#so obviously i needed placeholders

[gaysonlyocean]

np!!!!! ALT RUTH YOU SAY? -silly

perhaps i did! perhaps i did say alt!ruth!

[erythristicbones]

i don't feel like copying what i wrote, so take some screenshots of me having brainworms for the JDK villains again. primarily spurred by me going "hey wouldn't Nisha and Artemis and Apollo make cool rockstars instead"

[televinita]

I did it, the Marvel seal is broken, I have watched one (1) full episode of Loki.

I have some thoughts but they are tied up in the complication of me also needing to explain the 3 nights of hoovering up relevant movie clips on YouTube to admit that as of this week, I am secretly slightly more well informed than my previous post suggests, so I will just leave you with the enthralled realization I had as the credits rolled:

“It’s like if Severance were fun.”

[vaadazen-codes]

How To Get Started Making Visual Novels

Wanna make a visual novel? Or maybe you've seen games like Our Life, Blooming Panic, Doki Doki Literature Club, etc. and wanna make something like that? Good news, here's a very basic beginners guide on how to get started in renpy and what you need to know going in! Before you start, I highly recommend looking at my last post about writing a script for renpy just to make it easier on you!

LONG POST AHEAD

Obviously, our first step is downloading it from their website

thankfully, its right on the home page of their site. Follow basica program installation steps and run the program. I highly recommend pinning it to your task bar to make it easier to access.

From there, you're met with the renpy app, it's a little daunting at first but let's talk about what all these buttons are for.

Projects

This part is simple, it just lists the current projects in the chosen directory. You probably won't have any in there of your own. You should still see Tutorial and The Question!

Both of those default projects are super helpful in their own ways, i highly recommend testing out the tutorial and playing around with it just to get comfortable with some of the basics.

Create New Project

The first step to actually making your game into a game!

You'll be met with a prompt letting you know that the project is being made in English and that you can change it. You can click Continue.

From here, you'll be asked to input a project name! Put in your games title, or even a placeholder title since this Information can be changed later! (this is also the title the folder will be in your file browser, be sure to name it something you won't overlook)

Now we get to choose our resolution!

If you have no idea what to choose, go for 1920x1080! This is the standard size for most computer monitors and laptops, but it will still display with moderately decent quality on 4k monitors too!

You can choose 3840x2160 as well. This is 2x the measurements of the default, with the same ration. These dimensions are considered 4k. Keep in mind, your image files will be bigger and can cause the game to have a larger size to download.

Now we get to choose our color scheme!

Renpy has some simple default options with the 'light mode' colors being the bottom two rows, and the 'dark mode' colors being the toop two rows.

You can pick anything here, but I like to choose something that matches my projects vibes/colors better. Mostly because depending on how in depth you go with the ui, it minimizes the amount of changes I need to make later.

Click continue and give it a minute. Note: If it says "not responding" wait a moment without clicking anything. It can sometimes freeze briefly during the process.

Now we should be back at our home screen, with our new project showing. Let's talk about allll that stuff on the right now.

Open Directory

This just opens that particular folder in your local file explorer!

game - is all the game files, so your folders for images, audio, saves, and your game files like your script, screens, and more.

base - this is the folder that the game folder is inside of. You can also find the errors and log txt files in here.

images - takes you to your main images folder. This is where you wanna put all of your NON gui images, like your sprites, backgrounds, and CGs. You can create folders inside of this and still call them in the script later. EX: a folder for backgrounds , a folder for sprites for character a, a seperate folder for spirtes for character b, etc.

audio - Takes you to the default audio folder. This is empty, but you can put all your music and sound effects here!

gui - brings up the folder containing all of the default renpy gui. It's a good place to start/ reference for sizes if you want to hand draw your UI pieces like your text box!

Edit File

Simple enough, this is just where you can open your code files in whatever text/code editor you have installed.

Script.rpy - where all of your story and characters live. This is the file you'll spend most of your time in at first

Options.rpy - Contains mostly simple information, like project name and version. There aren't a ton of things in here you need to look at. There is also some lines of code that help 'archive' certain files by file type so that they can't be seen by players digging in code however. Fun if you want to hide some images in there for later or if you just dont want someone seeing how messy your files are. We've all been there

Gui.rpy - where all of the easy customization happens. Here you can change font colors, hover colors, fonts, font sizes, and then the alignment and placement of all of your text! Like your dialogue and names, the height of text buttons, etc. It more or less sets the defaults for a lot of these unless you choose to change them later.

Screens.rpy - undeniably my favorite, this is where all of the UI is laid out for the different screens in your game, like the main menu, game menu, quick menu, choice menu, etc. You can add custom screens too if you want, but I always make my own seperate file for these.

Open Project - this just opens all of those files at once in the code editor. Super handy if you make extra files like I do for certain things.

Actions

last but not least, our actions.

Navigate Script - This feature is underrated in my honest opinion, it's super handy for help debugging! In renpy you can comment with # before a line. However, if you do #TODO and type something after it, it saves it as a note! You can view these TODO's here as well as easily navigate to when certain screens are called, where different labels are (super great if your game is long, and more. It saves some scrolling.

Check Script (Lint) - also super duper handy for debugging some basic things. It also tells you your word count! But its handy for letting you know about some errors that might throw up. I like using it to look for sprites I may or may not have mispelled, because they show up in there too.

Change/Update GUI - Nifty, though once you start customizing GUI on your own, it isn't as useful. You can reset the project at any point and regenerate the image files here. This updates all those defaults we talked about earlier.

Delete Persistent - this just helps you delete any persistent data between play throughs on your end. I like to use it when making a lot of changes while testing the game, so that I can reboot the game fresh.

Force Recompile - Full disclosure, as many games as I've made and as long as I've been using Renpy, i have never used this feature. I searched to see what it does and this is the general consesus: Normally renpy tries to be smart about compiling code (creating .rpyc files) and only compiles .rpy files with changes. This is to speed up the process since compiling takes time. Sometimes you can make changes that renpy don't pick up on and therefore won't recompile. In these cases you can run force recompile to force it. Another solution (if you know what file is affected) is to delete that specific. rpyc file.

The rest of your options on this right hand side are how you make executable builds for your game that people can download to extract and play later!

Sorry gang! that was a whole lot of text obviously the last button "Launch Project" launches an uncompiled version of the project for you to play and test as you go! Hang in tight because my next post is about how to utilize github for renpy, so you can collaborate easier!

[mama-qwerty]

Loving your analysis on the Sonic 3 lore. May I request a deep dive into Agent Stone’s character? I just think he’s neat and had some character development throughout the films.

In talking about Agent Stone, we have to talk about Robotnik's mindset and dynamic in relation to him. Stone doesn't exist in a vacuum, and it's his relationship with Robotnik that helped shape him over the course of the movies.

Gonna get looooong. Again. Because I just can't shut up when I get started.

In the first movie, Stone's simply an assistant, an over achieving second to Robotnik. (Possibly the only agent who could stand to put up with him for so long.) He was a little brown nosey, and portrayed the stereotypical characteristics of a really good assistant that we see in other media, going back as far as Radar from M.A.S.H. He anticipated his boss' needs, and supplied them almost before they were requested.

Robotnik obviously didn't respect him, even if he liked how Stone made his latte. Although I'd be hard pressed to think of anyone Robotnik actually respected or liked, honestly.

But it was curious why Robotnik then created a likeness of Stone to keep him company on the mushroom planet. It could be explained away that Robotnik was used to talking about his plans out loud, used to spouting about how brilliant he was, and what he felt were clever quips and barbs at those he deemed 'lesser' than himself, and needed an audience to do so. Not to mention, having a 'companion' of sorts helped keep him focused. Since Stone had been his latest lackey, the most recent sycophant to hang on his every word, he simply went the most convenient route and used him as a placeholder for this required role.

But was that all there was to it?

Robotnik went to the trouble of carving a face onto the rock. Carrying it with him wherever he went as he traversed the planet, seeking out sustenance and shelter and concocting his Rube Goldbergian machinations to make himself a cup of mushroom coffee. As a man of science, a man who prioritized his own survival and logical nature over useless sentimentality, it's curious he would go to the trouble of not only creating a likeness of Stone, but 'wasting' precious energy and cargo space carrying it around.

Which indicated that Stone's presence had a greater impact on the doctor than he admitted or realized, even to himself.

This is further reinforced by the doctor's manifesto, as referenced in the Sonic 2 pre-quill comic. In that, we learn that Robotnik left this as a sort of instruction manual for Stone to "rebuild [Robotnik's] glory on a mass scale". It guided Stone to "rebuild [himself] as an instrument of pure science", and helped Stone to infiltrate the Mean Bean and rise through the ranks to ultimately own it, and create that as a home base for further operations.

This indicates that Robotnik saw promise in Stone, and trusted Stone more than he'd likely trusted anyone else. Yes, it was all to build a society that Robotnik orchestrated, but the fact that he created the manifesto, with the intention of having Stone read and implement it, showed a greater reliance on Stone than previously indicated.

So Stone is in place, having transformed the Mean Bean into a secret base worthy of the best super villains. And now he waits.

And waits.

And waits.

All the while having to deal with the public.

As anyone who's worked in any kind of customer service job can tell you, dealing with the public day in and day out can drive anyone to thoughts of villainy. That last customer Stone deals with is a prime example of this, with the rude looks and actions, and overall disdain and contempt for service people in general, and possibly him in particular.

He misses the doctor, because he understood the doctor. Robotnik was a big thinker, someone who had higher aspirations and goals than anyone he'd ever met before. He didn't hold a high opinion of the general public, and the more Stone deals with them, the more he understands that mindset. And through the manifesto, Stone likely felt even more connected to Robotnik.

It's possible that Stone's feelings for the doctor didn't start out as a more personal, emotional kind of love. It's possible, and likely, they were simply admiration, because Robotnik was incredibly intelligent, and never let anything stop him from achieving his goal. In Stone's experience, it was possible that the previous people he worked with didn't have that level of dedication. So when he got with Robotnik, it was refreshing to see someone taking his position seriously, and not simply 'doing a job'.

But when Robotnik was bested by the hedgehog, and sent to the mushroom planet, Stone may have felt a little rudderless. Since he was working with Robotnik, and Robotnik himself had been wiped from GUN's database, Stone may have been a casualty of that as well. He was simply a 'lowly agent', so it wasn't that much of a loss to wipe him, too.

Either that, or he intentionally kept himself hidden to avoid being captured and grilled regarding anything else Robotnik may have been doing. Stone strikes me as the kind of man who can blend in with a crowd, and disappear at will.

He knows the system, and knows how to exploit it.

When the doctor returned, Stone was thrilled. Everything he'd worked for up to this point was finally going to be recognized, and he wanted nothing more than to pick up where he and the doctor left off, working together and striving for a better world.

Since Stone had been working at the Mean Bean, a place within Green Hills, he likely saw Sonic on and off. He couldn't blow his cover, no one knew he'd worked with Robotnik, after all, but GOD, seeing that hedgehog would have made the bile rise in his throat. This little alien, this cocky little furball had bested the doctor and sent him away, as though he were in the wrong. And this entire town supported it! And here was this blue rat, living here on Earth as though he belonged.

That fact alone would have pushed Stone even further to the side of Robotnik, thinking that the general public is nothing but "primitive, sport-cheering, social media-scrolling knuckle-draggers". They'd cheered the defeat of a genius, one who was simply trying to capture this unknown alien element that has proven itself capable of destruction on a mass scale, and call him the bad guy. Yes, his methods had been maybe a little unorthodox, but when dealing with such an enemy as an alien with super speed and the ability to create large blasts of energy, you had to think outside the box.

But he was finally back, and he'd brought yet another little spiky furball. And had left with it, leaving Stone behind yet again. But that was okay. He would return. Stone was sure of it.

And he had. But he'd been . . . different. Gotten the Master Emerald, and was . . . changed. And when GUN showed up, Robotnik had put his genius on display, and taken Stone with him this time. It was glorious, but had taken Stone a little bit to catch up. (Thankfully there was a manual!)

Then everything had gone pearshaped again, and those furballs won.

No matter.

Stone was a patient man.

He knew GUN's procedures and it took hardly a moment to infiltrate their ranks. He used their own technology and manpower to find Robotnik amid the rubble, and scurried him away to heal and regroup. One of the things included in the manifesto was blueprints of many machines and creations, and Stone had put Robotnik's drones to work building a giant crab bot.

GUN may have had eyes everywhere, but the ocean was still a mystery in may ways. And it hid may a secret.

But as the doctor healed, he fell into a deep depression. Being bested by the blue rodent not once, but twice, had done a number on his psyche. He'd lost all drive for world domination. His access to any of his drones and bots had been all but severed, and there were only a scant few satellites still in orbit with them aboard. Hardly enough to wage an all out assault, especially with THREE alien vermin on Earth to challenge him.

No. Robotnik was utterly demoralized.

But Stone stayed by his side. He kept Robotnik comfortable, and tried to reignite that spark within him. Tried to suggest heists and schemes to keep his spirits up. But it was to no avail. Stone stepped up, assuming a caretaker role, and offering support whenever he could.

He kept tabs on GUN's comings and goings, and when the board lit up after Shadow was released, he went to investigate. He found those rodents pinned down by drones, but not just any drones, Robotnik drones. This wouldn't do. If anyone was going to use those drones to take out these annoying little furballs, it would be Robotnik himself.

So he killed the drones--with the annoying side effect of saving the rodents--and returned to base. The aliens had followed, but he was keen enough to realize they had a common enemy.

An alliance was formed, and Stone had to admit that it was good to see the doctor more like his old self. Unsurprisingly, Robotnik very quickly narrowed down the source of the hijacked drones, and the group quickly went to investigate.

But then they'd found that old man. And Robotnik had tossed Stone to the curb because suddenly he had found his 'real' family, someone who would love him unconditionally.

And it hurt.

Stone never fooled himself to think he was ever on Robotnik's level. He was nowhere near as smart as the doctor, and couldn't even comprehend how the man thought. But he'd thought they were more than simply villain and henchman. Robotnik trusted Stone, more than he'd ever trusted anyone else. Stone had seen Robotnik at his lowest. At his most vulnerable. And didn't care.

Typical henchmen wouldn't stick around when the boss is defeated. They wouldn't drag his body out from under a felled robot and keep him safe. Help him heal. Fetch him burritos and cheap novels and steal cable to hook him up with episodes of La Ultima Pasion to help him pass the time.

Stone was still following Robotnik's manifesto, even when Robotnik himself had given up. Because he had faith that the doctor would eventually snap back to himself. That he would realize that the world needed him to correct it.

And that someday, maybe, Robotnik would see Stone for being the one person who'd stood by him, from the very beginning.

And he had.

When it was too late.

Robotnik's message to Stone as he managed to stave off the final explosion of the ARK gave Stone that validation he'd been looking for. Told Stone that, even though Robotnik was terrible at expressing himself, he had, in his own way, loved Stone right back. Appreciated Stone. Valued Stone.

And that's all Stone had ever wanted to hear.

And maybe, that gives Stone the encouragement he needs to continue with Robotnik's manifesto.

~~~

Check out my other Sonic 3 analysis posts

[aayakashii]

I sent some ideas to Jeun-bug about how MC definitely had at least one GA student call them attractive or confess on wickhive and the ghouls going crazy but the MC thinking it’s just because they can’t believe someone would like them, and I just love the idea because my autistic ass would NOT be able to read through the lines of the tsundere helpless romantics or the more subtle flirts. Like, in text or games I can see it more clearly, but Jin’s way of flirting or even Sho’s? It’s go right over my head. Or I would catch part of it, but it’d be after the moment passed or I’d talk myself out of it. Also I’m just never sure about romantic stuff.

Jin giving me the dresses? He just wants to make sure I don’t embarrass him. He dances with me? I’m the honor student that can enhance stigmas, it’s a power play/im the only AFAB person that he tolerates here so he’s just doing what he needs to do as a public figure. He basically runs to protect me in the pit at the start of the Vagastrom mission? He was really there for Lucas or didn’t want to lose the stigma enhancement. He gives me a yacht for a mission? It was just for a mission, not for me really, besides, rich people have no concept of money. He quadrupled the reward to get the ghouls to cooperate? Again, rich people with no money consciousness, besides he is attached to darkwick and needs things to work out! Plays the Queen’s birthday song for my birthday? It’s the only birthday song that matched his tastes! Going to the birthday party I planned? It’s a “screw you” to Tohma, not for me. Wanting to know my dress? Well he said he would only potentially match, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sho? I could definitely see myself starting to believe it, but then Leo would say shit and even though I know he’s a piece of shit, it would be enough to doubt it and I wouldn’t say or do anything without Sho being direct about it.

Haku and Rui I would believe it’s just a joke. They flirt with everyone, I’m not special. Besides, I’ve had guys flirt or ask me out as a joke before so it’s not a stretch to believe it happens again.

Kaito is desperate for any girl, not for me, so I wouldnt take him seriously.

Towa is obsessed with having a soulmate, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s me. I’d just assume I’m a fun placeholder until he finds the person he considers his soulmate.

Idk, just such a fun idea to explore!!!

👻

We are literally the same person, I physically cannot believe anyone would ever be interested in me and these are all the exact excuses I'd give to myself for each and every one of them 😭😭😭 I'd love to explore this idea, but I think I'd end up making it very angsty 💀 except maybe with Jin because he's so obviously whipped for MC that I think it could actually become a cute romantic thing

But like Haku, Rui, Kaito, Towa, Sho, all of these... oh I would write angst with a capital A 🧍🏻‍♀️

[super-who-locked-me-in-here]

Okay I need people to look at these two gifs together:

This gif made by @lousolversons

And this gif by @not-psychotic

THAT IS THE SAME SMILE. THAT IS HUGH DANCY'S ROMCOM SMILE AND I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THE DIFFERENCES IN THE WAY HUGH PRESENTS IT FOR EACH MOMENT.

First of all, the moment presented in the first gif is why I believe Will did love Molly. Yes, I'm a firm believer that Will still held feelings for Hannibal while he was with Molly, but I don't think she was a placeholder. The way I think Will's love for Hannibal and Molly works at the same time is like when you meet a widower who remarried.

Yes the widower (Will) still loves his first spouse (Hannibal), and it's terrible that they were ripped apart the way they were, but he can eventually move on. And he loves his new spouse (Molly), but there will always be a part of his heart that belongs to his first spouse. Except in the case of this analogy Hannibal isn't actually dead and he will come back.

And I mean, honestly, if the love of your life died and came back completely in one piece and still loved you after years of separation, what would you do? Would you tell them to move on because you've found someone else that you love almost as much as you loved them? Or would you discard your new spouse for the one you had always imagined you'd stay with? It's a really difficult decision.

But anyway I do wanna analyze these smiles. Obviously in the second gif Will is smiling at Hannibal, but in the first gif, Will is smiling at Jack while talking about Molly. They're the same smile but they're also so different.

In the first gif, the "romcomness" of the smile almost feels exaggerated. It's the way he smiled and kind of laughed but especially it's the way he broke eye contact. He breaks eye contact but the smile stays. It says "Molly and I can't see each other completely, but I'm happy enough." It reads as coy in a way we know Will Graham is not. It's a performance, but it's a performance based on a truth.

On the other hand, in the second gif, Will's smile is there but more subdued. Of course it could be just that he's tired and/or in pain as he's obviously injured, but to me it's lesser because it's just him and Hannibal. He doesn't need to wear his mask for Jack or for Molly or for anyone else. And he keeps eye contact with Hannibal even as his smile falls away because he and Hannibal can see each other. They accept the good (the smile) and the bad (the loss of the smile) in each other but that's okay for them because they're true to each other like they are to no one else.

The way Will smiles at Hannibal in the second gif is so much more intimate than the way he smiled about Molly in the second gif, and I can't help but wonder: if we got more scenes where Will and Molly were interacting face to face (because let's be honest there's not many), would Will smile the same way he did in the second gif? Would he even smile at her the same way he does talking about her in the first gif, or is that just him trying to appear like the happy/satisfied husband in front of company? I know Will loved Hannibal, and I know Will loved Molly, but these two gifs side by side just confirm for me that what he felt for Hannibal was so much more impactful for Will than his love for Molly.

[gamma-ghoul]

"I love you too, Robby."

So, I need to vent. But I just have to say that I find a portion of the fandom to be incredibly obtuse about Miguel's reaction to this line.

I don't know if it has to do with the fact they don't have step-parents and don't understand the type of insecurities that come with it. But for anyone who believes that it is wrong for Miguel to be upset that Johnny is expressing love for his "ACTUAL SON", all I have to say is:

YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT.

Holy moly, his reactions isn't about that!

During Prom Night, Robby hits Miguel's biggest insecurity on the head.

Miguel is just a replacement goldfish, and Johnny doesn't care about Miguel as a person but as someone who is a convenient placeholder until his actual son returns.

While Johnny has failed Robby in numerous ways, Johnny still exists in Robby's life to a certain extent and will always be connected by blood. Johnny being Robby's dad isn't a question, it's a FACT.

Miguel doesn't have the same claim. It isn't a comfort he is afforded. Johnny could literally leave at any point, and he would have no obligation to stay. Miguel's insecurity about his place in Johnny's life is what drives this reaction.

I mean, Miguel's actual father is entirely out of the picture. He honestly believes that his biological dad didn't love him enough to stop what he was doing so he could be a father. (Since he isn't privy to the fact that his dad didn't know Carmen was pregnant before she left him at that point in time.)

Every time Johnny and Miguel talk about Robby, it's always about how Johnny feels regret for not being there for his SON but is glad to be Miguel's TEACHER. These are two different types of relationships. Johnny unknowingly conditioned Miguel that he views him as a STUDENT, not a son.

Johnny saying, "I love you too, Robby," after an earnest "I love you" from Miguel just reaffirms his insecurities about their relationship.

I agree that Johnny and Robby's relationship is tragic and that the writers have failed to develop it properly. It's also a shame that it has been regulated to off-screen status in season 6.

But man, you can empathize with Miguel without being like, "Well, actually, Robby's life is worse, and he is Johnny's BIOLOGICAL SON. His TRUE SON. So why is Miguel even Bugging."

This was obviously going to upset him. Imagine hearing a monologue about how someone wants to protect and care for you like a son/daughter, and it turns out that those sentiments weren't meant for you, and you don't know if they ever will be. It is heartbreaking.

Like, let the kid feel his own emotions. It doesn't always have to be compared to Robby.

[yourdragonisinanothercastle]

"One Half of a Whole" Meta

One Half of a Whole is a fic that really sent the hamsters in my head spinning. Before I even started writing it, I had theories coming out my ears about how ORV's world would work with this setting. All the changes to canon I ended up making, I made for a reason.

And since I’ve had readers on other fics tell me that what I wrote sometimes helped them understand ORV and its characters better, I figured I could expand a bit on the meta behind this one!

I’m going to explain from the point of view of somebody who’s finished the novel, so obviously

SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE ORV NOVEL

Chapter 1

Kim Namwoon

One of the big differences in chapter 1 is that Kim Dokja ends up sparing Kim Namwoon. You might remember that Kim Dokja, in one of those rare moments of honesty that come to him in the late novel, explains at some point why he hates Kim Namwoon so much.

"When I was young, I really hated you." When I was still absorbed in reading the 'Ways of Survival', Kim Namwoon was the only character that I couldn't sympathise with. If every person appearing in that novel was my hyung, my father, my dongsaeng, and my noona, then… …Then, the character 'Kim Namwoon' was the cautionary tale for me. […] When I thought about it, the reason why I hated Kim Namwoon was pretty simple in nature. "Yoo Joonghyuk always took you in as his companion." Out of everyone from the 'Ways of Survival', Kim Namwoon most closely resembled me. "Even though he knew that you are an evil bastard, even though he knew that you did evil things… Even then, he took you in." If I was him, how would I have turned out? — Chapter 480

Kim Dokja hated Kim Namwoon because he saw himself in him. He asked tls123 multiple times whether Yoo Joonghyuk could, pretty please, not make Kim Namwoon his companion in this round; or the next; or really, in every round, please just skip that guy Author-nim!

So when ORV started, Kim Dokja jumped at the chance to do away with a character he had always deemed evil, and who forced him to confront some pretty dark things about himself.

But in One Half of a Whole, Kim Dokja’s opinion on Kim Namwoon is naturally different, because while he still dislikes the way Kim Namwoon acts and he still feels ill at ease with the similarities between them… Kim Namwoon is not filling a space where young Kim Dokja was trying to project himself. Because young Kim Dokja could always see a space for himself by Yoo Joonghyuk’s side, and that was the space reserved for Yoo Joonghyuk’s soulmate.

If anything, I expect young Kim Dokja would have vehemently hated every character who tried to pass themselves as Yoo Joonghyuk’s soulmate (at least until their deception was revealed and he could bask in the violent vengeance Yoo Joonghyuk enacted on them 😏).

But as for Kim Namwoon, in OHoaW, Kim Dokja didn’t have as much resentment for him, and he also cared far more about making a good first impression on Yoo Joonghyuk, and so Kim Namwoon lived.

Weaver of the Twin Threads of Fate

OK, so. Weaver of the Twin Threads of Fate is a problem. For me, at least. 😭

I knew heading in that I would need to flesh out a bit the soulmate setting, because I always flesh them out. I find it’s not much fun for me to write a soulmate AU where the canon worldbuilding doesn’t change at all.

So Yoo Joonghyuk’s world would naturally have mythology pertaining to soulmates, and constellations derived from that mythology seemed a given. I only needed one constellation to make my point, and I didn’t really need to give her a name outside of her moniker or to dig into her backstory, since she was just a placeholder. Having her be friendly with Uriel seemed like a nice humorous touch. So far, so good.

The problem came when I dug too far into the meta. Because ORV is, at heart, a story that asks you to think about stories, about their relationship to us, about the bonds between writer and reader and character.

And so I made the mistake of asking myself: who is Weaver of the Twin Threads of Fate to ORV? And the answer is: the entity who added soulmates to TWSA.

Me. Weaver of the Twin Threads of Fate is me.

And I want to make one thing clear, here: I’ve been writing fanfictions for 20 years. In that time, I have never written a self-insert. Never even had the temptation.

Figures that ORV would be the fandom to make me do it without even realizing. 🤣

Abyssal Black Flame Dragon

Yep, he ended up not offering to sponsor Kim Dokja in this fic since Kim Namwoon is still around and is, after all, at least 10% more chuuni than Kim Dokja. At least.

Now, constellations can technically have more than one incarnation in ORV, but from what I understand it dilutes the power a bit. It's hard to tell since it's not much shown on-screen in the novel. I should do some research on that before I decide what to do about Han Sooyoung... (If anybody can remember more, feel free to tell me! I'd also welcome any information on this subject that'd come from the ongoing side story, but keep it as vague as possible because I still haven't started it.)

Secretive Plotter

I don’t think I need to explain why Secretive Plotter is throwing wayyy more money around in OHoaW… but I want us all to take one more moment to contemplate the utter chaos that is N’Gai’s Forest right now. ♥

[crumblinggothicarchitecture]

Taylor Swift Can't Write- She is not a serious or important writer. She is blatantly normalizing cheating in her music.

Let’s talk about Taylor Swift’s honest attempt at coherent narrative -  

Just to be clear, the songs in question: Betty (2020), August (2020), and Cardigan (2020). 

In these songs, Swift, of her own insistence, makes a clear attempt at drafting together a coherent storyline. I, however, found her work lacking while considering it against the many thousands of other short stories I have read. It lacks any sincerity in giving the moment in which the characters experience self-reflection, or "Epiphany" moment, and growth.

An Epiphany is defined as a sudden spiritual manifestation- and it is this I would posit as something that Swift clearly lacks in her writing. She lacks the spiritual, or emotional, depth to accurately tell a so-called "coming-of-age" type story in which the main requirement is that the character has an "Epiphany" about the nature of life to signify them growing up.

I will explain:  

A short story- which I am analogizing to the multi-song arch from Swift- is typically meant to have an epiphany moment in which the main character finally calcifies the main point or the moral of the story. Without the impact of this moment within a short narrative- there is no arc, no moral, and therefore no real story.

Afterall, what is a story, but a coherent subsistence of writing aimed at identifying some universality of human existence (eg.) a moral, a point, or the main message? If I want to get philosophical about it (and I always do), narrative is the act of creation through which the particulars become implicit to a universal experience. Thus, it is a necessity of storytelling- to include the thematic message- or moral backbone of the work.  

Swift’s three song arc is intrinsically incoherent, so it becomes difficult to pinpoint exactly what each character is thinking or feeling. I would, however, suggest that through lines like “slept next to her, but / I dreamt of you all summer long” (“Betty” 2020), and lines like “I never needed anything more/ whispers of ‘Are you sure?’ / ‘Never have I ever before’” (“August” 2020). Therein builds an internal tension between the three characters, James seems to be lamenting his choices to sleep with August and ditch Betty for the summer; whereas August is honestly expressing the fact that this is her first time, so it becomes obvious this means a lot to her. First, we see James's apologizing to Betty saying that the other girl, essentially means nothing by saying he was dreaming of Betty all summer even while with August. We also get the other perspective of the other girl losing her virginity to James during the same summer in which he is thinking about Betty every night.

Already, all the characters are set up to be dislikable- which is not always to the detriment of storytelling. However, it is to the detriment of her storytelling that at no point Swift makes use of external POV, or internal POV, to show any form of personal growth or condemnation of the intuitively morally corrupt actions of James here. Thus, there is no real story- according to the theory of “short-story” telling I laid out above.  

It is her lack of condemnation towards cheating- and the immature irreverence James treats August with- that solidifies this arc as being a rather poor attempt at coherent narrative. Simply, Swift is either an inept storyteller- or she is blatantly normalizing cheating while also treating “the other woman” like a placeholder. (Clearly, Anti-Feminist rhetoric, btw). It’s especially bad that this storyline reaches no “moral of the story” since it is so obviously August’s first time. 

The closest we get to any kind of meta-narrative commentary on thematic point, from Swift as the external 3rd person POV, is with this line “A friend to all is a friend to none/ Chase two girls, lose the one/ When you are young, they assume you know nothing” (“Cardigan” 2020). Again, her use of POV is rather amateurish- because she returns to internal 1st person POV with use of the word “you” in the latter half of the line- which leads me to believe she really doesn’t know how to inculcate the different POV’s into her writing. She’s an amateur- and there's is nothing inherently wrong with that, however, if we could all stop lauding her as literary genius when she is so clearly not that would be “awesome.” Thanks.  

She continues the rest of the song back into Betty’s 1st person POV. The poignant nature of this line about "losing one girl" doesn’t land because the rest of the song is about how James is returning to Betty. Swift writes, “I knew you’d miss me once the thrill expired/ and you’d be standing in my front porch light/ And I knew you’d come back to me” (“Cardigan” 2020). Beside the fact that this line is internally incoherent held up against the setting of “Betty” which is broad daylight, so James would not actually be in the porch light if the sunlight suffices, it is also quite obviously the culmination in which Betty is taking James's back. If there is any thematic message here- and I can only loosely believe this is an actual message here- Swift is saying that cheating is Okay as long as the girl, you actually respect and want, is willing to forgive you.  

And I’m supposed to enjoy this arc? People are supposed to be impressed with Swift because she came up with this garbage?  

She clearly has no grasp on Narrative coherence, no grasp of utilizing POV switching to make narrative more emotionally impactful, and no grasp on how to embed a good moral of the story into her work. So, she has none of the markings of actual great writer.  

The effect of all this is a subterfuge of lackluster emotional appeals- and a toxic love triangle that never resolves into personal self-reflection or growth. The story devolves into blameless banality with no personality or literary value whatsoever- just a reiteration of self-centered egoism that enables James to act without thought to the feelings of others. This is what Swift propagates as good storytelling? Is this morally sound story telling?  

Let me further drive my point home by dichotomizing this pitiful attempt at narrative coherence with the work of a literary genius, James Joyce.  

Has anyone here ever read “Araby” (1914) by James Joyce? (Sidenote: If you love when Hozier talks about issues of British colonialism in Ireland- you will most likely enjoy James Joyce as well- if you love critique of both organize religion and its sociohistorical ties to colonialism- you'll love Joyce).  

My critique too- ties into Joyce, where he showcases the blissful ignorance, or naivety, of youth in pursuit of love, Swift showcases no such thing. She is often praised for her juvenile writing schema- yet in her most overt attempt at writing a youthful romance she fails to interject the most important aspect of youth- Naivety versus painful realizations. In adulthood, when we all reprise the past, and trace back into our memories, we often speak fondly of the naivety of youth- with a little knowing twinkle in our eyes as young people around us make the same mistakes we did. It’s so beautifully human to reflect like this- and Swift manages to add nothing of this universal human experience into her work, even though it is often said that her only saving grace is the ability to capture “teenage petulance” and the proclivities of youth. In other words, I’m saying she’s not even doing the thing she’s known for well enough. She writes this love story like they’re all a bunch of bitter adults, not kids stepping into thoughts of love for the first time. There’s no simple wonder at love- instead, she writes about cheating and feeling jaded. Ditching people for the summer only to come back to the first girl with an "I'm sorry" and "she meant nothing."  Where is the personal growth in a story like that? In which James gets away with saying "she meant nothing," and August is not shown having any agency or reclamation of self after James essentially uses her. Then, to top it all off, Betty most likely gets back together with James. There is no growth to speak of in any of this- it does not qualify as a "coming of age" story- nor does it particularly qualify as a story at all.

This is like English Creative Writing 101 class- btw. It's strange that Swift does not grasp concepts I've taught to college freshmen before. If the freshmen can handle learning it- surely Swift could also be able to learn and improve the thing she does as a job? Right? No?

 “Araby” is a story of a similar predicate to Swift attempt at narrative. So, I thought it most apt to include here as an example which also employs use of Epiphany in short story telling.  

In quick summation, “Araby” is the story of a young boy who has a rather intense crush on a neighbor girl. He promises this girl that he will go buy her something at the market, and in doing so sets off a sequence of events which leads to his ultimate disillusionment with the ideals of youth and love.

Early on in his character development, we see a boy who has an overly romantic view on life, with lines like “All my senses seemed to desire to veil themselves and, feeling that I was about to slip from them, I pressed the palms of my hands together until they trembled, murmuring: ‘O love! O love!’ many times” (“Araby” Joyce). He is so clearly caught up in the longing for this girl- that he truly forgets reality for a moment. His senses slip from him, and he is fully immersed into the lost revery of his little crush on the neighbor girl. Then, like magic, she speaks to him for the first time the next day. She asks him if he will go to the market, and he responds eagerly- Yes. He promises to buy her something.  

The conflict of the story happens at this point- the young boy meets every obstacle in life preventing him from getting to the market on time. He struggles to find money and then he struggles to find the time in the midst of his other obligations to his family. Joyce is clearly showcasing how our romantic visions of life, of everything going perfectly and romance being easy, can so easily be disrupted by the realities of poverty and the responsibility we all bear for family or others.  

The end of the short story outlines the “moral of the story” in which the young man, now nearly too late for the market and without enough money to actually buy anything, with the last refrain that “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger” (“Araby” Joyce). Thus, Joyce drives home the "epiphany" moment, or the self-reflective moment of character growth, as it pertains to the fruitless endeavors of youthful vanity in romance. Stating, essentially, that people only dream of overly romantic scenes to bolster their own perception of reality as something that should go perfect for them. Life is not perfect, nor is it ever fair, and nothing happens as fantasy suggests it should- this is the hardest, and often the first, life lesson young people ever face. Anguish and Anger. What a beautiful phrase to remark upon- as this poor young man realizes life is comprised mostly of being “a day late and a buck short.”

This intensity- this moral backbone is what brings the story to life. The way this story enumerates the youthful hope- to the burgeoning adult reality- as something full of anguish -allows readers to bridge empathy towards others as WE all grow up in a difficult world. This is the "Epiphany." This appeal universal human experience, through particular circumstances like that of a young man in early 1900’s Dublin, is what is missing in Swift’s work. She gives us nothing but her own selfish refraction of immoral behavior without any appeal to greater human impulse or discovery.  Her work rings hollow in the face of actually talented writers like Joyce. She lacks the same depth, sophistication, and ability to actually make the story into a narrative arc.

She claims to write about teenage, coming of age-esque, discovery yet lacks any ability to actually showcase, with empathy, the ways in which anguish at their own naïveté presupposes teenage petulance.  

She writes out the most shallow- surface level depiction of some b-plot from a bad fanfiction and wants to pretend that she is a literary genius. Yawn. 

Addendum- I am aware that “Araby” is also a story predicated on ideas of Freedom vs Colonialism. To those of you who know the story well, I hope you don’t mind I choose to focus in on the “coming-of-age" part of the story in order to more clearly connect it to Swift’s work. I am not, however, ignoring the real sociohistorical implications of poverty, colonialist attitudes, and human rights thematic points in the story. I know.  

“Araby” by James Joyce is free at The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dubliners, by James Joyce  

[cheezeybread]

Random Twisted Wonderland Headcanons I have that I feel the need to share with the world, sucks to be anyone reading this!

KALIM

Kalim wasn't going to be invited to NRC, obviously, since he didn't have "exemplary" magic, as either Jamil or Crowley said in the game (I forgot which, FORGIVE ME), but it's clear that he would have been accepted into Royal Sword Academy due to his nature.

Kalim's family knew that Kalim would have been safer at Royal Sword, but they also knew that the school wouldn't accept their "donations" as well. Plus, they knew Jamil was going to NRC, and knew how much Kalim had bonded to the boy.

And, obviously, Jamil would be more than happy to watch over Kalim and ensure that he gets better at magic and has a good time, right? So off to NRC you go, Kalim! Oh, lookie here, you're in the same dorm as Jamil now! How convenient!

So, to sum it up, the Asim family made sure Kalim got into NRC despite the "dangerous" students because they knew Jamil would be there to protect and serve him. Ouchies

MERFOLK

Two different kinds of merfolk- sirens and fishfolk (aka, the kinds of merfolk desended from animals-- not sure what to call them, so fisfolk is a placeholder lol--, like the tweels and Azul). Sort of the same vibe as Beastmen and humans

While it's not technically cannibalism for a "fishfolk" to eat the creature they're descended from, a lot of cultures believe it to be a sin to do so, and some just get the willies from it.

Nudity is really not a big deal to merfolk. Like, most of them don't wear clothes, and those that do only wear robes and stuff to symbolize their class/status in society underwater. On land, they have to have a crash course in how to wear clothes and what to wear when. Floyd was very prone to accidentally forget to wear clothes and wander the halls of Octavinelle naked during his freshman year (much to the horror of his dorm members)

The Merfolk don't eat each other 24/7, nor pose as much of a threat to each other as wild animals do- some find it extremely offensive that land-dwellers assume all mer-predators eat whatever other merpeople they can sink their teeth into. They live together in a society similar to the one on land. Of course, the elements and wild creatures pose more of a threat to them than natural land-predators, but the merfolk themselves aren't in the habit of killing one another.

HOWEVER, there is a special law amongst them that if another merperson is causing undue harm to them/a loved one, murder is justified. And, of course, they must consume the flesh of the merperson killed and send the head back to the killed one's family for closure reasons. They may not eat each other that often, but in the Ocean, it's more natural and well-accepted to eat whoever you killed (in self-defense, ofc, if it wasn't in self-defense, then you are going to JAIL, queen!) to show that you respected the fight they put up and to honor their memory. It's more of an ancient tradition that's now just a part of what they do.

HEARSLABYUL

This one was brought to me in a VISION (aka me reading part 3 of Cater's Vignette for one of his cards when I noticed the background Heartslabyul students all had Suit characters on their faces)

All of the dorm members are assigned a "card suit" after their orientation- this suit is determined by the Housewarden (who is assigned the role of the "king/queen" of the dorm and doesn't need a suit), who bases his decision off of the personality of the student, their grades, and their ambitions. No one but the Housewarden knows why they're put in the suit they are.

There's a big initiation ceremony when the Housewarden finishes deciding the Suits for the freshmen, and they host a special ceremony in their dorm's yard that involves a series of tasks for the freshmen to go through- involving a maze-run with juniors chasing after them, a hedgehog obstacle course, and a special game that the Housewarden makes per year off of one of the Queen of Heart's rules. Once the initiation ceremony is done, and the suits are given to each freshmen, they will then be responsible for painting their suit on their face wherever they want to for the rest of their time on campus.

IGNIHYDE

For most Housewardens, a student needs to challenge the existing housewarden and duel them to claim their title.

For Ignihyde, they do things differently. Because they're all more skilled in technology for the most part, they'll have a challenge to see who can build something the best (whether it be a robot, a toy machine, etc etc- the decision of what to make will be voted on by the dorm members). At the end of the challenge, all of the students in the dorm will vote on who did the best- but they aren't told which invention was made by whom as to avoid favoritism, and boom! That's the new Dorm Leader.

Idia brought Ortho into the dorm and everyone just assumed that that was his challenge to the existing dorm leader LMAO

It really wasn't....but the current dorm leader was so in awe of Ortho and Idia's intelligence that he gave up his position (practically forcing it into Idia lol) for him.

[ananke-xiii]

Another thing about the lameness of Apocalypse World being the result of "Mary's choice" is that it gives too much weight to Azazel's deal. That demon spent a lot of energy finding his "special children" and had never even noticed Mary before Dean's interference.

Interference that happened because Castiel made Dean travel through time and told him he had to "stop it" just to show him that it wasn't possible. Of course Cas didn't know, back then, about angels basically acting as and for Chuck by manipulating people, time and events for their own benefit. Still, you have to wonder after "In the beginning" whether Cas actually realizes what he has done.

Whether Mary deals with Azazel or not doesn't matter because of the bloodlines. The only difference is that if she said no an angel would fly in, resurrect John and wipe out their memories. Just like Zachariah and Michael tell Dean in S5.

The whole thing about demon blood as necessary in order to be Lucifer's vessel is just there for effect, I think, because neither Dean nor Adam need to be "primed" to be Michael's true vessel who, apparently, is even more powerful than Lucifer. Or, I don't know, to me that doesn't track at all but I might be missing something. I mean, it kinda shows how Kripke was tired of the "special children" plotline but, yk, the awkward, giant elephant in the room is that the foundation of the show is Sam and demon blood so... they had to justify it in some way, I think. But, again, I might miss something here.

The real importance of Azazel's deal is that it highlights Mary's complete loneliness in the world: in an instant her parent and her fiancé are dead. She deals because she bargains her otherwise horrible present (which is still horrible, tbh) for an unspecified future (which she craves. a lot. we've been told. multiple times that she wants to "escape" her current life). The tragedy is precisely that she doesn't know that she's specifically damning Sam's future in the process.

The real, real tragedy, however, is that she has no choice, whatever she does, SHE will always end up there. Because Mary and John are just "placeholders". The angels are basically just waiting for the demons to do the hard and dirty work while, they think, they just have to manipulate low ranking angels and get Dean's consent. Precisely the two things that fuck them in the end because Castiel rebels and Dean doesn't consent.

The other thing about Azazel's deal is that he doesn't need permission to enter Mary's house, that's just an excuse because of the "red tape". He has to bend the rules of the natural order and, in order to do so, he needs to make a deal. His deals are basically asking people to sign and date a blank sheet which is, obvs, a super manipulation, but, because people accept that, the deals "respect" the rules. It's absolutely unfair considering that this seems to apply only to humans while angels bend even the rules of time as they please with no consequences (well... actually, "what goes around comes around" and they will almost all be wiped out, lol).

The tragedy in the tragedy of the tragedy is that Dean understands that's about the souls. "In the beginning" makes a point of telling us that's not about that but I don't think it's true. Yes, Azazel won't come knocking in ten years with his hellhounds but he's bargaining a soul for a soul. Liddy's husband, if Azazel had managed to deal, wouldn't have died; Charlie's father would have lived; John would have died etc. So, in this episode at least because I don't remember the parents of the other special children tbh, Azazel is exchanging the life or death of 1 parent with the future of 1 of their children. At the end of the day, this is what the deal is about: it's a 1 for 1. This is also why he can't resurrect Mary's parents. Well, because he doesn't care, obviously, but because he doesn't have to: John's resurrection for Sam's future (which Mary has no idea about and neither does Azazel, he's also signing a blank sheet).

And this is so interesting because demons must follow the rules but angels don't because they are SO certain that they will end Time. They think they will put an end to everything and finally have their "paradise". When it doesn't come to pass, when the end doesn't arrive as promised, everybody has to face the consequences of their actions.

[misscheavus]

(( REMINDER ))

I KNOW YOU’RE MAD // BUT SHE AIN’T EVEN WORTH NONE OF MY TIME

PAIRING: Jealous(?) Minah Lee x F!Reader (referred to as ‘girlfriend’ and ‘girl’)

WARNINGS: I wrote Redy a not the greatest person and I apologise for that, but the plot needed it D: (Not proofread (sorry)), swearing

LENGTH: 1,340+ words

This is a work of fiction and is in no way a reflection, description or depiction of any person(s) in real life. Images and names are merely used as placeholders in this work. You are responsible for the media that you consume.

Minah couldn’t help herself, rolling her eyes as she watched the interaction unfold in front of her. Maybe Bada’s beef with Redy wasn’t as unfounded as the team she thought. Fuck, at this rate, she might join her leader in her view of the 1Million dancer.

She watched as Redy brushed your hair away from your face, running her hand down your arm as she drowned you in compliments so obnoxiously loud that Minah could hear her from across the stage: “Oh my gosh, you’re so talented!” “I’m so envious of how your body moves!” “Your body is so incredible! You must work out lots to be so strong and pretty.” “You’re so flexible! You’ll have to show me sometime.”

Minah almost gagged.

And maybe she did because Bada turns from her spot in front of the girl, an eyebrow raised and stupid, knowing smirk plastered on her face.

“You good?” Bada places a hand on the younger’s knee, squeezing gently. Minah simply scoffed, not wanting to dignify her feelings with a response. Unfortunately for her, that was more than enough of an answer for the leader. She laughed, turning away from the girl and joining Minah in observing the situation in front of them develop. Bada tilts her head, looking back up and noticing Minah purposefully looking away, the tips of her ears red. “She looks uncomfortable, Minah. That’s more what I’d be worried about.” Bada hums, leaning back on her hands.

It’s almost comical how quickly Minah’s head snaps back to watch you closely.

It’s not like you were dating… well, you weren’t exclusive (yet). But you were something, right? Minah wasn’t even sure if she had any right feeling the emotions she was feeling… but focusing back in on the two of you and the way you were reacting to the other dancer made her emotions feel more justified.

She felt heat claw up her neck, wrapping around her chest tightly the more she watched. Even though you were giggling and seemed to be playing along… something looked off. Minah leaned forward, observing… almost waiting for the other dancer to make a wrong move and let her pounce.

You moved back quickly, just out of immediate reach of Redy’s overly touchy hands as she seemed to reach for your face again. Minah watches you bow, putting more distance between you, eyes darting away from the forward woman and thanking her for whatever stupid shit she said. You scratch your forearm, gulping obviously as you try to shuffle back.

Bada was right. You were uncomfortable. And Minah wasn’t going to sit opposite you and let you be uncomfortable.

She stands abruptly, Bada leaning out of the way and letting the younger step past her.

Minah has tunnel vision; seeing nothing but you, trying to politely turn Redy’s advances down. It’s even worse because your team can’t even understand what’s being said to help you out. “Oh, thank you for the offer, but I’m not interested. We’re really busy, and I’ve already got someone in my life…” She hears your quiet response as she gets closer.

‘…Did she ask you out?’ The anger bubbles over inside Minah. She all but storms up to the pair, arms crossed intimidatingly. “She’s saying no, Redy. She’s uncomfortable. Leave her alone. You got your answer.” Minah’s bluntness is a welcome relief. You quietly let out a sigh as Minah stands in front of you, feeling the weight lift slightly off your chest.

“Sorry, were you involved in our conversation? I don’t think you were, actually-“ Redy starts, moving closer to you again.

“I am because you’re coming onto my girlfriend. And I’d really suggest backing up before things get bad for you. Quickly.” Minah’s eyes are narrowed, chest puffed as she takes a step closer. You look over at Redy, her eyes now wide as she puts the pieces together. You quietly apologise to the girl, before standing and taking Minah’s arm and leading her off-set and into an unoccupied corridor backstage.

“No, let me back at her. I swear to God-“

You place both hands on Minah’s shoulders, squeezing gently. That stops her rage for a moment, finally focusing on you. “Are you okay? She didn’t touch you, did she? I know you were uncomfortable… I just…” Minah’s eyes closed for a moment, trying to calm herself.

“I really shouldn’t find you that attractive when you’re jealous and overprotective.” Minah’s eyes pop open, looking at you incredulously.

“I was not jealous. I-“

Before she can open her mouth to keep lying, you answer her questions, “She only touched my arm, and I’m okay. Just… unsettled? Sorry, you had to help me deal with her. I just… didn’t know how to stop her without coming across as rude. You did a good job though.” You smile, hands deftly sliding up her shoulders and to her face, cupping her cheeks.

Minah brings her hands to rest over yours, sighing. “Don't apologise, baby. Just be rude. I hate watching people try and take advantage of your kindness. Especially like that. Bitch.” She hissed the last word quietly, feeling your fingers tap her cheek in response to her choice of words. The anger Minah had before fills her body for a moment before it softens as she meets your eyes. You take a step closer, Minah’s hands now dropping to your waist, thumbs caressing your skin. She sighs, “I… sorry. I hate seeing you uncomfortable, even a little bit. I care about you too much to see you like that…”

You’re both quiet for a moment, simply enjoying each other's presence; Minah squeezes your waist as she tries to calm down again, ignoring the nagging feeling in her heart as her brain keeps replaying the events of before over and over. Redy's hands on your face, your arms... She bites her lip, suppressing her internal desire to go back out and-

“So… girlfriend, huh?” You can’t help but tease the girl in front of you, breaking her building bitterness, laughing as she groans and rests her head against your shoulder. You bring a hand up and stroke the back of her head, still giggling. “I liked it before you apologise. You should introduce me like that more often.” You feel Minah’s body tense before she pulls back to look at you.

“Yeah?” She smiles so cutely you can feel your heart race at her beauty, “You wanna be my girlfriend? You’ll be mine?” You return her loving smile, resting your foreheads together. “Mhm. As long as you’ll be mine.” Minah all but smirks at your reply, pulling back a little further and resting her palm on the back of your neck and brings you in. The glint in her eyes as her gaze drops to your lips giving you all the answers you need as she closes the distance between you.

————

About 10 minutes later, you both emerge, back at the ring, hands entwined. Minah walks you back to your crew, squeezing your hand once more before returning to Bebe. Bada and Lusher stifle a laugh, Tatter motioning for the younger to come to them. Reaching up, Tatter wipes away smeared lipstick from the corner of Minah’s swollen lips. “Maybe next time you get all macho for your girl, look in a mirror before you come back?” The three giggle as they adjust Minah’s jacket and hair, askew and mused from your hands.

“Poor girl, did you maul her in, like, five minutes?” Lusher chuckles, noticing the already darkening mark on your neck from across the room… on the side of your neck that faced the 1Million crew.

Minah can’t even bring herself to be embarrassed, looking over at you and sending you a cheeky wink, before meeting Redy's eyes. Minah raises an eyebrow, wiping her lips and smirking at the elder, unable to stop herself from mouthing a quick 'mine' and glancing in your direction. She can't help relishing in how quickly Redy averts her eyes from both of you, laughing quietly.

Yeah, this was way better than her plan about 15 minutes ago.

[buddiesmutslut]

Okay, so I want Buddie to get together before Chris comes home, right? So, they get Chris, spend a few days getting everyone settled back into the swing of things, and then either 1) they don't get a chance to tell him, or 2) they do, and it doesn't go great (which I feel like is something that's going to happen regardless, I need Christopher to be an angsty teen with abandonment issues in 4k)

BUT

Before they can sit down again and figure everything out, they get a call for another wildfire or a crossover or whatever that requires them to leave town for a little bit.

Obviously, Eddie can't go, because he just got Christopher back home and he really doesn't want to leave him again, even temporarily, but Buck has to go because people need help.

Cue Buck & Eddie spending time apart for the first time since they got together, sleeping in different beds hundreds of miles away from the other, and both spiraling a little bit. Eddie because he's worried that Buck is finally getting some time away from him and the mess that he was in Chris' absence and is worried that he doesn't want to keep wading through Eddie's problems,

And Buck because Chris is back now, and what if Eddie doesn't need him anymore? What if he was just a stand-in or a placeholder for Chris, but now his son is back and Eddie is on his own two feet again and what if he doesn't need Buck anymore, and if he doesn't need him, then why would he keep him around?

Extra points if telling Chris doesn't go well so they're trying to figure that out and cell service is spotty and they don't know what the other is thinking because they're so far away and if they were closer, they would just be together and solve the problem, but they're not so they're relying on delayed messages and downed phone lines and a game of phone tag.

And then, obviously, Buck gets home, and they realize they were spiraling over nothing because they've been building a life together for far longer than the few months they've been kissing, and Buck sits and talks with Christopher, and everything is fine.

AND THEN I NEED TIM TO LEAVE THEIR RELATIONSHIP ALONE. No breakups like in a lot of other main couples (Chenford, Booth & Brennan, I'm looking at you guys.) no! None of that! They've suffered enough, give them plot lines without breaking them up.

Give them better arcs with their parents, BRING US EDDIE'S GODDAMN SISTERS and the drama I K N O W is hiding there. Give us Buck focusing on his career (and also maybe slip in an official ADHD diagnosis, what, who said that?) Give us them talking about raising another kid, kill off an obscure family member and a stroll down memory lane (I absolutely do not mean Isabel Diaz, you keep your filthy paws OFF Eddie's abuela, bitches. I love her so so so so much lol).

Give them character arcs that have nothing to do with them possibly breaking up. They deserve storyline's that are more than just about their love interest. Literally, Buck's coming out wasn't even about him, it was all about Tommy and I'm so sick of it. Buck and Eddie are interesting characters! They are M A I N characters, give them better storylines. (Esp Eddie bc genuinely, wtf have you all done to my boy??)

[mellosdrawings]

i loved seeing your character sheets for yuu and hayeli, especially hayeli’s!! it’s clear that a lot of thought went into them and i think his on/off mode is such an interesting concept (also a pomefiore student with blemishes?? yes please!!)

i’d be super curious what your creation process looked like, i.e if where there concepts you scrapped or how you went about choosing a name for them (it’s just a topic i love talking and hearing about but of course you don’t have to get into it if you don’t want to :])

not me also having ideas for an oc with mirror magic, but based on the mirror from the snow queen instead

First I'm so glad you like my characters! It seems Hayeli's bad skin is very popular and I love it! Give me more teenagers with bad skin and not making a huge deal out of it please!

As for my process... dear, that'll be a long post.

General process

Ok so my general character creation process starts with two ways:

1. I have a role to fill in a story that can't be fulfilled by a pre-existing character

2. I have a vibe and I need to turn it into a character

From those needs and/or wants, I'll go through several steps:

1. Age: surprisingly deciding on a character's age first unlocks at least half of its mental and physical design. Is it an adult who already has its shit together or a teen in the middle of a crisis?

2. Vague personality: is the character going to be introvert or extrovert? Shy or outgoing. Proud or self depreciating. Bubbly or quiet. Easy to anger or chill. It doesn't need to be its full personality yet, just guidelines.

3. Race: for fantasy and realism. A character's skin color and cultural background will shape how they view the world a lot!

4. Gender and sexual orientation: i usually decide on the gender based on how many characters I already have of each gender, or whether I want a character to be traditionally feminine/masculine or the total opposite of what's expected. Obviously the gender will affect the design, but the orientation will also affect how the character reacts to others.

5. Assets & weaknesses: for fantasy, it'd be their powers and their shortcomings, for action it'll be their strengths and the things they haven't mastered yet, for romance it'll be their best personality trait and their worst.

Once I have that base guideline, I can start working on a chara design. Age and race help with the body, personality and strengths/weaknesses help with how they dress and present themselves. (An outgoing person will have an easier time dressing in original ways while a shy person would be more traditional for example.)

Once I have a design, I draw shitty little doodles and meme redraws until I have a better sense of their personality. Slices of life and comedy and angst are great way for me to get to know my character. For writers, it'd be writing random scenes to test the characters' reactions.

Then, I double down on the strengths and weaknesses. Make them stand out. Make sure they are coherent to the characters. Make sure the weaknesses are as important as the strength. (For example, I have a character who has super speed. Arguably one of the most cheated powers in existence. I counterbalanced it by giving him poor stamina. In theory he is all powerful. In practice, not so much.)

Lastly, I chose a name. Sometimes it's just about how the name sounds. Sometimes I'm looking for names to mean something. If your character is POC, think about whether they'd have a common name or a name from their own culture. Both are valid but you need to think about it! (For example, I have two maohi characters in the same story. One is called Fray (common name), the other is called Tanemahuta (maohi name) because they and their families have different relationships with their own culture.)

Yuu

Well, that's a strange one since Yuu already does exist in the game, but it's a blank slate, a place holder. Let's make them something worth remembering, shall we.

First, I went with their gender. Most of my placeholders characters end up nonbinary because that's what I am and also I can't be bothered to role-playing gender when playing a simple game.

Then I went with a vibe and a bullet list of things I wanted to keep from the game and things I wanted to add.

To keep:

1. Not very proactive

2. Not very talkative

To add:

1. Raccoon

2. Clever/cunning

3. Physically rather weak

From there I made a design that gave "raccoon vibes". Semi long disheveled hair, lazy eyes, lazy dress up.

Now, what was important was to make up for their weakness: they don't have magic. The world around them is harsh and they get threatened by characters having breakdowns every two months. What is there strength? For Yuu, I wanted them to be clever and cunning. Have them actually outsmart our dear schemers. That's Yuu's one and only strength, they're a schemer themself. They see others as cards that make up their hands the same way Leona sees others as chess pieces. Once you have those big pieces from earlier plus the survival instinct, you get a character that is easy to handle. They don't talk much, keep everything to themselves, manipulate others from the shadows to defend themself.

But. Let's give them one more weakness, shall we? It's funnier that way. Let's make them yearn for connection. They are a teen who got kidnapped from their family. Let's give them a big family. But they are rather independent too, so let's find a way to remove the parents from the picture to explain why they are already able to fend for themself. Now make them yearn for real friendship. Make it obvious their manipulation comes from defensiveness. Have them slip up when they interact with people they genuinely end up caring about.

And there you have Yuu.

Hayeli

Now, for Hayeli, I started out with a vibe. He's actually pretty old, comes from before the game was even released when there were only countdown arts and some vague informations about the game. As I said in his description, he's based on the Evil Queen's mirror. I didn't know at the time there were already plenty of mirrors in the game haha

Contrary to my usual process, I started with his powers first. His Signature Spell had to be something about mirrors. The easy way out would be to have him shape-shifting. There are plenty of angst and fun opportunities from shape-shifting. But that was too simple, I didn't like it. Instead I went with the capacity to copy others' magic. In game there was already Azul being able to steal others' magic through a high requirement spell, so I went with this kind of power. High requirement high reward. I don't like for my characters to be overpowered and I wanted Hayeli to just be average in magic, so I doubled down on the requirements to make his magic near useless.

Then I went on to his gimmick. He still didn't have a personality or body at the time, I really went full mirror first. Hayeli is a mirror. He copies others' magic. What if I double down and make him copy everything as a by-product of his Signature Spell? Ok, now, since I still don't like overpowered characters, how do I make it ruin his life?

And so we come to the problem of his personality: he doesn't have one. He's a blank slate. A mirror. He reproduces others' behaviors and mannerisms and personalities and he has no control over it. He has no idea who he is himself. The angst creates itself.

Once there, it was easy process for the rest. Make him a body. Average size since he's just a copy of others. Pomefiore attitude and presentation since he's in Pomefiore. I like curly hair and there aren't enough of them in Twisted Wonderland so I went with that, but they couldn't be long since Yuu already has semi long curly hair.

I still needed one way to recognize him. Make him pop amongst the other characters. What makes Hayeli physically Hayeli?

1. Moles. So many moles.

2. Bad skin. He's in Pomefiore? Do the contrary of what's expected there. Give him a malleable standard face and add bad skin to it.

3. Strange eyes. He's a mirror who can reproduce everything he sees. His eyes are important. Make them pale like mirrors, make his pupils white to reflect others, make the shape a bit blurry as if the mirror isn't perfect.

And there you have Hayeli's body!

Oh. A name? Google translate, please tell me how to say mirror in different languages please. Mirror in Armenian is "Hayeli", I like the sound of it. Sold. So Hayeli shall be Armenian irl, that'd probably be on the frontiers of the Scalding Sands (thanks a friend for helping me with that part), so maybe I should make his skin darker. Besides, dark skins in a dorm that values beauty is also not the first idea people get. Sold!

(Somewhere during the process, I actually had an objective with Hayeli. "Make him represent Teenagehood itself". Teenagehood is a particularly difficult period, teenagers try to become their own person independently from their parents. They copy each other and all the people they look up to to find what suits them best, but they also hate not being able to tell who they are as a person. Hayeli represents that struggle, and that's also why I gave him a heavy bout of acne and red cheeks and baby fat but a lean body. Teenagehood isn't pretty, and it shouldn't be. Hayeli is awkward, his body is morphing a lot, he has no idea who he is or who he wants to become, he copies others without realizing. But he also has a lot of fun. He cheats at tests, he bothers his classmates and dormmates, he has fun with makeup, he tries a lot of new things. While Yuu was meant to represent survival, Hayeli is meant to represent teenagehood, for better and for worse.)

There you have all of Hayeli's creation process.

TLDR: Mostly I just... don't go with the very first thought I get. Do you know that Pixar or maybe Disney process where they give up on the first dozen ideas they get because it's too "normal" and easy to guess? It has its flaws but I think it's not that bad. I go with the contrary of what's expected (dark bad skin for a dorm that represents beauty) or I push the concept further if I can (copying magic instead of shapeshifting). And most importantly, I give my characters flaws and weaknesses. That's the most important part of the creation to me. What can I give him that'll make him struggle? The scenario writes itself as soon as you give your characters challenges to overcome within themselves.

[apologetic-artist]

First batch of designs!!! I hope y'all like em hehe :3

(Yapping about my designs and future designs under cut hehe[LOTS OF WORDS AND STUFFS!!])

Sketch: The sweater that they're wearing under their shirt is actually one of Tony's old sweaters he grew out of. I wanted to go for a mixed match look with a lot of color while avoiding visual looks of green for obvious reasons. I think they're one of the more outgoing of the bunch, especially since I think they're one of the younger ones(like late 20's, early 30's) so I tried to fit that in their design. Definitely one of my favorites out of my designs.

Tony: Looking at my previous ref sheet of her, I'd say this is a major upgrade. Not a lot has changed about him except for some tiny things and the colors. I love this pose. Also, at the ends of her suit jacket, they look like little clock hands, I thought it was cute. With Tones, I kinda just took inspiration from everyone else drawing him with formal attire, but I think mostly everyone sees him wearing a suit or something adjacent.

Shrignold: For the information, it has a bit of question marks I should talk about real quick. The question marks on the species was just a silly little joke to reference what Yellow called them in their episode and people headcannoning Shrig as more of a moth than a butterfly, which I totally see where they're coming from because I don't know what my Shrig is anymore. As for the relationship status, nobody(not even them) are sure if they're dating or not. Sure, there's a lot of evidence, but it is still a confusing relationship. I can talk about it more when I post my Larry with its respective headcannons.

Colin: My bbg. Anyway, with his old design, he was way too lanky, and it kinda looked off. The colors were also way too dull, so I made them a little more pastel. Also, Lana is the name for Laptop, not sure if it'll change, so this is kinda a placeholder. I also added some cute patches to their overalls to reference their digital world since I wanted more representation of that part of their character in their design. I just love Colin if you couldn't tell lmao. I feel like all the new details are a major upgrade.

FUTURE DESIGN SECTION!!:

The reason why the Health gang isn't in this is because I'll make a post of all of them together in a group bc I believe they should all go together. It may take me a long time since I, to be honest, never really cared to make designs for them. The reason why I haven't yet is because GOOD LORD they are kinda hard to translate to my style, specifically Steak and Fridge. I'll figure it out eventually.

The same goes for the love cult. Trust me, I wanna draw them so bad(might get to them before the Healthy Gang). All I'm saying is that that bunny is coming first he's literally my favorite. I love that blue bunny boy so much.

Larry might also need to go into his own post. There is so much, and that's all I'm really saying so far.

Listen, I'll only draw the machine teachers if i wanna, there are too many.

The TV teachers will obviously get designs, no doubt.

Also, have a scrapped outfit for Shrignold! I decided this should just be just for when it's in the cult :]

That's about it!! Thanks for reading my ramble. Have a good night/day/afternoon/whatever time of day it is!! :D