#trying the whole 'not updating until its finished' thing though

[kingofbodyrolls]

BTS fic recs: December 2023

HAPPY NEW YEARS!! 🥳 May every single one of you lovely people out there have the best and brightest year to come ✨

I want to thank each and every writer on this list for creating such wonderful stories and art - you are truly amazing ✨ All the fics on this list hold a dear place in my heart 🥹

❗Most of these fics are smutty as hell, so minors dni.❗ 

If you read anything on this list and you like it, please leave a comment to the writer or reblog the original fic’s post 💜And if you want more fic recs you can follow me to stay updated 🙂

BTS fic rec index → May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep (jjk)(knj) | Oct (pjm) | Nov (*) | 💜 (ksj)(kth) |

Emoji meaning → angst = 🌩️, smut = 🥵, fluff = 🥰, comedy = 😂, yandere = 😈, thriller/dark = 👻, personal favorites = 💯.

Namjoon

⭐Good Neighbor @sugaurora [0.7K] // knj x f.reader // neighbors!au, winter!au // 🥰🥰🥰

📝 Namjoon’s solitary tendencies versus the cookies. Spoiler: The cookies win.

🗨️ God, this was so fucking sweet 🥹 like sugary sweet fluffy fantastic! I loved it 💖 the way Namjoon just observes oc, and then helping her in the end 👏🏾 even though this is short, it’s fucking brilliant. The writing is just 😘😘 like I wished there was so much more, but I’m also so pleased with just what is 😌

⭐A Word from our Sponsors 💯 @ugh-yoongi [17.5K] // knj x f.reader // podcast!au, f2l, idiots to lovers  // 😂🥵🥰

📝 You’ve co-hosted a podcast with namjoon for three years; have known him even longer. the two of you have always been the picture of platonic, but that hasn’t stopped the internet from doing what the internet does. the shipping? a little weird at first, but you can understand it: two attractive twenty-somethings always in close proximity to one another, obvious (platonic!) chemistry—people have created ships for less. the fanfiction, though? also pretty funny… until you can’t stop thinking about it. 

🗨️ Okay. This. Was. Exceptional ✨🥹 I am slightly speechless, so this review might be short or long or just a rambling of my dainty thoughts. Here goes: it was amazing, seriously one of the best fics I’ve ever read 😭 everything just had that perfect flow, the writing was incredible, like I can’t even speak? The characters, out of this world fantastic ✨ the whole thing, just, perfect. Perfection. I don’t know what else to call it, sorry. The world building and tension was so fucking delicious I just ate it up! 😭 And their banter and chemistry was just off the charts amazing. Perfection. And it was so fucking hilarious too!! Many times I was just laughing or chuckling, like the lovesick fool I am 😂 it was definitely worth it to stay up late tonight to finish this masterpiece ✨ And them reading the fanfiction 💀 😂 priceless ✨👏🏾

Seokjin

⭐The IKEA Test by @yoon-bug [9.1K] // ksj x f.reader // established relationship // 🥵🥰😂

📝 One review on IKEA’s website called the BRIMNES bed frame the leading cause of divorce due to its difficult assembly. You and Seokjin had laughed when you read it. Now, you weren’t so sure.

🗨️ Their banter and all the sexual innuendos are damn hilarious! I thoroughly enjoyed this very much 💜 

⭐I Don’t Think I’m Okay by @ressjeon [4K] // ksj x f.reader // slice of life, idiots to lovers!au, childhood friends!au // 🥵🥰🌩️

📝 With many chances wasted, you couldn’t even resist anymore.

🗨️ A cute little Seokjin fic 🥰

⭐Turn Back Time 💯 by @raplinesmoon [13.3K] // ksj x f.reader // time travel!au // 🥵🥰🌩️😂

📝 After total humiliation at his middle school baseball try outs, Kim Seokjin wants nothing more than for his awkward years to fade away until he’s thirty. Cue a magic baseball glove, and his wish is finally granted. Seokjin suddenly wakes up seventeen years later, now the star pitcher of the team he’d always dreamed of playing for. Confused and overwhelmed at the prospect of the new life waiting for him, he turns to the only person who seems to understand him — you. Will Seokjin learn what it truly means to be thirty, flirty, and thriving? Or will he find himself wishing he could turn back time?

🗨️ Seokjin’s childhood/school was just, ugh, I really felt heartache for thirteen year old Seokjin 🥹 So very common as a kid, to wish you’re older – and then it’s just not what he expected at all. I really loved it! There were a few times I was laughing so damn hard, times where I was shedding a few tears as well. Just, incredibly good; very well written, the story was captivating and motivating, just yeah, brilliant. (Sorry, I’m suddenly bad with words). I loved the ‘lessons’ he learned, and then having the luxury (I’m using that word because we don’t have that irl) of going back to his childhood (almost like starting over) and damn it was good 👏💯

Yoongi

⭐Sinful Lust [series; ongoing] 💯 by @oddinary4bts [wordcount loading…] // myg x jjk x f.reader // established relationship, bisexual boyfriend!Yoongi, slice of life // 🥵🌩️

📝In an attempt to spice up your bedroom life with your boyfriend Min Yoongi, you suggest bringing another man into the action. Yoongi seems reluctant at first, but when you mention his friend Jeon Jungkook, he can’t deny his attraction. All that’s left to do is to convince Jungkook into participating…

🗨️  Holy 😱 😱 😱 this is just completely unadulterated sin 🥵🫣 I can not describe how much I love this fic! It has A LOT of angst and at times it’s just sad reading how each character falls apart 😭 it’s amazing! If you’re into stories that will have you question your own morals and who to root for, this is for you 💖

⭐In Between the Pages of You [series; ongoing] @unique-high [wordcount loading…] // myg x f.reader // s2l // 🥰😂🌩️

📝 Yoongi fell in love with you. A girl he had never even met before. Knew everything that you were made up of within 96 pages of a worn red journal with a nirvana sticker on front, with coffee and tea-stained pages that also smelled of lilacs and summer. 

🗨️ I can already tell that this story will be amazing; it’s so sweet, cute and tender. The storyline/idea is really cute and fluffy, like who wouldn’t love that?? 😭 And as someone who wrote countless journals as a teen, this one just hits differently. It’s so cute and the concept is gold 💜 I really, really look forward to reading the next chapters and what Yoongi will uncover of OC through her journal. And if he can return it to her sometime and they meet! 🥹

⭐F*ck Christmas 💯 @sailoryooons [23.4K] // myg x f.reader // f2l // 🥰🥵

📝 Making hating Christmas your entire personality was never the plan. Then again, it seems bad things only ever happen around Christmas - like discovering your fiancé cheating on you, forcing you to move back to your sleepy hometown. But Min Yoongi happens to love Christmas, and if there is one thing your very stubborn childhood crush is going to do, it’s try to reignite your Christmas spirit. Even if he has to force-feed it to you with gingerbread cookies and too-sweet eggnog. 

🗨️ Gosh, I remember reading this sometime last year and it was perfection - it still is! ✨ It’s so so so fucking good. If you haven’t read it, please do so 🥹 it’s also one of the best Christmasy fics 💜

Hoseok

⭐Ho Ho Horrible 💯 @ugh-yoongi [5.6K] // jhs x f.reader // e2l, neighbor!au, holiday!au // 🥵🥰😂

📝 (or, the one where your neighbor is a relentless christmas caroler and refuses to take a hint, but at least he's really hot.)

🗨️ No– this was just so freaking cute! 😭 Like fluffy cute and also extremely funny, just what I love. I loved this so much 💜 OC’s friendship with Tae, their banter was 💯 and then with Hobi, just so so good! It was so cute and OC’s internal dialogue is just funny 😂A really cute holiday themed Hoseok fic that I can’t recommend enough!!!! Everything was just great. Had me smiling and giggling a few times – please go read it 🥹💜

⭐Started with a Sparkle, now we’re on Fire @the-boy-meets-evil [6.5K] // jhs x f.reader // f2l // 🥵

📝 You're feeling self conscious about your recent break-up and hoseok is more than happy to teach you a thing or two.

🗨️ Really really good! I really liked it 💜 I really loved how both sweet and demanding Hoseok was, guiding oc through everything.

Jimin

⭐Couchsurfer 💯 @heartbeatan [6K] // pjm x f.reader // s2l // 🥵🥰

📝 This was left intentionally blank 🫥

🗨️ Omg this was so fucking good! 💯 First, really well written and the pacing was lovely, even though it’s short and one night they spend together 🥹 the build up of their tension and their chemistry was off the charts! So impeccably done! Fuck. I loved it ✨ it’s insane how good this story is and Jimin is just so sweet, romantic and nasty 🥵 I can’t tell you how turned on I got by the description of how Jimin handled OC, like damn 🥵 this is so fucking good, please don’t sleep on the this beauty 💖 Normally, I’m not one for one night stands, because I catch feelings for the characters, but this has a lovely ending that I loved - so fucking good!

Lol. Can not stop screaming about this one. Please go read it, fuck. PLEASE 😌 ✨

⭐Paper Hearts @namfinessed [9K] // pjm x f.reader // f2l, college!au // 🥰

📝 hearts fragile like paper, tear it or don’t?

🗨️ I think it is both cute and heartwarming, with their foolishness and stubbornness towards each other. I loved how the fic becomes full circle with the description of love by both Jimin and reader and then again at the end - really, really beautiful! 😍 I really loved this, it was well written, their friendship and love really shined through too! If you haven’t read this one yet, you really should 💜

Taehyung

⭐The Wannabe-Photographer Chronicles [series] by @gimmethatagustd [14K] // kth x f.reader // frenemies to lovers // 🥵

📝 You’re so tired of Kim Taehyung’s hipster, wannabe-photographer ass. You’re so tired of Kim Taehyung’s stupid smile and stupid jokes and stupid way of getting under your skin and sticking in your brain.

🗨️ At first I did not realize that this was a series, therefore I’ve linked to the masterlist, lol. Anyway, this series is just so fucking hot, like WHAT 🥵 There’s a lot of banter and their mutual ‘hatred’ for each other just makes this hit incredible hard. Really amazing ✨

⭐Loverboy 💯 by @kookslastbutton [7.1K] // kth x f.reader // established relationship // 🥵🥰🌩️

📝 After a startling conversation with your coworkers, you start feeling insecure about your sexual prowess. You don't initiate as much, you haven't worn lingerie yet, and you're still timid about doing much seducing with your body–are you giving your boyfriend boring sex? Taehyung reassures you that you are perfect and have nothing to worry about.

🗨️ These coworkers gotta go, okay?! 😠🤣 Planting seeds of doubt in OC’s head, no, no. Tae to the rescue!! He is so sweet in this too, yes a real ‘loverboy’ 😍 Gosh and then best friend Jimin - that was just pure gold, their relationship and how he helps OC 🥹 That is friendship goals!! A sweet, loving and comforting Taehyung fic - I loved it ✨

⭐Hush, yeah? [series; ongoing/hiatus] by @kithtaehyung [wordcount loading…] // kth x f.reader // brother’s best friend!au, music festival!au // 🥵

📝 Who knew an innocent accident could turn things so dirty..

🗨️ Pure gold ✨ — I don’t really have much to say, except GO READ IT.

⭐Under wraps by @jungkxook [15K] // kth x f.reader // e2l, fake dating // 🥵🥰

📝 There’s nothing you and taehyung seem to hate more than each other - except for christmas. having recently been dumped by your (now ex) boyfriend only seems to make this holiday even worse. but when taehyung suggests that you should pretend to be dating each other to save you both the embarrassment, pity, and bothersome questions from family and friends alike for a fun carefree month of celebrations, you can’t possibly say no.

🗨️ I just love me some good enemies to lovers AU 🥵 the relationship between OC and tae is really good, I think the tension between them was well built 👏🏾 I loved how their relationship unfolded and grew through their fake dating 🥹 the way OC realized she had feelings for him, but he had showed her before in his subtle moves, how much more he relaxed in her presence. I loved the interaction between oc and tae’s parents too, the way that they could obviously tell that OC was head over heels 😂 ah just, It was really really good! It was funny, it was comforting, and such a lovely read around Christmas! And the smut was sweet and tender (also hot!) 😍 a really great fic that I’ll add to my Christmas re-reads for years to come ✨ I loved it! Please go read it if you haven’t already 🥹

⭐Somebody Else 💯 by @jamaisjoons [4.2K] // kth x f.reader ft. yoongi // established relationship + post break up!au // 🥵🌩️

📝 Yoongi doesn’t want you anymore. but he can’t stand watching you with someone else. 

🗨️ Holy s– 🥵 I don’t even know where to begin with this one! It’s really good and the that is mainly from Yoongi’s pov makes it truly special – he is observing them and damn is it hot 🥵 Aish, really good 💯

Jungkook

Nothing this month 😞 — I AM SO SORRY that I haven’t read any with JK this month (though he is featuring in some with the other members). My JK ‘to read’ list is the LONGEST imao 😂 I’ll hopefully do better next month – but you can always check my Jungkook Library 💜

I have spend most of December being on holiday/time off, which gave me a lot of time to write my own stuff, which in the end gave me less time to read 😣 But it’s all good! I loved getting some stories and thoughts out of my head and now there’s space to read and obsess over other’s stories again 😀

Borahae 💜

[cardboardclownery]

CRASHES THROUGH A BRICK WALL

HI HI IM ALIVE!!!! sorry for the relative radio silence on here ;v;

on the topic of that actually!!!! finally have a proper folie a deux au update for you!! though its slightly different than expected?

me and professional buddy and fellow au creator @cookiecaker decided to share a summary of the story we're making for the au beforehand since we'll be taking a whileeee to finish it,,, got a lot of life to live and horrors to create "-v-

after this though you mayyyy or may notttt see some out of order chapter drafts posted for the story as well,,, or atleast one? eh youll see ;Pc

ANYWAYS!!!! this is gonna take a while so lets get on with...

THE FOLIE À DEUX DOAI AU

a summary!!

or story pitch? idk-

(cookie please lemme know if i miss or improperly describe anything here feel free to correct me-)

PART 1

the first three chapters follow alex just after the end of volume 1 as theyre abducted by lankmann and confined to his asylum as a "patient." eventually they get sent to winfrey as food, but winfrey refuses to eat them. theyre left to die in room 66 by lankmann for a Long While, until eventually he gives up and just puts alex back in their room

while alone in confinement, alex starts noticing strange things happening... dark patches start appearing on their skin, they get random pains as if someone were kicking them, and they hear a voice... a much clearer voice than the ones they used to hear while working in the asylum, and it seemed to be able to read their thoughts. though they originally just assumed it was due to being part of their thoughts as well, they find that they start knowing things they had no way of knowing and never learned prior to being confined. when lankmann typically entered room 66, how long hes inside, certain areas of the asylum patients found that theyd never heard of before...

this "voice" managed to help alex find a way to escape, leading to them running away and moving to another, smaller town in eastridge than the one they originally lived in to avoid lankmann's pursuit

PART 2

[ ! tw for cannibalism. yes you heard me- ! ]

so after getting far away from the asylum, alex assumes that their hallucinations and weird symptoms of... Something would wear off, since subject 02 was no where near close enough to affect them

well uh. nope! theyre still there!!

so eventually alex figures out "oh shit that thing is in my head somehow" and is obviously quite concerned!!! to say the least!!!! but theyre also oddly comforted by the idea of having The Voice in their head, since now theyre not entirely alone while on the run and i mean it helped them escape so it cant be that bad?? either way theyre not exactly excited about the whole ordeal and theyre starting to look different and theyre really hungry all the time and its not fun

so! at some point (with winfreys suggestion) alex decides to run off to another town a bit farther away just to be safe. but Uh Oh theyre all out of food!! so theyre extremely hungry, forcing themself through it so they can get food when they arrive but. they see someone in the woods while walking

and for some reason that makes them even hungrier

they try to ignore it and keep walking but they cant

and the next thing they know

theyre looking down at a person

chewing off the flesh on their leg

covered in blood

even after regaining their senses they cant stop themself from eating. it tasted... so good... they were so hungry... they felt awful but it really did taste so s o g o o d .

in a haze, they discard the body, clean themself off and reach the next town. just after unpacking in an apartment, they collapse, flooded with the emotions they fought off on the way there

the next day, alex finally confronts winfrey (or winfreys voice rather-) about all their grievances and they eventually reach an understanding, as winfrey opens up about fearing the outside of the asylum despite longing to escape through alex, so they eventually agree to let winfrey pilot their body for a few days to get a feel for how the world has changed since the time winfrey had been free

in doing so, winfrey realizes how small and helpless humans are in comparison to them and how terrified the patients they devoured mustve been. this allows them to appreciate human life (specifically alex's) much more and want to escaped in their own body to join alex outside and introduce clyde to what they learned after finding it again

while piloting alexs body, winfrey is suddenly forced back into their own after lankmann inflicts enough pain to wake them from the dissociative state that piloting alex left them in. soon after this, winfrey overcomes the fear that was originally keeping them from escaping the facility and breaks out

PART 3

this section is a lot less figured out than the rest so uhh bear with me please ;v;

essentially this couple of chapters just follows alex and winfrey as they get used to life on the run, figuring out where to go from there and how they could potentially find clyde, along with just talking face to face and getting used to that. its a weird feeling talking to someone that you share thoughts with yknow? like talking to yourself but its... not... yourself...

around the start of this section winfrey also expresses that they feel drawn to feminity as a human concept, thus being referred to with they/she from this point on in the story!! transfem winfrey yippee!!! it just makes sense in our head idk-

PART 4

alex and winfrey start noticing news broadcasts and posters asking around for a "dark figure" lurking around, as well as warnings about alex being missing from lankmanns asylum. this fuels alex's paranoia, leading them to seeing lankmanns caretakers everywhere, feeling as if theyre being watched wherever they go... until eventually their home is ambushed and theyre taken back into lankmanns custody

alex is essentially used as bait to get winfrey to come save them from the asylum, since lankmann couldnt find a solid lead on where winfrey could be. alex tries to convince her not to fall for it, since they can both tell this is what lankmanns trying to do, but winfrey eventually caves and breaks back in to help alex, getting trapped inside once again

PART 5

depsite the circumstances, winfrey and alex do their best to stay determined and keep looking for a way out, but they dont make much progress. to make matters worse, lankmann tries "live feeding" patients to alex in the same way he did with winfrey due to realizing that alex has veldigun traits and assuming that theyd have the same appetite as her. this isnt the case, and eventually lankmann switches to dead patients as food for alex, which theyre forced to accept due to lacking any other options

both winfrey and alex are miserable in the situation, the helplessness sinking in fairly quickly as alexs body begins rejecting the growing veldigun portions of itself, decaying under the immense stress

during their final moments, winfrey pilots alexs body to allow an atleast somewhat peaceful death as their consciousness fades away, leaving winfrey alone to reflect on all that had happened...

...and thats the official end of the story!! i had like,, a hypothetical epilogue/alternate ending where lankmann forces a Mind Merge with winfrey somehow and then gets killed and she breaks out again but like. idk the logistics of that are iffy and i kinda prefer the more melancholy end for something like this ":]c

ANYHOW!!!! hope that was!!! something!!!! please feel free to ask questions or provide feedback or anything else im always happy to engage with my fellow freaks (affectionate) :]

ALSO IF YOU MAKE CONTENT BASED ON THIS AU LET ME KNOW I WILL DIE FOREVER alright thats it for real this time- stay safe broskissss BP

[subwaytostardew]

▽ Subway to Stardew - Adoptable Joltik ⚡️

This would play after Emmet's 8 heart event and getting Joltik up to 8 hearts as well.

I released a separate mod specifically for adopting Joltik, so you only need to get them up to 8 hearts to adopt them! You can do it right now!

Adoptable Joltik Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/21002

And of course... Commentary under the read-more.

Joltik's adoption event sat in the drafts for quite a while. It took me whole a day to implement and I didn't let myself sleep until I finished everything. (It's 1 PM now...)

The event ended up wildly different because of how extra custom pets are implemented. You would think that they would be added in the same way as you get your cat/dog that you select during character creation. No. You have to buy a license. Only Marnie is authorized to sell them.

Here's the original script for Joltik's adoption event:

[Joltik Adoption Event]

Emmet: @! Joltik likes you verrrrry much. They want to stay with you. I'm letting you adopt them. Yup. I filled out all the paperwork. The Joltiks are legally documented now. 

I never gave ours a name... Galvantula wouldn't let me. She is verrrry picky about it. But that's okay. Joltik is yours. You should name them. She came along for approval. So. What name should I put on the adoption form?

[Name input box like Marnie's adoption thing...]

[Galvantula pauses for a moment to think and then offhandedly agrees.]

Emmet: Galvantula didn't shock me for that. That name is okay. Yup. I will file that with the Ferngill Republic. Don't worry about it. Make sure you take verrrry good care of our little Joltik!

[Joltik jumps and heart emotes]

◇──◆──◇──◆

The whole naming portion was a source of much more frustration than it should have been. In events, the name input box is brought up by the "catQuestion" command (which applies to dogs chosen at the start, too...

If you refuse, then Marnie also shows up no matter what you do. Farmhouse positions are also tricky and made even harder to find reference for after 1.6 added the farmhouse being moveable. Joltik kept spawning where Emmet was supposed to be so I had to use a move command just to get them to spawn one tile to the side. Galvantula was fine. I didn't get to updating her vanilla portraits yet so she's staying quiet.

The catQuestion command also only adds the pet you pick during character creation. There's no fields to target the usage. You have to buy a license. It's the only way to get another pet. I didn't want Joltik to replace a cat either since in-story you would have to earn the trust of both Emmet and Galvantula... There's no way you can do that by the first 25 days of spring. It's immersion breaking and you lose a cat.

I did find the license aspect funny though. It was oddly fitting for the mod's lore of Pokemon being pretty much banned from the region. Emmet is a threat to Stardew Valley's ecosystem. Not the best guy for the task of combating anti-Pokemon xenophobia.

Pet sizes are apparently hardcoded so I had to make a new spritesheet for Joltik as if they even need a 32 x 32 pixel area per frame. I did end up making new sprites for them while I was at it. I tried to base it off of the cat's behaviors so I have less animation fields to edit (I was tired). The cat loafs a lot. Trying to convey that in a tiny spider posed quite the challenge.

After everything was done, I figured that the whole adoption portion of the mod could easilly be taken apart to be its own mod as a demo of sorts for the expansion. So I went and made a content pack to post.

Bringing up your starter pet's friendship level takes quite some time, so it would be awkward if I let the event play with no preconditions. Because of that, I ended up including Joltik as an NPC and locking their adoption behind their heart level.

We actually only had two lines per day of the week (not including season) for daily dialogue. That shot up to six lines per day of the week for a full 0-2-4-6-8-10 in spring because I was determined to publish a mod. (I've been modding for nearly a year nonstop and I don't have anything playable... humiliating...)

Anyways! I hope you're all having fun with 1.6! It certainly brought new challenges and opportunities to the modding scene!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[kittyball23]

Mission Accomplished (a Trolls fanfic)

Summary: The brothers are able to break Floyd free from the diamond… but are they still too late?

A/N:  Okay, okay, I know I said the previous one would be my last update for now, but how could I NOT write about that new scene that came out?? FYI, spoilers sort of, so if you’re not down for that don’t read

__________________________________________

The brothers’ song still lingered in the air even long after they’d finished singing it, sparkles resulting from the musical notes that they’d hit so harmoniously. The Family Harmony had been accomplished, and the wanna-be popstar twins were off somewhere in the river below them, more than likely flailing around helplessly with their thin, limby arms and legs.

Smiles and cheers had followed from the jubilant group. The Trolls had won!

“You did it!” Poppy cried, hugging Branch

“We did it!” he corrected. He readily cupped her cheek, overcome with a sudden urge to sweep her in for a heart-stopping kiss, when a weight suddenly fell onto his side, unbalancing him. He gasped when he realized that it was Floyd.

The magenta Troll, having been cheering alongside them, fell over, unstable on his legs. He groaned as he hit the ground, far too weakened to even attempt to push himself back up.

“Dude!” John Dory cried, hurrying to one side of him. Branch, Clay, and Spruce were quick to follow, surrounding their brother in a semicircle. Poppy and Viva stood off to one side, watching with wide eyes and giving the guys their space.

Branch felt his eyebrows crease with worry. Floyd had used the last bit of musical lifeforce inside of him to help add on to the harmony and break himself free, and it seemed to be having its effects on him now. He was hardly able to breath, each intake and release of air labored, and the last of his telltale magenta color was disappearing.

“Oh my gosh…” Clay murmured. “What do we do?”

“I… d-don’t think that any…thing can be d-done…” Floyd managed to say, albeit strained.

“What?” John Dory sounded appalled. “What are you saying, Floyd? That you should just die?!”

“No way,” Spruce pitched in. “We came here to break you free from that diamond!”

“A-and you did…” Floyd said. “I couldn’t be any more grateful. I knew you guys could do it. And I thank you for it, more than you could ever imagine…” He paused, glancing up at each one of them and feeling his eyes water. Suddenly, a little laugh escaped him. “Heh… look at us… We’re all together again…. I want you to know that you’re my b-bestest friends in the whole… wide… world… I couldn’t ask for any other brothers… I l-love you guys so… so… much…”

It was a little difficult for Floyd, but he managed to lift his hand just enough in Branch’s direction. Branch saw this and, meeting him halfway, gripped it. Floyd looked up into his eyes, and though he spoke no more, Branch could still read the intense emotion coming from him. Floyd was his favorite brother, and Branch was Floyd’s favorite as well. And it was the blue Troll who he continued to look at, all the way until his eyes fluttered shut and his hand went limp.

Branch felt his heart clench terribly. “Floyd?” he whispered, feeling his voice break. He felt tears pool into his eyes. “Oh, goodness no…”

“Floyd, wake up, bro,” Spruce urged, “Wake up!” He grabbed onto his leg and shook him, but the Troll was still deadweight.

John Dory slumped, covering his face with his hands. “This is my fault,” he whimpered. “If I would’ve just been faster…”

“No, bro, this is my fault,” Clay said, “If I hadn’t given y’all a hard time trying to come in the frst place…”

“Uh-uh,” Spruce said. “This is my fault. If I would’ve - “

But he had stopped himself from finishing his sentence at the sound of Branch bursting out with a sob. The blue Troll leaned over his brother’s body, pressing his forehead against Floyd’s and clutching onto him tightly.  Tears leaked down his cheeks in large, messy drops as he came to terms with what had just happened.

We tried... We tried but we were still too late. Now Floyd is gone.

Another family member gone, just like their Grandmother.

He felt his other brothers come to surround him, all putting one of their arms around each other, and the other arm on Floyd. Each of them silently mourned the loss of the magenta-haired Troll.

Suddenly, some humming began. John Dory looked up, as did Spruce and Clay, and they found that it had actually been Branch. And in listening closely, they recognized the song. It was the song they’d sang for the Family Harmony, a slower rendition of it, as Branch paid homage to its songwriter with the somber tune.

His brothers easily joined in, humming along and pushing past the pain. It was the least they could do. There seemed to be nothing else…

Until…

Branch could sense a glow emanating, and he forced his eyelids open, lifting his head slightly from where it had rested on his brother’s. He gasped. Was he really seeing what he was seeing?

It seemed like he wasn’t, because his brothers saw it too when they opened their eyes. There was a colorful glow that ran from each of their arms from where they were on top of Floyd, as if they were supplying him with their talent. Floyd’s body glowed, his arms regaining that blueish skintone and his hair regaining some of that rich magenta color it had been.

Suddenly, he looked nearly completely normal.

But, is he actually… alive? Branch wondered.

“Floyd?” he asked, shaking him gently.

There was silence…

But then…

The magenta Troll gasped, blinking awake all at once. JD, Spruce, Clay and Branch all gaped at him. He stared back at them.

"Am I... I mean, did I... die?"

He squeaked in surprise when all four of the brothers replied with a scream of "FLOYD!" and was subsequently crushed by arms squeezing him in a tight hug.

"You're alive!"

"Oh, thank goodness!"

"We thought you were a goner for good!"

The three elder brothers bombarded him with phrases of relief. Branch in the meantime remained clung at his side, not wanting to let go, making sure that this was real.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he told him genuinely.

Floyd grinned at him, sweetly ruffling the blue-haired crop of hair atop of head. "Hey, um guys?" he asked the brothers. They immediately perked and listened in. "Do you think we could be a family again?"

Branch exchanged a look with the others. They knew just what he was thinking, so he spoke up for all of them. "Floyd, we ARE a family." And with that he went back and hugged him again.

Viva and Poppy, overcome with emotion, hugged each other as well. "Mission accomplished, sis?" the Putt Putt Queen asked.

Poppy winked. "Mission accomplished!"

[stoukadraws]

Happy 3rd Anniversary Chromatale, and Goodnight.

So its about time I say this: I won't be making any content about this AU anymore, so that unfortunately puts it into the discontinued undertale comics category xd

I just really lost the spark I had 2 years ago when making it, so the "little hiatus" that I thought was only going to be a few months turned into more than a year.

I'm sorry to those who were waiting and wanted to see more, but there is another reason why I'm doing this-

It's not gonna be an AU anymore, it's going to be an original story.

I really thought about it for a while and I decided that making it into an original story would give me more creative freedom and I wouldn't have to always stick to one storyline, I wanted to expand the world more as well as the characters, but since its all based on a game with a pretty much solid story, it was hard for me to insert some things that would be out of place or wouldn't make sense.

So, I hope you understand, this AU was truly a learning experience for both my art and my writing since I made it when I was really young and not very experienced, but I'm glad I was able to improve along the way.

Thank you for supporting this AU since the beginning and stuck around!

I plan to make more works surrounding this new story later on, so I look forward to it! And I hope some of you are excited for what's to come. (*^▽^*)

More in-depth explanation + some questions (near the end) :

This is gonna be a bit long so if you really wanna read this whole thing be prepared xd

This whole thing doesn't mean I'm quitting Undertale altogether, I'm still continuing the Strays Au, and I want that AU to be my main Undertale AU now since I've always intended on making it Undertale related and I'm already satisfied with it right now, so I don't intend on making it original or anything.

When I started Chromatale I was still a kid-ish, and I was at the toilet with my phone and idk how it started but I decided to doodle a Sans on my phone and thought "I can make an Undertale AU!".

And so I did. Chromatale back then was reallyyy different, it was a post-genocide story with Sans and Frisk trying to bring everyone back -yeah real original younger me

There was a comic I did on my phone but now its lost in time unfortunately, it went though like 2 rewrites until I decided to make it a full AU with my own story. And so some brainstorming later and the comic you all know today was made!

Again, I was still new to the whole comic making thing and my writing was pretty sloppy, I'm still surprised it got a lot of attention- I was full of passion and really worked my butt off to make each pages, even with school going on (it was online so it wasn't much of a hassle tho) I was determined to finish it and already had a lot of the comic planned.

That is until I felt a bit worn out, my motivation was getting lower until I could barely produce a page, so that's when I decided to put the comic on hiatus, I initially planned for it to only be a few months but then time went on and I still didn't feel motivated to continue it.

During that time I was just doing my own thing, making some OC art and different stories, making another Undertale AU, going back to school and a shit ton of projects to do- I felt like a little weight was lifted from my back, the comic had turned into labor for me and constantly doing updates wasn't very healthy, since during some updates I had to force myself to finish it.

The story was also changing in the middle of it, I had to rewrite chapter 3 since the first version was literally full of "fanservice" that I only noticed when I re-read the chapter a few months later.

I just wasn't satisfied with it, the story that my younger self had in mind didn't fit what I wanted now since I had grown more mature as time went on, the whole AU really taught me what to do and what not to do.

Initially I actually wanted to reboot Chromatale again and focus more on the concepts and solidifying the plot before engaging in a comic, but after some thinking I thought it would be better to transition it into an original story. I really wanted to expand the story more and again gain more creative freedom than being limited to a pretty much complete-ish story.

I wanted to do what I wanted instead of forcing it to fit with the fandom's liking and preference.

Although its going to be an original story some things will sorta be the same but I won't go into too much detail about it.

I won't promise a comic though, mini comics sure but not anything official. Maybe in the far distant future, but I doubt, I still got a lot of other stories I wanna make into comics >>

Now some things I would like to clarify:

"Now that you're discontinuing Chromatale can it be mine?"

-Unfortunately as much as you want to claim it, no. Chromatale still belongs to me. Even if its going to be original now there's still a lot about it during its UTAU days. I still own it, but I don't want to be heavily associated with it. I'd rather have others focus on the new version than the AU version, and I don't want all my other works to be overshadowed by it. I hope you understand.

"Can I still make fanart?"

-Feel free to still make fanart, I won't restrict anyone from still making any. But I'd still like to see fanart of the new version 👀

"Can I still dub the comic?"

-Sure, make sure to still credit me but please specify to viewers that the comic is now discontinued and its become an original story, I don't wanna give the viewers false hope. If your dubbing for fun then go ahead!

Any dub of the comic that has been published has my permission to still be up in public, I won't force anyone to take it down. But please don't use it for any profiting or income.

Now that's been settled, I'm planning on posting some concepts from the AU that I still have since I don't think I'll use some anymore and now that its ok to show now that I discontinued the comic xd

Again, thank you for following me along this journey! See you in the next post ✨

[turtleblogatlast]

okay so just so you know, im literally in love with your prison!leo au, yesterday i spent like over an hour scrolling through the tag and i think i read every post at least twice (more for the comics). its combining ‘prison dimension has permanent effect on leo, and not just mentally’, ‘immortality angst’, ‘object or place having a form of sentience’, AND ‘leo is somehow made significantly younger than his brothers which very much changes their dynamic without him wanting it to’ all into one which is just amazing.

i love how you combined comedy and tragedy very well!! like, for example the idea of leo being mistaken for the youngest brother, than a son, then a GRANDSON, is kinda funny for a second, but when you think about it for more than a couple seconds its also. really tragic. this poor kid may never be able to fully grow up - not only is he likely going to outlive his whole family but hes also permanently in the body of a child, lacking a fully developed brain and maybe never having the full maturity of an adult (at least in path b, until hes able to find a ‘cure’, if ever). its just. so good!!

anyways aldjsldkksld enough of the gushing (i mean i could keep doing it for like two thousand more words, but if i did it would probably devolve into keysmashes at some point from the Grip this au has on my brain). i am curious, what would happen if leo got sick? i know you mentioned that things like a common cold wouldnt really affect him that much, but what about one of those sickness is that leaves you pretty delirious/feverish and can take you out in a matter of a week? (could be a type of mystic sickness or curse as well, where you don’t know if the victim will survive or not and the only option is to wait it out.) what would happen? would they sort of just decide that its better to find a way to temporarily kill him so his body could regenerate as new, or would they try to take care of him and see if they could wait it out, since i imagine it would be the only time he’d really let his family take care of him in that way. thats all assuming his body wouldnt just automatically find a way to heal the separate curse and he’d be well again within an hour (still not fully sure as to how his healing works, sorry!)

anyways, love this au and im going to be obsessed with it for the next Month thanks

[ cw: discussion of murder / discussion of mercy kill / risky behavior implied / ]

Omg I’m

So touched???

Thank you for enjoying my AU so much, it really makes me happy to hear this :’) This whole AU was thought up exactly because of my interest in the concepts you mentioned - particularly the one regarding the Prison Dimension having a permanent and visible effect on Leo.

I know I haven’t updated it in a while, but I am still working on it and have even finished drafting the next comic, I can’t say when I’ll finish it but this ask definitely pushed me to work on it more so thank you so much <3

As for your question- it depends! In most regular illnesses, Leo would get over them very quickly, only experiencing the briefest brush with the symptoms before his body throws it away, if that. If the illness is mystic in nature then things get a little more complicated, as you’re right in that it could potentially end up as an endless loop of the first part of whatever weird sickness he gets. So if the illness is something that instantly affects you in the worst ways, and it’s something you just need to ride out until it leaves…that can potentially be harmful. Of course, it needs to be a powerful illness to bypass the prison’s curse to that extent though. …then again, maybe something would prefer that for him, should it appear beneficial :)

As for whether the fam would decide to just…’reset’ Leo to get rid of the illness…that’s a tough one. It really depends on how long Leo’s been back, and even then, it’s not something they’d just do, it’s hard for them to even imagine really. More likely, a sickly Leo would merely try to find a cure himself in his delirium, and end up ‘reset’ along the way.

I hope my wishy washy answer was enough! And really, thank you so much again for the kind words, they mean a lot :’)

[bellaxgiornata]

This has been the most successful week of writing I've had in a long while, friends! I don't know what's up with my brain this week, but I don't think any of y'all will be complaining about it doing its thing! So far I have unedited rough drafts now complete for:

Safe Haven chapter 17 (Mikey)

Break the Tension part 3 "The Fire" (Matt)

FFTDs "The Recurring Nightmare" (Matt)

Neighbors Prologue (Frank)

I still need to work on editing before I share it, but Break the Tension will be the fic I update next. Though I might share the prologue for the Frank fic if I have time this week, too, because it's shorter. I'm thinking I'll try to hold onto a few of these until I get more rough drafts written because getting moments of free time soon will be scarce for me for a bit (my MIL often watches my son to give my husband and I a bit of a break and she's going to be gone for 5 whole weeks soon).

I'm still working on finishing The Devil at Your Window's next part "Borrowed Scarf" that is almost finished, which is what I'm thinking I'll finish next (hopefully). But there are definitely lots of updates coming!

[lov-eable]

TELL ME  ֗ ˖ ࣪ ᩠ ༉‧₊˚ ✿ #03

━━ a filmmaker decides to follow and document the lives of the worst and best students at your school for a month, unfortunately, those students are you and chishiya, the most annoying guy on earth.

masterlist ◌*ꕤ

word count ✦ 1547

A/N: helloouuurrrr!! im sorry for the late update i was away at the beach but i do think this chapter its good (i personally enjoyed writing it!!) and i hope u like it :D not proofread so sorry for any mistakezzz

06/04/18 8:29

“You did not mention anything about this!” it was finally the day, the day you hoped would never come, without any outcome in your favour, of course. There was no way out now, you had to commit to the shooting and try to ignore Chishiya the best you could, to avoid the possibility of being pissed off by him and as a consequence, ultimately fleeing the scene. It occurred to you that maybe the universe was against you, based on how your plans were failing lately. Director Kyuma said you had to sit next to Chishiya for the next month as soon as you went into the classroom. “You did not say it in the contract! You just said you would record our daily lives”.

“We agreed to that but also, we need to record your interactions… It was stated in the contract…” Mr. Kyuma looked away from you, awe in his eyes because of your fierceness when ‘arguing’. You noticed in the corner of your eye how Chishiya had taken the supposed seat next to you, “leave him alone, Y/N, we did agree to this. Maybe if you had carefully read the contract, you would remember”. You forced yourself to cool off, sadly enough, Chishiya was right. You wouldn’t admit it though, that’s why you moved your seat some centimetres away from Chishiya’s as if that minimum space would guarantee you not be bothered by him.

The first two periods went by without distractions, either for Chishiya who was actually paying attention to the class or for you, head deep into your book. You were twenty-something pages away from finishing the book and your third period had just started some minutes, not desiring to complete your reading quite yet, a nap until lunch seemed the best option. Laying your head in the back of your seat, you were soon falling into a profound sleep until… “Ma’am, how can we resolve this problem with the formula?” Chishiya Smartass Shuntaro was at it again, disturbing your whole existence.

That was it, he got his answer and now you could try to rest again, right? Absolutely wrong. Every single time you thought you were about to fall asleep and travel to the sweet dream realm, he was raising his hand and obnoxiously asking the teacher about something. Wasn’t he a gifted kid, like a genius or something? Why was he asking all these questions? Trying your best to not be caught, you peeked at his book, every single math exercise was already solved, even the ones the teacher had not explained yet -you assumed solely based on whatever was written on the chalkboard, you weren’t even sure which page they were at.

It was clear, he was trying to annoy you as always. It was one of his masterplans to tick you and avoid whatever you wanted, maybe scientists were right, smarter people were more likely to become evil masterminds or psychopaths. Well, maybe you would stick to ‘evil mastermind’, calling Chishiya a psychopath was too far even if it was him. Although, sometimes you wished you could call him a psychopath and someone would come and take him away, leaving you alone at last. Oh, god, the things you would do to recover your peace, but they weren’t possible just now. You had to bear him for a tad bit more, at least you wouldn’t spend lunch with him.

Without a doubt, the universe had something against you. Did you do something bad and now you were paying the price? Was it the time you refused to help your father carry the groceries? Or every time you fought with Mira? You couldn’t help but contemplate the reason why the universe was punishing you by having to spend lunch with Chishiya. At least he was wearing his old-fashioned headphones, you assumed he would listen to music over the break instead of bugging you.

And you were right, no less than ten minutes of the lunch break went by slowly and, at least for you, deviously. Your friends were over at another table, you didn’t have any music or a book because you had finished it earlier, and just looking at Chishiya’s face in front of you annoyed you. You glanced at Mr. Kyuma, begging him with your gaze to set you free and let you go spend your recess somewhere less awkward, he gestured something along the lines of “you can go”, you didn’t fully understand what he tried to say but it didn’t matter either, it was your sign to escape from there and you wouldn’t ignore it. 

You took your tray and as you were about to leave, you stumbled on the seat. You did not trip enough to meet the floor, but some pieces of your food and your water did meet Chishiya’s hoodie. You screwed up completely, even if you disliked him, it wasn’t your intention to basically throw your tray at him. “I’m sorry, I can go grab you a…” you didn’t need to finish your sentence, while you were apologizing, Chishiya took a small sauce packet from his tray and splashed ketchup all over your shirt. He was one vengeful boy.

“Kuina, this is literally my war mark…” you said jokingly crying as Kuina tried to clean your shirt, you tried to rub it off only making it worse so she had to come to your rescue. Arisu was laughing at you shamelessly, you told him to shut up but there was no case, when he started making fun of you, no one could stop him, “again, what did you do to receive this? Did you destroy his hoodie or something?” “After this, I wish… I accidentally stained it, I already told you. Kuina, tell him to leave me alone”, you squealed. Kuina eyed you and chuckled, you gave her a look expecting her to support you, getting nothing in return. “Kuina?!” “I’m sorry but I can’t defend you… How do you even get yourself in these situations?” both she and Arisu laughed at you, you pouted but finally gave in, laughing with them.

02/03/18 1:45, previous records

Sleepovers at your house weren’t uncommon, Arisu, you and Kuina started having at least monthly sleepovers at your house since elementary school, probably, you couldn’t even remember when they started but they quickly became part of your routine. The initial plan was for Kuina to sleep over at your house, as normal, and then around 12 a.m. Arisu would ‘climb’ -he enjoyed thinking he was a spy doing risky activities, your house didn’t even have a second floor- to your bedroom. Ta-da! Amazing, right? The plan worked for some sleepovers but Arisu had terrible hiding skills, so your parents finally found him.

But your sleepovers did not end there, after some time, some begging and your parents being awfully aware nothing was going to happen with Arisu -just look at him…-, they let you have ‘legal’ sleepovers. It was your little safe space with each other, sometimes Mira would try to join but every single time you would kick her, you also had other friends but never as close as to invite to these hideouts.

“Guys, I actually saw Chishiya today, it was so funny” you blurted out, impatient to tell them what you have witnessed. “Chishiya and the word ‘funny’ in the same sentence?” Kuina asked while grabbing a bunch of snacks and bringing them to her mouth, “do not get mistaken, he’s not funny, I am making fun of him…” they shut their mouths letting you speak, curious of what you had to say. “Okay, you know, you Arisu asked to buy some ramen for today” Arisu nodded in answer. “So I went to the supermarket, bought everything I needed, blah blah blah and when I walk out, there he is, laying on the floor trying to pick everything he had bought. His bag actually ripped apart” you giggled.

“Y/N… that’s only funny to you” Arisu spoke while eating his so-called spicy noodles, “right… You would cry if that happened to you, you even giggled in front of him to make Chishiya notice you, am I right?” Kuina hit your forehead with her fingers, making you let out a barely audible whine. Kuina was half-right, the second half of her words were right, you did that, Kuina knew you so much, but you didn’t cry when the same thing happened to you. 

You weren’t telling the whole story to your peers. The exact same thing that happened to Chishiya happened to you, that afternoon in the worst possible moment, when you were making fun of Chishiya outside the grocery store. When you were enjoying yourself and completely distracted, some cups of ramen and many varied snacks fell to the ground making a fool out of you and embarrassing you in front of your nemesis -it was never that serious, you just liked calling him a nemesis in your personal monologue for dramatic purposes-. It’s needless to say, Chishiya grinned at you trying to hold his laughter, picked up everything from the ground and stepped towards you, “see you at school…” that was everything he said before walking away. How you hated him.

tag list: @surshica @enslique @httpsimmy @elernity @eshtravagent @fishisahappydog @kreishin @vernon-dursley @mhyunri @thenightsflower @madjz @saiewithakatana @yeosangiehwa @xiaoishwrites @seloise @justhere105 @naegisimp @mxbrahms @chlooooop @woodandwaxwings @huachengsbestie01 

[simslegacy5083]

Not So Berry (Straud Descendants) Gen 9

Today's (8/12/2024) Episode: Luigi's Big Idea

One evening shortly following “the mouse incident” Luigi and Noemi were working together at the dining table while Skye tried some banana slices.

When his wife’s smile as she told him about the mayor of Strangerville’s praise for their latest side job turned wistful and she sighed unhappily, Luigi paused his own modding work. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“Why is programming so fun but trying to identify new talent so difficult!?” she lamented “I’ve done everything I can think of to raise my charisma skill and yet I still have such a hard time in client meetings! My meds make me feel awful and barely seem to help. I need a win.”

“Right now,” he replied, “so do I. Everyone is still dragging my name through the mud after the last game, and honestly, I don’t know how much longer I can keep playing at this level. I’ve been going at it daily since I can remember, and my body is starting to get tired of it.”

He massaged his right wrist gently, wincing: “You know that’s the reason I had to use my own mouse that night.”

Noemi rolled her eyes at how her fiancée had unwittingly turned the conversation back to himself, as usual. “Well,” she finally said “you know you have my support whatever you decide to do. In the meantime, if you have any bright ideas for “the next big thing” in tech, let me know.”

Luigi knew she’d been joking, but as he glanced back down at his computer, which still displayed his latest, half finished, Sims Forever mod update, he realized he might have something to offer her. “Actually” he said, “there IS a project I’ve always thought it would be fun to develop someday”.

Now he had her interest. “What is it? I may suck at charming prospective clients and investors, but I definitely know an actionable tech idea when I hear one. Just don’t get mad at me if I have to shoot it down. If I can’t be brutally honest with my own spouse in my own house, when can I be?”

“When aren’t you!?” he said with a laugh “its one of the things I’ve always loved about you. Let’s get Skye to bed and I’ll tell you all about it”.

A few minutes later Noemi joined Luigi on the couch after the, as always, fussy Skye finally drifted off. “That mobile you installed is a lifesaver!”

Luigi, who’d been icing his hand, sat the spent pack down on the coffee table and turned to face his fiancée “You’re welcome” he grinned “Now, about that big idea I had. Sims Forever is a unique game. There’s nothing else quite like it on the market. I’ve loved it my whole life, but I also started modding because I wanted to enrich the storytelling aspect and fix some of the many bugs.”

He continued “What the game needs is competition. I’d love to develop my own life simulation game. Incorporate the good, eliminate the bad, and add gameplay that only exists in Sims Forever with mods. Do you think your bosses would be interested in something like that?”

Luigi saw the answer to his question in Noemi’s eyes, which were sparkling with delight “You know more about that specific genre than I do, but I think any game as popular as Sims Forever could use a little competition. It would certainly be a big undertaking, though! Even with me assisting you on the programming, we’d definitely need to recruit more talent.”

She continued “Having your name attached to the project will help garner interest. You were known in the Sims Forever modding community even before you became well known as a pro gamer. This seems like exactly the kind of thing I could bring to my bosses, if you’re serious about this and willing to write up a solid business proposal.”

Ever since they’d started talking Luigi had felt his excitement growing. “Honestly until tonight I didn’t realize how serious I was, but yes, I want to do this. I’ll have that business proposal on your desk soon boss”.

Noemi smiled wickedly as she stood up. “It sounds like you’re a very good boy who deserves a reward for all his hard work… don’t you think?”

Luigi obediently followed his wife to the bedroom, grinning broadly when she pulled their “costume trunk” out of the closet. They got into character and Noemi beckoned him close “You ready to party?” he nodded furiously replying “Absolutely. I’m all yours.”

View The Full Story of My Not So Berry Challenge Here

[winterdeepelegy]

My Thoughts on Dawntrail

So having finished DT, here are some of my thoughts on the expansion as a whole. Expect spoilers below the cut, do not click if you haven't finished. Again these are entirely my opinions, I don't intend to present this from a perspective of fact.

Hmm. I don't hate DT, but it's not high on my list: 1. Shadowbringers 2. Heavensward 3. Stormblood 4. Endwalker 5. Dawntrail 6. ARR That said, I don't hate any of the installments of this game, but there are some definitely high and low points. Let's rip the bandage off and get the blanks out of the way: 1. DT has a dialogue problem. I don't hate Wuk Lamat as a character, it was kind of refreshing to see a green, earnest character take center stage while our characters stepped aside and provided a guiding hand. The big problem I have with her is her dialogue. She's basically a shounen character, complete with the 'I'm gonna be king of the pirates'/'I'm gonna be hokage!' schtick, and it really wears on me after a while. That's not the character's fault so much as it is the writing team. That being so, this game is best played in short stints, 1-2 hours at a time instead of trying to marathon the whole thing in short order. Any more than that and it really becomes repetitious. If they want to script it to sound like an episodic anime series, it will be best enjoyed in smaller bites. Sphene suffers from the same problem. I wanted to enjoy her more as a character, but the script made that a challenge. 2. Pacing and exposition. God. The first few hours of EW were enough of a slog with its slow pacing before getting to the first dungeon, this felt like an eternity by comparison. Up to about the level 95 content, it is a long span of exposition and lore stuffing (far be it from me to complain about abundant lore!), so much of which could have been covered in less time and with less repetition. They really wanted to hammer the tribes into our heads, and it felt like too much at times. They wanted us to care about the tribes and the people therein, but few things make me care less than overdoing it. Level 95-ish is when things start becoming more interesting, in my opinion. That's a long way to climb to reach the proverbial cookie jar. 3. The music. I'll be honest, soundtrack wise, this is not my favorite. I appreciate all genres of music, but swing jazz doesn't quite fit the feel of Tulliyolal. I would have liked to hear something closer to a cultural aesthetic to match the visuals and themes presented throughout the areas and civilizations therein. We didn't get that, and it's kind of a weird choice. The main themesong, also? Ehh... I didn't care for it in the trailer. This opinion hasn't shifted since my playthrough. I didn't really start finding enjoyable area music until Shaaloani. 4. 'My people are more important than your people'. This plot point has been done. We just dealt with the Ascians and pretty much got the same shpiel from Hades. They made Sphene and her subjects a little more sympathetic, though, so... good, I guess? 5. Erenville deserved better. Fussy Bunbun got done so dirty in this expack, the very least anyone could have done was give him a hug. He didn't even get that from his mother who, frankly, was the worst character out of all of it. He was also deadnamed repeatedly, which could have been a teachable moment. 6. Wuk Lamat and/or Bakool Ja Ja still owes me tacos. ------------ As for the positives? There are some. Thanks for sticking with me so far. 1. Pretty graphics updates - better over all. 2. No weirdly split zones - thank the Twelve for this. StB, ShB, and EW all had zones that you could only cover in part, and couldn't finish until later. The zones in DT flow pretty well for the most part, and the transition between upper and lower areas of Yak'Tel are nothing short of beautiful, especially in flight. 3. More Reflections - I'm glad to see more of these and I hope this trend continues. 4. For once, I'm not luke warm on the bard AF gear. It's actually a fresh look, but haven't found a dye pairing I like yet.

[thevoidwatches]

The following is a long, rambling story about my difficulties writing prose fiction in the last few years. If you want to skip to the end, it's that I'm taking the plunge into writing again and have started work on a queer erotic novel currently titled Melting in her Mouth. Snippets may be forthcoming as I write.

It's been a long time since I did any creative writing - well, unless you count superhero RP servers as creative writing. Let's just say that it's been a few years since I've done any prose writing. And it's been even longer since I wrote any original prose - the last long-form thing I wrote was a MHA fanfic, Breath of Life, which has gotten one update in the last four years but which I swear I will finish some day! Before that it was a series of original superhero novels that I got two-and-a-bit books into (can you tell that I like superheroes?) called Paternum, which I'm sorry to say I probably won't be going back to. If I ever do, it'll probably be a complete rewrite as I'm no longer satisfied with the pacing of my plot outline.

In these last few years, I've done a lot of other creative stuff. I've gotten a lot better at drawing (although like most artists I'm still never satisfied with my work). I've gotten a lot better at guitar (although I'm still not brave enough to try writing my own songs). I've done a lot of gamemastering, as the aforementioned RP servers were living worlds.

Mostly, though, I did RP. I did an awful lot of it - my records (because I'm that kind of nerd) suggest something like 2 million words, as a conservative estimate. That's a hell of a lot of writing. It's likely more than all my prose put together - Paternum totals to something like 400k, Breath of Life barely tops 100k, and none of my other non-public works like the Court Magician or Ruins of the Empire match up to either in length (around 60k but finished, and only 30k and abandoned, respectively). Even my early-early works like the Family Trade and Time Until Death (abandoned in college and finished in high school) won't tip the scales. I'm not even going to count story concepts that never got off the ground, like Starlight City Champions or the Empyriad.

Given that the vast majority of my output, now, has been collaborative RP - and that all of my recent work has been - it probably shouldn't be surprising that I find myself nervous at the idea of going back to prose. I have to write the whole thing?? All by myself?!? That's scary! Not to mention that these days I'm used to long, long-form stuff - stories with no set end, designed to continue immediately.

And that, of course, is a fear of its own. It's happened to me multiple times at this point - I come up with an idea for a story and start outlining it, and the outline just... keeps going. And going. And when I finally cut it off, at what seems like a reasonable point, I realize that it's actually unreasonable long. That's why Starlight City Champions is unlikely to ever happen - I outlined 6 books, then realized that each book was likely to be at least 300k words which, at a conservative estimate of writing around 2k words a week (the rate at which I wrote Paternum), would have taken almost two decades!

But the thing is, that fear - the fear that I'll never finish anything - was pushing me to never even start anything. If I never started, I would never disappoint myself by not finishing. But... either way, I wasn't putting out anything complete.

I've made a resolution to myself - I'm going to start a story, and I'm going to finish it. I'm starting small - a romance novella - and I'm starting self-contained. No room for sequels, no big overarching plot to spiral out of control, no huge cast of characters that all need development. A simple story with a straightforward outline.

I've prepared myself, I hope. I read Gwen Hayes' Romancing the Beat to make sure that my plot outline would work. I read some romance novels that I find inspirational - and aspirational - like @bibliosphere's Hunger Pangs and @unpretty's Unprofessional Behavior (can you guess that my novel is going to be erotica as well as romance?). I passed my outline to friends online to get feedback, and went through a handful of revisions before I told myself that it wasn't going to get any better by stalling longer.

I started writing Melting in her Mouth (working title, it may change) this weekend. After some false starts, the words are flowing again. I feel good about this. I feel hopeful.

If you take anything from this long, rambling meditation on nothing, let it be this - don't let your fears stop you from doing the things you enjoy.

Oh - and that I'm working on a queer erotic romance novel. Snippets may be forthcoming as I get farther into it.

[iheartgod175]

Some Thoughts!

Man, I haven’t done a post like this in a while! But I figured I might as well before I work on one of my numerous WIPs XD

—So, I’ve been back on a Zula Patrol kick like you wouldn’t believe. Though that should be obvious with all the memes I’ve been making, haha! I promise this won’t become a Zula Patrol only blog, haha!

—I’ll be working on building my graphic design/editing skills so I can properly redesign my blogs ^^ You can expect a few graphics throughout the month! :)

—Chapter 4 of The Zula Patrol: Dreamscape Crusade Remastered is also coming along pretty nicely. I’ve been enjoying adding the layers of mystery and horror to the world that Multo ends up in. Oh, and a couple of new characters are making their appearance, too. And that’s all I’m going to say about the subject!

—I’ve also been steadily working on Love Language for the last couple of months. I thought FOR SURE that I’d be posting its first chapter by the end of the month, but life happened—not to mention that I keep coming up with MORE headcanons for Multo and Zeeter that I just have to write down and put in the story. XD Also, the story’s grown to the point where I had to break it up into FIVE chapters, now, with the fifth being the actual conclusion. This story’s been so fun to work on, and I hope you’ll all enjoy it when I finally publish it.

—That being said, I did have a few insecurities regarding the writing of Love Language. I wondered if anybody would actually read this story since 1. ZP isn’t a very well-known cartoon, and 2. Even for rarepair standards, Multo/Zeeter sure seems like it came out of left field. And for about a few weeks, I did leave it alone, out of worry that nobody would read it. But then I came across posts in my feed that said that it’s important to write the stories that you’d like to read, even if they don’t get any readership, because telling your story is what matters. I’ve dealt with this a lot since writing all of my stories, namely my Zula Patrol series. And while I struggle with it occasionally, I’m not going to let that whole “nobody will probably read this” mentality stop me from writing about these goofy aliens, and my favorite opposites-attract ship, of which I’m the sole captain.

—While I’ve been working on Blazin’ Trails content off and on, I’m having a deuce of a time trying to work on the final chapter of the original BT. I’ll literally sit down and open the document, looking for something to leap out at me and inspire me to work…but nothing’s working. And I really want to get things started with Blazin’ Trails Redux as well…*sigh*

—As for Super Why stuff, I’m looking forward to seeing the new shorts that are debuting next month! I got to see the first short, and it’s adorable. And I also can’t wait to see more of Power Paige in action! I just really hope that Woofster and Alpha Pig aren’t written out of the show :(

—Speaking of PBS Kids stuff…I kinda sorta got back into both WordGirl and Arthur. GOD, I feel old! And now, I’m half-tempted to have WG guest star in SRBA like Santiago will. The SRBA ‘verse? More like Into the Reader-verse, LOL XD

—Sodor Magic Crusaders MAY be getting an update in the near future. I thought about working on it for the first time in months, and I remembered that I only have a few episodes left until I can get to write the second season.

—Slowly but surely getting back into Honkai Impact 3rd. I still haven’t gotten a chance to watch the part 2 trailer, but it looks like it’s gonna be interesting!

—One thing’s for sure. Power Paige will definitely appear in the SRBA ‘verse. I just have to figure out what her backstory would be as well as her powers and what kind of fighting style she’d have. I know for sure it won’t be a sword—we already have four sword fighters in SRBA thus far (Super Why, Presto, Muse and Jackson).

—In Super Why news, I HAVE been working on the fifth chapter bit by bit, and I’d like to say that it’s about 65% finished. I don’t think it’ll be quite as long as the last update, but I don’t want to speak too soon ^^;

—I haven’t drawn anime in ages, not since I first started uploading on DeviantArt. And I admit, the pic that I’m going to post of Usagi isn’t the best..but you know what? Screw it! The only way I can improve is to practice, even if it’s wonky or incorrect! ^^

[just-a-carrot]

Hey! Just a heads up, I'm sending this to multiple people, since I wanna get as many different viewpoints on this as I can. I hope this doesn't bother you. Also, this is pretty long.

So, I have a question about gamedev, but more on the marketing/presence side.

Most gamedevs I know, even hobbyist ones, keep their accounts relatively professional. Sure, they may shitpost here and there, but it's mostly in relation to their games, the gamedev sphere in general, or very general inoffensive stuff. And, most importantly, I've seldom seen my favorite gamedevs (or any of my favorite internet personalities, for that matter) comment on random videos unrelated to what type of content they usually post.

All of my social media accounts are quite unprofessional. I've also had them for a long time, so there are a few things on my digital footprint that I'd rather people not see. I also, for lack of a better way of explaining, watch and read random shit and like to leave comments on it sometimes.

I feel like, I were to become a gamedev, I wouldn't be able to do that anymore. I'd have to treat my internet presence as its own balancing act, rather than a place for me to express myself unabashedly. I know this is working under the assumption that I would get big and that people would give a damn about me, but there is always the off chance of that happening. Of a random game you make suddenly blowing up because it hit the algorithm just right. So it's better to be prepared. And even if I don't get that big boom in popularity, I still plan to at least make games consistently enough to build a community of their own. Nothing like, huge, but I really enjoy the idea of people enjoying my work and sharing that enjoyment with others. But I don't want that to cross over into my personal life!

I know that's not an impossible feat, but I feel like it kind of destroys the purpose of the internet for me. To me, it's always been a safe space where I could express myself and easily connect with people with similar viewpoints, but I am now coming to odds with this concept as I consider how I want to become a gamedev.

There's also the side note that I don't wanna rebrand. At least not completely. I don't mind cleaning up my accounts or deleting some old ones, but I've grown very attached to being "Quamai". I can't imagine myself having any other online identity, even if there are some cringy moments attached to it.

So, do you have any advice for my situation? How did you personally go about your own online image, and what do you think is the best course of action?

Thank you in advance!

oh gosh what a question ldkjfadl

hmmmm

putting this under a cut because it got long and rambly lakdfa

for me personally i don't think i've ever made that many "right" choices when it comes to how i handle my online presence in game dev, it was mostly just me doing what seemed like the right thing to do at the time. it's also changed a lot all throughout my time as a dev

tho i guess the main thing is that i did create a whole new game dev online identity, so to speak, when i first got into game dev. this wasn't really due to any purposeful thought put into it though and was more just because 1) i didn't really have much online identity anyway at the time and 2) in the beginning i was trying to be more "professional" LOL

when i released easter, i did it without any presence at all. i had no accounts or anything. i literally just finished the game and threw it up on itch and gamejolt using the new studio name i had come up with based on an inside work joke. it wasn't until i started to get a few people talking about the game or linking to it/making vids that i was like hmmm i should have a twitter maybe LOL so like a week later i made a twitter. but i barely posted on it, it was just responding to other people. a year later when i released the 2.0 update i also made a few posts. then thought i might start using it more so started posting just a few random updates of new stuff i was trying out/working on (this was when i made my first couple of posts about early OW stuff)

but then when i shifted out of game dev again for a while, i abandoned it

it wasn't until august of 2021 that i began actively using my account again to post production updates for work on ow. but back then i was a lot more "emotionless" for lack of a better word. like i approached it in a more no-nonsense way than i do today. i also never got that much response from it either, usually lucky to get like 2 or 3 likes on stuff 🤣 over the course of that first year or so though i would change a lot in how i handled my online stuff, acting much more like myself, interacting a lot more with people, and getting increasingly more unhinged(???) LOL perhaps because i'd begun to see that being "super professional" when i'm just a little random person making a game all by myself there's no reason to be so stiff (and it's just much more fun and genuine to not be afraid to be myself and be a bit silly). over this time was also when i'd shift away from using my studio name and just taking the "carrot" identity. because i realized i didn't like people thinking about me as an impersonal studio and wanted to just be me, carrot, interacting with people, making games, and getting unhinged about my chars and stories

is this the right way to do it???? i have no idea. but perhaps since i never have any aspirations of grandeur and don't plan to be any kind of business, it's fine for me. and while it's true that i don't like to post, reblog, interact with, content unrelated to my games or other VN stuff, that's mostly because i don't want to annoy people who i know only follow me for game stuff (i worry about annoying people a lot, actually, it might be one of the core foundations for how i handle myself online LMAO). i don't have any other presence online though. once i started my game dev stuff, carrot became me, and it's all that's out there. so it's not like i need to "separate" anything. but also i'm not a very avid user of social media in general so it's not like i have an active desire to have different accounts so i can tweet about or comment on other stuff lakdjfasd i'm an old socially anxious duck who gets mentally exhausted just scrolling my feed. i don't need to spend any more time online than i already do with my game dev stuff hahaha. i do know some other devs though for instance that have private accounts on twitter just for their friends and more personal thoughts. so that's always an option too

as for what you should do in your own situation with your own online presence, i'm not really sure, as it all comes down to what you want. for me, since i didn't have much presence anyway, and because i wanted my game dev stuff to be its own thing, it made sense for me to create a new presence just for game dev (that eventually evolved into my entire self LKDJFAS). so it's hard for me to say what would be the best course of action if you already have an online presence that forms a core part of your identity that you don't want to lose. it also depends on what you want to eventually do with your games and if you see yourself really wanting to pursue it actively and make it a big part of your life. most devs that i know do have "game dev" presences for lack of a better word, where if you go to their accounts, it's just for game dev. or they create studios and studio accounts. i think no matter what you decide to do, even if you keep the name the same, it would probably be best to at least keep your game dev stuff separate, because people could potentially be put off from following an account for games but then their feed gets filled with a lot of non-game stuff from you that they don't care about

no matter what you decide to do though, i recommend being yourself no matter what. whether you keep with your same identity or craft a new game dev only one, still do what feels right for you on that account and be yourself and have fun with it!! game dev can already be such an isolating and hard experience, so creating a space where you can be silly and have fun with other devs and fun with your chars and ideas can really help so much to give you motivation and just enjoy your time creating games!!!

(sorry if this was a complete ramble that didn't even still fully answer the question; i can only speak from my own personal experiences that i went through after all and i don't really have any good or professional answers since i also have no idea what i'm doing most of the time 🤣)

[wintergrew]

Actually i will say on KAYF...

The basic premise of KAYF was an idea I first got roughly ten years ago after watching various vampire media. (Let the Right One In, Shiki, etc.) Not the whole plot, but the basic premise of a (queer) couple broken up by one becoming a vampire while their town is being destroyed by...well, vampires. Originally with my friend's and my Star Wars ocs from the MMO swtor we were obsessed with and made a billion AUs for, but very quickly it became its own thing in my head with new OCs.

But at that point in my life i was not writing fiction. I was always too self conscious of my writing because someone flamed my cringeybwriting on Neopets when I was, like...8 or something. So I literally went a full ass decade without writing fiction (with the exception of a couple attempts i immediately abandoned because I hated them) until I decided to try again with South Park fanfiction because i don't even know. Which includes The Thief, which I was shocked people liked. It was a TERRIBLE point in my life, I should say, so having people enjoy what I wrote and saying nice things about it was quite literally one of the only good things I had.

But anyway I still had that vampire idea in the back of my head, but just as random scenes that played in my head of the two main charades + the person who ended up being Estella. (Though originally her and Scott's role was combined.) The plot wasn't really defined or anything, but the basic ending was in my head from the very very beginning.

Anyway...2020. i was supposed to see MCR. Then COVID postponed it. I was very sad about this. So I extra emo-ly listened to a shit ton of MCR. And listening to MCR, suddenly I was thinking about that vampire story and their music pretty much helped me put the plot into place. The terminal illness plotline. The vampire of the pairing being obsessed to save his love and the cruelty from the other vampires regarding that. And ofc the song Kill All Your Friends itself gave me the set up of an IT-like time skip where someone died and they all go back.

They were all still 100% OCs in my head at this point. I didn't really have much confidence anyone would like these idea but, I was actively writing South Park fanfiction people liked well enough. I'd only ever written fanfiction. So I was like "huh I guess I can make this idea Creek".

So I did. And then wrote three chapters and didn't update for a full year.

But then in 2021 it became my ADHD obsession. I stopped caring about The Thief Trilogy. All I could think of was KAYF and wrote the rest of it in three or so months... Over 100k words. Pretty sure the update schedule was longer than that, but I spaced out chapters by a week long after I was finished.

And people seemed to like it. It was too dark to be as popular as the Thief Trilogy, but I knew that. It was a much more personal story, though, especially with how emotional it was, so it meant SO MUCH to me that anyone liked it. Also because The Thief Trilogy feels basically just like a bloated fanfiction adaptation of the SOT game to me, while KAYF feels like mine, so the kind words for it meant even more in a way.

Until someone I thought was a friend trashed it relentlessly. Like, I'm fine with constructive criticism but they were just horrible. Spoiled the plot for people who wanted to read it directly after i asked them not to, went on condescending rants about how there was too much filler, how Tweek in it was an awful character who deserved to die, claimed characters were all too unsympathetic, joked about parts I meant in earnest, etc. And they got really mad at me that my feelings were hurt by this. It was a whole thing.

Anyway, I'm still to this day years later obsessed with this story year. I think about it every day, which is probably more unhealthy ADHD shit. And I always think about how to make it better. I hate how I wrote it so fast and didn't think about certain details or pacing or what have you. Like, once I finished writing it, I was sad because I wanted to keep writing it. I still do.

I hate that I disappoint people by not having it out there. I want it out there, just not the version I rushed in three months.

So, for now, the fic is hidden. Indefinitely.

Anyway if you read all this tl;dr rambling congratulations I guess.

[troutfur]

Sknce you're in need of more female character promots: I'm on a weird Frostfur kick and would kill for a piece from your frost/lion/tiger/golden polycule au with her feelings, particularly after book 5 when Tiger has maimed 2 of her daughters and killed her sister.

I also have a prompt involving Goldenflower in the askbox that would go really, really well as a companion piece to this one. So I'll be trying to tackle these two to finish up days 19 and 20. I do best with talky fics so I'm gonna need her to be there to provide a back and forth. And it's a good way to add some tension and exposit a bit about the things going on with the pfurr dynamic concept that make this one so fascinating.

(Want a chance at having your prompt picked for one of the last 10 days we have of November? Check out my guidelines and submit it. The more I have to pick from the better.)

Even outside the medicine den Frostfur could still smell the distinctive tang of blood. It clung to the insides of her nostrils like a tick to an elder’s fur. And in every moment that she couldn’t see to her daughter it bit, it bit without any chance for her to lodge it out.

She’d seen how her children had reacted, Brackenfur, Thornpaw, and even Cinderpelt barred by Yellowfrang from disturbing her, from spending their every waking moment observing, fretting, getting in the way of the delicate care Brightpaw required right now. She had to be firm with her now adult children, make them control the immense grief they felt for their sister (and their brother, Frostfur thought, they did afterall grew up with him as one), set the example even though she desperately wanted to give in to the same impulse as they were feeling.

Yellowfang updated them daily and Fireheart continued to brief the whole of camp on the situation out on the territory daily as well. And with both of them the situation seemed at an impasse. It wracked her with anxiety. How long would it be until Brightpaw is beyond recovery? How long would it be until someone tried the same thing as her daughter? How long could they still live like this, the thorns erected to protect them turned into a cage?

As Frostfur pondered these questions, seated upon her nest despite the sun at its height, she saw from the entrance to the warriors’ den a distinctive golden tabby pelt. “May I share your nest for a few moments?” she asked, bowing her head.

It had been quite a few moons since they stopped sharing one. It was now much smaller than when it was four of them. Still she shuffled aside and did her best to make room for the larger queen.

A part of her wanted to be furious with her, tell her that she had rejected her children from the moment she had denied to denounce that bloodthirsty traitor, that she had been the one to put them on his crosshairs. But that really wasn’t fair. Tigerclaw had joined the golden littermates in their nest first. And it had been her decision to seek entry into Lionheart’s nest rather than the other way around, even if Brindleface would’ve been amenable to the idea.

nd Goldenflower hadn’t really had a choice. The only other sire in her nest she could name would’ve been her brother, so between staining his reputation, raise suspicion around her loyalty, and just letting the Clan carry on assuming what they already were she simply let it all take its course. At least that way she knew she hadn’t made her predicament worse.

“I’m really sorry I didn’t notice earlier,” Goldenflower began. “It was... I really don’t even know how I failed to realize it, how I couldn’t see the warning signs, the hostility between my brother and him, the--”

“I don’t blame you,” Frostfur said with a sigh. “It’s not going to help Brightpaw get better... and it’s not like I was any better in that regard. I could’ve noticed as well. It’s also my fault.”

Goldenflower solemnly nodded, wrapping a paw around her former nestmate to bring her into a hug. “Faith in StarClan is all we have right now. And we mustn’t give it up lest we end up like Bluestar.”

“Faith in StarClan is all we have,” Frostfur echoed. “I have my own apology to offer.”

“If anything that should be me,” Goldenflower replied. “I left you when you needed me most. And even if in the eyes of the Clan I would no longer be a pipfurr to your children, between us I could always be.”

“Still it was an inconsiderate thing for me to do,” Frostfur replied.

“We can talk more about that and how it made me feel after Brightpaw is doing better,” Goldenflower said, pushing her into her chest deliberately. “For now please do not carry that burden. Now is not the time.”

[becauseplot]

I finished Ordem Paranormal: Calamidae Episode 3! Wa hoo! A shorter episode, which obviously means this will be a shorter journal post right? Right???

And we're back with the Ordo crew! So happy to have my little guys again, I missed them. The Escripta crew was very interesting though, glad to have met them, looking forward to another session with them. I'm actually writing this having started Episode 4 because up until now I've had time to watch bits of episodes but not sit down and write up a big post like this. But I'm here now!

Me and my mutuals reblogging and liking each other's posts back and forth.

There isn't too much I want to talk about this episode. My last post sure was. A long one. I'll try to keep this one to the basics.

This episode should just be renamed to Carina and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day. Jokes aside, though, Gabi was just. Holy shit. The sobbing, fuck, the voice cracking; the sheer vitriol and anguish and desperation. Chills. Her acting for Carina in this moment felt so raw, open wound. The pain in her voice. Ugh. God. Phenomenal.

The Devil sure is scheming something. More mentions of an oncoming "war," and an invitation to seemingly join a side. But seriously---invitations to a game from Kian, delivered by the Devil, found in Signore Leone's chest, locked in a box with the key found with blood beast Signora Leone, with the symbol from Arnaldo's grimoire on the envelopes. Okay. What the fuck. Whose side, exactly?? This "invitation" sure seems to have passed through a lot of hands. The battlefield of this war is currently a tangled mass of who-do-I-hate-less and my guys need to focus on just making it out of this mansion alive because oh shit there is a whole entire horde of blood zombies after them now D:

You know it's really funny. In my first journal post I was talking about how blood zombies are, at best, tutorial creatures to help new and returning players learn the revised combat mechanics, but now they're STILL TUTORIAL CREATURES MY GUYS FUCKED EM UP ROCKED THEIR SHIT TORE THEM TO SHREDS LETSGOOOO.

Highlights from this fight for me are: Carina turning into a human blender with her knife when in the zombie mosh pit, Dante dual-wielding his AoE spiral ritual, and "torretta."

Then there was the Hanna blood zombie. Lovely lovely detail to include that it looks like its limbs were reattached at wrong angles, as well as the Japanese character carved where its face would be. My boy is an artist <3

Really, though, it feels so. Mh. How do I say this. It's the fact that it's basically a creature of his own creation, intentionally or not. His hatred for the paranormal and the creatures it harbors vs the fact that he is somewhat responsible for this abomination existing. He feels. I don't want to say he feels unhuman, to call him no longer "human" would be doing the character a disservice, but he feels slightly left of human, you know? Not quite creature-coded, but more along the lines of a force of nature. A force of pain. Something that brings things like this into the world. Hanna, having been a powerful occultist in life, was always going to leave behind a powerful creature if left in a paranormally active area, but now it has some of Joui's influence on it and some of Joui's wrath inflicted upon it, which certainly has to be helping on the power-front.

I don't know. There's something about this that I feel like I'm walking around but not quite landing on. Get back to me in 3-5 business days.

(Update: I'm starting to think thoughts, and I might be terribly wrong about Joui being Death-leaning-but-backed-by-Blood-because-Devil and is instead just Blood. Not going to elaborate more because those thoughts need to stay in the pot to cook a little while longer but I really do hope Joui is still Death-leaning. Please it would make me specifically so happy.)

In any case, they took care of creature, even if it landed on top of Carina (ouch). Oh and the fan. Yes, the fan. Surprised that the fan does not, in fact, give the infamous paralysis ritual, which is what it was used for, and instead gives a zoomy ritual. Hanna does have multiple fans. According to Arthur's reaction, though, this seems to be the same one used to paralyze them, which I would assume would have the appropriate ritual symbol drawn on it. Ah well. Another ritual pocketed.

Upstairs and medical room (aka checkpoint before boss fight) and papers time, papers time, time to papers!

I actually don't remember too much about what they were talking about here, I'm pretty sure I was half-asleep when they were discussing lore. They looked over some more things with the black light (mention of a throne? like the Devil's?), they talked about the x-rays and the potential fact that Signore Leone had made a pact with the Devil when he was declared terminal with a heart tumor and BAM blood beast! Kinda sad that they didn't get to theorize more, but unfortunately this house is just full of horrors. I think I'll rewatch this section later.

Blood beast Signora Leone. MASSIVE. Rubens ran out into the hall, followed by Carina, because damn, short ranged weapons are a bad idea. (Head in hands, poor Balu....and with a paranormal Death spiral scar too...)

Believe it or not, these are screenshots from the same pause frame. Two very different emotions here.

At the very least, Arthur and Dante's sniper + echo dolor team attack came in clutch again (even if it was nerfed, rip Rakin) and it was especially cool this time around because Dante's turn was right after Arthur's for this combat. It really felt like they were trading off, chaining attacks. Neat!

More lore. Did not catch all of it. New page for the Grimoire with the symbol of the Mascaras...? Or something...? As you can see I pay careful attention to this series and all of the important plot points and investigation threads when they come up because I am an attentive viewer. Have a squished Dante.

Then there was the funeral for Signora Leone and the rest of the Leone family---once again a symbolic funeral, because there's rarely ever any remains left to bury when someone dies in this series, unfortunately. One thing I've noticed is that when a person dies in the middle of a mission, the burial always starts with their closest loved one(s) digging a grave with their bare hands. Sometimes someone else starts to help, sometimes someone else goes and finds a proper shovel, but it always starts with someone getting on their knees and clawing at the earth. It's raw. It's personal. You know the risks of your line of work and yet you still weren't prepared to do this; you could never be prepared to do this.

Arthur being there to support Carina in this horrible time, using everything he's learned from his own heartbreak and his own families to comfort her... He, too, lost his family in the span of a day. He, too, never got the chance to say goodbye. He, too, never could have imagined that something like this could happen. And Carina, just like he was, will also be saved by her new family---her team. So he gets on his knees beside her and helps her start to dig the grave. He tells her they'll carry the memories of their parted loved ones with them, and they'll continue fighting those bastard Occultists for the ones who are still here, and that the rest of the team will be here with her, always.

EVIL that Guaxi had Arthur pull out this photo. I get why, but EVIL.

A detail I love: in the middle of Arthur explaining all of this to her, calmly offering reassurances and comfort, at some point he hides his face and makes a furious expression---not the first time he's done this. I love the little peaks into how Arthur is really feeling about all of this bullshit. He's trying to stay level-headed and collected, presumably for the people on his team, but damn, it still hurts, and he's still pissed off. Just because he's showing less emotion than he used to doesn't mean he doesn't feel it.

Rotating Balu as well. He said he joined the Order looking for vengeance, like so many others, and everything that his vengeance and hate put him through wasn't worth it. so he left. "It’s better to live a life with a smile rather than with hate, even if it’s forced. You’ll see it’s not worth the pain. [...] I want to be the protagonist of my own story, I don’t want to just be the guy that hates others." Implying that letting yourself be moved by nothing but hate signifies a lack of agency over your own life LIKE YEAH. YEAH. THAT.

Clarissa continues to be stubborn. Everyone handles grief in different ways, and her taking a painful dig at Rubens is certainly a response---hurt people hurt people. Good on Rubens for simply leaving that conversation, it was going nowhere good.

Team sleepover on the (bloody) couches after making some food in the (bloody) kitchen in the (bloody) murderhouse! (If I had a nickel for every time etc etc.) Carina's conked out on the small couch mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted, Arthur and Dante are sharing the big couch and you cannot tell me Arthur is not drooling on him, Balu is sprawled out in one of the arm chairs, and Rubens has fully curled-up-crammed his body in the other.

The arrival of the rest of the Order really felt like the arrival of dawn. Agatha my beloved little alarm clock. Love how Carina, Rubens, and Balu jump when she shouts into the room and both Arthur and Dante barely stir. Something tells me they're used to this. And Ivete! She's here :D Things are feeling a bit lighter. Carina got to tell her sister that she deserves a day to break down and be a mess. Supporting each other <333

And oh, yeah. I feel physically ill about this. In a good way. More stuff about the Marcados being connected to each other by their players. And more stuff to imply the players are themselves entities of the Other Side if I squint, too. Foaming at the mouth.

"Liz would reveal [to Carina] that hate solves nothing, and the love of your family is much stronger." SO SOMEONE ON THE DISCORD TOLD ME THAT THIS WOULD'VE BEEN LIZ'S LAST WORDS TO JOUI IF SHE HAD BEEN ABLE TO SAY THEM. UNFORTUNATELY GABI WAS CUT OFF BY CELLBIT AS LIZ HAD CHOKED ON HER OWN BLOOD AS SHE DIED. ANYWAY. THINKING ABOUT THIS IN RELATION TO HOW JOUI IS NOW. CONSUMED BY HATE. Hard to say if hearing this would have done anything to "save" Joui considering that it was seemingly outstanding circumstances---the deal with the Mascaras---that really started him on that downward spiral in opd, though he was struggling before the Mascaras showed up and gave their deadline. Still. It's. A lot. Incredible coming from Liz, who in life believed herself to be a fundamentally bad, hateful person.

Does anyone still think about Elizabeth Webber because I think about Elizabeth Webber I think about Elizabeth Webber a lot actually I think tha

Bonus:

Fofoca (they are talking shit about you)