#i'll do a writing day after

[abyssal-ilk]

no more romance. romance is canceled. tell me about your warden/hawke/inquisitor's best friend and any info you want to add about their dynamic 🖐

[14dayswithyou]

Hi, Howdy! Hey! I really love your novel!! I got a little confused by the 4 day, may maybe you help me please? who is it? why we got the bad end staying the night in Ren’s apartment and he disappear of the home screen? I can’t understand “unset memory” game, sorry if I wrote smth wrong or smth sounds rude, I swear that I didn’t mean it if happened, I’m really a fan of the novel, I’ve been playing the game since day 1 or 2 I guess, probably day 1, english isn’t my first language, but I tried lol

⌞♥⌝ I hope you don't mind me answering these as bullet points!! ^^

"It" will be revealed later in the game! So I won't reveal too much right now.

You can only get the Dead End in Day 4 by staying at Ren's apartment — the rest of your choices before that don't matter. I'd also pay closer attention to the black smoke and Ren's reaction towards it!

Ren disappears from the home screen because he promised to help the player out (and stop them from getting the Dead End again). Try replaying the game again from the beginning for a surprise!

"Unsent Memories" was another visual novel (initially being written by @10chimes / @unsentmemory, though the project has since been dropped and handed back to me /pos) and is set in the same universe as 14 Days With You. Its storyline and characters are completely separate from 14DWY, so you don't have to worry about them while playing 14DWY.

[vaguely-concerned]

the question is who taught lucanis to knit. was it something he already knew how to do or is he picking it up over the course of the game as part of his 'if I manage to cram enough hobbies in there I won't have to sleep again ever. easy' experiment. did he learn it out of a book (as a sometime knitter, a horrifying thought but I wouldn't put it past him). as hilarious as I find the mental image of caterina with knitting needles I do not believe in it, did he pick it up from someone in the household staff growing up the same way he did cooking. is the sweater he wears with his introductory armour his own work (very funny if so it's just so. incredibly neutral toned and sensible.) I understand why he never does it on screen because animating knitting is the devil's own work and bioware were right to dodge right past it no one should wish themselves that kind of pain, but do you think off-screen he's using it the same way davrin does whittling during team meetings and book club nights (for real the grandmas were so right for this: knitting during social group situations is a neurodivergent life hack like you wouldn't believe if doodling isn't your thing/isn't doing it for you). it's that or sharpening his knives and some people seem to get a bit nervous about that so he mostly sticks to the knit one purl one of it all. does he make things for the team. for romanced rook perhaps. boring but useful things like socks and scarves, to be clear. I think mr. 'I made you a cake (cautiously marital intent)' would not mean to impress just make sure your feet weren't cold jogging around the heights of athim killing darkspawn. knitting more socks for harding so she won't get cold walking around everywhere in her fereldan *checks notes written on palm* clogs. some of taash' outfits... you think rook and lucanis are letting them walk around the anderfels like that without at least a token sensible scarf on even tho adaari are built different in terms of body temperature. I say no not in my lighthouse they would team up and mother hen them to shathann levels before they'd let that happen. (the scarf has dragons on it taash thinks it's kind of cool actually.) a bobble hat for manfred not because he really needs it but because he wanted to feel included. assan indignantly tries to steal it and fly away with it so he gets his own scarf to promote peace between the lighthouse little guys and it works. help.

[fatedroses]

Two former military elites taking merc jobs perform absolutely hellish battle tactics together.

[gludgenbell]

Happy Heart Day from me to you, featuring my favourite svsss characters

4/8! The pink batch of valentines is done

and now I take a nap and hopefully finish the other 4 by the end of the day!

[wandixx]

Christmas in Mount Justice

cartoon version of Young Justice, written instead of sleeping and I'll be honest, I kinda run out of steam at the end, but it'd take me until next year if I didn't push through, so here it is, and hopefully it's not quite visible where I started pushing through it, I hope you'll enjoy

words: 4633

“Since, hopefully, this is the last time we're seeing each other before Christmas–” Black Canary announced, stretching after finished training“ I wish you all merry and healthy and boring Christmas” she finished with a wide warm smile. Danny barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. This goddamn worst time of the year. He checked once more if his mental shields were up. According to M'gann, ghosts were really loud on mind reading wavelengths so he needed to keep them up most of the time. He wasn't an asshole to drown his friend in absolute hatred of Christmas.

“You too Black Canary!” Wally yelled, running like the earth was burning to get cookies M'gann baked “By the way, what are your plans?” he asked upon his return.

Did they really have to keep talking about it? Danny was half considering just dropping through the floor to escape this conversation but chose against it because he really didn't want to answer all the questions it would cause or hear a ‘you can't deal with all unwanted conversations by escaping them’ lecture again any time soon. He could and he would, the Freakshow incident was just one way to prove it.

“B and I have to attend some stuffy rich people party” Robin said with clear displeasure “I still need to plan what mess to stir there. Chandeliers swinging are banned and so is arson so I have to get creative.”

“You actually set something on fire?! That's sick as hell!” the speedster's enthusiasm didn't waver as he threw a few cookies at Danny. It was nice that someone remembered about Danny's slightly enhanced metabolism. They (both Young Justice and Amity squad) still didn't understand it completely but the working hypothesis was that he needed to eat more to make up for ectoplasm he couldn't consume in quantities big enough for his ghost side since it was poisonous to humans and he had to dose it carefully. Being a halfa was rough like that some(most)times. 

“Well, lighter is easy to sneak inside–” Robin explained and honestly Danny never expected to hear Gotham’s feared vigilante go over logistics of arson but he guessed it was his life now, he could use this info to do something about at least one Christmas tree in Amity or share it with Sam. She mentioned some upcoming rich people party too”–and amount of alcohol there is astonishing, really you'd think that people would try to stay sober on event like that but apparently–”

“I'm having dinner with my mom and some family friends–” Artemis interrupted “Can't wait spend God knows how many hours with all of them talking over each other and asking awkward questions” she tried to sound displeased but there was no way she could hide her fondness and wasn't that a wild thing to see. Seriously, he almost choked on a cookie. In theory Danny knew some people genuinely liked Christmes but–

Just like that? Just happy to–

Yeah, he knew but couldn't quite comprehend. Sam was exactly like that, found but trying to seem annoyed to keep up with her goth persona. Tucker was way more open about his delight.

For Danny Christmas was only too loud because everyone was singing badly and too bright because of lights and too stuffy and there was this damned argument about Santa and yelling and fe–

“Oh, me too! We also planned a movie night with Central Rogues, this time it's Cold’s turn. I wish he won't pick Die Hard again…”

Well, Danny guessed movie night with Rogues, that clearly meant an off evening since they wouldn't try to stir things up while watching the movie, sounded like a really nice idea. Personally he would do without people who try to turn him into a pulp every other day but apparently things worked differently in Central.

“King Orin wanted to introduce me to some surface celebrations as well,” Kaldur said with a warm smile and halfa forcefully stopped himself from giving their leader a weird look. Even him?! Betrayal, absolute betrayal! 

“Well, I don't really celebrate so I'm staying here, maybe training a bit, I'm not sure yet,” M'gann announced shyly and it took all his willpower to not hug her for being the only sensible person in the room.

“Yeah, I'm staying too. Apparently I'm not invited to family gatherings” Conner added bitterly. 

“Honestly your not missing much,” Danny muttered “It's just perfectly prepared and measured argument breeding space, believe me”

Wally tried to protest but one pointed glare and it dissolved through power of ‘don't make Conner feel about it any worse than he already does’. Danny felt a little guilty for using it to sooth his own hatred towards Christmas but not too much. He really wanted to reassure his friend and ways he went about it were no one else's business. 

“And what are your plans, Danny?” M'gann asked gently after he didn't continue. He really wished he didn't have to answer but keeping his emotions hidden meant nobody could see that something was up and say ‘you don't have to tell if you don't want to’ or other shit like that.

“Not sure yet. I think I will crash with you here honestly. If we believe this magic book we found, there is a Christmas truce in Zone, so there shouldn't be any ghost attacks and your company is always great,” he smiled sincerely.

“Wouldn't your parents ask questions if you just skipped Christmas, though?” Wally asked a bit cautiously but Danny waved his concern off with a vague ‘eh’ sound.

“Will you show us some Christmas traditions then? As a part of ‘earthly traditions’ course?” M'gann's eyes almost shone with excitement and Conner looked hopeful and it made him feel conflicted. The whole point of crashing in Mount Justice with two aliens was to not touch anything Christmas related with thirty feet long stick but alas M'gann asked nicely and was pretty. These were two big ideals fighting inside of him then and there while he tried to keep his face and outer mind blank enough to not bring any suspicion.

Betrayal to second, no third, power! He wanted to escape this hell of an experience! 

But well, he could shape the experience in a way that's the least painful and M'gann and Conner were really great friends…

“Sure”

He couldn't quite match her enthusiastic grin or even Conner’s bit smaller one.

He was going to regret it, wouldn't he?

***

“Guys, I messed up so bad…” Danny whined,  curling on Sam's enormous bed covered in fluffy blankets and nice pillows.

“What did you do this time?” girl asked with a smirk. Halfa was sometimes mad how well his friends knew him and didn't take his dramatics as seriously as he would like to.

“I wanted to have a sleepover at Team's HQ during Christmas, you know, to escape it. Only ones who will stay are Miss Martian and Superboy, aliens, so I thought it's a good idea. And then they asked me to show them ‘earthly Christmas traditions’ and I AGREED!” he yelled, his hands flying dramatically at the confession.

His friends, little traitors they were, just laughed.

He came to get some help, advice on either doing this introduction well because Danny Fenton was known for a lot of things but half-assing projects he agreed to do wasn't one of them (homework was obligatory without his consents ergo didn't count) or gracefully getting away from mess his idiocy brought onto him, not to be laughed at! He had enough of it at other times.

Though they got to work when they calmed down, making Danny revisit the idea of not talking to them ever again and throwing it out of the window.

“Alright,” Tucker started, preparing his note and planner apps before continuing “what do you want to show them? Gingerbread house?”

“Of course” Danny huffed because as much as he hated Christmas and its traditions, gingerbread house was decent one. Making one at Tucker's place three years ago when he had been introduced to the idea was one of his best memories related to the holiday. Even though it was cut short by trip to the ER because dumbass little Danny had wanted a little gingerbread man he set aside and he had eaten him still all fresh and 350°F hot and got severe burns in his mouth and throat because apparently his instinctual response to burning in his mouth was to swallow instead of to spit.

“Gifts.” Sam raised in a way that meant she was not taking any complaints and Danny didn't really want to argue. His track record with gifts from his parents wasn't too good ever since he had a brief just-like-dad phase and they didn't realize it ended after a month but other people knew how to fix it. The Voyager Lego set he got from Sam the year before still made him smile when his eyes landed on it. 

Tucker noted it down. “What else? Christmas tree?”

Danny winced but nodded. He wasn't too fond of it but it was too big to miss it.

“Ugly sweaters?”

“Superboy would actually develop laser vision if I tried it”

“Movie marathon? I can lend you some DvDs”

“Yeah, it's probably a good idea. Kid Flash mentioned it too.”

“Santa Claus?” Sam asked with a smirk and Danny threw a pillow at her.

“Who is Santa Claus? I never heard of him, must be a Rhode Island thing” he answered with a straight face, not knowing how many times he will have to repeat it.

**

Phantom: hey guys!

Phantom: want a Crisscross Christmas

Phantom: ?

Artemis: The what?

Phantom: oh, you know

Phantom: this thing were we draw aech othres names anf have to buy a gift

Kid Flash: you mena Secret Santa

Kid Flash: ???

Phantom: never heard of that

Phantom: thats a wierd naem

Phantom: but if rules match, call it whatever yoyu wnat

Aqualad: I like this idea

Robin: GIft drop-off on 27th is okay for everyone?

7 people liked this message

Robin: i take that for yes. 50$ budget?

Kid Flash: Robin, Rob, Bob, my best pal. I have 5$ and single slice of bubblegum to my name rn

Kid Flash: No, actually no bubblegum anymore

Kid Flash: 10$ is top I could spend

Phantom: Same

Artemis: Same

Aqualad: Me too

Miss Martian: I'm not sure if me and Superboy have any money, actually

Phantom: See Rob?

Phantom: just be a good samamritanina and give them 10$ instead og flaunting batmans money

***

"Important question. How do one pick a present?"

"You know, it's good if it's something personal, either in a way that it's something they want or need, a gag gift that'd be funny for both of you, or just something that made you think of them"

"Yeah, yeah, I read the mom blogs, none of this actually helps, what am I supposed to get for Artemis?!"

***

"Alright, so. I have a list of things I think you need to learn about Christmas. We're kinda late to the party, so I cut off some stuff because there is no way we would make it in time."

"Sounds about right, what do we start with?"

"Most classic of classics, the Christmas tree, Batman already greenlit it, so it's waiting outside"

***

"So, Christmas tree is evergreen plant, conifer, sometimes only branch or synthetically made model, that, if living, is cut down from Christmas tree nursery, and then put inside the house, usually in the living room or other space that is considered repre-"

"Danny, we live in society, we have basic knowledge on American traditions that is literally everywhere. We don't need it to be spoon fed to us in a voice more robotic way than Red Tornado, literal robot"

"Conner!"

"What?! I'm not wrong"

"Sorry. Let's get to decorating then?"

"If you want to ramble, we'd be more than happy to listen. It's obvious that you took a lot of care to learn everything."

"Speak for yourself"

"Conner!"

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, with what exactly do we plan to decorate it?"

"Oh, this one is easy. I asked around people to donate some stuff, and Batman got us few things after I asked for permission for the tree. He even asked Justice League to drop us some things too."

"That's nice of them"

"Yeah, though I'm a bit worried about gifts from Arrows and Robin, y'know. They all had this type of smile that means either a gag idea, merch or exploding glitter and I'm not sure which option scares me the most"

"Glitter"

"Glitter"

"Yeah, you're right"

***

"Did… um… did Superman bring anything?"

"Yes, actually! He brought pretty big box of stuff and mentioned dropping of some food for Christmas in the morning or the afternoon of the first day. He said he was happy that you got the experience even if he isn't able to be the one to give it to you. I think he is coming around"

It was an interesting thing about Danny. He wasn't all that good with authority figures or frankly adults in general, and he never passed on the chance to tear in Superman for his treatment of Conner, if he saw the man, but in private he was surprisingly pro-Superman and tried to make them "see his perspective" with some pretty convincing arguments. Everyone else was still unimpressed but Danny never gave up.

M'gann still wasn't sure if in these circumstances she found it cute or annoying.

"Bullshit"

"If that's what you want to believe in"

***

"Oh, hello Megan! Red Tornado, would you like to join us in decorating the Christmas tree?"

"This… seems like a decent idea. What is the procedure of it?"

"We already put on the lights, so now we're placing baubles and other hanging decorations, before we finish off with paper chains and these fuzzy boas. We need them evenly spread out on all of the tree, preferably in a way, that things in similar colors aren't right next to each other, alright?"

"Yes, Phantom, instructions are clear"

"Great. Do we want some music in the background? My friends usually play some Christmas songs to get us all in 'the right mood' as he calls it?"

"Good idea, I'll play something."

"Thanks Meg"

"Just hear the sleigh bell jingling…"

"Is this… yeah, it's Carpenters, it's Jazz's favo- oh shit"

"Got it!"

"Nice catch Conner! Red Tornado, sorry I didn't clarify before, we're not decorating the side by the wall."

"Understood"

***

"We have only one last thing left then"

"Yeah?"

"The star at the top. The youngest child of the family usually get the honor. Conner, it's you time to shine~"

"Shut up already"

"How is he supposed to reach the top though? He can't fly"

"Step stool or someone has to hold him up lion king style"

"Lion king- Don't you dare! Keep those hands to yourself! Danny!

***

"So, what's next on your magical list?"

"Gingerbread house. It's a moment for you to shine Meg, because I'm absolute mess in the kitchen and I don't think Conner is much better"

"Actually-"

"blah, blah, blah, absolutely perfect, could be hired at Michelin star restaurant right this instant blah, blah, blah"

"Oh, you little-"

"I believe the arguments are supposed to start at the Christmas table and not before. It seemed to be consensus in my sources. Was I mistaken?"

Conner stopped dead in his tracks, as confused as M'gann at the question.

Danny laughed so hard he fell on the ground.

"Red Tornado, what does that mean?"

"There is no need to spread misinformation until we can get confirmation whether my sources were correct or not"

"Danny? Danny?! What does he mean?! Why are you laughing?!"

Danny just stayed curled on the floor, almost wheezing.

***

"So, we have all of the ingredients, right? Flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves-"

"I think it's still in the cabinet, let me grab it real quick"

"Alright, other than cloves, do we have salt, vegetable shortening, granulated sugar, molasses, an egg- I mean, applesauce? Yeah? Let's hope it'll work. Okay, I think were ready"

"Ginger?"

"What?"

"Do we have ginger ready?"

"I don't think so, I'm pretty sure we've run out about a week ago? Why- oh wait"

"Did we seriously forgot to get ginger to make The Gingerbread House?! It's literally in the name!"

They all just stood in silence for a long moment.

"We're idiots"

"Well said, well said"

"I believe there are better names to describe you in this situation. Unfortunately, I cannot recall them"

"Thanks Red Tornado, that was helpful"

"Maybe we can still buy it?"

"It's 10:34 PM, December 23rd, M'gann, what shop would even be open?"

"Shut up Conner, it's actually not a bad idea. I think I've seen- yes, there is something open until eleven, about five minutes out if I fly"

***

"There was no ginger at the shop, but I got cranberry for later, if needed, and some chips to snack on"

"It's fine, we found unopened pack of powdered ginger in the back of the cabinet"

"That's great! Give me a minute to return this packet I liberated on my way home?"

"Danny!"

***

"Hey, M'gann!"

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to invite your uncle to our dinner?"

"That's a great idea Conner, thank you!"

***

"Okay, wait, wait, wait, before you two get weirdly aggressive about it again-"

"We're not that aggressive and it's a serious matter"

"I don't have any ghosts to get of my misplaced aggression out on so I'm funneling it into cake decorating instead"

"M'gann, you literally are trying to choke him right now, Danny, even I know it's concerning and I have less than half a year of learning what is considered normal under my belt. Anyway, before you escalate it again, how about each one of us gets one side of the house and then we work in pairs on the roof?"

"I like that"

"But what about aesthetic integrity!"

"It's quite literally against the point of gingerbread house"

***

"Before we go to sleep, I believe it's a widespread tradition to leave milk and cookies for the Santa Claus on the Christmas Eve evening"

"Huh"

"What is it this time?"

"Nothing really, chill out Conner, I just never heard of that"

It was so clearly a lie it probably couldn't even be called that, but at this point everyone realized, that for some reason bearded man in red was a sore subject, and they stopped trying to learn why. Maybe some day he'd tell them.

***

"Sorry. This person is currently unavailable. Please leave a message after the tone."

"Hey Dani, it's Danny. Merry Christmas, please let me know when you get that. I'm celebrating outside of home, safe, with some friends, so if you want, I can give you an address and you can drop by. They're all more than okay with ghost stuff and have a history of accepting someone similar to you without any questions. I'm sure they'd love you. Let me know you're alright and if you want to join us. Sorry I keep calling, I'm at the worrywart stage. Love you, please stay safe."

Danny was doing pretty well with this whole "organizing Christmas". Really. M'gann did kick him out to breathe a bit of fresh air (and wait for the Superman and food he was supposed to bring in) because his hands were shaking too much, but other than that he was fine. Really. He was getting a bit panicky because he didn't hear a word from his sister in the past week and usually she let them know if she knew she would go somewhere where that could happen but she just as often didn't because she spontaneously decided to do something else. Trackers they made her wear showed she was fine.

It didn't really help, he wasn't sure if there was anything less than actually hearing or preferably seeing her that could reassure him.

It wasn't even talking about all of the trouble that was a bit closer to home, because Christmas never meant anything good for him, with or without his parents stirring up the Santa-fight. They weren't there and yet, he still couldn't make himself believe it could be any better this time. For Ancients sake, he made sure there was no Santa Claus in whole Mountain, nothing to remind him of how it always was and his brain still decided to be stupid about it.

So now he was standing in thin hoodie out in Rhode Island winter, in hopes that cold would shock him out of spiraling, trying to keep his breaths even and not fly away because it felt all like a little too much at the moment. he was standing in thin hoodie out in Rhode Island winter, waiting for a man who would awkwardly try to do the whole 'I'm an adult you can trust' routine and then treat him like messenger pigeon to contact the child that actually wanted and needed him. He couldn't entirely blame him but-

"Are you quite alright?"

"I'm fine"

"Are you sure? It's quite cold to be dressed like this and your heartbeat is quite erratic."

"I'm fine as old wine Superman, please say your piece before someone comes to see what took me so long"

"Danny-"

"I'm serious. Leave it alone and just give me the food"

Superman looked a bit conflicted, clearly considering all of the potential pros and cons of digging in further and choose wrong.

"You're worried about Dani"

"You're the last person I want to talk to about her," Danny spat out, anxiety quickly turning into anger.

"Of course, but-"

"Have two civil conversations with your clone before trying to tell me how I should handle mine" As soon as these words left his mouth, Danny regretted them, if only a little, but he kept pushing "I told you about her to explain why I'm willing to vouch for you. It doesn't make you someone I'll confide in. It doesn't make you someone I trust. It doesn't make me approve of the way your handling it. It just means I understand. But you're an adult man and experienced hero with stable job and adult shit figured out and I'm a teenager with home just safe enough for me to stay and family that'd question how third child just showed up. We are not the same."

Superman flinched away at some point during the rant, looking properly humbled. He avoided eye contact and just reached forward to pass him hard plastic case filled with food containers and smaller boxes wrapped up in nice Christmas themed paper.

"Alright kiddo. Get it inside before you turn into a icicle. And tell Conner I wish him Merry Christmas, alright? I mean, I wish it to everyone but…"

Damn, if the "never meet your heroes" person wasn't right.

"You're a coward Superman. Come in and tell him that yourself"

***

Conner lashed out, as expected, but it was far more subdued than it would be just few month before. To his credit, Superman stayed the whole time it went down and only left when boy mostly calmed down and wouldn't feel like he was being ignored. Man even tried to respond to some allegations, though he wasn't really heard. Conner ranted some more after hero left, but overall it went better than Danny thought it would.

Then they had dinner, which went… surprisingly well. Apparently, not having to worry about being attacked by the main dish did wonders to Danny's overall jitters (and didn't everyone get super weird when he mentioned it). Not having people start nonsensical fights also helped. He knew better than to mention that.

Also, turns out that Superman or whoever he got to make them food was freaking amazing cook, thank you very much. Danny wasn't necessarily fasting, not in a way he knew some people did in the period preceding Christmas or at least on Christmas Eve, but the tension of past few days made it hard to eat a lot. It definitely lessened now that the thing was happening and seemingly going well, so he was absolutely ravenous. To be completely honest, as far as he could tell, everyone else matched his enthusiasm.

There was a bit off moment at the beginning, when Martian Manhunter asked him if he shouldn't be with his family during holidays, but Danny quickly and subtly brushed it off and nobody mentioned that afterwards.

He may have overeaten, actually, for once in his live, which he may regret in the morning, but at the moment, it made him quite content.

Then came the gifts, which also went better than he expected. For once there was no need to act like he enjoyed the gift despite already planning on how to get rid of it. Even better, focus was almost fully removed from him, obviously, because it wasn't his first rodeo.

Conner looked so lost and confused with the gift he got from Superman's mom, it was almost heartbreaking. It was beautiful crocheted scarf, black and red, with his symbol on each end, and an apology note explaining that Mrs Martha Kent would give him something more note worthy but she learned about him way to late to make something better. There was also promise of more worthy gift in near future. Danny knew all that because Conner read it out loud, asking everyone to help him make sense of that. There was only so much they could do.

Other than that, he got some nice flannel shirts from M'gann, quite a few sweets. He also got a book from Danny (it was a sin he didn't read "The Martian" before) and concepts of new hero suits for him, that Sam somehow sneaked between the pages. It was certainly a lot to explain without making anyone angry.

M'gann got two different cook books, that unfortunately didn't include Fenton fudge recipe (Dad was really protective over it), some surprisingly obscure merch from "Hello Megan" and more sweets.

Red Tornado got an apron and few tokens of appreciation, that robot quite liked, as far as Danny could tell.

Martian Manhuter, due to how rarely he visited, was the hardest to pick presents for, which resulted in some general little trinkets.

Danny got night sky projector, which was really cool, and potted plant, for some reason, which, while also cool, because plants are cool (Sam would rekill him if he thought otherwise), he knew far too well, would not survive until July. It wasn't only because he could barely take care of himself, let alone whole ass plant (see also, that one time he either drowned or dried three cacti), but also because of the times ghosts (or home security) attacked him in his room. He was thankful anyway. Maybe it could push him into finally getting some contingencies against that, that’d actually work. After all, it was quite a pretty plant.

By the time they moved to the couch to watch “Die Hard” of all things (it was only DVD that Tucker provided that didn’t have Santa Claus as a prominent character, because of course that little traitor would do that), Danny had to admit that this Christmas was… nice. Enjoyable. Pretty amazing actually. Good enough that he could understand people waiting for it the whole year. He couldn’t tell that he joined their ranks, but he certainly could understand them.

It was also downright exhausting and at some point even dynamic fights of John McClane couldn’t keep his eyes open. It was fine though. He was safe, he was warm, almost squeezed against his friends. It was good place to just relax.

It’s been first time in a long time since he felt that on Christmas.

********

I'm not sure if I managed to properly Conner's... whole thing, if he turned out too hostile, let's just say he was still pissed about the whole "wasn't invited to Clark's family gathering" thing and it made him a bit more antsy.

I'm not sure how well I managed to handle it, but I don't want to bash neither Clark nor Conner. They're both victims in this situation and while the way Clark handled it was far from ideal, it's also far from worst he could do and I believe he deserves a bit more grace. In the end, on psychological level he is just human and humans don't always handle being baby trapped perfectly. Maybe I have more understanding towards him because my prefered way of handling conflicts is walking out and locking myself in my room, but idk. Maybe I'm capable of more coherent explanation when it's not 3:44 AM

Ginger shenanigans were inspired by my own Christmas preparation adventures, when I was making bread dough for the Christmas Eve and decided to add rosemary to make it more ✨festive✨ and got really attached to the idea. My mom agreed, then it turned out we didn't have any, then I went to the shop like twenty minutes before it closed at 11PM so at least one guy was there to replenish his alcohol suplies. My mom called to tell me to also buy some powdered garlic and beetroot. Turned out we had rosemary at home. At shop I only found garlic. I also brought energy drink, because I was tired but had more stuff to do and some snacks just because.

Bread turned out pretty good.

I sincerely believe if I was solely responsible of making gingerbread, I would forget to get ginger (or like, to fit with "it's in the name" thing, pepper, because in Polish it's "piernik")

I'm really sorry if the drop in quality by the end is noticable, if this thing stayed unfinished whole another year i'd do something I'd regret later.

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

The fans: Ugh Sonic was just so preachy. I mean obviously he's supposed to be the good guy, so any uncomfortableness I feel here and any way I feel like Sonic's choices are framed as being why some other people have shitty lives is just bad writing because he is obviously supposed to be right always, but this characterization makes no sense. Isn't he right for the things he did?

Ian Flynn, using Kitsunami to say the (barely even at this point) quiet part even louder: Hey it's almost like ever since the Mr. Tinker event we've been purposely running with the critique of Sonic as being more selfish than he appears. Sonic is upholding a system of Eggman v Sonic that currently benefits him and shuts down talk of how to improve the current system because he likes his own personal enjoyment and he's attached enough to Eggman that he'd rather Eggman pretend to be a good person than be stuck in prison for life. He doesn't even quite practice what he preaches. We are trying to show that the current hero v villain system and Sonic's recklessness currently affects some people poorly and that Sonic isn't a perfect hero.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Smell Check [Easy: Failure]

MDZS Disco Elysium AU part 1 (part 2 - part 3)

[butchvamp]

i finished the game last night, here are my unpolished thoughts about the final act and what i liked & didn't like. this is very long and probably incoherent lol

what i liked:

the whole final battle was awesome, i loved the combat, and i really enjoyed the huge cutscenes of everyone fighting together. i had been really disappointed earlier about the lack of a battle scene at weisshaupt a la ostagar in origins, and this definitely made up for it

i liked the suicide mission and actually getting to assign people their roles in the battle

i LOVED Solas's betrayal, that whole section in the fade prison with the statues was one of the strongest scenes in the game, i think the entire relationship between Rook and Solas is really well developed. as the player, we know Solas is manipulating them, but i think they did a good job making it so it's still believable for Rook to fall for his tricks, especially with the Blood of Arlathan quest before this. (also it's very obvious Solas is Weekes' favorite, wish they would have just stuck to him and not all that other dogshit...lol)

i liked the idea of Varric's role here, but not the execution. i'll come back to this lmao

the giant dread wolf and archdemon fight was cool as fuck. no notes. that's just classic rule of cool, baby

also i had Davrin in my party while fighting alongside Solas and i really enjoyed his banter with him and how hard he laid into Solas's ass. it was very satisfying. yippee go Davrin!

okay. now. what i didn't like (sorry not going to bother with bullet points, it's going to be longer down here lol):

while i liked the suicide mission structure, i hated how the game all but told you who to assign where. there were no stakes at all, there was no way to get it wrong unless you did so intentionally.

this also brings me to. The Choice. between Davrin and Harding. i understand the need for a "fallen hero" here, it ties into the entire theme of regret with Solas as we see in the fade prison, it was necessary for Rook to be the person "at fault" (aka directly make the choice that ends with someone getting killed) but this choice was dogshit. it also was really fucking stupid to see Harding climb up and stand atop a giant stone pillar, and then NOT use her stone magic!!! i don't hate the idea of someone dying here, but this was just a series of failed choices over and over again. we should not have pitted returning fan fave Harding against the single Black companion (who comes in late and barely even gets his own story outside of his damn pet)-- it should have been Harding (narratively satisfying, she's been here since the beginning and dies for the fight) or Lucanis (he is literally the guy taking the shot), we also shouldn't have tied all the dwarf lore revelations to a character that can just fucking die at the end, and we shouldn't have had her stand on a giant stone pillar when she has STONE MAGIC!! i knew this choice was coming but her death still caught me off guard cus i was fully expecting her to collapse that stone pillar on her, not use her stupid puny bow 😭

i think this choice is also weakened by the fact that it's THEE only choice. it's obviously an echo of the earlier Treviso and Minrathous choice, which also didn't really seem to affect much outside of potentially losing the corresponding factions (and i think Lucanis's romance gets locked out?) i saved Treviso, so i got the Treviso questline later, and i assume that you get a Minrathous specific questline with the Shadow Dragons if you save the other instead (haven't seen myself tho so i'm not sure, just guessing). but it's very easy to recover the Shadow Dragon's reputation, and the final battle takes place in Minrathous no matter what. the only way for companions to die or the battle to fail is to just straight up ignore quests. you can't lose a faction's support at all unless you intentionally try to do so. i don't even think you can lose companions at all unless you intentionally ignore their quests and place them in the wrong spot. though the game still holds your hand through the battle and basically Tells You who to put where so they survive.

and to be fair. this is true for the suicide mission in mass effect 2, but the thing is, there is so much more dialogue and variations with how you can play your character and interact with the companions and the world than there is in veilguard, it makes it feel like you do have more control over your character and the narrative, even if it's just the illusion of choice.

and then with Solas, it doesn't matter, he always ends up trapped/linked to the Fade, it just changes how he feels. (they also do this with the First Warden. i was excited for a potential variation between punching/not punching, but all it changes is his attitude when you find him later in Davrin's quest) okay.... well. is he going to return again after that post credit scene? and are they really going to write 3 (or 4, with lavellan i guess) different branching personality variations?

i think the powers that be just wanted to get rid of him in a way that would still leave the dragon age setting ultimately unaltered and open for more games in the future. especially given the secret post credits scene. which i also have an issue with. we're going to go from "it was all the Evanuris fault" to Actually, it was this secret third thing and everything we did was for nothing! AGAIN! if they want to make more dragon age games, they can just... start a new story. do they know that. (the fact they're implying Loghain was influenced by some outside force to do what he did at ostagar actually has me livid lol. leave origins alone!!!!)

anyways. now the fade prison. i have two issues, my main one being Varric. i actually started to suspect early on something was up with him, because he just sits in that damn infirmary the entire game, no interactions, barely any dialogue. i think Varric was horribly underutilized in this game, and it results in all of the emotional beats around him falling flat for me. of course, it's emotional for ME, the player, because Varric is a fan fave returning character and one of my own personal favorites. as far as i've seen in game, though... Rook has no relationship with him at all. i think this game would have been vastly improved with short playable origins that showed the two meeting and developing a relationship, and also he really really needed to have more scenes and dialogue in general. he's barely in the second half of the game, literally just sitting all by himself in that damn room, and even when he is in the cutscenes he has one single line that everyone obviously just ignores. it sucked. very disappointing finale for a really beloved character... it could have been so good if it was good....

because i DO love the idea of Solas using him to manipulate Rook (and i really like Varric and Solas's relationship & the way they contrast against each other), and also the idea of how being tricked in that way would actually affect Rook-- what's real, what's not, can they even trust what they're seeing at all anymore? especially when Solas "glitches" between Varric and Lucanis (idk if it's always him or your LI? would be cool if it's your LI, that's what i assumed) after slaying Ghilan'nain-- this could have tied in with the final romance scene. but of course the game doesn't get into any of that at all.

and now issue 2. how the fuck did Solas do that LOL. how did he switch places, how did he get out, how did it take Rook in his place when it was designed for elven gods? where are the other elven gods (did i just miss this explanation? did the other two just kill them in there)? 🤷 when did this place suddenly turn into a prison of regrets? was that Solas's presence influencing it, or did he do that intentionally for Rook? dont know! who cares. moving on...

i romanced Lucanis, and i was really disappointed with his romance. the final scene was sweet, but.... i think particularly with Lucanis you can tell so much of his story and arc ended up on the cutting room floor, it feels disjointed and as if we're missing pieces, and you can feel it in his romance, too. i also really didnt understand the "keep flirting (not a lock in) or end it now" choices that didnt feel like they did anything at all. why was i given like 3 different times to break up with him when we weren't even dating yet lmao. the romance was a bummer, of course i love the setting and the story but i go into these games expecting strong romance along with it and i was really banking on that being the highlight in this mess of a game but. alas

this also segues me back into the whole "trapped in the Fade prison" section. why was there no reunion with both your LI and everyone else? apparently Rook was in there for WEEKS!!! they hardly communicate this and Rook just reappears and jumps straight back into leading the team, no tears or questions asked about how they found them, how they got out, what everyone was thinking while they were gone... we also get a deus ex machina knife, how convenient that they did all that while i was gone and no explanation is given as to how it could possibly fool Solas, just trust us bro! 💆 i feel like trying to craft our own copy of the knife should have been something actively happening in the background throughout the entire game, and it gets finished while Rook is in the Fade. but this truly came out of nowhere lol

again i think it's obvious things were cut and rewritten and maybe this was the result of a frantic scramble to come up with something that would work, and i'll be generous and blame it on that, i guess...

when we finally get to the final confrontation with Solas, i was very excited, because again i feel like Rook and Solas's relationship is the best in the game, Solas's writing is consistent and strong, i knew this scene had to be good.... and i guess it was? but it felt so unsatisfying. i chose to fight him (my Rook would do anything to get him to shut up) and i was hoping for. an actual fight. you can do it with Mythal earlier in the game, and we already saw his giant wolf form, i was so excited. and then. no<3

okay! sure. we beat him with the power of friendship (not surprised and not even making fun of it here, it makes sense narratively, i knew some version of this was coming after the whole comparing Rook versus Solas bit in the Fade) but come onnnnn i wanted to fight the giant wolf.... sigh. i did check out the other endings as well, and it's clear the redemption ending is the "true" ending and also the best written one imo.

overall. this was a bad dragon age game. i had a lot of fun playing it though, so it's not a bad game game. the gameplay loop never got boring, i never got tired exploring or doubling back, i loved the maps, i loved the combat, and i did love the companions. but the writing is atrocious and racist. this is a horrible dragon age game. i don't know where i fall on recommending this. again, i've had a lot of fun playing and dissecting it, but i dont know that i could recommend this to dragon age fans. this would have been way more successful as a completely different fantasy game. the changes to the lore, disregarding the majority of the games that came before it, the horrible depictions of returning characters (the inquisitor and isabela were the worst offenders for me) the setting and characters feeling watered down and incomplete, the complete lack of the classic "grey morality" shtick (even if it's not always been implemented well)... idk man. bummer! it's obvious there was a cohesive vision at one point, i do think this game is a casualty of the current state of the gaming industry (i was honestly surprised it was functional on launch. not shade at bioware just in general that is rare to see now) we know EA thrashed bioware throughout development, and bioware made a lot of really bad choices, too (the racism is absolutely their doing, they made that choice back in inquisition). but we can see, particularly in the artbook, that there were good ideas & an intention to actually tie everything together and give this story the finale it deserved... but it all got lost along the way in a very ugly, chaotic development. and the game really suffers for it.

[skyward-floored]

Dappled Leaves

Here's some more of my Zelda AU where Link gets corrupted! This is the part right at the beginning where he gets corrupted! It's... not a good day for him. sorry buddy.

(This fic technically comes next out of what I've written so far, but I've changed a few things so parts of it are non-canon now lol)

Warning for some canon-typical violence, and injury

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Well, here we are, men.”

Link tugged on Epona’s reins at Sir Keelan’s remark, and the other knights beside him pulled their horses to a stop as well. The forest ahead loomed over them, seeming innocent enough with the call of birds in the distance and sunshine flickering off leaves, but Link could swear he felt a chill emanating from within.

He shivered. Something about the trees just seemed... otherworldly. Like the sparkle of a fairy in the glow of dawn, or the spiral of especially bright stars that Zelda loved to chart across the sky.

“The Lost Woods,” one of the other knights murmured, an older man by the name of Sir Trellon. “Or that’s what the locals call it. Never actually been inside before.”

“You think the stories are true? About people turning into monsters?” Sir Rowan said in a loud whisper towards Link, and he rolled his eyes. He’d fought his share of monsters, but he didn’t believe people could just turn into them. Especially not just by going into a forest.

Even if there were rumors of people going inside and never coming back.

“Why would this section of Faron woods turn people into monsters but not the rest of it?” Sir Garod spoke up, his brow furrowed. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

“Because it’s just a rumor,” Sir Aryt huffed, his horse snorting in turn.

“All rumors hold a seed of truth,” Sir Keelan remarked, and looked up at the trees. “Often twisted, but they have to come from somewhere. Though I would doubt we’ll turn into beasts the moment we walk in.”

“But we might. Maybe the flesh will fall from our bones and we’ll all become skeletons,” Rowan said with a wiggle of his fingers, and Link muffled a snort.

“You’re already a skeleton Rowan, no need for any further turning of one,” Sir Keelan replied briskly, and amused chuckles went up from the group as Sir Rowan made an offended noise. He’d always been on the leaner side. “Weapons ready men, let’s find this legendary sword.”

Sir Keelan urged his horse forward, and the rest of the knights followed, an odd prickle falling over Link’s skin as they passed under the shadow of the leaves. Epona seemed to sense his unease, and she nickered softly, ears twitching.

Link rubbed her neck, letting the sensation of her hair under his fingers calm his nerves. He was just feeling anxious because of Zelda’s dreams, he was sure. She’d been sleeping restlessly for weeks now, repeatedly seeing the same string of events, and though most of them had been unclear, she’d stated she’d seen a great darkness approaching, one thick enough to cover the entire kingdom.

But she’d also seen a figure finding a bright sword, hidden in a forest. And she’d seemed confident the figure had been Link.

Link wasn’t so sure, but Zelda had insisted it must be him, or at least a knight that wore clothes similar to his. Which was why Link’s entire squad was here, and not just himself.

He still wasn’t so sure he should be here at all, but Link could see the toll Zelda’s dreams were taking on her, lights on in her rooms at all hours, dark shadows under her eyes when she was awake. Link wasn’t sure quite what to think of the dreams themselves, but he took Zelda seriously. She was his closest friend, and he trusted her, even if it did seem odd to send a squad of the castle’s best knights off into the middle of the woods just based on a dream.

He trusted her.

And if she was right about the darkness... they needed this blade.

Link breathed out and looked over his companions riding beside him, dappled sunshine rippling across familiar faces. Their captain, Sir Keelan at the front, dark hair neat as always, Sir Trellon beside him studying the woods with a thoughtful expression on his wrinkled face. Sir Garod, towering over everyone as he watched with an amused look at Sir Rowan’s daily attempt to get a smile out of Sir Aryt, and Sir Aryt frowning in return.

Rowan Link knew best, since they were closest in age, but he knew all the knights, had grown up around most of them. They were a good group of men. Men he was proud to fight beside.

Men who surely had a bigger chance of finding and pulling a sacred blade than him.

“Kindly put your horse away from mine, Sir Rowan, or I will be forced to take drastic measures,” Aryt suddenly remarked, shooting Rowan a glare that terrified most people. Rowan was uncowed though, and gave his elder a smile.

“Oh yes? What sort of drastic measures?” he questioned, and Link leaned in, curious.

Aryt narrowed his pale eyes. “I believe your hair is getting a bit long, Sir Rowan. It would be a shame if something happened to it.”

Sir Rowan’s teasing expression quickly fell, and he hurriedly moved his horse back from Aryt’s, putting a protective hand on his ginger ponytail. Link couldn’t help his chuckle at Rowan’s fearful expression, and Sir Garod let out a rich laugh, slapping the younger knight on the back.

“Ah Rowan, your hair is safe, old Aryt won’t really shear you,” he chuckled, and Rowan huffed.

“I know that.”

“Didn’t look like it,” Link commented quietly, and Garod laughed again as Rowan made another huffy noise.

“Settle down men, I’d prefer it if the whole forest didn’t know we were here,” Sir Keelan called behind him, and Sir Garod quieted his laughter.

“What’s he worried about? These woods have never borne any report of worrisome beasts,” Sir Rowan said in a quieter voice, and Sir Aryt narrowed his eyes at the trees around them.

“Just because there are no reports doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”

Conversation stilled then, the silence not uncomfortable, but not exactly peaceful, either. The buzz in Link’s skin seemed to grow the further into the woods they went, and he found himself fidgeting, ears twitching at the slightest sound, eyes scanning for movement.

He swore he heard music at one point.

“Looks like this is as far as the horses go,” Sir Trellon remarked, breaking the silence as they reached what was an end to the slight path they’d been following. The trees grew much closer together up ahead, and while they would be able to proceed on foot, the horses certainly wouldn’t fit.

“Probably a good thing, they seem nervous,” Rowan mentioned, his own horse’s ears twitching. “Rosie won’t sit still.”

“Perhaps they know something we do not,” Garod spoke up, thick eyebrows creased.

Everyone exchanged looks, but didn’t speak further, dismounting and securing their horses. Link gave Epona a pat, the mare nibbling lightly at his hair in response, and he bid her a quick farewell before they set off again.

The birds quieted as they plunged deeper into the woods, and the air seemed to grow colder, only flickers of sunlight reaching through the canopy of leaves above. Link’s hand never strayed from his sword, and he swore he kept hearing distant noises, trills of melody, quiet laughs. A light fog rolled in as they continued, swirling in small eddies at their feet, drifting between the trees and obscuring their path. It seemed to cling to their boots, and Link felt as though it had a weight to it, one that tried to pull him in a specific direction.

“Link?”

He blinked at Rowan’s question, realizing he’d been staring off into the trees and stopped walking.

“Everything alright? You’ve seemed distracted ever since we got here,” he asked. "You're not turning into a skeleton, I hope."

Link shook his head, then shrugged.

“No, I'm not. It's these woods. They don’t feel... normal,” he admitted quietly, and Rowan tilted his head.

“In what way?”

Link glanced around at the trees and the fog, feeling that odd pull again. “I don’t know. Just... something. It’s like there’s...”

“Wait, do you hear that?” Sir Trellon said suddenly, and all of them paused, ears pricked.

The woods seemed to still even further, silence almost as heavy as the fog. Link strained his ears, but he didn't hear anything.

Something suddenly rustled that might have been the wind, but they all raised their swords, keeping them and their shields at the ready. Link scanned the trees as he fell back into formation with the others, the pull of the fog insistent as they stood their ground, watching, listening.

Another rustle.

Then yellow eyes appeared through the fog.

“Monsters!” Sir Keelan shouted, and the clearing flooded with the beasts, completely out of nowhere.

The quiet woods exploded into noise, monsters screeching and metal clanging as the knights blocked strikes from the beasts. Link slashed at a wolfos that ran at him, teeth bared menacingly. It yelped as he struck its side, and he quickly leapt around and finished it off with a stab to the neck. More of the beasts darted around them, several skeletons and even a few large pig-like creatures Link recognized as moblins, which... were rare, and usually rather solitary.

Monsters in a huge group like this? An ambush? he thought in disbelief as he fought off another wolfos. What on earth—

A skeleton leapt for him as he finished off the other wolfos, and Link dove to the side to avoid its blade, the metal hitting a mossy rock mere inches from his face. The skeleton made a clattering noise that Link took as annoyed, and he quickly leapt upwards, smashing his blade through its spine and sending the skeleton to the ground in pieces.

Another skeleton replaced it, and Link hurriedly blocked its strike at his neck, gritting his teeth. It seemed like an awful lot of the monsters were targeting him.

“No worrisome beasts indeed,” he heard Sir Aryt snort from nearby, and saw him stab into a moblin with no small force. “What keen observational skills you have, Sir Rowan.”

“How was I supposed to know?” Rowan huffed back at him as he jumped in to finish the moblin off. “Faron woods never have this many monsters!”

“Tighten up, more from the north!” Sir Keelan shouted, and they turned to face the second wave of beasts that rushed out of the trees.

Link had gotten a bit separate from the other knights while he’d been fighting the skeletons, and he quickly made to rejoin them, scrambling over mossy roots. A bigger wolfos leapt out at him before he could reach them though, one with reddish eyes and streaks of dark purple in its fur.

It was blocking him from the other knights, and Link narrowly avoided getting teeth to his neck as it lunged at him. The weight of the beast slammed into him, and Link went sprawling, landing hard on the ground.

He gasped, barely managing to hold onto his sword, and stared up at the beast. Salvia strung between the wolfos’ yellowed teeth as it bared them wide, nearly closing them around his neck, and Link heard a shout of his name that seemed oddly far away. He just managed to avoid the bite to his neck, and found himself on the defensive as he fought the huge wolfos, rolling and dodging all while teeth snapped at his face.

Link managed to land a punch on its nose with his free hand, and while it howled angrily, he got a better grip on his sword and slashed at its side.

The wolfos yelped, and Link finally managed to roll out from under it, even while its claws scrabbled at him. He’d lost his shield but he would have to do without it, no time to retrieve it from where it lay several feet away in the grass.

Link dove to the side as the wolfos lunged again, and angled his sword up, trying to stab it as it dove for him. The monstrous wolf changed direction at the last moment, the blade only grazing it, and it barely touched the ground before it leapt at him again, huge paws outstretched.

Link scrambled to his feet and jumped backwards, dodging the attack, and watched the wolfos as it rushed backwards, pacing back and forth in confusing movements.

Its beady red eyes fixed on him, and Link charged forward with a shout, the beast jumping at the same time. This time Link’s blade sank into the wolfos’ neck, and it let out a strangled howl as it fell to the dirt, eyes growing wild. Link dodged a weak snap from the beast, blood in its fur, and thrust his sword into the wolfos again, the monster finally falling still. It was dead.

Link panted where he was knelt, a little out of breath from the intense fight, then looked up to see if anyone needed his assistance.

And found that he was alone.

Link startled, jumping to his feet as he whipped his head around, but he couldn’t see anyone in sight, the woods silent and empty. He looked behind him, and saw that even the body of the wolfos he’d been fighting was gone, and his sword along with it.

He was completely alone.

Link stared at the trees in bewilderment, beyond confused as to how this had happened. He’d rolled around a bit with the wolfos sure, but not so much as to have entirely left the others behind. He couldn’t even hear the battle anymore, where had they gone? Where had his sword and the dead wolfos gone? How had this happened?

...And how exactly was he going to find the others again?

“Hello?” he called tentatively, but not so much as a bird answered him. Link looked around the trees, fog wisping its way between the trunks and swirling softly at his feet, and felt a chill down his spine.

Maybe there was something to the rumors of people never coming out.

A soft feeling prickled at his skin suddenly, the same he’d felt ever since stepping foot in the forest. Link slowly turned and looked at an unassuming spot in the trees, and felt that pull again, the chime that both thrilled and scared him.

He hesitated for a moment, then sighed. Without any clue where the others were, or his weapon for that matter, he figured following the odd sensation was as good of a heading as any.

The fog curled away from his feet as he stepped towards the feeling, and Link began to make his way through the woods, hoping the pull would reunite him with the other knights again. He could only hope they were all okay. They were all skilled for certain, but that had been a lot of monsters that had appeared out of nowhere.

A snuffling noise caught his attention, and Link ducked behind a bush, watching as a moblin stomped by with its spear at the ready. Link swallowed, letting it pass before standing up and hurrying on his way. This may have been an out of the way part of the woods, but this many monsters lurking around anywhere was just unnatural.

Is this the darkness you saw, Zelda?

Link tried to quiet his breathing as he moved through the woods, shoulder stinging where the wolfos had slammed into him earlier. He crept by more monsters, being careful not to let them spot him, sometimes having to climb a tree or duck under a prickly bush in order to avoid detection. Link did have a small dagger on his belt, but it was hardly enough to take out any of the monsters he’d seen so far. Fighting would be his last resort.

...He was really missing his sword.

Link continued on, dashing past monsters, following the weird tug in his middle. The fog seemed to thicken around him, but it never fully covered his path, and he diligently headed further into the forest, trees getting thicker, and taller, very sparse rays of sunshine filtering through.

The deeper Link went, the stronger the pull in his chest grew, and he stopped coming across as many monsters, the woods silent except for the soft brush of leaves, and the occasional musical trill in the distance that Link thought he imagined more than once.

Link abruptly felt the urge to turn, and he did, finding himself descending what looked like the remains of some extremely old steps. The stone was cracked, moss and roots covering most of what was left, and Link had to watch where he stepped as he picked his way down them. The trees around him thinned out a bit, and more ruins joined the steps, old fallen pillars, a collapsed wall with a bird’s nest tucked in the crumbling stone. The trees and fog still blocked most of the sky, but Link looked around in interest at the ruins, still following the tug in his chest.

He passed under a tree branch that was curved almost like an archway, grass crunching softly under his boots, and his breath caught as he raised his head.

Sunshine streamed through the trees into the clearing up ahead, keeping the fog at bay. Small flowers poked up from the grass, colored petals bright in the glow from the sun, and the feeling in Link’s chest sang, his heart beating faster as he saw light glint off of something, something important.

That’s it.

That’s the sword Zelda saw in her dream.

Link took a step forward, transfixed by the sight, and then everything went wrong.

One moment he was staring in awe, and the next, a weight slammed into his shoulder, sending him to his knees as he gasped in shock. Link felt frantically at his back, and pain hit him more sharply as his fingers brushed against the shaft of an arrow.

He’d let his guard down.

You idiot!

Link tried to turn himself to look at the threat, but couldn’t move anything more than his head without pain wrenching through him, so intense he couldn’t do more. A small groan escaped him, and he nearly collapsed, the pain like a hot coal burning through his shoulder.

Arrows shouldn’t hurt this much, why does it feel like I’m—

Link finally turned his head, gritting his teeth through the pain, and a cold feeling of dread welled in his stomach as a shadowy figure stepped out of the bushes.

That wasn’t a monster.

His dread only grew as the cloaked figure stepped closer, a bow held in one hand, a hood shadowing his face. Link could see reddish eyes though, shot through with purple, and he tried to keep his breathing steady despite the alarm racing through him.

Who was this? What was happening?

“Well well well,” the man said as he watched Link struggle for breath through the pain, his purple cloak rippling in the breeze. A sneer formed on pale lips. “Seems I’ve found a prospective hero.”

Link sucked in a breath as more pain abruptly shook through him, clutching at his shoulder. What was happening?

“Just as planned. My monsters did a fine job of leading me to you,” the man continued, the same sneer in his voice as he stepped closer. “You have no idea how long I’ve planned for this, boy. At last my vision will be realized, and you will be the tool that I use to bring it forth.”

Link swallowed as the man spoke, not liking the sound of any of that. Thoughts and plans on what to do whirled through his head, none of them good, but then the sunlight nearby caught his eye again, shimmering brightly.

The sword.

If he could just make it to the sword, he’d be fine. Zelda had said it could banish evil, evil that this man was surely using and planning, so that was all he had to do.

Link took a deep breath, then lurched to his feet as he tried to make a run for it, heart thudding wildly. The sword, just make it to the sword, that’s all you have to—

Another arrow slammed in next to the first, and Link cried out, tumbling back to the ground.

“Not another step, boy,” the man said in a voice that dripped with ice. “I have use of you, and I’d prefer it if you were intact. I’d hate to shoot you again, but…”

Link could barely focus on what he was saying, pain blurring his senses. The arrows felt like burning icicles in his back, freezing straight to his core with an unnatural feel, and he let out a shuddering cough.

The man sighed almost theatrically.

“Ah. Seems my magic is a bit eager to get started. I was hoping to wait to do this part, but I suppose I’d better go ahead and finish since it’s begun,” he said in a bit of an annoyed voice. “Better to have it done with.”

Link heard footsteps through the fog of pain, and then a hand pressed against the small of his back, a shudder involuntarily escaping him at the touch.

“Hold still.”

Then burning agony shot through Link, and he screamed, writhing in place on the ground. Something began to worm into him as the agony ripped another cry from his throat, icy tendrils creeping up his back and constricting him like a poisonous vine, pulling him down until he felt like he was drowning.

It was like nothing Link had ever felt, and he thrashed against it, his fingers clawing at the grass as he tried to fight the overwhelming sensation.

He couldn’t let whatever this magic was doing to him win, someone had to warn the castle about this, the knights, someone had to warn Zelda—

“Relax boy, it’ll be easier if you don’t fight it,” the man crooned, and he pressed his fingers harder into Link’s skin, more burning cold accompanying the touch. Link screamed again, but the sound was weaker, his thrashing slowing as the cold locked his limbs and burrowed deeper, each new layer lighting his nerves up with agony.

The ice tore into him, relentless in its attack. It ripped at his mind, clawed its way though his chest, icy darkness slipping under his skin and into his lungs and head and heart—

No—

NO—

Darkness burst as something cracked inside of him, and Link let out one last wretched cry, his body abruptly deciding that whatever was happening was too much for it.

His vision spun down into dark and cold, and the last thing he heard was a satisfied laugh that blocked out the chime of the Master Sword calling to him, from just a little too far away.

[snowysaur]

2024 year in review/art summary. i realized i never made these for 2021-23 either so here's all of them. i think i haven't been drawing as much these past few years, oh well support me on: patreon | kofi | redbubble

[sainz100]

2024 Hungarian GP | x (edited)

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

my greatest achievement in DA2 is maxing out Carver's friendship

and all it took was begrudgingly kissing a little templar ass in act 1 because Carver didn't want to plan a prison break if my Hawke got his ass arrested for being stupid.

[blueskittlesart]

cold fruit in a hot kitchen (so i had this great watermelon last weekend)

[triglycercule]

horror is so BLESSED he's the only one out of the murder time trio that has actual good people trying to influence his story 💔💔 dust and killer were both driven to INSANITY because of the choices of their respective humans but horror??? every time without FAIL the polls for horrortale's plotline have always ended in a good place for aliza (either by bettering her relationships/reputation or for her to just. not DIE)

horrortale's potential alternate timelines my beLOVEd🙏🙏 they're SO lucky that we're being kind and benevolent hehe (≧ω≦) now where are the aus based off the possible different outcomes that could've happened in horrortale HUH???? (like how aliza couldve killed toriel or chosen horror's puzzle or gone with undyne to the core........)

[fairydrowning]

In my "can't continue under this circumstances" era.