#people........................ are much harder. i can still do landscapes a bit

[grimvisionary]

you want to look at my stupid gay little tests into getting back into drawing.

[eightyonekilograms]

Obviously, JD Vance's proposal to give parents additional votes stirred up a furor from progressives saying it's anti-feminist, reactionary, trying to keep women in the kitcen, etc.

And I agree with them. Frankly I wouldn't shed a single tear if Trump "who will rid me of this meddlesome running mate"-d a second VP in a row and I never had to hear from Vance or his 2010!NRx ideas ever again. But I have a more prosaic objection also: if implemented, I don't think this plan would actually work?

Like, as I understand it, there are two proposed justifications for how this might be a good idea, but I don't think either of them stand up to scrutiny.

The first (and less plausible) one is, people who selfishly want more votes will have more children in order to get more political leverage for [whatever they want]. Even though they're doing it for selfish reasons, children are a public good, and so on net this is good for society.

I think this theory can be dispensed with pretty easily. It sounds just like one of those $1000 payments for having another child that budges the birth rate not at all because it's way too small a reward for the expense involved. Even speaking as someone intensely annoyed by trendy anti-electoralist cynicism, I know the EV of an additional vote is microscopic compared to the expense of having children. It won't move anyone except at the very bleeding edge of the margin.

But that's the easy case. The much more interesting theory of the Vance Plan is that of fixing broken incentives. The story goes like this: one feature of democracy, for better or worse, is that it rewards those who show up. If you have no vote (or don't use your vote), you are invisible to democracy, so your wants will be systematically underrepresented. This is why wealthy first-world countries are increasingly gerontocratic in both legislative makeup and resulting policy: old people reliably vote, young people don't, so even with no conspiracy involved, democracy gravitates to favoring the wants of the old. Vance says, hey, children cannot vote, so just as you'd predict, their interests (as a class!) get ignored, so we end up with a legislative landscape that doesn't favor children and makes it harder to raise them.

It makes perfect sense on paper! But I think in the real world it falls apart.

What are the actual bits of legislation and policy which discourage people from having more children? I mean, people can and do argue furiously over this question, but IMO three of the most significant ones are:

NIMBY localist housing policy locking young potential parents out of the housing market

More localist tax and education policy making competition for "good schools" a Red Queen Race which drives up house prices still further, requiring two working parents

Safetyist legislation which, while well-intentioned, is making everything from cars to child care more expensive than it necessarily needs to be

In order to believe that giving parents additional votes will cause a more child-friendly society to emerge via electoral pressure, you have to believe that parents are more likely than non-parents to oppose 1, 2 and 3. And that just... doesn't seem true? At best there's no difference, and to be blunt, I think as a class parents tend to be worse than non-parents on all three. #NotAllParents, of course, there are plenty of people with kids who still want good abundance policy, but averaged over everybody I think it's hard to deny that parenthood tends to push people toward defensive, loss-averting "protect the children" mentalities which, on a global scale, fuck everyone else over. That talking point you constantly see among the Very Online Right that parents are more likely than non-parents to think Beyond Themselves and want to build a stable world for the long term, just seems obviously false to me. Or at least if it is true, it's true in a way which is mostly irrelevant, since these "long-view parents" don't know how to turn those wants into policy which actually achieves them.

Frankly, I think it's easy to envision a world where the Vance Plan makes all policy around child-rearing worse instead of better, and depresses the birth rate even further.

[louroth]

Hello hello everybody! It is time for another months progress, and I am so excited to share with you, all the things I have gotten my grimy little gremlin hands on. First off, what we are all here for; writing. I have been on fire, to be honest! Last month I churned through the last of the first batch of erotica stories (there's 6 (!!!) of them on my patreon already) and set them up for publishing along with two more unseen ones- I'm still going over the logistics of where to publish for the best revenue (I know this sounds boring, but I have to make an income somehow, and hopefully find another audience as a smut writer on other platforms 💀 I love writing it so why not!), and I am making headway, learning the ins and outs of self publishing. On patreon, there are also two Q&A's that are written in a bit more fictional manner, in character: a more fun way than just writing answers straight up and down. I have enjoyed those so much! There's a bunch of other stuff I haven't even mentioned- honestly, I have to say, I'm really proud of my output on Patreon even though I have been really anxious about writing full time. It's going great! I have to thank my new friends and support-network on discord; you make this all worth it. I cannot express how fun it is to shoot the shit with you in vc, gaming together, or seeing your shenanigans in gen or your in depth theories (thanks for the brainworms!) or memes or staring longingly at the fanfic channel or drooling over your art (ouro related or not) or... Gah. You are just amazing people, and I will waste no opportunity in saying so. Thank you forever and ever and ever an-

When it comes to OUROBOROS, I am happy to announce that the next chapter is damn near done! I was halted because of the discovery that dashingdon is no longer supported by it's creator, and have been working on the twine version ever since, earlier than I expected- it's tough work, but I am so excited to make this an actual game made entirely by myself, and not submitting to a company that quite frankly leaves a bitter aftertaste. It is taking long to make because I want to make it mobile compatible from the start, which there isn't a lot of resources for. But I'm doing my best! The plan is that I will be posting the next chapter for Patreons in the coming month, and then treat you to a full twine release here on tumblr. I haven't made any rewrites when porting the twine build, but I would like to do that too... so we will see; this plan is not set in stone. I will just have to see how it evolves over the next month. Yes, beta-readers is still on the schedule, just holding off a little while while I wrap my head around this new coding landscape.

Other than that, I have been working on the set aesthetic for ouro, which has been really hard, a lot harder than I expected. You all know I am no wizard when it comes to graphic design, but I want to at least develop a set palette and imagery and portraits that is cohesive to the story. The work is ongoing, and I don't have much to say about it- even though it is taking a lot of my brain power. I'm hoping I can come to some kind of set and in depth conclusion that I am happy with before the twine release, because I want the game to feel like a treat to open up and play; a world to get lost in.

That's it! If you want to see weekly and more in depth dev-logs, you know where to go. I hope you have an amazing day or night, and we will see each other soon. xx

[marabarl-and-marlbara]

I hope you're having a good day! And if not I hope you find comfort

hey there anonymous; good morning, you sent this to me last night when i was well in bed (sun had barely even set, even; time change makes sleeping at 8 feel even earlier than usual);

mostly ignoring this to blog a bit about the usual thing i always whine-about (maybe it:ll help someone 'relate' or feel 'less alone' but lord knows its just me spinning wheels cause i like writing): the flattening of my mood: like every-thing had just become this one singular wide featureless plain with all site in sight being just the same stretch without pit and without hill: the sort-of landscape that'd provoke NO PASSION and NO THOUGHT equally and just-so also smooth away any great pain and any great joy: which is exactly just the comfort i am tired of, as it:s like some crawling thing that keeps taking more and more, example: food now all tastes the same, too, taken under by that same wasteland plain barren; although i:d describe my mood as being fairly 'up' (there are still things i:d been getting keen about: writing isekai story, the new ABA in strive looks really cool, i have religious programming to write, there is new media to read and watch) it never seems to amount more than a small 'pop' that ends-up nearly always more disappointing than fulfilling or centering; it is like the spirit has begun evaporating out of me through these little fissures in the Make of my material that had let that esprit DRY, KILN, BAKE, ASH out and leave the innerworks of me (MARA!) as little more closer and closer to being some fine spotless beetle of mechanics, and operations, clicking with spring and circuit forward and forward to next task: cook, eat, clean, exercise; count in fours always; pray in mornings, too; it is the experience of life not as a person but as the mechanical, where life ceases to be felt as life and yet as mere experience of time (both four letter words, as it were; vision poor enough they:d be the same grey smudge on the screen; vision poor enough they:d be the same dead bug on windshield before the bugs themselves became rare); my mood has been up and i still have these black thoughts flowing out from Dieth and Daniela and centered around how inescapable and infinite Wasteland seems: the self is extricated out and becomes a paperdoll where (impersonal) you imagine it undergoing a hanging or a suffocating of all air, and imagine the 'ecstasy' of whether the viewer can undergo the felt feelings of the paperdoll as it goes to 100% material; the act of moving limbs to go through with the task, to resolve, to collect the instruments, to imagine the Afters (the people who knew), to imagine all the things unsaid and things yet wanted to do and done undone and the willingness to let self be robbed of 'fate' (?) where death claims its 'natural' (?) due;

very-much i:d just like to write and focus and be left fulfilled, but it:s all fairly boring; i:d like to play the new ABA and grind her in practice mode (i SHAN'T be spending money on games though) and just instead imagine how anxious sitting in a practice mode hitting buttons feels and can:t imagine undergoing that more than eight minutes at most (this is much how writing is; much how drawing is); there:s this alien quality being poured in-to me, may-be byproduct of adhering to Etiquette like the years of slowly embodying an ill philosophy has led me further ill and alien: it becomes harder and harder to find any reason to talk to another, to nurture friendships, to say Hey, to want to do anything with others as it all just becomes more stretch on the barrenland and buttons to hit and mechanical beetle limbs to undulate, undulate, driven just by fluid sacs or what-ever dumb organ drives beetles (for me it:s my yap organ).

all of this is to say: i wish i could be playing new ABA cause i like her design a lot but can:t imagine playing a fighting game ever being fun without having a friend to do it with, and nothing sounds more boring to me at the same time, but i:m tired of being bored, too. i want to be at a joyous tone 4! a joyous tone 4! so engender a joyous tone 4 in your own life, anonymous, cause if you will it surely it:ll happen.

[fizzigigsimmer]

When does billy realise that Steve is just as good a ballet dancer as he is? Maybe they have different strengths and different areas they excel in but one is better than the other right? Sorry, I’ve read one too many fics where billy is better than Steve at everything and my inner Steve girl is frothing at the mouth. I love them both equally but people put Steve down too much 😔

Ooh I love this question, and I get it anon. I love Steve & Billy both for their own reasons. I think I write Steve better/get into his head easier, but that may just be my own insecurity talking. Billy holds a special place in my heart, but he’s also the character I relate most to so it’s just a different experience. Not a bad one, just not as simple. That said, it is SO WORTH THE EFFORT EVERY TIME. IDK what else to say I just love their characters, and character is a big part of why I write anything. When I plot I’m always most interested in the whys of the characters and how they will change over the course of the story, and everything else is secondary. Which is both a strength and a weakness. 🤪 I’m well aware that I can spend pages in a characters internal landscape without actually moving the plot forward.

So to actually answer your question: I don’t have the performance nailed down yet, but there’s this tentative stretch between them being rivals and deciding to be real friends where Steve is making an effort to be friendly to him and BIlly’s not certain he wants to take the olive branch; because Steve scares him. Eddie and Argyle he can keep at a friendly distance but he’s not sure he can do that with Steve, and Steve’s like “nope you’re stuck with me now just accept it.” Anyway he’s torn, until he overhears a bit of an argument Steve has with his dad and is worried about him so he follows him to the studio. Steve’s working on a some mix of combinations for class, blowing off steam and Billy’s watching him pour his heart into it and he’s just struck by it. Steve’s always been good. But that was different. That was electric. Like I can just hear him, “Where the hell have you been hiding that, Harrington?” He’s so pissy at the thought that Steve has been holding back from him. It’s like a personal insult. 😆

The beautiful thing about ballet as an art form is that it’s about telling stories with your body. That means you can know all of the rules and all of the moves, be technically perfect, and it still won’t mean you’re better than the next guy. There will always be things that physically your body can’t do quite as well as someone else’s: shapes, and float, that reads different to the viewers eyes simply because your body and your intention gives it different meaning. Knowing your body, knowing how to bend it, twist it, and push it just right to convey an emotion that your audience can actually feel requires more than just skill, but also self awareness, vulnerability, and an emotional investment on the part of the dancer. Because it’s acting. Only harder because you can’t use any words. And Steve is just better at this than Billy in the beginning. He wears his heart on his sleeve and throws himself into his performances, eager to give the people what they want, and proud of his ability to move them. He’s an expressive, open, and giving performer and a real joy to watch.

When Billy arrives at school he is better than Steve, from a technical standpoint. His technique is cleaner, he’s physically stronger and frankly he just wants it more. That’s because dance for Billy has always been higher stakes. They share a strong connection and a passion for it, but for Billy it has also been his only means of escape and feeling a sense of worth. It also connected him to his mother whom he couldn’t save or protect from the harsh realities/disappointments of their life. And you know what they say, you don’t get diamonds without pressure - so that’s where Billy is when they start. he’s a diamond in the rough and he’s as good as he is because he has to be, or risk being stuck in the same life that killed his mother and is slowly doing the same to him. But it’s a double edged sword, because he’s so focused on needing to be perfect in order to get out that he’s lost sight of everything else - the whole point of being alive in the first place. He’s closed off and walled in. He doesn’t even remember how to eat for pleasure without worrying about how it will change his body and affect his technique. He’s not living, and his dance while technically perfect lacks what the critics would call ‘inspiration’. You can’t make an audience feel what you’re too afraid to feel yourself.

Steve on the other hand doesn’t know what he wants. He’s talented, but he’s aimless and complacent. He’s grown up under the shadow of his mother’s fame as well as his father’s misogyny and subversive homophobia. In his father’s mind, dance is an okay hobby for a little boy to have while he follows his mother around, but he will have to grow up soon and take on a real man’s responsibilities. Real men don’t dance around in tights flipping their hair for a living unless they’re soft. You know?🤷🏾‍♀️ Steve’s dad won’t actually commit to “being the bad guy”. He won’t outright tell Steve to quit being a gay boy and give up dancing because that would make him a homophobic prick - instead he’ll just cut him down with snide remarks and discount all of his achievements while making it clear how disappointed he is in him. And as a result, Steve is stuck, and lazy. Too stubborn to give up the thing he loves entirely, but not confident enough in himself to own who he is and risk total rejection. The fact that he’s always been good and love and adoration has always been heaped on him in dance rooms makes it easy for him to coast, clinging to that high while on his way to his miserable life behind a desk.

Billy shakes up his world. Billy is proof positive that he won’t always be ‘the best’, that the love and attention of an audience is fickle, and he’s 1000% threatened by him. Which makes for some great initial friction, but honestly their love story is about realizing how similar they are, how good they both are, and how much they need each other. They help each other reach their best and I love that journey for them. 🥹

[louisisalarrie]

i still can't believe they chose to make louis a party boy having a random girl pregnant than letting him come out i mean really is that terrible for them? how many fans would they risk with him coming out that are not risking with the whole bg?

The primary theory, in which I believe to be true as well, was they were gonna let Harry come out (as bisexual, whether that is true or not) and that was the trade off. With how loud larries were back then, and 1d’s team constantly scrambling to “prove” they weren’t together, they couldn’t have just let one of them come out and not have a surefire way to remove any possibility of larry - so the best way was to ensure louis looked as straight as possible was “proof” that he had sex with a woman, and a stunt gf wasn’t enough if Harry was going to be out.

I think the thing is, is that it was such a different landscape back then to what it is today. It would be much harder to closet larry had it been happening these days, but SC was making good money and didn’t wanna ruin the marketability of 1d, because he’s a selfish prick. So anyway, he decided cool, if these guys are gonna still keep trying to come out, we’re gonna throw one under the bus to be totally straight, and the other more famous one can come out as a compromise.

In the industry, 1d is a reflection of SC. He’s going to try and make sure he doesn’t look like an idiot, as much as possible. He needs to make it look like he’s cool, calm, and collected, with an excellent boyband who do all the right things, and are perfectly marketable good little boys. This doesn’t include: two of them being in a relationship, mental health issues, substance abuse issues, videos of them smoking pot etc., but, in order to look like a super cool forward thinking high up dude who is down with the kids and is an empathetic and accepting boss to the larger industry and GP, he was like “alright cool, one of you can come out, and it’s going to be Harry. It can’t be both of you. So, it’ll be a small sacrifice for the greater good and you can both eventually come out, but you don’t wanna lose fans, do you??? We need to be careful about this, and separate you as much as possible. Wouldn’t you rather have a bit of freedom than none at all?” and then that’s kinda what happened, but it all ended up in a dumpster fire.

It’s kinda like having kids (not that I know what that’s like but it’s an apt comparison often used for folks who look after artists), you want them to reflect how good of a caretaker and person you are, always with a smile on their face and that nothing is wrong at all, even if its not always that easy behind the scenes, if you know what I mean? And Letting Harry come out was gonna be great for SC, an absolutely HUGE move at the time that he was happy to go through with because it was gonna make him look great, but it could never have been both of them coming out, and never the two of them together. Not for a long time anyway. It was baby steps.

And I just wanna point out, that while larry is known to be real within different parts of the music industry, this is a massive business and not everybody knows. Oftentimes I see people saying “oh everyone knows” but it’s literally not true. They have small inner circles, and the very high ups know, but it’s not some industry wide knowledge that they’re together. It’s still quiet in that respect.

And to your point, anon, they’d risk the overall marketability of their prime demographic, having them come out. And louis was going to be a lot harder to explain when coming out than Harry. Louis was in a long term relationship, committed, his gf’s initial tattooed on his hand, already didn’t get along well with SC, and it would’ve stopped Harry coming out. So, Harry was the easier choice and Louis’ stunt was gonna be short lived anyway. Except it wasn’t. And I just have to stress how different this was back then. Nothing like this at that scale was happening at the time, and never with this many fans unravelling the narrative. It truly was one of a kind and SC and team didn’t know how best to deal with it.

Anyway, truly a shit show.

[wibixthecowboy]

Play the Song: Part 5: Getting Closer

Task Force 141 needs a new sniper and despite their complaints, they're assigned Flash, a joke-making, ABBA-listening, 20-year-old sharpshooter with better aim than the whole team combined. In other words, Ghost is practically handed the love of his life but he needs time to adjust because she's a firecracker.  

Warnings/Tags: Age gap (20/30-32), gore, descriptions of injury/blood/wounds, !graphic depictions of panic attacks!, swearing, weapons, literally only fluff and banter, angst, soft baby girl Ghost, asshole Soap, lighthearted, I can fix him he just needs a hug, warning for an excessively bad taste in music, slow burn, protective ghost, family dynamic, big brother soap has an attitude problem, father figure Price, Gaz is just there sometimes, eventual smut, praise, thigh riding, unprotected (wrap it up people), size kink, oral f receiving, ghost will do anything to get his dick sucked, idk I’m sure it will get dirtier as I go, shifting POV

A/N: Heyyy. I know I said she’d be meeting the rest of the guys and that there would be some cute fluff but when I finished the chapter was over 11k so this part will be a bit short but the next one is going to be LONG. :)

Words: 2.6k

Side note: All of these characters are fictional! Please don’t be weird about their real life actors, leave them out of this and be respectful!

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

★Ghost

   The walk back to the van is strikingly quiet compared to their banter before and Ghost can tell the silence is weighing down on Flash. The worried look she’d given Ghost when she saw the slump of his shoulders was gone but she very clearly hadn’t forgotten about it. Her hands were tightly clenched around the strap of the duffle bag slung over her shoulder and even with the whispers of the students drifting towards them, he never felt her gaze leave him. Ghost was struggling to face forward, knowing nothing good would come of meeting her eyes but still desperately wanting to see the way she so openly cared.

Ghost reaches for her bag when they come up on the van and she hands it over with a small smile, turning to climb into the passenger seat. He has to keep his eyes from wandering across the exposed area of her shoulders. The subtle ripple of her muscles as she pulls herself up by the handle has him opening the side door a little bit harder then necessary. 

He rounds the van and climbs in, ignoring Flash’s persistent stare, he turns the key in the ignition and pulls onto the main road, quickly picking up speed without the presence of other vehicles. They make it about five more minutes before she finally blurts out what she’d very obviously been contemplating since his visit with the doctor.

“If its something I said-” She starts but Ghost cuts her off, eager to just have the conversation and move on.

“You’ve done nothing.” Ghost reassures, that you know of. She visibly relaxes against the seat and lets out a light laugh, drumming her fingers against the top of her thighs before speaking again, a nervous tick that Ghost had struggled to get rid of in his younger years. 

“I was worried I’d been too much. It happens sometimes.” Her tone is light but Ghost can hear the underlying need for reassurance, he frowns slightly at the implication but gives it to her anyways,

“No, you were just fine.” He does his best to be reassuring but his heart still pounded in his chest and the way the leather of the steering wheel stuck to his clammy palms has his tone coming out more clipped. 

“Oh good.” Ghost can hear the relief in her voice and when he turns from his view of the sparse landscape to look at Flash, she’s leaning her head against the head rest and smiling at him. “So you are just old?” He should have seen that one coming.

“I’m not following.” Ghost says, turning away from the teasing curve of her mouth and admonishes himself for wishing she would smile with her teeth and show that precious gap. 

She laughs again, louder this time and it rings around the cabin of the van, wiggling  between the small space between his ribs to squeeze at his lungs, the sound an aching memory of his childhood. Ghost swallows against the lump in his throat and focuses on the soothing lull of the engine.

“The pain meds?” She says cautiously and he silently curses himself.

“It’s my shoulder.” Ghost says, bringing a hand up to massage the muscle of his left shoulder, thankful for his mask that prevents the need for facial theatrics. When he looks over at her again she’s still laying against the seat but this time she’s raising a questioning eyebrow at him. He feels an undeniable wave of guilt wash over him from the simple lie. When did he become so sensitive? 

“Okay Lieutenant.” Flash sighs and turns away to fidget with something in her pocket before pulling out the small iPod she’d shown them yesterday. She doesn’t ask for permission before leaning forward to plug it into the radio, slightly brushing her elbow against his knee, and pressing play. Ghost ignores the fact that if it’d been anyone else the small piece of technology would be out the window and bouncing along the rough cement. 

A soft crooning voice fills the cabin of the van and he subconsciously thanks Flash for the distraction. They continue on silently for a few minutes, both relishing in the rare moment of peace. Ghost can feel the taught muscles of his back relax against the canvas seat and for the first time in days he doesn't feel the need to have his hackles raised, that is until Flash speaks again,

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asks quietly and he feels trapped, lulled into a false sense of security with the music and her intoxicating softness, and for some reason the sudden urge to tell her everything bubbles to the surface. She would make a good interrogator.

“No.” Ghost says gruffly and locks his eyes on the road ahead, they would be pulling up to the drop off point in about twenty minutes and he should probably be giving her the rundown but he falters at the idea of breaking up whatever they had going, even if it was at his expense. 

“Okay.” Flash says in that same quiet voice, so different than her usual air of conviction that Ghost wonders which one is the façade. In the few moments he’s been able to peek under her wall of confidence he’s almost sure its the latter.

“The drop off should be simple, we’ll park the van, walk to the storage house, and give them the keys to unload.” He drums his fingers against the wheel once before continuing, “Stick close and avoid eye contact, this is not the place to be asserting dominance. They’re on a contract but that doesn’t mean they’re trusted. If we just let them do their job it will go smoothly.” When he finishes, the soft mood of the cabin has shifted and the music that was so comforting before has turned ominous. Ghost turns to see Flash pulling on a kevlar vest and his command comes out stronger than anticipated, “Don’t take that off again, not until you’re in the compound.” 

“Okay Lieutenant.” She laughs holding both hands in the air once she’s secured the straps, “Any more orders?” 

“Cover your shoulders.” Flash’s cheeks flame at the remark and she’s quick to lean across the seat and rummage through her bag for a sleeved shirt.

_____

   Despite Flash’s protest, Ghost is quick to silence the radio and roll up the windows when they pull into the small town. He wasn’t going to risk any interference, he wanted this to go as smooth as possible. Few citizens turn to look, recognizing the black government vehicle and minding their business, but the ones that do have Ghost driving one handed, the other griping tightly to the gun he’d hung over his chest.

The breaks of the van squeal when they pull into the dimly lit garage, and Ghost winces at their less than subtle entrance. He turns to look at Flash, her soft features have hardened, aging her about 5 years and he has to admit its impressive. 

“You ready?” He asks and Flash gives him a stern nod.

“No eye-contact, stick close, and just let them do their job. Right?” Her voice is solid and her movements are smooth as she unbuckles and places her various weapons into their holsters and straps. Ghost gives her an affirming nod and does the same. 

The slamming of the doors echo across the empty garage and they meet at the front of the van before Ghost starts off in the direction of the warehouse, Flash following close behind, rifle now strapped to her chest. He only makes it a few steps towards the exit before he can feel her attaching herself to his heels.

“Not that close Flash.” He admonishes, turning in time to see the sheepish smile on her face. 

“Sorry just nervous.” She replies before following him out the door and into the cool air of the evening.

“You don’t look it.”

“I know.” She avoids eye contact, whether its out of embarrassment or an attempt to retain some of her ego he doesn’t know. 

Ghost has to keep himself from laughing at the joke, solidifying his grip on the gun in his hands. They walk through a damp, poorly lit, alleyway before reaching another door. Ghost takes a deep breath and opens it. About an inch of his boot makes it in before four guns are trained on them, only dropping slightly when their operators recognize Ghost’s signature mask. The men approach him silently and he drops the keys of the van in one of their hands, not bothering to acknowledge them as he keeps his eyes trained on a man seated on the only piece of furniture in the room.

“Took you long enough.” He say’s, standing to walk towards the two. Ghost had worked with him before. Wildly known for his temper, the lead operator liked things done his way, and if they weren’t he wouldn’t hesitate to let you know you’ve disappointed him.  

“We had a few stops to make.”  Ghost replies, not bothering to elaborate. The man saunters towards them with an air of authority and Ghost hopes to god Flash keeps her mouth shut.

“You made time to pick up a talonador.” The leader teases and Ghost tenses, fighting the urge to shove Flash back out the door and out of his sight.

“This is lieutenant Flash, she’s here to assist with the drop off. You will use her rank when speaking to her.” Ghost can feel the heat of his anger creeping up his neck but Flash stands solid and unmoving next to him. 

The operator raises his hands up in mock surrender,

“No need to get defensive lieutenant, I’m sure she could squash me like a bug.” The look he gives her is sickening and just for a moment Ghost allows himself to imagine lunging across the room and smacking the man’s head off the cold cement ground. The crack would echo in a disgustingly satisfying way. He instead pulls a bundle of paperwork from a pocket of his vest and gives the man a quick rundown of the inventory. Flash watches on attentively. 

When they finish, Ghost is quick in opening the metal the door, ushering Flash out of the room. They walk through the gravel alleyway, both taking long strides to reach the garage door, opening it just in time to hear laughs echo through the concrete room. 

The cargo boxes are stacked neatly against the wall but the four men still stand in the doorframe of the van passing around a small piece of black fabric. When one of them holds it up, Ghost feels the simmering of his blood boil up over his self control and he grabs the man by his shoulder, roughly pulling him back and ripping the fabric from his hand. Ghost has little time to finish his job before the butt of the mans gun is slamming into his jaw, sending him stumbling back with a spin of his vision. His hearing cuts on impact and he blinks rapidly in an attempt to recover it and his blurred vision. When he does, he sees one man clenching his stomach on the ground, two with their gun trained on Flash, and Flash pinning the man who’d hit Ghost up against the van with the barrel of her rifle. Her chest is rising and falling like a jackrabbits and the look on her face is wild. He quickly steps between the men and Flash,

“Lets just drop the weapons. There’s no need to escalate further.” His voice rough from the pain. The men hesitantly drop their pistols but Flash remains rigid behind him. “I said drop it Flash.” She follows his instructions with a low exhale. Ghost walks to the open bag on the floor of the van and shoves the underwear back in, roughly zipping the bag closed before continuing, “You’ve gotten what you need, were leaving.”

Thankfully, the four men leave without another word, helping their injured friend hobble back to the warehouse. The moment the click of the latch echoes through the garage, Flash is turning on him.

“I am able to handle myself, I had it under control.” She says, brow furrowed and gaze burning hot onto his masked face. 

“You had two men on you.” He says flatly and prods at the throbbing of his chin. The fabric of his gloves doesn’t allow much exploration but he can assume the skin has split along the curve of his jawline. Flash’s eyes follow the movement and her expression shifts from anger to worry.

“Jesus let me see.” She’s up on her toes about to pull the edge of the balaclava over his jaw when his hand grabs onto her wrist, his fingers easily encircling it in a vice like grip. Flash freezes, and he can see the flush on her cheeks darken. 

“Don’t”  His voice is low and stern, overcompensating for the rush of endorphins flooding through his brain at her proximity. The heat from her skin permeates through his gloves and warms his palms, sending a shiver racing down his spine and he’s now hyper aware of how close she’s gotten, one more step and she’d be pressed up against his chest. Flash’s blue eyes shine up at him and Ghost can tell she’s just as taken. 

“But you’re hurt.” Flash breathes and her soothing tone has him resisting the urge to rip the mask off and let her run her delicate fingers over the wound. Ghost steels himself at the intrusive thought, the last thing he needed now was a distraction. Dropping her hand, he steps around her and swings the vans side door closed before prying open the drivers side. Flash remains stationary.

“Lets go recruit.” Ghost says gruffly in hopes that the distant title will help draw a line in his mind. She hesitates for a moment, still turned away from him, before her shoulders fall and she’s rounding the van to climb into the passenger seat. 

Flash doesn’t respond until they’re exiting the now dark village and bumping along a dusty side road. 

“I’m not a recruit.” Her voice is quiet and Ghost has to ignore the dejected tone to keep his resolve. It’s his turn to wait now, taking the time to think out his response. It takes him several minutes of watching the mangled shapes of bare trees and cacti pass through the view of the headlights before he settles on one. 

“I know.” He replies softly and suddenly feels the need to tell her that he hadn’t meant it to be demeaning. Ghost thinks back to the party decorations in her dorm and her buzzing excitement on the day they’d picked her up and feels guilt pinch at the back of his mind. Flash had been getting nothing but shit from just being present. He opens his mouth to apologize but a soft snore interrupts him. 

Flash’s head is resting against the glass of the window, body slumped into the door. Her pink lips have parted slightly, exhales leaving small patches of fog on the glass, and her face is completely relaxed back into her usual features. 

Ghost, not knowing what to do, hovers his hand near the radio before resuming the music. The same soft singing fills the van, and he finds his gaze wandering back to Flash. Eyes tracking the smooth exposed area of her neck up to the gentle curve of her eyelashes. He’s brought back to attention when the road divider vibrates under his tires, embarrassment flooding through him even with Flash being asleep. 

He needed to get his shit together.

[deviljayman]

Darksider - Vampire Fantasy Novel (WIP) Chapter 3: Safety

Read and comment on the full story here <- <- <-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were lucky the weather was calm, otherwise they would have been buried in snow in minutes. The snow was heavy but thankfully manageable, simply lowering their visibility slightly. Arlin knew the landscape well, he’d often sneak out to play with his friends. He watched how they moved across the tundra, gliding past the roots and patches where the snow was not as compact. 

“Careful.” Arlin warned Leon. “The snow’s hiding a hole there.” 

Leon was thankful for Arlin’s help, it was clear he wasn’t as experienced with the snow or mountains. He didn’t move as nimbly as Arlin, taking his time to slowly wade his way through the thick snow. 

“Is there no snow in the rest of the Valley?” Arlin asked.

“There is snow, although nothing nearly as thick as this.” 

“I could go without snow for a while.” Arlin shook off a bunch of snow that had fallen on his head. “I hope it’s warmer.”

“It is still cold but much warmer than here; I personally prefer the rain.” 

“Rain?”

“Do you not know what rain is?” Leon asked.

Arlin shook his head, more snow falling off. 

“Hm, how do to describe rain?” Leon thought for a moment. “It is like snow in some ways, but it is not frozen; it is water falling from the sky.” 

“Is it cold?” Arlin asked, tilting his head to the side. 

“It can be; in fact, you may get sick if you stand in it for too long.” He explained. “But it can also be warm. In spring, when it rains most, it is quite nice.” 

Arlin thought about it, the phenomenon of rain. From Leon’s description it sounded strange, but exciting. Arlin didn’t hate snow, but he was used to it; he had experienced it all his life. Rain was entirely different, but he could still imagine it—a light breeze of water shining down on the world. It was something that Arlin wanted to experience.

“I want to see rain.” Arlin stated. 

“And so you shall, I’m sure we will see it on our journey.” 

“Speaking of, where are we heading?” 

“Well to be honest with you, I’m actually not sure.” Leon admitted. 

Arlin was taken aback slightly, Leon had seemed very prepared so he just assumed that he had a plan. In retrospect, such an assumption was nearsighted. 

“I had originally planned to take you to Noxnora, but now that we are off that path and the coach is now several miles down the mountain with a hoard of animals attacking him, I am not sure where to take you now.”

“Then what’s the plan?” Arlin asked.

“I am still devising one, but to start we need to get off this mountain. After that, we will head to a settlement and figure out what to do then.” 

“And how much longer till we reach the bottom?” 

“At the pace we are moving, it should take around a day and half before we reach the bottom. Apologies for slowing us down.” 

“It’s okay, I don’t think many people are used to the snow up here.” 

“You are, that is a useful skill.”

“I don’t think it is, it’s pretty situational. I’m not sure anyone would really want it as a skill.”

“I would.” Leon said. “It would stop me from slipping so much.” 

Leon slipped a little when he said that, he grabbed a tree branch to right him only for it to break and a pile of snow to fall on top of him. He got up, shaking the snow off as best he could.

“See? With your skill I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of you.” He said with a smile.

Arlin actually laughed at what he took as a joke from Leon, it also helped that he looked quite silly covered in snow. 

“Okay, maybe you’re right. At least a little bit.” He admitted. 

With a bit of help, Leon got up and continued down the mountain. A bit higher in spirits than before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a long journey down the mountain, steep and dangerous the whole way. As well as Arlin knew the area he still needed to be careful or he might fall down the sheer cliffs to his end. Leon was having a harder time, he was lucky to be strong enough for the winds to not blow him away. Although it didn’t help him in needing to watch his step, losing his footing a good few times. 

Despite that however, they managed to make their way around three fourths of the way down from Leon’s estimations. They would be away from the mountain by midday tomorrow, and Arlin couldn’t be happy at the prospect. However, before then they’d need to camp, Second Night had just started and the two of them were exhausted from the descent. 

Leon was prepared, he had packed camping supplies for the journey just in case. He hadn’t packed to stay in the night up here but they would have to make due. 

“Arlin, could you try to gather some firewood? Make sure they’re dry and not in the snow.” 

“Sure thing.” Arlin replied.

The sticks on the forest floor were out of the question, they were covered in snow and far too wet to make use of. He decided to head for the trees, climbing up to get to the branches not drenched in snow. Arlin had been climbing the trees here for a while, he knew how to scale them even while they were coated in ice. He tried to find the branches with as little snow on them as possible, shaking off and patting down the ones that were usable. When he was finished gathering them, he hopped down from the tree. Arlin summoned a dark falcon to slow his descent, giving it some neck scratches when they reached the bottom. 

Leon had already set up the base, a circle of rocks with a couple of logs to elevate the fire above the snow. 

“Here Leon.” Arlin said, handing over the firewood.

“Thank you Arlin.” he replied. “This should work.” He piles up the sticks into a pile, quickly taking some dried parchment to start a fire. The flame ripples to life, first small but winding out to become a roaring fire. Arlin got close to it, he reached out but flinched as the heat became uncomfortable, like a needle piercing through his palm. He moved back slightly, just a few inches from the fire. It didn’t hurt, it was warm, comforting. The flame was chaotic, it seemed to move and shiver as if it was a living thing. He wanted to touch it, to let the fire flow and pass through his hands. But he couldn’t, it was a beauty he just couldn’t interact with. It was sad, but in a way Arlin found meaningful.

Leon watched closely, making sure Arlin didn’t get too close and hurt himself. He reached into his bag and pulled out two wooden containers filled with beans, placing them by the fire to warm up.

“This is all I brought so I hope beans are to your liking.” 

“That sounds good, that’s more than I usually eat.” Arlin admitted. 

“Have you not been eating well?” Leon asked.

“I’m not sure. I usually feel pretty hungry, the animals usually brought me food to eat. I couldn’t eat what my caretakers gave me.”

“What were they giving you?” 

“Meat and blood. I just couldn't stand to eat it, animals are my friends so eating them is just wrong.” 

“So you have never had blood before?” Leon asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

“I haven’t, is that bad?” 

“Not necessarily, most vampires outside of the High Coven actually do not have much access to blood. Especially human blood.”

“Really? Why’s that?”

“The High Coven often hoards premiums to legitimize their authority and status, sometimes doing the same with necessities. Blood is one of these premiums, it is a sign of authority to indulge in it.”

“So it’s just for fancy assholes?” Arlin grumbled. 

Leon laughed. “I suppose you could phrase it like that, yes.”

“Does it even do anything?” 

“It does but it’s not needed. Blood, especially human blood, enhances the abilities and senses of vampires. It gives them a boost in a sense, the effect becomes more potent when taking the blood from a living creature. Although, most vampires related to the High Coven deem it too ‘uncivilized’ for their tastes.” 

“The High Coven sounds, awful.” Arlin replied. 

“I am glad you have not had the displeasure of meeting them, I believe their guards were quite enough.”

“Yeah, I’ve had enough of them…” Arlin trailed off.

Leon looked a bit saddened, he could see the baggage from Arlin’s face alone. He reached over to the fire and took out the containers, handing one over the Arlin before taking one for himself.

“Be careful.” Leon warned. “It is hot.” 

Despite the warning Arlin did end up burning his tongue slightly, a small pang of heat in an otherwise enjoyable meal. 

“I apologize for my slowness in our journey.” Leon said. “It is unideal for us to stay the night out here, the wilderness of the Valley is dangerous. Especially during Second Night.”

“Why’s that?” Arlin asked.

“I know the weather here often hides the sky but Second Night is far darker than First Night. While Frist Night is illuminated by the stars, Second Night only has the dim moonlight for illumination.”

At the mention of the darkness, Arlin scooted closer to the fire, becoming far more aware of the shadows around him. 

“As such it’s difficult to travel during Second Night, the lack of visibility could end with us getting lost, or even encountering something dangerous.”

“Something?” Arlin asked.

“There are many threats that we may face in our journey, Beasts being one of them.” “What’s a Beast?” 

“Beasts are like a middle ground between animals and monsters, more intelligent than animals but without our reason. What they lack is what makes them dangerous.” Leon explained.

“What are they missing?” 

“Compassion, guilt, empathy, they lack the capacity to appreciate life and the lives of others. They are beings who act on violent impulses, their desire to harm and kill others.”

“So they just hurt others? That’s their existence?” 

“It is, they don’t have the capacity for anything else. They act on their nature and can not do anything else. They do not even have the ability to understand any other possibility.”

“I feel bad for them.” Arlin said, his mood seeming to go down substantially.

The thought of the Beasts saddened him, he couldn’t imagine what living like that must be. To only exist to hurt others, to know nothing else, it was terrifying to him. He knew that they wouldn’t feel remorse for him, but he couldn’t help feeling sorry for them. 

“There is more than the Beasts unfortunately, but it’s far less likely we’ll encounter any of them.”

“Encounter what?” 

“Latro, monster hunters.” 

Arlin froze up a bit. “Monster hunters? But, why would they hunt us?” 

Leon winced a little when he saw Arlin in fear but he continued to answer his question.

“The Latro are a group of humans who have devoted their lives to hunting out kind.” He explained. “I have tried to find reason in it, to find some logic to why they find us akin to animals to hunt for sport. I am sorry but…I do not have an answer.” 

Arlin was stunned by this. “I’m not satisfied with that, there has to be a reason! Why would they just want to kill us, what did we ever do to them?!” 

“I know Arlin.” Leon reassured. “I want to give you an answer you will be satisfied with, but sometimes there are things that I do not know. I am sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize, I’m sorry for yelling.” 

“Well, you also do not need to apologize. I understand your frustration.” 

Arlin exhaled, he was frustrated but he didn’t want to take it out on Leon. He didn’t like the idea of things not having answers, there not being reason behind actions. He wanted to understand, but if he didn’t know the reason why he couldn’t. And he hated it. 

He was deep in thought, so much so that he didn’t hear the trilling growl turn into a roar as a streak of white pounced toward Arlin. As he realized what was happening, jagged hooked teeth had surrounded his throat, inches away from tearing him apart. However, Leon was faster than this creature. He grabbed Arlin, tearing him away from its jaws with only a small cut on the young vampire. 

“Get behind me.” Leon said, guarding Arlin from the new threat.

It had the body of a wolf but it was as big as a stag, its fur a stark white that blended in with the snow around them. It seemed that the creature was built to blend in with the environment around it, with massive antlers that looked like tree branches; they were better suited to a demon than a deer. With a discordant sound, the Beast snapped its jaw open showing rows of jagged mauled teeth. It’s tongue seemed to slither out like a snake, itself being a hooked monstrosity. Its four blood-red eyes stared down Arlin and Leon, ready to rip apart its next meal.

“Is that a Beast?” Arlin asked, staying shielded behind Leon.

“Yes, it is.” Leon answered. “I will take care of this, stay away.” 

Leon took a step forward, crouching down slightly to meet its gaze. 

“You’re gonna fight it!? You can’t take it on alone!” Arlin yelled.

“Not to worry Arlin.” He assured the young vampire. “It is my job to protect you, and I am quite capable of doing so.”

With those words, Leon began to transform. His stance changed, dropping to all fours like the Beast in front of him. He started to grow in size, his clothes shifting alongside him. His nails extended into giant claws as his legs bent and buckled. Fur began to cover his entire body, his nose and mouth forming into a snout. Leon howled as the transformation was complete, now baring his fangs toward the Beast that threatened Arlin. 

Arlin looked on in amazement at Leon’s new form, his true form. He was a wolf man, a lycanthrope, a werewolf. The Beast was quick to attack, running forward and aiming to gore Leon with its horns. However, Leon was ready, grabbing the creature’s horns and holding the two of them in a deadlock of beastial strength. They pushed against each other, trying to use their raw power to make the other kneel. But they were locked in a stalemate, their strength equal to each other. 

The Beast’s jaw snapped open, its tongue slithering out to lash at Leon’s gut. The attack landed, tearing through his shirt and slashing through. But the blow was shallow, blood was drawn but it would not impede Leon; not one bit. With his hands on its antlers, he lifted it off the ground and into the air. With tremendous force, he slammed the creature into the earth, shaking the landscape around them. 

Leon didn’t stop, he ran forward and raked his claws across the Beast’s stomach. It yelped, black bile seeping out of the wound left by his attack. He held the creature to the ground by its neck, intending to chock it out. The Beast yelled, thrashing on the ground trying to escape. Its whipping around for but a moment made Leon lose his grip, but that was all the Beast needed. The creature reared up, reversing the pin that Leon had on it. He tried to move his arm up to push it away, but that was a mistake. It bitedown, sinking its barbed fangs into Leon’s arm. He screamed out in pain as the Beast bit down harder, having now pinned Leon. 

“Leon!” Arlin yelled. He tried to run over to help but Leon yelled.

“No! Stay back! It is too dangerous!”

Leon tried pushing back but he couldn’t find the ground, he was laying on his back as the Beast pushed down harder. He was trapped, his own strength wasn’t enough to fight off this creature. Arlin felt powerless, he wanted to help Leon but he was afraid of the Beast. If Leon couldn’t overpower it what hope did he have? He tried to move but his body wouldn’t listen to him. His blood was ice, his body lead, he was completely frozen as he watched Leon struggle. He watched helplessly, cursing himself for all his weakness. 

Move. 

A presence entered Arlin’s mind, a darkness that threatened to swallow the young vampire. It was terrifying and worse, familiar.  It was like leaping into a blaze to escape the fangs of a monster greater than any fire. He slammed his hand into the snow, conjuring up as much shadow that would listen to him. His ruby eyes burning, glowing to life as he mustered all the magic in his body to try to help Leon. He conjured a falcon of shadow, soaring into the sky before diving down; straight into the Beast. 

The falcon impact, its form dissipating as it struck the creature’s head. The attack for a brief moment stunned it, which was more than enough for Leon. He grabbed the creature’s upper jaw, ripping its teeth away from his arm. He grabbed the bottom jaw as well, pushing both sides past the point they could normally turn as Leon ripped off its jaw. It limped forward, somehow surviving without most of its face, and tried to stab Leon with its tongue. He saw it coming, grabbing it and starting to pull. With a sharp pop, not only did the Beast’s tongue come out, but it’s whole spine with it. 

Leon exhaled, trying to catch his breath as the Beast laid there; dead. 

“Leon!” Arlin yelled as he ran over to him. “Are you okay?!”

“I am alright, I apologize for scaring you.” 

“But your arm! Are you going to be okay?” 

“Not to worry, I can take care of it.”

As he said that, the wound on his arm began to change. The flesh and fur that had been ripped out by the Beast returned as the arm began to repair itself. After a few seconds, his arm had completely healed. 

“It’s healed, but how?”

“We do not have the time currently, but just know that it is an ability that can be learned by all monsters. I can use it to heal wounds like this, but I was lucky. A second longer and that Beast would have broken the bones in my forearm, the one thing I can not heal. I thank you for preventing that.”

Leon smiled and Arlin managed one as well.

“I just wanted to help. You don’t need to do everything on your own, I’m here too.”

Arlin stepped forward but stumbled slightly, that attack took more out of him than he realized. Leon caught him, supporting him as the young vampire struggled with exhaustion. 

“I understand you want to help, but you are still a child. You are inexperienced and there is nothing wrong with that fact, you must grow before you fight.”

“Alright.” Arlin relented. “But I’m still gonna jump in to help you, even if you tell me not to.”

Leon laughed. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Now, we need to get moving, this area is not as safe as I thought it was.”

Leon rose, picking up a bit of snow and using it to smother the fire. 

“I can move faster in this form.” He said gesturing to his wolven appearance. “I can get us down the mountain by dawn, but I am going to need to carry you. Is that alright?”

Arlin nodded and as soon Leon saw the confirmation, he picked Arlin up into his arms and began rushing down the mountain. It was the complete opposite of how Leon was traveling before, the terrain was irrelevant to him as he glided through the landscape.

“I should apologize to you, Arlin, for frightening you with what I told you.”

“Do you mean about the Latro?” Arlin asked.

“Yes, that is what I am referring to.” 

There was a moment of silence, the only sound coming from the trees whizzing past them. 

“It’s okay, I know you weren’t trying to scare me. Besides, even if it does scare me, I want to learn more about the world. I want to understand it as best I can. Plus, I’ve got you to protect me.” Arlin smiled, Leon couldn't help but smile as well. 

“I will be here to protect you, Arlin. Try to get as much rest as you are able, I will get us to the nearest city.”

When Leon mentioned it, Arlin felt his eyes become heavy, it didn’t realize how tired he was. His eyes closed, and almost immediately fell asleep. It was the first time Arlin was able to sleep soundly, without fearing what might wake him. He had someone watching over him, and that made him feel safe.

[torchickentacos]

15 Questions!

Tagged by @gaycey-sketchit !!!!! Thank you so much for the tag, and I loved reading yours! Long post, sorry lol.

1. Are you named after anyone? Nope! Not to my knowledge, anyways. Though if my mom told me that she named me after Taylor Hawkins from Foo Fighters, I would not be shocked.

2. When was the last time you cried? I think monday? I cry really often, at every single emotion. Happy? I'm going to cry about it. Laughing? My high school theatre class would always point out when they made me cry laugh. Sad? ABSOLUTELY crying about that. I didn't cry but I DID tear up yesterday because I was really happy about something nice someone said to me.

3. Do you have kids? Nope, and no intention of having them. Regardless of my desire to or not (usually not, being the oldest of four is enough for me), my health is not, and never will be, in an acceptable position or ability to go through that, and I've accepted that for a while now.

4. What sports do you play/have you played? As a kid, I played soccer and did gymnastics! In middle school, I BRIEFLY did fencing. My mom told me that when I was fencing is the only time she's ever seen me look truly graceful (lmao, love my mom dw. She's right). Then health stuff came up and I had to stop, but fencing just came as easily to me as breathing did. I always wonder where I'd be if I could have stuck with it. Nothing's ever immediately clicked with me the way fencing did, but it's hell on my joints.

5. Do you use sarcasm? Sometimes, usually when I'm annoyed which isn't TOO often. Or if I'm being hyperbolic for a joke.

6. What is the first thing you notice about people? No clue. I guess their demeanor- if they seem happy or not, if they look stressed, how they're feeling (or how I perceive them as feeling, I guess).

7. What's your eye color? Blue! My friend swears up and down that they're kind of green. I think she's colorblind.

8. Scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings!!! I am not built for scary movies. I can do some buzzfeed unsolved and I can watch markiplier play indie horror games but that's kind of my limit. I LOVE some types of horror, but my anxiety does not. I will be paranoid for a month after.

9. Any talents? I can play music by ear. Give me a guitar and a random song and ten minutes at most!

10. Where were you born?

11. What are your hobbies? Landscape/scenery art (also other art but it's much harder), writing, playing guitar (used to play piano too but not well. I also own a ukulele that I'm bad at, but generally I can play something on any instrument you give me). But mostly, I pick up and put down hobbies all the time. I've dabbled in crochet, embroidery, sewing, painting, archery, coding, needle felting, gardening, cooking, a little bit of everything. Never long enough to get good at most of them, though. I get bored too quickly.

12. Do you have any pets? A lovely husky (shelter girlie <3) and a gecko! And, for the gecko, a bunch of crickets at any given point in time, which I guess counts because I have to take care of them, too.

13. How tall are you? 5'2 and a half. 5'4 with my doc martens.

14. Favorite subject in school? Assuming lunch doesn't count, I was a theatre girlie. Assuming THAT doesn't count, English. I liked English because if I didn't have an answer, I could just bullshit one, but I usually did enjoy it and had real answers. I'll tell you why the curtains are blue and why they're the specific fabric they are and what the rest of the room means- if I'm interested, anyways.

15. Dream job? Oh boy, uh. Still trying to figure that out. DREAM job, like, without worrying about money or my physical ability to do it? Pro fencer, but I gave up on that a looong time ago. I genuinely believe I could have done it if my knee hadn't gone to shit at fourteen. I'd love to work in a record store or a music store, though, which is a little more in-reach.

Tagging: Anyone who sees this, lmk if you do it from this post!! But also, NO PRESSURE AT ALL but @soulsilversprings @nowandevermore @lostlegendaerie @mozukumi !!! Also whoever else wants to, I get nervous to tag people so assume you're tagged, too!

[sobredunia]

tell me about Fez, please, im looking through your blog and like, i am intrigued

please click read more for an unskippable cutscene

ALRIGHT SO.

FEZ is an indie game created by a (now hated on the internet) guy called Phil Fish. If you wanna find out why he's hated do your own research this isn't about him it's about his videogame

It came out on april 13th of 2012 (yes. homestuck day. i know), and it sold over a million copies by the end of 2013. I've tried finding how many copies have been sold up to this day in total but didn't find anything, but the general gist is that it was pretty much an instant hit, and people absolutely loved it, working together to solve its intricate puzzles even to this day. Yes, there are mysteries hidden in here that an entire community of dedicated fans still hasn't found the solution to 11 years later

(tiny warning here, do not play this game if you have motion sickness or are severely affected by rapidly changing images, there are whole areas that are a doozy to play through. Please stay safe!)

Gameplay

Fez has a singular core mechanic that remains unchanging throughout the entire course of the game, and that is the ability to change perspectives

this is what the game looks like, a 2d pixelated landscape with tons of beautiful colors

but.

this is what the game also looks like

that's right, baby, this shit's actually in 3d

you use this change of perspective nonstop throughout your adventure, to cross gaps like demonstrated in the gif, or to simply access places you couldn't in that current perspective. There are other tiny mechanics that get added, like invisible platforms, crates and buttons, bombs, timed platforms that disappear... they add a bit of flavor, but the main mechanic is always there

There's also a really big emphasis on puzzles towards the latter half of the game, but I'll get more into it later

Story motivations

Your name is Gomez, you are a tiny little guy living in a cozy 2d village that you have never ever left. One day, an old man named Geezer sends you a letter asking you to climb to the top of the village. There, a giant fucking cube appears outta nowhere, teleports you to a satanic ritual, then to the vaccum of space, speaks to you in a strange language you cannot understand, and gives you a free hat. Oh and also he explodes or something

After you're given the hat, the fez, you discover that the world is actually in 3d, and you can now change perspectives. You unlock the core mechanic

After that, you wake up in your room with the fez still on your head, and a being in 4d called Dot is sent from who knows where to tell you that the cube that gave you the hat is called Hexahedron, is actually technically kinda god, and you fucking killed him. Now, your mission is to pick up its 64 pieces and reconstruct him

You see all those tiny golden cubes? You have to collect 8 of them to make a bigger cube, and you need to collect 32 of those

Now hold on, I hear you ask, didn't you just say that you need to collect 64 pieces? Why are you changing your mind and saying 32?

Because, my dear friend, there is another type of cube that you have to also collect

These are called anticubes. Y'know, "a negative for every positive" type of stuff. You have to also collect 32 of those

The main difference between an anticube and a normal cube is that they aren't broken into 8 pieces, when you find one it'll be whole. You can also sometimes encounter full golden cubes btw, but they're rarer than its normal tiny pieces that you collect. Another main difference is that these cubes are much, much harder to find, and I'll go into detail in the next section

There's also this one hub area, with four doors that will only open once you have enough cubes (anticubes also count)

Once you open the door with 16 cubes, you'll enter this one town filled with people that aren't quite like you. In there there's yet another door that will open when you get 32 cubes, so get to gathering motherfucker, you got a long way ahead of you

Puzzles (anticube edition)

When you collect that first anti cube, there is no going back. The floodgates have opened and you are now too deep in. You know too much. You must see this to the very end, for better and especially for the worse

The puzzles in fez are actually surprisingly varied when it comes to difficulty and accessibility. Most likely, the first anticube you'll find will be in this one room. You'll scan the qr code and do the instructions it says, and then the horror of your new life will begin

But this is just the tip of the iceberg, because BOY OH BOY are anticubes convoluted to find in some cases

Sometimes you'll get them by solving relatively easy puzzles, like this one

others will require a bit more thinking, like this one

and then we have the hardest ones where you'll have to learn how to read words, numbers, and commands in the FEZ language

and these arent even the hardest bullshit puzzles the game will pull at you. it gets worse. it gets so much worse

Game ending

Surprisingly enough, you can get a game ending with just 32 cubes. In fact, it is literally impossible to get the 64 cube ending without the 32 cube one unless you have outside help, you know the answer to all puzzles, or you somehow get extremely lucky in a very specific number of rooms

Behind the 32 cube door there's a giant gate that, and I shit you not, teleports you into fucking space

Aliens are canon in the fez lore and they look like squids

Once you reach the top of the alien temple fucking thing, you enter an eye(?) and there you meet the shell of god, the Hexahedron. Since you haven't gathered all 64 cubes, it fails to reconstruct, and it breaks down. This part is pretty dangerous for people with epilepsy, by the way, as there's rapidly changing black and white colors. The 64 cube ending is a bit easier in the eyes, but yeah, just a heads up

In the 32 cube ending, you get sent back home, and you see how the town gets more and more pixelated. Then you see a weird sequence that's like those videos of people really zooming in into things and you see the particles and microscopic stuff?? idk. and then you see Gomez playing the drums :D

After that, you wake up in your room, still with your Fez, and the same sequence at the start of the game plays out. You go to the top of the village, Geezer summons a giant fucking cube, you meet god, but instead of getting another fez, you get cool glasses, that allow you to finally solve a batch of puzzles you couldn't see before and you can finally gather the last anticubes

In the 64 cube ending, the Hexahedron reforms correctly, and instead of zooming in, it zooms out. You see that your world is a tiny cube next to many tiny cubes, and then those tiny cubes form a 4d entity that looks just like Dot, and then those many Dots next to eachother zoom out until they're nothing but static, and then it looks like a tv is turned off, and then the credits roll

They're both very strange endings, and definitely not what a lot of players expected or wanted, but what can you do

Puzzles (hell edition)

NOW.

You thought that was the end?

You thought you could simply walk away scot free?

You thought that this game had no more last "fuck you"s up in its arse?

You thought fucking wrong

Because you know that something's not right

Because you're in too deep

You've played this far. You've scrolled this far.

You have to see how this ends

You have to tie up the last loose ends

You see this? This is the game's map. It actually has a really clever design! Not only are the icons for the areas cubes, but you can also change perspectives like how you do in-game! Pretty cool, right? There are also some small indicators you can see on the bottom left. They mark if you've left any cubes, bits, treasures, or locked doors. They also mark any secrets you might have left! And they turn golden once you've found everything there is in that room, including secrets

If you were normal (let's imagine that for a bit, okay?) and you got the 64 cube ending, that's it, right? You've gathered every cube, you've gathered every map (you need them to get all cubes), you've gotten every key and opened every locked door, that should be it, right? You have everything the game asked you to have, so the whole map should be golden, right?

...right?

No! :D you fucking fool, you poor summer child

In fact, there are three rooms left. Three rooms left with a secret symbol next to them, and one other special room

First, we'll talk about the special room

Once you gather 64 cubes, you'll be able to open a door hidden on an unsuspecting island and access this one special room

kinda weird, right? It has a tileset that appears nowhere else in the game, same with its background. There's also a strange transparent heart over it? Strange

Now, the three ungolden rooms

First, the observatory, the room with the easiest puzzle, at least in comparison with the other two

Second, you have whatever the fuck this is. In order to solve this one, you HAVE to know the Fez language, no ifs or buts. Not only that, but there's a high chance that you were reading the language the wrong way, so in order to have the remote chance to solve this mf you'll have to git gud and realise the error of your ways

And last, but definitely not least

The most infamous room in the entire game aside from maybe the heart room previously shown

This cunt

These three are the hardest challenges the game has to offer, no exaggeration. And also, the first two rooms can be solved at any point of your adventure, but for the third one you HAVE to have completed the 32 cube ending, no workarounds

Now, how to solve them?

If you go to the observatory at night, you'll notice two red blinking stars in the corner. They're speaking in binary code, with one being 1 and the other being 0. Then, that binary has to be translated into a buncha diff languages to be decoded, and once you're done you'll be left with a set of commands that you'll enter in the observatory to get a special red cube that not even Dot, the motherfucker in 4 dimensions that knows things beyond our comprehension, knows what it is

For the second room in fez language, you'll need to answer a question with the cubes provided to you. It's a weird thing where you have to mix this word with the name of the company who made the game, I don't know man. Once you've answered you'll get the second red cube

And now, the third room

Commonly denominated the black monolith room

Why is there no black monolith?

Because you have to make it appear

First, you have to get this burnt map

Behind it, there's a string of code that translates into commands

You need to get into the room, and use the special ability given to you in the 32 cube ending: first perspective mode

You'll have to stand in the tiny square inside this infinity symbol thing that doesn't have a line in it (basically, not the one the screenshot is looking at lol), and then you'll have to do the commands

Once you do it, the black monolith will appear

Okay, you did it

You put the code correctly

Now what?

This isn't a collectable. This isn't a red cube. This doesn't do anything. What is this? How do I solve this puzzle

You wanna know the answer?

Who fucking knows

No one knows the answer to this. No one knows how to solve this. The community solved this a week after launch by bruteforcing it. I shit you not they made a bot that spewed random fez inputs and people just tried them until they got the correct solution

No one knows how it's meant to be solved. To this day, people still go on the r/fez subreddit to give their theories on what the intended solution was meant to be

They have tried everything

The position of the candles, the boiler room, some other random ass rooms that look remotely similar to the black monolith room, a random shower room, it somehow being on a book in the game that's just filled with haikus??, some bullshittery mobius strip mental gymnastics, the other half of the code being in an abandoned airport in Arizona...

...whatever the fuck this is...

by far the most known theory was the release date theory

but that got disproven by one of the devs a few years ago

but anyways, we've already gone through insanity for long enough, it's time to be normal now

Once you've gathered all of the red pieces, they will appear in the heart room

that's it

we're done

.

..

...

....almost

there's a secret code

one that was actually intended to be datamined for once lmao

If you look at certain artifacts in the menu and you rotate them a certain way in a certain order, the heart will vanish and the screen will turn white

you'll be sent back to the menu, and if you load that save file and go back into the temple...

there will be nothing waiting for you there

that, my friend, is the true end of Fez

You wanted to know too much, you wanted to learn everything, to the point of wanting to tear open a creation that took blood, sweat, tears, and five years to complete. And now there is nothing. You ignored the game's boundaries of only wanting to let you know this much, and now the game is empty, the love is gone, and there is nothing left for you here

You can leave now, I hope you're satisfied

[grodyego]

happy 25th dude!!! i have some OC questions for you. 1) what is the relationship like between rakesh and vega? 2) who is iggy's favorite and least favorite out of emma's friends? who's fish's favorite and least favorite? 3) how would nemo fare in our wexico universe?

THANK YOUUUUU !!! 🥳🎉✨✨✨ THESE ARE ALL REALLY GOOD OMG IM STOKED TO ANSWER THEM !!!

LOVE THIS QUESTION MIGHT BE MY FAVORITE ON THE LIST !!!!!! ive thought about their dynamic a lot. man without literally just copy and pasting a huge chunk from the. actual word document breaking down everyone in the trio's (IVE GOTTA GET A FUCKING NAME FOR THIS GROUP/STORY) relationships to each other: rakesh and vega are extremely close friends. arguably the closest friend the other has ever had. they were brought into T.A.R.G.I.T. at the same time (vega was 17, rakesh was 24) and to say both were not doing great is a severe understatement. they have fully seen the other genuinely at their worst, at rock fucking bottom, and as you can probably imagine that made for quite the rocky start ! initially rakesh was just kind thrown at vega under the guise of being a "lab assistant" to make treating him as a guinea pig less conspicuous (Unsuccessful) and neither of them were happy with that arrangement. over time though they got to get to know and understand each other better, and share in a lot of. ups and downs so to speak besides, and as a result they care so deeply for each other they basically view the other like a sibling ! they would never say as much out loud though, for their own reasons, but the care and affection shared between them is still quite open and obvious

oh another fantastic question. iggy's favorite i think surprisingly would be xavier. hes lacking in the rest of the group's whimsy and she too has a bit of that herself but i think she would actually find his somewhat long-suffering nature endearing because (as somebody who had to take custody of a teenager when she wasnt expecting to) i think she'd recognize that it comes from a pretty genuine place of like, worrying for everybody's safety, like that protective streak. She Would Get It. least favorite would be kevin. honestly nothing even that personal, its just that hes a guy named kevin. fish's favorite... maybe victoria ! we make jokes about her being kind of a dork and a loser woman but thats also kind of the reason fish came to take such a liking to iggy, among other things. somebody's gotta be weird in the mundane ways in this apocalypse anyhow. and besides victoria has very a very niche interest/aera of expertise and fish just loves hearing people talk about those sorts of things/collecting extremely second-hand eclectic trivia. least favorite. actually infinitely harder. might also be kevin. hes kind of an acquired taste even if he has his moments. its not an active dislike or anything though

IVE TRIED TO THINK OF THIS BEFORE ! he would honestly kind of be both better off and worse, depending. honestly in his own regular canon reality breaking and exposing him to horrible things he can't make much sense of is just another tuesday for him, but he would find himself way more distressed to be out of a job and without a way to get or store his frozen tv dinners. i think he would wander the vast landscapes of wexico aimlessly hoping at some point to encounter the world's lasting functioning computer-monitor combo, not even knowing what he would do if he did, just kind deciding he'll go from there, and then just kind of incidentally encounter other people/phenomena. on the plus side for him with complete societal collapse he would start to be a bit less afraid about exploring his gender and sexuality so at least he'd have that going for him

[technojizz]

I just remembered you live in Siberia, sorry for these very lame questions youve probably answered before but I'm sooo curious

what's that like? (Other than very cold.) Have you ever lived anywhere else? How do you stay warm?

also what was your old url? I don't remember following this one lol

oh you probably follow me because of my spn blog i had like 5 or 6 years ago. i really don't remember what url i used to have fhsjaksjfd

i live in a big city, so in terms of infrastructure it's not really that much different from any other city i guess. the thing that i like is that i have a nice forest 5 minute drive away from my house, which is nice. i don't know if that's like a common thing in other countries? and also my uni and place of work are surrounded by forest. and we do have a lot of beautiful lakes and beaches and other landscapes that are easily accessed by a train or a car! and we also have altai mountains and dude this is the most beautiful (and geologically frustrating) place i've ever seen.

we have a subarctic climate (dfc/dwc type) so we have 4-5 months with a temperature above 5°C. the summer is pretty hot which is nice i guess exept that that's the time that i spend field working and boy i hate walking 12 hours a day under a burning sun trying to make my brain function. we basically don't have autumn or spring which is frustrating because i have to switch from my long sleeve to my parka and leave my collection of leather jackets and trench coats crying in the closet. the winter is pretty nice actually! once you get used to wearing 5 layers of clothes. i love having my 6 months no bugs season. we do have a couple on months when it's -25°C and that's the time when you don't want to spend too much time outside but when it's like -15°C and it's snowing and there's no wind that's the best weather that i can think of!

anyway i live in the south of siberia and the climate is really nice here comparing to the north. i once spend a winter in the city called yakutsk and this is a real nightmare. they have that thing called polar night so it's dark 24/7 outside. and it's also like -40°C all the time. but that's the year i had to see polar light so i'm not complaining.

my house is pretty warm! it has thick brick walls and good central heating that is also very cheap comparing to other countries. some of the older building that are crying for renovation are a little bit harder to live in when it's really cold outside but it's not like we have to sit home in our winter jackets or something

so um i hope i answered you question. i mean living here is not much different from anywhere else. i know that some people still think that living in siberia means living in a small cabin in the middle of nowhere and fighting with bears for food but dude i only wish it was like that

[diminuel]

Hello!  For the fic question game: 1, 4 for To Walk With You Again, and 5 for For So Bare Is My Heart!

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

That depends on whether I want to lean into the fact that my most used additional tags are apparently A/B/O, Mpreg and Fluff (see here), because then I would probably suggest Looking for: Alpha to Match Swimsuit.

If I want to lean into the angst a bit more, I would recommend Half a Heart to Keep which features two of my favourite things: dangerous arranged marriages and an (over)abundance of traveling through unfamiliar landscape.

And for a totally "normal" fic (because I also greatly enjoy writing things that pick up on canon elements) I'd recommend Huntercorp’s Rehabilitation Clinic for the Supernaturally Afflicted since that introduces readers to a) my odd sense of humor and b) my enjoyment of playing with canon elements :D

And I suppose giving three answers was cheating. If anyone has read my work and has a different entry fic, let me know ;D

4. What detail in To Walk With You Again are you really proud of?

I think I like the atmosphere the most, especially when they are kids. While I initially thought that it wasn't going to work, choosing to tell the majority of the story from the POV of a child gradually growing and then contrasting it with what the world looks like when they’re grown up was interesting. Cas and Dean aren't able to understand a lot of the politics and machinations going on all around them but are deeply impacted by them anyway. From a "hihihi angst" kind of perspective, I enjoyed the narrative noose gradually closing around Cas' neck while he is catching on to what is happening and the danger he is in. And even though Dean and Cas try to save the day, they are still just teens and ultimately have to fail. I think I enjoyed that. (And of course I enjoyed the description of places, the looming presence of Carver's End especially :D)

(I am less proud of how I had to rush the middle part and the very end. I simply ran out of time since this story was on a DCBB deadline. I have started writing the part though so it will be added eventually!)

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about For So Bare Is My Heart? Answer it now!

There is no question in particular, but the thing I would like to talk about the most is the editing history. There are a couple of fics that have inspired readers to send me comments about how horrible the main character is and how the other character should never forgive them.This is one of them.

The thing is, as a fell creature from the angsty abysses who doesn't reflect too much on how horrible a situation in a fic would be if it happened in real life, I liked to go very dark. The fics in my previous fandom had a tendency towards horror and tragic endings and while I've aged out of the tragic endings, I have not gotten rid of my penchant for tragic beginnings.

The harder the start, the more rewarding the journey, the harder won and more satisfying the end, yes? (At least that would be the idea, but I'm not particularly good at writing endings. Yet.)

So, the fic started out very dark - a cruel king Dean with no regard for angels as they stood by and watched as Dean lost people. Which, of course, is no good reason to wage war and take one of them as a prisoner and then get upset once his trophy isn't appreciative.

Anyway, the darkest parts stayed in the draft and I rewrote them. And then, following beta and reader reactions I continued to edit. To make Dean less cruel, to make Cas less passive. And every round of editing tries to give Dean's wrath and cruelty depth or at least soften it down, as well as giving Cas a bit more spite, a bit more power, evening them out.

(Side note, maybe I wouldn’t need to do this. I don't have to write wholesome characters, they can be flawed beyond redemption and the narrative might even reward them for it anyway ;3 But I think it suits the story I want to tell better to work on it.)

In any case, this is the fic I keep editing every time I'm reading it until I get to that point where I'm satisfied. I don't think I've fiddled with any fic that much after it was published.

Wow, that was long! Thanks for your questions! My ego definitely likes talking about my own writing X'D

(Ask game)

[wildbornsiren]

Shelly, if it's ok by you....might I share a Rhett Abbott blurb with you?? It's kind of long so I apologize if it's really lengthy. I've shared it with people before, but I thought you might really like it too.

So I watched Only The Brave a while back and all I could think about was Rhett x Reader's oldest son and his spitting image, being a bit of a troublemaker growing up to the point where Rhett gives him an ultimatum......you either go into the fire service, the military or you're out of the house. Son opts for fire service since it'll keep him somewhat close to home and chooses the wildland fire crew since he loved being out in the woods as a kid.

Rhett's son absolutely loves the field of work and bonds really easily with his crewmates. Rhett and wifey! reader are prouder than ever of their son because finally.....FINALLY, he has his shit together.

It's the height of fire season in Wyoming and the crew gets a call that a rager started a bit further north of Wabang and holy hell is it a RAGER! The crew goes in to take care of business but pretty soon it gets to the point where the crew captain orders shelters, the fire is raging out of control. All around it's absolutely terrifying.

They wait out the blow over.

The landscape is a scorched and blackened mess.

Families and friends of the crew are waiting in the gym of the Wabang High School with no knowledge of where anyone is.

The entire Abbott clan is waiting there, Rhett, Wifey, Cecelia, Royal, Perry, Amy and the other kids in the clan, waiting to hear of where the oldest Abbott son is. Everybody is an anxious mess, including Tatum's twin brother, Tanner, trying to keep each other calm and assuring each other that he's ok.

The gym doors open and the helicopter rescue walks in with a young man still in his gear, his red hard hat, yellow jacket, black field pack, face and neck coated and smeared in black ash.

Tatum Royal Abbott is the only one to fully walk through those gym doors that night......the rest are all in the hospital with severe injuries.

Tatum walks towards his family, almost stumbling and that's when they see him cry for the first time, his father catching him before he can have a chance to fall. Rhett has never seen any of his family this vulnerable, let alone his own son. He holds Tatum and lets him bury his face in his chest and sob until his eyes are burning. Rhett doesn't care that people are staring or giving them dirty looks in the case of the local gossips. He's only glad that Tatum, his and wifey!reader's son, their baby boy, is alive and in front of them.

"I'm sorry dad," he sobs. "I'm so sorry......I'm so sorry."

"I'm proud of you Tatum," Rhett murmurs. "I don't give a single flying fuck what anybody else here thinks......I'm proud of you."

Tatum cries even harder that night, because for the first time in a long time, he hears that from his dad. And it's not long at all before Rhett himself starts crying, shedding tears from how proud he is of his son.

Admittedly, I haven't seen Only The Brave (I do not have the emotional strength for that movie.) I like this headcanon, and it feels very Rhett--very much in line with his character. Just Rhett sinking to his knees holding his boy, his baby boy (because no matter how old he gets, that's still Rhett's baby), letting him cry it out. Arms tight around him, holding him, sheltering him from anything that may try to hurt him here. He doesn't care about the soot, the smell or the snotty patches on his shirt--all that matters is his son is here, safe and in his arms. And that's the best fucking thing he could ever ask for.

[doom-nerdo-666]

How to make a good Doom movie/show/adaptation (Maybe)

(For an image, i was thinking of either the PSP thing or the toys based off Sarge, Reaper, Pinky and an Imp)

"Why would anyone want another one?"

I'm just saying this IF there ever is a good reason to make one.

I know this topic can be overdone here but i feel like what's written below may or may not be more interesting than something like "John Wick with demons", because i tried to take it a bit more seriously (Even if the end result is a bit bloated and unfocused).

Try to follow "Doom standards" and explore the series beyond just surface level knowledge of it.

Leave it to actual passionate fans instead of studios or companies that don't see much in Doom.

Might as well go with animation in case live action isn't enough for the series' aesthetics, designs or spirit.

Give the impression that the movie or miniseries takes place inside a game.

First person segments, of course.

"Face segments" inside Doomguy's helmet, based off MCU's Tony Stark/Iron Man face scenes, to represent his HUD face, with holographic status bar/interface stuff next to him (Health, ammo, keys etc).

Narrator could be the "they are rage" voice who also represents the classic games' intermission text screens and talks in second person, to Doomguy.

Balance between humanizing Doomguy/Doom Marine/Slayer and keeping him "limited", such as not making him talk, along with showcasing his strenghts but also his struggles and difficulties at times because people want a hero they root for.

Occasional focus on other characters like the Resurrection of Evil lady scientist, that one Doom 2 RPG scientist dude, Kira Morgan, Quake 3's Crash and Phobos, Samuel Hayden, Olivia Pierce, Betruger, Night Sentinel and some others that existed in the "Doom universe" or any Doom material that can be borrowed.

Each Doom game is different and has something to it even if it's something as minor as a level name or some random sprites, so maybe don't restrict it to just one single portrayal of the series (Might as well go full on MetaDoom).

Action scenes that fit Doom's theme and setting, but not really gameplay stuff, like Doomguy or someone throwing a barrel at someone (Whether or not id themselves will make that a gameplay feature is unknown).

Humor and drama done right and properly executed (Not like anyone wants a sob story out of Doom, but nobody wants "MCU style writing" either).

Easter eggs and references are always neat but fuck reusing the "scientist named after Carmack" bit.

Occasional scenes of isolation to fit the "one person vs multiple enemies" part of Doom and horror focus.

Maybe create some new weapons and enemies to expand Doom a little bit (And also a little bit of inspiration for modders).

Make use of a variety of weapons and enemies, since they are different enough to create different scenarios.

Do "stepped/capped"/low framerate animation at times, like when some enemies die, so they can mimick their classic death animation sequences.

Actually use most designs from the games, from not making UAC guards look like generic SWAT officers (Even Doom 3 didn't really felt like this outside the Z-sec) to actually capturing an abstract, crazy Hell inspired by the games, but specially the classic Inferno (Because just rock landscapes isn't enough when there's also evil castles and a crazy mix of metal and flesh).

Find ways to translate gameplay moments into story like someone having to use a radsuit to cross a river of acid but the suit is running out.

Have a scene of some crew of marines stuck on a maze and trying to find the key, while some die from some traps.

Have a horror scene by introducing the Archvile, where he shows his powers in front of UAC folks who are then blasted by his fire blast and the resurrected demons.

Something that actually tries and ends up fun, even if still heavily flawed. Because these movies don't feel like they're trying harder, as if they took the series at face value and don't consider any idea or design interesting/iconic enough. Some say Doom cannot work simply because of it being a mainly gameplay focused series, which underestimates Doom, like it wasn't a series that spawned millions of vanilla Wads and was an extension to Wolfenstein 3D's otherwise more limited formula. Later games even introduce some new material as well. If any Youtuber ever makes a "Why can't a Doom movie work?" type of video, you may wanna look at this.

At least we can hope for some cool fan movies and animations, like people doing cool stuff with SFM/3D animation or that one "Doom Tribute" collab on Newgrounds.

I also almost forgot about a 90's Doom movie that never came to be

You might find info on it from MarphyBlack/SlappyCromwell on Twitter but it had concept art and maybe some models.

Edit: I made a very small post about it here.

You'd probably think of it as an extended version of the cut 3DO FMV scenes.

So in an alt timeline, we could have had a potentially more faithfull movie than the one from 2005 or Annihilation.

But at least those movies may've had some influence on fan content like the FreeDoom guy's face being based off Karl Urban or the BFG10K from Skulltag based off the movie's BFG.

In other news, wasn't there supposed to be a comic book taking place between Doom 2016 and Eternal?

[manonamora-if]

To the player anon,

Related to this ask.

First of all, thank you anon for sending this ask and giving your perspective as a player/fan. Honestly, I did think about including some of your points in my original answer. But I've already made a whole post about those points (and so have other IF authors) that I repost often.

Even if that anon followed all those points you (and other people have) made about marketing, taking their time, improving their writing*, etc... it doesn't mean that they will see their numbers go up or that their feelings towards other IF creators would change (that they would stop comparing themselves to those creators). That's why I tried to focus on that point then. You can't control how other see/interact with your work, but you can with your feelings. *good writing is still subjective though. Sure, you have the grammar/typo issues, but if we are talking writing style then no, it's subjective. Victor Hugo is considered a master of writing, but damn his stuff is boring as HELL.

Since the author was also in anon, I didn't want to make assumptions on their project, how far they are on it, how much they published, how they handled the promotion/interactions, how they write, who they follow or which author/project they were referring to. I also didn't want to discourage them by basing my advice on those assumptions. For all I know, they could be doing everything right but still not get any traffic/interaction !

I've been doubting whether to post your ask or not pretty much since I got it. While you did have some interesting and correct points, I've been a bit afraid your tone could make some new creators... err... discouraged.

Also have some random thoughts about some points raised (not targeted at you anon, just in general) or tangents that started there, but this is getting long already so post break! [It's a bit of a mishmash ramble, and using you (as in you should) like one (one should). ]

I know the Tumblr/CoG crowd is all about Romance taking a centre stage, but damn, give some love to other genres too! There are so many fun concepts that shouldn't have to have any form of romance to get the attention of readers. I'm not trying to shit on the Romance genre, I mean two of my games are either super Romance or Romance adjacent, but I'd just love to see more IF where there is no Romance, that's all. Try reading something new :)

____

I understand readers can feel frustrated when a project they like go on sudden hiatus or do not get consistent progress updates. You enjoy the author's writing and concept and would like to read more of it. But IRL will affect every one, and should ALWAYS take precedence when things are not cool. No reason nor an update should be needed for that.

Related to this, I've seen many authors apologising every time they take a break, or they weren't able to make progress on their projects, or having to pause everything for a while, or just need some time off period. And it makes me so sad that they feel like they have to apologise for this, or have to explain themselves when they come back.

There shouldn't be so much pressure on their shoulders about this or expectations either. Like 99% of IF projects promoted on Tumblr are there for free, for the enjoyment of everyone. Why so much pressure on something that should be created for fun? People creating stuff as just a hobby really shouldn't have to apologise for all this stuff. It's not a job, damn... they don't have quarterly goals to meet!

___

Spearing of expectations, the landscape of IF has changed a lot since some of the more popular games started. You have a lot more projects popping up every day than a few years ago. It is much harder to get noticed and keep your following than before. Not in terms of updating the game or posting about your progress, but also interacting with readers more often, answering more asks, doing more prompts... keeping readers entertained so they don't forget you. And from a creator's perspective, it sometimes feels like you have to choose between what's trendy/what people want and what you want to do.

___

ALSO We seem to be holding creators to a much higher standard than actual game companies. Everyone is having like 5-6 hats that usually are done by 5-6 actual employees. Same with design of the UI. There are some god awful scaling on mobile from huge company websites.

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I've been trying to write and re-write this second to be clear, but damn there's a lot. it is also more rambly than the rest

I have to disagree with you on player not being able to give feedback to IF creators. Lots of feedback is being sent out there, whether the author wants it or likes what is written. Again, we are mainly dealing with people who create stuff as a hobby. Still, I do believe most authors are open to or welcome feedback. Some have forms you can submit issues, and others even have Beta Rounds especially to get feedback!

And, as players are allowed to give their opinions, authors should be allowed to have boundaries on the type of feedback they receive, the place they receive it or the way it is sent. If they indicate they don't want unsolicited feedback, just don't give it... And nothing can stop them from responding the way they want to (though I must note I do not condone every response to feedback ever made obviously, some ways of responding are def not it) but themselves.

I think my main problem is people giving feedback but not realising it is an opinion and not feedback (or in an asshole manner). I've seen more and more readers pretty much demand certain topics to be included, certain characters to be changed (gender/sexuality/etc...), etc... because it doesn't fit their canon in their mind, even getting nasty/vitriolic about it, but phrasing it as feedback. That's obviously not ok... And yet, it bears repeating because it still fucking happens.

Or readers having actual good feedback that might warrant a conversation, but just burst in the author's inbox and get all feisty and aggro about it. There are ways to get your point across without being a huge dick. You don't need to be extra careful to not hurt the author's feeling and wrapping your comments with soft blankets or whatever.... but you also don't have be a dick. Obviously, you can have critical and important feedback about harmful portrayals of characters or topics brushed aside by some authors. But that's another can of worm I don't think I am equipped or knowledgeable to talk about. But there are plenty of other authors/readers have been more eloquent on the subject than I could ever be.

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Make IF weird again honestly. That's it. just that.