#that was just a nice bit of dialogue that fit well with my canon for them

[uncannily-adroit]

meet some my tavs! (updated)

1- nox, tiefling, folk hero fighter (they/them)

2- livia, half elf, entertainer lore bard (she/her)

3- anne, human, noble swords bard (she/her)

4- aurelia, human, resisting durge druid (she/her)

5- ledi, aasimar, acolyte oath of vengeance paladin (she/her)

a little lore and fun facts under the cut! (subject to change, and also i'm not very good at making lore)

nox and livia are both romancing gale and ledi is set to romance wyll! anne and sethe have yet to choose (a/n: i plan on having anne, a squishy bleeding heart like nox and livia, to end up with lae'zel, though astarion is also strong contender. sethe will probably end up with halsin or karlach! i have yet to think of a good tav/durge to romance shadowheart with...)

nox grew up with human parents after having been abandoned as a baby due to their skin color

nox is awkward and not very good with lots of attention. they don't want to be a hero, they wanna go tf home. they turn down gale's offer to go with him if he ascends to godhood

nox is best friends with karlach! they've never had a friend like her before, and they follow her and wyll into avernus

anne grew up with wyll but lost contact with him after he left baldur's gate. imagine her shock when they meet again at the emerald grove!

ledi is the daughter of the god helm

ledi is completely blind, a condition given to her long ago in a battle (think kanan jarrus from star wars), and it's the reason her eyes are shrouded. following this, she vowed for vengeance against any foe who seeks to do harm

ledi looks up to dame aylin like a big sister. literally and figuratively. ledi is actually quite small for her race and she has a little bit of a complex over it. isobel thinks its adorable

the collar around aurelia's neck is the only way she knew her name when she woke up on the nautiloid

aurelia's preferred wild shape is that of a wolf

aurelia has heterochromia, her left eye is silver and her right is a deep red

[strawberrymilk-sunshine]

Watching u <3

I've been working on this for a while. Off and on since late June. Believe it or not, I have actually been having ideas throughout my entire hiatus, it was just a case of not being able to really write anything down...

This is probably darker than some of my other stuff, I just feel like I should say. Please do not read this if you're uncomfortable with this. Thank you, and have a good day/afternooon/night.

Warning(s): yandere behaviors, explicitly fem reader, death, some sexist stuff (it's not as bad as it probably could be but it's there), incel Idia I know he isn't in canon please don't be mad at me for making him one in this fic, delusional yandere Idia, non consentual kiss, blood hemorrhage mention, unwanted comments about reader's body, implied past trauma, doxxing, breaking and entering

It was a long day of boring classes for Idia. Today was one of those days he was forced to actually attend class in person... ew. He hated it, being around people for that long. But he had a test today, and apparently the professor didn't trust him enough to do it remotely from his dorm room.

Luckily though, Idia had something to look forward to. At the end of the day, when he gets back to his dorm room, almost exactly... something he looks forward to all week will finally start.

What is this thing he is so looking forward to?

Well, what other than your weekly livestream, of course!

He loved everything about you.

He knew everything there was to know about you. He even knew your name, despite you hiding your identity behind a fictitious catgirl persona~

(Y/N). (Y/N) (L/N). He loved that name of yours. It felt like honey in his mouth as the words spilled out of him... calling you by your real name without you knowing~

Idia considered you a friend- no, even MORE. He wasn't friends with you, no no no no no! You were his lovely little girlfriend! Cute and submissive and everything... ohhh, he loved you so much. Hearing your voice... listening to you... answering you like you were right next to him... donating to you every time you streamed, copious amounts of money... participating in chat every now and again, to have an actual dialogue with you... he didn't like talking with other people, oh, but he ALWAYS made an exception for you.

You two have even started chatting outside just your streams. He's a mod for your streams now, as well as on your personal server... you were a bit apprehensive about that at first, but don't worry, he convinced you!

One time, you confided in him about some... serious issues you went through irl. It was so cute, imagining you in that situation.

Oh, you've been through so much together... you're practically dating at this point! Oh... but maybe he should actually ask you, just to make sure you know you're dating him. Just in case. Just in case.

Idia happily logged onto your stream, anxious to watch you... and to pop the question later~

But as he logged on... he... he heard you... say... something...

"Sorry I wasn't able to stream last week... something came up in my real life!" He saw your semi-3d avatar smile, responding to your real expression, no doubt. "I know it sounds crazy, but somehow... I'm dating someone!"

At first, Idia decided to optimistically think about how, maybe you're referring to him... but, as the pre-stream chitchat continued... it became obvious you weren't.

...

HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO HIM?!

In a fit of anger, Idia unsubscribed and blocked you on absolutely everything.

...but then, he thought of something. A nice plan... one that would hopefully make you dependent on him... you'd dump whatever loser you're dating right now... and he would be your only source of comfort.

He unblocked your accounts on his main... and then, he logged onto an alternate account, one that doesn't connect back to him in any way; sorta like what you tried to do with your stream persona, but actually unconnected, unlike yours.

He sent you a message from his sock puppet...

Your stream ended for the day, and... you were confused to see a message from an account you didn't recognize. You thought that maybe it was just a fan deciding to message you, as you get that a lot, but once you accepted the message request to see what they sent...

[xNDRWRLDx] : this u?

...you saw... a picture of yourself... one a family member of yours posted a few years ago... you tried your best to make sure that your online persona didn't connect back to your real life at all, so... how... how did this person get this picture?!

As terrified as you were, you chose to ignore this message. About an hour later, you received another.

Despite your thoughts, screaming at you to not give this person the time of day... that last message just set you off. You decided to respond.

[xNDRWRLDx] : ignoring ppl is rude

[xNDRWRLDx] : u know that, right?

[xNDRWRLDx] : or is ur thick skull not able to comprehend that

[xNDRWRLDx] : lmao yeah, thats prob the case

[xNDRWRLDx] : u could get a much higher paying job if u quit streaming & decided 2 use ur tits & ass 2 ur advantage

[xNDRWRLDx] : getting railed all day would b easier than streaming. u wouldnt have 2 pretend u have a personality beyond "uwu im a girl who plays video games arent i cute??"

You suddenly saw a string of numbers appear on your screen in the next message from this person. Is that your IP?!

[n3k0-ebi] : who tf are you??

[xNDRWRLDx] : o right, u said smth abt not being comfortable w/ talking abt stuff like that

[xNDRWRLDx] : lmfao weak much??? cant even take a joke

[xNDRWRLDx] : wat a pathetic excuse of a human

[n3k0-ebi] : whats your angle dude

[n3k0-ebi] : are you just trying to make me mad on purpose? it wont work, so just leave me alone.

What could this person know? Just what you look like in real life?? As much as you don't want people to know, it... it isn't that bad. You're not going to pose like that. You're not even going to give this person the time of day anymore.

[xNDRWRLDx] : look familiar?

[xNDRWRLDx] : just saying u would look adorable laying under me w/ ur mouth agape & drooling w/ ur eyes half shut <3

[xNDRWRLDx] : maybe if u send me a pic of u looking like that i might consider not sharing wat i know w/ ur entire audience

[xNDRWRLDx] : ur choice bitch

You log off for the night, not giving any more thought to this person's likely hollow threats.

The next day, you woke up, not realizing what happened over night.

You took a nice, relaxing, early morning shower...

Strangely enough, as you left your washroom, you could have sworn you'd seen a strange, blue light outside your hallway window. Probably just your eyes playing tricks on you... or light reflecting off something...

You make your way to your living room, and sit yourself down on the couch, comfy in your bathrobe and hair towel. You turn on the tv so you can half watch whatever comes on, and focus the rest of your attention on browsing Magicam.

...

...that's a lot of notifications.

You decide to look through your mentions first, and... you see a post from that account that was messaging you last night. It details your full legal name, your address, your partner's name, your parent's names, your homeland, every personal detail you could think of was listed in this post.

In a sudden moment of not thinking, you decide to message them.

They... they just sent you... a picture of you coming out of your shower... and then another, of you sitting here on the couch-?!

[n3k0-ebi] : what the hell is wrong with you?!

[n3k0-ebi] : you fucking doxxed me?!

[xNDRWRLDx] : i told u it was ur choice didnt i

[xNDRWRLDx] : u chose 2 not send me that pic i wanted

[xNDRWRLDx] : so really its ur own fault <3

You look out your living room window... but you don't see anybody.

[xNDRWRLDx] : ur not responding?

[xNDRWRLDx] : rude

[xNDRWRLDx] : little missy cant think of anything to say huh

[xNDRWRLDx] : idk wat i expected lmfao

[xNDRWRLDx] : typical 4 a female pretending 2 know stuff cant even hide ur identity properly

[xNDRWRLDx] : wat an idiotttt

The next month is a chaotic one.

Being stalked by so-called "fans"... yourself and your family members being sent weird letters and death threats... your regular workplace firing you... your family and friends cutting ties with you... your partner breaking up with you...

...why did this all have to happen...?

Is this your fault...? Maybe if you had just sent that picture... no, no don't even think about it. That person probably would have done this to you anyways...

...oh...

Oh, you... you have a notification. Since what happened last night, you haven't checked any of your notifications, but... this one... it's from someone you trust...

Idia was absolutely enraged. He could barely even believe what just happened. You have nothing. He is the only person in the world offering you comfort and support, and you just... YOU JUST WRITE HIM OFF LIKE HE'S NOTHING?!

[Gloomurai_] : hey, is everything OK w/ you?

[Gloomurai_] : i just saw you havent rlly been online since what happened

[Gloomurai_] : not that i blame you obv

[n3k0-ebi] : hi gloomy

[n3k0-ebi] : things haven't been great... lol.

[Gloomurai_] : i heard youre single again btw

[Gloomurai_] : that must suck

[Gloomurai_] : i hope this doesnt sound too forward but uh

[Gloomurai_] : is there anything i could do to help?

[n3k0-ebi] : definitely not, but thx for offering

[n3k0-ebi] : it's enough to just know you're there :)

...but, all of a sudden, the anger leaves him. Everything leaves him. All rational thought is gone from his head... and he smiles.

"Ortho... tell the vice leader he'll be in charge of Ignihyde for a while."

"What-? Big brother, why would you-"

"I need to go home for a bit." Idia closes the chat log, and stands up from his chair. "I won't be gone long. I just need to... make a copy of a file on my pc back home and bring it back here. That's all."

Ortho didn't entirely believe his brother...

...it's raining.

It's dark, stormy, the dead of night...

And most importantly, you're alone.

You used to like being alone. Not so much now, now you just feel... unsafe.

What with all the death threats, general threats, your home address and real face now being known... you don't feel safe in your own home anymore.

It's not a pleasant feeling, yet it is one you've felt before. One you never hoped to feel again. It's such a terrible feeling, knowing you might not be safe, in the place that you very well should be...

...

There's a knock at the door.

You are NOT going to answer it.

There are a lot of things that can happen in the exact moment of danger. Time feels like it slows down, and you have to make a choice... fight or flight, your natural instincts.

The door is kicked open and you drop down to at least somewhat hide yourself thanks to your couch. Maybe that pepper spray you lost last month is under there??? Hopefully...

And then... you hear a voice. A strangely familiar, sickly sweet voice.

"Ohh (Y/N)~" It calls out... "Where are youuuu~???"

That voice... you know that voice... you've been in a voice call with that voice before... that voice...

It's Gloomy... someone you thought was your friend...

"(Y/N), I know you're in here. Just show me where you are already. I-I won't hurt you~!!"

You frantically run your hand along the floor under your couch, looking for your pepper spray. You can't help but hope it's under there...

You hit something that rolls out from under your couch... it's exactly what you're looking for, but it also shows him exactly where you are.

A blue glow comes closer as the long, flaming hair drapes over your couch, the tips barely touching you as you lay on the ground. Then you see his face... piercing yellow eyes, and a terrifying, sickening smile full of sharp teeth...

"There you are!"

You scramble away from him in a panic, taking short glances at where the small canister rolled...

"There's no need to look so scared, (Y/N)." He smiles. "It's me, Gloomurai, Gloomy, Idia, your boyfriend."

"W...w-what... the hell... are you talking about...?"

"Are you fucking stupid? I think it's really clear what I said, isn't it?" He scowls at you... not just any scowl, it looks like he completely despised you... before quickly returning to a sickly sweet, and clearly fake smile. "I'm your boyfriend. You're my girlfriend. We've been dating for a long time, and I'm going to be taking you home with me now! I love you so much!"

"W-we've talked a few times... a-and I guess we're friends, but... but we aren't dating!!" You yell, clenching your fists tightly. You're absolutely terrified, but you don't want to just agree with him. There's no way in hell you're going to validate this...

"Yes we are. Do you not remember? Is your single braincell working overtime trying to understand what you already know? Aww, cute kitty..." The intruder suddenly pulls something out from his pocket.

He thrusts the object at you as you avoid it by crawling on your hands and knees as fast as you can towards your small canister. You stand up in the best defensive position you can, being sure to hide your spray from this creep.

"Ugh. Why are you so stubborn?? It won't hurt as much if you just stay still!!" He rushes towards you with the object, it's clear to you now that it is a syringe...

You spray him directly in the eyes as he screeches out in pain.

You run for your front door, hoping you can get away while he writhes in pain... but you feel something prick into your neck... and being flushed into your veins...

"YOU BITCH. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! I HATE YOU SO FUCKING MUCH!!" He screams at you as you collapse. What is this... what in the world would work this fast...?

"...wh..." You try to ask what this is, before you feel a sudden metallic taste in your mouth, and blood begins to pour out...

"You don't need to know what it is. It's better if you don't know." The intruder shushes you. "I love you so much. I love you. We'll be happy together... me and a better version of you... I'll recreate you perfectly."

...he kisses you on the lips. He wipes your blood off of his face as he pulls away... when you realize he's wearing gloves.

"It won't be long before you hemorrhage all your blood... this stuff works really fast~" He smiles. "At least you'll look pretty as you die."

Idia's life entirely went back to normal after that. In fact, it's been a year since what he did.

Your body was found, but evidence to his crime was not.

Idia is a model student at NRC, despite almost never attending class in person. His grades are phenomenal, he hands in all his assignments in time, and he's going to get a good job when he graduates...

And... in his spare time... he's programming.

Idia is programming an artificial intelligence, based on a certain someone he used to know.

His lovely girlfriend.

"Don't worry... we'll be seeing each other again soon... I'm sure of it. I'll do everything I can to make it true... I love you, (Y/N)."

[digital-playtime]

✰ ─── So, You Also Can Speak Another Language?

✰ (PLATONIC?) PAIR ─ DOLL & WORKER DRONE ! READER

✰ FANDOM ─ MURDER DRONES

✰ TYPE OF FAN WRITING ─ HEAD CANONS + SHORT SCENARIO

NOTE: This is not my first time writing x reader related thing in here but this is the first time I posted something like this on this blog… I hope you did enjoyed it and let me remind you that I used Google translate for Doll’s dialogues so let me know if you noticed a mistake on it!

Ever since your arrival at the school, you mostly speak English like most of the drones as usual while hanging out with them...

If one of the students, you are one of those epic teenagers that seemed to be stand out on the class...

There were those times where she was listening to your conversations with the other students in the class in order to figure out about your voice...

Everyone's voices can be different and yours are no exception, at least for her...

But to her as a listener, your voice seemed to be quite unique... In a way that it's not pretty much easy to explain it in the first place to the point that she was simply eavesdropping the conversations between you and the person that you're talking to...

She thinks that your voice really fits well when you speak in English, it feels like the way you said the words in a unique way, whenever it's the accent, the nicely perfect pitch or the overall mood that simply fits the conversation...

Until that day... That's where you "accidently" said a sentence in another language... If that's the way you remembered it...

The memory was taken place back on the break time, you were talking with a fellow worker drone who is pretty much enthusiastic about a certain topic that they are talking with you... To others, not only you have some good social skills on your shoulders but you are also a good listener...

Doll seemed to find that trait of yours to be admirable... It's quite important to have the ability to listen what the other has to say, whenever it's a snippet of their memories, their struggles or simply random things that they would like to say to you!

You were on a conversation with a friend of yours, they were talking about a certain thing that happened them back when they were little, it was a little bit bizarre but you can't really blame them as that happened back when they were younger...

"So, my mom was like: "HEY! YOU SHOULDN'T DO THAT" when she caught me drinking paint and so, I can't help but have to listen to her scolding me..." They said...

"YOU DRINK PAINT??? I THOUGHT DRONES CAN'T DRINK THAT-" You replied in another language, quickly realizing that you literally said that sentence in a language that no one might not understand about what you were saying...

"Huh...? What were you trying to say, [Y/N]? I don't really think that is the language that I know..." They asked to you, asking if you can translate the sentence that you previously said in another language that you knew...

"Oh, my bad...! What I was trying to say is that... YOU DRINK PAINT??? I THOUGHT THE WORKER DRONES CAN'T DRINK THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE!" You said the same sentence once again but this time, you said it in English...

"Yeah... I really did that when I was little... Woops for the little me, I supposed..." They said, feeling embarrassed after saying that type of memory to you... Welp, at the very least, they did learned to not do the same thing again...

Doll slightly chuckled and formed a tiny smile on the face but it quickly faded when Lizzy noticed it...

"Hey, Doll... What's with that smile formed on your face? Is it because of a... crush?" Lizzy questioned as she thinks that Doll might have a crush on someone but in reality, Doll literally was eavesdropping at that moment.

"Я ни в кого не влюблен, Лиззи. В конце концов, это всего лишь ваше воображение. (I don't have a crush on someone, Lizzy. That is just your imagination, after all.)" Doll answered.

"Okay... Then." Lizzy said as she went back to her stuff...

"Кажется, они могут говорить на другом языке, что для меня неудивительно… Но я вообще никогда не слышал об этом языке… (It seems like they can able to speak another language which is not really surprising to me... But, that language is something that I never heard of in the first place...)" Doll mused, as she keep listening to your conversation...

For a worker drone like her, your voice is what she liked and of course, she might don't have a crush on you but hey... At the very least, both of you can stay as friends as times goes on and on... Right?

[blueisquitetired]

When you got time, do you have any tips on writing Ingo and Emmets dialogue? I really like how you write them but I can't seem to get their speech down. It's mainly Ingos which is annoying since he canonical has more dialogue than Emmet.

Oh thank you!! I’m glad you enjoy- writing these boys dialogue is one of my favorite parts of writing and has made me seriously consider how I write speech for every character I do. It’s been great practice!

Okay, actual advice time lol.

HOW TO WRITE INGO AND EMMET

(According to me, Blue)

(Now, keep in mind that there isn’t one true way to write the boys, and this is just how I personally write them. Take this with a grain of salt)

When you’re first starting out writing the boys I recommend writing dialogue in your own voice and then submasifying it.

For example, let’s take this dialogue and transform it:

“Sorry I’m late for work! My dog chewed through my nice pants so I had to find some new ones! It’s been a bit of a rough day today, not gonna lie.”

So starting with Ingo-

Ingo talks extremely formally and is super long winded. When writing dialogue for him, try to imagine a fancy British butler who uses long words and long sentences. Replace normal words with more “fancy” ones and use more words then you really need to. (A thesaurus can be extremely useful for this)

“My sincerest apologies for my tardy arrival!”

Then, pepper in train terms as much as possible. If he goes three sentences without saying something train related, find a way to stick one in. If you’re stuck, look up a list of train words and take inspiration (I’ll include a list of train expressions I commonly pull from at the bottom of the post) (Make sure to use “Bravo!” and “All aboard!” whenever applicable as well)

“I awoke to the unpleasant surprise of joltik holes in my trousers this morning- which delayed my cab significantly as I was forced to find an undamaged pair!”

I personally strive to use consonants (stuff like I’d, we’ll, don’t) as little as possible with the boys. For Emmet it’s to add to the choppiness of his dialogue and for Ingo it’s because that man would rather use fifty words when one will do. (It also makes them sound more professional!)

“Honestly, after a morning like this one, I pray that the remainder of today’s tracks prove to be much smoother.”

Another thing to keep in mind is that Ingo is extremely polite while Emmet is a bit more blunt. Try to use titles like “sir” and “miss” when writing Ingo- and then just don’t bother with Emmet.

Next up is Emmet, who I personally find much harder then Ingo! Unlike Ingo who’s dialogue you need to add words to, Emmet you need to subtract and simplify! This is the post I originally read to kinda get the jive of things, but here’s my pointers!

First off, figure out what concepts the are being expressed in your sentence, and split those apart.

“Sorry I’m late for work!” has two parts- an apology and an acknowledgment that the person is late. For Emmet we would want to split this single sentence into two.

“I am Emmet! I am late! Sorry!”

Next is vocal ticks! Emmet has several, and they should ideally be sprinkled in sparingly through his dialogue. (You can see that I used ‘I am Emmet’ in the previous section)

‘I am Emmet’ should be used when he is joining a conversation or when he’s about to say something about himself. It CAN be used more then once in a single conversation- but try not to overdo it.

‘Verrrrrrrry’ is another one! Other submas authors have him roll the r on other words as well, but I stick with verrrrrry. This one is easy to use- just extend the word very with extra Rs and use very whenever naturally applicable.

‘Yup’ is one as well- and one I admittedly don’t use often. It rarely jives with the way I write Emmet so I usually don’t bother- but you should definitely keep it in mind!

And of course, train terms! Less often then Ingo of course (since he says less words in general) but if you can find a way to fit it in, go for it.

“The joltiks chewed holes in my pants! Verrrrry naughty. Had to find new pants. Holey pants do not pass safety checks! Yup!”

Finally, the man likes his patterns! When writing Emmet it’s a good idea to have his Blubapedia page open nearby so you can just steal chunks of his script from that. (You can, and should do this for Ingo too!)

“Bad morning. Oh well. Follow the schedule! Everybody smile! All aboard!”

Of course, the man is perfectly capable of speaking longer sentences- but when and where he does so is up to the author.

All that being said, it’s important to remember that you’ll likely have to attempt their dialogue a few times before getting a sentence to flow right. Even for these examples I had to do a couple takes until I found one that really worked!

Here’s a couple of other notes for writing Pokémon characters in general:

Watch out for expressions and words that use animals. (like beeline or ‘in the dog house’) Try to replace those words with their Pokémon counterparts- (such as combeeline [which I’ve typed so many times I’ve started using internally in my day to day life]) or something that sounds close enough (like if your censoring f***, ducklett doesn’t work nearly as good as duck. So try muk instead!)

Do your best to replace religious swears with Pokémon religion! Instead of heavens, or the big G word, use words like, ‘Dragons!’ Or ‘Sweet Swords of Justice!’ (Of course, these are Unovan swears. For Hisui you should be using things like ‘Sinnoh’ and ‘great Time!’. Other regions have their own legendaries as well)

And finally, my list of train terms I pull from regularly!

Cab (or car): To refer to one’s body

“I am afraid my cab is in need of repairs.”

Tracks: A plan or intended route

“Very well! I will follow the tracks you have set!”

Destination: The goal or like, the actual destination

“Bravo! Your talent has brought you to the destination called victory!”

Station (or terminal): A location

“Very well! Let us set our tracks to the Pearl Clan’s station!”

Two Car Train (or three or four or whatever number you need): Friends or a team

“Emmet and I are a two car train!”

Couple (opposite being uncoupled): To join together

“I must ask that you couple your car to mine as we make our way through here. It can get quite dangerous!”

Engine: Another term for your body, but more specifically in regards to energy or drive

“I’m afraid I must rest my engine.”

Refuel: Eat.

“It is getting quite late- let us take a break to refuel.”

Conducting: Guiding

“I look forward to conducting you on this endeavor!”

Derailment (or collision, wreck, trainwreck): Something that has gone wrong.

“Apologies. It appears I have been derailed.”

Unscheduled (opposite being scheduled): Something unexpected

“Ah! A cave in! It appears we must make an unscheduled stop.”

Passenger: Person (or Pokémon)

“It appears we have picked up some unexpected passengers!”

Conductor: Ingo sometimes uses this to refer to himself (works especially well in Hisui)

“Passenger, please refrain from stabbing the conductor”

Delay: Something happening later then scheduled

“Apologies for the delay! Let us begin!”

Sidetracked: put off course

“Ah, but now I have sidetracked us with this talk.”

All aboard!: Good conversation ender 💙

“ALL ABOARD!!!”

[welcometololaland]

Howe do you get the characterisation of the characters you write about soo well? Like legit was reading the ring in (again) and that was a huge take away I got. Like “man, this IS Carlos and TK” same with your firstprince fics. What’s your secret? 👀

Hey, anon. This was super nice and very unexpected, so thank you for making my night <3

Truthfully, I can't articulate this well, so I'm sorry if it seems a bit scattered. A lot of my characterisation comes from me scheming up scenes in the shower, literally zoning out and thinking of dialogue as if the characters are being acted out in front of me. I do have some tips that work for me (and I hope are helpful for you!) which I've put below. Please feel free to let me know if you need further clarification!

Also, if anyone else has any tips, feel free to contribute. I'd love to hear them :)

TIP 1: For Lone Star (or any visual media - TV/movies), I'd spend a LOT of time re-watching the scenes, observing character's mannerisms and trying to replicate that in and amongst the dialogue (you don't even want to KNOW how many times I've watched Tarlos compilations - it's sickening). I think a LOT can be achieved with visual cues - for example, TK loves that sassy hand he whips out every now and again - and I'll try and build those things in with my dialogue. THIS IS ALSO WHERE GIF MAKERS ARE SO AMAZING, because GIFs provide snippets of scenes which allow writers to really hone in on a character's micro expressions. Carlos loves to raise an eyebrow, for example. I think these little details can go a long way.

TIP 2: It helps to build in familiar phrases. I love a canon callback (as long as it fits within the scene) and I think they can be super useful in adding extra authenticity. For example, one I used recently was Alex's "cool to see you're not dead or anything." It's a canon line, which can be easily applied to a different context. It just adds that extra flair, because you KNOW that the character would say that. I would just caution you to use them sparingly, so they pack that extra punch.

TIP 3: Read widely in the fandom! I think it helps to get a really good understanding of how characters behave by developing your own sense of what is in character. If you really vibe with how an author is portraying a character, make note of why you feel that way and try and apply it (obviously without plagiarism) in your own way.

TIP 4: Ask for (gentle and constructive) feedback from people you trust, if you feel comfortable enough to do so. I am FOREVER grateful to some of the people I've met in fandom who have been able to guide me with sensing what is/isn't out of character. It doesn't even need to be a full beta read. It could be quite simply: 'hey, do you think X would do this?'. Don't be afraid to reach out! I am so open to helping people with this and I know a lot of other people are too.

TIP 5: This might be a bit weird, but I do this because I am not an American and I write for a lot of American media - I spend a lot of time trying to visualise how a certain character would say something in their accent. It's taken me a long time to learn certain Americanisms and I'm sure I still get a lot of them wrong, but sometimes I literally close my eyes and try and imagine Ronen saying a line I've written, in his accent.

TIP 6: Keep writing the characters!!! The more you do it, the better you will get. I'm even looking back at some writing I did in early 2022 and trying to fix a bit of my characterisation, which just shows how much it has changed even in 1.5 years!

Best of luck and thank you so much for being so kind. I hope these are helpful!

[avelera]

I finally made a good Dark Urge run that I found narratively convincing instead of just sort of "meh". All my other good Durge attempts have just sort of been hodgepodges of whatever class or story choices I felt I hadn't yet seen in the game.

This time I went full Paladin with a backstory that's sort of Shadowheart/Karlach blend, ie, was raised in the Bhaalist cult and spent most of their life wishing they could get out of it, but being the Chosen meant she had pretty much no choice, no hope of getting out.

(Just a bit of rambling about a BG3 run I'm doing, writing about it mostly for my own sake.)

Also for flavor decided to name her Brienelle after Drizzt and Catti-brie's canonical daughter and decided my Durge convinced herself she actually "is" Drizzt's daughter. Is she actually? Absolutely not, the math does not line up. But it's a fairytale she told herself about how her "real" parents are heroes, that they're out there somewhere and miss her, that Bhaal isn't actually her father, that she was "Chosen" because she's a hero's daughter (much like Shadowheart was chosen for being Selunite). As a result, she aspired to heroism but frankly every pressure in her life, her entire upbringing, was channeled to her being the cult's Chosen so she eventually, reluctantly, fell in line. A bit like Astarion in this respect, Bhaal like Cazador was simply too powerful and too able to destroy her if she tried to escape, never mind being able to literally take her body over with the Urges. But now she's conveniently "lost".

I think what finally worked was having someone who wasn't just "good" but who was wholeheartedly dedicated to doing good after never having the chance before. So every rescued person, every kind word, every grateful companion and new friend is positive reinforcement that it is possible for her to lead the life she chooses, to be a hero. So Paladin fits that very well.

My one regret so far--as I try to balance RP with not just making the same choices in every playthrough-- is romancing Shadowheart at the party. Mostly I chose her because 2/3 of my favorite romances, Karlach and Gale, don't have anything that evening and so I've got multiple playthroughs with Astarion as the Act 1 romance before pivoting to friendship with him or romancing all the way through. Gale is the romance I keep defaulting to, I can't help it, I just love that nerd so much. So I really wanted to at least see Shadowheart's romance for once. (For the record, she was my least favorite character for a long time, I've only grudgingly started to warm to her.)

But then the day after they shared a glass of wine and slept together, Shadowheart started talking about her aspirations to be a Dark Justiciar and Brienelle's stomach just... dropped.

I don't know if I just hadn't exhausted the dialogue options for her yet or what but Brienelle... Brienelle is like the mirror opposite of Shadowheart. She was raised to be special in the Bhaalist cult and has been trying to escape it her whole life. Conversely, Shadowheart thinks she's just one of many Shar cultists and is fighting to be someone special within the cult.

Brienelle would have felt a certain kinship to Shadowheart over both of them having amnesia, but when Shadowheart began to speak so fondly of life in the cult of an evil deity, Brienelle just felt... pity. And sadness. She felt old. She could see Shadowheart working her way towards the realization that what she suffered in Shar's cult was abuse. She knows that someone, anyone outside it extending a hand to help could help pull Shadowheart free. But Shadowheart doesn't even want to be free yet.

So both in and out of game it feels like Brienelle just... regrets sleeping with Shadowheart. The intimacy was nice. And she cares for Shadowheart. But it feels like she doesn't have anyone she can lean on, no one she can be herself with or seek support from, because Shadowheart is so naive and yet had such a similar journey to her. Like she can't be open about her fight to escape Bhaal because Shadowheart just wouldn't understand, Shadowheart wanted the opposite.

Astarion doesn't appeal to Brienelle either. He's unabashedly evil and while she feels for what he went through and identifies with his suffering, she really just isn't in a place where she wants to be mocked as if being good and caring for others is somehow the weak option when it's actually the hardest but most rewarding thing she's ever been lucky enough to do. How can you have freedom, finally, and not want to be free to not have to be a monster anymore? She loves him but their morals are just too diametrically opposed for more than friendship.

Lae'zel obviously doesn't have good-aligned morals either and wouldn't begin to understand what Brienelle went through.

Wyll is the son of a Duke. He might perhaps understand the weight of privilege, but for him doing good was always an option. He's only just begun to see what evil can do. And if he ever hit her with a platitude about the importance of being a hero or how she should have just fought harder to escape Bhaal, she might actually give in to the Urge right there and stab him.

And Karlach and Gale were off the table because of their two different flavors of, "I might explode if you touch me."

Thing is, I think she might pivot to Gale over Karlach. It's repetitive for me, sure, but I think Karlach's tragedy is just too similar to her own and Karlach going through a similar hellish experience and then choosing death is just... too much. It's not something Brienelle is strong enough to bear once Karlach resolves to choose death.

Conversely, Gale is a mature adult. He has his own life. His morals are good, he always encourages heroism. And he wants to live. He can be talked pretty easily out of sacrificing himself at Mystra's command. He wants to come out on the other side of this. He resents being a god's Chosen, something Brienelle can sincerely relate to.

Their stories don't overlap much beyond that, but that's a good thing actually. They can just be two people, two heroes doing the right thing where they can and being their own people after having their younger years fucked over by being the Chosen of a god. And ultimately, that's what Brienelle wants. Not a life entirely without drama but a life where she can be her own person, with other adults, and pursue her own calling without being chained to the past.

[humankk]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

@floofanflurr tag me it is time, it is my duty (it's really not)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Let me count. ... ... 3

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

25,257... woah

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Undertale...

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Bonk! (good name, I know, 57 kudos, I am so proud)

2. They're trying (They sure are! look at them)

3. Now I kind of want some ice cream (...yeah)

4. I only have three

5. help me

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yesssss..... well, most of the time, but I like answering comment...

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I, don't know? I have like three and two are oneshot that's happy and another is unfinished but probably would also be happy

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

the Bonk one? Like... kinda?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really, people are polite these days... my dear commentors are a delight... for now(???Is this foreshadowing something?????)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

...Not, here.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I have not! But I wanted to, and is wanting to... there is one that's like Undertale and My hero crossover that I have been planning (read, throwing plot in a document that hasn't been opened for at least 3 months now) for since like... 2-3 years ago, I want to throw Eri in the hole (cmon, someone gotta do it, child with time power she fits the theme!)

Mx. Floof also talked about cross fic crossover... I kinda want to do that too, but like... maybe after I get the fic to a point where I established more lore first, and character, and. things.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope! ...I don't think so! ... I would probably be a bit happy if my fic is good enough to be stole but also please don't do it.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope! Not yet... I could probably translate some to Thai but I, as a Thai person, honestly don't know how to pronouns... in Thai, for the NB characters that is... mostly, for the other characters too, I don't think I could replicate all caps Papyrus does because we just don't have capital letters so the closest thing I could do is add a lot of exclamention marks. Which... uhh... yeah.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not really! Sounds fun though.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Hm, I haven't think about that, that or I forgot (<-aromantic) Alphyne is nice, canon one and stuffs, Soriel is nice too.... I honestly don't really have a lot of opinion on ships as long as it isn't like, the horrible ones(tm) just... if they're happy then that's cool, good for them (both the characters and the readers and authors)

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The MHA crossover... okay not really like EVER but like, as you can see I haven't touched it for months, it'll probably be in... a while (I planned on it being like, long, and the story plan haven't even got past Snowdin like, linearly) I guess the other fics are like, oneshots I do in a meantime for fun (then They're Trying happened... as a oneshot, and I suddenly wanted to continue it so I guess they're getting to the surface now... like eventually) Oh OH! There's also the immortal Vampire child Chara thing... I want to do that, but a lot of thing isn't really planned enough to make yet probably... and I don't think if I do it it'll be a fic? Maybe I'll do a comic... or an askblog... that would be fun... but it sounds like a lot of work............

16. What are your writing strengths?

Not sure, maybe internal dialogue?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

P A C I N G and making it clear what's going on... probably (helps me with Pacing, the speed is all over the place sometimes I just speedrun sometimes I hyperfocus on a timeframe... or maybe that's okay, I don't know)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I have thought of... writing a fic where it's just Undertale but Frisk talks in Thai and they just, know dogshit about English, that would be fun... though you probably won't know what's going on and I probably can't do the whole internal dialog thing with them and.... pronouns... and also the alphabeth looks like อย่างงี้ so you probably can't even READ it, I can't really decide if I should type it in english in what it SOUNDS like? but then you can't throw it in google translate to know what they're talking about? and I also don't want people to HAVE to throw it in google translate to know what's going on? ...maybe I should stole the intent reading thing from Floof, that would probably helps a bit... making it Chara's pov and they just have to read Frisk's intent and emotion to figure out what they're trying to say, maybe they can send some back to helps them communicate with the monsters... or something

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Undertale, if I has wrote any before it's not in English and I don't remember it

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

...I love all of them, Bonk is fun and is kinda like my start... They're Trying is like... the current one I am very attached to, since it's the only multichapter one

tags?

...well I don't know, just whoever see this, that writes that is, I am sure there aren't a lot, my usual mutual mostly... it's like 3am in US now I don't want to tag now okay? but yeah if you see this feel free to do it I want to read those I might like... study it under a microscope or something (...what?)

[divinekangaroo]

Currently, you are my favorite fic author as I’ve probably mentioned multiple times lol. Sorry in advance if this rambles, but your writing always makes me guess and look closer and it’s nice when you can ask the author your questions:

In reading your latest, I audibly gasped when Michael thought of Tommy as a priest when he was talking about his cock under the ROBES?! Crazy. I loved it. Also Michael asking about Lizzie was insane, but it’s also insane to give your aunt who’s like a mother to you’s son a list of vetted prostitutes.

Also! The little dialogue between Tommy and Lizzie where Michael is just sitting there. I can just hear her say his name, it just charged with so much emotion and AUGH. What sort of tension were you going for in that situation? Especially with Michael wondering what Lizzie does with her money— the payout money.

And I might just be stupid and tired right now, but why does Michael seem scorned (other than the fact that he was the bottom rung) that Tommy fucked Lizzie at the office? What made him ask for Lizzie, if nothing but a power play? What does Tommy retracting the card and saying that he couldn’t afford Lizzie say about him and their relationship?

Again, thank you for writing all these fics, they bring much joy <3

@lethargicmouse Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! When I did my re-watch, I jotted notes of what was going on at every point in time and I try to keep some allusion or reference to as many moving parts in any of these fics as feasible.

And then there's the format of these little fic-bits/flash fics, too, which I love because they lend themselves to being like a little puzzle box for both writer and reader, packing so much meaning into a single sentence such that one isolated word carries weight.

On top of the attempt at canon-integration, though, I also carry a lot of headcanon into this, so pls forgive if I speak about matters as if personal headcanon is canon because it's not always...

So answering your questions/thoughts -

After being taken away from his mother by the Church, Michael was canonically sexually abused by Father Hughes. There's also a strong allusion that he was (maybe sexually but also physically/verbally) abused by his adoptive father Mr Johnson, given his adoptive mother Mrs Johnson tries to bring him back home later in S4 by informing Michael his adoptive father has died. On top of this, Michael appears to have the same kind of intelligence/metacognition/ambition Tommy has and was able to do his night business school for further learning, but was nevertheIess then stuck on the farm with the white well he wanted to blow up -- this boring, abusive presentation of the pastoral 'ideal' that comes up so often in British literature and which is always subverted in Peaky Blinders.

Into this pastoral hell walks Tommy, dripping with wealth, the trappings of class, modernity/cutting edge thinking, lying to Mrs Johnson as smooth as breathing and with no shame when she calls him on it. He doesn't exactly rescue Michael but creates a framing which is: if you want this, come and get it. And Michael does, where he then discovers the layer of violence which enthralls him - here is where he fits in, here is why he wanted to blow up that well, here is his blood.

In S2, Michael is taken into prison by Campbell in a powerplay between Campbell and Tommy. He was 100% definitely physically abused in prison and likely targetted by Campbell if not other inmates, we see that in him being beaten up. He may have been sexually abused, but this seems less likely from his reactions. But to be released from prison, it's not Tommy who does anything, it's Polly who has sex/is raped by Campbell to secure Michael's release - and Michael is told this, mockingly, by guards (power figures) who probably laugh about his whore mother. Michael reacts badly to this for many reasons, but I'd guess a part of it is shame from his own past abuse - a sense of victim blaming. He takes a long time to relate to Polly again and S2 is framed as a series of choices for him, where he decides to stay with Tommy (and Polly) out of ambition for wealth despite now knowing and experiencing the consequences (prison, rape, abuse).

S3 he rises through the ranks accordingly but also takes the fall back into prison at the end of S3.

Pre S4 timeskip, Tommy's now made good his promise to release everyone from prison/criminal conviction, but Michael's nearly died as well as suffered in prison again. In my headcanon, he's also had to listen to John expounding viciously on Tommy's behaviours and history in a less than flattering way; John is almost 100% convinced Tommy will purposely let them die so he can get on with his clean, non-criminal life, and because Tommy's desire for this seemed to increase with Grace and post-Grace, John doesn't hesitate to also slag on Tommy and his women, his use of prostitutes, his sleeping with Tatiana, his getting the cream while they get shit, his fucking of Lizzie when Lizzie was supposed to be John's wife, etc -- I also theorise Michael hadn't realised Tommy x Lizzie was going on in front of him. All stuff that Michael hasn't really thought about Tommy before. Arthur doesn't want to think Tommy's purposely abandoned them, but also thinks maybe John's right, so says nothing at all, internalising and feeling completely impotent and lost. This doesn't help Michael, as Michael is the only one sitting there with a thought of, but Tommy promised he'll save us, but he has no history to rebuff John's rancour, and as well, Michael's own belief is being rapidly eroded away.

Then Michael goes home and his mother, too, is completely (and embarrassingly for him) emotionally and mentally (and spiritually) adrift, also bitching about but conflicted about Tommy, and all that entails. Michael returns to work with Tommy because he still wants this wealth, this life that Tommy represents, and Michael still kind of respects Tommy and knows he hasn't learned enough yet, but there's also this sense that the illusion is fully shattered: Michael now looks at Tommy and what Michael sees is a very flawed man who's barely holding it together, and who takes risks (in business and personal life) and abuses his power to do so without considering the cost on others/family. (Note it's not about whether this is true or not, it's what I think Michael is seeing.)

So then we hit my flashfic with Michael back at work, but looking hard at Tommy with a very different, disillusioned and non-idealistic lens.

When Michael thought of Tommy as a priest - so Michael's first encounter with power/authority is a priest who abused his authority. Michael now has a sense that Tommy has abused his authority and created situations of sexual abuse (for Polly, maybe for Michael, and also by fucking 'his secretary' who isn't even 'Lizzie' at that point in Michael's id reaction, just someone who is not in a position to say no to her boss the way Michael couldn't say no and Polly's no wasn't heard). Let's not also think about that mythos where you 'inherit' the power of the man you kill - and Tommy was the one who had the power to give Michael the order to kill Hughes; that sense of Hughes' power/corruption transitioning to Tommy.

Michael asking about Lizzie was insane -- 1000% a gut-level power play, not actual desire for Lizzie. But also, Michael doesn't ask for Lizzie. Michael says 'What if I asked for Lizzie.' Michael is instinctively pushing a sore spot (his own, Tommy's,) trying to call Tommy on his hypocrisy and power abuses, not actually want Lizzie. And Tommy recognises this immediately.

but it’s also insane to give [your younger cousin] a list of vetted prostitutes -- not for Tommy? I wrote an earlier flashfic where Tommy's father takes them all to a brothel ridiculously young after possible abuses/sexual abuses in the Parish's care. This sense of 'you feel unmanned, come fuck a woman and feel like a man again'. Forgetting that apart from Arthur who didn't get taken away, they were...not men yet, even in the measure of the day. This is unusual (at least all in the same room) but not unheard of for working class men to set their sons or younger brothers up with whores, partially because of the sexual mores of the day regarding keeping good girls virginal until ready for marriage but men expected to have ample experience to bring to the marital bed. Tommy in the future demonstrates this with Finn, too. However, this peace offering by Tommy is instantly repulsive for Michael because 1) represents abuse of power for sex again, and 2) it represents a low class thing to do no matter how classy the whores are and is an overly simplified offer to address all the complexity Michael's feeling now about Tommy, and 3) Michael's sexual experience prior to this was with Charlotte, a rich, upperclass girl, not a prostitute. Be like Tommy but with more class? Michael sees himself sleeping with upper class women, not classy prostitutes.

Also! The little dialogue between Tommy and Lizzie where Michael is just sitting there. I can just hear her say his name, it just charged with so much emotion and AUGH. What sort of tension were you going for in that situation? So this is Lizzie doing what she genuinely was trying to do in S4 early - make Tommy speak to his family again in person and get over the current estrangement. My headcanon is Lizzie has no family of her own she connects to, and while she came into the Shelbys via John or Tommy as a sexual partner, she's fallen in love with this entire Shelby family, this sense of everyone everywhere all at once, and she just wants them all to be connected again. However, all she sees is Tommy being proud and prickly, not hurt. Tommy is very hurt, and while he is proud and prickly and won't cave in, there's a bitterness there that Lizzie doesn't see or respect. So the tension was Lizzie speaking from a place of love but also annoyance at what she sees as childish behaviour; Tommy's speaking from hurt and pride and authority to shut her down. What is also behind this, too, is that I think Tommy has withdrawn from any sexual or soft encounters with Lizzie and probably did so immediately after handing her that money at end of S3, a closure point. So she has a level of longing in her outreach which he also shuts down and will not indulge. He regretted being weak, I think, and needing to lean on her, and probably hurting her too, and is trying to build up walls against being so vulnerable, exposed, used in the many, many ways he was vulnerable and exposed in S3.

Especially with Michael wondering what Lizzie does with her money— the payout money. So this line was tying into the sexual power/sexual abuse of power layer for Michael in a few ways. There's classism: 'What's a lower class bint do with this much money' is one part of it. But more significantly, Michael witnesses Lizzie getting a wad of cash for Tommy fucking her, and then Tommy gives everyone else a wad of cash for...services rendered (Tommy fucking them, if in a different way.) So Michael is looking at that money somewhat bitterly because of what he had to lose to gain it - basically self respect and respect he might still carry for Tommy, who let Polly take it and Michael take it and his brothers take it, all tainted with this strange sexual layer due to the various abuses Michael perceives.

why does Michael seem scorned (other than the fact that he was the bottom rung) that Tommy fucked Lizzie at the office? A combination of Michael's soreness at his own blind spots, at being kept blind, and a slight disgust that Tommy was exercising that kind of authority/abuse in locations Michael now has to look at daily and be reminded of. I theorise the grand imprisonment at end of S3 struck Michael as a huge surprise; he knew dodgy busienss was happening but the extent of it -- and then the fact Michael was imprisoned for Hughes' murder, which Tommy authorised -- really stung.

What made him ask for Lizzie, if nothing but a power play?

Tommy's behaviour around Lizzie is visibly out of character, which suggests there is something there that can be exploited. He employs her in a very visible, important position when she doesn't really add much class to his outfit. She can't spell. She has no prior experience. He admits she helped him; he effectively admits he's soft because of her (heart breaking comment). Michael's lashing out at evident weaknesses, similar to what Mosley does in S5. It's also poking at the prostitution thing and the fact Lizzie was supposed to marry John and that they went to the extreme with Angel: purposeful or not, every act Tommy's taken with Lizzie so far has been to make her unavailable for other men, the huge power play piece is if you really want to reconcile with me would you make her available for me.

What does Tommy retracting the card and saying that he couldn’t afford Lizzie say about him and their relationship?

Tommy recognises Michael is sore about something but conflates it to the 'unmanning' / loss of power of being imprisoned. After all, Michael's come back to work so he can't be really sore at Tommy, acn he? So Tommy does what his father did and offers the women/whores as a way to feel like a man again. Michael's response immediately makes him realise he's misjudged why Michael is sore and that it's far bigger than that; Michael, too, is pissed off at Tommy but unlike the rest of the family, Michael is ignoring that for reasons unknown and is coming back to work. Tommy's distrust starts now: what is Michael doing and why is Michael doing it? Tommy immediately withdraws all offer of easy reconciliation from the negotiating table. XD He also uses the term 'you couldn't afford her' as a counter play: all right, Michael, let's assume Lizzie is still a purchasable sexual commodity; you, you little jumped up shit thinking you can dig at me, you couldn't come anywhere near the amount of money and prestige that I've given her. Get back in your box.

After which let's imagine Tommy promptly heads over to the Midland and fucks in a fury all of his rotation of prostitutes and keeps fucking them with widely varying levels of interest through to start of S4.

(And this doesn't really touch on the Michael-wants-Tommy / Michael-wants-to-be-Tommy / Michael-wants-to-be-better-than-Tommy themes either, but there's a strong undercurrent of that, sexualised and not, in any of my Michael & Tommy flashfics)

Thanks for your questions and the opportunity to do a mini Director's Cut! Hope it was entertaining.

.

Link to the flashfic referenced above: and not one god his fury spares

[ebachan]

Sonic Prime - Part 02 - Trailer 01

Yo,

so the trailer for new episodes of Sonic Prime arrived, and it was packed with quite a number of awesome scenes! I also want to point out some neat details I've noticed, and I haven't seen many people mentioning them. Also, this will be a rather long post ^_^;

EDIT: See the end for new info about the last trailer scene!

Shadow's hand is hilarious here XD That stretch and squish animation technique is just perfect XD There is a reason this style still has its charm after all those years.

Also, Shadow packs a punch! Sonic's body literally shattered part of the "Space-shard". See the small pieces floating away from Sonic's body.

Upon entering Prime Green Hill, Sonic's shoes and gloves become "Digital"(?). Despite there being a Paradox Shard his gloves and shoes "don't" change their form? It's hard to tell, or this may be their form for this "ghosted" world.

I love Shadow's face here! It's like "Seriously, and YOU are my rival?". It's a mystery how Sonic can go toe to toe with Shadow if he has trouble landing! XD Could this suggest Shadow is half-hedgehog and thus his other bloodline "eliminates" this hedgehog's problem? Well, he is canonically a Black Arms hybrid, so, it's possible.

I can't help, but this Shadow has a serious lack of sleep! The dark areas under his eyes are more visible than Sonic's! But it may be just the lighting. It's also nice to see that Shadow may feel pity or empathy for Sonic since seeing him so down is not just rare, but this may be the very first time for both of them.

Ghost Big? Okay, this confirms we may see the rest of the gang and Dr. Eggman in their ghost forms. It seems their "spirit" stays where they were in the moment of Shattering.

Shadow has the TECH! This scene is after Shadow explains to Sonic how to fix the world and before he realizes he has to work together with Sonic! So far we have seen Shadow take only one Tech piece, but I think he may take all of them, but ultimately won't be able to travel between dimensions (T_T). And that's because he doesn't have any Paradox energy inside.

But Sonic has, and he demonstrated he can travel between worlds without touching the shards now.

Dread returns right after getting the Shard. Notice the weather. It's calm, which happened after Sonic touched the Shard. My theory is, Sonic absorbs the energy from Shards. Making them perhaps a little bit less powerful, allowing himself to touch them (as seen later in the trailer and during the leaked No Place fighting scene), and to travel between worlds without touching them (and maybe being able to choose where to go).

This scene is cool in two aspects.

Nine is rubbing under his nose, which is a gesture Sonic does. Meaning, Nine may pick up a few of Sonic's habits to calm himself down by pretending this gesture is done by Sonic.

See the purple behind him. I think this is a window and we see the portal to Void.

My guess is, this is shortly after Nine will make his escape from captivity.

Chaos Councill will get their hands on their shard, Boscage Maze, and No Place ones. There is still one on Grim and Prime Green Hill. I suspect this scene is from near the end of the 15th or 16th episode, creating a cliffhanger like the last time -_-. Or it can be somewhere in the middle and the batch will end with them gaining the Grim's shard too.

My guess here is, the dimensions will start merging, but in the wrong way as the proper anchor of reality is in Green Hill. I bet all of this will be triggered by them obtaining the shards. And it may be their work or a side effect of the shards being close to each other.

I swear Shadow is so reluctant to work together with Sonic because of his chaotic energy! XD Given Sonic has all of his techs, it may be during their first time meeting. Also, the dialogue will probably be from a different part, but it fits this scene so well XD.

Sonic is putting on his tech! Does it means he had lost them to Shadow, but since Shadow can't use them, he gave them back, so Sonic can travel while Shadow may be able to do something in Green Hill? Like collecting Chaos Emeralds? It would be so cool if it turned into Paradox Vs Chaos Emeralds fight in the end with both hedgehogs going Super!

Froggy is hiding under the hat XD And the Pirate Froggy is copying their Big joining the battle :-D This is so sweet!

We have officially Super Badniks too! They seem to be at least twice the normal's size :-O Their design is very similar, so that's kinda boring (but I get it). But they seem to have the fire blades Dr. Deep has on his Suit-Armor, so that is a nice add-on.

Why is nobody talking about this?? Rusty and Black Rose are working together! There is definitely no Nine to control Rusty since her eye is red/dark pink! Rusty is fighting alongside them because she wants to. And I love how Black Rose supports Rusty to do a big spin kick while shielding the Shard. My guess is, Rusty somehow unlocked her old memories and realized what has Chaos Council done to her. She was showing signs of glitching in the 8th episode after seeing Black Rose after all.

I wonder... what if Dr. Deep went into No Place world while Dr. Bable went into the Boscage Maze? They are this confident with their strength and this would speed up their search for Shards. Also Sonic is in the background of Thorn Rose, but it seemed he wasn't moving. Maybe he was waiting for the right time or was cautious to not endanger Thorn.

There is no way there isn't a scene where Nine interacts with his other selves. I bet it will push him forward and make him question himself.

I love how Dread makes this ship his own! And there is a big fight happening on board as I can see Catfish, both Amy, and Dread fighting Dr. Deep. I suppose Sonic will return here after his talk/fight with Shadow.

This scene is both funny and wholesome. Nine reunites with Sonic which leaves him perplexed, confused, and both happy. Nine isn't one to hug, so this takes him aback. And Sonic is just happy to see Nine is alive and okay. And given Sonic is theorized to be autistic and ADHD, for him to give such a big hug is a huge deal!

There is a holographic screen on top of these Super Badniks. This one seems to represent Dr. Bable's mark. But I wonder if there is more to it.

It's cool to know others can visit other worlds too, but will be Shadow able? I so wanna see him! But here we see Dread falling down. This begs the question - Is any of the Knuckles able to glide? Or able to learn it?

And the biggest reveal is - Metal Sonic!! Like in for the Part 01 with Shadow! At first, their design is kinda odd. Especially from the front, but from the side they look really good. And the most strange part is their personality. They are nothing like any of the previous Metal Sonics!

We can see them emote, and make victory/peace signs. No way they were made by Chaos Council! Nine had to be responsible for making them! And all of it in an attempt to have "Sonic". One that won't leave Nine. That has to be the reason he is so "cheerful". And it's important to note, this Metal is running not flying or hovering. That itself is very unique!

EDIT: Watch the trailer on Netflix! There are about 3 extra seconds for Metal by the end. As they show V, they outrun Sonic who seems to be in shock and even halting!

-----------------------

Oh my gosh, this was long! But well, this was a fun trailer! I hope we get at least one more or a scene or two like for Part 01. Feel free to tell me what you think or if you have spotted something interesting too :-)

[suffarustuffaru]

What are your thoughts on Prideful Cinderella by Pinkshuchan

ooohh prideful cinderella..... again gonna leave the link to the fic here please show the author some love <3 ill try to keep linking to the og fic like this if i get any more asks like this hah

i remember reading it a loooong time ago when it first came out. and then i actually read the first several chapters of it recently again because "hey i havent seen it in a while. and i dont remember much about it" so i gave it another go out of curiosity and i got to around ch4?

but yeah i did enjoy reading it!! not sure if ill continue it soon but it was pretty solid. the writing style is very - formal, i'd say? a little flowery? but anyway the writing style is very well written. it gives the fic a super nice atmosphere which i think fits the whole point of the story - a cinderella inspired, fairytale-esque fic thats made a little Off on purpose just because its pride if and pride if is Understandably. you know. off the rails. yeah i think my favorite part was exactly that - the atmosphere and style was very nice to read through, imo. its just the perfect combo with the premise, as i said, and the setting of this ball and the fact that a certain doomed by the narrative duo reinsuba are having their drama HAH.

and also that antagonist is so. hes so hateable but that seems to be the point. and also he Definitely feels like someone you could come across in real life (unfortunately). so big kudos to the writer for that!!! the part where the antagonist states his viewpoint on women and how theyre like Flowers is so chilling. and also a perfect counterpoint to reinhard, whos 1. genuinely fond of gardening 2. not horribly misogynistic and 3. his family has this. Motif. with flowers.

and also i know its been a small detail so far (at my uhh. around ch4 mark hah.) but reinhard drinking and not getting drunk because of his dps has gotta be one of my favorite details of this fic. theres already like small little bits of details in canon regarding reinhard and his thoughts on drinking (other than the fact that his dad is an alcoholic but lajfls), but yeah. i think reinhard purposefully trying and failing to get intoxicated is interesting. and the whole reinsuba drama and this taking place in pride if is all very interesting as well. the author does a good job of establishing the premise of the fic (cinderella inspired) and making it Make Sense with rezero's setting - its not forced at all i think!!

also i liked the julius reinhard friendship moments <3 (i am someone very normal about their friendship (lying through my teeth))

other than that i do have like. a few criticisms but theyre more a matter of personal taste. like the formal writing style is wonderful with the narration and with dialogue from people like julius or reinhard. it does however feel a little stilted with subaru just bc i Personally cant see him talking like that Unless hes putting up an act (which he does in this fic to be fair!!! but even when hes not he sounds a little too formal for my taste). and also i have General tastes regarding pride if subaru characterization which 1. will of course be a little different with other people and i am welcome to people criticizing my own pridebaru characterization hah and 2. yeah my opinion with prideful cinderella is that pridebaru is a little too nice at times? yeah. hes just a little too nice at times imo despite the fact that this is post-pride if arc 1 and post-subaru joining the witch cult. so i do wish stuff like his hatred of reinhard was more pronounced bc i feel like it Would be at this stage.

but i do get that pridebarus One Line he wont cross is like. people like regulus mistreating his wives and the antag of this fic sure is a bit similar so ig that makes sense? :o and also i did enjoy a lot of pridebaru moments and lines in this fic otherwise (the detail of him rbding to practice his disguise for the ball and him casually going "yeah i did it like 30+ times lol" in his own narration was SO good). i think the characterization of pridebaru just had some moments that i Personally didnt like and others that i Liked A Lot so a bit of a mixed bag to me personally. i liked everyone elses characterizations though!! the witch cultist lackey was also an interesting take yes.

yeah so thats my thoughts on it!!! overall its a good fic just had a few things that werent to my taste but thats perfectly fine!!

[coldflasher]

Writer asks: 22, 33, 38

22. What is it about watching the same two idiots falling in love over and over again?

The question of a lifetime haha

When it comes to coldflash I think there's just something so compelling about their dynamic in terms of there being so many parallels there, and yet so many differences ("speed and cold are opposites" lives in my brain rent free honestly). It's quite challenging to get them to fit together when they have such different outlooks and, honestly, when Len specifically is so emotionally repressed that even getting him to confess his feelings is like pulling teeth, but again, Barry is so free with his emotions that it's another fascinating aspect of the contrast between them

Then there's also the fact that of course I adore them so much as individual characters and I love to explore how they tick individually as well as how they come together in a romantic context, there's so much interesting character work one can do when playing with these two, I could play in that sandbox all day

33. Give your writing a compliment.

Hnghhhh all right ngl I am squirming at this one a little bit because complimenting myself in any way does not come naturally to me at all, which is weird in this instance because I genuinely am very proud of my writing and I think it's good, but coming up with a specific compliment towards it is beyond my comfort zone. I will try...

.........

My writing has improved a lot in the past few years tbf, I think at one point I was a much stronger dialogue writer than I was at prose, as it comes more naturally to me, but I spend a lot more time focusing on crafting strong (and hopefully evocative) prose and descriptions these days, so I think the best compliment I can come up with is that I write nice prose and I like my writing style. I used to have two writing styles, one that was "mine" and then one I specifically crafted to get good grades in my writing classes, the second being a lot more stylized and literary, and I think now they've kind of merged into one more cohesive style that's accessible but also more descriptive, so yeah. That.

*Breaks out in hives* that was harder than it needed to be haha

38. “This never happened” fix-it fics or “this happened but” fix-it fics?

I am a giant sucker for a "this happened but". There is nothing I love more than being like "how can I twist this canon event in a way that makes it more fun/expands on missing potential/negates elements that frustrate me." There's a time and a place for ignoring certain events entirely (cough cough season 7 and most of 8, ain't no fixing whatever the fuck was going on there), but generally I really enjoy the challenge of taking what's already happened and seeing how I can make it work for me, whether that means twisting or subverting it or taking whatever bits I like, or just using it as a jumping-off point for my own stuff (damaged nerve, dark bird being a prime example; it's basically almost 100% canon compliant up until the point that barry returns from flashpoint).

Thank youuu :D

[makeshiftcoop]

Misfits and Sandbox

Some words to show what i mean with "sandbox" in Misfits

And I mean something like a mix of The Sims and Lego.

That's really my vision when someone says sandbox. Oh and GTA IV. Liberty City and stuff, you know. GTA V was a bit too overwhelming for me. But, really, when im thinking about modern sandbox (something that does not involve "medieval" aesthetic and low tech) my mind goes back to my time playing with Legos and the hours that I spent with different iterations of The Sims and all the gratuitous crime i commited as I child/teen robbing vehicles and just doing whatever.

I also like the procedurally generated vibe, as in the osr/nsr scene with the tables as input driven engines, or with roguelikes in digital games, specially when they are well executed with a twist (like hades and the fragmented narrative).

So, this is my way of integrating that stuff. The procedural generated stuff is where i idealize the mechanics, generating narrative with die and choices from tables. Also, i think my goal for subsystems is one of generating stuff to make actions more significant than the usual "just RP it" or "just write a short entry" (for solo ttrpg). Like the famous clocks from Blades and a myriad of other cool games. Soon i hope to expand that to other stuff that I'm still daydreaming about (dating system! car chases! smooching people!). For now the game is Acting and Plans. In terms of mechanics frontiers for the Misfits. Acting is normal rolls that get solved in itself and Plans are more like long term or complex stuff with clocks and checks to fill ticks for resolution.

That's it.

The rest is Lego, a big toybox with stuff for you to play with, and the Sims, some Faces for you to meet, fall in love, fuck, kill, befriend, move together, rob, etc.

That feeling is what I'm wanting more in analogic games, specially my designs. There's a lot of stuff for you to see and interact and daydream and even play about. And there's also a set of things that make this little world consistent.

I want to provide interesting toys and interesting faces and expand on the procedures to make those trips to this little world more interesting. Fun takes many forms. Maybe it can be more spicy or erotic. Maybe it will be powerfantasy, cape shit. Maybe something more heavy, political or tinged with horror. I think that's my goal, cover all those possible vibes of stories that comics managed to fit into people capable of defying reality using cool costumes and spilling cringe dialogue.

Right now Im planning on divide things in "Tapes". Each tape is like a season and have a name that's also kind of a more structured group of faces and happenings that will do things that can show up in future seasons. Some form of persistent world. I know that's not very popular nowadays with most people in indie ttrpg spaces but i admit im a sucker for weird plots encompassing a game universe in a greater narrative. I think it's nice to play in a bigger world. Have some kind of canon, or at least possible canons. I also think that marvel multiverse shit made people feel sick of it but im not elaborating.

Im not making a canon that you have to know to play the game or anything, but the Tapes will have this little bits of stuff that i pretend to mention in the next and, maybe, creating some kind of persistency with Faces and Places that you can use in your playsessions or just scrap it off or pick it a part.

So, I'm not capable yet of assembling things into a coherent layout, but i want to get some pieces of Misfit outta in the world. Here are some building blocks (hah) of what your Misfit will interact in the world:

Faces are people to meet. Places are places to go. Happenings are like encounters, things that happen in the world, favours that Faces ask, or just slices of life

Later I pretend to divide those tables in Regions, each one with a vibe more well defined and some neighboorhoods.

FACES: 1 - Key, bald drug smuggler with a mustang, a mumble speech and the ghost of his dead brother to raise. 2 - Van Helith, tireless basketball player, dreams with the big lights, cocky but kinda awkward with people. 3 - Eva, extremely powerful freak. she's slowly dying because of her powers but also discreetly searching for a cure. successful businesswoman, practically lives in her private jet. 4 - Hobbs, DJ who's also a kaoist who uses sonore dissonance to fuel their magic. 5 - Montaineblanc, revived semi cadaveric ex-royalty. perverse and rotten human being, enjoys his newfound immortality. 6 - Ceci Boo, overworked freelancer. pretty crafty philosopher. talented martial fighter. fae bloodline, she does not know. a little misanthropic. 7 - Noah, psyonic, talented musician. Usually depressed. uses his powers to play multiple instruments at once. 8 - Haysha, smoker, tormented psyonic e-celebrity, likes to drive fancy cars. 9 - Michael Zaraj, a bloody, also mad scientist and toxin experimentalist. made mutating intelligent spiders to have minions capable of bring humans for him to experiment on. 10 - Any Corvo, popstar and "crimefighter". a hot fash who streams music and murders petty thiefs in revealing pink and black costume for her far right audience. lethal swords. seems like a build up persona. 11 - Mindy, traveled a lot as kid, never knew what is home. Can always be seem with her red bike full of patches. Blunt and suspicious. 12 - Joan, artist, has a little online following by her creepy collage projects. The themes of her pieces are a contrast to her ponytails and flowery jumpsuits 13 - Benji Skrinar, talented dev, prolly a cybersyko but he hides it well. Does some online scams for an extra buck. 14 - Max London, Ex highschool quarterback, now a model. Hates to travel. Knows everybody important in their hometown and is kinda of a local hero. 15 - Talissa Mür, a know face in circles of luxury events, restaurants and parties. Seems like some kind of heiress, but actually does a dirty job in an Exclusion Zone as a geneticist. Vos, an ex huntress that left behind the fucked up reality of The Houses. Now they are the guard commander of a small castle 16 - Ethel, a librarian and weaver. Trans girl stranded from her big family, arrived in the region to start living with her caring but confuse and troubled dad. 17 - Natalie, prodigy student and Supe. Her family was one of the rare exceptions that didn't want their daughter becoming part of a Corpo, which she did mainly as an act of pure rebellion, but also to exercise some control to her life for the first time. 18 - Hellen, knows as her stage name of Ziggy, is a freak with teleportation powers, dancer and singer. Performances like hers, mixing entertainment and powers, are getting really popular. She is discreet with her identity, but soon will attract wrong attention 19 - Mulaney, idealistic boy born into nobless, discharged from C.A.G.E. after caught sabotaging operations. His family saved his ass and now he is backpacking around the countryside thinking in ways of "dismantling the system" (but mostly just vibing. he is rich, after all) 20 - Cora, Psyonic, top of their class in The Citadel, the prestigious college for Overly Capable Humans. After few drinks will spit out that they have beem abduced twice. If drinks waaay to much will admit that cheats in every test with a complex methodology (it's a heavy burden for them)

PLACES: 1 - Small coffee shop named Plantoffe. Lots of weird plants. runned by an middle age couple. 2 - Master Tara's Boxing Club. A franchise of generic martial arts with underpaid instructors 3 - Bills Square, billboards everywhere, neon and luxury stores mix with tall comercial buildings, a mix of tech and finances. Security cameras and cops are omnipresent in this vicitnies. 4 - Makeout Creek, a little creek near the high school, famous spot for teens to hang out and... well, mostly smoke weed but some actually still makeout 5 - Gemini Hills, just out of the city. a spot with parks, places to eat and with a great view of the skyline. 6 - A moto bike shop decorated with random esoteric stuff and violet neon lights called Azphalt 7 - An abandoned construction site. upon further looking there's trash, a mattress and signals of a rushed escape. 8 - An old mass grave turned to a boring park with a couple of benches and a monument in honour of a dead local stray dog named Chico. 9 - A plaza in the Campus. A brutalist fountain sits at the center of it, with different handrails, elevations and concret benches being used by skaters to perform different tricks. Cliques of college students gossip and drinks and eat observed by the scorching sun. 10 - Caricá Beach, paradisiac little spot, hide between deep vegetation and a hill that ends in a rocky cliff used for risky jumps into the water

HAPPENINGS: 1 - Missing posters of a boy. His brother handling pamphlets, asking for help. The cops are ignoring the case after coming back from the woods with scared eyes. 2 - A neighbor is moving out and found some weird stuff in a basement that they had never noticed. At least they will tell you that. 3 - Two girls asking for help, last night they were hired to dance in a party in a secluded club. Turns out thar it was the last rite of a suicide cult and today they are locking themselves in a gold revested bunker to transmit their conscious to a new dimension. Oh, the leader really seemed to have some weird powers. 4 - The bus from the local basketball team broke. They could use some help to reach the game. Also, their reserve squad is lacking some players... 5 - Traveling band of street artists is being held and investigated by two strange Border Patrol cops. 6 - Sunglasses, tans, boys without shirts and groups of people in beach clothing in the trail that leads to the Costa Esmeralda beach. 7 - A C.A.G.E unit running roadblocks, aiming to pass an image of security to the a region with recent unrests 8 - A thematic party at the sorority-run bar Pinkgarden. Good opportunity for getting laid, do some networking or play the hero stopping a mortal brawl between highly intoxicated supe rivals

[arcxnumvitae]

Who/What inspired my muses

I can’t believe I’m doing this oh it’s going to suck so much

Part 1 because it got long because I’m wordy

Veritas: In high school I was friends with two “the art kids”. I, meanwhile, was the bookworm/writer. We all thought it’d be fun to make a comic, them drawing and me writing the dialogue, so we all said we’d come up with characters from it. Mine ended up being an elf who wore long swishy skirts and fought with dual blades and one of them drew out the design for me. The comic, haha, never got far but when I got interested in doing Tumblr rp I looked at that initial oc idea and reworked it into Veritas. The only real remnants of that origin is, well, elf. And her two swords. But I mean, my interest in fleshing out my brand of elves led to what is what I actually consider a big part of my blog-- my elves. So a lot stemmed from that initial, silly and fun idea between three kids. I’m actually still best friends with one of those girls to this day!

Vendere: My second attempt at making a less morally pure muse after my real second-but-now-removed muse Tamashi ended up nice despite my wishes. I can’t say much of the thought process behind Ven other than his name being a continuation of a Latin theme I had started with Veritas and decided to keep going, which you will continue to see later on too. The only thing I can remember is choosing his name because it was the Latin verb for “to sell”, because info broker, and because I went, “Haha and I can call him V.en like in K.ingdom H.earts.” A lot of big brain ideas going on back when I was sixteen, of which I can’t even make jokes because I’ve done it again with muses fairly recently. In retrospect it makes no sense why his Italian parents would name him that but thus is my 16-year-old-idea oc burden to bear.

Jianhuren: My first muse who I added with the intent to have a bit of a storyline going! I also! Can’t remember why I got the idea for a form shifting person who  was an amnesiac. I’m fairly certain it was an idea that came straight out of my head. At the time, I hadn’t even intended to make a species of dragons, the Red Eyes from them. So it’s kind of why they may seem a bit different in feel or canon or themes or whatever from the other Red Eyes. We were winging it, baby!!

Somnio: Oh my gosh I can’t say I’ll do this and keep saying I don’t remember for these muses! I’m sorrrryyyy these were like a good six or so years ago! I think inspiration. I think maybe the feeling of days and friends gone/soon to be gone from Summertime Record inspired him regarding his feelings towards his dead friend? At the very least, I was listening to that song a lot when I added him and I was definitely thinking of him when I did it. The “Sayonara” part always really stuck out to me.

Amara: Me: What if I did a phoenix. Me: Oh, I see phoenixes in this sense have been pointed at from coming from either or both Greek and Egyptian myth let’s make both of those his background as a fun little easter egg. Me: what if I made a muse so tragic--

Qingshan: Here we see Red Eye lore starting to take more shape! Originally I had just said that Jianhuren was attacked by a monster or something, but I then had a thought of what if it were a betrayal and the monster story is just what was told? A lot of Qingshan’s vibes and the idea to do an evil or “bad” muse came from listening to Sacrifice from Rwby! Since I had just recently gotten into it. And I mean, the music rocks. Wait.....the lyrics never quite fit Qingshan at the time but now I’m realizing they fit Zhaohui well.... hm.

Ren: More desire to expand upon my elf lore that I had started with Veritas. And a desire to touch more on the trafficking issue that elves face. Then I just thought it’d be cool to give a muse the powerset of basically the Avatar-- with setbacks.

Kareena: You know me, I’m always going to look at a predominantly white-assumed category and go, “how can I make this more Brown(tm)? Elves are always so stereotypically white in the media I saw, and I’ve always had a desire to see myself represented in fantasy genres I love so much. Veritas was actually supposed to be brown, but she was my first oc and I couldn’t find a fc that fit what I imagined for her and had brown skin, I just changed it to match her fc. Now, I clearly don’t care, haha. Anyways, Kareena was me wanting to make a brown elf, and also a differently abled one too, and I settled on her being blind. I thought it’d be an interesting study since elves have heightened and stronger senses, and here was someone who was born without one. I will say, she wasn’t perfect representation at the time, since I unknowingly fell into a bad trap of “blind person uses super senses to get around anyways with no issue”, which is something I learned later that a lot of blind people don’t like to see in media about visually impaired people! The importance of doing research beforehand, kids. Especially if you’re writing of a culture, lifestyle, or experience you haven’t lived.

William/Thanatos: .......................ok.........I don’t...........remember, sorry. To explain a little, “Thanatos” actually existed on my blog as a man named William O’Connor! A man who had died but still lived on by some raw accidental deal made by his mom to some sort of death-like entity. I only remember that I was thinking on him back when I was in another state visiting by undergrad for like the first time? And Gen Con was going on and I had like just stuck my toe into C.ritical R.ole, but I don’t know if any of that actually influenced William. Anyways, I had no intention to actually ever state or clarify what “Death” was as I intended for It to just be some sort of amalgamation of different interpretations of Death. But later on I thought it’d open up for some more interesting opportunities if I put a name to the thing and had it able to interact and do a little more. Maybe a bit before Dawn came around, for reasons?

Lucia: I had mentioned in Ren’s backstory that he ran with a group of elves when he was a kid on the streets and I’d already established another, Aeon (who’s now a side muse) so I thought it’d be fun to pick out who their de facto leader was. And I thought it’d be funny if she seemed like the least intimidating-looking person ever, but absolutely was the leader of them all for good reason. I then picked up my “angsty backstory” hammer, and I then gave her a prompt solid whack with it.

Alexa: “Okay, so I touched on the elf trafficking, but what if I did what happened when one was successfully trafficked?” Et voila. 

Val: ‘Kristen, you just added Alexa, and sure you established she has a partner but you don’t need to full on add him as a muse-- oh no how did he get on my muse page.’ Alexa and Val are also meant to be foils in the way they deal with their servitude, with Alexa having given in and Val still being rebellious. Plus, I just love non-romantic soulmates. Mwah.

Imani: “I want a Black muse. An unambiguously Black muse. Make her an elf too while I’m at it.” I love sibling dynamics and I’m a sucker and wimp for older sibling dynamic stories too so that also came into play with her and her younger brother.

My gosh this is long, I’m doing a part 2 or something

[thisintermezzo]

What are your favorite bits of localization in FF14? ☺️ I'm not sure if I'm asking for anything specific ... I just want to see you ramble I guess, haha! It would be a nice change from the usual "why did they leave this part out" lol. And there are valid instances where you have to question some loc choices, to be sure. But hearing that localization is your jam... I wanted to know what you love!

What a good question! I had to wait until I was on my computer to answer so I could type faster, hahaha.

I got into FFXIV specifically because of its localization, so I have a different relationship with it compared to other games I've played. I'm really interested in the nuances and challenges of game localization and had heard this one was competent, so I actually initially just bought myself the Encyclopedia Eorzea because I didn't want to play an MMO, lmao. TL;DR below!

I was really impressed with the consistency of the writing quality within the book and how clean and expansive everything was. I got super invested in the plot section of the book somewhere around the last "act" of the 1.0 story arc. (Louisoux was my original favorite FFXIV character, RIP king.) The first book covers the plot sections from the true beginning of the game (1.0) to the end of Heavensward.

I started playing because the format of the Encyclopedia Eorzea is an actual "real" encyclopedia, so it's written from the perspective of an in-world historian. It's not narrative, so I didn't get to see character dialogue, which I decided I had to know about. What do the characters talk like? How do they sound?

I watched some cutscenes (Heavensward onward only), and by then, Endwalker had a trailer out and the hype levels were high, so I decided to play the free trial and... well.

ANYWAY, WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE LOCALIZATION: HERE WE GOOOO

Mostly, I really like the direction they chose for the localization in-world -- using modes of speech fitting this type of fantasy setting, but also defining those modes of speech so that the characters all speak in their own ways.

Further, the localization team's stance on the localization is my preferred variety: they aim to provide the intended end experience. If your feelings as a player are supposed to be "wow, cool spell name!" when playing in Japanese, you should have the same experience playing in another language, even if this necessitates changing the name of something that may already be in English, etc.

They also separate things based on their... idk, in-game perspectives. Like, there's text that's canon to the game (signs your character can read, dialogue, etc. that's fully "in-world"), and then there's player interface text (menus, quest names) that you see, but the character doesn't, so they can have different localization styles for those things. I think it provides a lot of brightness and levity and helps to balance out how "heavy" the in-world text can feel in places without casual English.

I think it's all crafted with a lot of skill, charm, and honest interest, and so it's definitely one of my favorite game localizations, period.

Also, some of my favorite highly specific instances include quest names like "Quake Me Up Before You O'Ghomoro", but also heavy-hitter sections like Myst's last speech in the DRK quests and sooo many other beautifully-worded similar pieces. If I list them, this post will be like twenty more paragraphs. Sometimes I just want to say the quotes out loud so I can hear and feel the words, you know? Extremely good. I love words.)

[yellow-faerie]

I have absolutely no context for this but tell me about your tavs anyway

Hello Astrid thank you very much Astrid, you are massively enabling me and I appreciate it so very much

Ok, so this is Tabitha Swallowsong, affectionately known as Tav by her friends (the character who I may consider "canon" if there was such a thing). She's a Half Wood Elf Bard who, while not born in Baldur's Gate, was raised there. She ends up romancing Gale:

She's who I played for my first play through, getting to grips with the controls and all the story and that sort of thing, but I intend (once I work up the courage to actually enter the endgame on the first save file) to do another game with her on the normal difficulty so that I can play her while understanding how everything works. (Also will not bend to peer pressure the minute someone asks me out and actually romance Gale instead of Shadowheart - although I love Shadowheart to pieces).

____

This is Thea (who's full name is Thianaloth Kelvix), a Sledarine Drow Monk of her family's order who's monastery is hidden in the mountains near Baldur's Gate. She romances Shadowheart (I love that romance so much, especially the later bits):

I've just started her playthrough and I gotta say - monk is a very fun class to play battle wise, I'm quite pleased I chose it, and I really enjoy playing as Drow for (while I understand it's really not to everyone's tastes) I find the natural distaste quite interesting story wise? It makes me have to shake up my gameplay a bit more and my characterisation because it often forces me to do things that aren't just Angelic Good (which...I am a massive people pleaser, even in games, so that's quite nice)

Bonus Dark Urge -

This is Nowhere (a name that she calls herself when she is asked after waking with no memories and having this deep sense of Not Belonging) who later goes on to take the name Akanis Rozes when she reinvents herself.

She's a Mephistopheles Drow and I thought ranger would be most appropriate for her storywise (well, maybe rogue would fit better but I'm trying to play classes that the origins don't have). Also I want to try the Astarion romance out with her and having two rogues with me all the time is a bit much:

Dark Urge is so much fun to play?? Like I said, massive people pleaser so I'm doing a good run, but I love how much characterisation it adds while still allowing for roleplay by the player.

There's also Llelyr, a cleric of Ilmater, who I'm doing a multiplayer with with my brother but I don't have any pictures because I have only just worked out how to wrangle the PS5 screenshot feature, and I do have a few others that I've had ideas for (but I'm putting off actually playing until I get further in with some other runs):

I want to do a run with an older Tav, possibly try out Paladin and the Halsin romance; I think storm sorcerer sounds so much fun (and I've heard there's some good Gale dialogue with sorcerer especially when you romance him so...Gale romance 2: electric boogaloo); I want to play a Gith at some point because I saw it was the least preferred race and I feel bad about it (I might do a Lae'zel romance here); not to mention all the origins I haven't done yet...

[conivolos]

pokes head in here. hello coni. pls throw your fics at me i want to read them. what are you most proud of. what are u working on right now. what do you want me to read. i want it all hand it over. (i am being genuine but also silly sjdfklsdj what are u writing i am so curious :eyes:)

adsjaksf hiya!!! :D

and yeah!! i do have a couple of wips i want to rant about kajfhkjah

the first ima shout about (it also might be my favorite but shhh) is a 3rd life renaissance faire au :D its currently treebark and dogwarts centric and is quite literally full of half formed sentences and contextless dialogue, but theres three pages of worldbuilding and plot and im really happy with it so far :D, rens the king of dogwarts (the kingdom the faires set in), and the dogwarts army are, well, the knights of dogwarts. and you know martyn's creeper prank? he makes goose noises instead cause its hilarious and it still scares the crap out of everyone but scott asjkjafh. and ima stop there i dont want to reveal any more cause spoilers askjfhas

another wip is post-canon joel's empires s2 finale!! he is regretting a lot of things and theres three more joels than usual. its likely going to be multichap and full of angst (if i can actually make angst without adding puns into it asjksajfh) with a happy (?) ending :D

a third im hyped about is a waterpark au of sorts, based off of ethos old turf war minigame, The RipZone!! its mostly mycelium resistance centric, purely because i have more of a grasp on writing them than the hep. im not quite sure where to plots going for this one, but i have just enough planned out to be insane about it askdjfaskjfh. theyre highschool ago and its set in australia, at the end of the year, so its the beginning of summer and schools just let out (prime waterpark time babayyy)

and the last is another limited life coral kids fic woooo!! the working title is 'whats your favorite constellation?' and i feel it captures the vibes im going for surprisingly well. its barely written and im hoping it wont be as long as the last lmao, im thinking only about 1k words, and it also wont be explicitly romantic. im playing off of the concept of giving each winner being assigned / associated with a symbol (sun, stars, moon, etc.), and the general fandom confusion on what to give to martyn. and wait i wrote a lil synopsis thing for this like two days ago hold on

'centred on scott and martyn, ties tower has just (or is being) constructed, scott's built them a base, the chaos of bread bridge hasnt quite begun. and, while laying on their beds under the sky, scott talks about the stars above them, lamenting about a past life. martyn and scott discuss the dilemma that is the death games. scott doesnt want to win again and they wonder if martyn's going to win this time. martyns not sure if he wants to (he does). they mostly talk about the stars though, and their favourite constellation. its supposed to be nice and calm, fairly reminiscent of the calm before a storm.'

i edited it a bit, but i reckon its still got the vibes down pretty good :D

oh and also, the fics im probably most proud so far are htgth, really the podcast au in general, and surface of the seas :D

i chose htgth / the podcast au quite a few reasons! theyre the first works i ever finished and published, and, excuse my ego /hj, but, im so happy with the way i got the bad boy's voices to fit really well!! i was (and still am honestly) shocked on how well i wrote them!! (also i really like htgth cause i set myself up some plot points im excited to build up on whenever i get back to writing it akhkfasjhf)

and surface of the seas, partly bc im just really proud of myself for writing that much ksfksajdfh. i think i mostly like it cause the little narrative comparisons and bits of lore just scattered around it :D also when i was almost finished, tying up the loose ends n stuff, it was at around 3-4k and the word count just kept going up its funny now but it was quite daunting when it was happening askfjhahfs.

oh and also maybe ive lost a piece of me, almost purely because of the puns :D