#It's been happening on my neopets blog for a long time

[rose-tinting]

I just noticed something that made me reflect on my own blogging habits

I’m less likely to like and reblog the art of artists I actually follow

People are more likely to like and reblog art I reblogged from someone else and not my own original art I posted even though they follow me (This is not accusatory I am just noticing it because I do it too)

I’m not a clever man but I’m going to try to wrap my head around this

#also it's actually a confidence booster cause I thought people were ignoring my art because they hate it lol #and now I realize that wouldn't be it #so I am going to try to think about... why don't I reblog from the artists I follow?? Why do I look at it go 'nice' and then keep scrolling? #A mystery... #It's been happening on my neopets blog for a long time #I post art of my neopet #two people who don't follow me like it #I reblog art someone else did of their neopet #followers of the account start reblogging like crazy #it was making me feel like Garbage #And now I'm like... huh! Wait! This is just a thing! #A thing I do as well! #That noted I'm going to try to reblog art I like more from people I follow

[decompose1]

Whats your favourite internet hoax. Question vague on purpose you can say anytjing you want

OH OH! I HAVE SEVERAL! most of which are from kids' games :o].

The Lost Jammer is quite literally the reason my blog's URL is the way it is, so i'll start with that!

so The Lost Jammer (also sometimes called "Null") was this... Animal Jam hoax. It ties into fman122 (a real hacker, though he inspired a lot of creepypastas that twisted the story a bit)- The Lost Jammer (whose AJ username was "decompose1") was rumored to be fman122 back for revenge after having been banned- some vengeful ex-jammer. Ahh! Scary!

Now, at least as far as i'm aware, i believe decompose1 WAS a real user- and a real hacker- at some point. It isn't that difficult to hack Animal Jam, which is kind of notorious for this at this point. I believe there's evidence that both fman122 and decompose1 DID mess with the site's graphics, cause lag, and possibly breach some accounts? But that's it, of course, these were just run of the mill hackers! I believe it's still unknown whether there was a link between the two or if that was just speculation.

The hoax part is the stories that came from it. For whatever reason, people went wild. There were creepypastas describing The Lost Jammer as some vengeful ghost or spirit, and you could summon them by arranging torches some special way in your den.

Also! Not the lost jammer (maybe), but an interesting ting regarding fman122 himself was how Animal Jam attempted to cover the whole thing up, which DEFINITELY MADE IT WORSE!

fman122 was definitely a real user/hacker- there are plenty of people who remember, interacted with him, and can confirm. But he was banned (for the hacking), and AJHQ... just started lying? They claimed he didn't exist and nothing happened. You can't even say his name in the chat now, the censor catches you! I think that's kind of wild. Had they owned up to the hacking, it would've been fine, but they tried to hide it, which made everything seem wayyyy fishier and pushed things to get out of hand!

-

My other favorite one is The Webkinz Killer! Which had. NO basis in reality at all, unlike TLJ.

There were a few popular rumors, but the main one i remember was about Dr. Quack, the doctor in Webkinz!

The rumor was that if you clicked the eyesight poster in his room enough times, Dr. Quack would go insane and kill your webkinz with a chainsaw. Here's the picture that got used for that:

Other rumors were that a black gift box would appear in your inventory or house(?). If the player opened it, something would come out and kill all of their webkinz (what was in the box varied- some people thought it was a feral webkinz, some thought it was a neopet since neopets was a competing site at the time). Opening the black box was also rumored to give your computer a virus.

I also seem to remember a rumor that Ms. Birdy would appear in your house and silently, wordlessly follow you around, and would not leave no matter where you went or what you did. She would eventually kill all your webkinz. I remember that particular rumor creeping me out the most!

Webkinz handled this a bit better, and ended up making a statement- at the very least- that Dr. Quack is a good man who would not hurt your webkinz, ever.

Sorry this got long! you activated my Weird Special Interest Trap Card!

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

Who was your first ever OC? Do you still “use” them? How have they evolved over time?

What story are you the proudest of? Why?

What are your favourite relationships between your OCs? (romantic or platonic!)

Thank you for the ask! From this ask game.

Who was your first ever OC? Do you still “use” them? How have they evolved over time?

Hell if I know. That's such a weird term. Just comes with making up stories, you know. Even my neopets had personalities.

One of the earliest OCs outside of trying to be a fantasy author and dying of terminal worldbuilding was a role playing char I made for my first awkward attempts in a browser game - I was 19, so long past me making up and throwing away casts for the never gonna happen fantasy epic and nightly daydream self inserts :P

She was a blind hobbit falconer and uh, let's say, she's been through it. I don't even remember how long I played her - 1 year? 2? 3? - and then it just fizzled out. People quit, I renamed her and started over with another char, and that was that.

To this day I still use her name online, have registered a domain under her name which I use as primary email, I'm known by that name to a lot of people online, my mom knows it. Unfortunately it's pretty unique, and I didn't want to connect that with my torture fandom blog (:

What story are you the proudest of? Why?

All of them??? 🥺

Thorns for being the normal looking child.

Glass Shards for being the first (and what I needed.)

Heal my Wounds for happening in three weeks. (Still don't know how.)

Undeserved for actually pulling off the graphic stuff.

What are your favourite relationships between your OCs? (romantic or platonic!)

Wouldn't you like to know. So would they. They can't figure it out exactly, but it works, and that's all that counts.

#salad-ask #starlit-hopes-and-dreams #this ask is not oc related #it's me i'm the oc #i swear everyone in that game was a whumper #'any volunteers to get kidnapped and tortured for a criminal court roleplay later' was NOT a strange request #🤣 #yes I volunteered #I was very emotional last year when the server shut down for good :') #despite not having played in 10 years

[imthecleric]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER. ( REPOST DO NOT REBLOG ! )

○  name: Bas  ○  pronouns: She/They

○    preference of communication: Discord if you have it, Tumblr ask if we haven’t ever talked, Tumblr message if we have talked no matter the way (just threading or actual ooc stuff)

○    name of muse(s): Will (go to my sideblog hub if you want the rest)

○    platforms you’ve used: Forums, inkpop, neopets, wire, discord (though i am not to be trusted there i never reply LOL), twitter

○    best experience: I have been around so long I don’t really know. I have so many good experiences like how welcoming this fandom was when I made will, how the first group I ever roleplayed in permanently retired my character and for years consulted me for his NPC status when I had to leave because they were so attached to my version of him, the friends i’ve made across platforms, a few I have even met IRL. Like so many.

○    rp pet peeves / dealbreakers: uncut posts, no rules, no about of any sort (even like name age and shit) specifically on multis, and a few others that are more controversial so I will save them for myself.

○    fluff, angst, or smut: Angst. I love fluff but for the love of god do I need it to go somewhere. I have found fluff threads often seem aimless and meander because its just compliments and platitudes among ships. I need something to happen. Fluff does not just mean making kissy faces okay. And smut I personally write it on exactly one blog of mine, and that blog is not and will never be this one. I tend to not write smut in general, my ace ass cannot figure out how to make it seem not awkward.

○    plots or memes:○  BOTH. I love plots. But memes are by far the easiest way to interact with me. Even if I might seem to take forever to write it I will get to it.

○    best time to write: Whenever I do. I go through phases of heavy fanfic reading then writing so like. Who knows.

○    are you like your muse(s): I do believe people would say I am like Will mainly because I put other’s feelings first, to my own detriment.

tagged by:  my fav @zoomingupthathill​

tagging: YOU and specifically @freakedtastic​  and   @mikewheelertm​

#five: dash games

[magax-destroyer]

It is time for the second of the 5 account showcases on my blog, and--- wait a minute! There's 7 pets here! What's going on?!

Well, with my main being about to get 16 slots soon, I realized that we're going to need to change up how we do this. Especially since my entire first showcase was for my halzatron account, and now all of those pets (+1) will be moving to my main once the slot situation is resolved... And one of the pets here is moving, as well. So here's the new plan! We're doing characters that are all actually involved with each other, or share a theme of some sort... And what better way to start than with the side account that actually got me to start making Neopets OCs in the first place?

Alright, enough stalling, let's do this.

Final Warning: Everything below is over 1,300 words long, and I tried to make these as small and simple as I could. Let's go!

Note: Not all of these customs are accurate

Deep within the Haunted Woods lies one of many giant, spooky mansions... Surrounded by a garden of carnivorous plants, who would even call this place home? Quite a lot of people, actually, but let's start with the actual homeowner.

Name: Symonious Pronouns: she/her Color: Christmas Petpet: Eventide Pandaphant (Saros)

Fresh out of college and living with a roommate in Neopia Central, Symonious hit it big when she won the lottery. She always longed to have some sort of adventure, maybe move somewhere spooky... and what better place than a giant, spooky mansion in the woods? And it was severely discounted, because it only might have been haunted!

Turns out "might have been" meant "absolutely was", and now Symonious lives with a ghost... But that's not gonna dampen her spirit or anything. Instead, Sym befriended the ghost in her (err, his?) house, and soon opened up the manor for roommates! Now she essentially lives in a weird sitcom where all sorts of batshit insane things are happening around her home... But at least she's having fun, right?

She usually hangs out at home, knitting sweaters for her Pandaphant, but sometimes she'll fly out to Neovia for a change of scenery and to hang out with Necroptosis. She may or may not occasionally help the Pteri's kids all play pranks on people...

Relationship-wise, she's still friends with her old roommate Chrysalisna (who lives in Neopia Central and thinks Sym is crazy for moving to the Haunted Woods), but Erican has basically become one of her best friends. She considers most of her housemates her friends as well, except Sythian (he barely comes out!) and Vivianana (prissy Usul gets on her nerves...)

Name: Erican Pronouns: he/him Color: Ghost (formerly Pirate) Petpet: Darigan Carmariller (Phantasm)

The ghost Aisha living in the manor is notable for two things: his cold, almost emotionless demeanor, and the chains that litter his body...

In life, Erican was a greedy, cruel pirate who made his claim to fame by capturing criminals, looting all of their treasure for himself, and turning them in to authorities... There's more info here.

Erican retired to the Haunted Woods with billions of Neopoints and not a single friend to his name. Because he drove everyone away from him, and no one wanted to chance getting on his bad side, no one was really around when he mysteriously fell ill and dropped dead in his own manor.

Nor was anyone around when he came back as a ghost, cursed by his own avarice. On-site he only has one, but I imagine he's covered in dozens of chains, all of them weighing him down and keeping him essentially trapped in his house. His eternal punishment for his greed is to remain incorporeal, shackled to the mansion full of riches and treasures he can't even touch anymore...

Of course, then a certain Vandagyre bought his manor, and now Erican is essentially stuck with... a friend? And then that Vandagyre ended up having a housewarming party, which lead to Erican meeting a certain Gold Blumaroo... This makes his eternal damnation even worse, honestly.

That heart chained to his leg is his actual heart, leaving a gaping hole in his chest where it should be. Only after he's sufficiently repented will his chains ever disappear and his heart come back, but... He's not even sure how to repent.

Relationship time! Erican is dating Wee, a cheery, happy-go-lucky Gold Blumaroo who he can't even touch because he's always incorporeal. Symonious is his best friend, and he just sort of... tolerates the housemates. Except Ixoyuz, who he does have a special fondness for. Erican does have two enemies though... specifically Lypekia, a vengeful Xweetok who wants his riches... and a mysterious Ghost Ruki that he occasionally sees flickers of...

Name: Ixoyuz Pronouns: he/him Color: Shadow Petpet: Spotted Bilguss (Speckles) (Wait, wasn't this something else?)

Though he looks like an older Jubjub, Ixoyuz is actually very young. He's not quite a baby, more like a young child... He's very small and dark colored, which lead to him blending in perfectly in a certain ghost's greenhouse. After a while, though, Ixoyuz finally got the courage (read as: he was very cold and hungry) to actually go into the big spooky manor... And promptly scared everyone living there half to death.

After they all managed to catch the Jubjub, it was decided that he'd live in the house as... the weird house baby-mascot? Not that Ixoyuz minded, he was just happy to have food and a warm place to sleep. He even managed to sort of befriend Erican, who was the only one who could understand the strange chattering noises the Jubjub made.

Ixoyuz is mostly blind. He can see shapes and shadows, but he can't see things clearly and mostly relies on sound to get around. The best things he can see are anything that glows, which is why he follows Erican around most often.

The Shadow Jubjub can often be found toddling around behind whoever has his interest for the day (as I said, he usually follows Erican until the ghost goes up stairs) or sleeping in front of the fireplace... Or disguising himself as a cushion to scare people. He also likes to run to the gate whenever he hears it creak open.

Name: TheCartaker (but just Cartaker for short is fine!) Pronouns: he/him Color: Halloween Petpet: Intesteen (Splort)

Symonious's first order of business upon buying the mansion and beginning to fix it up was to try and find a gardener willing to risk being eaten by killer plants. Erican is incorporeal, so he can't exactly tend to his garden himself. And he told Sym she was crazy, that only an idiot or an insane person would take this job...

And then a Scorchio responded to the want ad, with his only request being for his wife to be allowed to move into the manor with him. Symonious and Erican decided to agree to it, and thus, TheCartaker came to the manor! And so did his wife! And their Intesteen that they basically treat as a baby.

Despite the fact that Cartaker is very, very weird and eccentric, he's a good gardener. He is actually capable of fending off most of the plants in the yard without getting eaten. The bedroom the two got placed in was rather small, as Symonious had two one other housemate living there at the time, so Cartaker took to sleeping in the greenhouse while his wife stayed inside. His loud snoring might've also driven a certain Jubjub crazy enough to go into the house...

He's married to Vinylethers, who he absolutely adores and only wants to spoil. He usually treats Symonious and Erican more like his bosses than anything, but he at least considers Sym his friend, since she actually is pretty nice and once made a sweater for Splort. He's become something of an unwitting rival to Lypekia, after the Xweetok tried to break into the house and he fended her off with a rake... And she vowed that he'd pay dearly for that.

Name: Vinylethers Pronouns: she/her Color: Halloween Petpet: Faerie Selket (Fae) (This was definitely a Flishy long ago...)

A very socially anxious and borderline agoraphobic Lenny, Vinylethers rarely leaves her room/lab, where she's constantly brewing all sorts of potions. Her goal is to one day become a famous alchemist, or maybe even becoming a healer... But her damn anxiety makes it hard for her to even speak to people who aren't her dumpling (Cartaker), let alone a potential employer...

Her skills are pretty much useless in Erican's home, which makes her deeply self-conscious. She feels like she's just sort of freeloading here, and everyone is judging her for that. But it's not really true; anxiety just sucks like that...

Since she rarely ventures out of her room, her main form of communicating is using her husband as a middle-man... But she is friends with Symonious. And speaking of Cartaker...

Holy fuck, these two are madly in love with each other. They met while out in the woods; she was gathering plants for some potions, he was just admiring the flora... and when they locked eyes with each other, they both just knew. They both believe in true love for that reason alone. Fyora help you if you should ever harm a hair on that Scorchio's head, because Vinylethers will throw her anxiety out the window to protect him by whatever means necessary... Even from a vengeful pirate.

Name: Sythian_Keltair Pronouns: he/him Color: Candy Petpet: Neotrak (Peedee)

The mysterious Candy Ruki turned up at the manor on a stormy night, covered in mud, scrapes, and bruises. Carrying little more than the clothes on his back, his Petpet, and some tech that absolutely wasn't stolen, Sythian begged Symonious to just... let him stay anywhere here, just until the heat dies down. What was he even talking about? The Vandagyre wasn't sure, but he looked so desperate that she relented.

Sythian moved into the catacombs under the house, being told to completely avoid that first door, and soon set up his room... Which was practically a bomb shelter with the way he fortified it. Symonious has tried to talk to him, but... he's weird. Like, weirder than Cartaker levels of weird. He's always mumbling about crazy things...

A world made of Jelly? A giant mutation ray? Knowledge vampires? Like, come on, Sythian, that's all madness! Symonious is convinced that the manor is a crackpot magnet now...

The Ruki rarely ever comes up to the manor, only showing up around midnight to get snacks for himself and to let his Neotrak charge itself (the catacombs lack decent electricity). Erican is the only one who has seen him in the house, though the ghost hasn't actually spoken to him.

He constantly says aliens are after him, but... what aliens? He may or may not also have a boyfriend who is looking for him, though their relationship is... extremely long distance at the moment. Like, his boyfriend is still on Virtupets Space Station levels of long distance.

Name: Vivianana Pronouns: she/her Color: Usuki Petpet: Whippet (Yellow Weewoo)

Vivianana was taking a walk one day, when she took a wrong turn and ended up lost in the Haunted Woods. That might've been the end of her, but luckily (or not), she found a manor with a vacancy... And Symonious was willing to let her stay rent-free until she wasn't so frazzled.

At first glance, people think Vivianana is a ditzy airhead who is only obsessed with clothes and fashion... And she is a bit ditzy, not gonna lie. And she does love clothes too! But she's not a complete idiot; she does have common sense and enjoys building things... Too bad most people see an Usul with these looks and just dismiss her as a dumb doll...

Because of her ditzy, sort of prissy attitude, Symonious doesn't particularly like her. Not enough to throw her out, but enough to want this Usul gone and fast. Sym actually called up Chrys and practically begged her to come to the Haunted Woods and take this Usul to replace herself as a roommate, and Chrys obliged and took Vivi back to Neopia Central...

...until Vivi wandered off again. Where to? No one's really sure, but there's been rumors that a very pretty Usul has been spotted with a group of hooligans in Moltara...

Has a bad tendency to get crushes on people based on their looks alone... She was crushing on Erican, until a certain Gold Blumaroo ruined that... And then she had another crush, but he's long gone now... But maybe this Nimmo she's met is the one?

And that's everyone! What? No, there was never any other housemate, don't be ridiculous! A Peophin? No, you're talking crazy. No Peophin ever lived here. Absolutely not. You're starting to sound like Sythian now... Err... Whatever you do, don't go into that first door in the catacombs...

And don't mention the name Daemonblun.

#Joanne's pets #neotag #holy fuck this got so fucking long #ANON COME GET YOUR ERICAN CONTENT #also that last sentence isn't totally indicating what pets are getting showcased next @v

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: June 6th, 2021

I’m back with more ask responses! You can also check our Frequently Asked Question sheet if there’s something you’re wondering that’s not answered here.

FAQ   Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

Thank you for the patience with these questions  ♡

Hey in very beginning of step 3 in the scene where Mr.Holden had a thought dancing on the tip of his tongue but he kept it to himself after MC and Cove were being cute (idk if it makes a difference but this is when they're dating)... Can we know what he was thinking/ wanted to say? It's been bugging me lol 

He would’ve gone into a “look how much you’ve grown”, “your dad is so proud of you”, “I’m so glad things worked out with the MC”, and etc spiel, haha. But he resisted the urge to fawn on his baby boy, at least for that scene.

If we planned to move away for college/future plans in step 3, is it implied that MC and Cove would have a long distance relationship for sure? Could MC have convinced Cove to come with them? How is the dynamic of their relationship going to be addressed in Step 4, if that makes sense? 

Cove is willing to follow the MC where they went after everything is settled for them there, and if they’re sure they want him to come! You’ll get to decide how things shook out during those transitional years just by making choices about it during the opening prologue of Step 4.

Hi! First off, how does it feel to have created one of the best games when it comes to inclusion for lbtq+ peeps? I've never felt as validated with my identity and sexuality when playing a game and I'm seemingly not alone ♥ Second, and this might be a little too specific, but what kinds of drinks does Cove like as well as dislike? Thank you, you're the best ♥

Thank you for very much! It’s really nice to hear the game felt inclusive. Cove likes regular water and fruit juices/smoothies most! He dislikes coffee and cola, and he’s not super into most teas either.

Hi, may i ask what gb patch stands for? Specifically the gb part lol

It stands for my old, silly username I used in places like Neopets as a kid, aha. The company name wasn’t super thought out since it was originally just me making VNs as a hobby. Luckily, “GB Patch” kind of seems like it could mean something reasonable, so I didn’t have to rebrand when it did become a more serious, commercial group.

If we chose to not propose to cove in the step 3 dlc would he propose or would the mc propose in step 4 or the wedding dlc? 

Yeah, you or Cove can propose in Step 4 if you’re not already engaged! The Wedding DLC takes place after the engagement so the proposal scenes aren’t there.

will you guys announce if the early access for the new game is out on patreon ? 

When beta builds of Step 4 or whatever start coming out on the Patreon we will mention it here on social media too.

Heyy I just had a quick question about Baxter if that’s okay :)?

I saw in an ask+answer that it’s possible to casually date Baxter In step 3, but what leads up to that? I have the step 3 dlc and I’ve tried playing them In a different orders and ways but it doesn’t seem to get anywhere ^^;

The Step 3 DLC is Cove-based because he’s the default guy. There’s a separate Baxter romance DLC that’s not out yet. That’s where you can get him to date you. I’m sorry for the confusion!

Will we ever get any LI's or side characters with physical disabilities or deformities? I think your games would be a great place to have them in since they're always so accepting and safe! 

Yeah, we do hope to have representation for that in future projects ^^. Thank you for the confidence in us.

Is it possible to get Cove to take the bed and MC to sleep on the floor? 

Not in Step 3, I’m afraid.

So, I have played the prologue of Our Life countless times and I haven't gotten the [Your Life] achievement, why is that? 

Steam sometimes isn’t connected properly when an achievement unlocks and so it remains locked on your account. If that happens, unfortunately getting the scene again won’t unlock it. The achievement becomes inaccessible because the game thinks you already have it. Playing with the same Steam account on a different device or fully deleting your game data (more than the only the save files) are the only work arounds we’ve found.

Since when you talk with Jeremy in step 3 it's mentioned he goes on dates with someone (which assume is JB because who else would take this boy on dates) that makes him happy, does that sort of make JB and Jeremy the canon relationship in the first game?

The default for XOXO Droplets is that JB casually goes on dates with each of the jerks! Shiloh would’ve been harsher if Jeremy was the only guy getting her attention, haha. But the player can change that default by dating just one person the whole game for their own story and who she ends up with for real has no default.

Hi, hello! Huge OL fan, thank you so much for the wholesome content, it was very much needed during these times. Managed to get several people to join team Cove, so that's very exciting, I always have people to fawn over him with. I have a little question and I'm sorry if it was asked before, but does it ever come up in the game what Cove has told his mom about us? (who knows, with so many options, one can miss it) Or, alternatively, will it come up in the Step 4 DLC? 

Thank you very much for sharing the game with people <3. It’s really great to hear people are liking it. Right now that doesn’t come up in game. Kyra is willing to keep her mouth shut and Cove isn’t gonna have that conversation either. At least not when he’s younger, but yes, perhaps when he’s a fully grown big boy in Step 4 you can ask him about it.

I’ve been thinking about this ever since it has been confirmed that there would be two love interests for OL2, would there be the possibility of forming a polyamorous relationship with both love interests? I’m sorry if you answered this previously, I’m just curious. 

We are considering it, but it’s not a guarantee yet. It’d be really great to have but it’d add so many extra alterations that’d need to made, aha.

Hello! You mentioned how Cove would be uncomfortable with kids at 23, but how old would he be when he’s comfortable with having/adopting kids? (Same goes for the other LI’s.) btw, love your game!! 

He’d want to be at least 25, but even older would be good. Derek would want to have kids when he and his partner could reasonably support them, the age itself wouldn’t matter. If they were doing good at 22 and wanted kids, he’d be up for it. Or they could wait until their 30s or whatever. Baxter is also more of a “when it feels right” guy rather than having a specific age requirement. Cove is just especially wary of being a young parent because of his own parents. I’m happy you like the game!

does step 4 immediately play after you press "end summer" in step 3? or is there another button/transition (like the story text thingy) before the epilogue begins? what happens after the epilogue? roll credits? 😂 

Step 4 will have transition section always and there will be an extra button, if you own the Derek or Baxter DLC. By default the Cove-based version of Step 4 just plays once Step 3 is over. However, having the other guys’ storylines will mean you get to pick which version of Step 4 plays; Cove Step 4 (the basic one), Derek Step 4, or Baxter Step 4.

Happy pride, thank you for all you do for us🥰

I have a quick question though, I recently got a MacBook after my old windows computer broke, and now steam says I cannot download it, but it has no issues with other games, what can I do to download it?? I’m sorry if my English is bad

Happy pride month! Unfortunately, Our Life isn’t available for Mac on Steam right now. To be an approval application Apple requires having special notarization and we as a small group haven’t gotten that. Itch doesn’t care and lets us release the game for Mac there anyway, Steam does care so we’re locked out of putting the Mac build up on their storefront. Feel free to email us and we can try to help the situation out further!

[email protected]

Hello! I was jus wondering if the Baxter and Derek DLCs are still happening? I haven’t heard anything about them on here or patreon in a while so I just wanted to make sure ^^

They’re still coming and we just released a new sprite sketch on the Patreon for the Derek DLC c:. But right now Step 4 is still much more of a priority. Once that’s closer to being done we’ll focus way more on sharing previews for the other guys.

is it possible to tell cove you love him (platonically) at step 3 fondness/selecting him as basically family? i just love the mc and liz sibling interactions and it got me wondering about it (especially if you've selected that option)

You and Cove can be as close as family, but there’s not a specific scene in Step 3 where you say “I love you” in a family context. But there’s always Step 4~

do you intend on ever adding a collectors mode to Our Life? Like a way to collect achievements and CGs for the gallery without it effecting any save files? 

We weren’t considering it before. But if a lot of players would find that helpful, we could start thinking on that!

Sorry if it's a silly question haha, but (in crush/love) is Cove really aware of how cute and cuddly he seems to MC? If so, what does he think or do about it? Or does he just ignore it? 

He isn’t particular aware. Cove never truly stops being surprised that the MC is interested in/attracted to him, haha.

Would you say that the alone ending of xoxo droplets is worth playing again to get? 

Nope, haha. The goal is to make friends/get a boyfriend and so the alone ending is kind of the bad ending for the game. Though there is a consolation prize if you get it by accident.

Is there any possible situation which would ever prompt Pran to bake for his girlfriend? Like I know it's unlikely I mean even if JB broke her leg somehow I'm pretty sure he'd still be like "I considered baking you a cake and doing the frosting the way I think looks interesting but you don't deserve a cake, no one does." right but also ahhh it would be super nice if some day he just surprised her with baked goods one day out of nowhere. JB would be so shocked it would be cute. So is there any possible situation where that could/would be a thing that he would do? 

He might bake out of spite, like if he felt he had to prove her wrong on something. Or if JB used some good reverse psychology on him. Or he might do it in a relatively nice way if he could make his GF so shocked by the kind gesture that his amusement with that overrode his insistence on not being sweet. Pran is very difficult in high school, aha.

Is the "one route (where) it can be seen that Everett will drop his seemingly eternal waging with Jeremy pretty easily and can start getting along without thinking much on it" the Lucas route? I'm curious! 

Yep! Everett will side with Jeremy if it’s between him and Lucas.

Hi I hope you guys are having a great day :) I just had to ask how Cliff would feel about Cove's partner/fiancé Mc calling them dad whether it be accidental or otherwise and secondly I also wanted to ask how he would feel about being asked to be the one to give the mc away at their wedding. 

He would be very touched and excited! I hope you have a good day too :D

Hello! I saw an ask relating to whether Cliff "moves on" after Cove's grown up and stuff (and he stays single), but what about Kyra? Will she be with anyone else or will she stay single? 

She does start dating again, but she takes it slow.

Hi! I absolutely love the art for characters in OL and I wonder is this fine to draw my MC in same drawing style and upload online later? Is this something artists would be okay with? Thank you! 

Yeah, you can certainly do that C:

Hey there!

I wonder if I'm just being stupid here.. Is Step 4 a DLC? And if so, where can I find it? I can't seem to find it on Steam :< Thank you!

Step 4 is a free epilogue! It’s not done yet, but once it is finished you’ll just update your game file and Step 4 will be there after Step 3 ends.

hi! are step 4 and the wedding dlc two different things?

They are. Step 4 is a free epilogue that’ll be a default part of the game once it’s done, the wedding DLC is an optional paid expansion that takes place after Step 4.

Why did Baxter not receive a step 2 sprite seeing how he shows up later

Sprites are time consuming to draw and take money out of the budget that could’ve gone to other things. His tiny appearance in Step 2 wasn’t worth all the effort to make a sprite, aha.

I just realized, what happens if if you get the patreon exclusive moment but at a later date, when you don't have the membership anymore, it's updated (like a bugs fix update for example)? Would you have to get the membership again? 

You would have to get the membership again to redownload the build. But there’s very little chance there’s going to be an update once it’s been out for over a month. If a build gets released with errors, players catch/report them within the first few days. So by the time the first subscription period ends, any problems that were noticeable would already have been fixed. And we’re certainly not gonna be adding new content to it once it’s been released for a long time. There’s no need to worry about missing out on something worthwhile in the future if you cancel your membership. It’s being made with the idea in mind that many players are gonna be getting it and then going.

Hello! Wanted to ask about gaming choice in step 3? Once upon a playthorugh I got the option to buy Cove a bracelet for his graduation present. I played the same basic character again and that option wasn't there anymore. I'm not sure where I went wrong. My Cove wears a bracelet on each hand and my MC is into fashion and jewelry. Do I need to put an earring on him or? Sorry, love your game so much. 

He also needs to have liked bracelets in Step 2 for that to be considered a good gift option for him. Sorry for the confusion! I’m happy you love the game :)

Is Step 4 being released at the same time as the Wedding DLC or will the first come before the latter? Thank you! 

I’m not sure. Ideally they’ll come out at the same time, but the wedding DLC has a lot of art to get done and we may have to release it after Step 4.

Can mc still get confession from Cove at the end of step 3 even if mc casually dates Baxter in step 3? Such as in crush mode? 

I don’t think so. Maybe that’ll change, but generally there’s differences to the Step 3 ending if you were dating Baxter and those differences likely will conflict with getting the Cove confession.

For the patreon moments/dlcs, will it be available for all tiers? 

It’ll be available for tier 2 (Fans) and up!

#our life #xoxo droplets #gb patch #ask #gb patch games #Our Life Beginnings & Always

[spookyshake]

*proceeds to do exactly everything but work on my pets* H-have some faeries and lore dump I had rotting in the cabinet

[Light Faerie - Justine] A stern light faerie who manages Faerieland's treasury. Rules and regulations are her creed, and she will not allow any misdeed under her watch.

Despite her uptight demeanor, she has a peculiar fondness for games of chance. She seems to have an unwavering confidence in the certainty of numbers- and the dice, once cast, are fair and absolute arbitrators in her eyes. Of course, it could just be that she's addicted to gambling. When there's no clear protocol for a situation, she opts to flip coins and leave it to luck and happenstance.

-Fwaku's life was saved by Justine, who had happened to be passing by the area. She decided to flip a coin to determine his fate- and as luck would have it, he would survive. -The townspeople that had found Fwaku suggested that Justine should give the draik a name. The exchange probably went something like this: Townspeople: Thank you great faerie!! Would you give the honor of naming this child you just saved????? Justine: (uh shit) Give me a moment. *furious dice rolling* Justine: I grant this child the name...F..W...Q...Fwaku. Townspeople: WOW!! WHAT AN HONOR!!

(What kind of name is Fwaku......)

-While Fwaku is generally irreverent and unlikable to most parties he comes across, he displays a great deal of respect towards Faeries because of his background. Justine, in her act of saving and naming Fwaku, also unwittingly left him with a strange blessing: he has extremely good luck to the point of absurdity, which has saved his skin from karmic retribution countless times in the past.

---

[Fire Faerie - Heliae] A go-getter fire faerie with a particularly strong affinity to her element. Still young for a faerie, she has trouble controlling her excessive energy and often bursts into flames when she's excited.

Fun-loving but a bit careless, she loves to attend concerts, festivals, and other events where crowds gather...a serious fire hazard waiting to happen. She doesn't seem to fully grasp the danger she poses to those around her, and was originally sequestered away in Faerieland before she decided to run away- as you do, when you're a young faerie whose had your freedom denied.

Very explosive. very explosive. very explosive.................................

---

[Earth Faerie - Lottie] A lax but cryptic earth faerie who appreciates tranquility. She wandered into Kiko Lake some long time ago, and has since stuck around trying to achieve what she calls 'perfect bliss.' Generally found quietly meditating and contemplating her surroundings- usually with sweets and a cup of borovan as accompaniment. Her perception of time seems to be a little out of sync with the world around her.

Though usually impassive and calm, she hates above else having her peace and quiet disturbed. She will, with a quiet but tremendous fury, catapult raucous intruders out the window. Her longest recorded throw was over a mile! So impressive is her throwing skill, that kiko children often dare one another to see who can get flung the farthest.

-Because the architecture around Kiko Lake are built with kikos in mind, it's not uncommon to see the faerie bump her head on the door frames and ceilings. Fortunately, there's also never a shortage of bandages in the vicinity.

[Dover] Brown Kiko. Ever since Lottie began living on their family land generations back, their crops have prospered- especially asparagus. Now, the family is in the Borovan business, exporting premium blends of chocolate and asparagus for which Kiko Lake is now famed.

Dover isn't the kiko's real name- that was the name of his great great grandfather, but Lottie doesn't seem to make a distinction. All of her little helper kikos are 'Dover' to her. His job is to run around fulfilling Lottie's errands, whether that be procuring snacks or chasing pesky kids out of her yard.

---

[Dark Faerie - Alluce] A vain dark faerie living near Neovia, known to kidnap Neopets to force into servitude. She periodically terrorizes the citizens of Neovia to spread her influence. She wants, above all, to be feared and revered! ...but her actual ambitions tend to be quite small and petty. Knowledgeable about mirrors and magic involving them.

Though she revels in garnering fear, she's rather full of fears and cares herself- the thought of the true horrors lurking within the depths of the Haunted Woods makes her quiver. All smoke and mirrors, no bite.

-Doesn't get along well with Clariote. Alluce can't maintain her high-and-mighty mistress of evil theatrics against Clari's general irreverence. ABSOLUTELY D I S R E S P E C T F U L

---

[Air Faerie - Nephele] A fickle air faerie scout with a light-hearted but arrogant demeanor. One of the faeries tasked by Justine to recover Faerieland's lost artifacts, which were scattered across the lands in the aftermath of the Faerie's Ruin. Holds a strong belief that Neopets are lesser beings, considering them to be incompetent without Faeries.

Rand (Faerie Tonu) and  Bell's (Faerie Tuskaninny) supervisor. She usually leaves the Neopets to do all the dirty work and takes credit for their efforts, usually under the justification that Neopets 'owe' the Faeries anyways.

---

[Social Media Faerie - Papilla] A young faerie, rare in her time (Einse’s Future). Big-time celebrity and social media influencer, she loves travelling Neopia and blogging about her adventures (and promoting sponsored products.) Has a great love towards Neopets and lives life at her fullest interacting with them, but holds feelings of isolation due to being perhaps the last known faerie in Neopia. She’s invested in discovering why Faeries have all but disappeared in her time, and spends some of her time flitting across Neopia looking into the matter. She has a terrible sense of humor, and she sometimes has strange fits where she floods her social media with incomprehensible jokes and memes- terrorizing her followers’ feeds. She does all this in earnest, thinking her jokes are hilarious, but her fans generally think she’s just trolling and get a kick out of it. This creates a strange cycle of positive reinforcement as Papilla continues to get many reactions from her bad jokes, reinforcing her confidence in her humor. SOMEONE STOP THIS FAERIE

------------------------------------

[The dynamic between Faeries and Neopets] Neopets aid Faeries, Faeries grant blessings. The dynamic between Neopets and Faeries is mutually beneficial, for the most part.

-Power of belief is essential to grant power to a Faerie's magic. Neopets, by helping Faeries on the premise that they will receive a reward or be granted a blessing, creates a transaction of belief. This is the premise of Faerie quests, which plays a vital role in powering the barrier that protects Neopia from wraiths (among other things.)

-Faeries are perhaps better defined as 'memetic' as opposed to 'elemental'- their magic is framed on a concept or idea, which relies on the belief/understanding/recognition of the themes surrounding the idea in question. The more wide-spread and strongly understood the idea, the greater the manifestation of a faerie's magic. (Motes, though simpler entities, also work on the same logic)

The basic elements, for example, are widely and easily understood as a concept- which may be why the majority of the faerie population falls in this category. (Something like a singular 'Fire' Faerie, for example, would probably be TOO POWERFUL AN IDEA to contain as a single being, so instead there's just a lot of them.)

-Names are very important, because they give shape to a concept or idea. -When they're cut-off from belief, they lose strength (Bottled Faeries) -They can shrink! Probably to conserve magic. -A Faerie without wings is essentially unheard of (with the special exception of Water Faeries). Taking away their wings is one of the most heinous things you can do to a Faerie. -Faeries are born spontaneously? Most of them just appear one day out of the ether or whatever. -They're ageless and nigh immortal

they're......the OG gijinkas <-- hold on this is actually somewhat relevant but that's a story for another time

[Shenkuu - A curious case study of Kaia, the Shenkuu Faerie] Kaia the Shenkuu Faerie appeared spontaneously in a relatively recent timeframe- probably within an average Neopian lifetime. She's a young faerie, younger than most of her kind. She's in the same category as Jhuidah and Taelia- faeries with a strong conceptual connection to the land they watch over.

There are no other (known) faeries in Shenkuu, which implies that the faerie population in Shenkuu is very low or...non-existent? At the very least, it can be said that Faeries are novel in Shenkuu, given that Kaia mentions how everyone stares at her. If we go a step further, we could postulate that Faeries, as a concept, isn't a part of common knowledge in Shenkuu as a whole.

Almost as if the concept of 'Faeries' have never existed here...?

-Shenkuu was a land that had barred itself from the outside world for an undetermined amount of time. The land only recently opened their doors to the rest of Neopia (Cyodrake's Gaze) (*in my lore I'm pinning that down to like 10~15 yrs ago for character reasons but passage of time in Neopia is not very well defined so.... shrugs) -It can be assumed that there was still some exchange occurring with the outside at a smaller scale (Airship merchants, travellers who ended up in or out of Shenkuu by happenstance, Neopians living in areas close to but not quite in Shenkuu proper, etc) -Assumably, Shenkuu has a history perhaps dating back to the heyday of Altador and other 'ancient' civilizations (1000+ years) -This creates a situation where: a. There never were faeries to begin with in Shenkuu or b. There used to be faeries, but they disappeared from Shenkuu AND from common knowledge

-Kaia's manifestation may have been the direct result of the opening of Shenkuu to Neopia- with the arrival of outside trade and ideas, so too did the knowledge of Faeries. Once the faerie 'meme' took hold in Shenkuu, where there was a void of Faeries, it took form as the Shenkuu Faerie: Kaia. This is why she's so young as a faerie- she probably spawned sometime between Cyodrake's Gaze and the present day. (Alternatively, she might have existed in Shenkuu before the events of Cyodrake's Gaze but I think it still holds that she popped up in a pretty recent timeframe.) Kaia herself only seems to know Faeries through the knowledge she received from travelers.  

#◆Concepts #★NPC #◎Faeries #▶ Future #i am alive and definitely not posting from beyond the grave

[priorireverte]

Congratulations Nat!

Your application for Lavender Brown has been accepted. My werewolf(?) flower child! Let’s focus on the trouble she’s going to get into and NOT how this is a day late.

Please look to the checklist for the next steps and reach out if you have any questions!

OUT OF CHARACTER

NAME & PRONOUNS: Nat, she series

AGE: Old enough to have played Neopets when it was considered a popular thing

TIMEZONE: EST

ACTIVITY LEVEL: Usually around 2-3 times a week. Sometimes more frequently. Sometimes I may be on once a week if my chronic illness decides to throw me for a loop.

ANYTHING ELSE: No triggers.

CHARACTER DETAILS

NAME: Lavender Brown

BIRTHDATE: April 27, 1980

DEATHDATE: May 2, 1998

GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY: Female, she/her/hers, pansexual - openly

BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood

HOUSE ALUMNI: Gryffindor

OCCUPATION: N/A due to recently returning

FACECLAIM: Sydney Park

CHARACTER BACKGROUND

POSTBELLUM

Returning brought the news that Lavender’s father died several months after she did, leaving the Ministry with the option of handing her over to her mother. The woman is rather uneasy about the whole situation since she has no training in regards to what to do if the attack on her daughter results in the full moon affecting her.

Coping is confusing and has left Lavender rather anxious. The last thing she can recall was a searing pain in her neck and Fenrir Greyback being bent over her— the one face that truly haunts her memories. Having fought for what was right and just leaves Lavender with little regret toward the side she chose. After all, her father always encouraged her to follow her heart, and doing so meant not risking allowing the Dark Lord to take over. It will be a bit of a relief to know her death wasn’t for nothing (a big fear of hers includes discovering that their side lost) but the after-effects will haunt her waking moments.

Being attacked was certainly not how she imagined her life to end, with her returning focused on fretting about what will happen the first full moon she experiences. Her parents carried prejudices toward werewolves that she didn’t exactly support or question as a child past deciding she would come to a conclusion based on her own experiences. With Remus Lupin as the only werewolf she came across before the one that ended her life, she has some hope that things won’t be too unbearable. There’s just the matter of her mother making occasionally rude remarks and not wanting to spend long periods of time with her.

PERSONALITY

Before her passing, Lavender could be described as boisterous. She appreciated being the center of attention and was prone to being loud and behaving in ways that would get others to pay attention to her. Some would even go as far as describing her behavior as childish. It was merely a matter of getting the attention that her parents didn’t provide while growing up.

Although friendly, her personality had a way of grating on people. She had few friends and was grateful for the ones she kept throughout her time at Hogwarts. Reading situations is something she struggled with, often relying on Parvarti to keep her in check if she seemed too overbearing.

Divination was easily her favorite school subject, with care for magical creatures as a close second. She was rather clever, hiding behind the habit of playing dumb around her classmates.

Returning has left Lavender on the anxious side, feeling like people are paying extra attention to her because of the mystery around coming back from the particularly gruesome way she died. Falling from a balcony could have left her alive (damaged but alive). The attack from Fenrir, however, was too much to handle. Knowing he was what caused her to perish has her fearing the attention that is on her. There are too many unknowns and she feels as though the attention she is receiving is out of treating her as an experiment - not people being relieved to see her as one of the familiar faces among the returned.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY

Lavender is the only child of Isaac and Seraphina Brown. She was a welcomed addition to the family, with her parents doting on her during the first few years of her life. The novelty of having a child wore off once Lavender was old enough to have her own opinion. Her mother didn’t appreciate the attention-seeking ways of her child and kept the girl at a distance. Her father loved her but wasn’t overly affectionate, relying on material goods as a way of showing his feelings toward his child. She was rather spoiled but her childhood lacked the traditional warmth most parents provided their children with.

Although purebloods, the Browns did not officially pick a side during either war. Her father focused on the Ministry and managed to avoid being recruited by the death eaters. The main family values involved her father mentioning Lavender was destined for greatness that would be guided by her own decisions. He wanted her to have the confidence to think for herself and use her mistakes as learning experiences but did not have a constructive way of instilling those values that didn’t involve lecturing at his daughter.

HISTORY

Spoiled and lonely. The years leading up to going to Hogwarts were spent getting whatever she asked for from her father. It didn’t matter how expensive the item was or whether or not it was an appropriate item for her age. Although grateful the threat of tears served as a way of getting whatever she wanted, material goods did not make up for the emotional distance her parents used while raising her. The Browns were not overly social and Lavender spent her early life surrounded by books, dogs, the outdoors, and having minimal contact with other people.

Hogwarts was challenging since it meant meeting children her age. She didn’t know how to behave around others and struggled with understanding social norms during her first two years of school. The little guidance from her parents and peers made making friends hard but she did manage to befriend a few of the girls in her dormitory.

She was quite close with Parvarti Patil and the two were inseparable for most of Hogwarts — the teen serving as one of the first thoughts on her mind moments after coming through the veil.

Voldemort’s return was something Lavender didn’t immediately acknowledge. Her mother had made scathing remarks about Harry during the summer after the first bit of news spread about it and she went along with it in an attempt at getting attention from her mother. Peer pressure eventually led to her accepting Harry was telling the truth.

Lavender sided with Dumbledore’s Army and spent her last year of life being quite vocal about disliking the Death Eater’s interference at Hogwarts. She eventually took to hiding in the room of requirement since running her mouth was too risky and the castle had taken a rather dark turn.

OOC EXPLORATION

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO?

Ugh. I would never - how dare you even suggest I enjoy this group enough to take on two characters, let alone three. I said the third would be a calm muse and here we are with the dice gods deciding the possibility of postmortem lycanthropy means chill.

Anyway, oof. Let me see the chaos of returning after being attacked by a werewolf and the uncertainty of not knowing if Fenrir did enough damage to have caused her to become one. (Emmy side note of we’ll need to further discuss this since I’m fine with either her getting a few wolf-ish traits from the attack or her returned life getting the hiccup of transforming on the full moon :|)

I would love to see Fenrir come into play and know that is rather wishful thinking but he could prove to be an interesting addition.

I’m mostly wanting to further explore Lavender’s character traits. I feel like J.K. Rowling deliberately made her annoying and gave her few reasons for readers to forgive her for her personality/basically went “wow loud girl that giggles too much and is emotional. Let’s keep her development  at that.” Returning would mean those overly obnoxious traits being a little muted since she no longer likes the idea of all eyes being on her.

ANYTHING ELSE?

Mock blog: https://lavlavbrown.tumblr.com/

#prioriacceptance #lavender brown

[lunawings]

I... RECOVERED MY NEOPETS ACCOUNT........................ whathaveidone

(long)

So apparently Neopets like THAT Neopets had some HUGE drama recently, like the most drama it’s EVER had despite the fact that it’s literally half broken with Flash support being dropped and yet people REALLY FREAKING CARE about it so much that they literally sell pets for hundreds of dollars and I found that to be... incredibly interesting. 

Although my very first account has been long lost to the winds of time (probably purged), I first began playing Neopets sometime around the summer of 2000 and it was a HUGE part of my life. I quit sometime in 2005 after some drama with a Neofriend made me just not really feel like playing anymore. The last time I logged in was 2008 to update my email and the site ran so sluggishly with the ads I just gave up. At that time I didn’t actually even know about the conversion that had taken place. The first time I heard the term “UC Neopet” was literally a week ago while watching this amazing video by possibly the best Neopets YouTuber.

So although the ads problem has technically not changed, nowadays thanks to ad blockers it’s no longer an issue! With a Chrome extension and short adjustment period, Neopets is almost exactly how I remember it....... after all these years..................

I was able to recover two of my side accounts by email. One of them appears to have been hacked, with all my pets nowhere to be found.... (And sadly I don’t remember their names to check out where they’ve gone.) The second account was an account I made specifically to adopt a Lutari! Other than that it had no rare pets, so they were all intact... although they weren’t pets I remembered too well. I think they were just pets I adopted from the pound with good names. 

My main account... was no longer associated with my email, even though I had evidence that I had updated it all those years ago. My heart sank. This was what I was afraid of. Shaking, I typed the username into the search and... there it was. My old account. With all my old pets. It still existed. 

I contacted support and after a little back and forth I got them to send me a temporary password. I logged in and...

There they were. My most prized pets. My Draik. My Krawk! They were all there!!! And I even had a somewhat decent amount of NP in the bank too?

So I really have no idea what happened. If someone did hack my account, I have no idea what they were in there to do? Maybe I loaned my account to someone at some point and forgot about it? Whatever the case... They’re all back. I’M BACK! For YEARS I’ve been wondering if my account still existed. After I heard Neopets started purging inactive users the idea of looking up my old Neopets and finding they’d been wiped from existence was TERRIFYING. Despite not having seen them in ages they’re... they’re my babies.... and I left them dying for FIFTEEN YEARS because I was afraid...... AHHHH--

And to top it all off the lab ray finally changed one of my pets back to male which I had literally been trying to do for YEEAAAAAAAAAARRRRSSS finally completing his lab ray training so I could morph him back into his original species. And with enough NP left over to buy the Ghost Paint Brush I always wanted for my other pet too. AHHHHHH

So at first I was like..... WHATHAVEIDONE but now... I think this was a good decision. I have zero interest in NeoCash nor any of the stuff that didn’t exist back in the day. There are no must-have UC pets for me, and most of my old dreamies aren’t even my dreamies anymore because of the converted art. All there is for me to do is just play games, do dailies, and spend time with my wonderful pets. It’s another thing besides Reddit and Tumblr I can do while I’m sitting in a waiting room or riding a bus. The mobile site, or rather what they made of it so far, isn’t bad. Good lord smartphones did not even exist the last time I played Neopets. What I would not have GAVE to play Neopets anytime anywhere in 2003.............

So, the reason I asked if anyone here played Neopets was actually because I was hoping to find other active users I could talk to about how much my VWN pets (...I’m learning the lingo) may be worth, if there is anywhere legit to trade (I heard bad things about Pound Chat), and other things. (I also just wanted to see if anyone would know what I was talking about if I brought up Neopets.) But regardless I’m delighted to see the neopets tag on Tumblr is actually fairly active. I shouldn’t have been surprised! I mean... Tumblr and Neopets users definitely seem like they would have relevant interests and significant overlap. (Down with the ship and all...) So if you are a Neopets blog like this post and I may follow you!

So that’s my Neopets rant. Good night. 

#neopets

[dolcetters]

get to know the mun ~!

repost, don’t reblog.

———  basics! ♡

(PEN)NAME: hannah / red / raven

PRONOUNS: she / her

ZODIAC SIGNS: virgo sun, scorpio moon

TAKEN OR SINGLE: hella single

———  three  facts! ♡

i horde art-of books like a dragon. current count around my art desk is 42 but i have maybe 4 or 5 over in my bookshelves that won’t fit in my desk drawers. if i hear an artist i love/follow is kickstarting a book, i’m on it. and i’m currently trying to slowly collect the Spectrum: Fantastic Art series as well as the annual Illustration series published by Shoeisha. in addition to art-of books, i also love collecting enamel pins and old fashion keys. i really love keys.

my favorite pokemon types are ghost types, and i tend to prefer sticking to the first 2 generations (though i have a handful of later generation pokemon i like, the designs just don’t tickle my quite as much). my FAVORITE would probably be haunter, if i had to choose. also i’ve had pokemon: moon for... cripes, 3 or 4 years? and i’ve barely gotten past getting my rowlet because i kept starting the game over because i really wanted a female, goddamnit. she’s mine, now. ...i just gotta actually give myself permission to play the actual game l m a o.

my webcomic is totally gonna give it away but i have a fascination with forests, trees, and especially old/ancient trees. i can’t quite put it into words, but the concept of a living thing being so MASSIVE and looming, winding, tall and beautiful whilst being thousands of years old... like... what stories can you tell? what have you seen? what have you lived through, felt, sheltered--just... a really love trees and what they can symbolize and/or bring to a story. and the idea of an old forest... auhaufhdskgd.

———  experience ! ♡

been RPing since ye ol’ neopets days (i wanna say i was 11-13?). went from there to RPing in various chat spaces on deviantart, then mostly did one-on-ones  with my bestie, JM, over skype and nowadays discord. think i joined the tumblr RPC early my freshman year of college? with this blog, actually (the original blog is now archived but same handle, same muse). aaaand a decade later i am stillll hereeeee.

———  muse preference !  ♡

can’t say i have one, really? i’ve written a super wide range of personalities over the years and tons of canon AND OCs alike. most of my tumblr muses have been canon, but this is mostly because OC blogs tend to take more leg work (icons, detailed bios, etc; seriously you guys are badasses) and since i started RPing around here in college going forward i generally just... don’t have the free time anymore to dedicate to the stuff OC blogs need. my free time goes toward my comic and other art because i really would like to make THAT my career, and i can’t justify to myself spending time i could be putting into that into an RP blog. --and i really hope that doesn’t come off as “dissing” OC blogs because seriously you guys are fucking incredible and in a lot of ways i do envy you because i wish i had the time and headspace to write my OCs around here--i love dol, but christ, sometimes it comes to the end of the day and you realize he’s not your own actual character and it all just feels super hollow lmfao. i continue to be in awe of the OCs i encounter around here. one of these days i’m gonna write a strongly worded letter of love.

———  FLUFF / ANGST / SMUT! ♡    

FLUFF: fluff is my shit. let me write disgustingly wholesome sweetness all day. i’ll give all you bitches cavities. you’ll hate me for it. my blog doesn’t come with dental, i’m so sorry, i’ll make it up to you somehow. GOD, i’m fluff deprived right now.

ANGST: i’m chill with angst so long as i get breaks. >xD it’s great for development and character exploration and all that jazz but as soon as we get grimdark for grimdark’s sake, i start checking out. i just. i can’t. i’m too tired, the world’s on fire, how ‘bout yours, that’s the way i like it and i never get bored.

SMUT: my willingness to write smut is 100% dependent on my relationship with the other mun, tbh. i was a bit looser with this when i started RPing and i kind of regret that in the sense that i think i let myself get pressured into it because tumblr RPing was newww and my partner and i were excited about our shiiiip and suddenly things were happeniiiiing, and now i’m like. ...idk, i just need to feel completely safe and in transparent communication with the mun before we can do that. it doesn’t help that i’m sex-repulsed and, while there’re some aspects of smut that i don’t bat an eye at there are others that’ll squick me out real fast. i got nothin’ against how often or unoften anyone else partakes, but ya gurl just needs that solid ground on a mun-to-mun level, y’feel.

PLOT / MEMES: i’m totally grand with either, my guy--i love plotted stuff with a basic “outline” of events that we just let our characters find their way through like they were on a roadtrip OR just ... throwing them to the wind and seeing what happens organically. sometimes meme-starters can take real interesting character turns, sometimes plots just up and die... LONG AS WE’RE HAVIN’ FUN.

tagged by: stolen from @aemiliiu​ because eeehhhhHHHHH??? it mundai.

tagging: i stole it, you steal it

#♦: ooc .

[pidgeonspen]

A decade of friends - in no order, here’s to all the amazing people in my life old and new!

@shinkumancer : I remember following your work waaay back in the Archie Comic days. I had always been too shy to approach you, but I loved your work. I still remember so much of your Egg Boss art and it’s insane how far you’ve come. You’re still one of the sweetest, kindest people I know and I always enjoy the little drawpile sessions we have! 

@zlatis-art : We haven’t been friends for very long - it’s roughly been a year, now, but it feels like we’ve been friends longer. Something just... clicked when we met, and god I came on strong looking back! I don’t regret it tho - taking the plunge and letting you into my life was such a good call. You’re super patient and you strive so hard to treat everyone fairly and give people so much love. You’ve come such a long way with both your OCs and your art, and our calls are always so much fun! 

@sege-h : Would you believe I actually don’t remember exactly how we met...? I know it had something to do with the Sonic RPC iirc. But you’ve always been such a wonderful source of optimism and joy, and I love our talks! You’ve always been so supportive of me and I don’t know how to thank you for it?? I need to draw Storm and Carey doing more shenannigans when I get better!

@rainingautumn : I also don’t recall how, other than vague recollections of the Sonic RPC I think. I feel like I learned so much from you - you’ve provided me with different perspectives, which really helped me open my eyes to a lot of things. You’ve always been such a warm, positive presence while still standing firm and speaking up for yourself, which is so hard to do. I love your little messages, even if I don’t always know how to respond to them!

@boy-of-silence : You’re legit one of my oldest friends around and looking back on where we started it’s honestly kind of insane? We met on dA and we were practically babies like??? It’s insane, I remember so much and it all blurs together like mad, but we’ve always just sorta stuck by each other and I’m always so happy to see you on my dash. You got me into Homestuck, and you made me curious about Bioshock (I still need to finish Infinite), and I still remember the little art collabs we used to do...! I got nothing but good memories!

@kismeti : We don’t talk much, but I’m hoping to change that soon! I love your work, and you’ve put so much into your OCs. Seeing you tweet about petsites makes me think about Neopets and I age 500 years every time,, You honestly seem so sweet and kind and I can’t wait to see what more you’re gonna share with us in the new year!

@fini-mun : I don’t talk with you as much as I should (purely because I’m shy as all get out) but you’ve honestly been such an inspiration to me. You’re so incredibly kind and patient -- I still have that doodle you sent me while I had been down in the dumps. I remember I found you so intimidating when I first met you on dA, when I first tried to commission you -- and watching you grow as an artist and getting to know you has been so great! You don’t know how much I smiled that night when I expressed how I knew nothing about BatIM and you up and streamed the entire game live. I know we were both excited to play FO76 together and that was a let down for like, the entire fandom. But we should definately hang sometime and do stuff! Give your ratties my love!!

@oddpastrys : JAAADE,,, I vaguely remember meeting you in one of Kaden’s streams,, and then in Joan’s weird campaign. You’ve always been such a fun, energetic person and you always bring the best jokes. Deadass, watching RWBY with you both ruined it and enhanced it. You’re so much fun to be around and you always work so hard to cheer everyone up and please everyone, and we don’t say thank you often enough - I don’t thank you often enough. You’re so sweet and fun to be around and I’m 100% not sorry about all the horrible, horrible things I’ve made you see. 

@calderscauldron : Kaden!!! You’re another one of my oldest friends, and it’ll never be wild to me how insanely lucky it was that I happened to move to the same state as you. I remember when we were dumb kids on dA, and how you used to joke about kidnapping me -- and how my first thought when getting to Texas was “I should see where this guy lives and meet up!” sjkfdjkfs It’s been a helluva ride and I don’t regret it. We had our bumps and fallouts but we’ve always worked through it all -- and your art has come such a long way. You’re always so sweet and so much fun to be around.  You deserve so many nice things and I can’t thank you enough for sticking by my dumb ass for so long!

@haunted-pixel : Yet another decade-old friendship! Bronwyn it’s been such a fucking wild ride. I still remember your old OCs from back in the day; I remember our gryphon friend group, and our lizard group and screaming about digimon, I remember getting really into Kimba/Jungle Emperor Leo cos of you and your OCs, I remember all the drawings of Z and Miki. I remember Nuki and the others. It’s been such a long time and so much has changed around us both. We don’t talk as much anymore but I’m always thrilled when we do hit eachother up on twitter!! I seriously gotta draw more Carey x Zanity sometime. You’ve also just, improved so much as an artist and branched out so much?? Your plushies and your fursuits are absolutely amazing and I can’t believe how far you’ve come! I also still have the sketches you and your sister did for me when I was technically homeless and stuck in the hospital and I’ll always treasure them - and the Nack you made for me is still sitting cozy on my shelf, along with the yeen and Sonic you sent!

@nuttyrabbit : My absolute best friend!!! And probably most unexpected friend! I remember seeing your posts in the Archie Sonic tag way back when, and how my asshole ex used to rant about how she hated you for w/e reason. I used to be so intimidated by you because you told it how it is, and I respected your opinion so I was always lowkey afraid you thought I was stupid and hated my ideas/OCs. But even before we got close, you stuck your neck out for me when things got bad between my ex and me. And in 2018, we finally just started to click with our OC stuff.  Lady Luck became a huge comfort dynamic for the both of us. You always argue against it but I still say you’re one of the kindest people I know. You always try to look out for me and find ways to lend a hand when things get tough, you’re always trying to help me when I’m down and you go out of your way to cheer me up and I can’t thank you enough. Meeting you at RTX this year was incredible.  Thank you so much for being you. <3 

@finitevus : We don’t talk much but I can’t not add you!!! You’ve been so kind and supportive to me, and artistically you’ve always been such a big inspiration. I love your character designs and your writing is so so good, and you always strive to be so positive and warm to others and I promise I’m not ignoring you when you reach out; I’m just very shy and dumb ankjdjkfs I need to,,, say hello on discord sometime. And draw you many things!

@lightdax : You’re always a whole lot of fun and I refuse to apologize for your eyes with half the shit you’ve been exposed to by proxy. You’ve always been really sweet and you’ve really been pushing to improve this past year and it shows! Take time off your mayoral duties for the town of Cuckoldia and put up your OC bios tho! @nvllspace : I,, gotta tag ur RP blog cos IDK ur personal but JACKKIIEE. You’re so sweet and fun and your art is always such a treat. You came through with helping me realize just how toxic a certain person I needed to cut out of my life was, and you’ve always been so kind and supportive. You’re always a blast in our calls and I love your AUs so much! Also you need to stop having so many gorgeous characters cos holy shit,,,

@frecklefacefromouterspace : Nixe!  You’re usually busy these days but whenever we do catch you it’s always fun. If it wasn’t for your old server, the current server wouldn’t have even existed and you brought us all together! You’re always so sweet and bubbly and you have one of the cutest, most distinct styles I know.

And to all my other mutuals - thank you all so much for sticking by me!  I’m having difficulty typing now so I’m sorry I couldn’t get to everyone but sincerely: thank you, all of you, for making these past years such an amazing ride. I’ve learned so much from each of you and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2020!

#I'M SAPPY SO SUE ME #<3

[xxairo-dev]

Next Log

So I started making a 2D pixel art game. Welcome to my new Dev blog!

No official name, but the unofficial name is Bowfish.

(TLDR and Dev log with pretty gifs at bottom)

Hello internet, friends, and 2020 -- those of you that have been following me all this time know that I’ve been doing art for a loooong time. Even before I got into digital art in 2010, I’ve been drawing with paper and pencil for as long as I can remember and probably started playing video games right at the same time. For reference, my earliest memories of video games consist of Lemmings 3D on PS1, followed shortly by Rayman and Spyro the Dragon. 

I’m still a big Spyro fan, also pretty sure this is how I became obsessed with dragons in general. 

Science based dragon MMO girl, wherever you are -- I feel you, I am you.

Basically, I’ve been playing video games all my life (to the detriment of my parents) and I owe it to gaming for igniting my early artistic ambitions. In fact, I remember learning how to draw by copying the character art of Neopets and Sonic Advance before one day stumbling upon one of my dad’s Game Informer magazines and being blown away by the art that I saw in there (particularly the WoW art). I’m pretty sure that was when I was first introduced to Big Boy™ game art and instantly thought, “Whoa, I want to be able to draw like that”.

Later, when I got my first drawing tablet and started making digital art, it became “I want to draw for a video game”.

Even later, when I learned that being a video game artist was not a very realistic career path and opted to pursue a bachelors degree in biology instead of art, it became “I want to draw for a video game... on the side”.

Even later-er, when I got my degree in 2017 and started working full-time and realized that work saps you of all energy and motivation to work on projects at home, it became “I want to draw for a video game... some day”. 

Well, today here we are in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, I got furloughed from my biology job due to the quarantine. I spent four months passing time, thinking that I’d go back to work soon. But by the end of July, I was at wit’s end of what to do with myself after getting burnt out on a number of hobbies, games, shows, books, etc. without spiraling into some very expensive hobbies (hello aquariums) with the money I wasn’t making. I badly needed to find something productive to do that I thought would also benefit me in the long run i.e. post-quarantine, and unfortunately I couldn’t work on wet lab techniques at home.

“Learn to code” is what my parents have said to me about a thousand times for the past 5 years. “Learn to code” is what I did try for about two weeks with Code Academy a few years ago before realizing that none of what I was learning was going to stick because I wasn’t programming in any part of my daily life. As a biologist, in evolution we like to call this “if you don’t use it, you lose it”. 

I know all too well about how coding is one of the best skills you can learn. However, I also know myself all too well to know that learning code for the sake of learning code wasn’t going to work for me. I wanted to wait to learn when the right situation presented itself, ideally when I would have an opportunity to use it almost every day at like a job or something.

Well, one of my good fellow artist (and biology) friends had recently taken the plunge into creating his first video game Meganura earlier in the year. I was (and still am) seriously -- and I cannot emphasize this enough -- impressed by his progress, dedication, and ability to learn coding for this game. Or more frankly, I was seriously impressed by his dedication and progress in to learning how to code for this game.

Meganura in all it’s crispy pixel-y goodness. Man, my friends are talented.

I dwelled on this for a while. 

I always considered making a game to be out-of-reach because I absolutely could not muster up the motivation to learn a single drop of code without being paid to do so after 1) being beaten over the head by “learn how to code” for so long and 2) having already tried and given up in the past. 

But as it got harder to sleep well, eat well, and feel happy during the quarantine, I feel like I hit a rock bottom where I felt like if I didn’t make a big effort to find a new purpose, then I was probably going to become depressed. To preface this, I have experienced depression before, and ever since I got out it has been my goal in life to never experience it again. 

The only way I was going to survive this quarantine was to give myself a new “job”.

I already had a creative mind and the skills to create art and animations for a game. I already had a lifetime of game playing experience that had formed a detailed list of specific mechanics and visual details that I knew I wanted or didn’t want in a game. I already had an analytical and detail-oriented mind (thanks biology... or thanks videogames?) that liked to plan and build things. 

All it would take is just a little bit of code...

If you’ve read this far, thanks for listening and I hope some of you hear yourselves in my story.

TLDR;

I am just a daytime biologist and hobby digital artist with zero coding experience.

I’m extremely proud to say that since 07/29/20, I have been successfully developing and coding my own 2D pixel art video game in Unity and am in full swing!

This is the start of my dev blog, where I’ll be logging my progress and thoughts throughout this journey for like-minded and aspiring individuals. 

My Goals:

- To create everything from scratch -- art, scripts, etc.

- To create a game about bow hunting with intuitive drag/release controls

- To create a game that has cooking and campfires

- To create a game with pretty water graphics

- To create a game that has sushi and cats

- To have a playable demo by mid 2021 (my guess for the end of quarantine)

How I’ve been learning C#:

I have been following along with YouTube tutorials to create a base script and then looking up things in Unity’s scripting documentation to expand and modify my code to achieve exactly what I want. I’ve been learning C# and how to read documentation through almost entirely pattern recognition (e.g. mimicking and experimenting with code I’ve copied from tutorials and recognizing keywords in documentation) and turning to Google or my Tech Career Peers™ for help when I get stuck or to clarify things.

The key thing is that even after copying some code, I read the documentation and figure out how every line of code in my script works before moving on.

This is because after spending a few days of looking up YouTube tutorials, I realized there were no tutorials for the exact bow controls that I wanted. Instead, I ended up watching multiple tutorials and learned how all of their scripts worked before combining and modifying pieces together. Then, I started relying entirely on documentation to write lines of code. 

I don’t know how many original lines of code I’ve written so far, but there are so many now and I am so proud of all of them.

So anyway, here’s what’s happened over the past 2-3 weeks.

Dev Log:

7/29/20

- Came up with an idea for a game

7/30/20

- Installed Unity and started watching Unity tutorial videos

7/31/20 

- Created water shader via shader graph (no coding required!)

- Created a basic background, player sprite, bow sprite, and arrow sprite in Photoshop

08/03/20

- First time coding in C#

- Struggle to code in Notepad++, switched to Visual Studio Code

08/06/20

- Created physics based slingshot controls for the bow and arrow with a line renderer bowstring

- Colliders!

08/09/20

- Unable to find a way to pull arrow back horizontally (-X) regardless of mouse Y movement (OnMouseDown)

- Decided that slingshot controls are for slingshots, not bows and arrows

- Scrapped physics based slingshot controls due to overcomplication (rip)

08/10/20

- Created new projectile based controls that still include drag/shoot physics

08/11/20

- Limited rotation of the bow while aiming to max 45° and min -45°

- Developed distaste for vector algebra

- Made it so that if you don’t drag far enough, you won’t release an arrow

08/12/20

- Created a trajectory line coming off the bow

- Made arrows fade away after colliding

- Created git repository to keep all project files backed up on github (Don’t wait to do this! Should’ve been done on day 1)

08/14/20

- Added physics and collider to player

- Allow you to face and move left/right with the A and D keys + updated bow controls to match

- Created left/right movement while aiming + updated bow controls to match

- Created mouse drag line for development use

- Created waterline

- Made it so the bow resets to it’s default position if you haven’t used the bow for over 2 seconds

08/15/20

- Updated Player sprite in Photoshop

- Obtained Asesprite

- Created walk animation

08/16/20

- Created  bow walk, bow equip, and bow unequip animations

Next Log

#game design #game dev blog #game dev #game dev update #indie game #pixel art #pixel animation #bowfish #meganura

[rivetgoth]

Answer 21 questions then tag 21 people you would like to get to know a little better.

I was tagged by @brokenfoetus​ and @silenthillmannequin (THANK YOU)!! I have homework I gotta do but I’m putting it off so here’s a chance for y’all to get 2 kno me better. I’ve gained a lot of followers recently (thanks?!?!?!?!) so here’s your chanceeeeee

1. Nickname: Char, like from Ella Enchanted. Or CD, like... musick.

2. Real name?: Charles

3. Zodiac: Me and Ogre got the same Western AND Eastern zodiac ;D

4. Height:  5'3″ .. Wish I was taller hehe

5. What time is it? 9:09 PM and I’m not doing my WORK YET!

6. Favourite musician/group: Skinny Puppy (yo shout out to brokenfoetus for this sexy answer; I didn’t even have to edit it lmaoooo)

7. Favourite sports team: Team Lost Desert in the Altador Cup on Neopets dot com

8. Other blogs: A few, my activity is sporadic on ‘em @notapersonalitytrait​ - music screaming/shitposting/bullshit blog @charliedepalma​ - OC blog (I RB things that make me think of my OCs) @f0x-w0x​ - aes blog for my oldest OC! @ixiraider​ - Neopets @harperalexander​ - harper alexander

9. Do I get asks?: Not often anymore. I had anon turned off for a long time. Nothing happened, I just sorta got to a point where I felt weird about anonymous contact. I’m trying to be more approachable on the world wide web so I turned it back on recently!

10. How many blogs do I follow: 359 right now. I’m so busy I almost never follow new people anymore. :( I should check out my followers soon......

11. Any Tumblr crushes?: hmmmmmmmm

12. Lucky number: Most repeating numbers in sets of 3.

13. What am I wearing right now: Oh don’t even ask that rn, I’m just chilling at home so I’m in some black and white sweatpants with elephants on ‘em and a fucking Death Note shirt I’ve owned since middle school 😔

14. Dream vacation: I never even think about traveling anymore LOL I just have so many other things to save up for right now, but I think I’d probably wanna go to Italy if I could pick anywhere in the world. Or back to Japan.

15. Dream car: Uh I don’t drive and idk what cars are. Maybe a little pink bug with eyelashes and a pig nose.

16. Favourite food: UM I like a lot of food but I think my favorite thing is probably mushrooms. In terms of cuisine I like Japanese and Thai and Mexican a lot.

17. Drink of choice: Non-alcoholic I love kombucha, white mocha lattes, chai tea, Coke, or just plain whole milk. I like teas and coffees with mint in them too. Alcoholic I’m especially partial to drinks mixed with vodka (or just plain vodka if I’m feeling like an animal) or Malibu and Coke. And red wines.

18. Languages: Just proficient in English but I studied Japanese in high school and ASL in college. I still remember some of both but not a lot :(

19. Instruments: I can ““play”” guitar.

20. Celebrity crushes?: Go ahead and guess.

21. Random fact: I collect pigs! I just counted 62 pigs in my room. I’m probably missing a few, because they’re literally everywhere. I didn’t have enough shelf space for all of them so I have them scattered (intentionally) around my floor, like next to the bedside table, around my mirror, etc. I’m always on the lookout for more.........

I’m not gonna even try to tag 21 people especially cuz now that this is in the industrial scene everyone’s tagging everyone and I can’t even keep track of who has or hasn’t been tagged/done this yet LOL. People I THINK haven’t done it yet (????) @lysistra @maldoror-est-mort @black-b0ned-angel @glass-blown-eyes @grav3r0bb3r @notwithoutonions @givemeflowersofblood @taxidermyclown @brighterthanathousandsuns @bleedyfleece obviously you do not have to + anyone else who wants to do it feel free LOL

[3000yearmonarch-archived]

@eldunea​ asked: Random questions for Munday! What inspired you to create Pascale and Vanitas? Have you ever played those adoptable virtual pet games? What is one piece of life philosophy that you’ve learned that you like sharing with everyone? What was your least favorite incident regarding this hellsite’s broken mechanics?

For munday, you’re allowed to ask me anything you want. (Always accepting, even if it’s not munday-this is from like two weeks ago.)

Let’s see...

I say I created Pascale because I’m made of pure Kalosian salt, but there is more to that. Honestly, the starting point was realizing one day how cool a ‘Mega Crown’ or ‘Mega Tiara’ would be, only to learn that there is a ‘Mega Tiara’-Lisia’s headband is considered a ‘tiara’. And it bugged me so much because, like, that’s not a tiara. That’s a headband. There are headbands that can pass as tiaras, but that’s not one of them.

So I decided to make an OC with a Mega Tiara, and as I began to work that out, I realized this was a great chance to patch up some holes in Kalos’ worldbuilding. I could create an opposing region to be involved in the Kalos War, or write it as a civil war. I could explain what happened after AZ left. I got so involved in the worldbuilding that the Mega Tiara thing actually fell by the wayside, since it wouldn’t fit in well with my lore. I still want to visit that, but developing Pascale and Vanitas became so much more important.

And at this point, both Pascale and Vanitas are incredibly important to me, to the point I sometimes consider writing a publishable story centered around that little bit of worldbuilding. I know I still have ‘I have yet to decide if this was a good idea’ written on my blog description...I don’t regret it.

Okay! Question two!

I have! I played Neopets when I was big (in elementary school), and I have a Flight Rising account (although right now I’m having a super hard time convincing myself to coli grind, so I just kinda...vanish for long periods of time...)! I don’t play on any other pet sites, but I’d love suggestions for the future, and anyone is free to add me on FR-just know my lair and stuff is a mess.

This life philosophy question has really been the one holding me up with writing this, because I know I have some but I can’t think of them. Like, I just remembered I had a journal my roommate made for me, where I wrote down inspiring quotes and nice things people said to me, and I spent ten minutes looking for it. So...yeah.

If I had to pick something off the top of my head...as a gift for Confirmation (I’m Roman Catholic, but have a lot of issues with Church culture), my aunt gave me a necklace with a little book on it that said this: ‘If you judge people, you have no time to love them.’ It’s a Mother Teresa quote, and one I try to live by.

I know I have other ones, but that’s the one I can think of, so I hope it works.

Finally, tumblr’s broken mechanics...ahhh I had a good one but I don’t remember...

I know that recently, when Mina’s blog was given the option to try out beta (and I refused), there was a day I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t select to make any kind of new post. I couldn’t access my activity. I couldn’t like or reblog posts. None of my other blogs had this issue. It was a pain.

I know there was something bigger but at the moment I can’t remember it. The Purge was a pain, and the whole issue with both ‘...’ and more recently ‘<3′ in asks...Tumblr is just...yeah.))

#out of history #about the mun

[zephyrises]

SHIPPING INFO MEME

Answer the following for your muse so people know how shipping works on your blog.

WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER?:

vanven. w/o a shred of doubt. they have crazy potential and intrigue and i’m So Weak for rivals/enemies to lovers pairs in all regards.

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO WRITE WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?

so my Modus Operandi(tm) is that i’m usually willing to write almost anything, but there’s a disclaimer, and that disclaimer is: you really need to be down to play and plot for the long haul bc development and build up matters So much to me.

this isn’t to say that i need every little thing played out frame by frame! filling in gaps with ooc discussion is beyond fine and encouraged! but the development definitely needs to be present and explored to some capacity.

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?

it honestly depends. in this particular case, seeing as ven is ~16-17 in the predominant verses that i write him, i’d probably say like.... more than one year if they’re younger, more than two years if they’re older??

for a hypothetical verse in which he was 18+, i might be less picky so long as the gap doesn’t go beyond ~5 years and there are no power imbalances at play, but this leniency would never extend to adult characters who he already knew AS adults when he was a child.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?

not extremely selective, but selective enough in that there needs to be good chemistry between my character and the other character(s) in question! everyone has different spins on their portrayals and all, and sometimes they just don’t mesh as well as you think they will when you start roleplaying.

i'm really big on good ooc chemistry too. like..... if you wouldn’t want me leaving a bunch of mushy thoughts or analyses about our pair in your dms @ a weird hour, it might not be the best idea to ship w/ me. ghhggh.

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY ARE CONSIDERED N-S-F-W?

uhhhhh ig the best way to phrase it is that anything that could be interpreted as steamy within the situation in question is already n-s-f-w in my eyes.

i.e. if someone else’s character were to, say, innocently kiss the back of my character’s neck just bc they’re cuddling and their lips happen to be there and it didn’t go further than that, that would be fine. neck kissing Can be steamy, but in that particular case, it’s not. if there’s a deliberate intent of going further or it turns into biting, or something, then that’s definitely n-s-f-w and way too much for this particular blog seeing as the character i’m playing as is a minor.

WHO ARE OTHER CHARACTERS YOU SHIP YOUR CHARACTER WITH?

vanitas aside, sora and naminé are the biggies!

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?:

not necessarily! but even if i’ve already expressed interest myself, you have to do something to express interest too, whether it be in the way of a direct comment you make ooc, the nature of an inbox prompt you send in or something indisputable that your character says / thinks / does within one of our roleplays. bc otherwise i’ll never push it further than a crush on my character’s part.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP?

a heck of a lot, but i also really love platonic relationships!! a healthy dose of both is the ideal for me. not to mention the fact that i think a strong platonic relationship is a necessary foundation for anything meaningfully romantic, so the latter always needs to come before the former regardless.

speaking of having a healthy dose of both.... this blog hasn’t seen Enough romantic action in comparison to platonic action, so if you’re ever interested and you think we’ve got a good thing going, you know where to find me. 👀

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?:

saying i’m obsessed might be a little much, but i’m a Huge romantic at heart so i definitely love a fleshed out romantic pair!

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?

absolutely!! i love exploring lots of different kinds of relationships and romantic relationships are no different. i’d kinda be limiting myself if i made ven exclusive.

WHAT IS/ARE YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP(S) IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?:

we can just go w/ kh for this one bc i’m into more media than i have the energy to list. aside from vanven, i love soroku, xinami, rokuxi, sorikai and kailette!

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?:

literally Any Way?? shout @ me in my dms or on discord?? send me an impromptu ic ask w/ romantic implications?? add me on neopets?? kick my ass?? if you like our interactions enough to want to pair our characters romantically then odds are i’m having a blast with them myself and would love to!!

another fun thing about the way that i tend to roleplay is that even if pairing our characters in a romantic way never occurred to me out of the gates, it might end up happening by accident if we interact enough. dshgfh.

Tagged by: @nortfromthepast i know i say this all the time but thank you for always tagging me in these Good Memes!! i appreciate you sm. Tagging: as usual, gonna go with my my recent notifs! @weasels-muses @midnightpapllion @rxcusant @flammadecorde @pacpu @thorstyr and YOU! the person reading this! (p.s. feel free to ignore this if you don’t feel like it or have already done it bc i can see it’s been floating around!)

#★; sleepy mumbles { general ooc }

[a-heist-of-words]

My two cents on the NSFW ban.

A lot of people, Tumblr included, apparently, are hiding behind this excuse:

Except... we are. We were. You weren’t.

Tumblr is allegedly making the site “safe for kids”. But Tumblr, and all social media for that matter, were never meant to be for kids. Yes, it’s hard in this day and age of media and globalization and smartphones that a 3-year-old can figure out, but kids were not meant to be on social media, especially not unsupervised. Maybe Neopets, but even that became horrible after they left a bot in charge and everything slipped through the cracks. 

YouTube was meant to be 13+. And it worked, for a while, until big media corporations got into the site. Then YouTube saw a chance for money and they got rid of the age restriction, mostly, to allow children and “child-friendly content” on the site. Now that there’s millions of children watching “Baby Shark” on repeat for ten hours on their mom’s iPad because it keeps them quiet and busy, but then that turns into Elsa and Spiderman clickbait, and it is harming them and their long-term development.

Facebook was meant to be 14+, but it’s not that hard to cheat the system and say you are 14+. The least of their troubles is when mean-spirited people post pictures saying that “There’s no such thing as Santa Claus, it’s your parents buying you gifts.” There are countless instances of pedophiles catfishing teenagers and most likely children as well. I know 9 and 10-year-olds who have Facebook profiles. I fear how easy it would be for them to meet an “online friend” who is their age.” I fear how easy it would be for them to agree to meet up with this person, especially because parents nowadays are not paying attention to what their kid does online.

Tumblr was always meant to be 13+, and it was a liberating experience because it didn’t suggest friends or family and it was relatively “secret”, kind of like an online diary. Yes, it was natural that a few kids would wander in here, but they were met with a -mostly- positive atmosphere, where LGBT+ topics could be openly discussed (well, mostly, until it was decided that it was apparently sensitive material), where they could find new friends for relatively niche fandoms, where they could post their art and writing, where they could find advice on all sorts of “heavy” topics that most parents shy away from. And if a kid didn’t want to see certain things, safe mode was on, and you could ask people to tag their stuff, and you used Tumblr Savior or Missing-e, and you blocked people to curate a generally positive dashboard for yourself. And if you didn’t want kids to see your stuff (aka if you were a decent adult posting content for other adults), you marked your blog as NSFW.

Do you know what’s going to happen now?

This scandal was caused mainly because @staff​ finally realized that their precious money is on the line, after ignoring time and time again when its own users, sometimes kids or sometimes adults looking out after these kids, told them that there were people abusing the free blogging platform that tumblr was always meant to be.

And this could’ve been avoided if Tumblr actually “cared about the kids” in the first place. We reported MAPs and TERFs and neo-nazis over and over. We warned each other when anti-SJW flooded innocent tags with explicit content, and we reported those people. We stood by each other during countless 4-chan raids attacking fandoms with mostly young audiences. We began purging, blocking and reporting the porn bots but we left actual, respectful porn blogs alone because, well, sometimes people want to blog about sex education and sex advice and consensual sex services.

And we begged for Tumblr to get their shit together and they ignored us.

Now that it’s become news on big media, such as USA Today and the BBC, parents are certainly going to notice and they’re going to freak out, realizing that they “made a mistake letting their child be exposed to such things!1!!”, when really, it was Tumblr’s responsibility to properly establish and moderate what was and was not acceptable in the first place, and then properly enforce it.

Now, children, teenagers and some young adults living in abusive situations are going to have their phones checked. They’re going to be forced to delete their Tumblr account, and they’ll lose access to their friends, to content they liked and could only consume here, to their own ideas and thoughts.

And adults who relied on NSFW content, such as artists and sex workers are going to lose their livelihoods. Heck, some people made a living curating adult content for other adults and asking for a kofi donation! They’ll most likely migrate to some other platform, taking their ad revenue with them.

In short, Tumblr, you’re about to become a desert with only a few tumbleweeds (haha) still remaining. You are about to lose a great portion of your community, of users both adult and teenagers and yes, even children, the ones who give you the revenue you’re so desperate to maintain, the ones you supposedly care so much about, because you refused to tend to a candle and now your site is going up in flames.

Your greed is going to fuel your pyre. And you have no one to blame but yourself.

#tumblr #tumblr fix your shit #this whole thing is BS