#i haven't posted starters for my characters in a while

[poptartmochi]

ohhgh. comrades. 👁️👁️. 🕴️. remember when I was debating over whether i was going to change benedetto's name to isaac and I was like, "🤪 lol maybe I'll change gioier's name too 🤪"

im on the precipice of doing it!!!!! help!!;! 🆘🆘

[thegheistmistress]

~===Hazy Memories===~ {DC RP Starter}

Darkness. This is all she saw as she opened her eyes. She doesn't remember the last thing she was doing nor the last person she spoke to. It felt odd... lonely even. Unsure where she was, she only saw a dark void. Was she dead? Did someone manage to kill her?

It didn't feel like that, it felt more ethereal and airy, like she's just floating in some nothingness. That is until a light showed up; not a normal light, but one that flickered. She moved towards it, it felt like swimming but without water as she approached it.

---

She slowly woke up, vision blurry and unsure of her surroundings. The flickering of a light above her gave her a clue, not much though as it was all... well, hazy and disorienting to her. When she noticed a shadow standing near her, she couldn't recognize who it was.

But the sound of beeping and other noises placed her in a hospital room of sorts, clearly somewhere in Gotham still as she noted a faint sounds of familiar sirens outside. She turned to face whoever was in the room with her, unsure who she was looking at as her vision was slowly becoming not as hazy.

=========

{If responses are slow, I haven't written a prompt in a LONG time, I apologize, but other than that, have fun!~}

[tyrantisterror]

A couple months ago, one of the kids at the daycare brought in a D&D starter set and asked me to DM a game for him and some of the other kids in my class. Now, I had considered doing this in the past, but written it off for a variety of reasons, mainly asusming it'd be a couple days of chaos before the kids get sick of all the math involved and lose interest. But if a kid broaches an idea and others seem on board, I feel it's kind of my duty to at least try it.

So far my assumptions have been... mostly correct? Like, 70% of my predictions have come true, it is chaos, ten-years olds are the most murder-happy murder hobo PCs you could possibly imagine, and they've really been pushing my improv skills to their absolute limits with the choices they've made (and the constrictions I have on me as a daycare teacher). But they haven't gotten bored with the math, and they absolutely love playing the game still, which is nice. I like it when my students are passionate about something.

Anyway, I bring this up because seeing how children play with D&D canon has made me realize one critical fact:

D&D needs a Mons Game spinoff.

Kids love monsters. This is not my bias, it is something that has been categorically proven to me in my four years of working at a daycare. Every kid loves the idea of weird, impossible creatures, and they love the idea of befriending a whole horde of those creatures even more so. One of my kids in the daycare D&D campaign is making it his goal to find and tame every monster he can find in the kid-friendly monster manuals I bought for the class. He wants a Tarasque and a Bullete and an Owlbear and on and on and on, and keeps proposing tactics for capturing them based on his time playing Ark: Survival Evolved, a game where you can tame dinosaurs and mythic beasts while trying to survive a wild world full of danger and obstacles.

And it turns out that, while the mechanics of D&D don't support this, the philosophy of how its settings are structured according to those mechanics does. D&D is filled with hundreds of wild and imaginative monsters, all with distinct appearances, habits, adaptations, and environmental needs. The need to make the "dungeons" part of D&D interesting has required it to build really interesting monster ecosystems, and, much like mons games, the need to keep players buying new content has resulted in them building a vast library of creatures, because selling $50 books containing a slew of new monsters is a pretty guaranteed way to get money. D&D may not be a mons game, but it's accidentally made its setting perfectly suited to be one.

And what a money-maker that would be! Skew it more towards a child audience in tone, use simpler mechanics so kids can hop into it without spending, say, three solid weeks of afterschool daycare time crafting character sheets more or less one on one, and you'd have a game that would easily hook a younger audience while planting seeds of interest into the bigger game.

Of course, there are already indie TTRPG mons games, and I imagine some of them are actually good, but unfortunately they're not exactly easily obtainable on a daycare teacher's budget. And, you know, they wouldn't let you make a team of a bulette, an otyugh, a gray render, and an owlbear.

But then again, Wizards of the Coast continues to be absolute bastards, so maybe this idea is too good for them. Which makes it a good thing they're never going to read this blog post.

[vidavalor]

Another image/scenario my brain gave me, submitted for examination...

Crowley, brooding like heck after TF15, is at GMC/GMD, or maybe some random cafe with outdoor seating, when Shax shows up looking horrendously smug. In a moment of petty, spiteful foolishness that's apparently strong enough to override her self-preservation instincts, she tosses a slightly heat-damaged ring and pocket-watch-and-chain onto the table and gloats to Crowley about how his ridiculous little angel is Satan's new favourite toy, so why shouldn't he (Crowley) take the opportunity to get an upgrade? [gestures to herself]

Crowley stands up, but otherwise goes very very quiet and very very still; Shax somehow fails to notice just how volcanically furious he is even though he's emitting rather a lot of smoke. She clues in somewhat when a red glow begins pulsing under his skin and he snarls, "An upgrade? YOU??? After ssssssix thousssssand yearsssss of Aziraphale?????" The penny really drops when Crowley smites her with lightning hard enough to outright discorporate her and leave the pavement where she was standing glowing white-hot.

Crowley flops back into his chair, picks up the ring and considers putting it on his finger, but then miracles up a chain to wear it around his neck instead, on the grounds that for anything involving rings and fingers, Aziraphale should be both physically present and lucid enough to provide input.

He turns his attention to the pocket watch, turning it in his hand and running his fingers over the so-familiar surface. He opens it, and receives rather a shock when he sees the photograph from 1941, miraculously shrunk down and fixed inside the lid! Once the emotions have worn off sufficiently, he closes the watch and attaches it to his own waistcoat, while planning a recklessly daring rescue mission.

---

Not sure how in character any of this might be for Crowley or Shax, but what the heck! I really like the idea that the photo's in Az's pocket watch -- hidden in plain sight, in possibly the safest place in all Creation :D (No-one's going to be taking that watch from Az easily!)

...And I literally only realised while typing this that the scenario parallels a certain other shenanigan involving important memory-related things hidden in a pocket watch, with DT in a lead role! :D

This was wild in a great way, @jotun-philosopher! Shax really needs some work on romantic overtures... 😂 I love the idea of the photo being in Aziraphale's pocket watch! I know some people think they destroyed it and I could see it both ways but I'm a sap and hope they still have it hidden somewhere. Love the idea of the magician having it hidden secretly on him this whole time.

Your post had me a bit 😭 though (in an angsty, good way lol) because I realized that while I have thought about the fact that I think that S3 Aziraphale might look a bit different in the present, I haven't been thinking that much about how him getting to that point means the clothes he's been wearing for over 200 years and his watch and his ring are going to be gone. I know we had a short taste of that a little in S1 when he's discorporated but then when Adam brought him back, the full Aziraphale starter kit came back with him. There is the possibility that Aziraphale remains in the same outfit but it seems more likely to me that it'll change for a bit.

I'm thinking maybe it won't be quite so dire as him never having the option of recovering any of it that he might like to have if only because I feel like we can't have been looking at that angel ring for the last two seasons without it being given to Crowley but I have the feeling that while we'll undoubtedly love whatever Aziraphale's look in the present is, when the flashbacks start, we'll be all THE TARTAN BOW TIE, THE VEST, THE WATCH 😭😭😭for a bit.

[rmd-writes]

a love note (and some fics)

Sometimes I wonder if there's really anything bigger out there - the universe, some kind of higher power, fate - and then I think about how extremely lucky I am that I became obsessed with a certain tv show and its characters at just the right time so that I could befriend someone who then introduced me to a particular book at exactly the right time to fall in love with those characters as well. And then, because of my need to have more of those characters, I went looking for more stories about them at exactly the right time to meet a group of people (some of them together, some of them later, but that doesn't matter) who would go on to become my friends.

There must be something, right? To bring together a group of people who live in five to seven different time zones depending on the time of year. To create my safest spaces on the internet. To share not just our love for a book and its characters, but parts of our lives with each other. To have them all wedge themselves into the soft spaces of my heart and never leave.

I've been thinking about this a lot over the last two weeks, because those people conspired and collaborated to gift me a collection of 10 incredible fics for a milestone birthday (tomorrow!) - even though some of them haven't written fic for months and months, or don't write for this fandom at all anymore, or have recently been finding it hard to make words work and finish fics, or are just plain busy with other projects and life. That they took the time to find and make words for me means everything and more 💖💖

I've been absolutely overwhelmed with love these past 10 days (probably to the surprise of no one, I have cried at every single fic drop and I'm crying writing this now). So, I want to share the wonderful fics that they've written for me with you all because it's the least I can do to pay it forward and they're objectively stellar fics. If you haven't come across them already then you should definitely add them to your to read lists/open tabs/MFL. Please show my friends some love and read their work.

The Rae of Sunshine! collection, in order of publication (with my very short summaries):

Take It Back (4.2K) by @three-drink-amy

Henry is the head chef at a French restaurant and there's one patron who keeps sending his dishes back. How can they resolve this?

Dick, Dick Dick (You Down) (10.2K) by @everwitch-magiks

Alex runs the craft services trailer on the set of actor!Henry's latest movie. Is he the only person who sees behind the façade?

A deceptively soft story, given the title.

Precious Love (1.3K) by floatingaway4

The fluffiest follow up to one of my favourite AUs Amigos y Migas (aka the food truck au).

Midnight ice cream (5.8K) by @the-amber-fox

Emotional support Cornettos? More likely than you think.

Make it Right (5.3K) by @three-drink-amy (that's right, Ally wrote me TWO FICS)

A rogue little Tarlos fic in amongst the firstprince - a post-season 1 canon divergence that sees TK working in a taco truck while he finds his feet.

a taste of life (7.4K) by @indomitable-love

A journey through Henry's life, told through food. (This one is not my summary, indomitablelove already summed it up perfectly)

Risotto + Melanzane + Dolce (a love story) (16.8K) by @villiageidiot

Alex starts working at an Italian restaurant and is terrible at his job. Somehow, Henry doesn't seem to mind.

Cursed is a State of Mind (WIP) by @welcometololaland & @dustratcentral

A 5 + 1 treatise on cursed coffee consumption.

12 Year Starter (6.6K) by @clottedcreamfudge

When Pez can't make it to Henry's Michelin-star birthday dinner, he arranges for Henry's friend, Alex, to take his place. Featuring CCF's signature banter and fun, and a menu that I wish was real.

Pour Your He(art) Out (WIP) by @athousandrooms

A 5+1 ode to latte art (featuring actual art!)

You can find the entire collection here on Ao3.

[jesncin]

hello! I've been reading a lot of your posts on dc media, they are a great read! I hope one day I could make such detailed analysis, yours are really inspirational and makes me have double-takes/ give-a moment-to-think-on the media I watch/ read

Anyway! You talk a lot about Super-characters and Asian representation, what do you think about Kong Kenan's character? As well as how he is currently written in DC Comics? Is there any way you want him to be written differently? How well does his character play with the many themes of Superman?

Oh wow thank you so much! Writing these essays has mostly been for my own sake to get my thoughts out there, but it means a lot to me when my analysis and meta inspires others to do similar and think a bit more critically!

Kong Kenan!!! While I haven't caught up on how he's written lately (I mostly read a handful of the beginning stuff) I could spare some thoughts.

Kong Kenan is the most creative, out of the box and refreshing take on a Superman legacy character. What makes Superfam members struggle to gain traction is that they over-rely on direct family members, clones, alternate universe-selves, and adopted aliens- leaning too hard on the sci fi aspects of Superman and not the grounded politics that make him a resonant character. Kong Kenan meanwhile is just some guy (affectionate) thrusted into power. Even though I love the untapped themes of diaspora and generational loss to Krypton we could get from other Superfam members, it's really refreshing to have a new character not pay that much mind to all that. He's got his own world in China going! It's important for legacy characters to have their own space to breathe, and Kenan ticks all the boxes.

The worldbuilding of his cast system, the stakes surrounding how his powers work, even the way the themes of "Hope" is re-contextualized through his character are just so rich. I think my main critique is just how his original run starts!

The strong and refreshing cast system carry us through it, but the beginning really leans into that respectability "right ideas, wrong extreme methods" MCU villain thing. I get that it's about "being too devoted to the cause that you forget to care for people around you" but it's a bit clumsy when said cause is caring about the rights of people.

Once you get out of that origin starter, the series really picks up to more unique ideas that challenge systems of power so it's worth sticking around for. I still haven't fully read through all of New Super-man, but I'm excited to get back to it when I have the time.

[tenebraevesper]

Knuckles (My Thoughts)

So, I have watched Knuckles, the 2024 show that basically came out yesterday, and before watching it, I have heard a lot of mixed opinions, ranging from ''the show is great'' to ''the show is awful, I hate it''. I had figured I might as well add my thoughts to the fray.

There will be spoilers in this review, so if you haven't watched the show, you had your warning.

So, for starters... this show is absolutely bonkers, and I definitely enjoyed watching it! X3

Honestly, I feel like there was a pretty good mix of comedy and action, and while there is some over the top acting, it didn't really take away from my enjoyment. It was a pretty wild ride from start to finish, and I kinda want to know what the writers were smoking during some scenes, because there were moments where things just get a bit surreal.

The show is also peppered with a lot of emotional moments, but I'll get to that bit in a moment. So far, I think people were right when they called this Sonic the Hedgehog, but it's Knuckles and Wade instead of Sonic and Tom.

The main crux of the show is that Knuckles has a bit of a crisis. He has found the Master Emerald, he has found friends in Sonic and Tails... and the only reason he's on Earth is because of that promise to them, as he clearly doesn't feel like he is at home... yet. So, how does he deal with that struggle?

Well, Pachacamac tells him what to do. Not gonna lie, even though I had expected him to appear, I was still baffled, because Pachacamac in this show is basically Oogway, Mufasa and Mr. Miyagi rolled into one. Clearly, Knuckles still holds great admiration for him, but let's remember that this was the guy who hunted down Sonic and Longclaw, leading to the mutual massacre. And now, he's a ghost that Knuckles can talk to, a lá Tikal. Kinda weird, but I think this is also the moment the show doesn't give a damn about being grounded.

Pachacamac suggests Knuckles that he should continue the legacy of the Echidnas, with Wade Whipple becoming his new protégé. Knuckles knows Wade is a loser, but he accepts, especially given Wade's determination to show everyone and their mother that he isn't some kind of loser and will become the bowling champion at the tournament in Reno, Nevada. So, he and Knuckles go on a road trip there while also being hunted down by two rogue G.U.N. agents, who want to deliver Knuckles to The Buyer, a guy who formerly worked for Robotnik and wants to use his quills to power his weapons.

Now, I will first start with the negative stuff that I noticed during the plot. Yes, people were correct, the second half of the show does focus a lot on Wade and his family rather than on Knuckles. Should it focus more on the titular character? Absolutely! Am I disappointed with what we got? Ehh... not really. Not gonna lie, I was actually quite invested in Wade's family drama.

Honestly, I can't really think of any complaint aside from the lack of Knuckles' screentime. Maybe it would've been better if the show focused on Knuckles bonding with Sonic and Tails, but it was always advertised as a Knuckles and Wade road trip, so I can't say I was lied to (not to mention, we had a whole movie of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles bonding). I suppose that another thing to add to it is the abrupt ending, although we do get a post-credits scene with Knuckles and Wade going to their next adventure, and the fact that they just don't address some plot points (like we don't know how the Wachowski family reacted to Knuckles' absence).

Well, that's my negative thoughts on the show, what's the positive stuff?

First of all, Knuckles himself - he is absolutely awesome every moment he gets! His character is on point, and he gets a lot of goofy, but also very wholesome moments. He also works very well with Wade, their personalities bouncing off each other and their interactions can turn from hilarious to absolutely heartwarming, especially when bonding over their respective lives.

I think that's a really strong point of this show - Knuckles helping Wade, in his own way, to overcome his insecurities, while just being his Echidna Warrior self. At the same time, he also learns about simple things in life, like ''what his jam is'' (to no one's surprise, it's the show's theme song, The Warrior by Scandal) or about Wade's family's traditions, as well as finally accepting that Earth is his home.

Also, Knuckles and Wade's mother beating up the bounty hunters was one of the best scenes in the show, hands down.

As I said previously, I also got quite interested in Wade's family life. I really like his mother, but his sister is a bitch, even if she stands by Wade's side. His father, not gonna lie, Pistol Pete gets the same amount of hate from me as Locke... Huh, maybe they did base Wade's father on one of the most hated characters from the Sonic Archie comics? After all, both abandoned their sons for a ''greater purpose''. In any case, it was satisfying seeing Wade beating his father in the bowling tournament and use what he learned during his journey.

Furthermore, this show is peppered with many lore bits, but the most jaw-dropping is this one:

So, if you guys don't know, this is Iblis, one of the Big Bosses of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), alongside Mephiles, and basically the main reason Silver the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat went back to the past to save the future, with Silver fighting Sonic due to the belief that he was responsible for the apocalyptic wasteland that is Silver's future. Both Iblis and Mephiles are halves of the sun god Solaris, who was defeated by Super Sonic, Super Shadow and Super Silver.

So, in this show, in this story told to us via a rock opera arranged by Pachacamac and starring an... unconscious (dead?) Wade? *shrugs* So, yeah, in this story, apparently, Knuckles defeated Iblis with the Flames of Disaster, aka beating him up with flaming fists.

Not gonna lie, that's metal.

Also, another lore bit that is dropped is how a different alien visited Reno for a bowling tournament in 1974, which tells me either two things:

One possibility is that it was Shadow who appeared at the bowling tournament, which is but funny and pretty awesome, and now I have an image of Shadow, Maria and Gerald Robotnik wearing those bowling T-shirts.

The other possibility is that Black Doom dropped after making his deal with Gerald and decided to sign up the Black Arms for a tournament, which is just plain hilarious.

So, yeah, overall, I liked the show. Is it the best? Not really, but it is something I'd rewatch if I want something fun and wholesome.

#Sonic Cyber Revolution (Masterlist)

[dominimoonbeam]

hi domini! im a big fan of your writing and have read every one of your redacted fics, you are incredibly talented and with each fic you upload you never fail to amaze me and lead me into a deeper obsession with your work

this is just a fic request! no pressure to write this any time soon, or at all, especially with your new job and moving day soon! my request is:

david/darlin neighbour au? like david always giving darlin leftovers because he "cooked too much food" for the 50th night in a row

again, you don't have to write this, especially with how i didn't give you much to work with lol. i just thought of it and would love to see you write it! good luck with your moving day soon, im so excited to see the pictures and so happy for you! have a great week and sorry for the long message <3

Anon, thank you so much for this!

I know it's been so long since you sent me these incredibly kind words and this ask and I haven't written any fics in that time. This was such a great way to get back into the characters and the fun of working on fics. I hope you enjoy this starter and know that your words really meant a lot. Thank you!

Neighbor AU.

Darlin/David

I will absolutely be posting this on ao3 soon and hopefully adding more to it. <3 <3

It started in the laundry room.

They’d been living in the same building, on the same floor, in the same corridor for the last year but never spoken—not until that evening in the laundry room.

David was putting a load in when the other tenant came downstairs, no basket in hand, just an armful of t-shirts, underwear, and towels. He tried not to watch but it was impossible. He’d caught plenty of glimpses of them over the months, in the hall and on the elevator. They were a storm wearing skin and a leather jacket.

With a huff, they crammed the ball of fabric into a machine and then peeled their shirt off and kicked off their boots, huffing annoyance as they unbuttoned and squirmed out of their jeans.

There was no way they thought they were alone in the room. David was not the sort of man that went unnoticed. He slammed the lid on his machine just in case.

The other tenant pulled their phone from the pocket of their jeans along with a wad of cash, and put it down to the side before closing the machine.

David raised an eyebrow and looked at them, really looked at them, wearing nothing but underwear and stepping back into their boots. They were lanky, all muscle and bruises. One hand rubbed the back of their head, ruffling their hair while jabbing the buttons to start the machine. “What?” they snapped, not even looking at him.

Their knuckles were raw and bloody and their side looked splotchy, like those ribs would be bruised tomorrow.

“Bad day?” David asked the scrapper.

They huffed again, this time grinning and turning enough to look at him. They had blood on their teeth and in their hair. “Nope.” They picked up their phone and the crumpled bills, both of them walking out of the laundry room and down the long hall to the elevator.

David followed them into the lift and waited. They jabbed the button for their floor.

They both walked down the hall, almost together.

The scrapper peeled off first at their door, only a handful of steps before David’s. They shared a wall. He only realized they weren’t carrying keys when they opened their apartment door. They hadn’t even locked it.

What a mess, he thought with a smile.

He saw them again when he was on his way to the basement to move his laundry to the dryer. They had showered and were wearing a pair of sweatpants.

They leaned against the dryer after starting it and watched him, not unlike how he’d watched them when they were stripping down an hour ago.

David let them. He’d called most people out on eyeing him in his life but this seemed like fair turn around. They started their machines and took the hall together again. This time, in the elevator, their stomach growled.

The scrapper rolled their eyes like it was a familiar nag and not a biological function reminding them of hunger.

He wasn’t sure what made him do it. He wasn’t exactly known for making the first move in making friends. “Do you like enchiladas?!

The door plinged when it opened and their neighbor looked over their shoulder at him, one eyebrow raised. The brow was split by an old scar. “What?”

“I made enchiladas yesterday. It’s too much. Do you want some?”

They were walking again, both of them moving a little slower than usual down the hall toward their doors. “Is that your way of inviting me in?”

He snorted. “I’m not inviting you in. You’ll get blood on my rug. I’m asking if you want some of the leftovers.”

Their smirk sharpened. “Do you think I don’t have food?”

He bit back a laugh, suddenly willing to bet their fridge was empty. “Forget I asked.”

They were at their door but paused.

He felt their gaze on him, considering him. He unlocked his apartment and was one step in when they suddenly said, “Okay.”

He looked back at them, standing in the hallway outside their door. They looked unsure and suddenly younger, softer. He could see the echo of what he imagined they’d been like as a kid, before they got tough. He nodded. “I’ll grab you a plate.” He held out his hand. “My name’s David.”

Their gaze flicked to his hand like trust didn’t come naturally, but they closed the distance and took it. “Darlin.”

He smiled before he could catch himself.

Luckily, they smiled back. “I know. Either my parents had a really different idea for who I’d be or they were assholes.”

David shrugged, dropping their hand after maybe a second too long of holding it to duck inside and make his way for the kitchen. “Maybe it suits you,” he said.

Darlin laughed, leaning against his open doorway. He didn’t mind if they came inside but he wasn’t sure they were willing to. Interesting. They’d leave their door unlocked but they weren’t quite ready to walk into a stranger’s apartment. “Yeah. Like calling someone tall Shorty.”

He laughed and pulled the dish out of the fridge. He cut a few enchiladas free and scooped them onto a plate. He would have wrapped it if he wasn’t sure they were going to eat it right away. He paused with it in hand and look at them. “Do you need to borrow a fork?”

Darlin’s expression bloomed in a huge grin. “Fuck you,” they laughed, holding out a hand for the food.

He crossed his apartment to put it in their hand. “See you around, Darlin,” he said.

They nodded, still smiling when they walked back to their place and inside.

David thought about that smile and that laugh all day afterward and the next time he saw them in the hall they talked more and Darlin had him wait in the hall to bring him the plate. They’d even washed it and promised they’d used soap and not just licked it clean. He tried to ignore the jolt that mental imagine sent through his whole body, but something about the way they bit their smile suggested they’d seen it too.

[splashink-games]

Cassette Beasts?

Cassette Beasts is a creature-collecting game by Bytten Studio! Record monsters on tapes, become a Ranger, and find the way off of New Wirral in this amazing adventure!

Spoilers below the cut!!

So I had a plan to write this review before I even finished the game. It was just that good. But! I managed to hold off until I at least finished the main game. Next goal: 100% and DLC! And also buying the OST when I have the chance.

Now, I'm not putting this off until the middle of the review: every musical track in this game is a certified banger. I absolutely loved the music of the game. As one person put it (while I was looking for the OST), I just didn't get tired of the music. And that's a pretty big win for a game where you have so, so many encounters and only a handful of tracks to play.

The way they implement the music is also impressive because it's narratively important. The lyrics work their way in when a fusion happens and during big story battles. The town theme's music plays when you're indoors. Plus the lyrics just feel right with its tones and atmosphere. Also the difference between the few main battle themes is just enough for one to feel more tense/exciting than the others. Just an overall great thing they have going on with the audio.

Okay with that out of the way!

Cassette Beasts is a solid game, actually pretty high tier.

Mechanically, I've seen people compare it to Pokemon. I feel like it's like a mix of Pokemon and Persona. You can record the monsters, remaster (evolve) them at five stars, with some having having special evolution requirements. Monsters can show up as bootlegs, where they're a type other than its base type, which is just like shiny hunting but more (cause there's like 12 types). And I've already killed a plastic bootleg by accident...

The moves (stickers) are mix and match, mostly according to typing. I'm pretty into it cause I love giving my party members all sorts of type coverage. I haven't particularly gone into finding weird strategies yet other than AP Refund, but I can see some cool ones thanks to needing to battle all 12 Ranger Captains.

And then you can fuse! Which I thought was interesting, and it adds an ace to go to when you're in a pinch. But you fusing means that wild monsters (and other rangers) can fuse too. Those provide some fun challenges and opportunities to find bootlegs, plus progression in post-game.

Did I mention that this game is also like a Metroidvania? Capturing certain monsters gives up to 6 overworld movement abilities and I think that's pretty neat. All of them have their uses and none of them are niche, which is a win.

The story was pretty interesting! Dropping in onto a mysterious island and trying to find a way back home is nice and simple and all the detail added around it make it engaging. The Archangels are wildly uncomfortable which I didn't expect and I loved it. Despite loving it, it still did come out of nowhere but greatly forgiven because it was right at the start (and not some random turn in the middle).

The pacing was a bit off for me though because I got like 5 out of 8 song pieces before I even defeated 4 captains or even met all the partner characters. I also don't know how relationship progress works other than fight things and rest. Thinking about it now, there's probably a reason why there a speedrun timer in that you don't have to play through all the content (8/9 archangels, no captains?), I guess.

I liked the references to all sorts of topics throughout the story and I think it's pretty interesting for the characters to be from different timelines. It makes it easy to explain weird inconsistencies.

Funny thing I did by accident for end game's story: I switched out Meredith's Regensea with an Aeroboros cause I wanted her starter in my party. And boy did that choice bite back later lol.

Graphics are also solid. The 3D world with 2D sprites reminds me of Octopath Traveller. I appreciate the non-pixel portrait art for the characters, but I would've liked it either way. The designs of the monsters and the characters are all great! Honestly, I should take some notes from them since even if there's 15+ characters, they still all have very specific designs and personalities to match.

The detail in the world is great too, like the light reflecting off the puddle or the fog that rolls in and the rain. So like weather in general.

Also, as a note just for me, I liked the fonts and font effects that they used. Very cool.

Cassette Beasts is a quality creature-collecting game! If you need another Pokemon/Digimon/Persona, here's a game for you. Or if you just want a cool turn-based RPG with cool music, that's cool too.

As always,

Enjoy gaming!

[mrsgreenworld]

Okay, so I've been obsessing over Aslaz for weeks and there isn't nearly enough fanfiction in English for them. But I learned my lesson a while ago: you wanna some fanfiction you gotta start writing it yourself 🙈😂

Here goes my first attempt at writing Aslaz.

That episode 28 final scene was so all over the place and out of nowhere. But we got what we got. There was a millisecond of adorable Aslaz but it wasn't nearly enough so I decided to sprinkle in a missing Aslaz scene that takes place after the iftar.

I don't own the show or any of the characters. They belong to the Yabani writers and the production company. This is only fanfiction.

Cross-posted on Archive of Our Own.

_____________________________________________

You Never Know Unless You Try

They finish their meal and Asi leaves his side to go help clean up. He feels her absence immediately. But also knows it's not normal to crave her presence this much at all times. So Alaz wanders off to find his brother. They talk and hug and then work together as a well-oiled machine, loading the tables and chairs into a truck. They spend time with street kids, feeding them. Later they all sit around crackling fire and sing together.

Alaz gives himself a mental high five for having been a perfectly functioning independent human being and thinks he's had enough space and given enough of it to Asi. So his eyes scan everyone gathered around the fire but don't see her. His anxiety spikes but is soothed immediately by the sight of her, standing alone at the water, staring into the distance. Alaz goes to her, leaving the crowd.

He approaches quietly and comes to stand behind her with only a few inches between his front and her back. He doesn't touch her until he feels her relax and lean back into him. Only then Alaz snakes an arm around Asi's middle, his palm coming to rest over the place where he knows her stab wound - the one that matches his own - is hidden under the layers of clothing. Alaz presses a tender kiss to Asi's temple and whispers:

"Hey! What are you doing out here all alone? Are you okay?"

Asi's hand comes over the one Alaz has on her abdomen and squeezes his fingers gently.

"Yeah, just ... Needed to breathe a little, you know. And to think".

Alaz nods, leans his head into hers and asks quietly:

"Think about what?"

"Everything. What happened. Life. Future. Us".

"What about us?" Alaz asks with a hint of vulnerability in his voice, hugging Asi a little tighter but mindful of her healing wound.

"It's just ... How's it going to be? Us?"

"What do you mean? We love each other, don't we?"

"We do. But what now? We've never been ... Well, this. We've never been normal. Just ... loud. Screaming, hitting, biting and stabbing each other with words and not only words. What are we going to do now when it's quiet, Alaz? How are we going to do this?"

"Look, I don't know how but we'll figure this out, together. This is new for me too. I've never done this before. So we just learn to walk, step by step, before we can run".

"Run where? I've never even thought about the future, Alaz. Never thought I had one".

"Well, now you have a future. We do. We can be and do whatever the hell we want".

"I haven't even finished school, Alaz. What could I possibly do?"

"Well, you can finish school, for starters. If you want to. And I know that you're a woman of many talents. You sing, you dance, you fight, you're good with a knife. Bet you could make a mean chef" Alaz says with a smile, nuzzling Asi's neck.

She lets out a small laugh and pushes at him slightly, trying to get away from a tickling sensation of his barely there scruff on her tender skin.

"I'm serious!"

"So am I!"

"You're an idiot!"

"Okay, I am. Your idiot".

Asi turns to face Alaz and looks deep into his eyes.

"Alaz ... What if we try and this doesn't work?"

"We'll never know unless we actually try. And maybe it'll work out even better than we could ever imagine. I'm ready to try. Are you?"

He waits for her response with bated breath, willing to accept anything she chooses, even though his very being is screaming at him to screw this acceptance and respecting her wishes and just make her stay with him forever. Lost in this inner turmoil, Alaz almost misses Asi's softly spoken words:

"I am ready ".

[puppyluver256]

“Don't take me for a fool! I'll have you know I was once hailed the most powerful trainer! That isn't all, either. I have a comrade with whom I've been through thick and thin! This is the first Pokémon I got, and it's been with me ever since! Okay, Pikachu! We haven't battled this much in a while! Let's keep focused!”

More Colosseum with old man Eagun! And now you know the other reason why I never put Pikachu in the piece with Red, not only did including Charizard feel more thematically appropriate with Leaf and Blue having the other Kanto starters in the art with them, I don't wanna do too many repeats and as a former champion Red obviously had more variety in his team to pick from. Ol' Eagun here basically has only members of the Pikachu family on hand XD

💖🐶 Check out my pinned post for ways to support my artwork, among other things! 🐶💖

~Likes are appreciated, but reblogs are preferred as they let more people see my artwork! If you have something to say, feel free to give feedback in tags/comments/replies as well!~

Pikachu and other Pokemon concepts © Nintendo/GameFreak Eagun and other Orre-exclusive characters/concepts © Nintendo/Genius Sonority Artwork © PuppyLuver Studios

[facetsofthecloset]

What order would you suggest reading Discworld in? :0

Oh my friend you have opened an entire Amazon warehouse of a can of worms, which is going under a cut because I'm so sorry, you've activated my trap card

1: Preamble

First, a caveat: I have not read ALL of the Discworld books yet. There's a bunch of the short stories and sort of "bonus content"-y stuff that I haven't got round to, and the last two books he wrote before he passed, (I Shall Wear Midnight and Shepherd's Crown) but I have read everything else!

So!

Ok, there are lots of “recommended reading order” lists out there for Discworld, and what they generally do is group books into subcategories based on the protagonists.

These are fine as a base structural framework to work from, but if you're asking me I'm guessing you want a more personalized recommendation, SO

It really depends on your interests! When I started Discworld I'd already been pilled on tumblr, seeing posts cross my dash every now and then (probably due to the Glorious 25th of May actually, which I'm spamming right now) about how great it was and how many books there were.

So I picked up the first book (The Color of Magic) even though everyone said don't start there, and I stuck to it because I'd kind of already decided to like the series, or at least be incredibly open-minded about it.

Listen. The Color of Magic was published in 1983, it was one of his earliest novels, and it's definitely a bit rough. But! Full of personality and chaos, from which stars will be born later on.

You can think of it as the primordial ooze, full of nutrients and ideas and things that could evolve, but kind of formless and a bit confused at the moment

2: The List

So if you're not a bit naive and desperate for a new fantasy series to be obsessed with as an adult and trusting wholeheartedly a lot of strangers online that things get really really good, and you want some proof upfront, this is my list of potential starters:

Reaper Man (Death subseries #2)

Witches Abroad (Witches subseries #3)

Feet of Clay (City Watch subseries #3)

The Truth (Industrial Revolution subseries #2)

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (YA standalone that takes place in the Discworld)

Going Postal (Industrial Revolution #4 or Moist von Lipwig subseries #1)

You'll notice that I've picked almost none of the "first book" in a subseries and I have good reasons for that! I'll talk about each book individually, but my main reason for starting you off a little ways into each subseries is that the Vibes(tm) of the very first book in a subseries are very different to the actual overall Vibes(tm) of the subseries generally, once it's had time to fill out and ripen a bit.

The books I've picked are the "early but recognizable" stages of most of the series', because I think you can go back to read the first ones as a sort of prequel treat for yourself later once you've started to run out of books in the series, which happens faster than you think given there's 41 of them.

But I'll go into more detail about that with the individual books! Again, I am so sorry this is so bloody long. I'm having coffee as we speak

3: List Breakdown

Reaper Man (Death subseries #2):

“What can the harvest hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man?”

Protagonist: Death (the anthropomorphic personification)

Summary: Death is fired from his job for caring too much, and has to go live as a farmhand. In his absence, things start to get weird, leading to zombie wizards and sentient shopping carts.

Why start here: Death as a character shows up all over the place in Discworld, and he's wonderful. This is the 11th book in publishing order, and one of the first that had me almost crying at the end. A lot of the earlier books had me kinda going "ok that was fun but I feel like I'm missing something, why is it people keep going on about this series?" and while this book doesn't quite yet answer that question, it gave me a hell of a lot of motivation to keep going.

The Death subseries book before this, Mort, is also good! If you want to start there, that's fine. But to me, it's a prologue, and doesn't give you an accurate picture of what the Overall Vibes of the series are. Reaper Man is still also kind of a prologue in that sense, seeing as Death is not even the protagonist for all of the Death books, but I still say it's a good place to start. It sets the groundwork for future books but also...

...man that quote about the harvest, and yes the summary sounds absurd and it is because it's not just fantasy, it's parody and comedy, but in the same book you'll have moments where you just have to stare at the wall for a bit unsure if you're going to reach enlightenment or burst into tears.

Reaper Man is a very wholesome, funny, and casually profound place to start your Discworld journey. It's early in the timeline of the Disc, you get a taste of the Wizards subseries as well, and you can see how important settings like Ankh-Morpork, the main city, start out. One thing I love about Discworld is how it grows, so starting out earlier in the in-universe timeline can be nice to get the full effect of seeing that.

A later Death book, Hogfather, is one I would recommend someone read if they were under some kind of curse where they could only ever read 3 Discworld books ever, and of course you could jump right to that one.

But if you want a bit of build up and additional context, you can start with Reaper Man.

Witches Abroad (Witches subseries #3):

Lily: You'd have done the same. Granny: No. I'd have thought the same, but I wouldn't have done it. Lily: What difference does that make, deep down? Nanny Ogg: You mean you don't know?

Protagonist: The Witches/Granny Weatherwax

Summary: Magrat Garlick, youngest of Lancre's witch coven trio, inherits a fairy godmother's wand, and thus also a fairy goddaughter, named Emberella. Unfortunately, Emberella lives very far away in Genua, and none of the witches really know how to make the wand work, and hardly any of them have left Lancre much at all before, let alone gone all the way to fantasy New Orleans. And Magrat's the one who got the wand, so she really should be the one taking point on this, but Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax can hardly let the youngest, soppiest, and wettest-behind-the-ears witch of their coven go off and make fairy tales on her own, can they? They've got a happy ending to make, and a bad witch to find...

Why start here: More into witches and fairy tales? Like a good Cinderella parody? Want to know how to stop spelling bananananana daquiri? Well, Nanny Ogg actually can't help you there, but you can get the other stuff.

Granny Weatherwax, along with Samuel Vimes of the City Watch subseries, is the beating heart and deeply, calmly furious soul of Discworld.

She is THE Witch. Witches don't have leaders, but Granny is the First among equals.

You can meet her earlier in the series, in Equal Rites or Wyrd Sisters, but Witches Abroad are when things start to come together in terms of tone and style for the Witches subseries, at least for me. Like Reaper Man, Witches Abroad is fairly early in the in-universe timeline as well as #12 in the publishing order, right after Reaper Man. Between the two, you can get a decent idea of the early form of the Disc, though I'd add in Guards! Guards! to complete that picture.

On its own, it's a fun romp full of recognizable parodies and interesting twists, a good old fashioned road trip. And it punches you in the face later about the nature of morality and how people think, about identity and choosing who you're going to be.

It won't make sense unless you've read it, but I think about a scene towards the end and the line "This one," all the time. Start here, read the other Witches books, have a Granny Weatherwax permanently etched into the back of your mind, reminding you about the difference between thinking and doing.

Feet of Clay (City Watch subseries #3):

“You couldn't say 'I had orders.' You couldn't say 'It's not fair.' No one was listening. There were no Words. You owned yourself. [...] Not 'Thou Shalt Not'. Say 'I Will Not'.”

Protagonist: Samuel Vimes

Summary: Commander of the City Watch, Samuel Vimes, now officially a Sir and married into the ranks of Ankh-Morporks elite, must have a coat of arms made. Thank gods there's been a murder for him to focus on instead. Someone's poisoning the Patrician--Lord Vetinari--too, and something strange is happening with the city's golems...

Why start here: This is it. For me, this was the book that made me go "Oh. That's why everyone loves this series." Every book up to this point had been interesting, funny, engaging, but as yet a little underbaked compared to the hype--until here.

Feet of Clay was the point of no return for me as a Discworld fan. This is the start of Sam Vimes, the man who IS Ankh-Morpork in many ways, the character you think of first when someone says "Discworld" (or boots. The "Sam Vimes Boots Theory of Economics" seems to travel outside of Discworld circles sometimes, from what I've heard.)

The City Watch books prior to this are all important to the formation of Sam Vimes as we know him mainly, which is why most people tend to start you off with Guards! Guards!. Totally legitimate place to start, but if you're going into it after being stuffed full of hype on tumblr and elsewhere, you're going to go "Hm. Is that it?"

Feet of Clay is #19 in publishing order, around midway through the series and part of what I've seen referred to as the "golden age" of Discworld books. As far as in-universe time goes, it's a bit farther along than Reaper Man or Witches Abroad, but not hugely. Things are established and the swing has been grasped, and Sam Vimes in freshly fully baked. (I keep using the word because it's relevant to the story lol) He'll go on from here to even greater heights, but this is a damn good start into Vimes being Vimes.

Now I will caveat this with a warning that if you are so ACAB that even seeing the word "cop" makes you break out in hives, then you probably shouldn't read City Watch books.

But I will say, policing as Sam Vimes does it is different from the modern American police. Obviously. This is fiction, it's based more on older English policing, it's a fantasy world, and Sam Vimes would be the first person to tell you that a cop who isn't a bastard is a liar, which is just another type of bastard.

It isn't pure uncritical copaganda, it's closer to Brooklyn 99, not CSI Miami, but if your stance is that making the protagonist a police officer we are meant to relate to at all is irredeemable, then yeah, this isn't going to work for you.

But so much of the Watch series--arguably all of it-- is about asking the question How do you be a good copper? What is a good copper? What is good? How do you be 'good' when you know that inside your head you're a messy, problematic bastard who thinks he knows better than everyone and has authority to abuse?

Who watches the watchmen? Sam Vimes. He watches himself, all the time. Maybe you won't agree with his conclusions, and I've heard people say the later Watch books where Terry's Alzheimers was progressing were too White Savior, but that's something you'd have to decide for yourself if you decide to keep reading.

For me, the City Watch books are the heart of Discworld, and they are absolutely worth engaging with.

Feet of Clay is a pretty classic and fun murder mystery, coupled with serious discussions of personhood and slavery, and has a plotline dealing with a lot of gender stuff that is expanded on in later books. It's far enough along in the series that the basics are established, and early enough that there is a lot of interesting development to look forward to.

I haven't reread it in a while, but it will always hold a special place in my heart for being the book where Discworld clicked home and became a permanent part of my psyche.

The Truth (Industrial Revolution subseries #2):

“The truth has got its boots on,” he said. “It’s going to start kicking.”

Protagonist: William de Worde, standalone

Summary: Printing presses were not allowed in Ankh-Morpork. Alas, times were moving on, and brought with them The Times, Ankh-Morpork's very first newspaper. William de Worde finds himself falling into the role of the Disc's first journalist. It starts with innocent stories of humorous vegetables and debates over when the coldest winter was, and ends with an attempted assassination (several, in fact), a shadowy conspiracy, a dog's testimony, and daddy issues (doesn't it always).

They say a lie can run around the world before the truth has got its boots on, but William's got a shoehorn and is prepared to tie some laces.

Why start here: Drop into an almost fully-established and stabilized Ankh-Morpork, watch a new technology drop into it and see the ripples. The Truth is categorized as an Industrial Revolution book, but it's also a standalone. You can know nothing about the Discworld and still have a damn good time.

It's honestly one of my favorites, possibly the favorite, owing to the presence of Otto Chriek, vampire photographer (called iconographers on the Disc) to The Times and also my favorite Discworld character ever number 1 no contest hands down don't talk to me. (Are there "better" and "more important" Discworld characters? Of course. Doesn't mean jack when it comes to personal favorites though, does it. Otto Chriek my beloved my darling my heart and soul this is his first appearance and after this he only gets mentioned in passing in the background of other books although he occasionally does get a whole scene and some dialogue I'm Normal About Him)

Ahem. Anyway.

If you want a good taste of what Terry Pratchett's writing is like overall, just one good sampler, this is a pretty decent choice. It's neat and contained but also has a lot of ties to the rest of the series that you could easily pull on if you wanted to. It's sometime after Feet of Clay, timeline-wise, but is really the start of the Industrial Revolution of Discworld proper, and you can make an argument for it starting off a second stage (maybe a silver era?) of Discworld books, in terms of publication order. There's Ankh-Morpork pre-newspaper, then there's Ankh-Morpork post-newspaper, and this is obviously the dividing line.

Because of that, it's possible that it would be slightly disorienting to read this first and then go back to an older pre-newspaper Discworld, because the dynamics are different. But that's one aspect of the series that I love, how it has its own historical eras. "Ah, this story is still in the Century of the Fruitbat, before the introduction of printing presses in Ankh-Morpork" or "Oh, this is from the post-clacks society," stuff like that.

It's a huge part of what makes Discworld feel like a real, entire universe, and how different books in the series feel like snapshots of their history. And history can be funny, profound, horrific, ironic, fascinating, and above all, human.

Even if "human" in the Disc doesn't cover nearly everyone. Barley anyone, you could argue. They have a lot of different species.

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (YA standalone):

“People were people, even if they had four legs and had called themselves names like Dangerous Beans, which is the kind of name you gave yourself if you learned to read before you understood what all the words actually meant.”

Protagonist: debatable but I'll say Maurice (a cat. standalone)

Summary: The trouble with magic is that you never know what it'll do. Sometimes, it turns a bunch of rats (and one cat) from dumb animals into The Clan and Maurice, who work together with a human boy named Keith to run a Pied Piper scam.

Keith is human, and talks to other humans, offering to rid them of their town's rats, and The Clan pretend to be charmed by his flute and make a show of leaving town. Maurice--well, he's the brains of the outfit and makes sure no one grows too much of a conscience over the grift, and that he they get paid properly. And everyone likes cats.

One of the towns they come across, though...something is wrong here. There are no rats, or...are there? What is a rat, anyway? What's the difference between a rat and a Clan rat? What's the difference between a Clan rat and a human? Or a Maurice?

That was the problem with thinking. Once you started, you went on doing it.

Why start here: Similar to The Truth, a good way to get a decent, well-rounded sampling of Prachettian writing. You've got the parodic element in the Pied Pier story, some genuine horror in the antagonist of the story, existential questions on the nature of sentience and personhood, puns that you won't even realize are puns until you come across an explanatory post on tumblr, as well as the puns that hit you in the face and kick you in the fork and make you go "Fucking hell. More please!" Just because it's YA doesn't mean it's any lesser, it's just a slightly different tone of voice.

I don't remember exactly what era of Discworld it takes place in, but it's later in the publication order and I think timeline-wise, definitely after The Truth? I'm pretty sure newspapers exist at this point. It doesn't matter as much, since most of the story takes place outside of Ankh-Morpork. Either way, it's very accessible, a decent one-and-done. There's a rat named Dangerous Beans, who was voiced by David Tenant in the recent animated film. (Not a good adaptation but you could watch it. It's. Well not the worst, as Discworld adaptations go, but it's like. Fine. Kinda weird. Kinda boring. Read the book.)

Going Postal (Industrial Revolution #4, or Moist von Lipwig #1):

“Raise the stakes! Always push your luck because no one else would push it for you.”

Protagonist: Moist von Lipwig

Summary: Professional conman Albert Spangler is hanged for his crimes, and reborn as Moist von Lipwig--his actual birth name. His new lease on life comes with the caveat of resurrecting the long-defunct Ankh-Morpork Post Office as Postmaster General. As a consummate liar and career criminal, he's a perfect fit for government service.

And he's just in time--The Grand Trunk clacks company, under its newest management, has been plagued by enshittification. Once able to relay messages across the continent "at the speed of light," now it's expensive, breaks down constantly, and runs on the blood of its workers. But messages still have to get through, and you can't send a package by semaphore. The world needs the Post, and the Post needs Moist von Lipwig.

Him? He needs a new name. And a way to get rid of his golem parole officer...

Why start here: Moist von Lipwig is a late addition to the canon and only stars in 3 books (one of which is distinctly different in style, owing to the advancement of Pratchett's Alzheimer's at time of writing), but he is just about as crucial to Discworld as Granny Weatherwax, Sam Vimes, and Lord Vetinari. He's a grifter who's all about style, and holy shit is he good at it.

To me, Going Postal is a perfect book, and the sequel Making Money is somehow even better. I got my friend hooked on Discworld by reading a passage out of the sequel to her and subsequently read her the entire book and Going Postal after. Get past his name, and Moist von Lipwig is all you've ever dreamed of in terms of entertainment.

The Moist books (lol) are formatted a little bit differently to the others, as it's one of the only Discworld books to have formal chapters and sort of chapter summaries? I'm not sure why this is but I think it has to do with Moist being, well, Moist. Everything in his life is a show and so his books also have a bit of extra set dressing.

I think if you read Going Postal and Making Money and those were the only Discworld books you ever knew about you'd still be obsessed madly in love and fanatic about the whole series. Moist comes into things when Ankh-Morpork is already pretty much fully-fledged, and he could have been the beginning to a new era. As his presence inclusion in the Industrial Revolution series implies, he brings about a lot of huge structural/technological changes to the Disc and it's amazing to watch it unfold.

Going Postal also has the distinction of having one of the only decent Discworld screen adaptations (look I haven't watched all of them and I'm really sorry if there's a BBC version or something that you really love, but the ones that I've seen so far are mostly...either really low-budget and weird or just boring). I'd say if you watched the movie version and liked it, you'd like the book even more but not in spite of the movie, you know? Charles Dance is in it as Lord Vetinari and aside from his hair not being black he's fucking perfect. You cannot go wrong here.

4: Conclusions

I'm sorry this got so LONG AHH

But! What you choose to read as your first Discworld book imo depends hugely on what your interests are and why you're interested in the series to begin with.

If you just want a quick way to see what all the fuss is about, I'd say any of the standalones or Moist books.

If you want a sample of how it unfolds and grows and are willing to put some time into it, start with Reaper Man and maybe read down the list I made, then go back and read the other books in their respective subseries. Or pick one that you liked a lot and follow that subseries first!

If you're really willing to put in the time and want to understand the series as a whole, do what I did and start with The Color of Magic and go by publication order. You're going to need a bit of patience and be generous at first, wait for things to develop, but for me it's been worth it. Again, if you have the time though. I mean, it is 41 books.

Or, if you're into a bit more chaos than that...use a random number generator and read whatever it tells you. Honestly, even books in longer subseries's are self-contained and pretty readable on their own, you just get more context if you read it "in order." The roulette approach is perfectly viable.

I mean, I do have Discworld books that I'm not as fond of, but none where I'd say you should never read it.

Even my least favorite (Interesting Times, part of the Wizards series) has a lot of redeeming qualities and I reread it a couple times before I decided maybe I didn't like it as much. (It's mostly because they go to fantasy East Asia and it's a bit Asian Monolith-y. Look I love Pratchett but he was a white British man who started writing in the late 70s/early 80s y'know? He's good but not perfect. The Wizards series has a lot of traveling around the Disc and a lot of like, racial stereotypes involved. Which is a shame because I do love the main protagonist of the series (Rincewind), it just personally makes me a little uncomfortable.)

That said, I don't hate it.

There are no Discworld books I regret reading. There's just ones I enjoyed even more than the others, and ones that have been permanently absorbed into my soul. You really can't go wrong.

This concludes my Starter Discworld dissertation I'm so sorry but you did ask 💦

[goldennightengale]

HELLO!!! I saw your post about the symbiote! reader and wanted to make a request!

Requested!character dates a pokemon trainer!s/o who owns a variety of pokemon *you can pick the pokémon* but their Pikachu is always out of his pokeball and following them wherever they are? Like?? Imagine the bickering between Grim and Pikachu?!

Pikachu: Pika pi....PIKA!!!! *cheeks literally begin to spark*

Grim: Shut yer yappin! I, the great Grim, only stole your food because yer was too slow!

Can you do this request with the dorm leaders? If not, you can do it with three characters of your choosing! Thank you so much!

Warnings: slight mention of eating live Pokémon (Appletun), existential crisis (Ruggie)

Gender Neutral MC

Pikachu, I choose you!

You were so close to completing your final challenge. Standing in front of the final Pokémon Gym, you were prepared to risk it all for your dream of becoming a master trainer. Your Pikachu, a sweet little thing you named Poppy after her love for poppy seeds, nuzzled into your cheek.

She was there with you every step of the way. From the day you chose your starter Pokemon, Poppy had been growing alongside you in both strength and determination. She shared your pain and joy, your tears and frustrations, and listened to your stories of your family every night. She was practically a part of your family by now.

So now you stood together at the final hurdle. You steeled your breath and slowly turned the handle to the battle room, slowly pushing through before the ground beneath you shattered. You screamed and clung to your Pikachu, falling through the void into an adventure you’d never imagined for yourself…

Trey Clover

When I tell you Poppy adores this man 

Literally was attached at the hip the second she met him because he made her blueberry poppyseed muffins

Was he trying to use her as an excuse to see you more often?

Maybe…

Don’t worry, he made sweets for you too!

He really likes your Alcremie and Appletun, though he does find it funny you had sweet themed Pokémon in your world

Yes, he is slightly mortified by the fact that children will just walk up to Appletun and start eating it and it would let them do it

Does not understand when you say he looks like a Shaymin

Rook Hunt

Poppy unintentionally started a never-ending game of hide-and-seek with him and even now you don’t understand what is happening

She can find Rook no matter where he hides and he loves it

It’s like when a cat stares into a corner at something you can’t see

They have fun and you don’t really mind (though you do get spooked occasionally)

Gets along best with your Decidueye and Froakie, though your Eevees feel a bit nervous when he’s around too long 

He mentioned their tail fur being quite the rewarding trophy and now they kinda fear him

Whoops… 

Ruggie Bucchi

Poppy and Ruggie are now partners in crime

She loves when he gives her a portion of his spoils and he is grateful for Poppy’s small size

Great for getting into those hard-to-reach snack dens certain Savanaclaw students make around the campus

Poor you having to clean up their mess and apologize for your little thieves

He adores your Mightyena and Zoroark and definitely gets them involved in the shenanigans 

Has a slight crisis over you owning a whole ass HYENA POKEMON

Howdy, hey! Sorry for this being such a short post. I have been a bit drained from writing so many things and the fact that I haven't been too involved in Pokemon gave me quite a struggle while writing this request. I hope you enjoyed it regardless of the length, and maybe I shall rewrite this to better suit your request.

I hope my work fulfilled your fantasy! - GN

[ecogirl2759]

Welp-

I reblogged this post earlier, and I wanted to elaborate on my stance since I messed up my reblog and my message didn't show up :(

LONG ramble about Taka and Ishida under the cut :)

(Spoilers and death and all that good stuff, as well as a couple screen caps)

Heads up:

Just real quick, I'm gonna make a couple points based on this snapshot from an old interview. Here's the source. (I will translate some parts of this below, too.)

OKAY

SO

For starters, I don't think Taka was ever meant to survive.

I really think he should have, but I don't believe he was ever going to. Hot take, ik lol

As basically everyone knows by now, Taka was meant to kill himself in Distrust. That ended up being changed since the whole suicide plot would've been revealed too early for people's liking, so that point was given to Sakura. So even before the game was refined and shipped, Taka was going to die. (Edit: OKAY this info is actually false. Leaving it in so that people can read what I had originally said, but this part is NOTTTT ACCURATEEEEE okay thanks)

Taka's FTEs also stopped when he changed into Ishida, and while Ishida had one unused FTE, it was only one. I doubt there was ever much planned for Taka past Chapter 4 (maximum), so they decided to just kill him in Chapter 3.

Kodaka did speak a little bit about what he had wanted Taka's death to feel like, so I think that's pretty solid evidence that he was always going to die.

[ROUGH TRANSLATION:] [Kodaka: You could say that. However, even in a sad situation, I didn't want to make it [his death] cruel/brutal, so when it comes to it, it was on purpose.]

Ishida was also not a very well-received character lol.

Apparently, when the game first came out, Ishida was one of the least liked characters in the whole game. The staff also didn't care for him much, so they probably wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible.

[ROUGH TRANSLATION:] [Komatsuzaki: I felt like the characters were weaker when combined (laughter).] [Kodaka: That [Ishida's FTE] was also scrapped, and almost all of his appearances were lost. For that reason, Ishimaru himself was very popular although Ishida wasn't popular in the slightest. It's unfortunate... (laughter).]

The wordage here makes me think that there were originally going to be more chances for Ishida to appear, but that was thrown out in the earliest stages of planning. [ボツ roughly means "rejection (of a manuscript, etc.)]

Kodaka DID want to dive deeper into Ishida's character, though! He said so here:

[ROUGH TRANSLATION:] [Kodaka: I wanted to dig a little deeper regarding Ishimaru and Oowada's union, "Ishida," though...]

However, not even the interviewers really cared for Ishida lol.

Also, just to bring it up, here's where the claim for Taka's nonexistent backstory comes from, as far as I can tell:

[ROUGH TRANSLATION:] [Kodaka: I thought about depicting that [his experience in junior high] a little more in his Free Activity part, but that was becoming too dark/gloomy, so it was retired.]

So it's not that he had one that was scrapped after he died. He never had one to begin with.

MIGHT I REMIND PEOPLE OF ALL THE CRIMES IN THIS SERIES?? WHAT COULD BE DARKER THAN, LIKE, MUTILATION, SA, SH, SEWERSLIDE, ECT ECT????

The staff do agree that he was rushed, though. Kodaka admitted that he probably rushed his death a little at the end, but he was trying to achieve a certain feel with it.

[ROUGH TRANSLATION:] [Sugawara: Ishimaru's facial expressions were fairly abundant, but I felt like his time to die seemed too quick to carry out.] [Kodaka: Be that as it may, I feel I was too quick regarding Ishimaru. But, I really wanted the event when Ishimaru died to be like Robert Rodriguez's "Desperado".]

Now, I haven't seen Desperado, so I have no idea what this reference means lol. If anyone has seen it, lmk! (Defo going on my Must Watch list hehe)

SO IN CONCLUSION:

Taka was likely always meant to die, but his character was incredibly rushed and shallow that he ended up dying without much to his backstory or personality.

It's really unfortunate, though. I've always felt like Fuyuhiko was kinda like what could have been for Taka, even on my first playthrough of the second game. Taka's character did and still does have SO much potential, including the fact that his percent chance of surviving his death is MUCH higher than any other character that has died thus far.

If there's ever a new Dangan installment, I want a Taka cameo where he didn't actually die because the freezer room basically acted as a life support system for him and slowed his circulation of blood, letting his head injury heal just enough to escape Hope's Peak some time after all the survivors are already out but before anyone comes back, but because he has severe untreated head trauma he's kinda crazy.

BUT THOSE ARE JUST MY THOUGHTS!

Sorry for the ramble hehe

[godstrayed]

before you interact please read the post! / mutuals only.

hello! it’s that time again i try to sell myself as a potential writing partner. i have written these in the past and been successful in occasionally finding roleplay partners who are interested in the same sorts of things as me. so i am looking for people who want to world build with me. i really like discussing plots, headcanons, and anything that can make me understand your muse better! i love sharing memes, drabbles, not roleplaying linearly and tossing around multiple threads! i don't need many people to write with but i really prefer to have a handful of people who i know well, am invested in their muses/feel super comfortable with my knowledge of their muses & pingpong my annoying ideas at them easily.

i tend to write lengthier things but i am okay with any length as long as it’s not one-liners! i also have zero interest in writing with someone who i will only have one thread with and never speak to again. 💀 i just rather focus on threads that will grow outside of just one single reaction! i like to think i am pretty easy to toss shit around with but i am a little shy so sometimes it takes a while for the ball to start rolling but once it is i am full-sending that shit.

so if you’re interested please GIVE THIS A LIKE and I WILL APPROACH YOU after i check out your muses/rules, if i haven't gotten around to it already! i am 100% gonna write the starter for whatever we come up with! i just ask if i take the time to write the starter that you reply to it at least once. failure to do so will result in me soft blocking since it happens so often and is super discouraging (and a waste of my time tbh). that might seem harsh but we could always write together when you do have the time or availability to reply.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ME: can call me nic! 29. cst. they/them. selective. slow replies due to work and other responsibilities. willing to make new muses for people if i really like an idea/plot! emphasis on slow activity! please keep in mind that i take a whole lot of time sometimes.

THINGS I REALLY LIKE: pacific rim, the 100, the walking dead, baldur's gate 3, queens gambit, any apocalyptic setting, harry potter series, alice in borderlands, video games, league of legends, any mcu movie, x-men series, fantasy shows/games, fairies, hunger game series, graceling & demon slayer.

TYPES OF AUS: any type of apocalypse setting, fantasy, crime aus, soulmates au, period/era verses, dystopian, slice of life, mythological, anything with werewolves, royal aus, vigilantes, & mutant aus.

VIBES: angst (tbh most of my blog is angst), fluff, horror, cliches, tropes welcome, & the occasional smut when it fits the mood.

CHARACTERIZATION: i exist in extremities. i like writing really bad villains with zero remorse or softer characters with a more righteous morality. i enjoy writing against almost everything. i am open to exploring most things and you can find out more extensively my habits through my rules.

open to any type of relationship: family/friendship/romantic/enemies. doesn’t have to be romantic. however, if it is – i always write with anyone so gender/fc/etc doesn’t every bother me. write who you want to!

be prepared to: communicate, toss around ideas, explore plots & dynamics, share your interests with me as well, & be adored / have your muse(s) adored by me & mine.

  links: muses & laws. memes. verses. wanted plots.

[archiveikemen]

life update from niki???

so erm HI EVERYONE i uninstalled tumblr for a while because i needed a break to deal with some adulting problems and other bullshit ahaha explains the lack of updates

i also haven't been paying much attention to the games my blog provides content from e.g. ikevil, ikegen, morudoru etc. because yeah ya girl is busyyy SOOOOOOOO i honestly have no idea what's going on in any of those games atm heh if you wanna give me a crash course i'm up

ANYWAY as much as i'd love to be actively uploading stories again, i don't think i'll be able to do so very efficiently for another month or two because my master hand is badly injured and i only have 9 functioning fingers left for the time being 💀💀

now the important part:

• my blog will shift its focus onto games that don't / won't have a localisation e.g. Genjiden, Morudoru — reason being that VillainsEN will be out very soon, you can enjoy the official translations there instead.

• the updated version of IkeGen's ACT II prologue is still a WIP. i'll upload it as soon as it's completed. (Uploaded! Check Genjiden masterlist.)

• very old translations such as IkeGen's ACT I prologue will be updated with better translations once i have the time to slowly proofread them (i didn't check shit when i tl-ed it 2 years ago).

• i will no longer be purchasing any paid stories i.e. anything that costs real money and also diamonds. as i transition into a new phase in life, i decided to cut down on the portion of my paycheck i spend on my 2D husbands.

• translating every single new event that comes out is also no longer something i can do; which means i'll only tl events i'm interested in / there's a high demand for it. you can feel free to ask me if i'll tl something, but that doesn't mean i'll definitely tl it.

• translation works for harrison's main story will be permanently halted — he's a starter route, you'll be able to romance him in ikevilEN very soon.

• please allow me to catch up with the morganatic idol content i've missed... i'll most likely be redoing and re-uploading all the character profiles. (Done! Check @morudoru for all future morudoru content!)

although i won't be posting a lot of ikevil from now on, i hope everyone will still remember me as liam's #1 fan (lighthearted)