#it’ll probably be the only happy scene in fifth year lol

[oneluckygoose]

For those wondering what my James Potter is going to be like: his favorite song will be “Hooked on a Feeling” by Blue Swede

[archaneanscribe]

Finally Taking the Trip to Jupiter

Vague spoilers for MGS4. Also xtremely fucking sad fair warning lol

“Snake... Dave?” Hal immediately corrected himself upon entering the room. The veteran’s (finally they could use that term, with there truly being no fights left to fight) request to drop the codenames they had maintained for nearly a decade had been a little sudden, but entirely understandable, “We think we’ve found a place to stay, for the moment. A nice house, close enough to a town that Sunny can go to school in, but far enough ouy most folks will leave us alone.”

David simply nodded- taking a deep breath that would normally be an intake of smoke into his lungs, but he was sincere in his declaration of quitting. Even if it wasn’t for very long, he could do that much for Sunny and Hal, after all this time. The tech wiz stood awkwardly in the doorframe, posture so closed in on himself David would see the gangly nerd he once was before he had started spending more time eating and moving around than seated in front of a computer.

He still did plenty of that, but years on the run had shifted the ratio considerably until just recently.

“Out with it, Hal,” he croaked out in a voice that was becoming increasingly unfamiliar to both of them. This seemed to shock his companion out of his own thoughts, and he finally moved closer.

“Ah, well, you see- what do you want for your last name, Dave? You know I’ll be formalizing Sunny’s adoption, which means we’ll finally be obtaining,” emphasis was put on the word, because in reality it meant forging, “papers for her, and I thought you’d probably be in need of some too. We can use whatever is on your birth certificate, but if you want to pick something out yourself...”

A smile formed under Dave’s mustache.

“I already know what I’m using.”

Hal perked up, “You do? What is it?”

With the same simple, to the point gruffness he would never quite be rid of, the one legendary soldier answered in a single word.

“Emmerich.”

All sounds except the Nomad’s machinery working overtime on her last voyage and David’s unfortunately heavy breathing ceased for an eternally long moment, Hal’s face journeying between every emotion he possessed. Tears pooled at the corners of his eyes, and his attempt to stifle his sniffles failed.

He probably wouldn’t have admitted it at the beginning, but something David had always loved about Hal was his ability to keep crying. No matter the hardships he faced, the traumas, the evils and cruelties he bore witness too, he didn’t run out of tears. His compassion was a well that ran deep, and those tears were just a result of it overflowing.

“Dave...of, of course,” his expression betrayed some amusement past the waterworks, “Do you want me to list you as my brother, or-”

“You know exactly what it’s going to say, Hal.”

They both laughed now, such different sounds than it was just a year ago even. David had been sitting on the edge of the bed, and Hal had been across the room, but that distance closed as Hal kneeled on the floor, placing his hands on David’s knees. It was a gesture that David had previously classified as pitying, but he knew better, now. 

It wasn’t for his comfort at all.

“Thank you, David.”

David had half a mind to ask what it was like to kiss an old man with a mustache, but they didn’t have the time for jokes like that anymore, so he just closed his eyes and enjoyed it.

---

The eyeroll David had given when Hal told him the name of the town they’d be living in was named Jupiter was so legendary it surpassed his previous exploits with ease. But, despite how silly it was, he couldn’t deny the warmth in his chest. 

They’d gotten their trip to Jupiter, just a little late.

Jupiter, Washington, was as small as a small mountain town got. It didn’t even have an elementary school for Sunny to attend (she was bussed to the neighboring, larger town). Most residents were the descendants of the people who had first lived there, so their new faces stuck out for awhile, but they eventually concluded what was essentially the truth, albeit missing some key details, and moved on- they were just two retirees, hoping to live out what was left of the older one’s life in peace with their orphaned granddaughter, nothing exciting.

Hal laughed at how huffy David had gotten at the granddaughter comments.

For the first month, their time there was peaceful. Content. Happy.

The second month, David starting being able to spend less and less time out of bed.

In the third month, he took Hal aside.

“You should stop sleeping in the same bed as me.”

His husband was a genius, he knew exactly why, but he still asked anyway.

“Don’t make me say it.” 

That he didn’t want Hal to wake up one sunny spring morning cuddling a corpse.

Tears were shed, as they always were, but he complied nonetheless. All of David’s belongings were transferred to the guest bedroom (Hal had tried to convince him to stay in the master bedroom, it was more comfortable, but David was adamant- that was where Hal would be staying in the future, and he didn’t want his ghost lingering in the air whenever he slept).

On the first day of the fourth month, right after sending Sunny off to school, Hal told him they were getting a dog for her.

“She loves those chickens, and I thought she might like another pet.”

“Or is it to replace me?” he asked, morbid mirth nearly buried under the pure gravel that had become his voice, “Seems to fit perfectly.”

Hal’s eyes, sad and weary, seemed to want nothing to do with this conversation, but he participated for his partner’s sake, “How so?”

“It’ll bark at strangers, bite the hand that feeds, and just generally be a pain in your ass.”

Despite himself Hal did laugh, not entirely bitter, “We’ll train it better than that.”

“Don’t train it too well. Won’t remind you enough of me.”

Fifth month, they had a dog. Rex, a joke on two layers- a name so common it was funny, and a reminder of one man’s shame that he’d never quite shake off. Not a husky, because while that would please David, they’d be keeping it long term and that level of energy just wouldn’t suit their needs. Rex was an adolescent Golden Retriever. 

The dog of the American dream.

Almost like he could tell David wouldn’t be around long enough to justify getting attached, Rex mostly ignored him. The feeling was mutual. 

Sunny loved them both dearly, and that was enough.

---

They had been there half a year, and Sunny made them breakfast. Her specialty, eggs fried to methodical perfection, toast just a little browner than anyone would like, maple sausage microwaved for ten seconds more than the instructions said just to make sure they were thoroughly cooked, and a glass of pulpless orange juice tucked precariously into the crook of her arm as she carried the meal to Uncle Dave’s bedroom.

It was two minutes after Hal watched Sunny depart from the kitchen that he heard a loud crash, glass and ceramic shattering, followed by Rex’s insistent barking and whining. He was on his feet and rushed to the scene, fearing the worst and finding exactly that.

“Oh, Sunny... Sunny...”

“U-Uncle H-Hal,” she barely managed through her cries. Rex, to his credit, ignored the food on the ground and nuzzled at her face, whining, confused and upset by the noises of unparalleled distress his beloved human was emitting. Stifling his own grief, Hal went over to the young girl and pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly.

He didn’t do a great job at holding that grief in after all.

“Sunny, Sunny, Sunny... I’m so sorry... I should have checked up on him when I woke up... It’s okay, Sunny...”

“H-He’s d-d-dead. J-Just,” her stutter was exacerbated by her choking sobs, “J-Just l-like my m-mother.”

The downside of having such a bright child was that you couldn’t shield them from life’s harsh realities that easily. There was no convincing Sunny that Uncle Dave was with the birds in the clouds, or any other such comforting tale. 

He was dead and gone, and she knew that.

---

The gravestone read:

               David Emmerich

       Beloved father and husband.

All three of those titles were ones he had only worn for six months, but he had worn them with honor.•

[taviewritesstuff]

UPDATE - October 24, 2022

Hey folks! Here I am again with another update! It won’t be quite as long as the last one, but it’s still chock full of information. So, buckle up, buttercups!

Firstly, I’m happy to report that I made it through my first week of school in tact! I’ve learned from my mistakes and have been breaking down my homework into manageable chunks, which has made it much, MUCH easier to not only get it done, but to also get some creative things done. I have two papers coming up this week, and a lot of reading on my end, so I’ll probably be busy again, not coming on unless I have enough time. I will be staying in touch with my good friends, though, so I’m not gonna COMPLETELY radio silent.

The real enemy last week was work! My schedule was all over the place, and it left me feeling pretty darn stressed out. Thankfully, I didn’t let that get in the way of my homework, but man, when I say I practically ran out the door Saturday… 😩 Good news is, I’ll be taking Friday and Saturday off so I can have some much needed rest and time to myself to take care of homework. Oh, and my parents are coming to visit, so it’ll be fun to catch up with them!

Well, that’s all that I can think of regarding life updates. Next up, I have a few cool creative ideas that I’d like to share with you all!

For starters, Blazin’ Trails is back on the horizon! I’ve been working on the final chapter for the last couple of weeks, and I’m super excited to post it! I went from having no idea where to take the story, to now wanting to spend every moment I’m not working on homework on this. There are cool cameos from certain characters, one of my favorite OCs gets a bigger role, and things will be set up to go into the next phase, which is Blazin’ Trails Redux! Ideally, I’d love to have this story’s final chapter out on November 20th, which will mark the story’s sixth anniversary, but since I’ll be working on FLaG Remastered (more on that below) for NaNoWriMo, I can’t guarantee that. If I get that out earlier, that’d be awesome as heck. But just know that I haven’t forgotten about my current longest running story.

On the topic of NaNoWriMo, I have decided to go forward with my plans to make FLaG my project. After debating on the title for ages, I finally decided to come up with a name, which is “For Love and Glory Relance”. The Relance part comes from the French “la relance”, which means “revival”. Out of all the words I could find, I figured that would fit best—not to mention be roll off the tongue easier than the French translation of Remastered! I still have a few ideas with where I would love to go with this remastered project, and similar to BT, I would love to post this story (once it’s been cleaned up, of course) on the original’s fifth anniversary. What said ideas will be, though, will be hidden until the story is officially posted!

Recently, I’ve been in a huge mood for Punkin’ Puss and Mushmouse content, including a little doodle that I’ve posted on my main blog. I’ve been rereading “Temporary Truce”, and I’m thinking that some time next year, once I finish up Big City Tabby, I want to get started on the sequel of this story, titled “A Hillcat’s Requiem”, as soon as possible! I MAY or may not put up a few rewrites of certain scenes from Temporary Truce just to give you an idea of what to expect from the sequel…not to mention to share my improvement as a writer!

I’m planning on updating my accounts soon (I’ve had the same format for the last year, lol!) to make them look better. Obviously not now, but just expect a few changes starting this week!

That’s all I have to share with you all for now! See you all soon!

[retphienix]

Hoh. I did what I set out to do today- beat The Last Remnant. :)

Now I, to the surprise of no one, have a Lot to Say because of course I do.

But I’ll be kind and toss it in a read more with only some of it leaking out.

1) This ending, coupled with the last few scenes which kind of sold me on the way the story has been presented the entire game, really raised my opinion on the story a good handful of marks.

It’s still a story where all the interesting stuff is kinda not the focus of our characters, but it has a point to that (Rush’s POV) and the end here puts just enough of it into frame that I end up satisfied :)

2) I completely and entirely LOVE Rush, he has become one of my favorite MCs in a game just because of how he’s handled throughout. He is DUMB AS DIRT *BY DESIGN* and the story BENEFITS from this- wild.

3) You can’t convince me that Dave and Rush aren’t, or at least wouldn’t have been, a couple. Just saying. Those tears coupled with the EVERYTHING that happens in this game, those two deserve each other.

Short version: I really liked this game! A LOT! It’s creative on a design level, interesting on a world building level, and just plain fun to play.

I’m honestly baffled as to why I had never heard of this game when it was current, or hell, anytime after until stumbling upon a video mentioning it for all of a minute.

I’m glad it got a remaster and I hope that remaster showed a few people this bizarre gem- preferably people who ended up enjoying it :P

Long below, mostly just gonna ramble a bit~

It’s an understatement to say the last few scenes improved my opinion of the story as a whole but even then I have to admit the story lacks in a lot of ways. I’m not entirely convinced it was “by design” that everything interesting is background noise- I’m more convinced that they noticed the problem and rewrote the latter half to accommodate and retroactively improve the quality of things DESPITE that still being the case.

But it did improve quite a bit :) I’m left happy to have seen the story as told and genuinely feel a NG+ run would have me appreciate it a bit more, though I’d probably still point at dumb moments or missed opportunities lol.

I mean the final scene attempts to ‘reveal’ something you get a basic understanding of a fifth of the way through the game, and then get reminded of at every possible opportunity- it’s a weak reveal but it’s kinda all they could do when they didn’t build up much for the finale beyond Rush’s relationships.

I mean hell, the drop at the end about “Remnants being abused” rings true for humanity but in universe it’s never displayed as a real problem or even a possibility. You see a violent mob saying Remnants are being abused, you see 1 evil guy abusing remnants, and you see some mad scientists.

Those in power, by and large, aren’t abusing them- and neither are normal people. It’s, as silly as it is, just a couple people. ONE OF WHICH IS SEEMINGLY THE CONQUEROR prior to him revealing the truth.

Like, world wide he’s the one to use the most to cause the most damage and abuse their power. Him. Not even the old duke managed that.

Most remnants are just being used to like purify water, be an elevator, or fight off monsters. It’s pretty much just a couple mad scientists and a single corrupt politician, all of which were defeated by the rest of humanity because they didn’t like what they were doing.

So his morality test makes more sense in like the real world and not so much the game world they tried to build up.

Then again there is a big history to this world- of which the god emperor was pretty shitty to some people potentially for remnant power- so it happens but this fantasy world seems pretty adverse to abusing them. So weak stance, Mr. Conqueror.

What else.

I’m SUPER glad this was a blind as heck playthrough.

I’m also curious about trying NG+ at some point for a low BR run but I’m skeptical it’ll happen- it’s no secret that in part because of this blog motivating me to beat games I rarely return to replay the ones I beat x.x

It’s a double edge sword if there ever was one- This blog has entirely changed how I play games and mostly for the better- but I also don’t generally take games I beat for the blog and then go completionist on them like I used to before this blog.

Pre-Blog I’d 100% and master a game for a year.

Post-Blog I beat like 15 games a year but I only just beat them- I do everything that interests me in that first playthrough, but I knowingly miss out on OTHER things I WOULD enjoy because they require me to do x-y-z and I mentally weigh it all and say “Nah, just beat it”

Like I said, it’s more good than bad. But a game like this intrigues me and makes me wish I had played it years ago and maybe beaten it like 6 times lol.

Here, I’m blanking on things to say because the biggest thing I wanted to share was shared in a previous post- namely the whole “The game is from Rush’s POV and it works and made me like the story a bit” thing.

I know for a fact there’s more to say- but unprompted I’m lost because I’m in that post-game euphoria lol.

This was good.

For anyone who considers themselves a fan of RPGs I think I’d recommend this because it’s so different from everything I’ve played and I’ve played a good chunk of RPGs.

I won’t say it’s perfect, but I will say it’s pretty damn good and VERY interesting.

And has a fucking AWESOME protagonist for unconventional reasons.

Oh! Oh! After the credits finished I checked what the “Conqueror Rank 3″ thing meant- apparently the Conqueror is stronger the more quests you complete, I got a middling one (It goes to 8) but I’m happy with that.

Also he loses abilities based on what town remnants you.. something- the gist I got was that various questlines (most of which I lost access to, for instance I fucked up that Royotia volcano quest and I wanted to do that! :( ) would either give you the remnants as talismans or... something, and doing those would remove those abilities from his spell list, or something.

I didn’t get too invested because I’m still holding onto the fantasy of me replaying this in like a year on NG+ and figuring more of it out myself :)

[tumblunni]

Miscellaneous rambling Game Thoughts that I am Thinking about Game Today’s Think: Spice up the calendar stat raising gameplay a bit with ~festivals!~

LONG RAMBLE INCOMING

* Festivals that aren’t just markings on the calendar like in persona, but minigames like animal crossing and harvest moon! Also Oreshika but I only know one other person who plays that, lol. I really grew to like their tournements tho, even if its just a boring samey rpg battle repeated every damn year for centuries. It became oddly more useful in the postgame because everyone’s levels are so high and the amount of Devotion (job class selection points, basically) doesn’t increase as the enemies get buffed. So the twice yearly contests are the only reliable way to get a huge amount of devotion all at once, which is great if you’re grinding out new characters en masse and trying to get a rare inheritance trait! (srsly tho i have got TOTALLY sick of the ‘everyone lives and dies and then you play as their descendants’ thing by now, it just makes me feel extra guilty for grinding. I had to kill like 300 dads!) ...MAN I’M GOING OFFTOPIC LOL Anyway what I mean is that there’s a way bigger incentive to look forward to festivals/contests if the reward from them is something super useful that you can’t get anywhere else! Princess Maker 2 had a similar sort of thing, because money was really hard to make and the prize from a single tournement could fund like four months of combat classes! So whatever these rewards are gonna be, they should be like that and be a big boost that can help power-level your charries. Maybe even a x2 multiplier on experience for a particular stat, until january next year? or maybe this is how training gyms level up, instead of having exp? your fame rises in the tourney and you’re able to buy better equipment! Oh, and maybe the non-combat festivals could give a reward of a big relationship boost with certain characters? Gotta impress all the potential dates with your pie-baking skills! (pie may also contain dates)

* Also there totally needs to be a beauty pageant or fashion show or something. I know in real life there’s barely any of those for men, but this is a fantasy world so we can just say this town’s mayor is Damn Cool! And also it goes without saying that we’re gonna indulge the fantasy of having an unbiased set of judges that aren’t racist or homophobic or pedophiliac or anorexia obsessed or.. well, real life has a LOT of problems that games don’t have to emulate, lol. So yeah! This lil town in jrpgland has a big ol fancy fashion contest and it’s a fun event for everyone! Enjoy making mr grizzled warrior protagonist look cute as hell! * Basically this but What If It Wasn’t A Joke Seriously I hate seeing stuff like that on memes about being progressive, when it was clear within the context of the show that kids were meant to laugh at that male character wearing dresses. Man I was SO damn happy when Steven Universe subverted that trope and had an end of episode twist be Steven crossdressing and loving it and everyone is like ‘wow classic steven’ and cheering for him. Also they didn’t force the socially anxious girl to sing on stage! Generally a great episode for breaking tropes! So yeah more like Basically This But Basically This Man I forgot how much that ending makes me grin, holy shit! It probably doesn’t have the same factor out of context, but just it makes me so happy to have a flash forward and we see Sadie still singing the song, just offstage. So we get to know that even if this whole experience was ruined for her, she hasn’t given up on her dreams, and she’s way more confident with singing in front of other people even if she isn’t ready for singing with strangers. I love her and Steven’s friendship so much, seriously! its such a good big sister sort of thing, and this episode was great for showing steven stepping up to protect her but like.. not in any sort of cliche macho way. By winning back the crowd with a fab dress! * So yeah anyway Where Was I Before I Got Offtopic Lol It won’t be a crossdressing-only pageant or anything, but it’ll be a unisex fashion show and I’m not gonna include any form of homophobic nonsense from real world fashion industry. And I wanna give loads of options so the player can pick whatever they prefer, and I’m writing this character as the sort of dude who would love all of them! Dark antihero trenchcoats are cool but what about also PASTEL LOLITA TOP HATS * Maybe could have gameplay similar to the gen 4 version of Pokemon Contests? With the multiple judges! In those games the judges were all identical and it was just ‘don’t pick the same judge twice’, here it could be more like the three judges have different tastes and you have to coordinate your style and performance to get as many points as you can. Do you gamble it all on super-impressing one judge, or make an unconventional combo outfit that can bank medium level points with everyone? And like maybe the cooking contest could have the same sort of gameplay, cos that’s another festival where you could say the judges could have different tastes. Also maybe friend characters have a random chance of appearing as a judge! You wouldn’t get any bonus points tho, cos they’d get kicked off if they cheated on your behalf. But maybe you can get a relationship points boost if you appeal to them? So it could be like a temptation to risk losing the contest but unlock a new romance scene with your sweetheart. THE POWER OF PIE!

* Other various festivals I have really liked in various cute town time games: * Stardew Valley’s easter egg hunt! * Rune Factory’s weird snowball fight but with turnips instead! * Parents giving you money on new years was also a thing in rune factory, and I’m pretty sure that’s based on a real thing in some country? Was it china? Your culture rules, dudes! * Also its in a lot of games cos its celebrated in japan, but I wish we celebrated it here too! The two day valentines! Seriously I way prefer the idea of having one day where one half of the couple gives a gift and then a later day where the other person gives one back in return. And its less commercialized, they even still make homemade chocolates in that country! Damn i’d love to try doing that someday! (not necessarily for a valentines thing, just in general it seems fun) Maybe could have a fun fantasy variant where people give something different instead of chocolates? or if the conditions for the two different days were different? like instead of the girl valentine and the boy valentine its.. I dunno... a day celebrating some famous social class busting couple so its meant to be for rich people hitting on commoners and vice versa? A bit of a halloween aspect where you’re allowed to do stuff that’s normally frowned upon, free of judgment. (It was like that in puritan times when people were all ‘burn the witch!’ and all) Also I like that japanese valentines has ‘honmei and giri’- chocolates for actual crushes, but you can also give them to friends and family! More holidays need to be an excuse for friend gifts! (also those are really catchy names for such a thing)

* Speaking of which, maybe I could throw in some festivals from my home country? Mostly britain has similar holidays to america with a few missing, but there’s a few ones unique to the different regions which are pretty fun. I don’t know a lot about all of them but here’s some of the ones we have in my are, Wales! * Guy Fawkes’s Day. Official day for hella fireworks! Tho people also do them at christmas and halloween, and this holiday is right in the middle so DEAR GOD I’ve been dealing with my noisy neighbours constantly exploding stuff for three months. Give it a break, guys! The story behind this holiday is actually kinda interesting though, we set off fireworks to celebrate some villainous guy who tried to bomb a castle once and everyone tied him to a tree and set him on fire. There’s even a kids’s song about this weird morbid old thing! “remember remember the fifth of november, the gunpowder treason and plot, i see no reason the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot” Also its my american friend’s birthday, which is funny cos apparantly my birthday is an american holiday too! O+O * Eisteddfod, which is like.. literally a stat testing festival in real life?? Like yknow how you have sports festivals in school, well this is that but for like.. brain. Brain sprints. In mythology the Welsh were basically the Bard class of britain, we have loads of folk heros who are like.. literally able to poetry and then your brain explodes. So poems, songs, and novels are valued a lot here, and this is the biggest day of the school schedule because of it! Everyone gets to dress in ye olden style fancy dress costumes and enter best poem/short story/painting/whatever contests, and it is SURPRISINGLY AWESOME!!! like.. everything is done with MAXIMUM HAM. M A X I M U MMMM There is no amount of hyperbole when I say that the school carves their own wooden throne and there’s a public crowning ceremony for the kids who win. This is a literal actual thing that happens once annually in every school forever. Its called the Chairing Of The Bard! And I won it once when I was 11 or so and it was both the best and worst thing ever, like holy shit i was SO terrified having to stand up in front of 300 people and put on an even more silly costume on silly costumes day... Oh and another strange thing that is actually real! School houses! like in harry potter! Its generally for younger kids tho, its like 100% of all primary schools (grade schools) and then like 1/3rd of high schools? Also the names of the houses are up to the school to decide, but for some reason they almost always seem to be red, yellow, blue and green. In my primary school they were just named for cities in wales, and I always found it really annoying that I didn’t get in Caerdydd house when the school was literally IN Caerdydd! * Also unrelated but I looked up my old high school on google and I’m surprised that so many of the same teachers are still working there seven years later! I’m so happy that some of them got promoted!

* And other miscellaneous festival ideas!!!

* You know what i fuckin love? That nonsense fantasy trope of having to fight thru a giant dungeon and get like the rare crystal feather of the fuckface bird or else you can’t marry the king’s daughter. Its even more weird and weirdly endearing when its just like.. AN EVERYONE. Eveyr marriage. Everywhere. How the fuck do these people actually survive if they have to do this five times a year?? So yeah, I think that’d be a really cool wedding festival to have as like.. a sign of this town being badass, lol But also make it less of a law, cos its not as fun if people are being forced to die on mount terror, yknow? its just a tradition that developed cos of some great adventurer in ye olden times, and goofy bastards dare each other to attempt it as the equivelant of a batchelor’s party. You don’t have to, plenty of people just make faux feather ornaments to propose to their loved one. But it’s considered a powerful good luck blessing to pull off the legendary adventure! Like only one couple every decade manages to do it, and you get a big town festival to make your special day even better! And people won’t be mad if you fail, it’s still a fun bit of entertainment for the townsfolk and a good excuse for Secondary Tradition: We All Get Drunk Instead So yeah, gameplay wise this would mean you have an option to do this festival or not. But it’s gonna be the hardest minigame of all, so don’t come unprepared! Alternatively you can either buy or make your own proposal ornament, and do things the less adventurey way. * Probably different batchelor/ettes would like different things? like Blair is an adventurer herself so of course she’ll go nuts for the traditional feather hunt. And she’d really hate the expensive ornament, cos she’s a down to earth gal who works hard to scrape together enough income in the inn to look after her lil sister. She’d get pissed off at you wasting so much on her, like wtf if you’d bought me a nice sturdy set of furniture that’d be way more useful! (Tho she’s a bit of an outlier and generally most people will at least be flattered by the fancy stuff, even if its not their favourite.) * Oh, and maybe you could actually do the feather festival together?? I actually didn’t think of that, I was just going 100% with the cliche of dude having to do some crazy quest to marry a girl. But it would be a way better test of your luck as a couple if you did it as a couple! That could be SO cool, just the two of you climbing a badass mountain and beating up monsters all lovey dovey~! And it could make the minigame entirely unique on each route, cos each character would have different roles in battle. Most of them aren’t adventurers by trade like Blair, so you could be fighting alongside a mage or a support character. Maybe one of them is actually a weakass that you need to protect? Tho I mean it would be bad to categorize one character as the least enjoyable version of the minigame. So maybe its like one character becomes that in one particular situation, and that’s the sign that you’re getting their Normal Ending instead of the Golden Ending? Someone who has some sort of doubts or a secret they’re keeping, which limits their ability here. Possibly Mortimer? Cos in his case it would be exceptionally hard not to reveal his secret in battle! And I dunno, maybe he tells the protagonist the secret before they get married, and the writing is just framed so that the player never knows but the protagonist does. Now go do his golden ending if you wanna learn more! * I like morty a lot. He’s ended up the most developed even though he’s the most recent character I added, lol!

[charmingstrangeness]

I'm so sorry, I missed the writing ask meme! If you still feel like answering questions, I'm sending 3, 5, 9, 15, 23!

oh pfft don’t apologize haha it’s all good! thank you for sending an ask, i’m always happy to answer!!

3. favorite line/scene you wrote this year

g o d this is so hard to choose you have no idea????? i’m just gonna drop a whole bunch of my favourite bullshit here (each bullet is also a link to the fic it’s taken from)

all of the dialogue from the oso zine fic tbh but especially during osomatsu’s narration

“It’s not Zura, it’s Katsura,” he corrects. “And yes, I would have woken you up. I’m here because I need your help.” / “I’m not a trained psychiatrist, Zura. I can’t give you the help you need,” Gintoki deadpans.

i’m very fond of the fight scene in the first chapter of the nightmares fic i genuinely feel like i did a good job with that

stealing dialogue from the iconic “that’s no moon” scene in a new hope for sakamoto and mutsu

“You’re an angry sack of potatoes, is what you are”

“Where did that idiot headband learn to play volleyball from, Free! Iwatobi Swim Club?”

the entire opening scene of the crossover fic i had no idea breaking the fourth wall to roast yourself was so much fun no wonder it’s a staple joke in gintama

5. most popular fic this year

this is actually tough bc i feel like it was distraction or pacifists are the best mediators as those got the best response overall when they were posted but i guess technically speaking by the numbers it was eating cheese before you sleep will give you nightmares. that being said tho it is a multichap and it didnt pass either of the other two in terms of hits or kudos until like, super late into the fall, and both are oneshots

(ao3 stats is putting distraction at the top of hits and kudos for 2017 but that’s because i just published a chapter of nightmares so it got bumped to the 2018 stats lol)

9. longest wip of the year

oh definitely the crossover fic - i know i’ve been publishing chapters but i have nothing written past what i’ve already published so it counts as a WIP hahaha. currently it’s sitting just shy of 14.5k words, all of which were written in the fall of 2017.

if we’re only including 100% unpublished stuff though, my longest WIP is that one gintama multichap i’ve been dying to write (aka The Long Fic). it’s sitting at about 7k words right now? damn and i’m only on like chapter 2 that thing’s gonna be a beast when i finally finish it and start posting

15. something you learned this year

mmmm probably the importance of having a personal reason to write a fic? for one thing, now that i can’t just sit in my room and write fic all day like i could in may i really need prioritize – if i’m gonna put the effort into writing something, it needs to be a story that i desperately want to exist, or a a piece that benefits me as a writing study or vent fic, or i need to be writing it for someone else (like for someone’s birthday or a zine).

also – and debatably more importantly – having a personal reason to write and publish helps when audience response is lacking. everyone knows i think it’s very important for creators to absolutely not measure their quality/worth by audience response, but as human beings who thrive on validation that is definitely something easier said than done. i learned that firsthand this summer, ironically with the nightmares fic – i had exactly zero comments on that fic for months, until i posted the fifth chapter in the fall. it was super discouraging & i came very, very close to falling into the “well obviously no one cares about this fic i should just stop writing it” hole over the summer. what ultimately saved the fic was the fact that i’d been using it as a style study for descriptive imagery and serious content. so i focused on that, and kept on writing, and then in the fall a whole bunch of people appeared out of the woodwork telling me how much they enjoyed it and looked forward to new chapters.

so yeah, that was an important lesson – even if you know you cant rely on audience response for validation, it’s still discouraging to not get any response, so a good way to get around that and finish your project is to have a personal reason for the project to exist. also, having a personal reason can help prioritize what projects you start when you have to balance your time with care.

(the other lesson, of course, is that thinking for even a second that people dont appreciate your writing is bullshit – comments i got in the fall concretely proved all my doubts about my writing from the summer wrong, so moving forward it’ll be easier to believe that people enjoy my fics even if they dont ever get around to saying so)

23. fics you wanted to write but didn’t

i had a really cute idea for a birthday fic for shinpachi but i was too busy in august to actually write it ;; i want it to exist too much to abandon it entirely so i’ll probably just write it and publish it sometime in the coming months lmao (birthdays are meaningless in gintama anyways since the characters don’t age so w h a t e v e r)

i was realllllly hoping to write another part to the drinking bet series in the fall but i didnt manage to get anything even to a WIP stage

i have like 5 ongoing WIPs that i was hoping to sort out over the fall as well. i had such high hopes for myself this fall idk why? like we all know the only reason i wrote so much in may and june was because i was literally unemployed and isolating myself after a breakup so i had a fuckton of spare time on hand. i knew i was moving in the fall and would have a job and a roommate to socialize with i dont know why i expected myself to get so much writing done lmao

[adauntlessangel]

BRYCE AND EMELIA

Send in two (or more) names and I’ll fill all this out about the ship!

General:

How long will they last? - Fantasy; Forever. Reality; Well, Emilia wants forever. Bryce seems reluctant but hopefully he will come around. 

How quickly did/will they fall in love? - Emilia fell after a few months. But then she stopped when New Years Eve hit and she questioned everything. It took Bryce for them to break-up to realize that holy shit, this girl was the definition of perfect…what have I done? For him to realize. So, it took them both about a year. 

How was their first kiss? - First kiss? It held a lot of innocence to it, purely because Emilia is a delicate flower and was being exposed to, at the time, a dangerous thorn. It was summer, around their third date (three dates, right? Who would have thought Bryce could hold out. But he did) but maybe after was the wrong word. It was during their third date. There was  movie festival going on in the city. Tents, fairylights, popcorn, basically a glamping/movie crossover event. It features quite a few old films that Bryce enjoyed and Emilia was always eager to experience new things. Plus, she found it beyond adorable how Bryce’s eyes seemed to just light up the second he mentioned the event. So, the two of them had gone. What no one had planned on was for it to rain! In the middle of ‘An American In Paris’ it literally started to downpour. Emilia was squealing and giggling with laughter as Bryce took his jacket off and the two of them took cover beneath a large willow tree. Fairylight were glittering all around them and the raindrops were added a diamond affect. They were surrounded by low lighting and they were breathing a bit too fast for their health considering they had fleed from the scene. They both had water droplets running down their face, and Bryce wrapped his blazer around her shoulders. It may have been hot but the sudden rain had the brunette shivering. That and she had been wearing a summer dress, who wouldn’t be chilled? Given that fact the two of them were lost in one anothers gaze, something out of an old film enough in itself. Bryce’s fingers had caressed the fullness of Emilia’s cheeks, in something of a weak attempt to dry her off. Though their wet clothes and ruined movie date were forgotten as he leaned in to kiss her. (May I add in after this date Emilia had caught a cold and soon enough gave it to Bryce because well, that is the definition of their relationship. They’re toxic for one another…but in a beautiful way.) Maybe it was the fact she’d been freezing or the way his mouth had tasted…whatever the reason was, the second Bryce’s lips came into contact with Emilia’s, she warmed. Everywhere. After a few gentle pecks, Bryce had pulled back only to say “Well aren’t we cliche…” Which Emilia responded but laughing softly and whispering “Shut up.” As she kissed him again, and this time she didn’t stop. The taste of Bryce on her lips had been mixed with the taste of rainwater and salt (popcorn) and ever since that evening, whenever it rained…Emilia always felt happy. 

Wedding:

Who proposed? - Bryce did. That’s a whole story to be hashed out though. 

Who is the best man/men? - I want to say Will but I have a feeling it’s his friend Leighton who had helped Bryce get Emilia back when they’d split up. 

Who is the braid’s maid(s)? - Okay, it’s MAN OF HONOR and it was Will. (Emilia isn’t good with having lady friends)

Who did the most planning? - Emilia did but she let Bryce hone in on a few details. Like the ceremony and the reception. Plus their honeymoon, lord knows he wanted to get in on that!

Who stressed the most? - Emilia did. But not really over the wedding, she was stressed because…well she had gotten cold feet. Not from the fact she didn’t want to marry Bryce. Everyone knows she did. She always had. She had been afraid she would have her dream wedding, dream dress, dream everything….and only to walk down to no one at the end of the aisle. She would be completely terrified at the last minute Bryce would bolt. We’ll find out later why she felt comforted the night before the wedding. 

How fancy was the ceremony? - Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big. 10000+ This is Bryce and Emilia we’re talking about…the bigger the better. Plus, Bryce’s parents probably paid for the most of it. 

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding? - Emilia’s ex-best friend Lindsey was absolutely NOT invited!

Sex:

Who is on top? - Emilia. Bryce has this certain infatuation with watching this hazel eyed goddess ride him. Maybe it’s something in the way she looks down at him that holds more than just the lust she feels with him buried to the hilt inside of her. Or maybe it’s because he has a thing for putting her pleasure first subconsciously since he had hurt her so badly in the past and he just doesn’t realize. Who knows? 

Who is the one to instigate things? - Lol. Bryce. He’s like a puppy when it comes to sex, no joke. Granted a very charming puppy who lures this beautiful girl into bed everytime but regardless, it’s Bryce. Unless Emilia is feeling really in the mood (which happens when she watches her man in action with work. Something about him and a tie…who knows why but it makes her blood warm..)

How healthy is their sex life? - Let’s just put it this way, their neighbors probably hated them. Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

How kinky are they? - Haha. Remember that tie I mentioned earlier? Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

How long do they normally last? - Depends on the day but I want to say all night? Bryce is competitive and he’s an over achiever. He likes to get things done, perfectly…and lets just say when he has a goal or mission in mind, nothing stops him. 

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms? - Absolutely. Granted, Bryce goes a bit overboard with Emilia because he loves watching that back arch and her eyes to roll right back into her head. That along with the way she basically whimpers his name with need, it feeds him on a level only she can reach. 

How rough are they in bed? -  Not sure if  they could make Dwayne blush unless it’s make-up sex after a bit fight. But, they surprise me a lot. Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it.

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do? -  So much! One time Bryce was cuddling her and started blowing raspberries on her tummy, which of course they seemed to head south if you catch my drift, but these two are snuggle buddies!No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory.

Children:

How many children will they have naturally? - Maybe 1…[Emilia wants at least 3/]

How many children will they adopt? - 0.

Who gets stuck with the most diapers? - Emilia. 

Who is the stricter parent? - Emilia, because Bryce is unsure sometimes and looks to her for the guidance. He never wanted children but Emilia does. 

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school? - I feel like it is probably an even amount of both. Emilia might be stricter but since Bryce knows how bad things can get when you misbehave (with Emilia involved) he probably interferences a lot. 

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)? - Emilia, she cuts the crust off their sandwiches. :D

Who is the more loved parent? - Bryce. Literally, Bryce is. Their children love Bryce so much it’s almost comedic. I think they get it from Emilia, who would have thought the boy who deserved no love, would be loved this much? 

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings? Both. Emilia is dragged as Bryce goes (he loves the center of attention and how jealous Emilia gets because all of the PTA moms think Bryce is hot but he only has eyes for Emilia and she literally gets so jealous that when a bake sale comes into town she OD’s so much it’s not even funny)

Who cried the most at graduation? - Emilia did, blubbered like a baby. 

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law? - Bryce! He’ll cover their kids asses so much it’s not even funny. It’ll piss Emilia off because she’s going to throw out that whole ‘how will they learn’ spiel but yeah haha. 

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking? - It’s kind of on and off, they eat out a lot. Bryce works late sometimes and Emilia too. It’s kind of a rare occasion(pre-children) that they get a chance to cook. 

Who is the most picky in their food choice? - Bryce because he is a grown ass manchild. 

Who does the grocery shopping? - They both do? Bryce finds it amusing by how happy Emilia gets by going to the grocery store. He thinks it’s ridiculous something so stupid makes her happy but hey, he loves her and he can’t help but chuckle when she ooh’s over new cereal. 

How often do they bake desserts? - They both have a sweet tooth, so, often?

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater? - Meat. All the way. Steak, everything haha. 

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner? - Surprise? Bryce. He had a knack for surprising her more times than not. Maybe not for an anniversary but just in general. 

Who is more likely to suggest going out? - Bryce? Honestly like I said they both like to eat out. 

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidently while cooking? - Sadly, Emilia. Simply because she’ll be distracted trying to study and attempt a homecooked meal. 

Chores:

Who cleans the room? - Emilia. 

Who is really against chores? - Bryce because he is a spoiled manchild but Emilia makes him. 

Who cleans up after the pets? - They both do, but I don’t think they want animals?

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug? - Bryce. that’s how he would show off that he ‘cleaned’.

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over? - Emilia because she wants to offer good impressions for both herself and Bryce. It’s not your casual BBQ buddies that come over. They’re CEO’s and entrepreneurs. 

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning? - Lol. Emilia. But then they argue over who actually gets it because it’s Bryce’s couch.

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths? - I feel like they both do. Emilia and Bryce have a soft spot for shower sex...so. 

Who takes the dog out for a walk? - I want to say again, they both would? Emilia doesn’t like being home alone at night and Bryce is trying to show how manly he is by walking their dog. 

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays? - Lol. Often. Emilia goes overboard. She loves the holidays, and Bryce probably won’t ever admit it, but with Emilia? I think he loves it too. 

What are their goals for the relationship? - I know Emilia wants them to live happily ever after, married with babies. I feel like Bryce wants to be with her forever...just not with the title? It’s complicated. 

Who is most likely to sleep till noon? - Bryce, and Emilia would let him. He deserves it. 

Who plays the most pranks? - ... This is an ongoing thing so I do not know.