#seriously character customization needs to step things up

[raynydaystorytime]

There was a game on switch a while ago, Daemon X Machina. Basically it was a not amazing (but not horrible) mecha game along the lines of Armored Core it was all and all a very bland game with both performance and gameplay issues but one thing about that game stood out to me. It was that you could upgrade your pilot, but upgrades were in the form of cybernetic enchantments.

First couple of upgrades barely noticable, eye colour changes, a handful of seam lines on your face. Around the middle you replace your legs with robotic replacements, hands and arms become mechanized limbs. And depending on the upgrade you either got bulky industrial style parts, blade thin aeronatic frames, or a middle ground with synthetic muscle fibers to give the limb some semblance of humanity.

And then you replace your torso. Your character is now a head on a mechanized body. An organic cockpit piloting a metal body, not unlike the robot you yourself pilot. The last upgrade is a full head replacement. Assumedly the only thing remaining of your body is the brain that's now floating in your head part.

The story was ass but Daemon X Machina did one thing very well though this system. It asked the player "how far are you willing to go". Because the thing is that none of these upgrades were mandatory, there were benefits yes but none of them were absolutely vital to success. The whole system walked a very finely tuned line. What are you willing to give up for better performance? Your legs? Your arms? Your chest and heart? Everything? Or will you stay human and handicap yourself? It was fascinating to see where people drew the line. How far they were willing to disassemble the characters they had themselves created. some people gave up everything, others rejected everything. Sometimes upgrades were chosen not based on stats but based on the look of the enhancement.

---

I have lots of ideas but sadly never enough energy/expertise to realize them. Which just results in daydreaming so sometimes I daydream of a game.

In it the world is pushed to the brink of survival by monsters. And the player characters who are tasked with fighting against those monsters are given a choice.

They can augment themselves with monster parts, doing the same thing as Daemon X Machina. Your hands become talons, your legs become claws. You can jump higher, run faster. Wings and tails, horns and internal organs. Bulky augments let you wield larger weapons, tote a minigun or a rocket pod around easily. Lithe augments let you move quicker, run faster, jump higher. Push the limits until the only weapons you need are your own savage limbs. till you can spew hellish fire from your maw, till you can generate a million volts with your internal organs, till you can rip out monsters throats with your teeth and taste their cobalt blue blood dripping down your face, the same kind of blood that now runs though your veins.

Or you could not. Hunt down what monsters you can with what you have. Turn in parts to the research team. Use your enemies strengths not as implants but as technology. You kill a mantis monster and the research team hands you a sword forged from it's scythes, an invisible monster becomes a stealth field generator. You break your opponents down and turn them into weapons, armor, tools, all built for human hands to handle.

And then you watch people draw their lines. Who augments their body and who remains a steadfast human. And who tries to walk their own path somewhere down the middle. What augments do people pick? Do they choose function or appearance? Give players multiplayer, how do they react when faced with the choices of others? Maybe they split apart into humans and augmented, maybe the lines that they draw separate them from each other. Or maybe they find out that hunting monsters tends to go better when humans and augmented work together, the precision and versatility of humans synergizing with the raw versatility of augmented.

But that's just a daydream

[enihk-writes]

[someone older]

pairing: older!multi-fandom men x gn!they/them!reader

reader is written to be in their early twenties, under twenty-five and fresh out of uni with their first degree and no corporate work experience.

summary: shorts about old men and a younger beau to-be

content warning: big age-gap relationships // superior-subordinate power imbalance // possible infantilization // some form of saviour-complex // (some unintentional) manipulation

characters: zhongli (genshin impact) // neuvilette (genshin impact) // jing yuan (honkai star rail) // tang gunak (return of the blossoming blade) // dokgo (return of the mad demon) // chongyue (arknights) // shamane (RE:1999) // hiromi higuruma (jujutsu kaisen) // ryū (gokurakugai)

author's note: my lovely oomfs i need yall to look away and pretend im doing okay,,, the demons and the little voices in my head have won and taken over..... i have to make that middle-aged man pregnant so so so so bad it's terminal... (head in hands)... OUGHHHHKKKGSHHH (coughs blood and straight up dies)..... looking at the list here i really have a type huh....

[PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY TRIGGERS CAUSED BEYOND THIS LINE]

ZHONGLI who had lived for long enough to have seen and experienced almost everything one could see, was still taken aback when he felt a familiar throb in his heart as he conversed with the new face of the artisan's alley. a fledgling who had just left their nest and was beginning to make their way into the world — your naivety much unlike your more seasoned neighbours who knew how to set the prices of their goods to gain the maximum profit. you were often tricked and scammed out of selling your wares at their proper price, too scared to stand your ground and disrespect your older customers. the former archon couldn't bear to see a budding talent, such as yourself, sell themselves short out of expected social courtesy. he often found himself buying your highest-priced works even if he had to empty his entire wallet. you were beyond grateful for his patronage, even offering a commission, free of charge. that's just how bad business was before he stepped in. oh you poor thing, now that he knows how easy it was to get you dancing in his palm, how could he let you meet better opportunities? he was your lifeline, the only way you were going to make it in this career you chose. and you better not forget that.

NEUVILETTE knew that he shouldn't be so enamoured with the new hire. really. a being who had been alive for as long as he falling in love with someone thousands of years their junior? he wanted to rip his hair out. the chief justice approached this predicament as he would with almost anything he deemed annoying — avoidance. sending you out on errands that kept you out of the office for the whole day, giving days off to everyone if there was nothing on the agenda, having you go sort out documents in the filing room, and a whole host of other things that made sure you and him wouldn't cross paths. once he had a clearer mind to sit down and think, he is immediately riddled with guilt. weren't his actions akin to that of a black company employer? you on the other hand, could not be happier to hit the jackpot. good pay, regular days off, responsibilities that didn't require you to rack your brain too much. this was everything an energy-saving adult like you could ever want. it must be nice to frolic around and stay blissfully unaware while your boss was in the middle of a mental breakdown alone in his office.

JING YUAN was a calculating man, despite the commonly held belief that he never really took things too seriously. he kept a rather consistent air of nonchalance so impenetrable that it annoyed you whenever you couldn't discern what was on his mind at that moment. your after-hours hobby these days was to drop by the community starchess club and play a few rounds with the people there. and who else was waiting there at your seat every day? your damned boss. the elders who were there swooned over the handsome general, remarking about how you and him made a great pair — much to your chagrin. the man would always send a blinding smile in your way as you got closer, even going so far as to help you settle down. the routine was always the same each night. you would play against him for at least five rounds consecutively, lose against him in almost every single match, play against the other club members, gather your things and go home for the day. the general would also coincidentally be done with his activities. he offered to walk you to your front door, you've learnt from the one time you refused that the general was unusually talented in pulling an extremely sad, pathetic, wet and kicked puppy face. unfortunately, you were too nice to reject him further. ah, but now that he knew of that weakness of yours, you'd better expect that he would be pulling the same trick again soon.

TANG GUNAK felt that he was far too geriatric to be feeling this way. especially when he had adult children of his own. the youngest of whom was only a few years older than you were. a talented person, emerging at the top of your class in the academy meant that the world was your oyster. so why had you decided to come down to sichuan and work as an aide in this family? the patriarch had no clue, and he certainly didn't know how to even bring up the question. at first, he had hoped that perhaps you and one of his children would be wed but as time passed, it became increasingly obvious you were not interested in them at all, rather you had set your sights on the patriarch himself. him? the widower? the poor man who had only felt the touch of his dead wife? he was very scandalised that the young aide of his house was so open about their attraction to him. however, it seemed nobody in the household was on his side. not even his own flesh and blood. though for all that forwardness, he never expected that you would be so hesitant and shy when you were alone with him. it was endearing how you became more diligent whenever that happened, how you would engross yourself in your work just to pretend he wasn't there with you. the next time he looked up from what he was doing, you were passed out on your desk. he moved over to carry you back to your quarters — it was deep into the night right now anyways, so nobody would see him with you in his arms. he tucked you into bed, leaving as quickly as he came. the glimpse of his own flushed face in the reflection of the window never left his mind the rest of that week.

DOKGO had agreed to follow his disciple to town only because said disciple was going to throw a tantrum in his courtyard and the older man was not in the mood to deal with the adult child. the master pretended to not be acquainted with his own disciple when the man began to flirt with the women passing by. he walked on and sat down at a vacant bench in front of a teahouse. his troublesome disciple eventually shook off the girls clinging onto him and joined his master at the table, a string of apologies falling out his mouth when he caught sight of the older man's disapproving glare. only when the younger man offered to pay did the old master's hardened expression fall softer — fine, he said with a grunt. the second headache of the day came in the shape of you, a wandering merchant, or so you said. you slipped in to sit next to the master after the disciple had graciously allowed you to. not like the older man could oppose when there weren't any empty seats in the vicinity. while the conversation was lively as you talked with the disciple about your travels, he could only focus solely on the callouses of your palms, something a merchant who says they are not a martial artist shouldn't have. you had noticed his scrutinising gaze, throwing him a quick grin as you continued the chat with his disciple. oh? he could only wonder what that was about. shame that his dull, blockheaded disciple had let that slip past him. the master wonders if he should up the training regime when they get back.

CHONGYUE was up and early, as he usually does, leading the daily morning exercise with the other operators. the doctor not being there was somewhat expected, but you going missing? that was a first. when the morning exercise was over, he headed up to your room to check on you, finding the door slightly ajar. cautiously, he walked into the dark room, you had a bag of junk near the entry, from the looks of it you were living off cup noodles and soda, again. no wonder you were now curled up in bed all sick. he might have to give you an earful later, but for now, he puts aside your laundry and took out the trash. he goes down to the canteen, ordering some warm chicken porridge and even stopping by the nurse's office to pick up whatever he thinks you might need. this time, you were now somewhat awake. grumbling and muttering complaints under your breath from the disturbance, he helped you sit up. you insisted on feeding yourself, but he would have none of it. you could only comply and open your mouth wide every time he brought the spoon to your lips. you finished the food and even took the medicine obediently, earning praise from the man himself. before he left, he rubbed some medicinal balm on your stomach, layering warm blankets and patted you back to sleep, reciting an abbot's chants as he did so. the nostalgic feeling was comforting. you should thank him when you got better — maybe he might be interested in a popular classic novel from your home country, or should you try your luck with the lacquer pots instead?

SHAMANE spotted a figure hunched over the running stream near his hut as he was out collecting the fresh water he would need for the day. when they didn't answer his calls, he walked over, not too worried about whether the figure was a dangerous critter or not. the snap of a twig had them spin their head in his direction — that's when he met your eyes. you both stared at the other, sizing each other up. when he decided that you were not a threat, he introduced himself with his signature smile. you did the same, albeit quieter, still a little peeved from seeing a large bearded man in the middle of nowhere. friendly as ever, he kept the conversation going. he talked about himself, he asked about you, and so on and so forth until you finally admitted to him that you had gotten lost in the mountains, also you had twisted your ankles. he pointed to his hut and asked if you wanted to rest in there until you got better, how could you say no? the month when you lived under the same roof as him passed by quickly, and soon enough it was time for you to go back down the mountain. when you both parted ways at the entrance of the village, there was an air of reluctance in saying goodbye. you promised to write to him, maybe even visit him. he only laughed you off, not expecting much to come out of that. though when he received his sister's letter not long after, he thought about taking you with him to his hometown. but ah, isn't visiting each other hometowns a thing expectant newlyweds do? well, he could always pretend he didn't know about these things, couldn't he?

HIGURUMA was pretty friendly with the tenants renting out the office space next door. all of whom were fresh design school graduates trying to start a business together. you were the one he's grown the most familiar with, the unofficial boss of the company and the one who was single-handedly juggling your own practice along with other administrative duties. he helped you where he could, the doors to his own law office always open to you — even in the wee hours of the night. you would sit cross-legged on the big swivel chair as both of you engrossed yourselves in your respective work with the boxes of takeout splayed all over his table. when it was late enough that you missed the last train, he drove you back to your apartment. and everytime you sat in the passenger seat, he would reach over to pull the seatbelt on for you. you could have done it yourself but how were you supposed to pass up the chance to have him come this close? enough to even catch a whiff of his cologne? the lawyer himself knew that you were capable enough to do something this simple, but he couldn't help but enjoy the way you tried not to look at him as he did this each time. the ride back was quiet and serene, your tired body sank into the plush of his car seats and soon you were knocked out cold. even when you were both already parked outside your residence, you still wouldn't rouse. he clicks the seatbelt off you, even going so far as to push the seat back so you were lying more comfortably. you've done this enough times where he has a blanket to cover you with as he waited for you to wake up. which you would, and feel so ashamed. he thinks about how cute you were babbling out your apologies and thanks, all while scrambling to pull yourself together and out his car. only to repeat this whole song and dance the very next night.

RYŪ was a bit of a recluse. never really leaving his room unless it was for a really good reason. which was rare, and by rare it was almost never. but a human had to eat, shit and get clean — which was where you came in. as the designated errand runner for the organisation, you were the one that ended up having to take care of that guy's day-to-day needs. you might have hated him at first, with how picky he was with his food, even the brand of his necessities had to be the exact right one. doesn't matter if the stock ran out, you had to go out there and haunt for a place that still has it or else he wouldn't even entertain your presence. the one good thing you had going about you was that you were adaptable, learned things quick and was light on your feet. if things went south, you always had a backup, and a backup for the backup, you get the idea. the man, mayhaps out of the other's insistence, but you liked to think that he had warmed up to you, started to initiate conversations. at some point whenever you brought him his meals, he would make you sit and watch him eat. at first, you didn't know what to talk about, but then you also started bringing your own lunchboxes to eat alongside him, and you talked his ear off about what you made that day. over time, you both fell into a routine and on days when he's kept you a little too long with him, you'd stay over and crash on his couch. and after more time had passed, he's already got some of your clothes together with his in the wardrobe. hell, he even bought a bigger sofa just so you could sleep better whenever you stayed over. give it more time and who knows, you might end up moving in completely, not that this old hack would mind too much.

[rhenuvee]

Playing Animal Crossing New Horizons with Genshin Boys [Modern AU]

A/N: This is not important but I almost wrote sea bass with the characters

»»———————————-««

Treats it like Minecraft. Farms the heck out of your island for materials, and makes his own little "base" that's bordered by fences. Has enough wood, rocks, iron nuggets, etc to supply him for a year.

Razor, Bennett, Albedo, Alhaitham, Chongyun, Gorou, Kazuha, Mika, Thoma, Tighnari, Wanderer, Xiao

Chaotic. Attacks you with a net, sends you purposely cringey notes with a smelly sea bass attached, dresses like a hot dog after telling him to dress nice for a picture, probably decorates his house like a demon summoning ritual.

Childe, Cyno (does it to make you laugh), Itto, Kaeya, Lyney, Venti

Has sooo many bells... and from what?? He is your resident glucose father, always giving his bells to you to pay your debts. That 75,000 bell piano? It's yours. Really good with the Daisy Mae stonks, buys 100 turnips every time.

Alhaitham (asks you to catch a Coelacanth first), Ayato, Childe, Diluc, Kaeya

Broke. You’re the one with millions of bells. Takes so long for him to get out of the tent, and can't pay his home loans for days- but always has money for buying random things like a chair? Sometimes they have bells, but still ask you for some to annoy you. Also frequently gets scammed by Redd.

Bennett, Itto, Kaveh ("why does this feel oddly familiar..?"), Venti

Trash island. They are hoarders (honestly me). Your island's trees are still at the original random locations, along with weeds you have to pick every time, and some unknown "leaves" scattered everywhere. You say this is the reason Isabel gave your island a 2* rating but he denies it.

Bennett, Razor, Cyno, Itto, Venti

Clumsy. Always gets stung by wasps because he never takes out the net on time, falls for pitfall seed traps, and lots and lots of sea bass.

Bennett, Gorou, Itto, Kaveh

Treats it like Pokemon. Catches every single fish, bug and ocean species, completes the art gallery, every DIY. If you need something caught or made, he's your man.

Albedo, Bennett, Chongyun, Cyno, Freminet, Kazuha, Mika, Razor, Heizou, Thoma, Tighnari

Wholesome af. This one gifts you sweet letters with nice gifts, aw. Plants lots of flowers outside your houses. Always gives you things you need. Probably decorated a small little space your you two, and gives the villagers nice gifts too.

Ayato, Baizhu, Bennett, Freminet, Kaeya, Kaveh, Kazuha, Lyney, Mika, Thoma, Venti

Doesn't really play video games... but he knows you like it so he tries to understand it. He's like a tourist, following you around, occasionally getting sidetracked by random things such as villagers. He doesn't know about the mailing system (yet) so he drops off gifts for you in front of your house.

Alhaitham, Ayato, Baizhu, Diluc, Gorou, Kazuha, Mika, Razor, Thoma, Xiao, Zhongli

Villager drama enthusiast (but chaotic). You tell him about your island and the personalities of your villagers. He goes a step further by making up gossip like "_____ cannot be neighbours with _____ because he cheated on her with _____!"

Childe, Kaeya, Kaveh, Lyney, Heizou, Venti, Xingqiu

The artist. Takes Animal Crossing very seriously. Has only the best clothes and furniture, sometimes making his own custom designs. Terraformed and decorated your island to a T, and takes cute pictures with you in the museum's aquarium, fireworks festival, etc.

Kaveh, Kaeya, Kazuha, Lyney, Venti

The competitive one. Originally he thought Animal Crossing was just a cutesy game. Once you introduce him to it, it doesn't take long for him to complain about Tom Nook being a capitalist and struggling to pay his loans and complete the museum. You offer to help but he insists on doing it himself.

Itto, Tighnari, Wanderer, Kaveh

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[krowlovesinazuma]

Could you do marriage headcannons for miko with the creator

Read this prologue for context!

Scenario: Marriage

Characters: Yae Miko

Thanks to Inazuma's traditional values and culture, marriage is seen as quite the symbolic, and important social event, that can change one's life forever. As such, there are some that simply decide to live without it.

Ironically, Miko was one of these people. It made sense, as a youkai, to simply watch and not get too attached to the townsfolk, content with her influence as a shrine maiden and taking care of her publishing company. With her duties, and youkai lifespan, it just wasn't logical.

That's why, even when you appeared, showing such a fascination and preference for her, she never once thought about the possibility of marriage, and as such, you're the one bringing the topic up as a possibility! It's a certain way to catch her off guard.

She thinks it's a joke, or an exaggeration of your feelings at first, but when you refuse to drop the subject, or start imagining things, she decides to question you seriously, just in case. Better to settle this quickly, than let it drag on and confuse you!

She'll ask if you're really alright with the prospect of being attached to her for the rest of her life. As for if she's willing... Years ago, she wouldn't have given it a thought, but being with you made her happier than anything else in her life!

When you accept, Miko will ask for a break from both of her duties for a while, to embark on a sweet honeymoon with you! She'll take the chance to step away from Inazuma like you used to do with her when you controlled her from outside. She has so many places she wants to see again, now with you by her side!

While the ceremony and marriage could be done in public, Miko would rather it stay between the two of you. Not only does it make it more comfortable for her to show her true feelings, but it's way less of a hassle to prepare and maintain!

Life with Miko is quite interesting! As her creator, she makes sure that you're comfortable and satisfied, but she never resists her urge to tease and play with you for long. Since it's never as bad in public though, you can tease her back and see her true emotions!

She'll soften up whenever you ask for it, and sometimes she'll ask you to be fully compliant if she had a stressful day. Trust me, she really needs it from time to time, especially with the process of making Inazuma open again...

What about in public then? Miko uses the chance to make both hers, and your image even more mysterious! Teasing visitors that get curious, and making rumors spread, all while letting you have fun with them as well!

Overall, life with her is quite peaceful and relaxing if you're devoted to it, and listen to her wishes. Do so, and she'll be more than happy to listen to yours, and give you the comfiest life you could've dreamt of!

"Dear... Be a good darling and get on the couch for me. I want to cuddle you for a moment... Ugh, you wouldn't believe the nerve of some customers, demanding to meet me face to face when I'm clearly so busy. Yes yes, the others tried to convince him, but it wasn't enough to get through his thick skull. Shhh... Just be a good pillow for me, I need it."

[dr-spectre]

You mentioned something about Splatoon 4 thoughts earlier today, and I really wanna hear you ramble about that. But I also really wanna listen to you ramble about a Hypno Callie rewrite lmao. So if you haven't already, since there's a good chance I missed it lol, what would a Spectre Hypno Callie rewrite look like?

OH DUDE NOW YOU'RE GETTING ME ALL PUMPED UP TEHEHEHEHE! ITS TIME FOR ME TO RAMBLE!!! Imma go ultra autism on you!!! It's gonna border on fanfiction territory! (Not the creepy or romantic kind...) Don't say that I didn't warn you...

Splatoon 4 Ideas.

Now here's the thing right. I only have a few ideas on a Splatoon 4 so I don't think I can do a giant ramble about it yet. But so far I got the idea of Splatoon 4 taking place in a giant futuristic city near the beach. So you get this cool plaza area near the beach and I got that idea from the AMAZING Project Splatoon 3. Seriously go check that out, it is amazing!!!!!!!

But you can also go into the city and explore some of it. And you can ride a bike to different shops and have your own apartment!!! I know people want apartments for the next game and yeah I agree. We NEED an apartment maker, it's the next logical step from lockers!

Also for weapons... I would LOVE to have a flamethrower weapon but instead of fire it's mist. A crank operated shooter made out of bike gears where you gotta keep spamming the ZR button, kind of like the Octoshower's weapon. A Wii Zapper charger!!! PLEASE NINTENDO! A saw blade Splatana. Maybe a pool noodle Inkbrush? That would be funny. Maybe a Painbrush that has a fan on it? Man... I'm starting to sound like Sheldon HAHAHA!

For the new Idols, it would be a duo instead of a 3 Idol group because oh my god 3 team Splatfests are so unbalanced sometimes. They would have the colors red and cyan. I don't have much on what they would look like, but I imagine one of them is a female Inkling with a cyan color and the other is a male octoling with a red color. It's time we have a proper God damn male Idol that isn't a giant manta ray!!! Now since I cannot draw for shit and I don't have the desire to draw (drawing has made me so angry so multiple times so I stick to writing and rambling) so I'll just show some pics to show you what kind of vibe I'm going for.

(Yes I'm not fucking joking. I've gotten inspiration from Silver the Hedgehog and Spider-Punk...)

I think it would be an interesting dynamic to have a fancy, highly teched out character paired up with a grungy and punk character who's loud and funny. I can imagine their music to be futuristic and techno while including segments of rock. Basically techno rock with romantic elements in it.

I would like some quality of life improvements and just general improvements as well, like being able to customize EVERY part of your look without having to go through that annoying character creation menu in the crater. Faster levelling up for abilities, ability drinks and food actually giving you which ability you want instead of a chance at it. Way more pants and a pants shop. WAY MORE hairstyles, eye colors with an option to select from a color wheel, eyebrows, scar and tattoo options too with a new tattoo vendor. (the tattoos are explained in game to be temporary ones even though they secretly aren't, to make sure parents don't get the wrong idea lmao)

Maybe some gameplay tweaks too? like including very slight momentum when going downhill? It has to be very slight though for balance. I would like to add a dolphin dive like mechanic where if you press the jump button in the air in your swimming form, you'll quickly stomp to the ground, and that speed will be carried over when swimming in ink for a little while. Maybe faster horizontal wall swimming too? Basically make the gameplay a little bit faster is all I'm trying to say, Splatoon doesn't need a giant gameplay overhaul, just small tweaks to make the last game seem worse to play lmao.

And of course, BETTER SERVERS! WE NEED DEDICATED SERVERS! NOW!!!!!!!!!!! EVEN IF ITS JUST A FEW IT'LL BE SOOOOOO HELPFUL! STOP BEING STUPID NINTENDO! GOD!

Um... anyways!

Now, in terms of story.... I would have 3 parts, one is the main campaign while the other two are DLC. The main campaign is focused on the Salmonids. You play as a new agent (Agent X or something, i think that's a cool name) as you explore these islands Super Mario 64 style where you do missions and try and stop the Salmonids from getting out of control as they gone on a rampage from an unknown cause. You have to complete enough missions on an island to go to the next.

Basically, think of Salmon Run maps and areas found in Mario games but they are WAY LARGER and more complex areas to go through with NPCs to talk to. I really want Splatoon 4 to expand on the concepts found in the hub worlds in Alterna and go fully into a 3D Mario sandbox style game.

You also have to team up with Frye, Big Man, Neo Agent 3 and Marie who join up with a new cast of characters who are in charge of guiding you to new islands (haven't thought much about what these characters are) to figure out what's going on. Callie doesn't appear in the story as it's explained in a Sunken Scroll that Callie is helping Octavio figure out what to do with the Fuzzy Octarians that are still trapped in Alterna. And yes Octavio has now fully joined the New Squidbeak Splatoon which Callie is very ecstatic about.

Cuttlefish is fully retired and doesn't appear, and Captain is taking a break from captain duties, leaving Marie to watch over Frye and Big Man as she is their boss anyways. Now, where is Shiver in all this? Well... here me out... she's the villain. And no she doesn't have any sort of bullshit evil headgear on. She's a villain due to being corrupted by greed and wanting more power. She has become addicted to the high she gets from winning and feeling powerful and has teamed up with the Salmonids to gain even more power and cash. She's been fully consumed by power and cash and Frye and Big Man are not on board with her plans as Shiver doesn't wanna give back to the people in Splatsville anymore. So Shiver leaves the group and gathers up the Salmonids and commands them.

However it's revealed that Shiver is doing these things because she had a bad family upbringing in her clan and was always talked down to and treated as weak. So all that trauma and resentment is finally on the surface and Shiver is lashing out at everyone because her pain is so much for her. There could be some themes about found families and healing trauma with the people that you love and stuff like that. Haven't thought too deeply about it. But I would really love to see Deep Cut forgive Shiver and just hug and cry it out. I'll cry alongside them lol.

Now, the second story is focused on the Squid Sisters and takes place before the events of the main campaign. You play as Agent 4 and Callie finds you lying on the floor and tells you that Inkopolis Plaza has been covered in a strange fog and a weird green substance that looks like gooey moss. The buildings have changed and there's all this weird plant life and dust everywhere. Callie escorts you to the tower found in Inkopolis Plaza to figure out where Marie went and that's where you meet Octavio who got shot down in his mech from a laser.

The three go inside and the building looks very similar to the aesthetics of Side Order but with a hospital liminal space edge to it. It looks like a twisted dream hospital environment with a giant lobby in the middle.

This kind of vibe but more open and less hallway like. It should invoke the feeling of going to a hospital as a kid.

However, instead of an elevator to go higher, it's a giant spiraling staircase that grows after each floor Agent 4 completes. Basically the gameplay is the same as the rogue like gameplay found in Side Order but its heavily expanded upon with new enemies, objectives, color chips, etc. However... during the first 12 floors you hear these weird whispers and voices that sound very similar to Marie's voice.... Callie says she's getting major Deja Vu, and then Marie's voice is fully clear and echoes throughout the building, telling Callie in specific to leave her alone and to get out of here. They don't listen and continue forward.

When you reach the 12th floor, you go inside a giant white chamber and you see Marie in a new outfit that's similar to this outfit found in the Splatoon 2 artbook. Basically this but with a cool cloak and squid tentacle patterns on it and a gas mask instead of shades.

She's standing on some kind of green gooey moss and looks angry. Marie attacks Agent 4 with her charger and its a stealth boss where you gotta sneak around and get up to Marie and knock her down from the moss pile. Evil Marie has always been a beloved fan concept in the community, like Hypno Marie has so many cool fan designs out there and i think that could work honestly.

Callie manages to knock the mask off of Marie with a splat bomb but she's still angry. Callie grabs onto Marie and Marie calms down and cries. Agent 4 looks at the gas mask and its just filled with regular oxygen, nothing special about it. No hypnosis gas or anything. Just regular oxygen... Marie says she's sorry and explains that stuff from her past is catching up to her and making her unwell (you can guess on what I'm referring to wink wink.) She was unable to sleep for several days and was being manipulated by someone...

The thing behind Marie's manipulation appears from the ceiling and it's this giant white metallic squid that has transparent glass on some of it's body and arms, which shows this bright green goo flowing inside it. (think of Overlorder but he's a squid). I don't have a lot of information for this guy but this villain was created to cure Fuzzy Octarians, but due to unknown circumstances it went out of control and its coding was changed to "heal" people's pain by covering the planet in a modified and twisted version of Marie's low tide ink which now has evolved to be very similar to plant life. This goo/ink neutralizes certain parts of the brain, leaving the victim completely unfeeling and depressed, unable to feel anything, even physical touch or sensation. The villain manipulated Marie by going inside her head, analyzing her memories and telling her that all she has to is to get rid of "the intruders" and he will "heal her pain."

After the Marie boss fight, you have to travel up to 40 floors instead of 30 and during the downtime you get to learn about the Squid Sisters. Stuff like Callie and Marie before they blew up, who came up with their outfits, more info about their parents and managers, Marie talking about how she has trauma and nightmares from the events of Splatoon 2 and is terrified that one day Callie may leave and never come back again, Callie diving into her time in the Octo Canyon and finally clearing up what happened to her, Octavio showing remorse and sorrow for the actions he has done over the past 100 years. Basically Side Order but with the Squid Sisters, Octavio and Agent 4. I know it's a lot like Side Order but Side Order is so damn good so why not do it again but improve upon the gameplay you know?

That's all I got for this story and it's probably gonna change and be tweaked over time.

Now for the third story of Splatoon 4. I barely have anything for this but it will star the new Idol duo of the game, Off the Hook, Eight and Captain. I think it'll be like Octo Expansion in terms of gameplay and difficulty, but also expanded and longer to complete.

OKAY! NO MORE SPLATOON 4! TIME TO TALK ABOUT HYPNO CALLIE!

Hypno Callie Rewrite.

Honestly, the way I would go about rewriting Hypno Callie is very simple... Remove the Hypnoshades. That's it. She can still have them as an aesthetic part of her outfit, but i would make it so Callie is no longer hypnotized and it's WAY MORE clear to the audience that Callie is suffering from mental illness and that she left with the Octarians, not "kidnapped, overpowered and brainwashed into being a mind controlled slave." Splatoon 2 was always about the separation of the Squid Sisters and their eventual healing and reunion, it was always gonna be about that but due to time constraints probably, they rushed it and introduced bullshit shades to make it easier and simpler, they then tried to fix it later with an obscure post with a relationship chart that no one even fucking talks about, even timeline explainers fail to fucking mention it... ugh...

Making Callie an actual antagonist that has been manipulated by Octavio, whispering to her and playing into her insecurities and pain is way more compelling and makes more sense for Octavio to do as a character. Like how the fuck did he come up with the Hypnoshades and why did he only use it on Callie? He can just make hypnosis tech out of nowhere? Huh? It makes way more sense for Octavio to just manipulate her as he is a master of words and propaganda.

So what I would do is introduce a new mandatory collectable in the Splatoon 2 Hero Mode called "Callie's diary." At certain moments in the campaign Agent 4 and Marie find pages from Callie's diary as she explains her feelings and pain from being overworked and feeling some resentment as Marie has stopped calling or texting her. Marie looks so ashamed and disappointed and starts blaming herself for Callie's disappearance. Some of the diary entries include the photos found in Sunken Scrolls 21 and 22. The last diary entry found in Sector 4 is an emotional rant from Callie the day she went missing. She rants about how she can't take working anymore and how she's so lonely. Her last line is "if no one truly cares for me up here... Then... Maybe..." And there's a small tear stain at the bottom of the page.

Now for the final boss, the main plot points would occur sorta the same way, you fight Octavio and Callie, after a bit Marie comes in and shoots her in the eye, Callie calms down, blah blah blah. I actually really do like the idea of the "low tide ink" that the English translation team introduced. I think it's a neat idea that Marie has this special ink that calms someone down so I'll keep that for the rewrite.

However, during the final boss, i would make it to where Marie is really trying to reach to Callie and trying to convince her that she is loved and she matters, she tries to apologize for her actions and explains that Octavio is just manipulating her for the Octarians' goals. Callie fights back and doesn't wanna listen to her, constantly trying to shut her down. Marie even reminds Callie of their childhood and it almost gets to Callie, but she becomes more emotional and angry, she's so confused because deep down she knows Marie is right, but she's so scared to listen to her because she doesn't want to get abandoned again.

However what really gets to Callie is Marie collapsing on her knees and crying, just begging her badly to come back to her. And Marie says "I love you...." Callie is in shock and starts getting flashes of good memories with her and Marie. She holds the shades in her hands and destroys them. Callie leaps into the air and collides into Marie's arms, and they cry their eyes out and say sorry to each other.

The battle plays out the same but i would like to add another cutscene after Octavio gets his shit kicked in, Callie and Marie are on Sheldon's van and they look at the sunset together. I think that would be really sweet and connect beautifully with the credits and Fresh Start.

I took a lot of inspiration from the game Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and two boss fights in particular. The Miles vs. Peter fight, and the Spider-Man vs. Scream/MJ fight. In those boss fights, it's sort of like a therapy session for the characters in that the people under the symbiote are venting about their issues and expressing their anger they have kept hidden for so long, and the person on the other side is trying desperately to reach for them and save them from themselves. It's really powerful shit honestly and it made me feel emotional seeing Peter go "ALL I WANTED WAS TO SAVE EVERYONE! MJ! MAY! NOW THE CITY THINKS I'M THE PROBLEM! you think I'm the problem." Like i know it's kind of crazy to take inspiration from a game made for adults and take some of it into Splatoon but... I really don't give a shit. Children's media can show powerful scenes of characters struggling with their inner demons. They can do it and have proven to be successful. Children can handle it, they can.

Now... i have worked on a Splatoon 2 finale rewrite and I'm pretty much almost done with it, i need to finish the last bit of it and then go over it again so I'm fully happy with it. However i don't know how to present it as it's in the form of a script and idk how that's gonna work on tumblr, i mean i could put it on AO3 but idk if i wanna make an account just to post one thing on there and idk how many scripts get posted onto AO3 anyways...

It's like I'm a chef and I'm cooking something, but there's no waiter to deliver the food lmao.

ANYWAYS! Thank you for reading my autistic ass ramblings! I got so much free time that i just so much of it just writing down fan concepts for things on different games and stuff (I have a 42 page and counting document on a potential Sonic Frontiers 2.) Yeah... I got THAT kind of autism, not the maths and science one... Again, thank you for reading!

[turboacek-blog]

Tenten if she was the main character

Not to be taken too seriously

Written Jan 24, 2023 (clearing drafts lol)

Just wanted to explore some power-ups weapons etc… that could have been given if she had time to actually expand etc

Custom weapon

We get a taste of her gigantic iron ball in the filler episodes I believe

But when she already mastered all weapons at 13 then the next step is a special weapon just for her

They even kinda touch on this in the games, in NUNS4 the Shikamaru adventure side quest has her make a custom weapon and Shikamaru is impressed by how she made it so she has the ability to mix and mash weapons to make something unique

And I don’t need her to be a villain/antagonist but she could have easily been the scientific ninja tool starter as it ties into her weapon-like

Sealing

We see her keep her weapons in scrolls but I think just expanding on sealing outside of the regular item storage summoning could have worked

From just having it more available like how Sasuke has his wristbands that he can use to easily reverse summoned Shuriken and etc

To going Fate’s Gilgamesh and summoning them out of thin air

Like people joke about characters using kunai and etc but in reality if someone had the chance to slit a character like Madara’s throat if he doesn’t get healed up immediately he would have died

Random ideas I had:

Seal tattoos

Just think that if she made herself the storage she can just send chakra through her body and the weapon will pop out and to having seals all on her would effectively be tattoos,

Can be how Naruto’s seal works where only active with chakra, or something more permanent and she’s totally inked out

Just think it would be cool if she just sent chakra to her shoulder then out came a shield or sent to her finger and some Shuriken popped out, her palm a sword, her foot a tanto etc

Switchable weapon

Similar idea but she links her weapons with seals so that if she sends chakra through the seal it swaps out the weapon automatically like she’s using the staff then with some chakra it swaps to a sword mid motion then chakra agin now it’s a mace

Based on the part 1 Tenten from the Storm games where she just cycles through weapons instantly in her Taijutsu combos

Plus woul be a unique weapon for her as only she would know how to send chakra to get the weapon she wants

Lastly legendary weapons

Kishimoto had the right idea with having her use the six paths weapons

The thing was due to her chakra she couldn’t use it a lot

So I think it would be nice to start that idea earlier and she uses/acquires legendary weapons

From the 7 swords of the mist, to more filler weapons like that Thunder sword that was apparently the second Hokage to just not as known to us weapons like Sakumo’s/Kakashi’s chakra blade that glowed white is a good idea

But yeah I just think they took this character that can use any weapon and mostly relegated her to long range kunai throwing as they focused more on her accuracy than her weapon mastery as in any other anime she would be using a sword a ton or if she sticks to long range would be some menace like Gilgamesh or plenty of archers or snipers and etc

[tomatoswup]

FlowerShop Stampede (Headcanons)

✿Welcome to Flowershop Stampede! ✿

Here, we offer the best quality in Floral. selections!

Weddings, Birthdays, Parties, Bouquets?

We cater to any event!

Come and Visit Today!

summary: trigun characters working in a flowershop,, what could go wrong?

characters: vash the stampede, nicolas d. wolfwood, meryl stryfe, milly thompson

warnings: none, meryl running wolfwood over, vash's horrible flower arranging skills, etc :P

category: headcannons

A/N: this was fun to imagine tbh hehehe,,, i'll be writing an extra bonus one shot stemming from these headcannons but first imma write the other things I have planned for right now! I was thinking about writing these up first and scheduling them ahead of time but what's the fun in that :,) i may not be the best writer but thank yall for reading my things,,, also i'm so tired from a recent trip so half-awake-half-asleep editing

Vash The Stampede

One of the first part-timers at Flowershop Stampede!

A bit of a run-down flowershop, but Vash is very encouraged to flip everything around with work ethic and effort! :)

Roberto literally just watches as the new-hire speaks to the roses in the morning,,,,he just lets him do his thing

and i'm gonna be honest with yall, Boss-man Roberto puts Vash as the main floral consultant

because who can resist that adorable face so kind?

"Do you really want just one batch? The chapel would be soo pretty if you added two more to fluff everything up :)" -insert doe eyes here-

yeah...give me 10.

also he's a bit of a people person sooooooo

literally has a natural green thumb, and the dude is majoring in botany

so theoretically he's the most practiced besides Roberto,,but he doesn't flaunt that around. he really just likes nature and this is encouraged by his adoptive mother Rem.

BUT he doesn't hesitate to kick anyone out if theres' a problem or disturbance or a threat

Will fight a customer with a stern smile on the wrong day.

One time, this rude ass man was yelling right into Milly's face because she dropped a bit of dirt on his shoes until Vash stepped in.

scary ass face bro what the hell,,, after a few tumbles and a broken pot, he kicked his ass out "peacefully".

cried a few tears after though.

"I hope he's alright... The cop gave me his number, what if I just check up on them.."

"Vash you had the right-"

"What if they died???! D:"

"They're not dead Vash.." sweatdrop

His brother Nai often looks down on his choice of profession and study. He thinks Vash should've studied more in International Relations or Humanities at most but botany? Seriously?

But since Vash's childhood was so...troubled. He just wanted to live in peace at this point, to breathe a little. He loves to help others but in his own way!

Doesn't hesitate to help people choose or decide on the right flowers,, he actually gives really good suggestions.

To everyone's surprise and utter disbelief, Vash is not good at making bouquets. At all.

Milly had asked Vash to make one for her when she went to quickly help Meryl unload plants from the truck and the girl came back to a very...bald.. bundle of roses.

"did i do it? :D"

everyone agreed that Vash doesn't really have a good eye at actually making the bouquets,, choosing the flowers yes! actually arranging them hell no.

bonus headcanon:

sometimes, Vash's prosthetic aches due to over-exertion. lifting heavy things around the shop, he forgets to take his breaks more often than he should, especially before the refitting appointment for his arm. so whenever it aches, Wolfwood takes his place and he goes in the back kitchen for a good 30 minute break.

when he gets home, he asks you to give him a shoulder massage and you gladly do.

you also nag at him for not taking his needed breaks to which he sweats a little and gives you a small smile.

he loves you for worrying about him though :,)

"babe plz take me back'

"vash i'm literally just gonna go get the IcyHot-"

"come back :,("

you cant help but give him a little peck on the lips before you go fixing his aches.

Nicolas D. Wolfwood

One of Flowershop Stampede's full-timers,, came in a bit after Vash started, roughly a good 6 months after.

No, he wasn't introduced to the job by anyone, he really just saw the Help Wanted poster in the trash and said "yup, this one right here."

also the man was broke aside for an odd job he doesn't like telling people for many reasons.

Now the man's here. Brown apron, gardening gloves, dirt on his cheeks and sunglasses laying on top of his head.

someone take a pic plz☝️

Alot of people including clients suspect he's a con-man but he just has the charm of a door-to-door salesman with the vibes of a con man.

bIGGG DIFFERENCE not really

a bit of a hard ass but has a good heart,, really good at convincing people to buy flowers.

Roberto doesn't like having him on consultations like Vash though since he goes off topic quite a bit stop rizzing up the fiance wolfwood her marriage is literally next week.

Has a specialty for making bouquets, specifically weddings and big events.

do you have a Quince going on? you want 5 big bouquets? Give Wolfwood a day he'll get them done by midnight tops.

Literally the two main bouquet arrangers in the shop are Wolfwood and Milly so they often call each other partner.

Old ladies absolutely love Wolfwood. He always tries to help them the best he can.

Carrying flower bundles, giving them suggestions on nice small bouquets nicely wrapped, they really love him and his little chest show boy button them up puT UR BADONKERS AWAY-WE ARE SELLING TULIPS

hates morning shifts with a passion, so he takes the night shifts often as Vash does who can't do mornings bc of class on certain days.

Overall, a tad bit aggressive yet charming worker! Takes pride in his work! in fighting too!

Meryl Stryfe

Flowershop Stampede's delivery driver! Also another full-timer besides Wolfwood.

If you spot her on the road with a big ass Ford F150 filled with crates and boxes filled with flowers and roses nooooo you didn't.

She mostly does the final parts of big orders, delivering and getting the sign-offs on orders!

Just delivered a big bunch of flowers for a bash?

"Sign right here for me and you're ready to go :)"

If you got a problem with her or one of the orders that were put in correctly or you don't wanna pay, she'll put Roberto on speaker for you 💖 or she'll curse you out AND THEN put him on speaker

best of both worlds.

Almost ran Wolfwood over as she was backing the truck up for bouquet pick-up.

He never let her live it down

"I don't know why you let her drive Roberto-"

"IT WAS JUST ONE TIME!"

no it wasn't

it was like the third but they don't have another driver.

also she's pretty good at getting flowers to their locations in record time to Roberto's dismay

the luck she has in not having gotten a ticket yet god damn. But she's still a pretty good driver! :D

Very good friends with Vash and Milly,, Whenever all three are on break, they go to the nearby coffee shop to get bread and coffee for everyone else working in the shop.

Milly accompanies her whenever theres' huge bouquets or arrangements to deliver so Meryl doesn't hurt herself.

And when she's not delivering anything, she helps the shop upfront by putting new plants out to display outside and inside the store!

Meryl appreciates everyone including the plants and works hard to show that she does!

Whip that car girl☝️ !!!!

Milly Thompson

Flowershop cashier and floral arranger! She actually works part-time due to her studies also.

She's a little oblivious but girl knows how to do her math real shit. Rings up the cash register in like a minute

"Next Customer! ^ - ^”

But she also does alot of the heavy duty shit around with Vash and Wolfwood.

Loading the truck, bringing in the crates filled with plants, strong millyyyy💪

Loves working there bc she's enamored with the stories customers and clients tell her and why they're buying flowers.

A proposal? Funeral? Someone just gave birth? Birthday?

People live very interesting lives and Milly finds it so fascinating to listen to them and how passionate they sound whenever they speak about their one and only(s).

Sometimes regulars who've known Milly well enough bring her pudding in exchange for a extra rose :) She's building up her little collection in the Kitchen fridge,

meryl is starting to get worried tbh

In Wolfwood's words, Milly is too considerate of a worker and he wants her to be more foots down but Milly politely declines his words of "wisdom"

Whenever Flowershop Stampede tables at any fairs or events, Milly likes to have fun gardening activities for the kids to come and enjoy!

Had her partner-crime Wolfwood convince Roberto to hold a Community and Kids Flower Bouquet Making class. Both Milly and Wolfwood leaded the event with pride.

And yes, all of Milly's family came and attended of course

Vash also did with Rem and a stubborn Nai who secretly enjoyed it

Wolfwood is now Uncle Wolf according to one of Milly's cousins.

milly: sooo uncle wolf what are the orders going out today?

wolfwood: milly i swear to god-

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Imagine the Tails Polycule in the death of the sonic the hedgehog game.

Oooh interesting

So, I'm going to interpret as if they (prime!polycule I assume) were inserted into the game to join the main cast, and I'll start with placement first

(Game spoilers ahead)

Shadow, Knuckles, and Sonic all start out being the only person in their respective cars (not including the conductor in this). Since we have 3 foxes to place, I think it's best to just spread them out among these 3 cars (the Saloon, the lounge car, and the conductor's car)

ㅤ

My decided placements are as follows:

Sails – the Saloon car with Knuckles

Nine - the lounge car with Shadow

Mangey - the conductor's car with Sonic and the Conductor

ㅤ

And with that, the following are their roles and brief backstories (to fit with the theme of the murder mystery party):

Sails – Bartender

He's a bartender at the Saloon the town sheriff (Knuckles) frequents. He doesn't particularly have the passion for bartending, but it’s due to his (now passed) elderly boss's getting him this job that saved him from a worse life, so he can't complain too much. His real passion lies in his contraption making, which only his coworkers and the Sheriff knows about. While he tries to be decent at his job and maintan a friendly exterior for the customers, you can occasionally spot him leaning over the bar counter with a bored look on his face. He also enjoys a good riddle.

Nine – Programmer

The programer is married to his job (developing new robots that exist to help vulnerable people). After he happened to win an all expenses paid vacation in the lottery, his boss forced him out of the office to take the vacation in question, and he reluctantly complied. He has a hard time sitting still and relaxing, which results in him often working on something when not on the clock. Because of this, he took his Bits with him on vacation to tinker with. He doesn't like it when his work is interrupted and can be a bit prickly, but he can't suppress his excitement or interest in machines or programs he's never seen. Coincidentally, the only person on the train he recognizes is the locksmith (Shadow), who he shares a bit of a bitter (or bittersweet?) past with.

Mangey – Co-captain

He met the captain (Sonic) in college and the two have been attached at the hip since. While easily mistaken as Captain and assistant (since the co-captain often runs errands for or assists the captain), in truth the co-captain functions both as backup and a support partner. Should the captain have complications, it's up to the co-captain to step into his role, and if the captain needs to make a hard decision or needs assistance with something difficult, the co-captain is who he asks first. They are partners who rely on each other, and good friends.

ㅤ

Now, for the game itself, each of the main characters had a set of movements, other people they talked to, and things they did, so these three would be no different.

At this point I actually started plotting out the movements of each of our 3 additional characters and how they shift the story and add to it. However, once I'd done enough work I'd realized I'd come out of this ask with a full blown au rather than just passing thoughts. As such, so as not to spoil a bunch of major moments in an au I may seriously end up writing for and showing off, I've decided instead to finish off this ask with some notes and tidbits about the au.

ㅤ

Misc Notes:

Nine's Bits are based upon these little guys from Archie Sonic from Silver's future (post sgw):

I couldn't think up a better name and "the bits" is still classic to me, so I made up a random lore reason why they'd be called that in this au. Answer? Professor Von Schlemmer exists in Silver's future in this au, and either Silver accidentally brought some bits back with him once or ended up showing Tails or Nine some of his work. So Nine ended up taking the basic idea from the professor's bits to create his own. Since this is a bit more of a careful situation and Nine isn’t in the business of passing others' ideas off as his own, until he comes up with another name and makes them sufficiently different, his bits are a semi-secret not so secret personal project. Idk it's kind of like how in Prime he used the Chaos Council's power core schematics to create the shatterdrive, if that makes any sense. He claims the title of inventing shatterdrive technology, but he does not hide where he drew inspiration or based his designs from

Nine (and his programmer role) have two bits. One is modeled after Chaos Sonic, and the other is modeled after Alpha Grim Sonic.

The purpose of Nine's bits are essentially to act either as extensions of Chaos Sonic and Alpha Grim Sonic or to be additional bodies the robots can upload themselves into. The former is largely useful for stuff like recon, and the latter is used in the event Nine needs to make his robots more portable for some reason (for example, in this case, he wanted to keep his robots with him during Amy's party, but didn't want them taking up space on the train)

Unless one has the proper tools, only Nine is able to access the memory of his bits (in regards to actually scrolling through their memory logs AND in accessing footage they record). Tails did not bring tools necessary for this on the train with him (especially since he takes his role as detective very seriously). This is important in case, say, the Detective and Barry end up getting ahold of one of the Bits and they happen to maybe have crucial evidence.

Fun fact! The Poet does manage to "finish the job" about the same way as he does in the original game. He is lucky that The Programmer is not in the lounge car during his arrival before and escape after the attempted murder. However, this doesn't mean The Programmer left the room completely empty and unsupervised...

Another fun fact! Rather than getting an interrogation like The Sheriff does in the Saloon Car, the Bartender withholds a special clue he found (that could possibly lead to the murderer). Tails and Barry just have to complete a task for him that involves the Super Monkey Ball arcade machine

The same way Sonic and Mangey's character cards and Sails and Knuckles' specifiy that they have a type of relationship to each other, so, too, do Shadow and Nine's cards.

Excluding Barry, The Co-Captain is the only character to suspect foul play when the Captain is "murdered" during the game. However, this is largely due to the fact that (with how the character movements are structured) the Captain and the Conductor suddenly disappear, leaving the Conductor's car in disarray. It's also a while before the Co-Captain reaches anyone who is aware that Sonic's character was murdered.

Final tidbit...! There are kisses involved. Even if they're ooc for the roles they're playing, with the prime polycule involved I had to work em in! 😂

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And with that, I'd love to thank you for the ask, anon! Although it may not have been your intention, I bamboozled myself into getting majorly invested in this little prime polycule au 🥰

[phr3ia]

I Got Isekai'd Into A World Where I'm Just The Side Character (Wuthering Waves x Fem!Reader) [Chapter 4 : The General]

Jiyan rode his horse through the gates of Jinzhou, the city walls looming over him like giants. The place was buzzing with life, and the smell of food drifting through the streets made his stomach grumble. He knew he should head straight to meet Rover, but the tantalizing aromas of the dishes were just too good to resist. 

"Just a quick bite." he muttered to himself, heading straight for Panhua's Restaurant.  His stomach was calling, and he wasn't going to ignore it.

He made his way to the restaurant. It was a place he knew well. The food there was enough to fill one's belly and even their soul.

He stepped inside, greeted by the familiar scent of cooking oil and spices. A woman looked up from her work, a smile lighting her face. "General Jiyan, welcome back. It's been a while."

"Panhua... it has been too long. I am sorry I didn't come by sooner. I hope you are well? How are things here?" He asked as he took a seat at a table near the window. The sun was beginning to dip lower, casting a warm glow over everything. He watched people walking by, enjoying the peace of the moment. He ordered a dish, relishing the anticipation of a good meal.

"Things are going well for us. We're blessed. Even with the chaos around us, we still manage to bring joy to our customers. And thank you for asking. My family and I are doing well. Your men often come to visit, and they speak highly of you. Ah, here's your order." She placed a steaming dish in front of him, and Jiyan waited until she left to take his first bite.

He savored the flavors, finding comfort in the familiar taste. It felt like home. He ate slowly, taking his time to enjoy the meal. He glanced outside, watching people enjoy their evening. It was a sight he wished everyone could experience.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

You just chilled in the inn all day, doing absolutely nothing.  You didn't want to bother Rover, knowing he needed some rest.

You stared outside the window, wondering how people even managed without their phones and computers.  You knew about the Pangu Terminal, but that was it.  "Seriously, what do people even do for fun around here? There are no malls, arcade or anything." you sighed, shaking your head.

You were lost in thought, but then your stomach growled, reminding you that you hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. 

"Wait a minute... Rover gave me some money yesterday, didn't he?  He said I can spend it however I wanted....Man, that guy is so thoughtful." you mumbled to yourself, a smile spreading across your face.

You quickly changed on the clothes Yangyang had given you and headed out to grab something to eat. 

You went to the restaurant where Rover, you and the others ate last night, you gaze scanning the room. It was full of customers, but you immediately sighed in relief when you spotted an empty seat, although your hopes were short-lived as you saw a man seated across from it. You approached him, your confidence making it clear you weren't afraid to ask for permission. "Excuse me, sir. Mind if I sit here?"

The man, glanced up from his meal, a hint of curiosity flickering in his eyes. "Not at all. Please do."

You settled into a seat, placing your blazer beside you. You started talking to yourself, "Finally, I can have a break. I've been running errands all day and I'm so exhausted. If only Jinzhou had some sort of public transportation. It would save me a lot of trouble."

Jiyan chuckled softly, drawing your attention. "Sorry, I couldn't help but hear what you were saying."

"Oh, Uhm..." you slightly feel embarrassed. "I guess being alone makes me forget that I'm not the only one here."

"Oh, great. Now he's going to think I'm completely nuts." you thought to yourself,  cringing internally.

"No worries, I don't judge. I'm glad someone is honest these days." Jiyan took another bite, a hint of a smile lingering on his lips.

You picked up the menu, flipping through the pages with confusion written all over your face. "Umm... I have no idea what to order."

"Um, excuse me. I'm kind of new here, so could you recommend something from this menu?" you asked, extending the menu towards the man in front of you.

Jiyan chuckled "No problem. The stir-fried beef with vegetables and rice is there best seller. The beef slices are tender, and the vegetables add a nice crunch to each bite."

"Stir-fried beef, got it." You ordered the dish, relieved you wouldn't have to struggle with it. "Thank you, by the way. You're really helping me adjust to this place." You sipped your water, feeling more relaxed.

Jiyan's brows furrowed, giving you a curious look. "So, you're not from around here?"

You hesitated for a moment, debating whether or not to tell him the truth. "Well, no. I'm from a far away place. I just arrived in this city recently." You hoped explaining it briefly would satisfy his curiosity.

"Ah, I see. Where exactly is this 'far away place' of yours? And what brought you here?" Jiyan asked, genuinely interested.

You swallowed, deciding to keep the details of your Isekai situation to yourself. "It's a long story. Let's just say that I got here in a very unexpected way." you responded, hoping he'd understand.

"Ah, I see. Well, Jinzhou might seem a bit different compared to your hometown, but it's a place worth getting used to." Jiyan smiled, watching as you waited for your food.

"Whew, good thing he didn't pressed it any further." you thought, letting out a silent sigh of relief as you glanced at him.

You looked at the man's face, studying him for a moment before speaking. "My apologies, I don't believe we've been properly introduced. May I know your name?" you asked, extending your hand to shake.

"My name is Jiyan." he replied, offering a small smile as he accepted your handshake. He too, had no intention of disclosing his true identity, preferring to keep his personal life separate from his duties.

"Nice to meet you, Jiyan! I'm Y/N." you said with a beaming smile.

"Here's your order!" the waitress exclaimed.

Your eyes widened as the dish was set in front of you, the steam rising from the plate further enticing your senses. "Oh, wow, this looks amazing!" you gasped in fascination, your mouth watering at the sight.

Jiyan couldn't help but smile, watching as you eagerly picked up your spoon and fork.

You immediately dug in, taking a generous bite. "Mmm, this is heaven in my mouth," you praised between chews.

Jiyan laughed lightly, amused by your enthusiasm. "I'm glad you like it. It's my favorite dish."

"Good taste in food usually means a person has a good taste in many other areas of life as well." You stated casually, smiling at him.

Jiyan returned the smile. Your straightforwardness was somehow refreshing to the General. "Well, I'm glad I passed your judgment on that front." He continued eating, enjoying the company and the delicious meal.

Jiyan finished his food with satisfaction, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "It's been a pleasure meeting you, Y/N. Enjoy the rest of your stay in Jinzhou and, hopefully, we'll cross paths again." Jiyan offered his hand for another shake.

You nodded in agreement, feeling grateful for the brief encounter "Likewise, Jiyan. Thank you for your help. Enjoy the rest of your evening." you said, shaking his hand firmly.

With that, Jiyan bid his farewell, leaving the restaurant to meet with Rover. You, on the other hand, returned to the inn, thinking about him. Not in a romantic way, but in a sense that he made you feel totally comfortable, like he was born to be a protector or something.  It was weird, but you kinda liked it.

Little did you know, that the man you shared a meal with was an important part of keeping Jinzhou safe from harm.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

End of Chapter 4 🥀...

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[sirowsky]

--The Beauty of Mechanics--

This is the final of the Birthday Stories!

Description: Frankie's working away in his shop when an unexpected arrival makes him pause. Frankie Morales x Original Female Character.

Rating: Teen Warnings: Meet cute, a bit of shop-talk, fluff, Frankie's just a lovesick puppy. Mechanic!Frankie. AU. Word Count: 1500 Author’s Masterlist

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   The car sounded like it had swallowed a nightingale as it rolled up to the open garage doors of the workshop, and Frankie grabbed a towel to wipe some grime off his hands while he slowly walked out there to greet what was sure to be a new customer.    He didn’t recognize the car or the license plate, so it wasn’t one of his regulars, but he did recognize the make and model of the machine.

   A classic 1967 Mustang, one of his favorites. And this one was in mint condition, all black with silver detailing and tinted windows. An absolute masterpiece.    It looked almost alive and somewhat menacing when it was so well polished and it was clear that a lot of thought had gone into the styling, which was still true to the classic look, but utilized modern materials.

   When he got to the front left corner of it, the driver’s door opened, and his eyebrows shot up as he watched a woman step out and come towards him.    Not because he couldn’t believe, or for whatever reason felt, that women didn’t belong behind the wheel of such a car, but because this particular woman was even more gorgeous than her choice of vehicle.

   She was wearing dark brown worker boots, tight black jeans, and a black silk blouse to compliment the vehicle, but her short Pink!-style hair had a deep purple shade, fading into pale blue at the ends, a look which seriously suited her.    He also noticed that she wasn’t wearing any jewelry but had a Sinn watch around her wrist, a brand which boasts some of the toughest watches on the market, all of which gave him the feeling that this was no delicate flower of a woman.

   “Hey, sorry to drop by without an appointment,” she said while pulling off her sapphire blue Oakley sunglasses, revealing almost golden colored eyes.

   “That’s okay, I’ve got time. She sounds terrible,” Frankie replied, nodding towards the machine.

   “Yeah, I don’t know what happened, she was running fine five minutes ago.    Think you can take a look?” she asked, and he couldn’t help but smile.

   “She’s absolutely beautiful, I’d love to look at her all day. But yeah, pop the hood and I’ll see what’s going on.”

   She did as he asked, and the first thing he noticed was that this engine was custom built and by someone truly talented.    But at first glance, he couldn’t find any obvious cause for the racket, so he asked her to start it up so he could listen to the noise more clearly, and after just a few seconds he signed for her cut the engine again.

   “I’d say it’s probably coming from the exhaust. I’ll need to lift it up to know for sure.    You want me to try and fix it for you right now, or do you wanna make an appointment?”

   “If you have the time to take care of it right away, you’d be making my day,” she chimed, sounding absolutely astounded that he might actually be able to fit her in immediately.

   “Sure, I’ve only got a standard service scheduled for today and that customer is abroad, so it can wait. A beauty like this shouldn’t have to roll around sounding like a freaked-out crow,” he offered, and that made her smile, damned near taking his breath away.

   He asked her to drive it onto the ramp, letting her step out before he raised it, and she remained right next to him when he got to work. He noted that she was careful not to get in his way, though, and she didn’t attempt to criticize anything he did.    Instead, it seemed like she was just eager to learn more about the car and how to take care of it, which only made him enjoy her company all the more.

   “So, you were just out driving when it suddenly started sounding like this?” he asked, both to carry on a conversation, and to learn more about the problem.

   “Yeah, there was no indication at all that anything was out of order, it came out of nowhere,” she elaborated. “Normally, I’d have taken it to my regular mechanic, but he’s on vacation and I don’t trust his colleague with my girl. He’s way too sloppy.”

   “So, no pressure, then,” he chuckled drily.

   “Oh, I already know you’re a better mechanic than that guy, so you can relax,” she reassured him, which really did calm him.

   So many customers, and especially those with fancy cars of any kind, would get so uptight about him not putting a scratch on their expensive toys, that they’d deliberately try and put as much pressure on him as possible.    But this lovely woman was just concerned about him actually fixing the problem, and seemed to understand that adding any tension to the situation was only going to make that harder.

   “Have you done any work on it yourself?” he asked, trying to distract himself from the fact that she was rapidly becoming very attractive, in every possible way.

   “Pretty much the entire exterior,” she started, and he was mildly surprised by that. “I’ve never worked with painting cars, but I’ve been doing it as a hobby since my teens.    I’ve ordered, but sometimes also made custom detailing, like the new headlights and the grill. I love that sort of thing. Tweaking tiny details to achieve the most aesthetically pleasing look, but without taking focus away from the beauty of the entire machine.    I’ve always wished that I could somehow do that stuff for a living, but I’ve just never been able to.”

   Seriously?    With that level of talent she should’ve been working at a custom shop a long time ago.

   “Wow. It’s actually kinda hard to believe that no one’s taken an interest, because the first thing I thought when I saw this car, was that it looks fucking perfect.    You’ve got a really good eye,” he complimented, meaning every word, and she seemed truly grateful to hear it.

   “I just love to make cars look their best. Like stylists do with people, or real estate agents with houses. It makes me feel all buzzed to look at a gorgeously styled car, or motorcycle, or anything on wheels, really,” she elaborated, and for the first time since he met her, she looked a little shy, or unsure.

   As if she wasn’t used to being able to say these things without getting laughed at.

   “Well, I’m just a small business grease monkey, but I’m pretty good at what I do too, and I’m telling you, if I’d only had the means, I’d have hired you on the spot.”

   She smiled so warmly at him as she heard that, and it made something very pleasant spread through his blood.

   It turned out that the problem was just the air intake tube on the catalytic converter, so it was an easy fix, and Frankie was almost a bit annoyed at that, because it meant that he would lose her company much too soon.

   “Okay, all done,” he announced once he’d lowered the car and had her start it up again to make sure that his diagnosis had been correct.

   “Great, I’m so glad it wasn’t something serious.    How much do I owe you?” she chirped, but he just shrugged, suddenly feeling quite unhappy.

   “Nothing. It took me less than fifteen minutes and that tube costs like a dollar,” he said, showing his hands in his pockets to keep them from moving around nervously.

   He really wanted to ask her out, but he felt like there was no way in hell she’d agree to that. He wasn’t nearly cool enough to hold the interest of a woman like that.

   “Oh. Okay…” she replied, suddenly looking so misplaced in his garage, with her quiet but strong confidence and overall powerful look, against the backdrop of clutter and dirt. “Well, if you ever need a paintjob, let me know.”

   “Sure. But I’d need your number for that,” he cheekily pointed out, thinking there was no chance he’d ever get it.

   Which was why, when she stepped over to a really dusty old car-door, standing leaned against the end of his workbench, and wrote her number in the dust, he just dumbly stared at her, unable to say a single thing.

   “I’ll look forward to hearing from you,” she said with a soft curve to her lips, and then she got back into her car and left.

   He stood there, still staring after her, unable to process what had just taken place, when his cellphone started ringing.

   “Morales,” he answered without even looking at the screen to see who was calling, because he was still staring outside, listening for the sound of that gorgeous engine.

   “Hey, Frankie,” he heard Pope on the other end, and the familiar voice broke through the stunned silence in his brain.

   “Santi… you’re not gonna believe what just happened at the garage…”

THE END

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Thank you for reading and helping me celebrate! I wish you a wonderful day <3

Tagging a few people who I think might wanna read these stories: @startrekkingaroundasgard @deadhumourist @tintinn16 @suttonspuds @tanzthompson @shsoba05 @f0rever15elf @justnat15 @lowlights @dornish-queen @radiowallet @spishsstuff @harriedandharassed @i-love-movies @tiffanypooh @chaoticfestninja @insomniamamma @pedrostories

[case-of-traxits]

for the ask meme: Reeve

For the Opinion Meme || Still accepting!

Sexuality Headcanon: Bisexual, but functionally gay. Because I write Reeve as being Cetra (I feel the need to link this every time I mention it because it's such a wild-ass take that any time I don't, I have confused people messaging me), he's basically extremely paranoid about sexual situations that could end in children. Especially since his mother is always trying to set him up on dates (and he's half-wondering if she's trying to arrange for him to produce more little part-Cetran babies) and the President is always setting him up on blind dates (I have a whole headcanon about this, but basically, Reeve's concerned that President knows).

So with him being so paranoid about it, he just... doesn't have sex with women. Ever. It's much safer that way.

Gender Headcanon: Cis man. Although, that said, I used to RP as girl!Reeve, and that was fun as hell.

A ship I have with said character: HAHAHAHAHA. All of them.

No, but seriously, there's very few people I haven't written/read/shipped Reeve with.

Reeve/Tseng? Delicious.

Reeve/Lazard? Omg, yes, please.

Reeve/Genesis? Don't mind if I do (ship of my soul, currently).

Reeve/Reno? Talk about fucking up my heart okay.

Reeve/Rude? They're wonderful together.

Reeve/Sephiroth? Yep. I could do that.

Reeve/Veld? I can get behind that.

Reeve/Vincent? Mm. So wonderful.

Reeve/Barret? I expect some angst in there, but that's delicious too.

Like, not all of these work with all of my HCs, but I am happy to jettison/rework HCs to make things happen.

A BROTP I have with said character: No matter what I'm doing, if Reeve and Tseng aren't an active couple, then they're best friends. I just. I love the two of them together, especially with all the potential angst between them with their secrets and everything. It's just wonderful.

A NOTP I have with said character: I think the closest thing I really have to a NOTP is probably Reeve/Hojo, but that's a holdover from an old RP partner who uh... we did some pretty dark stuff with that. Like, I can see it, but man, it is fucked up. Especially with my Reeve in particular.

A random headcanon: Hm... I've already talked about Reeve being a Cetra and Reeve being an Inspire... Here, since I went light on the ship descriptions this time, have a small handful of random headcanons instead:

I would say my biggest "obscure" headcanon is that Reeve lives in a 3,000 sq foot custom-built penthouse in Upper Eight.  And yes, I have a floorplan.  One day, I'll do some drawings of the rooms.

Reeve’s blood type is type O negative.

Reeve requires every single Urban Dev employee to wear a carbon bangle with Restore, Ice, and Lightning materia equipped.  They’re also required to annually attend a training known as “Materia Camp,” to ensure they’re comfortable with the basic use.  This is because Urban Dev employees are, statistically speaking, the most likely to be first-on-the-scene of any sort of emergency situation.

Reeve has three small tattoos along his spine.  They’re three Wutaian characters in a straight line, each character a few inches from the previous one, and from top to bottom, they read: Courage, Inspiration, and Resilience.  They’re the same characters his father wrote in the front of each of his sketchbooks.

General Opinion over said character: My babygirl. Look. Reeve is my angel and ... yeah, I'd say he is probably my favorite character in the game.

BONUS! A song I associate with the character:

Where am I today? I wish that I knew 'Cause looking around there's no sign of you I don't remember one jump or one leap Just quiet steps away from you lead I'm holding my heart out but clutching it, too Feeling this sort of a love that we once knew Calling this a home when it's not even close I'm playing the role with nerves left exposed

-- "Reasons Why," by Nickel Creek.

[clothyume]

Colourful Good Job Episode 7

Episode 7

Season: Summer 

Characters: Subaru, Kuro, Sora, Natsume, Tsumugi, Niki

(The day of the staff appreciation party hosted by NEW DI) 

Kuro: Harukawa-kun, I’ve come to refill the syrup 

Sora: HaHa~! Red-onii~san, thank you! Strawberry is really popular~♪ 

Kuro: So it is… Are any of the fruits running out? Shiina said he would refill those  

Sora: HiHi~. Thank you! Sora will keep making shaved ice~  

Welcome to Sora’s shaved ice stand~♪ 

Ah, someone who was at the shooting the other day~? It was a big help! Thank you very much  

One deluxe shaved ice coming right up! Please wait here a moment♪ 

Niki: Thanks for waiting! Two soba omelette and yakitori sets! Please enjoy, there are a few empty seats over there!  

(Phew, it’s been more successful than I thought, but we’re getting by) 

(Kiryu-kun is following me around a lot, so it seems the kids that came to help out can move around with peace of mind)   

Ah, another customer… Thank you for your hard work, have you decided on your order?  

Natsume: Well aren’t you excitED   

Niki: Ah, if it isn’t Sakasaki-kin! You came after all  

Natsume: Of courSE. Sora thought hard about this projECT 

Niki: Nahaha. That’s true. If it’s Harukawa-kun you want, he’s in that stall?  

Natsume: I’ll speak to Sora properly latER. But before thaT, I came to thank Shiina-senpai for cooperatING  

Niki: I haven’t done much. The one who worked the hardest for today was Harukawa-kun  

Niki: Really, we should thank Sakasaki-kun for sending over help  

Natsume: Don’t worry about thAT… I suppose I’m just annoyED that Sora left me alone and came back after having a frieNDLY taLK

Subaru: Shiina-senpai! We’ve run out of drinks… Ah, Natsume! You’re late you know~!  

Natsume: I had woRK. Anyway, you look like you’re havING fuN  

Subaru: Yup☆ It’s kind of fun serving the staff as customers!  

Niki: Akehoshi-kun. If you need drinks they’re over here. Just give me a second  

Subaru: Thank you! See you, Natsume. Little yellow worked really hard on this staff appreciation party, so I hope it heals you a lot♪ 

Natsume: HonestLY, I’m having so much fUN… It’s not worth the blOW 

Well, since this was Sora’s projecT, he won't forgive me if I don’t have fUN♪ 

Niki: That’s so unreasonable… 

Natsume: No matter whAT, I’m just glad Sora is enjoying himsELF  

Niki: If you’re worried about Harukawa-kun, wouldn’t it be nice to go check on him 

Harukawa-kun said that he didn’t want to depend on you guys, but it’s okay to help as long as you don’t become a burden, okay?  

Natsume: No, I caN’T. This tiME, that boy said he wanted to accompliSH this without the help of senPAI and mE 

I don’t want to disregaRD Sora’s feelings, so I absolutely can’t heLP 

BuT, this time I’ve decided to keep an eye on hiM. However, I plan to step iN if he looks like he’s sufferING 

Niki: Eh~. Sakasaki-kun is thinking about a lot of things too, huh~ 

Natsume: …That reply makes it seem like you’re not thinkinG of anythiNG? 

Hmph, well whatevER. I said it earlier buT, it’s thanks to you guys that I didn’t have to lend a haND 

Including that lazy repLY, I’ll take it seriously todAY♪ 

Tsumugi: Fufu. Aren’t you in a good mood, Natsume-kun  

Natsume: So Senpai is here tOO. I was sure you’d be chased down by work and not be able to coME 

Tsumugi: You weren’t sure if I’d come? This morning I messaged you on ‘hold hands’ saying I would go!  

Natsume: I know thAT. Anyway, are you feeling bettER? After all, Sora thought of this project with Senpai and the others in mind, riGHT?  

I won’t forgive you until you fully recover your strenGTH, that way you can work like a horse in the afternOON 

Niki: I don’t think that’s the case with Aoba-kun

Tsumugi: Don’t worry, Natsume-kun. I’ve already received a lot of energy from Sora-kun 

Natsume: What are you grinning fOR?  

…Is it that shaved ice in your haND 

Tsumugi: Yes, I stood in line earlier and Sora-kun made it. There’s condensed milk mixed into the ice itself, making it really sweet and delicious♪ 

Sweets are really the best when you’re tired. When you eat them the fatigue just disappears  

Natsume: Hmph, it's so cheeky of you to be this cunning as a senPAI 

Tsumugi: Natsume-kun, get in line quickly and have some. It’s really delicious 

Natsume: I was planning on doing that anywAY 

Sora: HuHu~. Sora is happy that Master~ and Senpai are being friendly today too♪ 

Tsumugi: Sora-kun!? What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at your stall…  

Sora: The customers don’t mind waiting! Everyone is kind so they’ll forgive Sora~  

Master~! Senpai! Thank you for coming to the staff appreciation party today!  

Sora has some shaved ice for Master~! Please accept it!  

Natsume: This is the shaved ice that was Sora’s idEA huh. Thank you, I’ll have soME 

…Hmm, Sora? There isn’t any fruit on miNE?  

Sora: HeHe~♪ Have a look, this is Sora’s happy magic!  

Tsumugi: Wah! It’s suddenly covered in fruit, Natsume-kun! 

Natsume: Shut uP, Senpai. You don’t have to say anything, you can tell by just looking, can’t you keep quiET?  

Sora: Dig in, Sora’s deluxe shaved ice! Sora used lots of different fruits. The shape is cute, and it's fun just to look at~?  

If you eat this, your tiredness will fly away!  

Master~ and Senpai, thank you for always working so hard

But, Sora thinks you work too hard~. Sora wants you to rest your mind like this sometimes too 

Sora is still inexperienced as a magician but… Sora wants to lend a little bit of Master~ and Senpai’s power!  

Tsumugi: Thank you, Sora-kun. We’ll be careful from now on so you don’t have to worry so much 

Natsume: YeS. And, this time you’ve worked hard. As your master, I’m proUD♪  

Sora: HoHo~! Sora got praised by Master~. Sora is very happy!  

Kuro: Amazing. That Harukawa made everyone here smile in no time  

Niki: He did. I’m relieved that Harukawa-kun seems to b having fun too♪ 

Kuro: You were supporting loads while I was away weren’t you? Sorry I left you with all the work  

Niki: Not at all. It’s not like I’m doing anything. I’m just listening to these guys talk 

Well, I’m just glad I was able to help  

(Harukawa-kun may think he has a long way to go. To me, he’s already a great magician♪) 

(Because, in no time he made everyone smile despite their tired faces) 

(I wonder if I was able to help the little wizard too…♪)  

[incorrecttowerofgodquotes]

Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Season 2 Episode 6 Review

- Suletta needs to learn proper coping techniques fast. Just ignoring the problem doesn’t make it go away. All that does is let it build up inside you until you snap. However, since the very beginning, Suletta has acted as a doormat, letting people walk all over her without speaking up for herself. She deserves to be sad, she deserves to be angry. Being a people-pleaser will only just tear her apart more. Luckily, both Chuchu and Eri realized this, and while Chuchu went about it the healthier way, it was good of Eri to finally cut off Suletta. She needs to establish a life outside of being Aerial’s pilot. It might have been what she was made for, but fuck destiny and parental expectations! Live your own life tanuki!

- Earth House claiming the best supporting character spots simply by recognizing what’s wrong with Suletta and actually acting on it, especially Chuchu. She pushes Suletta to express her true feelings and makes the plan to go see Miorine so she can explain herself. She’s grown up from the violent little doggy she was before. She uses her anger to push her forward, but she isn’t letting it take over her like Norea

- Poor Lauda is projecting his insecurities onto Suletta (though he isn’t really wrong.) He’s dedicated his life and self worth into supporting his brother, much like Suletta with Aerial, and now that Miorine’s the one by his side, he feels empty. He needs to come into his own as person and separate himself from his brother. I can only hope his adorable girlfriend Petra can help him through these times.

- Lauda and Felsi thanking Chuchu made me weak. They’re so honorable. But what shot me in the heart was Felsi’s smile and look back at Chuchu before she ran off. She loves that poofy girl so much. I’d love to see the two go to Earth and fight together

- I feel so bad for Martin. He did the right thing in reporting Nika because she never explained herself despite him giving her multiple chances, and he wanted to protect the rest of his friends. Dude’s carrying a heavy weight on his shoulders, but his little therapy session just made it worse.

- WHAT THE FUCK SECELIA!

- Girl created a whole catholic confession booth on the school to figure out the student’s dirty secrets. Interesting thing though, is that it’s Rouji’s Haro instead of the normal ones. The normal Haro’s are connected to the authorities and report everything but since Rouji’s is custom, it probably doesn’t have that feature. And is Secelia doing this just because she likes gossip or because she’s now taking her job seriously and wants to weed out any dangerous individuals? Or is the Burion House sort of like a secret police that monitors everyone?

- Shaddiq ONCE AGAIN is a total snake, but he’s definitely bit off more than he could chew by meeting with Prospera. If Shaddiq is two steps ahead of our main cast, Prospera is at the top of the stairs ready to push him down

- Peil House is the worst group of people I’ve ever seen in my life. They literally just let a computer decide the fates of orphaned children and pick out which ones they’ll experiment on. Elan Prime was lucky. He could have ended up another Enhanced Person if fate decided to be a dick. Which probably only makes El5n even more pissed. Like, he could have been the special one, but instead some computer decided he wasn’t important enough

- Speaking of El5n, my beloved, tight lips my ass. Bro just spilled the whole tea on Peil to two random fugitives. Shows just how much he hates them. But poor Nika wasn’t expecting to have to deal with all that and now she’s floundering. Maybe she’ll start working on Gundams that don’t kill people. Also El5n calling out Norea and pointing out the similarities between each other all while she’s trying to stab him is hot and I ship them so hard. Nika should ask Sabina for a separate room or she’ll be witness to their hatefucking

- Finally we see the Schwarzette! There’s been so much discussion about this suit, what it was or who would pilot it, and now we get to see it in all its glory. We’ll have to see if the AI will take on the Permet strain or if it’ll hurt the pilot.

- If this anime wasn’t political already, then we’re about to get sooooo political. Miorine is gonna have a hard time connecting with the rioters considering her position and personality. Maybe Guel will be able to help her navigate, and maybe even use his Dawn of Fold connections. Personally, if they want to help, I think setting up field hospitals would be the first best step but that’s just me

- The swole chad Kenanji has now joined the group and I’m so excited. Bro was hyped up in the prologue and then dropped off the face of the earth. But considering he’s on the same spaceship as Prospera, I don’t think he’ll be getting out of it alive

- Eri’s a savage. She allowed Suletta to come to her just to tell her she’s ditching her. Like, I know she’s trying to help, but she could have been gentler. And activating the Permet really didn’t help either.

- Prospera actually does something nice and stops using Suletta for her revenge. But she still doesn’t explain anything and this leaves Suletta a sobbing broken mess out in space. Truly the mother of the year. But the way she defers to Eri shows that ultimately, she’s a broken woman who just wants her daughter back. Everything she’s done is all so she can be with Eri again, ignoring the thousands of people she’s trampled

Next episode is gonna be painful as well. I don’t expect good things to happen on Earth, especially not since karma magnet Guel and warcrime MILF Prospera are there. Also since Shaddiq was the title vocalist, maybe we’ll get more of his backstory?

[bobbybutterfly]

First remade background for the Super Secret Project! It’s quite different than the original digital picture. Being far more messy and impressionistic. I would rather not compare the two as each of them is doing it’s own thing. I do find it funny that even though I spent just AGES on the original, doing all these intricate patterns it looks far more clean and I guess I would say empty compared to this just splatter the paint where ever attitude.

I think I should paint on bigger canvases to force myself to do more details. A big inspiration for me are classically animated movies. Yesterday I watched Secret of Nymh which I should finish today. That movie is a master piece!!!! Kind of hard to believe it’s for kids with how dark it is, but as a child I loved dark stuff so yeah. But the backgrounds! Oh the backgrounds! I really got to step up my game. I’m like a kid in a shonen anime.

I also made a little mock up for how the project will look. Just messed around in Procreate with it. Something I want to change for my future projects is a better longer pre production period. This project did have some pre production. Such as sketches, scrapped background and character art. But nothing even nearing a professional production. I used to go to an art high school (high schools here are like roughly ages 15 to 19, I don’t remember perfectly) and there they had you repeat every step of the process like 20 times before you could move on.

I don’t plan on working for like a proper game or animation company. That being said if Disney comes knocking on the door then I’m not going to say no. But I don’t think that type of environment is for me. And with the rise of AI art. Bitch. Why would they want me around with my “special needs”? I think indie game studios are the way to go. My aesthetic would also suit them far more. So erm. Contact me. I want to buy a custom fursuit.

JUST KIDDING! I ain’t stable enough for a job. I’m barely managing doing what ever the fuck this is.

So what do you guys think?

I MIGHT finish it for Christmas but don’t take my word for it. I don’t like deadlines. There’s still like a truck load of work left to do. Exhibit one. Finishing the script. Getting sensitivity and beta readers. Would be great if I could get my friend who studies psychology to look at it. There’s a lot of trauma. I bet ya there’s going to be a whole lot of editing to do after that. Exhibit two. Backgrounds and sprites. Urg. Exhibit three. Putting it somehow together. Presumably with duct tape, paper clips and prays. Exhibit four. Releasing it. Exhibit five. Shameless self promotion. Such as bothering mid size furry YouTubers.

An absolute dream come true would be having Saber Spark look at it, as he’s the one that introduced me amongst many of you I bet to Squirrel and Hedghog. But please don’t go bothering anyone just yet. I want to do the shameless self promotion last when there’s actually something to promote. Otherwise it’s just a scam.

Am I taking this project too seriously? This is the first time I’m doing something like this so it is more of a prototype of how I will do things for later projects.

Bobby out!

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #246

The physical therapy appointment that I missed yesterday was rescheduled to today. I saw the therapist that I am most familiar with - her name is D. But she had read the notes left behind by K, and now I guess she, too, theorizes that I've got some kind of weird torsion going on with my ribcage, likely brought on or exacerbated by trying to do mermaid training while having my chest tightly bound in my costume.

And… I know this is not something you have to worry about (since you do not have the body configuration for it), but… this sort of injury is why, I guess, people caution trans men to take proper steps to bind their chests instead of simply layering constricting clothing over their ribs. Improper chest binding, especially while doing vigorous physical activity, can seriously mess you up, holy shit. I'm not a trans man, but I'm sure that this advice also applies to mermaid folks like me who are just trying to prevent their chests from flopping all over the place while trying to swim.

See, the Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome doesn't just affect my joints. It also affects everything else, like my ligaments - including the ones that are supposed to keep my boobs relatively in place. Those ligaments do not do their job, because they literally cannot, because they are made with "I Can't Believe it's Not Collagen" instead of the normal stuff. It's a pain right in the ass. Or… I guess in my case… a pain right in the ribs. ...Sigh…

...We discovered that the set of ribs on the right side of my ribcage, at the level where I used to tie the bikini of my costume, are not expanding forward when I breathe like they're supposed to. So, I was given another breathing exercise today to try to fix that. Doing it gives me a sharp, horrible pain that extends from my right armpit all the way down to the right side of my lower ribs. But it's not a pain that feels like walking on a sprained ankle; it's more like... a kind of pain that indicates something needs to pop or go crunch so that it can move properly. I wonder if that makes sense to you.

After physical therapy, I was in a lot of pain. Like... not the kind of pain where something is moving that shouldn't (for example, we shouldn't be moving sprained ankles), but the kind where things that haven't been moving for a long time are finally moving, and they're not used to it anymore, and so they're gonna scream about it. So I decided to go to Eggcellent to get a bubble tea. This time, I got a houjicha latte with rose syrup, tea jelly, and cream cheese foam. The lovely husband-and-wife duo who run this shop are testing a new bubble tea add-on called "sago" - these are like tapioca pearls, but they're made from a kind of palm tree. They're a lot smaller than tapioca pearls, and they have a bouncier texture. They put them into my tea as a surprise, because they know that I wanna try all their new stuff! I have a picture!!! Here!!

Sephiroth... they were so perfect!!! I liked them a lot!!! I can't wait until they're incorporated into their regular menu!!! I WISH YOU COULD TRY THEM!!! Oh my goodness!!!

I woke up feeling pretty empty today, but... after today's encounter at Eggcellent, I feel a lot less empty. I've been a customer of theirs for a long time; they know me well enough to understand that my support for them is unwavering, and that I will react to all their new things with genuine, unbridled joy. They know this thing well enough that they understood that they could surprise me with this, and that it would make me really happy. I feel incredibly grateful.

Also, the wife's mother, who occasionally helps them run their shop, came out from the back today, wearing a rainbow-colored shirt, and it was absolutely delightful. And... oh! Sephiroth, when she came out and saw me, her whole face lit right up, and the smile she gave to me was so radiant, and...!!! I don't know how to articulate the beautiful feeling that blossomed within my chest as a result. But I will say, it took some effort to avoid breaking down into joyful tears. Admittedly, it's a little difficult to avoid breaking out into those same tears as I write this now, ahaha~! 🥰🥰🥰

I guess... for context, it's nice to know that she can feel happy about seeing me, despite the language gap that exists between us. It's nice that she seems to know what kind of person I am, and that I'm someone who will try to support the business of her daughter and son-in-law. Although she doesn't speak English, we have had brief, simple conversations, with the wife acting as an interpreter between us. I've even had a couple of instances where I was able to clumsily say to her some greeting in Cantonese; the greeting I like to use when talking to people I am familiar with while I'm out and about is, "It's good to see you." I don't remember how it goes in Cantonese, though...

I guess the closest equivalent I can get to for that phrase in Japanese that is an accurate reflection of my intentions is something like, "Anata no koto wo miruno wa kimochi ii." But that's probably clumsy, too; I haven't practiced Japanese with any kind of regularity in a very long time...

...Someday, though, as impossible as it is, I hope I get to stand in front of you and say that to you. Somehow. Somehow...

Oh!!! I almost forgot!! When I went back to the car to do the rest of the errands I had planned, I noticed a hedge peeking out of some lattice, and I thought it looked neat. I thought that maybe you might also think it looked neat, so I snapped a picture:

I went to the grocery store after that to get some small items; nothing to write home about. And then after that, I went to a nearby craft store to try to get a different clasp for a pendant I've started wearing. The pendant is reflective of something that I believe to be a fundamental truth, both of my circumstances and of reality in general; its weight feels profoundly correct as I wear it. Unfortunately, the lobster clasp digs into the back of my neck. I sought a barrel screw clasp to replace it with, but they didn't have one in stock in the correct color. They don't know when they will have it in the correct color, so I simply decided to order one online after I got home.

It's 9:44. That means it's 44 minutes past when I was supposed to go to bed, because tomorrow I have to wake up at 5am in order to bring J to Great Barrington. Whoops.

...I had better stop writing and get ready for sleep.

Hey. I love you, and I'm over here cheering for you to heal and to be happy. So please keep yourself safe out there, okay? Please keep trying. Please don't give up.

I'll write again soon.

Your friend, Lumine

[sunshinemoonrx]

Starhound: April Devlog

I've mentioned the RPGmaker game I'm working on a bit before, and since that's always gonna be pretty slow with me working full-time, I thought it'd be good to keep track of my pace with end-of-the-month progress posts. So! Here's what I've done in April.

(For the record, at the moment I'm actually planning on calling the game "Star Hound Vega", as the [Thing] [Descriptor] [Name] pattern is venerable among tokusatsu and mecha type heroes, but "Starhound" is my name for the setting and stories generally.)

Finished the first dungeon! It took more passes than I thought it would, as it always does, and I'm sure there'll be more tweaks in future, but I have now got to the point where I'm able to play through it and go "wow! that functions as intended without breaking! no notes"

2. Updated some sprites! Previously Vega's and Nemea's were just placeholders, but I've arrived at some that I feel pretty good about and represent them much better. Placeholders on the left, final sprites on the right:

I ended up using the "male" creator for Vega, which I think works great for creating butch women. (I have hemmed and hawed a bit over if I'm being Problematic by doing this as she is also the main trans character, however: I am a trans girl and I can do what I want. In seriousness, it is a bit of wish-fulfilment for me--I wish I could be more butch and masc-styled and be read as "a handsome woman" and not "a man", so Vega's living that dream for me. She's a hunk you get it)

I will definitely still need some kind of custom visuals for Vega's henshin hero suit, and Nemea (and her boss, Princess Ascella) when she appears as an enemy.

3. Diversified the music! So a fun thing about RPGMaker is you think you know the small selection of default assets it gives you, but if you dig around in the installed files there's actually a lot more free assets you can transfer in--from walk sprites and portraits from older versions of RPGMaker, to a whole bunch of extra enemy graphics, to a lot more music. In particular, I found some pretty sweet battle themes so now each boss can have its own! (This all mixed in with something I already grabbed right when I started making this--a pack of specifically old toku style music, which is really great for making it feel appropriately flavoured.)

4. Added a town area! The overworld is pretty limited in this, it's not so much travel as using a small consistent hub/base to rest between dungeons (if sequels happen they'll probably be bigger but I'm trying to keep a lid on the minimum viable product scope ykno), but there are a couple additional areas, so...now we have that!

Got to have some fun populating it with cute characters, which was nice.

5. Started the second dungeon! My main goal this month was to finish the first one, so it's nice to be ahead of schedule.

I've also figured out some really fun gimmicks for this one, so the first dungeon will serve mostly as a backdrop while you're introduced to the game's core mechanics, then this one will step it up and be more showy in its own right. Figuring out stuff like "oh you can have specific enemy encounters only happen on certain regions of the map" and "oh you can totally hide one-off boss fights inside random encounters" has got me to a concept I'm real happy with.

So yeah, that's where the game's at right now! For May, my main goal is just to finish the second dungeon, but we'll see where that goes. I plan on making a prototype build to toss at some friends once I've done a pass on the third dungeon (the total plan is for five, plus a final area after), but the third one is very short so I might even be able to do that in May too. But no pressure if the second is all I manage, that's the goal.