#it'd still also be funny it that was the actual original dialogue

[phantombre]

Uh...

...Rema?

Remember in the birthday post when I said that I had some more sketches?

Well I have more sketches:

Some other guys that I don't have posted designs yet but I really like.

Your Contrarian to me is very cowboy coded. I know he's the Bard, but... I don't know... He got yeehaw energy. (For the record, I do not think this is a bad thing. In fact, Cowboy Contra is a really interesting idea actually...) Also, I can only hope that my take on Contra has even a fraction of the smug that yours has.

World record for Living Being with the Most Sass obviously goes to Oppy. Your version, especially.

Paranoid is just the most adorable guy... Just look at him! Ahh!

I like to think that Cold can flare out his cloak like a peacock as he floats about. (As if his aura isn't intimidating enough.) Very spooky. :)

And I thought this was all...

...but it ain't...

As I was sketching, I had this idea:

My Hero was already pretty tall, but it'd be funny if he was still somewhat dwarfed by your Bard. (Also, the eye. Holy shit, I didn't know he even had eyes 'til I saw your redesigns. So unnerving. It's perfect.)

And wow! I still wasn't done. The hell is wrong with me?

I remember seeing the Guts Trio comic (which I adore, btw). I really like this panel:

...and this is all I can think about:

It's that scene from the animated version of the Little Mermaid with the pipe and the- ahhh! It's so good!

Poor Skeptic, though. He seems really roughed up trying to hang with Stubborn and Hunted...

Actually, you know what? I can't have this. He deserves better...

God, I haven't done a digital painting since my Long Quiet... Feels good. Need to do more...

Anyway, there he is! The reason this took me so long to post. Loosely based on that scene in your fic. Had to give him the utmost respect. He is a classy Detective, after all.

Okay... Just two more, I promise...

Part of this one was actually supposed to be part of the original gift:

Yep! I originally had the Narrators, but I couldn't finish it in time (also was trying to look for any references to your designs). I ended up recycling it for this comic idea.

But oh? What's this?

But of course! Your helmless Smitten is absolutely gorgeous! The most beautiful man!

Writing his dialogue, however, was the hardest thing for me. (Not even sure if I did it justice here...)

It was at this point that I completely ran out of steam (not permanently, but man, my brain hurts). I had a concept for a part two to the Smitten comic, but I am drained. I guess I can give the dialogue for it...

My Narry: Good Lord, he talks endlessly...

Rema's Narry: Yes, perhaps the most annoying of the bunch.

My Narry: Glad we don't have one-

?????: Oh, on the contrary, villains!

Rema's Narry: you can't be serious...

My Narry: WHAT THE SHI-

Gee, wonder who mystery dude is...

Anyway, this post is way too long. I am so sorry. My brain autopilots too much.

These are all additional birthday gifts for @remaking-machine. I hope you enjoy. Your art is very inspirational. I had a fun time.

Time to eep

[egg-witch]

As usual I am thinking too hard about the biology of fictional characters so. Thoughts I am compelled to share about Boothill below

Canonically he has synthetic, blue blood. This would cause his skin tone to seem quite strange and greyish. Extra so if he's as pale as he is in-game but this would still be apparent with most darker skin tones as well. Man's gonna be looking a bit like a zombie

The intent here is debatable but I also choose to interpret that same line to mean that he does *not* have a synthetic heart - the original's still in there, just running on new juice

Related to this and also the fact he can seemingly have a bullet explode in his mouth without serious repercussions I am going to assume that his skull and whatever else would be left of his skeleton have been enhanced or replaced (having human bone marrow in there making new blood cells would likely mess with things if they replaced that whole system)

This is very funny to me because it seemingly means instead of just putting his brain inside a whole synthetic body the doctor went to the trouble to keep his original face, despite replacing/augmenting his teeth, eyes, tongue and, one can extrapolate, his entire damn skull. He was ready to give up everything except his pretty complexion I guess...

(Unless his face *is* synthetic and intellitrons just have no desire for a realistic human face with the capacity to emote? The rest of boothill's body seems flexible in a way that would suggest a good synthetic equivalent to human skin, so... it's plausible)

Speaking of, I really do not subscribe to the idea that he can't feel anything from the neck down. Do you know how hard it'd be to do anything as a human with a meat brain (or even as a robot for that matter) without any haptic feedback? If they have the technology to make him a whole new body that has equal or better mobility and general function than the old one then they can make it feel things, I promise. Probably not in all the same ways human flesh can feel things, especially if a lot of it is rigid plating, but it'd still be conductive to heat and electricity at least

I know the reason his model is that way is bc it's just a different texture on the same default character model, hence it bending and stretching like a soft body - building, rigging and animating a humanoid body that truly moves like a rigid machine would be an absurd amount of work and also limit the visual design, his canon design straight up would not be able to move or work if all those parts really were rigid no matter how you approached it lol. but it is very hot and looks cool which is what really matters. so I've settled on most of the "plating" being tough but still somewhat flexible, not actually metal but an advanced synthetic material of some sort. and then material more like an artificial skin between joints and in the parts that need extra stretch and flexibility. he's harder (and heavier) than a human but he's not a tin can

Based on screwllum's dialogue that he can and does eat regular food (but the phrasing implies that he could also eat other stuff? And there's that exchange from one of the light cones where ruan mei makes a joke about him having to drink machine oil) and the implication that the doctor who gave boothill his new body was an intellitron, I think boothill must have something similar - he can still eat normal food but also process other things. Idk if the fuel hatch on his back is a redundancy then or what. Could just be that nobody anticipated he'd think gasoline tastes good lmao

(side note while it's kinda implied in game that his weird tastes are a result of an augmented mouth and tongue I like to think he was always like that. He was eating rocks out of the garden as a kid and licking rusty old coins and stuff u can't convince me otherwise)

(also this is getting off track but this guy clearly has some kinda fixation on like. machinery. I think even though he did it for unrelated reasons he thinks his cyborg body is very hot and probably also has a little bit of a thing for intellitrons ngl. which is interesting given his history and the associations one would first assume he'd have with that kind of technology and aesthetic, but. can't fault a guy for knowing what he's into)

Whoops this got super long

Stay tuned for the sequel, "KC analyses boothill's personality way too seriously"

[artificialandroid]

Alright! So! I'm a fucking idiot A few days ago @r0m4ndotexe mentioned piercing headcanons for the NuCani boys and I meant to do something with it after the anxiety of posting and tagging died down only to promptly forget about it. Sooo!! Please indulge me as I rant for a moment and commemorate yet another "rare" post to these morons.

Eiden: Of course he had his ears pierced, nothing super complex or overly interesting but just the incredibly basic lobe studs as a fun starting point. Do not let him fool you!! The lip ring he wears is a fake! He will try to convince you otherwise! He is lying!! Yakumo: Obviously the easiest answer is to simply mention his gemstone and honestly I'm going to stick with it. Look at this poor boy and tell me he wouldn't be absolutely terrified of needles. He does like to add little decorations to his gemstone though!

Edmond: Absolutely not! He's thought about them of course and he's let his eyes wander more than once to Olivine's gemstone but he also has more than enough restraint. It'd be too impractical for a knight to be worrying about getting it caught anywhere, not to mention the maintenance. He's too busy and too worried about other things, but it's not like he hasn't thought about it.

Olivine: Olivine Olivine Olivine by sweet summer boy, of course, he has piercings! Nipples, lobes, helix, I'm again going to count his gemstone as one just for shits and giggles. However! This is where things get funny~ He does in fact have the piercing he mentions in one of his homescreen dialogues~ Originally he wasn't going to! A man of the cloth can't be allowing himself to be too indulgent after all, but then of course Eiden comes around. If you're going to name a piercing "Jacob's ladder" then it must be alright to some degree~?

Quincy: Too troublesome, because of course they are. The upkeep, the healing time, and the risk of getting it caught in a tree branch is just not worth it. Eiden has begged this man many times to get something, purely for his own enjoyment but the farthest he's managed to get is clipping a few of his fake rings to Quincy's ears while he's asleep and simply enjoying the view until he notices, or cares.

Kuya: Kuya Kuya Kuya, this man, this bastard of a man. Absolutely zero interest in the concept at first, I mean, what's all this uproar about sticking holes and metal in your body? For fun?? Humans are weird. Up until the point where he overhears Eiden's many attempts at begging Quincy to get his tongue pierced, it'd just look so good on him! Kuya isn't going to speak his agreement, but he will have a little surprise for the younger master the next time he's in an important meeting~

Garu/Karu: No, mostly for their own safety. Garu is interested though! The little shiny decorations that nearly everyone seems to have look like so much fun! But Karu is so against it that it's hard for Garu to hear his own thoughts. Why should they mark themselves like these lowly humans!? That and I'm again a firm believer that Karu is also afraid of needles but refuses to admit it.

Blade: Honestly I had a bit of trouble with this boy, at least in terms of trying to add some kind of reality to how it would work for him. Personally, I think he'd be incredibly interested, Darling looks so cute with his piercings and he loves loves loves when he shows them off! But I also think that it just wouldn't be that easy to actually pierce an E-droid's skin, that doesn't leave out fun little stickers though!

Dante: Number one on my goddamn bastard list, yes even in front of Kuya! Give me an SSR you bastard!!! Still love him though and what would make him even better!? Give This Man Traditional Middle Eastern Piercings!!! Give him that nose ring with the chain! The ears! The belly button! Bangle This Man!!! Please.

Rei: Now I'm again going to cheat here, Rei looks fucking identical to one of my own OCs so I am making the decree that they have the same piercings as well. Lobe, industrial, two helixes and of course the tongue. Easy, simple, 1000% self-indulgent, let's move on shall we~?

The familiars: Honestly the two familiars were the easiest for this (besides Olivine) so I may or may not be splitting this up a bit~

Little Aster: I don't care that it's probably impractical but this little guy has his wings pierced, not the actual membrane itself but simply cute little rings and chains around the forearm. Aster: Another easy and simple but he definitely has his lobes done and probably all around his helix as well. Scarlet Finesse: Now this! This is a masterpiece! Every piercing he has in his basic form with snake bites to cap it off~ I'm also a firm believer that much like Yakumo, Aster has a forked tongue. It's not as pronounced as Yakumo's is but Aster does have both sides of his tongue done.

Little Morvay: Best boy, baby boy, cute boy, so cute I'm going to strangle him I swear to god. I don't think he has any piercings in this form and originally had the idea of at least giving him little rings to put over his little horns but I'm going to scrap that idea. Morvay: Baby, baby, baby, baby, who going to match with my other baby and have his nipples pierced as well as simple little lobes and that helix. After all, what incubus wouldn't have his nipples pierced??? Mauve Mayhem: Everything, god damn everything, he's the other half of the reason why Olivine has so many and no I don't have favourites. Nipples, bellybutton, Jacob's ladder, industrial, helix, lobes, snake bites and his tongue. But~ Just like Aster and Yakumo, he has a differently shaped tongue, although unlike them, it's tapered. He has three studs down the middle~! There! Done~! I did it~!! And if you've made it this far, thank you for reading my mad ramblings! Hopefully, it's all coherent enough! Good luck with those pulls~!!!

[jezmmart]

Chamomile Comic Trivia #31

#159 - Notice

It's Sam! I wish I had written down more about my decision to add her, although at this point I'm fairly sure I wasn't certain she was going to become a main character - in fact it was RIGHT around the week this posted that I began work on the first proper cover art for the series which of course did not include her.

Her design was based off this old one-off pin-up girl art from 2017, technically making her the first ever major Chamomile Comic character to exist, sort of.

She was named after Sam Lloyd, likely known for his portrayal of Ted the Lawyer from Scrubs. The news of his death had recently broken and I had just recently begun listening to Fake Doctors, Real Friends, the Scrubs rewatch podcast, as my go-to background entertainment when colouring the comic specifically each week. It still is now, albeit intermittently since they don't always produce an episode each week and I no longer have a backlog to catch up on. Now granted, I don't love the podcast as much as I used to - can be a bit cringey at times as these two hollywood actors chat about utterly unrelatable anecdotes from their lives - but it's overall been enjoyable and it'll be weird to find something new to accompany my colouring if it does come to an end or stops being enjoyable once they permanently pivot into... whatever they plan to do after they run out of Scrubs episodes. It's been part of my colouring process for the comic for longer than it hasn't been now, haha. So... yeah it felt right to honour that connection to my comic with Sam's name, on top of the fact that Scrubs is just straight-up one of my favourite TV shows and Ted was always a character that gave me big laughs.

Of course... I realised after that I'd introduced yet another character to the comic ending in "-a"! ...But whatever, it's a common thing. Not so long ago I had 5 co-workers simultaneously whose names also ended in -a, lol.

The decision to have had her always be around simply came from not having any strong ideas to introduce her and preferring the idea that at least some of the cast already knew her. The gag's been done before, but I thought it'd be extra funny to introduce her with a scene in which she is specifically announcing her departure from being a regular face in Cammie's life, which typically would mean the same for the audience in most works with actually established characters.

Final little bonus note - in panel 1, Cammie once again is entering with a handful of steaming coffee.

#160 - Official

I didn't really mean for it to be so small it's barely legible at web size, but the little sign on the panic alarm button behind the till says "Real emergencies only Cammie!", in reference to #50.

#161 - Before

All that Scrubs talk regarding Sam is kinda fitting, because they did the "this character was always here!" gag there too. For their one, they edited her in on various memorable shots and pretended the main character didn't notice her being present, here I obviously extended the frame on the end of several punchline panels from previous comics.

Here's a gif that shows the original panels compared to the new ones, showing both the new and old art isolated as well so you can see exactly what I drew to extend the older panels which naturally weren't drawn originally knowing that I would one day be extending them!

The second of the three Sam flashbacks is just a nice little bridging one, but it did take me a while to decide for sure which way around I wanted the first and third flashback panel. For the first: while there's been a little bit of mild bad language in the comic once the seal was broken here, Sam's "bitch" is the first time such language has appeared so it amused me to place it in a scene that has already happened long ago just barely outside of the audience's perspective. For the third: the joke is of course that the reveal of Sam's additional dialogue is particularly adding nothing to the scene whatsoever - like, as if Cammie making a fool of herself would even be remark-worthy at this point. I felt both these two goofs had a good punch to them in their own way so yeah, I remember being conflicted over whether I had chosen the funniest possible flow of these three gags.

Of course, the final joke of this one, in case it wasn't obvious (I could see it being subtle for some), is that Mimi's whole running gag is she's a side character who also has existed in the comic for long before her first on-screen appearance, yet Cammie never remembers her.

#162 - New

The art and dialogue structure of the first two panels here is identical to #160. I think it being a time-saver on my workload for the week was definitely a factor - for whatever reason I needed it at the time - but I also remember going for something with that choice beyond just that... But I can't for the life of me remember what. I don't think the parallel between the two comics adds anything reading them back now.

Anyway here's Newt! I really thought at the time that he was going to be as significant an addition as Sam, and I did come up with the idea of introducing a regular male character at the time I chose to bring Sam in, with Sam's introduction - and exit - being an amusing way to introduce a surprise new character.

...Then I proceeded to never really get any super strong story ideas for him lol. More detail on that in a second. I haven't forgotten him though, frustrates me that he keeps getting sidelined!

#163 - Training

Standard behind-the-scenes retail frustration humour here. I can neither confirm nor deny how much is based on my current employment. A little detail of authenticity/flavour is that they're watching a DVD intended for widescreen on an old non-widescreen TV that's clearly been in their staff room for at least a decade. Such was the case for my painful training videos too! (It's all online now as of a few years into when I started, so some progress has been made I guess).

#164 - Huh

It's not made clear yet, but the new status quo that Sam is a receptionist at a primary school is established here - the coloured hanging letter signage on the wall that is too perspective'd to read says "WELCOME TO OUR SCHOOL".

I chose this as a job for her based simply on the fact that my Mum has often worked in school offices for most of my life. She wasn't a receptionist but it was the sort of job where I have some... vague enough memories of the "behind-the-scenes" enough to draw something along those lines when I needed to show Sam at work.

Getting back to Newt, obviously the goof here is that Cammie is just being a sore loser about her friend leaving and Newt is about the most cool-sounding interesting person you could imagine meeting. Unfortunately that involved specifically coming up with fun sounding stuff that are not super common to do or know people that do, so despite the super interesting combo of cave-diving, stand-up and polyamory these are all things I feel like I'd have to do thorough research on to represent in the actual comic accurately... which is something I'd like to do but, time is finite and I have so much pre-existing experience with being a silly nonsense person. Would you believe it, there's another character in the comic for whom that experience lends itself very well!!

Speaking of whom, the first appearance of the bell on the door in Repeat 1 Records was only a month after Cammie got the job. She works fast!

[Trivia Archive | Browse from most recent]

[squishylemonbubbles]

HI IT'S SKRUNKS im here for the fic ask game >:]

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

H: How would you describe your style?

G: Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

K: What's the angstiest idea you've ever come up with?

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you'd care to share?

T: Any fandom tropes you can't stand?

(if this is too many to answer feel free to like. pick three or something <3)

WAAAHHH SKRUNKSSSS!!!! >:D i will do my best!!!

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

i guess... hmmm... like, a lot of my character elements and dialogue pieces come from personal experience, but not necessarily full plots? i think to be alive (majima in hospital after being freed from the hole) is my most direct "personal experience" kind of fic... most of that was true to my own experience nearly dying, up to and including the fucking awful blood pressure experience, and the shattered faces arguing.

another one that comes from personal experience in a way is i'm sorry i'm sorry (kiryu's nightmare in hospital) because that was literally a nightmare i had in hospital and i've been carrying it with me for a year lmao. it still gets under my skin sometimes but i wrote a followup, the sweetest company, so i try and think about that instead LOL

H: How would you describe your style?

UHHHH... i dunno?? a lot of times i don't really feel like i have a "style" i just feel like i'm stumbling around in the dark. i know that's not really true though? it's just, i have the inside view of how tangled up my brain is so i see all of the things that i don't like, that don't match up, or that feel inadequate.

G: Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

that definitely depends... i mean i've done both, especially in multichaps, but i've found that doing things out of order sometimes ends up weaker for me. something about the jumping around makes inconsistencies in my head lol

K: What's the angstiest idea you've ever come up with?

hmm. i guess that depends on the kind of angst...

yearning angst maybe? anything with goromi, or especially the hannya, set while kiryu is in okinawa and majima's still in tokyo. i dunno if you've seen much of my ramblings about the hannya but she's like, the cross between goromi and hannya man, since i think majima's faces are funky like that - there's an ebb and flow and sometimes they take shape together. i have a post here for visual reference with a lovely fanart!! i am still dying over this!!

the essence of the hannya is that she's silent, desperate for love, and possessive - pretty much, kiryu is the only thing she cares and thinks about. so if he isn't there to hold onto her, to remind her that he loves her, well... pain and despair. (see: starlit love)

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you'd care to share?

fuuuuck lol.

ryuji kicking around somewhere - i would love to do this, i really would. but i can't figure out how to write him, or even what he should be doing. i take a slight dead souls approach to him where he's alive as an amputee, though he does not get a gun prosthesis. actually, he doesn't like having a prosthetic arm at all, entirely refusing it.

maid cafe kazumi - this was my original idea long before i went maid cafe goromi! but i do think she's too shy to put on that kind of act, even in private. it's funny because kiryu has no problems with doing it himself, but the idea of acting along - or leading the act - as kazumi just. completely flusters her.

anything with tanimura - i want to write him. i don't know how to write him. i like him. i like him a lot more than i expected. he's also a stealth trans man. that's an experience i'm not quite sure how to write, i guess.

DATE X EARTH ANGEL MAMA - i need it so bad. this was born entirely of a scrambled-brain misconception and it'd be so silly but like... what if... what if i made it cute?

puppyplay kazumaji - specifically, pup majima. i really like it but i just can't get it to work when i try writing it... dog day by faggotrevolution1917 is like, what i WISH i could write, "and then they boned" is what i FEEL like i write LOL.

club four shine meeting kazumi - this one feels out of reach for me because i just don't have yakuza kiwami 2 and my bf never really touched club four shine, lol. i think yuki caught onto hints of goromi way back when, even though she never saw goromi herself, so when kazumi rolls around she's like ":) FINALLY a guy who can admit herself"

nishiki and majima NOT bonding - i feel strongly about this, that they wouldn't get along no matter how hard kiryu might try, but also... like, i view nishiki as a character sympathetically, i understand him, but any time i try and write him i just feel THE WORST because i knew someone that reminds me too much of him and they still make my fucking blood boil because of how they treated me after having been my best friend for years. it's VERY PERSONAL. so like. i don't want to write nishiki horribly out of character - it's one thing if you write a character OOC but positively, because fans of that character can often at least try to nod along. but OOC negatively? people are a lot more upset by that.

drag king haruka - that says it all basically!!

this isn't even a premise it's just a vague "i wish" but i think nair is really really cool and she deserves at least ONE fic featuring her

T: Any fandom tropes you can't stand?

hmmmm... i guess, like:

goromi being hyper-violent - more on that here but basically i don't think she's actually that interested in fighting for fun outside of kiryu. she can and will fight if threatened, but the enjoyment comes from kiryu specifically.

kiryu or majima randomly degrading the other during sex - like if there isn't explicit mention of humiliation/degradation kinks, or any kind of negotiation, even if it's just vaguely referenced... it just does not do it for me. i don't like kiryu randomly saying "you fucking bitch." he would not do that :(

hannya man being easily "shed" - i think the whole point of hannya man is to scare people, by majima pulling all the strings and being mysterious while doing it. so i don't think he'd just pull off the mask and cackle when he's "done with it", you know? he'll slink into the shadows like nothing happened, and some time later, majima will reappear, feigning innocence.

AH i'm sure i've missed some things for any of these questions lol but hopefully not too much?? i hope this was fun/cool/enlightening to read hehehe

[randomsloredrops]

Random's Lore Drops - Grampa Gerson

WAHAHA, I'm BACK bitches, and I brought lore. More specifically...

GRANDPA GERSON HIMSELF, THE FUNNY MAN FROM WATERFALL. I'll just add a read more here so my thing doesn't take up all the space.

. There we go. Time to yap. So, y'all prolly know Gerson, maybe you've never played Undertale before and don't (if so, wild). Gerson is a turtoise Monster, as well as a shopkeeper in Waterfall, near the mid-point save point (a little past Napstablooks house, Mad Dummy fight, etc.). He's got all ya ever need, such as an archaeologist outfit, pointy gray beard, bigass magnifying glass, crooked yellow teeth, and no right eye. According to my sources... I have to use the dialogue, so, shit. Time for me to REALLY yap. Neutral/Pacifist route, he yaps a bit when you wanna talk. He also names Asgore "King Fluffybuns". Aside from that, he tells you a few things, like, the Delta Rune, unrelated to Deltarune, or DELTARUNE, Undyne, and The prophecy. Post-Pacifist dialogue, you go up, and he yaps about the origins of Fluffybuns (the nickname). He also talks about Asgore being a Boss Monster, and that's what makes him stronger, as well as the fact that Boss Monsters only age while having biological children (or children aging only when they have biological parents). He also talks about Toriel's disappearance, and how she was the brains behind everything in the kingdom (really emphasizes how unfit Asgore is to run the throne alone), AND he also says that they were absolutely fuckin INSUFFERABLE. Embarrassing their children by doing lovey-dovey shit, and I gotta agree, I'd be glad it's over too. It'd make ME sick. And about Undyne. He talks about his own past as well as her, where he was known as "The Hammer of Justice" (looks like we know where Spear of Justice came from), and how young Undyne would occassionally try to help fight bad guys... Except, the "bad guys" are actually civilians. Poor fellows. In Genocide, he's got fucking balls of titanium. He still stays in his store, and admits that his knowledge is the only reason he keeps living (he says that when you threaten him, admitting to breaking the world's rules). He outright LIES about him not being a hero ever, unlike in pacifist, and states that "one attack from you and I'd... well...", knowing he can't beat you. A few neat facts (according to my source (the mfin wiki)), it's revealed that Gerson FOUGHT in the Human-Monster war, meaning he's old AF, matching or following up Asgore and Toriel, and if you name yourself Gerson, instead of going "NUH UH" like every other person, he goes "Wah ha ha! Why not?" and lets you become Gerson 2.0.

[drac-onion]

Back at it again. A year since I posted Beneath Her Mask. Same thing as last time. Fun facts or just looking back at something I done did write once upon a time exactly a year ago.

This is going to be very "stream of consciousness" and probably hard to read, but here goes.

First off, wow that title sucks. I came up with it like right before posting and then rolled with it. Nowadays I would put off uploading something for MONTHS if I couldn't figure out an original and interesting title. Oops.

Anyway, this one is a lot better than the last one. Promise. The whole thing is a little bit iffy still, but I was very new. The formatting is the main issue I have with. The concept is...fine, although I think I could have gone a little bit further with and then lead into where this one starts. Ya know, inform the reader as to the situation that lead to Makoto's desire to keep everything to herself? But I kinda made it ambiguous on purpose. Good thing I didn't have to follow up on this a few months later... Oh wait. The stakes were just: awkward. No gay panic (like the tags say, oops), no internalized anything, no worries over team cohesion with members of the PTs dating, none of that. If I would ever go back and rewrite this (don't fucking tempt me) I would definitely expand on things a lot more. But hey, I probably shouldn't try and go back and fix all my old stuff. I'd never get anything done otherwise.

Oh yeah, Makoto's "113 decibel alarm clock" is a real thing. I actually have one. I sleep through every other alarm clock out there. The thing is so good, it will actually scare you awake. Pretty nice. (If probably a little too loud for apartment living in Japan where the walls are very thin.)

Oh yeah, and the tense a few times. Annoying.

I dunno why I made it three chapters. It's just over 3.5k words. That would have been fine to keep as a single chapter one-shot, but I think I just had a hard time with having scenes switch mid-chapter. Chapters are a good way to signal a scene switch, but nowadays I'll just use a line break and go with it. I've just improved as a writer, I think, and so now my old mistakes bug the shit out of me.

If I named all the issues I had, I'd be here all day. So, what did I get right with this? I think the concept is alright. The dialogue is good at points. The scene in Leblanc is pretty good. Good guy Sojiro being cool with lesbians (very cool of him). And the text convos at the end are also pretty okay. The "out of your league" comment still gets me for some reason. It's kinda funny.

Also I made a custom dialogue option for Akira, referencing the very first thing he says at the beginning of the story. I think it turned out okay. (I'd like to do more art/edits relevant to my writing. I've thought about making cover/chapter art for my current project. I guess we'll see how I'm feeling. A little wattpad-y of me, but it'd be interesting.)

I'm just now realizing that I should've made the "third option" a little cheeky. Maybe something like "Come here often?" or whatever. Ah well. Next time.

So, overall? It's an improvement. It's not perfect, but it was the second thing I'd ever written. (Once again, I don't count the RE one. I should probably anon it tbh.)

Anyway, that was something. The next "retrospective" (I guess that's what these are now) will be on Beneath Their Masks.

That one is a doozy, and I think I'm going to have a decent amount to say about it. It's also really long, so that's also a thing I'm gonna have to worry about. I'll probably do that on 10/1 because that's when I posted the first chapter. Maybe I'll have enough time to write up mini retrospectives for each chapter? And then post those throughout October? That could be interesting. And tiring. But still, interesting. I could pull the original upload dates since I made a tumblr in between ACIFT and BHM. Although those are going to be VERY spaced out, especially near the end. So much for doing a month's worth of prompts WITHIN the month. But I'll save all my whining for when those go up.

Also, shoutouts again to my beta at the time, @makomaki5. I hope you're doing well.

Anyway, I think that's about it. See ya.

[winter-sol]

After playing through the brothers' scenes, I decided to replay Levi's and pay more attention to it. Even though the whole halloween ambience leads to this kind of dialogues, there was something about his that particularly grabbed my attention.

See, while the other brothers' are also kinda yandere or sick in their own ways, I suddenly realized that Levi's hit me the most not only because he's my favorite, but also because of how real it looks(?) at least to me.

Allow me to explain. We all know his prototype as a character was originally a yandere boy. Of course, he's the avatar of envy, after all. It makes sense, even if they ultimately decided against it and well, the concept still works with our current Levi.

But maybe. Just maybe. Is this how our relationship with him could've been if they decided to keep that concept? Or not necessarily, let's assume this is still our Levi. Is this how him as a toxic boyfriend would look like?

Someone who not only is insecure but projects his insecurity and unleashes it on you. You're the one who has to take responsability over his jealousy and his insecurity, after all, he puts so much attention in everything you do, he thinks about you the most, how dare you look anywhere else but him? You belong to him, just as much as he belongs to you. Sure, real Levi is insecure and is quite open about it, but he doesn't directly try to manipulate you with that. Well, toxic Levi would, and here he is.

So see, this is where it gets real because Levi does indeed say "you're mine" in canon, in different situations, even if he tends to assume you wouldn't actually be his since he's a shut-in and an otaku, he actually wants you to be his and his only, and boy, he doesn't particularly hide it when it's only the two of you.

And he also does say stuff like "why would you want someone like me". We're kinda used to it now, but it's not that different from this frame.

It's pretty interesting to see the differences when you choose to say "I don't belong to anyone" or "I'm yours already". In the first option, he goes "Of course not", already assuming you wouldn't want to be his, but if you choose the latter, his mind immediatly denies it, something he already does in canon, holy s---. It's not that different, and that's exactly why it feels so real.

And that one? It sounds just so miserable. Please look me in the eye and tell me real Levi, in a hopeless state of mind, wouldn't at least think about saying something like that. It's too possible.

While all (or almost all) the brothers may show some possesive traits, on different levels, in canon, I think Levi has to be one of the most possesive and (obviously) jealous from them. So this thing here is as creepy as it's thrilling because, oh boy, is this what my cute otaku demon boyfriend could eventually become? Under certain circumstances? No, I don't think so, don't worry guys. But that's why it's so interesting, it makes me wonder the what ifs. Levi is intense, way too much. And this is how it'd look like in a bad ending.

(No, I'm not romanticizing these traits, just exploring the dark vibes from this event and connecting it with canon)

Anyways, the scene ends with him getting flustered if you tell him you love him and that kinda cuts the scary vibe we were getting from him. It's funny and it works. It shows how, even if he's cursed, he can still be his usual cute self at the end of the day. But gee, the scenes from this event really got my attention more than I was expecting. Neat.

[potatowitch]

Things I'd like to see in a potential DA:O remake

Character creation: better hairs, complexions and eyebrows, a wider range of skin tones

Keeping the Origins and DA2 style tattoos and vallaslin

Better lighting in the character creator

Option to have an Irish/Welsh accent for Dalish elves

Fix the Denerim crashing issue

No whitewashing - special shoutout to Alistair, Zevran, Merrill and Velanna in particular (though if Merrill was updated to look more like her DA2 equivalent but with her Origins skintone, like these mods, I would be happy)

Replacing old staff animations with the newer, funkier ones

Grey Warden uniforms, preferably in the DA2 style

Keep the original Ferelden architecture (not replacing it with the style they have in Inquisition)

Keep combat mechanics, skills, specializations and tactics the same

Properly animate petting the mabari

Please keep the dumb looking mage hats, I love them

But please give me the option to hide headwear in general

Keep the Warden's dialogue completely unvoiced

Keep the Origins style of Darkspawn, they're more unsettling than later iterations. Just make them even MORE unsettling by making them HD

Remastered Ser Pounce-a-Lot gets to hang out by Anders' feet in Vigil's Keep's interior, and there's a cutscene where you can give him a chin scritch

Update dwarves (especially females) to look the way they do in Inquisition

Bring in Adam Howden to rerecord Anders' lines in Awakening (yes I know he voices other characters in Awakening. I think it'd be funny to have two characters with the same voice actor in one conversation). Add in a wee bit more Bisexuality by having him also hit on male Wardens the way he does female Wardens

Keep Sten hornless, but update him to look a bit more like the other qunari in later games

Update NPC/enemy qunari with later game appearances, and give them updated qunari armour

Let me pet Schmooples

Less cringy sex scenes

Updated Isabela appearance (without any whitewashing)

Update appearance of Battledress of the Provocateur to match Leliana's armor in the Sacred Ashes trailer when worn by human females

Alternatively, give all companions their own style of armor, similar to the way everyone in Inquisition has their own style of armor

DA2 style elves (for everyone except Zevran. just like ... give him slightly more prominent ears or something but for the love of all that is holy do NOT make him look the way he did in DA2)

Warden has better expressions in cutscenes - think the way that Tav doesn't speak in the current early access edition of BG3 but they still smile, scowl, look confused, frown, etc instead of just looking blank faced and dead inside 95% of the time

Better lighting, especially indoors

I don't mind not being able to jump, actually. Making jumping a mechanic would mean completely redesigning all the maps beyond giving them a texture/graphics/lighting upgrade and I don't think it's at all necessary

Let me respecialize at certain points in the main game

Give me the ability to change the way my character looks mid game without mods

[ratcandy]

If you can full on rewrite ahit how would you do it

This is just my answer to how'd you fix the found family but more broad dgHSGH

I don't know if I would do much to really rewrite the plot? I think I would just change the motive, a bit. Hat Kid obviously needs the timepieces to get back home, and that's why she needs to recollect it, but I feel like it could easily be compounded with the whole timepieces-corrupt-people theory. Easily. It wouldn't even take much to add that into the current canon. Just a lore book somewhere, some off-handed dialogue, a glow around or in the eyes of corrupted individuals. Have them even SAY something like "the power this timepiece grants is so tantalizing, I just can't tear my mind away!" or some dramatic stuff like that!

That way, it helps in excusing those that try to hurt Hat Kid, making an ending redemption for all of them seem more plausible, while simultaneously adding more stakes. Makes things more interesting!

(this ended up longer than I thought it would because of course it did)

Then all the ideas I threw out for fixing the found family. I want more time. More development. More additions, changes, interactions; flesh out the characters more. If backstory still has to be revealed through storybooks in the rifts, that's fine! The characters don't have to dump exposition all the time. But just the vaguest mentions. Like Conductor mentioning his grandchildren! That was good! It gave him something! But more of that. With more characters. I dunno.

The characters just have so much potential that was never explored. Developments don't happen in AHIT. Character growth is a myth here, with Snatcher as the slightest possible exception if ignoring the Death Wishes.

I'd like to elaborate on them. Fulfill that potential. MORE.

Anyway, with characters all properly fleshed out and redeemed - or antagonistic characters receiving due comeuppance - the ending would feel more... wholesome. And by "the ending" I Mean not the finale in canon. The finale in canon is actually a halfway point. Because we need a whole Mu redemption arc after that. More places could be added to make it work, too. Or. Or. And hear me out. We just get rid of the Mafia.

In ANY!! Plot rewrite I would do of this game, the Mafia would be the biggest change. I don't want them on the island. After we learn what exactly HAPPENED there, they should be KICKED OUT. GONE. I want them OFF of that island. Their boss is already reduced to a jar this should not be difficult to manage. And with all the friends HK would have by that point, that's a whole thing. That'd be a whole grand thing. And think of how well it'd work, too! With Mafia Town being the first act, and then it coming full circle getting them OUT of there. Returning it to whatever it was before the Mafia took over. Give it a NAME! Give that island a NAME, its ORIGINAL name, its OWN name. NOT Mafia Town. And I want it time-related because funny. Even if it's something like Clockwork Island or Hourglass Sands. just. Gimmie something.

Because inevitable dialogue of "Well, before it was Mafia Town, it was actually [time-related name], funnily enough"

And before anyone argues that it's not Hat Kid's job to fix this, I totally agree, but I would argue in this circumstance that HK would want to do something. We have the option to give Mu a timepiece at the end of the game how it is right now. Why would HK do that if she didn't care about Mu's cause. So let's rewrite it and say she also just wants to be friends with Mu again! Because she feels bad! She liked their friendship, despite how shortly it lasted (though i'd probably add more of them working together to make it a little more authentic). She wants to make up. She wants to help her. And if helping her means getting rid of the Mafia, then so be it!

And really, aside from accidentally fixing the whole situation of Dead Bird Studios if going with my proposed ideas in the other post, that'd be the only thing that HK "fixes" of everyone's problems. Yes I'm looking at Snatcher. She's not his therapist, and he clearly doesn't want her to be. So no, I wouldn't add anything about her helping him overcome his gripes with Vanessa. She's a child. He's a grown ass man. It'd be cool if the game gave as some amount of closure, but not through Hat Kid. I'm personally a fan of any idea where HK is in immediate danger due to Vanessa and Snatcher comes to her rescue (post timepiece corruption) and somewhere in the mess Vanessa gets Defeated, but. Thatse just me.

also would I redeem Vanessa? no not a chance in hell

Anyway. Overall I wouldn't change the plot idea too much. Honestly the whole fact that Hat Kid ended up there because of Mafia interference would've been genius if it eventually led to ultimate revenge in kicking out the mafia but. Yknow. Who ever heard of tying things full circle AMIRIGHT

So Hat Kid ends up on funny planet, goes around different places collecting all her timepieces, inadvertently fixes the problems of some gay birds and makes a bunch of (genuine) friends/found family members in the process. Mu screws everything up, Hat Kid fixes it, and then Mu redemption arc out of Hat Kid's own choice. Mafia removal. Then Hat Kid goes home.

Yeah I'd keep the idea of Hat Kid returning home! And I'd want everyone on Earth to be happy for her instead of begging her to stay! Everyone cheering as the ship blasts off and she goes back home, as that was the main goal! This Child is Going Home!!!

...And then if going with my personal angsty-ass headcanon that I would NEVER put in an actual game rewrite but I would consider canon so she goes back to the found family, Hat Kid gets home and her planet is Gone because she was gone for millions of years in a time rift before she went to Earth and now it's All Gone. Because I LIKE ANGST!! nnnn then hat kid goes back to earth and a lot of hurt/comfort ensues

but we ignore that <3 if I was actually rewriting this hehehe. wouldn't want to OVERLOAD the game.

other things I would add:

- After the Mafia is kicked out the original inhabitants come out of the homes they locked themselves in. They're alive. So Mu isn't alone on the island. I win

- Also so Mu isn't alone GUESS who adopts her. You're right it's Cooking Cat. I WIN

- Also Mafia Boss can stay on the island I guess. he's a jar he can't really do much in that state. if for some reason he doesn't go with the rest of his Mafia when they're kicked out

- I get to give Empress the boss battle she deserves <3

- I want fun side quests that happen in the middle of other acts. I want Hat Kid to do fun mischief with the subconites. Like a side quest one gives you is Help Us Play a Prank on Our Dad (Snatcher). Hat Kid, blissfully ignorant, suggests the old ice-cold water above a door trick but everyone cringes because YIKES... maybe not ice. Maybe not that. Just to tie in lore things subtly. Hehehehehehe

- other side quests include helping various people in town or express owls/moon penguins/caw agents/the like. because I LIKE side quests. FIGHT me on that

- Something I would love to add but I haven't actually put much thought into (yet) is Alpine Skyline lore. That's. Like. Barely touched on, but enough in such a vague ass way that it COULD be very interesting. I've seen interpretations of the funny goat that ascended and its relation to the twilight bell and I love that. I want that canon. I want Alpine Skyline TO MATTER

- I want cruise to be longer because so many more funny shenanigans could've happened that did not happen but at the same time three acts does work for it to not overstay it's welcome. so eh

AND THAT's all my brain is supplying right now. Hopefully this is all coherent

[baladric]

Writing questions: 1, 8, 35 please :D

yay, thank u!!!!!! :3

writing ask

1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

this is a fun question, bc honestly, i write in comic sans! i read a tweet at some point somewhere that was like "listen if you're having a hard time writing bc the words on the screen seem intimidating or you're taking things too seriously, write it in comic sans." bc it's like literally impossible to be wary of comic sans!! like it's become a joke font, yeah, but we kickstarted it bc it's so friendly! also it's good for dyslexia bc it's bottom heavy!

8. If you had to write an entire story without either action or dialogue, which would you choose and how would it go?

honestly if i'm not paying attention, i can end up writing entire things w/o dialogue just by accident. i really love writing heavy introspection-based character studies (which is... probably apparent ahaha), so would definitely choose to go dialogue-less if pressed. it'd probably go okay, though the piece would definitely be bite-sized.

35. What’s your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens?

god, there are writing rules? lmaooo, i'm not really sure!! i have no actual ~*Training*~ and i'm sort of allergic to reading non-fiction so i haven't consumed much writing about writing. the one thing i can think of is that i willfully push back against the socialized idea that flowery/purple prose is 1) "Women's Writing" and 2) less worthy than straight-forward, grounded writing styles. think faulkner, hemingway, twain—your typical all american white male authors.

when "on earth we're briefly gorgeous" really gained its stride and people started discussing it as the newest addition to the canon of Great American Literature™, ocean vuong had a lot to say about this exact thing. bc not only is his book structured after kishōtenketsu (a four-beat plot structure that originated in chinese as four-line traditional poetry, and which has spread to korea and japan; you have almost certainly encountered its usage before, bc it's the narrative structure hayao miyazaki employs) instead of the western 7-beat narrative—it's also non-linear and reads almost like a prose-poem. to have a book written by a vietnamese-american immigrant considered part of the american lit canon is huge in itself, but adding to that the fact that the novel was written in a prose style that has been looked down on by literary critics for decades (which involves a really funny amount of shitting on nabokov honestly, like y'all could fuckin Never, the dude was writing in his third language and he still wrote wildly evocative shit like "I am just winking happy thoughts into a little tiddle cup") is like!! huge.

so idk, i like to think i'm sticking it to the man (and my dad whoops) by being a trans man writing in prose that's heavy on sensory figurative language. also i have been told by english teachers past that i use too many em dashes, and to this i say Suck It, Nancy Streblow ;)

[stanharu]

beastars episode 23 thoughts!

some of my favorite scenes from this arc are in this ep so i've been real excited for it

this episode was super fun. as i said, its filled with some of my favorite scenes from this arc & ive been super excited to see them animated, and i dont think the anime disappointed when adapting them. this week's ep covered chapters 82, 88, the latter part of 89, 90, 91, and part of 92.

The ep opens with the moth scene, and i really loved it. I really enjoyed the way the anime adapted the part when legosi has the bug in his mouth and he's like narrating his experience of eating a bug lol. i think this whole scene was very well done and i cant wait to show it to my friends when the dub comes out lmao.

my one gripe about this scene is st i mentioned last week, that the anime made the bug eating gouhin's idea instead of legosi's. legosi is known for having unique and strange solutions to problems so in making this gouhin's idea you lose a bit of that legosi brand weirdness lol. there's also a tie-in with legosi's past and his fixation on bugs but since that got cut from this seaon it got cut from this scene too. rip.

next i wanna talk about dressgosi. a lotta ppl were worried that it'd get cut but i figured it wouldn't be. i think the anime really knocked this scene out of the park as well!!! the music. everyone's expressions. legosi's flasetto voice. all amazing lmao.

it's been known that louis hasn't been very expressive outside of going >:[ most of this season, so i'm really glad that he got to emote more in this scene. his expressions were great. i cant put screenshots of all of them here bc there's a limit to how many pics you can put in tumblr posts djlskjdlkfjsdf

when ur idiot boyfriend is back on his bullshit

i liked how they did the splitscreen so we could see legosi, louis, & ibuki's reaction's/thoughts to the whole situation lol

the way legosi's heels echo as he leaves the bar is so funny to me. A+ scene.

after this scene it's new year's eve, the night of the fight. personally i wouldve like a bit more of a buffer before actually getting into the new year's fight, but with all the rearranging and pacing issues of this season it can't really be helped that it turned out this was. it's not that big of an issue imo, just a personal preference.

we get this anime original scene of pina and riz meeting up, i think to give some plot coherence with all the rearranging the anime is doing. i think it was a nice addition.

scargosi is HEREE YEAH!!!

also!! it seems like melon & sebun has cameos in this ep 👀 rly hopin this is a sign for s3. tbh i noticed sebun on the first watch but didnt realize melon was there too until other ppl pointed it out lol.

now, im sad the anime took out legosi's new years call with haru, she already has so few moments in this arc and taking one of them out really sucks imo. but i saw some ppl suggest their phone call may be moved to next week's episode, so im gonna hold out hope that that turns out to be the case lol. also i am OBSESSED with legosi's lock screen 😭💕

they are so cute 🥺

now... it's here. the tunnel scene. i feel like the lead-up to this scene was a bit rushed. imo louis' "i like carnivores" line happened so suddenly, and didnt have the same impact as in the manga. altho to me louis' lil inner monologue about how he actually likes carnivores seemed a lil gayer lol so i still enjoyed it quite a bit.

i also rly liked louis' expressions in this scene, the way he looked/moved when he was talking about how legosi might die had me like 🥺

worried about his wolf bf

i also really liked the contrast of these two shots. ibuki towering over louis, looking large and imposing, and louis looking so small in comparison, having to look up at ibuki.

i wanna hold off my final judgement on the tunnel scene itself until we get to see the conclusion of it next week, but so far i think the anime is doing fine adapting it. i am a bit sad that it isnt playing out exactly the way it did in the manga but im curious about how it'll play out in the anime. on one hand i wanted more of the dialogue and all the buildup from that scene before the gunshot happened but on the other hand ending the ep w/ the gunshot and then the ED immediately starting was devastating and im sure it was even more devastating for anime onlies who finally made sense of the ED in this ep.

overall i loved this ep and im so excited for the last episode next week. we've got about 5 chapters left of this arc to be animated and it's gonna be such a Ride. im just hoping the anime can pace it out well.

[breitzbachbea]

👨‍👧‍👧 Do you tell people in real life that you write fic?

🌝 Who is one character you haven’t yet written for that you would like to?

/ @fireandiceland (there were so many others I also wanted to send but I settle for these two for now ^^)

Oh Riva, feel free to send more for me to answer tomorrow!

Fanfic Ask Game

👨‍👧‍👧 Do you tell people in real life that you write fic?

Oh yeah! Like, I wouldn't send my grandma my ao3 account, but I talk rather freely about writing as a hobby and say where one can find me if they want to read my stuff. I usually don't talk about what I write more specifically, because talking about fanfic with someone outside a fandom just isn't very interesting to me.

🌝 Who is one character you haven’t yet written for that you would like to?

Let's get one non-Hetalia related thing out, because my entire ao3 profile is either Hetalia, my original characters from my Hetalia AU "Like Father Like Son" (LFLS) or the OCs of my beloved friend Jonah.

I reread Soul Eater last year and read some excellent GiriJasu Fanfics to the point I had an idea for one myself. I even have some dialogue snippets still in my notes app, but sadly, I don't think I'll ever write it :') WIP list for LFLS too long and hyperfixation on Hetalia/my OCs burning too bright.

So back to my regular scheduled bullshit - Hetalia/LFLS

There are a lot of characters I'd like to write. The problem with LFLS is that the worldbuilding always requires every nation to have two right hands for me to consider international relations properly. Means I can't just have a character without their two closest allies, besties, worsties, their dreamteam. I however also keep telling myself NO new OCs, because I already have too many and this AU is wildly out of control already.

But I have been reading way too much fanfiction that features aph Egypt & been thinking too much about how much more I could do with Turkey's neighbours & old acquaintances, so have my ramblings under the cut anyways:

- I was thinking of a followup for The Amulet of both of them running to other people - Michele in Herakles' case and Mohamed (Egypt) in Sadık's. This was also inspired... well, the root of all of this is honestly me reading too many TurGre fanfics with the Egyptian in it, even some TurGregypt stuff. (Which also means that if I ever write this, I have to fold and make Egyptians. SIIIIIIGH.) ALSO, sidenote about that - Love the idea of Turgypt or Turgregypt in this. I'm so sorry though, because the other thing I fucking loved in the fanfics was Mohamed always being the second fiddle, the only one next to Herakles, but still not there. And he knew it. So I also do wish him that he actually found a more stable, nice partner in here. Presents us with 3/4 possibilities though: 1. His partner is not down to clown whatsoever. Mohamed is off-limits. 2. His partner IS down to clown and foursome shenanigans continue to ensue. (If it worked with SicIre, why stop there.) 3. His partner would be down to clown with ONE of them, but not both. Now, I'm sure Sadık has made enemies enough that it'd be easy to find someone who's give Herakles a thumbs up, but not the Turk. However, it would be so infinitely funnier therefore to find someone who says yes to Sadık but isn't here for Herakles. "Oh yeah, I could go for a hatefuck with Sadık, but I don't know about the Greek."

- Here are some more ideas about potential right hands for both Egypt and Iran/Persia:

- Recently sent Jani a voice note about how funny it would be if the OLD right hand of Mohamed (who must have already worked for his parents, at least) brought the other, younger one into business ... and they had this dynamic: "I should have left you on that street corner where you were standing." "But you didn't!" (If you don't know this video, do yourself the favour and watch it.)

- Also this post about a potential right hand for aph Iraq. I know nothing about Iraq and would super love to have a good reason to learn more; I would need someone else's aph Iraq OC though, because I'm not making any new aph OCs these days.