#need to get going on posting olivia's playthrough

[lelianaslefthand]

been seeing a lot of posts as of late about the lack of blackwall love in the fandom so im coming out as a blackwall truther as well, one of the most underrated characters imo

[darktapufifi]

I just realized I've been lacking on YouTube uploads, didn't realize it had been 3 months already though 😭

I'll be sure to pick back up on uploads and projects, finally, since I have a decent bit of extra free time now, though for now im gonna continue to post on Toyhou.se, UnVale, and here with silly lil stuff till I can get to my pc and record, though if you want updates sooner, I'd suggest checking out my discord, linked on my profile :D

For now the sneak peak of this post is a list of stuff I'm working on so here I go;

Spellcasters au Shitposts & reference sheets (Billie, Olivia, and Olivia's vtuber design)

Smiling Critters: Forest Fables AU (the line of toys SillyBilly is from)

Personal discord server emojis

Indigo park thumbnail & video

RatNest SMP

Chaos SMP

Goober doodles for critter ocs I found interesting

Finishing witches x warlocks playthrough

Finishing kindergarten 1 & 2

Finishing helltown (my scaredy cat ass cannot handle it) (I also need to stop playing it at like 11 pm)

Working on incomplete thumbnails

Finishing details on my Carrd.co

So yeah a ton lmao, hopefully i can get some of this done by the like end of june or july

[here-am-i-sitting-in-a-tin-can]

Hey, so you liked one of my posts, and I liked your user, so I went to your account, and since you like music recommendations, I thought I'd give you a few! Hope you don't mind a few being in Ukrainian lolol I'll give a light explanation of the lyrics with them

Mommy by R.I.P -- please don't be put out by the name! It's an instrumental from an animation on youtube; the music is very atmospheric, and it has a lively build-up.

Trailer by Alec Holovca -- this is from the Night In The Woods ost, and also an instrumental. If you haven't played the game or watched the playthrough then I really recommend it. It has a particular vibe that I think marauders fans would enjoy, although I've never heard anyone talking about it. And, of course, you should start with the trailer for the game! Wow, I sound like an ad 🫠

Що якщо by DoSliz, SadSvit -- Ukrainian post punk song. The lyrics are roughly about changing as a person and growing up. I roughly translated the chorus to "what if we forget all of it // who we are and who we could be // can not find the sense and meaning // only time that keeps on running." Really reminds me of marauders, so it's only natural to recommend it. Oh, and the name just translates to 'what if'.

Muse by Isabela LaRosa -- Maybe you've heard it, maybe you haven't. If you haven't then please please please give it a listen. LaRosa has an outstanding voice, and the lyrics🤭🦋🦋 The instrumentals are lovely as well, of course!!

Вона сама сюди прийшла by Zhadan i Sobaky -- I LOVE THIS SONG . ITS- okay, this is gonna be kinda long. Style is rock/punk-rock. The song name transletes to 'she came here herself' or 'she came here alone' and it's about the the singers description of a mysterious woman they met at a party, how she was a complete antithesis, making people meet and then making them argue, how she "set fire to the curtains, like pirate flags", how she defied authority. After the first chorus the singer begins to have a full crisis or something, it's up to interpretation. Either they straight up go insane or just their morals change a whole lot and try to come to twrms woth it. The chorus: "In the morning I started to sort out the debris// Where did she go and what was her name?// Why can't I get enough of evil?// No one called her, she came here herself". The most fire line: "... knew that everything in the world was built on faith// That this damn love is full of miracles// She stood by and did not interrupt."

I'd reccomend obsessed by Olivia Rodrigo and La Paura Del Buio by Måneskin but you are already a fan of both artists so I feel theres no need.

(Note: song Obsessed ends. I say 'and then thay became a throuple'.)

Naked Poetry by SKYLAR -- This song is outstanding amazing and great. It is mildly explicit tho and has a Dumbledore jumpscare, so be warned. The best part is at 1:40 if you want to skip the jumpscare.

Сон Амур by Schmalgauzen -- It's Jazz-esk. It's pining. It's romantic. It's poetic (although I cant translate the full lyrics). It's theatric. You can look up Schmalgauzen preformances! "Confucius writes with your hand// I'm taking you to the grave, my dear// Before I have time to hurt with shame// Judas touches [] forehead with his lips// People are burning sulfur above me// And you're already alone// And I'm sleeping alone" (Note: the blank is cause I'm not sure who it's reffering to)

Okay, uh, I think I've rambled enough!!! Um. Sorry. Or you're welcome. Or both, actually! If something needs clearing up or you want to converse, then I'd be glad to talk more!! :D

oh my god you are insane my friend

i’ll check all of them out, thank you so much!

[daydreamerdrew]

1, 4, 11, 13 for the asks!!

1. What are 2-5 already published fiction books you think you want to read in 2023?

My list of comics that I want to read in January is over ambitious and unrealistic but here are 5 things from it:

I want to start reading the Dr. Fate solo stories from the Golden Age starting with More Fun Comics (1935) #55

I’m not a fan of the Walking Dead franchise but I am a fan of Tillie Walden’s work so I’m going to read Clementine: Book One which she wrote and drew, but first I think I’m gonna read Alone in Space: A Collection even though I’ve already read everything in it except for the section reprinting her early comics from when she was young just cause it’s been awhile and I know they’ll be nice to revisit

I’ve been enjoying the “Connie” newspaper strip reprints in Famous Funnies (1934) which were written and drawn by Frank Godwin and I’m going to continue reading those, but Frank Godwin actually also drew some Wonder Woman stories in Sensation Comics (1942) 16-19 and #21 and Comic Cavalcade (1942) #2 which I think will be cool, but I don’t want to start reading early Wonder Woman comics with some random stories so before those I’m gonna read The Wonder Woman Chronicles vol. 1 which reprints her earliest appearances and which I’ve had for years but have never read before

I also need to get back on my Human Target character read through and next up on that is Human Target: Final Cut (2002)

and the stuff you were posting from Scribbly (1948) looked soo good but due to my love of going in order that means I’ve added the Scribbly stories in Popular Comics (1936) #6-9 and The Funnies (1936) #2-29 to my reading list

4. Do you plan to read any genres you haven't read much before?

Well, reading the “Connie” reprints in Famous Funnies (1934) is my first time reading newspaper comic strips and I’m thinking that this year I’d like to read more of those both by reading other stuff that got reprinted in Famous Funnies (1934) like “Jane Arden” and “Flapper Fanny” and also by checking out collections from my local library system like of Calvin and Hobbes, The Adventures of Tintin, the new Nancy stuff by Olivia James, and Brenda Starr, Reporter.

I’ve also never really read manga before but I’m thinking of starting the Sailor Moon anime and if I like it then I’ll probably also check out the manga. And once I’ve played or watched playthroughs of enough Legend of Zelda games then I want to start reading the manga adaptations of those.

11. How do you plan to keep track of your reading? E.g., goodreads, bullet journal, tumblr, etc.

I’m really happy with my current system of weekly round-ups on here, though I’d like to get better about finishing and posting those on Mondays.

And I already have a Comic Vine page to list my completed series and one-shots, but I don’t log that much of what I read on there cause a lot of it’s just certain stories in anthology books. I am thinking of making another list to mark the public domain Golden Age characters whose appearances I read all of.

Also I’m intending on doing a ‘best comics of the year’ list next December like you’ve been doing.

13. Do you plan to attend any author events?

I hadn’t really thought about attending any comic book conventions in 2023. I was never super into them and I haven’t gone to one since Covid started. I have attended Geek Girl Con several times before and Emerald City Comic Con once. I’m not really planning on going to either of those this year but I guess there’s a possibility.

[a-gromova]

Hitman III impressions

Well, I will not write a review on the game, this is not my genre. But I would like to capture my emotions in this post. I haven't done this before. Maybe just because I was sure it would never end, huh. Of course, there will be a lot of spoilers, so if you don't want to ruin the experience, leave this post for later. I do not want and will not criticize anyone. This post is just screenshots of the first playthrough + a small comment on them. If you don't want to read, you can always just look at nice dics pics. 

I just want to say that the game ended with dignity. To be honest, even I could not imagine such an ending. I didn't expect Edwards would grip his screen time so tightly and drink blood like a parasite from each character. Do I need to say more than one word? MENDOZA. THIS IS. SIMPLY. YAVYVDALOYVDA I'm not a big shipper, you know, but... even I didn't expect THAT from IOI. Yes, everyone tried to see something behind the vibes that arose between Diana and 47 for more than 15 years,  but... wow.

Dubai

If you only knew how much Dubai gave me. From the very first mission I had the feeling that I could move mountains, damn it. At some point I even forgot where whose goals were. Or maybe I just wanted that voice to always lead me. Well... you know. I don't think it makes sense to mention for the thousandth time how mind-blowing the visuals are in Hitman 3. I just couldn't lift my jaw off the floor. Guuuuuuys, this is just a graphic paradise. But who in their right mind would make a glass floor? I was wildly uncomfortable.

And yes, I, like many others, arranged a personal meeting with Partners. You know, sometimes a voice in your head makes you do different things, and you even like it. 

Dartmoor

When I first got to the manor, the overall color scheme of the level suddenly diminished my ardor. I couldn't get rid of the feeling that something was going wrong. But nevertheless the level has begun and OH GOD IT WAS GREAT. I didn't expect us to be playing detective in all seriousness. Interrogate, investigate, collect evidence and then even express your version of what had happened.

And wait. Did we ask Carlisle for documents directly? WHAT? Thanks, of course, but I think you will not refuse to look at the nature around the manor in flight from the balcony?

But the mission ends. Diana did not finish the sentence. This was the first bell. I left the manor thinking "fuck". When I walked out the gate and Lucas got in touch, I was like FUCK. No no no IO, I know what you're up to, but you won't do it, will you?

Haha. They did it :)

Berlin

You know, the beginning of the level in Berlin really matches the emotional state. There is silence all around. You no longer have a goal. You are lost and don't know what to do next. Ok ok ok 47 knew what he had to do - find Olivia. But what should I do?

I don't want to describe my opinion about Grey as a character. It will take a long time, and I don’t think most people will be interested in knowing my whole attitude toward him. Yeah, I know that many people didn't like him, especially on Reddit, and many considered him an unnecessary character. Well...

All I knew was that I don't want to play like I used to. I DO NOT WANT to play the way I did years ago. Yes, of course, I've played all parts of the franchise (maybe except one) and I loved it primarily for the atmosphere, theme and gameplay. But I think you understand that you won't last long in the fandom, if you don't have something to cling to. At some point it happened to me. But then 2016 came and said hello to me.

I still cannot pass the level in any other way. I'm just shooting all potential ICA agents. Yes, I know this is a little silly and childish, but I cannot accept the fact that someone other is wearing HIS coat (sorry, 47). But I also can't afford to take it off by changing my disguise. This is a very difficult and incomprehensible feeling. Let it be so for now.

Olivia turned out to be a tough girl. To be honest, from the first season she did not make me such an impression. I am glad that the game allowed me to change my mind about her.

Chongqing

Absolution. ABSOLUTION!!!!! Guuuuys, I still consider this part to be one of the best in the franchise. It gave me so many incredibly cool emotions. There are SO MANY vibes. And now IOI show us Chongqing. It's just mind-blowing. 

Night, neon, RAIN. 

Ladders that stretch over the road. Bird cells. God, did anyone else remember Birdie at that moment? Please say yes and that I'm not the only one so crazy.

And yes, I was right. We're going to fuck agency. LIKE IN THE GOOD OLD TIMES. God, this level is just something.

Mendoza

Are you ready to scream? Don't answer. I can hear your screams from everywhere. Because this is MENDOZA.

I was just playing some really good fanfiction. Guys, tell me honestly, none of you work at IOI? And this is the cutscene before the briefing: YOU DON'T KNOW HER. SHE IS SENDING A MESSAGE. SDFHGDHFJSFDJF All these touches, looks. TANGO. Diana didn't play a queen, she WAS a queen. And this is rightfully her field of maneuver. From that point on Hitman 3 became a DIANA GAME. I can't say I'm against it. Our girl has deserved much more screen time in so many years. I need to spend more time at this location.

Romania

Aaaand we are inside 47's mind distorted by toxins. Wow. I really like the concept of what was happening: we are shown what we did. We were shown how we changed this world. And it all came down to accepting the past. 47 HAD to do this. If you don't accept yourself, you will never be free.

Wait. Looks like I came alive for a while. Honey, I love you even with a hole in the stomach. You don't have to die, you know?

Despite the fact that I knew what was happening there, I was not immediately able to figure out what was reality and what was feverish delirium. Only at the very end I realized that OH GOD THIS IS A REAL TRAIN. We all have the opportunity to chose the way of walking through the level: we can shoot everyone or we can sneak around providence agents. Also we have an opportunity to chose a method to eliminate Edwards. In the end I had no rage or anger. I have never had such feelings during the game tho. I injected Arthur with serum. There are things worse than death. How did he say? "At least I will die knowing who I am?" No, my dear, I could not afford you such a luxury. Even with all your money. And that is it. Be free, legend. It was a pleasure to know you.

[carewyncromwell]

It shocks and kind of scares me how much you got right about the Sunken Vault in the Good Rake AU! How'd you know the "treasure" would actually be evil? Does the events of chapter 42 change anything about the good rake au? i'm kinda bummed jacob never mentioned his worse memories after touching the column. given how much focus was on avenging rowan, I figured duncan would come up at least once, but jc loves to forget him. I have a theory he's the mole, but that's a theory for another day.

Anon!! I got this message before @dat-silvers-girl had even posted her playthrough that I could watch!! I had to click away so fast from this to avoid ze spoilers!! :P

Haha, seriously, though...now that I have seen it, I guess I can sort of see what you mean, about me “getting some things right” in the Good!Rakepick AU (as well as the Dead!MC AU, which used the same appearance for the Sunken Vault and described its entrance more). There are a few things my fic had in common with the most recent game chapter (Y6Ch42), though I personally am a bit dissatisfied with how MC and crew came to the conclusion that the power in the Vault is “too powerful” for people to access, just because we failed to get through the bad memories we were trapped inside. Us failing doesn’t mean we’ve learned anything about what even was in the column: we didn’t even successfully open it, right? (I personally think Carewyn, if faced with that sort of a challenge, would’ve been able to find a way out somehow, given the character arc I’ve written for her -- I feel like her friends would’ve been able to help her surmount it.) And of course, a bunch of rocks really isn’t going to keep people out of the last Vault very long, if they want in...and we still need to break the Statue Curse somehow, if we want to save the people who’ve been Petrified!

I mostly only guessed the treasure might be one of those “be careful what you wish for” type deals because of us going for the last Vault in sixth year, and the game clearly going into seventh year. It just felt like there had to be a reason why R is still a threat, and the possible reasons I summoned up was, 1, we couldn’t break the final curse yet for some reason; 2, R got to the Vault before us and “won” and now we have to stop them from using what’s in the Vault to destroy everything; or 3, the treasure wasn’t really a “treasure” anyone should want and only creates more problems upon being released.

To answer your question, though -- I don’t plan to change anything of the good!Rakepick finale, in response to seeing what’s happened in Chapter 42. It’s already an AU, and I personally enjoy my version of the Sunken Vault with the endless field of statues and the two doors that justify the inclusion of the two coral keys that were established earlier. And, of course, I prefer my precious ghost boi being included more in the main storyline as one of MC’s friends and allies, as he should be. *glares sourly at Jam City*

If Jacob C had to experience all of his worst memories again on a loop like the one in the Chapter-42!Sunken-Vault, those memories would include his father Evan at one point in the heat of anger saying that Jacob only ever causes trouble for everyone else; Olivia telling Jacob and Duncan to run and save themselves as she’s slowly turning to stone; his owl familiar Hoo having to be put down by Madame Pomfrey after being set on fire by a cursed letter from R; and the news of Duncan’s death. Carewyn’s loop would be her mother Lane screaming in despair and demanding to know where Jacob is from the Ministry employee at her front door; Rakepick comparing herself to Carewyn and betraying them in the Vault; Charlie confronting her about her lying to them after learning about the Wizard in White and asking how he can trust her (which I see being the thing that instigates that little tussle between Ben and Charlie from the game, though in my version of events, I see it becoming an actual fight Carey had to break up); and of course Rowan’s death.

[lizzybeth1986]

This won't make you feel better, but this anon might have an explanation for the problems in Pixelberry's stories: essentially, I think it's because media and fandom culture in general has been hijacked by people with much older value systems, value systems where "whether behavior hurts people or not" was at best a secondary concern. The way Olivia is coddled, for example, does resemble how children used to be expected to be grateful to abusive parents for at least being given food and shelter.

Thank you for the ask anon.

Initially, when you'd sent the first ask, I'd had a different answer planned. Because sure, those kind of mindsets could very possibly factor in on how they treat a certain character type or trope...but it never actually happened with any sort of consistency. There were these invisible unspoken rules that certain characters would get away with breaking, and other characters would be punished for. So if there is no consistency in this treatment, how could I believe that it comes from a value/belief system that the writer holds, and nothing else comes into play?

Which brings me to the second thought you had. It's possible, yes, that the demographic they're hoping to cater to the most are the ones who may benefit the most from seeing white (and perhaps straight) characters thrive above others. The ones who will benefit from black and brown characters being placed on a heirarchy of worth - the most exoticized being the most "worthy" of "good treatment". But PB does benefit from a show of appreciating and celebrating diversity, and they do know it - as you can tell from the posts they were putting out during Black History Month last year:

(Thank you @nikkisha16 for helping me source these!)

This is a "nice gesture"....if we ignore the fact that only three out of the handful of default black characters featured at all. And if we ignore the fact that Griffin from this tiny list was hardly given an opportunity to use his skills in the biggest "disaster relief" diamond scene in the series, just to make more space for the white guy. Or that Luke's "alternative romance" arc was given more attention than the one where the MC chose him - to the point where we didn't get to see his mother (more attention to the alternative arc is often a surefire sign that the team is focusing on another LI and presuming said character as single by default, which is why you'll see more effort in the playthroughs where they're single). If the demographic you aim to please are the ones who may not notice or care about what actually happens to such characters in their respective stories...why this posturing? Why this pretence that you care?

It's not that PB is evilly rubbing their hands and contemplating on which character of colour to screw over today. It's very rarely as cut-and-dried as that. Very often it is just as possible that they don't know, or notice how some of these subconscious beliefs translate into their art. Ignorance of how damaging certain tropes can be for certain communities, and an unknowing favouritism towards certain characters based on their skin tone just as plausible causes for the mess we see in most stories of PB now. And a certain dismissiveness, would account for why it keeps happening despite people pointing out these problems. (I mean, this is the company that issued an apology on Twitter for Drake Walker calling a pink cake girly. And I don't recall them making apologies for anything else thus far)

It takes awareness to understand the cultural weight of some of these tropes and archetypes, and certain kinds of treatment in some cases. It also takes awareness to figure out ways to empower these characters within their stories and arcs! And I do believe for that kind of awareness to emerge in the storyboards and the office meetings...there (possibly? Idk what the PB office is like) would need to be more voices from varying communities in the rooms. For instance, look at this incredible interview by Chelsa Lauderdale on the experience of writing Griffin's character in The Elementalists:

Griffin is the rich, fullfilling character that he is because the writer brought her own experiences and worldview to that character. And you can see glimpses of that promise in so many different black and brown characters when they're given even half a chance. Kiara's ambition and logical bent of mind. Hana's loyalty and struggle to discover who she really is. Sloane's courage in taking on the world while battling an anxiety disorder. Teja's love for her craft and desire to excel in her field. Jax's protectiveness towards the underprivileged. Lily Spencer's humour and playfulness and recognition of those who have less privilege. William's (RoE) recognition of his work-home imbalance and his commitment to change that for this woman he loves. James Ashton's creativity and insecurities. Victoria's wisdom and her experience in the film industry. Aurora's desire to make a name that's her own, so that no one will ever view her as benefiting from her aunt's high position again. But unfortunately, we're often only allowed glimpses for a lot of these characters, rather than whole stories that use these traits as a foundation. Having writers from diverse backgrounds and with diverse experiences - not just a handful but many - with voices that will be embraced and respected, would go a long, long way in both pointing out these blind spots and in enriching the writing and stories themselves. Only a handful of writers cannot be burdened with the task of "educating" an entire company, but a vast team of diverse writers would mean there is an environment where they can more openly question and maybe shoot down more tone-deaf narrative choices.

@massivelysilentchaos made an amazing post about this sometime last year IIRC. A lot may have changed since this post, but there's plenty in it that still applies. More now than ever, I tend to go back to this one paragraph in her post (but please, please read the full thing):

I think a lot of PB’s problems with regard to representation in their writing could be helped by having more diversity on their writing staff. That’s not to say they don’t already have a fairly diverse staff (at least it looks that way from their blog) but some of their narrative choices are tone deaf in a way that tells me they could benefit from more black and brown perspectives on more of their stories. Specifically I’m thinking of the choices to have a book set in Trump country where an eventual protagonist pulls a gun on a potentially black MC or the recent decision to include the detail that Syphax, a black man who spent 8+ years at Lena’s scholae where MC was presumably taught to read and write, can’t read. Both of which were entirely unnecessary to the overall story they’re trying to tell and left a bad taste in mine and many other black fans’ mouths.

To add to this - I can speak, as a South Asian woman who was excited everytime a South Asian character appeared in a series - of Teja Desai getting one solitary scene to address her parents' initial doubts about her becoming a filmmaker, and one solitary scene about being a "woman in a boys club" as a director - which the writers never bothered to connect to her current work ethic - and being presented her as overworked, pressurized, frazzled by the punishing amount of work she was taking on - only for RCD's narrative to turn around and compare her to Marcus von Groot, the mediocre white male whose lack of control over his crew came from his own incompetence and delusions of grandeur (btw, in subsequent books he was written as this adorable funnyman the MC could bond and hang out with). I can talk of Jackie Varma, who was placed in a position where players could pick and choose between her and Bryce (with Bryce having more free scenes), before the narrative wrote her out for a large chunk of the story. Even in Book 2, scenes we get with her explore OUR backgrounds more than hers. Given that getting into medicine or engineering is such a huge deal in our communities, I can just imagine the ways in which that would tie up with Jackie's work ethic. And I know that many desi voices in that room would maybe make those connections and understand how to tie that into these stories.

I'd like to close this post with a quote from Chelsa that I showed you all earlier in this post: "Stories can perpetuate stereotypes or change narratives. That's really up to the people who write them". And perhaps, the people who hire the writers as well.

[zaffrenotes]

Thoughts on The Royal Heir, Chapter 16 - Great Expectations

Alternate Title: Apples Apples Everywhere

Word Count: +/- 5000

Points are arbitrary and happen at random. Recap/personal thoughts after the point review of the chapter. TL;DR version – convince Auvernal and Monterisso to back AWAY from The Belly while playing some apple-themed shower games. Oh BTW the corgis had THEIR babies while you weren’t looking and Bastien and Mara are relegated to dog watching duty and can’t even manage that; let’s play with daggers and eat baby food and have sweet funny moments with our friends before all hell starts to break loose in the last few chapters, kay? Okay.

I’m putting a cut here to minimize the length of this post if you don’t want to read this, and feel free to add #ZaffEssays and #ZaffDigsDeep to your filtered tags so you don’t see this or future posts from me.

I sourced Drake’s playthrough from BizzysChoices, Hana’s from Abhirio, and Maxwell’s from rash rec.

Normal text = Liam route | Italics = Drake/Hana/Maxwell route | Bold = applies to any LI/story as a whole

+1 LI matches MC’s reaction to the baby ultimatums +1 [Liam] even-tempered Liam has HAD IT with these baby betrothals; it’s amusing but slightly OOC for him 0 The gang wanted MC to gift something special for MC to wear but…why that peach dress? +1 Making Olivia literally shower MC with confetti +1 MARGUERITE! She asks what we’ve all been asking 0 But Cordonian tradition means we won’t know what we’re having until baby is born -1 Bella moves to touch MC’s belly and NOPE NOPE NOPE NOT COOL +1 LIs pointedly clear their throat and point out one should ASK to touch The Belly first +1 MC can swat Bella’s hand away/politely tell her to back off or else everyone will want to touch The Belly +1 Amalas takes a dig at Auvernal not respecting boundaries and – okay, you’re shady, but that was a good one +1 LEO’S HERE 0 Hana’s surprised to see her parents here 0 WHO WAS KEEPING TRACK OF THE RSVPs?! That would’ve bugged me to no end if I didn’t already know who was attending 0 Apple Gauntlet for mom-to-be’s grace and poise…uhh, okay +1 Marguerite says what we’re all thinking about these quirky Cordonians and their love of apples +1 Throw Breadsy off his game by hinting that you know he didn’t do SQUAT while in the military +1 EiriKhaan loses his tiny, glorious child and I can’t even with this dude +1 Maxwell *thinks* he’s doing it but quickly doesn’t and knocks several people out of the race +1 Olivia (I hate this phrase but here I go using it) YEETS her apple baby across the finish line +1 Lesedi doesn’t care that she’s blocking Liam; Lerato apologizes for MC bumping into her +1 Win the race and impress Auvernal with your…strength? Holding a spoon while you walk? 0 Tiny food makes you feel fancy – why does Drake suddenly like this? 0 Bella reminds me of an awkward person trying to include herself in conversations but she’s always saying the wrong thing +1 Monterisso’s an island, and Amalas likes to “explore” …just how remote are these countries that they’re still trading recipes without using Google? 0 Amalas gets to provide a course during lunch (and Auvernal didn’t?) – but it’s pureed food +1 Leo and his “does Surprise come in red” with his surprised face I can’t—ksjdfhksdjfh +1 Baby likes grape; does not like beets (Dwight Schrute is judging you, baby) +2 CORGI PUPPEHS -1 How did MC NOT NOTICE HER DOG WAS PREGNANT? 0 BASTIEN IS HERE. On puppy duty. Which he somehow can’t do, lol. Maybe Liam needs to hire some new Kings Guards… +1 [Liam] Regina’s parental advice not to give children baklava after midnight – I just see a tiny, husky Liam running around all sugared up from phyllo, nuts, and honey and I love it SO MUCH +1 Play a round of Lythikos darts – get MC’s friends to form a protective circle when they’re ONLY using darts orrr let her be if Olivia pulls daggers from her dress +1 Olivia gets to throw a little shade at Bella with the daggers, using the one Bella used to hit very close to the target +1 Get MC to hit dead center and earn a Mulaney Moment from LI – THAT’S MY WIFE!! – bonus, piss off Bella in the process 0 Auvernal gifted the rattle on the cover… 0 Monterisso gifts an apple blossom from their oldest apple tree (which Cordonia helped plant) +1 Lesedi and Lerato WHAT KINGDOM ARE THEY FROM gift a practical set of glass bottles +1 sweet Marguerite hands over a stack of Euros and I can’t 😂 +1 Olivia’s gift was confiscated because KNIVES (we’re guessing) 0 Diamond option for baby’s mobile; crown and sparkly swords / forest friends / moon and stars; LIs family is gracious even if you don’t spend diamonds +1 [Liam] Leo confirms that Liam had a VERY sparkly mobile +1 [Liam] the woman Regina commissioned to make the mobile also made Liam’s mobile so it’s another tie to his mom HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO TURN DOWN ANOTHER LINK TO THAT MAN’S MOMMA I ASK YOU HOW??? +1 [Maxwell] Bertrand having a mobile made of silver grapefruit spoons explains SO MUCH +1 LI steals MC away for a moment in the gardens to just celebrate themselves as a family and gives her a gift +1 THE GIFT IS FREE WUT +1 It’s a sweet baby blanket +1 [Liam] wanted something practical that they could still use and cherish +1 [Hana] made sure it’s flame resistant, hypoallergenic, and a bunch of other things in addition to being super soft +1 MC x LI share an adorably awkward kiss – belly gets in the way – before they return to the party +1 Maxwell needs help with something, Liam refuses to return access to the armory WHY I NEED TO KNOW LIAM WHAT DID MAXWELL DO 0 Maxwell wants his friends at the first stop of his book tour…which is in Lythikos, for some reason 0 OFF WE GO TO THE LAND OF ICE AND SNOW, I guess

T O T A L 33 points for this chapter with Liam as your spouse 30 points for this chapter with Drake/Hana/Maxwell as your spouse

MIRROR MIRROR: This is one of the shortest chapters in a while (350 screenshots, versus 400+ in previous chapters) and it starts off with Kiara dropping the news that Auvernal and Monterisso want a decision on their baby alliance, refusing to leave until they get an answer. MC can respond with they’re about to be disappointed / we need to change their minds / I guess we have a decision to make – whatever MC responds with, LI seems to mirror their reaction (out of solidarity?). First response gives you an angry MC claiming that they don’t get to make demands just because they’re guests, and LI Liam reacts the same way – angry sprite and all, claiming Cordonia shouldn’t be underestimated as an ally. Our normally even tempered, always diplomatic King, now has sympathy rage as he mirrors his wife. LI Drake matches MC’s angry sprite, stating they won’t roll over on a decision just because they brought fancy gifts. Kiara acts as the voice of reason, offering a more diplomatic response. We need to change their minds results in Kiara offering a suggestion, whereas the third option has the LI making Kiara’s suggestion – they can buy more time if they can prove any alliance will be beneficial, with or without marrying off infants. LI reminds MC that “it’s not every day you get to play games and open presents with royalty” – uhhh LI Liam? Pretty sure that’s what ALL YOUR BIRTHDAYS were like, lol.

MC’s ushered off to the boutique to find something adequate to wear to this thing – led by Maxwell, or Hana if Maxwell’s your LI – and…it’s peach and gold. I like the sparkly top and I’m just going to keep telling myself the peach is ROSE GOLD because otherwise I really don’t like the dress. LIs change as well – Liam into his stately tux, Drake in his green shirt/navy blazer, Hana in her silver/white dress, and Maxwell in his black suit.

GREETINGS, GUESTS: The palace gardens have been decorated with flowers, balloons, and more flowers for a sweet baby shower, and Penelope and a reluctant Olivia literally shower MC with confetti. The royal guests are here, first up with Princess Marguerite offering her congratulations, and she asks if MC x LI know if they’re having a boy or girl. We find out it’s Cordonian tradition for the gender to be a surprise until baby is actually born. MC can respond with can’t wait to be surprised / wish I knew already / haven’t given it much thought – with the first response, MC says they’ll find out together soon enough and holds hands with LI; second response LI says they’ll find out soon enough; third response and MC says no matter what, baby will be loved. Eirikhaan, Lesedi, and Lerato all greet MC, and then the bobbleheads appear.

If you opt to buy the gown, Breadford and Bella give MC an approving nod and apparently ONE SOLITARY APPROVAL POINT is all that’s needed to sway their stance on the ultimatum. MC had to work harder to get the PRESS to like her during the damn social season!! So Bella makes the little moment about her for a hot minute, recalling how difficult it was for her to find formalwear while she was pregnant because she was carrying twins, noting how modest MC’s bump is AND THEN SHE—BRUH. RUDE, MUCH? She reaches out to touch MC’s belly.

I cannot. This woman is an idiot, time and time again. I’ve not had the blessing? Pleasure? Experience? Of being pregnant, but being around pregnant friends and relatives, I always ALWAYS ask before going anywhere near a pregnant woman’s belly. That’s still her body, and personal space like that should not be invaded, even if you’re another woman. Even if you’ve also had a baby and want to bond over that. Even if you’re the pregnant woman’s BFF or literal blood sister…NO TOUCHY! Anyway…MC can respond with let it happen / swat Bella’s hand away / ask Bella to respect (MC’S) space – with the first response, Bella says she feels a kick – yeah, that’s our kid telling you to BACK AWAY – and LI pointedly clears their throat so she draws her hand back, reminding her that it’s polite to ASK before touching. Swat her hand away and MC says the same thing, with less civility. Bella seems like the type of expectant mother that would love any and all attention on her, so it makes sense she’d assume MC is the same way, but not all women are like that, Bells. Third option has MC flashing the politest smile she can muster while holding up a hand to stop Bella, warning that she’d have to deal with everyone wanting to touch The Belly if Bella was allowed to.

Amalas appears and the dress earns the swing vote with her as well, if you’re wearing it. Amalas throws some shade at Auvernal’s inability to respect boundaries, which sets Breadford off, but before they can start quarreling, former crown prince LEO IS HERE!! Unpopular opinion, but I love this jackass, and I had a huge smile on my face when he appeared. LI Drake, LI Hana, and LI Maxwell are all surprised to see him – he says he’d never turn down an invite to the Champion of Cordonia’s baby shower. LI Liam is happy to see his brother, with Leo pulling him into a hug while Leo gives MC a brotherly clap on the shoulder (he does this to MC no matter what); with Liam, Regina also appears, informing them that she made Leo promise to attend. Leo says he wouldn’t have missed this, and you get a little extra dialogue – Regina is happy to see MC looking healthy, and hopes Liam’s been taking care of MC and baby, before Lorelai Lee appears (all playthroughs) to offer congratulations.

Hana’s surprised to see her parents, unsure if they’d have time to attend (does no one count RSVPs anymore???); Xinghai said they dropped everything when they heard the happy news and Lorelai knew they wanted to pay their respects to MC. LI Hana’s route has Hana grabbing MC’s hand for support, with Lorelai arranging a flight as soon as they got the invitation, and Xinghai offers to leave early if their presence is less-than-welcome, but Hana and MC are happy to have them there.

LI Drake sees his mother and sister after Leo’s appearance, and Bianca and Savannah swoop in to hug MC. Bianca sets in on making sure Drake’s pulling his weight HAHAHAHA around the house, before Hana’s parents appear. LI Maxwell sees Barthelemy and Bertrand (where’s your WIFE, Bertrand??) AFTER Hana’s parents, with Barto offering a handshake to MC after clapping Maxwell on the shoulder. He greets MC with an overcompliment, already trying too hard to make up for his shortcomings.

APPLE APPLE: Kiara gets everyone’s attention to start a party game, now that all the guests are in attendance. And what kind of shower games do they play in Cordonia, if it doesn’t involve a friggin apple??? The Apple Gauntlet is the ol’ Egg and Spoon race, only with large wooden spoons and apples bEcAuSe CoRdOnIa, lol. It’s meant to symbolize the poise and grace a mother needs to care for her baby. OKAY. SURE. I won’t deny there’s some degree of grace and poise a mother will need to look after her baby once said baby is born and she’s constantly sleep-deprived and has to look put together when well-intentioned friends/family drop by unannounced to check on her, or even when scheduled visits have Mama scrambling to find something clean to wear even though she might not have had a shower in days BUT WHAT DO I KNOW.

GURL YOU HAVE NO IDEA. NO. IDEA.

Eirik wonders if MC’s at a disadvantage, but Leo points out slow and steady is a better approach to this race, so it’s anyone’s game. MC is next to Breadington as Kiara and Madeleine hand out spoons and apples. He wastes no time to ask MC if she knows why they’re at the shower aside from perfunctory congratulations. MC can respond with you’re here for the weird apple-themed games / to rain on my party with politics / to find out if I’ll agree to your terms – the first response earns a laugh from Bready and he appreciates her sense of humor – earning another point from Auvernal. He wants an answer about a betrothal. Party Politics response makes Bready all crusty, snipping at MC that she shouldn’t be in a position of power if she doesn’t like politics, before pushing his agenda. Direct third option earns a point with Auvernal. All responses lead to MC’s reluctant to decide on anything before her child is even born; she hopes no matter what’s in store for her child’s future, Cordonia and Auvernal will find use for each other. Bready tries to pull their strength card, claiming Auvernal to be winners – at what, I have no idea – and he brags about his “legendary physical prowess” during his military time.

If you paid for the extra drinking scene in Auvernal with Isabella, where we learned that Breadford sat behind a desk the ENTIRE TIME HE WAS ACTIVE DUTY – it comes in handy here to throw him off his game. MC hints about his desk job, leaving him flustered just as Penelope starts the race, and…lil bit of chaos ensues as Maxwell bumps into Drake, who bumps into Hana. Olivia straight up LAUNCHES her apple baby across the finish line, disqualifying herself LOL. Lerato apologizes for MC bumping into HER as the race continues, Lesedi gets in Liam’s way, and Breadford’s just up ahead, potentially too distracted to keep his balance (if you psyched him out earlier) – there’s a timed response where MC races ahead but her apple starts to wobble and she can either stop and swoon / steady the spoon / drop the apple – if you steady the spoon MC wins, Breadford wipes sweat from his brow and offers a begrudging smile, earning a point from Auvernal. If you don’t, Bella wins and Breadford comments that they could’ve shared the victory if MC had agreed to an alliance. If you win, Madeleine announces lunch is ready; if you lose, Maxwell offers lunch as the consolation prize.

TINY FOOD AND TINY PAWS: MC’s ever-changing body bumps into the plate of food, but LI is quick to catch it, bringing the ladies into a discussion about bumping into things and labor stories. Bella was relieved to go into labor, while Lorelai describes it as a grueling experience, but a worthwhile one once you get to hold your child in your arms. Bella adds the endorphins and adrenaline are enough to make you forget about the worst parts, and MC’s just thankful she doesn’t have morning sickness so she can enjoy the tiny food. Hana personally taste-tested the options for deliciousness and visual appeal; LI Hana route gave the task to Madeleine, who spent a week with a focus group to test everything for aesthetic and delectability.

Same words, different meaning, and the order of priority is interesting for Hana and Madeleine. Where Hana’s is worded to stress taste over appearance, Madeleine is focused on appearances over flavor. Hana took a hands-on approach, tasting the food herself, whereas Madeleine delegated to a focus group without sampling the food to gauge her own opinion. It reflects how each of them approach challenges in their own lives – Hana goes through the process on her own, while Madeleine employs others and uses a consensus to form her opinion.

Eirik isn’t used to such small portions, and Drake says no one’s stopping him from having seconds. DRAKE. The one who’s constantly complaining about tiny food and small servings at royal functions, now just rolling with it. I’m not sure if this is growth or if he’s just trolling Eirik… meanwhile MC wants tiny food all the time so she can feel fancy, and Amalas brings up delicacies from her country.

We learn Monterisso is an island – is it the island Cordonia helped so many years ago and the one they honor with the symbolic Regatta??? – where ships bring back information, ideas, and new recipes, suggesting allies of Monterisso are welcome to visit anytime. MC can respond with I’m not marrying my baby off for fancy hors d’oeuvres / maybe we can talk trade agreements when I’m not entertaining guests / you didn’t bring any for me to try – second response is the one to use here. First response puts Amalas on the defensive, denying a marriage arrangement, but MC knows that’s what’s implied. Amalas shrugs apologetically to the table and acts like MC is putting words in her mouth, before asking for her course to be served. With the second response, MC hopes they can be allies no matter what arrangements are made between their families, and Amalas breaks into a smile (earning a point with Monterisso) to discuss things later. Third response and Amalas respects MC for not being afraid to ask for what she wants. She claims her favorite dishes are best served fresh, but she’s brought a course for everyone to try.

Monterisso’s course is a gastronomic guessing game – pureed food, artfully arranged on a plate! Leo’s perplexed by red puree, Maxwell seems to like it all, and Baby likes grape but not beets. The last bit on the plate is orange, earthy, sweet, and creamy. It’s either mango (NOPE) / carrot (NIET) / sweet potato (YES) – mango and MC says sweet potatoes are the mangoes of vegetables; carrot and MC defends that at least it’s a root vegetable; sweet potato earns “discerning tastes” from Amalas.

As everyone starts to rise from the table, a pair of corgi puppies appear, and it seems that MC’s been so preoccupied? Busy with (imaginary) duchess/queen duties? That she didn’t even notice the new corgi was PREGNANT with her own pups…even though they were helping fetch towels just a little while ago *eyeroll* And it took SIXTEEN chapters, but Bastien finally makes an appearance with Mara. Apparently he’s only good enough to be on dog watching duty with our personal security? And they can’t even do that, because the puppies evaded them? So it’s another diamond option and I’m not sure why I’m even surprised that we have to PAY for the puppies when we already BOUGHT THEIR PARENTS but whatever I’m a sucker for puppies so here are my diamonds just take them already.

ADVICE AND AMMUNITION: The shower festivities continue, with Regina/Bianca/Lorelai/Barthelemy offering up a book filled with parenting advice from guests. Regina’s advice is to avoid serving baklava to children after midnight and—did she just compare bb Liam to a gremlin?! LOL – So no sugar for the baby once they’re supposed to be down for the night, got it. Bianca’s advice is to sleep when the baby sleeps, and we find out that Drake was the fussy Walker baby. Good in theory, but sleeping when baby sleeps leaves little time for a mom to do much else, because when baby’s awake her attention will be on – you guessed it – the baby. Good thing they’ve got friends and a staff to help out as needed, right? Lorelai’s advice to Hana and MC is to make sure baby has mastered crawling before you let them try to walk and while it’s meant to show how ambitious Hana was as a child, it feels like a backhanded comment on mastering one skill before moving on to something else. Barthelemy’s advice is to keep all House documents  out of reach of even the most peaceful-looking infant, and Maxwell feels called out, haha. Amalas advises MC & LI to know baby’s moods to spot a tantrum before it happens, and Auvernal’s parents seem to think showing weakness is to admit defeat. OKAY THEN.

Madeleine offers to condense the entries for ease of reference, and Olivia tries to get a game of darts going. She’d rather use actual steel instead of darts, and MC can either shoot down the idea / allow it if MC can play - shoot her down and everyone forms a protective circle around MC while darts are thrown. Bella makes it on the board, Olivia barely looks and sinks her dart closer to the center, and Amalas sinks her dart even closer.

Allow it and LI warns MC to be careful, and Olivia pulls daggers from her gown. Bella’s dagger hits the edge of the target, blaming the dagger to be unbalanced. Olivia pulls the dagger out and uses it for her turn, hitting a mark within an inch of the target’s center, proving Bella wrong. Amalas’s dagger hits even closer than Olivia’s, indicating that the Black Widow Queen has some hidden skills with knives. Olivia tells MC to show them what Cordonians are made of – and while there’s plenty of folks who are tired of the Olivia praise, I think it means a lot that Olivia sees MC as a true Cordonian at this point. MC can hit the food / the tree beyond the target / the target – in a timed response. Miss the target and MC claims to have done that on purpose, Amalas still taking the lead. Hit the target and all the LIs channel their inner John Mulaney with a “That’s my wife!” moment.

WHAT’S A PARTY WITHOUT PRESENTS: It looks like Auvernal’s the one who gave us the rattle on the intro screen; the LIs responses fall in line with their characters. Liam thinks it’s a gift befitting an heir, Drake’s surprised and thinks it’s elaborate (aka FANCY), Hana’s (blue sprite) surprised rattles could be this ornate, and Maxwell wishes he’d had one when he was teething. Auvernal – ever one to NOT take a hint – lingers for more of a response until Amalas steps up with her present.

She gives MC & LI an apple blossom from a tree that Cordonia helped her people plant a long time ago. She offers suggestions for what MC can do with it (plant the seeds, wear it, etc.) but hopes the gesture is one that Cordonia will see as a step to being on close terms with Monterisso once more. MC can respond with I don’t need more apples / I’ll put this with all my other apple stuff / I hope our kingdoms can renew that friendship – with the first response MC’s all “apples are our ONE thing” and Amalas crosses her arms over her chest, in a defensive gesture. She argues it’s the thought behind the gift that counts, but MC can take it or leave it; the second response gets a smile from Amalas, knowing MC could never have too many apple-themed things and earns another point with for Monterisso. The friendship response has Amalas telling MC that friendship still has to be earned, and her kingdom (or HER, specifically) doesn’t have too many friends; she plays coy that there *might* be a few spots available, and we earn an approval point from Monterisso.

Eirik uhh…gifts a golden bust of his own head, Lesedi and Lerato gift a set of glass bottles – CAN WE LEARN ABOUT THEIR KINGDOM INSTEAD, PLEASE AND THANK YOU – and Marguerite hands over a stack of Euros because *facepalm* that’s all people ever really want from her. I meannnn….cash is never really going to be a bad gift, since parents-to-be can use it to buy exactly what they want if you opt to go off registry with a gift. Olivia’s gift was confiscated by Kiara because I’m guessing it was some sort of set of knives – A MATCHING SET OF MOMMY AND ME DAGGERS, MAYBE?!

For LI Liam, Regina and Leo hand over a sketchbook (Bianca and Sav for Drake, Hana’s parents for Hana, Barthelemy for Maxwell) of mobile designs. Options include a glittery crown with gold stars and crystal (swords?), a leafy mobile with stuffed animal forest creatures, and stars and moons hang from a delicate frame.

LIAM: Regina commissioned a local craftswoman to work on different designs, noting that Queen Eleanor commissioned her for Liam’s mobile when he was born. Liam says he was too young to remember what his looked like, but Leo remembers – and there were sparkles for *days*. After choosing one, Liam pulls MC, Regina, and Leo in for a hug.

DRAKE: Bianca advises them to use one to keep baby distracted in the crib (so they can do things other than hold baby) and their friends joke about what Drake’s mobile looked like. Maxwell guesses tiny bottles of whiskey – and Drake tells them not to answer. Bianca says the answer will stay between her and a box of baby photos, but the woman who made Drake’s mobile is still in business, so they asked for a few design options. Drake’s nearly lost for words as he thanks his mom and sister, pulling MC in for a side hug and gestures for them to join in.  

HANA: Lorelai acknowledges they haven’t been the supportive parents Hana needed in the past, but they’re making an effort to be supportive of her now, with MC as Hana’s wife, and a baby on the way, in whatever capacity MC and Hana want them to be available. Lorelai had a mobile made when she was pregnant, and asked the same craftswoman to sketch up mobile designs, and Hana’s surprised she had one as an infant. MC likens them to toys – seeing as how Hana was never really given any toys to play with growing up. Hana thanks her parents, and after a brief moment of hesitation, Lorelai rests a hand on MC and Hana’s shoulders.

MAXWELL: Barto argues that every child needs a mobile to excite and entertain them, and Bertrand adds in that he and Maxwell had them as infants – with Maxwell adding that Bertrand’s mobile was made out of silver grapefruit spoons. Maxwell asks everyone to bring it in for a Beaumont bear hug, and MC keeps a protective hand over her belly while she hugs the brothers, and Barto awkwardly pats her shoulder.

STEAL ME AWAY: While Penelope’s handing out party favors, LI whispers to borrow MC, and they disappear into the gardens for privacy. They want to have a moment alone to celebrate MC and their baby, and LI reaches behind one of the hedges to present MC with a gift they’d hidden earlier. LI Drake rhetorically asks how often he gets to attend his own wife’s baby shower; Hana says she took a vow to love and cherish MC, and sometimes that means gifts; Maxwell jokes that MC might change her mind upon opening his gift; Liam knows he didn’t have to, but as MC’s husband, he *wanted* to.

Thankfully the baby blanket is free (!!!) and it’s a lovely blue and gold blanket with white lace trim. Even baby’s excited, because MC feels a little kick. Drake asks if MC’s reaction is good/bad/ehhh; Hana informs MC the blanket is durable, anti-allergenic, flame resistant, machine washable, and ridiculously soft; Maxwell doesn’t need a ‘thank you’ but ‘I don’t hate it’ would make him feel better; Liam offers to have it altered if it’s not up to snuff, but he wanted to turn something that their child (and they) will need into something worth cherishing. Practical AND MEMORABLE I LOVE THIS MAN.

MC can tell LI I love you so, so much / it’s perfect – I love you response and they’re both happy and can’t wait to meet their baby; it’s perfect response earns a sigh of relief from LI because they were adorably nervous about the gift all day OMG WHY ARE THEY SO CUTE. Both responses have LI pulling MC into their arms, laughing when MC’s belly gets in the way, and they share a tender kiss, and LI kisses MC one more time before bending down to kiss The Belly, telling them they love MC and baby and Liam can’t wait to hold both of them in his arms together – reiterating what he said in the spa scene from the previous chapter. Drake tells baby they’re gonna love it on the outside, and they’ve got one amazing mom; Hana says when she thinks she can’t feel any happier, she thinks of holding their baby in her arms; Maxwell says everyone’s waiting to meet baby and life is pretty awesome on the outside.

SO LONG, FAREWELL: The shower is coming to an end, so MC has to do her duty to say goodbye to the guests. If you earned any points impressing Auvernal (wearing the dress, being blunt right before the Appel Gauntlet, winning the Gauntlet) Breadington is impressed MC didn’t cave to the pressure; Bella adds there might be time to come to some other understanding for an alliance, and Auvernal backs down from their ultimatum. Amalas is up next, and if you earned points to impress Monterisso (dress, discussion before Amalas’s pureed guessing game, apple blossom gift) she’s impressed by the “interesting” side of Cordonia she’s seen today, adding that a marriage alliance might not be the only way to help each other – but not without mentioning it would behoove Cordonia to have ties to a kingdom they can trust when the time comes for their child to marry.

MY CHILD WILL ENDURE THE STUPID CORDONIAN SOCIAL SEASON AND IF YOU WANT YOUR KID TO MARRY THEM, THEY’LL HAVE TO COMPETE JUST LIKE OUR CHAOTIC ASS DID THANKYOUVERYMUCH. Or, y’know, Prince Thaddeus will go ahead and choose who he wants to marry in my own AU ficlet THANKYOUVERYMUCHAGAIN.

Our friends are the only ones left hanging about at the end of the chapter, and Maxwell’s proud of MC for making it through the afternoon. MC can either respond with I loved every second of it / I taught those (uptight motherduckers) the meaning of chill – first one gets MC to recount an afternoon of games, presents, and political intrigue; chill response and MC remarks the royals need to relax. LI’s glad MC had a good time with the first response, and glad they managed to stall with the second response.

Maxwell says he could use everyone’s help with something, and SOMEONE PLEASE WRITE A ONE SHOT FOR THE REASON BEHIND Liam says “if it’s about returning your armory access pass, the answer’s still no” I NEED TO KNOW WHY. Maxwell’s ask is about his memoir – MC throws shade at the book at about her that has HIS face on the cover – and how he’s been asked to go on a book tour. First stop? Lythikos.

NOTES: WHY LYTHIKOS??? Why not stay in the capital, where the King is? Why not go to Ramsford, WHERE MAXWELL IS FROM and generate a little tourist income from an influx of people being in his duchy? Why not literally anywhere else other than Lythikos? What’s so important for the book tour to start there?

Aside from that, it feels like swaying Auvernal and Monterisso’s views on their ultimatums was too easy/not set up to be as stressful as it should have been, if they were going to be swayed by MC’s outfit and winning at baby shower games. It was worth it to drop that hint that we know Auvernal’s king is nothing but a paper pusher though – and worthwhile to learn Monterisso is an island kingdom.

The interactions with the LIs families was sweet, even if I’m still wary of Barthelemy’s presence. In the Hana route, it’s nice to see that her parents are trying to be better – to respect her wishes, and be supportive of Hana’s life with her new wife and baby, without (Lorelai) overstepping. It’s strange that they split up BertVannah so they only appeared for their blood sibling’s playthrough, but honestly I’m tired of seeing them after so many chapters in Texas, so I’ll let the oddness slide. This was another light chapter while we gear up to deal with drama unfolding in Lythikos, based on the teaser tag. It feels like MC will more than likely give birth before book 1 ends, whether they’re in Lythikos or closer to the capital, and then something major will happen to leave us on a cliffhanger for several months while they work on Book 2.

[dianaburnwood]

The Last Resort: First Impressions

Back at it again with a first impressions post! Spoilers under the cut :)  

OK OK sdfsghjk are you READY for my loooooong thoughts

The intro cutscene - beautiful as usual. Everything we already knew, HAVEN is being used by the Partners to construct new identities for them. Needing to kill the owners of the resort to give Olivia enough time to hack the servers is a nice narrative reason to go after them. 

Love 6 flying the plane, mouth flap was a bit weird but animation looked great overall. 47 not wanting to rely on “luck” and 6 teasing him about it omg those BOIS

The resort is STUNNING. 

Ahh my MAN’S SHORTS??? Coming in on that boat? BOI  IO you really cheated calling my man’s open shirt “swimwear”, but I must repeat, the resort is STUNNING. And I love the music for this level too. 

47 won’t go past this point in the ocean. Doesn’t want to get the hem of those shorts wet. 

Working hard, or hardly working? I did have to remind myself to actually play the game instead of admiring it lol 

He’s wistfully wishing Diana was beside him. Did anyone else want to tickle his feet? 

I love, love, love that Jason Portman is in this level. It’s the perfect opportunity to use him.

Ok, onto the actual playthrough: 

For my first playthrough I checked in to my hut, spent a LOT of time admiring the island, then called Vetrova from the number she left me and met her. 

Went from there to infitrate the villa, grabbed a guard’s disguise near the seaplane and was about to sneak into the house when I noticed a tech dude swiping his entry into a steel door below the house. So, grabbed his disguise and went in.

The fact that this lab is under the sea is so fucking cool 

Ok so I thought KAI was my forever-love but this jellyfish server thing??? AMAZING. I went down to get a closer look at this thing, and took out the security cameras while I was at it. 

Took a look at the employee quarters and overheard a woman on the phone saying the USB Petrova had asked her to steal was in her locker. So, went into the locker room, investigated, and stole the USB. 

Then the dilemma - do I give it to Petrova or Tyson? I decided to continue as I started, and called Petrova to meet at the spa. On the way out I had a look at the security footage, that was cool. Found myself from the security room through a secret door into the villa itself. Stole the speedboat key while I was there (even though you came in on a speedboat 47, fucking chill). Went outside to look at the parrots and disturbed them, that was a nice touch.  

Had a look around the villa while I was there, cos why not, and saw Tyson trying to cure his headache by watching a screen? Waited till he went into his bedroom, lured his guard and knocked him out, then killed Tyson. One down. 

(Tfw you realize everyone thinks you’re a robot)

Decided it was time I leave the villa before my luck ran out, and then OH BABY. The STORM. I thought it might be something they put in the trailer but NO, there was an actual storm rolling in over the island. And it was just after I killed Tyson so it felt like some mythical consequence (it was probably set to happen after a kill, I’ll find out on subsequent playthroughs). I am so excited though, cos it’s the first time IO have played with weather in the newer HITMAN games. 

Went to the spa to meet Petrova, was pleasantly surprised by her minor costume change, that was a nice touch. Also the massage lady as 47 walked by “Woah, let me know if you need someone to work on those knots dude” I MEAN

After my convo with Petrova, I killed her, and decided to follow Steven Bradley around for a while. He was working out after looking around some more, I made my way onto his private island and took a waiter’s disguise. I couldn’t figure out what Bradley was doing on that island other than just running around it, but I started a gas leak on his stove. Then when Bradley came over I realized I could talk to him, and gave him the jet-ski keys - though I hadn’t rigged it with a bomb so nothing happened. Instead, I poisoned his tiki drink. And DAMN my man’s bartending skills have improved since Paris lolol

Then I put back on my pink shorts and took a speedboat outta there. 

Can’t wait to try out the rest of the kills, like the jetski kill. They’re sure to be awesome. Overall, the island is a beautiful and fun place to explore. 

OK the END CINEMATIC BSLKFAHJGslkh

EDWARDS!!!!!!! He has ALL the Providence assets? How did he screw over the Partners? How did he escape the boat? 

Diana runnign omgggg she was like FUCK this guy 

Who sent the message that all is going to plan? Olivia didn’t. Did Edwards send the message to Grey? Who do they think their targets are? Olivia did find the real identities so maybe 47 and Grey will take them out anyway but WHERE is Edwards and HOW did he orchestrate this?? AND - did he tell Diana that Grey and 47 killed her parents? Looks like no? OR...

UMMMM how does Grey have a fricken bat cave 

Also Olivia calling 47 Diana’s robot omgggggggg

Bruh I’m going to watch this cinematic so many times  

ok once you’ve all played it you need to freak out with me

[littlestgamer]

ajosies-main-blog replied to your post “I wanna talk about my bois and daughters, pls someone give me a reason”

Mk what made you fall in love with your husbandos?

Oh boy this is an interesting one to go back and look into let’s see:

Start off with the least compelling:

Gaius- I fell in love with him because of THAT STUPID LINE HE SAYS WHEN YOU MARRY HIM. Yes the ‘river of chocolate in an ocean of cream’ line actually won me over to the dumb goober! I was going through my 3rd playthrough of Awakening and I was playing as myself that round and also decided on making Henry my permanent husband. So I went and did the in battle save trick to S support all the non child unit males before I got to marry Henry so I would have their S support for the support log (In the end I forgot to S support Gregor rip). And then I got to Gaius. I found his support cute, but nothing too noteworthy since I didn’t read much of his supports before that (I um... didn’t recruit him my first playthough and my second one I think I only did one support for him). But then the S support CG played and I was stunned. “Did this guy just use such a corny line? And make me a blushing mess???? WAT???????” So while I didn’t marry him cause I was still set on Henry, I did feel kind of sad having him marry off to another character. So I went and grinded through his other supports when I did another playthrough as Male robin and went “Oh god I love two guys here.” Also seeing his reaction to the swimsuit along with his support with Henry in the Summer scramble DLC it was so fun and cute (Also if he’s married to the player for this DLC he will kiss them during the support convo). And that’s the story about how a thief won me over.

Kaden- First off let me say I have quite a few playthroughs on Fates since I played all three paths. I didn’t really look for a character to really consider the one I like the most until Revelations (Birthright was fun, aside from not knowing Kaze needed that A support >.> and playing Conquest right after gave me depression) so, spoiler alert, Kaden dies in Conquest and Keaton dies in Birthright, so I never got to really felt like experimenting with which guys I might like the most until I had all of them together in Revelations. (granted another might have taken the husband spot if not for a big glaring detail of Fates that I couldn’t get myself to overlook). But back to talking about Kaden. Kaden’s supports I didn’t really get to until Revelations and I liked them a lot. I liked how helpful he was and determined to return any favors. His caring personality is something you don’t often see with characters that have a touch of narcissism. Usually the kind and caring traits need some digging into the character to get to, but Kaden has it right there in his introduction for Birthright and Revelations. It’s also cute how he tries to responsibly spoil Selkie. He loves his daughter and wants to spoil her rotten, but knows that there are things she has to be told not to do, such as hunting excessively (she hunted 50 birds in one day but Kaden explained that she can’t do that all the time since it would cause their food supply to go away) or trying to keep her from running off on her own where he can’t trace her scent (he doesn’t want to restrict her freedom but also knows that poachers are a thing. Though Kaden pls you should really sit down and talk to her about what poachers are cause there’s about 3 times she gets caught and doesn’t realize the danger she’s in pls I want my child safe).Basically, Kaden won me over with kindness. And also he was a wonderful unit to use which helped a lot.

Keaton- Keaton was the winner of the husband search for Fates, yay! Reading his supports, it was so cute seeing how he would try to share his treasures to people, even if they mostly didn’t like it. And he was willing to give them up in his marriage to the player (no you can keep them sweetie, we royalty we can have a room dedicated for it). His tail wagging always being the giveaway to how he’s really feeling was extremely adorable to me. Him basically trying to adapt to the other people in the army to try and be friends with them. He’s a big softie despite how tough he acts sometimes and I love it. And not gonna lie, I kinda like the darker elements to his personality that he has, which you know explains the next one.

Henry- This man. He heard me mentally write him off and said “I’mma hex my way into your heart.” Okay, when I first recruited him, I did not care. I figured he was just the morbid jokester character that often doesn’t have many redeeming qualities and usually revolves around happily making people uncomfortable. So because I love the “opposites attract” trope and saw he could S support with Maribelle, I went with that since I figured that it would be entertaining. My expectations were shattered and replaced with something better. I won’t say what my entire expectation was, but I was expecting it to be a situation where Maribelle and Henry would have to come to a mutual understanding on things. So when I ended up getting what we get with Maribelle/Henry’s support, I was pleasantly surprised. Henry does have a reasonable view of mortality,even if he expresses it in a way most people won’t like. Him working with Maribelle to help quell her fears of death was not something I expected. So on my second playthrough, I went through more of his supports (though he married Tharja in the end on that one, I’m sorry Noire) and I was interested in how he developed. Learning that he had a lot of childhood trauma, learning how he’s actually coping through most of the pain he endured, and then also having him literally beg to not be abandoned in one of them. And a big thing was also his willingness to learn why his view on killing people and having bystanders die in the crossfire is morally wrong. And when he’s told why, he listens while also occasionally giving good points that defend why he thinks the way he does sometimes. Just he doesn’t like orders that tell him not to fight the enemy at all. He also provided a point of view from the Plegian’s side that Tharja’s supports didn’t cover as much. In Henry’s support with Ricken, you learn that the Plegians are not all some enemy goons that just need to be taken down, you learn that most of them had families, hobbies and dreams for the future. But the reason Henry had no problem turning on them was because he never felt close to them. And yet, Henry does care for the people in the Ylissian army, to the point where he says if Ricken were to die, he would likely go on a rampage. So then you’re left wondering how bad things are for the country as a whole for Plegia and maybe kind of wondering what would it be like if we got more of a PoV from the Plegians that weren’t only from the main villains pov. And Ricken’s support is not the only one where he shows he cares about people. With Miriel, in the A support Henry helped out a pregnant woman who was carrying a lot of stuff and afterwards basically said “Man it’s stupid how they have to go through this, I’m gonna create a curse to help mothers everywhere and will make the kids out of thin air. Boom no more 9 months of grief.”  Olivia’s support is where he gets his constant smile unmasked. Those moments when he’s not sure if she was still alive and you see that he’s actually sad and fearful of the people he cares about dying on him. He’s not a bad person, but his situation growing up has definitely lead to some moral conflicts with others. Bah, there’s much more I could talk about. He had more depth to him than I expected and now I’m married to him and he laughs at me for how much I love him when I was ready to not give him the time of day.

[bobasheebaby]

RoD for the Choices Ask Game?

Ride or Die: Good or bad, what book defied your expectations?

Hmmmm. Bad, Big Sky Country. It just felt flat to me. I was so excited about it, and the fact it was a male and female MC book, I named my male MC Ennis, yes like in Brokeback Mountain, but I tuned out after the first two chapters. It just couldn’t hold my interest.

Holy shit, it went there, The Royal Heir. Chapter two (well and the end of one) shocked the hell out me! I’m doing a Liam playthrough, but I did do a quick playthrough of chapter one with Drake and I’ve seen the screenshots of chapter two. I’m super surprised by Liam. It’s like after MC turned him down he completely broke down and after the wedding a switch in him flipped. I don’t know this Liam I’m seeing in screenshots. He just straight up crashes MC & LI’s honeymoon, but that’s not bad enough, no he brings the gang plus Bertrand and minus Olivia. And then he has the gall to ask this woman and her spouse for their child to become his heir. I know many of us asked to have something happen from those pained looks he gave during book three, maybe this is what it was leading up to? Maybe they are grasping at straws trying to make the name work for all the LI’s? Who knows. What I do know is this Liam is DESPERATE to have any piece of MC that he asks her for her child to become his heir. What really shocked me more than Liam’s behavior is the fact that every single LI agreed just like that, they don’t even talk to MC, they say yes. Ummm, what? Are you feeling that guilty for “taking Liam’s girl” that you feel you need to give your child to him to make up for it? @ritachacha actually just posted an amazing story in which it pushes the creep factor even more. It’s amazing and we know PB won’t go there, but this is exactly what they set up. Please continue this story because it’s just so cringy that I need more!

Good, Nightbound. I was extremely pumped and excited for this book, but its so much better than I ever expected. I’m blown away. The MC is possibly the most bad ass I’ve seen (punching ghosts and petting prehistoric crocodilians?) and all the LI’s are amazing. I do hate that they felt the need to change the cover of the book, but I still love the book so much. I’ll just be waiting here hoping they remember the amazing female LI’s soon.

Bad all the books, I mention it briefly above and I have to call it out now. The treatment of all the female LI’s. They all seem to be afterthoughts. They don’t get nearly as much attention as the male ones and I tend to go for the male ones simply because they end up being more developed with or without diamonds, the male LI’s just get more love and attention from the team at PB. Maybe if they elevated the female LI’s some, made one or two as dependent on the story as the male LI’s they’d be more popular. Yes most of the fan base is probably straight, but that doesn’t mean that the female LI’s should be neglected. They deserve love and attention and if PB could stop with the catty woman trope that’d be awesome. Stop putting women against each other! Let them help each other and elevate each other, and stop trying to force the male LI’s on us after we’ve made a choice.

Thanks for the ask Nonny, I was way too thorough and kinda rambled and gave you multiple answers to this question that we’re not required, oops.

[feisty-mary]

A King and a Duchess: Thoughts on TRR Book 3, Chapter 2

I don’t usually write detailed reviews of TRR chapters aside from screenshots of my playthrough with some comments. But I’ve had tons of feelings since the lackluster pilot and now even chapter two is a disappointment, so I decided I might as well summarize what I think and get it off my chest once and for all.

Note that this post will be peppered with links to my other posts, since I usually write down my thoughts immediately after finishing a chapter so I don’t forget them. It won’t be necessary to open the links to follow what I say here (unless otherwise noted), but please feel free to visit them for screenshots and additional insights.

1.    We finally have the names of the likely enemies of the Crown!

It’s always frustrated me how Liam dances around the issue and says absolutely nothing to his future bride and Queen about the enemies of the monarchy. I understand he can’t (especially if you’re not romancing him), but that doesn’t make it less annoying. It’s a relief to finally get some clues about who they might actually be in this chapter.

According to Bastien, there are three suspects:

    a. Liberation Core. Anti-monarchists, have grown more outspoken in their criticisms against the Crown.

    b. Sons of Earth. Newer faction. Pro-trade, in favor of bigger concessions.

    c. Nevrakis Family. Olivia’s parents were part of an attempted coup.

I reckon Francesco (the Italian ambassador) is part of the Sons of Earth, since he’s been pushing for Cordonia to grant Italian artists more access to Cordonian market. I don’t think they necessarily want to overthrow the government; I imagine they’re mostly businessmen who want a big share of the market for their own benefit. If this is the case, I think we can conclude that they will be the last people who will want instability in Cordonia, since an uncertain environment is bad for business.

Liberation Core sounds the most obvious culprit at the moment, since the videos from the assassin explicitly say that they want to shift the power from the monarchs to the citizens. I wonder if this is a call to change the form of government from monarchy to democracy?

I’ve already said that I have some faith in Olivia’s friendship with Liam. However, it’s her Aunt Lucretia that I’m very wary of (the one who left her to fend for herself after her parents passed away). In this chapter Olivia seems fiercely determined to support Liam, but that’s not necessarily true for the rest of her family, is it? Where has Aunt Lucretia been all these years?

Coup d’état is defined as “a sudden and decisive action in politics, especially one resulting in a change of government illegally or by force” (Dictionary.com, 2018). It’s interesting that this was what Olivia’s parents were involved in, and this is also in part what the assassin in the video threatens to do if Liam doesn’t abdicate the throne (“the palace halls will flow with the blood of tyrants”).

I’m not drawing conclusions from the points above yet, though I admit I’m frustrated that Constantine never dealt with the potential threat in Olivia. If I remember right, Olivia’s parents died when she was around 6 or 7, so this coup d’état must have happened some twenty years ago by this time in canon. The fact that this problem still haunts Liam now that he’s already king is… well, very disappointing.

2.   The enemies of the Crown publicly threaten Liam’s life again in this chapter, but everyone pretends everything is okay. 

Everyone includes but is not limited to Ana and Donnie (the media), Bertrand (who calls the entire thing “a PR miracle” if you don’t botch it up), and even Liam himself, who doesn’t discuss the assassin’s video with MC, but invites her to soak in goddamn bathtub instead (if you’re romancing him). I personally bought Liam’s diamond scene, and except for the two lines where Liam asks MC how she feels after what happened, they don’t dwell much on the video message from the enemies and then continue acting as if it’s really not that important.

Excuse my French but, uhm, what the fuck?

3.   To Ana’s and Donnie’s credit, they don’t pull their punches when they ask Liam what he plans on doing following the demands of the enemies of the Crown. (You might want to open this link in another tab for context.)

“And what about their demands, King Liam? Given everything that’s happened over the past few days, are you thinking of stepping down?”

They go right for the jugular with this question. And Liam, oh my dear Liam disappoints spectacularly in this one. Here he “pauses to gather his thoughts”, and then it’s basically MC who takes over and sends a message on Liam’s behalf.

My question is: Why? Why does it have to be MC who has to do all the talking, when the question is very clearly addressed to Liam, the actual King of Cordonia? Granted, in my playthrough my MC is romancing Liam and is thus his future wife and future Queen of Cordonia. ‘Future’ being the operative term. Why does she get to speak on his behalf, and why are we given the impression that her words instead of the King’s are enough to assuage the fears of the media and the public? Who the hell even is she? If I were a citizen of Cordonia, why would I believe this person in the first place?

I’m incredibly upset by this sequence, because we’ve been told since Book 2 that Liam has to earn his reign in order to regain his kingdom. In this scene, though, after he supposedly pauses to gather his thoughts, his only words are:

“She’s right. I have no intention of giving in to their demands.”

It gets even worse when you remember how much they’ve been emphasizing that there needs to be a display of strength following the assassination attempt during the Homecoming Ball. And like we’ve been told since Book 1, appearances are everything. In this scene, Liam is supposed to show that he isn’t unruffled by the assassination attempt. He’s supposed to show his constituents that he’s a leader they can look to for guidance, a pillar they can lean on in times of chaos and confusion. It’s supposed to be an opportunity for him to start proving himself to the public.

But no. Instead the writers give the spotlight to MC, and it’s her who gives a strong message that appears enough to alleviate the worries of the public (based at least on the reaction of the media).

This just didn’t work for me. I understand that the writers must have wanted for players to have some input in the direction the dialogues are supposed to take, but to me this greatly undermined Liam as the King. This guy was brought up to be a prince, and then eventually the ruler of his own kingdom. His reign has just been threatened publicly, twice, in the span of barely a week. Is this really all he has to say about the matter? “She’s right. I have no intention of giving in to their demands”?

Wouldn’t it have worked better if Liam, as King of Cordonia, had taken the lead and sent a message to bring his people together, assure them that all is well? That’s literally his job. Ana’s and Donnie’s question isn’t something that should have caught him by surprise – not after that botched up assassination attempt. Couldn’t MC have just rallied behind him, said something in support of his statement, as a Duchess and/or future queen? 

This entire scene was just ridiculous. I know the entire premise of TRR banks on a lot of suspension of disbelief, but they really did Liam’s character dirty with this one. 

4.   Madeleine will be our new press secretary! 

I’m surprised but at the same time I’m not? Back in Book 2, even Justin himself remarked that Madeleine was really good at handling the press. Which was when I started lowkey shipping them. I still do; you can fight me. 

I know a lot of people dislike Madeleine, but I’ve grown to really like her. Like I’ve said here, I think she will be perfect for this role, considering her upbringing and her knowledge about Cordonia. I’m not sure how we will convince her to help us, though. I know she does want power, so maybe we’ll make some concessions? A higher position? I for one am not entirely opposed to the idea. You can hate her guts all you want, but even Liam and her mother Adelaide have both acknowledged that Madeleine will make a good queen.

I’m also thankful and happy that they decided to take this route with respect to her character development. I wholeheartedly acknowledge that Madeleine hasn’t been the most pleasant person since we first met her in Book 1. But in making her MC’s press secretary and thus an ally, the writers will have more room to explore who she is: what her motivations are, how she has dealt with Leo’s abdication and her being cast aside, her relationship with her mother and Regina, what she feels about Liam and his decision to choose MC in her place, etc. The writers will add more depth to her character instead of simply writing her off as another evil, power- hungry woman. I for one am keenly looking forward to what she’ll bring to the table once she becomes our ally.

=================================

I’ve never done this ‘thoughts on a TRR chapter’ thing before so my ideas are divided between several posts. I’m adding links to those related to this one. I have already mentioned some of them in the text above.

Enemies of the Crown | Truth behind the Death of Olivia’s Parents | Questions We Need to Ask Ourselves Post-TRR Book 3, Chapter 2 | King Liam, MC, and Answering the Press | Madeleine as MC’s Press Secretary

[lordvonthunderporkvi]

so i decided to write down any thoughts i had while playing episode 3 in google docs and it ended up being 19 pages long whoops

i’m just gonna start off by saying that i am completely not ready for this episode like i can see you, mister eric stirpe, answering asks that say “that one choice made me cry for five minutes straight!” so i’m absolutely terrified and not ready but also unreasonably excited

come on download faster what are we waiting for

why did you restart the download i didn’t tell you to restart the download

hey look it’s FINALLY DONE

i’m actually shaking from excitement

Radar’s doing the narration I’m so proud of my bean

aww his sweet childlike wonder is leaking into his narration

“This game series adapts to the choices you make.  The story is tailored by how you play.”  yes i know let me play the episode already

oh crap i fell on my face

shut up mister warden you’re voiced by steve from blue’s clues

what’s this piston contraption above my head

well geEZ OKAY NO NEED TO GET HOMICIDAL MISTER WARDEN YOU’RE STILL VOICED BY STEVE FROM BLUE’S CLUES

wow okay Jesse sarcasm is on full blast

so are we like below bedrock or something

geez Jesse has gotten sassy in the past few weeks she’s having a sassy conversation with herself

Jesse turn down the sarcasm

i’m being chased by large henry oh joy

oh look it’s mister warden

wow okay Jesse i knew you were clumsy but i didn’t know you were so clumsy you tripped and somehow managed to flip onto your back

oh okay that’s big hank not large henry

okay so we’re bringing back the lightning from episode 6

aand my computer froze

and we’re back

okay i need to cool it with these notes i’m never going to get anywhere if i keep pausing the game every five seconds

the warden’s head is weird

Jesse you thought he wasn’t there and then he turned out to be Vos don’t even try

aww i was the admin’s favorite

wow okay i would say way to go Jack but you’re probably going to get probed now

and it’s froZEN AGAIN

I’m slowing down the notes so i can actually get through the game so there won’t be many notes now sorry

also Jack’s hair is described as “majestic” and i just

We need to get to the burrows

I DON’T LIKT HE SOUND OF THE “MUSH ROOM”

Oh wait it’s a play on “mushroom”

I dont’ want to go to your office mister warden

NO I CAN’T MAKE THIS CHOICE

OKAY FINE MISTER WARDEN NO NEED TO GET HOMICIDAL AGAIN LAST I CHECKED YOU WERE STILL VOICED BY STEVE FROM BLUE’S CLUES

OKAY GEEZ I’LL JOIN YOU ARE YOU HAPPY NOW

I’m so sorry radar

I FEEL SO BAD

Okay but i actually look really good in this uniform

RADAR OH MY NOTCH YOU ARE LITERALLY GOING TO MAKE ME CRY

Oxblood has wheat okay then

I REGRET EVERYTHING WHY DID I DECIDE TO WORK FOR THE WARDEN

Rob reminds me of Samuel from life is strange

Aww you’re welcome little painter

Brick only refers to himself in the third person

BRICK GOT SENT TO THE INSTITUTE FOR NARRATING EVERYTHING OH MY NOTCH

Yes tell me brick

Oh i bet it’s prisoner x

Oh it is

I’M SO SORRY MISTER TATTOOS I HATE BEING AN ASSOCIATE

IS HE GONNA FIRE ME

PLEASE FIRE ME

Oh it’s the sword

It’s my sword

NO IT’S MY SWORD

NO I HATE BEING AN ASSOCIATE  FIRE ME FREAKING FIRE ME WARDEN

THE ADMIN IS HERE COME ON

Oh it’s just a recording

Oh shut up no you don’t

WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT PETRA

Radar i am so so sorry

PRISON RADAR

PRISON RADAR

PRISON RADAR

He’s still just a bean

PRISONER X HAS ESCAPED?  HECK YEAH BUDDY RIGHT BEHIND YOU

Okay so I was salty about Anthony posting his playthrough early but I legit like his character ingame

Stop referring to yourself in the third person Radar that’s Brick’s thing

I feel like I’m in a horror game this is legit really unsettling

Who loves mooshrooms that much seriously

I saw you being impressive Jesse

HE’S CHEATING

HE’S A CHEATER

HAHA YES

Oh no is he gonna kill it

Oh okay just shear it

No way am i gonna shear it

Oh they’re applauding me

I HATE BEING AN ASSOCIATE

YES I GOT FIRED

NO WAIT PUT THAT MYCELIUM BACK

OH HEY WE’RE MOVING LOWER INTO THE PRIS- *ahem* sorry, “Sunshine Institute”

IT’S LLUNA

YES CAUSE ALL THE TROUBLE I WANT TO BE SENT TO MAXIMUM WiTH HER

Yes Jesse the “Zombiedespair Institute”

Just break the redstone jesse it really isn’t that hard to figure out

AWW FIST BUMPS WITH RADAR

That is suspicious what does the Admin want with all that zombie flesh

Come on stella help me out

Yeah good stella open up to me

Classic stella worried about zombie smell in her hair

Aww of course i’ll help you stella

OH NO PRISONER X ESCAPED AGAIN

Oh no wait it’s just a zombie wave

Frick come on i got the lever and there’s suddenly a conVENIENT ZOMBIE WAVE GREAT TIMING

YES WE GOT IT OPEN

ADMIN PLEASE PUT ME DOWN GO AWAY I HATE YOU

Just kidding i love you

Okay i’m legit about to scream from excitement the Admin is here

PUT

ME

DOWN

YOU

PIECE

OF

CRAP

JACK’S WORRIED ABOUT HIS HUSBAND AWW

PETRA

PETRA

PETRA

PETRA

NO

STOP

THAT

WHAT

ARE

YOU

DOING

PETRA

STOP

PLEASE

IT’S

ME

YOUR

FRIEND

JESSE

STOP

PLEASE

YES JESSE SAVAGE GIVE HIM A TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE

Aww the warden’s eating cake

NO NOT THE WARDEN PLEASE ADMIN NO

Aww mister warden thought the Admin was mad about the cake

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

Oh okay I thought he was dead he’s just a prisone- sorry, a “guest”

No

No

nonononononono

Petra

Please

It’s me

It’s me, Jesse

Don’t do it

You can fight him

Please

No

Ay i have a sword

I’m not going to use it of course

But cool i have a sword

No

I am not going to fight her

No

NO

NO

NO

STOP

PLEASE

ADMIN, SIR, MIGHTY SIR

PLEASE

DON’T HURT HER

HURT ME

TORTURE ME

KILL ME

BUT FOR THE LOVE OF NOTCH

DON’T

TOUCH

HER

SHE DOESN’T WANT TO FIGHT ME BUT HE’S MAKING HER

I

AM

NOT

GOING

TO

FIGHT

HER

ADMIN

IF YOU’RE GOING TO KILL ME JUST DO IT

I AM NOT

FIGHTING

H E R

OH WE’RE MAKING A PLAN

GOOD PLANS ARE GOOD

I TRUST YOU PETRA

KILL HIM I WANT HIM DEAD

YES

YES

YES

NOO HE POOFED OUR SWORDS

OH SHUT UP GO SCREW A CHICKEN

wow i just said “go screw a chicken”

NO

NO

NO

STOP

STRANGLING

ME

“All I asked you to do is fight your friend to the death-” UM

Oh is he letting Petra go?

K thanks bye

“Guess I’ll just be my own friend now.” oh now i actually feel a little bit bad i’m sorry mister admin

“I’m gonna have LOADS of friends soon!” what mister Admin are you planNING TO ENSLAVE BEACONTOWN

NFONofhoiwahghjv’pJOIGEJAPI;GHIWAKGHKIVOKILDSFHPOWA

NO

HE’S DISGUISED HIMSELF AS ME AND HE’S GONNA TRICK BEACONTOWN NO PLEASE ADMIN STOP I’LL BE YOUR FRIEND I’LL BE YOUR BEST FRIEND BUT PLEASE

DON’T

TOUCH

THEM

He’s his own champion wow

no stella pleASE-

FDHAOI;FJIFOEWHOIHAV

NO

LET

HER

GO

wait

Is she

Is she going to sacrifice herself

“Take care of Lluna for me…” stelLA

NO NOT LUKAS AXEL AND OLIVIA PLEASE

PLEASE

DON’T TOUCH THEM

PLEASE

P L E A S E

please

Stella

Stella you’re our only hope

please

Why are you apologizing Petra

Prisoner X please help us

llunaaaaa

Petra went to Narnia

Petra i would never give up on you you’re my best friend

Beacontown is worried about me they didn’t know if I was alive

crAP STACY AND STAMPY AND NELL AND BOB AND THE FANGIRL

LUKAS AXEL OLIVIA

I need Beacontown to be safe gosh stella please

Wow okay they are really careful about security in Prisoner X’s cell

NO PETRA JACK RADAR

Look at Jack and Nurm being married

It’s like season 1 episode 3 all over again

Kinda fitting actually

Aww i’ll catch you Nurm

Okay lluna is a boss

No traps?  No tripwires?  Levers?  Motion sensors? Okay good

She’s in a straitjacket that’s .. unsettling

She’s got a gag on that’s arguably even worse

She’s actually insane holy crap

SIZZLE SIZZLE SIZZLE

Xara okay

Um maybe I got the idea that you knew how to escape because you’re a fricking legend up in the other levels

Who’s Romeo

What

The Admin’s name is Romeo

Okay sure whatever why not

So if he’s Romeo was Xara like his Juliet or something

I’m sensing a story

What the heck happened “Any enemy of Romeo is a friend of mine”

I haven’t even known her two minutes and I’m already in love with her

I bet she used to be his champion and they were like really close and then she did something by accident and he got mad and put her down there

no

I have to leave someone

no

no

no

no

no

nurm

lluna

no

I cant tdo this

I cant do this

No

I cant do this

No

No

No no no no no no no

No i’m actually crying

no

I think i have to leave nurm

But jack

Jack

Jcak

Nurm

Lluna

Will i be able to get them back though

I cant leave them

I cant leave lluna

I cant leave nurm

Nurm

Nurm

Jack i’m so sorry

Jack i’m so sorry

Wait what is she doing

shE LEFT ME BEHIND

XARA-

XARA WE WERE HAVING A MOMENT

XARA PLZ

Okay explosions, death, etc. etc.

Nurm i am so so sorry

I will get you back

I will get you back if I have to rip Beacontown to shreds in the process

I swear it

I’m so sorry

I’m so

So

So

Sorrry

She ripped off her straitjacket wow okay

Jack

Jaaaack

Jack I did a horrible thing

I’m so so so so so so so so sorry jack oh my notch

Stop with the “worth it” talk we’re having a we miss nurm moment and you’re getting fifth harmony stuck in my head

Can we take the warden with us

Don’t kill the warden please that would be very rude

Jack stop it we are not in a laughing mood

Aww Petra’s so excited about the weapons

frick i just remembered the admin’s name is Romeo

Okay Xara is actually really pretty wow

I am questioning my sexuality

Aww Oxblood and Geoff the mooshroom are back together

IT’S A “SUNSHINE INSTITUTE” MIRACLE RADAR DON’T DRAW ROMEO’S ATTENTION

aw hugz

Well dang Xara it would be nice to have you around in a big crowd

Are we not getting any armor?

Come on Xara give us time to get armor

Hey it’s Samuel- sorry, Rob

Shut up mister warden you’re still voiced by steve from blue’s clues

W

H

A

T

SHE WAS AN ADMIN?!

THERE WERE MORE THAN ONE

THAT’S WHY THE ADMIN HATES HER

H O L Y C R A P

W H E E Z E

XARA WAS AN ADMIN

I like you, mister warden, but I’m taking Xara with me and you’re not standing in my way.  Nooo way.  I don’t want to kill you but I will

HE’S ACTUALLY FREAKING INSANE

He’s dead

ROB

wow okay xara go on murdering people left and right

Actually i don’t care he was gonna kill us all

“IT’S COMPLICATED” MY BUTT

So that’s how she lived long enough to be an “old friend” of his

So basically Romeo de-opped Xara

Ahem- pitiful “Sunshine Institute”, Xara.  Don’t attract his attention.

I hope I become an admin that would be cool

Yes I really trust her Jack she hates Romeo even more than we do and the enemy of my enemy is my friend you should know that you’re an adventurer

Be brave Radar make them taste your bravery

Wow those Romeo-zombies were surprisingly easy to take down

OOH SPIDER TENNIS FUN

“How many of these things are there?” All of them, Jack

DANG XARA JUST STAB THAT SPIDER WITH THE BACK OF YOUR ARROW

DANG XARA SHOOT THOSE SPIDERS YEAH

is it evident enough that I love Xara already

NONO LLUNA

Nevermind then why was I even worried in the first place

crAP I JUST REMEMBERED NURM

NUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMM

k i’m good

Yes lluna you go spitting those zombies in the face

YES LLUNA JUMP ON THAT SPIDER YES

RADAR

YEAH FIST BUMPS

Yeah i made a shortcut that’s right

Yes she is crazy radar, yes she is

xaRA

XARA ARE WE LOST

XARA FIX THIS PLEASE

Shut your mouth jack she’s been locked up in a tnt room surrounded in lava wearing a straitjacket for notch knows how many years

SHUT UP JACK OH MY NOTCH

Ooh what’s the diamond spire for

Xara you little- get back here

crAP IT’S AN ADMIN GHAST

IT’S SUMMONING MORE ADMIN GHASTS

MORE GHASTS COME ON

THIS THING IS LITERAL NIGHTMARE FUEL WHAT THE HECK

Woah they’re all attacking the admin ghast

I’m gonna fall and die

YEAH JESSE WHOOP WHOOP

YES JESSE QUOTING JACK

THE IMPRESSION

Yes radar we should lend her a hand

Well that was the quickest choice i’ve ever made in a telltale game

LET’S GO FIND HER

Shut up jack

Oh there’s a spider on her back

It’s no problem Xara

A THIRD ADMIN?

Why was his name Fred

Ohhh he’s dead

How did Romeo beat two other Admins all on his own

Oh

ohhHHHH

WE’RE GOING BELOW BEDROCK

“We’re not at the bottom of the world!  It only appears that way!” WHAT

Jack calm it she used to be a fricking admin she know what she’s doing

Okay bye Jack

Okay I see where he’s coming from but seriously she’s not an admin anymore

What stairs it’s too dark i can’t see any stairs

Oh now i see the stairs

Where are you going jesse follow xara even jack is doing it

FRICK THAT ENDERMAN SCARED ME

Is that it

THAT’S IT??

NO

“You and 59.2% of players agreed to work for the Warden.”  i still regret that decision

More players left lluna huh somehow i thought it would be the other way around

Well duh of course i helped xara

THE ORDER HALL

Hey look it’s Romeo the piece of crap himself

no

NO NOT THE AMULET

Wait what

Who the heck is that

Romeo you are not the gingerbread man

FRICK THE EYES

HOW IS THAT THE END

WHO IS THE TRANSFORMER GUY

WHERE ARE LUKAS AND AXEL AND OLIVIA AND STAMPY AND STACY AND NELL AND BOB AND THE FANGIRL

WHERE’S STELLA

WHAT’S SHE DOING IS SHE COMING UP WITH A PLAN

I NEED ANSWERS

[aquaticsmoresblocksaboutmcsm]

In which I finish posting episode two screenshots before going to jail.

Ooookay, I finished episode three the other day and I wanna post screenshots of that, but I’m trying to be good and finish the rest of episode two.

I really should do another playthrough and see what happened with Petra and Jack. I think it’s an escape the room puzzle?

I know how to do those! Try everything on everything until something happens!

Now that’s what I call timing.

......... Well...

Being a hero means you gotta save people who you want to strangle.

And winners are supposed to win, right?

Well, a team is supposed to team up. Eheheh.

Well, I mean, he still has a ways to go, but Radar has been making good progress so far!

DREAM TEAM!

He soars.

Now that I think about it, how short is Radar compared to everyone else? I mean, I know he uses the Alex model and that’s why his arms are so scrawny, but is he shorter than, say, Olivia?

And here we have the synchronized triple blink.

*Record scratch* *Freeze frame* Yep, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.

... Huh, now that I think about it, can cacti in Minecraft burn in lava?

LET’S FIND OUT!

The answer is kinda. They just turn into items to pick up the moment the lava flows next to them and then immediately burns up in the lava if you aren’t fast enough to pick it up.

Aw crud, I missed the part where they get pistoned to the ground.

I need to spam the screenshot button more during action scenes.

But at least this screenshot looks cute.

When in doubt, think outside the box!

Literally in this case. :D

Lluna, I have several questions and none of them will be answered.

Last I check, even with a pickaxe it’d still take forever to get through a block with mining fatigue on.

WELP, BACK IN MINECRAFT I GO!

The Elder Guardian has been placed.

And the fatigue has been gotten.

One minute in with my fist and there’s not even a mark on the block.

One minute in with a pickaxe and there’s an actual dent.

Three minutes later and I’m half-way there!

It was at that point that the Elder Guardian gave me a jumpscare and I moved my mouse away from the block kfjlglsflaksjfl.

But you get the idea. Even with a pickaxe, it’d still take forever (and by forever, I mean over six minutes) just to get through one iron block. Jesse had to mine a whole bunch of them.

Who knew the Admin was so patient? xD

Yeah, I would have fallen asleep by the time Jesse was done too, Petra. xD

HELLO!

They rise!

The clock. So close and yet so far away.

Screw the rules! This is Jesse the rebel we’re talking about! >:D

Yay! The cinnamon roll! :D

Also Stella’s there too, I guess.

Snow Endercreepers. That’s a new one. I can’t even think of a mod on the top of my head that would have something like this.

Say ‘Ah!’

*SCREEEEEEEE~!*

Eh, close enough.

Same.

I do think Stella cares for Lluna in her own way... it’s just she needs to learn to see past herself first.

Ah yes, this choice.

*Ba-tum-tish*

‘Let Petra go get it,’ I thought. ‘She’s having her existential crisis thing so maybe this is what she needs,’ I thought.

Aha... hahah... HAHAHAHAHA!

Ooooooh, I am sooooo naïve sometimes.

Aw snap! Lukas throwing dat shade!

And the realization is going to slooooowwwwly set in.

... I’m actually curious about these dreams. Does Jesse come in riding a majestic stallion and rescue a trapped Radar from an evil Enderdragon? Does Jesse fights mobs upon mobs trying to get a poor, defenseless Radar? Does Jesse come in and rescue Radar from the dreaded paperwork monster and fill it out like it was nothing?

The world may never know.

At this point, I was pretty much all ‘stop being full of yourself, please. There are bigger things to deal with than your ego.’

*Closes eyes, takes a deep breath, and counts to ten*

There she is! The cute lil’ llama full of love and-

... Oh. I see how it is. She just likes me for my stuff. ;_;

The sun will come out~ tomorrow~!

A+ on the look of this shot and room. :3

Even Lluna is amazed!

Petra, you deserve all the crushing hugs you can get! :D

Ow...

That’s incredibly sweet of Lukas, but ow.

Knowing what happens next episode... ow...

It was at this point I had a bunch of alarms going off in my head.

Well, you just lost the staring contest, Admin. I WIN! :D

Somebody got shot with a spectral arrow.

SUDDENLY EVIL TRON APPEARS!

This guy doesn’t even have to try hard to look and sound evil.

Aw, poor Jack. He just can’t catch a break. D:

Yeah, the whole ‘I survived off a stack of porkchops’ thing was extremely suspicious, but seeing as it was Minecraft logic, I let it slide.

LESSON LEARNED. DON’T LET IT SLIDE NEXT TIME.

This guy has some serious delusions on what friendship is.

If there’s one thing Stella is good at, it’s schmoozing.

... And looking at herself in the mirror. xD

Listen, Admin, that’s... uh, flattering, but Jesse never asked for all this.

‘Wah wah, you like your friends more than me and you want to go with them instead of being my Champion, wah.’

Okay, maybe antagonizing an all powerful Admin might not have been the best idea...

Cue the ‘OH SHI-’ moment.

Welp, that’s the end of episode two. Hope people like my unnecessary commentary! 

I’ll post episode three screenshots eventually. 

For now... UNTIL NEXT TIME!

[lady-cuteness]

I need to upload the last drawings I have (especially the inktobers one) so I can start college calmer a not anything pending.

If I’ve been distracted lately is because I have been distracted with Stardew Valley and Pokemon Ruby. (Especially I need to get Sam’s 3 heart event before the end of winter in year 1. Still not telling who I am marrying.)

Inktober day 28: Soul attack

Okay i don’t know why I do another drawing about this idea, but I got so hook up that I can’t stop drawing concept art for this series. it’s suppose to be a mix of the three routes (there’s not much in neutral, just a few dialogues I want to put here and there, but there will be parts of genocide and pacifist route). Also I was deciding if I ever did a comic, it would be manly black and white. And I won’t put EVERY monster there, especially if is unnecessary for the story,

Also I would be putting more twists to the story, like putting characters interactions that were actually there or change events that might change the course of the routes.

Inktober day 29: FE Highschool Au

Just a silly idea I had 3 years ago, but now that I think about it, it’s very stupid ^^; I really don’t want to do it, nor touch the idea ever again. Although I did like some concepts I had, especially Ricken’s side story I made.

The couples would be the ones based of my playthrough of FE Awakening.

List of old students: Chrom, Frederick, Lissa, Maribelle, Gaius, Ricken, Virion, Sully, Stahl, Vaike, Miriel, Cordelia, Sumia, Tharja, Lon’qu, Kellam

New Students Part 1: Henry, Olivia, Nowi, MU Chloe

New students Part 2: (After winter vacations): Gregor, Panne, Donnel, Libra, Cherche (she would have been a transfer student and a old friend of Virion).

Inktober day 30: I’m your final boss

This an idea I had while listening “I’m the boss” from the band Big Bad Bosses (it’s a really neat idea and it’s a band created from youtubers representing a villian of a specific game).

So I thought, “what would have happened if some of the rivals in pokemon turn out to be actually evil”. And the would be actually the final challenge, like post game. Hau is not here because Sun and Moon didn’t come out in October. So I actually selected the rivals from each gen (not counting gen 1).

Bianca: I love the rivals in each gen equally. All have unique personalities. (I was gonna put Hugh, but it was oversaturated as it is.) I love Bianca’s design in BW2, such a cutie and I love how you can rebattle her post game (if you use the reminder...something XD)

Wally: I love him and his backstory. But I HATE how he was implemented in the games. He should have been more present in the games, and see him evolve from a REALLY fragile kid who it seems he couldn’t do anything to a strong boy who can do anything. I thought I would see that in the remake. They didn’t. They just gave him more scenes but not more battles. Points for making him cuter though.

Silver: Truth to be told, I hated him when I was younger. I couldn’t stand him and I always thought he was an immature jerk (and I was 10 at that time XD). With the remakes I saw him in another different light...but he’s still an immature jerk XD

Barry: I have mixed feelings with Barry. I don’t believe he is a bad rival, but he’s also not my favorite, the main reason being is that Diamond and Pearl are games I dislike. The pacing was horrible and the pokemon that were selected for this game were horrendous u.u

N: One of the best “rivals” (could he be considered more a mini boss? Still don’t know :/ ) I needed to draw him since I like his design and the role he has in the story. In this pic he’s supposed to be the leader of the team.

Shauna: I REALLY didn’t want to draw a Gen 6 Rival, but I wanted another female rival to be N’s partner. But my options were Shauna, Serena and May. Both Serena and May are playable characters so I had to go with Shauna. I hate the rivals in X and Y. Boring, bland, one-dimensional and zero competition. The only thing that I could say to Shauna is that I like her design.

Inktober day 31: Yuki’s group of friends.

I wanted to draw this for a VERY long time. I love Gakkou Gurashi, gotta say that it’s definitely my favorite that I have seen in a long time. I even re watch the whole first season again :3 It’s an anime that I don’t get bored in watching.

I REALLY don’t want to explain what’s going on in this pic or why I love this anime so much because I might spoil the whole series. The only thing that I recommend you to do for this series is to go blind. Really, don’t search anything about it. Just watch the whole first episode. It’s worth it. My boyfriend LOVED this series, even though he’s not a fan of moe anime.

Note: the manga and the anime differ in a lot of things, so I recommend to check out both. (See the anime first though)

From left to right: Miki, Yuuri (Rii-san), Yuki and Kurumi.

[rhetoricalrogue]

2016 Writing Review

I was tagged by @zombolouge!  Thank you for thinking of me for this one!

Total number of completed stories: *looks through 2016 files*  50.  FIFTY.  Holy crap, I wrote a lot.  Only fifteen or sixteen of them were written during NaNoWriMo this year.

Total word count: 115,861 words.  For some reason, this year I liked to write stories hanging around the 3,000 word limits.

Fandoms written in: Dragon Age, the Witcher, and a very small stint (like one story and several headcanon posts) in Fallout 4

Looking back, did you expect to write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? I never go into a year with "I'm going to write X amount of words/stories" but I am surprised at the amount of one-shots I worked on this year.  I may even be missing a few that I wrote purely on my blog instead of writing/saving onto my hard drive too.

What’s your own favorite story of the year? (I really need to work on titling these stories) The bittersweet one I did for Olivia/Danse where Olivia took a trip down memory lane at a deserted carnival.

Did you take any writing risks this year? Not any that I actively decided to do.  Maybe NaNoWriMo's decision to write a collection of one-shots instead of one novel length story?  Other than that, I dipped my toes into a bit more smuttier pieces for the first time this year.  @asaucyginger and @thesecondsealwrites were bigtime enablers for that.  Thank you, ladies. *blows kisses*

Do you have any fanfic or profit goals for the new year? FINISH EDITING A RUSH TO THE START.  (Maker's balls, it's been 84 years.)

Best story of the year? Everything involving Rolfe and Cassandra.  I'm horribly biased towards The Boy.  

 Most popular story of the year? If I go by reblogs, then the Blackwall/Ravena story I wrote where Blackwall has a filthy imagination.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Honestly, I don't know.  I don't really keep track of number of hits/comments I get once I let my stories loose in the wild.  I know that I like my writing. lf one other person likes a story of mine, then that's all the appreciation it really needs.

Most fun story to write: This is a tie between the Kissing Day story with Rolfe writing Cassandra a song, any of my Modern AU Witcher fic involving Lambert and Marle, and that one story where Rolfe got on his soapbox about badly written romance novels.

Story with the single sexiest moment: Oh geez, I dunno?  Um...either the "try not to be so loud" Rolfe/Cassandra sexytimes in camp that everyone still totally heard, "don't let me stop you from writing that report" Blackwall/Ravena Hysterical Literature inspired oral sex, or "cheesy romance coupons lead to stripteases and lap dances" Marle/Eskel moments.

Most sweet story: The ficlet I wrote with a saucy, flirty Vesemir posing for a portrait in his younger days.

“Holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you!” story: I don't think I had one?  I usually stay in my fluff comfort zone.  If not a story, then the summary I wrote about Rolfe's terrible-awful first run where he got no love and didn't get the happy ending that I had originally planned for him.  It spawned some pretty angsty headcanons created while I was still upset about the whole ordeal too.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Not a story, but having Vivienne in Rolfe's party so I could start to get a handle on writing her.  Previously, she was more of a background character that I rarely took out because Dorian or Solas had permanent Resident Mage slots in my other two Inquisitor's parties.  As such, I never got any of her banter or enough approval to complete her personal quest.  Writing Rolfe has let me discover her and I'm so sorry that I hadn't added her in sooner.  She's a lovely character that I've come to appreciate this playthrough.

Most unintentionally telling story: The Sebastian/Elsa story Stoneware Sets.  

Hardest story to write: The complete re-write of Chapter 22 of A Rush to the Start.  I've never been 100% happy with it, and fiddling around with shifting paragraphs around never sounded quite right with me, so I scrapped everything except the basic idea of where I wanted the chapter to go and started over from scratch.

Biggest disappointment: None of my stories are disappointments for me.  It sounds like a cop-out, but I honestly like everything I've written this year.  I enjoy going back and reading my own things for fun all the time. Biggest surprise: All the world building I did for the modern Witcher AU.  That and wee tiny Miss BB Carlisle.

Tagging: @thesecondsealwrites, @lizmapes, @judicaels, @saibrarutherford.  Purely optional, of course!