#and then when i'm done with all of that... i will finally get in blender and start making poses again thank god

[mattodore]

we’re back to editing again🚶

[simsinlowspace]

Sunny Shades - 4t2 Base Game Conversion

Happy Friday! Today I'm sharing another curtain conversion! Details and download below. ☀️

I finally got the meshes for the TS4 base game Sunny Shades extracted (did you know you can have multiple versions of Blender installed simultaneously? I did not, or else these would have been done weeks ago 😅). They come in all 20 original colors (with recolors in the pipeline). I'm reusing the swatch from the Popped Color Curtains because they're the same colors:

Once again, I separated the rod and curtains into subsets so I could recolor the hardware (they’re attached to the mesh and recolors 10-13). The right curtain is slaved to the left, and the shine has been removed. A numbered version of the swatch is included.

DOWNLOAD (SFS) Curtains are ~2.8MB

I'll be responding to messages when I get home tonight (sorry for the delay, it's been a crazy week!) and I'll have more goodies to share over the weekend (including a couple of fixes because Spacey spaced XD).

Lots of love, Spacey

@sims4t2bb

[athenamikaelson]

Complaints and Harriet Styles Pt. 2

Klaus Mikaelson x reader

Warnings- strong language, innuendos, mentions of blood and death.

Word count- 2.5k 

 “Would it make me a bad person if I said he was hot?’ I asked Caroline as I sat in front of her vanity mirror as she curled my hair.  

“Y/n,” Caroline frowned at me as she looked at me through the mirror, “he either killed or is trying to kill our friends. He’s a bad guy, so don’t even think about it.” 

“I’m not saying I want to bang the guy or anything,” As I say that the the thought crosses my mind and it’s clear Caroline knows that as well as her frown deepens, “Care don’t get your Barbie hair in a twist. Even though his accent is dreamy and his blue eyes make my knees shake. I’m not going to try anything, obviously.” I say mockingly as Caroline watches me as if she’s somehow aged 100 years since our conversation began. Which you know isn’t possible because she’s literally immortal. 

“Sometimes I don’t know what to do with you. You’re either arguing with someone or hitting on them. Or even both!” She says as she throws her hands up in emphasis, the curler unplugging itself during her action. 

We both sit there in silence for a moment looking at the curler’s wire. I look up at her with a sly smile, “Does this mean we’re finally done? My ass hurts from sitting here and being your personal doll.” Caroline puts her hand on her hip with a displeased look on her face. 

“I haven’t finished curling the other half of your head, so turn around and shut it. And didn’t you just say I was the Barbie doll?” She says matter-of-factly as she replugs in the curler and waits for it to heat back up. 

“Ok well you are a Barbie doll, I’m more like that doll that Angelica had in Rugrats, y’know the one with fucked up hair and looks like she just got thrown into a blender.” I laugh at my own joke as Caroline rolls her eyes, a smile trying to make its way onto her face. 

I glance at my dark eyeshadow that makes my y/e/c eyes bright. 

“Why do I even have to go to this stupid dance, our school has like 14 a year. How does our town even have the budget for that? And why do we have to do weird decade dances?” 

“Y/N you’re going to homecoming, end of story. It’s our senior year. This past year has been so crazy that we deserve a little normalcy.” She says as she finishes my last section of hair. 

“Normalcy? You do realize that every dance we’ve had since last year has ended with someone dead or impaled right? It isn’t a Mystic Falls high school dance if it doesn’t end in blood!” Caroline just watches me in annoyance as she sprays my hair with hairspray, “accidentally” spraying some into my face.

“Bitch!” I cough out.

“Go get dressed!” She uses her strength to lift me up and push me over to her closet where my y/f/c dress is hanging.

I look over my shoulder, “I hate you.” 

Caroline smiles, “Love you too brat.”

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

I listen to the live band as I sip on the disgusting drink in my hand. Caroline who was supposed to chaperone tonight left me to go yell at Tyler for his wolfy crush or whatever on Klaus. I’m seriously debating on just walking myself home, since Caroline was my ride, as I watch on in disgust as teenagers grind against each other to the fast song the band is playing in the backyard of Tyler’s house. Somehow Tyler was able to put together a huge party since the gym was flooded last minute. Caroline didn’t seem suspicious but I on the other hand always think the worst is going to happen at any time, and with my friend group's history with dances I wouldn’t be surprised if something was going to go down tonight. I'm about to grab my bag and leave before shit goes down when I hear a British accent come from behind me. 

“Welcome everyone tonight,” I turn around, and low and behold that British fuck from Senior prank night is standing up on the stage in front of all of us, yapping about something. 

“This is a long time coming,” He says as he watches someone from the crowd with a smirk on his face. I follow his eye line to see Stefan staring back at him. Yikes. I look back to the Brit but find his eyes staring in my direction. I don’t think he’s looking at me until I send a look of disgust at him which makes the smirk on his face deepen. Fuck me. Wait. No. I quickly turn around and start to make my way to the edge of the party hoping to make my escape before I get sucked into whatever bullshit the Scooby gang is going to try to drag me into. I smile to myself as I’m about to be successful in my escape as my vision is blocked by something. Said something bumps me backwards throwing me off balance and I wait to hit the ground as I start falling, but nothing comes. I look up to see Klaus grabbing ahold of the top of my arm, keeping me from falling down.  

“What a fucking cliche,” I say to myself angrily. Klaus looks at me inquisitively. 

“What’s a cliche?” He asks me with that stupidly hot accent as I rip my arm away from his hold and put another foot's distance between us.

“You catching me,” I tell him but he only looks confused, “Y’know in romcoms when the girl trips and falls but doesn’t actually fall because the random hot main guy catches her. It’s a big fucking cliche.” I say huffing as Klaus watches me with that stupid fucking smirk on his face.

“And I’m the main hot guy?” He asks, clearly trying to get me to go along with his current ego trip.

“No, you’re not. Ryan Gosling is the hot main guy or Paul Rudd,” I let out a satisfactory sigh at Paul Rudd, “You’re more of the evil boos villain in video games.” 

“And what’s so wrong with being the villain?” He asks me as he takes a step towards me. 

I look at him with what I can only guess looks like a “are you fucking kidding me” look. 

“Literally everything. That’s literally the whole point of being the villain.” I put my hand out stopping him from stepping closer. Klaus watches me closely for a second too long. His gaze makes me quite uncomfortable because I can’t tell if he wants to kill me for speaking to him like I just did or applaud me for having the balls to. God, sometimes I just need to learn to shut the fuck up. 

“Dance with me.” He states as he puts his hand out waiting for me to give him my hand in return. My gaze goes from his face to his hand multiple times before I shake my head in annoyance. 

“No way dude,” I say as I start to book it back towards the house away from him. I don’t get far though because he’s in front of me again with a determined look on his stupidly hot face. God why does it always have to be the bad guys that are hot? 

“Either you dance with me, or I start killing your friends off one by one. I wonder where that blond friend of yours is, Tyler’s little girlfriend.” He says with a dark glint in his eyes. 

“Why?” I try to hold my ground even though I’m pretty sure I’m about to start pissing myself any second now. 

“Why what?” he asks me as he watches me.

“Why do you want to dance with me? Theirs like 200 other girls here that I’m sure would just jump at the chance to dance with some British guy.”

Klaus just shrugs his shoulder as if he himself doesn’t even have an answer to the question. 

“Because none of them have had the displeasure of catching my eye.” 

“And let me guess, I have?” I ask him. He doesn’t give me an answer though, only reaches out his hand once again waiting for me to take it. Annoyed I slap my hand in his and drag him to the dance floor. Once I push us into the middle of a big group, I turn to him.

“Don’t be pissy if I step on your toes.” Klaus just lets out a huff of a laugh as he drags my body closer to him so my chest is touching his. A shudder goes through my body at the contact and I mentally curse myself for the reaction. Fuck he smells good. Jesus Y/N get a grip, he’s just a guy. A thousand-year-old hot guy, but still just a guy. I look up to find Klaus already staring at me, with a knowing smirk on his face. I just roll my eyes as I try to play it off cool as he sways me to the now slow song.

“So tell me, how did you become friends with my doppelganger and her little group of followers?” A weird feeling of sadness flows through me at his question as I realize he only asked me to dance for information on my friends. 

“We grew up together. Small town like this everyone knows each other, sadly.” I say looking off to the distance and watching the other couples converse lovingly with one another. 

“Why sadly?” He asks me, and for a second I could’ve sworn I heard actual curiosity. I glance back at him and shrug. 

“I just hate this town. I never liked people knowing my business, and everyone here is so complacent with their normal lives. They never question anything or want to know more about anything other than what happens in our weird ass town.” I blush as I realize I just rambled on to a complete psycho about my feelings. But, the look on Klaus’s face isn’t one of annoyance or humor like the other people I’ve vented to usually have on their faces. His face turns from contemplation to understanding. 

“I know what you mean,” He says as he expertly twirls me around, “when I was a boy I grew up in a small village where the wasn’t much chance for prospering. I loved the arts and knew I would never be able to do anything with it. It made me angry. So I can understand your resentment.” He tells me and for a second I forget that he’s the blood-thirsty monster ruining my friend’s lives. 

“You like art?” He looks down at me with a soft smile as if the subject brings out a different side of him. 

“I’ve loved it for over a thousand years. The way emotions can be shown through a canvas and bring out emotion so foreign is unlike anything else I found over a millennium of living,” His eyes trail down to mine, “What do you think?” 

I nod softly in agreement, “I love art. Not really painting because I’m kind of shit at it, but sketching and just looking at art. Although I’m not a fan of this new-age art where someone can splash a canvas with a line of color and sell it for a million dollars. I like art that means something to someone. Art that when you look at it you can feel the emotions that the artist was feeling, every move of the brush stroke made with heart and emotion.” Klaus nods along to my rambling again with a soft look on his face. A look that I can’t quite decipher since it’s on the face of one of the scariest men in the world. 

As the song comes to an end I reluctantly let go of Klaus’s hands. He stares at me for a moment and I think he’s just going to turn around and walk off realizing he didn’t get the information he wanted but then a small laugh escapes his lips and he shakes his head. I watch on in slight confusion wondering if he’s having some kind of stroke or something. 

“You’re not like them you know,” he must notice my confusion because he continues, “like your friends. You’re nothing like them.” I pang of hurt pierces my chest as I turn away and start to walk off, “Well screw you too.” 

“I didn’t mean that as an insult,” He says hastily as he grabs my arm turning me back towards him, “You’re friends they’re small-minded. They think of only themselves and not the world around them, or how amazing it can be.” I go to interrupt him and tell him not to insult my friends but he cuts me off. 

“You need something bigger than this little town. Something that brings you life. When I originally saw you that night in the gym I thought you were just going to be like the rest of them. But you surprised me Y/n, and not many people can say that.” 

I just stare at him in amazement for what seems like forever as I try to piece together everything he just told me. In my stupor though a woman approaches Klaus and whispers something to him which makes his originally light demeanor change to something dark. The woman walks away as Klaus looks at me once more.

“Whenever you decide you want to be a part of something bigger, see something other than this little town I’d be happy to show you. All you need to do is ask.” He tells me as he grabs my hand and places a chaste kiss upon it. I still can't get the balls to say anything as he gives me one last glance before he follows behind the woman. 

What the actual fuck.

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

I walked up to my front porch after getting dropped off by Matt because I guess Tyler drugged Caroline with vervain to save her from a pack of mind-controlled hybrids so that’s why she couldn’t bring me home. Sometimes I really hate my friend group. Why can’t for once we deal with normal people's problems like pop quizzes or acne? Like why does not one person in that entire group have a pimple on their skin? That’s the most supernatural thing going on here.

I’m about to open my front door when a small envelope catches my eye at the bottom of my feet. I look over my shoulder and only see Matt as he waits for me to enter my house. I wave to him with the envelope in hand and walk inside my house. I hastily open the envelope and pull out a piece of thick canvas paper. The paper is covered with a beautiful sketch of what appears to be an open field covered in flowers with grazing horses in the distance. Being so engrossed in the sketch I didn't notice the small note on the back. 

“There’s a whole world out there just waiting for you to experience, love. When you’re ready to experience it, I’ll be waiting.” – Klaus

Taglist-

@grac3aph3lion @megmcc2003 @kollover24 @nameunknownsthings

[barcaatthemoon]

good enough ii || alanna kennedy x reader ||

you and mackenzie talk things out.

part 1

alanna's phone call had come first thing in the morning. you had spent your night catching up with the last bits of your schoolwork. it wasn't your ideal night at all, but you were glad to know that there was nothing else for you to worry about for the rest of the school year aside from a couple of exams at the end of the month.

alanna would be glad to hear that. she hated having to share her time with you and your schooling. it made her proud that despite the fact that you could just coast along as an influencer that you still worked hard to get your degree. even if it did take up a lot of time that she wanted to spend with both of your focuses solely directed towards each other.

"how did you sleep?" alanna asked you. she invited you over with the intention to make you breakfast. mackenzie was passed out in the hallway, as if she had attempted to go to alanna's room, but didn't quite make it. you noticed the way your girlfriend's body felt a little stiffer and wondered if she had joined mackenzie on the floor.

"okay. i had a bit of a late night finishing up assignments, but i'm all done now," you told her. alanna smiled as she leaned down to press a kiss to your cheek. "how was your night?"

"we argued, made up, drank, fought some more, and i guess cuddled on the floor. macca called kirsty at some point last night, which was not fun to sit through. whenever she wakes up, she's got something to tell you," alanna told you. she sounded very serious, which you weren't used to at all. the blonde rarely took anything so seriously, which kind of threw you off a bit.

"i haven't caused problems, have i?" you asked. alanna could hear the fear in your voice and was quick to reassure you that any problems weren't your fault.

"no, of course not. some people just don't know how to pull their heads out of their asses." alanna spoke softly, despite the small bite in her voice. you turned away from the eggs in front of you to give her a quick peck on the lips. alanna whined a little as you moved away from her.

"not now, i don't want to burn breakfast," you told her. alanna pouted, but moved around the kitchen to help where she could. she took great delight in using the blender to make some smoothies for the three of you. you knew that one was just to give mackenzie a harsh wake up, no doubt knowing that the woman would be hungover.

you had expected mackenzie to come shuffling into the kitchen, not for her to tackle alanna onto the ground. you watched as the two of them rolled around the kitchen floor, finally breaking it up after a couple of minutes. you were quick to reach down and pull alanna back as she tried to wrestle mackenzie into a chokehold.

"this isn't helping," you told her. alanna gave you a sheepish look as she grabbed the plates you had set out and placed them at the table. "thank you."

"sorry," alanna mumbled quietly. mackenzie glanced between the two of them before making a subtle whipping motion at alanna. "ahem."

"i'm getting there. let me wake up a bit first, fuck's sake," mackenzie said as she leaned against the counter. she took a moment to sort her mind out before she turned towards you. "i am sorry for acting like a cunt yesterday. i shouldn't have judged you so quickly, and it is very obvious that you're good for alanna. it's really sweet that you both love each other so much, even if she's acting like a fucking sap all the time."

"thank you for apologizing." you didn't really know what else to say, so you followed alanna into the dining room. it was a bit tense for a while, but alanna was quick to make the two of you talk to each other. you were still understandably apprehensive about mackenzie, but by the time that mackenzie had to leave, you did feel sad about that.

alanna seemed relieved when mackenzie left. she immediately pulled you into her arms as the two of you settled back on the couch. you knew that aside from games and training, the two of you weren't leaving alanna's apartment for the week. she loved getting to spend time with her friends, but that was a mere afterthought whenever she got into one of her clingier moods.

"i am so sorry for noticing earlier," alanna apologized. you were sick of apologies and just wanted to put yesterday behind you. "i should have been paying more attention. if i had known, it never would have gotten that bad."

"you don't have to always be paying attention to me. i am a big girl, i can handle my own problems sometimes," you reminded her. alanna huffed as she shifted on the couch, the new position making it hard for either of you to look anywhere else. "you don't let me solve all of your problems for you. i just have to trust that you'll come to me when you need help."

"you don't think that i don't trust you, do you?" alanna asked. you shook your head. you knew that alanna trusted you. at times, you thought alanna could be a bit too trusting, but it was part of why you loved her. she kept herself well guarded, but the moment that someone slipped through, her walls came crashing down. "because i love and trust you so much, more than anybody else in the whole world."

"i know that you do. i know that you just want to protect me, but some things i need to learn to handle on my own. i know we're keeping this private right now, one day, people will know and i don't want there to be any doubts that i can't stand up on my own." alanna let out a small sigh at your words, but she understood. it would be a slow process, but you knew that eventually, you'd learn not to depend on her so much.

[bryce-bucher]

500 CALIBER CONTRACTZ Post #15

WISHLIST IT PLZ!

Water Ripplez:

I've been playing DMC3 lately, and I noticed some of the enemies in that game pop out of the ground with this warble effect that makes it look as though the ground beneath them in distorting. I asked some fellow devs about how that might've been done and eventually landed on a specific method.

The first step was to go into blender and create this little waves/ripple model and bake it onto a flat plane to get the normal map. If you don't know what a normal map is, it is a 2d texture that tells light what direction it should bounce off it in order to give the illusion of depth. Look them up they are cool.

The next thing I did was make a circular model and align the UVs so that scrolling it downwards would make it look as though the waves were traveling outwards from the center.

Then I brought that model and the normal map into unity and set up this refraction shader. dw about it.

And finally it all came together to become a little ground distortion. Wow, i'm so proud of it. Not proud as in im proud of making it, but proud of it as if it were my son.

Bubblez:

I decided to add in lil bubbles(z) that you can jump into and they pop which launches you up. They've turned out to be really helpful for bridging gaps in level design, and they were easy af to make. Not much to say about them besides I hope they r fun and I'll be adding cool pop particles to them later.

Doctor Spider:

The first thing I did when getting back on this project after my big October break was finish up Doctor Spider.

He is the second target in the desert nightclub area, and he lives up this big ass dome. You gotta bring him some blood wine to draw him out and then shoot him with ur gun. He sucks.

Conclusion:

Uhhhh.. idk. Ima be posting more about this again, so look forward to that or don't if u don't wanna. Wishlist the game if u think it looks cool and hope u have good day tyty

[strqyr]

those two minutes of flashbacks gave me So Much to mull over and i don't think i'll ever be over it. i'm thriving with the strq lore crumbs.

the absolute love summer has for her daughters and husband, how you can feel it from her every action. the way she's leaving behind something of hers just in case, the pain and hesitation on her face when she has to face tai and lie to him, the final (for now) laugh they share... there's just so much warmth to summer, it's unreal.

and then it's all gone when she goes to meet raven; she's in a mission mode, she's not there to chit-chat, there's no friendly banter from her, she's got a job to do and she wants it done so she can return back home.

"i'll be back soon," she says to tai. her final words to him. "i know," tai says back, his answer resolute, leaving no doubt behind that he truly believes summer will be back. then, some 15 years forward, and you have yang talking about her arm that she lost, how she lost a part of herself: "a piece of me is gone. and it's never coming back." "you're right. it's not coming back." you have ruby sending a prerecorded message via amity, her admittance how they might not make it in atlas, and if that happens the rest of the world can't give up, because bringing everyone together is how they'll win—

and the message gets cut short, and all tai can say is "no! come back!" in the darkness of his living room.

can you believe how much weight there is behind those words? in a simple "come back"? this is an emotional gut punch ten times over and i swear if tai is not in vacuo to see his daughters come back i'm going to riot.

"and, uh... what about... you're just going to leave them?" "you're one to talk." "it's— you're better at that life. better than i was."

it's what, raven? not the same? not that simple? there's something about... how raven doesn't see her own departure as the same thing as what summer is currently doing. that there's a difference—one that summer does not know about—between their reasons, and my mind keeps going back to 1. that raven has most likely already met salem at least once at this point, 2. salem's method to ensure raven's cooperation is to threaten the survival of her people, and 3. "what does she have on you?", a question that did not fit lionheart's situation, so chances are it fits raven's.

also she gave that life a shot but unfortunately she was raised to be a killer by a bunch of bandits but she still wanted that life and i'm—

i'm putting these idiots into a blender. they cause me immeasurable emotional pain.

[katsigian]

⁺⊹𑁍˚𖥸 𝙒𝙄𝙋 𝙒𝙃𝙀𝙉𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍 𖥸˚𑁍⊹⁺────────

Hiiii everyone, we are so back.

First up, Valen baby. I recoloured his cyberware! All of that golden hardware he has - his forearms, his neural wiring on his face, his piercings, his wedding ring - finally match. I recoloured them to be the same gold as his eyes and he matches so nicely that I've ascended into heaven. I love matching and symmetry in OC designs 🫠

I also made Valen more freckle-y. I love freckles, so Valen's got even more on his shoulders and chest. Lastly, lore-accurate love marks; Valen's normally covered in both bitemarks and hickies. Why? Because Valen and his husband are (healthily) possessive of each other + leaving marks is a way for them to bond (they're also just extremely horny for each other). That bond with his husband is essential to his character, so I figured I'd add them in

More ongoing projects under here ♡

Second up, Vesper baby. Yes, my rarely seen second son is getting an awful lot of upgrades and will be reappearing soon because I missed him. He's back to being pink like his OG version! It'll be a little while yet before I've got him done, as I'm making him a new hair from almost scratch in Blender + giving him brand new tattoos. I'm very happy with how he's coming along so far, though.

Lastly, I'm recolouring cyberware for public release on Nexus! I really needed more variety when it comes to OC creation + I haven't seen recolours of these before. So I figured If Not Me, Then Who. There's two ready to go and I'll likely do more if everything goes well.

And that's everything for now!

Taglist ♡ if you'd like to opt in/opt out, please feel free! As always, there's no pressure to do these if you'd rather not. And if you've been tagged already/have done this already, then feel free to ignore! 🖤

@rindemption @noirapocalypto @westealtoys @quickhacked @cloudofbutterflies92 @opaleyedprince @mercymaker @nightbloodbix @sunites @vvanessaives @skelior @peaches-n-screem @spicyraeman @feykiller @florbelles @aceghosts @riikugan @devilbrakers @dani-the-goblin @elvenbeard @dickytwister @hibernationsuit @hiddenbeks @jerichoes @cybersteal @kharonion @aggravateddurian @hummingbirdsage @archonfurina @vanoefucks @seluned @gothimp @onehornedbeast @carlosoliveiraa @baldurians @thefrostyshepard @balverine2077 @magicmissiled @ancunine @ronqueesha @wormskul @vivanightcity @cyberholic77 @lilacmox @strafethesesinners @vincentmatthews @jaydenborn @sh00kspeared @crookedvultures @saintemarvel

[theeeveetamer]

Rune Factory Tides of Destiny (extended thoughts)

@saficswrites asked me to go a little more in depth and I've actually been planning on talking more in depth anyway, so this is a good opportunity! I'm also going to throw in some of the resources I used while playing because there's a lot of great ones but they're kind of scattered.

So I will start by saying that I started on the series with RF4 back when it originally came out for 3DS and I played the heck out of it. Like, tried taming every single monster in the game levels of played the heck out of it. I've since played all of RF1, RF2, most of RF3 and RF5, and now RFToD. I chose to go back and play 1, 2, 3, and ToD after RF5 was announced. The only one I haven't touched is Frontier.

And yeah, Tides of Destiny does have some quirks and I can see why some people don't love it as a Rune Factory game. Just starting with some of the criticisms (because they lead into one of the things I actually really like about the game): The farming is very pared down and it's entirely reliant on the monsters you tame. Basically you just plant generic seeds and the monsters you put on the seasonal island determine what they grow into. Different monsters can grow different things.

That is somewhat annoying because you can't see what the monsters are called or what they plant before you tame them, the game doesn't really give you a clear list of everything you can plant, and you only get to tame 30 total so you're going to be doing a lot of swapping. It is possible to get everything with some planning tho (I borrowed the monster setups from this GameFaqs thread).

That said, I personally kind of prefer this? Micromanaging the farming has always been my least favorite aspect of the Rune Factory games. In Tides of Destiny you don't have to worry about that. There's no watering, no harvesting, no spreadsheets keeping track of exactly what seeds you need to buy, and the crops grow so fast (most are done in 1-2 days when you have your monster friendship maxed out) that you don't really feel the randomness. I'm in summer of year 2 and I've already got a storage full of full stacks of basically every crop in the game. That means you can focus 100% on the exploration, dungeons, making friends, etc.

And the exploration is. My god. I love it. It's basically if you threw Rune Factory and Legend of Zelda Wind Waker into a blender. For reference, Wind Waker is one of my favorite Zelda games ever so that colors my impressions of the game. The exploration is 100% riding around through the ocean on a giant golem, fighting giant monsters, and digging up islands and salvage points. The quests usually point you toward specific islands to unlock and there's no point where I felt like I needed an external tool to explore, but if you want help someone made an excellent, detailed map of the stuff you can find in the ocean. You also eventually unlock a fast travel and there is a way to speed up getting from point A to point B, so I never felt like wandering through the ocean was too intrusive.

I also really, really, really like the characters. Each one has a little required "friendship event" you need to watch to unlock their next friendship level, and each of the main island inhabitants has at least 6. All the friendship events are connected to a little character arc which is completed with level 6. The bachelor/ettes get an additional 3 event arc if you unlock their love events as well, though you can't access that until after the main plot is over (and gender locked unfortunately). And there's actually a reason to get them up to the max (level 6) before the endgame, since you get a benefit in the final boss battle.

IMO they're all just really likable, funny characters. Some of the events actually made me laugh out loud, and I was usually smiling the whole time any of the them were talking!

I also really like they way they handled the main characters (Aden and Sonja). The plot of the game is that Sonja gets trapped in her childhood friend Aden's body, and the story is about figuring out how to separate them again. You can play as Sonja once they're separated at the end of the main plot, but you do have to do the entirety of the main story as Aden. Initially I was kind of miffed about this, since I vastly prefer playing as female characters in games, but I actually really like how they did it. For two reasons.

One, I just really like Aden as a protagonist. I was expecting him to be kind of the goody two-shoes amnesiac like a lot of Rune Factory protags are, but no. He's sassy as hell. There was at least one point where one of the characters (I think Joe) is like "hey buddy ol' pal" and Aden is just like "Yeah we're not friends sorry you thought that tho."

Two, initially I was thinking that the whole "my best friend is living in my head" thing was going to be some secret they kept. Like Sonja was going to be there, but she was going to be quiet most of the time or not really interact with the world. But no. The first thing that happens is the obligatory RF starter girl (Odette) finds Aden, and the first thing out of his mouth is "Sonja is stuck in my head, isn't that weird?" and EVERYONE just goes with it. I love it. They really lean into the wackiness/silliness of it all. Sonja is very present in the dialogue and the plot. On her birthday characters wish Aden happy birthday to pass it along. The writing frequently plays around with the dynamic of them being stuck together (such as the two of them arguing over how Aden is going to take a bath), and they frequently swap off in dialogue and give different perspectives. They each kind of have their own relationship with the various characters around town. Most of the friendship events feature both of them in some way. It's also really nice how they'll talk to each other throughout gameplay. They'll say good morning to each other, Sonja will warn you when your health is getting low or what time it is, etc.

Despite playing as Aden (physically) I really feel like you're actually playing as both of them to some degree, and I really like that. It actually feels kind of lonely once they split at the end of the main plot and you don't get Sonja's little quips in your head anymore.

I think those are the big things. There's also lots of little things I enjoyed. I love the aesthetic of the world, and the gameplay systems relating to RP management and stuff are much more refined than the older games. I'd say the only mane difference between it and RF4 is that swinging your weapons still costs RP. The crafting is a little annoying until you get the hang of it (you can craft anything up to 20 levels higher than your current level, so it doesn't suck to grind too badly). There's a bizarre amount of spelling errors, which isn't super intrusive but it is kind of funny lol.

On the negative side, the story is pretty short. You can easily beat it in less than one in game year if you're rushing. I'm also not a huge fan of the main story needing to be 100% completed before you can do marriage and the like, since the game is basically done at that point. I don't think there's much post-game other than the goals you make up for yourself. I do think playing as Sonja was a bit of an afterthought. She has like a quarter of the romance options Aden has and there's some odd mistakes I've noticed playing as her (like trying to knock on Sierra's door while she's asleep will have Sonja saying a line about how the bath is closed ???) but it doesn't bother me too much so far.

Those are pretty minor negatives though. I still had (and am having) so much fun with the game!

I also heavily used this website as a guide. The only thing is that I wish they had pictures of the monsters because I think they have slightly different names from the rest of the series, and it can be confusing cuz some monsters have different colorations and therefore do completely different things.

[blacklegsanjiii]

warlord!sanji started off so fluffy T_T now it is making me cry. oh well suffering is as tasty as laughter :)

to continue the angst- i recently read a fic where sanji got abducted by germa and essentially turned into the winter soldier, brainwashing style, and it broke me, so ofc im going to spread the pain! judge fucks up big time by deciding to finally get some use out of his failure and arranges to have his remains, in the aftermath of a successful execution, to be brought back, revived, and altered into his mindwiped weapon. strawhats+warlords find out months later, when reiju, unable to disobey but desperate to save her brother, arranges things to get sanji a mission that happens to have him run across both of his families. they dont recognize him at first, just on guard by the raid suit.

but mihawk has haki. mihawk can recognize his son, even after everything thats been done to him.

they call after him--he doesnt recognize them, doesnt even recognize his own name, he flees after only a moment of hesitation, and. well. germa is going to burn.

ofc they get sanji back with the power of familial love and perhaps vegapunk threatened into finding a cure but before that there is bound to be a lot of angst as both crew and warlords struggle with a dehumanized sanji, trying not to hurt him when he is ordered to kill them. hahaha i feel very evil right now :')

gosh this got long but this is what your au has done to me you ought to be very proud <3

So if you're the same anon I showed my friend who got me into OP your last ask and they were like "this was supposed to be a happy blog, what the fuck?" And I explained we all like sticking Sanji in a blender to see what happens. I'm also horrible at names so you may pick one! It's long.

Gods okay, so the execution is successful and the warlords are waging war and the Strawhats and Jinbei are going about their new normal. Maybe they all get wrapped up in one of Luffy's plots like usual when Mihawk looks around and Boa questions him and he says he thought he felt Sanji with his haki. He shrugs it off because Sanji is dead and they're all grieving still so it just has to be that. It has to be that, it has to be. But then they see the black suit with a big yellow 3 on it and the '66' for Germa on it and there is no mistaking that haki, that is Sanji, but he has black hair, his blue eyes behind the dark glasses are empty.

Boa steps forward and reaches a hand out but the Sanji disappears and so does his haki signature. Mihawk yells but nothing happens. Sanji is gone. Doflamingo strings around but his haki is nothing compared to Mihawk's or Jinbei's and he's gone. Such begins the search for Sanji. They search for weeks before they find him again.

When they do he's alone again and it's just the four warlords. The Strawhats continuing their journey without them. Sanji looks at them and Doflamingo strings him up before he can get away. Boa rushes forward to hold Sanji's face in her hands and try to calm their son down who is struggling against the strings making him a puppet. She coos and strokes his hair as the others rush forward and join in trying to calm him down which only makes him more agitated and they eventually knock him out and get him on a ship and sail off. Fuck Germa that's their kid and they will not lose him again.

They get him to an island Crocodile has procured somehow and set up operations there to start getting Sanji over whatever...this is. They also call the Strawhats to let them know they have Sanji and where they are. Boa tosses the Germa suit into the ocean and Mihawk gets him in some of his clothes which are too large for Sanji still. Crocodile sets up some tents and Doflamingo helps by setting a makeshift kitchen because he's pretty sure that's how they're going to get the kid back.

Crocodile accidentally brings up killing as he talks on the denden to baroque and is suddenly attacked by his son who was sitting with him staring into space. Croc is trying not to hurt the kid, he's not but fuck man hitting his son in the face with his hook did nothing. The others come to help and get Sanji calmed down. It happens again when Boa simply asks what she should bring back and what Sanji would like to wear. Sanji's hands around her throat are shocking because Sanji doesn't use his hands and Mihawk wraps his arms tightly around Sanji and wrestles him to the ground. The one thing they weren't expecting was the total meltdown of screaming and clawing at his own face when Doflamingo wrapped Sanji in a scarf and it covered his mouth and nose before Doffy could adjust it.

Mihawk who simply doesn't talk a lot pulls out a stack of children's books and reads to Sanji. As do the others and Doffy is very uncomfortable because that's not what he was doing with Sanji. Sanji would be running and swimming and fighting baby 5 and dodging all her weapons. Would practice his haki and learn the foulest of language. None of them knew how to be soft until Sanji and so having to go back to a softness that has been almost forgotten is strange and rough.

Months later and lots of fights and bruises and broken bones and cuts, Sanji's skin is no longer metal, his hair is almost all blond again and he is talking again. No where near as foul as he once was but he is talking. He's cooking with all his present parents so they deem him well enough to finish with his crew. So they take him to his crew where he is weary around them.

Luffy is so excited to see Sanji, as is the crew but it's Luffy. He is, was?, Sanji's boyfriend. He loves Sanji and Jinbei is also excited and Boa is explaining to everyone they think they got all of the trigger words and he's mostly back to normal. What they've been doing. Luffy just rubber bands to Sanji and kisses his cheek and just starts talking about how the crew and he missed him. Sanji is blinking at him as Zoro and Robin step forward to intervene if need be, but it's fine.

They leave with nods and handshakes to Jinbei and a hug from Boa to Jinbei and Luffy. Another few months later the other warlords get a picture of Sanji, back to normal, smiling and holding Luffy who is planting a big kiss to Sanji's cheek. Zoro is using the opportunity to steal sake in the background of the photo but his face is stupidly fond of the two idiots in the foreground.

[bigwishes]

would love to be transformed into a sweaty stinking guy that's too hairy for his own good. I love a good muscle growth but I wouldn't be opposed to growing a big muscle gut either.

You want to become a big stinking sweating mountain of a man, we can grant that wish. Normally its my job to put guys in that position when they didn't specifically ask for it but because you did you'll get exactly what you asked for, and maybe a bit more.

what's the saying never too much of a good thing?

so first order of business piling on the muscle, lets take that body of yours and beef you right up like you've been lifting for years, filling you all the way up almost to your natural limit.

How easy was that? Yeah I know you said that you wanted to be stinking and too hairy for your own good but be patient we're getting there.

The next thing we need is hair and lots of it! make your pits fluffy, make you chest 2, NO, 3x as hairy and cover your arms and legs with the stuff. That discomfort around your ass isn't going to disappear either, there is so much hair down their now its going to rub up against you pants and become so itchy you'll be scratching your ass like a dumb ape.

How's that for hairy! Now with all that hair comes warmth, and with warmth comes sweaty 24/7 but here's the fun part, because you're so hairy it'll never fully fall off your body, it's just going to get tangled in that hair and cause you to reek, I'd say you're close to getting your own cartoonish stink cloud follow you around, give it a day and it will be in everything you own. That sweat and stench is going to seep through your clothes, everything you ever wear will be wet with sweat. Its going to get in your car seat, in your couch and in your bed, every time you sit on any of those it is going to squelch as old sweat is squeezed out like a sponge, your carpet will become stained with footprints from where you walked and it clung to the ground. I wouldn't recommend standing in one place too long mate or a puddle might start to form.

Try to keep those pits down mate, you don't want people passing out all around you, and if your stench starts peeling the paint on the walls of the gym I'm pretty sure they'll make you pay for it.

But I don't think we are quite done yet, no, I think there is one final change we can make to ruin you.

---

You wake up in your new body, the first thing you notice is the powerful smell of your house, stinking like no one has ever opened a window in any gym ever and all of it is trapped in your house. A small rush of excitement hits you, the wish your were probably too horny to make came true. You stuff your nose in your pits and breath in the stink of an entire locker room, all trapped in one arm pit.

Your stomach growls for food. Throwing a black tank top on you head to the kitchen to mix up a protein shake. Your new size demanded food, so you made a triple protein shake with triple the oats and fruit most call for. You raise the blender to you lips and start to drink, as you do you feel some slip out between the blender and the sides of your lips, running down your new beard and falling on your clean shirt. You chuckle looking down at the tank top growing darker as your sweat seeps into the fabric you take your finger and scoop up some of the protein.

"maybe I need a clean shirt before the gym, or at least one without food" you laugh as you walk back to your room, struggling to take off the tank top unassisted.

opening the door to your wardrobe you are greeted with the smell of sweat, musk and...stale protein? it smells like someone left their protein shaker in a locker for a year. Looking at the selection of tank tops you notice all of them have food stains down the front, some even have dried oats still stuck like you'd spilt your shake and simply hung it out to dry. Your shorts were similar, stains on the side from wiping your hands, even all your underwear stored in a small basket at the bottom of the wardrobe were riddled with old jizz stains and droplets of protein from drinking shakes in your underwear.

in confusion you scratch your beard pushing the dried shake you forgot was there deeper into the hair. Your stomach rumbles and you release a pent up belch reeking of protein followed by another growl in you stomach as more gas begins to brew.

"shit, I thought, I thought I was just gonna be a hairy bodybuilder with some B.O. not, I didn't want.."

but it doesn't matter what you want now mate, you wanted to stink so I gave you wanted, enjoy your life as a big, muscular, hairy, stinking,

fucking muscle S L O B

[glitteringcrab]

Evil Morty's detachment

One thing that originally struck me as extremely, horribly cold of Evil Morty and, in fact, the worst thing he has done, was him killing the district Ricks.

It's the... callousness of the thing. Like, I could get why he attacked and killed Ricks when he wanted to scan their brains but this... this meant that he got up in the morning, and just told his guards to kill other Ricks in the meeting today (or maybe he didn't even have to tell them; they're Ricks, they're smart).

That's... cold. Calculating. PREMEDIATED. It's just a meeting! No one's attacking him. I get it that it was predictable that some Ricks would refuse to accept him as a leader and that he'd Have To Do Something About It, but still... think of other moments in other movies, stories, etc. The misbehaving underling gets a warning. A threat. We've even see Rick threaten and kidnap people to get what he wants, not immediately kill them (despite boasting to Dr Wong that "he doesn't solve problems; he incinerates them". Evil Morty is Ricker than Rick sometimes).

It was just a meeting, and while the rest of us revise notes before a meeting, Evil Morty told his guards to be ready to shoot to kill. I think it was the coldest premediated murder in the whole series.

And he did it while watching through a freaking mirror, too!! HOW CREEPY IS THAT.

It's Evil Morty's utter callousness and detachment that made me doubt the Freaky Mortys Theory after the S7E9 episode, because he was visibly upset when Rick died, when Bigfoot was grieving; because he said that he "refused to kill [Rick] again" and that's NOT how Evil Morty acts. Evil Morty does not get upset. Evil Morty does not care if people die gruesome deaths or if they get tortured. Evil Morty would surely not beg for Rick to not make Evil Morty commit murder again.

...Except, well... the mirror thing.

Someone has to be an extremely horrible person to kill another and be so freakishly unbothered by it that they only deign to look at their victim through a mirror. While they're getting a haircut.

...or it's done by someone who actually did not want to watch their victim getting murdered, who would like to be anywhere else and to look at anything else.

Obviously, he still has to commit said murder; after all, if the district Ricks do not obey him, they won't do as they told, and he won't be able to ever blow up to Curve. He'll never be able to leave.

So he kills them anyway, and has to look to make sure it's done, but he does not manage to face them, and does not manage to look them in the eye. I think that at that moment Evil Morty was trying to distance himself from it.

And it's worth pointing out that he gave them a way out. "I think it's important to be clear. Raise your hand if he speaks for all of you". Of course, there is some pragmatism to that because the terrified survivors live to make sure never to displease their ruler again. Had all of them died, well... their replacements might be a bit unsure about what exactly transpired and maybe get uppity.

I'm not entirely sure about this theory because after he poured himself a drink (without drinking it yet) he seemed to cheer up significantly.

In a similar vein, in the S5 finale, when the Operation-Phoenix-ed Ricks and Mortys were rerouted to the blender tanks and their blood and guts were siphoned in a giant tank, I was horrified. That seemed like extremely heartless murder of every single citizen in the Citadel, just out of spite so that no-one would survive, or so no-one would come after Evil Morty.

It soon becomes apparent to us viewers that their viscera was somehow needed to help open the rift (wtf Rick C-137, how on earth did you build the wall around infinity and why it has the be taken down that way? Rick C-137 knew that something like this might happen, by the way. He knew that a rift opening would result in everyone dying, and he didn't seem surprised by the blenders).

Morty Prime is, of course, horrified:

...while Evil Morty keeps his gaze down.

At that moment I thought he was a cold unfeeling psychopath who couldn't ever bother to look at the horrible thing that was happening; like it was immaterial.

But after S7E9 I'm wondering if he kept his gaze down because he couldn't stand to look at this.

He still does it, because there's no other way out...

...but (if the Freaky Mortys Theory is true) in S7E9 he begs Rick not to make him kill again. Unfortunately he doesn't get his wish (although I'm gonna say that the Vikings don't count: they live to get killed in Valhalla lol. The Vatican guards definitely do count though).

And it's entirely possible that him freeing the Big Foot was, while a pretty dumb moment (Evil Morty, you know better than this!! You know it's suspicious when someone appears non-threatening because it's your signature move!! You were Evil-Mortied by the Bigfoot!!) it's possible that it was Evil Morty's first attempt at empathy in a long while. There he had before him a suffering creature that he suddenly felt a kinship to, a creature that was mistreated and abused, that committed murder while reacting in rage and then felt sorrow. In hindsight it's not entirely unlikely that Evil Morty would find himself suddenly moved by this and to act against his better judgement.

[stealingyourbones]

HEY BONESY I'm sorry I have no bones rn all I have is teeeeeeth.

I wanted to thank you! Your animation has inspired me to download blender and attempt freaking 2D animation. HOW DARE YOU IMMA BE WORKING ON THIS FOR AN ETERNITY.

It's a Danny phantom animation! (Or at least it's supposed to be...) <3 I'll tag you when it's done. Thank you for posting the twitch animation!

!!! :0 oh dude I’m so happy for you!!! Animating is a long process but it’s soooo gratifying when you’ve finally completed it. I wish ya the best of luck on your journey! Don’t be like me and try to figure it all out by yourself and struggle. Watch a few YouTube tutorials to get your feet planted on the ground and ready to get started! Good luck :D

[twst-drabbles]

Divus 2

Summary: Divus called you into one of his classes to be on standby in case an accident happened. You are the janitor after all. Though, it seems you found an interesting method of keeping your workload light.

(Janitor AU brings me joy in the fact Prefect can shit talk Divus without consequences.)

"I hate you, Divus." You sleepily mumbled on your chair, sending the entire classroom into an almost suffocating silence. Grim almost lost his grip on his potion had Divus not tapped him on the head.

"Can you at least keep quiet about your animosity towards me?" He wasn't the least bit annoyed. If anything, he's grateful for it. All the little pups here have finally shut their mouths. Though, he would love it if their attention was towards their work and not at you practically falling out of your chair in sleepiness.

"I'll shove your head in a blender. I should be sleeping right now." You pushed yourself up right, pressing your fingers against your eyes. Divus does have eye drops handy, grading papers is no easy task, but you'd reject the offer out of spite. "You know I work nightshifts."

"I'm aware," otherwise he wouldn't have offered to give you the extra money that he knows Headmage Crowley won't bother to pay, "However this particular day requires an interesting potion mixture. And said mixture can get a bit" An explosion of liquid and smoke come from Ace's group. Of course. "-messy..."

"Haha..." Ace backed away from Divus with the smacking crop in his hands, "Oops?"

Divus cracked the crop against the lid of the cauldron. "You failed. Go get yourself cleaned up and be ready for a remedial course later."

Divus had trained the students well enough to let them know talking back does nothing. Ace sputtered, but ultimately backed away.

"It hasn't even been ten minutes..." You grumbled, hunched over. Divus supposes he was cruel in insisting you be here to clean up while he focuses on teaching. However, both you and him have jobs, and they must be completed.

...Divus will do something extra for you once this was over. Perhaps a head massage from yours truly to lull you to sleep? Ah, but you do throw yourself into your self study sessions, so there might not be much time for that.

Before Divus could get a word in to your comment, you walked over to the window and opened it.

You took a deep breath and shouted, "Whoever can clean up this classroom will get a Turkish delight!"

Divus shifted in his coat, listening to the quiet wind but found nothing else.

"What are you-"

A light buzz, then a storm of bells and fluttering fairy wings zipped past you and Divus. They clamored in his ears, little hands setting his hair strands back in place. Blue fairies used their water magic to pick up the gunk that spilled over the floor. Wind fairies carried the smoke out with a simple twirl of their bodies. Fire fairies relit the cauldrons.

Fairies hated the scents of those that weren't like them, so to see them willing to even clean him and his students up had him frozen in place.

Once they were done, they all but dropped everyone in favor of clamoring over you. A green fairy even laid themselves on your head, patting your forehead to hurry up as you pulled out a crinkled bag of starch covered delights.

You pulled the tie off, opening the bag for them all. The scent of roses hit Divus's nose. "Have at it."

All swooped in and tore it apart, trying to steal the biggest pieces for themselves. Some of them chose to leave, but others chose to stay and sit on your shoulders, having their sweet lunch with you as you relaxed back in your chair.

Since when did you gain the favor of these fairies? They obeyed you at the drop of a hat.

Divus felt his smile grow sharp. Amazing. You have them all collared to your commands.

[vitearred]

Help this still has me dying ur telling me kagiura looks like 913738 times hotter than he already is (he seriously had no business looking like THAT) from hirano's pov like that's literally the way he sees him and still he has yet to realize how gay he is are u fucking kidding me😭😭😭😭

like what the fuck is THIS???

I-💀

I have no other words just look at that, god he's so embarrassing and cuestionable and harusono really set him up when she decided to make him like this i'm never letting these things go, i'm gonna make sure he's getting made fun of to the end of times i'm sorry but just?$!$!'!!@!#!";*!"?'!:!'"?!!(

like really???? REALLY ur seeing him like that when he's motivated and doing his best (kind of what u previously described as something u want ur ideal marriage partner to be like, unironically TAKING KAGIURA HIMSELF AS UR EXAMPLE), u feel the urge to be as close to him as u can be and get to see more of that, u react like this, eyes all wide and sparkly, almost going speechless, when all of that is so clearly shown as the positive side of the effects of his feelings for u, when u get to witness the impact u have on him??? AND ur also getting similar effects bc what the fuck do u mean u "really want to study right now" to make sure it's possible for u two to stay together ("close and personal")??? u know u both basically boost eachother, and that's all u want, but ur unaware, u don't fully aknowledge it, u don't really have a conscious idea of what u want from a romantic relationship that goes beyond akwardly answering a random question just for the sake of it, u were vague with ur answer but u managed to bring the essence out.

But nothing regarding love is clear, the only thing u have clear is that u don't wanna be parted from kagiura and that u don't wanna hurt him, and i truly can envision all of this finally connecting at some point because it simply makes so much sense, what u want is there —ur just yet to know exactly what u want, and how it's already there; who u want it from, who makes u want it. THEM being together makes so much sense, and it's gonna be so easy then (after all the hard parts) because they just work. So powerfully, so beautifully: they work. And we see that, everyone around them probably does too, we feel that so intensely that it feels like a crime to not realize how much sense it makes for them to be with eachother.

That's why it inspires so much violence out of me when hirano is like this like i just need to hate crime him for putting me through this😭😭. It all has me feeling a lot (can u tell lol), but on the other hand i'm just so sure of them???? and i'm just waiting for them to meet me there??? Things just have to connect, and they will, because they are everything the other wants and it all just has to come together. And sometimes i just read their mess and while there's a big part of me reacting and screaming and

there's another that just absorbs the big picture, sighs like a very old and unconditionally patient person would(?, and just appreciates them for being the mess that they are, for bringing some drama into my life, living and learning and trying to figure things out even in ways that sometimes make me cringe and cause the dramatic part of me to want to rip my head off and put it in a blender. They're getting there and i trust them and love them as if they were my kids or something

And lastly, seriously WHAT is that face?? (no bc let me emphasize that, it has to be done) I'll tell u: that's the face of gay. Gay blush. Gay thougths. Everything gay. There's no denying the gay. Maybe he can try to deny it but the thing is he has no proof he's not gay meanwhile i have 17 chapters AND MORE to back me up, if he fights me on this i'll END him

ALSO, it does things to me seeing the way hirano looks and melts at kagi being all focused and motivated because KAGI'S NOT LOOKING AT HIM at those moments, he's just in the zone looking very hot and it hits hirano like a truck and he doesn't get to see hirano in that exact moment😭😭. oh my god this patern is certainly repeating a lot before there's a crash. Harusono's gonna have us on edge and i'm about to die bc i NEED kagiura to realize HIS POWER!!##!@?#!"!"! and exploit the fuck out of it, tho of course at first he's going to be a mess (they're both gonna be) but just imagine him starting to use that to his advantage, him knowing that he can do that to hirano and make him very flustered by showing him that he knows about it. Let me tell u, he's gonna be a menace and i'm looking forward to it

[canmom]

If I may gush: what you've written so far of VECTOR is spectacular. The writing has (in the best way) the brutality & intensity of a flesh wound. The worldbuilding feels like someone stuck the gay eldritch futurism of 'This is How you Lose the Time War,' the superpowered wish fulfillment of the Nemisis series, & the bleak horror-erotica of Gretchen Felker-Martin's Manhunt in some sort of biopunk flesh-blender, and yet it somehow works? I understand ADHD's a bitch, but I hope there's more someday

waa, thank you so much! I really truly appreciate that... despite not having read any of the things you compare it to ^^' (I assume you don't mean the 2000AD comic Nemesis The Warlock?) - that said, Time War is on my shelf and I'm looking forward to reading it v much tho...

I was actually rereading parts of VECTOR recently. It would be good to pick it back up again. I will not be able to be in the exact headspace I was when I wrote the first 'book', so it will probably feel a little different from the first, but that's OK! I'm still me.

To talk a little about how the sausage isn't made, I had been planning on doing a re-edit pass of the whole story, maybe getting some input from friends knowledgeable about writing. That kind of never quite worked out and it's been several years since then. At this point I'm probably going to leave it largely as-is and focus on writing new chapters. It's a web serial, after all, people know what's up.

The other problem I had was thinking up new names for the segments ^^' Where do you go once you reach the head of the bug? I came up with what felt like a really good answer the other day, but I struggle to remember what it was now - some other trio of cool words from biology. Maybe it was cell division, 'segment MITOSIS' or something like that. (So much VECTOR is driven by the love of cool science words...)

I plan on releasing some of my other short stories in the meantime. Pocket Healer is the most VECTOR-like - still needs a final chapter. In fact, let me make a list. Consider this a teaser...

A Summoning - short story, finished, submitted to Strange Horizons, maybe they'll get back to me sometime this year...

The General's Worm - short ero story, finished, just needs cover art

Pocket Healer - short story, nearly finished, but needs a good ending and cover art for itch.io release

Thirty Years - linear twine, essentially finished, needs final polish for itch.io release, a better title

Sword Story (working title) - web-based visual novel, collab with @velocityvsreality who made some wonderful UI art and character portraits. we got off to a good start and it's honestly one of my fave stories I've written, but a lot more needs to be done if we resurrect this project!

Flower of Heaven - actually a spinoff of VECTOR! interactive fiction, the presentation needs a lot of work

Worm Queen - short mythologically styled story, about half finished.

[revretch]

Hey! Big fan of your work - I've recently started delving into Blender animation, is there any way you could share the workflow u use when animating stuff?

Of course, but be warned that my workflow is highly idiosyncratic!

First off: Rigging. How I do it depends on exactly what I'm animating. If I'm rigging Sophodra, Gregorsa, or one of the humans, I'll use Rigify, which ships with Blender (though you'll have to enable it in add-ons). It's free, and for roughly human-shaped figures, it gets the job done.

For the other insects, and especially for the arachnids, it gets a little harder. See, arachnid limbs have a lot of joints, and most rigging add-ons aren't equipped to handle limbs more than three bones long--and I definitely wouldn't want to set up inverse kinematics for that many legs manually. So for those, I use an add-on called FreeIK, which you can get on Blender Market for only $30 (but be sure to read the docs!): https://blendermarket.com/products/freeik

FreeIK is amazing! It uses a method called "ephemeral rigging," which lets me pin any bone in place whenever I please, making it much more like animating a puppet and allowing a much finer level of control than traditional rigs. Sadly, that can be a little too much control on some model--hips on humanoid rigs will shoot out at random. For something like a spider, however, it's absolutely perfect! (I recommend using it in tandem with Selection Sets, another add-on that ships with Blender, to keep track of which bones you want pinned.)

Moving on from rigging, I also use an add-on called Onion Skin Tools. This one is only $10 on Blender Market: https://blendermarket.com/products/onion-skin-tools

As the name suggests, it lets you use onion skinning like in 2D animation. I couldn't imagine doing a walk cycle without it! With its help, I'm easily able to make a repeating walk cycle that loops in place while I move a parent empty around. (And if you're using FreeIK, you'll definitely want to be using a parent empty for placement. It's powerful, but bones can start behaving unpredictably if you get too far from the model's origin. I use two nested parent empties--one for walking, parented in turn to a master empty used for general placement.)

As of work on episode seven, I've also start incorporating Grease Pencil. Grease Pencil is an excellent tool all around, allowing you to do 2D animation in Blender! My style is cel-shaded enough that I can combine it with 2D. Not only do I use it for storyboard reference, but I also use it to draw on top of the scene, for where the 3D just isn't cutting it. I import the storyboards and other drawings with an add-on I made myself--Blender by default only lets you import black-and-white shapes, but my add-on imports as strokes, and can handle color: https://github.com/revereche/lineart_to_gp

I've also started incorporating AnimAll, which is fantastic (and also ships with Blender!). Shapekeys are already powerful tools, allow you to tweak the mesh manually when the rig isn't doing what you need. AnimAll lets you give each Shapekey multiple frames, so you don't need to set up a ton of Shapekeys to do one complex chain of movement. (Be warned it can cause file bloat, though, so use it wisely!)

As for the workflow itself, I go in this order, more or less (after writing the script and making any needed model adjustments, of course):

1.) Storyboarding. Since it's just me, they don't need to be great quality. The most important thing is making sure of the placements, getting the poses down in gestural strokes, and most importantly, getting the expressions just right.

2.) Recording voices. This can also be done before storyboarding, but I like to be sure of the scene flow before I commit. I used to start with rough placeholder voices, but ended up with awkward timing when the length of the final lines didn't match the original well enough. (Good thing none of my characters lip sync!) So, now I do the final audio on this step.

3.) Staging. Previously, this meant eyeballing the storyboard while I roughly placed the characters in the scene. Now, I import the storyboards in a Grease Pencil parented to the camera, so I can pose the characters to the storyboards more precisely. It preserves vivid gestures that would be easily lost in the CG stage otherwise!

4.) Props and backgrounds. Sometimes, I put this off until after animation, but it's really best to do it now. This can be mesh objects, planes I've painted on--or, often, planes I've painted on and extruded partially into mesh. I like to use Geometry Nodes for mesh wherever possible, especially when instancing many objects! It makes dealing with tons of vines (and humans) much easier. Also experiment with Shader Nodes, since generated textures are crisper than you would get with anything but very large texture images. (And if you're using Cycles, don't overlook displacement! Though you'll have to remember to turn that on in the sidebar preferences. That said, I mostly use Eevee, but am starting to look into Cycles for backgrounds.)

5.) Finally, final animation! I've already put the rough poses down, so I begin by cleaning those up, then adding any needed transitional poses. Then, I manually tweak the speed of the tweening, and offset the movements of parts that drag or bounce more than the rest (e.g. antennae). When a character needs to stand mostly still, I'll add a very slight bob for a moving hold, so they don't look like a mannequin.

After this, I render the image sequences, then put them all together in a video sequencing file. There, I add the citation blips, credits, and Gregorsa's Notes, as well as do some editing in post. Then, it's time to render the final video!

Hope that helps. I wish you luck in your future Blender endeavors!