#I'm back from my hibernation with another art
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
eldar-of-zemlya · 11 months ago
Text
Uncropped version can be found here.
Tumblr media
215 notes · View notes
nagaytoe · 16 days ago
Note
Can you do reader who barely eats/doesn't eat at all?
And btw I love your writing💯
Anorexia
Tumblr media
Sol/Crowe x Reader
Word Count: 2.4k
Requests: Open
I'm finally back from hibernation, woohoo! I will try to work on all the requests i have still sitting around, before working on my other drafts! (no promises thoug, my adhd will do what my adhd wants to do lmao)
TWs, Tags: Display and mentions of eating disorders, depression, mental health problems in general
IF YOU STRUGGLE WITH MENTAL HEALTH, PLEASE SEEK HELP. PEOPLE CARE FOR YOU AND LOVE YOU.
-
Your hands grazed your hips and sides, all the way up to your ribs. You exhaled and shook your head lightly, tearing your gaze from the mirror in front of you. A stinging feeling of disgust spread through your chest. 
Disgust towards your body, disgust towards your weight, disgust towards you. 
Tears have long stopped welling up in your eyes at the sight of you, but the feeling you got when you do only got worse. 
The pair of baggy jeans you wore had to be secured with a belt, otherwise they would slip right back to the ground, though the hoodie was long enough to cover that detail. Looking at the time, you realized you needed to get going, so you picked up your backpack from the ground, took your keys and left. You did not pack lunch, you did not need lunch, you did not deserve to eat. 
Pigs did not deserve to eat.
The moment you stepped outside, a shiver tore through your body. It was 17 degrees outside, was it not? Why were you so cold then, despite long clothes? Wrapping your arms around yourself, you tried to nuzzle further into the soft fabric of your hoodie. Luckily, the walk to school wasn't too long, but it still felt like torture with how much you were freezing.
“[____]!”
A deep voice called out to you from behind. Turning around, you spot your friend, Crowe, walking towards you. “Good morning!”
You managed to give him a hint of a smile, though it was a shadow of what it once was.
“Hey there.”, You greeted once he fell in step beside you, “How are you doing?”
Crowe’s gaze wandered towards yours and he flashed another bright smile. “I’m doing great, what about you?”
You nodded curtly in response and forced out a ‘good’, as not to worry him. Last thing you needed was one of your best friends knowing about any of your issues.
The rest of the walk was him talking, as well as asking, about the weekend and classes today and you giving short answers.
“I'll see you in history class then?”
Crowe asked, once the two of you reached the entrance of your university.
You responded with a nod, “Sure.”
With that, you took off to your first class of the day, applied arts. Opening the door, you walked all the way to the back of the class, right next to the window. You hated sitting elsewhere, feeling like all eyes were on you, studying you, judging you. You felt way safer sitting out of sight. The only eyes on you were Sol’s, and occasionally, the one’s of the teacher.
Resting your head on your fist, you turned your head to stare out the window, where you spotted two birds sitting on a tree branch. It almost looked like they were bickering. Mentally, you chuckled to yourself, but physically, your expression remained unchanged. 
One of the birds took off and flew away, the other one soon followed. That’s when you heard your name being called for the second time today. 
“Hey, [____], how are you doing?”
You turned your head to the side and spotted Sol sitting down on his seat, placing his messenger bag next to him on the floor.
Why the hell was everyone asking how you were doing? It was none of their goddamn business.
“I’m fine. What about you?”
He eyed you with suspicion, was your tone too harsh perhaps? 
Get a grip already.
“Fine as well. How was your weekend?”
You gave him the same, short answers you already gave Crowe. It was almost routine at this point. The same meaningless answers to the same meaningless questions.
Sol seemed to be wary of your behaviour, like he knew something was off, despite your best efforts to try and hide it.
‘Don’t you dare play psychiatrist.’, you thought to yourself.
You loved him dearly, you really did, but you need not burden him with your problems.
“Do you wanna spend lunch break with me and Hyugo on the rooftop?”
No way.
“Oh, I’m already occupied otherwise…”
He raised an eyebrow at your response. “With..?”
You gulped and quickly tried to think of an adequate response.
“Homework. The less to do at home, the better.”
He clicked his tongue and inhaled, almost as if trying to compose himself.
“You can do homework on the rooftop with us. No need to do it on your own somewhere on the school grounds.”
You hesitated, thinking of another way out of this predicament. You could not spend lunch with them, you just could not.
Before you could say anything, he quickly added, “I would really like you to spend the break with us. Please, [____].”
Sighing, you reluctantly nodded in agreement, to which he responded with a soft smile.
Just in that moment, the teacher entered and begun with the lesson.
-
You thought of every possible excuse to not spend lunch break with Sol and Hyugo, but could not come up with a plausible one that would not make them more any more worried than they already were. It was not like you did not want to spend time with them, you just could not let them know about your eating habits. 
Well, if you could even call it that. Was eating nothing even considered an eating habit? Not that it mattered, it was not any of their business, but knowing them, they wouldn’t let it rest once they found out. Especially Sol.
With a deep inhale, you pushed open the door to the rooftop, the sunlight blinding you momentarily. You found Sol and Hyugo sitting there already, their attention immediately turned towards you at the sound of the door closing. No one was allowed up here, naturally all of you were at least a little nervous about being caught.
“[____], good to see you!”
Hyugo greeted you with a bright smile.
What was he always smiling so much for?
“Great that you’re here, Sunny was already whining to me about how much he missed you.” 
Hyugo teased, nudging his best friend with his elbow.
The taller one of the duo rolled his eyes and bit out a response, “Shut it.” 
You sat down next to Sol and placed your backpack on your lap, rummaging through it to work on the homework you know did not exist. 
“What have you got for lunch, [____]?”
Freezing at Hyugo’s question, your mind worked at full capacity to come up with an immediate response.
“I already ate.”
Hyugo tilted his head to the side with furrowed brows.
“Break just started, how could you have already eaten something?”
For a second you considered jumping over the railing. That was the most stupid response you could have come up with.
Shrugging, your forced a smile and brushed off the topic, “It was a small snack. Not particularly hungry today.”
“You should eat properly. Here, have some of my lunch.” Sol offered and shoved his bento box into your direction.
“I can’t just eat your lunch, Sol. You need to eat properly as well.”
Rich, coming from you.
He stared at you and kept holding out his bento box for you to take.
You held eye contact with him for a few minutes, before hesitantly taking it from him.
You could just hold it for the time being and keep up conversation, perhaps then they would not notice you not eating anything.
“So, pray tell, how were your classes today so far?”
Hyugo immediately started talking, ranting about some annoying teacher he had to deal with today. However, Sol’s attention was not on his blue-haired friend at all.
It was on you.
“Why aren’t you eating anything?”
Sol’s words cut through the air like a knife and you felt like you were just punched in the gut.
“I told you, I’m not hungry.”
He sighed at that. 
“You’re ‘not hungry’ all the time. Whenever we spend lunch together you don’t eat anything. Do you really think we don’t notice?”
Growing irritated, you respond through gritted teeth, “Just drop it. I’m not hungry, what’s so wrong with that? You can’t force me to eat!” 
“What you are doing is unhealthy! We’re worried about you and if there is anything you need to talk about, just tell us, you know you can talk to us about anything.”
You would rather die than tell them about this.
“I told you to drop it.”
Sol shook his head in response.
“I care about you and your well-being and I am not gonna let you starve yourself.”
Hyugo watched the scene unfold, his eyes snapping back and forth between the two of you.
“It’s none of your goddamn business!” You snap and stand up abruptly, the bento box falling on the ground and it’s contents spilling all over the ground.
Sol’s brows furrowed and Hyugo’s jaw dropped in disbelief.
This was not how they knew you. This was not how you acted.
They must think you are a freak.
You stand there for a moment and stare at them, overwhelmed by your emotions, before turning around and trotting towards the door.
“[____]!”
One of them called out to you, though you couldn’t make out who exactly it was. Your own thoughts were too loud and drowning out everything around you.
Next thing you knew, you were down the stairs and on your way to the bathroom, but snapped out of your daze when you bumped into someone.
“[____], what happened?”
Looking up, you saw Crowe looking at you with concerned eyes as he placed his hands on your shoulders. 
Not him, too.
You brushed off his hands with your own and walk past him, causing his brows to furrow in confusion and to take ahold of your wrist.
“What’s wrong, [____]?”. he asked in that worried tone you hated so much. 
You did not want anyone to be worried about you.
“Leave me alone, Crowe.” Your voice was betraying you, you did not want to appear this fragile.
“I do not think I can.” 
You did not turn back to face him. You could not.
“[____]!”
Sol called out and stopped in his tracks behind Crowe. You couldn’t see it, but he stared at the Brunette with an intensity that would make anyone shudder.
“What happened?” Crowe now turned to ask Sol, who clicked his tongue in response.
“None of your business.”
Sighing, Crowe forced himself to keep his composure, for your sake.
“They are just as important to me as they are to you. So please, tell me what happened, because they won’t.”
Sol shrugged, “They must have their reasons not to tell you.”
This response irked Crowe even more.
“Well, if they were just walking away from you, then they must not want you involved either, no?”
Sol huffed, taking a step closer, “You little-”
“Stop.”, you croaked out.
You felt horrible. You were horrible, making the two most important people in your life fight like this, just because of you.
The two immediately stopped bickering and turned their attention back to you. They could kick themselves for how they were acting. How could they start fighting when you needed them the most?
“I think they aren’t eating properly.”, Sol eventually responded to Crowe’s initial question.
Choking back a sob, you tried to defend yourself. “I am.”
Sol shot down your poor defense immediately, “You really aren’t.”
Crowe inched closer, standing right next to you and placing his left hand on your right shoulder. 
“Please, if there’s anything we can do, if you need to talk, then please, talk to us.”
You shook your head, “I don’t wanna burden you with any of my sob stories. Not like it’s important anyways.”
“We already are worried, talking about it would at least help us understand what you are feeling right now.”
“I don’t-”, you cut yourself off with an involuntary sob, “I don’t need to talk about anything. There is nothing to talk about.”
You hated how much your voice was wavering, almost like it tried everything in it’s power to embarrass you.
“There is more than enough to talk about, I fear.”, Sol responded, coming up to your side.
As much as you tried to fight it, tears started streaming down your face. “Why can’t you just let me be?”
“Because we care about you. We don’t want to see you suffer like this.”, Crowe assured you.
Sol could not imagine anything more dreadful than to work together with Crowe. He alone should be the one making you happy. Though for now, he would have to bite back his own feelings, for yours were far more important. He still had all the time in the world to get rid of that pest.
“Your feelings aren’t a burden, [____]. It’s much more burdening to see you wither without knowing why.”
Another sob escaped your throat at Sol’s words. 
Why did they have to care so much?
Why could they not let you be?
“Why do you fight us so much? You aren’t a burden, we love and care for you. You’re our friend.” Crowe said and turned you around to face him.
You stared at up at him. You did not say anything.
All you did was take a step closer and let your head fall forward to rest on his chest, your arms hanging limply at your sides. Crowe’s hand rose to softly stroke the back of your head.
Sol was fuming next to you, his mind going haywire with all the ways he could kill Jericho Ichabod, despite his worry for you. Those thoughts quickly subsided, if just for a moment, the minute you took ahold of his hand. He brushed his thumb over the back of your hand in a comforting matter as the three of you stood there in silence in the middle of the deserted hallway.
These two did not see you the same way you saw yourself. They did not see the disgusting beast you saw every time you saw your own reflection. 
They saw a beautiful soul, a soul they fell deeply in love with.
And perhaps, just for a moment, you could let yourself breathe and bask in affection you doubted you deserved.
137 notes · View notes
kozachenko · 2 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
And now we are finally getting to the most recent stuff I've worked on, starting off with my 2025 Marisa redraw! This time I'll actually have some more stuff to say since I can remember my thought process while drawing this yipeeee- (click image for better quality)
Artist's Notes;
So ever since doing these redraws, I've always kinda mourned the loss of the second redraw's dramatic lighting, so I decided to finally bring it back for this one! This one is kind of the melding of a bunch of my favourite aspects of the precious redraws, plus some of the newer stuff I've learned ever sine making them. I also tried out a new style of rendering hair for this piece and I'm really happy with how it looks! Also if you guys are wondering, yes that it s the same lantern from the previous Marisa drawing I did, I copy and pasted it because I was lazy and I just needed it to look consistent, work smarter not harder folks.
So I've been returning to my old favourite brush, the Clip Studio Paint Default Oil Paint brush for this one, and I did a bunch of the rendering for this piece with minimal blending. For the clothing, I wanted to incorperate a technique I did a few years ago, where I added some subsurface scattering to make the lighting feel more dynamic, and I love the effect it gave the white parts of the clothes. For the hair rendering, I did one base layer of shadows on top of my base colour for the hair, then a sort of mid-tone underneath it to add some variety in colour, and then did my highlights underneath all of that. I focused less on rendering every single strand of hair and moreso focused on getting the general shapes down, since I got inspired by some art I saw on Pinterest with a similar rendering style.
Once I finished with the base rendering, I used a multiply layer to create some more prominent shadows and also to give the lighting more direction. I did this with another piece as well and I think it gives me some pretty good results. It helps make the shadows a lot clearer and also gives me some better lighting while also allowing me to do some rendering to flesh it out even further, it's the best of both worlds and I have a lot of fun doing it. Also, what helped me a lot in the compositional stage was making a shitty little stick figure version of the character in the pose that I wanted and then painting in the base pose like a mannequin. I find that just painting in the figure immediately instead of forcing myself to stick to a rigid sketch has helped me out a lot, and here's an example of how the process went below. Later on in the drawing I did flip my canvas and after fixing it, realized that I liked it better flipped so that's why the orientation is slightly different. It also helps to just to some quick linework distinguishing the body parts to it's easier for me to draw the clothes. I do often keep major features of the silhouette in tact during this phase though so I don't forget to include them.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
The background was actually pretty fun since it's just a nice outdoors scene. I didn't want there to be too much detail since I am all for creating the illusion of detail than rendering everything in immaculate detail, though I do think I could do just a little bit better, but hey that's why I've mainly been drawing backgrounds nowadays lol.
Overall, I'm really proud of this piece and I had a lot of fun making it. I want to continue experimenting with backgrounds and how to incorporate characters into them, so after my hibernation period you guys can expect to see some more of that.
84 notes · View notes
wangxianficrecs · 6 months ago
Text
Rewind 2024 - Proud Author Spotlights
Tumblr media
WangxianFicRecs - Rewind 2024
Here are some recommendations from 2024 sent in by our fandom's authors themselves. Make sure to give them much love. PS: Authors, don't be shy! Submit more Proud Author Spotlights!
~*~
I published the latest extra off my dynasty fic in March 2024, and it might be my favourite so far! Feat a lot of politics in the Wen Sect, wwx being his badass self, some ocs and a lot of Yiling siblings feels.
💙 Hope is a discipline (Something you choose)
by One_eyed_God (@oneeyedoctogod)
T, 15k, Wangxian | Kay's Rec
Summary: Under the harsh and merciless sun of Nightless City, Wen Ruohan falls. But even with its leader is dead, the Wen Sect must live on, to avoid the dreaded future Wei Wuxian has already lived once. And though he never expected to be the one to lead them, he will carry this duty without fail. Or: The aftermath of Wen Ruohan's death.
~*~
Hello! ☺️ First of all, thank you for running this wonderful blog!!
This is for Rewind 2024 Proud Author Spotlight. It is a 29k story I recently finished translating (I'm also the author of the original version) and I'm really glad to have been able to do this within less than a year.
It will not please everyone as it is mostly CQL-based (CQL post-canon) but it is first person Wei Ying POV and I haven't read a lot of that in this fandom, so I hope maybe some people would enjoy it!
Thank you again for everything!
Léli.
The Unsung
by Leilwen (@leilwe)
E, 29k, Wangxian
Summary: Lan Zhan... would you come over the mountain with me one day? … … I would have liked for him to give me a real answer and I cursed the Lans' nocturnal almost-hibernation. … … … When Yunshen Buzhichu no longer needs me, you will be my only horizon. When I returned and lay down beside him, the crescent moon no longer looked so sickly pale.
~*~
Hi ! This is for the remind 2024, I don't know if authors can boosted their own work. But I wrote this fic for my very first RBB, and even if it ins't perfect I am very proud of it.
Convergence
by Czeriahx (@czeriah) & Sirendipity (@lwjsbedtime)
M, 77k, Wangxian
Part of Yuyu Respectarium's Reverse Big Bang!
Summary: In a world governed by the Wen Empire, the Wei Coven's Oracle prophesize the coming of a new sun. Together with its moon counterpart, they are to bring back balance to the world. That is, until the Wen Emperor send assassins to take care of the threat against their rule. [Art by Siren, Embedded in the fic !!]
~*~
My submission to the TopXian RBB event that was boosted here a few months ago. I got a wonderful prompt and art piece to write for. Links in my fic!
An AU Canon Divergence where after the betrothal with JZX is broken off, JYL becomes betrothed to WWX. The plotline is retold with this twist, leading to events both familiar and not. JYL is the pov character, navigating her new life after devastation and war, with WWX at her side. But let no one forget LWJ - WWX and JYL certainly can't, though for very different reasons.
Come along for character study fix-it fic, with a happy ending for all the main characters!
Not Unwilling
by somevariationofgay (@somevariationofgay)
E, 48k, Wangxian & Xianli
Part of the TopXian RBB
Summary: The young mistress of Yunmeng Jiang clan, raised to marry out for the benefit of her family, dutifully waits for her parents to arrange another match after her troth with the young master of Lanling Jin clan is broken. When her father decides the new betrothal will be to their sect's head disciple, she finds herself not unwilling. But the ambitions of Qishan Wen clan surge and a bloody flood overtakes Lotus Pier, changing the course of her life forever.
~*~
(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for these hard-working authors if you like – or think others might like – these stories.)
41 notes · View notes
clippy · 3 months ago
Text
Life is hard and art is hard and I feel like dookie poop constantly these days thanks to. Well. Y'know. The whole state of USAmerica right now. But also work (including work drama) + college shit + hormones being weird rn (stopped birth control and am back on T shots so my body is like "...okay so are we menstruating or not?") + my general depression are making things difficult too
I'm currently powering through an anniversary piece for me and Clockboy though... Our anniversary is on March 31, and will mark 6 years together (or 7 years since I designed him, hehe)... I'm doing another at-home date that night and am gonna ACTUALLY treat myself to a nice dinner because I have *two* days off from work this time instead of just one
Here is a sneak peek at the drawing... Goal is to finish it tomorrow or Monday so it's ready to go on the 31st... There's already a lot of errors on it I'm noticing but I'm kinda in the mindset of "just finish it" to feel SOME accomplishment instead of letting it rot in my WIPs
Tumblr media
anyway I'm also counting down the days for IASW's reopening.... 34 more days.... I have survived like. 56 days so far. I'm in the final stretch. It sounds stupid but it's been unbelievably hard to not see the husband like at all for this long 😭 it's been one bullshit thing after another and usually when I'm stressed I spend an hour across from IASW and watch Clockboy and it usually resets my brain, plus it calms me down and makes me feel loved... So not being able to do that sucks. I know he's still THERE but he's hibernating and the whole vibe is different when he's not moving. I can't fully explain it. Just trust me 😭
11 notes · View notes
bluegekk0 · 2 years ago
Note
Okay back for some more art related questions.
How did you make fpk so pink without actually making him pink? I feel like every time I try to draw a pale character with an undertone of color, it looks like that color even though on the color wheel I added like 3% of the color.
How long does it take you to do your art? For an example how long did the fpk reference sheet take you compared to The Cycle art piece with Grimm?
How do you eyeball man? Your art is literally the reference pictures I use to try and draw dark eyes but every time I try to draw them, it looks like Kawaii eyes. Like the eyes in this emoji:🥺. How do you do it?
it all comes down to a very simple thing - it's about highlights that trick your mind into seeing a different color. i'll mainly talk about pink here cause that applies to fpk and i have examples, but i'm sure you could apply this to other colors
Tumblr media
here he is with the pink highlights, without them, and what he would look like if he was actually pink. see the difference? he's still predominantly light gray, but the pink details make you see it as more pink-tinted than he actually is
it's not a 1:1 match since he's leucistic as opposed to fully albino, but i was heavily inspired by pictures like these:
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
if you notice, they're not pink, all of them are white, but the pink areas around the mouths or in the shadows make them appear pink-ish
his pre-hibernation look is a lot closer to these pictures, since his soul glow made him more white than light gray (he also has very subtle iridescence)
Tumblr media
the lineart also plays a big role in making a white/gray character appear to have a certain color
here's fpk as you see him on the ref with gray lines + pink highlights, with the highlights removed, and with pink lines (the shadow behind the horns was adjusted as well to match the lines)
Tumblr media
both 1 and 3 appear to look light pink. the third one especially affects how the body looks, so depending how subtle you want the effect you may choose between the two options. or mix them, whatever you like. and as you can see, the colors on the last two are identical, but the one on the right looks more pink
(and if i'm being honest, i may actually snatch those pink lines for future drawings, cause i really like how that looks hahah)
---
2. it's very difficult to say, i get distract easily so i never keep a proper count. but the unshaded drawings don't take very long, unless there's a pose or any other details that gives me trouble, and i focus all my attention on it, i'd finish the lineart and color phases in probably around 30 minutes? the sketch always influences the length of the process the most, so there's no single way to determine it
and in the case of references, it naturally adds up. the last updates aren't exactly the most reliable way to deduce that since a lot of them were just updates to existing drawings. but if i were to start from scratch, had clear poses in mind and didn't get distracted, i could probably get it done in like two hours
as for the more detailed drawings, they take a lot longer. again, i can't really say how long, the cycle drawing took me a few sittings, but if i had to guess it was probably a few hours in total? maybe around 5? just guessing
---
3. depends which style i go for. in the unshaded style i keep the eyes simple. one flat color and two lighter colors for the reflections. the more subtle ones play a big part, they make the eye look more 3d and wet. and that also carries over to the painted, shaded style, which includes additional lighting and some details. i particularly like the little star shaped reflections, i think they're adorable but they're subtle enough where they're not distracting
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
another big part of how i paint his big black pupils is their reflective nature. in a brown room, they'll look more brown than black and so on. it's very exaggerated, normally such eyes wouldn't change color to such a drastic extent, but i think it makes the drawings look more interesting
i can't really offer any specific tips other than that, since i kinda make it up as i go. but using photo references is always helpful, especially for different eye colors
41 notes · View notes
jwithsusdoingstuff · 9 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
So, i had plans to make Mod for Rain World about this slugcat named Psycho. Of course not by my self because i'm such a pepega at coding and stuff, so i got my nice friend for me to help with this.
Idea of the mod (and slugcat) is to make absolutely nuts freaking slugcat that would be fun to play as just to kill everyone (and i mean everyone). Slugcat has his own Campaign that will start just like his nature, and he would need to make his path to the Five Pebbles. Obviously FP cannot give Psycho 10th Karma level, for reason that already explained in Artificer campaign. But, FP is wondering if this little creature could get rid of some problems that he has, talking about Rot. Right after that, Five Pebbles will not kill Player that comes back to his chamber and player's challenge would be to KILL every single Long Legs enemy inside Five Pebbles, of course its hard, but i really love that idea to make ACTUALL one slugcat army campaign for someone to play, so far, of all the others, only one/two can be called like that. After Psycho's genocide of Rot, FP wanted to make sure that Psycho is actually made good progress, so he start's to filling his Structure with even more water while giving Psycho a "day limit" of 5, which is means that player would need to sleep wherever at least 5 cycles and after that will be done, Psycho can return to FP for reward. At that point I'd like to make Psycho OP, so i write something about "Five Pebbles have no other plans for Psycho, but making him as good, as he could become at what he always being best one. Five Pebbles decided to make yet another mistake, and make Psycho even more powerful, as if all his strength was not enough... Oh and he tell's him where to find Void See". So yeah, Psycho CAN now goes down into the Depths (before that, he could only fall back and forth forever on the platform from which he jumped) and while he's going down deeper and deeper he encounter Guardian that will not let Psycho anywhere far this point, but since Psycho is now stronger, faster, and so on, this is where player would need to get sweaty, because it is time to kill Guardians. And only after that, the Psycho can descend to Void Sea and begin to swim deeper, but the Void Sea will try to erase Psycho, but since its now FaNtAsY inside Rain World, Void See cannot get Psycho erased, instead Psycho become, again, faster, stronger, better...
Next episodes of his story needed to be made in other Slugcats campaigns, because Psycho's campaing happening between Monk and Rivulet, and that means, you could run in to Psycho him self while playing on Rivulet, and Saint. But i think im already said enough. Me and my friend abandoned this mod after encounter problems with Iterator's, they just doesn't want to say things that we wanted them to say, and while desperately trying to find or ask for a solution we are burning out of the idea. That's how it ends even tho i was really exited to make it.
Art you see of Psycho Sleeping was ment to be that one illustration of Slugcats in hibernation, and it's drawn by me.
9 notes · View notes
welcomehomerandomness · 1 year ago
Text
Welcome Home Website Update Reaction Notes (3/9/2024) Part 1 (SPOILERS)
Hey guys! Today I'm gonna show you my reactions to the Welcome Home website via my notes on Google Docs. I wrote 5 pages and spent around a few hours exploring the website lol. Hope you enjoy it! Here's Part 1!
NEW HOME ART IT'S SNOWING
Wally’s Christmas outfit makes him look like he’s ready to work at the North Pole lol
I also love how the little doodles are very Christmas-like
THE VISITOR COUNT THINGIE IS BROKEN
Idk if it’s intentional or if it’s actually broken lol
THE NEIGHBORHOOD HAD SOME FEW CHANGES WHAT
THEY’RE ALL DECORATED FOR CHRISTMAS (or in this world they seem to call it “Housewarming” which is pretty fitting)
Also “Happy Housewarming” and “Welcome Pillar Family”??? WE GET TO MEET HOWDY’S FAMILY???
I remember seeing Clown’s post that there’s going to be a new voice actor in Welcome Home so I’m wondering if the new voice actor is voicing one of Howdy’s relatives I can’t wait to find out
Also is that a clock tower at the bottom??? It looks like a clock tower lol
Also the clock tower’s faces looks like Yellow Guy from Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared lol
Wally has painted something on the empty canvas…Is that a cup or a genie lamp? Please let me know what this is lol
New Wally information added: “Home is the reason behind the creation of ‘Homewarming,’ a holiday created by Wally.”
New Barnaby information added: “Similar sources, such as Barnaby’s Joke Kit in ‘The Welcome Home Wishbook,’ noted Barnaby being able to perform a gaggle of tricks, such as juggling, balancing on a ball, and steadying large objects on the tip of his nose.”
I think Barnaby’s Joke Kit is a new merchandise that the Playfellow Exhibition uncovered but we’ll see later
New Julie information added: “Many of her skits and activities centered around playing games, whether they were as familiar as jump rope and hopscotch or simply made up on a whim. ( See ‘The Welcome Home Wishbook.’ )” and “Hibernation may be another descriptor of this cartoon species, as uncovered media surrounding the holiday of ‘Homewarming’ depicted Julie hibernating throughout the winter. Akin to Barnaby, Julie’s paws also have hearts at the bottom.”
So basically Julie and her family hibernate and she has paws that have hearts in the bottom??? Interesting…
New Frank information added: “Some audio, such as in the vinyl record titled, ‘Homewarming,’ presents a strange sound that can be heard accompanying Frank’s vocals and could imply his head rotating.”
…Frank??? Are you ok??? I’m scared…
Also I just realized that at the end of their profiles so far, it shows how the puppets operate except for Wally (which is sus)
“It is assumed Barnaby’s puppet was rotated between a live-hand puppet and a walk-around puppet, typically to keep him in frame with his much shorter neighbors and requiring two puppeteers.”
“Julie is believed to be a puppet operated by one handler.”
“Frank is believed to be a puppet operated by one handler.”
Eddie doesn’t seem to have new information added except that he “...was a live-hand puppet who required two puppeteers to operate.”
HOWDY I MISS YOU
New Howdy information added: “Within the vinyl record, ‘Howdy’s Holiday Hullabaloo,’ one can see a ‘quarter of a wiggle’ of them.”
I don’t know what that really means but I can’t wait to hear (or maybe see) Howdy again
“Howdy’s puppet was rotated between a live-hand puppet and a walk-around puppet in order to keep him in frame with his fellow residents, requiring two or more puppeteers.”
If I was a puppeteer and got hired by the creators of Welcome Home, I would work with the Howdy puppet lol
SALLY’S BACK TO NORMAL…but I’m still worried about her…
New Sally information added: “In recently uncovered material and archived footage, Sally is shown to be able to literally shine or glow in the dark, although it is unclear if a similar effect was applied to the puppet. Concept artwork revealed that Sally was a live-hand puppet that required two or three puppeteers to operate due to the size of her head, as it was much larger than other puppets.”
I wonder if a toy exists somewhere where it’s a Sally plush that talks and glows in the dark…That would be sick and I would buy it immediately and use her as my new cuddle buddy/night light…
New Poppy information added: “Poppy was rarely seen outside of her barn, typically being visited by neighbors instead, and has no material, illustrated or otherwise, showing her outdoors. This is further proven in found footage where Poppy is excluded (for unclear reasons) from Wally’s Homewarming party.” and “Within the context of the show, this was because she was too scared to use appliances. This also may be the reason why she is a vegetarian, according to “The Welcome Home Cookbook” that depicted an only sunflower seed turkey.”
Poppy is excluded??? For unclear reasons???
I’m worried about Poppy now…
“Poppy’s puppet is a walk around puppet that concept work noted stood at around eight feet tall, but photographs showing her height have yet to be uncovered.”
Also the clock tower doesn’t seem to be clickable…sad
Omg the neighbors have little snow globe stickers awww
WAIT A MINUTE HOLD UP
IS THAT TWO OF HOWDY’S FAMILY MEMBERS IN HIS SNOW GLOBE??? WHAT???
I’m guessing they’re either his parents or one of his uncles and aunts…But we’ll see…
In the About Us section, there’s a new question which is “This isn’t the same website as before. Why did you move it?” and a doodle next to the question…Interesting…
I checked the News section and I only see half of the title “Latest Headlines and Updates for Welcome Home!”...I wonder if that’s a mistake or if that was on purpose…
“I apologize about the date on the most recent news post. I assumed it was still December. I’m not sure how this could have happened. The individual who posted this must not have been paying proper attention. Please pay it no mind, have a wonderful day! Happy spring! Almost as good as Homewarming!”...That seems kinda sus
THE WALLY PHONE CALL AUDIO IS GONE
“(NOTE: The audio for Wally Darling is experiencing a glitch and has been temporarily taken offline. Please be patient as we work to restore this as soon as we possibly can!)”
The Official Welcome Home Cookbook!!!
I want to get one of these copies so bad
Also it has a doodle next to the title of the cookbook lol
Now it’s time to listen to The Welcome Home Wish Book here we gooooo
Also is the doodle next to the title a cigarette???
ALSO SANTA IS IN THIS???
Santa is the best Welcome Home character fight me
Who’s Howdy? I don’t know him…I only know Santa
I love whoever voices Santa…It definitely fits him
MOM CAN I GET A HOWDY CASH REGISTER SET??? I NEED IT TO SCAM MY FRIENDS!!!/j
NO NOT EDDIE
SANTA WHYYYYY
Actually let’s not blame Santa let’s blame the “static and muddled sound” in the radio that cut off Eddie’s gift
Anyways
The “Homewarming” Storybook Record!!! Yayyy!!! Let’s go!!!
Oh it’s a different narrator this time…The voice reminds me of an old grandpa telling his grandchildren a Christmas story…
“The hubbub is that the Homewarming party is tonight, Barnaby. But I don’t think I know how to do Homewarming right… What should I do? What if I do it wrong? What if it makes Home sad?” Awww Wally…
“Hello, Wally. Barnaby.” Frank is so sassy love them
“Hiya Jewels! Frank.” Barnaby LMAO
“With fire wood, kindling- Home would probably like to be warm in all this cold weather, just like this bug!” I’m sorry but my crack brain imagines Wally accidentally burning Home down what is wrong with me lol
40 notes · View notes
hazbinextgeneration · 2 years ago
Text
(John) Doe Eyed Ch3 Getting Settled In
(Warning: Mentioning of stalking. The contents of this chapter take place about two months before the events of next chapter. Art and OC by me. FisherMen are my own UV species and might be mentioned.)
Tumblr media Tumblr media
The day was peaceful. Serene. Everything was alright in the universe for now. The soft quiet darkness of slumber was something that was always welcomed to the woman laying amongst the soft cushions. After all sleep was hardly given to her on most days. But for now she could rest. Sleep. Slumber peacefully.
Until the front door knocked-
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!!
A loud rapping of knuckles against a firm wooden surface echoed throughout the room. A choked snort noise followed up by that noise as the woman stirred from the peaceful as sleep. Slowly a head bobbed up from the soft sofa cushions and pink irises groggily blinked out at the world. The world was a blur for a long moment as it slowly focused until the eyes could make out a large moving box labeled 'clothes' and the rest of the house behind the box. Feeling settled in as well. 
"Wha-"
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!!
A head of long, messy white locks turned in the direction of the sounds. A hand reached up to push the long hair out of her face and tired eyes again blinked at the direction of the front door just as more noises came from the other side. The eyes blinked. The head groaned and flopped back into the cushions. 
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!!
"Alright already!" Arms tiredly pushed a body off the sofa and legs swung off the side of said sofa. "I'm coming! " 
She finally stood up taking her time to stretch and hiss at the few pops her back made before slowly walking towards the door while a hand rubbed her eyes. Who in the world could that be? And so early in the morning? A hand reached out to the doorknob and twisted it before opening the door wide and seeing who could be on the other side. 
"I thought you'd hibernate through the entire year. You sure know how to take your sweet time, Fae."
...She blinked before frowning. "Oh very funny."
A red head smiled back to her cousin. "You look a mess. Was your first night that rough or did you sleep on the floor?" She walked in never minding the frown on Fae's face. Her blue eye taking a look around the apartment and boxes lining up the place before looking back to Fae. 
"Neither." The door was closed in one push. "What are you doing here?"
"Well I did say I'd come by and help you unpack everything. But you look a mess. Go take a shower and clean up." Rose held up a brown paper bag Fae hadn't noticed before and smiled. "I thought you might be hungry so I bought us some doughnuts we can eat once you get dressed."
Her stomach rumbled at the promise of food but she should get ready. It was going to be a long day. It wasn't too long a detour. Just a quick shower and change of clothes later and twenty minutes later she was back downstairs and rummaging in the bag Rose had brought her.
"I hope you don't mind, but I picked this up outside your door." Fae turned her head in Rose's direction and the red head held up a small manilla envelope. "It's from the housing company. I think it might be the key to your apartment." 
Said envelope was taken immediately and a chocolate doughnut was shoved into her mouth to hold, hands tore open the envelope and turned it upside down and shook. A second later two small bronze keys tumbled out and into a waiting palm. A key and spare. Nice of them to include an extra. 
"Fae, there's another reason why I came here." She looked at Rose whom now gained a worried and serious face. "Do you remember what I told you before you moved here? How you should think really hard before you really decided to come here permanently? There was a very serious reason why I told you that. This place can be pretty dangerous if you're not careful."
The doughnut was bitten into, swallowed, and held by a hand. "Yeah. I know. All the mysterious disappearances and some tourists never coming back. So this place has a high crime rate?" She shrugged. "So was back home. It was one of the reasons I left there. I can handle a place with crime."
"It's not just that. I would've told you what the real reason was but we're strictly forbidden to keep the entities of this place strictly classified as a safety measure." 
Fae's brow rose. "What are you even talking about? Is there like some criminal Masterminds in the valley or something?''
"There's just a few rules you NEED to know about now that you live here, Fae!" Rose felt her eyes narrow and her face hardened into a scowl. "You need to take me seriously! And actually LISTEN!!"
"OK OK!" Fae held up both hands holding the half eaten doughnut and keys to calm her now angry cousin. Geez. What was her problem? "Ok. I promise I'll listen. Though I dunno why you can't just get to the point of everything."
"Because you won't believe me until you see something with your own eyes, and I want to settle you in slowly so you don't freak out." Freak out? What was so bad about the crime rate here that Rose would want to 'settle her in slowly'? Rose inhaled before slowly exhaling and clasping her hands. "Right. Now there's some rules you need to follow. They're not legal laws but if you don't want to get eaten, you'll follow them."
Fae paused mid bite. "....Did you say eaten?"
"Yes. I'll explain it later but just know that there's a lot of 'sharks in the water' here to put it in terms anyone can understand," Rose pointed at her, "And that brings us to our first rule! A very, VERY important rule! If someone who claims to be a 'realtor' or 'real estate agent' comes up to you just IGNORE them! I don't care who they are or what they say! DO. NOT. GO. WITH. THEM. PERIOD!" Rose stressed each word with an air jab in her direction. "And under absolutely no circumstances enter their house or whatever building they're trying to get you to go inside! I don't care what building it is!! DO. NOT. GO. INSIDE!!" Her eye narrowed more as she stared down Fae. "Do I make myself clear on that?!"
"Ok! Yes!" Fae nodded at her pointed glare. "Clear as crystal. What are those guys? Con artists?"
"In a way, yes. The buildings they sell are actually never really for sale. If you want a house you call the housing company and THEY will find you an apartment, house, trailer or whatever you want. But understand that under absolutely no circumstances can you accept anything from any realtors!"
"Alright! I read you loud and clear! But what about that Maison guy I met yesterday? He seemed pretty shady to me." Another bite was taken from the almost finished doughnut.
Rose groaned and a hand reached up to hold her head. "Because he IS shady, and makes my job looking after him a pain in the neck! I already had a long talk with him yesterday so don't worry about him anymore. Just... don't talk to REALTORS. Like at all."
"Tch. What is he? Your boyfriend?"
"Yes. One of them and he's a pain to deal with sometimes." Fae blinked but before she could say anything else, Rose just continued on. "Second thing you should know is to keep an eye out on your surroundings and keep in mind that not everything is what it seems. If you get a bad feeling about something then it's probably bad and you should get away from it. Keeps your eyes and ears open! I know you can have a hard time with that so I'm telling you now."
"Hey!" Fae gave her a frown.
"We both know it's true, Fae. I just want you to understand that I don't want you hurt!"
"I know, I know. And I promise I won't let anyone con me, especially con artists." The doughnut was now gone.
Rose sighed. "Alright. Just remember that. Another thing you should know about is to be very cautious around FisherMen. Most of them are friendly-ish and just like trading goods, but they're very territorial over their boats and some of them would literally eat you alive. So ...It would just be better for you if you stayed away from any docks or boats for now."
"Oh ..Ok?" A bunch of con artists running around pretending to be real estate agents and some old fishermen that are testy over there boats. Weird but she guessed every country had it's own string of crime waves and weird people. "Is there anything else I should know about?"
"A bunch of others. Some are bigger threats, some not so much but those aren't anywhere near  you. I'll write them all down and give them to later. But the biggest threats around here are REALTORS. Those are the things you should really look out for," Rose clarified holding up a hand, "Oh! There's also probably gonna be a lot of hairballs and Regular Guys in your area as well! You don't have to worry about them too much. From my experience, most of them just like to be left to live their own lives and usually don't bother people too much. So don't be afraid too much."
'Hairballs' and 'Regular Guys'?? ..Rose must've meant strangers and stray dogs or something. She didn't need to be lectured about stranger danger and not feeding wild animals. She was a grown woman and knew better. So she stopped herself from rolling her eyes and just nodded.
"Don't worry. I promise you I'll be fine. Now that I know, you have nothing to worry about."
Rose rose her brow. "Oh, I beg to differ! You nearly walked right into Maison's jaws!"
"I wouldn't really had gone inside! I was gonna leave because he gives me the creeps! Seriously? What is his problem?"
"Apparently he didn't get enough to eat last time he was fed. Don't worry about him. I already gave him another haul from my garden but enough about Maison. Everything I told you was serious! And with what happened yesterday I'm worried about you."
"Hey! No sweat now! I promise you I'll do better." She smiled. "You'll see!"
Rose only sighed. "For both of our sakes I hope so. Now I promised to help you unpack everything." She gestured to the many boxes. "They're not gonna unpack themselves."
Fae's eyes grazed over the many boxes before sighing. "Right. Where should we start?"
"Let's move the heavy stuff first. We can start with the fridge in the kitchen and then move your bed upstairs."
"Alright. It's going to be a long day."
In truth it was a rather long day. Heavy lifting and moving large objects wasn't their strong suits but somehow they did manage to painstakingly move the heavy fridge into place by scooting it little by little across the floor until it was plugged in place. And then nearly trip several times while carrying the heavy bed frame up the stairs and trying to shove it through the door. Thank goodness she didn't have a lot of furniture to move. Other than a washer dryer combo and a desk and maybe a shelf or two, there really wasn't anymore large pieces of furniture for them to move. Rose seemed to have an easier time than Fae carrying around boxes, probably because she often carried around heavy potted plants at her work. Box after box was opened. Item after item was examined and carefully thought over before it was taken to be placed where Fae ultimately decided it would go. Hour after hour passed as they worked and by the end of it all all the boxes were emptied out and piled in a corner to be hauled away to the trash later. Other than a few smaller boxes that were personal stuff that Fae wanted to organize herself in her new bedroom. 
"It's getting late, and I promised a friend I'd be up early tomorrow to deliver a shipment of plum trees. I'll be back sometime tomorrow to help you throw away all the boxes and bring over some food."
"Alright. That sounds great! Thanks! Til then I'll probably try to get the TV to work. Need something to do in the meantime."
"Alright. See you then. And remember what I said, Fae."
It's funny how time slowly ticks by and how other times time seemed to go way too fast. Either way it was a rather long process getting completely settled in and unpacked. Placing the things where she wanted them to be for hopefully a very long time now. Slowly days dragged away. The TV was turned on and started to work (with help from Rose), things were slowly put away in place, and Rose was starting to catch her up to speed with everything there. The two often went out when Rose wasn't on work and she showed Fae around the curious place. Where the best shops were near her, the grocery stores, the post office- The important places and Fae did her best to memorize most of them it was easy since most of them were close to her house. However a lot of the time she couldn't help but feel like...
Almost like she was being watched. 
It all started the second time she was out with Rose. She was quickly being shown about before Rose had to leave for her shift. They stopped by a cafe and ordered a coffee but just before she was able to drink it she had that.. strange feeling. That six sense you got when someone was watching you. ..A quick snap of her head over her shoulder revealed...Nothing. Positively nothing. Throngs of people walked the streets and drove past and entered and exited buildings but...no one was... looking at her. That was strange-
"Fae?" She jumped looking back to Rose whom was holding her own coffee. "Are you ok?"
"Um...Yeah." She wearily glanced behind her again. Still nothing. "Hey. That Maison friend of yours isn't around here is he?"
Rose looked surprised at her question but shook her head. "No. He's working the other side of town today. Besides he knows to stay away from you. Why?"
"I dunno..I-.. Nevermind." She shook her head making long white locks of hair shake slightly. "It's probably just me-"
"No. It's ok. What's up?"
"Well..It sounds stupid I know, but I had the feeling that-.." Again she looked behind her. Still no one. "Well. Like I was being watched."
Rose's one eye widened before she took looked around them. But much, MUCH more carefully and slower. Narrowing her eye as she did. "Hmm. Ya don't say....Well there's nothing here now. Do you remember when I told you to listen to your six senses and stuff? Don't ignore those feelings around here." Rose then nodded for them to go. "C'mon. The library is this way. It was probably just a REALTOR anyways. I'll ask Maison about it later."
That should've been the end of it. But no. She went out once again but it didn't happen then. However when Rose and here went out again it happened. But looking around proved nothing. It slowly devolved to every time she went out. It was starting to get on her nerves and Rose's as well...But there was never anything when they looked and after a while the feeling would go away anyways mostly after they looked and by the time they returned home she felt completely fine. So it was probably just her nerves. It was a new place she rationed and Rose's warnings and worrying over her was probably just making her paranoid on top of her being anxious in a new place. Yeah. She was fine. There was nothing to worry about.
"Y'know. Starting tomorrow I'm going to look for a job!" She spoke one day to Rose when she came to visit bringing over some leftover pasta. "I've been here for so long already and I can't just have you feed me forever. No offense."
"None taken. If you want, I'll come with you and help you find one."
"Nah. I need to do somethings myself. And I can handle things by myself."
"Alright. If it helps any, I heard the call center up town by the book store is looking for a new secretary."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!"
The job hunting began. Starting with the places closest to her. The few cafes and restaurants and shops proved fruitless. Either they weren't hiring at all or she'd be given an application and return it only to never get a call back. She did manage to score two interviews, one with a hardware store and one at a publishing firm. Publishing never called her back and the skeezy manager of the hardware store gave her the creeps! So...what now? She was starting to feel really lost here, and it didn't help that paranoid feeling of being watched didn't leave. It was just more creepy now that she was alone most of the time she was out. And still there was nothing every time she looked.
Paranoia and stress. It's just the stress and paranoia getting to her.
Rose came out to visit two days later with some more food. This time some ham and mashed potatoes, and Fae lamented her troubles to her over the meal.
"I've tried everywhere! It's like being back to square one at home! Except this time It's not my mom telling me I messed up. Again!"
Rose hummed. "Well...I don't know if it'll help, but I heard something from a customer of mine."
"Oh yeah?"
"She was talking about how her friend's son just had someone up and quit on him. He owns the gas station uptown which is just an hour long bus ride." She shrugged. "It might be worth a shot. Ya never know."
"*sigh* Alright. First thing tomorrow morning I'll go check it out. Nothing to lose."
"There ya go. Oh. By the way.. How's the whole 'I feel watched' situation going?"
She just had to bring that up huh? "It's still happening every time I go into town. I'll probably just start shopping in a different part of town then I usually do."
"Rose nodded. "That'll probably be best. There's also a bus stop stop near you in the other direction we usually go too. It's best for you to stay away from that part of town for a while."
It went just as she said it would. Only...she didn't get too much sleep that night. Blame it on the paranoia and anxiety that's been eating at her lately. She couldn't get herself to sleep until nearly two in the morning and she almost didn't wake up and get dressed in time to catch the right o'clock bus on her way to the gas station. Stupid, dumb stress! Thank goodness she didn't forget the money Rose loaned her for the bus fare or the directions given to her. A few stops over from her home, and it was the first gas station she saw out the window and across the street after about an hour. Simple enough. It was easy to pay the bus fee to the driver and go to sit down. The bus already had a few people on it. Some stood, but more sat. Typical bus people. A mother with a crying baby that wouldn't stop crying, that one person who just wore ear buds and looked out the window, the guy taking up too many seats using his legs- Typical bus people. She just ended up sitting down somewhere in the middle  on one of the blue seats. And just tiredly looked around the old bus. Nothing but a few pieces of trash laid about and a few worn out old posters clinging desperately to the walls.
"Hey, Little Lady.~" She blinked head turning to a...Foul, dirty looking man. A mouth smirked at her and she shuddered. "Want some company?~"
...She scowled. "Not even if you were the last man on earth!" She was quick to stand up and move away from the man. "Creep."
The man mumbled something about women being dumb or something but she didn't pay attention. Gods she had a headache. She needed to get some sleep later. She felt light headed and tired. Had to grab onto one of the free poles and stand there to steady herself in order to not fall over. Once regaining balance as she turned her head just to be sure Mr. Creepo wasn't following her. He wasn't thank goodness and that got her to sigh in relief. Man. What was with that guy?! He looked all ratty and like he hadn't seen the sun in years. Definitely not a looker by any means. Not like the earbuds guy when pink eyes briefly glanced at him. Or the man on the phone with a sports team shirt on.  Pink eyes tiredly blinked over towards the far back side of the bus and just happened to make eye contact with a man with long black hair and dressed in all black that tilted his head right back at her but her tired mind fogged over that bit.
"Yeah. He's kinda cute..Kinda plain looking though."
Pink eyes then tiredly turned away as she yawned again. Yeah. She definitely needed some sleep tonight. She didn't bother to notice how the man I'm black flinched at her words before going wide eyed, and his pupils turned to the shapes of hearts as he stared lovestruck at her the entire ride to the gss station. It really was easy to find. Hopefully this would be a job she could get. She had gotten the job! Submitting the application had lead to an interview the next week which lead to her getting a call back from the owner!
"You got the job! You'll be working the late shift from ten to eight. Clock in at ten and take over for Rachel and at eight o'clock I'll be there manning the store when you clock out. You'll be paid by the hour just come in early."
This was it! Finally got one lucky break! This was starting to look up now! Nothing could possibly go wrong now.
19 notes · View notes
dirtymaidpanties · 2 years ago
Text
GUYS ITS ALREADY OCTOBER AND MY BIRTHDAY IS GONNA BE SOON DUDE IM NOT READY
on another note I looked back at my old art from the beginning of this year and..I'm at least glad i got better at poses and not drawing the same poses over and over. Plus I felt stuck with my artstyle since it was still similar to my much older artstyle and at least now it's something I'm more comfortable drawing with- also another thing I won't being using "-RANDAL VON IVORY" anymore since this account isn't FULL ON ranfren themed..dw he's still me he's just hibernating-
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
13 notes · View notes
echantedtoon · 2 years ago
Text
(John) Doe Eyed Ch3 Getting Settled In
(Warning: Mentioning of stalking. The contents of this chapter take place about two months before the events of next chapter. Art and OC by me. FisherMen are my own UV species and might be mentioned.)
Tumblr media Tumblr media
The day was peaceful. Serene. Everything was alright in the universe for now. The soft quiet darkness of slumber was something that was always welcomed to the woman laying amongst the soft cushions. After all sleep was hardly given to her on most days. But for now she could rest. Sleep. Slumber peacefully.
Until the front door knocked-
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!!
A loud rapping of knuckles against a firm wooden surface echoed throughout the room. A choked snort noise followed up by that noise as the woman stirred from the peaceful as sleep. Slowly a head bobbed up from the soft sofa cushions and pink irises groggily blinked out at the world. The world was a blur for a long moment as it slowly focused until the eyes could make out a large moving box labeled 'clothes' and the rest of the house behind the box. Feeling settled in as well. 
"Wha-"
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!!
A head of long, messy white locks turned in the direction of the sounds. A hand reached up to push the long hair out of her face and tired eyes again blinked at the direction of the front door just as more noises came from the other side. The eyes blinked. The head groaned and flopped back into the cushions. 
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!!
"Alright already!" Arms tiredly pushed a body off the sofa and legs swung off the side of said sofa. "I'm coming! " 
She finally stood up taking her time to stretch and hiss at the few pops her back made before slowly walking towards the door while a hand rubbed her eyes. Who in the world could that be? And so early in the morning? A hand reached out to the doorknob and twisted it before opening the door wide and seeing who could be on the other side. 
"I thought you'd hibernate through the entire year. You sure know how to take your sweet time, Fae."
...She blinked before frowning. "Oh very funny."
A red head smiled back to her cousin. "You look a mess. Was your first night that rough or did you sleep on the floor?" She walked in never minding the frown on Fae's face. Her blue eye taking a look around the apartment and boxes lining up the place before looking back to Fae. 
"Neither." The door was closed in one push. "What are you doing here?"
"Well I did say I'd come by and help you unpack everything. But you look a mess. Go take a shower and clean up." Rose held up a brown paper bag Fae hadn't noticed before and smiled. "I thought you might be hungry so I bought us some doughnuts we can eat once you get dressed."
Her stomach rumbled at the promise of food but she should get ready. It was going to be a long day. It wasn't too long a detour. Just a quick shower and change of clothes later and twenty minutes later she was back downstairs and rummaging in the bag Rose had brought her.
"I hope you don't mind, but I picked this up outside your door." Fae turned her head in Rose's direction and the red head held up a small manilla envelope. "It's from the housing company. I think it might be the key to your apartment." 
Said envelope was taken immediately and a chocolate doughnut was shoved into her mouth to hold, hands tore open the envelope and turned it upside down and shook. A second later two small bronze keys tumbled out and into a waiting palm. A key and spare. Nice of them to include an extra. 
"Fae, there's another reason why I came here." She looked at Rose whom now gained a worried and serious face. "Do you remember what I told you before you moved here? How you should think really hard before you really decided to come here permanently? There was a very serious reason why I told you that. This place can be pretty dangerous if you're not careful."
The doughnut was bitten into, swallowed, and held by a hand. "Yeah. I know. All the mysterious disappearances and some tourists never coming back. So this place has a high crime rate?" She shrugged. "So was back home. It was one of the reasons I left there. I can handle a place with crime."
"It's not just that. I would've told you what the real reason was but we're strictly forbidden to keep the entities of this place strictly classified as a safety measure." 
Fae's brow rose. "What are you even talking about? Is there like some criminal Masterminds in the valley or something?''
"There's just a few rules you NEED to know about now that you live here, Fae!" Rose felt her eyes narrow and her face hardened into a scowl. "You need to take me seriously! And actually LISTEN!!"
"OK OK!" Fae held up both hands holding the half eaten doughnut and keys to calm her now angry cousin. Geez. What was her problem? "Ok. I promise I'll listen. Though I dunno why you can't just get to the point of everything."
"Because you won't believe me until you see something with your own eyes, and I want to settle you in slowly so you don't freak out." Freak out? What was so bad about the crime rate here that Rose would want to 'settle her in slowly'? Rose inhaled before slowly exhaling and clasping her hands. "Right. Now there's some rules you need to follow. They're not legal laws but if you don't want to get eaten, you'll follow them."
Fae paused mid bite. "....Did you say eaten?"
"Yes. I'll explain it later but just know that there's a lot of 'sharks in the water' here to put it in terms anyone can understand," Rose pointed at her, "And that brings us to our first rule! A very, VERY important rule! If someone who claims to be a 'realtor' or 'real estate agent' comes up to you just IGNORE them! I don't care who they are or what they say! DO. NOT. GO. WITH. THEM. PERIOD!" Rose stressed each word with an air jab in her direction. "And under absolutely no circumstances enter their house or whatever building they're trying to get you to go inside! I don't care what building it is!! DO. NOT. GO. INSIDE!!" Her eye narrowed more as she stared down Fae. "Do I make myself clear on that?!"
"Ok! Yes!" Fae nodded at her pointed glare. "Clear as crystal. What are those guys? Con artists?"
"In a way, yes. The buildings they sell are actually never really for sale. If you want a house you call the housing company and THEY will find you an apartment, house, trailer or whatever you want. But understand that under absolutely no circumstances can you accept anything from any realtors!"
"Alright! I read you loud and clear! But what about that Maison guy I met yesterday? He seemed pretty shady to me." Another bite was taken from the almost finished doughnut.
Rose groaned and a hand reached up to hold her head. "Because he IS shady, and makes my job looking after him a pain in the neck! I already had a long talk with him yesterday so don't worry about him anymore. Just... don't talk to REALTORS. Like at all."
"Tch. What is he? Your boyfriend?"
"Yes. One of them and he's a pain to deal with sometimes." Fae blinked but before she could say anything else, Rose just continued on. "Second thing you should know is to keep an eye out on your surroundings and keep in mind that not everything is what it seems. If you get a bad feeling about something then it's probably bad and you should get away from it. Keeps your eyes and ears open! I know you can have a hard time with that so I'm telling you now."
"Hey!" Fae gave her a frown.
"We both know it's true, Fae. I just want you to understand that I don't want you hurt!"
"I know, I know. And I promise I won't let anyone con me, especially con artists." The doughnut was now gone.
Rose sighed. "Alright. Just remember that. Another thing you should know about is to be very cautious around FisherMen. Most of them are friendly-ish and just like trading goods, but they're very territorial over their boats and some of them would literally eat you alive. So ...It would just be better for you if you stayed away from any docks or boats for now."
"Oh ..Ok?" A bunch of con artists running around pretending to be real estate agents and some old fishermen that are testy over there boats. Weird but she guessed every country had it's own string of crime waves and weird people. "Is there anything else I should know about?"
"A bunch of others. Some are bigger threats, some not so much but those aren't anywhere near  you. I'll write them all down and give them to later. But the biggest threats around here are REALTORS. Those are the things you should really look out for," Rose clarified holding up a hand, "Oh! There's also probably gonna be a lot of hairballs and Regular Guys in your area as well! You don't have to worry about them too much. From my experience, most of them just like to be left to live their own lives and usually don't bother people too much. So don't be afraid too much."
'Hairballs' and 'Regular Guys'?? ..Rose must've meant strangers and stray dogs or something. She didn't need to be lectured about stranger danger and not feeding wild animals. She was a grown woman and knew better. So she stopped herself from rolling her eyes and just nodded.
"Don't worry. I promise you I'll be fine. Now that I know, you have nothing to worry about."
Rose rose her brow. "Oh, I beg to differ! You nearly walked right into Maison's jaws!"
"I wouldn't really had gone inside! I was gonna leave because he gives me the creeps! Seriously? What is his problem?"
"Apparently he didn't get enough to eat last time he was fed. Don't worry about him. I already gave him another haul from my garden but enough about Maison. Everything I told you was serious! And with what happened yesterday I'm worried about you."
"Hey! No sweat now! I promise you I'll do better." She smiled. "You'll see!"
Rose only sighed. "For both of our sakes I hope so. Now I promised to help you unpack everything." She gestured to the many boxes. "They're not gonna unpack themselves."
Fae's eyes grazed over the many boxes before sighing. "Right. Where should we start?"
"Let's move the heavy stuff first. We can start with the fridge in the kitchen and then move your bed upstairs."
"Alright. It's going to be a long day."
In truth it was a rather long day. Heavy lifting and moving large objects wasn't their strong suits but somehow they did manage to painstakingly move the heavy fridge into place by scooting it little by little across the floor until it was plugged in place. And then nearly trip several times while carrying the heavy bed frame up the stairs and trying to shove it through the door. Thank goodness she didn't have a lot of furniture to move. Other than a washer dryer combo and a desk and maybe a shelf or two, there really wasn't anymore large pieces of furniture for them to move. Rose seemed to have an easier time than Fae carrying around boxes, probably because she often carried around heavy potted plants at her work. Box after box was opened. Item after item was examined and carefully thought over before it was taken to be placed where Fae ultimately decided it would go. Hour after hour passed as they worked and by the end of it all all the boxes were emptied out and piled in a corner to be hauled away to the trash later. Other than a few smaller boxes that were personal stuff that Fae wanted to organize herself in her new bedroom. 
"It's getting late, and I promised a friend I'd be up early tomorrow to deliver a shipment of plum trees. I'll be back sometime tomorrow to help you throw away all the boxes and bring over some food."
"Alright. That sounds great! Thanks! Til then I'll probably try to get the TV to work. Need something to do in the meantime."
"Alright. See you then. And remember what I said, Fae."
It's funny how time slowly ticks by and how other times time seemed to go way too fast. Either way it was a rather long process getting completely settled in and unpacked. Placing the things where she wanted them to be for hopefully a very long time now. Slowly days dragged away. The TV was turned on and started to work (with help from Rose), things were slowly put away in place, and Rose was starting to catch her up to speed with everything there. The two often went out when Rose wasn't on work and she showed Fae around the curious place. Where the best shops were near her, the grocery stores, the post office- The important places and Fae did her best to memorize most of them it was easy since most of them were close to her house. However a lot of the time she couldn't help but feel like...
Almost like she was being watched. 
It all started the second time she was out with Rose. She was quickly being shown about before Rose had to leave for her shift. They stopped by a cafe and ordered a coffee but just before she was able to drink it she had that.. strange feeling. That six sense you got when someone was watching you. ..A quick snap of her head over her shoulder revealed...Nothing. Positively nothing. Throngs of people walked the streets and drove past and entered and exited buildings but...no one was... looking at her. That was strange-
"Fae?" She jumped looking back to Rose whom was holding her own coffee. "Are you ok?"
"Um...Yeah." She wearily glanced behind her again. Still nothing. "Hey. That Maison friend of yours isn't around here is he?"
Rose looked surprised at her question but shook her head. "No. He's working the other side of town today. Besides he knows to stay away from you. Why?"
"I dunno..I-.. Nevermind." She shook her head making long white locks of hair shake slightly. "It's probably just me-"
"No. It's ok. What's up?"
"Well..It sounds stupid I know, but I had the feeling that-.." Again she looked behind her. Still no one. "Well. Like I was being watched."
Rose's one eye widened before she took looked around them. But much, MUCH more carefully and slower. Narrowing her eye as she did. "Hmm. Ya don't say....Well there's nothing here now. Do you remember when I told you to listen to your six senses and stuff? Don't ignore those feelings around here." Rose then nodded for them to go. "C'mon. The library is this way. It was probably just a REALTOR anyways. I'll ask Maison about it later."
That should've been the end of it. But no. She went out once again but it didn't happen then. However when Rose and here went out again it happened. But looking around proved nothing. It slowly devolved to every time she went out. It was starting to get on her nerves and Rose's as well...But there was never anything when they looked and after a while the feeling would go away anyways mostly after they looked and by the time they returned home she felt completely fine. So it was probably just her nerves. It was a new place she rationed and Rose's warnings and worrying over her was probably just making her paranoid on top of her being anxious in a new place. Yeah. She was fine. There was nothing to worry about.
"Y'know. Starting tomorrow I'm going to look for a job!" She spoke one day to Rose when she came to visit bringing over some leftover pasta. "I've been here for so long already and I can't just have you feed me forever. No offense."
"None taken. If you want, I'll come with you and help you find one."
"Nah. I need to do somethings myself. And I can handle things by myself."
"Alright. If it helps any, I heard the call center up town by the book store is looking for a new secretary."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!"
The job hunting began. Starting with the places closest to her. The few cafes and restaurants and shops proved fruitless. Either they weren't hiring at all or she'd be given an application and return it only to never get a call back. She did manage to score two interviews, one with a hardware store and one at a publishing firm. Publishing never called her back and the skeezy manager of the hardware store gave her the creeps! So...what now? She was starting to feel really lost here, and it didn't help that paranoid feeling of being watched didn't leave. It was just more creepy now that she was alone most of the time she was out. And still there was nothing every time she looked.
Paranoia and stress. It's just the stress and paranoia getting to her.
Rose came out to visit two days later with some more food. This time some ham and mashed potatoes, and Fae lamented her troubles to her over the meal.
"I've tried everywhere! It's like being back to square one at home! Except this time It's not my mom telling me I messed up. Again!"
Rose hummed. "Well...I don't know if it'll help, but I heard something from a customer of mine."
"Oh yeah?"
"She was talking about how her friend's son just had someone up and quit on him. He owns the gas station uptown which is just an hour long bus ride." She shrugged. "It might be worth a shot. Ya never know."
"*sigh* Alright. First thing tomorrow morning I'll go check it out. Nothing to lose."
"There ya go. Oh. By the way.. How's the whole 'I feel watched' situation going?"
She just had to bring that up huh? "It's still happening every time I go into town. I'll probably just start shopping in a different part of town then I usually do."
"Rose nodded. "That'll probably be best. There's also a bus stop stop near you in the other direction we usually go too. It's best for you to stay away from that part of town for a while."
It went just as she said it would. Only...she didn't get too much sleep that night. Blame it on the paranoia and anxiety that's been eating at her lately. She couldn't get herself to sleep until nearly two in the morning and she almost didn't wake up and get dressed in time to catch the right o'clock bus on her way to the gas station. Stupid, dumb stress! Thank goodness she didn't forget the money Rose loaned her for the bus fare or the directions given to her. A few stops over from her home, and it was the first gas station she saw out the window and across the street after about an hour. Simple enough. It was easy to pay the bus fee to the driver and go to sit down. The bus already had a few people on it. Some stood, but more sat. Typical bus people. A mother with a crying baby that wouldn't stop crying, that one person who just wore ear buds and looked out the window, the guy taking up too many seats using his legs- Typical bus people. She just ended up sitting down somewhere in the middle  on one of the blue seats. And just tiredly looked around the old bus. Nothing but a few pieces of trash laid about and a few worn out old posters clinging desperately to the walls.
"Hey, Little Lady.~" She blinked head turning to a...Foul, dirty looking man. A mouth smirked at her and she shuddered. "Want some company?~"
...She scowled. "Not even if you were the last man on earth!" She was quick to stand up and move away from the man. "Creep."
The man mumbled something about women being dumb or something but she didn't pay attention. Gods she had a headache. She needed to get some sleep later. She felt light headed and tired. Had to grab onto one of the free poles and stand there to steady herself in order to not fall over. Once regaining balance as she turned her head just to be sure Mr. Creepo wasn't following her. He wasn't thank goodness and that got her to sigh in relief. Man. What was with that guy?! He looked all ratty and like he hadn't seen the sun in years. Definitely not a looker by any means. Not like the earbuds guy when pink eyes briefly glanced at him. Or the man on the phone with a sports team shirt on.  Pink eyes tiredly blinked over towards the far back side of the bus and just happened to make eye contact with a man with long black hair and dressed in all black that tilted his head right back at her but her tired mind fogged over that bit.
"Yeah. He's kinda cute..Kinda plain looking though."
Pink eyes then tiredly turned away as she yawned again. Yeah. She definitely needed some sleep tonight. She didn't bother to notice how the man I'm black flinched at her words before going wide eyed, and his pupils turned to the shapes of hearts as he stared lovestruck at her the entire ride to the gss station. It really was easy to find. Hopefully this would be a job she could get. She had gotten the job! Submitting the application had lead to an interview the next week which lead to her getting a call back from the owner!
"You got the job! You'll be working the late shift from ten to eight. Clock in at ten and take over for Rachel and at eight o'clock I'll be there manning the store when you clock out. You'll be paid by the hour just come in early."
This was it! Finally got one lucky break! This was starting to look up now! Nothing could possibly go wrong now.
Tumblr media
3 notes · View notes
parasolemn · 2 months ago
Text
AMAZING JOB ON THIS OP. Personally I'm all tuckered out from squinting at the video and have other projects I'd like to work on, so I can't help at the moment with transcribing anything. BUUUUUT I *did* have some notes on the endings I already wrote down in the comments on my post on Reddit that I can quickly copy+paste over, if that helps you figure anything out! (note the formatting might be a bit weird because of that haha)
Summary slide:
On the first slide summarising each ending, there's four sticky notes in a row. The first one says:
"The Endings are still a work in progress, though we know the broad strokes." One sticky note I can't read at the moment, and then:
"Right now we are thinking that the endings would take place in (part of) existing maps, thereby reusing assets."
"We will have a better idea of any additional location or audio resources required as we develop the story further."
(Additionally, a box in the top right reads: "The outcome of the Swarm will also be concluded in the endgame". That's Cuno's box of locusts, I think. It has a little piece of art of a locust on it.) There's a little mindmap thing that just show off the different outcomes for Cuno and Cunoesse, and connecting them with lines to represent each possible ending. There's some sticky notes next to them I don't think I can read.
There are 5 endings listed in total:
Cunoesse alive, Cuno alive + brainwashed (into thinking he's Jaakko) ("Jaakko Ending")
Cunoesse dead, Cuno alive + sane ("Pale Ending")
Cunoesse and Cuno both dead ("Bad Ending")
Cunoesse alive, Cuno dead ("Cycle Ending")
Cunoesse and Cuno both alive ("New Tribe Ending")
(You've already got the other endings down-pat so I won't bother transferring them over)
For the Pale Ending:
"Location: Tréville, deserted." Reference is of an old, empty street, and that one meme image of the guy sitting alone on the chair swing sad.
"With Cunoesse dead, Hämärä Maa holds nothing for Cuno anymore. He turns back, aimless."
"He lands back in Tréville and finds it deserted. The prison has finally moved."
There's another stickynote, but it's too blurry for me to read right now.
"Cuno sits with him. With Cunoesse's death, Cuno's prison has left him too. The thing about freedom is that no one tells you where to go."
"Cuno waits with the prisoner indefinitely. We fade to white and roll credits."
For the Cycle Ending:
The location is once again listed simply as "?".
"With Cuno dead and her plan foiled, Cunoesse must exile herself from Hämärä Maa. Again."
There are two stickynotes here that are likely able to be read, but it will take me a while to figure out what they say.
"The Interval Skill announces: "A new epoch of timekeeping is beginning.""
"She goes into another Murder Hangover, back to sleep and hibernation."
(No idea what the "Interval Skill/Skull" is, by the way)
I hope this helps you, and thank you so much for doing this!! <3
X7/Locust City Act's V Plot Details, Tasks, and Endings!
hi everyone! I created a new sideblog EXCLUSIVELY so that I can post this text (I figured my main account is shadowbanned or smth) ANYWAY
you can read the 1-5 Acts' Summaries done by @parasolemn! They've done an amazing job and I wanted to take part in deciphering too, hehe
note: English is not my first language therefore word-guessing can be pretty hard for me. There are some minor places I couldn't undestand so I would highly appreciate your help!
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
PLOT DETAILS ACT V
So what is Cunoesse’s story?
Cunoesse has brought Cuno to Hämärä Maa as a replacement for a kid she drowned three years ago.
Cuno and Jaakko – the drowned kid – don’t have much in common. Both are/were boys with red hair, and about the same build but that’s about it. Only a child’s mind would come up with a plan to replace the dead kid with an ‘identical’ one so she’d be accepted back in her tribe.
But Cuno can’t just be like Jaakko, he has to *become* Jaakko.
The Suru(?) have a coming-of-age rite that involves drinking a brew made of the bone marrow of a blind underwater cave fish. This experience has sometimes profound, sometimes devastating effect on one’s consciousness.
Perhaps this “Naming Ceremony” doesn’t happen until the Hämäräns are 10 years old, so that’s why Cunoesse never got her name, and this is the pretense under which she lures Cuno into the ceremony – a name for herself (but Cuno doesn’t know it’s also going to be a new name for him.)
Cunoesse believes that if she subjects Cuno to this ceremony and “spirit guides” him through this process Cuno might actually *become* Jaakko. Or at least accept he’s Jaakko now. She’s been laying foundation for this transformation throughout this whole journey.
Cunoesse’s people thought her dead, drowned with the boy. Hardly anyone could recognize her at first sight.
Maybe Cunoesse hid the body (under a rock in one of the caves) before she fled Hämärä Maa, so in her mind no-one can definitively claim the kid she brought back isn’t Jaakko.
Psychedelic Sequence
We want this to be a truly visually … and spectacular setpiece where you can bind the rules of everything <…> and apply dream logic.
The entire underwater showdown will be in FELD.
We can depart form/ play with the … perspective, switching into a side-view showing the vastness of the dark screen, with the C&C small figures sinking.
Experiment with overlays, filters as well as tainted and/or 3D mode/ed addictions (??) in the scene, showing people, motifs and icons elements from their journey. There can be lots of … with the visual elements reflecting decisions the players has made throughout the game.
Competitive Red Checks are the key now feature we want to test here, to create unique playthroughs and the impression of truly “fighting yourself” as the rolled value of Cuno or Cunoesse’s Red Checks affects the difficulty of the other’s counter attack.
For the first time, … and commune with each other.
Cunoesse comes out of the trip with +1 Psyche is she lives.
Blue notes:
Multiple life/death outcomes.
Swarm/Locust City side-plot reaches its conclusion.
New home for Locusts
Funeral cultural event
(another note totally unreadable for me, sorry)
_____________________________________
TASKS ACT V
The path through Act V is still largely TBD
In its bare minimum implementation Hämärä Maa could have the same density as the Deserter’s Island finale of Disco Elysium, where the game’s entire conclusion is communicated through a small number of characters – three very extensive and immersive dialogues (one of which is a stylized dream sequence) followed by a posse epilogue. Although railroaded, Disco’s finale had a “page-turning” quality to it that we should aim for as going too much into the mundane idle of the Hämärans would kill the pacing. However, since the entire journey has been about getting to the island, we should give the player at least a little more to see and do than the Deserter’s Island did.
An example of how the task chain at Hämärä Maa could look:
Face Cunoesse’s folks
Find a new home for the Locust City.
Learn how the brew works
Make the brew
Go to the caves
Survive the caves
Bring “Jaakko” to his parents.
Reactivity/Outcomes
Cuno drowns and Cunoesse is this time for real exited by her people
Cunoesse drowns and Cuno returns to Jamrock alone.
ENDINGS
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Ending 1 – Jaakko Ending
Location: Hämärä Maa
Cunoesse is alive, Cuno is brainwashed
Notes:
Cunoesse’s manipulations worked. Cuno has fully internalized Jaakko.
The scene closes with Cuno diving dead-eyed among the Hämäran boys. He’s one of them now.
Loss of Identity. No more Cuno-sentences.
Ending 2 – Pale Ending
Cunoesse is dead, Cuno is alive
Location: Tréville, deserted
Notes:
With Cunoesse dead, Hämärä Maa <…> for Cuno anymore. <…>
He lands back in Tréville and <…>. The prison has …
Cuno sits with him. With Cunoesse’s death, Cuno’s prison has left him be(???) (no clue sorry). The thing about freedom is that <…> you where to go.
Cuno waits with the prisoner indefinitely. We fade to white and red(?) credits.
Ending 3 – Bad Ending
Cunoesse is dead, Cuno is dead
No notes, no location
Ending 4 – Circle Ending
Cunoesse is alive, Cuno is dead
Notes:
With Cuno dead and her plan failed Cunoesse … exile herself from Hämärä Maa again.
She goes into another Murder Hangover, back to sleep and …
The Internal Skull(?) announces “A new epoch of timekeeping is beginning”
(two another unreadable notes for me)
Ending 5? – New Tribe Ending
Cunoesse is alive, Cuno is alive
No notes, no location
299 notes · View notes
andrewmoocow · 2 years ago
Text
A Postmortem on the FLCL Sequels
So, with the end of FLCL Shoegaze comes the end of the FLCL series. Or at least, the end until Production I.G. decides to dig it back up and see what they can do with it now that they're no longer co-producing new seasons with Adult Swim. Whether or not they were good will be a debate that'll be as endless as who would win between Goku and Superman, but that's why I'm here to give my thoughts on all four of them, my history with the series, and do my best to analyze the themes encompassing this era of FLCL. So you all better pack your bags, ladies, gentlemen, germs, and every other gender in-between, because you're about to go on a trip.
As far as I can remember, I was relatively new to the FLCL fandom when Progressive first aired in 2018. I was introduced to the original series by my art therapist in 2016, I got the complete series DVD by Funimation for my birthday (along with the first two seasons of Rick and Morty on Blu-Ray), and my life was possibly changed forever. After watching the first episode, I told my art therapist how I thought it was a mix of Rick and Morty and Star vs the Forces of Evil in how they both centered on an average awkward boy (Naota, Morty, Marco) being taken on bizarre adventures by some lunatic from beyond the stars (Haruko, Rick, Star) and learning valuable lessons from having his life repeatedly put at risk.
At first, I didn't entirely pay attention to the messages because I was more distracted by the fun animation, giant robots, excellent dialogue (Kari Wahlgren and Barbara Goodson have such great chemistry together, by the way), and Haruko herself, who quickly became one of my top waifus and comfort characters. A few months later, one Tuesday evening in April 2017, I came up with the idea to have Haruko hang out with Dipper and Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls, wrote it down on the notes app of my phone, and so began my fanfic-writing career. I just thought that FLCL's off-the-wall humor would fit pretty well with the weirdness of Gravity Falls, and I also believed that Haruko and Grunkle Stan would make a great duo. And sure enough, the resulting story I called Fooly Falls was successful, and I've been writing crossovers ever since.
Now that we have my humble beginnings as a fanfiction writer out of the way, let's move on to talking about Progressive already. As the only true sequel to FLCL out of this bunch, it naturally had much to live up to, like most sequels. Studio Gainax was practically a walking corpse with most of its big franchises going elsewhere with Studio Khara making the Rebuild of Evangelion movies, Panty and Stocking being put in hibernation before it was announced Studio Trigger would pick up its long-awaited second season years later (by the way, FLCL animated by Trigger. Just imagine the possibilities), there was an entirely new cast of characters for Haruko to mess with so she can have some of that sweet Atomsk pie, and most famously, they had a completely new creative team since most of them were off at Trigger. I remember all the theories about what Naota and Mamimi were up to around this time. While they were all proven false, it was interesting to see so many different ideas.
To give a brief rundown, our favorite answer to the question "What happens when you stick Rick Sanchez, Star Butterfly, Deadpool, and The Doctor in a crack den together and made them lick from the same frog?" has returned to Earth in search of another troubled kid to sexually harass so she can get her hands on Atomsk, this time it's Hidomi Hibajiri, an aloof girl who has bizarre dreams of everybody dying and tearing each other apart. But also along for the ride is Julia Jinyu, a very Haruko-like woman (and also one of the most underrated anime characters in recent memory) who also pursues Atomsk and later turns out to be Haruko's more moral other half. Think of it like Kami and King Piccolo from Dragon Ball being the good and evil halves of the same Namekian, Stripe and Gizmo from Gremlins, the Skesis and the Mystics from The Dark Crystal, Scott Pilgrim and Nega-Scott, Urizen and V from Devil May Cry 5 both coming from Vergil, Ansem and Xemnas from Kingdom Hearts being the Heartless and Nobody of Xehanort, etc. Jinyu was probably my favorite character from the sequels overall. I liked her design, her voice by the excellent Allegra Clark, her interactions with Hidomi, and the dynamic she had with Haruko, which gave me a ton of Stan and Ford vibes. And it's through that dynamic that I present to you what I believe to be the overall message of the sequels, that being to let go of the past so you can embrace the future.
Throughout the entire season, Haruko is even more obsessed with Atomsk than ever after a near-successful attempt at capturing the Pirate King that resulted in the creation of Jinyu, who wants Atomsk to remain free, which causes the two to argue in pretty much every scene they appear together in. Meanwhile, Hidomi's mother says that at some point, they should stop waiting for the absent Mr. Hibajiri, but Hidomi still thinks he's out there, which creates some drama in the climax of the season. Ultimately, Hidomi's arc comes full circle once she ditches the headphones she wears to shut out the world around her and accepts everything for what it is. At the same time, when it seems like Haruko will finally get her hands on Atomsk, the normally bold and brash biker babe starts crying over how the Pirate King doesn't want to accept her feelings. However, Atomsk decides to throw Haruko a bone and hug her before returning Jinyu to life and giving the Vespa Woman the comfort she needed at the moment. To quote Ide in that exact scene, all beautiful things eventually fade away.
When I turned FLCL Progressive into Fooly Falls 2: Ride on Shooting Star, I made this message about letting go of the past much more obvious through the plotline involving Grunkle Stan's grudge against Haruko. Twenty years after the events of Fooly Falls, Stan never forgave Haruko for betraying his trust by nearly getting Dipper and Mabel killed in her quest for Atomsk, and he still holds that grudge even at the ripe old age of 79. Naturally, Dipper, Mabel, and Ford aren't very trusting of Haruko either, as the three thought she was just an awkward memory they'd soon forget over time. Since then, Dipper moved to Gravity Falls after finishing college to take up Ford's apprenticeship, Mabel followed behind to continue a romantic relationship with Pacifica, and Ford soon formed a friendship with Jinyu like the one Stan and Haruko had in the past.
Meanwhile, Gwen Pines, the daughter of Dipper and Wendy, has nightmares like Hidomi's that usually involve the destruction of the world because she fears a future where she could lose her family, her friends, her home, and eventually herself. Similarly, though not as apparent as Gwen, her little brother Tyrone, and three of Soos & Melody's children, Leia, Juan, and Joseph "Jorgé" Ramirez, all fear growing up while Ian and Imelda Ramirez act too mature for their age. And finally, there's Mabel and Pacifica's adopted son Arnold, who is a constant nervous wreck as a result of Pacifica dedicating her life to being a superior parent to her own parents and smothering Arnold with as much love as possible, making Arnold a very timid mama's boy who's not too keen on breaking out of his comfort zone. Whenever he is forced to try new things, hilarity usually ensues, and something bad happens as a result. By the end of the story, however, Stan lets go of his feud with Haruko as he dies, all the kids have grown as people from their adventures together, and Haruko learns from Dipper that she can't force someone to love her, as Dipper has tons of experience in that regard with his childhood crush on Wendy, before accepting Jinyu as like a sister to her and the two of them ride off into the sunset to stop Medical Mechanica.
Now we move onto FLCL Alternative, which I plan on turning into a prequel to Fooly Falls/Rick and Morty crossover titled Rick and Haruko. In this season, we focus on 17-year-old Kana Koumoto and her friends as they await the impending awkwardness of adulthood until Haruko and Medical Mechanica crash into their lives. As I stated earlier, Rick and Haruko will be a prequel to Fooly Falls, expanding on revelations in Fooly Falls 2 that Haruko came from a dystopian hellhole that was about to be destroyed by the Cromulons and Atomsk until she found herself entangled in the adventures of Rick Sanchez, Birdperson, and Squanchy. However, if you've read Fooly Falls 2, you'd know that eventually, Haruko would betray Rick and become the Vespa Woman we all know her as through a combination of her growing lust for Atomsk and having a toxic role model in Rick. How all that goes down, you'll have to wait and see.
Similarly, Kana's friendship with Pets starts to come crashing down when she discovers Pets' crummy home life and tries to help her, but this, unfortunately, goes poorly when Kana realizes that she was taking her friendship with Pets for granted, forcing her to accept that adulthood isn't as bad as she thinks she is. Correlating to the theme of accepting the future I brought up earlier and will become even stronger once I talk about Alternative's follow-up Shoegaze, Kana still has much growing up to do.
And now we move on to Shoegaze, quite possibly the most controversial sequel season since Progressive. No joke, when I first saw the trailer, I thought we were getting a FLCL video game that wasn't Hi-Fi Rush or Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. Yeah, the switch to CGI definitely took some getting used to, and the fact that the season was only three episodes long for reasons that will forever elude me certainly didn't help me and other viewers adjust to the change.
Anyways, in what is apparently a prequel to the original series, though I don't see it outside of Haruko searching for Atomsk again, what seems to be the origins of the Rickenbacker, and the presence of our favorite sopping wet cat with eyebrows that are definitely compensating for something, Commander Amarao, Grunge takes place in a wretched hive of scum and villainy called Okura where we focus on three of its young residents getting caught up in some classic FLCL shenanigans. Shinpachi is tired of how ambivalent his sushi chef father is towards the state of their world. Shonari is a rock man who had to flee his home planet with his brother after Medical Mechanica took it over, only to become a victim of bullying as a result while said brother fell in with one of the local yakuza gangs. Finally, Orinoko is raised by her single father and their family's robot. Rather than easing us into this new world before it all goes to hell, we begin with getting straight into the action as Haruko kills an important member of Medical Mechanica with tainted sushi, makes Shinpachi her new Naota, and kills the mayor before turning all the yakuza against each other while she hacks into Medical Mechanica to release Atomsk. Yeah, it's definitely a lot to take in for just the first episode.
To put it in Layman's terms, Shinpachi believes he has no future in Okura, Shonari is disappointed with his brother becoming a drunkard doing the yakuza's dirty work, and Orinoko has mommy issues that she vents on the robot, who later turns out to have her mother's consciousness uploaded into it upon her death. As Shin narrates in the first episode, nobody in his world has any hope left except for the chance to get the hell out of dodge by rocket. He, Shonari, and Orinoko dream of one of them finding a way out of Okura to a better life, but then in comes Haruko to cause her usual brand of chaos in search of Atomsk.
I want to bring up Orinoko in particular because while she does dream of a better future, she also has trouble letting go of the past by refusing to accept the house robot as like a mother to her, only for her to change her mind when she learns that the robot houses her mother's mind, so she's still alive in a sense. Afterward, Haruko gives the three kids a ticket off of Okura, but Orinoko is the only one to use the ticket to leave and pursue the future she wants, while Shin and Shonari have their hopes for their futures restored.
Lastly, there's Shoegaze, the current final season of FLCL, or at least the last season Production I.G. will co-produce with Adult Swim, according to Jason DeMarco on his Twitter. Ten years after the bizarre end of FLCL Alternative, we pick up with Masaki Aofuji, who can see weird ghost-like creatures who project screenshots of the previous seasons on his body. Joining him are Kana and Tsukata Kanda, returning from Alternative, along with another very Haruko-like girl named Harumi Araisho. I'll admit I was one of the few speculating heavily on whether Harumi and Haruko were somehow connected. Maybe Harumi was actually Haruko in disguise, another part of her like Jinyu was, or even an evil clone created by Medical Mechanica. But in actuality, Harumi was a completely separate character, and Haruko didn't even show up at all. But I'll get further into that later.
The premise of this season is Masaki and Harumi adventuring into a mysterious tower, and it's up to Kanda and a grown-up Kana to stop whatever Harumi has planned because it turns out she's a Medical Mechanica sympathizer. However, it turns out that there is far more to Harumi than we're led to believe. As it turns out, Harumi is actually from another dimension where she was actually a boy and was displaced into Masaki and Kana's dimension due to the end of Alternative that caused the universe to split into two. The now female Harumi is left lost in this strange new world, wondering if they really belong, which causes them to become kindred spirits with the equally isolated Masaki.
Now let's get into the real meat and potatoes of this section and what I believe shall validate my point made here. In the ten years that passed since Alternative, Kana never quite got over her breakup with Pets and was experimented on by the government to try and reawaken her N.O. powers in the hopes that she would be able to restore the universe to normal, slowly separating Kana from her remaining friends in the process and generally ruining her life in general. In episode 2, as she confronts Masaki and Harumi on top of the tower, Kana pours her heart out in an impassioned speech about how people had high expectations for her and that she wasn't prepared for the responsibilities thrust upon her. But despite everything she went through and all of her regrets, Kana just kept rolling with life's punches, displaying how while she's trying to live in the now, she remains stuck in the past.
By contrast, Harumi gives their own speech about how they'd rather live in the now and live their life to the fullest. Or at least what life they did have before it was almost cut short by an easily scared sniper, and the resulting burst of N.O. energy from Masaki nearly joins the two universes together again, just as Kanda planned. However, in the chaos, Harumi is returned to their original dimension and gender, while Masaki's life is returned to normal once the dust settles. However, he gets to see Harumi again thanks to Atomsk allowing him to cross dimensions and visit the Mars colony Harumi and their sister live on while also making sure to deliver Pets a letter from Kana.
In conclusion, the FLCL sequels may seem incredibly disjointed at first. Still, through my best attempt at analyzing them all, I can conclude that while they have differing messages and themes, they are ultimately carried by the overarching theme of the past versus the future that also connects to the classic series's message of the weirdness of growing up and how you should just live in the now instead of acting more mature than you actually are. As a wise woman once said, "You're still just a kid, Takkun."
Oh boy, this took me a while! I've just been in such a FLCL mood for a while now and I just needed to get this off my chest, but I simply had trouble how. Anyways, now that this analysis is finally done, be sure to keep an eye out for the following stories in the Fooly Falls universe!
Fooly Falls: A FLCL Christmas in Gravity Falls (a Christmas special born from watching Dragon Ball Z Abridged's Christmas Tree of Might and Plan to Eradicate Christmas, coming as soon as I finish Steven Universe Snake Eyes)
Rick and Haruko (tying into Grunge & Shoegaze and Rick and Morty season 7, to be released hopefully in 2024)
FLCL on Infinite Earths (the epic grand finale of the Fooly Falls timeline crossing the cast over with characters from the original FLCL, Progressive, and Alternative, along with tons of other series due to cameo in Rick and Haruko in a multiversal crisis taking cues from Super Robot Wars and the various DC Comics crisis events. Possibly coming in 2024, or maybe even 2025 to tie in with FLCL's 25th anniversary)
Until we can swing the bat again FLCL, ride on.
1 note · View note
eternalglitch · 3 years ago
Note
Hi there! First of all, I’m not kidding when I say lfls is one of the best stories I’ve had the pleasure to read in a looong time and I can’t thank you enough for sharing such a wonderfully written story :D
When I started reading the fic it had about 5k kudos and not many chapters were plagued with comments. Now there’s like more than a hundred comments in the latest chapters with 10k kudos and still growing. How does that feel? Does it get overwhelming? What kept you motivated when the numbers weren’t as high? I’m so curious to know how the growth in popularity has been on your part!
I’m also loving the lfls playlist. Have you heard Karma by AJR? Idk why but I feel like it goes really well with the story.
Hoping you’re having a great time in your day to day and once again thanks for sharing your work!
youtube
The numbers and statistics on every single one of my social media accounts don't feel real to me, I will be honest.
In 2017 I had another decently big fic (or so I thought), and I was (positively) overwhelmed by waking up to about 24 new comments the next morning when I posted a chapter and that was about it for that chapter's comment count. Now I get maybe 50 within the hour of posting and about ten new ones every day.
I think the first three months of writing lfls I had no concept of anyone really watching. Chapter two got maybe two comments within the week it was posted, but I was also studying abroad at the time and had plenty of things irl to keep myself busy with over in Singapore.
I never had an issue by the (lack of) numbers in the start, because I thought the fandom was too small in the first place to get numbers. I was just writing this for myself. In a fun reversal, sometimes it's harder to write with the bigger following because of stage fright for me. What if I make the wrong call on a plot twist? What if I leave an embarrassing typo that thousands of people will now see? These weren't issues when it felt like no one was watching. But if I get stuck in that mindset for too long, I simply vanish for a break. Make like Avatar Aang and go hibernate for, say, 6 months away from my fic. I've done it before, long enough that I forgot that there was anything to really be nervous about. That was back when this first started really snowballing in attention though, and I think I've grown a bit more used to it all.
Still, my friends make fun of me because my brain can't fully understand just HOW MANY people follow me. It feels like I have 50 followers, when this is not the reality. As a fanfic writer surrounded by very talented artist friends my entire life, I had grown used to the idea that on social media I would never really get a following and would just cheer my friends on for that. The usual script is that the artists get more attention on Tumblr and Twitter, and the writers get their time to shine on ao3 or fanfic.net, but not elsewhere. And I was totally okay with that! I am always very happy for my friends' success. Visual art gets consumed faster and is quicker to draw attention and that's that. But then suddenly this was not the case AT ALL for me. I made it as one of the exceptions. It's really nice to have this weird power to boost other people on social media and get their work seen and recognized in turn.
Because of this popularity, I'm also exposed to a lot more opinions about my work because usually people only find and talk about the fanfic that meets what they are looking for. Now that lfls has fully escaped containment and is in most Rise fandom areas, people that do not seek out or read angst are trying angst. My condolences to those poor souls, I would say my writing is not actually that dark to people that enjoy these tropes but it sure is quite the shocker (lol) if you're new to the scene. Or maybe I'm just terrible at judging how dark I write, I genuinely think some chapters are breathers and yet have seen jokes online that those are some of the most emotionally heart wrenching ones.
But yeah, getting fanart and comments every single day is SO GOOD for keeping up enthusiasm for a long fic. I dread the final chapter a little because it's been an awesome ride that I don't want to end. Excited to show everyone the rest of the fic too, though! And maybe some people will stick around for my next writing adventure.
I think the real crisis is I'm about to maybe even OVERTAKE in kudos one of the fics I really look up to and have aspired to write in that kind of quality for the past 6 years. Which sounds fake. That is FAKE, I haven't gotten my skills sharp enough to do that yet.
And yes I do know that song!! I can definitely see it for lfls. I found it with a Steven Universe amv a few years back.
Thank you for reading and enjoying my work in turn! :}
75 notes · View notes
carpetcat2 · 2 years ago
Note
Want yo know your fusion knights better! 😲
16. What makes their stomach turn?
21. Why do they get up in the morning?
B) What inspired you to create them?
D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?
Sorry for the long wait ^_^u 16. What makes their stomach turn? They're all toughies! I'm sure most of them could handle things the average person would find creepy or crawl-y. Most of them would agree that whatever degree Parasite is awful, though.
21. Why do they get up in the morning?
Hiber: To appreciate nature <3 and to take care of basic health needs that's really important too. Snare: Sometimes he doesn't. Wheel: Spite. Psilo: For the thrill of discovery! Every new day is an opportunity to learn plenty of new things! Like "hey, did you know there were a billion spiders under your porch?" Very cool. Train bros: Well, they've got a business to run, don't they? They have to make sure the trains run on time! Lumin: There are always new stories to be collected. Tales of treasure and tales of woe, of fortune and of fate. Parasite: "Oh boy! I can't wait to make other people's lives miserable! On purpose!"
B) What inspired you to create them?
I wholeheartedly love character design exercises and this was one of my favorites.
D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?
I have plenty of concept art for these guys lol. I think Hiber, Wheel, and Steam are the only ones that basically didn't change too much from their initial concepts.
Design notes -
Hiber was a lot skinnier before, but she has a lot more meat on her bones now bc I wanted her to fit more into her hibernating theme. Gotta have enough meat survive the winter.
Snare was always gonna be big and tall and imposing, but it took a lot more finangling than I first thought to finalize his design. His earlier concepts had a more armored and ragged look. One cool idea that I scrapped was that he'd have his head and hands in a pillory, but he had extra arms on his back that he could use instead. Another one was that he’d carry around a giant coffin and smack people around with it the same way Puzzle used his compass. Those were overhauled bc they leaned into Specter a bit too much, and felt incohesive with his theming. I ended up taking more design notes from BodySwap Specter since they had a bit more design overlap with Puzzle. In was a fun decision in the end bc I think that caused him to look a little like Luan too.
I think I had a pollution theme going on in Lumin’s early concepts. He was and still is based off of siphonophores so I imagined he would steer around some long train of boats absolutely filled with human garbage and human treasures, but underneath they’d be attached to some gigantic eldritch sea monster. I think his earlier concepts had mechanical arms for some reason. I think I’ve solidified him into being a vaguely eldritch creature cosplaying as a goofy pirate trope, but his design itself is still a bit of a work in progress.
Coal and Steam were supposed to be one guy, but I couldn’t decide between making the one guy a conductor or an engineer so I had to split them up. I don’t think they changed too much from their initial designs except for some tweaks, like giving Coal a belt and fixing his hat, or shaving off a few inches from Steam.
Wheel’s design is mainly based off bikers and medieval jousters. One thing that didn’t make it in was her also being a cowboy(?????). I got rid of that pretty quickly bc trying to fit too many concepts into one character would be really messy, but I mourn the fact that I couldn’t figure out how to fit in wheel spurs in her boots. Her final design didn’t stray too far from her first concept, but some stuff was reworked.
The funny thing about Psilo is that I specifically chose Plague, Spore, and Prism as his components bc they had a lot of similar design elements. That turned out to be more of a challenge rather than a convenience bc I had to actively work to make Psilo Not look like one guy over the other. He still looks too much like Plague Knight, but I will keep convincing myself he is not a Plague clone. I wanted to go for a witch-y design for him at first, and I settled on that for a while. I don’t really remember why I went in a different direction but I guess it’s bc I wanted to represent Prism and Spore more in the design. I think his final helmet was actually based on concept art of Plague Knight from the SK artbook where he had a bottom visor that made him look like he had a big toothy grin, which was really cute and convenient for incorporating Spore’s visor.
A Lot happened with Parasite. I was gonna settle on "grouchy old man" Parasite, but he was being developed to be used in a friend's DnD campaign as an enemy and said friend characterized him very differently to that idea, so I wanted to make him fittingly look unhinged. The way I draw him now vs his current "official" render is a bit different, but that mostly comes down to me getting a better idea of his proportions rather than any significant design changes. Sorry about how disorganized this concept compilation is. I'll try to organize these by character later.
Tumblr media
11 notes · View notes
davidmariottecomics · 2 years ago
Text
Too Many Conventions!
Hello! 
Turns out, I'm a liar. If you read last week's blog, I ended it with a whole little plan for the next couple of weeks, completely having forgotten that I'm about to enter the most convention heavy stretch I have all year! This is my last "free" weekend until April pretty much! 
A week from today, 2/25, I'll be at the Arizona Comic Book Arts Festival! If you're anywhere near the Phoenix area and want to see me to buy comics or bring your own to get them signed, this is the place to do it! I'll be bringing a pretty chunk of my stock, including stuff from Sonic, Godzilla, and pretty much what's left of my Transformers/Hasbro stock! Maybe this one, maybe in a couple more events like this, I'm going to be running out of Transformers vs. Terminator and Wreckers, so get 'em now while you can! Becca will be there too and you can get us both to sign our little mini-comic, Jimmy Squarefoot! We'll also be bringing copies of a zine we made explaining the issues with AI! And Becca will have a bunch of other stuff at their own table! 
There are a bunch of other really great people attending including Elizabeth Brei, Danny Djeljosevic, Mitch Gerads, Steve Rude, John Layman, Henry Barajas, Jay Fotos, Jeff Mariotte, Marcy Rockwell, John Yurcaba, Andrew MacLean, Alexis Zirrit, Meredith McClaren, James Owen, Ryan Cody, Tone Rodriguez, Cecil Castellucci, and so many more! So come on out and see us! 
Then, Becca got into WaifuExpo the following weekend, 3/3-3/5! It's going to be a cool little adult (18+) focused con in the Dallas-Fort Worth area! Becca's going to be in the artist's alley and I'm going to be there as their booth babe. I will NOT be bringing any of my stuff, only Becca is tabling (*tho if you are planning to attend and get ahold of me ahead of time, I might be able to pack a few things to give in person). Becca's working very hard on preparation and will have some exclusive stuff for adults debuting there! 
Similarly, lots of cool guests including some very notable cosplayers and voice actors and other artists! It also seems like it's going to be a very activity heavy con if that's your jam! 
It's also our first time in the DFW area, so if you have recommendations, those would be appreciated! 
Then, if everything goes right with the first two cons and I'm still feeling groovy, I am tentatively planning on going up to TFCon LA on 3/10. Again, this is health and finances permitting after two other back-to-back shows, and I am not coming as anything other than an attendee, but if you catch me at Jack Lawrence's table and want me to sign your Wreckers or Alex Milne's table and want me to sign your TF/Terminator or whatever, I'm happy to do so! 
And finally, I expect to be attending WonderCon 2023, March 24-26! Again, same deal as TFCon--my availability will depend a little bit on not having gotten sick/burned out from the other shows with only one weekend of "downtime" and I'm going mostly as an attendee, rather than tabling individually or with IDW, but this is the one con where I'll be most open for meetings. 
After that, I have to assume that I'll hibernate until the summer! And somewhere around there I'll get back to what I mistakenly proposed last week and do another "Ask Me (Almost) Anything". In the meantime, new posts are going to be coming to the blog, but they'll be a little irregular because they'll be coming in-between shows! 
Thanks for rolling with that change and hope to see you soon! 
What I enjoyed this week: Blank Check (Podcast), Honkai Impact (Video game--I managed to get the new Kiana and Mei back-to-back, so I'm pretty happy!), House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (Book), Poker Face (TV show), Romantic Killer (Anime), Warioware Inc (Video Game), The Fablemans (Movie--I cried 3 times!), Kaguya-Sama: Love is War-The First Kiss That Never Ends (Movie), Valentine's Day, Snack vs. Chef (TV show), Chainsaw Man (Manga), rearranging my desk (I had to dust the... 150 [estimate] little hunks of plastic on my desk and decided to rearrange them), Becca's first Twitch stream (more on that below)! 
New Releases this week (2/15/2023): Off week for my books
New releases next week (2/22/2023): Also an off week for my books!
Announcements: Wait, this is still a section? With all that other stuff I've already been promoting? Well... Yeah! 
Social Media - I am still primarily on Twitter because that's still where I know the most people and the format I like the best, unfortunately, but you can find me on all my socials here as I continue to try to move away from that site that is less and less functional each day! And, hey, sometimes it still works to reach people like this update on Sonic (it is good and fine and in many languages and countries). 
Aradia Beat - The past few weeks, I've been plugging this cool Magical Girl Anthology Magazine that Becca's part of! This morning, the campaign closed and they had just exceeded their second stretch goal! Thanks anyone here who contributed and if you missed out, well... you missed out! No, but give Aradia Collective a follow and they'll be able to tell ya if there'll be any other ways of getting it in the future! 
More Magical Girls - Our pals Elizabeth Brei & Danny Djeljosevic and a bunch of their friends are getting close to their goal on their Kickstarter for Sweet Little Resistance, which you should check out! And you can tell them you're psyched for it at AZCAF! 
Becca is a busy beean - Somewhere in all this con prep and the many shows we're attending, Becca's also managing regular Patreon updates (and this month, any new sign-ups will have their first pledge go to The Brown Building here in San Diego). They're also open for commissions. And they're now streaming Wednesdays & Saturdays (including tonight, but not when we'll be at shows) on Twitch! I'll usually be there too, moderating the chat and making jokes, playing the soundboard or whatever. You can check out their first stream playing Heartbreak High on their page now! I think the plan is Wednesdays will be games and Saturdays will be art, so come check it out and hang! 
Legislative Tracking - Legislators are doubling down on attempting to pass anti-trans bills. Fortunately, some of them are not managing to move forward. Unfortunately, the bad guys keep trying. Here is a legislative tracker for you to keep an eye on and hopefully if anything is happening locally to you (and on the federal level), you're able to reach out to your reps and can tell them to knock that shit off. 
Pic of the Week: A very dumb little promo I made for all of our upcoming stuff (or... well, a lot of it) to the theme of Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania, in theaters now! (NOTE: Made when Aradia Beat was still funding, it's over now, sorry!)
Tumblr media
3 notes · View notes