#she's been with me through style changes! lots of improvement! lots of life things! i adore her

[drkcatt]

i present you: almost every time i've drawn my wol A'vaya in the 3 years i've had her. there's 214 here and i'm still missing a lot

and for comparison: my first ever baya and a panel from my latest wip comic

[lasirenatarot]

“ LOOKS-MAXXING ” pick-a-card reading.💝

Your next glow up.

What can you do in order to have a big glow up?

Pick a pink 90s magazine cover:

—>Pile 1

Your next glow up will most likely be related to getting « in peace » with your s€xuality prior to glowing up both physically and mentally. What I mean by this is you will probably need to get rid of any self doubts about your looks, any shame around your $£xual side due to past traumas or for some the way you were raised, some may have been raised in a controlling or conservative family.

One of the ways you can make this glow up happen is if you really enjoy your life and what you do. Try to practice your hobbies more and work on bettering your natural talents, by doing that you may find your purpose in this world and this will lead to the biggest glow up ever.. for some it may lead them to their dream career.

Something which appears in the cards is that you may need to forgive your parents or parental figures for the way they treated you in order to reach peace within yourself and your physical body. Forgive yourself as well for not acting in the « right way » or not looking a certain way, this is the best you could do at that point of your life . It is all in the past.

As for a physical glow up: judging by the pictures shown on the cards that fell, maybe start focusing on a regular work out routine, focusing on legs, butt or whatever you feel like you need to improve. Updating your clothing style may benefit you a lot. Stop caring about what others would say and pick clothes which give you freedom of expression, be yourself shamelessly. Some of you who chose this pile may have some creative vision which they may have been scared to express - do it. Meditation may help with your « glow up » in some form as well. Try bolder makeup looks and outfit choices.

Moodboard/Vibes for pile 1:

The vibes I get from this pile is totally Julia Fox as a persona,not only style wise. She’s unapologetically herself, maybe for some she’s a bit weird. But the main point is, despite people’s opinions and perceptions of her, she has always followed her own rules and expressed herself. Before she got famous she was a dominatrix, did a photobook, an art exhibition aand starred in a famous movie in which her character was inspired by her real life . All this happened because she was authentic,lived her life the way she wanted and followed her heart, exactly what u should do as well,pile 1.

Songs which remind me of this pile’s vibe:

—>Pile 2

Pile 2, you’re going through or will go through a huge transformation.. luck will definitely be on your side and you may find out answers for things which you’ve always wanted to know about. ( it can be pretty much about anything. If we are talkibg about a physical glow up exclusively, you may learn some very good beauty hacks soon. It can be about makeup, diet, exercise, skin care, personal development etc.. this is a general reading so I cannot be exact but whatever your case is it will lead to a HUGE glow up. Two of the cards are talking about some « secret knowledge » so whatever it is it will be significant for you.

This pile is very different from the first one as the glow up that appears here is not just about one or two things in your life or looks, it’s about everything. The things you can do in order to glow up faster, pile2, is maybe start watching makeup tutorials and pay attention to new techniques or products you haven’t heared before, ask people for where they shop they may tell you some secret thrift store with really cool clothes which can uplift your style.. anything which can help you get this « secret knowledge » which appeared in the cards. Another thing I can say for this pile is: focus on manifestation, envision the changes in your looks or life as a whole you would like to have and act accordingly in your 3D universe in order to get to where you want to be. Positive affirmations and subliminals (as in subliminals I mean not the crazy unrealistic ones, but those about self concept, confidence and beauty in general) may also be helpful in your case.

Moodboard/Vibes for pile 2:

The vibes I get here are Fran from “The Nanny” and Maddy from “Euphoria”. Fashionable, bold, colourful. Radiating confidence. Crystals, glitter, sparkle, feathers, bold and colourful makeup, everything of that sort. Do not dim your own light to make someone else feel better about themselves if they are insecure.

Songs which remind me of this pile’s vibe:

—>Pile 3

Pile 3: I think you would definitely be bettering your financial situation sooner than you may have even expected, this may help you get a glow up. You would be able to afford nicer things, skincare, clothes, procedures etc.. If you’re not already on a path to improve your finances, then you would definitely be motivated to start working on this problem soon and be very committed on your mission of « glowing up » in every way possible. Physically, mentally, spiritually even. You will be finding yourself after a long period of feeling lost and unlike your true self.

You would become much more intuitive, confident and cut throat even, you won’t let energy vampires use you as they may have done in the past and this would lead to a more beautiful and healthy version of you, because you would not have to deal with others’ negativity anymore. When it comes to relationships you would not be satisfied with with mediocrity, you will be finally standing your ground and being true to your standards and what you deserve. You will be getting your justice if you’ve been mistreated in the past.

This pile has huuuge « femme fatale » « dark feminine » vibe. This may be the energy you will be channeling after you have your glow up. Doing classic makeup like red lipstick+ black eyeliner, black smokey eyes and nude lips combo might help you channel this energy that i am seeing here better. Wearing colours like: red, black, gold and nude might help you elevate your look. Also wearing jewelry, lace and high heels. Don’t be scared to embrace your « dark side » which you may have ignored in the past in order to fit in with the crowd.

May sound trivial, but follow your intuition and do what makes you happy, it will make you glow in ways which you have not expected..

Moodboard/Vibes for pile 3:

The vibes I’m getting here are as I said in previous paragraphes: femme fatale, dark feminine energy,monica bellucci core type of look/aesthetics..

Songs which remind me of this pile’s vibe:

That was all from today’s PAC. It was a bit different from previous ones and I myself did not expect it to turn out the way it did, but sometimes completely different information pops up in readings because someone needs to hear a certain thing.. Hope you enjoyed it!!

Leave a comment/feedback if it resonated, share and follow for more.

Thank you for reading!

- La Sirena💋

Decks used: ‘$£xual magic’ oracle deck by Lo Scarabeo; ‘Manara’ €rotic tarot deck by Milo Manara/ Lo Scarabeo;

Photos are from pinterest; all credits to their respective owners.

[fancobs]

Why I&'m not happy with the Inanimate Insanity finale we got and how I& would fix it

So even before the finale, I& had my& theories on how it was all going to end. To me& it was obvious that there was a thematic throughline in the narrative that was going to lead to a simple yet powerful conclusion.

If you were to analyze the themes present in II, you will consistently find complex characters, ones that hurt others in the past, yet have found ways to change themselves and improve, regardless of whether they're forgiven or not. Balloon, Taco, Knife, Nickel... even MePhone4.

When it started becoming clear that Cobs was going to be a central character in the story, to me& it was obvious that he would go through a similar arc. Let me& explain.

The way I& think it could have gone is, Suitcase and Knife escape from that cell with the help of Bow possessing Apple, but don't run away from the ship entirely. They can't - their job isn't over yet.

One thing about Suitcase is that she values honesty a lot. Cobs wasn’t selfless when he told them the truth about their existence - it is quite obvious it was a tactic to get them on his side - but it was still the truth. And Suitcase can also tell that the story isn't quite complete yet, because there is still a question that hasn't been answered.

So, with the help of Toilet and Bow, Knife and Suitcase hunt Cobs down in the ship and pin him down. That X model that Toilet can control perhaps comes in handy, too. But despite what Knife wants to do, Suitcase stops him and confronts Cobs with words. All she asks is: Why are you doing this?

Of course, Cobs initially tries to pull some bullshit about how he's doing it for the progress, or for money, or even for the sake of the sake of the contestants themselves, but before he can even finish his sentence, Suitcase shuts the excuses down and repeats the question again: No REALLY. Why?

"The Future Is So Yesterday" is playing muffled quietly in the background so that in the brief moment of stunned silence, you hear the lyrics "So Cobs, is your whole persona intended / To keep those suspicions extended / So all your schemes become blended / And your work cannot be contended?", hinting towards how he's cornered in this moment, and to highlight how he's merely playing a persona.

So this is when we get a MePhone4-style flashback moment into Cobs's memories, in a moment when he gets hit with all the realizations and cannot evade the doubts anymore.

So, if you've been paying close attention, you'll notice that Cobs himself doesn't have a very positive relationship with his parents. He says so himself in "Theft and Battery" when he shows off the garage in which he invented his first computer. It is not hard to see how perhaps the pressure from family and a bit of gifted kid syndrome made him think that he has to monetize his hobbies, and eventually led to him tying his company's financial success to his personal self worth.

This is important to the analysis - it's not just greed that pushes him to attack the aliens, the stakes are much higher from his perspective because if the company fails, everything he's ever worked on for his whole life is destroyed.

And so, he's pushed by external factors to do horrible things. At first with good intentions (progress and innovation), although at some point it's undeniable that sunk cost fallacy would sink in.

All of this would get visualized through little scenes of his past, depicting this slow descent. But then we would get a scene of another thing he canonically admitted to doing - watching the show, and finding comfort in it.

You see, there's gotta be something that caught his attention and made him this deeply obsessed with the show. And would it really be a stretch to say that, especially with how it's basically confirmed that MePhone4 was basing some of the characters on the things he saw in Cobs, that perhaps he sees those parallels to himself and that changes him?

Remember Marshmallow's grief over how the competition pushes you to be your worst self? To play a persona that isn't really you?

He's not completely ready to change just yet, he has too much to lose, but it undoubtedly saws the seeds for it in his mind. He has other feelings to work through, perhaps the bitterness that he feels at seeing how MePhone4 feels more like a real person than he ever was. He feels inferior, almost like he's failing at his one and only purpose in life. And we know for a fact that Cobs is a complete and total perfectionist - of course these standards he has apply to himself too.

That is why he decides to take the matters in his own hands for the show, and the things that we see and get reminded of in the flashback.

But now, we return back to the present. Cobs is pinned down, disarmed, surrounded by the very contestants that helped his own revelations, and for the first time, someone is actually asking about the real him. He's helpless - Knife has taken the blade in his pocket away, and he can't escape. He cannot dodge the question, and at this point, he realizes that there's not really a way out for him.

Why did he do this? He confesses quietly: "Because it's all I've ever known." And here we have another comparison point - where MePhone4 said this with a pleading desperation, Cobs says it with determination. It's all he's ever known, that's why he did it and that's why it's all he'll ever do. Hurt others like his parents hurt him, and like he hurt himself. To him, that's just a fact of life, and one he prides himself in.

And here is where the main point of this essay and rewrite is - I& want to see Cobs change, get the same character arc as the others have gotten. I& want Suitcase and the others to go and firce him to apologize to MePhone4. He doesn't need to forgive him - in fact, it'd be more fitting if he didn’t - but I& want to see Cobs give his company away to 3GS or MePad, to resign from his past of cruelty, and to have at least someone (perhaps even Suitcase, who has always seen the best in people such as Balloon) support him in this journey.

I& hope you can see from the examples I&'ve provided throughout this essay how this is a much more natural and logical conclusion to this story. I& was extremely disappointed to see that the ending painted Cobs in such a one dimensional light - especially since, unlike the contestants that were intentionally created to be flat and simple, Cobs is supposed to be an actual real person, and it just does not make sense that the theme of self improvement and forgiveness seen so thoroughly throughout the show wouldn't apply to him.

The only thing I&'m not sure how to include in this ending is the Box and MeLife lore. Those parts of the finale were genuinely fascinating and enjoyable, and I& would love to hear other people's suggestions on how we could still have the lore revealed while also giving Cobs a more thoughtful and well rounded ending.

[godisasimp]

Let's talk about Honkai Impact 3rd for a bit, yeah ?

I need to let go of it, scream into the void, because I can't stay polite about it, I started being rude in community servers about it.

Greetings,

I am a +960 days long player of the game Honkai Impact 3rd, I started during the Theater of Domination story arc and more precisely, during the Phantom of the Theater patch and the release of the valkyrie Stygian NYX.

But more importantly, I am a very so very tired player that also happens to be frustrated and angry at the treatment, or mistreatement, of a game I once held so dear to my heart.

I discovered Honkai Impact 3rd half a year after Genshin Impact's launch through an ad playing the Befall cutscene and immediately fell in love with the character I would later discover is called "Herrscher of the Void".

I don't remember most of my early days, but one of the things I do remember is getting my first S-rank valkyrie... The one who made me discover that game : Herrscher of the Void.

And ever since then I've been playing daily rarely missing a day, let alone more than that. I was eager to progress and eager to get new valkyries.

But unfortunately things changed.

The hill that keeps going down.

It all started with the release of Elysian Realm chapter story arc, a side story about Mei's time in World Serpent, at least it seemed so. It was a cute, Visual Novel styled story about a group of heroes from the previous era, an era mentioned in Mangas and the story that was shrouded in mysteries ; a cool side story to finally show us how the previous era was, to accompany the new game mode.

The gamemode was, and still is, very fun to play, with a lot of unique builds and play styles, it was a refreshing experience to not get burned out of Abyss and Memorial Arena, it kept improving overtime adding more and more characters ; the only major negative thing I could say about it was when mihoyo "fixed" the Mobius Signets who, very early on, allowed players an infinitely increasing buffs and made reaching the integer limit (aka going in the negatives) doable and easy, and also allowed anyone to clear the floors regardless of gear and level.

The story bits we're cute and gave life to the otherwise empty lobby, as you could randomly trigger conversation between characters and it really felt like you were walking in on a conversation that had started while you weren't here.

The Mobius plotline was wonderfully done, it wasn't a secret that she was evil, she was upfront about it and while she mash have tried to look cute in front of Mei at first, she never kept the act for long merely using it as a way of annoying her. The subplot of all of that was Elysia, the character that spoke and helped the most often, she was hiding her past and acting as the underlying mystery one may not notice at first.

A mystery who's resolutions unfortunately started Honkai Impact 3rd's worst, and still ongoing, era.

I've already said my fair share of thoughts about Elysium Everlasting, but for the sake of the post, I shall once again repeat my thoughts.

Following in Kolosten footsteps (and maybe through the influence of Genshin Impact), not good ones, Elysium Everlasting was "open world", as "open world" as Honkai Impact 3rd could get, this was not a welcomed choice by most of the fanbase, as a mobile game Honkai Impact 3rd has always told it's story through a Visual Novel style of story telling with minimal amount of walking around for the players, the stages being mainly used to fight enemies and bosses in ; the only other "open worlds" were in the same named category, all fully optional and merely just mihoyo testing the concept. Elysium Everlasting was the 2nd main story "open world" and my experience with is was beyond terrible, at the time I was using a pre-made low end computer that could barely handle Elysium Everlasting's scene, I experienced lags, textures not loading at all, freezes and crashes all throughout my playthrough of the chapter, something that worsen with Moon Arc, this experience made me frustrated already but the writing didn't make it worth it.

Elysium Everlasting's story was the worst one mihoyo ever wrote, it was a complete 180° from Elysian Realm, the new characters introduced did not get the luxury of the bits and pieces of randomly triggered conversations to expend their characters and unfortunately felt flatter than the first half. And they also suffered from the poor writing of the part, but at least they had no previously established character that got ruined and destroyed, same couldn't be said about the previously introduced characters, and the one who suffered most from it : was Elysia.

- Elysia : From beloved to beloathed

I've talked a lot about this character but I shall detail my history and experience with her one last time.

I have in my head created two distinct versions of Elysia : Elysian Realm and Elysium Everlasting. Simply because her character is so different between the two halves it is almost like we have two Elysias.

I will talk about ER!Elysia first because she is the one I like ; in the first half of the arc Elysia was presented as a very friendly character, borderline too friendly, and suffocating and pushing boundaries to the extreme for her own sake, a character that claimed to just be a normal girl... And she was just that, a girl that was happy, sad and angry, a girl that had insecurities about her group and the distance between her and the others, a character that lied to get her way and stole just for her amusement, she was normal, she had flaws and character, characters around her felt all sorts of ways towards her. That was who is she was, a normal girl with a past she wouldn't talk about.

And I very much liked that character, coupled with a design I really liked and she quickly became a favorite of mine in the chapter.

But then she went through what could only describe as a character assassination when Elysium Everlasting began.

Elysia who was a character who was allowed to have flaws was stripped of them, who was allowed to feel things beyond happiness was stripped of that, she was stripped of everything until all that was left is a flawless, perfect and unhatable "character". She became a character not allowed to feel even an ounce of sadness, even while walking to her own execution and death, a character no one was allowed to dislike her, all characters that previously called her a "traitor" and showed dislike towards suddenly flipped on their head praising her. Including Mei who was weary and not so attached to her.

The Flamechasers became what can only be discribed as an Elysia worshipping cult, who's only purpose was to sing praises to Elysia and nothing else.

With my small talk about Elysia done, let's go back to the overall story.

The story now lacking a threat had to create one from thin air, one that wasn't hinted at previously and so the Herrscher of Corruption fell into the story. And not even it was free from joining the Elysia worshipping cult the entire arc was.

After deleting Elysia, the Herrscher of Corruption also became infatuated with Elysia and decided to become her and leave the Elysian Realm to spread the gospel, if I had to guess.

I will say that the Herrscher of Corruption was a fitting enemy, an entity who's power revolves around data, set free in a realm entirely made of data is sure to create a dangerous foe.

Yet, despite being deleted from the Elysian Realm, Elysia came back and was used as a Deus-ex-machima type of character to finally defeat the final enemy, the finale wasn't a group effort it was just Elysia.

And just like that, Elysia deleted the Elysian Realm after being brought back through the sacrifice of others, she sacrificed herself and unfortunately this changed Mei's character, from hating self sacrifices and joining the enemy's organization solely to stop Kiana from sacrificing herself, to a character who is fine with self sacrifices all of the sudden.

And that characterization of Mei is one of the reasons Moon Arc was so terrible.

As I mentioned earlier, Moon Arc was yet another "open world" but even worse as it was scaled up, the lags worsen, I could barely play the chapter as I kept freezing, and so the frustration of Elysium Everlasting not only kept going but increased and made my experience of what is the final chapter of the original trio's story absolutely horrendous. And just like Elysium Everlasting, the story did not make me struggling to even launch the chapter worth it and I was about to give up on multiple occasions.

Moon Arc was a mess of retcons awful decisions.

The reveal that the Will of Honkai was the AI Prometheus made no sense at all and was not hinted at throughout the story, the Will of Honkai was always a naturally shapeless and emotionless figure that never spoke and only answered through actions, it did not seek anything, even when taking the shape of whoever is communicating to it, it had no face, it was just Thing. Not human, not herrscher just a physical manifestation of the Honkai's will, as its name say. But then the reveal of it being Prometheus made no sense considering the previous actions the Will of Honkai, and suddenly makes everything illogical and weird, and makes us ask why Prometheus did what she did, such as protecting Sirin and answering Otto's questions.

Then came Misteln, the "Hare" of World Serpent, who supposedly existed after Cecilia died and during Bronya's mother pregnancy, which is an inconsistency that has yet to be cleared, as those two time do not lineup at all, another confusing part of her is her powers, which are stigmata related but she seems to be able to do whatever the writers need her to do.

Staying on World Serpent, Kevin and his plan made no sense and their overall actions, or lack thereof was weird, they were supposedly trying to stop the trio and yet they helped them, talked to them for hours, and Hare even helped Bronya reached the full potential of her Herrscher core ; the overall pacing of the story was slow and there was no sign of the supposed emergency the trio was against, it was like a walk in the parc, slow walking and taking the time to have exposure.

But the worst part of all of it, was the introduction of Ai Lambda Hyperion, she was introduced in an event, in that event the player, aka us, were a part of it, it was a cute event about repairing the game and saving Ai Lambda. It was all there was to it. Until she came into the main story and so did the player, so did we. And that ruined everything, now the entire Honkaiverse is supposedly real in our world ; it especially ruined the final fight against Kevin, instead of the trio pulling through and beating Kevin, we do which makes their victory underwhelming and not as earned as if they won on their own.

Part 1's story started of as a really good, with character interactions and good character development but slowly the interactions and development worsen and disappeared leaving only an empty husk of its former self. Part 1 had a lot of potential for an emotional ending, but all we got was a nothingburger ending where Kiana is just physically stuck on the Moon but everyone can still visit her, instead of a feeling of isolation as a consequence of her saving the world, there was nothing to worry about, everything was going to be happy go lucky as usual.

- Part 1.5 : a breath of fresh air that wouldn't last

This part, or half part, started off slow and uninteresting for me, but it was still refreshing to focus on a character often put on the sideline : Seele, it also brought back a character shown in the manga and a visual novel, Shigure Kira, which was unexpected but welcome, they were focusing on existing characters instead of creating new ones.

But the start and my interest in this part was slow, but then the character Vita was introduced, a mischievous and humorous character that is still mysterious, a very interesting character with a lot of personality.

The 2nd half of Salt Snow Holy City, was way better, we had an actual threat in the form of Sa and Vita, while also having a lot of interactions between characters that otherwise wouldn't interact a lot, especially Veliona and Sentience, those two were very fun to watch and listen.

And so was the arc with Moriarty and all the Vita's, my only problem with this entire half part was the reveal of Griseo, while it does make sense somewhat, and Su I was hoping they would let go of the Flamechasers all together and never bring them up, their arc was over and they were only characters in a separate side story, but they slowly became main characters.

The twist of Vita doing all she did to betray and eventually kill Sa just to gain the freedom she craved and could never get as a proxy was wonderfully done and a well deserved ending for such a character, and it felt deserved and earned, she used everyone to advance her plans forward, and only relied on the other characters help at the end, when the final blow needed to be dealt, Kiana had to do it for Vita, but other than that Vita is the one who made her plan, worked towards it for years and manipulated Sa ; it was her win, she deserved it.

All and all, this entire half part felt so refreshing and made me hopeful for the future of the story... But unfortunately this miracle was just that, a short lived miracle the last bit of good writing Honkai Impact 3rd had.

Part 2 has a rough start, introducing a lot of characters in quite a shot amount of time and so the early bit felt quite rushed, but it slowed down once all the characters were introduced and set in the story it was quite good, and the threat of Perception was well set and the conclusion felt right... Or what I thought was the conclusion.

The twist of everything being a simulation from Dreamseeker's perspective just ruined everything, all the efforts went to waste and the ending suddenly felt worthless, it was just one of countless simulations so it meant nothing, all the emotial weight this had was gone.

I do like the mystery of Senadina, to at least have a bigger mystery connecting everything somewhat, and Vita's return to the story is one I am very happy about, it almost made me believe in MiHoYo again but as always, these moments of brightness in the other wise dark place the story is at are nothing more than dimly lit candles just about to go out.

- Honkai Star Rail : the false collaboration

It all started with a miscellaneous announcement of a Honkai Impact 3rd collab with Honkai Star Rail, Hi3rd collabing with other MiHoYo games happened before and it was very good, so we would get a collab character and outfit and lovely and funny noncanon event to go with it, everything should have been nice, I was on the fence due to the very bad Promare collab but I was hopeful, it was a collaboration between coworkers, they couldn't mess this up. Except they did, the moment it was revealed that Sparkle and other Honkai Star Rail related things were not noncanon events but fully main story canon.

Sparkle's introduction just created a whole mess in the timeline, her arrival in the mars computer happens before Welt's and Void Archive's departure, years before A Post Honkai Odyssey happens, it introduces the Solar System as a, weirdly, unreachable (supposedly protected by the Cocoon of Finality) place for Aeons and yet Sparkle and a random Messenger found it, that Messenger also sparks a new power scaling debate as she qualified Kiana as a "emanator" like entity, the interaction was not hinted at all throughout Penacony or anything Sparkle related prior to the collab happening, so it all just feels like a last minute decision to connect the two games, that were already connected through Welt and Void Archive.

From my point of view, there is no collaboration between the two games, this entire "event" and announcements were just to announce that the games were officially and connected as happening in the same Universe ; unlike collab valkyries Sparkle is fully gacha, an S-rank with no free way of being obtained, all collab characters are SP and farmable so this is already a suspicious play on Mihoyo's, and due to this Sparkle will have banner reruns after her banner ends, unlike collab that are only available in their patch, her stigmatas will be craftable despite being themed around her... All these points lead to the only possible conclusion : Sparkle was never a collaboration valkyrie, she is just a normal and permanent part 2 valkyrie. So the whole "collab" thing can only be assumed to be a bait of some kind, a bait for a valkyrie that is mediocre at best. A bait to lure in more spenders. A bait for money.

And so we reached the current end for the story, a beautiful story that unfortunately went downhill and the few good moments only ever lead to further disappointment, for we saw what they were capable of writing and producing and yet we were just let down, we were letdown more and more for one simple reason : the fandom kept praising the story, I barely saw complaints anywhere outside of my circle of friends, despite it getting worse and so mihoyo got away with writing worse and worse and worse until now, where we are at a point where salvation and redemption are no longer an option.

The fandom will crucify people who dare criticize the story because in their eyes mihoyo employees are some kind of Godly writers, hating a part will get you harassed, saying you dislike a character, especially Elysia and anything surrounding her, will get you seen as a bad person, this fandom has built so many layers of toxic positivity that it actively damaged the product. Mihoyo are not the sole responsible for the mess that Honkai Impact 3rd is, we are also sharing that responsability, for never calling mihoyo out their bad story choices, because the fandom kept "crying at the heartfelt stories" and because someone saying they disliked a fandom favorite was something worth getting bullied for, we like to call out other mihoyo games' fanbases toxic but we are no different, we are just as toxic if not more.

You may have noticed how I started to leave out details more and more as we progressed, simple answer I just skipped the story, because it was burning me out, going through long yet boring and non consequential stories was making want to stop playing, and so while I previously held the story above the gameplay and PvE aspect of the game, in current time that order has switched, and i skip story after reading summaries from CN to prioritize gameplay.

I also did not talk about events at all, and again it's really simple : the events, especially Captainverse, are really charming and well written, which is a very odd contrast to the main story, i focus more on those than the main story and find myself enjoying them even more ; this was a post to mostly complain and since I had nothing to complain about the events' writing I simply never mentioned them.

At least this whole thing is just my view of the whole thing, my view of the fandom, my view and opinion. And I just wanted it out of my chest.

I may add a portion about the character design, but this problem has mostly dissappeared since Part 2 began, so I don't feel the need to talk about it in details anymore, mihoyo moved on from that and so shall I.

[enhashoutout]

Tears and Matching Tattoos (Ice x reader)

I am and will always be a Nessa Barrett enthusiast

Genre: Angst

Trigger Warnings: typical H&L violence, jealousy (please let me know if I missed anything)

I use fem pronouns and descriptions because that is what is easiest for me but if you do not identify with that, please feel free to change that as you read to fit you :)

I'm not sure I 100% like this story, but I'm trying to get out of the habit of being a perfectionist and just allowing myself to publish everything even if I don't think it is perfect so that I have a record of my works to look back on and improve upon.

The one where you’re still in love with Ice even after he’s moved on.

𝕀𝕗 𝕀 𝕕𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦, 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕜 𝔾𝕠𝕕 𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕠𝕠𝕤 𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕝𝕚𝕗𝕖

✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁

Ice was your first love, and you were his. You spent a good amount of your life not only being his first love but also his best friend. You were there for him through thick and thin. There for all his highs and his lows. You spent so much time together, you guys also fell apart. Today, it suddenly felt like everything you went through meant nothing.

You had split because Ice said that he didn't feel the same way anymore; feeling like you guys would be better if you guys went back to just being friends like when you guys were kids. That's okay, he had a lot on his plate, and some people just fall out of love sometimes. You weren't always lovers, you could go back to that again, right? He went back to friends, you pretended. It's hard going back to being friends when you literally live in the same house as the person you love. Being a part of Mighty Warriors was suddenly like shooting yourself in the foot. You were around Ice ALL. THE. DAMN. TIME. How does anyone move on like that?

Then, Sarah came along. Mighty Warriors had saved the poor girl from getting kidnapped by Doubt. Ice allowed her to stick around, and she became part of the group. Being the only two women on the team should've brought you closer, but it never did. You could see it, it was happening. Ice was moving on. He liked Sarah, he said and did the same things to you when it was you. The only difference is that this time they would last, something you didn't have the luxury of knowing. It wasn't Sarah's fault or her intention, but it did make you hold a secret grudge against her.

You were wallowing in your bedroom, figuring out how to improve upon the track Bernie gave you when Ice burst into your room.

"Well damn, at least knock. Did you need something before tonight's performance?"

"Yeah, can you look at this real quick?"

"Sure." You had answered him thinking he needed you to look at a track or a new styling choice for tonight's performance, but it wasn't either of those. From his back pocket, Ice pulled out a velvet box. He opened it up and showed it to you, a ring.

"Do you think Sarah will like it? I'm gonna propose to her tonight in the middle of Funk Jungle."

You were stunned. You didn't think this day would arrive so soon, and yet here you guys are.

"I- wow. I think the ring looks great. I'm sure she's gonna love it."

"I love her. For once, I'm nervous."

"Come on Ice, why be nervous? It's not like she's gonna say no. She's gonna say yes. She's going to absolutely love the ring, and she's going to absolutely love you."

"Thank you, you're the best. You always know what to say."

"That's my job as your best friend who actually has a brain unlike the rest of Mighty isn't it?" The two of you laughed.

"I'll see you downstairs for your set."

"You bet."

Ice exited your room, closing your door. All you could do was stare at the spot he once stood in. Tears began running down your face. It's been a while since you guys broke up, and a while since Ice and Sarah were together, so this should've hurt less. Should've, but here you are, crying at the news. You couldn't hate either of them, but you did hate yourself for holding onto feelings that were no longer reciprocated. You fixed your makeup and went back to looking at the track Bernie gave you to keep your mind off of everything.

Later that night you stood with Bernie behind his set up, dreading the moment the proposal would happen. It seems like Ice didn't tell anyone else but you, knowing that one of the guys would probably accidentally let the surprise slip to Sarah.

In the middle of Ice's performance, he told Bernie to cut the music for a second. He walked to Sarah where she usually sat on the side, bringing her to the middle of the dance floor. The spotlights focused on the couple. Ice got down on one knee, and into the mic asked "Sarah, will you marry me?" She was thrilled, shouting yes. He picked her up in a hug and spun her, telling Bernie to continue where the track left off. Everyone in the club was shouting and celebrating the two, everyone but you. Bernie noticed this. Aside from Ice, the other Mighty member you were closest to was Bernie. He was the only other person in the group whose brain could process deeper emotions.

Bernie pulled you away from the noise. "Hey, you okay?"

"After everything we've talked about Bernie, how do you think I feel?" you mumbled.

"Like shit obviously but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask."

"I'll be fine. I'll cry for a while and then I'll be good. I've held out for this long, what's a little more right?"

"Will you be okay? I'm being serious. I don't want you in a place that's causing you pain."

"I don't get to have him but thank god matching tattoos last for life right? I'm heading back, tell the others I wasn't feeling good okay?" Bernie nodded.

You left Funk Jungle and headed back home. In your room, hidden away from everyone else you cried. It's alright, Ice can love her even after he broke your heart. It would be cruel to wish anything other than the best for him. Part of you wished everything was a lie, but the other part of you hoped that your heartbreak brought him the love he deserved. You looked at the matching tattoo you had with Ice on your arm. It had started as a couple's tattoo, switching its meaning when you had broken up. Now it was just a matching best friends tattoo, but in your mind where no one else could see, you could look at the tattoo and remember the time when Ice once loved you.

✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁✫☼☾☁

You reached the end! Thank you so much for reading this little blurb. It's not the best thing I've written or my favorite but I figured I can publish it and use it for improvement moving forward.

I read on the post here on Tumblr that Ice and Sarah get married in the H&L manga series so I wanted to write something to go along with that.

Likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated.

Please don't take my work and repost it anywhere or take credit for it. Writers work hard on their stuff so please don't be a crappy human.

Random question, are there any H&L characters you guys want to see more stories for?

[nd-babblinggoblinfromthevoid]

I wish that autism wasn't so heavily looked down upon/ignored/disrespected when I was growing up.

I was a "devil child", "handful", "problem".

When in reality if even minute changes were made in my environment and how my own family interacted with me, I would have flourished so much more.

I heavily stimmed using music. The repetitive beats and heavy bass was my thing. So when my mom wanted to punish me for something, one of the first things she'd do was take away my ipod/mp3 whatever I had. WORST thing was when she ONLY took my (very specific) headphones.

To her, it was taking away something fun. A luxury item. A toy basically.

But to me, it was taking away a very heavily ingrained stim that I NEEDED to do, and could not do without very specific criteria (specific headphones and a specific playlist/style of music)

So of course I would become horribly disregulated. Which I'd then have to attempt to mask/or recluse to avoid her so she wouldn't see how bad it unraveled me.

Because to her, being disregulated/unraveled was "acting up", "catching an attitude", "being disrespectful/rude".

Gods. Looking back I truly hate how she did me wrong in that way. Not just my stim but EVERYTHING. All my needs were either dismissed or half-met.

She is one of those people who thinks sure adhd/autism exists but not in HER family. Not in HER children. She even tried to blame it on the father of her children and it couldn't possibly have had anything to do with her.

..... we not only ALL have different fathers, but after observing both memories of her and her now, she is ALSO autistic and in total denial.

I definitely still harbor resentment because of that. She had me "evaluated". Once. At a time where they still heavily leaned on the male criteria for adhd, and autism wasnt really addressed/acknowledged unless it was severely debilitating. But also, by the time she had me evaluated, I'd already spent a few years (unknowingly) masking due to peers and family creating that need. So the conclusion was "there MIGHT be something divergent about her but we couldnt say for sure at this time" and she took that as "nope she's good, just a problem child. Carryon." Never again to be addressed.

She barely acknowledged that one of my brothers (previously a sister) was diagnosed adhd.

She only acknowledged another brother's adhd&autism diagnosis because the school he went to was very accommodating and insisted that he be evaluated and guess what.

Once he was diagnosed, and they rearranged his class schedules to fit his needs, he did a 180 and graduated top of his class. THRIVED. I both LOVE that he got that and HATE that I never did. I barely got through school.

It wasn't for lack of love of learning. I just, learned different, but was ALSO heavily overloaded with how crammed my courses were. I always wonder if I'd gotten the same accommodations, would I have thrived? Would school have been a drastically different/positive experience/memory for me? I'll never know. Because my mother was so against the idea that anything was divergent about me and absolutely mentally stuffed me into her little idea of an ideal neurotypical child that I never had a chance...

Now that I know I'm also AuDHD, like most of my siblings and even an aunt, I feel validated. I had seen vlogs and blogs about people more and more coming out about how they handle life and their coping skills and hacks theyve learned and after starting to apply those to myself... gods I've improved so much.

Don't get me wrong, I still struggle. But now knowing what issues are and how to cope and get around things, I'm a lot better off.

This is only ONE reason of several why my relationship with my mother has gone sour. What's sad is she doesn't really realize it yet? I havent been able to compose myself enough to have THE CHAT.

About how she hurt me a lot. Intentional or not. (Like not knowing taking away my music was taking away a stim) I don't know how to have this chat. Tbh I thought about writing a longass letter. Because in the past whenever she's been confronted about anything she's done wrong, she spirals into defense mode and wont even entertain the conversation beyond that point and you get... nowhere.

So maybe in person the bulk of the talk wont happen. I feel like. I need to hand her a letter. Have her read it. And maybe have a succinct chat before parting ways.

Because I wanted to be close to her for so long, that I either didn't realize or knowingly ignored her problem behaviors and looking back... she just... gods that's a whole other post for the future....

If you've read this far thank you. If you've had similar familial experiences, lmk (if you're comfy)

I just....... *sigh*.... yep.

[ukrfeminism]

Though British farming is arguably at the most precarious point in its long history – thanks to changes caused by Brexit and food industry subsidies, lack of clear food production policies and increased concern over environmental issues – more women than ever are choosing a career in agriculture and, more importantly, moving into leadership roles.

Back in the 1970s, Holly Collins was studying for her A-levels in Sussex. While her friends sent off their university applications, she wrote to the Royal Agricultural College asking for an entry form, hoping to follow her dream of becoming a farmer.

“They wrote back with the following answer: ‘Dear Miss Collins, we do not admit women.’”

Undeterred, she worked on a farm the following summer: “A lot of the tasks then were manual labour, so I’d just turn up at the farm gate and ask for a job. I was paid much less than the male students I worked with because I was female. The farmer’s father told him that, because I was the hardest worker, he should pay me the same as them – but he didn’t.”

Things, says the 64-year-old who now has her own upland farm, Hollin Bank, at the head of Coniston Water in the Lake District, have improved a lot for women in agriculture since then.

Though British farming is arguably at the most precarious point in its long history – thanks to changes caused by Brexit and food industry subsidies, lack of clear food production policies and increased concern over environmental issues – more women than ever are choosing a career in agriculture and, more importantly, moving into leadership roles.

Minette Batters, the first ever female president of the National Farmers’ Union of England and Wales (NFU), may have stepped down this spring after six years in office, but women are still well represented in the union, with Rachel Hallos, a South Pennines farmer, installed as NFU vice-president and Abi Reader as deputy president for NFU Cymru. The Great Yorkshire Show has just got its first female show director in its 186-year history – dairy farmer Rachel Coates takes over after this year’s show in July. In the field of specialist skills, the UK has also just appointed its first female wool grader. Amy-Jo Barton, 22, is based at British Wool (formerly the British Wool Marketing Board) in Bradford where she sorts wool by hand based on style and characteristics; a job she finds “very therapeutic”.

While women comprised 17% of farmers in 2019, data from the Office for National Statistics for 2023 shows that of the 104,700 registered farmers, 22% are female. In the broader category of managers in agricultural services, women make up 32% of the workforce. According to recent figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, 64% of agricultural students are women. For an industry that historically relies on father-to-son succession to pass on land and which used to exclude women from many of its educational establishments, farming has come a long way.

Coates, incoming director of the Great Yorkshire Show, says: “Women have always been the backbone of a farm. Now they’re no longer in the kitchen tied to the Aga, they’re at the forefront of the industry. It’s good to see this take-up of leadership roles.”

Louisa Dines, principal lecturer in agronomy at Harper Adams University in Shropshire, thinks farming has lagged behind in terms of gender diversity but is finally catching up with other industries.

“Farmers’ wives and daughters were always important – farms are typically family businesses and intertwined with home life – but women used to operate below the radar,” she says. “Historically local meetings were in the pub or village hall. Wives often weren’t invited or had to look after the children. Even if they did go, it can be intimidating walking into a room full of men, but new communication platforms – such as social media and video conferencing – have made it easier for women to take part.”

There are more than 14,000 members of the Facebook group Ladies Who Lamb and farmers such as the Yorkshire Shepherdess and the Red Shepherdess have huge followings on TikTok and Instagram. Dines says she recently attended an agritech conference to promote links between women in farming in Poland, Ukraine and England. Previously these women had worked in isolation but not had a sense of community. “It was so interesting to see how far we’ve come.”

Traditions need to change more, though. The average age of a British farmer is 59 and the business is still typically passed down the male side of the family. A 2022 survey in Northern Ireland found that inheritance was the second biggest challenge faced by women in farming. The biggest was male dominance.

Molly Lewis, whose family have farmed sheep on 250 acres of pasture in Powys, Wales, for 350 years, says this attitude is starting to shift. The 20-year-old plans to take over when her father and his brother retire. She splits her time between working in the family business and the local agricultural market.

“In the past, sometimes men felt pressured to take on the farm even if their heart wasn’t in it, but now it goes to whoever is interested. I’ve noticed a lot more women happily getting involved. It feels natural, especially here. We have an open hill farm in the Elan Valley, and do a lot of community work with all our neighbours. You see women and girls on the hills doing the same jobs as the men and no one thinks anything of it.”

Lewis also talks of the community’s fury at the Welsh government’s sustainable farming scheme – the post-Brexit plan for funding the industry which includes ensuring 10% of farmland is under tree cover.

Collins’s farm has low densities of mixed livestock and a nice sideline in educational courses teaching traditional farming skills such as dry stone walling and coppicing. It’s currently host to two masters students researching finance and birdlife. She brought in two women – Megan Jones and Katherine Andrews – to manage Hollin Bank alongside her.

She says she has had difficulties with “a lack of respect” from male farmers. “But I am learning at a late age and from the wonderful young women who work with me that you don’t have to instil fear in others to succeed in this very male world. We try to be warm and encouraging of anyone who is interested. I’m not sure this is a ‘female’ attitude to farming but I suspect it might be.”

None of the three at Hollin Bank grew up in agricultural families, bucking the tradition of succession. While Collins had a “striking ambition” to farm her whole life, her colleagues originally worked in conservation and nature restoration.

“As 70% of the UK is farmland, I wanted to understand how conservation and agriculture intertwine,” says Andrews. “I also believe we need to localise the food economy to save food miles, create jobs and deepen our connection to the land.”

If farming is in crisis it may be this new generation who look to change the status quo who will be able to find a resolution. All of them seem keen to evolve. Coates’s big ambition for the Yorkshire Agricultural Society is to engage young people because “we need to make farming relevant – there are going to be changes in agriculture over the next few years and we need to adapt”.

Dines points to the increased importance of marketing and communication – from farm shops and crafts to environmentally friendly farming practice – “all the public-facing activities at which women excel”.

Jones, who worked in restoration before joining Hollin Bank two years ago, also points to the need for communication within the indusry as well as with the public.

“We need to strengthen food systems that value farmers’ extensive knowledge of the landscapes they work in,” she says. “I think we need to listen to farmers and figure out what works financially and ecologically. How can we build resilient ecosystems?”

The reason so many more women have moved into farming is perhaps best explained when Jones talks about what she enjoys most about her work.

“My favourite thing about working on a farm is the daily and seasonal rhythms. Each day you adapt and respond to the environment and the animals. Days when we move the sheep or cows are always good days, walking with them is like a moving meditation. For someone who spent very little time doing practical work growing up, I find working with my hands very rewarding and empowering – especially as a woman.”

[iuteamstarcandy]

[INTERVIEW] 230922 IU in Elle Korea Oct Issue (Part 2 of 2)

Q: I really do see you repaying others for the love that you have received. Through “IU’s Palette” (shortened as “Palette” below), you’ve been actively communicating with and cheering on girl group juniors like ITZY, New Jeans and so on. Do you feel envious or get curious about the life of a girl group member sometimes?

I do feel envious when I see how they are witnesses for each other’s growth and can share moments of glory like when they win awards. Certainly, I think it’s tiring for them too. The girl group friends I’ve met on “Palette” are all really mature and I’m grateful for the healthy energy that we send to each other. Rather than as a senior, I try my best to show them how I feel as a fan or average person on the streets — things like how much positive strength they give many people as artists, or how much energy I have gained in my life from listening to their music.

Q: You seem to have carved your identity as an emcee through “Palette”. What’s the greatest thing you have gained through this new role?

The main highlight for “Palette” is switching songs (TL note: Singing each other’s songs in one’s own style) That, in itself, is an expression of respect, that “I like your music, so I’ve tried interpreting it in my own style like this.” I’m really really grateful that my guests put in great effort to cover my songs. Singing a song cover is something that I do while practising great caution, because of the worry that I might ruin the song, so it’s not something I do that often.

Q: What do you mean you worry that you might ruin the song?

Yeah, that’s right! If I sing a song that I like, what if I like it less as a result? Of course I have such feelings.

Q: During the Kim Sejeong episode, she had many thoughts about the feeling of passionately liking someone as well as cherishing her own songs while singing them. How much do you like your own songs?

It was an episode that made me think a lot too. For someone who was influenced by my music from a young age and dreamed of becoming a singer, to show me that she likes me, that really gave me strength and the professionalism she displayed when sharing her personal stories and the pride she has in her own songs made her look really cool. As always, I’m sitting on the fence about this. There’s a side of me that loves my songs and thinks that my songs are the best and yet, innately, there’s a side of me that can’t help being critical of myself. Nonetheless, I think self-objectification and having a sense of balance are important. I don’t think I will lean towards either side in the future either.

Q: In your journey of 15 years, I think you would have been very much influenced by the self-awareness that the way your fans consistently support and love you is by treating you like a young female artist. There is a collective awareness that they should protect you from excessive criticism and feedback right?

Having worked throughout my teens and 20s and now in my 30s, certainly the way we work has changed, but I also sensed that the way the general public views celebrities has changed a lot. There is a social atmosphere that we shouldn’t ignore anybody’s opinion as well as the attitude that we should respect and accept even a young celebrity for who he or she is. There are still areas that need improvement, but I think there are more people now who agree that no one should just be hated. Every now and then, I’m touched to see how perspectives have changed.

[TL note: IU previously shared how she was called a pig and booed by the audience when she performed her Mia debut stage at the age of 16.]

Q: Even if you believe that ‘love will conquer all’, you will still be receiving explicit and undying hate. You’re dealing with the hate firmly?

I need to deal with this in separate ways. Some of this is really explicit hate. That’s called an opinion and shouldn’t be lumped together with the feedback that the general public sends me. I think there’s a need to draw a line to clearly and firmly differentiate the two.

Q: During your early days when you made your debut, you said you were afraid of receiving compliments like “you’re doing a good job given your age”. How do you feel about that now? Do you think you’ve become someone who does a good job irregardless of your age?

Having lived through my life so far, I think I’ve found the age that suits me best. In my teens and 20s, I was under pressure to show people an image of myself that matches the impression they have of someone that age. They looked forward to a much livelier and lovelier younger sister sort of image from me than I had the energy to pull off. Actually, at that age I was full of self-hatred and had a pessimistic world-view…

Q: Isn’t that what being a teen is like?

That’s right! That’s ‘real’. (TL note: The irony here that IU’s Real album was not the real IU.) Now even if I speak in my original tone, people won’t ask me, “IU, are you in a bad mood?” When I was young (TL note: younger), I would always have to speak in a tone 3 keys higher. Also, now that I’ve been in the industry for a long time, I get the sense that people no longer observe closely and wonder, ‘what stunt is she going to pull this time?’ They just listen to my music and accept my natural and familiar presence to receive the energy that they can receive from me. I’m grateful for that and I like it. I really like how I just have to think about how to show my thoughts through my music.

Q: You’re aware that you’re still young right?

If I were to have a goal, it would be to hear people say, “Wah, that grandmother is still doing a good job” when I am 75 or 80 years old. Since I heard people saying, “You’re doing a good job given your age” in my teens (laughs). That’s a big change for me. I used to think that when I get older, I would be doing something different, but currently, I’m confident that I’ll love my job for a long time.

Q: By the way, you wore the marshmallow suit and went to your 15th debut anniversary exhibition. Do you think your fans really didn’t recognise you? Or were they just pretending?

Yes! If they were just pretending, I would feel very sorry. How considerate they would have been, to pretend that they didn’t recognise me.. But I think they really didn’t know. I really don’t look good in the marshmallow suit. I’m the only short and ugly marshmallow we ever had (laughs).

Translated by IUteamstarcandy

[misscrawfords]

Hello, fanfic writer question, please. 1, 2, 9, 13, 40, 44, 58, 91. There were so many good ones! Thank you

I'm sorry for the delay in answering this! It was Easter and then I've been on holiday...

do you know how you want the story to end when you start, or are you just stumbling through the figurative wilderness hoping to find a road?

I never start writing unless I know the ending of the story. Like how the conclusions to essays should reflect the introduction, the ending of a story needs to be in the mind of the author from the beginning. But there might be quite a lot of wilderness in the middle I'm not sure about!

2. talk about a notable time a narrative or character has looked you dead in the eyes and said “fuck your plan, here’s what we’re actually doing.”

Actually, that doesn't really happen to me a lot. Stories unfurl and sometimes develop in cool ways when I think of a new bit of plot or development, but the characters don't really do this... I guess a kind of example was with my teenage HP next generation sequel where after writing it for quite a long time I realised one of the main characters was gay and this made so much sense! It wasn't relevant in any way to the plot but I felt I understood Xanthia so much better and it wasn't something I consciously plotted out.

9 - already answered

13. talk about a writing experience that has pleasantly surprised you.

Back when I wrote Downton fic, my collaboration with Claire (@orangeshipper) was such a lovely experience. We were just so in tune with each other in terms of what we wanted to convey about Matthew and Mary and it helped us both develop our writing skills a lot. And we became proper IRL friends too. I can't really imagine having a writing partner like that again.

40. best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

Ooh, I don't know about anything specific but I always loved the comments that a fellow M/M shipper EOlivet left on my fic. We ended up kind of falling out but I was always sorry about that - she gave the best feedback! And @wah-pah also writes amazing reviews and I always feel incredibly grateful if she reads what I've written.

44. any writing advice you want to share?

Uhhhhh I'm not sure I, a person who hasn't written in ages, can give anyone any advice! But I guess I would say that writing has to be what you want to do and whatever you do is okay. I've wasted my emotions and my energy feeling competitive about my writing which is stupid when writers should support each other, and I've also felt jealous of people who seem able to write all the time on top of other lives or who are able to prioritise it or manage to write 1000 words a day or whatever. We all have different lives. Right now, my life doesn't admit of me pursuing writing seriously. It's the wrong point. I do hope at some point that will change but it's okay that I am prioritising other things at the moment. So I guess my advice would be to take it easy and not beat yourself up if you're not writing as much as you want to or how you want to - and definitely don't compare yourself to others!

58. what is the last thing that a fic made you google when you were writing it?

Golly, no idea. I'm sorry! It's been so long...

91. how has your writing style changed over the years?

Tricky. I'd like to think it's improved but honestly I'm not sure it has. I think I peaked when I was doing my masters degree, now over 10 years ago. I was so immersed in reading and the analysis of fiction I was really conscious of how I was writing. I wrote Consolation Prize and a lot of University Challenge then. I think I've got better at writing stories set in the modern era since then and perhaps developed more of a style. But tbqh I think I was a better writer ten years ago and I find that really depressing and it puts me off writing again. :(

[smallsimmer]

Get to Know Me- Sims Edition

Thank you @pixelatedpretties for the tag 🫡❤️❤️

I’m in the car riding back from dropping @pleaseputnamehere off back with her fam so excuse the phone formatting 🧌

What’s your favourite Sims death?

I haven’t actually *played* the game in years at this point, even when I did I never tried to kill my sims off intentionally so probably old age.

Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

Alpha 100% I respect the people who use mm cc but I’ve always liked the alpha look for s3.

Do you cheat your sims weight?

I’ve never had to since I don’t play but when I did play I still didn’t, I didn’t really care if they gained or lost weight 🧌

Do you use move objects?

Hard to pose sims with it off so yes 🫡

Favourite Mod?

Pose player, I’d be lost without it.

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

I think my first expansion was either pets or supernatural I can’t remember which it’s been so long but of the two supernatural was definitely my favorite.

Do you pronounce live mode or aLIVE or LiVing?

Living, I don’t like how aLIVE sounds.

Who’s your favourite sim that you’ve made?

Definitely Sparrow, I’ve had her in active use the longest and she’s gone through a lot of changes, I’d like to think if people associate a sim with my blog it’s her lmao.

Have you made a simself?

A really really bad one a long time ago.

Which is your favourite EA hair colour?

Can so tell these questions originated on the s*4 side haha, none tbh I make all my own hair colors.

Favourite EA hair?

I never use EA hairs but, I did download retextures of the island paradise hairs and I use the wet male hair that came with it sometimes.

Favourite life stage?

YA for sure

Are you a builder or are you in it for gameplay?

Neither lmao.

Are you a CC creator?

Technically ig lmao, I don’t upload cc publicly anymore but I still make/convert things for myself and my friends.

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

Oh that’s so cringe, my best friend tho is @pleaseputnamehere (pls come back I miss u already) as well as my other besties @mal-functioning @xinfibloomx also my bestie Alanna (I’ll tag her when I get home I need to bully her into posting more)

Do you have any sims merch?

No actually which is funny considering I’ve ran a blog about it for like ten years almost atp

How has your “Sims Style” changed throughout your years of playing?

Definitely gotten a lot better than it was, first version sparrow was….. interesting. I didn’t know how to make skins or anything back then and I had a lot of friends whose sims looked a lot better than mine, made me want to improve my own sims.

Whats your Origin ID?

No thank you!

Who’s your favourite CC creator?

I’m kinda in the business of just using my own stuff but I do appreciate the people who convert poses and other things.

I mostly use stuff from (other than myself):

@pleaseputnamehere (ily)

@rollo-rolls

@ifcasims

@satellite-sims

There’s definitely more but I’m tired and blanking rn

How long have you had simblr?

That post that tells you said I made my blog on November 30th 2013 so my blogs turning 10 this year I suppose.

How do you edit your pictures?

I use Sara’s reshade preset she made plus actions in PS she made, other than that it’s a matter of what needs to be liquified what needs to be fixed and how lazy I’m feeling that particular day.

What expansion/ stuff pack is your favourite?

Supernatural, I used to make households that had each life state in it and play like that for hours when I was younger.

tagging:

@pleaseputnamehere

@xinfibloomx

@mal-functioning

[electricbluebutterflies]

Kabby + “ are you okay with me touching you? “

Post-s2 grayspace / turned into something of a spiral about ignoring chronic pain and I haven't actively projected through these babes in years but it's fun to know I still can. PG-ish and also on ao3.

This is getting awkward.

The fact that Abby even has a concept of awkward… would surprise most people who know her, she’s pretty sure, but she does occasionally acknowledge the existence of social boundaries even if she doesn’t cling to them unlike some people and-

She’s been in medical since she was old enough to qualify for training. She has seen everything and knows how to be calm about it even if the occasional image imprints itself in her mind for longer than it needs to stay. This is still awkward as hell.

It’s been a few weeks since the most recent blur of everything-that-could-possibly-go-wrong-went-spectacularly-wrong, which is to say that she has recovered from her recent physical damage and her counterpart has not because he’s the only person she’s ever met who’s more stubborn than she is and-

All her experience has not covered how to explain to someone with that particular flavor of charming personality that they’re probably going to have recurring pain in a bad spot for the rest of their natural life, and that might entail some difficulty moving around on an intermittent basis, and maybe they should alter their usual activities just a little bit, and-

This would be easier if it was literally anyone else she’s ever known. She’s not that lucky.

Recent… personality developments do not help the situation, and if anything make it worse. At least six months ago Marcus was a very, very consistent type of jerk. She could – and did, more than she’ll ever admit – plan around how precise and predictable all of his schemes were. They don’t have that anymore, and why is she in the position of wishing that the person who has become her main source of stability would just go back to being an asshole already because she knew how to work with that, and-

She’s managed to insist on weekly check-ins. Their communication style has improved – become existent, she thinks sometimes, become polite and more organized instead of their previous array of bad habits – and they don’t actually need these meetings for any reason having to do with herding around an entire civilization, and it always becomes just a little too personal and-

She has no one else left. She’s pretty sure he’s never had anyone else. Again the idea of might as well drive each other crazy so no one else has to deal with them sounds a lot like a reasonable justification.

“Are you okay with me touching you?”

If there’s one thing she’d keep out of recent developments, one new detail she deeply enjoys above all else, it’s how breakable Marcus has become. She’s made him speechless more times in the past three weeks than in the thirty or so years before that, and it’s so strange to watch, how easily she overwhelms him and-

“That depends on-“

“I just want to check some pressure points. Over clothes, not…”

And on the subject of things she’ll never unsee…

Look, boundaries are what they are and she did not do anything inappropriate, but there are… details she is now aware of due to the location of that particular injury, because of course that man went and took that much damage to his thigh, and she has done nothing she would not have done with anyone else but the goddamn visuals-

“Fine. I have nothing better to do than be a pincushion.”

Broken but not completely, she thinks – they still have the potential to spar at each other, rare as it is now, and-

“Nothing worse than my hands, don’t worry. And it’ll be easier if you stay standing up.”

“Has anyone suggested lately that you might be a sadist?”

Abby rolls her eyes. “Shut up, I haven’t even touched you yet. And if you weren’t so…”

He would’ve been bad enough just adapting to how time changes a body, she thinks. This whole development is just…

“What do you want?”

“You to admit you have a breaking point and you like to cross it.”

“Like you’re any better.”

Yeah, well, she’s done a little better on the major injuries front lately, but…

“I do not have as many physical tasks as you in the first place. And you could delegate once in a while and-“

“Like you’re any better,” he repeats.

“I do not have anywhere near as many possible alternates as you do. We are playing with different rules here and-“

Screw this, she thinks, putting her hand on his thigh like she’d intended. Lightest pressure, watching reactions, watching-

“Stop. Please.”

“Is that enough of a hint? Are you even aware-“

“I have to-“

“No. No you don’t. Your atonement is not going to be through your body, no matter what you-“

“Like you have any right to-“

“Have you even thought about what happens if you’re sidelined or-“

“We survived that, remember?”

“Yeah, you were running circles around me well before-“

“Someone had to-“

“Why is someone always you?!”

For a moment a flicker of something adrift in his eyes, answers not found to questions not formed and-

“Why shouldn’t it be? I have-“

“Who the fuck asked you to bleed for your mistakes?”

“Let’s see, I forget how many times you alone suggested it as a solution but it’s at least in the hundreds, maybe thousands, maybe-“

“Screw me for thinking that would be the first time you ever listened to me,” she mutters.

“Is doing better now really enough for you?”

“I haven’t even thought about how to get rid of your body since we landed. You do realize how weird that is for me.”

“You have always been very direct…”

“And that’s why I’m the only person who can get through to you, and that’s why as much as I want to give up completely sometimes…”

“You don’t have to-“

“I’m not trying to fix you. You’re doing an interesting enough job of that on your own. I just… think everything is a little easier if you’re around to deal with it with me.”

His hand covers hers, resting now on his leg, and they are not like this and maybe they are like this, and-

“Thank you.”

“For?”

“Not giving up.”

[turoce]

Seana’s 2020 art highlights (a thread)

(Note: this is a reupload of a thread i did on twitter a few years back. so these are really old.)

January: i didn’t draw anything complete that month.... closest thing i could find to finished is this art i made of my OC, Angelord. man. remember when i drew my OCs? [2023 note: it's..... funny you say that. you would try to start up an original comic for the entirety of next year.... not that it ever came to fruition.]

February: i finished Link’s Awakening that month. i drew Marin bc i thought she was cute. i wish i could get motivated to draw fanart of recent video games i finished more... this is probably the last proper traditional art i made this year... after this, it’s mostly digital.

March: look. i’m attempting anatomy... and i failed lol. i remember being like “how do you draw woman” after drawing this... i mean. i still wanna know how to draw woman, so i guess i haven’t changed lol. [2023 note: I STILL DONT KNOW HOW TO DRAW WOMEN]

April: wait NVM here’s another traditional piece i made this year. he was an adoptable i made... but nobody was interested in them so he’s with me for now. i’ll try and redesign them, either to sell them or to keep him. [2023 note: i never sold this guy.... i was lazy and nobody values points these days. probs for the best because scamming children with virtual coins is probably not a good idea lmao. at the same time, i wish there was an easy way to buy and sell designs+commissions without having to get a credit card or paypal or something.]

May: another month where i didn’t draw anything. buuut i did some plush sketches to reference so das dat. [2023 note: you'll probably be able to name most charas here, but who's the guy i drew the most? that's Matteo, he's a little pink vampire and i made him through Gatcha Life.]

June: ah. the month where i started digital art. this was fanart for my friend’s OC. i didn’t know a lot of features of digital art so it looks like shit LOL not the first digital art i made ever, but it might as well be. [2023 note: i actually received my tablet around 2018, but i never had time to draw on it because i had 1 hour of screentime every day. this restriction was finally lifted in 2020 (because online classes) and i finally had time to venture out into the world of digital art...]

July: i made a lot of stuff this month, but to shorten the list... i finished the plush of my OC, Matteo. i wanna make another plushie... maybe with Suitcase.

this was also the month i joined the OSC... oh hell. it’s been 6 months?? [2023 note: 2 YEARS BITCH. ITS GONNA BE YOUR 3RD ANNIVERSARY if i didn't get so tired and started to hate the community so much.]

August: ...ergh. lets get over with this month quickly... Object OCs this. Object OCs that.

occasional Algebians.

i do not like the art here... it really shows that i’ve improved. ok let’s get outta here. [2023 note: i fucking despise the person who asked me why "they were old" to my humanizations of the Dangos. this is why i refuse to join another public server ever again and might have contributed to the delay of my human drawing skills.]

September: lots of Taco II. i seriously liked her a lot. still do, but the love is a bit more spread out between characters.

oh. and i watched ONE that month. cool.

October: i finally found a style that i could weld. hooyah.

don’t ask why i drew my friend as a cat maid... i thought it was funny ok.

September: the month of gift art. nothing else to say, but i like the thin lines. yes, ‘thin’. ...god i need to think of better things to say. [i would then realize i said the wrong month, and unlike tumblr, i cannot edit tweets once published, so my only option was to delete the whole thing and start over. or just say this:] did i just say September... oh for fucks- no i am not fixing this i’m already tired of this just imagine i said November ok

December: best art of this year so far (doh) nothing to say. just... happy that i improved. can’t wait to improve even more.

[hey look! i was in the 2020 JnJ christmas video! thats me! me!!]

aaand, that’s all for this year! man, i thought i was done with improvement. i can’t believe i proved myself wrong. usually other people do that for me lol. lets see if i can disprove myself again in 2021.

[ginnyw-potter-archive]

2022 Wrapped

Tagged by the lovely @ginwiz

Post the top 5 works you're most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular)

I genuinely don't remember half the things I posted this year but let's see what I CAN remember.

A Guiding Light: While I am already seeing all the things I did wrong with this fic, it's the first time in a long while I posted a longer fic and is what got me back into fanfic writing.

Wreck My Plans: Taking a stab at a healing Harry and Ginny, working on a different pacing was really fun.

Kissing Is Serious Business: The fic where I did a lot of research into more descriptive writing. It's one of those fics I can tell changed my overall writing style

The Get-Along Sweater : I loved exploring the idea of Hinny getting together earlier and having more time together. The whole stuck in sweater premise was fun too

Paint!Voldie gets a visitor: I don't write crack fics often so it was interesting to work on this!

your top 4 current WIPs that you're excited to release in the new year

Knight of Mine: I have already posted two chapters but I am so excited to post more and the response has been amazing. I am starting to love exploring their connection through little AUs

Peverell's Progeny: This was meant to be posted before Knight of Mine, having already written 100K words for this but I got sidetracked (See nr 1) . Muggle!AU Best friends to Lovers to oh fuck I am pregnant. Also Harry is a secret service agent

???: Unnamed oneshot about Ginny being a cat animagus

Horsing Around: A soulbond AU (I like those - deal with it) that I already posted the first part of but plan to expand.

your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year

being more descriptive. I am always focused on conversations and my descriptions suffer for it.

POV and head hopping. I have the Discords to thank for the discussions I catch about those things. I think I have become more deliberate in choosing a POV and stopped head hopping

As a very chaotic writer, I recently found out how to make structuring work for me and it really helped me write more efficiently

your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year

Work more on descriptions and finding a balance between inner monologue/description/conversation

Comment more on other people's stuff. I already read and commented more but I know I can do better.

and your number 1 favorite line you've written this year

It's hard to pick one I truly love, but I think I like this one because I know people liked it too. From 'The Dating Life of Ginny Weasley'

"I didn't think..."

“I’d want to marry you?” he finished her sentence and looked at her fondly. It amused him greatly that she seemed to be at a loss for words right now. It took a lot to reduce Ginny to silence. He leaned to her ear. “You can be my slutty wife.” 

Tagging (feel free to ignore if you already did or don't want to): @turanga4, @celestemagnoliathewriter and @gryffindorhealer

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

Because of your polls, I've been comparing what I like about the PoR sprites vs. the RD ones. I like the RD art style better, I think, because it seems more fluid and polished, but seeing the sprites side by side, the PoR ones have a whole lot more personality. Like Sanaki, for example. Radiant Dawn she looks kind of blank, but in Path of Radiance she looks like a smug mischief maker. What do you think?

That's cool to hear! It's something I had been doing/thinking of, which is why I started making polls. I'd been wondering how other people saw the designs as someone who prefers Ranger Ike's design the most out of all his designs. I had a feeling his RD Hero and PoR Lord designs would be more popular, but that's why I was curious. Seeing people's tags has been helpful too!

I do agree that PoR's designs look a lot more colorful and lively. They have a lot more personality and individuality. RD's designs are definitely more polished and you can see that extremely well in the armor shading. A lot of PoR's shading just looks like a solid color slapped on to make up for shading. I don't totally mind it because it feels like a stylistic choice too, but you can tell there was a lot of improvement between the games.

In some cases I think the designs for RD were handled perfectly, like you mentioned Sanaki. I think her design in RD actually makes her look more grown and mature, which reflects her character. Then you have like, Tanith where you get basically nothing out of her design as far as character, and it's more at that point whether or not you prefer the image itself.

Like for me I love both of Shinon's designs, but his PoR design reflects his personality in that game perfectly imo, and then his RD design does imo actually reflect that he's matured and chilled out a whole lot. He still retains a lot of the same traits in his appearance as far as being able to match it to his character/personality, but you can also see character growth imo in a lot of the RD portraits.

RD definitely made a lot of the characters look more generic compared to PoR's style, but I always wondered if that was intentional. In RD everything is a lot more serious immediately. From start to finish, RD has a much darker undertone. All the designs look more mature. Gatrie for example seems like "the same guy" but less carefree/casual.

Haar seems like he takes his job a little more seriously and has grown from his experiences, but you can also tell he's the same guy as in PoR. Naesala is extremely similar to Haar in that you can kind of feel his growth in his design. You can still feel the same core character and see that some things are the same, but you can also see the changes in their personality without having to directly see their dialogue yet.

It's also pretty interesting for me how extreme Ike's design changes are from Ranger to Vanguard. I do genuinely get the feeling that he really did not want to lead an army again. He wasn't going to be mean to Sanaki about it, but he made it clear he didn't actually want anything to do with that. He took on a job for Ranulf because they were close friends, but he didn't intend for everything to turn out the way it did and end up leading a whole army again. Since he was only a hired sword for the Laguz Alliance, that kind of pressure wasn't there.

You can see maturity in his design, and he's grown and takes things more seriously (seriously as in, for instance, he's less emotional in RD, as if both growing up and all the warring has given him a thicker skin. He's not as prone to emotional outbursts, which he had a fair chunk of in PoR). You can tell you're not following the story of a 17 year old anymore.

Comparing his Hero portrait to his Vanguard portrait, he genuinely just looks tired. Like so much has happened since the prologue of PoR and he's been through so much emotional weight that it's taken a huge toll on him. Tbh, I don't really blame him for his ending. He tried to return to a regular mercenary life and ended up going through the same shit all over again, except like, ten times worse basically with humanity almost ending.

Things were going fine when he took the job for the Laguz Alliance originally, but I think ending up in a continent wide mess was too much for him. Both in his dialogue and in his portrait, I feel like that really shows. Something people who hated his ending seem to forget is that he was only in his early 20s when that happened, and it was the second time he'd been thrown into a war as the army commander when he was openly against being in that role.

I know it might sound a bit wild to say all that just from designs, but I really do see it that way when it comes to the differences in the designs between the games. I can't look at some of them and see the exact same characterization. When I look at Reyson I see a more mature, relaxed, less hateful person. His portrait in PoR is much more upright in posture, and he has a much more proud overall atmosphere to his design. In RD it's more serene and like he doesn't feel the need to put on that front anymore. Tibarn meanwhile looks more serious, as if to reflect not his character which is overall the same, but the gravity of the war and his position in it (which is, in his personal case, a pretty big deal considering what happened to Phoenicis).

I also think PoR did a perfect job at looking colorful and fun without being over the top. One of the biggest issues people seem to have with Engage is the designs, and I can understand that because I think they are a little too colorful in that they pop out too much and seem mismatched in a way. I've always loved looking at the Greil Mercenaries' designs as a whole because I'm always like "I love them, they're so colorful!", but with Engage it feels more... distracting? PoR's colors feel like a perfect mix of fun but not hard on the eyes and too distracting from the game. I think it's also because it's a VTuber style due to the artist being a VTube artist or some such, versus a more traditional RPG style.

I pretty much agree with you about how you feel about both art styles, and I don't really have a definitive "I like this one more" either. Some I prefer in PoR's style and some I prefer in RD's style.

or you could just say for rd's style that they've all seen some shit and that about perfectly sums up why they all look so dead inside

[deertaz]

I'm Back

This account was something I made when I was 14 and in a very bleak time of my life. I have deleted most of my old posts, not only because I wish to forget that time, but also because as an adult, I now understand how venting towards a public space can validate and enable the self-harmful behaviours of other people.

Luckily this account got nothing more that a few notes, with a handful of people looking at what I posted. But, I would like to apologise to anybody who saw my posts and were triggered by it.

I never participated in any group chats or messages encouraging my or the EDs of others. Even then, I saw the danger of such things. However, through sharing my experiences and harmful thoughts in visceral detail, I may have contributed to the validation of others as mentally damaged as I was at the time. Again, I am lucky that next to nobody saw this account.

So, take this as a reintroduction of myself;

Hi, I'm 'Taz', I'm 19. I'm in Uni right now with a freelance job. I love dressing in alternative 'gothic' styles, listening to emo, metal, goth and alternative music. I've experienced a lot since I've been gone, and have been incredibly lucky over the past 3-4 years since my departure.

I have gained lifelong friends who truly value me for the person I am. I graduated high school at 16 and, since then, have found a confidence in myself that I never knew I had. I am capable, thriving and happy with myself and the things I have accomplished so far. I spoke in front of a crowd of 200 last year, and realised how the only thing holding me back is myself.

I no longer feel ashamed about my interests, nor my appearance. I don't hide my love for childish and nerdy things. I'm just a bit odd, but standing out both appearance-wise and personality-wise have turned out to be an asset. It has drawn the most remarkable and kind people to me. I met my platonic soulmate, who has been my best friend for 3 years.

And yes, I have not been friends with that girl I ranted about in 2019 for over 4 years (left the post up since I believe it isn't harmful). What she said and did to me wasn't okay, I'm proud of myself for finally being able to cut her out of my life. I was a very insecure lonely person, who didn't understand how friends should treat you. I never had friends as a child, since I was considered weird. So joining high school (I was 11, UK) made me try to change myself, I was quiet and agreeable. When she offered me friendship I was very happy, but did not have the self confidence nor the wisdom to realise that she was treating me horribly. I understand now, and am quite a lot better with setting boundaries.

I have had two partners, and one on and off situationship thing (lol). I'm not a lesbian, I'm Bi with a preference for women. My parents know. I have a 17 year old brother who I love to pieces, every day I am taken a-back by how much I get on with him. I value our closeness and am very grateful that he's in my life.

My relationship with my mother has been rocky at times, especially from 10-16. But I no longer live at home, so my interactions with her have improved a lot. I love her, she is a kind person, though very temperamental. She is also no longer bedridden!

I am now 19, I am older. I am much better at handling her outbursts. I stand up for myself without shouting back. I realised the best way to respond to her is either by removing myself, or by asking her questions, 'did you take your meds today?', 'why do you think you are angry?', 'Does this warrant shouting?'.

My favourite thing to say is, 'I love you mum, but I hate how you are acting right now.'

It shows to her that I love her, what I'm saying isn't an attack on her character, but on her current actions. It's a pretty good way of letting her know (I think).

Anyways, rant over (for now). For anybody still struggling with an ED, please seek comfort in others. Tell somebody. It's a slow recovery, and you might relapse a few times before it gets better. But it does get better. For anybody still in those awful teen years, it's a shitty waiting game but the end post is in sight, and it's a path to something far brighter.

-Taz

[jambjars]

ACADEMIC BLOG POST 8- Emotions and Affect: Getting Mad from the Comfort of Home

*Note: Blog 7 is appearing prior to Blog 1, it exists, just scroll down!

This week, we're back to the Rust Belt of the United States to talk about Emotion and Affect through the 2017 video game Night in the Woods.

Finji's 2018 Switch Trailer for Night in the Woods

The game follows its main character Mae Borowski (all characters are stylized as animals, but the stories are human) after she drops out from university and returns to her hometown, the rural town of Possum Springs. It's a community also suffering the effects of a dying coal industry; all its youth want to move to a more prosperous place and all of its mom-and-pop shops are being replaced by corporately-owned megastores. Despite Mae returning home for some familiarity and comfort in a tumultuous time, she's faced with the idea that things are changing whether she likes it or not and that ignoring her persisting mental health issues isn't sustainable.

These are all themes that hit home with me in quite a personal way, even more so through the specific way that Night in the Woods explores them. The storytelling techniques the game uses make that even more true in how they force the player to engage with the story through an extremely flawed protagonist. Engaging conversationally with characters and feeling trapped between two horrible answers is an excellent way to elicit uncomfort in your audience and to make them emotionally invested in fixing what Mae is breaking. This is in line with Night in the Woods's themes of responsibility. By making players emotionally responsible for the characters in Mae's life, the game is creating a feedback loop that ensures that the audience keeps engaging in empathetic choices.

It's worth mentioning that audiences might not extend the same grace to Mae if she was not the controlled character. Without the ability to make some good choices for her, to know she's capable of them, she might be seen as intolerable to some. Indeed, after I played this game for the first time and fell in love with it in 2017, I was surprised to learn how little understanding a lot of players afford Mae, calling her selfish, impulsive, and destructive. She is all of those things, most likely due to her unaddressed poor mental health preventing her from making connections in university and growing as a person, but that felt so natural to me as a 16 year old I couldn't understand why people were less than empathetic towards her. When playing it again, now that I'm older, I still see myself in Mae in more ways perhaps than I did in 2017, but I understand why and how people shy away from her now.

Night in the Woods includes characters belonging to several underrepresented communities-- in diverse not only in of sexuality and gender identity, but also in class, addiction, and mental health. These issues are vastly unexplored in media but are approached in such a realistic manner, and only explored fully through Mae should she engage in the world as though she intends to improve. In this way, she extends an affective bridge to the characters around her and they improve as a result. Mae is still suffering grief and plenty of other issues of her own, but in making the decision to engage with the world, she is making it a better place.

In terms of my own practice:

Night in the Woods has inexorably changed me as a person and an artist. My artistic style has changed because of it, the narratives I lean towards have been impacted by my experience of it, and I can't forget the journal habit i picked up at the age of 16 stemming from Mae herself. For this course, that means utilizing affective techniques wherever I can, because I want my work to mean things to people the way NITW does to me. While I can't (or probably shouldn't attempt) to make a whole video game for this course with limited dialogue options, I can employ that in other ways by exploring my own relationship to the places I come from honestly, and not backing off if things get uncomfortable.

Bibliography

Finji (2018). Night in the Woods Trailer [Nintendo Switch]. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXcdirHAKM0&ab_channel=Finji [Accessed 1 Dec. 2023].

Flunderingchipper (2022). Monstrous Existence - An Analysis of Night in the Woods. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_uYeAg_2R0&ab_channel=Flunderingchipper [Accessed 3 Dec. 2023].

Benson, Infinite Fall, et al (2017). Night in the Woods [Video Game] Finji.

Pane, S. (2017). Night in the Woods is the Working Class Fiction I’ve Been Waiting For. [online] Paste Magazine. Available at: https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/night-in-the-woods/night-in-the-woods-is-the-working-class-fiction-iv [Accessed 25 Nov. 2023].

Petit, C. (2017). What Lies Beneath: On the Love and Anger of Night in the Woods. [online] Feminist Frequency. Available at: https://feministfrequency.com/2017/03/10/what-lies-beneath-on-the-love-and-anger-of-night-in-the-woods/.

Saas, D. (2017). ‘Night in the Woods’ Is Soulful, Empathetic, and Too Real. [online] Vice. Available at: https://www.vice.com/en/article/nz5vzm/night-in-the-woods-is-soulful-empathetic-and-too-real.

Veale, K. (2021). ‘If anyone’s going to ruin your night, it should be you’: Responsibility and affective materiality in Undertale and Night in the Woods. Convergence- Sage Journals, [online] 8(2), pp.451–467. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565211014434.

Bonus self-portrait doodles featuring myself and the NITW protagonist, Mae.