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charlewiss-writes · 1 year

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beautiful stranger / mick schumacher

masterlist

day 22: eyes (part of one-word november prompts!)

summary: you meet someone you had never seen before at a masquerade party that was organised to prevent halloween going to waste this year, after falling on the same weekend as the mexican gp. will you see him again?

word count: 1.2k

pairing: mick schumacher x leclerc!reader

warnings: mentions of alcohol and the consumption of, mentions of platonic!pierre and brother!charles, badly translated french and german (just two words used).

with halloween falling in the same weekend as the mexican gp, you thought that the holiday was cancelled for you this year.

until someone knocked on the door.

"y/n, you there?" your twin brother, charles, was banging the door, and if you didn't open it soon, he would absolutely shatter it. what did he have to say to you that was so urgent? that needed you to get out of bed, when you already were about to fall asleep with some movie as background sound and the face mask resting on your face?

he knew how much you love this holiday, so when you opened the door, grumpy, to a completely energized charles who was about to jump off the wall while screaming "halloween is on again!", he didn't quite understand why you didn't reciprocate his emotion.

"what are you talking about?" you said, with your brows furrowed. "the race ended a few hours ago. we're still in mexico". the monegasque rolled his eyes, annoyed that you weren't in the same wavelength as him. "did you realize that the same people we would go out with in monte carlo are literally right here?".

well, he certainly had a point.

"ok ok, you're right. but I've got no costume, cha, so I have to decline your invitation" in reality, you could probably put something together with the clothes you travelled with, no need to go all-out like you normally would, but you were already about to fall asleep, so it didn't really seem worth it to put on the effort. "it's not a costume party, silly, you didn't even let me explain! it's a masquerade ball!". you were about to say that you didn't have a mask, that would be absolutely insane, who travels across the globe with something like that ready on their luggage? but he stopped you right on your tracks, depositing a black mask in your hand without waiting for your response. "we leave in 30 minutes. if you're not already on the lobby, I'm coming to get you, and I won't be as nice. okay, ma mie? (my dear)".

and again, he left you with the words at the tip of your tongue. you huffed, and started to get ready for whatever he was so excited about, but with the worst mood ever. putting on a simple black dress, some heels and a bit of makeup, you applied the finishing touches before actually putting on the mask. giving you one small look on the mirror and satisfied with the result, you almost promised yourself that this won't be long, you'll go just to please your brother and then, before he even noticed, you would be back in your bed.

"he's late again, isn't he?" you asked pierre when you got out of the elevator, and arrived at the entrance hall of the hotel, where your brother had told you to meet him. he recognised your voice instantly and lifted his gaze from the telephone, nodding. he was almost grinning too, seeing how mad you were with charles, since he had rushed you and then was the one making you all late.

it seemed to be a theme between you three when charles came down wearing an all-black outfit, you thought, but there wasn't any more time to reflect on anything since he zoomed out of the hotel and got you all in the car that was already waiting outside. "what's with that face, y/n?" pierre said jokingly while adjusting his seatbelt. you rolled your eyes at charles' response to his best friend "she didn't want to come".

"didn't want to be left alone like last time, remember?" the last time you three had gone out to get a few drinks, pierre and charles had left with their respective partners and left you there, alone, so you had to ask lando to help you get back to the hotel. "maybe you'll find someone this time, no?" the frenchman at your side nudged you a bit, at which you glared at him. "the only person I'll find will be you two, absolutely passed out on the vip section of the club, as always. shut up or i'll walk back to the hotel".

—

when you all arrived, almost everyone was already inside, all wearing the same kind of mask that your brother had given you a bit earlier. they went directly towards the booth where all the other drivers were already. you, I instead, went directly to the bar to find something to drink.

"i'll have what she has" said a soft voice behind you, one that you didn't quite recognise. when the person got beside you, you realized that, in fact, you didn't recognize him. even with the mask on, you could appreciate his prince-like features, something different from anyone you had seen before. but his eyes especially caught your attention: blue as the ocean, and as calm as the sky after a particular strong storm.

you hadn't expected to find someone quite as interesting as him. usually, at these kind of parties charles always dragged you to, it was all jokes and alcohol, never deep conversation like the topics you discussed with the beautiful stranger.

you didn't quite know how much time had passed, long forgotten the idea that you should return back to the booth charles and pierre were in.

"I've been looking for you!" pierre almost screamed, shaking your arm and startling you out of the conversation with the blonde guy. "charles is almost black-out drunk. we need to get him home." you huffed, not wanting to end the conversation you had with the stranger, but at the same time needing to check if your brother was alright.

"i'll find you" you promised the blue eyed guy, while holding pierre's hand that was guiding you to where the monegasque was. he simply gifted you the most captivating smile you had ever seen.

"please do".

—

when you woke up the next morning, you weren't sure if you had ever felt as hungry as you were in that moment. almost sprinting down to the cafeteria, you arrived just in time to order your coffee before the staff stopped serving breakfast due to it being almost midday. with how hurried you were, you hadn't seen that there was a blonde boy seated on the table that was close to the window, where you had breakfast every morning since you arrived in mexico.

"hey, I'm sorry, is this taken?" you shyly said. you figured that you could sit with him, since he was alone, and all the other tables were filled with staff members from different teams, who all seemed to be having important conversations.

"no no, please, sit. I was about to leave anyways" he kindly smiled, and you swore that you had seen that grin before. "I'm sorry, do I know you? you seem familiar".

"depends on how drunk you were last night".

suddenly, it was like the starts aligned and the points connected. how could you forget those beautiful ocean blue eyes? you had honestly given up hope, cause how could you find someone only based on the color of his eyes? in a way, you thought you were starting to lose your mind because you couldn't stop thinking about him since you had woken up, even though the events of last night were a bit blurred due to the high amount of alcohol you consumed. still, the color of his eyes remained intact, almost like you had taken a photograph of them, having them instantly memorized, engraved forever in your memories.

you gave him a knowing smile, and asked the question, even if your heart already knew the answer. "it's you, isn't it?"

"I guess you've found me, schatze".

#f1 imagine #f1 x reader #f1 x you #charlewiss writing challenge #one word november prompts #user charlewiss #f1 x y/n #f1 x yn #formula 1 imagine #mick schumacher fluff #mick schumacher x y/n #mick schumacher x reader #mick schumacher x you #mick schumacher imagine #mick schumacher blurb

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familyvideostevie · 2 years

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Ok I was not expecting November to be out until actual November so when I saw your post about au reqs and that the story was finished, I was like ??? Omg what ???

Anyway, loved loved the fic, the concept was original and executed so well, give me x1 farmer’s market steve please. You and your writing talents are incredible! ❤️

And I also have some au requests! and tbh it’s mostly like Steve pov for like everything 🫢 I know it’s going to hurt so much but Steve pov when he comes back and reader’s not there 🥺 And then on the flip side, steve’s first impression of reader at the market 🥺 And also, steve and reader’s first date when they’re back together 🥺

thank you so much for reading!! i'm so glad you liked the fic <3 as for your request, i'm going to go with the middle one -- steve's first impression of bee girl at the market! i have a hard time getting into steve's head but i've tried my best <3

steve's first impression, 1.1k | a no good at waiting one-shot | au masterlist ___

It's not a great Saturday for Steve. The thin fabric on the knee of his jeans finally tore when he tugged them on this morning and he's pretty sure he's getting a sunburn since Robin stole his hat. And, to add to his stress, said best friend is trying her very best to ruin his birthday surprise for her.

Nothing big, not really, just a few candles in her favorite scent from New-Bee's. Which he's meant to pick up today, but Robin won't leave him alone. Despite all of this, Steve manages to take a few deep breaths in the hustle and bustle of market prep. He's a pro at this by now -- making sure all of the produce is organized, prepping the bags for customers, and getting the change drawer sorted. He knows that Claudia Henderson will be by for her plums at 10 and that Ted Wheeler will want apples without any bruises at 1. He'll swing by Rick's to give Eddie his eggs at 11:30 and Joyce will want some berries for Will at close.

This is Steve's life and damn, he's got it down to a system. And he loves it. The Hawkins farmer's market is his home and he knows it like the back of his hand.

Which is why he barely stops himself from swearing out loud when he sees you at the New-Bee's stand instead of Melanie. How could he have forgotten that the new girl was due? Everyone has been waiting for you to show at a market since you got here but this weekend seems to be the one you've decided to make you appearance at. All of his stress rushes back to the surface and he knows he's not going to be his best self for the next few moments. But he needs these candles before Robin notices he's gone.

Even still, he allows himself to stare at you for a few moments before he gets your attention. You're pretty, he realizes with surprise. Really pretty and you look a little lost, a little shy. The stand has been organized much more carefully than Melanie ever bothered to, everything in neat rows with the labels turned out. You care, that much is clear. But why? he wonders. How did you get here?

Not questions for now. He looks over his shoulder but finds no sign of Robin. "Hello? Anybody home?" he says, waving his gloves in front of your face. You startle a little, then smile hesitantly.

"Hi," you say. "Can I...help you?"

He taps his foot once. "Who are you? Where's Melanie?" He doesn't really listen to what you say, eyes taking in your name tag. He says your name aloud in his head, turns it over in his mind before casting it away. And then you say his and he fights the urge to shiver. Get a hold of yourself, Harrington, he thinks.

Maybe he can turn on the charm for you. You probably don't have any friends yet, maybe haven't talked to anyone your age in weeks. So he figures he can pull it off. He decides to lean in, but that only gives him a better look at your face, at the color of your eyes. He has to blink a few times to get himself to focus.

What happens next isn't entirely his fault. That's what he tells himself. It's the unfortunate combination of the day: he's a little stressed, you're new and he doesn't know you, the threat of Robin seeing his activities at any second. But one second he's thinking about flirting with you for real and the next you're telling him you don't have the candles and then you're snapping at him and--. Well. He's backing away and heading for Sara's empty-handed and tasting something sour.

"What was that about?" Robin asks him when he slides behind the berries and starts to fuss with them. "Did Eddie just say you were being mean to the new girl? I haven't even met her yet, Steve! You can't ruin my chance to charm her."

"Yeah, good luck with that," he scoffs. "She's a real treat." Maybe he's being a bit cruel but you were pretty rude to him. He doesn't want you to be rude to Robin, too.

He drags her with him to Rick's to drop off Eddie's eggs during a lull. She interrogates him the whole time.

"I don't get it, Steve," she says and he shushes her. "She just refused to help you? I don't think Bob would hire someone like that."

"Yeah, Harrington," Eddie says, watching the conversation with interest. "You sure you're not just rattled by how pretty she is?" Steve scowls and hopes he's not blushing. Will no one believe him?

"What's it to you, Munson?" Steve bites out. Eddie holds up his hands and gins.

"No need to get jealous, dude," he says. "She's all yours." Robin cackles.

"She's not -- shut up!" Steve runs his hands through his hair. These fuckers will never let him have a moment's peace. "That's not what this is about. Besides, she doesn't seem eager to make friends. I mean, she was pretty rude to me!"

"Yeah, I'm sure you were so nice to her," Robin says. "How did she piss you off so much?"

"She couldn't find the...uh...stuff I ordered weeks ago, Robin. I mean, keeping track of stock isn't hard. I don't know where she came from anyway. Maybe she'll be gone once Bob realizes she's losing stuff like an idiot." Steve has his back to the crowd and he catches Robin's grimace too late.

"Steve," you say loudly, and then your hand is on his shoulder, not so gently turning him around to face you. His brain moves a little too slowly, eyes widening and cheeks flushing as he realizes you overheard him. Shit, he thinks.

Maybe he can salvage this. "Uh--"

"I found your things," you say. Your grin is downright terrifying, and yet he still thinks you're pretty. "So sorry it took so long. I'm just so new and stupid." He grabs the parcel you shove into his hands and doesn't even lean back when you get really close. He can see you pupils dilate. "You don't know a thing about me," you hiss, "so I think you should go fuck yourself."

You turn on your heel and stalk away and Robin and Eddie start to laugh a little too hard.

"Oh my god," Robin says around her heaving breaths. "She's amazing. That was amazing."

"Pick your jaw up off the ground, Harrington," Eddie says. "You'll catch flies." Steve snaps his teeth together and frowns at his friends.

"Stop laughing," he demands. "This isn't funny! I told you she was rude!"

Robin pats him on the back, eyes on the parcel. He shoves it behind him and she sticks her tongue out.

"Yeah, dude," Eddie sighs. "You're so fucked."

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington imagine #no good at waiting

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pokemonunderdogtournament · 6 months

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Hey everyone and welcome to November!

I'm most of the way to getting things back to a normal pace on the back-end here. I took some time tonight to go through the tournament rounds that finished up while I was moving, and I've put together their next rounds, announced our two winners, and updated the website accordingly.

I'm probably going to have to take a few days before I can answer the asks that I've had waiting in the ask box and probably another week before I can start putting together the matches to bring more subtournaments into rotation. Unfortunately due to some circumstances outside of my control, parts of moving took much longer than I hoped, and also due to circumstances entirely within my control (Inktober), I am also still trying to organize my things in the new place. (I did finish it up though, so it won't have an impact on my schedule any longer.)

(I actually managed to get my desktop out of the moving box and to solve my missing WiFi driver problem just in time to get the polls for November 1 up.)

Thank you all for bearing with me through all this, and I hope my persistently late 12th hour reblogs weren't terribly annoying 😅

#announcements

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exilethegame · 1 year

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Writing Update (11/13/22)

Hello everyone! I'm actually quite happy since I reached my writing goal for this month and was able to write 22k words in time for the chaos that is the end of November. I'm happy with everything that's been written, and the more I write, the more Chapter 5 feels like proper ending to the demo of the game (and first act of the plot).

As of now, Pt. 2 of Chapter 5 is 46k words in total!

I likely won't be able to get much writing done looking forward with the amount of school work that will be coming my way, but we'll see! As of now, the Amilia + Vethna scene is done which means the check-in scene is 1/3 done at 25k words. I have Syfyn + Nikke's dialogue to write next, followed by Sabir.

These scenes are always the most grueling to write because I'm basically just rewriting the exact same scene over and over again three-five times over again for all the different affinities MC can have the characters. The good news is that Vethna + Amilia's scene was the most complicated of them all, so everything by comparison should seem pretty easy.

I have one other scene that's also pretty boring (it's the introduction to the hobbies) as it's the same thing of writing the same scene over and over again but slightly different. However, everything else should be pretty easy + fun to write.

There are two scenes where MC picks a companion to speak to, but it's limited to those MC has high affinity with. So, even though I need to write 4-6 variations of a scene, they'll all be completely different since I don't have to worry about rewriting scenes for mid to low affinities. Instead, I can just focus on MC's personality and dialogue choices, which is way more fun to write (and when things are fun, I'm usually way more productive).

I'm notoriously bad with word estimates but I'll try and make one anyway (if not just for giggles). I think the second part of Chapter 5 will probably be around 150 - 200k words, which will make Chapter 5 as a whole ~400 words in total. It'll be interesting to see if the game hits the 1 million word mark by the time I finish or not, but we'll just have to wait and see... 👀

That's all for now. Thanks for reading! :)

#writing update

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bladeweaver-if · 5 months

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Small Update next Week - And other stuff

As an aside, I haven't been posting devlogs recently due to not having done much actual work in Twine, though I'm getting stuff done here and there - just not enough to warrant a log about it.

I'm going to go ahead and (tentatively) announce that Bladeweaver's next update, a minor one, will release next Wednesday, 22nd November.

It's not going to be a particularly large update - likely only around 15k words total, but I want to get myself into the groove of releasing a few quick updates in succession of one another before taking my time with a bigger expansion. I feel that now I've got a few beta testers I can more thoroughly test and proof my writing and coding before release. I'm also doing this to fill out Chapter Two quickly as well as hopefully get some opinions on the writing itself - I'm an amateur writer (my last piece of actual writing being in high school 😅) and am aware my writing won't be the best.

I actively seek feedback on how I'm writing stuff so, if you'd like, I'd love to hear any and all feedback!

The next major update will probably release sometime early next year, after I've put out a few minor updates. So, it's looking like January or February, which I hope would finish Chapter Two and get us going on Chapter Three! Probably. Hopefully. Exciting stuff!

I'm also getting the ball rolling on setting up a Patreon, I'll announce more stuff on that later. Though I'll say now that I'm actively writing a short story centered around Callen and Sonia a few years before MC comes into their lives as a piece to be accessed via the Patreon, among other things.

That's that for today, bye!

#bladeweaver #announcement

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humornaut · 10 months

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My Journey with Omori

Hey everyone. Rather than my usual analysis-type posts, this is going to go into my own personal experience with Omori. I've kind of wanted to do this for awhile, because I feel like I have a lot that I want to say about this game. This post is going to have major Omori spoilers. I will also be going into some criticisms of the game (though not particularly heavily). This one will be a long one.

My Background

This might not be something that people care about, but I feel it is important to start with my life situation at the time I discovered the game.

In 2020, I graduated from college with a degree in game design. If you remember 2020, you can probably guess where I'm going with this. Everyone left for spring break, and the day before we were supposed to come back, they extended break by a week. Then, at the end of that additional week, classes had gone fully remote. My three roommates at the time never really came back to campus, and I finished out the lease alone. I never got to do any kind of internship, and I didn't get a graduation ceremony. I really didn't know what I was doing with my life, and finding a job in the games industry seemed impossible. So, I made a decision to move in with my aunt and work at an insurance agency. I was states away from anyone I ever knew, working in an industry wholly unrelated to what I had just dedicated years of my life to studying, but it was a job.

I wonder a lot if this was the right call. At the time, it seemed like an obvious decision, but now, I'm even more unsure of my skills when it comes to breaking into the games industry, and working 40+ hours a week can really sap your motivation when it comes to personal projects.

As the world opened back up, I started hearing from all my friends less and less, and life really started getting monotonous. Living alone is expensive, and I'm not good at opening up to new people.

Last November, by chance, a comic by twitter user Shrimperini appeared on my feed (it's still the pinned tweet on her account if you want to see!). One thing led to another, I saw some more positive reviews of the game, and I ended up picking the game up on Switch when I saw at on sale at a Best Buy.

Now, anyone that knows me could tell you, this isn't the type of game I usually play. I've always gravitated towards things like strategy games or rogue-likes. I only really stray from that in a few cases, whether it's to play a game with my friends, or just a game that I've had a long-standing connection with, like Pokémon. I did play Undertale and Deltarune (and loved them!), but overall, this type of game was not one that I typically went out of my way to play.

Also important: I've never interacted with any fandom in the way that I do with Omori. You can trawl through my Twitter, you won't find much of me talking about ships or obsessing over details until I started talking about Omori. All this is to say: Omori was a bit of a first for me on a few different levels. So, let's get into my actual journey with the game.

The First Playthrough: The Sunny Route

I unfortunately already knew a few details about the game going into things, but nothing that was too big of a spoiler. Something that I think gets overlooked is how great Omori's prologue is. In my opinion, the first night in Headspace is the best night in Headspace, bar none. It perfectly sets you up for what the game's going to be about, and I want to talk more about that later, because I feel that it really shines on later playthroughs.

Based on what I said about my background, you can probably guess what I'm going to say. Sunny's story and personality resonated heavily with me. At school, I was always the quiet one, just kind of following what my friends wanted to do until I started coming out of my shell a bit later on. Faraway is very similar to the town and suburb that I grew up in, and I know that many people feel the same way. Walking around Faraway felt like walking around my own home town today, years after almost everyone I knew back then has moved out and started their own lives. I mean this literally, as well, since I started playing this game right around American Thanksgiving, so I actually was back in my home town. It's nostalgic in a way, and I think that that is a major strength of the game.

I also do want to say, that while a Kel/Sunny comic is what introduced me to the game, I mostly assumed that it wasn't actually a canon ship. What I didn't expect was for the game to actually depict a close male relationship that does border on romantic in its presentation, which made those opening transition scenes of Sunny and Basil so interesting (as well as Basil indirectly calling Omori cute during the flower meaning segment), though I do want to talk a little bit more about that later.

From there, I feel that my experience was a lot like most people's first time with the game. I got to experience Faraway, then tried to rush through Night 2 of Headspace without paying much attention, so that I could get back to the real world plot. I didn't pay much attention during Sweetheart's Castle, and it's already-commented-on gameplay drag issues felt exacerbated by the fact that I just wanted to get on with it.

Real world day 2 happens, I got to meet Hero in the real world, Basil gets pushed into the lake, etc, etc. The shroud has started to lift on what's actually going on here. The North Lake segment got me ready to figure out what was actually going on, but first: Last Resort and Humphrey.

It was around this time that I began wondering if there actually was any kind of gay subtext actually going on. Of course, I had seen the Lost Library entry for the ride home from the beach, but as I descended into Sunny's subconscious, the way that the game started talking about Basil took on a much different tone. I got to the Branch Coral, and listened to it talk about how Sunny and Basil are connected by a "string of fate". This immediately set off some alarm bells in my head. A lot of debate has been had about this line, but for me personally, even if a string of fate isn't always romantic imagery, it certainly is most of the time. Seeing it written in the game (as something that Sunny's subconscious is saying, no less) completely had me reconsidering if there was a connection, which I hadn't really thought about since Basil's disappearance. I thought about the photo album, and how well Basil is treated in Headspace, and it just had me thinking.

I got through Humphrey, finished up the side quests that I still had, and it was time to start Black Space. Prior to that, however, Stranger lead me through Basil's garden once again, going over the flower meanings. I took note about how the meaning of sunflowers, as it was the first time I made the connection about Sunny's name and Basil's meaning for them (plus him literally always facing Sunny in several scenes lol). And then there was what Basil said about white tulips.

Being honest, it was difficult for me to interpret Basil as not being in love with Sunny after that, and Stranger's dialogue in some of the Black Space rooms really cemented that for me.

Black Space as a whole left me extremely intrigued as to what the plan was. The way it ended really left me in suspense for what was really going on. How did it all relate to what happened to Mari? I had already assumed at this point that she had taken her own life, due to some of the imagery. But what else was going on here? I didn't exactly think the game was going to veer back from being a horror title to turn into some kind of dating sim, but it was clear to me that Basil was involved with some other secret.

In a reversal of what I had expected of the game up until this point, I found it difficult to care about the real world plot of the game during day 3. It didn't help that it felt like a rushed resolution of the Aubrey plot, and I felt like I was simply going through the motions. I still have no idea how I'm supposed to interpret the key in the treehouse and how it got there, and it felt a little aggravating that plans were being made between Aubrey and Hero to include the hooligans next time, while Basil himself was still locked in his room.

So then, the truth sequence. It completely blew away my expectations for what the game was saying, and recontextualized so much of what came before it. Sunny had done something awful by accident, and Basil had done something awful to protect him. That last "Do you want to save Basil?" really hit me hard. I hadn't felt so part of the game until this moment. It was like I was Sunny, and I was mulling over whether or not I forgive Basil for the horrible situation his actions put us both in. The stakes are high, because it's clear that something bad will happen to Basil if I don't. I didn't actually know it at the time, but this is the first time you can actually choose not to save Basil. It's emotional.

And the fight. The way the game creates confusion as to what is actually going on between Sunny and Basil during it by using vague wording and hallucinations. Basil's desperation and the way his desire to protect Sunny as his "perfect" best friend come together, leading to the fight.

Memory Lane happens, and I honestly didn't think much of it at the time. It was cool to see some of the memories in better detail, but it wasn't as emotional to me as what came before or what will come after.

I would be remiss to not include that we learn that it was actually Sunny that had a crush on Aubrey, and not the other way around. I had already suspected this, based on Aubrey not being close to him in the photo album, along with the Lost Library memory, but I remember thinking it was an interesting choice to have Basil be the one to call it out.

I finished up the game, and it impacted me a whole lot. I wasn't planning on playing the other route at first, as I heard that it was just Headspace and mostly unchanged, and I felt satisfied with the story that I got. I walked away with the understanding that pre-canon, Basil had feelings for Sunny that he likely didn't understand, while Sunny had a crush on Aubrey that he was never bold enough to pursue. How they felt at the time the game actually took place is irrelevant to the story being told, outside of us understanding that these are relatable individuals, and I walked away alright with that.

Of course, after that initial wave of emotions from the ending subsided, I did have some criticisms. Sunny's actual friendship with Aubrey felt underdeveloped, as her behavior both in Headspace and the real world differ so heavily from how she behaves in the glimpses we see of the past. Unlike Sunny's relationships with the others, there's no real unique identifiers other than Sunny's crush. While I would not have wanted the only living female character in the main cast to have been treated as a love interest in both the real world and dream world, it would have been nice if the game gave us a little more than just the swing set conversations, like how we get Kel talking about their late night trips to Hobbeez. In addition, while I understood on a base level that whether or not Basil and Sunny are forgiven didn't really matter to the story being told, not seeing it happen left me feeling a tad empty.

Finally, I felt extremely dissatisfied with Headspace. On a superficial level, I could see that many of the things in Headspace were based on things from the real world, it didn't really feel like it had all that much significance, and the knowledge that it would be more of the same in the other route kept me from playing it. I occasionally visited the subreddit, read a few post-canon fics (Bask in the Sun by Lemari and They say Flowers are Meant to be Sunkissed by Witherdahlia being highlights with very similar concepts), and slowly immersed myself in the Twitter community.

Of course, as time went by, I started making my own interpretations about the game. I got very attached to Sunflower, as I felt the fics were the most interesting to read, and I already held the interpretation that Basil had those feelings for Sunny, even if I didn't think it even mattered if Sunny reciprocated (though I did like talking about their dynamic a lot). In February, Sunflower week happened, and I randomly happened across a tweet that pointed out how Sunny knows the recipe for a strawberry cake in Headspace, with that being relevant due to Basil's birthday being one in which a strawberry cake appears. This blew my mind a little bit, and I made the decision to go back and play the Hikikomori route.

The Second Playthrough: The Hikikomori Route

What I had previously assumed would be a slog through things that I had already done before turned out to be far more interesting. Without the desire to get back to the real world plot hanging over me, I found myself paying a lot more attention to the things that were happening in Headspace. Playing the prologue again was amazing, because I was taken aback by how it practically parallels the entirety of the Sunny route, right down to having to retrieve a stolen item and receiving an eyepatch after the boss fight. Some day, I might break that down further, because it's so interesting. But not today.

Pyrefly Forest and Sweetheart's Castle were much more bearable this time around, because I was paying attention to the little references to Basil and Sunny's friendship in Pyrefly, and the ways Sweetheart's Castle represented a candied-up version of the way that Sunny interprets the concept of "home". This time through Headspace, I saw the very subtle ways that Basil's thoughts "follow Sunny into his dreams". And then, rather than Mari leading you through North Lake, it's Kel. Stranger no longer tells us what Basil thought about white tulips and Sunny, but this time in Black Space, I noticed the implications that Sunny would open up to Basil about his trauma coming from the Lake Incident. It ends with Omori catching Basil in a bridal carry before returning his flower crown.

Whereas the Sunny route was this heart wrenching tale about forgiveness and guilt, and overcoming your fears for others, and how ignorance hurts those you care about the most, the Hikikomori route functioned almost as this deep dive into Sunny's subconscious. The fact that I was playing through pretty much the exact same stuff again but with a completely different perspective kind of blew my mind, and I wonder if this was intentional.

This is all to say that it was around this time that I was once again asking myself the question of if Sunny's feelings for Basil (at least pre-canon) were entirely platonic. Especially as I played the Basil Rush, with its new Tag Photos and Release Energy, I wondered if the game was actually trying to imply a romantic connection. And if it was, why? What purpose would it serve in the narrative for these feelings to exist? How does it relate to Sunny's crush on Aubrey, which surely must've existed in the story for a reason? And how does it all relate to the litany of things Sunny things about in regards to romance?

From a narrative perspective, I could reason that Sunny and Basil having feelings for each other that they could never healthily explore injects further tragedy into the day of the incident and Sunny locking himself away. It provides a context for Sunny's focus on "saving" Basil, both in Headspace and the real world. Basil is undeniably linked to photos and flowers, which are two huge symbols that appear throughout Sunny's mind.

Everything else is stuff I've already spoken about before. The way Sunny treated Aubrey parallels how he treated Basil, and via both things like his fear of spiders, and the way all the foods Sunny appears to know information on how to prepare being associated with Basil, his dynamic with Basil mirrors the way Sunny thinks of Hero and Mari's relationship during Memory Lane.

Playing through the Hikikomori route completely changed the way that I thought about Omori. It was no longer just the story of Sunny accepting his role in his sister's death, I was also now considering the possibility that the game did have a romantic subtext between its two deuteragonists, and thinking about the repercussions of such an idea.

As I completed everything that there was to do in the Hikikomori route, I was immediately taken in with the idea of replaying the Sunny route, with all the knowledge I now had from my previous experiences. First, let me say: Everything that I assumed about playing through Headspace a second time and was luckily wrong about, actually applied on my third run. I did not enjoy playing through Headspace on my third run through, and it will likely be awhile before I do so again.

However, I did start to get an appreciation for details that I missed in my first run in Faraway. Basil's little mannerisms during cutscenes, such as looking to Sunny before responding to Kel's insistence that they were all still friends, as well as the repetition of Sunny backing away from his friends' pain due to his subconscious guilt and fear of facing it, before the final payoff of Sunny choosing to walk back into the center of the room on his own accord during the confrontation with Basil. During Memory Lane, I took note that in the Treehouse Memory, Sunny asked to see one of Basil's pictures that had nothing to do with Aubrey, when previously he only asked to look at pictures of her. There are three different instances in which the player is reminded that Hero and Mari's relationship specifically is one in which they cook for each other specifically, and this information was now recontextualized with the knowledge that Sunny knows the recipe for a strawberry cake, owns a book about tofu (which he hates), and that's not even getting into all the stuff about smoothies in Headspace. Where Aubrey saying that Sunny "would listen to her talk to hours" was once a confirmation that Aubrey and Sunny did have any kind of dynamic at all, I now saw it as a recontextualization of how we were told Sunny interacted with Basil. (also, the "truth" being hidden in the toy chest, which is itself hidden in the closet was certainly a choice /j)

What was the point of all this?

Frankly, it's starting to feel like I'm running out of things to say about Omori. With every post I've made on here and Twitter, there's less things for me to extrapolate from Omori's storytelling, and it's unlikely that we will ever get any more added on to canon. I've grown to love this community, and I think it's so interesting when I look back at how I interpreted the game back in November when I first discovered it, and today. I hope that that will become evident with the mod that I am working on, Senesce.

Obviously, everyone has their own ideas when it comes to what Omori is trying to imply with its characters. Accepting Sunflower as "canon" (in the sense that those feelings do exist in some form) has deepened my love of the game and characters, and I love that other people can have entirely different interpretations and still be just as satisfied with the game! Even if it was all unintentional, I cannot deny that it has lit a fire under me when it comes to game writing.

I desperately want to create a game that has someone at home obsessing over the smallest details to extract meaning in the way I have for Omori. Flawed as it may be, it's special to me, and I'm glad I played it. Thanks for listening to me ramble about it!

#omori #omori spoilers #omori sunflower #sunflower omori #sunnflower #omori basil #omori sunny #why omori matters to me #this has actually been sitting in my drafts for awhile #also ive never really gotten the chance to say #but i actually think it's irrelevant if sunny and basil's relationship would be healthy or not #or if they actually get together at some point #what happens after the credits is pure speculation and not worth arguing about #what's important is how those feelings impact interpretation of the game and its themes/symbolism #(even if I do find it most satisfying to think that they do get together at some point years down the line)#(and find the post credits scene of them smiling at each other to be extremely satisfying due to the idea that regardless of being forgiven #(they at least have each other)#ramble over

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ofliterarynature · 4 months

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NOVEMBER 2023 WRAP UP

[ loved liked ok no thanks (reread) DNF ]

The Moonstone • Chaos Terminal • (The Raven Boys) • The Ghosts of Trappist • (Fugitive Telemetry) • From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler • The Art of Destiny • The Bell in the Fog • (Exit Strategy) • Who Goes There? • Salt Magic Skin Magic • The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up • (Dracula) • (Rogue Protocol) • The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store • The Boneshaker • The Archive Undying • (The Scorpio Races) • Camilla

Total: 18 (audiobook: 15 / ebook: 3)

I started my month off by finishing my reread of The Scorpio Races on November 1, as is right and proper :) This has consistently been my favorite of Maggie's books, and it never feels right the years that I haven't reread it. I think I hit the right method this year and rather than binging it or following a structured reread (which would be cool, if you could match the timeline of the book) I listened to the audiobook on and off throughout Oct and finished it off in one last burst one the 1st. I think this is some of Maggie's best writing, but I also admit I am no longer able to judge this one objectively and will save you all the sales pitch for now :)

The Archive Undying was...confusing. It wasn't that I couldn't follow what was happening on the sentence level or in the immediate present, but try zooming out to the larger picture and I was lost. It was hazy, very much like a fever dream. I would not be opposed to trying some of the author's other work in the future, but I have no interest in revisiting this book/series, and wouldn't really recommend.

The Boneshaker has been sitting on my bookshelf for years ever since I picked it up at a library book sale, and it's managed to survive every shelf purge since. And I'm glad it did! It's a strange MG/YA book about a girl, her bicycle, a small western town just off a crossroads, a snakeoil salesman, his medicine show, and deals with the devil. It was fascinating! I've been almost tempted to send a copy to Sydnee McElroy just for fun. I will definitely be investigating the author's other series.

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store - I got tempted into this one because the Book Riot Podcast couldn't stop singing it's praises, and then it started making some of the year end/best of lists and... it's ok I guess? I don't really get the hype, tbh, and I got close to DNFing because it just wasn't interesting. I was at least forewarned that the "murder mystery" in the marketing was overblown, but I am here to tell you to ignore its existence completely. There is no mystery, there isn't really even a murder, and it doesn't happen until the end of the book anyway. I fully admit this was just not a book for me, and anyone who wants to read it I wish you well.

Not much to say about my Murderbot reread, other than choosing to give the audiobooks a break and rereading in a text format was an excellent choice, I really feel like I've picked up on a lot of things I didn't before, and it gives me time to think about things (I have some questions about the actual irl existence of rogue secunits, tbh). This is my second full time trough the series, and I think Exit Strategy is maybe the weakest solo link in the original quartet, but that makes me very happy to have the newer books as well. And I have to say it, FUGITIVE TELEMETRY IS BETTER IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER.

Dracula Daily wrapped up this month, so I'm probably not the only one to have Dracula show up on their reading list. I listened to most of it via RE: Dracula, which I appreciated so much for helping keep me on track this year. I probably won't follow along next year, but big thanks to everyone for helping me learn to enjoy a book I hated both times I had to read it for school! I'll still be percolating that Greenwing & Dart AU somewhere in the back of my mind in the meantime.

I picked up the idea of "sparking joy" from the general internet and have found it hugely helpful in letting go of things in life, so I've been meaning to pick up The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up for a while, and was finally spurred into it when I picked up a copy at goodwill. I found some actionable advice in Kondo's method, but sooo much of the book felt like a sales pitch on how following this method could fix everything wrong in your life (and I mean *everything*). It left a very bad taste in my mouth - I think a workbook or checklist could be useful, but wouldn't recommend the book itself.

Salt Magic Skin Magic is a historical fantasy with magic, adventure, and a gay romance, which is so entirely in my wheelhouse. It hit all the same points I tend to find/enjoy in KJ Charles' work, and I had such a good time reading this - no surprise, apparently she helped edit this! Thanks to the HOTE discord group for reccing this one, I'll definitely be checking out some of the author's other work!

If you didn't know, Who Goes There? is the short story that the movie The Thing was based on - which I have not seen, but I went on a brief dive into antarctic exploration/horror in anticipation of this month's book club (All the White Spaces, which I actually read for last month but that meeting got delayed) and this popped up pretty quickly. It was available from the library and short, so why not?! The beginning felt a little rough, but I would have loved to see the tension of the main plot drawn out even longer. Liked this a lot better than the actual book club book, but I don't know that I'll watch any of the adaptations.

The Bell in the Fog - Lavender House sequel! I was so glad when this was announced; I love queer books, historical books, a mystery with a lead who actually does some detecting, and a character trying to find themselves and their community? Absolute catnip for me. It also doesn't pull its punches about the violence and injustices faced by the queer community, so it's definitely a bit darker than my usual tastes and will have to try hard to make it onto my favorites list. But if the author continues to write these I will absolutely pick them up.

The Art of Destiny - bless the library for not dragging their heels on the audiobook for this sequel, but lucky me, they did finally add the first book in time for me to get them both in the same year. Unlucky me, this does not appear to be the end of this series D: third book when??? Anyway, I won't deny that these books move a little slowly, but when they move, they move. If you want a big fantasy that's diverse, funny, cartoonish but epically violent, has a cast of all ages, and centers it's story on non-romantic relationships - this is so good, come join me in wailing for a book 3 announcement.

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler has lived in the back of my mind for a while as a favorite childhood book of a booklr friend who is sadly no longer on tumblr, but who I say hi to occasionally on other sites - anyways, I found a copy at goodwill and took it as a sign. This one's for you, Lourdes! If I'd found this as a kid, I probably would have reread it a lot, that's how I was too lol. For now, it was a fine read, but I don't think it'll have a lasting hold. Any fans interested in more middle grade about fine art might check out the Chasing Vermeer series by Blue Balliett.

The Ghosts of Trappist - I think it's impossible for me to not enjoy myself reading this series (NeoG), but this one was a bit of a backslide from the improvements in book 2. On one hand - a very ambitious plot, probably the least soap-operaish of the bunch, and I loved the emotional arcs (and the possible ART/murderbot reference?). On the other - over a dozen pov characters is too too many. my god. I think a tighter focus could have done a world of good, but if this is also where the series wraps up I'd be totally satisfied. I'll definitely check out the author's other series.

I admit, rereading The Scorpio Races sparked something in me and now I'm determined to set off on a full Maggie Stiefvater read/reread, starting with The Raven Boys. I really loved this when it first came out, but my interested petered out as the series progressed and I started college, and I haven't touched the spinoff yet. My impression from the first book is still that Maggie's writing is so goddam beautiful. Her sentences make me want to weep, but for me there's so much focus on the line that I'm constantly losing track of the big picture. I'm still enjoying myself, but I feel like I'm coasting a lot on nostalgia and aesthetic between moments of a story - though is it me, or does she write a lot in scenes/vignettes, rather than a constant flowing story? I've found some success in centering myself by imagining the scenes as depicted by a CW supernatural teen show of my high school years and it's quite lovely, actually - I can't believe the TV show plans got dropped and never picked up again. We'll have to see how the rest of the series goes.

Genuinely, I can't believe that I read Station Eternity earlier this year and that the sequel, Chaos Terminal, is out already. Despite liking the author's first book (Six Wakes) and normally liking the tropes they're playing with here, I did not like the first book. No idea why I read the second one then (hope?), but it was better, definitely! I still didn't like it. No idea if I'll finally call it quits on this series or get lured into another one if it gets written.

The Moonstone was an unexpected surprise! I made it to November still 2 books short on my 6 classics challenge and panicked when the first one ended up dnf'd - what if this one was bad too??? But I really should know better, give me a half decent mystery and entertaining characters, and I'll be fine. And it was epistolary! I had a good time groaning over all of the characters foibles and quirks, even if I spent the whole time just going, Hey Guys? you could avoid all of this if you just let the nice Indian men have their diamond back. Good fun if you like a mystery and have some patience.

My only DNF this month was the previously mentioned classic - from the moment I decided on a classics challenge, I knew I wanted to try something by Frances Burney given how much I liked her novel Evelina. Unfortunately for me, the only one the library had on audiobook was Camilla... and it was 37 hours long. I gave it a shot, but only made it about 3 hours in. I really do applaud Burney for her ability to create characters who are intentionally/unintentionally causing harm even if they sometimes have the best of intentions. It's absurd, truly, but I'm not in a place I can take that right now - especially since the victims were children, and it happened *repeatedly*. I think if I was to try this one again I'd need to take it slowly in small parts.

Am I horribly wrong about anything? Do you have any classics you'd recommend for next year?

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blowflyfag · 5 months

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Pro Wrestling Illustrated: November 1996

THE WAR TO END ALL WARS!

Exclusively for the readers of PRO WRESTLING ILLUSTRATED, WWF World champion Shawn Michaels and WCW World champion The Giant offer their slant on the dream match that will never be. Enjoy it. It's as close as we’re going to get to what would be the Match of the Century!

HOW I WOULD BEAT SHAWN MICHAELS

By The Giant

I try to have respect for all my opponents, but I find it hard. Anyone who steps into the ring with me must think he has a chance of winning, as if he’s that stupid, how can I respect him?

If Shawn Micahels thinks he can beat me, well…

Okay, I’ll give him the credit that anyone in this sport deserves. If you’re brave enough to get in that ring–I don’t care who you’re wrestling–face it, you’re putting your life on the line. All those guys who have wrestled me, I tried to have a little sympathy for them, but once that bell rings, I’m gonna do what I'm gonna do. They’re not going to tell Mark McGwire to bunt, are they? Of course not. I’m The Giant, and I go for a home run every time I step up to the plate.

Shawn Michaels? He’s goof–no better than a lot of guys I’ve faced–but good. He’s got a lot of experience. He’s also got a lot of heart. He’s the kind of guy that just won't give up. He had a goal, and he wouldn’t allow himself to stop short of it. That says something about what’s inside him.

Physically, were at complete opposite ends of the spectrum, of course. He’s an average-sized man with good strength and excellent speed; I’m The Giant, the most powerful man in the history of the sport, plus I have agility and speed that no man my size has ever before displayed. I’m to wrestling what Magic Johnson was to basketball. Nobody ever saw a 6’9” point guard until Magic came along. He could do it all offensively, and there wasn’t another point guard in the world who could stop him. That would be Shawn Michaels: bewildered by my moves, my speed, my leaping ability. Heck, if he wants to play me one-on-one in basketball, I'm available for that too!

One thing Michaels has going for him is a devastating finishing maneuver, the superkick. He can be trailing in a match and turn it around in an instant with that move. I'd use a lateral movement to take that weapon away, though considering our height differential, I’m not sure how effective it could be against me, anyway.

Most guys who are as fast as Michaels automatically assume that big men can’t possibly keep up with them, and I’d turn that misconception to my advantage. From the outset,, I’d move slowly and methodically, luring him into thinking I’m a big lumbering and one-dimensional. I know that he’d try to keep out of my reach, but eventually that fans would start screaming for him to do something, and probably against his better judgment, he would move in. Once there, he’d be mine!

Believe me, there is nothing a guy weighing 225 [actually 234] pounds can do to stop my attack. As soon as he made that initial mistake of moving out of his defensive mode, I’d grab him, give him a wrestling lesson, chokeslam him, and that would be it. I’d punish him for even considering taking this match in the first place!

[The Giant thinks that if he remained very patient against Shawn Michaels, he’d eventually force Shawn into a foolish move. Once that happened, he says, he’d destroy Michaels, the same way he has destroyed Sting and many others.]

Look, I don’t want to say anything bad about anybody else in this sport. Like I said earlier, if you’re man enough to step into that ring in the first place, you should be given the respect a man deserves. But I've been in this sport for almost a year now, and I haven’t come across an opponent who can even make be break a sweat yet. Nobody’s gonna tell me that Shawn Michaels would be the first.

HOW I WOULD BEAT THE GIANT

By Shawn Michaels

First thing, I don’t make a habit of boasting about who I could beat, but I’m also not one to avoid a direct question. If you want to know how I would do against The Giant, I’ll tell you, and I'll hold nothing back.

Would I wrestle The Giant? I’d take on anyone, if they had the guts and talent to become a WWF wrestler.

Would I be intimidated by The Giant? I’m not intimidated by anyone or anything!

Would I beat The Giant? If I didn’t believe that I could beat any man, I would be embarrassed to wear the WWF World championship belt.

When I look across the ring, I don’t see the size of a man. I don’t care whether he’s 6-feet, 7-feet, or 8-feet. Wrestling is not about size; it’s about preparation. When most people think of preparation, they immediately think of learning how to apply holds and execute maneuvers, about gym work, lifting weights, sparring. That’s all important, but to really be special in this sport–maybe any sport or any aspect of life, for that matter–you have to be prepared to react instantly to situations as they arise.

It’s one thing to be able to apply a leglock or to even know a counter to that leglock. What are you going to do if you’ve been trained to break a hold in a particular way, using a particular muscle, and that muscle has either been exhausted or injured? Do you have a plan B or a plan C? Are you smart enough, collected enough, intuitive enough to develop a new plan right then and there?

Shawn Micahels can. Few others in the history of the sport have. The Giant? His record is spotless. He’s manhandled everybody who's crossed his path. That’s great , isn’t it? Not really. “The Heartbreak Kid” would be able to do things in the ring against The Giant react to adversity? That’s really an unanswered question.

I do know that a wrestler doesn’t want his first taste of adversity against me. Once I've seemed uncertainty in a wrestler, he’s in deep, deep trouble. I’ll capitalize on that and just make it worse and worse for him.

[Negate The Giant’s size advantage and methodically bring him down–that’s what Shawn Michaels would do if he wrestled the WCW World champ. He doesn’t think The Giant has ever stepped into the ring with anyone quite like him.]

I know there are people who will say that a good big man will beat a good little man every time. If both wrestlers are at the same level in every regard, and the only difference was size, I’d agree with that statement. In real life, it never works that way. I would be foolish to underestimate any opponent, especially one with such obvious physical gifts, but The Giant is stepping up to a different class of athlete when he gets in there with Shawn Michaels. Too many of The Giant’s opponent freeze up when they see how big he is, and in that instant he simply grabs them and finishes them with a choke-slam. That wouldn’t happen to me. I’d dart in and out, strike and retreat, and eventually impose my will. His confidence would be down so low. In his mind he would see me as being bigger than he is. Once I see the look in his eye that he has mentally thrown in the towel, I’d hit him in the chin with a superkick and cover him for the pin.

If The Giant wants to wrestle “The Heartbreak Kid,” my advice to him is to wait about three or four years. A loss of this magnitude at this stage of his career could be devastation.

#wcw #wwf #world championship wrestling #world wrestling federation #shawn michaels #The Giant #Big Show #Hbk #heartbreak kid #magazine scan #magazine transcript #pwi #pro wrestling illustrated

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pants-magic-pants · 3 months

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heyy, hope you doing good! and sorry to keep bothering you lol

so you got me really curious

idk if this is something you would share, and it’s totally fine if not, but i was wondering how much went into the costume? both time and money -wise

Hello! I'm... surviving! I hope you are as well.

I am also curious about this question, as I certainly didn't keep track of it. Initially, I did save some receipts, but this project was so long-term that work on it became scattered. Scattered in terms of when I was able to find the right materials, when I was well enough (mentally, physically) to work on it, when progress was actually being made vs. me searching and bumbling around unsuccessfully...

When there was any sort of momentum, it was almost like a part time job, where substantial amounts of hours were put in on all or most of my days off (which I have three). I spent many days hyperfixating on it all day with just a few breaks, so maybe 12 hours in a day, for 2-3 days in a week, so 24-36hrs in a week. But not all my weeks were like that. I went a couple months not working on it at all because it was stealing my soul.

If we were to say that on average there was just one day a week from September 2022 when I began the project, until November 2023, that I worked on it all day, it'd be one day (12hrs) x 4 weeks in a month x 15 months... That means a minimum of 720hrs went into it.

As for the costs? I was very scared to tally this up, but it's not terrible?... If you consider what some cosplays cost? Some of it is ridiculous, like the fact that I probably spent $100 on beads.

I had to look up what some things cost roughly, and sort of guess, but here's my tally:

MATERIALS -- $143 $90 in various beads $10 sea glass $9 aquamarine crystals $9 blue/mirror crystals $10 hot glue sticks packs x 2 $3 black acrylic paint $6 button bases x 2 $6 blue cabochons for buttons

FABRIC -- $146 $65 velvet x 4yds (but mine was free) $13 cuff lace x 1yrd $13 upper coat lining x 1yrd $13 lower coat lining x 1yrd $5 interfacing x 1yrd $12 thread x 4 $20 swatches x 3 $5 felt for padding

TOOLS -- $80 $8 french curve and other curved rulers $15 rotary blades x 3 $30 rotary cutting board (not even a big one) $23 pattern paper $4 microtex needles (Not included $20 walking foot that was useless) (Not included I had to get a whole goddamn new sewing machine, $500)

A few notes about the spending and amounts:

As you can see! The materials COST AS MUCH AS the fabric. hahahahahahahaahahaa It adds up, it seriously adds up. You keep needing more and more, and honestly I bought it all at such spread out intervals that I wasn't aware it was adding up. It could have also been less because there were a few sales at the craft store. hahaha

I did not have to pay for the velvet because of the issues the company had in getting it to me. Overall, you may notice that regardless of that my yardage is pretty low. It won't be the same for everyone. This was what was needed to produce a garment that is roughly a children's size large, or a women's XXS. It's one way that being a miniscule, little pipsqueak is an advantage... for one's wallet. Not much else good to say about it.

Anyway, tools. Tools is an important category. The fabric needed for this project was finicky and troublesome, and it required not only study on how to handle it, but the right tools and a worthy machine to handle it. I literally could not finish the coat without getting a new machine which was actually gifted to me... as I could not afford it in a million years... There is also no way to cut velvet without a sharp rotary blade and board, and you'll go through several blades in very short time.

So I guess that comes to about $370...

Not terrible... right? And it was free velvet. And I was gifted a machine, and I also had a couple patrons who donated over a hundred dollars, bless them. On the other hand, this was only the cost of the coat, and NOT the cost including the dress shirt, cummerbund, wig, etc.

Needless to say, I am dirt poor this year. No sort of spending like this will be occurring any time soon for further work (to make the pants, to get new boots, to go to events, take pictures) unless I'm able to pick up freelance work or earn more patrons. Yeah.

#this post ought to go with the master post #thanks for asking and for donating!#it's so sweet I may have to do something about it #ballroom costume #coat construction

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crescencestudio · 1 year

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Devlog #30 | 04.27.23

Hi everyone!

We are back with a monthly update! If you all remember, last month I was feeling a bit burnt out, and I'm super happy to say I'm feeling a lot more like myself this month <3 Thank you to everyone who sent me a lil message/comment, I always appreciate them sm. I won't bore you with my gushing, but I am forever grateful for you all! With that, I'll get into the updates ^^

But first, it was someone's birthday this month! happy bday, hoe.

Writing

I have some exciting news! Kayn's route has officially entered the line editing phase, which is the FINAL stage of editing \o/ This will be the first route completed for Alaris, wow!!! Fenir's route is still going through developmental editing, but the changes are already super cute and he is giving ultimate grumpy baby energy, which we love to see.

I'm still chipping away at Druk's route. Honestly, I'm Very Sad I haven't made as much progress with him as I would've liked, but a lot of my time was dedicated to the enhanced demo this month, and between revamping the demo script, coding, voice acting, and edits for Kayn/Fenir's full routes, I just didn't have the time. I'm hoping this month, I'll finally Actually be able to get his first draft done <3

Art

We officially finished all Demo Backgrounds this month (wow!!). Having started revamping the demo BGs all the way back in, like, November, it's crazy that this first milestone has been reached! Now, it's only full game BGs left. I received the new Dusk Court BG recently, and she's stunning, so I'm excited for the more "core plot" BGs to start coming out :')

In honor of the enhanced demo coming out, I updated the sprite art for the LIs! I'll be getting to the side characters this next month, but I'm really happy with the new art. The differences maybe kinda small for some of them, but I think they look a lot cleaner, and I think the auras especially are pretty <;3 we also whoreified kuna'a

updated sprite preview for kayn, aisa, kuna'a, and etza

The full GUI was also finished this month. I just have to code them in, but it looks SO delicate and pretty and sharp. I'm so thankful to Alice for doing the most outstanding job with them---she is so talented!!

Sneaky peek of screens uwu

Additional Notes

I complained about it 29348 times, but I Finished the Voice Acting Coding this month uwu. That is probably the biggest accomplishment considering how much work it was reviewing all the lines, cutting them, and coding them into the game. I'm terrified for the full routes.

I selected the playtesters for the game so far. Thank you to everyone who applied! I wasn't able to reach out to everyone who applied, and I didn't want to have so so many playtesters, since filtering through everyone's feedback would be overwhelming. But there may come a time when I need more playtesters in the future, so please feel free to keep my little game in mind <3

It's been a bit since I mentioned my Patreon, mostly because I feel bad asking people for money and promoting a platform where people have to pay for content LOL. But it is there, and I do post to it! The reason I bring it up in this devlog is because the highest tier ($10) gets access to playtesting and the second tier ($5) gets early access to finished builds. With the enhanced demo slowly getting finished, I will be doing playtesting for the new beta build this upcoming month in May. SO if you want playtesting/early access to the enhanced demo, please feel free to check out my Patreon* ^^

*Note: If you’re interested in becoming a patron for the early testing/ playtesting, don't become a patron until May starts otherwise you will get charged for both this month and May ((unless you want to give me money for both months in which case u have my eternal love uwu))

Market Research

Lastly, I did a tiny bit of market research this month! I played Bustafellows after my dear friend Seyl (check out her and her team's game Lost in Limbo!!) recommended it to me.

Shu: why is his glove so slutty

And of course the game everyone has been talking about, I played the demo for Touchstarved.

Ais: my favorite, and it's not even close

Looking at these two, and I think I have a thing for smokers lmao. Anyways, I think that's enough from me, so that is all for this month's update! Stay safe, and see you all next month <3

#alaris #devlog #if u saw me post this 3 mins ago ur wrong #the way i posted it without a title or anything omg i'm a mess

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