#element: navigation

[serpentface]

This was going to be a panel of a little comic but I got too invested in drawing minute background details so, here.

[alackofghosts]

vierapril day 15 - alternate universe

[necrocrafter]

Guys, what do you think about making Donna a Selkie for my MCD rewrite? I think it'd be kinda cool for her to be some kinda mythical sea creature.

I've seen some make her a siren or a mermaid, but for some reason, Donna just screams Selkie to me. I also think it'd be a pretty fun combo for what I have in store for her.

I mean, come on! Donna in canon is a merchant as well as a nurse. She's well traveled and well known; girl has connections. Plus, her and others being saved from her water village? There's all types of little nuggets to use!

For instance, in my rewrite, I have only a little bit written for her so far, but I think her being a Selkie on top of all of this would be cool: Give me Donna who grew up in a tiny island/water village who's an incredibly good merchant. Give me Donna who speaks seafarer, as well as being on good terms with pirates. Give me Donna who is incredibly knowledgeable about the sea, trade, routes, and incredibly well connected. Donna who learned healing because she was on cat island for so long with only her mother + 100s of cats, that having the skill was necessary. Give me a Donna who is well traveled and has a reputation, who is reliable, quick-witted, and sharp in mind. (<--- stolen from my drafts)

Anyways I just think it'd be fun. I really like Donna as a character, and I feel she'd be an incredibly big asset (especially once we get to then O'Khasis/Scaleswind vs. Phoenix Drop war).

[slowd1ving]

LAMENT OF OUROBOROS . 　⁺ MASTERLIST

"Forsaken is he who disregards the warnings of a wise man. Hark! gather round—for this is the ode of the seventh prince of Metis. Let this elegy be your lesson: a final cautionary tale of a cursed prince forgotten in even the annals of history. Hubris blinded seventh prince Veritas Ratio, and for that he paid a bitter price. Sit, bear witness to the truths spun by the Moirai—lest you too would like to partake in his tragic fate." • . * cursed prince ratio + alchemist m reader possibly my magnum opus (not just because I finally figured out how to do the gradient thing :3) rough design for minoan fashion ratio here map for key regions (very rough, done on mspaint but whatever) warnings: video game violence, death? kind of? tyranny (are we surprised), male-coded reader (or at least the in-game avatar is)

HONKAI STAR RAIL MASTERLIST

MASTERLIST ・゜・NAVIGATION

✦ I. PRINCE OF ARROGANCE, PRIDE HAS A HEAVY PRICE;

→ Where it all begins. The venerable Sophos Nous leaves the prince with eight words, and the youth decides his destiny over them.

"His fate was sealed the moment he could taste choleric resentment on his tongue, followed shortly by spite: for spite is the desire to thwart. The path he instinctually set out on—to seek knowledge about the abuses of wisdom in the palace—was one that would only end in despair. "

✦ II. COME HITHER, CURSE WHERE HE LIES.

→ Where it all ends. The prince's scheme germinates, flourishes and withers as quietly as he.

"This was the tale of the seventh prince; an elegy hidden from the footnotes of history. Within the game Lament of Ouroboros, his sorrows were summarised thusly:

A strangely warm vein of ore. 

Hero, come here when dusk kisses the edge of the Borderlands. As your palm brushes against the rock, you may be able to feel the pulse of a slumbering prince. 

Three sentences were all that was afforded to the disgraced prince, forgotten to all but the Moirai."

✦ III. OH, HOW TRAGIC IS HE;

→ You are luckier than he is. You are unluckier than he is. For though your end is painful and futile, there is no lingering in limbo for the rest of your eternity.

"It was an accident. 

“I’m sorry. Ah, shit—” Something wet splashed your cheek, followed by a fumbling hand that tried to brush it away but only succeeded in smearing the thin liquid across your face awkwardly. “Don’t— fuck, I’ll stay with you, alright?” 

Fingers wrapped around your own, flesh against bone. Pulsing life alongside a silent end. 

The last thing on your lips was an apology, in the form of a salty tear dripping from above."

✦ IV. WEEP FOR HIM, I BID OF THEE.

→ The folly of man and god alike. Sophos Nous is not above being wrong.

"Ratio had not been man for a millennium. He had not heard, not seen, not felt, not tasted, nor smelled, for a thousand years. 

It began with a faint frequency that droned in the very recesses of the stone. A buzz, or a low hum, resonated as though he could hear the very orbitals of electrons whirring in each atom. At this point, the background levels of his simulations had ceased—for this was far more important. 

For the first time in centuries, the sluggish pulse that still beat in his undead chest had quickened, just a little."

✦ V. HE IS THE MOST PITIFUL OF MEN;

→ All things must part in the end. Fear not, for we shall meet again.

"The stagnancy was broken once more. Lips pursed in displeasure, and the face shrouded by the shadows of the night disappeared back into the darkness. He who remained asleep was none the wiser—caught in the throes of surgeless rest. 

In the morning, the sculptor would stumble into the chilly studio—waking up with strangely light shoulders and an unclouded mind—only to find his magnum opus gone. Within the chalky base remained the imprints of footsteps, as though the statue had merely walked away. The cold glass skin of juice shattered against the flagstones: seeping a bleeding red into a pristine pathway.

Just like in his restless dreams, that figure left him far behind once again."

✦ VI. FOR NONE SHED TEARS FOR THE FORSAKEN.

part I part II

→ The snake bites its tail. The end is now the beginning.

"Blurry reminiscence could never compete with the primal, instinctive deduction of muscle memory. Each curve, each plane—your hands went through the motions as if you had done them a thousand times. 

And you had. Through paper, through clay, through the stone that faced the hesitant hammer and chisel. 

Who am I to you? "

✦ GLOSSARY

[kataracy]

Kataang Week 2024 DAY 1 // Cultural Sharing

“I’m nervous. Am I doing okay?”

“You’re doing amazing Sweetie.”

[mensahbots]

i like that we see hints of a sort of intuitive rapport in this scene between mensah and pin-lee! that little forearm touch especially made me go 👀👀

[dinoserious]

arc goes on a silly little trip to a dying kingdom on a finding nemo style search for its kid

[ysaefinn]

Dash aria is openly flirting with me in public

[luv-again]

having an incredible amount of fun not stating shadow and amy's relationship actually

[kokosnuss-jaguar]

Turned two of my story characters into Reploids (same as how I did with the Sonic version of them).

Not too happy with Ice though. Does it look any good?

Also X in the Tapsi Armour (Tapsi is the Robotdog of Toby). I am not good at designing Armours.. 🤷

(More info of my characters here -> https://toyhou.se/23562229.ice and https://toyhou.se/24517735.hazel )

Characters/Designs + Art (c) by me

Megaman X (c) by Capcom

[invinciblerodent]

There is something that makes me vaguely uncomfortable about reading characters who are obviously way too... emotionally competent, shall we say, in fic.

Like I can't exactly phrase it in another way, but lately I've been seeing it more often: conversations that are supposed to be between a pair of lovers, but are written in such a tone where it sounds less like they're two people who are sharing a significant or intimate moment of emotional connection, and more like one character is... giving the other therapy.

I know this is vague, and fantasizing about genuinely just helping a character you like is beyond fine, there's nothing wrong with that, but... no matter how well-written something is, there's just a certain tone some people seem prone to hitting, where it just feels like their character is not emotionally present, not really, when someone they supposedly care for is falling apart.

That therapy-speak, outside of actual therapy, it sounds detached. Cynical, or even slightly condescending. Removed from the moment. And especially in a fantasy setting (where it's easy to fall into anachronisms already), it can really easily start to feel like one character is talking the other through a potential turning point in what's supposed to be their relationship, the way a crisis negotiator might talk someone off a ledge.

It... makes me feel weird. And I too feel then immediately disconnected from the character doing it.

[luvuomi]

trying something different and doing amè’s character profile on notion instead of a google docs :3

[betterbemeta]

re @mousebrass

[context]

Sorry for the delay, I just needed some time to simmer my answer. (for frame of reference, I'm mostly referring to fallout 3 and fallout 4. not new vegas, and I don't know enough about FO76.)

When I said 'Bethesda's fallout will never say no to you', I meant in sort of a structural sense. The gameplay and the storytelling combine in Bethesda's fallout games to do nothing but affirm the player's forward motion.

They do this so well the storytelling is ONLY a function of the gameplay loop: a relay race that progresses with total blindness to what the player actually does so long as they hit the checkpoints that advance things along.

Forward motion is good, we need stories to progress and to get from one event to another, we don't want to run around in circles in a game achieving nothing. And we don't want to encounter a true dead end, or a frustrating 'sorry mario the princess is in another castle!' situation where we feel our prior actions were pointless.

BUT. Hear me out. Negativity, 'being told no', friction along the way, is important to an 'adventure' being more than just an endless gopher loop.

Lucy MacLean IS given objectives in her journey. But the narrative is not her personal facilitator; instead she can't proceed UNLESS she does these increasingly heinous uncomfortable things, okey dokey! She COULD choose not to do them, but she'd 'fail' or thinks she would. Her struggle 'drives the story' rather than styling her actions as intuitively synonymous with 'progress.'

In Bethesda Fallout games. It really doesn't matter what dialog options you choose, progress is inevitable. And blind. If you choose peaceful or guns-blazing approaches. Want to join the fascists? You won't encounter too much content that places pressure on you for doing that. Want to side with the scrappy underdogs? Done, it won't be that much of a strain on your resources. Take the evil option? Except for maybe a few NPCs that could desert you, you won't be constrained by that commitment very much.

It's 'the customer's always right', when that idiom exists basically to facilitate transactions and nothing else.

In fact, the one time in a Bethesda fallout game where meaningful pressure or negative consequences impacted you, in fallout 3, the ending was so unpopular it was retconned in a DLC. But it doesn't have to be this way; there are many times in New Vegas where you might feel conflict or constraints on your actions, a 'no' that makes what you actually choose to do feel more interesting. Like, enough times that I think anyone who's played it, could think of one (their favorite one?) right now. I don't even have to list examples, because the variety is great enough that different people can choose which one feels compelling to them.

Remember when I said we wanted to avoid scenarios where we feel futile, running around in circles, pointless, or obstructed? Well, after a while a lot of Bethesda games become that anyway even if they always take the player's side. People just... give up playing a save usually by level 30. Boundless affirmation towards forward motion, where all paths are THE path and you're the main character of reality, it sucks. it's why Lucy MacLean's wasteland experience will leave you wanting to play fallout and then sighing when you boot up the game that just got a 'remaster' and it's still mostly drudgery. When SHE hits 'quest objectives,' her world doesn't say 'yes! now go do...'

It says "oh, hell no. but you gotta... unless maybe..."

[shinmiyovvi]

The urge to make a piece of interactive information about my ocs for convenience...

[t-u-i-t-c]

Final Chapter: Tomorrow's Legends

[windor-truffle]

I love it when when the gameplay and in-game story intersect to create deepened immersion.

For example, Wallbridge is traumatic for both the characters AND the player :P