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larkingame · 19 days

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hello all! been a moment since we last discussed some things, so I'm coming online to discuss the progress of Larkin's development and make a few announcements :)

over the last ten months, larkin has gone through a lot of changes, some of which I've documented here--but most of it I've kept pretty private. I realized that over the few short years I've been developing the game, I sort of grew an unhealthy dependence on my presence within the 'interactive fiction' community that I really, really needed to take a step back from and break, all in order to ensure that I could enjoy working on what originally started out as a passion project for me.

since july of last year, I've completely reshaped and rewritten how larkin exists as a project, shifted it's genre and started collaborating with a few others to ensure it can be of the highest quality it can possibly be. uptop, i'd like to mention @tapeworrmart who's taken on the immense task of putting together most of the game art for me, @khiita and @ann1a-1 who have both taken on the roles of my editors (and also sounding boards for when I am being absolutely insane) and my production manager phillip, who without his assistance, larkin would barely exist. with that, let's do a progress report. the intended demo of larkin, or what i've taken to calling 'episode one' (yes, i said, 'episode,' more on that in a minute) has stretched to just over 200k words worth of content. it stretches all the way from the earliest versions of larkin's original prologue, to the end of the original chapter two. so far, we've completed 3 out of the intended 20 character portraits, as well as some more art that's slowly been in development.

now, on to the announcements. probably the biggest, and the one I am most ashamed of is--due to the fact that I've been slammed with graduate school work and some other external factors, Larkin as it currently exists is not the best that I think it can be. I'm deeply sorry for this, but I want to ensure that you all are getting the highest quality game you could get from me--and right now, I know it's just not that. Which is why I am unfortunately, pushing the release of the demo back until Friday, June 14th, 2024. Patrons will be granted access to the most recent edit of the demo two weeks earlier on Friday, May 31st 2024. In the meantime, I will be working day and night (quite literally) to get what I'm dropping on you up to par and something that I'm happy with.

To make up for this disappointment, I'm planning on repopulating the blog with a lot of content over the coming months, rewriting new versions of old asks, posting art and short stories.

Next on the agenda and also an equally important announcement. I'm changing the rating of Larkin to Mature or 18+ As I've been writing these past few months, working through a lot of themes and figuring out the story I want to tell, I've found that I think the change in rating is entirely necessary. While I don't think I've ever had that big of a minor fanbase--I think that this is just what I am most comfortable doing. There has consistently grown a little bit more of gore, and trauma exploration, which is the main reason for this change in rating, but, this does allow for the inclusion of something that I've been toying with since the intial release of the game. There is going to be explicit sex scenes in this new version of Larkin--all of which, you the player are able to opt out of, or completely avoid if that's something you want--but I just thought a little announcement would be warranted. This does not mean however, I am comfortable with answering thoroughly explicit asks or getting unsolicited sexual messages. The goal is to keep this game blog mainly tame.

Please respect this boundary of mine.

Third thing to be announced. I've also changed the format in which Larkin will be released. Rather than around the twenty-five chapters in one of a series of 'Books'/'Games', Larkin will be released episodically over four 'seasons' with eight-ten episodes of around 200k-250k words each (though, this is just an early estimate--they could grow longer, as I'm basing this purely off the demo/Episode One)

Finally and a little bit of a fun note: there are now twelve romance options throughout larkin, five male, three female, one non-binary and three gender-selectable. With those upcoming asks, you'll hear more about each in the coming days :)

With all that being said, I wanted to lastly thank all of you for supporting me over the years and putting faith and your interest in this project. truly, the support of all of you means the world to me and I can't wait to share more of larkin with you all.

thank you 💖

#larkin game #larkin if #larkin #announcement #game announcement #blog update #interactive fiction #if #cyoa #cyoa game #twine interactive fiction #twine #twine game #sugarcube twine

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captainsophiestark · 7 months

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Witches Get Stitches

Klaus Mikaelson x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for Fictober 2023!

Fandom: The Vampire Diaries/The Originals

Day 11 Prompt: "You lost it. Well, we lost it."

Summary: Klaus and his girlfriend have been together since they were humans, surviving together for a thousand years. They don't intend to let anything tear them apart.

Word Count: 1,352

Category: Angst, Fluff

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, not descriptive

A/N: This doesn't even follow the Originals timeline/canon a little bit lol

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

I groaned as I slowly came back to consciousness, my head throbbing. The last thing I remembered, I'd been talking to Genevieve, a resurrected New Orleans with who'd been dancing on the line between ally and enemy.

She took a great, giant leap into the enemy category when I forced my eyes open to find her smiling at me, looking immensely satisfied with herself. I tried to stand, maybe make a move to rip her head off, but my wrists were chained to the walls on either side of me. I was trapped.

"I'm going to kill you," I spat, not bothering with pleasantries or pretending. Genevieve smiled like she'd expected me to say that.

"I know you think we're the bad guys here," she said, giving me a sympathetic expression that made me want to rip her head off. Literally. "But we're not. You've been dating the bad guy, and you've been so blind you haven't been able to realize it."

I rolled my eyes so far back in my head that I could see the wall behind me. I'd heard this same nonsense a thousand times from a thousand different people, and it never got any less irritating or boring.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Y/N," Genevieve said, walking towards me with a very menacing swagger in her step. "I'm just going to make you see the truth."

Before I could hit back with a retort, she raised her hands to the side of my head, and I went spiraling back through my own memories.

For a witch who'd managed to catch me, one of the oldest vampires in creation, in the home of my boyfriend, one of the other oldest vampires in creation, I'd expected more, honestly. But her plan wasn't particularly creative.

She forced me to relive some of my worst moments in my thousand years with Nik. We'd been together as humans, and he'd turned me not long after Esther turned the rest of them, so there was plenty of material for her to work with. Nik and I had been through hell and back, mostly due to enemies, but sometimes due to each other.

Genevieve made me sit through a few particularly bad moments, then pulled me out of her little trance, staring into my eyes like she expected some kind of connection.

"For a thousand years, he's lied, cheated, and backstabbed," she said, her voice low and grave. "He's left a trail of blood, pain, and suffering in his wake. You haven't been spared from his list of victims, even if you've convinced yourself you have."

I closed my eyes, taking a long breath in through my nose. This was getting tedious.

"We've decided to put an end to his reign of terror. We'd like you to join us. So what do you say?"

I fixed her with my best 'really?' stare, which I'd perfected using on Nik.

"Genevieve, let me explain something to you." My voice was quiet, faux-patient, with an undertone of promised violence the way I'd perfected from hearing Nik do so many times. "For more than one thousand years, Niklaus Mikaelson and I have had each others' backs, through everything. We're partners, best friends, and the loves of each others lives. One thousand years of a relationship does not come without bumps, and problems, and things we have to spend a long time working through. Every single time, we have done so successfully.

"One thousand years as a Mikaelson has also come with hundreds of people just like you, Genevieve. They've tried to get to Nik through me, or they've tried to turn me against him, or a thousand other attempts at causing us problems by breaking us apart. And not one of them, in all that time, has succeeded. And do you know what else, Genevieve?"

She cocked an eyebrow at me and gave a little snort, but I could see the way her shoulders tensed and the flicker of fear in the back of her eyes.

"Every single one of those people who tried to come at me and Nik? They're dead. And we're still standing."

Genevieve snorted, louder this time, shaking her head as she straightened and backed away from me. I stared her down, letting a feral smile slowly drag its way onto my face.

"Fine. If you won't help us, then I have no more use for you. So-"

"Oh dear. I hope that sentence isn't going to end in a threat against my lovely partner over there."

Genevieve whipped around, and I smiled at the sight we both found over her shoulder. Nik had arrived, covered in blood and grinning in the way that made my heart race. Clearly, he'd worked his way through at least some of the witches outside to get here. I grinned back at him.

"Your hold over this place, this world, is coming to an end, Klaus," said Genevieve, standing her ground remarkably well. "The two of you have terrorized this place long enough."

"Now you're bringing my girlfriend into it?" asked Nik, raising one eyebrow, a teasing tone in his voice. "Well, I really can't let that stand, now can I?"

"You're not going to have a choice," Genevieve growled. With that, she flung her arms out, whipping up a witchy storm to throw at Nik just as two more witches came into the room. Nik held his own alright—he was the Original Hybrid after all—but he couldn't stand on his own against three powers like this forever.

He needed help. And I was going to give it to him.

I closed my eyes, getting into the headspace I'd had to reach more times than I'd ever wanted to, but that had gotten Nik and I out of more than a few hard spots. Pure rage and a desire to protect the man I loved washed over me, and I pulled against my restraints with all my strength. I dislocated my thumbs to get them out of the cuffs, stifling a scream, then got to my feet and rushed Genevieve before she could realize I was free.

The next minutes were a blur. They always were, whenever Nik and I were in a fight like this. After landing a few hits and killing both of Genevieve's little helpers, I saw Nik go down. He dropped like a sack of potatoes, and I saw red as I whirled on Genevieve.

A few moments later, Genevieve followed Nik to the ground, although she was a little more dead. I stayed standing, trying to recover from the adrenaline. After I'd had a few moments, I crouched down next to Nik.

"Hey. Nik, wake up," I said, gently shaking his shoulder to try to rouse him. After a moment, thankfully, his eyelids fluttered. A second later, he sat into a seating position, looking ready for a fight. I quickly reached out to calm him, to reassure him that we were fine.

"What happened?" he asked, eyes still a little wild, even as he saw the bodies around us and started calming down.

"You lost it. Well, we lost it. Genevieve kidnapped me to get to you, you lost it on her and her little followers over that. She seriously hurt you, so I lost it and helped you finish them off. Same thing we've been running for a thousand years. We're alright."

Nik nodded, letting out a sigh and sagging a little. Then, he looked at me with a grin.

"You'd think after a thousand years they'd learn, wouldn't you?"

I sighed. "No kidding. Maybe this'll be the one that sticks."

Nik and I shared a smile as I leaned into him, kissing him softly before standing and offering a hand to help him up. No matter where we went or how much time passed, people would probably always try to come after me and Nik. But together, we were completely unstoppable. We'd spent the last thousand years proving it, and we'd spend the next thousand doing the same.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury

TVD/TO Taglist: @elenavampire21

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greenerteacups · 4 months

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Hi! Just wanted to say the latest chapter is lovely & amazing & sweet & had me smiling the whole time! I absolutely love your characterisation of everyone, especially Draco, so it was so so lovely to return to this world & to his thoughts!! with his best friend and crush at malfoy manor no less! All the yearning is already off to a great start hehe I am so excited for the rest of book 5!

Wanted to ask you how has it been for you to write this new book and volume? Has your writing process changed since when you’d first begun taking on a long form project like this?

& also are there any moments or surprises in this book that you’re especially excited about?

sending so much love & gratitude for you and your incredible works 💓

Thank you so much! This is really encouraging, I so appreciate it.

Inasmuch as I can use this metaphor without having kids myself, I sort of see each of the books as a different child. The first one flew out in basically a few weeks of very intensive writing, and it was a total dream — plot, pacing, symbolism, major beats, all fell into place basically without effort. The character stuff was the hardest, as I've written about before, but even then, the glorious part of writing beginnings is it's the most energy you'll ever have for a project, so the lows were pretty soft lows. Book 2, in contrast, I had to drag kicking and screaming by its ankle from under the bottommost mattress of my brain. It's one of my least favorite books (tone problem; COS has killer plot/setting/ingredients for a YA novel, but it's stuck in the doldrums of Harry Potter's well-documented Early-Installment Weirdness, before Cedric Diggory slams the gas and upshifts the whole series into its correct age bracket). More specifically, once I'd gone through and picked out everything in the book that happened because of Lucius, I didn't have a plot — hey alexa how do you rewrite Chamber of Secrets when We Got No Fucking Chamber Of Secrets — and oh by the way, even if you want to do a moody tone/political setup book, remember that your protagonists are still twelve, so if you go too dark or too intense, you'll risk torpedoing your readers' suspension of disbelief. Good luck, Charlie.

Book 3 felt the most like its own novel, if that makes sense? It's the last truly feel-good book of the series; it's a great stand-alone mystery novel with relatively low stakes. Plus you get a bunch of the big series icons: patronuses, dementors, werewolves, Hogsmeade, the Marauders' Map, and time turners arithmancy. It just felt like a good old-fashioned motherfucking romp of a mystery/adventure story, before any of the complex character work and major stakes of the late books come in.

Book 4 was the most fun I've had writing anything maybe ever. I don't even know what it was. Maybe the tournament arc, honestly? Love me a tournament arc. But in any case, I opened every new chapter feeling a tingle of excitement for what I was gonna get to do. Oh, and the romance started, finally, Jesus God (if it feels like a slow burn reading, just imagine what it felt like writing it, when everything takes ten times as long, and you have to figure out how to word the fucker.)

Book 5, in contrast, has felt much less like that tingle of "here we go!" and more like "oh, man, this is gonna be cool." Because this is the arc of the story that composed the original idea for Lionheart, literally years ago, and to be honest, I didn't think I'd get this far! If you'd asked me "do you know that it's going to take you 500,000 words of backstory before you can start writing that concept you're thinking about, and you're going to do it anyway?" I would have said: "absolutely not, strange mind-reader!" But like... I'm here! Finally! And it's... real now? Like, this isn't just a bunch of clips of scenes in my head anymore! That's rad!

That being said, it's definitely been slower than Book 4, because I kept switching back to my outline document to make sure that certain things were set up properly, and that I hadn't lost any of the plot threads or forgotten a minor beat that was vitally important for the story three chapters later. And I had a minor crisis about three months ago when I ripped out about 8 chapters in the first third of the book — basically everything from September to December — because I'd done a readthrough to check pacing (big mistake! never edit while drafting, that's satan talking) and realized I had a missing storyline. Like, there was a whole layer of the story that was just. Missing. Not there. And the existing text really couldn't fit another thread, so instead of taking weeks to pore through and try to sift out what I could save, I needed to factory reset and start over. And I didn't want to! I vividly remember sitting there with my head in my hands, trying not to weep, because I'd decimated 90,000 words of work in a single edit. But it had to be done. Because the story wasn't going to work. And now (hopefully) it will.

And of course, there's still that sense of excitement and exhilaration from before. Always. But whereas Book 4 felt like a delicious chocolate pudding, Book 5 is a medium-rare steak.

(Book 6, so far, is four shots of espresso and a whiskey chaser. FWIW.)

#greenteacup asks #lionheart #lionheart spoilers #dramione

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gojosbf · 3 months

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Sorry, but I need to say something I've been thinking about for a while. I found geto's death forcing. 1.he loses to a boy with no experience and the power of ''love''. 2.he was stronger and had more knowledge and experience than the boy yuta. 3. It seems that the author just wanted to get rid of geto so that this annoying villain Kenjaku could come. 4. In my opinion, Geto is the best villain. I don't understand why the author didn't want to continue with him. 5. His death was forced because Saturo already had a change in character and personality. What I'm trying to say is that in the film, Satura is already different, he's no longer that immature young man. 6. the serious work was much more dramatic if geto had survived saturo blow he would have become stronger and returned as a villain again with sukuna. Sorry if it's big, but I have these doubts that such a good and well-constructed character had a horrible ending and very little.

I have mixed feelings about this anon but first I'd clarify things point by point for you and then give my opinion if possible

1. Yuuta Okkotsu has a special grade curse, the queen of curses Rika, the power of "love" you speak tho it might sound cliché does fit here well and it was explained in the manga that love is considered the most twisted curse (if you saw the movie you'd have seen that gojo said this line to him too).

2. Yes sure geto had more experience and knowledge but yuuta is an acclaimed prodigy, his cursed technique is mimicry, rika was so scaringly powerful even before she fully evolved, geto KNEW that if he absorbed rika he'd have everything needed to form his "ideal world". He wasn't just any nobody who managed to get lucky.

3. Okay now here there are two reasons and I am trying my best to find words to explain it, yuuta was meant to be the original mc of jjk, he is the op character. Geto wanted rika (as I mentioned in the previous point) to accomplish his dream so if geto won that battle the story as whole would've taken a very different turn, we wouldn't need itadori and the whole first years and their stories. Remember how I said yuuta was supposed to the actual mc? Yeah that's were gege actually made changes so he could make a better and elaborate plot.

4. Geto Suguru was infact an amazing villain, yes. But you've also got to understand that he was sympathetic towards jujutsu sorcerers, he'd never risk harming them (his own last words being "I never hated anyone from jjk high") unless they're in his way. He had to die because we needed someone who'd go all out, no mercy to anyone, no regard and sympathy for anyone and that's exactly why we needed someone like kenjaku, who was equally powerful, evil and not shy to bring hell.

5. Geto's death had nothing to do with "changing gojo's personality", that change already happened after hidden inventory and premature death arc. His death was an important decision for future plot points (explaining why yuuji was special, sealing the strongest etc).

6. This is where I fully give my opinion, sure Suguru would've come back as stronger and even more powerful villain but would he have achieved what kenjaku did? Geto Suguru that we knew would choose any other route than sealing Gojo, he literally did not even try to protect himself and gave gojo a chance to kill him (during kfc breakup), he never attacked jujutsu high until yuuta happened, he worked with rejected sorcerers and never paired up with evil curses like hanami, jogo and mahito. So, to put it simply it was important part of plot that geto first turned evil and then died, that shaped so many important arcs of the manga and it was well thought out for long run. Sure it's sad and frustrating but that was one good writing move on gege's part and there's no denying that.

#okay that got super long but I hope this was clear enough I tried ny best to not confuse facts while explaining #i really suggest reading the manga!! that'd clarify so many of your doubts ngl #imagine me talking about good writing from gege now lol #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #ask #gojo satoru #geto suguru #satosugu #stsg

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v3x-y0urs3lf · 3 months

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Love and DeepSpace x closeted trans MC.

Zayne: Okay, Last time I checked him and Mc have known each other for like.. years(?) I feel like he'd know something is off.

Like, Mc looking at their hospital reports that very obviously state (Male/Female) or some sort of ID that states their assigned gender at birth. I feel like he'd notice how focused they are but OF COURSE there isn't really a time or correct place to really talk about that sort of stuff (especially with how busy the two of them are.) and so MC doesn't mention it.

Which leaves Zayne to have to.

The next time the two get some downtime he asks about his suspicions, starting off with something like 'You've been off lately' or 'Have you been alright?' thinking at first it was about 'the attack' or about their job.

I want to say that asking him to call them by a 'nickname' is how this would go just because of the stress of trying to come out but.. I'm not exactly satisfied with that so let's say you actually tell him about what you've been thinking.

First off, Supportive. I don't think (Nor do I want to think) any of the characters are homophobic/transphobic. Zayne is a doctor for gods sake. He is not new to same sex relationships nor the concept of transgender people.

He's actually pretty cool with it (hah, get it?) He just asks whether you've decided on a new name, pronouns and if you're planning on any body modifications (Testosterone, Oestrogen, top surgery, bottom surgery, etc etc.)

I don't think Zayne would be all that knowledgable himself on how to do certain surgeries, but he would totally recommend you to other doctors/surgeons who he knows and trusts to be able to.

ALSO, VERY STRICT ON MAKING SURE YOU'RE NOT OVER-BINDING/TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF AFTER SURGERY. It's either he takes time off to help you recover(surgery) or he's constantly checking in through texts if he can't miss work.

Xavier:

Gonna be honest, don't have too many ideas for him. I want to say he wouldn't exactly bat an eye at anything Zayne would think was 'SUPER OBVIOUS' hints. He'd notice if you suddenly took on a new 'nickname' or if you started asking everyone else to call you by said 'nickname' and notice if you suddenly cut your hair/started growing out your hair.

He just wouldn't notice certain things like trying to dress closer to your preferred gender or if your voice started to gradually change (Whether it's from hormone supplements or vocal therapy.).. or he would and just wouldn't ask because 1. Those are pretty normal and tame things or 2. Because it's a gradual change and he just doesn't question it.

It's not until he thinks about it a little longer, let's say he's focusing on you that he starts to notice all the little things he missed. The way you've overall grown as a person and taken a liking to being seen as more feminine/androgynous/masculine.

I don't think he'd ask you directly, instead wait for you to bring it up to him. He doesn't want to overwhelm you or make you uncomfortable so.. he waits until you're ready. It's not like it isn't you just because you're finding out your gender after all.

I don't know how knowledgable he'd be on transgender people but he's definitely supportive. You could literally just tell him "I'm a ___, please call me __ and use __/__" and he'd just give you a thumbs up and continue about his day.

Raphael:

After Zayne I just got 0 ideas but I want to try and fit everyone in this so..

I want to say he'd notice certain changes like if you started growing out your hair, cut your hair, your voice was changing, etc.. thing is he'd forget and just think it was a normal. As in 'your voice was always that high' or 'you always dressed that way.'

If you started asking other people to start using certain 'Nicknames' then I'd imagine he'd start to notice after a while, He'd also be pretty annoyed if it was a name that he originally thought was just an 'us thing'. y'know? But he'd get even more annoyed and jealous if you got everyone else BUT him to start using different names for you, like, How DARE you? Did the two of you not have something special?

I don't think he'd notice if you started presenting differently(Dressing/acting more feminine/Masculine/androgynous.) and if he did then he wouldn't mention it. So what? you're just exploring different styles. That's fine.

It's not that he doesn't know what transgender people are / anything about queer people but he just.. doesn't really care? Like, He cares about you. Yes.

But your gender doesn't play into your worth.. why would he care? He'll respect your pronouns and decisions for yourself but unless you come out to him then he might not be too present in your transition.

He would try to help out with recovery, though. You might have to tease and pester him about it but at the end of the day, he cares and doesn't want you to hurt yourself by doing something you aren't supposed to during recovery.

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I feel the need to mention I haven't finished the story, I mainly got most of the plot of tiktok and stuff but I really like the game.

This is in no disrespect to the original mc, I understand the game was originated in China so we're more than likely not going to get any queer rep from this one.

I also wanted to add Tara and Caleb, I just got incrediblyyy lazy. Sorry.

Again. Sorry if these characters seem mischaracterised at all, This is just how I viewed them.

#love and deepspace x reader #rafayel love and deepspace x reader #zayne love and deepspace x reader #xavier love and deepspace x reader

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mysteryshoptls · 9 months

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SSR Trey Clover - Dorm Uniform Vignette

"If you end up liking it"

[Heartslabyul Dorm – Rose Maze]

Ace: Tending to the lawn's so useless, ain't it? Doesn't matter how much weeds we pull, they grow back almost right away.

Deuce: Guess you and I see eye to eye sometimes, Ace. I feel like at this rate, we'll never be finished.

Trey: Hey now, don't slack off. We need to make sure the lawn is perfect for the Unbirthday Party.

Cater: And if the yard is in disarray, it won't look good in picture. After you finish weeding, then comes the mowing ♪ Good luck!

Ace: Eeeh～ Why do the first years have to do this～?

Trey: It just turned out that the first years were put in charge of getting the croquet field prepped. The second and third years have their own tasks, you know.

Trey: We all have to help set up the party. That's what the Queen of Hearts' Laws say, after all.

Trey: Everyone works together to put together the party, and grows closer to each other as a result… A rather common principle, don't you think?

Ace: …No, what I think is that everyone's just scared of it losing their heads to the Dorm Leader, and that's why they're all working together.

Deuce: So then, what are you upperclassmen doing?

Cater: I'm getting the party venue set up～ I'm gonna make sure it's poppin' so you better be looking forward to it ♪

Trey: I'm making the cake. We can't skip out on the cake for an Unbirthday Party, after all.

Ace: Yay! We get to chow down on Trey-senpai's super delish cake! What kind are you making this time?

Trey: What kind of cake? …Hmm, I don't think I can describe it in one word.

Trey: An "Unbirthday" is literally a day where no one has a birthday. So it'll be a cake that's specifically built for that.

Ace: That pretty much makes it sound like how it looks and tastes is gonna depend on the person who makes it, then… Ah.

Ace: Wait, so, on the other hand, doesn't that mean that the cake could literally be any kind of cake?

Ace: Oh, but marron tarts aren't allowed, right.

Trey: Eh? Ah, yeah. Based on what's been established by the Queen of Hearts' Laws…

Trey: "Place candles on the cake," and "Marron tarts are forbidden."

Ace: Then how about we use a cherry pie as a base this time around, 'stead of a regular cake?

Ace: It's sweet, tart, delicious, and the crispy, flaky pie crust just makes it so perfect to chow down on ♪

Ace: …And most importantly, it's my favorite food.

Deuce: Ace, don't be all selfish like that and cause more problems for Clover-senpai. Also…

Deuce: Instead of a cherry pie, it'd be better to make a chiffon cake made with a ton of eggs. It's not as sweet, so everyone can enjoy it.

Ace: Look at you, you're also just requesting something you want to eat yourself!

Deuce: N-No I'm not. I was thinking of the whole dorm…

Heartslabyul Student A: Whaaat, are we requesting cakes? I want a chocolate one!

Heartslabyul Student B: Me, I want a cheesecake!

Heartslabyul Student C: Cakes don't necessarily need to be sweet. Trey-senpai, what if you make a quiche next?

[rabble, rabble]

Trey: Hey now, you all. No one said I would be accepting any requests!

Trey: All the ingredients are already prepared in the first place. It'd be difficult for me to switch it up at the last minute.

Ace: I'm sure you can do something about it with that big brain of yours, Trey-senpai～

Cater: I get wanting to beg the super genius pâtissier Trey-kun～

Cater: But it might be a bit problematic if you all bombard him with your own wants, y'know?

Heartslabyul Student A: Yeah, but even if the cake is crazy delicious, if it's just the same thing we always have, we'll just get bored of it.

Ace: Ahh, I get that. It's like, something original would be great… 'Cause I'd just get bored otherwise, so I kinda want to eat something different each time.

Trey: …I see.

Trey: Then, how about you all try to make your own cake? That way, you can eat whatever you want.

Trey: As you know, as with the Master Chef elective course, this school likes encouraging the student body to learn how to cook.

Deuce: Master Chef is that practical cooking class, right?

Trey: Right. It's a traditional program that was established some time ago so that the students will be able to cook for themselves after they graduate.

Trey: It's not required, so not many students take it, but it teaches you the fundamentals, so it's a pretty good class to take.

Heartslabyul Student A: Hmm… Guess I'll give it a try. From what I've seen Trey-senpai do, cooking looks like a cinch.

Heartslabyul Student C: It'll definitely be more fun and easier than all this boring weeding!

Trey: We're always shorthanded when it comes to making the snacks, so it'd be great if you guys come out of this with a newfound passion for cooking.

Trey: Alright, so I'll give you the equipment you'll need to cook, so come with me if you want to make your cake.

Deuce: …

Deuce: …Hey, Ace, that was pretty rude what you just said. How could you say you'd be bored of his cakes, or that it's not original…?

Ace: You were thinking the same thing. 'Sides, Trey-senpai's chill, so he won't get angry over something like that.

Deuce: Hmm… Maybe? Guess he is pretty mature.

Deuce: He's unusually helpful and kind for a student at this school, too…

Deuce: If someone told me that the job that I'm always doing is "easy," I bet I'd get pretty upset.

Ace: If he got angry over something so small like that, there's no way he'd be able to look after our super short-tempered Dorm Leader like he does.

Cater: That's true. I don't think I've really seen Trey-kun get too angry before that much either～

Cater: But... That's why when he does get angry, he carries it for a while...

[Heartslabyul Dorm]

Riddle: I absolutely do not believe this. Just how sloppy does one have to be to leave something like this?

Riddle: The weeding has not been completed, and the rose painting is haphazard. The silverware hasn't been polished yet, either!

Riddle: At this rate, nothing will be ready in time for the Unbirthday Party tomorrow!

Trey: Settle down, Riddle.

Trey: You agreed that we will see through the whole party without losing any of the dorm student's, remember?

Riddle: Urgh…

Trey: No one can do everything perfectly the first time.

Trey: Why don't you start with teaching the first years the proper and efficient way to tend to the lawn?

Trey: If we just take it one step at a time, everything will be ready in time for the party. Right?

Riddle: …You're right. I understand. Thanks, Trey.

Trey: Now, then. I'll go check on those painting the roses…

Trey: …But before that, I think I'll go check on how the guys are doing in the kitchen, just in case.

[Heartslabyul Dorm – Kitchen]

Heartslabyul Student A: If we're making a chocolate cake, we need to melt the chocolate. Let's put all the chocolate bars in the oven!

Heartslabyul Student B: No wait, aren't we making a cheesecake? I want a particular type of cheese, so we should use magic to ferment the milk.

Heartslabyul Student C: I already told you, we're going to make a quiche. On that note, does anyone know how to fillet a fish…?

Trey: Seems pretty busy in here. Yeah, looks like you guys are trying hard.

Cater: Ah, Trey-kun. Did you pop on over to look in on the first years trying to make the cake?

Trey: Yeah, basically. Have you already finished setting up the gardens with the rest of your group?

Cater: Siiigh. Yeah, we're still working suuuper hard at it…

Cater: Maybe it's 'cause he's all strung out about the upcoming Unbirthday Party, but Riddle-kun's been in a super bad mood recently～

Cater: I feel like if he sees even one more mistake, he'll explode.

Trey: Well, the fact that he's not exploded so far shows just how far he's come, right? He's trying his best, too.

Cater: And there it is, you're coddling him again～!

Cater: Has your relationship with him been like this since you were little?

Cater: I don't really have any childhood friends, so I don't really get it, but doesn't it get really tiring?

Trey: Not really, he didn't really have a temper when he was a kid. Maybe he is like he is now because he's hoisted the responsibilities of being a Dorm Leader on his shoulders.

Cater: Eeh～ Seriously? You sure he didn't inherit that from his super intense and strict mom?

Trey: Heheh. I'll let you know now, Riddle's mother is not like what you see with him at all.

Trey: Back when we got caught having snuck Riddle out to play…

Trey: She stormed over to my house and with a thundering rage 10 times as ferocious as Riddle's, she lectured my whole entire family for 5 hours straight.

Cater: That's scary! …How can you just laugh about that, Trey-kun!?

Trey: I mean, don't you think it's funny when looking back on it now? She got so mad at something as simple as playing outside.

Trey: But yeah, I was definitely scared at the time. I didn't even understand why she was so angry…

Trey: I was so worried that I had done something unbelievably horrendous.

Trey: Whenever I'd ask Che'nya about it, he'd be super unhelpful and just say "I don't knyeow～"

Trey: On top of that, whenever I thought about the fact that Riddle must have gotten in even more trouble than me, I just felt so guilty.

Cater: Huh. I guess you were a pretty serious kid when you were younger… Or maybe more of a worrywart?

Trey: Anyone would become like that if they came face-to-face with that kind of mother. Anyway, she was someone who was almost impossible to deal with once she flew off the handle.

Trey: So, when I think back to that, I'm just glad that I can help Riddle's mood by giving him something sweet to eat.

Cater: There it is! Yeah, I can definitely see how his mood brightens whenever he has one of your tarts in front of him.

Cater: Seriously, your cakes are do so much for us. I don't know how many times they've probably saved us all past year…

Trey: You can praise all you want, but you won't get anything out of it.

Trey: And this time, I got kicked off cake duty without being able to make anything, so.

Cater: Ahaha…

Cater: …Yuuup. He's definitely a lot angrier than I thought.

Trey: Did you just say something?

Cater: Nooope.

[Heartslabyul Dorm – Tea Garden]

The next day―

Ace: S-Somehow… Somehow, we were able to capture all the escaped hedgehogs before the party started…

Deuce: The flamingos are all ready to go as well. Now the party can start without a hitch.

Trey: Thank you, the both of you. It seems you went through quite a lot of trouble to prepare for this.

Riddle: As one point I also worried about whether we would be successful, but… It seems we'll be able to begin the Unbirthday Party with no issues.

Cater: Riddle-kun's looking pretty satisfied with everything. Guess all our necks'll be saved, at this rate ♪

Riddle: Oh?

Riddle: I don't see the cake around at all. Wherever could it be?

Heartslabyul Student A: Uhh, that is…

Riddle: The Unbirthday Party cannot begin without the cake. Hurry and bring it forth!

Heartslabyul Student B: U-Understood…

Ace: Hm? Do the faces of those guys who made the cake look kinda off to anyone else?

Trey: …

[Heartslabyul Dorm – Tea Garden]

Riddle: The Unbirthday Party cannot begin without the cake. Hurry and bring it forth!

Heartslabyul Student B: …Here it is.

Heartslabyul Student A: This is the cake… that we first years worked really hard to make.

Deuce/Ace/Cater: !?!?!?

Deuce: Gag, what's that smell!? It's sweet and smoky and fishy… and tart and spicy! It makes my eyes hurt!

Cater: It has green syrup, blue cream, and a shocking pink decoration…

Cater: I feel like this is more of an art installation than an actual cake. If I were to upload it to Magicam, I'd have to tag it as #DestructiveCreativity, probably.

Ace: Hey, did it just move? That cake definitely just moved right now, right? Is it really something edible!?

Trey: Oh, man. Looks like a pretty intense cake. How was this even possible to create?

Heartslabyul Student A: I-It wasn't me who did it. It's this guy's fault!

Heartslabyul Student B: N-No, it's not! More like you… Wait, hold on a moment?

Heartslabyul Student B: If we're looking for who caused it, didn't this all happen because Ace said, "I want to eat a different cake than we usually do"?

Ace: I might have said it, but you guys are the one who made it! I got nothing to do with this!

Heartslabyul Student C: Then it's Deuce's fault for chiming and saying he wanted a chiffon cake, then.

Deuce: D-Don't drag me into this! Take responsibility for your own mistakes!

[rabble, rabble]

Riddle: …

Cater: Uhhh, hey, Riddle-kun? Let's try to keep the peace here, 'kay?

Riddle: …You lot!!!!!!

Heartslabyul Students: Eek.

Cater: Sh-Shoot. We all came so far, but Riddle-kun's temper's about to explode…!

Riddle: I cannot believe you would craft such a preposterous cake for our prestigious Unbirthday Party…

Riddle: I'm sure all of you are prepared for the consequence, yes!?

Ace: Waaaaait! Why me, too!?

Deuce: Rosehearts-ryōchō, please calm yourself! If you require an apology, I'll make these guys…!

Riddle: Your excuses are useless!!!

Riddle: Off with your…!

???: Stop!

Deuce: Eh, this voice is…

Trey: Settle down, Riddle.

Ace: T-Trey-senpai!

Riddle: What are you doing, Trey? Let go of my arm.

Riddle: I must mete out the proper punishment to these first years who have ruined this Unbirthday!

Trey: …You're right in that this cake doesn't look to be edible at all.

Trey: Not only is it absolutely unappetizing, it also smells atrocious and is sloppily made. It's very laughable.

Trey: …But still, the first years came together and made a very Heartslabyul-like cake.

Trey: Don't you think that in itself is a good thing?

Riddle: NOT AT ALL!!!!!

Cater: That's what I thought he'd say.

Riddle: To start with, there aren't even any candles on this cake. They did not even follow the Queen of Hearts' Laws!

Riddle: Why didn't you make the cake like usual, Trey? If you had made it as you normally do, this wouldn't have happened…

Trey: Alright, alright. Don't blow a fuse. It's our Unbirthday Party, after all.

Trey: Don't worry about a thing. I've already prepared the cake I always make for our Unbirthday.

Deuce/Ace/Cater: Eh!?

Trey: An Unbirthday is an extremely precious occasion for us here in Heartslabyul. Obviously, I would never slight something as important as this, now, would I?

Riddle: …

Riddle: …You should have started with that, then. I almost reflexively took the heads off these boys.

Riddle: As long as we can begin the Unbirthday Party without any issues, then everything is well. You lot, make sure you thank Trey.

Heartslabyul Students: W-We're saved…!

Cater: That's Trey-kun for you! Alllright, looks like everything's ready to go.

Cater: Let's get this Unbirthday Party started!!!!

Trey: Yeah, let's do that. …A very merry Unbirthday!

Everyone: MERRY UNBIRTHDAY!!!!!

Ace: T-Trey-senpai… Or rather, Trey-sama! You saved us!

Deuce: I thought we were going to lose our heads. Thank you very much for persuading the Dorm Leader not to!

Cater: That was amazing, Trey-kun! When did you even make that replacement cake?

Trey: Last night, after everyone went to sleep. I had a bit of a bad feeling, so I made it, just in case.

Ace: Man, Trey-senpai's cake looks super delish, as always～ Just looking at it’s making my stomach rumble.

Deuce: Yeah, I can't wait to eat it.

Trey: Oh, but this cake isn't enough to satisfy you, right?

Deuce/Ace: Eh?

Trey: Well, apparently, it's not enough to have the same flavor every time, so don't worry, Riddle and I will eat this one.

Cater: Guess you really were upset by hearing all the first years say they were bored of your cakes, huh.

Ace: T-Trey-senpai～ Don't say such mean things. That was just a rhetorical comment…

Deuce: That's right! I think that your cakes are the best, Clover-senpai. Right, you guys?

Heartslabyul Students: Yes! We want to eat Trey-senpai's cake!

Trey: …Do you guys understand now, right? You can’t just throw whatever you want into baking and hope it sticks.

Trey: You need to calculate all possible risks, plan ahead, and adapt to the situation as they arise…

Trey: Once you can master that, then it becomes "the norm." After all, it takes a lot of work to get to that point.

Ace: Uhhh... I'm just asking here, but you're still talking about baking, right? Kinda feels like you might be talking about the Dorm Leader there…

Trey: Regardless. Maybe you all learned a little bit of what I have to go through?

Deuce/Ace: Yes, sir…

Trey: Good, I appreciate your honesty.

Deuce: I really learned from this. …I'll savor this cake you made, Trey-senpai.

Heartslabyul Students: Let's chow dow～…

Trey: Wait.

Deuce/Ace: Eh?

Trey: What do you plan to do with the cake you made? Don't waste any food.

Trey: Unless you can finish eating that whole thing, I can't let you eat any of my Unbirthday cake.

Deuce: Y-You want us to eat this disgusting cake!?

Deuce: So I guess it's not enough to just apologize with words, huh…

Ace: How's he the "mature and kind one," again…?

Cater: Basically, the nicer the person, the scarier they are when they're angry ♪ Looks like that was the biggest lesson learned here today.

Requested by Anonymous.

#twisted wonderland #twst #trey clover #riddle rosehearts #ace trappola #deuce spade #cater diamond #twst trey #twst riddle #twst ace #twst deuce #twst translation

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not-poignant · 5 months

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Jesus H Christopher, Pia. Your writing load is insane.

Maybe you should cut back on how many chapters you release for certain stories? Like Stain and Palma (since these stories dont equal income) until UtB the other Underline stories are almost done. Just a thought

Because I feel burnt out just by thinking of writing that much, so I can only imagine how you feel. Please take care of yourself

Hi anon,

TL;DR: My brain is stupid, which is why I can't do this, even though it makes sense and is logical.

Unfortunately the fanfiction is what often makes the original fiction possible, or more enjoyable.

If I lock myself down into too much schedule and rigidity, or if I only focus on writing for money, I actually start to hate writing, even if I love the stories. There is nothing like 'will this earn money, do people like this, would people pay, what if they all decide to stop paying for this, why would they pay for this, would I pay for this, how much would people pay for this, is there any incentive for them to pay for this, actually if I wrote a ton of different tropes maybe I'd make more for this, but that's depressing, but I need the money, shit what do I do, what if I lose my income, what if it all stops tomorrow, I need to write more, I need to write more, I need to write more' that is actually very exhausting and makes writing not much fun at all.

And to deliberately break out of that headspace as much as possible, I write fanfiction. Because that headspace (the one I wrote about above), on its own, even if I'm only writing two stories, can and has led to burnout and depressive episodes. I don't recommend it.

In a way, one of the reasons I can write so many stories right now (ADHD meds aside) is that I am letting myself break out and just have fun with fanfiction, and remember that my original writing is meant to be fun too. But without fanfiction, I lose sight of that very quickly.

Fanfiction means that when an original story chapter does super badly, generally there are still excited comments elsewhere that keep me going. That's how I survived The Ice Plague, and that story would never have been completed without fanfiction, because that was my worst performer of any story I've ever written. It also means if a lot of subscribers leave at once, I don't feel like The Worst Writer In The World. So having fanfiction behind me was like...a literal safety net or my security blanket.

If I have to discard my security blankets or use them less often in order to keep writing the original stuff, I might as well just stop entirely, because my longest hiatuses from Patreon (i.e. one lasted 1.5 years, many have lasted 4-6 months) have been when I'm mostly just writing original fiction, and am not writing much fanfiction, or not deliberately finding time for it, and finally get so stressed out re: money I literally have to stop. I'm on a (partial) Disability Pension.

A long time ago some professional people told me I probably shouldn't be working at all because of my mental illnesses and then paid me money because of the severity of those mental illnesses. My dumbass brain be pretty fragile, actually, and keeps chugging away because I make bad business decisions and write stuff I enjoy instead of writing to market, or doing rapid release, or releasing more novels (or novels). Writing does ironically help when I'm stressed, but not when I'm stressed about making money because of writing.

I will cut at my income before I cut at my love of this job, and unfortunately fanfiction keeps me going in this job, which means I can't really cut at that first.

(Also from a business perspective, it's actually a very good funnel to the original stuff and then subscription. Most of you wouldn't be here if you hadn't read one of my fanfics first and then gave the original stuff a try - I try not to think about that too much because I need fanfic to not be about money, but the fact is, I would not have this career without fanfic).

I do have plans to take two weeks off in January from posting chapters (I can still post rewards in the second half of January) and that's not too far away.

And the reality is that I probably would have kept going okay if real life hadn't imploded on top of everything like the world's worst bukkake party.

#asks and answers #personal #pia on writing #i am not a smart business owner #i'm an emotional fragile mentally ill one #who has to make decisions that keep me wanting to do this job #because at the end of the day #my severe treatment-resistant mental illnesses #do not do well with the pressure of making money #and feeling like a failure #so i need to actually do things that aren't about money at all #to remind myself that i don't need to have a breakdown #over never making a minimum wage #(i'm getting closer though which is probably why this burnout came on)#(i've been pushing a lot harder than normal because... well... i'd like to make #an average income one day)#(i may not be smart enough or well enough to do that)#(but i will keep trying)#i just have to keep trying as someone with a very broken mind #who copes with that brokenness through working hard #breaks are stressful and i have to think hard about what's best

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mikelogan · 2 months

Note

hello. i really enjoy your content, but i have to say i'm kinda disappointed on you still being a ts fan. this woman knows what disney does and yet she still gave them the rights, meaning she either doesn't care or actively supports the genocide. or maybe she decided to turn her morals off because money is more important. not to mention how she consistently associates herself with questionable people and how a person literally died in one of her shows on brazil and she gave zero fucks. this woman is not a good person and there are no excuses to being her fan anymore.

no, i fully understand what you're saying and where you're coming from. over the last like. idk year and a half? ive been pretty vocal about my disappointment, distaste, and disagreement with a multitude of the choices she's made lately. i 100% agree that her silence on the subject of palestinian genocide (as well as many other human rights/social causes) is at best a sign of apathy and at worst a sign of support. especially when miss americana was all about her wanting to be more outspoken and be an activist. that all feels so incredibly performative now -- and has for a while. a lot of things that she's said and done since midnights, which is when i became more active in the tumblr swiftie community, have left a bad taste in my mouth for her as a person.

like i said, i genuinely agree with what you're saying. the only thing i take issue with is that she didn't care that a fan died at her show. she donated money to the fan's family and took time to meet them. regardless of my many issues with her, i do think she can be an empathetic person and i don't think that she just straight up didn't care that someone died before her show. it's one of those things (of which there are many) where we'll never know her true thoughts bc she doesn't talk about things. which is frustrating in itself.

now that's not the point of your message, so feel free to write that off as a digression. i strongly disagree with her making yet another version of the eras tour movie and hosting it on disney+. I'm personally boycotting disney+ and have been for a while. I don't even intend on watching the new version and like the vast majority of everything I gif, that shit is pirated -- that's how I watched the original release of the movie. obviously my consumption/boycotting is just one person compared to blondie, who has influence over millions, who could make real change if she spoke out against genocide.

at this point, im not supporting her financially either apart from listening to her music. which i love. im sorry, but I do. if I didn't, we wouldn't be having this conversation. i think her constant churning out different exclusive versions of the same albums are a transparent money grab and maybe an effort to set more records as far as sales or streams or however that all works. and I'm not just saying that bc I literally couldn't even afford to buy a digital copy of an album right now.

so yeah. I appreciate that you enjoy my content and thank you for saying so, but if you need to unfollow or block, i understand. I've definitely toned down/completely stopped sharing posts about her as a person bc I'd much rather focus on just the music. and maybe that makes me a bad person for continuing to listen to and enjoy her music. im not saying i necessarily feel good about it, but i think the fact of the matter is that a lot of the celebrities, actors, musicians, etc. we like or whose content we enjoy hold views we disagree with and have different values or priorities. nuance exists. right now, im someone who is vocal about the palestinian genocide and I try to share resources/posts about it when they come across my dash and im also someone who is a fan of Taylor's music.

Idk, I hope what I'm saying makes sense at least on some level. I've done my best to word things coherently, but brain fog fucks w me a lot. and like. it's probably whatever, but I do plan on changing my url after ttpd releases. That probably upsets you more and I can see how people might think im a hypocrite or something and yeah, I get it. Idk, I just want to enjoy someone's music without endorsing them as a person, but that's extra difficult when the person in question is the biggest singer in the industry. but you'll never see me making excuses for her on things like this or the m*tty situation or numerous other things she's said and done that gross me out. im not so far up her ass that I think she's perfect or that I feel the need to defend her at every turn. like I said, nuance. anyway, if you feel the need to respond, i welcome you to do so as long as we both remain respectful, which I think we've done. this is a difficult topic, but that doesn't mean we can't discuss it. I appreciate your point of view and I'm sorry that I've disappointed you!

#answered #anonymous #sorry for the novel 😬#i put a lot of thought into this and wanted to be thorough!

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jjconway · 9 months

Note

Hi there! I'm hoping to one day storyboard for a transformers show of some kind myself one day. I'm going into my senior year of highschool, and i'm not quite sure where to really begin in terms of figuring out the path. If you can share a bit of advice as a storyboarder in the industry, i'd really appreciate it big time! Thanks in advance!

Happy to! I think there are 2 really important things you can do at your age, and luckily they're both really fun! First, DRAW. A LOT. The more you draw, the better you'll get. And don't just draw from your head, make sure to do studies. Half of drawing is knowledge. You can't draw a cat if you don't know what a cat looks like, right? So whenever you sit down to draw, take 30 min to do some warmup studies before drawing from your imagination. Either study what you plan to draw, or study what gave you trouble last time. I literally do this to this day. One exercise I'll do is copy something once, then I'll compare my drawing to the original and try to understand what I didn't quite get right. Then I'll either do a second drawing of it, or I'll do a few drawings on the side practicing the area I got wrong, and try to understand how to do it better. Another great exercise is to take an artist you want to draw like and trace their drawings. The loose/rough drawings are best, because those show you how the artist THINKS. So trace each line, and in your head ask questions like why did the artist make this line, and what is it communicating? The goal is to learn how to THINK like the artists you admire, so that you can make the same choices in your own work. Second, WATCH MOVIES (and TV). A LOT. Study classics, for sure, but also watch the stuff that inspires you. Watch the stuff that makes you want to be a filmmaker, and just absorb as much as you humanly can. It's so important because when you become a storyboard artist, you'll have to problem solve how to approach story beats, and all those movies you watch become your library, and they'll give you ideas on how different filmmakers have approached similar problems in the past. It allows you to stand on the shoulders of giants, instead of struggling to reinvent the wheel. Also listen to director commentaries and interviews, and watch video essays that dissect film. Like the tip about doing studies, it's all about learning how they THINK.

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goldenteaset · 6 months

Text

What in Hell is Bad? (Belated) First Impressions

...AKA "This Hole Was Made For Me (But Oh God There Are Worms In Places)" XD;

Before I get into this, let me preface by saying I love otome games and have never played a Tower Defense game before. That is to say, I'm intrigued by the gameplay but am still in the "learning curve". With that settled, some bullet point'd impressions!

I've only able to actually play properly since yesterday, when all the crashes were finally fixed. (I do hope they fix the shop for the people who want to pay, though)

The quiz at the start immediately got me hyped! I knew I'd be having fun when I got to the "You've been trapped in an Angst Novel as a side character" question and one of the answers was "Create a 21+ romance out of it that's lewder than the original". My language, WHB (mostly) speaks it! XD

Actual R18 harem romance in an mobile otome game that isn't the Ikemen series('s non-canon events), truly incredible

STORY IMPRESSIONS

It's funny, I'm aware that the translation is very literal in places and does need to be fixed, but there are also lines I genuinely adore and hope stick around. (Gabriel's introduction, for example. Gorgeous, ethereal language that perfectly fits an angel.)

On that note, I'm an absolute sucker for stories that deal directly with (Fallen) Angels, Devils, and what love and free will means for them. The plot so far is such catnip for me it's not funny

I also have a fascination with fetishes and what they could add to characters, and most of these I've only ever seen in research papers. Having them be this integral is like a dream...

...I'll cry in frustration if there's another hand fetishist who chops off people's hands again though. JUST BUY A MANNEQUIN'S

Minheok is way more interesting than I thought he'd be. Hearing him speak Korean compared to everyone else's Japanese (or "Celestial/Devilish" if you will) is really fun. :D

I'm loving the MC, even as I'm also adjusting her (in my case) for "OC with some self-insert" purposes. Love that she's so horny, love that she has a wide-range of tastes as a cute nod to the "MC gets along with everyone" trope, and love that she wants to make Gabriel cry!!

After Beelzebub (quiz starter) and Sitri, the third Devil to have my heart was Valefor. He's my MC's big teddy bear who protects everyone ;v;

GAMEPLAY

The Secret Shop truly is secret, I haven't seen it yet

I'm loving being able to buy gacha currency with in-game money (pancakes) to better hoard. Please keep this, devs!

The level up etc. items keep making me hungry, it's genuinely great

I'm less keen on how hard it is to grind for certain items, but if I soldiered through FGO for five years I can survive this (I think)

That said, I don't think characters level up when you fight. That is ridiculous and would stop me from playing if the leveling costs became too high

Please let us play with the S- and A-Class Devils in Secret Club? :(

The chats are fun and cute, but I wish we had more...

Justice for Valefor let me put him in Secret Club he's been working so hard

Why don't the A-Class Devils have the boards like the L- and S-Classes? I want to learn about everyone!

The music is kind-of quiet? But I like what I can hear

I like the Day and Night-cycle on the home screen, very cute

Being able to have one of the Demon King's "assets" take up the whole home screen is both sexy and hilarious XD

The most YMMV opinion of them all: I wish the story segments were longer and that there was a way to do a kind of "Last time, in Chapter 1-(X)" to keep story info from being lost in the stream of battles

But in the interest of keeping things optimistic around here, I have one more impression to make:

GABRIEL

Instantly makes this GOTY for me and I wish I was kidding

One look and I fell in love. And then I saw his potential L card/scene in the final trailer and fell even harder!!

I would feel dislike toward him re: Minheok and the Devils, but as far as he's concerned the sandwich that he rang up (MC) keeps yelling at him. I'm satisfied

My excitement at his L card reached such insane heights I started writing something starring him. That is a sign if nothing else!

...So yeah, I'm cautiously optimistic and will hopefully have even more to say soon. :D

#what in hell is bad otome #whb valefor #whb gabriel #whb mc #Tagging them because I had the most to say about them but I do like basically everyone so far

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pikatrainer99 · 19 days

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I made Orange and Red as autism creatures! (With bonus digitized Sinnoh Trio as autism creatures)

Drawing Red as an autism creature was really difficult...his hair and his clothes were NOT easy to adapt into creature form. For Orange the biggest struggle was the scarf...which I think I made a good way of making it look like it's wrapped around his big creature head...and I updated Dia's design to have his scarf look the same way. For Pearl I couldn't do that because of his high collar on his shirt. And for Platinum I tried to make her scarf actually look like it's trailing behind her like it does in the actual official art. Everyone's hair and bodies are white because that's the color of the TBH creature, so don't go complaining that everyone's hair color is wrong because it's literally just because they're in creature form this time around. As for expressions everyone has a little smile except for Orange who has the classic TBH creature blank expression. I decided to give him the blank look because he really struggles with identifying emotions and he either feels everything or nothing depending on the situation. Orange also has his fingerless gloves which I somehow was still able to draw the little Poké Balls on them...as well as the Poké Ball design on his shirt. Btw...It is SO hard to draw these characters in four-legged creature form because their clothes...ESPECIALLY Red's clothes...do NOT translate well to four legs...it's so weird and hard to draw. So I just stuck to each character's shirt and hat/scarf to make it a bit easier for me. I'm sorry if it looks all weird and wonky because of that but clothes just don't translate well to these creatures 😅

Eventually I would like to draw the Sinnoh Trio and Red normally...but I'm still trying to learn how since PokéSpe characters are hard to draw (for me anyway). The only one I've ever drawn is Yellow, and that was only ONCE in that one drawing where she and Orange were drawing pictures. I've drawn Yellow's head a second time and Red's head only once, but that's all I've managed to draw of PokéSpe characters so far. I will keep practicing though, I want to improve so I can draw more art of my favorite characters in all of PokéSpe!

I hope you all like this newly digitized Sinnoh Trio drawing, and I hope it's an improvement from the original I posted last year! I also hope you all like my new autism creature drawing of Orange and Red as autism creatures! These are all characters I headcanon as autistic (and Orange IS autistic), so it works perfectly for them all! I'd like to be back with more drawings soon but I've been really busy lately so I don't know when I'll be able to draw again next.

#pokemon #pokespe #my pokespe oc #trainer orange #orange of viridian forest #pokespe red #pokespe diamond #pokespe pearl #pokespe platinum #i drew them all as autism creatures #because i can #actually autistic #autism headcanons #tbh creature #autism creature #pika's art #pika talks

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trashpandacraft · 9 months

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tour de fleece (crash)

ok, so the tour de fleece ended, and i...did not do so great. i did really well for the first bit, and then we went to sheep and wool. and sheep and wool was amazing and delightful and i had an amazing time, but also: i'm disabled, and the crash from putting out that much energy was, uh, intense. i basically couldn't do anything for a week, and even spinning on my eel wheel in bed was too much to manage.

so i didn't. i picked up over the weekend, the last two days of the tour, and (very slowly) managed to spin some lovely rambouillet that i think will stay a singles—we'll see what it looks like after it's had a week to chill out on the bobbin.

(yeah, there's a couple little pigtaily bits, but (1) i literally finished the spin about thirty seconds before taking this photo, and (2) i prefer to spin at very low tension for most things, so it doesn't always wind on evenly. i suspect they'll go away.)

i'm not thrilled about how this ended for me, but when i made my tour de fleece plans, we hadn't decided to go to bendigo yet, so they were sort of overly ambitious. i also, uh, thought that the tour de fleece ran the entirety of july, and not just the first three weeks? so i thought that i had more time that i did, right until i started seeing people posting about the final stretch and went WAIT WHAT?

goals (link to original) and how they went:

spin a chunky yarn. i absolutely did not do this, and didn't even really think about it. i may just...keep not doing it. i still don't enjoy chunky yarns. maybe that's fine.

spin a singles yarn. see above! this one actually worked out ok, i think. i'm pretty sure it's going to stay a singles, and at minimum, it could stay a singles if i wanted it to.

spin some sock yarn. i didn't expect to finish this in july, but actually, yes i did! unwashed, it's about 25 wpi, which i'm pleased with. (it'll puff up some, but it's fairly firm, so i think not a ton.) unfortunately, i once again succumbed to the fallacy that i knit socks from 100g of commercial yarn, so 100g of fibre should be plenty for socks! it. is not. i think that washed up, i'll have about 225m, which might be enough for like, ankle socks. i'm gonna try, anyhow, but next time i say the words 'spinning for socks', someone please remind me that i want to spin at least 150g.

spin a breed i've never spun before. not a breed, and not much of it, but i actually did spin some bamboo fibre this month, and that's the first time i spun it and it wasn't a blend, so i think that counts.

spin this chunk of polwarth i dyed a few weeks back and am desperate to get my hands into. this was a just-for-fun addition that i absolutely did not get to, and am mad about. it's probably what i'm spinning next.

dye some wool in colours i don't usually use—the red-orange-yellow end of things. this was meant to be my second dye of the month, but didn't happen—the spin above is from fibre i dyed a couple years ago. i think it'll still happen in the near future, as my kid picked up a spindle at sheep and wool, and they fuckin love orange.

dye something brightly coloured. this one happened! i dyed some grey and white merino into a vivid purple. i'm thinking about blending in a little silk and sparkle.

make 20 rolags with hand cards. hahaha ha hahahaha no. i think i made four. the rolags will continue until the rolags improve, but i did not meet this goal even a little

stretch goals:

spin a four ply. surprisingly, yes! the sock yarn mentioned above is four ply, and i'm pretty pleased with it. i would, obviously, be more pleased if i'd remembered the whole density issue, but it's a very consistent four-ply sock weight, so i'm calling it a win.

spin a textured yarn. i did not do this. maybe later? maybe not, honestly. i feel like i should like textured yarns and chunky yarns and art yarns, but in my heart, i just don't. i'm impressed when other people make them, but maybe that's not reason enough to make them myself.

ok, spelling it all out like that makes me feel a little less bad. at no point did i say that i couldn't combine goals, so i achieved exactly half of those things. which isn't great, but isn't as bad as i thought. maybe next year i'll remember that 'do things you don't enjoy' doesn't really make for fun challenges for yourself, too.

#spinning #hand spinning #tour de fleece #fibrecraft #fibercraft #smartest raccoon i know

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triflesandparsnips · 8 months

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What’s this about trifles and parsnips?

THANK YOU FOR ASKING @asquared-ohgodnotthehorrors AND ALSO A+ NAME.

It took me until, like, last month to realize that my username could suggest that this is a shared blog or whatever. The real origin is both mundane and self-referential, as most things are.

I'm one of those tumblr cryptids who've never changed their username or icon; I came over to tumblr after spending some time lost in the wilderness after the big fandom exodus of Livejournal. So trifles and parsnips refer to my two main LJs at the time, whose names I quite liked and wasn't ready to give up entirely.

trifles was my username for the personal LJ I'd been keeping since college, named for a bit of poetry that resonated with what I was trying to accomplish then (and, I suppose, now):

Think naught a trifle, though it small appear:

Small sands the mountain, moments make the year,

And trifles life.

(The poet is Edward Young, writing in the 1720s-- which suggests that I have Always Been Like This.)

The parsnips LJ was a journal for posting fanfic and such, disambiguated from my personal LJ so that elderly family members who read the one would really have to work to reach the devil's sacrament at the other. That one I named for the proverb "Fine words butter no parsnips." (The earliest attestation of which, I have literally just discovered, is from 1639 why do these centuries haunt me)

Then the AO3 came around and "parsnips" became my main pseud, with "trifles" being the one I somehow decided to use for the rare-fandom Yuletide exchange, back when it was shiny and new and not yet migrated to the AO3. When it did migrate, though, those two names became more thoroughly linked than they'd really ever been on LJ, so when I came over to tumblr I just said to hell with it and tied them together for good. Leaving us here, now, ta da.

--All this, by the by, also slightly explains why, when referring to myself in the 3rd person in meta or whathaveyou, I say stuff like "but trifles, where's the 18th-century soap", but often when posting fanfic I'll go for tags like "triflesandparsnips writes things".

------And as an entirely extra bit of information that is not at all relevant to my naming conventions but is nevertheless something I wish to share for reasons that will soon become apparent: My favorite kind of birthday dessert has, since college, been trifle. Whose recipe, under the actual name "trifle" and not just "a layered cake thing", is first recorded in 1585 because of course it fucking is.

#ask box answers #about me!#anyone who has spent any time listening to me talk about SYLLABUB will also find a SURPRISE in that link about trifle-the-dessert #I WAS CERTAINLY SURPRISED #...but tbh I'm glad to see these threads of continuity in my life #I like these little interests of mine #I'm glad I've kept them

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kogarashi-art · 18 days

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It's the last previews for Falling Into Darkness!

Important note before I go into some details on the pictures: I will, in general, not be doing this for other fanfics I post. The main reason I did this series of illustrations was as something of a treat for finally crossposting this 10-20-year-old story to my AO3 account. I don't really plan to draw a ton of illustrations for other fics I do.

That being said, I may do occasional images that will be posted with future stories on AO3 (I have a quick one for the first chapter of the next fic I plan on posting, for one), and if I do other fanart, related to a fic or not, I still plan to post art here.

But I'm glad for all the kind comments and everyone enjoying this series of illustrations with me. :D You guys are awesome.

With that, description-stuff (including more behind-the-scenes than usual) below the cut. 'Tis long; be forewarned.

First up, arguably the easiest illustration to do in the whole set. It's a silhouette, so the foreground wasn't really an issue (other than trying to get the edge glow just right, and I still don't think I quite managed but I'm definitely telling myself not to mess with it any further). The background was already painted for the second illustration in the whole set:

I just fixed up the paths and the treetops and added a little lookout stand to the building on the right, now that Sonic and Sally weren't blocking those spots. After all, it's supposed to be the same view anyway, so I figured I'd make it easy on myself and not have to completely repaint the scene.

The second image employs some little cheats here and there. Here's the original sketch from my sketchbook for comparison:

Very loose, lacking detail. Straight lines are more like suggestions. The robots are spiky blobs. I have a literal note next to a stick figure and a hollow shape telling me to get some references. There's the barest hint of the alcoves the robots are standing in.

I didn't show this level of behind-the-scenes off with other illustrations in this series (though I suppose if anyone's ever interested, I could do a process post about how I worked on these), but one of the first things I did with this series of illustrations was sift through the roughly fifty individual sketches I'd drawn to illustrate various parts of the story (not counting redraws of portions), ranging from vague shapes to much more detailed drawings, to narrow it down to the ones I was actually going to finish for this project. I ended up with 27 total images, including the two I'm previewing today, focusing on having at least one but no more than three images per chapter.

Once I'd determined which sketches, like the above, were going to become a finished piece, I then went through each and every one of them in Photoshop with a sketch pencil brush and filled out the sketches to a point where I could reliably ink them. That meant things like swapping out figures that didn't work with redraws of them or making size adjustments, like so:

The first image is the second illustration, and you can see I redid Sonic because his initial pose didn't work. The redraw was actually a pose of him I did to draw his post-Mobianization robotic elements from the end of the story, but the stance was actually good for what I needed, so I Photoshopped it in and then sketched the rest of the replacement drawing digitally. The second image is Sally watching Knuckles walk away, and you can see that I changed her left arm, and also reproportioned her body prior to inking (bigger head, smaller body).

And for pieces like the final one in this illustration series, I sketched in all the details that were missing from the initial sketch (which, as I said, was pretty barebones; in my defense, it was the last one I drew, and by that point I was pretty tired of drawing robot hedgehogs so Sonic was something of a stick figure in most of the last chapters' sketches).

And here's where one of the cheats comes into play. I drew one robot hedgehog. Specifically the one you see the most of, near the tip of Robotnik's cape by the drafting table. I drew it on its own layer in Potoshop, then copied and pasted it into all of the other holding bays, erasing parts that wouldn't be visible as I went along. I also went and found those references I needed for Robotnik and Snively and drew the two of them properly.

And then, because I much prefer physical pen-to-paper inking over digital (my tablet is not one of the fancy screen ones, and I've yet to really get comfortable digitally inking with it, despite owning it for nigh on twenty years), I colored all of the sketches red, assembled them in groups on letter-sized images, and printed them out onto cardstock (my preferred medium when I'm going to be traditionally inking). I inked them with my various inking pens (some Sakura Microns, some Faber-Castell PITT pens), scanned each sheet back into my computer, and cleaned up the lines in Photoshop (the reason for the red printout was to make it a bit smoother removing the sketch from the inked lines, though it wasn't as clean as I would've liked; oh well).

That left us with the above. Because I inked them each by hand individually, the robots don't look copy-pasted, because it was the underlying sketch that had been, not the ink work. The tables and holding bays also have straighter lines thanks to using a proper ruler for those (though I didn't concern myself too much with things like perspective and right angles), and after drawing the straight line, I went back freehand over spots to give them a bit of that hand-inked wobble.

From there it was a matter of laying down the flats in Photoshop, then shading, adding effects, etc. I like the cold yellow light I've got on the robots, and the overall shading on the yellow cape. Also that sense of satisfaction when I called this one done, because it was the last one. Huzzah.

I'll see you on Monday for the last chapter!

#drawing #artwork #sth #sonic the hedgehog #sally acorn #doctor robotnik #snively #behind the scenes #LOTS of behind the scenes #like seriously I went on a bit of a ramble #I regret nothing

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wanderlust-----witch · 5 months

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3, 7, 12 and 20! polytheist asks >:D

Oh you want me to THINK? You want me to use my BRAIN??? You are EVIL Cheshi lol

3: Is your practice more ritualistic or casual? What does it look like?

Oh my practice is extremely casual. I always hated the strict religious upbringing I had. "You do it this way, or else!". Nah fam, that's not cool. Everyone is gonna have their own way to worship, have faith, and perform religion (Yes I believe religion is a performance, but that's for another time lol). Anyways, I don't generally do much in the way of ritual because that's so much fucking work. I prefer just kinda chilling with Nyx on the full moon and calling it a night lol.

7: What does your ideal altar look like?

Chaotic, unhinged, and personal. I don't need it to be set up perfectly or invoke certain vibes, unless trash fire goblin is a vibe lmao. I really just put whatever on my altar I think fits. Right now, unfortunately, my altar isn't exactly what I want, because I don't really have space and the last time I set up an altar, Goose knocked it over. She was a brand new baby then, but even so I'd rather play it safe. I have this great cabinet at my parents house I plan on repainting and using when we have a house of our own. Its a really great size, glass doors so I can see what's inside, and bonus: cat's won't break any glass bottles on my altar lol. Rn I just have this very cue little moon shelf about 3 inches wide on a windowsill.

12: How important is mythology in your practice? How much credit do you give it?

I mean, mythology is the sourcework of all of my beliefs. I wouldn't have found Nyx, Hekate, Athena, and Artemis without Greek mythology, Bast without Egyptian mythology, or Loki without Norse mythology. Do their stories have any bearing on my beliefs? Not really. Them being the deities of their respective realms is all I really need. I know Nyx as the night, Hekate as magic, Athena as wisdom and intelligence, Artemis as the protectress, Bast as the keeper of cats, and Loki as chaos. How I interact with them is more based on my needs, versus what they have "done" in the myths that survived. Myths aren't any bit literal, just like any other religious text. We as humans are always interpreting things based on our own preconceived notions, our own beliefs, and that's not always what the original source intended. In fact, I'd argue that any human interpretation of the divine is automatically wrong. No single human belief can 100% be accurate. We will all have our own ideas of how things work. I, as a singular person, should not put any undue influence on myths that I personally think are worth "more" just because they are considered to be valid religious texts (cough cough Christians and the Bible cough cough). Myths are stories. They're fun, its fun to imagine our deities in various human scenarios. But the Divine are much more complex than their myths. I give the myths the same level of credibility I would any other that indirectly influenced my way of viewing the world. I wouldn't be who I am without the sum of the things I've read and learned over the years.

20: List a few of the deities you worship and associate each with a quote you think represents them best!

Oh lordy, you're killin me with this one Chesh lol.

Nyx: "I see the moon and the moon sees me/Nyx bless the moon and Nyx bless me" (see what I did there lmao?)

Bast: Specifically the same noise my cat makes when shes singing in the mirror. That it that's the quote lol.

Athena: All that bullshit about "tomato is a fruit but you don't put it in a fruit salad" lol. Also "Ho don't do it... oh my god" for whenever I do something (even mildly) foolish lol

Loki: OKAY SO little bit of backstory here: when I was just getting into my paganism, I was in a really shitty spot in life, physically, mentally, you name it. I came up with this phrase to help get me through it, and I generally proclaimed that anything wrong in my life was because of Loki (AS A JOKE, THEY LOVED IT). The quote was: May the deity who looks upon me in disdain look upon you with favor. It got me through shit, still does, and I still love Loki, even if they aren't my main deity anymore.

CHESHI YOU ROCK

#wander answers things #not witchcraft #polytheism #paganism #wander's branch of religion

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