem with you.

He nods. “They told me I’d fall in love.” The rapid rate of your heart starts to slow.

“Well, did you?”

“Do you not see me dressed to the nines just to take you out? I am whipped.”

Cupping his jaw, you press several chaste kisses to his lips. “Good. I ordered our tickets--so we don’t have to wait in any line.”

“Ah, I knew I found a good one. Thank you.”

“Uh-huh. You’re welcome.”

With Calum’s shoes on, and the tickets saved on your phone, the two of you head out. The drive to the museum feels much too short--between you belting out the songs on the radio and the laughter--you’re not even thinking about the fact that you’re about to head to an art museum dressed like you’d go to an award show with Calum. You hadn’t been to many of those, opting at the beginning of your relationship to hang back from that world.

“Why do this?” you ask softly right as the songs change. The radio host advertises something, you’re not sure what, but you can hear their voice excited as they talk.

Calum takes a brief second to glance at you. “What do you mean? I thought I answered that.”

“No, no, you did. But I don’t know. I’m just shocked.”

It goes silent for a moment. You hear the soft squeal of the tires and you know Calum should’ve taken his car to the shop a month ago, but again, he dragged his feet on some things. But you don’t think to say anything, not now at least.

“You mentioned it,” Calum starts, turning his gaze away from the red light. “When we first started dating, you mentioned that you wanted to get dressed up one day and just go somewhere--it didn’t matter where. But you wanted to go on a date and get fancy and go to a random place in the middle of the afternoon like it was a movie. And I thought and I thought and I even asked the guys where to take you but none of them knew. And then I had this whole plan for our anniversary to get dressed up and go the park. But I got scared and changed it to dinner because I didn’t want to ruin your fantasy. We have lists of them and we make them up all the time. But this one mattered.”

“They all matter. That’s why we create them, that’s why we write them down.”

“But this one mattered to you. There are plenty that we do together. But this one mattered specifically to you and I knew I couldn’t just give up on it.”

Your mouth hangs open for a second and then the car lurches forward, you fall back into the cushion of the seat just a hair but then regain your balance. “You told me once that you missed when you and your sister would sneak these biscuits after dinner. And your mother always knew you two were doing it. So I bought some and put them on the highest shelf. Because that’s where your stash is and I never wanted you to run out so every couple of weeks I do a second trip to the grocery store to buy them. And I’m not sure when you realized I was buying them because at one point there were two and three packages on that shelf, which I knew meant you didn’t know I was buying them. But now there’s only ever the package that I buy.”

“I’ve known for months now, love. I didn’t say anything but honestly, I liked it. But I will admit I’m shocked you didn’t stop once you realized it.”

“I kept doing it because I wanted to give you a tiny piece of home. It’s crazy I know. But I try.”

“I am home. With you.”

“I know, but like your childhood. The things that no one really knows but you and what you’ve decided to share with me. I want to bring that to you.”

“Baby, I-I don’t need that. I appreciate it. I know you feeding me until I become round is your love language but I am more than satisfied to create new things with you.”

“Your trainer cancels out all my attempts. You, sir, will keep your toned abs and biceps for at least another twenty years.”

“Only twenty?”

You laugh, leaning over the console to kiss his cheek. “Once you marry me, baby, you’re getting happy weight and I won’t stop.” The sentiment is punctuated with a pat to his stomach. The only thing Calum can do is laugh.

“I look forward to it.”

“Oh, so you agree, you are going to marry me?”

Calum never thought he’d get here. Not pulling into the parking lot of a museum with the love of his life, dressed in clothes he only really reserved for the stage, a heartbeat away from admitting, “Yes. I am agreeing that I am going to marry you.”

The moment lingers for a beat, then two and Calum’s heart is racing because this isn’t how he had planned on asking. Shit, he thought he’d need another six months before he’d have the guts to even admit it to the boys. But right now, it just feels so right to admit. Your arms are winding around his neck and he’s leaning as far as his still buckled seatbelt will allow him. And you’re kissing him and he’s inhaling your laughter. And somehow the most backward-ass things feel the best.

“You-I need to get you a ring. I was going to do this all differently,” Calum rushes out, holding onto your cheeks. His head shakes, eyes wide. “I swear I was going to do this all differently.”

Your smile is blurry in his vision. But he hears your laughter. “I don’t need it any other way.”

You wipe the tears from his cheeks. “Now, can we please go look at the pretty art with my soon-to-be husband on my arm?”

“Of course.”

The air of the museum is cold and it chills you for a second but it’s coupled with the fact that Calum’s thumb is stroking the back of your hand. The two of you glance at each other, wide grins and giggles falling from your lips. It’s a wonder, as the two of you stroll through the museum. You in front, gravitating towards the brighter works and Calum follows, your pinkies hooked together to keep you two from getting too separated from each other.

All he can do is stare, watch you and your ever-shifting gaze. You float over the floor of the museum as if your feet could never really fully touch the ground. And he’s powerless to it, the following the visible string pulling him to you. At your pause, Calum slides up behind you. His hands settle at your hips first briefly before he catches himself. “Yes, Cal?”

“Nothing.”

You cock your head to the side and then ever so slightly push back against his hips. “Just as I suspected. A lot of something. Approximately several inches in length.”

Calum barely holds the howl of his laughter in before spinning you around. “Do not ever--”

“Or what?” you ask.

“You know I’m not going ever taking you out in public again.”

You take a glance to the left and right, before slipping your hand between your bodies. You palm his length through his dress pants. “Oh what a shame,” you state and then step away to a sculpture.

Calum exhales hard at the action and takes a moment to steel himself before following after you. The teasing continues on back and forth, him passing in front of you and feeling you over the material of your clothes, gently brushing his hands on the back of your neck.

Calum moves to another room and you watch him go for a minute before following behind him. The shivers of his still nibbles on his ears rocked you more than you anticipated. Sliding up behind him, you encase your arms around his torso. “You sir, are just begging for us to get kicked out.”

His small chuckle is interrupted by the buzz of his phone. Calum reaches into his pocket and sees the numbers. He glances around and slides to answer the call. “Calum speaking,” he whispers. You step away and point out a sign pointing to some restrooms. Calum smiles at you, kissing your forehead, and then heads over that way.

You wait in the same area, not wanting to go too far in case the call is quick. You take your time looking at each piece in the room. It feels long but then you can hear the clack of dress shoes on the floor and turn to the sound of it. Calum returns, his face a little pensive.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, just--uh.”

“We can go if you need to. Is it work?”

“It’s just bullshit. Something bout a demo needing to be recorded. And I don’t--this is important to you. I don’t want to ruin that.”

“One more room and then we can go back home.”

He takes your hands. “If we do one more room, I won’t have time to take you back home. I’m sorry.”

“Well, our fridge magnet collection needs another one. And I don’t mind if you have to drive to the studio and then I’ll take an Uber or something back home.”

“Or you could stay with me?”

“I’m not about to make life harder. C’mon. We got a fridge magnet to obtain.”

The gift shop is hardly busy. Calum takes a second to text the guys that he’ll be over to the studio soon. It’s not hard for you to pick a magnet. But you look at the postcards, all the colors. “Grab a handful, love. I see you eyeing them.”

You pick up a few and then head to the register. Calum seems to be distracted by something, but you don’t think too much of it as you pay. Especially since he seems to slide up right behind you. At the front of the shop, Calum warns it’ll be a bit of a drive so you scurry to the restroom.

The sun’s brighter than you anticipated and you squint against the sun as you walk back out into the parking lot. As you slide into the truck, you toss the magnet and card onto the back seats, on the blanket Duke lays on. And then another small bag lands on your lap. “What’s this?”

Calum says nothing as he buckles in.

“Oh don’t get all silent on me. Don’t you fucking dare.” You turn the back upside down and a box lands into your lap. Your heart races and then you realize it’s too small to be a ring box though it could be the right size. “Calum,” you sigh and crack it open. A small enamel pin stares back up at you. You laugh.

“You got me good that time.”

“I’ll do one better when it’s an actual ring.”

“I like gold,” you tell him, taking his hand gently and kisses the back of it.

“Trust, I am well aware.”

[gamebunny-advance]

Grab-Bag Doodle Dump

Just some stuff~

Notes under the cut as per usual.

1) The Heart Melter Boys (Dear Daniel + Cinnamoroll): I just saw an image that melted my heart, so I wanted to draw some of the Sanrio Boys. Maybe I’ll get around to drawing all of em from that pic.

2) Ice Cream, Original Sketch. I didn’t originally imagine that pic with them as chibis, but that’s how it turned out. I really wanted Tatiana at the end of the row so the joke would have landed better, but when I redid this with the chibis, it looked really weird if Zuke was behind anyone else, so I had to rearrange them in a way where Zuke would be on the right end, so Tatiana ended up sandwiched inbetween Kliff and Mayday. If you’re wondering why I didn’t just add her to the opposite end, it’s because by the time I’d realized the Zuke thing, I had already completely drawn/colored everyone. Since this was just a stress-relief doodle, I didn’t want to waste time redrawing Kliff’s eyes to look the other way. It’s still cute, but not having to move across the line for the joke does kill the impact just a smidge.

3) Childhood Friends relationship chart. Dunno. Just felt compelled to make this one day. It’s not comprehensive. And I don’t know why i made them into mochi. Since I couldn’t make NJ mochi, I gave him lil’legs.

Anyway some stuff I wanted to explain: I like Ne/onNo/va aesthetically, but I personally have a hard time writing for it because frankly, I think DJSS would have a hard time having healthy relationships with anyone. I think it could work out if he works on himself a bit more, but that’s not a story I’m interested in writing. Everything else I think speaks for itself, but do feel free to ask about it if you feel so inclined.

4) “Disco Balloon” - I really wanna finish this, so I’m not going to say much else about it. I just really need to get off my ass and learn how to draw hands so this can be what I want it to be.

5-6) Just something I was thinking about a few days ago. I don’t think it’s ever been said on record that Kliff’s design is inspired by Dio, but I’m pretty sure that’s true. There are a bunch of other Jojo references in the game, so I don’t think another one is that far-fetched. Not that I know anything about Jojo anyway.

7) Beginning of a redraw of that “soft” R.O.B. & Watch doodle I did forever ago. It’s somehow less cute than the original (GW isn’t small enough), but I’ll probs redo it again.

8) Human!Flats. From left to right: Juggler, Mr. Game & Watch, Tabuu.

9) A Tabuu doodle. I’ve been experimenting with giving Tabuu locs, but in doing so he kinda loses that butterfly motif I had. But I don’t think it read that clear in the first place, so it’s not a huge loss if I ditch it. Hm... he might look good with a fade now that I think about it more...

10) A humanized!Smash gender chart that I never finished. I ummed and ahhed a lot about posting this. I’m not very explicit about my gender/sexuality headcanons, because I feel a little weird being a (probably) cis/hetero woman talking about those kinds of things in depth, but I think it’d be more honest if I’m a little more up front about it. From left to right, top to bottom:

Pac-Man: Transmale

Mr. G&W: Genderfluid

R.O.B.: Nonbinary

Ms. Pac-Man: Transfemale

Tabuu: Genderfluid

Pinky: Transfemale

Inky: Nonbinary

[ink-asunder]

The Heartless DLC - The Rest of the Story

I’ve given a lot of thought to this, but I’ve decided to drop my Dragon Age: Inquisition/Dragon’s Dogma crossover fic, The Heartless DLC. I’m not out of ideas, but it turns out retelling the entire last 2/3rds of the game WITH original quests was too much of an undertaking for me. That combined with my surprising distaste with elements of Dragon Age and issues with the fandom just made it a project that I have no interest in continuing at this time.

It’s not fair to keep my readers in the dark, even if I *do* plan to get back to it someday. So I’m going to give a heavily abridged but general summary of how The Heartless DLC would’ve continued and ended right here, just so you get the full story instead of me leaving you hanging. It’s also a fairly long post!

After the events at Adamant, the Inquisitor and Arisen ltake care of some side-quests, favor quests, and cleaning up some areas whilst also preparing for the ball at Halamshiral. As stated previously, the Arisen and Gale will be going on their own, not under the Inquisition. Once there, the Inquisitor searches for clues, and the Arisen very quickly realizes that there are pawns serving at the ball. Gale pretends to faint, which allows him and the Arisen to be temporarily excused while the pawns take them to the servant’s quarters.

Once in the privacy of the servant’s quarters, the pawns give Marnie an urgent update about the state of things in Gransys. The Duke wasn’t ill, he was trying to keep her away. Nothing particularly heinous is unfolding, but the pawns are worried the Arisen has abandoned them. Marnie assures them that she’ll return, but before they resolve the issue, the harlequin drops in and tries to murder them.

Cut back to the Inquisition. The Inquisitor finally finds some clues and escapes to the servants quarters with his companions. By the time they get there, Marnie and the pawns are nowhere to be found and everyone else is slaughtered. They briefly have a moment of “oh, so I guess we might have to consider Marnie did this” and move on. They find Marnie and the pawns engaged in battle in the courtyard, and the two groups converge for the rest of the quest. They discover the pawns have been traveling to and from Gransys by a Riftstone they brought overseas with them. This Riftstone is later transported to a grove closer to Skyhold for ease of access to the Pawn Guild. It might be noted that Marnie is the one who finds and unlocks the Empress halla door, mostly because her pawns were collecting whatever they could find already. She has Gale interrogate the man for her, then she brings the information to the Inquisitor. The empress is spared, Florianne is arrested, and the Inquisitor has enough evidence to ally all three parties.

Now that there’s a Riftstone at Skyhold, Gale is going out at night on jobs in other worlds. More pawns begin to frequent Skyhold. They don’t blend in well, but the Arisen is able to explain it away as if the Duke sent over members of his elite army, of which the Arisen is a commander. No one ever suspect she had that kind of station. The pawns all seem moderately wary of Solas, but decide he won’t pull anything in Skyhold around the Arisen, for whatever reason. Gale has the most influence over the other pawns aside from the Arisen because he is the main pawn in this universe. That puts him at a high position, even though he may be younger than many pawns he meets.

Gale still goes to Solas frequently. Their meetings range from Gale asking for help with spells to discussing the Inquisition and the Arisen. Solas starts asking Gale to keep their meetings a secret from the Arisen (red flag!). Meanwhile, Cole and Marnie settle their differences; Marnie says she was never upset with Cole to begin with, and they both make a point to be more objective and communicative with each other. Marnie resumes training Cole and gifts him a pair of climbing boots with spikes on the bottoms (shout out to RavenNox on fanfiction.net for mentioning the strider concept art in a review, because I hadn’t seen it before!).

After Wicked Eyes, Wicked Hearts, the Inquisitor decides to finally get in a good dragon hunt like I’ve been teasing. This is a long-ish “Dragonhunt Arc,” and it’s what I’d imagine Marnie’s main favor quest would be if this was a real DLC. They go to the Hinterlands to fight the Fereldan Frostback, (I know, I should be writing them getting back at that damn dragon in Crestwood, but I haven’t written anything in the Hinterlands yet, and I wanna get to it). There’s an epic battle where the Inquisition FINALLY gets to see more of that dynamic climbing from Marnie and Cole. Gale also shows some creative use of healing spells by preemptively casting healing spells while Marnie is in danger, then she’ll heal as soon as she’s injured and it’ll spare her, (Gale actually did stuff like this with consumable curatives while I was fighting the Ur-Dragon quite a few times, so I wanted to implement it).

At the end of the battle, the Arisen realizes that dragons are just animals here, as opposed to intelligent, self-possessed beings like in Gransys. Therefore, the only real “reason” she came to Thedas was a bust. She’s noticeably sullen and distraught for several days, and Gale begins to worry. Eventually, Gale reaches out to the Inner Circle for help, and they arrange a quiet evening in the yard where she and Gale could dress fancy and slow-dance because it was the one thing she wanted to do at Halamshiral and couldn’t do. There’s this vague internal monologue about how she never gets to keep what she loves, and it’s implied she only truly loves Gale, and it’s also a subtle reminder that she’s a fucking god, but anyway.

After the Dragonhunt Arc, I get back to the main quest, except I kind of don’t, because I want things to be more dramatic. They chip away at some favor quests, and oddly enough, Gale and the Arisen start to drift apart. This is due to several factors including but not limited to Marnie being preoccupied with other pawns and Inquisition-related duties, but it’s also largely because of a concentrated effort on several people’s part to get Gale to assert himself as an individual human as opposed to a pawn defined by his Arisen.

When they go to the Temple of Mythal, Marnie and Gale can barely keep themselves together. The group manages to complete the quest regardless. They ally with Abelas and Morrigan drinks from the Well of Sorrows.

When they face off against Corypheus, Marnie uses the Backfire skill when fighting the red lyrium dragon to ensure it dies. In that moment, a part of her is frighteningly powerful, almost like she is no longer human. (God this stuff sounds corny.) She passes out for a minute and Gale stays with her while she recovers and the others go to fight Corypheus. Corypheus probably delivers a villainous monologue. I was originally going to have Marnie and Gale bust in and at the part where Corypheus says "ancient ones, if you've ever been there, be with me now," Marnie says "I am one" but I decided against it. The Inquisitor lands the killing blow because this is his quest and his game.

During the afterparty, the Arisen and Gale interact with each member of the inner circle with the news that they'd be leaving for Gransys in the morning. Neither are drinking and they're both dressed as if they're going to leave any minute.

When Marnie and Gale are setting off, Cole comes to Marnie one last time and tells her she never will be alone. That reassures her and, for the time being, she seems ready to confront Grigori upon her return to Gransys.

When Marnie and Gale return for the Tresspasser DLC, they still haven't killed Grigori, but they did go to Bitterblack Isle. As such, their gear is dope and dragonforged, and their mental health is in shambles. Gale also converted to the way of the bow while they were there. They aid the Inquisition in fighting Qunari and finding Solas, and he and Marnie have a final showdown where he's revealed to be the Dread Wolf and she's revealed to be the Seneschel who reset the world so she could relive being the Arisen again and again. Solas needles her about why she redid everything, why she refuses to assume her place as Seneschel, and how many times she's done this same thing over and over again. Gale manages to shoot Solas from afar and they're all driven apart.

After the Inquisition returns to Skyhold and orients themselves, only Gale reappears saying his Arisen sent him in case they meant her any harm after her reveal. After the Inquisitor agrees not to compromise Marnie, Gale leads him to the ruins by the Riftstone, where Marnie's been waiting. They have a chat about her true origins and intentions, and she admits she didn't defeat Grigori because she knew she'd have to leave the mortal world soon after. She agrees to help the Inquisition when she can and places a Portcrystal by the Riftstone. They both agree that things are probably going to get a whole lot worse.

And that's where the fic ends. There's also a number of subplots I neglected to detail. Cole's favor quest, a few side quests related to the pawn guild, etc. As I said, I might return to the fic later on, but I really don't care for it or the fandom or the source material anymore. It's sad, but I'm happier elsewhere. And I thought it was only fair to leave some conclusion to the fic regardless. I might post certain chapters and snipets on my tumblr, but for the most part, this is the last you'll see of the official fic.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to the readers and fans that have stuck with me through all this. I wish you all the best, and I'm sorry I couldn't give you the full fic. Stay safe out there!

[scripting-life]

FFVII: returning to my first love

 *peeks out of the corner of my lurking spot*

Hello? Anybody out there? It’s only been, oh you know, four-ish years since the last time I’ve posted anything here. I apologize in advance for anybody who’s still following me from my Castle days. If you couldn’t tell from my extended absence, I’ve mostly moved on. Castle and Beckett were fantastic characters that let me to play with some deep-dive analyses, and Castle will always hold a special place in my heart as my comfort show and my first real and extended experience with online fandom. I’ll always be grateful to the community I’ve had the joy of interacting with (or, the community with which I’ve had the joy of interacting, as Castle would correct me my dangling preposition).

I honestly didn’t think I would ever have reason to come back to Tumblr after Castle ended. But the FF7 Remake has returned me to my very first love--when I was young and innocent and before I knew anything about OTPs or ship wars. I’ve been back lurking for several months now and seeing all the fanart/fanfics and fun theories and analyses has reignited my enthusiasm for the FF7 franchise. It’s also fun coming back to this franchise with a more mature understanding of the themes/concepts that completely flew over my head as a young preteen.

(This ended up being super long, so the rest is below the cut to spare everyone the pain of scrolling. Apparently, my rambling tendencies have not changed at all. lol.)

When FF7R was officially announced (five freaking years ago!), I was filled with apprehension. FF7 was my first taste of a “grown-up” game. I was 11 and played my brother’s copy of the OG on PC in 1-2 hours spurts on the weekends when I visited his apartment. It took me months, if not years, to finish the game (I ended up stealing his copy to play on our computer at home...lol), and I was so blown away by it. I remember the exact moment I finished it and how I was literally shaking as I watched the ending FMV.

Later, when I found out my brother had a copy of FF8 (my poor brother was so accommodating to his annoying little sister...haha), I was so excited to play, in large part because I thought it would continue the story of FF7. Young, naive me didn’t understand the numbering conventions of Final Fantasy titles. I was madly theorizing and breaking my brain trying to find connections between the two games’ plots and had literally played through more than half the game before I finally realized the storyline of FF8 had absolutely nothing to do with FF7. I was sorely disappointed, and I think that has somewhat tainted my appreciation of future titles. Not to say I haven’t enjoyed the subsequent FF titles, but I think a little part of me is always comparing them to that first experience of wonder and awe that I had with FF7.

I discovered fanfiction in my teens and starting writing FF7/Cloti fics in college. Aside from interacting with a few fic writers at the time, I was not involved in any online communities, so I kept myself pretty free of any ship war drama and the like. When I did research for my fics, I’d sometimes see shipping sites and theories where I didn’t always understand the logic of how certain conclusions were reached, but frankly, I didn’t much care and didn’t realize that Clerith vs. Cloti was such a touchy subject. I was peripherally aware that some sort great LTD war was waging, of course, but it didn’t really touch me. I stayed in my Cloti shipping/fic-writing lane and was probably a lot happier for it. And, to be honest, based on FFN’s listings for FF7, I felt like I always saw a bunch of Sephiroth/Cloud fics and thought that was just as popular as the more conventional ships.

Graduating college and entering “real life” pretty much ended my FF7 fanfic-writing journey. In the intervening years between college and the release of FF7R, I haven’t gone back to the OG too much. I’ve played almost all the Final Fantasy games since then, and I always enjoy getting my FF7 crew fix when I play the non-canon mobile games or the Kingdom Hearts franchise. But FF7 was a happy part of my teenage years, and I was content to think on it with sweet nostalgia.

Remakes, in recent experience (*cough cough* Disney, why?), have been hit or miss, with a lot of misses. It’s hard to strike a good balance between catering to nostalgia and delivering a fresh product, never mind the change in social mores through the decades. I was so afraid FF7R would screw up my memories, especially since I wasn’t the biggest fan of Advent Children. The graphics were great and the action scenes were fun, but the story felt like a let-down. Cloud, in particular, felt so different (and yes, moody) from where we left him after the OG. I understand now that a lot of his character motivation was better explained in the On The Way to a Smile novels, but back then, I just felt like AC came out of nowhere. 

Btw, because I see this question a lot on other blogs when I’m lurking, I’ve ALWAYS thought that it was very clear in AC--even without reading anything else--that the reason for Cloud’s depression was due to guilt and not because he was pining for Aerith. The only reason I didn’t like his characterization in AC was because it felt like it came out of nowhere since AC is set 2 years after OG and by the end of the OG, he seemed to be in a pretty decent place mentally and emotionally. That being said, I can absolutely understand why some traumas resurface years after the originating incident and how times of peace might actually be worse because he is no longer solely focused on saving the world, but I was just surprised and a little bummed that this was the direction the devs chose to take AC at the time. Now that I’m older, I do better appreciate the complexities of Cloud’s mental state and the fact that they depicted a hero with lingering mental health issues is actually pretty awesome. I’m drawn to characters that have flaws--sometimes serious ones--but try their best anyway. Hence, why why Tifa Lockhart and Kate Beckett are some of my all-time favorites.

Anyhow, that didn’t stop me from pre-ordering FF7R, of course. I avoided reading any reviews as I didn’t want my first impressions to be swayed, and boy, was I happy that I went in mostly blind. That sense of awe really almost felt like playing the OG for the first time again, but somehow more. The combat system is incredibly fun and the world-building is nothing short of incredible. The variety and abundance of NPCs gives the game so much flavor and the locations have been rendered so well. As I’m going through areas like the Sector 7 train station and Wall Market and Aerith’s house, I can almost superimpose the layout from the OG in my head, but now it’s in 3D and so rich and full. It’s obvious that a lot of attention was paid to details, and I love all the head-nods and homages to the OG.

And oh, the characters!

This is the Cloud I’ve been wanting to see in glorious HD and the Cloud I remember from the original game: all awkward, dorky trying to be cool, socially inept, mentally unstable, abrasive-at-times, reluctant to act depending on who’s asking, wannabe hard-ass who’s actually a big softie inside Cloud. I remember reading an article a few years back about how the devs basically redid Cloud for the Remake because they wanted him to go back to his dorky roots--which ends up making him closest to his personality in the OG than his appearances in other franchises--and I was SOOOO incredibly happy to hear that. I was so sick of the way Cloud was constantly depicted as this cool, broody McBrood in his cameos when he was a pretty big dork in the OG. (Anybody remember him doing squats in the Highwind when Tifa says it’ll be lonely with just the two of them and Cloud responds that he’ll make enough noise to make up for it? Like I said: cute, but a dork.)

I WAS surprised by how comfortable and sweet and touchy (so very very touchy) the devs made him with Tifa from the beginning. That initial scene of Cloud being such a smooth operator giving Tifa the flower had my jaw-dropping and every single flirty interaction after that (and there are many) had my Cloti heart overflowing in shock and bliss. Throughout most of my years as a Cloti shipper, even though I believed Cloti was supported by canon and pretty clearly together, I was also under the impression--mistakenly or not--that Cloti was the minority ship. So for Square Enix to make it so blatantly obvious that Cloud is really into Tifa at such an early stage has been an unexpected gift.

Also, they’re just really hot together. (Clotiscrew tunnel--be still my heart!)

As for Tifa...oh, what wonderful character development we’ve already gotten for Tifa. Tifa has always been one of my all-time favorite characters ever since reading her character blurb in the OG game manual. Initially, as a child, it was because I saw so much of myself in her. She was outwardly bright and optimistic, but tended to hide all of her stronger feelings inside. She fought with her fists, and for someone who was a tomboy growing up who liked playing contact sports with the boys, I connected with her in a way that I had never been able to connect with other female protagonists who were primarily back-row specialists. (I also aspired to grow to her listed height of 5′4″, which alas, did not happen...lol).

I love how the Remake delves into more of Tifa’s moral conflict between the destruction that she causes as part of Avalanche and needing to do something to stop Shinra, and yes, even seeking revenge. They touched on this in the OG lightly, but the Remake really hammers it home. She’s perhaps the most conflicted character in terms of motivation in Part 1. That scene with the Shinra manager on the train is actually one of my favorite scenes of her because it highlights that tension. The elevator scene, if you opted for it instead of the stairs (or if you did one, saved, and reloaded to do the other one, like me), is also underrated in terms of how much it reveals about Tifa’s inner struggle.

On this point, I also appreciate that the Remake has the characters reflecting on the damage they’ve both indirectly and directly inflicted--the Avalanche team all do this to a certain degree. In particular, Jessie’s constant inability to figure out what she’d done wrong with the bomb to cause such a massive explosion and her remaining feelings of guilt during her death scene (”they were my victims” ouch!) were heart-breaking.

Aerith’s depiction was another pleasant surprise. I’ll be honest; I didn’t much like her in the OG. She was too pushy and willfully oblivious to the point of being mean at times. In the Remake, much of her sometimes too in-your-face playfulness was kept--perhaps still a little too much--but I appreciate the nuance that they gave her. The train graveyard scene tells the player that she didn’t have friends growing up, and I think that partially contributes to her lack of social tact at times. The other factor that gives her personality more nuance is the hint of special knowledge that affects how she interacts with the rest of the group. It gives her additional hidden motivation and adds to her mystery for new players while simultaneously pulling at the heartstrings for old players who get the impression that Aerith is somehow aware--to a certain, unknown extent--of her own fate. 

I also appreciate that Aerith is more grounded as a real person than as some sort of revered being. I do blame AC for some of that. When you have the power to cure a fatal disease from the afterlife and send the dead back to life, it gets into some godlike territory. Maybe it’s a fair depiction of her powers as a Cetra, but I just get the feeling that Aerith herself wouldn’t really appreciate being made into this goddess-like figure. Remember that her character blurb in the original game manual implied that she was more interested in earthly things (i.e. the love triangle) than in exploring her own powers. I personally think that Aerith used the “love triangle” in the OG as a form of escapism from the weight of her burdens rather than genuine interest, and I just think she’d want to be thought of as a person rather than as a god. One of my favorite scenes for Aerith is when she and Cloud are traversing the rooftops and she slips on the ladder, letting out a simple, “Shit.” It humanizes her in a way that combats some of the ways she’s sort of been deified in the last 23 years. Also, Aerith wielding a folding chair like it’s WWE never fails to make me laugh. Overall, she just comes off as a more reasonably flawed and--as a result, to me--a more likeable character in the Remake, and I do very much like her now.

Barret is pretty much the exact larger than life character I imagined in my head, only somehow even better, and I really love how expressive and emotional his eyes and facial expressions are. His scenes with Marlene are truly the cutest thing ever. Red XIII is a big, furry ball of sass, and I need so much more of him in the coming parts (Cosmo Canyon still wrecks me to this day). The interactions between the Wedge, Biggs, and Jessie are incredible, and they really feel like people who’ve been friends and basically each other’s family for years. The Turks and Rufus are pretty much as cool as I imagined them in the OG.

There’s still so much more I haven’t even started touching on about the Remake, and I think that’s why I’m finally posting this now. I just can’t contain my love for this game any more, and I really really need a place to express myself. I don’t know if anybody is still reading, but I appreciate having the opportunity to finally gush about this game and franchise that I’ve loved so much for pretty much two-thirds of my life.

[erinhime83]

Okay, yes, I’ll admit it - my muse seems to be all over the place right now.  But to be fair, that’s sort of what it tends to do nowadays.  I have so many stories floating out there that aren’t finished.  I mean, hell, technically, none of my stories are finished right now.  The ones I have finished at some point have gotten rewrites, and thus, they aren’t finished anymore.

Ah, I miss my single days when all I had going for me was sitting at home, pounding out book after book because I had nothing better to do.  Ah well.

In any case, this was sort of a planned shift.  Planned in that I decided to watch The Death of Superman followed by Reign of the Supermen one might.  They’re my favorite of the DCAMU, mostly because they deal with Superman and Lois’ relationship.  And...based on that, you can see why my muse would shift to WfS.  ;P

The real problem was that, after watching said movies, I thought to myself how much I liked the buddy-buddy-ness they always end up doing with Flash and Green Lantern.  I had started to come up with an idea for a Flash-type character while watching, and since I already had a Green Lantern character, i was like, why don’t I do that?  Why don’t I make my Flash and Green Lantern characters best friends?

And...so I did.

Granted, that completely changes a lot about WCBH, but whatever.  Basically, Specter is no longer a random ass alien who pops in to check out what’s going on, but rather a college student who obtained his powered bracelets in the same accident that blinded him about two years prior to the story.  Speedy (the Flash character) also gained his powers from the same accident.  The two of the are literal best friends, having grown up together and all that.  They both decide to transfer to New Lonsdale after the events of the first story, mostly so Specter can keep an eye on things.

I realized I hadn’t done a marker piece in a while, which is why I did the Ultro one.  He’s simple enough, after all.  And then I figured I’d take this random sketch I have and turn it into Lane, because why not?  AND THEN I was thinking about a super old picture I had done of Specter when I had decided to give him a new uniform, and thinking I should color that with markers.  Except I lost the original, apparently, so I just, you know, redid it.  ^^;  And Speedy’s there is mostly the sketch I had done to figure out his design that I decided to make prettier. 

I am way too much in love with Specter’s uniform, let me tell you.  It’s not hard to see why, though, since it’s all edgy and punky.  Even with the orange, it looks awesome.  Poor Ultro looks plain by comparison.  ;P

[samkat10423]

More Hidden Springs

So, I’m splitting this post up into bite-sized pieces, because Tumblebutt hates me at the best of times.And these certainly aren’t that.

So, moving right along....

Across the street from my new firehouse, is the city hall. I changed out the city hall building for one I got when I downloaded that Strangetown world – mostly because I like the color better. 

Then I added 2 more fountains up on the top level, some statues that are TSM-conversions, some food carts, and parking meters – because the town fathers realized that sims were taking advantage of the free-parking to visit other venues. I also added the bus stop and some fire hydrants – just because.

Then, down the street where EA had their business office – 63 Subalpine Blvd – I plunked down The Sims Daily Business office. The original was created by Jenba, as a gift for members – not part of this world re-do. Anyway, hers was on a smaller lot, so I added some parking out front - complete with Grande Lama’s curbs. (I love that set!). I also used that bike set from Mspoodle (thank you) that she gave us last year.

Continuing down the road to where EA had their stadium – 73 Subalpine Blvd – I decided to use the stadium lot from Aurora Skies, since I think it fits in here. Better than what was there, anyway. All I did to it, was add those soccer net thingies on the field out front, and those jogging strips that icarus_allsorts made for us, to the track EA had.Then - along the road – I added a streetlight or 2, and a fire hydrant.

This next lot was originally the spot where EA had that Chesterfield family – the dude with the 2 teen-aged sons. (8 Lakeside Drive). The guy was supposed to be a struggling father, but they stuck him on a 60x60 lot with a huge house and a pool. Not to mention, said lot was lakeside – prime real estate in anyone’s universe. So, I kicked him and his kids out, and made this lot into a horse ranch. I think this may have started out as an EA lot that I redid, because I had plenty of room to add stuff. Anyway, it’s now called Equestrian Regional Training Grounds and for some reason is really popular with my sims. Now sure what that’s all about. I think they just come for the free food at the buffet.

And finally, up on the hill at 2 Ponderosa Ct. - a 40x40 lot – I used another lot from Aurora Skies. This time that balloon lot. I know the balloon’s a dud, but I have Heaven’s mod, so I’m hoping it will be better. Plus, I want to check the mod out.  And I like giving my sims venues I can charge them for using.

[taleslations]

ToX2 behind-the-scenes info

People have been wondering about the decisions behind Xillia 2’s creation, so I have compiled information found in guides and interviews. No straight-up translation because that’s too tedious, just an info dump.

X1&2 Spoilers below.

From the Complete Guide interviews

Producer & Director – Baba & Anabuki

[Note: Anabuki worked on S, A and V’s development. He was the main planner for V 360 and did some directing for the PS3 ver. He was part of the battle system team in X1, and became the director for X2.]

Reasons for making a sequel

·         Fans had often said they wanted sequels in past questionnaires

·         Xillia was the 15th anniversary and they’d created a very detailed setting they wanted to re-explore

·         Wanted to expand on Elympios with an Elympion main character

·         Felt it was a waste to use the characters in only one game

·         Feels it kind of started when people said it would be fun to play as Gaius and Muzét

On what changed and what didn’t

·         They wanted to keep the old characters

·         Since the setting was more or less the same (tho with more focus on Elympios), they decided to build the game’s identity on its mechanics (see below)

·         Game mechanics changed a lot, with the introduction of the debt system, fixed parties, chromatus ability and choices

·         Setting is more modern

How the debt system came to be

·         Because ppl Ludger’s age worry about money

·         They wanted to have Ludger burdened by something

·         20,000,000 gald bc that’s the kind of sum that modern day salarymen could borrow. It’s a huge sum but not impossible to pay back if you work hard

The choice system

·         Because part of being an adult is making choices

·         Sometimes there are choices you don’t want to make but you have to (exemplified by having to destroy fractured dimensions)

Okumura as main character designer

·         Because since this wasn’t a game with two protagonists, they couldn’t ask both Fujishima and Inomata like last time

·         Since Ludger’s kind of a player self-insert, his design would be tricky, so it’d be easier with someone from within the studio

·         Okumura’s been working on Tales designs since Eternia (mainly for minor character) and his talent shone when he designed the Chimeriad, so they weren’t worried

Why the heroine is 8

·         They wanted her to be someone you’d strongly want to protect (working toward the last choice)

·         It wouldn’t work if it was a strong heroine who fought alongside you like in past titles

·         Yamamoto wanted her to be a girl because “I’d want to protect a little girl more than a little boy”

·         If she can’t participate in battles, it’s easier to remove her from the party for plot reasons (can’t have a fighting heroine kidnapped by the last boss for gameplay reasons)

·         (When she’s out of the party) Wanted to make players feel her absence in anticipation to the last choice

On Ludger’s various fighting styles

·         Baba wanted a sort of style shift like in Graces

·         Since he was a new protagonist, they wanted to introduce something that wasn’t in the original Xillia

·         Chromatus was Anabuki’s idea, because he likes transformations

·         People who played the first game probably have attachment to the old characters, but since Ludger’s the protag here, they wanted to make him stand out more

·         Staff got angry at Baba because that meant they basically had to program three characters in one XD

On Ludger’s silence

·         They wanted him to be a self-insert to the player

·         Plus it makes the one scene where he speaks more meaningful

·         They added the voiced lines option as NG+ bonus for those who like voices

·         Reason they didn’t make that option available on first playthrough was they wanted to get their message across/wanted players to see what they were aiming for, which wouldn’t be possible if players could skip the voiceless aspect from the start

About Gaius and Muzét

·         It was hard to include Gaius because he’s supposed to be super strong

·         Also because he’s the type to handle things himself before the protag has a chance to. But since this was Ludger’s story, they had to sideline him

·         They wanted to give him an ability like Vesperia’s fatal strikes, but that would make him too strong, so they had to tone it down

·         Muzét’s a good middle-range character. She’s weak if you get past her guard, so she has the ability to move out of range quickly

About the endings

·         The first scenario they came up with was the one where Ludger disappears, but since they implemented the choice system they wanted the game to have an important choice at the end, hence the creation of other endings

Discarded ideas

·         Fractured Milla with short hair (discarded because they didn’t want ppl to realize immediately from promotion images that she was a different Milla, and also bc they didn’t think Milla was the type to cut her hair short since she doesn’t care much about her appearance)

·         Otoh, something they hadn’t planned on: character models. They were originally just a way for the motion team to test things, but since it was fun they decided to include it in the game

Any chance for another sequel or anime adaptation?

·         Nope on sequel, as they think that world’s story is over

·         They’d like an anime or other media adaptations, but there’s no plans for it

 Battle team – Fukuie, Yamase & Takizawa

[Fukuie was responsible for battle planning, various mechanics and linked artes; Yamase was the battle programmer (worked on Ludger’s artes and on mystic artes in particular); and Takizawa was battle program support (enemy artes and mystic artes, effects etc)]

What was kept from the original and what’s new

·         Linked artes were an essential part of the original so it was kept. They thought of modifying it but since it was popular they decided not to and simply make it easier to use

·         They gave spellcasters some more melee artes

Anabuki’s influence

·         Anabuki wanted more event battles so they added a lot

·         He’s also responsible for having them end the final fight with a mystic arte & cut-in

Ludger

·         They made bosses stronger because Ludger is really powerful

·         Elite monsters weak spots were inspired by Vesperia’s secret missions system

·         Implementing Ludger’s three fighting styles was apparently tricky with the tight schedule they had, so they asked for something else, but they went back to the first idea eventually

·         Example of other idea: giving him the fighting styles of the old characters. But that would cause problems if they simply copied the motions (they cited Elize’s posture, which would look weird on Ludger)

·         The scenario team asked that Ludger use both hands for each weapon style

Chromatus

·         The transformation part came mainly from the scenario team – someone said they wanted the image of a dark hero and someone else replied “then they should have a transformation.” The battle team was like “but he already has three fighting styles!”

·         At first the transformed state was less useful than fighting normally, so they removed staggering when transformed but added a time limit

Other characters

·         Anabuki wanted Gaius to be strong since he was the previous game’s last boss, but simply making him stronger than the rest would break the balance

·         There was a lot of arguing about his special ability

·         They also had a lot of ideas about Muzét but settled for emergency wrap because she can fly around freely

·         They increased the speed at which Rowen threw knives to make him less defenseless

Trivia

They picked Cless and Stahn as cameo because they were cameo costumes in the first game; then they added Mint and Rutee

They like the cameo ending, they feel it’s like a 4koma

At the beginning, the animation team made an animation of Ludger prostrating himself, but it wasn’t used. There’s always a number of gestures that don’t make it into the final product

Takizawa cleared everything on Unknown

 Scenario team – Yamamoto, Hasegawa & Hori

[Note: Yamamoto was the main scenario writer of X2 (as well as H, Z and B); in X1 he worked on sub events]

Settings

·         They picked the story of Maxwell and Kresnik from the first game and developed it further as a base for X2

·         They were careful not to make it look like the previous game’s story wasn’t complete or to make it sound like the previous game’s conflict was lighter than the sequel’s

·         There was a request from the planning team to make up a different system, so that’s how they came up with the choice system and having the protag be a player self-insert

·         However, leaving him without expression or personality would be too un-Tales-like, so that’s how he ended up like he is in the game

·         It was decided from the start to change the protag because Jude and Milla’s story was over

·         Since the first game was heavily focused on Rieze Maxia, they made this game from the pov of Elympios

On separating main story and character episodes

·         Part of the new system idea

·         You get to know the characters more in their chara eps and that can influence the main story a bit

·         They’d planned on adding bonus scenes from the start; they added more than expected

Fractured dimensions

·         Represent the power of choice (as they show how history would be if different choices had been made)

·         Also as a way to catch X1 players’ interest

·         Yamamoto’s favorite FD is Victor’s dimension because it’s full of suspense; in chara eps it’s the one with Nachtigal. Hori’s were the ones with the Chimeriad because he had wanted them to survive so that was a way to see them again. Hasegawa’s were the ones in Leia’s and Alvin’s chara eps.

·         They redid Leia’s episode entirely, giving a bigger role to her boss as a result

·         The target audience for X2 is a bit older than X1, so that’s why they show stuff like relationships between boss and employee, it adds a touch of realism and can make adult players empathize

Ludger and Elle

·         Elle is at the center of the story. She is both a trouble bringer and a source of strength for the main character

·         They wanted the last choice to be heavy, choosing between Elle and Ludger/the player themselves

·         No choice is more correct than the other. While Jude etc were heroes who saved the worlds in the first game, they didn’t need for Ludger to be a hero at all cost – that’s for the player to decide with the choices

·         The Julius ending was Hori’s idea. He wanted people to feel that it was a valid choice

·         Choosing means eliminating the other possibility. Nothing changes if you don’t choose, you can’t go forward. That’s why they didn’t include the option to save both

·         If it had been a shonen manga, everyone would be happy at the end, but they wanted an older target audience for this game, which meant burdening Ludger with difficult choices

·         The two joke endings were added for more Tales-like fun. The cameo ending was requested by the planning team

·         It’s just for fun though so they don’t consider the cameo “happy end” valid because it glosses over the main story’s drama

New characters

·         It was hard to find balance on Gaius because he tends to solve things himself if you let him, but here he needed to have a support role

·         They liked showing a more casual side to him, as well as his relationship with the Chimeriad

·         Muzét didn’t really have evil intent (in the first game), it was more that she went out of control. Bc she had a hard time in X1 and since X2 had a heavy story, they decided to focus on light-hearted scenes with her

·         Fractured Milla was created to show the player what fractured dimensions were in a straightforward manner

·         They also wanted to surprise the players by giving her a completely different personality

·         At first, she was just created as a step to bring prime Milla back, but they decided to give her a bigger role because they grew attached to her

·         At first, they came up with half a dozen personalities for her before settling on one (tsundere)

·         They picked a cat for a mascot because there were cat lovers among the staff

·         It’s hard to have an animal move around during events, to they made him a fat cat so he wouldn’t move too much

·         Ludger’s hair is silver like his father’s, and the black part is dyed

·         Nova’s meche is because she saw Auj Oule women (it’s a cultural thing there) and she wanted to imitate Rieze Maxia’s fashion

Discarded ideas

·         Julius’ was supposed to be Ludger’s mother at first, but they thought an older brother character would be more popular. His overprotectiveness is remnants of his motherly role

·         Yamamoto wanted Bisley to use a gun and have a scene where Ludger transformed and avoided the bullets, so Bisley would go “that slow thing is useless” and discard the gun before transforming himself and punch faster than the gun fired bullets

·         He also wanted a scene where Bisley showed up to the last dungeon in a car saying “Sorry for the wait”

·         Anyway Bisley is really Yamamoto’s favorite XD

·         Nova and Vera had a very small role originally but Nova grew as a character who cheers Ludger up when he worries about his debt

·         She was originally just there to provide information; in the original idea, she was also originally in love with Ludger, not Julius, and would be irritated at Julius for causing Ludger trouble

·         They didn’t expect her to even show up at the hot spring

From staff comments in the World Guidance book

·         At first the debt was supposed to come from Ludger having to take responsibility for the Oscore incident

·         Anabuki drew the wanted posters

·         They call Kanbalar Edo lmao

·         They’d originally planned to have an ending where Ludger gives up in ch.14

·         The imagery of butterflies is associated to the Key of Kresnik (Elle’s hat design, Bisley’s wings in his chromatus form…)

·         Jude was introduced early to cover for Ludger’s lack of lines

·         They considered having him oppose Ludger at first (abt destroying the dimensions) and eventually join the party

·         They decided to keep the old cast’s personalities as they were in the first game’s epilogue, but made an exception for Elize, who matured a bit in between

·         They originally wanted to show Muzét regret her actions of the first game, but her chara eps took another direction

·         Fractured Milla was originally simply a gimmick to show the cruelty of fractured dimensions, but her role got bigger

·         They had templates for her

·         A hidden thema of the extra episode is to restore Ivar’s honor

·         Ideas for Rollo: Julius’ disguise, Chronos’ true form. But he ended up as a regular cat in the end

·         The dungeon in ch.10 was meant as a homage to past titles

·         Since the game is aimed at adults, “immorality” and “irrationality” were key themes of the first ideas

·         Some character design rough sketches are dated as far back as March 2011 (the first game came out in September 2011)

Past translations:

Unused ideas for plot, fractured dimensions, Ludger & Julius episode, and fractured Milla personalities.

Staff comments about the fractured dimensions featuring the Chimeriad.

Interview with Daigo Okumura.

Interview with Takashi Kondo.

[ladylynse]

how do you get over blocks in your writing? not necessarily writers block, but like, you don't know where to take the story next/how to get to another point of the story? thanks! :)

How I get over it tends to depend on if I can identify why I’m stuck. (I babble, so the rest is under a cut.)

Sometimes, if I know where I’m going but can’t make the scene I’m writing work, I’ll switch up character POV. If that doesn’t work, then I typically have to just wait until I think of another way to get to the next point or go back and seed more justification for what I’m trying to do. Maybe my original idea has the characters acting too far out of character and that’s why I can’t seem to get the scene written, or maybe it’s not out of character, per se, but too unreasonable given the parameters I’ve already established, or something like that, and I need to change/add some details to make it more believable.

Sometimes I’m writing something and it’s just painful and slow and I’m not sure any of it is remotely resembling decent, even when it’s a simple transition to the next scene. I hit that point in L’Exterminateur, actually. I watched Ratatouille again--sometimes, going back to the source material helps; gives me a refresher on the characters--but I was still having trouble, so I just left it. For a year. I worked on other stuff. When I eventually came back to it, I read everything I had so far again, and then I picked a point in the scene I was stuck in, decided it was decent up until there, and started rewriting the dialogue. Not just revising; I scrapped it entirely and redid the entire conversation between Linguini and Chat Noir. I keep the bits I cut out in a separate file or farther down in the file I’m working in (depending on story length) so I can always go back and pilfer the good bits later. (If it doesn’t get used in the story later, it sometimes get used in another story with the same fandom(s). It’s a good rule of thumb to not completely erase something even if you hate it; it’s enough to take it out and investigate it later, since chances are, you have some good writing in there.)

Some things I plan in fics. Some things I just go ‘I’ll figure it out when I get there’. And when I get to a point I haven’t planned and I’m not sure even when I get there? That is occasionally why something drastic (ie bad for the main characters) happens. (This also happens if I’m at a point where I’m going, “this seems boring” or “this seems too easy”, the latter of which is exactly why I set the Dupain-Cheng bakery on fire in Masks.) 

Essentially, if I’m at a point where I can’t rely on the characters actions/reactions to drive my fic forward, I pull in some external force (to the good guys, anyway) to make something happen and push the story forward. I try to write my fics to be character-driven, though. It makes them feel very predictable to me--you can anticipate where it’s going based on what a character is thinking/assuming and what they do as a consequence of that--but it also makes them easier for me to write. But sometimes that’s not enough, and sometimes, I’m lucky enough to realize that ahead of time, which is why I made, for instance, the choice to use Spectra as the ghost in Reflections and not someone else, like Amorpho. I knew having Danny and Randy make wildly incorrect assumptions about each other wasn’t going to last very long, But the moment I introduced Spectra to the story, I knew the Sorcerer was going to get out eventually. I wasn’t sure how I’d resolve that when I made the decision (and honestly, time and writing myself toward that point was the only thing that helped there), but it was another plot line that could percolate in the background and explode when I was at the point that I needed something to explode and move the fic along.

Now Forewarning, there’s a fic of mine this really applies to, at least in the ‘don’t know where to take the story next’ point. Because until I started writing it, it was supposed to be a one shot, and then I was running out of time (it was a birthday present), so I went, okay, well, I’ll post the bit I’ve got, and go from there. It’s based off a bit of fanart, so I was working with what’s established in that, but I hadn’t put enough thought into it, so I wasn’t really sure where the story was going. I wrote the two main scenes in the second chapter pretty much at the same time, since I wasn’t sure if I was even going to include the first one. I was trying to write justifications for what I’d established and not sure it worked, not really happy with bits of it, rewriting, leaving it for months, deciding the bits I’d hated weren’t as bad as I’d thought, did some revising, kept writing the scene even though I still wasn’t sure I’d keep it in the end (I did), and essentially picked away at it for about eight months. At this point, I still had absolutely no idea where this fic was going, so I wrote an open kind of ending to the second chapter that was more or less (hopefully more) in character for the characters that would be an easy enough jumping off point for when I figured this out. 

Now, I admittedly haven’t written more of this fic yet, but I have been thinking about it, trying to figure out how to make it work, and at some point while I was trying to fall asleep, I did come up with something that seemed half-decent at the time, so I got up and wrote it down, not trusting myself to remember it in the morning. (Sometimes I hedge my bets and hope I’ll remember, if it’s less important, but I needed anything I could get with this fic.) The fact that I came up with a connection I can use and pretend was my plan all along is probably as much luck as the fact that I, like every other fic writer out there, come up with plenty of ideas when I don’t have time to/am otherwise not able to/am not specifically trying to write. (The distracted brain is good at that.) There wasn’t anything I specifically did to get over that block, aside from not forcing it and giving it time.