#which instead is a cave based on uhhhhh

[cats-of-eden-valley]

what are some scenes from warriors you're excited to adapt into coev?

this ask have been staring at me for two days and the reason why i cant seem to think of any is because ive only been thinking about the mundane shit

like

imagining Asphodel touring Lotus through the different animals as he trains them, telling them about the stories he knows ("Heavensmite come from the distant islands of land seen far, far above"), about how they are to be approached ("Though corloons look like prey, they are affiliated with the Moons, seeing what her eyes cannot, and must never be hunted"), the laws and rituals of each ("The hopchomp must be flicked ten times, or its flesh will taste too bitter"), and Lotus putting such tender passion into learning it all

or thinking about the living root bridges, and Aspen (p. raven) teaches Lotus how to weave new twigs (Don't be to harsh, even the most tender of roots can be snapped), guiding the vines into place whenever you pass by, a collective effort of many to create something over the span of generation

when Lotus goes to their first Trading and sees EVEN MORE cats than they've ever seen in their life (Delphini (p. grey) doesn't care, he just wants to start a game of play, mates, or vanquish with all the pretty mollies), passing through the wide array of goods, things they never would have seen otherwise

or like Goldspring all spending a chilly, rainy day in the springs and just fucking vibing (Fuchsia (new) and Larkspur (p. spot) cuddling in the hammock (you can hear them giggling about something)) (Amaranth (p. oneeye) has a hard time in the water so she settles for a couple paws dipped in)(the kittens keep splashing and getting scolded)

[poisonouspastels]

ok have an ask that isnt a spam link: tell me uhhhhh 5 facts. about a current project your working on. can be anything just infodump a lil bit mayhaps

Oh god okay I have a lot of things I'm working on ATM <- bearer of the multitasking curse. so I'll try to narrow it down uhh -Currently wanting to delve more into a project called Canvas, which aims to be a M&L inspired RPG game featuring Rose and Thorns, which if you've been on this acc for a while you probably have seen them before. If not don't worry about it lol (MC AU is taking up a majority of my brain space rn though so this will mostly be me talking about that. Cause that counts.) -I don't really get to talk about the other players in the MC AU much but they all kind of have their own "thing" so to speak. Like I know at the very least I've mentioned Efe is a blacksmith and Sunny is the redstone guy, but you also have Kai who makes carvings out of the cherry blossom trees they live around, Noor and Ari who currently find themselves in the desert digging up and restoring old relics (mostly pottery), Makena who does glasswork (living near the beach there's abundance of Sand) and Zuri who weaves different things out of bamboo. -Diamond is a resource that isn't actually commonly used as its typically too heavy to be properly utilized in armor outside of trims, which are just for show anyway. It most often gets used in swords and pickaxes, there's rarely ever exceptions, especially since it takes a LOT of diamond even just to make one tool. As of the battle of Ender, there's only two diamond tools that exist. (Efe owns a sword (self made of course) and Steve a pickaxe) -Herobrine has been bitten by cave spiders so many times that he's developed an immunity to their poison. He can chug a bottle of it as a cool party trick (cool as in gives anyone a heart attack who doesn't know) His legs are also covered in scarring that never properly healed because of this. His years spent in the caves sure were something. -The way healing potions work in the MC AU varies based on injuries. External injuries like cuts are applied directly and heal at a fast rate (think like how the holy grail works in Indiana Jones) and leave behind no scarring if the wound is small enough. But any internal injuries such as broken bones or wounds that go far deeper than surface level require consumption of potions over time and speeds up the healing process instead of practically fixing the injury outright. Still extremely useful though. Incidentally, this method is also used to grow back teeth, but neither ways can grow back things like missing limbs.

[bringingglory]

thank you so much for the tags @hanamuri @fullmetalscullyy @megthemighty @nightofnyx8 @tsaritsa !

How many works do you have on AO3? 11! some are botw, one is tdiapt, some are fma, and some are haikyuu! i mostly just write for whatever im interested in at the moment/whichever fandom inspiration strikes for

What's your total AO3 word count? 101,939

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Keep Your Friends Closer But Your Enemies Closer - T: ahhhh my miraculous ladybug fic! ive literally been working on her for FOREVER and i swear to god im going to finish it, i literally know how i want to end it and i know all the events leading up to it. hell, i even have a vague idea of what i want to happen in the middle, i just need to know what order the middle stuff happens in and also i just have to write it. It's an AU where Ladybug and Chat Noir are actually enemies but then Chat Noir accidentally befriends Marinette and then drama etc etc etc.

rain - G: first zelink fic babey! set Pre-Calamity and basically link and zelda get stuck in a cave because of the rain and there's just a lot of quiet pining, etc etc.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Oikawa - T: HAHAHA this was a crack fic inspired by my roommate but then i forgot it was supposed to be a crack fic while writing it and there are accidentally real emotions alkjdfalksdf but anyway it was very fun to write lmao. it was based off this meme and basically it's an AU where Oikawa is Spider-Man and Iwaizumi doesn't know but they still like hang out and stuff. It's a lot of fun, or at least I think it is, haha.

stolen moments - T: first royai fic!!! just a series of "stolen moments" (mic drop) where roy and riza like cant be together but yknow, they try. lots of pining. etc

a secret weapon of sorts - T: 5+1 edwin fic inspired by the Simple People OVA where instead of ed giving winry earrings to get out of trouble, he gives her kisses.

Do you reply to comments, why or why not? Yes! I try really hard to!!! Sometimes I get overwhelmed and I don't respond to comments for a while, but I absolutely do my best to when I remember because I feel like it's my way of saying "thank you" for them reading my fics in the first place, haha.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? Uhhhhh, sleepless I guess? But it's more open-ended/not explicitly positive more than anything, though even then I feel like I've got a hint of hope in there. alkjdfhalsdk idk man I just, I can't write *pure* angst, there's gotta be some light, and thus I could never end anything angstily

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending? LMAO most of my fics??? I guess??? bc despite being an anxious piece of shit, I am an optimist by heart

Do you write crossovers? If so, what's the craziest one you've ever written? When I was younger! Idk, I guess the Rise of the Brave Frozen Tangled Dragons fandom??? if anyone remembers what that is lmao

Have you ever received hate on a fic? Not exactly? Maybe some weird comments on KYFCBYEC but even then, it wasn't that often.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? No no no no no no no no. I am telling you, I physically cannot write smut. I don't think I actually have the capacity. Absolute fucking kudos to every single smut writer out there bc it truly is an art form capturing that intimacy and emotion and etc, but I literally get flustered from writing mildly detailed kiss scenes. If I ever wrote smut, I would burst into flames on the spot.

Actually lies, I technically wrote smut once, but it was at the request of my roommates and they wanted me to write a crack smut fic of Y/N x our uni's mascot and I wrote that thing in like 3 hours with so many silly memes to keep myself sane (not like other girls, tongues battled for dominance, etc), did not edit it, and because it was so, like, not serious, I was actually able to get through it. But even then, when I wrote "thrusting" I literally had to put my laptop down for 20 minutes.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Nope!

Have you ever had a fic translated? Not yet! Someone commented on Your Friendly Neighborhood Oikawa and asked if they could translate it and I said yes! They haven't gotten around to it yet, but I would love to see it if they do!

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not yet!

What’s your all-time favourite ship? Bro it changes day to day. You can't ask me this lmao. The current ship I'm most fixated on is Iwaoi, but I wouldn't say they're my all-time favorite.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? I'm not answering this energy. On god, I'm going to finish things. I want to.

What are your writing strengths? uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh very good question lmao. I don't really like thinking about "strengths" in my writing bc who am I to say? akjdslakfjdf idk, instead, I'm just gonna say some things I like/try to do in my writing, which are: conversational prose/having a lot of voice in the narration, I try to add humor wherever I can, and recently I've gotten better and metaphors and describing things bc I picked up writing poetry a year ago!

What are your writing weaknesses? hmmm, a thing I dislike about my writing/the writing process is that I'm slow to publish things and slow to finish things because I'm such a messy first drafter and I also take forever to edit. I would like to uhhhhh get things out faster. Also I tend to repeat myself a lot bc I forget the details of things I write sometimes lmao.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? Hmmm, I dunno, I guess I don't have any strong thoughts? The only other language I know is Mandarin but even then, I suck ass at that, so I'll prolly never write dialogue in another language simply bc I like to try to portray things semi-realistically and I don't think I have a good enough grasp on any other language the same way I do in English to produce authentic enough dialogue.

What was the first fandom you wrote for? Fablehaven I guess? But Idk I was in fourth grade an didn't even know what fandom was yet. Rise of the Guardians, maybe?

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

AHHHH idk??? maybe hold your hand out in the dark because i really experimented with my writing on that one and im sort of proud of the result, just like the fact that i wanted to try something new and it turned out alright. that or Sunset Wheeling which is an iwaoi fic where they just skate, and like it's prolly one of the most self-indulgent things i've ever written because it's silly and they just. skate. but aljdfalsjd idk i loved it and i churned it out in 6 days and it was a lot of fun lol

ahhh a bunch of people have been tagged already, so sorry if im tagging you again, but for now im just gonna tag @niconiconina @notkorras @thatisadamnfinecupofcoffee @firewoodfigs and anyone else who wants do it!

[spiralcompendium]

Day Six: Arc One World Critique

This will be a review/critique of each of the five worlds in the first arc--what I thought was effective and ineffective about each world’s plotline, setting/lore, and characters! Spoilers: there are a lot of Problems but I still love this horrible little game anyway.

═══*.·:·.✧    ✦    ✧.·:·.*═══

.·:·.✧ Wizard City ~ A- ✧.·:·.

✦ Plotline  ✦

Wizard City functions well as an introduction to the game. We immediately get introduced to the main villain, but we don’t know what his plan is yet. The Wizard’s mission, at this point, is to stop Malistaire’s undead from overtaking the streets. After we defeat Lord Nightshade, we learn that this was all a distraction from Malistaire’s real plan--to get the Krokonomicon from Krokotopia. Even though this means that what the protagonist did in Wizard City doesn’t have a direct connection to the main plot, I still think that it works well as a low-level story. 

I appreciated the originality of some of the subplots on each street; some standouts include stopping undead from siphoning powerful Storm magic from the Storm Mill on Triton Avenue, as well as defeating Cyclops Lane’s Cyclopes and Trolls, who were originally summoned to defend against the undead. 

While some of the side quests were just your standard MMORPG delivery or defeat quests, some were also pretty interesting! For example, Gloria Krendell’s and Duncan Grimwater’s quests provide insight into Malistaire’s backstory. Even the more simple-seeming quests had flavor text that made it a bit more fun. Being sent to defeat a boss to get back the Sleeper’s Timepiece, a watch that can bring nightmares to life, is a lot more interesting than being sent to defeat a boss who’s just evil and attacking citizens.

✦ Setting and Lore ✦

Every game needs to start with a relatively basic area, and in this one, it’s Wizard City. Still, I love all of the little details that flesh out the world. The devs could have chosen to go with really basic fantasy areas and use just houses, castles, and libraries. Instead, we have places like the Storm Mill--“one of the main sources of magical energy for all of Wizard City,” the Hedge Maze that is watched over by an ancient seraph, and the Fireglobe Theatre in the center of a burning street. It’s also really cool how all of the different streets have a different “feel”--Triton Avenue seems very industrial, Colossus Boulevard seems very upper-class (despite the Gobblers), and Firecat Alley seems very artsy and creative. Having abandoned areas like the Haunted Cave and mysterious places like Sunken City imply a history to the world. Still, Wizard City doesn’t feel like it has much of a past.

Overall, Wizard City has a good amount of lore with the various magical creatures and villains, especially considering Bartleby, the creator of the Spiral, lives here. With the addition of the Catacombs quest, it seems like Wizard City has a lot going on behind the scenes. 

✦ Characters ✦

Very few characters stand out at this point in the story. I liked Duncan Grimwater’s arc (although this doesn’t pay off until arc three), and I loved dealing with the shenanigans of both Nolan Stormgate and Cyrus Drake while questing in Cyclops Lane. Still, none of the characters have any major presence besides Ambrose, who is just there to be an Old, Wise Wizard. I would have liked there to be a maximum of six or seven major characters, possibly to represent each of the main schools. They wouldn’t all have to travel with us everywhere, but it would be cool to have more overlap instead of just meeting one or a few separately in each street. I also wish that some of the villains had a larger presence in the story. We don’t even hear about Lord Nightshade, the final boss, until we’re sent to fight him.

.·:·.✧ Krokotopia ~ B- ✧.·:·.

✦ Plotline ✦

In Krokotopia, the Wizard is chasing Malistaire to try and prevent him from getting the Krokonomicon, a book of powerful Life and Death magic. They are also stopping the awakened Kroks and some undead along the way. The plotline could have been more compelling if there was more of a focus beating Malistaire to the Krokonomicon, stopping Malistaire, or having Malistaire find different ways to stop the Wizard. Instead, Malistaire has very little presence, and we learn at the end that he beat us there--who knows how he got there or what he was even doing the whole time. 

By itself, though, Krokotopia’s plot isn’t too bad. Freeing slaves and reassembling an ancient magical order of anti-authoritarian Kroks is a good premise. 

✦ Setting and Lore ✦

Krokotopia’s setting is somewhat compelling in theory, but I do wish there was more variety--we’re pretty much inside hallways the whole time. I liked how each major area (the Pyramid of the Sun, the Krokosphinx, and the Tomb of Storms) has their own Krok leading family, such as the Nirinis and Sokkwis. I liked the family conflict between the Ahnics and Djeserits in the Tomb of Storms, as well. Krokotopia has a much more obvious history to it than Wizard City. I really liked the Marleybone presence, as well, which hinted at their dominance over many different worlds in the Spiral; it also showed that the various worlds are interconnected and not just levels in a game.

✦ Characters ✦

Yeah, no one in this world is particularly important. The major Marleybonean characters are pretty much just there to give quests, and the villains are just there to be something to fight, similar to Wizard City. Hetch al’Dim’s character trait was Anxiety, which I thought was pretty cute. Alhazred’s character trait was Old, so… alright. Once again, we get introduced to our final boss pretty much right as we have to fight her. Still, her design is pretty fabulous, so that’s cool. 

.·:·.✧ Marleybone ~ D+  ✧.·:·.

✦ Plotline ✦

Marleybone’s importance to the overall plot of arc one is minimal:

1. Malistaire frees Meowiarty so he can steal the Krokonomicon.

2. Malistaire gets the Krokonomicon. 

These last two events happen at the very end of the world, so everything else feels like a lot of filler. The Wizard has to put a stop to gang uprisings and attacks by automatons, only some of which Malistaire is connected to--and these were only started to interrupt the Wizard chasing him. It would have been great if the narrative as a whole was a mystery; despite having some elements of a mystery story, it wasn’t one. Also, it would have been interesting to have more of a focus on the obvious social issues occurring in the world. We see the dogs discriminating against the cats, rats, and frogs throughout the story--accusing them of crimes they didn’t commit and literally paying the Wizard to attack Street Sweepers out of a pavilion who were doing nothing but loitering, at worst, just because Abigail Doolittle wanted to have a party celebrating the police. Yikes!

Beyond that, a lot of the side quests were unquestionably bad. I always hate doing the quests for the ladies in Marleybone, because it’s all just bringing hats and scarves to different places. One quest like that would have been fine. 

The moment when the Wizard had to chase Malistaire and Meowiarty during the prison break was pretty fun, although (as @calamity-callie​ pointed out) they immediately moved to an unrelated case in Knight’s Court instead of just continuing to ramp up for the Meowiarty fight. This makes the story seem kind of janky. Again, I would have preferred for both Malistaire and Meowiarty to have more of a presence in the story. 

✦ Setting and Lore ✦

Marleybone’s setting is a lot of fun, and I love how much it contrasts Krokotopia. While magic is deeply ingrained in Krokotopia (from the presence of the Balance school down to the colors of the Manders’ scales), Marleybone doesn’t practice magic at all. I like how dark the world is--it’s very fitting for a place that has so much turmoil. I definitely would have liked to see more of a variety in the specific locations though--Hyde Park, Chelsea Court, and Knight’s Court are pretty much the same, not to mention that 99% of the story takes place on rooftops. The lore is alright, but there’s not too much that I find to be super compelling--most of it is just Victorian English stuff + steampunk.

✦ Characters ✦

Sherlock Bones is kind of there, although he doesn’t really solve any interesting mysteries. The concept of Baxter was good--having a “guy on the inside” who could guide the Wizard--but he was a flat character. Meowiarty was probably the most compelling, but he didn’t have much of a presence. I would have liked the world to have much more of a mystery-based plot (as in, actual mysteries) that was focused on working with Sherlock Bones, Watson, and Baxter to find/stop Meowiarty and Malistaire. 

.·:·.✧ MooShu ~ F+ ✧.·:·.

✦ Plotline ✦

MooShu has always bothered me a lot, because it has little direct connection to the overarching story. Malistaire comes here, steals the Spiral Key from the Emperor, and then leaves before the Wizard even gets there. The Jade Champion was able to get the Spiral Key back right as Malistaire went through the door, but he did not give it to the Wizard because the Emperor must be the one to give it to us for some reason. Still, I really liked the concept of the different Onis affecting each area in different ways.

The side quests are… fine, I guess, although I did love the ones centered around the two lost lovers in the Ancient Burial Grounds.  

✦ Setting and Lore ✦

This is the first W101 world that stands out as being, uhhhhh,,,, NOT super PC. The accents, stereotypes, and blending of different Asian cultures is not a great look. If we’re able to look past that (which we shouldn’t), I honestly don’t really like look or aesthetic. There’s just a whole lot of brown and a whole lot of bamboo. Pirate101 MooShu is leagues better visually (although it has the same problems with reeeeeally problematic language and characters). I do like a lot of the lore though, especially concerning demons, the Spirit World, and religion. But yeah, I do wish that the setting had more relevance to the story as well. Malistaire wants an ancient magical text from Krokotopia--Krokotopia as a setting makes sense. The ancient text gets stolen by an England analogue and put in a museum--Marleybone as a setting makes sense. The Dragonspyre Spiral Key is kept in MooShu just for fun, I guess. We learn later that the Emperor of MooShu is a member of the Council of Light, so I guess it would make sense for him to have it, but they literally could have made him the Emperor of a world based on anything else and it wouldn’t have changed anything in the main, overarching plot. 

✦ Characters ✦

The characters sure do give you quests! They’re really good at telling you how to progress in the game. They absolutely tell you where to go to get XP. 

.·:·.✧ Dragonspyre ~ B- ✧.·:·.

✦ Plotline ✦

Dragonspyre’s plot definitely needed some work, as well. When we get there, we learn that Malistaire is in the process of summoning the Dragon Titan in the Headmaster’s Office, but the Wizard can’t get there until they can become a student at Dragonspyre Academy. So we, again, aren’t actively working against Malistaire, because he’s literally static the whole time--the Spiral would be screwed if the ritual took like five minutes. 

Despite that, some of the subplots in the different areas were pretty fun: going into the past to see the start of its end, learning lessons from its history in the Crucible, and hatching and raising a Drake (whom we never see again, which sucks). 

Like with MooShu, it would have been a lot more impactful to be actively fighting against Malistaire the whole time. In the other worlds, part of the tension comes from Malistaire’s minions attacking innocents. In Dragonspyre, the tension isn’t there because they’re all already dead. Still, if they had focused on this aspect (i.e., the Wizard is the only living person in a world full of ghosts and Malistaire’s minions), it could have been really impactful.

✦ Setting and Lore ✦

I love the premise of this world: a ruined city that was destroyed by a horrible, ancient power due to the hubris of its elite. Dragonspyre has one of the most in-depth histories out of all the worlds of the Spiral, and I love the blending of the cultures of ancient Rome/Pompeii and Russia + dragons. Plus, Dragonspyre Academy darkly mirrors what Ravenwood could become if Malistaire successfully summoned the Dragon Titan. 

However, similar to Marleybone, all of the different areas have the same buildings, color palette, and mood. I like the additions of areas that are based on ancient Roman structures (the Basilica, the Necropolis, the Forum, etc,), but it doesn’t really matter because they all look the same. 

✦ Characters ✦

Cyrus Drake is one of my favorite W101 characters. His character arc is really good, especially if you play as a Myth wizard. He’s tough on the Wizard at first, but I honestly think it’s because he doesn’t think this Literal Child should be sent to defeat Malistaire. 

Malistaire is alright as a villain, and I’m certainly glad he wasn’t a generic evil guy who wants to rule/destroy the world just cuz. I would have wanted him to have just a little something extra, though?? Morganthe is a necromancer who was once a student just like the Wizard, but her mind shattered after the Spider Magi showed her how to touch Shadows. Old Cobb is an elder god who wanted to end the Spiral and recreate it. Malistaire is… an old professor who wants to bring his wife back. I do like how it’s unique, but I would want there to be something more.

Besides them, the characters in Dragonspyre are once again very flat, although I am very gay for the Russian-accent soldier ladies. 

═══*.·:·.✧    ✦    ✧.·:·.*═══ 

Before writing this, I probably would have said that arc one was my favorite. Looking back, it has soooo many problems--writing isn’t exactly one of KI’s strong points lmao. I think that Wiz has some very creative ideas and premises, but sometimes the execution just isn’t the best. I definitely think that a lot of these problems were a result of crunch time, though. If they were actually given time to flesh out their ideas, I think that the game would have turned out much better in terms of storytelling and design. 

I’m thinking about making reviews for arc two and three, as I’d be really curious to see how they’d compare. They all have different strengths and different problems. Still, this game has been my favorite game since I was eleven, and it’s something that I will always come back to.

Image Sources

https://101universe.fandom.com/wiki/Wizard_City?file=Ravenwood.jpg

https://101universe.fandom.com/wiki/Krokotopia?file=Tumblr_n1e872SXlZ1tsc4dmo2_r1_540.jpg

https://www.swordroll.com/2013/05/Pirate101-Krokotopia.html

https://www.mmorpg.com/columns/wizard101-abigail-doolittle-is-the-true-villain-2000108162

http://www.edwardlifegem.com/2018/11/wizard101-questing-where-we-ended-up_14.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hGd5cDTxd0

https://finalbastion.com/wizard101-guides/w101-pet-guides/pets-dropped-mooshu-wizard101/

https://101universe.fandom.com/wiki/Dragonspyre_Academy?file=Dragonspyre_Academy.jpg

http://www.wizard101central.com/wiki/File:(Location)_The_Crystal_Grove.png#axzz6a4BqFgfv

[kinomiakai]

Fic Decade in Review!

I thought I’d do something a little different this year - so, instead of going over all the fics I’ve written this year, let’s talk about this decade! They’re all SNS (except for the original stuff I’ll throw in there for the sake of accuracy) and will be under the cut :)

If you want to check out the actual summaries and stuff, this is my fanfiction.net account, here is my ao3, and here’s all my original work!

2010:

August: Konoha’s Number One (a dramatic dark!naruto thing that I only keep up to show that I’ve grown as a writer oh my god please don’t read it I’m just putting it here for the sake of honesty ajkhdksa)

2011:

...whoops

2012:

August: Alcohol Induced (my first ever attempt at smut)

September: Perceptual Organization (my attempt to both study and write fic)

October: Worthless (my only ever attempt at first person)

2013:

...uh

2014:

nope

2015:

we’re getting there

2016: (we take off!!)

October: How To Break a Mask is finished after 10 years (whoops), and I get an ao3 account!!! (HtBaM, Alcohol Induced, Perceptual Organization & Worthless are moved there - in the interest of time I’m only going to put ao3 links from now on but everything is also on ff.net!)

Still October: Both Name? and Strictly Professional are posted!

November: Home and The Jutsu are posted! (what the heck I wrote so fast back then???

2016 + prior word count total: 88,285!

2017:

January: I post Sleepless and Miscommunication and Masquerade! Woooo!

September: Posted both The Bet and Can’t Stand You! Can y’all tell I was trying to get better at smut lmao

October: Speaking of smut, Stress Relief was posted this month :D

December: I pause writing Enter Naruto to write Rebuilding in like a week like some sort of fever dream, and somehow have it ready for sns month! (I think this was a big turning point ksjdhkshf)

2017 Word count total: 60,784!

2018:

January: I post the first chapter of The Birthday Chronicles! (which was originally supposed to be a oneshot, oops)

February: I immediately follow it up with the prequel, The Present

April: I post Long Enough! which is definitely long enough to not be a oneshot but is the first fic I genuinely couldn’t bring myself to break into chapters

May: I update The Birthday Chronicles with another chapter that kinda sorta maybe stands alone?

June: I post Unnoticed!! Nice to be back in canon :)

July: I post Some Nights are a Storm! The first time I’ve wildly rewritten a fic. You guys are nice enough to want to read the first draft, too :)

July (again) to August: I start posting Enter Naruto on Sasuke’s birthday! I post a chapter a day and you guys read along and it’s amazing. It’s a culmination of at least two years work and every bit was worth it, I have such fond memories of that :) (A whole bunch of firsts here - writing Sasuke’s parents, writing Kakairu, writing slowburn, writing this MUCH, writing that many smut scenes, writing consistently over a long period of time)

September: I try my hand at one of my favourite tropes in (6+1) Times :) Also the first time I’ve ever written them as kids!

October: I post the third bit of The Birthday Chronicles!

November: I write Online for one tumblr prompt and A Night of Poor Choices for another!

December: I give a christmas gift to all my readers in the form of ‘Tis the Season (and I made a hard deadline!! Woohoo!)

2018 word count total: 203,850!!!! (lmao thanks Enter Naruto)

2019:

January: uhhhhh Under Pressure just kind of happens

February: I write C’mon in a burst of speed in the hopes of cheering up a very sweet anon!

March: we’re back in canon again for a flame, a cave and a feeling!

April: I fiiinnnaaalllly get around to write that Proposal x Wedding prompt and I take lots of liberties with tradition in Reborn by Flame!

June: I finally start posting Something Good! And you guys are all so sweet, even when I make you cry. (Definitely a sadder fic then I generally post, but I’m so glad you came along with me for the ride!) - /// - I also make a patreon and start posting my original work for the first time ever - starting with Some Sort of Feeling!

July: we celebrate Sasuke’s birthday to his unending annoyance in Sasuke’s “Not a Birthday Party” Birthday Party! - /// - (July’s patreon fic is The Worst Date Ever!!)

August: I give you guys a teaser & give a lovely anon a oneshot they requested in the form of Bite Me! (it’s gotten so long now friends. there’s so much happening please help) - /// - I also finally post a wlw fic on my patron as 🍀 (the girl from the bus stop)

September: I post Waiting for an Answer, based off an idea I had yeaaarrrsss ago! - /// - (Similarly, on patreon, I post The Woodcutter and The Witch, set in the world I’ve been thinking about for absolute ages!!)

October: I spend a whole bunch of way too late hours in a haze writing A Hostage Situation until somehow a fic just kind of morphs out of it

November: I finally get to share Moments, the piece I did for @eclipsed-zine​! I also post Undeniable, linking all my fics together :) - /// - On patreon I make up for last month by posting chapter 1 & chapter 2 of my long-term project: The Forest!

December: I forgo the christmas present in favour of making your yuletide gay with The Best Best Man! I get to finally write some proper inosaku in :D - /// - I post chapter 3 of the Forest on patreon, and my patreons vote for their christmas gift to be chapter 4 :D <3

2019 word count total: 137,965 of fanfic & 40,100 words of original content!

Stats of the decade: 39 fics - 539,984 words!

I’ll try to beat it in the next ten years :) Thanks for being part of my life, guys! It’s really been awesome to be able to invest myself into writing like this. I hope I can bring you all even more happiness in the next few years!

[wildknightblaze]

Octopath Travelogue, Olberic Chapter 3

yaaay starting the chapter 3s, I’m excited 🙂

“Hey, you’re not allowed in here without an invitation!” “Oh yeah? HOW ABOUT A DUEL, THEN, TO DECIDE WHO GETS TO oh holy shit you’re at 9/10 strength uhhhhh okay never mind have a good day”

EDIT TWO HOURS LATER: I went back to that guy after beating this chapter and managed to beat him after a long five-minute duel. There’s a black market behind him. No wonder he’s so damn strong. Thankfully after beating the chapter, I was pretty dang rich and Tressa was able to haggle some. I got some PRETTY DANG NICE weapons now. 😎

All three people I asked about Erhardt just say “you mean the man with the sword?” and Olberic goes “yes, that must be him.” How do you know? It’s not like swordsmen are uncommon.

Guards accosting me for walking around asking innocent questions? But I’m a big white man! *crowd boos and I get splatted by rotten tomatoes* okay okay that’s in poor taste, I’m sorry...

...I feel like I’ve seen this Captain Bale before, but not in Olberic’s story. I wish I could remember where.

Random note about the battle system that I never appreciated; the clear delineation of when turns begin...and therefore, a clear indication of when buffs expire. I feel like most turn-based JRPGs in this manner (i.e., you pick an action and they go immediately, instead of choosing the whole party’s actions for the round at once) are always unclear about when exactly the turn begins and buffs that last for X amount of turns expire. It’s good to have it clearly marked in this game.

Only two fights in the “wave of enemies attack” event? Usually they go for three.

Yes, Olberic, Primrose had the audacity to call you the most gallant and good of men. How extremely vexing of her. Just take the compliment, man. 😉

Apropos of nothing, I classed Cyrus into Dancer. He looks wonderful.

wow I got into a fight with a random mob and got the worst fucking luck with Bewildering Dance. Put one enemy to sleep for one turn with Prim. Tried again with Cyrus, silence my entire party. COOL.

god freakin’ dammit another purple chest. THERION’S GETTING OVERLEVELED. I WANT TO USE MY OTHER PARTY MEMBERS DANG IT.

For a moment I was like “the mobs seem to have taken a big step up in difficulty, what the hell is--oh. I’m in a Chapter 3. Duh.” 🙃

gettin’ real sick of these mobs that are two ants and two lizardmen with way-too-big break gauges and are only weak to Olberic’s weapons 😡

also why are these chests giving out such crap amounts of money? I got thousands more leaves per chest in the Chapter 2 dungeons. This cave sucks.

nice, not even an attempt to make the lizardmen surrounding Erhardt seem like a threat. One singular cutscene swipe. We ain’t got time for that shit. We got PLOT...but not too much plot. You will have to fight some lizards.

Aaaaand killed it with a Cross Strike. ...It only occurred to me right after that I could’ve Donated BP with Ophilia’s Merchant skills and let Olberic unleash his ultimate skill for the first time. Dammit.

...oh, shit. Oh, shit. That...I was not expecting that automatic use of Challenge. Shit.

Shit, Patrick Seitz, you are killing this monologue. God damn. (I mean that in a completely sincere sense. Patrick Seitz is amazing.)

And that’s Erhardt defeated with Brand Thunder which, boosted by Abide, did 8700 damage. Ho-lee shit.

I like how I just did the most damage I’ve done in the game up to this point and Erhardt still lives. Not only lives, but is sorta-kinda forgiven.

And that’s Chapter 3. Damn, that was really good. I fuckin’ love this game.