#yeah I'm reusing that tag

[sashathegreyhound]

You complain that people overdramatise your life but you sign your letters with "yours ever" whilst promising your "total loyalty" to the person who happily let you lose your job for them.

"perhaps he was just stringing me along"

I hate to break this to you but I think perhaps you might already be quite dramatic.

[lambilegs]

to the anon who sent me an ask about a sevi writer copying me -- you're a sweetheart and ilysm 😭 thought I was going crazy, so it's really validating to see someone else point out the similarities. I'm not gonna publish your ask, just because it makes it obvious which fic we're referring to. and last time I spoke of being copied or just having my sentences reused without credit, even vaguely, a bunch of people went batshit on me LMAO. and I'm certain the same will happen if I post an ask pointing out a specific writer's work being extremely similar to mine, since they'll say the writer in question might not be doing it intentionally. and who knows, maybe they aren't. I'm hoping it's just an unintentional accident. but, due to past experiences, my hopes aren't the highest. again, though, I hope it's all unintentional, but I can't say anything for certain.

[random-nerd-posts]

I work in the IT department of my college. We turn off the computers every night after we run them for updates. We turn off the computers over night and then we turn them off over the weekend because if we get sleep, they should too. They may not have flesh like we do, but they exist and breathe like we do. Maybe not in the same way, but they do.

If your computer is hot, and the fan is running at top speed and your computer is running slow, please give your computer a break, give your computer some self care, they are a super intelligent toddler. Treat them like that.

And if you can't then maybe you shouldn't have fleshy things with the same motor functions.

Also, updates are super important because they update the motor functions of your metal toddler to keep them going. Your internet might not connect if you don't run an update. You might not have sound if you don't run the update. You might BLUE SCREEN IF YOU DO NOT RUN THE UPDATE. Run the updates, whether you have time or not because, especially for students ready to take a test, if you push it off, your toddler will do it for you because they are sick and need care whether you care about them or not.

Just, the amount of times I walk someone through their account, their computers are so banged up that I want to act as a cps person for their computers and say you are abusing this child. Like be nice to this super knowledgeable toddler because they are expensive and not that hard to take care of if you do it right.

Shocked how many people think you can just turn on a computer and leave it on for weeks or months or years and never turn it off and it'll be fine. Computers need their sleep, and sleep mode does not count

[emblemxeno]

Cindered Shadows Thoughts

Btw if you don't wanna see thoughts on my 3H playthrough block this tag #playing fe3h

-Finished it in exactly 8 hours, at least 2 of which could've been an email /s

-It is truly a microcosm of my foundational issues with 3H as a whole, besides two things

-One is that exploration isn't as tedious because Abyss isn't as big as the monastery, but I guess that isn't really a point in its favor since that's the whole point lol

-The second is I feel like Byleth's dialogue and text selections with the characters is a bit better. There's less instances of , what I describe as "characters extrapolating how Byleth feels in 1-2 text boxes before actually responding to what they said", which I swear is a cause for why the main game reads as if it's 10% longer than it's supposed to be.

-IMO unique map objectives don't save map design that's pretty uninteresting at the end of the day.

The first map's layout is cool! Until it gets reused in chapter 4, where it's only saving grace is a new objective utilizing prior knowledge established in chapter 1. Clever, but still a reuse in a game that infamously spams repeat maps. And outside of Chapters 2 (a slog where you defeat enemies in waves which isn't fun in FE) and 7 (a cramped hall where you have to brace against a monster boss), the other maps are reused from the base game, even chapter 3 is a slightly modified sealed forest.

-Combat itself is so slow, I'm really just debating turning off animations in general when tackling the main game. Not only do the animations take forever, but they don't look interesting, are surrounded by washed out textures and models, and-my personal biggest grievance-have absolutely no momentum nor weight behind them. The Tellius games, from what I've seen, yeah the animations take decades, but from a visual and sound design point, fighting feels significant. 3H also being sandwiched between Echoes (the gorgeous culmination of handheld 3D Fire Emblem presentation after half a decade) and Engage (which to me set a new, high bar standard for 3D FE presentation going forward) is an extremely unfortunate situation and I feel really sorry for it.

-Music still hits though, Shackled Wolves never gets old

-Another thing that 3H does that this DLC reminds me of is the amount of -Stand Around- cutscenes there are. It confused me that Engage gets the most heat for this, when this game does it more, due to more drawn out dialogue, simpler camera angles, stiffer models with fewer animations, and an absolutely diabolical background setup. For a game with an expository selling point, it repeatedly falls short at being engaging in a visual sense, with its scenes always being saved by the phenomenal voice acting. Almost always, at least. The scenes where the Wolves are getting their blood drained while they just stand there is so jarring and bad, it's nearly funny, when it's obviously not supposed to be given the lines, their delivery, and the accompanying music.

-The story from A to B is sweet I guess, but given that the devs said the Cindered Shadows version of events is basically non-canon to what happens in the main game sours me on it. Like, yeah it's cool that the Wolves can technically be capable enough to do it offscreen on their own, but then what's the incentive then for me to recruit them beyond the player's pre-established care? There's no narrative payoff in the grand scheme :/

-Also the whole plot is "what if Yuri, Rhea and somewhat Claude/Linhardt do everything and also these other goobers are here" which became really funny, because after a while even the lines had characters deliberating the sheer amount of coincidences and melodrama that was occurring. 3H style writing shoved into an 8 hour timeframe is accelerated, exhausting nonsense.

-Sothis not being in the plot is fine, because even though it doesn't make sense why she wouldn't comment, it's not like there's anything of value she would contribute beyond her usual schtick of "bratty banter, where are my memories, i sleep now".

Not having Jeralt though? Absolutely ridiculous. I don't like Jeralt as a character (he's my idea of pretty face and that's it), but there's no convincing me why he couldn't be here but Alois can. Love Alois! But he was a device used to have the Knights on standby and nothing more, which Jeralt could've done and it would've let him have a proper impact on the ordeal with Aelfric.

Speaking of which, revisiting this DLC had me thinking... wow this love of Aelfric is veering very close to cult-like, and it's cut short after chapter 5 because we don't go back to abyss once that map's done. I'm left with wondering how the Abyss denizens would feel after knowing that their caretaker was Like That™️, which is a completely foreign feeling to me when discussing 3H's narrative since the game normally never lets it be remotely unclear how the characters or the player should feel about anything ever. So... props for that for making me flex that part of my brain! You did it Fodlan, the creepy custodian plotline that was left dangling was great fridge horror material.

-The constant suspicion throwing and animosity towards Rhea and the church is tiring as usual, and also sometimes downright baseless. Like, at one point it's said that orphans are among those who are relegated to Abyss or otherwise ignored on the surface which is flat out not fucking true, Rhea literally takes in former bandit kids and Remire orphans, what are we doing here.

-Balthus has a cringe "fight the system line" meanwhile he's an irresponsible jackass pushing 30; Constance is written like a joke; Hapi's writing is a joke; Yuri is as incomprehensibly competent and storied as ever and I love that cuz it's nonsense.

-Overall, not godawful terrible, but nothing in it that's worth coming back to in my eyes.

[starlattethesqueakwal]

Hello! I'd like to actually talk about the whole Vassago character that we've seen so far and as a demonologist who has worked with him and studied his lore- Him being a bird is inaccurate. In the Book of Oberon he appears as an angel and all of his described appearances describe him as appearing as an angel.

"The 3 Vzago,99 whoe takinge humaine forme, hath power to make one wise & invissible, & to chaunge mann into another forme, or liknes, he getteth love & favour of all men, & giveth true aunswere of all thinges, he appeareth like an aungell, & is right true & faithfull, in all his doeinges."-Book of Oberon

free Pdf of the book here for a reference vvv (https://www.esotericarchives.com/folger/v_b_26_transcription.pdf)

Viv clearly didn't do enough research on him and just reused an old hazbin design for him. I'm kind of upset now because once the episode he appears in comes out, misinformation and fandom crap will clog the tags.

Yeah, it sucks that demonologists have to deal with Hazbin stans filling up the google searches and tags.

It's annoying indeed.

[electrozeistyking]

exnic my foul ass boy /affectionate

I landed up making an AU/fancomic last year, and I decided it's about time I started posting it here. So, allow me to give you my notes on this guy (though they do contain some spoilers for the comic).

Exnic is a really fun, alternate take on Sonic.EXE, I would say. He’s a powerful individual to a fault, as most of his abilities are imperfect or “buggy,” and has flaws. Which definitely is a result of me writing him as a person, and that’s why he may seem tamer/chiller.

Facts:

chose his current alias when Amy asked who he was, in the hopes it would annoy her or make her uncomfortable. No word on what his real name is, though.

survival instincts are out of whack. Since he can’t die by usual means, he’d let himself get hit by a car (instead of moving out of the way) and go “Well, ow!”

can’t read minds. He’s pretty good at making people think he can, though. (Unless they start thinking about an annoying song to piss him off and he doesn’t react. Then it falls a part.)

has heard of the Chaos Emeralds before, but he hasn’t interacted with them yet. I know what would happen if he did, but I can’t share that since it’s a spoiler.

his bones are shockingly easy to dislocate.

[bitchkay]

what's something the Cod fandom struggles with as a whole (ex. irregular blogging)

I wouldn't say struggle but I think alot of us can agree that lack of content is a little bit disheartening

It's not really anyone's fault either like we're all just people and we all have lives, we're not content machines

But at the same time because this fandom is so small we're kinda the only ones that can make the fan content

In larger fandoms there's usually a bunch of fan content flowing through cus it's coming from so many different places at so many different times like if one person isn't posting 10 other people are, yk what I'm saying? Even after a fandom has reached its peak and its slowing down or after a series has ended theres still gonna be tens of people that are just getting into it after its popularity has dwindled

With the court of darkness fandom theres like 20 of us, maybe 30

We're like a classroom and a half sized fandom and maybe a handful of us actually make fan content like fanfiction or fanart or other consumables made by fans for fans

And I think the burn out fairy has been hitting us a bit lately

Honestly sometimes when I see nobody has posted on the court of darkness tag for a while I'll look through my gallery or my videos and find something stupid to turn into a post cus yall know how much I love reusing/repackaging jokes😌😌

Yeah I wouldn't really say it's a struggle, just the result of a small fandom honestly

[puppyluver256]

Iiiiii made a poster for the upcoming set of Mole chapters, hope this gets y'all a lil more hype for it hehehe :3c Yeah, I'm reusing the character art from the initial poster and bio pages, but I drew it so I get to do that. I have exclusive reuse rights to everything I make, after all XD (not putting it in my art tag tho, that's for New art lol)

The Mole and related concepts © Stone Stanley Entertainment Taion and other Xenoblade concepts © Nintendo/Monolith Soft Isabelle and other Animal Crossing concepts © Nintendo Dr. Boris Habit and other Smile For Me concepts © LimboLane Artwork © PuppyLuver Studios

[lazuliquetzal]

me reading the comics post and ur tags fr like *brings you a microphone* how do u feel about the shit tim's been put thru?

I'm assuming you're talking about my "everyone needs to do a 1-year stint in comics fandom before doing a different fandom" tags. My genuine opinion on the shit Tim's been through?

I think it's hilarious. Tim Drake spent much of his Robin Career being the cool, relatable, 90s nerdy teen. He chugs energy drinks. He skips school. He skateboards. He's the main character of a 90s teen sitcom. It is immensely funny to me that this theoretically-on-paper normal, oddly charismatic nerd loses most of his closest friends, his father figure, his title, the trust of his family, etc etc within the in-universe span of, what, a year and a half? Like it is SO funny to me that the universe just decided out of the blue "yo we gotta shit on Tim Drake RIGHT NOW" and then it happens in rapid and dramatic succession.

And keep in mind Tim is already unhinged (NOBODY NORMAL WOULD EVER DO THE FAKE UNCLE THING) so the fact that he he decides to go all in into an edgy new persona is like, comparatively reasonable and normal. But he's so uncool about it that he reuses another one of Jason's castoffs and doesn't change the name, because the idea of someone calling him something other than 'Robin' makes him want to curl up and die. It's the funniest, most dramatic way to do a cry for help.

Don't get me wrong, it's also extremely sad. However, I am a firm believer that things can be very sad and very funny at the same time. That's life, babey.

Within the context of my "everyone needs to do a 1-year stint in comics fandom" tags, the way I pick and choose my Tim canon is that I pile on every single ridiculous, over-the-top, dramatic and sad event, smash them all together, and shove them at a boy whose coping mechanisms start at "lie your ass off" and end at "blow shit up." This creates a very sad character. It also creates a very funny character. Yeah, giving Tim the love and support he needs is great, but also making him do increasingly elaborate cries for help without realizing he's crying for help is even better.

Anyway, Red Raven by PlotlessWanderer is the greatest Tim Drake fic of all time.

[turian]

beloved gamer mutual & comrade @rhubarbspring tagged me to do a video game about me ( tysm for tagging !! truly loved reading all ur game thoughts. <3 ) explanations behind my choices under the cut.

(also, i had to cheat a little bit in the "you love, everyone hates" category, because i don't think people on tumblr hate da2, but one of my best friends despises it because of reused assets and combat designed more for consoles than pcs. and i can't remember any other controversial beloved games right now. the best i can do is games i love that i'm not sure anyone remembers? imagine ubisoft ballet? which, like. do people hate that. i don't think so).

tagging @cowsquirrel @malcriada @sakraya @ansburg @anoramactir + literally anyone i might have missed who wants to do this

favourite game of all time: so, look, i hate her as much as i love her. i always go back to new vegas even though i have a lot of criticisms of it - i had a realization recently after the release of the fallout show that while maybe i was projecting intergenerational trauma onto the game and using it to process some things, there is a lot in the game that is extremely imperialistic, even as it dabbles in anti imperialism. i can't get into all that here - better essays than i'm capable of have already been written on new vegas - but i also have to admit that new vegas taught me to see game writing differently, and helped me a great deal in improving my own writing. it's also just really entertaining playing later games by obsidian and picking out the new vegas elements. i think that new vegas gets praised too readily for being progressive when in reality it's only the most progressive game in the fallout franchise, and i think every time i return to it i'm noticing one more thing that'll kind of be making my eye twitch. but, yeah, i think it would also be dishonest to not include it here, regardless of my mixed feelings, because i keep going back, and because there are so many angles to it, and because i keep catching myself comparing other games to it.

i think a lot about like........... how so many themes i can relate to exist within the narrative of new vegas, but that doesn't feel entirely intentional. like, benny is so real to me because ! he was forced to assimilate into this culture that was not his to survive. and ulysses as well. and like!!!! yeah idk. going insane. i feel very similarly about dragon age elves tbh i'm like okay i feel seen but also this game is racist! kms :') will be projecting hard and taking so much psychic damage

many such cases tho </3 baldur's gate 3 and their treatment of the gur is always going to be a mix of relatable and uncomfortable to me

favourite series: soulsborne! i like how bleak it is, love the theme of death and rebirth, love how thankless the games can be, and i also love how the combat reminds me of muay thai. had a coach explain something to me using dark souls combat as an example once. i didn't really get these games at first, until i saw my best friend playing - she is ridiculously good at them - and then i sort of realized that they're just combat puzzles, and that like... they're kind of about honing patience, i guess? and after that they really became my favourite.

best soundtrack: honorary mentions: mass effect and dark souls both have some individual tracks i revisit on the daily, and skyrim's secunda is beautiful. but hollow knight doesn't miss, and i love how every track matches its environment.

favourite protagonist: i grew up in a really dysfunctional somewhat criminal family so like... lol. i feel seen when i look at arthur morgan <3 him and charles are both close to my heart. john can stay too ig

favourite villain: SO okay, maybe this is cheating a little, but. the reapers from mass effect. went into that game with zero spoilers, and finding out that they were in fact cosmic horror games was so <3

this would probably have gone to new vegas except benny (and also ulysses + i think he's more narrative foil than antagonist, as is benny) literally did nothing wrong in my eyes and after that point it's like... who is the main antagonist? the ncr and legion both? like yeah they're interesting but...

best story: i haven't actually finished pathologic on my own yet. kind of obsessed, though. just feels responsible to put it here. honorary mentions to new vegas, some fromsoft titles, twd, imagine ubisoft ballet........ (i love her and i miss her).

i feel like a lot of story games i've played actually have garbage stories with good characters, which is why they're not here. baldur's gate 3 and ME, for example. or like... ME has a great story at first but they fuck up the ending so badly that a popular theory i've heard passed around essentially boils down to "it was all a dream!"

have not played but want to: i was actually supposed to apply for a job with the team that made these games !! i didn't because it would have required relocation to the US, but. idk i feel like they keep showing up, always highly recommended, and i think i own one? so yeah, i should really get around to that.

you love, everyone hates: again, i cheated on this one. i don't think people on here hate dragon age 2.

you hate, everyone loves: skyrim, detroit: become human, stardew valley (because it's a weird little cottagecore colonialism game but also because i don't really vibe with the art style and i get stressed as fuck in it because nothing is happening... it is simply not for me), and fallout 3 and 4 (because they're masquerading as games with choices but they fully aren't, they suffer from bethesda writing, and they are super unapologetically racist and imperialist). i mean like... not mad at any of my friends who like these games i just cannot play them. i don't really think any of the games on my list are unimpeachable, tbf.

favourite art style: disco elysium !! it's so <3 like, i also love it for other reasons!! but every time i play it i end up wanting to draw.

favourite ending: new vegas has four endings. i feel differently about them all, but the independent ending is very much shaped by the infrastructure the player assembles during a playthrough, and while it is maybe imperfect and very open ended in some ways i like how it doesn't really reassure the player. also, i really like certain elden ring endings and the dark souls 1 ending. and pathologic.

favourite boss fight: hollow knight has a lot i've really enjoyed (particularly hornet's). for elden ring, malenia is the fave, tho <3 when i defeat her i tend to feel really disappointed. like, get up. let's go again. parrying her is extremely satisfying.

childhood game: we like... found out we had some cousins which is wild because this has been a tiny family since Certain Incidents A Long Time Ago and they also had nintendo ds access and they were not into this game. and like... look, i'm not saying it's great, but it had dark souls ish combat? like, you could lock on? you could roll? and i ended up replaying it as an adult and being like. huh. not that bad.

+ imagine ubisoft ballet ily

relaxing games: distance, injustice 2 (i main red hood & black canary but i like playing robin too. it's super imbalanced and they still haven't nerfed starfire !! and it's incredibly funny like good for her), dark souls 1, and elden ring.

stressful games: again stardew valley because i would play with friends and it was like oh god i need to leave. i do not know what to do, i am useless, i am understimulated

+ red dead online is not a good game to play without substantial backup . so glad i had horse insurance because if i hadn't my only friend in that world would be dead. that said, i did like to hunt in that game + play the fps levels with groups

games you always come back to: new vegas but maybe she'll release me someday. idk. also unfortunately i didn't include it earlier but i keep going back to the sims 4 and baldur's gate 3. and fromsoft titles because i sometimes just crave that combat.

guilty pleasure: new vegas again!!! i guess i kind of talked about my extremely complicated feelings when i first spoke about it, but yeah. there's just so much to unpack and i'm never going to forgive it for a lot of things. the horrors and the joys are both numerous but the joys will never not be tainted by the horrors

tons of hours played: elden ring + bg3 + new vegas + mass effect. i don't have the hours of new vegas and mass effect available tho as they are confined to a now dead xbox 360

[strangenewwords]

different kind of tag game

all these things are like what do you read/watch/listen to.

my friends, we are on tumblr. i know this shit about you. you post about it fucking constantly.

i wanna know random shit. so here goes.

How do you heat water? Like a heathen with a microwave. I was really fucking insane about only using a kettle for my entire twenties but I gave the fuck up and am old now.

Do you have a pen cup? If yes/what is the most non-pen item in it? I do have a pen cup. It's actually an old marmalade jar. Is that because I'm cool and reduce/reuse/recycle? No. It's because it's what I had available. I have a seed label thing. You know the thing you poke in the ground when you're planting seeds? Yeah I don't garden or grow things. I don't even know why it's in there or how I got it.

Do you have a favorite utensil? Tell me about it. I have this weird spoon I picked up somewhere. But it's my fucking spoon. It's kinda tiny, and goldish. But it's the perfect fucking weight and I use it for my tea and pretty much anything else that requires a spoon usage and even some things that do not. What's the highest hotel/building floor you can take standing on a balcony? I have a middle ground I can't deal with. Like Six to Twenty I get super freaked out on. But above twenty? Whatever.

I wanna know about your socks. Do you not wear socks? Do you wear cool socks? Are they utilitarian? Depends on the season, once it gets warm socks be gone. Cooler weather I like a funky sock, but especially one that's fuzzy. Tag five people to learn actual things about them

@ncc1701ohno @twinkboimler @dustykneed @introvertia @flippyspoon

[nicholas-hartwell-barnes-ii]

I love the buppy omg

Buppy //^w^//

[mumpkins]

yeah ykw I'm just gonna start posting art on this account who cares.

I'm reusing this tag but note that if you browse this tag then everything before this post is from ten years ago... old art, mostly from askblog days...

For the rest of my work before this, go to @mumpkins-art

[merryfortune]

Jumping to Conclusions over Jumpers

Written for 12 Days of Yurimas

Dec 29th: Ugly Sweaters

Title: Jumping to Conclusions over Jumpers

Ship: Gothgfshipping | Gloria/Marnie

Fandom: Pokemon Sword and Shield

Rating: G

Word Count: 1,678

Warnings: None

Tags: Christmas, Fluff, Communication

   “Happy holidays, hon, here’s your gift!” Marnie ecstatically shared with Gloria, arms outstretched and holding a haphazardly wrapped present in her hands. She grinned. “Go on, take it. Yer gonna love it.”

   “Aw, thanks, Marnie.” Gloria replied.

   She accepted the gift with a smile of her own. Though, it was quite small and paled in comparison to Marnie’s, which was very unusual of her. Marnie didn’t exactly wear her heart on her sleeve, after all, but here she was. Proud of punch, something on the tip of her tongue as she took a breath and blurted out a hint.

   “I made it meself.” Marnie added.

   “Huh?” Gloria blinked.

  “Yeah, I put lots of love into it, too, because I know yer bit of a fashionista, Gloria.” Marnie admitted, she was trying to strike a tone of voice which was both modest but rightfully proud of her hard work. She shrugged. “I hope you like it.”

   “Oh, I'm sure I will.” Gloria said - and was speaking far too soon.

   Because here’s the thing… She and Marnie had been going out for several months now and even before that, she and Marnie had been the best of friends for a few years now.

   Yet, somehow, this was the first time Gloria was hearing about Marnie’s apparent talent in making her own goods. She didn’t know Marnie was into things like handicrafts - or even so talented at making them that they were gift worthy materials. 

   Still, excited, Gloria was happy to learn a little bit more about her girlfriend that she didn’t know before. She held onto the present and whatever was inside the shiny, colourful paper was soft and limp. Already, Gloria was formulating a guess as to what it could be. Some kind of article of clothing seemed obvious but what exactly? And she couldn’t tell through the paper if it was knitted, crocheted, or sewn, either. So, Gloria decided there was only one way to find out.

   It was time to open it up and take a look.

   Gloria balanced the gift in her arms and was careful to undo the sticky tape. She knew Marnie was the frugal type, and making a gift aligned with that, so Gloria figured it would be polite to save the paper in case either she or Marnie wanted to reuse it. The paper was cute enough for being obviously from the discount section of the supermarket. 

   As the paper peeled away, the garment revealed was not exactly what Gloria was expecting. Or hoping. She had to stop herself from reacting poorly but Gloria could do little against the initial twinge of dislike that furrowed her brows and stopped her in her tracks because, um, she very much did not like it.

   And Marnie could not know.

   That was the instinct that Gloria followed up with as she turned her gaze from the ugliest jumper she had ever seen in her life to Marnie. Marnie looked so happy, so cheery in her scarf and jacket. She couldn’t have been prouder for presenting this gift to Gloria.

   “Well?” Marnie urged her, awaiting praise with sparkles in her eyes. “Do you like it? I bet you do, I bet you love it even.”

   Gloria held her tongue.

   The jumper in question was a garish mustard yellow. It mixed patterns, like zig-zags and cables, with pom-poms that had been sewn on via a crochet hook unlike the rest of the monstrosity which was clearly knit. The collar was uneven, there was already holes in from where the yarn hadn’t been pulled tight enough during the process. It was shoddy and horrid and very clearly made with love.

   It was so, so painfully obvious that Marnie had put her all into this jumper - and that it was a first attempt. Or so Gloria thought until Marnie shuffled closer, snow crunching under her boots, to reveal something else about the jumper.

   That there was two of them.

   “Tada.” Marnie said as she pulled the top jumper off what Gloria was holding. “It's a matching set, so everyone knows we’re, um, you know… a thing.” A scant blush turned Marnie’s cheeks rosy as she fessed up. “Oh, an’ don’t forget, there’s a special design on the back.”

   She turned her jumper around to demonstrate the, quote, “special design”. As though it couldn’t already have been more clear that these ugly jumpers were a set, they even had Gloria and Marnie’s names felted onto them on the back inside of an acrylic applique which looked straight from the Valentine’s Day rack.

   It was so earnest and so entirely hideous, too. It set Gloria’s teeth on edge as she couldn’t help herself. She had to tell Marnie what she wanted to hear even if it was a lie.

   “G-Great, that’s, uh, just great.” Gloria stuttered.

   “Wowsers, you are practically speechless. I knew I was good but I didn’t know I was that good.” Marnie laughed.

   Taking entirely the wrong idea from Gloria’s courteous hesitation.

   Gloria felt like she just took a field hockey stick to her gut. She couldn’t. It would be cruel of her to keep Marnie in the dark about her dislike of this very ugly jumper but look at her. She glowed with happiness, it was so nice and sweet and good on her for trying, honestly.

   But that’s exactly why she needed honesty. She wasn’t going to get better at her hobby if Gloria buttered her up nonsensically.

   “C’mon, let’s put ‘em on.” Marnie said.

   “Right now? In front of everyone in the park?” Gloria croaked.

   “Er, yeah.” Marnie confusedly replied.

   Gloria stiffened as she watched Marnie take her jacket off to then slip her jumper on. She pulled it down, baggy and uneven, over her scrawny body and because her iconic leather jacket was a handmedown, of course it fit over the jumper.

   “Go on, don’t be shy. I made it to be used, not to be stared at.” Marnie joked.

   Robotically, without giving any heed to the part of her mind which was begging her not to and to come clean about her dislike of the jumper, Gloria did as she was told. She put it on over her head - and over her cardigan. Yep, lots of room even with the second layer.

   “Aw, don’t we look as cute as cute can be.” Marnie laughed.

   Gloria stood there. Knees knocking and not because of the cold. And they were attracting all kinds of attention. Most of it the wrong kind. It was the mid-afternoon of a chilly winter’s day and there were a few people, just like them, enjoying the snow but they seemed to hurry on due to the strange little scene between the Champion and her Gym Leader girlfriend.

   Worse still, the longer Gloria stood there, the more she hated the jumper. It was itchy and scratchy. The yarn was low quality and seemed to fester, even through the shop quality of her cardigan. It was awful. Gloria grit her teeth.

   She could hear Hop’s voice in her head, as though he were the angel on her shoulder. He wanted her to tell the truth, to be communicative about her feelings. He knew better than anyone that not doing that, that keeping it all inside would only hurt more people unnecessarily.

   So, Gloria paid heed to her little Jimminy Nymble.

   “Marnie.” she spoke up.

   “Yes, hon?” Marnie replied upon prompt, she quit fidgeting where she stood, swirling and twirling her dress, and admiring the handiwork of her horrible jumper.

   “Your, um, jumpers… your first attempts, correct?” Gloria asked. Her teeth chattered.

   “Yes, they came out so good, too. I followed the pattern an’ ev’rything.” Marnie boasted.

   “Well, its just… Here’s the thing…” Gloria quivered as she did her best to choose her next words very carefully. “I am SO proud of you for making them, I think you did a great job and put in a lot of hard work.”

   “Aw, thank you muchly.” Marnie replied.

   “But.”

   Marnie paused. There was always a but and Gloria felt awful but she needed it off her chest. Literally and emotionally.

   “But, I don’t like it.” Gloria said. “I think the colours clash and there’s more than a few errors apparent in its creation.”

   Marnie sucked in a breath and her chin pruned, “You hate it?” 

   “No, no, I love it. For you. And I want to see you get even better at making jumpers, you had fun, right?” Gloria asked.

   “Y-Yeah, lots o’ fun.” Marnie mumbled.

   “Then I can’t wait for next year’s jumper. This year, it's the thought that counts. Next year, I bet you’ll make an even better jumper that, um, doesn’t have nearly as many holes in it. And is made from a softer yarn that isn’t as itchy, either. And why not ask me for my preferred colours to wear, too? Th-That could help.” Gloria blustered in her effort to provide constructive feedback.

   Marnie’s eyes were shiny but she smiled, she nodded, “It's itchy on you, too, huh? I thought it was just me.” She offered a small laugh.

   “Not just you.” Gloria replied and with her spare hand, she took Marnie’s and swung it playfully. “Let’s go get some hot Apple ciders and call it a day for this year? Yeah?”

   “Yeah.” Marnie replied. She squeezed Gloria’s hand then let her go.

   Gloria sighed in relief. Gladdened that she had come clean and hopefully, they would both be better off for it. They took off their jumpers and Marnie bundled them up inside of the paper. She started to chat to Gloria about how her next pair of matching jumpers were going to be much better and already had some ideas on how she could try again but different this time.

   Gloria couldn’t wait as they walked off in the direction of the nearest warm cafe and out of this cold that whistled around them. Besides, they didn’t even need matching jumpers to obviously be an item, they were lovey-dovey enough without as they held hands on their stroll.

[phyreunavailable]

I think when I have everything like, worked out, I might post the absolutely insane system I use for campaigns, like.

There is a reason I don't tag these posts dnd. This is held up by the fundamentals of bullshit and how much my brain can cook up and that's it.

Turning to the group of ppl who have played dnd and ppl who have never touched a ttrpg in their life: two of you will suffer greatly. It's the ones with experience.

My system basically priorities story and role play, then puzzles and exploration, then combat. I mostly cut out rests because like boo boring don't care. Combat? Much quicker, I hate numbers and don't want a turn to take 20 minutes. There's type advantages. I built a bloody type system.

I just reuse the same worldbuilding but in different spots. I made a silly Agency that works for literally every scenario and WILL be using them for such, thank you.

But yeah a lot of it is just me making a plotline and npcs, giving players their mission and telling them to make a character on call with me so we can live discuss what works, and based on that call and what type they choose I create their skills and abilities. They are always free to recommend things to me on how they see their character, and I take inspiration from there.

Like upcoming campaign? I gave them their roles beforehand since it's a shorter one and to keep it balanced. As I worked on the story, maps, and assets, they would hop on call and we would talk about their character. I put a human/hybrid (catgirl side of the chart) rule in due to the world they were playing in, and each player has found a way to work with that.

Currently the party is a lesbian swordswoman lizard-hybrid, a mage with a tree arm, an Irish man ready to throw hands, a nonbinary Healer that has an emo aesthetic and a giant hammer for their normal attacks, and a shark hybrid chef that throws pancakes and hot oil like Mr. Game and Watch.

Skills are balanced with cooldown rates instead of mana or whatever because I did not want to deal with that. The cooldown is how many turns you must go for before you get your ability back. You roll a d20 for everything, damage is predetermined so like it's just a crit/miss chance you roll for.

The 2 that have played dnd quite a bit hate this system. The 2 that play rpg games and have never touched a ttrpg think it makes perfect sense. I'm having fun. Everybody is stoked to start. Nobody really knows what to expect except for me, and I think that's beautiful.