#made some progress tonight

[meimoons-arts]

“At All Costs” WIP Animatic (discontinued)

[auncyen]

act 5 au

today's writing progress which. may very well require changes lol

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"I still have some questions," Odile says, and you bite back a sigh because of course she does. "You've been looping in time. What was this afternoon about? Why not just tell us then? What was the point of showing me the familytale today? You could have shown me when the loop was over."

"Because it makes you happy, and then you learn a useful skill." You hate the answer as soon as it leaves your mouth. You don't want to lie, but maybe that's too honest. Just tell them you're manipulative, why don't you?

Well, you are. That's why you showed her the familytale.

"Oh, huh." Isabeau sounds pensive. "Yeah, I've heard emotional clarity is good for figuring out new techniques. …You were trying to teach Bonnie something, too, weren't you? Though, putting yourself in danger really isn't a good way to do it, Sif. That was, uh, about the worst thing you could have done with them."

You roll your eye. "It always worked before. I wasn't in any real danger." The worst case scenario was that you'd need to loop, and it'd be really pathetic if such a weak Sadness caused that.

"Thaaaat's not how it sounded." Isabeau leans against the sink, folding his arms. "…You were trying to do that with all of us, weren't you? We were supposed to go stargazing? And, uh…" He looks over at Mirabelle, who huffs, seeming to have calmed down from her tears enough to manage indignation.

"I don't know how I would get any kind of 'emotional clarity' from that--"

"I said it wrong! I meant--"

"No, no! I want to figure it out myself," Mirabelle insists, puffing her cheeks out at you, so--fine. She doesn't need to know that skill anyway, her regular shield will do just fine--

You still haven't reminded her about the CARROT method. Stars. "Okay, but you do need to learn how to make a shield. So, remember the CARROT method, and figure it out."

Everyone looks baffled by various degrees, but that's fine. Mirabelle always looks confused when you hint it to her at the start of a loop anyway. "You know about the CARROT method?" Isabeau asks.

"No, I just know that she knows the CARROT method, and it helps her figure out how to make shields."

"What happens if I don't figure it out?" Mirabelle asks.

"King kills us."

…Oh, that was definitely a too-honest answer. Mirabelle's eyes go round as saucers as one hand flies to her mouth, and even Odile looks alarmed next to her. "…Sif," Isabeau says slowly. "The way you said that…have we actually died?"

You look aside. "He finishes me off first and then I loop back, so, I don't think so?" Not as long as there's only one timeline getting reset, which you have to believe. You can't stomach the situations you've left the others in if they stayed after you were gone. "But it doesn't look good."

"You've died." Isabeau doesn't seem to take any relief from the clarification.

"And then I loop back, and I'm fine!" You sweep your hand in front of yourself, from the brim of your hat to just below your hips, and smile at him. "See?"

His eyebrows stay hovering far above where they normally would rest. You keep smiling at him, fighting not to bare your teeth.

"Sif--"

"Stars, Isa, am I bleeding?" you snap. Why can't he just believe you? "Do you see some gaping wound I've missed? Looping resets everything! I'm not hurt! I'm fine!" You turn to Odile. "Why would I tell everyone I'm looping through time when people are going to get hung up on stupid things like this?"

Odile looks so disappointed with you. "Do you really think you're fine, Siffrin?"

[blackjackkent]

Oho, the Emperor speaks up near the Elfsong if you haven't been to its hideout yet.

Poor Rakha cannot walk a straight line to anywhere without getting interrupted.

Given that she's feeling all mixed up about the Emperor rn, and Lae'zel's rescue is by far the top-of-mind priority for her, I'm going to have her stash this idea aside to revisit later, and continue on to Candlehallows.

It's a pretty nondescript-looking little shop. Rakha definitely wouldn't have been giving it a second thought if it weren't for the notes she found in Alexander Rainforest's basement.

Rakha and co. stake the place out for a bit, watching to see if they see any of the doppelgangers Rainforest mentioned. But there's no sign of activity, and in fact the place seems completely deserted.

(A/N: I still have no idea why this is in the mailbox of this building:

)

Rakha is no particular dab hand at lockpicking, and it takes considerable doing to manage to get the door of the place open without the attention of the guards. (By which I mean this took several reloads. I s2g the locals are more jumpy now than they were when I was here with Hector. But we got there in the end.)

There's nothing terribly Bhaalist at first glance about the little shop. It seems, in fact, tremendously pedestrian, albeit covered with a layer of dust from lack of use.

Everyone promptly biffs the perception check in the shop's back room (I'm not sure I've ever had a person pass it?), but Rakha performs a methodical investigation of the whole place and eventually comes across a sheet of paper laying on one of the desks.

Tribunal. Rakha recognizes the word. She fishes the by now very crumpled parchment with the murder list out of her pocket and squints at it.

Those wishing to face the Dread Lord's Tribunal and enter the Temple of Bhaal (it says at the top) must slay the targets on this list and frame the corpses as a murder by the cult of the Absolute. Bring the victim's hand as proof of the killing. Walk in blood, Aspirant.

"This is the entrance to the Tribunal, then," she says slowly, parsing this out. "The place where the red-dressed dwarf was trying to get, by killing Lorgan."

Wyll smiles faintly. "I guess that explains the doppelgangers going in and out. If we're to do the same, they want us to be carrying someone's... hand." He squints at the paper with distaste. "Don't think we have one of those."

"We have the child of their god," Minthara says dryly. "One would think even a doppelganger might consider that sufficient passage."

Jaheira shoots her a narrow look sideways. "Indeed," she agrees. "But it matters not, regardless. We are not here to make friends, and certainly not to impress their Tribunal. We are here to learn the location of their temple, and I see no reason we should do it in a way that pleases them in the process."

She tilts her head. "Unless - Minsc, you too were with us when we battled Sarevok, so long ago. Perhaps you remember the way to the Temple of Bhaal, when I do not?"

Minsc, who has been examining the aforementioned selection of tongs with great interest, looks up at the sound of his name. "The Temple of Bhaal?" he says brightly. "Yes, Boo and Minsc remember it well, and Minsc remembers the way as clearly as if there were not a century of stone in the way." He lifts his chin proudly. "Down."

The others all stare at him for a moment, and then Wyll chokes on a soft laugh which he makes an unsuccessful attempt to hide behind one fist. "Well, glad we got that cleared up," he says. "Meanwhile, I suppose we'd better figure out what this note means." He peers over Rakha's shoulder again. "Let death be your guide," he says. "What do you suppose--"

"Behind the painting," Rakha says absently. Then she stops abruptly, and her eyes widen - because she had not even noticed the painting of a skull on the wall when she came in. The words were automatic, instinctive, not even requiring thought.

But there is indeed a button behind the painting.

Rakha, despite being visibly unsettled by this sequence of events, nevertheless pushes a fist against the button without hesitation; the bookcase behind her slides aside soundlessly at once, revealing a door behind - on which is painted in blood-red (or perhaps simply in blood) the symbol of the Absolute.

Narrator: The locked door has red text on it reading, 'All are awaited, all are embraced, none shall escape.'

[HISTORY] That text is vaguely familiar - try to recall its historical source.

Narrator: That phrase is Bhaalist. This place has some connection to Orin and her cult of killers. You should learn more about them.

(A/N: LMAO. What an anticlimax. I forgot this door is passcoded. Hector received the password in a note from Orin after killing Gortash, but Gortash is still alive for Rakha, so we will have to get the passcode by other means - specifically, by following the murder investigation questline all the way to the end. Which will be fun, tbh, because I definitely skipped like half of it on my past playthrough. For now... I suppose Rakha just stares at the door irritably and then punches it and walks out again. XD )

[tenshouining]

Day 2 - Transition. A conversation with your future self. colourless ver. under rm !!

[manasurge]

Normally I don't post WIPs bc I'm extremely self-conscious (especially my sketches cuz mine are an absolute DISASTER. I usually do 2 rounds of sketches before lineart, this is just round 1), but I'm in a tired and giggly mood in a "tormenting OCs for my amusement" kinda way, so I'm going to use my tired haze as a motivator to post this before I have a chance to regret it

[eskawrites]

hello would a wip be in store today 😏

welllll, since you asked, here's a lil bit from the cfdau nancy pov

-

So Nancy had learned better. She learned to sit up tall but keep her head bowed, to fold her hands in her lap and speak gently when she answered questions. She learned not to run, not to get in the way, not to be too curious or too loud, to be the best but not draw too much attention.

It had worked, too. The press adored her. Directors remembered her. Steve was head over heels for her after just two weeks of rehearsals, and the reporters ate up their relationship. Nancy still squirms when she thinks about the photos of her and Steve holding hands at stage door.

But Robin doesn’t do any of those things. She isn’t proper or patient. She speaks loudly and laughs louder. She sits in a way that takes up the whole chair. She lets herself be clumsy and casual and snarky and wrong, sometimes, and people adore her anyway.

[theangrypomeranian]

current word count of LWH:

27672

[violetsareblue-selfships]

good morning!! <333

[flowercrowngods]

hi my inbox is full of so much love and affection right now and i swear i am not ignoring anyone, i see all your "you make me happy" asks and your cat pics and your "i hope you have a wonderful day" messages but i swear i'm not ignoring you, i'm just gonna bask in them a little longer 🥰🤍

[yellowloid]

FINALLY managed to make some progress on my wip thank GOD and all the saints in heaven for this christmas miracle

[arkive78]

so looking forward to mashed potato holiday this week ✨🤤

for those of y’all with finals coming up when we get back from break, make sure to rest a bit while you’re studying/writing etc

[great-master-airplane]

I'm a little wine drunk, so please forgive any spontaneous updates uwu

[scarletcomet]

scrolling through instagram and it's making me want to die

[hundredpocketed]

exhausteddisasterwoman but it’s good to be alive. taking a sick day tomorrow (sick of the way I’m living more like !) and praying that i have the fortitude to turn it all (my life) around !!!! aaaaaaaaa. anyway hope you are all well 💌

[callixton]

oh i’ll just do one fifteen minute sprint before bed i said. here i am, an hour later

[loxare]

Every single year at the worst fucking moment the brain weevils attack and make doing anything besides the most mind numbing activities super impossible. My brain feels itchy, and I don't think I should be physically aware of it but I am. I'd really like to be able to write all these lab reports, but doing so is like trying to walk through the 1919 Boston Molasses Flood, and I keep making two and a half steps of progress before having to pull my feet from the sludge so I can sit on a ledge to rest and also try and beat the flies buzzing around my head back with a newspaper