#it looks unfinished because i've lost all interest in this work

[unyazik]

Dutch's Personal Hell

[urlocalboynoah]

Hi! May I request Ultra Magnus (tfp) having to watch Jack, Miko and Raf for a day, being forced to play a board game and to the surprise of everyone getting very invested in it?

☆彡彡 ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ ミミ☆

Hi !! I'd be more than happy to provide you with some content! AS MUCH AS I DISLIKE THIS BOT (joke, kinda, he's just old..) I think he's interesting to work with. So, here we go ! I apologize if this isn't perfect, it's my first time posting something I've wrote before. It'll be a small fic, let me know what you think of it !

¹ ❥ ☆ Mini Fic

² ♰ Transformers Prime

³ ˋˋ SFW ☆

Just one game !

“ Here is her guitar, her hairbrush, drawing book and all her drawing stuff. ”

Bulkhead pointed out each element as he spoke, making sure of Ultra Magnus following his exact directions. The ex-leader looked at the Wrecker confused, raising an eyebrow. He seemed to be wondering what could go so wrong with such tiny humans, and why the big bot felt so anxious at the idea of leaving Miko behind. He thought he was certainly being overdramatic.

“ that should be everything.. I need to go, they're gonna wait for me. ”

Bulkhead simply added before quickly waving Miko goodbye, transforming and entering the groundbridge, as Bumblebee and Arcee were already far ahead.

The bridge closed, and finally it was only him and the humans. He still wondered what so bad could happen for the three guardians to be worried. He looked over at them, sat on the couch, playing video games. They were relatively calm and still. The older bot thought now would be a great time to start working on some of his unfinished projects. The base was calm, the kids were entertained.

For now.

A loud, strident yelp came out from behind him. Startled, he looked over at the kids, instantly worried someone broke in. But no, it was just the Japanese girl, shouting at her friends because she lost the game. The commandant rolled his eyes, visibly annoyed.

“ Will you tone it down ? ”

He firmly asked, though it sounded more like an order. The young girl looked at him desperately, groaning.

“ THEY'RE CHEAATIIIIIING. I keep loosing, it's unfair. ”

“ In that case, you should switch games. ”

He stated, as if it was an evidence for him to move on from something that gets on your nerves. The girl stared at the bot, as if he said an absurdity, before she exclaimed.

“ YOU'RE A GENIUS !! let's play.. A board game!! What do you guys think ? ”

Jack shrugged and crossed his arms, apparently okay with the idea. The younger of them all jumped off of the couch, excited by Miko's proposal.

“ awesome idea ! Though, we miss a player. ”

Raf stated, his hands now on his chin, thinking.

It didn't take long for Jack to point at Ultra Magnus.

“ hey! Wanna join ? We'll teach you! ”

The leader looked perplex, not convinced at the idea of joining this “activity”. He stared for a moment, considering. It could be fun, after all, and give him a break from all the stress of battles.

“Very well. But only one game, I have to stay alert in case anything happens.”

The older boy nodded and signed him to get closer, which he did. The three humans started explaining to the bot the rules, to which he was surprisingly getting very interested in. They then got to the first game. Raf won, and, angry at himself, Ultra Magnus asked him some tips to get better.

“ how about we do a second round, then? ”

He proposed, to the happy surprise of the kids, that appeared to be pleased by the idea of the leader.

And then, they went on for hours.

The guardians came back several hours later, and, curious of the laughs and giggles they were hearing, snuck up on them.

They could not believe it. He was having a moment of genuine fun with the kids, that they all seemed to enjoy in it's fullest.

The three bots sighed in unison, relieved to see how well it went.

“Alright kids, it is getting late. Time for rest.”

The older bot announced, as he noticed the humans yawning. Without any signs of resistance, they hopped in his servos as he started walking to their room. He noticed Bumblebee, Arcee and Bulkhead here, to which he simply nodded without stopping. Once he made sure they were safe, he softly smiled.

“ I assume it went well..? ”

Arcee questioned, to which Ultra Magnus simply hummed.

“ we had a great time.”

He assured, a satisfied grin on his face.

. . . Written by Noah . . .ᐟ ☆

[ravenstargames]

✦ Lost in Limbo Devlog #8 | 02.06.24

AHA! It's February (has been for a few days, but I've been a bit busy as per usual) so that means another Lost in Limbo devlog! We have been recovering from our wrap-up, working left and right, and oooh boy aren't things getting interesting. Let's jump into it, shall we?

First of all...

🎉🎊🎊THE DEMO CGS ARE DONE!🎉🎉🎊

Raquel has worked SO HARD to achieve this, and the results are simply amazing. We could never ask for a better artist, and we can't wait for you all to see and experience every CG for yourselves. Sadly, we made a promise of only showing Gael and Amon's, so you'll have to wait a bit more for the others! ; v ;

And next! You thought we were finished with the characters?! NOT BY A LONG SHOT! As you may remember, our demo script went through a few changes, but this secondary character remains! We don't want to talk about them too much, but we also wanted you to have a taste of them, as they'll be the first character you'll meet... 👀💜

Our plan is to finish this sprite and then move on to the character's expressions. We have to figure out the most efficient way to work on them, though!

The dreaded section—but THIS MONTH we come with a wonderful announcement...

✨🎆Airyn has joined the team!✨🎆

And you'll ask, who's Airyn?! Well, she's an amazing person we met during our master degree; we have been developing a friendship for a while now, and as we needed an extra hand with our backgrounds, Airyn offered us her help! She's an incredibly talented concept artist who loves working on backgrounds, and we are so so thankful for her help! We literally couldn't ask for a better professional to join us during our demo journey :')!

You can see some of Airyn's work on her ArtStation, here!

She has already started to work on our unfinished backgrounds, and so far we can offer you this fantastic WIP of one of the places you'll visit in the demo! 💜

But Astro is not far behind! He's getting our last background ready, and so far he's doing an impeccable job! We hope these mysterious places are piquing your curiosity, because we definitely can't wait for you to visit them!

I'm reaching page 100 of our script, having left behind a few things to correct! Only 40~ pages left, which means soon we'll make a second round of editing and correcting. Allie is almost done with their first editing process and that's very exciting! We can't honestly thank her enough for her incredible job 💜(I think I say this a bit too much, but we gotta be thankful on this team!)

The CG's have been programmed and they work so far! Now each character has a CG to be unlocked and seen in full HD, and each in their own gallery, hehe. Next I'll have to play around with the credits because I was having trouble with something last time I tried to get them done—but as always, I'll get it done one way or another!

This month we have worked hard! January has been a good start of the year I think. I hope we can speed things up a bit now that we have Airyn to help us with the backgrounds, and hopefully she'll be a permanent addition to the team if everything goes well! I don't want to jinx it, but I feel I can see the end of the tunnel little by little. Planning stuff, looking up different things, getting busier and busier...Let's see if February, even if short, proves to be a productive month!

Also, we hope you all have been taking care and the start of the year has been nice to you. There's so many amazing things happening in the indie otome community, so make sure to enjoy it all! 💜

[mpregeminem]

I READ THE ANGEL KAMES FIC …. ough 😭 such a shame it’s unfinished. the fact that all of that went on in the span of 5 days kinda blew my mind like you’re telling me 100k+ words and it hasn’t even been a week? this is the slowest burn to ever burn. anyways do you have anymore fic recs 🫶

HI HIIII im so glad you like it yessssss!!!!!! and literally the way they make you wait saur long for them to even like eachother in any capacity had me climbing the walls that night...... and the WINGS bro......bro what if i wanted you to keep me safe and warm in a cocoon of your own flesh forever.. haha i mean-

and i doooo :) i've been saving this ask because i wanted to do a thorough list from my laptop, but i'll rec some of my favorites so far right now, and maybe some i've been meaning to read, but haven't yet

i have read and rec:

We could take it to the highway by skyline

kendall has to go back to minnesota and james offers to travel with him through the states. REALLY nice i loved skyline's writing and depiction of the boys' inner struggles. very grounded to the show's pillars and their dynamic really hit with me. i rec this to everyone who will listen because i liked it a lot lol <3

How to stop a haunting also by skyline

supernatural universe kames baybayyy. honestly all of skyline's works are so worth it, i still have a few of theirs to read but i strongly recommend the author in general (i rec more fics of their below but there's way more, i don't want to make the list too long hehe)

Lost without you by mintrosy

ANOTHER instant fav author. the guys suffer a shipwreck and kendall gets badly hurt. and they have to cauterize the wound and so on. very nice and sweet despite that description i just gave skdjsh

mintrosy also has a kames omegaverse series, lost bets (porn lol, kendall in lacy and james going apeshit), Sharing is caring, Dude (short and sweet fic about the four of them sharing outfits <3). honestly they have a tonn of fics so you can go to their profile and go bananas

Never did run smooth by ItsyRoyal

the first btr fic i read this year i think? so it has a special place in my heart <3 pinning kendall and oblivious james, very in-canon

Patrón on ice by skyline

james/camille/kendall because jamille is my guilty pleasure lol. very funny, james has a date with two beauts and doesn't know what to do with himself.

now for fics i haven't read yet but intend to:

Sweet people by xAnimaniac (50k words)

Kendall is a lawyer, always determined to stick to business. And even after losing his husband three years ago, he's not looking for any kind of relationship. Then he meets his new client James, who is a druggie accused of murder, rude and flirty and absolutely everything Kendall never thought he'd be into. So why does he like him so much?

I tell you I'm lost here (awaiting reply) by jaded_jane (30k words)

Gustavo allows James a second attempt at an audition and offers to make him a star when he likes what he hears. James jumps at the chance, and once he's gone to L.A., Kendall's left to hold everything and everyone together. As days go by, Kendall forces James a little further back in his mind, especially as contact goes from limited to non-existent and promises aren't kept. It's only then that Kendall realizes that the people he loves, leave him and never look back.

It's so hard to breathe by skyline (11k words)

“So you let Dak Zevon fuck you,” James says, and this time he doesn’t bother amending his word choice. “Interesting decision.”

right now im rummaging through EpicallyObsessed's ffn page but haven't read anything yet. they have a looot of long kames fics, mostly AUs.

Same with RainbowDiamonds, the author of the angel kames fic in question <3

hope this helps!! if you want let me know if you end up reading any of these ♥️

[genuineformality]

Some SoC Kanej recs for @tlonista because I kept hitting the comment character limit on the post where we were talking about this and am now just putting them into a single place. (This also would have gone faster if I hadn't stopped to read every time I grabbed a link out of my bookmarks and lost the comment on the small internet.)

Incredible Prose, set in more or less canonverse:

a tall ship, and a star to steer her by, by @whatanybodygets (whitherward on ao3): Gorgeous prose and complicated emotions. Inej goes to sea and it's everything she wants and nothing like she expects.

roomy, and drenched in sunlight, also by @whatanybodygets. Inej and Kaz have a baby, but this isn't your niece's babyfic. Complicated, ugly, beautiful, these two fucking morons cannot talk to each other to save their lives.

Stories About Crows, by @marycontraire: A series that is by turns fun, touching, silly, heartbreaking, and realistic. Mary understands the importance of water rights and has a brilliant mind for looking at the shit that Leigh Bardugo made up and taking it to its logical conclusion. Top notch worldbuilding, fab writing.

Service Work, by @linearao3: LinearA's filthy (affectionate), kinky, and gorgeous series, in which she tricks her readers into caring deeply about her beautifully researched fake linguistics. Come for the porn, stay for the fake linguistics and gorgeous prose.

Alternate Universes: I don't know why I find these characters so compelling in AUs, which are not typically my thing, but in looking over my bookmarks, I have a ton of them saved.

save the undone years, by @whatanybodygets (again): Look, just read everything whitherward's written. But this is a WWI battlefield hospital AU and it just hits. It's honestly one of the best things I've read in the fandom.

Murder Ballad and Child Ballad, @linearao3: LinearA's filthy and touching a/b/o series, in which she looked at all of the most interesting parts of a/b/o dynamics, stuck it in the Grishaverse, and world-built like her life depended on it. Want to know what the economics of Ketterdam might look like in between the breeding kink? She's got you covered.

Latte Art, by @pyrrhlc: A coffee shop AU with teeth and one of the few written by someone with barista experience (Kaz spends a shocking, but realistic amount of time doing inventory). The whole series is fun, surprisingly high stakes in places, and one of my favorite modern AUs.

The Four Seasons, by @totchipanda: Slooooooow burn fake dating modern AU done well. Unfinished, but I happen to know that Totchi is still actively working on it. It's by turns a fun romp and an interesting take on modern AUs.

all these hours between us, by CoralAcacia: A college hacker AU, single chapter, but I return to this embarrassingly often. It's well written and nicely poignant in the insane pining.

@capinejghafa is also doing an author rec series here on tumblr where she's making gifs of faves along with posts, and honestly, what a delight that is.

[coralpolyp]

I'm not dead!

Hey look here's a redraw of the really terrible bit of digital art I did for last year's Mar13 day as proof! Apparently I didn't even finish the first one on time! Yikes!

I'm well aware that it's been a minute or two since I last posted anything on here or on AO3 - to be more precise, it's been since Splatoon 1 died and I wrote that 8000 word depressing thing - I don't know why 8000 words always seems to be my sweet spot, but it's good to know that I have one. That being said, and with Side Order: Dark Side Mix currently MIA, I thought it'd be a good idea to to have what it is that I'm doing right now on-record in some capacity, for the one or two people who were wondering.

The next few weeks are exam season, so I don't think it's going to be smooth sailing per se, but Dark Side Mix will be completed. After running into a snag with the opening act - namely with the fact that it sucks - I started reworking the entire fic from top to bottom under a new name...and then I lost motivation to do that because perfectionism set in, and I haven't really touched it in a little while.

In the time that I've been away from it, I feel like I've become increasingly aware of how that perfectionism negatively effects me and my work - namely the fact that very little of it actually exists. I mean, sure, people seem to like the stuff that does exist, but there isn't much, and a lot of things are unfinished - usually because I placed too much value on the potential of "the idea", and spent so long labouring over the start of it that by the 10,000 word mark I had realised the flaws of the idea and lost interest in it.

I can't help thinking that's a bit lame. Every other writer has 100s and thousands of words of terrible amateur works they can go back to and laugh at, before they created the masterpieces they're known for now, and my story is that I just kinda show up every once in a while.

I think there's a real beauty to that - creating for the sake of creation, with no fucks given. Maybe this isn't the finest example, but I finally started listening to My Dad Wrote a Porno recently and...I mean... the sheer lack of fucks given is well and truly a gift that keeps on giving. Same goes for Philosophy of the World. Or SMG4 back in like 2014. Or old Eddsworld stuff. There's just a certain carefree joy (or existential dread in the case of the Shaggs) to it all that you never get anywhere else. It's like the difference between a 30 second gesture drawing and 6 hours of carefully-deliberated-over anatomy.

All that is to say - Dark Side Mix is a fundamentally flawed story. It is not high art, it never will be. I should probably just get it out there in it's entirety for the world to see in the time I have available to write, and then move on to the next "brilliant-idea"-that's-actually-just-ok. Nobody likes an "idea guy" - what good is it to spend one's entire life going around saying "I never finished this story, but it was great in my head, and the bit that you can actually read was alright too,"? Creativity should be about getting in there, making a mess, and having fun - let fanfiction be fanfiction, with that being addressed to nobody but myself, because nobody else needed to hear it.

Oh, also, another reason for my absence besides creative block and exams - I'm getting into comics! That, and practising my art fundamentals a whole bunch - I don't think my drawabox is particularly interesting to look at, so I haven't exactly been posting it. I've decided that I want to try giving an idea I had for what would've been another depressing Squid Sister 8000-worder the comic treatment, although you shouldn't expect to see that anytime soon, considering how long it's gonna take, and the fact that I would want to release something like that in no more than two parts.

[thunderous-wolf]

L.O.V.E#

Installment 3 of my series of "Thoughtz"

Note: "Thoughtz" is a compilation of drafts of fanfic that I've had in my notes for a while. They're unedited and most are unfinished. Since I do not feel motivated enough to finish them, I'm posting them all for you to read. Enjoy~

Pairing: Rock singer Minho × fem!reader (no relationship as of yet). Strangers to Lovers trope

Plot: Your friend drags you to a concert of some stupid band that you've never heard of - except, it's not so stupid if the lead singer is hot...

Warnings: none

Word count: I don't know, but probably somewhere between 500-1k

a/n: I lost interest in this story pretty quick, so it stops early on. HOWEVER, if this gets enough attention, I may be persuaded to complete it.

And as always, feel free to comment.

Please DO NOT copy, translate, or steal my works.

It was the last few weeks before school started up again, and you wanted to enjoy every last bit of it. You were planning to go out of state and visit some old friends since 1: you haven't seen them in what feels like forever, and 2: you're single, so there's nobody (other than you're friends who were almost all on vacation somewhere) holding you back from going anywhere. You had this all planned out and were already preparing for the trip when Jennie, you're one friend who is not on vacation, texts you.

Jennie: Hey! I need a favor...

You: What did you do?

Jennie: I didn't do anything this time, I swear! I just need you to come with me to the VENOM concert at JYPark next Saturday. Everyone else is on vacation, and I don't want to go alone! You HAVE to come with, I don't know what could happen if I went alone!

You: I was planning on leaving to go out of state next week to visit some friends. I don't think I'll be back by next Saturday. Plus, I don't even listen to VENOM's music, or know who they are

Jennie: It doesn't matter, I just need someone with meee! PLEASE come with! I'll owe you a favor!

You: ...

You: Fine.

Jennie has been your friend since you could remember. You had to admit, she did have a somewhat selfish side, but she'd been with you through the thick and thin, and you've developed a soft spot for her. You hastily texted your friends that you'd have to cut the trip a little short because something popped up. They understood and were happy that they'd atleast get to see you.

~TIME SKIP~

You arrived back home the Thursday before the concert. You spent the next days until the concert unpacking, relaxing, and getting settled back in to your schedule. Jennie was filling you in on some basic info about VENOM over texts, and you could tell she was very passionate about them. From what you've gathered, VENOM is a rock band boy group with four members. Chan, the eldest, was the bass player. He apparently had an accent that was "super sexy". Minho was the main singer and keyboardist with "amazing dancing skills that aways captured your attention like a magnet". Changbin was the drummer and was "absolutely stunning and totally kissable" as Jennie had said. Last but not least was Hyunjin, the youngest, who was their guitarist and a "complete heartthrob".

You didn't know exactly how accurate Jennie's descriptions were, but atleast you knew some names. They started the band a couple years ago - was it 2? 3? You hadn't really cared enough to remember - and they've been playing at bars, parties, and small festivals ever since then. They weren't outstandingly popular, but they did have enough popularity to have all of their concerts packed. Their music had to be pretty good then, right?

When the day of the concert came, Jennie excitedly appeared at your door at 8 am. She was already dressed up in as flamboyant of a outfit that you have ever seen. You could tell she took her time on her look. She must have woke up early, but she certainly didn't show it. She had more energy than you.

"You look like you just slept for two days in the luggage compartment of an airplane! Go grab a cup of coffee to wake you up and quickly get back here! We need to get you ready to go by 11!" She said, almost talking a mile a minute. It was hard for your half asleep brain to keep up with her.

"11 o'clock?! The concert isn't until 2!" You said, alarmed. She shooed you into the kitchen towards the coffee machine.

"We're going to the sound check, dummy." She said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Instead of replying, you directed all of your focus (and energy) to making that cup of coffee.

When you came back to your room with the mug in your hand, you found her ruffling through your closet with one hand while the other held an array of clothing.

"Ah, there you are. Are you feeling more green or purple...?" She said, more to herself than to you as she held the clothes up at you. After looking between you and the clothes for what felt like an hour (it was really only a minute), she nodded her head with a huff and got back to ruffling through your closet.

Seeing as she's distracted, you go find your phone to see if you got any messages from your friends. Almost as if sensing your presence, your phone dings from a notification. You pick it up to see that Felix, who also like Jennie, has been your friend since childhood. You used to hang out with him all of the time before you and Jennie went to a different school/college than the rest of your friends.

Felix: Thank you once again for visiting us! The cookies we baked together are already gone... I've got to keep Jisung from eating them all ;) Is everything going alright with you, Sunflower? I know you had to leave early but, I just never got to ask why.

You: I told you you should've hid them from Jisung! I'm doing all right. I had to with Jennie to some concert - she's just being high maintenance as usual, lol

Felix: That's sounds like her. Whose concert is it?

You: Some band called VENOM apparently. I've never heard of them before.

Felix: VENOM? From what I've heard, they're pretty good. My sister went to one of their concerts once with her friends. She actually enjoyed it and she doesn't even like rock music

You: They must be pretty good then

You found yourself saying that quite a bit lately. You didn't know how much faith you had in Jennie's words, but Felix's comforting texts made you feel a little better. He had an incredible skill for soothing people, and that was what you missed most during your school here, along with his warm smile that seemed to light up the whole room. Jennie's voice broke you from your reverie.

"You took a shower last night, right? Well, just put the clothes on that I laid out on your bed and use that perfume I gave you. Be quick too! It's already 8:15 and I have to have enough time to perfect your makeup!" She shouted from presumably the bathroom, where all of your makeup was kept.

She picked out quite the outfit for you. It had a mix of greens and black with silver accents and it gave off the "single and ready to mingle" vibe. It was surprising how she pulled it together, as it was definitely not your style and your clothes closet reflected that. Reluctantly, you put it on and once you looked in the mirror, you had to admit, you did look pretty hot in it.

Jennie was already waiting for you when you made it to the bathroom. She had the counter set up as her workplace, with an assortment of products placed about. She looked at you with your hairbrush in one hand and curling iron in the other.

"Are you just going to stand there and stare like a goldfish or what? Get over here." She said and immediately got to work.

After quite some time, she finally let you look at your final look on the mirror. You were very shocked. You didn't quite look like you, but you looked good - and you liked it. Your now slightly wavy hair framed your face perfectly, and your eyeshadow perfectly complemented your outfit. It was a job well done by Jennie.

"Watcha think?" She said, a smirk tugging at her lips.

"I can't even... wow, just wow. You're incredible, you know that?" You respond, still in awe.

"Oh, I know. You'll thank me later." She said. "Now we've got to go, it's 11:05."

Before you could respond, she hurriedly walked down the hallway to your door and put her shoes on. You followed her and did the same. You felt a little sick to the stomach and you couldn't tell if it was from nervousness or excitement.

Having finally made it to JYPark, you see why she insisted on leaving an hour early. The traffic to get here was out of this world, and the park was crowded with VENOM fans - known as "Oddinary" or "Odds" for short, according to Jennie. *She's got that right. They all are odd. * You thought to yourself. Gazing out at the crowd that surrounded the stage, there was what felt like hundreds of people, each adorned with some piece of VENOM merch paired with brightly colored hair or makeup. For a rock group, their fans looked more like modern pop stars gone wrong.

The concert was set at a plaza in the middle of the park, with trees and well taken care of flowers circling the plaza as far as you could see. Above you was the large expanse of sky that had to be breathtaking at night. Despite the rowdy crowd and stage lights, it felt peaceful here, putting your mind at ease. That peace was short lived.

A commotion broke you out of your stupor, drawing your attention - like many other's- to the stage once more. By the screaming of the fans closer to the stage, you could infer that the band was going on stage for their sound check, whatever that was. You had no clue why Jennie insisted on coming early for it when she was already going to their two and a half hour long concert, but you were just along for the ride.

One by one, four figures appeared on stage. The first crossed to the back of the stage and went up a ramp that led to a higher platform which held the drum set. You tell from here that he was no stranger to the gym. You could see why Jennie called him "absolutely stunning and totally kissable". By the way her face lit up, you figured she had a thing for this drummer. While he was adjusting the drum set, the next figure crossed to the far right of the stage. He picked up the bass that was sitting on its stand behind him and plugged it into the machine on the floor infront of him that held an array of buttons and pedals that did who knows what. The next person caught your eye the moment he came on stage. It wasn't because he had outrageously dyed hair, or an overly bedazzled outfit, but his stage presence seemed to allure you. He had a confidence that made it seem as if he'd been doing this his whole life - and maybe he has. Jennie didn't give you much background information on them, so you had no clue. He truly looked like a professional up there, with each movement purposeful and graceful. He had this charm about him that you couldn't quite put your finger on.

You were so enraptured with him that you didn't notice the fourth member get on stage. His hair drew your attention from - what was his name, Min.. Minho? The guitarist's hair was blonde, much like Felix's, and you suddenly felt keenly aware of how much you missed your good friend. He used to take you to all sorts of new places around town, and it feels almost wrong not to have him here with you even though it's been several years since you had an outing with him. Just the two of you, in a sea of new faces, facing it together. It made you miss your carefree middle school days (even though they may have been embarrassing) where you would explore the city together, sometimes getting in trouble, but never truly facing many repercussions.

[yobotica]

Fandom Homework

Idea by @razielim, I like the idea of sitting down and talking about the stuff I want to be working on! Mostly pretty rambly here, so I'll put it all beneath a cut:

It's all gonna be about the WIPs, baby! I think the thing that comes to mind most on 'boy I wish I could finish this' is actually the fallout AU I have for Assassin's Creed. ShaunDes, of course, but I think the ultimate plan was to try for OT3 with Clay on this one. I've never done it, but I get a lot of comments for that on my other fics and I think it would be interesting in this setting if I can make it work. I think the current plan for this one is more a sort of main 'how the group got together' vibe (all the moderns) and then snippets/side stories for some of their adventures. I do have an overall plot involving everyone figuring out who they are, secrets coming to light, etc. I just gotta get it all written is all.

Second is obviously to finish my in progress titanfall fic, which I usually just refer to as Weary, lol. While I've never once really felt pressured that updates are few and far between by comments on AO3, I sometimes regret posting it before it was finished. I never post WIPs as they're worked on because I am the slowest writer - once I get going, I can write pretty fast, it's just the getting started that trips me up. That, and i end up writing a lot of stuff that it turns out, it's not time for, or it's just not right for the story. I think I'm at like, over 15k words discarded for this fic overall, some of which has been repurposed/used already (just later than when it was originally written), but most of which has not. (Yet; I know at least two bits are just too early).

Third is a fic that is almost 10 years old and unfinished. It's only been posted up to chapter 10 on the assassin's creed kinkmeme, the last chapter of which was posted in 2016. It's almost complete, actually, sitting at just under 55.5k words, but I can't quite pin down the ending. Then it needs to be edited. Insert sad-cowboy emoji.

I'd really like to revisit my old DS9 stuff. I never published any of it on AO3 - in fact, I can't even remember if I've published any of it anywhere. It's some of the earliest stuff I've written, and it's pretty rough by my standards, but it's still something I'd like to get some time into and whip up into something readable at some point.

I want to learn how to draw transformers! I've wanted to for a while, but I recently watched Transformers One and it was gorgeous. There's a lot of different styles for the whole franchise, but I like that one a lot. That and Transformers Prime, which I haven't seen yet, lol. I'm a pretty recent fan, to be honest, but me and a friend have spent a lot of time making transformers OCs that I'd love to be able to draw just for fun. (It's the only reason I play Forza Horizon 5 at all, is to make the car forms for those that can be made in that game.)

I'd love to get works written for a few fandoms I've been into for a while, but never written for. Stuff like Dishonored, Legacy of Kain/Soul Reaver, Inception or even Dragon Age. Mostly based on vibes rather than concrete ideas (except for dishonored, which I have exactly one (1) idea that could be used for fic), but still. It's something I'd like to do.

Oh! I need to finish and edit the FFXV fic I have in progress! It could be considered complete enough, to be honest, but it feels incomplete to me for some reason. I wrote up to a certain point, then lost all steam. It's set post Episode Ignis alternate ending, a really, really cute and sweet fic.

I think one thing I'd like to do is maybe just post a collection on AO3 of my WIPs. I don't think of anything I've written as abandoned, even if it's been years since I looked at them, but I also do think some of it was pretty good! I don't know how readers feel about this, though.

I'd like to get more Deus Ex fic written, too. I had a few things perk my interested for kinktober but October was mostly a really shit month for me, so I got no writing done at all. I definitely don't mind using those prompts late or anything, but I still haven't got any creative juice for writing right now, so they're just sitting there, waiting for their time.

I've also had a few ideas that I think I might never write but maybe folks might be interested in hearing about or adopting themselves? Like prompts, maybe. Adoptable fic ideas. Mostly it's stuff I'd love to read but not research to write myself, but that feels a little selfish, lol. But I also just think they're fun to talk about and gush over even if they never actually get written.

I think this was nice to sit down and write out. I don't post very much about myself or my work, but I've enjoyed seeing people talk about things they'd like to get done or things they have in progress and thought I'd share. I'm wishing you all well and hoping you all have something creative you'd like to look forward to doing as well! <3

[mirrortouchedsea]

ES Rarepair Week 2023 Day 2: Childhood/AU

Pairing: Madara Mikejima/Tatsumi Kazehaya

Word count: 663

Notes: So uhm. I'm trying to write in the style of Jose Saramago because I've been reading the Gospel According to Jesus Christ so this is literally two big paragraphs and I am sorry but it was a lot of fun to write so! This will hopefully be part of a much larger fic continuing in this style so it will definitely be and feel unfinished. Enjoy!

---

Since Tatsumi Kazehaya was a young boy, he knew he had to hide his faith. His parents had instilled in him a sense of fear since birth, that they were persecuted for their beliefs and he should never tell anyone about them. Hide yourself so you can continue to praise the Lord. Tatsumi didn’t understand this very well, but he continued to remove his religious iconography whenever he left the house, hanging up a cross necklace by the door before he left, but that’s something we can look at later. For now, we see Tatsumi Kazehaya as a young boy, on one of the rare days out with his family. They are going to a local aquarium that he had seen a pamphlet for a few weeks ago. What’s an aquarium, he asked his parents. It’s where they keep sea animals on land. But don’t they die without water? They keep them in tanks and take care of them, so don’t worry. Okay. He would pull out the pamphlet and look at it, trying to read the complicated words on the page before giving up. He was only five years old, after all, we shouldn’t expect him to be able to read something as complicated as this. His father picked it up and read out the names of some of the advertised exhibits. Squids, dolphins, sharks, seahorses. There are horses in the sea? They’re named that because their heads look like horses.

Tatsumi is holding his father’s hand as they walk through the aquarium, pointing out some of the different animals mentioned in the pamphlet. Tatsumi presses his face to the glass tank as children are known to do and follows a large and slow fish with his eyes. There are many brightly colored fish dancing around it, but Tatsumi’s eyes are glued to the large and slow one and he doesn’t notice as the crowd around him shifts and changes until he pulls away and realizes his father is nowhere to be found. Tatsumi’s heartbeat pounds in his chest as he tries to find a familiar face in a sea of strangers until he runs into another child. He looks about the same age as Tatsumi and he relaxes instantly. Are you lost, the other boy asks, grabbing Tatsumi’s hand and pulling him away from the crowd. I think so. Who were you here with? My mom and dad. What do they look like? My dad has hair like mine, he points to his head of mint green hair, and my mom has the same eyes. He talks a little too mature for his age, but then again, so does the boy who found him. Can you tell me your name, Tatsumi asks. Madara, and yours? Tatsumi. Nice to meet you Tatsumi-san. Madara pulled Tatsumi around again, walking through the different tunnels like he knew the place well. Do you live in the aquarium, Tatsumi asks as they pass through another room filled with fish. No, but I’m friends with the owner’s son. Is he nice? He’s interesting, but I don’t know if nice is a word to describe him. How so? If you met him you’d know. Can I meet him? Maybe someday, but they keep him pretty guarded. Tatsumi didn’t say anything after that and instead pondered why a child like him would be kept under such close watch, though he might realize he was in a similar situation if he had any awareness of how different his childhood was from most. It took a few more turns through some less crowded rooms before Madara finally stopped, hand still holding Tatsumi’s. Where are we? Somewhere we can wait for your family. How will they find me? Well don’t you ask a lot of questions. Wouldn’t you? I guess. So how will my parents find me? They just will, I don’t know how it works but they’ll find you here. Will you wait with me? I’m not supposed to. Can you? 

[set-in-stardust]

it's done.

Wings and His Wingman is officially done. read the final chapter here

I said it in the notes on ao3, but I am SOOOOO done with this fic and I'm happy it's finally finished. I didn't want to leave it unfinished since so many people liked it, but I honestly lost interest and didn't want to work on it anymore for so long.

That's not to say I didn't like writing it or anything, I did for the most part! I've used w&w as a learning project to grow as a writer and evolve my own style, which I hope is a bit more apparent in that final chapter. I don't regret writing this fic for a second, I just don't want it to be my most known work :')

so go check out my other (way better) fic, veritatem dies aperit!!! I've plugged it a bunch of times because I am wayyyy more interested in it than i ever was in w&w, the writing is much better and well-thought-out, AND it's got mumscarian (but not a grian has two hands scenario. they're all together holding everyone's hands in a big, traumatized circle. okay) AAAAND cosmic horror and watcher lore <3 I know how much y'all love watchers

after VDA, I plan to work on a couple of original books! Please look out for those when I post about them! I'll always continue writing fanfic I'm sure, it'll just be more oneshots and less longer-form fics from here on out, since those take a LOT of effort and planning <333

love y'all, and thanks so much for the support on w&w! I hope to see some of you in my inbox soon!

[pertinax--loculos]

November

So, as it turns out, November went quite well for me.

My original goal was to do @winterandwords's CalmWriMo, with the goal of getting some words down and establishing a writing habit with my new job. The start of the month it didn't look like that was going to happen. The new job is kinda overwhelming with study (long story), and I just didn't have the brainpower to do anything else.

Then, on the 18th, I got hit with some inspiration for INUNDATE. And I decided fuck it, I'll jot down that scene, because I've lost a lot of ideas for that WIP from not writing them down when I think of them.

Then I continued jotting down scenes, and I ended November having added a total of 28,600 words to INUNDATE.

Which is fantastic. I'm not gonna lie, study did kinda fall by the wayside in favour of writing, but it's been a couple of weeks where that's not the end of the world. Going forward, I'd like to try and prioritise study a little more; probably do some writing straight after work, have a break, and then get into going over what I've learned for my job during the day.

There's also the small problem that yesterday I was fucking whacked with inspiration for a new WIP (my ultimate curse D:). So it's possible I'm gonna start writing that -- though at the moment it's all Vibes(TM) with absolutely no thought of any sort of plot. But they are, like, super cool vibes, so I'll just see what happens. I have an assessment on Monday regarding the stuff I should've been learning when I was writing rather than studying, so after a weekend of study we'll see how I go and whether or not what I've been doing is sustainable alongside the training of my new career.

(This past week has been a sorta follow-along with qualified employees; like A Week in the Life of what would happen if we pass the training. And that life is very conducive towards writing. Which is exciting. But I have to pass the damn assessments to get there, so, y'know, priorities.)

I will say that it being NaNo month definitely made a difference -- there was a few days this week where I could've not written, but knowing that I was adding words to a total I hoped would be pretty good for starting ~twelve days before the deadline was certainly motivating. I do love the NaNoWriMo energy, even if I very rarely ~technically~ participate.

But yeah, generally speaking, November was a success. I'm really glad I got some words down, including some plotting stuff for INUNDATE.

(INUNDATE in itself is an interesting WIP -- it's basically a romance story, but it only covers like the first two-thirds of the beats of a romance, because the other third occurs during CASCADE. So it's been a fun exercise to write, but I don't think it'll ever be properly, like, 'marketable', because it's so intertwined with another WIP/story and you don't get the conclusion until you read that (notably unfinished) WIP.)

But anyway! I hope everybody else had a good November -- whether or not you were participating in NaNoWriMo, whether or not you're in my hemisphere and enjoying the turn towards warmer weather, whether or not life is treating you well. With any luck I'll be able to be on here a little more often as we head into the new year (which, btw, it's December which is fucking terrifying). But even if I'm not, I'm always thinking of you guys, and almost always lurking to see what you're up to. ;)

[whoaffle]

I got asked about Defeated By A Mere Child...

I didn't want to go and answer the asks with a huge dump of text, so I decided to post this separately to whoever is interested in reading a bit more about my reasons for being in a hiatus.

There was more than only one factor that led me to the hiatus.

First of all: time. I graduated in 2019 from Language Arts course, but back in 2021 I started another course (Game Design), and I also got a job in 2022… So for the past 1 year and a half or so, I've been not only studying again, but working too, meaning that time has become scarce… And here I need to mention that DBAMC is not my only creative project, even though it is one of the only projects I ever managed to actually "put out there in the world", I guess… But with all the games I'd like to make, all the unfinished fanfictions in my AO3 (Including the DBAMC one!), all the other comics I still want to create (fancomics and original projects), drawings I still want to make, RPG campaings I'm playing (with sessions that I owe my friends), yada yada, DBAMC has become only one of thousands of things "in line", and yet another project that I keep thinking of and wishing to some day finish. Specially because the little free time I've got, at the end of the day, always ends up being consumed by playing Baldur's Gate or watching Youtube, simply because I'm too tired to produce actual content after a whole week of work (that's modern capitalism for you)…

All that aside, there are emotional factors related to it as well. (Sad Backstory Unlocked).

Jokes apart, I lost a dear relative around the time Legends Arceus was first around, and it was a difficult period for me, meaning I found it hard to keep up with the Pokémon franchise (and any other franchises to be fair). Pokémon released Legends, the Sinnoh remake, DLCs, and in the middle of all that I was still trying to successfully incorporate the characters from SwSh into my comics... I had no time and energy to look up the new content, couldn't play the games since I don't have a Switch, and just ended up stressed abouot not knowing the new content, thinking I should be working on it to keep up with the fandom for the sake of the comics - Now, I want to clarify, I created this problem myself, in my head, on my own (as one with anxiety does). No one from my followers ever pressured me to keep up with releases or anything, but I ended up turning it into a problem in my head and couldn't tackle it in a productive manner.

The fact that now ScaVio has also launched and I still haven't even touched anything from Legends or even the SwSh DLCs should explain how much I distanced myself from the new Pokémon content ever since, in part due to bad emotional associations with the loss I experienced, but also due to not liking how GameFreak / Nintendo have been managing the development of their games recently, AND also due to simple lack of time to go after anything other than "let me take a look at the new pokémon" (Tinkaton is my favorite Fairy Type ever, just in case anyone is interested).

Thing is, I couldn't keep up with the new content, as much as I love Pokémon and as much as I love all the content up to SwSh. The fact I couldn't keep up led to my anxiety acting up (plus emotional difficulties due to personal life stuff), leading to me deciding to take a break. Lack of time in general ended up becoming the main reason why the break hasn't ended yet, unfortunately.

So, all the context aside, am I gonna get back working on DBAMC content?

The short answer is: I don't know. I want to, but I don't know if I'll manage. I do want to do it, eventually.

I still have no idea when I'll be able to work on comics again, being 100% honest. But there are two things I can tell:

First, it's not gonna happen before July 2024, because that's when I'm expecting to finish my graduation project. I'll still have to finish one or maybe more disciplines after that, but the most difficult part should be over by the middle of next year... Still, this is not a promise DBAMC will be back after I finish college. I'm just saying that it will certainly not happen before that.

Second is that, whenever I manage to get back, I have decided that I will not incorporate newer content in the comics, at least not so soon. This has to do with the reasons cited above, of course, but also has to do with all the complicated "logistics" that adding new characters to comics turned out to be (incorporating Rose and Piers was a lot harder than I expected, since I had to re-write and change already written scripts and change the order of comics and etc... I won't be able to do that again with even newer characters).

All that said, I have at least ONE good thing to say: I've been revisiting my written content in AO3, wanting to get back writing some projects, and that includes the prequel I wrote to my DBAMC comics! I've been wanting to at least publish the last two chapters so that the story can be complete! So this is something I am planning to do in January, if everything works out. :)

I understand that it's definitely not the news any old follower of the blog expected... But it's what I can do for now...

If you read everything... Wow. Thank you!

Happy new year, everyone!

[skepsiss]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I was tagged by @strangersteddierthings, I've never even thought about half of these questions, so.... we're gunna go on a journey together. I MISSED SEVERAL QUESTIONS LMAO. LEMME UPDATE.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

18 (I only post like 1/3 of my fics on AO3)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

66,922. I pay such little attention to this kinda stuff xD

3. What fandoms do you write for?

A lot... and a lot more than what is listed on my AO3. If we're friends I'll literally just message you a 2k+ fic in a DM for funsies.

Stranger Things (TV 2016) (8)

Overwatch (Video Game) (5)

Teen Wolf (TV) (1)

Castlevania (Cartoon 2017-2021) (1)

Critical Role (Web Series) (1)

Promare (2019) (1)

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) (1)

DC Comics / Batman (Tim Drake / Kon-El)

Orphan Black

Marvel (Steve/Tony)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Basket Ball Shorts

Roadrat: The Fire that Covered the World

The Comfort of Warmth (Lio/Galo)

Fifty-fifty (Roadhog / Junkrat)

Perspective (Caleb / Essek)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes. As soon as I see them I will reply with a thank you or to engage with someone's question/musings/etc.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably a Roadrat one. It's been a while since I've read my work, but The Things They Lost is a Roadrat fic where I explored a bunch of like... when Junkrat lost his arm and stuff like that. Brutal, tbh. Next closest is my Alucard (OT3) Castlevania fic where he is BIG SAD about Trevor and Sypha not being there. Nights Spent Alone.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

UUuhhhuhuhuh..... I mostly write sad shit LOL. Milkshakes has a happy ending. It's a 2 part modern-day Steddie fic about the boys asking each other out on a date over Instagram.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've never seen any hate on my fics before.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Uhh, yeah. I do. PWP or With Plot. I like full stories that have smut that BELONGS there, but then we've got just straight-up PWP. That is what Basketball short is tbh.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No, never written a crossover. I've written lots of AUs though.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No. Dunno how I'd figure that out.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope. Dunno what that would look like tbh.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Steddie; for right now. My other top 3 are Harley/Ivy, Tim/Kon-El, and Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

NO IDEA. Lol, all my unfinished WIPs are either ones I have no interest in finishing (Roadrat), or ones I can complete faith in being able to finish (Steddie)

16. What are your writing strengths?

Speed. I can compose a story very quickly and put it together.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I never promote myself/share. I'm really bad at sharing my works. Additionally, I'm bad at finishing things before I lose interest.... eep.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Uuhh maybe. I def have some Ancient Greek and Latin in my up-coming Robin (Stobin platonic) fic.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I'm not sure... maybe Batman (Tim/Jason or Tim/Kon). I RP'd A LOT from ages 13-18 and had like 5-8 rps going at once for a whole bunch of fandoms. (Naruto, OCs in the Star Wars universe, Tim/Kon, and more I can't remember atm).

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Ooohhh, I dunno. I'm bad at picking favourites. Right now I'm pretty proud of my Because I Want You Steddie fic. It's Steve and Eddie as 30-year-olds with kids. They broke up in their 20s and are trying to get back together in their 30s. Eddie has a complete breakdown in it, but Steve is there to tell him that he loves him.

I don't think about this stuff at all xDDD Fic writing is just a pass time for me. This will be the first time EVER in over 18 years of writing fic that I've EVER participated in an exchange/Big Bang. I'll tag @medusapelagia @oh-stars @br0ck-eddie @kallisto-k

[hezuart]

The concept art of LN2 are so interesting.

Different kids, Mono and six working together (six removing a log and both of them giving food to each other) more kids, concept art of kids being connected into TVs, the weird baby creature, Thin man smiling (distributing), even appearing in some locations ominous watching over Six and Mono, the flesh walls reaching out to Mono from the tv etc.

Ln2 gives me Akira + Dark city + city of lost children vibes .

It has so much intriguing concept art, at times I feel like the game we got wasn’t the complete vision of the developers, I feel like they had to cut corners or drastically change the story to meet the deadline.

As much as I love the game, is so vague in it’s storytelling it becomes frustrating.

What was Mono and Six’s end goal? We don’t even know. Same with the thin man. There are lot of widely accepted theories (the time loop, that thin man was looking after Six, Dark Six is six’s souls) but the truth is we don’t know what’s truly going on.

On first game we were absolutely convinced that The lady was Six’s mother and that later got disapproved.

But at least we had a clue about what was going on, in ln2 we don’t have any idea of anything.

I wonder if that was intentional or if it’s just a byproduct of the game being rushed in development and still miraculously being added as a positive for the game (is so vague it keeps people talking and theorizing about it )

you speak the truth, my friend!!!

Yeah the thin man smiling is definitely the creepiest. The concept of him seems like he truly became one with the tower, like he's empowered by it. He puts on a creepy broadcaster fake smile, but seems to love the attention. He loves to manipulate the masses; those kind of vibes. The doctor's head cut straight off is wild. I'm also disappointed we didn't get a train scene, a proper one, with Six and Mono sitting on a train together, or the Thin Man appearing from an elevator just out of the blue. That would have been so freaky. And yes, right??????? The game doesn't feel like the true vision! Its so vague and feels almost unfinished??? Man did we need those DLCs....

Mono's end goal was to reach the door, he felt a compulsion to tune into the tvs everytime they called out to him. When the Thin Man first appears, Mono even walks towards him with his hand outreached and Six is shaking her head in distress, reaching for him to try and pull him away, but then decides to run away instead.

It's almost like Six's compulsion in the first game, to seek out and consume the Lady. Their goals, or rather their futures, tend to have a lot to do with the dreams they have at the very start of the game. It's a compulsion, or maybe a premonition. The game is called "Little Nightmares" but also the fact that if you die, the game reloads the kids in a fetal position on the ground. They gasp, as though waking up from a nightmare; as though they had just fallen asleep. I never thought much of it at the time, but now that we know this game involves a timeloop that the kids may or may not be aware of... it's intriguing.... highly interesting... these nightmares or dreams are telling them their futures. As though perhaps just maybe they've lived it before? It seems like a supernatural higher calling, something or someone reaching out to them.

Yeah, I've heard a ton of theories. Six's mom. Six herself from another timeline. Six is part of the "Sisterhood of Ladies" that all ran the Maw, like a successor story. Regardless, Six has a connection to the Lady SOMEHOW, because her concept art, of her with long hair in a yellow raincoat, is literally hidden as a portrait deliberately seen in the Lady's bedroom, kinda hidden by a wall.

Yes, agreed. In LN2, the most I could figure out, is that there is an "epidemic" of sorts destroying the city. A majority of people are obsessed with televisions, and the longer they watch, the more damaged their bodies become. They start losing body parts; their faces become distorted, until some of them even disappear completely; leaving nothing but clothes behind. On top of this epidemic, there is MAJOR terrestrial damage to not only the city, but also the surrounding forest. There are HUGE crevices and trenches that split apart the ground by several feet; they are dangerous hazards, as though the earth itself was sliced into. It is unclear if this is caused by the radio tower signal (Mono is able to move the city buildings when he usurps his previous self) or something bigger. The Hunter is merely a serial killer in the woods who kidnaps people and kills and stuffs them. Perhaps something to do with insanity. What we don't know is why initially he keeps Mono and Six alive. (Does he not kill kids? He tries to kill them after they escape. Why keep them though? It even seems like he gave Six a music box and kept her alive all this time. Is this some kind of weird... situation where he keeps them as pets? its unclear. ) The doctor on the other hand, initially in his concept art I think he assisted in kidnapping children and hooking them into the tvs. I think children and their imaginations or energy was initially gonna be used to fuel the tv; they would be making the channels that entice the people to become addicted and ultimately sucked into the tower. But in the final product, the doctor is actually a bit more of a heroic figure. He is taking the leftover body parts left behind by the citizens and trying to piece them together with artificial body parts. Its a twisted form of necromancy. A twisted way to try and "save" his patients. To "save" the city. (He had the nosebleed girl locked away in a cell in the hospital though, and at some point captures her in the comics. I don't know what he does with her or why he was keeping her prisoner. That's never explained.)

As for the teacher and the school, that is probably the most confusing. She's teaching porcelain children, they're not real and yet they can move. They have personalities. Some of them can even function with a half-broken face. How is this possible? Who made them? And why? In the comics, there's only one real boy who used to go to the school. The lollipop kid. The porcelain kids gang up on him and he has to fight them to defend himself. Were children being kidnapped from school? To fuel the tvs? Whats the excuse for the final product? Were they being replaced by these dolls so no one would notice? Why is the teacher teaching these fake children? There's even a closet full of dunce caps, that eerily look similar to the nomes. Is this just a coincidence, or does it have higher meeting? And what on EARTH was with the teacher's study?! Where she had a chessboard and a child king strapped to one of the middle pieces. Why did she have a map with a giant eye drawn over it??? What in the world??? I feel some conspiracy theories brewing. They were also going to have a lunch lady in the concept art, but then they killed her off. Why do these porcelain children even need to be fed? They don't have stomachs! What is going on here??? Are real humans just being replaced by fake.... ghosts??? Or something? What is happening here And the Thin Man just kinda sitting in a chair until Mono can free him while its a tragic story it also doesnt make a lot of sense. Throughout the story we encounter several glitching remains. When did the Thin Man have time to snatch these children? Can he actively travel back in time? Because Mono encounters several of these glitching remains WHILE THE THIN MAN IS STILL IMPRISONED! So how could they be glitching if the Thin Man hasn't escaped? Again, the only thing I can think of is time travel, and even then- whats the point? The original motive for why he kidnapped children is no longer viable in the final product. And he was busy keeping Six imprisoned on top of chasing down Mono! (And what was he even gonna do with Mono? Kill him? That's himself! He freed you!)

and why on Earth is Shadow Six acting smarter- why can she move- why and how does she even follow Mono on his journey???? She's SIX'S shadow! Not Mono's! ANd yet she's following him, and then guiding him out of the train station to the top of the sewer line to confront his fate- When all the other glitching remains we've encountered act like they're trapped in time? They don't move or interact with Mono or even acknowledge him. Why is Six different? Six's shadow from the first game was just a creepy random thing they threw in there. They made an attempt to try and explain it in this prequel game, but I don't think they did a good job about it. Shadow Six being Six's "glitching remain" just doesn't make a lot of sense in comparison to her behavior vs. the other glitching remains. She seems like something very very different.

Also- the tower- what the hell is that thing. Its like... a giant blob? Of the citizens of the pale city? I don't know if they are in charge of the tower or if Mono/Thin Man are in charge of the tower, but the tower itself can change. Its a winding maze of doors and stairs and rooms. It actively changes. Hell, even Monster Six seemed to have some control over the environment. Every time Mono hit her music box, he was cast out and had to smash down a door with an axe to re-enter like he did with her when he first met her. Who is really in control here? (and what the heck is up with Monster Six!!! How'd this happen to her??? WHat kind of magic does the Thin Man possess??? Was the Thin Man even the one to do this to her, or was it the tower??? Or hell, was it even HERSELF????) and how did this tower come to be in the first place? If Mono is stuck in a continuous loop, then there's no way he'd be the creator of the tower. And the fact that the tower itself can seemingly defy space-time, does the tower consist of citizens from PREVIOUS timelines? That just continue to reabsorb their new time loop versions? How does that even work? Whats the point of this blob? Whats the point of this pocket dimension that defies space-time?

So... many... questions!!???

Honestly I feel like a lot of stuff from the first game also wasn't answered. Like the "ashes in the maw". Why are children kept and cared for on the Maw and not all immediately turned into nomes? Why is there an eyeball that turns them into stone? Why does the Lady keep a jar of children's statue ashes in her quarters? Who the heck are the shadow children???? What kind of business are they even running??? They fatten up people only to turn around and kill them and maybe even TURN THEM INTO FOOD? (the shoe room indicates this) you're gonna run out of customers with this method! The Lady I guess eats them?? Or their souls rather?? and then the chefs just reuse the body 'cuz hey, free meat. And then the Lady I guess takes pity on the children maybe??? Idk???? She sucks out their youth, turns them into these weird nome creatures that become slaves to the Maw (its indicated they work to keep the engine running, but why? Whats the point? They dont get anything out of this deal. Unless they were just helping Seven/RK escape then it makes more sense but...) it just seems weird she wouldn't also kill them by sucking out their souls completely. She only does that to the adults. (But then why even turn the children into statues??? Do the statues have to do with her shadow children servants??? flksdjglkf???) I love mysteries, but Little Nightmares really pushes it with their vague concepts. They're like "Its left up to interpretation!" When in reality its more like "We don't really know, we'll let you guys try and figure it out for us" without giving us any solid evidence or clarity

[cisthehuman]

Cis Rambles #5--2024: Wow it's in 2 days!

It's been a wild ride both personally and stream wise!

What Went Down in 2023:

Graduated w/ my Masters, and with that paid my way through grad school

Got diagnosed with PCOS and began treatment!

Got a part time job in my field!

Rebranded and started streaming again!

Started the CisLunar Visual Novel

Started a new music youtube!

(Please check it out! I put all of my tunes on there!)

What to look forward to in 2024!

I have major goals/projects I want to accomplish!

Project 1: The CisLunar Visual Novel!

My multimedia project, CisLunar, is one that has been in the works since I first started streaming possibly 2 or 3 years ago. It is only recently that I decided to take streaming seriously so while I've had my account for a while, I feel like I've only gotten in the swing of things earlier in December. Cislunar, a real word, means "between earth and the moon". It was a random word I found out about while I completed a word search on my phone and ever since, a story has been growing. Plus, as I go by Cis, it really fits lol

The crux of the story is about grief--acknowledging it, processing it, and adapting from it. Almost 3 years ago, I suddenly lost my father. I have been riddled with several emotions that I wanted to process and thus this story is born.

The story follows Lunar Sun (she/they), an alien cat woman who lives on Planet GJ504b (the pink planet). She is a radio host by day and a mafia informant by night. While she smiles and laughs, she's been making a dangerous habit, one that leads her to a new up and coming job. Online entertainment is at an all time high with entertainers reaching different people across the galaxy. The trouble is, people would like to keep their anonymity. Thus the now booming job of Mutualistic Parasite is born. Because they have nothing else to lose, Lunar takes the job leading them to Cis the Parasite (she/they). Cis the Parasite is quiet, stoic, and clearly a loner. Lunar believes they can be partners, but doesn't realize they have more in common with the earthling...

Ooooooh So Interesting! So Wonderous! It's So Unfinished LOL

So we have some goals for this year regarding the VisNovel:

Finish the script for the CisLunar Visual Novel!

Finish designing characters for the CisLunar Visual Novel!

Actually learn ren'py programming!

Project 2: Streaming

I started streaming part time on December 6 (I believe lol I'm bad with dates)! It's been so wonderful so far! Thanks to some wonderful artists, things look much shinier and new! Please take a gander at my twitch page (and follow! you know you want to):

I've been having fun playing games and drawing and I can't complain! However, there is one small issue--I don't get many viewers. While it is true that with whatever I make, I don't do things for numbers or follows, it is also true that streaming alone can be quite lonesome (shoutout to calcium for making it when they can and being a trooper in the chat! I genuinely perk up when you pop in because it is not just me anymore LOL).

That being said, I have a couple of goals for streaming this year!

Get 50 followers

Have at least 10 people chatting in chat.

Slowly but surely complete the PC-98 inspiration for my streams (I actually got a head start on this one; already got a new overlay commissioned~)

Learn more things I can do with obs plugins, to help with the PC-98-ification of the streams

Buy a better laptop to stream on (this one is nice and it lagging helps with the old school vibe I'm going for, but I need some better performance!)

And a big far away goal--have a big named vtuber say I'm their fave obscure streamer lolol

Project 3: Music!

Honestly, because of work and at the time how tired I was due to my health, I didn't have enough capacity to put out the big bulk of music I made. I literally have at the least 40 tracks that are just on soundtrap LOL

With that being said, starting in the new year, I plan to finally put this music out there! It needs to be out into the wild! I'm also going to do my best to draw a cover for each album as well (this is where the backlog gets created), but I've allowed myself to be happy with a cool free use image as well lol. With that being said, there are already 5 albums ready to be posted. They just need cover images and they'll be put up!

I'm also close to finishing Vol.3 of Cosmic Canary Radio aka the stream music! Getting close to 50 tracks so it's the biggest one so far. I believe I have 5 tracks left and then I'll be done! Here are some tracks as a preview of what's in Vol.3

(lol not all the bands use caps in their name, that's just a hilarious coincidence for the ones I chose to put here)

For this project, the goals are:

put out finished albums!!!

Put out Vol 3 of Cosmic Canary Radio!

Make a section (or separate tumblr) for the fake bands in this universe!

Project 4: Quasar

This is a very far away project, but I'd like to get much farther on it in hopes of working on it while finishing CisLunar Visual Novel.

Quasar has been in the works for at least 8 years now, but I've finally worked on it in earnest the past two years. It's influenced by shows/movies like Redline, Motorcity, Speedracer (the movie more than the show), etc. It connects with the zeitgeist within CisLunar loosely so unfortunately I need to get CisLunar started before I can start posting some things about it (I might break that rule though).

Goals for this project include:

finish designing characters

finalize how the story will be provided to readers

complete the plot lol

I have some personal goals too, but I won't go into to much depth here. Most of them revolve around my own mental and physical health, and while I said I would be open to a degree about my issues to help convey there is a real life human in reality behind this screen, I'll leave it at I'm gonna learn to live with PCOS and I'm tired of having a mentally sick mind. While this year has been quite positive for me, I also had some major lows that stopped me from doing what I love--creating things.

LOL ALSO--I plan to update this tumblr more! More sketches and designs and me putting my stream schedule on here and stuff! That was a run on sentence but it is to show how much stuff is going to be on here now!

This was an EXTREMELY long post, but I wanted to write out all of my goals. Maybe I'll come back at the end of next year and see how well I did!

Until then, seeeee youuu neext tiiimmeeeeee!

[minijenn]

Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: Flushed Away

So I think there's a reason why Aardman is best known for claymation above all else. Because when they try their hand at CGI, it turns out weird and uncanny, like Flushed Away here is.

But more on the animation in a bit, what's the story? Roddy is a pet rat who ends up, well, flushed away into the sewer, where he gets tangled up with Rita, a scavanger who is being hunted by a toad who plan on flooding the entire sewer city to get rid of the rats (So basically, to commit a Genocide). It's a.... mildly simple story with few surprises in it; bunch of action scenes, Roddy and Rita fall in love because of fucking course they do, bad guy is boring bad guy and our heroes save the day and learn the meaning of family or something idk I wasn't really paying that much attention.

Flushed Away, in its very nature, is kind of focused on that gross out toilet humor, so it immediately lost me with a lot of that. The rest of the humor that isn't that is just very bland and unfunny, and along the same lines, its action scenes don't really do a whole lot for me either and just tend to drag on way too long. I get the vibe that this, way more than the other Aardman/Dreamworks productions I've seen, is by and large the most focused at kids. Which hey, guess we're on a trend with that because so was Over the Hedge.

The characters are, fine I guess, not too stand out. Roddy is your typical protagonist who starts off all high-strung and stuck up until he realizes how lonely his previous life was and decides the sewer ain't half bad after all. Rita is ok, the usual Dreamworks scrappy "tough girl" love interest that we've seen before and will see again in this rewatch (I forgot to mention this in my previous list but so many of Dreamworks ladies are like this, Tzippoah, Chel, Marina, Fiona, hell even Astrid imo). As for the rest of the characters, they're very one note. Our villain doesn't even have an actual name, he's just called The Toad, and he's about as boring as you'd expect any power-hungry antagonist to be.

And finally, the animation. It is... weird. I respected Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit for how technically impressive they were, because claymation is very difficult and takes so much work to perfect. But this movie is CG animated, yet still utilizes Aardman's usual signature style. As a result, you get weird character models, with bizarre lighting and textures that look unfinished almost. The movement of the characters is smooth enough, I suppose, but this style just... doesn't lend itself well to anything other than claymation. It's just ugly man, idk what else to say.

So yeah, like I said in the Over the Hedge review, we're deep into Dreamworks' first "mid" era now. Kind of a shame the Dreamworks/Aardman teamup streak ends here because I don't actually hate Aardman's work, even if I do find their character models a little... uggo. Unfortunately, this is definitely the worst of the lot when it comes to the Aardman trilogy. No wonder that most people forget it exists because even after just one viewing, that's what I intend to do too.

Overall Rating: 4/10

Verdict: Flush these uggo rats into hell where they belong

Previous Review (Over the Hedge)

Next Review (Shrek the Third)