deathsquiggles

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if tumblr gets shut down i staunchly refuse to make any other social media so please know in your hearts that i am still here very slowly writing and someday you will all be fed

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i keep needing to reference the updated map and then remembering i haven’t saved a high quality version from my tablet so i have to go on my fuckin blog to look at it here and every time i’m like “hmm maybe i should just download the image from here so i at least have it on my phone” and every time i’m like “no….. i must save it from my tablet so it is the high quality version……. surely i will remember to do this Next Time” and then you’ll never guess what i forget to do

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i immediately got sick after posting this BUT i just finished my first week of field work and i am optimistic i will be able to Write

as evidence please see this sentence i wrote just earlier today:

“What? You’re the one selling your body for one sixth of a pair of long johns.”

anyway when i was little i loved going to chuck e cheese and playing the game where there were buttons on the floor of a platform and when the buttons lit up you had to step on them to press them. it was like a spider squishing simulator game. it was always the first one i played. i got really good at it but it didn’t give that many tickets which is kind of a beautiful metaphor for capitalism if you think about it

yoooo i had to take a break from writing because of stress but i’m doing way better now!!

anyway the main point of this post is that i’m being temporarily banished to do field work / training for my job which means for the next three months i will have little to no access to my usual means of entertainment/distraction. so it’ll be WRITING HOURS BAYBEEEEEE

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yoooo i had to take a break from writing because of stress but i’m doing way better now!!

anyway the main point of this post is that i’m being temporarily banished to do field work / training for my job which means for the next three months i will have little to no access to my usual means of entertainment/distraction. so it’ll be WRITING HOURS BAYBEEEEEE

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oh i owe you a spoiler and a HALF for your effort too, so here’s that as well

a whole spoiler, but not a helpful one:

there are two occasions in this fic where dream eats wild blackberries. the first one is in the first chapter. the second one is in the twelfth chapter. both times, something significant changes about his relationship with george shortly after eating them, and both times, that change makes things a lot more complicated for dream.

and a half spoiler, even less helpful:

you can feel cold even in a very hot place if a hand of the void reaches out to ease your burden.

me when i’m the map gogy carries through the entire fic

spot the references. they’re all over. if you spot my most obscure reference of all, you will receive one free spoiler

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oh my god i love all of this. solid thinking!!!

answers below the cut 👀

here is the complete list of references, tragically in screenshot form because hellsite decided to put reblogs in search results so i can’t have them in text form At All!

some of the places are just names i thought sounded cool or just filler names because i don’t know that much stuff lol. if a name isn’t listed, there’s no specific reference attached to it.

imo the most obscure reference is valefisk. pikasprey technically has less subs but i put the whole channel name in there so it’s less obfuscated.

also the french implication was unintended but very funny

and hana used to be for the streamer (of the xxrose variety) but due to Circumstances it’s now a reference to a friend i had in high school instead whose name was actually spelled hana.

me when i’m the map gogy carries through the entire fic

spot the references. they’re all over. if you spot my most obscure reference of all, you will receive one free spoiler

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idk if it's the most obscure but do i see beeduo and pyrope

oh that’s incredible i didn’t expect people to actually guess omfg, what a world we live in

close but no cigar!! also knowing pyrope does mean i have to call the homestuck police but i also have to call them on myself so what are you gonna do. AND also. it’s hard to read because tumblr squished the image and i wrote it in cursive so i don’t blame you at all but that mountain actually says “Beedub” and is named for the hermit bdubs!!

honestly i doubt anyone would be able to guess it purely because there aren’t that many people who will see the map at all and the relative audience of this person doesn’t necessarily overlap with the audience for this fic, and as said it’s an obscure reference (the person’s subscriber count is less than 1 mil)

and also you would have to figure out who the person is based on the names of other things in close proximity to their name.

so maybe someone could get it using those clues? but i don’t expect anyone to lol. later tonight i’ll reveal the answer (and a bonus spoiler for free) if no one gets it.

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me when i’m the map gogy carries through the entire fic

spot the references. they’re all over. if you spot my most obscure reference of all, you will receive one free spoiler

[deathsquiggles]

also for the record it is still WILD to me that other people like… actively anticipate my work. like i’m just writing silly stories about the funny gay people who live in my phone but actual human people both know about me and want to read what i write. this is beyond comprehension

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I’ve never been more excited for a fic in my life

i’m gonna assume you’re talking about my manhunt fic lol

hell yeah i’m excited too!! i just spent half an hour discussing a plot point from the end of the story with my seniormost beta reader (aka the one most used to my bullshit) to make sure it made sense both logically and thematically heehee

like a good 40-50% of my waking hours are devoted to thinking about or writing this story at this point lmao. i also just finished fixing the map so it matches with the current canon. it looks kinda sick ngl

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it is decided

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this won’t be relevant until sometime in 2025 but!! i plan to post two chapters of manhunt fic per week, with posting time around 8 AM PST. each chapter is in the 12k-16k range for word count. please tell me which of these schedules is ideal in your heart

if you have nuance, feel free to reply or send an ask. i do intend to post on weekdays though, as those are days i have work and am thus guaranteed to be awake early enough to post on time.

[deathsquiggles]

this won’t be relevant until sometime in 2025 but!! i plan to post two chapters of manhunt fic per week, with posting time around 8 AM PST. each chapter is in the 12k-16k range for word count. please tell me which of these schedules is ideal in your heart

if you have nuance, feel free to reply or send an ask. i do intend to post on weekdays though, as those are days i have work and am thus guaranteed to be awake early enough to post on time.

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progress has been slow unfortunately (due to my job was making me physically ill from stress) but i’m doing better now and i’m finding my stride again. definitely won’t be able to finish the fic before the end of the year, but i think i’ll be able to get it done early next year. probably.

i’m getting into some of the stuff i’ve been most excited to write this whole time so i’m having lots of fun tormenting the little gay people in my phone. plus, we’re getting actual CC content again (dnf renaissance lfg) and that always puts me in the mood to write. i can’t help it. the mad bantz will be the siren song luring me to the long quiet.

anyway here’s a quick gog i sketch i never finished from the first arc of the fic

manhunt au is at 75k and it’s juuuuust about halfway done. god help me

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this is a drawing i made after a particularly vivid dream years ago. there was a kind of neopet called a Slime and a new color was released that was exclusive to slimes called Halloween Red, and this was the halloween red slime

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it took me a little longer than expected to hit it but we got there!! 100k holy hell.

for bonus content, i have some fun out-of-context trivia about the story:

there is fake horse murder

there is an accidental vision miracle

geometry is plot-critical more than once

there is life debt hot-potato

the crows are watching

manhunt au is at 75k and it’s juuuuust about halfway done. god help me

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86k. keep praying for me, i will soon be strong enough to defeat god

im hoping to finish it by the end of the year. i think that’s a pretty reasonable timeline considering my current writing pace but you know me lol.

this is already the longest thing i have ever written and i’m excited to get to share it! my current plan is to complete and edit it, then post chapters three times a week. probably mon-wed-fri so i have a bit of fun to look forward to during the week.

i’ll post some bonus content as a treat when it passes 100k :]

manhunt au is at 75k and it’s juuuuust about halfway done. god help me