#but you know it's done and out there and on the third page overall for this pairing so at least i did something right with it

[lordsardine]

.

[ohcorny]

so! it's been a year since i put never satisfied on hiatus, and 9 years since i started posting it, and rather than make you read everything if all you want to know is "when's it coming back?" the answer is still: don't know! but the answer has also shifted closer to "it isn't" the longer i've spent on break, and i think it's worth being up front about that.

i talked about it a little here a few weeks ago, but the long and short of it is that between taking on better paying work, writing better stories, and looking back at what i'd already done for never satisfied... i just don't think i want to continue it? the year off has been incredibly good for my mental health, and i can't see myself wanting to go back after the two-three years still ahead of me on my current project. that's not to say i never want to return to the characters or the concept, but if i did, i imagine it would be with something completely new, in a different form. after all, i started this comic when i was 21 years old, a lesbian, and a sophomore in college. i am now just shy of 30, a bi man, and overall a completely different person than i was, back when i was writing without a plan and putting all of my insecurities into the comic--insecurities i don't identify with anymore. lord i'm closer to rothart's age than i am to lucy's. hate that

anyway. you have all been extraordinarily kind for following never satisfied for as long as you have, for supporting it as much as you have, and being as patient as you have. whatever form never satisfied takes in the future (god willing, with a more cohesive story structure and A PLAN FOR THE ENDING, WHICH BY THE WAY I NEVER, EVER HAD) i hope to see you there!

in the meantime, as an update on where i'm at with the thing that made me stop working on NS: i finished it! all the pages for Hunger's Bite (if you remember it with a different title: no you don't) have been turned in and now it's just revisions and covers and then........ waiting a year until it can come out. because that's how it is in traditionally published graphic novels! nothing releases for a full year after you finished it! and you're even getting it earlier than was originally planned, because i'm a creature and finished it like three months ahead of schedule. i've also already started thumbnailing the sequel book which i can't talk about whatsoever and will now be working on that for the next two years and then HOPEFULLY the first book will have done well enough that i can sell a third! so you better buy it when it comes out next february!!!!!!

to ease you all into it, i wanted to do a little crossover to introduce the main characters. we have emery, whose design is fully and unintentionally just Seiji Again down to his color palette (but seiji would bully him if they met. like so hard. he's a wimp). then we have neeta, a girl who dreams of travel and cares deeply about worker's rights, and wick, a vampire agent investigating the mysterious and sinister new owner of the 1910s ocean liner emery and neeta call home. he's also gay. but sorry lucy, you aren't his type. you're not mean enough.

the best place to keep up with me these days is probably here, as this first book gets closer to release, i will probably be posting about it a lot. and i will certainly post about it here when there's an official release date and cover reveal! i hope you'll go read it. i really think if you liked never satisfied and its themes, you'll like hunger's bite!

thank you again for reading!!

[topazadine]

Things that immediately turn me off a fiction book

I'm pretty picky with what I read, because the time I spend reading is time that I could spend writing. I generally know if I will like a book within the first chapter, and I feel no shame in giving up if I'm not vibing with it.

And no, I don't believe in the "oooh read further it warms up" because does it? Does it really? Do I want to waste time finding out?

Frankly, at this point in life, I read more nonfiction than fiction because there's just so. many. bad. books. that are getting published. Worse than fanfictions.

Anyway, here are the things that make me give up. Maybe hearing this will help you as you write your own masterpiece.

Too Many Proper Nouns

Three characters maximum in the first chapter or two. Do not throw dozens of people at me. I will get confused and give up. Let me get to know the main character, by themself or with a few of their closest companions, before you make me remember everyone else. And go deep with those characters! I want someone to stick with!

You can reference other characters, to create a sense of a deeper world, but do not go all-in on them. Make it clear that they are just there to provide a bit of context, and we don't have to remember them yet. We should only be meeting three characters maximum.

Throwing Us Immediately Into a Dramatic Action Point

This is controversial I know, but I hate when something immediately starts with a battle. I don't care if any of these people live or die. I don't know them. I haven't grown attached to any of them.

Even just a page or two to get to know them first will help. You can have them gearing up for a battle, thinking about what's going to happen, maybe talking to their friends, maybe checking their armor, whatever feels natural for them. But do not just start with stabbing people! I don't care about them yet!

Too Many Details

Many this is just me, but I simply do not care about every piece of armor your character is wearing. I don't need to hear a play-by-play of every single color of every single thing because I don't care. Pick out a few specific things for me to focus on and that's it. Stop overloading me with colors and patterns and armor styles.

Yes, yes, you've done your research on historically accurate gear. That's great. It would be good for a movie. But if I have to look up different armor pieces every five seconds, I am glossing over it and moving on. I don't care. I'm here for the story. If I wanted an infodump about medieval armor, I would simply pick up a nonfiction book (and maybe I will).

White Space Syndrome

Tell me what the overall scene looks like instead of all these hyperspecific details of certain objects, like carts or emblems or whatever. I want to know where I am!!

Don't just say "a forest." Tell me what kind of forest. Tell me if it's a young forest or an old snarly forest or a swampy forest or a cold alpine forest.

Don't just say "a castle." Tell me if it's a bustling castle or a gloomy castle or a rundown castle.

Don't just say "on the sea." Cold sea? Tropical sea? Far far away from land or is land in sight? These are the things I want!

Too Much Backstory

For the love of god do not explain the entire history of this culture in the first chapter. The first chapter is for getting to know the characters we're going to be following. You can introduce those things slowly and carefully as the story unfolds.

I get that fiction writers are delighted by all the worldbuilding (or research, in historical fiction) they have done. But the reader does not care right away. They need to get invested before all those little specifics matter at all. My eyes glaze over and I give up because I don't want to have to remember all of that all at once. It's like you just threw a college textbook at my face.

Plus, if you're doing third-person limited, you have to remember that the character is not going to be thinking all of that! They won't say all of that either! Because they know all of that!

Even a general on the brink of a major battle is not going to go "yes, this all dates back to when we took Iuanfutila back in 181, when the brave Iuanfutilans protested the rule of our Yawwbaawnwhryr leaders ...." They are focused on the present moment, and they may discuss the backstory later. Tell us what we need to know now because that is what the character would be thinking too.

"Oh, but Topazadine, how will the readers understand the context if I don't tell them??"

There's a battle. Two groups are at war. Or something was stolen. Or two people are fighting. Whatever. We understand those things. We can get the basic gist of how things are going to play out by just showing us these things happening. Then, as we have gotten a feel for the characters, you can tell us more about the context.

If you walk into a store that's being held up by an armed robber, do you give a shit about his backstory, or do you only care once that person has been arrested and you have to testify? I think we know the answer. You're not going "ohhh why is he doing this??" at first. You're going "HOLY SHIT THERE'S A GUN WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NOW???" and then you'll care about the other stuff later.

Too Much Play-by-Play

I also do not need a play by play of a fight scene. I need to know the general movements, and then the overall atmosphere. I want to feel what the character feels rather than feel like I'm watching a football game.

Your reader will fill in the gaps if you give them enough information, but when you overload them with every single action, they're now trying to keep track of what went where instead of how this moment is supposed to feel. And now the action and drama has gone out of the writing because it's become a manual of fighting techniques.

Pointless Dumb Conversations

"Oh, could you turn around for me? I want privacy."

"Sure, of course, I'm a respectable man." Manfred knew that a lady-in-waiting would be unsettled by the presence of a strange man, so he wanted to be respectful.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Oh my god no one cares!!! No one!! We don't need this exchange. Cut it. This is stupid. Unless something is actually happening or something is meaningful about them saying this, shut up.

How to Not Write a Horrible First Chapter That Makes People Ragequit

Can you tell I'm mad today? I started and stopped three different books because they were all so bad.

Three characters max in the first chapter, with deep discussion of each. (One or two is better.) General appearance, demeanor, profession, whatever.

Restrain the urge to infodump! Dribble it out over the chapter!

Give the setting more attention than random little details that ultimately do not matter. I don't need to know the pattern of the curtains on the horsecart that's about to be burnt. Don't care.

Do not give a play by play of every single action that a character takes because it's boring and no one cares.

In media res is great but do NOT start with a big climactic intense battle or fight or whatever because we don't know these characters and don't know who to root for (or why we should care).

Your character is not going to give us a history lesson in why this conflict is happening. Do not do it yourself either. Give us just enough to get intrigued and no more. Think how your characters would think and what they would prioritize in discussions.

If a conversation is just pleasantries and has no purpose, drop it, we don't care.

[cringefail-clown]

Jakehal is very fun. But why dirkkri? I dont understand what's appealing about it :? confused

theres a lot of things i like about dirkri and honestly i dont even know where to start lmfao

first of all, and its mostly a funny reason - davekat on crack. like some traces of davekat are still there - the arguing about shit, stoic facade vs emotional mess, all the good stuff, but its also so much more exaggerated it makes it this much more ridiculous. gets even better when you consider them under the lense of swap aus like alphaswitch or tbau, where they land on the meteor together. theyre most likely hunting each other for sports by the year two

second of all, the funney. theyd be so fucking funny together. their smallest arguments would take like twenty pages of non-stop flow of red-orange text to resolve, and not because they came to a consensus but because some third party physically dragged them away from their electronics. it doesnt do any good, since it only gives them both time to think over new arguments to use, and theyre back at it as soon as they get their phones back. like if we had a tournament about which ship would do the most collateral damage to the overall group, i think these two would be Up There. karkat would gauge his eyes out from frustration, because now not only does he have to deal with his piece of shit, know-it-all other self, but now theres also Fucking Dirk thrown into the mix. their home life is absolute insanity, a small jab about the other forgetting to buy sugar once again devolves into a screaming match about the merits and flaws of communism or some other inane shit. and theyre doing it for fun, they enjoy debating with each other, because often times they have vastly different opinions, and comparing their beliefs challenges them intelectually and morally. from the outside perspective theyre one of the most dysfunctional pair in the paradox space, when in fact thats simply how they want their relationship to be, and it makes them better people overall.

third reason is that theyre thematically delicious. dirk is a control freak, micromanaging his and his friends constantly. hes terrified of losing control, but hes also desperate for someone to just tell him what the fuck he should do. dirk doesnt think he should be in control of others, because he believes hes a naturally evil person capable of horrible acts, at the same time he doesnt trust anyone else to get things done but himself. hes a whole collection of contradictions.

kankri desperately needs to be in control as well. hes constantly injecting himself into conversations he has no business being in, trying to find someone thatd listen to what he has to say. hes wants to guide others, but his efforts are flawed, because he doesnt listen to other perspectives - hes got tunnel vision, as he thinks hes the one in the right while everyone else is wrong or ignorant (cringefail seer literally). he doesnt trust anyone else to make decisions for him, and becomes defensive when he thinks others are attempting to coddle him. his ass was definitely culled on beforus.

theyre also both so fucking lonely. dirk conciously tries to put difference between himself and his friends, worrying hell "corrupt" them. kankri tries to connect to his friends, but his behavior alienates him from them to the point of no one except maybe porrim want to have anything to do with him.

my point is, kankri wants to guide people but has to learn to listen to others and reflect on his own flawed opinions. dirk has to learn to trust that people closest to him can get shit done on their own and loosen up, as well as realise hes not evil at the core. them helping each other out - dirk teaching kankri about different perspectives, kankri teaching dirk about letting others do their thing - is something i think about a lot.

also i like to think theyd spar for fun a lot as well. its not really a reason and wholly my own personal headcanon but i wanna mention it as well bc its so funny to me. i like the idea of kankris behaviour being a complete reverse of karkat - where karkat is all bark no bite and doesnt like fighting or violence, kankri puts up a front of the beacon of love and peace and tolerance, but in his free time he gets his rifle and goes shooting at the fucking squirrels or some shit. i think he wouldnt have the same qualms about strifing as karkat. like dirk would try to jokingly jab his finger at kankris side and he would just fucking flip him over his shoulder and onto the table breaking it in half, because he doesnt like being touched unexpectedly and by gods dirk when will you fucking learn. he goes from 0 to 100 real fast. its such a hysterical concept for me.

[rainstormwrite]

The new update is now public.

Hello again, people!

That's it. This is the day.

The new update is now public.

(You're required to start a new playthrough if you don't want any game-breaking bugs, by the way.)

What's done:

All three routes are finished.

All the POVs are rewritten to be in the third person (they actually feel way better than I thought they would be).

Some parts of the first fight scene are fixed and clarified.

Some pronoun bugs are fixed.

What's planned:

…

Writing another update, obviously.

Word count:

Including command lines: 271245 Excluding command lines: 260837

But, I would ask you to temper your expectations in terms of the new content's single playthrough length. I'm going to paraphrase this from my previous post: the actual amount of content that was added with this new update is somewhere between 15 to 25 pages (approximately).

Even though the word count increased from 53k to 260k, the only event to happen in this update is one conversation/confrontation (ridiculous, I know). This is primarily due to the overwhelming amount of variable text that changes depending on your earlier choices and due to the number of routes you can take. If you're interested in the reasons for me to decide to do that, check out my previous post.

So, basically, each reader will experience the new content very differently but may not get as much satisfaction due to its shortness. If that is the case, I can only suggest you make another playthrough with different choices, but, if that's not your cup of tea, I would totally understand. But, overall, the game is very… how do I put it..? Multiple-playthroughs-friendly, I'd say.

Safe to say, the update will be incredibly polarizing, no doubt, but I'm always open to feedback.

And, even though I haven't found any bugs or inconsistencies, I am obviously aware that someone else may find them, so, if you are that someone, please report the bugs to me.

I think that's all regarding the update itself, so go ahead and play it. Hope you will like it!

PLAY THE UPDATE

Now, onto other interesting things…

From this point onward, I'm starting to take writing seriously, and that's why I've finally decided to open my Patreon page.

I've made a free introductory post there that explains what I'll be offering, but, right off the bat, I want to tell you that I can't offer you things that other creators are usually offering: Q&As and What-if scenarios. If we're talking about Q&As, I don't want to do them because I consider mystery to be a big part of my work, so I don't really want to wiggle around every question that people will ask me because it won't be fair to them and won't feel good to me. As for What-if scenarios, I don't want to write out some hypothetical scenarios when I can spend that time to progress the plot forward in the actual story. And, trust me, if I'm going to spread my attention too thin, I'm never going to finish this project… And I don't think you and I want that.

What I will provide, however, are progress updates, sneak peeks, early access, and monthly side stories, which the community will be able to choose by voting.

So, I'd advise you to read through the new update first, decide whether you're willing to put up with my approach to the content, and then consider subscribing if what I offer on Patreon is enough for you. If, after all that, you decide to become a member, I'll be very grateful to you. If not, I will still appreciate you being interested in my work and taking the time to read through it.

Thanks for tuning in, and have a pleasant day or a peaceful night!

[drconstellation]

The Assistant Book Seller

Edit 1 Dec 2023 - added missing information on the "ribbon pattern."

Edit: 3 Dec 2023 - correct information about middle pattern from creator

GABRIEL: Greetings! I'm Jim! It's short for James, but I don't need to keep telling everyone that. I'm an assistant book seller.

I'm sorry. Before I do anything else, I need to apologize for something I need to write further in. I didn't plan to write it, I just kind of bumped into it and, well, I can't ignore it. So...sorry. It's said. Forgive me for what needs to be done.

Although he arrived with nothing but a cardboard box and Rodney the Stunt Fly, Aziraphale made sure Jim was clothed in appropriate raiment while under his protection. We'll forgive him that he took a step back about, oh, fifty years or so to the 1970's, as Jim's overall look is a nod to the famous old sitcom "Open All Hours." So if he looks a little bit out of place, or, a little bit familiar, even, that's why.

While we are used to seeing angels in overcoats, it's Jim's vest that is the particular feature here. But I will take a moment to comment on the overcoat - not just the colour but its lapels. Aziraphale has obviously given him a colour with an earthly connection and one that indicate that he has bought Jim under his protection, but the lapels look quite neutral, with one up and one down. (Muriel is the same in their Inspector uniform, btw) This is the first indication they are between two things at the moment.

Onto the vest.

There is so, so much work and thought put into this vest! It was a one-off commission for the show, and the creator, Sandy Higgins, has said she is not allowed to give away the final design pattern. I have tried to contact her, and I'm waiting for a reply, so in the mean time I thought I would ask my keen knitter of a sister-in-law about one of the patterns I'm not sure about. "Well, that's Fair Isle knitting," she said, but she knew nothing about the individual line pattern I was interested in. Hmm, I kind of know that already, its in the notes that are guiding me for this meta, but hey, why not do a broader search and see what comes up?

So once I got back home I did. "Fair Isle knitting patterns" hmm...Wikipedia page for starters...what on *earth* is that at the bottom of the page...? YOU ARE. FRIKKING. KIDDING ME!!!!!!!

"See also: Gumbys"

oh ffs

I am so sorry that needs must make me mention Monty Python yet again, but here we are. And we must mention them, because this link is just too...unbelievably, deliciously good.

If you aren't familiar with the Monty Python catalogue, and don't recognize the mention of Gumbys, they were a set of characters that dressed and spoke in a certain way but the main points to take away were they wore woolen vests in the Fair Isle knitted style and their catch-phrase was - wait for it - "My brain hurts!"

I think we've heard that somewhere before?

CROWLEY: When you first arrived, you said you were here because they were planning to do 'Something Terrible' to you. So you remembered it then. Remember it now. GABRIEL: It hurts to remember. My head isn't built for that.

Right. Now we've got that out of the way...back to the serious stuff.

The colours used in the vest are not your typical angel colours. There is a base of angelic off-white and there are some bits of purple for his royalty around the shoulder area - sometimes you need to look carefully for it. Otherwise it is dominated by vintage shades of red and green. Well. Who's an agent of change driven by love, then?

The horizontal stripe pattern is partly to remind us of the classic biblical robes with stripes that ran along them, much like the style of Crowley's black and red robe in the Job minisode, but is also part of the traditional Fair Isles pattern work. And each row only has two colours, but up around the shoulder area we do see purple start to sneak in as a third colour.

On to the incorporated symbols! I'm going to go from bottom to top.

On the lowest two we feature Crowley and Aziraphale. We have Crowley's demon satyr tail from the Good Omens logo on the lowest stripe - the double-headed arrow.

The next stripe is Aziraphale, with a variation of the classic OXO pattern ("hugs and kisses.") The X is meant to represent his angel wings, and the O is modified to mimic the "o" with a halo in the Good Omens logo. I've highlighted all three in the image on the right.

The third row up is a Sumerian Star pattern that represents one of the flowers associated with Gabriel, the lily. They are supposed to represent the purity of Mary, mother of Jesus, as he had one in his hand when he visited her during the Annunciation.

The row above that is what I believe to be a Byzantium pattern, and is included to show "an Angel's ability to be timeless."

The next three rows are still under a bit of a question mark as I write this. I plan to come back and edit it in if I find the answer.

The bottom of the three is the Duke of Buccleuch pattern, "to celebrate the long and necessary contribution that the cottage industry of hand knitted items."

The middle one - ? (perhaps you, the reader, know? It looks like a spiralling ribbon if I stand back, but that isn't sparking any connections, either.)

Edit: @noneorother tells me in a reblog (below) that this pattern represents the shoelace from the magic incantation Aziraphale uses "Banana Fish Gorilla Shoelace." So it is ribbon-like! This then points to the Second Coming, as it the shoelace references the end of the book, and the last paragraph of the book references Yeats poem "The Second Coming" as well as the novel 1984. To me it is then also telling us there is a cycle occurring, or a cycle that needs to be renewed. This fits in with some other clues other meta-writers have been picking up.

Edit 2: Turns out none of that was correct - I heard back from the creator herself and it's actually the double-ended satyr tail pattern again! It just seems to make a bit of an illusion of a ribbon or shoelace.

The pattern below is a modified OXO pattern.

The top one looks like two rams horns facing each other. A hollowed out rams horn can be used as a trumpet, and is known as a shofar in Jewish religion. Gabriel was traditionally known to carry a trumpet.

The ancient meander pattern would be recognized by most people, included as another classic timeless pattern found all over the world. For some it symbolizes eternity and endless flow.

The wheels here appear to be Michael's ophanim wheels, that would have eyes around the rims.

The hourglass is to remind us that time is running out. Memento mori - "Remember that you die." It is a major theme in both series.

Right up high, just before we lose the rest of the vest inside the overcoat, we get a glimpse of a large diamond-shaped icon. I wonder if this is another stylized set of angel wings, like we saw in the Job minisode on Aziraphale's golden collar.

To finish off the outfit, he is wearing dark gray trousers with sneakers! I'm sure that's so he could keep sneaking up on Aziraphale in the shop, haha. His shirt seems a little too large for him and the tie is knotted too high and is not settled along his centerline. It's all at odds with his previous neat and sharp appearance as Supreme Archangel Gabriel.

I'd like to say a big thank you to @aduckwithears for helping me with information on the vest and finding the creator's other social media sites. You can see their two posts about it here and here.

[copperbadge]

Custom Wax Stamps

banesidhe

Would you be willing to share the source for custom stamps? I also do these and have had a hard time finding stamps with what I want on them

Oh sure! I hope it's okay that I pulled this out into its own post, I didn't want to spam the OP on the other. Apologies in advance if you know any of what I'm about to say, I'm just going to infodump and I want to make sure I don't miss anything. I will say that the process was smooth and pretty painless for me, much more so than I expected.

As preface, if you haven't been to the Craspire website, they have acres of stamps for very cheap, and I think the vast majority of sellers on Amazon/Ebay/Etsy actually just dropship from Craspire. If you're looking for variety, I'd definitely look there. (If you have, again, apologies, it just took me a while to find it and I spent more than I should have on a couple of my stamps before I started buying direct from them, so I like to make sure I mention it.)

There are a ton of shops on Etsy offering custom stamps, with wildly varying prices -- when I was doing research I saw one that was $55 for just the stamp, and another that was $30 because you couldn't buy the stamp without a starter-kit bundled in (furnace, spoon, wax). Definitely don't pay that much. I didn't get super exhaustive with my research because I couldn't really find a better price than a shop that I'd already done business with, and I knew they were reliable, so I just stuck with them. The shop is PraeyDesigns -- they have reasonable rates overall and everything I've bought from them has been good quality, so they're one of my go-tos for both stamps and wax (there's cheaper wax available but I like their selection). They offer a number of different sales pages for custom seals, so I'll link direct to this one, the one I purchased.

On that page, the third image lists the sizes they offer -- I bought the 3cm oval because I needed it "long" to accommodate the tail on my image. For reference, most larger stamps you buy prefab are 4cm rounds, most of the smaller stamps are 3cm rounds; that particular page only offers up to 3cm but PraeyDesigns does have other custom stamp pages that offer 4cm. In any case, it looks like the page just offers you the chance to pick from a variety of designs, but they do explicitly offer custom engraving from your own image; under "add your personalization" you should give the size head you want and then say, "I have an image for a design, please message and I will send it to you."

They reached out about 24 hours after I purchased, through Etsy, and asked for the image; this is what I sent them, also through Etsy's messenger function, and the result:

I'm given to understand that they generally have to retrace the image regardless of size or quality to turn it into a vector, so they can take a fairly low-res image and do a lot with it, but I tried to give them as clean a JPG as I could to work with. While the result is not absolutely identical, for an engraving smaller than a quarter it's pretty damn accurate and I think most of the minor shifts in design were for clarity's sake.

But I was pleased it really was that simple -- I bought the item, they said "Please send the design", I sent it, they confirmed they had it, and I didn't hear from them again until they sent me the shipping notification. Potentially if you don't have as clean an image they might need to talk to you about issues with the design, so I would make sure you have a very clean-line black-and-white image to send, but they seem pretty competent and they do good work.

Love to see what you get if you end up getting one! Definitely tag me. :)

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberchase Character Discussion (for your local Cyberchase trivia quiz) - #1: Inez

Since I have been archiving data from the Cyberchase section of the old pbskids.org website for the FlashPoint Archive Project lately, I thought should share some content I have dug up, particularly information that was provided on the different characters. Much of the information is no longer on the site. While much of it is available in the FlashPoint Archive Project now, and I would consider the project easy to look into and setup, not everyone will take the time to do so. #1: Inez I figure the best place to start is with her official "Meet the Cybersquad" character bio from back in the day. This was placed on the pbskids.org website way back in 2001, before the series initially started airing in 2002. This is no longer on the pbskids.org site, so I can't promise that it is still canon.

So, we start off learning that Inez is the youngest of the group, at nine years old. We never see the kids in school together, but I would not be surprised if Inez jumped forward a grade or two. The page emphasizes her curiosity. Now, would you call the parkway vs. driveway thing pedantic? For me: no comment.

The second page tells us that her favorite color is purple, her favorite food are popcorn and mangoes, and her favorite book in "By the Shores of Silver Lake", by Laura Ingalls Wilder. That is part of Wilder's autobiographical "Little House on the Prarie" series, with this particular book being published in 1939. I know its a classic that has been republished numerous times, but I do find it interesting that she went for such an old book. Her favorite music is by Mac Anthony. The page doesn't mention specific genres, and Marc Anthony has done several different genres over the years. I don't know his discography very well, but it looks like he was best known for Latin Salsa in the late 1990s and early 2000s, so that's probably her favorite music genre overall.

The third page tells us that her favorite move is "Harry Potter", as she loves Hermione Granger. Because this bio came out in 2001, only Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone would have been released as a movie at the time.

Her pet peeves are listed as heights, bad sportsmanship, and whenever Matt calls her "Nezzie". According to TVTropes, she did conquer her fear of heights by the time The Cyberchase Movie came out. She has one pet, her cat, Gatito. We do see Gatito in a few episodes of the show.

Now, there's something odd about Inez's design on the "Meet the Cybersquad" page. The star on her shirt is purple, as opposed to the yellow we got in the show. I'm not sure how this happened, as Inez had the yellow star as far back as the 1999 pilot.

This reminds me of another piece of trivia. During Season 4 Episode 2 "The Icky Factor", the kids get wetsuits for the first time, as they need to swim around Aquari-yum. They had already been to Aquari-yum twice by this point. However, they stayed in the sub the whole time during Season 1 Episode 16 "Codename Icky". Then, during Season 3 Episode 6 "The Grapes of Plath", they just wore their regular clothes with a bubble helmet to walk around the bottom of the bowl.

Look at their wetsuits. Matt gets plain blue wetsuit, Jackie gets a plain yellow wetsuit, and Digit gets a plain orange wetsuit. Inez gets a green wetsuit with a yellow star on the front and a purple vest. I like this detail. It's about as close to matching her color scheme as they could get without making the top half of the wetsuit pink, which would have just been weird. Maybe a full pink wetsuit would have been a little better? I don't know. If they did that, she would be missing out on the green from her shorts

Anyway, the next piece to look at is this page from Cyberchase: How It All Started: Webisode 3. This was an official prequel web comic that come out before the show started airing, so its a little off. I promise that this is the original image without any edits.

https://web.archive.org/web/20080610025304/http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/webisode_3/7.html

They got her skin-tone and hair color very wrong, as they showed her as white with red hair. The lenses on her glasses aren't as opaque. They did get the yellow star right this time, but I would consider her skin tone to be far more important. I would love to hear the story of how this mix-up happened. You know what? I'll add my attempt at fixing their mistake below, based on skin, hair, and glasses colors picked from "Meet the Cybersquad". I don't have much GIMP experience, but I think I did a pretty good job.

Anyway, the main reason I brought this image up was that she is noted as being a computer whiz who loves to go on the Internet. As far as I remember, she never uses her computer skills in the show, probably because they played it so fast and loose with the terminology.

So, that first image only showed her from the waist-up, but we do get a shot of her riding her bike to the library to meet her new friends and start the first episode. They did it again.

https://web.archive.org/web/20080607121655/http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/webisode_3/8.html

I honestly wouldn't care if it was just the shirt, vest, or shorts being the wrong color. Alright, I have added a color-corrected version below.

The second page gives us "Oh no, this is not good at all!" That is the prototype for her iconic phrase: "This is not good! This is not good at all!".

Did you know that on her way to the library, Inez road her bike all over town to run other errands? She went to Betty's House, the Post Office, and the Video (VHS) store before arriving at the library just in time to make some new friends and upload her mind into the Internet.

As far as character trivia goes, Cyberchase did have official printable trading cards. Here's the one for Nezzie. I love this card. One of her favorite things is E-mail. Her other favorite things include experiments and big words, but we all knew that already. They picked a more optimistic, but less iconic, favorite line for her with, "Hey, I've got an idea!" rather than "This is not good! This is not good at all!". She is great at basketball, which may be surprising to some, given her height. We'll come back to that. She is also great at reading, standing up for herself, and singing. We do get to hear her sing "Brahm's Lullaby" in Spanish for Chewcrocca's baby during Season 3 Episode 1 "EcoHaven CSE".

I can think of two pieces of official Cyberchase media related to Basketball. There was Season 6 Episode 7 "Jimaya Jam", which had a sport of the same name, except it took away dribbling. However, Inez was actually separated from the group at the time, with Creech taking over her role during the Jimaya Jam game. Presumably, Inez was just too powerful.

The second piece is from the singular Cyberchae chapter book, "The Search for the Power Orb". The story actually starts with Inez playing basketball against Matt. She is frustrated that he is able to block her shots due to his clear height advantage, and his teasing about her height doesn't help. Towards the end of the story, they retrieve the titular Power Orb, which is roughly the size of a basketball. It needs to go back into its basket to save Cybersite Serentia from complete deletion. Inez is able to use her short stature to run between The Hacker's legs, get a boost from Izzy, and slam dunk the Power Orb.

What else? I found this early concept art on the Cyberchase wiki. It seems like the biggest change was the style for her boots.

There is also this write-up from a "Who's Who" document. I don't know whether this was always available to the public, or if this was an internal document when they were developing and pitching the show. It doesn't add too much information to what I already posted, but it does state their intent to make her a tomboy, and it talks about her tendency to giggle, give inspirational quotes and stand on her head.

I figure no Inez compilation is complete without her standing on her head at some point. Here she is in Season 2 Episode 12 "The Guilty Party" flinging herself out of a handstand, twisting around, and landing on her feet.

[anincompletelist]

twenty questions for fic writers

thanks to @cricketnationrise @happiness-of-the-pursuit @kiwiana-writes

@ninzied @captainjunglegym for the tags friends! it's been a while since I've last done one of these so I figured I would participate again! xx

+

how many works do you have on ao3?

56! (technically 60 though… 😏🤫)

what's your total ao3 word count?

1,248,687

what fandoms do you write for?

RWRB (currently) [ 1D and teen wolf (past) ]

top five fics by kudos:

but if you could see us from a distance you'd know I've always been so close to you - the og sex curse one shot

Something Borrowed, Something Blue - enemies to lovers at june's wedding

I'll bet it all on me and you, I'll bet it all you're bulletproof - coworkers trivia fluff

praying our bridges don't make waves - soulmates with a twist

kiss me like you've got nowhere to be - roommates to lovers fluff

do you respond to comments?

nowhere near as much as I'd like to! my capacity for social interaction lately has been... lacking, to the say the least ksjhdkshd BUT I SEE AND READ THEM ALL AND I HOLD THEM SO CLOSE <3333

what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

ooh I can't usually do angsty endings so I'm carving my own loophole here -- the first two fics in the sex curse series are definitely my most angsty endings before they work their shit out in the third skjdhsjkhd

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

most of mine do, but I'd say that overall the most fluffy ones are in the firstprince first kisses series!

do you get hate on fics?

I most definitely did in my old fandom but people have been generally very kind and supportive to me here so far! :')

do you write smut?

yes!

craziest crossover:

my george x firstprince hurt/comfort is very special to me <3

(but I also have a Jeff from bottoms x Shane from minx au in the docs so ksjhdhfjh that too)

have you ever had a fic stolen?

I hope not!

have you ever had a fic translated?

not in this fandom! but I have had some lovely folks record some podfics of my works! (here and here!)

have you ever co-written a fic before?

not for rwrb! (yet???? ksjhdkjhfkjh)

all time favorite ship?

I gotta go with fp! they got me like that niall horan ear crawling gif fr I'll never be the same

what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

oh gosh I'm not sure. I HOPE I finish them all but I also have an obscene amount so ksjhdksjdhf not crossing anything off yet!

what are your writing strengths?

I think dialogue? it's always the part of my fics that I write first, and then I build the rest of the story around it. I hope it's a solid foundation!

what are your writing weaknesses?

there's a fine line between explaining and over-explaining and I think sometimes I fall into the second category skjdhkjhf. I love some introspection as much as the next guy but I'm working on only including details that feel most pertinent to the story.

thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I love it! I think it can be so special and can be another way to connect readers with the characters and the story. I took Spanish all four years of high school so I'm a little rusty now, and studied French for a while a few years ago and just picked it back up recently! my translations aren't always perfect but luckily I've had some very kind people to check or point these things out for me :)

first fandom you wrote in?

..... hollywood heights sjkhdjkhgdfh

favorite fic you've written?

oh no. I am so bad at perceiving myself ksjhdjkdjfhg. I think each of my fics definitely served a purpose for me while writing them, but lately I've found myself returning to these three (I'm breaking the rules yes sorry):

Something Borrowed, Something Blue

there were pages turned with the bridges burned (everything you lose is a step you take) - diabetic!Alex

treading water in the deep, just waiting for the tides to meet -(soulmates)

but also there's a wip I'm working now which..... might take first place when I post skjdhkjsdh WE'LL SEE!

+

PLEASE PLEASE CONSIDER THIS OPEN TAG IF YOU'D LIKE TO DO IT! with all of the tumblr nonsense and how behind I've been on here lately I'm all over the place with tags at the moment.

other tags (no pressure!): @firenati0n @nocoastposts @wordsofhoneydew @thedramasummer

@heysweetheart-writes @stellarm @suseagull04 @bigassbowlingballhead

@eusuntgratie @magicandarchery @read-and-write- @iboatedhere

@anchoredarchangel @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @alasse9 @itsmaybitheway

@getmehighonmagic @rmd-writes @sparklepocalypse

xx

[wrestler-smash-or-pass]

Weekly Wrapup 4/14/24 (late)

This Week's Rankings:

Willow Nightingale - 89.6% smash

Katsuyori Shibata - 86.1%

Dan the Dad - 77.6%

Edge (Brood Era) - 72.2%

Subculture (Dani Luna, Flash Morgan Webster, & Mark Andrews) - 66.2%

Jake Something - 61.7%

Spectral Envoy (UltraMantis Black, Hallowicked, & Frightmare) - 54.4%

Kyle Fletcher - 53.8%

Billie Starkz - 51.1%

Alex Kane - 41.6%

Brooks Jensen - 41.2%

Summer Rae - 36.8%

Naomichi Marufuji - 35.4%

Demolition (Ax & Smash) - 21.5%

Average smash rating this week: 56.4%

More stats under the cut, along with my observations, commentary, and some of my favorite tags...

Most total votes this week (most enthusiasm)

Willow Nightingale - 443 votes

Edge (Brood Era) - 406

Kyle Fletcher - 344

Katsuyori Shibata - 332

Billie Starkz - 231

And least total votes this week (least enthusiasm)

Alex Kane - 137 votes

Subculture - 151

Demolition & Naomichi Marufuji & Spectral Envoy - 158

The closest poll was Billie Starkz, who won 118-113

Top Ten Overall

Kris Statlander - 91% smash

Athena - 90.2% smash

Hikaru Shida - 89.7% smash

Willow Nightingale - 89.6% smash

Utami Hayashishita - 88.9% smash

Minoru Suzuki (Young Variant) - 88.7% smash

Swerve Strickland - 88.3% smash

Toni Storm - 88.1% smash

Hiroshi Tanahashi - 87.7% smash

Rhea Ripley (Papi Era) - 87.4% smash

Top Five Men

Minoru Suzuki (Young Variant) - 88.7% smash

Swerve Strickland - 88.3% smash

Hiroshi Tanahashi - 87.7% smash

Hangman Adam Page - 86.4% smash

Katsuyori Shibata - 86.1% smash

Bottom Five Women

Nia Jax - 28.7% smash

Summer Rae - 36.8% smash

Michelle McCool - 46.2% smash

Eve Torres - 47.1% smash

Carmella - 47.8% smash

A little bit of movement in the rankings! Willow Nightingale takes the No. 4 spot overall and on the women's rankings, Katsuyori Shibata is No. 5 on the men's list, and Summer Rae is the No. 2 least smashable woman. Willow Nightingale also got more votes than any other woman so far.

I thought we'd done a poll on Aussie Open as a tag team, but I would appear to be wrong. Still we have individual polls for Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis, and the results are:

Mark Davis - 57.5% smash

Kyle Fletcher - 53.8% smash

I've been having a tough time posting polls and the weekly writeup recently because an update last week has made Tumblr's desktop site very slow and at times non-functional, and I am too much of a Millennial to do all this on my phone. I appreciate everyone's patience with me until they fix it (if they ever do!).

And now for some of my favorite tags and comments

@heelhausen on Kyle Fletcher: #maybe if I smash hard enough it’ll pull him out of the don callis vortex

@daphne-minor on Kyle Fletcher: #he once had a gimic where his wrestling name was a whistle and he can’t whistle#his hair is atrocious on purpose#he’s so horny with his tag partner and his big ass#skye blue can’t be wrong

@discow1tch on Kyle Fletcher: #had to think about this a bit#smash but preferably as Aussie Open's third and afterwards Davis and I sit him down to talk with him about where he's getting his hair done#because honestly his terrible haircuts had me almost pick pass even though I've seen him irl and know he's hot

@rcedge on Brood-Era Edge: #Don't even play man id be well i'd. well id umm well i'd well the thing is i'd. i would.#Iw ould be. I would b i would let him. I would uhh you know well you know how it is with vampires .

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 54 - Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

I’ve been meaning to read some of Kingfisher’s work for a long while now, but I can’t say I knew a thing about this book when I started it. Or, well, I know it had been nominated for a Hugo, which is the entire reason I grabbed it, but otherwise! Extremely charming book overall, even if let down a bit by some tonal inconsistency at the beginning. But then, I’m kind of a sucker fr the whole faerie tale fantasy aesthetic when it’s done well, and this delivered it in spades.

The story follows Marra, third-born princess of a small coastal kingdom, in her quest to kill the evil prince who married and murdered one of her sisters and is waiting to do the same for her other only until she gives her a son. This involves recruiting the aid of a clever and powerful Dust Wife, a necromancer living among the dead of a necropolis, and walking with her across the land to the prince’s city, recruiting the requisite band of quirky friends and allies along the way. There is a fairy godmother’s blessing/curse, and a dramatic christening, and a visit to a goblin market, and ann adorable skeleton dog named Bonedog. Intercut with the present timeline is Marra’s backstory, dolled out in small chunks through the first half or so of the book.

Tone-wise I’d probably call this, I don’t know, whimsical? Fairy Tale fantasy is probably the best way to put it – Marra’s home is literally named the Coastal Kingdom, and the prince’s is the Northern Kingdom. Humour abounds, though in general it’s more endearing than, like, actually funny. Fairy godmothers and their blessings play a loadbearing role in the plot. Despite the subject matter, it’s all a fun and fairly light read – magic is (despite all the corpses) more wondrous than terrible, the heroine’s fortunes basically follow a straight upward curve from page one onwards, aside from the prince himself there’s not too much of the way of actual evil around, the action scenes are more fun adventure setpieces that traumatic bloodbaths, and in the end cleverness and making friends carries the day and gets the princess her happy ending (which, to be fair, does include ceasing to be a princess).

All that said, my absolute favourite two scenes in the book both suffer from the fact that, as wonderfully evocative as they are, they both seem like they were lifted out of a different and rather stranger book and into this one. One, a detour to a Goblin Market, only slightly, and I adore well done and properly fae and alien goblin market settings so much that reading it made me want to go find a Changeling campaign I could join. The other though, is the opening scene of the whole book – starting in media res as Marra quite literally tears her hands apart picking through a pit of bones to find what she needs to assemble a complete skeleton of a dog with enchanted wire, open wounds growing more infected by the minute as she tries to complete an impossible task before the cannibal spirits who haunt the blistered land she hides within find and feast upon her.

Then she leaves, and never suffers another actually dangerous injury again, and the witch who gave her these impossible tasks tasks is in open mouthed shock she actually did it and just agrees to help her and it’s time for a roadtrip. The whole narrative takes a sharp turn towards whimsy, is what I mean. Not a bad thing, but took some real adjustment.

Otherwise – look, I know that most people enjoy romance subplots in their books. Consider it a value ad. I do not understand that at all. The romance in this book was just a total nothing, felt like it existed entirely out of obligation. Like, inoffensive? But it was tangential and minor enough not to really matter, but still took up enough wordcount hitting all the mandatory beats that I started to resent it.

Also, the protagonist is theoretically thirty, but also carefully written to be sheltered and unworldly/inexperienced enough that if you made her the standard issue 20 y/o fantasy protagonist basically nothing about her would change. Which just, like, why?

Anyway, fun read! Nothing to set the world on fire, but I did enjoy it, and will make a point of digging up some of Kingfisher’s other stuff in the future probably.

[bimboothefool]

Hello! Firstly, I'd like to give thanks for getting me back into FNF. A good friend shared that wip Yourself/Silly Billy x reader comic you're working over Discord, and it intrigued me enough to look into it. Not only did I end up returning to the FNF fandom but also got a very big brainrot on Yourself/Silly Billy. Thanks for that.

Also speaking of that wip comic, I absolutely LOVE how it's coming along so far!

That first page is just so sweet, and honestly even more so now that I know more about Yourself there. Poor guy is clearly so happy and relieved to be reunited with a loved one there, even though said loved one (in this case Reader) isn't the same version he knows.

Then freaking Boyfriend calls out and that bit we get to see of Yourself's reaction regarding that- I couldn't help but let out a little laugh. It feels almost like he got caught up in the moment there and only just came back to reality there when BF called out there.

Speaking of BF, it's a good thing he showed up when he did. Not that I'm worried about what would happen to Reader with Yourself there, but man I can't help but feel he saved Reader from a more shocking reveal there. Better that it happens right now than later on am I right lmao.

And speaking of the reveal there, I LOOOOVE how you have done the reveal with Yourself on the second page. Poor Reader just very fearfully glancing down to the BF in their arms and god- I love that panel with Yourself there but god damn does it give me the chills. Like, in a good way here if that makes any sense.

THAT BIT YOU SHARED ON THE THIRD PAGE THO ASJKASJK GOD I ABSOLUTELY ADORE IT SO MUCH. It's just a small thing, yes, but that panel with Yourself holding Reader there- god it makes me feel so many emotions there. The fact that he's an alternate Boyfriend? God. I just feel myself getting a little misty-eyed here.

I do feel a little bad for Reader though. While we know that Yourself has no malice intentions for them and simply just want to be with them again, Reader DOESN'T know that. As far as Reader is aware, they encountered what appears to be some sort of doppelganger of Boyfriend, and for whatever reason he seems to be really interested in them.

Can't wait to see their reaction when they learn who Yourself is there. Hopefully it'll involve giving the poor guy some much comfort there cuz seriously he has been through a lot. 😭

Anyhow, this is getting long enough as it is so I shall end this with another thank you and wishing you luck on the rest of that comic and your other works! Also hope we'll be seeing more Yourself/Silly Billy x Reader and Boyfriend x Reader content in the future too! :D

You’re welcome I’m happy you’re back into the fnf fandom and have brainrot because of my silly comic wip!!

Awww thanks Anon, I’m really happy you like the comic so far!! I’m reworking the comic’s ending, given originally there was gonna be a Boyfriend & Yourself/Silly Billy Ending (separate). But after really thinking about it, I thought a single ending is better and overall I think you and anyone reading the comic deserve a better ending!

Your analysis is really interesting and it was such a joy to read!! As of now I’m reworking some bits and pieces of the comic so that the new ending can feel seamless. I won’t spoil the comic ending as that would be well spoilers. lololol

You’re welcome Anon and thank you so so so much for the message!! :D It was very heartwarming to read and yes I’m hoping I can deliver some more Boyfriend x Reader & Yourself/Silly Billy x Reader content!! People like you are such a good driving force and help me move forward with making my content!! Much love and hope you’re having an amazing day!!🩷💕

[exocynraku]

thoughts on a starless clan so far

i don't know if anything i said here has any definitive spoilers in it but i'll put it all under a cut for safety

short answer: it's ok. frostpaw's plot & the stuff with riverclan, riverstar & the COTP, splashtail & curlfeather are all REALLY COOL. I liked sunbeam in the beginning and have grown to dislike where her story has gone. I like the concepts surrounding nightheart's plot but dislike the execution & the reaction from the community. I am still excited for star. long answer:

frostpaw and splashtail's plot is really really good and ive been enjoying it a lot (probably because it reminds me of tpb). i liked sunbeam's plot with blazefire and lightleap and berryheart in the beginning but have gotten bored of her & her plot since nightheart showed up in her life & she moved to thunderclan. nightheart's plot has good concepts behind it but i don't like the execution & i don't like the 2 cross clan relationship plot in a row. i think it could've been better if they focused less on cross clan relationships and more on clan prejudice & xenophobia & the corruptness of the code system as a whole (though i know it's incredibly unlikely the writers would do that i still want To Hope) instead of just the romance part since we did that last arc (though i don't think it really got us anywhere as i personally dislike the 'trials' thing that was developed & don't think it's particularly useful). especially because it was specifically a cross CLAN relationship in a row. i'd be a bit more lenient if it was a clancat x kittypet/loner relationship as that hasn't been done in a bit (like if nightheart fell in love with a COTP cat or something). 

i like the pacing per-book but i think the pacing overall could be improved upon as it feels both sunbeam and nightheart's plots have been too separate from & slow compared to frostpaw's plot and haven't really been meshing well in the later books as the erins try to tie them all together. i also don't know if this is just my bad memory but i dislike the change of sunbeam and nightheart's personalities over time. they both feel like they are becoming cardboard cut out main characters to me. i liked sunbeam's relationship with lightleap blazefire & her family and thought it all was really realistic and especially in the lightleap/blazefire department was a surprising change of pace. i dislike what has become of both her plot and her personality as i feel they totally abandoned the lightleap/blazefire plot and turned her into a flat love interest. i do think it makes sense for her as a character to yearn for love but i think it'd make even MORE sense if she had a much more complicated relationship with love

i'm not going to speak further on nightheart because i know no matter what i say someone WILL be telling me to kill myself in one way or another so i'll keep in brief: no matter what you think of him, you at Need To Acknowledge & Be Conscious Of The Fact That Very Bad Things Have Been Said About & To Both Women And Disabled People Because Of His Plot In This Community. yes some very good & well-thought out conversations have been said in response, yes the majority of these things were said months and months ago when asc first was starting, But That Does Not Mean You Can Ignore That They Happened. If you want the community you are apart of to not be perceived as jackasses you cannot Ignore The Hatred Towards Women And Disabled People That Festers Inside Of It. you don't need to write a 9000 page essay about it, that's not what i'm asking, you just need to be CONCIOUS of it okay that's it. also while thinking about this i thought of how i'd rewrite sunbeam and the third pov (which i'd give to sparkpelt) so if anyone wants to hear about that send me an ask i'll make another 4 paragraph post about it

[maleyanderecafe]

Don't Look (Visual Novel)

Created by: CrypticFingers

Genre: Horror

This game actually does have a kickstarter now, and the premise is very sinister. It might include polyamory in the future considering how the kidnapper's mind works. The demo itself is mostly dependent on the voice acting, which I think works very well. There is now character designs for at least two of the characters you meet, though there will be a total of three when the game comes out. You can get more information on it here on @dontlookvn if you are interested.

Don't Look starts out with the MC blindfolded and brought to the basement by a person named Zach. The MC has the option to be nice or mean and depending on the answer, will allow Zach to either treat them better or worse. Zach nicknames the MC "little moth", giving them some mac and cheese to eat and giving them time to settle in with the others. Its here where we meet Chester, another person that Zach has kidnapped. Chester talks about what Zach is like: how he's kidnapping people to figure out who will be their best partner, how disobedient people get punished or killed and how Zach will treat his captors the way he gets treated, with either respect if the MC is kind or disrespect if the MC is cruel.

During Day 2, Zach comes back to feed, hydrate and give blankets to his captors. After the meeting, the MC can go and search around the place, finding pipes to possible break their blindfold, arsenic that's hidden inside of the cabinet and talking (or cuddling) with Chester.

If the MC is nice to Zach, he will be nice in return, praising the MC and giving them things that they need. Being nice to Chester will allow the two to get closer and even kiss and gain a code. If the MC is cruel to Zach, he will strangle the MC and refuse to give them a blanket, and there is an option to attemptively break the blindfold, however, this leads to the MC being impaled in the eye.

While the game is still in it's demo state, I do think that it does a good job with the aspect of horror and uncertainty through the fact that we don't actually get to see the characters, but only hear them. (I mean, you can see what they look like on the game's home page, but not in the game itself). The concept of having someone kidnap a bunch of people to find out which one (or ones) will be their partner is pretty interesting, and it gives a good sense of what it feels like to be kidnapped in a unfamiliar situation and what you have to do to survive (or gain the good wishes of your captor). I really do like the concept of not being able to see any of the characters since it gives them an air of mystery and uncertainty, plus it's something I haven't really seen done before. Zach as a yandere seems to be conditional on the people who he chooses, though it is clear that he's not killing them for fun but rather to pick off who he thinks isn't a possible suitor. In this case, it probably would be possible to see Zach marry a bunch of different suitors, thus leading to possible polyamorous endings (assuming we are allowed to keep everyone else alive). There might also be an option to band up and get rid of him, which would be a interesting route as well.

Chester is very cute, but it does make me a bit suspicious of him. It's possible that he's the type to cry wolf if the MC attempts to hurt him or otherwise escapes (similar from Ren in the first BTD game, if you know what I'm talking about). We also aren't sure we can fully trust him either, since it's possible that Chester and Zach might be kahoots with each other or even possibly that Chester is the actual big bad of this game. There does also seem to be a third character that we have yet to see, but it's hard to tell what his personality is like since we know very little about him. Hopefully, Chester continues to be lovable and will attempt to help us out, but it's hard to know without still having some suspicion on him.

Overall, I think the game has a very interesting premise and concept so far and it did fairly well on it's kickstarter. I am curious to see how the game will go and what kind of horror type concepts it will implore.

[zoeysdamn]

There shall be night - Part.11 Morpheus x priestess! reader

[Part.10]

On the outside, the building didn’t look too shady, (Y/N) thought. A regular hotel, maybe a bit old-fashioned on the edge but overall pretty much classic. But the dark aura emanating from it didn’t fool the priestess. She knew something was off inside, although not knowing what yet. Squaring her shoulders she gathered all of her courage and stepped inside. 

The lavish decorum didn’t ease her discomfort, but the panel displaying the words “Cereal convention” certainly did make her frown. Feeling the familiar dark pull of the Corinthian’s presence, she started to make her way curiously to the conference room's rooms direction, when a large hand stopped her by shooting in front of her face. 

“Sorry ma’am, this is a private event you need to be invited” 

(Y/N) shoot a look at the large man with droopy eyes – and a cat-eared black cap? 

“Ah, sorry I’m actually looking for someone here–”

The man’s eyes squinted, clearly not believing her the slightest and the priestess sighed internally, scolding herself for not having elaborated a better excuse. But then, his eyes slightly lit up and he snapped his fingers. 

“Oh, you must be the third person our guest of honour was waiting for! It must’ve clicked sooner, with the white hair and all. Hang on, I have your name tag somewhere–”

(Y/N) looked at him perplexedly while the strange man ruffled through a box full of badges. She was expected? Maybe the Corinthian had been hoping for her to come, after all.   

“Here you go ma’am” said the reception guy handing her a badge, pulling her out of her thoughts. She glanced at the name tag and her throat tightened a bit. It had “The mother” written on it. 

“Everything okay?” asked the man suspiciously – Funland, said his own badge. 

“Yeah, yeah” she answered while putting on a casual expression. “It just always does something to see it written, you know?”

Funland chuckled “It sure does. I must say,” he added with a somewhat admirative tone “It is a true honour to meet his mentor. I mean, come on you’ve been so secretive no one knows about your work, we’re all eager to hear what stories you have to tell!”

She offered him a small smile “A true professional knows how to manage their skills and mystery”, she said playing the game. 

He nodded “Amen to that. You’ll find the main meeting room at the end of the corridor”

“Thank you” she said with a nod before passing by the reception desk. But then she stopped and turned back to the man with the look of admiration. “Oh by the way…he hadn’t mentioned to me who the other guests were, he invited me last minute when he learned I was near the convention. Did they arrive already?”

“Sure did” affirmed the man, flipping some pages of his list to search for the names, “The ‘Vortex’ and her brother. I believe he’s off looking for them at the moment”. 

(Y/N)’s eyes widened slightly but she kept a neutral facade. 

“Lovely. Thank you”

She turned on her heels and strode to the corridor. Corinthian had been way quicker than she had expected, she had to move fast.  

Following her confession to the Lord of Dreams and telling him about the nightmare’s whereabouts, the Endless had informed her of what he had learned on the vortex – Rose Walker. The young woman was searching for her younger brother, and at the same time growing in power more and more each passing day. From what he has told her, Rose had even managed to push him out of her own dream – something (Y/N) wasn't aware of being possible. It became even less evident that this issue had to be taken care of quickly. The priestess only hoped that no harm would be done to the young woman, if possible. Rose Walker had never asked to be a dream vortex after all.

Wandering through the corridors the priestess felt less and less at ease in this strange place. Every person in this "cereal convention" emanated something dark and definitely not reassuring. Ducking her head to avoid any eye contact she walked faster. She had convinced Morpheus to let her go at the Corinthian's localisation herself; not to confront the rogue nightmare, but to ensure that Rose Walker was safe. It had appeared to both of them that Corinthian would draw the vortex to him, and given Morpheus' last encounter with her, (Y/N) had suggested that she should go instead of him. After all, she had always been a comforting presence, surely the young and lost vortex would be glad to have some support. But the Dream Lord had made her promise that she wouldn't interfere with the Corinthian; according to him, it would be too risky, especially after their encounter in her dream. (Y/N) had agreed to this decision, although she felt guilty for not disclosing to him the extent of her dream. Maybe when all of this would be behind them, she would tell him about her vision. But now was not the time.

Suddenly, she felt a strong pull on her mind, like something was poking it. Twisting her head in the direction where she felt the pull, she saw a sign indicating the kitchen. Not wasting a second, she made her way to it. As she approached the double doors, she heard several voices inside the room; three, maybe four people?

Peeking through the round window of the door as she opened it, she saw indeed four people in the dimly blue-lighted room. Three of them were surrounding a trembling man, and his fear was palpable through the doors. The figure back turned to her though, was unmistakable. 

“Corinthian?...” she breathed out in an already shaky voice. 

All of the faces turned to her, three of them with a mix of surprise and frowns, the last one with a delighted smile. But the look on the nightmare’s face made the priestess stop dead in her tracks. Something terribly sick dripped from his delighted expression, she didn’t recognize him anymore. Or maybe he had always been like this and she just came to the realisation. 

“Great another witness” groaned the woman, pulling the priestess out of her shocked stare. “More work to do”

Her blade plunged into the trembling man’s neck with such nonchalance and speed that ‘Y/N) heard herself gasp a second later. Before anyone could add anything - or register that the woman had simply murdered someone in cold blood in front of her in (Y/N)’s case - the Corinthian raised a hand at the two killers. 

“Easy now” he said in a suave yet firm voice “She’s my mother and she will have all the respect she deserves, mmh?” 

Although pleasant, his tone left no place for negotiations. A beat passed, heavy with suspicious gazes, before the small bald man with glasses and the brunette woman eased themselves a little. 

“Of course” said the little man with a tint of politeness “Forgive us for our manners, it is an honour to meet you, ma’am” 

(Y/N) said nothing, simply struggling the hardest to ignore the bleeding man kneeling on the floor. She had seen countless atrocities in her life, but nothing made it easier to watch. But right now, she had to play smart; if the Corinthian stopped to back her up, she wasn’t sure if she could handle two killers - maybe three. While her lack of reaction made the two killers shrug and return to their previous task, the nightmare’s eyes were fixed on her. 

The sound of stabbing and the poor man’s cries made her shudder. 

“What have you done?” she whispered to him. 

His pleased face and shrugging shoulders send her a wave of nausea. Suddenly the sound of closing doors resonated behind her and (Y/N) wiped her head. Her eyes met the frame of a small boy, whose gaze was flickering from the nightmare to the bleeding man back and forth, eyes growing at the horrible realisation. She turned back to Corinthian, face veiled with worry. 

“No,” she pleaded. “Don’t”

The sound of the boy bolting away made her react in reflex; (Y/N) ran behind him as she heard the nightmare’s voice say “This one’s mine”. 

She bolted through the corridor, running as fast as she could to try to get to the young boy. Whoever he was, he was certainly not supposed to be here. Bursting in the entrance hall, the priestess twisted her neck in all directions in hope to see the child in the crowd. The panic didn’t stop rising in her chest as he was nowhere to be seen. 

“Excuse me, I’m looking for my- um my nephew” she asked the front desk lady “8 years old, striped shirt?”

“Oh– yeah, he was here a minute ago” answered the woman “He went upstairs with a friend of his I believe”

(Y/N) barely muttered a thank you before rushing to the elevator, punching the buttons like it would go any faster. In the elevator she fidgeted nervously. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go at all. She was supposed to meet the Corinthian before the vortex came to him, to try to keep him as far as she could from Rose Walker. But this distressed little boy changed things. 

Voices shouting came to her ears just before the elevator’s doors opened. Bolting in the corridor, she came just in time to see the little boy hugging an older girl - probably his sister. The strange aura emanating from her made (Y/N) stop in her tracks for a second. This felt strange - familiar too - somehow distorted; then she understood, and her eyes widened. This was Rose Walker, the vortex. 

An enraged cry pulled her out of her thoughts as the bulky man - that she honestly didn’t notice - forcefully grabbed the boy’s arm. That definitely made her snap back to reality as both of the children struggled against the man’s hold. 

“Hey!!” she shouted while running to them “Let him go!” 

The three heads turned to her, and the boy used the distraction to punch his elbow in the man’s belly, making him bend in pain. Using the distraction, the child ducked down and stumbled over his sister who took him protectively in her arms. 

“He’s my friend” seethed the man between his teeth “He’s with me!”

The man - Funland, she recalled - tried to grab the boy again, but he had underestimated the speed of the priestess that stood now before him. The smallest amount of surprise draped over his face as he looked up to her, only to catch a glimpse of a punch falling over him. (Y/N)’s knuckles collided against his nose with all the strength she could put in it. The massive man stumbled backwards, holding his bruised face, and she used this second of distraction to turn to the children. 

“Run!!” she ordered them forcefully. 

They didn’t need to be asked twice and Rose grabbed her little brother’s hand before bolting through the corridor. (Y/N) glanced back at Funland, who struggled to regain his composure. Clutching her throbbing hand against her chest she rushed behind the frightened children. Hearing her footsteps behind them, Rose Walker peeked over her shoulder to meet the equally worried face of (Y/N). 

“Keep running!” shouted the priestess. “Don’t stop!”

She could hear the loud stomps of Funland’s running but didn’t turn around and quicken her pace. She had to get the two children out of this hellish place, and fast. Her hopes flattered when they reached a closed door at the very end of the infernal corridor. Rose and her brother thumped and wailed against the dead end when (Y/N) finally joined them. 

“What do we do now?” asked Rose with horror in her eyes. 

(Y/N) couldn’t answer her, as the boy’s face turned into dread, staring at something behind her. The priestess flipped around, facing a panting and scarier than ever Funland. Standing in front of the children protectively, she beckoned the two of them behind her, standing tall. 

“You hurt me” panted the manic man in a dark tone, “No I’ll have to kill you”

Rose’s brother let out a small whimper and ducked in her sister’s arms while (Y/N) braced herself for the impact. If it was to be her last action, she would protect these children, vortex or not. And she would face her demise eyes wide open. Funland’s arm rose halfway, but a loud thud interrupted him. The man made a gurgling sound before slowly falling to his knees, then face on the floor. Dead. 

(Y/N)’s eyes followed his movements, frozen in place. Then, her gaze made its way back upwards, lingering on the knife on his back, the deep crimson puddle spreading from it, and the creme pants, to the familiar nightmare’s face. Eyes wide and mouth open she stared wordlessly at the Corinthian’s face. She barely even registered the horrified gasps from behind her. 

The blonde nightmare bent down, extracted his knife from the dead body’s back and provided a tissue to meticulously wipe it clean. 

“You okay here?” he asked casually. 

(Y/N) couldn’t respond, too stunned to form any word. Her lack of response didn’t stop Corinthian from ducking his head to the side and gazing at the terrified young ones behind her. 

“Come with me” he beckoned them – with a surprising reassuring tone “You’re safe with me”

Rose and his brother hesitated for a second; then, they slowly stumbled from behind the priestess, skirting around the corpse bleeding on the ground like the plague and carefully following the blonde man. 

Without knowing if it was out of reflexe or the lingering effect of the shock, (Y/N) followed them silently. 

The short trip to the Corinthian’s hotel room was foggy in (Y/N)’s mind. Her body was on automatic mode, just following the group. She could vaguely hear Rose and her brother’s - Jed, from what she gets - questions to the nightmare. 

“You’re safe with me” he repeated as the four of them got inside the room, the door closed. 

“You just killed a man,” retorted Jed. 

The priestess leaned on a wall, hand still throbbing with the punch she threw earlier at the killer. She had almost forgotten how much it hurt to punch someone in the face. 

“I just saved your life” fired back the Corinthian with his usual nonchalance. “And I’m trying to save yours” he added, looking at Rose. 

This made the priestess look up at them, and Rose frowned. 

“From whom?” she asked. 

“From Morpheus” 

(Y/N) immediately stood up and took a step in their direction. The gesture didn’t go unnoticed by any of them, and the nightmare shot her a brief but snarky glance. Daring her. 

“Who’s Morpheus?” asked Jed in a perplexed voice. 

She internally sighed at the sweet boy’s ignorance. It was going to be a difficult time. Feeling the tension thickening in the air, Rose kindly asked her brother to give them a minute. Pouting slightly but obeying, Jed made his way to the bed to sit on it and wait. As he passed in front of her and tentatively looked up in her direction, (Y/N) offered him a kind smile. At least, it made him slightly more at ease. 

She then reported her attention to the two other people in the room, as the Corinthian casually sat down with ease, under Rose’s inquiring gaze. 

“You’re one of the missing nightmares” she realised, still staring at him. 

He chuckled with delight “And you’re the vortex”

The young woman seemed slightly taken aback from this knowledge about her. Apparently, she didn’t expect anyone beside her and the Dream Lord to know of this status. Then she whipped her head toward the woman standing in the room not far from them, witnessing the whole exchange. 

“And you, who are you?” she asked suspiciously. 

“My name’s (Y/N)” she answered in a kind voice, yet tainted with worry and tiredness “I’m sorry I haven’t introduced myself sooner, Rose”

“You know my name?” asked the young woman with a deepening frown. 

“That,” said the Corinthian with an unconcealed delight “is the priestess of Morpheus” 

Rose’s gaze immediately hardened and she took a step away from (Y/N). That made the priestess whine internally, and her heart squeezed a little more. The look of betrayal and hurt on the young woman’s face was like a punch in the gut. 

“You’re working for him?” she said in disbelief. 

“Rose no, I’m–”

“Oh, she’s also his companion” added the nightmare. 

For the first time, (Y/N) felt a little guilty of this status. Because it wouldn’t help her to convince Rose Walker that she meant her no harm. The deepening of her frown confirmed that. 

“Has he sent you to watch me?” she asked with suspicion. 

“No” urged the priestess in a soothing tone “I didn’t expected to find you here so soon, to be honest”

“But you protected us from this man out there” continued Rose, still perplexed “Why?”

(Y/N) offered her a small smile “I couldn’t let him hurt your brother”

That made the vortex break a brief smile as a silent thanks. 

“You think he’s watching you so he can protect you?” 

The nightmare’s voice made both women turn in his direction. 

“He’s watching you because the minute you fall asleep and start bringing the walls down between people’s dreams, he’s gonna kill you” 

Rose let out a small gasp, and turned her head to (Y/N) in search of confirmation. The way the priestess duck her head down simply made it worse. 

“Is it true?” she asked her, but (Y/N) remained silent. 

“You’d become the center of the Dreaming” continued the Corinthian, “Should he fail to kill you. He’d be powerless and I would be free”

“Is it true?” she repeated, still looking at the ashamed priestess. 

(Y/N) shook her head “I could be a menace to his power too, yet he hadn’t harmed me in any way” 

The nightmare huffed in irony. 

“Is that so?” 

The priestess glared at him. 

“You’re not innocent about this either, Corinthian” she reminded him harshly, and his eyes darkened a little.

A knock on the door interrupted them, startling her and the young vortex a little. Without a word, the Corinthian rose up and stepped outside in the corridor to handle the unexpected visitor. Silence took place in the room between the two women. Rose seemed to be thinking hard about everything that had just been disclosed. 

“Will he really try to hurt me?” she finally asked. 

(Y/N) remained silent for a few seconds before answering.

“I don’t know” she whispered “You being a vortex is a threat to the Dreaming, Rose. If there’s a pacific way to handle it, he’ll do it but…”

“But?” pressed the woman with an anxious voice.

“I don’t know if there is a pacific way” admitted (Y/N), finally looking up to Rose. “I truly don’t”

The young vortex hung her head low at the realisation, and a heavy silence took place again. (Y/N) felt so sorry, and so helpless for this girl. She wanted to do something to help her, but even with her newfound dubious powers, she doubted she could do anything. 

The Corinthian entered again in the room, then said,

“I’ll be downstairs for like an hour. Will you wait for me?” he asked Rose. 

She pondered his proposition for a moment, then “No. I’m taking Jed, we’re going home” 

The priestess inhaled a sharp breath, fearing the nightmare reaction during the long seconds of silence following. But against her better judgement, he only shrugged. 

“Okay” he said with a nod “You can go if you want; but obviously it’s not safe for you to be wandering around the hotel. And,” he added, eyeing the priestess closely “I could tell you that as soon as you leave the hotel Dream’s raven will find you, but it looks like we’re halfway here…”

“I am not here to track Rose on his behalf” snapped (Y/N). 

“Are you not?” he mused “I don’t think you’re actually here for me, or you learnt nothing from our last encounter, mother” 

The priestess squinted her eyes at him, like she was trying to warn him to not push it too far, as Rose’s eyes widened and flickered between the two of them. 

“I’ll tell you what,” said the nightmare in a relaxed tone to the vortex “This is your room, you can have both keys”

He stood up and dropped a magnetic card on a table. 

“I’ll come back in an hour, I’ll knock. If you want, you can let me in. But if not, I’ll go away”

Rose seemed still wary of him, but she had to give it to him, he was being pretty convincing. 

“Lock the door when I leave, because you never know”

His sided glance to the priestess didn’t escape the concerned woman. It made her heart bleed a little more. As he turned away from the vortex and made his way to the door, (Y/N) grabbed his arm. 

“I’m not playing games anymore, Corinthian” she whispered through gritted teeths “You shouldn’t have used those children in your personal grudge, this is unfair”

“You’re pretending to be better than me, yet you’re going to let him kill her, mmh?” he mused back “How amusing of you, mother”

Her grip tightened around his forearm “I’m trying to help you” she reminded him “Maybe you don’t want my help, but you do need it”

“What for?” he asked with a snare “To die by his hands? No thanks, I’d rather took the matter my way, but you’re free to stay and watch” 

Letting go of his arm in defeat, (Y/N) sighed deeply as he exited the room. She pressed both of her palms on her tired face. Coming here, she knew that there was no more hope for her to save the nightmare, yet she had tried to convince him again. And failed. 

“You’re his mother? Like…really?”

The voice of Rose Walker made her sigh again, and she slowly let her hands down, turning her exhausted face toward the young vortex. 

“In a way, yes” answered the priestess with a tired voice “I’m not literally his mother, but…that’s how he sees me” 

Rose seemed to think hard about it, trying to organise her thoughts. 

“Is he…will he keep his word? About Jed and me?”

“I…yeah. Yeah I think so” said (Y/N) after a brief moment of hesitation “He used you and your brother to get Morpheus’ attention for sure but I don’t think he’ll hurt you”

He doesn’t want to be like his creator, she added internally. 

“And you?” asked the vortex again “Why are you here, actually? If you’re Morpheus…girlfriend, or wife or I don’t know, aren’t you going to lead him to me?”

The priestess looked at her with sorry eyes. She understood Rose’s worry; and as a servant of the Dreaming, the logical choice was to ensure the realm’s safety and her own beforehand. She knew what a vortex’s presence could do, (Y/N) had experienced it. But she couldn’t resign herself to lead this young woman to her death. Not if she could buy Rose some time, by searching for another better solution. 

“No, sweet child” she said in a soothing tone, and coming closer to her “I came here to try to save my family, just like you. I thought that Corinthian would try to hurt you, and I believed it was my job to stop him” 

She paused, blinking away some tears. 

“But it seemed that I was wrong. He didn’t hurt you or Jed, and I certainly can’t stop him for whatever he had planned. But that doesn’t mean I have to turn my eyes from it”

“He’ll try to kill Morpheus”, understood Rose in disbelief. 

(Y/N) nodded “Or at least he’ll try to buy you enough time to consume the Dreaming. He will”

“And you’re…okay with that?” frowned Rose. 

“I’m not” she said softly “But I cannot stop you. I’ve spent centuries serving the Dreaming, and I’m certain that I cannot save it. I know, I tried. Now, it is time for me to try to save my family, just like you did” 

The priestess stopped again, her throat tightening with emotion. 

“I can’t save my son, but I’ll try everything to prevent him from killing the man I love. I’ve done enough for the Dreaming”

Rose slowly nodded, like she understood what she meant. She too had gone to extremes to save her family, her brother. (Y/N) herself was surprised by what she was saying. Centuries ago, she wouldn’t have thought about abandoning the Dreaming, would have been even for Morpheus’ love. But the dream she had about their family and the dread that had consumed her at the sight of her infant murdered had risen something new in her. A fear of loss like she had never felt before, not even when Beatrice’s health had started to decline. It was time for her to cling on to the happiness she finally had, and defend it. The Dreaming could be gone in a matter of days now; she will use this time to stand for what she had always believed in. In Morpheus. 

“So…you can’t help me, can you?” muttered Rose. 

She shook her head in a sorry manner “I can’t. If we find another way to allow you and the Dreaming to coexist, I promise you we will do it, sweet child” she assured with a gentle hand on Rose’s shoulder. “But now, my mission lies with my lover, and yours with your brother’s safety. Do you understand?” 

Rose nodded “I do. I…you don’t have much choice. And…thank you for protecting us, earlier”

(Y/N) smiled softly at her. “You’re very welcome. I swore to help dreamers in need of help, and vortex or not, you are a dreamer Rose” 

The younger woman smiled at her. Even if this priestess seemed to be on the Dream Lord’s side, she felt like she could trust her. She had no reason to lie to Rose after all, and she was being honest; she couldn’t do anything for her, and both of them were just trying to help their loved ones. Plus, the priestess was kind; Rose could use kindness these days. 

“You shouldn’t stay here” said (Y/N) after a long comfortable silence. “This place is full of dangerous people, it isn’t safe for either of you”

“Agree” answered Rose “We’ll leave soon, after we rested a little”

At his sister’s words, Jed jumped from the bed and came closer to the women. Then he hugged (Y/N) on the side without any warning, surprising them both. After the initial surprise the priestess responded to the embrace by encircling his small shoulders with her arm. 

“I like you” said Jed against her hip with a joyous voice “You’re nice”

Both her and Rose chuckled softly “Thank you Jed. You’re a gentle soul” 

The way he turned his head to her and offered him the brightest smile made her heart melt. 

“I’ll get you both to your car when you’re ready to leave” she promised, looking back at Rose. “I’ll only be at ease when you’re safe” 

“Thank you” answered Rose in a warm tone. “That means a lot to us”

The two children climbed on the bed, making themselves comfortable to try to get some sleep. Jed quickly fell into a comfortable slumber, cuddled on his side. Rose laid down too, under (Y/N)’s comforting gaze. Before closing her eyes and welcoming a much-needed sleep, she asked her, 

“What will you do after we leave this place?”

“I will find Morpheus” answered the priestess

“But won’t he be able to find me?” asked Rose with worry. 

(Y/N) could only offer a sorry smile “He will. But I will give you enough time to get Jed as far away from this sick place as possible. That’s all matters now”

Rose nodded slowly, disappointed that (Y/N) couldn’t help her on her own case. But she was also grateful that this stranger helped her with her brother’s safety. 

“Thank you (Y/N)” said Rose with a yawn “I’m glad you’re here”

“Me too Rose” whispered the priestess as the younger woman drifted to sleep “Me too”

She gently made her way out of the bedroom area to give the young one privacy on their sleep, when she felt a slight tug on her mind. Snapping her head up, she immediately recognised the feeling. Morpheus was here.

Looking back at the sleeping siblings, she pondered for a moment whether or not she should leave them alone. But she needed to see Morpheus.Grabbing one of the key cards, she pushed the door open carefully, checking the corridor to the left and right before leaving the room. She reached the elevator quietly, patiently waiting for it to arrive. As she entered, she started to feel somehow dizzy, like a distant faintness. The presence of the Dream Lord felt stronger and weaker at the same time, like a distortion of it. 

A wave of nausea started to slowly crept inside of her, that didn’t ease her worry. She feared what could ensue from Morpheus and the Corinthian’s confrontation, but something told her that it was more than that. 

The feeling of heaviness and nausea didn’t ease a bit as she stumbled to the entrance. She used her bond with the King of Dreams to feel his presence, and made her way to the main lecture room. As she came closer, she felt the energy of dozens of dreamers. She frowned and realised that they may be the cause of her uneasiness; because they weren’t asleep, yet dreaming, in creations of their own. There was something so dark about all of their dreams, it felt overwhelming and sickening to her. But as she approached the room, she could hear Morpheus’ voice. 

“You were my masterpiece”

Pushing the double doors weakly, she dragged herself into the lecture hall. Dozens of people were sitting on their chairs, eyes closed and building up their own fantasies while the King of Dreams and the rogue nightmare faced each other on the stage. Engrossed in their confrontation, they didn’t hear or see her entering the room. 

“A dark mirror made to reflect everything humanity will not confront” continued Morpheus, unaware of his lover’s presence in the very same room. 

The Corinthian, also oblivious to her presence, nodded “That’s what I am. That’s what I’ve done”

“No” said the Endless “Look at you, walking this Earth for over a century infecting others with your joy of death, but what have you given them? What have you wrought? Nothing”

(Y/N) watched with a bleeding heart the way Morpheus’ face slowly lost its mask of neutrality, to give space to pain and sadness. He too, was upset, for he had not only failed his creation, but also the dreamers. 

“Just something else for people to be afraid of” carried on the Endless, voice heavy with anger and regret “That is all” 

The priestess winced and stopped her slow walk to the stage, holding her head. Gods, the nausea was becoming so strong it made her mind dizzy. Something was definitely wrong with these dreamers. 

The sound made the two men turn in her direction, finally noticing her presence. The Endless’ face painted with surprise and concern, as she finally reached him, a few feet away from the stage. The Corinthian on the other hand, only snorted. 

“So what now?” he mused “Now that the whole family’s here, you send me back into their dreams?”

Dream’s gaze flickered to his jacket as the nightmare pulled out a knife. 

“ ‘cause I won’t go willingly”

“A knife against a dream?” retorted the King of Dreams with a sort of amused face.

“It did worked against your priestess” he teased in sick tone “So I’ll take my chances” 

(Y/N) choked on a sob and Morpheus’ gaze darkened. The priestess wasn’t even mad that he mentioned the incident; but she was way more hurt by the fact he didn’t even refer to her as his mother anymore. 

“You don’t think dreams can die? Let’s find out” asked the nightmare as his creator came closer. 

From her spot not far from the stage, (Y/N) could only stare at the exchange helplessly as dark spots started to cloud her vision. She felt her body starting to collapse under the weight of this many dreamers all at once, in such a strange setting she didn’t quite understand. But she was willing to bet that a vortex’s presence nearby had something to do with it. 

“Enough” snapped Morpheus in a sharp tone.

The Endless raised his hand and let sand flood toward his nightmare, ready to take him down. But before anything could happen, the Corinthian gripped his knife and smashed the blade through his creator’s hand. 

“NOOO!!” cried (Y/N), collapsing to her knees as she responded to her lover’s wound. It seemed that she too felt the pain of the blade entering his pale flesh. 

Morpheus dropped to his knees too, breathing heavily and clutching his bloody hand, staring at the gush in disbelief. The priestess barely heard him ask how it was possible before losing consciousness. 

She woke up a second later in a dark room, with the scent of rotten flesh assaulting her senses. Blurry at first, her vision steadied after a few seconds to disclose the sight of a man, butchering a dead body like it was a hobby. A new wave of nausea hit her but she realised that everything seemed…very far. On her left, she saw a woman, opening up a living man; on the right, an older man indulging in similar disgusting activities. But her mind seemed tuned out, like she was in cotton wool. Rose Walker bursted in the place with Jed, and although everyone was seeing her, none of them seemed to have noticed the priestess. (Y/N) realised that because of the vortex, Morpheus’ abilities must have weakened; and thus, also hers. 

She could only witness all of the scene like a distant play; the Corinthian, then Morpheus appeared, talking urgently to Rose but she couldn’t grasp any of their words. She just felt so…numb and far away from all of this. Rose Walker seemed to be thinking hard, and then suddenly, she made all of the other dreamers disappear. As she felt herself regaining consciousness and leaving this very strange dream, (Y/N) caught a glimpse of Morpheus’ comforting gaze to her. 

Taking a sharp breath, the priestess felt the weight of reality coming back to her all at once. Her nausea had left her at the same time she had escaped the dream, and the feeling of dizziness faded away gradually. Getting herself up on shaky legs, she saw the king of Dreams and Nightmares and the Corinthian standing still on the stage, probably still in the dream. She slowly approached them, climbing the few steps to reach Morpheus’ side as the both of them came back to reality too. Her gaze fell on her lover’s hand, good as new, noo traces of blood in sight. Which could only mean that Rose Walker wasn’t dreaming anymore, and that he had regained his powers. 

Contemplating his healed limb, the Endless turned his head to her when she stepped by his side. He immediately brushed his hand against her own in a silent sign of support. Meanwhile, the Corinthian slowly took off his glasses, with shaky hands and ragged breaths. 

“If you think,” he started with a trembling voice that made (Y/N)’s head snap up “that I’m going back to the Dreaming with you–”

“You’re not going back” interrupted Dream slowly.

The nightmare turned his face to him in surprise. The sight of his bare face, without glasses, displaying in toothy-eyes, didn’t make the priestess flinch the slightest. She had seen him before; but the look of vulnerability on him made her eyes wet with tears. (Y/N) wanted so badly to go at him, to hug Corinthian and tell him that everything would be alright. But she knew it wasn’t true. The King of Dreams had made his decision, and deep down she knew it was the right one. 

“I brought you into this world to serve humanity” explained the Endless, and (Y/N) knew that somewhere in his deep voice, she could sense regrets “Not to feed upon it”

“Do you know why I do it?” asked the nightmare slowly, taking him slightly aback. “So I can taste what it’s like to be human”

His confession teared off a quiet sob out of the priestess. The nightmare turned his face back to her with a softened expression for half a second.

“I’ve tried to be a good son, mother” he said softly. “You’ve been the only one that made me feel human during all those years. And I love you for that. Even if I had made mistakes, I truly do”

She tried to offer him a smile through her tears, but the emotions rocked her body and she cried harder. Her heart ached so much it hurted. 

Putting his hardened expression back on, the nightmare turned his face toward the Endless again. 

“But you, you don’t care about Humanity” he sneered “You only care about yourself, and your realm, and your rules” 

Something in the nightmare’s voice also held regrets; deception, a deep feeling of betrayal toward the Lord of Dreams. (Y/N) knew; she had felt the same for a time. 

“I contain the entire collective unconscious” argued Morpheus “Without my rules, it would consume me. It would consume her” he added, looking at his beloved priestess. 

The nightmare’s throat tightened. Even if he was right, he still didn’t want to admit that his creator had any other interests in mind than his own. He had always been selfish, and he had no right to use his mother figure against him. 

“Humanity would be consumed” he continued on.

“Or,” interrupted the Corinthian “you might actually feel something”

His sentence seemed to have punched the Dream Lord in the gut. Speechless, he let the words of his most beloved nightmare sink deep into him. Had he really been this blind and selfish? 

“That is not true” quipped the small voice of (Y/N), bringing both of their attention to her “He does not refrain himself from feeling things. He never had” she added, briefly looking at her lover with soft eyes before returning to the nightmare. “Just because you don’t agree to the rules doesn’t mean they’re useless, Corinthian. Remember what you did when you broke them, my son. Remember what you did to me” she said, tugging at her collar to show her scar. Her tone was by no means blameful; but she wanted him to admit something. To admit he did something wrong. 

The nightmare gulped slowly, and a tear escaped one of his eyes. At this moment, the priestess thought how cornered he must be feeling, for allowing himself to shed a tear in front of Morpheus. His guilt toward her had never disappeared; and knowing that she still held a scar because of him, even if she had forgiven him, was the last straw for the Corinthian.

“I’m not the problem, Dream” he mumbled in a tight and tired voice, looking back at his creator. 

The Endless nodded slowly “You’re right. This was my fault, not yours. Not any of yours” he added for (Y/N). “I had so much hope for you” he said to his creation. But I created you poorly then”

The priestess ducked her head down, knowing what the next words of Morpheus will be. 

“So I must uncreate you now” 

The nightmare’s lower lips trembled as he tried to smile. But he couldn’t hide the deep feeling of sadness and hurt. He slowly turned to the priestess, who had come closer to him. 

“Do you think the same, mom?” he whispered with a trembling voice. “Have I been created poorly to you?”

With infinite softness, she cradled his cheek with her hand  as he leaned into her touch. He felt like a small child at this instant. 

“Never” she answered in a gentle voice, stained with tears “I’ve always thought the world of you, my son. But I can’t let you fall into this darkness anymore” 

He choked on a sob “I’m sorry, mom. Not for what I’ve done to them, but for what I did to you. And to haven’t be able to protect you from him”

“I know” she assured him “And I forgave you a long time ago, my son”

Offering him a small smile, she pressed her lips to his cheek softly. Then, in an agonising slow motion, she let go of his cheek and let her hand slide slowly to his own. Grasping it tightly she couldn’t make herself let go yet. She had promised herself she’d be here until the end. 

Morpheus slowly raised his hand and sand slowly started to twirl again. The Corinthian’s skin started to disappear in red harsh burns, but he didn’t look away from the priestess’ tearful face. She watched as every bit of him turned into ashes, the menacing face strained with tears as life disappeared from his very form. She felt his hand in her own fading away slowly, and she shut her eyes trying to stop the never-ending tears. 

“I am only sorry,” she heard the nightmare one last time “I won’t be here to see Rose Walker do the same to you, Dream”

A small thud echoed his last words, resonating in her ears far too loud. Slowly opening her eyes she choked on a loud sob at the sight of the pile of grey ashes where the nightmare had stood only a moment ago. Morpheus knelt beside it and collected a small object carefully. As (Y/N) let the tears fall freely on her cheeks, the King of Dreams approached her slowly. Taking her hands with his with utmost care, he placed something in it. Opening her palms, the priestess could help but let another sob rock her frame. The small skull with teeth in its eyes laid in her hands, like cradled in a nest. 

“He deserves to be with his mother” muttered Morpheus in a tight voice. 

It took her all the strength in the world to slowly nod her head. Cradling the skull against her chest, she let herself fall against Morpheus’ shoulder in exhaustion. When his arms enveloped her in a comforting embrace, she let all of her tears be muffled in a gut-wrenching scream, without any shame or regret. 

After all, she just lost her son.

[Part.12] 

A/N: Hey, I’m not dead! Another chapter, another angst :DDD (plz kill me) There will be 2 more chapters (minimum), we’re getting close to the end! I might be actually crying because of Corinthian’s passing :’( 

Also, depression is still here but at least I have some great news! I’ve just graduated from my Master Degree in Museum studies, with the highest honours!  (I’m still unemployed tho lmao it is so hard to find a job in the very specific field I’m looking to) The thing is, I’ve finally finished my 5 years in graduate studies and it feels both relieving and scary at the same time! But I haaaave my diploooomaaaa~♫

Each liking, comments and rebloging are making my day, I love y’all so much blblbllblbHope you’re all doing okay, take care of you ♥

Taglist: @endlessdreamqueen @boofy1998 @layla2-49 @witchxlove @ londonbrandcandy@pearlstiare @andieperrie18 @mellowstatesmanhandsempath​  @emiemiemiii​​

Plz tell me if I have forgot you in the taglist

[kryptonitecore]

Reread: The Transformers (2009), #1-4

This comic really wants you to know that Spike Witwicky fucks, and I hate that.

We’ve gone from Furman to McCarthy to Mike Costa, who, as TFWiki points out, was at one point the third most prolific author in the Transformers canon, writing more than thirty issues. He would eventually be outstripped by later writers like Barber and Roberts, but I think I really underestimated just how much of IDW1 Costa actually wrote.

We have another time jump, this time to either two or three years into the future after Megatron’s defeat. I’m slightly wobbly on exactly how long it has been, since the comics themselves waver back and forth. Costa begins with his version of Optimus, who is very verbose… if in a slightly unfortunate way. No to be juvenile, but when you put together phrases like ‘reduced, in our impotence, to naked hope’ I can only assume you are doing it deliberately.

The art is similarly interesting, as Don Figueroa began to opt for Bayverse-inspred designs, which appear in several issues. I’m not a huge fan of that, though it does perhaps indicate who they are aiming this comic towards. A slight quirk in the art of the human characters, meanwhile, is that they often look kind of sleepy, with their eyes half-lidded. That, or they have a sort of resting sneer.

Characterisation with Costa is extremely variable. In some cases he picks up right where Shane McCarthy left off and builds from there, for example with Thundercracker, but with others he takes characters in a completely different direction. I think the most obvious example of this here is Prowl. In one of the first scenes, Prowl sees that Breakdown is potentially about to be captured or killed by Skywatch, Spike Witwicky’s anti-Cybertronian task force. Morally outraged, Prowl impulsively rushes in, breaking cover and disobeying orders to try and help the Decepticon, eventually getting captured for his trouble. Now, character interpretation is subjective, but this is coming after Furman’s strict Prowl, McCarthy’s embattled Prowl in All Hail Megatron, and the introduction of Nick Roche’s cynical, pragmatic version. Not only is this pretty out of character by any of those standards, it’s just kind of a confusing move - there were so many other Autobot characters who could have done something like this more believably, but it ends up being Prowl for some reason.

Ironhide is killed off very early on, so new readers probably would not have had much time to develop an attachment to him, and his backstory with Optimus was only filled out in one of the coda stories at the end of All Hail Megatron.

Speaking of Optimus… Wow, is Costa’s Optimus Prime not working for me at the moment. He’s combining a lot of verbose narration with some very high-handed actions and overall the character seems sort of clueless, vague, and oddly indifferent to the wellbeing of his own faction. I presume that Costa was interested in exploring the idea of a martyr complex and I honestly don’t mind that angle at all, but here the character seems to view himself as beholden to humans to a weird degree, even defecting to Skywatch. I know that Costa was interested in a human-focused storyline, but it’s really kind of jarring to see the character change so abruptly.

This isn’t helped by the fact that a lot of the Cybertronians in general, not even just the Autobots, come across as a bit hapless and are pretty easily captured by small teams of humans with some advanced technology, when only two or three years prior the US military was so incapable of fighting the Decepticons that other countries were preparing nuclear countermeasures. The time-skip helps make this more plausible and characters like Breakdown are presumably not in good condition, but it’s still a massive turnaround that takes place off-page. Regardless of these technological surges, Optimus is portrayed as feeling intensely guilty and somewhat pitying towards humanity, even as Skywatch begins attacking and abducting Autobots, including Prowl. And that’s a thing! Optimus seems weirdly complacent about Prowl being captured, despite the fact that Skywatch were actively trying to kill a fleeing Breakdown and, say, what the Machination did with Sunstreaker. I think perhaps Costa was so focused on developing Optimus’ relationship with the human characters that any sort of loyalty or camaraderie or concern about the second in command being kidnapped is framed as an overreaction. Certainly, Hot Rod/Rodimus is painted as impulsive and over-emotional, even as Optimus abdicates and defects, abandoning his faction in a crisis situation, because he feels really bad, you guys. The problem is that I don’t know if the irony is intentional or not.

Ironhide’s comments really don’t help in that scene, as he is written with a very condescending tone: ‘You did the right thing, Prime. Make the kid [Hot Rod] feel like he’s doing something’. Keep in mind, this is in response to Hot Rod taking a team to rescue Prowl… The apparently shocking revelation that the humans are willing to use lethal weaponry against them (despite the fact that they have killed and abducted multiple Transformers by this point?) results in Ironhide taking a shot for Hot Rod and dying. To be honest, it didn’t have a ton of impact on me, especially as it felt rather hurried. Apparently, Costa wanted to kill of Bumblebee, but Hasbro refused, so Ironhide was substituted in. Initially, I thought that Ironhide’s death was going to be used as a sort of ‘punishment’ for Hot Rod for not listening to Optimus, especially given the emphasis those panels put on the fact that Ironhide died protecting him and his reaction afterwards. However, in the following issues it didn’t seem to head in that direction at all. If anything, it helped to speed up Hot Rod’s alienation from the Autobot hierarchy. Also, a lot of characters call Hot Rod ‘kid’ in this, despite the character not being younger than them in this canon. It’s minor, but the character is written to be particularly immature here in a way I don’t think some fans would appreciate.

The strongest moments of these issues probably come in the one focused on Thundercracker, which I don’t particularly like, yet I suspect is the most competent bit of writing. Between this and ‘Heavy Lies the Head’, perhaps this is an indication that Costa fared better with character-focused issues? However, I didn’t enjoy the slower pace as much as I could have, as one of the chief complaints about the Costa run overall is that it is very decompressed, essentially not a lot happening in each issue and some arguably wasteful uses of limited panel space throughout. As a result, this feels like a slow issue among already slow issues, rather than a change of speed. 

Costa leans heavily into the change of heart for Thundercracker that McCarthy began, really developing his appreciation for humanity and Earth into something more philosophical and personal, a choice that would influence the character’s portrayal for the rest of the continuity. Nevertheless, I don’t love it, as I feel that his internal narration relies on a few too many faulty premises (the Decepticons were incapable of wiping out humanity, Transformers are a static and unchanging species, lacking in personal development, that Earth is the first time that Thundercracker has had an opportunity to appreciate beauty). Ultimately, I think that Costa turns the very internal process of Thundercracker reevaluating his life and then focuses that outwards… But it ends up going in the direction of putting humanity and the Earth at the centre of everything in a way that feels a little self-aggrandising. It feels like it flattens the Cybertronian characters (and any other alien species that are portrayed later) in favour of the human ones, I suppose.

Speaking of flattening, this is a minor bugbear, but IDW1 in this period had a bit of a fixation on ‘brothers’. Characters use the word a lot in dialogue: talking about literal brothers, members of their faction, members of their team, particular friends, and even just anyone with a similar frame type to them. I don’t like it because it’s used to so many times and in so many contexts that it starts to lack any meaning, effectively just flattening social dynamics between specific characters to very broad, boring ideas of loose alliance. Costa also makes a point of having several characters fail to understand idioms, despite the fact that it hasn’t really been a problem in previous comics, which further helps to make their speech seem formal and distant. See also: Optimus Prime’s voice.

This is also my first extended look at Spike Witwicky under a new writer and it’s not great. Thing is, I think there were ways Spike could have been a much more interesting or sympathetic character than he has ended up being so far, even keeping this general shape.  They clearly wanted a more action-hero-esque version of the character, so they aged him up, made him and his father military, had him be incredibly central to the plot and way more adversarial… Yet you also cannot tell me that Costa was not writing him to be obnoxious on purpose. I think wish fulfilment is the only explanation I can think of, that Spike was intended for certain readers to project themselves onto. Hence the insistence on the fact that Spike fucks. And drives a cool car. And is really muscular. And is in a super prestigious position with authority yet does whatever he wants, regardless of the consequences. And the frequent references to incredibly non-specific problems with his father.

Swindle does have good finger guns, though.