#i know some tweaks i want to make but saving those for editing

[akiuge]

anyone here a fan of both lovely runner and alnst??

As I was watching Lovely Runner, i was inspired to make an AU of it catering to ivt mainly due to it being my current fixation rn

i don’t know if im gonna continue making content protruding this idea — but if i do i’d probably tweak a lot of things so it’s not completely mirroring the drama itself

for those who haven’t watched it, here’s a summary for the drama:

a woman finds comfort and the strength to go on through an idol after he gave her some words of affirmation; this was especially touching for her because she had just gone through an accident that left her disabled (she could no longer walk). years later she would find herself as a devoted and loyal fan to him (nothing of a stalker, don’t worry). unfortunately, he would pass away as a result of severe depression. she gains the ability to go back in time to stop this from happening through a watch she auctioned which had originally belonged to him.

through this, she is also able to stop the accident from happening that had also left her disabled but… it also turns out that there was more to this accident that her memories had suppressed. she’s also finds out that there was a previous connection between her and this idol. anyways, to end this, she makes multiple attemps to save him but he keeps dying in different circumstances no matter what. she’s comes to a conclusion at some point that fate does not want them to meet.

oh and im editing this because i realized i forgot an important detail that made me think of ivt, be he was actually in love with her for 15 whole years lol. so cliche but i’ll eat up anything,,

ahh ^^ if anyone wants to lmk what they think of this it’d be appreciated ~ thank you

[remnantsofthepast-if]

Update - Chapter 9 (Act 1 Finale)

Chapter 9 – According to plan

Everything is ready to set sail for your destination. The cycle is ending and it's time to say goodbye, but a certain individual might have something to say about it.

---

Finally, the last chapter of the first act of Remnants Of The Past has arrived! I think back now, and it almost feels like yesterday when I started writing this story. It has certainly grown much more than I initially thought, and I am grateful to all those who have reached this point ^^.

Returning to the chapter itself, besides the final stretch of the story, I also bring some good news that I've been wanting to share for a while! As you know, I've been editing the entire story before finishing it, adding things, tweaking others, and removing some that didn't quite convince me, but there were two things I didn't want to mention until they were completely finished.

Firstly, I've added a friendship route! My idea has always been to make a romance story that accompanies the adventure, so I quickly dismissed the option of making a separate route without any romance (I'm a romantic, I can't help it), but this was when I planned to lock the romances at the end of the act. However, the flow of the story decided that it would be in Chapter 4, and I understand that some may find it harder to stick with one so soon, so I started thinking about adding an alternative route to enjoy the story without MC having a romantic interest, and here it is!

But this doesn't mean that the story will be shorter or less enjoyable if you choose for your MC to remain single! The scenes with the ROs have been adapted to this route, and you can spend time with the characters in a completely platonic way. Sometimes you'll be able to choose who to hang out with, and other times the encounters will be random.

And lastly, the second thing I've added, which excites me more than I thought, is that the mysterious individual is officially an RO! I know some of you were eager to give love to this character (or at least try), and I'm not going to be the one to stop you! However, this RO will be very, very different from the others. Much slower, and with details that I can't mention because they would be severe spoilers, but the option will be there for those who want to take it. To do this, you must choose for MC to remain single for now in Chapter 4.

And that's not all, this character now also has a female version! How cool is that? :D The downside to this, though? All of you who use a save file prior to this update will see the pronoun variables and encounter several inconsistencies that will take you out of the story, because in that save these variables do not exist, so you'll have to start from the beginning.

IMPORTANT NOTE!! This complete first act will be completely free for one week.

On Wednesday, April 24th, the free version will be replaced by the demo that will cover up to Chapter 4, and the purchase version will be available on both Itch.io and Patreon for all those who cannot purchase it through Itch.io.

I hope you enjoy this chapter! I've revised everything as thoroughly as I could, but I may have missed some things. If you see anything strange, don't hesitate to contact me or submit a report here!

[tacoma-narrows]

Twenty (Three!) Years of Humanistic!

Abandoned Pools' first album, Humanistic was released 23 years ago today, on September 25th, 2001! For anyone who doesn't know, Abandoned Pools is my all time favorite band! I found them through Clone High in September of 2020 and immediately connected with a LOT of their songs, and in that time, Humanistic became my all time favorite album! A spot that it still retains to this day hehe.

So when I found out that the following year, almost a year to the day from when I started listening to Abandoned Pools, was Humanistic's 20th anniversary, I knew I wanted to make something big for that occasion! I ended up making a drawing based on each song in the album! This is similar to what I did for Owl City's album Cinematic later on, which I posted last year.

This is also sort of a look at proto Let's Get Back! in a way! I made this when LGB! was still just a duo act with PB and Shep, since Rye and Pumpernickel didn't join the lineup until I was about halfway through the project, and the band wasn't officially named Let's Get Back! until February of 2022 lol. The cover image here is based on the actual album cover for Humanistic, and I edited later to say "Covers by Let's Get Back!" to make it consistent with the rest of my LGB! art :3

Each piece in the series is below the cut along with the song they're connected to and some explanation about each one. Again, these pieces are three years old at this point, so some of the art is a bit wonky looking and some of these piece I'd do differently if I were to do them today, but most of them still hold up pretty well I think! :D

1: The Remedy

I based this one on the line “save your breath, your soul is hollow” and wanted to do something simplistic but still interesting! According to my friend who also likes the song, this is “exactly how that song feels” lol. It was fun working with silhouettes here, which is something I've done here and there in the time since.

2: Mercy Kiss

I decided to not actually draw them kissing bc the song says “I don’t need your mercy kiss” haha. Wanted to capture sort of a defiant attitude for this one. Posing is a little off here, and I've tweaked some minor things abt their design but overall one that I'm still pretty happy with :]

3: Start Over

I was SUPER happy with the posing on this one, I love the sense of motion it has. Basically, I wanted to express being stuck in a cycle and just wanting to go back to the way things were, which was something I was REALLY feeling at the time, but is still sort of applicable today.

4: Monster

Another one I REALLY like, with this one, I wanted to show that I can be a force to be reckoned with when standing up for myself. Or at least that’s how the song makes me feel. It’s a good rampage song too. This is another case where I really like how the pose came out. As you can also see, this is the only piece without PB since I wasn't sure how to incorporate him into this idea, but I’m sure he’s still involved somehow lol. Also this is the best song called Monster, I do not take criticism at this time.

5: Blood

Blood always feels like a sort of gloomy, spiral-y type song, so that’s what I went for. The line “we watch it burn, and we never learn, this can’t be what you’re waiting for” was really the focus for this one. A neat vibe with this one overall I think that I'm pretty happy with.

6: Suburban Muse

Suburban Muse makes me think of like, a fake sitcom town where things look normal, but things aren’t as great as they seem if you look a little closer. It even says “cue the canned applause” at one point. Also, those sort of, weird reality dreamscape neighborhood liminal space images like this where you can see where it's coming from but they just feel, off y'know

7: Sunny Day

This one is kinda weird because Sunny Day is kinda weird (though in like the best possible way, I love it). I couldn’t quite come up with a solid idea for both my OCs here, so I based them on two separate lines: “my head is inside a cloud” for PB, and “get off the bathroom floor” for Shep. In hindsight, I don't think the two separate lines approach really worked here since it feels more disjointed and not really representative of the full song, but I still like it well enough.

8: L.V.B.D.

This one was hard to come up with something for. I’ve never been super crazy abt L.V.B.D. since it feels, Very Hetero™ and I’m not about that. But it’s still sounds great and I’m definitely super glad it’s part of the album. Went for drawing Shep and PB here as little stuffed dolls, which is related to the acronym in the song’s title (which stands for Little Virgin Baby Doll) and I couldn’t think of anything better aha. I should draw plushies more often though

9: Ruin Your Life

Important: Shep and PB are only upset with upset with each other for the sake of this drawing, as I refuse to let anything bad happen between them for real. Anyways, the expressions were really fun in this one, and oh boy does this song feel very relatable over the last year or so.

10: Never

This one is very similar to Ruin Your Life for me, where it’s a sort of comforting during a dark time kind of way. Just crossing the days off hoping that things will get better soon, that’s what I went for here. The calendar is listed as 10/12 since this is the 10th song out of the 12 on the album, and the image is a reference to a previous drawing I had done of PB and Shep together :3

11: Seed

Personally, Seed is my least favorite song from the album as a whole, for similar reasons to L.V.B.D. but in a, more gross kinda way that conflicts with my ace side. The song still sounds great musically for sure. Even tho I’m not super crazy abt the song, I actually really like how this drawing came out, in fact it might be my favorite out of the whole batch, ironically enough lol. The boys are looking down into a hole from the line “there’s no more grace to fall from, there’s nowhere left to go but down” and I'm really happy with how the perspective turned out!

12: Fluorescein

Finally, Fluorescein is my favorite song of the entire album, and my favorite song in general! It’s so aggressive and loud, I love it. I decided to draw PB confronting a giant Shep bc the song makes me feel like I can take on a huge adversary and win >:] Although I do like what I chose to do here, I kinda wish I had come up with something better to represent my all time favorite song lol

So in conclusion, like I said, Humanistic is my all time favorite album and it means so much to me. Really all of AP’s work really means a lot to me, but Humanistic in particular. I found the band through watching Clone High and I am all the better for it. So thank you to Abandoned Pools for making something that I’ve gotten so much out of and I absolutely cannot wait for the sixth album coming at the end of next year!! :D

So I hope you guys liked this little trip down memory lane with me, and if you're also an enjoyer of Abandoned Pools, please let me know what you think of these and what your favorite AP songs are! I'd love to know! And if you don't listen to Abandoned Pools, I highly recommend their music if you can't tell lol. If you enjoy early 2000s alt rock sort of stuff, there's a solid chance you'll enjoy Abandoned Pools :3

[h-c-u]

No longer a secret pt 3

Summary: The one where InternetTM has ideas and the relationship officially goes public.

Pairing: Toto Wolff x fem!reader

W/C: 4k

Rating: PG, age gap

TWs: none

A/N: I didn't expect the characters to grow this much, but I guess we're in it, guys, gals and pals. Also, below you can find a link to a playlist I listen to while writing all of this softness. The songs on it don't apply to either of the characters, just put me in a good mood for fluff. Also-Also - I don't have a clear plan for a part 4, so it might be few days before I'll write it.

Taglist: @crimeshowjunkie, @omgsuperstarg

Series Masterlist | Masterlist | List of tags | Playlist for the series

You hated waking up early, especially alone in bed, but there had to be some cons of being with a man like Toto. Although it was more of a personal preference, than a true inconvenience. And during most mornings out of season, you had him all to yourself...

But today he was most likely either in some early meeting, or still in the gym, and you had your own meeting in about 30 minutes, so it was time to get up and get ready. 

You've just finished making a quick breakfast and a second coffee for your guest when there was a knock at the door. 

Mr. Zane, or Mark - as he insisted you should call him - was definitely worth whatever Toto was paying him because he was able to find a discrepancy in your contract that not only could void it after 30 days of you not being assigned a "full-length uninterrupted interview", based solely on the word uninterrupted, you could also sue the network based on precedence you wouldn't be able to repeat under any threats.

He already drafted a proper resignation letter mentioning all the legal things, and next to that, there was a letter from his firm stating that a failure to comply would result in legal action. You only wanted to add one condition to the things he prepared - you wanted to be the one to announce your departure from the network first; on your personal social media and without naming specific reasons.

He quickly edited the file to include that condition, and passed the tablet to you to sign, and just like that - everything was taken care of. And as a bonus, he checked a statement you quickly prepared, just to make sure the wording was ok, and after a few tweaks, you had it ready to post as soon as you got a reply from the HR department. And Mark assured you that they should confirm everything when the message will be marked as read since everything was effective immediately. 

A twenty-minute meeting saved you a full month of additional work, and with that, you were officially free. And unemployed. You would just have to return all the network-issued gear and vacate the room they paid for as soon as possible, which shouldn't be an issue, since the majority of your things were already here. You also no longer could use your press pass and network ID, but that wasn't going to be a problem, since you had no desire to do so. Sure, it was a dick move to leave your colleagues in the middle of the season, especially when there was supposed to be coverage tomorrow on track. But your resignation was a great opportunity for someone to put to good use. 

To your surprise, you got the notification that your Network acknowledges your resignation and accept the terms before Mark left the suite, and you had to make sure three times that it was indeed real because it still felt like a dream. After he finished the coffee, he congratulated you on your freedom, and just like that - he was gone, leaving you alone with your thoughts, and you immediately went into damage control mode, making call after call to your friends in the network, letting them know that you're no longer with the company; you didn’t want them to find out from a company-wide email, or worse - your social media. To those you couldn't reach, you wrote a message, and since all of you were basically in the same camp, there was no one who was bitter or angry; your friends fully supported your decision. Sure, there were a few less-than-appropriate comments, but all were in good faith.

Toto came back from the gym while you were still on the phone, and gave you a quick kiss on the top of your head in passing, because he didn't want to hug you when he was still sweaty, and before he disappeared in the bathroom, you mouthed "It's done, thank you...", and you could almost feel the pride radiating off of him, even though you basically didn't do anything. A question on the other side of the line made you turn around and focus on the reply.

When he came out of the shower with only a towel wrapped around his hips you couldn't help but stare a bit, and Toto just smiled when he caught you, came closer, and wrapped his arms around you, while you put your right hand on his shoulder blade, pulling him closer, so you could rest your cheek on his chest. His skin was so warm after the shower, that you could just melt into it, but you knew you couldn't stay like that long, because he had to get ready, and you had to continue the call session. Well, you technically didn't have to, but you wanted to explain whatever you could in person. 

You eventually let go of him, still deep in a conversation with your friend from the weather department, who just asked about your plans for t   future. You started telling her a rough idea of the project, and while Toto was getting dressed, you went to the kitchen to make him a coffee and take the breakfast out of the fridge, so he wouldn't miss it. You knew you didn't have to do that, but you enjoyed doing small things like that for him, and he did the same for you.

It looked like he would have a virtual meeting first because he took out his laptop, so you left him at the kitchen island and quietly closed the door to the bedroom, from where you continued your calls. You honestly thought that it would take less time, and after the sixth call, everything became so repetitive, that you honestly started to regret that you didn't make a group chat and let them know by a meme that you quit. 

But you eventually finished, and it was almost 11. It's not like you had something else to do today since you were officially free, but that feeling of guilt for not doing anything specific was present in the back of your brain, so you sighed and came into the other room, trying to figure out if Toto was still in the meeting, and when you heard your own voice coming from his laptop, you realized that he definitely wasn't. 

You lowered the barstool he was sitting on so you could take a look over his shoulder to see what he was watching, and the sudden movement down made him laugh. You hugged him from behind and rested your chin on his shoulder, because for once you could do that without abysmally tall high heels. He was watching your interview with Lewis from yesterday, and you came just in time to see him walking into a frame and putting his jacket over your shoulders. 

- My hero... - you laughed, and you pressed a tender kiss to his cheek. You stayed like that until the video ended, and after it did, you reached under his arm and scrolled down to see the comments, and you immediately started shaking, trying to contain laughter.

- "Y/N is so strong because I simply would have fainted if he did that to me..." - you read out loud the latest one, and he took over scrolling, so you wouldn't have to strain your wrist. - Oh, Mr. Wolff, please catch me in your strong arms if I faint...? - you couldn't help yourself and he shook his head with disbelief.

- It will be hard for me to catch you if you're behind me... - he laughed, and pulled you in front of him, basically switching your positions, so you leaned on him and intertwined your fingers with his on your stomach. 

- This one is funny... "Y/N is definitely in a secret relationship with Lewis Hamilton. In this essay I will...". - he read out loud, and you couldn't help but laugh. A quick look in the top right corner told you that you were still logged into your account on his computer, so you hit reply and commented "Where is the essay, OP...?", and he laughed even harder. 

- I like this one "A single mom who works two jobs, and one o  the jobs is definitely making sure his favorite son won't get sick", it's a reference to a song... - you added and you could feel him smiling, while you typed, but you hesitated before you hit send. - Are we ok with that...? - you made sure, even though it wasn't anything specific, just a slight suggestion. "Ok, but like are we sure-sure he's single?" 

- Are you ok with that...? - he flipped the question, and instead of replying you just sent the comment, and you could feel him pulling you closer, so you basically sat on his lap now. - Do I want to know what that means? - he pointed at one of the comments that read "Where is that fan cam of Toto to "big boy" because I suddenly need it to survive.", and you laughed again.

- I don't think I've ever seen this specific one, but people take clips of other people, in this case, you, and put them together to different songs. I suspect in this case they refer to you looking very hot, Neshama Sheli. - he couldn't help but laugh. 

- I don't think I'd like to see that... I would be much more interested in seeing fan cams of you, Schatzi. - you shook your head and wrinkled your nose, when he pressed a quick kiss to your temple, while you continued scrolling, and while there were a lot of comments about pet race, Toto's gesture was the second thing people talked about the most, and you both laughed from one more "I volunteer as a headset!", referring to the fact that there were times when he didn't treat his headsets the best. 

Only after you saw a comment where someone said that they can't wait for your next interview with Lewis, you realized something. 

- Shit, I forgot to post the official information about my resignation. - you immediately grabbed your phone and posted the prepared statement across all your social media. 

- By the way, I requested a Mercedes pass for you till the end of the season, so you could still come and go to the tracks as you want. - he said when you finally closed his laptop and turned around so you were facing each other. 

- Thank you. - this time you had to lean a bit to kiss him, and you would have lied if you said that you didn't enjoy it. 

- Is there anything else I can do for you, love? - he asked, pressing his forehead to yours. 

- Actually... - you took a deep breath - I want to get in front of the possible rumors, and I want to announce, well... us. - a giant smile bloomed on his face while he pulled you for another kiss. 

- No more hiding...? - he asked more as a formality, but he also wanted to make sure that you were 100% ok with sharing that part of your life.

- No more hiding. - you confirmed, your voice surprisingly confident.

- Then what are you waiting for? - you couldn't help but laugh. 

- It's a whole process... You know business and management, I know journalism, but more important - I know social media, and I know exactly how quickly the information and wild theories will spread in this community. – this whole endeavor would require some finesse, and you honestly debated if you shouldn’t leak your relationship to a few drama channels yourself to avoid ripping the Band-Aid yourself, but it would be much messier that way.

- I understand. What do you need me to do...? - he asked and leaned back on the stool a bit, so he could look at you better. 

- Take a selfie with me... I was thinking about posting it with information that I will go live and answer questions for about 30 minutes to dispel any craziness that will definitely come up sooner or later. - you explained your plan. All of it still seemed so surreal...

- Sounds good. Is that all you need? - he asked again, closing his knees a bit, and squeezing you between them.

- I mean, I still need to get the rest of my stuff from the other hotel, but I'll do that later today. - you sighed. You had more things to do, but this one had a deadline 

- I'll drive you. - he said as if it was the most obvious thing, and it wasn't even a question.

- Toto, you have a race to think of... And I am perfectly capable of doing that myself. - you tried to steer his mind away from taking care of you, but he didn't budge.

- I know... But consider this - I want to. - well, how could you argue with such sound logic? - Do you have any ideas for the photo?

- Not really, but I don't want it super staged, so I guess... just smile...? - he placed a quick kiss on the tip of your nose, and you turned around, sat on his lap, and turned the camera on the two of you, while he leaned a bit forward and rested his chin on your shoulder. You quickly took a few pictures in a row, while he placed another kiss on your cheek and you couldn't help but smile. And when you started lowering your phone, you felt the vibrations in his pocket, but it was to be expected. He chose to ignore them in favor of another few seconds this close to you. - Answer your phone, Meu Tudão... - and with a heavy sigh he did, while you stood up from his lap and started to choose the best of the photos. And the one when he kissed your cheek and you smiled was just perfect. 

You quickly cropped it so the proportions would fit the layout of the website, and made the picture a bit brighter, but that was it. The description only read "30 min live AMA at noon, get ready". You turned the screen in Toto's direction, so he could take a look, and he gave you thumbs up and a huge smile, and that was enough for you to post it. 

Not even a minute passed and the notifications started blowing up your phone to the point that you had to turn them off for this specific app in fear of it crashing every few seconds. 

You still had at least 10 minutes till the live, so you got something to drink from the fridge, because you suspected that 30 minutes of talking might make you a bit parched. You also carefully chose the place you wanted to stream from. Definitely not in front of the window because of the light, and you didn't want to share the view, so you opted for a couch set on the wall perpendicularly to the floor-length windows. You also made sure that there weren't any personal items in the frame, just in case. 

Toto was still on the phone, but as soon as you started your live, he moved to the bedroom, because the things he was talking about weren't exactly public. 

- Hi everyone... Oh, wow... There are a lot of people here... Jeez... - you looked at a quickly growing count indicating how many people were currently watching you, and the number was significant; you knew that neither of you was exactly anonymous, but it still exceeded expectations. - Ok, I'm gonna give everyone one more minute to join in and then I'll start answering questions... - you explained and leaned back a bit, but still made sure that the angle was good. You slowed down the chat, just so you'd be able to read anything. - How am I...? I'm great! Nervous as hell, but I'm actually great. - you didn't want to be quiet for that minute, so you decided to answer a few general questions. - Where am I...? I'm currently at the Ritz-Carlton... - You saw that the number of viewers started to stabilize, so you knew it was time.

- Ok, time for some serious questions and serious answers. As usual, I won't engage with anything vulgar or inappropriate, so make sure to keep your questions clean. But first some general info, so we're on the same page... - you took a deep breath because it would be the first time you shared that information out of your own free will. - Yes, me and Toto Wolff are together. We've been together for just over a year now... - you couldn't help but smile when you saw the flood of reactions in the chat, and you tried to catch as many questions as you could. - Did anyone know? No, not until yesterday. We decided to keep it private because of my career. Is someone blackmailing me to share that information...? - you couldn't help but laugh. - No, no... I'm doing it out of my own free will, no blackmail involved. - you took a moment to get to another question. - Did my departure from the network was because of our relationship? No, it's not. I keep my work life separated from my private life and there was no influence either way. - another quick break to catch up and read the question. - Why did I quit my job? I didn't quit my job. It was a mutual departure because our priorities no longer lined up and continuing that partnership wouldn't be good for either me or them. - you stuck to the things Mark approved earlier today. - Why am I sharing this now? Since I no longer will be working around the track, there was no reason to keep it secret. - you noticed that Toto left the bedroom, the phone still in his hand, but he was no longer on a call. You didn't ask him to join you, and you were prepared to do the AMA alone, but he sat next to you and wrapped his arm around you, and the chat exploded again. - Say hi to everyone... There are over 20k people watching us now... - you almost instinctively leaned into him. 

- Hello everyone! And wow! 20k just for us? That's impressive! - he leaned forward a bit, so the angle would be better. 

- Do you want to answer a few questions, Ya Amar? - he smiled, and you could see on the screen that he wasn't looking at the camera, only at you, and that warmed your heart. 

- Sure, why not... - he chuckled quietly. 

- So how did we meet? - you relayed one of the questions that popped up in the chat with a smile because the mere memory of that afternoon was more than enough to put you in good mood. 

- Well, believe it or not, it was nowhere near the track. She actually yelled at me, because I accidentally destroyed the flowerbed in front of a small B&B she was staying at, and that was enough for me to know then and there... - he smiled when you looked at him, and you couldn't help but blush a bit. 

- And I did that fully knowing who he was because the older couple put so much work into maintaining that flowerbed and he just... run over it! - you built on top of his story. 

- In my defense, I did that to avoid hitting a squirrel! - now both of you were laughing, and it took you a second to remember that you should be answering more questions. 

- Where was our first date? - you read the question out loud, and you were preparing to answer it when Toto cut you off.

- Oh, that's easy... Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin, and it lasted what... 10, 11 hours? - he replied and pulled you closer.

- Yup, it's a very big museum, and we were there since it opened till it closed, and we still didn't see everything. And after that, we went to a park and just sat on the grass and talked. It was perfect. - you added. You didn't want to share more details like - a much too expensive, very poor-quality dinner you sneaked onto the roof of the brewery on the museum grounds... Or the cheap strawberry champagne with glitter, which you chose only because you thought he would never buy or drink it, and which later exploded in his hands before he even managed to open it, soaking both of you in a pink, sugary, sticky residue; fortunately, neither of you got hurt then.

- Indeed... It was perfect because it was with you... - he leaned a bit and pressed his forehead to your temple, and you looked at the chat again in search of another question.

- Do we live together? Come on guys, that's too personal. What did we do for our first anniversary...? We spent a whole week on a cabin cruiser in Greece, just the two of us... - you could feel his hand gently stroking your back. - Ok, we're over the 30min mark here, so one last question and we're done. Make it a good one, guys... Ok, ok... - you took a moment to actually choose the question. - What are our favorite things about each other...? For me, it's your smile. - you replied, more to him, than to the chat. - I know it's cheesy, but it represents so many things... It makes me feel safe and cared for, it tells me that there is nothing to worry about, and no matter what - everything will be all right. And even when I'm having the worst day of my life, when I see you smile, it all disappears, because you give me the strength to get through everything. - you said and he pulled you in for a quick kiss. 

- For me, it's also easy... You make me want to be a better person in every area of my life. You push me to do things I wouldn't even consider before I met you by forcing me to look at things from different perspectives. You have this way of listening to my problems, that makes me realize exactly how to deal with them, doesn't matter if it's about work or about something private... And you make me want to be a better man for you, a partner you could be proud of. - this time you were the one who pulled him into a kiss, not caring how many people were watching you, although currently, they were watching more of the ceiling than the two of you. 

- Ok guys... Thank you so much for watching, that's going to be it for today... - you centered the camera on you and Toto again. - Take care, everyone! - and with that, you ended the live. 

- That went well. - he said, pulling you closer, and you leaned into his body. 

- Actually, better than I expected. But I guess we'll see what the articles will say in a few hours. 

- Do you think there will be articles...? 

- Oh, there definitely will be articles... And I can guarantee that at least one of them will be titled something like "Austrian billionaire and his latest, much younger fling" or "A principal and his student". People on my side of the media are vultures... - you couldn't stop the sigh that came out of your chest, but even though you knew that people would take the one thing about your relationship and run with it till the end of Earth, you honestly didn't care. Not when Toto's arms were tightly wrapped around you. - Oh, and an honest heads up - you and your team will definitely be asked about me during media hour... - you closed your eyes, letting yourself relax a little. 

- Do you care about how we will be perceived? - he asked with that pure childish honesty in his voice. 

- 6 months ago, I honestly wouldn't be able to sleep because of it... But now...? - you smiled and looked up just so you could see his face. - Now I truly don't give a fuck. - he couldn't stop the light chuckle that made his chest vibrate under you. - And I pity people whose lives are so boring that the only entertainment they can come up with is making up lies about two people who clearly love each other... - you leaned back again, savoring this moment, because you could just feel that it will and soon. After all - it was still racing season, and even though positions for tomorrow were already assigned, Toto still had a lot to do before the race. 

Part 4

A/N 2: Please don’t feel obligated/pressured to reblog, because I write mostly for myself. A comment would be appreciated though :) Love, G.

[folksaga-if]

SO.

it's looking likely that chapter 1 is going to come in at about...60k words. roughly. that'll put the prologue + ch1 at 80k, which is. longer than planned, but not wildly so? and that's good! i'm staying mostly on my target.

however the choices that account for the really different narrative experiences in the first chapter take place in the first ~40-45k words - this is where the chapter splits into 3 distinct branches with 3 very different interactions before converging later on.

so slight change of demo posting plans: to save myself the headache of having to do bigger alterations to those portions later on, i think i'll probably end up posting the demo as the prologue + those 3 routes, ie. prologue + 2/3 of chapter 1, about ~60-65k words total. it'll make it easier for me to gather more feedback on those sections, as they're the bulkiest code-wise and will be the hardest tackle later on.

which means! the demo may be posted sooner than i initially thought :) i'm going spend this week tweaking, editing, and re-writing, and will hopefully have it up sometime next week!!!! i'll give more concrete dates in the future, just wanted to let you guys know that we're in the home stretch before you have some actual game to play!

[chevvy-yates]

WIP WEDNESDAY

got tagged by @aggravateddurian ! <3

again only writing:

Cyberpunk 2078 — Pandemonium:

Technically I can already start layouting the 2nd chapter as the written part is 100% done, but I am still missing some VP where I have to place Hizumi, Vijay and Ryder in the Afterlife and, ofc I am either too lazy to do that or I just forget about it bc I distract myself with other stuff (that also wants to be done). But as soon as I get to it you can expect the 2nd chapter! At least for those who are interested in it.

New pinned post coming soon:

I am about to make a new pinned post, yes it will be a brand new post but contain more or less the same my current one has. I just wanted to refresh my boys profiles, tweak the formatting a little and make them a bit better readable but they won't differ much from the current ones. I'll exchange the profile pics with given time tho as I'm not satisfied with most pics but have no time to throw each after another into the game just to get the perfect pic for it.

About Blorbos:

I am trying to sort out/clean up my boys' wardrobes. E.g. I noticed Thyjs has too much stuff and from every piece like up to 3 versions. I force myself to get it down to one piece, which doesn't work all the time, but I slowly get there. When he's done I'll have to do the same with the other boys thow Ryder is the most unproblematic of all as there's only one iteam in black for him in the first place of most mods.

I don't want them to wear all the same clothes unless it's basic stuff or shoes. I also try to get rid of most replacers unless it's stuff that hasn't been made as xl yet or need to be kept for color reasons and what not. It takes me so long because I also clean up my folders where I storage their original files as well sorting out those I have taken out. You know each of my boys has their own save file. I am also renaming some files to have a better overview as bru I tell you thjys is close to 300 mod files.

Chrome Chamber Rave concept:

Prepared some posts already but I am hesitating to push the post button bc my brain is stupid telling me shit I shall not listen to.

that's all for now. I promise next wip post will contain some pics or sth cooler than just text! I don't like it either.

tagging:

@astarionhistears, @nervouswizardcycle, @gloryride, @elvenbeard, @heywoodvirgin, @rosapexa, @streetkid-named-desire, @therealnightcity, @wanderingaldecaldo, @koda-shoulda-woulda-but-didnt, @breezypunk, @ouroboros-hideout and anyone who wants to or has to show something. No Pressure and if tblr mentions don't work, I'm not even trying to edit it as I am tired of it not working properly.

[captivemuses]

(How do you make your icons? Do you have any tips for beginners? What program do you use?)

@honkai-star-fun

First off hello! For once I can put my icon knowledge to use lol. But my icon process on how I do them is probably a bit more time consuming than it needs to be just from the sheer amount of steps there are but I'm too set in my ways to change.

First I'll take crops from the actual caps of whatever I want to make icons of, then I use a free program called Photoscape to resize the icons down to the standard 100x100 size that all my icons are (I know that I'm able to do that step in Photoshop but I never learned how and again too stubborn to change my work process lol). Then I go over to Photoshop to clean up all the icons (things like sharpening the image, cleaning up any backgrounds, tweaking lighting to the icon is more visible, things like that. Then the final step for me is actually putting my PSD over the icon I'm making (if it's not an icon for someone else that may or may not be edited with a border or overlay on top).

I premake all my borders ahead of time so when it comes time for the editing process I just slap them right on top of the icon and adjust the image as necessary so it's centered and make sure everything looks good. You can find pirated versions of Photoshop out there if you look enough I'm sure, but I personally just pay for an Adobe subscription every month so the software gets updates and I just do any icon work I can to justify the cost, whether it's just making a bunch for myself or making icons for friends who ask me to. But there's also free online alternatives to Photoshop that I've had to use in a pinch in the past. For me they're not the greatest for doing icons in bulk simply because I don't think you can mass upload files like you could on a legit version of Photoshop, but if you're really desperate it can get the job done. You'd just have to Google search like 'free online photoshop' or something along those lines to find a webpage for one.

As for the caps themselves that I use, a friend of mine does all my capping for me in exchange for me making icons for her own use because I've never been able to get the hang of using capping software, but if you search around on Tumblr and Google for caps blogs you can find a lot of free to use caps to make icons and graphics from or find people that do commissions for caps. It's also possible to find free to use premade icons if you search around Google enough (search things like 'Honkai rp icons' and you'll often find Tumblr posts that have free to use icons for the general public, or you'll find people that have some available for purchase through a commission like I do.

My biggest tip for a beginner is there's no shame in using free for public use icons if you just don't have the time to make your own from scratch. Do what you have time to do. I personally have been making my own rp icons from scratch for over 10 years now, but that's purely a personal preference of wanting complete control over how they're cropped and how they look and I'm willing to put in the time to make them look exactly how I want. Icon making can be really time consuming if you're making a lot of them or are icon'ing a character that shows up in a lot of their source material, so it's totally fine to do what you can to try and get through the process faster. And if you think just commissioning someone for icons to save yourself stress is a better way to go, it's totally fine to just spend a bit of money if you have the disposable income.

Anyway hope all that helped and if you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask!

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia

Just to be clear, will the old version of Fae Tales remain available on ao3 or will it be replaced with the newer edited versions?

I'd appreciate knowing so I'll know whether to download the older versions before their replaced.

Thanks x

Hi anon,

I've talked about this a lot over the years. But basically I have actually edited and tweaked all of my stories many times over the years firstly, so that's a thing that does happen and it's worth backing up versions (if you want to keep the typos and some of the continuity errors x.x)

Secondly, I will save the 'references to SAL' version of Game Theory, so that this version is always available. I'm still on the fence about whether I'll make the AO3 version fully original, I always said that I would, but that was before I made the decision to actually try publishing, and now I think I could probably keep both.

However, even if I do that, I get a lot of people saying they find Game Theory confusing - why was Augus defeated? What did he do wrong? What's the difference between Seelie and Unseelie fae? Etc. etc. Questions that got answered in SAL for some, and certainly get addressed in COFT and TIP, never get addressed in GT, and that's kind of an issue for a free serial that is meant to help people get interested in my writing.

Some people overcome that (or have no issue with it), but it really is the biggest barrier to folks picking up the series.

In that sense, I have considered adding extra scenes, and also removing the scenes that have been completely OOC for over 8+ years, like Gwyn masturbating early on in GT, or the spanking scene later on. Neither one fits Gwyn's character, and it's very quickly established after that - and then maintained for almost a decade afterwards - that they really don't fit his character.

Those inconsistencies might be charming for some, but they're actually really frustrating for me! I haven't been able to reread Game Theory for enjoyment for like 4+ years because of it.

So, will I fix those things to make GT have decent continuity of character and add new scenes to GT on AO3? Maybe. Will I keep the references to SAL? Maybe! This one's more likely, especially for the folks - the many of us - who love fanfiction and love AO3 and came to GT (including me) from fanfiction. There's always a transitional story for people who need it.

My biggest stumbling blocks are the character continuity issues.

Also for those who probably don't know, I've made some actually pretty big edits to SAL for character continuity re: Gwyn and Augus. Augus, in particular, has had some major reworking in that story (like 4-5 years ago).

Every single one of my stories gets edited over time, especially if I do rereads. Most don't get new scenes, but like... oof I'd say there's about 2000 extra words on Gwyn and Augus in SAL, and I remember I did an edit about 6 years ago which easily removed about 12,000 words.

No one's ever brought it up, so ideally the edits felt smooth and just made the reading process more enjoyable.

But yeah if you want old versions of anything I write, anon, save/download them.

But if I make big structural changes (removing scenes / removing chapters), I will make a back-up copy myself and host it on Dropbox or something for folks to download going forwards. But hopefully they try the edited version too :)

[wuxiaphoenix]

On Writing: Getting the (Arrow) Point

I’ve been editing an archery scene. This is interesting (heh, you know, in a bit of the curse sense) for two main reasons. First, I thought this scene was going to come a lot earlier in the story, which means various things about characters, time, and place need to be tweaked to account for everything that happened between where I thought this scene would be, and where it actually ended up.

That’s the relatively easy one. The second reason?

...I imagine a lot of readers are not archers, and so may not grasp some of the fine points. Heck, I’ve had to work out what a lot of those fine points are - I’m not an archery expert, I’ve just read up!

So far the best idea I’ve got to work around that is by using the right POV to compare “what just happened” to what “regular” archers normally do. Someone who has to evaluate archers, because knowing what your men can and can’t pull off when chasing monsters is kind of important. Someone who’s just seen a thing no one he knows has ever seen done before....

And it’s his job to not just see and evaluate the skill level, but to also figure out how can this be useful?

Short answer: Oh boy incredibly useful but will need to be learned by the rest of his men, and deployed carefully. Because it will raise questions. The kind of questions that get angry court ministers breathing down your neck. “Oh, sure, save lives of the common people - but do it without threatening our power!”

(Narrator: You know, guys, that’s really not as much of an option as you think.)

So... hmm. Looks like this could be a subtle lead-in to what I hope to set up in later stories: If you want regular people to have a chance against monsters, you have to make them more capable of handling... other violence. And that has consequences.

As it definitely would, in Northeast Asia. Because societies there (to be fair, societies most places on earth in the 1600s) are built on a monopoly of violence. In Korea and China in particular, which put scholars and mandarins on top, the people who had the monopoly on violence weren’t actually the ones doing the violence. Which arguably made things worse. It’s one thing to fight when it’s your neck on the line, but horrible, horrible things can happen when someone can just order armies to go out and eliminate whatever without having to face grieving relatives and your own people burned alive in sieges. On the other side, if your army knows they’re shafted no matter what happens... exactly how well will they fight?

If you teach people to defend themselves, they might defend themselves against “the wrong people”.

This is going to have ripple effects.

[hungergameshyperfixation]

Trick or Treat!!!

YAY

To top off this year’s Halloween, I thought I’d share a fun little idea I had and give a tutorial.

~~

How to make a “Victor Poster” on Picsart

(^^Example image)

Ignore the way it looks 💀 graphic design is NOT my passion (/ref)

This is not revolutionary information. I’m aware it’s fairly simple and basic enough that most anyone could figure it out on their own, but I still wanted to share my version regardless.

I made a few of these in 2023, with my dogs, OCs, and people I know LMAO so I won’t be sharing those. But it’s basically like a mock-up poster, could be used for Tributes or Victors (or anything really).

I personally would like to suggest creating these with your OCs or pets!!! I’d love to see more dog ones. I was tempted to share mine but I’ll save that for another day maybe. I still prefer this blog to be somewhat anonymous.

Down there is a video showing the entire process—I sped it up a lot for time’s sake but hopefully it doesn’t obstruct what I’m doing too much. I can and will elaborate on this if anyone wants/needs.

Here are the (basic) steps:

(I procrastinated finishing this so I’m sorry that it’s basic. I’ll plan to edit it if prompted—I wanted to post before Nov 1st LMAO)

1. Choose your background. I’d recommend being content with how the background looks but not editing it too much unless you’re okay with it looking like a “separate” image from your subject. For example, adding “noise” or a static effect on the background first might make it look worse when you get to the final steps. “Visual cohesion” and all that.

2. Choose your subject/character. Simple enough! I’d recommend dogs. Or OC/character drawings. I just used Katniss for the example.

3. Edit and place your character on the background, make some minor edits for visual coherence. You can put a slight filter on and just mess around, but once again I’d recommend just tweaking things before making it “the final look.” Like if your final image is going to be Black and White, I personally would recommend waiting until getting all the visual elements on the image before playing around with that.

4. Add text block. Can be done with just straight text or (my preferred way) using the shape tool and writing text within the shape.

5. Add title text at the top if desired.

6. Add and play around with features like shadows, drawing, other visual elements.

7. Edit the entire image for visual coherence. Add things like visual noise, adjust brightness, put filters on, etc.

[shinysamurott9]

Alright so now that it's been a day and I've had some time to collect myself, I want to give my thoughts on Xenoblade X Definitive Edition.

Holy. Fucking. Shit. How is this real.

Ok so, I'm a pretty big fan of Xenoblade X, though I wasn't as much when I first played it in a Xenoblade marathon in the months leading up to 3. I didn't think it was bad or anything, it just didn't click with me the way the rest of the trilogy did at the time.

That is until I played it a second time roughly a year later alongside Xenogears and Xenosaga leading up to Future Redeemed. Before I got to it, I had made an effort to try and figure out the game and avoid the mistakes I had made in my first playthrough.

And I loved it.

Compared to the first time it was crazy, I didn't want to put the game down at all. Naturally after that, I really wanted to see some kind of follow up or for X to get some kind of second chance. Being a late Wii U game in a series that was at the time quite niche meant not a lot of people have gotten to play it. So a remaster on the level of Xenoblade 1's Definitive Edition felt like something X sorely needed as a way for more people to have a chance to play it and as a way to follow up on some of it’s infamous cliffhangers. People have wanted it for years for those reasons as well as the prospect of having the entire series on Switch.

And then Nintendo decides to come in on a random Tuesday out of nowhere and just drop the insane bombshell that a Xenoblade X Definitive Edition is real, is coming to the Switch and seemingly doing all of the above. I genuinely did not think it would ever happen. Monolith have put out statements before talking about how difficult and costly porting X would be, understandably so given how demanding that game was for the Wii U. Between that and just how late we are into the Switch's life, I felt like X on Switch was a pipe dream at best. Plus with the supposed Switch successor rumored to be a notable leap in power, I expected that if an XDE was on the table it would be saved for that to take advantage of the improved hardware.

But, here we are, Monolith have pulled out something I never thought possible. So far it seems like the graphics aren't overhauled as much as 1DE, which is fair, X holds up way better, especially in comparison to Xenoblade 1. But of course there are obvious changes to the character models and geaphics overall, so far everyone is looking pretty good so I'd say I'm already pretty happy on that front. There do also seem to be some minor tweaks to character designs, nothing major for the most part namely Lin only has one Monado hairpin instead of two.

What may be the most notable thing here is that finally after nearly a decade, they are finally following up on some of X's hanging threads with confirmed new story content. We can also see here the character people have called The Black Knight up until now. We never get anything close to a proper look at them in game but datamined models have shown us his model from the ending cutscene. He's we can already see he's been pretty heavily changed from the datamined model which makes sense. That model uses recolored grenada armor with a hood added so it was probably more of a placeholder than anything. I am very much looking forward to seeing where this goes.

What I am most curious about though is how this game will perform on a technical level. The original version was already struggling to run well on the Wii U even after the 15GB worth of performance patches, so I can't help but wonder how this game will turn out on the Switch. There's really no way to know til people get their hands on it.

That's about all we know for certain til we hear more, but there is a fair bit I would like to see from this game, a lot of it being general qol stuff, such as let me change my party or the time of day on the fly, give me better inventory management stuff like that. More options to customise my character would be nice too but given the precedent set by 1DE more armor pieces is probably a given. I would like it if some of the outfit pieces that differed between genders became available to both just to have more options, especially in regard to casual wear.

The biggest thing that I hope they implement though, that personally I think is borderline required for this game is some actual explanation for how the game mechanics work. The main reason I had such a hard time with X the first time is because most of its mechanics are never properly taught to you and they're just not intuitive enough to figure out on your own. Most egregiously this includes Overdrive, not just the cornerstone of X's combat system but an incredibly fun mechanic unique to X that not a lot of players got to fully appreciate because they didn't understand how it works.

I know the Wii U digital manual explained some of these things but people weren't really reading manuals in 2015, much less digital ones that are somewhat disconnected from the actual game. As far as I'm aware the Switch doesn't even have digital manuals like the Wii U so actual tutorials maybe something they need to add if they want any of the presumably many new players to figure out how to play the game.

Other than that though I'm very happy with what we've seen so far. I'm really looking forward to playing this game again with hopefully a much more active online playerbase for things like squad missions or nemesis battles. Will certainly make getting reward tickets much easier and more fun.

[an-act-of-will]

Random tidbits of advice no one's asked for about writing but I've learned over the years

In no particular order:

Don't worry if your first draft is messy. That's what editing is for.

You won't learn anything from nitpicking the same story for years. End it and then edit.

Between edits, take a break of a specified time so the work can breathe. I do one to two months. You might need only a week or three days.

Don't be afraid to experiment, in your writing or routine. Stepping out of your comfort zone is the way to grow.

Don't worry if you can't pinpoint a precise 'routine.' I don't have one and I've written for almost a decade.

Let your characters speak, but don't let them monologue. You will need to play God to wrangle them into place. If you can't get them to behave, you might need to make a new character.

Don't delete anything permanently. If you really like a scene/chapter/character/whatever else, but it doesn't work in this story, put it in a separate document for future inspiration. You'll be surprised when you can re-use it with some tweaking.

Number your drafts. Please. Just do it.

Back up your work.

Back it up again.

Save your work before you close the program if it doesn't do it automatically. If it does, save anyway, then refer to previous two pieces of advice.

Don't be afraid to try silly writing 'hacks'- the 'writing in comic sans' one works well for me.

Get someone else to read your work and see where it needs some love. Prepare specific questions for them so they know what you want from them.

If you've been stuck for quite a while, the problem is in your last sentence. Don't delete it- I put it in brackets and move on as if it doesn't exist. You can also turn the text white on a computer, or cover it in a dark highlight color on the computer, or cover it with your hand if you're writing longhand.

If you write longhand, I salute you.

If you think the problem is in the last sentence, it might be the last scene. Do the bracket trick and move along.

Momentum is key. Don't stop to research when paper clips were invented (1867, for those wondering, by a gentleman named Samuel B. Fay. They were originally used to attach tickets to fabric.). If you know you need to research something later, put the item to be researched in brackets. Something like [CHECK DATE OF INVENTION OF PAPER CLIP]

Don't feel bad if you can't think of a specific or common word. I've forgotten the word 'lunch.' It happens. Put the approximate definition in brackets like [WORD FOR MIDDAY MEAL] (As you've noticed, I use a lot of brackets).

When it's time for editing, read through it first and take notes either on the manuscript or in the document. I color code mine, then include a key because I'm forgetful. For example, green is often a continuity error, red is something that can be cut, blue is where a scene can be added. I use changing the color of the text, highlights, and adding notes in my writing document.

Don't shell out money for expensive writing tools if you're not sure if you'll use it. Free word processors and office supply store notebooks are fine.

If you're well and truly stuck, move to the physical world and write longhand, even if you write digitally the other 99.99% of the time. I've found that it almost 'unlocks' parts of my brain that are understimulated.

If you do take the physical world approach, school notebooks and index cards are your friend. The notebooks are great for rambling and figuring things out, and index cards are amazing for writing short descriptions of scenes and physically moving them to see where they fit best.

If those don't work, you can always try the rubber duck technique I've heard coders use- use a rubber duck (or a stuffed animal, or a picture, or anything else) and talk your problem out. You'll probably see the solution once you articulate it. I use a wolf stuffed animal and record on my phone. You'll feel ridiculous, but it works.

Don't be afraid to feel ridiculous. It's a hobby that takes you down rabbit holes.

When I'm done with a chapter, I often use my text-to-speech function on my computer and listen to my story. It helps me catch typos that are other words. For example, 'bed' typed as 'bet' instead.

Your word processor isn't perfect. It will miss mistakes, and it might make new ones. To, too, and two and your and you're can be tricky for them.

Research your made-up names thoroughly to make sure they don't exist as other things.

If you have an idea unrelated to your current session, make note of it. You will forget it and you know you will.

Don't forget to take care of yourself- drink water, eat, and take breaks even if you're worried you'll break your groove. The words will still be there when you get back.

[bloodmoths-archive]

Your neocities page is amazing! Sorry if this is a silly question, but do you have any tips? I want to make one of my own but it's a bit daunting to me for some reason

thank you so much! :D it means a lot to me that you checked it out! ❤

not a silly question at all. coding your own site really can be daunting, especially if you're only familiar with html basics, i tend to assume most "veteran" tumblr users are at least a little familiar tweaking html/css. but it's 10x more rewarding once you get the hang of it.

but, assuming you haven't looked at the internals of neocities yet, it's 100% coding. neocities reads the site data from files that you, the host/webmaster, have to manually edit. there's no built-in site builder like you'd see with carrd or other site hosts (a lot of those hosts only offer coding as a paid feature). the good news is, resources for html/css learning are abundant and everyone who knows about it is more than willing to share tips & help other people learn.

that being said, for beginners or anyone re-learning it, my advice would be not to try to build your site from the ground up, but to use a pre-built layout and tweak it to your liking to familiarize yourself with how things work.

another thing is, neocities is somewhere most people use as a "hub" for their own creations, thoughts, etc. you'd be hard-pressed to find a neocities that doesn't have an art gallery or some variant of a journal/diary. some people host information on their OCs, which is really cool. i've seen others use it as a log for things they collect, games they've played. or shrines to their favorite media/comfort characters/FOs, etc. of course, this is just a handful of examples of what many people use the site for.

sadgrl.online is one of the first places I'd recommend when it comes to resources and guides for neocities. they actually have their own layout builder! their HTML cheat sheet is also very helpful and simple and has tidbits of coding that explain what they're for.

when it comes to the coding process itself, I personally love the program Brackets (or its in-browser variant) - it shows you what your webpage looks like while you're editing (as opposed to edit code, save, refresh page in a separate tab, repeat.) i'd even say this program is a must with people new to site-building.

if you need help with anything specific, feel free to message me (preferably on discord, if you have it!) because there's too much to really go through in a single post 😖

here's another post to check out

[mariska]

nobody asked but i am Making A Post About It Anyways Because I Asked Myself If She Wanted An Update And They Said Yeah I Want An Update Thanks For Asking, Me. and i said No Problem, Me.

a lil update on my new baldur's gate 3 dark urge drow character Zore (pronounced 'Zor-ah' i always feel the need to include that alongside her name lol) that i made a post about the other day!

so i had mentioned previously that i'd had a specific like, purple/blue/pink kinda general color scheme in mind when i was first making her in the character creation screen pre-gameplay and that, because i can't play on a fancier more modern type of TV that has those super hd/more detailed color/resolution etc. type of options, the way colors look on the 10+ yr old regular flatscreen Living Room Family TV are pretty different than how everything looks in screenshots i take on my ps5 and then save to my camera roll or any other non-ps5 device. and because of that, Zore's skin tone (which i had attempted to make like a light blue with a lil bit of a grey undertone) just looked completely grey in pics i've been taking of her even though on my screen it was much closer to that blue tint i wanted her to have.

anyways i used one of those magic mirrors in my camp to go back into the character creator and made some tiny tweaks to try and fix that with.....Limited Success? she is still showing up pretty grey in certain environment lighting especially in screenshots, on my tv screen shes like undeniably light purple or lavender, but. frank sinatra voice Thats Life ! comparison of how her skin tones looked in screenshots before and after adding more purple:

this was the original one (Wisteria Tone 4), looked like much more of a subtle blue/purple overlay on my tv than how grey it is in the screenshots,

this is the newer color i ended up going with (Violet Tone 1), obviously shows so much more of that exact kinda blue/purple/slight grey undertone in screenshots that i was going for originally and looks like a brighter blue/purple on my tv....idk why she's still kinda showing up as mostly grey in so many of the actual gameplay screenshots i've been taking of her but i think its probably just certain areas of the map with bright daytime lighting that wash the non-grey colors out or something, its annoying. LOL. especially since i think the newer violet tone rly compliments the pinks i used for her hair and eyes and makes those pop a lil more and its very pretty, maybe once i get to a spot in-game without the light of 1000 suns hitting her directly she'll actually look purple/blue in more of my screenshots of her fnsjsgssgsgshshsf

one more 'character creator' screen view of her followed by an in-game pic (i think u can def see the blue and purple tones better than all my other pics of her in this one thankfully so thats why i feel like its probably just a bright lighting issue that sometimes turns her completely grey lol)

got to the area of the map where u recruit Karlach before i stopped playing last night (which i have been going back and forth feeling hesitant about whether i wanted to recruit her to my camp and/or party at all because she is my absolute fav companion and in my main save file shes my character's girlfriend so i KNOW.....that she has the sweetest most compassion filled heart of gold......and i KNOW my girl Zore will make so many decisions and actions that Karlach will absolutely not be approving of 😭 but i rly didnt want to leave any of the main act 1 companions behind so i'm just crossing my fingers that maybe if i have her stay behind at the camp most of the time she won't get so disappointed in me that she'll just leave all together 😭😭😭😭😭😭) and took a million screenshots of the whole introduction scene bcus i love Karlach so very much, so. please enjoy these two silly pics i edited of that scene as well

also accidentally took a pic of this dead npc floating in the air while Zore took his brain tadpole out for herself and it cracks me up so much, i was trying to take pics of Zore but the scene kept switching characters too fast it makes me giggle every time i see it

Rise.....

[whatsnewalycat]

Can you tell me more about your writing process?

I’m literally enthralled by your writing and want to know everything about how you approach your ideas — once you get one, what are your next steps?

You’re phenomenal ❤️

Oh man ok let’s see. I apologize in advance for how long this is (I, too, don’t want to be this intense, I promise).

Once I get an idea that I’m stoked about, the extent to what I do next depends on if it’s a series or a one shot, but I’ll usually try to get a handle on the main characters involved. If it’s a one shot it’s almost entirely vibes, I stg, I just wing the characters and storyline, but follow the same kind of editing process as I do series chapters.

If it’s a series, I’ll make a folder for the series in my notes app, and a note for each main character and start writing down ideas for their main characteristics and backstories. This is usually when I make a Spotify playlist for the series.

Then I make a rough outline for the story based on these characters and the initial idea.

From there I can kind of tell what things I want to do more research into before starting writing. I’ll make a note for each of those things and dump anything I find helpful or interesting into the notes. Like… for Psychomanteum I have notes with: links to tabloid articles, excerpts from research papers on psychomanteums, quotes from this book on grief, excerpts from and links to articles on sexual grieving, etc etc.

After this I go back to the characters and flesh them out a little more. I’ll look at lists of characteristics, make sims (seriously), watch the source material for PP characters, look at character archetypes, and think of people I know IRL for inspiration. Then once I think I know them, I revisit the outline and tweak it accordingly.

When I’m ready to start writing a chapter, which i dont start to do for honestly like… months after the initial idea, I’ll make an outline for each of the scenes I want and start trying to write them. I’ll just kind of word vomit out my ideas and try my hardest not to deal w the parts i think are crappy right away (which is hard because, despite what a chaotic mess I am, I am a fucking perfectionist). Most of the time I end up either not strictly sticking to the outline or writing alternative scenes, too, because idk sometimes it feels like the characters wouldn’t do that??? And I like to have options?

Once i write all the scenes, I take a break for at least a day, then back in and reread and tweak things like, I don’t know, one million fucking times 😂 I end up rewriting a lot of pieces and fleshing things out when I do this though.

When I mostly like it and cut out all the things I don’t want (I always save these scraps in a separate doc because I might want to use some stuff later), I smoke some weed, read a bunch of poetry, put on my playlist, and edit it again. If I ever refer to “the stoned edit” this is it lol. I always end up adding a lot more sensory details and better explaining emotions when I do this.

Then I read It once or twice more for spelling, grammar, formatting, fine tooth comb stuff. I’ll usually post it and immediately find some errors anyway 🥰 but what can ya do lol.

AHHHHH hopefully this helps and isnt Just like… me blabbing on about useless shit 😂

OH ALSO! The book “consider this” by chuck palahniuk has been super helpful for me as far as writing tips and stuff. I’ve listened to that audiobook like... four times because I can’t remember shit ever lmfaooo It’s always helpful imo. I also really like to listen to audiobooks of horror novels and find them inspiring because they’re usually so visceral and engrossing.

OK SERIOUSLY SHUTTING UP NOW SORRY

[atlasisnothere]

Hello sorry to bother you but I noticed your Dinluke Tangled fic has been deleted on AO3 and was wondering if you were aware of this or if it was accidental? I really loved that fic (and I know heaps of others do too) and I’m saddened to see it go but I will respect your decision if you did remove it intentionally. I just wish I could’ve saved/downloaded it sooner 😭

So, I've actually been meaning to make a post about this (sorry Vanilla, I know this ask has been sitting in my inbox for a long time!) This post will ramble on a bit, but moral of the story is, I am in the process of editing and making tweaks to the fic to reupload it onto AO3 as an orphaned work. Further explanations will be below the cut but feel free to move on, they’re not that important, lol!

When I deleted my fic last year, it was at a time where the dinluke fandom, somewhere I had found so much joy and solace in for over a year, had become a place that just started to make me uncomfortable. I avoided the tags, I downloaded a few of my favourite fics from my favourite authors (who are still some of my beloved mutuals <3) and moved on.

The fic in question, a tangled AU I had written back in 2021, was probably the most prevalent work I had created for the fandom. I wrote it in a time where I needed something light-hearted and warm and fun to write, and writing this fic really did bring me so much joy. Even more so was the response that it received while I was publishing it. I could tell that there were readers who enjoyed reading it for the exact same reasons that I enjoyed writing it, and hearing everyone’s thoughts and feedback every week is part of what made writing this fic so special. Every fic author understands how wonderful it is to share your work with an audience and be able to talk about it with them.

But then the dinluke discourse became more prevalent, and I started noticing more comments on the fic that interpreted the ship and the ‘roles’ of the characters in a way that ... didn’t really make me comfortable. Yes, I had Din as the ‘Flynn Rider’ character and Luke as the ‘Rapunzel’ character, but I felt that that best represented their characters in canon - with Din as the seemingly rough on the outside but warm on the inside one often brushing against the law, and Luke as the driven, optimistic, and sometimes reckless one who is endlessly hopeful. But there were some people in the comments who just wanted to see luke as a typical damsel-in-distress disney princesss, which isn’t what I wanted, or wrote, at all.

And so, having removed myself from the fandom, I removed the fic, too. Looking back, even though I don’t regret what motivated this decision, I do regret removing it from AO3 so quickly and without warning. I know there were people who loved it - I did too - and if I had known more about the option to simply orphan a fic and leave it up on AO3, just not associated with your account, then I think I would have done that instead. But at that point in time, the fic just served as a reminder of how hostile some parts of the fandom had grown, and how I didn’t fully feel comfortable being in a fandom I loved anymore. I didn’t even think I’d ever come back.

But now I am, lol. I’ve reached a point now where I’m comfortable existing in my own corner of the fandom, discussing the ship with my mutuals and sharing content with them, and that’s brought back a lot of the joy that I’d missed. I’d even started to go back to my google doc with the tangled AU fic’s original draft, going through and editing and tweaking it just to remember that joy of writing it. And so, I decided that I want to put it back up onto AO3. I’ll republish the chapters once I’ve finished editing them (the first few are already done) and once it’s all back up, I’ll orphan the fic. That way it’ll be there for all of those who had originally joined me in the journey of writing it, who made me smile every week with their wonderful comments. The fic has always been for them.

Anyways, that got a little melodramatic, lol. I’ll probably start publishing the first couple chapters later today. Other than this post, I probably won’t be mentioning it much more on this account, and simply moving on with the dinluke (and now jedi fallen order oops) brainrot 😂. Stay well everyone! xx