#probably capitalize these sentences properly

[fancifulplaguerat]

Need to rant about the Marble Nest because I just. I cannot get over it. It is everything to me. Every time I hear “Birdies... birdies... Gather ye here...” I want to eat door hinges and run up the walls and put myself in a blender

There’s something utterly tragic to me about the image of Daniil lying in bed delirious and feverish and dying while these children who care about this weird Capital doctor so much are trying to break his fevers like he taught them to, and it fucks me up even more considering when Spichka asks Daniil who looks after him when he’s sick Daniil just. Doesn’t answer him. And the narrator’s line (I love that they got Martin Cooke he absolutely ate and imo elevates the entire game) “a warm, dry hand seemed to have touched your forehead soothingly. It’s going to be all right” OH MY GOD I just. I can only wretch and sob about the fact that Daniil is being taken care of and at least for a moment he feels like it’s all going to be okay, exactly as he’s been saying throughout the beginning. Also when the narrator says “Somewhere, bells are chiming, softly. Bells are chiming around the marble nest. The bells, are chiming, softly.” Not only does Cooke’s delivery make me feral beyond words (particularly that last one where he whispers ‘softly’) but I mean. surely this is referring to Daniil hearing his own goddamn funeral bells which just SCREAMING CRYING BITING SCRATCHING COMMITTING UNSPEAKABLE ACTS. 

Plus when Spichka warns Daniil against giving Shrew nuts because, as we learn, Shrew wants to let Daniil die. I unfortunately can’t find the exact quote but I believe Spichka says smth about how Shrew doesn’t think it’s right for Daniil to suffer as he is (there is blood in my mouth !!!!!). She clearly just wants Daniil to rest and not be in pain anymore; she thinks she can create a Focus so she can still talk to him. I’m also Highly Emotional about Spichka because he’s so adamant about Daniil continuing to live, even if it’s just in his fever dream, this poor kid just wants Daniil to keep going. These kids have known Daniil Bitchelor for all of ten days and they care about him so much !!! 

I’m also hung up on everyone telling Daniil that he doesn’t know how to die properly, especially when Aspity likens him to a child covering his eyes because he doesn’t want to see the truth, which gets me too because it makes me think about how defeated and afraid Daniil probably is when he realizes what’s going on. I think it’s even more tragic in the sense that Daniil is dying having failed to meet Simon and save Thanatica, failed to prove death can be conquered, and couldn’t even protect the Town from the plague, either, and I can’t imagine Daniil would handle any of that well. I feel like he’d think everything—plague and all—was his fault, especially with the context of the Executor/Death saying, “Who was the murderer: a sickness that let no second go to waste—or you, who bothered not to hurry? I think it’s the latter.” 

Also when Daniil does agree to die properly and the Executor tells Daniil “Give me your hand,” and Daniil can say “Here it is”,,,,,, Yes I am being dramatic but actually it makes me insane to imagine Daniil finally taking Death’s hand after fighting it for so many years. Even though I love this horrible little man with all my heart, I disagree with his whole “no more death” thing. I’m not going to like. Expound on my philosophy about death here aafnkgk but suffice it to say I like the idea of Daniil accepting that death is not something that can be defeated; though, I don’t think his idealism is useless or a negative trait, only that it has to be tempered with some realism. 

So here is as good a point as any to scream about endings. 

It's a cycle. A pause. Things will change. And the day starts anew.

That. Tjat second sentence is lodged in my cortex and it is not coming out I ougghh I love stories that repeat so much. And I’ve played the Marble Nest just. Too many times (and I’ll do it again) and I might be imagining it, because I’ve never seen anyone else talk about it, but every time I’ve gotten a different ending the game is a little different when I play it again. I find that extremely immersive if I’m not just gaslighting myself, because it puts the player in the same situation as Daniil, with things changing subtly; you get to accompany Daniil on his Fun Fever Delirium Death Adventure. On the one hand I think it’s a little painful that Daniil is going to just live in this delirium forever, but on the other one, I like how Daniil’s decision to repeat the day encapsulates continuing to fight for life, even if it seems hopeless or in vain.  It feels very “Do not go gentle into that good night / Rage, rage against the dying of the light"

And finally The transition is real, and the timeline continues. So does the entity I call myself.

I don’t want to get into meta too much, but. I kind of like this line knowing people have written/drawn/etc. endings to this nightmare where Artemy saves him with panacea (Magpie Crown’s “Conjunction of Spheres” animatic !!). All these different endings people have given Daniil’s story in general. This is silly but I like to think of it as yeah, The Powers That Be played a cruel game with you, but other people are kinder to you (or make you suffer more, depends on their persuasion). Your story keeps going, depending on who picks up the thread, you’re going to keep going. 

Anyway everyone go watch CodexEntry’s video on the Marble Nest <3 

#pathologic #the marble nest #daniil dankovsky #patho.txt

[simplykorra]

Let me start off by saying I really enjoy your writing. It's just... SO good. It just hits the nerdy little writer part of my heart and that's not even starting on the story itself and the characters. *chef's kiss* I am in the process of writing a little Avatrice fanfic myself and I can only dream to be as good and as proficient as you are one day. I was hoping you might be able to give me some advice. I'm currently stuck on a part that is supposed to have a text conversation between Bea and Ava and while I think I have the general stuff down (the difference between how they'd express themselves) none of my drafts come out feeling natural only clunky and forced. Do you have any advice on how to write text message conversations and would please be willing to share?

first of all, thank you for the kind words <3

as to your question, the way i approach texts between ava and bea is all in the layout and the way that they express themselves

meaning beatrice's texts are going to be straight to the point. no detours and they're all properly formatted and punctuated and perfect. she doesn't use shorthand like 'lol' or 'idk' or anything like that - though ava has probably tried to get her to drop and lol every now and then

as for ava, her texts are more frantic and all over the place

i also think she texts in bunches, like splitting one sentence into three texts for emphasis or dramatic effect. there's no proper formatting, no capitalization either

so to me texts between them would look like

Ava: ok so we need two potatoes and a stalk of celery

Ava: why is it called a stalk?

Ava: oh! that reminds me of another joke ok what did one ear of corn say to the other ear of corn?

Bea: Ava, I'm standing in the produce section, please give me the list

Ava: cmon bea! just guess!

Bea: Fine. One ear of corn said to the other ear of corn - I think someone is stalking us

Ava: :( HOW DID YOU KNOW??!?!

Bea: Because you used the word 'stalk' right before the joke and as it was the most unique word in our exchange thus far, I assumed it triggered the memory of the joke

Ava: what?

Bea: I know how your brain works, darling. Now please give me the rest of the list

fjklasfjalf so yeah something like this (sorry this was cobbled together at 6:30am so not the most sane thing i've written) but i hope this helps lol

[archivalofsins]

Let's talk about Amane's trailer~

Updated this because new information was brought to my attention and to fix some errors.

“we in turn, will forevermore mark YOU as the GUILTY one.”

They didn't capitalize the "W" in "We" so is this the middle of a sentence from her voice drama or just an error? Guess we'll know on the thirtieth, but I think it's the first thing. Amane is still the same as usual and as such Yamanaka has asked the audience to,

"Please, take care of her."

X

So, please be kind to Amane.

Futa and Amane's Possible Team Up

We know how the Milgram fandom claims to feel about picking on children from trial one right?

It'd be rather hard to take being lectured for picking on minors from people who continually harass minors. It's no wonder that Futa and Amane have gotten close. Her treatment is a direct example of Milgram's continued hypocrisy. I too would go what about you in this case.

Saying that bad things are bad, acting on the idea that something you believe is wrong has taken place, and that leading to others getting hurt- what you're saying is all that's okay when you do it...Right?

Well, it's none of Futa's business anyhow.

He said he can't afford to be worrying about other people during his second written interrogation,

Q.02 What do you think of Haruka?

Futa: I can’t afford to be worrying about other people at the moment. Anyway, he’s not a little kid.

Mu: We get on well, he’s always really kind to me.

Well, to be frank what he says is that he can't afford to worry about others currently, then states that Haruka isn't a little kid. So, he's not really worried about him, at the moment, because Haruka has shown that he is capable of taking care of himself.

I think the focus here should be on Futa specifying that, "He's not a little kid".

Amane is and she's someone that Futa has been shown to be concerning himself with during trial two.

2023/04/19 (Futa's birthday)

Futa: …! Oi, it was you. You scared me. Don't just stand there like that. Ha, what is it? Did you come to laugh at me for being weak? Brat.

Amane: No. I'm just observing; what people are thinking, who is tainted... What about you, Kajiyama Futa?

Futa: You're talking even more nonsense than before. Brat, you're guilty too, aren't you? …How can you even still stand? You probably heard it. That voice that kept blaming us. …..I ain't got the guts to do anything.

Amane: It goes without saying. Because we have something more important than incomprehensible and irrational voices. Humans can stand up if they have guidance. Kajiyama Futa, it's a coincidence, but today is your birthday, isn't it? It may be a good day to be reborn. If you can break free from the temptation of corruption around, you and change your ways-

Then guess who we have not heard about receiving help from Shidou after this interaction?

The focus and treatment suddenly became heavily focused on Mahiru. We see this in regards to Amane's birthday when Yuno is discussing giving care to Mahiru and on Kazui's when Shidou takes a short break from taking care of Mahiru.

In both cases there is no mention of continuing to give Futa treatment.

Shidou Lying about the Severity of the Prisoner's Injuries

Even though Futa needs care just as much if not more so considering the severity of his injuries. As he is stated to have,

An orbital fracture and traumatic retinal detachment. Along with bruising, lacerations (where is unspecified). Partial fracture of the thorax.

In this case, all the stated injuries involving his eye(s) and thorax could require surgery to be properly treated based on the severity of the injury.

X

X

X

In contrast Mahiru, despite all the care she's been receiving and the more visibly injured she is got off more lightly between the two. At least when taking into consideration none of her injuries require any sort of surgical treatment to heal. Despite Shidou hamming it up and saying,

"Shiina's injuries are even worse."

Looking into her injuries in comparison to Futa's easily proves this is not the case as she has,

Lacerations (Head)- Something that sounds bad but basically amounts to cuts on her head.

X

Bruising (All over her body)- It is literally just bruising. I don't know how to make this any simpler.

X

Sprain (Neck)- Does not require surgery to heal gradually heals over time with the right treatment.

X

Fracture (Ribs)- Again sounds bad but it's not.

X

Fracture (Left arm)- He says fracture, but this is literally just a broken arm. This is something that has happened to many people in the world and does not require invasive surgery to heal most of the time. Just a lot of rest.

X

"And furthermore this may be outside of my profession but her mental health is deteriorating as well."

Edit: @doctorbunny brought to my attention I missed one for Mahiru.

Compression Fracture (left anterior)

X

NOT SO FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT THE PRISONERS CAN LIE IN THEIR VOICE DRAMAS AND SHIDOU DID ABOUT THE SEVERITY OF MAHIRU'S INJURIES!

All of Mahiru's injuries in comparison to Futa's are light shit. However, Shidou knew that no one without his expertise would know that. Along with possibly rightfully deduced from the voices he does not mention hearing that there may not or were not enough people with his particular skills to correct him or call him out on his lies. That or he believed most wouldn't care to look past the surface anyhow considering what Es has deduced so far.

So, he lied highlighting Mahiru the more visibly injured of the two because he rightfully believed that the audience wouldn't realize that Futa was the more injured out of the two of them. Because it's easier for people to believe someone who looks like this,

Is more injured than someone who looks like this,

Not even touching on the fact that how injured someone believes another person is heavily dependent on external factors such as gender, ethnicity, and the communication skills of the individual in question.

So, Shidou just picked the person that needed the most consistent care, who could play the role of being injured properly, and would garner the most sympathy to latch onto in order to better his chances of being voted innocent. Then he expressly lied not only about their physical state but brought up that person's mental health as well. Something he states is not his area of expertise.

Despite people literally coming across Futa talking to himself in the fucking halls!

22/04/19 (Futa’s Birthday)

Futa: Ahh…… I’m not wrong…… I wasn’t doing anything wrong…… Shut up, why are you going on and on about something so minor…… It has nothing to do with you…… Aaahhh……

Amane: Oh, were you talking to yourself, Futa-san? Or maybe there’s something there you’re able to see?

Futa: ……! O-oh, it’s just you. It’s nothing. ……but well, on that note. Hey. Don’t you have anything happening too? Since being in here, just suddenly getting anxious. Feeling as though loads of people are all there condemning you, telling you you were wrong.

Amane: ……I’m fine. I don’t know what you’ve done or what it is you’re worried about, but I think if there’s something you believe in, you should stay true to it. It’s not something that should waver just because other people said something. I personally don’t plan on changing my own beliefs even if I’m told I’m wrong either…… ……today is your birthday, correct? I’ll pray for God to keep you under his care.

Making Futa's statement in his second written interrogation make far more sense given the fact that like Shidou said he would do from the beginning he,

"Choose between superiority or inferiority"

Prioritizing Mahiru's care for the benefit of himself and to an extent her as well while neglecting Futa's.

"I can’t afford to be worrying about other people at the moment."

He literally cannot afford to worry about other people in the prison because none of them have bothered to concern themselves with him outside of Kazui and Amane. Who once again comes up to him when he's freaking out on his birthday and is like,

"Kajiyama Futa, it's a coincidence, but today is your birthday, isn't it? It may be a good day to be reborn. If you can break free from the temptation of corruption around you and change your ways-"

Amane: Disavow the false god preaching to a choir of heathens and reject his medicinal ways and be reborn into a true deity of strength through your own will alone and my guidance. Do it- don't disappoint me like the others.

Futa: Ya, know what fuck it he's not really helping me anyhow...sure why not.

We haven't been shown or heard anything regarding Futa being checked over by Shidou or having his injuries cared for in a while now. I find it kind of odd how the only one receiving consistent treatment is Mahiru given everything here. I also wonder how Futa's friendship with Amane is going.

Amane has shown disdain towards Yuno, Shidou, and Mahiru yet...we haven't seen how she is with Futa after that interaction yet. I wonder if they'll have a timeline conversation again soon.

Honestly, I too would team up with the kid that's been consistently checking in on me. Can't even fault him.

Next the lyric.

“I disavow you, eyes corrupted.”

It seems like they’ll be continuing to update and tweak the English translation of the lyrics from what we were given in the song trailers. Though the snippet of Amane’s is much shorter than what we got previously. The MILGRAM/2nd Trial 8th EP Amane (CV: Minami Tanaka) “The Purge March” Trailer in my opinion more so highlights Amane’s message to the guard(s) than be a trailer of The Purge March proper.

So, it seems they’re really keeping the mv’s song under wraps up until release. Something that only makes me more interested in. I like the use of disavow it really fits Amane.

X

While giving her words that very smart-alecky know-it-all kid emphasis.

(Star here; I'd also say the usage of disavow works, given the likelihood of her victim being part of the cult. Whether that's an ongoing member or someone who decided fuck this is up for debate though)

The Cover Snippet

Her cover of Animal keeps up with the pattern of the Guilty prisoner’s songs so far. Unlike within their second trial songs when they are singing their cover songs, they are incredibly happy. This contrasts with the Innocent prisoners, who’ve been a bit of a mix bag when it comes to their covers but erring on the melancholy introspective side in tone. In contrast the guilty prisoners within their covers have sounded as though they’re having the time of their lives.

The staff even going as far as changing the entire tone of Parasite in Mahiru’s case to fit her mood. Something that I just thought was specific to Mahiru but upon further inspection all three of the guilty prisoners covers have had upbeat tones this trial and I’m curious as to why.

In Futa and Mahiru’s cases their main songs make their stress apparent seem, but their covers show they’re brimming with confidence and are incredibly pumped up. Futa’s cover is literally about wanting to go again, how he doesn’t want to stop, wants to escape, and unable to. Something we’ve been shown Futa pondering attempting to do from Milgram since it started and asking people for help with doing. Mahiru’s while about ending a bad relationship in contrast to Mu’s MKDR cover something dealing with a similar theme is very upbeat and seemingly ready to move forward or on from whatever is being left. Something that she’s also made clear she’s ready to do over the course of Milgram and continues to reiterate.

Having a relatively relaxed beach energy to it the most serious the song gets is when she’s asking why over and over again. Neither really touching on the tone that covers before theirs have had. It’s incredibly confusing considering it wouldn’t be surprising for the Guilty prisoners cover songs to be more downtrodden or melancholy, but it seems to be the exact opposite which I find interesting. The only cover outside of the guilty prisoners that gets remotely close to capturing this hype feeling in my opinion is Vampire but even then, Yuno sounds rather reserved.

So, like the heck are all of them so happy about; will Reversible Campaign have a similar tone? All that to say Amane’s cover of Animal sounds really good and upbeat. Her voice is so peppy.

#milgram #amane momose

[inventors-fair]

The Verdict is In: Crime Commentary

Tropes, tropes, tropes. I do love me a good trope except when I hate them. Is that helpful? Probably not, but there are some amusing parts to how everyone depicted their various crimes this week. Some of them were quite creative, and some of them had creative takes on commonly shared crimes that I found overall amusing.

Mechanically this week, there was a wide range of crimes that I found really streamlined, and that's pleasantly surprising! People took the bare bones of their depictions and made them quite easy to read and grok on the whole. Of course, some of the rules had their little twists, and there were a couple parts where I think folks were confused about interactions, but we all are sometimes, aren't we? It don't matter when we have the cool cards together. Look through these cards and look at the planes depicted, by the way, the worlds in which they purport to take place. Notice any similarities? 

JUDGE PICKS have been selected for some specific aspects pointed out in the commentary, so take a look at them and see what's what. Read on!

@bergdg — Put Out a Hit

So, it's been mentioned, but "target creature loses hexproof" is something that, in retrospect, is one of those things that probably should've been caught earlier rather than later. That said, how would one word this properly? The problem is that you have to have the permanent in question lose hexproof before targets can be selected. Something like Soul Sear can get rid of indestructible, but targets are chosen as the spell is cast. Long story short, you have to have a way to get rid of the ability before you play the destruction—like via forecast or something like that.

The flavor concept is sound, if a little gruesome. I think the flavor text definitely leans into the more macabre aspects of this scene, and that's fine for the flavor in question. I'm going to put a Capenna spin on this card and imagine the guns as some other kind of weapon, if that's amenable, but whatever, that's one of those no-guns-allowed things that I'm going to arbitrarily enforce. The card itself is good and direct and I get where you're going with the direction. Getting the exact mechanical specs is important so we don't end up with non-functional sentences.

~

@dimestoretajic — Embezzlement

I'm wondering why this couldn't have been a Curse, honestly. While the notion of another player gaining control of this is fun, I think a Curse could've been just as well mechanically. Right? But I think I understand the general feeling—like the espionage aspect. There's one small issue where if you gain control of it back via Homeward Path effects, you get recursive triggers that put the game into an immediate draw. I suppose that there's something to be said for the card on its own merits, but I'll be honest, this doesn't scream embezzlement to me. Am I missing something specific about the definition here?

I really like the life-loss-to-Blood mechanic. It's clear and flavorful and I think that there's some part of me that wishes it was the main aspect of this card. Creating Treasures on top of that is also pretty cool; it's still a bit stymied by the questions of what this card's actually trying to portray. Now, this might be just me misunderstanding, but I just feel that it could've been clearer or just had less baggage.

~

@feyd-rautha-apologist — Foolhardy Graverobber

There are a couple small things that could make this card a little bit cleaner. Firstly, I'll assume this is a rare, so that's all fine. Secondly, I think that the Treasure creation (capital-T) could happen upon contact and then the exile could happen. I think? Or the Treasure can happen first, and the "Then, exile up to one target" could happen after without rules baggage. But I'm not positive on that. The wording of the second sentence should probably be "You may cast that card for as long as it remains exiled." With the second clause, "and/or" would probably read better, and it should end in "Foolhardy Graverobber can't be blocked."

So I suppose this card is exploring some pretty usual space, but I think that it world quite well for a limited tempo card, and I would personally love to play with it! Rogues need a lot more love. I'm not entirely sure what makes this card "Foolhardy" but maybe there would be some art direction that would help with that. All the same, with a little more polish we could have a neat card on our hands. It's doing everything that rogues are supposed to do.

~

@hanavesinauttija — Revenue Inspector

I get the angle. This isn't what the contest was looking for. Redefining what a crime is within the game is grokable to a degree, but we're looking for the in-game notions of crime as it stands. Beyond that, what crime is being depicted by the card's actions itself? The scenario (unless the IRS is itself a criminal organization) looks to be investigating the aftermath of a supposed crime. I'm not going to dismiss the creativity, but the subversion of the prompt's implications lead us to a place that feels burdened with intention and doesn't actually fit the contest needs.

I'm a huge fan of Innistrad's vibes. This feels like a parody to me. I'm trying not to be too harsh here, because I can imagine a world where, if things had gone differently, there could be a series of "gotcha"-style mechanics that care about crimes being committed by defining different types of crimes. That said, "gotcha" was a universally disliked mechanic, and this card could be implemented quite easily without an AU version of crime definition. Having taxing effects is totally fine from the other side, for another contest, when we're looking for parts of a world that are focused on order or what have you. This vampire just isn't what we needed.

~

@helloijustreadyourpost — Decision at Knifepoint (JUDGE PICK)

I think that this card might be really powerful—ooh, big shocker, a forced edict that also functions as a discard spell is powerful, who'da thunk. I mean that genuinely, though! I'm not sure how to fully judge this card on power level. As a sorcery, it's less powerful than something like a direct killspell, and if the opponent has cards to spare, then sure, it's fine, but it can also function as a sorcery-speed Murder for two mana. Hm. Maybe that's not so bad. Looking at comparable sorceries, they all have some kind of downside, and I guess the downside here is that if your opponent has cards that are worse than a creature, thppt, discard away.

I like that the more I think about it, actually. I suppose my one revision with the flavor text is that the second half of the sentence could be shorter? As in: "I'd prefer to take your money, but I'm open to other options." Either way: great implication, great focus with the art, and I like how the character with the knife isn't pictures. Kinda persona-y. I wonder if "Knifepoint Decision" is better than "Decision at Knifepoint" but I think it's fifty-fifty. I dunno, I'm warming up to this card a lot! I've chosen it as a judge pick because it's a card that really made me think, with a definitive focus that I found specific in the best way.

~

@iamthesassking — Three Casino Heist

Welcome to the wonderful world of sagas. There's a lot of thought that you put into this card with the references, and I do appreciate that, but I'm going to ask a rhetorical question: did you assume that chapter I would apply to the rest of the time you had the saga? Unfortunately, that's not the case. The ability resolves, and then that's that for the turn; it'd be like casting an Exhaustion. So then your opponents would get tapped Treasures, and they'd be able to use/sacrifice them because chapter I resolved a turn ago. You'd have to word that first ability like Urza's Saga.

And even then, what would be the point of waiting three turns to get this massive amount of mana on turn...nine? By that point in the game if you're not already on an amazing board state (in limited), then you're in a rough spot to say the least. What would you need it for? In short: what is the mechanical purpose of this card? Gaining control of artifacts and whatnot would've made for a cool design, and I know that you were going for something story-accurate to a heist movie, but the card feels like it's essentially doing nothing for a while and then giving you an advantage that doesn't necessarily progress the game state. Consider, not in a vacuum, but in the context of a difficult game state: what could this card do to be faithful to your vision while also being impactful in the wider battlefield of potential?

~

@nine-effing-hells — Drive-By Shooting (JUDGE PICK)

Yeah, this is definitely a limited build-around. Here's the thing: the name and flavor are decidedly gritty to the point of being... Well, I won't call them "derivative," but in terms of tropes, this is about as on-the-nose as you can possibly get. And yet, the part that you're going for works so good on the battlefield: you play the equipment, you play the vehicle, and you've got good stuff. If you're behind on board, chances are you'll still have the pieces laying around because equipment and vehicles are pretty hard to remove.

Hm. That power level is actually still pretty high if you have one of those pieces. But you'd still have to play them first, draw them, etc. Hm. Yet again, I'm thinking about this card as if I'm evaluating it for final touches and playtesting, and frankly that's already a good sign. I want to see more about the vehicle+equipment signpost combo that we have for this limited format. I'm imagining it kind of like the artifact+enchantment combo requirement from NEO's BW signpost, but it's a little more focused than that. I think. Man, this is a rough one. I think I chose this as a judge pick because no matter what, it makes me want to lean into its possibilities, and I believe in the archetype it's going for in a way that checks out even with a slightly higher power level.

~

@real-aspen-hours — Grave Trespass

The slight wording change I'd have is based on...what was it, Curse of Hospitality? I think. It's not so bad: "Exile target card from a graveyard. Until end of turn, you may play that card and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast that spell." It's weird but that's how the rules work in the end. I think. You know what, I'm honestly shocked that this isn't a specific kind of card already. Psychic Intrusion and the ilk do it from the hand, too, but just from the graveyard? I dunno, I'm honestly surprised. I think I want you to hold onto this one, and/or I might ask to steal it sometimes if I ever jump into custom cube nonsense.

That said: I'm not following the flavor text or art direction exactly. I get what you're going for in the general sense but the pronouns in the art direction are slightly confusing to me. Who's casting what? What are the robbers running from? What are the stakes? And what do the stakes have to do with the card? I think the name and the mechanical basis are excellent. I would've chosen perhaps a different plane or angle of storyline for this card. There's this sense of frenetic peril that I don't think I sense from the card as it stands. Maybe a little more of a criminal lean would do you good.

~

@reaperfromtheabyss — Bash and Dash

I believe you'd have to word this with a little parenthetical like Siegehorn Ceratops? Like, they fight, and have: "Then, if your creature survived the damage," etc. Maybe no parenthetical but it could use a note so that people wouldn't be confused by the potential for fighting and bouncing scot-free if both creatures would otherwise trade. I know that fighting is in-pie for red, but red and white? I dunno, it's reasonable in the right world. I think I would've liked a little more of that to solidify the action you're trying to depict.

Still, a hit-and-run is pretty funny with the fighting aspect, and I think this card could play quite well in a combat shell. Extra ETBs are always useful. The ability to save a creature during a boardwipe while also smashing something as insult to injury is pretty funny too. I think that this card's overall fine, if a little less toothsome with the flavor/world that I could ask for. You've got a good vibe going for you and I think this would be something I'd like to play in the limited shell.

~

@sparkyyoungupstart — Pirate Radio (JUDGE PICK)

I've chosen this card as a judge pick because you've tied the abilities together in such a way that the first is already excellent and the second one just helps you build around it. It's so frustrating to have cards where they're supposedly build-around but the things you have to have to build with them aren't related to the card itself. Pirate Radio solves all your problems. You can see Grave Trespass above for wording on the casting-and-mana problems, but regardless. What I also love about this card is that you can target yourself OR your opponents, but it rewards you more for targeting your opponents, and man, this card kicks ass.

I wish it was flavored basically any other way besides being radio-oriented. Am I old and out of touch? Yes, but that has nothing to do with this card. I think. ... No, let me be serious. Technologies like radio and DJing and what have you aren't exactly in the immersive side of MTG's worlds, and that's a personal opinion, and I had to look up what kind of technology Capenna had and I'm honestly still not sure. What's Wiretapping depicting? I don't really know. Personally, I would lean away from the radio aspect and go for a general communications theme, but that's also a taste thing. I like the punk angle, really. I just want it shifted a little less 21st-century-y, I guess?

~

@stupidstupidratcreatures — Dropped Piano

This is quite silly. It's also very funny. It's also dark. It also isn't quite gripping me as a card in itself. Why does a piano make mana, exactly? Where's the resource? Instruments are a little weird to depict in MTG, and you can't exactly have a piano as an equipment in the same way that you would a trumpet or what have you. Still, one dropped piano later, it's still a funny concept. I like the aspect of how it survived in the flavor text, too, regardless of the run-on sentence that's a little iffy.

The general thoughts are still on the on-the-fence side for me. Mana doesn't make sense, the world's still a little confusing, and in general, I'm left wondering whose piano this is and what's supposed to be shown, exactly. Is someone playing the piano in the picture, are we seeing it about to land on a body, is someone going to be splattered underneath? Can it even be played, honestly? What's the context of the card as a whole that's not being shown by its parts here? I'm having a hard time saying precisely what I mean but I hope it makes some sense.

~

@wildcardgamez — Faithless Robbery

I'm 80% sure that you need an "each" after "player," and that (if this wasn't a crime contest) it could play better to have each player discard a card, but I think I see what you were going for with the idea that you would have to target yourself if nobody else was available. With that, though, this is fairly derivative from Faithless Looting, and even riffs with the flavor text on the Commander Masters version without delving into the context.

I think this card could've been more centered for sure. Where is the robbery that you want to depict? What's exactly being robbed here? Who are "they?" Why repeat the "rob" in the name and twice in the flavor text? This card currently feels like a draft, and I would want a lot more polish for what's being shown. Without that, the card in a vacuum is pretty alright, but I want to look at the whole of it.

~

@yourrightfulking — Citation Needed (JUDGE PICK)

Sins of the Past, that's the card I was thinking of! But that one only does your graveyard, and the benefit is that you know what you're getting vs. this card which can be more sideboardable. I think the name is quite interesting and kinda memetic. Who am I kidding, this whole contest was somewhat memetic. I don't fault you for it and I think that there's some fun to be had there. The placement of this card on Strixhaven (in an allied discipline? For shame!) does what I think a lot of cards should do and centers its reference in a place where we understand it making sense.

And the want to steal something else is pretty funny too! I hope that it doesn't happen in limited, but if it did, there could probably be only two cards in the set that allowed for it, this one included, so as not to overpower the limited format with permanent-stealing. Act of Treason effects would be fine, though, and that would be super funny if you managed to pull that off. I picked this card as a judge pick because it's doing a known effect in a solid manner with a cheeky twist, and pulls it all off in a humorous and world-contained logic. Citation: I like it.

That's all! Tune in tomorrow and be safe this week during the crime of sun-stealing, by the notorious thief: the Man in the Moon.

@abelzumi

#mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #inventor's fair #commentary #entries #crime contest

[bidoofenergy]

This is me humbly requesting some Jimmy and Joel/Grian interactions from your dance floor au🙏

Additionally I would kill for a d&d au that genuinely sounds so fun as someone who played dnd years ago (unf the group was not fun to play with, I feel bad for our dm)

hungry busy people

also on AO3 sequel to let's ditch the dance floor (4048 words)

“Friday night,” Joel sarcastically cheers, under his breath. “Living the dream," Jimmy refuses to pay attention to him. He’s got his planner, his Google Calendar, and all his course websites open in front of him, but he still feels like he’s forgetting something. He goes down this weekend's to do list for the third time, comparing it to upcoming deadlines.

“Class signup starts next week right?” he asks, whipping up to look at Joel, across the table. Joel pauses his lamenting on missing on date night with Lizzie.

“Registration isn’t for another two weeks.” Joel says slowly. Jimmy flips to two weeks out and, sure enough, there it is on Thursday in capital letters: “CLASS SIGNUP 8 AM!!” Jimmy groans.

“Are you forgetting something?” Joel asks, barely hiding his amusement.

“Tell me you know what I’m forgetting.” Jimmy leans over his open notebooks and half the table to beg properly.

Joel leans away from Jimmy’s hands and smirks. “How should I know what you’ve forgotten?” He reaches for his phone as he speaks and starts typing without breaking eye contact.

“If you’re texting Grian to make fun of me—” Jimmy starts, in his best attempt at threatening. It isn’t very good, given how Joel’s smirk just grows.

“Do your homework Jim.” Joel pats the top of his hand. “It’ll come to you; probably when you least expect it.” Joel sounds too happy about this for Jimmy’s taste. He sighs and sits back. Joel has decided to be unhelpful and there’s no changing his mind. Jimmy hates him a little.

“I hate you a lot.” He tells Joel. Joel is not bothered by this.

Truthfully, Jimmy can only hate Joel a little today. Joel agreed to go to the vet school library with him on a Friday night, even though it’s a good 15 minute bus ride from their dorm, because Jimmy focuses better here than at the library on main campus. Jimmy needs to be at the library on a Friday night because, at some point this semester, his workload went from substantial to overwhelming. And on top of that, there’s… something else. Something is happening this weekend and that means Jimmy has to get as much work done today as possible.

To start: this godforsaken discussion post that’s due at midnight. He switches windows back to the week’s reading and continues skimming it, hoping for something to jump out at him. He just needs to find something vaguely interesting to write 150 words about and then he can tell two random classmates they “brought up some very intriguing points, I hadn't considered that” and be done with the class—at least until next Friday’s discussion post.

It’s on his fourth reread of the same sentence (so much for skimming) that Jimmy feels a presence behind him. He freezes and considers. Joel is still in front of him, intently focused on his laptop screen. There’s only one other person Jimmy knows who would stand behind him and silently wait like this, but he’s an hour drive—this is the thing Jimmy forgot!

Jimmy whirls around, his suspicions immediately confirmed when he nearly smacks Grian in the stomach in his excitement. “Grian!” he exclaims and immediately winces at his volume.

“Hey Tim,” Grian grins. “Took you long enough to notice.” He ruffles Jimmy’s hair before sitting down.

“He’s been here for seven minutes.” Joel says as he reaches across the table to bump fists in greeting. “I timed it.”

“You’re getting sloppy Tim.” Grian shakes his head.

“Shut up.” Jimmy whines. “Where’s your stuff man?” He cannot believe he forgot Grian was staying the weekend; it’s not like their plans were what got him through the last few weeks.

“In my car, which is by your dorm, because that’s where you told me you’d be.” Grian pokes Jimmy in the chest. “Joel had to coach me through your bus system by text!”

Joel smirks at Grian’s annoyance. “Sorry, not all of us have the cutting-edge infrastructure of HCU.”

“A functional, easy-to-understand bus system is not cutting-edge—”Grian starts, voice rising, before Joel and Jimmy shush him.

“Yes, yes, HCU rules, ESU drools.” Joel says mockingly, rolling his eyes.

“Don’t give us Scar’s public transportation rant, I have homework I need to finish.” Jimmy pleads. Grian splutters like he can’t decide what to be offended by first.

“It’s not a rant—It’s not Scar’s—” he squawks. Jimmy and Joel glance at each other and laugh.

“Hush, both of you,” Grian folds his arms. “You’re doing homework? I drove all the way here, rode your horrible bus, to watch you do homework?”

Jimmy can't help but laugh. He’s missed Grian so much.

“Don’t laugh!” Grian exclaims and Joel shushes him again, still laughing as he does.

“The grind doesn’t stop.” Jimmy shrugs. “Gotta finish this today so I’m free tomorrow.” At the mention of tomorrow, Grian brightens.

“Yes! I’m looking forward to your gym.” he enthuses and Joel groans. “You guys actually have more climbing space than HCU does.” Grian continues and Joel groans louder.

“You’re obsessed.” Joel complains.

“Alright, Mr. Thought of Baby Names Three Months in.” Grian scoffs.

“I did not—not three months—” Joel fumbles to defend himself, flushing. “I would never—I was totally cool and normal about Lizzie.” His flush deepens at the mention of his girlfriend, which doesn’t really help his case.

“So, we’re just lying now?” Jimmy asks Grian in a stage whisper and they grin at each other.

“Shut up,” Joel groans, head in his hands. “Do your homework Tim.”

Jimmy frowns, but before he can say anything, Grian pokes his arm. “Yeah Timmy,” he says teasingly, switching sides easily. “Finish your homework so we can get out of here.”

“Boo,” Jimmy mumbles and he and Joel start working again.

Grian leaves them alone for about ten minutes, entertaining himself with his phone, before getting bored and scooting his chair closer to Jimmy. He rests his chin on Jimmy’s shoulder and starts reading along. Jimmy, used to this, lets his shoulder drop a little so Grian is more comfortable.

“Jim,” Grian says after a moment.

“Hmm?”

“If you don’t pick a random quote and start writing—” Grian starts and Jimmy just laughs. Joel looks up at the two of them, an eyebrow raised. “He’s overthinking this.” Grian huffs, sounding personally offended.

“I’d never accuse Jimmy of thinking too much.” Joel smirks.

“Hey!” Jimmy exclaims. “I wasn’t sure where to start and—” Grian cuts him off.

“That doesn’t sound like ‘Thank you for the advice, Grian, I’ll get right to it!’”

Jimmy rolls his eyes. “Thank you for the advice, Grian, I’ll get right to it.” he parrots. Grian pats him on the head and sits back, looking smug.

The worst part is: Grian is right. Jimmy finds the sentence he had to read four times and starts writing, “A quote that I found particularly interesting…”

Grian watches him type for a few minutes before getting bored again and rolling over to watch Joel. “That doesn’t look like homework.” He remarks dryly. Jimmy looks up to see the familiar expression of Joel caught texting Lizzie something gross and cheesy and quickly looks back to his own laptop screen, happy to let Grian take care of that.

- - -

They’re at the library for a few more hours, until it’s almost 12:30. Jimmy finished his discussion post and the two replies and starts on his math homework (Grian immediately teases him for “taking a finance class, that’s not even real math!”). Joel, eventually, probably because she fell asleep, stops texting Lizzie and starts reading. It’s a lot of highlighting, mumbling to himself, and looking like the book in front of him insulted his mother. Grian steals Jimmy’s phone, gets the passcode right on the first try because Jimmy hasn’t bothered to change it since Grian first learned it in high school, and starts playing Angry Birds. Jimmy doesn’t even remember having Angry Birds on his phone.

Eventually, Jimmy’s mind feels like a thick soup and Grian has given up on Angry Birds in favor of spinning his chair worryingly fast. Joel, seeing the state of the two of them, snaps his book closed and says, “Let’s get out of here.”

“Finally!” Grian exclaims, jumping up to his feet. He sways and stumbles and Jimmy laughs as he packs up his stuff.

Grian is buzzing with energy as they leave the library and head to the bus stop. The night air is warm and heavy with humidity. The sidewalk is lit a hazy orange-yellow from the streetlights. There’s no one else at the bus stop. Jimmy stands by the sign and bounces on his toes. Grian squints at the bus stop bench, like he's grading it. For a moment, it’s quiet—only the sounds of distant traffic and bugs.

“I’m hungry.” Joel announces to the night air, startling Jimmy a little.

“Nothing’s open right now.” Jimmy frowns.

“Do you not have food in your room?” Grian asks. Neither Jimmy nor Joel dignify his question with a response.

“There’s gotta be something open.” Joel pulls out his phone and opens his map app, pinching and panning and zooming in on nearby streets. Both Jimmy and Grian crowd around, bumping their heads together.

“I really cannot believe ESU doesn’t have stuff nearby open past midnight.” Grian mumbles. Jimmy can’t believe HCU would.

“There’s a Waffle House not far from our dorm, which is good because this is the last bus.” Joel announces, zooming in on the Waffle House in question. He looks a little too excited about this. Jimmy glances at Grian, who looks more caught up on the idea that the buses are stopping now.

“I could eat,” Jimmy offers and, just like that, their plans have been made.

“Waffle House!” Joel cheers and switches over to stare at the bus tracker app.

- - -

The Waffle House isn’t very busy, unsurprising for it being nearly 1 am, only another group of five college students crammed in a booth and only two people working. The blond, middle-aged cook yells at them to “sit wherever!” when they enter and Grian picks a booth for them. Joel slides in next to Grian and drops his backpack on the opposite bench right as Jimmy’s about to sit. Jimmy rolls his eyes, pushes the bag further in, and accidentally kicks Joel as he’s getting settled. Joel, of course, immediately kicks him back, and things devolve from there.

“Boys!” Grian admonishes as the waiter comes up to the table, menus in hand. “Can’t take them anywhere.” he jokes, like he didn’t just kick Jimmy in the shins. The waiter, a tall, lanky guy about their age with a yellow sweater on underneath his Waffle House shirt, looks unimpressed and drops the menus on the table. Joel, noticing the waiter, straightens up.

The waiter says, “Yell for me when you're ready.” and leaves.

“Christ that dude is tall.” Joel remarks as soon as he’s gone.

“You’re just short.” Grian rolls his eyes and pulls the menu Jimmy was reaching for towards himself.

“Taller than you!” Joel says indignantly.

“Don't start,” Jimmy begs, head in his hands. Joel takes this as an opportunity to the remaining menu. Jimmy doesn’t react. They all know what they want anyway.

He twists around to wave the server over. He’s talking to the cook, who looks a little more stressed than Jimmy would like the person making his food to look, especially if they work at Waffle House. When the tall man notices, he pushes off the counter and heds over.

“What can I get you guys?” he asks, shoving his hands in his pockets. Jimmy catches his nametag: Wilbur.

“Double hashbrown, scattered and covered please.” Jimmy says, ignoring Grain’s responding gag. The server nods and turns to Joel, who’s puffing out his chest. Jimmy has to stare really hard at poor Wilbur’s beanie (red, a little dirty, definitely not in-uniform) to avoid Grian’s eye.

“All star breakfast, with bacon.” Joel replies and at least he’s not dropping his voice like he used to do in front of Lizzie all the time.

“Double waffles,” Grian says. “And we’ll all have orange juice.” Jimmy hates orange juice.

“It’s gonna be a while on those waffles.” Wilbur informs them. “We’ve only got one iron working at the moment and they”—he gestures behind him lazily to the other table— “all ordered waffles. That explains the cook’s expression. All three of them wince sympathetically.

“That’s fine.” Grian reassures him. Wilbur nods and leaves before Jimmy can remember he doesn’t like orange juice.

- - -

Their food comes fairly quickly, except for Grian and Joel’s waffles of course. “Yeah it’s gonna be about an hour.” the server tells them, faintly apologetic.

“Holy moly,” Jimmy breathes and Joel and Grian grimace in unison.

“We’ll wait,” Grian tells him.

“Waffle House welcomes you 24 hours a day.” Wilbur replies flatly before leaving, clearly quoting something from his training. Joel snorts into his food.

Jimmy slides his orange juice across the table to Grian. “Timmy, you've got to get your Vitamin C.” Grian says, taking a massive gulp of Jimmy’s orange juice. “What if you get scurvy or something?”

“I’m not getting scurvy.” Jimmy says and starts eating.

“You’re eating potatoes and cheese; that’s not exactly a balanced diet.”

“He does have a point.” Joel agrees, mouth full.

“You’re not any better!” Jimmy doesn’t exactly yell, and Joel and Grian both shush him.

- - -

Thirty minutes later, hashbrowns long gone, Jimmy has his head on the table, pillowed under his arms, half-asleep. Grian and Joel have been talking about this ghost-hunting video game for at least twenty minutes. While Jimmy plays it all the time with them, he barely knows the rules, nevermind the intricate strategies they’re discussing. Instead he lets their voices wash over him and, between them and the rain. He’s almost—

Jimmy sits bolt upright and blurts, “It’s raining?”

Grian and Joel pause to exaggeratedly glance between him, the window, and each other.

“Indeed it is, Timmy,” Grian claps mockingly. “Well done.” Jimmy groans.

“No, walking back is gonna be a pain.”

“Neither of you have an umbrella?” Grian asks, somehow surprised.

“I’m sure it’ll clear up soon.” Joel tells Jimmy. They both leave Grian's question unanswered.

- - -

Twenty minutes later, the rain hasn’t cleared up and, in fact, has gotten much worse. The water’s coming down in sheets angled by the wind. Jimmy was woken up by a loud crack of thunder and nearly jumped out of his seat, much to Joel and Grian’s amusement.

A little while later, Wilbur comes by with their waffles. “Sorry for the wait,” he says, not sounding sorry at all. “I’ll bring your bill in a moment, you guys paying separately or together?”

“Seperate,” Jimmy mumbles distractedly staring out the window at the storm. He can’t even see the streetlight by the bus stop.

The server pauses and adds, a little more sincerely this time, “You really are welcome to stay as long as you gotta.”

“Thanks,” Joel grins around a mouthful of waffle.

“Gross,” Grian groans around his own mouthful of waffle. Wilbur leaves, somehow looking both disgusted and disinterested.

Jimmy’s startled out of his storm-induced daze when every phone in the building goes off in quick succession. He scrambles to silence his, not even reading the warning displayed on the screen.

“Flood warning,” Joel reads. “No shit.” Flooding does indeed seem like a given as water streams down the sidewalk and starts to puddle over the one visible storm drain.

Jimmy drums his fingers on the table. His backpack is water resistant, but that doesnt mean much in a storm like this. None of them even have an umbrella or even jackets; it had been so warm that evening.

“I think we should wait.” He says.

“I’m not getting my laptop wet.” Joel agrees.

“Fine,” Grian sighs. It’s almost 2 am.

- - -

By 2:15, they’ve paid and their dishes sit in a neat stack next to a not insignificant cash tip that the three of them pooled together.

“For you and the poor man with only one waffle iron.” Grian tells Wilbur when he comes to collect their plates and raises an eyebrow at the bills. He actually laughs as he tucks it apron pocket.

When he leaves their table, they hear him yell, “Hey old man, tip for you!” and fall over each other trying not to laugh too loudly.

- - -

By 2:30, the rain has slowed enough that Jimmy can actually see through it. A couple, two college-aged women, had emerged suddenly into the yellow-white light of the Waffle House sign. Now, they stand by the counter, dripping.

“You can, like, walk but it sucked.” Jimmy hears one of them tell the cook, a little too casually for someone who was just out in the middle of a flood warning. The other apologizes profusely to Wilbur who’s brought over a mop.

Grian’s entertaining himself on Jimmy’s phone, so Jimmy looks over to Joel, who said he restarted his reading but is actually on his phone. Joel, as if sensing Jimmy’s gaze, looks up. “I don't wanna be stuck here all night with no sleep—we’re supposed to meet Lizzie for breakfast before work” he says a little sadly. Grian looks up from Angry Birds to glance between them.

Jimmy weighs his options. On the one hand, his laptop is out of warranty and he can’t afford to get it or his notes wet. On the other hand, Lizzie’s busy all weekend and the only chance she has to see Grian is at some cafe 20 minutes away tomorrow morning. At 8 am.

“It’s still pouring.” Grian complains. “Give it a bit.” They give it a bit.

- - -

By 2:45, the rain has barely slowed while Jimmy definitely has. He and Grian started stacking creamer pods and every so often Jimmy knocks them over and just stares, blinking, while Grian cackles.

He sets down the creamer he was about to stack and whines, “We can’t stay here any longer.”

Joel snaps his book closed and jumps up. “Right, let’s get going then so we can sleep and then wake up on time because I refuse to be late to meeting Lizzie.” He leans across the table, reaching for his bag, as he says this.

“Wait, wait, hang on a minute,” Grian says, still wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. “Can we be smart about this please?”

Joel, practically laying on the table to reach his bag tucked against the window with one hand while balancing off Jimmy’s shoulder with the other, says, “I’m always smart.”

“Uh-huh,” Grian says, unconvinced, and slides out past Joel's legs to talk to the cook, who’s leaning against the counter looking half-asleep. Jimmy manages to escape from Joel to stand and laughs as Joel flounders, trying not to fall off the table.

Joel’s upright by the time Grian returns with a small trashbag. Jimmy squints at the trashbag, trying to understand. “Wha’s that for?” he asks after Grian fails to explain, clearly more amused by Jimmy’s sleepy confusion.

“Well if you put something in here, you can keep it dry.” Grian starts, condescending. Jimmy blinks, still catching up. “Gosh, Tim, you really need to sleep.” Grian laughs, breaking character. “Put your laptops in here and then in Tim’s bag.” He instructs Joel. Jimmy just moves away and lets Joel handle things, swaying where he stands.

“Jesus Tim, you big baby,” Grian complains, propping him up a little with his shoulder.

Joel straightens up from where he was rearranging their stuff and hands Jimmy his bag. “Let’s get this show on the road!” He says, clapping his hands together once they’re free.

“Thank you, have a good night!” Grian calls to the Waffle House employees as he none-too-gently herds Jimmy out the door.

“Stay dry!” Wilbur calls after them from where he’s leaned next to the grill, blowing vape smoke up the exhaust.

“Complete dumbasses,” Jimmy hears the cook laugh as the door closes behind them.

He’s immediately soaked, barely three steps out the door and much more awake. The wind has died down considerably, which Jimmy is grateful for. “Lucky it’s not as windy,” he remarks, though he’s practically yelling to be heard over the rainfall and water rushing down the street gutters.

“Lucky?” Joel repeats, indignant.

“Oh yeah, let’s talk about how lucky this weather is!” Grian yells. He’s leading them across the parking lot like he knows where he’s going. Water sluices across their shoes as they push uphill, flooding Jimmy’s sneakers.

“It absolutely could be worse!” Jimmy argues. As if on cue: a distant rumble of thunder.

“Shut it.” Joel says, pointing at Jimmy threateningly. “If we get struck by lighting and miss breakfast, Lizzie’ll kill me.” This is, of course, not the threat he wants it to be and Grian and Jimmy fall over each other with laughter. When they finally straighten up, Joel is ahead of them and they rush—Jimmy slipping and nearly falling—to catch up.

“Do you guys remember that episode of Mythbusters?” Jimmy asks, once he’s caught his footing—and his breath—a bit.

“Which episode?” Joel asks, not kindly. “They made a lot.”

“About running versus walking in the rain?” Grian asks.

“Yeah!” Jimmy exclaims. “You remember the conclusion? I don’t.”

“No,” Grian admits and Joel groans.

“Why’d you bring it up if you don't remember the conclusion?” he asks the sky, throwing his head back.

“I thought Grian might!” Jimmy protests but he’s drowned out by Joel making choking noises. They all stop immediately.

“I just swallowed so much rainwater.” Joel croaks, looking a little red but fine, and Jimmy has to laugh.

“Why would you look up when it’s raining?” Grian admonishes, but he’s rubbing the part of Joel’s back that isn’t covered by his bag.

“I wasn’t thinking.” Joel straightens up and Jimmy doubles over, laughing harder. “C’mon let’s keep moving.” He tugs Jimmy’s arm.

“He’s delirious.” Grian says, pushing Jimmy from behind.

Together, they push-pull Jimmy to the intersection before the campus entrance and, with barely a glance, decide to cross without waiting for the crosswalk light. There’s no traffic anyway and, unsurprisingly, no one else out as they make their way to Jimmy and Joel’s dorm.

They make one last turn and, as if on cue, the rain slows to a steady drizzle. Jimmy, too tired to be mad, tilts his head back to feel the rain across his face.

“This is fucking bullshit.” Joel gripes.

“You’re the one who wanted to leave right then.” Grian points out, his own tiredness removing the usual sharpness of his teasing edge.

“Oh I’m Grian and I can perfectly predict the weather.” Joel says mockingly, never too tired to be insulted.

Grian, of course, has to respond. “Oh, I’m Joel and I’m so worried my girlfriend’s gonna be mad at me I make my friends walk half a mile in the middle of a flood warning.”

Before Joel can reply, Jimmy steps between them and slings an arm over each of their shoulders. “I’m glad you’re here this weekend.” He says. He’s sleepy and a little too earnest and probably putting a little too much weight on his friends but he’s ridiculously happy to have his two best friends with him.

“Gross Tim,” Grian and Joel complain in unison, but neither of them move away.

By the time they’re squelching up the stairs and entering the dorm the rain has stopped completely. Joel and Jimmy’s room is illuminated by moonlight streaming in through the permanently broken blinds. Joel immediately starts spreading his notes out on the air conditioning unit to dry. Jimmy finds a pair of shorts and a t-shirt (that was probably Grian's to begin with) to give Grian to sleep in. He grabs his towel and slimy shower caddy and heads to the hall’s bathrooms.

When he gets back, there’s wet stuff everywhere and the room is starting to smell like wet dog and sweaty boys and old pennies. Whatever, that’s a problem for Monday Jimmy.

Jimmy pulls on the shorts and t-shirt he uses as pajamas and clambers onto his slightly too-tall bed. Grian’s already made himself comfortable and he squints, half-asleep, at Jimmy. “That’s my t-shirt,” he grumbles.

“Shush,” Jimmy replies, nudging Grian to the side so he can fully fit on his own bed. Grian, begrudgingly, accommodates him. Jimmy falls asleep tucked against Grian’s familiar frame, tired and happy and finally dry.

#life series #traffic smp #bad boys #limited life #jimmy solidarity #grian #smallishbeans #limited life smp #my fic #chaddex #lddf-verse

[jaggededges123]

i’ve only very minimally shaped this up for tumblr (replaced the names properly because there aren’t small character limits, capitalized sentences, etc), but it’s mostly just as is from twitter, so please don’t mind any minor errors. i hope you enjoy it! the whole ficlet is under the cut so it’s easy to skip if it’s not your bag <3

(oh, and i’ll probably shape this up even more and throw it on ao3 at some point but uh, who knows when that will be? not me!!)

niecest (though it can be read as nie bros, soulmates can be platonic!), soulmates, angst + canon major character death, hurt no comfort

AU where you see in black in white if 1) you’ve never met your soulmate or 2) your soulmate is dead, but if you know your soulmate and they’re alive, then you see in color.

Anyway, Nie Huaisang who’s never seen in black and white, and Nie Mingjue who suddenly got color vision in his parents’ bedroom when he was six years old, promptly freaked out at the change, and all of the adults in the room told him to keep it under wraps but also to always make sure to take the best care of his new didi he could manage.

As time goes on, the Nie brothers live freely in a colorful world that most of their peers can’t fully see yet, but then Nie-zongzhu dies and Nie Mingjue has to take over. He remembers what his parents told him but… sometimes there are compromises that have to be made. Nie Mingjue is the leader of the whole sect now, and he’s responsible for all of them, not just Nie Huaisang. They drift apart… and for a while, Nie Mingjue is content to just let his didi do whatever he wants, painting and birds and fans. frivolous things.

But… taking care of people doesn’t just mean letting them do whatever they want all the time, and Nie Mingjue can use his connections to the Lan sect heir to secure Nie Huaisang a spot at the Cloud Recesses to be tutored by Lan Qiren. So off Nie Huaisang goes.

And the thing is, when you try to do something to help someone, and they don’t take it seriously, it can be really frustrating. Even more so if it’s your soulmate and you really, really feel like they should be able to understand you on a fundamental level.

So… Nie Mingjue doesn’t take it very well when Nie Huaisang fails, is what I’m saying. Their relationship gets strained, even if Nie Mingjue is still trying to be a good brother, sect leader, soulmate. He’s just got way too much on his plate, and he doesn’t know which parts are most important.

And maybe because Nie Huaisang was born into it and has never known anything else, he takes for granted what they’re supposed to have. Maybe he doesn’t even know who his soulmate is.

Has anyone even given Nie Huaisang a lecture on this that he would understand, already seeing in color?

The war happens, and Nie Mingjue takes great comfort in his crystal clear color vision the entire time. He made a good choice, sending Nie Huaisang away from danger.

Nie Huaisang’s not good enough with a saber to be of use where Nie Mingjue is, anyway.

Anyway, after the war… it’s not the same all over again. Nie Mingjue is angrier, again, and he can feel himself dying even though he doesn’t want to believe it. It’s really only a matter of time before he qi deviates so badly that he’s gone permanently.

And of course he’s worried—soon he won’t be around to protect Nie Huaisang, at all.

Their relationship gets worse—in a fit of rage, desperation, and fear, Nie Mingjue burns all of the trinkets he’d encouraged earlier in life. Those things won’t help Nie Huaisang now. They won’t protect him from anyone who might harm him.

Nie Huaisang doesn’t speak to him, for nearly two months.

It breaks Nie Mingjue’s heart.

And then, the last thing he ever sees is Nie Huaisang’s injured arm, fear and horror on his face, calling out to Nie Mingjue that it’s okay, that Nie Huaisang’s there, and behind him the man Nie Mingjue had taken under his wing and now feared what he might do to his soulmate, his family, left behind without Nie Mingjue’s protection.

The moment Nie Mingjue slumps in Nie Huaisang’s arms is the first time he’s ever seen in black and white. He never really knew what it meant, that people who met their soulmate saw things differently.

He does now, because he’s lost his.

#niecest #or nie bros it's up to you but i'm not tagging that one lest i attract people i don't want to #mdzs/cql #i'm doing very minimal tagging but please do feel free to reblog and inflict the pain on others if you so wish <3 #cw mcd

[camping-with-monsters]

🫀Welcome To The Campgrounds… I’ve Never Actually Been Camping…🫀

INTRODUCTION POST

🌼A BIT ABOUT ME🌼

🫀Kiwi/Goldie

🫀21 y/o

🫀She/They

🫀I make art! I very occasionally write. I also make a couple overly edited memes sometimes. I also do video edits. Most are just lighthearted silly things to try and get a laugh from people but I do still like to make more serious, organized videos like animatics.

🫀My YouTube Channel is Camping With Monsters if you wanna see some of them!!

🫀I’m into a couple different fandoms… (will edit if I think of any more + get into any others)

— Pokémon

— Don’t Starve

— Cuphead

— My Singing Monsters

— Undertale

🫀My inbox is open if you ever want to shoot me a message!! I don’t always wanna chat to random people though so don’t get worked up if I don’t respond immediately or at all.

🫀I also really like shiny hunting. I’ll try to post more clips of my shiny encounters!

🫀 I also have an original story called “Duck Duck Goose” which revolves around “twisted” fairy tales (either twisting the meanings of the stories or things like Grimm fairy tales.) I’m super ambitious about!! I will also not shut up about it ✌️😁 (this story is also open to making OCs for, so feel free to ask about that if you’re interested at all…?)

❌DNI/DNF❌

— Basic DNI criteria

— Pr///oshippers/C///omshippers (y’all are the same. They’re synonyms. Stfu.)

— Z///oophiles

— L///oli or Sh///ota

— TERFs

— K///nk Blogs, but especially pregnancy k///nk blogs considering I’m creating a story featuring a pregnant protagonist. There’s a time and a place for that, but it’s not here.

— Dr///eam supporters

— AI “artists” or AI “art” defenders

— NFT/Cryptobros

— Yandere fans/supporters

— H///zbin H///tel, H///lluva B///oss, and all things V///vziepop.

— If you support I///sreal.

🏷️Important Tags🏷️

The Kiwi Draws — My art tag. Find my art here

The Kiwi Speaks — Occasional banter/ramblings

The Kiwi Makes Videos — Usually for, of course, any videos I make, be it memes, animatics, etc

The Kiwi Shines — Shiny hunting clips or general shiny hunting shenanigans. Eventually going to properly tag all of my shiny hunting posts.

❗️Disclaimers❗️

🫀 I have Tourette’s and Anxiety (officially diagnosed) and Autism (self diagnosed for now, I’ll see about getting an official diagnosis, but with the healthcare system, I might just continue without.). I probably have ADHD and/or OCD as well tbh

🫀 I do have some communication issues and can often stumble upon my words or say the wrong thing, please just be patient with that. I try to clarify when I don’t have a proper way to explain things.

🫀 I sometimes have OCD-related issues with typing and may occasionally uses speech-to-text. If random words in my sentences are capitalized or very strange typos occur, that’s because having this issue for such a long time has uh. Actually fucked with my phone’s keyboard’s predictability! It’s not fun!

🫀 Please use tone indicators with me!!

🫀 Some of my drawings may contain potentially sensitive media ((I.e. Blood/Gore or Drugs)) but it’s usually tagged with Tw (insert trigger) or // (insert trigger) , usually both.

🫀 I do occasionally roleplay, but if for whatever reason we were to roleplay and I don’t respond for a while or stop responding entirely, please do not pester me to respond. Sometimes I get tired of typing narratively and not very good at communicating about doing other things.

🫀 I uuuuuhhhhhh pull all-nighters sometimes ✌️😁

🫀 I SWEAR A LOT. I SAY FUCK A LOT. THIS ISN’T THE TOURETTE’S BTW THAT’S JUST ME LOL.

FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸🍉

🌻OKAY BYYEEEEE🌻

#‼️‼️BIG EDITS TO THIS‼️‼️ #‼️PLEASE READ‼️ #The Kiwi Introduces Herself~ #the long awaited who tf is kiwi post #intro post #introduction #introduction post #HOW DO YOU EVEN TAG THESE WTF

[ghooostbaby]

“fiction is not reality and it doesn’t make us do anything”

i do see this kind of argument addressing the discourse around fan fiction from time to time - and whenever I see “fan fiction on dark or taboo topics should not be banned” i’m like yes yes yes until the next sentence is “because fiction does not affect reality” and i’m like, wait ... no ...

fan fiction audiences, sure, have a responsibility to choose what they read to make sure it will not hurt them / trigger them (if that’s not what they want haha). and it’s possible for them to do this only if certain subjects aren’t banned (because otherwise those fan fics will just surface without being properly labelled). fan fiction writers, or the archives that hold their works, aren’t doing anything wrong for their potentially triggering works to be just *existing* in the same world as the person who could be triggered by them if they’re upfront about their content.

but if you say fiction in general does not affect reality, it is actually used constantly by people and institutions with a lot more power than individual fan fiction writers to affect reality. capitalism is an ideological system that is not “real”, we’ve just agreed to live within it and structure our real world along it’s fantasies. it is composed out of and reinforced by fictions, but it affects our reality and makes people do things. i wouldn’t want to underestimate the power stories in popular media have to hold systems like this in place. (obviously it’s not the only thing doing this, but it is a part of it.) there is a reason why governments and corporations practice official and unofficial policies of censorship. controlling stories is one way systems of power are created and maintained.

It's very interesting that what we accept as reality is set in place and maintained by fiction. there’s a reason why studying art, literature, and culture is so interesting, they can indicate every assumption, idea, and expectations of a culture, as well as impose them and/or change them. people do things because of how they feel, how they feel is affected by, and comes from, the stories they tell and are told. stories are ways to both deal with reality and create it.

we are not so coldly logical and extracted from our cultural environments for a statement like “fiction doesn’t make us do anything” to be true. it’s not a simple 1:1 - you PROBABLY aren’t going to murder someone if you read a murder mystery, but what does that murder mystery subtly imply about the validity of the class system or misogyny? and it is not necessarily completely negative either - stories can be used to shift the status quo (why maintaining censorship can be so important to governments and corporations). But fiction does affect reality and make us do things.

maybe the people who make this kind of argument would say “well that’s not what i meant”, but “fiction does not affect reality” is so vague, it very well could be.

#fan fiction #anti anti

[gingerbreadmonsters]

would we be upset, relieved, or ambivalent if i suddenly started writing in actual, properly punctated english

You know, like this? Not just to prove that I actually know how to do it (because that’s probably in doubt), but mostly because I re-read thy fair imperfect shade and went, “Wait, where the fuck do all the sentences start and end? I can’t tell because this bitch doesn’t use her capital letters”.

It would still have all of the... y’know... weird punctuation and- oh, for the love of- hold on, just give me a minute- sweetheart, stop! I said I’ll get back to your WIP with Milo in a minute, now will you please go back upstairs and get dressed!

Um, as I was saying, it would still be the same stuff, just in actual English this time instead of all lowercase. Thoughts?

#this would only be for fic #lowercase only writing basically only exists on tumblr and now that i'm crossposting on ao3 i do feel like a little baby on there #it started off for the aesthetic and then i just got used to it lmao #but i don't want it to interfere with readability and ik that lowercase only might be fucking with that #i'll still type like this for general posts lol dw about that #i CANNOT be fucked to type properly for EVERYTHING #but hmu if you feel particularly strongly or another bc if the lowercase thing is giving you a headache #i'm fully down to change it #i will be honest the vibes for proper punctuation are WEIRD just bc i'm not used to seeing it coming from me on my blog lmao #in which i channel my inner 2011 ff.net emo girl Y/N writer and talk to the characters in the middle of a post #probably should have started that with an A/N:

[a-bored-writer]

I'm always curious to hear about conlangs! Explain away! (I don't think you need an excuse tho but I guess that's up to you to decide)

Thank you thank you thank you-

Okay so, it originates in a 14-island archipelago (more of a cluster than a chain) of semi tropical islands called Itonoa

Here it is on my world’s map^^

I decided to make phonetics as simple as I could, since this is my second conlang and the other one I impulse threw in the trash when I found a big plot hole in the project it originates in, making this the first one I still have access to. I come from an Italian family and I can pronounce most of the sounds in Italian without any problem, so the consonant and vowel makeup is almost identical to Italian, with the added “-s”, “-m”, “-l”, and “-n” word endings.

Even though there’s a phonetic connection (you can tell idk what I’m doing, linguistic words are,,,,A Lot sometimes), Itonoan vocabulary is not based on Latin or any of the Romance languages in particular. I went out of my way to make the words different. That said, I want to keep it simple in a lot of ways, so instead of organizing a new set of verb conjugations for every tense, I decided on “markers”

For example, the word onavera (“to have”, not conjugated) is conjugated based on person. To say “I had”, you would combine the singular first person conjugation of onavera and the prefix “pe-“, marking the past, making pelanbo (l is added because vowels don’t really go back to back in Itonoan)

Same goes for pronouns! Instead of making a whole new set for every form of pronoun (“I”, “my”, “me”, etc. All being separate words), you would add the prefix “di” or “dil” (again, vowels) . Obviously they’ll have a separate alphabet, but while writing in English, I like to capitalize the beginning of the actual pronoun.

“Ello” is the Itonoan word for “he” or “him”. To say “his” (belonging to him, basically), you would say “DilEllo”.

Itonoan has three (? I know they’re not called noun forms but I’m blanking and excited): singular, plural, and paucal (plural being a large number, paucal can mean anywhere from 2 to 10).

Itonoan puts stress on the last syllable and has a CVC syllable structure like Italian. Adjectives come after a noun and the word order is SVO.

Every couple notebook pages I add some example sentences using new grammar or vocab in order to make sure everything is moving, this page came from a list of animal and family words.

I haven’t made any verbs yet besides “to be” and “to have” (mostly bc they’re intimidating) but that’s what tomorrow will probably be dedicated to.

More samples ^^

Itonoan follows a base-10 number system because again I’m a doof who can’t properly build something too far away from what I’m used to

Verb conjugations according to pronoun

#THANK YOU FOR ASKING #itonoan conlang #world building #you fed my ask box #this makes me embarrassingly happy #You’re the best anon #i Did lie in saying back to back vowels are no good #but they only work in certain cases #like ‘fraiella’ is the word for sister but it’s kinda understood that they combine a weird way #‘fry-ell’ #not just. jamming vowels together and pronouncing everything that’s there.

[mordentaxis]

Alright so I caught cresselia and the Regis but uhhh the voice that says ‘Simon says don’t forget me’ is probably the real Lin considering she’s the only person I remember who doesn’t properly capitalize their sentences (aside from t3rr4 but she’s dead)

#pokemon reborn

[renticat]

WIPED OUT!

I am back and forth I think I am going crazy...

I don't wanna let you down, so promise you won't let me drown.

I don't wanna be alone

I don't wanna be in love, no I want to but it seems that people just have many interpretations of love anyway and mine is not considered as I am an ace. Okay another topic for another day.

This blog is so old. Trust me but I wiped out if for several times, and I almost did it again because I feel I change now and I should just erase all my history and start a new.

But I feel little sad as I don't know, there is some people reading it, even maybe they're just couldn't find me back then. Ugh, is so slow typing on this phone, not to mention the risk of losing it all, I mean sometimes my google just crash and then gone all my writing. Yeah I should just write it on note then copy paste it but back then tumblr is never neat either unless you're doing the writing on the website or app, but the app is huge for my old small phone. 😭

See, I try to make paragraph but the gap is like twice big like the gap of me and him now 😔. Fuck what am I talking about? It's my own fault and yeah I need to take shower instead of rambling about this craziness again.

𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙?

Yeah, you can't but I keep trying to make you understand and somehow it only made you feel sick about me and now I am sad.

Because I am afraid to lose you, while losing itself sometimes is inevitable. Oh yeah English is not my mother tongue so if this notes sounds stupid to you it probably is. I wish my English writing skill is improving so I can just rant as good as my Indonesian (even though in my Indonesian, I tend to jump from ideas to ideas because there's just too much on my mind; feels like I am exploding and yeah I need to chill) . Fuck I can't chill.—please babe take me away from here, yeah but I am stuck and brokie huhu.

As someone said one or two times talking bout your problem is okay but if you keep ruminating it without looking for the real solution, it'll only makes you go crazy. IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT? IS THIS WHO YOU ARE?

Nope, i don't even know who am I, but I know what I want. Yeah and the upper capital it's something new here because back then I have to type manually big letter for each sentence after period. Gosh, and yeah I sometimes not using commas properly because in Indonesian, if there's conjunction that comes after main clause it's actually not needed; well I tend to write in long manners also like I sm someone who born at 60s. Yeah I wish it will be much easier as text is killing me and I am bad texter.

Cause I know you wanna reach me, but I am a bad texter. No kidding this is the lyrics Bad Texter by Ryan Woods and I kinda dig in to this song too much back then in 2021 as I miss someone who doesn't even miss me back. Isn't that always the case of you Ren? yeah yeah. Like right now I am dying.

Dying for love, but knowing new person is another problem and again I feel bad for lying, saying that everything is OK, when I am NOT OK. I should've done that from the beginning. Fuck. Fuck me. Oh yeah is not that I am vulgar, is just is not my language, so I feel less bad. It's alien to me but not in my Javanese, i don't do that often so I AM SO SORRY. I need to tone down on swearing. LOVE. LOVE ME. HAHAJAA

Writing is fun, is like I can think of what I want to say not like speaking. Yeah I am shy at first but when you already know me, you'll gonna be the one who will embarrassed like how the hell I know this person? I don't know it's full of surprises, congratulations it means i trust you. If I don't speak that much to you, we're not that close (we are though in this blog of mine as I said sooo many freaking things).

Maybe it's because I am hiding for too long now I am going crazy. Well I can't also safely publicly stated my situation right now, right here but goddammit I am too naive and honest that I can't lie for goodness sake. I wish I learnt many things from people whom I talked in the internet, how they're so cunning and crafty with their words even though they never meant it. It's amazing, astonishing and breaking my heart at the same time.

Oh, I don't know I tried to make this blog neat but instead the archive page is fading in one words? The color? Yeah it's strange because I have another tumblr (which I don't open it anymore) but it looks okay. Yeah this one is my favorite because it's the first and back then this theme is available now I can't download it anymore— even though I am planning to just make a new one and save myself time to edit all my past nonsense but I am too old for this. Not tech savvy. 70 years old what do you expect? Hahaha

Old as hell. In this crazy world full of Instagram. I have it back then but then I am bored because I can't afford new outfit or going to cool places. Like people only post their highlight of life and not misery unless it's in form of art that I wish I could draw it out.

Sometimes is like what I am trying to say with all of this things but because in reality I have no spot to be heard as I am already wrong by default it hurts. And I know I don't own explanation to anyone but then I thought love is sharing about everything but then maybe i am mistaken their lust for love.

#Love #wiped out #Mistaken

[antiauteur]

this is my way of fighting back. or at least putting a record that details my actual perspective on this situation, which is a vehement abuse of power by the government, but is also too cutting edge for most people outside of the military and government to properly respond to. i need to voice my side of things to put my perspective out and have it archivable online. the narrative should not be completely controlled by people who would want to end me, people who are more curious about the technologies' implications than actually help and advocate for me and my wellbeing first, and people who want to participate in a moral panic and witchhunt to fulfill the meaningless voids in their lives.

the use of deceptive language has mailcious and state/imperialist oppressive intentions. several forms of coded language, speech patterns and sarcastic tones have been used for civilians and residents to participate in a makeshift interrogation for the government, under the pretense of normalcy. like a mother trying to find the truth from their mischievous child, or a girlfriend finding out their boyfriend has been cheating on them and needs to catch up in the act to prove the truth. there is no grander wisdom they can communicate to me in this moment, their live love laugh mantra is nothing but an excommunication of the thought of politics and any semblance of radicalism from their lives. it's not wisdom, it's self preservation and convenient happiness under the imperial spoils we get to enjoy.

the continous prefixes of "it's like...", about....", "who cares...."(which i use often), "this is SO not ...." /s, and other sentence starters marks a sunshine type of carefreeness that can't be bothered to speak on US Imperialism, atrocities committed under the name of capitalism, colonialism, and fascism.

this is valley girl speak, this is California, this is the girls girl talk of the 80s that has been exported worldwide and affected young girls' and women's speech patterns and thought processes accordingly.

double negatives have also been introduced to confuse other participants while noting that anyone who can't understand it though context and observation are inherently stupid, instead of dealing with people who aren't native English speakers, aren't from white majority communities, aren't from the Northern parts of the United States, grew up speaking and thinking with AAVE, and aren't good at picking up sarcasm.

auntie speak has been used to bolster the importance of forgotten 1st immigrant women of color in surveillance and psyop situations, the use of un as a prefix to words has been used as either revenge of not being taken seriously and dismiss by xenophobic English speakers, or as a dismissal of the concept behind unlearning oppression and working towards dismantling it. words such as "unserious", usually to describe someone who is always joking and not taking anything in their lives seriously in a negative matter by the Nigerian diaspora can be used instead describe something that is serious but confuse native English speakers to what the aunties are speaking about. it's probably not of the more destructive, tedious, frivolous and deceptive forms of coded speak that has been invented during this process.

everyones desire to be influential and unique has been detrimental to this situation as well, leading to people to just making up their own coded speak and teaching it to others like it's a cool secret move to be introduced to a secret club. I think I should probably decode how each speak and write a guide like a makeshift linguist.

#the record #the record_af.9.17.2023_2

[magnoliabloomfield]

I’m an old lady and I don’t care for this trend I’m seeing of reducing “It’s” to “S” when it’s the first word in a sentence, same with “I’m” “M”

I’m ok vs M okay

It’s okay vs S okay

It was either in Characters and Viewpoint or Save the Cat Writes a Novel, the general rule is not to spell according to accent, I know this isn’t quite an accent thing per se, but the reasoning behind it holds for this, being 1.the person doesn’t necessarily hear their own accent 2. It distracts the reader 3. For clarity’s sake just properly write what they mean to convey since that’s the important part.

Trust me, we already know how we talk and how we sound, that we run things together or clip off ends and beginnings, and just because you spell words individually and correctly doesn’t mean we’re suddenly like oh whoa this is fancy queen’s English where they. pronounce. and. enunciate. each. word. like. there is a full stop period between them and contractions are positively wretched.

I know there’s a new generation wanting to do their own things for artistic reasons and maybe they absolutely wouldn’t care if I didn’t read their work because of it, but if you want to write something nice and clear where the majority of readers stay immersed in the story and knows what’s going on, please just

Capital letters start sentences.

Write what you want to say, not what saying it sounds like.

Quotation marks.

Paragraph breaks!!!

This is the bare minimum essentials for story telling in my mind. I opened a book where the dialogue was JUST in italics, no quotation marks, I kept forgetting they were speaking aloud and not just thinking to themselves BECAUSE BOTH LOOKED EXACTLY THE SAME. Mentally I was screaming and couldn’t read the book. There’s some stuff we just expect even though it’s stuff we don’t even notice when it’s being done properly and that’s the POINT! You kind of want some things to remain invisible for the sake of the plot. Imagine watching a movie where it’s filmed or shown upside down. Maybe it was even a great metaphor for something in the film or symbolic of something, but you notice it’s upside down and you notice it the whole time, and if asked about the movie you’d probably think of that first or mention it first before you say anything about the story or characters because you realize maybe you didn’t pay as much attention to that as you did to the fact it was upside freaking down. That’s what you can do to your writing if you stray from what’s familiar to readers.

(This applies to story telling, not crappy online rants so don’t even bother pointing out if I’ve made one of my own mistakes here, but point it out in my fanfiction if you see it because I have some neurological problems some mistakes slip through no matter how carefully I edit and how many times 😫)

#writer blog #writers of tumblr #just writer problems #writer #writerblr #writer help

[lady-vetinari]

In the Distenian Empire, largest contiguous empire in the world, or at least the known world, in the capital city of Rodmar, a city of magic and order, and home of the Hearth, the great crystal that provides our whole world with magic. And in that city, we will start in a room.

The five of you start in a room. Standing shoulder to shoulder in a line, there are three desks before you. In the center, a gnome woman sits, looking over a loose pile of papers on a somewhat disorderly desk. And it's roughly when she begins to tap her quill on the inkwell that you realize just how long you've been standing there with nobody actually saying anything.

But, finally, the gnome woman lets out a long sigh and looks up at you. Clearing her throat at you, she begins, "You know, I've done this speech quite a few times. And I think I've run out of inspiring things to say to new adventurers like yourselves." Her sentence kind of trails off, she looks across the five of you, drumming her fingers on the desk for a few moments before continuing. "Well, let's get this over with I suppose. I'll do it properly."

She stands up straight, clears her throat once again. "You've probably heard this story before, somehow, someway, but it can't hurt to remember why we all ended up here. Over two centuries ago, our world was pushed to the brink. You might not remember it. Your parents might not remember it. But we stood shaken. A breath away from a world dropped into darkness, demon hordes outside of every gate, every shadow a risk of death, every day we'd get up and fight to do it all again the next day.

"But when the world is pushed so far, you find a way to push back. And I believe, I still believe that when things are at their worst, in the worst moments, that's when real heroes rise to the occasion, as cliche as that may sound. And when the stars in the sky went dark, we got, let's say lucky, and thirty-two heroes stepped up to put them back. Thirty-two people—not heroes then, just regular people—stepped up, killed the sky. Only eleven made it back. But they gave our world a fighting chance. They fought back monsters, helped us build cities from the rubble, founded the Academy, the Guild, the whole empire, and they filled the sky with light again, and bit by bit, they made our world save again.

"Now, where does that leave us? The most dire stakes leave us with gallant heroes slaying monsters, saving kingdoms, saving the whole world. What does a hundred years of safety give us? Well I think it gives us the five of you. In a hundred and six years of the Adventurer's Academy, we never had graduates quite like you."

Chris's amazing opening monologue to Saving Throw Episode 1

This became a longer transcript than I intended, really, but I couldn't bring myself to cut anything without feeling that it loses something too. I really like the lore of the world we have gotten so far and am looking forward to learning more (and also to not being behind dozens of episodes in an actual play show I like for once!)

#saving throw #save data #dnd #actual play #tabletop #ttrpg #world building #distenian empire #saving throw lore #long post #image description in alt #here's hoping i spelled rodmar correctly #dungeons and dragons

[rocket-pancham]

This got removed from r/dogelore.

#doge #dogememe #penis music #yes i'm tagging it that #if someone could find the comic I based this on that'd be swell #thanks #i wonder what else i should do #probably capitalize these sentences properly #Like so #Much better