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whennoodlesformwords · 2 months ago

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Spy x Family Joongdok

disclaimer: excuse the grammar, maybe minor spoilers for orv for those who haven't read super far into the story, like demon world arc?

think i finally cracked it, and i'll probably upload little add-ons later, but spy x family orv has had me in a clutch between two fandoms now and there's so many parallels and I gotta figure out how to do this so i propose:

kdj as yor, yjh as loid, and biyoo as anya ofc (havent watched buddy daddies but probably will because it sounds like a dynamic that fits them more) where kdj is probably more serial killer/hitman for hire working closer with the Underworld and yjh being a spy/mafioso style almost, where their alliances don't really line up as closely to a country affiliation but more to their own people, and value loyalty, experience, and familial ties over patriotism. again, might make another plot idea closer to the spy x family lore and background, but this came to mind first so fuck it we ball

however, i wanted to add some twists bc this idea came to me before i could get to figuring out the whole eden school plot point (brainrot decrees i need a good school environment for biyoo and that might take some brainstorming) and because i can't see another incentive for yjh and kdj to form a family around biyoo because of that:

yjh and kdj approach each other aware of the other's identity, but with the idea to seduce/trap the other into their own networking things (kdj trying to get yjh as more of a skilled killer so they could underworld gig together and yjh trying to recruit kdj into his mafioso system so they actually have an adequate and reliable assassin/ cleaner, probably more history on that assassin mafia position bc there could be a lot there)

now, i know the major plot point of sxf is that nobody knows who the other really is *except anya ofc* but like, bc we have two geniuses who are very suspicious of each other, i had to make a thing where they both approach each other with full knowledge of what both of them do, and trying to win one over with their own ambitions because, lets be honest, power couples who are murderous to anyone who threatens their sunshine is just *mwah* because the moment someone kidnaps biyoo on the premise of threatening either parent, they're dead. like since last week.

anyways, this would probably include interactions with trying to throw dirt on the other or insulting organizations, cue kdj trying to teach biyoo never to get into gangs or the sort bc the power and hierarchy system is shit, yjh telling biyoo that hitmen and assassins can't be freelance and need to take some orders from the top so they know who to kill otherwise they lose their prestige as assassins and allat, kdj not so subtly saying mafias are brutal and have no class, while yjh says assassins are so stuck up because they kill so many elites that they reach of arrogance only found in the upper class, list goes on and on. biyoo is just there hoping someday she can just be babysat between both the underworld and mafia because both are just equally fun

and now, if we add in some flirting, you all of a sudden have kdj describing what he'd do if he ever found a mafioso trying to get in the way of one of his hits, yjh trying not to imagine it and get turned on, while making kdj jealous by having a 'soon-to-be-hired' *imaginary* assassin in the mafia and recounting that they're lovers or something (kdj knows its a lie, yjh can't keep his eyes off of him and he knows there's no assassin in the mafia yet otherwise he'd be far gone from him and biyoo but it doesn't mean the jealousy inside him will listen to that) and not so subtly suggests how good he is in bed

which would probably lead to another bought of insults between the two concerning things biyoo should definitely *not* hear

they also try and get blackmail on the other and expose that they each know exactly what the other is doing, but never succeed so now its more like a daily thing they do in semi-stalking and keeping tabs on the other (and if it means saving yjh from a close call of almost being shot by a half-dead lackey during enemy base raid, or if kdj's targets end up being a little too drugged up before kdj kills them, well, they're flirting your honor) and again, biyoo just watches from the sidelines

now, if we're already changing that, we could definitely say biyoo can read minds right? but where's the fun in that

so instead of reading minds, what if she reads the people themselves?

full transparency of personality, background, intentions, and probably stemming more as the dokkaebi nature of being storytellers, she sees things in people that sometimes they themselves don't even know, and its up to her on how to interpret it

closest example would probably be bbc sherlock with how words seem to pop out, except it goes deeper than just general appearance and emotion, but again along the lines of reading the persons' story/ first words of association (she's kdj daughter after all)

because it seems like anya can consciously read people's minds and not all the time, i think biyoo could do the same, she just has to prepare herself for the onslaught of words that're going to come from 'reading' a person since she has to sort through the information that comes to her and try to make sense of it (like how anya can read minds but still has to sleuth out who's saying what and what context their saying it in - like reading minds doesn't make one omniscient, and she's still young so she doesn't understand a lot about thought processes or people, and can only make small, sometimes misunderstood inferences, translate that over to biyoo and she can understand the general 'vibe' (?) of a person but it still takes some work to break it all down, and sometimes understanding them at a deeper level)

Now, combine all this with general shenanigans (as one does in spy x family bc *comedy*) and now we can add in so much tension and 'cat and mouse' gameplay between these two that it'd actually be insane. i cant think of any examples (will probably reblog with any funny scenarios i think of) but like, imagine the possibilities

anyways if this has actually been fleshed out by someone before me id love to hear it, i cannot get enough of this brainrot personally and wanna see other people's thoughts on this

see yall in the next post when it comes, personally thinking about reblogging some older ideas with some theoretical dialogue or situations bc some of these are like old brainrots so we'll see

stay healthy and keep hydrated, have a good day yall

#orv fanfic #fanfic ideas #ramen writes #potential fanfic #story time #orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #kim dokja #yoo joonghyuk #joongdok #biyoo #kimcom #as one makes shenanigans #the rest must be there #there'll maybe be a deep dive between the parallels i chose #but lets be honest #some of these are self explanatory

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itslilacokay · 10 months ago

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pls pls PLSS tell me about your NS? au i need to know as much as humanly possible...

sniff... i.... i thought no one would ever ask........... nows my chance...... to yap..........

AHEM.

ns?AVA (normalswap?ava) is my swap au! its not normal

victim and tco both take tsc's role, while tsc just takes victim's role

mercenaries swap roles with cg, though its not exact on which mercenary takes specific a cg member's role and vice versa, theyre quite jumbled around

though one specific stick in the cg doesnt take a mercenary's role and that's yellow, in fact he takes tdl's role! as for tdl he takes tco's role

"so in your au there's like only 3 mercenaries instead of 4?????" no i thought of something else to remedy that

you know that cloaked guy that gave king the command block? yeah hes a mercenary now

speaking of king........ he has a different role as well but that's in ns?avm, which i'll get to later because i need to explain more ns?ava things

so fun fact! the hollowheads have new names for this au

tsc -> The First Victim (tfv)

tdl -> The Chosen Lord (tcl)

victim -> The Return (tr)

tco -> The Second Chance (scn)

btw the animator is alexcrafter28, aka that minecraft kid in lush caves

for ns?ava lore, i wrote down what happened in ns?ava1-4 a few months ago so if you dont miiind

SWAP-AVA 1 -tfv becomes a rogue animation and destroys the computer -tfv finds the stickfight website and convinces the colorgang to destroy the computer with him, they agree -colorgang gets "ended", which makes ctv want to destroy the computer even more -ends like normal ava1 with the fla closing without being saved, since tfv is bound to that fla file he disappears with it

an extra thing to note is that if this were a video, there would be an ""animation error"" where yellow didnt get shown to be ended, an aucanon explanation would be that yellow managed to escape to the outernet, albeit on accident

SWAP-AVA 2 -tcl is made and destroys the pc, wow what a shocker -alex eventually traps him and just renders him powerless, though tcl's able to still wander around the pc

SWAP-AVA3 -yellow appears back in the pc and starts destroying it again -tcl tries to stop him but eventually joins him and also the code that disabled his power gets removed (yellow did it) -just like normal ava3, it ends with them both completely destroying the computer, ending with a blue screen of death

SWAP-AVA4 -starts like normal ava4, in the middle of an online chat -however, it starts in the middle of scn destroying the computer -scn comes across an fla file and finds tr and co -they hang out for a bit but alex eventually finds the fla with them inside -fight sequence -as soon as alex is about to close the fla a few flashbacks to (swap)ava 1 happen -they come up with a compromise, scn doesnt wreck the pc and alex lets him and his new friends hang out in said pc -a little while later it shows that scn, tr and co are in their own fla, with a house drawn inside it (similar to the stickfight website)

a few extra things i want to add before heading to ns?avm is that in this au, when tfv gets brought back from deletion he tries to immediately go back to the stickfight website in hopes of bringing back the cg

it works, but yellow is still missing

they then find out about the outernet and try to find yellow there

along the way they founded illustratiocorp

just to make it clear they dont care about the animator, or at least getting revenge on the animator is of less importance to them at the moment, for now they just want to find yellow

the reason why tcl is wanted is because he was suspected to have involvement with yellow somehow,,, and also the past instances/news of internet terrorizing but yeahhg

i think thats all for ns?AVA for the moment, now is time for ns?AVM!

so in ns?AVM, gold and king found purple and took him in (purple's lore up until that point still stays, orchid dies and navy leaves)

purple died in the minecraft event and gold feels severe survivor's guilt and now wants to destroy minecraft

unlike king, gold's ,.,,, a child so this hatred against minecraft is more severe

speaking of king, yeah he's still traumatized but he still has a bit of moral left and doesn't want gold to go through with this plan

gold then early on finds out how to enter minecraft because of the cloaked guy (gasp)

in this au, cloaked guy originally resided in the mac and later led gold to said mac

gold decided this would be a good time to start destroying a bit of minecraft currently on the mac, but accidentally ended up being a ruler of the mac village (definitely not because cloaked guy gave him the crown and silently left and the villagers took that as cloaked guy passing down the crown to this kid)

then skip to a whiiiile later, gold and cloaked guy are kinda working together and cloaked guy is also teaching gold how to work with the command block

now that golds more confident on working the command block, his plan to destroy minecraft can finally begin right after making a staff because he still liked his old staff during his time as ruler of the mac village

honestly i havent thought much about ns?AVM as much as i have with ns?AVA so maybe i'll post some other lorethings about ns?AVM after i think some more, but apart from that i thiiink thats about it yeah

#alan becker #animator vs animation #ava #ava au #NS?AVA #thank you anon for asking ohmygod ive been wannting to do this for a while #i know most have been explained in this post but uhh still check out the ns?ava tag for silly au art #and maybe some other lorethings i havent mentioned here #um hope yuo have fun reading that all ?#askingriot

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hb0mb · 4 months ago

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Okay okay!! Hold up hold up!!!

I got bored and I decided to draw an OC.. for aphmau roleplays.. well two but I didn't finish the other OC😔 but anyway I'll show you her!

MARIA RO'MEAVE

For her she's the twin sister of Garroth, she's a few minutes before him so sometimes she likes to put that over his head! I forgot the Lore between the Ro'meave like if Garte is a bad dad or not but anyways I wanna say she's a daddy's girl like he loves Garroth and Maria the most.. and she loves her dad she tries to see past his rude way to his other son's.. kind of turning a blind eye from his rude tone or behavior towards his other sons.

(talking between pdh season 1 to 2??)

She's a peacekeeper between Garroth and Zane after the snowball incident, she grew to care like her mother for her brother's, Maria was a Zane defender while he was in his emo phase she and him looked up tutorials on how he should do his eyes.. he would never did it until season 2 where he grows into his emo phase more, she let him use her mascara from time to time!

Here's first design of my other OC!

Axel Shalashaska

The twin brother of Aphmau, he's the youngest by minutes after her, I wanted to add birthmarks below their eyes because I find them really cute— to be honest I just wanted it on Axel but didn't want to put like a little info behind it so both twins got it from Sylvanna who also has that, his darker tonus from his father, before divorcing Sylvanna and Zack decided to give the kids ear piercing at a young age which why they have earrings in the art.

Axel is more calm but secretly as shy kid, he's a great mamas boy since he's the only boy so he has to be the man of the house but Sylvanna doesn't let him! Pinching his ear whenever he does something without her knowledge, hes a controller user then aphmau who plays on her laptop— he really loves chocolate cake especially homemade.

Maria + Axel

Axel is a freshman while Maria is a sophomore, they met somewhere else during the time between Aph and Garroth in the first episode of PDH, he bumped into her while he was trying to look where Aph was Maria was kind apologizing before Axel all flustered by seeing her beauty also apologizing!

She never saw him as a love interest at first more like a friend.. a close family friend since finding out they're friends before, Axel was having a lil crush on her while she didn't feel anything at first about liking him. Since freshman are 14 when they join High school and I wanna make Maria 16 so she doesn't want to date freshman especially Axel since he just joined high school.

(this was during the prom episode, the scene was taking place outside right in front of the stair leading to the front doors, I just want to add benches near the sidewalks in front of the stairs) Axel was shy or hesitant around Maria, at prom she had a date but he bailed last minute she was in her dumps already texting her mom to come pick her up before Axel found her, even in the dark could see how her makeup ran down her face. He sat with her until Zianna came, they had a little chat before Axel expressed his feelings in the most crack and squeezy voice how much he likes her but was quickly shut down by Maria saying she finds him sweet but he's too young even for 2 years apart she doesnt wanna date younger people for now..

He felt like his heart was just ripped apart but tried to play cool, all smiles as Zianna finally came she said in the whole gentle ways possible she hopes he finds someone he really likes, hugging him before leaving waving him off. As the vehicle drove off Axel just sat in the dark with the moon casting over him, he felt weird.. this was his first rejection, his first actual crush but for some reason he wasn't mad? Or sad he didn't know how to feel.. he really did love her but if she says he's too young maybe if he gets into college she will change her mind? Is he in denial? Idk~

But that's all I have for now I'll probably add more later, it's like 5:00 in the morning now I need some sleep!!

#aphmau #aphmau roleplay #phoenix drop high #aphmau pdh #my art #garroth ro'meave #zane ro'meave #aphmau shalashaska #oc art #my ocs #oc x canon #oc x oc ship #mystreet #ranting #zianna ro'meave #mystreet x reader #phoenix drop high x reader #x reader

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a-blue-mask · 10 months ago

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Rambling about my new obsession because I'm the sole lord of this glorified trashcan and I can.

Sylus from Love and Deepspace.

Warnings: spoilers for his two story chapters, spoilers about Dawnbreaker, generic spoilers about the game, a lot of self indulgent thinking, error.404 coherence not found, we're hopping from one thought to the other like the sparrows on the window, inaccuracies are likely to happen I'm just a silly guy.

THIS MAN.

So, from the blurred scene we see as flashback when we're on the rooftop with him and stuff, someone made out the figure of a "Wanderer" Sylus on his knees, stabbed with a sword in the chest by the MC. I'll add the link to the Tumblr post with the video here. The video is from TikTok but it's easier to see here if you ask me and besides this is what triggered all my thinking.

Now, hear me out.

We know the other guys (well you guys probably know, I landed on the game for Sylus and saw almost nothing of the in-game lore of the guys, I only know spoilers from social media and something from the anecdotes) all sacrificed something for MC in her past lives. Faith, power, people... They had all to renounce to something to protect MC. Some people were wondering what Sylus sacrificed for her in her past life with him.

This would be the explanation.

He literally died for her.

Like in the flashback he tells MC to press on, so she didn't kill him as an enemy, but he LET her kill him. And for some reason she HAD to kill him too. We can see his clawed hand cradling hers and making her hold the hilt of the sword.

Now if we go down the wanderer theory, y'all are familiar with Dawnbreaker anecdotes right? How people started turning into wanderers and the alternative Zayne had to kill them even though they still had human looks for the most part.

So what if Sylus was, in another life, that kind of wanderer? A human turned into a monster, that MC had no choice but to kill?

BUT WE'RE NOT STOPPING HERE. OH NO WE'RE REACHING WITH THIS ONE.

The surroundings, for what little we could see in the blurry flashbacks, weren't of Linkon, or any place on the current in-game earth for that matter. A very post-apocalyptic vibe, right?

AND we know from Dawnbreaker that his world is going in a similarly dystopic direction: the government is hiding the fact that people are turning into wanderers, Linkon in ruins, normal wanderers roaming free and people forced inside their houses. We've seen suspicious wanderers in the new story chapters too, when we were at the club fighting the other faction of Onychinus. Just reminding y'all.

Now I won't reach THAT much by saying that Dawnbreaker is in the same timeline of wanderer Sylus and MC (though...) BUT what if in their timeline they found themselves in that similar situation, just way further ahead and way worse? MC as one of the few surviving humans with Sylus as her companion, both of them trying to "press on", with ultimately Sylus turning into a wanderer and getting killed by MC, then her dying later on.

This feels like a mashup of Doom Breaker and Eternal Afterlife but it's probably just me.

And all the possible simbolysm, as the person in the video noticed, like the claw gripping a heart on Sylus's necklace? Could it be symbolic of his wanderer self clinging to his humanity? Or maybe his wanderer self, still somehow conscious, offering his heart to MC to be killed, like he did in the flashback?

Also, just to mention the other necklace he has, with the heart being impaled; I don't know how strong vampire lore is in China, BUT a stake to the heart is what is traditionally believed to kill vampires. And vampires, traditionally, are represented as parasites, or rather humans that are possessed by a parasite, and killing them is putting the human soul at peace and saving it. So apply it to Sylus and the earlier reasonings about his past life with MC.

It's the theme of losing humanity and being saved through death before it's too late.

Also it would be such a good parallel with the scene from their first (not exactly first but you get it) interaction, when Sylus presses MC's gun to his chest and encourages her to shoot. Like MC killed him at the first chance she got.

Which would support the wanderer Sylus theory.

And that thing about not being killed by the same thing twice in Lost Oasis??? Hello???

Yes he didn't actually die and can use his energy manipulation to heal himself quickly but you get my point:

He coerced her into shooting at his heart. Where she likely stabbed him in the other timeline.

...

Okay now that we've talked about this (AAAAAAAAAAAAAA THE LORE THE SYMBOLISM THE PARALLELS THE DEPTH I JUST CAN'T WITH THIS GAME) let's go to something lighter!

Like, did you know that crows are one of the smartest and most loyal birds out there?

They have a great memory and will remember you if you help them, becoming loyal to you (following you around, giving you trinkets...) and sort of adopting you as their god in a way (since they give you offerings and expect food in exchange so you are getting my point I hope). What does this say about Sylus? EVERYTHING.

He comes to MC when he needs help and always rewards her, he literally says that he adores her (not in the main story), has his "flock" (Luke and Kieran, and Mephisto if we want) looking out for her, not to mention the stalking...

He's that perfect mix between adorable crow husband and tormented gothic antagonist.

Alr thank you for coming to my LaD talk, have a cookie 🍪

#love and deepspace #love and deepspace sylus #lads #lads sylus #l&ds #l&ds sylus #sylus #lnds #lnds sylus #dawnbreaker #obsession #silly guy

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thewholediamondsky · 9 months ago

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✨️ TDP characters and musicals that I think they would like ✨️

And I will hardly elaborate on most of these

1. Callum - Ordinary Days (2008)

FYI: There's a specific song in this musical made in the first few times I heard it. And the second time it happened, the actress had barely started singing it.

2. Ezran - Cats (1981)

Just imagined him trying to explain the musical's lore to the others, after having already seen the show FOUR times and having memorized all the parts, characters and songs.

3. Rayla - Mamma Mia (1999)

I once thought about an AU of The Dragon Prince and Mamma Mia. It wasn't a very developed ideia...but I thought the initial concept was pretty cool.

4. Soren - Legally Blonde (2007)

I made a post about this one once!

5. Claudia - Beetlejuice (2018)

“I myself am strange and unusual” – Lydia Deetz

6. Viren - Hamilton (2015)

I don't know if this will sound strange, but I think this is a musical that fits Viren's character. Maybe later I'll make a post using songs from the musical itself, to explain why I think this!

7. Harrow - The Sound of Music (1959)

Initially I was torn between "The Sound of Music" and "Mary Poppins". Because I could imagine both Harrow singing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "My Favorite Things" to Callum and Ezran when they were younger.

8. Terry - Dear Evan Hansen (2015)

"I'm sending pictures of the most amazing trees

You'll be obsessed with all my forest expertise."

9. Corvus - Moulin Rouge (2001/2018)

And if I may add, Corvus would absolutely ROCK the role of Christian in this musical. Just the final high note of "El Tango de Roxanne" would be enough to lift the audience's souls straight to heaven.

10. Aaravos - Chicago (1975)

For some reason, the "Funny Honey" musical number reminds me of him. I honestly thought that "Cell Block Tango" would be the one to do so, but...

#tdp #the dragon prince #the mystery of aaravos #tdp mystery of aaravos #tdp callum #tdp ezran #tdp rayla #tdp soren #tdp claudia #tdp viren #tdp harrow #tdp terry #tdp corvus #tdp aaravos #just me killing time until season 7 #tdp season 7 #by the way 3/10 of these musicals have made me cry at some point

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atwas-meme-ing · 2 years ago

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HEY ALL!!! If you haven't heard, Unity is gonna start charging devs 20 cents per download. Not per sale, but PER DOWNLOAD. This applies to not only big-name games like Hollow Knight and Ori, but also smaller projects that might be free. This includes mobile games made with Unity, Undertale fan games like Undertale Yellow and Deltatraveler, and also, get this: Murder of Sonic! It was made in Unity, and so far, it's still free, but Sega's gonna hafta start charging for it sooner or later- IF they don't decide to take it down completely.

So, on this note, I have 2 things to say:

Get your favorite games NOW. Some devs, like Team Cherry, are talking about "taking their games down" (so much for Silksong- thanks A LOT, Unity!!!). I don't know if that means you'll still be able to play these games- like on Steam, for instance- if you already have them downloaded.

Please, please, PLEASE, support those games that are made with Unity. 20 cents adds up when there's a million downloads, and if it's like a mobile game, where people don't necessarily have to pay for it, that's going to COST the devs money- a LOT of money. I know we all hate the paywalls and "pay-to-win" schemes in mobile games, but let's be real- crap like this Unity thing are the whole reason those paywalls exist! These devs aren't doing this for free, they're trying to make a living! Even if you only spend $1, only 1 time, that is STILL going to be an 80 cent profit over the new Unity costs, and maybe, just maybe, give some game devs enough incentive to keep the game around.

I know Unity has a bad rep because it's easy to use and allows devs to release games that control poorly because you don't have to be good at coding to do it (*cough* Guardian of Lore *cough*). That's why I haven't used Unity, despite having several game ideas in my head, because I don't know how to code (yet), and I didn't want to release a game like that- and now I never will use Unity. But games like all the ones I've mentioned are proof that Unity CAN be used for good games, in the right hands. So please, if you love a game made with Unity, please support it, so the game doesn't go away. Don't send the devs into bankruptcy just because Unity is a money-grubbing so-and-so.

(Oh, I should also mention, for browser-based games, apparently this "per download" thing also includes "per BROWSER REFRESH". So, yeah, please don't blame the devs, support the devs and blame Unity.)

EDIT: It's not quite as bad as I'd thought. I knew Unity had a threshold, but I thought it was an either/or thing- either a certain number of downloads, or a certain amount of money made from a game. And, it's not, it's both.

So free games (like Murder of Sonic) apparently won't be affected.

Here's their pricing schedule once the threshold is met:

It still adds up for the smaller projects, with Unity taking all or most of the revenue from smaller games.

And one thing that's still bothering me: the install threshold is "life to date" and Unity is charging per install over the threshold. So, if a game's been around for years and had a million downloads and has made 200,000 dollars in the last year, they're gonna end up paying that 200,000 all at once.

At least, that's what I'm reading.

So, ok, I was wrong. Free projects won't be affected. But this is still awful, especially when it's first starting out.

EDIT 2 (2023-09-23): They've lessened the fees:

youtube

I'm still not using them. They never had a good reputation- I mean, there's good Unity games, but there's also a lot of bad ones because people can just release games with Unity with no coding experience. I want to make games someday, but I want them to be a good quality, so I'm waiting until I can actually figure out C++ (heck, I'm still wading through HTML, I'm nowhere near real programming languages). As long as I have to learn coding to make something good, I might as well find an engine that I can trust. I hear a lot about Godot. I also think I'll want to look at Monogame, because Monogame was used to make Axiom Verge and Celeste, and it's apparently based on the defunct XNA that was used to make Stardew Valley. Or I'll find something else. But not Unity. I just don't trust them.

#unity #unity engine #unity3d #game design #game development #indie game development #murder of sonic the hedgehog #hollow knight #ori #undertale fan games #deltatraveler #undertale yellow #Youtube

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callizinc · 2 months ago

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Hiiii hello calli... sorry to come into your askbox to ramble again, ily and im Sorry. Ignore this if want. I just.. you mentioned murder dr0nes, right? And said it wasn't that good? Well, I got curious, cause I've seen a lot of people liking it n stuff, so I was like.... now what's the deal here?

So I watched the pilot. (Only the pilot!! These are first impressions). And ummm.. hardcore murder dr0ne likers look away please 🙈 genuinely sorry to shit on your #Thing.

I think the main thing that bothered me was.. that the dialogue was kinda. Painful for me?

Like the rest was fine. The animation was beautiful. The story is pretty simple so far but it's nothing bad. Some elements are intriguing, particularly the themes of complacency vs fighting back, and N's character. The character designs could be better (you have so much you can do with robots. Why did you make them all look the same. Cmon...) but the dialogue....

Like. I get who this is catering to. And I know I'm probably not in that audience and that's fine. Others will enjoy exactly what I don't

But it's just so?? Personally grating to me? Like all the therapy speak and meta jokes? Speech made up of quips and stuff? Like I get it they're trying to be quirky and all but it just feels like. Too quirky, for me. Quirkiness overload. And it wouldn't be as bad if All characters didn't talk this more or less exact same way. Like: Why are these real characters in their real world talking about redemption arcs and sad backstories and accounts of murder like they're aware that they're characters. I just don't get it.

Unless it ties into the lore, it's just so strange to me

It makes them feel flatter. Not as real. With the villains also - they do their best to make them these evil murderous girl bosses, and all the power to them, #ilovemurderousgirlbosses, but the way they're written, they don't really have the space to be? Anything else? They're just evil and #crazy. And like, of course, maybe they're developed further later on, but just speaking my first impressions here

Also againnn with the daddy issues.. it feels even worse cause like. I'm struggling to feel any real connection between uzi and her dad. Which is probably the point. But idk, the way they both turned so fast on each other... do they care for each other at all? I'm aching for some parent+child relationships with actual depth and sentimentality here

Also while I enjoy the themes of complacency vs fighting back, I kinda... didn't like how the 'complacent' side was portrayed. As just bumbling nerds who hang out all day and can't face the reality of the real world. Idk. It just seems kind of weird to me, when drawing real world parallels? Like. People who choose to not risk it when it comes to getting hate crimed and downright murdered just for who they are aren't cowards. They aren't stupid. We even see, they must have been really smart to build those doors! But why are they portraying them as such wimps and like they're idiots!! Real world people in that position would be a lot more nuanced!!!

Idk. Its a cartoon, so. Whatever.

Just some thoughts

Again, this is only about the pilot, and maybe the show massively improves from here on and I'll be eating my words, and I'm very sorry again to yuck on someone's yum, but. Yeah!! Just my personal first thoughts ;^^

We interrupt my enaposting to bring you: Me dogging on some random show that no one here gaf about but ME!!!!!!!!! and you know what this is MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So mg i hope you know i was reading this ask going YES... HA HA HA... YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Because on the inside i have been DYING to talk about this with someone This is such a fucking beautiful day. BUCKLE UP

FIRST OF ALL: I AGREE. 100 THOUSAND FUCKING PERCENT. ON ALL OF THIS. I do have some other things to add, and obviously a few small things to disagree with cause you've only seen one episode LOL, but nevertheless. No yeah abso fucking lutely

A fun fact i didn't share before is that i actually tried to start watching murder drones months ago, but gave up on it halfway through episode 1 because i. Couldn't. do the dialogue. I couldn't it was fucking killing me god i could not fucking stand it 😭

And if my decision to pick it back up had Anything to do with the fact that one of the characters, V, has the same voice actress as meanie Ena. N. No it didn't. Why would you even say that No it. didn't. Smiles. No that had nothing to do with it, nothing. Nothing! Nothing at all these things were totally unconnectdd These things have nothing to do wirth each other Guys it's ok Guys believe me please Guys please YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME GUYS. GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok anyway. The thing about the dialogue is that i KIND of understand why it's like that. Especially having seen the whole series, I can confidently say that, well, murder drones Loves stories—it especially loves the type of edgy stories, the "baby's first DeviantArt oc" stories that people have long made fun of. And i genuinely love this, i Love that murder drones embraces the type of character and story writing that cringe culture has mocked, and I'm truly very glad the show exists. .........Doesn't make this dialogue any less bad though LIKE I THINK YOU COULD'VE GOTTEN THIS IDEA ACROSS IN. LIKE. ANY DIFFERENT WAY 😭😭

The dialogue in this regard also does genuinely get better on in the later episodes, but it's still There every now and then. 😭 (The show also becomes so intensely plot focused on a bizarrely written confusing mystery that there's... um... less. dialogue 😭 In general. to be honest. So)

It's weird cause i see some people justify it as "Well they're robots so of course they're not gonna talk like humans, they're talking like imitations of humans!" And like. If this idea was ever brought up in the show at all i'd maybe be fine with that, But the bots are literally just. People. They're just people made of chrome with glowy eyes, almost nothing about them being bots affects anything in the story, which honestly. Is fine. That's just a really dumb justification imo 😭

And anyway, for the rest of your ask: Yeah. Yeah. Uzi's dad is a really weirdly written character for the whole show, I do not like him 😭 We do see later that they genuinely care for each other, but his handling is still very strange, i'm not a fan. It's like he's a main character, but is written with the depth of a comedic relief side character, and just, Why?????/ Why????????????????

It ties into your other complaint, that all the drones besides Uzi and the Murderers are written as like. Really stupid? Especially given almost all of them are intentionally stereotypes, ie: dumb jock, there's one later that's just Mean Girl, etc. I understand it's supposed to be another meta thing, A commentary but also celebration of stories and tropes: But that's Literally all these characters are???

😭 Especially given later on, SO many of the worker drones die and. No one cares. They're almost all just dumb and flat and die and nobody gaf. Like ???? WHY??????? WHAT IS HAPPENING?????????????

Plus. No yeah they all look The Same. I think i misidentified literally every single character at least one time except for uzi and N. which is. ....Unfortunate....

I will say, the later show goes actually like... Into surprisingly LITTLE detail on the complacency vs. fighting back theme. I honestly don't even think they intentionally made that a theme at all. Do i wish they did things differently and actually tried to do that? Absolutely. I'm the guy who interprets every story to be about how Society Is Bad after all. But instead that's not there and we just have this which. #Okay

Plus, about how the worker drones are just written to be so Dumb and so Nothing, They're all just kind of okay with the fact that the people who spent years killing all of them are just like. Here, now. 😭 Which is an entirely different thing i can't get into now LOL

OK. EXHALES DEEPLY. Despite the insane amount of bullshit i just said, I will say. I do still like murder drones. The animation is beautiful and the fight scenes especially are insanely good. I also, despite my Many Gripes, really like the characters. At least the like, main 3 who are actually written with an Attempt at depth. wipes a tear from my eye. I care them and i like them very much....

But. everything else.... It's something. Some of it's really really cool, other parts of it Isn't. If you wanna watch some genuinely really awesome fight scenes, and look at cute robots, With the connective tissue between these scenes being bizarrely written and immensely confusing. Well you've come to the right place ig 😭

#AGAIN. NO ALSO. IF THERE ARE ANY HARDCORE FANS HERE LOOK AWAY #I WILL KEEP MY GRIPES CONTAINED TO READ MORES IF I SAY ANY MORE #But. Sorry eshi i needed to let this out I had a weird amount of fun writing this #so like. Thank you so much for the excuse to bitch FDHJSKFLGHSH 😭😭😭#AND I LOVEEE YOUR THOUGHTS :D So thank you lots for sharing them with me :]#I hope mine arent completely incomprehensible 😭😭😭#askbox

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jewel-pixelheart · 3 months ago

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Any fun stories from the times when Cora and Perospero were still newlyweds? Since it was an arranged marriage, I can imagine that they fell pretty awkward towards each other (mostly Cora), how did they warm up to each other? I'm really curious!

(PS I love your art style 💖)

Hi Anon, I hope you're doing great ✨️

Thank you so much for this interesting question! I'll try to answer it as best as I could (I hope it won't be too long 🤞🏻).

Well yes, you guessed right saying Cora felt the most awkward between the two. Not that Perospero wasn't, but he was definitely more amused by her reactions than feeling embarrassed. Plus, knowing Peros' personality, I don't think he would easily get awkward in general.

As for Cora, let's recall that she was raised as a princess and end up married to a pirate, first son of the empress Big Mom. She was only 18 yo when she married Perospero. Which means she didn't know much of adulthood and how married couples work. She only had a vague idea from her lectures of "how to be a good wife". (In Honeyhold realm, being a good wife is one of the duties of each princesses/future queens.)

So the first months after they got married, Cora was always around Perospero, asking him if he needed something as she tried her best to fulfill her duty as his wife. But let's be honest she was doing too much 😅 She started to get silly as she was always putting too much intentions and efforts. For instance, if Peros was having tea, Cora would ask to bring the equivalent of 3 teapots (or more), just to be sure he had enough. Which of course was way too much. These kind of exaggerated gestures was amusing Perospero, at the point that he was always teasing her. And at the end of the day, the poor Cora couldn't hide her embarrassment anymore.

It's only months (or around year) later that Cora felt more at ease with Perospero and among the Charlotte Family. The complicity they both build over the time changed their relation from cordial to real romantic feelings. Even if Peros was often teased Cora, he'd always made sure his wife was missing nothing. At the beginning, it wasn't because he was in love with her, but only because Mama appreciates Cora a lot. Of course, as he was spending more and more time with the former princess, he started to develop romantic feelings towards her. Same goes for Cora, who only tried to be a good wife but ended up falling in love with Perospero.

I hope I answered your question 🍭 Unfortunately, I didn't have any precise situations/scenes in mind to give you more examples... But maybe someday, inspiration will strike! I'm still working on developing Peros and Cora's relationship (as well as Honeyhold lore). But thank you, cause your question helped me lot as it I gave me the opportunity to think about them and the beginning of their love story ❤️

Also, thank you so much! I'm so glad to know you enjoy my art 🥹❤️🫶🏻 I'm still not 100% confident about it, but I guess practice is the key! 💪🏻 So here's more of my WIP from my last PerosCora piece just for you 🍭

Just to add that I'm sorry if it took me time to answer 😣 But my weeks were pretty busy lately…

Anyway, I wish you a wonderful day/night dear Anon ✨️

I hope to see you soon 👋🏻

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theoracraft · 3 months ago

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Fic tag game

Thanks for the tag @melikochan :D

How many works do you have on ao3?

Currently 3!

What's your total ao3 word count?

35,611*

*Quite a few of those are from collabs, so a good number of those words were from another.

Your Top 5 3 stories by kudos (A lot of my old stuff is lost to time on like old BBS, blogs, etc, my current AO3 account is pretty new)

Foretold Loss (Dragon Age: The Veilguard)

I'm sorry, I love you still (Dragon Age: The Veilguard)

I love you, I'm sorry (Dragon Age: The Veilguard)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I typically try to, but tend to get hung up on feeling like I shouldn't if I don't have something worth while to really say/add/convey/answer. Like, will it feel spammy to get an alert email that there's a reply to your comment of me just going, "Thank you!"

Do you write crossovers?

I've fiddled with a few that aren't published, but usually shy from them. They can be fun experiments though.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Oh yeah. I hope I write the Emotionally Devastating kind.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! I have quite a few unpublished ones that have gone back and forth for years, but linked above, "I love you, I'm sorry," and "I'm sorry, I love you still," were both co-written with @bloodydifficult. These were spawned by her asking if I'd like to collaborate on a Neve/Rook break up fic, and the sequel was due to us wounding the readers so badly they needed a happy ending.

What's your favorite all time ship?

I'll admit Neve/Rook from Dragon Age has pretty much eaten my brain at this point. I've been fond of plenty of classics like Korra/Asami from Avatar: The Legend of Korra, or Jesse/Emily from Control, but Neve is... the most I have been catered to ever by a fandom, much less a video game.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but probably never will?

Someone made a joke about how Veilguard would have been a shorter game if Neve had been a charge which I couldn't argue given she was the brains behind my Chaos Gremlin Punch First Ask Questions Later Rook, so got to thinking that an AU of her heading things up could be amusing. I doubt I'd have the motivation to do something that big given only a handful of things actually interest me about it, like Neve arguing with Solas during the meditations, or what the Prison of Regrets would look like for her.

What are your writing strengths?

Character development and a willingness to pivot the plot in accordance with what makes sense for where the characters are at.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptive language outside characters, such as action or scene setting.

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet, but want to?

Cyberpunk fascinates me, but the depth of the lore is a bit intimidating.

What's your favorite fic you've written?

Of published stuff, "I'm sorry, I love you still," had such an ease to writing it despite its length that I think comes across. Unpublished, there's some pretty epic and angsty Star Wars collabs I did where Luke died and Leia was the last Jedi that have given me many laughs as I co-wrote it with a buddy.

Tagging @swamp-jello, @bloodydifficult, @neveschampion :D

#tag game #dragon age #dragon age the veilguard #fan fiction #neve gallus #neve x rook

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retromimic · 2 years ago

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re: Astarion's age (and others)

I made a random post last week about Astarion's age and I have been thinking about it since.

I also realized that we do have other characters we can use to have a better idea of timelines and stuff.

And by other characters I mean Jaheira and Halsin.

More under the cut, tl;dr at the end

Jaheira

Jaheira is from the first two Baldur's Gate games, which both take place over 100 years before BG3 (1368 and 1369, so 123 before BG3, which is in 1492).

She's a half-elf, who age pretty much the same as human, but live longer, so she probably was in her 20's or early 30's in the first games, which would make her about 150 years old in BG3. This makes sense with her appearance, as half-elves live for about 180 years.

Note: Based on appearance only, it's possible Jaheira was older in the first games, but considering they were released in 1998 and 2000, I highly doubt they made the hot half elf lady an actual middle-age woman lmao

Side note: Minsc

Minsc is a human and also from the first two games, but there is a canon reason why he's still alive and doesn't look like he got older like Jaheira did. iykyk

Halsin

He just straight up says he's 350 years old. He's an elf.

He also does look old, but not that old.

Shadowheart

We know she is at least 40 years old (but not much older), and she doesn't look too old. It's subjective but to me she looks like a human late 20's, early 30's (I do think she looks older than Jaheira did in the first two games, but graphic quality and time does affect that). She's a half-elf, so that also checks out.

Recap so far:

Half-elves:

Live for about 180 years

40's: young and soft

150's: Mommy™

Elves:

Live for a long time (in game: at least 350 years, in DnD lore: about 700 years)

350's: Daddy™

Now onto the baby

Astarion

The information can be conflicting, so I'll try to break it down.

The tombstone

This is where it gets complicated because not only is it hard to read, but also is kind of contradictory.

It's written in the Thorass alphabet.

The initial dates are the easiest to read:

229 - 268 DR

Which would mean he was 39 years old when he died. Which a lot of people find it a bit hard to believe considering he looks much older, especially if you compare him to Shadowheart, who's not only older, but also only a half-elf.

I'll come back to it later.

What makes the tombstone complicated is the date Astarion adds. They are hard to read, the first one is barely readable and the numbers 5, 6, 7 and 9 can be easily mistaken for one another when it's someone who just had the most emotional moment of his life carving it in stone with a dagger.

The general consensus from what I've seen has been that it's 498 and that the dates on the tombstone are omitting the 1 (so the dates would actually be 1229, 1268 and 1498 DR), or that Larian made a mistake and should have made the dates in NR, not DR (which would bring the dates to 1261 and 1300 for his birth/death)

Both options have flaws because of the date Astarion writes should either read 492 (omitting the 1) or 460 (NR instead of DR). Neither are really plausible because the last number really doesn't look neither like a 2 or a 0.

The first option would also mean that Astarion died 230 years ago, which we know is not true. A lot of things in-game (not just Astarion) confirms it.

The second option would place his death 192 years ago, which is the most plausible.

But then how to explain the error in the date he adds?

Either he fucked up and doesn't know what year it is.

Or the first number is actually a 2, and he wrote 268, which is the year he died. We'll go with this one.

So, conclusion? Astarion was 39 years old when he died, 192 years ago, making him now 231 years old.

Physical appearance

Now, onto his look.

As mentioned earlier, Astarion doesn't look like he's younger than 40-something half-elf, so some people think the tombstone might be reading 129, giving him an extra 100 years at death, which would make more sense, but there is clearly more than just one dot on that first number, and there is a more plausible reason for him looking so old:

Vampire spawn appeared as they did in life, though their features were hardened and appeared predatory.

Source: Forgotten Realms Wiki

Add to that nearly 200 years of torture? That would make a man look a couple decades older.

And it's not really hard to imagine he was 39 years old at death when you see him, mostly post-Cazador, with softer expressions. (There is posts about it on here, sorry I can't link)

There is one last argument against this, which is the fact that elves reach "adulthood" at around 100 yeas old, and that Astarion already had a job and everything when he died.

But that's really easy to explain;

Elves physically reach adulthood at the same rate as humans, but their concept of adulthood is different, which is why "socially" they are considered adults only much later.

But also, this is socially, and socially, Astarion grew up in Baldur's Gate, a multi-cultural city, so he didn't grow up with elven mentality. Him having a job at 39 years old is very much plausible.

SO.

TL;DR:

Astarion was still pretty much a child when he died at 39 years old, 192 years ago.

#bg3 #astarion #baldur’s gate 3 #bg3 talk #bg3 astarion #character analysis #astarion ancunin #idk about you but i find this even more tragic #someone else probably did this before but whatever #jaheira #halsin #shadowheart #sorry if there is errors I didn't proof read

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vulpixisananimal · 1 year ago

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SIFSTEM PLAYLIST

I got a few suggestions from people, and I have explinations for a lot of the music too BECASUE IM A HUGE MUSIC NERD!!! Below the cut!!

ALSO I'm gonna add more songs over time and will probably update this. Lol. I'm ALWAYS taking suggestions for it! I like music!!!

PLAYLIST ORDER

Each section for the Sifstem members is designated by an ISAT origonal song, and in each section is song for that member! There's two exceptions which I'll go over real quick!

Your fault/Last Midnight - First song on the playlist, it's about basicly all the members. It's about a bunch of characters arguing about who's fault it is that everything's gone to shit before blaming it on the witch. And then in Last Midnight the witch goes off on them about it doesn't matter who's to blame, they have to deal with it.

It takes two - Last song on the playlist. Also from Into the Woods, this, by contrast, is about how people change and work together well.

Also some songs I choose off lyrics, others off of just vibes.

NOW FOR THE SECTIONS

Siffrin

Final room (act 5/6) - If there was a good Siffrin theme from ISAT, I think this is it. I like it.

Russian Doll - "Why should I try again?" This was a song reccomended to me a while ago actually, it fits.

Touch - ok this one's a bit mean but, listen, he is so touch starved. This song fits. "Touch, I remember touch, feelings came with touch."

No dogs on the moon! - vibe song! Silly fella song!

Bohemian Rhapsody - one of my favorite songs of all time ever. There's too much to type out, tbh.

Loop

How can you help me, Stardust? - do I even need to say anything?

Absolutely cuckoo - listen to the lyrics. "You might decide I'm a nut \ Give me a week or two to \ go absolutly cuckoo \ then when you see your error \ you can flee in terror" LIKE COME ON

The Future - "I'm worried about the future, ain't fucking with that past shit." Loop is really trying to move on. How could they? They're stuck in their betters shadow, their mind.

A humans touch - this one was by @\jackoboltrades! Very fitting for Loop who still feels they don't deserve love, or that they're just a star, not human, not real.

Rage Awakened - based purely on the loop fight. It's a vibe song but I love this song. Also Lingering Will (the character this theme is for) does have some similarities to Loop, being echoes of the past defeats and wishes.

Haunted - being haunted by past mistakes or just the past in general. Though it has some romantic undertones that I can take or leave

Mal Du Pays

Mal Du Pays - AGAIN do I need to explain anything

Mr. FEAR - "Hello, my name is mr. fear." considering how Mal Du Pays is introduced and how it interacts with Siffrin, well, that line alone makes it an MDP song.

Dark Impetus - Vibe song! Mysterious figure cloaked in dark, too. Lol.

Ghosts - "Maybe the past aint what it cracked up to be \ Maybe I'll find a way to just move on \ Maybe we're all ghosts cause I cant feel the ground \ And all these shades they dont make a sound \ I think there is a God \ I think he hates his job" Do I need to say anything.

Stained, Brutal Calamity - Recomended by a friend! Both vibes but also the lyrics that come later have a MDP vibe. I like it.

Burn My Dread (last battle) - "Tear up your fear \ the end is coming near" Honestly Persona 3 has a vibe that could fit MDP quite well.

Null

I WON'T LET YOU GO HOME - Act 5 Siffrin, someone who's both repressing their own feelings to their family but also doesn't want to let them go, to the point of hurting everyone. Nuff said.

Panoramic Feeling - this and the other Katana Zero songs are here cause, well, Zero fictive, plus has the vibe.

All for now - same song used to fight Ramos. It was this or Full Confession, and this fits more for it's desperate or crazed vibe.

L'impeto Oscuro - This is actually a retrain of Dark Impetus, it's the them of a time traveler who can stop time (Kingdom hearts lore dont worry about it.) This specific mix also included the music for when time is stopped during the fight. It's ruthless, endless.

I'm my own master now - Very heavy and hard and strong and powerful, also! The Lyrics! "Bear the mark of my scars \ Shedding blood underneath the stars"

Labyrinth - Being lost in an endless labarynth of their own mind. Very much like act 5 Siffrin, like Null. Plus, Null is not exactly mentally stable.

Rain on brick - Katana Zero song, it's the menue theme. It's just. . . Vibes.

#heho #isat siffrin #isat mal du pays #isat loop #isat null #isat #isat spoilers #in stars and time #siffrin system au #sifstem

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cookieeevee · 5 months ago

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Hello Yellow and Welcome Silly Goobers!

I've sorta become an endogenic system, so please keep this in mind while interacting with us.

The members of our system!

On Tumblr I'll be typing in green text like I always have, Motti will use purple, and Sol will use yellow with italics.

I have ADHD and autism with a bunch of anxiety. Me and Sol are aroace and we are all minors here as well! . . . well maybe not Sol, but both me and Motti are minors, and so is our body!

I We have a strawpage so if you wanna draw me us something in secret you can do that!

My Our side blogs! {mainly just ask blogs}

{just doodle/art blog: @mossy-doodles85} {II AU blog/ask blog: @a-starlit-canvas-of-worlds {ISAT AU ask blog: @three-multiverse-shooting-stars} {Cookie the eevee ask blog: @ask-cookieeevee03} {SOES ask blog: @rainworld-lifeisendless230} {Madge ask blog: @rainworld-starsandclouds023} {Droplet ask blog (Old, should probably reboot at some point): @rainworld-ask-the-medic} {Slugcat ask blog (Old, may reboot at some point): @rainworld-cycle-of-slugcats}

Link of the post where I first brought up me being a system now.

Things about me Alice!

I like to play games sometimes, but normally I'm on tumblr or doodling.

The program I use to draw is normally FlipaClip, though sometimes I use ibisPaint X.

I struggle with writing actual stories, despite how much I'd love to do it.

A way I show my appreciation, friendship or affection to someone is normally through drawings! Blogs or AUs I really like I tend to doodle stuff for/from them. Take @drawingoddessy for example, they are the owner of the light seeker ask blog/AU, I LOVE that AU, and you can tell with how much I draw it!

Another way I can show my appreciation or love of a person, blog, and or AU is trying to involve my AUs or just myself with them as much as I can. It's something you can see once again with TLS blog and also @housemaiden-of-change ask blog and the other ISAT ask blogs also connected with it, with me getting BT Taco involved somewhat deep in the plot/lore of TLS AU and with Bonnie/Aiko interacting a lot with the characters in the ask blogs.

I can struggle with keeping in touch with my old friends, so if it seems like I'm ghosting you then I AM SO SORRY! ! ! QwQ I really don't mean to do it, but it can be hard for me to interact with friends if I don't interact with them for a while or if I lose interest in things we both were into before. I still care for them with all my heart, even if I basically can forget about them sometimes.

Its hard for me most of the time to draw things that aren't my main hyper fixation. Like, I used to draw In stars and time so much before, but once the II hyper fixation took over it felt so hard to draw much in stars and time stuff...

Its hard for me to not talk about lore for my AUs. Despite how hard I try, its really hard to keep plot points and stuff to myself.

Its actually quite hard for me to make lore for my AUs as well. I can struggle with coming up with original ideas for the AU or just don't know what to add or how some things should exactly play out. If I'm being honest, I should probably ask a friend of mine to maybe join me in making some of my AUs, but I am way too scared to ask any of them most of the time. . .

I'm quite fine with people using my art for their PFP or banner, just as long as you ask me and or credit me!

{Motti and Sol's ones will be made later, too tired to keep writing}

#pinned post #silly thing #silly system posts #silly chat #alice #motti #sol #my doodles

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meloncholy-words · 1 year ago

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Robin: A Word That Means Run (Chapter 1: Nightwing)

Nightwing hasn't been Robin in years. He still remembers what that name means in a situation like this.

A/N: I'm not going to apologize for any inaccuracies in lore and characterization. If canon can fuck off and do whatever they please than I can too. I'll try staying as close to what I know as canon as possible but also I do what I want lmao.

~~~

Chapter Warnings: Explosions, minor gun violence(no one gets shot but there are guns), canon typical violence(nothing graphic/explicit! it's just there), swearing, Scarecrow's fear toxin (though the effects of it happen off screen), mentions of past violence, mentions of injury(stitches, concussion, etc.). No permanent injury or death occurs! Let me know if I should add more warnings!

AO3 | Chapter List

The case was simple: Scarecrow was shipping out vials of fear toxin to buyers from other cities. There were five buyers; one from New York City, Washington DC, Brooklyn, Metropolis, and Blüdhaven. All that they had to do was intercept the sales, arrest the buyers, and run tests on the toxin to check if it was a new strain. It usually wasn't, but it never hurt to check. If it was, that would mean that Scarecrow was planning something big.

The issue was that all sales were happening on the same night, and all in different parts of Gotham, with not enough vigilantes to handle all of them.

Red Hood was investigating a new business of dealers near his territory, trying to gauge how much of a threat they were so he could take them out. They were experienced, and growing fast; if he didn't nip it as fast as he could, it might grow out of control and start becoming an issue.

Spoiler and Black Bat had had a recent run in with Killer Croc, and were both benched due to injuries. Steph had a sprained ankle, and many stitches all along her arms and back. Cass had a dislocated shoulder and concussion, as well as many stitches along her legs and torso. Both were lucky to have not gotten worse.

Signal, despite insisting that he should go, was out of commission. He'd already worked well into the night shifts the previous three nights due to several kidnapping situations that happened too close together to not be connected, but ended up just being very coincidental. That, plus his need to keep his grades up, had him pretty sleep deprived. While not usually an issue, a fourth night out later than he should've been would've only made it worse, and fear toxin with sleep deprivation was one of their absolutely nots.

That left only Batman, Robin, Red Robin, and Nightwing to deal with busting the sales. Four vigilantes to deal with five sales in five separate locations within the city. No problem, could be done very easily.

Nightwing had gotten the sale in Fashion District. The information that Oracle had been able to dig up lead him to an alley behind a two-story boutique. An unusual meeting place, but better than some abandoned warehouse. That was just becoming cliche at this point.

He was perched on a rooftop above, blending into the dark, clouded sky. It wasn't as efficient as the shadows, but he had been yet to be spotted. A car was already waiting, three guys twiddling their feet as they waited. The buyers, undoubtedly. Nightwing sat studying them from above.

Their car was a black SUV, covered in family stickers. Likely to be more inconspicuous, but could've been from one of their moms. Criminals were just like that sometimes. Two of the men were obviously well built, their frames on the bulky side. The third wasn't quite so built, but he seemed relaxed as they leaned back against the metal frame of the car, so he wasn't just some lackey dragged along. Likely a getaway driver, maybe the leader of this operation.

After around 15 minutes of sitting around, a van pulled up to the entrance of the alley. The driver stayed inside, while the the passenger and a few men from the back hopped out. The gimmicks of their outfits told Nightwing that they were Scarecrow's men. One of them was carrying a briefcase, which he identified as the goods.

The three guys snapped to alert, the leaner man taking charge. That clued into him being the leader. They met each other half way, a conversation springing from hushed voices. Nightwing strained to hear what they were saying, but that wasn't the important thing. What he needed to do was stop the sale from happening.

He monitored the men for a bit longer, listening to them speak. They were haggling, probably. If they sale went through, than he would need to apprehend all of them. If it didn't, he'd only need to deal with Scarecrow's men. The others would be their own cities problem.

"My sale fell through," came Red Robin's voice crackling through the comm in his ear. "Moving in now."

Below him, the leader gestured back toward the car. One of the bulky men moved towards it, opening the back and pulling out a small duffel bag. He handed the bag over, and Nightwing shifted to get a better look at the bag that was being opened.

Yep, that was cash.

"My sale is going through," Nightwing said into his mic, hushed. "Moving in."

Before the trade off could happen, Nightwing slipped off the ledge of the roof quietly. He angled himself slightly, making sure that when he landed it was on the lean man's shoulders, sending him shooting down to the ground under the weight. The man under him grunted as he hit the ground, letting out a wheeze. He wasn't unconscious, but he made no move to get up. Probably due to the pain of being slammed into an alley's concrete floor from roughly 180 pounds from above.

"Gentlemen," he chirped in greeting, electrifying the ends of his escrima sticks before flipping of the man under him towards the other two. The men reached towards their waistbands, likely reaching for a gun, but it mattered little when the electricity pressed hard above their collarbones. They spasmed, muscles stiffening under the shock, before collapsing as he pulled back.

Scarecrow's men gasped, followed by shouts and the sounds of feet scuttling away. Nightwing grabbed the lean man's collar, tossing him towards the other two. He dropped a bead in between them that exploded, wrapping cord around their limbs and tying them together.

"I'll be back for you!~" he called in a sing song voice, spinning around to watch the henchmen loading into the van. He pulled one of his sticks up, letting the hidden grapple inside of it shoot into the side of the building. The van roared to life, and Nightwing used the momentum of his lines tension to propel forward, landing on the roof as the wheels screeched against the road.

"Sale went through, moving in," came Robin, and from the sounds of exertion coating his voice, he was a little late on that callout.

The van wiggled underneath Nightwing's grip, trying to shake him off. Nightwing acquiesced, his hands gripping the edge of the top as he forced his legs down and through the windows of the back doors.

Several more shouts filled the air, and Nightwing was quick to silence them. He was also careful to not shatter the fear toxin that had been dropped on the floor in the struggle. The passenger in the front whipped around, and Nightwing was distantly aware of the glint of metal pointing towards him, but he snapped the wrist pointing the gun at him before he even recognized it as a gun.

The henchmen yelped in pain, and then did it again when his head was slammed into the dashboard. Nightwing hopped over the seats, landing on top of the unconscious body, his feet resting in the lap of the driver. In his hands, a stick came to life with more electricity.

"You gonna pull over?" he asked, smile in his voice as he waved the shocked-up end at the other. The henchmen let out a small whimper, leaning away from the weapon. Nightwing almost felt bad for him as he screeched off to the side, obeying.

When all of the henchmen were tied up, and Nightwing had doubled back to make sure the almost-buyers hadn't managed to escape, he notified the police before sitting back on a roof, basking in his victory.

"All involved are apprehended and waiting for police custody, and the toxin has been secured," Nightwing said, stretching out from where he was sat. The men didn't put up much of a fight, but the few blows the did land would probably bruise in the morning. Probably. This was a surprisingly easy run. "Reports?"

"Scarecrow's men are being tied up now," Red Robin replied, his voice soft after the fight. "Toxin secured"

"All involved apprehended," came Batman, who hadn't given the status earlier, the asshole. "Toxin secured."

"You never notified us you were moving in," Nightwing said helpfully. Not that it mattered too much; he was Batman, he'd be fine. "I'll start moving into the last sale now. Send me the location, O." Then, after a beat, "Robin, status?"

There was a brief stutter of silence. Nightwing hardly noticed it as he crossed from building to building, careful not to break anything. Hardly.

"Robin?"

"All involved apprehended," came the shaky voice of Robin. Uh oh, not good. "Toxin secured, one... one vial broken."

Shit.

"Try staying calm, I'll head your way," Nightwing said, spinning on his heel to where Robin handled his sale in the Narrows. It was on the opposite side of Gotham, but he'd be damned if he didn't do anything to-

"Actually," cut in Oracle's voice, "You should get over to Diamond for that last sale. You're the closest, and if all other sales are finished by now, that one might be close to done, or already finished. Red's the closest to Robin, he can go."

Red gave an affirming hum into his mic. "On my way, hang tight Robin. ETA like... 12 minutes."

Robin didn't respond, which made Dick's heart stop, but he turned back to his original path. His family was reliable, and they'd be fine. Stopping this sale was important, and he wasn't even close enough to object.

"I'll go with Nightwing," Batman said, voice gruff and focused as usual. "If they're wrapping up, and he gets there too late, I can keep speed with the batmobile."

"Acknowledged," Nightwing acknowledged as he soared over the gaps between buildings. "ETA 5 minutes."

Those five minutes were rather silent, only filled with his heavy breathing and grunts and he hopped and rolled around and off the rooftops. The vials in the briefcase he had pressed against his ribs clanked together ominously, but there was not breaking glass yet. He hoped there wouldn't be.

This time, the place of sale was some old, rundown warehouse. Nightwing gently set down the briefcase on the roof, dropping through a shattered skylight and moving like a spider in the rafters. There was arguing below him, loud and... not quite angry. No, it was frustrated, and building up to anger.

"I'm just saying, that seems like a high price to pay for something we don't even know works." The accent suggested Blüdhaven. Good, these were his own criminals then. He could handle that just fine.

Nightwing slipped around the rafters a little more until he had a clear view of everyone. He took a quick headcount. Five of Scarecrow's men, and he thought he saw another van outside, so probably more in total. Seven men stood before them, and Nightwing thought he recognized them from a gang who caused a lot of problems for him. It was hard to tell in the dark. This warehouse was so run down that there wasn't even any lighting in here.

"Twelve counted inside, likely more spotted outside," he said into his mic, his voice kept low and even as the men continued to argue. "The outcome of this is probably gonna be a big fight, so have your rebreather on just in case."

Nightwing slipped his own rebreather over his mouth, fastening it tight behind his head.

"Understood. I'm pulling up now."

The arguing below softened, and Nightwing was struggling to hear what was being said again. He did notice the exchange of bags, though.

"Good, the sale just went through. You're just in time."

Once more, Nightwing dropped from the sky like a missile. This time, he focused on the henchmen, as the gang men had the fear toxin. He had to be careful to not break them open. Even if he had his rebreather on, fear toxin wasn't fun to deal with.

These henchmen put up a bit more of a fight. Not good enough, of course. The metal pipe to the back of his head was, though.

Four of the five of Scarecrow's men were down, and what knocked him off his feet was a metal pipe. Damn. He tucked and rolled with the blow, bouncing up on his hands and knocking the weapon away with a kick. He was back on his feet, escrima sticks in both hands and poised to fight when a shadow descended upon the others.

The fighting only increased with a new player in the ring, but it was easier this time. Batman wrestled the briefcase of vials out of the gang's hands, tossing it on the floor behind him and out of the crossfire. The final henchmen had been forgotten in favor of the others. By the time another four men were down, Nightwing had realized that it was a mistake.

A click of metal made Nightwing whip around, arms raised and ready to either take or deal some serious blows. What he saw, instead, was a grenade mid air, heading fast towards him. It bounced off the ground, nestling against the briefcases handle.

Nightwing's muscles tensed, crouching low and fast, the hold on his weapons loosening. He needed to grab the briefcase. If the toxin blew, everyone without a rebreather would be affected. Dealing with a large number of criminals was hard; dealing with a large number of criminals who were terrified out of their minds and fighting like caged animals was hell.

His eyes flicked over to the grenade, and he hesitated. That wasn't good. You never hesitated on the field like this. But he knew those grenades. Most had plenty of seconds of fuse in them, for optimal range. If a grenade blew up too quickly after it was thrown, you'd get caught in the crossfire. But these ones, the one that had been thrown his way and was nestled against too many vials of fear toxin, was very short fused. The best way to take out a bat was to surprise them. That was very hard to do.

Using a weapon with no guarantee of survivability for the user was a good way to do it.

Nightwing wouldn't have time to move, not anymore. Maybe if he'd jumped at first, he could've gotten far enough away. But he was crouched down low, leaning toward the thing rigged to explode in at most two seconds, one hand reaching forward. His mind processed, vaguely, that he should run. Maybe he could run still, maybe, but would his body catch up to his thought process? Probably not. It hadn't even registered he was in danger yet.

Shit. He was going to die, huh? Or at the very least get badly injured. He was going to maybe die because he was too slow to recognize danger and his body was even slower to respond to his mind's commands and-

"Robin!"

His body moved before his mind caught up this time. He didn't know why. He hadn't been Robin in, what, 8 years? 9? But he new that name. He new that tone. He'd heard them both countless times over the years. And when they were paired together like this, when his veins were full of adrenaline and his stomach felt like a pit of ice, it meant run.

So he did. His legs pushed up, and his hips turned so fast he might've gotten whiplash, and his arms reached out until they found something firm and dark and safe. There was the flutter of a cape, and then there were strong arms around him, grabbing so tightly that the skin and bone underneath them ached.

There was an explosion. He didn't feel it. He could hear the sound of it, the gunpowder igniting and swelling into a cloud of fire. He could hear shouts and shrieks around him, groans and yells and maybe something breaking. He could feel his side grinding against something he recognized as the floor, but it felt distant.

He could feel his face pressed into a chest, coated in a thick material that had repelled knives, bullets, and wandering hands and fingers that traced the bat design on it after he had saved someone that he would gag about later in the back of the batmobile because he was too small to ride shotgun.

The floor under him stopped moving, and the screams had cut off. He peaked an eye open, looking up at the roof of the warehouse. There was a face there, with a chiseled jaw and scars that were small enough they could only be seen up close. There was black material that only covered the top half of that face. Above them was a thick substance in the air. Fear toxin, he registered after a few moments.

Slowly, the two bodies pulled apart. A hand was under his arm, guiding him up to stand. A survey of the area showed no deaths. Everyone unprotected had at least been far enough to only have been blown back. No missing limbs, no cuts, no burns. Just a few bruises.

"Are you guys okay?" Oracle asked, a hint of panic in her voice. "Cameras showed a bright light go off inside, and your vitals are off."

"All good, Oracle," said Batman, still surveying the scene. "There was a little explosion. No one seems seriously injured. Everyone else is unconscious, though, and there's toxin in the air." He didn't mention calling for his Robin.

"Good news about that!" Red Robin chimed. "It's not a new strain, which means we have antidotes on standby. Also, Robin's doing alright."

"Hn, good. We'll tie up loose ends here and head out. See you at the cave."

There was a round of sign-offs, and the two in the warehouse began rounding up the unconscious thugs. Toxin seeped out of the skylight above. The henchman that threw the grenade was nowhere to be seen, likely having fled during the chaos.

"I left my case of toxin up on the roof," Nightwing said when everyone had been restrained. He didn't mention the name either.

Batman let out a hum of acknowledgment. "I'll be waiting for you in the batmobile to head back to the cave." The flutter of a cape - one that had protected him - let him know that his dad was gone.

Nightwing climbed his way up to the roof once more, slow and deliberate. His body ached a bit more, now that he'd taken more hits and had been thrown across the floor. Being thrown by an explosion wasn't fun, 0/10, would not do it again.

Despite that, there was a smile plastered on his face.

Dick kinda liked being Robin again.

#dick grayson #nightwing #bruce wayne #batman #warnings are written up top but lmk what i should tag down here too #tw explosion #cw explosion #tw gun violence #cw gun violence #tw gun #cw gun

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thesnazzysharky · 11 months ago

Text

Waffling about/reviewing the notes in SJSM because I think they're cool. 1/2

Okay. So at first I just wanted to review the randomly generated notes that you can find in the story and endless modes. Mainly because those notes are more character focused while the notes that are already set to a specific room are more about adding lore and world building. But fuck it. I can make this work.

I'll be splitting this into two parts. Part 1 will be about the scripted notes and Part 2 will be about the randomly generated notes. They both will be reviewed and scored somewhat similarly. Mostly reviewing them based on how they add to the game or world building, potential creep or comedy factor, or how entertaining they are to read. Part 2 will just be more focused on how overall character is represented through the writing. Anyways, here we go. Starting with Part 1. Part 2 will be posted later.

Gel's Note

Spouting, Splashing, Soaking. Innards, Ingest, Invoking. Nailing, Never, Stops the Choking

This is the first scripted note that you encounter and I say it leaves a good impression! By this point in the game, you probably read through some of the notes from Romantic Victim before reading this one. So first time players will most likely expect this to be another note from them, only to be confused and weirded out by this cryptic note written in red letters (perhaps blood in this case). This makes Gel's sudden appearance behind the player so memorable and out of left field. Not only does the note catch you off guard by making you think this is just another note from Romantic Victim, but Gel himself catches the played off guard by appearing behind the player right after they're done reading the note. The cutesy and fun vibe to the mansion has now been completely stripped away and you get a memorable scene with that. As for the note itself, there's some interesting things about it. Firstly, it's implied to be written by Gel himself, which is pretty cool since he's one of the very few specimens that does this. There's also each first letter in the sentences spelling out the word SIN. But more importantly, it adds a bit to Gel as a character by making him come across as sympathetic.

It implies he was human at some point, but then something fucked up happened to him. Thrashing about in the strange substance, trying to ingest it so it could stop clogging his throat, invoking for help, and digging his nails in his throat. Yet, it was all futile, as he became a monster and is now forever choking. Never being able to breath normally or live a normal life.

Definitely a fucked up note to read once you understand it and your imagination goes wild.

Simple but sweet! 5/5

Generic Lab Assistant's Notes

Subject 5 is growing more and more restless. I told Spook we need more funds for sedatives, but she just laughed and flew into the ceiling. Without more chemicals to keep these things docile, I'm not sure how much longer we can keep them here safely. - Generic Lab Assistant

It's the goat. The myth. The absolute fucking legend that is Generic Lab Assistant. Lets all give a round of applause for the most character of all time. That magnificent bastard aside though, I like these notes. They give some good world building and intrigue by introducing GL Labs and how Spooky apparently runs it. This isn't just some haunted mansion. It's a place where murder monsters are tested on innocent people for reasons currently unknown to the player.

There's also that enjoyable Kira humor here with Spooky laughing and fucking off somewhere else when asked for help and the fact that the person writing the note is literally called Generic Lab Assistant (which became even funnier to me once I learned what the GL in GL Labs stands for).

Also...

I believe subject 5 is loose. The glass around its container is shattered, and I can faintly hear clicking coming from the ceiling. I don't know what will happen now. If it is out and alive then this is probably my last report. The clicking is getting louder now. - Generic Lab Assistant

This note is a good one. It highly raises the stakes as the player most likely knows what will happen once they put the note down. It also establishes that this will be the gameplay loop throughout our journey. Go through some rooms, go into a special area, read some background info that builds up to the specimen that will soon chase you, get chased by said specimen. It's great. RIP in peace to our homie Generic Lab Assisant. He was a true one. 5/5

Matsuri's Classmates Notes

Matsuri never came to class today, I hope she made it home ok.

Could it really be true? I thought the fairy tales about the ghost that eats children who sneak in after class was just to keep us from disobeying. But Matsuri is still missing.

These two notes are very brief, but they do their job well. Specimen 4 is more cryptic in terms of what the hell her whole deal is, so it makes sense that the notes about her aren't about what her origins are, but rather about how she's this boogeyman that adults tell children about so they aren't late for class. Except in this case, the boogeyman is clearly real. To me, Specimen 4 is the first truly creepy and disturbing enemy you encounter in the game. Specimen 2 will give you a scare, but he's easy to become desensitized to due to his slow speed, his kinda generic design, and the fact there's not much background info on him to make the player truly fear him (there is his note, but you most likely won't understand what it even means on your first playthrough). Specimen 3 will also freak you out a bit, especially if you have a fear of bugs and insects, but that's the thing, they're just some giant bug that's hungry. Of course you'll be scared of them because most people wouldn't be fond of being chased by a giant spiderpede, but there's not much else to them other than that. Specimen 4 changes everything by introducing a familiar, but unsettling environment that nobody would want to be in, having notes that are written from the perspective of individuals that are just as clueless as you are when it comes to what this "thing" is other than that it eats children and has presumably already taken a victim, and being a disturbing creature overall due to Matsuri's classmates expressing concern over the disappearance of their friend which makes you take the situation more seriously and feel sympathy for Matsuri. Really doesn't help that simply reading the line "ghost that eats children" tells you that she did not go out in a peaceful and pretty way and neither will you. 5/5

Cult Member's Notes

The darkness is slowly consuming us now. I don't think our rituals will appease it much longer. How were we supposed to know this would happen?

These notes cryptically talk how the "darkness" is slowly consuming these past cult members and how "mother" is pissed at them for sacrificing a girl who wasn't a virgin.

What I like about these notes is how cryptic they are. Not in a sense that not much information is given to you like Specimen 4 for example, but rather how some things are left up to interpretation. What is the darkness? Who is mother? Most people tend to assume that Bab is the "darkness" or "mother" that these cult members were worshipping. So when she got pissed at them for sacrificing an impure girl, she killed them. Technically speaking we don't actually know if this is the case though. Bab could be the demon they were worshipping, but she could have also been a byproduct of the impure girl being sacrificed, either being what she became after that sacrifice (like I assumed at first) or maybe it's just one of the many creatures that the darkness spawned to kill the cult members.

We don't even fully know if the darkness or mother are connected in someway either. Everything surrounding Bab seems intentionally up in the air. Whether that be with who she even is or what's going on with her environment like with the womb room. It's all very neat and feels fitting for a Silent Hill reference. 5/5

Ben's Notes

One day, a strange merchant came to town. He sold handmade puppets and trinkets and all the children loved his store and his gifts. But the town couldn't support his store because the other shops were failing. The other shopkeepers became jealous. So one night some of the townspeople took all his puppets and threw them in the river.

The notes that you find in Ben's area are really cool in that they are written entirely in third person. Being written out as an old story or legend (that's especially reinforced with the tribal sounding music in the background) rather than someone's firsthand account.

A narrative that tells us exactly what happened to Ben; who now that I think about it, probably has the most straightforward and easy to understand background out of all the specimens in the base game. That doesn't make him or these notes not interesting though. Far from it.

The story makes it very easy to sympathize with Ben here, as there really was no real reason for him to suffer the fate that he did. The guy wanted to make cool stuff for children and yet he died because he wanted to save his puppets after they were thrown into a river by some jealous assholes. He was just some chill dude. Well, until you get to this part at least.

Years later the children of the town began to go missing. And as more and more children disappeared, people began to find more and more puppets in the forest and around the river. These puppets seemed almost to look like the missing children sometimes.

Now the once normal merchant has become a soon to be threat to you. It's very well done and it's fun to see some let's player have those similar reactions of "damn, that's mean" to "damn, they were chill with him drowning?" to "they were satisfied!?". All culminating to that last and unsettling note that gives them a reason to fear the creature they will soon face. 5/5

The Hunter's Notes

For a while I thought I had really escaped this place. But despite the 'trees' and flora, I think this is actually just another room. I did, however find deer, so I might at least get to eat. They make some strange sounds though…

For the first time, these sets of notes are written by someone who was just another victim that wanted to explore the mansion; someone referred to as the hunter. Also, for the first time, I'm kinda "eh..." about these notes.

The hunter explains that despite appearance, this outdoors area is just another specimen room. They also talk about how the deer make some strange noises and aren't as they seem; later getting attacked by one and managing to board them up. Hoping they can find another way out and uh...

I think they might have caught a very minor case of being dead while trying to do that. That might just be me though.

Now when it comes to these notes, I do like how the first one subtly warns the player that the deer are a bit weird but doesn't exactly tell them what they will do. Which makes the deer sprinting at you with their sharp teeth and lifeless eyes a good jumpscare (especially in OG Spooky's. Jesus those things are nightmare fuel). I also like how you can find the hunter's bones in one of the cabins (although I wish they had a unique skeleton model of their own). But aside from that? These don't do much for me.

I don't know if this is a hot take or not, but does anyone else think that the buildup to Specimen 8 could've been done better? Obviously Deer Lord is an awesome specimen with a wonderful chase theme and a visually awesome ability where he goes through walls; but his area and the buildup to him feels too tame.

The forest, violent deer, and axe are cool, but the notes don't really say anything about him or anything else of note. Then you get to this big room with a creepy record player and some runes on the walls (which I never realized were there until now) which seems cool, but nothing is really done with it.

I feel like more should have been done with Deer Lord's area and there should've been more notes that build up to him better... or mention him at all. Maybe instead of the hunter dying in a cabin, they could have broken out due to desperation for food and water. Leading them to getting attacked by the deer and to the area with the runes on the walls; this can be where they encounter Deer Lord. Maybe have the last note mention them hearing a demonic voice or something before it ends there. Just kinda disappointing. 2/5

Notes by another Generic Lab Assistant

This old place is somehow even worse than the new GL Labs. Although it seems to have been constructed with a much larger budget than the new lab, nothing works quite right. I can see why it was abandoned so quickly. I wonder if there really is anything here worth salvaging.

Some notes by yet another Generic Lab Assistant... but they're all blue, transparent, and futuristic now!

That cool detail aside, here's a few things of note. These notes establish that there isn't just one GL Labs and that this is an older one despite the more futuristic theme to it. Possibly implying that there are multiple GL Labs that we have yet to see.

One of the notes also mention how the equipment here seems specifically designed for people without hands. My first thought was Spooky since she doesn't have "real" hands in a technical sense, but it could also be referring to the old Specimen 10. Considering it was a passive pet to the employees.

We also get more of Spooky being the most shitty and negligent boss ever. Literally sent a bunch of her employees to a place that had a clearly dangerous monster inside of it. Classic Spook lol.

So there's some nice world building stuff here! Though of course, we also have that eerie factor to these notes that are enjoyable as well.

Reading about there being weird noises in the air ducts and the machinery and power being faulty really makes you feel unsafe being there. Especially considering that not one single soundtrack or ambience plays while your in Specimen 10's area. It's just completely silent. Which makes things so much more uncomfortable and eerie.

Then you read this line.

I don't know what to do. I can't think well, I feel strange. I'm hiding from that thing. I feel like something is growing on my skin. I can't seem to tear it off fast enough, and I'm losing a lot of blood…

Again, like some of the specimens before, you read something that raises the stakes and establishes the threat.

But to spice things up a bit, for the first time, you are actually given a hint on how to deal with the specimen and boy is it a chilling one. The blood on the floor and the note flickering on and off is unnerving. And the fact that it's telling you that you have to stay close to it, in a game where you have always tried to run away as fast as possible, does a good job at confusing and stressing out the player right before they turn the generator on.

Not much else to say other than it's all very good buildup to a very good specimen. 5/5

Fast Food Worker's Notes

1. I was anxious getting a job here at first, but it seems like things are getting better. This chain is really expanding, which is a shock, because just last week I heard this company was going broke. Everyday more and more people show up to eat here. Something still sets me off about this place and its food though, so I'm going to try and not eat anything from here.

Specimen 11's area has the most lengthy notes we have seen yet and it's because of these notes that the Beef Demon is one of my favorite specimens! From the notes that we have seen previously, they usually follow this: some person that's stuck in a shitty situation or is about to be in an even worse situation soon enough. With the exception of the notes found in Ben's area since they're told as a story or legend.

These notes are interesting in that they are more gradual and take their time to get to the horror. It starts off as just someone new to the job noting how the restaurant chain is suddenly booming in business despite the company being on the brink of bankruptcy a week ago. Aside from that and the worker mentioning that they'll try not to eat any food there, nothing seems too suspicious so far.

The next note then informs us that something strange is going on with the customers. The orders are rising in numbers, but not the people. One customer is noted to use the drive through a total of three times. Ordering a bunch of food every 10 minutes. It becomes more odd when we move onto the next note and it tells us that lunch breaks aren't allowed there and neither is outside food. Apparently a customer who tried to do that got screamed at.

It's clear there's something wrong with the food. So it becomes all the more concerning when the writer states that they ate one of the burgers there and had a strange dream soon after.

4. This is strange… I had a dream last night about this restaurant. I know I was here, but I also felt like I was in another place at the same time. Everything looked so.. wrong. Nothing was the right size, and I kept hearing these strange animal noises, almost like wailing. I guess I just feel guilty for eating that burger the other day. Also today I saw that man again. The one who kept ordering every 10 minutes. This time he never even left the parking lot. He just got his meal, parked, and then got back in line. He must have done it at least 8 times before he left.

So these "burgers" make people overly obsessive with them, cause strange dreams, and make them shove other people's heads on a grill... wait... what the fuck?

5. There was a horrible 'accident' today. At least that's what the managers are calling it… One of the other employees brought in some outside food, and got into a fight with a manager about it. The employee said that the burgers here smell like sulfur. I then watched the manager grab the kid's neck and shove his head onto the grill. The employee got up and ran out before anyone could do anything, and I'm told that he is fine, but that really shook me today.

Well shit. That was unexpected and fucked up. So it's also making the managers unreasonably aggressive as well. We still don't know what exactly is in that "beef" however.

6. I'm leaving. I fell asleep in my car today, after eating one of those burgers. I remembered brief flashes of a man or animal coming towards me and feeling like some huge, lumbering thing was wailing from deep underground as I continued eating. When I woke up I was fine, but had veered off the road. I don't know if it's some weird allergic reaction to a preservative they use or something much worse, but this is my last day.

Unfortunately we don't get an answer to that question. The last note just tells that the writer saw "a man or animal" in a dream and that they heard wailing noises again like in their last dream. Except this time it was apparently from deep underground. And it just... ends there. The worker states that this is their last day working there, but we don't know what happened to them after that. Maybe they made it out. Maybe they didn't. I really like these ones as they're subtle. They don't tell you too much, but they don't tell you too little either. Something paranormal is going on with the "beef" but the notes don't tell us exactly why. It isn't until the literal demon shows up is when you're able to connect the dots. The burgers making people act unnatural or aggressive, the hallucinations and dreams, and the company suddenly booming when it was about to go bankrupt. Classic demon worshipping in a horror game. Except it's pretty cool and well executed here. Very wonderful and eerie notes. Especially with the man ordering every 10 minutes. Unsettling to read about a human... not acting human. 5/5

Marine Biologist's Notes

Research Report 1 More whales are being shipped to the facility tomorrow, one for a health inspection and two that are already dead for autopsies. More and more beached whales keep appearing around those islands and I still can't find what is causing it.

Let's skip the notes in Specimen 12 and save them for part 2 for now. You'll see why later (although you probably already know tbf). Anyways these notes introduce a interesting mystery. What's going on with the whales? Apparently they're beaching at an abnormal rate and there are bite marks being found inside their stomachs. At first it's all chalked up to it being a parasite, but then you come across this...

Research Report 5 The research facility is now in dire need of more engineers. We have a whole block that is flooded, and some vital staff are missing.

And this...

Excerpt 4132 And then I watched carelessly as the sea rose above the sky casting waving shadows over the world. I saw the silhouettes of creatures both familiar and forgotten. And suddenly I found myself falling upwards towards an ocean of darkness.

And this...

Research Report 6 I hear a girl. Or an animal. Or something… Singing to me, pleading that I come outside my locked room and let the sweeping waves comfort me.

And you start to realize there's more to it than that... Similar to the notes from the fast food worker, these neither tell you too much or too little. It's subtle in its horror and the creature it's talking about and it works very well like last time. Don't know what else to say without repeating myself. It's just good buildup to the Siren and it makes her an intriguing threat. I will say this though. This particular note is perfectly ominous and goes hard as hell.

Research Report 7 All the staff is gone. Only I remain. For no purpose, I remain here, resisting the call from behind the sealed door. But I will remain… As long as I can. Don't open that door.

5/5

Howard's Note

This was such a surprise. That there would be another entry. Another actual entry. One I could admire. But then as suddenly as it came, it left. And now you disband. Your influence and inspiration will never leave me.

A confusing read on your first playthrough. A funny (or possibly depressing) read once you realize it's Kira being upsetti spaghetti about PT not being turned into a full game. Neat reference but that's all it has going for it. 3/5

Dr. Hamada, Tochigi, Kanagawa, and Nurse Tanaka's Notes

Dr. Hamada Oncologist The patient has displayed increased depression after being informed of their terminal disease. I prescribed an antidepressant to regulate this but was later told that I had cancelled the prescription. I have no memory of cancelling the meds nor can I find any evidence that my orders were tampered with.

Karamari Hospital has a much more serious, darker, and mysterious atmosphere to it and these notes reflect that.

The mystery is set and pulls the player in when they read about Dr. Hamada cancelling the prescription for an antidepressant, despite them having no memory of doing so. This mystery is kept basically throughout the entirety of the notes and overall DLC until the very end. So throughout most of the DLC, you keep on guessing on what happened here with the doctors while not getting a whole lot of answers.

It's very well executed though and these notes have a handful of disturbing content within them as you find and read them. From a patient screaming and being terrified after being given hallucinogenics, to a whole entire liver sitting on Tochigi's desk, to Kanagawa describing how they woke to a patient they unknowingly murdered as he bled out on the floor, to Tanaka twisting the body of a cat and later dosing their head with radiation.

Despite never really showing it, Spooky's was always a gory and brutal game when you really thought about how each of the specimen's would kill you, but this shit is just next level.

It all ends perfectly once you finish the last note covered in blood from Tanaka and face the thing responsible for possessing all these people and forcing them to do these sadistic acts. Ghost Cow. Really well written stuff. 5/5

The Many Notes Inside the Dollhouse.

Congratulations GL Labs associate! You have been volunteered for our proud parent program. You have been given a doll, and your duty is to train the soul entrapped within. To confine it to the doll you must keep it in good 'Spirits' and give it attention. Many of the beta candidates were children when they died and will likely attach themselves to you without problems, but there may be times when punishment or extraction of spirit energy is necessary. The energy can feel quite replenishing, but please refrain from abuse as it negatively affects the ghost. In the event of husk rejection or injury, GL labs is not responsible under any circumstance.

With the Dollhouse DLC wrapping up the story of SJSM, it only makes sense that it has the most notes by far. These notes are incredibly interesting as their purpose isn't to foreshadow or hype up some major creature, but rather give us deeper insight into what GL Labs truly is and what they have done in the past.

Now, we already knew just how shady and cruel GL Labs was previously, I mean, I guess that goes for any company that resides in a mansion made specifically for murder. But we never saw it so upfront before. Nor did we see how negligent and indifferent they are. Summoning the spirits of children, stripping them of their afterlife, and forcing them into at first simple containers and later dolls. The most depressing case of this being Woormy Charles. Despite him wanting a bigger vessel, they kept forcing him into a small one, summoning him over and over again instead of just letting him go; then locking him in a containment room to rub salt in the wound.

We also get to see how incompetent and downright stupid the workers for GL Labs were. Trying to summon a spirit to entertain the dolls (instead of just... entertaining them by themselves or hiring someone to do it?), only to get some creepy ass clown voiced by Tomar. Performing rituals and inflicting pressure on the dolls, dehumanizing them in the process, and then acting surprised when the brilliant idea goes south, leading to one of the workers gouging their eyes out to be safe from the Hooked Doll... which I doubt ended well for them. One worker even mentions they're happy to be transferred to the GL Labs closer to the surface since they were fearing for their life everyday while they were in the Dollhouse. So clearly the whole facility was in need of being shut down not just because of the inhumane doll projects and rituals but also because the workers weren't even fully safe there. That really tells you how desperate a certain someone was though, doesn't it?

Spooky's Father Notes

I'm so sorry my little angel. I've tried hating the man that took you from us, but in the end the only person I can hate is myself. You always liked to scare people, especially when they didn't understand something. I was confounded no one understood your costume but I guess people don't read Poe anymore, even with the new Price film. That man clearly overreacted to your fireworks, but we can only blame a PTSD sufferer so much.

Well, talk about how the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The notes written by Spooky's father and everything going on with GL Labs truly shows how broken and tragic he is.

We knew how Spooky died to a soldier suffering from PTSD in the base game thanks to the easter egg arcade, but the Karamari DLC expanded on that by showing us how one of Spooky's parents felt about the matter. Which makes it all the more heart-wrenching.

If you get the bad ending in Karamari, we also get some interesting info about how Spooky's father was trying to bring Spooky back, which seemed to have worked, though judging by how sadistic and apathetic Spooky is, something must have went wrong.

I hate myself for what I am doing, but I can't wait any longer. Your mother puts on a brave face but I know she wants this too. I'm making fair progress in bringing you back, but it seems to only work for a moment even with larger thresholds. Today I think I found the answer. A second device is needed to bind the spirit to the earth after it has been brought back. I know this sounds macabre but I will turn it off and let you return to heaven after your mother and I get to see you again.

Dollhouse expands on him by telling us that he was indeed the main one behind GL Labs and that he approved of the doll project.

A doll is a timeless thing. In the shape of a human but created perfect. Immortal and unmoving. Yet hollow, devoid of soul. A fitting symbol and possibly usable device for our goals here. Soon I will have you back, my dear. But first I must make sure it won't constrict you.

Now with everything I said about GL Labs and how unethical they were, you would think that it would be a good reflection on Spooky's father himself. An apathetic and generally awful person. Well, it's more complex than that. He was behind a lot of the awful stuff going on in GL Labs, but none of it was out of any malice or evil. He really just wanted his daughter back through any means necessary. He hated himself for what he was doing and knew that his wife, shortly before her death, disapproved of bringing Spooky back. By that point though, he felt like he had gone too far to suddenly stop now.

So much desperation and will to go to extreme lengths, just because, as we later find out in a pretty damn good plot twist, he was the PTSD sufferer who killed Spooky and he wanted to be forgiven by his own daughter. Which really makes the line "I've tried hating the man that took you from us, but in the end the only person I can hate is myself." hit harder.

I always wanted to tell you. How that night really ended. But I couldn't. Because you were gone. I need your forgiveness. That's why I wanted you back at any cost. But in the end I robbed you of both life and unlife. Please go on, and be with Monica. I'm sorry.

He framed a homeless guy for a murder he accidentally caused, founded a company that performed unethical experiments, and in the end after his death, his daughter would go on to kill thousands. He really was the main cause behind everything that happened. Yet, you can't really hate the guy, not fully at least. He never was evil nor did he want to be. Even in his desperate madness, he still had a good chunk of his humanity within him. The doll project was unethical, but he still tried to encourage treating the spirits inside the dolls with care, with the scientists taking care of the dolls being referred to as a "proud parent" or presumably approving the party room to entertain them (even if it didn't work out). He could have went against his wife's wishes and tried to bring her back, yet he allowed her to rest, despite missing her everyday, showing how loving and devoted he is. And judging from his dialogue when interacting with his corpse, he realized how fucked up everything he has done was, but by that point it was too late, considering Spooky never moved on to be with Monica.

Always loved morally gray characters and Spooky's father is a great and tragic one. The Dollhouse notes and Spooky's father will both be getting a six, not five, six out of five. Absolutely goated. 6/5

Not Done Just Yet

Well, this part is done at least. Part 2 will be coming out... whenever I finish it lol. But it shouldn't take too long; and once it's finished, I'll state my closing thoughts about all the notes I reviewed. But for now, I'll see you whenever part 2 comes out! Have a snazzy day.

#shojs #sjsm #spookys house of jumpscares #spooky's house of jumpscares #spookys jumpscare mansion #spooky's jumpscare mansion #discussion

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