#IVE ACTUALLY MADE SOMETHING BASED ON THIS. I JUST FINISHED IT BUT LIKE FUCKING. I GOTTA THANK YOU ANON

[squuote]

We know so very little about Mariella, but I think her existence as an entity similar enough to Stanley to be narrated in the same structure is very interesting. A lot of people take a lot of liberties with her when they include her in fanfics/other fanworks, often making her somewhat of a straightman, a force of sensibility and stability (and often emotional intelligence)-- which is great!! I love seeing people have fun with her, and it's often good to have foils to Utter Disaster characterizations of Stanley and Narrator-- but personally I see her as... well, as more of a parallel to Stanley, especially with both of them occupying a "protagonist"/"office worker" role when seen.

TSP/TSPUD is constantly operating on at least five levels of meta simultaneously, so it's hard to discern exactly how reliable any information is, or what level of meta it should be read on. Mariella's described presence is her witnessing the destruction of Stanley in "the real world" and simply being glad that it isn't her before moving on. I think this actually speaks to a distinct LACK of emotional intelligence, or at least self-awareness, perhaps to outright denial/willful ignorance-- within the narrative put forth by the Narrator, Mariella appears to be self-conscious, perhaps even defensive, her first instinct self-protective and self-assuring-- "that isn't me. I'm sane. How fortunate that I am sane. How fortunate that isn't me." The irony of Mariella is, of course, that she is ALSO simply a vessel narrated and controlled by the Narrator, not in the real world but within a story, exactly as Stanley is/was (in this narrative put forth by the Narrator) before he apparently 'realized the inconsistencies of his reality' and spontaneously died.

The interesting contrast to THAT is then that Mariella is outside the control of the player, so she ISNT identical to Stanley, and whether she is within the influence of the Mind Control Facility or not within the Narrative is not entirely clear. She is a character, she is framed like a protagonist by the Narrator, but she is outside the player's reach, and largely outside the visible narrative. Does she have her own player? Does she exist in her own form, or like Stanley (at least Stanley per the Real Person Ending) is she reliant on being puppeted to make choices, somewhere beyond the player's perception? How real is she?

Personally, I think Mariella is a very similar presence to Stanley, but without the influence of a Player/the repetition of the Parable, she has shut out the hints of her nature to survive. She is a foil to Stanley (Stanley-the-Narrator's-character, anyway) because Stanley recognizes his reality and is destroyed by it, and Mariella sees that conclusion and refuses to reckon with her reality honestly.

Conceptualizing her outside of the Parable-as-Game metanarrative, I think of her as someone who was Weird growing up, who was made to feel small and stupid and Incorrect for that weirdness, and learned to self-protect by strongly and determinedly identifying as Just Perfectly Normal, obedient to social norms and a careful expert at navigating her position and role. Someone who learned to be bland, to laugh at people failing to fit in in order to fit in herself, to turn her face from their suffering because she was Normal, she WAS. She is normal, and everyone knows that Weird people get made fun of, because they're Weird. She hasn't grown past that and she fights questioning things around her because she is petrified of being Weird and outcast again. I think as a character she deserves internal torment too (/affectionate) and the opportunity to grow from shitty coping mechanisms, instead of always being the Perfectly Balanced Background Supportive Lesbian. (She IS a lesbian tho. To be clear.) Yes this is a HIGHLY autistic reading of Mariella but that's because I am too autistic to perceive a character as neurotypical.

Ideal fanwork narrative, for me, is her reluctantly befriending Stanley (and/or Timekeeper/Employee 432) where they all work at the Office Where Nothing is Wrong I Promise-- reluctant because she knows they're Weird but befriending because they are genuinely nice to her and despite her best efforts she isn't actually friends with/fully accepted by/comfortable with people who ARENT a little Weird-- and starting out a little shitty and judgemental and then slowly growing out of that and coming to recognize that it's Okay To Be Weird and that she is, and she's been hurting others and herself trying to suppress it for approval she has never and will never truly get. Partially brought about because there is Definitely Something Wrong In This Office and she has to embrace seeming crazy, defiant, and bizarre in order to solve the mystery with Stanley/TK and break free of the office's trap.

*waves hand* obviously that narrative concept also involves a lot of other characters growing too, and is based on how I perceive them, but you were asking about Mariella.

ANON I NEED TO THANK YOU PERSONALLY FOR THIS ASK I have literally been rotating it in my mind since you sent it holy fuck. Everything about this has given me an entire new outlook on how I perceive Mariella and I mean that so genuinely. I love the concept of Mariella forcing away the possible reality of being another vessel for the Narrator to project stories onto. Her need for herself to be normal, for her to be in control in such a contrasting and different way than how Stanley wishes to be in control.

Stanley fully knowing that he has no control over himself vs Mariella who insists that she has control, that she knows what is and isn't real. IT'S SO FUCKING GOOD ANON. SO, SO GOOD. I literally am framing this on my wall, I fucking love this so goddamn much

#asks #anon #the stanley parable #mariella #bookmark #IVE ACTUALLY MADE SOMETHING BASED ON THIS. I JUST FINISHED IT BUT LIKE FUCKING. I GOTTA THANK YOU ANON #this ask is so good and I fucking adore it so much #this flows so well with the ending's dialogue too. i was just relistening to it yesterday #and man it fits so well with this fr. i fucking lovethis so much AAAGHHH #also hell fucking yeah autistic mariella fr

[joshusten]

love the sinner (albus york/faith koria, bastard warrior || good boy audios)

Albus York takes a bath and Faithful washes his hair. (angst, slight argument, hurt/comfort)

2.2k+ words [ao3 link] [masterlist] [CW/notes: religious imagery ofc (this fic was basically an excuse to write that), typical albus york language, lots of self-loathing and some suicidal thoughts. albus is just having a bad time but hes also so whipped for faithful. speaking of her, i didnt make faith's physical descriptions vague or made it so that she's a "listener" but rather a character of her own! and i based it off of gba's description of her + my own interpretation hehe.]

once again THANK YOU SO SO MUCH to @slushiepizza for all the AMAZING suggestions and support like omfg i SWEAR i keep on saying this but this fic rlly wouldnt be finished without them!! i appreciate it sm!! and im shaking and kissing my irls that ive also bothered with this fic that will probably not see this THANK U SM!! edit: I FORGOT THE FUCKING READ MORE LMFAO

—

Albus York steadily sank into the half-filled tub of one of the ship’s quarters—stripped of his clothes, and left bare to no witness.

Gentle waves of the bathwater rippled against hardened, battle-torn skin. He dementedly mused that if he could go down further, he might finally drown. 

He chuckled at the thought, shifted his position, and got to work. It's been a while since he last had an actual bath—way before he even agreed to this suicide mission of an adventure—with warm soapy water and scented products.

The constant near-death experiences and whatnot had interrupted the trio to get any time for themselves, much less to do any sort of basic hygiene. Since the route Devlin had charted for the ship to follow allowed for ample downtime, the Forgemaster had practically shoved his younger half-brother into the common bathroom and forced him to take a much-needed bath (Of course, not without a snobby comment about how his stench matched his personality perfectly well.)

Albus’ inexperience was made clearer with the stiff, awkward motion of his large, calloused hands as he attempted to wash himself. The unpracticed movement made the unfamiliarity of it all fully realized. How long has it been since he felt this safe? Does he even remember how to take care of himself?

Does someone like him even deserve this luxury?

The warrior submerged himself lower, down until his eyes were right above water level. He was thinking again. It was all that he had been doing for the past hour. If the gods wouldn't allow him to drown, then he hoped that the water would at least cleanse the grime and sin embedded into his flesh.

But he knew that filth clung to his skin like how a believer clings to the idea of repentance. No matter how hard—how desperately—he scrubbed (until pale skin turned into blood red, until rough turned rougher), it was all pointless. He had learned long ago that a bastard's prayers were never left answered. 

The mark on his chest was a bleak reminder of that reality. Damnation was basically his birthright. Albus York was dead the moment he came out of his mother’s womb—dead to his family, dead to society. 

Cursed to hell for being sin itself.

Life had a funny way to remind him—that goodness is something he can be in the presence of but never be a part of it.

"Albus?"

Speak of the devil, his ever-so-naive angel had arrived.

“Albus? Hello?”

Tender, serene, heavenly.

The voice was melodic—like the somber hymns he used to hear in his youth when his mother would take him into the temple and meet with her fellow brothers and sisters. At that time, he always felt drawn to the choir’s performance, despite not being old enough to understand the words (not that he was any more literate in the present). Back then, he was just a kid, blissfully unaware of the blasphemy he had committed for existing. 

He had grown since then—in every aspect of the word.

"Albus! Are you still in there?"

A deep grunt, muffled slosh of water, and the pitter-patter of droplets on the tiled surface were all that Faith Koria had heard from the other side of the metal door before a familiar, gruff voice answered back.

"Calm ya tits, woman. I knew you were eager to see my dick but I never knew you were this eager!" 

The outside replied with an annoyed groan, a sound Albus was all too familiar with, especially when it came from her. That being said, he couldn't fight the smile forming on his lips as he hastily dried himself up with a nearby towel.

"You've been using the bathroom for more than an hour, just what are you doing in there? Some people want to get cleaned up too, you know!”

The metal door swiftly slid open with a sudden 'woosh!', hot steam dissipating before the runaway nun to reveal Albus’ tall stature, half-naked and slightly dripping wet. Faith frantically averted her eyes on instinct, ears immediately burning with embarrassment. It wasn’t like it was her first time seeing him undressed—for gods’ sake, she treated his wounds like this when they first met! But to have him fresh out of a bath with his toned body exposed and his dampened long hair was—Wait! His hair!

"Alright, alright! I’m out, ya happy? I’m decent too so you don’t have to be a prude about it,” The bastard huffed, a little irritated with how his peaceful bath (or at least, as peaceful as it could be) was abruptly cut short.  

“Albus, your hair!”

The man scrunched up his face in confusion.  He gathered one of his dark locks and examined it with an intense focus. “Huh? Looks fine to me. What, you're not expecting me to be all prim and proper now, are you?”

“No, no, no! It's all matted and uneven!” The woman replied with a horrified concern in her voice that was rare for the warrior to hear directed at him.“It’s probably from all those monster attacks. Some of them must’ve managed to get to your hair! How long has it been like this? Does it hurt? Do you even have shampoo?”

“Uh…what’s that?”

“Ugh, never mind. Just—” Before Albus could process what was happening, Faith grabbed his arm with a surprisingly strong grip for a nun. She dragged him down near the bathtub he just got out of. He can even hear the water still slowly swirling down the drain. 

“Faithful, what are you—” 

“Stay right here. You got that, York? I’m just going to get something and I don't want you to move a muscle.”

A deep chuckle resonated within the man’s scarred chest—he always enjoyed it when she got this bossy. He gave her a mock salute and answered with a hearty “Yes, ma’am!”

The sister paladin made a face, letting out a flustered huff before hurrying to wherever she needed to be. So cute.

Albus had put on his clothes at this point while he waited (lest he risked Faithful suffering from a heart attack). A few minutes had passed by when she returned with a rather large pouch that Albus recognized was packed with the rest of her belongings. He deduced it must've been from her childhood with how worn down the embroidery was. Once vibrant floral patterns dulled from years of usage.

“Lean back by the bathtub,” Faith instructed. “I’m going to start detangling your hair. I might cut off some of the more unsalvageable parts too. If anything hurts or if I snagged on it too hard just let me know, okay?”

“Okay,” The man repeated simply, not really knowing how to react to all of the amount of consideration he was receiving. Abrasiveness was what he was more used to responding to, not the care that she unabashedly gave him.

She beamed brightly at his compliance (and no, his heart did not just skip a beat), soft hands found their way to his head and started brushing away the more manageable tangles before using a wide-tooth comb for the bigger ones. Despite the numerous warnings, her fingers were nowhere near to being rough. She was as gentle as a lamb—her slow brushstrokes eventually formed a rhythm that filled in the silence of the room. Albus decided to break the comfortable atmosphere.

“How are you so good with this shit?” He mumbled, voice heavy with drowsiness. Fuck, he felt like he could sleep until his next life. “Never knew sisters of Cindergorn get to be part-time hairdressers too.”

Even with his sluggish state, Albus could almost sense the nun’s eyes rolling above him, brushing out his hair with a slightly more forceful than usual tug.

“I'm the one usually taking care of the children at the temple. I’m used to seeing this kind of stuff whenever they play too hard. Obviously not on this level but you get the gist.” Faith snipped off the last of a particularly challenging knot. 

“I've also been doing my own hair ever since I was a kid, so really, it's like second nature to me at this point,” she followed up, running her fingers through his hair with a satisfied nod.

Now that Albus thought about it, he had seen Faithful braiding herself earlier on their journey when they had just…tastefully borrowed the flagship meant for his father. He remembered swift, practiced hands twisting sections after sections of dark, coiled hair and had mentioned in passing how it was a hairstyle she often did to withstand the Eastern Faithlands' harsher seasons (Fortunately, it also turned out to be great for going-on-a-quest-to-kill-your-priest-brother-and-save-a-child seasons too.)

Faith’s hands suddenly paused. Before the man could ask if something was wrong, she signaled him to stay still while she rummaged through the pouch to get a small bottle. She squeezed a moderate amount of product into her palm and spread it evenly. As she was about to apply the substance to his head, Albus jerked away, quickly stopping her hand with his own as a furrow formed on his thick brows.

“Faithful,” He chuckled. “Please, I’m a warrior. You don’t need to waste your fancy shit on me. My hair’s going to get fucked up again eventually so what’s the point?” 

Faith struggled to wriggle herself out of his grasp. “Wha–Albus, it’s fine!” 

“No, Faithful, I’m serious. It’s just hair. Hell, it’s my hair. Relax.” The man sat up straighter at this point, the water from his long, damp hair trickling down along the scarred tissue of his back but it was the intensity in those familiar brown eyes that made him feel a chill.

“And I told you it’s fine just let me—”

“Why are you making it a big fuckin’ deal? What do you want from me?” 

“What?” Faith’s voice cracked, appalled and confused. “Albus, what are you even talking about? I’m not asking for anything—”

“I’m just a bastard you hired to kill your brother! I was paid to do the dirty work for you, not to be your fucking toy—”

“Albus, wha—Y–You’re not a toy! Why do you—”

“If I’m not then why are you being like this to me? There’s a catch—there’s always a fucking catch. So what the fuck do you want from me?”

The nun managed to finally yank her hand away from his harsh grip and angrily slammed at the smooth surface of the tub.

“I just want you to stop being stubborn for once and let me do this for you!” 

The silence that followed between them felt suffocating.

Faith’s breath hitched, shocked by her outburst. She immediately straightened up her posture only to look down shamefully at the tiled floor. A shaky sigh left her lips, and Albus was doing everything in his power to stop himself from reaching out to her, seeking salvation he knew she shouldn’t give him because he was not sorry that he was like this. He wasn’t afraid to show his filth to the world because it was all he knew to do—all he was taught to do. There’s no excuse, no justification, no escape. She’s everything good and he’s just scum or worse yet—he’s a bastard. 

Because she’s an angel and he’s far worse than the devil.

“This isn't anything all that fancy…just something to keep it healthy and less stressful on your scalp. I just want you to feel okay. So please…” She trailed off. “Let me.”

“It’s…It’s just hair, Faithful. I’ll be okay, I’m a big boy,” Albus joked, but his words were sincere. He almost found the whole thing amusing—having the ever-so-snappy sister paladin fuss over him—if he didn’t get a feel for how much…his comfort seemed to mean a lot to her.

Faith pursed her lips, her gaze still fixed downward. “I just think…you deserve at least one good hair day.”

It's that word again. Deserve. Does she really think that? That he's worthy of all of this?

The man cleared his throat with a curt nod. Hesitantly, the nun's fingers slowly found their way back to the crown of his head, resuming whatever she was supposed to do. Steady, rhythmic brushstrokes filled the quiet once again. 

After what felt like hours of stillness, the bastard dared himself to shift his head and face her timidly—as if he was afraid he could melt under her piercing gaze.

"Thank you, for…for this," Albus grunted. He hadn't only meant for his hair.

Faith graced him with a dimpled smile—the one that made her eyes squint and showed the tiniest bit of the gap between her front teeth. She proceeded to tuck away a stray lock behind his ear, trailing down to hover over his cheek. Albus can practically feel the nervous tremble on her fingers as if she were hesitating on something. It all came to nothing in the end, closing her hands in a fist before withdrawing to her pouch to start cleaning up.

“Anytime, Albus. Besides, with how you always manage to find yourself in trouble,” the sister murmured, her voice playful (it never failed to leave Albus’ mind racing). Her eyes glinted as they locked into his almost like clockwork. “How can I not?”

Albus York sat by the empty bathtub of the ship’s quarters—fully clothed yet he had felt the most bare that he had ever been in front of someone. 

Faith smiled at him again and he swore he could make out the faintest halo crowning her head under the fluorescent bathroom light. ---- a/n: this is probably my most favorite fic that i wrote and i hope you enjoyed! lemme tell u this fic took way to long and got me so stressed for no reason idk ! i was worrying abt how this would happen in the timeline and all the lil details and then !! its a fic!! and im suppose to be having fun!! i am being self-indulgent!! (although i hope was able to characterize them well) again, feedback and comments r highly appreciated!! :DD have a good day/night and thank you for reading!!

#good boy audios #gba albus #albus york #gba bastard warrior #gba faithful #gba fanfic #THIS TOOK WAY TOO LOOOOOONG BUT ITS FINISHED see you guys next year /j

[divorcedfiddleford]

i already know what the story behind the picture is but please explain it anyway we need to educate the masses

oh my god thank you for enabling me ive been thinking about this all day. regarding this post i made yesterday and this classic image (which i actually just found out was posted seven years ago today!)

basically as can be read in the post at BigFest in 2016 somebody had what i believe was a fan-made prop based on the laptop from season 2 of gravity falls. alex hirsch attended this convention and decided to type in the password to the laptop. we never learned the password in the show so lots of people were excited to find out!

a HUGE thing to note here is that journal 3 was still months away from releasing and in fact while a couple pages had been released as promotional material it was still being worked on until, like... gosh i wanna say may is when they finally started printing it? don't quote me on that though my point is that this was all taking place pre-journal 3 and, therefore, many fans were still operating under the (sensible) impression that the laptop which

had been designed by fiddleford

had been built by fiddleford

had fiddleford's name on it

said "PROPERTY OF F" on it (at this point it had been established through promo images that "F" referred to fiddleford)

was assumed to be fiddleford's by, like, four different main characters

was given to and used by fiddleford following s2e7

fiddleford presumably knew the password to

would also belong to fiddleford. right? i mean logically. logically, guys.

so when alex hirsch revealed that the password had been "STANFORD" all along, people thought that was a little bit... well

of course, a couple months later journal 3 would be published and it would say that the laptop had actually been STANFORD'S, not fiddleford's, and that he had made the password his own name. so technically i lied in my earlier post, there IS a heterosexual explanation for this, but imo it's still bullshit. like sorry i don't believe for a fucking second that stanford "i need to encode all of my messages in multiple ciphers and write in invisible ink" pines would ever make a password as simple as his own name. he wouldve picked like something with six different layers of alternate meanings and also put it through atbash at the VERY least. also as i listed above there is a LOT of evidence which would support the laptop belonging to fiddleford, as opposed to ford, which has this random retcon (and like... some of the computer keys are different colors? i guess?? idk that bit was stupid) as its only supporting evidence.

my theory is that, while writing the show, alex and the other writers had intended for the laptop to belong to fiddleford, but for whatever reason, when they were writing the book, they decided to make it ford's instead. i want to make clear that i DON'T think this swap was motivated by homophobia, or as a reaction to seeing people interpret the password in a gay way. by the time that this photo was taken several promotional journal pages had been released, so it's safe to say that even if they were still adding the finishing touches to the book, it was pretty much in its final stage and in fact might have already started printing (i think the first photos we see of the book itself were posted like a week or two after bigfest). so to assume that there's a correlation there is both unfounded and extremely unlikely.

now, the stargazing scene reprint, on the other hand

#long post #gravity falls #fiddauthor #<- why the fuck not. it's midnight no one can judge me #why are you as a man making your computer password the name of the man you live alone in the woods with #sorry anon i doubt think this is what you had in mind when you said “explain it” LMAO #tales of the wild zeep #uhhh a couple other notes #1. i do not know who made the laptop prop at bigfest. i assumed it was a fan but i wasn't there i really don't know #2. i said may is when they started printing the book but i have literally no source for that #it is a guess based on when promotional photos were being posted #3. i say “fiddleford presumably knew the password to [the laptop]” and i just wanted to explain my reasoning there #basically in s2e10 fiddleford says that he “fixed” the laptop and is shown using it #we also see it at the start of the following episode being used to monitor the activity of the portal #now. i am not a computer engineer. i am mediocre with computers at best. #but based on what i have been told. when you are faced with a password screen. there are two ways to proceed #one way is to reset the computer's hard drive entirely‚ to... “erase its memory” if you will #however this would result in one being unable to access any of the information which had previously been stored there #considering that we see fiddleford using the laptop to monitor the portal's activity i believe that its files must have been intact #so we can rule out resetting as an option #the other way to proceed is by. um. knowing the password. and entering it #so THAT'S why i say that he PRESUMABLY knew the password. #now it's entirely possible that he was able to hack into the laptop or something. he is a mechanical genius and he built it after all #i'm just saying that i think it's far more likely that he just. knew the password. #which is honestly really funny and still kind of gay if you believe the whole “the laptop was actually ford's” thing #why are you as a man telling your computer password to the man you live alone in the woods with when you wont even write it in your diary #fucking apologies for this OCEAN of tags. ive done taxes all day im an adult im allowed to infodump about old hyperfixations as a treat

[simpletale-officiale]

*Grotto pulls up in the Multiverse bar, cigarette on its teeth as it tries to seem like a beefy delinquent punk who smokes*

*It makes its way over to 404 and rolls to seduce him for information.*

"So--"

*cough, hack, wheeze*

"--I haven't seen you he--"

*It chokes on the cigarette smoke some more.*

*It casually holds the cancer stick between its fingers instead as to not look even more like a fool.*

"You seem like you're here a lot, pretty boy. You wouldn't happen to know somebody named Mr. Sin, would you...?"

*I immediately start blushing and feeling butterflies inside my stomach. Much akin to rolling a natural 1, I completely ignore how desperately you are attempting to seduce me and assume you're genuinely into me due to you looking directly into my face rather than my blue screen and you being the first person in years to be directly interacting with me.*

well u-P-P-PRETTY?! =0_0=

I-I-i... th-th-thank you...? >√>

*Despite of me wanting to believe this as an act of love, my consciousness denies me of fully acknowledging this as I have extremely horrific trust issues after being dumped by Error and do not want to appear weird if this was just an average homie activity.*

*Before you can even finish your sentence I immediately start traumadumping as I assume you want to know more about my extremely real and important lore.*

OH YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE ALTERNATE TIMELINE THAT THE ALTERNATE ME IS FROM?!

OOOOHHHHH MY GOOOOODDDD IVE BEEN WAITING TO JUST GEEK OUT ABOUT IT!!!

so theres this alternative version of me which claims to have been made for anarchy and that I was programmed in some type of way to like get these 2 timelines togheter or something but whats important is that everyone in this world is like based off people from this world and like way cooler and hotter in every way but he claims to be close to this guy called Cross who is "the chosen" or some shit but whats weird is that there is nobody called cross sans in this world and he seems to only exist in that world which completely goes against the fact everyone is based off something unle-

*I finally register what you were actually saying.*

What.

I do not know of this "sin" you speak of or why you think I'd know anything about that but all we know is that the moon is weird i dont want to hear any of your crazy theories about it and honestly my trust for you has horribly declined after this never talk to me again you fucking loser

*Read my consciousness.*

we had to do some.... experimental surgery on frosty after their incident in the fryer.

they call themselves "darth frosty" now? weird. they really want revenge at grotto. seems they suceeeded!

#cw link has to do with self-harm #simpletale #simpleverse #error 404 #404 sans #404 IF HE WAS GOOD #complextale #simple pre-scratch #OUR complextale. not anyones else #darth vader #russ art

[timeofjuly]

Hello! Ive recently started reading your work and its soooo good! Falling back into my undertale fixation since elementary lmaooo. I was wondering if you have any hcs based on the 3rd chapter when Quinn asked mc if they were in a relationship but what if they were 😳 like for a month now or just seeing someone. What would be the game changer or will she let it go? Im just rlly interested and loveee a jealous moment tbh 🤧 (quinn always number one in my heart though)

Thank you so much, I’m so happy that you’re enjoying! I also have randomly found myself back in the fandom after years, but it’s been really fun!

I can do you one better than headcanons – I love this idea and I love pining, jealous Quinn (I am also procrastinating finishing an assignment but shhhhh), so here’s a little ficlet 😊

truths that bleed through the universes

“What about you? Are you seeing anyone?” Quinn asks. She’s afraid to ask the question; a preexisting partner would be the ultimate complication.

At the question, your face brightens, a smile rising to your lips. It’s not the sad expression of before, all downcast eyes and a furrow between your brows. This smile is her favourite, one that she’d once seen daily, a smile that makes you seem as though you’re almost taken aback by your own delight. Quinn wants to make a home in the warm depths of it, burrow so deep into the happiness that you’ll both lose track of where she ends and you begin.

“Well,” you say, and that sunshine is in your voice, too, each word tinged with gold. “I was single for ages, but I actually met someone just over a month ago, and we’ve been seeing each other since.”

“Oh, nice!’ she says and god, she hopes she doesn’t sound as crushed as she feels. Her mind scrabbles for purchase against the jagged edges of the dismay that fossilises in her chest. “What’s their name?”

“Seraphine. Hang on, I’ll show you a picture,” you say, reaching into your tote bag. “You’d really like her. She lives in the apartment below mine. We met because Steven’s a fucking Houdini and managed to escape from my balcony down onto hers, it’s a really cute story. She reckons that Steven’s our cat-cupid. Oh, here you go-.”

Quinn accepts your phone. On the screen – it’s your fucking lock screen, shit -there’s a photo of you and a monster woman, grinning into the camera. It’s a selfie-style picture and the woman’s cheek, a vivid royal purple covered in fine, downy fluff, is pressed to yours, smooshing your smile into an adorable, fishy pout.

“Cute,” she says weakly. “A month, huh?’

“Yep. We’re taking it slow, but I’m not seeing anyone else, and I don’t think she is either. I’ve even deleted Tinder off of my phone.” The words are said with raised eyebrows and enough seriousness for her to realise that that’s apparently a big deal.

Something ugly sits on her tongue and she’s self-aware enough to name it jealousy. The irrationality and unfairness of it – she has no leg to stand on, since she’s in a relationship with eight other people – doesn’t make the feeling any less potent. It writhes in her, a living creature, filthy and starved and pacing the length of its cage, gnawing at the bars.

Does she make you feel as good as I can? Does she know you like I know you? There’s nobody who can love you like I can love you. I know you agree. You agree, right? I know you’ve been chasing my shadow for five years, just like I used to chase yours. We’re both a little wrong without the other.

Quinn takes a deep breath and fixes a smile to her face, cooing appropriately when you begin telling her the story of Steven’s jaunt to the downstairs balcony. This is a setback, yes, but all isn’t lost. She really does think that you’re at your happiest when you’re with her, and you’ve always agreed. Reminding you of that might be tricky, but it won’t be impossible, and once you remember? This girlfriend will just be another notch in your bedpost. Countless people have made their mark on your past, a blur of friends and enemies and lovers, and she’s fine with that, because all of that lived experience is what makes you you.

But your present? Your future? That’s all hers, just like hers is yours, if you want it. She’ll give it time, show you how good it feels to with her datemates and remind you how well you fit with her, and let you make up your own mind. Let you choose.

If there’s one thing that all of the dimension fuckery she’s been exposed to has taught her, it’s that some things are universal truths. Every Sans has a Papyrus. The humans trapped monsters Underground. The sky is blue. The grass is green. These are principles that permeate everything, bleeding through whatever separates each universe.

This is another one of those truths. There is no universe where Quinn Lawson isn’t in love with her version of you, or a universe where you aren’t in love with your Quinn Lawson. You always choose each other, in the end.

Quinn’s already made her choice. She just has to wait for you to make yours.

#RTC asks #quinn/reader #quinn lawson #the electrician #resisting the current #thank you so much for this ask! I had so much fun writing this #parallel circuits

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Round 2

Propaganda why Kirito is insufferable:

He’s Kirito

Absolute nothing of a protagonist. Just plain annoying and unlike most shounens there never seems to be any challenge for him. He's just always the best at everything.

“Yeah, i was a beta tester. Yeah im better than you. This is something that is normal to assume because of the first fact” theres more but that shit is so wild to me it instantly made me hate his ass

Propaganda why Alex Eagleston is insufferable:

literally causes the end of the world by being The Absolute Worst and has done so multiple times including his alternate selves. he technically has three (and a half) love interests (cause theyre the only characters he can/attempt to kiss or express any attraction to) and he treats them all poorly first three vella sammy and essentia 2000 are cause hes a misogynist but they all get different flavors of it sammy gets fridged for the plot of the game and is basically never relevant again outside of a secret(?) ending. shes also based off of a real life dead person for no fucking reason. vella is subjected to weird speculation about her age in her introduction scene with alex saying something along the lines of she cant be older than him cause shes too pretty (alex is like 24 and vella 27 from what i recall its been a few years since ive thought about yiik) and has a weird internal monologue about his feminist ex girlfriend prompted by vella just existing. theres a weird scene when alex asks her if shes korean n says she looks vaguely ethnic making her uncomfortable. One Of His Alternate Selves Literally Caused Her To Leave Her Home Dimension Cause Of How Poorly He Treated Her and the context behind that is that to leave the world/timeline/dimension/whatever you're originally from you basically have to be super suicidal and he pushed her to that point by ghosting her for a while and next time vella saw him he was hooking up with a girl noticably younger than her (<- remember this) and immediately after being told this he can attempt to kiss her which has no actual repercussions. essentia 2000 is like technically supposed to be evil i guess but her goal is supposed to be killing alex so i cant fault her on that. the in game day after they first meet alex has like a monologue about how special and attractive she is ""she was like water filling all my cracks"" or some shit. all three girls are alternates of eachother and are on a sliding scale of how objectified they are by alex with who got it the worst depending on which aspect you're focusing on. other sort of love interest is rory (diversity loss!) who alex can attempt to kiss after he confides in him about something when rory is like 18-19 (hes meant to be about the same age as michael whos recently graduated high school) and depending on how alex treats him can literally kill himself and alex's reaction to learning this is to only focus on how terrible he feels before moving on n rory's death never being mentioned again. the whole point of the game is that alex is a piece of shit who cant even buy groceries for his mom without throwing a hissy fit about it but it undermines itself constantly by having characters forgive or just stop being mad at alex on a dime after hes been exceedingly shitty towards them in various ways and any sort of charm or endearing traits he had quickly wearing off due to him never shutting the fuck up. near the end of the game all the other party members are killed off in quick succession leaving alex by himself and all he can do is sulk in self pity before going on a space adventure or whatever to stop an alternate him thats linked to an alternate essentia and enlisting the player as a different alternate him to help fight various superficial flaws of himself (which arent even like the actual things that make him insufferable n a bad person) n then finish the job for him. i need to punt him into the sun

He constantly goes on annoying monologues about things that nobody cares about. In game he is meant to be kind of an asshole, but they never give him the necessary character development to make him feel like a proper flawed protagonist, yet the narrative makes him out to be a character who is ""deep down a good guy"". Also he doesn't seem to care about any of his friends/party members.

"""YIIK"" is a poorly written, irony-poisoned RPG using a real life actual unsolved murder as the basis for an inciting event, altered so that what happened to the victim was some ~scary supernatural stuff~ and also Alex was there being vaguely misogynistic the whole time and monologuing to no-one in a way no real human person thinks uncritically.

The game intends to paint Alex as a bad person, but this is implemented in such a snide and uninteresting manner which has nothing to actually say about him being this way, nor is it at all fun or entertaining to experience.

He has no idea what's going on, blindly following the plot with the vague motivation of being suddenly stricken with affection for a girl he basically called a freak as soon as he met her five minutes ago. He is self-absorbed, lazy and overconfident, constantly bemoaning and ignoring the needs and feelings of others. He is the only character given enough breathing space to have something to him, and yet manages to not even feel any sort of dimensional.

Also his shirt is an ad for the dev's last game.

An incel who always screams about everything and yet is overly pretentious about everything.ing manner which has nothing to actually say about him being this way, nor is it at all fun or entertaining to experience.

#kirito #sao kirito #sword art online #alex eagleston #yiik #yiik a postmodern rpg #insufferable protagonist poll #insufferable protagonist tournament #tournament poll

[metfell]

Do you have any advice for drawing with markers? I'm trying to improve and wondering how you do it so well

alright yes i do. okay so markers are all about LAYERS of color. so here's some WIP's of a work i did recently we'll walk through some tips.

so step one here is the sketch. you'll want to get either a kneaded eraser or just be careful, and lightly erase over the entire image. this picks up loose graphite, and keeps your markers from smearing gray across the entire thing.

so i lay down a base layer. this isnt actually one marker though, its three. using the lightest marker, block out everywhere youre going to color. use circular motions or a brushtip if you can to avoid streaking like what's in this shot. then, if you have markers of very similar hues, begin darkening the picture where you need to. in this case, it was the ears and side of the nose.

remember: YOU CAN ALWAYS GO DARKER, YOU CANNOT GO LIGHTER.

i then went in to block in her makeup, the tulip, and darken some of the shadows. you can see specifically in the ears and neck that ive used the smaller tip of my chisel markers to slowly transition it from one marker to another. blending doesnt exist in markers. you just need to IMPLY a gradient. the flower is a good example as well. use multiple markers, and slowly make your way from one half of the gradient to the other.

a lot of what i can do is due to the fact i have so many markers. if you need large marker packs and cannot afford copics, try arrtx. that's what i used for the flower in this.

when i draw hair- something i know people want to know about a lot- i start with my lightest color, and sketch in the directions the hair is flowing. for stelle here, her bangs swoop down and to the right, so thats the direction i will lay down those colors. its like painting.

also in this, you can see how deep ive made the insides of her ears, and how ive used a dark gray to line her face and give it shape.

this shot is also a good example to show how i fucked up on her earrings, and since i cannot go lighter, theyre going to be tinted gray now. just something i forgot to keep in mind.

alright theres a lot to talk about in this one. firstly, let's talk about UNDERTONES. to give your piece more depth and life, you can go in with other colors besides your main shading color- in my case, gray- to make the piece pop. ive switched to a light purple, and have added it as a highlight to her cheeks, tips of her ears, and hair. it brings out her hair, and makes it seem fuller. less flat.

a lot of how i use markers is with curved strokes and many colors to sculpt out an image, rather than just filling in the lines. this is why i add line art last.

okay one step at a time with the finished picture.

first step here is line art. youll notice how i dont harshly outline every single part of the piece. instead, i lightly go around areas i think need defining. i outline her horn cuff, i outline her ears, her eyes, and then i loosely go around her hair with similar strokes to when i sketched it in the first place.

second step is a white gel pen. it can be a simple jelly roller theyre really cheap. just make sure it works. if your pen isnt rolling smoothly, try warming it up in your hands by rubbing it quickly between them. if not, try multiple pens before buying them. bring a piece of paper to your local michaels or hobby lobby or other craft store, and see if it rolls smoothly on YOUR paper. then, go around anywhere that needs a highlight. i did this over her eye markings, her makeup, tiny dots over her earrings, and over her hair to once again round it out.

my final tip is to adjust your pictures in some kind of editor once you are finished. i went in just using the basic iphone settings, and messed around with it until it matched what i wanted the pic to look like. in this case, i turn the highlights to the left, and played around with the temperature and tint settings, and messed around with their basic filters. honestly, just play with it until you think it looks good.

those are my tips for coloring! i hope this is comprehensible!!

#art advice #metfell art #ask #anonymous

[veeranger]

Vee’s Steam Summer Sale 2023 Recommendations

as always these are just personal opinions etc etc please look up some real reviews before buying a game if you aren’t sure and remember that steam will give you a full refund if you have less than 2 hours played in under 2 weeks.

im going to try to recc stuff i havent shilled every 6 months for the last 5 years but the VNs are going to be the same as always honestly

Fighting Games

Guilty Gear -Strive- Ultimate Edition 2022 ($55.99)

yes im specifically saying buy ultimate edition because it has all the dlc as of this writing. buy the base version if you want but i hate playing fighting games with incomplete rosters.

anyway this is my favorite fighting game, bar none. this is the game that after years of screwing around on a bunch of other games finally got me to really want to get better and actually play against other people. there’s a super active playerbase and at least another year of support from arcsys on the way. the best time to start playing strive was a year ago but the second best time is right now.

Idol Showdown (Free)

yes im shilling a free game here. idol showdown is a good fighting game and the result of like three years of hard work from a small team. try it out and give them some love

Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel ($4.99)

this is not a good game but it is a funny game. saber is in it.

Narrative Games

AI: The Somnium Files - $7.99

one of the finest mystery games you can play imo. maybe uchikoshi’s best work. a perfect blend of mystery, character, and style. every character and conversation is compelling in its own way and every little thing builds up to the huge moments which makes them all feel totally earned. as always uchikoshi is a genius in the way he blends his signature branching timeline style with the themes and core concepts of the game. the twists and turns this game goes down are so crazy that weeks later you’ll still be realizing how all the little things you thought were just quirks were actually foreshadowing. cannot recc this enough tbh.

Zero Escape: The Nonary Games - $11.99

another uchikoshi joint, also extremely good. ive only finished 999, the first game in this collection, but i can recc it just based on the strength of that alone. whereas somnium is a murder mystery, 999 is a visual novel about being trapped in a murder game interspliced with escape room segments. whatever you think you know you dont, 999 will take you down so many twists and turns you’ll be fucking dizzy when you’re done with it. big recc.

VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action - $10.04

i could probably talk about this game for as long as the others, even though its way way less complex. va-11 hall-a doesnt have a huge sweeping story with insane twists and massive reveals, but what it does have is an extremely personal narrative about loss, healing, and just living your life the best way you can in a horrible dystopian world. the cast of characters feel utterly real and you learn about the world they inhabit through interactions with them, rather than being infodumped by exposition. everyone has their own story and everyone is just trying to get by, including you. one of the best small scale personal narrative games ive ever played.

Night In The Woods - $9.99

another vn i would consider “small scale” but equally as impactful. nitw is a story about a disillusioned and struggling college drop out returning to her economically declining home town. nobody is secure, nobody is happy, everyone is suffering through their daily lives. you follow mae as she struggled to readjust to her childhood home and the people she left behind. until something happens that changes her priorities radically. all ill say. despite how i just made it sound, nitw is not all depressing. theres lighthearted moments and wacky days to cut through the bleak fog, as well as genuinely heartfelt moments that feel very earned. nitw is a game i think that everyone struggling through their 20s should play.

Grim Fandango Remastered ($3.79)

i know this is an old school adventure game and you might yell at me for sort of grouping it in with the VNs but i dont care. its a classic, its a beautiful game, everyone should play it. its old, it controls like shit, the puzzles are obtuse, but the experience is wonderful and memorable. its cheap as hell just go for it.

Action

Assault Spy ($4.99)

this goofy ass game is fun as hell. its a very dmc style character action with upgrades and moves to buy, and it actually has a pretty goddamn good mechanical system in place. the gameplay loop rules. only warning is this is not well optimized so watch your computer doesnt explode.

Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered ($40.19)

i shouldn’t even have to shill. a must play for any spider-man fan. one the best spider-man stories ever hands down. such an incredible experience seriously. i cant even say enough here, if you haven’t played this yet you should do it asap.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales ($33.49)

everything i just said for the first game goes here too. a MUST play for miles morales fans. the combat is even better than the first too. you won’t regret playing this trust me.

Marvel’s Avengers - The Definitive Edition ($5.99)

no i’m not joking. ok well i kind of am but this game is getting delisted in september. it is an unforgivably mid piece of shit but if you have an interest in game preservation or playing something so bad they’re killing it forever, well here it is. they made all the microtransactions free btw.

Others

Tinykin ($13.75)

its like pikmin but its legally distinct! i like this game a lot, it has a very cute art style and its got easy to enjoy gameplay. i find it very relaxing. there’s a demo.

System Shock 2 ($2.49)

i will never stop shilling this game. fucking play it. its a cornerstone of video games. one of the most influential pieces ever put to pixel. you owe it to yourself to experience this if you feel any interest in it. maybe read a guide though its unforgiving if you screw around with your build.

Dead Space [2023] ($41.99)

exceptionally good. i dont have to shill the old shitty pc port of the original anymore. an A+ remake, i think it improves on the original in every conceivable way.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night ($11.99)

such a goddamn good metroidvania. its almost like the platonic ideal of a castlevania game. a true spiritual successor to SOTN. this isnt your dime a dozen soulslike vania, this is a true vania game in the best original style made by basically one of the core founders of the genre.

STAR WARS™ Knights of the Old Republic™ II - The Sith Lords™ ($3.49)

its a fuckin classic rpg. one of the best of the era. get it on pc so you can get that extended content mod they promised to import to the console version and then cancelled.

Save Room - Organization Puzzle ($2.09)

this is just a cute puzzle game. i like it.

#veepost

[saltyyetbland]

okay i think ive calmed down enough to start theorizing again

i dont think that the islanders that were left on egg island are dead (besides q!max cause cc confirmed that). most of them were pretty far away from the bomb itself (im pretty sure the bomb was near red base but idk where the boat was so idk if the boat was near red island or not) and were basically on the shore so saying that those who arent on the boat made it but those who were like 5 meters away didn't doesn't make sense.

i think that the boat left as soon as the countdown finished so those who were stranded are left to deal with the nuclear fallout of it all. which is pretty poetic cause bolas got their gas masks and most of og bolas did not make it onto the boat.

i think that when the stranded islanders return home, they will be definitely traumatized and probably will have some life-altering injuries due to the radiation and impact of the bomb. like respawn was fine and all like the eye did not like turn respawn off or something but they definitely are getting fucked up so cant wait for the new skins?? (I only know how to cope through humor)

but also on a meta level like the characters are definitely not dead cause you cant just kill half of the active players on the server and not address that properly.

now the eggs, i do not know if they actually were got by the earthquake debris or if they actually were tped out by the eye. all I can say about them is that we did not see their bodies so im not saying their dead just yet (more so for my own piece of mind lmao)

also from just a narrative standpoint, if all the eggs died besides one it is such a shit ending for the months long build up of the eggs going missing. like these are beloved characters and you are just going to end them with a nuke?? after we get to see them for like 5 minutes only??? that's just not good storytelling so I do not believe that they are dead but idk they are probably relocated somewhere and they have to save them again but that is also so fucking boring cause they just did that with purgatory so idk

ALSO the fact that dapper was the only egg that was officially saved but didn't make it to the boat??? so like what does that mean???

#qsmp #this is more of me thought dumping and less theorizing but just bare with me

[nicomrade]

i didnt read nearly as much this year (2023) compared to last, i mostly re-read my faves that ill maybe post about one day and i read non-fiction from libraries. I am a Communist by Park Kun-Woong and Ichi-F by Kazuto Tatsuta are the two that id say stood out the most in that regard, but i kinda wanna keep these retrospective posts to fiction only so lets go for my actual 6 picks naow

Poison City - Tetsuya Tsutsui (2014-2015) opening with my favorite author, poison city is about art censorship- specifically of mangas in japanese libraries- how it happens, why, by and for whom, who it affects, how it shapes the publishing industry and so on. it was written after tsutsui found out his own work (manhole) had been banned in a prefecture, without him ever being notified. its only 2 volumes but the most nuanced discussion of the topic ive seen. like all tsutsui work it is in my brain forever like a worm and if i see it IRL i get an urge to reread it right there right now. which happens often cuz french libraries (justifiably!) love it

Gekiga-Yose: Fallen Words - Tatsumi Yoshihiro (2009) i got into a little gekiga rabbithole sometime last spring that segued really nicely into a rakugo moment for me. Fallen Words is neatly at the junction of the two and maybe the best way to experience rakugo stories if you cant watch performances? its not rakugo but it tries really hard to make the original jokes work in a new medium. fascinating project that i really enjoyed and laughed outloud at while reading. it also helps other rakugo-based fiction have more context and depth for a non-rakugo liker audience

Blood on the Tracks / Chi no Wadachi - Oshimi Shuzo (2017-2023) "this is not a work that wants to teach you how to heal, how to cope, or give you catharsis, or tragedy." chi no wadachi is about parental abuse and keeps to following the protagonist for as long as his mom has influence over his life, in all of the ways that she does, and nothing more. its heavy, its hard, and its something you need to meet halfway. not the oshimi shuzo work id necessarily start with but its the one i read fully this year and also the one i got into comment fights on mangadex about lol

Billy Bat - Naoki Urasawa & Nagasaki Takashi (2008-2016) billy bat is about art and its about making art and its about what if there was a bat on the moon that gave you catharsis. its got historical fiction its got protagonist changes its got walt disney its got an insane amount of historical research put in. its got two bats. its art as an universal language, as something its artist owns but that also belongs to everyone who's ever connected with it, art as the root of humanity, as the lense through which people view and shape the world. and its about a japanese-american artist named kevin.

Bokurano: Ours - Kitoh Mohiro (2003-2009) bokurano is about kids who are roped into a mecha war for earth's survival. it questions whether you can live without harming others, the nature of remorse, childhood trauma, and so on. its dubiously a death game- i count it as one but its also explicitely interested in this very question- "is this a game?". is bullying a game? Is csa a game? Is parental abuse a game? Neglect? Sibling violence? War? Is that what a game is? anything that children do?

Undercurrent - Toyoda Tetsuya (2004-2005) its easy to say reading undercurrent feels like youre drowning because the water motif is already omnipresent but this really is a piece where the story and the artistic motif are just in symbiose. undercurrent explores one woman's life managing her bathhouse almost on her own at the same time as she's dealing with more personal issues, and my first instinct upon seeing the cover is always to hold my breath. cannot say anymore just read it

+ bonus mention to Gantz - Hiroya Oku (2000 - 2013) for ruining my whole life. i didnt start it in 2023 but i was overcome by some sort of fever in january that made me finish this fucking manga and it hasn't left me since. don't read gantz. you can watch the live action movies they cut out 95% of the manga and make it actually good also akagi's actor (kanata hongo) plays my fave character in them. but whatever you do, don't read gantz.

#my death games #nicomreads #hongo playing that guy in gantz ruined me cuz now i cant remember the name of the actual character i always just call him akagi #i think hes nishi? who cares hes akagi. they put akagi in gantz. hes besties w the ball

[n7punk]

The way you post here makes it sound like you post as you write, but you update so often I refuse to believe you don’t have an archive of half completed works you return to and end up finishing. So I guess the question is, what’s your structure for completing a fic? Do you have an idea and execute it entirely, or do you have works that you’ve started writing and then returned to after a few months of inactivity?

(This is basically me just being in awe of your talents and being nosey about how your creative process works)

oh once i start i CANNOT stop or i will not come back. i post everything as i write it, at least when it comes to long projects. i'm usually a chapter or two ahead in my rough drafts from what has been edited and posted, but otherwise yeah i'm writing these in real time. i mean i've been consistently updating for three years except for the few months i took off last year to work on novels instead so idk when i would have built up a backlog lol.

the one exception to this is short fics/one shots. rn i have ten "wips" (outside of CotC) that are all one shots except for two - a 3-4 chapter OotW fic i wrote halfway and... havent come back to but SWEAR i will because i love it, and a multi-chapter AU i wrote the first scene for, realized i wasn't in the headspace for based on the quality it turned out in lmao, and am waiting to come back around to. basically, i can write like... 5k and come back, but i wouldn't do it for longer fics. i started a novel last year, got 25k in, and have not touched it in the year since which is really frustrating because i love those characters.

for CotC specifically, i've just been fucking feral for this idea and written 93k for it just this month. I'm actually writing the 13th fic right now due to that, which is why im posting daily (and occasionally twice a day lol). in general ive just been really into my AUs lately and it has made it easier to write them fast.

it isn't unusual for me to get an au idea and outline a few scenes for it while working on something else, but we're talking like 1-3 and maybe writing a few sentence summary of the rest of the ideas i have for it, and then i can start writing with that once my current project is finished, but those outlines are usually just straight up dialogue with an occasional (crosses arms) or (turns away) thrown in for tone.

#ask #anon #writing process #<- i have a tag for this btw #im gonna edit CotC now! i've just been busy today

[moonjxsung]

i love friends that share music💜 my hs friend group used to be based around music and it was super nice!

calico kitty update: she’s back at my friend’s house and is better, they sent her some antibiotics and probiotics so hopefully everything goes smoothly from here🫶🏻 thanks for your good wishes!

as for the chan dream: i feel you so much bc i never look at chan as being pervy or like super bold, like for me he’s always the dream bf, super nice and respectful. so i had never had a dream like this about him and like i also hope to make out with him (and every other member). my skz dreams are also usually about jisung and they’re always sexy dreams but super awkward.

i.n in the library is kinda traumatizing, so i get why you hadn’t shared it. but don’t worry, dreams are just made up from our subconscious consolidating things we saw or thought about. so that’s mainly why they’re so random. me: says this but i get super spooked about coincidences in dreams so i would include i.n’s library request anyways😂

to lighten up the dream mood, i also had a super sexy changbin dream that altered my brain chemistry so badly. and in the dream i went to like a donation place with bags of clothes and it was like a small church too (my bf was with me😭) and we go in and almost immediately these like gang of thugs come in and cm punk (the wrestler) was there and like a couple of clowns and ✨changbin✨. and they were there to steal something specific i guess bc they weren’t like stealing from anyone else and most people there were just like whatever. and i look at my bf and back at changbin and i tell my bf that i was going to shoot my shot with changbin and he was like ok whatever (supportive king) and i go over to bin and im like “hey wanna fuck?” and he’s like “sure”. and we walk upstairs to an area that had like showers and stuff but there was this guard lady and she wouldn’t let changbin pass so i had to distract her and get him in. so we’re in the showers making out (he’s a great kisser too btw) and he like pins me against the wall and just started going inside when the guard lady interrupts us. and makes us leave, so we do and he’s like “you’re kinda dirty, fucking me in a church” and im like “yeah, let’s go to the car” but just as we’re stepping foot outside the gang was like “we found everything, let’s go” and changbin kisses me says something like “i wish we could’ve finished but this means we have to meet again” and leaves. and my bf was just like ?!?! “not in front of me pls. did you get to fuck him?” and i told him i didn’t and he was relieved until i told him he said we’d meet again. (i never finish having sex with any of the members when i dream of them and i think it’s a part of me that feels guilty for my bf😂 even though ive told him irl that if given the chance to get with some specific idols i would and he’s always been like ok but i got dibs on twice😅)

so yeah, oh to be having sex with changbin, chan and/or jisung irl instead of my dreams 😪

anyways i love you pookie, thanks for listening to my rants🫶🏻

-🐈‍⬛

I love friends who share music!!! They are so special!! 🫶

YAYYYYY I’m so glad to hear calico is doing a bit better! I hope she has a smooth recovery 🥹

YES ABOUT THE CHAN THING I feel like it’s super interesting when you have a dream that establishes somebody as a dynamic you hadn’t really considered before and then you start thinking of them that way all the time 😵‍💫 it’s good inspiration for when I write stuff sometimes but it’s also HOTTTTTT AS FUCK it’s like your brain conjuring up your own personal little fanfic for you 🫶 ALSO THE CHANGBIN DREAM???? HELLO??.!:!!.!.!/!:!:!/!:!: THAT SOUNDS SO HOT? FUCKING CHANGBIN IN A CHURCH??????? 😦😦😦😦 I don’t think I’ve ever had a dream where I actually got to fuck a member but I definitely have my share of making out with them (particularly Jisung 😭) and I always wake up SO DIZZY…… but if I got interrupted while fucking one in a CHURCHHH GOOD LORD ID BE SO MAD….. there’s also something about the blasphemy aspect like maybe it’s this combination of religious guilt I always harbor a because I have terrible religious ocd and sexual repression from being on medication for ocd that just makes anything church-themed SOOOO HOT TO ME….. I feel like I’d be a little scared to write for it just because I wouldn’t want to offend anyone OR not do it justice but!!! Church stuff!!! Yes!!!! So much yes!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jisung what are you doing on Sunday morning

I LOVE U POOKIE I love hearing about your dreams they are genuinely SOOOO entertaining 👼🩷💓💕

#🐈‍⬛ anon #ask

[winderlylandchime]

LOVER’S SPIT! YOU THINK YOU’RE A MAN! LETS HEAR IT FOR THE BOY! AND SANDSTORM! ARE ALL ON MY BROTHERS SPOTIFY WRAPPED! HE GOT CLOCKED BY SPOTIFY AND IVE BEEN LAUGHING AT IT SINCE I WOKE UP! He sent the screenshot of it to his friend and his friend replied ‘bro, i think Spotify just called you gay’ and I gotta agree with the other straight man.

Also: on Monday, shocker, he did not behave like a normal adult. When I got there to pick him up a nurse walked him to me and went ‘here, take him and all his obsessions home with you’ and i turned to him and asked what did he do cause he did promise to act normal. And he went ‘i did absolutely nothing. He asked how I’m doing and I told him’ and I just know that he told them all about Britin/Brian. Part of me is happy that I wasn’t there to witness it. But the other news is that he has another check up with all his doctors who did his surgery and were part of his case on Friday and I have to be there since I was his caretaker aka they wanna know how he’s doing at home and I’m actually worried because 1 of the doctors dealt with him when he ripped his stitches, 2nd doctor did his cast, 3rd doctor called him out on it..basically they all know bits and pieces about how he treats his check ups so this should be fun (for him) and mortifying for me.

ALSO Yesterday he had his therapy session and when I came home, he ran up on me before i even managed to open the door and went ‘(his therapists name) is going on vacation for a few days. And when he asked what my plans were for the rest of the week and i said im officially finishing up the show and I’m sad about it, he fucking stared at me for almost a minute and then went “(his name), you know ill still be available on my phone at all times. So you can call me whenever and i promise you, you wont be a bother” what the fuck was that all about? *then he waves his cast like to dismiss the topic* what a weird little guy’ So i think its safe to say that either 1) the therapist based on his previous reactions to just normal episodes, is reasonably worried OR 2) he knows. And i don’t know which one of these two options is funnier to me.

SPOTIFY KNOWS!!! that is so hilarious. It’s like people whose TikTok algorithm knows they’re queer before they do.

I’ll admit that QueerAnon with Mister Sister is my second listened to podcast (and I swear it’s not first because there are not enough Randy episodes to make it first).

I hope the treatment team meeting is not too mortifying for you. I imagine the team saying that they have to change their discharge instructions for future patients: do not allow patients to get obsessed with a tv show while recovering. The doctors should know that this has made your brother “famous” on “a social media site” and he has “tens of fans.”

Finally, THERAPIST KNOWS. I think he’s tipped his hand. He either looked up a spoiler to help himself prepare for what your brother is going to experience OR he’s seen the show. Like the therapist stared at you? Yeah. He knows. I just think someone who had no idea what was coming would say “oh I’m sure it’s going to be a happy ending!” Or something like that. Not offer up time during vacation for an emergency phone call.

So few episodes left. I think after 510, he’s going to want to watch the final 3 quickly because it does seem like it’s going to be a happy ending (if you don’t think too closely about the characters and how little it makes sense for Brian and Justin to be getting married given… who they’ve been for at least the first 4 seasons).

And we will all be here when he watches…

#ask winderlylandchime #dear sweet anon #queer as folk #a straight man watches qaf us 2000 in the year of our lord 2023

[blookmallow]

y’all i am so sorry i failed you

i just found this buried a year into my drafts and realized. i never posted my animatronics ratings for last year’s spirit halloween releases. i started it and i never finished it. it’s now closing in on halloween season again and i still haven’t done it. im ashamed. i am so sorry  

ANYWAY, here’s, uh, my. 9 month late 2022 spirit halloween opinions, happy summerween i guess 

Mr. Punchy 

NEW CLOWN NEW CLOWN fuck yes i love a new clown

also for some reason the first sentence of his description made me lose it 

BIG fan of this just from a visual standpoint, i love the colors, love the hair. i like the light-up face on this one a lot, most spirit clowns ive seen fall into either “Clown Who Is A Monster/Creature” (crouchy, hugz) or “Clown Who Is A Scary Guy” (wally, henry hussle) but this one feels very “evil fun house prop” which i really think works for it. im assuming he’s based on punching-bag clowns, which i haven’t seen them do before, but the fact that his body is a Ball also gives me the mental image of him violently bouncing toward you which is good as well. theres a certain manic energy about this guy that im really fond of. i like him i would like to see him 7/10 

Spike

standard zombie torso figure, though it does have some interesting implications given that Stab The Brain is the generally agreed upon best way to deal with zombies, but this guy seems to be doing just fine despite the giant stake in his head. the website description says he got it from his wife attempting to mercy kill him once he turned zombie but she failed so he’s just stuck like this now. it does not explain why stake to the brain didn’t work, though (the implication is that she missed or something but clearly she didn’t. ive never heard of zombie brains having a very specific precise spot you have to hit to kill them, this looks like it should’ve worked to me) 

something about the bLurghHGhRUrrh noises he makes and the little nicely buttoned flannel shirt with jagged obviously-cut-out-intentionally tears at the bottom is very funny to me. i like to think his wife has accepted the situation and he just lives on the porch scaring away birds and stuff now. 5 /10 hes not really anything special but he brings me joy 

Rat Girl

it’s... fine. she’s a Creepy Little Girl. she’s got a rat. it’s not particularly inspired but I don’t dislike it. she doesn’t really do anything but i like the eye movement. 5/10 

Lil Skelly Bones

this is a variation of another animatronic they had previously, same lil guy but now he’s a jumpscare figure instead of a swinging one. not really a fan of stuff that’s Just “jumps out at you” and thats all but he’s pretty cute. love how Small he is. whats even going on here, is he a skeleton dressed as a skeleton?? i don’t know. it’s very cute. 5/10 

Tombstone Terror

on a surface level this is just a tombstone with a skull that pops out and yells at you. it looks nice, it’s designed well, but it’s about as basic as it gets as far as the concept goes. the description for this one really makes it though, because evidently this skeleton’s name is Steve and he used to be the graveyard caretaker who loved his job so much he stuck around after death to continue protecting the graveyard

his name is steve and he loves this graveyard so much. 6/10 its very uncreative as a prop but it gets a bonus point for steve 

The Widow 

this one looks really familiar i feel like they had a very similar one previously? i dont know. anyway she’s very scary looking and the Neck Snap motion is really unsettling to see. one of those rare animatronics that i actually do feel a lil creeped out by and wouldn’t be eager to approach. her description says her husband cheated on her so she murdered him (and her sister, who he was cheating with) but then broke her neck in the process of trying to dump the bodies in a lake, so here we are. 7/10 i dont love it but i feel like it’s pretty effective and my first reaction to watching the video of it was “eugh. i dont want to see THAT again” so props for that 

Betty Sharpe 

lots of blood on this one, very nice, 

apparently she’s some kind of child beauty pageant contestant who murdered all the other girls

i really like the movement in the bag, something about the relatively slow motion and the size of the bag gives it a sense of “what the fuck does she have in there” since it doesn’t seem fast enough or big enough to be a person. gives the impression of a mutilated but somehow still barely alive person shoved in there, which is excellent. her design doesn’t read very clearly though, it looks like she’s wearing some kind of nightgown. i feel like they could’ve done more to make her look like a deranged diva, give her a tiara or something. the face looks really plasticky also. overall i think its a decent concept that could’ve been executed better. 6/10

Young Crouchy

H U H???!?????

this... sure is a choice. i do not understand the decision-making here at all. i like crouchy well enough but did ANYONE want this. it doesn’t even read as “young crouchy” at all, he doesn’t look Younger in any sense and it sounds like the same recording so his voice isn’t different either. it just looks like Slightly Shrunk crouchy. the fact that the original crouchy is so tall and imposing is really what makes him so effective, so this one just looks comical 

the description goes into his tragic childhood where i guess he’s... disabled? which is why he stands like that? 

The pain of growing up orphaned in the streets can only be masked by laughter, at least according to this broken child. With no friends, no family, and nowhere to turn, he had a stroke of luck when the circus came to town. He never intended to scare anyone, but with his broken posture and twisted frame, he was quickly adopted into the traveling circus and immediately found his calling. No amount of makeup could ever hide his sinister grin and sharp, dagger-like teeth, so he finally embraced his true identity as Crouchy and worked to become the show’s most terrifying act!

for one thing that doesn’t come across as a child even remotely at all, and while crouchy always had the “he just wanted to be a regular clown but he was too scary and everyone was afraid of him so he just decided to embrace it” backstory, i feel like this just makes it come across super ableist. “clown who is just really terrifying no matter how he tries” is kind of a funny concept but now they’re saying “his posture and body structure are Weird and Scary so no one liked him and all he’s good for is being Scary” just. feels real bad. and “he’s called crouchy because he has a physical disability that affects his posture” comes across way worse than “he’s called crouchy because we’re not creative and this is the pose he’s in. i mean because its a personal quirk of his” 

then they also follow up this description with “Every good evil villain has to have a tragic origin story!” which just feels SO forced, it makes me feel gross, this whole thing is stupid, i dont like any of it,

i feel like if they had leaned into “this is very silly” more and made this guy be like, Crouchy Jr, His Son, or his mini clone or something and made his voice higher it might’ve worked. a few people in the youtube comments pointed out that this prop could be beneficial as like, a Smaller/More Affordable crouchy if you don’t have the money or the space for the full size one, which is fair, but i don’t know. i just dont like this whole situation i really don’t 

3/10 try harder next time, spirit 

Strawman

spooky scarecrow man!!! i really hope I get a chance to see him in-store sometime hes lovely. love a creepy scarecrow

the design is good, his face design is pretty cool, it looks better in motion his mouth movements are pretty solid

he has a good range of motion in his head and the jerky/stiff movement in his arms works for the character really well whether it was intentional or not. hes interesting to watch. i like him. i think he’d be a great host/introductory figure at the beginning of a haunt or front of your yard or something to greet guests coming in. hes good i like him 7/10

theres also a new Reagan from the exorcist, but i havent. actually seen that movie yet sdfsdf so i dont really have anything to say about the animatronic other than “it looks fine to me” 

Possessed Pumpkin 

i feel like pumpkin man and creepy scarecrow are friends. they go well together. cursed pumpkin patch is a good concept i like it 

anyway we have this guy at my local store right now, he’s pretty Big and solid looking, its a pretty decent design, i like his big claw hands

his backstory kind of clashes with the design concept though, apparently he was... a kid in a homemade halloween costume who got bullied for his costume and then the other kids locked him in a barn at a haunted pumpkin patch so his body got taken over by evil spirits. which is a hell of a story that then makes No sense with the visual, because that is Not a child. nothing about this even remotely reads as “possessed child” at all. so then it comes across as “he grew up into an adult man in this pumpkin patch and just never fucking moved on from that one time he got bullied on halloween as a child” which just makes him kind of sad. pretty good design, poor backstory, 7/10 

anyway sorry if i missed anybody it took me so long to remember this was in here the new arrivals page on spirit’s site is now for this year so i cant tell which ones were new last year anymore :’    ) fjsdg

#halloween #spirit halloween #spirit halloween 2022 #animatronics

[hikari-ni-naritai]

multiples of 3^^

oh god thats so many

3. Do you like to get 100% achievements?

if its something within reach yeah! i have a few games 100%ed. huniepop for one. its actually a dream of mine to one day 100% huniepop in a single run of the game. itd be hard but i believe in myself.

6. Last game you finished?

finished...... uhhh sakura shrine girls. if id beaten that last monster in monster hunter i couldve said that but i failed. oh well

9. A console and/or handheld you’ve never played but would like to try?

i think my cousin had a dreamcast and i was kind of fascinated by the weird controller shape. i dont think theres any games im specifically interested on it but i would like to mess around with one.

12. answered already!

15. answered already!

18. A game you’d like to replay that you haven’t

mmm are there any? ive replayed most of the games i enjoyed enough to play once. i want to finish my 2nd playthrough of ff14 though. im still in stormblood on that.

21. A boss you think is really cool

does rakna-kadaki von monsterhunterrise count. shes not really a boss unless you consider all monsterhunter monsters to be bosses. OH. OH RIGHT FUCK. hephaistos ff14. i love that fight. raid bosses count as bosses for sure. i just redid that one earlier tonight

24. A “Wow” moment of awe

i think the first time i really experienced something like this was the first time i played through twilight princess when you swordfight ganondorf at the end. it was like. such a wildly different experience from the standard like "swing your sword and you'll maybe clang against the enemy and not do damage" like it felt to child emily like a real proper swordfight. i thought it was really cool.

27. already answered!

30. Spyro or Crash Bandicoot?

crash bandicoot babeyyyyyyyyyyyyy there was this guy at my old church who was like a full ass middle aged adult and he was friends with my parents and we'd go over to visit sometimes and he'd let us go up into his weird attic where he just had a ps1 for some reason and me and my brother played crash bandicoot up there a lot. good times. it was a little hot in his house. he lived right on the street where they had community festivals every summer so it was nice to have a base to go back to when we got tired outside. his front lawn was small but it was good to lay in and watch fireworks from. real nice guy. im rambling. crash bandicoot rules

33. Someone has never played a video game before but is open to trying any genre. What game would you recommend as their first?

if im throwing my anxiety out the window, id probably recommend super mario bros the original. if youve never played a video game, it would be really hard to get recommended something with a complex control scheme or unintuitive menuing and shit. so something with just a few buttons and an easy-to-understand goal is probably good for a starting point. im sure theres a lot of platformers like that.

36. What platform do you play on?

pc but i have a lot of old nintendo consoles and a ps4. just in case. its hard to get the gumption for them tho

39. Do games need difficulty sliders?

i think difficulty options would be more doable. its important that games are accessible to people with disabilities that would prevent them from playing on whatever the base difficulty is.

42. Worst game you ever played?

im very easy to please. i remember being very disappointed by various kart racers in my youth though. at least, i played them once and did not play them again. there was an m&m branded kart racer for the wii, and also i found diddy kong racing for n64 to be too slow for my tastes. but also i was a child.

45. Favorite content creator?

settled, the runescape guy who made the morytania-locked ultimate iron man account. i just recently rewatched his 12-hour video compilation of that. i literally came close to crying a couple times. its good.

48. Most satisfying villain death?

i havent killed him yet but theres no way i wouldnt be satisfied with the death of that fucking bastard in tales of berseria. one day im going to kill him. fuck that guy. i would say asahi ff14 bc i hate him with the passion of 10,000 suns but his death was not satisfying. i would like to kill him over again.

51. How often do you skip cut scenes?

never unless ive seen it before. well, except the cutscenes in monster hunter rise for when u go on a hunt for a new monster. i sometimes skp those. but in most cases i wouldnt dare.

54. answered!

57. Ask anything you wish!

lena please u have to give me something for this one. its okay i will provide the question. "whats a game everyone should play no matter what even if they dont think its that good?"

play shining force

[goremet-chef]

HI i just got back from a like. 7 hour gaming session of the forest and SHITT MANN (RAMBLE)

we had a few goals, one was to put up spike walls for our upper base, n then another was to finish just small furniture things

the main one was to go to the caves and get the schematics cuz i wanted a glider. we GOT IT and it was all good and we made em but MANNN

my throat started to be like? TIGHT? feeling horribly paranoid and on edge for 7 hours straight will do that to you i guess

we went to the village for cloth and then fucking megan was there and i was like HM theres a PROBLEM leave now so we ran and listen

I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION that if you SLEPT they just despawned. my impression was incorrect ofc, when you sleep they just move a bit farther away

so.... we went back assuming she was gone and man! she was not gone! i pretty much made direct eye contact with her and my friend is so. SHE. the way like.. WHAT IF I DIDNT KNOWWWW

anytime i see somethin im like PROBLEM theres a problem theres an armsy, cowman, WHATEVER but no she has a sort of. freeze and then flee rresponse, so she saw megan and then saw it start to chase me and ran, said nothing which. GOOD THING I WAS PAYING ATTENTION.

i made some really interesting noises cuz i thought she was RIGHT on my tail like i kept hearing a weird whipping noise and i just thought it was over for me man. literally my friend was shocked cuz like.. IVE MADE SOME WEIRD NOISES WHEN IM SCARED ALRIGHT

being chased in horror games is one of my favorite like... TO ME thats the scariest thing i hate chases they mentally overwhelm me to the point where when im watching someone play a game and their getting chased, i have to pause the video every 3 seconds because i physically cant handle how stressed it makes me SKFJS

so... imagine that but its me and there is no pausing!!!!! horrible awful

we antagonized her a bit and lured her around cuz. for SCIENCE i needed to get close to this creature and hear how she sounded, so i know what to listen for

she despawned eventually which sucks cuz it was right when i was gonna call upon my monster hunter skills and kick her ass but no she vanished (scared obviously)

THAT WASNT THE END THO, no of course not.. so we built our house in the same exact spot markiplier and his friends built theres. it looks pretty similar too (rock walls, 3 doors, you get it) and last time we played, we branched upwards to the area above us. so we built proper walls and weve got 3 cabins up there for each of us and its cute its our little base with our other watch towers

i hate it up there!!! actually despise it, cuz of how the trees are and the hill its hard to see incoming threats, and we tend to log up there for convenience so. ITS EVEN WORSE when im trying to track several things with my ears at once. gotta listen for deer so i dont get scared, gotta tune out my friends chainsaw (i never log with the chainsaw for this reason, i need my ears so bad when im playing horror/survival games KSJFS), gotta listen for THREATS and look too im reallllll paranoid. IT SUCKS

last time we played, we got wormed, i didnt even see it because i was just hanging out up top finishing our walls and this bitch said "WORM." and she had ALREADY ziplined down to our main house since the cabins werent done yet. i was HORRIFIED because i didnt hear a damn thing!!!! i know worm is quieter but.. when SHE notices something before i do, something has gone wrong KSFJSF so.. it spawned behind, i forgot we had a zipline and threw myself (successfully) down the mountain by habit and i saw little worm bits fall down behind me before i quit the game

THIS TIME, it spawned behind her, and right in front of me while we were going to place the tower for the gliders

literally just glooped up from the ground i didnt even realize what i was looking at at first?? and i was like ah! WORM and we left the game so fast (we dont want that smoke hush)

but we got paranoid because. last time it spawned, she saved and THEN left, so it despawned and that was our worm spawn of the month right

but this time we both just LEFT so i was worried maybe it didnt save the spawn and it would spawn again, yknow? so bottom image is us both hiding up in the towers cuz i was. GENUINELY AFRAID TO TOUCH THE FLOOR

i thought it would just. POP UP BEHIND ME. i think we got really unlucky. cuz i dont think its meant to spawn AT US yknow? like i dont think its programmed to spawn where we are on purpose, its jsut really unlucky that BOTH TIMES it was RIGHT UP HERE SKFJSFS

thats why i hate it up here, its worm hell!!!!! fuck all that

its fine tho we did it, we made our gliders and flew around a bit it was fun

it sucked cuz like... we needed cloth and her cloth things were kinda bugged? cuz they werent respawning for her so.. IT WAS ALL ON ME and i HATE going anywhere in the forest. limited visibility, too far from the water, its all bad man

and the last few times!!! once was a cowman, 2nd was megan twice!!!!!!! so i was so fucking reluctant to go grab them but the last time we went, we put on our paint, we were careful (also i told this mfer i said bestie i need you to be my eyes while im trying to look for cloth and she said okay o7 and i turned around and shes like all the way down the hill not looking for me 💀💀)

we went in and got everything and no one even showed up!!! man i was nervous tho kSKFJS so we go it, finished our gliders and flew

overall, horrible day! everytime i got scared like when i was being chased my heart wouldnt even just drop, it would SEIZE UP it legitimately HURT

only good part is i realized i wanted to recreate my cabin in sons of the forest cuz i could put on overhang over my patio like i wanted to (mine is the house with the red icon)

anyways im fucking exhausted and i need to destress so im gonna keep writing my story lmao

#the forest #sons of the forest