uHHHH if ur still doing requests about tails teaching knuckles how to play a video game
(ps -love ur writing, keep it up)
sonic makes a cameo btw, hope you don't mind
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“I don’t understand the point of this, Tails.” Knuckles mumbled, watching as the fox powered on the tablet he was holding. He doesn’t think it’s the younger’s main tablet, as this one is red and a lot bigger.
“It’s fun!” Tails smiled as he swiped through the gallery of games downloaded, “We just gotta find something you’d like,” He hummed as continued looking.
The echidna sighed and placed a hand on the kit’s shoulder, guiding him to sit on the top stair of the shrine.
“Here,” The kid smiled, handing the tablet over to the older once he sat down, “let’s try this one out!”
Knowing he couldn’t say no to the fox, Knuckles took the tablet carefully and squinted at the screen. It had gone from the bright white to more colorful scenery, showcasing an island, “Animal Crossing?”
“It’s a more relaxed game,” Tails explained as he crossed his legs underneath one another, “I think it’s a good one to try out first.”
“If you say so,” The teen shrugged, tapping the button that read ‘new game’, raising a brow when it did nothing.
He heard the fox giggling beside him, “You have to use the buttons on the controller.” He said before reaching over and pressing the ‘A’ button.
“That seems pointless.” Knuckles grumbled, eyes staying focused on the screen.
“You have to use the buttons for everything in this game,” Tails said with a shrug, “thinking about it, it wouldn’t work all too well if you just tapped the screen for everything.”
Choosing to ignore what the fox had said, the teen squinted at the screen when he saw a character come up and start talking to him.
“Tom Nook?” He questioned, shaking his head, “an odd name.”
“The names aren’t all that important.” Tails said, leaning against the older.
“What is the objective of this, Tails?” Knuckles asked, looking at his brother.
“Your goal is to build up your island,” The kit explained, “y’know, making it livable for the villagers.”
“The island is inhabited?” The echidna asked as he continuously pressed the ‘A’ button, not caring to read any of the dialog.
“Well, it is now.” Tails shrugged, pointing at the avatars on screen, “by you, Tom, Timmy, Tommy, and two other randomized villagers.”
“Why?” Knuckles turned to look at the younger, “There are plenty of other places they could’ve lived, why take over an island?”
“Uhh,” Tails probably should’ve thought this through a bit more, “well, the island needs someone to take care of it, right? Make sure it isn’t overgrown, trees are able to grow healthily, etc.”
Knuckles hummed, looking back at the screen, “I suppose you’re right.”
The kit just smiled up at him, wrapping his tails around the two of them. He turned back to the screen, reading as much of the next he could before the teen skipped past.
When they were through all of the text, Knuckles turned to the younger to ask what the next step was, but the fox was already speaking.
“Now you get to see which villagers you’re starting with,” Tails said, pointing to the left joystick, “use that to go up to them, then press A to talk to ‘em.”
With a sigh, the echidna did as he was told and ran up to the lion wearing a bright green shirt.
“Oh, that’s Bud!” Tails said with a smile before adding, “I think you’ll like him.”
“Hmm.. I trust your judgment.” Knuckles mumbled before pressing ‘A’ to talk to Bud.
Noticing the older was taking the time to read the dialog because of him, the fox gave a smile as he leaned against the other. He stayed quiet, unless Knuckles specifically asked for his help with something.
——
“I still can’t believe you actually taught Knux how to play a video game.” Sonic said, shaking his head. He and Tails were at Angel Island for a visit, which the oldest had paused for a minute so he could check on his virtual island.
It had been a few weeks since Tails showed the echidna how to play Animal Crossing and, from what he could tell, Knuckles really enjoyed it!
“Anyone can learn how to play a game,” Tails shrugged his shoulders, glancing over at the echidna, “you just gotta find the right game for them.”
“And you figured a calm game was the right one?” The hedgehog raised his brow at his brother, “Do we know the same Knuckles?”
The kit rolled his eyes, using his elbow to nudge the older, “Knuckles is calm! You just always push his patience!”
“Whatever you say, l’il bro.” Sonic laughed when he received a punch in his arm in place over the gentle nudge, looking over at Knuckles as he rejoined the group.
“Hey!” Tails greeted, a bright, innocent smile on his face as if he didn’t just punch the hedgehog, “Everyone alright?”
Knuckles gave a curt nod, “They are good. They seem happy with the decorations I’ve added.”
“You’ll have to show me all your new stuff soon!” The kit said as they sat down on the ground, getting ready for lunch, “That includes your new villagers.”
Sonic snorted from his spot to the right of the fox, “You’re telling me he let’s people stay on the island?”
The echidna rolled his eyes, “I’m fine with people being on my island, hedgehog. Just not you.”
“What?” The teen reeled back, an exaggerated gasp leaving his mouth, “I’ve saved this island so many times, dude!”
“You would ruin the grass with all of your running.” The older pointed out, a small smirk on face proving he didn’t really mean what he was saying. Not entirely, at least.
“You’d just do some ancient echidna spell to fix ‘em.” Sonic joked, shooting a wink at the youngest.
“You know that’s not possible.” The smirk fell from Knuckles’ face. He was starting to get annoyed.
Tails sighed, bringing his knees up to his chest as he continued to watch his hero annoy their older brother until his temper snapped. It didn’t take long for Knuckles to take a swing at Sonic, since he knew all the perfect ways to push the echidna over the edge.
Figuring they’d be at it for a while, the kit got up from his spot and flew to the top of the Master Emerald’s shrine, picking up the red tablet and plopping himself on the top step.
He’ll just have to give himself a tour of Knuckles’ island.
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Learning that fans hated Applejack and called her "boring" is crazyyy to me because I genuinely, unironically believe AJ's the most complex character in the main six.
Backstory-wise, she was born into a family of famers/blue collar workers who helped found the town she lives in. She grew up a habitual liar until she had the bad habit traumatized outta her. She lost both her parents and was orphaned at a young age, having to step up as her baby sister's mother figure. She's the only person in the main gang who's experienced this level of loss and grief (A Royal Problem reveals that AJ dreams about memories of being held by her parents as a baby). She moved to Manhattan to live with her wealthy family members, only to realize she'll never fit in or be accepted, even amongst her own family. The earlier seasons imply she and her family had money problems too (In The Ticket Master, AJ wants to go to the gala to earn money to buy new farm equipment and afford hip surgery for her grandma).
Personality-wise, she's a total people-pleaser/steamroller (with an occasional savior complex) who places her self worth on her independence and usefulness for other people, causing her to become a complete workaholic. In Applebuck Season, AJ stops taking care of herself because of her obsessive responsibilities for others and becomes completely dysfunctional. In Apple Family Reunion, AJ has a tearful breakdown because in she thinks she dishonored her family and tarnished her reputation as a potential leader –– an expectation and anxiety that's directly tied to her deceased parents, as shown in the episode's ending scene. In The Last Roundup, AJ abandons her family and friends out of shame because believes she failed them by not earning 1st place in a rodeo competition. She completely spirals emotionally when she isn't able to fulfill her duties toward others. Her need to be the best manifests in intense pride and competitiveness when others challenge her. And when her pride's broken, she cowers and physically hides herself.
Moreover, it's strongly implied that AJ has a deep-seated anger. The comics explore her ranting outbursts more. EQG also obviously has AJ yelling at and insulting Rarity in a jealous fit just to hurt her feelings (with a line that I could write a whole dissection on). And I'm certain I read in a post somewhere that in a Gameloft event, AJ's negative traits are listed as anger.
Subtextually, a lot of these flaws and anxieties can be (retroactively) linked to her parents' death, forcing her to grow up too quickly to become the adult/caregiver of the family (especially after her big brother becomes semiverbal). Notice how throughout the series, she's constantly acting as the "mom friend" of the group (despite everything, she manages to be the most emotionally mature of the bunch). Notice how AJ'll switch to a quieter, calmer tone when her friends are panicking and use soothing prompts and questions to talk them through their emotions/problems; something she'd definitely pick up while raising a child. Same with her stoicism and reluctance at crying or releasing emotions (something Pinkie explicitly points out). She also had a childhood relationship with Rara (which, if you were to give a queer reading, could easy be interpreted as her first 'aha' crush), who eventually left her life. (Interestingly enough, AJ also has an angry outburst with Rara for the same exact reasons as with EQG Rarity; jealous, upset that someone else is using and changing her). It's not hard to imagine an AJ with separation anxiety stemming from her mother and childhood friend/crush leaving. I'm also not above reading into AJ's relationship with her little sister (Y'all ever think about how AB never got to know her parents, even though she shares her father's colors and her mother's curly hair?).
AJ's stubbornness is a symptom of growing up too quickly as well. Who else to play with your baby sister when your brother goes nonverbal (not to discount Big Mac's role in raising AB)? Who else to wake up in the middle of the night to care for your crying baby sister when your grandma needs her rest? When you need to be 100% all the time for your family, you tend to become hard-stuck with a sense of moral superiority. You know what's best because you have to be your best because if you're aren't your best, then everything'll inevitably fall apart and it'll be your fault. And if you don't know what's best –– if you've been wrong the whole time –– that means you haven't been your best, which means you've failed the people who rely on you, which means you can't fulfill your role in the family/society, which makes you worthless . We've seen time and time again how this compulsive need to be right for the sake of others becomes self-destructive (Apple Family Reunion, Sound of Silence, all competitions against RD). We've seen in The Last Roundup how, when no longer at her best, AJ would rather remove herself from her community than confront them because she no longer feels of use to them.
But I guess it is kinda weird that AJ has "masculine" traits and isn't interested in men at all. It's totally justified that an aggressively straight, misogynistic male fandom would characterize her as a "boring background character." /s
At the time of writing this, it's 4:46AM.
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💖 Day 3.5 is now available! 💖
For the last couple of months, only Server Boosters had access to the 3.5 update... Buuuuut now it's available for everyone to play in the 14DWY Discord — and soon itch.io once I'm happy with the QA and state of the game — so please don't feel pressured to join unless you want to!!
The full devlog + even more screenshots are under the cut ^^
What's been added to the 3.5 version?
📺 Streamer Mode!
I've been told that it's difficult to stream and monetise age-restricted videos on YouTube and Twitch, so I added an option to remove the sexual content and strong language used in the demo.
Now y'all can invite Ren into your bed for cuddles without putting your streamer career on the line /silly /lh
This won't affect the 18+ rating or dark themes/elements of the game, however! Although Streamer Mode will prevent you from seeing any "gruesome" CGs in the future, most of the core elements of the game will still be tied to the choices and decisions you make. So you won't miss out on the overall experience by using streamer mode!!
⚙️ Custom Pronouns!
It only took me one entire year to get around to it, but you can finally choose your own preferred pronouns (or use a set of pronouns instead)... At the cost of being able to change them mid-game ^^;
Since the original pronoun screen wouldn't update until a new scene was displayed, I temporarily disabled the feature. But once I find a workaround, I'll bring it back!
💗 Choose how others perceive you!
You can now choose how the cast and narration perceive you! Originally, the narration was kept strictly gender-neutral (outside of pronouns and genitalia picked by the player), but this will soon change in future updates.
For more clarity: you don't get to choose the words specifically, but you can choose between masculine, feminine, and androgynous terms!
📋 Separate top and bottom genitalia!
You can now choose your tatas and pps separately! >:3
Alongside that, you can also choose your preferred body type!
I removed the "both" genitalia option because a few players still assumed it was an obscure version of "intersex". That wasn't my intention and I don't want to mislead anyone, so I took it out for now ^^;
I also didn't want to include a screenshot of the new genitalia choices in action (because it's NSFW), so y'all get the same character menu screen for the nth time instead lmao
📱 Relationship Screen Overhaul!
You can now change your own status for more immersion, and long-term Server Boosters will eventually be able to submit and use their own icon within the game as well!
Stalking finding your friends has now become easier by using "Buddy Maps"; a new app that allows you to see the location of all the cast members!
I want to offer players more incentive to check the relationship screen since they tend to miss the status updates, so hopefully this might help ;v;
It also says it "updates every few hours" so folks don't go overboard and check every 5 seconds to see where Ren is gdsghf (also keep in mind that he's a hacker lol)
🖤 Additional Scenes Update!
Day 2 received a brand new CG!!!!! Originally, I planned on only adding a few CGs sporadically throughout the game, but it didn't feel right to leave Day 2 so... empty... so I added a brand new CG to (hopefully) make things feel more balanced and natural!
If you decline Teo's offer on Day 3, Leon will now call and try to convince you to reconsider. However, players are still allowed to decline, and if they do, they'll reach a dead end.
After listening to feedback on itch, I changed some of the dialogue during Days 1-3 to make it seem more consistent! They're only small changes though, so it's honestly not worth looking for sdgjssga
🎶 Updated BGM and SFX!
I wanted to try out a different style of music to see if it fits the vibe of 14DWY more! The BGM features more acoustics to suit the "beachy" theme of Corland Bay, though I made a conscious effort to include piano elements as well to stay true to the original!!
I figured it'd be better to give players a live example before I make a poll (to see if they prefer the change or not) and publish it to Itch.
Some new SFX have also been added, though it's very minimal and honestly not that noticeable.
How to download and play the update?
(warning: clicking on the following links will open Discord!!)
To download the Day 3.5 update, simply join the 14DWY Discord server, verify your age, and visit the "14dwy-updates" channel!
Alternatively, you can also wait until the update is publicly released on Itch to play it as well!! (It normally gets released shortly after a round of QA testing/getting feedback from the server, though I may release it earlier if I feel like it hehe ^^)
Enjoy!!
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Mmm, thinking about Ghost going on a date with reader after not having been in a proper relationship in years
He was never one for hookups, and he could never keep long-term relationships. Most lasted about a month at most before he backed out.
Fast forward to now, he's been invited out by you. He figures it'll be like most other dates, a quick dinner at a noisy restaurant before he gets overwhelmed and leaves.
To his surprise, it isn't. You kept his comfort in mind and suggested a walk by the bay instead.
When he walks beside you in silence, you don't seem to take offense. In fact, you don't seem to mind at all. You fill in his silence with easy conversation, keeping it focused on you and not trying to pry into his personal life.
You don't hesitate when he responds with one word answers, instead taking the opportunity to discuss an interest of your own. By the time it's long past dark out, you offer to take him home, apologizing for not acknowledging the time sooner. He didn't want to stop listening to your voice
When he declines your offer, you smile. You tell him to stay safe, to rest well, and to text you when he gets home.
At his apartment, he can't stop thinking about you. About how polite and kind you were. About how you actually cared about his feelings, how you weren't off put by him.
He glances at his phone.
You receive a text at 1 in the morning. A simple 'Back safe.'
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