#not too long and a good central puzzle

[she-anemone]

there's really nothin like a zelda dungeon, 2d or 3d they are just in a class of their own as puzzle playgrounds I luv em so much

[evandsolo]

Home is where you are. | ft. Choi San.

choi san x reader genre : fluff, established relationship, slice of life words : 1,790. trigger warning : none ! if you see some, please tell me. plot : it's your first anniversary with the love of your life. you just spend the night together. side note : i just love San so much, i wanted to write the cutest thing with him ! I hope I gave him justice !

It’s already been a year. The best year of your life if you had to be fully honest. A year since he said he wanted to spend the rest of his life by your side. You knew San for a long time before, but could you imagine how amazing your life would be today ? You’ve never felt so loved before, so understood, so cherished, even though his work was taking a lot of his time. He always made sure to have enough time to spend with you.  

“I can't wait to be home and to be with you again” he said on the phone last night making your heart flutter so fast. “I Can't wait either. Will you be home when I get back from work?” You asked, hoping for a positive answer “I'm landing in the morning. I'll probably have to make a stop by the agency before heading home but I'll be there. I promise.” 

Your day was full of meetings and appointments, but you loved your job so much. You had a lot of responsibilities and you've never felt so accomplished in your life ever before. You kept on checking your phone every time you had the chance to. You wanted to make sure your boyfriend arrived safely, but the text did not arrive as soon as you hoped it would. He was supposed to arrive in the morning. He always texted you when landing. He probably had forgotten, you knew he had a lot of things to do. Or maybe the plane was running late. For a second you thought about checking his flight, just to reassure yourself. But it'd be a little bit extra. You let the hours pass by, until it was time for you to go home. Still no news of your lover. You can’t help but start to worry. It’s not usual for him to remain silent, especially when he comes home from a long trip.  

You hoppe in a taxi trying to call his best friend, who also became yours over time. “Yeah ?” answers Wooyoung’s voice on the other side of the phone. “Good lord, you’re alive !” Relief can be heard in your voice. “Of course I am ! Are you okay y/n ?” Okay ? How can you be ? “ I haven’t heard from San since you took off the plane, is he still with you ?” you ask. please please please, tell me he is with you. “No, he left the agency a few hours ago, but I'm pretty sure his phone died. You don’t have to worry, y/n” You try real hard to hold back your tears. “Yeah, I hope you’re right. Thanks Woo.” You finish, hanging out the call. Why hasn't he reached out to you yet ? On that day that seemed so special for the both of you. 

Your way home is full of questions and worries. You try to call him up but you end up again by falling on his voicemail without even a tone. Wooyoung was probably right after all, there was no need to be worried. 

You unlock your door and suddenly your heart stops in your chest. A soft dim light is diffused in the whole apartment, and the floor is covered in red petals. The room is filled with the sound of your favorite melody. All the pieces of the puzzle are assembled and you finally realize what was going on. Your eyes are starting to fill with tears as you move into the room. He stands up here, behind the central island of the kitchen. His eyes finally reach you and you can see the widest smile on his face. “ Hi gorgeous !” He says, in his joyful voice. 

Your bag falls on the ground, and you run into his arms, burying your face into his chest. You were so worried, that seeing him here was the biggest relief ever. “I’m happy to see you too, baby.” He chuckles. “ I missed you, and you didn’t send any text. I thought something bad happened to you.” You admit, keeping your face close to his heart so you could hear his heartbeat. “ My phone died before I left the agency and I didn't have any battery left in the other one. But I had to come home fast.” You sigh in relief. You finally took a second to reach out to his lips and pressed yours against it. “I missed that.” He says, when you step back. 

“What were you cooking? It actually smells so good !” You ask, leaning on the counter to see into the pot. “A Sundubu-jjigae. Your favorite.” He answers, putting a kiss on your temple. “You really make my life feel like a dream, Sannie.” You were so lucky to have him. The sound of your favorite jazzy melody echoed in the room. Everything was so damn perfect. “ Would you like to dance with me ?” He asks, behind your back. “Here ? But the kitchen is way too small, we don't have enough space to dance.” You say, pointing at the room around you. “We won’t be fancy waltzing for sure, but I just want to have you close and swing to music.” He puts his hands around your waist and you wrap your arms around his neck, and starts swinging softly around the room. Soft light coming from the little spots and candles around the room made it even warmer. That was comforting. You always dreamed of those kinds of moments, but never thought it could be real. But here you are, slow dancing in the arms of the love of your life. “ I’m so thankful for the life we share.” You whisper, eyes riveted in his. He was gentle, understanding. The most caring and beautiful soul you’ve ever seen in your life. He makes you turn around yourself and you can’t help but giggle. “I’m thankful for you, y/n” He murmurs in your ear. keeping you close to him. The music changed, and sadly you stopped the moment. 

It was time for you to freshen-up a little, as the dish was finishing to stew. You had a few minutes before you. Once you reach the room, you find a giant box on the bed. The bow on it doesn't fool you. You also had a present prepared for your lover, but this ! This was quite wild. “Love ? What's in there?” You shout from the room. “Open it, you'll love what's inside !” Curious, you pull the piece of fabric to open the box’s lid. It’s absolutely full of things, and every little detail makes your heart warmer. Twelve items, for twelve months of love. A giant bear plushie, some candies, your favorite perfume, a very pretty bracelet. amongst everything there was a silky sleepwear set. Two cats were embroidered on the top, right on the heart position. It was the cutest thing you’ve ever witnessed, and it was quite special to you. It was personalized and showed how much attention he puts in everything you said or shared this past year. You took the time to admire every single item, before heading to the bathroom for a few minutes. 

“So ? You like… Wow ! Hello Baby.”  He says, appearing in the door frame, making your smile become wider. The way he was looking at you, could make you fall in love again. “How did I get that lucky ?” He asks, as you turn to him. He had so much love in his eyes. That's something you have never witnessed ever before. And the way he looked just like a prince out of a fairytale. His half buttoned shirt, rolled out sleeves, perfectly adjusted to his good amount of muscles. He couldn't look more handsome than this. “ You ain’t bad either, love.” You answer him with a little voice both amused and lascivious. You loved the way his honeyskin stood out even more thanks to his white shirt. He probably would be even more handsome without, but you’ll keep that for later.

You grab the small box on the dresser before heading towards him and placing a kiss at the corner of his jaw. “Here’s yours. Open it.” You invite him, a little smile on your lips. You waited for this for days. You knew he'd be so happy.  “What’s in there ?” He says, looking at it closely. But it was just a box, no brand, no distinctive signs of anything. “Just open it !” You press him with all your impatience. You couldn’t wait any longer. He opens the upper part, just to discover a gorgeous beige necklace. “Babe ?” He says, a little bit lost, when taking the object in his big hands. You can’t help but giggle. “You should just read the paper in it, before looking at me like that.” He took it with concern, and read the lines you handwritten him earlier on. 

Hi ! It’s me, Byeol. 

Apparently, you told mom you were hoping to grow the family one day. So here I am the first addition to our family. I may not be a human baby, mom says it’s a little bit too soon, but she said to me you’d be the happiest kitten dad in the world.  

I can’t wait to meet you ! You and mom will come and get me tomorrow morning. 

See ya, Byeol ! 

“Is it real ?” He said, lifting his head up to you, his eyes sparkling with joy. You nod your head quickly, happiness reading in your features. “But you said because of your allergy we couldn’t have cats !” His cautiousness made your heart flutters. “It’ll be okay, I've discussed with doctors and I was able to be desensitized, so we will be able to accommodate her.” You didn’t tell him anything to keep the surprise total. And it worked just as you expected. “ You did that for me ?” He asks, wrapping his giant’s arms around you. “ Yeah. You wanted to have a cat for so long now. I knew you’d be happy.” He leans to you, to kiss you deeply. “Do you know how much I love you ?” He says against your lips, making you smile as you step back a little. “I’d probably love you more after the diner. Because you cannot imagine how hungry I am.” You say, leaving his arms to run to the kitchen. 

From the hallway you can hear him yelling with joy and saying "Guys! I’m going to be a cat daddy!" Probably a voice message he sent to his best friend, impatient to share the big news. You couldn’t help but laugh. 

Life was so good by his side, you hoped it would remain like that, forever. Even how fast, crazy and amazing it is. It’s just as perfect as you expected it to be.

I really hope you appreciated it, do not hesitate to reblog or to leave a note i’d love to read all about your thoughts. ✿

[teriri-sayes]

Reactions to Crazier Bastard's Chapter 316

Brief summary: Raon paves a way for Cale. DA cries at being praised. Cale and DA finds the gray liquid as delicious. Eruhaben fights Neo.

===========

There were lots of hilarious moments today. Cale getting scolded by Raon and CH because they knew that he was going to get hurt was funny. 😂

Some corrections for last chapter. The laser cannon was pointed to the portal. And there were two magic circles, one was for teleportation and the other had an unknown function.

Raon's growth was shown in this chapter. When they first arrived in Aipotu, he had a nosebleed when he used magic. But now, he could freely use magic, even inside the game where there were restrictions if you did not have an account.

Raon separated the purple mana from the source of the world with his own black mana, making a way for Cale who was the only one that was immune to the source of the world.

The gray liquid was confirmed to be of chaos, and DA said that the unknown magic circle was powered by that chaos, and guessed that its function was to draw out the primal fears of the world.

-Hmm. I think it's a magic circle that draws on the primal fears of this world, but I don't know for sure. -I'm just guessing. Cale opened his mouth. "Good job." -…Huh? For the first time, he praised Dominating Aura. -D-Did I just get complimented? And Dominating Aura was… -…Sniff. He was overwhelmed. -……. He was speechless. Cale was dumbfounded. "Hey, are you crying?" -…No. Sniff. He was crying. Cale was stunned.

DA cried?! All because Cale praised him? Did no one ever compliment him before that he cried from being praised?

"I think we need to get rid of it." It was then. -Why get rid of it!!! "Ah, you scared me!" Cale was really surprised. -Why get rid of it! The Dominating Aura cried out. Cale was genuinely puzzled. -Why did you change like this! No. -Isn't life worth living these days? No, what's wrong with you? Have you suddenly lost your mind? "W-what's wrong?" Cale stammered in embarrassment. It had been a long time since he'd been scolded by an ancient power like this. -Of course! The Dominating Aura was imposing. -We're supposed to eat it! Why are you getting rid of it? Eh? -If you look at it, it's delicious. Slurp. Yes, delicious. He had been sniffing, and now he was licking his lips. The majestic figure was gone, and the Dominating Aura swallowed hard. "Ah. Can I really eat it?" -Why! The Dominating Aura shouted. -You fed the Fire of Destruction a lot of good things in the Central Plains! You fed it a lot of elixirs! Why not me? Are you discriminating against me? You gave the others a lot of good things! I'm hungry! "Noisy." -…….

HAHAHAHA 🤣🤣🤣🤣 What's with the "life worth living these days" and the "why did you change like this" stuff? 😂😂😂 And Cale stammering because he was scolded by an AP. 😂😂😂 Also, DA envious of the other APs who got elixirs. 😂😂😂 Him treating the gray liquid as an elixir too. 😂😂😂

Then Cale showed off the gray liquid, calling it his elixir... CH was confused, and Raon was like, human, talk in a language we can understand! 🤣🤣🤣 And Cale thinking that the gray liquid was delicious too even though it was made of chaos. 😂😂😂

The scene with former hero Gisk and Dark Bear was also funny.

Everyone: feels intimidated by the aura emitted by the gray liquid Gisk: (I'll die. No. I'll get eaten. How to describe it? When a human faces a wild beast with his bare hands. The fear of being eaten by that wild beast.) Cale: smiling while looking at the gray liquid Dark Bear: As expected of the worst (evil)! Gisk: (I see. Only the worst would face that scary thing, still be happy and even covet it!)

Cale got misunderstood again... 😂 Him being the hidden boss of the 3rd Evil, the worst among the Eight Evils, making him the worst evil. And now this scary and worst evil was grinning while holding a bottle that made everyone feel scared, telling everyone that this was his elixir? 🤣🤣🤣

Fortunately, Cale postponed drinking it, thinking that it would be bad if he fainted here after drinking it. The laser cannon-like device and the unknown magic circle stopped working once Cale kept the glass bottle, so Cale's group began to work on destroying the teleportation magic circle.

Everyone panicked when the door of Neo's room opened, but were shocked when it was HD and Clopeh who entered instead of Neo. So where did Neo go? Neo went out of the enemy castle, and our goldie gramps prepared to fight him.

Ending Remarks Cale and DA were so funny today. 😂😂😂 Next chapter would be Eru versus Neo. And we'd probably find out how HD and Clopeh managed to enter the enemy castle.

[bread-tab]

okay random 4am rant time, don't take it too seriously, but: people need to recognize there's a difference between "bad worldbuilding" and "worldbuilding styles you personally don't like."

bad worldbuilding is, for example: internally inconsistent, bigoted, or something else that messes up the plot or characterization of the story itself. sloppy. careless.

things that are *not* bad worldbuilding:

minimalism.

i've been thinking about this in the first place because i saw a post about the Murderbot Diaries a while back (don't know who made it, don't care; this ain't personal) saying the worldbuilding in those books is bad and lazy. to me, as an avid sci-fi reader and writer, that is clearly not true. but i understood why they thought this. the series uses extremely minimalist worldbuilding which intentionally withholds a lot of detail, in a way that is consistent with the (nonhuman, robot, depressed robot) first-person POV. this could also be a feature of the author's writing style in general—i haven't read her other works—but i wouldn't bet too much on it.

the signature of intentional minimalism is that there *are* details about the speculative setting—they're just doled out very thoughtfully and sparingly. the intent is to leave you a little hungry for more. it's to make you think very carefully about the details you do have. this is best suited to stories that already have elements of psychological and/or mystery plot types. the worldbuilding you do see should still be believable, internally consistent, and have interesting implications if you think about it a bit. but you are for sure going to have to think harder to get it.

if you're not in the mood, i will concede, a minimalist style definitely comes off as a bit dry. if you are in the mood, it's relaxing.

whimsy.

this is a big one for sci-fi fans in particular. see: the constant debate about whether any particular story is "hard" or "soft" sci-fi, and whether soft sci-fi is bad, etc etc. but worldbuilding doesn't have to be realistic to be good. you're allowed to have Jedi and humanoid aliens and time travel in your sci-fi. you're allowed to have historical anachronisms and astrology and po-ta-toes in your fantasy. whether or not they're silly isn't the deciding factor on how "good" these worldbuilding elements really are.

the key thing is tonal consistency. you've got a serious high-fantasy setting with its own strict, un-Earth-like theology and magic system, and you throw Santa Claus in there? yeah, that's not gonna land well. but C.S. Lewis can get away with that in Narnia just fine. why? because the Chronicles of Narnia are whimsical children's stories with a strong Christian/Western mythological influence already, and their central conceit is a crossover between the mundane world and the magical world. of course Santa can cross over too. it's whimsical, but it's not actually random. (and if you ventured into straight-up comedy, you could get away with random too. as long as it's funny.)

the unreliable narrator.

i don't have a good example for this off the top of my head (maybe Murderbot again? idk, i'm sleepy, fill in your own) but i'll tell you how to recognize when this is done well.

by definition, an unreliable narrator has some key misconceptions about their own world. so how do you tell what's going on as a reader? how do you know the writer isn't equally confused?

you connect the dots. solve the puzzle. in practice this is similar to reading a minimalist setting—but instead of just sparse clues, you also have a boatload of red herrings. you can catch some of these misleading details by comparing them to your real-world knowledge and saying "wait, this doesn't add up." other times, the false clues intentionally trick you by subverting those real world expectations.

the trick is in the consequences. regardless of what the narrator says, their actions should still have logical consequences. there should be things going on that the POV character doesn't know about. the character will be forced to learn and adapt their narrative because of these shifting circumstances. you can catch them in a lie. the inconsistencies themselves tell a story.

...

i'm gonna stop myself there because this post is long and i oughtta be sleeping. just. this is a distinction worth making. is it really bad worldbuilding, or is it simply not the genre you're craving today? learn the difference for your own sake. you'll have an easier time realizing if a story is something you'll find enjoyable to read, regardless of its actual quality.

[midnight1nk]

⭐️A few days ago...⭐️

Wow, what a wholesome episode! "The rosemary to my bread", dude, I hope my future partner will say that to me one day. Now that I had my weekly dose of silly, time to check the Puzzlevision website! Eh, I bet it's going to be the same as...

[*SCREAMING*]

WOTFI 2024 PREDICTIONS REVISITED

⚠️ DISCLAIMER IN INTRO POST ⚠️

An eye for an eye...

How are we feeling, SMG4 fandom? It's that time of year and many have speculated about WOTFI as well as what might come afterwards. Myself included with my previous theory posts, suspecting that something big is guaranteed to happen. And we didn't have to wait long.

On the 14th of September, just a few days ago, the channel's latest episode, 'SMG4 and SMG3 come up with an episode' was released. But what truly made the fandom lose their mind was the sudden change of the Puzzlevision website. If you need a refresher, here is what it looked like before:

It had:

[puzzlevision.tv] being the site title and URL

Mr Puzzles' logo

A central image that transitioned between a webp to a gif file and vice versa on certain occasions

(after choosing Save As option) the image already labeled as Now Airing

Now, there was talk about this that wasn't left originally, stating that the image (that used to be larger) now had a black border around it. At least, at the time. As someone who has worked with web design, there's actually a number of reasons why this is.

Depending on the resolution/zoom setting on your device, it might alter the site's layout.

As said earlier, the image alternated between a gif to a webp. All websites require a background color underneath all of its assets so the change in image/file size may have shrunk than what was originally. Especially if you are attempting to make it look seamless between the transitions.

Long story short, It's simply how web layouts are: formatting gets a bit wonky from time to time.

Anyway, as I already mentioned, the website has changed to this,

(supposedly someone said the password was "carnival")

Then, to this:

Changes include:

The title "War of the Fat Italians 2024" with a similar URL [www.wotfi2024.com]

SMG4 logo

A whole new layout design (obviously) which just gives off 'Greatest Showman' energy

And now we've come to the present day: fans have already submitted their minigame challenges and preparing for a carnival-themed adventure. For me and other theorists, though, we're having a field day. From the clues I gathered on the website and a few past episodes, I might be able to put together what the channel has for us this year. Let's revisit my "WOTFI 2024 Predictions"!

I already covered a lot in depth in my "Puzzlevision 2: Now Airing" theory [link] and I'll be referring back to it here, so I recommend looking it over if you haven't already.

THE WEBSITE

I was honestly surprised that I was right about a couple of things. The main one being about the website itself.

The people behind SMG4 didn’t need to put this image in, they didn’t need to keep this website on. But they did.

Well, past Ink, you nailed it. And according to Cube (FM), this is the same website host.

"don't read into it too much"

Cube, with everything going on, I might as well interrogate a website for memes' sake.

Wait, what's wrong with it?

The fact that the website is used for WOTFI of all things is what's so strange. All the previous WOTFI'S asked the fans to submit their challenges through the comment section or social media. No other option was involved until now.

Maybe they wanted to try something different like what they did for WOTFI 2023?

That's a good point. It was stated that they wanted to be more experimental with their episodes. But even then, the '23 stream they hosted was on their channel, on Youtube.

Maybe they didn't want it to go to waste? After all, sites can be expensive.

Again, it's a good point. Depending on the domain they used and the apps connected to the site, it can be costly. However, I do want to iterate what I said earlier: they didn't need to keep this website up. Better yet, if they didn't want to raise any flags, why not keep the site how it originally was with the "That's all folks!" image? Why the change? Which brings us to our next point,

WHO IS THE REAL SMG4?

Let me explain...

After the change of the website, we got this post,

This brings up a lot of questions:

Who sent the letter?

If we can assume that's Four's hand, why did the post say "you" as if there is a narrator?

If Four had no idea about a carnival coming to town, then why would he ask us to submit challenges for a carnival he's supposedly hosting?

Well, they're pretty easy to answer. We already established that Marty would come back to be the most likely antagonist for WOTFI. I mean, this cardboard cutout managed to own a pizza shop, a casino, an airline company, and a spaghetti sauce brand. It wouldn't be a surprise if he also happened to own a carnival. But as I said in previous theories, Marty isn't working alone.

He's working with Mr Puzzles.

Mr Puzzles was the one who sent the letter to SMG4 just as he did for Wren in Western Spaghetti. It hasn't exactly shown if the letter had his seal on it. Not that it needs to anyway, they would recognize his logo and know they can't trust what's inside this envelope.

Remember how I said in my previous theory that one of the ways Mr Puzzles could control SMG4 was for our blue meme lord to be his eyes and ears? In the latest episode, SMG3 comes up with the idea of a carnival coming to the showgrounds for a week, and SMG4 wanting to go on the baby teacup ride.

Mr Puzzles was there, listening to every word they said to each other. He has been since "SMG4: Inside Out".

Could it just be purely by coincidence and just something out of improv? Sure, the SMG4 & SMG3 side episodes aren't really connected to canon. But like, c'mon, the channel knew what they were doing. Everything has to be put into consideration.

If that's true, the narrator could be Mr Puzzles, the second voice inside his head. Or, for those who love the goop!4 theory, the voice could be the demonic goo slowly taking over.

Now, back to the post!Four and site!Four. If we can assume the Four from the post is our Four, then the one impersonating Four would be Mr Puzzles, once again controlling the events in WOTFI. This time, using his website. Like Cube said, Mr Puzzles is the same website host as before. Also, look at these two:

It would be too obvious if we see a PNG of Mr Puzzles on the website again so why not impersonate his narrative foil. Well, at least look dapper while you're at it.

Or, even better, Four does know about the carnival but either the goo or Mr Puzzles are erasing certain memories.

A GAME OF WITS

Speaking of the website, let's analyze the description:

Step right up, WOTFI is coming to town and we need your challenges but this time...WITH A TWIST! We're doing a carnival theme this year and we want challenges named like a minigame and a description of what they are! For example "Whack a Bob - Who can smash bob with a hammer first?" OR "Pizza Pie Peril- Survive giant pizza's raining form the sky' Guidelines - Please only 1 challenge per person - Nothing inappropriate - Please add your internet profile name in the 'name' field below Thank you and see you soon!!! -SMG4

Carnival theme, huh?

Well, last year's theme made sense. Three's notebook was stolen and was risked of getting leaked. With the casino being heavily guarded, Four and Three had to sneak in. A secret mission to take back a secretive object.

If this WOTFI has Marty and Mr Puzzles working together, then It would make sense for a businessman and an entertainer would come up with something like a carnival. The best of two worlds: fun and capitalism. Besides, the Showgrounds would be a perfect place to host it since it used to be an abandoned carnival and Mr Puzzles having something to do with the land ownership.

[SMG4: Our New Home // timestamp: 5:38]

Now, what is peculiar is the use of the term "minigame".

Ink, it's a carnival. You have to stick to the theme of carnival rides and games.

Fair, but this is WOTFI we're talking about here. If you win a challenge, you get closer to the end and win a point for your side. For WOTFI '23, every choice impacted the story and therefore the ending. If the SMG4 crew plays and wins these minigames, what do they get in return? And if they lose, would there be a punishment?

It will entirely depend on how WOTFI would play out, in three scenarios:

Marty is revealed to be behind the carnival at the beginning of WOTFI and the Crew learns that, in order to reach him, they have to win some mini-games.

Marty isn't revealed until the near end. The Crew only came because they wanted to have some fun for the day but learned that this was a sort of trap created by Marty (along with Mr Puzzles but they don't know that yet).

OR BONUS SECRET OPTION Both Marty and Mr Puzzles revealed themselves to be the ones hosting the carnival, meaning it's less likely that Puzzlevision 2 would happen unless something else happens.

Then, there is the phrase "WITH A TWIST". Sure, it could mean that it would be different than our regular old WOTFI, just as it happened in 2023. But WOTFI 2023 also revealed the twist that Mr Puzzles was actually the one orchestrating the whole thing, sending the fax to Marty about the secret recipe and his theme scattered in the background in multiple episodes. We might get a twist by the end of this year's WOTFI as well. Bonus points if we hear a version of his theme again.

Back in my Puzzlevision 2 theory, I predicted that the final battle with Mr Puzzles would happen back where it all started. With the carnival coming into the Showgrounds, it comes back full circle.

ONE STEP CLOSER

There isn't much to change from what I predicted:

Karen would be a key character for WOTFI this year. Maybe Karen just wanted her kids to have fun for the day, or even the corporation, her former workplace, gave her a tip that Marty would be there.

The Crew would have to find Marty's absolute weakness since he's technically invincible.

And possibly Pedro coming back to assist the Crew somehow.

But now I have a new prediction, based on the latest episode:

SMG4's and SMG3's relationship would change to a whole new level. That Four may need Three for something or if Three realizes something about himself, it would change their dynamic regardless.

It's really similar to how it was for WOTFI 2023 with small bits here and there all coming back to a single episode. (The notebook, the duo's meme guardian powers, Four's forklift, Three moving out of the Internet Graveyard, etc.)

It's still too early to confirm anything, but at the very least, we now have some idea what WOTFI may be about as well as evidence to back up some of my theories.

Will we get goop!4? God, I wish. I was listening to "Friends on the Other Side" and I was just imagining scenarios of Mr Puzzles taking complete control of Four with the goo. If it doesn't happen for whatever reason, I'll write it myself.

Oh well, we would just have to wait and see. In the meantime, that’s just a theory…

AN SMG4 THEORY

🎶Thanks for dropping by🎶

[wheels-of-despair]

Under Pressure | Eric x You vs. The Apocalypse | Series Masterlist

Chapter Ten: No More Suffering Summary: You and Eric settle into an apocalyptic routine. Words: 2.3k

(Contains a breakdown and dark thoughts about the desire to not exist.)

The secret to getting a good night's sleep is emotional exhaustion at the end of the world. Who knew?

You and Eric had talked until the early hours of the morning, then laughed so hard that you physically ached. You'd finally fallen asleep, and didn't come out of your trauma comas until noon.

You share breakfast and decide to try your luck with the emergency radio you'd received a few years ago from a Secret Santa. Thanks, someone in the office. Hope you were out of town on the day the monsters came for Manhattan.

You plug a pair of earbuds in, give one to Eric, and sit together on the floor under the living room window. You carefully click the little radio on, turning up the volume just enough to hear static before twisting the dial through the channels.

Nothing.

There's nothing out there. You turn the radio off and put it on a nearby shelf, mouth dry and heart sinking. You're on your own.

You soon find out that there's not much to do during the apocalypse, but it's nice having someone to do it with. You and Eric are constant companions, and you're grateful to have him with you. He keeps you from worrying about every other person in your life. By day three, you begin to suspect that his presence is the only thing keeping you sane.

You spend most of your time in the bedroom, where it's quietest. That's also where it's easiest to keep him off his injured feet. You whisper long conversations. You play cards. You discover that the best way to put together jigsaw puzzles is on your stomachs, lying across the bed and reaching down to piece the puzzle together on the floor so it won't have to be moved when it's time for a nap.

There's a lot of napping.

After about a week into the end of the world, you start to get a little stir crazy. Lying on the living room floor with the windows open does provide a little fresh air and vitamin D, but it isn't the same as being outside. Your trash is starting to pile up. The smell isn't great.

If you'd known the end times were coming, you would have stocked your cabinets better. You're longing for a hot meal. Or a cold one. To fill up a cart at the grocery store, or stop by the corner market on the way home and grab something quick, or order takeout. At least you managed to clean the good stuff out of the fridge before it went bad. Now you're getting to the point where you're glad you didn't throw out those stale crackers when their expiration date passed.

But Eric never complains. As long as things are quiet, he's a calm and comforting companion.

"What do you think we'd be doing right now, if the world hadn't ended?" Eric asks, placing a card down in between you on the bed.

"I'd be at work," you answer quietly, laying down one of your own. "And you'd be at school."

"No, I mean if we weren't the dumbest people left alive. If we were doing things together."

"Like, if we'd taken a day off to hang out?" you ask, looking up at him in the dim light with a grin. He nods. "Hm…" you hum. "I think you probably would've stayed over the night before. So we could get the most out of this day off. And we'd start with a big breakfast, of course, so we'd have energy for our big day out. What would we make?"

"Pancakes," he smiles. "And sausage."

"Maybe a few eggs too," you suggest, "for protein." Eric nods in agreement. "Then where are we off to?"

"A museum of some sort," Eric says, after thinking about it for a moment. "I want to see some ancient wonders of the world."

"Good plan," you grin, putting down your cards. This game is much more fun. "I vote for the Museum of Natural History. Best fossils in town. So many exhibits. The hours fly by in there."

"Where is that?" Eric puts his cards down too, shifting to get more comfortable.

"Right next to Central Park."

"Can we have a picnic there after?"

"Absolutely, we can," you smile. "Are we buying food on the way, or packing our own?"

"Packing," he answers. "Turkey sandwiches."

"What else?" you prompt, watching the excitement on his face.

"Chips… and…" His face falls. "Guess all the crunchy stuff's out."

"Not on this trip," you remind him. "Because everything's normal. We're just two not-dumb friends crunching away on a picnic blanket in the park. Bring all the crunchy stuff. Chips. Carrot sticks. Celery. Maybe some nice crunchy cookies to balance out all that health food."

"Maybe we made them the night before?" he suggests.

"Oh, we can't take cookies you made out into public, where people can see them," you say seriously. Eric's face falls. "Because they're so damn pretty, people are gonna be trying to buy them from us. Very distracting." He grins. "What's next?"

"Uh…"

"How about a nap? Right there in the park. Stretched out on our picnic blanket, soaking up the sun, not a care in the world."

"Yeah," he sighs dreamily.

"Then what?"

"Maybe an art gallery or something?"

"You want to know a secret about art galleries?" you whisper with a wicked grin. Eric nods. "The worse the art is, the more fun it is." Confusion clouds his face. "Because we get to make fun of it. Quietly, of course. So the artist's feelings aren't hurt. But honestly, some of these dickbags deserve it. Your brother took me to a square exhibit once. It was literally just squares. Painted on square canvases."

Eric snorts, then clamps his hand across his mouth. You both stop breathing for a few seconds, listening closely. Nothing. You let out a collective sigh of relief and collapse on the bed. Nap time.

The next morning, you wake up to what feels like an empty bed. You reach over to make sure, and your hand lands on a piece of paper. You feel around for the flashlight, squint at the sudden brightness, and read: "Get dressed (in something other than pajamas) and meet me in the kitchen."

You pull some real clothes out of the closet and quickly get dressed, feeling a little odd to be out of your pajamas for the first time in a week. It's the end of the world, dammit. Fuck an underwire.

You open the door quietly and creep toward the kitchen with a stifled yawn, wondering what's in store.

The sight takes your breath away.

The sun is streaming through the kitchen window in beautifully defined rays, but your eyes lock onto the man standing in front of it. Specifically, on his cardigan. You bought it as a birthday gift for your husband, back before he was your husband. It was his favorite. How many times had you leaned your head against it while you watched TV with him? How many mornings had you come into the kitchen to find him wrapped in it and glowering at the coffee maker for taking too long? You've missed that thing so fucking much, you could burst.

He turns, as if he senses your presence, and comes to you. The sun's rays cling to him like they don't want to let go. Just like you're never going to, ever again.

"Good morning," he whispers as his face comes into view.

Eric.

It's Eric.

Your vision blurs. Your knees give out. Eric catches you as the tears start to fall. You cover your mouth with your hand and fight as hard as you can to keep your cries silent, but it's not enough. Eric holds you to him, trying to muffle the noise, but it's still not enough.

Eric drags you back to the bedroom with no windows, dumps you on the bed, and closes the door.

"Love, you've got to be quiet," he whispers frantically, face inches away from yours. "Please," he begs, trying to soothe you by stroking your hair. "They'll hear us."

You turn your face into the blankets and bring your knees to your chest, trying to contain your cries and keep yourself from falling apart. Eric settles himself behind you, pressing his body to yours and holding you tight. You eventually run out of tears, too exhausted to even turn around and apologize for almost getting him killed.

"I'm sorry," you breathe into the blackness of the room.

"Are you alright?" he asks.

"Is anyone?" you respond cynically.

"What did I do?"

"Hm?"

"What did I do wrong?" he asks.

If you had any more tears left in you, you'd unleash them. He thinks you had a meltdown because he did something wrong. You summon all the strength you can and turn over, wrapping an arm around him.

"You didn't do anything wrong," you whisper into his chest. "Nothing at all." He doesn't ask, but he deserves to know why. "I saw the sweater at the window, and I thought it was your brother."

"Oh, god," he sighs. "I'm sorry, it was stupid, I shouldn't have taken--"

"Shh," you cut him off. "You didn't do anything wrong."

You lie there quietly for a while, letting the battle inside you rage, until you can't take it anymore.

"I don't think he was planning to come home," you confess.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… he met someone who could give him what I couldn't, and I don't think he was planning to come home after his year was up. And the thought of losing him forever has been eating me alive."

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

"Don't be," you say quickly. "I want him to be happy. That's what I've always wanted, because I love him, and he's an amazing person, and he deserves to be happy." You feel the tears welling up again. "I just thought it'd be with me."

You wish you could stop the words from coming, but now that you've started, they just won't stop.

"We were supposed to be together forever," you whimper. "I loved him more than life itself, and he left, and my world ended. And then the actual world ended. And I don't know if he's alive, or if I'll ever see him again, and… I don't think I know how to live without him."

Eric strokes your hair while you fight another wave of tears.

"I meant that I'm sorry I wasn't here for you," he whispers.

"No," you sigh. "I'm sorry. He told me he'd met someone a few days after your birthday. And I shut down and shut everyone out when I should have seen how much you needed a friend. I should have been inviting you over for dinner every weekend. Hell, I should have asked you to move in. We could have suffered together."

"If we'd had each other, maybe we wouldn't have suffered," Eric says softly. You wish you could believe that.

"We're together now," you sniffle, pulling yourself closer to him. "When does the suffering stop?"

Eric sighs, his breath ruffling your hair.

"Right now."

You chuckle. "Right now?"

"Right now," he repeats, his voice completely serious.

"Okay," you whisper, smiling into his chest. "No more suffering."

"And no more secrets," he adds.

"Anything you'd like to confess?" you ask. He thinks for a moment.

"I cried when I got your Easter basket."

"I believe the note specifically stated that it was not an Easter basket," you grin, drying your eyes on your sleeve. "It was a standard-issue care package."

"There was a stuffed rabbit in it," he reminds you.

"Okay, maybe it had a tiny bit of an Easter theme," you admit with a chuckle. "I didn't want anyone to make fun of you."

Originally, the plan had been to invite Eric over to spend a few days with you around Easter. But Evan decided that he'd rather go to a resort in Salt Lake City with what's-his-face than to come home. You didn't want to have to explain it to Eric. So instead of inviting him over, you sent him another care package, just like in the fall. Easy-to-prepare food, and snacks… and egg-shaped chocolates and marshmallow peeps and maybe a really cute stuffed rabbit. Assembling that box for him was the highlight of your April.

"I loved it," he whispers. "I loved feeling like I mattered to someone."

"You do," you assure him, "you matter more than you know."

Eric gives you a little squeeze and kisses the top of your head.

"Anything else you'd like to get out?" he asks.

You contemplate for a moment. Do you tell him?

No more suffering, he'd said. No more secrets.

"That day your brother called to tell me you were in the hospital," you say slowly, "I was sitting at my desk, thinking about going home… and going to bed… and what a relief it would be to never wake up."

You feel so much lighter, having finally admitted it.

"But you saved me," you whisper. "You gave me a reason to carry on. To crawl out from under my desk and get to the hospital and bring you home and keep you safe."

"We saved each other," he sniffs.

"Here, at the end of the fucking world," you shake your head, "this is where we find reasons to live."

"Dumbest people left alive," Eric remembers. You can hear the smile in his voice. "I love you."

"I love you, too," you smile, nuzzling your cheek into him. "Wait, why did you make me get dressed this morning?"

[punsmaster69]

25/FEB/20XX

light shot into my sockets from the right side. a pillow had been removed from my enclosure. i squint through the light to see frisk.

raising an eyebrow, they gestured to the pile around me on the couch.

"(migraine.)"

they slowly point to the light switch.

"(nope.)"

i point to papyrus, who's focused on a puzzle that came with the newspaper.

"(staying on.)"

"(.....I'm sure he'll understand??)"

"(he would more than understand. he'd probably make a point of assuring i was comfortable.)"

"(..And that's supposed to be a bad thing?)"

"(he's having fun with what he's doing. don't want to suddenly switch him to worry mode.)"

"(I doubt-)"

"(besides. this works fine.)"

"(well, it did before you opened a window in it.)"

shoving my face into the cushion of the couch to continue blocking out the light, i felt the pillow replaced to where it was.

a weight settled on the other end of the couch, then against the pillow and blanket cocoon of mine.

"(So, he hasn't questioned why you're doing this at all?)"

"(told him i was cold.)"

"(It's.. not cold out today.)"

"(believed it anyway.)"

"(Isn't it the opposite under there?)"

"(yeah. kinda burning up, but it's a small price to pay for darkness.)"

"(Why aren't you in your room or something??)"

"(he'd definitely know something was up.)"

"(Dude...)"

"(he would know.)"

"(I don't doubt that, but the lengths you go to just to... NOT worry him.)"

"(i wouldn't say lengths.)"

"(Heights?)"

"(c'mon-)"

"(Widths?)"

"(this is nothin'.)"

"(Well it's not less than something.)"

"(eh.)"

"(what're you up to out there?)"

"(I'm not done talking about you.)"

"(.......k.)"

"(You take something already?)"

"(the less strong kind, but it doesn't interact with my prescription ones.)"

"(Right.)"

"(Just a normal migraine, you think?)"

"(it's kinda centralized around my right eye, which...)"

i was about to sigh, then realized that would probably grab papyrus' attention.

"(i don't love, but it feels mostly normal.)"

"(What's the meter say?)"

trying to not knock over my whole pile to check, i tap the screen to see a red light.

no idea how long it's been like that for.

"(...i'm good.)"

"(let me ask again what you're up to?)"

they were silent for a moment as if wondering something else, but answered anyway.

"(Got bored, and Flowey was being annoying. So I came here.)"

"(you were so nice to him at first.)"

"(I was worried he'd leave or go on a murderous rampage again or something.)"

"(or try and take everyone's souls?)"

"(....I don't think he'll do that one again.)"

"(me either, mostly.)"

"(I'd kick his petals in again for sure.)"

"(Emotionally.)"

"(....Though, I...)"

"(..Would probably have to use SAVEs again to do that.)"

"(listen, if that petalhead went and took everyone's souls?)"

"(i give you full permission to god-mode the timeline or whatever else you need to 'emotionally kick his petals in'.)"

"(I haven't... done that in a while, actually.)"

"(loading?)"

"(Obviously not.)"

"(That would be going back on our promise.)"

"(I meant SAVING.)"

"(...hm.)"

"(Should I?)"

"(In case one of us gets in some tragic accident.)"

"(your call, kiddo.)"

"(if you meet him, tell the next sans i said that.)"

"(Let's hope I don't have to.)"

"(can i ask what's made you so sure flowey won't leave anymore?)"

"(If he wanted to, he totally could have multiple times.)"

memory of an orange sky and empty field come to mind.

"(yeah. true.)"

"(He's stormed off a couple times, but he always returns.)"

"(kid's gotten attached to you.)"

"(Not just me.)"

"(definitely to my bro, too. and tori.)"

"(In a weird way, I think he likes you too.)"

"(tolerates me for paps' sake.)"

"(Definitely part of it, but I don't know. He doesn't utterly recoil whenever you're mentioned like he used to.)"

"(heheh. getting that kind of reaction just by entering the room was pretty funny.)"

"(I'm glad he's warmed up to everyone though.)"

"('cept undyne. he's got beef with her still.)"

"(The thing with Undyne is more like rivalry.)"

"(They have more fun going at each other's throats than they admit to.)"

"(you think it'd turn into all-out war if my bro wasn't the middleman?)"

"(Papyrus is like the glue between most of this friend group.)"

they must have said his name slightly too loud.

"HM?"

"Oh-"

"Just talking about Flowey's friendships."

"FLOWERY HAS BEEN GETTING ALONG WITH EVERYONE A LITTLE MORE AS OF LATE! I'M QUITE PROUD OF HIM."

"MY KINDNESS LESSONS TO HIM HAVE BEEN CONTRIBUTING, NO DOUBT."

"For sure!"

"(undyne and flowey stop fighting when papyrus enters the room, so he must be doing something right.)"

"WAIT, IF YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT FLOWERY AND THE PAYOFF OF MY EXCELLENT KINDNESS TEACHINGS, THAT MEANS..."

"SANS IS ACTUALLY AWAKE UNDER THERE STILL??"

"He is indeed."

i shove my hand through some pillows in a thumbs-up, then quickly pull it back slightly to hide the monitor on my arm.

"HI SANS."

"STILL FREEZING?"

"yep."

"JEEZ."

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING SICK, ARE YOU?"

"nah. just a bit extra chilly."

"left my window open all night, woke up as an ice cube."

"THIS IS WHY I TELL YOU TO CLOSE IT BY AT TEN AT THE LATEST!!"

"YOU'LL DEFINITELY GET SICK IF YOU DON'T."

"not everything's gonna make me sick."

"THE POTENTIAL FOR IT TO IS THERE."

"𝘪𝘭𝘭 be alright. 'specially for one night."

"IS IT AT LEAST CLOSED NOW?"

"uhh..."

suddenly unable to remember whether it actually 𝘄𝗮𝘀 closed.

"yyyeah..?"

"...THAT SOUNDS VERY NON-CONFIDENT."

"I'll check."

frisk's weight disappeared from the opposite end of the couch.

"I'LL ACCOMPANY YOU. WOULDN'T WANT YOU TO GET LOST IN THE PIGSTY THAT IS SANS' ROOM."

"it's not as bad as it was. promise."

his voice was more distant this time.

"RIGHT. AND THE CLOTHES ON THE FLOOR HERE AREN'T BAD AT ALL."

"it's basically clean."

"IT IS NOT."

"definitely is."

"SAY THAT AGAIN WHEN YOU CAN UN-PILLOW CASKET YOURSELF, ICE CUBE SKELETON."

taking the opportunity where neither of them were in sight, i removed the monitor and stuffed it in my pocket.

i opened a gap in the pillow enclosure to let some fresh air in.

the thud of my window shutting could be heard. footsteps stomp down the stairs.

"whoops."

"NEED I START CLOSING IT MANUALLY AT TEN ON MY OWN?"

"i'll remember eventually after freezing myself enough."

"...AS ALWAYS, THE GREAT PAPYRUS MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY..."

"Sans, you should set an alarm so that you actually remember."

"GOOD IDEA, FRISK!"

"SANS, GIVE ME YOUR PHONE. I'M SETTING AN ALARM FOR YOU."

"ok."

"can you also set a timer while you're at it?"

"WHAT FOR?"

"so i don't sleep the rest of the day."

"Guess it was only a matter of time before he took a nap there."

"can't resist the allure of a good nap buried in cushions."

can't overheat or suffer migraines or have to deal with magic issues if i'm asleep.

"HUMAN, DO YOU WANT TO COOK SOMETHING WITH ME?"

"Yeah!!"

"WE'LL WAKE SANS UP AFTERWARDS, THEN."

——

i was woken up to macaroni with what might be considered "definitely too much cheese" in it. not like i mind, though - and after my migraine cleared up, i was far too hungry to care.

p.s.

took care of the red monitor thing by taking shortcuts around town for a while after papyrus thought i went to bed.

is it the greatest solution?

no idea. too exhausted after that to worry about.

[aclowntiny]

🔮Enhypen as Hogwarts Students🪄

Hope you enjoy! Just like the others, these will be the bases for the Hogwarts AUs I’m sure to write >:3

(I love these boys look at them 🥺)

Jungwon

☆ "You're a humble one, aren't you?" "Er, yes sir?" Jungwon smiles sheepishly at the possible compliment, answering the Sorting Hat with respect. "Hardworking, too," the talking garment continues, "and you don't seem to care about obstacles as long as you get the job done. You're a Hufflepuff!" Jungwon thanks the hat as he leaps off the stool, feeling a sense of joy and accomplishment that the hat saw those qualities in him.

☆ He’s a Muggleborn, or so he thinks until he’s taken in by his Squib grandmother, who reveals his parents were just hesitant about talking about magic to him. He grows up mostly in the non-magical world, but his grandma does teach him how to cultivate some of the magical plants she’s sneaked into her garden 👀

☆ Because of his time spent with his grandma, he goes to Hogwarts loving Herbology immediately, becoming a quick favorite of Professor Sprout 😌 It's not his best subject, but he also enjoys Potions because even if it's hard, it has the funniest mistakes!

☆ There isn't a subject he really hates, but History of Magic is notoriously the most exhausting subject for a lot of students, so it's not exactly Jungwon's favorite.

☆ Jungwon is an avid Frog Choir member, but he also tries out for Quidditch and becomes a Chaser! He's a swift boy, known for darting out of the way of Bludgers and other players just in time 😌

☆ He’s overjoyed as he imagines a time when he was happiest and how happy he’ll feel if he summons a guardian in the form of a corporeal Patronus charm. As Jungwon casts the spell, he can see it taking shape, his heart filling as the image of a tuxedo cat bursts forth and into his arms.

Heeseung

☆ "Oh, a clever one!" The Sorting Hat comments as it touches Heeseung's head. "You've got a unique mind. A thinker, this one. Likes to discuss things. Good with a puzzle too. Must be Ravenclaw!" Isn't Ravenclaw the smart house? Well, that's something for Heeseung to live up to! He's excited to do his house proud.

☆ Heeseung is a Half-Blood, coming from a magical family but just not entirely upholding all the full blooded wizard stuff over the years. He literally could not care less about all that stuff, though, like hey, we all have the same powers 🤷🏻‍♀️

☆ One of the weirdos who actually likes Arithmancy lol Heeseung is just good at it and solving sequences is so satisfying! He also enjoys Defense Against the Dark Arts because it's the perfect combo of active and intellectual, one of few classes where students can actually be allowed to run around a bit, but it still keeps the wits sharp.

☆ Divination isn't bad, but it lowkey feels like a waste of time to him 💀 rather than hate it, though, he uses it as goof-off time hehe

☆ Quidditch all-star right here! Eventually becomes captain, in fact, and leads Ravenclaw to victory many a time. He's a Chaser, in charge of scoring and swift flying, and he tends to be in the central position.

☆ He doesn’t have a certain animal in mind, really. Heeseung tells himself he’d be happy with anything…but what if it’s a tiny mouse? Or something silly like a monkey? Shaking his head, he snaps out of it before reciting the spell, focusing his greatest joy into the shape that emerged. As the beautiful Clydesdale horse stands before him, all the nerves fade away into elation.

Jay

☆ “Cunning? Check. Ambition? Check. Goals? Check. You care what others think, don’t you?” Jay just sheepishly, almost imperceptibly, nods. “I try not to, but-” “This one’s a Slytherin!” Jay nods, too, not entirely surprised to be sorted into his father’s house. He admires its traits, though, feeling like being a Slytherin can shape a cool go-getter.

☆ The Parks are an old wizarding family for sure. Jay doesn’t want that privilege to carry him through everything, trying to keep that down in favor of his own hard work. It’s nice being well off in life, but he wants to be known as a strong person, not just another strong name being thrown around. If he’s offered the easy way, he’ll never take it.

☆ Potions star! Jay’s the only one of his friends who’s really good at that class at all tbh 😅 so he’s the de facto tutor. He also really enjoys Defense Against the Dark Arts, a class where he can have duels, be a dashing hero, & really show what he’s made of! Facing down fears is right up his alley.

☆ Ever since his watch got taken to use as a demonstration and he wasn't sure what it was getting turned into, Transfiguration sort of became Jay's least favorite class, at least in jest.

☆ Ends up taking one of Slytherin's Beater positions, daring to face Bludgers and fly up close and personal with all of Quidditch's threats! It gives him a rush, even if he's had a lot of near-misses the others still talk about. It’s a tight scheduling fit what with him joining Ghoul Studies, but worth every moment of it!

☆ Elbows and jokes abound as Jay gears up to try his hand at a Patronus, jests on all sorts of ridiculous animals getting tossed out. Ignoring the mirth, Jay goes zen, honing in on a memory as he shouts “Expecto Patronum!” A massive wingspan emerges as the eagle soars from his wand, earning looks of awe from Jay’s classmates and pride from the caster himself. He can’t help but reach for his Patronus in wonder, amazed himself that he created such an awesome creature.

Jake

☆ “Can be a bit headstrong,” the Sorting Hat mutters. “Really?” “Don’t act so surprised,” it chuckles, “you’re smart, kid. Got a daring side, though. Use that. That and your curiosity.” So what does this all mean? Jake thinks. “Alright,” the hat responds to his thought, “that clinches it! Ravenclaw!” Surprise fills Jake’s face as he was trying to predict what the hat would say.

☆ The Sims are Pure-Bloods, but Jake literally doesn’t find that out until he’s at Hogwarts because his parents don’t want any kids of theirs to feel like they’re any different just because their whole family tree has magic.

☆ Jake quite enjoys Astronomy, taking in the beauty of nature and recording it, but what he really enjoys is Care of Magical Creatures because he’s a pet owner and even the odd creatures (or, well, most of them) have him soft 🥺

☆ Jake prefers more natural and straightforward subjects, and Divination doesn't really seem real to him. Even a lot of witches and wizards don't believe in it, and it puzzles Jake a bit that there's no clear answers or basis to anything. He's more along the maths and sciences side, so to speak.

☆ Loves Quidditch! Tries out and joins Gryffindor’s team as a Chaser, which he adores because he gets to be part of a little mini team and support the others with his actions. Plus scoring is such a rush!

☆ Jake can’t help but think of his family, think of Layla, as he is asked to embody happiness in his life. Those thoughts guide him as he holds his wand up in anticipation, grinning at the light sliding from his wand. A golden retriever runs out to greet Jake, and he can’t help but grin. Maybe he thought of Layla more than he realized!

Sunghoon

☆ “Hm, bravery isn’t your strongest suit…” “Hey!” “You are focused on your goals. You know what you want in life.” “Yes.” “And you want some recognition for it?” “Y-yes, sometimes it is nice to have a-” “That settles it! Slytherin!” Sunghoon’s still a little salty that the hat kinda roasted him, but intrigued by his house enough to let it go and just join the others.

☆ Like Jake, comes from a big fat “blood traitor” Pure-Blood family we love to see it 😌 thinks it’s all so stupid he plays a love for Muggles and their culture up just out of spite honestly.

☆ Takes Muggle Studies for the bit and actually enjoys remembering the names of all those appliances and things, even if it's difficult to remember so many new words. A lot of the Slytherins are shook because the Sunghoon is writing a paper on telephones??? Dork Sunghoon excels at Charms, quick but precise and elegant casting that requires specific motions. He sees the intricacies in charms more than the average student, and his casting always looks fluid and flawless.

☆ Flying is not his friend- being that high up and feeling out of control scares him. Sunghoon will take the ground, thanks!

☆ Quite obviously, he does not try out for Quidditch, just attending all the games he can and focusing on other extracurriculars like music!

☆ He has plenty of happy memories to go off of, but Sunghoon isn’t sure if he’ll really be able to pull of a corporeal Patronus. He wants to more than anything, though, so he puts his whole heart into it, calling out the spell… only to summon forth a beautiful swan that captures his attention immediately as it gracefully skates in the air around him.

Sunoo

☆ “Could be Gryffindor…” The Sorting Hat ponders. Not Hufflepuff? Sunoo thinks, considering how he wants to be in the nice house. “I can hear you, you know. You are quite innocent. Very loyal, too. Very well- Hufflepuff!” Grinning, Sunoo skips to his table.

☆ He has Squib parents, so he grew up an odd mix of living like a Muggleborn and yet having total awareness of the wizarding world from other family members. Both his sister and he inherited powers, so he also hears about Hogwarts a few years before he goes.

☆ Enjoys Divination because it’s a fun and creative class. They get to drink tea! They get to talk about dreams they have! They get to make stuff up sometimes, frankly. It feels more fanciful and less pressuring than other classes. He also likes Care of Magical Creatures because not only does he love living things, but the presentations are enjoyable too!

☆ He loves looking at the sky, but Astronomy is a bit of a tough one because Sunoo is more of a creative mind than scientific. Calculating the positions of the stars is hard, why can't he just take pictures and appreciate the constellations?

☆ Thinks Quidditch looks really fun, so he tries out and that’s where they discover that Kim Sunoo is basically the perfect Seeker. Boy is a pro at finding stuff so he sees that snitch well before anyone else does. Straight up wins Hufflepuff games by points alone.

☆ Happiness is easy for Sunoo to find; it’s a short mental distance to reach as he has a positive attitude and more importantly lots of loved ones. His friends, his sister, truly his happy place is with his people. Thoughts of his people spur on the little light emerging from his wand, fading in favor of cheering and laughter at the adorable glowing quokka that rolls out.

Ni-Ki

☆ “You’d do well in Slytherin,” the Sorting Hat muses upon Nishimura Riki’s head, “if you want something, you go get it. Brave, though, and quite a tease. You enjoy life. I’d say… this one had better go to Gryffindor!” Riki feels like the Hat gave him lowkey whiplash, but he feels proud to be joining the house of lionhearts! It suits his adventure-seeking side for sure.

☆ He’s a Half-Blood, both of his parents having magic, but his mom is a Muggleborn so he gets the best of both worlds! Adores spending time with his Muggle grandparents and sometimes envies their simpler life even though he wants to become an amazing wizard.

☆ Takes Ancient Runes so he can write secret codes with his friends, but actually gets really invested in solving and deciphering all the questions and scripts he's given. Flying is another favorite of his, just the feeling of freedom and the wind in his hair is the most magical thing of all for Riki!

☆ Don't sit with Riki in Potions though unless you want things to splash and explode on you 💀 he's a bit of a wreck trying to brew potions and it's not even from intentional mischief like a lot of other things are!

☆ Bro best flyer??? Of course he’s going for a position on Slytherin’s team! And he gets it, landing Seeker because his choreography skills lend well to flying in complicated patterns just like his lil gold friend 😌

☆ Riki is beyond determined to cast a Patronus, to have the strength of mind and magic combined to produce his guardian. Digging his heels in, he brings forth a memory, smiling and laughing into the spell despite his moments-prior seriousness. As he calls out “Expecto Patronum!”, a fox leaps around, every bit as cunning, mischievous, and charming as its caster.

[evannakita]

I made a crossword puzzle!

It's June 24, 2024, and I'm the constructor of today's daily crossword on Puzzmo! It's my first-ever published crossword, and I'm extremely excited for the public to check it out!

Below the cut, I've written out some fun tidbits about the puzzle and the process of making it. That being said, SPOILERS follow—only read further if you've already completed the puzzle!

Hi again, I hope you had a fun time solving the puzzle! I certainly had a fun time constructing it. I’m incredibly grateful to Brooke for organizing Puzzmo's Open Submission Week, for giving me a second chance to submit after the theme of my first submission wasn’t a good fit for Puzzmo, and for helping me throughout the process of theming, filling, cluing, and hinting.

This puzzle began with the idea of using a diagonal to spell out something that actually is diagonal. As a public transit enthusiast, I’d initially thought of [FUNICULAR]. But the idea quickly expanded with the decision to also include horizontal and vertical answers corresponding to horizontal and vertical things. And since [ELEVATOR] was by far my favorite possible vertical answer, that left [ESCALATOR] as the obvious choice for the diagonal. Initially, I’d planned [CONVEYOR] for the horizontal answer, but Brooke pointed out that conveyors typically aren’t used to carry people the way escalators and elevators do. The next option I proposed was [TRAVELATOR], but I ended up liking [CORRIDOR] more, because I wanted the puzzle to have diagonal symmetry if possible.

Already, I had a ton of constraints for filling the grid—each letter of [ESCALATOR] had to intersect not one but two other answers, which would have been tricky even before adding in two other theme answers and diagonal symmetry. So I ended up spending countless hours testing out possible grid layouts in order to try to get a good fill. At first my idea was for all three theme answers to intersect at the bottom right, but I chose the current layout to represent how escalators and elevators don’t actually go between the same two points, meaning that when a train station is designed around escalators; [ELEVATOR] users are forced to also use a [CORRIDOR] to cover the horizontal distance. (Here in NYC, that makes for inconvenient wheelchair access to the fancy new platforms at Grand Central Madison, and it also means the planned accessibility upgrades at the Broadway Junction subway transfer will be a massive undertaking.) I personally find designing efficient train station layouts to be a lot of fun, and so I greatly enjoy the game STATIONflow, and I thought it’d be appropriate to shout it out in this puzzle’s title!

I did end up eventually managing to get a fillable grid (thanks to Ingrid and Spread The Wordlist—oh hey, yet another thing Brooke deserves major kudos for!), but due to all my self-imposed restrictions I had very little flexibility in what the non-theme answers would be, meaning I was stuck with some tricky ones like [SIDE A] and [ALDIS]. But honestly, I think the limited flexibility made cluing more fun than it otherwise would have been, since I now had the challenge of finding fun clues for answers I didn’t pick. I got to revisit some happy memories in 4-Across and 18-Across, I got to shamelessly plug my DeviantArt in 11-Down, I got to shout out an incredible activist in 19-Across, and I got to be unreasonably proud of myself for coming up with 10-Across. Some of my original clues were too long and confusing for Puzzmo (I was slightly sad to shorten my original description of a [T BAR] as a “low-budget chairlift alternative that’s basically an anchor that hooks around your butt and pulls you up a hill”), but Brooke was a tremendous help with capturing the spirit of my clues in fewer letters. And a couple clues were straight-up Brooke’s ideas, including 1-Across, 5-Down, and notably 17-Down—I hadn’t heard of Ayra [STARR] before but her music is excellent and I am very glad to have learned about her through this.

Brooke was surprised I wanted to hint my own puzzle, and I get why—hints aren’t meant to be entertaining, and coming up with good ones can be quite challenging. (Shoutout to Matthew for being an absolute hinting MVP!) I actually quite enjoyed all the lexical games, though—the “mancala” anagram for [ALMANAC] was a very satisfying find, and I was quite proud of how my hint for the crossword staple at 27-Down was able to match the Minecraft theme of the clue. (Of course, the flipside was that some hints, like the one for [KORRA], had to jump through a lot of hoops to get to something coherent.)

I realize this is probably way longer than it needs to be, but making this puzzle was just such an experience. I’m absolutely going to keep making puzzles, and that’s all thanks to Brooke and Puzzmo.

[georgiapeach30513]

I work in marketing/PR and I have to say, so much of what’s been pushed out via magazines, media, tabloids regarding CE’s public persona/work/personal/whatever have been almost blatantly obviously strategic.

Strategic about what? Well, I’ll let you all think on that.

But so much of marketing is play on words - on what you say and what you don’t say. When you say it. How you say it. Nearly nothing is accidental.

However…that GQ spread. This mysterious jinx ad. I honestly don’t really know who okayed that spread and what’s actually going on with this jinx campaign.

I have some thoughts. I feel you probably do too.

But I do have to remind people here that lots of these strategies aren’t really inherently built on logic. So the logical mindset would be if something isn’t being received well or necessarily responded to well that you should just stop and try something else. But if you have an agenda to push, you’re going to push until the point is made.

Anyways. I hope his PR team gets him a better cover at some point or maybe he needs a new team overall. Going on the cover of GQ and not putting the guy in a suit at any point…putting him in a trench coat…and wifebeaters. I get that Chris style is more casual, more all American than suave red carpet - but they could have put him in a white T and jeans and had him put a jean jacket over his shoulders! Sunglasses! Have him go rugged! My lord LOLOL

🙈

People can sit and deny all the want, but the moment there was a planned pap walk in Central Park there was PR. Whatever it was trying to push, doesn’t matter. There was PR involved. Was it strategic? Uhh, what else released on that day?

I do think there is a lot of word play happening. Whether in person or in print. And people are free to ingest that and interpret it the way they want to. Doesn’t mean it’s the truth, and it doesn’t mean it’s a lie.

The GQ interview and spread was a choice. All around was a choice and of course I have my thoughts, but I just keep them to myself. Doesn’t matter what I think. Now the Jinx ad, that is a bit more of something puzzling. When it was supposed to be a fall campaign and here we are into winter and prime holiday shopping season and now just crickets…

I would love to see a good cover. The SMA and now GQ are just meh now, and that’s such a shame. He could have been more casual, but more age appropriate, more styled correctly. And for heavens sake can we quit putting him in damn pleated pants!! He has long legs. That’s an asset. SHOW IT OFF!

[not-poignant]

Stain is such a great story, Alex and Sebastian have made so much progress understanding each other, and I'm excited for their relationship to continue to develop (not just physically... but okay really excited for that too!!)

Wondering what gave you the inspiration and what you like most about the Alex/Sebastian pairing, or any other thoughts about Stardew Valley as a fandom you want to share!

Honestly the thing that inspired me the most was just playing the game! :D

I have nearly 1800 hours in Stardew Valley, and that's like...what I would call a few hours to just daydream about all the characters. And me being the multi-shipping fiend that I am, I do also just like to imagine all the characters in relationships with each other.

I'm not someone who really cares about my farmer (or PC) in the central romance, which is why I don't write this in video games that have you as a player character! I didn't do that for Stuck on the Puzzle, or The Wind that Cuts the Night, or Palmarosa. I don't actually care as much about whoever I'm romancing, I care more about what relationships can happen between other characters.

And I think because I daydream about that, rather than my farmer character (or me) with the NPCs, that gives me like a lot of time to think of different things.

I started daydreaming about Sebastian as a top several years ago, he had that energy to me even like 2 years before I romanced him (the amount of times I've romanced Alex is criminal at this point). I sometimes imagined him with like Sam, but mostly Alex. I also imagined him being good goth literature friends with Elliott lol

Even in The Wind that Cuts the Night I have Sebastian as a top with the farmer :D

I don't actually get that involved with the fandom in general. I've tried a few times, and some of the fanart is incredible (and the MODS omg), but I've never really loved any of the SDV fic that I've read (or more accurately: skimmed). I don't like farmer/NPC pairings. The vast majority of people wrote Sebastian as a bottom (or a fluffy vanilla top which is somehow worse) in m/m like 4-5 years ago and I'm too tired to check how much that's changed.

Alex actually gets a lot of hate in the fandom - at least amongst most of the queer players - and seeing a character who is a victim of child abuse treated like that just kind of left me with a bad taste in my mouth (it seemed to be based around Alex's initial rudeness, which doesn't last nearly as long as Shane's, who was hero-worshipped long before he got his whole storyline, because he wasn't romanceable for years).

So I really avoid the fandom, and I couldn't tell you who's writing the most popular fics or the most popular pairings or anything like that. I don't look into the tags, and almost all the fanart I've ever shared here or at @capillata has been shared to me by someone else first.

So yeah the answer is mostly just that I daydream a lot and I've had many many hours to do it in! :D

I like Alex/Sebastian as a pairing mostly because I've always just liked troped opposites in enemies to lovers. The jock vs. the goth nerd has been a long-term media troped opposition romance pairing, and even outside of romances, is often shown as 'oppositional.' Many people even have memories of that in their school experience.

To me, the idea that Alex is always shown as completely alone (sans Haley or grandparents), and that Sebastian is nearly always shown with friends when he's not being like... deeply moody in a goth way, was really fascinating to me. ConcernedApe was already working hard to say 'this isn't what you think it is' even within the game. Alex is the one who apologises to you for being so desperate and also unrealistic about his sporting/goth abilities. Sebastian is the one who already has a job and is incredibly social - he's in a band that regularly practices and even performs outside of his hometown, he regularly plays TTRPGs with friends, and he regularly goes to the bar and plays pool and hangs out with friends. He's not a 'loner nerd.' He is hands down the most popular and social person in Stardew Valley who you can romance, outside of Sam, who is the same amount of popular. Like, Sebastian is literally a socialite social butterfly who is successful and charismatic and rides a motorbike. Subversion pretty fucking successful on that trope :D

To me, the game gives us the set up to a bullies-to-lovers scenario just by giving us the trope, and then subverting the trope. I always kind of liked that, but could never imagine writing it, until I aged them up and had Sebastian and Alex both mentally kind of growing up a little.

All right that's enough rambling from me! It's time to make lunch. But yeah, that's basically sadlfkjas er the sum of it (I say after rambling for ages)

[furinana]

Thoughts on Kaneko's departure, the current state of Megaten and etcetera

When scrolling through jpn Twitter, I got reminded of a certain Atlus survey from years ago. For those unfamiliar, Atlus surveys often wonder about how receptive people would be regarding derivative content (spinoffs, remakes etc) of several titles you could think of. Among those that would turn out real were Soul Hackers and obviously the Personas.

[Left: Nocturne, both SMTIV games and Digital Devil Saga as part of the selectable options for a "full remake title" in an Atlus survey from 2020. Right: Shigeo Komori's comment on the future of the franchise in 2022]

The good: the current staff (still) cares enough to attempt to shine a new spotlight on old entries even if some would be deemed less profitable for the current fanbase's standards. The hmm: with Kaneko gone and cementing that "the old days won't return", the shoes become large for newcomers to fit in. Even if one has soul behind the job, the current industry prioritizing long developments and less risky directions makes it tough for them to create even one third of what the original staff was able to do in the same amount of time. On top of it, seeing this huge list of "potential works to get rehashed" almost in a Disney remake vein isn't particularly exciting. SMTIVA was only 4 years old in that goddamn screenshot and you already are throwing the possibility of a remake? Hello?

Non-Persona stuff is so far in-between nowadays that it's hard to write a conclusive piece regarding how far the current staff can go without relying on already established works.

Well... we can comment on the mixed reaction on popular illustrator Shirow Miwa being hired for a "sequel" of Soul Hackers.

The main point of concern here: with one-time artists and non-centralized direction, it becomes harder to achieve a worldbuilding where the worlds of different games smoothly connect together like they did back in the golden era of Megaten.

Recurring characters like Lucifer or Tamaki felt appropriately part of the universe even across different games they were at due to Kaneko's design philosophy of sticking closely to real-life fashion aside having a character's personality and background closely define how they would look staying consistent in the entries he contributed to.

On the other hand, Shirow Miwa was specifically told he should just design on his own instead of working around Kaneko's style that molded the franchise to this day. The feeling that long-time Devil Summoner fans didn't like it due to aesthetic clash was on the air thus contributing on the motives for why the game couldn't grab a significant part of potential buyers.

Before going too deep on this, let's not get the wrong idea: non-staff illustrators being collaborators aren't at all new for Megaten titles. Yasuomi Umetsu for SMT Nine, Suzuhito Yasuda for the Devil Survivor duology, toi8 for Tokyo Mirage, Tatsuro Iwamoto for Dx2, the list goes on. But behind those entries, there's noticeably a lack of commitment prevalent in those decisions. Most are treated as self-contained worlds separated from the world of games Kaneko worked as the main designer, thus they're treated as their own thing instead of another part of the puzzle hence considered "safer to experiment".

Anyone can understand the amount of expectation that such a bold numbered title like Soul Hackers 2, in a subseries well-known for hit after hit like the Devil Summoner series carries above these, however.

Specially when one-time collabs have been shown to carry the risk of underperforming considerably.

[SMT Nine and Tokyo Mirage had the excuse of being in flopped consoles but how lenient can you be to Soul Hackers 2?]

Another recent example of mixed reactions (albeit to a minor degree) were the SMTIV-exclusive demons drawn by Tokusatsu media-related artists Keita Amemiya, Yoshihiro Nishimura and Kyouma Aki: most didn't reappear even for the SMTIV sequel and the few ones that leaped had to be redrawn by Doi, the actual staff artist that took over the role of main character & demon designer thus the face of the current mainline.

[Doi-designed demons such as Chironnupu or Mermaid are the sole examples of SMTIV reps carrying over to other games]

The thing is, SMTIV was the fastest-selling mainline game (even compared to big ones like Nocturne or SMTV) while Apocalypse sold enough to beat Strange Journey's sales. Did it sell well because of the collabs or despite them? Either way, they seem to have decided to stick with style consistency over quantity.

Doi worked under Kaneko for several years before being given the opportunity to produce original designs for the games thus the picture of a recurring staff artist that is deeply involved in how the franchise shaped itself and is well-acquainted with elements that both old and new fans want earns more trust and familiarity compared to one-time contributors.

[It's also important to acknowledge that Doi isn't the only artist retouching art for current Megaten around: Akira Odagaki was the one behind the remake of Strange Journey, with Doi only providing Alex and the exclusive demon additions]

While Kaneko's resigning was understandably a shock for many fans, one cannot argue against his desires towards a career path of more freedom, considering the unstable state that many creatives go through in the game industry, veterans and greenhorns alike:

Is Kaneko a misunderstood genius that Atlus was extremely foolish to let go? Or is he out of touch and will be another Keiji Inafune/Yuji Naka case? Only time will tell. But both things can be true

As a sidenote, Kaneko's interest in shady business practices feels similarly disconnected from reality as something Ishida said in the Soul Hackers 2 interview:

[Nevermind doxxing, bots taking over or drones killing innocent people, guys. Technology turned out to be completely harmless]

What else do we have left?

When talking of style consistency and thought-provoking worldbuilding ties to other titles, mainline SMT as of now stays as the one thing I have been interested on even when under a different team.

SMT5 went through the shortcoming of being another unfinished debut release requiring an inhanced version to truly shine its full potential (which is unfortunate for day1 fans but then again, Nocturne was fully guilty of this for three times).

Kaneko is irreplaceable. But I also enjoy Doi's contributions (alongside Yamai's and Kozuka's) and given the appropriate time and budget, I believe in the potential that the staff responsible for the latest SMTs has in building ground on their own, even regarding new ways of twisting expectations of long-time players and extending the world of SMT to bigger horizons instead of plain soft resets in the continuity.

And at the end of the day, other members of the original staff exist beyond Kaneko and are amazingly receptive to keeping on celebrating the franchise such as Tsukasa Masuko (that recently released a new soundtrack arrangement for Megami Tensei 1&2 funded by Kickstarter) or of course, original franchise creator Aya Nishitani himself that often deepdives into Megaten worldbuilding concepts and theories to the franchise on his Twitter account, even going as far as translating for free the last book of the Megami Tensei novel trilogy for the enjoyment of English-speaking fans.

[thevapingsufi]

Scottish people really hate the 23andme diaspora, and I'm guilty of this too. A lot of hatred comes from these people having a disconnect from modern Scottish culture, and making a parody out of what they think it is i.e. kilts, mixing up Gealic, Gaelic and Scots, weird worship of generic ancestory. All of it seems at odds with actual Scottish culture.

The make up of Modern Scottish culture is defined by two major events one good and one bad. The good is the spread of civic nationalism, the modern idea of Scottishness is mostly based on are you born here, or did you spend a long time here? Then you're Scottish. My mum spent a long enough time here to culturally integrate, but never lost her accent and she was accepted as Scottish. Anywhere else I would only be considered half Scottish but I have been told firmly by people that I would have otherwise expected to be anti immigrant that I am most definitely Scottish, whether they or I like it. It's simply a fact.

The second is the Highland Clearances, a genocide on highland Scots but lowland Scots which has left the central belt the cultural heart of Scotland, and nearly wiped out most of the cultural and historical traditions people in the diaspora associate with Scotland, the clans, the kilts, the celtic poems.

Many of those people who are claiming Scottishness through blood are probably descendents of people ethnicly cleansed off their lands. Is it fair to deny them their ancestoral identity, an identity stripped off their ancestors, because the idea of Scottishness itself has moved on into something far more active, and tied to the land of the country itself.

Is it fair? I don't really know. Can we dismiss what might be a branch of a culture cruelly excised from its home because it's current examples are annoying Americans? Is it fair?

The story itself is also a lot more complex since another part of the Scottish Diaspora aren't victims but perpetrators. Time was the idea of Scottishness wasn't tied to civility and an open culture but cruelty. "Cruel as Scots" used to be a popular turn of phrase, and one our ancestors earned in spades. Where ever the British had a plantation, from India, to Ireland, to the Americas and the Caribbean a Scotsman was happy to hold the whip. Even the Scottish culture hero Rabby Burns once accepted a role as an oversear in Jamaica, before one of his poems became the talk of the town in Edinburgh. If that burst of fame had never came, or even came two weeks too late the great ideal of Scottish working class liberalism, a man who celebrated the American revolution and wrote poems humanising the victims of Slavery wouldn't has missed his boat and instead have been out there defending Empire and keeping enslaved people in chains.

This part of the Scottish Diaspora would go on to largely run the Confederacy and even before that formed the base of that Southern American pseudo-aristocracy. There's a reason the Confederacy flew the cross of Saint Andrew when going into battle.

Maybe these annoying Americans aren't the victims of ethnic strife, but the perpetrators? Does that mean it's easier to dismiss them?

A further kink in the story is the on going conflict between Scottish and British identity. In modern times this is largely tied to loyalty to the UK or desire for an independent Scotland, but religion and ethnicity also comes into this to add their own unique flavours. Can people with no ties to the land, having never once set foot in it identify as Scottish? Can people born and raised here deny their Scottishness? Can we really seperate out British and Scottish identity into two seperate things cleanly? Scotland struggles to do this now, define what is Scottish and what is British.

Glasgow is definitely seen as the Scottish City, while Edinburgh is the British, some times referred to as an English city by people on the West Coast (not as a compliment) but if you were to look into the history of either of these cities you would be puzzled as to why. Glasgow was once the second largest city in the British Empire, the second city of empire, it's shipyards growing to accommodate the empire's needs, it's geography defined by the wealth flowing into merchant square. Edinburgh on the otherhand had been the seat of power for Scottish kings, the cultural heart of the lowlands, and Scotland as a whole.

Scotland is also the birth place of the Enlightenment. Sounds silly but largely due to a mix of education access provided by the Church of Scotland, and wealth and opportunities provided by the British Empire Scotland emerged as the first major place in the world to support a middle class. Class, culture and identity all being interlinked this further divorced the diaspora from Scotland, and helped create a second great wave of Scottish emigrates, ready to administer the empire, with at varying times around 2/3 of employees of both the British Raj and East India Company being made up of Scots.

This also created a well educated but low income class of Scots who suddenly had the chance and ability to find employment abroad, something that developed into a tradition kept up to this day, and largely why I exist. Maybe these 23andMe Scots aren't the result of ethnic cleansing, or the remnants of the evils of empire but simply people that left their homes to find work, who found new homes away from Scotland.

I don't really have a nice conclusion to this rant, culture isn't a dead thing drowned in formaldehyde that can be studied and examined in stillness. I don't really know, and these are all very big questions to be brought out because I saw a very annoying American tourist.

[scoundrels-in-love]

How long we've been wishing for the things that we're still missing (But you still can learn a lesson if you try)

It is not always easy to love, but even less so when the people Meryl loves hardly know what they want - what they're allowed to want. And much less how to ask for it. It's a good thing she's always had a knack for solving a good puzzle, she figures. | Mashwood but in Queerplatonic way | Soft character study with love as central theme | Also on AO3 |

It is not always easy to love, but even less so when the people Meryl loves hardly know what they want - what they're allowed to want.

And much less how to ask for it.

It's a good thing she's always had a knack for solving a good puzzle, she figures.

When Vash curls up on the couch near her as she reads a book or scribbles away in a notebook, feigning interest in some cop procedural rerun he's seen four times already, she's learned to let him take some time to settle before opening her arms so he can burrow himself into her side, rubbing face into the soft fabric of her sweater she's taken to wearing around the house for a moment, and making almost purr-like noises as she scratches softly through his darkened hair. 

Later, when he feels assured she is not running away, he may drape over her lap like a large cat, demanding more direct attention, and perhaps she doesn't hate tossing a boring article draft aside as much as she might feign to.

When Wolfwood's shoulders are tense and he is smoking third cigarette in row by the window, she knows he will let her slip her arms around him, hold him until the cig has burned down to the filter and he can tease her about being needy. "Gotta spoil ya today, I guess," he'll say, carrying her to the bed and draping her on his chest like a blanket, arms locked over her waist. Meryl doesn't mind him using her as an excuse to take what he craves, to feel wanted, because he is.

In time, he might be soothed enough to start humming a song or sharing tidbits from his time at Orphanage, or perhaps asking about her.

Part of solving them means she has to solve herself. Learn patience, how to be gentler, kinder. Not because they don't love her as she is, not because they expect her to, but because they deserve it, because she does. Because she wants to give them, herself, what they've lacked so deeply in their life that the absence has become a definition on itself.

Meryl learns to reign in her helplessness that easily veers into frustration and anger on the bad days - hers and theirs, especially theirs - and accept that being there and letting them be is all that she can do. Perhaps all that is needed, even.

Meryl learns not to feel a sting of rejection when the boys seek solace with each other, curled under blankets and into each other, on the days everything hurts in ways that only the other can really understand. Licking wounds with quiet murmurs of sin confessions and forgiveness that only the other man can grant.

Meryl learns to speak softly when one of them wake her on accident, still trembling from the nightmare that refuses to let go, learns not to turn on the light immediately. Learns how long she can hold them so very tightly before her arms start to ache and how to keep holding, still.

Meryl learns to let herself be loved, too. In all the clumsy, devoted ways they pour their hearts into every little thing and then feign nonchalance (but less so with every passing month), while everything about them speaks of a child that begs for acceptance of their hearts, for validation of their attempts to love, because it (and she) is a language they're learning, too.

She knows the look, because she's been that child and received what she sought too few times for a part of her not to be almost as lonely as her boys have been. 

It is difficult to love, it is harder still to love someone back to some semblance of wholeness. But there's two of them to do it for every crumbled corner of their triangle and, really, they've done more impossible things as a team, Meryl thinks.

[blueeyedrat]

Steam Next Fest, winter 2024. Just when you're starting to get into a groove with a project, something new comes up to distract you. So it goes.

This one was all over the map — some games I really liked, a few that were kind of a letdown, and a few that were just sort of there. I think this is the first time a batch of demos has removed more items from my Steam wishlist than it's added. More detailed (though perhaps less organized) thoughts under the cut.

Okay so Balatro doesn't really count, I've been playing the demo for this game for months at this point, but I want to mention it anyway. It's a deckbuilder in the purest sense: you're given a plain deck of cards and tasked with scoring points via poker hands, accumulating a variety of buffs and modifiers to literally rig the deck in your favor. It is perhaps the most make number go up game I have played in a good while, and it's addicting as heck. I know some folks who will be playing the full version nonstop when it comes out later this month, and I might be one of 'em.

As far as city/settlement builders go, I don't think Synergy is jumping to the front of the queue when it has to compete with the likes of Laysara or The Wandering Village, but it does have some neat ideas. I do enjoy when I get to treat this sort of builder like a puzzle of sorts, fitting all of the pieces together, and the ways this demo asked me to do so on both small and large scale were just interesting enough to pique my curiosity. Might be worth a look in the future.

Now, a quick rundown of the demos that didn't land quite as well: Planetiles and Kamaeru had charming aesthetics, but the UI in both games felt a bit clunky and the gameplay left me wanting a bit more substance. Train Valley World moved away from the gameplay I enjoyed in the previous two entries in the series, in favor of something I'm not particularly interested in. There were a few other games I found while putting together my list this time around, but either bounced off of (Electrogical, Bounties of Babylon) or didn't get enough to pass judgement (Omnibullet, Overmorrow), so I may need to revisit them later.

Somewhere in the middle, I'd say, was Aarik and the Ruined Kingdom, a Monument Valley-esque puzzle game. It was… alright. I liked it, I just liked most of the other stuff I tried more. I need to sit down and play Monument Valley at some point.

There are two games on this list I'm torn on. Flock is a cute exploration game that reminds me of Sky: Children of the Light and charmed me in very similar ways. Customizing a character, flying around, and observing the game's colorful ecosystem was a lot of fun. Botany Manor is a puzzle game somewhere between The Witness and Return of the Obra Dinn, where you gather clues in your environment and use them to piece together answers to a central puzzle — in this case, figuring out how to make various plants grow. Some neat ideas to be had here.

I really liked both of these demos! But both of them ran into the same problem: I get motion-sick kind of easily, and there's a small subset of video games that make me dizzy if I play them for too long (and sometimes "too long" is, like, five minutes). To its credit, Botany Manor acknowledges this and has options to make it more accessible… but if there's a specific configuration of camera settings that doesn't give me a literal headache, I didn't find it. It's really frustrating that some of the games I enjoyed the most in this list are ones I'm not sure I can physically handle in the long term. I'll keep an eye on them, but… we'll see.

Moving on. Duck Detective is another "fill in the blanks" mystery in the vein of Case of the Golden Idol or the aforementioned Obra Dinn. It's a much more humorous and lighthearted take on the idea, and while the demo was pretty short, it gave a decent enough look at the gameplay and style that I'm interested in what lies beyond.

#BLUD immediately stands out for its hyper-cartoony art style, which it definitely leans into (it's got episode title cards, for crying out loud). It backs up that style with some charming writing and a decent Zelda-ish mix of exploration and dungeon crawling. I'm not sure the combat entirely clicked with me, especially early on before your character gets a proper weapon, but I still liked the demo well enough overall.

Crypt Custodian also took some time to grow on me, but when I did get into a groove I wound up having a pretty good time with it. It's a top-down 'vania — my closest comparison would be Hyper Light Drifter, with character progression and looser movement closer to something like Ori or Hollow Knight. It was a bit of a gauntlet at first, and didn't always give you a lot of direction (apparently that's an upgrade you need to unlock), but once I got a few more options for movement and combat it felt like I could handle most of what it was throwing at me. Seems fun.

For a more direct comparison to Ori, we close out with Tales of Kenzera. This was one of the other highlights of the bunch for me. The movement and combat felt good and offered a lot of options up front, and kept adding more throughout the demo — similar to Ori, it's not the tightest and prioritizes spectacle over precision, but the level and encounter design never asks for too much. The art, animation, and voice work are all excellent, and the story (drawing inspiration from Bantu folklore) shows a lot of promise. I'm interested to see where this one goes, for sure.

[scotianostra]

On November 8th 2001 Dorothy Dunnett, the cult Scottish novelist, died.

Dunnett should be remembered in the same breat as Nigel Tranter, the writer of intricate and meticulously researched historical novels, she attracted a devoted following with her multi-volume sagas. Her novels included the million-word Lymond Chronicles, in six volumes, which covered 15 years in the life of a 16th-century Scottish aristocrat, Francis Crawford of Lymond, she followed that with the eight-part prequel The House of Niccolò.

Aficionados of the Dunnett epics formed their own societies, met regularly at international conferences, and swapped theories about the puzzles and the sub-plots that the author sewed so carefully throughout the developing storylines.

Dunnet also wrote a novel about the real Macbeth called King Hereafter, and a series of mystery novels centred around Johnson Johnson, a portrait painter/spy.

An only child, Dorothy went to James Gillespie's High School for girls, where she overlapped with Muriel Spark, and was taught by Miss Kay, the model for Jean Brodie. She discovered a talent for painting, and contemplated a career as an artist, but war broke out, and at the age of 16 she went to work as a civil servant, becoming an assistant press officer.

Only after the death of her father, which caused her great misery, did her husband suggest that she take up writing. She began researching the childhood of Mary Queen of Scots, and invented a character, Francis Crawford of Lymond, a dashing Scots mercenary, who travelled widely, visiting the French and English courts, caught up in intrigues across 16th- century Europe.

The Game of Kings, her first novel, was rejected by English publishers because it was considered too long, but was spotted in New York by Lois Cole, who had published Gone With the Wind. It came out in 1961 and was an instant best-seller, marking the beginning of a remarkable fictional journey, which took Dunnett round the world in pursuit of historical detail.

Although she led a busy life, her favourite relaxation was sitting in their Morningside home, with a glass of malt whisky, discussing the day's events, sounds good to me!

As with many of our writers, Dorothy Dunnett is remembered in Makars Court, the stone bears her name, her coat of arms, and a brief quote from one of her books "Where are the links of the chain ... joining us to the past".

You can judge an author on their legacy and Dunnett has not only her books, but a thriving webpage, "Dunnett Central" where you can get loads more info on here [https://dunnettcentral.org/](https://dunnettcentral.org/)