#i didnt expect to get his sprites done for a while but i just got a random urge to tonite

[iplayghoul]

i know im supposed to finish that ghost fic, but i kept thinking ab piss kink wit onyankopon. stay wit me now!

ony's the typa nigga to not have a thing for feet at awwl, but will suck on ur pretty toes when he sees u got them done, just bc its youu

so the piss kink conversation was nothing in depth really! but it starts off spending the day at the mall wit him, you had water with breakfast, grabbed a caramel frapp as you started your shopping adventures with him and got some sprite wit your lunch that almost killed u !!

its nnottt long at all b4 u gotta get to the bathroom :3 the first time u ask ur like "ony can u hold my bags for me, i gotta go pee real quick babe." and its a simple question really, ur handing ur bags over to him already but he doesnt take them, he just says "nah, lets go," and suddenly youre... a bit shellshocked lmfao. but he has you walking into the next store like nothing happened.

within another hour, your feet hurt and youre ready to gtfo this damn mall :( and ur bladder is holdin on by a thread too ! ur bouncin on the balls of ur feet and bouncing your legs restlessly as you hold ur pee, literally throbbing from the sensitivity 😭😭

so u ask him again, "ony bae, i really needa go piss, come on." this time he stops n looks u in the eyes, rubbing your arms calmingly and says, "you can hold it, can't you mama? you're a big girl u can do that f'me. cant you?" ur eyes are glossed overrr the ache is honestly unbearable so within the next 20 minutes yall are finally getting home.

when u guys get back to ur apartment, ur rushinnn to ur bathroom so quick, but ony grabs you by the arm, lightly pushing u to just sit on the bed and u bounce restlessly on the bed, ur piss just on the edgeee ready to come out >>:( u cant help but mumble questions at him, getting irritated but he remains calm and only smiles, drawing his fingers between ur legs to put pressure on ur clit. he rubs hard circles on you and now youre torn between focusing on the stimulation to your clit and trying not to piss all over him and the bed.

he's soo sneaky and skillful honestly, he's holding you down with one arm while the other is working you hard and slow, letting your clit harden and puff out below his thumb and his eyes are glued to yours, except all you can do is stare at his thumb's work. as if that would help u stop yourself from peeing :/

i like 2 think that ony is quite mean, but hes so soft and casual about it, he gets away with it so easy. because its only a matter if time before he has two long fingers in your pussy, together with his thumb on your clit and now you're gripping that arm so bad 😭 eyes teary and can never be drawn away from observing his hands on you.

its sinister honestly the way he so slowly strokes your g-spot with his clean cut and trimmed nails. and then he's getting on his knees... everything speeds up and suddely your tapping his arm quick, panicked telling him to stop before you cum. n squirt all over him. his eyes remain trained on yours, revelling in the way your eyes frantically move from his to his fingers and back to his😭😭😭 "mmm, u cant handle dat?" he mumbles, onya's so mean to u >_< you're speechless honestly, this day didnt go how you expected it.

but, ur dripping down his palm, tears mimicing it the same way on your cheeks and then youre cuming hot and heavy . u swear warmth washes over your entire body and your thighs squeeze around his hand and ony's fingers never fuckin stop . orgasming so damn hard your tummy started to cramp up and ur legs stiffened up baaad in that position. "let it go baby, c'mon mama. been such a good girl f'me."

and jus like that, u let go, piss n squirt, whatever the fuck it is spraying in a hot, relieving stream onto his face just like he wanted, he gives ur lower lips a few kisses n licks :<< then going slack jawed, cupping ur cunt wit his mouth while u spasm and moan above him. lettin u full his mouth up real good :)

[year2000electronics]

Hi, just being curious, what do you think is the greatest difficulty you’ve faced carrying out the storyline in your ask blogs (aside from potential burnout)?

Is there any time where the asks were not going towards the direction where you’d want them to go, and how did you steer the story back on track?

Do you have any techniques giving out clues or keeping the pace of the ask blog?

[sorry these are a lot. Of questions. It’s just, it’s amazing how you are able to run multiple successful askblogs, and I’m curious how you did it]

OOOH THESE ARE SOME INTERESTING QUESTIONS! really pickin at my old noggin here...

id say probably the most difficult part is like... ok through my tenure ive obviously had some physically taxing moments, moments of people being way too mean, people being way too NICE, people complaining that every single member of a giant ensemble cast doesnt get the exact same amount of screentime etc etc, but id honestly say the hardest part is just. making the medium Work. when i run an ask blog like this, im basically asking people to drive the story forward with no promise of whether their choices even like. Matter. if youre not tethered enough to your asks, it can feel like youre just asking people to put a coin in the slot and letting the story play for another page. you have to play this balancing act of wanting to tell the story you want to tell while also needing peoples' help to get there. thats why an engaging story and endearing characters are so important. i wound up telling people here on my main that y2k would end with a good ending specifically because i got people concerned i genuinely would end it with a Bad End, but still even knowing that people would tune in. so its like. i always have to make sure its Engaging enough. for people to be willing to play this game with me at all. the hardest part of fishing is getting the fish to bite yk.

2. YES ALL THE TIME LOLLLL a lot of the time i will end up either picking an ask from before the topic came up and answer that one, or plant my own decoy ask. basically jingling keys at people HJSSKHASGK. but sometimes even that doesnt work! benrey in y2k has a very touchy complex about his helmet specifically because I DIDNT HAVE SPRITES WITH HIS HAIR. and i thought that his hair was kinda boring compared to what people were probably expecting (its very short and simple i draw his hair like bootleg barney) so i ended up having to answer that little thread by having an explosion and then presenting my own resolution (gordon calm him down :)) i like to think ive gotten better at key jingling though haha. usually the two types of key jingling topics i find work best are either little plot teases or a 'now back to what we were doing' ask, but if you dont want things to advance quite yet, i usually use questions that will elaborate on a character trait or introduce a new character fact

3. dont be me. /j ok actually the thing about this specific medium is like. people will send me asks guessing my twists WAAAAY early on but the thing is i can just. choose not to answer them. hehe. id personally pay attention to how often people are guessing your twists though because like. its BOUND to happen if you lay out clues some people will pick up on them. if theres not a lot of people guessing, then you can lean more into the big sting reveals of like 'NOOOOBODY EXPECTED THIS' but when a lot of people have guessed the twist, i usually make sure to present it in a way that doesnt imply that there was nobody on the right trail or that people got bamboozled. as for the clues themselves. well im about to figure that out myself again! i have some clues i need to lay in bmfe!! dont get discouraged if people pick up on what you thought was really subtle, cos like. literal day 1 of episode 3 someone literally made a powerpoint saying 'LEADING LIGHT IS BACK' and i was like ok i was just on my first crumb DAMN. as for pacing, it doesnt matter if you get the blog done in one month or one year- what does matter is PLANNING. if you know what your goal is, what your landmarks and checkpoints are, youll be able to stagger stuff successfully no matter the length. some of the best-recieved parts of y2kvr were parts i went into the session going 'this is my goal for today' for. the goals dont even have to big, it could even be something as small as like 'get from place a to place b'

SORRY THIS GOT LONG but ty for the question! reflecting on my process is interesting :]

[milf-n-dilf-dippin-dots]

IM GOING TO KILL IM GOING TO KILL IM GOING TO KILL

Last night my roommate and I got some drinks- i shared some soju w him and hit the hay after packing away some stuff n tidying/rinsing etc

I leave at 9am this morning, 3 bottles of soju on the table, 2 cans of sprite and some snacks on the table "oh its fine, he knows im out im sure he'll tidy and throw out some of the counter rubbish for me :>"

Come home at 4pm

The only thing thats been done is the 8 dishes that were in the sink (lil cups, 2 bowls from dinner and cooking utensil) not including the pan on the stove

Nothing thrown away!! Im going crazy!!!!!!!!!

Be so fr gang, am i like. Blowing it out of proportion? Or is the fact that im the primary cleaner of the house insane.

Important note is that i have no choice but to be the person who does mostah the cleaning- because he sleeps 12 hours a day, waking up around 2 or 3 pm and not going to bed until 5 or 6 am.

I went away for 2 nights n i come home and hes like "oh i could finally get stuff done because im only productive at 4am"

Which hey man sure dude you do you i dont care what you do in yer free time-

But my ass isnt gonna go 'yes! Sure! You can vacuum and wash dishes late at night/early am! Even though it keeps me awake because i cant close my door!'

But i also dont want to end up being this dudes damn mother the fucking manchild doesnt even know how to mop properly- or vacuum properly! And he doesnt vac the carpet! Or wipe down the oven/benches after using em! Like cmon man!!

"Oh but maybe he didnt get taught!"

Dawg i am his roommate, at what point is it my responsibility to teach a whole entire dude how to take care of his surroundings. I saw his room when he moved out- it was bad. This dude borders of raw negligence of his surroundings, and if it wouldnt cause me the harm i would stop cleaning up after him just so hed suffer. And he leaves the tap running to wash dishes.

I dont know what i expected tbh- his parents built 2 houses for their kids next to their 2 storey spiral staircase chandelier having house.

Im fighting for my fuckin life over here- 300 rent a week, 125 a fortnight for a couch, 50 a month for wifi, etc while this dudes like "yeah i paid all my rent a month in advance, and i get my money from dividense" it makes me want to break his trachea.

Like lets be fr i am blatantly not a pleasant person, moreso in high doses, and moreso when i have to deal w someone who fucks their own life even when theyve gotten dealt the perfect hand of cards to do well.

Like, yeah man im sorry you cheated on your girlfriend of multiple years for 5 whole months then got sad about it and became an insomniac but im not gonna suffer your shit schedule and not sleep well because you wont see a therapist or take meds. Like is that my problem? To be clear im not a cunt to his face, but i am a cunt. And i am annoyed at him. Maybe i should commune like a normal person, but that involves me sitting this dude down to tell him he needs to pay attention to things like 'responsibility' and 'reasonable expectations'.

He had guests over a while ago and i ended up cooking for them all!! And cleaning up after them!! And making breakfast the next morning!! He apparently makes 1800 a fortnight and he spends almost all of that. He owes me money!! Sometimes i pay for groceries n he just has to pay me back! Like dude???

[zaptap]

done with the ttyd remake!

went into the mush fight thinking okay, i don't have enough power rushes to take him out in one turn, i should end up having to superguard him, we'll see how that goes

......first turn he was invulnerable to jumps so i hammered him down to 75. his attack..... missed. lmao. i used power jump and once again hit the fourth bounce and killed him faster than i was expecting (that was SIX hits with power bounce and he was dead after 5)

then i ran around doing recipes to clear enough space in my inventory to get the 8 whacka bumps. then i ran around doing more recipes while i waited for the email about whacka, and by the time that happened i pretty much just had all those syrup/shroom ones near the beginning and the mistake, so i left those for after whacka

and i also killed whacka way too easily. he had one turn and wasted it healing 25hp. i fought all 3 of those bosses with a full inventory of life shrooms and none of them even tried to hit mario. i'd maybe try it with fewer power rushes, buuuuut i'm satisfied with what i've done in this game (i finished off those recipes and got the gold badge. i saved mistake for last)

next up i'll go back to my original file on the gamecube version (i'll have to dig up the game again and hook up my gamecube first) and do approximately what i just did (without the extra bosses or the items to recognize all of it). i only ever did the first 50 floors of the pit, i never fought atomic boo, idk if i got all the star pieces (i'm thinking maaaybe shine sprites?), i'm probably missing a lot of badges, and i know for a fact the only recipes i did were for troubles (i did finish all of those though. and i was good about tattling, iirc the missing stuff is all from the pit. and atomic boo which i didnt know about). setting up danger mario will also take a bit more work since i upgraded each stat evenly (instead of almost exclusively doing bp in the remake) though at least power rushes and money money will be cheaper

[eldritchocs]

[ ..... ]

( LOUD KNOCKING )

FLEET PO-OLICE! O-OPEN UP!

[ !!!!! ]

[ Is there a pr•blem, •fficer? ]

yes, actually. who-ovyx derati, yo-ou’re under arrest.

[ ( Pfft hahaha-- ) F•r what? I’m inn•cent! ]

fo-or being the cutest fucking matesprite ever, o-of co-ourse! 

[ G•d, y•u’re an idi•t. Get inside bef•re s•meb•dy sees y•u! ]

( sorry for the long post i just wanted to make a cute introduction! say hello to reliix everybody, one of whovyx’s matesprites! you can read his bio here! he’ll be open for asks and memes starting now! )

[blookmallow]

so it turns out dangan ronpa’s School Mode is Not At ALL what i was expecting lmao 

togami didnt wanna do karaoke with me :( 

i thought it was just the free time events but there’s actually this whole convoluted AU backstory where monokuma gathers everyone to make The Announcement but then suddenly realizes he doesn’t have any backups and can’t possibly start the “real school life” without them, so everyone’s gotta help make more monokuma bots instead 

DONT WORRY ABOUT IT 

all the free time events are still the same as they would be in the regular game though so they kind of. fluctuate between knowing about the killing game and not knowing lmao

SO THEN THERES THIS WHOLE ABSOLUTE CHAOTIC MESS OF A CRAFTING MINIGAME :’) i legitimately thought this was a joke at first and im still not sure they didn’t make these menus look as absolutely confusing as possible on purpose 

its not actually terribly difficult to figure out once you mess with it a while, essentially characters can either be assigned to cleaning or searching for supplies, the different areas are marked with what supplies you can get in them, if you dont let people rest when their energy gets low they collapse and cant work for a few days 

like in theory i think i understand it but after the first couple tasks i just could NOT get enough materials no matter what i did so i have no IDEA how you’re supposed to go about this. i got it down to only two characters cleaning per day and still couldn’t get enough things. i do Not understand

im losing it at the little working sprites though look at them.... look at ishimaru with his little broom

everyone gets a pick axe when they’re gathering supplies for some reason (gotta... mine those textbooks out of the library. i guess) except asahina has like. a little shovel or something and i do not know why 

sometimes characters get Super Energized for the day look at chihiro

out of CONTROL

VERY PASSIONATE ABOUT CLEANING

i fuckign killed yamada on accident like 3 times :’ ) 

you dont really have a hp bar or anything you just have like. “red” (high energy) / “yellow” (low energy) and blue/exhausted and most characters were fine working on days they were at yellow (they’d just have to rest the next day) but....yamada, 

(i also killed hagakure on accident dont worry about it) the sleeping sprites are also rly cute but they felt the need to accentuate pixel asahina’s breasts for no reason. let her live

look at sakura’s level up sprite tho shes so happy......

yea 

i m fuckign losing it this looks like something id write to mock him but this is a real thing byakuya togami actually said to me 

i got all the pieces for this one and it ended up being whatever the fuck that is lmao i dont know if thats my fault somehow or if it just turns out like that nm what 

then every day after the working minigame you get a free time session, where you can do the usual free time events BUT IT ALSO HAS 

THIS THING?? WHERE YOU CAN GO HANG OUT WITH PEOPLE AROUND THE SCHOOL WHICH IS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT THING THAN THE FREE TIME EVENTS AND I CANNOT BELIEVE I DIDNT KNOW ABOUT IT??

ive actually seen some of the dialogue from these before but didnt know where it was/etc... every location has three dialogue options for naegi to suggest and every character responds differently i could potentially spend like, the rest of my life doing this, 

i brought leon everywhere and then just started picking people at random after that (and i still havent done Every dialogue option with leon, just. one at each location) 

leon... really likes naegi and it is very, very cute 

i asked him about piercings and he got really fired up about giving naegi a makeover 

he also gets very excited about capsule toy machines 

monokuma is also just like, hanging out in the main hall with everyone else, 

you can’t go on events with him but you can talk to him :’) he gives you a rating score thing for how much everyone likes you so far 

can you TELL who was my first priority :’  ) 

i think this is based on the “trip tickets” scenes and not the free time event scenes bc i checked it again a little later 

ishimaru SHOT up just from like, cleaning the library with me, and im upset,

meanwhile i did a bunch of asahina events and hers didnt go up at all

im dying though look at togami

i dont know how i even managed that one heart maybe its just a pity heart bc im trying so hard lmao i took him on several trip dates trying to figure out ANYTHING he responds positively to but i cant remember any other than the karaoke thing. i remember i took him to the dining hall and he was like “why would i care about cooking. chefs prepare food. thats how it works. im byakuya togami” and i remember taking him to the library but i forget what happened there. i think i suggested checking the back room and hes like “no, Commoners Like You aren’t prepared for that kind of thing” so mayb he gave me a heart for letting him show off how better than me he is or something

i m sorry does celeste have a fucking coffin in her room

goals 

naegi likes video games, ishimaru does not understand the concept of things existing for purposes other than studying 

[thelifetimechannel]

[pinksweatergettingbetter]

alright mothers an fuckers lets get down to some PL vs AA

-

alright so the last person who owned this game has 2 save files, one in the first and one in the third slot, both named chucky. one’s just past the tutorial, the other’s hanging around at some place called ‘knights garrison”

unnerving

i feel like I'm running into a creepy pasta

-

a work of fiction eh

-

oh fuck

accent guy no

-

wee woo wee woo, here come the doll people of Layton Land

-

oh shit

it’s fully voice acted. i wasn’t expecting this...

aw. i guess i cant do my voices... that stinks.

-

“fuck you let me sleep forever”

i love him he's so grouchy

true wet blankie

voice wise i like Nick’s but I’m not as much a fan of Maya’s

-

oh its not fully voiced! great. this is actually kinda nice– i get to do voices, and the dramatic moments have their own dialogue track

-

ok now that I'm done laughing about the Puzzle memes being very accurate, it’s time to see if i can solve a fucking puzzle

-

ok. im. already totally mystified. welp.

I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN

-

once again my inability to parse things renders logic puzzles a bitch

it isn't helpful that they didnt detail the way the witches interact with the paths before submission but

(sigh) i knew the Layton sections would suck

not objectively, just for me because i’m ass at logic puzzles

my expertise lie in point and click adventures

-

his name is CAR ACCIDENT

-

carmine: I'm probably fucking dead pls help

layton: well i never!!

-

layton: it is my belief that you are in quite considerable danger :)

-

OH GENTLEMAN

WE GOT ONE FOLKS

-

do towns have districts? i thought that was more of a city thing

-

THE BOOK

YOU FOOLS

-

now, once again, i do know some details about how this game concludes, and i must say I'm really curious about how the fuck this all works if its not actually magic

-

EVIL BOOK ADDED TO INVENTORY

ok so this stained-glass window place is kind of like the logic interface? it stores all the things we’re wondering about at present..?

-

very howls moving castle-y

also i appreciate the fuck out of these cutscenes

-

Layton: ,,,yes, that was careless of us

boy this guy has cucumber coolness out the wazoo

-

the Trunk eh

-

hint coins are so satisfying to find

-

aww moving is so cute

-

holy fuck

that was one helluvan accident

-

...i really hope they dont count how many tries you do the puzzles

BUT I DID IT

EAT SHIT

-

OH OK

JUST SOME FUCKIN CTHULU SHIT

THATS FINE

-

boy people sure like hiding money in lamps

-

luke!! dont fall into diagon alley!

-

Luke: this is bad professor!! theyre getting closer and closer!!

Layton: ...hmm................

-

thats a magic cloak right there

-

“Isn't this us, Professor?”

“Surely not– my ass is not that flat!”

-

BADGERS

OMENS OF DEATH

-

oh here we go

prologue to the AA part

ooh haven't heard that theme in a while

-

camera: [pans up violently enough to physically ruffle espella’s very short skirt]

-

oh thems drugged eyes

its in all the animes

-

hmmm. so is this like a dual world thing where we exist both in our world and the world of Laborynthia at the same time or

-

ooh english court is pretty

-

dghfgsh i love nick’s voice so much

much better than Reigel

he’s just got the general feel of Phoenix down better, i think

-

a cargo of badgers huh

-

calling it now the badgers are full of jewels

this is straight up The Chipmunk Adventure territory

also i dont blame her for wanting something to cuddle after the shit she’s been through

-

eee he’s doing his pick-up-quirks-from-other-people thing

-

oh hey the save sound is the exact same sound as the original.

also thats interesting– there’s a hint system in place in the court sections as well

-

whoa i wasnt expecting that epic an objection for the first contradiction

also im not sure if i like this remix of nick’s theme. it’s orchestrated but its not quite as crisp as i’d like...

-

your chocolate bar sounds like a mouthful of chips mr smiley

-

johnny just has a pile of bars behind him with one bite taken out of them

-

i love this game but the decision to make the text roll off in this weird, halting way is making it really annoying to read out loud

-

OW

MAYA WHERE DID YOU GET THAT FUCKING PIPE

-

“I kind of like living, thanks”

its ok baby nothing can kill you

-

“in my long, six month career

im crying so many good jokes in this game

-

whoa phoenix’s shock animation is a lot more violent this game XD

-

“This is my work outfit. It gets very hot in the kitchen, you know”

it’ll be hotter when you spill soup all over your exposed midriff and arms, babe.

...also is it really ok for you to be toting a meat cleaver around in court

-

“I may be short, but I’m well-proportioned! And that’s what matters!”

oh maya

-

“What does it matter which way she held it?” well for starters it would be impossible for her to hit you with it if she held it the way she did

“So the defendant attacked the witness holding the pipe backhanded...”

no, that just doesn’t work out, especially with her being so short. she’d have to be above Aldente to strike her that way, and even so it’s still an extremely cumbersome way to do that. You can only really hold a knife backhandedly

-

wait a minute

they’re 

they’re pointing it out 

they’re saying it IS bullshit, they’re-–

s-something that makes no fucking sense, ACTUALLY makes no fucking sense!

its not a plothole! they’re calling it out!

i... i think I'm in love 

-

that poor eel

also phoenix is a sea urchin again teehee

-

fuckin’ knew it 

chipmunk adventure. 

-

ok so wow. this is really amazing. maybe im being extra-complementary cause i just finished SOJ but... wow. everything from the soft colours and gorgeous lighting to the excellent cinematography to the fluid, interesting character sprites, to the pretty orchestral remixes to the fun and engaging writing, to the spectacular cutscenes... its all just so excellent it feels like a friggin gale of fresh air compared to SOJ

and this game came out in 2012. thats four years before SOJ, and just one before DD, and yet the difference is staggering. i don’t know if its a budget thing, or if its the director’s fault, but theres just something about the animation and camera angles thats so much better. everything is so smooth– no character ever jumps from animation to animation– they slide into it naturally 

and the slow pan-up on Aldente as she got cornered was pretty good at conveying a real sense of anxiety 

plus, the fact that we don’t find out who tried to kill her is genuinely unsettling. PLvAA doesn’t need to be bloody or gorey to convey a sense of uneasiness or fear– just that lingering mystery of a fourth person– and where they disappeared to– is enough to give me the shivers. ...although it is 1 am and I'm prone to being nervey

i have only 2 tiny nitpicks, these being the sequencing of the music (cuts off very abruptly rather than fading away) and the odd way the dialogue halts all over the place for no reason

otherwise, sublime first case

ps- still love nick’s new voice. dreamy, if a little stiff 

pps- espella you cant just leave evil books lying around. 

[carinareviews]

Steam/PC: The Charming Empire Review

He’s a cutie <3

Final Grade: D+/C- TL;DR: Not great. OST was very mediocre. A little above average visuals. Storytelling was terrible. Voice Acting (VA) was the only saving grace for this game. UI is terrible/no improvement from the mobile version. Characters were great but development was non-existent in many of the routes. Couldn’t stomach the game to play through everyone’s Good ending…I just did Happy Endings which were still just mediocre ends.

Route Order I followed: Yoshimine, Togawa, Tanba, Sera, Soshi.

Route Order I recommend: Yoshimine, Tanba, Sera, Togawa, Soshi Though it honestly doesn’t matter since none of the storylines are that closely related anyways….I’d say Soshi for the beginning or end since his has the most “answers” in it. His route is pretty painful to save for last though….

Here are the route reviews: Ratings for the routes in this game will be actually higher than expected. I'm not saying these are "good" routes but the overall game is pretty kusoge (shit-game) so I'm rating them based on the low standards the overall game has set already. That being said, if you're use to fully fleshed out otome games, which I'm spoiled with...since I tend to play console based ones and not mobile based games, this game is pretty garbage. However, if you just want some light fluffy writing with tolerable visuals and a simple UI, this game is perfect. I originally played this game cause Tsuda Kenjiro VAs onii-chan... but holy shit after the first route I wasn't sure if I could make it through all the routes.

Luckily all the routes are pretty short....thank god. I didn't bother with the Normal ends cause the lackluster CGs with the shitty auto mode really made me want to kill myself while playing. Without further ado.. Here are the individual route reviews. Each written after completing the Good end.

Yoshimine 6/10

Angry Tsundere Shota >_> Uhhh def not my type. So I chose this to be my first route cause I saw the character pictures and this looked like no.1 not my type I tend to play the routes I don't think I'll like first then end with the best. He's an okay tsun-shota type. He def has some cute moments but it was really hard to get into his character since the kusoge didnt really give him good character development His idle sprite also looks really awkward too so that didn't help. Overall his VA really made up for the shitty character writing he had and semi brought his character to life. Oh yeah... the plot "twist" at the end...was so obvious.... holy shit.

Wtf is this idle..... something looks off....

Togawa 7/10

Okay... from what I see so far... this game is mainly a setup for the Soshi route at the end... I'm kinda okay with this. This route was sweet due to the bachelor being such a sweet cinnamon roll. Luckily his sprite wasn't as awkward to look at. His CGs were pretty weak as well. I think there was like 1 good CG. Augghh this kusoge with the shitty character development. I'm glad this character had some "history" with the MC though that made the lack of character development better. There were some interesting translation differences IDK were meant to be in there like switching black tea to just Earl Grey tea.

Tanba 8/10

So I really like Tanba Toki's design and the fact that his VA is also Prompto from FFXV's VA is even better.The VA suits him really well and his character development is on point. There was some questionable OST choices for certain scenes... there was "happy" music when you were helping the rebels... like whhaatt? THEN THE MAIN THING THAT MADE ME UPSET. NO CG FOR THE CONFESSION PART HOLY SHIT IM SO PISSED. THIS GAME IS KUSOGE WTH D: Then after the confession scene theres an awkward Kiss CG which look sssoooo weirrdd >_>

Overall though, this is my favorite route so far. He had the best writing so far. I think the fact that the MC doesn't get to be with him all the time really helps. There was def. slight character development written in for both the MC and Tanba. The trend of setting up for Soshi is still very prominent in this route...anddd still no connection to any other characters expect for Soshi. I really hope Soshi's route is good to make up for all the rest of these mediocre to shitty routes. (Spoiler…it didn’t) Sera's route next.

Sera 7/10

Alright, I'd be lying if I was going to say that I didn't enjoy this route. ITS STILL A TERRIBLE FUCKING ROUTE. Writing is very mediocre and storyline/development is downright garbage. BUT I fucking love Sera's character trope. Stoic quiet big guy who's actually a fucking cinnamon roll inside. He also holds the knight card as in he must protecc. Seriously, if he had glasses he would be perfect for me. HOWEVER, the VAing in the beginning was a little forced. I think Takuya (the VA) was trying to force himself to have a deeper voice at times and it didn't sound good. Then there was the sprite of Sera... wtf is this hand shit going on his idle sprite?!??

Besides that shitty idle hand...I love his character design. A LOT of the scenes (including the ending) were not satisfying at all....they could've done so much more with his scenes. The sewing scene pissed me off the most....WTF IS THAT "he said thanks" end scene. The best part of this route is that Kagamitsu Togawa actually exists in this and Yoshimine Kei is hinted at...finaaaalllly other characters being shown. I'm also glad of Soshi's end in this route compared to others. Lots of good but lots of bad in this route.... Soshi for last bois.

Soshi 6/10

I'm. so. sad. I was super hyped for this last route cause there Soshi was the only route that was hinted at in ALL the other routes. This route was a whole lot of disappointment though :( In fact... Togawa was kinda the only saving grace of this route. Arrgggh I tried so hard to like this route I really did but the story telling was soooo bad. I mean after playing the other routes you kinda are just waiting for the "twist" that was shown before...so the precursor to it is literally like WHY?! WHY YOU GOTTA BE LIKE THAT SOSHI KUN?!Also there was some fucking weird ass development or something messed up in the translation.... WHERE THE FUCK DID THE TEA PART COME FROM!? DID I MISS SOMETHING!?!?!AS IN (Spoiler alert)

WHY THE FUCK DID SHE TRY TO KILL HIM?! I'm sorry this is the only major spoiler I had to mention cause I was so confused when it happened. Then the writing got even weirder when the "Happy end" scene played where she literally started to call him "Onii-chan" and she's been calling him Soshi the whole time.... even Soji at some point IDK why....top of that...why the fuck was Soshi allowed to do what he was allowed to do at the end like no you were still the ruler howwww?....This route was just full of weird plot holes and shit that just didn't make sense. Since the route was very shitty to begin with the CGs were equally lackluster. Boring scenes got boring CGs except for the last CG but by then I was just so sad and done with the game. Tsuda Kenjiro's VAing talents were wasted on this kusoge and kuso-chara.

The Pros:

Artstyle/Character Designs- I really enjoyed a lot of the Character Designs. In fact it was the VAing and Character designs that made me eventually pick up this game. The art is vibrant is really nice to look at. Sadly some of the CGs weren’t the best of quality and some sprites could be improved. However, overall the art is very pleasant and well suited for the time period it is set in.

OST- OST was decent too. For a mobile game that ported to PC. I was decently surprised that even after trudging through so many routes the OST didn’t get annoying or repetitive. Granted there were some questionable timing on when to play certain tracks but the songs themselves were still pretty good.

VAing- So many good voice actors involved in this game. Tsuda Kenjiro is literally my favorite VA and they had the voice of Prompto too? Man good shit. The VAing did not disappoint. They def. made the game 100x better. If this game didn’t have VAing I would’ve been so sad and I don’t think I could’ve played through it all.

The Cons:

UI/UI Functionality- My BIGGEST GRIPE about this game. I get it shitty story/development, budget art, etc. BUT WHEN YOU CANT EVEN GET YOUR UI TO FUNCTION/LOOK GOOD?! COME ON! The UI is directly a port from the mobile game so it looks clunky and jenky. Not only that Auto doesn’t work as auto normally does in otoges. It acts more of a skip button which was SO FRUSTRATING. I sometimes multitask when I play otome games like check my phone/send messages to people, so I love having it on auto especially with VAing. Additionally I don’t know if it was only a bug on my game but my settings would NEVER save when I would start a new route… holy that pissed me off.

Development of Characters- Do I even have to touch on this? There was little to no development of the bachelors at all… Most of their characters were just thrown together and you were to just nod your head at some of their “developments” as in they would say “I’m partially a cat” and your character would go “Oh cool”. End of story sequence. I wanted to just punch the screen sometimes…

Tasteless CGS- Artstyle==cool. CGs==terrible. The CGs were at really weird timing and sometimes I wished there was a certain CG at a certain time but there wasn’t. I don’t know if its because there wasn’t enough memory to put in CGs for the mobile release or what not, but regardless the game did not have CGs at good times. Leading the CGs to be at awkward moments, except for the “core” CGS aka the “meeting” CGs and the “ending” CGs.

Main Character- She’s weak willed and not a fun character to follow. She just takes things as is, except maybe in Tanba’s route. I hated “being” her… I wanted to make choices at times when the games doesn’t give you a choice.

Bottom Line:

This game is just pretty garbage. I just want to move on my life and pretend that Tsuda Kenjiro wasn’t VAing in this game. If you’re thinking of buying this game..buy it on sale…like 50% or more sale or some shit. The routes are short and not fun to play through. There are def. better choices of otome games out there for PC. Of course not a lot of them are voiced by cool Japanese voice actors but this one is pretty shitty you might as well pass. I would highly recommend Nightshade on Steam or if you’re looking for something more comedy-esque and risqué… Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome. For good artstyle I’ve heard good things about OZ-Mafia too. Or just save your money up for a PSTV for those sweet sweet PSVITA games. ;)

[clonerightsagenda]

A Jade post? In 2017?

I could write this post in my sleep because I’ve written 40 just like it, but I keep seeing posts about lack of Jade meta, so I guess I was a little ahead of my time and must now answer the call. If you’ve been following me for a while, you might as well keep scrolling. You’ve seen this all before in increasing tones of despair.

For everyone else, this aims to be a general overview of Jade Harley’s character, back when she was allowed to have one, looking at her issues and development. I’ll condense it a fair bit because none of us want to be here all evening, but feel free to ask me to expand on anything. I used to do this all the time.

Childhood

So let’s start at the very beginning. Jade’s home situation is revealed in pieces. Much like Dave’s, it’s played as less serious early on, with the ramifications and its impact on her personality not fully explored until later. (Jade never gets a big speech on the topic, so I fear it still went over some heads.) Over time, however, we learn that Jade has grown up alone save for a powerful dog, after her grandfather died... and she stuffed his corpse. (yuck.) She has had to fend for herself from a young age, plagued by occasional bouts of Vriska-induced narcolepsy to boot.

This has made her tough and self-sufficient. She’s one of the more capable and efficient Betas, shown when she takes charge near the tail end of their session. However, she takes it a bit far. When you’re a kid alone, no one is going to take care of you. You don’t have the luxury of hoping someone else will handle a problem, or getting bogged down in sadness or doubt. Jade takes this to the extreme of never allowing herself to express negative emotions. That’s not productive. That won’t get anything done. She’s happy happy happy all the time!!! (At least to her friends. More on that later.) 

She projects this onto her grandfather as well. Loneliness takes a toll. When Jade “encounters” her grandfather, she imagines him chastising her and has an argument with him, eventually concluding “he was much easier to deal with when he was alive”. Jade has placed a lot of her weighty expectations for herself on her grandfather, and she pretends he’s talking back to deal with her isolation. Additionally, she doesn’t know about Tavros’s interference, so as she grows older, she assumes Grandpa Harley killed himself, abandoning her to her fate. When she does learn about what happened, she blames herself. More on that later. 

Her constant cheer is particularly concerning when we consider one last detail that people also seem to forget a lot. Jade grows up knowing she’s going to die. She’s seen her own stuffed dream self, and while it may not be time stamped, she’d be able to gauge by her own height roughly how much time she has left. By the time the story starts, she knows she’s almost out. And when Tavros mentions that his dream self died in their conversation pre-Descend, she’s surprised. She didn’t know they could die. This means she didn’t think ‘oh, my dream self will die but it’ll be ok’. She thought she was going to die, full stop. But she kept up the cheerleader routine anyway.

Friendships

That segues into Jade’s personal relationships.  As I mentioned earlier, Jade refuses to express negative emotions. This is similar to John, but I’d argue John is less aware of what he’s doing. Jade knows all that dark stuff is there; she just keeps pushing it down. Instead, she acts as team cheerleader, encouraging all her other friends as they start playing the game. She tells John he can save the world, encourages Rose, and flatters Dave. Rose is the only one who pushes back a little - her comment about Jade being tough for surviving on her island suggests she might have grasped a little about her situation, and she probes a little - but Jade doesn’t give much away. John vacillates between being surprisingly perceptive and super not, and Dave tends to be absorbed in his own problems. Jade successfully keeps most of her life a secret. No one knows her grandfather is dead or that she’s alone. No one knows she’s going to die.

The person she’s most direct with, ironically, is Karkat. He hears her angry or upset, mostly because he’s not her friend. She doesn’t care what he thinks. It also seems likely, though, that she lost patience with him a long time ago. After all, from her perspective he’s been trolling them for a while, and her dismay the first time he contacts her suggests that he got on her last nerve a while back. (She gets her revenge later, showing that she doesn’t forgive him as fully as she claims during their session.) Still, it’s kind of tragic that she’s most honest with people she dislikes. As they grow less adversarial, she begins to cover more and more up. 

Karkat happens to be the character who catches her at one of her most vulnerable moments, which is...

Jadesprite

Alas, we hardly knew ye. Faced with the seemingly unbeatable boss that’s Bec Noir, Jade decides to prototype her dead dreamself in order to have a human intelligence armed with the power of a First Guardian. This... does not go as planned. Jadesprite is yanked out of the afterlife and put back into the game that traumatized and killed her. She’s hysterical and doesn’t seem to understand that John’s not dead, and she’s not thrilled about facing Jack again and probably dying in the process. This makes Jade furious. How dare this version of her not put the group’s safety over her own personal life and happiness? How dare she not be happy to be used as a tool? How dare she show fear, weakness, pain, anything but a constant eagerness to please? Jade flies into a rage because Jadesprite reveals every bit of weakness she has hidden within herself and has come to despise. This part of her was never supposed to see the light of day.

Of course, it doesn’t for long. Jadesprite shows up again for a handful of panels, which are mostly devoted to Davesprite exposition-dumping. It’s interesting to note that, while she’s more emotionally honest with him, the panel after he shows up, she’s back to the generic sprite-mode smile. She still can’t quite kick that urge to cover it all up.

Then, Jade God Tiers and absorbs Jadesprite as part of herself. She wastes no time in crushing her and everything she represents deep into a corner of her psyche. And she crushes hard. Jade mentions later that her memories of Jadesprite’s time in the bubbles is hazy, which is understandable. Bubbles are weird. But later, when Dave talks about his sword quest and Jade seems confused, he asks in exasperation, “didnt davesprite tell you anything?” And he did. He told Jadesprite information that should have made Dave’s explanation later clear. But Jade, it seems, has forgotten. Could be an authorial oversight, could be the passing of time... or could be a signifier of how hard she pushed away everything “tainted” by that ‘lesser’ version of herself. 

Yellow Yard

Hope everyone’s been enjoying themselves, because we’ve now left behind the chunk of the story where Jade gets to do much at all. She’s John’s emotional sounding board for the next three years and then spends the majority of the combo session possessed, dead, or asleep. Yes, I’m still bitter.

The fact that both of Jade’s appearances in the intermissions are focused on being a response to John’s complaining is fitting, though (besides revealing the author’s priorities), considering her role on the battleship is to do everyone’s emotional labor. I could write a massive post on battleship dynamics since I’ve had years to parse the roughly 5 sentences allotted to them, but I’ll keep it short for this post. John’s showing the strain by the first intermission (there’s a lot of subtext in the way he talks about that video game) but in general he’s missing his old life, chafing at having nothing to do, resentful of his role of “following orders” in the previous session, upset at himself  for being childish, and of course sitting on top of a simmering pile of repressed emotions he refuses to fully acknowledge. Davesprite is Sir Not Appearing In This Comic the whole time, but it’s clear he’s in a downward spiral due to his lack of a clear purpose, feelings of inadequacy, paranoia over his lesser/doomed status, and general self-hatred. Jade is the apparent ‘stable’ one. She tries to be supportive of John even as he gets increasingly nasty to her in his frustration, and she’s presumably doing her best to prop Davesprite up. Unfortunately, no one’s going to support her, because she can’t ask for help. She can’t show weakness. She has to be useful. Anything else means she’s a bad friend and a failure. So she just keeps going until she gets crushed under the weight.

It gets to her, though. By John’s 15th, she’s short with him and looks visibly annoyed in a few panels, which is unusual for her. And by the time they arrive, she heads off to deal with business without telling Davesprite where she’s going or even bothering to wake John up, which suggests she’s pretty sick of them. Still, she hasn’t given them a piece of her mind. Yet. Instead, she heads off without a word, right into the Empress’s trap.

Grimbark Mode

The Empress has been plotting for the arrival of the gods, and she gets to work. In moments, her two girls are under her control. Not only are they forced to do her bidding, but their worst impulses, desires, and repressed grievances are pulled to the surface. For Jade, this is primarily anger. Notice that she mostly lashes out at people who have wronged her. She kicks John, fabricates a reason to get Karkat stabbed (it’s strategically inadvisable to have Jane fork him, but Jade wanted to), and tries to goad Dave into a fight. Finally, all that fury is coming out. 

While talking to Roxy, Jade also reveals how much her hypercompetence issues affect her self-esteem. ‘once i was even more of a dork than you’, she tells her ‘but now i’m one of the most powerful beings in the universe’. The implication is that Jade considers her greatest asset her powers. Without them, without her ability to be useful, she’s nothing. Also in this conversation she says she’s the suckiest Jade there is, showing both her unhappiness with her current state and her deep seated self-worth issues (get in line, girl). These hypercompetency issues also fuel her fight with Jake. She arrogantly proclaims herself smarter and more powerful than him (Jade can be headstrong at times or disregard other people’s views; I’ve talked about that in other posts) but gets curbstomped because she refuses to back down from the fight or go straight for Aranea. She has been challenged, so she has to prove she’s the best... and she fails. 

Speaking of things I am still bitter about, I will never not be bitter about how grimbark mode (and crockertier mode) were handled. I was upset about my favorite character being mind controlled, yeah, but I defended it as a chance for character growth. When I saw grimbark mode, I thought, ok. This sucks, but this means Jade can’t hide anymore. It’s all out in the open. She had a guy killed, for crying out loud. Once she’s snapped out of it, she’s going to have to be honest about it. This is a turning point where she can finally tell people how she feels.

That... did not happen. Instead, Game Over did, and then the retcon, and my last hopes of Jade Harley getting decent character resolution fizzled and died. I don’t like talking about the retcon very much, so let’s make this last bit quick.

Post-Retcon

I’ll go through this fast, because it’s unpleasant. In our latest chapter of ‘Jade Harley gets fucked by the narrative because Andrew Hussie made her too op and also doesn’t care’, the retcon shifts things around so that John and Davesprite blow up soon into the trip, leaving Jade to travel the Yellow Yard alone. Accompanied by carapaces and Nanna, of course, but it’s never really acknowledged that she can interact with them, despite her growing up on Prospit. Why those two couldn’t have blown up immediately before arrival I’m not sure, considering how late retcon Roxy died, but fuck Jade, amiright? (Bitterness intensifies). Anyway, the part of this I find most egregious is that this doesn’t have as much of an impact on Jade’s character as it really should have. 

Let’s review. Jade derives a lot of her self-worth from being competent and helping people. She has had issues with loneliness in the past. She’s got some self-worth problems that she covers up with the knowledge that she has a lot of cool powers. So we blow up her two friends while she in all her God Tier and First Guardian powers is powerless to save them, and then she’s stuck alone stewing in her failure for three years, knowing she will have to face Dave and Rose and tell them what happened. 

Does it seem likely that Jade would pop out the other side of the fourth wall perky and enthusiastic? Hardly. With no witnesses left, I imagine she would have dropped the facade. Having failed her friends, if she didn’t believe the timeline was doomed, she’d probably double down on making sure it never happened again, devoting her time to leveling up and training to a greater degree than she did in the GO timeline. She’d emotionally distance herself from her friends in advance. After all, once she finds out what happened to Grandpa, she describes it as “basically my fault”, even though Grandpa let her play with guns and Tavros redirected the bullet. Part of her hypercompetency is a quickness to take responsibility even when she should not. She would blame herself for John and Davesprite’s deaths and assume Dave and Rose would as well. I imagine her trust in Skaia and a happy ending would also be shaken. The clouds never showed her this.

So Jade ought to be a mess. In canon, though, she really isn’t. Oh, she mentions to Calliope that she felt depressed. This is progress for Jade, admittedly, but in general she’s relatively the same as she always was. When she sees John, it apparently fixes that all up (setting aside his notorious issues with alt selves.) She does seem reluctant to process that Davesprite is essentially dead, repeatedly referring to D avepeta as Dave, but otherwise, she seems to slot into the new reality without a ripple. We do see a hint of the loneliness-based projection with her naming the consorts and making up stories about them, but that's mostly glossed over. And since Vriska knocks her out before she has a chance to do anything while grimbark (even deliver some nasty taunts), no one gets any indication of her suppressed anger, so no one’s prompted to ask her about it. In terms of repression, she’s cleared to continue. And, as far as we’re shown, she does. At least John gets to visibly show that he’s got issues in the credits. Jade’s a smiling background character. 

As the final insult on top of injury, Jade’s big contribution in Collide is getting punched. I’m not entirely clear as to why she’s trying to prevent PM from fighting Jack - she knows Jack is a threat and has worked against him in the past. But no, here she gets in the way until PM knocks her down. Another blow for a character who has built her self-worth upon contributing to the team. 

I have my (grim) thoughts on what Jade realistically would have turned into after all this. And honestly, you could write a ‘how the ending shafted character x’s development’ for most of the cast, but Jade is a special example because her shafting started after Cascade and never stopped. And it makes me sad, because she was my favorite, and the opportunities were RIGHT THERE to give her development and bring some of this to the surface, but the story never made the effort.

I could go into way more depth about any of this, especially her personal relationships, but this is already long and it’s late, so I will leave you with this single, simple truth: 

Jade deserved better. 

[shoutscion]

I'm curious - what do you not like about modern pixel art/duelyst's pixel art? :o

so ok ive gone on about how pixel art is not supposed to be a literal representation of something right? like because it’s a technically limited medium you can only get so close to an accurate representation because eventually you’ll get obfuscated by pixels and the audience will inevitably be like ‘i dont know what that is’ but that’s ok, because engaging the audience’s imagination is the point of any good fiction, and the audience filling in the (deliberate or otherwise) gaps in the apparent design allows the player to come up with their own interesting interpretations and get inspired

if not: that’s the nutshell for my argument for pixel art. pixel art is good because it’s sort of shit but in a way that makes you actually think about things and what they are, could be, and are supposed to be, and even the flaws point you in the direction of cool shit

as opposed to say the general trend of modern game art, which is more literal; if you see something, the game expects you to take it completely 100% literally and matter-of-factly. there’s no room for interpretation, just an image of a pretty thing that you can offhandedly consume and then just move past or, if they get really lucky, you get inspired but not necessarily due to any thought process or intrigue on the game’s side: just because the art was pretty, and you want to copy that exact style of art. but that’s still not the point. the point is to just be pretty

and really i’m pretty ok with that though because like, i can’t expect AAA games to build games that are deliberately unclear. that’s not why they make games. they make games to sell, not inspire new games (if anything they want to actively discourage people making new video games because then that makes more competition) ([distant screaming]) and the games that they make do sell, so like, whatever. as long as AAA games get people into video games, and those people explore their tastes, and those tastes lead them to play more interesting games and think and grow as people and maybe even developers, then i’m content, and i can suffer through another dozen ubisoft/bioware/bethesda cash grab (as long as they throw me a bone and i get a new vegas or somethin like once in a while too)

but the problem is that on the niche-ass experimental-ass indie level (and i dont mean like fuckin walking simulators per se i mean like fuckin Aces Wild and Risk of Rain and Enter the Gungeon and the shit that would NEVER fly in the main market), modern game art still exists, with still the same basic logic (that people buy pretty things) but there’s this big key problem here and it’s that pixel art still looks like shit

(relatively)

like no matter what you do pixel art is still low resolution, chunky, clumsy to animate and hard to read so making it really pretty pixel art with smooth animations (which i actually sort of dont like in general) (drop your frames, kids) and perfectly proportioned bodies is just spending a bunch of time on something that will make something look ‘objectively better’ but not only remove what’s unique about the game but make it look more like the shitty homogenized master-of-none blob that is the AAA industry

it’s like someone looking at a motorcycle and saying like ‘but cars are better, though’ so they take an arc welder, some starving art student, and $30,000 and turn it into this

like good job idiot you’ve taken all of the shitty parts of a motorcycle and merged it with all the shitty parts of a car

a motorcycle is supposed to get you to go where you want to go. a car is supposed to get you, your friends, and possibly you and your friend’s things to where you want to go. making a car-shaped motorcycle makes a heavier motorcycle that is worse at getting you where you want to go and it doesnt even have any of the other perks that fuckin cars have like driving around friends and sleeping in the back seat so like what the fuck

why did you do that

like i mention duelyst in particular cause it’s really fuckin egregious. the pixel art doesnt interact. i’m not sure the sprites even like touch one another on purpose or anything. it’s undynamic, all the animations are completely prebaked, once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all, and none of them are interesting. it’s not even like fighting games or like mecha shit where the attack is like emblematic of their character or like really over the top or something they all do the same cliche poses and all have the same pocket particle effects

i could actually pick on like a bunch of people for this (paul robertson comes to mind too in particular) but for the sake of expressing my point i’m gonna keep ragging on duelyst

anyway, here’s blue shell rabbit. he’s got a sword. his special attack is that he swings the sword and it explodes

‘here’s the lore’ the game says. ‘if you read this it will all make sense’

nothing about it doesn’t make sense

nothing about this character is making me ask any questions

and to be clear this isnt like a general disposition toward ‘good’ pixel art it’s really more of a general disposition toward uncreative pixel art that uses smooth animations and ‘good color choice’ (read: the same soulless machine-baked palette of ‘fantasy colors’ that is either completely divested or actively fighting the environment every time) to mask what feels like they didnt even try to hide that you can accurately describe their character on a spreadsheet

• blue• sword• explosion• bunny    • turtle

cause like

you can have ‘holy fuck’ and ‘what is that’ in the same sentence

i mean there’s actually a certain level of art to that too, and it’s actually sort of unfair to duelyst because i know they’re making a fuckin league of legends style hero game and i know they cant spend much time on each character because i know they have other characters to get done but like

i wish they fuckin wouldnt

[journeysintowebcomics]

Homestuck Liveblog #168

UPDATE 168: The Doomed Muse

Last time Jane had woken up, so now Jade and Calliope were going to meet Doomed Calliope. Where could this go now? Let’s check it out.

...the very first page in this update is Calliope being all ‘can you wait here, Jade?’ and then she walks away. Huh. Well that was a disappointing development! With some luck she’ll return soon, but I’m not going to hold my breath for it. Calliope seems rather impressed about her doomed self, and follows her a bit.

I just now am starting to notice that this Calliope seems to have taken a ‘trophy’ from Caliborn, just like Caliborn had done. Just like her brother, she took his typing color. It doesn’t seem like she took Caliborn’s weapon, though, that big black gun that could be compacted into that thing Caliborn had.

The encounter between Calliope and her doomed self isn’t warm at all – not that anyone expected it to be, right? Doomed Calliope is rather blunt, a behavior the actual Calliope we know may not have seen coming. Then again, this doomed person’s experiences were completely different than our Calliope. Calliope is nervous but she asks if her doomed self likes stories – she used to. Yikes – and is offered to hear how her doomed self’s death happened. In fact, it happened here, in Echidna’s lair. Does that mean...hmmmm...maybe she had to fight her denizen and lost, or maybe that was part of her Choice, like it happened to the John of the real timeline.

It sounds like Calliope doesn’t have much time...is that a warning Lord English may be nearby? Golly...

CALLIOPE: i began the same as you.  CALLIOPE: vulnerable, weak, but without the comfort of others, to whom those flaws would endear me.  CALLIOPE: so i became strong, and killed my brother.  CALLIOPE: i wore him down. i ate his soul. i dressed my words in his blood to hear victory every time i spoke.

Sheeesh, when you put it like that you make it sound like you did what Caliborn did: kill the dream self. It’s true Calliope wouldn’t have the exact same mindset Caliborn had, but still...oh well. It was unavoidable. That’s how cherubs work, after all.

The problem here is that paradox space had decided from the beginning that Caliborn would be the one to play in the null session, and since Calliope is not Caliborn this was impossible for her. It seems she didn’t even start, having realized she’d be way over her head, so instead she decided to seek counsel. That’s where Echidna comes in. Well this is a short story!

Indeed, Doomed Calliope was killed thanks to the Choice, she chose it. Her soul waited here in this spot until Calliope arrived...and now it’s time.

CALLIOPE: it would mean it was time for me to go, and fulfill the rest of my promise to her.  CALLIOPE: so that is what i will do.

So something that needed to be done could only be done if Doomed Calliope died...huh. What could it be? I can’t think of anything, but obviously it’s something very important or else Doomed Calliope wouldn’t have accepted. And now it’s time to fulfill the rest of that task. Will there be a description anytime soon, or will we see it on-screen, Hussie? Don’t think I have forgotten you tend to do a lot of stuff offscreen.

And so they entered the white room from the Matrix.

The actual Calliope is also concerned about what she’s going to do now. She had to find Doomed Calliope, she found her...now what?

CALLIOPE: your only relevance here, and to the greater good, was to function as my signal.  CALLIOPE: a simple notification, as foretold by echidna.  CALLIOPE: now that you are here, i can go. 

Ouch. That’s not going to do wonders to Calliope’s self-esteem. She just got told that there’s nothing else she needs to do, that she’s pretty much out of the spotlight now. Then again, it doesn’t have to be bad! She’s free to do whatever she feels is the right thing to do, Don’t lose heart, Calliope.

At least Doomed Calliope tries to diminish the impact of this dismissal. She goes away with Jade, though, and Calliope is left in this empty place. Welp. Afterlife sure is tough on Calliope.

You don’t need to twist the knife further, Hussie, goddamnit. Thankfully, it doesn’t take long for company to arrive.

Excellent! Got the ring, Roxy? She’ll finally be alive, that’s great! Mission accomplished, Roxy, you’re a good friend. And then comes a flash file. Alright!

Marvelous illustration of scales. Nice colors. This is certainly the work of someone very skillful. The image extends to the side, the white room of the Matrix turning into a lava-filled place Karkaroni and Kanaya are passing through. This must be what’s deep into Jade’s planet, underneath the volcano. Cool!

KARKAT: SO YOU ACTUALLY UNDERSTOOD WHAT SHE WAS SAYING WITH THAT EARSPLITTING MALARKEY? 

...you mean to tell me that it’s done? These two talked with Echidna already? Oh, goddamnit! Hussie, why do you have a knack for not showing interesting moments? I mean, most of what I have seen is interesting, yeah, but other potentially interesting stuff is never shown. Oh well.

Apparently the conversation didn’t last very long, and it was mostly about Karkat. Hm, but you do have the tadpole, right? Because I think that’s what you two came for down here.

KARKAT: I MEAN, DID SHE SAY WHAT SHE WANTED WITH ME?  KARKAT: OR WHAT SHE WANTS ME TO DO??  KANAYA: You Dont Have To Do Anything  KANAYA: And She Didnt Want Anything With You In Particular  KANAYA: She Just Wanted You Here  KARKAT: OK???  KARKAT: WELL, HERE I AM, QUEEN SNAKE!!!  KARKAT: SATISFIED?!  KANAYA: Yes  KANAYA: She Is Apparently 

So Karkaroni just had to stand there and let himself be seen. That’s easy...but yeah, the poor guy here has been left aside for quite some while already, and he’s clearly offended by it. He may not want to be the leader anymore but that doesn’t mean he wants to be treated like he was a random bystander.

The conversation takes a turn to the philosophical when Kanaya muses she’s always directed by the concept of motherhood during her whole life and every decision she takes, even if she doesn’t realize it. Must be a blood-related thing, given what her ancestor did. Karkaroni...he doesn’t know what could be his concept. Honestly I don’t know either. Hmmmm...leadership is the one word I can think of, but he doesn’t want leadership anymore.

Psssh, Kanaya’s interested is piqued when she hears the word ‘blood’, haha...vampires, they sure are something else!

From the way Karkaroni is talking here, maybe something about fighting is the answer, although perhaps it should be more like ‘fighting towards X’ instead of just ‘fighting’?

Looks like Karkat has always been self-conscious about his own strength and lethality, and his rather weak denizen didn’t help assuage such feelings. Hm, given that I haven’t seen what’s the Blood denizen, for all we know the ‘weak’ denizen he founds is the one all Blood players have.

KARKAT: MAYBE I'LL DIE IN THE PROCESS OF SAVING SOMEONE MORE CRUCIAL TO VICTORY?  KARKAT: IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A PART OF THIS, SO BE IT.  KARKAT: I'M I

I really hope that’s not foreshadowing. I don’t want Karkat to die, things are bad enough for him already without his destiny being a horrible death. Please, let’s not kill him, Hussie. At least Echidna believes Karkaroni can be the leader. It’s nice to see someone in-story believes in him.

It seems Karkaroni’s role is going to be to lead the new generation of trolls to a bright future. That’s...actually a very good role! That’s fantastic! Excellent! Thanks, Echidna, you’re the best denizen in this long story. Seriously. Karkaroni is very pleased too! He even gets fired up for a new fight, and ponders which sickle he should take. You shouldn’t take one lacking in combat stats, damn it.

She just knocked him out. Well...yeah, keeping him away from the dangerous fights is a way to keep him protected. He’s going to be royally upset once he wakes up, that’s for sure, but still...

It would have been great if she didn’t leave Karkat at the point where lava is going to flow into and flood the place.

Roxy takes Calliope to where the rest is waiting, and Jasprosesprite welcomes them. She hasn’t stopped talking. The first thing she does is brag about how she believed everything was going to be great, and compliments Calliope. Then...she starts pawing Calliope’s skull...and then she starts flirting with Jane...

...

...uuuuh...I think I don’t like this sprite. I agree with Rose’s response of trying to smother herself with a pillow. Sigh.

Well, see you next time, everyone.

Next update: seven updates

[gulescamisade]

MN, Ground:  Day 21

DIRK: -has been up since the wee hours trying to get a signal on the lake house's tv. not only to keep on top of current events, but also to make sure they can catch the show his dad and uncle are planning on broadcasting. he can't miss that... plus, this gives him something to do with his hands. it's a win-win-

SOLLUX: -He can't sleep. It's not a completely unusual occurrence, but it's definitely unwanted when there's so little for him to occupy his mind with. He's frustrated with his own sleeplessness, and he elects to drift around corners of the lake house, smelling his way around and brushing into edges here and there.-

ARADIA: -she's awake also, sitting at a table in the kitchen and staring out the window, watching the scene outside-

[THERE ARE CAR SOUNDS IN THE DISTANCE]

[BROOM BROOM]

SOLLUX: ...wtf?

ARADIA: -car sounds. Yes. as expected- yes it is tf

SOLLUX: thanks aa.

SOLLUX: that really clears things up f0r me.

JAMISON: =Now they they've been freed of all shenanigans (for now) the Mystery Machine pulls up outside a cozy looking cabin. TOO COZY. This van seems a bit too much anyway what with its mounted high-powered rooftop weaponry and a mysteriously stained pyramid ram located on the front.... listen you gotta be prepared. The van stops, we're here. YOU'VE BEEN FREED=

ARADIA: youre welcome

ARADIA: theyre here

SOLLUX: wh0's "they"????

ROSE: -PEERS OUT A WINDOW-

MEULIN: -smushes against the glass up above her-

ARADIA: youll see

ARADIA: hear or smell rather

SOLLUX: i d0n't think i want t0.

ROSE: -SHE JUST SORTA OPENS THE DOOR AND FLOPS OUT.- So. This is the place, yes.

MEULIN: I GUESS SO. -steps out and adjusts her sunglasses in a thoughtful, nerdy sort of way.-

MEULIN: IS EFURRYONE INSIDE?

ROSE: At least several people are inside.

ROSE: I think.

MEULIN: AND IT'S TOTALLY NOT AN AMBUSH.

ROSE: We've been driving for days. I'll take an ambush over a perpetually sore ass.

MEULIN: YOU COULD ASK THEM FOR A BUTT RUB. (｡･ω･｡)

ARADIA: then cover your ears and nose

ROSE: Tempting.

MEULIN: FRIENDS GIVE FRIENDS BUTT RUBS. -sneaks toward the door-

SOLLUX: -flops in a kitchen chair next to Aradia and buries face in her hair. Done.-

ARADIA: there we go

ARADIA: perfect

SOLLUX: mph.

ARADIA: ignorance is bliss

ARADIA: and composed of my hair

SOLLUX: yeph.

MEULIN: -taps on the door and then sneaks to peer into the window-

ROSE: -UNLOADING some crap from the van. Like a bag messily stuffed with laundry.-

MEULIN: HEY, IT'S ARADIA!

ARADIA: -sees meulin at the window and waves excitedly for her to come in-

MEULIN: SHE SAYS TO COME IN.

ROSE: I imagine she would. Do you see anyone else?

MEULIN: YEAH. SOMEONE IN HER HAIR.

ROSE: Okay, good. That means it is legitimate.

ROSE: -BURSTS IN.- I need a washing machine and a shower. Not necessarily in that order.

MEULIN: -slinks behind her- HI! ME TOO.

SOLLUX: f0inh the klaa.

ROSE: Aradia, you appear to have something entangled.

ARADIA: -smiles widely at them- hi guys! im glad you made it

ARADIA: -glances solluxward- yes it appears to be a pretty bad knot

SOLLUX: -flips them all off-

ROSE: It's good to see you're safe, too.

MEULIN: COOL.

SOLLUX: hhhf.

DIRK: -walks in on all this and stares at everyone with wide eyes. loses his cool for a second, but whatever he already looked worse for wear. he's just he's so relieved to see them.-

DIRK: Rose.

DIRK: Hey.

ROSE: -APPROACHES... and drops the bag of laundry on the ground.-

ROSE: You look pretty good, for looking like hell. Have you been shaving?

MEULIN: (｡◕ω◕｡)

MEULIN: BETTER NOT HAVE. I WANNA TOUCH THE WHISKERS.

DIRK: Do I really look that ragged? -runs a palm over his scruff. he hasn't been.-

ROSE: Could I possibly not look that ragged?

ROSE: Did you hear about what happened?

ROSE: I am somewhat hoping that you did.

MEULIN: -pads over and touches Dirk's whiskers with her beans while they converse. TUCH.-

MEULIN: -also nuzzles his shoulder. HELLO.-

ARADIA: it was pretty incredible

DIRK: -wow, affection. he almost forgot what that feels like. whoops. he gives meulin's hair a pet and cracks a small smile at both her and rose's combined presence. they're wonderful.-

DIRK: I wish I could've been there.

ROSE: At this risk of sounding inappropriate at a time like this, I am, in fact, quite glad that you weren't.

ROSE: I don't think there is anyone I'd wish that place upon.

ROSE: Not that it matters now, I suppose.

MEULIN: IT WAS PRETTY GROSS ON A WHOLE.

MEULIN: AND ON A CASE BY CASE BASIS.

MEULIN: ROSE WAS A TOTAL BADASS THOUGH.

DIRK: Yeah. You're right. I'm sure there will be more opportunities to witness Rose showing off how fuckin' rad she is.

ROSE: -SIGHS and leans into the pile-

ROSE: You are going to make me blush.

ROSE: Everyone here's okay?

DIRK: -nods- Yeah.

DIRK: We're... We're good. -pets meulin's hair some more. thank goodness for therapy cats.-

DIRK: We lucked out finding a nice place to lay low. You guys can take care of your showers and shit. Just don't expect hot water for long.

DIRK: Oh yeah, I got the TV to work this morning too. That's a thing.

MEULIN: -prrrr rumbles, then perks ears.- TV? WHAT'S IT SAY?

DIRK: Still a lot of buzz about what y'all did. And my uncle's twitter war.

DIRK: You know the Virginia folks are gonna broadcast some kind of concert as a big fuck you to the presidents? Now that I definitely wish I was there for.

ROSE: ...

ROSE: Is it going to be broadcast?

ROSE: I kind of like the idea of that.

DIRK: It is.

DIRK: Wonder if I can scrounge up some popcorn for the event.

ROSE: We do have chips from a truckstop.

DIRK: Oh shit. Then we're all set.

MEULIN: AWWW MAN... I LOVE CONCERTS...

ROSE: -CASUALLY, AND GRACELESSLY, flops onto the nearest couch-like surface.-

DIRK: -there she goes... he's going to wander over to the kitchen though. hovering a little around sollux and aradia. subtly.-

DIRK: -addresses the new arrivals, though- Can I get you anything? We have... soup.

DIRK: Which incidentally is about the extent of what I can cook.

ROSE: I'm not sure. I may be done with eating, possibly forever.

ROSE: The concept has become fallow, truly.

MEULIN: I'M HUNGRY!!

MEULIN: -not even zombies can faze her-

ROSE: Can I consume soup intravenously?

DIRK: If only I had the means to test it. DIRK: Hey, Aradia. You've got first aid on you, right? Inject some soup into Rose.

DIRK: -rattles pots and pans for meulin. again, it's something to do. at least he can feel useful.-

ARADIA: mhmm

ARADIA: i could if you really want to

ARADIA: i recommend tasting

ROSE: -GROANING NOISE-

MEULIN: ~(=^. .^) -HOVERS-

MEULIN: PLEASE DON'T INJECT ROSE WITH SOUP.

DIRK: But she's suffering.

DIRK: -pours bowls for everybody once it's done. it's tomato... hands meu a bowl, then slides a couple at sollux and aradia before shuffling over to rose. eat...-

ROSE: -....ok so tomato soup she can probably do no matter how much it may resemble the blood of guy fieri.-

ROSE: -She tries to make it hover-- but urgh.-

ROSE: -nevermind.-

ROSE: -she just puts it on her stomach and eats it from there.-

MEULIN: - 👀tomato soup-

SOLLUX: -very slowly extracts himself from the hair prison-

ARADIA: dont get stuck

ARADIA: thanks dirk

DIRK: Think nothing of it. -goes to join them at the table to eat, but he's just kinda poking at the soup.-

SOLLUX: -grunts and just sort of touches his spoon.-

MEULIN: -SLRRRPS in the bg-

MEULIN: I STILL HAVE SOME MOOSE MEAT IF ANYONE WANTS.

DIRK: Huh.

DIRK: Maybe later.

ROSE: They killed a moose, by the way.

ROSE: -slurps...-

ROSE: Do we have a plan of attack, yet?

DIRK: ... Not quite.

DIRK: Haven't really... been able to focus.

[[ There's a soft glow of green that grows stronger suddenly, and there's a humanoid shape that hovers into the kitchen through the wall. There's some slime left behind. Oops. ]]

JADESPRITE: hi

ARADIA: -turns to smile at jade sprite- hi

JADESPRITE: -holds up a paw- i didnt want to interrupt especially since i cant eat or

JADESPRITE: contribute much else but

JADESPRITE: we did have some ideas

ROSE: -Blinks-

ROSE: -SHE CAN'T BELIEVE SHE FORGOT ABOUT JADESPRITE-

ROSE: Oh.

ROSE: Hello.

DIRK: -blinks in jadesprite's direction also.- ... Yeah?

JADESPRITE: yes

JADESPRITE: but i think maybe first we should talk about what's going on

ROSE: Right.

JADESPRITE: davesprite has been watching jade

JADESPRITE: something like this has happened before, in the universe we're from -laces her paw fingers together-

JADESPRITE: so we know what she's capable of

JADESPRITE: though you probably already figured out she was the one that zapped you around the country

JADESPRITE: she has full control of that power now

ROSE: Right. So we can't do anything to her head on, or with her awareness. ROSE: We'll just be in the same position we were before.

JADESPRITE: essentially yes

JADESPRITE: so someone has to deal with her

JADESPRITE: thats why were volunteering ourselves

JADESPRITE: -carefully, she pulls out some sort of pendant with a Skaianet symbol and dangles it in the air- i managed to recreate a device that davesprite has for myself

JADESPRITE: id like to give it to one of you for safekeeping, in case i need it

JADESPRITE: i can go into it and also be summoned to its location

JADESPRITE: jade has the one of davesprite's

DIRK: ... I can take it. -holds out his hand-

JADESPRITE: -smiles a little and offers it over to him- thanks

JADESPRITE: anything she tries to do to us would be significantly less dangerous than to any of you, and we should be able to come back quickly with these

JADESPRITE: besides... someone also has to handle jane

JADESPRITE: she doesnt have the same powers but... she is dangerous

ROSE: I... right. I suppose we're going to have to incapacitate them.

JADESPRITE: somehow, yes

JADESPRITE: but we can buy as much time as possible

JADESPRITE: but if it came down to it...

JADESPRITE: ...well, im sure well figure out something

ROSE: Right.

ROSE: I could probably buy time with Jane, at least.

ROSE: But I can't imagine deprogramming them will be... easy.

DIRK: -quietly puts the pendant on to keep it close, tucking it under his shirt, but he's zoning in and out of this conversation and it's frustrating him a little because he NEEDS to be a part of this.-

JADESPRITE: right

JADESPRITE: the brainwashing is affecting jades filters and inhibitions at the same time its telling her whos in control

JADESPRITE: all her repressed thoughts are loose

JADESPRITE: so it's not just the obedience thats the problem... -shakes her head- im sure jane is feeling something similar

JADESPRITE: um... anyway

JADESPRITE: hal has the ship just outside the atmosphere

JADESPRITE: weve managed to talk to him safely from space

JADESPRITE: horuss is still cloaking the ship too but im not sure what theyre planning to do

JADESPRITE: hal is being sort of cagey about it

ROSE: -She frowns.-

ROSE: Is this something that... happened to you?

JADESPRITE: ...

JADESPRITE: i think so

JADESPRITE: its not all clear but...

JADESPRITE: between my memories and davesprite's i feel sure that it's something i know well

ROSE: Do you have any foggy memories of getting out?

JADESPRITE: no...

JADESPRITE: it just feels like i went to sleep for a long time

ROSE: Ah.

ROSE: -She nods.-

ROSE: Well. That's an option.

ROSE: Knock her out somehow.

DIRK: I wonder if the Serkets would have any effect on them. -manages to chime in-

DIRK: I don't like suggesting that, but it might be one of our safest options. I'd rather not knock them out forcefully.

ROSE: Well, we can't waste our opportunity.

ARADIA: trust your instincts and dont doubt yourself

JADESPRITE: -hovers thoughtfully- ...

JADESPRITE: it could work

JADESPRITE: we will just have to be careful

JADESPRITE: if jade knows whats coming she could zap them away

ROSE: ...

ROSE: -sorta. Takes in a deep breath through her teeth.-

ROSE: Okay.

MEULIN: -she's already finished her soup, and now she's just sort of contemplating the bowl... everyone's working so hard-