#but there doesnt seem to be much documentation on it....

[nicole-the-hololynx]

🌻

Did you know that a lot of the assets for the Special Stages in Sonic CD were completely redrawn for the 2011 remake to be 25% wider?

(Left: Original, Right: Remake)

There's actually a pretty good reason for this! The Special Stages in Sonic CD make use of the Sega CD's scaling capabilities, which let it rotate and scale graphics in a way not too different from Mode 7 on the SNES

HOWEVER, due to the Sega CD still needing to pass its graphics manually to the Genesis its hooked up to, this sort of effect takes up a lot of CPU time just from transferring graphics and the like! One trick Sonic CD uses to be able to display the stage at a decent framerate is to make sure it only uses up a portion of the total screen, but another optimization is to make the screen itself smaller!

The Special Stages run in a 256 pixel wide resolution mode (which makes the graphics look "squished" when looking at raw pixels. Notice the planet in the background!) as opposed to the usual 320 pixel wide resolution Sonic games tended to stick to (which makes a near-perfect 4:3 aspect ratio). Since the image would be drawn into a 4:3 CRT TV, it would stretch itself back to a 4:3 aspect ratio anyways, and so the graphics are drawn squished to counter that.

The problem. When using a modern display, stretching the graphics back to their 4:3 aspect ratio can result in nasty scaling artifacts, whereas displaying them using square pixels would result in the graphics looking too skinny. The solution? Just draw them all wider!

As a small bonus fact, Sonic 2's Special Stages also use this lower resolution mode. However, the 2013 remake fails to account for the aspect ratio squish at all, resulting in the special stages being noticeably skinnier there compared to the original....

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

Oh being a GM is so fucking fun

[yuellii]

🪼 HI USER YUELLII OMG I LUV JEALOUSY TROPES MAYBE THAT SAYS... SOMETHING ABOUT MY CHARACTER BUT I LOVEEEE JEALOUSY TROPES. AND WITH NEUVILETTE????? SOEMONE WHO PRIABBLY DOESNT EXPERIENCE JEALOUSY OFTEN IF AT ALL???? im sold. IM SOLD. PULLING OUT MY CREDIT CARD. IWOULD LITERALLY KILL TO READ UR THOUGHTS ON IT

The Four Stages of Jealousy : THE IUDEX.

STAGE I. — Identification.

There is a threat, that a person may feel losing someone to someone better than them. "I want what you have, and I hate that you have what I want."

Neuvillette wasn’t quite sure of the sudden twist in his stomach as he stood at your doorstep, a bag of pastries tucked under one of his arms and a box of tea bags carried under his other.

Saturdays, three o’clock sharp in the afternoon held meaning: A time in which he’d arrive at your boutique, treats in hand and a pleasant look on his face. He’d try on one of your hats, maybe, for it was a prime time for tea, taken advantage of by the two of you, alone together every Saturday afternoon. It was an evening of the week where he was most happiest, though that might’ve been only an assumption. But the tranquility he usually felt standing at your doorstep was never one he could ignore.

Unfortunately, said tranquility seemed to be lacking this time around.

What he expected as another nice time alone with you ( especially since it was on your undocumented schedule—but who cared for documents, when he looked forward to this meeting every week? ) was instead being interrupted by a certain someone. Namely, a certain Champion Duelist. And maybe, Neuvillette would not be so bothered, had she not been sitting in his seat.

( Said seat was also unspoken, or ‘undocumented’ between the two of you, but still. He sat there every week—therefore by repeated pattern alone, that antique chair in front of the table should be his. )

( And sure, this might’ve been your boutique’s seating area, where everyone comes to sit during the day; But on Saturdays during tea time, he’d like to think that seat was practically reserved for him. )

“Neuvillette!” you practically gasped, facial expression turning into one of lightened excitement at seeing him. There was a blissful ignorance in your voice—‘ignorant’ in the way he was truly glad you didn’t know he was mentally annoyed at the mere fact his seat was taken. But nevertheless, the tightrope of his heart fluttered at the sound of your voice, which always sounded so enthusiastic every week he came back here. Perhaps you were just excited to see him as much as he was excited to see you—the thought alone brings a shiver to his spine.

He approaches forward with a polite smile of his own when you pat the empty spot adjacent to you on the loveseat. Ah, so the theft of his usual antique chair leaves him to sit beside you. Maybe the uninvited guest was welcomed, now that he thought about it.

“What brings Miss Clorinde with us today?” he finally asked, addressing the most obvious outlier first. When he set the bag of pastries down on the table, he watched as the Duelist eyed it with interest.

Clorinde hummed. “I was here for a small chat, then I was told that Monsieur Neuvillette would be ‘arriving soon’. And here you are.” At the recount of events, Neuvillette noticed how Clorinde threw a playful look at you. This playfulness did not stop, unfortunately for him, when she leaned forward to peek at the paper bag he brought in. “Then I stayed, because I thought: ‘What could the Chief Justice possibly say that’s interesting enough for weekly conversations?’”

You gasped at her teasing insult. “Clorinde!” you scolded with slight laughter. “Monsieur Neuvillette is a great companion for tea conversations! He’s very interesting, indeed, I promise you!”

“Thank you,” Neuvillette coughed through his words. He’s beginning to feel a bit awkward here…

“Oh?” Clorinde piped up again, just before Neuvillette could even get another word out. “There’s a lot of pastries in here, and also a new box of tea?”

“He brings them for us to share every week!” you exclaimed happily, grabbing the bag off the table and kindly distributing a treat to everyone. And that’s when suddenly, Neuvillette wishes he only bought one for the two of you, because he watches as you set down the pieces of Conch Madeleines in front of the Champion Duelist, despite Neuvillette knowing those were your favorites. Meanwhile, instead, you gave him and yourself the remaining other pastries. But surely, you wouldn’t just give up your favorites like that… Unless you favored Clorinde. Ah, but maybe he was overthinking it. “Isn’t he the sweetest?”

Clorinde sends him a casual smirk, likely to tease him. “Sweetest, certainly.”

He wasn’t sure how to respond to any of this at all.

When he eventually had to leave, Clorinde still stayed there to chat with you, and he felt empty walking out of your boutique. Emptier than usual, actually. It was certainly confusing, due to the fact nothing inherently bad happened, and he certainly didn’t want to say Clorinde’s presence bothered him, or anything over-the-top like that.

Hm.

Neuvillette didn’t get to talk to you as much as he wanted to today.

STAGE II. — Confrontative.

Where negative thoughts start to bloom as "envy." Jealousy begins to indicate love for the person, and the individual is afraid of losing that object of their love.

It’s the following Saturday when he sees you again, and he can’t quite understand why he feels an air of relief upon seeing that Clorinde is not there today.

“Neuvillette!” You greet him with the same smile and same excitement as always, and the rush of paradise courses through his body before he sits across from you in his usual seat: the antique chair right in front of you. He sets down his paper bag of fresh pastries; And upon doing so, he can’t help but smile when he noticed there are only two teacups on the table. One for you, and one for himself. “You seem a little more delighted today”—Was it that obvious?—“What’s gotten you into a good mood, Monsieur?”

He hummed. “Nothing, really.” He actually wasn’t quite sure why he was feeling so joyous today, either, but as long as you were sitting there still smiling at him, then it would all be alright. “It’s just natural, since it’s always my pleasure to spend my Saturday afternoons with you.”

Bring your hand up to cover your mouth, you lightly gasped at his words. “Oh, Monsieur!” you giggled. “I hadn’t known you could be a charmer with your words!”

He liked the reaction you gave him. He thinks he liked the feeling of approval you gave him, but even more. Neuvillette learned rather gradually that you always tended to get a happy sort-of embarrassment from his ‘compliments’. Said ‘compliments’, however, referred to mere truthful facts he’s laid for you. But there’s a certain loveliness that comes with confiding in someone to tell all your truths to, and he’s more than elated that you’re the one he trusts to blabber endlessly to. He just hopes it can stay like this for a long time: Just the two of you, enjoying your Saturday afternoon tea.

“So,” Neuvillette began, watching as you took a bite of the Conch Madeleine he bought specifically for you. He had to catch himself from smiling at you—if his duty was to buy your favorite treat every week, then so be it. “How has your week been since I last saw you?”

Your hand once again flies up to cover your mouth as you quickly finish to chew and swallow the bite before answering him. “It’s been fun, actually! I saw a concert performed by a famous violinist—I believe I might’ve even spotted you in the front row…”

“Ah, yes, that would’ve been me. It was a spectacular performance; I’m happy to know you saw it,” he smiled. Hm, if he knew you were there that night, he certainly would’ve said hello. Your hand moves upwards once more to bring your teacup closer to your lips, and now he’s curious to ask: “And that ring of yours—that’s new, when did you get it?”

“Oh!” After setting the teacup down, you quickly leaned forwards, outstretching your right arm to show off the ring to him at a closer view. “I just got it yesterday, actually. Isn’t it beautiful?”

“It is.” It really dazzles to compliment your eyes. Neuvillette catches himself thinking of little things he’s never thought before. Like the way your hair frames your face perfectly, especially at this angle. Or the way your eyes held this delicate shine he admired so dearly, only now heightened by the sparkle of the ring’s reflection. There’s a new tide of poetry unspoken in the depths of his mind, and they might as well stay locked until he figures out just what this emotion is.

When you offer your hand for him to get a closer inspection of the ring is when his breath seems almost stolen from his lungs. Months and months of these weekly tea meetings, and yet he feels this is the closest proximity he’s ever been to you. Here, in his antique chair in the middle of your boutique shop, holding your hand from across the table.

But he feels a spark that he prays you sense as well, for the mere desire of wanting this moment to last forever is enough to tell him that he is completely in love with you.

He leans down gently to reach closer to your hand, kissing your knuckle so featherlight next to the ring. “And it’s even more beautiful on you,” he mutters to you when he pulls away.

Your heart might’ve skipped a beat when you retracted your hand, but he has no idea—he was too lovestruck just now to even think properly. But you take just a moment to recover whilst he’s still stuck in his little daze; Though, who could blame him when he just discovered the ethereal feeling of falling in love?

“Thank you,” you exhaled with a smile that seemed a little breathless. “Lady Clorinde helped pick it, actually.”

…What?

Well, that was a name he completely forgotten until just now. He cleared his throat, attempting to regain his composure after the sudden whiplash of emotions. From finding out he’s in love, to the pang of unwarranted negativity for the Champion Duelist. As expected, he couldn’t tell what this uncomfortable feeling was, but he certainly did not like it.

“Clorinde was there, you say?” he tried to clarify.

You nodded. A little too happily for his liking. “We went out shopping yesterday.” Oh. “And she said this ring really matched ‘the colors of my personality’, whatever that means!” you wholeheartedly laughed. The way you spoke of her, with all this smiling and all these giggles, was making him crave for something more. Did… Did you perhaps want to see him more outside of these tea times, too? You seem perfectly fine shopping with Clorinde now, after all.

He’s never gotten personal time with you like that. It’s always been solely Saturday afternoons, nothing more. And yet, Clorinde immediately gets invited to your shopping runs, and apparently her opinion is also important enough to make you buy the ring? How unbelievable. Neuvillette bets if he was there instead, he’d buy you every piece of jewelry that you even took so much as slight interest in, because that was what you deserved. But no, here he was, not invited to these outings at all, and further stuck wallowing as your mere ‘tea companion’, and not something more.

The door to the boutique suddenly opens, and the both of you turn your heads to the customer.

But instead of a client, you were met with the face of a slightly-smiling Clorinde, ever so amused to see the both of you here again. Well, she shouldn’t be amused. Neuvillette was here on schedule.

“Ah, you’re here!” you say excitedly, briskly standing up to grab another set of tea; And now, Neuvillette can’t quite tell if you greet everyone at the door with this same excitement, and it’s not just restricted to him alone. He shouldn’t be that selfish, of course, so he thinks perhaps it should just not be directed at Clorinde, specifically.

“Pardon me,” Clorinde announced, making her way to the table after you set the tea display down. “I’ll be intruding on the both of you again.” Neuvillette wishes he had any right to refuse.

This time, now that he’s regained his rightful spot on the antique chair, Clorinde had no choice but to sit… right next to you on the loveseat—the same place Neuvillette sat last week when his spot was stolen. A moment comes forth where he now no longer wants his seat at all ( which he doesn’t understand why, because shouldn’t he be happy his unspoken designated seat is back? ), and prefers the loveseat.

Maybe it was the sight of Clorinde next to you, and the fact she was sitting so much closer than he’d like to imagine. And suddenly, that’s when he realizes he doesn’t like the idea of Clorinde being this close to you at all.

“Oh! You’re wearing the ring I got you!” Clorinde recognizes. She grabbed your right hand to immediately inspect it, and Neuvillette can’t help but feel like someone just shot him. Not only did she comfortably grab your hand like it was nothing ( meanwhile, he had to find both the confidence and the breath to even try to kiss your hand earlier ), but she also got it for you? The little detail you never mentioned: That Clorinde bought you the ring.

Now Neuvillette is internally questioning what exactly this ring means. Is it akin to a proposal? A vow? A promise ring for the future?

The longer he stays here the more insane he may be driven, he thinks.

“Sorry to cut my time here short, but I think I have to get going,” he spoke up. Both Clorinde and you looked over at him, and he figured this was a good idea—he doesn’t think he can handle another tea session where the two of you are happily talking as he sits there awkwardly quiet. “I’ll be off, now.”

“Already?” you frowned at him, and that expression almost makes him want to stay. But the sight of Clorinde still absentmindedly toying with your hand sends him into a spiral of emotions he needs to sort out. He’s already stood up to leave without realizing it.

“Unfortunately so,” he says. He might’ve sounded colder than he meant to. It was clear in your face you knew something was wrong, but didn’t want to say it out of privacy. But when he walked towards the door, hearing Clorinde continue your conversation on like normal, it was fruitless to even consider it.

He opened the door. It was raining.

It feels like he was losing your love before he could even have it.

STAGE III. — Redirecting.

Where pleasure is derived from hurting others, stemmed from unconscious feelings of envy. The envy can come in a so-called as a form of competitive implication.

The next time he saw you was around the market area in the morning, wandering the streets like a normal citizen on this wavering Wednesday.

Normally, he would have just smiled and waved at most, but this time, something compelled him to walk up and join you. “Is this where to find you on Wednesday mornings?” he asked curiously, catching your starling attention and watching as your lips curved to a smile when you recognized him.

“It is, Monsieur.” When you stepped ever-so closer to him, a mere basket around your arm being the only thing between you, he felt as if his feet had turned into bubbles, and there was a flutter of heaven around his shoulders. “My weekly groceries are scheduled for today, however I don’t recall ever seeing you on this side of the city, if that isn’t just my ignorance.”

He chuckled, “I’m usually at my office by this time, so you would be correct.” Then his arm slid against yours, taking the wooden basket out of your hands and walking a few steps forward down the market street you shopped at. “But I’m open to a change of pace, so might I join you on this lovely morning?”

The little smile of contentment you gave him when you answered “Of course” made his heart skip a beat. And when you walked forward to hook your arm around his free one, he swears to the sovereign he might simply dissolve right then and there. The closeness of your presence to him now makes his heart race in a way he feels it drumming in his chest, a feeling that is so human that it makes him almost taste the fruit of mortality. You, walking along with him as you hold onto his arm whilst he carries your grocery basket—you look like romantic partners, and he can’t help but feel sort of lightheaded at the mere thought of that.

“Ah, look!” you pointed, and Neuvillette allowed himself to be guided by the arm to a nearby vendor. “They’re selling slices of apricot pie.”

“You fancy these desserts as well?” he mused, already fishing his pockets for his wallet. “Perhaps we should purchase a slice or two and save them for our weekend tea session.”

You agreed, “I thought the same.” Then you noticed his shuffling and playfully waved off his hand, insisting he needn’t pay. “But I fear it might spoil by the time Saturday comes.”

“You want a bite of mine?” And that’s when Neuvillette wasn’t even surprised anymore to hear the voice of the Champion Duelist appearing out of nowhere. He has such horrible luck running into her, that he’s now just accepted it at this point ( or, for better words: he still has yet to accept the fact that maybe Clorinde was specifically seeking you ). She stood there, leaned against a pole with an easy-going expression and a fork in one of her hands, carrying an aluminum tin with the exact same apricot pie you were just eyeing.

You gasp at her appearance, “Sure!” Neuvillette doesn’t even have a moment to process the mere seconds it takes for you to slip away from his arm, leaving him to follow behind as you skip over to Clorinde. The uninvited guest takes it upon herself to feed you a bite with her fork—it was at this time that the Iudex began to feel like an outlier once again.

“We were actually about to buy a few slices ourselves,” Neuvillette piped in. He did it quickly, perhaps it was instinct so he wouldn’t be left out of the conversation again. “But an excellent point was brought up, that the dessert might spoil by the time we reach Saturday afternoon.”

“Why don’t you just buy one and eat it now?” Clorinde shrugged. Ah. Neuvillette internally scolded himself; He should’ve thought of that. And when you waved off her suggestion dismissively, claiming it was fine now that she let you try it, Neuvillette realized he completely missed an opportunity to have dessert with you on a Wednesday instead of a Saturday. That while he was still a man you only saw once at the end of each week, you’d be seeing Clorinde multiple times throughout it.

He wasn’t fond of the way Clorinde was still feeding you more bites of pie, either.

“Miss Clorinde,” he addressed. If only he had more of a grasp of human sociability, then he might’ve realized how firm his voice sounded in this situation that was… not so serious. “Shouldn’t you be alongside Furina at this time of day?”

“On a typical day, yes,” she answered simply. “And shouldn’t you be in your office?”

He almost glared. “No, actually, I’ve given myself the time to roam around today.”

“Oh wowww,” she teased, though Neuvillette might’ve heard it as something mocking. “Lady Furina would be pleased to hear that. Instead of being cooped up in your office or the Opera Epiclese all morning long, you’re out here at the market, even holding a basket for shopping.”

The Iudex cleared his throat. “Well, I’ll have you know that this basket isn’t mine.” There was an air of competitiveness in his voice, one that almost had him biting his tongue in surprise of himself. Because it was simply just as he said: a basket. But the fact it belonged to you, and the fact that he was carrying it for you—suddenly he wanted to boast it and show it off to the world, especially to Clorinde’s face. “The two of us are shopping together this morning, if you’ll excuse us.” His next move might’ve been bold, but the feeling of possessiveness was so airtight and he had no choice but to hook his own arm around yours once more, getting ready to turn and leave.

“So cold,” Clorinde rolled her eyes. ‘Cold’ was a word often used to describe him, but no, not here. He did not want to appear that way in front of you. “Is this really the attitude you want to spend all morning with?” she asked, this time directed at you.

Something in him snapped. There was an emotion that clouded his head far angrier than annoyance, and it sprouted from the way in which she made him look bad, like the stone-cold Chief Justice everyone thought him to be. Albeit with you, he was trying to be everything but that. Emotional, vulnerable, heartfelt, human—Clorinde was not going to take that away from him.

‘Is this really the attitude you want to spend all morning with?’ The question kept playing in his mind, as if she was any better than him? She, who most people also saw as stoic, should not be seen by you in a better light than him. She, who did not know your favorite desserts like he did, who did not make time for you like he did, who did not fancy you as much as he did—

He felt you tug at his arm, snapping him from his thoughts.

Your eyes held the same, worried look you gave him on Saturday when he left so abruptly. So jealously.

Neuvillette cleared his throat once more. “It seems you are correct, Miss Clorinde.” There was solemness in his voice. Yet he was so quiet as he unlocked his arm from around yours, and handed your basket to Clorinde. “My attitude proves to be too unfavorable for the likes of this lovely morning, I thank you for bringing it to my attention.” These emotions were too much right now; he was starting to fear them. “My deepest apologies to you both, I’ll be heading back to the Palais Mermonia now.”

He bowed his head as diplomatically as he could manage, but the skies were already darkening.

“I bid you both a fine rest of your morning.”

“Wait, Neuvillette!”

Your call was drowned by the deafening drums of his hammering heartbeat, and the patters of light rainfall from the somber sky.

STAGE IV. — Medea.

At this stage, the grip of envy appears almost irreversible. There is a hatred towards others that dominates their thinking, and happiness or success is no longer foreseen.

Saturday afternoon.

He couldn’t see you again, even if it was time for your weekly meeting, not when he was feeling like this.

Not when the sky was pouring from the mere thought of you, and how he’s probably already lost. It was inevitable for a man like him, and he should’ve realized so earlier. Three o’clock, and you were already probably sipping away with Clorinde at your side, pastries on the table and a dazzling ring on your finger. She was much more human than him, after all, and such a shortcoming became his eventual downfall.

The Palais Mermonia was quiet, though that might’ve been due to the endless rain that’s been pouring since Wednesday morning.

While it was nice, he couldn’t help but feel the silence only amplified his feeling of loneliness in this moment. Especially at this time: a time of the week in which he looked most forward to.

“Monsieur Neuvillette?” a Melusine knocked from right outside his door. “You have a visitor!”

And before he could even reply, that was when you ignored all formalities, all proper respect as you pushed your way through the door and into his office. The surge of panic he felt from your sudden presence was unrivaled to the way you made haste in getting seated in front of his office table, setting down your handful—said handful consisting of two teacups, and a bag of pastries.

His heart practically shattered. The familiar cups and bag of treats on the table, the way your hair and clothes were lightly damp from the rain—you made the effort, coming all the way here just to see him. Just so the both of you wouldn’t miss a single Saturday afternoon together.

“I believe you might’ve forgotten our schedule, good Monsieur.” A light scolding, yet partnered with the most comforting smile you’ve ever given him, and he starts to feel his hands tremble. “You seem surprised to see me,” you commented further, filling in the silence as he has yet to utter even a word. “Did you really think I’d just let you ditch me like that?”

It was hard to breathe, hard to find his voice when you were so patient with him. “Sorry.” It’s all he can mutter now, this blistering swell of emotions causing a waver in his voice. “I’m so, very sorry.”

“Don’t be,” you chuckled at him. His body tensed when you reached forward to grab one of his hands. But you felt cold just like the chilling rain outdoors, and now he worries you might catch a fever because of him. “I’ve been meaning to ask you what was wrong, but…” Your eyes drooped with a certain sorrow in their crevices, and Neuvillette found himself slightly squeezing your hands. “I couldn’t seem to find a good moment alone with you.”

He shook his head at you, whispering, “I don’t even know what’s wrong, myself…”

You frowned. This atmosphere was suffocating and just from one glance upwards at your face, Neuvillette could easily tell you were holding back something to say. Granted, it was his fault. He’s the one who’s here, sitting and sulking in his office with little to no explanation. He’s the one who’s kept you worried this past week from leaving so abruptly two different times now. If anything, he might understand how to be a human even less after this ordeal.

“Would you be so kind…” he starts, words like lumps in his throat, “to allow me to be honest? To let me ramble whatever nonsense I’m feeling for just a moment, so that maybe you can make some sense of it all?”

You gave his hands a comforting squeeze. “Of course.”

There’s a certain phrase caught dead in his tongue. And he’s never been afraid to speak his mind before, yet suddenly, your judgment of his feelings mattered much more than the truth of his words. But he was feeling so much, and if this was really the emotional baggage humans had to carry all the time, he could only wonder how most people have yet to burst from the hauntings of their own mind.

Or more accurately so—the hauntings of their own love.

These words were doomed to come spilling out. “You’ve bewildered me with mountains of emotions,” he rambles quicker than he thinks. “All from the sleight of your hand, I best believe I’ve fallen in love with you.”

He forces himself to ignore how your eyes widen in that moment, or how the grip from your hands suddenly loosens from the shock that rings through his confession. He doesn’t have a way with words, and he knows this. So in a hasty attempt to piece together a board of emotional exposure his mind cannot even comprehend, he does the only thing he knows how to: talk and talk, until he has no more truth to confess to you.

“But the feelings that came alongside my love,” he began to you, “are unexplainable.” As his voice ended in coarseness, there was such an hopeless look of utter confusion you had never seen on his face before, like he was silently pleading for you to help a poor soul like his own. “The beating of my heart when I see you… A stark contrast to the tightness in my stomach I feel… When Miss Clorinde joins us.” The ending of his sentence dropped to nearly a whisper, like he expected it to be sin. “But what I just don’t understand, is why,” the section of his brows furrow in distress, “because she’s my coworker, and I do not dislike her, but I feel as if I cannot stand her when she joins us…”

You listen quietly. He doesn’t know whether to be thankful or fearful whilst awaiting your reaction.

He continued, “But when she sat with us for tea, and bought you that ring, and joined us at the market…” This confession; It was arguably harder than confessing his love to you. Because Clorinde was your friend—maybe even closer, if he was so unlucky—and he might’ve crossed a line here he didn’t even know existed. “I felt like I hated her,” he finished.

You were still silent, though it wasn’t like he could see your expression anyways. He refused to even look up to it, choosing instead to stare down at your joined hands.

But this silence was deafening. Please, just reject him already. He let out the most exhausted sigh he has ever before, the weight of these human emotions bearing down on him. “So I was just…”

“Just jealous,” you finished for him, and he noticed in your voice how you were almost laughing quietly to yourself. The emotion you just named—he didn’t know how envy even felt like, much less jealousy ( though, he supposes he knows now ). “Neuvillette, you should’ve just told me you felt uncomfortable with Clorinde there.”

“Hm?” He was confused. So confused, that his eyes finally darted up to meet your own. And there you stood, most comforting of smiles on your face as your thumb began to trace patterns on the back of his hand.

You reassured him, “Those are times we spend together, dedicated to the both of our comforts.” Which was true, but he was ready to argue that he felt selfish that way—and that you wouldn’t love nor deserve a selfish man. “I trust you to tell me when you feel things are unfavorable,” you continued, “and I promise you, Clorinde would understand if I told her.”

“But,” he piped up, so much doubt in his eyes as if struggling to believe your words, “is she not important to you?” And now, he could not comprehend the bashfulness that raised blood to his cheeks, or the complete disbelief that you’d wave off the Champion Duelist just because of his silly discomfort. Human relationships; He feared he may never understand them.

“Of course she’s important to me—she’s my friend!” you lightly laughed. “But you’re important to me, as well. Please understand that.” His heart might’ve stopped for just a moment. “And when we have our scheduled times alone together, the last thing I want to have is you feeling uneasy when we’re supposed to be relaxing.” Your words, the kindness you shed—it was all so confusing yet so welcoming at the same time, that he feels it’s only a matter of seconds until he drowns from the sound of your voice. To feel such comfort in a person was bizarre to him, but it’s a feeling that makes him crave your presence all the same.

His eyes fell to another slight frown, voice quieter as if losing the will to argue. “But… I should not have the right to impede on a relationship significant to you…”

Now it was your turn to look baffled. The way he worded it. Oh, surely he didn’t— “Monsieur, do you think Clorinde and I are a couple?”

“Well, I certainly thought you two were getting to that state in your relationship,” Neuvillette answered truthfully, voice flowing without hesitation as if it was the most obvious fact in the world. The man who just confessed his love for you only moments ago was fully convinced you felt romance for another woman. “Hence why I was…” He turned his head to the side, shyly clearing his throat. “Envious…”

You practically burst out into giggles. In fact, one of your hands even let go of his grip just so you could cover your mouth to laugh. “Oh… Oh, Neuvillette, surely you jest!” you attempted to name whilst controlling your laughter. The Iudex was shell-shocked into pure silence, wondering what he could’ve possibly said to make you react this way, because as far as he knew, he was not making a joke. “Clorinde is only a friend to me,” you clarified. “Nothing more.”

He remains silent, but there’s a sweeping wave of new emotions that suddenly flood his shoulders.

“And if she sees me as anything more, then, well,” you continued, glancing up outside and then back down to meet his awaiting eyes. “Unfortunately for her, the love in my heart has already been captured by another.”

“By whom?” The lack of hesitation from his immediate question has more giggles escaping your lips. He looks at you, and your face tells him it’s an obvious question with an obvious answer, and yet he still cannot comprehend this even when you squeeze both his hands in yours once more.

“Who do you think, Monsieur?” And yet even after his face flushes red, he still has a focused look of anticipation on his face—it’s as if he absolutely will not believe it until you spell it directly to his face. “Neuvillette,” you sighed, but there was an air of gentleness in the way you say his name that relaxed his soul. “It’s always been you.”

The rain continued on.

But now the sun shined between each droplet, because if he could cry from happiness right now, he was sure you’d already be busy wiping his tears away. And this sunny rain continued on and on, even as he poured you tea, even when he bit into the pastries you bought, and even when he looked at you fondly across his desk, not a single doubt of your love.

And as for Clorinde, well, he might need a few more days to recover before he can forgive her for all the sporadic heart attacks she’s almost given him.

[koipalm]

liushennnn in my attendant sy au (read right to left)

notes on this au:

sy transmigrates into a new body when sqq fights the system trying to force him out of his body. sqq is livid and decides to take sy as his retainer/secretary/assistant, forcing him to do most of the accounting & administrative work on qing jing peak and work for sqq for free while also helping sqq avoid his tragic fate by telling him spoilers and secrets about the world that sy remembers. sy has no golden core and no cultivation, and cant wield a spiritual sword or fight. sy has no documents, no money, and no prospects. sqq basically provides everything for him & can also take it away. sy moves into the other room in the bamboo house and cleans and organizes as well, although his own room is a mess. sqq never makes it clear what sy's position on the peak is, so all of the disciples follow his orders in fear of disobeying sqq. sy is basically 2nd to sqq, although he doesnt see it that way; he sees himself as sqq's overworked servant. he resents sqq for his control over sy's life, but he's terrified of being kicked out.

sqq takes sy to the peak lord meetings as well, using sy to carry documents, serve tea, and to give him information about anything that might be useful to sqq if it comes up during the meeting. sy also often acts as a messenger for sqq between peaks. he doesnt get much interaction outside of senior disciples and the other peak lords.

since sy's hands are usually full with documents, accounting books, talisman paper, & anything else sqq wants him to carry, sy can't use his fan to hide his face as much. instead he uses his hair & his glasses. his skin is sallow & he often misses meals from running around doing sqq's errands, so he always seems tired. clothes he wears are simple & loose, either slip on or buttoned up. he dislikes loud & bright patterns bc he doesn't want to stand out, but sometimes has no choice bc sqq buys his clothes. sqq will often make him wear more extravagant patterns, even when it makes sy nervous about attracting attention.

since sy seemed to appear out of nowhere to the other sect members, sy is very worried about acting too suspicious and getting kicked out. he copies sqq as much as possible to acclimate to the world and seem unphased & elegant.

sy is very interested in the other peak lords since he interacts with them often, especially liu qingge. liu qingge often catches him staring, but sy tries not to interact with anyone more than he has to. liu qingge usually sees him hiding behind sqq as a buffer. if sy does speak, he does it low & quiet, & if behind his fan if possible.

sy looks like his old body & has long black hair, similarly styled to sqq by his insistence. sy dislikes this.

sqq calls sy "a-yuan" bc sy doesnt like it. sy doesnt like telling people his name though bc it makes ppl think theyre related, which he also doesnt like, so he doesnt stop sqq from indroducing sy as "a-yuan". this makes it very difficult for other ppl to know what to call sy in fear of being too familiar

sy does meet sqh earlier in this au, and he helps him as much as he can get away with behind sqq's back. since sy is less bound by the system than sqh is, sqh sometimes "sponsors" sy to do things he himself cant do.

sy calls sqq the equivalent of "sir".

[jymwahuwu]

Last one was great!

Poor arrogant reader soon will be fired from her position as head of the Family for some fabricated case, she is now basically jobless with all her belongings and money arrested and guards are not letting her leave Penacony.

She is such a mess now, so stresssed out with her career ruined she isnt even noticing that she hadnt got her period for several months.

But who will she come for help, who will accept a mess like her at such low point of her life?🤔

Of course our angelic prick will take her in. Reader doesnt have a choice to be honest. She doesnt have money to pay for shelter, food and medical care for her condition anymore?

I also hc Penacony being really expensive place especially in terms of healthcare. And abortions are strictly prohibited.

Well, clean house, homemade meals and some other nightly services could cover those expences. Our arrogant girlie will have to humble herself a bit.

And kid being born out of wedlock? Not on Sunday's watch!

Imagine some time later her former coworkers, heads of other Families or her former subordinates witnessing reader going out for groceries or just going out for a walk with Sunday holding her hand firmly?

She does not seems like arrogant bitch anymore, her belly is swollen, clothes are modest, matching rings at couple's fingers.

so sorry for the long delay in replying!!

I've been meaning to find the time to write this... and thank you for writing it in such detail. super love the content about arrogant reader get humiliated. this is awesome 😽💗💖 sunday brings it all to you but you started it first, right?

part 1

cw: yandere, dub-con, brainwashing, mind control, housewife kink, pregnancy, inappropriate traditional concepts (language about serving husband and family)

Sunday used to always forgive your arrogance and intrigue, but that's the past.

Since you like this trick so much, Sunday brings these back to you. In this dreamy and fallen city, your reputation is completely destroyed in half an hour. (He was at the party, shaking his glass and socializing with the guests.) Some Bloodhound family guards burst into your office and led you away , in full view of everyone and a lot of chatter. They grabbed your hands and dragged you forward. (He stretched his hands into fists, put them to his lips and chuckled.) It was almost a crime of betrayal to Xipe and The Family. Listen to harsh words and sign documents. (The money ejected from the machine flies into the sky. The scale of the clock is turning.)

These days of interrogation have left you exhausted. One day, you open the door to your home with the usual verification, but there is a notice on the door that it has been sealed and frozen. That was locked and confiscated. A cold stab of fear stabbed your back. There is no way to book a hotel room or rent a new house. Your bank account is also blocked.

The final straw is the realization that you haven't had your period in months. Used the last of your credit points to take a pregnancy test. The result is a baby growing inside you. There was no doubt that it was that wing bastard's baby. A baby destined to have a halo and wings.

Your eyes were sore, and tears welled up in your eyes and flowed down your cheeks.

The eyes of birds these days are staring at you from every height, corner, and alley. Your pregnancy test results are sent to Sunday's phone. His glove patted your back gently. He whispers to you, the aura continuing to send out gentle waves, shushing you. You whimpered, pushing him away in annoyance. "Get away, you bastard!"

"I just did to you what you've always wanted to do to me. Don't make a fuss." The rising corners of the oak leader's mouth only added fuel to his raging anger at you. What happened to him? He's really terrible! You point at him and take a few steps back. "Don't fucking touch me! You hypocrite."

He frowned.

"No swearing."

"What the fuck-" Just like last time, a cheerful and harmonious arrangement of notes penetrated your mind. That ethereal and strange light appears before your eyes and captures your thoughts. You obediently followed Sunday to his mansion.

What Sunday offers you comes at a price. He provided for you, after all, didn't he? You can no longer be so arbitrary, arrogant and rude. You need to pray at the dinner table, kiss him on the cheek, and be grateful to Xipe and the nutritious food he provides you. Or have him pinch your cheeks and feed you. Now that you have no job and no money, you should have time to sweep the floor, right? Keeping the house tidy is important. He checked the dust on the vase and scanned the floor. Of course don’t forget to suck his cock and spread your legs at night. He will be very, very careful. (Sex during pregnancy is always slow. You whimper when milk is secreted from your buds.)

And witnessing that humiliation! Yes, in the past, you and he competed in the workplace, and the atmosphere was tense. Everyone knows you hate Sunday. And now other family members can see the changes in you. You held his hand tightly, intertwining your fingers with your belly swollen. Those luxurious clothes of the past have disappeared, replaced by your simple, loose skirts.

[bonchobrick]

Duke and Danny bestie fic im co-authoring with some cool people for Patrol Partners! :D

A fic where Duke knows a lot about Gotham’s new problem, ghosts. The Waynes think the worst and assume he’s had some terrible experience with ghosts in the past (in reality is just very happy to talk about his best friends culture and doesnt realize how odd it is that he knows all this stuff)

Or

Duke is pretty much just vibing, the bats are having a meltdown, and Danny is having a blast!

—-

Then Duke pops the question

“So, what are you guys researching?” He asks raising a brow to the papers littered all over the room

Collectively the entire room groans as Duke absentmindedly picks up a paper on the table with the failed, static over-run image.

“We don't know!” Steph bemoans frustrated

Tim starts, “There are new entities–”

“Creatures.” Bruce corrects

Tim casts a piercing glance at his father, “I am pretty sure those are entities. Eye witness reports state that they look fairly human-like–”

Bruce challenges him right back, “Eye witness reports were also very likely to be unfactual, they seemed partially intoxicated. It’s more likely they are some kind of mutated animal.”

His son’s teeth grit, “Even so we still can’t rule out–”

“Oh right, the ghosts are back in town,” Duke's comments, gaze absorbed in the static image

Silence drowns the room as their weary eyes blink at Duke, processing what he had just said.

Then it clicks

“R-repeat that?” Tim stares intensely at Duke

“Um, the ghosts are back? That's what these are.” Duke nervously replies confused, “It’s been a bit since they visited Gotham

Tim opens and closes his mouth, immensely struggling to find any words to say. It seems like the rest of his family is fairing no better, some of them letting out noises of surprise and shock with others trying to hear if they heard that sentence right.

“There used to be ghosts in Gotham?” Bruce says incredulously

“Yeah?” Duke tilts his head, “I mean they don’t like living here with the corrupt ectoplasm but I’m friends with a few ghosts?”

Jason springs on him with wide eyes, “What are ghosts like, personality-wise?”

Duke thinks and responds with the first thought that comes to mind, “Fickle, they can be super friendly or super destructive. They do whatever they’re in the mood to.”

“Are they aggressive?”

“Sure? Sometimes?” Duke blinks at them bewildered before a petty smile crosses his lips, “They can be, hmm, commanding.”

Dicks eyes turn cold and protective, “What–”

“Listen guys,” Duke backs away from the discussion going with his internal task list in mind, “I gotta go wrap up putting together all my documents for my topic on my science fair project so uh, see-ya!”

The second youngest bounces out of the cave and the rest of the family stare dumbstruck at him.

New entities (ghosts?) pop up in Gotham + Duke describes them as fickle and commanding =

Duke is being made to do things for Ghosts who can be kind and cruel which =

= Duke is being bullied by Ghosts?!

Not on their Bat-watch!

Damian is already sharpening his ‘not murder tools’, Tim has sprung into research on the bat computer and the rest of the family have already dipped into Gotham ready to search for these perps!

Paranoid Family #1 will help Duke’s ghost problem starting now!

( pssst heres the fic :)

[cambriancutie]

the cambriancutie splatoon oc post(2024)

mainly agents and those related. im always open to asks about them <3

guava (he/him, 28)

captain of the new-new squidbeak splatoon. everyone loves him. probably the most 'normal' out of everyone. he's trying to keep his life as mundanely as possible but things just keep happening to him. sad! lives with leander (4) and humphrey (8)

leander (he/him, 30)

leander is agent 4, nowadays he's pretty much retired as he's never given stuff to do. he suffered a pretty nasty injury during the events of splatoon 2, but now he's recovered and back in business!! really friendly to everyone he meets, to the point were it gets overbearing. lives with and married to guava (captain)

humphrey (they/them + whatevers funniest, 18)

the youngest agent, and also agent 8. humphrey is a bit emotionally stunted after the events of octo expansioon, but they're trying their best. has gained an attachment to guava (captain) in a bit of an obsessive way. generally unfamiliar with the world around them, and faked amnesia so they didn't have to face their past. lives with guava (captain)

lychee (they/she, 20)

newest member of the new-new squidbeak splatoon. extremely impressed by the captain and always following his orders (although he doesnt give out many). a little gullible as she's not used to people lying to her. gained human teeth after being exposed to the fuzzy ooze for far too long, but the other agents seem to be fine..? adoptive parent to smallfry and lives alone with him.

dominique (he/him +occasional she/her, 24)

honorary agent 4. not an official agent, but helped a lot during the events of splatoon 2. a close friend of leander, but a bit of an enigma to everyone else. training at ammo knights and hopes to open his own weapons shop someday. the glasses arent prescription, but he wears them everywhere anyway. despite his unique appearance he's lived in inkopolis all his life

russet (she/her, ??)

everyones favorite green octopus!! her origins are a bit dubious. she's lived down in kamabo for as long as she can remember, but has only really started 'living' recently. her body is slowly collapsing on itself but she doesn't seem to notice. her memory is extremely shoddy and she will forget simple things - but luckily she tends to keep everything documented. extremely close with humphrey (8), to the point you'd think they're related.

kaori (she/her, mid 20s?)

a physical manifestation of russet's younger self, created in the memverse but also i just draw her hanging out for funsies. she and russet don't seem to realize theyre the same person. she's pretty much the opposite of russet, emotionally stable and with a clear head. she's not up to date with any modern pop culture. she's in the process of developing a technology that preserves the body while alive.

kiara (she/her, ??)

octoling who joined grizz's forces for the sake of a style change. after grizz's defeat, she hangs around on the surface with lychee (neo 3) and humphrey (8). she's really into gyaru subculture, but tends to only pick pieces from things she likes - her squad back in alterna was about the same. she has been spliced with vague cat dna.

[puhpandas]

I hate it when characters in pieces of media I like share the same name like Gregory and diary of wimpy kid fnafsb ok so wait I was just going to go on a tangent but a fnaf diary of a wimpy kid book would go insanely hard I forgot where I was going with this

Wednesday

today, gregory called me on the phone fifteen times in a row until I answered, and it annoyed me because I was trying to sleep and had done my hair routine. he told me I had to come to the pizzaplex immediately because he had a new game idea in mind. I got up and went, and when I got there he said we were going to have a race to the big platform in fazerblast. it seemed tame enough, especially after yesterday when he made me play jenga but with the animatronics. the bruise on my arm is starting to turn black. anyway, I thought I would actually have fun this time until the lights suddenly went out and then Gregory pushed me into a supply closet and locked the door from the outside. I don't think doors are supposed to have push-in locks from the other side. might be an osha violation. it sucked because he made me stay in there with no food water or light for 5 hours, but last tuesday he said I was overreacting because I didnt want to bungee jump from the 3rd mezzanine in the atrium, so I dont want him to think I'm not cool. he gave me a free pizza shake after he finally let me out, so I guess it was all okay. he kept talking about waterproofing the animatronics and Montys been strangely missing all night, so I'm worried I'll show up tomorrow night to a tank of water and monty swimming in it like a shark with a flaming hoop above it. hopefully gregory doesnt have two skateboards.

Friday

Mom tried to tell me today that I needed to loosen up and it really bugged me. How come she cant realize that following that guy home after school is my way of unwinding? He even answered all of my questions and only looked at me like I was weird once. She told me I should go to the Pizzaplex with Greg and Ellis instead but Ellis has been majorly annoying me lately. He pointed out my eyebags and then got defensive when I was upset. Greg just told us we were both being stupid. It made me reflect and I realized he was right. Ellis is so childish sometimes. I'm too mature to be arguing like a juvenile. Greg's eyes looked milky and strangely shiney at lunch today but I didnt think too much of it. Mostly because I'm afraid to linger on it because it might mean something for me and I dont want to deal with that right now. They looked purple which was weird to me, but that's honestly not the strangest thing about him. Okay changing the topic. I wasnt able to finish the last ten pages of my audiobook the other night because I was so tired from the day before. The school got upset at me again just because i broke into the principals office after hours and stole important documents. I was going to return them, I dont see why it's such a big deal. It's like they dont appreciate the art of investigative journalism. I was put in detention and had to do service for the lunchladies as punishment. Ellis looked at me and almost burst out laughing and it made me so angry. Greg just complimented my hairnet and I felt like he understood me. Anyway, one of the lunch ladies kept telling me about her ex husband and it was entertaining. She kept saying he left her for an older woman and I told her to live her best life and she should forget him and she seemed to take my advice. I think I understand why girls gossip now. So much drama that really happened. I think I'll go on r/AITA tonight after dinner.

[xiaonyc]

Digital detox diet: how to clean up photos

Im tidying up my phone today and had trouble figuring out what i need to keep and throw away, and where to even start. Its a mess! But i started anyway and my icloud can finally back up. Theres more i want to clean but i made a good start and set some simple parameters to help:

Delete:

✿ bad photos: photos taken badly, have higher standard for myself for photography and improving at it

✿ repeat photos: when you spam photograph and leave all 20 photos, just go through and pick the best 1

✿ photos that dont bring me joy: Any remaining that no longer bring me joy: friends im no longer close to, when i feel ready I can let it go

✿ screenshots: if its of something i can write down, write it down instead to save space, otherwise if its screenshots like receipts or temporary photos that served their purpose: delete

✿ internet photos: drawing references i no longer need (i can always look it up again), inspiration that ive outgrown

✿ personal work: keep the minimum documentation (at highest quality), delete process photos that served their purpose

Mindset:

✿ Be ready to confront yourself at various stages of your life while clearing digital clutter, meaning reflect on past experiences, "embarrassing" photos of an old you, appreciate your growth, keep what warms your heart, and let go what has served its purpose. Its all part of your journey.

✿ Don't hoard out of fear: hoarding is fear-based: "i need to keep all these 20 photos in case i lose one, what if i forget about this experience and never experience that joy again"= fear-based. Instead,

✿ collect and curate: what you want to remember and what is important to you in THIS MOMENT while appreciating in your heart the experiences that led up to it

✿ Digital clutter is still clutter like physical, we can just cram so much of it into a harddrive that it doesnt seem that way. But it still takes up mental space, so do your best to free up mental space by putting in the work to tidy up

Lastly so the effort doesnt go to waste:

✿ Back up phone to computer or harddrive (not cloud)

Thanks for reading ♡

[bruteanarchy]

What is Sally's relationship with Harumi and Nya? It seems a bit... Longing

Why does she see such enormous admiration for both of them that it becomes a Paranoid?

(Hope you can answer this one🙏)

HAHAHHA OF COURSE I CAN ANSWER!!!! hi artemis 😚

my personification of sally came to me a long time ago in the form of short glimpses of the future…. i didnt care for her much and actually felt irritated at her character 😅i hated her pop singer gimmick and wanted to transform her into something different for fun, like a complete switch of musical genres just to see how i’d feel with the design transformation. thats where it ended for a long time, i didnt add any personality other then her thinking shes hot shit when shes really just a weird kid teenager finding her place in life. just a random redesign for fun one day when i was bored in class.

but recently (a couple weeks ago idk) in the middle of the night, me and coasty randomly thought of a what if; “what if sally had a funny parasocial attachment to nya and harumi.. especially harumi.” i usually sit on my headcanons and “what ifs” for a couple weeks/months before telling coast, then my little space on the internet .. but this time i wasted no time and drew sally fangirling over nyas punk riot grrrlness lololol

to me, my interpretation of sally is lighthearted and not meant to be taken too seriously. just a girl who’s finding her identity, and has the money (and the compulsions.. and graying moral compass bc a main joke of hers is buying fast fashion and switching “aesthetics” often) to mess around, also with a taste for chasing fame as a small musical artist ^^

sally admires harumi and nya because of their respective coolness and the fact that both of them are sorta celebrity figures who are constantly surveillanced and their every action is presumed and thought upon. sally just longs to be just like the cool girls she sees on tv — she doesnt actually know who they are as people, she only knows them as the water ninja and the quiet one..the idealized and shown parts of themselves on tv. also, sally just thinks harumi’s documented plight as the jade princess turned evil is #relatable (when the worst sally has ever done is run away from her parents to pursue singing)

like i said.. sallys supposed to be a lighthearted joke character to me, like somebody on tiktok who is really invested in subgenres/cultures like punk, but don’t actually take the time to know the history and commit to what it means to be that subculture.

heres some doodles i did of sally as a bonus bc i dont think i posted them here, ty for asking!!

[calciumdeficientt]

Hey, Bif headcanons *slides a 503737494 dollar note* keep the change man

Gee thanks! I can’t wait to *checks smudged writing on hand* buy aguaburdy with this!

BIF TAYLOR HEADCANONS

Bif Bif he’s our man he’s our man who… cannot tan. It’s really sad, all the other preps can lounge freely in the sun and get various levels of luxurious tan while Bif… he just burns. If he doesnt apply countless coats of factor 50 suncream every hour or so he will go from milky white, to red, and then to blistered. There is no tan to be seen. Under the right conditions he does develop a smattering of cute little freckles but he never actually tans.

Bif prides himself on his boxing, in fact for a long while he put all his eggs in one basket and focused purely on the noble art. But he also plays a mean game of basketball, given his imposing stature. He doesn’t play often because there’s little to no preps that would even consider touching a basketball, let alone playing with it. He’s been told its improper for him to play more modern sports like basketball, so he doesnt bother with it much. He can only thrash Justin in a shootout so much before he actually feels bad for the guy.

He has to get all his pants tailor made. Not even out of a desire for them to be bespoke, they’ve got perfectly decent pairs of trousers at aquaberry, its more out of necessity. Bif’s height is oddly distributed, he’s got far more leg than torso, so most pants in his waist size when pulled up become capris. He had growth spurt after growth spurt as a kid so he’s no stranger to having things tailored (if you’ll excuse the pun), but now he’s a little older he does feel mildly left out when the other guys go out to buy their schoolwear and he can only purchase the top half of all his outfits.

Bif has a frequent flier card for rhinoplasty, he’s had countless nose jobs but just can’t seem to stop getting pounded in the face and wasting another 10 grand of his father’s money. Between surgeries, Bif does his best to draw attention away from his nose, not that anyone can really see that high anyway. It’s usually crooked, often tilted to the left but dependent on who he was last fighting it can sometimes skew right.

Derby wont be seen with him until he gets his nose fixed AGAIN so Bryce takes over as right hand man and Bif can get some much needed rest. He’s a very tired young man, especially as he spends most of his time following Derby around like a lapdog. And from all the boxing too, he trains seven days a week, often for up to nine hours a day. All that and school is enough to tire anyone out.

He has a shrine of his own achievements in his room at Harrington house, he doesn’t need to keep them, they’re also displayed at glass jaw, where he spends most of his time anyway. But he feels he has to keep them in his room to remind him that he is not, in fact, a failure and has accomplished many great things. Hanging around a guy as effortlessly self assured as Derby Harrington puts a lot of pressure on you, this is doubled by the fact that Bif has been the title holder for so long, he can’t relax, he can’t seem sure of his position, or he’ll lose it.

Collector and documenter of all things rap, well maybe not all things but he has a catalogue of a good few artists. His interest is mostly in the rap scene of the late 80’s to early 90’s with artists like The Notorious BIG, Ice Cube, Eminem and MF Doom as staples of his collection. He wish the preps weren’t quite so snobby about music, Bif genuinely believes that if they just tried to listen to some of the artists that they might genuinely really enjoy it. It’s all just poetry… often, violent poetry. Like war poetry, y’know?

Bif all likes to collect watches, they’re so effortlessly classy to him, and they can really elevate an outfit. It’s not often he gets to wear his watches, he’s fighting and training so often that he sometimes forgets to put one on in the few hours he has spare before he’s back in the ring. But for special events like parties, galas and other such fancy gatherings, he takes a good amount of time (heheh get it) to search for the perfect timepiece to go with his suit. The one he wears most often is a white gold rolex that Derby bought him for. Christmas when he was a Freshman, a ‘welcome to bullworth’ gift, if you will. They’d been tots together but up until then no one had really ever taught him to appreciate watches in the way Derby had.

[identifying-cat-phenotypes]

i was wondering if you could please help me identify my cats Pickles and Porsche- im not entirely sure what either of them are (or in terms of breed)

Porsche and Pickles for reference... i dont really have any good photos on my laptop but porsche doesnt have a tail, if that helps?

From the image, it seems that Porsche has one of the tailless genes activated! There a few, namely the Japanese Bobtail expressions and Manx-type taillessness, but with the angle, I can't tell which one it could be.

I'm leaning into Manx-type though, due to the way Porsche seems to be standing. It effects the bone structure in a few ways, leading to homozygous expressions of the gene to have a lot of issues, which I won't get into here. Ask me about cat breeding and homozygosity chasing, and I will have WORDS.

Anyways, as always I have to state that not all cats are derived from a breed. Cat breeding really only become popular in **recent memory, and therefor not all cats have breeds.

However, Porsche can be of possible pedigree descent due to the tail, or lack thereof, but without a pedigree document or registered breeder, I cannot say that "oh, this cat is ___"

Porsche seems to be a black ticked tabby, and Pickles seems to be a black mackerel tabby! Beautiful kitties!

**Recent, meaning not as long as dog breeds, which been breed for a VERY long time, much longer than cats. Most people think cat breeds work like dog breeds, which are so disconnected from their origins that we can only recreate the wildtype, when in cats we actually still have various points of origin still around, and still very similar! For example, the European Wildcat and Sand Cat.

[scarletfire03]

I havent looked at any news or whatever yet but from the latest bits of information i know about the Nintendo pocketpair bullshit (which is about 19 days ago give or take) everyone had been misrepresenting the patent Nintendo made.

The patent is not about pokeballs.

Ive read it a little bit and... its much worse than that.

The patent is for pokemon legends arceus mechanics. It talks about catching monsters in a field (open world). It came out originally around legends release.

The patent covers multiple aspects of legends arceus gameplay from what ive seen in the diagrams: it covers catching a monster, bringing thst monster out to start fighting another monster in a field, bringing the monster out in a field to make it interact with objects, fighting boss monsters, and pokedex quests. These are all graphically represented and have flow charts in the patent. I havent managed to read much of the document but just from the images alone it seems to be... much worse than everyone says it is...

These 3 are especially bad. Because you know what other game features an open world where you can catch monsters without entering battle, use monsters to interact with objects and fight bosses? Yeah palworld.

Nintendo is trying to sue the entire gameplay of the game so it doesnt have competition for a side series its currently starting.

This is so much worse if nintendo wins. If they win they have legal grounds to stop any game from being even remotely like legends arceus. Which is bad because that is essentially the definitive way to bring monster carching mechanics into an open world.

[og-doeiika]

The World Outline

As mentioned before, here is The World's plot outline. I wrote this in.... Fall 2023? A lot of this document is not cannon. It is here just as a fun look at my plans!

Document under cut

Theme: never be certain about your perception of the world- about the supernatural, about your companions, and your beliefs. Also learning to live/ cope/ love parasites

Arthur: cares, complains, can’t plan, follows heart, survives off camping instincts, violence is calculated

Micah: doesn’t care, can plan, follows logic, survives off survival of fittest code, embraces instinct of violence

Virgil: just wants to go home; spoiled, tries to act tough, afraid of dying

The world: hungry, deceptive

Enemies to lovers..? Not the main focus (this ended up being a lie)

Tarot site

1 Wheel of Fortune

Cold open: both men hide inside a moose corpse. Its much roomier than one (city folk..) would expect. They can feel it cool and the spasming of the fresh muscles react to the salt in their sweat. The guts are busted open and shits everywhere. Some creatures scuttle around, the two of them are too scared to feel gay about touch

Nighttime, November, slow, calm to rising tension. Micah and arthur go to hit the coach in american pastoral scene, but the coach never comes. Therefore arthur is mad at micah. He berates micah’s uselessness. Micah is insulted, exclaims he doesnt need him, he rides up ahead on the road, but is stopped by the sight of the ruined coach and murder scene. Looks like an animal attack. Micah rummages bloody bills off the ground

A young boy runs out of the wreckage and begs to taken with them to a certain location. Micah scoffs, arthur is willing. Micah and arthur argue, they hate each other, still not over their fight + micah’s selfishness. 

2 The Hierophant

Before micah storms off the kid warns him its not safe. On cue monsters wails in the forest. They hear a sound come near them and it causes their horses to flee. They head north east, into the pine forests. The chase is tense, seems like they can’t escape. The monsters smell like doo doo caca. They can hear they are in the trees. At the peak of the chase, when everyone can feel the rank breath and imagine the teeth biting into them, it disappears.

3 The Magician

Daytime, everyone is tired af. Its like 9am itll get dark at 5pm. Micah and arthur argue about setting up camp. Arthur pleads Micah to keep watch as he doesnt sleep. He obliges, points out hes not useless. Uses this to pressure arthur, threatens he’ll leave. Arthur needs micah as much as micah does. Boy sleeps. Arhtur and micah agree to take short breaks, plan is to travel at night, rest in day because the monster…

Evening, boy wakes up and begs them again where their home is. Its like 3 days away. Boy hands them the key to a house, it looks fancy. He is the son of the banker who was killed in the coach. Drop him off there and they can loot his house (address on the key)Boy says even if he dies they can have the money. Micah is like nice!

Fellas resupply, eat stuff, drink water, and go. As the sun goes down they feel more tense. They head to the Wallace station to take the train

4 The Moon

Night 1 Whomp whomp, everyone is dead at the station. They argue amongst each other again if they should wait for the train or just go. The go cus theres some spooky noises and also all the doors are fucked up

5 The High Priestess

2 days from now the night air is gunna be hot cus of maggot moving around, creating heat.  Monsters are far away, they can hear them screechin. Its almost morning and then arthurs horse gets jumpscared by a body falling in front of it. Horse screams and dashes, causing the monsters to chase. They are pinned against a wall of rock from a cliff. Arthur tries to calm horse and boy. Micah is quiet and still then Wooooah Micah saves arthur? Gay? Maybe one of them gets injured

6 Justice

Next day, Arthur thanks micah. Micah is like… whateves, but gives him a repeater that he yoinked from the coach. 

7 The Hanged Man

Arthur fashions horse blinders out of bark/ fabric cowl. Micah thinks theyre dumb as an outlaws horse should be desensitized to violence. 

8 The Chariot

They wonder if the world is ending cus they haven't seen another living person in a few days. Usually theyd see at least one person but they just see skinned animals and carcasses. No people. Micah wonders if they're being followed. He eyes him… sus. Maybe the monster wants the boy. Big gore moment with bodies in trees and river. Guts flow their full 8 feet as they follow the stream. The kill is fresh af.

Night 2 They fight their way through the creatures no problemo. The repeater is really good. They find out This night goes p well, maybe… a little… more gay… 

9 The Lovers

Day 3 

Night scene <3 Micah stims on arthurs coat. Also arthur is in despair because hes sort of in charge. Arthur passes outtt

Arthur sees one of the things he took out and wtfff He dissects it. Gross. 

Micah is like Virgil u little shit why were u such a bitch last night?? And then he’s bruv u saw my hands, shit was fucked. Was indeed fucked

Virgil is like pls we’re almost there. Arthur is like hey wait what if everyone like evvvveryone is dead? Like how would we know? What happens after we get u home? Like whadda we do with money? Micah is like ur a quitter lmao. 

Arthur is like we should reallyyyy turn back, but uh oh they can’t due to plant and terrain fuckery. Very suspicious. They keep going, but they are like AUUUUGHH fuck whyyyy. Not this bullshit- let’s speedrun it to virgil’s

Also theres like blood in the mud? The trees are sticky and full of MEAAT

10 The Tower

Night 3 There’s a new obstacle: blood vessels/ vines in the ground. No lantern! 

they are real close to the house; its like 6am so theyre close to being safe. Monsters come and they head into the house, lights off. Boy escapes, hides under porch.  Micah and Arthur press their backs together. 

Big fire is lets them see the things. There’s so many, arthur gives him advice: to block everything out and pretend they are in horseblinders. They emerge triumphant, beating monsters back into the woods. Screaming stops. Arthur is wounded on hand, Micah wounded in shoulder. Both go inside to get patched up.

11 Death

Boy calls out for family but no ones there. Outlaws patch themselves up quickly then check the house. This house has bad vibes.

Micah loots as he goes. Boy accompanies him. Micah shoves jewelry in his pockets as boy cries about being alone. Micah is like oh youll live. Boys like please take with u and clings onto micah. Boy says he'll show him the safe if he lets him tag along. Micah is like… ok… weird vibes, but money

Arthur examines photos of boy and family. His family must be real big or something cus theres so many people. Arthur is frozen in shock. (dont reveal to audience what) he knocks on the walls, ungloves hand to touch,  puts his ear against the walls. Runs out of the room. Either its his panic or the house- the room is warping

12 The Devil

Micah cracks open safe. Starts looting. Asks who the inheritance goes to. Boy promises he'll do anything for micah and arthur bc they saved him. Micah states he doesn't like boy, hes so weak and feeble. Boy gets mad, Micah teases him asking why hes so mad when a second ago he said he'd throw away his life for Arthur and micah. Boy says its a gratitude thing. Micah says thats wussy talk. Boy says you lot know nothing about gratitude getting serious. Micah says if he wants to live he should focus on being useful. They stare each other down. Micah gets starts heading up stairs when door shuts locks

Arthur calls for micah, the house starts smelling funny maybe its the panic and hes pavlovs dog the smell idk. Arthur hears micah yell. Arthur slams shoulder and kicks to open basement door. Door bleeds. Door opens and micah runs out, mild laceration on injured arm, gone blind in an eye. Both run out of house. Flee into the woods. Its still night

13 The Tower

Cool mind break scene of them stumbling around. Maybe kiss??? 

The next day at noon, they are riding their horses. But everything is all wrong, the midday sun is red and the sky is cloudy like theres been a forest fire (its still november) Micah reminds he never wanted to help the boy. Nearest civilization is another day's travel. They agree to go to Annesberg. They are at their lowest. Arthur admits he was foolish, but is adamant that there’s nothing wrong with helping people in need. Micah is like thats ur mistake, he wasnt weak. Arthur is like u trusted him too, he bribed u with money. They feel like their world is coming down, they really dont know if anyone else exists. Arthur thinks about what they should have done differently.  In a moment of vulnerability arthur says he doesnt know if theyre alive or whether this is all real. Seeing arthur start to break, micah follows. “Its name is the world”

Woah new summary

Micah knows all, he sees how nothing the world is. Makes arthur have to comfort him

14 Judgement

Virgil pov for insight. He’s doing some virgil things, such as eating bodies, phasing through the air, idk

Abrupt timeskip to later in the day/night. Repeat cold open but with names. Men hide in the moose. They wonder if they are alive or dead. Rain falls on corpse. They hear screaming. Yucky corpses walk out of the brush. Boy says he can hear their breathing, taste fear, and feel their heat. Monsters struggle to carry boy on their backs. 

The things go to absorb the moose into its mass. Arthur and Micah feel the sewage invade the corpse. They look at each other for reassurance and then boooom. Boy is shot, like 300lbs of organs spill out and the animals all dissolve. Arthur and micah look at each other like they're traumatized. Monsters collapse.

Oops hes not dead, very cool. Can see no brain in there, weird. The way the 2’s faces fall makes him so happy. Does some reallyyyy fucked up things to micah and arthur. 

As the two are fucking dying virgil’s like ‘man those other guys were boring. These two fellas are cool, i guess this is love” virgil puts his hugs them, puts their heads on their laps. Micah and arthur are looking at each other, avoiding virgil’s gaze. And then they fucking pass the hell out. Last thing they feel is virgil sticky fingers, creepy.

Virgil feels love for expression and art and life?? Micah sees how his and arthurs struggle has affected him. 

15 The World

Micah realizes- HEY ACTUALLY ARTHUR WE WON. but arthur is like fuckkkked up

The pair talk about wtf that shit was about. Sitting at the train station in annesberg. Arthur suggests it was a predator of some kind. Micah is shaken, talks about what it said to him in the basement. It's the world he says again... Arthur is like huh?? And micah is like yea idk man. A moment of silence before he explains the best he can: 

Flashback: Micah sees but also doesnt see? He suddenly knows the sins of mankind that soak the land, the whole world. He sees the faces of the Natives that died at that one fort in the game, meek children, animals shot imperfecty- their bodies unharvested left to rot, how drastic humans have changed the landscape. Micah looks into the world’s eyes and his ‘survival of the fittest’ white supremecist views are shattered.

Micah scoots closer to Arthur, feeling small. Arthur shudders too and leans in. In their shattered perception of the world the other person is the only thing that is real/ solid. They hug each other like lovers. They dont care about people looking at them strange cus who cares. Micah is gunna cry. Everything he knew is wrong/ disillusioned. He doesnt know who he is without his beliefs (he cant believe them anymore cus the world showed him the old way/ new possibilities). 

A dog and kid play on the train tracks. Rats crawl in the insulation in the train station’s walls. Miners 500 feet in the Earth breath dust that circulates in their lungs. Dutch places a record on the phonogram as Pearson prepares stew. A salmon creates a redd in the riverbank, its flesh is white and decayed. A ship of Chinese immigrants crosses the ocean. An English man talks with his gardener about the state of his lawn. Water from the Atlantic evaporates and rains over Nova Scotia. The sun appears to disappear under the land in Saint Denis because of the Earth’s rotation. 

Numbed by the scale and impossibility of it all, Micah kisses Arthur, both feeling somewhat comforted by the other- just a little.

Cool Words (*interesting words taken from Carcass lyrics, and textbooks)

Mysentry (organ that connects bowels to back)

Omentum (layer of fat that protects bowels)

Abdominal aorta (aorta that supplies belly, shoot house here. He is all aorta lol)

Renal

Hilum (is a depression or fissure where structures such as blood vessels and nerves enter an organ. Transform virgil bullet wound to this. Or virgil is a hilum)

Pericardium (heart bag)

Baneful (prideful)

Salubrious (health enhancing)

Altruistic ( unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others)

Alacrity(promptness in response : cheerful readiness) 

Avarice(greed)

Abscond(to depart secretly and hide oneself

He absconded with the stolen money.)

Querulous(habitual complaining, like whining)

Fractious(unruly)

Aggrieved(troubled or distressed in spirit)

Avulse(tearing away)

Acquiesce(to accept, comply, or submit tacitly or passively

 Eg. they had all been acquiesced)

Incipient(beginning to come into being or to become apparent)

Nascent(coming or having recently come into existence)

Intrinsic(essential, naturally)

Pertinent (related)

Quash

Impaired

Teeming

Profound

Filigree

Work of art

Murky

Filigree

Limited

Fed with force

Provacative

To degenerate

Denigrate

Reverie

Tooth by tooth

Calibrate

Pendulating

Ambulatory graveyard.

Distension (swollen abdomen)

Breech (bottom end of loaded gun barrel)

Peal (sound of several church bells ringing)

Extrude

Dreg (sediment in liquid)

Hateful orchestral horror

Curor (gore)

Insurgency (rebel)

Wear the bulls feather (to be a cuck)

Chyme (chewed paste)

Blotting

Emetic (something that causes vomiting/ nausea)

Innated (belonging to, natural)

Moulder

Pulpit

Damned and divine

Indurate (something hardening)

Neurally

Unjustifiable

Vindication

Moulder (decay)

sarcocyst (type of parasite)

Ocular

Idiosyncrasy

Myiasis (maggot in flesh condition)

Expropriate (to relinquish ownership to public)

Anatomised (to dissect and study carefully)

Termination

Contabescence (wasting disease)

Pultaceous (Softened, chewed to liquid)

Sumptuous (Cost greatly)

Hew (Cut, break)

Costate (having ribs)

Exsanguinate (drain of blood) 

Disarray

Deftly

Nous (self, Greek, philosopher)

Eschatology (any system of doctrines concerning last, or final, matters, as death, the Judgment, the afterlife, etc.)

Amputated

Dolour (sorrow)

Diverge

Defunt (no longer operating)

Squabbling

Harbour (verb, to shelter)

Denied

Lugs (heavy burdening object)

Quaint

Decollate (to decapitate at the neck)

Quiescent (quiet, still, inactive)

Scattered and scrambled

Caricature

Disassemble

Placating (to pacify)

Dubious

Ravaged disassembly

Astute (shrewd)

Eldritch game

Pathological (caused by or involving disease; morbid.)

[star-trek-fandom-confessions]

#369

"I honestly think Tendi was being a dick for asking T'Lyn to delete her notes on Orion Culture. The entire point of T'Lyn's notes was to document Orion Culture and Tendi was okay with it until she realised that Orions are infact still very much tied to their space pirate roots, to the point they have actual drug gigolos and crime syndicates. Tendi didnt want T'Lyn to delete her notes for being inaccurate, she wanted them deleted because Tendi doesnt want people to know about Orion culture. Atleast that is what the show (perhaps unintentionally) made it seem to be"

[spiteful-studios]

Omg, finished the demo and it was so cute!!!!! I absolutely love the artwork and the dialogue. The dialogue seems so natural for the characters to say which elevated the game for me. And the length of the demo??!? That was my favorite part lolll

Excited for the rest of the game to release in the future :D

Take your time w/ the game, hope you win the lottery, and have an amazing day <3

i am white-knuckling the keyboard at the opportunity to talk about the work that goes on behind the curtain when it comes to the demo. the dialogue is simultaneously the most time-consuming and time-saving aspect of working on glass hearts because it requires my partner and i to literally sit together in a living room for hours either spitting lines back and forth to see what works and what doesnt, and just generally sitting on a shared document tweaking things. we tend to write out dialogue and narration like a genuine stageplay ( for my roleplayer crowd, its more like a very detailed script roleplay lmao ) but generally meg is in charge of stanley's route and i am in charge of stanford's route, with tweaks and editing coming from the other person !! as for the length it just felt right tbh !! i know it was a pretty decent length as far as demos go, but the story kind of made it feel natural to stop there, if that makes sense? plus we love to get super detailed, its hard not to kind of let the story get away from us lmao. day three is shaping up to be our biggest day yet so hopefully that'll be received positively

thank you so much for the well-wishes and for following the development of our little passion project !! trust me, just having people who care enough about a silly little dating sim that we thought up at like, two in the morning ?? it feels like we won the lottery for sure. have a wonderful day !!!