#please be an april fools glitch

[tellmeallaboutit]

knock knock (Raphael x F!Player)

Chapter 1, In Which You Install The Mod

FOREWORD: inspired by this post

SUMMARY: Careful which mods you install for BG3. Did you read the terms and conditions carefully?

TAGS: meta romance, psychological horror, smut, the character is the player, Raphael is after you, you wanted him, you invited him to our world, he accepted your invitation

RATING: explicit

AO3

***

You hesitated for a moment before downloading this “Devil Wears Nada” mod. It felt slightly inappropriate, absurd as it may sound. There was something disrespectful about making Raphael deliver his final monologue in the nude.

Well, you would have to live with offending a bunch of pixels because you do want these screenshots. You put the salt and vinegar Pringles out of the way and wiped your fingers on a napkin before committing this digital sin.

Clickity-click-click. You dragged-and-dropped the mod where you wanted it to be and launched Steam. Now to load the saved game where you made the deal with the devil and gave him the crown of Karsus… pretty much any saved game really. 

Raphael had been spared in each one of your playthroughs.

A sigh escaped you when the devil still appeared fully clothed in the game; had something gone wrong? You double-checked, only to realize that you'd forgotten to activate the mod - odd, since you clearly remembered doing so. Leaving the game, you dragged the mod back into place.

On your phone, in the Devil's Den discord chat, you informed everyone of Raphael's stubborn refusal to undress.

MAKE HIM! came the immediate reply, followed by STRIP THE OLD MAN, accompanied by raunchy gifs. Couldn't help but grin at that.

Back in the game, you loaded an earlier save file and sank into your chair to watch Raphael emerge from the flames, clothed once again. “You son of a…”, you muttered to yourself. It was getting late anyway; this would be your last attempt before calling it a day. Tomorrow is Tuesday and thus another work day. 

“It won’t be long before you come knocking at my door”, Raphael said, looking straight at you from the wide screen. This wall-breaking sequence was brilliantly executed—you had to admit it—very eerie.

Raphael let out a deep, hearty laugh, head thrown back, pearly teeth glistening in orange-red lighting. You didn’t see this animation before. They must have added it with the latest patch, so you moved in closer. 

Handsome as sin, this devil - if he asked for your soul, you’d hand it over on a silver platter.

Suddenly, he fell silent for several seconds, staring directly at you from across the digital divide. You reached for the mouse to check if there was a glitch in the cutscene when Raphael's voice sliced through the silence.

“You are quite eager to see me naked, aren’t you? Naughty little mouse,” Raphael taunted.

What the fuck?

WHAT THE FUCK!?

You recoiled in shock and slammed your laptop shut. A shriek must have escaped your lips, but you were too stunned to notice. It took a moment for your heart to settle and for you to remember what date it was today.

A quick glance over the watch on your wrist confirmed: it was the first of April. April first, two thousand and twenty-four. 

It was an April Fool's joke from the modders.

Oh, fuck. Having recovered from the initial shock, you cautiously opened your notebook, only to be greeted by the familiar "ta-ta" outro. Oh, fuck. This is some kind of really fucked-up prank. How did they get this voice line?

AI, probably. Not probably. Definitely. There was no way they could have involved Andrew Wincott.

You scanned the game screen for any other surprises, but found none. Picking up your phone, you opened Discord and began recording a long voice message - your fingers too clammy to type.

The replies came soon after.

Haha, this is so fucked up, did they really do this? Hm. I have to try it myself. RECORD IT, RECORD IT PLEASE!

You stared at the loading screen but couldn't bring yourself to replay it. Instead, you searched “Raphael naked mod April joke” and clicked on the first Reddit thread that popped up. You didn't even bother to open it; a quick glance at the preview comment – “crazy I almost had a heart attack” – was more than enough.

Enough for today.

You quickly brushed your teeth in the bathroom and changed into short pajamas before glancing at the laptop on the other side of the room, its camera eye peering at you from across the room. You closed the shutter.

“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you”, you read somewhere.

You tucked yourself into bed, phone in hand, blanket between your legs. Was it time for a quick stroll through selected Raphael / Tav bookmarks?

No. Well, maybe. The threesome with Haarlep, just a quick re-read to help you fall asleep quicker. You were creeped out, but not that creeped out. You’ve heard of such meta jokes before. Black & White did it, Metal Gear Solid did it, too. 

But still… they really should tag this sort of stuff.

Your nightly reading was progressing nicely; things were getting interesting - “the ridges of his devil cock stroking your sensitive walls” interesting. Your hand slid into your underwear, working your finger past your hair down to your clit. This scene was very well written, you could almost feel it, picture yourself spread open between Haarlep and Raphael. 

The smut got better and better right until your phone vibrated in your hand, and you dropped it on the blanket.

Unknown caller ID.

Don't answer it, came the panicked, irrational thought as it grabbed you in a chokehold. 

You stared at the screen - the call went on and on - and pushed it aside. Swiped to the right in one quick motion and heard an automated female voice:

"This call is from Europol. We would like to inform you that your identity card number has been misused. For further information please press 1."

You hung up immediately, recognizing this as one of those scam calls that had been making rounds recently. Your mum had received one too. 

Nothing to lose sleep over.

You put the phone down and turned your back to it, trying to calm down. Screw the fanfic, you were not in the mood anymore. Well, you were, but…

Another time. 

It took some time before you could relax, your gaze fixed on the blank wall in front of you, re-playing that cutscene all over again in your head, occasionally wandering to the large window looking out over the courtyard (what a pitch black night). 

Eventually, you did. 

As you drifted off to sleep, a voice whispered in your dream:

“You are quite eager to see me naked, aren’t you? Naughty little mouse”.

The silky soft voice was so lovely; it made you feel less alone. A small smile crossed your lips as you slept.

Yes, Raphael. Very eager indeed. 

Tomorrow. You’ll try again tomorrow.

NEXT: Chapter 2, In Which You Meet A Tall Dark Stranger

[enjithequeer]

Please give me your favourite head cannons, for the Life series

Here are some of my favourite head cannons

Most hybrids hide their hybrid features with Glamour during the session, this is why Jimmy and Grian preen their wings before, between and after sessions together. In 3rd Life, last life, Limited Life, secret life and now Wild Life. In Double Life Tango had decided to help him instead, as Grian was too busy with Scar.

Tango is a Chinchilla, because they are like the cutest animal ever, and I just wanted him to be one. (Not always, like when I sometimes write fanfics it will be a Blaze Hybrid and sometimes a chinchilla) Blaze Hybrids have 4 arms, but they use Glamour to hide their other 2 arms.

Jimmy cannot break his curse whether he likes it off. He thinks he's broken it after Secret Life, but he appears back in the black void in a cage, which is where he goes every time he's died. Since the Watchers decided it would be fun for the dead able to see the dead, Jimmy would stay in a black void unable to leave till the next person gets out. At first Jimmy thought it was a glitch as he was spectating with Tango in Double life. Assuming some bug they had last life, and he appeared there again in Limited Life he woke up in the same void, but now he was in a cage. And for the first time ever, Jimmy sees what the Watchers actually look like. (I have a fanfic of this HC, but I may rewrite this)

Jimmy didn't gain his Canary wings till Limited Life, but he's had his curse since last life.

The Listeners cannot enter the Life server as it was something the Watchers created, but they can enter into someone's brain, and then the whole Limited Life!Martyn ending happened.

In Real Life the Watchers had decided to have some fun and switch people's curses up, being it a April fools' joke. An example being Jimmy and Grian, their curses were switched this is why a lot of people died when Jimmy was around in the Mineshaft. As he was technically still a canary just didn't have the curse aka, Jimmy warned them the danger going into the mine, but they didn't listen to him leading to all their deaths. And well Grian was first out meaning he had switched his curse with Jimmy

[tinogiehd]

please WGAT is the v day video ive heard about it but nkt what it is

ok so v day video phil made dan a video of valentines day 2010 that was meant to be privated so only they could see it and it detailed basically the progression of their relationship - first meeting, first dates, a lot of little moments between them. in 2011 it was unprivated due to a youtube glitch and they removed it pretty quickly and said that it was originally an april fools prank that they'd never gone through with because it would have been too messed up and for many many many many years after phil was copystriking that shit left and right like it was being taken down as fast as possible and nobody ever talked about it until there was like a little resurgence a few years later that was also shut down in-fandom and nobody ever talks about it because it being leaked was a huge invasion of their privacy and frankly dangerous considering the global and internet attitudes towards queer people and dan being closeted at the time

[willynillynonsense]

Hello again, you t..

Glitch-Trap, where’s the Mod?

Oh, she’ll be back in a minute. She’s got some cleanup on her main blog to do. Something about an April Fool’s thing gone wrong.

Talking about things gone wrong, I’m afraid that you won’t be seeing my father again for some time.

Congratulations! 🎉 You finally had enough courage to chase him out!

N-No, he just left after I tried to give him a stern warning. He almost interfered with the blog itself.

Oh. Hm, all right. As long as you got rid of him before anything big happened. I’ve been watching that countdown clock while you were fighting for your sanity all those months. Turns out, it just sprung forward a few days. I’d say it was because of Daylight Savings, but that’s probably not right.

Are there.. any estimates on our departure?

It seems that we could be leaving sometime in the Summer, if not sooner. This clock is so hard to read when it comes to looking for exact dates, even for me.

I see.

Hey! Here’s Pond! Maybe she could–?

*Please don’t talk to me right now, Glitch.*

Is.. everything all right? Did this “blog cleanup” business wear you down?

*A bit, but that’s not why I’m mad at him.*

Then what is the reason?

*...I think I’ve finally figured out what’s really going on between you two. And maybe even where ‘Glitch’ came from.*

!!!

What? I thought we already established it! He’s my Hyde to my Jekyll, and you’re the one who keeps us in line!

*Yeah, well, that’s what he wants you to think... Maybe.*

*Anyway, I’m heading back inside since it looks like your dad’s gone. By the way, the clock’s probably going to start actually moving soon. I dunno if that means you guys should start invading blogs or packing up your stuff, but it means something.*

...Thank you for the warning.

[flovverworks]

Please don't forget, Remember the sadness too, I was thinking of you more than anyone, There were no lie those days.

as a massive tanabata events fan this part in misekai's ai wo mitsukete rly makes me explode. like the entire part right before (+ the glitching before that starts too?!) + the chorus rly gets to me too. but i rly thought i was gonna be safe during figaros tanabata. i know i talk about this like once a month but that part is as engraved in my mind as the school april fool is. both murr and figaro wondering why akira didnt wish for anything else. realizing that ofc akira wouldn't wish for a way home during an event where everyone worked so hard to make it as enjoyable as possible. akira figuring out that the wishes probably were recorded because they can't read the writing of that world. the quiet, mutual consideration.............. its so up there in my list of personal fav-event-cuz-of-akira-stuff list

[whoacanada]

Fic: The One Where Jack’s a Goalie - Part One

Summary: Jack Zimmermann comes out of rehab with a new lease on life and a desperate need to reconnect with the ice. However, he’s unwilling to place himself back in the spotlight so he decides to start his career over and retrain as a goaltender. With less judgment from his peers and little chance of going pro, Jack has a chance to be himself at Samwell, possibly for the first time in his entire life.

Pairing: Zimbits, references to past hookups

--

“You’re a goalie stuck in a forward’s body, Jack. I hope you never lose that spark.”

Jack remembers being fourteen and horribly offended. All he’d done was get a little excited about how the Royal Canadian Mounted Police transitioned into their modern incarnation. That’s it. He knows deep down his father meant it as a compliment but Jack knows goalies are quirky. Weird. They aren’t playmakers, they can’t be captains, they’re integral, necessary, but they aren’t stars. Jack’s supposed to be a star.

Jack says as much and his father stares him down with one brow arched playfully. 

“You’re laying on stereotypes pretty thick, bud. You’re telling me Patrick Roy wasn’t a playmaker? Sawchuck? Hell, I should call Martin and have him come down here himself. Goalies are the glue that keeps a team together, the last line of defense and the most entertaining people you’ll ever meet. Or the biggest bastards. Either way, you remind me of some of the best boys I’ve ever known.”

Bad Bob has made his point but Jack holds fast on his opinion for a long time. Through the Q, even when he’s exhausted and strung out and hating everything around him. He resents goalies on principle: they’re his natural enemy, keeping him from playing his best game. Eventually, he takes that dislike all the way to rehab.

“The professional pipeline discourages individuality in players that are marked for great things,” his therapist prompts. “You aren’t allowed to be an individual. We’ve discussed this before but I don’t think you’ve really examined why you project these judgments. Is it that goalies are ‘weird’, or is it that you resent the fact they aren’t judged as harshly as you were?”

At a Junior World Cup game, an announcer called Jack ‘a hockey-playing robot’ and the nickname stuck. It wasn’t long before scouts, news article, and people on the street he didn’t even know started calling him a ‘robot’ like it was a compliment.  

Goalies are weird. Quirky. Goalies can love history and old movies. Goalies can sing to Toto during timeouts. Goalies can be anxious. Goalies can have tantrums and yell and they don’t have to be perfect all the time. Goalies aren’t robots, they’re people.

Jack doesn’t cry during that particular session but it’s a near thing.

He comes home from therapy and starts researching how common it is to switch positions and still be a decent player. There isn’t much to work with but Jack has plenty of time and energy to spare. He isn’t planning on going pro, he just wants to play. He wants to have fun.

So, one night Bob makes him a dinner and Jack downs half a steak half before saying, “I think I want to be a goalie.”

Bob Zimmermann cuts an impressive figure, even sporting his ‘Check the Cook’ apron. He’s a little older, little grayer, more than a few of the lines around his eyes are Jack’s fault, but for all of Jack’s internalized fears of failure, perpetuated largely by growing up in the shadow of a legend, the man has always been a dedicated father. Jack’s overdose only proved it.

“You want to be a goalie?” Bob asks from across the kitchen, waving his spatula to mime what Jack thinks is supposed to be a mitt. “Goalie-goalie?”

“I think I’d like to play hockey again. Reset and start over. I can do that as a goalie. No pressure to be…well, me.”

His father contemplates him for a moment before grabbing an avocado from the bowl near the coffee machine and chucking it at Jack’s head; he barely dodges it when his mother yells, “Jesus, Bob!”

“I’m not a goalie yet,” Jack shouts, turning around to look at the dented avocado resting on the floor.

“Clearly,” Bob sighs and, to his credit, apologizes for throwing the fruit before asking, “You still want to learn to be a goalie?”

“If I say yes will you throw an orange at me?”

Jack fights the urge to retreat to his room when his father pulls out the chair beside him and sets a notepad down beside Jack’s half-finished plate, ‘To Do’ scrawled messily at the top, and directly below that, ‘new goalie pads’

“No, I was thinking about shooting some pucks at you, which might actually be worse. Let’s start with this.”

Like most things, it takes time. Jack starts developing a different set of muscles, does the same training exercises his pint-sized pee-wee goalies practice religiously. For months the Zimmermann’s entertain a steady stream of hockey legends bribed with beer and good company to help Jack practice his puck-stopping skills.

Never let it be said that Jack Zimmermann half asses anything.

He goes to therapy. Keeps a journal. Does breathing exercises and forces himself to be honest about the things he enjoys. When he wants to make a joke, he jokes. He chirps. With no chance of going pro, there’s no pressure to hide. Well, less pressure. He doesn’t want to accidentally out Kent, but if a cute boy smiles at him, he’s smiling right back.

Jack’s goalie pads might as well be a suit of armor. His pee-wee kids are in awe. His beer-league teammates are terrified. Eventually, his skill sets overlap and he’s not just a big fish in a small pond, he’s a shark; going crazy sitting around all day doing nothing but read and train. He needs something bigger, a challenge.

(His mother says he needs a boyfriend, but that’s debatable.)

When Jack decides he wants to go to school, Alicia’s alma mater of Samwell is a foregone conclusion. However, like most things regarding Jack, his reputation precedes him. When he goes to meet with the Dean regarding his slightly unorthodox admission, they find the head coach of the men’s hockey team has been invited to meet them as well.

“Jack’s not here to play hockey,” Bob says immediately, in lieu of a proper greeting, already tense. “He’s here to be a student.”

“Maybe not ‘normal’,” Jack amends, leaning against his mother’s side. She giggles behind her hand but composes herself quickly.

Hall, the newly appointed Men’s Hockey coach launches into his proposal emphatically, talking about the school’s repeated playoff berths and building the entire program around Jack. Bob is red-faced and looks like he’s about to flip a desk but Jack reaches over to rest a hand on his father’s arm to steady him.

“It’s okay. I think I’d like to do it,” Jack’s parents both turn to him in surprise. “Under one condition.”

“Anything you need,” Hall says quickly, unable to hide his excitement.

“I want to be brought in as a goalie.”

Hall’s smile falters.

“What?”

“I’m not a forward, anymore. I can understand if you aren’t looking for a —”

“No! No, um, we only have one goalie right now, I’m sure we can bring you in under Johnson until we see how you perform.”

A tentative verbal agreement is struck, hands are shaken, and Jack’s brimming with excitement he knows he can’t share just yet.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” His mother asks when they clear reception, wary of listening ears. “This wasn’t the plan, you don’t have to play if you don’t absolutely want to.”

Jack almost doesn’t answer, distracted by a flier tacked to a student notice board announcing an end of semester bonfire. He doesn’t miss the pride flag stamped in the corner and neither do his parents.

“One in four, maybe more,” Alicia teases softly, not for the first time since they’ve arrived.

“I know,” Jack glosses. “I still love hockey, if I’m terrible at it, no harm no foul.”

His father is less certain, a frown tugging at his lips as he guides them both toward the door.

“This is a Division 1 school, Jack. A degree is one thing, being a full-time college athlete is another. You’ll have eyes on you again.” Bob nods to the flier. “I just want to be sure you aren’t overextending yourself before you’ve even started.”

There are kids playing ultimate frisbee on the quad; beyond them, Jack can see a group of runners disappearing behind the science building. The sun is shining, the trees are in full bloom, and Jack desperately wants to be a part of something normal.

“If it’s too much, I’ll quit,” Jack promises, keeping stride with his parents as they head to the rental car. “Can’t hurt to try.”

(Two Years Later)

Johnson slaps Jack’s ass and says, “Look out, your timeline’s about to jack-knife.”

“You say that every week,” Jack settles into the crease and wiggles his hips, ready for the new frogs to show their stuff. “Still don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, bud.”

There’s a hell of a freshman class this year, a lot of potential, a lot of risk, and the A on Jack’s sweater means he gets a chance to help mold the team into something great. He’s excited. He’s nervous.

“Don’t need to be the best,”Jack whispers to himself, watching Holster razz a small winger. “Only good and kind.”

The first issue of the season presents almost immediately. The short frog can’t take a check and goes down so hard it’s painful to watch. Jack doesn’t leave the net, lets Johnson investigate since he’s closer, but he watches like a hawk, trying to figure out what the issue is without engaging.

Hall said the kid used to be a figure skater, so clearly he isn’t used to contact, but he’s made it this far so he has promise. Everyone has promise and Jack feels a weird camaraderie: change is hard, he should know. 

Eventually, they slide the kid to Jack’s side of the rink and Jack finds himself staring down a set of bright brown eyes reddened by shame. 

“Bittle. C’mere.”

“Jack, right?” His accent catches Jack off guard in the best way. 

“So I’m told. Stand still,” Jack kicks off a little and slides into Bittle’s space at a glacial pace, slow enough Bittle has time to back up a few inches.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking you. You know ‘bunny slopes’, eh?” Jack realizes he needs to explain himself. He’s thinking about kids learning to ski on beginner courses and hooks his stick around Bittle’s leg to drag him forward so he bumps against Jack’s pads. “Bunny checks. Lapin check.”

“Are you making fun of me?” Bittle pushes back and frowns, hurt. “I know it’s stupid —”

“No, non,” Jack pushes his mask up and turns to set his stick up on the net. “Checking is hard, you need to start small.”

“Wait,” Bittle’s expression changes from wounded to confused. “You’re actually trying to help?”

From across the rink, Jack can see Murray watching them both with the same cautious optimism he showed after they awarded Jack the A. 

“Hall said you used to figure skate,” Jack says, nudging Bittle’s skate with his stick. “It’s hard adjusting to a different playing style, don’t let it get you down.”

“I played hockey in high school,” Bittle defends lamely, letting Jack maneuver him toward the bench.

“So did I,” Jack jokes, though Bittle doesn’t seem to find the same humor.

“Zimmermann! Give us back the frog!”

“Take it easy,” Jack orders, patting Bittle’s helmet awkwardly. “Keep your head up.”

Bittle offers a wary ‘thanks’ and heads back to the frog huddle while Shitty whips around to steal Jack’s water bottle.

“Think you spooked him trying to be all maternal. Trying to make that frog your new pet project? Gonna fix him up nice and pretty for the ball? Rescue him from a tower?”

“Maybe. Stop mixing metaphors. No one that fast should seize up so quick.”  

“Well someone needs to do something or he’s going to get bust down real fucking fast —” Shitty stops and gives Jack a hairy eye. “You got the look, brah. Crazy eyes. It’s too early in the season for that thousand-yard-stare.”

Jack smacks Shitty with his stick, mind already a million miles away. He needs to make a few calls, confer with his father, but he thinks he can sort Bittle out in a few weeks with some dedicated attention. He tells Hall and Murray as much.

“You’ve got more experience than anyone else on this team, if you think you can help, by all means,” Murray tells him, giving the program’s blessing.

It takes Jack half a day to plan out a schedule, a timeline of exercises before he realizes he hasn’t actually spoken to Bittle about the extra practices. Or anything at all beyond their initial interaction.

“Bro, you went crazy internal,” Ransom points out at dinner that evening. “Your psychology notes are a mess, looked like you were comparing stats.”

“I was…busy,” Jack defends, casually sliding a hand over his ‘notes’.

“Jackabelle, here,” Shitty slaps his tray down beside Jack and shakes him with a one-armed hug. “Is going to fix whatever’s fucking with Bittle. Operation: S.O.B.: Save-Our-Bittle.”

“Ha,” Jack scribbles a reminder to talk to Bittle in the morning. “Like Arrested Development.”

That night, Jack lies awake listening to the boys roughhouse upstairs, trying to figure out how he’ll broach the subject of extra training. 

He can fix this. He can fix Bittle.

The next morning at team breakfast, Bittle settles in across from Jack, a little to the left of Jack’s empty coffee cup. His plate is loaded with breakfast potatoes, Texas toast, and a few scant pieces of turkey bacon. It’s unbalanced for a preseason meal, but nothing that can’t be remedied so Jack rolls two hard boiled eggs from his plate onto Bittle’s; the frog will need the energy if they’re going to train together.

“Bittle.”

The kid blinks up, surprised.

“You need to eat more protein.”

[sreegs]

Tumblr had regular "Hack Days" where you got 24 hours to build a project on top of Tumblr. It could be a new creative feature, an improvement using some experimental tech, or just fun weird stuff.This was all done in a testing environment, of course, so it didn't affect the actual Tumblr website. For example, I built the Fast Reblog feature for a hackday (which was later developed into the version released). Another team of people built a VR museum of Tumblr posts you could walk through.

One of my favorite projects built by a web dev was one that detected users making posts that contained phrases like "please delete tumblr". What would happen is, shortly after a user made a post like this, their website would suddenly start to glitch out and disappear. A faux terminal appeared, making it look like Tumblr's servers were being deleted. After all this, the user was directed to a fake 404 page that confirmed Tumblr was deleted.

We really wanted to do that for an April Fools but we felt it was too cruel and would cause a lot of support tickets, but it was so funny.

[stuffwithart]

Updated new List

Hi I would like to note I do not own any of these characters and note that some of these creators are may or maybe not into Creepypasta anymore but please do not bother the creators

Slenderman- Rightful Owner

Splendorman- Neil Cicierega

Trenderman - Rightful Owner

Offenderman - Arcanineryu

Lord Zalgo - Rightful Owner

Proxies

Ticci Toby - Kastoway

Tim Wright - Marble Hornets

Brian Thomas - Marble Hornets

HABIT - EveryManHybrid

The Observer - TribeTwelve

The Chaser - Slender The Arrival

Charlie Matheson Jr - Slender The Arrival

Xvirus - Rightful Owner

Wilson The Basher - LazyCatLady

Rouge The Proxy - LazyCatLady

Nemesis - darkangel6021

Hoaxton - Dav-Ink

Weeping Forest - Rightful Owner

Nightmare Ally - InvaderIka

Killers

Jeff The Killer - Sesseur

Homicide Liu - Sesseur

Jane The Killer - TheLadyBlackWolf

Nina The Killer 2021 Version - Alegotic-Twevel

Eyeless Jack - Rightful Owner

Vailly Evans - Natsuki100

Clockwork - Leafcrowns

Zero - ZombiePunkRat

Judge Angels - Yaguyi

Bloody Painter - DeluCat

Nurse Ann - Yaguyi

Dr Smiley - Rightful Owner

Dr Pain - Alloween

Hobo Heart - ChrisOzFulton

Chris - 0ktavian

Erin The Killer - To me

Ron - To me

Chaotic Sam - eve of halloween

Reggie - Dethkira

Bleeding-Man - Chibi-Works

Shadow-Walker - Chibi-Works

Stripes - Chibi-Works

Good Doctor Locklear - Madame Macabre

Elska Ruth - Kerry-Sene

Cherry Pau - Natsuki100

Vengeful Spirits

The Puppeteer - BleedingHeartworks

Emra - Highwind-Valor

Suicide Sadie - pnckes

Kagekao - Jinbeizamezama

Wendell Wilson - ijustwannahavefunn

Daisy White - ijustwannahavefunn

Anna - ImaginemonsterVi

The Roadwalker - obsoletegoat

The Bartender - PaxArsenal

Akira Asahi - To me

Carnival Creeps

Laughing Jack - SnuffBomb

Isaac Grossman - SnuffBomb

Frankie - SnuffBomb

Laughing Jill - SabrinaNightmaren

Candy Cane - DanceOfAngels

Candy Pop - DanceOfAngels

April Fools - Promptus

Papa Grande Di Magico - MysticalSorcery

Jason The Toymaker - Krisantyl

The Doll-Maker - Chisai-Yokai

Nathan The Nobody - IvyDarkRose

Whispering D - eve of halloween

Blood Moon Dancer - eve of halloween

Knives Lollipop - To Me

Clown - To Me

Hitmens

The Item Stealer - GhostfaceNikol

Nightcrawler - GhostfaceNikol

The Skroll - GhostfaceNikol

Ericsson Ford - Natsuki100

Young Spirits

Lulu - Chibi-Works

Lazari - Chibi-Works

Sally Williams - La-Mishi-Mish

Lifeless Lucy - NightmareQueenKasei

Lily Kennett - NaughtyKittyDV-1992

Sam Williams - CamyWilliams9

Oliver Henderson - Cupcake889

Wendy Wilson - Ijustwannahavefunn

Glitches

BEN - Alex Hall

Lost Silver - Rightful Owner

Glitchy Red & BRVR - Rightful Owner

Herobrine - Rightful Owner

Entity 303 - Rightful Owner

Channel 666 - Rightful Owner

Sonic Exe & Tails Doll - Rightful Owner

Mario Exe - Rightful Owner

Eleted - IceyPie

Mario Exe - Rightful Owner

Lord X - Rightful Owner

Mario 85 - Rightful Owner

Hypno - Rightful Owner

Candle Cove - Rightful Owner

Red - Rightful Owner

Suicide Mouse  - Rightful Owner

Suicidal Squidward - Rightful Owner

Happy Appy - Dronian

Monsters

Shadowlurker - Rightful Owner

The Rake - Rightful Owner

BOB - Rightful Owner

Scarecrow - Madame Macabre

Mr Wide-Mouth - Rightful Owner

Pinkiemena - Rightful Owner

Smile Dog - Rightful Owner

Grinny Cat - Comickit

Seed Eater - Rightful Owner

Magic Users

Miss Pencilneck - ComicKit

Korbyn Jumping-Eagle - Madame Macabre

Who Lives in Our World

Mary Vaughn - TheLadyBlackWolf

Alex Kralie - Marble Hornets

Jay Merrick - Marble Hornets

Jessica Locke - Marble Hornets

Amy Walters - Marble Hornets

Alice - Madness Returns

[gay-bitch-69]

Apr 1st

April fools

"Y/n"

"Y/nn"

"Y/n wake upppp"

You toss and turn not wanting to wake up

"Come on just wake up pleaseeee!"

You finally turn towards him and smile

"Finally!"

"Good morning toby"

"Good morning y/n!"

He picked you up bridal style

"Hey put me down!"

"Noooo"

"Yessss"

"Wait where are you taking me anyway?"

"The kitchen"

"Alright"

"I'll go make you some food, I love you!"

"I love you too"

A few minutes later

You see "toby" coming back

"Here you go love!"

"Toby" gives you food

"Thanks!"

"Toby" goes to do something...

(It's april fools... I should play a prank on toby

to get him back for snooping on my phone!)

As the narrator I don't like what this is going

And don't snoop in other people stuff the creator has regretted that, their eyes got traumatized

Anyway back to the story

(What type of prank should I play on him?

pretend to break up with him! What a classic)

You try to get up to find him but you get seated back in your seat

"Why are you trying to get up love?"

(Time to do the prank! This'll be fun!)

Oh no

"Well" you said with concern in your voice

It do not seem happy anymore

"Is everything alright love?"

"No"

"What is it?"

"I want to break up with you"

"..."

Silence there was an awkward silence between you and it

The awkward silence went on for about 10 minutes but the silence felt like hours

"You alright?"

You don't get a response back

It goes to turn the lights off

"Toby? Why did you turn the lights off?"

You look at it and swear you see red in its eyes

"T-toby? Is that you?"

All you get as a response is a creepy glitched cackle

You rush to the door to get out

it's locked

It hugs you from behind

"Why are you running?" It says in the creepy glitched voice

"You can't escape us!"

"U-us?" You ask

Another glitched creepy cackle

When it's done laughing it stares at you very unhappy with you

You look very scared

"What wrong?" The voice even more glitched before

"What do you mean us?"

"You still don't know do you?"

You look at it confused

"I knew you were oblivious I didn't know you were that oblivious"

It then cackled it's voice even more glitched it's worse was so glitched and didn't even sound like a cackle no more it sounded like static from a broken TV

"You're not toby are you"

"No I'm not" it's voice so glitched it kind of sounded like a broken radio that you could barely understand

Slowly but surely you see that the skin that is on it is not its own and it's coming off

It looks at the skin it sees you we're looking at the skin as well

You were knocked out

you woke up in that basement tied up to a chair

It sees that you are awake

"Finally you're awake"

"Who are you?" You mumble

"What?"

"Who are you?" You said louder

"Moon!"

"As in moondrop the daycare attendant in that pizza plex"

You gasp

"surprised?"

"W-what happened to toby?"

He shows you a skin suit

"You-"

You feel tears start to form your eyes

"He was dead the entire time"

"..."

He tries to put a hand near your face

You pull your head away

He puts his hand on your cheek

"Don't do that you're obsessed with me and sun you want us to love you NEED you and now we are!"

"I-"

"..."

"It doesn't matter that we killed him"

"You can be happy forever!"

"You're right"

"I know I'm right"

now in a glitched crackling voice that sounds like both of them

"Please love us!"

"we'll make sure we are with you forever by making you immortal!"

The thought of spending the rest of your life with them made you happy you can't resist

"I love you" You said to them

"We love you to!"

He unties you and hugs you and holds you tightly

"Thank you for embracing our love"

"We love you so much..."

[mihai-florescu]

this is also one of the really good Eichi fits i can't explain why but it just suits him really well (also please do not question whatever goes on with my game the sprites are glitching )

Both him and Wataru looked so good, i need to look into all the april fools events enstars had cuz so far ive been loving all of them

[kingkatsuki]

JO OMG LMAOO so there’s this stupid glitch happening with tumblr rn on mobile where for some reason your icon looks the same as the icon of somebody’s ask that you answered (looks normal with anonymous asks tho -_-)

and anyway seeing DEKU as your icon nearly gave me a heart attack 😨 i was like omg wait it’s not april fools yet is it….? :0

can you imagine LMAOO (deku theme prank for april fools?)

NO YOU PHOTOSHOPPED THIS THERE IS NO WAY. PLEASE😫

But can you see how wrong that looks?! Like everything about it omg.

That would be the worst April fools because genuinely no one would believe me😂😂😂

[druidx]

A Year of Writing - 2021 Writing Wrap-up

@ecwrenn suggested the Writeblr community do a “Your Writing Year in Review” post with things one has posted, so others can catch up on things they might have missed. This is such a wonderful idea, I just had to join in. So, with many thanks to her for organising, here is my Year of Writing.

Quick Stats

Total Written (rounded up) - ~85,500 words Average Words/Work: 886 Started - 44 works Finished - 38 works Published - 41 works Number of Works still in Progress (started anytime): 68 Mostly wrote in: July (7 works) & Feb (6 works)

Breakdown 

I’ve written quite a bit this year. A lot more than I thought, if I’m being honest. The dates on my spreadsheet are a little out of whack, but I’ve written somewhere in the region of 85k words this year, across 39 pieces (one of which was my on-going nano started last year, which had 52k added this year).

My longest work that was added to this year was The Ruby Falls (the aforementioned long-running Nano), bringing the word count to 128,274. The shortest work that was created this year was A Tea for the Sore of Head, with a word count of just 96.

It’s not too surprising that most of my writing was done in July, as this was the TES Summer Fest week. This was an event geared towards creators in The Elder Scrolls fandom, which I very much enjoyed participating in (many thanks to the organisers of TESFest). I also did a few prompts from the Homestead Spring and Autumn prompt weeks, which allowed me to stretch my writing muscles with some more original work.

This year I was advised by an editor friend to work on my subtext, so quite a lot of my drabbles have been towards stretching my writing muscles in that direction, or trying out fresh styles (Dearest Mama, May I Come Home? is a prime example of this). I feel like I’ve learnt a lot from these experiments, and I feel like my writing has advanced from what it has been for the last ~5yrs, so I’m very proud of that.

I spruced up some older Titan - World of Fighting Fantasy fics and published them to AO3, bringing the Published figure up by more than was finished this year. I also joined two new fandoms to write in - Starbound and Thunderbirds Are Go. I’m pleased at how well these first few forays have been, and I have some more stories planned in these fandoms as well. A couple of my original works have also seen a lot of success too, notably Before It Shatters, and received glowing comments.

Plans for 2022?

I have a lot of Big Scary IRL stuff that has to be completed by the end of Jan, and the Homestead is putting on a “Be a better writer” prompt event (organised by the above mentioned editor) in Feb/ March time which I’m very excited for.

My main project to tackle, thought, will be The Ruby Falls. I want to have finished it by April, to have it beta read and final edits by October and published to AO3 this time next year. How achievable that is, is anyone’s guess ^.^;

Of course, there will always be lots of other short stories added to the mix over the year, and maybe I’ll finish some of those 69 WIPs... But outside those few big milestones, my plans are mostly fluid, tbh :D

ICYMI

Under the cut are the things I’ve finished since 01 Jan 2021. List organised by universe & series, 99% links through to Tumblr.

Original works

Before It Shatters ~ 800 words Civil war shreds the land. The court priest meets with a state advisor to beg his intercession.

Dearest Mama, May I Come Home? ~ 480 words A young man in the 1800s regrets his life choices.

Can't Fool an AI ~ 415 words A spacefarer tries to claim he’s fine; his ship AI sees right through him.

Court Intrigue ~ 155 Words A woman's partner admires her dress, while being underhanded.

From Ham Park ~ 240 words A woman yearns for the freedom of travel.

Rocky Mountains ~ 126 words Description of the Rocky Mountains from a train out of Denver.

Starbound

Castles in the Sand ~ 1,100 words Lana Blake asks the Last Protector for help.

To Make an Ethereal Connection ~ 1,270 words An old Glitch sings, and the Narrator invites them to journey the stars.

Thunderbirds Are Go

Family Treasures ~ 1,720 words Grounded by injury, Kayo considers her family through the lense of trinkets.

Chin up ~ 1,060 words Hard-hitting questions come up during a training session between Kayo and Parker.

Cake Dress ~ 225 words Penny needs a new dress; Gordon makes quips.

Titan - World of Fighting Fantasy

Princess for a day ~ 790 words  Millicent gets a very special treat on her birthday.

TESIV: Oblivion - Haven’s Ember (Modern AU)

A Night to Drink To (AO3) ~ 1,030 words Where Martin, Baurus and Aderyn fall on the "drink" triangle

Better Homes and Gardens ~ 440 words Martin shows Aderyn her room in his & Baurus’ new house.

Bitter Winds and Rain ~ 1,070 words Aderyn is not coping well with Martin being in a coma.

It's fashion, baby ~ 360 words Baurus ribbs Martin of his choice of shirt

Night will Fall and Drown the Sun ~ 1,260 words Jauffre is not coping well with Martin being in a coma.

Shaving Accidents ~ 1,025 words Baurus is not coping well with Martin being in a coma.

The Insomnolence of a Troubled Mind ~ 700 words Martin can’t sleep, Baurus find out why.

TESIV: Oblivion - Misc

Accidents Happen (but they don’t usually end the world) ~ 500 words Martin trips and cracks his skull, dooming the world

By Any Other Voice But Yours ~ 1,163 words Martin returns to Kvatch with Lucien and Korbin; Lucien helps Martin relax after PTSD sets in.

Crimson Storm ~ 1,792 words Martin has a panic attack.

Honour Among Thieves ~ 875 words A thief and a spy have a late night chat about threats to the Grey Fox.

Marble Tombs ~ 506 words A study of the unquiet nature of Ayleid Ruins

No Rose Without a Thorn (AO3) ~ 3,036 words Modryn Oreyn helps an old dunmer... but all is not as it seems.

Of Garlands and Gladness ~ 1,342 words A travelogue style recounting of Bravil’s festival to Mara.

Technicolour Nightmare ~ 885 words You’re debilitatingly ill in the wilderness, will you survive?

The Steel Undone ~ 803 words Modryn Oreyn agonises about a choice that must be made to save the Fighters Guild.

Your Dads think you are Working Too Hard, and want you to Take A Break ~ 772 words Martin and Baurus extort you, the HoK, to rest and eat more.

TESIV: Oblivion - Rin

Bleach ~ 1,040 words A discussion about redguard hair

At First Blush ~ 3,860 words F!HoK & Methredhel end up on job that goes sideways fast, but kisses make everything better.

About a mentor ~ 510 words K’Rin L’Rue is asked what Arch-Mage Traven was like as a mentor

TESIV: Oblivion - A Slice of Life with Talis

Talis and the Terrifying Errand-boy ~ 850 words Mages are unnecessarily extra and scare the townies.

Talis and the Bilberries ~ 890 words Talis the Baker goes berry picking.

A Sweet Misunderstanding ~ 710 words Talis the Baker makes a friend

TESIV: Oblivion - Teas of Tamriel

A Tea for the Scorned ~ 210 words Teas of Tamriel columnist advises on a poison.

A Tea for the Sore of Head ~ 100 words Teas of Tamriel columnist advises on a hangover cure.

Malted Milk for a Goode Nite's Rest ~ 110 words Teas of Tamriel columnist advises on a sleeping infusion.

Potion for a Gaye Nite ~ 280 words Teas of Tamriel columnist advises on a potion of Banish Social Anxiety.

[acleaks]

IMPORTANT PSA

There is reportedly a major glitch in New Horizons that will stop ALL balloons from spawning once you reach the 300 mark.

With the Bunny Day event upon us, I've already hit the 100 mark, and I can imagine some of you even closer if not already there.

One found work around is to play as and control a secondary character, but this is... tedious, especially for those who don't want a secondary character on the island.

People have called Nintendo Support to report the bug, but if we want it put at the top of their To-Do list, more people need to call and report. Please only report if you have stumbled upon this glitch yourself as to not spam them with "rumors," when this is a /very/ serious and real issue.

This is not an April Fool's joke, just bad timing

[cazzyvintage]

Random Writing prompts

Today is my last day as the co-leader of the creative writing society at my college so I thought now that it's over I would share the prompts me and the other leader came up with for our sessions in case people need some prompt ideas to try and get out of that writers block. I also included music suggestions that we played to fit the themes. Enjoy!

Week 1: Lockdown

“Things weren’t supposed to end this way but how were we to know the true dangers of what was really outside” write a story around this starter

Create a poem on how you feel about your lockdown experience

Create a short story about someone in an apocalypse who has to stay inside

Write a letter to the government on what they could have done better about lockdown

Week 2: Christmas! (Music used: Our collection of Christmas songs)

Write about what a typical Christmas is like for you

Write a poem about your favourite things about Christmas

Write about the first Christmas you remember and the emotions you experienced

Create a short story about someone reminiscing over past Christmases as they take a long walk home through lots of snow- maybe they see children playing, or see a family eating through a window?

If you don’t celebrate Christmas, substitute for a holiday you celebrate such as Hanukkah or write about Winter in general.

Week 3: Fictional characters (Minecraft soundtrack)

Write a poem based on your favourite fictional character

Write a diary/short story based on meeting your favourite fictional character

Rewrite a scene from whatever your favourite fictional character is in and do it from their POV if it isn’t already in their POV

Week 4: Flowers (Animal crossing soundtrack)

You are a flower. What is your life like and what can you observe from your spot in the garden? Does anything interesting happen?

You are a gardener and like to arrange flowers in your spare time, write a monologue about why you chose this path in life.

Write a poem about a flower bed, describing different flowers in detail, and maybe they will have some visitors like bees or dragonflies?

Week 5: Poems (Stardew valley soundtrack)

Write a poem about whatever you choose

Write a poem about your favourite love troupe

Write a story about a poet trying to find inspiration

Week 6: Underwater (Mario kart underwater themes)

You are a scuba diver, what discoveries do you find underwater?

You are a scientist investigating the ocean in a submarine, when disaster strikes!

Write a poem or description about the deep sea

Week 6: Childhood memories (Undertale soundtrack)

Write a poem about your favourite childhood memory

Write a diary entry from your child self point of view of a day in your past

Write a short story about your childhood

Week 8- Valentine’s Day (The Sims 3 Hotdate music)

Write a poem in any style based on the feelings and perspective of one partner (or maybe it has both sides?)

Write a short story of a first date or of the 50th anniversary of a couple

Write from James Bond’s perspective on why he behaves the way he does with women and his experiences with your favourite Bond girls eg Vesper or Rosie Carver

Week 9: Horror (Doki Doki Literature club soundtrack)

Write a diary entry about how you’ve been attending your schools literature club but recently you have started noticing glitches and you begin to suspect that you are actually in a game

Write a short horror story about your biggest fear

Write a detailed account about the worst nightmare you’ve had

Week 10: Crime (Lego city undercover soundtrack)

Write a short story about a cat burglar. Are they a burglar of cats or a cat whose a burglar? ( cough atticus claw cough)

A poem from a murderer’s perspective detailing their most recent murder.

You’re a detective and a young woman has died from a seizure, but no known cause for it. Police label it as a natural death but you’re unconvinced.

No week 11

Week 12- Jungle (Jungle music)

Write a poem about cool gecko facts

You’re shipwrecked and have landed on an island with a big jungle and now it’s time to explore!

Write about the different perspectives of a sky animal and a land animal (eg parrot vs dung beetle)

Week 13 - Time Travel (Doctor Who soundtrack)

Write a diary entry from your favourite historical period

Write about a moment in time you would want to visit and why

Write about meeting your favourite historical idol

Write a ship fic between two unlikely historical figures, for example Emperor Nero x Alexander the Great

Week 14- April Fools Day! (Circus music that just plays the same song over and over again till it drove us insane)

Write a poem about the most epic prank you’ve pulled

Write a short story of a prank that goes horribly wrong!

Have your favourite good character create the most horrifically evil prank you can think of, or have your favourite villain do something anticlimactically mundane (bonus points for epic buildup)

Week 15 - Fantasy (Narnia Soundtrack)

Write about your favorite mythical creature, like a dragon or a elf

Write about an unexpected journey in a mythical land, like Narnia or The Hobbit

Write what your ideal world would be

Week 16 - Friendship (Harry Potter soundtrack)

Write your favorite memory spent with friends

Write a poem about your friends/what friendship means to you

Write a short story about saying goodbye to some life long friends

Week 17- Food (French Cafe music, please don’t use the one that just repeats the same two tracks)

A princess has asked you to create a ridiculously incomprehensible dish, and you must venture out to find the ingredients (or you’ll die or something)

You’re a chef and your worst enemy orders fugu, what do you do?

A last minute change means you’re now competing on hell’s kitchen, what happens?

[tmae3114]

(spoilers for the final lock): what if cysero features so heavily in this war because he, too, is symbiotic with the shadowscythe

when I said I was in the mood for whump, this isn’t what I meant

okay, but, really, that’s an excellent concept for angst & whump for fic but I think it’s highly unlikely to be a thing in canon? We do know that the nanovirus permanently altered Sys-Zero in some way (given that the Cure Xaria mission made mention of him being in for “comparison brain scans”, which wouldn’t be a thing if the nanovirus didn’t have any internal effects) but he was still cured. That’s the term that the game uses constantly to refer to Sys-Zero’s condition after Odessa helps him break the hold that the nanovirus has on him - cured. The implication there, to me, is that Sys-Zero successfully purged the nanovirus from himself - having been infected may have had permanent effects but the nanovirus itself was gone. (I’ve played with “what if?” angst about it lingering before but in terms of canon, nah, it’s gone) So while Sys-Zero did glitch during the Reset, resulting in Cysero, I don’t think there’s any symbiosis with the Shadowscythe involved, especially since the nanovirus is, by nature, such an adversarial thing

I think Cysero’s presence in the Lock & Key stuff, particularly this war, is far more likely to be because of what happened to him during the Reset and what he is now - we know that he’s ridiculously powerful magically, and that the laws of reality seem to... shall we say, selectively apply to him. After all, it’s an established mechanic of the AE Multiverse that in order to travel between universes & timelines, counterparts must swap places with each other. A Tale Of Two Timelines from Frostval 2014 is an excellent example of that principle. Cysero, however, can go where he pleases, when he pleases, seemingly without consequence, and can have multiple of his own counterparts in the same timeline at once (CyseRedux). Cysero is one-of-a-kind in a very interesting way.

Plus, Cysero’s kinda been linked with Lock & Key since the start. He was there for their very first appearance, at April Fools’ 2017!

And during that quest, Zeuster comments that

Zeuster: As omniscient as I am... I did not know where these things came from. Zeuster: Therefore, I came seeking an explanation from some other higher being. Zeuster: Cysero was good enough. 

which is a further establishment for us of just how stupidly powerful Cysero is, that Zeuster apparently considers him... well, basically deity-adjacent, seemingly

and further in, Lock & Key themselves observe

Key: Green one knows. Lock: We knew that he would.

So there is definitely some form of connection between him and them, one which becomes even more fascinating now that we know they’re symbiotic with something that may or may not be Shadowscythe, especially considering Cysero’s own history with those guys

I think it’s going to be a while before we know the extent of that connection, if we ever get to at all, but for now... for now I do have a theory as to part of it.

We know now that Lock & Key are studying Luck, the metaphysical concept. And, well... having the fabric of your very existence damaged and not only surviving it but coming out of it with powers like Cysero can wield? That, I would say, is very lucky

..........I’ve gotten off track. I have a Lot of Thoughts about Cysero and Lock & Key

right! Cysero potentially being symbiotic with Shadowscythe! A very good angsty fanwork concept!

[melissatreglia]

Did You Miss Me?: Darkiplier in 2018

For the most part, 2018 was a quiet year. In contrast with 2017, where we were gratified to see Dark's monochromatic visage throughout the year, 2018 carried playful hints and teasing of the elusive entity's presence but no confirmation. There were thumbnails and quick flashes that indicated He was continuing to pull strings, ensuring that His presence was felt but His face never really seen.

Throughout 2017, He'd show up during what us mere mortals consider major holidays or important events. Valentine's Day. Easter. Even Cinco de Mayo got a nod. And of course, the infamous Friday the 13th late in the year.

But 2018? He apparently decided to stay home in the void during our days of revelry, with the possible (though not confirmed) exception of the decidedly strange Fall in Love with Markiplier video for Valentine's Day. And for the TWO Friday the 13ths in 2018? He was a no-show. In 2017, He'd returned to shake things up in our safe little lives... and in 2018, He left us wanting more, like the skilled manipulative seducer He is.

Getting Over It, Part 8 included a thumbnail with Mark's dour expression and a suspiciously familiar colour scheme. The thumbnail for WATCH OUT!! had Mark reaching for us in a state of panic (which belied the contents of the video itself). 

Try Not to Smile Challenge #3, while the smile-free serial killer laugh is creepy, it's not a Darkiplier moment. Though, him joking near the end of the video that people who didn’t smile at some point during the video are "soulless demons" does seem to be a Darkiplier reference of some kind (or maybe a Devilplier reference, since the Cuphead song was released just two months later)?

In Madison, when his game character watches a television that glitches and fades to static, Mark fearfully squeaks, "Darkiplier, is that You?!" While in the description for End My Suffering, just ten days later, Mark wailed, "What malevolent being did I piss off to be cursed like this!"

Brother Wake Up promised "I’ll try to help in whatever way I can but you have to wake up!" Which, while it fit perfectly with the title of the game, the description also fit pretty damn well into the channel lore too. And Umfend's description was likewise ominous: "You shouldn't have forgotten about me... I'll make you remember..."

Meanwhile, the title for the video of Welcome The The Game 2.0 doubles as a callback to an earlier Darkiplier moment: "Don't Play This Game". Horns of Fear did it one better, with the thumbnail featuring many eyes staring out at the viewer (again with an all-too-familiar colour scheme), while the title warned us "DON'T LOOK AWAY..."

In the Warframe playthrough late in the year, Mark's camera briefly freezes. But in 3 Scary Games #9, his camera freezes repeatedly before glitching back to normal, and he implies that "there's something else" messing with the camera. In 5 Nostalgic Games, when Mark gives the definition of ubiquitous and bares his teeth while saying "We're learning today!", the video suddenly glitches. 

The thumbnail for Markiplier has fled the country had Mark lunging at the camera, his face completely darkened by shadow. And the thumbnail for 3.75 Scary Games blatantly toyed with the fandom with text shouting "DARKIPLIER?"

And the fanbaiting didn't stop there. More thumbnails that hinted at Dark included a hand bathed in blue light reaching out to the viewer for the fittingly titled The Devil Haunts Me, and a cartoon of Mark cowering away from Dark's furious glare for You're Perfect.  

Markiplier's Tour: The Movie featured the improv teacher stating that Markiplier wasn't at the shows. "I don't know who that guy was, but it wasn't him." Even the Markiplier Animated short I've Got Boobs?! features a brief scene of a shadowy Darkiplier rising from a well and whispering something unintelligible.

For the most part however, the teasing came directly from out of Mark’s mouth.

In 3 Scary Games #5, Mark jokes that a ghost (clad in the classic white sheet and glitching somewhat) is Darkiplier. 3 Scary Games #13, the first (jokey) game called "Death Trips" features RGB text and Mark narrating in an echoing voice. In Midnight Shift, a game where Mark is memorably being chased by mannequins, he jokes that an RGB poster on a wall is "expricitly [sic] Darkiplier". In SCP Containment Breach #57, Mark jokes when he sees the intro screen of a pretty lady in 3D with an open third eye, "Look at this Darkiplier ass thing... it's like Celine, straight out of [Who Killed Markiplier?]". 

In 3 FNAF Fan Games, he even chortles that the game has “Darkiplier letters.” In Devil Daggers, he scoffs, “A high-pitched ringing in the darkness. That’s always good.”

[Image captured by me, on June 3, 2018.] 

Just before midsummer, I received a pleasant surprise. In Imscared: Steam Edition, Mark says "I gotta go get back into the Shadow Realm, the Upside Down." Which, personally, made me very happy at the time. Since I first became active on Tumblr in July 2017, I've been referring to Dark's void dimension as the Shadow Realm, while Mark has referred to it in the past as the Upside Down, making the link fairly clear in this statement. (Somehow, whether by happy accident or serendipity, my terminology and its proper context made its way to Mark. As a fan, I can't describe how pleased that made me, to know he might have actually seen something I’ve made.)

(But enough about me. I’m just an obsessive Darkiplier fangirl. So let’s get back to cataloging all the hinty goodness!)

By this point, you’re probably wondering, “Okay, so all those hints are decent. But where the hell is Dark in all of this?!” But that’s the point, my friends: He was there the whole time. In brief flashes of imagery, in hints and innuendo. Unseen, but his presence clearly felt as our expectations were played with by our channel host.

We expected a wild ride at the beginning, when Mark made two brief livestreams on January 5th, wandering through the theatre he was slated to play for the You’re Welcome Tour. 

The first of the two, “What’s Going In?!”, he showed us the back area of the Paramount Theatre, using only improvised narration and acting to build an atmosphere of dread. He claimed the theatre was haunted, and that he could smell “the scent of death”, ultimately vowing to protect those who would be visiting the theatre to see him that night. He also declares the EXIT a trap, before being pursued by an unseen entity.

The drama continued with “...” (a title that is impossible to find using Youtube’s search options), that begins with an eerie quiet. Tyler eventually finds Mark’s dropped phone. He asks the viewers where Mark is, before going on a search. He’s eventually attacked from behind and the stream cuts off, leaving those who weren’t at the show that night to wonder how the matter resolved.

In Simulacra, there's a brief flash of Mark in his Big Mood outfit with text saying "WAKE UP". When the simulacra changes the colour of the cellphone's display and begins to speak in a calm, creepy voice, Mark reflexively responds, "Darkiplier?" and sounding unnerved at the mention of "behind your black mirrors", then being stunned as the screen appears to crack.

At the end of Simulacra, he gives an uncharacteristically downbeat speech, declaring that "We're all just digital copies of ourselves, idealized in a digital form. And maybe that's the way that life is just supposed to be. Maybe we should all just roll over and accept it, because there's nothing that we can do to change our fates, after all. And who's to say that it's not better for us just to wear the masks that are our digital personas, and live our lives as those? Maybe that is for the best."

The How To Make Slime video goes from harmlessly silly and takes a twist for the stabby. Mark declares "In order to appease the Dark Gods..." then he instructs the viewer to slice their palm and "whisper the words of power." The words in question? "They shall rise. They shall consume. All will be lost when they rise from the darkness of the ocean. Madness opens up to everything." When the making of the slime is concluded, he adds that "We all get to enjoy three years of peace before the Dark Gods consume us all."

I have no idea what that means, but I’m pretty sure it may involve Cthulhu chomping on my kidneys. (Then again, Darkiplier is a Lovecraftian monstrosity Himself. So, if it’s Him who’s one of the Dark Gods? He can have a kidney from me if He’s really that hungry. Kidneys are a redundant system anyway, so you really only need one.)

April Fool’s Day brought us the gag gift of The Official Markiplier Rock, with a suspiciously deep voice informing us that the rock is available in white. Additionally, the video warned to alert the SCP Foundation if the rock appears to start talking! (What? My rock has been talking to me since I got it, and there’s nothing wrong with me!)

Baldi’s Basics: Secret Ending featured an explanation about attaining the secret ending, with Mark’s otherwise normal voice echoing slightly with subtle white noise effects. (Hmmm...)

In December, for the charity livestream and archived in a video called Santa Spills The Tea, a Santa Claus that sounded suspiciously like Wilford Warfstache declared that Dark, the master manipulator and Big Bad of Mark’s channel, was a “sweetheart! He shouts a lot, but he’s just a big ol’ pussy. He can’t even possibly… he didn’t hurt anybody! He didn’t kill one person! If there’s anybody who’s on my naughty li— uh, on my list of people who’ve been bad, he’s the only one not on it.” (And mind you, in 2017′s Markiplier TV, Wilford sang a little ditty about how he killed Santa Claus and the kids wouldn’t be getting any presents that year. And Dark still convinced us to shoot someone in A Date With Markiplier, while apparently feigning regret. But heck, use your own judgement.)

Mark also dropped one heck of a hint of things to come in, of all places, Markiplier Tries Korean Beauty Products. There, the descriptive intro to the following year’s DAMIEN animated feature can be heard at one point. “Snow blankets the field, a pristine meadow of untouched white. No animals call. No birds cry. Only the steady rustling of wind through dead trees accented by the impact of his axe. A crack-like thunder rings out as the ancient pine finally succumbs to his murderous assault. The old giant crashes into the ground. Dami-”

Wilford Motherloving Warfstache was, of course, focused on the mustachioed entity. But there were elements to the short film that felt like Darkiplier was watching along with us. Particularly the VHS-style glitch at the end of the film.

Of course, there were only three videos that year that potentially contained Darkiplier himself.

One candidate is Fall in Love with Markiplier. Yes, the name on the title is Mark’s... but is it really him? The entirety of the film is a fourteen minute staring contest with Mark, as he lovingly (and somehow also creepily) gazes at the viewer in different settings -- by the ocean, at a dog park, and in a bubble bath. The only spoken words are in the intro, over the strains of the music from A Date with Markiplier: “It’s scientifically proven that you can fall in love with someone simply by maintaining eye-contact for an extended period of time. So now, you can fall in love with Markiplier all over again in these three locations. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

The second candidate is World’s 5th Quietest Let’s Play, released just 5 days prior to the Let’s Have a Romantic Staring Contest video. Unlike the previously mentioned video, there’s more going on this time around. The game to be played quietly this time around is Bennett Foddy’s infamous rage-inducing creation “Getting Over It”. 

He threatens the developer with the words, “You will see the inside of your entrails, when I drag them out of your abdomen and show them to you.” (Ah, how romantic.) He goes even further than that, saying soon after, “This is a representation of My sins... You will be purged in the fires of absolution, along with all of your ilk. I will burn the heretics that you are harbouring inside of your soul... I will destroy you.” (Now there’s the smite-happy Hellgod we all love!)

But He doesn’t stop there, snarling under His breath, “You will burn in the fires of My own hell! And I will choose your pain to last eternity!” However, He is ultimately defeated by the game, departing our company with  “Alas, I leave you now, to slumber amongst the ancients.” (Aww, poor guy needs a hug. And I know just who’s ready to snuggle with Him...)

But the last of the video to potentially contain Darkiplier is... the four-hour long play through of Hearts & Heroes. Is it canon Dark? No, probably not. It’s a fan game, though the words of dialogue are acted out by Mark himself. But rather than simply recounting key phrases for you, here’s the Boss Battle between Mark’s team and Dark, edited by the lovely icedpinkpeebles (Mark’s goofy character names and all!):

So, what does all of this ultimately mean? Why did Darkiplier fade into the background in 2018? And, most importantly, what is He up to now?

The truth is I don’t know any more than you do. I can only guess.

But I can tell you this: We don’t know Darkiplier as well as we all think we do. Many of us (including me) fully expected Dark to raise hell following the events of the jokey Darkiplier vs Antisepticeye video in 2017 (because He did mention how He hates being mocked!). And while we did get more Dark at the end of that year, it was in the form of an origin story.

Whatever Dark’s planning, we’re not going to see it coming. Because He’s playing a long game. And when you’re immortal like He is, you have all the time in the world to get what you want. Be it for love or revenge, Darkiplier remains a force to be reckoned with.

But here we are, in the eye of the storm. Only time will tell before the final wrath of the hurricane makes landfall.