#i figured with how much I've been writing I should probably be keeping track of it now lol

[fluffvstheworld]

Masterlist

Scott Pilgrim

All of the Evil Exes How each Ex Kisses

Matthew Patel Matthew x Male punk/metal reader Matthew x Goth Reader Reader Trying To Find Matthew On Craigslist After The Rockit Matthew With a Reader Who Owns A Mystical Cat

Lucas Lee Comforting Headcanons (+Todd) Being in a Relationship with Lucas Lee Includes...

Todd Ingram Comforting Headcanons (+Lucas)

Roxie Richter Roxie x Calm, Pacifist Female Reader

Kyle Katayanagi Relationship Headcanons (+Ken)

Kyle x Reader who is Shy at Parties

Ken Katayanagi Relationship Headcanons (+Kyle)

Gideon Graves Gideon x Reader Who Helps Him Relax

#i figured with how much I've been writing I should probably be keeping track of it now lol

[fernsnailz]

January 2024 Review Roundup

hello everypony‼️ something i want to do through 2024 is a mini review series where i recap some of the media i watched/played/read at the end of every month. this was inspired by tumblr user ponett’s 2023 media wrap-up, it's a great collection of quick reviews so go check it out!

i’m doing this partially as writing/analysis practice, but mostly because my memory is really bad and i want to keep track of what i've seen this year. with that said, my thoughts on everything i finished in january 2024 is under the cut :]

Portal 1 + 2

yyyup i beat Portal and it only took me (checks watch) 13 years

the first time i played Portal 2 was at a friend’s house when i was in middle school, and i had a fuckin blast. but after all that time... it still holds up! i don’t think anything i have to say about Portal will be particularly new since people have been praising this series since it came out. the writing, the level design, even the controls feel tight and engaging the whole way through. i played on switch and expected a bit of jank, but i was pleasantly surprised at how smooth it felt to play. the only part that dragged for me were the levels through the old aperture labs, but i think i would like them a lot more on a second replay. Portal 2 is fantastic and one of my new favorite games, the artistry behind it is truly incredible and i’m really glad i finally finished it. while i was playing Portal 2, i described Glados and Wheatly to a friend and said “they’re like if a ceiling fan could be passive aggressive and if Fozzie Bear was an evil golf ball”

I Think You Should Leave

finally. i can truly understand and appreciate Subspace Dubbed Over

i think one of my favorite things about I Think You Should Leave is how it utilizes horror. beyond sitting slack-jawed in disbelief at the crazy events unfolding before my eyes, a number of the sketches dipped into bits that genuinely kinda scared me. like the one sketch that circulates on here where the guy (pig?) in a mask crawls through a dog door, which is. genuinely terrifying. but so many of the other sketches have slow, nerve-racking pacing leading to crazy shit that would be perfect in a horror film were the context different. idk i like dissecting how horror and comedy are essentially the same thing and I Think You Should Leave was very good at enabling that <3 favorite sketches are probably “then let my wife eat the damn receipt” and “55 BURGERS 55 HOTDOGS 100 FRIES 100 TATER TOTS”

Sonic Prime Season 3

man. ohhhh man. i didn’t go into this with high expectations and i still feel let down. Sonic Prime Season 3 was definitely my least favorite “season” of the batch - abysmal pacing, very few character moments i actually enjoyed, and the things i praised about the show felt very underutilized through these episodes. Nine is the shining star of Sonic Prime and i was looking forward to seeing his more villainous side, but his character took such a sharp turn into pure evil and it felt like he spent the entire season repeating the same three lines. and as much as i praise Shadow’s writing in Prime, it doesn’t really matter when he spends half of the season trapped in a hole that he just… runs out of later.

lastly, i cannot stop thinking about how bad the pacing of this season is. three episodes for a repetitive final battle feels like such a waste of time when you see just how much they rush the emotional resolutions in the last episode. however, there is one thing i truly love about Sonic Prime Season 3 - i love the Sails and Mangey fakeout death. it's so fucking funny. like you really expect me to believe that two cartoon animals in this Y-7 rated show EXPLODED?????? absolute comedy gold.

overall, i just… don’t really know what to think of Sonic Prime. anything i enjoyed in the show was often fleeting, and much of it felt like its only purpose was to waste my time. also Rouge i can’t believe they did you so dirty oh my god

Ghost Trick

i was so proud that i figured out the secret behind Sissel’s memory loss like halfway through the game. however i also kept getting caught during the prison escape sequence like an idiot

Ghost Trick is in a similar situation as Portal where 1. it’s incredible and one of my new favorite games, and 2. there’s nothing i can really say about it that hasn’t already been said or just. shouldn’t be said. Ghost Trick is a fantastic mystery game, and because of that i think it’s best to go into its story as blind as possible. the narrative unfolds in such fascinating ways - even though the actual object manipulation gameplay isn’t directly about solving the mystery (like in Ace Attorney or other mystery games), it still ties wonderfully into the story in some incredibly unique ways.

i also really love the artstyle of Ghost Trick - i love 2D character artwork with that sharp lineweight, it reminded me a lot of Sonic Battle (another game with an artstyle i love). i was also really impressed by the 3D character models and animation - despite the limitations of the camera, you get a wonderful sense of everyone’s personality from the limited body language expressed in the overworld (even though the models lack much facial expression which. i guess they don’t really need? idk that was the only thing that threw me off). anyways yeah everyone should play Ghost Trick so Ghost Trick fans can be freed from their curse and talk about it without having to tag like 10 different spoiler tags. and for Missile

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

ok bear with me. i went into Scott Pilgrim Takes Off without reading the comics first. and i fuckin loved it

my understanding of Scott Pilgrim before SPTO was mostly from the movie (I KNOW I’M SORRY), but even with my base understanding of the series i really enjoyed this show for what it was. i found myself appreciating the time they dedicated to further develop every single character in the show - especially Ramona. she’s fantastic as the lead, i really loved watching her reconcile with her exes and seeing all of them grow instead of exploding into coins. my favorite episode was probably the one with her and Roxie - not only did i adore the movie-jumping set pieces, but you really understand the weight of Ramona’s mistakes in their past relationship and how much it hurt Roxie. despite the big climactic fight, the flashbacks are quiet, subtle, heartbreaking. Ramona’s apology is genuine, and it feels so wonderful to watch her confront her past throughout the show. also i think it’s really funny that for all these characters to become the best versions of themselves, they had to kill off Scott for most of the story

and holy shit the artstyle and animation. oh my god. i love watching something that makes me immediately go “i need to see the storyboards for this RIGHT NOW.” SPTO is such a visual delight to watch, it elevates the artstyle of the comics while also keeping what makes that style so appealing - i love the line weight on the characters, i love how much forward energy the animation has, i love the fucking. virtual boy section. as soon as i found out Science Saru was also behind Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, everything made immediate sense. i was destined to love this show.

another worry i had going into SPTO (besides the fact that i hadn’t read the comics lol) is that the original cast from the movie was returning. i think the movie cast is fine, but i wasn’t sure how some of them would fare with voice acting for animation. however, i thought they all did a good job - i think the whole cast loves these characters and would be able to fit into them fairly easily no matter what form their performance takes, and they definitely had a good voice director in the studio with them. the only thing that felt off about the voice performances to me was that sometimes it sounded like some of their mics kept peaking?? idk some of these episodes i watched high as balls and i felt like i could hear and see every single sound and frame of the show. so that might have just been me.

god i did not. expect to have this much to say about Scott Pilgrim. i really loved this show and i’m currently reading the comics to fully catch up on the general Scott Pilgrim experience - i think reading the comics AFTER Takes Off is making me appreciate even more of the character work that went into the show. like they do so much with Mathew Patel in SPTO, a character that was. not originally around for a long time from what i’ve gathered? also i like the funny little robot. oh my GOD i cannot talk about this show anymore whatever it’s good get me out of here

Sword AF Season 1

i put on the Smosh cast’s D&D series to play in the background while i was drawing. i did not expect to think much of it. instead, i had one of the most enjoyable D&D podcast experiences since i listened to The Adventure Zone Balance???

i haven’t really enjoyed other D&D podcasts since i dropped off of The Adventure Zone, and i wasn’t expecting much from Sword AF of all things. then i saw that Shayne was playing as a druid warforged made of plants and his name was fucking Fernie and i sat my ass down and LISTENED. while i think Sword AF is currently lacking in its world and larger story, those things just. aren’t really what Sword AF is really trying to provide at the moment. it’s main focus is comedy, and the players are genuinely such a delight to watch play together and build off of each other. they mostly focus on bits and goofs for the sake of she show's comedic tone, but i still found it thoroughly enjoyable because every player embodies and performs their characters really well. idk Sword AF was an unexpected hit for me this month, i thought it was fun. and i love Fernie so much

Plastic Death - Glass Beach

so originally i wasn’t going to include music reviews in these roundups at all, but then i was entirely surprised by a new Glass Beach album and oh my god. holy shit. oh my fucking god jesus christ. holy shit. its preddy good

Plastic Death gets the low point of the album out of the way immediately. it starts with the “phone call/conversation audio” trope that i don’t particularly enjoy - HOWEVER despite me disliking this opening, 1. it sets up the overall themes of Plastic Death very quickly, and 2. the rest of the album blows this 40 second opening completely out of the water. from there, the album grows into something beautiful and uncontained, and i just. i really like it

Plastic Death captures the beauty of the temporary, asks what it means to be created for a cause you can’t fulfill, questions if you can reclaim yourself from cycles and constraints designed to destroy you. and is also about being transgender. the lyrics are abstract in a way that requires a conversation with the listener, many of the vocals obscured and smooth like waves - this album is definitely one that needs to be listened to a few times. i wasn’t sure how i felt about the vocal style at first before realizing the vocals were the main reason i was relistening to this album, allowing myself to find even more that i loved about it. the instrumentation is also incredible, i love the use of marimba in a number of songs - distant, eerie, almost skeletal. and the fucking. 8-bit section?? which kinda rules???? and that’s the only point in the album it ever shows up??????? incredible. a fleeting, somewhat silly moment that i love every time.

this album left my heart aching, in part from my connection to it and in part from the pure love and joy emanating from this music. i can feel just how much fun this music was to perform and create, a cohesion of time and sound that just clicked for me. Plastic Death made me miss playing music, which is something i haven’t felt in years. all from an album that starts with a conversation about CrankGameplay’s dead youtube channel. good lord

i like this album a normal amount. go listen to it a few times. my favorite tracks are cul-de-sac and commatose

Wish

i watched Wish with a couple of friends and knew i probably wasn't going to like it. with that in mind, i gave myself a challenge: i wanted to find one thing about this movie that i genuinely really loved. it could be anything, and loving it for ironic reasons was allowed.

here's the complete list of things i loved about Disney's Wish (2023):

i love the one shot where King Magnifico stirs an evil caldron evily. i thought it was hilarious. what was he cooking

i loved that the end credits included a reference to Dinosaur 2001 at all, and i loved that they paid homage to Big Hero 6 by showing the forgettable villain of that movie instead of their Baymax cashcow for some reason. my friends and i saw him show up in the credits and were like "who's the trenchcoat guy??"

you may notice that this list is very short and 50% of it is about the movie's credits. so yeah this movie is not very good

Wish is an empty husk of a movie. everything about it feels so, so hollow - lifeless town squares, uninspired character designs (to quote a friend: "i have all of these characters' hairstyles in The Sims"), characters whose existence is only justified to fill empty space or an overused archetype, and an "evil" villain who lacks charisma and spine in a futile effort to remind the audience of previous disney villains with actual character. even the artstyle lacks any sort of sauce, the watercolor effect they were trying to go for only makes the backgrounds and character textures run together, and the dull lighting makes things look even more faded. it's like disney was scared of making a movie that made its audience feel... anything. all to celebrate 100 years of Disney slop, baby!!!

Some YouTube videos I liked in January: 💥 An Exhaustive Look at Pokemon Brilliant Diamond 💥 TomSka's Guide to Plagiarism 💥 Paradise Bombed (this video is a great piece of journalism and i’m definitely not doing it justice by throwing it into the youtube vid list) 💥 Surprising Our Friends with Zoo Animals 💥 Did FNAF Ever Have a Good Story?

thanks for reading! next month’s roundup will be wild because i’ll likely be reviewing House of Leaves and Hazbin Hotel. can you guess which cursed house gives me a worse headache? WHO KNOWS! (hint: it's Hazbin Hotel)

#under the readmore is pretty long! oh boy i love having opinions about media #most stuff in january i liked a lot though :] good month of stuff!! #review roundup #<- oh boy new tag for this series #long post

[lovelynim]

Congrats on the 900! 🎉

Could you write a little story on Gojo and Geto where they use tickling as a form of endurance training? 💪

Hi anonnn, thank you ~

ALSO THANK YOU FOR REQUESTING THESE TWO, I'VE BEEN DYING TO WRITE SMTHB FOR THEM

“Sahahahtoru! Ahahah, l-lehet go ohohoff me!!”

“Whaaaat? Come on, you can take more than this, I’m not even going hard on you ~”

As much as it tickled, Suguru knew Satoru wasn’t lying about going easy on him. If he actually wanted to get him, Suguru probably wouldn’t be able to be talking through his giggles and would be, instead, melted into a puddle of hysterical laughter. Still, it tickled and he needed Satoru to fucking stop.

“Yohohou a-are such a jeheherk! Eheheh, cohohome on!” Suguru laughed, trying to push Satoru’s hands away from his sides or, at least, stop them from climbing his torso any further.

However, the only thing Suguru’s attempts earned was an amused chuckle from the other guy. Satoru made sure to keep his friend in place as he continued to tickle his sides and lower ribs, prodding and wiggling his fingers over any spot, looking for the one that would get him the best reactions out of Suguru. “What’s wrong? Are you really this weak to some tickling? Coochie cooc- oh.”

Before he could tease Suguru any further, Satoru was caught by surprise when the other managed to shove his hands away once for all. “A-aha, enough tickling me,” Suguru gasped, still smiling as he felt the ghostly tingles running across his body.

“Come on, I was just helping you train your endurance, Suguru. Isn’t that what buddies do for each other?” Satoru argued, sitting back on Suguru’s legs as he couldn’t keep playing like he wanted.

“What? Train my endurance?” Suguru scoffed, refusing to believe such an absurd argument. Yet, it was still so Satoru-like of him to say something like that…

“Yes! What if you find a super strong curse that tickles you? You’d be helpless being this ticklish!” Satoru teased, poking Suguru’s side and making the guy yelp under him. Satoru smirked. 

“Such a thing doesn’t exist. You should worry about real threats, Satoru,” Suguru narrowed his eyes, looking away as he still needed to figure out how to shove Satoru off his lap since asking nicely clearly wasn’t going to take him anywhere.

Dealing with Satoru was so troublesome at times, Suguru thought while dropping his head back. It would take him a shit ton of effort to get the other moving if he didn’t come with a plan soon.

Maybe he should play along? As the saying goes: if you can’t beat them, join them. Suguru hummed quietly, contemplating this idea some more and started to consider that this could actually do the trick.

“What are you thinking about?” Satoru’s voice broke in, stopping Suguru’s track of thought. The latter smiled, tilting his head as he looked at his confused classmate.

#900 followers milestone #milestone event #jujutsu kaisen #satoru gojo #geto suguru #satosugu #asks #anon

[sindar-princeling]

(I was wondering for a while if I should edit this post to be neater, or erase the things I've already said, but after all I decided to keep it just as it was, because over the past few months I was adding more and more thoughts to it as I edited, and I wanted to keep them that way, unedited and just the way they came to me. so here are some thoughts I had while editing the newsletter)

editing LOTR to go chronologically felt like constantly finding some hidden gems that can only be found when you read that way, and wondering if they were put there intentionally (and knowing jirt, they most probably were). it was a truly, deeply special experience, and a unique way of experiencing LOTR to me

there are so many fragments where jirt says what happens after everything! the ponies were okay, Pippin cried when he heard horns after the battle of Pelennor fields for years to come, even the prologue reveals some information about who survived the War

the long breaks in Rivendell and Lórien were very interesting in this format. some people were remarking how they liked thinking about the fellowship just chilling during those breaks, and I think it created a nice effect of both the characters and us forgetting how close the danger is for them. it let us take those breaks with them!

the only part of the quest that doesn't have a date assigned to it takes part in Lórien, it's the one where Frodo and Sam sing about Gandalf. and it's SUCH a good detail! Tolkien kept track of every event, of dates and even times of day for the entire duration of the quest, but this fragment is just Somewhere There, because in Lórien time seems to stand still, and you can never know when you are

the only other fragments which are confusing time-wise take place during the dark days with no sun, which is of course a great writing choice, but even they are described in Appendix B - the Lórien fragment has no date, no reference point, nothing

it doesn't hit you that much when you read the book, but the battle of Helm's Deep happened literally just one (1) week after the breaking of the Fellowship. Aragorn was out there having the Worst Week Of His Fucking Life

I loved feeling the impact of certain events more while reading chronologically (the three hunters running for days made more impact on me when I was sending yet another entry and they were still running)

before actually going through TTT and ROTK, I was preparing for very long entries for each day. but after the Tower of Cirith Ungol and the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (March 15th), the next ten days before the Ring is destroyed are so... empty in comparison. and it works amazingly well when you read according to dates. we hear just enough from Aragorn and the Host of the West to let the tension grow and grow. we hear just enough from Frodo and Sam to feel the oppressive atmosphere of these entries. but on the other hand, the entries are short enough to set our imaginations to work and make them fill in the rest. to me it's the perfect balance of the horror you read about and the horror you know is still there even after you close the book. this is what I mean by hidden gems, because it works that well only when you read day-by-day - in the book those fragments are just a few pages long, and you can get through those ten days very fast. but when you read according to dates, the torment is spread over so much time

the previous point is why I loved seeing the pacing in LOTR this way. in LOTR, so much can happen in ten days; and yet so little happened between march 15th and 25th besides fear and suffering

there was one part that gave me a headache because I spent so long trying to figure it out I forgot to eat - March 10th-14th in the Frodo and Sam subplot. it was a huge relief when I opened my atlas of Middle-earth and found its author Karen Wynn Fonstad had the same doubts when she'd been researching for the book that I did (and also that she arrived at the same conclusion).

apart from the March 11th-14th fragments, the most challenging day to edit was March 15th because Everything Happened So Much, and many things - simultaneously. it was a choice between chopping certain fragments into really small bits or sacrificing the impact of certain scenes

the only thing I'm sad about losing in this format is the ending, because Frodo getting ill and leaving Middle-Earth in fall, the same season as when he first set out, brackets the plot of LOTR such a beautiful and heartbreaking way and underlines one last time that "there and back again" is never really just that - you always end up somewhere else than where you started

#lotr newsletter #it's mine my own my precious

[artist-issues]

Have you heard "Next Semester" by twenty one pilots yet? I feel like you'd love it.

I don't know if I've ever talked about me and Twenty One Pilots here. I gave my life to Christ in the summer of 2011 and heard a song by Tyler Joseph for the first time the same week. I didn't connect that the passionately screaming singer who made me think about how I couldn't force my emotions to line up with the reality of God, and needed Jesus to do that for me--I didn't connect that that singer was the same guy in the popular emo band until they became popular around 2015. And then I was thrilled. Because around that time I was fighting to submit my own dark thoughts to God, instead of identifying with them, so it really helped that the voice I already knew pretty well was singing those thought-provoking tracks that have made them famous. Then a year later I figured out what I wanted to do with my career, and how that connected back to God, and the first seeds of my whole understanding of storytelling and God as the Storyteller were planted--largely because of a song called "The Producer" which Tyler Joseph helped to write with Travis Whittaker.

So suffice to say, when the band that's been playing the background music of my life's biggest steps in faith makes anything new, you can be pretty sure I'm over here like 👀

I love Next Semester. It's hard, because with Twenty One Pilots, I notice my own commitment to truth and intended meaning and critical thinking at its strongest and its weakest at the same time 😅 Strongest, because you can tell he's so intentional with his lyrics and metaphors, and is communicating some things that he means so well—but weakest, because I'm constantly hoping that he's talking more about Christ and Biblical truth than he probably is. I'm always waffling between fear that Tyler Joseph is deconstructing, resentment that someone so blessed with creativity & hard work-ethic can refuse to come out and talk about the faith that saved him clearly, and...sometimes agreeing with him? Sometimes feeling like, he has a point, the way he creates and is careful to make his audience think for themselves can only lead back to Truth, which is Christ, if they're being as genuine as he is in the emotional content of the songs, and having them think for themselves makes them drop their guards and walk toward truth without "turning them off" by using culturally-Christian phrases—

ANYWAY. You didn't ask about any of that 😅 But the principals of what Twenty One Pilots does, (in terms of the art of communication and what that communication should be for) and why they do it, and what the right and wrong way to do it is, are something my brain is revolving all the time.

It's not really a good thing to keep revolving it, because at some point it's me trying to think exactly right about the whole topic, as if I can control what they do, or the outcome of what I create, if I just get it right. And that's not faith. At some point I have to quit trying so hard to think and do based on my own control! Welcome to you asking a simple question and me word vomiting/getting all preachy. (But lowkey I respect you and think you might appreciate what I'm rambling about, if anyone can. So maybe unluckily for you, you're probably the only person who could've asked me about this on here and gotten this kind of response 😅)

ANYWAY! Next Semester! I love that it's simple so that the emotion of it comes through. There's not metaphor-on-metaphor layering, so you're just left to hang on to his desperate vocals and the gut-check words of the song. I don't listen to it over and over like I do Overcompensate because it takes me to kind of a dark place—but I do love that it ends hopefully. Super hopefully. I started that paragraph above, talking about how twenty one pilots affects my critical thinking, to say this: I'm always having to be careful not to read too much of what I want to hear into the song. But that said, I do think the "person driving" in the song is representative of God. Someone outside yourself, giving you that slap of truth and hope and a fresh-start, who also could've run you down.

So I love that it ends hopefully. For a bit there, with Trench, I started to loosen my grip on them, because it felt like they would do a really good job of saying "We're broken, think about it, see how messed up we are?" And then "but we don't have to stay here," and that was really good. But...then Leave the City seems so obviously to stop at "don't stop." If that makes sense. Leave the City makes it sound like the way out of your depression, doubt, suicidal thoughts, and anxiety is just...movement. It's enough to know that you shouldn't sit in your dark thoughts (and basically sin.) But he won't say where to go instead. And I know it's because he's very genuine, and he doesn't want to say where to go instead if he doesn't know for sure that it's right, but that's not exactly reassuring.

It makes me think of the part in C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce, where one ghost says something about how "the hopeful journey is much better than the destination." But then the redeemed person is like, "no, that makes no sense—there's no hope IN a journey if you're not moving toward a set destination. The destination is where hope comes from."

So in Leave the City I feel like he takes me by the hand and says "I know how you feel" and "eventually we'll move on from this feeling" but then leaves me at "not that I know where we're going." And it's like, okay, well then why would I ever get hope from moving on? If I don't know what I'm moving on to??

Christ. It's supposed to be Jesus Christ. You can't jump from a sinking ship into a raging ocean and think that that's better. You have to jump from a sinking ship ONTO DRY LAND. Or at least have it in sight, so you can swim in that direction.

Anyway. Next Semester is not like Leave the City, because it ends with hope. 🙃 That's all I'm trying to say. Thanks for coming to my rant.

#Twenty one pilots #Nobody asked this #asked #answered #tøp #I guess I should expect some lash-back from dedicated clikkies #but like #guys I've known Mr. Joseph since before ya'll called yourselves that #my feelings about what he says and how he says it are way too deep-rooted for you to be able to tear them up with your rage #clique #why not #music #critical thinking #Christianity #storytelling #art #next semester #Clancy

[dalmascan-requiem]

Dalmascan Requiem: Dress

(Vierapril Day 25 - Desire)

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Dreams can be mirrors of the mind's desires... sometimes literally.

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Read on AO3 or keep reading after the jump

content warnings: NSFW 🔞

(vierapril main post)

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First attempt trying to write something a bit spicier. Still not completely explicit... but not safe for work, lol

"Stop pulling at the fabric! It's expensive!"

"I know! It's just… It's just not covering my–"

"That is the point, Gale! Stop moving, I'm trying to put this eyeliner on–"

Laurent sighs as he listens to the two bickering. After the two were reunited, Gemna had taken Gale under her wing–to "teach him more about espionage" as she said. He never realized the Bangaa had been so adept at gathering information… but in hindsight, it made sense. She did always seem to have a job for him or some lead to track, after all.

And despite being good at the job already, Gale still had much to learn about gathering and selling information. He was receptive to Gemna's help and advice, and though it's only been a few months, Gale's been putting the lessons to good use.

But they had rather… assertive personalities, so every lesson came with a healthy dose of bickering and in-fighting. It gives me such a headache…

"So, Laurent, how do I look?"

"Hm?" He looks over to the other Viera, and his frustration quickly turns to shock.

Gale's black dress was simple, but it clung to his figure in all the right places, and the long skirt had a slit that cut all the way to his waist. It easily drew the eyes to his legs and hips, made all the more distracting thanks to the high heels he confidently was wearing. 

I've never seen someone so beautiful before…

"...Laurent?" Gale frowns slightly at him, the faintest hint of nervousness crossing his face. "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh! No, you…" Hells, how long had I been staring? What is wrong with me? "...you look good, Gale."

Gale smiles a little but doesn't say anything in reply, nor does the unease leave his expression. I think I upset him, but…

"Gods, Laurent, you'd think complimenting the man is torture the way you're acting." Gemna comes out of the other room and rolls her eyes at Laurent.

"It's not that, Gemna, I just wasn't… used to…"

"Don't mind him, Gale, you look great. I'm sure Laurent agrees. Don't you?" Gemna gives him a look that says you'd best shut up and nod, and he gives a quick nod in response.

"Good. Now, Laurent, you need to keep an eye on him while he's out tonight. The outfit doesn't leave room to conceal a weapon, so he'll be hard-pressed to defend himself should something happen."

"Right, of course."

"Well, I imagine it won't be too hard to watch Gale tonight anyway, looking as nice as he does. Just don't forget your job." Gemna laughs as she heads back into the other room, and Gale's expression turns to vague confusion as he looks back toward Laurent.

Seven hells, this woman… Laurent pinches the bridge of his nose for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Let's head out, Gale. I'll be right behind you."

~~~

Laurent sinks onto the couch, too tired to head to his bedroom. We're finally done… The job went well and without incident, but it took longer than anticipated–and spending that much time on high alert had been exhausting.

He covers his eyes with an arm and sighs. He thought he heard Gale said something, but he didn't hear what and mumbled a non-commital response before closing his eyes.

"Reyna…?"

"Hm?" Laurent moves his arm and turns to Gale, who was hovering nearly–and he was suddenly reminded of how sexy he looks in that godsdamn dress. "O-oh… What is it, Eir?"

"Are you alright?" Gale sits next to Laurent on the couch, and he's all too aware of the other Viera's thigh pressing against him.

Eir's probably upset with how I've been acting… But I can't just tell him he's so beautiful it's distracting. "I'm fine, Eir, simply tired."

"Oh, is that all?" Laurent might have missed the playful tone in Gale's voice, but he did not miss Gale's hand finding its way onto his inner thigh. "I believe I know the solution to that…"

"Eir, what are you doing–"

Gale gently places a finger on Laurent's lips. "I know what you want. It's writ clear on your face." Gale chuckles as he moves closer, and emerald eyes glint as he drops his voice to a whisper. "What if I told you I want the same?"

He can't mean… no, I'm misunderstanding something. He's just teasing me, or… Gods can he move his hand!? "Eir, I-I…"

"You don't need to talk." Gale traces his fingers down Laurent's chest before gently pushing him into the cushions. "Just enjoy it."

Gale gives him a deep, passionate kiss, then quickly gets to work on removing Laurent's jacket. While this was more than he ever dreamed of, it all seemed rather sudden. W-why is this happening n–

Laurent's thoughts are interrupted when Gale tilts his chin up, and he loses himself in those deep green eyes. "You needn't think so hard. At least, not with that head." Gale chuckles at his joke, then begins kissing him again, leaving faint marks of lip color from Gale's makeup along his neck and shoulders. Gods, his fingers, his lips, his… everything…

After a moment, Gale places a hand on Laurent's lower abdomen, causing his breath to hitch. "May I?" He stops, searching Laurent's face for any sign of discomfort or objection. When he receives a nod in response, however, Gale smiles and wastes no time on working to unlace Laurent's pants.

"Reyna, you know, all these years…" Gale leans into him and lifts his gaze again, a look of lust crossing his features. "...all I ever wanted…" He finishes unlacing, then moves his hand under the fabric, stopping tantalizingly close his shaft.

"...was you."

~~~

Laurent wakes with a small start. Huh? He pulls himself up from the cushions of the couch. Hells… He takes stock of his surroundings. Alone. All clothes in place. Sunlight just beginning to peek through the windows. It was a dream… Gods…

It was then he spotted something on the table nearby–a bowl of fruit, and a note.

You fell asleep as soon as we got back, and I didn't want to wake you. Be sure to eat while you can, you looked flushed. - Gale

I looked flushed… Can't imagine why. Laurent scoffs sarcastically as he grabs a handful of grapes from the fruit bowl. This man… he will be the death of me.

#vierapril #vierapril 2024 #ffxiv viera #ff14 #ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #final fantasy 14 #ao3 #ffxiv fanfiction #ffxiv fic #ffxiv oc #my oc #series: dalmascan requiem

[lunar-years]

time loop from the bingo! or jamie-father fic

I have another ask about the father-fic so I'm gonna give you time loop!

I still only have the one idea for it, which I've posted about before. But to recap, the gist is: Present-day Jamie is dating Roy & Keeley. Then somehow, he ends up transported back in time and waking up in a time loop spanning a few days in season 2. At first he think his biggest problem is that Roy still hates him and he's not yet talking to Keeley really in this timeline, plus he has to watch them be all lovey-dovey together without him (which is much worse this go-around than it was the first time, because now he knows exactly how good it feels to be a part of it). But it gets much worse when he realizes the days he's reliving are the lead-up to and actual event of playing Man City at Wembley (and the subsequent aftermath with his father).

Jamie then has to navigate trying to convince Roy (& Keeley, though that's far easier lmao) that he is in fact stuck in a time loop and they are both in love with him, actually, at the same time that he's being forced to keep reliving one of the worst afternoons of his life. When he refuses to get his dad tickets, there's no need for Roy to comfort him. When he lets his dad come into the locker room but stands up to him as soon as he starts hurling abuse, there's no need for Roy to take him home. Basically, whatever route Jamie tries he can't convince Roy to care about him long him enough to listen to him, and he starts developing a complex that Roy only ever got over his hatred for Jamie and then they became friends and then they became lovers all because Roy pitied him at Wembley for having a dad who hits him. And he starts thinking the only way to fix this is to let it play out like it had the first time, just let his dad abuse him so he can talk to ROy. But at that point does even want to talk to Roy? is it even worth fixing things if that is how his boyfriend sees him, as someone he needs to feel sorry for?

ANYWAY...when I first posted this idea I'd scrapped it for a number of reasons, namely:

obviously as a time loop fic we're already going to be defying logic, but the time loop PLUS time travel PLUS the time loop spanning multiple days somehow felt like a step too far, lmao. and also annoying to keep track of when writing.

there's really no point to it? Like I sort of felt it was just Jamie whump for the sake of Jamie whump and it wasn't going anywhere. I want there to be a point to him getting caught in the time loop. What is he meant to learn?

i didn't know how to end it

BUT now that it has appeared on my royjamie bingo card I do sort of feel like it's fate and I should write it. plus people seemed interested in it! And i think I've figured out the mechanism for what spurs the time loop (a fight between Jamie & Roy about how he's handling his dad in the present day, which kind of dregs up some fears of Jamie's that are mostly subconscious and he therefore hasn't realized until now have been sort of plaguing the relationship for a while).

it seems like a big endeavor for a bingo fic though, so it will probably be quite some time before I actually write it because I've already got a longer fic going I want to finish first (ironically, Jamie-father fic, lmao).

#royjamie #royjamiekeeley #ted lasso #asks #writing games #fic: time loop #my writing #roy kent #jamie tartt #ask games #tw abuse #james tartt sr #ship post

[fresne999]

For the Story is Long and Takes a Long Time

Every now and then I see a post float across my dash about younger folks (my lawn is a field of local plants and and drip watered, please enjoy) wanting an algorithm for AO3 or only wanting longer fic, or blah, blah. Not sure how much of that is pervasive and not folks grumping at the sky.

But this is the grumping at the sky site, so whatever.

Ever wondered what the labor involved in a long fic looks like? Wonder no longer, here's a line graph.

This represents the kind of sustained labor required to finish a maybe (I'm not done yet) 350k work. 

It's not a single story. It's 18 stories from 18 POV that braid around similar (but not identical because people observe different things) events. It's OFMD modern AU. 

Nothing is posted. I don't post unfinished stories. I learn too much while I write for that to ever work for me. Even if I have an outline. 

Now you may wonder, how did I come up with graph? Probably not, but I'm going to explain anyway. 

After working on and off on the project (the reason it doesn't start at zero) I decided to apply some techniques I use for project management. What I'm about to describe can be used for any type of complicated project.

Step 1

-Break the "project" down into milestones. 18 stories. I've also broken it down into 4 phases per story:  1) Write draft 1, 2) Edit, 3) Have you heard of 2nd edit? 4) Hopefully we're at Spag edit. 

Step 2 - 

Assign points to every milestone.

I use this sequence of #s*: 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34. Want to sound fancy. That's a Fibonacci Sequence. Now you know. 

Using this numbering sequence keeps me from getting bogged down trying to decide if a big story is say 8 or 9 points if I were using a 1-10 sequence 

The principle behind this kind of point assignment goes something like this. It's hard to look at Stede and know how tall he/the actor is. But if you look at Stede and Izzy standing together, I roughly know who is taller.

A - Or in this case, I guess the Stede story will be longer than Izzy's story. So Stede= 34, and Izzy=21.

B - Break down the phases of writing and assign them points. 

3 Start writing. At the end of one week, figure out my points completed. Should be a % of the total possible points for that milestone/phase. My method involves a lot of formulas based on 20 years of project mangagement experience. You should just guess. Divide by 7. That's the "build" rate.

Divide the total number of points for the project by the build rate, that's the # of days it will probably take. That seem to long, establish an arbitrary date to finish and divide the number of points by that number of days and that's you're "Management Assigned an Arbitrary Date and I don't know if we can finish, but let's try" rate.

4 Keep writing and editing. Track as you go. Having a much smaller goal each day than "Finish it" to reach each day makes it easier to do. It's also easier than an arbitrary # of words a day, which, shrug, we're not Dickens. We're paid by the kudo, not the word.

Know how I know? I've been working on and off on this for 2 years. Here's what that (roughly) looks based on knowing how long I spent getting 4 of the stories thru writing and first edit by the time I got to March of this year. I file creation to last revision date, but not including the long periods in between writing, and knowing several times I had to remove huge amounts of writing. So, points went away. Sad sound.

That looks like this. 

Brought to you by, I need to finish more points today, but am tired.

#ofmd #ofmd fanfic #fanfic #writing techniques #project mangement

[f0point5]

i'm new to f1 but i am so enthralled in this series of yours. (lengthy comment incoming, apologies) i feel like i've learned a lot about f1 and it's culture throughout this haha. i love a good smau but you do such a phenomenal job of making it realistic. especially lining it up with current events, it just makes it that much more immersive.

and your writing! i will never discredit the legitimacy and artistry of smau writing because you are writing in so many different styles and versions of peoples voices and making it seem convincing. the way you wrote the vouge article literally felt like a real professional interview. and "the torch must be passed or it will be stolen" are u kidding me?! why was that so beautifully written about racing drivers!

also i've never been into sports before so i'm not used to the dramatics and driver hate that comes with the competitiveness/fans. i just wanted to see cool guys go fast but i was not aware of all the deeply rooted history and politics in f1 (which i'm sure is why it's all the more fascinating). it's taking a bit to get used to though, still learning the sport and figuring out how to navigate the negativity. it can be difficult separating the drivers as athletes from their personal lives as well, because of the public eye they're always in. like it's one thing to like a driver because he's attractive and talented but then you bring in their personality and romantic relationships and feuds and it's like woah that's a whole other layer that i have to factor into whether or not i like/support this person. not sure if any of this makes sense but hopefully a seasoned fan can help me understand.

Thank you for the compliment! I’ve tried to keep it as realistic as possible.

Yeah, I’ll be honest part of the reason I love F1 is the drama. It’s such a small world, smaller than most sports, and people stay in it so long (TPS, advisers, crew), it’s such a revolving door, that there’s so much history between everyone and that’s what makes it interesting to me. SO much goes into putting a car on track and F1 is about so much more than putting a car on track and I love that.

I do feel kind of bad for the girlfriends of drivers because there’s no reason they should be involved or get the hate they do. But another part of what’s interesting to me is how often the driver’s families have racing connections and get in on the drama themselves.

This is the only sport I’ve ever properly followed, because it’s more than a sport, in a way it’s almost a culture.

If you ever want to chat drama hit me up haha I’m probably not THE most well versed but I’m endlessly fascinated.

[coexistentialism]

how do you organise DID stuff externally? like, do you have a journal, do you use a notes app, is all your info stored in a discord server? also curious if you keep track of what parts you have much? you've said that you really dont know who's there and stuff before so idk im just curious if you try to keep track at all.

you dont have to answer, these definitly arent the most directly related questions to what you said, i know. hope your day is going alright regardless.

I use an app/website called Notion. I wanted something that I could easily access through my phone and on my laptop, and so far it's the only thing I have that isn't Discord (I just haven't wanted to use Discord because it doesn't have the type of organization I want).

I don't keep track of alter information anymore; I probably should, and I kind of do? But not really. It's mostly just because there's nothing TO keep track of. It's really complicated lol

Although yesterday I decided to just write out information about my "moods" and try to go from there and that seems to help, I think.

I hope I can figure out my alters in the future, I'm sure I will, but trying to figure out alters was too stressful and difficult, so I've given up for the time being.

It's also that my health was doing really badly for a while and I've had other things I've had to focus on that were more important. I still have other things that are more important, but at least the medication I've been trying has been helpful, so that's something!

#my posts #inbox

[bambiraptorx]

1 11 21 31 41 51 61 71

this one's been answered here

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

Okay honestly favorites are hard and I'm bad at remembering the ones I actually like, but some that I really like:

But First They Must Catch You series

creation, haunted and holy

vigilantism for fun and profit

21. Would you ever collaborate with another writer for a story?

Yeah, I'd be down for it! I love getting to interact with other creatives, it's part of what makes fandom fun for me. I'd probably want it to be fairly short though, just because I already have so many stories lol. Maybe like a crossover fic? Or just helping someone figure out the lore and details and plot and whatnot for their story, which is a little less involvement but still fun.

31. Do you start with the characters or the plot when writing?

For fanfiction, I start with "here's these characters in this situation". And then ask stuff like: how did they get there? what needs to happen for them to be in that situation or act like that? The characters already exist, so I don't have to build up their characterization so much as understand it.

For original stories, I tend to start more with the characters and their world, and then figure out what might be an interesting conflict to follow within that situation. I actually do want to get into sharing some original stuff here at some point, but I need to decide on which story and how to do it lol. The one I've been thinking about the most recently is also kind of the oldest, so I need to reboot it a fair bit before I shared any of it.

41. Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?

Oh, I absolutely reread my fics. If I actually put the effort into writing it it's because I think other people would like it too, sure, but I totally reread my stuff a few times.

51. What’s your total AO3 word count?

152,868 words. About two thirds of that is Minor Interference, which is far and away the longest thing I've ever written.

61. Why do you continue writing fics?

Because I enjoy it, and because sharing my writing with other people is fun. Honestly, if it weren't for the component of "other people might like this too", I think I would write and draw a lot less. Something about having an audience makes me more likely to actually get stuff out of my brain lol.

71. When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

Poorly. (/j)

In all seriousness, a lot of this stuff is in my head, which isn't the best option but whatever lol. I have a bunch of planning and outlines and whatnot written down in various places, sometimes actual notebooks, but that doesn't mean that I end up using it lol. My original outline for Minor Interference is literally defunct at this point. Honestly, a lot of it is just that I go back and re-read stuff when I'm writing to make sure it's at least somewhat cohesive, and even then I don't always succeed.

For example, at one point in Minor Interference I forgot about Raph learning to use his ninpo in ways beyond the constructs around his body, and logically that should have showed up in the fight in chapter 19. Also, for whatever reason I never pictured a table in Draxum's kitchen? (It's fine, I've decided it's just the one in the training room lol.) And there's a couple other things, but I work on the logic that if no one's bothered to point it out, it must not have been that disbelief-breaking.

#asks #bambi's rambling

[insufferable-talkstuck]

hey callie (if that's your name), i hope you don't mind me submitting an entire essay of sorts so that you could, you know, classpect me. i've seen the stuff you've been posting here on this blog of yours, and i can't help but like it. so uhhh, let the trauma dumping begin, i guess? i'll try not to take this too far, so i'll give you something more palatable to read. if i do, feel free to call me out for it like you did over mentions of politics that other people did.

so...how would i describe myself as a person?

dude, i wish you had a format like a list of questions or something. is this dumb for me to complain about because by being this open-ended, you're giving other people the choice to say what they want to, with those choices ultimately providing a subtle kind of information that may or may not make your readings/analyses more accurate? probably. am i going to complain about it anyway? well, i just did, even though i'm not usually one to actively complain. that translates to absolutely, by the way. all this text is just a transcript for my thoughts while writing this. no wonder this has gotten out of hand so quickly. but look on the bright side: there's more for you to analyse. fuck yeah to that. :)

back to the question: one thing i can say about myself is that i go on tangents and can get sidetracked easily (see the above paragraph for explicit proof). i'm also a very secretive person, especially in regards to my problems and my inner world. when it comes to that, i can't help but feel like i understand them better than how the external world works. to compensate for this lack of understanding, i tend to, figuratively speaking, wear different hats depending on the situation. usually, im quiet and lay low as i keep an eye on what goes on around me, which i attempt to grasp by myself. other times, i do the exact opposite when i feel like i'm supposed to, mostly in attempts to get others to like me. i'm either too much or too little for the people around me to deal with. hell, i guess i could say i'm wearing a different hat right now through the way i'm typing in this ask, and that's mostly because i'm that fucking terrified of being able to be identified via typing style alone even if i'm anonymous. a person's gotta cover their tracks while admitting personal shit, you know?

so to cope with the fact that i find it hard to make friends due to all this, i've gotten used to isolating myself and being self-reliant, to the point where i straight up pretend to be stoic, cold, and boring to talk to out of well, a lot of things. these things include how i'm constantly terrified of social interaction, i'm afraid of hurting other people through whatever shitty choices and words i decide to make or say, and i can't help but feel worthless all the goddamn time. it even goes to the point where i tell myself that i should be so proud to be so "independent and badass" as a motivator to keep getting away with this despite having this deep, contradictory craving to have meaningful interpersonal relationships in my life, which i tell myself is stupid and that any attempts i make at it are bound to be a waste of time and effort to avoid dealing with it all together. and i suppose that also makes me a hypocrite by default. that's a big yikes on my part.

i also guess that according to some people i used to know, there's a side of me that can be best described as sassy, blunt, with a disposition of innocence and sunshine. i mean, i'm probably being incredibly sassy while typing this all out, aren't i? (which is intentional) if you find it hilarious (like some of my friends did), then i'm glad to hear that the interspersed shenanigans i've been pulling as i prose on endlessly about my flaws have made someone laugh. however, i don't fully buy my sunny, pure disposition as part of who i am as i can't help but feel that only developed as a way to avoid conflict, especially by preventing any sign of my problems and stress from leaking into the day-to-day conversations i had with them at the time. however, there were occasions where both my positive and/or negative emotions got so overwhelming to deal with that i accidentally snapped in front of them. even though i try to prevent those kinds of occasions from happening at all, i regret every single time i lose my composure like that without meaning to due to how i felt rejected every time i did that. and well, in my eyes, rejection scares the everloving shit out of me as well.

i've also been described as a "robot" and a "cryptid" on previous occasions and well, i don't entirely know how to feel about those kinds of descriptors. but i'm not complaining about it because being any of those things sounds badass to me when trying to be positive about it.

so yeah, i'd say that im a person that's damn good at usually playing the role of a stone-cold, sassy hardass with nothing interesting to offer beyond that while wishing it were the truth.

and well, i feel like i've talked enough about myself to feel the need to not mention anything else, so that's where i'll end this. like, i'm usually private about my interests, especially the ones i'm the most emotionally invested im (which can go to the point where I lie about them out of embarassment) and my aspriations in life are something along the lines of "i want to do all this cool shit, but i realistically don't have the energy for all that and worrying about what other people need from me is more important anyway."

hope you got something out of all of this. it was nice for me to type it out, even if all i did was talk about myself. but that's the point, right? and hopefully, i don't regret saying any of this. sorry if this was a long one to read, i hope that doesn't bother you too much.

Witch of heart

my name is Calliope, on this blog, nicknames are appreciated tho i find them sweet.

ah hem, you must excuse me, i am a little rusty, for i have not classpected in a while. But i "tried" my "best" here so take it however you will

you managed to talk about yourself while also avoiding talking about yourself. people majorly view themselves as.. a collection of titles, a community they're members in, interests, morals and their overall attitude twords the world. but you only talked about personality, which is certainly a rare case. No music or art that you're into? do you sit infront of a mirror all day and pass your time on..... self reflection ? you did say your interests are private so, maybe they're too private for even the classpect blog to know. how sad

i assigned you a witch of heart because, you're certainly a steriotypical heart player, from the way you're speaking. i do think I could manage assigning you a blood player with more information... perhaps hit my inbox again soon.

i struggled a bit for the class but then it was obvious, you change heart, you manipulate it to your given situation you put on a... hat. ( why did you say a hat of all things? )

✷ sometimes i add in a little bonus when the answer is too short, my guilt is practically eating me alive for responding with such a short classpecting sesh to such a big ask, but you did use a whole bunch of words to talk about nothing so, not exactly in my pay range to fix my reply, I will say i think you're the first person I don't think I could find a moon for, you could go either side but not in the sollux way, just in the: I think it took you way too long to wake up way

#homestuck #classpect #classpects #classpect assignment #homestuck classpects #witch of heart #<— blood player if anon talks again

[tekutiger]

For the past week or so, I've been logging in to Disney Dreamlight Valley again (after a 2 month hiatus 😅). They have a "Haunted Holiday Star Path" event going on right now. When it comes to games I genuinely like, I do actually have fomo and I hate it, lol. So, here I am 🙃

I've been playing a bit of catch up. Like, they added Beauty and the Beast! That was my favorite OG Disney movie growing up. And then Mulan came along and I was like !!! Okay now those two are my favorites (because I couldn't decide between the two).

I also finally watched the live action Beauty and the Beast for the first time. It's been out for a while now, I know... I'm just slow when it comes to watching movies or anything on tv. In my opinion it was very well done! I'm not a harsh critic though.

I also watched the live action Little Mermaid and I really loved it. It gave the characters so much more depth, and displayed more marine creatures than I thought they would have. The actors put so much life and emotion into their vocals in their songs, I was very impressed.

And I touch on this a bit below, but being an octo-nerd, there were things about Ursula that they added to the movie, that was not in the original, and I was like holy crap! I wonder how many people are going to catch onto that? It's when she's shuffling through her ingredient cabinets to create one of her concoctions and her 'arms' (she refers to them as 'tentacles', probably because younger audiences will be like ??? if she says arms, but the correct term is actually 'arms'). They are acting independently from her because octopuses have nine brains. One brain in each arm and one in the mantle (head). So each arm thinks for itself. When she says she can't find anything, everything always gets lost, it's probably because her eight arms are putting things back on the shelves however they please and her main-brain (mantle i.e. head) isn't paying attention to keep track of it all 😅

Okay- weird thing that I complain about often to my friends cause we all play this, and unrelated to the live action movie. Eric, in this game, stalks me, and it's flippen weird. I think everyone who plays this has a character that stalks them though, as if it's in the programming and it's RNG of who it is. I say that because I'll go to Twitch and watch it happen to streamers, and they'll make comments about their 'stalker'. It's just somehow my 'stalker' ended up being Eric 🤷🏻‍♀️. For some, it's Kristoff. Others, it's Maui. I dunno... it's weird.

(For the record, I know they're all programmed to come and find you, but I mean- in this case, there's ONE specific character that follows you WAY MORE than usual.)

Anyone who knows me, knows I have this obsession with the Ocean (also space) and octopuses, and jellyfish... hence why I have the Ursula attire (she's the Octo Queen!). Her quest line, should you put out the moonstones and buy her bundle, is worth it imo, but I'm also biased as heck. I just find it ironic that I'm literally dressed like Ursula 2.0 and Eric stalks me more than half the time I'm in-game, lol 😓. The sound of his flute puts me in that state of like 🙀 -startled cat, eyes wide, looking everywhere, ducking behind furniture-

Ariel, go pay more attention to your man plskthx. I will give it to the live action production for the movie. The actor who plays Eric is handsome and plays the role well 👌🏻 (doesn't make me wanna hide any less though in-game 😑)

I totally veered off course of why I'm writing this post. My rambling is getting worse, akjdhjs.

SO. The star path...!

Last year when we got the first Halloween star path, if memory serves, I recall it not having any Tim Burton, The Nightmare Before Christmas items at all and being really bummed out about it. I figured it was because they couldn't get a contract signed, permission, copyright something or other. The game was still very new afterall.

There's a biome in DDLV named the Forgotten Lands and it's mostly purple hues. I knew the aesthetics would be perfect for The Nightmare Before Christmas if I just waited for it... and now this year a handful of items are in the Star Path event. I've been so ready.

Oh, and we also get... !!

😄

With the new items, I totally remodeled my biome. It's looking cute~

Here's some better shots of a couple Nightmare Before Christmas outdoor furniture pieces (just a couple but they're big pieces). The notorious Skellington's Hill and the popular Frightful Fountain. 👇🏻

And the great thing about this game is, we're just going to continue to get even more fun items and grow as the game develops. We also have the Christmas Star path coming up, at some point. Wonder if there's going to be some interesting items in that 🤔

Oh yeah, I got a cutie Pirate Parrot from this Star Path too ❤️

One Final Edit: On Twitter they mentioned that they added an "AUTUMNBUNDLE" code. If you're playing and missed it, you can copy and paste that in for some furniture pieces.

Should be in the Settings menu > Help > Code box (under 'import avatar') > hit 'claim' after typing it in.

#teku.blog #teku.ddlv #ddlv spoilers #ddlv #disney dreamlight valley #dreamlight valley #ramble ramble ramble #this is one of the few games I like to play when I'm feeling burnout from FFXIV #it's also a really cute and chill game #it has quests- housing decorating- gathering- crafting- cooking- fishing... #I need to stop writing such long posts x_x

[seyaryminamoto]

An ask about how you plotted Gladiator raised a good question. How do you keep track of it all? If you write notes, how do you organize them? How many Word files do you have? Or do you use another software?

Well... I can certainly say I've never needed as much backup material to keep up with a story as I have with this one, for obvious reasons X'D

Okay, I had a simple bullet-points list at first, probably started it around the time I was writing either arc 2 or finishing arc 1? At that point, keeping track of what I wanted to happen next wasn't so hard. But I turned this into what you could call a wishlist, haha, of ideas that I wanted to implement in the future, so I dumped those ideas there. Little by little I started articulating, organizing them, and that's kind of how Part 1's structure came to be. Whatever new idea I'd get, I'd add it to the bullet points list. Once I crafted the bulk of the story's outline for the first time, it was initially written there. As of this day... that particular document, which I don't rely on as much anymore, amounts to 3K words, 8 pages worth of very rough, very basic plotting.

But then more complicated arcs started happening. Stuff I REALLY needed to work out in proper detail because I wasn't sure I would be able to just remember whatever I wanted to do. Sometimes inspiration strikes like lighting: hits once and then it's gone and you're just left ambling about, half-blind, unsure of what the hell is going on :'D so I started writing similar bullet points lists that were more detailed structure for the more difficult arcs to plot. Pairs Tournament arc, I think, was the first one to receive this treatment. Fire Lord for a Week arc in Part 2 also had to be handled this way, same as the final arc of Part 2, and the Race, particularly since that one required extra choreographing on my part to get it right. In Part 3, I did this with the Taking Omashu arc as well. There are a few more bullet-point lists about some really important things that will matter in the future... but I can't talk about those yet :'D

Now then, past this: I have the a huge Excel document where I tried to keep track of the disaster ranking of the Superior Gladiator League. As much as Part 3 has been so difficult... not having to update the ranking is so goddamn nice about it :') This document had the ranking itself, the names + locations of all Superior League Arenas, the brackets for every Pairs Tournament we saw, it's also where I kept track of the Race's points... and there's also a very poorly crafted timeline in this document where I tried (and kind of failed) to figure out how many years had passed in the story and how old each character would be :'D as you might be able to tell, this particular document is... a mess. Big mess. I do not recommend looking at it. The timeline in particular is just completely irrelevant tbh...

Because I made a NEW timeline doc that keeps track of... everything. Kind of. Mostly? :'D

The new timeline doc was necessary and I honestly should have had it around from the start, but I spent AGES putting that one off because I have no sense :'D I think I started it in Part 2, REALLY late, as in, when Wan Shi Tong was writing down what Azula would say about her family. Then, Part 3 made this doc a much bigger necessity because I REALLY needed to keep track of... the obvious :') as in, Azula's pregnancy. Real pregnancies are tracked on a weekly basis. Hence... I had to start planning, plotting and strategizing my story by keeping in mind where, exactly, we would be in terms of Azula's pregnancy, CONSTANTLY. That sure switched up things for me :'D forced me to be a lot more organized than I usually want to be because wild freedom is kinda nice sometimes... but I couldn't keep doing that anymore. So! This timeline doc starts with the birth of Fire Lord Hizuo in the year -49, and it goes all the way to the events of year... 121! :'D I broke down the story events of each year in this doc, so if you want a bit of a rundown of what we've seen so far...

Year 104: Chapters 1 and 2

Year 106: Chapter 3 to approximately chapter 46

Year 107: Chapter 47 to chapter 114 (yeeeeah a lot of things happened that year :'D

Year 108: Chapter 115 to chapter 164

Year 109: Chapter 165 to chapter 200 (note that there was a preeetty big time skip of around 6 months between Hahn's Gambit arc and The Mad Alchemist arc).

Year 110: Chapter 201 to chapter 328 (okay now THIS was an eventful year, holy shit :'D and naturally it's the one I'm posting right now...)

Year 111: Chapter 329 to... ??? Still not done with the events of that year :'D so I dunno how many chapters it's going to be!

Things really changed since I started keeping track of events by month, even by weeks. I've tried to keep doing that since, even beyond writing Azula's pregnancy. It's a little annoying to be so thorough and to panic over miscalculating dates and such, but at the same time I think I feel more secure in my own crazy story this way.

Ah, and there we go. That's Gladiator's plotting documents, every single one of...

...

...

...

Yeah okay, that's not true.

Look. Sometimes you REALLY need to be thorough. Some things require WAY too much finesse. Sometimes you're telling two stories simultaneously. Sometimes you're telling THREE. Sometimes it's even MORE than that because you have flashbacks and multiple POVs of events in a battlefield. Sometimes you have to write huge battles between armies and you need to keep track of wtf you're doing. Sometimes you have to articulate events to make sure they match each other timeline-wise!

... At those times, you make a big document with a huge table, split in three columns.

Column 1 is the arc's name. Column 2 is Sokka's side of the story. Column 3 is Azula's side of the story.

... And sometimes that document ends up becoming as long as 122 pages.

Yeah, uh, the document carrying the highly sensitive plans, detailing every single arc of Part 3 and how they work, how they connect, how long they'll be, what will happen in each of them (as well as which elements happened in which chapter, some of which ends up getting switched up, back and forth, depending on whether my writing lined up with the reality of my plotting or not...) is genuinely, uh... 122 pages long. 45K words. By my standards, that's about the length of 3 Gladiator chapters :'D

I had to be really thorough in that document. I was lost in regards of how I'd handle Part 3 for some time. Even if I had some ideas for it already, Sokka's side of the story used to be muuuuch clearer than Azula's. Once Rei showed up, plotting for Azula's side became soooo much easier to do... but the point is, Part 3 has been the most challenging aspect of plotting this story by far. I'm flexible enough with my plans, some things don't work or would work better at other times, and I simply adapt to it. But this document was 100% necessary to make sure I wouldn't get lost in the chaos of Part 3... so there it is :'D

Additional to this: I keep a version of Bill Mudron's ATLA map on direct access for easy reference whenever I want to make sure I'm not committing geographical crimes by making characters travel too fast, or to places that aren't even close to each other :'D it has been a huge element in my plotting and ensured I don't ATLA finale ANYTHING in the story since its earliest days. I also had to acquire a strange little resource, an educational app about space that features a projection/simulation of timezones! And that's how I've been keeping track of whether it's daytime or nighttime in Sokka or Azula's story, particularly useful whenever they connect to each other spiritually since it's very often nighttime for one and daytime for the other and these events should be happening simultaneously :'D

Oof, well. That's all I can think of atm to answer this question. There are always a lot of references you need as a writer, lots of places to keep track of your research, of your worldbuilding... it's chaotic but once you find a method to your madness, it can be fun, even! :D it still blows me away a little that my big full plotting document is 122 pages long, but it's been an undeniably useful asset all across these years.

So, in total, counting only my documents... I have about 10 different Word documents, 1 Excel spreadsheet with multiple sheets, probably around 8 different ones, 1 map, 1 cosmos education app. Making it around 13 resources to keep track of what I'm doing in this huge chaotic story :'D

... 11, come to think of it. I have one hilarious document that's basically me arguing with myself over some big plot changes I did to Part 3 as a whole when I started writing the first spiritual connection and it became EXTREMELY obvious that Azula wasn't letting Sokka go without telling him she was pregnant :'D yep, that wasn't part of the OG plan because I, as usual, underestimated my girl. By the time I got there she was like "I'm going to do it and you can't stop me with your PLOT" and I had to go back to the drawing board for a LOT of rearranging the plot, to figure out how it would work, what to do with it... document is literally called "BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE.doc" simply because I was terrified that change would alter the plotted story way more than I could handle. After my bickering with myself in that doc, it all started making a little more sense :'D

Alright, I think that's that XD

#emanleopard555 #gladiator #it's kinda funny to actually look at all this stuff objectively now #how much plotting went into this story #it is kinda obvious that you can't make a story this big make sense without plotting properly #but it's funny anyway to really let it sink in that I have that much stuff in my Gladiator folder #it is indeed a huuuuge folder #this baby is a little too big for its own good I'm afraid #but we keep up with it no matter what

[bylightofdawn]

Oooof writing this scene and my girl is laying down some vicious, no-holds-barred truths and is kinda painting the whole Death Watch vs True Mandalorian conflict in an interesting (if somewhat one-sided point of view and ouch.) I love when people get called on their bullshit, even if they are the presumptive good guys. Cause even the good guys make mistakes in war. She points out that yeah Death Watch are considered zealots but maybe the True Mandalorians should look to themselves and their own form of zealotry when it comes to pursuing them since Jaster 1000% has blinkers on the moment they get involved and he just tunnel visions on wanting to take out Tor. But LBR it's very unreliable narrator stuff and she gets called out pretty quickly by Jango for some of the shit she's saying but oof I'm enjoying writing this scene.

So I'm gonna attach a little snippet. It's behind a cut, I am really getting to the point where I'm gonna stop trying to hide said spoiler character because at this point, is it really a spoiler? Also I think...I'm gonna call chapter 28 there. It's like 5K which is a respectable length.

I think I'm going to spend the rest of the night poking at that Cody and Slick fic. That first chapter needs A LOT of fucking working. Like more than most of my editing so might as well do it now. I don't think this is an update week for Seeds? Ahahahah I should prolly figure that out.

Edit: Shitballs it is. I've completely lost track of time at this point. I mean I have two days before I need to tentatively post the next chapter of Seeds so that's a problem for near future me.

It was curious because he thought she might be eager to get some revenge against them, yet she was keeping her mouth shut. Vau wondered if it was simply because she did not trust them or if it was something else entirely.

“I don’t expect you to trust us immediately, your hesitance is completely understandable. But if there are other vulnerable people or children being abused, we don’t harm civilians and will do what we can to get them to safety.”

“Those are pretty words and all but some of the people you murdered today? They were just like me. Kids were kidnapped and brainwashed into serving Vizsla. But because you attacked them when they were sleeping, of course, they reached for their weapons to defend themselves and you killed them.” [Spoiler Character] stated coldly, her eyes boring into Walon’s through the visor of his helmet with an almost uncomfortable intensity.

He felt a brief flash of horror when that realization settled in and knew if Jaster found out, he’d probably feel even more gutted.

“We had no idea, but you’re right they became a target when they reached for they took up arms. Now that we know more about Death Watch’s recruitment practices, we’ll have to alter how we handle engagements from here on out.”

“A day late and a credit short. I would be dead with them on that apartment floor if I hadn't been fetching breakfast. You speak of Death Watch’s zealotry but maybe you should look to yourselves as well. It’s easy to paint yourself as the hero in your own mind, is there really that much difference?”

“We don’t deliberately target civilian targets or use bombs to inflict the most collateral damage possible.” Jango cut in suddenly. “I understand why you’re angry but don’t put us on the same level as them. Yes, mistakes were made, and I guarantee Jaster will change the rules of engagement from here because of it, but we are not as bad as Death Watch is.”

“I’m not defending them, they absolutely deserve all the awful things you lay at their feet. But Mereel and Vizsla hate each other so much that it filters everything else out, including common sense. You attacked an apartment block filled with civilians. What would have happened if you’d accidentally harmed a civilian?”

“We know how to handle urban combat missions and how to avoid any unwarranted friendly fire accidents.”

“All I’m saying is that it was a risky decision. And I think that’s because Vizsla pissed your Mand’alor off so much by targeting his ad’ika that he’s not capable of thinking beyond wanting to just find him and kill him. That’s going to lead him off the edge into a dark place. The question is, are you going to follow him over that edge?”

#fanfiction snippet #el writes #seeds for the future fic #walon vau #jango fett

[hongism]

Hiii there! so I’m sure you’ve been asked this question a lot, so I’m sorry if you have but it refers to how you built your story and plot for MOC. I’m planning on writing a sci fi/fantasy book and I’m struggling >.< I think I’m good with world building (if you have any tips pls advise) but I’m struggling with like the government? Idk if that sounds stupid 😭 but how does the government really work in moc. I haven’t gotten very far since I just recently started reading it (I’m in loveeee love love) so I haven’t really grasped it yet. I’m not sure if I should have one authoritative figure rule one system, or one planet. Blah blah.

Last question, love I’m so sorry, how did you come up with the idea? It’s so unique and amazing I just sjshjdajsj. I’m struggling with the plot of my story but it’s getting there. Like, I love blaming characters and their back story but then they’re literally just standing there with no world and plot other than their little back stories😭

Basically any advise you’d have for a writer! Thanks so much and can’t wait to catch up on moc

Muah muah!!

hi!! no worries i love answering questions like these (¬‿¬) sci fi fantasy stories are incredibly hard to write i don't blame you i envy the people who are able to do it easily!! the government is esp hard for me since the story deals with multiple solar systems and spreads across several different planets like there's no much to deal with and that's one of the hard things about writing governments in sci fi plots 😭 i have a fairly solid idea of what the aurum military system looks like and i use this diagram to help me keep track tbh but everyone will like different kinds of things for their stories so don't let me be the end all be all of what you want for your story!!

so i've got three kings who jointly rule the solar system that is aurum, and for other systems i don't really delve into what the governments look like beyond there being a military/guard presence on the planets. it's kinda a tell as needed basic for me where i don't go thru the trouble of nitpicking every tiny detail and focus more on fleshing on what i know will be important to the plot and the story! and you can always make things up as you go, there's no hard and fast rules against that sort of thing either!

i always feel terrible saying it but honestly i had the idea of space pirate ateez. and then from there the story just kinda blossomed itself. i sat down with the test document where i keep all the character stuff and plot stuff and just kinda let it all come as it did. i did focus on fleshing out the characters first, that was the very first thing i did -- i put down the characters and i went thru creating their backstories and their personalities and their motives and from there the story kinda just took shape and worked its way out from those bare bones i started with

my biggest piece of advice would probably be to not be too harsh or strict with yourself and your writing. the first draft will always be the first draft so it doesn't have to be flawless and perfect on the first go, and even if its imperfect on the second go of things that's okay too. let yourself have fun with it, and if you find that it's stressing you more than making you happy then adjust and find a way to change things so that you become happy with it again!! good luck my friend i'm wishing you the best with it （づ￣3￣）づ╭❤～

#caly answers #mists of celeste