#“yeah but no one's leaving nintendo either”

[theviolenttomboy]

Something all the layoffs made me think, another legitimately sad and fucked up thing about the video game industry is at this point, Nintendo's probably the only company left that still has almost all of their OG devs from the 80s and 90s, their version of Disney's Nine Old Men. Almost all the veteran staff from other older, still existing companies, even the Japanese ones like Capcom and Sega, are long gone, either retired or went indie to wildly differing degrees of success. And all the newer companies keep shutting down or get absorbed before they even get a chance.

[insertdisc5]

🎮 HEY I WANNA MAKE A GAME! 🎮

Yeah I getcha. I was once like you. Pure and naive. Great news. I AM STILL PURE AND NAIVE, GAME DEV IS FUN! But where to start?

To start, here are a couple of entry level softwares you can use! source: I just made a game called In Stars and Time and people are asking me how to start making vidy gaems. Now, without further ado:

SOFTWARES AND ENGINES FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO CODE!!!

Ren'py (and also a link to it if you click here do it): THE visual novel software. Comic artists, look no further ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It has great documentation! It has a bunch of plugins and UI stuff and assets for you to buy! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! (You'll just need to read the doc a bunch) You can also port your game to a BUNCH of consoles! ✨Cons: None really <3 Some games to look at: Doki Doki Literature Club, Bad End Theater, Butterfly Soup

Twine: Great for text-based games! GREAT FOR WRITERS WHO DONT WANNA DRAW!!!!!!!!! (but you can draw if you want) ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It's versatile! It has great documentation! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! (You'll just need to read the doc a bunch) ✨Cons: You can add pictures, but it's a pain. Some games to look at: The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo, Queers In love At The End of The World, Escape Velocity

Bitsy: Little topdown games! ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It's (somewhat) intuitive! It has great documentation! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! You can make everything in it, from text to sprites to code! Those games sure are small! ✨Cons: Those games sure are small. This is to make THE simplest game. Barely any animation for your sprites, can barely fit a line of text in there. But honestly, the restrictions are refreshing! Some games to look at: honestly I haven't played that many bitsy games because i am a fake gamer. The picture above is from Under A Star Called Sun though and that looks so pretty

RPGMaker: To make RPGs! LIKE ME!!!!! NOTE: I recommend getting the latest version if you can, but all have their pros and cons. You can get a better idea by looking at this post. ✨Pros: Literally everything you need to make an RPG. Has a tutorial inside the software itself that will teach you the basics. Pretty simple to understand, even if you have no coding experience! Also I made a post helping you out with RPGMaker right here! ✨Cons: Some stuff can be hard to figure out. Also, the latest version is expensive. Get it on sale! Some games to look at: Yume Nikki, Hylics, In Stars and Time (hehe. I made it)

engine.lol: collage worlds! it is relatively new so I don't know much about it, but it seems fascinating. picture is from Garden! NOTE: There's a bunch of smaller engines to find out there. Just yesterday I found out there's an Idle Game Maker made by the Cookie Clicker creator. Isn't life wonderful?

✨more advice under the cut. this is Long ok✨

ENGINES I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT AND THEY SEEM HARD BUT ALSO GIVE IT A TRY I GUESS!!!! :

Unity and Unreal: I don't know anything about those! That looks hard to learn! But indie devs use them! It seems expensive! Follow your dreams though! Don't ask me how!

GameMaker: Wuh I just don't know anything about it either! I just know it's now free if your game is non-commercial (aka, you're not selling it), and Undertale was made on it! It seems good! You probably need some coding experience though!!!

Godot: Man I know even less about this one. Heard good things though!

BUNCHA RANDOM ADVICE!!!!

-Make something small first! Try making simple: a character is in a room, and exits the room. The character can look around, decide to take an item with them, can leave, and maybe the door is locked and you have to find the key. Figuring out how to code something like that, whether it is as a fully text-based game or as an RPGMaker map, should be a good start to figure out how your software of choice works!

-After that, if you have an idea, try first to make the simplest version of that idea. For my timeloop RPG, my simplest version was two rooms: first room you can walk in, second room with the King, where a cutscene automatically plays and the battle starts, you immediately die, and loop back to the first room, with the text from this point on reflecting this change. I think I also added a loop counter. This helped me figure out the most important thing: Can This Game Be Made? After that, the rest is just fun stuff. So if you want to make a dating sim, try and figure out how to add choices, and how to have affection points go up and down depending on your choices! If you want to make a platformer, figure out how to make your character move and jump and how to create a simple level! If you just want to make a kinetic visual novel with no choices, figure out how to add text, and how to add portraits! You'll be surprised at how powerful you'll feel after having figured even those simple things out.

-If you have a programming problem or just get confused, never underestimate the power of asking Google! You most likely won't be the only person asking this question, and you will learn some useful tips! If you are powerful enough, you can even… Ask people??? On forums??? Not me though.

-Yeah I know you probably want to make Your Big Idea RIGHT NOW but please. Make a smaller prototype first. You need to get that experience. Trust me.

-If you are not a womanthing of many skills like me, you might realize you need help. Maybe you need an artist, or a programmer. So! Game jams on itch.io are a great way to get to work and meet other game devs that have different strengths! Or ask around! Maybe your artist friend secretly always wanted to draw for a game. Ask! Collaborate! Have fun!!!

I hope that was useful! If it was. Maybe. You'd like to buy me a coffee. Or maybe you could check out my comics and games. Or just my new critically acclaimed game In Stars and Time. If you want. Ok bye

[inthedayswhenlandswerefew]

Napoleonville [Chapter 10: The House Of Saint Honoratus of Amiens] [Series Finale]

Series Summary: The year is 1988. The town is Napoleonville, Louisiana. You are a small business owner in need of some stress relief. Aemond is a stranger with a taste for domination. But as his secrets are revealed, this casual arrangement becomes something more volatile than either of you could have ever imagined.

Chapter Warnings: Language, sexual content (18+ readers only), dom/sub dynamics, smoking, drinking, drugs, weddings, Willis Warning, infidelity, kids, parenthood, Rice-A-Roni.

Word Count: 6k.

Link to chapter list (and all my writing): HERE.

Taglist: @marvelescvpe @toodlesxcuddles @era127 @at-a-rax-ia @0eessirk8 @arcielee @dd122004dd @humanpurposes @taredhunter @tinykryptonitewerewolf @partnerincrime0 @dr-aegon @persephonerinyes @namelesslosers @burningcoffeetimetravel-fics @daenysx @gemini-mama @chattylurker @moonlightfoxx @huramuna @britt-mf @myspotofcraziness @padfooteyes @targaryenbarbie @trifoliumviridi @joliettes @darkenchantress @florent1s @babyblue711 @minttea07 @bungalowbear @bluerskiees @herfantasyworldd @elizarbell @urmomsgirlfriend1 @fudge13 @strangersunghoon @wickedfrsgrl

Thank you so much for loving this strange, sexy, sweet story. I hope you enjoy the finale. 🥰🧁

Your bare feet in warm grass, your hands around the ropes of the tree swing, no sounds except the ancient psalms of the earth: cicadas, mourning doves, goldfinches, bumble bees, bullfrogs, wind in the leaves of the dogwoods and southern live oaks. The adolescent alligator is at one end of the front yard, sunbathing up by the mouth of the gravel driveway; in the opposite corner are several nutria nibbling on cattails. The sky is a calm, cloudless blue. It’s hot, mid-80s, even when 5:00 p.m. comes and goes; but the breeze is cool as it evaporates the sweat from your temples, your palms, the nape of your neck. It’s as close as Louisiana ever gets to Heaven. It’s a good day for a wedding.

You remember thinking that it was the end of the world when you found out you were pregnant almost exactly eleven years ago, and then again when you realized you would have to divorce Willis, and so you have lived through enough moments like this—these quiet, infinitesimal apocalypses—to know that there will be a future beyond Aemond marrying Christabel. The sun will rise tomorrow, and then it will set, the lightning bugs will appear and the stars will tell myths in the night sky, and the phone will ring as orders come in for the bakery, and Cadi will be back in her bedroom playing her Nintendo, and life will roll on like currents through the bayou: slow, opaque, inevitable. The world isn’t ending, you know that. It’s just full of beautiful things that aren’t for you.

Out on Route 401, a Plymouth Gran Fury zooms by the house, squeals to a halt, and then reverses until Willis can take another look, squinting through his tinted windows. He turns down the driveway and steps out into golden July daylight. He doesn’t pay any attention to the gator as he strides past her. He belongs here, in a place that is old and strange and savage and full of beasts. You have carved out a home for yourself in the swamplands; Willis was born with veins like the roots of a mangrove tree and ancient silt instead of marrow in his bones.

“Hey, sugar,” he says, pushing his sunglasses up into his hair. The wind ruffles the dark curls of his mullet, the bumble bees flee as he tramples clovers. “Ain’t ya supposed to be at the weddin’?”

“I’m sick.” A lie. “But Cadi’s fine, she’s with Amir. She was so excited she actually wore one of the sundresses my mom bought her and had Amir braid a dogwood flower into her hair to match his. You should have seen it. You would’ve been so proud.”

“I’m always proud of her,” Willis says, smiling. And then: “Ya don’t look sick.”

“I am.”

“Ya got one of your headaches?”

You pause. You don’t, but this is a convenient excuse. “Yeah.”

Willis stalls, his hands on his belt. His pistol is there; you remember how he used it in the bayou, how he helped save your life. But he wasn’t the one who jumped into the water. Aemond was willing to risk his body for me, but not his soul. What kind of sense does that make? “Ya had me scared for a minute there,” Willis says.

“What? When?”

“When I thought ya were goin’ to end up with that Rockefeller boy.”

“Aemond?” you say, like it’s so shocking. “No. Absolutely not. It’s impossible.”

“And why’s that?”

You stare into the trees so Willis can’t see the tears welling up in your eyes, the tension in your throat as embers kindle there, pulsing with heat that could char flesh to the bone. “He can’t marry someone like me.”

“I could,” Willis replies, grinning. You glare at him until he recants. “Alright, alright, oublie ça. Pardonne-moi.”

“Why would you be afraid of me and Aemond being together?”

“An oil tycoon? A millionaire? He would never stay here for long. In a town like Napoleonville? Soon as he was done getting’ those rigs up and runnin’, he’d go jettin’ off to some other corner of the world, and he’d take you with him. And Cadi too. I wouldn’t be able to fight that. What’s a parish sheriff to a Targaryen? Who would listen to me? Cadi would be gone and I’d never get her back. It would kill me. It would rip the heart right outta my chest.”

You look up at Willis from where you sit on the tree swing, the soles of your feet colored with soil and grass. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“No?” he asks, perhaps suspicious, perhaps hopeful.

“No,” you promise. “Cadi loves you. Cadi needs you to be in her life. I would never try to take her away from you, Willis.”

He nods; he seems to believe you. And something relaxes in him, like there’s been a tension in the lines of his spine and shoulders that you didn’t notice for years. “I’m sorry about your petit ami.”

“Yeah. Me too.” It comes out like a whisper, brittle and frail. “I’m sorry about Lake Verret.”

“They might be able to fix it. Talk around town is they got some kind of desalination”—he says this with each syllable enunciated distinctly, like he’s put great effort into memorizing it—“process that can take the salt back outta the water. And if that don’t work…” He shrugs with a sly smile. “I’ll survive somehow. The world’s a big place. There’s always another lake.”

You consider him, and you remember—like a dream from the night before that just returned to you—how Willis can be unexpectedly deep, randomly tender. “They should put that on bumper stickers.”

He chuckles and waves as he heads back to his car. “I’ll pick Cadi up on Tuesday. Back to the usual schedule.”

“Sure.” Back to real life. Back to before I met Aemond. And you find yourself wishing that you could forget what it had felt like to be with him; the absence he left feels so much heavier than the nonspecific longing that existed before. Willis’ Plymouth Gran Fury rolls out of the driveway, and you stay precisely where you are on the tree swing, absentmindedly pushing yourself back and forth with your tiptoes and trying to believe that tomorrow this will feel easier, and then even easier the day after that, and eventually it will cease to be anything but a vague recollection, a relic in a rarely-opened drawer, a whisper, an echo. One day, you will stop missing Aemond. One day, you will stop wondering whether a sliver of his life would have been better than none at all.

Inside what Cadi calls the Fall-Down House, the phone rings. You ignore it; if it’s an order for the bakery, they can leave a message. But then it rings again, and again, and you have to answer it. What if your mother had a heart attack? What if Cadi and Amir were in a car accident? You hurry to the kitchen and grab the phone, pink to match the little Panasonic boombox that is presently silent.

“Hello?”

“Hiiiiiii,” Amir says, slow and something else too. Disoriented? Evasive?

Your forehead wrinkles with confusion. “Where are you calling from?” There are definitely no phonelines running to the Chapel of Saint Honoratus of Amiens, a tiny brick-and-stucco edifice built in the 1830s.

“I’m at a McDonald’s up the road. I’ve paid them $5 to let me use the phone.” And then, because he knows it’s the first place your mind will go: “Cadi’s fine. She’s eating Chicken McNuggets. Everyone’s fine.”

“Okay…?”

“I think you should come over here.”

“What, to the chapel?!”

“Yeah.” He’s talking to someone; you can hear an indistinct tangle of voices through the hand he undoubtedly has clasped over the transmitter.

I can’t see Aemond. I can’t see Christabel. There is a lurching in your guts; you are a fish that swallowed a hook. “I thought we agreed that I wasn’t going to go to the wedding.” I can’t handle it. It might kill me.

“Yes, we did, but now…um…I think you will want to make an appearance.”

“Amir, what happened?”

There is more muffled conversation on the other end of the line. “Look,” he tells you. “Things, uh…things are…occurring. And I think it would be better to explain in person.”

“Did you drop the cake?”

“No,” he says, defensive. “The cake is perfect, thank you for your concern. Not a single frosting wildflower was mutilated in the delivery.”

“Then why—?”

“Do you trust me?” Amir asks.

The answer is obvious. Of course. More than anyone. “You know I do.”

“Then go get in your car.”

You glance at the clock on the wall. “Okay, but you know it’s going to take me like 40 minutes to drive to Belle River.”

“That’s fine.” He confers with someone else. “Yeah, that’s good actually, that will work.”

“Great,” you say uncertainly.

“See you soon!” Then Amir hangs up, leaving you alone in the creaks and groans of your ailing house.

You take Route 70 around Lake Verret, gliding past fields of soybeans and sugarcane, paddocks of cattle and horses, marshes of cordgrass occupied by blue herons and white egrets and prowling alligators, stirring awake as the sun begins its descent into the west. More than once, you notice that your Chevy Celebrity’s odometer reports you are travelling well below the speed limit. You aren’t in any hurry to reach the chapel; you don’t want to carry the weight of what you will see there, Christabel in her wedding dress, Aemond in his suit, Alicent anxiously fidgeting and gnawing at her fingernails, Viserys parading around triumphantly. You can’t imagine that there is anything less than torturous for you there. You don’t remember what you’re wearing until you reach Belle River, a small, old town full of double-wide trailers and jetties that run far out into the lake: a simple cotton sundress you threw on this morning without much thought, modest but white and therefore forbidden for a wedding guest. The sky is turning from a sun-drenched cerulean blue to something more soft, more muted, as dusk lurks just a few hours away. The radio is playing Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car.

The Chapel of Saint Honoratus of Amiens was built by a man in extremis. An acclaimed mason by trade, he had been born in France and settled in the New World in Louisiana when it was still in the possession of Napoleon. The mason had a wife and children—some people say 5, others say 8 or 10, though details always seem to grow more elaborate in the retelling, don’t they?—and he loved them dearly. But tragedy struck when every single member of the family, except for the mason himself, fell ill with tuberculosis. When healers of the earth failed to offer sufficient remedies, the mason appealed to a higher power. He built the chapel to implore Honoratus of Amiens, his wife’s favorite saint—she was a baker and a florist, both professions that Honoratus presides over—to intercede with the Almighty on their behalf. This effort proved futile, and as each member of the family died, the mason interred them in a brick vault beneath the altar where they would spend eternity together. Perhaps this makes for a peculiar wedding venue, yet for over a century couples rich and poor, religious and secular have traveled to the chapel to exchange their vows. Perhaps there are few things more romantic than loving someone in the face of total futility: illness, distance, unrequitedness, prohibitions, death.

The chapel sits in a clearing surrounded by live oak trees, massive, hundreds of years old, hanging with Spanish moss, blotting out the sunlight as aisles cascade through gaps in the leaves. As you park in the grass—joining an army of Lexuses, Audis, limousines, Porsches, Ferraris, Cadillacs, Aston Martins, Alfa Romeos, and Amir’s blue Ford Escort—you observe that there are perhaps fifty guests in formal attire milling aimlessly around the building. You peer down at your white sundress, frowning. Well, I can’t go naked. The faux pas will have to be forgiven. You step out of your Chevy Celebrity and make your way across the clearing towards the chapel.

There is a long table set up in the shade with a tower of champagne glasses, an ice sculpture of a dragon, and the banana bread cake you and Amir baked for the wedding. Grim-faced servants in black suits are cutting slices and handing them out to guests on green china plates. You recognize Aegon’s wife Stephanie chatting with a flock of young women in extravagant gowns, golds and emeralds and sapphires. Helaena is among them, wearing a shimmering blue-green color like the scales of her chameleon Dreamfyre. Evidently, the Targaryens’ exotic pets have been left at the mansion for this excursion.

“Well,” the princess of Monaco says sardonically as she takes a bite, the white cream cheese frosting covered with a kaleidoscope of wildflowers. “At least the cake is good. What is this, banana? Whoever heard of a banana wedding cake? I mean, it’s delicious, but still. I knew that Christabel girl was daft. Did you see her positively absurd dress? It looks like children doodled all over it…”

Is it over? you think as you weave through the crowd, largely unnoticed. Is the ceremony done already? Why would Aemond want to see me? To try to convince me to be his mistress one last time? To show me what I’m missing by severing ties with him?

But no: something else has happened. Viserys and Christabel’s father the marquess are embroiled in a heated argument; a nun and two priests are trying to haul them apart.

“You’re dead to me, Viserys!” the marquess roars. “And you’ll be dead to everyone back home once I tell them what you’ve done!”

“I did my part! This has nothing to do with me! Wait…wait…we can figure something else out! Wait! Wait! You can have Daeron!”

Wedding guests are gawking and snapping photos with their polaroid cameras. Upon hearing his name, Daeron glances over towards his father wearily. Alicent’s youngest son is kneeling beside where she has collapsed to the grass, patting her encouragingly on the shoulder as she sobs into a green cloth handkerchief. Criston is there too, trying to soothe her with sympathetic murmurs and a flute of pink champagne glittering with bubbles of carbonation.

“How did this happen?” she wails, peering up at Criston with her vast, dark, glassy eyes. The gold rings on her fingers clang and glint; they match the single hoop earring that Criston wears. Alicent’s gown is purple like royalty, but Criston is dressed in a suit of pale pink; it’s the exact same one Daeron has on. Groomsmen? you wonder. “He knows better than this! We raised him better than this!”

You think, stunned and petrified: Aemond, what the hell did you do?

As you approach the chapel, you note that it appears empty inside; you don’t spot anyone in the pews. Somewhere, a boombox is thundering Higher Love. At the entrance of the building, Christabel is sitting on the brick walkway in her wedding dress. It’s the one you told her to choose: elegant and timeless, long train and short flowing sleeves, silk wildflowers sewn into the white lace. Her bouquet is lying forgotten on the ground beside her. Her lips are a deep, lovely pink; her eyeshadow is gold. She’s smoking, something you’ve never seen her do before. There is a half-crumpled pack of Marlboro Reds and a lighter in her left hand, a single lit cigarette in her right.

“Um, hi, Christabel,” you say. And then, something equally brainless: “Is everything okay?”

“I should have known.” She’s staring out at the crowd, not at you. Her large blue eyes are dull, vacant.

“You should have known what?” Your heart is in your throat; blood pounds in your ears like the hooves of a racehorse.

“That he didn’t care,” she says listlessly. “I could tell that he didn’t. I could feel it. But I didn’t want it to be true, so I told myself it wasn’t. Isn’t that interesting? How we can lie to ourselves? Not that it was entirely my error. Other people meddled plenty. ‘Oh no, Christabel.’ ‘He’s just emotionally stunted, Christabel.’ ‘He’s busy with work, Christabel.’ What man is too busy with work to handle a five-minute phone call? It’s not like he was on the moon. He could have made time if he wanted to. I bet he made lots of time for you.”

“Uh.” You try to decide what to say. “I broke up with him, if that’s what you’re asking. I didn’t want to be his mistress. I didn’t think that was fair to you.” Or me, obviously, but right now doesn’t seem to be the opportune time to voice my own grievances.

“Next time, I’m going to choose who I marry,” Christabel insists, puffing on her cigarette. “He has to talk to me. He has to like me.”

Aemond called it off? What did he say? What is he going to do now? “Christabel…do you know where Aemond is? Or Amir and Cadi?”

“Alicent is so upset,” she says instead. “Poor woman. She’s sweet, in her own way. But I don’t want to end up like her.” Christabel holds up the pack of Marlboros and the lighter. “She feels guilty, I think. She gave me these. She had them in her purse, she has so many neurotic little habits, doesn’t she? It’s not very ladylike to smoke, but it’s not ladylike to get left at the altar either, so fuck it.”

You ask, afraid to know the answer: “Do you hate me? I didn’t know Aemond was engaged when I met him. And then…” Why lie now? What’s the point? “Then I was in love with him and it was kind of…too late to try not to be. But I’m sorry.”

“I don’t hate you,” Christabel replies immediately. “I know he would never be allowed to marry…someone like you. Your options were limited.”

You don’t know if this is meant to be an insult or not. “Thanks.”

“I don’t think I ever loved him either,” Christabel realizes, exhaling smoke. “I think I idolized him. I think I loved my fantasy of what our marriage would be like. But I didn’t love Aemond. I didn’t even know Aemond. You did, I suspect. Good luck with him. He’s a bit…complex.”

“I’m sorry,” you say again, rather compulsively. You aren’t sure what she expects from you. Abruptly, from wherever it’s coming from, Higher Love is cut off. “So, is Aemond, like…around, or…?”

“I don’t regret the sex part.”

“Okay.” You examine the crowd in the clearing again. You still don’t see Aemond.

“That went well,” Christabel muses. “I’m glad my first time is over and done with. I was terrified it would hurt like hell. And so few people know, so it’s almost like it never happened, right?”

“Right,” you say obediently.

“I think I’ll have a new rule. I won’t marry anyone unless he likes me and we sleep together first. Life is too long to spend it with the wrong person, don’t you agree?”

“I totally do.”

“He’s waiting for you inside,” Christabel says, flicking ashes towards the gaping doorway of the chapel.

“Really?” you peer into the shadows; there is indeed a solitary figure standing at the altar. “So…what exactly is happening…?”

“Go,” Christabel urges, and takes a drag on her cigarette. You leave her and cross through the doorway into the chapel.

The light is dim and gentle; fading sunbeams slant in through the glass of the cathedral-style windows. The mason’s inspiration was Gothic architecture, imposing, cavernous. Two candlelit iron chandeliers hang from the high ceiling; the floor is made of tiles of black and white marble. Small stone sculptures of angels watch over their realm like benevolent gargoyles. There is a single stained glass window above the altar: circular like a ring, red and gold like the sun.

He’s waiting for you in a pale pink suit, long disheveled hair, thin mustache with flecks of white powder in it, mischievous smirk. “Hey cake lady,” Aegon says.

“Um. I’m not marrying you.”

“No, you’re definitely not.” Aegon offers you his hand and you take it with some hesitation. “I’m here to be your guide. Just like on the Oregon Trail.”

“What…?”

“Let’s go.” He pulls you out of the chapel, past where Christabel is still sitting at the entranceway, and across the clearing towards the trees. When you look to the crowd, Otto is elbowing his way through disgruntled guests towards a limousine, already idling.

Viserys bellows at him: “Where the hell are you going?!”

“Back to Kiribati!” Otto shouts back, not breaking his stride. He vanishes into the limo.

“Hurry,” Aegon says. He leads you into the forest, a thick canopy of verdant leaves and Spanish moss and the narrow rays of sunshine that tumble down through the gaps.

“Aegon, I don’t think we should be in the woods, it could be dangerous—”

“No, this part is fine. We already checked.”

“Who’s ‘we’?!” You’re wearing flip flops that catch on gnarled roots; the shrieking of cicadas grows loud. One of them buzzes towards Aegon and he screams as he backhands it away.

“You good?” Amir’s voice calls from farther within the trees.

“Yeah. I’m fine. We made it.”

You turn to Aegon. “What’s going on—?”

Suddenly, there is booming music that startles you: “Ooh, baby, do you know what that’s worth? Ooh, Heaven is a place on Earth! They say in Heaven, love comes first, we’ll make Heaven a place on Earth! Ooh, Heaven is a place on Earth!”

“Aegon, what is that?”

“Uh, I think it’s Heaven Is A Place On Earth.”

“Yes, okay, but why?”

“Ask that guy.” You round a thicket and there under a colossal southern live oak tree, surrounded by hundred-year-old branches that twist down to the earth, is Aemond; but he’s not looking at you. He and Cadi are lighting the last of the candles. She picks them up, he ignites the wick with the same lighter he uses to smoke his Marlboros, and then Cadi places them back on the ground or on top of a branch. Amir is standing by the large black boombox, the same one Aegon always listens to by the Targaryens’ pool. Amir grins craftily, pushing his tortoiseshell glasses up the bridge of his nose. His suit is orange, the single dogwood flower in his hair white.

“Did we get them all?” Aemond asks Cadi.

“Yeah, I think so. Wait, no, there’s one over there!” Cadi darts to it and Aemond lights the candle, then spins around and sees you. He smiles. “Hi, Cupcake.”

“Hi,” you say, so shellshocked you can’t form any of your very vital questions.

“Okay, so we have the candles,” Aemond informs you as Cadi and Aegon go to join Amir. “White with wildflower patterns.” And you recall how Alicent mentioned needing to pick out candles with Christabel, and how you didn’t see any scattered around the chapel. They brought them here. They did it for me. “And we have some actual wildflowers.” He takes the boutonniere off the lapel of his white suit and tucks it into your hair behind your left ear. “And we have Heaven Is A Place On Earth.” He gestures to the boombox. “And I think those were the three things you said you wanted if you were ever going to get married again.”

I did say that. Just once, months ago, the first time he ever came over, the first time he ever touched me. “You remembered.”

“Of course I remembered.” He takes both of your hands in his own. Amir lets out a little squeal and covers his mouth as his eyes begin to glisten. Aemond takes a deep breath. “So, I don’t have a speech, because this is very last-minute. I mean extremely last-minute. But you were right about everything. And I realized I couldn’t live that way. It wouldn’t be fair to you or to me, but it wouldn’t be fair to Christabel either. So I broke it off.”

“Literally at the altar,” Aegon says. “In front of everybody. It was so fucking awkward.”

“Those are not necessary details!” Aemond snaps, then looks back to you and is smiling again. “I know what I want. I’ve known it for as long as I’ve known you. But I wasn’t a strong enough person to make it happen. I’m so sorry. I should have done things differently. I can’t change the past. But everything is going to be different now.”

You gaze up at him as Belinda Carlisle sings, thinking: This can’t be real. I’m going to wake up now.

“On the night we met, you told me you’d never felt chosen,” Aemond says. “I’m choosing you. And, you know.” He nods to her. “Cadi too. And Amir. And the bakery. And dealing with Willis too, I guess. All of it. I’m choosing you and your whole life and that’s exactly where I want to be.”

You can feel the warmth in your face, beaming and hopeful and full of possibilities. Under the shade of the southern live oak, the first lightning bugs are blooming in the air like stars. “What about your family?”

“I’ll figure it out. I don’t think my father can entirely disown me…turns out I’m the only one who understands how the stock market works. But no matter what, you and Cadi are the priority. And my father will have to learn to live with that.”

“Or he can drop dead,” Aegon says. “Whichever.”

It’s possible? We can be together? Not just for a night, an afternoon, a stolen moment, but forever?

“I said I don’t have a speech.” Aemond tells you. His right eye is bright, elated, gleaming like a mirror. “I don’t have a ring either. But I’m going to get you one, if you’ll let me. So I’m asking you, Cupcake: Will you marry me?”

“Say yes, Mom!” Cadi yells, and Amir bursts out laughing.

“Say yes, cake lady!” Aegon adds. “Unlimited Cap’n Crunch Treats!”

When am I going to wake up? When is this going to end?

But it’s not a dream. It’s real. And Aemond reads the answer on your face before you can say it, and so it’s only a murmur as he kisses you, a whisper, a prayer: “Yes.”

~~~~~~~~~~

The three of you drive from the new house all the way to San Francisco; you still call it the new house, even though you’ve owned it for a full year. The journey takes seven days, with overnight stops in Dallas, Wonderland Amusement Park in Amarillo, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, Las Vegas, and Bakersfield. Aemond sold his Audi Quattro and replaced it with a Dodge Caravan. It’s July 1989, and Tom Petty’s brand new single Runnin’ Down A Dream is strumming from the radio. It’s always temperate in San Fran, in the 60s even at the height of summer. The sky is overcast and grey. When Cadi complains that she’s cold despite the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hoodie you packed for her, Aemond gives her his Marlboro jacket.

Amir, his boyfriend, and two other roommates share a sunshine yellow Italianate townhouse in the Castro District. Aemond parks his wood-paneled Caravan on the steep, inclined street—he narrowly misses colliding with a whooshing cable car, which he blames on poor depth perception—and then helps you carry the luggage inside. There are no alligators on the front porch, but there are neighborhood cats that Amir puts out Friskies for; there are no screaming cicadas, but there are swooping seagulls and the melodies of sidewalk musicians. When Amir opens the door, he nearly tackles you with enthusiasm. He still wears his loud colors and short shorts, but he’s traded in the dogwood flowers he once wove into his hair for dahlias.

Amir’s boyfriend is named Don, but everyone calls him Donald Schwarzenegger because he looks so much like the Austrian bodybuilder turned actor. When Amir first arrived in the city, he got a job as a cake decorator for a very popular bakery, and quickly segued into handling much of their marketing as well. He’s thinking of getting a degree in advertising and trying his luck in corporate America. You very much enjoy teasing him for being a sellout; what would socialist Bayard Rustin say?

“Call your Daddy and let him know we made it safely to the West Coast,” you tell Cadi once her things are unpacked in the guest room she’ll get all to herself; you and Aemond are consigned to the living room futon. Cadi chats with Willis for a while, then says he wants to talk to you. You take the phone, slightly concerned; you hope nothing is amiss with the house. “Hello?”

“What the hell is wrong with this horse?” he demands. “That ain’t no pet. That’s a demon. It’s a goddamn Rougarou.”

“I told you not to try to touch him,” you say, amused.

“I feed him and water him, don’t I? Ain’t that the least he can do? Lettin’ me scratch his big ol’ idiot head?”

“Patches is not very well-behaved. But Cadi loves him.”

“And don’t even get me started on the dog. Ugliest fuckin’ dog I ever saw. Growls every time I show up. Shows its teeth and everythin’. I’d take twenty gators over that son of a bitch any day.”

“Vhagar is a girl,” you say. “Thanks for watching them while we’re out of town.”

“Sure thing, sugar. Although I still don’t understand why the bon a rien can’t do it.”

“Aegon isn’t always…reliable.” But he does seem to be improving. He’s cut back to mostly just booze and marijuana, because otherwise he and Sunfyre aren't allowed to stay at the new house for sleepovers. There’s a guest bedroom, but Aegon prefers the sunken conversation pit in the mauve pink living room. He likes to be where anyone can stumble across him if they wake up in the middle of the night for pancakes or ice cream. He likes to be where people are; he likes to be included. “Anyway, I gotta go. Cadi will call again tomorrow. Enjoy your fishing.”

“Will do. Maybe I’ll toss your accursed animals in as bait.” Lake Verret is still a bit too brackish for a proper freshwater lake, but that’s changing gradually with Daeron’s desalination efforts and a subaquatic plug affixed to the opening of the breached salt dome. He views it as a pioneering experiment in reversing such drilling accidents, potentially for application globally. Now there are more bass and lampreys and catfish, and less breams and gars, but life goes on in Napoleonville’s 14,000-acre lake. Daeron has replaced Aemond as Viserys’ heir apparent, and he is thriving in the role. He is bookish yet empathetic, focused but never ruthless. Furthermore, he happens to be genuinely in love with his aristocratic fiancée: Princess Alexandra of Denmark.

Aemond was right; Viserys didn’t disown him, but he did fire him, ban him from the mansion, and reduce his available funds to a modest living stipend. Fortunately, Viserys has a very limited comprehension of how money works for normal people, and he considers $200,000 per year to be “modest.” With that plus your bakery earnings and a paid-off house, you, Cadi, and Aemond will be living comfortably for the remainder of your lives. Also fortunately, no one else will enforce the no-Aemond rule at The Last Desire, so anytime Viserys is out of town—which is far more often than not—you get to visit the Targaryens at the mansion as much as you please. Cadi loves the water slide and the koi pond. She’s named the fish after Greek deities, her latest obsession: Zeus, Narcissus, Athena, Dionysus, Artemis, Apollo, Echo. Viserys will not acknowledge you, but the rest of the family is polite enough now that the drama of the broken engagement has blown over. When you finish the cookbook of Southern baked goods that you’ve been working on, Alicent had pledged to mail copies to all her friends and relatives back in the U.K. Otto has offered to take a box of them with him next time he jets off for Kiribati; the wealthy housewives marooned in paradise are always on the hunt for new reading material.

On your first night in San Francisco, Amir serves a dinner of cioppino, sourdough bread, and (not homemade) Rice-A-Roni. You provide dessert, a recipe you’re still perfecting: Saint Honoratus cake, a pastry that dates back to Paris in the 1800s. You want to be able to include it in your cookbook, along with photographs from your wedding in the chapel this past May, almost exactly a year from when you and Aemond first met. Your engagement ring has a gold band and pink diamonds arranged to resemble a rockrose, a dauntless little wildflower native to Aemond’s ancestral homeland of Greece. For over a decade you have loved that wildflowers are grown and not bought, small but tenacious, humble yet untamed. They do not wait for other hands to tell them where and how to grow. They are the architects of their own fortune.

When everyone is finished with dessert and gathers around the tv to watch The Golden Girls, Aemond says he’s going outside for a smoke break; but you know he’s trying to quit. You follow him into the small backyard and as soon as your bare feet touch the grass, he’s pushed you against the wall of the house, forced your thighs apart, slipped his hand down the front of your shorts as he watches the amazed, electrified desire rise in your face like heat from a stove. “It’s been a week, and I need you,” Aemond murmurs, his lips ghosting across your throat, his hips braced insistently against yours, and then he kisses you to stifle your moans as you bury your fingers in his hair, to swallow down the vicarious ecstasy of every wondrous thing he’s ever done to you and ever will. “I don’t even need you to get me off. I just need to see you like this.”

Trusting him, wanting him, letting him make me come.

Aemond has been accepted into UC Berkeley’s History PhD program and will start there at the end of August. He wants to write books about underrecognized heroes, extraordinary and yet unassuming people like Bayard Rustin and Bobbi Campbell and Phillis Wheatley. You’ll miss him of course, but there will be breaks for holidays and summers when he can return to Napoleonville, and you can fly out to visit him too, and there are phone calls, and postcards, and one day you’ll be able to go anywhere together—

You gasp, a shaky, starving breath, your lips grinning into Aemond’s. You’re close, you’re so close.

There is a shrill whistle from the back porch of a townhouse from the row behind Amir’s. “Get it, honey!” a man in a leopard-print robe cheers, waving the newspaper he’d been reading. You and Aemond unravel from each other, laughing hysterically.

“Okay,” you tell him, still panting. “Bad plan. We are clearly not accustomed to city life.”

“Tonight,” Aemond says, low and commanding. He returns to you, kissing the side of your face: temple, cheekbone, the curve of your jaw. His voice is dark, jagged glass; his lips are soft like kind dreams. “On the futon, on the floor, anywhere.”

You want it too, but you know the game. “No.”

He pins you to the wall again, powerful, irresistible, his hardness grinding against you through his jeans, everything about him—voice, flesh, rhythm, soul—promising you the peace only he has ever given you, proving that being at the right person’s mercy can make you free. “I’m in charge now. Let me take care of you.” And for a split second you almost beg: Just do it, Aemond, right now, please touch me again, I don’t care if a stranger sees. I want you now, I want you forever.

Instead you smile up at him, the whirls of your fingerprints skating harmlessly over his scarred left cheek as you answer: “Yes sir.”

[beatboxing-puppy]

saw some posts on this website discussing what sort of videogames the dunmeshi characters would play and i think everyone is wrong. everyone is wrong except for me so im going to spell out exactly who plays what. putting it under a read more because im going on a damn tangent.

Laios: He's not a gamer he does not play games on purpose he will only ever play video games when his friends ask him to join them in their multiplayer things. One day tho Falin told him about Monster Hunter and now thats the only thing he plays aside from Spore and he has sunk countless hours into that damn game. Also he probably has played Some pokemon but he doesnt like PLAYING it he just likes it in concept he knows the name of all the pokemon

marcille: people keep saying she would be a cosy gamer playing animal crossing and stardew and other cute games ^-^ its so lalalaaaa NO!!!!!!! no she does not. Marcille plays games that stress her out on purpose marcille plays overwhelming micromanagey games like lobotomy corporation and rimworld and etc. She also likes games with deep lore and mysteries to discover. The only thing that doesn't fit in this category that she plays is Minecraft shes always in there CREATIVE MODE building virtual dungeons and other crazy shit. Also she plays on her work laptop with trackpad ok

Chilchuck: This one is for me. This one im just basing off my own dad ok. Chilchuck used to be a hardcore gamer in his youth but specifically he was playing stuff like world of warcraft and old school runescape he had really big setups so he could run several instances of the game at once on all his alt accounts so he could beat a boss by himself and he was really good at it. But then he had kids and didnt have time for this sort of thing so he stopped playing videogames aside from occasionally helping his daughters beat a super hard mario level. Later in life he probably discovered some shitty little low-commitment phone game like pokemon go or pikmin bloom or some daily sudoku puzzle thing and he plays it every day but its not that big a deal. He has been pressured by his friends and daughters to make a roblox account but he hasnt played it at all.

Senshi: THIS guy is the one that plays animal crossing. He logs in when he can but hes not on that every day grind. Also he doesnt play the newest one he doesnt play horizons he plays one of the DS ones. Wild world probably. He either doesn't like or doesn't know about the nintendo switch. Whenever one of his villagers say that they want to leave he'll nod solemnly and say smth like "Well... I suppose it'd be selfish to ask ye to stay, friend... Just promise me you'll stay safe and never forget me... Go and explore the world. Wish ye the best." Plus his island would be covered in weeds. He also has some mobile games he enjoys angry birds and candy crush and crosswords (gotta keep the brain in shape!) but other than that he doesn't videogame much because he prefers board games and tabletop stuff he isnt too jazzed about all this modern technology plus a console or a laptop and all that gaming equipment is a lot to lug around and hes a nomad he would NOT have that shit

Falin: Now FALIN is the cosy gamer. kind of. Falin plays animal crossing new horizons sometimes and has fun making a bad island on purpose. Very mildly "bad" tho the worst she'll do is use the drawing feature to hide a giant penis on the beach or whatever. Or she'll give her villagers silly outfits. She also plays minecraft (either skyblock or she makes a new world and explores and builds a couple houses and then forgets about it and makes another new world) and roblox (likes 'trolling' strangers by dressing up funny and acting kind of strange in roleplay servers but she's never actually mean or anything.) But the big thing she likes is story-driven indie rpgmaker games. She's the person who will say shit like "Yeah I played Blums Booglies the quest for Big Dinners and it was so good I cried for 9 hours" completely unironically.

kabru: social gamer like laios but the games he plays on purpose are the sims (he likes to cause them problems) and online multiplayer games (he likes to peoplewatch). I can also see him doing absurd and tortrous challenge runs of games like No items no pokecenter one type hardcore nuzlockes. im correct

izutsumi: ACTUALLY trolls people on roblox. And she plays needlessly gory flash games. Maybe she calls people dumbfucks over valorant voice chat sometimes

[whymustyouhurtmeinthisway]

I love how every single Guilty Gear character could easily fit as the main character of their own series, each one incredibly thematically different than the original series. Like

Stealth action game about a young ninja avenging his master’s death against the villainous league of assassins

Slice of Life comedy Isekai where a regular dude gets sucked into a sci-fi fantasy dimension 185 years in the future and has to make friends with the ridiculously overpowered warriors there in order to find his girlfriend

Grimdark victorian horror hack-and-slash (similar to American McGee’s Alice series) about a melancholy and delusional homunculus fighting to find a body for her beloved bloodthirsty giant key husband (No morality to be found in any character, entirely 2000s edge)

Serial manga about a powerful and mysterious fan-wielding bishonen warrior, wandering the world in search of his equally powerful love interest / rival who’s been completely consumed by revenge and must be saved from herself

Quirky Earthbound-inspired indie RPG about a young adventurer discovering her true self with the help of her friends (including a talking teddy bear, a crew of all-female sky pirates, a mysterious forest goddess and her guardian, and many more)

Soulslike with a blindness gimmick about a power-hungry wizard who lost his sight in a deal with a demon, and must rely on the demon to fight his way through a world that wants him dead

Bayonetta. Yeah that’s it.

Restaurant simulator in which you, the struggling owner, aren’t making enough money to stay afloat with the restaurant alone, and need to use your Kung-fu skills to find income through other, more violent means. Essentially there’s two main gamemodes. By day: Cooking Mama. By night: Streets of Rage. You have to spend your money wisely between upgrades to your restaurant or to your fighting ability, as failing at either will leave you with either your restaurant closing down or you getting beaten beaten to death, respectively. If you can get through an entire year with your restaurant firmly open and your teeth firmly un-kicked, you win the game! (no matter which shady methods you had to use to get there). Hire employees! Fire employees! Beat up said former employees in an alleyway as they’ve since turned to a life of crime, then turn them in for bounty money! You can do all this and more in the new game coming to Nintendo Switch: Kung-Food Service! (Temporary title until an actually good one is found)

Standard dating sim, except it’s impossible to win and the true ending is the main character finding out she’s a lesbian

[yumekojabaml]

HeadCannons—Katsuki Bakugou

💥 When it comes to bakugou getting jealous, he would either give them a death glare or pick you up while you're in the middle of talking.

💥 He hates, and I mean hates when you ignore him. If you try to do that ignoring prank on him, he'll break your nintendo." Bakugou why did you do that!?!"

💥"Oh, now you want to talk to me." You two would have an argument about it then the next day he got you a new on and said." If you ignore me again, I'll break you instead."

💥Yeah, you got a little turned on and scared by it, but you didn't care as long you as you get to play Mario cart.

💥Sex he's rough with it he go's faster when he's close to coming never listens when you tell him to slow down he likes seeing you in pain. Jk jk he'll slow down a little bit.

💥I'm only gonna tell you this once do.not.talk.to.deku he will literally kill him then he'll try and guilt-trip so you don't leave him for deku.

💥He is a master at guilt-tripping. (200iq looking ass🙃)

💥Oh, and if you think about leaving him for another man, he'll just kill your family one-by-one.

[momotorin]

heard u were down for fluff asks i’m craaavvving mina content like maybe a silly snowball fight and she’s so quiet and reserved but so determined to best your ass after u throw one at her

crystal flowers

fluff | childhood friend!mina x fem!reader | as always, MEN DNI!!!!!

i'm very festive about winter (i haven't even touched snow ffs)

it's christmas break. finally, you could unclench every single muscle in your academically tired and worn body; laying flat on your best friend's penguin printed sheets.

"hey," she nudges at you, hands still steady on her controller, playing the last few chapters of zelda. (which she probably finished over the course of the semester, but she's doing it because she wants to know the other plotlines.) "move, what the hell, dude!"

"are you seriously dude-ing me right now?" you raised an eyebrow, and you scoffed, finally moving your body away from the surface of the bed to sit down. "i can't believe you."

not a single response from her. just a bunch of clicking, more clicking, and a sigh.

you pout beside her, like the little mini pincher on her lap, your adoptive child, ray-chan.

mina glares at you, one that was full of happiness as she breaks into a laugh. "what?"

"nothing," you nudged at her. "done with your game?"

"you bet," she sighs, pressing the start button to exit the game completely. "it's extra chilly today, don't you think?"

"yeah," you let out a little 'brr..' as you rubbed on your hoodie clad arms. "hot choco could be really good right now..."

mina laughs, "tell that to my mom," she says, laying on the bed, facing you. ray follows shortly after, snuggling between the space of the two of you. mina happily pets him, "i think he's bored, y/n."

"probably," you let out a little snort as you pet him as well. "he probably got bored seeing you do your little game instead of paying attention to him," you cupped ray's cheeks. "didn't you?"

"i think you're the bored one here," mina laughs. "anyways, there's a snow advisory. we can't bring him out either, you know, since he's quite..."

"yeah, i know," you sighed, petting the golden fur of ray. "but can we?"

mina smiles, lips tight and eyes closed as she stretches her legs. "park?"

"definitely," you smiled, sitting up now. "i'll buy the hot choco."

"fair enough," mina breathed as she stood up. "i'll get taiyaki then."

hours later, after a thousand nudges at mina and her controller, you squeal in joy, finally standing up and kissing ray goodbye for a while.

mina let the snowfall pass, so that you're left with leaps of snow in the park.

you sighed, the white fog coming out of your mouth.

mina looks at you, quite concerned, "what are you sighing about, pretty?"

"pretty?" you repeat, in disbelief that mina said it as a compliment. "you're trying to get me to buy the taiyaki too, don't you?"

mina blushes under her knitted scarf, "n-no," she stutters, watching the steps of her boots leave traces on the snow covered pavement. "it's just that, you're actually extra pretty today."

"quite the sweet talker, aren't you, minari?" you jokingly wrap an arm around her shoulders, almost bringing her down to your height.

you two arrived at the park shortly after. the stalls, the playground, and some kids making snow angels on the pavement; it was all too familiar with you two.

"let's go," you held mina's hand, going to the hot choco stand. "can i get two large ones please?" you asked, handing over a bill, still not letting go of mina's hand.

you two went to your favourite seat, covered in white, probably wet snow.

mina laughs as she wipes away the snow, trying to salvage her convenience of seating. "oh well," she sighs, not finding any luck. "can't believe we're standing up."

"you've been sitting for like 12+ hours in front of your nintendo switch rig, dude, even nature doesn't want you to sit anymore," you joked, blowing on your hot chocolate, cooling it down a little before it meets your tongue. "anyways, mina, mama invited you and your parents to come over at christmas eve. she's been planning a little exchange gift thing with your mom, i think."

"oh!" mina suddenly exclaimed. "mama told me about that too," she remembered. "she asked me to help her finish knitting some scarves. i think it's for your mom."

"that's so cute." you commented.

"what, you want one too?"

"of cou-" you cut yourself off mid sentence. "yeah! of course! are you going to make it for me, minari?"

mina shrugged her shoulders, "not a big deal, actually," she smiles. she's so fucking cute holding the cup on her hands with her penguin mittens on, you say at the back of your mind, the awe reflecting on your face, and mina laughs at it, "in one condition."

"what is it?"

"buy me the mclaren f1 tecnic lego set."

"mina!" you exclaimed, kicking a small dollop of snow to her. "i am generous, but i'm not a jesus type of generous. try something a little... in my budget. i could buy you one, yes, but like wow i could never with that set."

"what do you mean you could never?! your allowance is literally like... 10,000 yen more than mine. you can do it." she fakes her encouragement, trying to get you on your good side to buy the set.

"look, you have your dad. you have your mom. heck, you even have kai-san," you sighed, trying to block her request. (you actually got the set already, but you want to give it on christmas so no spoilers!) "i don't want to be like... your sugar mommy or something."

mina laughs, "i mean, you look like one all the time, why den-"

"shut up." you nudge at her as you finish your cup of hot chocolate. you two went to the nearby trash bin to dispose of both of your cups, and went back to the playground.

"well, it's good that no one's on the swing." she mentioned.

"i don't think the kids would appreciate having wet asses," you laughed, looking at your shoes. you remember, the snow was quite thick, and you pulled mina to the little valley of snow that formed on one of the slides. you form a ball, a small one, round, and threw it at her. "merry ch-"

"no." mina threw a much bigger, more scattered snowball at you, hitting your face almost.

"i'm still not getting you the set," you threw one back, and you saw mina making a bigger one. "oh-"

you run away, trying to find another dollop of snow in the park to form into a ball and throw at mina.

she hits you, directly at the back, making you slow down a bit, "you're getting me that!"

you threw one back, one of the same size, but you didn't expect that mina had a bigger one she was holding onto as she had her hand placed on her back.

you two ran around the park for a good 10 minutes, having pointless fights with snowballs. (mina argues that it could be snow triangles, snow rhombuses, or simply just snow because she just wanted to throw some at you.)

you finally settle down in the middle of the park, feeling the snow around you, not the pavement, and mina was above, attempting to throw another snowball on your face.

"stop, please," you smiled at her. "let's just... lay down, okay?"

mina gives up the moment she sees you smile. she puts the pile of snow just beside your ear, and she lays down beside you.

you reach out for her hand, like you always do, and you feel a drop of snow lay crystals on your cheek.

and it begins, the parade of a thousand pearls as you close your eyes, just feeling the snow go and whip all over your body.

mina admired you as the snow fell. at how your nose crinkles the moment snow hits the tip of your nose, how red your ears got, how your grip got tighter, and how you closed your eyes to feel.

fuck it, she says to herself, as she pulls you to her, removing her penguin mittens to fully cup your cheek, and kissing you.

you jolt your eyes open, melting into mina's touch, as the snow falls on you two.

mina pulls away, breath staggering in both anticipation and anxiety.

you smiled at her, putting your hand on the side of her waist, pulling it closer. "do you really mean it, minari?"

"i d-"

you pulled her into a kiss, once more leaving her breathless as you shared it under the snow. mina laughs, breaking the kiss, laying her forehead against yours.

the snow falls, and it fills mina's senses— the coldness, the warmth, the redness, and the sight of you looking at her with the love she's been looking for in everything.

[resowrites]

Upstairs, Downstairs - oneshot (request).

Summary: Henry gets sick and becomes the patient from hell…

Pairings: AU!Henry Cavill x Wife!OC

Warnings: fluff, banter/British humour, language, dialogue heavy, nondescript OC body type/appearance, hastily written/lightly proofread.

WC: 1186

A/N: My work must not be copied, reposted, or translated elsewhere. Likes, follows, reblogs and comments are thoroughly welcome and appreciated! Gifs/pics not my own. I hope you all enjoy and thanks for visiting!

Upstairs, Downstairs - oneshot.

She could hear Henry groaning as she mounted the stairs. Carefully she balanced the tray bearing some toast, her Nintendo Switch she was letting him borrow, and more painkillers. She entered their bedroom as quietly as she could, though Henry still stuck his head up to inspect the food he thought he could smell from the kitchen. "Did you cut the crusts off?" At this, she pursed her lips and dropped the tray onto the bedside table with a clank. The noise made him wince and she couldn't help but smirk.

"Yes your majesty, as well as some more painkillers and my Switch if you're up to playing it." But one look at Henry suggested that was unlikely, his eyes were screwed up against the pain despite the room being in total darkness.

"Tablets please."

"Oh darling, is your headache really no better?" She carefully helped sit him up and handed over the painkillers along with a glass of water.

"It's a migraine." She couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"No it isn't, it's just a bad headache--"

"It's a migraine!"

"Henry, I suffer from migraines myself, you're barely able to move. Now take your tablets and rest, you'll feel better in another hour or two. And it'll serve you right for staring at yourself in the mirror so long--"

"I was shaving!"

"Well try it blindfolded next time, that might resolve the issue permanently."

"Charming, and it wasn't that that did it, I was concentrating too hard painting my Warhammer--" she quickly interrupted, not wishing to get Henry started on the subject of Warhammer.

"Yeah that's fascinating, now take your tablets please."

"You know, this is not very good nursing… you're not even wearing a uniform!" She rolled her eyes again.

"Don't be a perv. And if you want a nurse, hire one. Though at this rate only a saint would cope."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He handed her back the glass and rested his head against the pillow, his eyes closed despite still talking.

"It means I've had to run around after you like a blue-arse fly and I'm nearing the end of my tether. Now have some toast--"

"In a minute, chat to me first." Henry patted her empty spot on the bed.

"Henry, you need to either have something to eat or go to sleep. I'll wake you at dinner, that's if you can still manage to eat…" He opened his eyes just in time to catch her smirk, but his expression suddenly grew more serious.

"… Don't leave." She burst out laughing.

"Henry, you're not a baby! Besides you need to rest."

"But I'm bored!"

"I am not here to entertain you, mister! I have a mountain of ironing to do as well as dinner to prepare." Henry's face became forlorn and for a moment she was genuinely worried. "Here, let me take your temperature…" She removed a thermometer from her pocket and held it up to his mouth.

"Warm it up first." She looked up to the ceiling and held her breath. When she tried again, Henry pulled away slightly.

"Make an aeroplane noise…"

"Henry, I really am losing my patience! Now let me take your temperature or I'll put this thermometer someplace it'll definitely feel cold!" He harrumphed but opened his mouth all the same.

"You know those tablets are no good, they didn't work when I took them earlier--" she shushed Henry, determined to get an accurate reading on the thermometer.

"Mmm… slightly high--"

"See, I told you I was coming down with something!"

"No, you told me you were painting your toys--"

"They're not toys!" She sighed.

"Whatever! Anyway your temperature's only slightly up, you're not feeling sick are you?" She looked at the plate of still-uneaten toast and began to wonder.

"Well, I'd get no sympathy from you either way! Now hand me that toast." She eyed the plate again, tempted to dump it all over him. He took one large bite. "Mmm… it's cold." She turned to go.

"Then chew on it, that'll warm it up."

"Wait! I didn't say you could leave." But the bedroom door slammed shut behind her.

She smiled as she gazed around the living room, both dogs snoozing at her feet. The housework was finished and she could finally put her feet up. It was a rare treat indeed to have a Henry-free afternoon and she was determined to enjoy it. But then her phone pinged. She ignored it and turned up the volume on the tv. Then came another ping. And another. Finally, the phone rang. "What?!" Oh, Henry, I'm trying to relax! Do I really need to come up there?" The phone rang off and she threw it aside, thoroughly irritated as she stomped up the steps. When she opened the bedroom door, he was sitting lower against the headboard, his eyes still closed. "Well?!"

"I need you to fluff my pillows." Her mouth fell open.

"You are kidding?! You made me come all the way up here, just for that?!"

"Yeah, I'm slipping. It's not comfy." She could tell Henry was trying not to laugh.

"Well carry on and I'll bloody smother you! That's if I can find a pillow big enough for that big fat head!" He held a finger up to his lips.

"Shhh… you're talking too loud."

"That's it! You're on your own. I'm not lifting another bloody finger for you…" For the second time that hour, she slammed the door. But just as she was making her way down the stairs, her phone pinged again. She knew better than to read the message, but she also knew Henry wouldn't stop bothering her until she did. Apparently, she'd forgotten something. Her brow furrowed. She was sure she hadn't bought anything up, but curiosity got the better of her and she made her way back towards the bedroom. When she entered the room, he didn't respond. She took a few steps closer, concerned whether he was alright. Suddenly the bed covers were thrown back.

"BOO!!!" She nearly hit the ceiling she jumped so high.

"Oh my God, you stupid twat! You nearly made me shit myself!" She went to grab hold of the bedside table for support but Henry just laughed and pulled her into a hug. "Get off me you silly sod, what did you really want me for?!" She tried to pull free of his arms but he held tight and smiled maniacally.

"I wanted you to take the tray down…" At that moment she could have knocked him out with it. "Oh and can you pick up the remote? It dropped on the floor." Her nostrils flared.

"Anything else, sire?!"

"Just your company m'lady…"

"I take it you're feeling better then?"

"Why don't you join me in here and find out…" Henry wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"I think not! You've been a pain in the arse all day and if possible, I'd like a bit of peace and quiet."

"Madam, you should know that's impossible." She sighed, finally smiling at him. Henry was right, in their household there was no such thing.

To be updated on when I post please follow @resowrites and turn on post notifications.

@elizabetharegina @fanfictionaddiction99 @luclittlepond @caffeinatedfestivalsheep @summersong69 @ushijimbo @penneferofvenerburg

[nkogneatho]

hey pasi. I just read your nagi birthday smut it and was so good. You wrote him so well. I want to ask if you have any soft scenarios for him😽

𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐈

—cw: fluff, gn!reader.

Study time with Seishiro is a pain in the ass. No, really. You hate it because the whole time you're scratching your head trying to solve a problem so you can teach him, while your boyfriend is busy either playing games or zoning out. Is it even a group study when you're the only one focusing? And that's not even the worst part. It was Mr. Nagi Seishiro who suggested you study together because he would easily learn everything.

"Let's try and solve this together, okay?," you asked, prompting the textbook to the boy—too busy pressing buttons on the red nintendo—hoping to get him to actually involved. But all you was met with a "Hold on." And you did hold on. Two mintues with your arms stretched as your finger held the book, it started hurting. But Nagi was still too focused on the game.

"You know if you fail I'll dump your ass, Sei. I don't go out with losers," you announced as you retorted your arm back on the table.

"Your ex begs to differ, babe." On any other day, you would have laughed till you snorted. But tiday was not that day.

"I am leaving. This is not how you treat your tutor or even your partner." As soon as your hand reached for the bag to pack all your stuff, that's when Nagi tossed the device aside and grabbed the blue pen near the hello kitty keychain—that he gifted you—of the pouch, with the textbook. You peered at him as he scribbled—or what it looked like from your pov—on the off white printed page.

"There. I solved it. Now, will you stay? Please?" It was only a few weeks since you two started dating but it came as a surprise that how did he ended up andwering something correctly that even you couldn't when you were trying for past thirty minutes.

"Wha— huh— how the fuck did you solve this?"

"I can solve the entire textbook." It was hard to put faith in his words. Because all that boy did was sleep in the class the entire semester. "I can actually score good without focusing in class. Which is why I was playing games now." You didn't know whether to laugh, be surprised or confused.

"Then why the fuck did you call me here to tutor you, Sei?" your voice was soft even when you were cussing at him, interrogating more.

"Oh that! That's just because I like spending time with you. Plus I get to see my pretty baby's face more often that just school," he reasoned that in a tone as if it was normal. Did he not realise that he just made your heart thump so fast.

"Wha–ahem hmm," you cleared your throat, washing the signs of fluster and embarrassment. "So what you're saying is you're smart?"

"Yeah, baby. Why? Are you sad that you can't dump my ass because I am not a loser?"

"No...that's not what I meant— I meant....like—"

Before you could fumble more in embarrassment, Sei leaned in and kissed your lips. It was soft. The tip of his tongue slightly beushing against your bottom lip as he pulled away.

"I like you. For real. Please tutor me more," he mumbles, against your face.

"No."

"No?"

"You're the one that should tutor me instead, dumbass." You flicked his forehead making him pull further away and rub it. But he was smiling. He's happy that he gets to be with you.

[echoesofwisdomcountdown]

25 Days until Tears of the Kingdom Release. Is it really? Haha the smaller the number gets the more I doubt reality. I've just been waiting for this game for so long that even with all the marketing and the trailer analysis it's hard to believe its actually happening.

Spoilers under the cut for the last batch of screenshot trailer analysis.

So this tear has the recall chicken symbol on it. I checked. Zelda also has the Master Sword with her. Either she's fixing the sword and that's something only she can do or Zelda is in the past so the sword isn't broken yet and she is leaving something there for Link.

Ganondorf, mummy version I'm assuming, spewing red malice stuff but much brighter red this time. I wonder if Malice is just Ganondorf's version of fuse. Link gets green glue and Ganondorf red. After this there is a shot where the red stuff hits the sky and starts summoning monsters. The trailer transitions it to make it look continuous but once we get into the game we'll most likely find that it's separate cut scenes or different parts of the same cut scene but not continuous. Honestly, I think this might be where Link and the Master Sword get attacked but I'm still not giving up on the possibility that the malice emerges from the Master Sword outwards as Fi looses control on Demise.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned the lack of lynels in the other analysis I did. Welp here they are with their massive antlers (oof on the damage those things will probably cause) and the sword looking thing sticking out of one of their heads. I wonder what fusing Lynel horns to shields, swords, or arrows will do. I think I'll fight some just for that.

What else do I have to say? It's the main man, Ganondorf. I can't wait to kick his ass again.

Never seen this enemy in any of the Zelda games I've played. However, I will look forward to this boss fight/mini boss fight and whatever skill or item we need to defeat it. Maybe ascend or some ice weapon? I heard that ascend works on certain enemies and I'm very curious about which ones. It'd be interesting if this enemy tries to swallow Link and Link just ascends through the roof of its mouth.

This is Hylia or some version of Zelda from the past (yeah I'm aware that Hylia is technically a version of Zelda but whatever.) I think she's very pretty, super amazing, and very strong considering she laser beams a bunch of Molduga with no sweat.

RIJU!!! Look at my girl double wielding swords (Can we do it too as Link? Nintendo?? I wanna duel wield.) Riju appears to have grown into her own and mastered her lightning powers without needing the Helm. I'm so proud of her and I can't wait to fight along side her.

I can't tell you how cool it is to see that Link will be working and fighting alongside other citizens of Hyrule. The resistance in Twilight Princess walked so that TOTK NPCS can run. At least that's my hope. Also neat looking sword Link.

Now this part of the trailer nearly gave me a heart attack. I was like no freaking way will the new champions literally fight besides Link and not just in a cut scene. How sick is this? Of course, I heard some people say co-op but I don't think that's what's happening. You see the blue glowy stuff on Sidon? Yeah it was on Tulin too. I think the new champions might be like summons, automated companions. I think Nintendo took the wolf link amiibo and the Yunobu follow quest and beefed it up. I'm very excited about it.

So Riju doesn't have a tear that we can see and they haven't shown Yunobu but Tulin and Sidon have different tears. I'm very curious about what these things do. I'm also amused that Sidon got blue and Tulin green considering the colors of Mipha's Grace and Revali's Gale. I'm not sure about the symbols on them since I don't think they correspond to any of the abilities icons unlike recall. Anyway, it's just another thing that can't be answered until the game is out.

Giant fire gleeok or three headed evil dragon or whatever it's called, it's a sick looking boss that I can't wait to fight. Also the weapon that Link is using looks so other worldly. It's got the shape of a wing and its probably ice related. I wonder what enemy Link got it from but it does remind me of Naydra so maybe it's a dragon part? Nintendo really popped off with the Fuse ability.

So Ganondorf is most likely what this mural figure represent but look at the Hylian (i think it's a hylian, could be a Zonai) beneath him. I think the figure with its hand raised represents either Link or the person who owned the ancient hand and sealed Ganondorf.

It's a bit hard to see but see these four warriors? I think they might represent the four champions since these guys are the only warrior figures in the middle of the horde of monsters. The warriors that aren't yet in the midst of monsters must represent the other NPCs, the citizens of Hyrule that are also fighting back. I think the mural is neat and I wonder where we might see it in the game.

Lastly, Zelda holding the Master Sword and saying "You must find me Link." The first time I watched the trailer I went "Zelda?? If Link has to find you then where the heck are you??" And that's where time travel to the past is looking like a more and more likely theory. The only other theory I have involves realms/alternate worlds since A Link Between worlds exists and so do the Twilight and Silent Realms. But again, I think we'll just have to wait and see what the game has in store.

Thank you for coming to the end of this analysis with me. I'm ecstatic to have my questions answered on May 12, 2023.

Edit: It has been brought to my attention that Riju does in fact have a visible tear and I even posted a picture where it is visible. Guess my brain was so focused on how badass she looked while duel wielding swords that I missed it. Welp that's three for three tears so I'm expecting Yunobu to have one.

[theladyofrosewater]

More semi/fully Cursed FNAF AUs (These are all Game and Book AUs not movie ones so no spoilers!!)

• Instead of Mangle biting off Jeremy's frontal lobe, Jeremy just yeets it over his shoulder which somehow fixes the whole "coding error" and now guess what it's his dog now and refuses to leave him alone.

• Look this is a Robo-Charlie free household, but the idea of Charlie knowing she's a robot and doing a TERRIBLE job of hiding it. She rips doors off of their hinges all the time and just places them back awkwardly. People try to stab her multiple times and nothing ever connects. She constantly emits a humming sound and shocks people and she insists this is a very normal thing for people. Baby tries to drop the reveal on her and she's like "Yeah no shit my dad told me about it when I was like 5" before decking her because she's obviously upgraded herself over the years.

• Security Breach but Gregory is a FNAF superfan and is oddly excited about every near death experience and he records everything before posting it on youtube, it's terrible quality and everyone thinks its a very shitty fake video series until Fazbear Entertainment gets the videos wiped from the internet.

• One I actually want to visit but is very crack-ish. AU where FNAF takes place in a universe where Mary Shelly's Frankenstein was a real event and the incomplete notes of Victor Frankenstein haunt a descendant of his for each generation until someone finally re-figures it out and chaos ensues. I'll let you guys guess what family name those descendants currently have :)

• AU where Micheal starts streaming his later shifts and becomes semi-famous online and every time he fucks up his chat makes fun of him full knowing he could die. He still makes zero money from this.

• Pizza Sim AU but Henry just tempts Puppet Charlie with a Nintendo Switch with Animal Crossing, instead of his canon action of using Lefty and CONTROLLED SHOCKS WHAT THE FUCK HENRY, She just sits in Mike's office during his shifts and occasionally punches the other animatronics if they start being snarky in the vents too much but otherwise doesn't do too much.

One Fnaf movie spoiler idea under the cut

• Movie Vanessa gets dropped into the game universe and is either horrified that her family is british in this universe but hey her new siblings actually like her or her Vanny Fursona is so ugly she immediately redesigns it to not be terrible anymore.

[simp999]

A New Home Ch. 32

Various! Splatoon Manga x Skilled! Isekai'd! Reader

Wc: 1.1k

A/N: Wattpad readers are much bolder. You guys just don't have the guts to comment how you "hope both sides of my pillow are warm" or "when I get you, wolf. When I get you". /silly

Leo Playlist!

Back to the start! Previous Next

Before you could register the score, you were tackled to the floor. You gently nudged Leo away from you as much as you could- but given his reaction, you already knew the answer.

You'd be battling Emperor.

You wheezed out to Leo that he was squeezing too tight, and so he let go to go hug- Goggles?? And Goggled hugged back just as excitedly? Eh, whatever floats their boat.

Next came a soft hug from Milo. Almost relieved, you thought. He gently pet your tentacles and gave them a tiny kiss, saying how proud he was of the family. Aww.

It felt all too quick- the congratulations, the meeting between the S4, team Yellow-green, and the teams that had just battled.

To be honest, you just wanted to get home and relax, maybe you went on autopilot for a bit. In a good way.

That night, you all went to sleep early, completely exhausted by your battle, along with thinking about your next one. Luckily, you were given three days for preparation before facing the King, not including today.

"So, what now, Boss?"

"Now?..."

You thought for a moment, muscles sore.

"...We rest."

Leo does a small fist in the air while Milo relaxes his shoulders. Tasha's eyebrows appear to be less furrowed as well.

You all relax together by watching movies for the first bit, you and Leo snuggling if you're comfortable with it- he always was a sucker for physical affection. Milo plays with his hair as it's in reach while Tasha leans on the arm of the chair, cleaning her weapon in the dark. Milo pauses to turn the movie's volume up because Leo's crunching is a bit too loud. He offers you some and you decline, figuring candy doesn't sound the best after such a big battle. Milo has some chocolate milk at the ready, he claims it's great after exercising, just not before.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The next day, You, Milo and Tasha were sitting in the living room when Leo barged in, accounting that there was a SquidRacer tourney starting soon and drop-ins were allowed. He already had half his arm in his hoodie sleeve when Milo spoke up, saying he needed to be home while he made the family's meals for the day, saying they'd take a long time because they were intricate.

"I'm fine goin' on my own!! I'll kick ass, don't you worry!"

Milo offered you a slightly concerned look, and you asked Leo if you could go with, to which he surprisingly seemed excited about your offer. You slowly put on some proper clothes while Leo impatiently waited in the doorway. Before you could leave, Milo handed you a bag with drinks and snacks, paired with a smile and wink.

Leo did well in his first round, but there were a surprising number of people that wanted to join. Which meant lots of downtime between games, which led to you two chit-chatting and snacking while watching and "analyzing' (as Leo called it-he really just sat with a smile on his face) the other players.

"Sooo what's your favorite game?"

You thought for a moment- you didn't really have an answer since- y'know, you were kind of... in it.

"I don't exactly have one, what's yours?"

Now that got him talking. He went on and on about this game called Super Squid Bros 3. Gesturing with his hands often.

"Yeah! I had lots of time to play toooons of games as a kid! It was pretty nice!"

Oh? Did he grow up rich or something? Not to sound rude but... he didn't really give off those vibes. Or maybe you just couldn't get emperor out of your head. Prince in nothing like him either.

"We kept all our gaming consoles from family members, and dad's consoles were always my favorite! Mostly Nintendo stuff. I miss the days where I'd sit and get a buncha one-ups for him while he'd go make himself a coffee."

He toyed with the buttons of the controller that he brought himself.

"Dad wasn't around lots, but he sure was fun when he was! He taught me how to play, and I took his skills and multiplied em' by twenty!"

Hah, that seemed excessive. But that makes some more sense now.

"You don't have any siblings?" He really did cross you as a younger sibling type.

"Nahh- wouldn't've had any time to play if I had any older siblings I figure, y'know? But I did have this real close friend who was like a brother to me! His name was Zack, miss the guy. He stayed back home."

It was soon his time to battle again, and you cheered him on. His 'backstory' wasn't all that surprising for how he seemed- his personality and all. You're glad he grew up being able to find a favorite hobby so easily. He's also great at bringing people together and making friends, which is quite a skill.

You look over to him, who's chatting it up with his opponent. It seems friendly- the both of them are giggling at something he said. The opponent points at his controller and you see their lips move, and he gets all starry-eyed. It's cute, really.

As expected, he gets into first place. You two fistbump as you walk by each other, you heading to take his seat to play your following match. A well- aimed green shell at the last second lands you in first as well on the third lap, making you let out a short sigh of relief. Of course you'd love to battle Leo- it's only right.

You hear Leo on the phone, and he's giving you a not-very-patient look. He swiftly hands you the phone as Milo says hello. He was just calling to say that dinner was almost ready, and he was wondering if you guys would be back soon. If not, he could put your guys' stuff in the oven a bit later. He wasn't expecting you guys to be this long, but this is "much more important" Leo claims. It doesn't take long before you're facing off in the finals against Leo and two others.

The first two rounds he's much ahead of the other racers, you on his tail the whole time to give him a false sense of confidence. On the third lap, green shell in hand, you hesitate for a moment. You quickly glance over at how excited Leo seems, and that childlike enthusiasm convinces you to miss the shot on purpose, allowing him a close win.

You sigh with a shake of your head and smile on your face as you lift his hand up to proclaim the winner.

.

.

.

Feb.28.24

Next Part

[theviolenttomboy]

The discussion about Alphadream tends to talk about how Nintendo didn't pay the company enough and/or bail them out of their debt. Alphadream, an independent studio, made their main bread and butter via making a game for an IP they didn't own. Their only other games were liscensed Hamtaro ones, and a very small scale RPG that didn't leave Japan. Unless Nintendo commissioned them to make the game, they likely had to pay Nintendo the licensing fee for permission to use the Mario characters, and factor that into the budget. Third parties didn't pay Nintendo to get their characters into Smash. Nintendo had to pay them, and a giant chunk of Smash Ultimate's budget was just covering the licensing fees.

Had Nintendo covered the budget, they'd be entitled to a bigger chunk, if not all, of the profits. Plus more control over the dev process.

That said, the license does seem to grant the licensees certain freedoms as well. Nintendo couldn't make any calls over the live-action Mario movie, much to their horror (and for the animated movie they covered half the budget so they could). Nintendo advised Ubisoft to hold off on a Mario + Rabbids sequel until the Switch's sucessor, but Ubisoft still went ahead and released a new game on the Switch anyways. (The Rabbids games are also the only Mario games that frequently go on sale.) Nintendo likely couldn't stop Alphadream from making that 3DS Inside Story remake two years into the Switch's lifespan either.

After Inside Story's release, Alphadream in an interview admitted that they didn't have the time, budget, and know-how to make an HD game. Nintendo afterwards attempted to train them on the job and keep them alive longer by hiring them as support for a Mario and Sonic Olympic game, but it wasn't enough.

Not going into much detail here but I did check around a bunch of youtube essays, interviews, news reports, tweets, reddit posts, and whatnot. Between probably going way overbudget for Dream Team, possibly having to pay a massive fine for labor violations (!), each new 3DS game selling less than their predecessor, overhiring for a Sony project that ended up getting dropped...yeah, there was no way they were going to admit to Nintendo how fucked in the debt hole they ended up getting into until they were too far gone. And after that they had nothing to offer up but that debt had Nintendo acquired them.

[puppyluver256]

“I'm one of Team Galactic's three Commanders. ...No, wait. That's one of four Commanders. My name is Mars! We've been trying to create a new world that's better than this one... But people have shown little understanding about what we do. You don't understand either, do you? It's a little saddening... So, let's have a battle to decide what we should do next. If I win, you leave. If you win, we, Team Galactic, will leave!”

More Sinnoh with our first look at the villain team! Mars is kind of a bitch, yeah? Cool design, but yeah, kind of a bitch. Then again, a lot of the lady villains in Pokemon are kinda bitchy at times, hehe.

💖🐶 Check out my pinned post for ways to support my artwork, among other things! 🐶💖

~Feedback helps to motivate my work, so let me know what you think! The best way to do that is via reblogs (both through tags and comments added onto the posts), but replies are great too! If you don’t have anything specific to say but still enjoy the art, a like is very much appreciated!~

Mars, Purugly and other Pokemon concepts © Nintendo/GameFreak Artwork © PuppyLuver Studios

[dr-spectre]

not sure if this has been asked already, but what started your interest in Splatoon? i'm always curious to know people's reasonings for how they got into something.

Oh man...... It goes ALLLLL the way back to the very first announcement trailer for me.

You gotta understand, I've been a Nintendo fan since i was a wee lad when i got a Wii and DS for Christmas, i played through most of the heavy hitters and i had so much fun with that small white box and clamshell handheld.

During the mid 2010s i was all about keeping up with the latest gaming news and watching youtubers like Etika (rest in peace....) and so, when i watched the 2014 e3, and i see this orange goop and a squid swimming around, i go "oh is this Mario Sunshine 2?!?" And then this squid becomes a human like creature and it starts firing a gun, i go "what the heck is this?"

And then i saw people say how it's a brand new Nintendo IP and the last one they did was Pikmin, i go "OH! NOW YOU HAVE MY ATTENTION!"

However i didn't have a Wii U when it was the latest console so i couldn't play the game.... But i did watch youtube videos about it and i talked to my friend about it at school who was really into Nintendo like me. I missed out on all of Splatfests and i really didn't care about the Squid Sisters either.

But.... come 2017 and my dad comes home on Christmas with a Nintendo Switch... And then on my birthday a while later, i finally got Splatoon 2 and.... i couldn't stop playing it. It was so DAMN FUN! I played through the hero mode on a trip and that was a blast too! Playing Octo Expansion on release night and beating it is something i will never forget.

And then i started to look more at the characters, and sure my teenage brain saw them in a..... ahem.... different light.... compared to how i see them now but. I really did fall in love with these characters and i adored the music. I was there for the Final Fest and i chose Team Chaos because fucking Etika was gonna pick it lmao..... If only he was still around to see what the series would become.....

And then Splatoon 3 was announced and i kept thinking "man why are they making a Splatoon 3? It's way too soon." But then those thoughts were quickly destroyed by playing the world premiere and ROTM, and i thought "Yeah.... this is peak."

However.... my Splatoon brainrot got REALL intense and what it is today when in September of last year, i went in Alterna to activate the Sheldon drone and.... i just looked at Callie. Something in that moment sparked a fire in my brain and now.... i fucking ramble about her in nearly every post i make and defending her LOL! I became so fixated on her and the rest of the characters, it became so bad that sometimes i would get a tightness in my chest if people mentioned her in Splatoon 2. IT GOT THAT BAD! I spent so much money on plushies and amiibo too...... I nearly got teary eyed when i held my Callie plushie once it finally arrived.....

I'm sorry if this was a lot to read but, i just really adore this series and my obsession with it is multi-parted. I FUCKING LOVE SPLATOON!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THE SQUID SISTERS!!!! OFF THE HOOK! DEEP CUT!!!!!! ALL OF THOSE BASTARDS!!!!!!! THEY'VE RUINED MY BRAIN CHEMISTRY! Callie is a gremlin living in my brain and she refuses to leave! SHE WON'T GET OUT!!!!!!!

[jsuika]

JUST FOUND YOUR BLOG AND I LOVE YOUR ART!!!!

Your line art is so smooth and the colors too! How are u underrated

Thanks :]]

Actually I remember doing thick linearts before to make it look like y2k bubbly styled and I was thinking of going back again since I wanted to make logos or icons like this one:

These ig were just a lil practice if someday I'll be making one (or more of these). Also this is just an example btw, these are artist-made game icons. Imo, if it were me to be commissioned to design one or if I was assigned by a game dev, then most likely its gonna look like something that y'all won't know who did that thing lol.

Besides, I'm pretty sure a lot of people were inspired by my artstyle. 😭 Also in case you guys don't know what these are, I'll show you guys mine. (NOTE: You can still check on archive, I don't mind though-)

Examples of my artworks with thick lineart:

The first one was Hatsune Miku fanart

I kinda remember drawing this back in the day since 2023, the sketch version (on my other sketchpad) was discontinued. Supposed to finish it but, sadly I gave up because the hair was something that reminded me of an Inkling from Splatoon (rarely I noticed the first miku fanart also reminded me too lmao).

I wish I'd do this again hopefully if I could use my artstyle, then yeah. Watch here if you want to see the speedpaint :3 : https://youtu.be/sRE3-snDGkM?si=op3tISbGFTjLCcdB

Next one is Bomb Rush Cyberfunk fanart

Okay LISTEN, I may not be good at anatomy but might as well tried especially RED's head. For the BG, I only duplicated the character + added a screenshot/fakescreenshot/whatever, to make it look related to both y2k & frutiger aero (same applies to Hatsune Miku).

Nothing to say much but I've been thinking of making more character concept arts in the future & maybe work on shoes since they look a bit too complicated much.

Overall, I'd say it isn't bad. I'll just leave as it is for now (until some BRC fan shows up and sees this).

Last but not the least, my very first artist-made album cover

I remembered drawing this for future use if I ever find a music composer either if they can do DnB, game soundtrack or whatever but it slightly depends on them. Also shout out to Lxchee Music! They're the ones who compose music like these. They even commented on my speedpaint video!!! (after using their songs lol).

Such a shame that I am limited to drawing only however, I wish I also was a composer of this whooooooole album then everyone's gonna listen to my bangers. One time I used to make music in Beepbox.co (a website where you can compose there).

There are some music-composing softwares that most people use for their game making & also songs. I wish I'd even use FL studio or other music-composing. Reminds me, I also have one friend who makes music (unrelated to dnb or any genre) using accordian & any other instruments that he uses. I swear, he is so good in composing Nintendo Orchestra-music related I can tell.

Conclusion

No worries though, I didn't say I hate using thick lineart but its sometimes too much for the anatomy still and might not fit pretty well. I can still do another one hopefully just to focus on more y2k aesthetic. But if it were me to learn anatomy, might as well use thin lineart and just increase to make it look like there is perspective on it.

Anyways, ig this might be a long one but I do hope you understand what I mean-