#it was a JOURNEY

[mustarddoods]

THE SHOW OF THE CENTURY

[t-rina]

You have news, Saru.

[watcher-ofthe-sky-art]

Banner art made for gratsu week 2023!

(Art layers under the cut)

[pixellangel]

"Don't you feel stupid answering these questions when you don't even know who you are?"

STORYTELLER SYNTHESIS SCENE 1 - A GIRL NAMED V

overview - masterpost - taglist

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Storyteller Synthesis is an indie cyberpunk RPG that I’m currently writing and designing. This is the first scene of the game, where we're introduced to our first party member - a girl named V. Please enjoy!

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Onyxveil is a troubled city. The streets are covered in litter, the skies are gray with smog, and the only sources of light are flashing neon advertisements on walls. Within this bleak cityscape stands an equally troubled young girl, one with hot pink hair and an unfocused gaze. Just a few years ago, she experienced a horrific eve-

"Can you shut up and give the Player control already? Nobody wants your stupid expository speech."

...Ahem. As I was saying, just a few years ag-

"Why can't you ever listen? The Player isn't interested and neither am I. Get it over with."

Ugh. Fine. I came up with this whole summary, but if you're so ungrateful I GUESS I can throw it in as flavor text somewhere...

"Perfect, I'll make sure not to read it. Now get rid of this black screen so the Player can see."

Excuse me? I know what I'm doing.

"Sure. Just get rid of it."

Ugh. Fine.

[Now, in tile RPG format, we see the aforementioned girl from behind. She's at the edge of a rooftop, looking out into the smog-covered cityscape. The camera shifts downwards to show another person, one with a long, pale blue ponytail. The girl turns around and walks towards them. She keeps her distance, but begins speaking. Her character portrait shows a girl with purple, rectangular irises. Her hair is spiky and she wears some sort of strange cropped techwear hoodie. She looks dissatisfied.]

"So, "Sylvie." Long time no see."

> I could say the same to you.

...

"How long has it been now? Three years? Four?"

> Three.

Not sure.

"And how was your little warrior's expedition? Successful?"

Very.

> You could say that.

Not exactly.

"Good, good. Now, Don't you feel stupid answering these questions when you don't even know who you are?"

Wh- hey! I already told you not to go off script!

> I'm not sure.

Oh. Sorry, you don't need to answer that. Let me just fix this... small bug.

[The Narrator goes silent for a moment and the girl stiffens.]

There! Much better.

[The girl's character portrait is different when she speaks again. Her eyes are wide open with no shine. She has a wide, fake smile. Her hair spikes stand up a little less.]

"So sorry, SYLVIE! I don't know what came over me there. I'm glad your expedition went well! Woul d y ouu be wil lin g to h e-"

[She snaps out of it, shakes her head, and glares up at the sky.]

"UGH!! Stop doing that!!! I would literally NEVER talk like that. You of all people should know. Ughhh... anyway, Player, I'm not gonna keep up the "Sylvie" act. You aren't her and we both know it."

If you go off script again, I'll have to keep acting for you. Get back to the story or else.

"Shush. Player, follow me."

[The Narrator protests as the player follows the her down from the rooftop. The two come to an arcade, which the girl enters without hesitation.]

Ahem. Sylvie. You don't need to go in there. If you would just give me a minute, I can get her to come back out...

Sorry, this is going to take some time. Please be patient.

[The player enters the arcade anyway while the Narrator is distracted.]

"Hey. Glad you could make it."

[The arcade is empty, save for the two of them. Most of the machines look like they're out of order. A few of the arcade cabinets are still working, though.]

"If you're waiting for him to talk, you should know he can't hear us in here."

> "He"?

"The Narrator. He's messing stuff up in Onyxveil, and probably in other cities too. If i had to guess, I'd say his other targets would be The Sunbasked Stratum and Karma Point. They'd be good settings for a story, so..."

> Why can't he hear us in here?

What is he trying to do?

Who are you?

"I dunno. My guess is that he never intended for anything to happen in this arcade, so it's barely more than set dressing. I've never heard him speak a word while I’m in here, though. It’s pretty nice."

Why can't he hear us in here?

> What is he trying to do?

Who are you?

"He's writing some stupid story. I don't know... it's hard to explain, and we probably don't have much time. All you really need to know is that he's meddling with reality for his own selfish reasons and not taking anyone else into account."

[Her face contorts in anger.]

Why can't he hear us in here?

What is he trying to do?

> Who are you?

"My name's V. There's nothing else you need to know about me."

> Who am I?

"You’re the one playing the video game. Obviously."

> That's not what I meant.

"Oh, you must want to know who's body you're in. It's another person from Onyxveil. Their name is Sylvie. They went out on some training journey a few years ago. I... haven't seen them since."

> ...

"It doesn't matter. I need your help, Player. I don't want to be trapped in this stupid reality where I'm a character in a story I never asked to be a part of."

> What do you want me to do about that?

"I want you to help me kill the Narrator."

[V looks determined, but angry. This Narrator person has very clearly wronged her in some way, and based on her face, it looks like it was extremely personal.]

> How are we meant to do that?

"I don't know all the details just yet. However, I think the most effective method would be for us to assemble a party of several people. More people means more firepower, and he already wants us to gather more allies to fight the robots that keep appearing in the city. It'll be easy to fly under the radar as long as we don't discuss it in front of him."

[She speaks quickly and confidently. It seems she's been thinking over her plan for a long time.]

> Do you know who we need?

[cult-of-the-eye]

I HAVE RECEIVED ANTIDEPRESSANTS THE WORLD IS RIGHT

[holygrailcosplay]

Let's begin...

I'm gonna make you wish that I'd stayed gone...

[natelawtism]

Nate and Rowan cuddling scenarios NOW. :3

OKOKKKKKK MORE ASKS TIME MORE ASKS!!

Honestly whenever they cuddle I always imagine Nate laying down on Rowan's chest... like. Rowan laying down on his back and Nate laying down on top of him on his stomach. Rowan really loves holding Nate's face in his hands and just gazing at him (⁠♡⁠ω⁠♡⁠ ⁠)⁠ ⁠~⁠♪

I mean- Nate's more often than not looking away or avoiding eye contact because he's really flushed jejek BUTT when they do make eye contact its like the world stops for both of them.... they're just so adorable.

Rowan lovessss holding Nate. It makes him feel so happy and just generally at peace... it also works out better for Nate because Ro is the one initiating stuff!! (And Nate likes being held cmon)

Cuddling after a long day helps the both of them!! And when Nate is super stressed or huffy it can help him order his thoughts (once he gets over his mind racing at all the affection).

In situations where they're cuddling, more often than not Rowan is doing some aimless talking, and Nate is nodding along and giving small responses. It works out for both of them pretty well! It can't quite get out the tenseness of Nate's muscles, but Rowan cherishes the feeling of his boyfriend letting some of that pent-up energy go..

SPEAKING OF NATE BEING TENSE. It took them a good bit to get to cuddling, I'll tell you that. Nate would say it was too inappropriate and Ro would be like "lol it's cuddling????" (Respecting the rejection, but finding it silly). In their relationship Nate still starts off like he was with JB, and takes a while to work his way up to things, but his growth is different since his relationship with Ro is so different :D

So what I'm trying to say is. Nate was SOOOO TENSE when they first started cuddling. They didn't just jump right into it, either! You don't understand the amount of leaning on Nate Rowan did before this. Just their shoulders touching, since he wanted contact but Nate could only handle so much. Then working his way up to having his head on Nate's shoulder... like it took them a while.

But it took Nate a long while to get less stiff with physical affection! More often than not, Nate was tense and blushy and crazy nervous. Having familiarity and a lot of new experiences with contact helped him, but it was still pretty nerve wracking. At the beginning, Nate would give Ro a time frame of how long they could ehjdkd (really just to save his heart)

[scarefox]

One Room Angel ep5 be like: 🤔😀😂🤔😊🤨😨💔😰😭😟🥺😲🤗🥰😭❤😳🥰

[steampunkhobo]

Okay 👍 thanks bud

[femmmie]

THE ISLAND

Read on AO3

Chapter 15: Epilogue

Ian takes Anthony somewhere special and they discuss their future together.

Chapter word count: 1.665

Rated: general

Anthony got the text. He smiled. 

“Would you look at that, Ian. Merry Christmas,” he said, beaming at this best friend who sat across the room from him. He gestured to their window. Ian got up and watched the snow falling gently out of the sky. 

"Amazeballs," he mumbled.

"Yeah..." Anthony still couldn’t believe it. That after all those years, he finally found his best friend. And that they could witness a white Christmas. It felt like magic.

The sun was beginning to set on Christmas Eve. Anthony walked up to Ian and they looked out of the window together. The hills around them weren't white quite yet, but it looked promising. Everything looked promising, in fact. Young sprouts of pioneer plants stood hopefully, waiting for a time after winter without any fires.

Ian decided to use the opportunity to make a joke. “You know, this whole project to cool down the world does have a downside. People everywhere are now heating the shit out of their homes and offices.”

“Why is that bad?” Anthony looked at Ian. He knew he was going to pull some nonsense. He was already getting giggly.

“You’ve played right into Putin’s hand, my guy. He’s selling oil like never before.”

“Oh, so I should have let the world burn just to spite him?”

Ian shrugged. “I guess not.”

Anthony stretched himself over the couch and Ian sat down next to him.

“Aren’t you tempted to go back into politics though?”

“No, not at all! I mean, I’ll have to do some stuff like endorse the VP for the next election, but…” Ian looked into Anthony’s eyes. He seemed determined. “I’m glad that era of my life is over. I’d really like to just chill and do fun things, for as long as possible. Enjoy life a bit, you know?”

“I do,” Anthony agreed. They looked at each other just a moment too long.

“And have some bro bonding time, with my bro, bro!” Ian pushed Anthony softly against the shoulder.

“Let’s go for a joy ride tomorrow, then,” Anthony suggested.

“Sure. My TVR hasn’t seen much action lately.”

“What do you mean, ‘action’?”

“What do you want it to mean?”

Anthony burst out laughing. “Oh my god.”

“We should probably take Angela up on her invitation to the theater,” Ian suggested with an enthusiasm Anthony didn’t see often in him. There was a twinkle in his eye, like he was really digging this idea.

“Yeah, why not! I mean, we’re not acTORS, like her and Amanda and Chanse…”

“True, but we can act pretty well, I think! I mean, how hard can it be."

Ian stood up like he was going to perform. "We can’t be worse than people in like, those old tv-commercials where they were trying to sell you some shit, right,” Ian was getting more and more animated, “Like IS YOUR LIFE FRICKED UP? ARE YOU A LOSER WHO WILL NEVER SUCCEED IN LIFE? GOOD! USE OUR PRODUCT, YOU IDIOT! And it would be like, a fucking brick or some shit, AND YOU WILL BE RICH AND HOT IMMEDIATELY!”

“BUY NOW,” Anthony stood up and continued the bit, “AND GET NINE THOUSAND FREE EXPIRED CHEEZ-ITS FOR FREE!” Anthony giggled through all his words. “That over-the-top acting always gets me.”

“Not to mention the physical comedy,” Ian agreed. “They go like wuueeeeeueeeeoo”, he fake-toppled and spun around, all the while Anthony almost fell over from laughter.

The doorbell rang. Anthony went to open it.

Not two, not three but four people stood in the doorway, snow melting in their hair.

Courtney had a bob-cut even blonder than how Anthony remembered. Shayne stood right next to them, he seemed buffer.

Behind them were Tommy and Spencer. They both wore inconspicuous shades and black trench coats.

“Hmm, it seems like you're hiding the president in your house, I’m afraid I have to investigate,” Shayne joked in Spencer’s voice.

“You might want to keep your voice down or our stealth attack will get ruined,” Spencer joked back.

“HEY, don’t close the door on us, bitch,” came a dramatic voice from behind the group.

Brandon and Nicole came strutting up the street. They looked like a hippy dad and his hot daughter.

“Hurry up then, I’ve only got one SLUTTY minute!” Anthony retorted. He walked outside in his house slippers to greet and hug them. 

"I'm so happy to see you guys!" Anthony beamed.

"Aaah, there it is again! The Padilla smile! I'm blinded by its brightness," Nicole joked.

Brandon looked at her, bemused. "I thought I was the only one who was affected! I guess not," he said.

Everyone crowded into the hallway and then shuffled through to the living room. 

“Dinner will be here soon,” Ian commented after he’d greeted everyone.

“You’re not cooking yourself?” Courtney asked, looking fake-disapprovingly.

“I’m ordering myself, thank you very much.”

“That does count for something,” Anthony agreed with Ian.

“Do you at LEAST have some hard liquor?” Brandon went to search the kitchen cabinets himself. “Ah, there it is!”

Anthony and Brandon got everyone a drink.

“So, you guys are like, best friends now,” Brandon stated with a wink. But there was a slight accusatory tone to his voice as well.

“To be honest, I knew this was my homie from the moment we met,” Ian said with a glow on his face.

“How precious. You know, I also found a new best friend, Anthony.”

“Hii, how are you,” Nicole joked.

“You look really good together,” Anthony complimented them.

“Oh, we know, honey” Brandon answered as he and Nicole did some poses.

“Look at Team Rocket over there,” Shayne couldn’t help but comment.

“They’re a hot ass Team Rocket.” Courtney leaned against their husband, relaxing into his strong arms.

Ian looked around the room. “On that subject, I think we have enough controllers, right, Anth?”

“I think so.” Anthony rummaged through a box next to the television and got everyone a controller.

They played a free multiplayer Pokémon-themed game for a while. When their food arrived, they sat down at the dining table and the couch, because Ian and Anthony didn’t have enough chairs for all of them.

“So, how is married life treating you?” Ian asked Courtney and Shayne. They smiled like big goofs.

“It’s actually amazing,” Courtney said. “Shayne is my best friend. We took the leap, and also got romantic. But the friendship is still there, it’s still the foundation of our relationship.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Shayne continued. “Like, we play videogames together, we chill. And then whenever we feel like it, like now,” he said, kissing Courtney on the cheek, “we kiss.”

Everyone loved their story. But were they laying the ‘friendship’ aspect of their love on a bit thick? What point did they try to make? Ian didn’t know. "It's like my mom always says," he commented, "friendship always wins!" 

Everyone cheered to that.

Anthony leaned towards Ian, who sat next to him at the table. He inhaled slowly and sighed with a smile.

~

The next day, Ian and Anthony got into Ian’s car.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” Ian said. He wore a fake mustache, shades and a cap to look inconspicuous. Anthony couldn’t wait to see what he had in store for him.

They were driving some hours and Anthony lost track of time. He just marveled at the very green surroundings along the highway.

Ian was having fun speeding. “Let’s get this baby to 80!”

“Ian, you’re still technically the president for a couple more weeks. You don’t want to get a ticket.”

Anthony couldn’t help being concerned for his best friend but at the same time, he felt joy. Seeing Ian having this much fun and being able to witness that up-close was a gift Anthony would never take for granted.

“Oh shit, oh, Ian?” Anthony sat up straight, checking the road signs. “Are we going to Sac’?”

“Almost there,” Ian grinned.

They drove all the way into the city, past cinemas they’d been to, past the river kids used to throw other kids’ school stuff into... Until they arrived at a particular playground. It was an unassuming small park, but very significant for them both.

“Dude, this is where our whole school would hang out,” Anthony remembered it all. Sitting with his fellow goths, not feeling the vibe. He’d look around for some distraction. And of course, Ian had been there, pretending to be in a band, shooting a fake music video.

“What was that song you used to always sing?” Anthony smiled as he half-remembered it.

“You mean BOX MAAAAAAANNNN?” Ian sang it to Anthony for good measure.

“Oh my god yes! That’s it, the whole school sang it with you. I thought you were really cool back then.”

“Did you, now? Do you still think I’m cool?”

“Hmm, maybe. I dare you to sing it right now,” Anthony laughed.

Ian got to it, he really performed it and gave his all.

“That was amazing,” Anthony wheezed.

“Thanks, I still got my mojo,” Ian said, a little out of breath. “I think joining Angela’s theater might actually be my next career move, you know?”

“I think that would be absolutely crazy and so much fun. But, Ian?”

“Yeah?”

“Like, WE could, you know, you and me? We could do something like that on our own? Just the two of us?”

“You’d like that?”

“Yeah! I think our humor is so compatible, and don’t get me wrong, Amanda, Angela, Chanse and all the others, they’re great! But we have this special thing, don’t you agree?”

“Yeah, I do. But we don’t have a lot of experience with this, Anthony. I think it would be a wise choice to practice with that whole fun bunch first.”

“I guess you’re right, Ian. Wow, we’re really gonna do it?”

“I would never have done anything like this, if we hadn’t met again, Anthony. It feels so special. Like, why not, right? Let’s do this.”

[jesuistrestriste]

WOODWORKER SAGE UNLOCKED !!!!

- 🪩

no bc look at these fkn instructions !!!!! 😵‍💫 (first 4 steps out of 15)

i was genuinely going insane. i put on my music and just dove into it…. i cannot believe i finished within 4 hours ???

[rhaenall]

Don’t Fear the Reaper

explicit, cannibalism fic, kendall centric, kenlogan + kenstewy

Kendall was neither boy nor man. He was a devil. He was a beast. Or he was an angel. Whatever he was— it made him an outsider. He tries to make the best of it.

Kendall’s life carrying the family sickness.

Part 1: American Prometheus | 2k

Ewan and Logan sit in warm room in between them a cold ghost.

Please read all of the tags!

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51362251/chapters/129787768

[yearning-butch]

You’re literally the woman of my dreams /rizz

[journeys-offical]

It's "See how well you can follow instructions" time ya lil fuckers!!

Here's a poll, you can't press any of the options, that's the only rule, no voting. Reblogs, likes, and comments are totally allowed, you just can't vote

You all have one week, let's see how this goes

@maryland-no-rabies Tagging cause I need people to see this

Have fun !!

[zealockthegreat]