#I'll post dialogue scripts of it eventually

[stepswowdsen]

【KagePro】 KuroEne AU: Kuroha/Saeru leads the department store attack 🖤💙

Intro

Summary:

KuroEne AU: Kuroha/Saeru plans and leads the terrorist attack that happens at the department store in every KagePro Route, except this takes place 1 - 2 years prior to canon.

Kuroha takes Shintaro’s phone (that has Ene inside), and leaves the vicinity to possess Konoha’s body prior to his first meeting with Ene.

Previous post and context summary: [X]

Saeru hacks into the department store's control room

Me: I wanna come up with some more ideas for the KuroEne AU Route where Kuroha/Saeru plans the terrorist attack (or bomb) at the department store.

Does he just have a back-up for the bomb to not actually blow? Like a safety mechanism. Cuz he's just counting on the MekaDan to be able to disable it

F: I haven't thought about it that way—

I’d just make sure that the bomb is detectable by Ene so then she can hack it and turn it off

Me: Ooooh gotcha, that makes sense. So it has some kind of program on the bomb/explosive that Ene can detect. So then she can hack into it and deactivate the bomb.

Me: I should probably rewatch the Movie at some point cuz it's been so long, but I know how the Terrorist scenario goes in the other Routes

In this hypothetical KuroEne AU Route, I'm assuming that Kuroha/Saeru possesses one of the Terrorist dudes and is the one leading the terrorists, but he lets the operation fail cuz he wants to see what the MekaDan will do, and also so he can snatch Ene (residing in Shintaro’s phone) after

Since Saeru apparently got the department store made in the first place, he can probably get access to special/confidential (employee access only) rooms via using one of his fake identities by using Awakening Eyes to transform.

So he hacks the security system, which locks all the doors. We could have actual terrorists with a bomb or just a lockdown, but I feel like the actual bomb threat would make the MekaDan and Shintaro panic more, similar to all the other Routes

F: ‼️

Me: I just looked at the MR1 Terrorist plot chapters to remind myself

Ene wants to go to the Amusement Park with Shintaro, and also wants to go look at new clothes...

KuroEne clothes shopping date. I should write about that. Something cute in the midst of all this angst

Ene: Let's go look at some new clothes, Master!

Shintaro: (She's really fascinated by the outside world, huh…)

Different idea, but this just makes me think of Ene dragging Saeru by the arm (who lets himself get pulled along) going clothes shopping together 🤗💗

Ok so I'm just gonna note down whatever's gonna be relevant for my KuroEne AU Route.

So the terrorists get into the security system and close off all the shutters and talk over the PA system, so no one inside the building can escape. The terrorists take everyone inside the department store as hostages and ties their hands up. The terrorists announce they want a 1 billion yen ransom within 30 minutes, or else they’ll kill all the hostages. They were planning to leave via helicopter.

Shintaro can only hear Ene via his earphones cuz his phone is in his pocket.

Shintaro: That “state of the art” security system fell apart like a house of cards!

It should be easy enough for Saeru to get access to and hack especially if he got the department store made in the first place. In MR1, Shintaro connects his phone to the computer via USB so Ene can hack into the control room and open the shutters

I forget what happens in the Movie Route, I'd have to rewatch it soon. But then as you said, in the Movie, Shintaro's phone gets thrown and Hibiya finds it and gives it to Konoha

With this kind of scenario, tbh it'd be very easy to imagine one of the terrorists (Saeru or the dudes he's commanding) taking it from Shintaro directly (like when the terrorists in MR1 threaten Shintaro), but that would draw more suspicion to him, cuz if that happens, Shintaro would want to track the dude down and get his phone and Ene back

So yeah it'd be best if his phone just gets dropped on the ground after it gets thrown (I forget who threw it) and Saeru just picks it up afterwards

Later on when Ene meets Saeru, she probably asks him, "Were you also taken hostage!? Oh boy, that must've been scary...! You see, a friend of mine got caught up in it too, so I'm wondering if he's ok... We got separated during the whole ordeal!"

I'm just drafting ideas rn but I probably should write dialogue scripts eventually for Saeru organizing the terrorists. He's probably speaking to them via those audio headsets or whatever?

Saeru orders the terrorists to take all of the hostages' belongings

Me:

The other Terrorists when Saeru just dips: ❓

He's getting out of there, see ya 🤸

And he just picks up Shintaro's phone that was dropped on the ground and leaves

These guys are probably getting arrested whenever officials arrive or something

F: BRO JUST DIPPED OUT??

"Girlfriend obtained, I'm out of here"

Me: YEA I imagine he just leaves

HAHA

The other terrorists are probably just gonna get arrested and taken in for questioning once authorities arrive

I imagine he leaves before the authorities arrive. Like when Ene disables the bomb and hacks the control room so the shutter doors open, that's when he leaves. It doesn't matter to him cuz even if the other terrorists know him by his face, he'll be dumping the body for Konoha anyways

Me: I imagined that the MekaDan and Shintaro (aided by Ene) manage to get the shutter doors open and stop the terrorists. And then Saeru just picks up the phone on the ground and leaves afterwards

Tbh I could also consider the possibility of him not leading the terrorists in person, but leading them from a separate room

Cuz otherwise, that risks one of the MekaDan members seeing one of the terrorists pick up a phone off the ground, and knowing the terrorist's face (unless he made sure that no one was looking or around in the same vicinity as him at the time)

So he just gives orders via an audio headset through the control room (security room)

F: OOOH YEAH. But what about picking Ene up, how would he do that??

Me: Maybe when the MekaDan's operation is done, that's when he comes out to pick up the phone

Or he arranged for one of the terrorists to bring the phone to him (prior to the MekaDan's victory)

F: Wouldn't Shin's phone be his dearest artifact??? Shin would at somepoint search around

Me: YEAH it would be... Though I'm just going off of how you said in the Movie Route, Shintaro's phone gets thrown and Hibiya finds it and brings it to Konoha

Me: Yeah I definitely think Shintaro would search around after he realizes that it's missing. I think Saeru would take it before that happens

F: This would make sense if Saeru told the terrorists to take every single lost belongings to him directly. Telling them to only bring a specific phone would be too suspicious

Me: OH good point. I didn’t think of that at first. And then Saeru takes Shintaro's phone. And at the very end, the MekaDan gets everyone's' belongings back

F: I imagine that Saeru would specify the brand like "I-Phone bla bla bla-"

Me: YEAH like he probably knows what device it is? He could've tracked Shintaro's IP beforehand. Like prior to the terrorist plot. Cuz you can definitely find out info like what device a user logs onto a site with. Added with his knowledge of previous Routes

Me: Good idea! So I imagine Saeru tells the terrorists at the start of the operation to search through everyone's pockets and take their belongings so that they can't contact anyone without them knowing (smart idea honestly)

And then the terrorists bring him everyone's belongings (including the ones of random civilians)

And the terrorists search through the pile and bring him the one he's looking for (either that, or he searches through the pile himself after the terrorists bring everyone's belongings to him)

And then he finds Shintaro's phone (with Ene inside). Turns it off just in case

Me: Yeah like Saeru would tell the terrorists that this prevents the hostages from being able to contact others from the outside

Saeru leaves with Ene to arrange their meeting

Oh yeah, I am thinking of how this KuroEne AU scenario would play out... Y’know, the KuroEne Route where Kuroha/Saeru leads and plans the terrorist attack but lets it fail because he wants to see different outcomes. So the Mekakushi Dan stops the attack with Shintaro and Ene’s help

So I realized yesterday that the Terrorist plot would play out differently in this Route with Shintaro and the MekaDan especially if he has the Terrorists search and take everyone's belongings?

Cuz once the Terrorists take everyone's belongings to Kuroha/Saeru, he would have Shintaro's phone (with Ene inside) in his possession.

It would deal a blow to Shintaro's original plan (to have Ene help him with a 100% success rate), but I imagine he would be able to recover from this and come up with something else.

In the original version of the Terrorist plot, Shintaro has Ene uploaded to the computer (when he connects his phone to the computer monitor screen via USB) and has her hack the control room and open the shutter doors. (I forgot how they defeat the Terrorists in the movie though)

I wonder if Kuroha/Saeru just does Shintaro's job for him, like uploading Ene to a nearby computer in another room just so she can hack into the control room and detect and disable the bomb. Cuz he has to make sure Ene doesn't see his face (even if he's using one of the Terrorists' bodies)

Maybe he should put a covering over the monitor screen or something.

And then afterwards, I imagine Kuroha/Saeru just leaves with Ene, and then Shintaro and the MekaDan hurry to find the room where everyone's belongings was taken.

All other MekaDan members find their own phones, and redistribute everyone's belongings to the people taken hostage, and Shintaro panics when he doesn't see his phone amongst the pile

Me: God I love the expressions in the Novel Route where Ene apologizes to Shintaro, and when Shintaro uploads Ene to the main screen

F: In the movie, they invaded the control room, used Momo to get everyone's attention, and then Ene does her thing (Idk it just cuts to a happy, not so happy ending)

Me: OOOH I see. So they would manage to break into the control room after everything is done

F: Cue Shintaro looking for his phone in the lost and found

Me: Cuz in this hypothetical Route, once the Terrorists announce something like, "We've just received orders from our leader to search for everyone's belongings," Shintaro and Ene would be like (!?)

Cuz that puts a blow in their plan. And Shintaro's phone with Ene inside would be taken by one of the terrorists. But considering that the phone is turned off, she doesn't see anyone's face

Considering that Kuroha/Saeru lets his "plan" fail on purpose, I wonder if he just transfers Ene to the control room's computer via USB (in Shintaro’s place) so she can do her thing and hack the control room.

But Ig once the incident is resolved, Ene would assume that the terrorists were dealt with (since the shutter doors were closed and she opened it, so everyone could be rescued)

Me: YEAH so Saeru leaves with Ene in Shintaro's phone (cuz I assume that Ene returns back from the control room's computer back to Shintaro's phone once she opens the shutter doors)

And then the MekaDan would navigate to the Control Room and first take back their own phones and belongings, and Shintaro would be frantically rummaging through the pile

Shintaro: Where is it...!?!?

Kido: ......Is something wrong?

Shintaro: (Shit, shit, shit...! Did those guys take her or something......!? Ene.........!)

F: “I wonder if Saeru just does Shintaro’s job for him and transfers Ene to the control room”

Ooh this one's a good idea too

But going with the Movie. Shintaro's clumsy ass literally lost his phone and didn’t realize it 😭

Me: HELPPP

OH yeah maybe he doesn't realize until after

Me: Like there's a few ways this can go:

The Terrorists announce that they're going to take everyone's belongings and brings them to Kuroha/Saeru himself

Shintaro accidentally drops his phone and doesn't realize, and Saeru picks up Shintaro's phone off the ground and leaves

Cuz with the 1st one, at the end, Shintaro would assume:

The Terrorists took Shintaro's phone with Ene inside once they realized there was some sort of girl in the phone (and not just someone on video call)

The Terrorists accidentally dropped his phone somewhere while they were bringing everyone's belongings to the control room

F: I feel like he'd do both. Like telling the terrorists to take everything but also check everyone's pockets

Me: Yeah that makes sense. He's being a bit more “serious”

Like he’s only letting it fail on purpose so he gets a new interesting way to meet Ene

Me: Taking away everyone’s belongings including devices is really smart of him… If the terrorists had thought of this in the other Routes, it would instantly bust Shintaro's plan. And ofc Saeru Hebi with his knowledge of previous Routes, knows that Shintaro is gonna use Ene to deal with the terrorists

Me: And then when Kuroha takes back on the phone after coming back to his house and possessing Konoha, Kuroha/Saeru can just tell Ene that he picked up a phone that was dropped on the ground.

Looks like the terrorists accidentally dropped the phone on the way to the control room while they were bringing everyone's belongings to the leader.

F: Oooh that's a pretty good excuse. But Ene would also react since.. well... Konoha and Haruka

Would she even try to call him "Haruka" at somepoint?

F: "Please return me to my owner then, he lives in [X]"

Me: Yeah I wonder if Ene would have the same reaction that she does in MR2 with mistaking Konoha for Haruka... Though I imagine he's probably thought through what to say to her

(He basically scripted the whole thing in advance. Like prior to pulling off the terrorist plot, he ran through the scenario in his head many times, so he’d know exactly what to say.)

The thing is, he DOES know about her memories with Haruka. But not sure if he wants to reveal that.

Me: But then, Kuroha/Saeru is obviously not planning to give Ene back lol? He's just gonna give back Shintaro's phone to appease Shintaro and Ene's worries.

Cuz I feel like Saeru can convince Ene to stay with him by appealing to her with the proposal to make the android body, added with him being a mysterious stranger that looks almost identical to her long lost love

F: I feel like Ene wouldn't say it out loud like "Haruka??? Is that you?"

No, she would zone out a bit and overthink it

Me: OH gotcha, that makes sense. That's how I wrote it too

Like she'd just zone out and think back on the past.

[eriyu]

oops!!!!!!!! accidentally caught the script up to msq!!!!

i honestly did not think this was going to be possible with the amount of time left after i finished 6.0, but here we are!!!!!!!

the entire msq, at your fingertips!!!!!!!!!

please know that i will NOT be doing dawntrail's MSQ immediately after it drops though. i want to enjoy playing through for the first time without making it into a job. i hope to get to it before TOO too long, though 💖

[greenplumbboblover]

WIP #1 - Stories Be Told

A mod that has arisen from playing TS2 and loving Stardew Valley! (and always wanting to get to know the townies a bit better :))

I know I haven't really replied too much on the post about the mod idea, but I had to figure out personally what to pick and how to even attempt this from a technical perspective.

I went through 5 adaptations, to eventually get to this result! :) So while most of it is definite, I'm still fine-tuning a lot (and writing the stories).

How does it work?

The mod comes with two ways to get to know your fellow townie! With townie, you have to understand that EA townies will have them. Newly generated townies will NOT have any stories.

🕵️‍♀️Secrets (aka, facts!)

Depending on your sim's Lifetime points (that red/green bar), and relationship status (friends, enemies, etc), you'll get to know more about them! Of course, if you're in the red, you might get some nasty comments!

The idea is that the better you get to know them, the more they open up. Just like real people! They all have their unique dialogue as well!

❤️ Heart Events ❤️

Inspired heavily by Stardew Valley's approach, as using the TS2's scripted events wasn't working technically speaking,

A heart event will trigger by itself with a Text message, just like getting an invitation for a party.

Let's have a look at one with Morgana's Heart events!

Morgana has sent a text message asking Christopher to come along to have dinner at her house. We could ignore it without any consequences... or go ahead and go anyway!

Your sim will automatically make their way to the place they are invited to go to! And Christopher just made it as well :)

(Not getting too much into spoilers here hehe) but eventually Thornton and Morgana end up in a fight.

What's cool is that certain heart events will want your input! Such as this one:

I'm still working on fixing the dialogue btw :p

Some of these will have pretty unpredictable outcomes, so be aware of that if you want your town to stay the same without any progression into a family's dilemma!

... and what's even better is that this all happened automatically!

Just like a scripted event, they ended up arguing where it made sense in the dialogue, moved to the kitchen to excuse themselves, and eventually asked the player to leave (of which the player did automatically!)

🛠 Info for World builders and Developers

What's even better is that you can make your stories yourself! While heart events will require you C#, the secrets will only require you the existing sim's Sim Id and some XML knowledge! :)

I'll make tutorials of course on how to make each, but I figured it would be good to add that this is all super flexible on making your own stories.

That's it! The mod is technically done from a technical perspective, but I still have loads of stories to write (I only finished Morgana's so far 😬), So any feedback at this point would be really appreciated so I can implement it before release! :)

I'll release it first with Stories for Sunset Valley first, then move on to twin brook, Bridgeport, etc.

[friendlyneighborhoodforestwitch]

It's been a hot second but I'm back with my most detailed model yet! 🥳 I was correct that I messed up the scheduling of Combat Patrol and only just received my next set of issues yesterday, but it gave me time to work on this Canoness and gives me the space to talk about my next endeavor: I joined a local escalation league! 😁 I'll tell you more about that under the cut – for now, here's the glamour shots of my fancy-pants leader lady.

Except for NMM, this model is the culmination of everything I've learned so far, plus some embellishments to push it just a little further. There is so much free-handing with this one. 😄 On top of the white and red piping on her robes (because I'm an idiot and a crazy person who just had to pick the Order with the hardest scheme 😅) we've also got my first attempt at rendering an image from scratch and my first attempt at readable script. Why would I put such glorious work on the back side of the eviscerator? Because I fucked up but couldn't bring myself to paint over it and try again on the correct side. 😅 Eventually I settled on slapping down some script transfers and called it good. All-in-all, I'm quite proud of what I've managed to accomplish. 😁💜

Now, for those of you still with me: escalation league. 😁 Last week, I stumbled on a social media post advertising a league at one of my local shops. For the next three months, I'll be playing a series of games with gradually growing lists – starting at 500 points in April and increasing by 500 each month until July. Having never actually built a full list nor played any games, this seems like the sort of incremental approach that I need to overcome the overwhelm and finally break into competitive 40k. Also, having never actually built nor played, I have no idea if my list is any good, so here it is for your amusement. 😅 (Also, this is an open request for feedback: If I've fucked something up, please tell me. And include your reasoning – my brain doesn't accept "because someone said so" as reasoning to do one thing over another.) I've got the Immolator left to build and the Dialogus I ordered from the website got her delivery delayed, but otherwise I am ready to start playing. 😁 At least once a month for the duration of the league, I'll take a break from Combat Patrol and do a write-up of my experience with the league and, more generally, my experience as an up-and-coming competitor in my local scene. If I can get my Immolator and Dialogus built in time, keep an eye out for my first one tomorrow. (And if not, then next week.) 💜

Almost forgot to mention: gonna split the BSS, multi-melta goes in the Immolator with the Dialogus, storm bolter and simulacrum imperialis hang back to generate miracle dice and provide cover; Canoness can be attached to Zeph if they’re needed for fighting, separate if they’re needed for missions/board control.

[thebiscuitlabryinth]

First and foremost, Welcome back!! I'm so happy to see and hear from you again!!!

Secondly, I'm curious since you said you've been writing a very long time, but do you have any tips for less experienced writers(like myself)? Your writing is incredible and has frankly inspired me to try my hand at it, but figuring out where to start is proving to be a challenge for me..

I'm happy to be here!! I'm not sure how helpful my tips will be, since i've never been asked for advice before and i never kept strict tabs on my own development, but i'll do my best!!

The first hurdle is always finding motivation and inspiration to write, and unfortunately that hurdle will always pop up regardless of how long you've been writing. The only tip I can give for that is to write for yourself! I've said it before, but my driving force for writing is usually because I want to read it back myself. Specifically, I mean this in terms of concepts, AUs - anything you get an idea for, even if it's silly or self-indulgent, go for it! Writing fanfics is a great way to develop writing skills, partly because you already have character templates to work with so you can focus on the act of writing itself rather than crafting a whole new character, and partly because you're usually already pretty passionate about it right off the bat! Plus, as long as the fandom isn't too small, there's always other fans to draw inspiration from.

It's gonna feel clunky and that's okay! A lot of my earliest works were collections of short scenes cobbled together with a dozen scene breaks - elegant transitions can come later. The most important thing is to write at all, and get comfortable with using the language. The overarching flow is secondary to the individual scene.

Similarly, don't set the bar too high in terms of length or complexity or you'll get discouraged. Writing stamina is something you have to build up! I started off barely managing to write one-shots of 1,000 words at most, and now I'm capable of novel-length stories. We all have to start small!

Focus on the basics to begin with. Specifically, dialogue and movement, because those are the framework of writing a scene, like how a script primarily has lines and stage movements with only brief setting and supplemental descriptions. Detailed description is fun, we all know I love it, but it stagnates if you don't have a good grasp on dialogue and action to move it forward, if that makes sense. Once you feel comfortable with them, you can play around with more elaborate description, and eventually it'll all come naturally!

Now, this one might be a more biased one since, full disclosure, I'm an English Language and Literature student, but I'll mention it anyway: develop your interest in language itself. This is just from personal experience, but I think once you start to appreciate the use of words themselves rather than just the end goal of the story, it makes you love the process of writing itself, and that, in itself, makes you keep writing! Things like vocabulary and rhythm - when I stumble on a word I really like in a passage, I'll usually reread it a couple times to remember it, and reading aloud is good for getting a sense of pacing and a sense of the words themselves. All my fics go through at least one dramatic reading by me before I consider them good to be posted! If you like a work, try and figure out what it is about the language itself you like, and then you can try and replicate it later on.

and that's all i have for now! all this said, writing is a very personal thing, so I don't think there's really a right or wrong way to do it as long as words are getting on the page. like most things involving creativity, you have to keep trying until you find a method most comfortable for you. i know that can be the most infuriating thing to hear, but all you can really do is keep pushing forward and eventually you'll get there!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Idk if you've already posted about this but opinions on Jamil's relationship with Kalim?

I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about the Scarabia duo’s dynamic before, although not in this broad of a sense 🤔 I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try and condense my thoughts?

I think Kalim and Jamil’s relationship is one of the most complex among the core cast of 22. To simplify, it’s similar to “frenemies”, but it runs much deeper than that. There is a relationship on an individual level, but that in of itself also speaks to the expectations places on them in-universe , as well as real-world cultural differences.

I won't bore you with a summary of Jamil and Kalim's history I'm going to assume you did the required reading for that/j, but essentially their conflict is this: Jamil's family, the Vipers, have serviced Kalim's family, the Asims, for generations. Kalim sees Jamil as a childhood friend that has grown up alongside him, but Jamil sees Kalim as an ignorant and useless master. Jamil doesn't want to live this life of servitude, nor does he want to keep playing second fiddle to Kalim by downplaying his own abilities to maintain the illusion of Kalim being better than him. When this is revealed in book 4, Kalim tries to apologize to Jamil and even insists that they can still be friends or just start over as rivals. This offer is swiftly rejected by Jamil, who claims he wants nothing to do with Kalim anymore. Come book 5 though, Jamil informs us that he has decided to stay by Kalim's side for now, as it just isn't feasible for him to "break free" right away (Jamil wants to work on rebuilding his reputation, which has taken a plummet since book 4).

Now, before I move on with my thoughts, I want to point out a difference in how EN and JP presents Jamil and Kalim's relationship. JP is very clear in delineating that Jamil is a servant and Kalim is the master. Meanwhile, EN obfuscates the true nature of their relationship by labeling Jamil an "employee" and Kalim as the "employer", which come across as less of a power dynamic than that of servant and master and thus dampens the seriousness of his eventual emotional breakdown.

Another major difference which may impact how you see the duo is some book 4 dialogue changes. When asked by Grim why he doesn’t stand up to Kalim, Jamil very explicitly says in JP that Kalim’s father could make the Viper family suffer for it. In EN, this was changed to Jamil complaining that his parents would lecture him. In the original JP text, Jamil then continues and says that his whole family would be put out on the streets due to his own selfishness, and that’s something he won’t allow to happen. He also remarks that “this is the fate of those born a Viper”, referring to generational trauma. In EN, this doesn’t happen; Jamil just implies he doesn’t want to get scolded, which is admittedly a much… lesser consequence than what was stated in JP.

Please note that these differences between the original script and the localization may affect how some fans interpret Kalim and Jamil's relationship.

These are things I've mentioned in other discussions of "potential solutions" to this conflict, but I'll repeat them here before going into more detail since they are relevant. In book 4, Kalim offers Jamil whatever he wants (even the dorm seat and Kalim going home to his family). To this, Jamil refuses and states very clearly that "as long as Kalim exists", he can never be content. I feel that oftentimes this is interpreted very literally, as in "Jamil wants to kill Kalim because he hates Kalim and/or hates serving Kalim". But just because a character says one thing doesn't mean it's what they actually mean. If you think about it, what does killing Kalim do for Jamil? Aren't there countless other Asim siblings he could be sent to serve once Kalim is gone? What Jamil is literally saying does not make sense.

The other way to interpret his words is that Jamil is using Kalim as a scapegoat for all of his frustrations with larger problems that have no physical form or simple solution to them. Recall that their arrangement has been going on for several generations now—Jamil's parents, too, were given no choice in whether or not they wanted to devote their lives to the Asims, but it's all they've known and all they will enforce onto their own children to keep the cycle going. This is the root cause of Jamil's suffering—but he isn't exactly a time wizard, and there isn't a simple solution to something that has been brewing for hundreds of years. It's easier for him to cope with the unfavorable circumstances by directing his hatred towards someone convenient. And who could be more convenient to blame than the young master Jamil is forced to serve? He becomes the symbol, nay the face, of what Jamil detests about the system that put him here. This is a case of generational trauma and Jamil not knowing how to cope with it other than lashing out at someone who is unaware of his suffering.

On the other side of this equation, Kalim gets a lot of flack for not noticing Jamil's pain and not intervening to help him out despite claiming that he cares for Jamil. This coming from an omnipotent perspective (as in, we have all the information so we feel entitled to cast judgment on the characters), rather than from Kalim's perspective. We, the audience, understand Jamil's inner turmoil due to how the game presents us with each OB boy's backstory. Kalim doesn't get to have that. He may be an empathetic individual, but he also isn't a mind reader. Jamil actively hides his true resentment from Kalim. And if you were in Kalim's shoes, given everything you want and praised endlessly, why would you suspect your childhood friend, who is always at your side, to hate of you or to hate working for you (especially when Kalim is the type of person to blindly trust others)? Of course he would be totally oblivious. The Asims are so obnoxiously wealthy and privileged that they can afford to shelter their children from the harsh realities of the world, and that includes the plight of those that toil for their family. Kalim is not used to people telling him he's wrong or he sucks or he can't have something; it's how he was raised and in part why he remains largely ignorant of the real world. He shouldn't be faulted for how he grew up and the limited worldview that resulted from it; that’s something he cannot control. What he can control is his own behavior, and that’s why we see post-book 4 as he takes steady strides to earn recognition rather than be handed it simply for existing.

On the topic of Kalim intervening (whether that is through speaking with his own father and/or speaking to Jamil's parents), well... Firstly, I don't think Kalim is someone who would intentionally keep another in a bad situation out of malice or out of selfishness/not wanting to lose Jamil (as some have suggested). Yes, he deeply values Jamil's company, but I don't think he would keep someone with him knowing that they would be completely miserable even if he would be happy. Kalim is someone who cares so much for the wellbeing of others, especially his friends. He will literally give you the world at the slightest inconvenience. I suspect that there is another reason why he hasn't spoken to an adult about what went down: and that's actually consideration for Jamil’s situation.

Let's imagine a scenario where Kalim does approach his dad or the Viper parents. What exactly would he say? I suppose Kalim doesn't necessarily need to tell them about the OB, but just telling them "Jamil is not happy doing this" may not be enough on of itself to invoke a change of mind. To the Asims, they get capable people they can trust and keep close to them. To the Vipers (the parents), they are compensated for their work (Jamil implies the Vipers are quite well-off, though not to the same extent as the Asims) and are provided job stability. I don’t think either side would be willing to end a long-standing arrangement like what their families have so quickly just because there is one open instance of discontent. It is practically tradition and mindset at this point. The groups are mutually benefitting (at the cost of individual freedoms). Letting go of that isn't as easy as deciding whether or not it would be pleasant to be punched; it isn't a binary of "freeing the genie" or "keeping the genie bound to the lamp", there will inevitably be a mess left in its wake to clean up after. Again, this is generational trauma which has been normalized for generations and generations. It cannot be solved with a single conversation, the same as all the other OB boys' traumas.

Let’s say that Kalim does spill the beans about Jamil’s OB in an effort to convince them then (assuming they’d need some extreme justification). Wouldn’t that just make everyone panic and further damage Jamil’s reputation? What would the Asims and the Vipers think of him? Maybe Jamil would be released from his duties out of concern for Kalim’s safety, but what would this do to the Viper family as a whole? Jamil mentioned they could be thrown out onto the streets if they were dismissed from the Asims or found out to have so much as spoken out against Kalim. That fear could become their reality.

Another variant of "Kalim could do something about it" is simply "Kalim can release Jamil on his own". In book 5, Jamil even says that he will continue to be Kalim's aid "until Kalim dismisses him". So why not give Jamil the freedom he wants? Kalim himself seems pretty receptive to the idea, or at least to what he views as a very simple solution. Well, 1) there's no way their families wouldn't find out and question it, they are teenagers and cannot just give the middle finger and proceed to do whatever they want, and 2) again, consideration for Jamil. (It could also be said that the current Kalim just isn’t mature enough or emotionally ready to let Jamil go, but we’ll save this point to discuss later.)

Jamil cannot leave of his own will because he worries about what that would mean for his family and their livelihood. (Again, this harkens back to the line he had in JP where he said the Vipers could be thrown out into the streets.) They could get jobs doing something else, sure—but their reputations may be forever stained by departing from the Asims (especially if Kalim basically fires him). They could be scorned, ostracized, maybe even blacklisted, no matter how amicable the departure is. Kalim being Kalim would offer to pull strings to smooth things over for Jamil—but the thing is, that’s probably not what Jamil wants. He wants to be able to live free from the Asim’s influence, and likely has too much pride to accept assistance from them.

I would argue that social shame is a very subtle yet looming threat for the Scarabia duo, and particularly Jamil (especially if you look at the original Japanese text). Social shame is something that is prominent in Japan, and this aspect of Kalim and Jamil's story may not translate well for western audiences. Japan is a collectivist culture. That means the status of the group (the Viper family in this case) is more valued than the status of the individual (ie Jamil). In western countries, this is reversed and the individual is seen as more important than the group (individualism). Because of this, western audiences may not fully understand why Jamil is putting his family's needs above his own, why he doesn't talk back to parents that actively keep him down, or why he doesn’t just… rebel on the spot.

Jamil would bring intense social shame upon his family if he chose to leave or got fired. His behavior would reflect poorly on his family, likely attracting criticism of his parents for how they raised such a rebellious child and perhaps even limit the opportunities they have in the future depending on how intense the shaming is. He would feel guilty about being the cause for their fall from grace. Jamil is immensely worried about what his parents, his dorm mates, and society at large will think of him breaking from tradition and betraying the family for what would be seen as selfish and self-serving reasons. (Ideas which are all reflected in Jamil’s JP dialogue, where he comments on his own selfishness and how it could impact his family.) These may not seem very serious to those from western countries, but social shame and intense filial piety has the capacity to put so much pressure on an individual and cause their mental state to deteriorate.

Remember, too, that Jamil is already facing social shame at school for what he did in book 4 and he specifically says he has chosen to stay with Kalim to regain the lost rep. This is why he cannot be freed from his shackles as easily as Aladdin made a wish to grant the Genie his freedom. Jamil constantly has to consider the consequences and social ramifications of his own actions on his family and their wellbeing. Isn't it plausible, then, that Kalim, who is now aware of Jamil's true feelings but is also aware of the long-standing circumstances between the Asims and the Vipers, to bite his tongue and wait for less precarious conditions before even pitching the idea? Additionally, he would also technically be supporting Jamil's current wishes by standing aside for now (Jamil is willingly staying to aid Kalim in an attempt to rebuild his reputation). Is that not in the spirit of mindfulness that Scarabia extols? Mindfulness is not just knowing when to act, but when to not act. I think Kalim’s just doing what he can within a preexisting system to support Jamil’s decisions and (limited) autonomy.

Something that I feel often isn’t brought up is the responsibility that Jamil’s parents play in all of this. A lot of the blame is put on the Asims for hiring the Vipers as servants, but the fact of the matter is that the Viper parents are the ones forcing Jamil to be subservient to Kalim. They are also guilty in perpetuating the problem by projecting onto their eldest child and urging him to follow in their footsteps. Jamil is their child, so there should be some responsibility on them for not giving him the freedom to choose his own career path and teaching Jamil that he should keep his head down and always be inferior to Kalim. The blame isn’t squarely on Papa Asim (who isn’t even guilty of starting this relationship, it has been happening for generations before him; he’s just perpetuating it), this is a shared issue.

Now, as to whether or not Kalim and Jamil could or should be friends despite the bad blood between them?? It’s really on Jamil if he will reciprocate or not since Kalim already offered the olive branch. As it’s currently going, I don’t think it will happen anytime soon. There’s no doubt that a relationship with Kalim would be a valuable asset (not just for negotiating Jamil leaving and doing his own thing, but in general for the future), but whether the benefits outweigh the mental anguish of associating Kalim with his generational trauma is worth it… well, there’s no doubt that Kalim wants to start over, make amends, and be equals with Jamil, but it’s not up to Kalim to decide to make friends or not. That’s Jamil’s choice, and ironically one of the few choices he does have 😔

I do think Jamil would be happier away from Kalim for some time, finally allowed to enjoy solitude and doing whatever he wants to. Kalim would be sad about this, but then again who wouldn’t be sad to lose someone you consider your friend since childhood? That ability to let go is also something he has to learn for himself, and I feel that’s going to be a component to Kalim’s future character development.

Kalim has been doing his part to keep a distance from Jamil and develop his own agency and sense of awareness (at least in the main story; the events and vignettes are kinda screwy timeline-wise). Jamil’s working on getting over his own ego and learning how to use his own traits as strengths rather than wallowing about what he doesn’t have or looking down on others. They’re trying to improve themselves independently of one another, and I think that’s beneficial for them both.

I would personally label the Scarabia duo’s dynamic as a toxic one, but it’s not “toxic” in the way we typically think of. Often when we see “toxic”, we think of someone who is malicious and intentionally so. In Kalim and Jamil’s case, Kalim isn’t purposefully mistreating Jamil, but their circumstances are such that Kalim existing hurts him and starves Jamil of freedom. This causes Jamil to lash out (which is more closely aligned with what most would perceive as “toxic”)—but, in a way, many can understand and sympathize with Jamil’s actions. It’s like a never-ending cycle of hate 😔

I do find their dynamic (Kalim being a big ol’ gullible ball of sunshine, Jamil hovering and nagging him for being silly) entertaining on a surface level. However, it’s really stressful for me to observe them for prolonged periods of time knowing the family history keeping them in these arbitrary roles 💦 It’s quite interesting to look at their conflict on a larger scale rather than an individual one; it’s a problem with society and systems they can’t necessarily fix on their own, but when the question arises as to whether they can work together to tear down those expectations, Jamil’s pride and negative feelings for Kalim pose a roadblock.

[ronniaugust]

How To Write Good Dialogue (Part 1)

I'm gonna start this by saying I'm not trying to sound like a know-it-all. I am just tired of posts like these being absolutely fucking useless. I am aware this is basically me screaming into a void and I’m more than okay with that.

This guide is meant for intermediate screenwriters, but beginners are also absolutely welcome. :)

(about me)

-♠︎-♠︎-♠︎-♠︎-

I've noticed a rise in film students who want to make films that have no dialogue. Probably after your professor showed you Doodlebug, right? Fuck that.

I'll make another post about writing a short film, but all you need to know is: Don't waste the audience’s time. Most of these no-dialogue shorts have very little substance and take way too long to tell the shortest possible story. Not a good idea.

Useless Dialogue

Plain and simple, don't write useless dialogue. Useless dialogue is dialogue that just doesn't fucking matter. Dialogue matters by having ✨subtext.✨

What is subtext? Subtext is the meaning behind the action. That's it.

If I tell you that I love you and I got big doe eyes while I say it, it means I love you. If I tell you I love you through a clenched jaw without looking at you, I don't necessarily love you right now.

Simple, right? Great.

Now think about the subtext behind every line. Does your character mean what they're saying? Are they doing it to get what they want? What is going through their mind as they say it? As long as you know your character, you’ll have these answers ready to go. If you don’t, you’ll figure it out eventually. Just keep writing.

When you write your character walking into a Starbucks and saying, "One venti iced coffee," does that do something? Why do I need to see someone's boring Starbucks order? Do I need to know that your character's boring? Why are you writing a boring character? [Of course, in the rare situation where this is some revealing clue to the massive crime investigation, then it makes sense.]

Useless dialogue is any dialogue that has no meaning or purpose in your script. Delete and move on. You don't need to write entire conversations or scenes that bore us, just write what we care about.

I took a class once where my professor called a version of this "trimming the fat." Get us into your scene and out of your scene in as little time as it takes to have it achieve its full purpose in the script.

[P.S. You don’t “inject” subtext into your lines. Idk who started that vernacular in subtext teachings but I hate it.]

Show vs. Tell

I remember a glorious fight I got into with a Redditor last year about show vs. tell… TL;DR: Dialogue is “show” if you write it with intention and subtext. If someone says that dialogue is inherently “tell,” they’re wrong and can go fuck themselves.

Dialogue that is “tell” is expositional dialogue. But, hot take: Exposition isn't just in dialogue. It’s also those annoying clichés that make you roll your eyes in the theater (which we just call clichés and not exposition). I’m sure every professor I’ve had will disagree with this and then get me into a long conversation about it, but let’s ignore that for right now.

Have you ever seen a movie where a character rubs an old, worn-out photo of a young girl while looking depressed? That's exposition. That character has a dead daughter. No shit.

Clichés are incredibly annoying. We all know that. Assume that any cliché you see - in this context - is exposition and try your best not to write it. (Tropes are different and sometimes necessary, so I’m not talking about that.)

Point blank: When you have subtext in your lines, they are "show,” not “tell.”

Before moving on, I'll bring up that while technically the dead daughter photo is subtextual, it is as close to the character saying “My daughter is dead,” as you can get. Don't treat the audience like we're fucking stupid.

The First 15

If you don’t know what the Inciting Incident is, please look up “3 Act Structure” before reading this.

The first 15 pages of your script is the part that comes before the Inciting Incident. This is the part you want to get right because, although people probably won’t leave the theater, they will absolutely find something else on the streaming service they’re using. The people making said movie will also just toss your script in the trash before it’s even produced, so it's best to get it right.

Dialogue in the first 15 generally follows the same rules, but carries a heftier additional rule. All dialogue in the first 15 minutes must, must, must tell us something about your character.

Remember when I talked about that boring Starbucks order? Why is your character boring? Don’t write that. Don’t write nice characters. Or pleasant characters. Or friendly characters. No one cares.

You want empathy. This does not mean “relatable.” It means “empathetic.” There is a difference.

I personally relate to Vi in Arcane, but I empathize with Theo in Children of Men. Both are excellent, but one personally resonates a bit more with me. You cannot write a character that deeply resonates with every single person, it is impossible.

With each line of dialogue, you must be saying something about your character that generates the empathy. Instead of telling you how to do this, I’ll direct you to a movie that will do better than an explanation: Casablanca.

Watch how Rick interacts with the world. What kind of man is Rick? Watch what he does, what he says, and how he treats people and himself. Watch that empty glass on the table. Watch his contradictions. Everything. Those things matter and it’s what makes you want to watch Rick for the entire duration of Casablanca.

“Realism”

This is maybe more directorial, but make your characters human enough, not too human.

Too human is when you’ve tried your best to capture all those little life-like speech patterns. You know, the ones that no one fucking cares about.

If your character coughs, they’re sick. If they clear they’re throat, they’re uncomfortable. If a bruise isn’t going away, they’re going to die. Simple.

Every moment on screen matters. Everything the audience sees is meant to lead them to a conclusion. Not the conclusion, just a conclusion.

The realism you want is in the choices your character makes, not how many times they say “Uh,” in a sentence.

Conclusion

Dialogue matters and should not be treated lightly or without care. Once you have this all engrained in your mind, dialogue should become effortless.

If you want an excellent way to think about this, Robert McKee's Story has an excellent chapter that helped clarify this all for me. Here's an excerpt and the context.

Warning, spoilers for Chinatown.

"If I were Gittes at this moment, what would I do?"

Letting your imagination roam, the answer comes:

"Rehearse. I always rehearse in my head before taking on life's big confrontations."

Now work deeper into Gittes's emotions and psyche:

Hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel, thoughts racing: "She killed him, then used me. She lied to me, came on to me. Man, I fell for her. My guts are in a knot, but I'll be cool. I'll stroll to the door, step in and accuse her. She lies. I send for the cops. She plays innocent, a few tears. But I stay ice cold, show her Mulwray's glasses, then lay out how she did it, step by step, as if I was there. She con-fesses. I turn her over to Escobar; I'm off the hook."

EXT. BUNGALOW-SANTA MONICA

Gittes' car speeds into the driveway.

You continue working from inside Gittes' pov, thinking:

"I'll be cool, I'll be cool ..." Suddenly, with the sight of her house, an image of Evelyn flashes in your imagination. A rush of anger. A gap cracks open between your cool resolve and your fury.

The Buick SCREECHES to a halt. Gittes jumps out.

"To hell with her!"

Gittes SLAMS the car door and bolts up the steps.

Story by Robert McKee, pg 156

The context of this page is McKee's way of explaining how to write characters. I found it very helpful.

-♠︎-♠︎-♠︎-♠︎-

Thanks for reading! I probably forgot something, so I made this a “part 1.”

I hope this helps someone since I’m really tired of finding short films on YouTube that are all fucking silent. The few who have done it well have been copied to death, so please write some dialogue. I promise you it’s so much better if you do.

Asks are open! :)

[abogwitchnamedsage]

𝙀𝒍𝙩𝒖𝙧𝒊𝙖𝒏 𝑻𝙖𝒊𝙡𝒔 𝑾𝙚𝒆𝙠𝒍𝙮 𝘿𝒆𝙫 𝙐𝒑𝙙𝒂𝙩𝒆

[ Week of May 18, 2025 ] /// Primary Game Dev Post

Well, this has been an unexpected week. I had hoped to have a secondary character sprite to share, but life had other plans.

I'm away from home, helping with a funeral and mourning family. I'm away from my usual set-up and not particularly in the mood for creativity.

BUT! I would regret not sharing any little progress that I made this week (and last week that I forgot to share).

The best news I have to share is...the first completed draft of Zevlor's core romance route is complete! *insert copious amounts of confetti and champagne here*

Writing for Zevlor—someone who starts out guarded and duty-bound but slowly reveals tenderness, uncertainty, and (poetic) longing—is just so delicious. I've said it many times before, but I'll say it again...I adore this old man.

And by the watching gods, Zevlor Nation... we will give this old man the love and devotion he deserves!

Right now, his core romance route is just over 9,000 words in total, including dialogue branches. Once all is said and done, it will probably be right around 11,000 (this is excluding parts of the game that aren't romance-route specific). More branches that correspond to specific player backgrounds are needed, but as it stands today, when coded into the game, he has a romance storyline that just works!

A smaller achievement: secondary characters (ones without romance routes but are a part of the story) have been identified, parred down, and will eventually have their own functioning sprites! These characters include:

Lia

Cal

Bex

Danis

Lakrissa

And last but surely not least, our favorite tiefling bard: Alfira!

The overall script is... very much in progress! I'm still getting used to writing fan fiction and visual novels, and I am humbled every time I have to delete chunks of drafts to start over again. (I come from a background in writing periodicals...to all of the fanfiction writers: you are built differently, and I can't comprehend your beautiful big brains.)

While choices in the game aren't critical to achieving a better story outcome (they are just there for flavor and storytelling), I want plenty of options that create player agency and reactive storytelling. Unfortunately for me, that means when I commit 300 words to a chunk of three branches, the player sees only 100 words (just a third of the writing), assuming they don't go back to test the outcomes of other choices. AND because I hate myself, some branches contain five or more player options. I now understand why visual novels don't have as many branching dialogue options as my emotionally-invested heart desires—they're a ton of work!

Zevlor has a TON of history hidden in his dialogue options! Here's a snippet of dialogue from Zevlor that comes from a specific branch where you can inquire about a particular scar on his body, where he talks about his old loyal steed:

ALSO! Last week was a huge milestone in that all of the bachelors' sprites have been finished and implemented into the game. I didn't share a screenshot with the boys together, which is a CRIME.

LOOK AT THEMMMM!! ❤️❤️❤️

This is me, seeing the boys together in-game at last:

[mused-like-roses]

~ 1,000 followers ~

// Due to the length, it'll be under a read-more

I remember starting my RPing journey back in... 2014-2015 on this little place called Miiverse. It was the most inconvenient place to start RPing, but we all had to start somewhere. and boy did I had to start somewhere; I didn't know much on the whole RPing shtick, using mostly the script style of RPing (e.g. Ruby: dialogue *actions*), threads didn't go anywhere much, and Miiverse had the problem of rarely having RPers thanks to it's "30 posts a day" limit. I hung around for almost a good year I believe until it was time for Miiverse to slowly die out and close it's door.

It was around it's dying years I stumbled further into the internet's other corners. Places like Deviantart and whatnot... and then there was this little place called Tumblr. My curiosity piqued due to knowing a really really REALLY old mutual back on Miiverse and to an extent Deviantart. My start was awfully ROUGH. I didn't know anything about Tumblr and how it rolled; icons, PFPs, writing, etc. I didn't even start RPing until like... around 2016-2017 maybe? It was slightly better than MV, but it was still a bumpy ride. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun learning the ropes.

My start in the platform was rough to say the least; icons weren't used all that much, I didn't really get all semi-lit - literate like I am today, hell I didn't know jack about trimming my posts! but it didn't stop me from trucking on. I slowly but surely learned the ropes, made a small group of friends, met my first love slowly turned toxic bitch of an ex-GF on here, it was going slow but smoothly. Then around the '17 - '18 period, I started fresh with all the experience in hand. Said years rolled around and I slowly transitioned over to Discord as well, making another slew of friends over there as well.

And that was when things kicked off; I was RPing like it was a casual past time of mine, made many of friends, many of foes, but most importantly I was having fun. And then 2022 came around... my self-promo came to be, and I locked in to take my hobby more serious. Now look at how it started vs. how it's going: I started out knowing nothing about RPing, I ended with years of experience under my belt and many mutuals, and with many mutuals eventually came 1,000 followers. I never thought I'd get this far into my life, let alone the RPC, but here we are. And it wouldn't have been possible without some close mutuals I know and like to give a shout-out to:

@astral-multiverse ~ I'm getting the elephant out of the room with the one I've been by their side the most since day one. What started with small interactions here and there slowly turned into full blown long-term RPs broken up by smaller RPs. We made so many ships with your OC (whom I'll say it before and say it again, is one of my faves in the RPC), and OOC you're a blessed bean that I can go to anytime for anything be it nerding out for venting. Thank you so much for being by my side 'til death does us apart, and here's to many more RPs.

@the-expatriate ~ Much like Astral above, we had tiny interactions here and there. But good gracious you are one of the most blessed muns I've had the pleasures of interacting with. Your OC is AMAZING, we were like twins nerding out about music and similar tastes in games/shows, but most importantly you knew me so well with my Autism and was always there to speak to me when needed. I gotta give you the same amount of thanks for being around this long, couldn't have done it without you.

@grayfxce ~ You are literally the SMG4 of the RPC. What started out as a silly concept of roleplaying as the titular anon soon turned into something huge; you fleshed Gray out into an OC that would fit in any place, anywhere. And boy did we nerd out about similar tastes and shitposted like there was no tomorrow! You're one of the many whose company I've enjoyed greatly, and I hope to RP with you again.

@historias-multorum ~ One of my more recent mutuals I had stumbled across after being followed by them... I made the best call I could ever make when I followed back and started interacting. Your portrayals are spot-on, and you're so understanding and to the point in and out of RPing. And shipping with you is always a treat, especially Sasuten! Thank you for being by my side, I greatly appreciate RPing and speaking with you and hope to continue this train.

@musecheerios ~ Also another recent mutual I've began to interact with, and also another call that I've made that was worth it. Our interactions have been amazing so far, both IC and OOC. You're the literal definition of "Soft Baby Hell" and will not take shit with anyone, something I can appreciate in a mun. Talking with you has been amazing, and I hope to interact more with you!

Honorable mentions for muns I've interacted with and/or yearn to interact with more: @on-dragons-wings, @divinityunleashed, @chronicparagon, @whiskeysmulti, @reddawnmultimuse, @dragvnsovl, @mz-pixie (also an old mutual of mine!), @hxroic-wxlls-rxborn, @samayo-tamashi, @wildxcardrebel, @flamesignite

Thank you all so much for being stuck with this anxiety-induce otaku of a mun, and here's to many more with you guys.

~ May your heart be your guiding key ~

[stepswowdsen]

【KagePro】 KuroEne AU: Kuroha uses Awakening Eyes to make Ene’s body 🖤💙

Summary:

Kuroha uses Awakening Eyes to make Ene's android body by temporarily turning into her, and keeps regenerating until he has all the parts he needs to make her body

KuroEne Route Setups: The nature of KuroEne's relationship (ie. Lovers -> Enemies, Enemies and Lovers) changes depending on Saeru's actions

KuroEne AU: Saeru tells Ene about his Awakening Eyes and mentions the legend of the Medusa to her (but without revealing too much)

Ene reacts to Saeru's hair down (without the ponytail)

Ene plays with Saeru's hair and his snakes

Intro

The idea I came up with Feila before back in September 2024 is that if Kuroha/Saeru can use Konoha's Eye Ability, Awakening Eyes, to rebuild the body molecule by molecule, according to the Novel Route, then he should be able to temporarily turn into Ene and get all the parts he needs to build Ene's android body that way.

If Awakening Eyes can remake the owner's body into ANYTHING, then he should be able to turn into Ene and shed off self-healing human skin.

I cherish this AU very much... It's so interesting to me.

I work hard for my rare pairs to create interesting AUs for them 🙏

I imagine that in the first KuroEne AU Route, Saeru made artificial self-healing human skin for Ene's android body. This is based on IRL scientists' advancements for robots with self-healing artificial skin that can react to temperature, pressure, and certain chemicals.

Feila and I based some of Saeru's advancements for Ene's body on some advancements that IRL scientists have made with robots (ie. robot fish that can work up to 36 hours for artificial blood).

I feel like hair cloning can be achieved in a lab.

I was curious to see if I could use anything for my KuroEne AU. I was inspired by the idea of a snake shedding its skin...

So he sheds off a few cells off himself that can multiply and then stores it for use in his lab. And then he sheds it off himself, and constantly keeps regenerating until he gets all the parts he needs.

Cuz of Awakening Eyes' extreme regenerative properties.

But in all Routes after the first few, he uses Awakening Eyes to create the outer parts of her body. It makes creating her body 100000x easier.

And then the mf throws his (originally Haruka/Konoha's body's) own skin cells into the mix when creating Ene's body.

The fact that he used apart of himself for her body is like the ultimate declaration of “love” (twisted obsession) and devotion in this guy’s twisted eyes.

The culmination/fruits of his efforts have finally paid off!

In the context of the KuroEne AU, Ene's body is his greatest creation.

Kuroha/Saeru having a twisted obsession for his S/O just seems the most fitting for his character.

So... no wonder this guy is obsessed. Dude's twisted obsession causes him to create a perfect replica of Ene.

I honestly love the Mad Scientist vibes going on here.

Quoting these old rambles.

Kuroha/Saeru is so fucked up but that makes him interesting so I say let him be. He's so fun to write for 👍

Awakening Eyes allows the owner of the body to make it into their "ideal body" and make it whatever they want. So he can do this, replicate it, and keep regenerating himself. And knowing this mf, he'd shed off his own skin from his body too to use as part of Ene's android body.

Feila and I came up with the idea that Kuroha could just use Konoha's Eye Ability Awakening Eyes to temporarily turn into Ene, then make it so that his body can shed off self healing skin (and any parts he needs). Then it makes making her android body infinitely easier cuz he'd have all the parts needed to make her body.

Kuroha: You were made from me, and the unison of our parts, therefore we are one ❤️

KuroEne Route Setups

Multiple outcomes that can happen in a KuroEne Route. I feel like they tend to have this common starting point or setup. Also there are some deviations depending on when Saeru decides to reveal certain information (his true name)

Kuroha possesses Konoha before he gets the chance to meet the MekaDan. Kuroha meets Ene and just decides to "play the game" alone with her (Kuroha can choose to reveal the name "Saeru" later as long as Ene doesn't meet the MekaDan until the final August 15th, since he can use the Medusa legend to justify his existence as a "snake-related human" to Ene)

Kuroha meets Ene and pretends to join the Mekakushi Dan (keeping his true name and identity hidden), and betrays everyone on August 15th. KuroEne's relationship is Lovers to Enemies due to Saeru's betrayal.

Kuroha lets Konoha and Ene meet and develop a friendship and/or relationship, but then he possesses Konoha at some point, and Ene perceives him as the "evil snake" that stole Konoha's body. KuroEne's relationship is Enemies and Lovers.

So, in most Routes in KagePro canon, Saeru possesses Kenjirou (Ayano’s dad) first to manipulate people to get access to funding and resources, and then he jumps to possess Konoha on August 15th

But in my KuroEne AU, I have Saeru drop Kenjirou's body much earlier so that he can meet with Ene as "Black Konoha" (Kuroha), so they spend anywhere from 1 - 2 years together.

And then there’s Kuroha/Saeru's uncanny resemblance to her loved one (Haruka) by possessing Konoha’s body.

In the first KuroEne AU Route, I imagine he introduces himself to her as “Black Konoha,” but Ene decides to shorten the name Black Konoha (Kuro Konoha) to “Kuroha” instead.

So every Route after that, he decides what information he wants to drop and at what time.

He also proceeds to use the nickname that Ene gave him in previous timelines, when he first introduces himself in new Routes when he meets her for the first time, in all subsequent Routes.

So, there’s the KuroEne Routes where Saeru possesses Konoha before he can meet Ene.

Saeru introduces himself as Kuroha and then reveals the name Saeru later once they’ve built more of a connection each other (which works just fine, as long as it’s a Route where they don’t meet with the rest of the MekaDan until August 15th)

Quoting from my notes

Ene: Snake... human? Such a thing like that exists!?

Kuroha: Well... Tales about the legend of the Medusa persist even to this day... But it's not very widely known among humans.

Ene: (I guess it's not completely out of the realm of possibility… I have these red eyes after all.)

Ene: Your red eyes allow you to change your body?

Ene: Even after you've shown me, I'm still shocked!!! That's some incredible power…!

Saeru reveals his true identity but Ene doesn't meet the rest of the MekaDan so it's ok for him to reveal.

Like I can imagine Saeru showing her something simple, like changing his tongue into a forked snake tongue, growing snake scales on his limbs, or changing his appearance into the MR2 form

I imagine that Saeru eventually tells Ene about him being related to snakes in some way and having an Eye Ability that allows him to change his body (but doesn’t mention Azami, his old Master, by name), an explanation that Ene accepts since she also has this mysterious Eye Ability too.

And Ene is wow'ed by Saeru's usage of Awakening Eyes since he can even change his body with it.

F: He would tell her about the snakes but would anon-ify (if that's even a word) Azami as best as he can.

Me: Yeahhh I agree with this too. He'd keep his master's identity a secret

Or there are Routes where he reveals his identity as Snake of Clearing Eyes (Me ga Saeru Hebi) right from the get go (which would make things much more hostile and tense between them, especially if it’s a situation where Ene was friends or in a relationship with Konoha, and Saeru just stole/possessed his body.)

So then Ene perceives him as the evil snake/monster that stole Konoha’s body.

Ene plays with Saeru's hair and his snakes

Me: OH I forgot to mention this but lately I've been tempted to draw Kuroha/Saeru with his hair down. Like his usual Black Konoha form, but without the ponytail.

Cuz I realize I haven't drawn that yet.

I feel like Saeru with his hair down would have messy hair, around shoulder length <3

And I'm also gonna doodle some JdAl stuff hopefully soon. I said I was gonna draw but I was just chilling these past few days. I'll get into a drawing mood sometime this week...

F: DO ITTTT. HE WOULD LOOK SO GOOD WITH THIS HAIR DOWN UGHHH

Me: Something inspired by this <3

I also want to draw Judar with his hair down at some point like JESUS my cat sons look so good with their hair down. It's in my drawing to-do list.

F: Ugh he's such a sexy man

Me: RIGHT he looks so good with his hair down... Augh...

Me: I thought of how cute it'd be if she plays with his hair and runs her hands through his hair while his hair is down and if she puts his hair into little twintails

I can imagine Ene going like ("Looks like he's just gotten up… He looks cute with bedhead……")

F: Kuroha probably lets his hair down then sleeping (he isn't obligated to sleep, but let me dream)

Me: Ene ties his hair into small twintails... And then his snakes that are curled around him go like 💖✨

The idea of Ene playing with his little snakes is cute honestly

F: > I thought of how cute it'd be if she plays with his hair

Braid it and suddenly he's Saeru 💥

Me: Technically both forms are Black Konoha / Saeru but I get what you mean.

The MR2 (Manga Route 2) version has the scorpion tail looking braids in the back

F: Wondering how many times they've bonded with each other to the point that Saeru's little snakes have registered Ene as a "2nd owner" because Kuroha's scent is all over her

Me: HWHDHSHDSHS. God that's so cute...

Ok, so snakes flick their tongues to collect chemicals in the air and pick up the scents of prey.

Reminds me of that KuroEne idea I had before where Saeru's snakes flick their tongues and wrap around and curl around Ene's sleeves out of curiosity.

They also do this to ground themselves around their owners for a sense of security (wrapping themselves around their owners)

And it's because Kuroha/Saeru's scent is all over her.

And Saeru goes like, "They're curious about you... It’s because my scent is all over you."

And Ene reacts like this.

Also he has a heightened sense of smell due to being a snake, and can also rebuild his body with Awakening Eyes to have improved senses (like a snake) for his human body, so he'd definitely be aware of it and be so smug about that fact

Yeah like I love imagining Saeru lying in bed next to Ene watching Ene "sleep" with having the android body go into sleep/hibernate mode...

Me: Observing how serene her face looks. I do imagine he watches her for a while

Eepy bunny gf going snork mimimimi 💤😴

F: I just imagine them cuddling. Big spoon Kuroha :3

[chaggie4ever]

Preface for upcoming multi-part fic: Fallen Wings

Hi there! Thank you for taking the time to read my very first fanfiction period! I've been lurking on AO3 and Tumblr for some time now devouring people's works. There are far too many for me to list here but between my obsession with this fandom and Chaggie, and inspiration from these works, here I am! This is quite the ambitious project that I have been planning out for the better part of 2025, currently planned to be seven lengthy parts. I am very busy with work but hope to put each part out all together for binge-reading as this is clearly the way we consume media these days and I myself search for completed works typically :)

This is obviously an adult cartoon made for adults, but children that have slipped through please skip this one. There will be blood and gore and language and LOTS of explicit sex. I will allude to nonconsensual mostly, with a few more written out parts because it is important to the plot. I was originally just going to write a bunch of smut one-shots but then came to think how my girl Vaggie is neglected in the fandom and while many works have remedied this, none have gone quite the direction I envisioned. I have lots of analysis of her on my Tumblr too if you're interested. I've never been quite this obsessed with a fictional character before so this is largely how I'm trying to work that out of my system. So there will absolutely be smut but we have to do some world building and actual plot first. I'm also trying to stick to some biblical stuff verbatim and challenge as much as I can as a "born again ex-evangelical" Unitarian Universalist.

I have a whole outline on where I want to go with this project, titled Fallen Wings as a whole with part 1 Before the Fall, Part 2 After the Fall, Part 3 season 1, Part 4 Post-Exorcisms, Part 5 Princesses of Hell, Part 6 Defense of Hell, and Part 7 Revelations as the working titles. I will focus on my headcannon of Luggie (Vaggie+Lute) for part 1, then Chaggie after this. All events from season 1 are cannon for this story, and part 4 onward may have some spoilers from season 2 leaks and eventually may diverge from the real series as I write faster than they do :) No there will not be poly. I am in a happy monogamous very gay marriage with my own wife and this is what I'm most comfortable writing. I will sprinkle other LGBTQIA stuff in and hope to more fully develop all of the main characters as well but it will mostly be from Vaggie's perspective with some Lute and Charlie. Main ships will be Chaggie and Huskerdust. Still deciding if I want Radioapple or to actually respect his Ace cannon.. They are just kinda perfect together but I also like Lucilith so we'll see.

I have a military background myself and am a psychiatrist so there will be some shameless Prozac scripts for the characters who need it and some deep delve into trauma and emotional and physical and sexual abuse because this is my jam. I will also try to put warnings for noncon and some trauma stuff ahead of time so that those who need to can skip those parts and still enjoy the work :) I tend to write sardonically and sarcastically, and my own political and religious views will likely become obvious, but I hope to capture as many aspects as I can of each character to fully flesh them out.

Also if you find the first few chapters less interesting please persist through! These are written a tad differently than my normal style for world-building and historical stuff (chapter 2-3), but I promise you will get to the smut (ch7) and actual dialogue (ch4) and hopefully some funny bits :) I'll try to sprinkle in my favorite fanart/scenes and songs that make me think of the characters as well (the link is the credit). Each title is based on a song that fits the theme of the chapter, with lyrics at the end.

Anyway, enough of my monologue and thank you again for reading! Please comment/subscribe! I take praise and criticism shamelessly :) I have the same name on Tumblr as well.

[stepswordsen]

【Magi】 Judar and JuAli 🐈‍⬛🖤 ❤️ 💛

JuAli WIP doodles 🖤 ❤️ 💛

Quick doodles before I head back to my assignments

Been a while since I drew Judar and Alibaba together… I missed them!!! I hope to draw them more~

You can see the rest under the cut~

I wasn't sure if I should post my sketches here since they're so messy but I thought I might as well

I'll copy paste my old rambles too since I have more to add this time

2024 vs. 2022

(2024)

Comparison (2022 ~ 2023)

(2024)

Comparison (November 2022)

For the kissy one:

Wasn't sure which one I liked more tbh

1st one fits more...

Though for the 2nd one, I think Judar looks more efforted ADHSHDHSH

Since I excel at drawing meow meow mf charas

3rd one I drew in November 2022. The expressions are still cute in this one so I still like it, but my brush strokes improved a lot since then

For the hanfu Judar one:

Recent versions (+ the old one from 2022)

I've been playing around with the eyes~ I like these ones best. The eyes are bigger in the 1st one, and the others have them a bit smaller. The 1st one has a more innocent look. The 2nd has more slitted eyes and a "seductive" look?

Judar has sharp (tsurime) eyes and rings in his eyes, which are really fun to draw hehe 🤗

I'll redraw the hair soon! I just drew it quickly in like 5 minutes. It's finals season for me. I'm not fully free from this semester so I'm still quite busy, but you'll probably see small doodles from me 🙏

I'm definitely seeing art improvement (improvement in brush strokes and anatomy and proportions)

Ohtaka deliberately draws hatched lines near Judar's eyes to represent his eyeshadow 🤭 ❤️

I drew the hair quickly, so I didn't pay much attention to the shapes of the hair spikes so it's not as soft. But even with the quick doodle, the hair has better weight now. Once I get to refine things properly, I'll actually pay attention to the way his hair spikes are drawn.

I was recently rereading my old dialogue scripts from my JuAli AU and revamping them! I doodled Judar and Alibaba SO much in 2022. It's the Fire/Ice duality and Black Cat x Golden Retriever ship dynamic 🖤💛🐈‍⬛🐕

I wanna draw JuAli again soon and redraw my old doodles. JuAli is my main Magi ship so ofc I wanna draw lots of them~ I haven't gotten the time yet, but I want to draw my ships like AliHaku, SinJa, and KouMor eventually, too 🙏✨

Inspiration

Based on this black and red (Judar colours) hanfu I got~

Judar rambles

I originally drew Judar wearing hanfu in 2022! Still one of my personal fave doodles ❤️ Judar is my fave (no one is surprised, I have the most obvious predictable tastes in the world LMAO). A meow meow mf perfect for my tastes.

Judar fits perfectly into the highly specific Sen-core niche that my top faves all tend to fall under - Meow meow mf. C*nty sen-core bastard cat who's violent, threatens people, and ok with murder. Bloodthirsty. Monochrome aesthetic colour palette.

Manga Judar has red eyeliner (?) and anime Judar has purple eyeshadow? Both are good, but I like Judar with red eyeliner since black and red are his theme colours! 🖤❤️ I like how the colours pop, the contrast against his design, and how it matches his red eyes.

In my HCs, Judar wears a type of hanfu called Ruqun (襦裙). Ru (襦) is the cross-collared top of a hanfu, and the wrap-around skirt is called Qun (裙). The coat jacket is called Da Xiu Shan (大袖衫).

I want him to wear black, white, red, gold, hanfu & hanfu earrings, with red eyeliner and black painted nails 🤗

I still need to pick my headcanon hanfu earrings for Judar... I imagine they'd be gold with red accessories.

I just have to refine the eyes, redraw the hair and hanfu, and then start doing the lineart for it! I love the expression tbh

Additional rambles

I miss my sons, I wanna draw my HC designs of JuAli (with Judar wearing hanfu and Alibaba with tanner skin, wearing Arab traditional clothes), as a fix-it for the obvious colourism going on in Magi's character designs of SWANA and South Asian inspired characters

I bought black and red hanfu back in 2023. I based my Judar hanfu doodles on it 🥺❤️ It's in Judar colours. Black red and white 🖤❤️🤍 I'm so HAPPY to get something that reminds me of my fave 🥰🤭❤️✨ I got it from the Hanfu Story~ They have such a large selection of hanfu and they're all so gorgeous~

Basically Judar themed hanfu~ I love traditional clothes, so it's my dream to collect them! Now I can use it as refs to draw him with the poses and lighting I want teehee. Hanfu & huafu look GORGEOUS to me. I also have Việt Phục like áo dài and áo tấc~

The colours are amazing!! I love black and red combo 😭💖 It's way too easy to fall into the fashion hole and collecting traditional clothes but I definitely want more in the future!

Magi: Ch. 110 - 111, Ch. 196 - 197, Ch. 239, Ch. 288

I love how Ohtaka stylizes and draws the shape of Judar's hair and braids. It's so clever how she simplifies the shapes. It just looks so good. It looks galaxy/tornado shaped… I love how the hatched lines above his eyes in Ohtaka's inking represents his eyeliner... ❤️

Judar's expressions from Ch. 110 - 111 are so unhinged… The Ch. 288 omake Judar is iconic. Fucking crazy ass LMAO 😭😂 Love you tho! 💞🫶

I'll be honest. I've thought about changing my PFP to this Judar again from the Magi omakes, like I thought of doing it as an April Fool's joke before, but I feel like no one would bat an eye cuz of how my faves are like LMFAO

Sen-core faves: Murderous, bloodthirsty, violent (or at the very least, has a disposition for violence), MAY eat people and/or their innards 🙌

JuAli core ship posts

And while you're at it, have the meme edit of them I made (1st image)

Anyways I made the 1st image's meme edit myself <33

Alibaba with tanner skin has such great visual contrast against his earrings~

I also wanna commission arts of JuAli at one point but I'd want to do it with my headcanon designs of them (Judar wearing hanfu and Alibaba with tanner skin wearing Arab traditional clothes)

Art rambles

When I sketch, I draw out the expressions and decide which ones looks best (I either do it once or a few ~ several times) depending on whether I'm satisfied with it. I like the two most recent 2024 versions I showed~ The old ones are still nice... But I prefer the recent versions, because I think it shows how my art style and proportions improved.

These sketches are super messy right now so when I get the time I'll refine them more! It's just to make it consistent with my current style. I'm a little insecure about my sketches, so I prefer to keep most of them on priv for mutuals.

Since I'm not really a fan of the idea of my sketches/WIPs getting posted around when I'm bound to fix/refine/improve on them later when I get the chance to refine them. Though thankfully with my 2022+ lining style, my sketches look more "aesthetically nice" or "post worthy" to me...

Perhaps in the future... I do genuinely like my art style and I'm very happy with my art improvement, but I want to keep growing as an artist first. I want to reach the point where I manage to become more technically skilled and confident about my works (even my sketches)

Though since I posted the rest of the sketches under the cut, feel free to reblog them if you want!

[partyhorn]

Have u ever posted your comic or animation workflow anywhere? Im super curious on how you tackle the process, especially not using a drawing tablet. I know you have a very simple (and adorable) style so that probably helps in terms of workflow -- Im just curious about the steps you take.

Thank you! With both comics and animation my key thing is to not spend too much time on any particular thing, just draw loose and fast. Honestly the only downside to drawing with a mouse is that I can tell my arm has extremely specific muscle memory regarding it- if my mouse breaks and I get a new one I have to spend a good month or so just letting my hand get used to it again lol. Same with if my setup gets readjusted too much- right now my setup is my mouse on one of those padded mousepads, on top of 2 books, with my elbow resting on my 3DS case (I'll get an actual pillow or something for it eventually lol). But luckily thanks to this I suffer very minimal wrist pain 👍

(...Okay I started to go really in depth in my process here, so sorry if this is way more than what you were asking. Putting it under a readmore just to save space lol)

With MFM in particular, I start by writing out the entire script for the next story arc, which really is just all of the dialogue and vague notes about any important actions. Then I do the paneling with very loose stick-figure like sketches of where the characters are and what they're doing. I prefer having very little planning when it comes to character poses and panel shapes, coming up with those on the fly makes things much more exciting and faster to make. But it's the opposite with dialogue... it needs to be 100% FINAL before I draw a single line lol.

That's part of my script for my most recent chapter, as well as what my extremely loose goofy thumbnail sketching is like. I write the script as one big thing and don't separate it into pages until I actually start drawing- then I go and color change it just to keep track of what dialogue goes on each page

After that, I go back and do the ACTUAL sketch, as well as the lettering (I don't believe this is how it's done professionally. I used to do lettering as the very last step in the process... but then found it hard to cram speech bubbles in the right places lmao.) After that is lineart, coloring, background flat colors, then shading/rendering for all of it. I do each step in batches, as in I sketch out ALL pages of a chapter before moving to lineart, I line ALL pages before starting coloring, etc. I find it way easier to be productive when it's broken up like that, though when I first started the comic I used to draw each page to completion before starting the next (but also, the comic's style was DRASTICALLY simpler back then haha)

(Unfortunately I merged some of the shading to the background flat colors so it's not entirely accurate... oops) FireAlpaca has a sand texture feature that I only found out about last year- adding that to the backgrounds makes them look 10x better with WAY less effort.

With animation, it depends on the project. For simple 5-10 second animation I make for fun, there's very little planning lol. I skip some steps in the process- I'll sketch out the keyframes (and maybe any difficult inbetweens if necessary), line those, then go straight into making linework inbetweens. I'm not a cleanup artist and have no experience in that, so I always find trying to line my rough animation makes everything jittery and wobbly. If I do it with a clean line from the start then I can avoid that and save a lot of time 👍

For my bigger projects (such as the Parvey cartoon and the MFM Kickstarter trailer), I do the whole animatic with final audio first and foremost, with the animatic being almost like the keyframes. I split them up into individual shots, .mp4 files anywhere between 1-30 seconds usually, and animate those one at a time. I'm a huge fan of free to use programs and try to use them as much as I possibly can, here's a list of the ones I use:

FireAlpaca- for the actual drawing part itself (storyboarding/animating/etc). FireAlpaca has a feature that lets you export every frame as it's own drawing, as well as an onion skin mode

Windows Movie Maker- for compiling all of those frames into video format, creating individual shots. If you upload all of your frames and set them to around 0.08 seconds, it equals about 12fps (I usually animate at 0.10 seconds/10fps, its a bit slower but looks nice)

Onlinesequencer.net- for making music. It's the place I've made all of my songs on, like the timeloop song, hyperworkaholic, and the background music for the MFM Kickstarter trailer.

Audacity- for editing audio/music. Also great for recording things directly from your desktop

DaVinci Resolve- for editing and putting together all of the shots into one big video. Can get kind of intensive on the computer during rendering, so watch out.

YouCut (app)- also for editing and compiling shots, I used this one a lot a couple years back but I'm not sure how well it holds up. Doesn't need much phone storage to download but needs a lot to render videos.

MS Paint (yes really)- for typing up text. FireAlpaca has a text option but I don't like it as much as Paint's.

...The only thing I genuinely can't do alone is voice acting. Luckily there's a big voice acting community on Twitter and they're all amazing to work with!

This got... way more in depth than I planned for it to be, so sorry if this is way more than what you were asking lol. But that's my general process when it comes to my art 👍

[lululeighsworld]

the absolutely fates-obsessed part of my brain LOVES your recent linguistics reblog/tags but is also so curious what linguistic-isims you've picked up for the northern fortress gang with your mind for analyzing. and mayhaps.,,,,, linguistics headcanons for one knight. :3c ?

because I know it's going to take an INSANE amount of time to answer this, here is the post being referenced!! so glad it is fascinating to people <3 <3

context, for anyone curious: I started studying linguistics ~5 1/2 months prior to playing FE14. so my linguistics knowledge and enjoyment of the game have been growing alongside each other in my brain for as long as I've known them. at one point in my degrees I seriously considered using the game script as the source text for an analysis I had to do for an assignment (ultimately decided against it, because of the slog of text cleaning I would have had to do). ALL TO SAY this question is like a marriage of my two favourite things of all time!! thank you for asking!!

I'm gonna interpret linguistic-isims to mean something along the lines of "dialogue patterns that make the Northern Fortress (NF) gang unique, when compared to the rest of the cast." regardless of whether the proof is in the game scripts, I do think that if you were looking at the NF residents as a whole (and if they were real), they'd have their own set of linguistic mannerisms that are shared, just by virtue of the fact they're all living in a closed + isolated place, with occasional input getting added into the mix via visitors (the Nohrian siblings, for example). I'd also be willing to bet a lot of their shared linguistic characteristics originate from Gunter: not only is he the most adept at speech, but he's also all the kids' mentors. they've been in conversation with him presumably EVERY DAY (or nearly every day) for at least over a decade, and all look up to him as a role model (yes, I'm also looking at you Jakob). I have no doubt there's a certain amount of influence going on here.

MY FAVE. AND PRIME EXAMPLE OF THIS INFLUENCE. IS THE FACT THAT GUNTER AND CORRIN ACTUALLY SHARE A CRITICAL QUOTE (This ends now!)!! I was so excited when I realized this for the first time, and the multiple implications it could have. my fave reasoning for why this happened is that Corrin frequently overheard him saying this phrase during training, and they thought it sounded so cool that they adopted it as one of their own finishing remarks!

I'll be honest, most of what I have to say is about Gunter; writing him so many times has left me tweezing apart his lines to really get in his head. there's some really notable ways in how he comports himself that we see reflected in his speech. he is really good at baiting his dialogue partner into divulging their feelings on a topic, and then switching said conversation without sharing his own feelings. an example, with Jakob:

Gunter: No, nothing like that. Just... keep protecting Lord/Lady Corrin. Jakob: Obviously. You will never need to remind me of my responsibility. What is this about? Gunter: There's no deeper meaning. Just promise me - no matter what comes - that you will protect Lord/Lady Corrin. Jakob: Of course... What's gotten into you, old man? Don't tell me death is knocking at your door. Gunter: Heh... You know, there are some who can pull off being ill mannered to seem cool... You've never been one of those people.

obviously we know that there is a deeper meaning to all of this, whether you're looking at it from the perspective of his age (like Jakob tries getting him to admit to) or the eventual possession in Revelation (which the player can be cognizant of, if they've played that path) or both. Gunter permits himself a moment of vulnerability to assess Jakob's stance on the topic (ensuring the well-being of their liege). however, when Jakob opens the floor for him to elaborate, TWICE, Gunter rescinds the opportunity and almost immediately changes topics on his next line. the door closes. Jakob never learns further details behind the purpose of Gunter's request.

this is one feature of his speech that's always intrigued me, but also makes him such a bastard to write. he has a very precise way of talking that almost always hinges on evaluating the perspective of his partner first, meanwhile he already has responses X/Y/Z prepped on stand-by so he can proceed as seamlessly as possible.

that being said, one lil quirk of his that I often take note of is how he buffers. we all do it with ahs and ums and likes; they're little filler words that come up that are indicators our brains are processing information and that we're trying to determine how to best navigate the conversation. sometimes these are words in the scripts, but more often then not it's also conveyed by ellipses. Gunter almost always buffers when he's caught off-guard; perhaps this is because the person he's speaking with presented him with a possibility he hadn't planned for (hehe). Just a few examples:

Gunter: You... You are much too kind. Ah, now look at what you've made me do. Corrin: Gunter! It's rare that you miss a catch. Gunter: My sincerest apologies. There was... something in my eye.

Jakob: Of course... What's gotten into you, old man? Don't tell me death is knocking at your door. Gunter: Heh... You know, there are some who can pull off being ill mannered to seem cool... You've never been one of those people.

Felicia: This was a while ago, but… You told me that I was a thousand times more suited for the army than the service industry. And the reason I’ve worked so hard on the battlefield is because you said that to me. As a maid, I’m always screwing up, but on the battlefield, I thought I could make up for it!    Gunter: …… Felicia: Hawawawa! I should not have said that, should I?! I need to work harder so that I’m not completely useless as a maid… I truly am a fool… Putting that into words made me realize it… *sigh* …I’m truly so… Now I’m depressed…   Gunter: …I’m rather like you.

Flora: I have received so much help from that person. I’ve learned so much from him. And yet… that person… recently, due his age, his strength has been fading little by little… He may be able to deceive others though he cannot fool me… As the years will continue to layer onto him, there will come a time when he will need help from others… And when that time comes, I wish to be the one to help him. That is my dream. In the future, that is the number one thing I wish to do. Gunter: …… I wonder why… my eyes feel moist… The person you speak of is incredibly lucky…

(I do think it is cute how each of these guys are able to make him pause and almost stumble out of his usual speech patterns. it makes sense on many levels, even if they aren't aware of it; they're the ones who know him best!)

so you have very methodically planned out speech that's occasionally sprinkled with little moments where he's forced to react on the fly. this also happens in the Vallite King chapter, when he expresses shock over Corrin not absolutely hating him for being a traitor to the army, after the fight. the Vallite King script could be a whole damn mini essay on it's own; he leans into the bait hard when his back is against the wall. it's also fascinating to watch him use us collectively (the army) and them (the Vallite royals) prior to the reveal, and then for Corrin to flip the tables and make him the outsider while they position themself with the collective.

ANYWAYS. an essay for another time. let's end this post with some linguistic headcanons!!

like most languages, the variety of Nohrian he speaks does have a few generational differences than what is being used by the youth. imo one of my fave ideas to think about is that the older generation has a more old-fashioned way of saying "I love you" ;333;

his idolect (speech habits that are unique to him) is an interesting hodgepodge of common Nohrian (given his upbringing) coupled with the more formal language expectations he would have picked up while training to be a knight.

he rarely curses, but when he does, you know it's definitely warranted :P

in a world where the three kingdoms of Fates each speak their own language, he'd understand very very very rudimentary phrases in Hoshidan, just by virtue of hearing them on the battlefield/in a specific context.

specifically in an Askr context, when he's very irritated or cranky, he'll usually mumble under his breath in Nohrian.

personally I like writing him as being averse to using contractions in speech, but I know the game scripts tell a different story. I just prefer how it sounds in the mind when he does not contract his words!

[deltoravivisection]

SO, WHAT THE FIG IS ALL THIS?

Hi! Hello. This blog is an archive of the work I'm doing for a fangame based on the Deltora Quest series, as well as a testament to my supermassive levels of autistic hyperfixation. I am a grown man with a full time job, and this project is purely one of passion with no profit involved, so the going will be slow. I'll be posting sketches, thoughts, and eventually animations and gameplay here. But we're nowhere near that point yet. If you're interested in the project or have suggestions for me, please reach out!

THE GAME

Deltora: Vivisection will be a free open-world* version of the original 8 books in the Deltora series, wherein the gems can be collected in any order, and many events will be altered depending on player choice and the order in which quests are finished. It will be part visual-novel, part JRPG, with tons of original art and frame-by-frame pixel animation. When will it be finished? When will the demo drop? I have no idea.

*There will be limits - I'm not a AAA studio. But there will be plenty to explore.

THE CREDO

Though there will be some minor rewrites, the goal is to be as faithful as possible to the original books. Even as a child, I found the anime lacking. I craved blood. To make up for this, I want to create something that would make my younger self go completely insane, while appealing to the now mostly adult fanbase and expanding on ideas I felt could be explored further. We're keeping the blood, we're keeping the terror, and we're also keeping it clean.

THE TEAM

Meeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (With help from friends for designs and ideas. Full and specific credits will be present ingame.) (My name is Miles btw.)

THE PLAN

PRE-PRODUCTION PAHSE:

Concepting ✔️

Outline ✔️

Character Designs (In progress)

Creature Designs (In progress)

Dialogue/Event Scripts (In progress) - Forests of Silence ✔️ - Lake of Tears ✔️ - City of Rats ✔️ - Shifting Sands ✔️ - Dread Mountain ✔️ - Maze of the Beast ✔️ - Valley of the Lost ✔️ - Return to Del ✔️ - Midpoint Revision/Edits ✔️ - Ranesh Sidequests ✔️ - Shopkeeper Dialogue ✔️ - Environmental Interactions ❌ - Inventory Item Descriptions (In Progress) - NPC Dialogue (In Progress) - Final Revision/Edits ❌

Talksprites (In progress -- MAIN FOCUS) - Neutral Poses/Color Layouts (In Progress) - All Variation Sketches ❌ - All Rough Colors ❌ - Final Versions ❌

Environment Art ❌

Sprite Art (In progress)

Animations ❌

Sound/Music Sourcing (In progress)

Combat Mechanics (In progress)

UI Design (In progress)

DEVELOPMENT PHASE:

God Forgive Us All ❌ (We'll cross that bridge when we get there.)

DOWNLOAD THE IN-PROGRESS SCRIPT HERE!!!

[dragonnarrative-writes]

1, 3 and 34 for the writer ask game!

Hello my friend! 💜

Do you prefer writing one-shots or mulit-chaptered fics?

Well... I think right now I prefer writing multi-chaptered fics, but I have a few one-shots in the works.

I like a long story, and I like the way the physical break between chapters changes how I read and write stories. As much as I hate a cliffhanger, I love the way a page break adds to the tension of a story.

I also like multi-chaptered fics as a writer because it lets readers interact with me and influence the story. The Gaz and Soap interludes in Slasher Handler came from asks, and they helped me flesh out their characters in my head and decide where the story is going. @mi-i-zori had a huge hand in helping me decide how I want Simon and Bambi to interact in Transferrable Skills.

3. Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic

Whoo. This will be long!

First, I do an "Okay So...!" summary. Basically, I ramble in the discord or write in a physical notebook anywhere between a sentence and (checks notes) 1500+ words. It's a bit unorganized. Some of it is quotes, a lot of it is "script" format dialogue, most of it is rushed transitions. There's a lot of placeholder text that represents its own couple of paragraphs.

(For example: I'm working on making the idea from this post into a one shot. That bit of ramble is 222 words. That part of the story that I'm actually writing became 1931 words. It's gonna be a long-ass project.)

From there, I workshop with friends and my partner. If I'm rambling directly in discord, I'm rolling with some of what my friends are telling me. My partner asks me the really annoying necessary questions, like "why this scene?" and "does that help get you to the smut?" and "are you letting your blorbo be a blorbo or are you trying to force a story you don't want to tell?"

Then I write a first draft. Sometimes the first draft is the only draft, but that's not the case very often anymore. I try to let myself be wordy and imperfect. Get the more detailed idea out in chunks of a few paragraphs, then reread and put in more details.

If there are multiple people in a scene, then I start with dialogue and inner thoughts, then physical actions. In this chapter of Autumn Embers, I wrote the dialogue between Gaz an Wildfire without any direction, then added in the handshakes, Wildfire arching an eyebrow, stepping to the side of the walkway, etc.

Then I let my partner read it! And he points out all of my typos.

Then I shuffle paragraphs around, and fill in spots that become a bit awkward, and then I show my partner again. And then I share it in the discord. Then I unashamedly BASK in the endorphins I get from my friends interacting with the story.

Then I rinse and repeat! Eventually, I identify where the chapter breaks are going to be, if I haven't already.

I do most of my writing in Scrivener, which allows you to write documents within documents and move them around. Sometimes I have chapters already separated. Sometimes I keep a long "working document" and then break it into chapters.

Tagging the people who I riff with often: @sentientcave, @gemmahale, @mortuarywriting, @mi-i-zori, @cordeliawhohung, @cosmicpro, and I'm missing so many other people who's blogs I can't recall off the top of my head or don't know if they'd be okay being tagged.

34. Five years from now, where do you see yourself as a writer?

Five years from now I'll still be writing fanfiction, though I'll probably have moved to other fandoms by then. I think I'll probably still write CoD, since I still love all of my past blorbos.

I think that by 2029, I will also be finishing up editing an original novel that I want to publish, if I'm not already publishing the second one. I've already written most of 3 novels, and plan to do another one next month.

I do not see myself writing full time, or relying on it as a source of income. I wouldn't be opposed, but I want my writing to be for me, first and foremost. When it's a job, it becomes about what other people want, and I don't think I'd be ready for that by then. Still, it would be fun to get the original stuff out there.

Ask Game