#not a spoiler you know there are dogs in this game

[mothlau]

Hi ! For the kink game, for lestappen/leztappen please : 24 and 28 thank you and have a good day 👋

soooo sorry for the wait beloveds, works been killing me dead. anyway, here's leztappen being in love and shit. pushing my any prns for max and girl penis agenda one pwp at a time!!!! (kink meme here)

1427 words

The cat ears feel heavy atop Charles’ curls, in spite of how light the material is meant to be. They’re cheap things, something she bought from a Halloween store in London as a joke, something that was meant to be worn once, and then thrown away and forgotten. Except, here she is, with the stupid cat ears on, stupider fucking tail plug buried in her ass, and the ugliest blue collar wrapped tight around her neck.

All because of a stupid fucking bet.

A bet Charles should have known better than to take part in, especially when Max had that knowing light in her eyes, a look that should have made it obvious that Charles was bound to lose. But still, she played, like the stupid goddamn fucking idiot that she was.

She bet that she would not burn their dinner, that for once in her life she could cook, not get distracted and, subsequently, turn their chicken into charcoal. But then, stupid Max Verstappen had to go and change into her stupid skin-tight shirt as soon as she got home from her workout session. And Charles was just… supposed to act normal about it? As if that’s possible when her gorgeous lover is walking around dressed like she’d just walked straight out of one of Charles’ fantasies.

So she burned the chicken. Turned it into something beyond human comprehension, so black and charred that they had to throw the pan away.

Which is why she’s here now, dressed like a cat.

A fucking cat! Her! When she obviously is a puppy, she said so countless interviews too! And Max knows it, she knows that Charles prefers to act like a dog when… when– She’s not a cat, no matter how much Max tries to convince her otherwise.

Charles huffs, fixing Max with a glare as the woman simply grins at her, perched on top of their bed, legs slightly parted so that her hard-on is obvious in her ugly gray shorts. Charles is feeling lightheaded.

“You’ll pay for this,” she settles on saying as she climbs next to her lover, taking her rightful seat in her lover’s lap. His thighs are hot and thick under Charles’ ass, underneath her soaking pussy. It’s not her fault that Max spent ages with her face between Charles’ legs, eating her cunt and ass to get her ready for their cock and the fucking plug.

She’s desperate for it.

Max simply continues to smile, as if they don’t believe a single word that Charles is saying. And they don’t, because Charles knows her lover like the back of her hand and she is well aware of how far her threats can go. Spoiler: they don’t go anywhere; absolutely useless.

“Come here, kitty,” Max urges her, hand held out, like a peace offering. If Charles could, she’d bite it off. But she doesn’t want to be punished today, the kitten play is punishment enough. “C’mon, kitten. Don’t be a bad girl now.”

Charles will bite her. Preferably starting off with her cock; maybe even her tits. She’s not picky about what part of Max she gets to chew on.

Instead, she huffs and takes the offered hand, letting her lover guide her so that she is properly seated atop her lap, the head of her cock just barely pressing against Charles. She could sit on it now, slide right down until Max is buried to the hilt in her warm, tight pussy, but she knows she can do better than that.

She can be good for her daddy, even when her daddy is being a bully and forcing her to wear the ugly cat ears.

Because she may not be a cat, but she is a good girl.

With a deep breath, Charles leans forward, placing her hands over Max's shoulders and digging her fingernails into the flesh of her neck. It's a warning. Don't push your luck, Charles thinks as she brings her lips to Max's, kissing her. Her tongue slides against the seam of Max's lips, the other woman opening her mouth with a soft moan, letting Charles take the lead.

"Kitten," Max whispers, bringing her hand up to the back of Charles' neck, pulling her in closer, deepening the kiss. "Kitten, you're so pretty, so fucking beautiful."

"Yeah?" Charles asks, grinding her pussy against the base of Max's cock, biting her lip as the movement causes the plug inside of her to move. It's uncomfortable and weird, and Charles isn't sure if she likes it. But the look on Max's face when they first slid the tail in was more than worth it.

Max nods, hands moving down to grab onto Charles' ass, squeezing it, pulling her open. "Yeah, so pretty for daddy. You're so good, kitten, such a good girl."

Charles whines, leaning her forehead against Max's, panting softly. "Please, daddy. Please, please, I need you to fuck me. Please?"

Max kisses her again, swallowing Charles' whines as she lifts her off her cock and sets her on her back. She moves in between her thighs, pushing them wide open, fingers ghosting against her soaked pussy, tracing her wetness. Charles is embarrassed to find that her tail is soaked, that she's dripping.

"Daddy," she whimpers, trying to pull her tail out, wanting the pressure of Max's cock to take its place. "Please, fuck me."

"Okay, okay, baby," Max soothes her, hand rubbing her thigh. "I'm gonna make sure it catches this time, alright?"

Charles nods, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. She's been on the verge of crying ever since Max had first slid the stupid fucking plug into her ass. "Okay," she breathes, watching as her lover lines the head of his cock with her entrance, teasing her by rubbing his cock against her clit, pushing just the tip into her entrance.

It's the worst form of torture.

Max pushes her cock inside of her in one smooth thrust, making her gasp, her nails clawing at Max's arm. "Oh my god," Charles moans, trying to wrap her legs around their waist, trying to get them deeper, to feel every inch of them inside. "Max."

"Good girl, kitten," Max says, bending over her, pressing kisses along her jaw. "My perfect little kitten. Fuck, I'm gonna–"

Charles cuts her off with a kiss, licking into her mouth. "Move, please."

Max does, she pulls out of her before snapping her hips forward, her cock sinking back inside. It makes Charles dizzy. She feels like she's going to float away.Her lover keeps her pace slow, her thrusts short, making sure to brush her cock against the sweet spot inside of her. "Fuck," Max grunts, "kitten, you're so good, you're always so good for daddy. I love you."

"Love you," Charles breathes, reaching her hands up to grab onto Max's shoulders. She digs her fingernails into her skin, making her hiss and fuck into her harder. "Max, please, more."

Max, because he obviously hates his lover and wants Charles to hate them just as much, smirks at her. “Are you gonna meow for me, kitty?”

Charles doesn't even think before she leans upwards, sinking her teeth into the side of Max’s neck.

"I'm gonna come, kitten," Max tells her, her thrusts getting harder, deeper, hitting Charles just right, sending her into a frenzy.

"Yeah," Charles nods, feeling her own orgasm building in the pit of her stomach. "Yeah, come, daddy, fill me up. I want it, please."

Max moans, dropping her head onto Charles' shoulder, panting.

Charles cries out as she comes, her body tensing as her orgasm takes over her, leaving her feeling dizzy and blurry around the edges. She's gasping, her chest heaving, as Max continues to fuck her through her own orgasm, clearly uncaring that Charles’ body is shaking with each thrust.

"Stop, stop, Max, I can't," she says, slapping Max's arm. "Can't take anymore."

Max laughs, collapsing on top of her, pressing a kiss to the side of her neck. "That was really good."

Charles hums, closing her eyes. She's exhausted. "Mmhm."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Charles murmurs, her head lolling to the side as she presses a kiss to Max's temple. "Yeah, just tired."

"Wanna shower, kitten?"

Charles shakes her head. "Nah. I wanna stay here. With you. Like this."

"Okay, kitten," Max smiles, wrapping her arms around her and holding her close. "I love you."

"Love you more.”

They stay like that, wrapped around each other, until Charles speaks again: “And I'm burning the ears.”

Max laughs, but she doesn't argue against it.

[lucky-clover-gazette]

HIS HEAD SPINS AS HE WATCHES THE DOG

[driftingballoons]

I love Rozenmarine, but sometimes the way her VA says “Elise” is just so

[cakemoney]

the way it happened is truly everyone's worst fear, and the episode puts a spotlight on what those fears are. k trying to fix something and fucking it up massively. when she airdrops all her stuff, it didn't feel like "k's still thinking about her network etc", it felt like defeat, giving up the work she was doing as itsy for someone else, cause she's lost all confidence in her ability to fix what she was trying to fix. sam tries to help with magic, and her wand doesn't work, and she's confronted with how helpless she is without it. she hosts a show with magic in the name but when she needs it, when she calls for it, it doesn't come, and without it all she is (all she fears that she is) is just being shiny on the outside with nothing on the inside. jammer having less than a minute to feel grief and fear before he just locks in on what he needs to do, where they need to go, because jammer feels responsible for everyone he cares about so he feels responsible for this, he can't face evan's shadow because he can't fail evan again because he's already failed to be there before. and then evan! having to be rescued, being inconvenient and throwing off their mission, and then coming back with no clothes, is the worst! he's so sad about how his presence is making his friends' lives worse because k and jammer can't even look at him, he tried to help sam in whatever way he can and it just upset her, and then he socially trapped sam into assuring him she cares about him. he has to ask a magic goat a question and he doesn't know how and even though the goat ends up giving him the theoretical right answer, now it's disappointed in him because he used a cop out! very bad no good day for evan. man.

[todayisafridaynight]

no ones ever gonna understand how much i love daigo doin this stupid shit after dissolving the tojo

[joelsbloodyhands]

My Dialogue While Playing TLOU Part One 🚀

(Spending a long time in Sarah’s room at the beginning)

Me: *reading the title of her books and cds, looking at her photos, opens bday card for Joel, cries at the giraffe* You know if we just stay here then nothing bad will happen. Right? 🤗

(Ellie meeting Bill for the first time)

Me: Don’t mind him. He’s just a grumpy gay with commitment issues.

(Bill leading Ellie and Joel through the church to the window)

Me: You know “fireflies, this” and “fireflies, that”. How many places have we been to that could be potential homes, Joel? Father that child already! 😤

Bill: Well, if you’ve got anything to confess, this’d be the place to do it.

Me: *knows what’s going to happen later* Joel, we may need to detour back here later 👀

(Getting split up from Henry and Ellie)

Henry: Take care of my brother!

Me: Protect my daughter with your life or you’re toast, buddy! *killing all the Stalkers while wondering if Ellie knows what toast actually is* 🤔

(Ellie lifting her hand for a high five)

Me: *clicks the prompt button so he delivers the high five* Not about to swerve or I’m throwing you in this ravine, old man 🤨

(Looking for Ellie who has stabbed the shit out of David)

Joel: (just woke up from death slumber) Where is she?

Me: Where is my sweet baby child? 😖 (knows very well where she is) 🙄

Joel: *sees the bodies* Oh god, I gotta find her.

Me: We will, babe. I swear! Maybe if we just talk to ‘em, explain the sich, they’ll hand her back *starts crafting Molotovs* ☺️

(Ellie traumatised by what happened with David)

Joel: (has just mentioned teaching her to play guitar) Ellie, I’m talking to you.

Ellie: (experiencing ptsd) Oh yeah, that sounds great.

Me: Joel, I think we need to go back. I forgot to piss on David’s corpse 😑

(Ellie and Joel walking around the bus depot)

Ellie: I dreamt about flying last night.

Joel: Oh yeah? Tell me about it.

Me: 😭😭😭 *cries for the hundredth time*

Joel: *keeps calling her kiddo*

Me: My heart is gonna collapse if you keep doing that.

Joel: Come on, kiddo.

Me: *proceeds to keyboard smash*

(Ellie and Joel finding the giraffes)

Me: (starts crying, no really and proceeds to sit there with the cute music playing to let my faves watch the giraffes together because the world did in fact end but then Joel softened towards Ellie. They retraced their steps went back to Jackson, the fireflies fucked right off and died of natural causes, no surgeons were murdered meaning this action will not have consequences, everyone lived happily ever after and lived to an old age, especially Joel. Ahem. Turns off pc. Sighs happily).

(Joel killing all the fireflies in the hospital)

Me: You know some would call this murder but I call it intent to cause harm and those two things are most definitely not the same *throws 3 nail bombs* 😁

(After killing the main surgeon)

Me: *listens to the other two surgeons plead for their lives* Huh? I wonder *shoots the first one causing the other one to slide down to the ground in fear*

Surgeon: Please. I don’t want to die.

Me: *shoots them as well* I’m not the accessory to murder here. You are. Attempted murder anyway *picking up Ellie* let’s go Babygirl 🥰

[queenofmalkier]

Now I'm stuck on how unhinged and depraved and AWFUL Tuon/Gawyn could be.

[softpine]

i wasn't on tumblr when tlou part 2 dropped but i would love to know your thoughts on the game especially if/how they've changed with time if you're up to writing a paragraph lol

also i've seen a lot of ppl (i've never had a playstation so i have to go off of other ppl's opinions) say that while the story is about how the cycle of revenge is bad that the gameplay still rewards it and how that sort of defeats the purpose of the game for them and wanted to know your thoughts on that

happy tlou season 2 renewal <3

YES YES YES you know i’m always up for writing a paragraph (or ten)

first, let me just clarify one thing: the main message of the game is not “revenge is bad”. i hear people say this constantly and it’s just not true. the real message is all about forgiveness. if i had to boil it down to its essentials, i’d say the message is “love is a stronger force than hate.” but that’s just one interpretation!

i don’t feel that the gameplay rewards the cycle of revenge at all. abby kills joel and in return, she systematically loses everyone she cares about – leah, nick, jordan, nora, manny, yara, mel, and owen... plus she will never be allowed to go home to the WLF again. lev loses his entire family and community too. and they’ve both experienced unspeakable horrors while they were held captive by the rattlers. abby was punished for her decision at literally every turn. but she keeps fighting to survive because she has found a much stronger reason than hate to stay alive: love. protection. family. the first time she ever has a happy dream of her father, after years of nightmares, is when she saves yara and lev. killing joel didn’t give abby closure, but finding something to fight for did. it’s the exact same thing joel found with ellie.

ellie is not rewarded for her actions either. she’s the one picking off the salt lake crew members one by one, but we see her lose a piece of herself each time. she’s not experiencing catharsis, she’s only spiraling deeper into obsession and grief. she can’t appreciate anything good in her life, because she’s still consumed by everything she’s lost. she walks out on her partner, their baby, and their dream home to chase after this elusive “closure”, knowing that she may die trying. i think ellie herself knows that killing abby won’t make her feel better, but the only alternative is forgiving joel and moving on without him, which she doesn’t feel is possible yet. she has to lose everything before she’s able to accept joel for who he is and what he’s done.

it’s a fucking masterpiece the way that the game makes you think joel and ellie’s last conversation was a fight, until they reveal that actually, their last conversation was ellie offering him an olive branch. “i don’t think i can ever forgive you for that. but... i would like to try.” is so impactful because ellie never got the chance to forgive joel while he was alive. even while she was trying to avenge his death, she couldn’t forgive him. it’s only when she has lost herself that she can finally forgive him, and perhaps she can even understand him. that forgiveness has nothing to do with abby or anyone else – it’s all about ellie. it’s about love.

as for my personal opinions about tlou2, they haven’t changed much. i loved it when i played it the first time and i love it even more now!! i greatly appreciate the sheer balls they had, and the fact that they never changed their creative vision to make the game more palatable / marketable. i’ve never seen a game make such an unpopular choice and i respect the fuck out of them for doing it no matter what anyone said. i love joel but i’m glad he died because it gave rise to one of the most impactful stories i’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing 💖

(special mention to the fact that the main character is a lesbian, which is something i would never even think to wish for because it’s so uncommon in games of this genre. ellie is everything i’ve ever wanted from gay rep, meaning that she’s literally just existing as a gay person and her sexuality has hardly anything to do with the plot. i fucking love how she has a detailed story, a rich personality, and complicated relationships while she just happens to be a lesbian. it’s literally perfect, no notes!)

[goldensunset]

One of my favorite posts that I've seen about sv is one where someone said that Mabosstiff must've been specifically designed to be Arven's dying dog pokemon bc it looks so pathetic

FSFGDHBDJDJH really cannot argue with that

[fountainpenguin]

2 for the ask thing!

When you’re writing a new story, what is the one thing you need to know before you can start?

[Current Ask game]

#ridspoilers / #Dog's Life spoilers

---

I'd say character (both in terms of character motivations and in how the character interacts with the world, along with a decent amount of backstory). I can change my plot direction any time, but if you have a solid character, you can go anywhere. You get the character down first and you build the world around that character and the story you're telling.

I've talked about my scrap docs before and how I have tens of thousands of words of scenes I didn't keep in the final drafts. One of the very first things I wrote for my Fairly OddParents stuff was a scene of H.P. having dinner with Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda with dozens of little pixies in tow.

I never posted it because it's incompatible with my finished canon, but it shaped the worldbuilding and character interactions for me (namely H.P. being burned out on childcare, Anti-Wanda being super friendly with H.P., and Anti-Cosmo holding pixies by the napes of their necks... all still accurate today).

I'm actually hoping to post it in October (I think it'll fit in the "King Me" universe which is a special Friday the 13th story I want to do... we'll see).

Dog's Life is a better, more specific example of the character fleshing process I can show; I think I talked about this in a recent Ask too, but I like to give myself a space to do all the "tell" part of "Show don't tell." I'll try to explain this in good words out of context, let's see.

In Dog's Life, there are intermission chapters called "Watcher chapters" which revolve around the theme of "Grian as viewed from the eyes of his friends" and each one is about Grian singling out someone to pester with his questions. "Watcher 2" is when he comes for Scar and I really started delving into Scar's backstory in this draft.

[Cnt'd under the cut, showing a scene that will end up getting rehashed because it's all "tell instead of show"; talking about how it influenced the final portrayal of Scar in Dog's Life]

---

Behind the Scenes

My writing style is very "magical realism" and when it came to Scar, I either wanted "disability with a magical aid" or "disability that is in itself magical in some way" (like a curse). I thought about it a lot and even played with a concept where Scar uses elytra 24/7 (and struggles with no-fly spaces that aren't accessible to him) but it wasn't what I was looking for.

In the end, I researched canes and that seemed right, and it's working well. I particularly liked the scene where he was waving his cane around the entirety of Chapter 4's opening until he finally tripped and fell on Scott and was like "I should probably use this as a walking aid instead of a theater prop" lskdjf... I felt like that was an extremely Scar moment- it shows his personality very well, because he's super positive and he likes to be extravagant and fancy, and he's not ashamed to remind us that the cane isn't just a decorative prop.

While planning, I also kept thinking of that moment in a Hermitcraft stream where Ren wanted to play TCG with Scar and he casually mentioned giving Scar a handicap in the game and Scar just covered his face and giggled and spent the next few minutes casually dropping things like "I think that's a good thing to do in a game with me" until Ren noticed and got flustered... That to me is the quintessential Scar experience: he notices and he'll tease and have a good attitude and it's funny to him.

That's what I was going for when I drafted this scene for "Watcher 2" of Grian approaching Scar. I'll talk more about it below:

"Watcher 2" - First Draft

Grian bristles, ruffling imaginary feathers along the back of his neck. “Don’t worry about it; I’m not here to hunt you. And if you die to a creeper or whatever, I’ll fix it before we start next week. I can do that. He’ll let me.” Then, with venom, “I mean, it���s my series.”

Scar frowns just a sliver. “I’ll fix it.” Grian doesn’t mean anything by it, but… it prickles his skin to get that teensy little reminder that Grian thinks of him as extra attention; extra work.

If Scar does die after hours, it wouldn’t even be the first time. Grian had to mess with his Life code once to fish him back after an accidental death years ago. They weren’t even playing; just taking turns throwing signals at the new server host they’d just moved to, checking to confirm everyone felt steady with it and it wouldn’t cause anyone to glitch.

Scar had glitched. Badly. Doubled over, hacking, with Grian monitoring his connection as he tried to fight his way through the pain (He’s always in pain; this was sharper; some server signals just don’t play nice with his code). It’s been this way for most his life. His immune system just… just never recovered after a bad storm fried his AFK server. He’d been exploring the ocean. Glanced up at the sky; slammed down a bed. Glitched completely out. Drowned. Respawned underwater a few times. Death loop. Whole server crash. The works. That was years ago… and that’s why we use surge protectors, kids.

Part of him never recovered. Part of him is still trapped there, dying and respawning to this day. The Scar he is today is just a backup. An autosave. He doesn’t even have memories of what happened, personally, but he’s heard the whispers in the corridors. He’s the glitch they almost didn’t save.

Would HALO have bothered recovering that autosave file if they’d known how much work keeping him alive would be? Because he breaks things, sometimes. Not intentionally. There are just certain parts of the portal hub that aren’t accessible to someone of his… disability. He can’t take the travel tubes. And most people give him a wide berth so they won’t be in the radius if he does have an episode.

He’s doing okay. He’s mostly okay. He just has a corrupted file. It’s not the end of the world.

Except for when it is. The 3rd Life server host switch was the most jarring reaction he’d had in years. It burned his skin, knocked him out, flung him at a lump of magma blocks, fried him, then exploded him in a burst of scattered code. Killed him then and there. Grian had to boot another autosave and spend hours piecing him together again. Scar wouldn’t know. Because if you can’t hold a connection to the server, you don’t even get respawned in your AFK world. You can’t determine if time is passing. You just… cease existing. Maybe forever, one day.

(Technically, that Scar’s gone. The timeline’s reset. Here he is again… and the corrupted file remains.)

It’s such bad luck how things work out sometimes. Grian even called him over before they made the move; asked him to take a look at things with him. They went through the back-end together. Had a checklist. Did a little A-B testing. Kept their failsafes locked and loaded. Grian did everything right. It isn’t his fault.

Scar just doesn’t have a body that works like everyone else’s does. He needs extra attention. Extra work. It’s no surprise that Grian can’t stand him.

“Oh,” he says, curling his fingers around the edge of the crafting table. “What kind of talk…? Oh no.”

“It’s nothing bad,” Grian hurries to clarify, then stops. He blinks. “Scar, are you all right?”

He aches in a lot of places. There’s not a single spot on his body that doesn’t glitch at least once throughout the day and once again overnight. The glitches roll through him, but you learn to stomach it when you have no other choice. Scar stares back at Grian, trying to process the question. Do I look like I’m not all right? What made him think that?

Grian narrows it down a little more: “You look sad. I can- I can have this chat with you another day, if you like, Scar. I just wanted to pick your brain a little, but if now’s not a good time, you can just talk to me instead. If you like. I’m here for you, you know.”

“I know,” Scar lies. He needs extra attention. He’s extra work.

What this scene does and why it's getting changed

So that's the draft scene... I like it, it's fun, but the final version won't look like this. This is the "tell" and I need to convert it into "show." What I'll probably do is cut 80 to 90%% of this because I'm using the earlier chapters to set up Scar's defensive attitude and we don't need Scar to do it here; it'll be more like the end result of 15 to 20ish chapters worth of build-up, which means I don't want it to sound like the info is being introduced for the first time. As the author, I need this info to "sketch" Scar, but the reader doesn't.

While writing this, this was me saying "I need to get inside Scar's head and let him tell me what his backstory is" (though the details of that backstory will probably change). Scar gets to tell me things, then I take it and show the reader in different ways. Quick topic switch and then we change back to Scar:

I got into 3rd Life and Last Life very shortly after Last Life ended and before plans for Double Life had begun. I craved more content because I loved the series and that led me to Impulse's behind the scenes streams where he talked about his experiences in the series and mentioned a couple of weird things that happened as well.

One of them was that they switched server hosts partway through the series and were testing things out before they played, and Scar died on a magma block. It wasn't considered a canon death since it was off-camera testing time (and I guess that death message was visible in some players' chats during the actual recording time later and it caused a small fuss in the community).

I knew that tidbit of info and I thought it would be interesting if I delved into that: "a glitch happened that made Scar suffer." It quickly turned into "What if Scar has chronic glitches and pain and that's why he uses a walking aid?"

I really liked that idea because it melds nicely with my world. Character influences worldbuilding which influences story.

Fun Fact

The HALO team is a group of players who hold authority in this digital universe. They rescue people, like Scar, who get stuck in death loops or hurt themselves in some way. I loved the name HALO because it gives that rescue vibe, and it was a double meaning because I thought Halo was the game Scar used to make videos for before Minecraft. Turns out that was Call of Duty but I still like the name; I think it's perfect.

Why do I consider this something I needed?

For the purpose of this Ask, this is the part I want to emphasize: Until I wrote this scene, which will take place in Chapter 15 to 20ish, I hadn't even considered giving Scar a chronic glitch. I was going to give him a cane and some pain and leave it at that. Which is fine, and I think going the route of wings as a mobility aid also would have been fine as long as I gave it careful thought, but I really enjoyed giving Scar a disability that fits perfectly with the digital world. I think it brings the world to life.

If you've read Dog's Life, you know that in Chapter 3, Scar glitched out the server, which kicked out all the players except Scar (who got deleted) and they had to reload the world from an autosave, which meant losing some of their progress (and some of Scar's memories). It's implied that this isn't unusual when you play with Scar, which can be very upsetting for him sometimes because it's scary and difficult for him and he also feels like he's a burden who ruins his friends' play time.

After it was discovered that "anything other than a zombie will cause Scar to glitch," it was very important to me that I had Grian insist he would take as much time as needed to fix the code so that "Scar could play with the full mod" (as opposed to getting restricted to "only zombies").

Grian cares about Scar and it's important to him that Scar gets the accessibility tweaks required to let him play with them. Which Scar didn't see. Scar's worst nightmare would be getting written off as "too difficult or dangerous to play with" which, as we saw in Chapter 4, breaks Scott's heart. Scott knows that if he comes out as an allay hybrid, Scar will instantly put up walls and avoid playing with him so he (vex Scar) doesn't corrupt Scott's player file and turn him into a vex too. Scar genuinely has a positive personality, but it doesn't change the fact that his disability is real... and it does affect him. He has VERY messy feelings... especially about politics.

We'll see some of that next chapter ("Charred") when he mutters to Lizzie that he hopes his "character arc in this series" doesn't get boiled down to "Scar glitched things" because he doesn't want to be defined by that. It's important to Scar (and to me) that he gets plenty of characterization and story content that's unrelated to his disability (He has a whole arc with Mumbo that's fun)... but yeah, he does have a little heartache and it does impact the way he interacts with the world and his friends.

From a writing perspective, I very much enjoy upping the threat level. 3rd Life is a series where deaths are important because lives are limited and it doesn't take long to get cut from the server for good.

I really like how Dog's Life balances the in-game threat of "not getting to play anymore" against the out-of-game parallels of fantasy politics and character drama. I feel like this story weaves really well between "ha ha funny play time," "aww cute moments because everyone is friends outside the game," and "uh-oh political drama" and "oh this is a legitimate threat." I'm really enjoying it <3

Conclusion

Technically the question was "what do you need to know before you start" and I'd already written the first two chapters of this story, but... I think nailing down characterization is so important. Everything I did for Chapter 3 of Dog's Life (i.e. Scar glitching the server) was made up as it unfolded (rather than outlined in advance) and I went with it because it felt right. But I couldn't have done any of that if I hadn't taken the time to do my little character study on Scar.

The same thing happened with Joel damaging his vessel body at the end of Chapter 5- it wasn't in my outline (my OG draft just ended with him trotting back to spawn to taunt Lizzie for dying) but this... felt right. The characters shape the worldbuilding, which in turn is the thing that shapes the plot, which in turn creates the story.

Character is king :) And sometimes you throw away your original plans and follow the new trail. If you really know your character, they'll show you what makes them tick, what they truly want, and what their nightmares are... and then you just guide the story so they experience things you know are hard for them.

Knowing the character is particularly important for a series, I think, because I could pick up any character I've fleshed out and plop them down in any one-shot. They could be a side character in someone else's story and still be nicely polished and well-rounded, or so I hope.

I'm deliberately writing Dog's Life with the goal of giving every character layers of backstory. My goal is that every chapter makes it obvious why the POV character is the POV character for that chapter - because something unique is happening with THEIR story - but I also want the other characters to feel so interesting that it makes the reader say "Oh, I'd love to read from their POV" or "I hope we get to see a conversation with that character in it." That's what makes them feel alive... and that's what makes writing with large casts fun, I think :)

I'm enjoying what I did with Scar and hopefully it comes across well. I think I have enough moments of other characters making good, healthy accommodations for Scar (and plenty of scenes where Scar's glitch disability isn't a factor on the plot, his character arc, or the worldbuilding whatsoever) that it balances out Scar's occasional self-deprecating moments... Scar has good friends who love him. Scar loves himself... But on occasion, especially when under stress, he struggles with his self-image and emotions, just like all the other characters do when it's their turn to be POV character.

Thanks for the Ask and I hope this was helpful and interesting even if you're reading it out of context for this fandom and 'fic!

[Current Ask game]

[deflare]

:)

[vivanightcity]

there being a single moment where Kasper has pause about Varric feeling... not right...

cause Varric and his entire life of not existing anywhere until a few years earlier when he showed up in Tevinter and the shadow dragons helped put together a story and a surname, did a damned good job hiding who he was

so when definitely real Varric says his advice for befriending abominations is 'don't'.... well.

Like I see it as Kasper being aware Varric did not approve of what happened, and wasn't Anders biggest fan at all, but he respected and cared for Hawke enough, who did approve and maybe even had a hand in it, that he'd never be vocally shitty around Kasper.

But. Solas not knowing this. Not knowing who Kasper actually is, just knowing him as Rook, as Kasper Mercar, doesn't fully understand how much was missing in his imitation, and that the only reason it really worked as well was because Kasper was so fucking desperate to hold onto anyone in his life cause of the constant loss that he would already overlook these inconsistencies, helping along that blood magic manipulation of reality and perception nicely.

So in the end, Kasper dismisses that as Varric is recovering, he's sometimes saying stuff he wouldn't with a clearer mind.

[gerudospiriit]

[Despite it all, I beat RE2 (Leon's story anyway)! Yay me! I had to basically replay the lab portion because I got to the second to last boss fight and was a hit away from death with no healing items (I didn't know there was one IN the area but I don't think that would have been enough anyway). Very fun game that I finally got around to playing. Definitely liked the challenge even if it was painful at times xD]

[marsmaximoff]

🦑 hwang jun-ho; headcanons 〇△□

content warning: gn!reader. fluff. mentions of death, coma and jealousy. pet names. no season 2 spoilers. let me know if i missed anything.

word count: 941

author’s note: well, my man is back, and i had to write some headcanons for him. the OBSESSION that i had back in 2021 needs to be studied, omg. anyway, as always, constructive criticism is welcomed, english is my third language, so i apologize for any mistakes. in case i don’t post anything else this year, happy 2025 everybody!! enjoy! 🩷

divider by @k1ssyoursister

〇 pre-games

best. boyfriend. ever.

that’s it, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

🙃🙃🙃

his love languages are:

1) quality time

he may be a police detective, but he ALWAYS tries to make time for you 

and see you every day, and if he can’t, he’ll save some minutes to call you

loves to hear about your day

big on communication, that’s key on your relationship 

type of boyfriend that picks you up after work, or anything really

he just wants to see your cute face :3

takes you out on cool dates

to the park, to eat, to cute animal cafés

he’s okay with staying in too, just cuddling, talking, watching something….

and 2) acts of service 

will drive you anywhere you need

you get ‘good morning/night’ texts every single day you’re not together

makes you breakfast 

and has no problem with cooking for you

opens doors for you 

pulls out the chair at the restaurant ☝🏻

he’ll simply do anything you need

loves coming home to you, it doesn't matter how shitty or overwhelming his day was, you just put a smile on his face

his favorite thing to do with you is eating

it may sound boring, but he loves to see you taking care of yourself, well-fed and happy

takes you to meet his family

his mom loves you

even his brother likes you

he’s a tease and enjoys seeing you all flustered

i feel like he’d be the type to have many pics of you on his phone that he goes back to whenever he misses you

you’re probably his wallpaper, perhaps even on his wallet too 🤭

some pet names like: “honey”, “love”, “beautiful”, “cutie”

would never cheat

a guard dog

not super jealous -a bit tho- but won't hesitate to step up if someone acts stupid 

(picture that one scene in season 2 when that man mocked him and didn’t believe he was an actual police detective hehe)

shows you off 🤩

checks you out :p

his hand is on you in some way when you’re out

has good emotional intelligence

big spoon

reminds you to take your make up off before bed if you wear any -he may even do it himself if you're too tired

or to take meds

he is just really caring and supportive

doesn't like seeing you worried or anxious because of his job

absolutely hates to see you suffer

doesn’t mind that you may be struggling financially, it won’t change what he feels

will help you with whatever it is

just don’t hide it, he hates secrets and lies

i hate doing it, but there always has to be some 🚩 

he’s the first one that would do it (lying and hiding stuff) to ensure you’re okay and don’t get worried

on a particularly overwhelming day, he will raise his voice at you

can get really overprotective 

some days you may not hear from him, or at least not much

will sometimes struggle to open up about his issues or what’s upsetting him

△ during the games

after your sudden disappearance, worry and fear ate him up

while checking your house he found a weird card

and once he discovered the exact same one at his brother’s, he knew something was going on

heard gi-hun at the police station rambling about some weird symbols and immediately recognized the design

interrogated him about you, desperate to know about your whereabouts 

as soon as he successfully infiltrated the games, he began your search

almost had a heart attack when he spotted you

had to make the effort of his life to stay calm and not run to you

would somehow manage to get you two alone so he can get you out of there (i wrote about this)

almost gets caught

feels betrayed you didn’t tell him and quite angry you’d risk your own life like this

but mostly relieved you’re okay (and still alive)

watches you like a hawk from the distance, ensuring your safety

constantly around, you continuously sense his presence close by 

□ post-games (you died)

had to see your death and practically went numb

blurry vision, ringing in his ears, shortness of breath, sting in his throat

the worst thing tho, was finding out his brother had been behind everything

how could he have done this to you? you trusted him! 

feels completely disgusted

after his coma, he blames himself for everything

your name was his first word after waking up

dreams about you 

gets you a cenotaph given that your body will forever remain strayed

nevertheless, he still talks to you like you’re there

tells you about his recovery and his progress finding the island

you are his strongest motivation

he’s doing this for you, to provide the love of his life a much deserving peaceful rest

gets you new flowers every few days

he’ll never stop feeling guilty

〇 post-games (you survived)

has nightmares he failed and left you to meet your demise on those cursed games

always there when you have them, and so is his shoulder if you need to cry

reassurance king

hides the identity of his attacker from you

becomes even more overprotective

shared location on at all times

gets paranoid if you don’t text him all day

he swore to never miss a single detail of your possible struggles. not again

you can still tell he holds himself responsible for your time on that island

stays awake at night just watching you sleep safe and sound (will never say it tho)

babies you

bigger spoon

doesn’t let you go out on your own if it’s late, afraid that something may happen and those psychopaths will reach you again

[todayisafridaynight]

tw // suicide

on twitter some ppl were talking about THAT jo scene from iw again and someone commented fucking "you know he was thinking about using that gun on himself" and im not sane anymore !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! added something something his faith in ichi kept him hopeful enough in the moment but then when he went to jail oh. ohhh !!!!!!!!!!!

nooo cause if That Jo Scene is the flashback scene with hoshino's death that really had to be SUUUCH a low point if not top five lowest points for him i wanted to throw up watching that <- replays it in my brain constantly

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

Miquella vs Ranni: Loyalty and Love

SPOILERS FOR SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE UNDER THE CUT, BUT COME FOR MY THOUGHTS!

There are so many essays I could write, comparing Ranni and Miquella, but I'm going to contain myself and focus on the most important aspect of comparisons: how they treat the concepts of love and loyalty and the people who give that to them. Especially in light of Miquella's instant kill "Heart Steal" attack.

The thing about Miquella is, even though he's kind, even though he's compassionate, he DOES NOT VALUE love and loyalty. And why should he? It's always been given freely to him. He can just force someone to love him anyway, stealing their heart. So, the people who love him are disposable, treated like pawns. Malenia? Literally left to rot in the home they built together. Mohg? Turned into a glorified guard dog. Even Radahn, turned into his perfect consort.

And Miquella probably does love them, but his perception of love is completely skewed by the nature of the fact that EVERYONE loves him. It's something he just gets. Something he uses.

Compassion and love are Miquella's weapons. They're what he uses to protect himself. It's cheap, something he can get easily.

Now, compare that to Ranni.

For Ranni, love and loyalty are dangerous. She's seen how ruinous and terrible they can be. She's seen her mother's mind wither away, a consequence of Radagon breaking her heart. She's seen Radagon break Rennala's heart for his love of the Golden Order.

The only people who loved her unconditionally are Blaidd and Iji, and even Iji's more around out of loyalty to the House of Caria than love for Ranni.

That is to say, Ranni respects and understands the power of love more than Miquella ever could.

Think of how she tells you to leave her to her lonely path. Her engagement ring, engraved with a warning to stay away, that her destiny is cold and lonely. Ranni pushes people away for their own safety, and that makes her love all the more valuable.

Love, for Ranni, is something at once dangerous and precious. The despondent way she tells you, once you've defeated the Baleful Shadow, to tell Blaidd and Iji that she loves them. Ranni knows what their love has cost them. Knows what it has bought her. She respects love and is naturally wary of it.

And that's what makes it so valuable.

Miquella doesn't appreciate love, because he's always had it.

Ranni treasures it because she's always struggled with it.

God, I love this game.