#i just have to finish editing this final scene before the chapter ends

[vladdyissues]

Oh my goodness, is it true you might be updating this week? Aaaaaaah. I need to get some snacks ready!

I am! Actually, I should have updated a week+ ago but then I decided to do some chapter restructuring—because once again I wrote too much—so you’ll be getting two chapters instead of one this time. Also, I spotted some things that required correction and a little more elaboration, which is why it’s taking me a little longer than expected. I hope the wait will be worth it, though! 🍿

[seraphinitegames]

The Wayhaven Chronicles—Update 27/Sept/2024 

I’ve finished the base writing for Chapter Four, and I’ve almost finished the first edits!!

As you might be able to tell, it’s been a very productive week, hehe! :D

Chapter Four came together sooo smoothly! There wasn’t as many scenes, which helped, but also a major chunk of it was just the MC and another character, which obviously helps keeps variations of scenes to a smaller amount with so few characters—though I still had to put a good amount in to account for some very important choices with this very important character…

But there was a really specific line I wanted this chapter to end on, as I finally got to write it I was like vibrating with excitement, lol! :D It sets up not only the next chapter on a fun, if intense, note, but also the rest of the story!

After I finished writing, I dove straight into the editing! There was an important bit of ‘mirroring’ I really wanted to get into this chapter at the beginning and end for the romances, so getting to read back through and make sure that was clear but also subtle was great to check on!

The romances really are progressing now, and although I want that to be obvious through dialogue and actions, I also want it to be there in the subtler, quieter moments too. I think that’s where deeper feelings can really shine the most! More of an instinctual thing than something the characters are actively doing.

Next week, I will easily finish of the edits and rewrites for this chapter, and then move onto social media days.

Social media days will take a bit longer as I have the Autumnal Scenario Specials for Patreon to write, which is really going to get me in the autumnal mood…before jumping back into the heated summer going on for the next chapter, hehe! :D

Hope you all have the most amazing weekend! We’ll be offline as usual, so I’ll update you all again next week! <3

[speakergame]

Progress Update - 3/4/24

Hello and happy March!

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? 😅 Well, I finally have some good news for you this time: I have some actual news!

I'm happy to be able to announce at last that an update is on its way! I’ve still got some assets to make and code cleanup and testing to finish, but I should finally have something to show you soon.

I’ll put a cut at the end of this and go into more detail about the what and why of what I’ve been working on during this long and unintended hiatus, but the tl;dr is that I hope to have an update out by the end of the month, and that said update will break any saves made in Chapter 4. Unfortunate, but unavoidable, since Chapter 4 had to be recoded from the beginning 😞

I just want to thank all of you once again for sticking with me through my extended silence! Especially to my patrons who’ve put up with me putting everything on pause month after month while I dealt with my real life shit, and to everyone who’s sent me kind and supportive messages to let me know Speaker hasn’t been forgotten. It really means a lot to me.

Okay, enough of that sappy shit! I’m gonna get back to work finishing this up 😁 I’ll put out another update later this month once I have a more definite release date.

Thank you all for reading! I hope you’re having a fantastic 2024 so far, and that the rest of the week treats you kindly. See y’all soon! 💙💙💙

(For those who want a more detailed breakdown on what’s been happening and what to expect, hit the readmore)

I won’t go into the personal life stuff I’ve been dealing with this past year that has slowed down my work, but as far as the actual game goes: 

To put it simply, I just wasn’t happy with it. Some of it could be because of how many times I had to reread the same section while I was coding the scenes that would’ve taken place after the last update, but no matter how much I edited or rearranged it, I didn’t like how that scene turned out. There was something… formulaic that had been happening with the way I always laid out scenes, and a bit of stagnation in the story, character, and relationship development that bothered me.

So I rewrote it. And when I still didn’t like it, I rewrote it again. And I still didn’t like it. I thought about scrapping the whole thing on more than one occasion as I struggled to get out of the corner I’d written myself into.

Inspiration finally struck at the beginning of this year, thanks in part to another interactive novel I follow, and I really like the direction I’ve taken it now. 

Instead of the RO split scenes happening where the last one left off, Speaker, Seer, and Gavin are gonna have a chat about Things™ to move the next story arc forward. Then Speaker will get some downtime, by themself at first and then in an extended scene split with the RO of their choosing. 

All the Big Plot Things that were going to happen in Chapter 4 will be moved to Chapter 5 instead, and 4 will be a bit more of a filler episode. A deep breath before the plunge, as it were.

This split won’t just be a quick conversation/reaction from the RO, but a full on different direction for the rest of the chapter based on who you choose. Most of them will involve leaving the house; all of them will involve actual one-on-one time (or one-on-two time, as the case may be) away from the others. And though romance isn’t required, all of them will have the potential to really move the romance forward if you so choose. One or two might even have a lock-in choice (maybe. I’m not 100 percent on that, so don’t hold me to it) 

These scenes won’t be in the next update, because they’re all very complex, but the update will definitely have the Seer chat and at least some of the by-yourself stuff. The update after will have the rest of the alone time stuff (including the clothes/body CC you’ve all been waiting for), and then the one after will start the RO scenes. I think.

I may actually split the RO scenes into separate updates, and let my darlings over at Patreon vote for the order they’re released. That way I can focus on one at a time instead of trying to split my attention six ways at once.

Okay, that’s enough rambling for me today. Time to get back to work! Still got a lot to get done before this is ready, but it’s so close now.

[oneknightstand-if]

A Completely Normal Rest Stop

Update 4: Chapter 2 Part 2 - The Rest Stop

Featuring...

Merlin's Guide to Minor Enemies

A bucketload of owed texts & e-mails to the MC

Decisions of great import... just where are you sleeping in that motorhome during this Among Us game?

Shopping? Fleeing? Stalking Merlin? Chapter 2 wedding proposals? ̵S̵a̴b̷o̴t̸a̷g̵e̵ ̵t̷h̴e̶ ̷m̸o̵t̵o̴r̷h̸o̷m̷e̶/̷ Actually having a completely normal time because you sidestepped all the spooky shenanigans? (But what fun would the latter be?)

A ton of branching everywhere in the second part of this update, so try replaying again with a few different choices.

A̴ ̴C̴o̶m̴p̷l̷e̵t̷e̴l̴y̵ ̶N̴o̷r̸m̴a̶l̵ ̵G̴a̴s̸ ̶S̵t̵a̷t̷i̶o̷n̸ ̵S̴t̸o̷p̷

Nothing to see here but a completely normal gas station & convenience store at a completely normal rest stop. Moving along now.

Play the Updated Beta Test

(Since there were bugs & typos reported throughout Chapter 1 & 2, your current saves are probably going to reset to the beginning of each section of the game. If things get too wonky, you might want to try restarting from the beginning.)

*If you're getting error messages or the start screen isn't showing Version 0.22, please clear your browser's cache.

Additional Word Count (Sans Code): 200,000+

Additional Word Count (With Code): 285,000+

New Total Word Count (Sans Code): 815,000+

New Total Word Count (With Code): 1,120,000+

Average Playthrough: ~65,000+ words

Note: You can view the game code on my site the same way you do on Dashingdon just add /scenes to the end of the URL.

Next Update

Merlin's Guide to Minor Neutrals

MC may appear on TV! This might not be a good thing. And they aren't the only one, cameo appearances from a future RO

Get hit with your first mass spell of nondemonic origin

Counteract with participation in your first multiuser spell

Attempt to summon Cthulhu. Dance the macarena. Have the consequences of your own inaction potentially bite you in the arse-- I mean what?

RO #4 finally appears.

Also quick reminder that the Alpha Build of the game on Patreon updates as I complete each section, so is currently on Chapter 2-3.

Link to New Polls on the Update (Which don't auto close in a week like the Tumblr ones)

More (Fiddly) Info on the Update Behind the Spoiler Cut...

The Update Also Includes...

Added section where the devil's mark is found if you change into short sleeve clothes right before packing up to leave

Added more neutral way of deciding not to claim dibs on a past Camelot incarnation

Added more flavor text regarding the vending machine in the fencing club route

Fixed continuity bug regarding your mask while exploring the empty city

Fixed continuity bug with Adrian's text messages in the Fencing Club route (Again!)

Added Fou and Petit Cru as default names for the Arthurian lore references to the default pet names

Fixed reference to nonexistent pet at the start of the book club route (which won't be finished for awhile)

Fixed some behind-the-scenes bugs with variable incrementing

Changed brave_sir_robin & merlin_warn to numerical variable instead of true/false (might cause bugs with prior saves that triggered those flags)

Fixed a bunch of typos and smaller bugs that I've completely lost track of at this point, but pretty much guarantee every section got re-edited

[satorusugurugurl]

I Think He Knows: (Chapter Eleven)

Summary: When your novel takes off and becomes a best seller, doors of opportunities open for you. You can work on the series you have dreamed about all your life. And you’re also given the chance to stay in a tiny cottage in Europe for two years to help with inspiration! Your best friend, Geto Suguru, shatters at the news. How could he tell you how he feels when you leave him? His opportunity appears right before him when you confess that your editor thinks a change of scenery will help with your not-so-steamy romance scenes. They’re lacking a particular spice because you’re a virgin. So, Suguru does what any best friend would do. He offers to teach you how things work. Will you cross that line as friends? Or will you both say goodbye?

Pairing: Geto Suguru x AFAB!Reader

Word Count: 4,764

Warning: angsty, softness, fluff, language, mentions of illness

A/N: i’m sorry sorry for the delay!! I had a really terrible stomach virus and I was sleeping it off! Lol woke up with my laptop on my bed while trying to edit! Just one last part, and it's just going to be a final chapter no epilogue! Then I’m going to finish Single Dad Club and LSIAH! Ah!!

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Seven Part Eight Part Nine Part Ten

Why the fuck was he doing this? Why was he letting you go? I didn’t feel right; it made his stomach sick. The way your face twisted with pain and confusion when he brought you to the airport almost destroyed him. But he knew he didn’t tell you to go. It was okay. You would never get to Europe.

It didn’t matter if he hated it. As long as you were happy, that was the only thing he cared about. And you said you wanted to stay with him in Okinawa while he finished his work. He knew how much this cottage meant to you. But he also knew how devoted you were to being there for and helping him.

So it was time for him to show you how devoted he was to you.

This will hurt; it will hurt like hell, watching you leave through security. But as long as you were happy. Nothing else mattered. That pain would go through a throbbing stabbing sensation through his heart, which would turn into a more numbing tingling sensation like when his hand would fall asleep. And this wasn’t goodbye forever. It is more like an ‘I’ll see you soon.’

The way you looked up at him with tears welling in your eyes, he released his resolve and begged you to stay. If he were to do that, though, you wouldn’t get on that plane. You would have to wait another two years before you’re given an opportunity to stay at your cottage again. So he would let you go even though he didn’t want to.

“I love you,” you whispered.

“And I love you more than you’ll ever know. But you have to go and see your muse.”

You were his everything, so he had to let you go regardless of how bad it hurt. “Suguru.” Suguru smiled sadly, watching as you tried to find the words. “I-I—" he added, bringing you closer to his face. The words weren't there, but he knew what you were trying to say.

“I know, Princess. I love you too.” He pulled you in and kissed you deeply; he heard you choke on a sob before your arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer to you.

This kiss had to be the Suguru’s favorite kiss you’d ever shared. Everything he felt for you was put into the kiss. How he'd fallen in love with you, how thankful he was to have you there to help him heal, and how much he would miss you. It hurt so fucking bad to be saying goodbye. But everything was going to be okay. Suguru groaned as he felt you deepen the kiss; your grip on him tightened; you didn't want to let go, to say goodbye just yet.

However, Suguru pulled away first; if he let that kiss continue, it would end up with him begging you to stay. Contradicting everything he had told you up to this point. He pressed his forehead against yours and stared into your eyes with the softest gaze.

“You need to go. Utahime has everything for you. Text me, please. I want a tour of that little cottage the second you get inside. I want to see that smile on your face. I want you to be happy.”

“Hey, love birds, can we get a move on? We still have paperwork to sign, and I can’t do that here at the security checkpoint.” Utahime interrupted Suguru’s goodbye, which was for the best because he might have said screw the cottage, screw you leaving, and begged you to stay with him.

With a sigh, Suguru nodded as he helped put your backpack on. “Iori is right; you got stuff to do before your flight. Text me!” Watching Utahime pull you to the line, watching you look back at him, made his stomach feel like it was being twisted into a present. Suguru couldn’t believe he was standing there watching you walk away, watching you disappear down the line towards security, but he didn’t show it. He put on a soft grand or shield every time you looked back at him

He stayed in that same spot, watching you slip away with each step closer to the security checkpoint. Only when he could no longer see the top of your head did he finally peel his eyes away from you? Turning away from you was one of the hardest things he had ever had to do.

The tip of his nose began to burn along with his eyes. Tears started to swell up as he took a step forward, increasing the distance between you both. The distance would continue to grow until you were thousands of miles away. The distance might be daunting to other couples, but as long as Suguru had you in his heart, no distance would be too far.

Everything would be okay, even if it felt like the end of the world. Suguru knew this was only temporary, even though he told himself it didn’t lessen the pain.

Suguru mumbled as pain settled in his heart and stomach as he made his way through the growing crowd of the airport. God, he wished he could hear you say you loved him just one more time before you left. He would do anything, literally anything, to kiss you. To hold you tight, smell your perfume, and hear your voice in person.

“Suguru!!”

The sweet sound of your voice flooded his ears, even through the buzzing sounds of the airport. Rolling around, he watched as you shoved through the line of other travelers. You stumbled, nearly falling before you managed to catch yourself before straightening up and bounding forward. You were chasing him down like you were in one of those romance movies. Seeing you running forward, barely avoiding other people, Suguru ran towards you.

There was a certain relief in watching Suguru whirl around, eyes wide, as you called his name out. God, he could’ve cried when you watched him start running back towards you, bumping into people as if reaching you is the Aunt to poison wrecking through his body. That action, the look in his eyes, and how he moved as fast as he could only assure you that you were right about him.

“What are you doing?!” he questioned, running the remaining distance between you. “Did you forget something?”

You threw your arms around his neck, pulling him down, kissing him as hard and as deep as you could. Suguru stumbled back, going wide as he tried to process what was happening. That shot covers slowly faded as your lips feverishly against his, your hands fisting his shirt, pulling him down tighter against your height. Your boyfriend growled, his hands grabbing the sides of your face as he kissed you back with as much passion

There were no other people in the airport. You were the only two people in the country, even the world. Had stopped with the second her lips remained still when you slowly pulled away. Suguru, his forehead melting into your body as you press the palms of your hands firmly against his chest.

“You're wrong,” you whispered gently, pressing another kiss against his lips.

“I’m wrong?” his eyes focusing on yours that glittered with unshed tears, “about what?”

“The cottage being my muse, sure, was the cottage initially. It inspired my book and helped me form the story. But honestly, the cottage hasn’t been my use for a very long time.”

Your boyfriend sighs softly, eyes widening as you speak. “It hasn't?” You shook your head, leaving Suguru with more questions than answers. “So the cottage isn’t your muse?”

“No.”

“Okay, then, what’s been the source of your inspiration?”

You giggle, nestling your forehead against his. “It isn’t a what Sugu.”

“Uhm—okay then—”

“It’s you.”

He blinked, breath slipping through his lips. “W-What was that?” he wanted to make sure he had you correctly.

“You’re my muse, Suguru. You are my inspiration. Not some cottage in the middle of Europe. It’s you, my best friend, the man I fell in love with.” A relieved laugh sounded from your chest. “Suguru, it’s you, baby.”

“M-Me? It's me?”

“It’s been you so long. You helped me with research and inspired me. Fuck you’re literally Ilsan!” Tears of happiness flow down your cheeks like the words leaving your mouth. “It wasn’t the cottage that helped me with my writing. My writing has improved because of you!”

Suguru felt like his heart was in his throat. That cottage had been your everything in the beginning of your plotting and brainstorming. Your whole story was rooted in that place you had never stepped foot in, but you felt love for it. For you to tell him that the cottage, the place that had been your inspiration, was now his title, his honor, made him move without thinking.

Suguru grabbed your face as he slammed his lips against yours. He was pulling you into his chest, pinning you firmly against his body. His warmth wrapped around you, making you feel at ease, like you were at home. That was a feeling you’ve loved one you never wanted to lose.

You broke the kiss, panting heavily against his mouth, just for him to pull you back in for another. This time, you fisted your hands into his shirt tighter, holding yourself up as you tried to push yourself further against him to mold your body into his. Feeling that desperation in your touch only urged your boyfriend to kiss you harder and more profoundly, both of you seemingly forgetting that you weren’t in the comfort of your apartment, but we were in public.

The reality of the airport came back as you heard someone calling your name, but you refused to break the kiss, only deepening it. It wasn’t until there was a crashing sound near you that Suguru pried himself away from you. His tongue darted out to wet his red, swollen bottom lip as he glanced to the side. Following his lead, you turn to find Utahime. Picking up the suitcase that had fallen over while she adjusted the three bags she was struggling to carry.

“Oh fuck.” You cursed, rushing to help her with the bags. “Sorry Iori!”

Your agent gave you a look normally reserved for Gojo, which let you know she was furious. “A warning would have been nice, but no, you left me standing in line by myself with your bags. The last time I checked, I was your agent, not your maid.”

“Right, of course, I know that! I’m sorry, I just had to do something.” That special something chuckled from behind you, his hand gently massaging your shoulders.

“Uh-huh, well, now that you’re done doing,” she gestures to your boyfriend, “‘something’ we need to get going.”

Looking over your shoulder, you gave Suguru a gentle nod before looking back at Utahime. “Yeah, you’re right; we need to go.”

It was early afternoon as Suguru stood in the aquarium, looking at his progress with the mural. Paint coated his arms and face, and he glanced down at his phone to see if you had texted him at all. There had been no notifications or missed calls so far, and that just seemed to make him worry. He was just about to text himself when the plastic to the area he was working in rustled.

“I'm back!” Gojo announces, holding out a drink for his best friend. “And I brought you a drink because I alone am the best.”

“Yeah, you are.” Suguru snatched the bottle of green tea from his friend, chugging it down. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

He pushed his sunglasses onto his head before landing at Suguru's progress. “It looks great so far.” The mural was getting close to being finished. All of the base colors and shading were done. The only thing Suguru had to finish was the small details and highlights.

“Yep, I think I just need another month to finish it. I’m gonna get this done way before the deadline.”

“Oh, for sure. Are ya’ going to take some pictures for your girlfriend?”

At the mention of you, Suguru huffed a sigh before nodding. He had been working just as hard as he had lately, finishing up the first draft of your book, and the stress from that alone was draining you. Noticing the silence, Satoru smacked his hand against Suguru’s back several times before helping him grab his stuff as he took some pictures.

“Hey, she’ll be okay, man.”

“I know.”

The warm summer breeze pushed Gojo and Geto forward, hurrying them back to the condo. Suguru constantly checked his phone for any calls. He knew you had been working hard, and you were exhausted lately. You needed to take better care of yourself even when he wasn't around. That worry had him all but running up the stairs to the condo, flinging open the door to find Shoko and Nanami sitting on the couch.

“Welcome back,” Shoko said, swirling her whiskey around in her glass while Nanami was focused on his laptop. Suguru hummed, heading into the kitchen and looking around. “What, no thanks? Some host you are.”

Suguru poked his head out from the corner, cocking a dark brow in his friend's direction. “You all come to spend a week with me, and I'm being a bad host for not saying hi?” He watched as she twirled some dark hair around her finger before taking another sip.

“Ignore him, Sho, he's just worried about you know who!” Satoru butted in, throwing his arm around Suguru’s shoulder as he watched his best friend wash off his arms.

“Of course, I’m worried about her; she's been pushing herself too hard.”

“Tch.”

The sound of Nanami scoffing had Sughrh shooting a glare in the blonde's direction. “What’s with that reaction?” Suguru looked between the two, and when they said nothing, he groaned. “Or ignore me like you have been.” Nanami’s eyes finally broke their connection with his laptop as he shut it, his honey-brown eyes darkening.

“You haven't realized what’s wrong with her? I'm not even near her, and I know what’s happening. All because you couldn't keep it in your pan—”

A door opened, and Suguru snapped his attention to it, finding Utahime leaving the bathroom. She slipped her phone into her pocket and adjusted her baseball cap. She didn't say anything as she grabbed Shoko’s hand, helping her stand.

“Let’s go out for a bit, Nanami, come with us. There's a cafe down the street I wanna try.” Gojo perked up at the mention of a cafe, rushing towards the group. “What the fuck do you want Gojo?”

“I wanna come! I heard they have great sweets!”

Suguru could see the vein throbbing in Utahime’s forehead from the kitchen and underneath the baseball cap. “Fine, you can come, but you’re paying since you decided to invite yourself!” Gojo laughed out loud, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“You act like I’m not swimming in money.”

“And you wonder why people don’t like you.”

“Everyone loves me! Isn’t that right, Suguru? Come with us and tell me how much you love me being your best friend.”

Before Suguru could answer, which would be no, Utahime slammed the door to the condo open. “I didn't invite him to come with us!” Gojo winced, looking into the kitchen with a shrug of his shoulder.

“No, it’s okay. I don’t even want to go. I would rather shower and relax while catching up with my girlfriend.”

None of his friends said a word as they left the condo. He did, however, receive very nasty looks from Utahime and Nanami. Looks that sent a chill down his spine as he headed into the bedroom. Suguru had no clue why they were acting the way they were. They were treating him as if he had hurt you in any way, shape, or form, which he hadn’t. He had taken you to the airport and set up your flight to Europe. He wanted you to see your muse.

But you didn't want to go.

That day, he took you to the airport, and you had decided you wanted to stay with him. You had Utahime retract your offer, and luckily, since you hadn’t signed any of the forms, the cottage owners understood what had gone on. From their website, they had given you noticed that a young couple from Spain had rented out the cottage instead. You weren’t even upset about it; you were just hopeful they would be as happy as you were.

And you were happiest when you were by Suguru’s side.

Things have been great for you in the last month and a half. You were thriving as a couple, working on your projects at your own pace and helping each other out when you needed it, either with your research or when you needed help getting more paint. Life has been nothing but good to both until recently.

You have been feeling down and under the weather for the last week. Suguru thought it was due to the late nights and the anxiety you had due to you trying to finish the draft of your second novel. Suguru didn’t think anything of it at first. He assumed that it was just the stress and everything getting to you, but when you started throwing up two days ago, he began to worry.

He tapped his knuckles on the bathroom door. “Princess?” He asked with a frown. “Are you okay?”

From before the door, he heard you gasp before several boxes hit the floor. “Uhm! Yeah! Yeah, just a second!” Your tone wasn't all that convincing, so he knocked again.

“Look, I can hold your hair back if you're sick again. I don't mind.” When he heard you moan in embarrassment from the other side of the door, he slowly pushed it open, peeking his head inside. “That's like one of my duties as a boyfriend.”

Suguru had half expected you to sit on the ground, hugging the toilet like he had left you this morning. Instead, you had showered, and we were sitting on the edge of the tub, down on your bottom lip, picking your nails as you glanced up at him. The dark circles under your eyes were more prominent in the room's lighting. They made him want to do nothing more than throw your new laptop out the window and tell you to take a break.

“Sweetie,” he whispered, the tone of his voice enough to make your eyes water. “Oh baby, what’s the matter? What happened?”

You hiccuped, covering your face with your hands. “I-I’m sorry.” The tone of your voice was so broken, making your boyfriend rush forward, kneeling in front of his hand, gently rubbing at your knee.

“Baby, why are you sorry? You don’t have to apologize for working so hard.” When he gently rubbed circles on your knee, tears finally breached your eyes, rolling down your cheeks. “I know how important getting this done is. I think you need to take more breaks.”

God, why did he have to be so sweet and considerate? This would make what you had to tell him harder than it already was. Your hand it up, resting against the top of his own, your stomach twisted as you shook your head.

“I—It’s not that—”

Suguru's thick paint-stained fingers intertwined with yours. “What is it? You can tell me anything.”

Unfortunately, there was no easy way to tell him what was happening. So, without saying much, you picked up a box next to you and handed it to him. Suguru glanced at your face briefly before opening the box, letting its contents fall onto the closed toilet.

Several sticks, with pink lids, blue lids, and small strips, fell out. All of them had either a plus sign, two lines, or a smiley face in the center of them. He had seen them before; of course, he had it in movies and television shows, but the reality didn't seem to hit him indeed until he picked up one of the tests that said pregnant on a digital screen.

His dark eyes stared blankly at the tests, causing your anxiety to swarm like bees. He looked at each test and read the results before gulping. This was terrible, horrible; it couldn't be any worse. You felt as though you had failed him. You told him you had the IUD, which was an excellent contraceptive! But like all other birth controls, it wasn't one hundred percent accurate.

Your OBGYN had told you there was a one out of a one hundred chance of getting pregnant with an IUD, and you were that one percent. Maybe you should play the lottery.

“I’m sorry—I feel terrible; I’m sorry!” Your boyfriend said nothing. “Seriously, we have—options that we can look into; I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?”

“B-Because I told you it was fine! And now I- I’m in this—”

Suguru cut you off by holding you tight against him. “You think I’m mad at you? Princess, I’m not mad at all.” Tears in his eyes, he shakes his head, a soft smile gracing his features. “Baby, this—” he stares at your stomach, “this is amazing.” You stare at him in shock, his thumbs gently brushing away your tears as you softly cry.

“You’re not mad?”

“Baby, no, princess, come here.” He gently pulled you into his lap, his arms snaking around you, holding you close. “I love you. I have always wanted to have children with you, and God, I want to marry you. It seems we’re just doing this a little bit out of order.” He planted kisses against your cheek as his hands gently rubbed up and down your back.

“Oh—” your voice cracks, “oh, that makes me feel so much better.”

You bury your face in the crook of his neck, arms wrapping around his shoulders, holding him tight against you. “We got this baby; no matter what happens, I’m gonna be by your side.” His hand slowly trailed over your lower stomach, rubbing it gently. “Both of your sides.”

It was funny to think that soft, gentle moment in the bathroom with a condo in Okinawa would be the first stepping stone to your future. A future that was full of doctor appointments, deadlines, and diapers. An amazing, bright, happy future Suguru had only dreamed about, one you never thought was possible. But you wouldn’t change it for the world.

Your boyfriend, scratch that, your husband, had stayed true to his word. He went to have a doctor's appointment, held your hand during your delivery, and worked twice as hard to provide for you and your daughter. He spoiled you both rotten. Never once did you yearn for anything because your best friend, since you were in grade school, made sure you had everything your heart desired.

Suguru couldn’t have been happier that your IUD had slipped. Sure, your pregnancy wasn’t planned, but he loved you and Kiko more than anything. And before he knew it, three years had passed. In those three years, you had finished your second novel, and we’re working on your third, and he gained popularity over his mural at the aquarium. His commission requests grew, and he was elated that he had an opportunity to provide between raising your daughter and working full-time, but time had a funny way of coming around full circle. It was late July, and Suguru looked up at the aquarium's water tanks. Different species of fish and whale sharks swam by as a tiny little hand gripped his tightly. Looking down at his dark-haired daughter, Suguru smiled as her eyes, the one feature she inherited from you, sparkled with amazement.

“Ooh! Daddy, look!” She called out, pointing to a giant whale shark. “Fishy!”

“That’s right, baby. You did so well listening to the tour.” You praised sweetly, shifting the baby carrier to your front, where your son peacefully slept.

In that moment, Suguru took a chance to take you in. You looked tired; you hadn't been sleeping well between taking care of Satoshi and working on your draft. Neither of you had been sleeping well. Suguru couldn’t even remember the last time you guys had a vacation with just the two of you.

He wanted to take you out to spoil your rotten just you. You both needed a little vacation. Plus, your parents begged you to drop the kids off with them for a weekend or two. So, it might be the perfect time to take advantage of that. He just needed to figure out where to go. While Suguru thought of different destinations to travel, he let Kiko drag him across the hall towards the wall, where his murals still stood.

“Mommy! Mommy look it’s Uwcle Toru!” Kiko shouted pointing to her uncle. “And Uwcle Nana, and my aunties!”

“Mhmm—and whose is that right there?” You whispered, stroking Satoshi's dark hair as you pointed towards you and Suguru.

“Mommy and Daddy!”

“That’s right, my sweet girl.”

Suguru crotched beside Kiko, pointing towards Riko with a sad, melancholy smile. “And who’s that baby?”

“Riko!” Your daughter proudly announced. “I’m named after her, Nanako and Mimiko!”

Suguru kissed his little sunshine’s temple as he glanced back up at the mural, which depicted both of you holding hands while you had a copy of your book in your other hand. He stared at the painting before lingering on the book in your hand, before his eyes slowly peered back at you. Looking at the painting, he suddenly knew exactly where he would take you.

You were smiling at your daughter before you felt his gaze lingering on you. “What?” You asked softly as Satoshi yawned.

“Oh, nothing, just admiring my pretty wife.” He lifted Kiko into his arms as the four of you headed out of the aquarium, returning to the hotel you were staying at. “And I was thinking we need to take a trip just the two of us.”

“Oh really? And just where do you plan on taking me?”

He glanced back to the wall, grinning wide. “It’s a surprise.”

Forever Tag List:

@darkstarlight82 @pandoness @nealeart @simp-plague @sugurubabe @chilichopsticks @reap3erslov3 @wil10wthetree @luvsymai

INHK Tag List (TO BE ADDED AGE MUST BE IN BIO)

@lemonintrovert01 @spankmydepression @renttheannihilator @witchbybirth @missmuffinr @lialia3945 @theobsidianempress @aquasan29 @toffeebrat @aussiemeerkat @chimichangagirl @zoroisminty @spankmydepression @em-aizawa @gojosimp26 @moonlightazriel @candy-s72 @makingtimemine @strflp @angel-academia @xocandyy @holylonelyponyeatingmacaroni

[jcollinswrites]

New update 23/11/24

I can finally announce that *drumroll* chapter 2 is like 99% finished. There are a lot of things to report, so here is the most important stuff first:

What's new:

Added the rest of the scenes to ch2 on every route

I, uh... made a decision that will probably be quite unpopular. Narmer can't be romanced by late teen MCs. I was trying to make it work, but the scene just felt... off. Until I realized I already wrote down the answer to the problem in this ask. So, yeah. Sorry about that. I adjusted the age warnings in the beginning of ch2 accordingly.

If you played the previous update, you'll notice that some of the previously greyed out choices disappeared. That's intentional because:

I felt like an extra scene in the tavern with Tabiry was unnecessary because you'll talk to her right after it anyway

I felt like it was unfair to the non-RO companions to appear together with the ROs where you have to choose between who you want to spend time with on the boat. Let's be honest here, everyone will choose the ROs anyway lmao. So I decided to put the non-RO scenes somewhere else in ch3 where you won't have to choose between them. If you are playing a no-romance route, then you'll just get the friend-only scenes anyway with the ROs.

Next week, I'm going to tidy up the code a bit, and put some more variations in the ch2 scenes because I noticed that some were lacking. I will also edit some scenes that I wasn't satisfied with.

After next week, the regular weekly updates will move to patreon (which isn't open yet but I'll work on that next week too). However, I will still update the public demo! 😌 I think maybe once a month, or when enough new content collects to make a nice hefty update.

The cogdemos website introduced local saves this week. That means that you don't have to be logged in to make saves anymore. In fact, you can make an infinite amount of saves like that because you can export them into your own device, and you can also restore them the same way!

I'm also starting to see the end of the move-in to the new apartment. I'm still elbow-deep in wall paint, but I think I can slowly return to my regular schedule.

Old saves in the game should work, as long as you saved before the new content (so around the time you step on the road to Abydos at the radish field).

Edit: NO I'M WRONG! Saves made in CH1 after 15th of Nov will work. CH2 saves will always tank. Sorry 💀💀💀

LINK

Happy reading and please send feedback! I am especially curious of what you guys think about the BIG MASSIVE SPOILERS 👀 (I won't answer spoilery asks for a little bit, but you can still discuss spoilers freely in the proper Discord channel. I'm much faster to answer there anyway)

JC

[ranticore]

I've often seen people ask you for drawing advice(which yes absolutely!) but what kind of writing advice could you give someone who wants to start? (or just narratives as a whole)

Ok my biggest advice and the thing I always spend most time on when editing is that u should tell the audience way less than you think you should tell them. Provide information sure but don't draw connections and don't hold a reader's hand. Like for example one minute ago I was reading over a paragraph with the final two sentences (paraphrased): "The word 'faery' didn't quite make it out of his mouth [in reference to himself]. He'd never thought of himself in those terms" and my editing comment was to nix that last sentence entirely because it's just saying out loud what the previous sentence is telling us, like holding ur hand and pointing at it saying "hey this is what that last sentence meant btw". it's easy to end up with a lot of that but you need to go back and cut all of those out. think about a reader drawing their own judgements, how much more engaging it is

Other random stuff I've picked up over the years

Kerb your worldbuilders disease ur writing a story not an encyclopaedia

Read your paragraph aloud to identify repetitive or weirdly structured sentences

There should be a clear causal chain running the length of the narrative - x happened because of y, which happened because of z, and so on. No matter how many links in the chain you should know it start to finish

Written media gives you an unlimited time budget, a reader can take as long as they like with it. You don't have to make it quick and snappy. You get to show & explore things that visual media can't, so take advantage of it. Also ditch every piece of writing advice which is like "trim all the fat and also imagine camera angles and scene cuts like it's a movie" because it's not a movie and you aren't constrained into a short runtime.

First draft is rough it's supposed to be rough just write it

It's impossible to write dialogue that nobody would ever say.. easy to scoff and think "nobody talks like this" but they do

I can't in good conscience advise everybody do this but the slush draft (draft 0 as it were) of stbh was narrated entirely in first person by the pov character in each chapter, with the framing device that they were explaining their actions to a judgemental third party. This was just done for fun before any other world building or even plot it was just to get the characters right first & to sort out how they would attempt to justify their actions, when they'd try to make themselves sound better (or worse), and just their voice in general. It ended up being absolutely invaluable

[ataleofcrowns]

CH11 Release Dates

Hellooo, hope your summer is going well so far 🌻

It's been a while since I gave a solid update but I wanted to wait until I was absolutely sure I could finally announce the CH11 release dates.

I'm at 62k words at the moment, having finished A's route and filling in the last scenes for D's route as well. The drafts for each LI route will be finished within the week, but there are some portions I'm not completely happy about, so I will have to take time to do rewrites as well. I've already been doing a LOT of editing of the past month lol.

But, I can finally get started on writing the last 15-20k words that consist of the main plot for this chapter!! It does mean that if I want to make it in time for an early access release, it might be a situation where only the LI routes are released for Patrons, and then the full chapter will be released together with the public release.

Hopefully it won't come to that, but I've never written a chapter this huge before, so I'm letting you know just in case that ends up happening!! As for the release dates:

Tier 3, Crown: August 17

Tier 2, Successor: August 24

Tier 1, On the Run: August 27

Public release: August 31

So there you have it!! I'll also be opening up beta reader applications during the coming weekend, so keep an eye out for it.

That's it for now!! Until next time 💖

[insert-witty-user-name-here]

Lokius Fic Recs

Less than 10K words, Season Two Edition

Admittedly, I am very behind reading all the fabulous fics that came out after season 2 so I’m sure I’ve missed some gems. Nonetheless, sharing a few of my favorite post-season two Lokius fics, less than 10K words.

See my less than 10K season one Lokius fic recs here. And Lokius multi-chapter fics here.

If you’re looking for…

Angst with a hopeful ending (aka post S2 reunions or near reunions)

Come back. even as a shadow, even as a dream. by harleygirl2648- Loki and Mobius, steal what moments they can together following the events of season two and eventually find a way to make it permanent.

time will pass, darling (but my feelings, they won’t) by burnthatbridge- Another! Loki and Mobius steal what moments they can together following the events of season two and eventually find a way to make it permanent. (Okay this one is just over 15K words).

Serendipitous by emilieee- Mobius dreams of all of the moments over the centuries that he had forgotten. Meanwhile, Loki tries to find his way back to Mobius.

auld lang syne by Mirilya- Mobius experiences the first New Year's Eve that he can remember… and finds something worth celebrating.

Purpose Shared by tishae- Loki hears Mobius across the timelines and finds his way back.

Dream of me by Tears_and_smiles- (explicit) Mobius falls asleep in his motel bed and disappears into his dreams to find Loki. When he gets there, they share a night of pleasure.

with, no withouts by dinosuns- Sylvie and Mobius deal with the aftermath of Loki’s decision and begin to make a plan to get him back. (I remain delusional/hopeful that this fic will be finished. Regardless, the first chapter is spectacular on its own).

Their Burden to Bear by PerpetualDaydream- listed as Sylkius but vague to ship whoever you like. Focused on Mobius and Sylvie finding Loki and deciding to save the multiverse together.

Tell Me Some Things Last by Tears_and_smiles- Sylvie and Mobius work through the aftermath of Loki’s decision. Lots of healing vibes (and Sylvie and Mobius friendship my BELOVED).

Angst with little comfort, but beautiful:

Off The Beaten Path by ChaosAndOrder- Mobius deals with the aftermath of Loki's choice and makes one of his own. No reunions here but a gorgeous character introspective with a hopeful ending.

After They Left by ebeatrice- told from an OC POV, a TVA agent reflects on how much quieter the TVA is now after they take over Mobius’ old desk.

Centuries by TheVulcanBobDylan- (explicit) Throughout the centuries, Loki seeks comfort in the arms of different Mobius variants.

I know what I want by beandogger- (explicit) During one of his timeslips, Loki shares one more moment with Mobius before facing his fate.

Season two finale canon divergent fix its:

Let Us In by DewdropReader- How it should have ended IMO. Loki is convinced that the only way to save everyone he loves is to carry the burden of the multiverse. Sylvie and Mobius aren’t willing to allow it. What if instead of sacrificing himself, Sylvie and Mobius were able to stop Loki and were able to convince him to let them help. (I’m a big believer in The Power of Friendship endings and will always crave them.)

Kissed You Atop The Ferris Wheel by kittyhazelnut- Loki accidentally freezes time. He and Mobius share (no spoilers) a ✨moment✨. The next time Loki timeslips, things are different.

Missing Scenes, Season Two:

Portraits of your fidelity by Aliencritters- After the events of episode S2, ep1, Mobius convinces a panicking Loki to calm down and take a much needed break.

remember me (for centuries) by bookinit- Loki and Mobius throughout his timeslips.

No Time to Rest by startingatmidnight- (explicit) After the events of S2, ep1, Loki and Mobius sleep together, literally and otherwise ;). (I am obsessed with Mobius’ characterization here. Snarky, manipulative yet deeply caring Mobius, my beloved)

once more to see you by thumbbird- canon divergent S2, ep5, a Don/TVA!Loki fic! Loki has lost TVA Mobius and is determined to make a life for himself with the only Mobius left—timeline Single Dad Don. But how long will Don remain ignorant of the strange circumstance that brought them together? Obsessed with this pairing!

Fluff:

Camellia by 19960821- Settled on the timeline with Mobius, Loki thinks about how far they've come while gardening.

The Veins and The Branches by Love_is_Green- Loki reflects on his and Mobius’ journey while listening to a thunderstorm.

Lokius Fluffuary by blackbirdofasgard- okay I technically haven’t read these ones yet but I adored blackbirdofasgard’s last Fluffuary fics so including their latest here too.

And that’s it for now! My to-read list is miles long so excited to dig in more to the fabulous post S2 fics.

Happy reading!

[steamberrystudio]

07/07/2024 Tumblr Devlog

Hallo everyone!  Time for the tumblr update! Whii~iich I think I may have skipped a couple - it looks like I did that annoying thing where I wrote up an update and *forgot to post it*. 

Sorry about that! 

So what have I been doing lately? Well. Lemme tell ya.

I wrote 23,000 words this week, for one. I am ded. ┗( T﹏T )┛

But let's jump into the details because in the most recent update I see, I was still revising chapter 10.

Summary:

Finished revising, proofreading, and formatting chapter 10

Revised Asher ending sequence

Revised Daaz ending sequence

Finished drafting Kav's endings sequence

Finished drafting Noel's ending sequence

Finished drafting Raif's endings sequence

Worked on a ton of UI changes and improvements

Worked on some sprite tweaks

Received some new BG art!

Writing:

So as you can see, lots of writing progress since my last update. 

I finished revising chapter 10 and coding it. It turned out to be 88,000 words coded.

I revised and formatted Asher and Daaz's ending sequences into the game. Those two were already drafted and just needed to be cleaned up and put into Renpy.

The remaining four character still needed to be drafted but I had paused to revise the entire script so I could make some necessary plot fixes before I tried to draft the remaining endings. 

With that done, I've moved into finishing up the draft.

Currently I have Kav, Noel, and Raif drafted and Yren in progress.

And that will be all the main game content complete!

The current un-coded word count amount is 625,000 words. 💪

Art:

So I have completed some CG work since my last update but the main thing I've been working on art-wise is UI updates and changes. 

A lot of small changes to the general aesthetic as well as implementing a lot of small additions I've been contemplating for a while as QoL improvements.

Such as a little indicator that shows when you are in a "character branch" and things like that.

I've also made a few small tweaks to some of the sprites - mostly just making their expressions a little more dramatic since they were reading a bit flat to me. And, of course, adding new outfits. Always new outfits. LoL

And of course, new BGs from both artists.

Background are around 76% complete currently.

Other Stuff:

I guess UI goes in here too since in addition to the "art" aspect, there's the implementation aspect as well.

Once you change the look of something that has to be coded in, of course. 

I ended up deciding that I want to experiment with moving the sprites around a bit more - mostly moving them a bit closer and then further away depending on the scene, what's happening, and how many characters are on screen in a given moment.

There are several benefits to this including keeping the screen from being static for long periods but also, there are a couple of characters that the player will really benefit from being able to see their faces up close (mostly Raif and Yren).

So yeah - in addition to redesigning some of the screens, I have also been implementing those changes bit by bit.

The game definitely looks quite different now. I recently saw a playthrough of the current prototype that's on Itch and was astonished because I forgot how it looked when it was first released. Ha ha. It's gone through a lot of changes. 

Noel no longer matches the ceiling, for one! Amazing.

Upcoming Weeks:

I will be working on finishing up Yren's ending sequence and hope to get that done in the upcoming week - which means another heavy writing week. 

As I've said elsewhere, I have been calling them "ending sequences" but in reality this is the last three chapters of each route which is about 20,000 words total for each character. I have about 3000 words of Yren's done and I'm actually only shooting for about 15,000 for the rough draft because I invariable add dialogue and variations when I edit, which means I have to undershoot the draft so I don't overshoot the word count during revision.

So yeah, I'll be completing Yren's final three chapters, then revising Kav, Noel, Raif, and Yren and formatting them into the game, which will give me the "final" word count for the project.

And then I will be "done" with the writing (in quotes because...you're never done with the writing until it releases. LoL

I should definitely be done with drafting and revising by my next update here but I can't really say what I'll be working on by that point. Probably...UI and CGs. Not sure.

We'll find out in the future I suppose! See you then!

[lulusoblue]

Welp. Played Double Exposure. Finished it.

ALMOST spoiler-free thoughts, any spoilers are literally superficial and make no impact on the plot as a whole: this game is not worth the price of admission at present.

Just to get it out of the way; the way they unceremoniously wrote Chloe out of Max's life, be they romantically together or platonic, is garbage. She doesn't even have a character model. The only image of her post-Arcadia is the one we've all seen before. It was all VERY out of character for both Max and Chloe and all of Chloe's social media posts feel like DeckNine rubbing in that they just see her as a party girl lesbian who sleeps around and would rather completely ignore any trauma that she or her BEST FRIEND WHOM SHE WOULD TAKE BACK IN A HEARTBEAT would have because she wants to "move forward". Incredibly insulting, especially when Chloe keeps getting called "the blue-haired girl" and not by name when Max is literally TALKING ABOUT HER IN A HEARTFELT CONVERSATION.

Graphics. I can run Baldur's Gate 3 at a damn good and steady framerate even as it is constantly loading shit into the level as you travel this giant-ass world map. For some reason, LiS:DE just chugged along. What's worse, the lowest and most unstable framerates and graphic quality I had was INDOORS. I didn't even have these settings on Cinematic because then it ran like shit. Even after I found advice on discussions. This game is beautiful but only if you're standing still and not moving the camera around so much.

Cat Content is waaaaay to minimal. Cat didn't appear until the very end of Chapter 2, and after that the cat will only appear when you can explore Max's house. Which is the ending of Chapter 3 and the beginning of Chapter 4. You don't even get to keep the cat. This content is not worth being locked behind the Ultimate Edition.

The writing of the main plot starts strong, but leads to a very underwhelming conclusion. All of the other entries in LiS have felt like their endings were ambiguous in that there wasn't so much a right choice as there was a choice of which ending you felt fit the narrative. Chapter 5, and thus the whole ending of the game, felt like... nothing. Even down to the final "big" choice and the last scene. There was no real delving into Max's trauma stemming from the ending of the original game, because in "respecting both endings", DeckNine respects neither by making their differences superficial. There was no story following through a setup of how one can move on from death in one's life. The ending just relies on supernatural fuckery and then sets up for future games in a meaningless way. It all felt so rushed and hollow, for lack of a better, spoiler-free way to describe it. Aside from saying that there were SO many theories people came up with that were much more gripping than what actually happened.

The characters are underutilised for how much the marketing put the spotlight on them. Not to say I don't like the new cast of characters, but aside from their charm in some scenes, I literally only really cared about Moses by the end of the game. If the threat of Max Caulfield's return doesn't fall through, then I hope at least Moses will be along for the ride too. Aside from him, I just... didn't really grow attached to anyone besides Gwen and the cat. For as little as the cat appeared, I still cared about that damn ball of pixels more than almost all of the main cast of characters.

The side characters have so much dialogue. Too much dialogue. You will be listening in on NPC conversations for 5 minutes and maybe, MAYBE you'll be able to put that therapist card down on the table for them in Chapter 2. There was waaaaaay too much thought and time and dialogue put into background characters and conversations that aren't all that interesting and just get their audio cut off if you step a couple of millimetres away from their assigned seats.

The game is small. Even with exploring, you only have 4-5 environments to venture forth in at Caledon, and when most of them are indoors and something keeps causing my framerate to tank (which honestly how can your indoor lighting tank my framerate with outdoor scenes should have more shit to load in) it feels so claustrophobic. Scenes are short if you're good at puzzle-solving and revisiting locations makes events even shorter when you don't need to re-examine details for Max's inner monologue. It feels like you have less room to move than in True Colours, which when combined by how disappointing the main plot is?

Main plot is only a murder mystery for the first two chapters. Then it kinda derails. The mystery disappears and you just have plot twists that don't fit the Life is Strange vibes.

All in all? This is the first entry in the series that I regret buying at all. Great acting performances, pretty graphics and a stellar soundtrack can't carry a game or save it from writing that isn't just bad, but ultimately insincere. I knew what stories previous games in the series were trying to tell. I don't know what Double Exposure wanted to tell or try to say beyond "stay tuned".

[decepti-thots]

FIC - down among the thorn - chapters 1 & 2 (of 6), taraprowl, rated T

Title: down among the thorn

Fandom: Transformers (IDW)

Rating: Teen (archive warning for one scene: graphic depictions of violence)

Wordcount: chapters one and two are ~3.8k. Whole fic will be 10-11k.

Characters: Mesothulas/Tarantulas, Prowl, (Senator) Shockwave, Chromedome, minor background cameos.

Relationships: developing Tarantulas/Prowl, past Prowl/Chromedome

Summary:

“Are you Prowl?” Mesothulas asked, dubious. He’d expected him to be at least a little shinier.

“You’re trespassing,” the mech pointed out. “I should be asking your name.”

“Ah!” Mesothulas perked up at the deflection. “You are, I think,” Mesothulas decided. “That’s a very classic fae reversal, if rather clunky."

aka: that taraprowl fae AU that I promised a good long while ago.

On AO3.

****

I have posted two chapters (of six) of my fully written (and now roughly 10-11k) fae AU fic. Chapters three and four will be up in a few days and are ready to go, and I am finishing final edits on five and six at the moment. (As in, literally this very second, hah.)

Some notes under the cut or at AO3, whichever you prefer.

This one has been on my harddrive for over a year now, completely written and 75% edited. Oops. I did mean to get it out sooner.

I originally wrote this for an event that didn't pan out, and then I took what was meant to be a short break from it. Then work went so tits up all year I was simply too tired and/or depressed to look at it very often! Ultimately, I've shaved it down quite a bit in the interim of poking at it, I think to its benefit overall in the end, and probably the extra time and distance was a good thing. Silver linings! And now here it is.

This is a fae AU that features (pre-)Taraprowl. (I have marked it as ship, but the relationship is more... ambiguously pre-romantic, let's call it. Even so, calling it gen felt disingenuous.) It originally spun off an idea for an AU that would have more closely been a kind of parody and reversal of Tam Lin, but while elements of that remain, it's much looser conceptually now. (I have nonetheless taken the title from the Anais Mitchell rendition.)

Not many content warnings in place for this one. One chapter coming up later will have one worth mentioning. AO3 has the details of that specific one under a spoiler tag.

I debated on whether to just post this all at once, but I still want to fiddle with the last chapter or two for a couple days, so I've posted the first two chapters here and will post three and four in a few days before finishing up; I'm currently deciding if this will be five or six chapters. We'll see! I'll let people know by the time the next couple chapters go up which to expect.

[seraphinitegames]

The Wayhaven Chronicles—Update 08/Nov/2024

This week started with Nai in hospital, so it wasn’t the greatest beginning! She is home now though, thankfully. Still on the mend but getting there.

It was also kind of a nice time too, oddly, as I got to talk with her properly, and I was talking to her about the Bobby and Douglas branch routes, and the 'lore' route. And I was getting really animated about it (as I always do when talking Wayhaven!), and it was just so awesome to not only talk about everything coming up but to just realise, even at this stage, how much I utterly love this story and characters and how excited I am for everything still to come!

But the unexpected weekend and start to the week did put things behind a bit. And then I decided to rewrite the entirety of the ending of Chapter 5. I kinda knew I was going to do it when going into editing. It just…didn’t focus on the right thing for the moment, and it was bugging me! :D

It is individual love interest scenes, something always a bit more impactful anyway, and I wanted a bit of foreshadowing of something coming up in a later book, but…it was just too much to fit in when there was already another major focus needed on this scene on something specific to this book!

So, I tried to rework them instead, but it wasn’t happening, so I pulled off the band aid quickly and just deleted it all. Oh man, it’s always so painful to get rid of thousands of words of work—and not something I do often, as I do believe what someone writes instinctually first is probably the right choice!—but sometimes it’s just got to be done.

Saying that though, I’m catching up really fast and these scenes are waaaay better! Much more concise and can put proper focus on just the one thing as well as the MC and LI’s reactions to it and the shared moment after.

I’m hoping to have these rewrites finished up by early next week, and then the final bit of editing to get this chapter done.

Chapter 4 edits are coming back to me too, so I’ll get those added in next week before moving onto the next chapter!

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend! We’ll be offline as usual, so I’ll talk to you all on Monday <3

[galvanizedfriend]

Any chance for a snippet for the next chapter Yokan? Or any idea when the next chapter is is going to come out ♥️ I’m re reading the Wolf 3 right now and am nearing the end of the updated chapters lol 😭

Hii, friend! ❤️ I can't promise when the next chapter will come because this is turning out to be a monster. �� I'm at about 80% now, and have been making decent progress, but editing this is going to be🙃 So I hope to have it finished soon, but I don't know when. But since you asked, I can give you a little snippet. 😁 This is a scene I had been working on earlier today, Kol and Eve having a 1x1. Don't know if that's the kind of thing you wanted from this chapter, but I was actually having some fun writing this. 😂 Bear in my mind that I have not edited anything, so this could all change. But I hope you enjoy it. 🥲

From TW4x03: "Hello," he greets her, only half her face visible from where she's hiding - quite poorly, mind you - behind the kitchen door. Eve blinks up at him, but stays remains quiet. "Cat eat your tongue?"

She abandons her cover, stepping fully into the kitchen now, all pink pajamas and pigtails.

She is... Big. Kol is definitely not used to following humans' growth spurts from up-close. It's perfectly normal, he supposes, but it still comes as a bit of an irrational shock to see how she went from a little baby to this fully formed mini-person. A mini-Niklaus, nonetheless. Though with none of the malice and aggression and the annoying hubris ingrained into every line of Niklaus' body after a thousand years of living in pure rage. That aside, the similarity is uncanny. It's easy to forget there was once a sweet boy somewhere before the moody tyrant took over.

"My mom says I shouldn't talk to strangers," she tells him as though reciting words she's heard countless times before.

"Ouch. Out for blood, are you?" he retorts flatly. Her wariness doesn't bother him as it seemed to bother Niklaus earlier. In Kol's experience, it's smart to remain watchful around this family. "I'm not a stranger, though. I'm your coolest uncle. My name is -"

"Kol," she finishes for him. "I know."

He smiles. "See? You do know who your coolest uncle is."

"I don't really remember you, though."

A frown appears on her little brow, as though she's straining to remember, sweeping through her admittedly short tapestry of memories after any moments the two of them might have shared. The fact that he knows she won't find any does cause a bit of a pang, he must admit.

Kol doubts he would've spent much time around his niece anyway, seeing as he was always trying to free himself of his family's clutches, but the reasons why he didn't are still a sore spot. Niklaus didn't even trust him enough to tell him about his daughter at first. And when he finally did, Kol ended up murdered by another one of his brothers before he could even be properly introduced to Eve.

"Yes, well. A sore shame if you ask me. I'm rather delightful," he remarks, detracting from the bitterness. "Isn't it a bit past your bed time anyway? Are you up to no good, by any chance?"

"What are you going to do if I am?"

Kol coughs up a laugh at her unexpected show of defiance. "That depends," he bargains. "Are you planning on putting a frog under your uncle Elijah's pillow?"

Eve giggles. "No."

"Filling Rebekah's pillowcase with flour?" More giggles. "Oh, I know! You're going to spread spicy pepper on your father's toothbrush."

That gets a full-out belly-laugh from her, blue eyes twinkling with delight at the thought of playing pranks on her family. Kol likes her more and more by the second.

"That's mean!" she exclaims in-between waves of laughter.

"You say that because you haven't seen his face. Then it's just hilarious. But if anyone asks, I never told you that." He punctuates it with a wink.

[roomwithanopenfire]

Six Sentence Sunday

Happy Sunday everyone!! Thanks for the tags @blackberrysummerblog and @artsyunderstudy!!

This week I’ve done the big three: writing, editing, and ignoring my wips, with perhaps a bit more of the last one than I’d like. Most of my writing this week has been for an exchange fic for a different fandom, which I finally finished the rough draft of. Cue the celebration. However, even if I wanted to share anything from that, I can’t, it must remain hush-hush, but I am getting pretty excited to share it (and way more excited about receiving my own exchange fic back, this whole thing is very fun).

I’ve written less than 300 words on my COBB this week, and none of them are good, but I have gotten some editing done of Proof of Life. I can’t share any more snippets of the next chapter though because I’ve shared too much already. So instead, I figured I’d do a bit of a process post this time around, because I always love reading those. Check that out under the cut! (and i'm sorry this is long, i still have not learned brevity)

So my editing process isn’t too crazy, and is brought to you almost entirely by google docs comments. I also use the word ‘editing’ very loosely to encompass rewriting, revising, and proofreading. Sometimes editing means completely rewriting a scene/section, sometimes it just means switching around a couple of words or cleaning up a sentence. 

Mostly, I try not to take everything so seriously, because I know that I could edit something forever and ever and never post it if I let myself get too carried away. So I try to keep everything pretty chill. So here’s my steps I go through for each chapter that I edit. 

Step One: Reread the whole chapter. While I do this, I’ll leave comments on big picture things. “Maybe move this scene into the next chapter” or “The dialogue in this scene feels stilted” but I don’t add a lot of comments at this point. Once I’m done with this I’ll copy over any comments I had on the first draft or the beta reader copy over into the ‘draft two’ document. 

Step Two: COMMENTS. Again, my fics are brought to you by google doc comments. I like to go through from the bottom up, reading scene by scene and leaving comments on pretty much every single sentence. 

A lot of the time (read: most of the time) these are really vague like:

And sometimes these are more detailed like:

And occasionally these are compliments

Step Three: Once the whole chapter is filled with comments, I go through scene by scene (in whatever order speaks to me), and rewrite, edit, or fix sections. This part I find really fun, because I’m taking parts that aren’t good yet and I’m making them better. I love fixing things and getting rid of all the comments. It typically ends up being a lot of  rewriting, but I always finish a scene feeling better about it then when I started.

For example, here’s the draft one vs. draft two version of a snippet from the first chapter of Proof of Life. This is one of the scenes I pretty much rewrote. Others look a lot more similar to their original versions.

Original:

Edited:

Step Four: Then before I post a chapter, I’ll read through the whole thing and sometimes find smaller bits to fix. Then I’ll run it through a grammar checker and ignore half of their suggestions in the name of ✨style ✨.

Overall, I feel like I have a pretty basic editing strategy and I’m really pleased with it. Even though sometimes I feel like more robust edits would make everything way better, it’s a good mix of fixing things but not spending too much time on it. I remember I spent like a month on editing the very first fic I posted at that was only 6k words. If I kept doing that for everything, I'd never post anything at all. With fanfiction, I know that y'all will be nice to me even though it's never perfect <333

Tags and Hellos!! (I'm unsure if we still need the spaces, but i've been burned too many times lol)

@you-remind-me-of-the-babe @m1ndwinder @facewithoutheart @run-for-chamo-miles @raenestee

@onepintobean @prettygoododds @noblecorgi @hushed-chorus @angelsfalling16

@thewholelemon @monbons @shrekgogurt @brendughh @hertragedyconnoisseur

@beastmonstertitan @valeffelees @horsesarenotdeer @drowninginships @supercutedinosaurs

@fiend-for-culture @rimeswithpurple @cutestkilla @alexalexinii @ileadacharmedlife

@arthurkko @rbkzz @skeedelvee @bookish-bogwitch @brilla-brilla-estrellita

[lirotation]

I Hail from Silverymoon: The First Kiss

Pov my little fanfic, Astarion X Amaara(my wizard Tav) Finally some fluff. All my frustration and dissatisfaction towards BG3 were alleviated by kissing him 10 times a day in game =)

_______________________

Astarion sat staring blankly at the book in his hands, thoughts far away. His mind kept circling back to that moment a couple of days ago when he had confessed his feelings to Amaara. It had taken all the courage he could muster, and the memory of her embrace afterward was etched into his heart.

However, since that night, she hadn't sought him out, and a sense of doubt had begun to gnaw at him. He couldn't help but wonder if he had misunderstood the gesture. Perhaps the hug was just a polite way of saying goodbye. The uncertainty ate at him, and he found himself yearning for her presence, for the warmth of her smile, and for the sound of her laughter.

Over the past few nights, he had watched as Amaara spent her evenings with Lae'zel, engrossed in reading a githyanki book. It frustrated him to no end; the book had already been translated, and Amaara could have easily read it herself. Good thing they finally finished it. He wasn’t sure how many more nights of that he could take.

This evening, as he lingered by the campfire, a scene unfolded that only deepened his ache of longing. Amaara stood preparing a piece of pork, her hands covered with salt and herbs. Next to her, Gale stirred a pot, scooping some soup to blow delicately before feeding Amaara a taste.

Her eyes lit up in delight, savoring the taste. Their laughter filled the air as they shared their enthusiasm for some seasoning they had found. Their easy camaraderie oozed a profound connection Astarion envied. He watched the intimate exchange like an outsider peering through a frosted window. So commonplace, yet beyond his grasp.

Astarion gazed down at the book clutched in his hands - a rare first edition novel he'd discovered in an abandoned house earlier that day. He had secretly tucked it away in his own pack.

He vividly remembered her eager reaction to the tome Gale had shared. He pictured her keen eyes lighting up, soft lips curving into an appreciative smile when he presented this book to her as a gift.

But on second thought, simply handing over the book was not enough. No, better to draw out her anticipation, sharing a chapter or two each night by the campfire's glow. Let the tale unfold slowly through his theatrical narration, giving him an excuse to linger by her side night after night.

The party was gathered around the campfire after dinner. Amaara sat slightly apart, nose buried in a heavy tome, oblivious to the friendly chatter around her.

Astarion sidled up beside her, peering over her shoulder. "My, that looks terribly dull. All those tiny cramped letters, and not a single illustration," he said, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

"It's a chronicle of arcane discoveries in Thay," Amaara explained enthusiastically. "This chapter describes the properties of residuum and its catalytic effects when combined with-"

Astarion held up a hand, chuckling. "Spare me the lecture, my dear. Must your nose be glued to these interminable pages every night?" he chided lightly. "Tonight, I wish to share something far more stimulating."

He held up the leatherbound book bearing ornate silver lettering.

"The first edition of 'The Ballad of Drizzt'!" Amaara's eyes lit up in delight as she traced the embossed title. "However did you get your hands on this rare treasure?"

"I happened upon it in the house we visited today.” He opened the book, turning to the first chapter. "Now this is true literature, with prose as sharp as any rapier," he declared. Clearing his throat, Astarion began reading aloud, his cultured voice expertly infusing the tale with drama and suspense.

Amaara found herself enraptured by his performance. The nuance Astarion brought to the dialogue and description had her hanging on every word.

When at last he closed the book, Amaara applauded enthusiastically.

"Now that was a masterful performance! You truly brought the story to life," she praised.

Astarion flashed a pleased grin at her reaction. "I'm delighted you enjoyed it, my dear. Aren’t these beautifully written stories more rewarding than those dry arcane pages? We can do this every night, bedtime stories."

Astarion's gaze traced along Amaara's features, noting the way her eyes lingered on his lips before lifting to meet his own. A lovely smile spread across her face, carrying a mixture of fondness and shy anticipation, "I would really like that." she said softly.

Amaara's smile, so familiar and bright, filled Astarion's heart with warmth and eased his uncertainty. How he had missed that smile! He couldn't help but be drawn to her soft lips, yearning to feel their warmth against his own.

he leaned in slowly, his intent clear—a kiss, a tender moment of connection. But as he moved closer, Amaara's eyes widened, and she leaned away, creating an abrupt gap between them that was filled only by awkward silence.

Astarion's surprise quickly gave way to hurt, and he couldn't hide the flicker of pain that crossed his features. He had misunderstood, and rejection stung deeply. But then, Amaara reached out, placing her hand gently on Astarion's.

"Forgive me," she began, her voice soft with empathy. "I believed that any act of intimacy might make you uncomfortable. Please, you don't have to do this for my sake."

Astarion's hurt subsided as he realized her intentions. He shook his head gently, his voice filled with sincerity, "I would never say no to a tender kiss from you."

Amaara's smile returned, her eyes reflecting a mixture of relief and affection. "All right," she said, her own bashfulness shining through. "...May I?"

Astarion's heart filled with anticipation. "I would like nothing more," he replied with a soft, genuine smile.

So, she leaned in, closing the distance between them, and placed a gentle, soft kiss on his lips. It was a simple peck filled with warmth and affection, a sweet moment that spoke volumes about the feelings they shared.

A sudden bashfulness washed over Astarion as they pulled away, and if he could, he would have been blushing fiercely. He lowered his gaze for a moment, his words coming out in a soft, almost shy tone. "I really rather liked that, you know?" 

He slowly reached out to caress her cheek, "I think… that counts as our first real kiss…and It was perfect.” Like a whisper of spring after endless winter. He silently added.

Seeing Amaara's rosy blush as she nested against him, he felt his unbeating heart swell. No further words were needed in that tender moment.