#naive sprites

[ambagel]

THANK YOU Jamil for saying what I've been waiting for someone to say

THANK YOU

Poor Juice smh 😔💔 he's doing his best

[sprite-periodt]

no it’s not ok. no im not gonna not hold a grudge and ignore your words as you tell me to do when you come back to me because your conscious is bothering you. not anymore.

[randomnameless]

To be fair, Baron Dominic already had an appearance in Houses, it's his son who got a name and a unique-ish appearance while Ionius and others got nothing lol (so, it's even worse lmao)

My Bad!

I was thinking was it Baron Dominic who made an appearance or his son who became a ministrel - and I picked the wrong choice lol

Holst and Leopold "I'm completely dumb" von Bergliez were heavily mentionned by characters, so maybe (at least for Holst) people wanted to see him, but to erase Ionius - someone who already had a spite ffs, that's just so lazy !

They retconned Ludwig already, so they could have made him stand over Ionius's corpse and have Supreme Leader jail/kill/exile him in retaliation - but no.

The Adrestian political situation is already a mess, but erasing Ionius, idk, the only reason I can think of is because Ionius somehow would make Supreme Leader's arc look worse, or maybe raise questions about why the fuck is she allying with Leopold'n'Waldemar who betrayed him already?

Or, actually, because Aegir was retconned - Aegir wants a super strong Emperor of Adrestia who can rule over the world, Ionius wanted to become that Emperor but Aegir opposed him in FE16, so why should he side with Supreme Leader - who wants the same thing - in Nopes?

Without retcon!Aegir, we can't have Supreme Puppet in AG and the scapegoat who takes all of her agency and general blame on the war, and we can't have anything - let it be in game or out of the game - start to throw shade at Supreme Leader, who was Sailor Fuku'd for, uh, maximum marketing.

[insertdisc5]

🎮 HEY I WANNA MAKE A GAME! 🎮

Yeah I getcha. I was once like you. Pure and naive. Great news. I AM STILL PURE AND NAIVE, GAME DEV IS FUN! But where to start?

To start, here are a couple of entry level softwares you can use! source: I just made a game called In Stars and Time and people are asking me how to start making vidy gaems. Now, without further ado:

SOFTWARES AND ENGINES FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO CODE!!!

Ren'py (and also a link to it if you click here do it): THE visual novel software. Comic artists, look no further ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It has great documentation! It has a bunch of plugins and UI stuff and assets for you to buy! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! (You'll just need to read the doc a bunch) You can also port your game to a BUNCH of consoles! ✨Cons: None really <3 Some games to look at: Doki Doki Literature Club, Bad End Theater, Butterfly Soup

Twine: Great for text-based games! GREAT FOR WRITERS WHO DONT WANNA DRAW!!!!!!!!! (but you can draw if you want) ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It's versatile! It has great documentation! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! (You'll just need to read the doc a bunch) ✨Cons: You can add pictures, but it's a pain. Some games to look at: The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo, Queers In love At The End of The World, Escape Velocity

Bitsy: Little topdown games! ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It's (somewhat) intuitive! It has great documentation! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! You can make everything in it, from text to sprites to code! Those games sure are small! ✨Cons: Those games sure are small. This is to make THE simplest game. Barely any animation for your sprites, can barely fit a line of text in there. But honestly, the restrictions are refreshing! Some games to look at: honestly I haven't played that many bitsy games because i am a fake gamer. The picture above is from Under A Star Called Sun though and that looks so pretty

RPGMaker: To make RPGs! LIKE ME!!!!! NOTE: I recommend getting the latest version if you can, but all have their pros and cons. You can get a better idea by looking at this post. ✨Pros: Literally everything you need to make an RPG. Has a tutorial inside the software itself that will teach you the basics. Pretty simple to understand, even if you have no coding experience! Also I made a post helping you out with RPGMaker right here! ✨Cons: Some stuff can be hard to figure out. Also, the latest version is expensive. Get it on sale! Some games to look at: Yume Nikki, Hylics, In Stars and Time (hehe. I made it)

engine.lol: collage worlds! it is relatively new so I don't know much about it, but it seems fascinating. picture is from Garden! NOTE: There's a bunch of smaller engines to find out there. Just yesterday I found out there's an Idle Game Maker made by the Cookie Clicker creator. Isn't life wonderful?

✨more advice under the cut. this is Long ok✨

ENGINES I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT AND THEY SEEM HARD BUT ALSO GIVE IT A TRY I GUESS!!!! :

Unity and Unreal: I don't know anything about those! That looks hard to learn! But indie devs use them! It seems expensive! Follow your dreams though! Don't ask me how!

GameMaker: Wuh I just don't know anything about it either! I just know it's now free if your game is non-commercial (aka, you're not selling it), and Undertale was made on it! It seems good! You probably need some coding experience though!!!

Godot: Man I know even less about this one. Heard good things though!

BUNCHA RANDOM ADVICE!!!!

-Make something small first! Try making simple: a character is in a room, and exits the room. The character can look around, decide to take an item with them, can leave, and maybe the door is locked and you have to find the key. Figuring out how to code something like that, whether it is as a fully text-based game or as an RPGMaker map, should be a good start to figure out how your software of choice works!

-After that, if you have an idea, try first to make the simplest version of that idea. For my timeloop RPG, my simplest version was two rooms: first room you can walk in, second room with the King, where a cutscene automatically plays and the battle starts, you immediately die, and loop back to the first room, with the text from this point on reflecting this change. I think I also added a loop counter. This helped me figure out the most important thing: Can This Game Be Made? After that, the rest is just fun stuff. So if you want to make a dating sim, try and figure out how to add choices, and how to have affection points go up and down depending on your choices! If you want to make a platformer, figure out how to make your character move and jump and how to create a simple level! If you just want to make a kinetic visual novel with no choices, figure out how to add text, and how to add portraits! You'll be surprised at how powerful you'll feel after having figured even those simple things out.

-If you have a programming problem or just get confused, never underestimate the power of asking Google! You most likely won't be the only person asking this question, and you will learn some useful tips! If you are powerful enough, you can even… Ask people??? On forums??? Not me though.

-Yeah I know you probably want to make Your Big Idea RIGHT NOW but please. Make a smaller prototype first. You need to get that experience. Trust me.

-If you are not a womanthing of many skills like me, you might realize you need help. Maybe you need an artist, or a programmer. So! Game jams on itch.io are a great way to get to work and meet other game devs that have different strengths! Or ask around! Maybe your artist friend secretly always wanted to draw for a game. Ask! Collaborate! Have fun!!!

I hope that was useful! If it was. Maybe. You'd like to buy me a coffee. Or maybe you could check out my comics and games. Or just my new critically acclaimed game In Stars and Time. If you want. Ok bye

[screwitbaby]

naive

hamzahthefantastic x reader (fic)

day 3/7

[part 4]

summary: part 3 of my short story naive (go read the others first)!! hamzah attempts to keep your sanity as your feelings for each other unravel and martin gets in arguments with you and mandy bc what else would he be doing???

contains: SFW content, no spoilers (wink wink) ((smooching))

wc: 2.6k-ish

~

"And that's how I managed to catch my first ever legendary Pokémon."

"Riveting." You nod.

Martin rolls his eyes at your dry response.

"Be honest, do you hate me?"

You take a moment to contemplate your answer and he gasps in offense. "Um...no?"

"Well, maybe if I was Hamzah you'd actually care to listen to my stories."

Now you roll your eyes.

The four of you have been relaxing on the beach, taking the day off from tourist activities to soak up the sun and enjoy the present moment. However, it's difficult to do so when you have a yapping social-cue-ignorer next to you, taking all of your attention away from your much-needed quiet time. As the day has slowly melded into the night, you feel the growing urge to stab your eardrums with the tiny umbrella floats in your cocktail glasses.

"No clue what you mean by that," you say, reclining back on your towel.

"You look at him like the sun shines out of his ass when he talks," Martin quips, looking to Mandy for reassurance, who just shrugs and continues queuing music on her phone to play from her bluetooth speaker. "See? I'm right!"

"Right about what?"

The man of the hour jogs up the shoreline and grabs his towel from his chair, tossing it around his shoulders to dry his sopping wet curls. Your eyes stray down to his pecs and before they can go any lower, you avert your stare to the billowing waves.

"That my dearest girl-pause-friend has feelings for—"

"Hey, look over there!" You point at nothing and their eyes follow, bestowing upon you the golden opportunity to march away with your drink clutched in your tense hands.

You sigh once you reach the bar and rest your cheeks on your fists. The bartender gives you a look so you order a sparkling water, slouching onto one of the stools. A minute passes as you breathe in and out, thinking of ways you're going to torture Martin. Then, a hand is placed on your shoulder.

"Martin, I swear to—oh."

Hamzah raises his hands innocently and sits next to you, a startled expression on his face.

"Sorry. He just pushes too much sometimes," you explain sheepishly.

"Unfortunately, I can be a victim of it, too," he jokes, managing to earn an amused huff from you. "He means well, though. I think."

You smile, about to speak when he notices the drink the bartender places in front of you.

"Another already?" He tsks, grabbing it for himself. "What is it this time?"

He takes a languid gulp before slamming the cup down and making a face.

"It's just water," you laugh out.

"I was expecting a vodka Sprite!" He shudders and blinks repeatedly like he's consumed some sort of evil potion. "You enjoy this?"

"It's refreshing!"

"It's disgusting is what it is." He places his palm on his bare stomach.

"Did you come here just to criticize my choice of beverage?"

"No, no," he says, sliding it over to you as his expression softens. "Um, I actually wanted to see if you were alright."

"Oh... I am," you say, your words sounding uncertain. "Don't get me wrong, I love your guys' company, but my social battery can only handle so much, y'know?"

"I get you." He nods, standing. "Do you want me to—?"

"Stay. Please." You motion for him to sit back down and he does. "I don't know what's up with me, I kinda overreacted."

"What was he talking about anyway?"

Your face warms and you hide behind your other drink, taking a sip of the alcohol to soothe your nerves. There's two ways you can go about this: one, tell him that you see him as more than a friend or two, deflect.

You choose the latter.

"Pokémon."

It's not a complete lie.

Hamzah nods while looking confused. "And that made you angry enough to walk away from the conversation?"

"I can be passionate about my pocket monsters..." you trail off, cringing inwardly.

"Right," he says. He doesn't push any further and for that you are grateful. "Well, you can always talk to me when you get sick of him."

You try, really try to keep your eyes off Hamzah when the two of you make it back, but it's like they wander on their own accord. You watch as he pours the last of his water bottle over his head and ruffles his curls to shake them free of any sand. The salty ocean water leaves his hair to dry in defined coils across his forehead. His tanned skin is lit up in a slight orange tinge from the bonfire you guys are sitting in front of, making his eyes shine in the darkness of the night.

You don't have to talk to Martin to make him realize what he did was too obnoxious, even for him. He hands you his wax pen, resuming casual conversation as if the previous couple minutes didn't happen. With smoke filling your lungs and the heat of the fire against your skin, you relax on your back to observe the stars in the clear sky.

You feel a shift in the sand on your right and turn your head to find Hamzah situating himself next to you. He looks down at you and silently gestures for you to pass the pen to him, inadvertently grazing your fingers when he takes it from your grasp.

"How did you guys get so close?" he asks, slowly exhaling. "You 'nd Martin."

"I don't know, honestly." You paused to think, slinging your arm up to rest your head on. "We always had this sense of understanding with each other. I never really questioned our bond from the moment we met, it came so naturally. Well, except that time I thought I liked him."

Hamzah coughs on smoke suddenly, making you tilt your head up at him. He gives a thumbs up as he clears his throat to mutter a small "I'm fine." You take it as your cue to continue speaking.

"I got over that quick, though. I guess I just wasn't used to a guy making me that happy as only a friend," you think out loud. "When Mandy came along, I would push him to get closer with her because I could see how good they were for each other. Then, I realized the possibility of me falling in love with her was way higher than me ever seeing Martin that way."

You crack a smile, Hamzah following suit. He lies down next to you and returns the pen. The couple are dancing nearby. Mandy puts the volume on her speaker up, attempting to do a spin in her boyfriend's arms just for him to spin in hers instead.

"Has that ever happened to you?" you ask. "Unrequited feelings?"

"Too much," he admits bashfully. "I fall way too fast. Like, it's embarrassing."

"No, don't be embarrassed," you say, turning on your side to face him. "It's endearing."

"Really?" He raises his eyebrows, unconvinced. "It's the worst. I get addicted to their laugh and touch. I can't stop thinking of them, of spending time with them. But I never act on it."

You take his words in, staring at his side profile. "Why not?"

"Fear of rejection," he answers. "I don't know where the fear came from. I wish it would stop me from developing feelings in the first place, though."

"But if you never act on it, how can you be sure that they're unrequited?"

He turns to meet your eyes, "I'd rather keep them as a friend than find out they don't feel the same and lose them altogether."

You feel it then, a pang in your chest. This sweet, oblivious boy would rather bottle his emotions away than take his chances. You can't say you're surprised, Martin had made it pretty clear that his best friend was clueless with love—was that too far fetched of a label to put on this thing emerging between you?

"I think you should have some more confidence in yourself," you say, toying with the bow on your bikini. "Whoever it may be, they'd be lucky to have you."

"Thanks?" He laughs the word out. "Maybe I'm too neurotic."

You hum in agreement, shifting closer to his body, feeling his warmth. "Maybe."

He was swaying his legs, but he freezes as soon as he feels you in his space. You hear his breathing falter and pivot your head to hide your smile. You feel particularly bold in that moment, cross faded and giddy. It doesn't even cross your mind that his words might not have been directed at you. Unlike him, you're willing to take that chance.

Your fingers inch across the sand and make contact with his, intertwining after a considerable pause.

"Hey!" Martin shouts, turning the group's attention on him. "Watch this!"

It all happens in a blur. The idiot gets a running start to jump over the bonfire and the rest of you scream. You and Hamzah sit up to watch as he tumbles over the blistering embers, falling onto his knees on the other side. He throws his fists up in celebration while Mandy rushes over to his side.

"Are you crazy?" she scolds him.

"Damn, I should've recorded that," he mumbles.

She scoffs and crosses her arms, storming off. Martin gets on his feet and chases after her.

"Babe, wait—ah!" He trips and quickly scrambles up the beach. "I was just playing around!"

The couple wander off as you and Hamzah are left in the remnants of the scene, avoiding onlookers' stares. When you finally make eye contact with each other, you burst into chest-clutching laughter.

"I feel bad," you say once you calm down, "Mandy looked genuinely pissed."

"I'm sure she's used to it by now, dating him." He sniffles and wipes a tear from his eye. "Not gonna lie, I thought we were about to watch him cook alive."

The two of you get a few more giggles out, peering forward at the crackling fire wordlessly. Although it's on the way to dying out, what he did was still really stupid. Not to mention the fact that he could've been badly hurt and you guys would've had to spend the rest of the trip taking care of him because of his impulsive actions.

"...I kinda wanna do it now."

"...Me too."

So, the two of you stand a couple feet in front of the flames, on your marks like race horses. Your fingers are still comfortably slotted into his, clutching for dear life. You jump up and down, feeling goosebumps rise on your skin from not only the cold, but your nerves, as well.

"Count down?" you suggest.

"On 3," Hamzah says. "Alright?"

"1." You squeeze his hand.

"2." He squeezes back.

"3." You take a deep breath.

"Go!" Both of you scream and charge forward.

You halt at the last second, but Hamzah follows through. A squeal rises from your lungs as you watch him bound over the fire and land on the other side, alone. He whips around as soon as his feet are planted, looking at you with wide eyes.

"Holy fuck!" He pats his unblemished swim shorts, as if he's expecting to be swallowed in flames. "Why didn't you go?!"

"I got scared!" you cry out, hopping from one foot to the other.

"C'mon, no backing out!"

"I hate this!" You reluctantly shuffle back to your spot at his encouragement. "I don't wanna!"

"Don't think, just run!"

Before you have a chance to deliberate your choice, you sprint alongside the footsteps in the sand and launch yourself over the fire. Shrieking with your eyes closed, you reach the other side and instantly topple into Hamzah's outstretched arms, sending the both of you to the ground.

When you open your eyes, you're on top of him. "You did it! We did—!"

You lean down and capture his lips in a kiss. He's shocked for a moment, his exclamation caught in his throat as your mouths connect. Then, his palms trail up the dips of your waist and he gently kisses you back. Adrenaline rushes through your veins and you tingle all over, from your head to your toes.

He flips the two of you over so his body engulfs yours, your hair splaying out across the sand. Your hands rest on his shoulders, fingers pressing into his skin, trying to grasp at him, grasp at the fact that this is real and you're actually kissing him. He breaks away momentarily.

"It." He breathlessly completes his sentence, exhaling a laugh against your lips before reconnecting your mouths with fervor.

Your tongue swipes at his bottom lip, about to deepen the kiss when you smell something off. You break it apart this time, but he continues to kiss a trail from your cheek to below your ear. When you look down between your chests, you are welcomed by the sight of the hair on his left calf burning up.

"Oh, shit!" you shout, pushing him off of you and rising to your feet.

His eyes drag down your body, then to his, and his eyes widen.

"Oh, shit!" he echoes.

You run over to Martin's towel to grab his abandoned bottle as Hamzah kicks his legs against the ground, trying to suffocate the fire. When you return, you hurriedly toss the water at his shins. You crouch to his level once the flames are extinguished and hold his leg up to see its devastation. His singed follicles crumble off his body, leaving the back of his calf bare and slightly pink with irritation.

"Um," you begin, breathing heavy. "Free hair removal?"

"Fuck," he pants. He scoots farther away from the bonfire and lays flat like a starfish. "That was scary."

You clamber down next to him, slightly delirious.

“We’re back!” Martin announces from afar, his arm around his girlfriend as they draw nearer. “What’d we miss?”

“Nothing.” You and Hamzah speak at the same time, earning weird looks from the couple.

“Okaaay.” Martin narrows his eyes. “Sure.”

“Are you guys good?” Mandy addresses both of you, but she’s looking at you with a raised eyebrow.

“Hamzah’s leg caught on fire,” you blurt out.

Martin cackles, but Mandy looks genuinely concerned. “How’d that even happen? As if one fire scare wasn’t enough.”

Her subtle jab restarts their bickering, freeing you from having to answer her question. You help Hamzah off the ground and the two of you dust yourselves off. The adrenaline and intoxication seem to wear off at once and you begin shivering from the cold. When you go to grab your measly coverup, Hamzah stops you.

“Here,” he says, handing you his shirt that was tossed aside his towel earlier in the day. “Put it on.”

“Thanks,” you mumble and pull the tee over your head. “What about you?”

He takes the coverup and slips it over his arms, the lace fitting taut against his skin. “It’s a good look, right?”

You grin, nodding.

The dark beach clears of vacationers as the four of you pack your things to head back to the hotel. The couple give each other silent treatment. You and Hamzah attempt to make the situation less awkward by cracking jokes, but it hardly helps. It seems all of you just need to go to your rooms and sleep it off. It’s been a loaded day.

You’re accompanied on your walk to your room by Hamzah, as per usual. You hold your belongings in one hand and his hand in the other.

“So,” he says, running his thumb over your skin.

“Sooo.”

“I guess my fear of rejection was for nothing.”

“You’re so naive.”

~

a/n: BOOM ROLL CREDITS. sorry for the holdup, college and writer’s block are kicking my ass!! lmk if u liked it and how u think this story should/will end ;)

[egophiliac]

#i feel you op i also started initially to read the stories but got busy grinding for events instead 😭 #i also haven't read any of the events not even madguy bc i feel like im gonna miss a lot of context i feel sorry for my boys #although I've recently caught up to ch7 and it made me a stornger more brainrotted madguy fan than before #ppl said it's gonna get more insane later on and im nervous #but so far. the stories are GOOD i highly recommend reading it if you're able to #it's just kamen rider but with extra steps #also to assuage your fear (i hope?) i heard from the grapevines that the change to leon is minimal you can easily miss it (via @chipsncookies)

YES I feel a lot better knowing other people are in the same boat as me! :') as someone who only plays games very casually, the events are fun (and have been a good excuse to get those support stories on characters I was kinda ignoring) but SO distracting -- and they have a connected overarching narrative of their own (make sure you read them in order when you get to them!) so I don't want to skip any. which I guess is to say that my problem is that I'm enjoying the writing too much! how dare they.

overall it definitely has that Kamen Rider tone and feeling I was hoping for and I am VERY pleased with it! I do kinda miss the kitbashy monsters, though otherwise it's basically just Rider But With More Random Scenes of Characters Being Ridiculous At Each Other and that is exactly what I was after. (also exquisite taste, Mad Guys are best guys 🤝)

and as long as I still haven't gotten to episode 13 and can therefore continue to be hilariously naive, let me just say that I know what I'm dreaming of for Leon. he deserves it.

...although I do think it would be VERY funny if they made that whole big "WE WILL BE UPDATING LEON'S SPRITES TO REFLECT STORY CHANGES!!!!" announcement and then it turns out that they just like. hue-shifted his eye color slightly to the right or something. it's not even a big story beat, Leon just decided to try out some color contacts, maybe comb his hair back a little, and we don't have the heart to tell him to stop. :(

[milksuu]

❀. │GIRL DINNER (O1)│. ❀

❥ prompt: You're hungry. You want food. You want a snack. You just want SOMETHING. You send your HEARTSTEEL boyfriend(s) on a food-run adventure. Let's see what each boy brings back. ❥ content/warnings: sexually suggestive themes, profanity, fluff ❥ characters/pairings: v!Heartsteel (aphelios,kayn,ezreal) / f!reader

APHELIOS

sour patch kids and ariZona tea

Aphelios sneaks behind you, and presses the cold can against your neck. He can't help but enjoy how much you pout and whine about it.

He also can't help enjoying every expression you make: the first satisfied sip of your tea, the excitement of opening up the candy bag, and your mouth pursing from the sour taste. Then smiling once the sweetness settles.

But what Aphelios can't help most, is pulling down his mask, and tasting the sugar sparkling your lips. Smiling to himself when you're lost for words, cheeks stained pink, and nervously drawing cute circles against his chest.

It's enough to make him come back for seconds. And when he does, you taste even sweeter than the first. He was planning for a third but...he can wait till later.

Most likely past midnight underneath his sheets. When everyone's asleep but you two. And only he can hear the even sweeter noises you make—just for him. Only for him. Like an exclusive confectionary shop, and he's the only one allowed inside.

Until then, he’ll just savor the moment of watching you enjoy your snacks.

Aphelios likes his sweets. Even though he'll never admit it to anyone. But you're the only exception.

KAYN

flamin' hot fries and cherry coke

Kayn devoted his precocious time to get you something you could obviously get yourself, because he tolerates 'likes' you. (Whatever that means.)

He tosses the chip bag and drink in your lap, and plops down next to you. Pretending not to care whether or not you like his choices. Not his problem if you don't like it. He did you a favor, after all.

But all of that's a lie. He cares, like a lot. More than he wants to admit it. Because he values your opinion. And wants your validation. He scuffs to himself. Like he would ever beg or ask for it. He probably would.

You pause, staring at the snacks without a word. The anticipation is driving him damn near crazy.  And if you had to be honest with him…the combo is your total favorite!

You show your appreciation with showering praise, a hug around his neck, and love pats to his hair. He hates it. He fucking loves it.

Kayn doesn't easily show his joy. His happiness at your reaction starts off with a simple smile. Not so commonplace for someone like him. But then it curls into that all infamous smirk of his that only spells trouble.

Kayn was hungry himself. This whole time, didn't you know? Silly (and naive) of you not to have noticed. His gaze devours you till you find yourself caught by his lips. The nips and bites tell you the poor boy is starving. And he deepens the kiss till....

Well, guess your snacks can wait.

EZREAL

happy meal and sprite

Ezreal is excited to give you this happy meal. Why? Well, that's a surprise! And he loves surprising you.

He first covers your eyes and asks you to guess who it is. He does this all the time. You giggle at how silly it is. But you wouldn't want it any other way.

He then presents the box with the famous 'Ta-Da!' reveal.

You absolutely LOVE the happy meal from PoroKing! Not only is the food good, but the box art is always a cute treat to see.

Oh, but that wasn't the best part about it. The surprise was still inside. When you open the box, the toy inside is what makes you absolutely go crazy. It's the limited edition PoroKing keychain!

It's the only one you don't have in the entire collection, and somehow, Ezreal managed to get it for you.

You can't help yourself. You bounce onto his lap, and press your body and lips against his. He really wasn't expecting this much of a reaction! Afraid you might bounce away from how giddy you are, he takes your hips and presses you closer. Closer to the point where…

Looks like there's more than one surprise happening tonight.

[lured-into-wonderland]

Nunnally clapped her hands again: --

“I am sure your art will inspire all persons seeing it. I am so excited!” – Nunnally was so happy that she was hardly noticing these small signs that there was something different about Cassie – "No grand opening! I am sure there will be something and we can definitely make it grand! I am experienced in making events simply great...” - she was a princess, a daughter of the Vampire King. She knew how to celebrate, how to organize balls and parties.

But even though Nunnally was overwhelmed with joy about her friend’s success, she did notice that her question, a question that she considered rather neutral, made her friend puzzled…? Concerned? Sad? She sat there on the bench quietly observing Cassie for a few longer moments, not to disturb her as she saw the other girl being deep in her thoughts.

When Cassandra started to talk Nunnally noticed that her voice was different than usual…less cheerful…but also…bitter? She could not quite grasp what was going on. But Nunnally sighed in relief when she heard her words. They were less unexpected, less troubling than Nunnally feared. It was not the first time others were not feeling comfortable around her brothers. Nunnally was used to that. They were Vampires and they acted like Vampires did. She was not the one. She did not understand their need, their lust for blood, but she also did not condemn them. She could not. She loved Reiji. Her love was pure ad honest as if they were truly bonded by blood. She felt close to Shuu, although he probably did not appreciate that. But the others…truth to be told Nunnally could share Cassie’s feeling towards her other brothers. Nunnally neither knew them or feel comfortable around them. So, she could fully understand Cassie. Even with regard to Reiji.

The only thing Nunnally wondered was how Cassie’s path crossed the one of her brothers. Or Reiji? It was not clear exactly what her friend meant, but Nunnally was not the one to inquire. Was it something she saw? Was it something she feel? Nunnally doubted that her brothers had drunk Cassies' blood as then she would expect a bit different reaction from her friend. Whatever that was, it did not seem that Cassie was scared of her or did not want to hang out with Nunnally. The rest did not matter. At least for now.

“That’s okay Cassie.” – Nunnally reassured her friend with a big smile – “I will come alone. Don’t force yourself to invite anyone only to be nice to me. I do not mind. It’s not worth you feeling uncomfortable.”

Nunnally sighed.

“I will tell you a secret, Cassie. I also feel...I sometimes also feel…weird…or a bit intimidated in their company. No, I do not mean Reiji of course, but the rest of them. It’s more complicated. I am the youngest…and sort of our father’s favourite…” – that was not exactly the truth, but Nunnally could not explain it otherwise to Cassie – “…so yes, I was growing up a bit separated after reaching a certain age. So, no I do not mind at all you’re inviting just me. Reiji is of course different. He’s my beloved brother and he always cared about me and he does now, but I get it that…that he’s difficult, so…that’s okay! I will come alone.”

@bluebird-dolly-bride

"Oh, hehe..." a nervous laugh followed the shared enthusiasm of her friend "I do not have those details yet, but I can tell you what I know: tomorrow I have an appointment with the owner of the gallery, I have to show him my trajectory and we both will make the selection of the paintings for the exhibition and talk about those details, but he commented me that it could probably be in two weeks!" she paused for a moment, hearing Nunnally's offering "Oh, and, I am not sure if it will be a grand opening, but if I would ever need help with it now I know I can count on you" she felt happiness because of her friend's reaction. Kindness and support around what gave her illusions made her happy.

Contradictory at the normal behavior, Cassandra wasn't looking with this overture anything related with fame but to fulfill and old desire she had to share her passion, her feelings, her inner world in the enigma behind the strokes, secretly wanting to enjoy people finding the meaning behind any piece. Those paintings were somehow a fictional view over her life, in which characters aimed certain heroes and villains of her story, that one she barely could express properly in words. All those hidden feelings that she never found the way to tell to anyone, but somehow they managed to get into the surface and colored.

That's why, when Nunnally asked her if she could bring him as company she doubted, and this time, she couldn't even hide it, she held a deep silence for minutes, considering it. There was, of course, bunch of paintings related to him, to the battle between their egos, pride and prejudice facing each other, fake love or perhaps just chained love. She doubted to show herself so evident in front of someone who had years, even centuries to study her art. Was she enough courageous to show herself and close, from once and forever, feelings from which she ran away? Or she will be a childish liar? Decisions, decisions. She had to take hers. Nunnally won't wait forever. She needed time to think about it, alone. So she decided, to tell and to hide until the right time came.

"I have seen him, of course" her words, even if she tried them cordially, has a light bitter taste "I fear I know the worst of his sides... I am sorry, I think it is something I should have told you when you mentioned his name the last time we hanged out but I was unsure. I have met more people with that name. I..." she paused her speech, picking the right words on her head "...I do not feel so comfortable around your brothers, even so, I would like to take my time to consider them to go, for you. They mean a lot to you, right? I can do this for you. Besides, I think I can allow them to go if they really want, but still, I have to think about it... I am sorry".

@lured-into-wonderland

[ashevi666]

working on drawing bride (everlasting) hong lu

you're here? good The new roadmap will be released soon. Maybe on Halloween or the day after? That's my bet. We'll find out the name of Hong Lu's canto (it's going to be named The Light Fading watch me predict this), the picture for it. Then we'll also get to know what our intervallos will be, one of which will be related to Hong Lu.

Once his Canto comes out, we'll finally get to know everything about him. He'll get new sprites that have emotions that aren't just :) :o ^▽^. He'll get his own WAW ego that will be the main face of the Battle Pass for months. The battlepass will also be naive cyan. All of it. He will also get his own Mili song. His own Mili song!!!!!

I can't wait to find out what's the deal with him, why he goes as Hong Lu and not Bayou, which his family seems to not know? At least Xichun didn't even bother calling him Hong Lu in front of the others. I also want to know what the hell the creatures in the gates(?) are in his promotion art. AND WHAT DID DANTE MEAN BY THE LIGHT IN HIS EYES FADING?? I CANNOT LET THAT GO. WHAT DOES IT MEAN. IS IT STILL FADING. WHERE IS IT GOING. WHY IS IT DOING THAT. anyway. my predictions for the future: The Roadmap will come out on the 31st of October. (or the day after that) Canto VII will be called The Light Fading. It has to be connected to light. It must be. He will lose his eye in his canto. He will die in-story at least five times in his canto. He will distort.

i am normal about hong lu

[north-noire]

drew some of my mutuals' charlies!

Call me Henry Emily, because I would definitely die for all of them-- In all seriousness, I just wanted to get out of artblock, so I decided to draw some of my mutuals' Charlies in the hopes that it'll work :" ) I hope you guys like them! Check out their accounts, they make great stuff! :D

Top left @ibujous 's SN Charlie! I love seeing a Charlie who survived </3 And it's really cool how you incorporated both TSE and game elements into one! it's neatly bundled up and it's kind of refreshing actually! The way she hides all her pain and doubts about her and her father into a smile and silliness makes me sad inside </3 I also love a Michael-Charlie friendship truther! Top right @koerinz 's The Design and Functionality Charlie! I love how she seems almost inscrutable, but she has this intense gaze that makes you wonder what goes on in her head. She looks timid and reserved, but still relatively kind person. Their friendship (?) with Cassidy is really interesting to me. Can't wait to see more of their AU! Bottom left @pillowspace 's Charlie! AAAA i love that you incorporated the old Charlie sprite from FNAF 2 into her design it took me a hot minute to understand why she had a blue sweater xD I LOVE her dynamic with Cassidy it's so good, I love seeing Cassidy and Charlie getting along!! I love her design so much and she deserves the entire world!! Bottom right @theautisticjedi 's Charlie! I love her so much she did not deserve to get stabbed multiple times by her uncle of all people, like WILLIAM SHE WAS JUST A TODDLER. DAMN. I love how naive and blissful she is and very much loves her dad. Her naivete really contrasts to basically everyone else in a good way. She just wants her and her dad to be happy. It just sucks what happened to her </3 I hope you guys like this for now! Hopefully when I get to draw again I won't go through another round with artblock </3

[trlvsn]

phoenix wright making apollo justice present forged evidence is, as rightfully rage-inducing as it is, also perfectly understandable and even justifiable to an extent. in this essay i will not cut my introduction off with an old-fashioned tumblr punchline and will actually elaborate on why i think so and what i think about phoenix wright in general.

the first few paragraphs will be rather surface-level, but bear with me: i'm writing this in one breath. it has already been established that the change in phoenix's character was so big and shocking that the fandom is still actively discussing it and making theories. i have seen people compare his sprites with mia and diego, kristoph and miles, yanni yogi and many others, and every single on of them is, in in my opinion, correct: there are actual similarities between them, intentional or not. i believe it can all be explained with two simple statements. one: phoenix is a sponge of a man. even before aa4, we frequently see him adopt mannerisms and figures of speech from the people he encounters. he learns, he absorbs, he changes, but only for a short while, as he stays true to his motivations, passions and drive. two: the seven years of being watched by kristoph and collecting data made him turn to that mimicking quality of his and use it as a weapon. phoenix wright could not afford to reveal his true motivations, therefore, he could not reveal what he was in general. it's a simple metaphor, really.

did he get lost in the deceptions somewhere along the way? absolutely. "what tangled webs we weave when we practice to deceive", a line said by him about kristoph, can easily be applied to phoenix. this is where the bloody ace comes in. incidentally, he is given the idea by zak: he is the one who says one can't win unless there's a ace up their sleeve, and, no matter how much of an influence that particular phrase had on wright, he follows the principle. here is phoenix's first motive for forging the ace: insurance. without concrete, dooming evidence, a trial could not end in his favor at the time. phoenix wright, post-disbarment, is no longer a man who relies on bluffs and "just believing in the client", he is strongly dissapointed in the system, outraged, offended, hurt, wounded, and he does not trust it at all, hence the dirty tricks. you can't just play fair against something unfair and win.

what i find far more interesting however, are his other motives. if the only thing that drive him to forgery was distrust and carefulness, he would have shared the plan with apollo or, perhaps, done something similar to the turnabout succession trial, where the letter is shown to the culprit, but never submitted as evidence and quickly admitted as a fake. really, i believe he is smart enough to find other ways. however, he doesn't. he gives the ace to apollo in a very specific way: through trucy wright, not a word of proper explanation. why is that? he is teaching apollo a lesson.

clearly, something about apollo reminds phoenix of himself. a young, bright, nervous mind, fighting for the truth and justice, full of belief, a little naive. phoenix knows what that naivety cost him, and he destroys it right away, because then it will hurt less, he thinks. the forged ace is a vaccine of sorts: you will experience some minor symptoms, but no actual serious consequences, and it will hurt for a moment, but for the rest of your life, you will never catch that sickness again. phoenix is already planning the jurist system reform and has already planned how this trial will go: the environment is controlled and safe for apollo, he will not get disbarred. if the truth is revealed later, under the new system, surely apollo won't be receiving the same harsh punishment wright did. so here you go, kid, learn your lesson, punch a lawyer or two in the face, and never ever, ever trust anyone like that ever again.

but wait, if the truth does get revealed, who will be receiving the punishment for it? of course, the man who forged the evidence, phoenix wright. here comes the third reason: punishment.

remember the class trial? young phoenix wright, blamed for a crime he didn't commit, overwhelmed and crying. what does the abandoned child do when the whole class accuses him of stealing? he stands up slowly and comes up to the kid with the grey hair to apologize for the money he stole but did not steal. he admits it. it doesn't matter what the truth is anymore, because if everyone thinks you did it, you might as well have.

you might as well do it again, for real this time, and maybe a weight will fall off your shoulders, because what you see in yourself will finally match the image the whole world has of you.

phoenix wright is working on the jurist system. phoenix wright is a father and phoenix wright is someone who will do his best to put kristoph gavin to jail. that doesn't mean phoenix wright sees any other use or future for himself. it simply does not matter. well, by the end of the first case, anyway.

he gathers more evidence. he thinks, a lot. he gives apollo advice on the cases, inevitability reminiscing. the new system is a success. in a new, better world, maybe he will take some piano lessons: he has grown tired of pretending he can play. he has grown tired of pretending in general. hell, maybe he will even take the bar exam again.

[giddlygoat]

i love ur turbo/felix stuff !! what's an underrated part of their dynamic that you're passionate about? any sorts of scenarios youre fond of ?

oml. thank you for such a treat of an ask!!!!!!

aaaa, where do i start? i genuinely don’t know how to articulate most of my thoughts and headcanons so i’m just gonna go for it LAWL

firstly, i love that turbo is an immature bad boy while felix is this heart-of-gold angel. i’m a simple man, i like that juxtaposition and i like to consider how they would inspire each other to veer out of their respective comfort zones and change as people [for better or for worse]. and i especially love all of this because i think it’s pretty safe to assume they are both the other’s first delve into dating. they’re both stupid about relationships going into this, which i believe is a big part of the reason felix fell in love with turbo.

which reminds me: i don’t think turbo realized he was in love with felix. he latched onto the only sprite in the whole arcade who remained consistently tolerant of his ‘charming quirks’ and soaked up that attention like a sponge. while felix would sometimes chastise his rude behaviors, he seldom told turbo anything but what the racer wanted to hear. he was encouraging to turbo like that; thought he could foster good change with positive reinforcement [at the time, felix did not realize on all conscious levels that he was trying to fix turbo].

that reminds me. in the very beginning, turbo thought of felix as a naive innocent whom he could mess with for his own amusement. on a less cruel note, he also found himself enjoying genuine laughter around felix more than anyone else, and turbo’s perception of the handyman changed significantly once he saw the real value in their friendship. he realized that felix actually made for great company and was a lot brighter than he’d originally assumed.

that’s around the time they both started to get close. turbo discovers that being playfully mean is his go-to love language, and felix consequentially discovers that he likes a little bitchiness in a guy. it’s kind of a surprise to them both but it’s a welcome development and they each come to terms with their newfound chemistry pretty quickly. it all goes unsaid. the flirting just kinda happens, and before too long they’re letting the lines of their relationship blur.

felix is absolutely thrilled. he loves the way turbo lights up when he enters the room. he loves feeling useful and wanted to someone other than a nicelander, and he sincerely loves turbo. it’s ridiculously simple to him, and at some point he was probably even convinced that turbo was his future. there is a sliver of bliss between them before the fantasy inevitably ends. sad! oh well, there are other bad boys with intimacy issues and their golden retriever boyfriends 😊 COUGH tamora & felix COUGH

OK BUT FR turbo even. Listen okay actually no. turbo had gotten wrapped up in felix’s fantasy too. he was invested. then he thought more than 2 seconds about the prospect of felix specifically being his life partner and got scared as fuck.

i’m ngl guys, i think turbo may have found felix’s predictability and love of routine and familiarity comforting in the beginning, but he quickly realizes that he can’t hitch himself to that. i think he had considered the anticipatory lifespan of his own game early on and a little seed of doubt burrowed itself down in his chest, telling him that he could not afford to get too comfortable and loose his touch.

OKAY UHM. sorry about the incoherent wall of text before you i just have so many thoughts about them at all times. all subject to change and evolve of course. in the meantime, here are some of my notes on them:

turbo has a strong emotional attachment to his car and felix recognizes that being invited to ride in it is a huge sign of trust and vulnerability. you’d never think he was sending sappy signals by the way he offered felix to ‘take it for a spin’, but it touches felix either way.

as previously mentioned, felix has a thing for being bossed around. he vehemently denies this when turbo teases him about it. no big surprise

turbo feels out of his element in most of the romantic aspects of their relationship, finding it easier to navigate the physical aspects. this isn’t even necessarily because he doesn’t have romantic feelings for felix, he’s just allergic to emotional intimacy.

felix is the perfect opposite of turbo in that respect. no display of affection is flippant or unimportant to him: he is very deliberate in initiating anything physical

on that note, felix is extremely service oriented and prefers to dote on his partner. turbo could not be happier by all the attention, but sometimes he finds felix’s emotion and sincerity to be overwhelming. this applies to basically every aspect of their relationship

i’m trying not to make all of these about turbo but i just have to get this off my chest: yes, turbo gets off on obliterating competition. he’s not normal about winning. winning in front of his boyfriend makes him especially abnormal. being praised for his victories by said boyfriend makes him downright unusual. no further questions at this time

i have more but this is way too long as it is and i’m falling asleep sitting up so CHAPTER ONE OVER!!!!1!1

[reachartwork]

i literally can't stop starting projects

a couple of years ago i started, and then stopped, making a project borne out of another project borne out of a prototype called Danmaku Artist. you can play it in browser here;

but you can't, like, play the patterns or anything, it's mostly just a fun little toy.

super danmaku artist will be a bullet hell pattern creation tool that lets you design your own bullet patterns and then play them and share them with others through a common file format. super danmaku artist aims to make pattern creation accessible through visual tools (think blender nodes) while also wrenching as many bullets out of godot as i can possibly optimize for

anyway, i spent all day thinking about math so now i am going to tell you about what i found;

the naive approach, from someone who does not know how to program, is to render each bullet as an object of some sort, a little contained nugget of information that carries its own data on how it should move, curve, accelerate, decelerate, etc. the problem is that doing this all is extremely computationally expensive and godot just isnt designed to handle those sorts of numbers, not danmaku tier.

instead what i will be doing is some bullshit wizard math. when a designer makes a pattern, the game uses bullshit wizard math to pre-compute every possible position a bullet will take on that path. it stores this information in a big box called a "lookup table". then it takes this master path and makes a bunch of copies of it at all the different angles you could need using vector transformations.

bullets only contain two pieces of information: how many frames they've existed for, and their firing angle.

on every frame, the game counts up all the bullets, looks up the appropriate entry in the big lookup table, and renders a sprite. this can be done in parallel for very fast speeds for MAXIMUM QUANTITY OF BULLETS.

i am currently puzzling out how to handle things like paths that accelerate, curve, or generally are not straight and boring. this requires some really high level math that i don't, frankly, understand yet, but once i do i intend to have a tech demo out in people's hands as soon as i can make one that works.

ultimately my goal is to basically make fraxy 2. if you dont know what fraxy is, you are part of the vast majority of human beings, and you and i had very different childhoods.

i will keep you all updated.

[redheadspark]

Hawuu can I request 2. “take off your jacket, the hell? you’re making me hot just by looking at you.” with Druig

Thank u

A/N - HAWWU! I love this, especially since it involves his jacket! Thanks for the request, friend!

Breath

Summary - He always took your breath away, even in his leather jacket.

Warnings - Just fuff

“Kingo, I can’t believe you have a place like this,”

“It’s only my second summer home.  I basically only use this place as a party pad,”

“Please tell me I can sit on the couches,”

You looked just in time at Kingo launching one of his fancy throw pillows in Sprite’s direction, who dodged it and laughed as she then plopped on the couch with ease.  You had to snort from their antic, something you missed from the past 500 years, the rest of the group was mingled around the small villa where you were in the Maldives.  

It was Kingo’s idea: The Eternals coming back together at his vacation home as a way to reconnect with one another.  Since he avoided the Battle against Ikaris and the potential Emergence of Tiamut, he felt bad and wanted to make amends in his own way.  The rest of the Eternals, including yourself, didn’t mind it one bit since you all knew why he didn’t wish to be part of the fight. He was still part of your family, and he wanted to use his villa with the group for at least a week before you would all split off and find your way in the world.  The only one that did not come was Phastos since he wanted to be with his husband and son, but he’d call every day to check in with the group.

The weather itself was bright and warm, the sweltering heat was cooled down a bit thanks to the ocean and the constant breeze that would come into the open windowed home.  It was a good excuse to go swimming every day from dawn till dusk, something Makkari would do from the moment she would wake until Thena would have to drag her out of the water for dinner.   

Sersi and Sprite were reconnecting, so to speak, after all that happened with Ikaris and his betrayal of the family. You could see from afar how they both needed to heal, and the best way for them to do that was to rely on one another.  It was a good thing to see, opening up all the possibilities of a better relationship between the pair of them. You were even more pleased to hear Sersi, Sprite, and Kingo were going to go back to London after your week vacation, mentally making a note to visit them sometime in the future. 

You were still on the fence in what you were going to do after your vacation there in paradise, though you weren’t going to go back to the States where you were for a few decades.  Thena asked for you to join herself and Makkari on The Domo, wishing to perhaps find other Eternals out in the universe to tell them all that you went through.  It was tempting for you to do, finding nothing else to do there on Earth.  But then again, you grew to love the planet over the centuries and how humans evolved over time.  They were fragile but strong, naive but intelligent. 

Hateful but loving.

“Where’s Druig anyways?” Sprite asked as she was thumbing through one of the books that was on Kingo’s book shelf.

“Must be poking his head in the kitchen for the snacks,” Kingo replied with a chuckle as you turned your head in the direction of the kitchen to the right.  The door was slightly open, you could see barely into the propped open door and the backside of Druig’s leather jacket.  

You grinned, walking over to the kitchen without anyone else noticing. 

When you poked your head inside, you saw Druig leaning against the countertop and looking at the view of the ocean with a bag of chocolate-covered peanuts in his hands.  You smiled from ear to ear, watching him for a long moment or two with comfortable silence hanging in the air.  Seeing him there in that kitchen, dressed in black and munching away from snacks that could be far more expensive than the leather jacket he sported, you thought back to where you two were before this.

Happily married and in the jungle, with 500 years of marriage and bliss.

“You watchin’ me, luv?”

You snapped back to reality, seeing your husband and the love of your life watch you with a massive smile on his face and chocolate on his fingers.  You giggled, slipping all the way into the kitchen to close the door behind you.  With the noise of the living room where the others were now melting away, you walked over to Druig and leaned against the counter next to him, seeing him eye you with affection as you grabbed a chocolate-covered peanut to pop in your mouth.

“You would hide out on here,” You teased, Druig grinned and a small hint of blush was on his cheek as he shrugged.

“I needed to have some alone time, plus Sprite was annoyin’ me,” He reasoned, though you were wrapped an arm around him as he leaned against you, “Though havin’ you here is better,”

You eyed him with care, rubbing his back with your knuckles as he was keeping his gaze on you, “How are you feeling?”

He paused, thinking to himself for a moment or two while that question was having between the pair of you.  You could see he was thinking a bit hard, the small scar on his cheek was barely visible as well and the massive dent of a bruise was still on his chest thanks to Ikaris.  Seeing him be nearly killed in front of you nearly broke you, shattered you even. Almost seeing the love of your life taken from you, made you feel so much hate towards Ikaris.  

But Druig was there, alive and well, and he hugged you tightly in his arms when you were reunited.  500 years of marriage almost being snuffed within seconds, it was almost too much for the pair of you to endure.

“Better, I promise,” he reassured you, seeing your longing gaze on him as he smiled and nuzzled his nose against yours, “I wanted to ask ya if Thena’s offer was still on the table for ya,”

“It is, if you come along,” You hinted, seeing him chuckle as you pointed at him, “As you should since we’ve been married for 500 years,”

“Which reminds me, it’s our anniversary in two days,” He explained, his eyes drifting to your lips for a moment before looking right back at you, "I think we should sneak away tomorrow and have the day to ourselves.”

“I would like that,” You hummed in agreement, “I think some sun will do you some good,”

“Oh, ya do?” He asked in a teasing tone, his grin massive from ear to ear as his blue eyes were shining in the light.  You giggled, grabbing his leather jacket collar to tug him in and kiss him in the kitchen.  He always stole your breath from your lips when you would kiss, it was always a falling sensation that made you fall for him more.  

Your first kiss was the night he left the group in the Amazon, you chasing after him and bringing him comfort since he was in tears.  But in the end, he framed your face and kissed you soundly, you feeling his tears on his cheeks as he leaned into you and engraining his love in your heart from that moment on.

Soft kisses in the morning or passionate kisses late in the night, shoulder kisses during a meal together, or a kiss to the head from a moment of grief.  Druig loved kissing you, and if he could he would kiss you every moment.

You pulled away and smacked his leather jacket, “Take off your jacket, the hell?” You huffed as he laughed and ruffled his own hair, “You’re making me hot just by looking at you,”

“Or am I?  How about to help me take it off then,” he teased as you grabbed a hand towel to shuck at him.  He laughed, the sound alone ringing in the kitchen and floating out the window. Into the blue ocean.  

The End

July Prompt Session

[ikeromantic]

Hmmm, how about some fun with Cyran at the Tavern with some Eggnog 😏

Oooh I do love some Cyran. This one turned out more sweet than intended, so perhaps a non-alcoholic eggnoggy for you, hm? ^_^ Approx. 900 words of our favorite non-royal (who def deserves a sprite and a route!) IkePri New Years Event story!

Cyran regarded Emma over the foam of his pint. She was here, but she wasn’t. Her gaze was lost in someplace else, wherever her thoughts had taken her. The rose liquor in front of her sat untouched, as did the food. It seemed the princes would haunt her, even beyond the palace walls.

“Hey.” He reached over and set his hand atop hers. 

Emma gave a little start and then gave him a strained smile. “Sorry. I was -”

“Thinking. Yeah. It’s okay.” He gestured to the plate in front of her. “I didn’t want your food to get cold. The fried mushrooms are only really good when they’re hot.”

“Thanks.” She speared one on the end of her fork and then popped it in her mouth. Her expression immediately brightened. “These are good!”

Cyran chuckled. “I thought you might enjoy them.” He took a sip of his beer, purposefully letting a bit of the foam get on his nose. “You should try the pickles next.”

Emma giggled. “You’ve got something on your face.” Her shoulders finally relaxed, and the tightness of her jaw eased. 

“Do I?” He wiped at his cheek, and then his chin. “Did I get it?”

“No,” her grin widened as she reached across the table and swiped at his nose. The foam hung on her fingertip and before she could pull back, Cyran grabbed her hand and put the foamy digit between his lips.

Her expression of surprise was absolutely worth the whole charade. As was the blush on her cheeks as his tongue lapped her finger before he let her go. Cyran grinned unrepentantly. “Hm. Tastes better with you. Maybe I need to season all my drinks with a bit of Emma . . .”

She laughed and pulled her hand back. “Absolutely not, you big tease.”

“Pity.” He sighed. “I can imagine how good this would taste if I licked it off your bre-”

“Ehm.” Emma’s eyes went wide. “Not good table conversation. Not even at the tavern.”

Cyran reached across the table, stroking the back of her hand. “Apologies, my lady. I get carried away at the slightest taste of you.” 

“Sometimes I think too much Clavis has rubbed off on you. Big tease.” She playfully smacked his hand. 

“Mmm, the prince wouldn’t say such a thing. He’s a gentleman, you know. He’d say . . .”

Emma giggled, “Oh! I know. He’d say, ‘As the most handsome and eligible prince in Rhodolite, you are lucky to be the toy I’m interested in.’ Er, or the - the cup!”

Cyran grinned. “That sounds about right. You make a decent impression.” His beloved was relaxed now, her worries fully behind her and he was glad to see it.

“Thanks.” She picked up one of the pickle wedges and took a bite. Her lips instantly puckered and she set it down to take a gulp of liquor. “Oh! Oh my god, Cyran! It’s spicy!”

“Is it?”

“Yeah, here,” she lifted it again and held it out to him. 

She was so adorably naive, he thought. He took the rest of the pickle wedge, and kissed her fingers. “Mmm, I think you’re spicier.”

The heat in her face went all the way to the tips of her ears. “Cyran! We’re in public!”

“Oh?” He looked around and then back at her. “I don’t think anyone’s paying attention. I could kiss a lot more of you before anyone looked.”

“Don’t you dare.” Her expression was so serious that he couldn’t help but laugh.

“I would never.” Cyran settled back with another sip of his drink. “I like to keep all the best things about you to myself.”

“Best things?” She tilted her head.

He nodded. “Sure. I mean there’s so much about you that I love, things everyone can see because it’s just you. But there are other parts that are mine. Like the face you make when I kiss your neck. Or the little sound at the back of your throat when I lick your -”

“Cyran, if you keep talking about that I’m going to have to take you home.” Her lips turned down in a mock severe threat.

“Ooooh, is that a promise?” He raised his eyebrows.

She couldn’t hold back a laugh. “It is! But you promised me dancing and drinking and fun . . .”

Cyran chuckled. “I did. But who’s to say we couldn’t do all of that in your cozy bedroom?”

Emma rolled her eyes. “One track mind, hm?”

“With you? I’m afraid not.” 

“What do you mean?” She leaned forward, instantly curious. 

Cyran felt the full weight of her gaze, that insightful look she had. The one that she used when evaluating the princes. It almost made him nervous. “Just that with you, there’s so much I feel. My heart and mind overflow.” He could feel his own face get hot, his cheeks nearly the color of his hair. “Of course I want to make love to you. But I also just love to see you. To talk to you. I want to protect you, and hold you. I want to wake up every morning to see your face. Have every meal together. Watch every sunset. I want everything . . . with you. Because with you, everything is better.”

Emma was silent for a long moment, and he worried he’d said too much. Confession was a dangerous thing, afterall. But then she smiled and it was like the sunrise, he thought. Brilliant with joy. “I love you, you know that?”

“Every time you say it, it’s like the first time.” He took her hands, squeezed them gently. “I love you too.” His smile hurt his cheeks but he couldn’t stop grinning. She was just so beautiful to him.

[doujin-and-drop]

Gyaku Shaun Sai Hanri / Ace Arftorney ENGLISH PATCH (VER. 1.0)

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS VERSION 1.0. THE EXTRA BONUS CASE HAS NOT BEEN TRANSLATED YET. THIS POST WILL BE UPDATED WITH A VERSION 2.0 DOWNLOAD ONCE THE BONUS CASE HAS BEEN TRANSLATED.

Thank you all who have waited patiently for me to translate this game! It was a lot of fun. Please support Cheshire, who now goes by Oota Manta, for creating this game! (here is his pixiv - MAJOR R-18 WARNING)

For this game to run properly, you MUST either set your computer's locale to Japanese or use a locale emulator.

EDIT: SPRITE PAGE.

DOWNLOAD LINK (INTERNET ARCHIVE)

Below are some translation notes (spoiler warning)

This was my first ever major translation project. Since it spanned the time of almost two years, the quality of the translations may increase as you play through the game. Nonetheless I have gone back and redone a lot of the earlier dialogue with the help of a friend to make it sound more natural in English. If you find any errors or typos, you may leave an ask and I will correct it in a patch update.

In order to keep the spirit of an actual Ace Attorney game, several things were changed. Most notably, the characters names.

Names:

稲刈たんぼ (Inekari Tanbo) is Phoenix Wruff. People familiar with the Japanese Ace Attorney names may recognize that this name is nowhere near Naruhodou Ryuuichi. That's simply because this character, as with Edgewurrth, were not actually named after the main characters of the original series. I decided to change this given their clear homage. Inekari Tanbo literally means "harvesting (a) rice paddy".

条框蓮司(レンジ) (Jyoukamachi Renji) is Miles Edgewurrth. To be honest, I don't think there is a pun in his name. At the very least, I had trouble thinking of what it could be. If somebody knows, let me know. The most I can figure is the first kanji in his name can mean "streak", and according to Cheshire, Edgewurrth was supposed to get the white streak of hair, not Abe, but he didn't like how it looked on the former.

萬舞 (Man Mau) is Krystal "Kris" Balle. Her name means "10,000 dances", hence her English name.

濡沼 ウキモ (Nuranuma Ukimo) is Ashley Goodhead. Ukimo doesn't seem to have much significance as a word, although it could be related to 浮き which means to float, as in like, floating in water. I say this because the other parts of Ukimo's name, 濡(Nura)沼(Numa) refer to being wet and to swamps.

If this is true, why the name choice? Well, it's very complicated...

濡 Means a little more than just being wet. It also can mean being wet in the sexual sense. There's also the word 濡れ衣 (Nuraginu) which means to be falsely accused of a crime (literally and archaically "wet clothes"). Both these I would say fit Ukimo, not only because of her story position of being falsely accused, but also, well... just look at her design. It would be naive to claim there's nothing sexual about it.

沼 has some connotations among gaming, interestingly. It can mean being addicted to something (that something being a piece of media, typically) or being "swamped" in a game, i.e being stuck and unable to progress.

Now, this meaning of the word has only come into play somewhat recently. Like, 2015-ish. Which makes it sort of inapplicable, since Gyaku San was created around 2003.

A different slang use of 沼 that was used around this time was 池沼 which means, basically, the r slur... in a way? It's used to make fun of "weird" or "cringe" behavior, typically present in those with mental disability. It's a homophone of 知障, which does mean "mental disability​".

With all this in mind, I had a very hard time piecing together a name for Ukimo that would feel at home in Ace Attorney. Especially because I don't know the full extent of what Cheshire had in mind when naming her.

Ashley was chosen given that, to me, it is a very "popular teenage girl" name. "Ash" would also make her closely related to "Phoenix". (Get it? LOL). I almost debated on making any use of ウキモちゃん (Ukimo-chan) be "Ash", but decided it would be kind of weird...

Goodhead was chosen for several reasons. It, of course, is a clear sexual pun, but it is also a reference to James Bond, something I feel could encapsulate some of the slang meanings of 沼 (media obsession) while serving to imitate Ace Attorney's love of pop culture references. "Goodhead" could also be taken literally, as in meaning she has a good head on her shoulders, which would refer to her being innocent; the "false accusation" meaning in her name.

It was the best I could do. Orz.

阿部伊知郎 (Abe Ichirou) is Abe Founder. He kept the first part, although his last name became his first name, and his original first name means "The one wise son". However, without the kanji, "ichirou" can mean to fail your college entrance exam. Considering that he lies about going to a prestigious college when he actually went to a average one reminded me of this, so his last name was chosen to hold similar meaning. "Founder", as a noun, can mean someone who establishes something, and typically this is used with positive connotation. However, as a verb, it can mean "failure", which I think is apt and captures this stark contrast meaning.

Many things in the game were changed to better be understood by a Western audience, such as obscure Japanese pop culture references and suchlike. The backwards poster bit was the hardest, but I managed to pull it off. In short, Ashley's - or Ukimo's - poster originally was a reference to an old Japanese song (likely) that had さんさん(san san) written. When read from the back, さ looks like ち(chi). The "look dood" poster said 犬さんぽ in the original, which means "dog stroll". But when read from the back, it looks like 犬ちんぽ which means "dog penis". I did my best with this, haha.