#thought i posted the swapped doodles already.. seems not!

[toxiccaves]

i dont have much to post lately!! its mostly sketches and doodles..

also species swapping lian n gunkid!! a little knight and a stray lonely cowboy

[fountainpenguin]

Short Version: I don't even know how to begin explaining this, so take these 'fic doodles with no context.

Wish Fixers, my chronically unhelpful beloved...

Long Version (City Lights AU #ridspoilers beyond the above implication. Mentions of death and trauma; it gets pretty dark)

Nalooksthrough, I tag you below because I cited your co-dependent toxic friendship comic and said it was cool- If you don't want to click, that's all the tag was :)

So I started outlining my Dale backstory 'fic (Lemonade and Papercuts) since I am the most predictable person alive and of COURSE I can't resist 7 years of trauma and intimacy anxiety <3. But planning a 'fic like this requires many pieces and many questions.

First and most obvious- How did Vicky lure in Dale? From previous planning, I've already decided that since they're the same age (maybe one year off), they probably knew each other in school or activities.

Ex: Squirrely Scouts & Cream Puffs... Not unreasonable- Throughout the series, many kids participate and the organizations seem to have a big following in Dimmsdale. Vicky's sister Tootie is in the Cream Puffs and Vicky is seen bossing them around in the Season 0 episode "Scout's Honor" ("Oh Yeah! Cartoons"). There's a comic by the same name depicting Remy in Squirrely Scouts (after "Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary" but before he gets his memories back in "Remy Rides Again" and I always thought it was cute). I mean, look at him:

Pictures courtesy of the FOP Wiki

It's not unreasonable that Dale - who's also rich - might've gotten into that (especially since Doug is big on the cowboy theming and of all the rich parents, he's probably the one most okay with his son playing in dirt). Something scout-related could be an option even if Dale and Vicky went to different schools.

A friendship that gets increasingly toxic until it spirals into full-on abuse sounds really interesting (and @nalooksthrough portrayed this idea beautifully imo in THIS comic I can't stop thinking about).

Sounds fun to write, so let's go with that. What's next?

Hey, remember when 7 years ago, I headcanon'd H.P. as Dale's godfather because of this doodle in Da Rules that specifically refers to Pixie godparents and depicts a fluffy-haired kid in a purple shirt?

I recently found out I still had Dale listed as a godchild of H.P. on his full character profile on my fanfic sideblog. I was waffling over whether to retcon that (since I hadn't yet done anything with it), but I started brainstorming whether I COULD do anything with it.

I've always written Wish Fixers in 'fic [e.g. Origin of the Pixies] as a therapy business run by H.P.'s dad (which H.P. bought off him out of spite despite not being licensed for therapy) but, like...

Does Jorgen know H.P. isn't licensed? I can't see why he would... As far as he knows, H.P. owns and runs the place- especially given my lore that Wish Fixers has been in his family for many generations. Sounds qualified to me!

In "School's Out! The Musical" (episode that Da Rules screenshot is from), we learn Pixies are at the back of the line for godparent work, even under creatures like unicorns (Hence the Musical's plot requiring them to remove magical creatures from earth before they could assign themselves to Flappy Bob).

I said in a recent liveblog post that I'd always imagined this was a punishment given to them due to H.P. absolutely failing as godfather to Dale- Thus, the origin of the doodle on the page for that rule. But... I never decided what happened.

See, Dale SEEMS like a guy who would qualify for a fairy. He was probably pretty miserable under Vicky's 7 years of torture and he's still holding onto that trauma in his adulthood.

DID he have a fairy?

I'm just saying, we know from S4's "Wish Fixers" that H.P. is legally(?) allowed to make contracts that swap a fairy godparent with a pixie one if godkids choose to sign of their own free will... Hmm... I'm connecting dots I don't think I like... (I am lying).

I mean?? Dale clearly did not get out of the pit due to magical interference. If I'm committing to the doodle being Dale and reflecting an actual godfather-godson dynamic between him and H.P., then something sure went wrong there. I can't NOT make Dale suffer...

What on earth could've made Dale sign a contract for something a fairy couldn't give him? We know from "Nectar of the Odds" canon that he wished to see his dad, and thanks to previous liveblogs, I DO already have a headcanon of Dale being extremely desperate for his dad's love... Hmm... I can work with that.

I went down a rabbit hole trying to answer the question of how Vicky secured lemons for 7 years for Dale (and other kids) to work with. Here are some lemon tree facts:

- Lemon trees bear fruit after only a few years - They can bear fruit multiple times a year (depending on variety) - A single lemon tree can produce 1,500 lemons in one growing season - Dimmsdale is in California - a state known for lemon orchards.

That feels likely... An orchard of even a few trees can keep you going for a while.

But lemonade doesn't sell for much compared to other things Vicky could've set a kidnapped child up to do (Ex: In "Microphony," she has kids doing a bunch of other tasks like answering phones for her babysitting service, painting houses, and washing cars).

So... WHY lemonade? What is going on that makes this the thing Vicky has Dale do for 7 years?

And who owns the orchard? I need Vicky to obtain lemons without being stopped for 7 years.

Is it a Dimmadome orchard? Maybe, but several episodes imply Vicky's not familiar with the Dimmadomes - and she probably would have turned Dale in for cash reward if given the chance - so those are two things I need to keep in mind.

Does the orchard belong to her family? That's a possibility- Vicky is shown drinking lemonade after "Nectar of the Odds." She definitely could've bought it - It can't be too expensive unless prices were jacked up after she lost her cheap labor - but it's a drink she's seen with in multiple episodes. She definitely likes it.

And we know from "Timmy's 2D House of Horror" that Vicky's parents are terrified of her. It's not likely they'd stop her from taking lemons from the family orchard.

One problem... If Dale goes missing when he's about 9 (Closer to 7 or 8 in my planned timeline), Vicky is also 9 or younger. Are her parents scared of her when she's that small and inexperienced in the ways of the world?

In "The Switch Glitch," she's 5 and seems mild and sweet until 10-year-old Timmy mistreats her- She clearly didn't have memories of Timmy, implying she totally regressed to how she acted when she really was 5. Worth pointing out she goes off the deep end and chains up Cosmo and Wanda, so... she IS mean even at age 5. But also, she's 5. She wears the same purple hair bow in "Switch Glitch" (at 5) that she does when Timmy drains the meanness out of her in "Vicky Loses Her Icky," which is interesting.

So that begs the question... Can I turn my Dale backstory 'fic into a double story of Dale abuse AND Vicky going from a pretty innocent child to Totally Messed Up? Keeping in mind that according to Vicky in A New Wish, Vicky IS the one responsible for abusing him and he "spent 7 years' worth of Saturdays in a factory underneath a lemonade stand."

If that's the way I want to play it... Something happened to send Dale and Vicky down the dual victim-and-abuser path, destinies intertwined. And for some reason, Vicky stuck with the lemonade theme.

Dale just says he spent his Saturdays "in a factory underneath a lemonade stand." It's not out of the question he and Vicky made more lemon products than just lemonade, especially given Vicky's love for money (and those 600 lbs of lemons one tree can produce in a year). We can assume they changed locations a few times or someone would've found the trapdoor on Timmy's lawn. Plus when Dale started his abuse, Vicky hadn't started babysitting Timmy, whom she only met when he was 8.

So, I've set Dale up to be lured in by Vicky because they were friends. I like the idea of things gradually getting worse as Vicky slowly morphs from a friend into a very cruel person. If Vicky was bullying him, what stopped him from just... leaving?

Vicky's transformation was probably subtle if he stayed for so long..... I also pointed out in a recent post that Doug's underground milk empire where he uses hypnotized people for labor bears a striking amount of similarities with Vicky's lemonade stand, even down to the general vibes of "trapdoor entrance" (although it's implied there's another entrance in small building).

And if we want to be technical about things... We don't know if Doug and Dale pressed charges against Vicky. She clearly continues to babysit Timmy and other kids after "Nectar of the Odds" (Season 2).

In Season 4 ("Channel Chasers"), Doug remarks that Timmy's parents should've guessed Vicky was evil because of the Chip Skylark song "Icky Vicky," but he doesn't mention Vicky kidnapping his son. That's.... sus. He even offers to buy a car from her in Season 3's "Engine Blocked" (after Dale's escape).

Why would such a powerful guy let all of that slide? Did they just not have enough proof? Did Vicky wipe the place clean? Did Dale "not want to make a big deal about it" because he was so exhausted and grateful, he just didn't want to think about it or struggle with the legal system? Was he covering for her?? Was he scared to speak up?

... Did Dale not tell his dad the whole truth about where he was?

What if Dale was - in some vague and early concept way - in on the lemonade scheme from the beginning, back when he and Vicky were friends and she wasn't so cruel? Maybe she turned on him and sentenced him to the pit before long?

Why the underground-ness of it? Why the lemonade, which probably doesn't turn much profit... as lemonade. Unless you have unrestrained access to tons of lemons that you can turn into multiple products - Dale DID call it a factory - and no one is stopping you from accessing them...

... but how do you set up a situation where kids have access to a whole lemon orchard - presumably carefully maintained - and the adults don't take it away from them (Because... surely they would've found Dale and multiple other kids if they strayed close).

And Dale didn't leave. He does in "Nectar of the Odds" - apparently of his own volition - but not before. Was he kept there mentally as well as physically?

We KNOW Vicky can't be monitoring him 24/7 because "Nectar of the Odds" is the only episode depicting her paying attention to him, while others show her doing many other things in many other places (though it's worth noting Dale says in that episode that "Vicky's kept him locked up for so long").

Did he stay so long because it was the perceived better fate up until he miraculously crossed paths with his dad (via fairy magic) and took the risk? Would he have gone back in?

Maybe it wasn't supposed to get this out of hand. Dale and Vicky were young when this started... Somewhere between 7 and 9 (given that Dale was kept there for 7 years and Vicky is 16 when he escaped and he tells 9-year-old Dev this happened when he was Dev's age).

Maybe there was an accident. Something not just Vicky, but even Dale felt the need to cover up, especially in regards to the orchard and the fact that it needs to be Vicky's consistent source of lemons (and not something she lost out on before Dale's escape... an illusion of ownership maintained. Kids can't own the orchard, but what if they fooled people into believing it wasn't owned by kids?)

Hmm... some kind of accident that got two mostly innocent kids into huge trouble, thus setting up a horribly intertwined fate where if one of these toxic co-dependent friends backs out and squeals, even the squealer might suffer worse compared to trucking along on the cruel existing path.

tl;dr - if Vicky and Dale accidentally killed the orchard owner but they were kids and terrified to tell an adult lest they go to jail for life so they hid the body in the basement (or like ?? threw it to the coyotes or hyenas that inexplicably lurk on the fringes of Dimmsdale??) and are trying desperately to wipe their hands of this by pretending the lemon orchard is still operational so no one investigates until they can figure out a plan, and then Vicky hardens herself as a trauma response and manipulates Dale into believing it was solely his fault and she'll pin him with murder charges if he gets cold feet and turns her in, and he's miserable and gets a fairy (then loses his fairy via Pixie contract through Wish Fixers, presumably in an attempt to negotiate a way to protect himself from Vicky and somehow not gaining the ire of his father) and then H.P. (lawyer and unlicensed yet de facto therapist pulled two ways) is suddenly Dale's godfather and trying to comprehend what the flip is going on between misery and manslaughter while he's also juggling Gary, Betty, and Flappy Bob at the same time in preparation for the Musical because we know he spent 37 years on that plan...

... Would that be one messed-up yet hyperspecifically canon-compliant 'fic or what?

These thoughts have been haunting me all weekend and I HAD to get my "I'm not that kind of lawyer or therapist" joke out of my system, so there's your context. #Sorry. Is this the direction the actual 'fic will go? ... It's not the direction I really had in mind, but ?? It's off the wall and therefore I must shake it in my teeth. I can't not write Dale backstory this horrific. what. hey.

[slightly-nerdy-rambles]

Robstar Week Day 2: Joy and Confusion (Prompt: Power Swap/Role Reversal)

For this prompt, I decided to take the role-swap AU that @burr-ell made a while back for inspiration. Some of you may remember that I've done this once before, bouncing off of one of the AU concepts to make a sort of alternate version of a scene from the "Masks" episode. I did the same basic thing here, taking inspiration from a doodle on the original post that invokes an alternate version of "Stranded" and expanding the concept into something that I could picture happening in that situation. I deviated a little more from the canon version than I did in the Masks AU, and I think this story is better for it.

As for doing the role-swap itself, that was an interesting challenge. I feel like a lot of Starfire and Robin's interactions and differences are rooted to some degree in the fact that she's a Tamaranean and he's a human, so when switching their species I had to think of how much those species and cultures would affect their respective personalities while still making the characters recognizably themselves. I ended up toning down some of Starfire's emotional energy and especially her reaction to Robin's "she's not my girlfriend" moment (since in canon her strong reaction was mostly because she was trying to keep her powers from going on the fritz), while cranking her already significant human observation skills to maximum as part of her training from Phoenix and leadership role. For Robin, I tried making him more emotionally open while still having that grimly determined streak and awkward shyness about romance, which pretty much resulted in his bout of power failure being his own darn fault lol.

Joy and Confusion

Robin was walking ahead, mouth set in a thin line as he quietly focused on the mission, and that was the first sign that something was very wrong.

It wasn’t that focusing on the job was a remotely bad or even unusual thing, Starfire thought to herself with a small frown. Their mission on the interstellar communications relay had been an unprecedented disaster, and of course their top priority now was to get themselves off of this unfamiliar planet. And besides that, Robin was a warrior prince of a planet with its own host of dangers, whose people defended themselves fiercely from threats both on their homeworld and from beyond. He knew just as well as she did how to knuckle down and get to business.

But Robin was also enthusiastic and open, always easy to read whether he was happy or angry or grimly determined. Starfire thought it might be a Tamaranean thing – cultural or psychological, she couldn’t say, but she’d seen a lot of the same emotional energy in other Tamaraneans back when they’d visited his home planet. Now he seemed… not angry or afraid, exactly, but vaguely nervous and like focusing on finding the others was just an excuse to bottle all his emotions up. And she had a bad feeling that she might know why that was.

“Robin?” she asked, sprinting up to him. “Are you… upset with me?”

Robin’s face pinched a little, and he pulled ahead of her again. “No,” he said curtly. “I do not envision any reason to be upset with you. Do you?”

That was hardly reassuring. Starfire ran to catch up with him again. “Because I overstepped my boundaries as team leader. What I said back at the station…”

Her brow furrowed as she trailed off. Why had she said that? “If I’m not your girlfriend, then what am I?” She’d just been so annoyed in the moment, watching the combat partner she obviously had some kind of chemistry with freak out and act offended at Chimera’s light teasing, that she’d just kind of blurted it out. If she’d just been a regular member of the team it might have been fine. But as the Titans’ leader, there was a sort of force behind her words that came out even when she didn’t intend it.

“I just wanted us to be on the same page, that’s all,” she finished lamely. “I was taught that clarity with your teammates is crucial, but I think I was the one being unclear. And for that I’m sorry. You were technically correct, after all,” she added with an awkward little smile.

Robin’s face seemed to twist through a series of emotions at that – nervousness, embarrassment, hope, excitement, fear – but then it settled back into that vaguely anxious look that he’d had since they first started trekking across this planet.

“You are forgiven,” he said, his voice neutral. “Please, let us focus on finding the others.”

With that, he continued across the volcanic canyon they’d been traversing, leaving Starfire to valiantly resist the urge to scream and start pulling her hair out.

Instead, she sprinted to catch up to him yet again. “Robin, will you please talk to me? I can tell that something’s still bothering you.”

Robin stopped, staring intently at the ground, and held up one hand in a halting gesture.

Starfire grit her teeth. “We can talk while we search, you know. I just don’t want –”

She was interrupted suddenly by a red-hot geyser shooting up from the ground not two feet in front of her. Robin watched the geyser run itself out and drop back down with a disgruntled twist to his mouth.

“The ground is unstable here,” he said, his voice low to keep the geysers from getting worse as he looked about. “We should find another way around.”

Starfire sighed internally, but bit her tongue until the two of them found a sturdier part of the canyon marred only by a single long fissure that seemed to relieve volcanic pressure with bursts of steam. She thought things over to herself, mentally reviewing the day they’d had so far as they walked along either side of the crack.

Then a revelation struck her, and she hopped over to his side of the gradually widening fissure in between steam eruptions.

“Robin?” she asked gently. “Does this have anything to do with your powers failing?”

Robin froze mid-stride – she could practically see his muscles tensing up. “Why do you say that?”

Starfire frowned thoughtfully as she remembered back through their encounter thus far on this planet. Things were starting to fall into place, but she knew she was still missing a piece somewhere. “When you fought off that slug monster, you were using regular weapons. I didn’t think about it at the time, because I was too busy trying not to get eaten, but you weren’t flying and I didn’t see any starbolts. And despite the treacherous ground here, I still haven’t seen you take to the air once. Is… is something on this planet blocking your powers somehow? Is that why you’re so distracted?”

Robing seemed to be shrinking in on himself as she spoke, and when she looked expectantly to him with her question he winced. Fiddling with his fingers and looking anywhere but at her, he choked out, “It… is not… the planet, precisely.”

Starfire’s brows furrowed in concern, and she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Then what is it?”

Robin made a distressed little groan in the back of his throat. “Tamaranean powers rely on strong emotions, and mine are… that is to say, at the moment I am feeling very confused.”

Well, that certainly explained a few things. Starfire filed the revelation about Tamaranean powers away for later and asked, “About what?”

Robin looked at her with a sheepish half-smile. “You?”

Starfire raised an eyebrow, but let him continue. Robin let his smile collapse with a deep sigh and he added, “When Chimera said, ‘the girlfriend,’ I did not know how to respond. You are correct in that it was not factually true, but still I could sense that his words meant something beyond that. And now that I am thinking about it I am nervous and uncertain, and you are upset, and I… I do not know where else to go from here.”

He was blushing and averting his eyes again by this point. Starfire blinked rapidly as she tried to process his odd confession.

“So…” she started slowly. “You are upset and emotionally confused for the same reason I was earlier? Then why didn’t you want to talk it out?”

Robin made the distressed groaning noise again. “I always expected to be matched into an arranged Tamaranean marriage,” he muttered, his blush deepening. “I am not very good at understanding Earth relationships.”

Starfire thought about it for a moment, and then suddenly let out a little laugh. At Robin’s questioning look she said, “Honestly? Neither am I, at least when it comes to this.”

After another moment’s consideration, she stepped back and offered a shy hand to him. “Perhaps we can figure it out together?”

Robin looked at her proffered hand for a few seconds, his face shifting through uncertain expressions again. Finally, gingerly, he reached out and took her hand in his own.

“I think I would like that,” he replied, not seeming to notice as he hovered an inch off the ground.

[summitclan-chronicles]

Hello!! I hope you're having a good day :) I just have a couple questions about things since these are very new systems to me! Firstly, would you be able to share any more details about being assigned an age range based on experience? Mostly I'm curious on what the age ranges are / mean (for example, are senior characters retirees or are they just older warriors?) I'm also wondering if there's any flexibility with that - for example two characters that would fit great as littermates but one person was assigned the warrior age range and one was assigned senior...! I know you said these are large ranges but I'd love to know more about them, almost every rp I've been in before involved making characters prior to joining the server so I'm super curious.

Also, this might be looking way too far into the future haha, but how do kits functioning as adopts work in the event that someone isn't able to remain in the server? Like, would people be able to keep the designs they're given or are they only to be used in the server since they have traits based on their parents. And would their be an option for former members to let their characters be adopted by new members or members without characters if they don't see their story ending just yet?

Apologies for the wall of text!! I'm super curious about these systems especially since it seems like you've put a lot of thought into them! Excited to see where this rp goes :)

Hi there! I am, and I hope you are too!!

First, age ranges:

Youngans are cats between 2 and 18 months of age. (this covers summitclan's equivalent to kittens and apprentices)

Warriors are between 18 months and 6 years of age.

Seniors are between 6 and 12 years of age. (for now, 12 is as old as you can make your character!)

Regarding the littermates question, I think we were on the same wavelength because I spent an entire Target trip obsessively thinking about this hoping someone would ask about it. AND THEN THIS HAPPENED!

The age ranges given to players are loose - if two cats in side-by-side age ranges (youngan/warrior or warrior/senior) are compatible as littermates, you can totally doink down or up a peg to unite them. But youngans & seniors can't swap for each other! And if the age you made your character needs to be adjusted for that to happen, just let me know so I'm aware of the change! (and as a reminder, everything is open for editing until the character's first post!)

Seniors are defined as cats that are old enough to be  considered wise and experienced; this can be a perception ranging from a well loved uncle/teacher to the village grandmother. They aren't really considered retirees until 9 years, but if they're doing the Creme Puff thing they don't always have to. Between 6 and 9, they're mostly looked to as secondary mentors, pools of field-wisdom and folks to come to when you need advice.

Life in the mountain is as full of love as it is brutally hard at times, and by 9 years cats are pretty worn down. But they spend their golden seasons being celebrated and served by the younger cats, and advising those they are surrounded by.

And hey, looking into the future makes the now more secure! I love far-flung questions! I actually answered a similar question just now, but repetition is key --

As long as a cat is active in Summitclan's canon, they need to have their canon design in depictions considered canon. But once they die or leave permanently? It's free real estate. Do what you like, change whatever! Or you can keep everything the same and mould them to the roleplay they join next. They're your kitty!

... But something I didn't mention in the last one (see why I encourage repetition? Even I need it!) is that if you're doodling something noncanon you can be as bonkers as you like. This is how I was sketching Arrowseeker for one of the ads:

About adopting characters... that's difficult to say, because anyone that knows the character particularly well would already have characters of their own. Anyone without a character would be a newcomer and not know them very well.

But I don't want to give that answer prematurely. I'm going to wait until it happens, and discuss it with the people involved!

NO PROBLEM on walls of text!! I love talking about Summitclan and what it entails! I love that people are interested, it makes my heart full of happy!!!

[nyaifyz]

"also feel free to provide me more ideas as I am running away from my writers block"

Your word is my command /pos

Some of my ideas didn't make it so I'll double them here if you don't mind, sorry if some of them can be uncomfortable for you, but at least I should try.

Jessica relates suggestions: (Totally not worshipping her AU version)

- What if drones closely related to Noah are going to find out about how Jessica actually treats him

- Same as above, but with stalking and Lizzy. Can't wait to see interaction between Doll and Jessica, maybe arguing about Lizzy or even fighting.. Omg I want to see Jessica with cool weapon now, help

- Showing interaction between Veronica and Jessica? Maybe like bullying Noah together /j..unless?

- We need some R stuff. I do actually think that Jessica and Veronica will get along with R if R is willing to stop with murdering or at least for some reason get in conversation with those two

Other

- T is so cute. Give me T doodles or I will come for your kneecaps. /j

- When I was writing I accidentally thought about every character with different types or weapons starting from guns, knives and ending with basic metal pipes

- Tessa, please?? If Tessa hasn't got a rainbow sticker somewhere in your AU I'm going to give it to her personally. I'm not joking. >;]

- Uzi meeting disassembly drones, maybe even accidentally finding out about Lizzy's and Doll's interaction. Why not?

-----

Woah that's a lot of text, isn't it? If some of the stuff happened already I'll be greatful if you will tell me because I have a feeling like I missed something. I will give ya more suggestions If you're out of the ideas again. Stuff above related to the pink swap AU btw.

Thanks for reading,

"Silly Anon" - [☣︎]

shakes around you and your list (also dont worry it's pretty hard to make me uncomfortable unless you use 18+ topics)

btw i do plan to reply to your older ask of suggestions but i plan to make drawings for it!!

⚠️Warning for those who are reading the actual au story and not wanting spoilers to future things! But I will still keep some things vague as I like making surprises >:3

Uzi will find out about Jessica's cruel behavior! I honestly can't wait to write it out when it happens

Jessica and R would definitely get along, but who knows if they'll meet :3c

Veronica and Jessica will get to interact a lot! Mainly when Noah or Uzi is present

Also there will be lots of stalking and discovery to come, each drone seems to have a secret they won't share 🤔🤫

Also Jessica will earn weapon rights >:D shes gonna be a badazz

Tessa coming soon >:3 she will still have her sticker! she honestly wont look different, but im hoping ep 4 comes soon so I know how to properly write about her!

Uzi will get to meet Doll, sooner or later, and neither Uzi & lizzy will be happy about it

hopefully that answers all :D

T doodles coming soon but I feel like redesigning him again CUZ HE'S SO HARD TO DRAW SOMEHOW Noah too i cant get his hair right

Also speaking of T, he will get a lot of focus in the au's ep 3 :3

-

I plan to release a chapter every week, but still posting random doodles and notes

the chapter numbers wont line up with the episode count, but will follow a similar timeline of events!

[zombvibes]

According to the tags of your last Allyswap post, you have other AUs. Would you like to share the premise/any doodles you have?

This sounds you’re interrogating me, anon. /lh

Anywho, I DO have other aus and YES I would LOVE to share junk about them.

So when I made the teammateswap and allyswap guys, I had multiple ideas for the characters (obviously). So one day I thought “Man. I still really like these ideas and I wanna use them.” So I did!! Which became the alt aus like as in : alt teammateswap and alt allyswap. They were originally called tms! side b and as! side b. (Which tbh? Might go back to those names…not sure though.)

Like normal teammateswap and allyswap : alt tms is susie swapping with noelle, noelle swapping with berdly, and berdly swapping with susie. alt as is susie swapping with berdly, noelle swapping with susie, and berdly swapping with noelle!

And if y’all don’t mind I’ll just share their (old icky) sprites and some haha hehe dialogue boxes :

TOP = alt teammateswap , BOTTOM = alt allyswap

(There’s also art of them but um. It’s too old and grody for me to show on here. Unlike twitter, I want to seem prim and proper on tumblr /j)

Anyways, I’ll probably redesign them at some point and make them ““official”” and also because some swaps don’t really make sense. (But mostly talking about the Susies and Noelles here. The Berdlys are only there so the Noelles could mess with them. Don’t tell anyone I said that though.)

There’s also like…other random aus I thought would be cool or funny but I don’t plan on doing a lot with them (which I will list now) :

THE TIMEOUT AU

- An old snowgrave au idea I had where during the Berdly fight right before Noelle does her spell, Kris rips us out of their chest and puts us in a far they found in a trashcan off screen. Kris would finish the chapter without you and you’d have to watch and think about what you’ve done. (Hence the name.)

- I already talked about how the au would work on twitter but I doubt you’d wanna go onto twitter to see something so I’ll just copy and paste everything here :

This route is called The Timeout route! Kris is tired of your bullshit so they stuff you in a jar they found in one of the trashcans from the city! You get to watch Kris, Noelle, and Berdly finish the chapter without you because you’re a prick! To start this route, during chapter 1 you have to make Kris play the piano (which they do poorly). (You’ll probably have to do many other things to piss Kris off but I can’t think of any at the moment..just know that playing the piano is not optional) Chapter 1 ends as normal! Chapter 2, you gotta start the weird route! Like just killing stuff, then you get the ring etc. But when you get to the Berdly fight, there’s a small chance that Kris stops Noelle right before she does snowgrave. Afterwards, Kris (still in battle) rips out their soul and walks off the screen. There’s trash can rummaging noises the the background. Noelle and Berdly stand there shocked and Berdly asks what’s wrong with Kris. Noelle said that Kris was acting weird all day. Kris comes back with a jar that has their soul in it. Noelle and Berdly proceed to flip their shit. Kris puts the jar in their inventory and grabs Noelle and Berdly’s hands and drags them off to the right thus ending the battle. You get to see Noelle and Berdly ask Kris plenty of questions that Kris ignores and says that they’ll talk about it later. When Kris and co meets up with Susie and Ralsei, they notice that Kris is different. Susie asks what’s wrong, and Kris says that they’ll talk later. Yadda yadda yadda Everyone gets caged (except for Ralsei). Things happen as normal with some things happening differently cause Kris is in control duh. When Susie and Kris are in front of the fountain, Kris takes out the jar and opens the jar. The soul comes out and does its thing. Susie stands there shocked. Once they’re in the lightworld, everything happens normal. Berdly and Noelle leaves thinking it’s all a dream. Susie after they leave looks bewildered at Kris then shakes them : “What the hell was that all about????” You can finally control Kris here and pick between : Tell her what happened and What are you talking about? Telling her what happened : Susie becomes even more confused and Kris (out of your control) says that they’ll elaborate at some point and the conversation ends there. “What are you talking about?” : Susie flips out even more and shakes Kris angrily. Kris doesn’t say anything (this is your doing) and Susie just says : “Whatever…” and leaves without Kris. Susie will still have the sleepover but will be weird around Kris (depending on what which option you choose). Everything will end the same but Kris puts you in the cage and not between the couch. You’ll sit there not being able to see what happened to Susie and Kris. You’ll hear what happened though, you just can’t see it. Then the chapter ends! …Btw you don’t fight spamton in this route, Kris just doesn’t fight spamton.

- (I would’ve made the route work a little different if I worked on it NOW but hey…you get the idea I hope.)

- This au was meant to basically Kris giving the player the middle finger

DELTARUNE BUT IT’S SUMMER NOW I GUESS

- Another old idea I had. It’s normal just deltarune but it takes place during summer school. (Or just the summer I didn’t put too much thought into it. I just wanted to see Kris and Susie have fun in the sun together tbh) It all started because I wanted to make a Phineas and Ferb reference—

TIMESKIP AU

- What kind of au hoarder would I be if I didn’t make a “They’re adults now” au? It mostly focuses in Kris, Susie, and Noelle (Berdly’s there too but I mean…he’s just there. Not too important). The darkners don’t really age in my timeskip au because I just…think they wouldn’t really age like lightners would? Since they’re objects? I feel like they would still look the same but like…with eyebags or dirt/dust on them or something. (Didn’t think about it too much,,)

- They’re all around 20 something? 25??

- There’s art of this too but again…too old and grody for me to show. Pretty sure I posted timeskip suselle stuff on here once but you’ll have to find it yourself I’m not linking it. It’s still a little embarrassing,,,

- I think I may redesign them in the future since they look too “self indulgent” and not how I would actually imagine them in their 20s.

- It’s basically The “Everyone gets facial hair now” au honestly LMAO

SPECIES SWAP

- Another obvious thing for an au hoarder to have— Basically, Kris is a reptile, Susie is a goat, and Ralsei is a human! (There’s also Noelle, who’s a bird, and Berdly, who’s a reindeer…but. I’ll probably not do that or at least it wouldn’t be “canon” to the au.)

- In this au, Susie is a darkner and Ralsei is a lightner (along with Kris.) And this is kind of a role swap as well (kinda?). Ralsei would be the one the player controls. Kris isn’t controlled by their soul and has their regular personality. Susie and Lancer were already established to be buddies before Kris and Ralsei arrived in the dark world. Though in this au, Susie’s personality would be a little goofier to match with Lancer’s. She’s still mean though but chapter 2 mean and not really chapter 1 mean. Ralsei would talk but we wouldn’t be able to hear him (like with human Kris.) He does talk way more than human Kris though. Kris doesn’t talk at all unless necessary or for a funny/dumb quip. For their dark world versions um tbh? I can’t really choose on whether Ralsei should have a sword (like human Kris) or magic (like goat Ralsei). I guess the sword would make more sense but goat Susie would feel a little empty if she isn’t swinging her big ol’ axe around. Again…didn’t think about it too much. OH YEAH AND darkner goat Susie is a prince like goat Ralsei is. (Not princess though because Susie still has her butch lesbian swag in this au)

- Uhhh I do have concept art but it’s not much…I hope to actually sketch out the concepts at some point because darkner goat Susie sounds so much fun to work on!! I have clear ideas of everyone’s designs in my head, just didn’t put it “paper” yet.

So uh…YUP! Think that’s all! If anyone’s interested on hearing about or seeing a specific au, I’ll try my best to elaborate on it more or quicking sketch out something)

(I’m asking you to send me asks about them if you’re curious)

[dracomysthical]

FOUR MONTHS AGO, a funny little thought wormed its way into my head, something along the lines of "what if the kid leaders swapped places? imagine if karkat's the one who has to deal with trolls and john's the idiot squinting at the doofus aliens on a shitty computer monitor lol."

and when i looked it up, lo and behold! it exists and it's called kidswap, and everyone's AUs are all awesomely different.

my thought evolved to "wow that's so cool! maybe i should develop this a bit more, nothing too big it's just for fun."

...

Four months later, I have a web. A wall in my head is dedicated to this AU and this AU alone, lined with rainbow string and multi-colored push-pins. Marker scribbles in the shape of google Docs and doodles are frantically scattered everywhere, I have relationships and dynamics drawn out and something that seems to vaguely resemble a plot in between Karkat's character development and Jane's slay queen moment and Rose's Not Tragic Just Very Confusing backstory, tucked away in there.

So. Yes. I will be posting shit. It's fine. I'm fine. This is fine.

This is a story about kids. The characters are children that could kill me in my sleep, both in character wise and literally and figuratively. Some might say that I have made them fucked up beyond belief (some of them, at least) in accordance to the situations they live in. In a sense, that's the point of making this AU: how does identity and personality develop when placed in different situations? Are you still the same person? The topic is already mainly explored in homestuck canon through the concept of timelines, and the theme of it is especially prominent in the lovely disaster, if we can call him that, that is Dirk Strider. My mind was basically blown after reading that, because that hit HARD, so consider this AU a way of coping, or a continuation and expansion of that exploration. Or just think of it as something silly and fun, your choice.

Anyway. Welcome to my Kidswap AU. I am so sorry.

[bryan360]

Now for something that's really worth to get into as my P-Pal delivers to one of my OCs some new gifts for 🎅🎄Christmas, but also to @carmenramcat OCs when making this art gift altogether. I know that it seems stressful to get into; believe me. I always had other art projects that it took me days, especially this one during this month of December that I'm gotten into this year. Link Here

Nevertheless, at least knowing I can take a break by bringing to you my OCs reaction after receiving gifts and for their other friends. I had to say, this one looks better of what it shows here. Maxwell, May, and Sam gotten their own "magical clothes drawers" or "M.C.D." for short is something after last year they promised to deliver when chatting online together.

🐰🖌Maxwell: Yeah. Since our speedster friends had one of those before, so why not we'll be getting our owned drawers this year? That way we can use it for you know....clothing stuff. While knowing that we gotten our owned personal speedster and Cude's clothes to keep, this drawers here can make us unlimited clothes to pick that we can do what ever we want from it; as long we can tape a photo to make by using our cameras.

🐰👊💥May: Mhm. Although we don't mind if we could do some swapping our clothes that you guys suggest, especially this is gonna be the first time to ever do so. Well just wait and see for next year when we're gonna be ready soon. Hope is something to worth our creator friend's future art posting.

🦊⚽️Sam: Yup. For now though, thanks for giving us this magical clothes drawers that me and my guys are gonna have fun with it. Here's to hoping for bright future ahead for next year! 😊👍🏼

🐰🖌Maxwell and 🐰👊💥May: Yeah! 😉👍🏼

Cool. What did your parents and Mikey did have to say after receiving their own gifts?

🐱🎧Mikey: Like hell yeah! Ahh! I'm really sorry for swearing, but wow do I have my own new wireless headphones by Dr. Dre?! I never thought of it after I've giving Murukir my Autumn/Winter clothes as his personal outfit while back since. So in return by giving me new wireless headphone set with higher sound quality was pretty unexpected. Nevertheless, I'm glad that I have it for Christmas and I thank Murukir for making this worth while. 😁👍🏼

🐰📚🍌Scottie: You telling me. I just got myself a new digital drawing tablet from Bonn! I'm so surprise to be getting this just like their creator friend does have. Never thought It could happen to me, but I'm very impressed! Can't wait that I'll be using for work or doing my personal me time doodling stuff! 😊

🐰🎤Windy: As for me getting my own airpods with a carrot theme silicone case? Alright! It was fitting as I used to know about singing and hearing some good songs while I'm at the apps. Thank you so much for giving for me, Rita! 😁👍🏼

Looks like it's all good to see one of my OCs reaction when their revealing their presents this year, but what about the Ramcats side while enjoying their presents as well? From the looks of things, they're pretty okay with it as well.

🐰🖌Maxwell: Yeah. From Speedy and Zack's wireless controllers when playing on the PS5, Lighting & Penny pwing new ballerina outfits, and even Shadow R and Lisa officially gotten their own spare Spot and Riya's clothes just like we did have! Needless to say, it was pretty awesome! 👍🏼

🐰👊💥May: Agreed! Just wondering if Shadow R and Lisa would to join us for next year when we're at playtime while wearing our owned Spot and Riya's clothes or something. Either way, it's nice to see what they're getting for this year's Christmas. *Nodded Yes*

🦊⚽️Sam: Yup! Hope they have a good Christmas Day to celebrate this year included us; thanks to our P-Friend and friends. We wish you a Very Merry Christmas already....

🐰🦊Family: And have a good Happy New Year! ✨🎊🎉

[notveryglittery]

birthday prince (5)

summary: happy birthday, roman!!! words: 2,900 / ship: dlampts (deceit/logan/virgil/patton/roman/thomas/remy) author’s note: this is part five of my Giving The Gay Anything He Wants series for roman’s birthday (june 4)! all ships are written implied romantic but i’m not stopping you from interpreting it otherwise. check the end notes on ao3 for credit on these gifts (bc i don’t know where to put them in this post)! i hope you enjoy!!

part 1 (roceit) | part 2 (logince) | part 3 (prinxiety) part 4 (royality) | part 5 (dlampts) |  read on ao3

— — —

“Rise and shine, buttercup!”

Roman swatted at the air, as if that would send away the voice trying to wake him. “Five more minutes,” he grumbled, burying his face back into a pillow.

“You said that ten minutes ago, sugar,” drawled another.

If Roman really thought about it, he’d remember that, yes, he was guilty of this charge. That didn’t mean that he would admit to it, of course! Besides, even if he did, today was his day so he should have been able to do whatever he liked.

Oh.

Oh!

Energy shot through him as he jolted up. “It’s my birthday!”

Patton’s laugh was musical, the most beautiful sound Roman could ever ask to start his morning with. “I knew we’d get there eventually.”

“I dunno, I was sure it’d take him at least another half hour,” Remy teased, standing in the doorway.

"Good morning!" Roman exclaimed, swooping in for a kiss from Patton. He happily obliged, taking it also as an opportunity to comb a hand through Roman's tangled hair.

Were it not for Remy clearing his throat a moment later, the two might have lost track of time entirely. They pulled apart, only a little sheepish about it. Patton took Roman's hands in his and gave him a tug, urging him out of bed. Thankfully, now that Roman knew what was being celebrated, he followed easily, lips curled into a grin that seemed it'd never go away.

"What's on the agenda?" He asked eagerly, curious how early it actually was and how long it'd be before his first gift.

"Get yourself dolled up first, hon," Remy told him, tilting his tumbler in the direction of the closet.

"Remy!" Patton hissed, a hint of a scolding reminder in his tone, if Roman was hearing right.

Apparently, this was all it took for Remy to remember whatever Patton was trying to say. They swapped places faster than Roman thought possible, especially with his sleep addled brain not quite keeping up. Remy looped an arm through Roman's and began leading the way to the bathroom.

Patton waved at them as he left, "see you in a bit!"

"You're up to something," Roman accused without hesitation.

"Why I never," Remy said, pouting. "When have I ever been up to anything in my whole life?"

It was, again, thanks to Roman's still half-asleep state that he could level Remy with his best unimpressed look.

"Here I am, just trying to help you look your absolute best, and you're claiming me a criminal. That's just plain unfair."

Roman couldn't deny how wonderful that sounded, actually. Doing his own makeup and hair was a regular occasion, so much so that it almost got boring to do anymore. Remy, without a doubt, could be trusted to make sure Roman's winged eyeliner would be sharp enough to kill a man. Not that Roman would ever admit it, but Remy might have been even a better makeup artist than he was.

"Alright, alright," Roman yielded, "I supposed I'd be lucky to have someone of your talent dress me up today."

Remy looked equally smug and delighted at this. He shooed Roman along to take a shower, ducking back out of the bathroom to, presumably, pick an outfit for Roman for the day. The prince used the hair and body care products that he liked to save for special occasions, singing (of course) various Disney love songs as he did. With what must've been some sort of sixth sense, Remy was on him again as soon as he was wrapped up in a bathrobe and towling his hair dry. He got to work without wasting a moment, making sure that Roman's luxurious locks were fluffy and styled just right. The swoop to his bangs had never been so perfect, if he was being honest! The makeup look was bold, reds and golds and glitter; thankfully, Remy reassured him he'd used all waterproof brands so that Roman could cry all he liked without issue.

They returned back to the bedroom, where Remy had the outfit displayed on a mannequin. It shouldn't have been a shock that he'd picked some of Roman's favorite pieces but he was pleasantly surprised all the same.

"I really do just know you that well, I guess," Remy said, nonchalantly.

Roman, lightning quick, pressed a kiss to his cheek, leaving behind a lipstick print. "You do and I love you so much for it!"

While Remy blushed and stammered at the sudden affection, Roman darted ahead and began to get dressed. Remy didn't need to turn away to give Roman his privacy, all things considered, but he did anyway, fiddling with the jewelry on Roman's vanity. It took some deliberating, but he decided finally that, above all else, the rainbow jewel encrusted crown was a must for today's ensemble.

"How do I look?"

"Babe, I don't even need to—" Remy's words died on his tongue as he faced Roman. Sure, there had been no doubt that Roman would look handsome as hell, but the beaming smile and light in his eyes and bouncy excited posture… He looked so happy and radiant and— "Wow."

"Stop," Roman said, giggling.

Remy took the crown and approached. He gave Roman a half-bow, smirking up at him. "May I have the honor, your majesty?"

“Stop!" Roman repeated, squeaking.

"Never," Remy promised, standing and reaching up to nestle the accessory on Roman's head. Each strand of hair still fell perfectly into place. "Now then," he said, taking Roman's arm in his, "shall we begin the festivities?"

Getting downstairs took no time at all, though Remy did dart ahead and down the steps first, so that he could loudly announce Roman proper. Patton and Thomas cheered for him as he descended, which added only more to the warm blush that he had a feeling might be a permanent addition today to his makeup. The pair ooh'd and ahh'd over Roman's look, showering him in compliments and praise. If this was just the beginning, then he sincerely was unsure whether he'd make it out of the celebrations alive.

They gathered at the dining room table, where Virgil and Deceit were laying the finishing touches on breakfast. The spread looked delectable, every one of Roman's favorite foods, and all of it hot and freshly cooked. Logan joined them last, carrying a plate with a single biscuit on it. There was a lit candle, too, and they'd all started singing before Roman could even catch up. He blew the little fire out and made a wish - though they'd nearly all already come true at this point, anyway.

"We're breaking a record today of how many times we can sing happy birthday," Thomas said with a wink, "fair warning."

Breakfast was full of fun and light chatter. They talked about the rest of their plans (at least, the ones they weren't keeping secret) and reminisced on old milestones. Roman felt full and happy, content to just sit and listen to his loved ones talk and joke around him. He was never left out of the conversation, though, always pulled back into a topic or started one anew with. He was listened to, unequivocally, and the attention was pleasant.

Soon, the food was finished, and the group moved to the kitchen. Patton and Deceit worked together on dishes while Logan presented what would be the first of birthday treats. They were muffins with Crofter's jelly in the middle, a flavor that Roman didn't recognize.

"Roman's Razzleberry," Logan explained, looking mixed on his feelings regarding the name. "It took some experimenting, but this combination of raspberry, strawberry, and dragonfruit came out the metaphorical winner."

"It's delicious!" Roman exclaimed, taking another from the tray. "My own jam! Thank you, dearest."

They gathered in the living room next, where the furniture had been rearranged to give them space for various activities. They did start with a movie, to let their meal settle, all huddled together on the couches. Roman was squished between Virgil and Thomas, the former playing absentmindedly with Roman's fingers while Thomas trailed his hand up and down Roman's arm, leaving tingles along the way. He might have dozed off a little, warm and cozy as he was.

The short nap energized him for their next game. Charades was one of his favorites as it gave him an opportunity to really practice his acting skills. What better way to hone one's craft than by not being able to use all the normal necessary components? Playing a part without any speaking lines and having to hope he'd do well enough that his companions could guess… It was a challenge he always looked forward to!

Virgil popped out and back in shortly with snacks for them all, the apparent second birthday treat: popcorn and candies and chips and soda, all easy and quick but not any less appreciated. They split into teams of two, leaving one to be their referee, and then each round, swapping out so that they all could have a turn to play. Roman ended up the winner, to absolutely no one’s surprise, though Deceit did come in a close second.

Lunchtime had rolled around and this time, they took to each making sandwiches for themselves. Patton and Remy surprised them (well, surprised Roman) with the third and fourth birthday treats: heart shaped cookies with exquisite frosting doodles and red velvet cake pops, respectively. They were sweet and delicious and baked perfectly and Roman only resisted eating more than he could count because he knew he had to save room still for whatever Thomas and Deceit had made. After they were finished and the dishes were washed, Patton led the way back upstairs. They stopped in front of his room.

“Would it be okay if we took a trip down Memory Lane?” He asked, holding Roman’s hands. “I was thinking we could visit some birthdays past!”

Roman looked to the others, nearly overwhelmed with how much affection and love he had for them all. “Whatever you have planned, I’m all in.”

“Nap time,” Remy and Virgil chorused.

Deceit rolled his eyes while Logan stifled a laugh.

“Shh,” Thomas hushed, giving them pats on the head. It was an amusing sight, to say the least, as Remy had a couple of inches on him and Virgil’s hunched over form was shorter than them both.

Memory Lane was as warm and fuzzy as Roman remembered it. He didn’t come through here often, usually only when he and Remy needed something for a Dream, but the consistent feeling it carried of being embraced by Mom or Dad was nice. The memories they visited were nice, too: old visions of time spent with friends, trips to amusement parks, parties that ran late into the night. While they all had their moments, Roman couldn’t help but feel that his birthday today was the absolute very best of them all. By the time they exited, he wasn’t sure he’d ever felt quite so relaxed. Logan and Virgil, on the other hand, looked like they were a little tired from the adventure. He took to their sides, planting himself between them, and grabbing each of their hands. Their quiet, grateful smiles were enough to give him pleasant shivers down his spine.

“Kitchen’s off limits,” Deceit announced as they all arrived back downstairs. “None may enter.”

“Except me!” Thomas piped up.

“Except you,” Deceit agreed, giving him a not-so-secret smitten smile.

Before Roman could ask why, they’d both disappeared. His attention was quickly stolen by Remy anyway, who was dragging him down onto the couch for his and Virgil’s aforementioned nap time. Patton giggled, making sure that they had enough blankets and pillows to be comfy.

“You sleep well, okay? We’ll wake you up in a little bit!” Patton said, taking Roman’s crown for him so that it wouldn’t get in the way, and setting it carefully on the coffee table.

If Roman wanted to ask Logan and Patton to join their cuddling, he didn’t get a chance to. Remy was carding a hand through his hair, draining him of his energy with each gentle scrape of nails against his scalp. He would have declared Remy a cheater for using his powers like this, but Virgil was falling victim to it as well and having his emo nightmare curled up with him was too pleasant to allow any upset feelings, regardless of how joking or serious they were.

Roman did, in fact, nap well, especially thanks to Remy’s presence.

When he woke, his limbs were only a little stiff, but he was overall very warm and relaxed. Virgil was gone but Remy had his face tucked into the crook of Roman’s neck. His sunglasses had been removed and Roman decided it might be worth dealing with the possible attitude of rousing Remy before he was well and ready if it meant getting to see his pretty eyes.

“Pstt,” he whispered, cupping Remy’s hand in his cheek. “My sweet dreamcatcher, it’s time to wake up.”

Remy grumbled, leaning into Roman’s hold. “Sweetie, I know you aren’t trying to coax me out of slumber right now.”

“Why I never,” he teased, echoing Remy’s earlier faux offended tone.

It took a moment longer, but Roman was blessed with getting to watch Remy blink away the lingering sleep. He thought this might be the best present of them all, seeing the swirling and shimmering shades of brown in Remy’s eyes, never one color at a time. It didn’t last long, what with Remy letting his eyelids slip back closed, but that was because he was leaning in to kiss Roman, and that sort of made it worth it.

“I should’ve known better than to leave you two alone,” Virgil groused suddenly, startling them apart.

“You’re just jealous I got to kiss the most handsome prince in the world before you did,” Remy said cheekily, reaching over to grab his sunglasses from the table and sliding them back on.

Roman couldn’t have prepared even if he wanted to. Virgil moved so quickly, thanks largely in part to those flight reflexes, swooping in and capturing Roman’s lips with his own. The kiss was fierce and passionate and even as Virgil pulled away, Roman followed after him. He sighed, disappointed for it to have ended so quickly. Virgil stuck his tongue out at Remy and then shot away as Remy lunged for him. They chased each other around the living room, laughing and throwing playful insults back and forth. Roman watched fondly from the couch, warm still in their nest of blankets.

Hands pressed down on his shoulders, massaging the post-nap aches away. Roman looked up, finding Logan above him. Logan smiled, bending slightly to give him a kiss on the forehead.

“Troublemakers, the both of them,” he said, only pretending to be disappointed.

“You’re one to talk,” Roman pointed out. “I’ve seen what you and Deceit get up to.”

“Shh,” Logan hurried to interrupt. “I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about.”

“Dinner’s ready!” Patton called suddenly from the kitchen.

Roman’s stomach growled, surprising him; he wondered how long they’d slept for. Logan came around to the front of the couch and helped Roman up. Virgil and Remy had already darted away to try and steal bits of food.

“Has your birthday been so far satisfactory?” Logan asked, taking a moment to return Roman’s crown to his head. It was a testament to Remy’s hard work that his hair still looked flawless.

“It’s been perfect,” Roman answered enthusiastically.

Dinner consisted, once more, of Roman’s favorite foods. The cupcakes were courtesy of Thomas, another birthday treat, and while he seemed embarrassed about the messy frosting, Roman thought it overwhelmingly endearing; he especially liked the edible glitter and fondant stars. As they were nearing the end of their meal, Deceit procured the final birthday treat: champagne glasses for them all, filled with bubbly cider. There was another happy birthday song as Patton brought the cake out to the dining room. Roman had definitely started crying by now, as it all came together just how much they’d done for him today.

“A toast,” Deceit began, holding up his glass. The others followed. “To our favorite author, poet, artist, actor.”

“To the prince of our dreams,” Remy chimed in.

“And our hearts!” Patton added.

“To the best Creativity I could ask for,” Thomas continued.

“To the greatest hero,” Virgil suggested.

“To a wise and clever leader, one whom we can always trust to take care of us,” Logan rounded out.

Roman wiped frantically at his eyes, uncertain whether his makeup was smudge proof as well, but not caring one bit. “Thank you,” he said, voice wobbly and thick with tears. “I love you guys more than I can say.”

Deceit, from his seat beside him, used his free hand to take one of Roman’s. He pressed a kiss to his knuckles and then held that hand to his cheek. “How unfortunate for your wellbeing,” he threatened sweetly, “because I think that we can say plenty.”

And they did, praising him on anything to everything: from his appearance to his creations, his traits and what made him tick, and the cute faces he made without realizing, and every tiny simple little thing they adored about him. It was, to say the least, the best way to end what had been the best day.

[flipomatic]

Internships Chapter 1 - Before - Emira

Summary: What? Emira blinked a couple times to make sure she was seeing that correctly. Ed was going to the Emperor’s Coven and she was going to the Illusion Coven. They were being split up? Shouldn’t those assignments be the other way around? It didn’t make any sense.

Or

The Blight siblings explore career options and learn something about themselves along the way.

Author Note: Here we go, off into this brand new project. I’m writing this for NaNoWriMo, so it will be mostly written in the month of November. The target word count is 50,000 and I have 35 chapters planned. All of that could change, so we’ll see how things go. Welcome, I hope you enjoy the fic!

_____________________________________________________

As the illusion teacher lectured, droning on about imitation spells, Emira was doodling in class. She wasn’t normally the type to doodle, she usually preferred to create images with illusion magic instead, but this class was so dull even that couldn’t alleviate her boredom.

Currently she was drawing little stick figures of herself and Ed, sending them on adventures anywhere but this classroom. The most recent drawing was of them training with Mittens at the Knee.

To her left, Ed was taking a nap. He had an illusion spell cast to make it look as if his eyes were open, but his slumped posture and slow steady breathing were dead giveaways. Luckily he didn’t snore or talk in his sleep, so the teacher didn’t notice.

Emira glanced up from her amazing stick figures to look at the school bell. There were only a few minutes left in this class, and then she had only one more after for the day. After that, she’d have sweet sweet freedom for the whole weekend.

She was planning to go with Ed to the market; they had a new duplication illusion that they wanted to test on unsuspecting shoppers. The goal was to make them think they’d taken more items than they actually bought. It was still in trial, but Emira had high hopes for it.

“The schedule has changed, so listen carefully to where you’re going next.” The illusion teacher said from the front of the room, the change of topic drawing Emira’s attention to her. “After this class, head to the gym for an assembly.” Emira hadn’t heard anything about an assembly before now. She glanced over at Ed to see if he knew anything, but he was still sound asleep and no help at all.

A student raised their hand and asked what the assembly was going to be about, but the teacher said they would see when they got there.

A moment later the bell rang, signaling dismissal. Ed snapped awake at the loud noise, his illusion spell dispelling as he opened his eyes. As the students around them started to leave, gossiping about the change to their day, Emira gathered her belongings as well. She stowed her doodles away, to be continued another time.

As Ed followed her out of the classroom, Emira filled him in. “We’re not going to class, there’s an assembly.” She said, turning to walk towards the gym.

“What for?” Ed asked, trailing behind her as they weaved through the crowded halls.

Emira shook her head. “Don’t know yet. It’s probably not important.” She looked back at Ed, then tilted her head towards a nearby stairwell entrance.

Ed nodded and turned towards the stairwell, seeming to understand what she was suggesting. Ditching the assembly wouldn’t be a big deal, nobody would even notice they were gone and if anything important happened they would hear about it later. They could wait in the stairwell until it started, and then slip away unnoticed. It was a tried and true strategy.

Emira turned to head that way, but when she was a few steps away from the door a familiar voice stopped her.

“Make sure not to be late for the assembly.” The illusion teacher from their last class had walked up behind them, her voice bursting any hope Emira had of sneaking away. Now that she had seen them loitering in the hallway, she would certainly look for them at the assembly too.

“We won’t be.” Ed replied to her in a fake polite tone.

Emira nodded and turned away from the stairwell. “Let’s go.” She gestured for Ed to follow, and then started walking away. The teacher called after them that she would see them there, which meant that yes, they had to go.

It only took a minute to reach the gym from there, which already had most of their class in it. There were not as many students as Emira had expected, since this was an assembly. She thought it would be the whole school or perhaps all of the high school students, but it looked like it was only the oldest students in the school. Principal Bump was standing on the floor of the gym, holding the mic but not yet speaking.

The students were guided to all sit on the right side bleachers, of which they only filled about half of the seats. Emira and Ed climbed all the way up to the back, taking a seat in the last row. When the illusion teacher walked in a few minutes later she combed her eyes over the crowd, nodding when she saw them there.

A couple minutes later, the bell rang. When the last sound from the bell faded, Principal Bump started speaking into the microphone. “Welcome students.” He said, smiling up at the upperclassmen in the bleachers. “Within the next two years, you will be joining covens. This is a wonderful time in your lives.” He swept one hand in a large gesture. “To help prepare you for this momentous occasion, Hexside has worked with the Emperor to provide an internship program.”

A few of the students turned to mutter to each other, bringing a low buzz of whispers over the crowd. Emira looked over at Ed, and he shrugged in response. Neither of them had heard anything about this. Emira couldn’t deny that she was curious though. An internship meant not having to go to school for a while, which would at least be a change of pace.

“You have all been assigned a coven to complete your internship for the next four weeks. Your placement starts Monday morning, bright and early.” Principal Bump continued. “Your placements are final; they will be posted in your next class. The internship is required and the coven will report your attendance to the school.” Next to her, Ed sighed dramatically. “Remember, you represent Hexside. Be on your best behavior and have fun!”

A few hands popped up in the audience, so Principal Bump took some questions. Students asked about what the punishment would be if they didn’t complete the internship. The answer, unpleasantly, would be that they would flunk their last period class. Another student asked how they will know where to report. Principal Bump said that information would be available with their coven assignment.

This went on for another half hour, with questions being answered. Emira didn’t ask any, just listened to the responses. It sounded like this was completely mandatory, and whatever coven she was assigned she would be stuck with. She hoped they sent her to the Emperor’s Coven; it would be more interesting than the Illusion Coven.

When the questions dried up, Principal Bump dismissed them back to their regular classes. There was a flurry of conversation among the students as they left the gym, all curious about where they would be assigned.

“Please be the Illusion Coven.” Ed pleaded with the sky, as if asking the Isles for a favor. “Please.” He had his hands held together as if praying.

“I don’t know,” Emira walked beside him, headed to their last class. “We could both get the Emperor’s Coven.”

Ed groaned. “Anything but that.” He shook his head. “Hard work doesn’t get along with me.” He looked back up and requested again to be put in illusions.

They continued chatting as they walked, until they reached the classroom. Once she stepped through the door, Emira saw that her peers were huddled around the blackboard. She had to nudge her way through the crowd to the coven assignments, which were posted in a large illusion image on the board.

It only took her a moment to find her and Ed’s names, since Blight was almost first in the alphabet.

Edric Blight – Emperor’s Coven

Emira Blight – Illusion Coven

What? Emira blinked a couple times to make sure she was seeing that correctly. Ed was going to the Emperor’s Coven and she was going to the Illusion Coven. They were being split up? She was being sent to Illusions while Ed was going to the Emperor’s Coven?? Shouldn’t that be the other way around? It didn’t make any sense.

Emira looked over at Ed, who had his eyes locked on the list. His cheeks had paled considerably as he stared. Emira nudged his arm, snapping him out of his trance.

“That can’t be right.” He said, eyes snapping back to the board. “I’m gonna die if I have to go to the Emperor’s Coven.”

Emira agreed with him; though she had teased him, she knew Ed would hate being part of law enforcement. If they had gone together it would’ve been more bearable for him, but on his own he would be miserable. “Maybe we can swap.” She would have more fun at the Emperor’s Coven than the Illusion Coven, so swapping was a win-win situation.

A little bit of color returned to Ed’s cheeks as he nodded in reply. “Yeah, ok, let’s do that.” They walked over to the teacher for this class, who was already surrounded by students asking questions.

Ed pushed through the crowd, cutting to the front. “Excuse me.” He said when there was a momentary break in conversation, drawing the teacher’s attention to him. “Can Emira and I swap assignments?”

The teacher, one of the general education teachers, shook his head no. “The assignments are final. You may not trade.” That was quite disappointing to hear. The teacher was immediately pulled away by another student, to answer a different question.

Ed visibly deflated as he walked away, and Emira felt the same way. They were stuck with these covens, whether they liked it or not. She looked back up at the board, making note of the location next to her assignment. She would have to go there starting on Monday, so she should make sure she knew where it was.

Ed was looking at the board again, starling listlessly at it. Emira wrote down the location for his internship too, just in case.

She poked him in the side and reminded him that they were going to test new illusion pranks later, which cheered him up only for a moment.

This weekend truly was their last chance for a while to be free.

They had a long month ahead.

Next Chapter

[waveypedia]

Ducktales Roleswap AU

I have an analysis post in my drafts abt how Violet, Webby, and Lena parallel Huey, Dewey, and Louie and I was thinking about an AU where they swapped and it turned into this big thing so enjoy

I don’t think this AU has a concise story, since it mostly follows canon, but I might write some oneshots and I have a few doodles in sketch phase! so prepare to see some of those soon (or in a month when i get back from camp lol)

Della Duck is a single mother to her three lovely nieces, Violet, Webby, and Lena.

They’re her brother Donald’s kids, but he disappeared ten years ago (more on that later) and she was saddled with them. She doesn’t mind too much though. She loves them.

When Della was a child/young adult, she went on adventures with Donald and her aunt Goldie, the richest duck in the world, who raised them when their parents died. But when Donald disappeared due to an adventure, everything he had always said about being careful and adventure being dangerous suddenly set in for Della. Out of grief, she cut off communication with her aunt and stopped piloting. It hurt. 

Della raised her girls on her old plane converted into a house, because she didn’t have money to buy a house but didn’t have the heart to sell it.

Violet joined the Junior Woodchucks (Little Chickadees?) at Della’s insistence. Della wanted her daughter niece to do something other than read sometimes. Violet was hesitant, but she ended up enjoying it and she quotes the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook all the time, to the annoyance of her family

The only person who’s more loyal to the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook than she is, a legend among the Junior Woodchucks, is some guy named Huey Sabrewing. Violet has never met him, but he ends up coming to her Aunt Goldie’s mansion around a year(?) later to hang out with her new brother Dewey.

Dewey Duckworth is the grandson of Goldie’s spy-turned-housekeeper, Duckworth. He’s lived in Goldie’s mansion his entire life. He idolizes Goldie, but she’s never paid much attention to him. Not until her nieces move in. 

Thinking of making a similar AU or an AU-of-an-AU where Louie is the one who lives in Goldie’s mansion. It makes more sense for Louie to idolize her than Dewey, but Dewey is Webby’s parallel and I’ve already fallen in love with spy-in-training Dewey, so I’m not changing it for this AU.

Goldie’s butler, another former spy, Bentina Beakley, died years ago, but when the girls throw an unwanted party for Goldie’s birthday, one of Flintheart Glomgold’s (or Ma Beagle’s, I haven’t quite worked out if I’m gonna swap Glomgold and Ma or leave Ma and swap Glomgold and Beaks) daughters accidentally summons her back.

Dewey has never technically left O’Gilt Mansion (name pending until I can think of something cooler), but shhhhh he sneaks out all the time. he still doesn’t have great social skills though.

Louie McDuck/De Spell (haven’t decided if I want Scrooge, Magica, & Goldie to have a three way swap or not) is a secret shadow disguised as a teenage boy. He meets Dewey Duckworth one night when his sisters have gone on a boating trip, but his aunt/uncle has sinister plans for Goldie and her family.

I haven’t thought of anyone to swap Launchpad with, but LP and Dewey are best friends in canon so I think it works for Launchpad to hang out with Dewey when he has no one else.

Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera is one of Goldie’s most trusted scientists, but his excitable and rambling nature makes some others dislike him. Most of his inventions go crazy. The only one to not is the Gizmosuit, worn by Gizmoduck, aka his intern, Gyro Gearloose. Gyro doesn’t like his overbearing boss much, but Fenton tries his best. He’s irked that Gyro gets the Gizmosuit though, Fenton is always trying to help people and Gyro never seems to care.

Before she reached out to Goldie, Della kept in contact with her cousin Fethry. Her other cousin Gladstone shut himself up in a casino, cashing in on his luck. Early in the kids’ adventuring career, they had to save Fethry from a giant krill. Violet and Webby visited Gladstone some time later and toured his casino, but his giant lucky frog broke the casino and Gladstone and the frog vanished into the night.

If I don’t swap Scrooge and Magica, Scrooge is a fellow old adventurer who Goldie meets at a museum gallery. Goldie likes doing the tricky thing, and Scrooge is always lecturing her for it. Scrooge is reckless and lonely, and jealous of the close bond Goldie has with her family. The girls ship them.

If I do, Scrooge is basically the Scrooge from @toxikkublogs‘s Switched AU (which I’m just now realizing has the same basic premise but isn’t as wide-scale, sorry :P I didn’t mean to copy ya)

When Scrooge/Magica attacks Goldie, Louie tries to save the fam. Goldie promises him a place in her family, and he tries to save Dewey but gets stuck as a shadow until Huey and Dewey bring him back.

Webby is really curious to know what happened to her dad. She asks to see Dewey’s records of him and they make a board.

They derail the plane to Ithaquack, where they meet Donald’s old, enthusiastic friend, the god of the moon (yes I know this isn’t mythologically accurate), Storkules. However, when Storkules learns Donald disappeared, he retreats into the temple and leaves Zeus (or whoever I swap Zeus with) and his daughter Selene to keep them company. Selene and Della are delighted to see each other, but Zeus and Goldie are less than happy. Goldie stole some of Zeus’ famed treasures as well as what Scrooge did in canon. Dewey and Webby sneak off to find Storkules and ask about Donald.

Selene comes to Duckberg later, but she actually ends up being roommates with Della because they get along better than Storkules and Donald.

When Duckworth gets kidnapped by his old nemesis Ludwig Von Drake, Goldie and Dewey team up to save him. The episode has flashbacks to Goldie’s first mission with Duckworth at Shush, featuring the director of Shush, Black Heron.

I dunno if I should swap Gandra and Zan or Gandra and Manny, what do you guys think? Neither of them are the best fits but they both work, sorta.

I’m also unsure of what to do for Donald’s disappearance. I might make it so he took a boat instead, but then I’m not sure where to put him and the Moonlanders. Or maybe he pushed Della out of the Spear of Selene (Spear of Storkules?) and still ended up on the moon. Not sure.

I’ll keep working on this instead of studying for finals :P

[lyssala]

Stars

Pairings: Terra/Aqua, Slightly Implied Cloud/Tifa, Kingdom Hearts

Settings: Modern AU; Terra is the new kid at Aqua’s small private school

Rating: K+

Notes:  @mimiplaysgames sent me a post with some High School Aus and one was “Person A doodling on Person B’s arm while not paying attention in class” and I just had this sweet image of Aqua and Terra getting highly distracted in the middle of class. I also like to picture him as an artist sometimes so this captured that too. As much as I love them as childhood friends sometimes it’s fun to play with if they haven’t known each other since childhood too!

AO3

Stars

Aqua was very relieved she was a morning person when she saw her quarter schedule with organic chemistry right at the top. That was just mean to any teenager who couldn’t function before a certain hour.

Considering when she walked into the science lab most all her classmates looked like they were zombies even though it was two months into the school year seemed to prove her point. She peeked around the tables set up to face the front of the room, maneuvering down the aisle to her assigned seat. She usually stopped by to say good morning to Tifa but she wasn’t at her table yet; she probably begged Cloud to stop for breakfast making them late once again.

A few other classmates who were awake enough nodded or waved to Aqua which she politely responded to. As far as private schools went, hers wasn’t the worst but it was small. Classes were usually combined with other grades to make them a little bigger, but it also meant teachers were more able to help since the classes were so small. That she did like, though she could do without the strict dress code sometimes.

She stopped at her table, a smile pulling at her lips when she saw a body hunched over the surface, mess of brown hair sticking up from where his face was tucked onto his arms.

Aqua carefully sat down at the stool, placing her bag on the table as to not scare him but it didn’t work.

Terra popped his head up, sleepy blue eyes watching her.

“Didn’t mean to wake you up,” she said, trying not to laugh as she went to pull out her books.

“Better than an alarm clock,” he murmured. He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms over his head and leaving the contents of what he was sleeping on out in the open.

She tried not to pry and respect her lab partner’s privacy but it was always hard not to want to see what he had drawn all over his chemistry notes. Sure, they sat together every morning in this class, but she really only knew him for about two months now. He was quiet and kept to himself more often than not so Aqua didn’t want to push it by getting too nosey. Terra seemed so surprised the first time she complimented his art that she thought maybe it was pushy of her to look without asking.

“Early morning?” Aqua asked, dropping her bag by her feet.

“That’s what I get for having a dad who’s a teacher.” Terra yawned slightly, dropping his hands back to the table.

“Oh, that’s right. I almost forgot. He teaches World History right? For the freshman and sophomores?”

“Yeah,” Terra said. “Probably because he didn’t wanna have to teach me again.”

Aqua was about to ask what it was like having to be taught by your parent but Tifa’s voice echoed slightly outside the door. Sure enough there she was half in the doorway, hands full with a coffee cup and a brown bag as she talked to someone still in the hallway; chances are it was Cloud who had a different class first period. Tifa smiled and waved when she caught Aqua’s eyes, scurrying in as their teacher walked in behind her.

“Morning,” Tifa said, checking over her shoulder to make sure Mr. Highwind was still setting up. “Here, snuck you something but eat it quick before he notices.” Tifa dropped the brown bag into Aqua’s hands.

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that, but thank you,” she said while Tifa was already walking to her table across from Aqua.

“It’s nothing,” Tifa waved her off. “Happy Friday.”

Aqua pulled open the bag to see one of her favorite treats sitting there. Her stomach growled just at the sight. “You remembered my mom is on a health food kick didn’t you?”

“I got you, girl,” Tifa said with a smile over her coffee.

Aqua reached in to pull out the chocolate frosted donut in all its sugary glory. It was a sight for sore eyes; what kind of insane person banned chocolate from a household? She was about to take the biggest bite humanly possible when she glanced over to Terra. Yeah, was probably good not to eat like a slob in front of probably the cutest boy in school.

He was looking back down at his notebook, pen in his hand as he aimlessly drew something on the lined paper.

“You want to split it?” she asked.

Terra looked up, a sort of smile on his lips. “And deprive you of much missed sugar? How could I.”

“I am a generous person, I can always share my sugar. Plus if I don’t shove this whole thing in my mouth right now, Mr. Highwind will take it.”

“Fair point.” Terra held out his hand as Aqua broke the donut in half, placing one piece in his hand.

As much as she wanted to savor the sweet tastes, she had to eat it in just a few bites or risk getting yelled at for having food in the lab. Terra on the other hand kept most of it on his notebook, just eating a small bite at a time.

Terra he was…he was something.

New kids didn’t come in too often, only a handful every now and then so it was a little bit of a surprise at the beginning of her junior year there was not only a new teacher but a new student too. Terra was a year older but he was in most her classes as seniors usually were. Most the time students flocked to the new kids as they were, well, new and shiny so to speak. Some of the more popular kids did try with Terra but he was a mix of unreceptive to social situations and also just sort of looked intimidating with his tall stature and sharp facial features that most kind of gave up. The more athletically inclined students tried too thinking someone like him was born to play football, but he never had any interest in that either.

Even Aqua who always tried to be accepting with everyone wasn’t sure what to make of him when she was assigned to be his lab partner for the semester. It didn’t really take that long to get a different opinion of him though.

He wasn’t frightening or intimidating at all; he was quiet. He didn’t really voice his thoughts very much nor did he really even talk back whenever she tried to talk to him in class but his eyes were expressive, he was listening to her and engaging even if he didn’t vocally say anything. She knew by the calluses, the dried paint, the ink smudges that showed up on his hands sometimes that despite the fact most people thought he had to be a jock, he was an artist.

In the two months she shared a table with him for 45 minutes almost every day she knew he was gentle and patient, thoughtful but still had a sense of humor. That he really only opened up to people when he felt comfortable and she hoped he did feel comfortable with her. Because she liked him…a lot; it was probably best not to think about how much.

“Is it not good?” she asked, watching him pick at the last bit of the donut.

“Hmm? Oh, no, it’s fine,” he said.

“Then why are you looking at it like it killed your dog?”

He snorted, smiling pulling at his lips enough so she could see his dimples coming out. She took a little bit of pride in the fact she was pretty sure most the school didn’t even know he had them, but she did.

“I’m not a big sweets person.” Though he did pop the last of it in his mouth.

“Is it too late to switch lab partners?”

“I don’t think difference in food tastes qualifies in swapping lab partners.” His smile always made his eyes look a lot brighter, made his face softer.

Aqua had no idea why the girls in this school weren’t throwing themselves at him, well, not that she was complaining. It was kind of nice not to feel like she had to compete with other girls just to get someone she liked to look at her; though it would be nice if she could finally convince him to sit at their table for lunch but baby steps. He had a comfort level just like everyone else.

“But it’s like I tell my brother,” Terra said, propping his chin up in his hand as he tapped his pen with the other. “More for you then.”

It was hard not to smile. “That is something I can get behind.”

“Miss Lockheart,” Mr. Highwind’s rough voice boomed in the room. “I do hope that drink of yours is covered.”

“Of course,” Tifa smiled, holding the cup up slightly.

“Alright, let’s get started then. We’re about to start a new section and no, I haven’t graded your tests yet so don’t bother asking. Open your books and let’s get a move on.”

Aqua admittedly did enjoy school and learning, but even chemistry first thing in the morning could be a little much for her. She followed along in the book, listened, took notes, asked questions when she needed to and sometimes she still couldn’t quite follow. Terra on the other hand would spend class occasionally looking up to write notes in his messy handwriting but usually filled his pages with more drawings than anything else.

She knew he paid attention and she knew he was smart as she managed to get him to study with her for the past test during a shared study hall. She just wished she had the ability to listen and absorb like he did.

It was also so distracting to watch him focus on the paper, biting his lower lip every so often as he finished another small drawing; mainly because it was much better than whatever Mr. Highwind was talking about.

“I like that one,” she whispered, reaching over to tap a small portrait of a boy. Aqua didn’t know who he was or if he was anyone, but Terra drew the boy with bright eyes and a toothy grin, hair sticking up all over the place.

Terra didn’t look too surprised when he glanced up at her, maybe he had gotten used to her compliments now. “Yeah? It’s my brother.”

Aqua clicked her tongue. “He’s a cutie.”

“I’m not telling him that,” Terra snorted softly, going back to drawing on the other side of the page.

“And why not?”

He shook his head. “Pretty girl like you telling him he’s cute? It’ll go straight to his head.”

Aqua blinked at Terra, her being the one unsure what to say for once. That was the first time he ever said anything about her looks, and he seemed to realize it too as he quickly looked back up to the board to see where Mr. Highwind was.

She did the same but it was even harder to concentrate now. Did Terra really think she was pretty? Would it mean anything even if he did? She certainly didn’t think she was, well, not compared to some of the girls here. It probably didn’t mean anything, how could it?

Aqua went back to try and take some notes but nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt Terra gently tap her arm. She looked over to see him watching her, pen still in his other hand.

“Can I see your arm?”

She must’ve looked confused because he gave her a smile.

“You always say nice things about, ah, you know, when I draw. I thought I could, well, um, do something for you.” He paused. “Helps me concentrate.”

Aqua wasn’t sure what to say so she just nodded, extending her arm onto the table. He gave her a small smile in thanks and carefully leaned over. She almost jumped again when she felt him put his hand on her arm but it was almost reassuring in a way.

The ballpoint of the pen was cool on her skin, she could almost feel the ink drawing onto her skin. Her mom would probably kill her but Aqua honestly didn’t care, not when she watched Terra’s simple lines turn into beautiful curves of her name. It wasn’t like she never saw her name written before, but not like this, not with such elegant script and not from him. While she was aware he probably knew her name, he never actually said it to her before. Seeing it spelled so gracefully on her made her chest feel a little light.

She thought that would be it when he reached the final curve of the last “a” in her name but he moved his hand about her name, drawing a quick half-moon, moving to some wispy clouds she wasn’t even sure how he could do with a single colored pen but he did. Then there were the stars. He drew them all around, different sizes, different shapes but it was mesmerizing to watch.

Aqua had zero idea what was going on in class, but she could care less.

“You wear them a lot,” he said, voice hushed as he finished another line. “The stars. Your bag, your jewelry so it makes me think of you.”

“It’s beautiful,” she breathed. Not even just the drawing, she never knew he noticed so much about her.

He snorted, like he didn’t quite believe it. “Just doodles.”

“You should be a tattoo artist, you’re really good at this.”

“Yeah, you tell my dad that, please, I’d love to see it.”

“Miss Queen, Mr. Hale,” Mr. Highwind’s voice echoed so much Aqua nearly fell off her stool while Terra looked up, pen slipping from his hand. Mr. Highwind was staring at the both of them, which meant so was most the class now. “Do either of you plan on paying attention at all this period or do you have more important things to discuss? Cause by all means, don’t let me get in the way.”

The snickers started and Aqua felt her face heat up; she could even see Tifa and that glint in her eyes knowing Aqua was never going to be able to live this down.

Mr. Highwind was clearly waiting for an answer but her stomach was sinking so much that she not only got herself called out but Terra too who probably felt more embarrassed than she was.

“No, sir,” he said, his voice surprisingly firm.

“Pay attention, please,” Mr. Highwind said because turning back to the board to continue the lecture.

There was still some giggling but mostly everyone went back to their own books and notes. Aqua risked a look over to Terra who had already let go of her arm.

“Sorry,” he mouthed to her, but still with that half smile of is.

She shook her head to let him know it was fine, but it was also the first time she got to see the drawing he did in full as she brought her arm back towards her. He might’ve just been doodling, but it was beautiful. The fact he picked up on so many nuances about her with just the small conversations they had spoke so much about him as a person.

Aqua looked up to try and tell him how much she loved it but he was already grinning at her, toothy smile that she now knew his brother must’ve gotten from him. There was still so much she wanted to know about Terra, so much she wanted to just be around him and the type of energy he brought. Others might not see it, but she sure as hell did.

She picked up her pen and quickly wrote a few words down before sliding the notebook to him.

Will you eat lunch with us today?

She tried not to bother him and let him do things at his own speed but she just had to try. This was a person she wanted around so much more. He may not know it yet but she did; he was special.

Terra laughed lightly, but he picked up his pen and reached over.

Yes.

[briannamarguerite]

Happy belated birthday to the utterly fabulous @suddenclarityharry who sent us the above prompt. I hope you enjoy this self-indulgent drabble thing!! (it’s kind of different, but that means other people can still use the prompt)  xoxo

The squeak that Harry let out would have been mortifying if he hadn’t already reached his peak level of embarrassment.

“Oh, no. No, no. No, no, no,” Harry said into his palm, which had flown up to cover his mouth once he’d clicked on the stupid post. “Nooooo.”

This was not happening. It couldn’t be. The person had even used his name. Harry. They didn’t go to a big university, everyone was going to know it was him.

Just when he thought it couldn’t get any worse, a small cough interrupted the mental fuck-shit-i-have-to-move-and-change-my-name that was blaring on repeat.

Harry’s eyes snapped up. And of course it was Louis Tomlinson standing over him. No one ever came to this corner of the library, it was Harry’s special place that he could escape to when he wanted some peace and quiet. But today of all days here was Louis Tomlinson, one perfect eyebrow raised, his hip cocked, looking ready to dive into action if Harry needed saving of some sort.

“You okay, mate?” Louis asked, pitching his tone low. His voice was still beautiful and raspy and would have made the butterflies in Harry’s stomach dance had they not all been paralyzed from sheer mortification.

He sucked in air, about to attempt some sort of chill answer despite the circus music that had started playing in his brain, but his tongue tangled on itself and all that came out was “Mmghfiph.”

Which brought out the crinkles by Louis’ eyes and made Harry want to crawl under the table. It was just… he looked so soft and beautiful, in joggers that hugged his thighs and a comfy sweatshirt that brought out the bit of green in his blue eyes. He’d thrown a beanie on over his lovely brown hair, completing the effortless, I just rolled out of bed and still am hotter than you look.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Louis said, as he slid into the chair across from Harry… and that really would not help with the forming of words thing at all. “Harry right?”

And … what? “Um, yeah. Harry. Me. I’m Harry.”

The crinkles were back, but Louis pressed his lips together as if to hide a smile. It didn’t seem mocking. “Me, I’m Louis.”

Harry groaned and dropped his face in his hands. Maybe if he closed his eyes this would all be a horrifying dream. Then a foot brushed against his shin. Not quite hard enough for a kick, but persistent enough to get his attention.

“Hey, for real, are you alright man?” Louis asked, and when Harry dared peek up, the amusement had faded from Louis’ face. Harry missed the warmth of it.

He sighed, and tried to get his shit together. In the end, he simple twisted his laptop toward Louis so he could read the stupid post. The one that detailed what he’d thought had been a nice act of kindness on Saturday night.

A girl had come to the bar at the fancy movie theater he worked at to order a bottle of wine and two glasses. When he’d informed her he’d need to see both IDs, she’d told him that she was there by herself and had been too embarrassed about ordering the whole thing alone.

Since he’d been about to get off his shift, and her eyes had gone a bit damp (at least he’d thought they’d had) he’d done the kind thing and watched the movie with her.

Now, it seemed she’d been on a date all along. And everyone would know about it, because she’d posted on their university’s confessions page.

Harry watched Louis closely as he read over the post, gnawing on his thin, but lovely, bottom lip. When he finished, he looked up, his eyes tracing over Harry’s face for so long that Harry flushed an even deeper pink and actively talked himself out of crawling beneath the table.

“You did that?” Louis asked, tipping his chin toward the screen. Not a trace of humor was left.

The only thing Harry could do was nod, as his mouth still wasn’t fully under his control, and he didn’t want to test it.

Their eyes locked, held, and some sort of tension pulled between them. The throb of it pulsed in Harry’s chest, and he couldn’t blink, or breathe, or look away.

But then Louis broke the moment. Without saying anything he stood, turned and walked away.

Harry let his forehead drop to the table, the thunk of it loud in the quiet library.

****

When he got home that night, there was a post-it stuck to his dorm room door. It was neon green, a bright beacon at the tail end of a terrible day. Harry had spent the whole thing trying to avoid people’s eyes as he heard whispers and giggles follow him where ever he went.  

One girl had tried to ask him on a date, and he didn’t know if she was mocking him, but he’d had to awkwardly stumble through the whole coming out to a stranger thing, and that was never fun. A few people had smiled kindly at him, but he read that as pity and moved along. And through it all he tried to forget the way Louis Tomlinson, the kid he’d had a crush on for his entire freshman and sophomore year probably now thought he was a gullible fool.

He grabbed the post-it, blinking a few times so that the words were more than just a jumble of scribbly slashing lines. Mackey’s coffee shop. It was signed with a smiley face with two x-es where the eyes should be.

Harry led a pretty boring life. He was studying pre-law at a small university in the middle of the state. He had some close friends and went to parties, but he wouldn’t exactly call himself adventurous. Bottom line, he wasn’t in the position to turn down a mysterious invitation. 

Especially not when his brain was whispering that he’d seen that smiley face doodle before. On Louis Tomlinson’s notebook.

Dashing inside to brush a comb through his hair, and spritz a little citrus water on his face, he swapped his school bag for just his wallet and then headed back out.

When he got to Mackey’s his stomach dropped when the only person who was there was Tabby, a nice girl in his stats class. She looked up when he walked in, but didn’t move to approach him further. Harry bit his lip, his stomach clenching at the nothing that he’d managed to eat all day. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Sweeping his gaze over the small room just in case he’d somehow missed a person hidden by shadows, Harry turned to leave.

“Hey,” a voice called from behind the register. “You Harry Styles?”

Harry swiveled, but it wasn’t Louis, of course it wasn’t. Instead a brunette kid Harry recognized but didn’t know was holding something out to him.  

“Yup,” he confirmed as he took the small box. His fingers trembled but he waited until he was back outside to open it. A post-it sat on top. I like it how you always laugh at Professor Stevens puns, a big, lovely laugh that escapes even when you try to hold it back. Hawkins Building Rm. 312

Beneath the note was a key chain of a little box of fries. IT’S FRY-DAY, the lettering across the bottom wrote. A laugh-sob slipped from his lips, and he took off at a much faster than normal pace to get to the next location.

And so it went, all over campus, a scavenger hunt. At each place, there was a little box, a message and a small gift.

When Lacey Jones forgot her wallet, you paid for her coffee that one day. Along with a Keurig cup.

I could listen to you talk about Dickens for hours. That one had come with a miniature cock and Harry hadn’t been able to stop the honk laugh that his admirer apparently liked so much.

And so it went until ...

The baseball field.

Something about the post-it felt like the last one. Perhaps because it was lacking a compliment. Harry started running, because, he could be honest with himself, he was embarrassingly excited to see (who he hoped was) Louis right now. His breathing was ragged, and there had been multiple instances of uncontrolled tears, and all of his little presents bounced around in the pockets of his jeans, and he just needed to be at the baseball field. Right. Now.

The lights were on, and he jumped over the low fence in a move that was more graceful than everything else he’d ever done in his life combined.

And there, right by the pitcher’s mound was Louis Tomlinson, his hands clasped in front of himself, dressed in black skinny jeans and a lovely red tee. He looked beautiful beneath the harsh fluorescent lights.

Harry came to a stop less than an arm’s length away. “You,” he breathed, because the only other thing he could think to do was kiss the boy.

Louis’ lips tugged up at the corner. “You disappointed?”

“Never,” Harry said, the word coming out even before Louis stopped speaking. “Never. I’ve liked you forever. Since English class our freshman year.”

Everything about Louis relaxed, and it was only when it did that Harry realized how tense the boy had been. As if he had anything to worry about. “I didn’t want to seem creepy, I hope it wasn’t creepy. I’ve just, yeah, I’ve liked you too.”

Harry honked out another full-body laugh and wasn’t even embarrassed because Louis liked when he did that. On cue, Louis’ crinkles came back around his eyes. 

“Not creepy. I’ve noticed you, too. I knew it was your smiley face.”

Louis snapped his fingers like he was disappointed that the mystery had been ruined, but he didn’t try to hide his full-on smile. “Thwarted by my attempts to be cute.”

“You don’t have to attempt it, you always are,” Harry said, and then rolled his eyes at his own cheesiness. Except. Well, he guessed Louis might be cheesy himself. He’d just sent Harry on a romantic scavenger hunt that ended in a grand reveal in the middle of an empty baseball stadium.

“I wanted you to have a lovely date,” Louis said, reaching out to grab Harry’s hand. Louis’ thumb brushed over Harry’s knuckles and the thrill of it rushed through his bloodstream. “You are so, so lovely and you deserve the best date possible. Or at least the best I could come up with on a half-day’s notice.”

Harry groaned. In the excitement of the past hour he’d forgotten the stupid post. “I’m so mortified everyone knows about that,” he whispered the confession. “People must think I’m so foolish.”

Louis shook his head, and tugged Harry’s hand, pulling them both down onto the blanket that Harry just noticed was spread out on the field. A picnic basket sat on one corner. “You don’t realize how amazing that post made you look. You have such a kind heart Harry.”

Blushing, Harry ducked to avoid Louis’ searching gaze. He couldn’t think of what to say.

“Everyone’s going to want to date you after that,” Louis said, and there was a hint of insecurity in his voice that made Harry’s gaze snap to his.

“I only want to date you,” Harry rushed out, beyond coyness at this point.

He was rewarded by a blinding smile. “Well, that’s very convenient, because I only want to date you,” Louis said. “Alright, now how bout some wine.”

Harry groaned again, dropping his forehead to the nook in Louis’ shoulder and they collapsed to the ground laughing.

***

When Harry got home much, much, much later that nigh with kiss-swollen lips, he logged on to the stupid website with the stupid post. There were tons of comments that he didn’t bother looking through. He maneuvered the cursor to the box, his fingers hovering over the keyboard.

Don’t worry, I found someone worthy.

[yukipri]

Compilation doodles + Name explanations for the OC kids in the YOI Future!verse ABO AU

^ Literally the above, because I thought WAY too hard about these for legit months (the twins were conceived in my mind back in DECEMBER and Arisa in January >.>;;) and I want to rant about my reasoning for all of them. :P

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IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS AU: It’s Yuuri-centric polyamory in an ABO setting, Yuuri’s married to four mates (Victor, Yurio, Phichit, Minami) and the above are their kids.

BASICS of this AU

INTRO to how ABO works in this AU

OTHER POSTS (comics + illustrations) in the Future!Verse ABO section of my YOI Masterpost.

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Please keep ship bashing out of the comments/tags. Don’t like, just skip <3 Thank you.

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PLEASE DO NOT REPOST, EDIT, OR OTHERWISE USE MY ART WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT PERMISSION. More detailed rules available on my Rules & FAQ Post.

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DISCLAIMER: I don’t know any Russian or Thai and my info comes from not-so-trustworthy Google-sensei though I did my best to triple check from multiple sources including non-English ^ ^; I am however native and fluent in both Japanese and English and also consulted a Japanese linguist regarding my kanji choices ^ ^; If I made any mistakes please be gentle, and also understanding that this is a low-stress self-indulgent near-crack AU >.>;;;

Onwards! vvv

The twins: So one of the base premises of YOI as a series is “HEY check out this name ‘Yuri’ that works in both Russian and Japanese! Let’s have two characters from these nationalities share this name.” So it only makes sense to me that any Russian-Japanese kids they have also follow this multi-lingual pattern. I also really wanted the twins to match as much as possible because their characters are very much inseparable, sides of the same coin type kids.

Turns out finding names that work in both languages other than Yuri is pretty hard, especially when your knowledge of Russian is 0. The ones I came up with I was like AHAHAH NAH WHAT JOKE ANIME VILLAIN NAMES ARE THOSE but in the end I couldn’t find better and after calling them that for months, it’s kinda stuck >.>;

So that’s how I ended up with two names that are both nicknames in Russian, both have pretty unfortunate/evil phonetic first impressions in Japanese, and both are feminine and elegant in their Japanese kanji.

Yasha (夜紗/Яша) - I absolutely wanted this for Victor and Yuuri’s son, because apparently it’s the nickname form of “Yakov” which I mean COME ON. Unfortunately, the English approximation of the Japanese phonetic is “demon,” oopsies, not sure you want to name your kid that in rl, but it sounds cool so you may recognize it from various anime ^ ^;;; Luckily Japanese kanji can switch out meanings, so we have “night” and the second character is an uncommon feminine ending that can mean something like “silk,” but is generally just feminine and pretty.

Shura (珠羅/Шура) - Is apparently a nickname for “Aleksandr” and other variations in Russian. Unfortunately, the most obvious meaning for the sound is “carnage,” most frequently used in shuraba or “scene of carnage” in Japanese (in addition to being taken literally, this can also refer to love trouble situation, such as catching your lover cheating etc). Also sounds cool, also pretty common in anime/song titles but nooooot so great rl name LOL With the swapped out kanji, the first character is “pearl,” and the second, while different from Yasha’s, can also mean “silk” and is also a very feminine and elegant character.

Wow u two like the Free!! kids as boys with girly names

I feel like Yurio would be super excited at the prospect of naming his kids like badass anime characters “Demon” and “Carnage” and Victor would be too tickled by the bilingual options and Yuuri would just sorta cave and be like FINE OKAY but don’t turn to me when the other Japanese kids look at them weird...

ALSO, I’m aware that both are in nickname form and not the full Russian names identified above, but as the nicknames are the only ones that work in Japanese those are their official names ^ ^ Given the international nature of their family, I figure it’s fine.

Arisa (愛利咲/อริสา) - This is a common enough relatively modern name in Japanese, and I found it in enough Thai sources to think it works as a Thai name too, but I’m not entirely sure if it’s a native Thai name or a loan name from a different language and also couldn’t find a Thai meaning to it ^ ^;; But given how I’ve heard Thai nicknaming works, I was like okay it’s fine if it’s leaning towards Japanese right?? Anyway, it’s a name I genuinely love outside of bilingual potential so I was biased towards it the moment I found out it could work ^ ^;

ANYWAY, the meaning of her name based on the characters I chose (many combinations possible for this name) means “blooming love,” which I feel is super fitting for this family. ^ ^ ALSO, the middle “ri” character is not particularly cute or feminine compared to the alternatives, but is rather masculine and the choice is intentional. In Japanese, many parents (including my own), will choose to write their kids’ names using characters from their own or their family members’ names. The “ri” in Arisa is the “ri” in both Yuuri and his sister Mari’s names. This character is also actually the first one in Yuuri’s dad’s name, Toshiya (利也), yep it’s read super differently but it’s there, which absolutely makes it a family legacy thing.

Yuuji (勇次) - The most straightforward of all their names, but also given with some thought. ^ ^;; It’s an obvious combination of Yuuri (勇利) and Kenjirou (健次郎)’s names, and is a pretty normal Japanese name. I also could have gone with “Yuujirou,” but it’s a bit long, the “rou” is really masculine, and it’s also the exact sort of name that would be butchered mercilessly in international contexts (though Yuuji is also a pretty masculine name).

The first character, Yuuri’s “Yuu,” means bravery, and the second character from Minami “ji” is “next,” and is commonly given to the second son. But I feel in this context, “next bravery” also seems like a really good name to give someone who you have high hopes for continuing his parents’ legacy in the next generation.

*All of their hyphenated surnames were chosen based on their parents’ fore-knowledge that they’d be growing up in primarily international contexts. Hyphenated surnames really aren’t a thing in Japan at least and Katsuki-Minami is bizarre af but I figured anything goes if it’s all international and given how unconventional their family already is, they’re going to prioritize keeping the pattern than giving a traditional name. Katsuki is first in all of the kids surnames so the kids’ll be together alphabetically. As of the “current” time in this AU, all of the parents have retained their original surnames.

[recentnews18-blog]

New Post has been published on https://shovelnews.com/how-indie-developers-finished-half-life-3/

How indie developers finished Half-Life 3

On 25 August 2017, Marc Laidlaw, former writer on the Half-Life series with Valve – from the original game to its extended second chapter – posted a short story in the form of a letter entitled Epistle 3. While the names had been gender-swapped and other details disguised, it was clear that this was an interpretation of Half-Life 2: Episode 3, or Half-Life 3 as we have come to refer to it over the years. It was a concluding chapter in the story of Gordon Freeman (who refers to herself as Gertie Fremont in the text), a story that was never given a chance to be finished.

It was an extraordinary moment. After so many years of looking for clues and references to a Half-Life sequel, of seeing the number three in any Valve or Valve-associated title as a portent of Freeman’s return, we finally had this. A vision of what could have been. 

Gordon Freeman: Rational Man is a creation of the Half Life 3 game jam.

A vision that writer Laura Michet didn’t want to see go to waste. “I saw someone tweeting it out and I was immediately fascinated,” the originator of the Epistle 3 Jam on itch.io explains to us. “That evening, at dinner with some friends, I ended up reading parts of it with them. We were all people who had grown up with the Half-Life games and started games careers in the shadow of the perpetually unreleased HL3.” And when the dinner was over and the enormity of what Laidlaw’s text represented settled into place, she sprang into action. “I rushed back to my computer to make the jam, actually.” 

“There’s something fascinating about taking this thing that will never be made and letting it go free”

Brendon Chung, creator of Tiger Team

Game jams are a curious and wonderful thing. They are cauldrons of creativity in compromised conditions. Limits of time, resources and accessibility make them the open mic nights of the games industry, where veterans can play with new materials and up and coming creatives can make a name for themselves and show their talent. “They’re my favourite creative activity in the world, pretty much,” says Michet, who started out in the game jam scene after graduating a few years ago. “I love running game jams on itch, too, since that platform gives you instant access to other people who might be interested in the same topic. I love seeing the stuff  that comes out of itch jams.” 

How did the Epistle 3 game jam link to Half Life 3?

Epsistle 3 is a more psychedelic take on Half-Life 3.

The Epistle 3 Jam started on 26 August (the day after Laidlaw’s piece was revealed) and ran to 1 November, attracting a swathe of developers with the desire to finish what Valve had started. Developers such as the aforementioned Brendon Chung, creator of Thirty Flights Of Loving and Quadrilateral Cowboy for Blendo Games. “I was (and still am) a tremendous fan of the Half-Life games. They really blew up the definition of what a first-person shooter can be. Half-Life played a big part in shaping the kind of work I do,” he tells us. “There’s some really elaborate and ambitious stuff happening in the synopsis. Lots of great temporal and dimensional hopping. I wanted to use this aspect as the backbone of the project, to have you and your memories bumping around time and space.” 

“It’s a beautiful, poignant farewell to a series that will never reach a proper conclusion.” Heather Robertson, creator of GENDERWRECKED and, for this game, the psychedelic EPISTLE 3, tells us. “Also, in the wrong hands, it is a ridiculous comedy piece where nothing makes sense and everything is horrible. I have those wrong hands.” And pretty much everyone we spoke to concurred that the prospect of creating a bootleg Half-Life was just too good an opportunity to pass up. How the developers chose to take it from there and what they created was wildly different, however. Of the 32 submissions to the jam once the process had closed, very few are actually first-person shooters or, even if they are, not in the traditional sense. Thanks to the nature of the jam and the source material, the creators felt a freedom to go wild. 

What games did Half-Life 3’s unofficial synopsis inspire?

Rational Man is billed as a ‘visual novel parody’ of Half-Life 3.

“Evidently, not even Valve wants to take on the challenge of making a shooter follow- up to Half-Life 2, so I felt there was zero mileage in us attempting it – instead, a game focusing on relationships or dialogue seemed the most entertaining direction – especially playing with Freeman’s role as a silent, killing machine who’s always washed along by events,” says James Kapella, one third of TEK Collective, behind HL2: Episode 3 – Gordon Freeman: Rational Man. You can download the game to play on PC through the link, if you’re interested. Others had a much simpler mission statement. “I wanted to make the biggest, dumbest piece of garbage possible. I’d like to think I succeeded,” Robertson declares enthusiastically about her first-person fever dream of an experience that pretty much every other developer we spoke to praised for its design and ingenuity. 

“I aimed for a literal interpretation of the most cynical take on the linear FPS genre,” game designer Dave Hoffman, AKA Dave Makes, tells us. “That is, walking down a hallway, killing everything, occasionally pausing while people talk at you. I’m not actually as cynical as all that, even as a joke, so I couldn’t help getting sentimental while writing the dialogue.” The result was something like a merging of Fruit Ninja with a relationship simulator called THE THIRD ONE. 

In fact many of the developers looked to find the funnier side of the story, leaning on the absurdity of it all while also being reverential to their inspiration. “For a while I’d been wanting to make a game that was just a single joke, setup and punchline, communicated through gameplay instead of writing,” Nicholas Kornek, maker of I Have No Mouth And I Must Freeman, explains. “I actually came up with the title before figuring out what the game would be. I just knew that I really wanted to make something about Gordon Freeman’s strange inability to speak to anyone. In the end, I decided to make a game that would reflect on the futility of trying to communicate when your only impact on the world is through violence, but, you know, funny and stuff.” 

And while the text of Laidlaw’s script gave these creators a lot of freedom to be inventive, the jam process enhanced it too. “The stakes in a jam are super low because everyone comes into the project expecting they’re going to fail,” says Laura Michet. “I ended up just making a bizarre interactive short story where you make only one real choice – whether or not to shoot the BreenGrub. The game keeps track of whether or not you killed him, and it also keeps track of how many people have killed him since the game has been running.” 

How Half Life inspired an interactive fiction MMO

You can play text-based MMO The Grub right here.

In actual fact what Michet made has been described by some of the other developers as a Twine MMO, as the text-based story actually involved measuring the number of people making the choice to kill or save Laidlaw’s depiction of a Dr. Breen-like grub and challenges you to shift the numbers (similar in concept, but more complex in execution, to the Lutece twins coin toss scene from Bioshock Infinite). 

“I think Twine is very much mischaracterised by both game fans and indie game developers,” Michet adds. “It has a very low barrier of entry, but a very high skill ceiling for people who want to use it as a complex expressive tool. Hypertext itself – telling stories using clickable links – is a kind of interactive fiction sub-discipline that nobody has quite yet mastered, I think. The possibilities of hypertext are pretty immense.” 

Everyone’s approach in the jam was different, from sifting through old concepts to coming up with something original, using the longer jam schedule to play with a work in progress or come up with a new system altogether. It was a personal journey for everyone we spoke to.  

“To be honest, I jumped into this jam with very little thought. I had been following Heather Robertson’s work in progress and it made me laugh so hard I couldn’t help but join in the fun,” Dave Makes tells us, for example. “It’s funny, THE THIRD ONE is probably my most personal game to date. The art style is just my rough doodles, they’re the kind of thing I fill notebooks with when I’m having fun.” 

“I had already written a bunch of top-down game code for a game pitch I was working on and it came to me that I should make a Lego Star Wars-type game where everything is a caricature of the Half-Life universe,” says Owen Deery, creator of Small Radios Big Televisions who made a kind of chibi-shooter called Expo. Decay. “I figured I was already making an unauthorised Half-Life game, so I had nothing to lose by re-using Valve’s assets. This sped up the production process a ton since any time I needed a new asset I could probably find it in the Half-Life archives. More importantly, though, it really helped the game feel like a Half- Life game. When you kill a Combine soldier and his radio plays that flatline noise it really makes a huge difference.” 

“Something we imagine that Valve would approve of”

Brendon Chung also delved back into the real games to fish out some authenticity for his homage. “It was a lot of fun taking the dialogue lines from Half-Life 2 and re-using them in a different context to create new scenes,” he reveals. “I basically listened to every line of dialogue in Half-Life 2 and ‘wrote’ my script around the suitable lines.” 

The strange array of different approaches, the sense of humour, the irreverence of it all, based around a franchise that is so revered and praised for its narrative is an interesting thing, but something we imagine those at Valve would approve of. The love of Half-Life is so clear from these titles and the sympathy the developers feel for the creators was apparent. 

“I’ve worked on games that have been cancelled, or suspended indefinitely, and it’s heartbreaking,” says Dave Makes. “THE THIRD ONE is a goofy, silly thing, but underneath that, it’s a love letter to game developers who have felt that heartbreak.”

I was also very pleased that most people didn’t just dunk on the HL3 developers or make a lot of angry games,” adds Michet. “It’s worse that the HL3 devs didn’t get to make their game than it is that we didn’t get to play it. Working on a project and watching it get cancelled or die sucks – that’s happened to me a lot in my professional career.” 

So, while the Epistle 3 Jam may not have delivered much by way of an authentic conclusion to the Half-Life story, what it has inspired is a wide variety of fun and experimental games as well as a fantastic platform for a number of developers, some of whom only work on games part-time, to find exposure and have their creativity appreciated. And while many said they wouldn’t be coming back to these titles now the jam was done, some will be looking to build on what they created here. 

“I want to play a little more with the world of Half-Life, rethink the barnacles, return the Vortigaunts as enemies. Make something crazy with it,” says Alexey Sigh, maker of HL: Minimal Edition, which mixes 3D world design with pixel art characters. “It’s simply fun to come up with something new using known characters and express your own vision. Also, I treated this project as a practice  at level and game design because its minimal visuals allowed me to spend less time on assets and more on the gameplay experience.”

HL: Minimal Edition in action.

Deery also had an eye to the future with his creation. “I used the jam as a jumping off point to experiment and prototype my next project, which has similar mechanics, and this allowed me to take all the feedback I received from the jam and use it to improve the experience. I had to remove all the Half-Life assets obviously, but it feels like the same game in spirit,” he tells us. 

“I am a firm believer in the idea that a game is like a little bird. Once it flies from the nest it grows wings and a beak, and would try to kill me if I got close,” Robertson tells us with an alternate view on things. “There are birds worth tracking down and binding so they would not peck me, but this bird deserves to be free. Also it has massive talons and a gun. Why did  I give it a gun?” 

“More than anything I’m really happy that a lot of people seem to be enjoying the game,” is Kornek’s take on the experience. “I’ve seen a lot of playthroughs of it on YouTube and the joke seems to land well for pretty much everyone, which makes me feel like I did a solid job on the design.” While Dave Makes just had a lot of fun with the development process, as he explains to us. “I had an absolute blast recording all the sound effects. My wife was trying to study while I was banging on things around the apartment, slamming a head of cabbage against the floor, obnoxiously chomping on carrots, swinging a big stick around for that crowbar ‘swoosh’ noise… and then I made her do head crab screeches with me. It was fun.” 

“The outcome was better than I could have hoped”

Tiger Team was made by Blendo Games.

A jam is about giving game developers the spark of an idea that will send them forward. Sometimes that’s the one thing missing between talent and execution. Besides, thanks to Laidlaw’s writing and Michet getting the game jam running as quickly as she did, we now have all of these games and all of these interpretations of the Half-Life world to enjoy. Michet herself seems delighted with the response. “I was overwhelmed! 

The outcome was better than I could have hoped. A lot of people interpreted the jam in a wide variety of strange, incongruous and hilarious ways and that is absolutely the best outcome,” she enthuses. “There were a ton of extremely funny, weird games in this jam, which was also amazing – I love how jams let people make the kind of outrageous joke-games they otherwise wouldn’t ever be able to make.” And so, while it feels more and more like we might never see Valve finish its saga, at least developers like these are tending the flame of Gordon Freeman, keeping the dream alive and giving us experiences that even a team as creative as the Bellevue outfit would balk at attempting. 

“A jam is a great opportunity to capture a moment, either in your own development (technical or personal), or something external,” Kapella sums up for us. “Marc Laidlaw sharing Epistle 3 was both a stimulating gift to the community and a full stop the series was lacking – and this was our modest tribute. Half-Life belongs to the people now”. 

Watch 10 years of Gabe Newell addressing rumors of Half-LIfe 3 in a 4-minute video.

Source: https://www.gamesradar.com/how-indie-developers-finished-half-life-3/