#I don't know if people would like all of chapter 1 in little installments or just want random excerpts. Feel free to tell me!

[bbcphile]

WIP Wednesday: Part 3

As promised, here's the opening of Di Feisheng's section of Chapter 1 of the AU where Li Lianhua's shiniang tried and failed to sacrifice herself to save him. (To catch up, read part 1 (LLH) and part 2 (FDB) here).

And, uh, sorry about the cliffhanger?

Tw/cw: suicide attempt, medical emergency

***

Di Feisheng dropped to his knees behind Xiangyi, catching him against his chest rather than the ground as he fell. He snatched Xiangyi’s wrist–veins bulging and black, damn it–and felt for a pulse. Faint. Erratic. Still poisoned by Bicha. Completely emptied of Yangzhouman. Where the fuck was the Beifeng Baiyang he’d given him? Why couldn’t he feel it? How the–

“–Lao Di,” Fang Duobing wailed, “he was walking toward the water! He–”

“–Shut up,” he snapped, sending a wisp of his own qi through Xiangyi’s meridians. Or what was left of them. He bit back a growl. They were too damaged for his qi to travel with the sort of speed he needed to evaluate this. He didn’t have time to do full triage, not while Xiangyi’s pulse was getting fainter by the second. He’d start with the heart meridian then; that would be the best way to stabilize–

–why the fuck was his heart meridian shredded? Who had dared to–

–no, damn it, he had to focus. There would be time to rage later.

He had to repair it. But Xiangyi didn’t have the Yangzhouman for it, and the remnants Xiangyi had given him wouldn’t be enough. Could the brat–

“–Get out of the way,” Fang Duobing sobbed, shoving him and thrusting two shaking fingers toward Xiangyi’s chest, the force of his qi rippling the air. “I’ll do it.”

“No,” Di Feisheng snarled, hand flying from Xiangyi’s waist to smack the brat’s away before it would destroy whatever was left of his fragile meridians, “you’ll kill him.” 

“Bullshit!” the pup yelled, as Huli Jing began to howl at equal volume, “I’ve healed him before! Let me help!” The brat’s qi spiked and the sand around them rippled.

Oh for the love of– he didn’t have time to explain this and save Xiangyi. What the hell had the great sword God been teaching this whelp? Xiangyi, if you die, I’ll kill you myself.

He unclenched his jaw against the noise. “You want to help?” he gritted out, each word like knives against his tongue and ears. “Calm your qi. Stay quiet. And keep the mutt quiet, too.” 

“You–”

–Healing the heart meridian now was out, until that ignorant pup could keep a tighter leash on his qi. He’d have to work on the heart directly. 

Di Feisheng pressed his hand over Xiangyi’s chest, closed his eyes, and directed the faintest hint of his Beifeng Baichang to surround Xiangyi’s heart, ready to observe and mimic its movement, as he would any new sword form.

It wrapped around his heart in an embrace. 

Xiangyi’s heart gave one erratic flutter. 

A pause.

A second, weaker thrum against his qi.

Then nothing at all.

[thatacotargirl]

The Daughter of Day (1)

My third and final active fanfiction is here! This is The Daughter of Day, a series exploring a new Court and a triad, because why not!

I hope you enjoy this introductory chapter - and keep your eyes peeled for the next instalment 🌟

This story is set after A Court of Silver Flames.

My inbox remains open for oneshot/imagine requests.

A Reader x Feysand Fanfiction

🎶 "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine - you make me happy, when skies are grey - you'll never know, dear, how much I love you - please don't take, my sunshine, away" 🎶

Helion held his newborn daughter, bundled in his arms in a yellow blanket, as he swayed gently around the nursery. He had had no intentions of becoming a father anytime soon, but when the baby's mother arrived at his doorsteps, he had fallen in love on the spot - those chubby cheeks and shining round eyes that peered out at him had captured his heart and soul.

Now, he couldn't imagine life without her.

Placing his daughter into her bassinet, watching her sweet eyes grow heavy and blinking, he set her floating celestial mobile to turn and tucked her in. Stroking her cheek as he watched her slowly fall asleep, he vowed to love and protect her for always. She would want for nothing in this life, he would make sure of that.

25 years later - Reader POV

"Y/n, are you ready?"

You can hear your father calling out to you, interrupting your reading. Grumbling, you grab your bookmark and note the page, before setting it down on the coffee table. The middle of a chapter. The worst place to stop reading.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming".

As you exit the sitting room and join your father's side, you see the look he gives you in response to your attitude. His eyebrow still raised, he stays silent as he opens the front door and gestures for you to leave the palace. You walk ahead of him and towards Xalan, your pegasus. Your father had gifted you Xalan on your 10th birthday and the pair of you were thick as thieves; much to his horror. You had Xalan wrapped around your little finger and often got yourselves into all sorts of trouble that Helion would have to rescue you both from. One time, you'd ended up in Thesan's bedroom in the middle of the night - and nearly gave the High Lord a heart attack before Helion was able to arrive and scoop you away, profusely apologising. He still apologises every time he sees Thesan for the embarrassment.

You mount Xalan and wait for your father to join with Meallan. Once you are both comfortable, he gestures for you both to take flight.

"This is a diplomatic meeting, y/n, so you have to be on your best behaviour. You are the heir to the Day Court, which means you represent the Court and me".

You don't reply. There's no need to, really. You will sit demurely and smile, speak when spoken to, and daydream otherwise of what life could offer you if you could just break free.

You had everything you could possibly want at the Day Court, your father made sure of that. But it didn't quench the desire in you to explore and see new horizons. 25 years in the confines of Day, only being able to satisfy your curiosity of Prythian by reading historical literature, was really taking its toll. You didn't mean to start acting out, but the boredom was driving you insane.

As you begin your descent into Velaris, the Night Court's City of Starlight, you can't help but notice the colours. The Sidra, the river running through the city, looked like it contained iridescent starlight. Flowers bloomed in deep blues and purples in people's front gardens. The mountain ranges in the distance seem to sparkle even in the daytime. You can hear people bustling about the streets, happy chatting and laughter fill the air.

Landing with a gentle thud before a riverfront house, you carefully guide Xalan to a stop and follow your father to a grassy sideline where the pair can graze happily. Once both pegasus' are settled, you watch your father round to the door and knock heavily.

"Helion, welcome!" comes a booming voice as the door swings wide open.

"A pleasure as always, Rhysand".

You see your father embrace the High Lord of Night as you stand behind, awkwardly. As Rhysand pulls away, he looks behind Helion to see you standing there. Helion notices Rhysand's wide eyes and turns to introduce you.

"Rhysand, this is my daughter, y/n. I thought it was time she learn the ways of the business, since she will one day take over from me after all", he laughs, guiding me to stand in front of him. Rhysand kindly takes my hand in his, shaking it gently.

"Welcome to Velaris, y/n". He smiles at you with kind eyes, which you return, before shyly pulling your hand away and tucking it behind your back.

"Helion, I had no idea you had a daughter?"

"Yes, well, I tried to keep her out of the spotlight to let her have a normal childhood; but she was getting restless in Day".

So he had noticed.

"Do come in, both of you".

Rhysand opened the door wider and moved, allowing you both passage into his home. You noticed the paintings that adorned the hallway, stopping at one in particular. It was one of your father, in the midst of the war 45 years ago, wielding his Spell-Cleaving powers with Hybern's army visibly falling in the distance. You had read about your father's role in the war, but only through reading the history books in his library. He never spoke of it, no matter how often you asked.

"Remarkable, isn't it? Feyre, my mate, painted this from a memory of your father during the war. He was a force to be reckoned with, took down nearly half the army on his own".

You turned to Rhysand with a gasp.

"Really?"

He looked at you, his face shrouded with confusion.

"He was formidable, y/n. Really, Prythian wouldn't be standing if it wasn't for him".

You turn back to gaze at the portrait, lost in thought. If your father had powers strong enough to single-handedly take down half an army, what could yours do with the right training? Helion was reluctant to let you do more than basic healing spells, worried that you would accidentally hurt yourself with your powers if left to your own devices. You could feel the power in you, strumming through your fingertips, begging to be wielded.

"Y/n?".

You turn and see your father standing in the doorway, silently beckoning for you to join him in the office. You sigh, thoughts of powers ebbing away, as you join him to discuss peace-making treaties with the mortal lands.

After you had been introduced to the rest of the Night Court, and they had gotten over the shock of Helion's 25-year-old daughter making a sudden appearance, the meeting carried on as normal. You mind wandered often, to the streets outside of the house, to the painting of your father and the power you could feel exuding from it, and you could feel yourself getting restless.

When the meeting was finally finished and you and your father had began the flight home, you couldn't help but wonder what your life would be like if you left the nest of the Day Court. And, as you watched Xalan in flight, his wings outspread through the sky - you realised it was time to spread your own.

"Father".

"Yes, sunshine?"

"I'd like to take a trip".

"Where would you like to go, my love? We could visit the continent, if you'd like?".

"A trip on my own, dad".

You can feel your father's gaze piercing you, but you refused to look up and meet his eyes.

"On your own?"

"I'm suffocating, dad. I need to live a little. Please. Just for a few weeks, just some distance from Day, so I can learn and explore and have fun like any other 25-year-old".

"But you're not any other 25-year-old, you're heir to the Day Court. You are a target".

"Then let me go somewhere where I'm not a target, where I can be protected. Please, dad".

You can feel your eyes pricking with tears, and not from the blowing wind. Your head is still bowed, but you know your father can sense them, can sense your heartache. He remains silent for a few minutes.

"I can, perhaps, ask Rhysand if he would grant you permission to stay in Velaris for a short while".

"Please, dad. Anything".

You meet his gaze and can see the pain in his face. His heart torn between keep you safe, but keeping his promise to you to want for nothing. And, it was becoming more obvious to him now, that what you wanted was to leave.

"Ok. I hear you. I will send a request to Rhysand when we are home".

[kaisaniku]

I finally finished the second chapter of this doodle comic!

Basically from a translation machine:

It's called notes, but it's really bullshit time:

(I didn't put any asterisks in the "text" in order to make the picture cleaner and not make this little comic seem too serious)

①WX says that their body "doesn't have any of those really advanced things" and that "the concept is just bionic", which might make you wonder how WX can agree with their own shortcomings when they are always been so confident in their own machine body. This is kind of a guess: WX's comments in the wiki about Wagstaff being "afraid of progress" and "short-sighted", combined with WX's usual machine-worshiping and violent tendencies, such as their comments about Maxwell "He has that kind of power but he doesn't go out and destroy human". So it's an offense to them, but they actually agree that even though they claim to be superior, I guess WX would like to see their bodies more advanced and even more radical.

② Yes, this WX has acceleration circuits installed.

③ Gnome get✓ Do you guys remember the line where WX checks the Gnome

④ "You're not as kind as you look", how should I put this one, because the Wilson I understand is more or less with a little bit of darkness in his mind, he's someone who is full of emotions but often restrains them with reason, he fears and hates the negative impulses and instincts within himself. And this trait I think probably comes from his good nature, his education and survival experiences and the influence of the Shadow Throne. (But honestly after suffering in CONSTANT for so long, it's normal for whoever it is to be a little psychologically unhinged, not to mention the SANITY setting.) And after WX's soulwalking, they easily have some "psychic empathy" with Wilson... ...... Well, how did that happen Wilson?

⑤ Well I know the reasoning of the empathy module episode is weird ...... In fact, it's mainly because when I drew this plot I didn't have a good understanding of the empathy module, and simply thought of it as something like "emotional deficiency", so this episode was supposed to be Wilson saying "why do I still feel emotional ups and downs blabla" and then WX explaining that it's because of "memories of emotional experiences", which would have made a lot more sense.

⑥I guess it's my own personal setting: although the game doesn't make a distinction, I don't think WX as a robot would have a "headache and blurred vision due to lack of sanity". The system will be affected, sure, but the physiology won't necessarily feel it. It's hard to go from luxury to frugality, and since there is no experience in the eternal realm in the human era, WX can't adapt to the negative impacts of sanity reduction at all.

⑦Wilson's curiosity and desire to explore and then equipped with WX's hardware strength is simply ON FIRE. and "adapting to the human body so quickly" this conclusion mainly comes from the last chapter when the two people just transformed the body, Wilson's side is very difficult, while the WX on the contrary, it seems to be very easy. Even when they suddenly possessed internal organs, blood, light weight and so on, there was no adverse reaction. Wilson, who loves to observe, has always had suspicions (sorry however I didn't draw this clue out)

⑧ on the one hand, just learned a shocking secret, excited and energetic Wilson, on the other hand is the history of the exposure, and is also experiencing unprecedented headache WX. so the two temperament is not quite the same as usual.

⑨ "Wiped of most of their human memories" from the game's credits: "Suddenly recalling the memories of his past life, WX-78 soon decides to change his fate on his own."

⑩ Those of you who have fought Shadow creatures online might know that the only way a teammate's Shadow creature will have hatred for you is if you've forcibly attacked them. What happened here is that WX forced an attack on Wilson's Shadow Creature (except that Wilson was still relying on his headache of empirical judgment and didn't realize that his SANITY was too low), and then WX's own shadow creatures that were looming all showed up as well, which is why it became so much more. I don't have a very comprehensive understanding of this mechanic online though, and it doesn't seem to be very rigorous, so that's probably what it is anyway.

I accidentally added a lot more, mainly because of the limited ability to express the drawing ... Hope you enjoy!

[hurpdurpburps]

Otherside Picnic Manga Yuri Club Special Story 1 English Translation

It has recently come to my attention that Japanese animanga merch store Gamers (ゲーマーズ)'s Yuri Club (百合部) benefits programme's publication of the OP manga series come with an exclusive bonus short story for every volume (not the same as the Kozakura POV shorts).

Since I haven't come across any English translations of these bonus stories online, and they seem unlikely to receive official English licensing, I've decided to translate them myself and share them with the internet.

You can check out the official Yuri Club website if you wish to find out more (Japanese-only).

-

SPOILER WARNING: Takes place immediately before the events of File 3 - Station February in Vol 1 of the novels.

Written by: Miyazawa Iori

Translated by: @hurpdurpburps

-

Chapter 1: Shinjuku, The First Meet-Up

As it was my first time meeting up with someone in Shinjuku, I asked about where we should meet.

A message saying "I don't know, I'm not very familiar with Shinjuku," returned in response.

What an unreliable woman. You’re the one who insisted on having an afterparty…

I was glaring at the screen of my smartphone when the next message appeared along with a goofy pop-up sound effect. "You can pick a spot, Sorawo."

You’re not supposed to say "You can pick a spot". Shouldn’t you be saying "Could you pick a spot, please?" [1]

Oh, whatever. She helped me out when we encountered Hasshaku-sama the other day, so I'll pick a meeting place as a way of returning the favour…

After consulting the internet, I decided for us to meet at 4.30pm in front of an installation called "The Eye of Shinjuku". From there, we would make our way to the commercial district along the West Exit of the station and pick a restaurant at random.

It's going to be early Friday evening, so it shouldn't get too crowded yet… Is that too optimistic of me? No, I'm sure it'll be fine. This is Tokyo, there are lots of shops, I’m sure it’ll work out somehow.

With excessive trust in Tokyo's crowd capacity that was typical of someone from the countryside, I informed Toriko of the meeting place.

The next evening. The station's layout was more complicated than I thought, so I got a little lost. I cut through the underground hurriedly and finally arrived at my destination five minutes late. Toriko, who was leaning against “The Eye of Shinjuku' - a shining eye-shaped object against a black stone wall, waved as soon as she saw me.

Toriko stood out, so she'd caught my eye before `"The Eye of Shinjuku" did, which was supposed to have been the focal point of attention. Perhaps we might have been able to catch each other anyway if I’d gotten Toriko to stand at a random location.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

"No, it's okay. I just got here." [2]

"When did you actually arrive?"

"About fifteen minutes ago, I think."

"�� That's a little early?"

"I was looking forward to it!"

Toriko was in a good mood despite having been kept waiting, and looked like she was about to start hopping around.

"Let's hurry up. I haven't eaten anything since I woke up, so I'm really hungry."

"Fine, fine. Well, um… I guess it’s this way."

Together with Toriko, I started walking towards the West Exit.

"By the way, why did you choose this side of the station? Isn't the East Exit side more bustling?"

"Well, that side seems a little scary… Isn't Kabukicho or whatever over there?"

"Yeah. Haven't you been there?"

"Absolutely not. Isn't it scary?"

"No it’s not. There’s lots of stuff over there, like a movie theatre. It's annoying when people call out to you when you're alone, though."

"It's scary after all."

"It'll be fine, I’m with you. Wanna head over there now?"

"Nope, I’m good. Maybe next time if I feel like it." [3]

As we engaged in frivolous conversation, I was suddenly struck by a strange feeling. Meeting up with a friend to go drinking made me feel like an ordinary college student. I wasn’t planning on going to the Otherside today, had a surplus of cash in my pocket, and I didn't have my gun with me either.

So even I can do something like that…

As I indulged myself in the sentiment, I walked side-by-side with Toriko through the streets of Shinjuku, where bars were starting to open for business.

TL Notes

General note: I adopted a more 'literary' prose style to match the tone of the novels. Hence, the translation in this series will be significantly more liberal than my usual analytical posts. Feel free to ask me anything. Feedback regarding translation accuracy is also welcome.

[1] The original Japanese here says 決めていいよじゃないよ。決めていただけませんか、じゃないの？

TLDR Sorawo is just being petty and griping about Toriko's not using formal/polite language for what was essentially a request/favour while not having the 'moral high ground' so to speak.

[2] More of a cultural note than a translation one. These two lines are something of a standard greeting for scenes depicting a (new-ish) couple going on a date.

And also throwback!!!! To their conversation at Shosen Grande when Sorawo was waiting for Toriko before their second trip to the Otherside in Vol 1 (File 2 - Hasshaku-sama survival).

“Did I keep you waiting?” “Fifteen minutes.” “Isn’t this where you’re supposed to say, ‘I just got here’?” “Did you think this was a date or something?” I said curtly, heading outside without listening to her response.

Gotta love how Sorawo just punched through social niceties and interrogated Toriko about the truth. But more importantly she didn't call out Toriko again on the date-ish line lol.

[3] Vol 5 foreshadowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 'Nuff said.

List of Yuri Club's Otherside Picnic Short Stories [my translations]:

1. Shinjuku, The First Meet-Up (新宿、初めての待ち合わせ)

2. Hasshaku-sama Epilogue (八尺様エピローグ)

3. Ochanomizu, The First Afterparty (お茶の水、初めての打ち上げ)

4. Ikebukuro, Cafe Meal For One (池袋、ひとりカフェ飯)

5. Naha, After The Big Job (那覇、大仕事の後)

6. Ishigaki Island, A Dazed Vacation (石垣島、呆然のリゾート)

7. Mercedes AMG, The Backseat (メルセデスAMG、後部座席)

8. Otherworldly Elevator, On The Way Back (異世界エレベーター、帰路)

9. Kozakura Mansion, Pizza Party (小桜屋敷、ピザパーティー)

10. TBD

11. TBD

[usamamoweek]

UsaMamo Week 2024 - Master Post

Thank you to everyone who participated, reblogged, commented, liked and gave kudos. Thank you to everyone who was a beta / cheerleader behind the scenes. It was so great to see creativity from the community. (And don't forget about our "Meet the Creators" series, to learn a little more about people in this fandom)

To make sure none of the amazing works that have been created for this UsaMamo Week have been missed, we have compiled them all into this master post (in alphabetical order by the creator):

Stories:

@caelenath:

A Prince Comes Home - Contribution for Day 2 of @usamamoweek 2024, "Meet the Parents", is a companion piece to On This Day, a Prince Was Born, and also subtly references All the King's Children.

Day 3 - Inspired by a Song - Summary: Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?

Day 5 - Stargazing - Serenity and Endymion spend some time beneath the night sky.

@chocolaspring:

A Late Gift - In the midst of a thunderstorm, Mamoru clears the skies for Usagi. Usagi gives him a present.

Her Husband, the Coffee Addict - Usagi writhes under the exhaustive heat wave, and bemoans both the heat and the potential of Mamoru giving himself heat stroke over coffee.

In The Star That We Both Share (Look For Me, I Will Be There) - "After many long, long years…and in the interim of many long years that may yet to come… They're still together, and will forever remain so."

Priceless - Mamoru watches Usagi after giving her a new piece of jewelry, and thinks of the priceless nature of her presence in his life.

Tea, Toast, and Second Chances - Meet the parents prompt story for Mamoru, his parents and his "secret" boyfriend

The Split Meaning of Compound Words - "The Great Outdoors (but barely, blink and you will miss it) / Lifeguard"

When I First Saw You - "It was funny, in an ironic sort of way, that Usagi's first glance as Masked Lady's bare face would be at a masquerade ball."

@daikon1 - Like I Like My Coffee

In a scalding heatwave, for once Usagi has something to teach Mamoru.

@goddessalthena:

Day 3/6 Inspired by a Song / Coffee - "Mamoru wants a cup of coffee."

First Glance - Aged up, Friends to lovers UsaMamo Non-Senshi AU told in a series of snapshots. Part 1

Second Chance - Aged up, Friends to lovers UsaMamo Non-Senshi AU told in a series of snapshots. Part 2

Free Day - Aged up, Friends to lovers UsaMamo Non-Senshi AU told in a series of snapshots. Part 3

@lilliebellfanfics:

Free Day - Secrets AU Chapter 1 - Check out how the the story starts. You can read previous snippets HERE

Masquerade - SilMill masquerade flash fic

UsaMamoWeek - Coffee - The first morning after Usagi moves in. She's brought her clothes, her makeup, and a very interesting assortment of coffee mugs.

UsaMamoweek, Day 3 - "Raw, unedited, unhinged break up arc one shot based on Olivia Rodrigo's Bad Idea Right? 😂"

UsaMamoWeek - Meet the Parents - It's the start of the Tsukinos family traditions and the first competition for Team UsaMamo. With perfect Mamoru at her side, Usagi is certain she will win. As long as no sees through their rouse.

@master-ray5:

Innocent Royal Affairs - Chapter 3: The King's (Chibi) Crisis - Latest installment in the series

Sheltering In A Love Hotel - Mamoru just wanted to do a favor for a friend but one thing led to another and he finds himself alone with Usagi in a love hotel.

@riverlethe - The Way We Was (Chapter 1)

"We know how Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion's relationship ends. Let's see how it began."

Art:

@iiyasbssmdoodles - Masquerade

Images / Moodboards:

@random-mailbox - Day 1 - Masquerade, Day 2 - Meet the Parents, Day 2 - Second Chances, Day 3 - Inspired by a song, Day 4 - Free Day (Road trip), Day 5 - Stargazing , Day 5 - Thunderstorm, Day 6 - Coffee, Day 7 - Great Outdoors Day 7 - Lifeguard

[dayseedrawz2]

This is gonna be in my drafts until I at least get out every design for [Ring-Misstress] so Idk how much time I got-

So yeah I decided that I'm gonna write this AU in chapters so that it makes more sense when I make content about it, and yall can ask about it ig-

This all takes place after the events of the real series (that of which we have yet to see, so anything different can just be part of an alternate timeline)

Without further ado... Let's get to it!!

[R-M Chapter 1: The Relaunch]

Dialog guide:

Narration

*Perfoming an action*

"Thinking"

Pomni

•Caine•

°○Bubble○°

◆Ragatha◆

Jax

~Gangle~

Kinger

Zooble

Flinally!! After what felt like forever!!! With help from the others, Pomni and Caine found something groundbreaking!! The Games source code! Mostly, everyone was there to look for the exit, but they ended up finding something else...

*sigh* There's nothing here... can we go back now??

Yeah, honestly, this was a complete waste of time...

◆Come on now, guys! I'm sure they know what they're doing!◆

~Wait, look! They're back out!!~

*Pomni and Caine exit a jumble of One's and Zero's*

It's not much, but I think we found something!! But... I'm just not sure what it is... *She hands a small glitching object to Caine*

•Huh... It's... it's a developer's note! I haven't come across one of these in a while!•

Wait, what!?

Oh dang, that's right, it forgot this was even a video game-

~What's it say??~

*Silence fell as Caine read the text out loud*

•Let's see... "With the noticeable decrease in 'Bugged characters', the game should be ready for relaunch soon!" Oh...•

What... does "Oh" mean..?

•...huh? Oh yes! Uh, you all know how we have a designated place for Abstractions so that they don't destroy the place... and you?? How you have helped prevent some altogether?•

Yes..?

•Well I only implemented it after people stopped working on this game. They still think the game is okay to publish!!•

And? This is great news!! People play the game, realize we are stuck in here, and then we get help!! What are you yapping about??

•That's the thing- If more people, who for one are mostly children, come across this, they won't be able to help, and if worse come to worse, get trapped with us!•

◆oh... oh my, that does sound awful...◆

•Normally I'd be ecstatic, but I don't think it would be good if that many more people got trapped at once... let alone kids...•

Gee, missing kids in a video game. How tragic...

~Hey!~

•Wait, there's something else on here to- a "debugging code??"•

Did someone say something about Bugs??

•No, far from it... hey... this is a copy of the code for my "Ringmaster powers!" Interesting...•

Really? That's what you call em??

•Why yes!! What else could they be?? Anyways... now what do we do about this approaching situation of ours...•

Well, we're not just gonna have a ton more people in here being watched by one incompetent AI!

•... You're absolutely right, Pomni dear! Your little remark had given me an idea that might just work! Now... just how does one copy this...•

To be continued...

[Yippee, finally!! Part 1 done!!]

The second part is right here! (As well as the link to Caine and Pomnis blogs!):

[fischerfrey]

A Christmas Prince; The Royal Wedding

Chapter 1: Back to Alderly

Summary: It's been a year since Dawn helped Quincey keep his throne. Now the pair's wedding is fast approaching, but unrest is stirring both in Alderly and in the personal lives of our heroes...

A/N: The second installment in the movie trilogy makes even less sense plot-wise than the first but Annie and I wanted to try our hand in this anyway. I expect this one will be a little shorter than the first fic was, because I'm cutting the stupidest parts from the movie script entirely, lol.

Words: 3k

Characters:

Dawn and Evan Harvelle @potionboy3

Quincey, Olympia, and Isabella Alderly

Tess Brandon

Lainey Bell by @gcldensnitch

Beginning | Next Chapter

Want to read the first fic in the series, A Christmas Prince? Click here!

Chapter 1: Back to Alderly 

Dawn’s Blog, December 15th 

Post title: Big Event! 

Dear all,   It's been three hundred forty-nine days, eleven hours, twenty-three minutes, and seven seconds since I said “yes” to the love of my life, Quentin Christian Alexander, King of Alderly. But who's counting? Other than me and millions of people around the world. Needless to say, it's been a whirlwind year. There's been a lot of back and forth between Bristol and Alderly. The long-distance engagement hasn't always been easy, but it's always been interesting. Somehow through all this insanity, I'm still me. Even though I'm about to become royalty of a small country.  Thank you for all your love and support this past year. Sharing my writing with all of you means more than you'll ever know. I promise to keep you posted on all my adventures to come, especially our wedding on Christmas day in Alderly. 

“What’s with the sunglasses?” asked Evan Harvelle when he, Dawn, and Dawn’s aunt Teresa exited the airport.  

“We’re in disguise, dad,” Dawn explained. 

“You’d think that they would send someone to escort the future prince consort,” Evan mused quietly. The airport was bustling, as usual. Alderly’s tourism had seen unprecedented growth since Dawn and Quincey’s engagement announcement. Of course, there were also those that firmly opposed the marriage, but Dawn felt like nothing could dampen his spirits. 

“I think they did,” said Tess, pointing towards a line of cars heading towards them. 

“Oh, they’ve sent the royal motorcade,” said Dawn, surprised. 

“Did you think they were going to make you take a taxi?” joked Tess. 

“I mean we took one to the airport back in England so...” 

The motorcade naturally drew people’s attention, and it wasn’t long until someone shouted: “Look, it’s Dawn Harvelle!” Several faces turned to look at them and Dawn and his family surely would have been swarmed, had the royal chauffeurs not managed to get to them and escort them to the car. As Dawn was about to get in, a reporter approached him through the crowd. 

“Mr. Harvelle, any comment on the King’s new initiative? Will it affect the wedding?” she asked, thrusting her recording device towards Dawn. He had been prepared for this. 

“I’m very happy to be back in Alderly,” he said. “And excited for the wedding, and Christmas of course.” 

The reported didn’t look pleased with Dawn’s reply but before she could ask anything more, Dawn was ushered into the car. 

“That was intense,” said Tess. She was already sat in the limo looking a bit hackled. Tess was Dawn’s mother’s sister and only five years older than him. Dawn had asked her to join them, since the two were quite close, especially since the passing of his mum. 

“Are you okay?” asked Evan. 

“Yeah…” 

“What was that initiative that reporter was talking about?” his dad continued. 

“I…” Dawn paused. “Actually, I don't know the details. I’ve been so busy I’ve barely managed to catch up with Quincey in weeks.” 

“I can’t believe you’re going to be living in here,” said Tess, peering out the window. 

“That makes two of us,” said Dawn. 

“Three,” corrected Evan. “When you shipped off all your stuff here, it was one thing, but now…” 

He looked a bit stricken and Dawn had to admit that his own chest felt suddenly tighter, too.

“Dad, I’m going to come visit Bristol all the time,” said Dawn. “And you can come here anytime you want. Remember, they’re making you a count or something.”  

Every time Dawn thought about his father as a count, he felt the urge to giggle. Evan Harvelle was the most normal man in the world. Not to mention it would be infinitely amusing to have both Count Evan and Count Evander. 

~ 

The motorcade weaved its way through the city. There was snow everywhere, because of course there was, and when the palace first showed up behind the snow-covered treetops, Tess actually audibly gasped. 

“Not bad, huh?” asked Dawn. 

“You’re so posh now,” she teased. 

They all filed out and headed inside. Dawn was expecting to see a certain face among the welcome committee, but Quincey was conspicuously absent. Instead, he was greeted by Queen Isabella and Olympia, the latter of whom immediately wrapped him into a big hug. 

“Dawn!” she exclaimed. “I’m so happy to see you again!” 

Dawn hugged her back. “Damn right,” he said. “I missed you.” 

Olympia let go of him and smiled. 

“This is my dad, Evan,” said Dawn. 

“Your majesty, your highness,” said Evan, only a little clumsily.  

“And this is Tess, my aunt.” 

Tess echoes his dad’s formalities. 

“It’s nice to meet you both,” said Olympia and Queen Isabella nodded. She didn’t seem openly hostile, but Dawn could tell she wasn’t happy about how everything had turned out. 

“Mr. Harvelle, welcome back to Alderly,” said the queen. “And I’m most pleased to meet you both.” 

“And you,” Tess said with a smile. Isabella regarded her for a moment. Tess was dressed in her usual manner in a flowy, colourful dress and knee-high boots. It was quite the contrast to Isabella’s prim and proper pantsuit and immaculate bun. If Tess noticed the queen rating her outfit quite low on the scale of 0 to 10, she gave no indication. 

Behind the royal family members was Dawn’s old friend, Miss Pince. 

“Pince!” he said when the introductions were out of the way. “How are you? Has it been awfully boring here without me?” 

“It has been quiet, Mr. Harvelle,” Pince replied, and it was quite evident she had vastly preferred it. “And I have been promoted to the head of Palace Office of Press and Protocol.” 

“Oh, sweet,” said Dawn. He wasn’t exactly sure sweet was the right word, though. 

“Come on, I’ll show you to your rooms,” Olympia said cheerily. 

“That is hardly appropriate,” said Pince. 

“Oh, Irma please, let it go,” said Olympia and headed towards the stairs. Pince sighed. Dawn, Evan and Tess followed the princess. 

“See you all at the reception,” the queen called after them. 

~ 

Dawn almost choked of laughter when Olympia announced loudly that he was to have the bridal suite until the wedding. He then also understood why Olympia had wanted to take him personally. They’d left his dad and Tess to settle into their own rooms. 

“Pince did this on purpose,” said Dawn, more amused than anything. 

“Oh Dawnie, it’s tradition, it’s protocol,” Olympia laughed. 

“It’s very… frilly,” he noted. “And pink.” 

“Nothing wrong with a little pink,” said Olympia, a known appreciator of pink. 

“I love pink,” said Dawn, who didn’t really have a strong opinion for or against. 

“I had hoped I could simply share a room with my fiancé.” 

“That’s entirely impossible, and worst of all, common.” 

“Where is he, by the way?” Dawn asked. 

“He’s been busy with all kinds of kingly duties,” Olympia explained. “I’ve barely seen him, and I live with him.” 

Dawn couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy with this new information. 

“But I’ll let you settle in now, you must be exhausted,” Olympia said. “We must catch up as soon as possible though, I have so much to tell you.” 

“Of course, thank you O.” 

~ 

Once left alone, Dawn looked around the room. It looked straight out of one of those early 2000s animated Barbie movies. On one of the nightstands Dawn noticed a note, written on familiar hand. He took the paper and read:  

“To my love, with all my heart. 

From this day forth, 

we shall not be apart. 

Poetry can be a challenging art. 

If not yet mastered, here's a start.” 

He couldn’t help but laugh at the corny little poem, when a voice from the door behind him said: “It’s a limerick. Of sorts,” said Quincey. 

Bad limericks be damned, Dawn all but ran to hug him.  

“Sorry I wasn’t there to greet you,” said Quincey, hugging him back. “I had to finish my poem.” 

“Next time, maybe you could forgo poetry and come greet me instead?” Dawn suggested. 

“Hey,” Quincey protested. “It wasn’t that bad, was it?” 

“Yes. It most definitely was.” 

Quincey laughed and Dawn kissed his stupid face. 

“I can’t believe this is finally happening,” Quincey said. 

“You’re telling me,” Dawn laughed. “A year ago, I was working a shitty job in Bristol, worrying about writing an article about a ridiculous playboy prince.” 

“Ridiculous, maybe,” Quincey mused. “Definitely not a playboy.” 

“I guess that’s true–,”  

Dawn’s sentence was cut short, when Quincey’s new equerry showed up at the door. 

“Excuse me, Your Majesty,” she said. 

“What is it, Lainey?” asked Quincey.  

“An urgent call from the Minister for Economic Affairs and the Prime Minister,” the equerry said, eyeing the both of them. She seemed to be around the same age as Quincey, with her blonde hair up on a ponytail and a tablet in her hand. 

Quincey sighed. “Can’t it wait?” 

“I’m afraid they insist.” 

Quincey turned back to Dawn. “I must take this. We'll have more time this evening at the reception.” 

He kissed Dawn’s cheek quickly and followed Lainey out the door. Dawn sat on his bed and dug out his phone. He typed in a message to the group chat he had with his friends: just saw my husband-to-be for the first time in months for all of 5 minutes. 

Not long after came a reply from Jimmy: abolish the monarchy. 

~ 

Two hours later Dawn had unpacked his meager little bag (most of his other belongings had been handled earlier by palace employees) and gotten ready for the reception. It was to be a party of importance, with government officials and foreign ambassadors. The thought might have spooked Dawn once, but now he was slightly better prepared. He met up with Quincey before the double doors that lead to the banquet hall. 

“Hi,” said Quincey in a low voice. 

“Hi,” Dawn replied. Quincey offered his arm and Dawn took it. 

“Ready for this?” asked Quincey. 

“As I’ll ever be.” 

The doors were opened, and the pair entered, with a herald calling out: “My lords, ladies, and gentlemen; King Quentin and the guest of honour; the future Prince Dawn!” 

As they entered, at least fifty pairs of eyes turned to look, among them the prime minister but most of the faces completely unknown to Dawn. He hadn’t had any official duties as a royal spouse yet, as their circumstances were rather unusual, and Quincey’s advisors felt it was best to move slowly and respect traditions. Dawn didn’t want to cause any more trouble than he already had but he wasn’t sure how much tradition and protocol he was going to be able to handle without complaint. 

“Oh wow, this is–,” he started but suddenly a man in an expensive looking suit and a serious look on his face appeared and whispered something to Quincey. 

“Dawn, find Olympia, I’ll get away as soon as I can,” he said as the man whisked him away and Dawn was left standing alone in the middle of the room, feeling more awkward by the second. He was approached by several people with greetings and congratulations, he recognized the Minister of Internal Affairs, as well as Magister Malinda, but some he only pretended to recognize, as he had been advised to do. 

“Mr. Harvelle, here,” said the queen’s voice to his left and Isabella introduced him to some more dignitaries, such as ambassadors from Penglia and a president of the Council of Women in Alderly.  

“I should go save Quiney…” Dawn mused as he saw him still talking, or rather, arguing with the same man. 

“Best, I think, to leave him to it,” said the queen. 

“What’s going on?” asked Dawn. 

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with,” Isabella simply said. “You should focus on the wedding. Most of it is well in hand but Quentin insisted we leave some breathing room for you, despite the short notice.” 

And the Queen's objection, Dawn thought but only said: “Well, that’s nice."

He had pretty much resigned himself to having no say at all with the wedding. 

“To that end, I have hired a wedding planner to help you.” 

“What?” 

“A wedding designer, Your Majesty, but yes,” a woman said, walking up to them. 

Dawn recognized her. Rosa Yaxley, the girl who had been briefly engaged to Count Evander, Quincey’s throne-stealing cousin. 

“You’re a wedding designer?” Dawn asked. 

“Yes, and now I’m here to help,” she said, though Dawn couldn’t be sure if she was all too happy about this prospect. “I hope there’s no bad blood between us?” 

Dawn looked from Rosa to the Queen and back again and then said with a note of humour in his voice: “Well, if her Majesty found it in her heart to forgive you, then I suppose so can I.” 

Rosa smiled. “Glad to hear it Mr. Harvelle. We’ll get to work tomorrow.” 

~ 

Dawn finally found Olympia, chatting with his dad of all people. 

“Well Dawn and I call them meat jelly, they’re pretty gross,” Olympia was saying to Evan, who examined a suspicious looking block of meat that a passing waiter had offered to him. 

“Don’t eat that, dad,” said Dawn.  

“Thanks for the tip, kiddo,” Evan said and deposited the meat jelly on a nearby table. 

“Oh, Dawn, I was just telling your father about how I’m part of organizing a charity event!” 

“You are?” 

“It’s a play,” Olympia continued. “The Tale of Princess Froon, an Alderlian folk tale. I was asked to play the titular role to draw in the high society crowd.” 

“Oh my god,” said Dawn. 

“Hey, it’s a beautiful tale,” said Olympia with a grin. 

“Oh, I’m sure.” 

“Anyway, all the proceeds will go to helping those affected by the current depression.” 

Dawn had read the newspapers, of course, and knew of the rather terrible financial situation in Alderly. “That sounds pretty awesome,” he told Olympia. 

“I’d sure like to see some Alderlian culture in play,” said Evan.  

“You’re most heartily invited, Mr. Harvelle,” said Olympia. 

“Isn’t this the one where Princess Froon gives Santa his magic powers?” asked Dawn. He remembered Quincey talking about it last year. 

“Yes, just the one.” 

“Oh, I can’t wait.” 

A tap on his shoulder made Dawn turn around, ending up face to face with Miss Pince. 

“In my new capacity as the head of Palace Office of Press and Protocol, I’d like to have a word with you.” 

“Of course,” said Dawn. “See you later dad, Olympia.” 

Olympia gave him a thumbs up, as Dawn followed Pince to a less crowded area. 

~

Once they were safely out of earshot of any visiting dignitaries, Pince said: “It's clear that you've had a very laissez-faire attitude concerning your image over the past year; magazines, television, blogs…” 

“Blogs, that's what I do for a living,” said Dawn. Ever since his successful article about Quincey, he had run a blog focused on his journey into learning all about Alderlian politics, customs, and of course, details about his own personal life all mixed into a neat little package. He was quite proud of it. “I’m a professional write–,” 

Pince interrupted him: “But now that you're a part of the royal family, we must be careful of the image that you project. Consider me your protector.” 

Dawn wasn’t a fan of where this conversation was headed. “Look, Miss Pince, I know that my life is about to change in a major way, but I’m not going to quit my job.” 

“The goal is to see you and the crown in the best possible light.” 

Dawn sighed, and said: “Well, nothing shines quite like the truth, right?” 

“I'm glad we see eye-to-eye. Please wait here and I'll have the King and you pose for the photographs.” 

~ 

After their photo-op, Quincey led Dawn out of one of the doors lining up the outer wall into a beautiful little courtyard.  

“Irma didn’t give you too much trouble, did she?” he asked. 

“Just wants me to delete my blog,” said Dawn. 

“Yes, we’ve had words about that before,” Quincey said. “She’s just passionate about protecting the image of the royal family. She feels like it is needed now more than ever, when we’re already breaking about a dozen ancient customs just by being together.” 

“I know,” said Dawn and took Quincey’s hands in his. “It’s important to project an image of continuity even through this massive change.” 

“Yes.” 

“Has it been difficult?” Dawn asked. 

“Well, not everyone is as on board with a gay monarch as I had hoped but it was to be expected. I can’t change people’s decades held beliefs overnight, but I know I can make a change over time.” 

“You’re doing a great job,” said Dawn. 

Quincey smiled, but it was a tight smile. He was hiding something, but Dawn didn’t feel like pestering him about it tonight. He was exhausted too. 

“You have a new equerry,” Dawn noted. 

“Oh, yes, her name’s Lainey Bell,” Quincey replied. “We met in uni. She’s about the only thing keeping me afloat right now.” 

Dawn gave him a look and Quincey laughed. “Aside from my everlasting love for you, of course.” 

“We should get a Christmas tree up in here,” Dawn just said, observing the tree-less courtyard. 

“Oh, a good idea!” 

“We could go look for one tomorrow?” 

“Tomorrow’s no good, I’m going to town to give a speech.” 

“What kind of speech?” asked Dawn. 

“Well, you know how I’ve been trying to implement the initiative to bring Alderly into the 21st century? Strengthening infrastructure, schools, tech…” 

“It's smart.” 

“That's what I thought but instead of strengthening the economy, the country is bleeding money,” Quincey explained. “And nobody can tell me why.” 

Dawn frowned. “Is there anything I can do to help?” 

“Do you know any genius economists?” 

“I can’t say that I do.” 

“I’m having a meeting on Friday, trying to figure this out. Something’s not right.” 

“Can I come?” 

“I would really appreciate it if you did.”  

Dawn smiled and squeezed his hands. “We will figure this out.” 

“I hope you’re right,” Quincey said. “But I also have a feeling like Irma and Miss Yaxley are going to keep you quite busy with the wedding preparations.” 

“Oh, for cock’s sake…” 

tag list: @lifeofkaze

(ask if you want to be included or removed)

[bellakenobi]

Tutorial - Extracting the assets from Shining Nikki for conversion for Sims games (or anything, really)

Finally! In advance I'm sorry for any errors since english isn't my first language (and even writing in my actual language is difficult for me so)

And first, a shoutout to The VG Resource forums, where I found initially info about this topic 😊 I'm just compilating all the knowledge I found there + the stuff I figured out in a single text, because boy I really wanted to find a guide like that when I first thought about converting SN stuff lol (and because there's a lot of creators more seasoned than me that could do a really good job with these assets 👀)

What this tutorial will teach you:

How to find and extract meshes and textures (when there's any) for later use, and some tips about how stuff are mapped etc on Shining Nikki.

What this tutorial will not teach you:

How to fully convert these assets for something usable for any sims game (because honestly neither I know how to do that stuff properly lol). It is assumed that you already know how to do that. If you don't know but has interest in learning about CC making (specially for TS3), I'd suggest you take a look at the TS3 Tutorial Hub, the MTS tutorials and This Post by Plumdrops if you're interested in hair conversion. Also take a look on my TS3 tutorials tag, that's where I reblog tutorials that I think might be useful :)

What you'll need:

An Android emulator (I recomend Nox)

A HEX editor (I recomend HxD)

Python and This Script for mass editing

AssetStudio

A 3D Modeling Software for later use. I use Blender 2.93 for major editing, and (begrudingly) Milkshape for hair (mostly because of the extra data tool).

Download everything you don't have and install it before starting this tutorial.

Now, before we continue, a little advice:

I wrote this tutorial assuming that people who would benefit from it will not put the finished work derivative from these assets behind a paywall or in any sort of monetization. These assets belong to Paper Games. So please don't be an ass and put your Shining Nikki conversions/edits/whatever behind a paywall.

The tutorial starts after the cut (and it's a long one).

Step 1:

Launch Nox, then open Play Store and log in with a Google account (if you don't have one, create it). Now download Shining Nikki from there.

After downloading the game, launch it. It will download a part of the game files. After that, log in on the game, or create a new account in any server (the server is only important if you want to actually play the game. For extracting it doesn't really matter since the game already has the assets for the upcoming events and chapters. It also doesn't matter if you actually own an item in game, you can extract the meshes and textures even if you don't have it in game). If you're creating a new account, the game will lead you through the presentation of it etc (unfortunately there's no way to skip it).

After that, click on that little arrow button on the main screen. There, you can download the actual clothing assets. Wait for the download to finish (at the date I'm writing this tutorial, it is around 13GB). When finished, close the game (not the emulator).

Step 2:

Now we're going to copy the assets to our computer. Click on Tools, then on Amaze File Manager. Navigate to Android > data > com.papergames.nn4.en > files > DownloadedBundle > art > character. This is the folder where (I believe) most of the assets are stored.

Now, where the stuff is located respectively:

Meshes are on the meshes > splitmeshs folder

Textures are on the textures > cloth folder

Tip: Want to really data dump everything? Just select the folders you want and copy to your PC! 😉

Click on the three dots on the side of the wished folder, then in copy. Then click on the three lines on the left upper corner to open the menu, and then click on Download. Now just pull the header of the app to show the Paste option and click on it. It might take a while to copy completely (the cloth folder might take longer since it's bigger, so be patient).

If you're confused, just follow the guide below:

The copied folder will be located at C:\Users\{your username}\Nox_share\Download

Step 3:

Now that we got the files, we need to make them readable by AssetStudio.

For this, we need to open the desired .asset file on a hex editor, and then delete the first 8 bytes of the file, and then save.

You can see it is a pain to do that manually to a lot of files right? This is why I asked my boyfriend to create a script to mass edit them. (I only manually edit when I'm grabbing the textures I want, because afaik the script won't work with .tga and the .png files, more about that forward this tutorial)

How to use the script:

Make sure Python is already installed, grab the nikki-fix-headers.py file and place it on the folder where you copied the folder from the game (mine is still the Nox_Share Download folder).

It should look like this, the meshs folder and the script.

Let's open the Command Prompt. Hit Windows + R to open the Run dialog box, then type in cmd and hit Enter.

Now follow the instructions pictured below:

The folder with the edited files will be at the same location:

Now, we finally can open it all on AssetStudio and see whats inside 👀

Step 4:

Open AssetStudio. Now click on File > Load Folder and select the folder where your edited meshes are (mine is "splitmeshs-fixed"). Wait the program load everything. Click on Filter Type > Mesh, and the on the Asset List tab, click twice on the Name to sort everything by the right order, and now we can see the meshes!

To extract any asset, just select and right-click the desired groups, click in Export selected assets and select a folder where you wish to save it.

Stuff you need to know about the meshes:

Step 4-A: Everything is separated by groups.

Of course you'll have to export everything to have a complete piece. Only a few pieces has a single group. When exporting, you have to select every group with the same name (read below), and the result will be .obj files of each group that you have to put together in a 3D application.

Step 4-B: The names are weird.

They're a code that indicates the set, the piece, the group.

Items that doesn't belong to a set won't have the "S...something", instead they'll have another letter with numbers, but the part/piece type and group logic is the same.

As for the parts, here are the ones I figured out so far:

D = Dress

H = Hair

AEA = Earrings

ANE = Necklace

BS = Shoes

ABA = Handheld accessory

AHE and AHC = Headpieces/hats/hairpins

AFA = Face accessory (as glasses, eyepatches, masks)

(maybe I'll update here in the future with the ones I remember)

Step 4-C: The "missing pearls" issue.

Often you'll find a group that seems empty, and it has a weird name like this:

I figured out that it's referent to pearls that a piece might contain (as in a pearl necklace, or a little pearl in a earring, pearls decorating a dress, etc). The group seems empty, but when you import it to Blender, you can see that it actually has some vertices, and they're located where the aforementioned pearls would be. I think that Unity (SN engine) uses this to generate/place the pearls from a master mesh, but I honestly have no idea of how the game does that. So you'll probably have to model a sphere to place where the pearls were located, I don't know 🤷‍♀️ (And if you know how to turn the vertices into spheres (???) please let me know!)

Step 5:

Now that you already extracted a mesh, we're gonna extract the textures (when any). Copy the textures > cloth folder to your PC like you did with the splitmeshs folder.

Open it, and in the search box, type the name of the desired item like this. If the item has textures, it will show in the results.

Grab all the files and open them in HxD (I usually just open HxD and drag the files I want to edit there), and edit them like I teached above. Then you can open them (or load the cloth folder) on AssetStudio, and export them like you did with the meshes.

Stuff you need to know about the textures, UV map, etc:

Step 5-A: The UV mapping is a hot mess (at least for us used to how things works in sims games).

See this half edited hoodie and the UV map for a idea:

So for any Sims game, you'll have to remap everything 🙃 Also, stencil-like textures all have their own separated file.

As for hair, they all use the same texture and mapping! BUT sometimes they are arranged like this...

Here's the example of a very messed one (it even has some WTF poly). Most of them aren't that messy, but be prepared to find stuff like this.

Shining Nikki just repeat the texture so it end up covering everything, for Sims you'll need to remap, and the easiest way is by selecting "blocks" of hair strands, ticking the magnet button to make your seletion snap to what is already placed (if you have familiarity with blender, you know what I'm saying). Oh, some clothes are also mapped with the same logic.

Regarding the hair texture, I couldn't locate where they are, but here is a pack with all of them ripped and ready to use. You can also grab the textures from any SN hair I already converted :)

The only items with a fine UV map are the accessories, at least for TS3 that the accessory has a UV map independent from the body.

"But I typed the ID for the set and piece and couldn't find anything!"

A good thing to do is to search with only the set ID and edit all the files with it, because some items (especially accessories) share the same texture file. But if even then you can't find anything, it means that there's no texture for this particular item/group because Shining Nikki use material shaders* to render different materials like metal, crystal, some fancy fabrics, etc. So you'll have to bake or paint a texture for it.

*I believe that those shaders are located on the other cloth folder in the game files. This one is way bigger than the other one and once I copied it to see what it was, AssetStudio took ages to load everything, almost used all my 16GB of RAM, and then there was only code that the illiterate me didn't know what it was 🤷‍♀️

So that was it! I hope I explained everything, although it is a little confusing.

If you have any questions, you can comment on this post or send me a PM!

[mlwritersguild]

5 Times Adrienette Attempted to Buy Each Other Christmas Presents (and One Time They Succeeded), by @galahadwilder

Based on a prompt submitted by @2manyfandoms2count: 5 times [pair/group of characters]* attempted to go Christmas shopping and the 1 time they gathered to exchange gifts *there can be as many or as few people involved, a pairing, the core 4, the miracuclass…

AO3; Post-Reaveal Pre-Relationship, Christmas Fic, 5+1 Things

Summary:

When Marinette and Adrien find out each other's identities just before Christmas, both of them are desperate to find the perfect present for their partner. But, off-balance, neither one of them is entirely... thinking straight.

Alya, Nino, Tikki, and Plagg are going to lose their minds.

---

Chapter 1: I Don't Want a Lot for Christmas

Marinette’s computer background has been updated a few times since she was fourteen. It started when Adrien retired from modeling: something felt wrong about using images that he’d hated, something inauthentic. Like she was violating him somehow. So she’d replaced all of the images of him with candids, photos of his genuine smiles, spending time with his friends, playing in the park, smiling at her .

She’d kept the hearts, of course.

She’s replaced the photos as they aged, as they got closer. As she’d started noticing stubble gracing his strong chin, as the baby fat had melted off his cheekbones, as he’d grown more and more comfortable with his genuine smile. She paid so much attention to his face, spent so much time staring at it… and somehow she’d never known.

She sits, curled up in her desk chair, knees hugged to her chest with shaking arms. She’s not sure she even remembers how to blink—her eyes are wide, hollow, and she feels like she’ll never be able to close them again.

“Isn’t this a good thing?” Tikki asks from her nest on Marinette’s spare pincushion. The Kwami is lying on her stomach like a schoolgirl at a sleepover, chin propped up on her little nubby paws, gazing into Marinette’s eyes with her own ocean blues. “You’ve been closer to him than you knew this whole time!”

Marinette wants to sob. A part of her realizes that Tikki’s right, that she’s known him better than she thought, but that part is drowned out by the part that’s suddenly aware of the gulf between them that she’d never even noticed. How could she have missed it? She’s spent so much time with both of them, so much time interacting and watching and observing. She’d even started to take note of how, despite their superficial differences, they were so similar on the inside. How could she have possibly missed that both of them were the same person?

She hadn’t wanted to know. Hadn’t wanted to acknowledge.

It’s a towering, overpowering sensation, knowing. Because knowing, knowing they’re the same person, puts so many things into perspective. Chat has shown her so many parts of Adrien that Adrien would rather hide. And Adrien has shown her so many hidden parts of Chat, as well. She can see it all now, his pain, his love, his hope, and it’s… very nearly too much.

So she’s not entirely sure why the first thing she says is, “I’m going to have to re-do so many presents. ”

---

Adrien never used his climbing wall before he met Plagg. There was never a point—his father had gotten it for him. Adrien had wanted to go out, get out of the house, and Father always said the problem with the outside world was people —Adrien had asked if he could go rock climbing, something that didn’t have to involve people, could be solitary. He’d expected his father to say no. He hadn’t expected to wake up one week later to contractors preparing to install a rock wall. It’s been an oppressive reminder of all the ways he’s kept trapped ever since.

Yet, ever since he became Chat Noir, he can’t sit still. He’s not sure how much of that is cat and how much of that is simply having the opportunity, to run, to jump, to climb, to move, to leave , that he never had before. In truth, it doesn’t matter, not entirely. When he’s feeling, really feeling, feeling so strong that the emotions burn and shine inside his bones, he can’t hold them all in one spot. He has to let them out, to spill them everywhere , lest he combust.

That’s why, right now, he’s halfway up his rock wall, his arms shaking with exertion and excitement as he reaches for the next handhold. He has no idea what emotion has grabbed into his heart and refused to let go, but it’s big , big and stretching , and he swears if humans could float like hot-air balloons he’d be a hundred feet above Paris right now.

“I knew it,” he gasps, grinning the rough plastic digs into his fingers. The grin is wide, almost painful, and he feels like he’ll never stop smiling again. “I knew it!”

Plagg flits up to a rock just out of his reach, flipping into it like a particularly bored leaf in autumn. “Proud of yourself?” the Kwami says, rolling vaguely onto his back like he’s sunbathing his tummy.

Adrien halts with his fingers just short of the cat god, letting the burn race through his arms, his thighs, his calves. “Proud?” he says, laughter bleeding into his voice. “Plagg, I’m ecstatic. ” He closes his eyes. “It’s her. ” And in that moment, everything’s so big , so bright , and he just… He lets go of the wall, spreads his arms wide, and with a pulse of his leg muscles, leaps backward.

For one, glorious moment, he’s in freefall, in midair, and his whole body feels exactly as light as his heart. He wishes he could stay like this forever, suspended in the air, suspended between one moment and the next, suspended with her .

He crashes hard onto his bed with a flop, the impact driving the breath from his lungs, but he doesn’t care—he’s too giddy. “It—it’s her ,” he chokes, still grinning like a loon. He rolls over, pressing a pillow to his face. “It’s her , it’s her , it’s her …”

“Which are you more excited about?” Plagg says, lighting on his nightstand and sitting down with his front paws between his back ones, more like a person than a cat. “That Pigtails is Ladybug, or that Ladybug is Marinette? ”

Adrien rolls onto his back, flinging the pillow into the air. “Who cares? ” he cries. “She’s her !” Which she and which her don’t matter—they’re both the same, they’re each other , they’re she ! The pillow drops into his outstretched hand, and he lets his arm fall back onto the mattress. “Oh, crackers, Plagg, it’s both of them… I… I wanted both, for so long, and now…” He wants to cry. He’d suspected, sure, over and over, but he’d always thought that was wishful thinking. Unlucky Adrien, no way on earth the two girls he’d fallen in love with could ever be the same, things like that—good things, lucky things, happy things—didn’t happen to him. And yet there she’d been, clear as day. And maybe she’d run, yeah, maybe she’d panicked, but—but he isn’t going to think about that. That’s just how she is, right? That’s…

Plagg gags. “Guardians, I knew you’d act like this…” he groans.

Adrien hugs the pillow to his chest, trying to press down on the beating of his heart, take control. She does not hate him. She doesn’t. She’s friends with Adrien, she’s friends with Chat. She was just scared. “It’s nearly Christmas,” he mumbles. “I need to get her a present.” He swallows. “No, wait.” He rolls onto his side, staring at the picture of Marinette he’s kept as his lock screen ever since he’d realized he was falling in love with her. “I need to get her… the perfect Christmas present.”

Plagg cackles. “Oh, this is going to go well.”

---

“Come on, pick up pick up pick up ,” Marinette breathes, pacing hard around her room, her feet sending scraps of cloth and loose thread skittering across the floor. Her heart is pounding in her ears, drowning out the ringing of the phone. She needs to talk to Alya. She needs to talk to Alya right now.

As soon as the line clicks, the words are spewing out of her like vomit. “Alya help me I need to figure out his presents!”

Alya laughs. “Slow down, girl!” she says. “Can’t understand a word.”

Marinette’s pulse is still thundering, her breath coming short and rapid under a chest that is way too tight. Her hands are shaking so bad she can barely hold her phone up to her ear. “I—I have to—have to—have to—his C-c- Christ mas present,” she manages, collapsing into her desk chair like a puppet with cut strings.

Alya is silent for a moment, and Marinette can almost hear what the other girl is thinking—Alya isn’t sure whether it’s safer to indulge Marinette and let her play this out, or stop her right now before she does something stupid.

“You have enough presents for the next fifty years,” Alya says, finally, obviously making her decision. “ Including this year. I remember a… pair of mittens?”

The mittens. The mittens . Marinette twists, curling into her chair. She’d been—she’d been so proud of those, the thread count, the softness. The color. But they’re not his color. They’re the color she thought he liked, but Adrien is Chat Noir and Chat Noir’s color preferences are very different from Adrien’s and…

“Not–not… not right, ” Marinette squeaks, hugging her knees close to her chest. “None— none of them are right!”

“...Oh, boy,” Alya groans. There’s a sound from the other end of the line like a thump , like she’d sat down hard. “What did he do now?”

She can hear the disbelief in Alya’s voice, like this is something small, something trivial, like this is just another panic attack, and it is , it is, it’s a panic attack obviously, but there’s so much more to it right now, so much, so much, she can’t tell Alya but she has to tell Alya and the words are spitting out of her before she has a chance to stop herself. “He—he, he’s, he’s—Chat. He’s Chat.”

“What?”

“Alya Adrien is Chat Noir.”

There is a moment where Alya says nothing, and Marinette briefly thinks she’s hung up. But then she hears a rush of breath on the other line, and… “You—you’re telling me he’s… you…” She can hear Alya’s fingers, maybe rubbing the bridge of her nose, maybe rubbing her temples. “...YOU DIDN’T THINK TO FREAKING LEAD WITH THAT? ”

Marinette’s skin feels like it’s on fire. Her breath is coming short and sharp, stabbing outward through her lungs into her chest. “Alya—”

Alya sighs. “Okay,” she says. “Okay okay okay. Hang on.” There’s a rustling in the background, probably Alya moving some papers around. “Let’s—wait. Okay. Adrien is Chat Noir.”

“Y-yuh.”

“You… finally revealed? You didn’t tell me you were—”

Marinette shakes her head with a whimper. “It—accident.”

“...Oh.” Alya sucks in a breath. “Okay. I know you’re freaking out right now, and trying to sublimate it under your concern for his Christmas present, but… look, Mari, this is, hands down, the best thing that’s ever happened to you. ”

Marinette opens her mouth to speak, but Alya gets there first. “And don’t you dare say that meeting me was better, because right now you are the luckiest woman in Paris. Okay? Can you just… appreciate that, for a minute?”

Marinette tries to speak, but all she manages is a long teakettle whistle from the back of her throat.

“Oh, crap, Mari, I—I’m sorry,” Alya says. “Everything—everything’s okay, okay? Nothing’s wrong. You’re fine.” She breathes in, loudly, then back out. “Breathe with me, okay?”

Marinette breathes in slowly, trying to match Alya’s pace. She feels her heartbeat slowing, her skin cooling. Her thoughts start to settle. “Okay,” she sighs. “I’m—I’m okay.”

“Okay,” Alya says. “I am going to freak out later over the fact that I now know Chat Noir’s identity , but right now I’m holding it together and I just—” She pauses. “The only two people you’ve ever fallen in love with? They’re the same boy.”

Marinette swallows. “I’ve—I mean, I’ve dated—”

“Luka doesn’t count, honey,” Alya says.

Marinette stays silent for a moment. “I—no. No, I guess not.”

“And Marinette?”

“...Yeah?”

“Neither does Kagami. Not for him, and not for you. Do you get what I’m saying?”

“...What?”

“Chat Noir has only ever claimed to be in love with two people . And Adrien has only ever claimed to be in love with one . Both of those people are you. Adrien is in love with you. ”

“...Oh,” Marinette whispers. Then the full meaning of what Alya has just told her strikes her full force. “ Oh. ”

---

“She’s probably panicking right now,” Adrien says, staring at his Ladybug action figure.

He’s sitting on the edge of his bed, on the side, one arm propped across his knee. He’d been so happy with the revelation that, for a moment, he’d completely forgotten how she must be feeling. And he knows her—knows her even better than he thought she did. He knows Ladybug inside and out, better than the back of his own hand, and Marinette—well, Marinette has always been transparent to him about everything (except for her feelings for him—those had been incomprehensible for most of their friendship). Both Ladybug and Marinette would be freaking out right now.

“I should be with her right now,” he mumbles.

“Nuh-uh,” Plagg says. “She’s on the phone with Alya right now. Right now, you’re the issue, so you need to give her some space. ”

“...Right,” Adrien says. “ I’m the stressor.” He leans down, his eyes boring into the plastic Ladybug’s. “Space.” It rankles—like being petted in the wrong direction. It’s his job to comfort her, to protect her, to keep her safe. What is he supposed to do if he’s the one she needs to be kept safe from?

Then he looks up at Plagg. “Wait,” he says. “On the phone with Alya?”

Plagg doesn’t grin, which is odd. His smile is soft, gentle. “You think this is my first Pigtails freakout?” he says. “She’s wielded me enough that I know a few things about her that you don’t.”

“Right,” Adrien says, turning over in bed. That shouldn’t hit so hard, like a spike through the gut, but just—the thought that even his own Kwami knows his Lady better than he does… it hurts. It hurts a lot , in a way he doesn’t want to think about.

“Adrien,” Plagg says. “You know who she is now.”

“Yeah,” Adrien says. It’s not enough, thought—there are still parts of her that he doesn’t know, still some parts of her that—

“Which means you can learn .”

“...Oh,” Adrien whispers. Then the full meaning of what Plagg has just told him strikes her full force. “ Oh. ”

“Now come on,” Plagg says. “Let’s get your girl a Christmas present.”

[willinglyghoulified]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the Last 10 people Who reblogged something from you. Learn about your mutuals and followers. 🎠 But only if you want to, just have fun! 💖💖

Awe thank you!~ I love this sm! Answers are gonna get long-winded though T_T

5 Things That Make Me Happy:

Positive Feedback - has to be on the top of my list because this absolutely does breathe life into me. I started writing in the first place to make people happy. I do it because I love it and I want to share that love with others. I want to be the writer that makes people look forward to getting off work to read that new chapter or the reason they stayed up a little too late because they just had to know what happened next. I want my stories to be someone else's escape. And maybe one day, I'll be on their bookshelves, too. ♥

Genuine Friendships - they're so important to me. I'm someone who has very few friends and even fewer family, so if you're close to me, it means something. I'm all about chosen family, and it often reflects in my writing (one of my fav main characters has a tendency to adopt lonely misfits). With my friends, we're either just acquaintances or you're my goddamn sibling, there's really no in between, which is both a good and a bad quality trait.

Fucking Fallout - because it's the most immersive game I've ever played. I know a lot of the games get some hate throughout the fandom, but I genuinely love every installment that they come up with, because it continues the story. Even with all its flaws, I love all of 1, 2, 3, 4, NV, and 76. I'm more partial to 4 because I relate more to their characters, but NV had the superior storyline. ♥ I literally cannot get this game or these characters out of my head.

BTS - Okay hear me out on this one: I know BTS is a stereotypical K-Pop band, but I seriously love them as people. I don't like K-Pop normally, as a genre. I listened to "emo music" growing up (I was born in 1993 so the 2000s was where my favorite music really lied). I was also a troubled kid and I brought a lot of those insecurities and trauma to my adulthood, and my old bands just wasn't doing it anymore. The memories of teen angst mostly stressed me out. But then I found BTS, and their music and messages helped me SO MUCH as a young adult, well into later adulthood (I'm 29 now). I absolutely love them, and they make me happy with their genuine care and messages. Those 7 boys are some of my biggest inspirations in life, reminding me that I can do anything if I try hard enough. But you will NEVER catch me mixing my love for BTS with the Fallout stuff on this blog. I've noticed that liking K-Pop is a quick way to catch hate, so I keep my obsession with them to myself. I'm okay with that; I've done it for the last six years.

My Husband - as cheesy as it is to say, I have the best husband I could have asked for. STORY TIME: I met him in Kindergarten, and he was always getting me in trouble by making me laugh and the teacher kept telling us to be quiet. She had to separate us. I had a crush on him in 2nd grade. Then we didn't see each other again until middle school. We had gym class together in 6th grade. In 8th grade, we became best friends. He dated a friend of ours in 9th, and I thought that would help me get rid of the feelings I had for him because I was terrified I'd ruin our friendship if I made a move. It didn't work out between him and our friend, but he told me in 10th grade that he liked me a lot, and we really understood each other. (Honestly it "helped" that we both came from troubled/broken families and were both below poverty level.) When we got together, we were each other's first EVERYTHING. We were together all throughout high school with no complications, and our peers deemed us worthy of being prom king and queen in 12th grade even though we were the nerds who oftentimes got bullied. It was so surreal. We moved in together after high school. We went through a loooooot of bullshit. Being kicked out of houses, losing jobs, losing family members (deaths and otherwise) and we're pretty much inseparable now. We've been together for 14 years. He's supportive in everything I do, even if he doesn't always understand my obsessions. He believes in me. He knows I'm not going to thank him for doing the bare minimum (respecting me, listening to me, helping me, not expecting me to mother him, etc). He genuinely fucking loves me. And he's pretty damn handsome and funny, too. Icing on the cake. And after losing all the people that we have over the years, we're pretty much all that we've got left. But I wouldn't choose to live this life with anyone else.

[mostautisticsinner]

hi as mutual who doesn't know anything about PMoon im a big fan of your posting recently they're like blorbos in law especially the clock head one and i would love to hear the premise of the media /gen /srs

-lilacqueerr :3

INSERT THE. Oh god so youre going to regret this text thang (1/2)

Project Moon universe is a universe that is, Loosely, a Dystopian future in which corporations control a place called The City. Limbus Company is a game in which you go around The City to all it's different sections (Corps). You play as Dante, the executive manager (The one with the clock head) and you control a bus of people called The Sinners to fight in order to get Golden Boughs (Like. Tree things that Implicitly can grant wishes and are also tied to the Sinners' trauma). There's also a Guide of the bus (Vergilius) and the driver (Charon)

Im sending them 3 at a time so the images arent Huge and also for my brain's sake. First is Dante (Named after Dante's Inferno), who lost all of their memories (And their gender) when they got a prosthetic head installed, and also unwillingly made a contract that means they can bring back The Sinners from the dead. They're a little pathetic................... Vergilius (Named after Virgil) guides them where they need to go, and was previously a Color Fixer (Very important person,) named The Red Gaze. He's very serious and extremely intimidating to everyone he meets. Charon (Named after the River Styx) is the driver. She has no soul, speaks in third person and very bluntly, but only calls people by nicknames and says sound effects aloud. Both her and Vergilius were in Leviathan (Which... I haven't read but a friend broke it down in a call) and she was an orphan who was distorted after being tested on, and I think Vergilius joined Limbus because they said they would de-distort Charon. That is his daughter basical.y.

Yi Sang (Named after the poet of the same name, mostly for The Wings), the first Sinner to join. He is very quiet, only speaking occasionally and when he does it's very cryptic. Most divorced. His weapon is a knife named Ha Yung (Which is written on his notebook actually,). His chapter will come out end of next month so we don't know what happened to him but apparently he wasn't always so Quiet and Brooding. So for now he's just 'tistic as hell, As they all are Faust (Named after. Faust), the second Sinner. She is the one who engineered the bus they are on (Mephistopheles). She is very soft spoken, but is still constantly bragging about her high intellect. She occasionally speaks in third person which is every thing to me. Her weapon is a zweihander named Walpurgisnacht. Don Quixote (Named after Don Quixote), is the third sinner. She is extremely excitable and impulsive, and has delusions of grandeur. As you can see she has a lot of pins, which is all sorts of different Fixer merchandise, as they're her special interest ..... She talks loudly and quickly (Her VA handles it very well though she's not Annoying and people who say she is are Cowards and Fools) and she speaks in Middle English (Which follows her thru every identity. Autism wins). She is very big on justice and will do anything to right wrongs. It's said in Canto 3 she made some sort of deal with Vergilius to join Limbus, but we don't know what it is, yet. Her weapon is a lance (WHICH IS 6'6. SHE'S 5'3. SHE IS RIPPED.) named Sueño Imposible

Ryōshū (Named after Hell Screen), the fourth Sinner. She is very snobbish and violent. She's harsh and often shortens things to acronyms, leaving other people to figure out what she means by that. Her methods of execution are often Particularly Brutal but considers them artful. She has something with fire, given her base EGO is the only base that deals burn, she smokes constantly, and once she burnt a skewer on purpose. This is somthing that only matters to me but once I talked to an AI of her and she called herself an epic lesbian. She has an ōdachi named 無我夢中 阿鼻叫喚 支離滅裂. Meursault (Named after The Stranger), the fifth Sinner. I will try to describe him normally but just so we are clear He is my favorite. My special silly. I am not normal about that french guy At all. Anyways, he is very blunt and only speaks when necessary or when asked. He is always strictly abiding by rules, to the point where he rarely casts his own moral judgement (An example of this is Limbus seems to have a schedule and in his morning greeting on his base identity, he says there's a very early time you should wake up and he's the only person who knows this or cares about it). He is also. So Autistic to the point that AS OF CURRENT the wiki says that it's a Popular Fan Theory. In the end of Canto 3 when they get skewers he is pouring ketchup all over that bad buoy. Despite this he's still a good cook because he's simply so good at abiding to rules. He's 6'2. Also. His weapon are his Gauntlets named Soleil Hong Lu (Named after Dream of the Red Chamber), the sixth Sinner. He's very naive and grew up sheltered as a rich boy. It shows given he often asks insensitive or even just strange questions without realizing how they might come off because he's being completely genuine (Once asked if missing fingers were in fashion because of some people who worked with Abnormalities). He is still just like always friendly though, if not a bit difficult, and seems to be the only person on the bus that thinks everyone there's his friend. His weapon is a glaive named 太虛幻境.

Part 1 of 2, I keep getting errors so I Will finish this in anotehr post but Fur now we r at the Half way point

[unolvrs]

fics we might get in the future ( long term even ) :o

every time i get this question, i have a different answer tbh... so this is a huge might get in the future. i have nothing finalized until froggie ends bc froggie is consuming my everything.

kimetsu no yaiba ft. jjk

i say this every time but once froggie ends, i'm going to post this but maybe release 1-2 chapters just bc then focus on other fics. this kny ft. jjk fic is like froggie in a way that it's lengthy and kind of serious, so the writing style isn't something i'm very used to. i'm still uncomfy writing froggie the way i'm writing it tbh, but i'm itching to finish froggie already.

sukuna ft. reader, for all that it is worth

the 4th installation to the series so def an angsty one. will be posted once sunday without god ends but i can't find the time to finish it tbh. blame froggie for it :D

the mandalorian ft. sith pureblood!oc

i ... i'm obsessed with the old republic & yes, this is going to be your 'ended up in a carbonite, woke up 3000+ yrs later fic' but since i'm sure lots of people have done that before, i really went all out w/ the oc's backstory. and i wanted to explore what a sith pureblood from the sith empire would feel when they're stranded thousands of years in the future where neither sith, jedi, nor mandalorians are around. it's a long way down there. and i wanted to write an oc where for once, grogu doesn't like the newcomer immediately :) bc let's face it: memory loss bc of carbonite or not, grogu would still be wary as shit when faced w the epitome of a sith yk. but this is still tentative and just a plot bunny.

pjo ft. shinto

this is the most likely to be posted. i've been planning this for a looong time but never had the time to actually concretely write for it aside from jotting down notes. shinto folklore is very complex and intensive, and not to mention, there's very little authentic/reliable source for these kinds of stuff online or irl. (and my whole jp side of the family are buddhists so i have no actual source aside from intensive research and hyperfixating!)

silk/cindy moon ft. mcu

THIS!!! basically silk's story but mcu-ified. heeheheehehhe <3 i have lots of plans for this.

a couple of dc and mcu fics. idk <;/3

this has been in my drafts for more than a year and i still don't know what to answer. the pjo thing is a must tho! it's gonna happen ^

[brittanagirlcrush]

Where In the World Is Brittana?

This is the latest installment in my "Dream" world canon-ish/canon-adjacent series. Full story is up at FF.Net

From Lesbos to Hawaii to New York. What Brittany and Santana got up to while they were missing from June of 2013 until April of 2014

Chapter 1 – Mytilene

“Santana … whatever it is, just tell me.”

“What?”

They were lying in chairs on the beach and enjoying – or trying to enjoy – the beautiful sunshine and the clear blue waters of the Aegean. Brittany could feel Santana stewing over … something.

“Santana, I can hear you thinking all the way over here. Whatever's bothering you, just tell me so we can work it out and actually enjoy the beach.” Brittany didn't look over at Santana; she just kept relaxing in her chair. She knew whatever it was was probably something minor that Santana was over-thinking and working herself up over for nothing.

Santana sighed. “I have to tell you something. I don't know why I didn't just tell you before. I didn't think it was a big deal but then I started thinking about it and now I'm not sure …”

Brittany sat up and faced Santana. “Santana …” she interrupted the ramble that Santana was gearing up for.

Santana looked over at Brittany and sighed again before sitting up and turning to face her. She took Brittany's hands in hers.

“I talked to Dani the night before we left. I … I called her.”

Brittany nodded. She wasn't sure where this was going but … “Okay … and?”

“I didn't want her to hear about us from Kurt or Rachel because God knows what the drama twins would tell her and I didn't want her to get hurt thinking I had been cheating on her or that I planned it or whatever.” Santana looked at Brittany and bit her bottom lip.

Flashback

“Hey, chica, what's up?” Dani's voice floated through the phone.

“Hi! How are you? How's LA?” Santana didn't know why she was nervous. She wasn't doing anything wrong. (Then why aren't you telling Brittany? Why did you wait until she was in the shower?) Santana shook off those thoughts. She was going to tell Brittany. She was. Eventually. Maybe. Ugh.

“It's amazing! The weather is awesome. I'm having a great time. Thank you again for getting me Geno's number. He's been so great introducing me to people and showing me around. The show seems like it's going to be good. We've done a couple of read-throughs and I think the script is really well written and tight. My co-workers are all pretty chill. I was a little nervous about that but, honestly, they've been great. So how are you? To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

“I'm good. Really good. It's just … there's something I wanted you to hear from me in case Kurt or Rachel texted or whatever. So, I ended up going back to Lima for that Glee thing and … um … Britt and I got back together. I didn't want you to think I was cheating on you or that we broke up because I was planning on getting back together with Brittany. It just … so cliché … happened. I didn't want you to get hurt if Kurt or Rachel said something that made it seem like … I dunno … something it wasn't.”

Dani laughed. “Santana, I know you didn't cheat on me. That never would have entered my mind. I know why we broke up; I mean, you even went to Grand Central with me to see me off on Thursday morning. I know you didn't plan it because, as of Thursday morning, you weren't planning on going to Lima.” Dani paused for a moment. “Maybe people who think everything happens for a reason are right. I mean, if I hadn't gotten this chance, you probably wouldn't have gone back to Lima.” She paused again. “Can I be real with you?”

“Of course.”

“We were having fun together. I like you, you like me. It wasn't love, right? I mean, you told me when we met that you still loved your ex but it was over. I think we were way-points for each other. A temporary rest stop before we moved on to our next thing. For me, it's LA. I have a really good feeling about everything. For you, it's Brittany. You were floundering, we both know that. You didn't know what you wanted. I think the Broadway thing was you trying to figure out what to do. It's cool, Santana, really. I would like it if we could be friends.”

“I don't have that many so I'd really like that, too.”

“Good. So my friend calls me up and says 'hey, my ex and I just got back together' … my response? Are you happy? Is it what you want?”

Santana laughed. “I am happy. Yeah, it is what I want. It wasn't like we saw each other and hooked up. She called me Thursday night and just sounded wrong. I knew something was up so I made the trip. I was right. MIT was killing her … she wasn't Brittany anymore. We spent the week hanging out and I reminded her of who she really was. Took us about a week and a half to figure out that we wanted to try again. As of yesterday, all of our friends knew. Tomorrow morning we're heading off to Lesbos for awhile. Spend some real time together without the Gleeks and family and whatever. Just me and Britt and a lot of sun and sand.”

“That sounds awesome! Really, I'm happy for you. And, even though you didn't have to, I really do appreciate you calling. You're right about Kurt and Rachel; there's no way of knowing what they'd say. So I do appreciate you giving me a heads up about what really happened. It's sweet.” Dani laughed.

“Whatever. I like you. I didn't want you to get hurt. I mean, we broke up just over two weeks ago and here I am running off to Europe with my ex.”

“Hey, I ran off to LA first. Really, it's all good. Enjoy yourself. Hit me up when you get back to the States. If you're ever in LA or I get back to New York, we'll do dinner or something. Don't be a stranger.”

“Same goes for you. Talk soon.”

end flashback

“Okay. So, you called your friend to tell her we got back together just in case the drama divas thought about being 'helpful'.”

Santana nodded.

“Why didn't you just tell me?” Brittany wasn't angry or even upset. Just bewildered and curious. “I mean, did you call her to see if there was a chance for the two of you to get back together before you ran off with me?”

“What? No! Of course not!” Santana gaped at Brittany. “How could you even think that?”

“I didn't but that's kind of how you're acting. Like you did something wrong. Santana, you called a friend. It's really not the big deal you're making it out to be. The only thing making it a big deal is you not telling me like it was something you had to hide.”

Santana looked at Brittany for a moment before launching herself off her chair and tackling Brittany off hers. They landed in the soft sand with a muffled “oof” and Santana leaned down and captured Brittany's lips in a searing kiss. She ran her tongue over Brittany's bottom lip and was granted access. Their tongues began the dance they'd known forever. Brittany wrapped her arms around Santana's waist and pulled her close.

When they finally separated for air, Brittany grinned at Santana.

“Not that I'm complaining but what was that for?”

Santana laughed. “For being the most amazing girlfriend ever.”

They got up and cuddled together on the chair Brittany had been lounging on.

“Santana, you're allowed to have female friends and talk to them on the phone and text them or whatever. I trust you. If I ever get the feeling that something's off with someone, I'll tell you. Like if someone seems to be seeing you as more than a friend. I know you. You'd be clueless.” Brittany smiled.

“You're right, I would be.” Santana shrugged. “When I'm with you, it just doesn't occur to me that someone else would be interested because I'm not interested. And … I just felt weird because she's my ex.”

“Don't think of her that way. She's your friend. When you talked to me while we were broken up was I your ex or was I your best friend? You had sex with Quinn … do you feel weird talking to her?”

“When you put it like that …”

“Exactly. We're together. I trust you not to do anything to hurt that. I know you'd never cheat on me. That's a non-issue for us.” Brittany kissed Santana softly. “I love you, we're pretty much in paradise, I don't want you getting lost in that pretty little head of yours over silly stuff.”

“I love you, too, Britt.” Santana smiled.

Brittany yawned. “I'm a little tired. I know we planned to just laze on the beach but I think I'd like to go back to our room and lie down for a bit. You interested?”

Santana got up and offered Brittany her hand. “With you? Always.”

Brittany took her hand and they headed off back to their room.

[purplemninja]

Little Nightmares: Six's Shield - Complete series

This is the master post for the full and complete ‘Six’s Shield’ series. The link above will allow you to see and select the following instalments to pick to read:

I picked this as the overall theme song for the series:

Each also have an achievement in them. No prizes or anything but simply for fun, can you name all of them? Mono’s past has an achievement at the end too, but it doesn’t count since it’s not a part of the series for obvious reasons.

Trivia/fun facts about the series:

I'm cutting it here because it contains spoilers for anyone who hasn't read any of the fics.

Six’s past was originally going to be the only fanfic I wrote

Originally, this wasn’t going to be a series or have other instalments, it was initially going to be just ‘Six’s past’ and none of the other instalments, which is why I was saying that people know what happens to Six afterwards if they've seen or played all of the games and comics at the end. But thankfully, I made these chapter title cards as I was nearing finishing ‘Six’s past’, and so I considered making the following instalment, ‘Six’s path’ and did make it, and then gradually decided to make the other four instalments real too. And thus, the Six’s Shield series came into reality. I’ll bet people are glad I made this choice instead of making it be just Six’s past. And in doing so it also made it so that I wrote a backstory for Mono too, even though it isn’t a part of the series since having a Mono-focused fic being part of a Six-focused series wouldn’t make sense.

The different terms I used for Mono's and Six's parents. And the reasons for the names I game them.

You may not have noticed this, but I referred to Mono's parents as his 'mum' (or 'mom' for US readers because I'm in the UK) and 'dad', while Six's parents are referred to as her 'mother' and 'father'. The treatment they give them explains why.

I also gave them their names for different reasons. I've seen a few LN posts on Tumblr that contain what real name those posters would give to Mono and Six if they had real names. One them said that they'd have 'Margaret' be Six's name, though I personally don't agree I decided to give that name to Mono's mother in 'Mono's past'. And in another post by someone else I've seen that the names 'Ellie' and 'Milo' be Six and Mono's names respectively. I forgot it being 'Milo' for Mono until I saw the post again and thought it was 'Marco'. I used that as Mono's dad's name and decided to stick to it even after I saw that it actually say 'Milo' and not 'Marco'.

And I'm not sure how I feel about Six's real name being 'Ellie', but I decided to give that name to Six's mother. As for Six's father's name, I was initially going to have Six's parents be nameless, but when I gave Mono's parents name when I started writing his backstory, I decided to give Six's parents names too. I was unsure what name to give Six's father, but as I was writing 'Into the Maw' (the last part of Six's Shield) I decided to look up male Japanese names (Japanese because I'm pretty sure that LN takes place in Japan, even if it doesn't Six definitely has East Asian racial features) and found the name 'Keisuke', which the website said means 'save' in Japanese, and I decided to use this because in his last moment of life that's what he did to Six, he saved her.

I've also seen a post by @queen0fm0nsterz where she suggests that Six's real name would be 'Miharu', which is Japanese for 'Kindness' and 'Distant'. Though I'd keep Six's name as 'Six' I find this one quite fitting because it's Japanese (and I'm pretty sure that Six is Japanese too) and the words 'kindness' and 'distant' do indeed describe some of Six's traits.

Why did I name the series ‘Six’s Shield’?.

There are multiple reasons why I named the series this, here they are:

1- I didn’t know what else to name it, plus I like the alliteration of it.

2- This one is the main reason: I’ve heard of a DLC for Dark Souls called ‘Sif’s Shield’ and I found the name a bit catchy. I let my imagination run wild when imagining a DLC for Little Nightmares 2 and came up these to serve as the gaps between each of the actual games and letting us see Very Little Nightmares and Little Nightmares 2 through Six’s perspective. To let us get a bigger story about Six, who is probably the most interesting character of the canon series, even though chances are that this stuff isn’t canon.

3- It also kind of serves as a bit of a metaphor, because a shield is obviously used for defence, and part of this series' point is to defend Six, at least in the 'Through her eyes' instalment. Because David Mervik did say that the part where she drops Mono is different in her perspective compared to Mono's and ours, so I made 'Through her eyes' to offer a take on her perspective of that event. But I felt that it's important to include everything that lead up to that as well, such as her bonding to Mono, him not being able to help her when the Thin Man takes her, and the pain that his destroying the music box caused her most especially, which the LN Twitter said twice is what caused her to drop him. As well as the tough situation she was in when she holds him on that ledge, as she's just been tortured by someone who she risked her own life for several times (as did he for her), tried to prevent him from releasing the Thin Man who tore something (Shadow Six) out her, she still was friendly with him despite that, she wasn't given a moment to take it all in when he breaks the music box because the flesh walls began chasing them immediately afterwards and everything was still collapsing around and above her on that. She was put through so much in a short amount of time that I'm pretty sure that it was too much for her (I'm not justifying her dropping Mono, just explaining it).

So I guess you could say for this instalment that the series' name is slightly saying 'In Six's defence', because ignoring the little spins of my own that I put on things that probably aren't canon (such as Six's theme reminding Six of her mother, and Six's transformation into Monster Six being a slow, gradual process like Mono's into Thin Man's (though not as long)) the events of the entire game would look vastly different from Six's POV, as in the game (Mono's POV) we can see Six's pain as he breaks the music box but we're often more focused on destroying the music box. Though I have seen a least two people say that it hurts them to see Six's pain in that part in the game. And thus, in my fic (therefore Six's POV) Mono turning her back is mentioned, but the pain (physical, emotional and psychological) that Six goes through is the main focus - she is the one on the receiving end of the torture after all.

But the stuff before that is important too, such as her bonding to Mono, her risking her own life to help him a few times, looking at Mono in surprise for a second when he burns the Doctor, him not being able to help her when Thin Man takes her, and her still being willing to share her escapism (the music box) with him at first in the tower despite that. We can see her doing this in-game, but the game doesn't focus on it, because it portrays Mono's perspective (who has been described as being single minded in his bio), whereas my fic puts more attention on those things since it's through Six's perspective. I think you get what I mean by now with it defending Six.

A little trick I found to add some immersion to the part where Mono fights Monster Six in 'Through her eyes', and possibly even make that part in the game itself feel differently.

'Old friends anew' from the LN2's soundtrack is what plays during the fight against Monster Six in the game, where Six's pain can be seen but Mono saving her is more focused on, which I take is his perspective of the situation. But since 'Through her eyes' is showing Six's perspective of the situation with Mono saved her being mentioned by her pain being focused on instead, I'm certain that Six's feelings would be different to Mono's, and I found a piece of music that probably illustrates that quite well. It even circles back to one of the reasons for naming the series 'Six's Shield' because it's Sif's theme from Dark Souls' soundtrack. And I believe that it's best played as you read the fight against Monster Six in the fic, beginning the music when Monster Six gets angry when Mono strikes the first blow to the music box. I've only recently discovered that you can add links in AO3 and learned how to do it and added links to the respective places in all of my fics.

I'd even say that if you play this during that part of the actual game (also beginning it when Monster Six turns hostile after the first blow to the music box), then the fight would feel a lot more different.

Here is the music if you want to try it out (heads up that it gets a bit loud suddenly at certain points):

A bunch of the stuff in this series is heavily inspired by Elder Scrolls stuff

I've only played Skyrim and ESO, but I've looked at the UESP wiki and watched many Elder Scrolls lore videos to get to know a lot of lore outside of those two games as well, and I've taken heavy inspiration from it for some stuff in this series (and one in Mono's past as well). The whole thing of a cult that serves the eye and sacrifices people to distort the world for their master is from the main quest of ESO, the eye only being able to claim the souls of those who worship it or are sacrificed to it is from how Daedric Princes work in TES, the (though slightly altered) wording of Pelinal's Whitestrake's last warning to Morihaus is also used as Mono's dad's last warning in 'Mono's past'. And most prominently, most of the nightmares that Six has in the series are from the Vampire nightmares in TES Morrowind and Oblivion (though changed a bit to fit with the LN universe):

Number 4 is Six's nightmare of her being pulling into the flesh wall by her mother and them both being consumed by the flesh wall in 'Six's past'.

Number 5 is Six's nightmare after she eats some of a dead mouse in 'Lost girl'.

And number 7 is Six's nightmare at the beginning of the second chapter of 'Lost girl'

All of the other nightmares that Six has in the series I came up with myself, though the one she has at the start of 'Through her eyes' is more to fit with the games' theme of each game starting with the protagonist having a prophetic nightmare of a future event.

Lastly, most of the puzzles in the first chapter of 'Into the Maw' are also straight from some of the Elder Scrolls games, with the exception of the blue paint lines puzzle, which is from Ao Oni. The armillary sphere puzzle is from the Skyrim quest 'Discerning the transmundane', the flower sconce puzzle is from the quest 'The Maelmoth mysterium' from Elder Scrolls Online (Greymoor DLC), and the buttons in the second employee lounge puzzle is from the Skyrim quest 'Lost to the ages' (Dawnguard DLC).

Some secret details I put in some of my chapter art pieces.

If there's one thing that people on the internet know me for, it's my attention to detail. I've put this in some of my chapter art of the series too:

I designed Six's bedroom to look like Monster Six's room in the Signal Tower (And yes, I copy and and pasted a number of things when making the second image) Also the design of the dress that Six is wearing in the second image (she looks that way because of the fantasy that the Tower put her in) is from Jomark's Cabaug's Monix mini movie (I'm not into shipping though), just without shoes. (Also can you see the tear stains on her face?)

I used this official png of Six in a knee-hugging-and-burying-face-in-kneecaps post when drawing Six in the last chapter card for 'Lost girl', only she's flipped horizontally, wearing the grey jumper instead of the raincoat, and she's crying.

The image of the squeamish scene with the tower preparing to corrupt Six's mind is taken straight from the TV-headed avatar from the vocaloid Gumi's song 'Echo'. I know that people associate this song more with Mono, but don't worry, @starfleetrambo already made an animation of this song with Mono.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm a bit sad that the series is done now, but it was fun while it lasted. I'll finish this post with some questions for you:

What instalment of the series was your favourite and why?

Which chapter of an instalment was your favourite and why?

What was your favourite scene and why?

Which chapter art piece is your favourite and why?

Comment down below!

I'm glad to have made this series.

[twenty-words-or-less]

Top 5 Best Films of 2019

Okay, so I don't normally do this, but I've seen so many films this year that I thought I would summarise them by making top 5 lists. This one deals with my top 5 best (or favourite) films of the year.

IMPORTANT: I shall keep these as spoiler-free and short as I can.

5. Midsommar

A film that feels like it was made by a 50+y/o European that was actually made by a 30+y/o American. I initially thought it was kind of 'eh'. However, it did lodge in my head, and the more I thought about it and the more analyses I read/ watched, the more I liked it. It grew on me much like grass grew on our poor beleaguered protagonist in the numerous hallucinations she has over the course of the film.

4. Booksmart

Like the female answer to Superbad only with zero period jokes (thank fuck). Legitimately funny, rewatchable, and the lead characters have great chemistry. Shame that only ten people saw it, but roughly seven of those people - including [REDACTED] and I - enjoyed it immensely. Special mention goes to Billie Lourd, who was a fucking delight to watch in every scene she was in.

3. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

A coherent, beautiful-looking action film that manages to be as good as its predecessors, which is highly unusual in a film series. I still care about the characters at this point, and I'd be happy to follow these characters through many more installments.

2. Doctor Sleep

The only TRULY good 2019 Stephen King adap, do not @ me. Despite one incredibly distressing scene, I would probably buy this on DVD or at least rewatch it. It's good to see Ewan McGregor get work again, especially as a ravaged, PTSD-ridden Dan Torrance, and it's fantastic to see Rebecca Ferguson get good work after the shitstorm that was "The Snowman" and the dull-as-fuck, grossly overrated "The Greatest Showman". Again, it's a shame that only five people saw it (basically). Genuinely good film.

Honourable mentions before we get to my #1, in no particular order:

Ready or Not: Samara Weaving gives it her all in this blackly comic slasher. I want to see her in more things. Also, on a more superficial note, her wedding dress in this was really pretty, even ripped to shreds and completely soaked in blood.

Crawl: A surprisingly good creature feature that was an absolute blast to watch. Also, the dog lives, which I am very happy about.

Knives Out: the best thing Rian Johnson has done since Looper. Strong cast and beautiful to look at (the film, I mean, not the cast), even if I did get a little lost near the end. Oh, and it automatically improves lad culture if you change the title to Get Your Knives Out For The Lads.

Child's Play: a remake that actually managed to update the setting and keep the things that made the original, well, the original? Holy shit. Also, the end credits song is incredibly catchy.

Avengers: Endgame: as anyone who knows me knows, I'm a slut for superhero films. Long as this was, it stuck the landing; it was a 3hr thank you for sticking with the franchise despite most of the films being 'eh'. Also, I LOVED Cap's ending, just saying.

And now, the most important one...

1. Brightburn

Or as I like to call it, We Need To Talk About Kal-El. Jackson A. Dunn was uncannily perfect for the titular role and the gore effects were fantastic (the car scene in particular). It works as a standalone film and the groundwork for any sequels, which I would happily go and watch, btw. I'd been looking forward to this for months, and I got exactly what I wanted from it. End of.

Whew, this turned out to be longer than I anticipated! Thanks for reading if you made it to the end. This has been my top 5 best; I shall post my top 5 worst later today (I'm seeing "Cats", and I anticipate it making the list). 🎵 Stay tuuuned... 🎵

~Mikey

[squigglywindy]

Uh random numbers for that questions for fic writers ask game

66

30

72

3

59

1

48

63

20

31

SO MANY :D 1. (Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?): I love the idea of multi-chaptered fics and dream of writing a long masterpiece one day, but when it comes down to it I like one-shots because you do it and you're done and there's zero pressure about doing the next chapter etc..

3. (Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic): Usually something happens and then I project about it. Otherwise I have a thought, do random little thoughts about it in a massive document of incoherent rambling, then compile it all into something that almost makes sense.

20. (Have you noticed any patterns in your fics?): You mean other than people dying? Angst.

30. (Do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it's all polished?): I've shared snippets and vague ideas but not rough drafts with my fics, but would be very open to doing so. With my original stories I used to share with friends but it went poorly and now my sister is my only draft-reader.

31. (Do you start with the characters or the plot when writing?): With fics I have a tendency to use the same characters over and over so I kind of start with the plot of what I want to put them through. With original stories I usually form the characters and then decide what to do with them.

48. (What do you look for in a beta?): I've never had one (except for essays...) but I would want someone who would just blatantly tell me "Look Squiggs this makes absolutely no sense let's work on it".

59. (Does anyone in your personal life know you write fic? If not, would you tell anyone?): Nope! I would be open to telling my cousin, and mayyyybbbeee I sister, but that's it.

63. (Something you hate to see in smut): I haven't willingly read smut we don't talk about the improperly tagged fics with surprises

66. (How do you deal with writing pressure like pressure to update, negative comments, etc.): Afhdsajkfhdskjfjdsk. Pressure. No. Pressure to update isn't really a biggie because y'all are awesome and I've never gotten anything beyond 'excited to read the next installment!'. I've also not gotten negative comments from y'all, but I have on my original stories from friends and I do not take it well.

72. (What order do you write in? Front to back, chronological, development, timeline, etc.): Usually front to back, start to finish, but if I'm really inspired for a certain scene I will occasionally write out of order.