#anyway - REALLY GOOD CAT GAME!!!!!

[silasbug]

nobody could quite figure out how he’d gotten inside & nobody could find it within themselves to wake him from his nap.

[moeblob]

Look, I just think it's VERY funny and on brand that I thought of an entire premise of colorful characters for half the cast and immediately drew the only one void of color.

[icewindandboringhorror]

boy in silly sitting positions compilation

[snickerdoodlles]

📓 :3

:D!

@mortimerlatrice got me thinking about a KimChay Chrestomanci AU, so more of that.

the Chrestomanci series, sidenote, is an absolutely delightful fantasy series by Diana Wynne Jones. it's composed of mostly independent stories set in a universe of 12 parallel universes (called Series), each with their own string of worlds (except Series 11). generally speaking, every person has eight identical copies borne into other series than their own, but very occasionally all nine lives will be borne into one person. this nine-life enchanter has all the power of nine magical people in them and is therefore the only person powerful enough to fill the role of Chrestomanci to regulate magical use and prevent any abuse of it across the 12 series.

which cool, very fun story premise actually, but not what I care about here. I'm setting kp in one of the series that doesn't deal much with magic because I don't care about magic meet mafia, I care about Chay having nine lives and all the ways that could make things worse.

(cw: non-permanent but slightly graphic character death under the cut. ft a dash of actual character death, but that only applies to Tawan.)

Chay doesn't have all his lives when canon starts. he lost his first one the same day he and Porsche lost their parents when he fell out of his crib trying to investigate the noise. he lost his second to food poisoning, before Porsche started working for extra food money and they had to make every scrap stretch. he lost another when a debt collector hit him too hard and snapped his neck. (Porsche wasn't home for that day. Chay told him he wasn't either.)

Chay loses his fourth life in the warehouse. it actually wasn't intentional on anyone's part -- Tawan's hired meat weren't careful enough bringing him in, and Chay's luck has his head hit a curb or scrap metal at just the right (or wrong, as it were) angle to kill him instead of concuss him, and head injuries take so long to come back from. Tawan drags out the charade because he wants Porsche desperate, not angry, and Porsche is in too deep of denial to accept the possibility of Chay actually being dead not to fall for it.

Kim arrives before Chay comes back to life. it's...bad. Porsche is screaming for him to get Chay out. Kim first checks Chay's breathing. failing to find that, he frantically (but carefully!) hauls Chay upright. that's when Chay's head flops limply to the side and reveals the dried blood down the back of his neck, which Kim had already felt grabbing but refused to process.

Kim sees red.

Tawan knifes Big. Porsche's shouts break through the fog threatening to overwhelm Kim. then Tawan gets one very distraught, very angry, very murderous Kim materializing in front of him and going right for his eyes. it doesn't matter that Tawan's the one with a weapon, he could've had an armory and that couldn't have helped him. Kim is very, very, very good at fighting, and he's on a mission to hurt. but he's also missing his control, and kicks Tawan in the kidney so hard Tawan stumbles back into a pile of scrap and, in true irony, jostles it hard enough the end of steel beam falls on his head. as discovered earlier, metal and concrete are not kind to heads, and bullet proof vests certainly can't protect from that.

it's too quick and too kind, and Kim stares at him disbelievingly, half a mind to drag Tawan out and beat out the little life he's surely still clinging to, when Chay groans. Kim first thinks he hallucinated it, but then he sees Chay move and he's so relieved he was wrong that he shoves everything else out of his mind and just gets Chay out. then everything and one trailing shouty Porsche slams back into him the minute Chay's out of his arms and with the paramedics that Kim bolts to go hide in a dark corner in his apartment and fail to process any of it.

Chay misses all of this btws. He was dead, then he was back with a headache, and he loves Porsche but he needs Porsche to please shut the fuck up and get him some tylenol.

then apartment confrontation, where Kim says I'm sorry and shoves off even quicker because all he can remember are those moments when he'd been so sure Chay was properly dead. club scene goes down even worse when Kim yells at Chay for making stupid reckless choices that could get him killed, and Chay demands to know why Kim even cares, and Kim goes pale with anger that Chay doesn't care that he (only nearly, surely) died, and it's all very terrible and ends in them storming away from each other.

then comes Yok's bar.

Chay dies. Kim had taunted them into a direct fight inside instead of picking them off outside, and it should have been fine, would have been fine, had Chay not had a bit more awareness and looked over to see Kim pinned between two guys and rushed to help only to get shot by one of the goons on the other end of the bar. he bleeds out while Kim kills off the rest.

Chay comes back to a bar full of bodies and Kim (clutching) cradling him. Kim isn't crying. he isn't really doing much of anything other than clinging and staring off into nothing with a thoroughly haunted expression.

Chay blinks and tentatively lays his fingers against Kim's cheek. "Kim?"

Kim's eyes snap to him, but still don't quite see him. he stays looking blank for a few seconds that feel like hours before saying matter-of-factly, "I've snapped."

"Kim!" Chay protests, distressed.

"It's okay," Kim says, still matter-of-fact but smiling tenderly, "better to be mad with you than without."

it takes a while to convince Kim he's not insane and that Chay's really back. Chay's not certain he fully manages it. but his death also shook loose a lot of confessions Kim normally couldn't say out loud. ("why--" Chay starts, voice cracking, "why did you say 'I'm sorry' that day?" / "You were supposed to be safe," Kim replies hoarsely, mad smile slipping for tears.) there's more clutching and clinging, this time by Chay too. both of them manage to forget they're in a bar of dead bodies until Porsche and Kinn come crashing through the door.

"Chay!" Porsche yells when he first sees him.

"Chay," Porsche pleads brokenly when he sees Chay's blood soaked shirt.

"Not mine!" Chay says quickly, and would've been given away by how fast Kim's head snaps around in any other circumstance. "See?" he says, raising his shirt to show unblemished skin, "No injury."

this does a lot to reassure Porsche, but Chay can tell Kim still thinks he's a little bit insane. Chay decides that's fine for now, because dying takes a lot out of you and apparently everyone around you too and it's unfair to expect Kim to just bounce back from him bleeding out on him, he'll work on it after a shower and dinner.

I'm not writing this AU because I only really have these two vague scenes in my head, but Chay having multiple lives making his existence in the mafia hurt more than canon's calls to me, it really does.

oh, also: in the AU source material, one of the nine-lifers has one of his lives removed and stored into a ring for safekeeping. he later gives this ring to his to-be-wife as her wedding ring. I'm not sure yet how to work that into this AU because Chay's contact with magic and other magicals would be slim to none in this, but please picture how this would absolutely wreck Kim, because there's nothing Kim wants more than to safeguard Chay but as far as he's concerned, he's already failed Chay in that regard twice. 😈

[[ ask me about fics im not writing ]]

[alfamangle]

I have been wishing to make this post for quite a while, so please, let me babble on about why you all should read this tumblr series I hold quite dear.

Ahem! YASC or @you-are-starclan is a tumblr based arg where you, dear reader, can play a part in the story and try to change the story to your whims! Make them suffer! Imrpove their lives! Do something that entertains you! A story needs an audience and the story calls for audience participation! Follow the pinewood clowder as they live their lives under the watchful eye of you.

But! You aren't alone! It would pull the story too many ways for everyone to get their way, after all, so decisions are made democratically! Rejoice for the voting system! Every update a poll is put out to decide the fates of the cats! Their lives rest in the many, many hands of those who watch them preform on their little stage of an abandoned mall.

"But, dear writer of this post, the polls have already closed! What is the point!" and that my friend is where you are wrong. Yes, the play may have already been written, the actors repeating the same actions over and over, but, dear reader, you can still see the hands of your fellow audience members of the past in the story beats! Instead of waiting, hands clutched in hoping your beloved favorite cats make it through the season, you get to instead see the innevitability of decisions already made, plans made in haste in yelling "This is the only way! This is how it has to be! (it never did! There was always other ways to deal with everything, but these was the decisions we made, and we must lie in the bed we built with our many hands) There is a special sort of joy in that experience, I think.

So, dear reader, why not grab a ticket and take a seat and watch the show? A story cannot live without its audience, and my friend why not keep the story alive. Watch the actors preform for you, and know your fellow audience members tried their best (we really tried!). And remember, dear friends, maybe the luckiest of them all are the ones who managed to slip between the dazzling spotlights and fade into the buzz of the background, as being perceived by hundreds of eyes for your every move may not always be for the best.

Enjoy the show :)

[gideonnavsenormousbiceps]

Nora really returned to all for the game after ten years and included a cardboard cut out of a dog, sex toys, and dick size jokes all in the same book. 10/10 great stuff

[artdumpss]

I've been busy

[miyakuli]

Cats and the Other Lives

Cats and the Other Lives is a narrative point & click game that puts you in the shoes of Aspen the cat, who finds herself in the middle of tensions and secrets in a grieving family. Add to this the ghosts of the past that resurface (literally), and you'll become both witness to and actor in the events of this haunted mansion.

❤ Magnificent pixel art; with its rich scenery, splendid lighting effects and energetic animations, the game is a real eye-catcher. I'd also like to compliment the expressiveness given to the characters by their gestures, very effective and which, despite the absence of faces, gives them a real dynamic force. ❤ The attachment that is created for this dysfunctional family, even towards the most irritating characters, as their development takes place under the neutral gaze of our old cat. And, of course, we never forget our little Aspen, adorable, clever and an integral member of the family. ❤ The story juggles dramatic, intimate and even horrific scenes. I was surprised by the psychological violence of certain moments! Fortunately, Aspen's antics are also present to lighten the mood <3 ❤ The atmospheric work is great, not only visually with the elements I mentioned earlier, but also with the mysterious, slightly creepy soundtrack (which uses cat meows! rather clever and amusing :p).

+/- The interaction with the scenery to create puzzles to move the story forward is really inventive imo. I also greatly appreciated the fact that there were also off-script actions, if I may say so, where our cat just enjoys herself.

On the other hand, I think the actions could have been a little more varied (in general, it's mostly jumping/sniffing/clawing).

✖ The game could have done a better job of telling us where to go at times, because without any real directions, it just keeps us turning around in this big mansion. ✖ Some of the mini-games are "die and retry", which were pretty nice I think, but the scenes are far too long, so having to retry everything could be a little frustrating and cut the narrative rhythm. Especially as mouse control was sometimes clumsy.

Cats and the Other Lives was a real surprise, charming me in just a few hours with its very feline gameplay and good sense of drama. If you enjoyed living the life of a cat in Stray, this is the game furr you....(ok I'm out =>).

➡ My Steam page

[blissfulalchemist]

Which Hozier Song is Your OC

Hello I have come back from the abyss to of course do this uquiz. Thank you @corvosattano for tagging me. I tried to do as many ocs as I could manage (it ended up being 12 so my bad) and then included a lyric that I felt related to the oc(s) so apologies for the length. Sending tags out to @belorage @florbelles @unholymilf @adelaidedrubman @heroofpenamstan @confidentandgood @strafethesesinners @deputyash @leviiackrman @jackiesarch @shallow-gravy @shellibisshe and uh anyone else that wants to!

Anthea (ffxiv/bg3)

Wasteland, Baby! it's the end of the world, but the beginning of something that will outlive us all. you might like my tag #growing through solastalgia on tumblr. just because the world is falling apart doesn't mean we can't find peace.

"And the day that we'll watch the death of the sun/That the cloud and the cold and those jeans you have on/Then you'll gaze unafraid as they sob from the city roofs"

Catlina Rojas, Carly (fc5, bloodlines/ffxiv)

NFWMB oh, it is a privilege to be loved by you. you'd break the world for the person you love. we all want a love like that, i think. we all want such utter devotion. save it for someone who deserves it, though, because not everyone does.

"If I was born as a blackthorn tree/I'd wanna be felled by you/Held by you/Fuel the pyre of your enemies"

Siberite Akagane (ffxiv)

Abstract (Psychopomp) i mean, the world is so broken. and yet it's so beautiful it makes you want to cry. what can you even do with a feeling like this?

"Darling, there's a part of me/I'm afraid will always be/Trapped within an abstract from a moment of my life/The weeds up through the concrete/The traffic picking up speed/All my love and terror/Balanced there between those eyes"

Demos Reyes, Conner Enache (ffxiv, bloodlines/ffxiv)

Would That I morning dew, shifting grass, foxglove growing by an old fence post. woods, thick and old. and then: the joyful spark of a flame. i hope you get to lie down in a dewy field sometime soon.

"True that I saw her hair like the branch of a tree/A willow dancing on air before covering me/Under cotton and calicoes/Over canopy dapple long ago"

Sahar Mahin (m*rvel)

Francesca "i would do it again." honestly this song changed my life. i hope the people you love are worth suffering for.

"Darling, I would do it again, ah, ah/If I could hold you for a minute/Darling, I'd go through it again, ah, ah/I would still be surprised I could find you, darling/In any life"

Stasia (bloodlines/ffxiv)

Eat Your Young you have strong feelings about the state of the world. i like your passion. plus, you know how to boogie to songs that would disturb your grandma if she listened to the lyrics too closely, which is always a plus. is cannibalism a red flag?

"Honey, I'm making sure the table's made/We can celebrate the good that we've done/I won't lie, if there's something still to take/There is ground to break, whatever's still to come"

Azatae (dnd/bg3)

It Will Come Back why is it so hard to stay away? you might have a tendency to get addicted. and it makes sense. if you've always been starving, then any scraps look like a feast. but you really do deserve better than this. i hope you treat yourself with kindness.

"I know who I am when I'm alone/I'm something else when I see you/You don't understand, you should never know/How easy you are to need"

HK (dnd/bg3)

Work Song i wrote a poem about this one once! devotion and the way it crushes you. the way it saves you. sometimes the only thing that can save your life is having someone to live for. and sometimes when you've found that person you would do impossible things to stay by their side. i like the way no grave can hold your body down. it's neat.

"I didn't care much how long I lived/But I swear I thought I dreamed her/She never asked me once about the wrong I did"

Chance Ruicknar (fc5)

From Eden you might like the game slither.io. also, you're a bop. have you seen Good Omens? there's this snake demon you might really enjoy.

"Babe/There's something lonesome about you/Something so wholesome about you/Get closer to me/No tired sighs, no rolling eyes, no irony/No 'who cares', no vacant stares, no time for me"

Lizette Rojas (fc5)

In a Week have you ever thought about the fact that you have to kill other things in order to keep yourself alive? whether plant, animal, bacteria, or fungus, you're always killing things in order to eat. and in return, when you die, they'll get to eat you. the feast has begun.

"I have never known peace/Like the damp grass that yields to me/I have never known hunger/Like these insects that feast on me/A thousand teeth/And yours among them, I know"

[cicadagaze]

wanna play clangen but the knowledge that none of my cats can murder each other without crashing the game makes me sad

[sunbedo]

Hey guys. gay rights

[keeps-ache]

today! on the agenda we have [tears paper away to reveal the single word 'do'] ...

[icewindandboringhorror]

Baby boy brother birthday photos from last year that I just realized I never uploaded!

[mattodore]

can't stress enough how good this lighting mod is

[meezer]

YEAH YOU'D THINK SO HALSIN BUT APPARENTLY THERE AREN'T. there AREN'T many grateful people here who want to spend time with me. every person is just saying that but nobody actually wants to vibe. I'm just getting passed along >_>

[duskerot]

HI im rather sleepytoday. implaying Splatoon. i havemt watched wayne in a whileBut i should catch up too tbh

ohhh nice , i love splatoon ^-^ well ive never played it but it looks rly fun i like the vibes