This machine kills AI
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Reblog so everyone can hear what they need.
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I appreciate your help! The work was somehow listing the most recent update as the last instead of the question mark. I've resolved the problem now ^-^
You're very welcome, Nonny! Glad I was able to help.
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It hasn't cropped up in the fandom yet, I don't think, but I saw a post about AI fics on my dash and figured it was a good a time as any to make this statement.
I am SEVERELY against AI generated fics I won't even grace them with the word 'writing' because it isn't writing. It's word vomit that happens to look semi legibile.
If I find an AI generated fic I will NOT be sharing it on this blog via submission recommendation or weekly Fresh Crops.
I make an effort to not willingly or knowingly share AI generated fic. If I ever have, it was a mistake.
This rule doesn't include the use of AI tools to help your writing process, for example proof-reading AI or prompt generators.
But if you use AI to generate any part of your actual story, it will be disqualified from recommendation on this blog. I will make a note of the author's name and I will not share their future work.
To put plainly: If you can't even be bothered to write it, why should anyone bother to read it. And why should I bother to share it?
And to be mean about it. If your excuse for using AI instead of actually writing a story is "but I'm a bad writer and AI is better than me." Shut up. Stop crying. And actually try for once. Write badly. Learn from failure. Get better with practice. Nobody's instantly good at anything they're new at. Get comfortable with being bad and learn how to get better. AI is only going to make you a worse writer.
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*SIGHS*
Another AO3 app that's pretending to be official when it's not (or at least isn't making it clear its unofficial.) They're using AO3's name and logo, and embedding ads.
There is no official AO3 app
Someone else is gathering your data, potentially your log in information etc and making use of it how they please. (They say they're not but their privacy policy says otherwise)
They are making money from the ads without the fic writer's consent.
They've also rated it Pegi 3 (which is ludicrous)
Please, even if you care about nothing else, for the safety of your data, please don't use this app. Certainly don't give it your AO3 log in details.
I've told AO3 that it's infringing on its copyright. I will be requesting they remove access of my work as I do not consent to my creative content being used to generate ad revenue for them.
I will be reporting it as incorrectly rated.
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Guest comments back on!
Guest comments have now been turned back on! We'll continue to keep an eye out for any spam issues and make further adjustments as needed. (22:08 UTC April 23, 2024)
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I'm pretty new to writing on ao3 and realized a work of mine in the new crops post is listed as complete, but it's definitely not. How do I fix that? All I can find is that it needs to have a multiple chapters box checked, which is done, but it still shows as complete rather than ongoing/wip.
Hi Nonny,
I'm not 100% what you're going to see when you look at your story page, but I went to my WIPs to look for examples.
So if I'm looking at one of my WIPs on the Edit Work page I see this (phone browser view)
The box is checked for "This work has multiple chapters" and because I don't know how many chapters the work will have in the end, I have a ? in the box for final chapter count. So when I look at the story it'll show the chapter count as 4/? Indicating it's a WIP.
For a multi-chapter story that you know the final chapter count, whether it's complete or not, you will still check the "Work has multiple chapters" box and then you can enter the final number of chapters.
So it'll look like this. Depending on how many chapters you've posted in the story it'll show something like 3/11 (or whatever number of chapters).
If the story is complete, it'll show 11/11.
That's how it'll show on AO3.
Now for my part doing the Fresh Crops post, I gauge whether a fic is a WIP or Complete by the displayed chapter counts. So if a fic shows 2/2 chapters, I'm going to think it's Complete. If it were to show 1/2 or 1/? then I'll list it as a WIP. If there's any confusion about how I check and determine a story's completion status. (But also I'm human and I sometimes i make mistakes too and i might misread something) so if it's an oops on my end, i apologize.
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A persons fanfic tells you a lot about them, i , a fanfic writer, realize in terror
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Ranch Story Community Q&A Volume 3: Igusa Matsuyama Returns!
Igusa Matsuyama, the legendary artist behind the Story of Seasons series since the original 1996 game has once again agreed to a Q&A featuring questions from fans from around the world! A big thank you to all the members of the community who helped make this possible.
Some aspects of the text have been altered to match localization people are familiar with. (Japanese names to English names, for example: Bokujou Monogatari (牧場物語) was formerly localized as Harvest Moon and is now localized as Story of Seasons, etc). Images were not part of the original text and have been added as a visual aid. Though we translated as many questions as we could, we did not include questions involving personal information or regarding unannounced releases. Please understand.
If you would like to read our original correspondence (in Japanese), that will be provided in a separate post.
Additional cosplay photo provided by Foxface from our community Discord.
Translations: @artycharmy (correspondence, outline)
Editing and Clean-up: Jerome, @artycharmy, and @regularcelery
———
Anonymous asks: What is the relationship between Jamie and the Harvest Goddess?
Igusa Matsuyama: Jamie was treated as a fairy or spirit.
I'm sorry, but I'm not sure if there's any points that link them and the Goddess.
Editor's note: the term Matsuyama uses is "妖精."
Tomato asks: I would like to ask about what their inspiration was for the outfits designs in the original release of harvest moon another wonderful life. Since I got reminded of the girl clothing brand Mezzo Piano when looking at the I love Kuma/I love bears outfit.
Igusa Matsuyama: I remember the only thing I thought of was using Spring-like colours! (All designs were made with seasonal colours In mind)
When I knew that Daachan, who was planned to be used in a lot of events, wouldn't actually play a big role in the game, I put him on the T-Shirt so he could at least get some attention as a mascot-like existence.
Pansy asks: If you were able to create your own game for the Story of Seasons franchise, with no rules or limitations whatsoever, what do you think it might look like?
Igusa Mastuyama: Since I love dogs, I'd like to try making a Story of Seasons that's set in a world just full of dogs. Though that dream of mine probably won't come true.
Anonymous asks: The look of Story of Seasons has changed a lot over the years! What would you say is more challenging to create - simple designs, where you have to work with very little space, or complicated designs, where you have to consider many little details?
Igusa Matsuyama: A long time ago there were a lot of things you weren't able to replicate in video games. There were constraints for things like the number of colours and patterns for hair styles and clothes. It was difficult to work around those constraints, but at the same time a lot of fun.
Nowadays, it's the complete opposite. Now we can design anything with hardly any constraints. And unlike a long time ago, now I'm asked to make more complicated designs, like patterns and decorations. However, if it's a big request, sometimes I run into quite a lot of trouble when designing.
They each have had their own difficulties.
Anonymous asks: Hello, Matsuyama! Thank you for bringing the worlds of Bokujou Monogatari to life for many years. Your art has had a huge influence on me!
One of my favorite candidates is “Rock” from “A Wonderful Life.” I’d love to know any particular influences for his character design from 21 years ago, and his new design for the remake.
Igusa Matsuyama: I was told that he was a young, wannabe playboy, so I somehow ended up with that sort of design.
For the remake, I made his clothes a little looser without changing his design, so he'd look even more playful.
I, too, wanted to avoid changing him as much as I could as there are other people among the staff that also like the original for his “Rockness”. So, he got that makeover after everybody shared and checked their opinions with each other.
Jerome asks: On page 130 of the "Special Comic" manga there's artwork of Super Famicom characters that have never been printed anywhere else. Do you or Marvelous still have these? It would be great to see them in more detail in the future some time.
Igusa Matsuyama: They're all characters that appeared in the SNES version of "Harvest Moon." Nina's parents, Ellen's mother, Ann's father, Maria's parents (The mayor couple).
I'm sorry. My SNES illustrations have gone missing...
Raven Bloom, Ryan, and Moth ask: How did you feel when your designs for the men in A Wonderful Life were repurposed to be bachelors? What do you think of the changes made to the bachelors in the remake of A Wonderful Life? I miss the “Bruce Campbell” look Matthew used to have.
Igusa Matsuyama: Matthew (マシュー) is Masshu (マッシュ) in the Japanese A Wonderful Life (Editors note: Charmy made a careless mistake when translating the questions, sorry Matsuyama san 🫣)
When I first heard this name, the first thing that came to mind was Evil Dead's protagonist, Ash.
You're right. I designed him after Bruce Campbell. I still love Bruce Campbell today.
When Wonderful Life was under production, I had heard they weren't going to make a girl version, so I designed him not as a love interest, but as a quirky character.
Knowing that he'd appear in the remake as a marriage candidate, I redesigned him as a character that would be liked by many.
I hope you can enjoy the game for its nostalgia, as well as for being a shiny, brand new release.
Salmon Axe and Anonymous ask: I personally adore Doraemon x SOS game. Are you interested in working directly with or collaborating with other franchises in the future? And is there a series outside Story of Seasons you would like to work with now as a guest artist? (Could it be Pokemon?)
Igusa Matsuyama: I've loved Doraemon manga since I was a kid!
Working as a guest artist? Hmm, I'm happier being the main illustrator, so nothing in particular comes to mind. I enjoy a lot of games in my free time, such as Fallout, Far Cry and Border Lands.
Anonymous asks: Even though we never see his face, was there ever a concept of how Woofio would look without his costume?
Igusa Matsuyama: I designed Woofio as the being that is Woofio, so there's no design of him without his costume.
Idris asks: Your style has upgraded a lot over the time to match the trends. Do you think you will ever go for an old school look (early HM) for a SoS game again? What do you think is the secret to your art’s charm?
Igusa Matsuyama: What I'm particular about when designing for Story of Seasons is making characters with head/body proportions and an atmosphere that go well with that release.
First, I listen to the client's request then think of a design according to that. These days, game visuals have gotten fancier and fancier, so there's not many opportunities for characters with short proportions to make an appearance.
To me, what's important when designing is "playfulness." More so than "pretty" or "cool" and such, I get attached to the character, have fun making the character. I find joy in character creation itself.
MacGyver asks: Yasuhiro Wada has shared some interesting stories about how chaotic the original game's development was. Is there anything interesting you remember from around that time?
Igusa Matsuyama: Now it's a memory I can look back on and laugh about, but I'm not sure how much I can talk about it so please forgive me.
If Wada hadn't been there back then, then "Harvest Moon" wouldn't have become a thing.
Toyberb and Anonymous ask: There’s a lot of different cow designs now, which is your favorite to draw?
Igusa Matsuyama: I've loved drawing animals since I was a kid, so I love all of the cows.
Although the easiest one to draw is the cow with the big nose.
Anonymous asks: Were there any games where you made designs for protagonists of genders that did not end up available to play as? (Like a girl protagonist for Save the Homeland/Hero of Leaf Valley or a nonbinary protagonist for any game before A Wonderful Life)
Igusa Matsuyama: There's so many designs that got scrapped, but as far as I recall, there's not really many where that character's setting itself was scrapped.
(Excluding Thumbelina, mentioned below)
Koharu asks: Were there ever any character designs made for other older SNES characters like Ellen for 64? Some magazines had Marie with blue hair, like the SNES character, so it made me wonder if she (SNES Maria) was meant to also be there at some point.
Igusa Matsuyama: I'm not in the position to make settings or scenarios where characters from other games appear, so I can't say, but I like the idea of older characters making an appearance!
Amina/k0iisu asks: Hello! I really love Hiro’s design specifically. Could you tell me a few facts about him/his design that might not be well known information? Thank you so much! I love your art :D
Igusa Matsuyama: Thank you very much!
Hiro is a future doctor, so I tried to make them look as much like a doctor as I could. Also, to make him look friendlier, I designed him as your average everyday boy you'd see in the neighbourhood.
He doesn't have a flashy face or hairstyle, but he's one of my favourite designs, too.
I wrote this in the guidebook too, but what I like about him is the Asian flair I added to his clothes and the spot of colour around his feet.
Bunbun asks: I'm excited for the Nendoroid that was announced of Claire! I hope there will be ones of HM64 designs too. Since you have a lot of figures on your blog, how does it feel to be able to add one of your own characters to your collection? Are there any of your other characters you hope will get figures of?
Igusa Matsuyama: A nendoroid of Claire!
I'm looking forward to it too, but when is it going to be released?
If it's possible, I'd like one of Woofio.
Editor's note: Preorders are open for Nendoroid Claire now!
Chickee asks: A purple-haired princess character was rumored to have existed in Harvest Moon 64, but she didn't make it to the published game. Did you create a design for this character?
Igusa Matsuyama: That's probably Princess Thumbelina. Wasn't she Incredibly small? What I designed didn't end up being used.
Speaking of HM64 characters, I pushed for them to include a pet turtle, but in the end it only appeared as an ornament.
For A Wonderful Life, I asked for a turtle to be included again and designed a tortoise with a scarf, but it didn't make it as a pet and appeared only as a wild turtle that walks around the pond.
I'm waiting for the day they finally include a pet turtle in the game.
emery flower147 asks: omg I saw the pics where the AWL girls are in a team and Muffy has a shotgun and stuff? Do you think any other characters would work in a cool team like that?
Igusa Matsuyama: For the Friends of Mineral Town guide book, I had the five girls, Popuri, Marie, Ran, Elly and Karen work hard as Harvest Sprites.
Also, for the guide books, I drew Pete (The old male protagonist), Sarah (The GB version female protagonist), and Claire doing whatever I wanted them to.
I don't know if you can call it cool or not, but it was fun being in charge of that.
Ixur asks: A lot of the PoOT character designs for the regular villagers seem more popular than the marriage candidates in my region. Is that something that's been noticed by you/Marvelous in Japan? Lars, Clemens, Beth, and Misaki for example.
Igusa Matsuyama: Marvelous doesn't really talk about that sort of thing so I'm not sure if they're aware of it or not. I don't do social media so I'm also not sure which characters are popular.
I'm happy as long as the characters are liked.
The design on Lars’s shirt is modeled after my beloved dog, so I’d be especially happy if you like his shirt too.
Anonymous asks: What do you think about people cosplaying your designs?
Igusa Matsuyama: It makes me very happy!
I'm no good at sewing, so I really admire people who can make their own clothes. It's an honour having the designs I made be made into real clothes, and I think it's great to have fun acting out the characters.
Afro Fae asks: When creating designs for characters, how do you settle on a specific color palette? Do you take color meanings into account with a character's personality or do you go purely off of feeling?
Igusa Matsuyama: I keep in mind the overall colours the client asked for while designing. Sometimes I propose a new colour when I think there's one that fits better.
I'm also careful when choosing colours and everyone's traits to make sure it's easy to tell which character is which when seen from a distance.
However, in the cases of families and such, I do the opposite and give them all a common colour to give them a sense of kinship.
———
From all of us at Ranch Story, we'd like to thank Matsuyama from the bottom of our hearts for answering our questions again! Whether a fan has only just discovered the series or has grown up alongside it, so many people have loved these characters and worlds that Igusa Matsuyama brings to life, so it feels truly special to be able to have this opportunity. We'll end this article with Matsuyama's own words, as well as a parting gift.
Igusa Matsuyama: I'm so glad I could answer your questions again. I'm the one that should be saying thank you. It means the world to me knowing that everyone enjoys my illustrations! I added an illustration as thanks. I'll keep up the hard work!
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Fresh Crops! April 15 - April 21, 2024
This weeks newest fics and chapter updates for Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons on AO3!
The Wall Between Us - by Skullygal610; WIP, 20/25, 20k
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M
Fandom: Trio of Towns
Relationships: Female Farmer/Wayne, Female Farmer/Ex-boyfriend; Characters: Wayne, Female Farmer
Additional Tags: Adopted, farmer, Hurt, Love, Unrequited Love, relationships, Denial of Feelings, Fanfiction, Parents, friends, Guilt
Summary: It all started with a rejection. Scarlett can't seem to get over the loss of her best friend since she rejected his confession of love. Already dealing with her own self-worth and feelings while keeping up with daily life, things soon become difficult when a familiar face from the past comes back to haunt her. Wayne struggles to let go of the girl he loved. However, things never go the way he plans. His parents are across the world without him. Friends are constantly concerned about his well-being. He wants to change, yet she keeps pulling him back. Can they ever hope to rekindle their long-lost friendship, or will it become something more?
Until Dawn - by Flickwisp; Complete, 1/1, 2.9k
Rating: General Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Categories: F/F, Gen
Fandoms: Friends of Mineral Town
Relationship: Claire the Farmer/Karen; Characters: Claire the Farmer, Karen, Gotz | Gotts, Thomas
Additional Tags: established relationship but not the focus, spooky event, inspired by horror stories/games but also not explicit
Summary: A sudden hurricane alert causes more than heavy rains and some falling trees. "Be careful when climbing the mountain. There are no wolves or bears, but you can't be too cautious. Know what I mean?." Once warned Gotz, but what did his words meant, well, Claire will soon find out…
Casual Prompt Fills - by TheBeckster; WIP, 4/?, 2.5k
Rating: Not Rated; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings; Categories: Gen, F/F, F/M
Fandoms: Trio of Towns, Friends of Mineral Town, Rune Factory 4
Relationships: Forte/Frey, Arthur/Frey, Forte/Frey/Arthur, Henry/Lisette; Characters: Female Farmer, Frey, Forte, Arthur, Lisette, Male Farmer
Additional Tags: casual prompt fills, prompt fills, one shots, Ficlets, Art, Dark Empress Frey AU, Unhealthy Relationships, Individual Chapters will be Rated, Tumblr Prompt
Summary: The collection of prompt fills I have done for the Casual Prompt Events by Love-Bokumono-Fics on Tumblr.
Eve’s fun time - by Thefallen1986; Complete, 1/1, <1k
Rating: Explicit; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Fandoms: Animal Parade
Character: Eve
Additional Tags: **NOTE: Tags were Not Safe For Tumblr. Please See AO3 post for complete tag list **
Summary: Eve spends sometime in her shed…
Fact and Friction - by actaeoncross; Complete, 5/5, 6.2k
Rating: Not Rated; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Fandoms: A Wonderful Life, Animal Parade
Relationships: Daryl/Pony, Cecilia/Nami mentioned, Gordy/Matthew mentioned, Rock/Molly mentioned, Gustafa/Lumina mentioned; Characters: Daryl, Pony | Aya | Jill, Forget Me Not villagers, Wizard Gale, Witch Vivi, Harvest King Ignis
Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Enemies to Lovers, Supernatural Elements, Suspense, Romance, NaNoWriMo 2023, Not Beta Read
Summary: Struggling to come to grips with the death of her parents, Pony moves to Forget-Me-Not Valley. She tries to avoid being involved with sprites, gods, or goddesses, only to be drawn in against her will. Pony's only help to solve the disappearance of the Harvest Goddess involves three enthusiastic but not very helpful sprites and a scientist. She slowly learns that she cannot run from herself and to come to terms with her past and feelings—even those for the infuriating scientist.
Tumblr Posts for A Wonderful Life Characters - by actaeoncross; WIP, 44/?, 44k
Rating: Not Rated; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings; Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Fandoms: A Wonderful Life
Relationship: Multiple Characters x Reader; Characters: Celia | Seperia | Cecilia, Cody | Gordy, Daryl, Flora, Gustafa, Lumina, Marlin | Mash | Matthew, Muffy | Molly Nami, Rock, Reader
Summary: A collection of Tumblr posts for A Wonderful Life Characters x Reader prompts.
This is impossible! - by WolfyKnight5071; Complete, 1/1, 1.2k
Rating: General Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Fandoms: A Wonderful Life
Relationships: Nami/Farmer, Nami & Muffy | Molly; Characters: Nami, Farmer, Muffy | Molly, Baddoch
Additional Tags: Nonbinary Farmer, Hurt/Comfort, Explaining how they got their son lol, magic baby, Nami panics, Molly helps comfort, Finley is AFAB, Hugh is here very briefly too
Summary: Nami and Finn have been married for just shy of a year. They had both been thinking of having kids, but given it isn’t physically possible, Nami never brought it up besides that small talk on their wedding night.
Burning Gold - by AppleBeryll; WIP, 2/?, 2.8k
Rating: Mature; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M
Fandom: Friends of Mineral Town
Relationships: Claire the Farmer/Gray, Gray/Mary the Librarian | Marie, Claire the Farmer/Rick, Karen/Rick, Ann the Innkeeper | Ran/Cliff, Kai/Popuri; Characters: Kai, Claire, Cliff, Ann the Innkeeper | Ran, Doug | Dudley, Rick, Popuri, Saibara, Karen, Mineral Town Residents, Gray
Additional Tags: Slow Burn
Summary: Claire seeks a new life, will mineral town be what she's hoping for ?
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One night I had a weird dream about HM FoMT, at first I just wanted to illustrate my vision with some made up screenshots and gifs. But as I kept working on them I felt the need to also tell a story so, I ended up writing a one shot fanfic:
(Or if you prefer the text only version on AO3)
Until Dawn
Summary:
A sudden hurricane alert causes more than heavy rains and some falling trees. "Be careful when climbing the mountain. There are no wolves or bears, but you can't be too cautious. Know what I mean?." Once warned Gotz, but what did his words meant well, Claire will soon find out...
"Welcome home! You arrived just in time, I have finished making dinner." Said Karen enthusiastically standing next to a served table.
Lately her cooking had gotten slightly less disastrous with the help of Claire's guidance at the kitchen and, combined with the fact that the Farmer's stomach was now even more resilient to the strange meals, since that one winter when she spend a whole week eating questionable "foods" at the mines after getting lost while searching for the mythical Kappa Jewels. Somehow eating random herbs, mushrooms and other "looks edible enough" items had prepared her for her future married life.
"Sorry I couldn't help you with the dinner. I found some leaks in the roof of the chicken coop and it took me some time to fix it." Said Claire while washing her hands before taking a seat at the table. "The hurricane alert came out of nowhere."
"Don't worry, the safety of the farm is also important and I wanted to surprise you with a new recipe." Replied Karen while taking her seat across the table. "Remember next monday is the Harvest Festival, so I have to keep practicing if I want to impress everyone this year."
The dish in front of Claire was curry, one of the many recipes from the cook book she had written over the last few years since starting a life at the farm and the book her wife now used as a reference.
Realizing that Karen was waiting for her to taste the meal, the farmer thanked for the food and took a spoonful of rice and curry and proceeded to savor all the textures and flavors. -Hmm… The carrot is still under cooked... The burnt taste of the onion actually brings out it's sweetness and is a good contrast to the spiciness.- were some of her toughs as she eat and even if the rice was still on the watery side the meal was surprisingly tasty.
"Sasha is going to be so proud in the next Harvest Festival!" Claire said once she was able to speak again. "This is so good! Is sweet and spicy, the bamboo shoots gave it a distinctive crunch and the sauce is well seasoned. Just be sure to cut the carrots and potatoes more evenly to ensure they cook together and let the rice water to evaporate a bit longer to avoid the mushiness."
"You really think so?" Asked the one who for the longest time held the title of being 'unable to cook to save her life' not believing the farmer's words.
"Yes! I'm sure this curry will leave everyone in town speechless."
And after that exchange the two continued their dinner talking about how their day went and anything else that crossed their minds.
~~•~~•~~
Around midnight, just like the weather forecast had predicted, the storm started as a light rain that in a few hours turned into a hurricane, regardless, Claire went to sleep knowing the farm would be fine or so, she thought.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
At some point past 4am, the sound of the wind and raindrops falling onto the roof were violently replaced by a knocking door and the sound of yelling coming from the entrance of the house:
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"WAKE UP!! They are free again!"
Not waiting for an answer from the homeowners, the front door was abruptly opened and two men covered in raincoats made their way into the house. "Hurry! If we don't stop them the town will be doomed!" A second voice yelled.
At the sound of the intruders Claire opened her eyes and ran towards the entrance of the house, standing by the door she saw Gotz the Woodcutter and Thomas the Mayor of the town, before she could even start to question why they had irrupted into her house at this hour Gotz started to talk:
"The hurricane destroyed one of the mountain seals, Harris and Carter are already looking for it." Explained in a hurried voice. Somehow while explaining this his voice sounded as if he was doing everything in his power to remain calm, which to Claire it was disconcerting. "Here... Use this to defend yourself and don't let them get you. If they get a hold of you... You'll..."
Gotz didn't finish what he was saying, instead he shoved a long box into the farmer's arms and left for the mountains leaving Thomas behind.
Still standing in his spot, the color of his face was nowhere to be seen and the horror was clear in his eyes yet he tried to sound calm as he spoke "Listen, there's not much time before it starts." Quickly glancing at his pocket watch it read 4:36am. "Use what Gotz gave you to fight back and do your best to survive until morning. Last time… a tragedy occurred." He added with a somber look.
"It's almost time, I have to go and check on Saibara back in town. Be careful and fight as many as you can, just... resist until dawn."
Thomas left the farm heading to the town leaving a very confused Claire behind, once she had barely processed what had occurred she went back to the dorm were she found both occupants still sleeping, Karen and Pachu, the dog somehow continued to sleep as if nothing had happened at all.
Realizing that she kept holding the long box Gotz had shoved into her arms, she opened it to discover a simple hand crafted wooden bat with some odd markings engraved and a "Good luck" note inside. The strange "gift" confused her even more if it was possible.
But as soon as the farmer was starting to think of everything as some sort of joke the clock rang, the sudden sound caused her to look at it, 4:44am. -Why would announce this hour?- Claire wondered then she felt a strange pressure around her.
A strange dark haze covered the room and suddenly it dissipated in seconds, the wooden floors were replaced by hard, cold stone, the walls were covered in a thick layer of rotten grime, somehow the TV in the room turned itself on but only static could be seen.
Claire rushed to Karen's side, the woman was still sleeping but something on her was off, like if her body belonged to a different reality, frozen in place. Not wanting to disturb it and cause a tragedy the Farmer decided to walk away.
Clank! Clank! CRASH!
The sounds came from the kitchen.
"What's that!?" She exclaimed at the same time as Pachu ran barking towards the source of the sound. "He… He wasn't affected by any of this?" Not sure if that was a good or a bad thing she just felt relief for not being alone in this.
Before leaving for the kitchen, Claire gave one final look to the room and noticed that the friendly looking portrait of the Lake Deity that adorned the wall got replaced by the portrait of a being that clearly didn't belonged to this world. "I hope this is just a nightmare."
~~•~~•~~
Crawling through the stone floor an oozing dark sludge was moving. Claire couldn't help but stare at it unable to move, simply witnessing the bizarre event before her eyes and firmly clutching her hands to the bat she was holding.
Standing next to her Pachu kept growling at the sludge, the fur of his back up, ready to attack and defend his territory.
"This… Can't be… Happening!" The farmer whispered not fully understanding what she saw. The sound of her voice seemed to alert the amorphous sludge of her presence and started to head her way.
"Iii'm... HooOmEee!" An eerie voice suddenly emanated from the sludge as it approached both the farmer and the dog. "WeeLcoOmEee hOoMeEe!"
Claire felt a shiver going through her body at the sound of the creepy unearthly voice. "It's... talking… Why is talking!?" She cried trying to make sense of it.
As the creature crawled closer to her, it started to shapeshift, the sludge grew in size and morphed to resemble what seemed to be an humanoid form, it was as tall as an adult person, no hair, no skin, just the slime. When it was close enough to the farmer it's head twisted itself in a terrifying way to meet directly with her and when their yellowed eyes devoid of life made contact with Claire's, for a brief moment, she could feel how it saw through her soul as an incessant echoing of voices invaded every corner of her mind.
The creature's body oozed with the black sludge. "WeelCoomEee... DiinEeer iiS... rEeaAdy!" Screeched as it lunged itself towards Claire.
The screech broke her trance and without thinking twice she gripped the wooden bat in her hands and swung it at full force towards the monster, closing her eyes briefly she felt the impact and then saw how the monster's head splattered across the room, the body collapsed in front of her, returning to be an immobile pile of rotten goo.
"It… Worked…" She said trembling and struggling to catch her breath, more sure than ever that those creatures didn't belonged to this dimension nor reality and not wanting to make eye contact with them ever again.
Looking around the kitchen, Claire saw the monster's leftovers on the cabinets of the kitchen and thought it would be impossible to remove monster innards stains. -Why I'm worrying about something like that now?- She laughed at herself.
Bark! Bark! Grrr! Bark!
Her thoughts were interrupted by the barking and growling coming from the other room that reminded her that this wasn't over yet.
Rushing to the next room she found two piles of sludge approaching the barking dog, one by the table and another one by the bookshelf.
Using all the strength she could muster she hit the one closer to the table, in that moment a shriek was heard and the creature collapsed into a puddle of dark slime meanwhile, across the room the remaining monster readied itself to attack Pachu, the dog growled menacingly, Claire not taking a chance pushed the table between the two to create a barrier causing the monster to refocus it's target.
The humanoid sludge released a war cry, the sound was so unnatural and so nauseating that for a moment the farmer flinched, barely avoiding the incoming attack, she dodged it, quickly turning to her right to reposition her stance and then...
PLAF!
From the corner of her eye she spotted another one appearing by the window and with the adrenaline still rushing through her body she launched herself to it, getting rid of the monster before it could even take it's humanoid shape.
"How many more there are!? Where these are coming from!?" she said exasperated. "Sigh… Thomas said I need to keep doing this until dawn but…" The clock on the wall read 4:44am. "Time hasn't moved at all!"
The growling and shrieking sounds coming from different areas of the farm interrupted her complaints, and deciding that she would leave that for a moment when those who she cares about, and herself, won't be in an imminent danger to get answers. She gripped her weapon and braced herself for what seemed to be the longest night in her life.
~~•~~•~~
Two… five… nine… twelve… Losing track of how many she had dispatched so far and not sure of how much time had passed, if at all, since the last time she checked the clock the tiredness was already taking a tool on her, her arms ached and now under the rain, keeping herself up was an even more complicated task.
One more appeared by the carrots, feeling her head spinning and dreading the possibility of this nightmare never ending Claire took a deep breath and proceeded to encounter the monster.
PLAF!
"I... I... Did it…" That was the last of her strength. Claire felt her knees gave in and her body collapsing on the ground, at the same time the clock back in the house finally rang at 6am; The dark haze from before engulfed the farm and like before once it dissipated, the strange pressure was lifted off and everything returned to normal.
Understanding what that meant the farmer closed her eyes and passed out of tiredness and relief that the nightmare was over.
~~•~~•~~
The sound of water drops hitting the windows and the distant thunders eventually woke up a very confused Claire, as she tried to get up a sharp pain made her yelp and fall onto the bed again. "Gah…! My arms hurt! What… I'm doing here…?" She tried to make memory of when she got to bed last night but, the last thing she could remember was the chickens and the heavy rain.
"Urgk… There's no way fixing the chicken coop can tire me like this..." Making another effort she finally was able to sit on the side of the bed "Huh...?" -Gotz, Thomas and… The nasty goop monsters.- "I remember!" The farmer stood up so quickly that it got her dizzy.
"There are slimy monster remains around the house! How I'm going to explain this to Karen?" -Karen!- Her eyes scanned the room but no one besides her was here. -Did... she woke up? Is she hurt?- As she hurried towards the door a new fear was unlocked. "Pachu! What happened to him!"
Stumbling into the kitchen and almost tripping, the first thing she saw was Pachu happily chewing on some carrots. "Pachu! You're not hurt!" The dog got up and went to greet it's owner wagging it's tail, when the dog was at arms reach she picked it up to hug him. "Ouch! My arms hate me right now but I don't care, I'm so relieved that nothing happened to you!"
"Ohh… You finally woke up." The Farmer turned to the source of the voice while allowing the dog to return to his snack. "I was getting worried because you usually are the first one to wake up but since there's a hurricane… I thought it would be good to let you rest some more."
Karen now was standing right next to her, a quick flashback of her previous unresponsive state, the echoing of tortured voices invaded her mind and, ignoring all the pain in her body she couldn't help but throw her arms around her and tightly hug her in relief. "You… Were worried about, me…? I'm the one who didn't knew if you or anything would return to normal ever again!" She cried as she felt some tears forming in the corner of her eyes.
"Huh!? What do you mean?" A confused Karen asked trying to understand the situation, she was rubbing her hand on the back of the farmer to try and reassure her. "Did you have a nightmare last night? I'm perfectly fine." She added now fully returning the hug, together they stood like that for a few minutes as Claire calmed down.
"The dark haze, the horrendous monsters, the incessant voices of creatures forced into life… And the house is a mess, how can… ehh!?" Finally breaking the hug she threw a look around realizing that everything was in place. "But the table was… And the windows were… The cabinets didn't…" The farmer was speechless.
Unable to comprehend how the room was in perfect state. -Did last night truly was a nightmare or... some type of hallucination?- She started to question her own sanity. -Okay, let's see, my body aches and…- suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by a gentle hand in her forehead.
"Hmm… You don't seem to have a fever, maybe we should simply take a seat." Karen gently guided her to the sofa in the living room "Okay, now take a deep breath, I'm going to make some tea so you can tell me about your nightmare. You'll feel better talking about it." She was heading back to the kitchen but then stopped "Oh! I almost forgot to tell you, I found a letter addressed to you by the entrance. Here."
[Dear Claire:
We're so sorry for intruding like we did last night, I really hopped "this event" to never repeat itself again but unfortunately nature wasn't on our side, and I'm sure you have a lot of questions and probably want to personally express your frustration at us.
I want you to know how grateful I am that you could overcome this terrible task in success.
This is something that your grandfather didn't wish to inherit you and neither we did.
I assure you we'll give you the answers you seek soon, just have patience, I know this is to much to ask for but please act as if it hadn't happened, we don't want to cause a commotion.
Sincerely, Thomas.
P.S. Don't throw away the bat.]
"They really are asking me this? After all that!? The nerve." She murmured to herself as she finished reading. "What did my grandfather knew? Well, at least now I know it was real."
Now that she had calmed down, Claire decided to head back to the kitchen too, where she told a version of her nightmare to Karen who in exchange suggested that maybe the farmer has been working to much lately and that it's good that they can take the day off and relax until the storm is over, together they eat strawberry cake and had tea.
For now at least, this was over and she could return to her every day life as a farmer.
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About the AO3 "No Guest Comments for a while" warning
If you're not following any of AO3's social media accounts you might be in the dark as to what kind of "spam comments" have engendered this banner at the top of the site:
These spam comments have been posted about a great deal on the AO3 subreddit for the past couple of days. Initially they comprised a bunch of guest (logged out users) bot comments that insulted authors by suggesting they were using AI and not writing their own fics. Some examples, from the subreddit:
But it then escalated to outright graphic porn images and gifs being posted in comments, again by logged out 'Guest' accounts. Obviously, I'm not going to give examples of those, but between these two bot infestations, AO3 has clearly decided to act and has temporarily closed the ability to post comments for users who are not logged in with an AO3 account.
Unfortunately, this means that genuine readers who don't have an AO3 account won't be able to leave comments on fics that they enjoy.
If you are a genuine reader who doesn't yet have an AO3 account, I strongly suggest getting yourself on the waiting list for one. More and more AO3 authors are now locking their fics down to registered users only - either due to these bot comments or concerns about AI scraping their work - which means you're probably missing out on a lot of great stuff.
Hopefully guest commenting will be enabled again at some point soon, but I suggest not waiting until then. Get yourself on that list.
Wait times are going to be longer than usual at the moment, due to the current Wattpad purge [info on Fanlore | Wattpad subreddit thread], but if you're in line, then your invite will come through eventually.
Update: There's now a Megathread about this on the AO3 subreddit.
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Six Weeks Until Sign-Ups!
Hi everyone! Mod Flik here with a friendly reminder that sign-ups for the Bokumono Exchange will open on Saturday June 1st!
I thought I'd give a heads-up to some minor changes that are being made in regards to the Exchange itself and the sign-ups versus Exchanges from years past. These were aspects I thought over in hopes of making it easier to match participants up.
- Selecting the games you want to receive/ create a gift for are now check boxes instead of write-in.
- In the past, there was the option to choose only one game for which to receive a gift for. This has changed and now participants must pick at least 2 games (up to 3) that they would like to receive a gift for.
Understandably not everyone has played every game, and we all have our favorites, but if there is only one game you are passionate about and absolutely do not want to receive anything for any other game, this may not be the event for you.
- Previously, there was also an option for participants to pick if they preferred to receive art or fic (or either) as their gift. Again, because of the need for flexibility with matching, this will no longer be an option. I, Mod Flik, value both artists and writers in our fandom community and hope that all participants do too. I understand too that receiving a fic involves a time commitment more so than receiving art, in terms of reading it, but that is why one of the other rules is for writers to be conscious of length: that while there is no maximum word count, to be reasonable.
More information can be found in the FAQ/Rule section here, and you can always inbox or message me as well!
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Guest comments temporarily disabled
Due to an influx of abusive spam comments, we've temporarily turned off the ability to leave comments while logged out. We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope to have guest comments back on soon! (16:06 UTC April 21, 2024)
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Every so often reminder than if you do a casual prompt fill or something like that and want it shared @ the blog or drop a link to it in the Submission Box.
And if you tagged the blog and didn't see it reblogged or posted after a few days, send in a gentle reminder. Y'all know how broken the notifications can get here.
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April 2024 Casual Prompt
The polls have closed and the results are in and this month's Casual Prompt is...
First Kiss!
💋💋💋
We love this moment as writers don't we? The heart-pounding when two characters have finally begin discussing their feelings and then they lean in close and the next thing anyone knows they're kissing their sweetheart. It's the moment that can launch a romance. It might even be followed by an "Oh... oh." moment.
Of course there's many ways to interpret the prompt. Will you write one character's first ever kiss as a youngster? The first kiss between two characters who have been pining for each other for far too long? The kiss given in jest or as play that reveals more than either party was expecting? There are so many ways to take this prompt!
This being a very casual event, you can create whatever you want based off the prompt. Write a long fic or a short fic. Make it shippy or gen. Draw a sketch, or a comic, or paint a whole canvas.
Whatever strikes your fancy!
Make something that you want to make, something you can have fun with! Flex your muscles, stretch your wings, try something new, experiment, go wild! Or use this as a soft landing ground, a place for you to come back and rest in your comfort zone while you work on other projects. Fill the prompt once, fill it twice, do it a dozen times if you’re feeling up to it! There are no rules, just have fun!
You don’t even have to put in in the Bokumono fandoms. If you’re inspired for something else then go for it!
And hey, if one of the other prompt choices for this month inspired you more, you can do that one instead. I won’t stop you.
And if you fill the prompt and want to share, tag the blog so I can reblog it, or drop a link to it in the submissions. I want to share and I can’t wait to see what you all come up with.
Happy creating! (Boop 🐾)
Final poll results under the cut
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