#Might draw some npcs next time

[0ann3]

Friday is a no/very late sleep day, so went and drew Quartz with some rivalsssss

Characters are from @quartztwst @thehollowwriter @oya-oya-okay @jovieinramshackle @hanizmiyu

And then here's Yurix2 thoughts about the rivals

Despite Yu's nonchalance, they are a bit worried or wary to some of them lol. Meanwhile, Yuri doesn't really care much about them (for now!)

[whitegoldtower]

How my favourite Skyrim NPCs sleep:

Ancano: In the college? Miserably. Spends most of the night irritable and on the verge of tears because everything’s damp and cold. Avoids his room as much as physically possible until he’s practically asleep on his feet. If you’ve taken him home with you, however, he will sleep like a baby. He doesn’t move around, doesn’t make a sound, merely curls up all soft and warm. He tolerates about half an hour of cuddling before shooing you away.

Ondolemar: Values his beauty sleep, strangely enough. He works late, but also sleeps late. He’s never been seen walking around the keep any earlier than 10AM. He snores and drools. Doesn’t enjoy being cuddled because he gets too warm. There is a barrier of pillows between you both.

Cicero: If you can even get him to sleep in the first place, he’s a little angel for the first two hours. Not a peep. Perfectly still… and then his leg jerks. He giggles, then wails, then rolls over about three times before becoming peaceful again for another thirty minutes before the process repeats. There’s a dagger under his pillow. An accident waiting to happen. If you’re brave enough to sleep next to him, you’re probably going to wake up with bruises from being kicked.

Vingalmo: has his hair wrapped up in the finest silks to sleep. The only vampire who sleeps with his legs dangling out of either side of the coffin - he likes the feeling of the cold draught on his feet and, for some reason, sleeping with his knees touching is a sensory issue. If you’re in the coffin with him, your only option is to lay on top of him because he is an utter starfish.

Teldryn Sero: Menopausal Mer, my beloved. Kicks the covers off because hot flashes are hell, and sleeps against the wall with his legs pressed against the cold surface like a fucked up little spider. The sheets are almost always damp. If you’re sleeping next to him, he won’t bother you, and might even lean over to give you a little kiss if he wakes up in the night, but at some point you will roll over and feel some foreign object underneath you before realising that he keeps Ye Olde Dwemer Lost Mary in the bed with him.

Neloth: peepaw is back and forth the fucking toilet like clockwork. You HAVE to sleep against the wall because if he wakes up and has to climb over you to get out of bed he will make it your problem. You can hear him shuffling around in the kitchen and grunting before he comes back to bed with a magelight bright enough to light up blackpool fucking tower, and then he promptly rips the covers off you to keep himself warm.

Erandur: is a cuddler. He will cuddle you and keep you safe and warm, will make sure that you’re all tucked in and comfy, and he will fall asleep after you do. You wake up before him, though, and he’s probably snuggling a pillow with the bedcovers up around his ears.

Elenwen: has to wear an eye mask because she sleeps with her eyes open. Doesn’t move. Doesn’t even look like she’s breathing. Is she even alive? You question as you lean over, and then she draws in a large breath, sighs, and makes a vaguely disgusted sound before rolling over. Occasionally chuckles in her sleep. She does cricket legs under the blankets to get comfy and will 100% put her feet on you, either to cool them down or to subject them to a new texture.

Lydia: likes to spread out and doesn’t like to share. If you do end up sharing, make sure those bedsheets are fucking safety pinned down because she rips ass like a champ. Other than that, she’s pretty cuddly once adjusted to having you next to her, and doesn’t kick around or make too many noises. It would take a literal bomb going off to wake her up once she’s asleep, and she *will* get pissed off if you wake her up and it’s not important.

Farkas: is actually really fucking funny. You can hold a conversation with him. He has a really specific ‘sleep chuckle’ which is literally the Skyrim NPC laugh in his voice (the “heh heh heh”). However, he also sometimes makes some rather lewd sounds. Dude whimpers. He’s a professional little spoon (which is funny considering his stature), and adores being cuddled from behind. Also loves having his back rubbed - it will send him to sleep.

[factual-fantasy]

30 Asks! Thank you! :)) 🐮

I was able to replace my tablet chord and download a brand new/fresh FireAlpaca file and so far things seem to be all better. But if my problems come back then I will be drawing in traditional yes <XDD

Also thank you so much!! :DDD

Bella my NPC cat? :0 She would accept the pats :))

@artistiemi

Awwwwwww 🥹🥹 This drawing is so cute and soft 😭😭💞💞💞 Thank you! :)))

@chickenmilk120 (Referencing this post)

Yeah 😔😔 hoping they change it someday soon 🙏🙏🙏

(Link in question)

Oh yeah! Its right here :)

@sc3n3mo-t3to

XDDD Thank you!! :))))

@candyglumboy (Sent after this post)

Not a crush, he's in love! :0 And so is Pomni but neither of them really realize that/understand it and thus aren't really doing anything about it <XD

@rockandtoon

SOBBBSSS THANOYIYUUU SO MCUCHYHH 😭😭💞💞💞

@fandomcenteral

Aw! Cute kitty!! :DD

And thank you, currently I feel not the best 💀 but hopefully this next doctors appointment will give me some answers <:))

@kwaziis-eyepatch-real

Thank you! :) But also sorry, no.. I wouldn't be comfortable with my art being used as pfps <:(

Ehhh,, I wouldn't <:( That probably wouldn't sit well with me..

Thank you very much for checking first though! Not everyone does <:)))

WAHAGG THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! :DD Sucks that you found me offsite but glad you're here none the less! :)

And don't worry, you'll find stuff for Kinger XDDD

@captain-skyler1987

Hello! And are those guys from Dandy's world.? XD

I don't like what you're implying by turning Jangles into a werewolf and then putting chocolate on the table <XDDD

@natewithcake (Post in question)

AAAAA THANK YOU!! :DDDD

MEEHEHEEEEHEHEEEEEEEEE🎶

@bellanova137

Maybe they'll come out and make it official someday! :0 But for now having them be in love and trying to hide it from each other is fun to draw and mess with XDD

I feel like having a wolf centaur body would mostly just be incontinent and very uncomfortable.😅

Typically, wolves display crepuscular behavior, meaning they prefer times of low light and are most active around twilight, dawn, and dusk. Imagine how that would clash with your human body which is supposed to sleep at night and stay awake all day..

You'd have to change your diet to give both your human AND wolf half the nutrients they need. It would be MUCH harder to clean yourself and wipe your own bum. You'd have to pay loads for pet shampoo and grooming products PLUS the human ones you already use.. You'd spend hours trying to groom your fur and not damage your wolf skin when you try to clean your human skin with other products and vice versa. All clothes have to be custom made, you cant sit or walk comfortably in any public spaces.. You'd have to go to human doctors AND special vets to care for both of your halves...

The list just goes on <XDD being a wolf centaur would just suck in my opinion.

Ah sorry- nono you weren't being rude. I just forgot to comment back that I don't actually know what laptop I have 😅

@ink-machine-kidd

She probably snuck past whoever was in charge of her and put on the headset even though she was told not to😔

(Recent post) (Queenie and Kinger comic)

Oh nono, I just hadn't made everyone's ref sheets yet at that time. But different outfits is something Caine would try to manage! :0

Man you really had pirates on the mind huh XDD

Ohh, I see. I might not do that.. but I get the idea now <:D Thank you!

Vibes received 🤩 Thank you! :)))

Thank you!! :DD

Big wolf! :D

@samcat71470558

Thank you for the kind words <:))) So far it seems like the new tablet chord and downloading a fresh FireAlpaca has fixed all my problems. Hopefully it stays that way! 🙏

XD I think I just have a pattern with medias I'm into. If the story is mostly wholesome it feels bland. So I add a bunch of angst to it. (Octonauts is a good example)

Or alternatively, if the story is super angsty or has types of angst that I don't take well, (like character deaths) then I usually make a fix-it AU that brings everyone back to life and changes/removes a lot of the angst. (TADC and my Undertale AU: RefinedTale being good examples)

Also in my AU, Kaufmo hasn't abstracted. So she bonded with the other humans in other ways overtime. 👍

@wolfie-777

At first I assumed these were obviously fake. But a quick Google search shows that they seem to be real! :0 Although the peeled banana is clearly photoshopped <XDD

Ngl, a vanilla-like custard taste is exactly what I hoped/expected those bananas to taste like XDD

@theintroverse

La Chancla translated to "the flip flop".? <:0 I'm sorry but I don't understand..

Also is he based on a Pinata? :0 I hadn't realized- perhaps I will have to consider giving him some candy powers <XDD

[braxiations]

What is Hylics Canon? - The Accretion

Preamble/Disclaimer

Hi! This post will be a bit different from my previous analysis and theory posts. Unlike those, I'm going to be doing very little theorizing or speculating -- at least, that's not my primary goal. What I want to do today is go over everything we know about "The Accretion," a vague event referred to numerous times throughout Hylics 2. Additionally, I'll try to draw some conclusions about what I think is Mason's authorial intent with the Accretion. I'll do my best to walk through my logic and view multiple sides, and whenever I speculate or make a stretch I'll try and be clear about it.

Before we start, I want to apologize for if I come off as rude or dismissive of certain headcanons or interpretations. Later on I'll be tackling 3 of the main theories I've seen floated around and I intended to be critical and clear when I think they contradict the established canon. However, I do not mean to invalidate these interpretations. Hylics' lore is very interpretive and vague and "canon" isn't something that needs to be strictly abided to. If your interpretation conflicts with what I've shown here, that's perfectly ok!

Basically, my post is for people who either care about adhering to canon or are just curious as to what evidence there is. That being said, let's jump in!

The Basics

"Gibby! Emerge from that vessel. The Hylemxylem was a failure. Only now does the Accretion's long dark age begin to subside." This dialogue, said by Wayne to Gibby before the final battle, is perhaps the only piece of required dialogue referencing the Accretion. This paints the Accretion as the cause of a "dark age," although it's unclear what this entails, which the Hylemxylem threatens to begin again. Many have taken this to indicate that the Hylemxylem caused the Accretion, but there isn't substantial evidence for or against this. It's certainly a valid possibility.

"Back when the accretion hit, the strongest gesture was buried." This line, spoken by one of the Waynes at Waynehouse is one of many indications that the Accretion was an event. Many other pieces of dialogue have wording that confirms this, this is just the first the player is likely to encounter. I bring this up to dispel the idea that "the Accretion" could be the name of the dark age itself.

This is also the first instance we see of the Accretion being claimed to "bury" things. This might indicate that certain objects either hit the ground with such tremendous force that they sank deep in. Alternatively, the Accretion might have actually produced a layer of matter that buried objects on the surface.

Known buried objects: - Disthlarn Moon. (New Muldul NPC: "When the Accretion buried the sage's great ship, Disthlarn Moon, my wife and I were stranded here on the surface.) - The Bombo-Genesis monitor (The TV Wayne and various other NPCs. The monitor is in Disthlarn Moon so this makes sense.) - The labyrinth ("The key is ancient. Whatever door it unlocks is likely deep underground, buried in the Accretion." Said by Smuldunde, referring to a key that unlocks a door in the labyrinth.)

You'll notice that many of the things explicitly listed as buried in the Accretion are specifically those that belong to the Sages. This makes sense given what we'll discuss in the next section.

"A great gesture may oppose Gibby. But accretions place it beyond our reach, and embolden his agents as they seek reconstitution." The Sage of Accretions gives this line, and like their name it confirms that the Accretion is just a singular instance of an accretion, and in fact there have been multiple. The Accretion, denoted by "the" and also capitalized (at least by me, the in-game dialogue is inconsistent) may have just been a particularly damaging one.

Given that a Sage of Accretions exists, they're likely not all catastrophic and could be somewhat akin to weather event. They happen from time to time and aren't necessarily bad, but under particular conditions or if emerging suddenly, they can be a disaster. These are all just assumptions though. Accretions could happen over massive spans of time and the Accretion is only referred to as such due to being the most recent. As we know that the "great gesture" referred to here was buried in the Accretion, the fact that multiple accretions place it beyond their reach may indicate that smaller accretions have occurred since. This is all just speculation.

The Age of Sages

"Our empire was undone by a sudden accretion. Only the cabinets recall its grandeur now." This line, spoken by the Sage of Monitors deep beneath Viewax's Edifice first establishes an "Empire of the Sages" and the idea that that empire was undone by the Accretion. The Empire of Sages is also referred to by Pongorma and Gibby. Pongorma specifically refers to Disthlarn Moon as a "remnant" of their empire. This indicates rather clearly that the "Age of Sages" as I've decided to call it was specifically ended by the Accretion, which cast the labyrinth and Disthlarn Moon deep into the subterranean.

"The surviving sages hid themselves, one in Viewax's edifice, another under the fortress at Foglast, and a third in those halls which recently held this ship." This line from an NPC within Disthlarn Moon directly implies that many Sages perished in the Accretion. The mention of three survivors is interesting in regard to the other three Sages we know from Hylics 1. This is something we'll talk about later in the theory section.

This provides us a pretty solid layout of events. For a time, the Sages led a prosperous empire. However, a sudden accretion ended this era of prosperity, plunging society into a dark age.

The Cabinets

An often overlooked detail is that the arcade cabinets provide some of our only looks at the world of Hylics before the Accretion. The cabinets can be presumed to have been built by the Sages, given that they protect items like the deep key that corresponds to the Sage's labyrinth. We see many within Viewax's Edifice in complete disrepair, with only one functional, as one might expect from ancient machines caught in a catastrophe.

The Sage of Monitors also remarks that "only the cabinets recall its [their empire's] grandeur now." This may suggest that the games within the cabinets are actually designed to tell important stories of the Sage's empire or hold information. This would make sense given the story we see play out, which follows a Wayne transforming into the Sage of Satellites. It's not a stretch to suggest that the Sages chose to immortalize the ascendance of one of their own.

With this in mind, we can use what's seen in the cabinets to date certain things to the pre-Accretion times.

A flag bears the image of Odozeir and Gibby, suggesting they're not only older than the Accretion but were even allied back then.

The, or a Hylemxylem, seen in the background. It resembles the reconstituted Hylemxylem in Hylics 2. This is probably the previous Hylemxylem before it grew into the Moon seen in H1.

A structure resembling the Waynehouse. Notice the egg pod in the basement, the bathroom, the bedroom, and the tv.

At least one Wayne (the player aka "Sat-Wayne.")

Poolmen

Coutures

Truculents

Numerous kinds of airships

Various other enemies

The labyrinth and drill site also indicate what species existed before the Accretion, albeit less directly. Tyros are depicted in numerous statues in the maze, and a tyro in the drill site seems to refer to a herd of galliforms as being pre-Accretion (although this dialogue is kind of vague and could refer to the labyrinth itself.) The labyrinth also has a pool hooked up to the Afterlife, implying that it existed back then too. There are also numerous enemies found inside the labyrinth which one could assume were sealed down there in the Accretion, but they may have crept in through breaches in the structure or other means. I'm not comfortable saying they're definitively pre-Accretion, although I won't disregard the possibility.

There is another character heavily implied to have lived before the Accretion, Pongorma.

This dialogue amounts to show us that Pongorma lived during the Sage's rule, and I believe we've successfully concluded earlier that the Accretion is what ended their empire. Thus, Pongorma is pre-Accretion. This fits in well with his introduction in the first game: we find him sealed away within a vault "through long ages."

The Three Main Theories / When Did it Happen??

Okay, so this is the real meat of this discussion. I'm going to lay out the three main theories I've seen discussed and go over evidence for and against each of them. I'll also be making the case for what I personally believe to be the canon intent of Mason lindroth.

Theory #1 - The Human Extinction theory: It is widely accepted that the world of Hylics is a post-human one, following some kind of apocalypse that wiped out humanity. This theory suggests that the Accretion is the event that caused this. Note that some believe humanity didn't necessarily die, but rather that they were transformed or evolved. Regardless, this event is what caused humanity to stop being human, which is really the only thing we can prove or disprove. I'm going to say "extinction" for simplicity.

Theory #2 - The Moon Crash theory: This is the only theory of the three that actually proposes a cause for the Accretion, being the crashing of the Moon at the end of Hylics 1. This theory states that, after Wayne's crew killed Gibby and trashed the Moon, it crashed into the planet, causing the Accretion.

Theory #3 - The Other Apocalypse theory: This theory is kind of vanilla compared to the other two. It just states that the Accretion happened before Hylics 1 (and presumably long after the extinction of humanity if you believe that to have also happened.) Because this theory says so little definitive about the Accretion, it's sort of the default if the other theories are disproven. As a result, it's the theory I personally subscribe to, and I will explain why below.

This is where we get into harsh, potentially theory-"disproving" territory, and I want to again reiterate that I don't intend to invalidate anyone's personal interpretations, I'm just speaking in terms of what the games show us and what I think to be canon. That being said...

The easiest of these theories to """disprove""" is the Human Extinction theory. This comes from the views of the pre-Accretion world given to us by the cabinets. The world depicted in the Accretion is very Hylics-y, still comprised of clay, having Hylics-age species, and no traces of human civilization or typical Earthen life. Even if the world and the people in it underwent some kind of transformation and the Sages and Pongorma were originally human, this directly shows that clay species and landscapes existed pre-Accretion. There are a few explanations for this, hence why I put "disprove" in quotations. One could argue that only parts of the world were clay'd at this point, or maybe the scenes depicted in the cabinets have changed over time as did the world. I personally find these explanations kind of contrived (the former would make the Accretion seem nearly redundant if the world is already transforming, and the second would make it incredibly strange for the cabinets to "recall" events if they can't recall them accurately.) There's also the language in which the Accretion and its ensuing dark age is described. Wayne calls it a dark age, and Gibby seeks to return to the Age of Sages' grandeur by forging a new zone. The "dark age" in this theory wouldn't just be a more stable society, it would be a completely different world that, to put it simply, none of the characters we know would fit into. It seems especially odd for Gibby to want a return to this sort of world when the fortress he launched transformed the inhabitants into surreal creatures. Personally, I find the Human Extinction theory to be uncompelling. While it can't be outright, factually disproven, explanations for it require inelegant contrivances. There isn't really any evidence for it either, and in my opinion it removes depth from the world's history.

Now we'll discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the Moon Crash and Other Apocalypse theories. First, I'll give what (to my knowledge) is the main evidence for the Moon Crash theory. As Oxford Dictionary defines it, "Accretion" can have a few definitions, but two are primarily relevant to us. 1. the process of growth or increase, typically by the gradual accumulation of additional layers or matter. 2. the coming together and cohesion of matter under the influence of gravitation to form larger bodies. The second definition, astronomical in nature, is particularly intriguing and relevant, especially with Hylics' themes of moons. This brings light to the idea that maybe the Moon crashing into the planet is what caused the Accretion.

"Pongorma, you witnessed the empire of the Sages." Here, Gibby speaks directly to Pongorma as someone who witnessed the empire of Sages, something we previously established ended at the Accretion. This heavily implies --but again does not directly confirm-- that the other characters didn't see the empire. Why would Gibby call out Pongorma specifically if what he was saying applied to everyone? And, if the gang indirectly caused the Accretion, how could they have not witnessed the time before it? There's also the general language with which the Accretion is spoken of. As previously mentioned, Wayne says the Accretion caused a "long dark age," and Smuldunde says that the labyrinth must be "ancient." The monitor containing bombo-genesis is also called the "monitor of the ancients," indicating that the Sages must be viewed as ancient too. While Hylician lifespans and therefore general scale of time may be amplified compared to ours if that was the case we would expect adjectives such as "long" and "ancient" to be equally stretched. However, there's no indication that such timespans have passed since Hylics 1. It'd be especially odd to refer to a time as ancient if most people were alive for it. While Pongorma certainly was, his age is portrayed as an exception. Although I understand that this is ephemeral, the general vibe is that only a few years have passed (or whatever the equivalent is to Hylicians.)

The only evidence against the Other Apocalypse theory I can gather is how the remaining Sages are described. One inhabitant of Disthlarn Moon says "The surviving sages hid themselves," going on to describe the locations they're found in. Another says "Tokens from the three sages." This could be taken to say that only three Sages are currently alive, which would imply that the Sage of Computers, Brains, and Monitors from the first game have since perished. Otherwise, there'd be six. I would like to counter this with two possible explanations. For one, this dialogue exists specifically to tell the player where to find the Sages. If the NPC also said "another sage can be found in the hall of deadly statues," players would be confused because that location doesn't exist in this game. It'd defeat the purpose of this dialogue in the first place. Secondly, we know that the Hylics 1 and Hylics 2 locations are different, evidenced by Somsnosa's dialogue about moving away from her island home from the first game. It'd make sense for the NPCs to not be discussing Sages from distant lands. If you were talking about a natural disaster in your country that only left 3 politicians alive, no one would correct you saying "actually, there are plenty others in other countries!" That's simply not what you're talking about. It's even possible that the Accretion wasn't a worldwide event. The Hylics 1 location could've been unscathed and thus be equally irrelevant.

Conclusion

An analysis of all the dialogue referencing the Accretion brings us to a few conclusions I find to be rather sound.

The Accretion was a particularly sudden or strong instance of an event called an accretion. This particular accretion buried numerous objects like the labyrinth and Disthlarn Moon, as well as ending the empire of Sages and plummeting the Hylics 2 location (and possibly others) into a long dark age. "Only the cabinets recall its grandeur now." We know that Pongorma, Gibby, and Odozeir witnessed the time before the Accretion, and it seems likely that Wayne, Somsnosa, and Dedusmuln did not. As indicated by the cabinets, the previous Hylemxylem (likely the one that later became the moon) existed before the Accretion. The labyrinth shows us that so did the Afterlife. The pre-Accretion world is shown by the cabinets to be similar to the current one, still made of clay and containing many of the same species. Given the general language in which it's discussed, it's likely that the Accretion occurred before the events of either games. Less catastrophic accretions may have occurred since the large one, further burying Disthlarn Moon, but this is unclear.

I hope you all enjoyed this analysis! It was tough to write because basically everything is vague, and with this vagueness, it's tough to not rope in a billion other subjects and ideas. I ended up leaving out quite a few things because otherwise, it would've come out even longer and more bloated than it already is. I might make a follow up post containing every piece of dialogue I could find about the Accretion, the Sages, and their associated artifacts, just in case there's something significant I missed.

[wistyblue]

(╹︶╹ )👍 Gender? yes.

a/n: I know that this quote is already made, burrowed deep in this blog site. But I have a plan. An artistic plan. (aka I just want to draw again but I'm having an artblock and doing incorrect quotes type of thing might cure it)

┏━━━━━━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━━━━━━┓

MC: *wearing the female school uniform*

NPC: Oh! So you were a girl this whole time, I thought you were a guy.

MC: yes👍

*the next day*

MC: *wearing the male school uniform*

NPC: Wait. I thought you were a girl? Was yesterday a dare?

MC: yes👍

*the next day*

MC: *Wearing the female uniform again*

NPC: What the???

*a few hours later*

MC: *wearing pants*

NPC: ???

NPC: Are you a guy or a girl???

MC: yes👍

NPC: ...

*the next day*

MC: *Wearing the skirt and the pants at the same time*

NPC: OH COME ON! JUST WHICH ONE ARE YOU? A GUY?! A GIRL?!

MC: guess 🙂

┗━━━━━━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━━━━━━┛

Fun Facts about my OCs with this context:

Yuki (Obey Me! OC): Influenced by Mammon's gambling habit, they started a betting pool with their classmates on what gender they'll be the next day or for how long they'll stay as that one gender.

Another reason why they switch their gender so much is for the sake of convenience:

Exhibit A: Female bathroom in RAD are larger and more cleaner than the males.

Exhibit B: Certain club activities are limited to only one gender.

Exhibit C: Even in devildom, getting a haircut is somehow more expensive for females. (They just want a f*cking trim for their dead ends)

tl;dr: They want gender privileges and have some fun with it.

Yukiri (TWST OC): Just wears whatever they find comfortable. (Later in the story, someone started a betting pool)

[reap-the-game]

NPC Sunday (it's not Sunday but w/e)

What kind of NPC would your character be? Where could you find them?

Merchant - What would they sell?

Quest Giver - What's the quest? One off or chain? The reward?

Companion - How do you unlock them? Do they have a specific companion quest line?

Romanceable? What's the reward?

Regular NPC - What's their dialog?

Tagged by @captainqster and kinda doing a companion bit to their post.

Quest Giver – Mysterious Wench

So you took the offer of one Captain Cedar. All the more fool you—or perhaps, somehow, you knew what you were doing.

At least, so you thought.

Nevertheless, you set sail as per your agreement. You're sent on some errands at the next port you stop at, a somewhat dingy little city, if it can be called that instead of a simple town.

As you walk along the streets towards a market, the call of a lilting voice catches your attention. When you turn to look, you see a fair figure in front of a local tavern gesturing for your attention.

You choose to approach. Against your better judgment, it almost feels like. Though everything suggests they're nothing more than a wench from the tavern, something about that assumption feels... Off. Maybe it's the fact they're a Viera, for whyever would there be a Viera in a place like this? Or it could be the strange detail that their clothing is bright and clean despite the drabness and grimy streets they're surrounded by.

At the very least they seem happy to have caught your attention.

"I hope the evening is treating you will," they trill as you get closer, taking a step closer themselves. You glance down in confusion when you don't hear the sound of shoes on planks, only to see bare feet.

Clean bare feet. How does that make sense?

You snap your eyes back up at an amused sounding, "Excuse me," the wench looking at you with a mirthful expression. "You sail with Captain Cedar, do you not?" they ask, but you get the feeling the question is nothing more than a formality when you're not given the time to do so much as nod before they continue, "He's very successful; you've made a good choice! But..."

They trail off, glancing around conspiratorially and only speak their request once they've seemingly assured that no one is overhearing you. "Could you do me a favor?"

Seeing your skepticism, they laugh lightly. Something about them feels equal amounts off-putting and oddly disarming. Could it be their good humor, bordering on playfulness? Their charming smile that won't die off?

But what are you to make of the scent of salty water and ocean breeze that's all the stronger around the wench, as if they're fresh from a swim despite being fully dry?

Something feels off, but you agree to hear their request.

"It's nothing more illicit than what you already signed up for, I promise," they giggle, pleased that you didn't turn them down without even listening to what they had to say. "Only piracy! I have it on a reliable source that there's an unlisted vessel with some... Valuable cargo sailing only a day's distance away. I'm sure your captain would agree what you could do worse than go after it."

With a wink they hand you a piece of folded, salt-crusted parchment. "Incomplete list of the goods—only for you captain's eyes, please."

Accepting the parchment, you ask them who they are, where have they gotten this information–

But all they answer with is a laughed, "I'm no one of import, and my source... Let's call that a trade secret, shall we?"

A raucous group walking by draws your attention away for a moment. They pay you no mind as they stomp into the tavern by you, but when you look back to the wench–

You never heard them leave.

Just to make sure what you might be handing to Captain Cedar, you decide to steal a look at the parchment despite the instructions. It's only what it was said to be, though: a short, scrawled list of the promised cargo, each artifact named more fascinating than the last. At the bottom is what you assume to be the targeted ship's name.

Folding the parchment again, you slip it into your bag and decide it might be for the best to give to Captain Cedar as per the wench's wishes. Let the Captain decide what to do with it.

But though you expect to see the wench again only when you stop by the same port again, if even then... They appear again at the next port you stop at, again with a tip on how to enrichen your captain's coffers.

And at the port after that...

And that...

And that...

...Until you come to expect see them against all sense and reason—but are they not practically a bringer of fortune, when each of the tips they give pays off? You have to begin to wonder if this "wench" isn't at least a part of the reason for Captain Cedar's success, though you struggle to understand their nature and what their connection to the pirate captain is.

Nothing weird going on here. Tagging @shadesofblades @midnightmagicks @naejlas-axe @avampyone @placesyoucallhome and tbh everyone should do this. So go do it if you feel like it.

[astralynx]

I figured out how to rip DOTDD Models and now I'm teaching you! (plus uploading mine)

^ download these things onto your computer devices anytime!

Last summer I spiraled into insanity trying to figure out and eventually gave up so now that I know I'm saving you the trouble! I've also put all of my rips into a drive folder here that contains most of the notable npcs + playable characters but I'm planning on submitting them to modeler's resource when I have the time.

Final disclaimer: i also don't know much about ripping / romhacking / blender / computers in general but I thought it would be nice to put up what I've figured out anyway. I've also never actually written a guide to anything before so uh. i hope this is clear enough. Now finally onto the tutorial itself!

You'll need: tinke / apicula / a dotdd rom (not important if its in english or not but if you want like some of the translated ui elements / fonts you might wanna use a ver w the fantranslation patch) / and (optionally) blender or whatever other 3d modeling software that can read .dae files so you can actually do stuff with these.

First is to launch Tinke and load in your dotdd rom, you'll then be met with this menu. the models are contained under the "mdl" tab

each of these have different things but you'll probably care about mb (major npcs) and pc (player characters) and also mn (familiars). also using this to say that tinke is a. very finnicky program so sometimes stuff will just Not Work. sorry about that. anyway.

Once you're in you can start looking for whatever model (.n3d file) you want, unfortunately the models aren't named clearly so you'll have to open them to see what they are. You can do this by selecting the .n3d file and clicking "unpack" which will open a .bmd0 file with a yellow box icon, you'll need to unpack that file one more time to actually be able to open the file it gives you after that in the viewer / export it

When you get the second unpacking (which should be a .bmd0 file with a mostly green drawing for the icon), you can open it in the viewer and it'll look like this!

sorry any file you open that has a skeleton will look like that. I have been informed that sometimes ds games just store their models like this and it has no affect on the model when its exported so. lets just move on. Also sometimes tinke will give you an error that will stop you from opening the viewer properly but it will (most of the time) let you see the textures fine so you can double check (and even if it doesn't we have a workaround coming up soon)

Next big step is to set up apicula! When you download it, the program can't run by itself. You will need to create two text files, one named "apicula view nsbxx_files" and "apicula convert nsbxx_files -o dae_files" (no quotation marks) to put in the same folder as the apicula exe. You will then rename these .txt files into .bat files and you'll use these to actually "run" the program. You'll also make a folder alongisde those called nsbxx_files. It should look like this at the end

Back to tinke, you'll take the viewable .bmd0 model you want to export and click "extract" and I usually put mine directly into the nsbxx folder in my apicula folder for convenience sake. double clicking the "view" .bat will put the models into a viewer that I like to use as a final double check (and also what you can use if tinke's preview is giving you trouble). Its WASD to move and Q and E to lower / raise the camera

to actually convert the file, double click the "convert" .bat file and it will create a new folder named "dae_files" and inside will be your model and its textures in a .dae folder that you can read in blender and contains its skeleton!

PLEASE NOTE!!!! that apicula can only read / convert one file at a time! this means that it will just use the topmost file in the nsbxx folder and if you'll have to delete the dae folder every time once your done with it so it can run properly again. so just make sure you move your converted files somewhere else before you do. but now you'll have a model to put into blender!

the tutorial is technically "done" now but I'm gonna share how to set up these models in blender (which for the sake of explaining i'm gonna assume you don't know much about). When you first load in the models you'll have to "turn on" their textures using the drop down arrow in the menu on the top right corner of the 3d viewport and turn on these settings (while still selecting the solid circle tab)

Secondly, Many of them use transparent elements in their textures that blender doesn't like to load without some help

you can fix this by expanding the menu on the bottom of the screen and clicking the clock icon to turn it into the "shader editor" tab

Then, you'll select your model and go to the "base color" node in the shader editor, go down to the "alpha" tab and set it to "pre-mutliply" and it should remove the white lines around the transparent elements!

That's all from me! if you have any questions you can reply to this post / send me an ask or dm or whatever and I'll try my best to help! happy ripping!

[gamerbearmira]

Making up a song about Mirabel and Camilo

⚠️⚠️‼️‼️ K so slight gore on the third drawing ?? Or maybe it’s more of a blood tw. Anyway uhhh I finally did the other members!

Other Agustín is pretty similar to normal Agustín, if not more doting. He also refrains from mentioning gifts entirely. He’s not really allowed to, and sometimes they catch him glancing around. Julieta is a bit more jumpy; but that’s because she knows more than the other “other” family members. She’s also the one who pulls Camilo and Mirabel from the mirror prison. They’re obviously most doting on Mirabel. Julieta is kinda hesitant to give Mirabel the food she makes there, but she has to; the other Alma insists.

Pepa is constantly happy, never frowning, never crying. No clouds, only rainbows. Camilo and Mirabel may or may not have noticed small stitches at the corners of her mouth. Anyway, the two really like it, but then they sort of start to miss Pepa’s rain. But when they ask Other Pepa to make some rain, she can’t. She kinda just stares, and looks around with a really questionable smile. As if she’s trying to frown but can’t. Felíx is pretty similar to an npc, always next to and supported Camilo. Like a yes man, he never says no.

Obviously Isabela is made to be quiet. Strangely so. She doesn’t say anything, and can’t say anything. Layer on she can only warm them with looks and her hands. She’s also pushed towards the background and Alma barely acknowledges her unless she needs to.

Dolores is a lot more talkative. But she can only say certain things. It’s like she can say tons of stuff, but there’s something of a filter. This becomes a problem later on when Camilo and Mirabel are trying to get help from her and she’s basically speaking in riddle.

I think I wanna change it to where Antonio is there (Camilo and Mirabel are still 10), but Antonio is only a few years old. Luisa has Antonio, so Oepa can focus on Camilo (and Mirabel). This is because, despite his belief, Camilo thinks normal Pepa is ignoring him and favoring Antonio. She’s not, but he’s 10, and his parents are all of the sudden focused on the new baby. But the Other Pepa has time for him. Luisa is sorta like Felíx, a yes man or an npc mostly, she’s mostly there to fill in with Antonio, so Camilo and Mirabel don’t get suspicious.

Blood warning!!! Again!!! ⚠️‼️‼️

Bruno has to get his button ripped out. Literally. He’s trying to get through the door, but can only go part of the way of the tunnel. The part leading to the real world has an invisible barrier that keeps him from leaving. He knows it’s the button but can’t figure out how to get it out.

Well this is during the Other Alma chase and they don’t have time to dwell, so Camilo’s like “Just rip it out!”. Bruno tries to protest but Camilo’s already prying at the button,and Bruno kind just pulls away, half to stop him, and half to help him pull it away. After a forceful tug from both Camilo and Mirabel, it comes out. They leave it in the tunnel and finally leave.

As for the actual family, and where they’re trapped, I think it’s in the family photo. The game they play, I’m not sure. Maybe a treasure hunt like Coraline, but it’s the family photo and Bruno’s single eye (because yes it still exists, but lost). I’m not sure if he’ll still be able to use it, but even with one eye, he can use his Gift still.

More later. Might write for this during October.

[isabeauwolf]

Alright.

Since it's been days since we've gotten to see our beloved birdman Kai Chisaki one more time in the manga, we've all let our feelings out about his ending, either you hated it or not. Felts depressed and sad.

I gotta ask all of my fellow Overhaul, Kai Chisaki stans and fans: What made you pick Overhaul as your favorite character/ Villain in MHA?

What made him draw you in?

Fascinate you?

Fall for him so hard, he drew you away from your previous anime/manga husband or wifu?

Where you a manga or anime only before his handsome villainous yakuza birdman came into your life?

Was it is character design? Mannerisms? His powerful quirk? His plan to erase quirks, his serum and determination to restore the Shie Hassaikai into power? His godly voice by both Kenjiro Tsuda and Kellen Goff?

(Pst, honestly, I love it all ;) His man's got my heart is a death grip; even if, he's competing with Trafalgar Law for my attention and affection, and now Dabi.)

Instead of throwing around all the hate surrounding this man. Let's send him off with a bang! Love, support, the whole she-bang, even if, you still high disagree with his actions towards Pops and Eri.

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

(If every seems out of order or all over the place, I'm sorry! Please be, patient with me, and thank you!)

I've give my personal thoughts on Kai Chisaki, Overhaul. My yakuza birdman husband here! (huge breakdown/ summary, rant about this man; spoilers ahead!) Not like, I haven't been doing that the whole time, I've been on here XD I've talked with other Overhaul/Kai stans and fans on here, giving my two cents, which I love and appreciate to everyone who's talked and fangirled/boyed with me!

Be warned that I might to ramble, and this whole thing might now make sense, or is all over the place, again, I'm sorry! But if you don't mind, I thank you!

I started off as an anime only, and watched on my own time. Even if I heard AFO's introduction, and All For One's and All Might's battle at Kamino Ward and All Might saying goodbye One For All in subbed first; my husband was watching it the living room while I was on my laptop watching a different series. The music drew me in and I couldn't look away, watching the whole battle with baited breath until it was over.

Then I watched the series by myself since I couldn't sleep months after. Cheering for Deku, smiling and crying with hm.

I watch in dubbed first, since it's hard to focus on subbed while having a toddler running around. XD Then rewatch it in subbed form.

Anyways, at the end of season 3 we get a tease of Overhaul's introduction. His voice, golden eyes drew me in, hook line and sinker.

I've always been a sucker for bad boys and I love a man that wears a suit. lol So it gave Overhaul some brownie points. I know it isn't just me! Don't lie, haha.

The fact that Overhaul straight up challenged Shigaraki for the spot as the next King of the Underworld, pointing out his mistakes and lack of motivation once more; the same as Stain had in the previous hard, showing that Overhaul himself had been in the game a bit longer than Shiggy.

Overhaul while insulting the younger villain was indeed asking the right questions. Shiggy had misused and lost his powerful NPC's during the Training Camp attack with the Vanguard Action Squad, Muscular and Moonfish.

He had every right to question his motives.

Overhaul is blunt and spoke the truth about Shiggy's leadership skills, even if it ending with Magne's death. As sad as it was she did attack him first when if she was defending her belief's and the league, she didn't have to die. Compress didn't have to lose an arm.

The confrontation and damage done on both side makes you see that Overhaul is a dangerous man, with an equally dangerous quirk on top of being able to bring someone back to life if he wanted to, showcasing the quirk erasing bullets. We hadn't really seen an onscreen death before then, or at least, not that I remember.

Overhaul is cold blooded and driven, but calm and calculated; he's a man who's not afraid to get his hands dirty when he needs to, despite his quirks drawback and hate of the aftermath.

When we meet him again with Shigaraki at the Shie Hassaikai underground meeting room, and the bits given by Sir Nighteye, it's clear that Overhaul has the means to til the scales of Villain and Hero society, if he was given more time and wasn't fighting against the clock. He still needed more funding and man power to mass product both sets of bullets.

Had he succeeded and gotten away with his arms still intact, despite losing Eri to the Heroes, we might have seen him and the right bullets again down the line, but it wasn't in the cards.

(We finally get to see Kai, our birdman unmasked and his poor man get's done soooo dirty! First it's his stoic and impressive, criminally handsome face, then Shiggy took his hard work, him and Mr Compress tag-teamed taking his hands away, leaving him quirkless, helpless, in despair and he's terrified! Not for himself, but because without his quirk he can't reverse the damage he's done to pop's, he can't wake him up or talk to him again.)

Underestimating the Heroes, The League, and being overly cocky and arrogant played a major part of his own fall. His isolation from others and seeing his subordinates and closest friend as pawns to be used and thrown away didn't help, yet the men closest to his inner circle were indeed the most loyal of his followers.

It wasn't outright said, but shown that Overhaul himself was forgiving and understanding when Chrono or Nemoto made mistakes, he didn't scold them or yell at them.

( If I missed anything in this summary, let me know. XD )

He's a well written character and villain. A man possessed and obsessed with fulfilling his goals, repaying Pops, the man who took him in and gave him a home, a place to be himself.

The way Pops found Chisaki as a boy, alone, covered in filth and I imagine he was hungry, always made me feel as if we were missing something from his past. He wanted more than anything to replay the man who saved him and rebuilding the Shie Hassaikai's former glory and reputation along with returning people quirkless.

Might have saved so many lives who were eventually lost, but at the end of the day, he still choose the darkest route and solution.

If the Quirk Doomsday theory we've heard about and snippets we've seen so far. Different combinations of quirks are getting stronger and stronger, people like Touya who's bodies destroys itself while using his fire. There may come a time where not even support items could save a person from their overly strong and destructive quirk.

Could you imagine what he could have done with his quirk, if he was a doctor?! He could have replaced recovery girl's position as UA's school nurse or even a Doctor since healing quirks are so rare.

Of course, I'm not saying what he did was justified by any means.

Kai Chisaki, Overhaul is practically The Fullmetal Alchemist in MHA without the use of Equivalent Exchange! Yes, he threw away his human name, becoming, "a demon with no heart" as Pops says.

As we see him fuse with Nemoto and Rikiya Katsukame, each fusion he becomes more monstrous, a much more darker version of himself; fulling giving into "Overhaul," his villain persona, not carrying who he has to hurt to get his way.

I will admit that I'm down bad for Kai/Overhaul and his Monsterhaul form, Nemoto version, but the giant monster form, lol

Now, let's get down to the nitty gritty.

Knowing about him being in Dr Garaki's/AFO's orphanage and that Shigaraki has a copy of his quirk. They more they parallel each other so much more after that reveal.

It explains so much about his character!

Kai Chisaki won't flat out say it or address it, neither has Horikoshi but its clear that he was heavily traumatized and abused as a kid before Pops found him.

Oh yes, the trauma bucket! Like our beloved characters in the series doesn't have enough trauma as it is. Let's see how far that habit hole goes for Kai? -_-

The lack of remorse for his victims, justifies his action, manipulative, lack of physical response to violence, deception, and hostel, his acts are usually well planned in advance, irritability and aggressive behavior when provoked, reckless disregard for safety of others - antisocial and sociopathic tendencies.

Lack of empathy, believes he's special and the only one who can cure the world, need for admiration from Pops, his abandonment and self-worth issues go hand-in-hand with his fear of his father figure throwing him out of the Shie Hassaikai with his final ultimatum of dropping his plan.

Out of everything, we only get sprinkles here and there that Kai had done before snapping.

You can see it, the way he tenses and his hands ball into a fists, no doubt, surprised, shocked, hurt even before redirected into anger and violence.

Putting his father figure into a coma, and taking matters into his own hands. Become the villain, we all know and love, adore, praise, however you see him as.

Before becoming "Overhaul," Kai used to get into brawls with anyone who dared disrespect the Shie Hassaikai, and wants to help the boss; protecting the honor of the yakuza and protecting them from being called, "Villains." (Classic delinquent behavior, I imagine he did it in high school since we've seen him do it as an adult.)

We see him wear normal clothes: black dress pants, blazer and purple dress shirt, no gloves and a black duster mask over his face. (I'd honestly, love to see Kai in more civilian, classy outfits! More unbuttoned shirts and all, please!)

Even if Pops scolding him and explaining that they must protect civilians instead of hurting them, the old man still affectionately pets the top of his head and praises him for protecting their honor. Which in itself is a kind gesture, but something I think he took a little too much into his heart.

The scolding for doing something dishonorable, but praised for his intentions has overtime been taken form into the most cold and logical extreme actions.

Nobody can deny that Overhaul's got drip! XD

Overhaul's more professional outfits: the red and gold plague doctor's mask, and white gloves. Borrowing inspiration from All For One, he uses his quirks name as his alias, his Villain name and quirk ability, the idea for his quirk erasing and serum, as "Overhaul", he can kill and wants to change the world.

To preserve the past, he must engage with the present and became a villain out of necessity.

What's the difference?

The differences between a young Kai standing up for his father's honor and the snarling demon he has become. All of it against a world that had clearly outgrown him and the old ways of the Yakuza, but he refused to accept it and to protect his only family and most precious person, Pops.

As we've been in the latest chapter of MHA, without his quirk, without his arms and plague mask, and the last time we saw him. Kai Chisaki, inside is still a boy who wants to make his father figure proud and wants attention and praise.

As Pop's said before he took things too far again, shoving the older man's wisdom and wishes aside, taking action into his own hands, not only crossing the line between the gray that Pop's held against the Villains' and Heroes, Black and White, Kai instead, erased the line and jumped over it, making his own line and walked into a dangerous and dishonorable path.

======= What I missed last minute, sorry guy's.... I'm almost done, I swear! =======

It's clear, that he's smart and well educated, he could have studied as a medical student, read medical journals during his free time or just because he was a huge science and medical geek, we will never know.

My bet's on the ladder, practicing how to control his quirk and for the fun of it. He's the type of person to obssess with something and run away with it, a concerting amount.

You can't tell me that Pop's didn't walk in to Kai's room or living room, seeing Kai asleep on the couch or floor with a book either on his face or on his chest! Or Kai geeking out over a first edition or rare medical journal he found or Pop's and Hari had given him as a birthday present!

The birdman is such a workaholic that he's no doubt forgotten about his birthday, if Pop's or Hari didn't plan something for him!

If Kai is such a health nut and germ, wash your hands after every speck of dusk lands on your hands, then I need to know his skincare routine!

Do you think his hands is soft?

We know he works out from how jacked he is from his back and abs, fuck, I'd gladly claim him like a tree X////////////x

I'm not the only one who wanted him to have those traditional tatts, right? Of course, it's optional and traditional, but come on! I excepted to see the Shie Hassaikai's embalm, sakura or at least, a raven something! Anything! Hell, all three! Well, in my fanfic he does.

Also, Lady Nagant, you lucky woman, getting to touch and dress Kai!

Wish, I could trade places to pamper and comfort this man.

Screw you, AFO, Kai comes first.

I don't care if Kai comes off as stuck-up, spoiled rich brat, a bubble bath princess, narcissist and a asshole. If given the change to rock this man's world and fuck his brains out, you bet your ass I would!

If he could put up with my ditzy, clumsy, sassy, way too honest and smart-ass mouth, then fine. Baby needs to laugh more! I wanna see him smile!

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

Well, it's almost 2am and I'm going to be. XD If you've had to through my rant/rambling of Kai. Share your thoughts with me... again, sorry for it being too long and wayyyyy all over the place.

Of course, I always forget something...... XD

[azzayofchaos]

your worldbuilding for your dreamingverse au is so good i wish i knew everything about the world you're making. i genuinely could read about it for HOURS

Oh that is so sweet! @solar-cycle And who am I to deny your curiosity (I certainly am happy to rant about Dreamingverse)!

MINECRAFT SPECULATIVE LORE?

(Sorry about the lack of image, I was too excited to post and didn’t have any ideas jump out at me for what to draw… next post maybe lol)

Here’s the fundamentals of the Dreamingverse au:

There was, once, two universes. The first, the one you might be able to imagine, was made of matter, of time and space, and was inhabited by advanced civilizations. The other was pure sapience, a sprawling neuronic network that dreamed in its own pathways. They call it the End Before the Beginning, the cataclysmic collision of universes that split and fragmented and recrystallized into a single many faceted prism. And in the wake of this cataclysm, the civilizations of before collapsed. It wasn’t an immediate thing, though, but a slow implosion driven out of fear and competition over resources. How were people not meant to be afraid, when the dead were suddenly granted a second waking and the world they knew was ripped apart at the seams? When being born of pure thought, the manifestations of death, destruction, and oblivion were made to walk among them? Humanity downfall was eventually to war and its own nuclear power, and thus began the era of oblivion.

The era of oblivion was marked by the absence of life and the settling of the earth. The newly reborn [universe] was irradiated and barren, made of fractured pockets of tribes and civilizations relearning how to live in their world and hanging on to their lives with white knuckles. If nothing else, this extreme of living incentivized the rapid evolution of genetics, leading to offshoot species in the descendant of humanity, Piglins, Witches, Endr, and more, among them. These offshoots are widely known as “Hybrids” granted by the universe the qualities of species better suited to their extreme environments.

It is then the Era of Growth and Decay. The plants, as with the undead, are given a sentience of their own, mutated and lively, they are the first to begin recovering from the End, and with them, the deities of these concepts too. Among these plants, Creepers, long, slow-moving creatures of explosive spores, Sculk, Mycelium, Glares, and the Nylium of the Neth.

And in the wake of the plants, the Era of Beasts follow, where animals and their corresponding deities begin to grow bold and awake.

Following at last is the rebirth of civilization. It’s the Neath that takes off first, the early bastions of the Piglin gathering culture and resource in order to begin exploring and inventing, the overworld soon following. And here also, is where the Creators truly emerge. They had existed before in some capacity, sapient beings woven more deeply into the fabric of the universe, able to catch the flitting dreams of the universe and spin it into their own make. Beings with the ability to Construct and Destroy at a scale no Animate could match even with a lifetime of magical and alchemic training. They were revered and despised in often equal measures.

—

Which brings us to the basics of Sapient classifications. To be clear, these lines are not hard or certain, but rather a general categorization.

There are the Animates of course: NPCs essentially (though that feels dismissive) the bulk of the population, living limited lifespans and with little access to magics.

These rest are Creators, broadly speaking:

…

The so called “Players,” generally the children of other Creators, of Animates, or Animates themselves given the powers of Construction and Destruction later in life in one way or another. They tend to be more humanoid, and generally include undead Creators. For along time, they were really the only group of Creator easily accepted by the general population as they were less other.

Then there are the Fae, objects, plants, or animals that are given the gifts of the universe and higher consciousness alongside it.

And then the Constructs; Places awakened and given thought and the capacity to change and move. Often considered god-like in their own right.

And the Deities. Gods sometimes. Beings made of pure thought, concepts personified.

—

Civilization marched onwards, and Creators did not often die. Empires rose, fell, rose again, and over the course of many great wars and eras of peace —from the War With Heaven, to the Rapture of Empires, to Antarctic’s Conquest— the Universe slowly settled into its Dream and its people into their own.

Ask me about:

- the structure of the universe and the layout of its dimensions…

- Mechanics, this may be bundled in with the structural stuff…

- Character, lore, and series head-cannons (I may or may not have them yet!)

- The Deities

- The Remnants 0.0

- Anything really, maybe I’ll do some art :3

[tyrantisterror]

No Small Feat Artwork Pt. 2 - Major NPCs

By request, I'm gonna show off some of the artwork for No Small Feat, a Midgaheim story my friends and I told through the TTRPG system Fabula Ultima. I drew a lot of characters and monsters for it, and my friends - in particular, @dragonzzilla, @scatha5, and @dinosaurana - helped line and color them so we'd have cute little sprites to use on our online battlemaps, which really helped sell the whole "we're playing an oldschool turn based RPG" vibe that Fabula Ultima's system is going for.

This batch is comprised of what I'm calling the Major NPCs - recurring non-player characters who had a big role in the campaign. Fabula Ultima has a Bond system that gives players a tangible benefit for getting invested in the story and characters they meet in the game, so I tried to structure it so they would have some character who they'd be inclined to form those bonds with so they could exploit that mechanic. I personally love it when a game gives a mechanical incentive to getting invested in its story, it just seems so intuitive and obvious for an RPG, and I wanted to do my best to make that mechanic work.

The first recurring NPC the party met was Leonie Ymbessil. Most of the characters in No Small Feat were designed to fit fairy tale archetyepes, and in Leonie's case, she's the Disobedient Girl - your Red Riding Hood/Goldilocks style young woman who is given sound advice that she promptly ignores, which draws her into peril as a result. There are disobedient boys in fairy tales too, but the way their stories play out tend to vary quite a bit - a disobedient girl will almost always be thrust into incredible danger that, if she even survives it, will leave her so traumatized that she never breaks a rule again, while disobedient boys get to rob giants through trickery and guile and become kings.

And while No Small Feat was a fairy tale homage by design, I also wanted it to be a bit of a subversion when it came to some tropes - Fairy Tales off the Rails, if you will. And one of my big secret goals was to see if I could convincingly buck convention and get my auidence/fellow storytellers on the disobedient girl's side, and help her make out like a bandit the way all the disobedient boys do.

Leonie began the story as the spendthrift daughter of a wealthy merchant, who was currently down on her luck because her father cut her off for being too careless with money and forced her to work in one of his shops to earn a living. But she also had a plan - namely, to marry some lonely rich bastard and live off his fortune. Though definitely greedy, Leonie is also incredibly charitable, often giving away ludicrous amounts of whatever wealth she gained in a particular arc to people who were needy or just glum - her spendthrift nature is partly a reflection of her desire to see other people happy and taken care of.

Eventually Leonie, like the PCs, became more formidable as the story went along, occasionally even acting as a temporary ally for a couple boss fights. She, uh, might have taken up my brain a bit. I have a lot of Leonie art that wasn't strictly necessary for the campaign, but was necessary for my happiness. Some of that art I can even show in public!

(there's even more of it, but we'll get to it when we cover another Major NPC)

The next Major NPC the heroes were introduced to was Sir George Garston I, who is essentially Midgaheim's take on Saint George. The most prolific dragonslayer of all time, George is an affable, down-to-earth gentleman who, at the beginning of the campaign, saw his duty as being the protection of mankind against vicious beasts. Our party was leery of him because, well, because they know I love dragons to death and that my Midgaheim setting is positively flooded with dragons who are Really Good Guys, so a guy whose whole deal is "he's killed a shitload of dragons" has to be bad news, right?

And, like, George definitely was not a perfect person at the beginning of the game - he views the conflicts between dragons and humans from the human side by default, never once questioning whether the dragons may be the wronged party from time to time. But he ultimately proved to be a person who wanted to help his fellow human beings, and one who did not delight in killing - dragonslaying, to him, was an ugly but necessary job, and when the story unfolded to the point where he could see how, sometimes, humans were the aggressors in these conflicts, George did shift his view, recognizing that dragons were living things who needed to be protected at times too. The nuances of living in a world where giant lizards are capable of abstract thought but rarely capable of expressing it in ways humans can understand.

George was also a sort of secretly sad individual, being blessed/cursed with a magically extended lifespan and a much slower aging process, which allowed him to not only outlive his wife by decades, but look far younger than he feels in the process, which was wreaking havoc on his psyche at the start of the campaign. Our heroes caught George in the first of what are likely many breakdowns in an immortal's life where they wonder why they still exist when everything they loved has passed. It's ok, the party got him what passes for therapy in a vaguely medieval fantasy land.

Our party had one more fabled hero to meet among the Major NPCs, and that was none other than the posterboy for Disobedient Boy heroes in Fairy Tales, Jack Giantslayer. Midgaheim goes with the "all the Jacks in Fairy Tales are the same Jack" approach, and the result was a neurotic, twitchy, easily startled mess of a ginger who my notes told me to "Try to channel Charlie Day as much as possible, even though you can't do a good Charlie Day impression." Oh, and he's blessed (cursed?) to be really good at killing ogres, even when he's not trying to - which our heroes found out when he tried to cause a distraction with his slingshot, only for his pebble to pingpong around until it hit a painting that fell off from just the right height and angle to decapitate the ogre butler they were trying to avoid.

Anyway he ended up dating Leonie fuck you it's my RPG I can indulge if I want

Our party had a few nonhuman helpers, too. The Phenex chick was rescued by them after they fended off a pissed and dying phenex, and provided them with a small but occasionally refreshed supply of ashes that could be used to bring a player back up from 0 HP mid-battle. They also met a bridled kelpie that, once freed, decided to help shepherd them around, giving them a fast travel option that was VERY useful given the... other travel mechanic this game had going on, which you'll find out in a later entry.

Some of our PCs needed an extra kick out the proverbial door in session 0. In Charles's case, he was led astray by Cassandra, a sphinx in Aesopton who lived on the outskirts of town and was always gloomy and aloof around others. Being burdened with the gift of prophecy, Cassandra had somewhat selfish motivations in leading Charles astray, as she knew he would not only be crucial in saving Engelsex from the crisis that was going on in the campaign, but would also be able to rescue her when she was kidnapped and placed into a menagerie sometime after Charles was lost. Charles didn't hold it against her, though, and the two ended up in a bit of a romance by the end of things.

For Montblanc and Edmund, though, I called upon another fairy tale archetype: the Wicked Witch. And I specifically grabbed one of the biggest from English folklore, albeit with a slight tweak to her name - Bleak Annis, infamous hag and boogeyman, cursed Charles to take on a bestial shape while gifting Montblanc a grimoire before tasking him to draw 100 beasts. She wasn't done there, either, showing up now and then to manipulate the rest of the party into finding the right clues and being in the right places at the right time to face the big threat, all while remaining ambiguous about her true intentions for most of the plot. She also served as the pokedex narrator for Montblanc's growing bestiary, which was fun for me to RP.

And that's our major recurring players! Well, except for the antagonists of course, but we'll cover them as we look at individual arcs from here on out.

[guhuhugames]

Hey, it's little progress update on future Love & Country !

Hello dear friends! We announced in February that there was more Love & Country story planned and that we had already been working on it for some time... Well, how about some proof?

Just kidding! Or are we? 😉

We are nearly done with our first draft of Working Title 'L&C: The Second Mission' and are simultaneously planning what comes after that. So we are really waist-deep in ~spy drama~ right now, but definitely having fun (this is, after all, the fun part of the process).

Additionally, as part of our promise to ourselves to be better prepared the next time around, @pr1nsass has been working hard getting a jump start on character sprites (we have too many a ton of new characters planned!).

We can't show you certain characters yet or certain outfits (spoilers, obv) but we are happy to present some WIPs of new NPCs--even one you might recognize if you played The First Mission's bonus content! Check it out:

(top to bottom: Babette, Isa, Juin, Nicolette, Ririne & Mamie, and your favorite b*tch, Angèle)

What do you think? @pr1nsass is excited to finally be able to draw ladies for once 💗

We can't reveal too much about these beautiful gals, but they're all going to be playing big parts in Lillian's next story. We'll try to give you guys as much of these WIPs as possible, because...visuals are important.

Love you all! We'll be back soon with more fun stuff, so stay tuned!

xoxo, Guhuhu Games

[osteoptimist]

About two months after I graduated from college, my friends and I finished a 2 year campaign of D&D 5e that went for 42 sessions.

It was amazing. I'm super proud of all of them, it was a fucking blast, and I still consider it one of the greatest artistic accomplishments of my life.

After the finale, we had an epilogue session where we met at a local fantasy themed tavern and talked about the whole thing. I answered some questions about loose threads and unsolved mysteries, and we discussed what their characters and some of the NPCs might get up to in the aftermath. Good fun.

I also told them that it was my intention to never run D&D again.

They were all understandably a little confused. Hadn't we just had an amazing time playing D&D?

And so I explained that yes, while we had lots of fun playing D&D, almost none of that fun was derived from D&D itself.

We had fun because we were all friends hanging out, telling a story together, getting to share a world and see these characters change the lives of each other and the people around them. None of that is unique to D&D, and D&D is actually worse for facilitating some of the things we had the most fun with than a lot of other games!

Moreover, I know D&D 5e about as well as someone reasonably can. I've written a massive amount of homebrew for the game, a lot of which we were able to seamlessly integrate into the campaign. I've written two classes, hundreds of spells and magic items, dozens of subclasses, and with a handful of exceptions nearly every monster they fought in that campaign had a statblock I modified or wrote from scratch.

And so by the end of that campaign, I could see exactly how it was holding me, and my players, back from what we might be able to do in a system more conducive to the kinds of stories we wanted to tell.

I love big setpiece fights that drive an overarching plot, intense social encounters with complex NPCs, and stories that shape the people in them as much as they are shaped in turn.

Now, it might sound like I just described a bunch of things DND is great for! But DND doesn't help me make any of that happen, at best it has nothing to say on the subject and at worst the system is actively working against me.

I also like to play other games, since those aren't the only kinds of stories I like to tell, and I enjoy learning new games and gaining new perspectives on how to use TTRPGs to tell stories in the first place.

Currently I think my next "main" game is going to be Draw Steel by MCDM. It is designed with the express purpose of facilitating all the things I mentioned loving above, and it isn't being weighed down by any of the legacy ideas that make a D&D game a D&D game but now mostly just get in the way.

Anyways, I say all this as someone who has poured countless hours into 5e, there really is so much to gain by branching out. I heartily recommend trying some new games with your group, and spending some time to really figure out what you want from your time at the table and which games are the best to help you do that. If that's DND, great! But even if that's the game you end up coming back to, you WILL be a better player and GM for having tried.

[lanymme]

Hi! : ) If fic requests are still open, can I ask for some HakuRin? Perhaps them being gay idiots while the student council are getting a little tired of their oblivious flirting?

It would be my pleasure! I love these two.

Can you believe they gave extraverse Rin such an interesting fetish and then never did anything with it?? Criminal.

--

Hakuno Kishinami gazes warily down the steps leading out of Elizabeth’s labyrinth and into the final floors before the core.

“… It’s almost showtime. Are you stocked up on healing items? If you don’t have enough, head back and stock up at the Commissary. The jamming is up, but if Meltryllis is waiting for us, you’ll end up fighting. Healing is fundamental; the most powerful strategy."

As always, Rin is right. Hakuno may not remember everything, but she knows she has always been relying on this girl to help her through difficult situations, even before they all formed the student council.

Ignoring Gilgamesh’s insensitive comments, she has to agree with him that, one way or another, her friend is one competent woman. She’s glad they’re on the same side.

She makes her way over to the gateway leading back to the school grounds, and leaves Elizabeth’s labyrinth behind. Vertigo comes over her as she enters that brief white void, and her senses fade back into attunement in the familiar student grounds. As always, the relief from the strange pressure of the labyrinth, so far under the dark waters of the Lunar Sea, is welcome.

Gilgamesh draws up next to her, armor clinking, and makes a dismissive wave of his hand.

“Go. Make your preparations. I have matters to attend to. Don’t keep me waiting.”

In a scatter of blue particles, he disappears, leaving Hakuno alone in the schoolyard. Waving to the contemplative NPC who always sits out against the wall and offers advice, she slides the door open and heads into their little refuge. The wood creaks familiarly underfoot as she crosses the floor.

Truthfully, it’s a relief. She knows she’ll have to face Meltryllis eventually, but she’s still nervous. It’s hard not to think what could happen if that woman catches her, to make peace with the fact that she ultimately has not control over whether they’re attacked. Gilgamesh is the most powerful trump card she could ask for, and even still…

She can't help remembering that spiked kneeplate, charging toward her. The bloodlust in that lovely voice.

Everyone they've lost.

She shivers.

That suspicious priest bows to her, but she can’t deal with him right at the moment. She needs some time with her thoughts.

So she heads up the stairs, and passes the Student Council Room where Rin and Rani are working hard as always, and makes her way to her own personal room to sit down. She closes her eyes, and takes a few deep breaths. It’s all going to work out, if they just keep doing their best, and never give up. The predictions of Seven Days Later don’t have to come true: they can stop it. She has to believe that.

Suddenly, she hears a knock and a polite cough at her door.

Her heart beats a little faster. She checks to make sure it’s all clean.

“Come in!”

Rin slides open her door and steps inside, shutting it behind her. Her face is a little flushed.

“Look!” She says, before Hakuno can say anything. “I just came by to do a follow up exam on you. It was my first time using the Ten Thousand Colored Stagnation, and I want to make sure I didn’t misplace anything in your frame when I changed your spiritron granularity.”

Hakuno considers reminding her that Sakura’s infirmary is just downstairs, but wisely decides against it.

“Okay,” she says. “Thank you. I’m glad to have someone like Rin looking after me. I’m in your hands, as always.”

Rin nods, matter-of-factly, and pulls her over to sit on the bed, a lingering hand resting on her shoulder.

She knows Rin handled it perfectly. But if Rin needs to confirm it for herself, that’s just as important.

Briefly, she communicates to Gilgamesh that she’s receiving a checkup, and that she might be a little bit late. All she receives in return is his laughter. Seriously, what a difficult Servant.

“Okay,” Rin says, imperiously. “Now strip.”

—

She sits there on the bed, uniform shirt off, while Rin examines her back, cool, slender fingers alternating between laying against her skin and clinking on her virtual keyboard. It’s, well. She’s a healthy young lady. It’s just a little embarrassing that Rin can probably see every change in her vitals.

Anyway, this is nice. She smiles fondly while her lecturer continues.

“—and you’re going to buy healing items and equipment like I said, right? You know all of us are relying on you. You have to do whatever you can to maximize your chances of survival, especially against an opponent like Meltyllis. Supplies and preparation are an essential factor in any form of conflict.”

“Of course! I always listen to Rin’s advice—I know I can always count on your support. I just. Well. Had to take a moment to calm my nerves.”

The next touch against her back is slightly less clinical, slightly more sentimental.

The permeable boundary between those two attitudes is just not fair to her heart.

“Anyway, I have more than enough money to throw around as it stands. It might feel nice to just dump a bunch of Sakurament into—Rin?”

Her friend freezes, hand against her back. One of her fingers twitches.

Ah. Right.

She remembers the neon figures of jewels and bills floating through the dark waters of Rin’s heart as she dived down to save her from BB’s control. “Hey! I don’t have a thing about money! I’m going to punch you!”

“…Rin?”

Briskly, her friend jumps up from the bed behind her, and starts making her way to the door without looking back.

“Well! Looks like you’re in good condition, you don’t need anything more from me. I’ll be in the Student Council Room monitoring your linkage to the school, so good luck out—“

“Wait.” Hakuno demands, standing up and taking her wrist. Rin still doesn’t turn back to look at her. “You know I wouldn’t judge you, or make fun of you, right? It’s… it’s okay.”

She can feel Rin’s heart beating in her wrist, fast and hard. She hears her swallow.

Her own heart is pounding in her ears. Her chest writhes with nerves.

It’s now or never.

She takes a step forward, then another, until she’s standing behind her, can feel her warmth.

Then she takes another step forward, one arm coming forward to wrap around Rin’s stomach, holding her tight, pressed up, against her back. That sweater is soft against her skin, and just a little rough.

She tries to put some steel into her voice. To give Rin some direction, something to hold onto, to calm herself. And. Well. Okay, her thoughts have been spinning ever since she saw Rin’s satisfied expression as Elizabeth whipped her with her tail, ever since she collected that Submission Desire SG. Maybe her intentions aren’t 100% pure.

“There’s something else I need you to do for me,” she says, gravely.

Is that… is that her own voice?

Rin trembles, slightly.

Desperately, she keeps hold of her thoughts.

She lets go of Rin’s wrist, still holding her around the waist, and manifests some of her saved up Sakurament with a stored hum. A thick, weighty stack of bills.

She reaches around, and presses them into Rin’s hand. Rin gasps.

“This is 20,000SM,” she says. She lets go of the money. Rin holds on.

Rin whimpers.

“Would you please,” she says, without a hint of question. “Go down to the commissary, and buy some healing items for me?”

She can feel the tension trembling in her friend’s body. She leans in close to her ear, and whispers. “I trust Rin’s decisionmaking to keep me safe.”

The sensation of Rin’s body melting in one ragged breath is the most erotic thing she’s ever felt.

“Y-yes,” she breathes.

“Thank you. Now go on.” She pushes Rin toward the door. “I’ll wait here.”

After Rin leaves, her legs turn to jelly. She sits back on her bed, supporting herself with her hands, and takes deep breaths to calm herself down.

After a few minutes, her heart finally stops racing, and she sighs, looking up at the ceiling.

Did she really just do that?

She has no idea where she got the nerves for something like that. She felt like she was going to pass out.

But more than that, Rin’s little reactions are carved in her memory. Maybe they’ll never go away.

Feeling her shiver. Feeling her relax. Feeling someone she’s always looked up to, admired and chased after giving up control to her. That moment where Rin’s trust in her took over her body.

Damn. Now she’s excited again. She can’t wait for Rin to get back.

She knows she has to face Meltryllis soon, but right now all she can think about is Rin.

And for now, that feels alright.

She realizes she’s still shirtless, and starts to dress herself, hands shaking with adrenaline

—

A few minutes later, there’s another knock on the door. Immediately, Hakuno’s heartbeat is back at full pace, nervousness swirling and tumbling in her chest. She stands up from the bed and opens it.

Rin is standing outside her door. Her face is flushed, and her brow twitches.

Hakuno steels herself, reaches deep down for the courage to push ahead.

She steps out of the way, and ushers Rin inside, who enters walking stiff-limbed.

“Here!”

Rin sticks out her arm toward Hakuno, a small item folder in her hand. She doesn’t look at her.

Hakuno takes it and stows it in her inventory.

“Thank you. I can always count on Rin.”

“You…!” she whips around. “Aren’t you even going to check out what I bought?”

She sounds angry, but looks nervous.

Ah.

Hakuno looks her in the eyes. Earnestly, seriously, she says, “Why would I have to? I know you made the right selection. I asked you because you’re the most competent person I know.”

Rin colors.

“You did what I said, right?”

She nods.

“Good,” Hakuno confirms.

Rin shivers. Her eyes are looking a bit hazy again. Hakuno’s stomach flips. Maybe it’s not fair to push her buttons like this, but Hakuno is doing it. She’s not stopping now.

I”n that case, I have something else I need you to do for me,” she says, with false confidence. She half expects Rin to snip at her for overstepping but… but instead, she’s staring at her, waiting, like Hakuno hung the moon.

Oh. Her eyes look so soft. She looks so relaxed, breathing fast and deep and even. Hakuno swallows.

“I need you to take this for me,” she hears herself say. She raises her hand, and a stack of 20,000 materializes in it. Rin’s eyes track to it like magnets. Hakuno is so turned on she feels like she might faint.

She presses the bills into Rin’s hand, folds the fingers around them. Rin watches it happen, breaths coming quickly, and then looks up at her, expectantly, waiting.

Adorable.

But she doesn’t tell her what to do. Instead, she materializes another stack in her hands.

Rin looks nervous.

She presses them into her other hand. Rin’s eyes track between her outstretched hands. She squeezes the wads of bills, eyes slamming shut, and shivers.

But she opens them again when Hakuno pulls out another stack. She stares up at her, pleading, as Hakuno presses it into her hand, balancing it between the other two. Her eyes say it for her.

It’s too much.

Hakuno pulls out another stack of bills.

Whether her life lasts only the next couple hours or seventy more years, she’ll remember the sound Rin makes until she dies.

Rin holds the 80,000SM in her hands, staring at it in disbelief. Hakuno heroically tries not to melt into a puddle, and instead circles around behind her, starts massaging her arms.

“That’s all yours. I’m giving it to you,” she says.

Rin whines.

But before she can object, Hakuno continues. “But Rin, I want you to do something. Would you please buy me a Mystic Code, and… whatever pair of socks you like best?” She laces her arms around Rin’s waist, and rests her chin on her shoulder. Rin melts into her hold. “It’s your choice,” she murmurs, her own breaths shaking. “The money is yours. But will you spend it all on me, if I ask you to?”

Rin takes one stuttering breath, and then another, and then another. She swallows.

“Yeah,” she says. “I’ll do it.”

—

“U-um, just to be safe, I checked if Kishinami’s condition was normal,” Sakura offers, her voice coming in clearly, if compressed, over the communication line.

Hakuno blows a foggy breath between her hands, and tucks them into her armpits. She looks around in the icy chill of Meltryllis’s hostile, forbidding Labyrinth, eyes tracking to each intersection in sight. Just in case.

“And then… well, it’s just that the temperature is cold on this floor, so I tried to raise Senpai’s body temperature a bit… but it won’t go up. Out of curiosity, I, um, secretly administered a healing item. The effect was negated.”

What.

“HUH?!”

“… I see. Considering this floor represents her “Sadistic Constitution,” it makes sense for it to have this characteristic.” Rani is unshakable as ever.

Hakuno hears a distant scream of frustration come over through Rani’s audio connection. “But it seems Miss Tohsaka is upset by this.”

Gilgamesh laughs heartily at their mistake.

“…Hakunooon, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay,” she replies. “I still think it was money well-spent.”

After all. The tights Rin put on her are doing a pretty good job of keeping her warm.

[seigephoenix]

Happy Thedas Weekend! I love a Zevran romancing Tabris, so could I suggest [ bouquet ] to present them with a bunch of flowers for your Serena? She seems like she deserves some flowers, after everything she's been through...

Happy Thedas Weekend! Serena has been through a lot in her life but Zevran being at her side helps. She would rip apart the Crows if it meant keeping him safe. For @thedasweekend!

Content Warning: attempted assassination, violence, death (nameless NPC death), smooches Length: ~700 words

Serena blocked the dagger with the scabbard of her favorite longsword.  The tip of the blade came dangerously close to her neck, but she merely glanced over.  The attempted assassin barely deserved the energy for even that but she liked to look at the people that tried to kill her.  Her hand lashed out and grabbed the assassin’s collar, slamming them in the wall beside her easily.  Being a Grey Warden came with few perks, but the bulk and strength that came with the Joining was one perk.  Serena glared into the face of her would be assailant and sighed as an arrow landed in his throat.  She tilted her head to the side letting the arrow shoot past her.  The sharpened metal arrowhead grazed her cheek leaving behind a thin line of blood.

“The Crows are ever efficient,” Serena grumbled before letting the man slide down the wall gurgling out his last words.  She was in the alleyways of Antiva City searching for a familiar face.  He’d sent word to have her join him in Antiva City, but she hadn’t seen him since arriving.  Serena had a suspicion he would use her as bait to draw out his own quarry.  She didn’t mind being used as bait, but he could have warned her at the very least.  Serena heaved a sigh before turning and ducking the next arrow meant for her head.  She scurried around the corner and grumbled about being too damn old for this bullshit now.

Serena paused when she heard a wet, muffled scream and chanced a look back around the corner.  A cloaked figure dropped the Crow that had been firing at her.  She arched an eyebrow seeing the man standing there and annoyance showed on her face in her pinched lips.  Serena stepped out to give him a piece of her mind when a bouquet of flowers mysteriously appeared under her nose.  The familiar scent of Ferelden wildflowers tickled her nose.  She accepted the flowers from him.

“I’m still mad at you,” she replied with a snap in her voice.  He pushed back the hood and gave her an indulgent grin before leaning over and kissing the tip of her nose.  “Being cute doesn’t negate the fact I got shot at.  Again.”

“Ah, forgive me for that my lady.” Zevran grinned as she gave him an exasperated glare but she held the bouquet tighter.  “I did not realize they had found you.  I was planning to take them out before they tried anything.”  His hand reached out running over her hair.  Longer now than when they first met, but still the same dark mahogany he loved.  She didn’t argue when he leaned over and brushed his lips over hers.

“I might forgive you.  On one condition,” Serena said against his lips.  He pulled back only an inch to hear her out.  “Do you remember when you told me about the hot chocolate they serve here?”  She looked up into his face, with the same eyes that had once been guarded.  Now she could see him in there and saw the amusement lighting them.

“I remember.  Shall I take you to a café?” Zevran asked quietly, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.  He’d give her the world if he could, but she never asked.  Never demanded.  Serena Tabris just stayed at his side.  She’d healed his heart and showed him what true trust was.  Over the years he’d seen the letters sent to her attempting to bribe his location out of her.  The way she would set up a meeting only to kill the person asking.  This was the woman he would follow into hell itself holding her hand the entire time.

“It will make up for being shot at.  Just this once.”  Zevran laughed at the petulant tone.  She grinned up at him and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek.  She reached up and tugged the hood back over his head.  Her lips covered his as she tugged him down to her.  He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling until there was no space between them.

“If you keep kissing me like that…”  Zevran warned as he nipped at her bottom lip.  “We won’t make it to the café.”  He laughed as her hands pushed at his chin.  He knew what her answer would be before she did.

“Hot chocolate first.  Then I’ll show you the room I rented here in Antiva City.” Serena grinned at him.  “And we can watch the sunrise together in bed.”

[fuzzyfoe]

I just updated the pet hotel shop for Saturday and gave all players more money.

I also have an announcement regarding how the pet hotel is going to be run from now on.

Starting today, the positions of the pets in the rooms will no longer be getting daily updates. Instead, they will only be updated on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the same days when the shop is updated.

When there weren't as many players and everyone had only one pet this was a quick and simple thing for me to do, but now the files for everyone's rooms each contain upwards of 30 layers with the amount of stuff in them and everyone has multiple pets. The combined amount of pets owned by every player right now is 17 pets, so I have been moving the position of, changing the order of layers for, replacing the sprites for, and occasionally drawing eyebrows on 17 pets every single night. For each pet that has a hat I need to change the position, rotation, and layer order of the hat as well. What once took me like two minutes to do every night is now taking me upwards of 30 minutes to do every night, so this is now something that I'm putting more time and effort into every day than the daily creatures and that's kind of absurd.

I probably won't be making any more new pets to add to the shelter or allowing any additional players to join the game either, at least not with this iteration of the game that is. This may be disappointing for some of you to hear, but I've decided that I need to dial it back a little for the sake of my own sanity and my sleep schedule. I've realized that staying up past 1 AM moving pngs around when I have to get up for my 9 to 5 job the next day is probably not healthy and that I should probably stop.

I do have a second, more exciting announcement regarding the pet hotel though: I am now working on turning it into an actual game!

I will be posting updates regarding the game's development here on my Tumblr and once it's in a finished-enough state I will put in on itch.io and game jolt for people to download. I also plan on releasing updates for the game, adding new items and new features and making it a little more polished over time.

Some features I plan to add to the game include minigames you can play to earn money, a breeding mechanic, a shopkeeper NPC that you can talk to, and a room editor.

Since I will be programming algorithms for the game that will be capable of updating everything instantaneously and on-the-fly, you will be able to see the positions of your pets move a lot more frequently than just once a day and the shop will update more frequently than just twice a week. While my plan is for this game to eventually replace the neocities pet hotel, I might actually be able to use what I program for this game to help automate the process of updating all of the rooms for the neocities pet hotel so I might be able to go back to giving everyone's rooms daily updates on my website once I make enough progress on the game.

I originally thought about making this an online game in which players would connect to a server and be able to interact with each other in some way, but I've decided that's a little too ambitious for now and things like the shop updating will just be controlled by the date and time on the player's own PC instead of some server time that would affect everyone's game identically. Once the game is finished I might consider taking the game and making an online version of it that adds online features, but that would be in the distant future. Players can just choose to share screenshots of their rooms and pets for the time being instead of being able to browse any player's rooms and pets at any time I guess.

I didn't expect my silly little pet hotel idea to get this much engagement so I'm partially making this game for you guys so that I'm still able to give you something if I can't keep running the pet hotel the way that I have been, but I'm also mostly just making it for myself because I want to just finally learn how to make shit and be able to feel the satisfaction of being able to create something like this as opposed to lying around creating nothing. But you guys are the reason I finally felt motivated enough to get off my ass and try learning how to make an actual game, so thank you all for that and I'm glad you enjoyed the pet hotel!