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inkyvendingmachine · 3 months

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Moving Pieces Season 4, Episode 2

💀 Call of Cthulhu: Haunted Hijinx Masterpost 💀 Call of Cthulhu Season Four Masterpost (Coming Soon)

Warning: This campaign is an edited version of a Call of Cthulhu scenario from the Tales of the Crescent City book. While a lot has been changed, there IS spoilers for it throughout these posts.

The boys are going through a normal one.

Can you tell I recently played Betrayal for the first time,

Art Credit: @inkdemonapologist : sketching + inking @inkyvendingmachine : concept + colouring

Joey wakes up to Sammy bursting into his office and demanding an explanation of why he didn’t come home last night. Bendy happily lets Sammy know that Joey tried to do a dream spell, which just sets him off more. They go back and forth some, Joey confirming that yes, he did that, but he was just trying to see what the general feel of Y was right now… and he doesn’t seem to be like Moonlight had been before. It seems like he’s just… doing his thing, discussing possible options with some dream-version of his sister, and not that he’s specifically scheming or anything.

While they’re doing their usual arguing dance, Sammy is suddenly interrupted by Prophet… urging him not to submit to the call of the yellow king. This is when they both notice that Sammy had actually been going for the ink faucet in Joey's office???

Joey takes this opportunity to turn the argument around on Sammy, asking if Prophet isn’t going for the ink, then why is he being called towards it? IS THE INK GOING BAD?? DID SOMEONE MESS WITH IT AGAIN!?!??

Bendy clarifies that the ink isn’t tainted, but it does seem to be resonating with something nearby… and that Sammy is sensitive to it. Sammy calls Prophet out to confirm this, as well as confirming it’s def yellow king stuff, before fading again. With that as solved as it could be, Sammy heads to Music to catch Jack up on these developments, while Joey goes and info dumps all the same info on Henry. During this he kinda talks himself thru realizing that maybe Y’s sister is not as dead as they expected… since they don’t really know what sorts of immortal properties come from making yourself an ink body.

Joey goes back to his office and gets in contact with Peter to make sure he’s still alive, gives him a command to check in at the end of day and immediately hangs up as Peter is trying to complete a response. Sammy and Jack try to find Norman to get him up to speed, but find he's called out for the day. And of course, he gave some outlandish excuse, so nobody really knows why he’s staying home. Joey calls Norman and, surprisingly, he actually picks up?? Norman admits part of the reason he’s staying home is because he’s noticed some weird shit is happening again. Joey gives him an update, which is cut off by him asking, “So when’s the trip to New Orleans? That’s where it started, right?”

That’s… a good point.

Joey hangs up on Norman and calls Grace Fowler. He plays off the reasoning as wanting to thank her for the holiday gift, and catch up with her daughter Estelle, who’s also interested in catching up with him.

Especially because between an odd dream Estelle had, where her father showed up and told her to both be careful and stay away from New York, and that night of yellow mist, she thinks Joey’s calling because there’s something weird happening. Joey confirms this, he’s not gonna lie to a child that he likes, and manages to learn from her that a strange man had also been asking her about odd happenings recently. Joey asks if he looks like how he remembers Avedon, and Estelle is extremely impressed that he’s exactly right.

So maybe this is why Norman is waiting at home for a call…

Joey promises to send her a present and tells her to keep up the good detective work, along with reinforcing not to worry her mother and stay safe and all that stuff. (the present is going to be a very good quality notebook that he gets Henry’s help to doodle Bendys and Friends on the page margins throughout it, and an engraved pen to go with it.)

Their strongest lead, at least as far as Sammy's concerned, is that weird performance of Sammy's old improv last night -- so with half a day of work done, Jack, Sammy and Susie head out to one of the clubs they remember some of that band from the charity event tends to frequent. They manage to easily get in, being recognized from their speakeasy days and Jack and Susie being their usual charming, talkative selves. People probably tried to talk to Sammy too, but he’s just interested in chatting with the Jumps after their set. Until then, they get to grab some drinks, sit back and actually enjoy the music for a while. It’s actually… kind of nice? No terrible haunted songs being played, no ink spread throughout the city gnawing in the back of Sammy’s head, no gun fire.

When they do get to talk with the band after the show, it’s immediately apparent that the clarinetist from the charity event is not there. That’s… interesting, since Prophet’s prophecy mentioned a “black wood” and Jack has noted that could be slang for a clarinet instead of a forest… Jack does remember some of these fine folks though, and starts off the conversation, only for Sammy to interject during a lull and ask where they got the music from the other night.

Everyone laughs and agrees that Sammy is still Sammy - A whole hecking gunshot weird cultist nonsense goes down and Sam’s here asking about where they sourced their music. Well, to answer that question, yes it came from a guest they were playing with that night, and yes it was the guy playing a mean reed. His name is Alan Leroy, and they’ve got a lot of nice things to say about him that can also be taken in an extremely concerning way, like how he can make sounds come out of his instrument they’ve never heard before.

Yay! That’s exactly the kind of descriptions of musicians we love to hear about!!!

Jack manages to get the information for where Alan lives, along with some of his friends. Sammy is content with this and attempts to head to the door (in entirely the wrong direction) while Jack winds down the conversation… finding out that also they haven’t been able to contact Al since the other night. He’s probably at home??? But he seemed so shaken up by that guy yelling nonsense at him…

Jack and Susie catch up to Sammy to lead him to the right door, but when Sammy opens it, it… IS the right door? Susie thinks so at least, but it seems odd to Jack, who thinks that they definitely entered through a different door, and Sammy isn’t sure what to think. Things like this haven't been reliable for him for an exceedingly long time, and he can't tell if this door is any different. Something might really be wrong if Prophet’s navigational skills are working with him and not against him…………

But outside, everything seems chill. Normal… Susie even thinks this is the same door, but Jack is very sure they were not on this block earlier. And when he turns to head back to the car, he notices a certain unmoving, pale face in a different car passing down the road. And it’s looking right at him.

Joey and Henry do a tour to check in with people after work, starting with Peter. He’s gotten in contact with his old paper and confirms the weird mist was down in NOLA. He also talked with the police and got confirmation that the shot was fired by some gangster named Johnny Nero, and some places they could look into to find out more about him.

Oh and also there was this weird guy. Peter saw him across the street during lunch, unnaturally pale, dark suit… but he didn’t get to see much more before he just up and vanished. Just a wee bit odd fella, that’s all.

Neither Joey nor Henry are feeling good about this info.

Maybe it’s time to install the buddy system again.

Joey also ends up just calling Norman instead of stopping by, from Peter’s phone of course, and updating him on what’s been going on, as well as asking him if HE knows what’s Avedon up to. Norman says he hasn’t been able to get ahold of him, but it’s good to know he’s out and about.

The other three meet up with them at Peter’s place late that night and updates are had all around. We keep splitting up so you’re gonna hear that sentence a lot this season I feel. This is what happens when our DM has given us multiple NPCs we enjoy so we keep forcing her to take them along with us. c:

Anyways, between all these comparisons, Joey is starting to think that maybe their previous experiences in Carcosa-like situations in NOLA is perhaps giving them a different view of events than say, Susie, who’s very sure that the door they left out of was the same they went in. With this information in hand and a pretty good inkling that apparently things are moving around and there’s a weird pale guy following them, the boys decide they want to go and try to talk with that Alan guy tonight.

Arriving at a pretty nice house in a pretty nice neighborhood, the boys all shuffle out of their new fancy red Mercedes to go wake Mr. Leroy up in the middle of the night. Instead they get his… butler? Who is not too happy about our middle of the night bothering. After some standard Joeying Up, he admits that Alan hasn’t been home for a few days, but also that’s not unusual. He can give us some information of friends Al usually stays with and stuff, and Joey hands over a number to be called if he returns home soon. (A number for a second phone line he got installed over the last year. It goes directly to his office and is listed under an alias, specifically for situations like this where maybe he doesn’t want to lead every gangster and cultist back to JDS right away.)

While Joey is doing his Joey thing, the others start hearing a lady around the side of the house chatting excitedly. Perhaps in a conversation with a beloved? But it seems to be just one side of it… like, WEIRDLY seems to be just one side of a conversation.

The group heads out from the house, around the corner and finds… the car isn’t there. However, there is another Mercedes up the street. Almost the same exact car, just parked somewhere different and now a stunning new colour!

It’s brown.

(well i guess they were out of blue ones.)

After closer inspection, they confirm that it is indeed their car. This is just a wee bit disorienting, and while four boys puzzle over this, Henry tiredly notices that apparently a lady has wandered up to him in the meanwhile. She takes his arm and starts talking about how she’s looking forward to when he gets his own ship, and when they sail away to spend their life together.

Henry just mumbles back “I’m married..?”

Jack and Sammy recognize her as the lady they heard earlier. Joey feels like he’s on the edge of remembering something about her, but none of them actually know who she is so. Uh.

TIME TO LEAVE.

Everyone awkwardly shuffles into the car, since it seems about as safe as anything else around them now, and drive off as the lady continues to monologue and wave Henry into the distance.

Joey asks Jack to drive directly away from the water, and watches the car as they move out of the mist.

It’s still brown.

(also Joey is still taking the middle seat as he usually does, he’s just leaning over Sammy to stare out the window.)

While they could head out to the other addresses in the middle of the night, it’s starting to feel not very safe to be split up and looking for clues with these sorts of changes happening. They pull over and Henry makes a phone call to Linda, telling her he’s not heading home tonight since it feels like eldritch nonsense may or may not be following them, and they’re gonna stay in the studio tonight. He also sees… a familiar pale face in a black suit… reflected in the glass of the phone booth… but of course, when he turns, it’s gone. The group makes their way to Norman’s, wanting to check on him and Susie in case they’re actually getting Carcosa’d.

When they get there though, Norman and Susie seem to be perfectly fine, and don’t understand why Joey is insisting on them looking at the car. It seems to Norman a very odd midnight activity, to have him look at their new paint job.

Susie’s confused. Paint job? It’s always been brown.

Welp. That seems to confirm the suspicions. Whatever’s going on, it seems only those who touched Carcosa in some way have been able to tell that things are different. Anyone else is seeing these changes as if that reality had been true from the start. Susie isn’t pleased about being kicked out of the Oddly Affected Club (or the Oddly Unaffected Club?), but it is nice to have someone they can get reality checks from. Joey states they’re gonna go back to the studio for the night, but Norman declines the invitation. He’s still waiting for a call.

Alrighty, good luck with that.

The group gets back to the studio and starts pulling some cots out of storage, Jack sits down with Lurks and chats some, while Joey goes and starts to prepare a dream spell. When Henry questions him on this, he talks about wanting to try and reach out to Fowler?? Like… up until now, they had been running with the idea that Fowler wasn’t able to be communicated with at all. But if he reached out to his family through their dreams… then maybe Joey can reach out to him in his?

Henry offers to help, because he’s actually had dreams and communication with Fowler in the past, and they both have a sort of understanding with each other. Joey can’t deny that it’d probably work better than him trying on his own, so he sets up the spell for Henry.

And Henry finds himself in a very misty dream. There’s really nothing to see, except three lit corridors going off in different directions… Henry calls out to Fowler, and sort of hears someone in the distance call back? So instead of walking into any of the lit areas, he follows the voice into the fog, and calls out once again, letting Fowler know it’s Henry…

And suddenly, from all around, a very loud booming voice shakes Henry to the core, telling him to get his family out of New York, before it’s too late.

Henry sits up from Joey’s lap and immediately goes for the phone, saying he’s sorry, he didn’t get much information but he needs to call Linda. Telling Joey what he heard as he dials, a freshly awoken Linda gets an exceedingly serious sounding Henry telling her to get the kids packed up and get out of New York ASAP. of course, her first question is about whether or not he’s coming too.

“No.”

“How do you know you’re going to be safe then?”

“I’m not.”

JOEY SNATCHES THE PHONE FROM HENRY,

and gives her an actual explanation of the situation. Something’s following them, tied to Henry, they’re trying to get it untied from them but the longer Linda and the kids stay in New York the more likely they might also get wrapped up in it which will be worse for everyone, Henry included. He’s not doing any dumb sacrificial bullshit, and Joey promises he will do everything in his power to keep Henry safe.

She knows he wouldn’t let anything happen to Henry if he could prevent it.

With that all actually said, Joey hands Henry the phone back, and he’s able to apologize for being dramatic instead of informative. With a soft I love you exchange, Henry hangs up.

And he goes and gives Joey a hug.

[Next Episode] (not yet released)

#call of cthulhu: haunted hijinx #joey drew #henry stein #jack fain #sammy lawrence #peter sunstram #norman polk #susie campbell #the prophet #they're all here in the text also yes i promise i am going easier on the thumbnails this time round #look it's not fully fully coloured

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quibbs126 · 2 months

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So instead of more stylized Cookies, I drew that cacaolily redo yesterday (I just forgot about posting)

Anyways, so this is Night Rider. She’s replacing my old cacaolily kid, Snowdrop, because I thought I could do better (and frankly, Snowdrop didn’t have a personality outside of being a White Lily clone). So Snowdrop doesn’t exist anymore, and Night Rider replaces her

In any case, let’s get on to Night Rider herself

So basically, Night Rider here goes around Earthbread, seeking out and learning secret, ancient or forbidden knowledge/magic. She ultimately has good intentions in her research, she probably started by trying to look for a way to ultimately stop the Licorice Sea, or maybe to revive Pure Vanilla, but she can get carried away with her research and not think about the consequences of it (which I sort of tried to imply with the sketch, she’s trying to bring the Soul Jam to its fullest potential, but in the process awakening the Beasts). She’s been doing this for several decades and she really only visits her home sparingly; she’s gained a really poor sense of time and always thinks it’s been less time than it actually has

Outside of that, she’s a very cranky and antisocial person. Her decades of mostly isolated research have led her to view other Cookies as either not being able to appreciate the knowledge she yearns for, or that they ask dumb questions about her research. She respects and tolerates her father and the other Ancients (her mother disappeared when she was young, so she doesn’t really have a connection to her or opinions about her), even if she thinks they can fall into those categories. She can actually like people, and she can act like a decent person around them (or if she has to), but it’s pretty rare. She probably wasn’t always like this, it’s just something she built up over the years

Her research means she’s probably way ahead of all the other characters on the plot, like she’s known about the Beasts and faeries for years, but due to her general isolation and always looking for new knowledge, she’s woefully unknowing (that’s not the right word) of what’s going on in Earthbread right now. Like she doesn’t know Pure Vanilla’s back, her mother’s connection to Dark Enchantress, or even that her brother was banished in the first place

She likes her father well enough, she was mostly raised by him and she respects him, even if they value different things. She doesn’t see him as much due to her research, but she doesn’t see it as meaning she has any less connection to him. As said prior, since White Lily disappeared when she would have been young, she doesn’t really know her mother and isn’t sure what to think of her (though if she’s been to Faeriewood, she would have chosen to avoid White Lily’s coffin). Due to her nature of spending so much time away from home, she and Dark Choco barely know each other, but she thinks he’s fine enough. She thinks he’s just following in their father’s footsteps and being a good swordsman and prince back home, nothing out of the ordinary to note. She probably would have a reaction to knowing this isn’t the case

I’m also thinking she uses some sort of shadow magic, in part because of her research (and also because of her name)

I do kind of want to draw a younger version of Night Rider as well, before she started on her endless search for knowledge, since back then she was probably more normal

Can you tell I’ve thought way too much about her? Because I have

Anyways, let’s get on to other stuff

The name Night Rider comes from the night rider lily, since it’s a black flower

Night rider:

So if you can tell, she doesn’t look too much like her concept sketch. That’s because originally when I was making that, she was supposed to be a guy who was a knight that lived out in nature, or something like that. The original Night Rider concept was completely different. But then when I was listening to Unleash the Magic yesterday, it got me inspired to make this new version of Night Rider. If I ever bring that concept back, it’d probably be like her twin brother or something

Anyways, so I made her hair have gradients instead of streaks because I thought it worked better with her colors of red and black. Also Dark Choco sort of has that. Speaking of the red, it’s supposed to be because of the flower, even if the red doesn’t necessarily fit in with the rest of the family’s color scheme

Speaking of colors, my roommate told me she might have too many colors, which is honestly fair. She’s got black, red, purple and green in her design. It was originally going to be black red and purple, but then I wanted a pop of another color for her bag, so I added in the green. Maybe I’ll go back and tweak her colors more. If this becomes no longer applicable to her design, know that I changed it

I realize that her outfit may look a bit odd, as like some sort of bodysuit or whatever, but it was kind of just what came to my head. Maybe it’s some sort of special suit she got during her travels

Her design is probably simplistic, but it’s not necessarily bad. But I may want to tweak it a bit later on, we’ll see

But yeah, that’s Night Rider, hope you like her

#speaking of stylized cookies I kind of want to make the fankids in the stylized way as well #I specifically want to draw Night Rider and Vanilla Lily together #since they’ve got some issues and they’re both Lily kids #I just need an elderlily kid with issues to complete the trio #anyways #cookie run #cookie run kingdom #fankid #fanchild #dark cacao cookie #white lily cookie #cacaolily #cookie run oc #night rider cookie #snowdrop cookie #my ocs #my art

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tatarella · 2 months

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Eugavus Angst AU - Gavus „The Mourning Mage“ Re-Awakening / SSP

Putting the pictures behind the cut due to potentially triggering content, please mind the tags if you are uncomfortable with mild(ish) body horror.

This is based on some light lore theorycrafting spun up by users on the GaGene Nation Discord server after discussing what the new hero Adrian might have done or not have done with his partner, Elyse. How would the dads react in a similar situation?

For some reason I wanted to do a fun little concept for a corrupted Gavus based on this and got way too into it. 🙈

Scenario: Eugene passes away and leaves a mentally broken Gavus and his cube behind. Knowing that the cube offers endless possibilities in the hands of a capable holder, Gavus tries to use it to bring Eugene back from the dead. Due to his incompatibility with the cube‘s power however, his already fragile mind and body get corrupted, turning Gavus into a Hypogean abomination with just one goal in mind: finding a way to return his love to him.

Initial sketch:

„After having no tears left to cry, he sought to become one with what remained of his love. Maybe with this newfound power, he could bring him back?“

The idea was that Gavus body struggled to contain the power of the cube, hence his skin slowly cracking like porcelain. Behind it is a black void with the red markings of the cube swirling within.

Costume/Weapon concept (including a full version without the noisy background):

The red scarf is Eugene‘s cape which Gavus took with him after Eugene died.

He embedded the Trickster‘s Cube into his chest where his heart is, hence the corruption spreading.

His Celestial body and clothes are incompatible with the magic of the cube, this is why it corrupts his limbs and burns his clothes. Eugene‘s cape is not affected because it still has Eugene‘s compatibility. (I found out that the program I‘m using for digital art actually has a very neat brush for a cloud/stain effect AFTER painstakingly painting the burn marks on his clothes by hand. 😂 )

SSP Gavus‘ weapon is a merged version of Eugene‘s Weapon and his own, broken SP ring. Including more cube corruption, OF COURSE.

Gavus actually succeeds in bringing Eugene back from the dead, but at the cost of his sanity and becoming a Hypogean himself.

Eugene is NOT happy about what Gavus did and somehow finds a way to wake Dura (and in the progress ascending as a Celestial himself), just to ask her to return his husband to the status as Celestial.

Bonus picture: Celestial Eugene (whom I accidentally outlined on the sketch layer because I‘m very slow of brain, so you gotta live with my red sketchy lines 🥲).

I took the chance and gave him a cute little low ponytail!

Now I need some fluff.

#afk arena #eugavus #⚖️🅾️#afk eugene #afk gavus #angst au #trigger warning: body horror #body horror: cracked skin #body horror: discolored limbs #body horror: weird eye

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anonymouspuzzler · 1 year

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finished one of my finals so i decided to celebrate by sketching up some concepts for cal's mind in the Cally O'Pia au!! putting image IDs/descriptions and general elaborating on my Vision(TM) under da cut cause i can tell even before typing it's gonna get long (PSYCHONAUTS 2 & RHOMBUS OF RUIN SPOILERS IN THERE BTW YOU ARE WARNED)

Welcome. Let Me Describe You My Vision. my goal with this was essentially "how do I hit the major plot beats that are necessary for Psychonauts 2's plot to Happen while still incorporating Cal's very different backstory in this AU"; some of this involves functionally combining RoR's and Psychonauts 2's versions of Loboto's mental world. maybe someday I'll go into how I envision RoR changing in this au but whatever right now we're on The Opening of Psychonauts 2 As Played Out In This Verse

first things first Sasha's Psychic Projection has to be completely different given 1) Cally already works for the Psychonauts 2) he knows the other agents very well already and 3) he is a Known Psychic rather than a random feral dentist Morry picked up off the streets. so rather than the "Psychonauts office where Loboto gets employee of the year and has to get his vacation form signed off on" construction, Sasha instead constructs a scenario where Cally is still under his "Dr. Loboto" guise, has captured the other agents, and has to deliver Raz to his boss. unfortunately for Sasha, Cally catches on pretty much right away, plays along for all of five minutes, then drops everyone in a little box to keep them contained while he makes sure all the info on his boss is under mental lock and key. Unlike the ones you see above, Raz's box is kind of plain and nondescript because, unlike all the other agents he's known for years, all Cally knows about Raz is "psychic kid who keeps getting himself in some shit".

because this is, you know, The First Level of the Imaginary Game, this still has to be constructed as a tutorial, too, which you will see as I get into each of these little boxes. Raz's box teaches you to use your standard psi-punches, because it is Hastily and Weakly Put Together, so Raz can literally bust his way out and scamper around looking for the others. Cally, in turn, keeps trying to re-trap Raz as he investigates the next boxes, but with the help of the other agents Raz keeps finding ways to break out and proceed further (though the others remain stuck).

The first one Raz finds is Oleander's, which you can see in the top left of the first pic - the primary theming is Loboto's Lab from the first game and drawing on their time working together there, but the walls are also covered in pictures of Oleander and/or the two of them together, that have all been defaced or scribbled over in some form (since at the time of the game they're very much on the Off side of their On-Off relationship). To get out of the box Oleander re-teaches Raz telekinesis, which allows him to open up the hatch on the upper right of the wall, and then gives Raz a boost out - Coach, of course, isn't able to reach it himself before Cally slams the door behind Raz. You also may notice a hidden room behind one of the pictures - you can only get in there by returning later in the game when you have pyrokinesis, and once you do, you'll find a memory vault about his and Morry's relationship (which i've had concepted out for like a year and WILL draw eventually) and a bunch of photos that haven't been defaced (representing how Cally still has much stronger feelings for Oleander than he's admitted to, and is still carrying a torch even through the surface level of their breakup).

Next comes Sasha (top right picture in the first image), whose room is kind of a combo of his and Otto's labs, with a bunch of the props drawn from both locations - books, papers, inventions, computers, The Lamp, you know how it be. The floor also has a big glass swirl that gives you a peek at Otto's brain storage, which has a bunch of brains tumble by as you're in there (plus the occasional Faberge egg, for Foreshadowing - for even more of that, there's also the brain case on top of Sasha's exam table in the corner). The escape here escalates to a two-step process - Sasha re-teaches Raz psi-blast, the two of you combine forces to pry the door open with TK, and then the chattering teeth start spilling in and Raz has to fight his way out with psi-blast.

Third comes Milla - I swapped her with Lilli compared to the "canon" order first because I misremembered, but then I stuck with it because I felt like it worked better thematically. Anyway, Milla's room (seen bottom left) is a combo of her meditation chamber and Cassie's house back in the gulch, with pillows and tapestries and books everywhere, honeycomb wallpaper, and of course, Bees? Bees! They Have Chosen The Bees. You might notice the big scary beehive from the Forgetful Forest in the middle of the room; the escape here involves Milla re-teaching Raz levitation, the two of them pulling out the beehive with TK, using psi-blast to fend off the subsequent BEES, and then Raz drops in the hole and uses levitation to hover his way to safety. (At this point Cally is like KID C'MON and outright intercepts and dementistrates Milla rather than just keep her trapped.)

Last but hardly least is Lilli; she's in a combo of Truman's office and what she tells Raz looks a lot like her house/apartment - Cally's functionally kind of an uncle to her in this verse, so he's been particularly thoughtful in crafting a comfortable, familiar mind-prison for her. (The Extremely Subtle Foreshadowing also continues here, with envelopes and a hacksaw on the desk, the brain case on the shelf, and of course The Fuckoff Huge Crown Chandelier hanging above the desk.) The other wall has a bunch of family photos of Lilli and Truman, and one big pic of young Cally and Truman in the Gulch; Lilli re-teaches Raz pyro so he can burn that, and Enormous Mental Cally takes this as an opportunity to grab Raz much like in the original game.

Now we're at the point of the second image, and where things particularly divert from the original version of the level in my mind! Big Ol Cally drops Raz in a combat arena and he has to deal with a few waves of Censors and Doubts and Regrets - I haven't decided if this is the first time you encounter true Combat or if you have mini-waves throughout the level like in the "canon" version, but if it is your first combat I like the idea of Lilli being your "mission control" explaining the new enemies an dhow to beat them. Either way, Raz fights a couple waves while trying to convince Cally to give them information, he refuses, and when it looks like Raz is in a real tight spot he manages to dive off the arena deeper into Cally's subconscious.

This is where we start incorporating RoR stuff! Raz drops all the way to the little dollhouse representation of Cal's childhood home, goes in, sees a little Cassie-style paper projection of young Cal and overhears his parents having their Oh What Can We Possibly Do We Can't Handle This Child Anymore conversation. Paper Cal hides in a wardrobe, Raz follows, and this portals into this endless-seeming hospital hallway where dialog plays between li'l Cal and the doctors, revealing to Raz that they were going to lobotomize him for being psychic. (I think maybe you find your first accessible memory vault either here or in the path I talk about in a second; that one goes into how Cal got taken in by the psychic 7 and i also have that one concepted out please god give me time and energy to draw these soon). After this plays there's a cutscene where representations of the psychic 7 tear apart the hallway, and Raz falls into this paper representation of the Gulch. He follows a little path past some simple setpieces of things you'll see later in the game, talks to himself a bit like Wow This Is Just Like True Psychic Tales So Cool That Agent O'Pia Grew Up Here :)

Now this path leads past a little paper version of Lucy's hut (which Raz doesn't recognize for sure, which bugs him), and the path around THAT leads to a big winding path through a parted waterway (which Raz is Very Much Not Happy About, reestablishing the water curse - maybe there's a little cutscene where he sees the hand of Galochio much like in the first game at the beach). Raz nervously walks through, and dialogue plays between Cally and Mysterious Figures revealing Cal got caught undercover and was threatened into assisting with the Kidnap Truman plot (or rather, they threatened Cassie and Lillie and Oleander, which ended up being Much more effective than threatening his own life). At the end of the path Raz finds the base from RoR, and it's in there that he sees "Loboto" talking to the Shadowy Figure similar to canon and 1) learns whoever hired Loboto was a mole, and 2) sees the vision of Maligula when the figure reiterates his threat to Cal-slash-Cal's family. Vision-Maligula destroys the village, Raz snaps back to the real world, and There's Our Game!

if you've read this far you're a hero beyond compare here's the image descriptions for you

[Image 1 ID: Digital sketches of four boxlike rooms. The top left room is labeled "OLEANDER" and incorporates elements from Loboto's Lab in Psychonauts, including the jagged glass window, Mr. Pokeylope's terrarium, and a prototype brain tank sticking out of the floor. There are miscellaneous papers on the floor, and a brain tank blueprint on the wall. Various framed photos of Oleander are also on the wall, most of which have been scribbled over or otherwise defaced. There is a hatch high on one wall, and a secret room with a memory vault behind a pyro-able picture.

The top right room is labeled "SASHA" and resembles a combination of Sasha and Otto's labs, with a large bookshelf making up one wall covered in books, papers and gadgets, floating shelves on the other wall, as well as a desk with office chair, computer monitor and Tiffany lamp. Sasha's examination table is in a far corner, with Truman's brain case on top of it. The floor has a glass swirl revealing brains being transported similar to Otto's brain storage. There is a partially open sliding door on one wall where chattering teeth toys are spilling in.

The bottom left room is labeled "MILLA" and resembles a combination of Milla's meditation chamber and Cassie's home in the Gulch. The walls have a honeycomb pattern wallpaper and string lights, with an eye tapestry hanging on one wall. There are round lantern lights hanging from the ceiling, with bees flying overhead. The floor is a round conversation pit covered in pillows, throw rugs and books; in the center is a massive oozing beehive similar to the one in the Forgetful Forest.

The final, bottom right room is labeled "LILLI" and resembles Truman's office. There is a desk covered in envelopes and a hacksaw, with a desk chair behind it and two 60's style chairs in front. There are two shelves along the wall behind the desk, containing the brain case among other things, and the wall prominently displays the Psychonauts logo. A chandelier resembling the Maliks' crown is hanging from the ceiling above the desk. There is a couch and several plants against the opposite wall, and many family photos of Truman and Lilli on the wall perpendicular, with the largest (pyro-able) one being a picture of young Cally and Truman. End ID.]

[Image 2 ID: Digital sketches of three scenes in Cally's mental world. The first shows Raz (represented by the simple head-and-legs silhouette used in Peter Chan's concepts) diving off a disc-like combat arena (on which are several Censors, Doubts and Regrets) towards the dollhouse representing Cal's childhood home, which is floating in space. The second shows Raz in one of the dollhouse rooms with a paper-projection version of young Cal, with an arrow leading into a wardrobe, which portals into a long hospital hallway with a "NEUROLOGY" sign on the wall, eventually trailing off into nothing. The third shows Raz walking past Lucy's old hut in the Gulch, along a winding path through parted water, and ultimately to the Rhombus of Ruin base. End ID.]

#anonymous puzzler art #anonymous puzzler writes #(there's a lot of words in there it counts)#psychonauts 2 spoilers #rhombus of ruin spoilers #psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #if y'all aren't familiar with the au A) there's posts recently in my psychonauts tag B) Inbox Is Open lmao #long post /

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sir-subpar · 3 days

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Weird idea(s) for my Reimagined Hazbin thing:

I might give it a new name soon. Just so we can differentiate it from the original one. Because the more I do this the more I kind of wish this was my own story but wish it also wasn't. I have mixed feelings.

Charlie is technically hald angel, because Lucifer is her father.

But her personality is so unbelievably doe-eyed innocent to the point where it's really frustrating and doesn't make sense. That's something we all know. I've said it before, many others have said it, not a new take.

But I do have a weird concept for my rewrite. I have my jungle for that she keeps This truly horrifying form hidden underneath her porcelain doll like exterior. It's a concept I've played with before. (More under the cut)

I like the idea sje made this rehab project out of some spite against Lucifer. If Lucifer restaurant of Heaven for trying to be better than God, maybe Charlie is trying to be better than Lucifer. In a sense it's come full circle.

But it made me think, would have been really reject her so much just because she happened to be related to lucifer? Would they have let her into heaven at some point?

Does Lucifer have shared custody with Lilith in heaven?? Because we see Charlie get taken away as a child, but she's still in hell right now?

Did she go to hell my choice? Was she forced to go? Is it a shared custody thing and then she decided to stay in hell in adulthood?

Part of me is actually kind of curious to explore what that kind of childhood would be like to experience.

And I do wonder if maybe I should explore that in my reimagined version of her. Did she spend part of her childhood in heaven and part of it in hell?

And I also thought about her role in hell overall. Lucifer is immortal, so why have anybody possibly inherit the throne? What is the point of that? Especially for somebody who is infamously selfish and prideful like Lucifer.

Is she not quite holy and not quite unholy?

And then I had a thought.

Maybe her domain isn't heaven, and it isn't hell.

It's limbo, the in between.

I like the idea that she's full of conflicting intentions, just as her childhood was. Does she question her own motives? Is she actually doing this for the greater good or to prove a point? That's what I want to explore. I like the idea that she still has a cutesy exterior, but her true form is barely contained.

She suppressed it, she denies it, she doesn't want to be a demon, but it's part if her, she too, is flawed. She wants to believe she is a wise moral compass, but she too, is lost.

Maybe she has some friends in hell and some in heaven.

Quick sketch I did.

It might be a weird concept, but isn't that the point of Indie projects? To experiment? To try other things? See what happens.

So, tell me, what do you think of this idea?

If you have any questions or would like any clarifications, let me know.

I'm typing this whole Post in one go so it may not make as much as I think it does.

#subpar speaks #hazbin critical #charlie reimagine #vivziepop critical #I do not support Vivziepop #I do not like the show as is #it feels like the original concept had potential #if you look at it like a series of writing prompts #I feel like people have taken this concept and ran with it all over the internet #and I think that is beautiful #anti vivziepop #anti hazbin hotel #anti harassment

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kanmom51 · 10 months

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JK Seven MV making sketch BTB

Yay, the subs are back on. And I got to watch it and even understand what he was saying, lol.

Loved it.

I was just sitting here for the 12 minutes with a huge smile on my face.

Because JK is just so adorable. So genuine. So real.

He had the time of his life, and seeing that just made me happy.

Now let's talk about a few thing I took from the BTB, why don't we?

I think I'll start from the fun and make my way to the more serious.

Not too much went on really. It's mostly him enjoying himself.

Being his own chaotic loveable self.

Trying to keep his eye open with the water pouring down on him, lol.

Can you imagine just how much fun this all was for him, our daredevil?

Funny, just thought about it, but they didn't even talk to Hun Sohee. Not a word. She might as well not have been there. Now I understand that JK is the focus, it's his song, BTBs are about the members, but at the same time, she's a well known and loved Korean actress acting in his MV and not only don't we get to hear from her even once, we also don't really get to see interactions between him and her in the BTB. In a way it feels like they are trying to keep this distance - this is JK, he's singing Seven, he's shooting a MV, but he's disconnected from it. I'm not sure I'm being clear enough here.

Ok, so for example JK explains what the scenes are and says the word girlfriend, god forbid. We know y/ns went into a frenzy over this stupidity. JK explaining the concept of the scene in which he's fighting with his gf, cause that's what the MV is about, and she's his gf in the bloody MV.

But maybe, knowing this fandom, they wanted to keep the delusion to a minimum, not to mention keep Sohee away from the crazy ass fans that are already harassing her by just keeping her off camera as much as possible. Idk, just found it interesting.

JK tells us a little about his acting, lol.

To all those that are still riding the scripted fanservice bandwagon, time to fucking get off it.

Omg, the way he disses Yoongi, he just LOVES to do that with Yoongi. Now I can kind of understand the "even at 60 years old jeon jungkook will be freaking annoying".🤣🤣

JK is wearing THE brand again. I'm telling you folks, JM made a huge online order for the two of them!!

He's just so precious, with this thing he has of checking out his hands, every single time it feels like it's the first time he's seen them, lol. The fascination he had from his water wrinkled fingers. So endearing.

Looks at them in amazement, shows everyone, then back to looking at them again all fascinated.

You'd think the man has never in his lifetime taken a long shower or had a bath or been in the damn swimming pool. Nah, lol. It's just one of those cute loveable oddities of his.

Did we notice the ASSets?

And I thought JM was in charge of that body part in the family.

Well, apparently the competition is on.

Has JK surpASSed JM?

Should we progrASS? Oopsy...progress?

And now I will take a moment to breathe.

I went looking for more pics from the BTB and came across this:

I don't know enough about the movie but do we know of any kind of connection to Jikook? Or this could be the directors tribute to the movie too. In any case it's a fun tribute.

Now for the heavy stuff, or not so heavy just a little more on the serious side.

I wrote a long ass brain fart of a post yesterday. And some of it is very relevant here too.

JK clearly sees the song as a love song. Period.

He did the explicit version for the fun of it (well and also probably because the America market loves a song with profanities in it). But for him it's the fun of not being restricted by the Kpop rules of engagement, the "don't swear because the song will be censored" and "don't swear because it's too adult" or whatever other reasons for it. He's having fun feeling more freedom, and that he's all grown up and can say fucking multiple times out loud.

But when it comes down to it, when asked about it directly, his answer was that he prefers the clean version. Because to him Seven is a love song, not one about the physical act alone. Yes, of course sex is part of it (the song lyrics are kind of loud), but sex is not even half of what loving someone is all about.

We saw JK talking about the love of his life while explaining about the song.

Him in the BTB about the death scene:

And at the end of the BTB explaining more:

And we also have what he said in the interview aired earlier today on Z100 radio.

The more we get of JK talking about the song the clearer and louder it becomes. I just wish people would only be listening to him.

Anyway, the man is beautiful.

Love him.

Not as much as the love of his life does though.

No competition there!!

#Jungkook #JK #JK Seven #JK Seven MV #JK Seven MV BTB

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concerningwolves · 5 months

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There's a post I can't find now that was expressing frustration that a lot of writing advice on writeblr (don't edit as you write, try switching POV for a scene if it's not working, only write the dialogue/only write the action, etc.) is for first drafts and not subsequent drafts. And I do agree, at least in part; a lot of writeblr is focused on how to, y'know, write the story.

It did make me think, though, and what I thought was this: ogres are like onions.

Or, more accurately: stories are like onions (and ogres?), because they have layers, too.

Writers who use the drafting method write drafts, and with each draft, the story gains more layers (layers of meaning, plot coherency, more cohesive ideas, etc). By draft four or five, a story has enough layers that it looks both pretty and structurally sound. Ideally, the only changes you'd need to make at this point are upper-layer, superficial ones – reshuffle some paragraphs, cut some excess scene padding, smooth out some awkward prose. Maybe rewrite or reposition a couple of scenes. Mostly though, the story feels fixed in place and is semi-polished, which is often the biggest obstacle preventing a writer from solving a problem.

Early drafts typically come out kind of wonky and unstable, their component ideas still sludgy from the primordial creative soup. Writing them can feel like sticky, awkward work – but it's also when the ideas flow most freely! The prospect of going back into that sludge might suck, especially if you've already started to see the final version of your story take solid shape, but it might also be the answer to the problem. Sometimes you have to peel back the pretty layers to look at the uglier structure beneath to see what isn't working. Other times, you need to be more hands-on and pretend you're still in the primordial creative soup to get the brain gears properly lubricated again.

Digital art also has layers. Some artists start with a rough sketch, others with blocks of colour. As the layers build up, so does the picture, but every now and then there'll be something about the picture that just isn't right. If the problem is in the sketchy early layers, the usual options are to either a) go back down to that layer and fix it there, then correct the upper layers to match or b) start again, this time learning from the mistakes made before. If something isn't working for me when I'm doing a digital painting, I'll also sometimes open a fresh canvas and mess around with the same concept in different variations as if I'm starting from scratch, then return to the original piece and use whatever I learned to fix it. So long as I don't prematurely flatten the layers, I've got plenty of wiggle room to figure things out in.

So, yes, some writing advice is only going to work for specific stages of story-making. But also, the creative process is a dynamic one, and no part of a story needs to be set in stone until all the layers have been flattened into their final form, ready for sharing with other people.

#writeblr #writing advice #been wrestling with this idea for a couple days now

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svenskaghost · 2 months

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The Identity of the Three Unnamed Micronations - A Hetalia Theory

So you all know these little guys from the 500th chapter in the World Stars manga, right?

They were obviously teased as other micronations that we may or may not get an identity for, so I'm here to theorize which micronation they could be and why.

Firstly, to get a better idea of them, we have to look at their dialog. So we're off to run this thing through Google Translate!

(Translation by @/gobernadoraph)

The one on the right is Australian, given the hair and the huffing out air thing that Australia and Wy do. But which one, I don't know. In Google Translate (I don't trust it though) seems to imply they don't care for independence and was some sort of national research project instead. This is the one I don't have any idea of on who they are, since all the Australian micronations I researched don't fit the bill on being a "research project".

My main running theory is that this is the Empire of Atlantium, but then again, that's a bit of a stretch since they seem to view themselves as a legitimate nation, and this one seems to scoff at the idea of independence. So this idea is highly unlikely. Who knows, maybe Himaruya found yet another obscure micronation to personify.

The middle one was theorized to be the Garden Republic of Sirland. Which I think fits, given the sun hat and simply wanting the plant vegetables. This theory was brought by @/gobernadoraph from the MochiDex server! Here's to hoping this is a cute girl in a sun hat and not a femboy twink..

The left one I have the clearest idea of who they can be, they're the Republic of Whangamōmona. Why do I think this? Well, look at the character's design.

The mouth looks reminiscent of New Zealand's. They hold a cane, just like New Zealand, the hair even looks similar to his! (To me, it looks like a mix of Ireland and NZ's hair, minus the ram horns) that flower thing next to them also frequently appears whenever NZ speaks in the manga!

Also, this may be a bit of a stretch, but their outfit is also similar to one of NZ's outfits in his concept sketches with the open jacket.

So this is the one I am the most certain on being which micronation is which, besides, it'd be a nice edition to Oceania since Hima hasn't given Tonga a canon face and it's been years..

BUT WAIT- I HAVE MORE!

What if these three were meant to parallel the main OG three micronations? (Wy, Sealand, and Seborga) like what if they're some kind of new generation version of them? (Probably not, but who knows. Maybe they are, in some way)

Now, let's explore that idea.

The guy on the right could be a parallel to Sealand since they don't seem to be concerned about independence and kind of laugh at it. Or thinks the idea is so ridiculous that they don't believe it. Unlike Sealand, who is very eager to prove he is a real nation.

The middle could be a parallel to Wy, who, unlike her, isn't sassy or headstrong. Instead, we get someone who is rather nervous and shy, judging from the sweat emote things.

The left one could parallel Seborga, but instead of flipping it around like the other two, they're just chill like him.

But until Hima actually introduces us to them (which is probably unlikely, if I'll be honest) and gives as canon identities and designs- these will just remain theories and speculation.

Anyways, goodbye, and thanks for reading this all the way through! And if you have any better ideas on who these lil guys can be, tell me in the replies or reblogs!

#hetalia #hetalia world stars #hetalia headcanons #hetalia micronations #hws #hws micronations #hws niko niko jr #hws japan #hws sealand #hws wy #hws seborga #svens talks #svens stuff

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gender-buddies · 2 months

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Final Thoughts on Gender Buddies

All in all the project wasn't too bad! I thought that I'd run into way more artist's block, but I managed to come up with a lot of good ideas pretty quickly. Once I stopped overthinking it, it was easy to come up with some good designs. It helped that I stopped making the Buddies so high-concept after phase 1. At a certain point I was coming up with these designs on the fly rather than sketching them in my notebook, taking a bunch of notes, then moving them to a digital format. Streamline!

There are a few designs I would love to redo (looking at you, Aesthetigender.) I also had some lofty plans to have "items" that followers could use on Buddies to change their elements, or to turn them into the fluid or flux version of the genders they represent, meaning I would draw new designs for them. I was also hoping to release some "special edition" Buddies to commemorate important dates, like when I posted Neogender on New Year's Day (another design I didn't like all that much.) I was also supposed to post Demiboy as a birthday Buddy (I'm a demiboy and would have posted it on my birthday to celebrate my identity), but never did and instead posted it as part of the original 120.

Yes, I do want to take requests. I didn't accept or deny requests that I got because I didn't want to give away which Buddies were or weren't planned, but now I can do the requests! There are two that I plan to draw in the near future, but I mostly want to take a break for a month or two before touching them. But I'll totally take requests. If I have time, I'll post a list of every single Buddy I drew so it's all in one place and followers don't have to search so much.

I think my biggest disappointment was the lack of follower interaction (like comments and asks) and the lack of popularity. I was hoping for more followers and more talk about it (I barely saw anything discussed in the YB3 server even though I was posting a lot of updates.) I don't typically worry about the numbers, but I feel like it would have at least pulled in some new followers from my YouTube channel or something! That feels silly though, but this is the first time I've ever finished a planned project, and it was a big deal for me.

Maybe I'll do another similar project in the future, maybe one with a lot less structure. I put a TON of thought into the stats and into which Buddies would make it into each phase. I use Trello for all my planning and you should see what it looks like! It legitimately looks like I'm programming a Pokemon game or something!

This project really helped me get better at drawing because I was drawing so regularly, and that's after spending years not drawing anything at all. I have some newly developed muscle and nerve issues in my dominant hand from intense restaurant work, so that was a struggle for me. But I eventually embraced the shaky lines and slightly off proportions and saw those things as features rather than mistakes. It's not great as an artist to embrace things that clearly need adjusting, but it is what it is. I'm an amateur and self-taught. It's okay if I suck at drawing!

Feel free to send asks about any of the Buddies and I'll gladly talk about where I got the ideas for them and what they're based on. Phase 9 and 10 Buddies have artist commentaries in their replies and I do have posts with artist commentaries for previous phases, but I would love to talk more about individual designs!

Anyway, thank you for supporting my silly little project. Now my focus is on my dragon story worldbuilding crap (@project--eclipse.)💙

#gb.txt #gb.update #artist commentary

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jojo-schmo · 1 year

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Another batch of Forgotten Land Roleswap asks!

Look under the cut for answers and a behind the scenes sketch page! ;D

Thank you for the kind words!

Meta Knight doesn't have Mouthful-mode in my particular AU- Combo-mode is more Sworn Partner-flavored which is I why I went with it. But also for some reason I literally cannot bring myself to draw Meta consuming automobiles and vending machines. Too wild of a concept for me! But if anyone reading this is capable of doing so, I welcome the possibility HAHA

I had to hold onto this ask for a while because you gave me some really good food for thought! As of now I don't have plans to swap any of them since they don't play a big part in the comic but if I get struck by divine inspiration, I'll have you to thank for putting the idea in my head!

Stubborn knight!! I think he's so used to being self-sufficient that he dislikes being "coddled" by others and prefers to take things into his own hands. This is actually something the comic will explore down the line! I've interpreted some other possible reasons why he's so stubborn about this but it will have to be revealed in the future ;)

Aww thank you!! I'm glad you like his design, I put plenty of love into it! Maybe this is a good excuse for me to share the page I designed him on and some of the backstory behind it:

The above were my very first Roleswap drawings back in April 2022! It was born purely out of my desire to see a badass Bandee boss fight and I had just finished the Forgotten Land game. I started at the top and ended up with the designs at the bottom right- with a few additional changes these became the final versions! I wanted him to have more of an Awoofy silhouette since I figured they're a great equivalent to Popstar's Waddle Dees!

An AU creation fun fact: I initially just swapped Bandee and Dedede! I drew the above that same month- this is supposed to be the cutscene before the Winter Horns boss where the big reveal happened! Kirby was P1 and Dedede was P2. I didn't even create Roleswap Elfilis yet!

But the more I explored the possibilities, the more roles I swapped. It took me like another month to actually have the Sworn Partners be the "playable" characters, shuffle the Beast Pack around, and finish the rest of the swaps.

That was a long-winded way of saying, thanks for liking Roleswap Bandee!! I owe the little Awoofy Dee a lot because without him I wouldn't be having a blast making this AU!!

Ahh thank you so very much!! Combo moves were so fun to make haha. I love some good teamwork.

And yes, I love writing their dynamic too! I figured if they already understood each other perfectly at the beginning of the story, it would be kinda boring. Don't get me wrong, they are already pretty close in the beginning- enough to tease and be prickly idiots with each other while still maintaining that respect between them! :P But they are going to have some nice opportunities to get to know each other better, build even more trust, and reach a deeper understanding~! <3

Oooh! Interesting theory~ *whistles a non spoilery-tune*

These are more comments than questions but I still wanted to share them! Ya'll make me laugh!

If you've made it this far, I leave you with a tag from @what-is-love-babey-dont-hurt-me on Pages 31-32. It made me laugh until I choked. xD

Thank you all for continuing to brighten my inbox and feed with your great questions and comments!

#roleswap ask #forgotten land roleswap #king dedede #meta knight #bandana waddle dee #kirby

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ettawritesnstudies · 6 months

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I FINISHED INKTOBER

For those of you who don't know, I was working on concept art for my future webcomic project 1101 BC: A Space Odyssey. Now that I've completed all 31 pieces of art, I was thinking about collecting them into a little Zine/artbook to sell on my Ko-Fi. I've already posted all the basic lineart, so this artbook would have extra stuff. What would you be interested in seeing?

#etta rambles #1101 BC A Space Odyssey #etta's art #inktober #inktober 2023

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givemethepage · 9 months

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Layers of Fear 2023 Initial Playthrough Impressions, Part 1.

[SUPER LONG POST AHEAD, LIKELY FULL OF SPOILY BITS] (All my posts in this blog probably will be.)

Obviously I love it and my obsession with this world has been reignited, burning twice as hot as it did the first time around. So far I've played through Painter's Story 3 times, Daughter's Story twice, and I'm about to start the Musician's Story. Meanwhile in story mode, the Writer is about to sit down and begin writing the Actor's Story after a harrowing return to the lighthouse during which she's made an attempt to reject her earlier pact with the Rat Queen. I know. I tend to do things in weird sequences. I just want to see everything there is to see before I finish.

I love love love the additions and changes to the first game and its DLC, insofar far as I can remember the details of the original. The completionist in me is sad I can't find the Dust Mice sketch or whatever is meant to be behind the pipe on the secretary near the front door, and there may perhaps could possibly might be another whisper object that goes on the upstairs table.

But THAT'S not important. What's important is the story and the creation of the story! This new ending seems like it's missing a cutscene, but I really like that before you walk out the door, you're still surrounded by messages of failure. The intrusive thoughts don't disappear just because you've opened a path to healing. I'm not sure if I liked seeing what was beyond the front door, or maybe I just wasn't pleased with what they chose to put there, especially given what I did after I turned the game off.

For the first time in however many playthroughs since the original game came out, I stopped to examine the origins of the house's design. I came across Steep Park House/Potter's Manor. So many urban explorers have documented and photographed this mansion. Must remind myself to make a full post about it! This place seems to be just one of the inspirations for the couple's house, but an important one, given not just how close the architecture of the house's common areas are mirrored (literally) by the Painter's mansion, but also how many of the basic narrative details of LoF are shared with the former owners of Steep Park House, i.e. the painter who abandoned his home after the death of his wife, leaving behind many portraits of her, himself, unknown subjects, still life, etc., along with countless notebooks, letters, publications, and other possessions that provide clues to the lives they led. Seriously that's all actual circumstance from the real life house. I really want to ask the designers about it since all I can find right now is Reddit speculation about whether it's even the right house. But even green tinge of the wife's diary pages and the font on some of the mail can be found in the photographs of Steep Park. It HAS to have been instrumental in dreaming up the very concept of Layers of Fear. At least I choose to believe it is.

Gonna save the full spread for a Steep Park/Potter's Manor post.

Back to the game, though, the growth of the Rat Queen's role for the 2023 version doesn't sully the universality of the game's allegory like I was worried it might based on some Steam reviews. She remains a symbol of the despair that accompanies memories of trauma, and explicitly making a pact with her seems to me to be a commitment to using that despair as a wellspring for creativity, at the expense of any ability to see truth. The despair will only further twist your memories and warp your perspective. We see all 3 members of the family fall prey to the subjectivity of their memory, even moreso in this version with the addition of voiceovers and I think a few more notes(?). And choice still carries just as much weight in the new game, even with a supernatural force pulling strings from behind the curtain. One heartbreaking thing the Rat Queen has said this time around was that the Daughter was "mine from the moment of her birth." Wow. I went straight for the True Ending, so that statement did turn out to be true for me, but what of the Forgiveness and Resentment endings? Do those also necessarily reflect a Daughter trapped in the Rat Queen's grasp? Are these messages from the Rat Queen, (which I presume are spoken to the Writer,) set in stone? Are they reliable? Are they true? So many implications. One of which is:

What will happen to the Writer??

Will she have multiple endings like the others? Will she be able to break her pact with the Rat Queen? And will that depend upon the outcomes of the other stories along with which collectibles I found during her scenes in the lighthouse? That might be a problem because I am just scooping up everything and devouring every bit of lore my cursor passes across.