#because brain continues to be in editing mode

[partystoragechest]

A story of romance, drama, and politics which neither Trevelyan nor Cullen wish to be in.

Canon divergent fic in which Josephine solves the matter of post-Wicked Hearts attention by inviting invites four noblewomen to compete for Cullen's affections. In this chapter, Trevelyan has someone she'd like to impress.

(Masterpost. Beginning. Previous entry. Next entry. Words: 3,893. Rating: all audiences, bar a few swears.)

Chapter 42: The Ball

“Pre-senting..!”

The stage was set, the Great Hall adorned in its finest. A band played upon the dais, the floor before them awaiting its dancers. Every candle was lit, every banner unfurled—each one proudly displaying the sigil of the Inquisition.

This was their party. People of all ranks were in attendance. Advisors and dignitaries, to soldiers and mages. All, except for four.

The door thundered open. A chamberlain cried their names:

“Lady Erridge of West Coldon, Lady Samient of Samient, Baroness Touledy of Val Misrenne..!”

The Ladies strode in, none finer than they. Lady Erridge wore her pinkest, most ruffliest dress yet; Lady Samient wore her tightest, of dark, snakish leather; the Baroness wore her most glamorous, a gown in passionate red—with mahogany cane to match, of course.

“...and Lady Trevelyan, of Ostwick!”

Trevelyan emerged, last of all. The ballgown she wore? Unrecognisable.

The black brocade was gone, the lace ripped from its seams with wicked delight. All that remained was perfect canvas of purest navy, onto which it could be painted—with shining, silvery thread.

Her mother would’ve fumed at the very idea. But what good was learning embroidery, if one did not use it in defiance?

Each Lady had taken up a quadrant of her own, yet the stitches they sewed were all the same: dozens upon dozens of tiny, shimmering, stars.

Trevelyan sparkled with every step. Diamonds glittered around her neck, lent eagerly by the Baroness. Every candle’s flame glistened upon her.

Even the night sky could not compare.

Were it not for the band, the room would have been stunned to silence. Whispers of admiration made their circuit. Trevelyan joined the other Ladies, all of them frightfully pleased with their handiwork—and quite rightly, too.

“So this is what you were all up to yesterday?” asked the arriving Lady Orroat—herself in fine doublet and breeches—laying her eyes upon the dress for the very first time. “It’s beautiful!”

A look of panic came over Lady Erridge. “I did those ones!” she blurted, her pointing finger at some collection of stars.

The Baroness laughed at such a display. “Yes, Lady Erridge is indeed a fine seamstress.”

“Oh, certainly,” Orroat agreed, placing a kiss upon her seamstress’ hand, quelling her worry in an instant. “Always has been.”

Amused, Lady Samient whispered to Trevelyan: “Seems her Ladyship has reversed her position on your knowing Lady Orroat.”

Trevelyan giggled. “Good. For I could hardly say we should make such as handsome couple as they.”

The Ladies settled, the partygoers returned to business—yet the music that accompanied their conversation furrowed into quiet. Attention was drawn to the dais from whence it had come, as the ever-elegant Lady Montilyet took her place upon it.

“Friends of the Inquisition!” she called. “Thank you for coming. I do not wish to keep you from your pleasures, so this will not be long—but, if you shall indulge me, I would like to say a fond farewell, to some of our departing guests.”

She raised a glass in the direction of the Ladies, and sang their praises each.

Lady Erridge and Lady Orroat were wished all the best, for the wedding that was to come, and for the future of their Coldon, reunited by love. They took each other’s hands, met one another’s doting gaze, and held tight.

The Baroness was sent hope, for a swift victory in Val Misrenne—but also admiration. She had more than proven why she was capable of defying the Chantry so: a steadfast determination, that they should all aspire to. With a smile, the Baroness bowed.

Lady Samient’s message was subtle. A safe journey home, all she was promised—but those who knew, knew what that meant. Absent-minded, the Lady reached for and toyed with the pendant at her neck, a twisting halla’s horn.

“Of course,” Montilyet continued, “one of our guests is to remain. Gathered friends, may I please introduce to you our new Arcanist”—she held her glass high—“Lady Trevelyan of Ostwick!”

Applause went up, echoing off the walls, filling the room with joy. Trevelyan laughed in delight, and caught glimpses of her friends amongst the rabble. Varric’s arms flew up; somewhere, Dorian hollered; even Sera clapped—though none, it seemed, were as enthusiastic as Dagna herself!

“Tonight, we celebrate!” Montilyet declared. “So please, enjoy!”

The band launched into triumphant fanfare; good humour and good company were the orders of the evening. The Ladies, all aflutter, went about these goals with giddiness and verve.

“Won’t you come dance?” asked Lady Erridge, having already roped her fiancee into it.

Trevelyan smiled, but shook her head. “Later,” she told her. “There’s someone I wish to see, first.”

Lady Samient picked up her slack. “Come, Lady Erridge!” she offered, instead. “I’ll dance with you.”

Appeased, Lady Erridge escorted her away. Trevelyan was left to withdraw from the dancefloor, and wander towards the more stationary attendees. Her eyes flitted from person to person, searching for one in particular.

A hand caught her shoulder. The Baroness, apparently having already procured a drink, leant over, and tilted it forward.

“There,” she whispered.

The crowd parted, as if by her will. True to her word, at the other end of the room, was stood precisely the man Trevelyan had been looking for.

Commander.

Maker, he had only become more handsome the longer she had known him. That rough-hewn jaw of his, a dishevelment of stubble upon it; the subtle waves in his hair, hints of his rebellious curls; those dimples upon his cheeks—the thumb-prints of the divine, left where the Maker’s scultping hand had gone astray.

And his weary eyes, whose gentle gaze found her, and drew her closer.

Trevelyan admired, as she approached, the coincidence of the navy blue doublet that Lady Montilyet had undoubtedly advised him to wear. Hm. She liked him better in red. Suited him more, perhaps.

Though truly, it mattered little. There was nothing that could dull the shine of him; true gold, after all, did never rust.

He straightened to greet her, a little smile pulling at his mouth. And he would have greeted her, perhaps warmly, perhaps sweetly—had a scout, uniformed and on duty, not appeared at his side.

Ah, fuck.

They whispered something to him, below the hubbub that came back into focus. Trevelyan crept nearer, but heard nothing of the Commander’s reply. Yet, when the he looked to her again, his smile was gone.

“Arcanist,” he said, with a bow. “I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me. Urgent business.”

Bloody typical.

“Of course,” she told him, magnanimously. “Duty calls.”

“At inconvenient times,” he added.

“No duty is ever convenient.”

That seemed to amuse him, at least. “True. I will try to return soon,” he told her. “I assure you.”

“Yes, Commander.”

She curtsied to him, and allowed him to depart. The scout had lingered by the rotunda door. The Commander followed them through.

Gone.

Trevelyan looked down at her pretty, sparkly skirt, and fluffed it up, pointlessly. Not quite the moment she’d been hoping for.

Oh, well. She would have plenty of time for moments with him in the coming days. If he didn’t get called away by something or other during those, too.

Stowing her frustration, Trevelyan returned to the party. There was plenty more to do, besides.

She watched the Ladies dance, and clapped along. She saw Dagna, who was endlessly excited for the things to come. She met with Lady Montilyet, and spoke of her new quarters (ready tomorrow)! And she found Dorian, who was, as always, terribly good conversation.

Yet still no Commander.

The noise of the band and the chatter and the stomps of the dancing were beginning to blur in her brain. Dorian noted her change in temperament, as she peered out of the door to the garden. No. Too many in attendance; the party had spilled out into it. It was no less busy out there than it was in here.

“Try up there,” Dorian suggested, indicating the mezzanine above. It seemed Sera had been banned from it today, as no there was no skulking to be seen. “It has a balcony, if you need some air.”

“Thank you,” said Trevelyan. She’d had little cause to ever stray up there before—but now seemed as good a reason as any. “I shall see you later.”

Dorian waved, off to see the Baroness. Trevelyan found her way around the dancefloor, and escaped up the stairs.

The moment she reached their peak, already was she calmer. Even mere feet above the maelstrom, the music came quieter, and the conversation mere ambience. Better.

Her attention turned to the mezzanine. It was furnished well for a somewhat hidden space, with a luxurious chaise and portraits of figures Trevelyan did not quite recognise. The candleabrum here were not lit, leaving all illumination to that of the moons, who trickled their glow through a pair of glass doors—beyond which, as promised, was a balcony.

But Trevelyan felt at ease enough to stay inside for now; and indeed, she found the view of the party below to be quite of interest. The dancers, from above, weaved such wonderful patterns. Outfits, in all colours, were arrayed like a painter’s palette. She could watch, as those she knew flitted from one group, to another. An enjoyable pict—

The rotunda door opened, drawing her eye. The Commander. He strode into the party with such determination, it was as if it did not even exist around him. Trevelyan followed his path, as it led him, direct, to the Baroness.

They moved to the side. He whispered something. Urgent business? Oh, no.

But the Baroness smiled. Wider and wider. She asked him something; he nodded. She placed a hand over her heart, and sighed. Trevelyan did the same.

She took a step back, from the barrier. If the news they shared was what she hoped, then she was rather glad she hadn’t kicked up a fuss at his departure. Because if it was what she hoped, then it would be well worth it.

She had to see the Baroness.

And she would have, if not for the feet hurrying up the stairs. The Baroness? No cane. Then—!

The Commander appeared at the landing, startling himself as much as he startled her. Determination abandoning him in an instant, he padded onto the mezzanine, and did his best to bow.

“Arcanist,” he said. “Forgive me, Dorian told me you were here.”

Crafty bastard. Still, she asked, “Is everything all right, Commander? Your urgent business?”

He smiled—such a relieving smile—and nodded. “Yes. The Inquisitor has reported in.” She could hardly believe his next words: “We have victory. Val Misrenne is safe.”

As she’d hoped. Better, even. Trevelyan brought a hand to her mouth, a beaming smile beneath it. She shook her head, out of sheer incredulity. By Andraste. She could not fathom how dear Touledy felt.

“Thank the Maker,” she breathed. “Or, I suppose—thank you, Commander.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I think it is the Inquisitor and the Baroness’ forces who should have the credit of it.”

“Very true. Though your involvement is still very much appreciated.”

Compliments did not seem to sit well within him; he kept his gaze askance, mouth struggling to form a reply. Awkwardness prevailed, ‘til his fortune changed, and his eyes chanced upon the balcony doors.

“Forgive me, I didn’t meant to disturb you—her Ladyship, the Baroness, thought you should know. You were… headed outside?”

Trevelyan followed his gaze. She smiled. “Preferably not alone.”

“Oh. I could—”

Trevelyan stepped for the doors; he followed. They opened—a portal—to the tranquil night beyond.

The stars shone in greeting. Trevelyan curtsied; an acknowledgement of their mutual beauty. She found relaxation upon the finely-carved stone of the balcony balustrade, and felt the Commander’s presence, a warmth in the absence of the sun, as he came to rest beside her.

“It’s... a nice night,” he said.

“Yes,” she replied, “and a lovely view.”

The entire courtyard was laid out before them, from the tavern—as lively as the party they’d left behind—to the stables—quiet, at this time of day. Moonlit stone, punctuated by glowing torchlight. Beautiful, truly.

Yet it seemed the Commander’s focus was elsewhere, for his hand fumbled within his jacket.

“I, ah, have something,” he told her, “that I believe is yours.”

At last, he seemed to locate it, and freed it from its concealment. White cloth, that flashed in the moonlight. Embroidered, with leaves Trevelyan recognised.

It was far cleaner than the last time she’d seen it.

Trevelyan smiled. The little napkin slipped pleasantly from his fingers, and into her own. She noted the warmth of his proximity, still lingering within the weave, and the sweet, earthy scent that had been left by his possession.

“Technically,” she teased, “I believe it is Lady Montilyet’s.”

“I hardly think she’ll miss it.”

“I certainly hope so.” She tucked it away—safe. “Thank you, Commander.”

“Thank you for the use of it,” he said. “Though, speaking of Lady Montilyet, I had hoped to say—you took the offer... to become Arcanist.”

“I did.”

“Good.”

“Good?”

The Commander stammered, “For you—I mean. I mean, I am glad. That—despite how you came to be here—you have found enough reason to stay.”

Trevelyan laughed a little. It seemed as though he had a mountain to climb whenever they spoke. She appreciated his attempt to scale the peak regardless.

“Plenty of reasons,” she told him. “I know that I ought to have left, and truly have started my life afresh… but that would have been dishonest, to what I truly want.”

“May I ask… what is it?”

“What?”

The Commander almost met her eye. “That you… want?”

She bit back the smile that threatened to betray her. The night air wasn’t cold, but she hid goose-bumps upon her skin. “Well… I suppose there is one thing—”

Feet clattered up the stairs. Trevelyan stopped herself, turning just in time to see, stumbling into the doorway, a giddy Lady Erridge.

“Lady Trevelyan!” she called. “Oh, Commander, there you are! I came to see if you wanted to dance!”

The Commander shook his head. “I’m… No, thank you. I don’t really dance.”

Erridge giggled. “I know! I wasn’t asking you, Commander! Come, Lady Trevelyan! The Commander shall have plenty of time to whisper with you when we are gone!”

Though the interruption was not exactly ideal, Trevelyan could not deny the sentiment. She curtsied to the Commander, somewhat apologetically.

“It seems I am summoned away. Urgent business, I believe they call it.”

The corner of his mouth tilted upward; it made her skin tingle. “Another time, then.”

“Of course.”

Trevelyan permitted Lady Erridge to take hold of her hand. The Lady threw a quick farewell to the Commander over her shoulder, and whisked Trevelyan away, tumbling down the stairs. They burst back onto the main floor of the hall, just as the band queued up another jig.

“Come on, come on!” Lady Erridge ordered, pulling Trevelyan into the congregating mass of dancers. Already amongst them were Lady Samient and Lady Orroat, left to partner up by the absent Erridge.

“Over here!” they called, of a little clearing beside them. Trevelyan and Erridge took position, all anticipation. They joined hands—properly now—and waited for the song to start.

And start it did! Strings and wind erupted into a prancing melody of alternating highs and lows. Trevelyan followed her Ladyship’s lead, bouncing around the floor, clapping her hands, kicking her legs into the air. Skirts clashed and flew, an explosion of fabric and colour.

It was a wonder how Lady Samient danced it so well, in a dress so constricting—but dance well she did! As hands parted and partners changed, Trevelyan found herself parading around in the arms of said Lady, each of them smiling up a storm.

As one song ended, so another began. She was to dance with Lady Orroat, too, of course—it was only fair—and then dear Erridge wanted another.

Eventually, quite exhausted, Trevelyan took the next song’s end, and made her exit.

Fortunately, she found the Baroness on the edges of the dancefloor, an audience to their frolicking. She greeted Trevelyan with a smile and an embrace—for which they both knew the reason.

“I am so glad for you,” Trevelyan said, as she recovered her breath. “Are you all right?”

The Baroness nodded. “Relieved. When I leave tomorrow, I know I will be returning to my town at peace. But—this has not come without loss. It is not over, not truly.”

“Of course.”

“But we could have lost so much more. That Val Misrenne and its people still stand is worth celebrating.”

“Absolutely.”

Trevelyan hugged her once more, yet the music’s sudden and effervescent return caused her to jump. With a laugh, she glanced back to the dancers.

“You know, I am surprised Lady Erridge has not called you up for a jig!”

The Baroness chuckled. “No, no, my leg is far too frail for that.”

“Really?” said Trevelyan, glancing to it. “I remember you saying you still dance, once.”

“I do.” She grinned. “But the leg is an excellent excuse.”

Trevelyan caught her meaning. “Lady Erridge’s enthusiasm is quite difficult to match.”

“Indeed. She has the stamina of a demon. Though I’m sure Lady Orroat could find some use for that.”

Trevelyan laughed. “Your Ladyship! Please, I feel so terrible teasing her!”

“Then you should not like to hear what we say about you and him.”

Confused by who ‘him’ was, Trevelyan followed the Baroness’ line of sight, to a nearby throng of guests. Weaving between them, was—she should’ve guessed it—the Commander.

“Oh, Maker…” Trevelyan groaned. “You all have far too—”

She turned back, and realised the Baroness’s mouth was half-open, her cane being raised in the air.

“No, no—!”

“Commander!”

He heard the call. His head whipped round. No stopping it now: he was headed in their direction.

“Baroness!” Trevelyan hissed.

Touledy smiled, gave a suggestive flick of her brow, and said nothing more. Though Trevelyan was almost glad of this—the Commander ought not hear anything she had to say right now.

“Ladies,” he greeted, upon arrival. “Is there something you require?”

“Why, yes,” said Touledy, all too confidently. What was she up to? “Lady Trevelyan here wishes another dance, but I am afraid I am unable to”—she flashed her cane—“would you be able to dance with her Ladyship, in my stead?”

“Oh.” The Commander softened. "Are you all right?”

Trevelyan noted, rather indignantly, that the Commander asked this question with the same sort of gentle voice that he often put on for her. This was a concept which, she suddenly discovered, she did not like. Why, oh why, did she have to make him befriend the other Ladies? Fool.

“Yes, thank you,” the Baroness answered. “But her Ladyship must have a dance.”

Trevelyan rolled her eyes. “But Baroness, the Commander does not like to dance.”

“I could try,” he said.

Trevelyan stared at him. There were a thousand questions she thought of in response to his saying this. But somehow, the only one she could quite manage was:

“What?”

He repeated the sentiment: “If you would like to.”

“Oh.” Well, there was little chance of her saying anything other than: “Yes.”

The Baroness smiled, clearly relishing in the success. “Go on, then,” she said, “enjoy.”

Easier said. At least Trevelyan had done enough jigs with Lady Erridge to know what she was to do with them, now. In her mind, as they walked to the floor, she went over the steps. Left, left, kick, clap. Switch. Then to the right? But—

The music grew in volume. Yet it sounded like no jig she’d ever heard. Trevelyan realised that the band had betrayed her. Not a jig. Not at all.

Sweet, slow strings floated across the hall. A… romantic melody, that had couples approaching the floor. Dear Maker fucking Andraste shitting Void.

People linked hands and put them on waists and Trevelyan realised that she was in the midst of it now, surrounded, and there was no escape, and she would have to do those things herself.

She faced the Commander. Maker, why did he have to look like that and be like this? This sort of thing was far simpler with unimportant suitors that one could so easily discard after, even if one did step on their toes.

He offered a hand. Trevelyan’s shook.

But still, they met.

Her fingers slid into his palm, felt the warmth that emanated beneath the leather of his glove. The feeling of his skin, however rugged or tender, was cruelly left to the imagination. She savoured it regardless.

Her other hand gathered up her skirts, like the rest of the dress-wearers were doing. Almost in position. There was simply one last thing to emulate—

The Commander’s hand moved for her waist, hesitant in its approach. The first touches of his fingertips—gentler even than that of cotton or down—caused her body to tense. She did not know how she was to bear his entire hand.

But his hand stopped short. It instead hovered over the fabric of her dress, as if afraid to press any further.

Disappointing.

Nevertheless—the music began in earnest. The dancers began to move. The Commander took a step, and Trevelyan followed. Her nerves hit a peak.

And then, began to fade.

Because dancing with him was unlike dancing with anyone she had danced with before. It felt different. Better. Warmer. Safer. It almost did not matter if she was dancing well or not. It was only him that mattered.

There was no need for extravagant moves, or flourishes of the hand. This was enough. Sweet, simple, swaying in one another’s arms. More than enough.

“You should dance more often,” she whispered to him. “You do it well.”

He smiled, soft, and simply said, “All right.”

Her words must have bolstered his resolve, for his shoulders relaxed, and his grip around her hand firmed and strengthened. Its pull drew her closer; his other slipped around her back, fitting perfectly into the mold of her body. The gap between them was more indistinct than ever.

Yet in that closeness was comfort. She could have stayed like that for an eternity.

But the music slowly, gradually, dulled away. Other dancers reappeared around them, the party audible once more. It was over.

They came to a standstill. Trevelyan’s hand fell reluctantly from his grasp; his trailed away from her waist. Yet still she smiled, for nothing could take it from her lips.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Of course,” he replied.

“I shan’t make you dance another.”

“That’s… all right.” He rubbed his neck. “Will you, ah, be stargazing tonight?”

She played with her dress. “Most likely.”

“Good.”

She curtsied, he bowed. He left, she stayed. Her feet still wobbled, a little.

But she would have to recover quickly. For she turned to her side, and saw complete what had, until now, been only a disruption in her periphery: the Ladies, gathered together, in keen observance.

Trevelyan shook her head, and, before they could open their mouths, told them firm:

“Not one word.”

[bimobuddy]

Pay Attention

SFW Hazbin tickle fic

ficlet? Is that the term used when it's shorter than normal?

Mostly Ler!Val, Mostly Lee!Vox

Soft!Valentino

Swearing

Edit: This one isnt as good, sorry guys lol, I wrote this purely as an excuse to include the Moth x Bright Light trope because I thought it was goofy

Summary: Vox is ranting and Val just isn't paying attention to him. After a few attempts to talk to him, Val complies and gives him his full, undivided attention.

"- And then Alastor called me a 'Clout-chasing mediocre video podcast,' can you fucking believe-... Val!" Vox had been trying to talk to his partner for about half an hour now, but unfortunately, said partner had the attention span of a three year old.

Still not getting his attention, Vox stood in front of Val and flashed his screen a bit brighter, which seemed to pull him from his phone. Classic moth brain attracted to bright lights. Vox usually found it hilarious to use this against him. Val did not.

"Oh fuck off, I heard you." He said dismissively. The host crossed his arms. "Did you? Then what did I say?" Valentino hesitated. "Something about Alastor, probably." "You weren't fucking listening." Val groaned, "Fine, continue, continue, I'm listening."

Vox gave him a suspicious look, then continued. "The nerve of HIM to call ME mediocre!? I keep up with the latest trends, I know what the people like, HE'S been doing the same old radio bullshit for years! He's-" He looked over at Val, who was back on his phone. He growled and pushed his phone out of his hand, then promptly sat in his lap, brightening his screen again.

Val huffed, unable to tear his eyes from the light. "Fuck you, you know I hate it when you use this against me.." "You weren't listening to me." He dimmed his screen, showing the irritation on his face. The moth did feel slightly bad. It's not like he meant to ignore him, he just had a short attention span.

He opened his mouth to apologize or sweet talk him, but he felt Vox gently take ahold of his fluffy antennae and just drag it through his fingers as if feeling the plumage. Fuck. He clamped his jaw shut, his face going warm as it tickled. It was the equivalent of brushing your fingers behind someone's ear.

"You weren't willingly paying attention to me, so now I guess I'll have to make you." Vox smirked, clearly a little less irritated than before. He started to skitter along Val's ribs, but he had clearly forgotten a couple things. Val had four arms, and he was twice his size.

His second pair of hands got Vox from behind, spidering around his shoulder blades, causing the poor show host to arch his back and stop what he was doing. Val was quick to pick up his smaller partner, turn him around, and sit him on his lap while two hands squeezed at his thighs and knees, while two scritched at his sides.

The reaction was immediate. "FUHUCK NOHO, VAHAHAL-" "You said you wanted my undivided attention, and now you have it." "THIHIS ISNT WHAHAT I MEHEANT, FUHUCKER!" "Well now you're just being rude about it." Val slipped his hands under Vox's shirt and rapidly pinched at his lower sides.

Vox tried to bat his hands away in a giggly fight-or-flight mode, until he felt rapid little kisses being peppered along the back of his neck. His giggles softened to something sweeter as he scrunched his shoulders up and stopped fighting him off so much. Fucking Val, he knew he liked this. "B-Bihihitch.." He giggled out. Val chuckled into his neck, tickling it even more.

"Keep talking, Voxy, you have my full attention now."

[cattimeswithjellie]

Stream Recap, PearlescentMoon, 6/11/24

((I started recapping this one before I knew it was going to be a six hour redstone marathon stream. It has taken literally all day, so I will probably think twice before doing one like this again. My knowledge of redstone is too limited to understand everything that was happening, so there are chunks of the middle of the stream where the recap is basically "redstone continues." Impulse and Skizz playtest Pearl's game near the end of the stream and it is very fun!))

3:50 Pearl opens her stream and greets the chat in audio-only mode. She tells chat she just woke up after being up all night and sleeping late. She got plenty of sleep, just at a weird time. She apologizes for postponing the stream yesterday and said she was making the video a priority for someone who was holding their own video waiting for hers. (It was Tango.) Today’s stream will have spoilers. She wants to do a couple things on the minigame today but she can’t make too much progress on the interior because she has to film an intro first. Chat is complimentary about the new video and Pearl says she is probably going to keep the new editing tweaks for redstone-type videos. She’s also going to keep the Editor Pearl overlay. She admits that the snow transition was a happy accident.

7:20 Someone told Pearl that the new video is engaging, which is what she is trying to do with her videos. Feedback sticks in Pearl’s brain, and some people have said on Twitter where they don’t know she is seeing it that while she is a nice person, her videos are not engaging. She is trying to make that better. Chat asks if Pearl feels okay, she tells them she usually wakes up a little congested but is fine. She talks more about finer points of the new video. She knows she can’t please everyone, but feedback that she could be more engaging in her videos is legitimate critique and she wants to keep improving.

10:10 Pearl and Chat talk about what it means for a video to be engaging. They talk about the different ways streams and YouTube videos and podcasts are engaging, and Pearl mentions how she deliberately changes up camera angles when there is a lot of talking in an episode. A chatter admits that the most recent video was not their favorite because redstone goes over their head. Pearl agrees that her audience is not a redstone audience and assures Chat she will not be getting too overly intense on redstone in her videos.

14:20 Pearl switches video on. She is logged into the server and standing at the start button for her Wordle game. She tells Chat that the Wordle invention VOD is up on her second channel for people who want an eight-hour stream of Pearl doing redstone. Something she didn’t show in the video is her adding the diamond barrel. Every Wordle attempt costs one diamond. She didn’t put that part in the video because she had 40 minutes each with Bdubs and Tango and had to do some severe editing. Hermits who fail the Wordle can try again by paying another diamond, Hermits who succeed should not play again til reset. She has plans to make a leaderboard so people can track their streaks.

18:00 Pearl wants to know if an item that bubbles to the top of a bubblevator will stay or despawn. Chat is not sure, but enough people think it will stay that Pearl takes their word for it. She wants to make a randomizer for the game supplies so players don’t have to randomize them at the end of their games. She says they can test the bubblevator despawn issue and test it, but if it works, bubblevating the supplies and then dropping them into a hopper is a great randomizing solution. She digs into the wall to create a test bubblevator. Chat offers suggestions for refining the resetting system. Pearl considers options for triggering the bubblevator, using freecam to examine the redstone she already has in place. She wants to be absolutely sure that the “success” items don’t come out together and first.

23:40 Twitch is having some minor resolution problems, but the stream is generally all right. Pearl goes and gets some water. She fills the bubblevator and throws a bunch of building blocks into it, then writes some signs to explain how the system will work. She discusses the finer points of reset with chat. A chatter suggests killing the player to reset the game, which makes Pearl laugh. A chatter can’t wait for Scar to break the game. Pearl says the only way to break the game should be going into the walls and actually fiddling with the redstone. She demonstrates some ways that players cannot break the game.

28:50 Pearl describes a timing problem where the game kept trying to play the fail sound while she was filming, but she added a pulse extender to fix it. It makes her very happy that she knows enough redstone now to be able to fix things when they don’t work right. She learned so much during her eight hour stream, but now she needs to keep doing redstone so she doesn’t forget it. She also needs to memorize item sorters.

30:30 Pearl checks the bubblevator. It does not work, the building blocks have despawned. She is disappointed, but has a minecart method she wants to try next. Minecarts are good because they take items super-quick, which will help solve the problem of dropping loose items onto a hopper and walking away, leaving them to despawn. Pearl goes out to collect some logs. A chatter suggests that an item does not despawn if a dolphin is playing with it. Pearl thinks that’s a funny idea, if impractical. Chat says that a multiple minecart system is what Tango used for the Decked Out shuffler. Pearl thinks about this, as well as thepossibility of a dispenser-based randomizing system.

35:00 Pearl realizes she is talking redstone like a redstoner and wonders what the heck has happened to her since last week. Chat embraces her new redstonification. She gathers up supplies for more testing. There’s a little bit of room in the existing redstone, but it’s going to be tight. Before Pearl starts redstoning, she thanks chat for donos and subs.

41:20 Pearl is happy to live in a place that doesn’t require driving or walking everywhere. Driving in a city is so much worse than public transit, but she also doesn’t have to walk a long way. Where Pearl lives, some things are walkable and she can drive to other places, and that is perfect. Chat agrees about avoiding city driving. She tells a story about getting stuck in LA traffic, which is even worse than Melbourne. She wishes she could enjoy the observatory she visited out there more, but it was right after TwitchCon and she was feeling horrible. A chatter asks if she’s been to Singapore, but she has not. She continues talking about public transportation and tells a story about a train that never showed up and required an expensive Uber ride to not miss D&D.

49:00 Pearl continues catching up on subs and donos. She considers whether there is something she can be doing while she’s talking, but there’s not much that doesn’t require brain effort. She is jumpscared again by having subs over 50 months, which seems like such a long time.

52:00 Pearl talks with Chat about Pokemon as she heads down into the redstone. She is very against the idea of brown Cyndaquil. Chat agrees about recent downgrades in Pokemon. Pearl says Platinum is the last game she loved. She begins installing the randomizer system. She needs to be careful because if the water-stream goes out of control, it can mess up a lot of redstone. Chat contributes ideas and critique about redstone as she builds.

57:50 Pearl successfully places her system without drowning the redstone. It doesn’t look quite as nice on the display side, but she is all right with it. She adds a timer to finish it up, and makes sure both hoppers are lockable. Space in the redstone area is getting tight. Chat suggests removing one hopper entirely, which helps. Pearl figures out what needs to be done in what order for it all to work properly. She warns chat that this will be Pearlstone, and that means it will not be pretty.

1:07:00 Pearl finishes connecting up the randomizer to the system, then has sudden concerns as to whether it will actually randomize the items as they come in. As the system is set up now, the dispenser dispenses before it is full, which means it will not have time to randomize. Pearl and chat devise a system to fix this and increase the randomzation. A chatter points out a problem in the line with a pulse extender and Pearl fixes it, while quizzing chat til she understands what the problem was.

1:12:00 Pearl begins working on the hopper clock on the opposite side of the new randomizer. There is not very much space available. She goes back and redoes some of the redstone she just made to add more room. She pops out to collect some scaffolding and thanks chat for subs and donos.

1:17:00 Pearl returns to working on the redstone. She falls off the scaffolding a few times and sarcastically declares how much she loves it. She runs out of smooth stone and grabs more. Chat suggests learning to color-code redstone, Pearl says maybe next time. She and chat have a conversation about the function of a reversed signal and a pulse extender. She explains to Chat the initial problem with reset that needed the pulse extender solution.

1:23:00 Pearl prepares to test the redstone. She set a new word yesterday but Tango was too busy flinging Skizzleman into the Void to actually play it. She tells Chat to close their eyes if they don’t want to know the answer for this week, then decides to leave camera mode and hide it so Chat can’t spoil it to anyone. One she has arranged the supplies appropriately for the correct answer, she brings Chat back and presses the solve button. The win celebration happens like it’s supposed to. She tests the fail. The fail happens like it should as well. Pearl is pleased. She hides the game again to unload the letters, but some become lost in the system. They are stuck in the dropper because she pressed the reset, but everything is okay. Chat sees some of the letters. Pearl decides to change the word and asks chat to guess. They guess it correctly.

1:29 Pearl shows off some of her prize bundles and says she is going to change some of them to be more themed. Chat suggests changing the theme every month or week. She does not want to retexture the dyes into letters, it’s no longer on theme with the shop. She also likes that it’s a little more vanilla. She tests the reset again and realizes she needs to adjust the water stream. She tests it again and this time everything comes back in a random order.

1:34:30 Pearl sees a flaw in the system. She thinks there might need to be a delay on item release or the correct letters might always come back first, ruining the randomizing. Further testing is needed. She collects her redstone supplies back up while talking with Chat about the possibility of flower crowns for rare prizes. Pearl needs to buy more fireworks, but not just yet. She starts doing the redstone to add the delay.

1:43:00 Chat is attempting to help with the redstone, with varying amounts of forcefulness. Pearl reminds Chat that there are lots of different ways to do redstone and people advocating too many methods or being too pushy about their preferred way can make it uncomfortable to do redstone on camera. The redstone is expanding rapidly.

1:49:50 Pearl tests the randomizer. The signal strength is difficult to calibrate, it is either too weak to activate the randomizer or too strong and sets it off early. Pearl begins calibrating the system to get the correct signal strength for the result she needs. She releases a bit of water but fortunately it only kills one bit of redstone. An Australian streamer raids in and compliments Pearl on the new video. She chats with them a bit about ancient city raiding in a hardcore world being nerve-wracking.

1:54:15 Pearl tests the redstone again. The delay is too short. Pearl explains the problem to chat, chat suggests “more comparators.” There is not much room to add more redstone at all. Pearl contemplates moving other redstone to make more room. She digs into the wall instead. She decides to do another proper test with the actual letters. Chat tells her that her redstone is reversed. She changes it, apologizing that she is not as cool as Tango and is doing Noobstone.

2:02:00 Time for the test. Pearl throws letters in in alphabetical order to see if they get scrambled nicely. It did not work because things came back into the chest too quickly to get randomized. Pearl has a big thonky-thonk about what to do next. Another streamer raids in. Pearl starts troubleshooting again.

2:09:00 Another test, it’s looking better, it will randomize til the letter G instead of C. She needs a long enough delay to send the whole alphabet through the system. Chat suggests an Etho clock, she says she is not very familiar with it, but will lean on chat if they help her build one. She replaces a patch of Pearlstone with a hopper clock, following instructions from Chat. Chat tells her she needs at least 17.6 seconds.

2:18:00 A chatter asks if Pearl is calling the game Wordle. Pearl says no, it’s Wordle-inspired, but she won’t call it that. She shows off the signs she put up at the entrance and says she took suggestions from the chat: the game is called “Dye-duction.” You use dye to deduce what the word is. “Pearldle” was a close runner up but is hard to say and a little cheesy. She returns to the redstoning.

2:25:00 Another test. The randomizing is working, but it’s still too short. Things are still getting stuck in the system. She decides to try extending the clock and also needs to fix the locking conditions on one hopper. She tests it again. It does not work. She studies chat, hoping for answers. Chat has suggestions.

2:30:00 More troubleshooting. Pearl accuses chat of misleading her when she was in fact right all along. Most of chat just seems a little confused, but of the chatters trying to help, the votes are split between “correct” and “wrong.” Pearl says this is why people don’t do redstone on stream.

2:36:40 Pearl spots a creeper down in the guts of the redstone and is Not Happy about it. She asks it to please not blow up her redstone. She gets her bow and takes care of the creeper with no damage done. Pearl asks why it always has to be a creeper and never a zombie or skeleton. Redstoning continues

2:41:00 Pearl takes a moment to process, thanks subs and donos. She is an hour behind on her donator thank-yous and has no idea how she is 2:42 into the stream. False raids into the stream. Pearl continues to disbelieve that she has spent this much time on a randomizer. She’s fine. She’s fine. Attendance is down for the stream, but chat is fine too. Pearl chats with False’s raiders. Chat asks if Pearl needs a snack or a drink, but she is fine. She has a drink. False and her chat have been doing base design. Pearl likes how everyone has been building bases in stages this season, it’s neat! Redstone continues.

2:53:00 Pearl loses some of the letter dyes from the system when they shoot out of the water stream. She finds all of them except light gray, and enables freecam to look for it. As she swoops around, she briefly dips out of the room and into x-ray view. There is a chasm below, which contains a number of mobs, and something that looks like a green room or tunnel with a white stripe along it. Pearl finds her lost dye and pops back into her body, mentioning she saw something down there she hadn’t meant to look at and is just going to ignore. She rearranges her letters in the box and does another test. The piston is very very loud and the signal is too strong. All the items get stuck at the top of the water stream. Pearl tries to put the items away but activates the circuit again, so the items spit back out again. Test failed.

2:57:00 Pearl disables the circuit and collects up her letters again. She decides to try again with a different repeater delay and yells at the hopper clock until it behaves itself. She reloads the letters for another test. Things are much less obviously broken on this test, but the hopper that should release stays locked for longer than is ideal. At the end of the test, though, the letters are randomized and in the chest. Victory!

3:03 Pearl resets for another test, this time to make sure that the first-in-first-out problem doesn’t cause any hints. She points out that she has added something to the system that can break. She runs the test again. The chest does not randomize very well this time, despite everything going through the system. Another test has the same result. Pearl figures out what is going wrong and discusses possible solutions with chat.

3:16:00 Redstone work resumes. Pearl has a solution in mind, and she hopes to do it without flooding the room. Pearl and chat briefly forget how many letters are in the alphabet. A chatter gives her an idea that will allow her to switch the game to allow for the entire alphabet later if she wants it. She likes that idea and decides to implement it.

3:24:00 Another test. It looks good in the water stream and stops when it needs to. Pearl is excited. The chest is nicely randomized. The hopper clock is not finished yet, and she has not solved the first-in-first out issue with the correct answer letters, but it’s progress! She goes to adjust the hopper clock and runs the test again. Again random, and with better timing, but the letter K is stuck in a dropper. She tests again. Letter C gets stuck in the same place. She adjusts the timer a little bit and wonders how this became a redstone stream. Everything works!

3:32:00 Pearl prepares for a full playtest. She walks chat through the gameplay and decides doing a reset on the reset barrel is not worth it. She does a playtest and pretends she doesn’t remember the word. The moment the letters are out of the chest, it begins cycling. She discusses possible fixes with chat. Chat suggests a “do not touch” potato that stays in the chest, but Pearl is certain that it will be touched consistently by Hermits because Hermits don’t read things.

3:38:30 Pearl admits that a “do not take this block” block is the easiest solution, but she’s trying to minimize points of possible breakage. The biggest consequence of moving the block would be a loud noise, so the problem is fairly small. Pearl comes up with a solution involving sticky pistons that might be effective and might be silly. Chat thinks if it works, it’s not silly. She tries out the solution.

3:45:00 Time to test the fix. Pearl simulates a reset and giggles “It’s working” as the items begin to circulate. She asks if she actually fixes it, with a solution she came up with herself and didn’t get from chat. She is very proud. Chat is very proud of her. She reorders the letters for a full randomization test. The test runs successfully, though with a couple patches of ordered letters. Time for a playtest.

3:50 Pearl reorganizes her inventory and sets up for a playtest. She adds the correct letters. The win condition runs successfully, but she forgets to put away the winning letters before reset. She tries it again. It works successfully, there is no sign of what the original word was. Pearl is pleased. She gets a nosebleed, but not a bad one. She stuffs a bit of paper up her nose to stop it. Chat tells her she needs Etho’s Kleenex box, but she points out that every tissue removed from that box is one less layer of sound dampening.

3:56:30 With four minutes left of stream time, Pearl says they couldn’t possibly have cut that finer. She decides to do a quick fail test. She puts in “PATHS,” then changes it to “PEARL” because it has some needed letters. The fail test works. Pearl doesn’t like that she can’t do a true playtest because she always knows the word. She thinks about asking Impulse to playtest for her. She puts in “SHELF”, another good test. She plays “FIELDS” and gets the win condition. She resets again and decides to ask Impulse to play. The correct letters are in the first five slots. Pearl needs to put a timer on the letter release. She decides that she has nothing big to do tomorrow, so she’s going to go overtime on the stream.

4:04:30. Back to the redstone. Pearl does another win test and looks at the way the chests empty. The letters randomize on this go-through. She wonders if she was just unlucky. She tries the test again and asks if Impulse is streaming. Chat says no, Impulse is sick. This test has three correct letters at the top and two at the bottom. Pearl is mostly satisfied.

4:14:20 Pearl invites Impulse to play a game. Impulse says “Depends” Pearl asks if he wants to play or not. Impulse asks if it will kill him. Pearl assures him it will not. He agrees to play. She invites him to the flower shop. She resets the game, cleans the playing room, and goes to find Impulse. He’s a hard guy to find.

4:18:00 Pearl finds impulse at the flower truck. He sounds pretty rough, but says he’s okay. She asks if he’s ready to play Wordle. He says he likes Wordle, and that he is proud of her for doing redstone. She leads him to the new shop and shows him around, then welcomes him to Dye-Duction. She tells him she’s just going to watch him play and see what happens. He doesn’t have to pay today.

4:20:15 Impulse reads some of the instructions aloud. Pearl reminds him to guess words and not just letter combinations. Impulse admits he didn’t read enough of the book to know where things are. He goes back and reads the book. He plays through the game with some small guidance from Pearl on the technical aspects of the game. He plays “SPACE,”

4:26:40 Impulse tries to think of a second word. His dogs start barking at the landscaper and he leaves for a moment. He comes back and says it’s hard when the dyes are not in order. He plays “BEING” and still has no letters in the right spot.

4:31:00 Impulse tries to think of another word. Pearl assures him there’s no pressure, she’s had people watch her do redstone for the past four hours and she knows from pressure. She tells him it’s really quite simple. He says it’s _not._ She asks what Impulse says when he’s doing redstone, like how Tango and Mumbo have catchphrases. He admits he hasn’t got a line, but Chat is bopping.

4:34:15 Impulse is struggling. Pearl is amused. Impulse plays “THEIR” and has one letter in the right spot. Still no more letters. Impulse is getting squeaky with Wordle-related distress. Pearl realizes that having each letter only once makes Wordle considerably harder and that random letter combos might be okay to counteract that. She mutes herself in-game so she can laugh at Impulse.

4:40:40 Impulse wants a sign he can write on. He tries it out, then realizes he can’t see his inventory when the sign is up. A sign would at least let him save guesses. Pearl and chat discuss custom textures to make the dyes look more lettery.

4:43:00 Impulse plays “FIELD” and gets the win event. He is happy and gets the prize. He reads the book and puts the supplies back in the box. He presses reset and tells Pearl the game is impressive and enjoyable. He isn’t used to playing Wordle under pressure and is sweating about it, but in general it was fun and he’s going to cut the footage to make it look like he guessed very quickly.

4:47:00 Pearl says she isn’t going to do signs but people can use whispers or an actual piece of paper to make notes. Impulse gives back the bundle because his game was comped, but Pearl says she’s going to reset the game and open it today or tomorrow so he can play. She says she’s going to rig up a hint barrel for people who get really stuck. She asks if he wants to see behind the curtain.

4:48:20 Pearl gives Impulse the redstone tour. He jokes about how she needs documentation for all this. She tells him she used his sorters for the game. He said he saw her screenshot while he was on his cruise and was proud to see his sorters. She thanks him for helping her test. Chat suggests naming the shop Dye On The Inside. Pearl and Impulse talk about how lack of repeated letters and only five guesses can make things harder. Impulse thinks no repeated letters is not bad, just hard to learn to think about.

4:51:00 Pearl explains that she’s trying to eliminate user error from the system. Impulse agrees it needs to be spam-proofed for Grian. Pearl needs to add a few more rules to the book before the game opens. Impulse says the game is cool and leaves. Pearl is pleased with the test run and knows she needs to install a locker room and hint barrel. Chat remembers that Impulse didn’t take his stuff. Pearl sends him a message.

4:54:10 Impulse sneaks in and grabs his stuff. Pearl explains her next video will be less about the game and more about stocking the actual shop. Before she ends, Pearl wants to do a few last things, but chat wants Skizz to test the game. Pearl sends him a message, asking “Would you like to play a game?” Skizz is always up to play a game. Impulse says he heard that in the Saw voice. Pearl says that was the correct way to hear that. She discusses the possibilty of making the game a death trap. It would be pretty difficult. She sets up a new recording for Skizz’s visit.

4:57:00 Pearl and Chat decide that easier than a death trap would be a chest where if the contestant loses, they need to pay another diamond to get their stuff back. Easier, but diabolical. The reward would have to be very good to justify that. She examines her bundles again and decides which ones to switch out. Chat suggests adding coupons to the bundles, Pearl likes that idea. Skizz doesn’t know where the shop is, so Pearl gives him directions.

4:59:00 Skizz and a creeper arrive at the flower shop at the same time. Pearl warns Skizz off while she deals with the “green cucumber.” She is very impressed with Skizz’s green shutter shades from Mission Possible. Skizz asks if he’ll be playing Wordle. She says yes and asks how good he is at it. He says he doesn’t like to brag, but… She leads him downstairs, introduces him to Dyeductions, and has him read the book.

5:00:30 Skizz looks at the book and is dismayed by nine pages. He reads the book aloud. He loves the “no letters twice” thing. Pearl adds a few editorial comments for things she’s going to change or that he doesn’t get. He accidentally picks up the book, sets it down, and loses track of it. This is because he is losing his connection, because he instantly falls offline.

5:03:00 Pearl hopes that Skizz didn’t fake losing connection so he doesn’t have to play Wordle. She talks to chat about color choices and waits for him to come back, which he does. He says everything crashed. He finishes reading the book and drops his inventory into the barrel. Pearl critiques his crowded inventory. Skizz gathers his supplies and readies for his first guess. He can’t remember what starter word he wants to use. After a moment of thought, he plays “HORSE,” because eliminating an H eliminates all H blends. He gets one letter, not in the right place.

5:08:30 Skizz clears the board and sets up for his next guess. Pearl creates a sign to remind players of which letters are not included in the game. Skizz is nervous! Pearl tells him not to be stressed. She creates a sign to remind players that letters do not appear twice. Skizz plays “CLEAN,” a word that pleases Cleaning Lady Pearl. He gets a letting in the right place and a letter in the wrong place. He clears the board again. He is so impressed by Pearl’s redstone prowess. Pearl tells him she had so much fun making the game.

5:14:00 Skizz tries to figure out his next guess. Pearl is impressed by his deduction attempts. Skizz says not having letters on the textures makes it hard, but Pearl tells him she is still not sure what to do about this. She mentions that all the vowels are flowers. Skizz says I before E except after C and promises he is actually good at this. He says he’s going to edit this to be much faster. He continues muttering to himself and looking at letters while Pearl thinks about Mission Possible.

5:17:20 Skizz decides on a word. It is “FIELD.” He bops all the letters into place. Chat is so excited. He gets the win condition and is very pleased. Impulse, who was stream sniping, yells “woo!” in chat. Skizz explains that when he and Impulse play Wordle, they share their results. A word guessed in two tries is a twofer, a word guessed in three is a woo. Pearl tells Skizz he did it in faster than Impulse with one less try. He demurs, saying he may have done one less try, but he doubts he did it faster. ((He did it much faster, in about half the time it took Impulse.)) He asks to take a peep at the redstone using freecam. He asks Pearl how she is both an amazing builder and an amazing redstoner and accuses her of hogging all the cool. Pearl says she’s not really a redstoner, but Skizz scoffs at that. He tells her not only did he have fun with the game, he was very impressed.

5:20:10 Skizz puts away the supplies and resets the game. He looks at his bundle, the orange and red dyes. She tells him he can keep it and tells him about her plan for new bundle rewards. Hoffen is doing the bundle texture. Skizz tells her he has an enormous amount of pink dye if she needs it. Pearl gets most of her dyes from Keralis, but she won’t say no to dyes. She tells him the shop will be open in a week or two, but the game is opening very soon, with one word per week. Chat is still busy loving on Pearl after Skizz’s compliments.

5:23:00 Skizz thinks Pearl could charge more than a diamond for the play or the hint, because the bundles are so nice. He promises to play again as soon as the word resets, then leaves. Pearl heads downstairs and realizes she forgot to ensnare Skizz in her Mission Possible task. She says she thought about doing it before he finished the Wordle, but he was very dialed in. She still has plenty of time. She has not told Chat what the task is. She wants to come up with a better sto- a better thing anyway. Chat asks if it’s in her video and she remembers yes, she did put it in the video. She’s still not going to give it away in case of lurking Hermits, but she’s going to get something better put together before she completes the mission.

5:26:00 Pearl says the worst problem so far is hermits not noticing the droppers. She thinks about ways to fix it. Chat suggests adding a sign with the date that the game was last updated. Pearl agrees, and talks again about the leaderboard and locker room. Otherwise, the game is done!

5:28:00 Pearl says it’s time to end the stream. She asks what it is about redstone that makes these 5+ hour streams. She must be having fun if she lets it run so long! She could actually keep streaming, but she has stuff to do in the gaming district. This week is birthday week, so she has family stuff to do, plus she uploaded late and has less time to make her next video. She wants to get back to her Friday release schedule. She needs to figure out what will be in her next video before she makes it, too. Her birthday and Kahn’s birthday are both this week, but she will not take a week off. Taking a week off is so bad for the YouTube algorithm. Right now she is very happy with everything she’s doing on the server and has been having a lot of fun. She tells chat she’s streaming again tomorrow

5:31:50 Pearl realizes she has not read out her notifications for three hours. She is embarrassed and blames redstone streaming. She wails a bit, then starts thanking her subs and donos. Pearl and the chat have a mutual-appreciation party for a little while. Pearl thinks Chat is wonderful, and that things are better now than in older streams, with less backseating and more support. She liked streaming back then but even more now. There are fewer trolls (she thinks this may be because she gave up facecam) and more peaceful building. She likes how Chat offers good suggestions in kind ways. Chat is loving this and feeding compliments right back to Pearl. Pearl says she feels good after every stream these days. Some people in the community give fair critique but in painful ways that makes people feel bad instead of making them better, and that has happened with other creators she knows recently, but her chat is excellent. Pearl also says she understands a fraction of what Tango felt when he finished Decked Out.

5:44:40 Ollie Orionsound appears in chat and asks about the game, so Pearl gives him the very short tour of how the redstone works for the game itself. Ollie thinks it is “so cool.” After the tour, Pearl says she needs to end stream now. No Hermits are streaming Minecraft so she raids into Jono, who is mixing the Poe Poe song, and ends her stream.

[writingquestionsanswered]

Writing with Chronic Illness

strigiformthunderstorm asked: Could you advise on forming a writing routine with a chronic illness? I have several conditions that cause a lot of pain and fatigue, and working part-time takes up nearly all of my energy. I used to write daily but stopped while I was in "survival mode", and now getting in my head about the quality prevents me from writing. I've had success with creating multiple routines to accommodate my fluctuating symptoms, so instead of writing out a schedule, I'm kind of choreographing a dance. For example, right now I'm coming out of a flare up so I'm trying to think of adaptations like writing in bed, taking naps between writing sessions, and being less hard on myself about smoking for my pain while writing + just doing brain dumps if that's what I need to get into the flow of things. I'm also neurodivergent. I'm trying to get to the point I'm actually writing the book (instead of world building/planning) and am making consistent progress.

[Ask edited for length]

A few things that might help:

1 - Don't worry about writing daily or hitting specific word counts. Doing things to "move the needle" are just as important, even if that is doing brain dumps, researching, or looking for inspiration photos.

2 - Try to avoid making writing feel like a stressful activity that your brain will automatically want to avoid. The things you're doing are already on the right track, so continue to give yourself grace, give yourself positive reinforcement for anything that moves the needle, and doing what you can to make writing relaxing and rewarding.

3 - Many writers find that writing sprints are a productive way for them to get words on the page. So, for example, try setting a timer for 10 or 20 minutes (or whatever increment works for you) and write as much as you can during that time. Don't worry about quality (we'll get to that in a minute), just get the words down. Do this a few times a day, and it starts to add up quickly. You may also find that you gather momentum and are able to write more per sprint, sprint for longer periods, and/or include more sprints into your day.

4 - Focusing overly much on quality is probably a bigger obstacle for you right now than anything else. This is by far and away the biggest pitfall writers fall into. Remember: writing is a process that requires editing and revision. No one writes a perfect first draft. There's a reason we call them "rough drafts" and "zero drafts." There's a reason we self-edit and revise. There's a reason we use beta readers, critique partners, and editors. It isn't supposed to be perfect at the beginning. Imagine being a sculptor, taking out a lump of clay, squeezing it to shape it a few times, and then being livid because it isn't a beautiful sculpture. That's what you're doing when you allow your brain to be frustrated about the quality of your writing when you're writing a first draft. You're getting mad because your lump of clay didn't instantly become a beautiful sculpture. If you never let your lump of clay be a lump of clay, and something that looks more like a misshapen whatever rather than the thing you're trying to make, then you'll never get it to the point of actually becoming the beautiful sculpture. You have to let the words on the page be ugly before you can shape them into something beautiful when it's time to edit and revise. Have a look at the following posts for more:

Concentrate on Quantity at First, Not Quality Overcoming Embarrassment Over Own Writing Delaying Writing Out of Fear Worried About Writing Style

5 - As far as routine goes, you're actually already doing what I would have suggested, which is to utilize a variety of different routines that are catered to meet your needs in the moment. Doing the things you're already doing, plus what is mentioned above, will hopefully be enough to get you over this hurdle.

Sending you lots of happy thoughts and hope for progress! ♥

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[starlit-grace]

Robot girlfriend Ship of Theseus expanded edition for @k1nky-r0b0t-g1rl

Buckle up because this is loooooong. CW for light robosex and unnecessary world building. Also some of the plot details are a bit of a stretch but I couldn't just write smut without a story in there.

Older femme robot girl goes into a shop to get some routine maintenance done but instead of her regular guy there's this stunning young brown butch who steps in. Apparently, she inherited the shop after her uncle died. "Don't worry", she says, "he taught me everything he knew." The older femme robot girl thinks to herself that the lack of experience on the mechanic's part isn't exactly what she was worried about but agrees to get her maintenance done anyways.

The mechanic makes her lie down on the workbench as usual and gets to work opening her up. She focuses on her work while the robot girl tries her hardest to not think about her soft fingers brushing up against her most sensitive parts. The mechanic does nothing to indicate her awareness of this, but her deft hands do seem to linger on her ram chips for just a touch longer than absolutely necessary.

Eventually the mechanic is finished with the routine maintenance, but notices something slightly off. She informs the robot girl of this and gets permission to dig deeper. She roots through her guts while the robot girl stifles a moan and eventually finds the issue. Some wiring is starting to decay which could be a symptom of a larger issue. She's gonna need to do some very intensive repairs if the robot girl wants to continue moving after a few years. The robot girl agrees to the repairs since she very much wants to continue living and also getting to see the mechanic girl more often won't be such a bad idea.

The robot girl returned after a week to find the mechanic girl's sweaty back turned to her as she was hunched over a different project that she quickly covered with a cloth before attending to her customer. She didn't quite know why but she felt oddly disturbing at the thought of the mechanic having projects other than her, despite her logic centres informing her that it was quite literally her job. As she resumed her usual place, she resolved to check her feelings settings and try to reduce her attachment to this human.

This was supposed to be a purely professional relationship... even though the mechanic had offered to fix her wiring at no extra cost... and her caramel hands were so, so soft... and she could almost imagine her touching her CPU with those hands... The robot girl decided that she would allow herself these thoughts only while the human was working on her and then never think about it again.

The mechanic girl continued rooting through the wires but the issue seemed to be getting more and more complex the more she looked at it. The source of the issue seemed to be something else entirely and she couldn't quite figure out what. Her only idea was to hook the robot girl up to a screen to run some major diagnostics which would almost be like entering someone's brain. She looked over to the robot girl who seemed to have gone into sleep mode and decided it was worth the invasion of privacy if it helped her find the source of the problem. She plugged in her screen and was about to switch to the BIOS screen, but instead was greeted by a *very* high definition image of herself stroking the robot girls CPU with one hand while the other was in her HDMI port.

The screen went dark and the robot girl immediately powered on and stood up. Her cores seemed to be overheating from sheer embarrassment. She muttered an apology, her eyes fixed to the floor. The mechanic girl was, luckily, a lot more decisive than her robot customer and simply walked forward, lifted her face up and pulled her into a kiss. The old novels used to talk about "sparks flying" when you kissed someone, but the mechanic girl didn't realize it would be quite so literal. The robot girl couldn't control herself and released an electric charge so strong that the mechanic's hair was standing on end and her face was blackened. The only thought on both their minds in that moment was "Worth it."

Over the next few months, the robot girl booked a double slot at the mechanic's. One for her repairs and one for "other services rendered" as the accounts kept by the shop claimed. One of these was the mechanic installing a hidden, password locked vagina into her new girlfriend. The rest of these was her testing its capabilities. The robot girl had heard that humans had sex to make babies instead of coming from a factory like normal people, but she never quite understood the appeal until she experienced a sweaty butch cock ramming into her chassis so hard she thought her memory card would become corrupted. The mechanic was extremely skilled with repairs, but her talents also extended to finding sensitive spots that would make her robot girlfriend display error codes. Stroking her CPU was an obvious one, but she also fingered her ports, especially her power port, jiggled the wiring that connected her ram slots to her motherboard and used an air can to blow on her fan blades. They always ended with the robot girl releasing a shockwave that made her hair stand on end and covered her face with soot.

Eventually, they stopped with the charade of customer and mechanic and settled down together. They were married eventually and the wedding kiss left the mechanic with her hair standing up and her face covered in soot. Life went on for a while and they were happy. Despite being married, the robot girl kept coming up with excuses for her wife to work on her so that she could get deep in her guts again and again. Eventually she thought she must have replaced all of her parts. Well except her CPU, which of course is a robot's most crucial component and which must only be tampered with in extreme circumstances. She did try to get her to uninstall and reinstall it, but her mechanic wife wouldn't allow such a dangerous operation solely for kink. In human terms this could be understood as taking someone's brain out of their body.

The robot girl was painting the scene outside her window as usual when she heard the mechanic fall in the workshop below. A heart attack. She called an ambulance in tears and fell to the floor beside her love. She racked her memory card for information that could help in the situation and remembered something crucial. The robot girl leaned down and kissed her wife. Sparks flew. The mechanic girl jolted awake, hacking and coughing. Her hair was standing on end and her face was covered in soot.

The med-bots at the hospital were very stern with the mechanic girl. She should not have been working so hard at her age. She was firmly advised to retire effective immediately. If any other mishaps occurred, it could be her last. The mechanic saw that she had no choice in the matter and agreed.

The mechanic was not the only one who the med bots checked up on. They also looked over the robot girl and her diagnosis was much more severe. The strong electric shock that occurs when they kiss was not a normal response. They examined her thoroughly and found the source of the problem. She was one of the very few surviving robots from just after the planned obsolescence laws.

Back then, robots were built with the intention of being discarded after a few short years. It was a darker time. The planned obsolescence laws codified that every robot would have a right to a life that was at least as long as a human life. Since then, robots enjoyed long lives, free of the fear of eventual death. But there were a couple of generations of robots who had come out just after the laws had passed that were designed to expire at the 85 year mark. This was slightly above the average human lifespan and the companies had simply artificially inflated the lifespan of their old CPUs which could at most last 20 years to more than quadruple that. It would work, just not very well. The robot girl needed a new CPU, but her model had extremely limited compatibility. In short, she would soon run out of time.

When they got back home, neither of them said anything. The robot girl turned to speak but the mechanic was already back in her workshop. She took no more customers, but kept tinkering with this project of hers which she told the robot girl nothing about, but was easy for her to guess. Her wife was planning on building her a new CPU. The robot confronted her wife about this eventually, but the mechanic brushed her off. "I run an Indian tech repair shop," she said, "I'm supposed to be able to fix anything with little to no resources. It's just what we do." The robot girl could see the toll this project was taking on her, but bit her tongue. She knew that her wife would not listen to reason.

The mechanic called the robot girl down to the shop for one final job. Her new CPU was hopefully everything she would need. Although, the mechanic chuckled, she would miss the sparks. It felt like a physical signifier of their love. The robot girl smiled, but inside she knew her time was up. She did not expect to survive this installation at her age, despite her wife's skill. The mechanic knew this too, but she had to try. She had to try to save her no matter what. So she laid her down on the workbench and started the install.

"You know you'll practically have a new brain now right? I hope you'll remember me." The mechanic's voice was heavy with emotion.

"Oh darling," replied the robot, "in a thousand lifetimes I could not forget you."

"You always did have a way with words babe... Ok I'm going to uninstall your CPU now. Are you ready?"

"I trust you, dear."

The mechanic closed her eyes and pulled the plug. The robot girl fell silent. The mechanic finished the install with tears in her eyes. She hooked up the monitor to the robot girl and ran diagnostics. The tests were fine, but her memory seemed to be having issues. It was very likely that the robot girl would either forget who her wife was completely, along with a lot of her memories. She would essentially be completely new, fresh off the line. The mechanic gritted her teeth and continued closing up her wife. She promised herself she would do whatever it takes to save her. As long as she could function, she didn't even need to be married to her. Or hold her hand and look out at the sunsets, or touch her ports... She shook her head and kept working.

Eventually she put the final piece of her chassis in place and powered her on. The robot girl's eyes flickered to life and she looked directly at the mechanic, who asked her in as even a tone as she could muster, "You've just been through a major operation. So it's normal to feel a little disoriented. Do you remember who you are?"

"Yes, yes I do."

"And so you remember who I am?"

.

.

.

"My dear, did I not just say it would take me a thousand lifetimes to forget you?"

The mechanic couldn't control herself any longer and she started sobbing in her wife's arms. "I was so scared baby I thought I lost you."

The robot girl held her wife closely and let her cry for some time, then lifted her face up and pulled her into a kiss.

The mechanic had made the new CPU a much better, more powerful version of her older one and hoped that it would prevent her from burning out. While she was right that it could in theory last a lot longer than her old one, it was also prone to more powerful versions of the same issues that the previous one experienced. And so the story ends.

Sparks flew.

Some time later, the mechanic's family would drop in for a visit to find her body lying on top of her wife's body. The mechanic had died of cardiac arrest that came about due to a strong electric shock. the robot had died of a power overload from a similar electric shock which she was especially vulnerable to as she had just gotten a new CPU installed. They were buried together as indicated by the robot girl's last will and testament found above the workshop in their house. It seemed to have been written relatively recently. As the casket containing both their bodies was lowered into the ground, the onlookers could see that despite the best attempts of the medical assistants to make her corpse look pretty, the mechanic's hair was standing up on end and her face was blackened like soot.

[latoyalestrange]

enough

s. sallow x f!reader

summary: sebastian had gone to far. you didn't have it in you to turn him in, but you also couldn't look him in the eye. the boy learns a lesson of action and consequence, but is it too late?

words: 900

warnings: angst. ya'll i'm so sorry. i literally sobbed during this scene and i wanted to show you guys what the inside of my brain looked like in that moment lol. minors dni pls. not edited!

"sebastian! wait!" your feet were moving as quickly as they could to catch up with him as he weaved through the catacombs, ignoring your calls.

you hadn't really processed what had happened just yet. you'd seen someone die before on your way to hogwarts, but that was different. oslic was ripped out of the carriage by a dragon, for merlin's sake. it happened so quickly and your eyes were shut for most of it. this time is wasn't like that. you watched the life leave solomon's eyes and it was at your best friend's hand. all you knew in that moment was you needed to get to him, to make sure he was okay. in your heart you also knew that there was no possible way he was okay right now. either way, you needed to be there. you couldn't leave him.

"would you stop for a moment? p-please!" you could feel yourself beginning to lose your composure, your voice breaking as you begged him. you could hardly keep up with your feet as you raced after him. you nearly ran into him before you realized he had stopped dead in his tracks, a few feet away from the exit. he was scanning your face, his own twisted with concern and guilt. he saw the tears starting to pool in your eyes and lifted his hand to comfort you. instead of giving you the contact you desired, though, he quickly withdrew it, almost as if it were a painful action.

"don't cry...please?" his head hung low with shame, unable to meet your gaze like a guilty puppy. even if you could try, the wetness persisted down your cheeks, now flushed with both exhaustion and grief.

"how can i not?" his head perked up at your words. the look on his face made you feel like a terrible person.

"i did what i had to do!" his demeanor flipped like a switch. he was suddenly irate and in defense mode. "he attacked us! i had to protect us! i had to protect you--"

okay. no.

after everything you had done for him-- after he pressured you to lie to the keepers, put your education in jeopardy, and treated you like shit the entire time? he would not pretend like this was for you. none of it was for you. most of it wasn't even for anne. it was for him.

"don't you dare try to pretend that any of that was for me." with tears still rolling down your face, you had turned into the physical manifestation of reactive. "i have done everything that you have ever asked of me, sebastian. i have risked my life, my education, and my connection with the keepers for you." he looked petrified as you bore into him, but you weren't done.

"you know, i came here with no one. i thought maybe if i helped you, you would want to be my friend--"

"i am your friend!" it wasn't until he sobbed out those words that you realized he was crying. he was close to incoherent at this point.

"you are the furthest thing from a friend, sebastian. i have endured the way you treat me because i really needed someone. i needed someone, and--" you choked on your words, the lump in your throat becoming too prominent to continue.

"i'm sorry, y/n..." he sounded meek, almost like a whimper. you wiped your face and took a deep breath.

"it's too late for that, seb." his eyes finally met yours as he heard his favorite pet name from you. it broke him just a little bit more knowing that was the last time he'd ever hear you say it. he mirrored you and took a deep breath of his own.

"i know. i know i've treated you terribly and i admit to being blinded by my own desires to not realize what i already have. i understand if you want to turn me in and never see me again." his apology honestly made it worse. him showing remorse for his actions at the last possible second, when you finally show him you're serious, is something that you predicted from miles away. but that didn't make it any easier.

"sebastian, i could never turn you in..." he looked hopeful for a moment, but it was short lived. "but i think it's best if we don't speak." he closed his eyes, looking wounded.

"please," you instinctively turned to walk around him, you couldn't bare to hear his begging. "please, no wait--don't do this!" you almost plugged your ears as you trudged forward, ignoring his pleas.

"i can't do this without you!" deep down, you felt the same. going on without sebastian seemed impossible but you knew it was a necessity. the wizarding world rested in your hands, and at such a young age. you went from being a regular teenager with no responsibilities other than homework to an ancient-magic-wielding sorcerer who was solely responsible for not just one, but multiple repositories full of the most powerful magic known to wizard-kind. not to mention, an entire rebellion regime was after you. they didn't just want you for information or money or some material object. they wanted you dead.

so, you couldn't risk it. you didn't go through everything just to doom an entire world of people. even if your happiness was the price.

[thefringespod]

Late #AudioDramaSunday posting because I had a date to a ren faire today but now it's audiodrama time!!! Starting off with @ethicstownpod because even though I didn't have time to listen episode 2 still was released and I'm still in love with Ethics Town <3

@doyoucopypod episode 4 has given me. Concerns. As I expected it to but still I will be screaming about it until the next episode drops and then I'll be screaming about that as well. I love Do You Copy? a normal amount <3

I've finally finished @thesiltverses and I. Cried a lot. Everything about this show has always been fantastic but to see how it ends/how the last run of episodes went was just something beautiful to experience. Those were the Silt Verses. And what an honor it was to be a disciple

@woebegonepod season finale was this week and gods was it a lot of fun!! I once again had the fortune of being in the episode and there are some things about Magnolia which are still rattling around in my brain. Woe.begone continues to be the show of all time I adore it

@grottopod episode 11 has. Done things to my heart that I will never recover from which is often the way with the Grotto. Shout out to @taytayheyhey for breaking my heart and to @doomedbythenarrativ for making me believe in Emily rights AND Emily wrongs

The fine folks at the Technomancy Project are crowdfunding for season 3!! Not only is this one of my favorite shows, but the Fringes very own Zoe Lee is joining the season 3 cast! You can check out their crowdfunder here

Here on the Fringes episodes 1 and 3 are fully complete and we're on track to meet a September launch! More on that coming soon :D

And over on @forgedbondspod we're continuing to collect recordings and preparing to launch fully into editing mode once the Fringes wraps!

Special announcement was supposed to come this past week but life got a lil hectic so it will be coming out this upcoming week! Specifically on Wednesday the 14th! Until then I will be catching up on @thecellarletters and editing Fringes s3

[crescencestudio]

Devlog #32 | 06.27.23

Hi everyone!

I'm here! With an Update! This is an exciting one because I am Finally releasing a Full! Game! <3 I will obviously still be talking about Alaris, but I am vibrating with excitement because I can't wait to release intertwine to you all! THE RELEASE DATE APPROACHES

Writing

Because we entered crunch mode for intertwine, this month was mostly focused on continuing to fill out Druk's route and my dissertation.

I didn't make as much progress on Druk's route as I would've liked (I was hoping to FINISH it, but Otojam crunch wrecked my ass). But I do have most of the route finished! At this point, I only have the final chapter to go, so we are Very Close! Druk's route is shaping up to be a really fun one. I like to sprinkle humor into all the routes, but because of Druk's character, there are a lot of funny (at least to me) cast interactions. I hope people enjoy it as much as I do because I have a big fat crush on him now!

Regarding editing, we are just about rounding out the last of Fenir's developmental edits (courtesy of local superhero dev Wudgeous of Herotome) and Kayn's line edits (courtesy of local royalty IF writer Vi of Next in Line). With Fenir's script coming up on the last of the developmental edits, that is basically two routes that are going to be ready for beta-testing after the updated demo, which is very exciting! I am extremely happy with how Fenir's route has turned out after some developmental revisions, and I hope you all like the sweet little (grumpy) baby's route!

Art

Again, most (all) of my attention was on intertwine art assets this month. I was focused on the rest of the GUI, sprite expression, and CGs so that the game will be ready for release at the end of this month!

I'm really happy with how intertwine has come out visually considering the two month time crunch! Many of the playtesters mentioned how they liked the GUI and overall aesthetic of the game, which---for my pea-sized brain that has no object permanence when it comes to compliments---meant the world to me!

Review of intertwine Screenshots (left to right, starting at the top row): Main Menu Screen, Options/Preferences Screen, In-Game Dialogue Preview, Exhibit Preview

For Alaris, I did still get some new backgrounds from Vui, and while they are beautiful, I can no longer share them since they venture into spoiler territory. Sorry folks!

I have a sneak peek of a little Something Something.

Adorable emotes for a certain Something Something! That's all I will leave you with for now <3

Additional Notes

I spent A LOT of this month coding. I re-entered programming hell to get intertwine up and running. There were a lot of features that I coded for the first time, like a texting interface, some animations, and one Special, Very Game-Centric Feature That I Can't Disclose Due to Extreme Spoilers. It was really rewarding to see it all come together, and I am pretty happy with the end result ^^

You don't even know the hell I went through to customize this texting feature

We also have a lovely voice actor for Van, which we revealed on Twitter. Max has been an amazing talent to work with, and I am in love with the way he brought Van to life!!

Finally, I spontaneously ended up working with Orpheo Fenn and Kija of Faefield Productions for a custom intertwine soundtrack. I've been wanting to work with them for a while, so I'm so happy we were able to collab!

No market research this month, except for the fact that I played Tears of the Kingdom a little bit in my free time ^^ I am so in love with Link. Also, I didn't see the appeal to Sidon in the first game, but for some reason in this game, It Clicked. Like I Get It.

That's all from me for this month. Look forward to an intertwine release in the coming days! I'm excited to get back into Alaris full-swing this upcoming month. I didn't think I'd feel this way after feeling oversaturated with them for a hot minute, but I miss my Alaris gang <3 See you all next month, and stay safe!

[elliethejellie]

I am so, so sorry to do this to y'all

I am putting The LoveBug Virus on HIATUS until I can get my brain to work properly for the story-

Listen, I know y'all love it, and I do, too. But I feel like I started off writing something with so much potential and then it just... fell off because I got obsessed with writing TMTB. So! I am going to be focusing on a...

drumroll please..

REWRITE!!!

And it's going to be in third person past tense probably because I'm just so much better at writing that hahah

So!! Mark it on your calendars, people!!

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13TH!!!

In the meantime, go read TMTB!! I prommie its good, and you can see that I do have better writing skills-

Until then, I hope you stick around because I've got big things planned for y'all with those silly little jester bois heheheh

EDIT- ASKS ARE OPEN FOR THE CAST OF THIS STORY!! SEE THE POST ABOUT IT HERE.

In the meantime, here's a little snippet (under the cut) of what The LoveBug Virus could be like, if I actually applied myself properly:

Click, click, click.

The familiar soft mechanical whirs reminiscent of a heartbeat slowly brought Y/N back to consciousness. She didn't open her eyes, merely continued lying where she was, sleepily focusing on her other senses. She could feel the soft plush of a blanket on her skin - along with the silky smooth warmth of metal beneath her. The scent of lavender with notes of lemon reached her nose, and the faint taste of blueberry was on her tongue. Why did she taste blueberry? Her mind searched lazily for the memories of her time before she fell asleep, trying to discover anything that would allow her to piece together the various sensations she could feel. Her mind threw only one thing her way.

The Moondrop candy.

Y/N finally allowed her eyes to flutter open, trying her best to keep her breath slow as to not disturb the animatronic she somehow knew was in rest mode beneath her. Her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting from the string lights on the walls, bringing Moon's room into view. Slowly, carefully, she lifted her head.

The small of Y/N's back ached, along with her wrists and neck. She couldn't remember how she had gotten in the blue room, lying with Moon in his bed. The last thing she remembered was trying to leave at the end of her shift. Sun was complaining... Something about Moon wanting to say goodbye? She remembered switching the lights and... Yawning? Moon had said something about her being tired, maybe?

Y/N sat up the rest of the way and froze as the sound of metal shifting sounded to her left. Her eyes darted to Moon's body, but his eyes remained lifeless - a dark void of nothingness. She looked to her left and felt her blood run cold.

Her wrist was shackled to the bed.

Panic bubbled in the pit of Y/N's stomach. How had she gotten here? Was this Moon's doing? If it was, why would he do something like this? Was it just another one of his little games that didn't always go as planned?

She lifted her wrist up to examine the bracelet. Where had Moon even gotten a hold of something like this?

Ding.

The sound of Y/N's phone getting a message pulled her from her thoughts. She looked around the dimly lit room from where she sat, but couldn't see where the phone was.

Apparently, Moon also heard the notification. His fans slowly whirred to life as his red irises flickered on. He glanced up at his beloved, his smile somehow deepening as he made eye contact with her horrified expression.

"Starlight, you're awake," he said, sitting up and wrapping his arms around Y/N's midsection. She flinched at the touch, which only garnered a chuckle from the lunar animatronic. "Bit jumpy, are we?" he mused.

"Moon, what's going on? How did I get up here?" she asked, fear rather evident in her tone. Moon nuzzled his faceplate into her shoulder as he answered.

"You needed sleep. So I put you to bed." The simplicity in his statement only heightened Y/N's unease.

"Moon, you know what I mean," she said slowly, lifting her shackled wrist up. The blue jester rolled his eyes and leaned backwards, pulling Y/N with him so they were lying down again. She yelped as they hit the bed, even though Moon was careful not to let her head hit him or the wall on the way down.

"So you wouldn't leave," he said quietly, still talking into her shoulder. Y/N was too afraid to move as she waited to see if he would elaborate, her breath choppy as her heart raced in her chest. She was suddenly acutely aware of every little twitch and click of Moon's body as he hugged her closer. She didn't know why, but tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. Somehow, she knew this would happen. She knew something was wrong. Everything the twins had said to her in the past week was beginning to fall into place. This wasn't supposed to be what happened. She had just wanted them to love her.

But not like this.

Y/N sniffed, biting her lip to try her hardest not to cry. But Moon wasn't stupid. He lifted his head and tilted it to the side as a tear slid down her cheek. He shifted, bringing his hand up to swipe the tear away.

"Please stop crying," he said softly. Affectionately. He sounded so positively in love with her. It was... so...

Wrong.

"You're making us feel even worse," he continued, sounding a little more desperate as another tear slipped from Y/N's eyes. "You have to understand, Starlight, please."

Y/N turned away from his touch, and Moon's grip on her waist tightened.

"If we didn't keep you here and chained to the bed, you would have tried to run away again."

Taglist peeps bc you deserve to know whats goin on: @senyahgirl @rose-blot @sunyandmony

[iridescentis]

The Life Gods AU

This is basically like a full description of like the main pieces of my AU just so I have something to reference, I’m probably going to go back and edit this every now and then but it’ll just be here so I have some context to whatever I write for this (also so I can just get all of this out of my brain) So here we go!

The Life Gods AU is a version of the life series where the winner of each season/game becomes a God and is given the responsibility of writing the rules of the next game. God Grian wrote the rules of Last Life, God Scott wrote the rules of Double Life and God Pearl wrote the rules of Limited Life.

God Grian was given the first instructions by an unidentified voice, which told him what he was there to do and how he was supposed to do it. He then relayed that information to Scott and then to Pearl as they arrived. Nobody else has been given further instructions, but Pearl suspects that Grian is lying to them or at least hiding something from them since they haven’t heard anything.

None of the Life Gods know what will happen if they refuse to continue the cycle or break the rules.

The Gods

Each god is a preservation of their victorious self: Grian is his Third Life self, Scott is his Last Life self and so on. They retain all the memories of their previous games perfectly but do not receive the memories of their mortal selves who play further games. Grian’s powers are yellow, Scott’s are aqua, Pearl’s are red, and Martyn’s are green.

The powers they have are very vague, and they don’t know what extent they can be used for other than creating games.

The Players

The players are quite self explanatory, they are the characters we see playing the game. The gods still have mortal selves who continue to play the games, and nobody knows what will happen if one of them wins again. The mortals retain very blurry memories of their past lives – think how you recall your childhood; you see some images and you know which people wronged you, but you don’t really care to hold a grudge because it was so long ago. There isn’t much else to them, other than that they usually can’t hear spectators talking and do not know of the existence of their godly selves.

Spectators

Obviously, we all know that when the players permadie, they go into spectator mode and watch the remaining events unfurl from that perspective, often alongside their fellow dead players. That’s basically what spectators are – dead players. While the game is still running, spectators are able to roam within the borders wherever they want, floating through both air and ground. Spectators are entirely invisible to players and almost entirely transparent to other spectators, and shouldn’t can’t communicate with players. However, spectators can hear each other, and often communicate by following each other’s voices. Once the game is over and the winner has become a god, the gods transfer the spectators into their dormant room where they are put to sleep until the next game is ready to be played. To do this, the gods have to all be thinking of every single player at the same time, otherwise forgotten players can be left behind. Any spectators left in the overworld when the world is erased are freed and can roam through worlds as they please. In very rare circumstances, spectators who somehow refuse to be put to sleep and manage to escape the room can find themselves the same fate.

The Escaped

It’s not an uncommon occurrence for spectators to be lost, forgotten or to escape, releasing them into an in-between void that can be used to travel among servers and amass new levels of power, or to be found floating around the outskirts and be brought in. This refers to Lizzie, Mumbo, Ren and partially Skizzleman. Mumbo was found wondering lost in the void and so God Grian found him and brought him in as a player but lost him again pretty quickly. Lizzie was also found and lost this way, but across her void travels she learnt the ability to possess players from her new friend Gem, and the two of them briefly made an appearance without being caught. Skizzleman was briefly lost in the void, but he never ventured out, so he was easily brought back in. The one exception is Ren.

Ren is so far the only spectator who refused to be contained and escaped the games as a spectator and has been in control of himself ever since, despite still being in spectator form.

General Story So Far

When Pearl arrived, her original motivation was to destroy and put an end to the games. However, she was eventually talked down and created her game, Limited Life. She still stands by her beliefs that the games should be stopped but she hasn’t got enough power or information to go about doing that.

Then we have Martyn. Martyn, much like Pearl, immediately refused to be part of this cycle of games and pledged to never create another game, which Pearl is supporting. However, there is still a lot that he hasn’t let on – the fact he knew he was being spectated before the gods told him what spectators were? Or the fact that said spectator wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place, let alone communicate with a player?

[gtunesmiff]

4 Common Problems with the Creativity Process in Songwriting

(Edited from an e-mail...)

Impostor Syndrome

The problem: Living in constant fear of being found out, for someone to point at you and say "this person is an impostor! I bet he doesn't even know what notes an Ebmin∆7(#9#11) is made up of!"

The underlying mindset: Thinking that making songs is a skill that you either have or don't have, and that there will be a clear point in your life where you'll suddenly be able to do it.

What you need to realize: This moment where you suddenly feel confident in your work doesn't exist. Learning a creative skill is a continuous journey.

What to do: At any given point, do the best you can, and learn as much as you can. That's all you can do.

Writer's Block

The problem: You have stopped writing regularly, out of fear that nothing good will come out.

The underlying mindset: Thinking that creativity is "god-given", an external source that you have no control over. And when it doesn't come, all you can do is wait.

What you need to realize: Creativity is driven by you. See it like a working relationship you have with your muse: the more work you do, the more your muse will feel obliged to chip in. But your muse is lazy: If you work for a few hours in a row, she'll ignore that. Do it every day, and she won't be able to ignore you.

What to do: Write with the sole purpose of activating your muse. The goal is not to write something good, it's to communicate to your brain that you are in creative mode.

Stuckemia

The problem: You're writing a song, and you're not making progress.

The Underlying mindset: If I get stuck, I must not have the talent, or I'm doing something wrong.

What you need to realize: You are stuck for a very simple reason: You have encountered a specific problem you’ve never dealt with before, and you don’t know how to solve it.

What to do: Figure out exactly what the problem is and brainstorm solutions. It’s ok to go for the obvious solution if you can only think of one (“but that would be such a cliche!”), it's more important to get unstuck than to be brilliant. You can always rewrite later.

Perfectionitis

The problem: Not finishing your songs because you're "fixing" and rewriting your music over and over again.

The underlying mindset: I can't release anything less than perfect or people might think I'm lazy or dumb. But what I liked last week seems obvious or uninspired now.

What you need to realize: As long as you keep pushing yourself, you will always be better tomorrow. But that doesn't mean yesterday's songs aren't worth releasing! Songs are time stamps. See them as diary entries: This is what you believed or thought when you wrote that song. It's not your job to rewrite every song until you love it, it's your job to write the best song!

What to do: Jump into the mind of your past self. Figure out what you actually wanted to say or do with your song when you wrote it, and then make that as clear as possible.

An Observation

Something interesting happened after my last mail. I asked you where you struggle the most with your process, but most of the emails I got concerned skills: how do I write melodies to lyrics, how do I write better melodies or chords, etc.

None of these are about process.

That's not to say that you didn't listen, rather it seemed to me as though most of you don't even know what process means and why it's so important.

In other words, the problem is you don't even know why you struggle.

You think you need to learn how to write chords or better melodies, or produce better.

But the truth is that if you don't have a process, none of these will get you anywhere, except stranded in a pile of unfinished songs. 

All creative work consists of two big parts:

Skill: how good you are at writing melodies, producing music, ear training, coming up with engaging lyrics, etc. This is the stuff we mostly teach at Holistic Songwriting Academy, and it involves both study and practice. Very important, but useless without:

Process: how you actually write songs. Which instrument do you start with? How do you make sure you don't get stuck and what do you do if you do get stuck? How do you make sure your songs get finished, and that they're as best as they can be? How can you enjoy the creative process, and write more songs quicker? How do you make sure you don't drive yourself crazy? How do you deal with your ego, your perfectionism? How do you deal with tight deadlines?

~ Friedemann Findeisen || Holistic Songwriting

[danjaley]

Get to Know Me - Sims Style

Thanks for the tag @nocturnalazure

Tagging whoever would like to do this - I'm just home from work on a Sunday, so only light tasks for my brain please.

What’s your favorite Sims death?

I've never been the type who enjoyed killing off their Sims, so I haven't been very interested in the various death-types. Years ago I've seen someone reply to this question "the mummy curse, because of the darkening vision effect and the sandy death-animation and ghost". This inspired a generation of my gameplay legacy, but I manipulated it so the Sim turned into a mummy instead of dying.

Alpha CC or MaxisMatch?

Maxis match, especially for clothing. I like the clear silhouettes of MaxisMatch clothing and I think they work best with most animations.

Do you cheat your sims weight?

In gameplay I prefer to achieve weight-changes the natural way. In storytelling of course I make the characters the way I need them.

Do you move objects?

In storytelling always, in gameplay sometimes to decorate.

Favorite Mod?

The technically obvious answer is NRaas because the game is literally unplayble without them. I love how many gameplay mods are being released these days.

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

For every Sims game I was a bit late to the party and waited until it came with a pets expansion. This and Seasons. The world is not complete without animals and seasons.

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing?

As @nocturnalazure said, I understand it as "we're live now". It's called "Live-Modus" in German and in a German word that's the only way "live" is pronounced.

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

I still think the cast of Of Chevalry are the best Sims I've ever made. I don't see characters' faces very clearly in my head, but these really turned out the way I hazily imagined them.

Have you made a simself?

It's my icon.

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

Is this a question for the Sims 2 or 4 players?

Favorite EA hair?

I like the braided updo from the basegame. I use a lot of EA hair actually, especially for male Sims.

Favorite life stage?

Depends. For babies, toddlers, and to some extend children, I wish there were more content and gameplay in the actual game. On the other hand, this makes it fun to make mods for them. Teens and elders I wish were more different from adults, and I wish the developers had gone the extra step and made all clothing available teen-to-elder, like in Sims 4. In my stories I try to show my characters' development in whatever age they currently are.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

I'm not a very good builder. My best own buildings are square and simple.

Are you a CC creator?

I dare say.

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

I feel really old when I think of all my mutuals who are no longer active. Around 2015 there were so many historical and storytelling Sims 3 simmers! Sometimes I think of their stories and how they might have continued...

Do you have any sims merch?

Until last year there was a cardboard plumbob hanging next to our family-computer. But we finally realized every family member has their own computer now, so we removed that office corner.

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

I do, but it only has a handful of three-second screen-captures from my game. At one point tumblr's video upload didn't work, so I linked them from youtube.

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

It changed a lot. I always played a historic game, but I was much more eclecticist in the beginning. Of course also new cc came out, and I started using lighting mods and later poses. And I switched from gameplay to storytelling.

What’s your origin id?

danjaley

Who’s your favorite CC creator?

There are many, but the first Sims creator and blogger I discovered was @aroundthesims . Sandy inspired me to start my own Simblr, and what would I do without her custom content?

How long have you had simblr?

Nine years this March.

How do you edit your pictures?

In Photoshop CS2. It used to be Elements but that is no longer working.

What expansion/ gamepack is your favorite?

See above.

[obstinatecondolement]

Having kind of a post-NaNoWriMo dip in mood re: the fic groove I have been in tbh. (mental illness and insecurity bullshit, mensturation mention cw)

I do still feel Very Strongly about the ideas I have and I do want to write them/continue working on them in the case of the two WIPs I started this week, but without the external structure of the event it's harder to thinking about sustaining that, especially given that I was making so many glaring mistakes that I feel looked very amateurish (I know it's an amateur hobby, but whatever, I expect very ridiculously high standards of myself in almost everything that I would never hold anyone else to and it's always crushing when I inevitably fail to meet them, lol).

The things I was getting wrong were mostly basic spelling errors, using the wrong word in common phrases that turned things into the uncanny valley of that phrase that didn't not make sense but weren't how anyone would say that particular thing naturally, accidentally flipping word order (or not rephrasing the rest of a sentence properly after copying and pasting things around, etc.), and just, like ... random gibberish typos that only became obvious to me after I posted, despite trying really hard to self edit myself carefully.

It's very difficult for me to have the focus to be able to do that sort of detail oriented task when things are in fast-brain mode. And, like, attention to detail is something I am typically very good at, so it's deeply embarrassing to me, especially in a new fandom where I'm creating a first impression.

And like, more generally I also feel like the shine has kind of gone off me and, I know that this is just my literal mental illness distorting my perception of Everything, but it feels like the fandom is already kind of over me because I'm too much. This is all very much a me problem and I don't think it's true or that anyone has treated me badly or done anything that would reasonably create this impression to a person who was not Going Through It (hence the read-more and, like, also: if you are a recent Ghosts follower you have done nothing wrong and have been nothing but nice to me and I don't want you to reassure me*, I'm just insane and I need to get a grip/have serious mental health issues and need to be better at distress tolerance and not being so insecure in how I'm perceived and prone to assuming that people are sick of me.

But, anyway, I think that part of this is just like... also pretty normal? Hypomanic episodes can last up to months, but usually they do fizzle out much sooner than that for most people most of the time, so I think that I just have kind of run out of steam and now I'm going low again having been pretty high for a sustained two-ish weeks and the very obvious external end of the line signal given by NaNo ending has kind of naturally triggered that downturn.

And I am like, speaking pretty approximately here? I think I probably have mixed episodes more than pure hypomanic episodes, for the most part? But, yeah, I don't know. I think the rollercoaster is coming out of a corkscrew and it's just going down now. Which, you know, does suck but it also won't last forever, so that is some comfort. I also still think I might be premenstrual, which does fuck with my head a lot, so, y'know. TL;DR, I'll be fine, but I am having a hard time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

*Like, genuinely, please don't. This is a Me problem and I think it would be bad both for me and for my relationships with others if I were to make the people around me feel that they had to constantly protect my feelings by showering me with attention and reassurance, or whatever. And also, like, I'd feel Very Bad if I thought other people felt guilted into doing that because I made a vent post about my irrational feelings that I know full well on an intellectual level are not reflecting an objective reality, because other people do not deserve to feel personally responsible for the bullshit my brain pulls on me.

[awritingcaitlin]

April Wrap Up

Okay, so April definitely happened. It did not go as planned in the slightest. 💜Regarding Me💜

So, selling the house is taking longer than ideal because the market in our area slowed waaaaay down. It’s making putting offers on houses in the new area… impossible. Though we are still looking. And living in ~staged house purgatory~ continues. 🙃

Additionally, my aunt passed, which made a significant portion of this month *grief central* and I needed to focus on being kind to myself, rather than focusing on productivity and output. It was a lesson in listening to what I needed, and letting my heart and mind do what they were going to do. 💻At the Keyboard💻

I technically did meet my 30k goal for the month! But it was only barely.

I wrote and rewrote a lot of Heist. I’m working incredibly hard to get my beats to line up and make everything make the most sense possible. It’s my third draft, I don’t want to be discovery drafting anymore. It’s going well! Just, slowly.

Also, due to the aforementioned grief, I felt pulled to work more on Cure, which is basically my grief book for a lot of reasons. However, I couldn’t get my brain into edit mode really, so I mostly just reread most of the behemoth. I also went back to another project that’s somewhat grief-coded and wrote some there. It was very cathartic.

I dabbled in flashfic again (actually writing something that’s effectively part of Cure, to be honest) and it was really cathartic.

Also, 3k of that 30k was admittedly me ranting about the medical establishment. It was necessary lol. 📺On the Screen📺

You might notice that there’s no bookshelf section this month and that’s because I didn’t finish any books. I finished a beta read and read some fanfiction. But actually, the Fallout brainrot has been real!

Admittedly, I’m not a huge Fallout fan, but I have been enjoying the show. I’m six episodes in and eagerly waiting to watch the last two. It’s campy most of the time, and there have been a few scenes that have been a bit too horroresque for me, but it’s all still very Fallout.

Additionally, I’ve been watching my partner play Fallout: New Vegas again. It’s fun looking at video games that are basically in my backyard (at least thematically.) This next month, I don’t have any hard goals given moving and family stuff and whatnot. I’m gonna go with the flow and see what happens!

[temporalbystander]

Just woke up, scrolled through Tumblr, got another short writing prompts for you. Happens pre-reveal, pre- Marinette being normal.

Edit: Umm... This is awkward. I think I turned my prompt into a story... I mean there's a bunch of stuff that's vague and you can see what the prompt is but... Did not mean to do this just after waking up.

Another late night Akuma means another tired class the next day. Miss Bustier, being the amazing woman she is, decides to wrap up a bit early so they can rest and get their energy back. In the silence of the class their comes a low rumbling purr and EVERYONE is shocked to see its coming from Adrien. An Adrien that is leaning back against the desk behind him as a hand combs through his hair, further shocker for all being that Marinette is the one doing it.

From Marinette's perspective she's lying with her head on her arms when she spots a familiar mop of blonde hair accompanying an exhausted groan that she hears everytime an Akuma takes a lot out of them. Mind stuck in hero mode, who else could it be but her partner? So she pets him and is rewarded with a purr. Normally she'd tease him but the fact he's so tired that he's not even bothering to hold it back? Poor kitty must be exhausted. Her eyes close as she lets herself relax while petting her beloved chaton, although she does find it weird she hasn't bumped his ears yet. She's drawn out of her relaxed state when an elbow collides with her ribs. Eyes shooting open she pulls her hand back and turns to glare at whoever had the nerve to interrupt her kitty time. Only to freeze once she sees Alya incredulous face staring back at her. Slowly looking around, she sees the entire class staring at her... No not her, them. Everyone is staring at her and Adrien. The same Adrien she was just petting. The same Adrien she couldn't talk to without wanting to die. And she was petting him. And he purred! Why did he have to purr like Chat... Was he making fun of her? Or... Oh no now he was looking at her, this was terrible!

Adrien meanwhile is very annoyed that his time with his lady was over because, while Plagg continuously denied having anything to do with it, the fact of the matter was a scratch behind the ears felt heavenly when he was exhausted. He couldn't stop the purr when it started and was so grateful to Ladybug when she didn't say anything. Although he was curious why she was using such a light touch, he could barely feel her in some spots. When she pulled back though he frowned and was quick to see what has got her attention. Only to see Nino looking at him completely stunned, eyes darting back and forth between him and Ladybug. Wait... He was in class meaning the person behind him was... Turning around he saw Marinette go beet red, he also saw the rest of their classmates staring at them but his focus was on her. How could he apologize for purring? Why would she even start petting him in the first place? She'd never done that before the couple of times he visited her transformed.

Of course the biggest question pounding through his sleep deprived brain was "why did it feel exactly like Ladybug?" He didn't voice it, he couldn't. It was bad enough everyone in class had heard him purr, if it got back to his father he'd be done for, if it got back to LB he'd never live it down. Of course thats only if Ladybug let him keep his Miraculous after he practically exposed his identity to everyone. Trying his best to play it off he felt himself give one of his characteristic Chat grins, a part of his tired brain recognising it as the one that he only really showed Ladybug just before he was going to tease her or ask her out. Before he could say anything Marinette's eyes had widened in shock, her face had gone pale and her finger had shot out to press against his lips, effectively shushing him. Adrien couldn't help but glance down at her hand in shock. Not only was it the most intimate thing Marinette had ever done in regards to him. It was also EXACTLY the same as what Ladybug did whenever she didn't want to hear him. He couldn't help the smile that crossed his face then, or the way his heart basically burst with joy when Marinette, no, when his Lady! Giggled.

Marinette thought she was about to die when Adrien turned to her looking confused before he glanced at the rest of the class with worry in his eyes. Oh he must feel so embarrassed and it was all her fault! He probably thought she did it to humiliate him and now he'd hate her and- wait. What was he doing? She knew that look. She knew that grin. No, there was no possible way. It was a coincidence. Still she reached her hand out to stop him and, although part of her brain was short-circuiting over the fact she was touching Adrien's lips, the other part was acting on autopilot as she shushed him like she would with Chat. Of course Adrien wouldn't know that. See? He was even shocked that someone had done that to him. he'd probably be hurt or angry and then Marinette would go curl up and die but at least she wouldn't have to deal with the thoughts of him... Smiling? No, he was practically beaming as he looked down at her hand and then back at her with delight. She couldn't help the giggle at how ridiculous he looked like that. The joy practically exploded behind his eyes, followed by a lot of other emotions that she had seen time and again directed at her. Nope, that sealed it. Purring when pet? Bizarre but nothing substantial. Blonde hair and feather allergy? Probably applied to a lot of people. That same smug grin? Coincidence. The sheer look of love and adoration he had for her? Nobody did that. Nobody except her kitty though. Sure the entire class was watching them, and sure she'd have a complete meltdown later about what all this meant and whether they'd need to give up their miraculous. But for now? With Chat giving her that same look? All she could do was smile.

[mcrmadness]

Adult ADD and attempt of focusing feel like having a toddler inside my brain.

I have serious deadlines approaching which mean I need to focus on these projects as often as I just can. I have my laptop open in front of me, I have been editing the videos already, but my brain tries so hard to make myself distracted. I even fed it sugar. I bought candy only because I noticed it's like yeast that needs sugar to work. Yet it's constantly like having a toddler in my brain going "is there anything on youtube?" "this is boring, can we play a video game instead?" "check social medias perhaps? maybe write a post on Tumblr?" and the other half is me staring at a wall and fidgeting with my hands and hair meanwhile focused on a thought I can't even remember when I realize that I zoned out again.

One part of this problem is that it is only 6pm here where I live, and my brain refuses to focus and work on things properly before 8-11pm. Last night I continued editing after 1am, and around 2am I was already in the flow mode and got so much more done than during that 5-10pm phase when I also tried to edit at least something with it really getting anywhere cos 7 constantly got stuck due to the inability to figure out what I was trying to do.

This post was inspired by me trying to focus meanwhile the toddler in brain keeps going "TOMB RAIDER TOMB RAIDER TOMB RAIDER LET'S PLAY TOMB RAIDER." A game I have been playing lately, but not to the hyperfixation level, but it's just free dopamine and my brain would rather do that instead this actual project I'm supposed to be working on...