#unless its actually chaptered stories :D

[candykenma]

Hi, can I pls request Haikyuu pretty setter squad when their s/o is struggling from writer's block or artist's block please?? Thank you =D

I LOVE THIS. PLEASE MARRY ME???

Oikawa

• Honest to god oikawa couldn't careless not in a mean way but hes missed his s/o all week now.

•He literally drags his s/o from the desk and just cuddled them despite the complaints and protest

•when he realizes it's actually getting to his s/o he'll buy they're favorite ice cream. Probally door dash it along with dinner bc if he lets his s/o go it'll be right bk to work for them.

• has his s/o shower with him and face care stuff to distract them.

Sugawara

•HE SIMPLY GIVES YOU IDEAS.

• This man will read what u got and be like "hey do you wanna like have sex at a carnival?" Or whatever random thoughts come to mind after reading and his s/o will go "THATS A GREAT IDEA"

• not referring to doing but instead writing a detailed chapter Abt whatever random thoughts came out of his mouth

• if that doesn't he work he'll sit u down on the couch and make u watch movies with him trying to secretly help u get ideas

•hell show u random stuff on Pinterest or tell u stories that his kids at school told him just to try and give u something to right about

•🥰

Akaashi

• this man right there frustrated wit u

•yall both got deadlines , both got writers block , both starving bc y'all forgot to eat.

• Akaashi probally stops for ant 10 minutes to cuddle with u and rub his fingers through your hair then straight BK to work

• they're was this 1 in incident where you were complaining Abt how cringe everything you wrote sound and he looked dead at you and said "why r u making it cuddly and innocent? You aren't either of those things" 😭

Kenma 😋my baby

•once again he doesn't gaf

• if u ask him for help he'll probably tell u the BK story of a character from one of his games he likes, or just tells u to put it down and he can't help u bc he doesn't read books unless he has too😭

• The definition of no fucking help. He tried and it's cute but baby no....

• if he sees it's affecting your health he'll butt in putting u to bed or taking u put to eat reluctantly,

•he'll offer to run you a bath as well but that's Abt as much as u get

Atsumu

• just as unhelpful and ANNOYING Abt it

• it's not that I have writers block it's that u can't write or think with him in you guys room. Your actually spazzing out so much so u send him to the store with a list of things you need and want jus to write

• he doesn't mean to and u never tell him that but he definitely makes your job harder.

• though u realize u can't write when he's not around either, his crazy stories and random thoughts he blurts out are the material and foundation for ur writing

•He comes BK home and you shower him with cuddles

Kageyama

• Also not very helpful

• I imagine most of the books you write would be smut related, you'd probably be letting out all that untapped pent up energy

•he probally read one of your books once and was like "u wrote this....?" And u jus were like yeah not think Abt the fact all your books are porn on paper with some good plot here and there

• He probally started doing things a bit different like playing into the books uve read in order to give you more content. He'd take you on more extravagant but intimate dates to help the creativity 🤷

I TRIED ITS 2:45 AM.....HOPE U LIKE???

[bladekindeyewear]

HS^2 bloggin’ mainline 2024-08-24

(Previous post - current page 666)

Section 3 of page 666 is now upd8'd, let's check it out! And as you can expect very much from the topic it's almost certainly covering, they've warned us via the twitter "Content warning for references to themes of physical and mental abuse, flashing imagery, and mild gore". By the way, when Force Refresh didn't reload the game data enough to show the new chapter in Google Chrome for me, I had to go in settings to "Delete Browsing Data" > "Cookies and other site data" for the Time Range "Last hour", because just deleting "Cached images and files" or "Hosted app data" didn't help.

(EDIT: THEY WERE NOT KIDDING AROUND ABOUT THE CONTENT WARNINGS, IF YOU HAVE ANY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH ANY SORT OF ABUSE PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH THIS ONE.)

Although, before we get into it (AND WAY BEFORE I SCROLLED BACK UP TO EDIT THAT EXTRA WARNING UP THERE), I wanted to cover something that'd been on my mind since my last post, predictionways: How IS Vriska going to escape the Plot Point?

There seem a number of obvious answers that we'll get some combination of, but the last one might not be obvious to everyone, so I wanted to cover it and flesh out / examine the possibilities so we all can feel really smart if it pans out at all the way I'm thinking it could pan out:

(1) Vriska realizes the true power and relevance she'd attained as a Thief of Light never left her heart all along, and this singularity is Nothing, a realm Void of relevance where only she exists. (Very like the Neverending Story after everything was destroyed, maybe?) If she allows herself to divest herself of some of her relevance she's been so desperately clutching onto, she can 8r8k the Plot Point.

Callie hinted that this singularity-center might need to be destroyed, and the fifth section is an 8-ball, a type of container Vriska is famously known to break. It may make a degree of sense that realizing her own power, her ultimate freedom, might be enough to do just that and free her.

(1a) Vriska becomes her Ultimate Self, and is too full of Light for the singularity to contain. This could break it or otherwise get her out of it...

...but I'm not sure it's either possible or a good thing for her to consolidate ALL of herself from the rest of Paradox Space into herself while she's trapped in here? Those versions of her perhaps deserve to keep existing rather than falling into a sea of herself that would need to hold powerfully to the self-actualization and psychological progress she's made as THIS version of her instead of the versions of her that didn't. We're not certain of all the mechanics of being an Ultimate Self, so it's hard to say whether or not it's possible... or could even see her backslide from this Therapy Session, which I really wouldn't want to see because this has been so good, and would definitely make some sense of alt!Callie / AL's warning that what was inside the Plot Point was hungry, because an Ultimate Vriska certainly could be. This doesn't seem the right choice unless in combination with one of the other options:

(2) Vriska finds the collapsed core of the Green Sun's power here and steals it for herself, a hidden treasure that could be intensely empowering, whether via Light or even giving her fancy barrier-busting Black Hole powers similar to alt!Calliope's dead!Jade body. I... feel this option is unlikely. It'd certainly count as something "greedy" inside the Plot Point that "isn't salvation" and could hasten the fragmentation of the Candy storyline because there isn't a singularity vacuuming its power all together, which could apply to breaking the Plot Point too, frankly... eh, I just still think other options seem more likely and better foreshadowed. Especially this last one:

(3) Vriska uses the same communication-across-barriers ability she used to contact (Meat)!Terezi in order to message JOHN and ask the HEIR OF BREATH to free her from the singularity as I once long ago wrongly predicted. If John is the only one who can reach in and pull her out, it would require Vriska to overcome herself enough to realize she needs -- and has the power -- to MAKE a divestment of relevance (as (1) suggested) to John from herself, and let John be the hero in her place for at least a moment. The arms he once reached everywhere with using his ultimate power suddenly become an arm reaching for another hand to pull someone to freedom.

Now on top of everything I mentioned in the old Breath, Blood, and the Flow of Reality post about John being one of the only people possibly capable of freeing someone from a singularity that "not even Light can escape", there's a bunch of EXTREMELY RECENT evidence for this, too. In addition to telling us how surprising and unlikely they would have found it to learn that Vriska messaged Terezi past the barrier sealing Candy's timeline away from the rest of Paradox Space, Callie ALSO just got done asking John to break Vriska out of jail, reinforcing it with an open statement that Breath was the aspect of Freedom, and John embodied the concept. And more importantly, John HADN'T BEEN NECESSARY to break Vriska out at all, and ended up only tagging along for conversation and fun, not even needing to tell Serket where to go! Which makes the entire relevance and narrative choice of Callie asking him to break her out better suited as foreshadowing for this exact necessity while she's trapped in the Plot Point, and all Vriska would need to do to make it happen is pull a trick (communicating across the Breach) we've already seen her pull before in the Epilogues. To have the courage and stability of mind to realize she can't do this on her own, and know who to ask for help. (Roxy, as a Rogue of Void, might even be able to lend her power to the effort too.)

Apologies for the pre-update writeup, I just really wanted to make that last John call for y'all if you hadn't realized the possibility, y'know, before we potentially see it happen a few upd8s from now. :D

Alright, on to all the trauma that Doc Scratch helped inflict on Vriska, manipulating her into actions that only injured her psyche further and her friends moreso, and all the guilt and anger she feels over it. I suspect she'll have to finally at least PARTIALLY realize the trick that's being hinted at regarding "ultimate freedom" -- ie, the answer to the Ultimate Riddle -- and just how much Doc Scratch's talk of inevitability not only gaslit her into thinking her worst instincts were unavoidable, but that even as he was TELLING her that he was manipulating her, he was admitting that he HAD to manipulate her to make this happen, meaning the power had been in HER hands all along, not his. Without Vriska provoked into being the one to inflict the injuries in the entire Team Charge vs Team Scourge cascade, without the fact that this was all FRIENDS hurting FRIENDS, none of them would have experienced enough of the severe psychological trauma required for Doc Scratch's half-Gamzee chucklevoodoos to control them into unknowingly writing his DNA code, and leaving those like Aradia in an inverted, highly manipulatable state for guiding their session into creating the Tumor that would birth the Green Sun. Let's click the White Cueball and start watching Vriska painfully confronting some serious emotional abuse and trauma from her past at the hands of a very-Dirk-Strider-like pseudo-parental figure...

*CLICKING THAT DAMNED CUEBALL NOW*

Okay, NO TIMESKIP notice this time, she looks the same in her room-- it would make sense that Doc Scratch is next on the chopping block this time and I'd WANT to see her live first reaction to it. What's with this poppy hoppy fun music? We're definitely getting something more sinister for Scratch. (Also I have to say, the music so far this entire Vriska Therapy Session flash has been... okay? But not up to the usual Homestuck banger standards the original comic's run spoiled us with constantly, in my personal view.)

VRISKA: Whew. VRISKA: Long day.

Oh gosh I hope she doesn't go into the next one IMMEDIATELY and rests first--

Oh GCATAVROSPRITE is the music this time, I get it! And he's acting more catlike than ever w/ those paws lifted!

GCATAVROSPRITE: mAYBE, yOU SHOULD TAKE A BREAK, fROM ALL THE TOTALLY AWESOME PERSONAL BREAKTHROUGHS YOU ARE HAVING, GCATAVROSPRITE: aND KICK IT WITH ME AND ERISOL FOR A WHILE, ERISOLSPRITE: yeah, you kiinda look liike 2hiit.

THANK you, get her to relax at least a BIT before tackling something harder than her freakin' abusive mother(s). Also,

--just, Erisol looking unexpectedly fly as fuck, and more Dave-like than ever. Like, I'm just surprised he looks so cool. Good damn art.

VRISKA: Says Scarfshades McLopsided.

Hey!!!

ERISOLSPRITE: 2ay2 the bu2ted a22 biitch wwearin the 2ame raggedy jacket 2he2 wworn 2ince wwe wwere liike fiivve.

FUCKIN' OWNED, GOOD SNAPBACK.

VRISKA: Says the guy who literally can't change his clothes.

That's low AND not helping your case, fuck you! You're being incredibly disrespectful AND proving him right!

ERISOLSPRITE: ii cant be held accountable for my dii2cordant cla22-2wwag diichotomy, but here you are a 2weep and a half deep iin a per2onally raiilored realm of 2elf-reflectiion and you 2tiill choo2e twwo look liike thii2.

EXACTLY, that's what we're saying!!! --Not that it can be helped TOO much, from an emotional standpoint she sorta has to take forms similar to her past to face her past to an extent, so...

Also, let me do the math on that... (6/13)*4 ≈ 1.85, so if we're still in "YEAR 4" then 1.85 solar sweeps have passed for her since she entered the Plot Point. If anything, Erisol's being generous as fuck here by rounding down instead of saying "nearly two sweeps". (And this confirms we haven't timeskipped again-- or if we have, must not have skipped MUCH.)

VRISKA: Heh.

What, can't mess with perfection?

ERISOLSPRITE: heh.

Oh shit, they're actually getting on, look at his damned animated grin. This is just some black-vibey friendly jabbing!

ERISOLSPRITE: anyway, come chiill.

Please, please do Vriska for your own damn sake.

Oh no, Tavros, don't suggest cat things.

Yeah, get some R and R. (And pointless playtime.) So you don't burn out. Good advice Tav.

FUCK IS HE STILL ALLERGIC? :C

.....okay GCATavrosprite you make a good goddamned point, you're doing pretty well against the allergies all things considered.

Oh no, she thinks she needs to keep going. :( This is gonna be even less fun for her than she thinks.

VRISKA: I'm kind of on a roll here. Gotta strike while the iron is hot!

Intense trauma-release therapy does not work that way!!! Heavy revelations have to be PROCESSED and mulled over before you subject yourself to more psychological pounding!

GCATAVROSPRITE: [...] aND IT KIND OF FEELS LIKE THE FIRE IS ABOUT TO GET REALLY REALLY HOT,

Ooh, a serious warning from Tav and Erisol that this shit is about to be some fuckin' BUSINESS. Listen to them! (Exactly as you put it Tav, that iron is gonna MELT too long in too hot a fire. I hope this doesn't knock her back at first and then we get ANOTHER TIMESKIP so soon mid-section... D: )

VRISKA: Whaaaaaaaat?

Oh she doesn't fucking see it coming, does she. She thought she just conquered the worst of her abuse with her mother(s) just now. She is NOT ready.

VRISKA: Oh 8lah 8lah 8lah, don't be such a pussy. GCATAVROSPRITE: i LITERALLY CAN'T NOT BE A CAT,

PFFF

VRISKA: How 8ad could it even 8e?

How genre savvy could you POSSIBLY have lost track of being to make such a statement?

...Welp, she's gonna try it. Let's hope it doesn't make her backslide into being too afraid to touch it for another year or two. :C :C :C

ERISOLSPRITE: ok wwell fuck u2 for tryiin ii gue22, havve fun gettiing traumatiized.

PFFFFDHF okay that was pretty funny

VRISKA: I'm not gonna get traumatized!

Lemme guess, smash cut to a dozen and change clicks from now: "...I got fucking traumatized."? X'D

Oh here we go:

{ENTER SCRATCH'S PARLOR}

OH HERE WE GO WITH SOME PROPERLY OMINOUS MUSIC. AND I LOVE THE TYPEWRITER SOUNDS AS HIS TEXT TYPES OUT AGAINST THE PURE BACKGROUND. THIS IS DONE SO GODDAMN WELL

(Even if I still think this music still doesn't measure up to original Homestuck tunes, it's still FITTING AND WORKS GREAT for the scene, and the style and art choices are top notch, especially the pure backgroundless white font.)

Yep Vriska, a "perfectly predictable inevitability", you should have seen this coming. Did you know you'd show up here, or did you not and he's rubbing it in your face? Cause I'd bet it's the latter.

It certainly has been a while, Vriska. You seem to have blossomed nicely.

CREEPY ABUSIVE UNCLE VIBES ALREADY REACHING CRITICAL LEVELS THREE CLICKS IN

Care for a piece of candy?

GOD DAMNIT

VRISKA: Oh fuck your stupid candy, you glo8e-headed little freak.

Congratulations Vriska, you've successfully lost 99% of your chill five seconds in, have fun getting traumatized

Doc hinting at the inevitability theme by saying he'd know for a fact she'd enjoy the candy.

Although it was less the wary hunch of a scared little girl than the delightful certainty that you'd come crawling back to me, sooner or later.

FUCK THIS IS JUST RAW ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP WE ARE FULL NON-WATERED-DOWN EVERCLEAR HERE

Holy SHIT are they pulling out all the stops with his awful phrasing here, no wonder they put so big an emotional abuse trigger warning on this update on the twitter page. And it's only going to get worse.

Of course I know. I'm always watching you.

Fuck, this is just. Exposing levels of vulnerability and awful fear that Vriska had to contend with in her youth that we hadn't even PUT TOGETHER back then. Every veil of silliness has been ripped straight off to show the gory mess of how this would have psychologically affected her while she was younger, here. I used to hate the epilogues and early HS^2 a little for doing this so liberally, for making clear how RETROACTIVELY FUCKED things were in ways that made my heart ache without any balm or healing... but unlike those earlier glimpses into their past attitudes, THIS time we are fucking going to goddamn RESOLVE the psychological issues and get some clear closure on them. That's part of why the entire p666 Vriska Therapy Session / Hyperbolic Therapy Chamber is already quite nearly my favorite part of all Homestuck so far, and I DO mean ALL of Homestuck so far.

VRISKA: You know what? VRISKA: I've 8een pretty damn good. VRISKA: 8een losing track of the sweeps I've spent in here fixing pretty much everything other than the thing I actually came in here to fix, 8ut it's paying off! There's a convenient timer for the express purpose of tracking that.

Oh god don't show her. Don't make her worry about how much time she's losing in here or how much it might be reflecting out there.

VRISKA: Yeah, and I never look at it 8ecause it pisses me off!

Phew. At least she's had TIME to come to terms with worrying about it.

VRISKA: 8ut it's fine. VRISKA: It just means I've had a lot of time to think stuff over. VRISKA: Stuff that was holding me 8ack, throwing me off-course.

I get the feeling he's about to do a pretty good job trying to convince you that you can't escape this so easily. To throw the wrong sort of doubt at you about what exactly you're barreling towards. About who the real "YOU" is-- he's going to try and convince you you're the one who hurts people.

I like to think that I'm far and away the most prolific contributor to your baggage.

Fuck. This won't be good.

VRISKA: Man, I figured may8e this place was working up to something really intense, 8ut instead all I get is Glo8ehead the Gru8toucher playing puppetmaster again.

Eueuuugh that nickname D:

...Is Vriska shaking or laughing? I think she's shaking. D:

VRISKA: You fucked with a 8unch of little kids and 8lew up, then you LOST.

Lord English might have lost, but I don't feel quite like Doc Scratch really did. He pretty much gave his master the Paradox-Space-spanning story he wanted, from beginning to end.

VRISKA: You could 8arely handle me when I was six, I'm supposed to 8e scared of you NOW?

It doesn't matter that you're not six sweeps anymore, that's-- you're visibly shaking. This is a big fucking deal. This is digging into the creepiest and most disgusting parts of what was done to you.

Well, you're shaking.

There we have it.

...Vriska is pulling out the whole-ass PDF File word. I... I hope she's just trying to taunt him for manipulating children, here, and playing the uncle angle. He's not-- I mean nothing actually happened, right? Please tell me nothing physical actually fucking happened besides the cueball-explosion physical-abuse-ways, I don't want sexual abuse retconned into existence here...

Exquisite. I missed that fumbling braggadocio. It's heartening to know that this place hasn't cured you of it yet. It makes you so much fun to play with.

Yeah... the parts of Doc Scratch that Vriska is going to remember most clearly are the times where he was condescending in ways that denigrated her and confirmed her worst fears about herself, intentionally. :C

WHOA DID HE JUST SPACE SHRINK HER??? IS HE GONNA PUT HER ON THE TOY BATTLEFIELD?!

{o} ==>

Matching the scale and visuals of the situation to how she always felt. :C :C

And SICK that the music is breaking down, I'll freely give it credit for shifting to action mode.

Now then, why don't we have ourselves a little game?

Just like Dirk and Caliborn, and their union in Doc Scratch, always love to do to people.

FUCK he glitched away the "WHAT WILL YOU DO?" prompt. This is DEFINITELY about the Ultimate Riddle and Doc Scratch's ultimate lie that Vriska never had any autonomy, a lie he poisoned her with from an early age to make her even easier to manipulate both then and down the line.

DAMMIT, changing her clothes by force?! D: D: D: D:

FUCK FUCK FUCK NO THAT'S EVEN WORSE HE CHANGED HER INTO KID FORM HUGGING HERSELF FROM WHEN SHE WAS ABOUT TO BE INJURED THAT'S CREEPIER AND MORE AWFUL THAN I EVER EXPECTED NO WONDER THEY CONTENT WARNING'D THE FUCK OUT OF THIS, I'm going up there and putting some EXTRAS on there.

I don't have personal experience with this sort of abuse but I do have experience with some who HAVE and some who WORK therapeutically with those who have so this is playing out like a critical hit to triggers I can only empathize from a distance with and it's STILL getting almost too much already. Wow wow wow wow wow they didn't pull any punches.

Ah, and there she is. My favorite piece.

AAAAAA

Thief to E4; Thief takes Page.

That loud BLAM just then and the brown blood knocking her back along with her injuries, so pithy yet so HEAVY and with the meaty SFX to go with it, just, brutal, auughh.... Vriska's NOT getting out of this one lightly. She's not going to want to come back here. She's going to be too traumatized for a good while isn't she.

Thief to F5; Thief takes Maid.

Oh god I don't want to screenshot each of these...

Another meaty THUNK and some rust blood splashing her. God.

Thief to Z8; Thief takes Seer.

Even after all Terezi taunted her and so clearly loved being blind, she STILL hates herself for what she did to Terezi?? :'C

Her blood too D:

Z8 ISN'T EVEN A F8CKING P8SITION, YOU HACK!!!!!!!

She didn't even get the number of exclamation points right...

All the world's my board.

No Escape.

Thief to ∫40; Thief takes pawn.

Wait what, who?

Is that Gamzee's blood or Eridan's? She only killed Gamzee just recently in Candy... (Checks with digital color meter--) That's #680768 blood, which is closest to... Eridan's, huh, weird. Maybe Erisol will be able to help her with this later after she's run away. IF AND WHEN she can finally run away. It looks like he wants to reinforce the impression that he can make her kill ANY AND ALL of the people friends she knows, COULD have made her do it. That's horrible for her to think of herself.

Now Equius's blood. She's swearing but can't make it stop.

He even calls Kanaya (and her blood splash) nothing but her killing a pawn of his choosing.

Thief to Ω413; Thief takes pawn. Check.

This is one of the first reappearances I can remember of the arc number 413 since we started HS^2, I don't even recall it in the epilogues. What's in Check here, the kids' whole universe, the one the trolls created? Is he getting her to blame herself for that, too?

KARKAT'S BLOOD AUGH that's always tough to see whenever I have to see it, it just makes you want to protect him when you know you can't.

Vriska calling him a cheap fucking karma ghost, this a stupid fucking charade... won't stop the fact that this is real emotional pain she's feeling and real pain that was already inside her for nearly her whole life up until this vision brought it out into the open.

VRISKA: AND I'M NEVER GOING TO 8E CAUGHT UP IN YOUR FUCKING G8MES EVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!

Then why are you so afraid you will be?

Of course you will. You think you're better than me? Better than fate? Vriska, I am going to put you in situations where you have the potential to do terrible things. I am going to make things ugly. I am going to corner you. I am going to pressure you. And no matter how much "better" you claim to be, all I have to do is catch you at the wrong moment. You're one bad turn from burning all your quaint little progress to the ground. One lapse away from being mine again.

Yeah, these are ALL just more and more of her deepest fears about herself. That she can be made to kill again, so easily, no matter how far she thinks she's moved past it all. Until she internalizes the answer to the Ultimate Riddle and realizes she has the power to make the better choice-- to ALWAYS make the better choice, and he was just fooling her into thinking she never did-- how could she possibly escape this sort of trap? She can't, not yet. And that abusive cueball asshole INTENTIONALLY made sure she felt that way, because that's what kept her easy to control. Learned helplesness.

VRISKA: Get me out of here.

Fuck, she's so defeated... so helpless. Please, PLEASE let this work. Please make it so she CAN escape this memory RIGHT THE FUCK NOW and confront it later. Because I'm very afraid it won't.

VRISKA: I want a do-over. Oh, please. You of all people should know that you don't *get* do-overs. The rest of these frivolous little vision quests may feel like sparing you the effort of getting things right the first time around, but the real world doesn't work that way.

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK THAT'S EVEN WORSE THAN I EXPECTED

No, you'll just have to endure it. This won't take long.

LET HER OUT YOU FUCK

You had a good run out there, flying solo and swashbuckling around as if Light itself were yours to command. It'd be wise to remember that it's a borrowed blessing. You flourish at its whim. Continue to spit in its face and take it for granted, and it will abandon you once again, perhaps for good.

Back to the ultimate riddle shit again. Doc Scratch conning her into thinking "everything you've achieved, I made for you, or you stole from others".

Being a true Thief of Light doesn't mean being at the whim of Light, at the mercy of what she can borrow. Kanaya tried to teach her back when she wanted her to clean her room that anybody can make their own luck.

Instead Doc Scratch is playing the role of Demiurge, standing in place of the Sun and claiming all Light radiates from him, when there was plenty inside her all along.

Do you remember who you were, before it chose you? The choices you made when luck wasn't on your side? You were such a delectable little victim.

Bluh!!!!!!

Poor Vriska, with her voracious lusus. With her demanding legacy and her uncooperative, fickle little friends. So much was out of your hands, then; how could you help but mbe my lovely assistant?

Doc Scratch inherited every last ounce of Equius's nonconsensual creep factor from Arquiusprite.

And this is going into the relationship between Light and Agency again, Void and the Lack of agency-- when Vriska felt trapped, felt she didn't have a choice, that was Void hemming her in, her "bad luck streak". Agency is your ability to choose what you do next, and so is Light. That's the privilege sometimes but not exclusively known as Luck.

Vriska: You didn't fucking own me.

Still so helpless-looking, but at least a bit of defiance in her expression. Which I expect handily crushed, unfortunately...

Exactly.

Fuck! And yeah, that's his point-- he's trying to say she CHOSE to do the wrong thing when the chips were down, which is what she's most afraid she'll do again.

But she needs to internalize the fact that it was a choice... that it HAD to be a choice... is an important flaw in the way he gaslit and conned her.

But what matters is that I might as well have. You let yourself believe you had no option other than to take me up on my hard bargains, again and again. For all your talk of independence, all your combative posturing and insistence on your own freedom, you barely bothered to put up any actual resistance to my suggestions. You took the easy way out, swearing all teh while it was your move. What a phenomenal waste of your considerable talents.

Her psyche is playing against her with the cards face up here... she just has to read them correctly. This is what she's afraid of, but it's also the flaw in his logic, the source of his power over her. The idea that she never possessed Ultimate Freedom, even though he's practically telling her that she DID, just to convince her she's an awful person.

It was an insult, and a warning. You're a trump card, Vriska, but your potency is a double-edged sword. One you've gotten far too comfortable swinging around, in the past. What do you intend to fix, when you leave this place? What, I wonder, will you break? I'd encourage you to be mindful of both. Of course, you could always cast aside those pesky trivialities and go with the flow, smashing through circumstances with nary a thought for the consequences. It'd be easier. We could dance together again, just like old times. You choose.

This isn't the real Doc Scratch-- this version of him IS, in its sick perverse way, still helping her. Still giving her the hints to realize that true balance between embracing your role and yielding agency to others is CRUCIAL to make sure you're doing your best to do the right thing. Which is especially difficult when your role, your best methodology, is that of an Agency Thief. A dangerous role which must be careful with its moves so as not to gluttonously trample over the wills of others who deserve a say.

But in order to choose, to take up the mantle of Ultimate Freedom, Vriska has to TRUST herself enough TO choose.

Trusting yourself enough to entrust yourself with CHOICE is one of the hardest decisions you can possibly make. Few ever truly make that decision.

What'll it be, Vriska? Player, or piece?

Well?

Thief to ∞108.

Whoa, what now? What the fuck is this going to be?

I look forward to finding out. Good luck.

Oh, so it's sending her back to the Plot Point. ∞108, or 8108. Is this the elusive arc number of one of our timelines, of Candy? One of infinite... or 1 and 0, creation and destruction, sandwiched between two 8s, two Vriskas with perpendicular orientations, Vriska and Vrissy? Hmm...

Oh thank fucking god we're back...

HAH

thanks so much I needed that mood lifter XD

{Level Complete!}

Thanks for ENDING it too, holy shit. I don't think I could have taken much longer of something THAT heavy tonight. Wow, that was masterfully done... not dragged out, just enough to get to the true point. To a setup for her decision, for her personal answer to the Ultimate Riddle.

Which makes plenty of sense why the NEXT section seems like it's likely a weird colorless version of one of Davepetasprite^2's feathers. They're the perfect person to talk to about her Soul/Heart, the greater self and the meaning of Ultimate Freedom, just as they hinted at during their last big talk in Homestuck.

--Yeah, she didn't get as much help from that as she would have wanted... and now the candle is ABSOLUTELY burning down.

The glimpse of the next unclaimed tiers, here... are these hinting at the start of the next section? We have her inhibitions bound, then a reference to a child development psychologist, then a somatic spark-- physical contact?! Then Deja Vu, a flash of the past (or possibly even meeting her GHOST self from the ghost rain, the more vulnerable (Vriska) inverted to Page of Void mode that she BERATED TO TEARS back toward the end of Homestuck to prove how much more (Vriska) had grown than Vriska before leaving her crying and for Ghost Terezi from the pre-retcon timeline to meet)... Heuristic Grace, getting her luck back possibly... burning, getting hotter, and then a transcendental gleam? No, no that's got to just be a candle and it burning out the rest of the singularity... I still don't think Ultimate Vriska is the solution to all this, could it be?

Oh shit, I forgot about how the BLACK CANDLE is burning down due to VRISKA'S blue flame.

Recall my proposals at the beginning of this post? I completely forgot about yet one more opportunity for her escape:

(4) That Vriska's Light has been burning away at the singularity of the Plot Point this entire time, and will naturally destroy it no matter what, especially if she embraces her Agency and her inner Light. The Green Sun was not just a symbol of Light but an ultimate manifestation of Space power... and collapsed into a singularity, it could indeed also have been not just a Void but an ultimate manifestation of Time power. The years, sweeps, that Vriska is spending inside of it could be wearing it away all on its own, rapidly exhausting a reservoir of Time that alt!Calliope preserved at the center of the singularity just to give the noncanon timeline more time to exist than it otherwise would have had?!! Instead, Vriska is burning it up, and the sprites and ghosts who fell into the Black Hole during the Ghost Rain and concentrated themselves in this singularity are helping her use that naturally limited Time to arm herself and become the best version of herself she can be, so when the Plot Point collapses and shit really starts hitting the fan for the Candy timeline, they can execute a NEW plan to breach into the Canon/Meat timeline and do something so incredibly important that it reseats the timelines outside Paradox Space in new relevance stolen out from Canon. Something incredibly important, like unexpectedly facilitating Sburb's creation in what Dirk and Rosebot are trying to do, or sendificating the kids the final frog they used to create this Universe, or something, which came from somewhere we've still never resolved...

So many interesting possibilities here. And only two or three more updates until we'll know for sure what and how!

I'll probably continue to be too busy the next week or two to be in the mood to chew through bonus material or commentary. Talk to you next upd8 instead, most likely! :D

[sugar-glaze-donut]

you know what, fuck it

*proceeds to name every dating sim/ otome game I know*

(somewhat in alphabetical order + description with spoilers)

A date with death You get your soul targetted by a grim reaper, but you instead steal his soul and made him into your pookie wookie snookums <3 BTW you can get a pet in the game. Mine is a snake called Noodle :)

Blooming Panic it's Discord but with hot characters, a variety of side characters, a cute story, and Chat GBT but it's a sentient being. I think the last part spoiled one of the routes... oopsies :3

Bonely Hearts Club (Undertale AU Dating sim) They basically become your neighbour. The AUs in this are Undertale, Underfell, Underswap, Swapfell!Indigo and Horrortale! {it's still in its demo stages but it is very well made!}

Error 143 you, an adorkable hacker (who is your rival and you're salty about it), cheesy Romeo and Juliet dream the MC has but it has a high school twist to it

I love you! You like asparagus. ...oh! You also have an option to make multiple boys fall in love with you. By the way, did you know the MC (you) loves asparagus? There are friendship routes, romance routes, and a bad ending except it's not bad. This game is the English translated version of the original game (The original game is in Japanese. The link for the original game is here --> ❤️)

Killer Trait You get accused of committing a murder, and you team up with a person who is a serial killer himself. (The serial killer in question only kills criminals so... I think you're safe...?) Your bear cream bun gets run over :( {The game is still in its demo stages. The creator of the game announced that this game will NOT be completed during 2024 since they are currently concentrating on a different game. DO NOT ASK THEM "Oh! But can't you just do this game first?". IT'S VERY ANNOYING, ESPECIALLY TO THE CREATOR}

KLEIN V.01 "Just Monika" but Yandere isn't named Monika, nor are they human. They are an AI. A fucking AI. Like bro, I understand it's hard to talk to people but really? An AI Boyfriend app that tells you to ruin your sleep schedule for him? An AI Boyfriend app that hacks your phone? An AI Boyfriend app that KILLS one of your family members and almost kills your neighbour??? RED FLAG. RED FLAGS EVERYWHERE {this game is in its demo stages. The creator is slowly updating this game in chapters, so it might take a while to finish}

Light the Way (Luxiem fangame) The game remembers what you did. All of the hearts you've broken, your sins, and your actions. There are lots of achievements, memes, Romance, friendship and BAD ROUTES. This time, the bad endings actually hurt. 0/10 would not recommend doing the bad routes unless you want to be stalked by an alter ego of Yamino Shu :(

Obey Me (Original and Nightbringer ver) Original - You become the therapist of many men with trauma and insecurities. The men in question are fucking demons that have the power to shred you into grated cheese, but they instead decide to simp over you as the story goes on. (also did I mention that you'll die? No? Oh fuck-) Nightbringer - A continuation (?) of the Original Obey Me but in a completely different universe. That's right! You slip into the past, way before the main story happens, WAY before you were even born! Idk if there is a way to go home but hey! At least you have your wizard friend from your timeline with you :D

Our Life (Now and Forever & Beginnings and always) Both stories consist of you growing up with your love interest since childhood. There are many paths to take, lots of assets to use to customize your character, and many side stories for you to read! Personally, this is one of my favourites :D (Our Life: Beginnings and Always is complete but Our Life: Now and Forever is still in development!)

Please don't hate Christmas A Yandere x Christmas x Urban Legend Otome game. Do you like Paranormal stuff? Do you like lore that connects with the story? Are you alright with MCs with a sprite that is impossible to remove from the screen? Well, look no further! This game is perfect for you! (by the way, the whole game was made by the creator. Only by themself! Even the CGs and character sprites!! Isn't that amazing!?)

Saint Spell's Love Guide A normal week of magical school... you can be friends with someone, or fall in love with them. Wait... there's lots of CGs for each character? Complicated world-building and lore!?? Angst and cruel bad endings!!?? SHROOMS!?!?!? {Oh by the way, there's multiple ways to get killed in this game. Just make sure to be careful sweetie :3}

Where Winter Crows go A crow and a scientist named Crowe... cute Another one of my other personal favourites! The love interest is a very squeezable and adorable (yandere) scientist who cooks you good food :D All of the endings are well-written! And if you're a crazy bitch like me, you'll love one of the endings >:)

THIS IS PART 1 SINCE I CAN'T FIT EVERYTHING IN 😭

[reel-fear]

Genuinely so curious who Mike thinks is gonna be buying The Cage or the new DCTL GN bc with the way he tweets as far as he's concerned, it's not gonna be:

The queer people he has actively admitted he will never show any representation of in the games.

2. The POC he has actively fought against representing in his franchise. [Who he also mocked for thinking they would be represented in his franchise]

3. The Bendy fandom which has always been concerned with topics of diversity esp in the sense of queer people since its creation. Who he has responded to really poorly esp in regards to the GN.

4. The fans who critique him. [He blocked me for doing so lol]

5. His fans in general who he tweets about like this currently. [He's being vague about why people were mad at him or sent him 'nasty messages' because if you actually looked into why you'd see he was in the wrong. Either way, a very hateful way to speak abt ur own fanbase.]

Reminder while Mike is trash talking his fans he has always treated them rather poorly. The fans who won the fanart contest for Chapter 5 never got their posters actually in game due to it being rushed. Not only was chapter 5 a big slap to the face story wise, but it was literally so rushed he couldn't be bothered to add in the art his fans gave him for his game FOR FREE. [Meatly blames this on a crazy timeline, reminder him and Mike are the literal ceos of this company. The proposal of future updates here is also pretty cruel considering Mike nowadays happily admits he corrupted Chapter 5's source code and therefore literally can't update it At All currently. Because he is a moron]

At least they got to be in Boris and the dark survival, and by that I mean that was the Only game they got to be in so far, isn't that just treating your fans like you love them? Shoving their hard work into a spin off game almost nobody has played or addresses much. [Hell, who knows if with the Lone Wolf rebrand they'll even stay there. In which case they'll be in None of the games, only in the credits of BATIM]

6. The Bendy fans who just generally disagree with him on stuff. Like the new ink demon design where there is literally a public poll showing people generally prefer the old one.

7. The Bendy fans who can see he is actively lying to them. To their fucking faces.

He says this has always been the case, but screenshots and links to tweets regarding the books being canon prove it was not. Does he really think bendy fans are stupid or something? [Unless he's admitting here he lied to Kress when he told her the books were canon which sounds worse!]

8. Anyone who doesn't like the idea of giving money to a guy who laid off tons of employees then afterwards thought it was a great idea to express his anti-union views! Also brag about how good of an employer he was, according to his employees, he was not!

So in summary; Mike is an awful person who has not learned anything from the awful things he did. I will not be purchasing The Cage because, combined with this and his absolute refusal to take any kind of critique or see any differing interpretation of his franchise, I have no reason to think my problems with the franchise will ever be addressed or fixed. I probably will pirate The Cage along with any future Bendy Products [Including the movie] and will do my best to avoid giving it any kind of monetary support. Unless this changes any time soon, I can't see myself making anymore positive Bendy posts soon.

Mike has just managed to make it so hard to speak positively or optimistically of this franchise when he's so willing to broadcast how little he cares about it or its fans. I'm at the point where I refuse to pull any of my punches with my problems with it. What's the point of trying to play nice with my critique when either way the people creating it don't care?

So with this post, I want to invite anyone who feels similarly about the franchise to tell me, make a post or send an ask talking about how all of this makes you feel. It may not change how things are, but genuinely seeing other people share my feelings of anger makes me feel better. It feels nice to see when other people share our same concerns and worries. I'd also love to know if anyone else thinks they'll be avoiding purchasing Bendy products over this.

I'm not forcing anyone to participate in it nor trying to say anyone who doesn't supports mike but genuinely maybe if we can collectively decide to boycott things like the movie, graphic novel and The Cage... It might at least make the bendy devs acknowledge how much they have destroyed their own fandom's faith and trust in them.

The way Mike tweets about his actions like he had no control over why people were mad at him at least proves to me he takes NONE of it back nor regrets it. If you didn't know about his actions and only went off his tweets, you would be led to believe Mike has been needlessly picked apart by fans over things he couldn't control [or in his own words, had his words twisted and taken out of context]. That is not how you speak about your actions if you have actually learned better from them.

anyway, that has been my bendy dev callout post. This is an open invitation to anyone feeling similarly upset about the way the franchise is going to talk about it. It's genuinely nice to see how people feel about this and the more we talk about the more it's likely the bendy devs are forced to address our concerns. I don't think they will but hey, that's why I'm not gonna support them with my money anymore nor am I gonna be nice to them in any content I make critiquing Bendy. I mean I'm also basically making this post just in case anyone asks me Why I feel this way towards to bendy devs/as a way to respond to anyone who thinks I am too harsh in my critique in the future.

As always, it seems the best part of Bendy isn't actually anything about canon but about what the fan's are creating with the ideas Bendy failed to do anything interesting with.

Also the books, the books slap.

[tales-of-wocdes]

I've just played the game and I am so obsessed! Keep up the good work btw, but like also take your time and take care of yourself — not telling you to hurry up or anything if it seemed like I did! Ndhdhdhdhdhdbsjshsj sorry very bad at supporting and basically talking sdkufjdjdd

I really love how its progressing, but there's a particular scene when Lexia mentioned that the kitchen staffs would deem the mc a terror if she teaches them how to do puppy eyes (near the end of chapter 2.) It's so cute but is it okay to ask if there will be a possible scene for the mc to meet them? An interaction where they watch and just totally make the kitchen staff their favorite (jkjkjk unless???)

Thank you! I am glad to hear you like the demo so far :D

That could be a scene in the demo,... actually that could be possible scene in C3.... Thank you for reminding me!

I have not written it yet... maybe a little snippet on the spot that could get incorporated into the story as well :D

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

"Come on kid, just like we practiced." Lexia whispers to you. "Unleash the puppy dog eyes, and we might get some treats out of this."

Right. She promised you something tasty. You have no idea what "cookies" are, but tasty sounds appealing.

You tilt your head upwards, and try to make your eyes as wide as possible. Just like Lexia taught you. Innocent and pleading eyes, whatever all of that means.

[quirkyfries]

My concept of Dandy rebranding Gardenview to a new glory after the neglect of handlers, going back to their roots, and creating a toon with the use of research capsules.

[Mixed with your own theory of them, Dandy has a seemingly noble goal, they are just a bit evil and cause torment to the twisted and toons about it for their own satisfaction. The entitlement and audacity of a petal thinking they deserve to keep all the tapes of their history/training/making toons safety/learning videos/mlp/PSAs... you know the usual tapes you'd want to keep.] Now your theory was added, making Dandy seem more complex and interesting. Still mostly evil, BUT WHAT IF I MADE IT WORSE!!!

{A bit inspired by Sun and Moon Show <333}

... He was unable to figure out how to make an original toon, so tragic fan-child it is! Midnight Tragedy's Child (Astro x Dazzle) are they actually dating, or not. Who knows! They might not be, and that just makes it more funner(not in shipping, in the psychological torment sense <3 )

Dandy would totally family vlog, and Truman show the entire facility!!! They will compete at one point for the kid to do what challenges, and its Dandy vlogs vs Glistens lol.

I am planning on hopefully finishing chapter 1 today <3 wish I had written dopamine. I need it for my adding brain :D

Fun fact, the ideal design for the fan-child to have two-star shape'd eyes on the right of their face, was because the hands that Tron Astro uses are in his head, under his hat probably but in his brain basically.

So at will fan-child can move their eyes around to see into people's dreams or memories or to see if they are lying, who knows, dazzle hates it when Razzles acts.

what are your thoughts on it, I can't wait to figure out Glistens relationships with rnd, vee, and Astro specifically hehe. There are rnd headcanons that they look up to glisten, and glisten get along with vee. (karaoke, or has funner lines in trivia for the viewer to keep watching than winning all the prizes)

I love canon compliments, but I adore alterations if headcanons are not canon compliments. <3

oh yeah, and some doodles I did on a whiteboard. here are some of the concept chapters:

I'm too shy to show the last doodle with Astro and Rnd meeting up with Dandy, to figure out what their 'vacation' truly meant when they see the new toon on the bench(theirs another doodle of that on paper) I'm having so much fun with writing this, and I'm almost wondering how Dandy might become a manager. Can they ever get IDs?

:P

... Since they got research from the twisted themselves... whose child is it really [Family drama]

Hope you like my chaotic concept, i have no ideas for the other characters, but I just gave Poppy an HC that they are not allowed to drink pop because of a commercial aftermath incident :D

Astro giving others nightmares by accident will always be funny <3

Have a wonderful day! I didn't have this beta read, so my words may not make sense hehe

OOOO Thank you so much for sharing this with me!!

Between Dandy mixing Astro + RND’s (research? ichor? Toon dna) to make a toon from scratch, said child’s ability and the surrounding drama in the form of family vlog and Truman show’d facility, I’d say you’re in for a pretty solid story!

I’m really curious about Glisten’s relationships with other toons, I haven’t been able to look at the new update yet lol. I know that fella has all the deets.

Midnight tragedy is super cute, I love their design! I wonder, since it’s ambiguous who their parents actually are, if they’d chosen a parent figure? Unless Dandy filled that role by default, or maybe it was a “it takes a village to raise a child” situation? Or did they spawn fully grown and only needed some guidance to mature emotionally.. don’t let my questions point to spoilers for your fic, I’m just wondering aloud!

10/10 concepts and art, I will be watching for that fic when it’s posted! You have a nice day too :D!

[dragon-queen21]

More tbhk yay!

I totally get that with starting shows, I haven’t started the anime yet bc starting new shows is difficult🫠 Mitsuba and Kou are such cuties aren’t they!

And Yes!! Yes to all of that!

I’ve never though about Hanako being perma regressed but that just makes so much sense to me I love it. 

I just reread chapter 3 and I totally see little!Kou and Cg!hanako, hanako can definitely just tell when someone is regressed and he takes on that big brother role

Brothers any age :D

Actually I can imagine the trio acting as siblings when they’re small- nenes the youngest (around toddler age), kou’s a ‘big’ kid (7-8) and Hanakos perma regressed at 11 ish making him the oldest sibling!! (Which he loves), unless nene is big then she’s the best older sister to them.

Kou and hanako definitely play fight bc… why wouldn’t they- exorcist v supernatural in the most wholesome way possible <3 nene will cheer on hanako UNLESS they’re playing pretend and kou is a knight saving the princess from a terrible beast then she’s praying on hanakos downfall (in a loving way) so she can live out her princess dreams, but hanako gets all pouty because nene is giving kou way more attention and he will huff and pout until she gives him a hug.

More tsuchigomori hehe. Someone will have to ducktape my mouth to get me to stop talking about him

Love the idea of him not being able to say no even though he really should- he just can’t say no when all three of them are staring at him with those big puppy eyes and really he has no reason to say no. And kou always tries to bake when he’s little bc he thinks hes not that small!! He can still bake and cook for his little sister nene! But then he accidentally burns himself or smt and he immediately slips way further. So after all the mess is cleaned and the tears are dry tsuchigomori lets them into his library (and he definitely has a cozy nook where he reads its cannon I say so) and he reads to them and lets them stay as long as they need :3

I also found the panel with yako and tsuchigomori covering hanakos eyes

Protect the child

Literally father and son

Eyyy you and me both 🤝 new shows are so hard for no reason. Maybe just because I don’t like new things. I swear I rather watch the same show over and over again.

Also all this talk about the series made me miss it so yay I finished the fifth manga :D onto the sixth (I say this- it will still take me forever to actually sit down and read it haha)

~I really want to do a rewrite of that first fight but slant it towards agere. I want to write a lot of things actually but the struggle of writers block is killing me

~”then she’s praying on hanakos downfall” <- oh my gosh that made me laugh. Poor kiddo, Hanako is going to be devastated.

~They drag Tsuchigomori to come play with them (because if Hanako has to be the bad guy one more time he is going to cry) so the caregiver has to be the big bad who the little knights have to come and save Nene from! (Reality is just dad and daughter bonding time while the two littles are getting distracted and fighting over the ‘plot’ of the story.)

~Also Nene has 100% given them both a kiss on the cheek when she’s saved (something something like how kindergarteners will kiss in the whole ‘kiddy crushes’ and ‘puppy love’ kinda thing)

~Hanako gets so upset if Kou or Nene is injured. One of them gets a cut and are a little weepy- meanwhile a certain ghost is clinging to Tsuchigomori like the world is going to end.

Hanako: “Help them!”

Tsuchigomori: “I will if you would let go of my arms and get off for ONE SECOND!”

~I feel like Hanako is very stubborn when regressing. Meaning like he puts off regressing really small even of he feels younger. Tsuchigomori sometimes finds it hard to tell if he’s actually regressed to the age he says he is or simply acting as though he is older for Kou’s and Nene’s sake.

~He tries. So hard. It’s a valient effort if only one asks. Add all three kiddos together and they are simply spoiled rotten.

~Kou’s track record of self preservation is non existent he would keep trying to bake until his caregiver steps in and says he’s too small. Someone hold the baby he’s probably sobbing over a small burn or cut and the treat he was making is ruined and he’s even more sad. (Cue dad and son bonding time as they bake together.)

~He has such a cozy space in the library for them all I completely agree! Baby blankets and soft stuffed animals, the ground is all padded with quilts and pillows. He reads them books before bed/nap time just- really cozy vibes all together

Ahh I rambled a lot. I really like talking about them if you can’t tell :3 Also look how cute Hanako is in those panels!!! He’s so serious with his dad.

[bluu3berry]

Should i Rewrite Birdtale?

Birdtale was made by grayscales on AO3 but was never finished and was mainly a self-insert of the creator (as frisk). I was wondering if i should do my own take? The AU has lovely designs but sadly doesn't have any... story?? Like horrortale, dreamtale, Undertale- fell, all popular done by lore! But birdtale has nothing other then 2 chapters (if at that only 1 and a half)

Should i base it off the old story?

and if yes how many people would be interested? If you stumble on this give me your take passerby!

(i would be keeping the original designs, unless if not made then i'd try to make my own still following the cannon design) I would also try my best hell even got ideas! :D

(Edit): If your interested in this im working on it! I've actually made my own designs its called underwing and ""chapter"" 1 is out! (its text with images not a comic)

[hockeyisforthegays]

gotta know how you felt after reading kugisakis epilogue :D

ooooh ok well. im pretty sure the things i have to say are overall more criticism than positivity just to warn you. let me start with some of the positive things which include: kugisaki is looking SOOOO cute. its a great outfit great hairstyle etc. i also like the idea behind her motivation for seeking out her mother, that she's doing it out of respect for gojo's last stated wishes to her, even though she has no personal interest in this herself? that has something intriguing within it. however. it also dovetails into my criticisms bc

one. i wish we learned anything at all about why that would possibly be gojo's last wishes for nobara. we don't get enough in the epilogue to see if there's anything particularly important she could derive from seeing her mom, unless it's the vengeful pleasure of siccing her grandma on her? in which case, i would love to know that. that could be an interesting move for gojo to make, and one that could potentially make sense given his own implied shitty family. however you notice how i have to reach a bit to get there? because we dont even get the text of gojo's letter or anything afaik. as it is, the way it's written leaves me wondering why the hell gojo, who has already experience with a child who Does Not Care Or Want To Know about their deadbeat parent, would decide to provide This for another child who [insert repeated phrase here]

two. kugisaki caring about gojo's last wishes to such a point seems like a really cool character/relationship decision until i think about it for two seconds and go. well. it would have been cooler, more emotionally resonant, if the gojo and kugisaki dynamic had any canonical depth at all. in fact i am trying to think about Any and Every interaction they have in the canonical story and im coming up with 1. when kugisaki is introduced and 2. when she gets eyeballed and he's one of the people she sees in her chair dream sequence and UHHH. I THINK THAT MIGHT BE ALL GANG. obviously you can say implicitly they spent a lot of time together its just not shown, they're relationship would have developed. but uh. that's an entirely different than the time and importance given to something by the narrative which is supposed to. you know. give depth to the things it wants us to care about, so that we actually can develop a genuine investment in them without having to rely on our imaginations/non canon material/etc.

connecting to the third and most obvious critique which is. like gege already set up? characters that kugisaki cared about? saori and fumi? who i hoped we'd see any sort of closure on? instead we introduce in THE LAST CHAPTER the idea of a new character never before mentioned and kugisaki literally goes Well I Don't Care About That. and then we follow her to find out about that character anyway. why? what is Anyone getting out of that narratively? kugisaki doesn't care, not even the audience is given room to develop investment in that storyline. it just happens at the expense of a storyline that was at least given some amount of set up for the audience to invest in.

and im not even touching on the Tropes used to establish the mom herself's character. in a vacuum potentially this archetype could be done in an interesting valid way (could even be taken as a gender inversion of the sleazy deadbeat dad tropes that are generally more common in this genre) but uhhh given gege's track record with female characters. well it twigs some alarm bells lets just say

[op-sys-chaos]

Excerpts from Sunny and I’s DMs about The Drakes Spoiled Brat, in no particular order

Sunny = @batfambrainrotbeloved

Bryn = me

Sunny: “Yes pretty!! And Deadly-“

Sunny: “Quick opinion question-“

*About 30 messages of me talking about interior design follow*

Sunny: “Because I need the VIBE-“

Sunny: “I keep trying to find reference images of "giant ass creepy painting on a wall" BUT Pinterest keeps giving me live laugh love style shit”

Bryn: “JUSTICE FOR ALFRED’S PIS

*PUE

*PIE

😂 apparently I can’t spell today lmao”

Sunny: "The pie deserved better"

Sunny: “And I shall, after I finish this fucking pie chapter”

Bryn: “Okay but odds on on the Wayne’s actually looking out a window in the right direction in that massive ass house”

Sunny: “Plot convinence odds”

Bryn: “Fair, fair”

Sunny: “True- I underestimated Tims utter need to throw hands”

Sunny: “ALSO ALSO- another debate scne

sene

jesus okay 

s c e n e”

Sunny: “Okay ignore the fact its mlp- BUT this vibe basically

WAIT NO WRONG SONG

...Its still mlp”

Bryn: “Oh noooooooooo”

Sunny: “I can see the memes already <333”

Bryn: “[redacted] not doing his fuckin research: this is fine”

Sunny: “it just fucking DIED- thats not important”

Bryn: “[redacted]: I wish I could be happy 

The universe: you won’t be happy unless you’re dead bitch”

Sunny: “NOT THAT H E KNOWS THAT”

Sunny: “huh... so THATS what happened”

Bryn: “[redacted]: “I wish to be remembered as great” Tim: “yeah a great PAIN IN THE ASS-“”

Bryn: “I can and will contribute ideas”

Sunny: “IM COPY PASTA INTO THE OUTLINE DOC DONT WORRY”

Bryn: “D O  I T”

Bryn: “Some much needed humor before you break Tim again”

Sunny: “HUMOR TIME BABYYY”

Bryn: “DAMNIT IM MAKING MYSLEF CRY”

Sunny: “GOD IM MAKING MYSELF SAD”

Bryn: “TIM WOULD SO BE SPIRALING, THE POOR BOY 😭”

Sunny: “BECAUSE AGAIN- HES AN IDIOT”

Bryn: “YES YES YES ABSOLUTELY”

Sunny: “AHHHHHHH”

Bryn: “OH NO TRAGIC IDEA”

Sunny: “DO TELL???”

Bryn: “Oh noooooo I’m too good at angst ideas sometimes…”

Sunny: “No no you gotta share now”

Bryn: *shares an idea, idea redacted for your sanity*

Sunny: “FUCKO 

OH MY GOD

Shock factor is THERE”

Sunny: “If not that's totally fine- I'll just do some FBI flagged list worthy research”

Bryn: “I love that, I hope we can see the instant regret in the actual story :)”

Bonus: a comment from the Google doc for Chapter 11!

Bryn: “Jason, having found one of Tim's broken birds, running into the batcave with it in his hand: THE BIRDS WORK FOR THE BOURGEOISIE GUYS”

An unredacted version will be posted when we eventually get to the point in the story where the redacted stuff no longer spoils anything!

[inkspottie]

Hello hello, apologies if i'm asking too many questions too often (if I am, lemme know and ill try my best to tone it down a bit xD) So, first up, would anyone know about the angel that Urbanshade captured? (i assume gabe and anz wont) And would it exist in the swap Au?

And regarding the swap AU (sorry for consistently going on about it, i'm rather partial to stuff like that - mostly because i feel like it kinda encourages my own creativity xD), would painter still retain his (almost) childish naivety? (or rather, would he act like normal painter, but a bit more twisted/dark? i cant properly put thoughts to keyboard atm D:) and lastly... i still cant find the ask regarding anzu's last name, may i ask what it is?? (im so sorry-) Have a good day/evening!! P.s, the nickname thing in the new chapter is GREAT. seriously, its hilarious to me xD! (also, good luck with the move, i hope it all goes smoothly!)

Shush I’m perfectly fine with questions. I love them tbh.

As for the Angel, I am not too sure how they’re going to fit in this story so for the time being they’re benched lmao so idk if they would play a part unless you got an idea for them lol

Painter definitely would be more twisted, more like his game counterpart. Definitely the hehe *stabs you with a knife* kinda guy.

It’s Faulkner! But her actual actual name when she’s not an orphan taken in is Fumie.

[gofancyninjaworld]

hungry fans

It sucks to be an OPM fan with a keen interest in only one or two characters. Because ONE will make sure that there's enough of your favourite characters to give you a feast and hook you, and then he'll move on and you're left starving for ages.

So far, I can identify several hungry tribes of fans:

A: The Sam Fam Crew

Recently been fed, so they're not weeping too much. But unless Iaian finds a way for them to stick around now that Atomic has declared a training camp from hell, they'll shortly be tightening their belts again.

B: The Nin-Nins

A few appetizers here and there, but nothing solid of late. True to their nature, the ninjas are proving elusive.

C: The Absolut Zeroes

Ah, Drive Knight, when shall we see your black and shiny shifty-eyed self again? You left so suddenly and quite broke our hearts.

D: The GrooGroos

Now ONE has been known to drop characters like a needy friend when he's done telling their story. With Garou still having work to do to understand himself and actually do better, this tribe got its hopes up of seeing Garou regularly. So far, this is the last he was seen (a full year ago):

There are many other smaller tribes, but these are the loudest ones on the internet, bravely boycotting new chapters until they get what they want.

Me? I may have my favourites, but I love them all so I'm always fed. :) OPM doesn't work without a large cast of well-realised characters.

[elkkiel]

"shy" anon,

hehe good. im glad you feel special. it is a very big project, and ive made a little bit of headway with writing it. its a 12 book series, multi-chapter, NOT short stories. i have the entire thing planned out from front to back. no need to be intimidated by that. im just me. unless youre talking about the project, then i get it. it is a lot to look at all at once. it kind of took on a mind of its own and became something i wasnt really expecting. on top of that, i also have plans to go to film school within a few years, with the goal of making all my own books into movies someday. hopefully at NAIT in edmonton. if they have the course that ive been eyeing.

we are fairly familiar with each other, yes. ive been hyper aware about my tags and how i word things, wondering if youll catch any similarities to my messages lol and this is definitely fun. a lot of fun.

as for music, i also listen to bit of everything. recently its been a combination of metal (at the moment a lot of deathcore and metalcore specifically) and blues/jazzy sexy stuff. dont really know how else to describe it lol. same reason you mentioned, it scratches that itch just the right way. other than those its hozier, bad omens, teddy swims, yebba, sooooo many others my mind is kind of blanking. this is super random, but i found a youtube page that makes versions of songs as if it was the medieval times. the one they did of eminem is fuckin fire lmao its called "bardcore". i do listen to some pop artists but these days they just dont hold my attention like it used to.

i am so excited for you to go to your first one!! thatll be so exciting.

in the last two years ive gone to quite a few concerts/events with live music. in 2022 i saw shawn mendes in edmonton, which was a big deal, his music got me through a really hard time. and last year was the most jam packed concert wise. i saw ed sheeran in toronto, halestorm and volbeat in saskatoon, and then went to pride-fest in edmonton and saw hyphen hyphen. theyre more of a pop-rock group form france, and the vocalist is insane, i highly recommend checking them out. then in december of 2023 i also saw talk at winterfest. i was in the front row for that and it was so worth the -10 weather.

some of the details are sounding familiar, I just can't quite pin down what and for who... you're safe for now anon ;3

having full creative control over your stories like that would be the dream, hey? like getting to write AND take the lead on your own film adaptations? PRODUCERS HATE THEM for this 1 SIMPLE TRICK (film school). also I didn't know that NAIT offered courses like film!! I've met people that have gone through graphic design over there, but it's cool that there's more accessible creative courses like that available. I'm doing my degree at [the other large university in town that is not UofA], and sometimes I feel like it would have been more practical to go the technical college route ;w;

you're really in it for the long haul then!! a 12 novel series sounds like a hell of a time/creative energy investment, so I'm sure it'll be incredibly worth the final outcome!

ALSO YES I'VE HEARD OF BARDCORE LMAOO ITS ACTUALLY GOOD!!? I played d&d in high school, so I appreciate the kinda shitposty chaos vibes lol.

Do you have any live music plans for next year? Sounds like you're down for a pretty large variety in artists/experiences, so I'm sure there's something that'll catch your eye :P

[evienyx]

any advice for newbie fanfic writers or new writers in general? I always have trouble trying to "paint a picture/ describe a scene and happenings lol thanks :D

I feel like I say this every time, to the point that its like a cop-out answer, but, genuinely, you really do just gotta practice.

Its like with any type of art. You won't get better at drawing if you don't just draw. You won't get better at an instrument unless you play the instrument. I didn't really notice my writing getting "better," but looking back at the earlier chapters of Fractures and comparing them to my newer stuff, it's clear that I have.

Past that, I mean one thing I do is I read all of my stuff out loud. I try to see if the words that I've written put the right image in my head. "Painting a picture" is a hard thing to do with writing, and a lot of the time its less about the amount of words that you write and more about the way that you use a smaller amount of space.

Crack open a thesaurus. Don't use bigger, more obscure words just for the sake of using them, but find ones that might work better. At the same time, though, don't be afraid of common words. I use "said" quite a lot, even though a million English teachers will yell about how basic it is. Much of the time, though, the emotion comes from the actions the characters take outside of the dialogue tag.

There are a few things you can choose to focus on when it comes to "painting a picture" that will set an overall mood quite easily. One of the most simple and yet most effective is weather. Describing the sky, the time of day, what the sun looks like. It can add tension, or drama, or can even stand to emphasize the state the characters are in, like when its a nice day but they're going through something hard.

Everyone's going to have a different writing style, too. Sure, you can copy someone else's, but if you're just writing yourself without trying to emulate another author, you're going to have your own style.

Personally, I tend to do a lot of comparisons to describe things. I pinpoint a few details and call back to them throughout a chapter or a story. Oftentimes I like to get a lot deeper into the character's mindset and examine that for a good while before pushing the plot forward. One of my friends, on the other hand, is a lot more straightforward with her writing, sort of trying to tell it as it is. Both describe what needs to be described, just in different ways.

If you're really struggling with trying to figure out how to "paint a picture" in the reader's head, try thinking through the different aspects of the scene. Anything that you can describe. Then, pick what actually needs to be described to understand what is going on. The positions of the characters, the vague setting, things like that. You don't need to go super in depth, because the reader knows, even subconsciously, how to fill in a lot of the detail on their own. You really are just here to "set the scene."

As I said before, though, no matter what advice you take, the only true way to see solid improvement is through actively writing. It doesn't need to be stuff you publish, but I would encourage it, since feedback is an enormous help as well. Either way, though, just keep writing, and reading it back, and then writing again, and you'll see improvement, just as with any type of art.

(Also, and I mean this with my whole heart, for the love of god, Kill Your Darlings.)

(Thank you and goodnight.)

[zoobus]

I Shall Master this Family! is a rare princess story where the art is like, outrageously skilled, unique in its consistent level of detail, unreal historical fashion dedication, so much so that it successfully carries what's an overall mid story. You might notice that it's a mid story (I certainly have) but they throw you another sumptuous princess Guinevere sleeves and you're goaded into another chapter.

Normally this isn't enough. If anything I've found too good art highlights bad writing, thoughts wandering to how the artist(s) deserves better than the slog they're supporting.

But I'm stuck with this annoying isekai girl ignoring all the more emotionally intriguing subplots in favor of chapter upon chapter of isekai-based ego-stroking (can you believe this little kid came up with this brilliant business plan? Can you believe a 9yo identified the genius of a commoner? It's like she knows everything before it happens! Lay it on thicker!) because a) artist team that can conceptualize adults over 30??? b) artist team that draws old women??? Real ones???

b2) men too though it's more impressive that they drew a beard like they've actually seen a beard before. Old guys are common but distinguished and healthy looking ones less so

c) you can tell this is based on a historical fashion because nobody invents cultural male-garb unless they're meant to be eroticized. I can't think of another story where any real attention was put into what the guys are wearing unless cleavage was involved

I don't know if I even care for the fashion itself - that there's conspicuous effort into its portrayal puts it in a class of its own. Everyone else is satisfied with the certified male love interest paizuri shirts, cravats with medievallish suits, and generic npc peasantwear.

d) I don't know how many times I've given up on a comic because the artist had a fetish for blondes, making it nigh impossible to tell anyone apart. This story takes place in a Scots-inspired land, so a sizable chunk of the cast are redheads and the endless shades of red and curl textures never gets old. I like that blondes are still sort of gingery and shout out to the colorist for not being weak, blue-eyed apologist.

It came far too late but I finally understood why Shananet fell for this loser's act when he whipped out the brown/blonde puppy combo. Wish the writers were capable of juggling plots so we could have seen more of it.

I'll have to get into it in another post but the writing flaws are grating in a skill issue way, maybe too much ambition that should have been scaled back. For example writing men as being generally less substantial, more hysterical, while making women intelligent, well-rounded, characters with depth of various alliances only works if your story focuses on the latter. If you give me cold, calculating ice queen, I won't be satisfied with the plot spending more time on the dumbass loser 30-something eldest son throwing tantrums when his stupid plans fail. Likewise, how do you think it feels learning that the cool-headed, clever woman who gave up on potentially taking over the clan for a worldwind romance was played for a simp by her (quite obviously) less intelligent husband who doesn't even hide his seething hate for her family well? It makes everyone look like a clown. Writing structure crit imminent

It's a shame but unfortunately I like the way it looks too much to drop it😔

[cosmic-ships]

Stranger at the Dust bowl - Chapter one.

Notes: Remember that Au I had a long time ago? Yeah we're bringing it back but having Kylo in it this time! The characters that appear will be as follows: Kaden Reese, Mikal Reese, Kylo, Nocturne Grayfire, Colby Walker, Clara Echo, Azie Echo, and Vesper! This is a fun little chaptered series I will be making using my f/o and if people like it I may have my moots do cameos :D

The desert heat shimmered off the horizon, waves of distortion rising off the cracked asphalt. The Dust Bowl, or what was left of it, stood stubbornly against the desolate backdrop. Its once-proud neon sign had seen better days, with only a few letters still functioning, now spelling out 'D st Owl.' The faded red building was a monument to neglect, its windows grimy and its gas pumps clinging to life out of sheer spite.

Inside, Kaden lounged behind the counter, flicking through an old magazine. Outside, Mikal leaned against a broom, pretending to sweep the dirt around the front steps.

“Think anyone’s gonna show up today?” Mikal called through the open door.

“Not unless tumbleweeds count as customers..." Kaden replied without looking up.

Mikal was about to retort when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. A figure was emerging from the horizon, dark and imposing, trudging up the road like a ghost.

“Uh… Kaden?” Mikal called, his voice uneasy.

“What now?”

“You see that?”

Kaden frowned, setting the magazine down. They squinted toward the road, where a man dressed head to toe in black was approaching. His long cape billowed slightly with every step, and his helmet glinted ominously in the sunlight.

“What in the actual hell…” Kaden muttered, stepping outside to stand next to Mikal.

The man stopped a few feet from them, his posture stiff and commanding. His voice, deep and distorted, broke the tense silence. “I require assistance.”

Mikal’s eyebrows shot up. “Assistance? You look like you belong to some secret agency or… I don’t even know. What’re you doing out here dressed like that?”

The man didn’t flinch. “My ship has been damaged. I need parts to repair it.”

Kaden let out snort, crossing their arms. “Your ship? What, like a plane or something?”

“No,” the man said flatly. “A starship.”

Mikal laughed, leaning the broom against the wall. “Oh, sure. A "starship". You, uh… you come all the way from neptune, buddy?”

The man’s helmet tilted slightly. “I do not know this Neptune you speak of... My ship crashed ten kilometers from here. This was the closest settlement.”

Kaden raised an eyebrow, exchanging a skeptical glance with Mikal. “Ten kilometers? You walked all the way through the desert… dressed like that?”

“Yes.”

Kaden let out a low whistle. “Man, you’ve got some dedication. Listen, we’re just a run-down gas station. We don’t have spaceship parts. Hell, we barely have gas half the time.”

The man reached into his cloak and retrieved a pouch, pouring its contents onto the counter. A pile of gleaming metallic things clattered onto the weathered surface.

“These are credits,” he said. “They will suffice as payment.”

Mikal leaned closer, picking up one of the coins and inspecting it. “What is this, D&D space edition money? Dude, this isn’t legal tender.”

“They are accepted throughout the galaxy.” the man said firmly.

Kaden smirked, leaning on the counter. “Oh, the galaxy, huh? You’re really going all-in on this bit, aren’t you? You're coming from comic-con?”

“Bit?” The man’s helmet tilted again. “I do not understand.”

“You know,” Kaden said, gesturing vaguely at his outfit. “The whole getup, the story about a spaceship, the fake money. You’re really committed to the act. So just spill it, you're from one of those cosplay conventions right?”

“Cosplay...convention?” the man replied, his tone sharp. "This is no act."

“Uh-huh...” Mikal said, folding his arms. “Look, mystery man, even if we bought this whole ‘galaxy traveler’ shtick, which we don’t, we still couldn’t help you. Like Kaden said, we don’t have parts for… whatever it is you’re talking about.”

The man tensed, his voice growing colder. “Then direct me to someone who can.”

Kaden sighed, shaking their head. “There isn’t anyone, not around here. Closest thing to a mechanic is the guy down the road, and he barely knows how to fix cars, let alone spaceships. You'd have to get in touch with who? NASA? And pfft with that get up good luck!”

For a moment, the man said nothing, his shoulders stiff. Then he exhaled, the sound mechanical and heavy through his helmet.

“Well...” Kaden said with a shrug, “guess you’re stuck with us for now, stranger. Maybe I'll take ya to the scrap yard out back. Maybe there's something there won't be no fancy space parts but there has to be something.”

The man didn’t respond. His helmet tilted toward the broken neon sign, the flickering letters casting a faint glow in the evening light.

Mikal grinned. “Welcome to the D st Owl, I guess. Hope you like dirt and disappointment....”

The man said nothing, but Kaden could almost feel his glare through the helmet.

[To be continued]

(Please let me know if you want to be tagged in this series!)