#i kinda wanted to take my own creative liberties haha

[stovetopsnowmobile]

for the one other barney x lauren fan that exists out there.. (this is for you gangalang...)

[fatratbabyy]

hi! i really love your designs, the colours are always really well done anf the characters are full of life.. and i love how your rewrites give the characters complexity and make them really interesting to me, much more so than canon(though i am a fan of some ideas introduced there, they don’t quite turn out in ways that make sense to me)! i’ve been wondering a few things about helluva troupe for a while however and hopefully the answers aren’t spoilers, lol.. in HT, what is Fizz’s involvement with the ‘troupe’ and what is stolas’s involvement too.? i wish you much luck on your work as it is lovely to see! (also apologies for my silly username)

Thank You!

Thank you so much that means a lot!! waaAahee! It makes me happy to see people interested 🥺👉👈

With Fizz it's,,, a bit Fuzzy, because hilariously he's the whole reason I made this AU among other things But I ended up makinh him a sorta side character antag again because while originally he was going to be part of the main crew from the start of HT's storyline, as I went along in trying to write I saw some cool hcs about his star clown days and so I thought to use the more canonized view- mostly in that he's a star clown during the events of HT instead of dropping the show life to join Blitz in I.M.P. That previous version is why you see him in the I.M.P references- and hinty hoo that ol version isnt completely null and voice to the current HT

ANYWAY so yeah- While Fizz isn't as much a main character as he was he still has a great deal of importance to the story and themes I want to express in HT. When it comes to him and the Troupe itself, I could best describe him as one of the biggest foils or parallels to the main cast. Just,, he's this golden image that represents their every want fulfilled. For Blitz especially given their thick history heehooo. (That's not to say this 'golden image' is entirely as it seems btw...)

Now it sounds much like canon I know but I like to think I'm taking a different direction with it- It's not really just the "haha you suck with relationships, fuck, shit, pénis im doing better look at my good relationship" nonsense cuz for 1. Fizzarozzie does nOT exist anymore- its Mamzie now 😊 (Mammon + Ozzie) and 2. The themes with Fizz and really most of HT has less to do with the melodramatic romance "will they wont they" of Stolitz (which isnt really a thing either) and more the struggle impoverished and oppressed peoples experience with success, failure, identity, community, family, status, history, trauma, etccc. Specifically, because I am an indigenous person from Canada, a lot of the themes are drawn from my own experiences, knowledge and history as an indigenous person. Though with execution, creative liberties were taken to make the fact they're in Hell clear btww-

That very likely did nOT answer jour question but i amn,,,stoopi 😭😭😭 simpler answer i suppose maybe by chance would be Fizz is an eventual antagonist to I.M.P. Specifics and how it happens and wheNNN?? Im still not sure yet if im honest- been really busy the last year or so and so Ive hadnt had any time or energy to work as much on writing all the things! ;u; thats probs disappointing to hear cuz plaNNing and all is important if you're gonna post story stuff at all,,, but !! I do hope to work more on the story this year so i can wrap up all these floating ideas into a Concrete line of stuff cuz truly all im missing is the middle pieces. Maybe an HT comic will be real this/or next year! 👀🏃

ANYHOOT ONTO STOLAS! i rambled a bit too much about Fizz cuz im still figuring him out- Stolas might be a bit shorter cuz his role is sweet and simplisticerr.

So, Stolas is an antagonist. He and Blitz still have an exchange sort of deal, but the deal is Blitz gets to keep the grimoire for I.M.P if he handles Stolas' "errands" and gives it back on the full moon with ofc none of the uh,,hawny stuff, obv. Blitz kinda keeps this deal under wraps from the rest of I.M.P because for him, it hurts his pride to admit he's in need of some big guy's help. And Stolas is somewhat aware of this. And so, Stolas is this looming, cruel threat that Blitz carries the burden of cuz he's stubborn as fuck whilst the rest of I.M.P remain ignorant.

Some bonus notes that dont really have to do with Stolas involvement with imp but jus how stuff ive changed with his canon influence the story diff than canon; so, Stella isnt a thing anymore. In general the Goetia work much differently- majority of the Goetia being the children of Ozzie instead of Paimon (who is Stolas' sibling now btw too) and the Goetia being thousands of years old instead of fucking 30- Also! While Via is existant she is but a baby instead of a moody teen,, ties heavily with Stolas' motives and how he operates as a character, royal, and Goetian and felt it would work better with how HT Stolas is as a character than it would otherwise.

Also no worries about the username! I dont like canon stolas much either lol,,;

I apologize if this didnt answer much 😭 feel free to let me know if you wanna hear about somn else gwahgh 🏃

[readingandwritingandreading]

The Day Before You ~ Part 3

My Blurb: So i took some creative liberty with the Performance Center. As always if you didn’t write it don’t post it anywhere. And if someone else is interested in being added to my lil tag list feel free to message me!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Cor Meum = My Heart (Latin)

Summary: Forced into an awkward dance with a stranger at Sheamus’s wedding, Ridge doesn’t think he’ll ever see her again until she turns up at a show a few months later with Sheamus’s wife and he gets a second chance.

Pairing: Ridge Holland x OFC Lyssa Hutchinson

Warnings: None

Tagging: @pioched​​​ @snarkandsarcasmftw​​ @pikapuff316​​​  @moxskitten​​

Read First: The Day Before You Masterlist 

Also Check Out: Main Masterlist

Claire burst into my office causing me to jump and nearly spill my coffee. My glare turned to confusion when I looked up as she held the door open for a delivery man to bring in a vase of flowers. “Ms. Hutchinson?” he asked, glancing at his clipboard. 

“That’s me,” I walked around my desk to sign the paper he held out before handing me the vase and heading out of my office. The flowers were beautiful; roses, lilies and carnations in a variety of pinks paired with green chrysanthemums and other greenery I didn’t recognize. I set them on my desk and pulled the card from its holder, “Have a great monday, Ridge”. I grinned like an idiot as I leaned down to smell them, only to be reminded by a throat clearing that Claire was still in my office. 

“So I take it the date with muscle man went very well?” she wiggled her eyebrows at me and I blushed before returning to my chair. 

“We had a great time, he was sweet and romantic. He set up dinner at a gazebo on the water. He was a gentleman, pulled out my chair, opened doors, walked me to my apartment, and brought flowers.” I smiled, running my finger along one of the petals.

Claire smiled again, sitting in one of the chairs in front of my desk, “so no ungentlemanly behavior?” 

“It was all very chaste.” I grinned back at her and was rewarded with an eye roll from my assistant. 

“We have got to get you away from editing the historical romances for a while.” she grumbled but I could see the gleam in her eye. “Are you taking him to the wedding?”

I scrunched my nose up at her question, “I don’t know, things are still kinda new, wouldn’t that be weird? Plus I think the assumption was that it would be Astaire coming with me.” 

“She’s your friend, I'm sure she realized by now that’s not happening anymore. Plus imagine the look on Astaire’s smug face when you show up with Mr. Muscles.” Clarie sighed dramatically and fanned herself, standing and heading out of the office when she heard the phone on her desk ringing. 

“He has a name!” I yelled after her before opening my phone to send a message to Ridge.

“Thank you for the flowers, they are beautiful! *heart eyes emoji*”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I grinned at the text from Lyssa, it had been a split second decision to send her flowers this morning. Remembering the look on her face when I gave her the bouquet before our date made me want to do it again. I hit reply, sending her a quick message.

“You're very welcome.” 

“How’s promo day going?”

“Lots of snarling at the camera and keeping track of Butch.”

“Haha, still good for tonight?”

“Absolutely, I should be finishing up when you get here. Gotta go, our turn again.”

I stuck my phone in my back pocket and grabbed Butch, dragging him to the studio again. We were all filming promos for the upcoming PPV and getting new headshots done. Lyssa was coming by after work and I was going to show her around the PC. Her eyes had lit up and she’d almost squealed with excitement when it was brought up. I was pretty much willing to do whatever she wanted as long as she kept smiling at me, I was in serious trouble and I knew it. Sheamus gave me a hard time, but as a newlywed he didn’t have much room to talk when it came to women.

We wrapped up a few hours later, I walked out with Butch and Sheamus to meet Lyssa in the parking lot. She had texted when she left work and should arrive shortly. Sure enough, her blue car pulled in as Sheamus was pulling out. She beamed when I opened her door, greeting me with a hug the second she stepped out.

“I never thought I would be excited to see a gym.” She admitted, slinging her purse over her shoulder after tossing the keys in it. 

I chuckled, “Well it’s pretty impressive, there’s lots of other rooms for promos, videos and stuff too.” 

“You aren’t going to get in trouble for showing me are you? Isabella said she hasn’t even been here.” Lyssa slid her hand into mine, gripping tightly as we headed to the entrance. 

“Nah, there’s usually a family member or two being shown around. Isabella has probably never been because Sheamus is a jealous guy. Doesn’t want anyone hitting on what’s his.” I grinned at her, loving the way she rolled her eyes at my statement. 

“Oh, and you don’t get jealous?” She smirked back at me. 

“I’m more of a show off what I have kinda guy.” I replied with a wink, entering the first door that led to the gym area.

“That explains why you are never wearing sleeves.” She ran her hand up my arm slowly, grinning when she reached the edge of the tanktop, before tracing back down and capturing my hand again. “Not that I’m complaining.” 

I barely managed to contain a groan, I was quickly becoming addicted to her hands on me. I pulled her closer, turning so that our bodies were almost flush. I pulled the hand holding mine to my mouth, kissing it gently, “Careful cor meum…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m pretty sure I stopped breathing for a second, before my body reactivated when his lips touched my hand and it felt like the temperature rose 30 degrees. I couldn’t stop staring at Ridge, Nothing was touching but our hands but it felt like an electric current was zapping between our bodies. I licked my lips, attempting to relieve the sudden dryness, watching the way his eyes picked up on the movement. I opened my mouth to ask him what cor meum meant and why it made a warmth wash over my body. 

“Hey Holland! Who’s the pretty little thing you have trapped over there?” A voice interrupted me and I felt Ridge tense beside me, turning to see two guys heading towards us from the entrance. It took me a minute but I recognized them as members of Legado Del Fantasma.

“Nothing you two could handle,” Ridge retorted, his hand dropping mine and wrapped around my waist. “Lyssa, meet Joaquin and Del Toro.” I waved, snuggling into Ridge’s side. 

“Like you handled Imperium last week?” I was pretty sure that was Del Toro.

“A loss to Imperium is nothing when it's a good fight, I think the crowd fell asleep during yours.” Ridge shrugged before turning to me, effectively dismissing whatever they were about to say in return. “You ready for the tour?”

I smiled at him, nodding and letting him lead me away. We spent the next couple hours roaming around the building, me asking questions about different rooms or equipment and him explaining it to me in detail. It was clear wrestling was his passion and he took great pride in it. We finally circled back around to the room connected to the gym that had a couple of practice rings in it. 

It was empty and I ran my hands over the ring apron. I had never seen a ring this close and it was different then I had imagined. Ridge easily hopped up and sat on the middle ring rope, lifting the top one up. “Come on” he held a hand out to me and I quickly grabbed it, letting him haul me up and guide me through the ropes until I was standing inside the ring. 

“This is bouncier than I expected,” I tested bouncing a little on the balls of my feet. 

Ridge laughed, “A lot of people think that. The padding depends on the kind of match you’re going to have. Sometimes they pad it a little more when the high fliers get in the ring.”

“Or when you send someone flying?” I questioned, he shrugged in response. I put my hands up in a fight position. “I could totally take you.” 

Ridge raised an eyebrow at me, “I’m easily three times your size.” 

“So? I’m fast and I have a secret weapon.” I replied lightly punching his arm. 

He laughed before putting his hands up to match my stance, “What’s your secret weapon?”

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret.” I stuck my tongue out, dancing away when he made a quick lunge to grab me. We went back and forth like that for a while. I was aware he wasn’t trying his hardest but I appreciated it all the same. I would get close enough to lightly kick or punch him and he would attempt to grab me. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be good enough to beat me one day.” My sentence ended in a squeal when he grabbed my waist and very gently belly to belly suplexed me to the mat. 

“What’s this about a secret weapon, I’m about to pin you.” Ridge leaned over me with a gleam in his eye. 

Smiling, I reached up and grabbed head, pulling his face to mine and pressing my lips to his. He froze for a fraction of a second before wrapping his arms around me and pulling me closer. Somehow I wound up straddling his lap, crushed tightly to his chest and he deepened the kiss. I had done it as a knee jerk reaction to his taunt but found myself getting lost in the way his lips moved over mine. We finally broke away when I shifted in his lap and rubbed against something very hard causing him to groan. 

“Ignore that,” he whispered, resting his forehead against mine. I was pleased to see that he was breathing as heavily as I was. I started to reply but was stopped by Ridge’s body tensing under mine. I looked at him to see him glaring over my shoulder at something. “We’re leaving.” he quickly pulled me up, readjusting himself discreetly. 

“Why?” I looked around, confused by his sudden change. That’s when I realized there was a window between the gym and the ring area. Wilde and Del Toro were in the gym, quite clearly watching us. 

“They’ve been watching us the whole time.” his arms were tense as he lifted me off the ring apron. “And if they look at you like that again, I’m going to fucking kill them.”

I bit my lip to hide my grin at his sudden protectiveness. “I thought you weren’t a jealous guy?”

“Apparently I am where you’re concerned.” he grumbled, shooting a glare at the two wrestlers before leaving the room. 

“It’s kinda hot,” I whispered, blushing when he looked down at me with a raised eyebrow. 

He pulled me close to him, leaning down until his lips were almost touching mine before whispering,  “You’re going to be the death of me cor meum.” and then closed the gap with another searing kiss. 

[icantlose]

I wanted to ask you something for a long time and I always forget lol but the other day I was watching A fox in Space again and I saw the clip of "wolf's dad". I just wondered: Did you create Jack before and that's why you use him, or after Fred decided to create Cael and or did you just give yourself creative freedom when creating senior O'Donnell?

This is such a great question and I'm so happy you've asked it, thank you!!

Jack O'Donnell was created way back in March 2009, about a full year before I even had any idea who Fred even was. He had a pretty basic design, as I was only fourteen years old and couldn't draw worth shit.

I hope I cleaned the fucker up just a little bit since then.

Fred, unfortunately, has deleted a fuckton of his content online so it will be impossible for me to give you an exact date of Cael's first online appearance. It appears, however, he showed up a year to two years after Jack did, as I've found some instances of his first design, back during one of the first iterations of Star Fox: The Animated Series.

This storyboard was marked December 4th, 2010.

And this was January 15th, 2011.

I never created Jack as a means to copy Fred or anything, like I said, he was his own thing before I even knew about Fred haha. The Irish stuff is pure coincidence, too. xD I went off of the origin of the last name and was dumb enough to think that's a character trait. My Wolf definitely takes creative liberties in some areas and I suppose Jack is one of them, if only because I'm too attached to my version of his father to lean into Cael, who, in his current iteration, is kinda boring to me. Oops.

[i-write-shakespeare-not-disney]

If you’re still taking the asks: 24 to 28 please and for specific ones, I mean The L.S Verse™ xoxo

24. Do you prefer AUs with the characters, or sticking to the original universe? 

AUs for sure. I have so much more creative liberty to make them and the story my own.

25. What scene in [Fanfic Name] took the longest to write? What was difficult about it? 

The scene in Lovesick that took the longest?? God probably either his coming out or his time mourning Allura in the penultimate chapter. The coming out took forever because I used the scene in class to so I revised a bunch and then I played with it to make it a ten minute play and oof. I think I know it by heart now. The mourning because I needed his mourning to make sense while still not erasing all the progress theyd both made the whole time and with reactions to Hunk and Pidges interference I knew i had to play the cards right if I wanted people to get what grief is for Lance.

26. Are titles for your stories easy to come up with? 

HA NO. Titles were created to give me hell specifically. I'm usually never happy with the names I come up with and I think Lovesick came around because someone else made the connection and I went YES. But like. Forever now and always?? I couldve done better. Warm me up? Coulda done better!!! Fjjdjdjdj fuck titles.

27. What time of day do you prefer to write?

I prefer to write at night especially rn that I'm at my moms indefinitely. It's the only time its quiet and I dont feel bad for sitting and writing instead of cleaning and no one is telling me to clean up after everyone or have a 4 year old begging me to play. Nighttime is the one time I have to fully focus (which kinda sucks because then if I woke up too early I get tired and cant write much.

28. Is there a part of [Fanfic Name] you’re surprised no one has picked up on yet? 

Haha yes especially after the extra doses! I think I've talked about them vaguely in lives, but yeah. Mostly I was surprised not many picked up on the klance and Lance's parents direct parallels (they were unintentional but still) and one more thing that happens around when Shiro gets engaged.

(I have an answer for this for teaching a heart if anyone wants to ask too haha I've been dying to point it out)

[annarts05]

Imma do this here because I can :DDD

Yes, it resembles earth. Plenty of European inspiration, especially German and English, as well as some Irish and Scottish in there haha. Wrapped up in one and then given *creative liberties*.

Particular regions, especially where my MC is from, are very dark. Gloomy, heavily forested, and filled with wildlife like oversized wolves and foxes that are okay with human interaction. 

Humans and animals for the most part. At this point, it’s still undecided, but I may include some fairyesque “mushroom civilization” with glowing mushrooms...and tiny mushroom people. Why? Because I can. And also because of @helpwherearethedirections​. This is your fault. 

It’s not commonly used, and for the most part, magic in the world consists of enchanted items that are usually dangerous. So...it’s not popular. 

That would depend on whether or not said mushroom people...speak English.

Again...not really that unique. Magic? Tiny village of mushroom people? Super rad landscapes? Yeah, I don’t know.

I guess it’s really not that unique, per se. But rather than spend forever worldbuilding, I kinda wanted to break into the characters, so. The world is more of a backdrop after all. 

Yep. Takes place “on earth.” A fictional kingdom set somewhere in Europe. 

Pretty normal medieval clothes, I would say. With a touch of my own aesthetic, of course. Cool half-cloaks (like, really short cloaks). There’s probably a name for that but hey, I don’t know it so :/

Different regions. Daka is really gloomy, dark, and wildlife runs rampant, inhabited by plenty of warriors and otherwise intense people, but they’re people who find joy in everything. We’ve also got mountainous regions, which are majestic, of course, and forests with mushroom people, and those are very fairy-like in aesthetic. And so on.

Definitely. 

That would probably end in spoilers...I say as I shy away, pretending I know what I’m doing since I definitely have all that worked out, yeah, for sure...

We got a monarchy, because it’s my story and I don’t care if it’s overused. Give me the cliches and I will eat them. 

Diversity isn’t a huge plot point (like, in any way), but sure, we got diversity! Different races and a couple different cultures...kind of blend together...to make one big culture??? Yeah, I don’t know how to explain this. 

The way most of the people in Daka treat other? They’re very kind and they find joy in every little bit of life. And I want to meet every citizen. 

I guess pretty normal inequality stuff? I don’t know, this world isn’t the most developed ever hehe. 

Well...there’s travel. So. I guess it’s kind of woven into the plot in that context. But otherwise, not really. 

In my opinion...Daka. The place my MC is from. Or the civilization of engineers and builders hiding in (so far, I’m undecided, but I’m thinking) the mountains. 

Tangled and Frozen kinda worked together to make this thing in my mind. And some other random ideas. 

Pfft. I would love to go there. Gosh, it’s cool and magical and I get to hang out with characters who could be my best friends ahhhh.

creating a vivid fantasy world in twenty questions-

does this world resemble earth?

what is a defining characteristic of this world?

what creatures roam this world?

is there a magic that is used?

what languages are spoken?

what is special to this world?

what makes it fantastical?

is earth mentioned in this world?

what clothing do creatures here wear?

describe the aesthetic

is it similar to another fantasy world?

give a brief description of the history

what is the government system? is there one?

how about describing some of the diversity?

what is ideal about this world?

what is a distinct inequality in this world?

is the world a background or woven into the plot?

what is the coolest thing about this world?

what inspired this world?

what would you give to go there? why would you want to go there?

[brianna-lei]

Butterfly Soup Asks #16

This time including the squad as DnD characters, Liz facts, Noelle getting her yaoi education, and more

I’ve only played Dungeons & Dragons once (1) in my life so I’m no expert! I’d consider my thoughts suggestions (like with my takes on the charaters’ MBTI types, which I’m not an expert of either): 

Noelle as a Wizard sounds right, since she definitely can’t do anything reliant on physical strength. She would be an asshole and attempt things like building a Clone Army

AKARSHA THE BARD. Rogue sounds too cool for her

Diya: I actually want to say she’s a Ranger because the Wiki on 5th edition says “The Beast Master archetype forges a connection between civilization and beasts, allowing the character to interact with animals in certain ways including gaining an animal companion to control.“ Fighter and Knight also sound plausible though! 

Min: Barbarian with high Strength and no Intelligence and Wisdom

I don’t want to say too much because I want to save things for the sequel, but here’s some stuff:

She actually played against Diya in youth leagues before she transitioned. That’s why she recognizes Diya+specifically approached her to sign the baseball club form while Diya doesn’t recognize her. At the first club meeting Liz tells her “I was at one of your games when you were little” -- This is purposefully ambiguous/misleading (sounds like Liz was just watching) because she passes and doesn’t want to out herself to a bunch of club members she doesn’t know well

After transitioning she quit baseball and switched to softball. It was weird being the one trans girl on a team of cis dudes, and additionally when she was younger she sort of felt like she had to prove she was a girl; she naturally has feminine taste, but she’d overperform it by 25%. It wasn’t until she got close to Chryssa and found out she also liked baseball that she reclaimed her interest in it

She has a nice resting face so strangers tend to ask her for directions 

Sunburns easily

Yesss check the FAQ guys! Fangames are fine as long as you explicitly say it’s a fangame!! 

I’m almost mad I didn’t think of this myself. I’m one of those people who overuses “spoopy” 

All art in the game (including the title screen) can be downloaded here!

NO!!! 

Noelle. The day the others find out will be the End of her

Akarsha was reading some yaoi so it came up in conversation, and since Noelle had never heard of it Akarsha gleefully educated her (to Noelle’s horror). Noelle was extremely scandalized that Akarsha kept sending her inappropriate images, and Akarsha was like “i’m doing this out of the kindness of my heart! it’s for ur education!! me: Master Teacher. call me sensei”  

Following this Akarsha changed her chat name to YAOI SEME as seen at the beginning of the game 

Diya and Noelle: Never tried it

Min: Has tried it 

Akarsha: She constantly makes weed jokes but actually only does it rarely 

Yes, I’m planning on exploring this more in the sequel! 

Diya; Dee-ya. Rhymes with “See ya”

Min-seo: Korean way, but most characters like Diya pronounce it like Min-so, with the “Min” rhyming with “win” (not like “mean”). The “so” is one syllable (not like “see oh”)  

Akarsha: uh-KAR-sha

Noelle: No L 

I was planning on making the sprites blink! I’m still a bit sad I didn’t end up doing it

It’s supposed to be fall 2008 when they’re in high school, but I took a LOT of artistic liberties when it came to the references. For example, Akarsha makes a Durarara reference even though the anime didn’t come out until 2010, and there’s a lot of modern memes that ended up in there too...I couldn’t hold back...

The IGF trailer video is especially modern-day meme-wise -- since it broke the 4th wall, it was like, all bets are off. Don’t think too hard about it!

I wanted to put a lot of 90s and early 00s hits in the game for the nostalgia factor, like Complicated, Rock Your Body, Dilemma, etc. I think it would’ve made the experience even more surreal for players who are around my age!

I don’t own the rights to all the music so I can’t distribute it around for people to download! Here’s where you can find everything:

Thought Projection by Ketsa

Holding Your Breath by Ketsa

Thoughts of You by Ketsa

2011-13 by Ketsa

Miyauchi Yuri/110515 (miltata remix) by Miltata

Night Tourist by Miltata

Sound413_Images(short) by Miltata

Sound429_Floating Cloud (draft) by Miltata

Side by Side by Miltata

Blooming by Miltata

Romaras by Miltata

Little Circle by Miltata

Daydream by Miltata

Calling Project 2 by .que

Flame of Love by YOSHI

Valar Morghulis by Bloodgod

Overflowing by Tatsuya Kato

My Heart Will Go On - Recorder By Candlelight by Matt Mulholland

At one point Diya finds out what it means on her own. After she finds out, she uses it for the actual meaning :) (added this to the FAQ now) 

I can totally relate to all of them, but I’d say Diya! (added this to the FAQ now) 

that sounds a bit alarming

(I added this to the FAQ page now, thanks for reminding me)  I’m fine with people shipping whatever!! The only thing I can think of that’d make me uncomfortable is incest and shipping Diya and Min with male characters – other than that, go nuts

Oh noo im sorry, that must’ve been stressful! For those who don’t know, I chatted about my game for a few minutes last week with MEGA (a USC club I used to be in!). I’ve adapted them here with what I assume what the questions were: 

1. Is that your cat on your Skype icon? 

yeah it is!! it's burrito 

(people think it’s a cute name) 

LOL glad you guys approve

2. Was the game made in Renpy? What do you think of Renpy vs. Twine? 

yep! it's made in renpy! I actually started out in twine -- twine is impossible if your game is like longer than an hour and is image heavy. the engine started lagging so bad it would take 30 secs to do anything

2. Would you eat a tiny 2 inch man for $100 million?

LOL it's hard..it's a lot of money. I don't think I would

(but you could use that money to save many more lives! utilitarianism) 

it's a real dude tho! i'd feel awful for him haha it's hard when you have to physically do it LOL

3. How long did it take for you to make Butterfly Soup? 

FOREVER. I thought of it in my junior year over winter break

4. Was it for school (like an assignment)? 

nah! just on my own

(people saying that’s impressive) 

yeah!! self motivation

5. What’s your favorite part of the game? 

hmmmmM I like the "date" with min in the dream. it's so fun, with the dog park

6. Which character do you relate to the most? 

diya!! social anxiety queen, so relatable

(people comment on how she runs around when anxious) 

i really did that before my sat once, ran 2 miles at the school's track

7. Are you from the San Francisco Bay Area

yeah i'm from the bay! east bay

8. Which year did you first come up with Butterfly Soup? 

winter 2014 i think

(people trying to calculate which year was my junior year) 

i graduated a year early so junior year was also senior year

9. Are you making a sequel? 

yes!! once ihave more time. i have a lot of ideas for stuff that goes after

10. Was this a prequel to Pom Gets Wi-Fi? Or maybe spiritual successor?

this is a prequel. i dunno about spiritual successor tho, they're a bit differnt

11. Any tips on how to balance schoolwork and working on personal projects? 

hmm...i honestly sucked at this and could only work on it on breaks lol...if you can try to work it into your school projects, like some bit of it...

other than that i cant think of anything LOL it's hard

12. How did you organize yourself making such a long game? Any tips? 

it was SUPER hard to organize, i was really lost until i split it into 4 sections with each character. so if you're planning on making a game this big definitely think about forcing yourself into sections like that

the art was the most confusing to do bc of how many assets there were. i was going to say "have consistent naming conventions" but that's literally impossible LOL it'll always become inconsistent no matter how hard u try

13. What part of the game took the longest (writing? art?) 

writing, actually, despite how much i complain about art assets. it's really hard making sure the structure and themes come across correctly. like pacing is so hard. art is like #2 biggest time sink

14. How early in did you write the Akarsha/Min skateboard scene?

that came pretty late haha i put it in at last second

15. Are the characters based on real people? 

they're all inspired by combinations of ppl i know! i wouldn't say based on them, tho. for example min is like a combination of 3 friends i have, strategically arranged to play her part in the story

character design is design so u still gotta be deliberate about it

16. Who’s the other cat on the computer? (they’re referring to the cat on my desktop wallpaper) 

that one's maru! he's a famous japaense cat. he's super photogenic

(people speculating that he’s the “tube one”) 

the tube one? probably. he's famous for going into stuff

17. What was your favorite aspect of working on the game? 

definitely getting to put specific Asian-American experiences into it

i was like HAHOH i can do this and no one can stop me! it was really fun getting to do this without any creative direction from like, a studio or anything. so i could just go bonkers. i hate pitching stuff so

18. Any writing advice? 

definitely have other people beta your writing as soon as possible! they always catch stuff you missed. also this is like a cheat, make your characters really extreme. like find one aspect of yourself, and turn it up to 11 and make it into a character. that way they'll be relatable and memorable at the same time. i think most people don't make their characters extreme enough so they're all kinda samey

19. (I can’t remember what they asked me here, sorry! They were asking if a specific meme was in the game)

LMAO nah it's not. i did briefly think about it though, i will admit

20. Would you eat a Gusher the size of your hand? 

that would be pretty cool. i don't think i could eat it all at once tho...i would try to save it. like half

You’re welcome, I’m really happy to hear it helped the game feel relatable!!  

Thank you! I hope you have a good day too!!

haha I feel like my game is almost propaganda bc so many people wish they had girlfriends after playing it! the agenda...Thank you for waiting for the sequel, it makes me super happy to hear people are looking forward to it! 

You’re welcome!! I’ll do my best!!! 

You’re welcome!!!! :>

You’re welcome!!! 

same I’m really happy so many people find them relatable! you’re welcome!! 

You’re welcome!! my kids can never get enough love im very happy 

I’m glad you liked it! Thanks for the support! TT_TT

[omgkatsudonplease]

Hello :) I've been following your fic BtDS for long time now and I love the complex story and the entire premise of this story. I'm really curious how you two got around such complex world building including the little details and so much more. Have you already discussed this topic on world building before where I can read? I'd would love to know what inspired you both for this story and the background research you did for this? If you don't mind me asking? I admire your storytelling technique:)

Oh man, thank you so much; I’m super glad you like our fic! @atomicsapphic and I actually started thinking about this fic while I was on a cruise this past Christmas (you know, surrounded by water). I can’t say much about her train of thought regarding this fic since I actually do most of the writing (but she and I talk about every plot development and she also reads and okays all the chapters before we post -- oh! and she’s also responsible for some of the poems and the really lovely stream of consciousness in chapter 8), so most of it is just me spewing feelings and stuff all over the place. I’m actually a compulsive world-builder; ask any of my friends and they’ll tell you right off the bat that I do this shit for like everything creative, ever. I’ve been world-building and writing since I was 11, so in terms of storytelling technique it’s just how I’ve been rolling for a long time. I’ve actually taken some time each year since high school to write a really long fic (or, last year, the Quest for Erebor liveblogs on tumblr at @quiterespectablyyours) so writing giant wordcounts is also something I’m fairly used to, haha. 

Anyway, I’ll talk about my process under the cut.

I actually did know quite a bit about selkies before I started! I read a couple selkie AUs for other fandoms (there’s a good series for Gravity Falls and there’s a really lovely heartbreaking one for Gimli/Legolas in LotR) and I knew I wanted to do something set in a seaside town for a really long time, not to mention a long slow-burn multimedia fic (I just didn’t anticipate it being this). I’ve grown up in a city that’s a ten-minute drive from the beach, and I’ve gone to a lot of little seaside towns in my life, so I’ve had some experience on that front, though I do admit in constructing Torvill Cove I took a lot of liberties with the town; there isn’t one specific town in the Highlands that is the “real” Torvill Cove (though its location is roughly where Maillaig is). In a way it’s kinda idealised and playing more with my childhood nostalgia of Thomas Kinkade paintings and Anne of Green Gables novels, so there’s something North American about the town sometimes, but I tried to put in some more Scottish details where I could find them (the Hogamany stuff, a lot of the Celtic mythological detail, the Torvill family crest, the process of renting a cottage, etc). At one point we’d actually set the fic in the south of England instead because I’m a sucker for chalk cliffs, but then we decided that Scotland was just a more accurate setting in terms of the folklore and the mood of the piece. 

But the process of actually building the town itself was relatively simple; Leah and I talked about what jobs we wanted each of the characters to have, and that in turn informed us as to what the town had. We did change things up a lot in between our initial plans and the final story, mostly because once we factored in the fact that they’re mostly school-age people and we didn’t want to age people up, we had to give them all schools/colleges to attend in addition to their jobs. So not all of it was planned from the get-go -- things and details cropped up as I was writing and I just rolled with a lot of them. I’d actually written out like around 3 or 4 chapters before we started publishing them, so we had a large portion of time in which the fic was sitting around unpublished and I could just go in and change details as I pleased (it’s not so easy to do that now haha; I’ve had to go back and edit things like the winery’s product -- grape wines aren’t doing so hot in Scotland but berry wines are apparently a thing -- and the town’s population -- which I’ve adjusted like at least four times lol). I’ve also drawn some pretty crude maps of the town’s general layout, as well as floorplans for Viktor’s cottage and the lighthouse. I don’t have much for Yu-Topia, though -- I just sorta imagine Hotel del Coronado meets the Spirited Away bathhouse and go from there lmao

Honestly the biggest thing during the writing process was mostly the direction in which we wanted to take the story. Leah had actually imagined something a lot darker; she had envisioned something more like Gone Girl where Viktor deliberately takes the skin, but I wasn’t necessarily comfortable with something like that because this fic is actually tapping into some personal issues I dealt with this time last year (you could say it’s my own personal Stay Close to Me except I don’t want the hypothetical Yuuri in this situation to stay close to me? weird) and I personally felt like I wanted to do a story about people who love each other and, despite both of them being excellent writers and communicators of emotions in fiction, can’t seem to properly communicate with one another about their own feelings without hurting the other. So Leah and I had a talk about the vastly different wavelengths we were on and... well, since I’m writing the bulk of the story, my vision prevailed lol. I mean, I wanted there to be a little vein of darkness, but I didn’t want too much? I wanted there to be some obsession, obviously, but not to a very dangerous, borderline-abusive level. I didn’t want to portray this couple as having an abusive relationship (even if writing something Gone Girl-esque would be fuckin amazing -- just not for this fic lol); I wanted something that was a bit unhealthy, a bit codependent, but nothing that the two of them couldn’t eventually work out. That’s not strictly worldbuilding per se but it did greatly inform the tone of the words that I picked for Viktor’s endless thirst and pining so, yeah.

The multimedia aspect of the fic was actually purely accidental, since I realised I was going to get into nitty-gritty details but I also wanted bridges between each scene so it wasn’t jarring. So I rewrote a great portion of the first chapter, added in a visitor’s guide, and... it worked? And we rolled from there. Having that additional layer actually lets Leah keep working with me on this since she’s so busy with other things, so it worked out pretty well in the end. 

I’m glad you asked this question, as it sorta let me get my thoughts in order as I write chapters 11 and 12 -- which, for plot related purposes as you’ll find next Sunday, are from Yuuri’s POV -- so thank you so much for this! If you have more questions, my ask box is open. 

(also, if you’re feeling generous, please, consider buying me a cuppa?)