#i think its a wonderfully colorful game

[alwritey-aphrodite]

best guess

Pairing: Remus x fem!reader

Word count: 1.9k

Author's note: honestly this is a little all over the place and it doesn't say much and if it seems disjointed that’s because it is but i think its cute either way <3 title from the Lucy Dacus song <3

There’s always a stretch between winter and springtime that’s especially miserable. The bright lights of the holidays and cozy fireplaces have disappeared, leaving behind only the gloom and the wind and the rain. It’s truly awful, everything bleak and grey and damp, but there’s always a little pocket of spring that hides among the melancholy. A false spring, where everything, for a few days, is bright and happy and dappled with sunshine. It’s discouragingly fleeting, but it’s so lovely when it comes.

Remus hates it, hates how fickle it is, how quickly it disappears, how it lulls you into a false state of happiness before ripping it away with months more of the darkness. You love it though, love shedding your layers and tilting your head towards the sun, acting like it really was spring even though you know it’ll slip through your fingers in a few days’ time. It’s a preview of spring and of summer, of the lighter months full of sunshine and friendship and infinitely long days, a promise of what’s to come.

The ice in your cup clinks together as you stir it with your plastic straw, the color lightening the more you mix.

“It seems like you don’t actually like coffee,” Remus quips before taking a drink of his own coffee.

“I don’t,” you respond before taking a sip, your eyes fluttering closed in delight, “I just need a vessel for all the different flavors.” You smile, lips shiny from the lipgloss you’d meticulously applied only moments before, just to leave a sticky ring around your plastic straw. Your head tilts back into the sunshine, seeking out its warmth even with your eyes closed, and then it finds you and you’re alight like an angel, the sunlight beaming down onto your face as if it shines only for you.

You, unlike Remus, were born for the sunshine. You were destined to lay out in the sun with not a care in the world, for backyard poker games and meals on the porch, for citrus fruit and clover fields, for the seaside and painted skies. You’re the sun, his sun, and he’s drawn to you the way a moth is drawn to a flame. For him, it’s enough just to sit like this, just to be near you and listening to the way you hum every time you take a sip of your drink.

“Wanna come to the store with me?” You ask, setting down your mostly empty cup and breaking Remus out of his stupor, “I wanna make sandwiches for lunch, with the good bread.”

“Course I’ll come,” he stands, grabbing your hand to help you out of your chair the way he always does, partly to be kind and partly to feel your hand in his, the way you squeeze his hand tightly just before letting go.

The two of you always do things like this, spend your mornings in coffee shops and bookstores, keep each other company while grocery shopping or going to the bank. When you’re together everything feels a bit like an adventure, even the boringest of chores turned into something wonderful when Remus is by your side. It just feels right, spending all these wonderfully meaningless moments with each other, even though people tend to think you’re a couple. You don’t mind, don’t find it the least bit embarrassing, and you often play along, even as Remus’ cheeks tinge pink.

“Good boyfriend, he’s a keeper,” an elderly woman comments with a wink when she sees Remus holding your basket as you inspect tomatoes.

“Oh, he’s the best,” you agree, smiling at the woman as she walks away. Remus has surpassed pink and gone straight to red, matching the tomato in your hand perfectly. “You must’ve gotten some sun while we were outside.” You say it innocently, not a hint of anything malicious in your tone as you press your palm gently to the side of his face. He thinks you must be trying to kill him, what with your sweet smile and unassuming words and your soft touch.

“You don’t like tomatoes,” he says instead of anything substantial, his brain rebooting as you make your way to the bakery section.

“No, but you do, and I can find something to do with the leftovers,” your words only confirming that you do indeed mean to kill him. You’re so absurdly sweet, Remus wonders how you manage it, but he’d never mention it, never want you to feel even a shred of self-consciousness around him.

Watching you grocery shop has always been something of a spiritual experience for Remus. There’s something so captivating about the way you inspect the produce, pressing gently with your thumb to find any soft spots or turning containers this way and that to check for ripeness. He loves the way you stand in front of the shelves, internally debating whether or not you need something, whether you should go with the cheaper option or the better tasting. Maybe he’s just so in love with you that everything you do seems extraordinary, but he’d be happy to grocery shop with you forever.

Instead, though, you finish with your shopping and he drives you home, and you make him lunch. You never have to ask what he wants anymore, just direct him to the kitchen table while you get out your ingredients and your cutting board. Instead of sitting, though, he folds himself over, leaning his elbows on your countertop just to share the same space as you.

“Wanna help with my garden this year?” You ask, not even bothering to look up from slicing your bread into thick slabs.

“It’s gonna get cold again,” he warns instead of any sort of real reply.

“I know,” you look up at him, setting your knife down, “but when it’s warmer for real, wanna help?”

“‘Course I do,” and the weight of your gaze, your smile, is simply too much, so he reaches for your cutting board and steals a piece of the bread, just for the sake of hearing you laugh and scold him.

Some of Remus’s fondest memories take place in your kitchen. There’s you on a Friday night, eyelids sparkly and skin on display, the countertops covered in various bottles of booze and mixers, the overhead lights replaced with something funkier, your laughter ringing out over the music. The quieter moments are his favorite, though, where it’s just the two of you or a few more of your closest friends, crammed in the warm glow of the kitchen and sharing in a meal, either the creation of it or the consumption of it.

Mostly, there’s just something about you in your kitchen that Remus finds overwhelming. You can transform into so many different versions of yourself, reflecting the situation around you like stained glass but casting your own light just the same. You are steady and reliable and full of so much love it’s a little absurd, he’s only able to quantify it through your kitchen, as you bake something or cut fruit or serve drinks or make him lunch, just the two of you seemingly alone in the world and really, that sounds perfect to Remus.

He wants to know everything about you, all the little moments and expressions that build up to create you, and although he’d like to think he already does, it always seems like there’s one final wall that Remus can’t quite break through. He’s seen you in the early mornings, on vacations or days where you’ve needed to crash on his couch, he’s seen you at every point during daylight in every season, and he’s seen you at night, for dinners and movies and nights out, but that doesn’t seem real, not really, not in the way he wishes it did. He wants to wake up next to you, spend every second by your side, and fall asleep next to you before doing it all over again.

In his mind, you’re nothing but perfect, nothing but the girl of his dreams, but he couldn’t possibly tell you that. You’re his everything, and he can’t fathom that changing in any way, even for the better. It’s not a risk he’s willing to take. So instead, he says nothing, nodding along to the story you tell as you construct the sandwiches, heart bursting every time you pause in your work to look up at him, eager to see a reaction or share in a smile.

The sandwiches, once they’re done, are practically works of art, thick cut bread piled high with toppings, all of Remus’s favorites lovingly arranged without needing to ask and cut in half. You know everything there is to know about Remus, all of the little, seemingly inconsequential details like how he likes his sandwiches, how he takes his tea and his coffee, his favorite pizza toppings, his go to orders at all the local restaurants. You know what kind of books he prefers, his favorite brands of sweets and snacks, the spot he always chooses on your couch.

Remus can’t think about that too long, can never sit with the thought that you know him better than anyone and what that might mean. It makes him want to crawl out of his skin sometimes, the way you see him so completely far too overwhelming. It makes his heart ache, just a little, to know that someone, that you, love him enough to remember things about him, to remember practically everything about him.

He knows you too, can read every little facial expression that passes and every twitch of your fingers, knows when you’re tired or hungry or overwhelmed. Now, you’ve just had a thought pop into your head, something that’s taken your full attention because you’re setting down your sandwich and brushing the crumbs off your hands.

“We should run away to the seaside,” you swallow thickly, barely waiting to be done chewing before you share your newest idea with Remus, “and we can lie in the sun and read all day long and only eat fruit and ice cream.”

“I get burnt easily.”

“Fine, we’ll get you an umbrella to read under and I’ll read in the sun and everything else will stay the same.” You smile, and that’s enough sunshine for Remus.

“Not if you’re in charge of cutting the fruit,” he counters, making a pointed look at the plate of fruit you’d cut and set on the center of the table, lovingly prepared but with widely uneven slices. You just laugh and roll your eyes.

“Then you can cut the fruit.”

“Deal.”

The thought warms Remus to his core, almost as much as your smile does. He imagines you and him by the sea, salty and sunsoaked. He’s always believed that you were made for summer, for running around barefoot through sand and grass and wearing nothing but swimsuits and breezy shirts, letting the sun warm your skin and your soul. You’re mostly joking, he thinks, but he also can’t think of anything that would make him happier than running away with you.

He doesn’t say that though, and instead just grabs some orange slices from the plate, leaving his fingers sticky. You smile and shake your head, can sense the gentle teasing before it even leaves his lips, so instead he just eats the fruit and resists the urge to comment, just to keep you on your toes. You know him too well, though, and can tell what he’s thinking.

“Be quiet and eat your fruit, otherwise I’ll run away without you.” He puts his hands up in mock surrender, as if he wasn’t in the middle of planning out a snarky comment.

“You’d never leave me,” he retorts, playful as if the mere thought doesn’t make his heart ache.

“Of course I wouldn’t,” and even though you’re teasing, the both of you smiling, Remus can sense the truth of your comment.

Tagging: @arcaneorphic @onceuponaoneshotfanfic

[ckret2]

Why do you need to change your story based on The Book of Bill at all? It’s not like there was something wrong with your original vision. Why do you need to change it so it matches Alex’s version? Your story is already a fanfic, right? It can be its own thing. It’s not like it’s any less for being different.

Oh, lucky, somebody just asked me this in replies so I can just expand on the comment I gave them.

I don't match canon because I think I "should" or "need to"; I match canon because being rigorously canon compliant is something I enjoy and take pride in. There's an extra challenge in finding a way to tell the exact story I want to tell while keeping it TECHNICALLY 100% canon compliant and I like succeeding at that challenge.

(Plus, a lot of the stuff in The Book of Bill enhances the story I was already telling, so working it in just makes the story cooler. There's actually a whole lot more enhancing bits than clashing bits! I was fully prepared to leave TBOB out if it had clashed too much, though I wouldn't have liked it.)

I call the way I like writing fics "canon malicious compliance": I am, technically, 100% canon compliant, and nobody can say I'm not—but I'm gonna find a way to bend canon to my whims to make it tell the story I want to tell. If Bill says he helped fake the moon landing, I'm not gonna go "it's canon that Bill faked the moon landing, so I've gotta go with that"; I'm gonna go "it's canon that Bill said he faked the moon landing, so I can mention in my fic that that's a lie he commonly tells people," because it's still TECHNICALLY canon and I like that better.

I treat things as canon that the show's own creator has explicitly said are not canon—the Bill Reddit AMA, Little Gift Shop of Horrors, Time Pirates' Treasure, the fricking coloring book, cheap disney.com flash games—because treating these ridiculous things as canon adds to the fun of the challenge for me even when Alex et al don't treat them as canon themselves.

It's like those cooking challenges where you get five weird wildly-clashing ingredients and you're told to make a dish that uses all five of them. In the privacy of your own kitchen you could go, "well, it's too hard to figure out how to make something edible with grilled chicken and green gatorade, so I'm gonna leave the gatorade out," and I'm sure you'd make something delicious with the remaining four food items; but for me, it takes some of the satisfaction out of the food challenge if I don't figure out how to make the gatorade work.

Fics that tweak or change canon to suit the writer's tastes/vision are wonderfully creative pieces of art and I support any writer's right to do that; but it's not how I personally enjoy writing. I'm gonna make my fic 100% canon compliant because that's how I like writing them.

And in the end, it will still be my original vision. I just plan to whip, bend, and twist Alex's vision until it serves mine. It's no big deal if I've got to tweak mine a bit to help everything fit.

[the-bear-and-his-sunbird]

OC Layers Tag Game

I was tagged by the wonderful @holdingontojupiter and I must confess, I love Rhea, she is such a lovely person oooof.

Siobhan Ingellvar

LAYER ONE: THE OUTSIDE

Name: Siobhan Ingellvar. She is also known as Rook.

Eye Color: Light green.

Hair Style/Color: Auburn color. She either wears it down or pinned up with a stick if she needs to think quick (Emmrich gifts her a hair needle when he finds out). When she wants to feel fancy she does an intricate updo.

Height: 5'11/ 6'0. My girl is tall (but Emmrich still towers over her wtf)

Clothing Style: For adventures/dancing something she can move in that also protects her skin. She has issues with the scarring on her chest and the fabric needs to accommodate that. When she is not out doing things, she goes for style. Anything that resembles bugs/beetles, flowers, bones or the Mourn Watch will be in her arsenal. She loves dresses and things that tastefully obscure a part of her (like a see through veil that goes over her body). She likes to play with loose fitting garments and look as if they float but also make her look ethereal.

Best Physical Feature(s): If you ask her, its her eyes. But I love her curved nose and freckles. She has a dancers physique. Lean but muscular and the way she moves is haunting in the best way.

LAYER TWO: THE INSIDE

Fears: To be alone. She told herself the story of the lonely girl for comfort but she fears that it will never stop. The ache of not belonging. That she has a taste of love and security and then it gets ripped away. She is afraid of people who hate Necromancers after a bad run in after her banishment. Also she fears that someone could find out about how angry and lost she feels.

Guilty Pleasure: Hardings food and Neves coffee.. She genuinely enjoys some of the recipes Harding makes (her potato soup just has something in it that tickles her brain. The texture is wonderfully off) and she likes the bitterness of Neves boiled coffee.

(Don't worry she enjoys Lucanis food too.)

Biggest Pet Peeve: People that are ignorant or condescending.

Ambition for the Future: Many ambitions but more like a list of things she wants to accomplish: She wants to make that map of the Necropolis. Attuned to the flows of the Necropolis, that gives insight to the position of all the graves and memorials. So that everyone can always visit their loved ones. She would like to teach about connecting to the flows of the Fade down there, an ability that she developed when she was young, but she cannot see herself as a full time professor at the moment. She wants at least one choreography together with her "Aunt" Cerys, one storybook and to finally engineer a beetle that can live longer than a few months besides Crawla. She wants to see the world for a bit, with Emmrich at her side. Either full time or as their vacation stays.

On a more domestic note: She wants to marry Emmrich and she would also like to have more children one day. So that Manfred can have siblings.

LAYER THREE: THOUGHTS

First Thoughts Waking Up: Emmrich? Ah, there you are, my heart.

What They Think About the Most: She makes up stories about everyone up in her head. Lucanis -> The crow that dreams to become a wyvern, Bellara -> The hummbingbird on her search for the truth etc.

Besides that, she thinks about Emmrich a lot.

What They Think About Before Bed: Honestly, she falls asleep in Emmrichs arms so it's probably about her gratefulness to finally be his and him to be hers. That they are still alive. She thinks about his voice and how much she loves him.

What They Think Their Best Quality Is: Her empathy and patience.

LAYER FIVE: DO YOU?

Lie: Only if she must. She detests lies and people that do so without shame.

Believe in Yourself: Not that much. Although in the good (canon) storyline she begins to believe in herself and comes out a stronger person.

Believe in Love: Yes. Love is what knits the universe together. No matter if its romantic or platonic. Love is all around us.

Want Someone: Emmrich. Her scared boy and the curios professor at the same time. Her never ending story.

LAYER SIX: HAVE YOU EVER?

Been on Stage: She learned to dance from her Mentor/WineAunt figure Cerys, the traveling orlesean dancer. So she was on stage a few times. Also when giving presentations in the Watch. She missed out on her chance to be on the stage for a conference, though.

Done Drugs: Yes, she smoked a bit. Also had some nice sessions with Neve and Harding in the Lighthouse. She and Emmrich also seldom did it together. That being said, she also tried the weird gas they collect from grave mist and oh boy did that do something.

Changed Who You Were to Fit In: No. The one minute she tried she felt like something in her died. She asked Cerys if she shoudl hide it but she actually encouraged her to be herself.

LAYER SEVEN: WHAT’S THEIR…

Favourite colours: Dark purples and lilac hues, oranges and greens. Especially the metallic ones on rose chafers. She loves gold and copper too.

Favourite animal: Herculean beetles. Crawla is one of those!

Favourite book: The dancing blade. A book about a controversial roguish hero that saves the world. A lot of maskerade balls, gondolian chases and undead.

Honorary mention is whatever Bellara writes at the moment.

Favourite game: She hates board games, even if she wishes she could like them. But she enjoys movement games, either from sports, dancing or theater. Also rock, paper, scissor with Manfred.

LAYER EIGHT: AGE

DOB: They do not know her exact date of birth. But think she was either born in Cloudwatch or Bloomingtide, 9:21 dragon. She mostly celebrates her birthday on the 24 of Eluviesta/Cloudwatch because it feels good.

How Old Will You Be: 33 on her next nameday.

Does Age Matter: Not if everyone involved is a consenting adult. Sometimes love just falls where it falls and you should grab it while you can.

LAYER NINE: FINISH THE SENTENCE

I love: Emmrich and the family that has build around them. Manfred. The Veilguard as a found family. Also Vorgoth, Myrna and Cerys.

And the future children they will have.

I feel: Exited. While there is a battle to be thought, there is also so much to learn and so many connections to make.

I hide: My loneliness and my anger. I don't want people to see how lost I feel some days.

I miss: Emmrich when he is not around for too long. She misses the childhood wonder of running around the layers of the Necropolis and the way she could hide in Vorgoths mantle.

I wish: For a better future and a happy ending. Whatever it takes, we will see it happen.

I tag: @guacamolleee, @griffongrey, @ollypopwrites, @caughtnyact, @bonesandivy, @notyourmamasdeerbat, @mosoderbergh, @fireheartedpup, @librivore42

[alexanderwales]

The Witness and The Mountain

Since The Witness is a game that's impossible to really play twice (it's about learning and observation, and the save game is inside your brain), I sometimes watch Let's Plays of it for that vicarious thrill. You get to watch people figure things out! You get to see them make assumptions about how the rules work, and watch them have epiphanies!

Spoilers for The Witness follow.

Unfortunately, a lot of these people simply do not get what the game was going for. That's fine, that's how art is sometimes, and most LPs are streamed by people who are, at the very least, aware of their audience and filling air (or at worst, engaging with chat and only half paying attention).

There is, in particular, The Mountain. Through the whole game you've been completing different areas, lighting up lasers that shine up to the mountain peak, and eventually you make your way up there, and there's a beautiful puzzle that requires changing perspectives, and after that you're on your way down into the bowels of the Mountain, which it turns out contains an enormous modernist facility. There are bits and pieces of design laying around, models and diagrams showing someone going through the work of making all the things you've seen around the island.

It's not just the environment that's different, the puzzles are too. And in particular, there are a few series of puzzles that I've seen many many people think are just the stupidest trolliest shit. These are the panels that are obscured by black bars, the ones with flashing colors, the ones that are at an uncomfortable angle, the ones that twist and turn when you try to do them.

Now, is this trolly shit? Yes, absolutely. But it also has a point.

The Mountain is about constraints, and design, and how we have to work within the limits of a medium, how what was shown to you throughout the whole game was limited. The puzzles of the Mountain are in one way or another about breaking outside of the constraints, showing you the limits of the puzzle grids, all the things that weren't done. They are, in some sense, just pointing out scope and how it works.

This is the only place in the game where there are puzzles that affect each other. It's the only place where you have two lines on the same grid. It violates the rules that the game has set up, rules that you probably didn't ever think about, in the same way that you've come across a lot of rules you didn't think about in this game (and this is one of the main experiences before The Mountain, being challenged on what you think you know).

And is it irritating to have to solve a puzzle that's off-centered? That you can't see that well? That's spinning in place? Yes. But it's that way for a reason.

What's crazy to me is that I've seen so many people say "how did this make it past QA" or "this is the dumb shit you do when you're first making a game", as though it was a mistake, as though Jonathan Blow had just run out of ideas and was trying to pad the game. Or they'll say "why would you do this to me" and then not actually think about why.

The thing about The Witness is that especially in The Mountain, it's challenging game design and not taking it as gospel, and it's doing this in what I think is an interesting way. But sometimes the people playing it are so used to "good" game design and have had so many brushes with "bad" game design that they just don't even stop to question it.

And I know, I know, I'm saying that it's Bad on Purpose ... but it is! The whole area has a claustrophobic feeling to its puzzles, like you can feel yourself straining against them, and it's really wonderfully thematic, especially as the final section of the game. And I wish that I could sit down with the people playing it and have a conversation about it, what the game is trying to express, how gamers should also have reading comprehension.

I can absolutely understand not liking that section of the game. I think it's easy to get the point of what it's doing and say "yeah, yeah, I get it, but do I need to play these jank puzzles, isn't it enough to comprehend the gimmick?" Personally, I don't think it is, but that's because I have an appreciation for the artsy fartsy stuff. And this is aggressively artsy, in a way that I think is extremely rare in games, particularly because it approaches its artistry from the game mechanic/design perspective rather than the aesthetics/narrative/tone side of things.

[styrmwb]

Rambling About Magic the Gathering X Final Fantasy - Final Fantasy VIII (Part 1)

I feel like VIII is on the horizon of a renaissance, and Ben Starr is singlehandedly to blame. Let's check out its cards.

Dreams of Laguna

This is incredible right here. Laguna gets to make an appearance, but so do Kiros, Ward, AND Julia. There's so much personality in this art, it gets to use Flashback again, it's amazing. This might be my favorite card in this game (it helps that Laguna is my favorite character).

Memories Returning

I feel like I've praised the Flashback flashbacks enough. Just know every time you see it I love it. The art on both of these is great, and Selphie gets to show up! I love the fragmentation of memories, putting some WAY later, and having your opponent involved really makes it involuntary, like the G.F. is messing with your head.

Quistis Trepe

This is a REALLY interesting way to do Blue Magic. "a" graveyard means you saw the opponent do the move, and now you do it. I like it a lot. While my inner FFV fan would want Blue Magic to be in that game, giving Quistis the reins makes me happy. Her art's ok, doesn't totally appeal to me.

Seifer Almasy

Look at this prick. Look at this asshole. That alt art is amazing I want to punch him. He shares an effect with Squall, but his second effect is a lot more aggressive. AND he's even a knight. This is an amazing card.

Sorceress's Schemes

This art is outstanding, such a great scene that deserves to be rendered in painting form, and I love the way it's colored. Having an interaction with Flashback FEELS like screwing with time, so it's a perfect Ultimecia type card.

Summon: G.F. Cerberus

VIII has a lot of cool, unique summons, and honestly? Wasn't expecting Cerberus but I'm quite happy with it, purely for that Double and Triple usage. It's a simple and easy transition, but great.

Summon: G.F. Ifrit

A little bit more boring of a choice compared to like, The Brothers or Pandemona, but since Ifrit's the very first guy you get, I think this is plenty acceptable. That discarding to draw feels like throwing away your memories for power, which is really cool. AND HE EVEN DOES THE STANCE! Killer art.

Triple Triad

Yeah OF COURSE this was gonna be here. In some very funny way, the fact that it basically gives everyone a separate deck they can play for free FEELS like you're all about to play Triple Triad, this is an incredible way to adapt that. Plus that alt art is amazing with the side view and the board in the back.

Zell Dincht

I don't think I fully understand his flavor? I'm wondering if it has something to do with his limit break being combos that you input within a certain amount of time. Regardless, it does feel very Zell, and they chose a great scene to represent him, inside the prison. We should have gotten an alt art of him and hotdogs.

Balamb T-Rexaur

A wonderfully iconic creature to put into the game. It's fairly simple as a monster, but it means a lot to see it here.

Jumbo Cactuar

This motherfucker has been causing ridiculous theorycrafting since frame 1 and I'm SO here for it. Irvine gets to show up a little bit too, in the art :)

Rinoa Heartlily

Beautiful art; this is what I want to see more of from this set. She's even in the flower field. I love that Angelo gets to come with her, and she can put all her power into her dog. I am surprised she didn't get a 2nd side for her Sorceress powers, though. I also uh. Just realized her last name wasn't Heartlily. It's Heartilly. I need to do some reflecting.

Squall, SeeD Mercenary

Like I was saying with Seifer, it's really cool how they both share an effect, but Squall's secondary is more on bringing back, on helping, rather than aggressively fighting. I really like his alt art, it gives him that proper sorrowful brooding, but making it lonely instead of edgy.

Ultimecia, Time Sorceress/Ultimecia, Omnipotent

I love Ultimecia's transformation form, and the art of it is incredible. They even got the flavor text right of being her unskippable death dialogue. The surveiling and extra turn feels very befitting for her time magic; I really like this card.

Tumblr image limit will become a problem, so part 2 here.

[sincerelyamee]

[How I imagine Gojo teaching 5-year-old Megumi about his Ten Shadows technique aka recipe for disaster]

Most sorcerers with flashy innate techniques typically awake their powers around five or six years old - right around the same magnificent age they discover crayons are wonderfully effective for decorating more than just coloring books (RIP white walls everywhere).

Innate techniques in particular have a mind of their own, essentially “calling” to their user like an overly eager pet begging for treats and attention. One day, baby sorcerers just wake up, and bam - suddenly shadows are tugging at their skin or flames are sparking from their fingers, no warning or parental consent form required.

Little Megumi has been feeling the very first stirrings of his Ten Shadows for weeks now. Random surges of cursed energy that are definitely not just from sneaking extra pudding cups. Mysterious but insistent tugging sensations from the shadows, like ghostly hands trying to initiate a game of tag.

So, it’s time he gets some pointers on it, right? At least, that’s what Gojo decided.

On one peaceful morning, Gojo whisks out a whiteboard and markers from… somewhere. With such theatrical showmanship, one would think he was auditioning for Broadway itself. Yet the children serve as the ultimate tough crowd, responding only with raised eyebrows and curious glances.

Still, Gojo strikes a scholarly pose.

“Alright, my star pupil - Today’s lesson is on your badass upcoming technique!” Gojo announces, gesturing for Megumi to sit front and center.

As Megumi hesitantly takes his place, Nanako leans over to Mimiko. “How come he just happens to have a random whiteboard ready? Where does that even come from?” She whispers. Mimiko just shakes her head, too busy stuffing her mouth with chips.

“To start, your very first summons will be these adorable Divine Dogs!” Gojo proclaims enthusiastically. “Though at first, they’re more like Divine Pups…”

His marker zig-zags wildly as he tries sketching two majestic wolves. Emphasis on tries. The end results look something akin to a pair of mutant chickens wearing tutus. That elicits poorly contained giggles from the girls. Megumi simply stares, somehow experiencing all seven stages of grief simultaneously.

“Those are some weird chickens, nii-chan.” Tsumiki blurts out with all the sophistication of a future art critic.

“They look like they survived a nuclear blast,” Nanako adds.

Why does she even know what a nuclear blast is? Kids these days. Gojo makes a mental note to berate Geto later for letting the devil’s spawns watch too much TV. But since he’s Gojo, he forgets about it immediately. For now, he blinks down at his drawings, then back at the giggling, unimpressed kids.

“Clearly you heathens lack the artistic vision to appreciate my creative genius.” Gojo huffs before erasing his previous attempts in stunned outrage.

But Gojo Satoru isn’t one to give up easily, or ever.

Like a runaway freight train, Gojo charges full steam ahead. His Louvre-worthy artistic visions expand stranger the longer the ridiculous lesson continues. With each stroke of the marker, Gojo’s illustrations venture further into worlds unknown by man or beast. Eldritch creatures populate the poor whiteboard as head scratching and sideways glances spread among the children.

Megumi watches in dismay as the hours tick painfully on, the squeaking hamster powering his brain throwing itself from the rusty wheel. The last of his sanity packs its bags and flees into the abyss rather than witnessing more of Gojo’s artistic assaults against nature. At the rate this is going, he half expects his first summon to be a potato with Gojo’s face haphazardly drawn on it.

A glaring oversight dawns on the boy - for all Gojo’s useless prattling and monstrous drawings, explaining the actual summoning process appears a mere afterthought, if the man is even capable of actual thoughts at all. When asked, he simply waves off the question with a dodgy uh-huh. Just as effective as inquiring an orange tabby on quantum physics.

“It’s not that hard.” Gojo shrugs dismissively. “You’ll figure it out.”

Megumi rubs his temples, contemplating if it’s too late to grab Tsumiki and flee this madhouse, perhaps taking the twins as well. No one deserves such ruthless torture. Gojo may be well on his way to becoming another villain overlord with questionable artistic skills, but this? This right here marks Fushiguro Megumi’s very own villain origin story.

Staring blankly ahead in post-traumatic shock, Megumi knows one truth with the certainty of death itself - never, ever again will he make the fatal error of taking a lesson from Gojo. No, he must figure out this Ten Shadows technique solo going forward. Though now Megumi ponders whether deliberately summoning all those nightmarish abominations is something best avoided altogether.

read the whole thing here on Ao3: A Family of Villains - A wacky villain origin story/Kinda a slice-of-life fic exploring the logistics of 18-year-old sashisu being the greatest villains in the jujutsu world while on the run and raising 4 kids. Mostly fluff and humor of course.

[sky-kiss]

The House Always Wins

On the sixth day of any third tenday, you were liable to find god and the devil taking tea in Sharess’ taproom. An overstatement, perhaps, but dramatics suited both parties particularly well. In truth, you would find Raphael, a cambion. Seated across from him, the deva. The creature had never provided a name, and he’d never bothered to ask. They were his pretty bird; what else could matter?

“You’re quiet today,” they say, leaning back in their seat. Flame-colored hair spills over their shoulders, nearly to the waist. Raphael quite likes it. He thinks, with no small amount of frequency, how wonderfully their head would match the decor in his House. Over the mantle, perhaps? Or in the Boudoir. He remains undecided. “Are you dying?”

“You wound me,” Raphael replies, moving a piece on the lanceboard. The deva plays an achingly conservative game. It’s the position Raphael prefers to occupy, preferring defensive to outright aggression. But the little shit has tucked their Cyric safely away behind a wall of troops. How very suited to the Heavens. Isolationist, tedious, stagnant. “Is death truly the only cause for silence? I might be contemplative.”

“You contemplate loudly. You do everything loudly, devil. And with a hundred words where ten might serve.” They move a piece back, ceding the center of the board. The solar glares at the board, taking an arch sip from their tea. “Why are we still playing this damned game?” 

“I like it. You always lose.” Raphael folded his hands low on his belly. “And I do love watching you celestials squirm.” 

The pretty bird scoffs, tossing their head. Still, they tip over their king gamely enough, holding their hands up in surrender. 

Raphael sets the board again, knowing full well they won’t play. It’s a practiced dance, centuries old at this point. They are here on business, this celestial emissary and their infernal counterpart, and their business is…

…less than savory. They speak on the only currency that matters: souls—the solar, tied to the heavens and salvation; the cambion to the hells and damnation. Raphael holds up his glass in salute. 

His voice is entirely fond, the respect genuine. They are, simultaneously, the oldest of friends and the most pitched of enemies. He says, “Every day, the city turns its cheek a little further from your light. Another month, another year, and they will be cast entirely in my shadow.” 

The solar waves him off. “The mortals shift like the tide. Today, they wash up on your shores. Tomorrow?” They shrug. “Tomorrow, they might wash up on mine.” 

“How delightfully naive.” 

They chuckle, shrugging. The air around them shimmers and brightens, tinged with citrus and floral notes. Bright, as they have always been. “You need these wins, half-blood. What other bright spots do you have in your miserable Infernal Life?” 

“To me, then, pretty bird. Inferna victoria.” 

“To you, you miserable devil.” 

It is an epithet Raphael wears all too gladly. The Heavens see him for what he is, even if the Hells will not.

[wilted3sunflowers]

This is my Miku pokemon trainer tier list

For this tier list its both my favorites and what i consider a very good miku design

Of course all of them are good miku designs but some shine above the rest

S tier- my absolute favorites Bug miku is so classy, so well thought out, and i think the brown looks amazing with her teal. Shes everything A close tie with bug miku is Ice miku her hair is everything to me im in complete love with this sharp miku. Water Miku is basic but that's all she needs in lovely simplicity, truly feeling like Miku in this world as a water trainer especially with her tan lines from her original outfit it feels like this is her off time from being an idol! Steel Miku had my heart as soon as I saw her with Jirachi. Which was my favorite pokemon when I was a child [it was prior before i even had any pokemon games of my own and only watched the movies] The colors, the motif of star, the hat and the hair its all wonderful to me!

A tier- Amazingly done concepts and totally miku! Rock Miku's dress and veil is lovely, i love they incorporated the veil as mock pigtails. If this was the verison of her without the dress then she would have been in S tier. I love the jester look but thats my own personal preference. She also reminds me of diance with the dress.

Flying Miku is gorgeous, the wispy hair, the translucent areas to mimic clouds and mist. It's an amazing concept and wonderfully executed design! Fairy miku i know is everyones favorite and it's obvious to see why, shes adorable and cute and I too would love to draw her. She has that appeal to her down to a T. Fighting Miku is something i've been waiting for this whole time. Of course no way they could do a pokemon collab with miku and not include farfetch'd! It's a sleek and simple design that takes traits of the original miku's outfit and tweaks them. Though she does kind of remind me of maka from soul eater just a small bit.

B tier- Great concepts! Electric Miku's lightening pigtails are so cute she looks like a little adventure/farmer of currents. She stands on her own as a design and as a tie to miku. Poison type Miku i would have done the same doing mucky/slime twintails though i probably wouldn't have thought to use the new alolan muk which is a very good look and helps add in the colors. It's a great design and while i wouldve put her in A tier some of her design elements hold me off. This is a top tier character design though trust me Dark Miku, i love she came with obstagoon. Though at first i couldnt even tell if miku had pigtails in the artwork. This reminds me just of a nice miku for a cover of an existing song which is not bad it's just how it feels. Normal type miku has good colors, shes paired with an active singing pokemon and while it's simple I think it conveys miku well enough. Though she keeps reminding me of the oversaturated stereotype of early 90s fashion. now on Ghost miku, shes higher than i'd actually put her but for her concept and simplicity of staying to miku but as a glitched out ghost version of her i do have to give props to that even if i find it more on the plain side. I think they succeeded in what was necessary even though this portrays miku AS the ghost instead of just a ghost trainer. ....honestly now that i type my words i feel like i was right and shouldve stuck with her in C tier.

C tier- too basic for my tastes yet still well done Grass miku is cute and all but if you told me she was unrelated to miku, i could believe you. Just that it'd be a fandom joke to call her 'green miku'

Fire miku, reminds me all too much of the anniversary miku song and im sure thats where they got part of the insipration from it but it doesnt really do much for me combined with the fire aspect and how her hair is shaped. I know its to mimic the pokemon shes with its just personal taste on that one. The silhoutte is good.

Ground type miku i had to keep looking up because i forget what shes supposed to be numerous times. Same case with grass miku, i could see someone telling me shes from x thing and unrelated to miku. I'm just not a fan of the design and colors but it's well done. I know when something is just my subjective taste rather than poorly done.

Dragon miku while i'm not the biggest fan of all the cowlicks going down the twintails i know it's purpose is there to mimic the spiked tail of a traditional dragon and i wouldn't want them removed. I think i especially just don't like the tacked on half shawl cape it feels disjointed. Yet i find its a nice concept they did both an almost knight look for her as dragon as always with the concept of knights and dragons battling. Now the knight trainer is battling with the dragon as comrades.

Psychic type miku- i think they started with the least interesting and noteworthy one honestly. It just looks, kind of uninspired but thats rude to say. I know shes here to fufill the concept of miku as a trainer in pokemon and well it just looks like she's her own trainer class that'd have multiple running around looking the same instead of a stand out like a rival or a gym leader in game.

[johnkahner]

Omg, i'm so obsessed with your blog and your fics!!! I made this account just to like and interact with you... Sorry is this weird? ANYWAY, i saw a post about you asking for mk1 ideas to write... What you think about the reader being like one of liu kang chosen is a very talented sorcerer but kinda weird, he wears black all the time, its quiet, gloomy and enjoy ritualistic stuff but the other champions who are close to him find him very likeable, funny and kind and of course hes not evil just awkward.

BUT without anyone noticing he nurtures a massive crush on Tomas and is like really nervous when they interact, Tomas actually enjoy spending time with the reader a lot because of how interestingly weird the reader is... And maybe a mutual crush happening?? I dont know im so sorry for my bad english im so obsessed with this game and Tomas especially!

Also sorry if i'm not doing this right i never had a tumblr before hahaha ok sorry i talk to much

AN: Hi! Sorry this took a while. I'm glad you like the blog! It makes my day to see people interact with it. Your English is fine! I honestly haven't used Tumblr much till I made this account. This was also fun to write. I wrote the reader as male because you used he/him. I hope you enjoy it! Not proof read.

Notes: Male! Sorcerer! Reader

To be honest it was difficult to make friends with the people who were fighting for the protection of Earthrealm. Like the other champions and yourself got along wonderfully. However due to the stigma that sorcerer's had it was sometimes hard for you to get people to trust you. Not to mention your clothing color of choice, black, being most of the time considered an evil color.

Most people thought that you're working alongside the Deadly Alliance as some sort of spy, but that's far from the truth.

One day a Monk from the Wu Shi academy was yelling at you for some reason. You don't know what you supposedly did wrong, but most of the time if something bad happened others would blame you.

During the Monk's shouting the Lin Kuei trio were on their way to discuss something with Lord Liu Kang. Tomas approached closer to the two men to see what was wrong, and to find a solution that could fix things.

He sees you wearing a tired frown. Not a moment later you two connect eyes for a moment. It was different. There was no malice that you could feel coming from him.

"What seems to be the problem?"

"This fool was trying to listen to my conversation with Lord Liu Kang. Yet he insists that he isn’t just like a liar would.”

Looking paranoid not only for the false accusations that the Monk is making towards you, but Tomas is the one coming to your aid. Whenever he was near you, your nerves didn’t know how to act. Tomas smiled at you.

“I believe you are mistaken about my friend. He would never do that. Not to mention it’s not very polite to judge someone based on their appearances.”

The monk would argue with Tomas, but decides it’s better to just leave. Well after sending a glare in your direction.

“T-thank you for y-your help, T-tomas. I g-greatly appreciate it.” You bow a little. You really are grateful that he helped you out. He smiles at you.

“You're welcome, my friend. Would you like to hang out if you’re not busy?”

“O-oh! Sure, that w-would be nice.”

The two of you walk in silence for a moment. Enjoying the scenery around you two. After finding a place to sit down, he would ask you what it’s like to be a sorcerer and about some rituals you would perform sometimes. He wants to know almost everything about you and what interests you. Tomas listens very carefully to how you perk up at his questions, and how you ramble on about the little finer details of your explanations.

What you two don’t know is the mutual feelings that are forming between each other. Maybe one day it would blossom into a beautiful relationship.

[inventors-fair]

Fascinating Specimens: Brave New Beasties Runners Up

~

Our runners up this week are @corporalotherbear, @grornt, and @real-aspen-hours!

@corporalotherbear — Furnaceshell Snail

Okay, first off, making a volcano snail into a completely literal volcano snail is already an inspired idea. The effect doesn't let it down, either. I love the constant tension here with the abilities. Do you keep a bunch of artifacts around to maintain a high toughness, do you throw everything into its maw for big damage, or do you hover at a sort of balance? This is further supported by the toughness being constant but the power only coming in short bursts, and any shift needs to be thought through. Plus, as a baseline, an artifact that comes with three artifact tokens is nothing to turn your nose up at for a dedicated strategy. On that, though, good call on the treasures being tapped, as that prevents it from immediately refunding a chunk of its cost but still leaves immediate devouring on the table.

@grornt — Reefbloom Nudibrach

Huge common creatures with landcycling are practically a staple of sets nowadays, and I think the sets are all the better for them. Historically however, their cycling costs have been generic to help you to get *in* to their colors in the early game. This fella completely flips the script, by using your access to green in order to branch out into other colors. The mechanics also pair wonderfully with the flavor text, which is a rare treat. After all, the most likely reason this stayed in your hand long enough to cast it is because you already have the lands it would give you, and thus the reef is healthy enough to sustain it. When it comes to that casting though, hoo boy. I was briefly worried that the body might actually be too good given the inherent versatility of landcycling, and while I've backed down from that extreme I'm still a bit scared. A common threat that both replaces itself and give you a bit more life to work with while also being completely fine to draw early is worth its weight in gold in limited.

@real-aspen-hours — Razorwing Packleader

Is this here at least partially because my bias towards archaeopteryx? Yes. Do I particularly care? Mmm, no. Still, as much as I love them this card definitely earned the consideration I'm giving it. It's a heck of a mythic, creating an evasive board-in-a-box that threatens to rapidly spiral out of control if left unchecked, and can even come back for a slightly diminished second round. While no longer powering itself up as well, becoming a noncreature artifact does make it a fair bit harder to remove, so it's not too unrealistic to actually get more uses out of it like that. I also appreciate how natural the curve of abilities is. Play it on four, power up the board on five when the pack can swing, and if it dies in the line of duty you're equipped to just bring it back the next turn. Neat!

~

And that's the end of our safari. As usual, I'll be in the discord for the rest of the day taking requests for additional commentary, so don't be shy! —@spooky-bard

[russetfoxfur]

I would like your thoughts on ISAT please and thank you

AAAAAAAA

im going through this in bullet points based on what pops up in my mind so i might jump from act to act. under cut for Major Spoilers

- color palette. stunning awe-inspiring astounding and the fact that its even acknowledged in-game (and then WONDERFULLY subverted by the scarlet of the world ending!!). i remember seeing isat fanart on the dash and i was like 'why are all these in monochrome' but it makes sense i literally cannot imagine siff with color

- i pronounced pretty much every name wrong (according to the wiki at least). what do you mean bonnie's name is pronounced like THAT. well except odile i called her odie on purpose

- headcanoning that siffrin is from sky children of the light. hes got the cloak hes got the connection to the stars hes got the evil unswayable king. one could argue that sky is also a timeloop game (albeit one without much focus on it) due to eden reruns. the isle could be the isle of dawn. also both skykid and siffrin start with s let me have this

- on the topic of crossovers: narrator (tsp) and loop would absolutely be worsties. you cannot convince me otherwise. they Hate each other's guts and constantly piss the other off

- and on the topic of loop somewhat: GOD that boss battle. loop's eye cracking red.... loop looping..... LOOP USING THE SAME ATTACK AS SIFF........ and then siff winning and sparing them because they helped them get so far in the first place. TWO HATS...... so much dialogue becomes recontextualized its insane

- also THE DAGGER. i was sort of pissed off at loop throughout basically the whole game so when the dagger came up i jumped at the chance to tell loop to fuck right off with what they think and don't think is good for siff but then....... god the game treats suicide with as much gravity as it's worth it was genuinely so jarring to see the game contort loop in order to grant my wish (....HOLY SHIT) just seeing loop go all white-eyed and narrator-voiced.... and then the tree glitches into a warped version because thats loops tree and you just contorted loop......aaaaaaaaa. i did almost try to do One death with it just to see what it was like but loop's begging through narrator-voice was just.... it reminded me so much of narry's (tsp) begging in the zending and i was like "nope not using the dagger not at all"

- one major crit of the game is how hard it pushes familial ideals. i really dislike familial dynamics (thank you mcyt) and the fact that everyone was shafted so hard into very specific roles just bugs me. i do prefer it without the hard shafting but i'd rather them all be queerplatonic at best. come on guys platonic bonds are fantastic please please please stop making this a traditional family when i said i liked found family i did not mean literal family. more deep meaningful platonic bonds in the world please. also just based off how mcyt treats the clockers and stuff do i want to know how people treat isa x sif (whatever its called)

- another crit is the save system. this ones more minor but i wish you could save from any point in the game instead of just those little lights. just a small inconvenience.

- but back to positives im just going to dedicate a whole bullet point to specifically the bonnie-murder-and-subsequent-jumpscare. ill be honest i DID spoil myself for this one but i am glad i did it because even with the warning i was jumpscared by it actually happening. just... you try reasoning with the king because okay maybe this is a really extreme reaction and he can be reasoned with and then you can stop looping but the king isnt going to change if he wanted to change he wouldve done it earlier and then he forces siff to watch as the kid--the kid they gave their eye for, the kid they keep giving their half-immortal life for--is slowly and painfully crushed to death in front of their eyes. that is when you realize the king CANNOT be reasoned with. i saw a youtube comment that was like 'the reason bonnie goes blackout is because siff is actively flashback-ing to that moment and actively redacting all the gore out as it goes' and it has NOT left my head let me tell you. just... the way it shows siff's sanity slippage, and the way that exact blackout is then used in act 5 as an eerie callback..... god it makes me ILL. including the fact that the loop i got that on was one where the daydreamer dis-remembered their sibling AND the change god's statue had a different face and i was like 'siffrin is So Fine You Guys'

- also the change god. both the statue (love how its face changes at random, i only saw two during my playthrough but theres a whole bunch on the wiki) and the little quest thing. thats the ONLY OTHER TIME we see white-eyed loop through the whole game which. Well. also i think its cute how they talk with kaomojis with mira. best god ever would absolutely dedicate my life to that guy as well

- SPEAKING OF! best aroace rep ever mira love of my life /p she is ALSO a doubtful anxious "chosen one" who will murder to save her friends and loves them all so very dearly and also has a roommate who makes bombs. shes the best i love her i think she deserves to rip the king to shreds with her teeth

- ok so to preface this i was actually reliant on a map for my playthrough because like three times i accidentally looped to floor three when i was trying to see the library and i could Not take it anymore. but act 5 messing up the whole house is evil. took me like half an hour just to figure out how to get to a star crest because i kept ending up in the infirmary and getting stuck. i know im just experiencing the intended effect but like still. siff next time you have a mental breakdown due to the depression and insanity caused by being trapped in a timeloop without anyone else to speak with excepting an immoral god whose only goal is to piss you off as much as possible.... could you PLEASE remember the house better

- but on that topic.... god siff "the lost one" rin's crafts are very telling of their mental state. the fact that all the puns are gone from the attack names.... no more jackpot points because theres no one else to do jackpots with.... and then all three attack skills having no cooldown while the buff and the heal both do....... (that one in particular is making me have thoughts. it hurts more to heal and get better than to keep lashing out at any desperate hope you've got for breaking out without addressing your own issues.) i love the crafts in general because of the very personalized nature of the names but act 5's crafts and also the "just attack" craft are like. Siffrin Is So Fine You Guys Teehee

- my first impression of bonnie was "young and angry. yeah that's a pretty accurate descriptor of them siff." my current impression of bonnie is "how the fuck are they so good at cooking"

- i accidentally began act 5 before i finished a sidequest...... to be fair it was the sidequest w/ the chateau castle comics but like.... still. i was so close i literally just had to go back to that guy with the knowledge of that final issue. additionally the ghosts quest. i was trying to do a whole run of the castle (grindy purposes) and i got both ghosts on the first two floors before not getting the one on the third floor. it was evil it was so evil. damn you rng

- i love that one lesbian jeweller in dormont. actually i love the casual queer rep in general. mira's whole quest is about coming out as aroace in a world that Very Much does Not want that to happen. isa is probably trans. 40% of the main cast is non-binary. the lesbian jeweller. apparently mira's roommate has a crush on the head housemaiden but to be quite frankly honest the only thing i remember about claude is their name and that they build bombs. bomb-building lesbians ftw i guess

- ....okay yeah i did fall for the pineapple slices. In My Defense i was immersing myself in siff when i fell for it and i was Not Thinking about loop i was thinking "oh my god i love pineapple lets project my love of pineapple onto this traumatized punmaster". barked a laugh aloud when they said it was good. spicy :3

- also i did accidentally spoil myself for the ending but... somehow i arrived at the conclusion that the king was actually siff from before and that siff's climax would be defeating the king and then taking his place when the party tried to leave. thank GOD it wasn't that (i would've rioted) i love what we actually got much better.

- king shouldve died for realsies. you do NOT just murder bonnie like that and then send siff into a panic attack and expect to get off with a sympathetic ending let me beat his ass up

- i literally cried at the ending. let me just say i do not cry at video games easily but like..... siffrin's loved. he's spent the entire game desperate for any scrap of attention, slowly spiralling as the loops keep happening and everything keeps falling out of his hands, convincing himself hes a disgusting manipulative bastard who cant even see properly.... and then when they realize that that's why he was an asshole to him, because he's been hearing the same rote lines over and over and he hasn't been telling anybody.... and then they forgive him. they don't forget--siffrin did hurt people, justified or not --but he's not an awful person for wanting to be loved, for wanting to have something to hold onto. he's terrified of being alone so much so that he inadvertently traps himself in a timeloop because he can't stand the thought of them parting ways. and it's not his fault. he can be forgiven. they still love him.

- (you know, while i was playing, i saw the universe belief and my mind immediately jumped to "and the universe says i love you because you are love". call me obsessed with mcyt, but it feels a little like it fits in isat, i think.)

- but siffrin's loved. after 106 loops (in my case), a thousand dead ends and red herrings, failed kisses and intimacy cravings and teammate murders and cheeky gods and trauma, so much trauma.... after they've run themselves ragged trying to break themselves out and nearly crashed and burned..... siff's finally free.

[rpgsocialservices]

RPG Review: Mermaid Swamp

Mermaid Swamp is an rpg game made by prolific developer Uri, who also made the strange man series. The original was released in 2013, but I've only played the 2019 remake. From the color palette and atmosphere to the four different endings, this is easily one of my all time favorite rpgmaker games, and I'd like to go over why!

Plot: The game begins when four college kids-the archetypal two girls and two boys-get lost on a roadtrip in a rural mountain area. They find a manor house where the owner, an old man, gives them shelter for the night. The phones, of course, are out, but that is not discovered until things start to go bad. Which they do rather promptly, when the second girl has a nightmare and wakes up deathly ill. It's at this point that the gameplay really begins as we cycle through trying to escape, trying to figure out why this place is making people sick and driving them mad, and trying to do what it takes to keep everyone alive. The gradual unlocking of new map areas corresponds with the gradual unveiling of the family history of the place, and makes each new section feel like a well-earned advancement.

While the reveal for what exactly is up with this strange, semi-abandoned property can be seen coming from more than a mile away, I still think about it years after playing this game for the first time. There's an overbearing grotesqueness to the men's desire for those 'mermaids' and the way they didn't really see them as human. In equal measure, the women's struggles to escape the family and their cries for freedom from beyond the grave are striking and sobering.

The majority of the game and plot are wonderfully reminiscent of every campy teen slasher horror in a way that's derivative without being reductive. It doesn't certainly take itself too seriously, but it still maintains its unsettling atmosphere when it matters. Early on in the game, there are some frankly goofy scares, but this lighthearted 'funhouse' type scare vibe gets dampened and darker as the game progresses. This approach to storytelling works very well with this type of story, because the protagonists are stupid college kids who first pretend they aren't in over their head, then deal with their fear through humor and increasingly snappy attitudes, then finally are utterly serious when they have to face their final task head on (or when someone dies, depending on which route you do).

Characters: The four main characters are Rin, Seitaro, Yuka, and Yuuta. The dynamics between these four is quite fun in my opinion, and again is very reminiscent of the dynamics in teen slasher films. The character interactions between all four as a group and individually do a great job of showing how the dynamics between all the characters probably work in their normal lives, and give insights into each character as an individual. Additionally, the bad endings show what circumstances will push each character to their personal breaking point, and (what I appreciate most) show what their friends' reactions are to that. Each character is realistically flawed in individual ways, and in the case of Rin and Seitaro especially also showcase realistic individual strengths that work well in relation to the flaws already shown. On the whole, the character writing is one of the biggest draws of this game for me.

Game mechanics: The gameplay itself isn't anything unusual or special, but this can be a bonus since it allows you to jump right into playing when you're familiar with rpgmaker gameplay standards already. This is largely puzzle based with a number of chase sequences. The chases themselves are usually straightforward with a goal at the end, such as 'get to the hammer', rather than being one of the more convoluted types. This is a plus or minus depending on personal preference. The puzzle aren't overly difficult, but I do remember one or two that I had to work through. Again, whether this is good or not depends on personal preferences. At the least, the puzzles aren't hard enough to interfere with the flow of the game.

Misc.: I cannot overstate this; there's an Obama jump scare.

[the-kp-of-nrc]

Everyone welcome, the Kupid of NRC

its happening guys oh my god its happening

Here he is at long long last, Kupid Myrar, my dearly beloved dumbfuck. Kupid is my Yuusona, and the current main focus of this blog! All appropriately tagged posts are from him^^

(More info about him will be under the cut to help preserve space)

Kamden (Kupid) Myrar

Kupid, the son of a lawyer and a high position state senator, was born the second child Kamden Myrar. With his mother working in the senate, his family (comprised of his parents, an older sister, himself, a younger brother, and an Irish Setter) moved around semi-frequently as he grew up. The summer before he started high school, the family finally settled in a suburb of their state capital. Kupid attended the local high school for a year, only managing to make a few friends, before he disappeared the night before his second year. Leaving not a trace behind, Kupid woke up that morning in a coffin and began his journey through the hellscape wonderfully generous world of Twisted Wonderland and NRC.

Personality

Kupid is a pretty standard kid. He wouldn't call himself "chronically online," but is definitly well versed in modern internet slang. Due to his dimension hopping tendencies, he picks up well on local idioms, customs, and behaviors. He's well adapted and can easily blend in, often becoming aquainted with people of his similar age wherever he ends up. While he's not a person people are naturally drawn to, he is rather likeable and is good at making conversation.

Overall, Kupid is rather laid back, but also takes no shit. His curious nature tends to get the better of him, at he often finds himself in situations that either require assistance of an ally, or his quick escape route (ie. a mirror). He's good at making friends, but can also hold a harsh grudge against someone who's wronged him or a close friend. While a little bit hard headed, Kupid is a great listener and a tough friend. He sticks up for those close to him, will fight until nearly dead, but also knows his limits

(this section can be found on the ref sheet featured in this post^^)

Appearance

Kupid in general is pretty simple. He's pretty average in terms of build and height. Despite his hair, he's the type to blend in rather than stand out. His clothing style is a general alternative style with no specific sub-culture inspirations. The most prominent parts of him that stick out are the red and black split dyed hair, and matching nostril piercings that are connected with a chain that spans across his nose.

His overall color theme consists of red and black for his hair, and blue and pink that shows up in his clothes. His usual outfit consists of a gray sleeveless turtleneck, beige jeans, split dark pink and blue converse, and a split light pink and blue windbreaker.

Trivia

This all was posted earlier on my account, and it will be added on to as I think of things^^

After arriving in TW, Kupid really couldn't have cared less about Grim, but after the Heartslabyul book he quickly came to see that little gremlin as his familiar for realsies

since the game isn't finished i took some liberties with what happens after Yuu gets sent home. They're able to keep communication between the worlds open so Kupid actually returns to NRC for a second year by Crowley's invitation

Grim is his baby. That's his cat, his familiar, his weasel, whatever you wanna call him. But you bet your ass Grim went with Kupid after he went back to his own world

During his second year Kupid learns he can actually use mirrors as a method of transport (like the ones used to go to the dorms) and eventually uses them to dimension hop

Before going to Twisted Wonderland, his hair was a lot shorter and brown, but after waking up in the coffin, he found it much longer and split down the middle. While in TW it grows naturally in that split color, but grown brown while in his world

Similar to his hair, when Kupid was asked his name after getting out of his coffin, Kupid couldn't think of his given name, Kamden, and could only think of "Kupid," and switches between which name he goes by based on what world he's in

His fursona would be a rabbit

He has a toyhou.se page with similar information and all the drawings I've done/received of him

Likewise, he also has an Art Fight profile, and an official Spotify playlist

Kupid can sing! When we returns to NRC for his second year he joins the light music club for it

Misc info

Eye color: green

Hair: split red and black

Height: 5'7''

Weight: 162

Positive trait: A thorough thinker

Neutral trait: Stupidly loyal

Negative trait: Quick to follow

Personality overview: While a little bit hard headed, Kupid is a great listener and a tough friend. He sticks up for those close to him, will fight until nearly dead, but also knows his limits

Mannerisms/dialogue examples: Uses slang from the many universes he's traveled through, even if it doesn't exist in his current one

Fears: The mirror dimension

Hopes: Keeping both of his worlds at an equal balance with each other, aka being able to consistently cross over between the two with no issues

Skills: Potionology :P, general support, quick to adapt, leadership

Powers (if any): Using mirrors idk

Not good at: Sports

Favorite food: yellow starburst

Favorite drinks: Dr pepper

General likes:

Food dislike: any kind of spice

Drink dislike: sparkling water

General dislikes: Tuesdays

Border credits to @/saradika-graphics and template credits to @haryuwu <3

[cannotgiveafuck]

I know there are Marineford fix it fics out there, and with Gear 5 ofc they exist.

But I just can't stop thinking about Nika activating early and yes, Ace gets saved, but the consequences. The absolute horror show that would be witnessed.

Luffy managing to push Ace aside, getting hit in the chest by Akainu's fist instead. And dying. He has to die, and he does because he can't survive that. But the situation, the context - he died to save his brother, to free him. He died in the largest act of recent liberation, and how could Nika not come forth for that? Things were just getting fun, Luffy had freed Ace and they were running and fighting and were so close to freedom.

So now it's Ace holding Luffy in his arms, seeing the hole in his chest and his life gone. And there's the long moments of shock and then denial and then rage.

But then there, in the open cavity of his baby brother's chest, gaped and visible for him to see, horrifically and wonderfully, is Luffy's heart, in tact and beating. And not just a slow, small beat. But erratic and loud. Wild beats, not like a war drum, but the drums of a celebration, thumping louder like there's a rhythm no one else hears but Luffy. Luffy who's dead, but whose heart still pounds. Powerful movements that make his body lurch up and down, up and down.

And Ace must think he's finally fucking snapped, because there's unthinkable colors shining in his brother's chest - an open, bleeding, viscera spewing chest - but the rest of him is draining to white, pure white, cloud white, bright white from his soft curls to his feet that are under him. And everyone witnesses this, stockstill and horrified as the dead, not dead now, maybe still dead, boy literally bounces to his feet. Or maybe it's the ground that bounces under him. No, it's both.

Luffy is bouncing back and forth and the ground ripples around him, sends him back onto his feet where he sways this way and that, a puppet with his strings broke, a body unused to being so light, a life pushed to the edge and over death and around again, coming back. But did he? Did he come back to life? Ace wants to think so, but when Luffy grins wide, too wide, with too many teeth, and his laughter grows, a laugh that's just like Luffy except not - Ace isn't sure. But he wants to be.

Except that hole in Luffy's chest is still there. But he's laughing, as though his own death was the funniest joke he's ever told.

And it is Luffy, but also Nika, because Luffy wasn't ready yet, he would be off. He would be wrong. And when Ace calls his name, the pink, no red, no pink, eyes that look at him don't see him at all. Don't recognize him, or maybe he's trying to, but Luffy-Nika just laughs, another funny thing, and Ace doesn't know if this is better or not. His brother not his brother anymore, alive but not, Luffy but not, a twisted mirror, a bright reflection.

And yeah, okay, the brief fight would be also terrifying, I think. Because there's a lot of people, and Nika-Luffy wouldn't recognize who's who, except those who attack him. Except it's a big ol game to him. He does the wackiest, physics defying shit that makes Admirals want him fuckin dead. Pulls the ground up like a wave, the buildings like blankets, bodies twist in his grasp like rope, the sky something to climb, something to bring down. Because loony toons shit like this, even in OP world is fuckin insane.

And now it's Ace's turn to get his brother outta there. To get him to freedom and escape and maybe get some help, because Luffy is alive but maybe not or maybe not for long. And its sickening to see Luffy connect his insides together again, with his bare hands, to blow into his thumb and see those missing organs and tissue and bones and spine pop up into place like they were just deflated, stretch his skin over to stick together for the time being. And when he sags against Ace's arms, white draining from him tired and sleepy and safe with whoever this man is, Ace is fuckin mess of emotions.

And then Law still comes, ofc. Someone has to properly stitch Luffy together, and be going wtf wtf wtf the entire time he's in surgery and all of Luffy's insides are there. And anyway, Luffy won't remember jackshit about any of it, but the absolute mess of it all is still there.

[animehouse-moe]

'Tis Time For Torture, Princess Episode 1: You Need To Be Watching This

Do you like food? Do you like shenanigans and humor? What about great animation and direction? I'm sure most would say "that sounds like Delicious In Dungeon", and you wouldn't be that wrong. However, and this is a potentially really hot take, I think that the first episode of 'Tis Time For Torture, Princess is considerably better than Delicious In Dungeon's, and I'll explain why.

Let's lay some groundwork though. The staff on this series is surprisingly fresh. The lead director, Youko Kanamori, is a first timer in the position. Similarly, Hasegawa Mami is also brand new to being the director of photography for an entire series. There's also staff like Narumi Konno who are somewhat fresh in terms of their experience with color design. Then there's the 4 character designers and 2 cuisine designers, plus the rest of what you'd expect.

There's a lot of new talent on this series, and they're hungry to prove themselves. I really really love seeing new staff members, especially women (because of the nature of the industry), get a shot at big roles like this. And I mean, they're proving why they should be here.

Narumi's color design is very striking and full, always finding the right balance for each scene.

You'll get traditionally colored (yet still satisfying) scenes like this, but then you'll get a wonderfully novel approach to coloring in a dank and dark prison.

I love the coloring on the floor, it reminds of what oil spills end up looking like, and that idea of it being "dirty" and the ground and walls being covered in that layer of grime adds a lot of fun color to the episode.

Narumi just has a lot of range, though their second ever series being The Vampire Dies In No Time certainly helps with that. However, it's a pretty clear difference in color design between the two. Where The Vampire Dies In No Time leans heavily into its fantasy and simplicity, 'Tis Time For Torture, Princess makes a case for a more believable fantasy style- idealized, even. It's far less noisy of a color palette, but it has such intense range. I really really love it.

I also really really love Hasegawa's composition. The vast majority of the time you don't really notice it there, but when the humor or situation calls for it, Hasegawa breaks out some incredible composition work which wonderfully highlight the characters involved.

Also, they choose a slightly different style for the color shifts in their images. You can't really tell in the above so here's some better examples.

Rather than the more typical Magenta-Green shift you tend to see, Hasegawa opted for the less common/likely Blue-Red shift for their chromatic aberration. Of course, you can still pick out some greens and magentas in the more glaring aberrations, but it just shows Hasegawa's attention to detail, which I really love.

I mean, they're pulling out composition work that looks like it came from a high budget Gacha Game trailer.

And the praise doesn't stop there, just look at the food. Makes complete sense why they'd have cuisine designers on board, this food looks irresistibly delicious.

And then there's the incredible character acting.

I think it's arguably the most interesting aspect of the episode, truthfully. Largely because there's a total of 4 character designers (two main and two sub) in charge of the designs, and there was a total of 8 animation directors on the episode (1 chief, 7 regular, 1 food). Of course, 3 of those animation directors comprise half of the character and cuisine designers.

And that's interesting for two reasons. It's likely that the designers are rotating episodes. That is, 3 on episode one and then the other 3 on the next episode. And secondly, 7 animation directors is a surprising amount considering how "inconsistent" the Princess' model is (just look at all the different images in this one post). However, I strongly believe that it's 100% intentional. The designs look too good to be the product of simple off model issues, and their appearances too well timed with the events of the episode.

So we arrive at the conclusion that the animation direction and designers for this show are pulling some seriously cool stuff.

Finally, we can do storyboards. Gosh, it took long enough haha. I'll make it quick, Kanamori really prefers the super close ups to mask facial expressions and leave a lot of interpretation up to the viewer, and that sort of close up work pairs effortlessly with the obsessive focus on food.

But that's hardly the half of it. Kanamori also loves strong perspective in her layouts, and she makes that very evident when playing into the humor or intensity of a moment.

That of course also means that she imparts a fair amount of first person perspective to the episode as well. It's really amazing, Kanamori, much like many of the other high level staff members, is perfectly aware at how fluid Torture Princess is, and she expresses that wonderfully with all the different ideas employed with her boards.

And just one last little piece. The big troll/monster fight at the start? It absolutely lives and breaths Kanamori's experience in storyboarding for Ousama Ranking. You feel their incredible awareness of scale and size and it creates the feeling of a monster of unbelievable size that the Kingdom is forced to fight against.

Anyways, this is all to say that 'Tis Time For Torture, Princess has an all around incredible first episode that promises viewers that the series desperately wants to be one of the best of the season. And I wholeheartedly believe that.

[talonabraxas]

A Color Diagram

(From book, "The Anatomy of the Body of God")

The Geometry of the Tree

The drawing itself is a meditation, as anyone who has experimented with the quasi-spiritual exercise of exploring the results of drawing with a compass and a straight edge. These are the tools of Euclid and Pythagoras, the early Greek mathematicians, and also probably were used much earlier by the unnamed architects who built the pyramids and other structures. The game here is to intuitively contemplate the analogies–remembering that what's at stake is also the frontier of in here and out there, of mind and so-called objective reality.

It begins with a contemplation of the empty page. Yet there is the contemplator, who is also the potential artist. There is the idea of doing something–perhaps not even clear what–just something, of drawing. There is the idea of making a mark, of having a mark-maker, a pencil or its equivalent, a finger on sand. Not in the air–part of this paper-and-pencil idea has to do with a mark that will stay still, that will sit there, an extension of mind, an expression of will, a putting out there so that it sticks what is only glimmeringly becoming in the mind. So a toddler may experience the miracle of a crayon and paper–or before that, what? His own poop and a wall?

What if, as the esoteric students of many millennia suggested, what we do is in the "image of God," not just humans, but actions, and all the world. What exists in the divine milieu, the essential underlying principles, is manifested in what we call reality–even if that manifestation is only partial, only a tiny shadow of the greatness that expresses us. Thus, artists are known to express their frustration that their best efforts are only incomplete gestures, mere efforts at capturing the magnificence, the numinosity, of their mystical experience.

What if, speaking poetically, God wanted to express in a relatively static, dense context, in a form that wouldn't dissolve, like dreams, like water, a creative inspiration. She might begin by making a figurative mark on a figurative piece of paper. The paper is space-time, the mark is–well, we call it the "big bang." But at first it was just a mark, a gesture of God.

By the way, this initial point is the beginning of drawing the tree of life diagram. It is the first sphere, a radiating sphere–like a very dense ink on a very absorbent paper–starting infinitely small, but being Divine, almost infinitely energetic, and spreading over a billion or more years.

Becoming, yet going nowhere. That calls for a second geometric event: the extension of a point as a line. In geometry, this moves from zero dimensions to one dimension. A line–but a line can be of any length, it can be infinitely long. There is no defined space yet. There's a sort of direction, but no form. It's perhaps poetically related to the light in the darkness described in the first chapter of Genesis in the Bible, or that wonderfully ambiguous word, "firmament." The kabbalists really contemplated this creation story, seeking the deepest meanings, including the ingenious idea that we are constantly, every moment, creating and being re-created as part of this divine process. It didn't just happen then. Like here and there, then and now may be equally an expression of our deepest habits of thought.

We don't even begin to have a diagram yet, we're just setting the stage for a process of diagraming, but pausing to contemplate how necessary it is to set this stage, to have a pen, a piece of paper, one who makes the mark, who moves, who stays involved in the creative process, proceeding from one step to the next. Each of these elements may have metaphysical meanings, equivalents.

(What have I been smoking? Naw. You see, when you really think about it, you don't need to alter your state of consciousness; the science-fiction / poetry activity is a stretching agent enough.)

Okay, so you point, line, and at some point, you say–wait, something else is needed. At least let's pick another point so that the line has a limit. A limit? Well, if you want to draw anything, you've got to have a limit. Two points. A beginning and an end. Oooh. Okay, let's stop this line...here. Wow, in all the time we've been talking, you've made the line really, really long. Depending on divine perspective and your belief in the limitations of the speed of light, let's just say that this line is... well, what? Several billions of miles long? Whatever, it won't fit on the paper. So let's have just you make it, not God, and let it be, say, four or five inches. We can work with that. Two parts of a line–pen, straight edge. Now what. Well, pick up the compass. A new tool–really, it could even be just the straight edge, the line itself, only able to move in a new way, in another dimension, off of the line. The line makes an angle, and fools around. A little angle, a bigger angle, a 90 degree angle, hey, why not go all around.... oooh, look what you made, a circle.

Circles are very heavy, very primal, very magical. People have written a lot just about the circle. It's one of the first designs kids make as they learn to draw. And it defines a space. It's very two-dimensional. No longer just a one-dimensional line. It's got two dimensions. A little bending here and there and you could make a triangle, a square, a figure with all kinds of edges and curves. But let's stay with the circle.

For now, we'll stop. The construction of the diagram deserves a separate paper from here, the compounding of circles, edges, angles, triangles, cross-connections. But it's very elegant, and its construction partakes of what the ancient yogis called the making of mainly circular (sometimes square or triangular) diagrams for meditation called "yantras." The point is to contemplate the "deeper"meanings of such configurations, what dimensionality, space, regularity, symmetry, and other fairly basic categories mean, and why, in a world suffused with chaos, we nevertheless also find amazingly widespread evidences of the operations of mathematical expressions in space–i.e., geometry.