#felix rambles resulting in a long post | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

blueberry-bubbles130 · 2 months ago

Text

A Masterlist for all of my Miraculous au’s:

(Featuring a link to the master posts for any unrelated fan au’s of mine at the bottom)

Other tags I use include:

Blueberry Responds for answers to questions I’m asked

Blueberry Rambles for general rambling

Blueberry’s miraculous rambles for specifically miraculous related rambles

Blueberry’s fictional parent conquest for me rambling about any fictional parents I find and obsess over (Yes I know this is a weird and sad thing to obsess over)

Blueberry’s art for all my art (though this tag also has art from my original projects included)

Blueberry’s fanfic snippets for any snippets of my fanfics

Blueberry’s fanfics for any fanfic related things (though mainly post updates)

A Bloody Tale (Companion set 1)

Unworldly Compulsion and Consumption- (My main au)

Fanfic Link:

Chloe Bourgeois has it all. She's a hero alongside her idol Ladybug, she's becoming a better person and the class is friendlier with her. And most important of all to her, her parents are actually trying to be better parents; taking interest in what she actually wants to do with her life.

Then all of a sudden her entire life crumbles arounds her after a horrific accident at the hands of a beast leaves her as an undead vampiric creature with the power of compulsion. Chloe retreats to a castle of a tyrant long gone to live in, and desperately cling to what true signs of life she has left. However as time goes on, a hunger begins to take over Chloe, resulting in her mental health and immense power spiralling out of control.

Vowing to help Chloe with her situation and maintain her sanity, are her brothers Felix and Adrien. Her girlfriend Kagami. and her friends Pollen, Bunnyx, Sabrina, Luka, Alix, and Lila. By getting her out to galas, plays and operas. With Bunnyx taking her to multiple points in history to help her still indludge in her passion for history. Even if it results in the occasional problem, like accidentally leaving her in the reign of the tyrannical Darkblade.

All the while, Hawkmoth, secret societies, cults, corrupt politicians and other villains alike are desperate to get their hands on the power of compulsion via any means they deem necessary. Even if it results in putting people Chloe cares about in danger.

Has multiple references to the War of the Roses/Tudors, fashion I like and different bits of media. I also refer to this au as the vampiric Chloe au, so if you’re confused when looking through my work, it’s just this au. This au does handle dark subject matter such as murder, torture, kidnapping etc.

You are here to Slay Her-

Fanfic Link:

A Slay the Princess au of my Unworldly Compulsion and Consumption au. Think of it as a sort of bad ending, but not truly a bad ending.

Unbeknownst to all, Chloe has seemingly disappeared. Deciding that she is losing too much control, Chloe returns to the kingdom that once tried to execute her. Unable to execute her, they decide to imprison her. After finding out the truth, Kagami vows to venture out and bring back Chloe.

Hawkmoth finally also figuring that Chloe is the girl that keeps ruining all his akumas, he decides to akumatise Kagami to convince her to slay Chloe once and for all. Thus begins the cycle, with Chloe and Kagami unable to slay each other. With the Kwami taking on the role of the voices.

Featuring Kagami as the Long Quiet. Chloe as the Princess. Hawkmoth as the narrator. Pollen as the Voice of the Hero. Soren as the voice of the skeptic. Nooroo as the voice of the broken and Paranoid. Plagg as the voice of the opportunist. Trixx as the voice of the Contrarian. Tikki as the voice of the stubborn. Duusu as the voice of the cheated. Wayzz as the voice of the hunted.

An All Consuming Cruelty-

Fanfic Link:

A companion fanfiction to Unworldly Compulsion and Consumption, due to the vampiric Chloe’s. As well as other themes such as portraits as symbols for power. Though under different circumstances.

Chloe finds the miraculous of a kwamii long forgotten by time. However it is not one that can be called kind. Instead it is the kwamii of consumption and cruelty, Lancel. The gemstones it was tethered to were cut and placed into different pieces of jewellery, as a protective measure. However at some point a careless decision was made resulting in all pieces of jewellery being put together in the same box.

Upon finally being freed, Lancrel takes the chance to gain the power it once held, by possessing Chloe. Once it has done so, it takes the chance to consume all in its path. Even if it means consuming the flesh of akumas, sentimonsters and humans.

After being alerted by Audrey’s change from being horrible and loud, to terrified and quiet. It is up to Ladybug, Chat Noir, Hawkmoth and Mayura to stop Lancel. Though with the clock ticking and time against them, will they be able to do it and save Chloe?

Such Noble Sacrifices (Companion set 2)

Such a Noble Sacrifice, You Say?- (my second main au)

Fanfic Link:

Sacrifice.

Chloe may be only 15, but she understands that word very well by now.

Her parents are her leading example of course. Both have devoted themselves to their work and sacrificed a lot to do so. Valuable minutes of their lives. Their social skills and relationships, as well as their health. Especially after being involved in a car crash when she was younger. Leaving them with multiple health issues, becoming even more reclusive as a result. They may try to hide it, but Chloe knows neither of them have been happy for a long time.

After the akumas begin and she is no longer able to use the bee miraculous, Chloe has had enough, so seeks out alternative methods of protecting those she cares for. Coming across a kwamii that offers her the power of Sacrifice and Devotion. Thus Chloe devotes herself to trying to help the heroes and those she loves. Gaining her the title of “The Princess”. Though things begin to get dangerous very quickly.

After all, sacrifice and devotion can quickly turn to sycophantic zealotry if left unchecked for too long.

Inspired by Over the Garden Wall and Slay the Princess.

Such a Noble Sacrifice, I Say-

Fanfic Link:

Chloe Bourgeois is convinced that something went horribly wrong at some point, leading to her parents being replaced by creatures she can’t understand.

Determined to prove herself right, she teams up with Alya and Nino to figure out not just what happened with her parents. But the identities of the elusive Hawkmoth and Mayura. Of course, with other people being dragged into the mystery along the way.

Though this type of sycophantic zealotry Chloe displays doesn’t go unnoticed for long and a certain something decides that maybe it’s time to fulfill the legacy its ancestor started all those years ago.

Inspired by Slay the Princess, Over the Garden Wall and @bigfatbreak’s Feralnette au. Also with more Darkblade.

Raised by Kwamii (Companion set 3)

Hellfire and Ash-

Fanfic Link:

After almost killing Audrey and Andre, Gabriel burns down their house to destroy any evidence. Nooroo takes baby Chloe to the kwamii realm where she is raised by them with miniscule human interactions. At the age of 12, she's finally allowed to go to Francois Dupont, where she meets her first human friends. From there she makes friends and tries to find her parents.

Was somehow inspired by Columbo.

Serial Experiments Chloe-

Fanfic Link:

No longer content to sit on the sidelines watching humanity fight with the miraculous, the kwamii decide to conduct an experiment to see the effects of pure magic on a human. Said human being Chloe Bourgeois.

10 years later, via Duusu and Fluff’s help, Chloe is able to return to her timeline and explore Earth. Making friends along the way.

Orchids and Memories-

Fanfic Link:

After Miracle Queen, Chloe becomes the next in a long line of heirs to a set of toxic evil kwamii who are constantly trying to make her a tyrant to take over France. When Pollen returns to her and adopts her, Chloe runs away as to not deal with her crumbling life.

Eight years later, at 22 years old after immense bad luck Chloe is dragged back to Paris under the vigilante persona of Orchidae. From here she attempts to come to terms with some of the things that have happened to her. All while trying to resist the desire to become the very tyrant the kwamii's want of her.

Technically this au does fit into this companion set because Chloe was raised by Pollen from the age of 14 onwards.

The Old Antique Store-

Fanfic Link:

Eleven years prior to her thirteenth birthday, a believed to be accident, results in two year old Chloe Bourgeois disappearing under mysterious circumstances. Leaving no evidence whatsoever and her parents unable to remember what happened.

Then those eleven years later, a small antique shop opens. Said shop is owned by the mysterious Richard Sphinx, accompanied by his ward. Said ward is a girl of thirteen, her eyes an icy blue and her hair a golden blonde. Upon stumbling into the shop, one autumn evening, Adrien recognises said girl. From there he is determined to find out the truth of what happened all those years ago.

After all, some secrets aren’t so secret. And some people know much more then they’re willing to admit.

Heavily inspired by Stephen King’s, Needful Things and Salem’s Lot.

Assorted Miraculous au’s (Companion set 4)

(This is every other miraculous au I’ve created that doesn’t have a companion set of its own or is not a part of the Chloe Bourgeois Isekai Anthology)

A Cursed Princess and a Cursed Knight-

Fanfic Link:

Over the years the great and old Kwamii have become embroiled in a conflict of their own. With Pollen and Plagg blessing two children with their powers to maintain some influence after being declared dangerous by their fellow gods.

A conflict that has bled into a human conflict reaching a boiling point after Gabriel Agreste, Duke of Burgundy, usurps the French throne from King Andre Bourgeois and his wife Queen Audrey Bourgeois. A goal he accomplished after receiving a blessing from the kwamii, Nooroo.

This leaves Princess Chloe Annabelle Bourgeois to explore a land she doesn’t understand, with her mysterious friend, the Cursed Knight, to find the kwamii and get an explanation for this mess. As well as take back the throne with the new friends she makes along the journey.

All the Flowers that grow in Spring-

Fanfic Link:

Chloe Bourgeois.

It’s a name you never really hear now. The girl has become something of myth; having long since locked herself away, from the rest of society, in her family’s small manor home. A person may only see through glimpses at the windows.

A quite odd thing, considering the rest of the staff are still alive, having the left the home. Only the girls’ parents are……not around, so to speak. With Gabriel Agreste having taken over as mayor for a few years now. Not that he knows what caused the problems in the first place.

It’s only after Kagami Tsurugi, on the whim of a dare, becomes the first person to finally enter the Bourgeois estate after so many years. There she meets the mythical Chloe Bourgeois herself, and gets to know her.

With all the magical events going on and Chloe swearing that she feels that she’s been watched for years now, Kagami decides to investigate and get to the bottom of things.

Never the Matter, I’ll get it right….Next time-

Fanfic Link:

Time is a delicate thing.

You make one little decision and it all goes to shit. Bunnyx learned that the hard way with Chat Blanc. Yet she can’t seem to keep herself to observe from a far. Instead involving herself to “course correct” timelines to match her own, sending in the heroes when it goes wrong. This leaves other timelines to be destroyed or stopped from ever happening.

When one Chloe from a destroyed timeline, left to rot, gets her hands on the rabbit miraculous in her timeline, she is determined to restore it. Or at least get her missing parents back. No matter what it means.

Unfortunately, this not only results in a mentally unwell Chloe running around trying to get her parents back. But an even more dangerous Hawkmoth and Mayura emerging from the same timeline to reclaim the rabbit miraculous and get their hands on the ladybug and cat miraculous.

And as always Bunnyx sends the heroes in to fix it all.

I can trust you with this. Can’t I?-

Fanfic Link:

After the city of Paris begins to suffer from magical beastly attacks and Gabriel Agreste is suddenly appointed as the new mayor. Felix Graham de Vanily requests the assistance of Kagami Tsurugi to retrieve the only heir to the Bourgeois family; Chloe Bourgeois. Explaining that he is worried for her safety. To which Kagami reluctantly agrees, after being promised a worthy reward.

However even after completing the arduous task of retrieving Chloe from the tower, from which she has resided, the fight isn’t exactly over. As a seemingly vicious beast has been observing the tower for the last few years, scaring away anyone who tries to get near.

With the mysterious Hawkmoth and Mayura lurking at every turn and the beast dead set on keeping its eye on Chloe. It’s up to Kagami to help Chloe, so that they can get to the miraculous heroes and stop this mess entirely.

An au heavily inspired by the Bioshock games. Without most of the philosophical/political elements. I can’t quite understand the philosophical/political elements of the games yet.

The Tale of a Magical Girl, Mage-

Fanfic Link:

After the events of Heroes day, Chloe is informed by Ladybug and Chat Noir that she will no longer be allowed to wield the bee miraculous.

However upon opening an ancient tome, she comes into contact with the being only known as Null. To which he tells her there’s more magic than just miraculous and Kwamii. And well, Chloe wants to know it all; become the person she wants to be and escape from her mother’s shadow.

So with Null’s guidance, Chloe sets forth to learn magic unknown and become a mage. Although it’s not easy, as the magic she now yearns for is not only a lot different from the miraculous, but highly dangerous as well.

Features a magic system heavily inspired by Skyrim. With elements of Bloodborne, Dark Souls, magical girl shows and Youjo Senki.

Keep telling yourself It’s just a Uncanny Nightmare-

Fanfic Link:

At some point after the miraculous heroes show up in Paris, Chloe Bourgeois begins to have odd dreams where she’s lost. Lost in a landscape beyond normal comprehension. Not that she could tell you how. Lost where, you ask?

The realm of the Kwamii.

Unlike Paris, the kwamii realm is a much more mysterious place. Areas shifting at random, for no real reason. Hard boundaries between forests and volcanic rock with pools of lava. Caves and creeks in the middle of concrete shop floors. It’s all wrong in some way, yet it’s also highly dangerous.

But most dangerous of all, other Kwamii. Kwamii even unknown to Master Fu. Kwamii that have been engaged in fighting with the main eight Kwamii for thousands of years. Nearly all of which pose massive threats to Little Chloe Bourgeois.

Hopefully the miraculous heroes and the main Kwamii will be able to find her before Hawkmoth, Mayura and the other Kwamii do.

Featuring every single Kwamii oc I have created across all my prior au’s. And even more original kwamii.

Inspired by Transformation by Knockoff_Rudolph on ao3. By extension inspired by Little Nightmares. And Jan Švankmajer’s 1988 movie “Something from Alice” also called “Alice”

The Girl in the House-

Fanfic Link:

Instead of Gabriel Agreste being Hawkmoth, it is Audrey Bourgeois wielding both the butterfly and peacock miraculous. Her goal is to get the Ladybug and Cat miraculous in order to relieve her husband of his illness and prevent future members of her family from suffering from it.

Chloe Bourgeois slowly retreats from her bitchy queen bee persona, as her father becomes more ill and her mother becomes more consumed by her work. Leading her to baking and gardening to work through her emotions. This intrigues Kagami Tsuguri, who is determined to learn the reason as to why she's changed.

Such Fickle Things-

Fanfic Link:

My first true rewrite of Miraculous.

Gabriel Agreste, using the butterfly miraculous, takes on the persona of Dague Noire, a mysterious unseen criminal to get the ladybug and cat miraculous.

After numerous unsuccesful attempts, Chloe Bourgeois reveals her identity enabling him to get ahold of the bee miraculous. Now with a new plan, he blackmails Chloe into working with him, while holding her parents lives over her head.

With the help of her close friends, Adrien, Sabrina and a new family member in Pollen, Chloe is able to double cross Dague Noire and help the heroes in the hopes of stopping him.

How Chloe came to hate the Miraculous-

Fanfic Link:

After the events of Season five, Chloe runs away. Only to end up in an alternate timeline.

Said alternate timeline is more akin to a hellhole than anything else. Left to rot with an even worse Hawkmoth and Mayura. As well as egotistical heroes with only Rena Rouge and Carapace holding things together. Chloe decides she hates the miraculous, stealing Pollen and intending to take the rest.

Though things don’t quite go to plan as Chloe starts to pity the timeline after finding out it has been used as a dumping ground by Bunnyx to get rid of problems. So she reluctantly forms an alliance with Rena and Carapace to beat some sense into everyone else. All while discovering neither her or Zoe exist in this timeline.

Heavily inspired by I Hate Fairyland and @generalluxun’s Chloe Goes back in Time au.

Oh Please. It should be fine!-

Fanfic Link:

After Miracle Queen, Chloe’s parents decide to abandon her at a public school in the North East of England. The only people who still care for her being Pollen, Felix and Adrien.

Pollen is having none of it however, deciding that Chloe will be the Bee miraculous holder regardless of what anyone else thinks. To help Chloe become the bee miraculous holder, Pollen gets Tikki, Plagg, Nooroo and Duusu together to create sentimonster versions of Chloe’s parents.

Now Chloe has moved back to Paris with her new parents and Pollen. And upon seeing her again, Adrien is determined to become Chloe’s friend once again.

Behold a Pale Horse! And its Riders Name was Death!-

Fanfic Link:

Taking place just after season two, Chloe Bourgeois accidentally comes across a full box of miraculous. Said kwamii of the miraculous are not happy with a child getting the box, and regretfully inform her that she is to be the new herald of their powers and usher in a new era. Chloe then fumbles through her life and her newfound responsibitlies, with most of the class and the miraculous heroes helping her to keep together her growing web of lies.

This includes her and most of her class collectively trying to raise her new baby brother. Keeping up with her grades, being a hero. with her and Felix stupidly taking over her father's job as mayor. all while collecting a few more miraculous along the way.

Inspired by the ideas of the four horsemen of the apocalypse and the 10 aspects of death from Bleech. (I’ve never seen Bleech) As well as inspiration from Youjo Senki, also called The Saga of Tanya the Evil.

Vampire Parents au-

Fanfic Link:

After some investigation, Chloe discovers that her parents are actually vampires. And as only natural Chloe has no idea of what to do with this information.

Though regardless of what does happen, when Chloe friends find out they do try convince Audrey and Andre to eat Hawkmoth and Mayura.

Phantom Chloe-

Fanfic Link:

In an effort to see the effects of a broken miraculous mixed with a working miraculous and an akuma, Gabriel blackmails Chloe into working with him during Miracle Queen. To which it blows up in her face, figureatively and literally. Having injured Chloe and leaving her with a even more broken version of the peacock miraculous's power, she runs away with Pollen. Felix finds Chloe and they strike a deal in which Felix will inform of her of events happening in Paris and she provides him with power to find out Hawkmoth's identity.

Miraculous Fairytales (Companion set 5)

(Simply a set of au’s putting miraculous characters into fairytales)

Little Chloe Riding Hood-

Fanfic Link:

Little Chloe Riding Hood, sets to town to go and collect some things for her mother. However while making the journey there and back, a wolf plans to eat her.

The Chloe Bourgeois Isekai Anthology (Companion set 6)

(This series of au’s include actual isekai au’s. But also crossover fics in general that are Chloe-Centric)

Chloe’s Tales of Fencing, Jousting and Ballet-

Fanfic Link:

A crossover with Barbie 12 Dancing Princesses and Barbie Princess and the Pauper. In Pollen's efforts to give Chloe a proper life, she and Bunnyx sends her to those two Barbie movies. She becomes a very talented fencer, jouster and ballet dancer.

Has multiple references to Wars of the Roses and the Tudors.

Let’s study Despair!-

Fanfic Link:

Word can travel fast when weird things happen.

When news of Hawkmoth and Mayura spreads to Japan, the newly founded Future Foundation (composed of former students of Hope's Peak Academy to further study talent and hope) are rather intrigued by the oddity. So they seek to find information about the miraculous.

In an attempt to gain any information possible, Junko Enoshima, Super High School Level Fashionista (also Super High School Level Analyst) offers to go to Paris with her sister Mukuro Ikusaba, Super High School Level Soldier.

After all, it shouldn’t be too hard considering they have the perfect cover in going to stay with their distant relatives; the Bourgeois family. As long as no one finds out they have some ulterior motives, they can just treat it like holiday. Right?

I’m not the Dragonborn, and I’m okay with that-

Fanfic Link:

Chloe Bourgeois, daughter of the mayor, wielder of the bee miraculous……companion to the Dragonborn?

Through a complete accident, Chloe ends up in Skyrim. A while after the attack on Helgen, in which Chloe is injured, she ends up as the companion to the Dragonborn. Through this experience she learns that not all power is good, but can’t seem to escape such problems caused by power.

A Young Hunter-

Fanfic Link:

Gabriel Agreste conducts an experiment to see if there’s something that could give him more power than a miraculous to achieve his goals.

His experiment, you ask?

Why, he abandons baby Chloe in the world of Yharnam, to see if she can survive or not. It’s not like her parents will miss their own baby, right? Either way, he watches from the shadows every year or so, to see that his experiment is continuing to be successful.

At least it was going successfully, until Ladybug and Chat Noir get there. Then all hell breaks loose.

Greetings Travellers, you must be weary-

Fanfic Link:

After being in the wrong place at the wrong time, young Chloe Bourgeois is abandoned in the world of Dark Souls by Gabriel Agreste.

Years later, Gabriel barely escapes to Dark Souls, after a fight with the heroes. Now the heroes must wander through the land to find him. Taking Chloe, now named Seraphina, with them for any help they can get. All the while Chat Noir struggles to tell Chloe who she really is.

The Facts in the Case of M. Bourgeois-

Fanfic Link:

A written version of the final segment from Tales of Terror (1962) but with Miraculous characters.

Surviving in the Wastelands-

Fanfic Link:

After Hawkmoth comes to a realisation that Chloe may overpower him during Miracle Queen, he dumps her into a timeline in which no miraculous exist. Said Timeline is the game Fallout 3 and then Fallout New Vegas. Chloe must learn to survive while people in Paris are incredibly confused as to how she suddenly disappeared.

A Lantern to Behold-

Fanfic Link:

After the events of season 5, Audrey takes Chloe to America with her. Determined to clean up what she has deemed as Chloe “sabotaging the family name”

Chloe eventually runs away ending up in a location only described as The Unknown. Unfortunately The Beast deep in the woods stirs at the taste of Chloe’s overwhelming despair and seeks to gain the power it once held.

A crossover with Over the Garden Wall.

A Tale of Despair and Buttons-

Fanfic Link:

After running away, Chloe and Adrien encounter the Other Mother.

Other au’s

(This is a link to a masterpost of au’s that are not related to miraculous)

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #miraculous au #ml au #miraculous fanworks #miraculous fandom #miraculous fanfic #ml fanfic #miraculous fanfiction #ml fanfiction #blueberry’s fics #blueberry’s art #masterlist #masterpost #The Chloe Bourgeois Isekai Anthology #Chloe Bourgeois Isekai Anthology #Blueberry’s fanfics #blueberry responds

17 notes · View notes

collegetennisoriginstory · 11 months ago

Note

Rayyan to me is a Double Lion. They have a Lion Primary- they listen to their intuition, have a clear sense of right and wrong and their Cause is becoming a professional tennis player. They’re the type of Lion Primary who is adamant about their Cause and as a fellow Lion Primary that’s kind of sexy of them to me. They’re also a Lion Secondary-they are themself and hate to lie, they charge and take things head on.

Tobin on the other hand screams Badger Primary- they care about the community of Cargill and it’s also shown through how they handle Felix. Badger Primaries have a fascinating thing known as “dehumanising” they simply do not view that person as a person anymore (usually when a Badger’s close one hurts them they deal with that by cutting them off, while a Snake Primary wouldn’t struggle with that unless they’re part of their inner circle. Think of it like cutting off a limb and cauterising it to stop the bleeding.) Tobin cares about everyone not just their close ones and that’s shown through their actions. They are a Snake Secondary- adaptive and fluid, improvising when they need to. Their playing style was described as “fluid” and that solidified it for me.

G seems to be an immature Snake Primary- hedonistic, live in the moment, still trying to find their people, while also being burnt- somehow they are hurt and have burned as a result (they take of themself first and foremost) they however are a Bird Secondary- drawing upon prior knowledge and using their tools in situations.

Sam is a Snake Primary whose Important Person is MC and that melts my heart. They care about MC & Robin and their family. They take to Cargill- not because they’re community but because they’re MC’speople- and have a Badger Secondary of hard work and drawing upon the community for help. Amusingly enough Snake Badger’s are known as the Love Interest sorting which explains why so many people love them.

I hope you liked my theories and sorry for rambling haha😅

OK I don't know if you guys know but I LOVE personality theory in all shapes and forms, so literally when I got this ask I showed it to my gf and she immediately snorted and said I met my soulmate. So, thank you for that.

Long post below.

For folks who are wondering what the hell we're on about, here's a link to the sortinghatchats Tumblr page. Just so we get things out of the way: I absolutely detest J.K. Rowling and her TERF bullshit. Don't Stan for that, and that explains the use of lion/badger/snake/bird.

Anyway, agreed with Rayyan being lion primary—I was struggling with figuring out whether or not they seemed more snake primary or lion primary (because I also do see them protecting their crew to the ends of the earth e.g. their family, their cat, MC if they eventually make their way there...) but I do think that it ultimately makes more sense that they're people who wouldn't sacrifice their ideals/what they think is right.

As for Rayyan being lion secondary, that part is irrefutable. Like what you said:

they charge and take things head on

I think your Tobin typing is spot on, so I won't go into too much there except this:

Tobin cares about everyone not just their close ones and that’s shown through their actions.

and

adaptive and fluid, improvising when they need to. Their playing style was described as “fluid”

are absolutely right. I think Badger-snake combinations really explain Tobin's ability to mov through life with the ease and looseness/ quiet confidence and warmth/kindheartedness that Tobin embodies.

For G, I actually read them more as bird primary than bird secondary, mostly because I think ultimately, G's more concerned with coming up with a framework/system through which they understand the world / life / make decisions, but they're constantly adjusting / adding to that system or framework. Contradictions make them want to tinker and probe, and they're most at ease when things make sense.

I could see bird primary with either snake secondary for G (they wear many different skins) or bird secondary.

For Sam, I think you hit the nail on the head with

Sam is a Snake Primary whose Important Person is MC

and

Badger Secondary of hard work and drawing upon the community for help.

Absolutely adorable. I think that combination might be so popular for love-interests because it's probably the most endearing ride-or-die bestie combination to exist.

#ct:os #college tennis: origin story #if #interactive fiction #asks #sortinghatchats #sortinghat test #rayyan #sam #tobin #g #types #personality

41 notes · View notes

chaptersonetoinfinity · 6 months ago

Note

For the ask game, how about 2, 6, 12, 15, 23, 27, 31, 33 and 47? Sorry that it's a lot of numbers^^'

Fanfic Couples*/Relationships Ask Game

HELLO VIL! :D

NEVER BE SORRY about asking a lot of numbers because I will go on (and on and on) and I’ll be very pleased about it all. And well, since Scarlet Cross is my first Black Clover series, I might be pulling some answers from my past fics for Sense8 and The Magicians.

But don’t worry, you don’t need to know those to enjoy the sheer chaos of my answers. And I’ll put most of this post under a cut line for those who prefers to scroll through the Sas ramble!

(Sas from the future is coming back here to say: thanks for the ask! This was so fun!)

2 Of the ones you've written, what's your slowest slowburn? How slow is it?

My slowest of slowburns will have to be my very first fic, Veracity, for the Sense8 fandom. It was a 330k behemoth of a fic, during which one couple met in chapter 1, and had a kiss in chapter 38 (a one-sided one, where the Dani gave Felix a kiss at the airport and then winked and said “byeeeee” and left him questioning his life), and finally had a fully-reciprocated, legit kiss—in chapter 40, while fireworks were going off because this was New Year’s Eve! Needless to say, it was a long wait. And so many of their friends stepped in to nudge them together.

To quote one of my favorite comments of all time (a very unique format of commenting where @kinoglowworm and my tumblr mom @gear65 chatted with each other while they read my last chapter at the same time, then copy pasted the chat log as a comment so I got their “live reaction”):

gear65: UGHHHH The slow burn Kino: The teamwork this has required as much patience and coordination as breaking into bpo did

(For context, “breaking into BPO” was literally the main conflict/major climax of the whole fic. I resolved THAT like, 3 chapters before I resolved this ship, and I’m not sorry.

6 Have you ever started to write a relationship and had it develop differently than you expected? How so?

My brain doesn’t really plan in a chronological manner, so I don’t often find this happening, because I can “envision” the end goal pretty early on before my mind takes me back to “how it begins” and I’ll just build the path that gets them to said end goal.

That said, for Black Clover, I did once plan a canon divergence AU from the Spade Arc onward, but I ended up with a lot of worldbuilding and not a lot of plot. So while I technically didn’t start writing them, I certainly had different plans for how Astelle will unfold in that fic. But while I was stuck, I got the idea for a genderbend universe, and I rolled with the punches.

Now my “Astelle” is a sweet little F/F ship (same energy as Regular Astelle except gay!). I suppose this counts in some ways, because I’m adapting a vast majority of my worldbuilding from the fic-that-never was into this Scarlet Cross AU. But even if Noelle and Talia have the same core personalities as they do in canon, their dynamic does change as a result of girl!Asta being a different gender, because the gender changes also trigger some butterfly effects in this AU with long-lasting consequences!

12 [Couple] has just found an interdimensional portal, and one of them just walked in! Does the other go after them?

Hmm. To see their counterparts in other AU-verses (like, the OCs in my world visiting your world and their counterparts in there?) Or to explore other worlds? Anyway, the answer is definitely yes, for all the pairings that I ship in all my fandoms (including the OCs), just to make sure they actually get their person BACK at the end of the day, ha!

But the ones with more brain cells like Yuno will tie a rope to his waist and nail the rope to his own world first, or something, if the portal doesn’t shut itself and will stay open. That way Yuno can find his way back (and drag back his Cyrus, who had definitely wandered in because he smelled some plants that their world didn’t have, so he MUST get a sample).

15 Are there any relationship dynamics/tropes you would never write?

I’m open to nearly everything! Dynamic-wise I’ve done it all, M/F, F/F, M/M, even trios (Penny/Kady/Julia from The Magicians). And same for non-romantic dynamics: love a good friendship/found family/mentor and mentee type of bond. But I’m also down for family drama and the less wholesome side of those & tags on AO3. (Silva Family Drama = yesssss, bring it on.) Trope-wise, I tend to prefer serendipitous tropes, like chance encounters that unfold into unexpected relationships (Zora & Cyrus’ friendship or Mereo & Talia+Yuno in Scarlet Cross, for example).

Which means I’m not likely to write a Soulmate AU. Ha, I finally answered the question! I’d have a hard time describing an “inexplicable pull” towards someone, because the ships in my setups tend to come across as very accidental (both romantic and platonic ones). So! I’m leaving Soulmate AUs to the authors out there who can pull them off (@f-oighear comes to mind because her AU is such a fandom classic at this point, but I know you and @kalolasfantasyworld got some soulmate AUs too, right?) while I lurk in my own little corner of chaos and “happy accidents” (as Bob Ross would say).

23 Do you think you idealize relationships in fiction, or are your depictions grounded in reality? How often do your characters make mistakes?

My characters make nearly as many mistakes as I do! …But in different ways than I do. Some put their foot in their mouth and some will dig their little hole of denial and bury themselves there until their loved ones bring out a proverbial shovel to help dig them out. And some will be so clueless until the truth hits them in the face like a rake that they step on during a comedy skit. Some do all of the above. Heh.

I’m also a big fan of multiple third-person POVs where I get inside the character’s head and show all the biases in their thinking, so my style makes the characters sound even less perfect. Because my poor characters can’t keep their thoughts private when this annoying author is around, exposing exactly how much they don’t understand (or how secretly or openly mean they are)! I’m spilling all the tea, like how Noelle has zero tact both her head and out loud, and Talia ditches her train of thought halfway when it becomes “too much thinking” and she’s confused. So on and so forth.

27 Do you have any characters who are hopeless romantics? How do they interact with the story?

Surprisingly, Talia is the most “hopeless romantic” one to me in my current WIP! She’s romantically dense and oblivious like canon Asta, but she’s very loud and clear about wanting to marry Sister Lily. And she fantasizes about riding back to Hage on a white horse and a billowing cloak and all that romantic jazz. Except, unlike canon!Asta, Talia stops proposing out loud after a while (and hell, we’re all thankful for that).

Since I’m pairing Talia up with Noelle, that means Talia will come to realize that how she feels about Sister Lily is different from how she feels about Noelle. And how she feels about Noelle is different from how she feels about other friends she’ll make, like Leopold or Cyrus. So eventually Talia will become less hopeless and more straight-up romantic (but never STRAIGHT! ha, sapphic pun).

But Noelia will off as friends. Here, Talia will be Noelle’s first “girl her age who’s a friend” instead of Kahono. So Talia has a more “organic” attraction to Noelle that grows over time the more they bond, and that helps her get clarity on what real romance feels like, and how “hopeless romanticism” differs from real feelings she’s come to have for someone she’s truly compatible with. Eventually. Maybe. We can only hope. (They will, but they’ll take a WHILE, and that’s why we need wholesome Yuno and Cyrus being wholesome in the meantime in comparison, right?!)

31 Are there any songs that remind you of [couple]? Are there any songs that remind them of each other?

I admittedly don’t listen to a lot of music (GASP! I KNOW!) because I’m the type of writer who gets 100% distracted if I try to listen to anything with lyrics while I write. That said, occasionally I’ll check out a song and the lyrics will give me the right vibes.

So I can’t think of any songs that remind a couple of each other, for the second half of the question. But! For the first half! When I was writing for The Magicians fandom, the song Bad Liar by Imagine Dragons reminded me of the storyline I had for Margo x Fen in my AU titled Come See About Me.

Context from that fic: Margo had a really rough few years, romantically and otherwise, before she traveled to a different world and met Fen in a small village in the middle of the woods. At the start, Margo had a really low opinion of herself (due to her past) and believes she ruins the lives of anyone who is kind to her. But as her relationship develops with Fen, Margo finds the courage to try and be better (and not make the mistakes she once made with her ex-girlfriend Alice). And she also learns to forgive herself. So the lyrics from Bad Liar give me that vibe.

If you’re curious about the specifics, the last few paragraphs of chapter 23 exemplify this song the most for me! Just start with the line that says “I don’t know.” Fen sighs. “But I never want this to end.”

33 Are there any canon romantic couples, in any media, that you just can't stand?

I do see a lot of “forced” romantic couples in popular media, especially M/F ships! I can’t think of specific ships that I actively dislike (I’m sure I’ve had some in the past, but the names have slipped my mind). So I don’t have any big NoTPs for now, but a lot of ships I see aren’t convincing to me so they’re just “meh”, because it feels too obvious that the writers are *trying* to make them “a thing”. Maybe being a writer myself plays into that in some way, like “oh I see what they’re going for, but meh, I’d have set it up differently”.

47 What's the most self-indulgent relationship you've written? Are there any particular moments/scenes that you wrote just for you?

I would say the most self-indulgent ship I have in the works is Icarus (Yuno/Cyrus) from Scarlet Cross. I can’t even “see” regular Yunosa in canon given how little screentime they’ve spent together (and Mimosa’s crush on Asta to boot!). But Yunosa fanart? Absolutely adorable. And I love a height difference and a “stoic one falls for the soft one” dynamic.

They’re also a great contrast to the sheer chaos of Noelia (Noelle/Talia). So I could’ve shipped Yuno and Cyrus/Mimosa with anyone—they’re some of the most shippable characters in BC, imo (with xCanon and xOC!)—but nope, gonna put them together to complete that cute little aesthetic with two and two, an F/F and an M/M, perfectly balanced because I can :P. All for the vibes.

For moments/scenes that I wrote just for me, I once wrote another Magicians AU titled When the World’s Unkind (also with Margo x Fen as the main ship) where Fen gets turned into a bunny due to aa magical mishap, and Margo has to hold Fen in her hands while they travel. Eventually she gets indoors to a safe place and puts Fen on her lap, and after some awkward silence (and bunny snuggles), Margo blurts out her feelings. Animals have that therapeutic effect, huh! That scene was purely self-indulgent and I had a blast—especially because I wrote it from Fen’s perspective while she’s stuck as a bunny.

#sas rambles #ask game #Scarlet Cross AU #the magicians #sense8 #vilandel

5 notes · View notes

temporalbystander · 11 months ago

Text

So @erisluna35 liked my last post and reblogged another. To refamiliarise myself with what they are about I read through their blog. Came across a lot of salt regarding the treatment Chloe got in season 4 and 5 and derision specifically. So it is their fault I am up this late with a very disturbing realisation. Long winded ramble under the cut.

In my original rewrite of the show, you know all the tedious writing of how Faybon interacts with the episodes putting him way more front and centre than an OC should ever be, the big twist, after the paradox thing, was meant to be him realising that, even if we can't influence history, we can influence people. That even though he couldn't stop Monarch or Felix, or stop the akumatisations, him being there did make an impact on the people. Which is where we get to my disturbing realisation about Derision.

Yes I didn't watch the episode but I'm aware of what Kim did because of Chloe pushing him and while I headcanon some things being a bit different, such as the water phobia being solely based around being in a relationship while at the school pool and her and Kim having a very strained relationship afterwards, I more or less accepted it as something plausible.

Same for some of Chloe's "pure evil" characterisation like in Sole crusher. The reason for this? While I only got partway into season one of my actual rewrite and my notes were just things to refer to with some possible Faybon input, my mind still filled in the blanks. Still had Faybon going to class alongside all these students, witnessing all these interactions and having some of his own... But I'm stalling because... I never realised just HOW in-depth my mind had gone. See the invisible thing was just a handwave at the beginning for why he wasn't involved before horrificator. The time paradox was another handwave to explain the invisibility and him being unable to change things. All these things came AFTER I had seen all three seasons and had started coming up with alternative scenarios. So, even though the "drama" has Faybon being overlooked, forgotten, and unaffected by the healing ladybugs, the day to day stuff my brain filled in ignored all of that.

My point? I accepted Chloe as capable of much worse because I'd had Faybon constantly running interference and slowly trying to get her to change. I accepted Kim as able to do such a mean prank because him and Faybon would always but heads and got into many arguments as what is a prank versus what is bullying. I accepted how stressed being the guardian made Marinette because I'd had Faybon helping her get away to transform. I accepted everything the fourth season threw at me because I'd had Faybon basically running around and filling in all the character development and screentime the writers wouldn't give us.

Worst of all? I BELIEVED Chloe was regressing because, chronologically, by the time she starts being uncaring and crueler to everyone? Faybon has learnt about being a paradox and has given up trying to change anything. I accepted a "completely irredeemable" Chloe because, in my mind, that's what would happen without Faybon continuously making an effort. Completely forgetting he was never apart of things in the first place. So, to me, Chloe in season 4 is a result of Faybon being depressed.

But it gets worse. Marinette going overboard with her stalking? Faybon and Alya team up to reel her back in. Adrien just stuck in his room? Faybon breaks him out to spend time with his friends. Luka just Marinette's love interest? He's now Faybon's confidant and gives him the advice he needs to keep going. Zoe... Being a Mary Sue? It's Faybon who talks to her, brainstorms ideas on getting through to Chloe, who listens to her stories about New York and is the first one to figure out her feelings for Marinette and, though she never says it, realises THAT is what made the other prep students in New York bully her. It's Faybon who then helps her spend more time with Rose and Juleka and Marc and Nathaniel. It's Faybon who gives Sabrina the e-mail address of the cute boy she was talking to in the New York special and it's Faybon who comforts her when that falls through.

So many issues in the writing and with the characters that I, seemingly unconsciously, just had Faybon fix. I didn't write any of this down anywhere but it is stuff I know happens and is another reason why I abandoned the rewrite and why I struggle writing. Faybon is the wildcard from Persona on a New Game plus. He's juggling friendships, school, multiple jobs, homework and dealing with supervillains daily. And some how does it all perfectly. No wonder I needed to pull him back, it was way too much.

#giant text wall #ooc #mun talks #miraculous oc #outsideofcausality #miraculous ladybug #mun ramblings #faybon tules #oc #what even is my brain?#my writing #this isnt normal #late night rambles

4 notes · View notes

leonardalphachurch · 2 years ago

Text

okay i’m posting this actually to get onions. i originally said all this on discord and am not editing this and probably adding more so this is ramble-y and long as hell. click at your own risk. edit fuck i didn’t even say what this was about. this is. potential rvb tumblr sexyman poll. okay. okay

this is ugly but when i run the actual contest i would make a custom one. anyway here’s how i currently have the standings

north

siris

york

grif

south

connie

wash

simmons

479er

ohio AND/OR idaho AND/OR iowa

maine

wyoming

alpha OR epsilon

tex

kimball

carolina

donut

caboose

tucker

kai

sheila

grey

doc

omega OR o’malley

sarge

locus

kalirama OR chrovos OR genkins ???

one of the ai? one of the blues and reds?

temple

sharkface

felix

write in

so the ORs are going to be qualifier rounds. i figure these characters fit the same niche so it’s very unlikely that someone would vote for one of them in a round and not vote the other so there’s no need to have both- clears up the standings.

this isn’t a 1 vs 32 set up i just ordered them by their contestants. bc i thought a lot about the match ups. trying to figure out a way to avoid sweeps while also making sure minimal heavy hitters are out first round. unless there’s a big upset. which is interesting enough in its own right!

originally i wanted to have grif v simmons bc funny to pit boyfs against each other but i didn’t want wash v york in the first round and i couldn’t think of anyone else to face either of them.

same with tex. tex and wash are such heavy hitters putting them against anyone early on seems unfair. but i don’t want either of them out first round either. but having tex beat church is funnee so it’s okay if she thrashes him

and then simmons and wash are. like simmons doesn’t have much of a chance but they both hit the “ppl who like unhinged men with knives (non villain edition)” demographic so i think they’re fine first round. not ideal but. i don’t know who would be better

okay actually let me explain all of my reasoning. bc i’m insane.

north v siris - dad energy

york v grif - slacker energy

these matchups will PROBABLY get us: york v north - basic white man all the tumblr girlies lose their mind over energy

the other potential match ups for second round are less interesting but they’re not awful and also pretty unlikely imo

south v connie - Women

wash v simmons - unstable knife men (good guy edition)

these will probably get us: wash v south - recovery agent rematch! OR wash v connie - pfl underdog fight

simmons. i cannot foresee simmons winning. but if he does then pairing him against woman. hilarious

from there it will PROBABLY be either york or north v wash and that’s white men tumblr girlies lose their minds over… 2. think it will be york v wash but good match up either way

next section we have:

479er v triplets - minor freelancer characters

maine v wyoming - early villains

the match up that comes out of these will not be the most interesting but it will at least be secondary freelancer characters vs

tex v church - divorced! divorced!

carolina v kimball - women battered by war trying to make a new life for themselves in peace time…. also they’re gay

that will almost certainly get us tex v carolina which. well. heads will fucking roll

from there it’ll probably be: tex v maine - heavyweights fight OR carolina v maine - season 10 rematch!

at this point it’s hard to really predict but all options seem at least semi interesting for the semi finals. and i would bet they’ll be wash v tex which is. battle of the two heaviest hitters imo. absolute blood bath.

i know that no one is reading this but that’s okay i don’t mind talking to myself

anyway

for the right side:

donut v caboose - rookies fight

kai v tucker - sluts fight

i would guess this results in: donut v tucker - sluts fight round 2 OR caboose v tucker - season 2 rematch for churchs attention

sheila v grey - they’re both ladies with a friendly caring exterior that enjoy violence and are kind of unhinged

doc v one of the omegas - will doc finally overcome his inner demons??? (no)

this is kind of a weak section. doc v grey would be a fun match up for battle of the doctors but i’m pretty impartial to who’s taking this section. if anyone has ideas for better match ups here let me know

sarge v locus - this one’s the weakest reasoning for a first round match up honestly. they’re both muscular?? yeah i got nothing. this section needs some serious work so PLEASE give suggestions if you have them. right now my plans for 27 and 28 are to run qualifier rounds but i need to know what people those rounds should be

temple v sharkface - i hate project freelancer *makes out*

felix v audience choice - i couldn’t decide who i wanted to pit against felix and i wanted one option for people to submit a character i hadn’t thought would fit SO i let everyone else pick who versus felix. note that i’m not taking ideas for this one right now, there will be a post once the official rankings are released and whoever gets the most requests will be put in. i want advice for everything else here but i get final say for all other rankings— this one i will put any character regardless of my thoughts on the matter if they have enough votes

this is harder to judge next matchup bc we don’t know who’s there but i think felix will beat whoever so: temple v felix - will you stop monologuing? OR sharkface v felix - s13 villain fight

next matchup i PRAY would be felix v locus. we need this. locus kick his ass baby.

i do also kind of want felix to win that tho bc then we get felix and tucker in the semifinals and well. TUCKER KICK HIS ASS BABY.

i guess this means i foresee final match up being wash v tucker. and wash winning. i guess it always comes back to tuckington damn.

anyway predicting the final match ups isn’t whats important here whats important is making sure they’re all interesting and no matter who’s in the finals it’s gonna be interesting.

right now like i said before i really need advice on the 25-28 seed section. i wouldn’t mind advice on the 17-24 or really any of the sections tho. you can see i have thought. a LOT about making the most compelling match ups but if you think you have better idea please share.

thanks for reading all this also what’s wrong with you for reading all this.

#long post #rvb polls #well. kinda. figure if ppl like or hate them they’d wanna either see or block this post #anyway. yeah i have a problem. what of it

17 notes · View notes

miraculous-ninjabird · 3 years ago

Note

I love your thoughts so much, your brain rules. Do you have any thoughts you wanna share on some of your favorite FE characters from across the game(s)? I would love to know! :0

AHH HI BESTIE ILY AND THANKS. I DO HAVE LOTS OF CHARACTER THOUGHTS! There are too many to list but here's a few headcanons for three of my favorites:

Byleth: I think Byleth's relationship with emotion is complicated. They are definitely aware of emotions, what they are supposed to feel like, and how to identify them. They simply have difficulty articulating/expressing them both verbally and physically. I also like to think they have a rich inner thought process. They don't talk much outside of when it's important but they are always thinking, observing, ect. There is a lot going on in that head of theirs. Personally I see F!Byleth is chaotic with a sense of humor, while M!Byleth is tired and a bit more serious. They share 1 brain cell when together. NB!Byleth's personality is drawn from both.

Henry: Love this guy so much. His moral compass is wack and his past definitely desensitized him to violence and death as a whole, but he's a genuinely kind person. The first one to try and lend a helping hand, patient, and he cares a whole lot about people. His antics are off putting but I whole heartedly believe that there isn't a single shepherd who wouldn't trust their life to him. He's great with children. Given the opportunity I think he would probably spent his whole life loving with and taking care of woodland creatures.

Leo: A character who didn't deserve the lot that life handed him. He acts high and mighty, but that arrogance is just a cover. He cares, and is perceptive to when those he cares about are struggling.. He's got a good head on his shoulders, he believes in what is just and fair, and refuses to blindly obey orders when he doesn't agree. He's fiercely loyal and betrayal (or perceived betrayal) is practically unforgivable to him because he would never consider that himself. But a lot of this gets squished down in the face of he was often treated like/feeling like he wasn't good enough. He spent his whole childhood fighting to be recognized, for someone to acknowledge that he was someone worth being proud of and someone who deserved love but the circumstances of his childhood made that difficult. The result was a lofty and distance persona. While he was probably a great king, I think that transition after birthright's end was incredibly difficult because it was not a responsibility he'd ever been trained for and it's not something he'd ever wanted.

This post is getting kind of long so I'll end it here but honorable mentions characters that I will gladly ramble about if asked are: Alfonse/Lif, Robin, Chrom, Morgan, Dimitri, Felix, Yuri, Balthus, My Summoner (basically an oc lol), Inigo, Severa or Takumi. That rounds out my 'Favorites' list but I'm glad to give thoughts on other characters as well if they hail from Fates, Three Houses or Awakening. (I'm still working on finding ways to play the other games so sorry but no opinions on the other fe characters just yet)

#Asks #enbyzeldas #bestie tag :)#Fire emblem #fe awakening #fe fates #fe3h #byleth eisner #fe leo #fe henry #byleth

16 notes · View notes

queen-scribbles · 4 years ago

Text

Jinx!

Remember when I talked about the idea of Janine and Felix jinxing each other when they go to propose at the same time? Yeah, what better day to share the result with the world than Felix’s birthday :D

------------

Janine didn’t think she’d ever seen Felix voluntarily sit still this long in all the time she’d known him. If he were human she’d be wondering if he’d fallen asleep. And they weren’t even watching a movie or anything.

That had been the plan when Nate shooed them out of the kitchen, but then they’d plunked down on Felix’s bed all cuddled up and neither could be arsed to find the remote. This was good, too. And surprised as she was at him not turning into a fidgety mess after two minutes, she was enjoying it too much to tease. They so rarely got to just be, without peril and running around and other stuff. This was nice.

“I like having you all to myself,” she commented, snuggling closer.

Felix didn’t reply, and Janine arched a brow. Maybe he had actually fallen asleep.

“Babe.” She poked him in the ribs and he yelped as he twitched away. “Ah, you are awake.”

“Yeah, sorry, I was thinking. About how amazing you are,” he added before she could ask, tone genuine and mischief in his eyes.

Janine giggled. Anyone else, she’d think they were buttering her up with a line like that out of the blue, but not him. “Well, don’t let me distract you.”

Felix grinned at her. “By all means, babe, distract away.”

“In that case...” Janine rolled from her position tucked under his arm to straddle his lap, her skirt pooling over his legs and her arms loosely around his neck. “Care to stroke my ego a little and share what makes me amazing?”

“Aside from everything?” Felix snorted, but the sincerity in his eyes belied the teasing tone. “Your smile, your laugh, the way you wanna help people...” his arms slid around her waist, “...your happiness, you have a way with words that could charm a banshee out of a snit” --he stole a kiss-- “But I’m glad you decided I was a better use of your talents.” Another kiss, slightly longer. “What else.... that little wiggly-bounce you do when you’re excited. And you have great taste in men-”

She kissed him, hands braced against the wall, then laughed, giddy, breathless, overwhelmed he’d reeled that off so quickly. “That’s quite a list.”

“Didn’t get to my favorite one yet,” Felix murmured, breath warm against her cheek. “You stuck around.”

“Felix...” She kissed him again, one hand curving the back of his neck and her thumb brushing over the hair at his nape. “I’m not going anywhere,” she promised softly, resting her forehead against his. “I like the rest of the team too much, and I love you.”

His breath caught, pulse jumping against her fingertips. “I love you, too.”

She loved when he said it like that; like it was a secret just for them, a treasure too precious by half, a truth that couldn’t be contained in words. It made her heart swell, made her want to throw caution to the wind, shout from the roof of the warehouse, something to tell him and the world how much he meant to her.

There was something. It was the very definition of throwing caution to the wind, of impulsivity, but there wasn’t anything wrong with that. “Felix-”

“Janine-”

“Will you marry me?” One question fell from two pairs of lips in the same moment, and all other emotions--surprise, elation, wild excitement--were momentarily eclipsed by playground rules from when she was six, and Janine whooped, “Jinx!”

At the same moment as Felix.

Half a second later, realization clawed out from under schoolgirl habit and grey eyes met gold, both wide with glee and horror in equal measure.

Shit. Janine clapped hand over her mouth to hold back a giggle. What do we do?! she tried to ask with just her eyes. If vampires, werewolves, and various other supernatural forces were real, no way in hell was she messing with a jinx. It might actually give her bad luck.

Felix looked just as flummoxed--and amused--as she felt. He shrugged and bit his lip. Great.

Janine’s phone chimed as she tried to work out the easiest way to fix this When she wiggled it out of her pocket, there was a text from Tina. Need you at the station. Should be quick 🤞. She wrinkled her nose and turned the phone to show Felix the text.

He nodded, eyes still laughing, and tugged her in for one more quick kiss before she climbed off the bed and hunted down her flats.

This might be a good thing, she mused as she headed for her car. If Tina greeted her by name it would break the jinx, she could handle this ‘quick’ problem, and come back to say ‘Yes, Felix’ and unjinx him if he still needed it. Yeah, this was good.��

---

Tina greeted her with an apologetic smile. “Hey. sorry to bother you on your day off, but the Captain decided these need to go to the big city” --she jostled the case files in her arms-- “and I need the detective’s signature.”

Janine nodded, fighting down glower that Tina hadn’t used her name(but of course today would fall in the handful of occasions that happened). She got a pen from her desk and spread the files out to start signing off. There were only five, and Tina kept up a stream of chatter about her post-shift plans--never once saying Janine in the whole ramble. It was as she finished checking and signed the last file Tina poked her in the shoulder.

“Hey. You’re being awful quiet,” she pointed out, brow furrowed. “Are you mad at me?”

Janine shook her head..

Tina’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Just not feeling chatty today?”

Janine wrinkled her nose and shrugged, and Tina’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, my god, you got jinxed, didn’t you?!” she crowed as she collected the files.

Janine huffed grumpily and raked back hair that had fallen from her bun.

Tina grinned. “Who got you?”

Janine curved her hands to form a heart against her chest and fluttered her eyelashes.

“Felix?!” Tina’s grin went wider and decidedly mischievous “So I guess now you need to be unjinxed, huh?”

Janine nodded, pressing her palms together in a pleading gesture.

Tina tapped one finger against her chin and smirked. “Now, let’s see, what do I want in return for this favor....? Any ideas, J- oh, right, I’m on my own for this one.”

Janine pouted and lightly whacked her friend’s shoulder in protest. That’s not fair!

“I’d play nice if I were you, my friend,” Tina teased, wagging a finger. “Give me another second to think.”

Janine managed to control herself while Tina stroked her chin in exaggerated thought, but internally she was making strangling motions.

“I know,” Tina finally said with a giggle. “How’s a baker’s dozen pastries from Haley’s sound? Fair trade?”

You and your sweet tooth. Janine bit back a smile as she nodded. If that’s what it takes, fine.

“Promise?”

She rolled her eyes and made a heart-crossing gesture. Best I can do.

Tina grinned. “You’re the best, Janine.”

“No, you are,” Janine said fervently, wrapping her in a quick, tight hug. “I’ll get you the pastries tomorrow when they’re fresh, right now I have to go.” She darted for the door. “Thanks, Tina!”

“You’re making me think I should have aimed higher!” Tina hollered after her. “Like rights on being your bloody maid of honor or something!”

Janine snorted a laugh at the irony but didn’t even slow down. She could explain later.

----

Felix had never been good at patience, but this was even worse than usual. He paced his room with bouncing steps for all of thirty seconds before even that wasn’t enough and he headed out to find... someone.

Mason was on patrol, Rebecca had been called to some meeting.... Maybe if he tried to sneak back into the kitchen he could get Nate to scold him and that would do the trick.

But Nate wasn’t in the kitchen anymore when Felix got there. His face crinkled in disappointment and he lightly kicked the bottom edge of the counter.

He needed to be unjinxed by the time Janine got back. Even if this quick problem stayed quick to fix, he didn’t want to wait. He wanted to be able say ‘Yes, absolutely, just try to stop me!’ as soon as she walked in.

Of course, the fact they’d both asked was sort of a yes on its own, wasn’t it? Felix eyed the fresh tray of cookies sitting atop the stove and shook his head. Didn’t matter. He wanted to actually say it.

Denied freedom via scolding, Felix wandered back out of the kitchen in search of Nate or Adam or somebody. The few agents he passed in his quest nodded politely but all looked too preoccupied to stop and help him. Somewhere in his random meanderings, he started picking up the sound of rhythmic blows and he grinned. Shoulda know Adam would be working out. His route became much more deliberate as he started making his way to the training room.

Adam was clearly focused--though no doubt noticed he had company--so Felix waited by one of the benches for a... safer feeling moment to finagle what he needed out of the team leader. It didn’t take long--though it felt like an eternity to Felix--for Adam to finish the series of moves he’d been... rehearsing? Practicing? Whatever you’d call it, he’d actually left the practice dummy in one piece this time. Normally Felix would jokingly applaud his restraint just to get an eyeroll.

“Did you need something?” Adam asked without turning around. He wasn’t even breathing hard.

Felix wrinkled his nose and hunched his shoulders. This isn’t gonna work unless you look at me, he grumbled silently.

Adam turned with a frown creasing his brow. “I do not feel like playing games, Felix. What-”

Yes! Felix pumped one fist and grinned. “No, nothing, I’m good, thanks.” That was easier than I thought it would be.

Adam’s frown deepened, suspicion mingled with annoyance now. “Then why are you here?”

“Don’t worry about it, not important anymore.” Felix started edging toward the door.

“Felix.”

“Ugh, fine.” Adam was going to think this was silly, he knew he would, but the older vampire looked ready to haul him up by his collar and let him dangle until he explained. He wouldn’t, probably, but explaining was the path of least resistance, and Felix was fond of those. Knew I shoulda looked for Nate.

Just as he opened his mouth, however, the training room door burst open to reveal Janine, loose wisps of hair hanging in her face and determined excitement burning so bright in her grey eyes it brought out the matching stripes in her dress. She hesitated a fraction of a second after catching his eye, probably worried about a repeat.

Felix was too excited to share her concern and launched himself toward her with a loudly whooped, “YES!!!”

She was giggling as he crashed into her, as she stumbled back into the door, as their hands latched onto each others’ clothes, laughing as she kissed him, deep enough he saw fireworks. Which was fitting because this deserved celebration.

It wasn’t until a deep, long-suffering sigh rumbled out of Adam they remembered they had an audience. “Do I want to know?”

Felix and Janine broke apart, grinned at each other, and both started rattling off explanations. Felix shut up a few sentences in; Janine was doing a much better job explaining that he would have. Besides, this way he got to look at her. At the way her eyes lit up, the extra wisps of hair curling and bobbing around her face as she reeled off an enthusiastic play by play of the events leading to now. She looked like she was glowing, or maybe that was just the light through the high windows, but Felix liked the thought of her glowing better.

Adam had a very skeptical eyebrow arched by the time she finished. “Jinxes are mere superstition, Detective. They cannot cause you harm because they are not real.”

“Says the vampire,” Janine shot back immediately with a grin and arched brow of her own.

Felix barely swallowed a whoop as he slung an arm around her shoulders and turned to grin at Adam. “She makes an excellent point.”

“Supernatural races existing outside legend is a different matter entirely,” Adam insisted, then shook his head as if dismissing the matter entirely. He ran a searching look over the two of them. “This... development will bring up things to discuss, but,” one corner of his mouth tipped upward. “I am happy, for both of you.”

“Thanks, I’m happy for us, too,” Janine said brightly, shuffling herself and Felix out of the way as Adam headed for the door.

“Me, three,” Felix chipped in, kissing her on the cheek.

One small chuckle escaped Adam, and he offered them a single nod of approval before he left the room. Soon as the door closed behind him, Janine;s fingers dug into Felix’s scarf and she kissed him deeply, soundly, long enough to set lights sparking behind his eyes.

“Fireworks,” he whispered mischievously, and she grinned and kissed him again so they could see some more.

#queens fic #the wayhaven chronicles #janine elder #felix hauville #janine/felix #otp: origami mice

12 notes · View notes

episims · 4 years ago

Photo

Foxfire Forest Poll Results!

In which two of the three votes ended tied :P thank you to everyone who voted, this was interesting! You can see winners from above, but I’ll ramble some more under the cut.

Favorite Sim: Hanna P1

When I started posting about Hanna I was seriously nervous if everyone was going to unfollow me for spamming their dash with her incoherent monologues. But look at that, she’s been around for mere two rounds (and didn’t get much screen time during the last one) and still beat everyone! We’re both very glad :’)

2nd place: Mel, Will, Julian, and Ruby

3rd place: Ally, Deanna, Lydia, and Erika

I’m happy that otherwise the votes spread between so many sims! The rounds are getting quite long so it’s reassuring to know that there are sims that people like in so many households.

Favorite Pairing(s): Erika / Esther and Will / Jamie

Aww, I agree that both of these couples are very cute :3 Will and Jamie were actually in the lead for most of the week but Erika and Hetty raised surely!

2nd place: Becca / Ruby

3rd place: Julian / Cloud

...Okay xD it remains to be seen how that last one goes, and yes, I’m still very worried that someone will get hurt in this. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

The Cutest Toddler(s): Paloma, Felix, and Amelia

Yes, they’re all cuties!

2nd place: Tristan

3rd place: Sara

And they are too! I can’t wait to see how they will look as kids :)

Flowers and confetti to the winners! I’m going to take a proper break from playing the game now, maybe try finishing some other projects and such. Thank you again for all the interest you’ve shown towards this neighborhood, I hope you’ll still be here when I’ll get back to it! <3

#ts2 #the sims 2 #sims 2 #foxfire forest #foxfire forest extra #anniversary post #hanna p1 #esther wells #erika leaf #william howl #jamie riff #paloma storm #felix howl #amelia rhymes

40 notes · View notes

mmmleckerlecker · 4 years ago

Note

Baby Felix was supposed to be sweet and innocent? I certainly read him as naiive but when puberty hit I definitely felt he was high-key selfish and tried to remain willfully ignorant to as much of the world as possible. He’s not a bad person for it, the tragedy of youth is finding things out on your own and maybe learning stuff you didn’t want to or can’t accept along the way. He chose not to talk to anyone bc he thought they wouldn’t understand and ended up doing some really heinous deeds.

What an interesting take 🤔 This answer got kinda long so im gonna put it under a readmore

Baby Felix was definitely meant to be kind and caring. I’m not sure which aspect about him you saw as naive? Perhaps him thinking he could remain friends with Benji? And I’m not sure which aspects about him you found to be selfish or willfully ignorant? Maybe the fact that he stayed around Benji for so long even tho he knew it was probably dangerous? I know the main conflict of Heart Pangs makes it seem like all preds and prey are Mortal Enemies and there’s no possible way they could ever get along, but generally both sides DO get along reasonably well. I think this is mostly demonstrated in the College Years chapters, where the main characters are Out In The Real World but haven’t yet entered into this Facility vs Epomis war. In this way, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for some preds to to seek out friendships with prey and expect them to end well.

As for him committing heinous deeds because he chose not to talk to someone about his problems, there’s kinda a lot to unpack there. I think the Bad Things that Lux does are a result of far more than him being too afraid to talk things out with with someone when he was younger. Granted, I truly do not know WHO he would have talked to? Benji would be my first answer, but their friendship was dangerous and they made the right decision to break it up. Besides, it shouldn’t ALL be on one person to prevent ALL of someone else’s misdeeds. That’s unhealthy and not fair to Benji. I also don’t believe Felix’s parents would have been understanding in the right way for Felix to seek help from them. Maybe he could have gone to a therapist..? I’m a little unsure about that.

But beyond Not Talking About it, there are several other factors beyond Lux’s control that brought him to where he is now, including: parental expectations, societal expectations, his own predatory instincts (preds ARE made to consume whether they like it or not), and the fact that he became addicted. (I could write a whole other post about this last factor. I imagine Felix is genetically predisposed to addiction. And addiction itself is a disease that is IMPOSSIBLE to overcome by yourself. After his first experience with fatal consuming, he was placed in an environment where his addiction was not only encouraged, but his continuation of it was EXPECTED. At this point, his body has changed to where he most likely will never be able to live without the fear of a relapse, even if he does manage to break his addiction— which of course would be a long and painful process.)

My apologies if I misinterpreted anything in this ask, but I ended up going off on my own tangent as well. I just have A Lot of thoughts about Felix and his downfall and will gladly ramble on ad nauseam about them 😂

#looks like there’s some discourse in the HP ‘fandom’ tonight #asks #heart pangs

5 notes · View notes

ilikemicrowaves · 14 days ago

Note

Sry, i find you very intimidating but I would very much like to ask your thoughts on Moonelian. -🎩 for anon signature ig idk I'm sry

AAAGH, I LOVE MOONELIEN!!!!!!!!!! I ship Moonelian mostly a qpr. I rotate them in my brain a lot because hffhjdj they would help each other in so many, and not only would they help each other but they would gen like each other. And (to me at least) it's easy to imagine both chataracters' thoughts and feelings develop for each other.

In the beginning, Carnelian does not want to talk to anybody or to be at jma, but after loosening up thanks to Umber, then she'd stop actively trying to stay away from dragons as much. She'd still not be around them as much. It would take her a long time. And once Carnelian, not by choice, (Kinkajou never leaves her alone, and Moon is just there because of Kinkajou) starts talking with her clawmates, that's when she starts to truly realize that atleast some of her wingelt is okay to be around. Then Kinkajou, Moon n Carnelian become friends happily ever after!!! I think Moonwatcher would be curious about Carnelian, considering Moon knows about Carnelian and Peril possibly having some sort of friendship back in the sky kingdom. Moon would probably avoid Carnelian a bit since her mind is so aggressive, and so is Carnelian herself, but the Moon would probably try pushing herself to talk to Carnelian because 1) Kinkajou is trying to make their Winglet one giant happy friend group . 2) Secretkeeper would want Moon to push herself to make more friends. Once Carnelian stops actively avoiding everyone, then Moon gets the chance to talk with Carnelian. Talking to quiet and tolerant Moonwatcher is definitely a break from hearing hyper and idyllic Kinkajou, so I think not only Carnelian would appreciate it, but so would Moon.

I like to imagine that Carnelian is impressed by Moon a lot of the times, considering the amount of nightwing hate, like how they can't hunt, has been implanted into her brain. So whenever Carnelian goes hunting, she might hint for Moonwatcher to join her or bring Moonwatcher a snippet of her meal. I also like to think that Carnelian does not know much about her own tribes culture, only knowing little from her battalion because of the war. As well as what I feel like was implied of Carnelians character, being an outcast. So Moon does a little bit of reading and learns more about skywings out of boredom. Maybe she finds out about a holiday and asks Carnelian if she enjoyed it or planned to ask to go back to the kingdom to celebrate it. Carnelian would stare at her like, "What r u talking about." Moon gets it approved by Tsuanmi to celebrate at Jma and Carnelian gets a taste of skywing life outside of the military, with some other tribes tossed in.

I'm sure I have more to ramble about but ty fir the ask!!!! Also, I've never really thought of myself as intimidating, so that was smth to read lol /pos. No need to apologize for it!! But it's okay to approach me with my thoughts on things, especially if it's about Moonelian.

#clown mail #wof #wings of fire #moonelian #maroon wof #moonwatcher wof #carnelian wof #Kinkajou wof #jade mountain academy #sorry for any spelling mistakes btw its a little late and i dont feel like editing rn #might later idk though #felix rambles resulting in a long post

3 notes · View notes

valgusordo · 5 years ago

Text

Too much information: Character Interview

I saw this post on the wonderfully talented @saph-y‘s blog and thought to myself, “that looks fun, I want to try it!” What follows is the result of that endeavor, for my Wulfgard OC, Inquisitor Marcus Capulet. Saphy did his image which I use for my Tumblr avatar!

This one was commissioned from the co-creator of Wulfgard, though: the mighty @saber-scorpion! His art and @maverick-werewolf‘s writing have masterfully kept me interested in this fantasy universe for years, and it’s so much fun to RP in. Anyway, hope you enjoy this interview!

► Name ➔ Inquisitor Marcus Capulet. And yes, I have to say the title first every time.

► Are you single ➔ Not sure how relevant that is, but yes.

► Are you happy ➔ I...huh. I don’t think anyone’s asked me that lately. I suppose I am content, at the very least.

► Are you angry ➔ My, how swiftly the subject changes! Not at the moment, but know that my patience is not infinite.

► Are your parents still married ➔ They are, and still in good health, last I heard, thank you.

NINE FACTS

► Birth Place ➔ Veritshire, the Haven of the Crossroads, the tiniest jewel in the crown of the southern half of the Empire.

► Hair Color ➔ Black. “Jet” black, I’ve heard it called, though I haven’t yet learned where the term came from.

► Eye Color ➔ Brown. Almost muddy, as my partner, Kate, loves to torment me with.

► Birthday ➔

► Mood ➔ Amused and intrigued, really. Answering a plethora of questions instead of asking them is a...refreshing...change of pace.

► Gender ➔ Male.

► Summer or winter ➔ Winter, by far. Void iron armor may not heat as easily as regular steel, but it can still get stifling. Plus, snow is just fascinating, don’t you think? Never saw it before when I was growing up. Much more fun than sand.

► Morning or afternoon ➔ Afternoons, really. By that time I’ve usually gotten past the hustle and bustle of the morning and prepare for a quiet evening. Hopefully.

EIGHT THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE

► Are you in love ➔ I...was, once. I’d rather not discuss this further.

► Do you believe in love at first sight ➔ Not really. Initial attraction can be strong, sure, as is raw, sinful lust, but from what I’ve learned over the years, love must be built. I don’t think it’s something you fall into.

► Who ended your last relationship ➔ If I am correctly inferring that you mean romantically, it was ended by a mage. Never learned the bastard’s name, but he murdered my lady love and nearly half of my town’s population along with her. But she was “out of my league,” as I’ve heard it said, anyway, and we were both too young and foolish to realize I didn’t deserve her. Since then, I’ve been married to my job, and she treats me well.

► Have you ever broken someone’s heart ➔ Not that I know of, and if I have, it certainly wasn’t intentional.

► Are you afraid of commitments ➔ Afraid? No. Too busy? I’m afraid so.

► Have you hugged someone within the last week? ➔ Uh...no. Are you offering? We only just met, it’d be highly irregular.

► Have you ever had a secret admirer ➔ Most likely not. Anyone stalking me in the shadows usually has violent intent, not romantic. I’m good at spotting the former, but have never noticed the latter.

► Have you ever broken your own heart? ➔ I’m not sure I understand the question, but I think not.

SIX CHOICES

► Love or lust ➔ Love, hands down. If I had a denarius for every lust-centered, often demonic cult I’ve helped bring down, I’d be richer than some Barons. Maybe a couple insolvent Counts, too.

► Lemonade or iced tea ➔ I don’t...what? Are those beverages of some kind?

*modern AU Marcus steps in* Allow me to assist you, good sir. The ingredients are foreign to your time and location, but go for the lemonade. It’s cold, sweet, tangy, and refreshing for hot days. Proper tea is consumed while hot. Good day to you. *exeunt stage right*

Oh, that was helpful. Thank you, myself in strange clothing.

► Cats or Dogs ➔ Dogs, by far. Much friendlier, more loyal, and also more useful. Some theorize that cats are drawn to magical sources, but I’ve never so much as gotten one of the bloody things to do more than hiss at me. I’ll take a tracking hound or fighting alaunt any day.

► A few best friends or many regular friends ➔ I do my fair share of traveling and make a great many acquaintances, but in my line of work having a few friends you can trust is worlds better than an army of potential spies and enemies.

► Wild night out or romantic night in ➔ The night in, definitely. More controlled, and safer, to boot. Heading out in small numbers and getting drunk is the best way to get one’s purse...or throat...cut in a dark alley.

► Day or night ➔ Night, I think. I need all the help I can get if I’m sneaking up on a suspect, and I do enjoy the quiet peace that comes with working by candlelight.

FIVE HAVE YOU EVERS

► Been caught sneaking out ➔ Only once, when I was younger, and it wasn’t even my idea! My brother was an apprentice with the guards, and told us about a prisoner who’d come from all the way north of the Coldstone Wall. Lady Victoria wanted to get a look at him, and convinced me, Lucille, and Felix to pretend we were all just bringing my brother some food during his watch. But when we walked toward the door to look through the bars, out shot the prisoner’s hand, aimed right at our throats! Poor Lucille screamed, and we had nowhere to run when the real guards came to investigate the commotion. They didn’t dare accost the daughter of the Baron, but the rest of us got quite a hiding when we returned home! Apologies for rambling, nostalgia and all that.

► Fallen down/up the stairs ➔ Does it count if I was pushed? Because there was that one incident with an uncooperative suspect in a rather large inn, and an undignified rolling and landing that I’d rather not talk about.

► Wanted something/someone so badly it hurt? ➔ Yes. Especially since it was too late for me to do anything about it.

► Wanted to disappear ➔ A few times. It would be especially handy with my occupation, or convenient in more...trying...times.

► Laughed uncontrollably about something ➔ While I’m usually good at maintaining my composure, there was this one incident where Kate and I went into a castle’s cellar to investigate some horrifying noises, only to find one of the servants and, presumably, his wife in flagrante delicto. We apologized...well, I apologized while Kate snickered, closed the door, concluded that no one, in fact, was being horribly murdered, and cackled all the way back.

FOUR PREFERENCES

► Smile or eyes ➔ An odd question, but eyes, I think. Much harder to hide how one feels up there, while smiles are easily faked.

► Shorter or Taller ➔ For me, or for someone else? I wouldn’t mind growing a few inches, but it’s not a huge concern for me with ladies I’m interested in.

► Intelligence or Attraction ➔ I’d say intelligence. Even if we’re not attracted to each other, at least we can converse. It’s how I’ve built up my best friendships, really.

► Hook-up or Relationship ➔ Hook...up? Is that some new slang the children are using? I lived by the desert, I know nothing of fishing. At any rate, I’d say Relationships. I’d rather build something meaningful than treat my love life like some bloody contest, like my friend Lorenzo does.

FAMILY

► Do you and your family get along ➔ My brothers and I had our fights as children, but the siege of our hometown brought us all together, and made us grow up fast, if we wanted to survive. I haven’t seen them or my parents in a long time, but we write to each other frequently, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them. Well, nothing legal, at any rate.

► Would you say you have a “messed up life” ➔ It certainly hasn’t gone the way I wanted it, or thought I would have to settle for, but once again, I am content. If my pain brings peace to others, I can hardly complain.

► Have you ever ran away from home ➔ Only once, but it was less from home and more from memories that I could no longer face there. Magic, or “The Condition,” as my order calls it, took loved ones from all of us. I could have stayed to help rebuild, but thought I could do more good by joining the Inquisition, and I’d gladly make that choice again.

► Have you ever gotten kicked out ➔ Not physically, but I have been sternly told to leave by powerful figures who didn’t appreciate my presence or investigations.

FRIENDS

► Do you secretly hate one of your friends ➔ Certainly not! What kind of friend would I be at that point? Though Kate does love to jump up and down on that line when she thinks she can get away with it.

► Do you consider all of your friends good friends ➔ Yes, I haven’t kept very many, after all. After tasting betrayal early in life, I’ve learned to be more discerning about such matters.

► Who is your best friend ➔ Choosing favorites is difficult, but Kate is the most qualified by far. She may be an utter sociopath with a violent streak two leagues wide, and a sense of humor and vocabulary that would make the filthiest of sailors blush, but she’s saved my life more times than I can count, and I can always depend on her for help or advice. Oftentimes without asking, too.

► Who knows everything about you ➔ My mother, without question. Kate may have worked with me for nigh twenty-odd years, but I haven’t told her everything about me. Meanwhile, my mother infers so much from just what I put on parchment that I’d almost swear she’s spying on me. Comes with the territory, I suppose.

Whew, that took some effort to write! Now, whom to inflict, um, I mean, share this with next....

Just kidding, I knew who I was going to tag as soon as I started. The talented writers known as @maverick-werewolf and @tafferfield, of course! They inspired me to keep writing my characters outside of just RPing, and I truly hope they both enjoy this exercise I stumbled across.

4 notes · View notes

ko2vo · 7 years ago

Photo

THIS BLOG IS THREE YEARS OLD TODAY HOLY SHIT (edit: i started this post months ago and forgot about it, this blog was 3 years old on Sept. 7 pffffff-)

Anyway, its been a long time since i last did this, here are a bunch of OCs of mine and, below the read more, is some context for each of them. Probably gonna get long and rambly ‘cause i love them all. You dont have to read about them but please read about them i love them.

Guess the first thing to know is that these aren’t my only OCs. These are kinda the ones that I’ve had around the longest and kept coming back to. Plus, I have some for specific projects that I don’t really elaborate on cuz they exist in a game/writing/something self contained and to say anything would be to say too much, I guess?

Yeah. Overall, I guess these guys are either so developed or underdeveloped that it wouldn’t be spoiling for me to say things about their personalities/relationships! And some of the stories have changed so drastically over the years, I don’t even know what kinda canon will be canon when i get around to making it.

SO they’re categorized by their different worlds/purposes. ALSO if you want to see more pictures of a particular OC, I made their name clickable and it will bring up their tag (some.... won’t have a lot of drawings tho criesss).

CANDY HERO has been my dream comic project since I was 14 oh man. It’s a superhero story, about homeless kids that have to save the world. The reason for saving the world has changed a lot, from alien invasion to robot uprising to super virus subtly ruining everything. But the plan has always been like a grungy futuristic city setting and long term ideas where each chapter would be a self contained episode.

Soda is one of the main characters and the only person that has superpowers. However, his super powers are candy-based and wicked unstable. He could intend to create crystal rock candy to make a barrier of some kind but accidentally whip up a cotton candy tornado. His superhero origin story has changed a lot, but I usually stick to the idea that he swallowed some nuclear experimental bubblegum and it unexpectedly manifested inside him in a way that gave him these capabilities.

Why would he eat questionable chewing gum?? Well, he’s pretty young when he does so most likely he didn’t realize gum wasn’t for eating at that point. He’s also homeless and isn’t picky about what he eats. He probably ends up on the street when he’s around 7 or 8 and his story takes place when he’s 14 or 15. So, somewhere between there is when he acquires his powers.

His personality is basically relentless positivity and optimism. Always looks on the bright side and can be counted on as a morale booster. Super loyal and supportive of his friends. Believes in ideals and hopes to make the world a better place, believes the world can be changed for the better. It’s very difficult to upset him. However, his outlook often jars when he has to deal with an emotionally sensitive situation. His general response is “everything will be okay and I believe in you and support you” and, for a lot of people, it doesn’t work like that and it just makes them more upset, especially living among the homeless. Even though he can relate to suffering, his way of dealing things has always been to repress or move on since it couldn’t be helped and that’s usually what he subconsciously advocates.Depending on the person, it can be reassuring or it can feel like a rehearsed script.

All in all, he has a lot of issues he’s left unresolved and ignores in favour of smiling and focusing on the positive and he doesn’t really understand why people will fixate on the negative. So he’s not really good at handling any kinda negative emotions. ALSO his trusting nature makes him a victim in gullibility too. Even with someone that’s been a complete dick to him twenty times over, he’ll always give the benefit of a doubt and allow them second, third, fourth chances.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT SODA - His real name is Felix but he’s only ever gone by Soda. Rafter was the one that gave him the nickname cuz he’s bubbly and too sweet. - When he’s actually sad and can’t force himself to be happy, he isolates himself. - He’s always wanted to be a super hero! His earliest memory is running around with goggles on and a blanket tied around his shoulders like a cape, playing pretend. - He has an evil doppelganger named Seltzer; they look exactly alike, except Seltzer’s eyes are orange instead of blue. - He smells like a carnival’s trash can.

Rafter is Soda’s best friend. Both of them have been on the street for a similar amount of time, but Rafter’s circumstances for getting there are a lot more harsh. Soda ends up there almost by choice, but Rafter is forced onto the streets. He’s really mature as a result and pretty cautious. Generally, he prefers to be a lone wolf but Soda persisted in helping him cuz they were both kids and logically he understood that it was safer to have someone around. Most of the time, he appreciates Soda for his overabundant friendliness but it also makes him super nervous because jeezuz Soda, don’t talk to that shady dude behind the dumpster what if he harvests your kidneys or something plz exercise some self preservation.

Rafter is relatively quiet, thoughtful, and skeptical. He doesn’t trust people very easily and he tends to keep his circle of friends small. But when he does trust someone, he’s very dependable. Even though he doesn’t have superpowers, he’s got a keen eye for details and analysis. If he were older, he’d probably be a detective. More defensive than offensive, and a strategist.

He ends up in contention with Soda sometimes, because of Soda’s instinct to jump into things indiscriminately (where Rafter likes to plan and evaluate) and also because of his inability to deal with emotions. Rafter is pretty stable emotionally, but when he does feel upset he goes to Noyal or TOI for support rather than Soda. Rafter needs to work through his feelings with someone else and understand why he reacts the way he did in order to feel better.

Overall, Rafter is very level headed. He thinks realistically and practically. But his caution borders on paranoia sometimes and prevents him from making many meaningful connections for fear of being hurt. And, when in contrast with Soda’s positive outlooks, he worries that he comes off as less realistic and more negative and jaded by comparison. It’s a thought that eats away at him sometimes.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT RAFTER - He plays piano and its the best way for him to relax. - Rafter isn’t his real name but no one knows it. - His dream career is to be a psychologist and help kids like him when he gets older, in order to help them avoid being homeless. - Dogs make him nervous. Especially big dogs. - Even though he lives on the street, he’s very careful to stay as clean and hygienic as he can. Can’t stand feeling grimy or dirty.

TOI is an illegal android. She was a young boy as a human who was dying and her father was a scientist that transferred her consciousness to a robot. There is a law that states that any person under the age of consent cannot have their consciousness transferred because androids are not subject to the same laws as humans. It is completely legal for an adult to choose to become an android but there are really fucked up, blurred moral lines with the production of androids. Even if they have a living consciousness and not an AI installed, the only real law they’re required to follow is to be registered and have an owner.

Short of that, anything that happens to androids is damage against the owner, not the android. Because android parts are replaceable and, even if a consciousness is human or a highly developed AI, they are subject to selective memory wipes and can be transferred to other vessels. So androids are kind of resented by some people, able to forget their traumas with the push of a button and recover from damage that would be irreparable for something organic. There have been a lot of attempts at acquiring self ownership and more protection for robots in general, but overall it comes down to “if you can choose to forget, why are you remembering.” It’s a system that kind of works, but only for robots that have owners and owners who care about their well being (which logically they should, because an android costs about as much as a new car would and, if they are spending that much and the consciousness is someone they know, the assumption is that it’s an act of love).

ANYWAYS I could ramble about the messed up robot-human relations of this world all day, but essentially TOI is illegal for many reasons. For one, she was about nine when her consciousness was extracted. Though her mind does continue to age, it’s still morally grey because the public assumption is that all robots are considered consenting adults, even when they have a body that appears younger. It’s a means of avoiding fucked up shit that developers know would happen anyways by at least making it fucked up shit that only happens to adults??? If that makes sense??? im avoiding specific words, cuz its too dark for how PG i want the story to be and its not something i would really explore in canon, its just something i think about when considering TOI’s choices.

She’s also very illegal because, when she turned 15 her father died and her father was her ‘technical’ owner. She wasn’t registered but she had some protection with him around as his ‘scientific property’ but with him gone, no one faces any consequences for damaging her. It leaves her in a very vulnerable position should anyone find out she’s an android and unregistered. And she can’t advocate for robot rights because without an owner, she can just get wiped and no one could do anything about it.

Personality wise, TOI is very snarky. She likes to sass and tease and outsmart people. In canon, she’s about 32 years old, so she also takes a sadistic pleasure in making adults think they’ve been outwitted by a child. She is highly intelligent but operates under the radar because of her situation, usually relying on her human connections (Noyal) in order to save money or sign important documents.

In Candy Hero, she currently isn’t planned to appear for a handful of chapters. Soda and Rafter have a few adventures themselves, then they meet her when she is visiting Noyal. She trusts them as Noyal’s friends and sticks around, their antics amusing her. Plus, since they all look around the same age, TOI feels more secure moving around in public with them.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT TOI - TOI doesn’t need to eat or sleep as a robot, but she does need to recharge every other week depending on her exertion, and she needs regular maintenance. - She was a trans girl even before her consciousness was put into her robot body but socially closeted, except to her father and Noyal. - She loves cats and her favourite clothing items are cat themed. - Whenever she’s able to, she attends art galleries and musical events. - SHES GONE THROUGH THE MOST DESIGN CHANGES like, she used to be a super sexualized animu lady with big boobs and no pants (i want to fight 15 yr old me when i think about it honestly) then she was skinny dude with a gas mask and hood, then lost the mask but became purely a program, then a virus trapped inside a phone Soda had, and now she’s where she is and I’m happiest with her newest design

Noyal is a quiet guy that lives on a boat. He doesn’t say much but he’s empathetic toward Soda and Rafter as street kids. I haven’t really thought about how they meet but my guess is that Soda and Rafter are jumping around different places for food and shelter during the winter and Noyal notices them since he jumps around to the different places for his work. He doesn’t approach them though, it’s Soda that approaches him offering to help him with something (much to Rafter’s horror cuz holy shit Noyal is scary looking) and they all eventually begin to talk. Well, Noyal mostly listens but he talks more with them than he does almost anyone else (TOI being the exception).

Eventually, he offers them a place to stay for the worst nights. They can’t stay with him all the time cuz his boat’s pretty cramped as it is and Noyal likes his solitude. He can’t handle the idea of being a father figure to Soda and Rafter so he makes sure they understand that he views them as friends, not as children he needs to be responsible for. Even though Rafter was nervous about him at first, it turns out that he and Noyal have very compatible personalities and the equal ground he offers in defining that “I’m not an authority over you just because I’ve lived longer” ironically makes Rafter really look up to and respect him.

I’ve not really thought out Noyal’s history to the same extent I’ve thought out TOI’s. He’s always been quiet, somewhat mysterious, but willing to help a friend in need. I imagine he’s been helped through a lot of things when he was young and that’s what makes him willing to extend altruism and sanctuary when he encounters someone that needs help. However, unlike Soda, he doesn’t go out of his way or beyond what he’s comfortable with. If he wants to help and is capable of doing so, he will.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT NOYAL - He owns a dog; an elderly and blind Schnauzer affectionately called Old Russ, who sleeps on his bed with him. - I’ve always imagined him with a Newfoundlander accent. - He’s actually a year younger than TOI and she’ll never let him forget it. - He has a twin sister that he doesn’t like to talk about; she sends him a care package every few months. - He works at a million different jobs. One of the running gags I’ve established in my writing is that he’s just everywhere; Soda and Rafter go to a circus, he’s running the ticket booth; they go to a theatre, he’s a janitor; they head to the mall, he’s working security. HE IS A BUSY MAN. - Covered in scars not because he gets into fights but because he loves animals, regularly works at places with big animals, and would willingly get mangled by a bear if it meant he was able to help it.

PURE FLUFF isn’t the name of anything but I just have no other designation for these two OCs (I used to call their story Day by Day but I’ve abandoned that name). I made them with the intent of doing a really fluffy gay webcomic and I still want to! But it probably won’t be a linear storyline like i originally intended, more like random snippets of their time together. I also specifically wanted to focus not on falling in love, but staying in love. Like, usually the plot and conflict of romance ends with people becoming a couple. Yet, there are so many fun and ridiculous issues that pop up while being a couple??? LIKE COME ON??

Also, it’s a super pure and wholesome story overall so the issues aren’t anything really terrible (at least, between Evan and Love). Usually its like “i dont care how in the zone you are, you havent slept in over 72 hours and im forcing you to sleep” and “dude i know you wouldn’t cheat on me but your hot tutor is making me wicked jealous and possessive and i need attention plz” and “oh nooooo looks like they accidentally put pineapple on both sides of the pizza, guess you’re gonna have to eat pineapple too.” Y’know. Small issues.

Evan is the epitome of lethargy. He’s tired 24/7 and monotone in his speech patterns. Emotions are difficult for him. He experiences them but numbly and has trouble dealing with other’s displays of emotions, particularly in the extreme. He doesn’t really understand people with strong passions or hatreds but he tries to be supportive in his own way. And he really does try but when people don’t know him, they assume his muted reactions are out of disinterest. He can’t force himself to react the way people want so he struggles in a lot of social situations. A lot of the time, he ends up overwhelmed and exhausted if he spends too much time with a crowd.

He doesn’t have the best relationship with his parents and moved out the moment he turned 18 but he has younger siblings that love and adore him so he tries to keep in touch with them at least. Evan is in post secondary and is majoring in computer science and programming. Again, not exactly because it’s his passion but he understands it and it’s an independent activity that he can work on. He also is minoring in ancient history because he enjoys the mythology and guesswork of studying ancient civilizations.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT EVAN - He is probably trans. Honestly, for a lot of my characters, I tend to keep things flexible unless it’s important to their story or I’m being self indulgent so most of them are like ‘maby they are maby they aren’t it doesnt matter’ if i dont say anything. I mention it for Evan cuz its been something I’ve considered as the reason his relationships with his parents being tense. - He is about 23-24, which is two years older than Love. They met in high school because Evan had to take a lower level art class to complete his diploma. Often, people think he is younger than Love because of his baby face and being so much shorter. The assumption tends to annoy him. - Evan is colourblind! Protanopia, or red-green colourblindness. - He has a history of self harm that only Love knows about and he’s since found healthier coping mechanisms. - His favourite thing is spending a lazy afternoon at home, reading a book while Love draws beside him

Love is an artist and an asshole. He likes to tease and press buttons, but generally doesn’t overstep boundaries (and feels terrible when he accidentally does). He is a positive person, looks on the bright side but he has a lot of feelings and not all of them are happy. He’s sensitive, gets disheartened at the slightest off tone. Conversely, he’s extremely easy to please too, the slightest praise sending him buzzing. His mood jumps around a lot depending on where he is, but Evan tends to keep him balanced because he understands and appreciates Evan’s tranquillity.

As an artist, Love focuses on painting and sketching. He loves to use a lot of colour and tends to lean toward impressionism and abstraction in his work. He likes deep thinking but he tends to lean toward making work that’s pretty and aesthetically pleasing to look at (which he gets shit for as an art student). However, a lot of the worst of his habits are associated with painting. He’ll go for days without sleep and eating if he’s in a good painting mood, usually much to Evan’s concern. In high school before dating Evan, he experimented with some hallucinogenics for the sake of artistic venture. He also used to smoke somewhat heavily. Evan helped him ease away from those habits, just as he helped Evan ease away from his.

Also, Love is absolutely enamoured with Evan. Evan loves him back of course, he wouldn’t be with him if he didn’t feel anything, but Love is way more deeply attached. He hovers and will do his best to accommodate Evan, he worries about Evan and tends to talk about him as a common subject in conversation, and he’s happiest when spending his time with Evan. Evan is a lot more independent in the sense that he doesn’t fixate on Love like Love does him, but Love is still the most important person in his life. Love doesn’t really try to tone down his affection either, he’d probably yell in a public space “GOD MY BOYFRIEND IS WONDERFUL??? IM SO LUCKY???” and get kicked out. But it’d so be worth it. He loves making Evan embarrassed.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT LOVE - His name, Love Jaakola, is pronounced Low-vay Yak-oh-law. His father was Swedish and his mother is Chinese (she’s the only one he’s still in contact with). He is an only child. - His hair is naturally dark brown but he regularly dyes it blonde. The ‘streak’ in his hair is actually dried acrylic paint from pushing his hair out his face, the only way he’s able to get rid of it is to cut it off (but it comes back cuz he’s in the habit of running his paint coated hand through his hair at this point). - Love is Evan’s first date person, but Love has dated about 4 people before Evan. Two were girls, one was a boy, and one was nonbinary. However, most of those relationships only lasted a few months, he has been with Evan for about 4-5 years (they’ve known each other about 6-7 yrs). - Ironically, he’s a bit of a technophobe. Evan keeps telling him he should post his artwork online or that he should network with people more to expand his art career, but Love’s like ‘maby.... one day... not today.......’ - His favourite thing is to draw/paint on Evan’s skin. Nothing really planned or meant to impress, just lazing around in their underwear and doodling thoughtlessly.

BAD SEEDS oh god. this is... my sin comic. Sort of. Last year around this time, I was fucking ITCHING to make a webcomic. It’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and like, in the time frame of Aug-Nov, my urge to make gore art goes through the roof (like, most people dont get how gross i am cuz i only draw it around this time, i tend to quietly absorb other’s gore during the rest of the year). So the plans for this comic came around. Psychological horror, gore, plants and flowers, bones, I threw a lot of self indulgent shit into this comic.

Bad Seeds is about two terrible high school kids that cause one another to do awful things by encouraging each other’s violent impulses (i say “kids”, they’re both 17 and would experience their 18th birthdays in canon, i literally just wanted a high school setting cuz bullies weeeeps). I did a lot of sketched out comics in my small travel sketchbook of really climactic, messed up scenes, then I tried to do an actual story line so I could do a comic. I made the first 14 ish pages and they’re still floating around but.... wow i hate the beginning. And need to rewrite it. Cuz I still like a lot of the scenes I made for the middle of the story and the messed up dynamics please me but, unfortunately, the main characters need to meet somehow.

Daniel is a nervous, paranoid boy. He’s very jumpy and always feels like he’s going to be yelled at for doing something wrong. He feels like an outcast and kind of makes himself out to be one by thinking that way. Doesn’t go out of his way to make friends, isn’t interested by sports or clubs, and his grades in school are average or below average. However, people that do know him would say he was polite, quiet, and accommodating. Even though he looks awkward, they’d insist he was just shy and warms up to you.

In reality, he behaves that way because he’s almost been conditioned and guilted into being selfless by his dad (his only family). He takes up extra shifts at work if someone asks him, he’ll lend someone he doesn’t know money if they ask, and he will help with cleaning/organizing after school if he’s asked. He doesn’t volunteer and generally doesn’t want to do a lot of things he agrees to but he just can’t say no unless it clashes with other things he’s agreed to do (usually, his job).

Other than that though, a lot of his internalized guilt stems from his fascination with the morbid and a fear of people finding out. In my old draft of Bad Seeds, he became fascinated after being exposed to guro on the internet, but I want the time setting to be late 90s-early 2000s, so I’m compiling a lot of texts and paintings that would feed that interest and be more time appropriate. I’m also trying to figure out if that would make him more interested in art history and specific classical literature but honestly, I don’t think it would; he’d probably fixate only on the most gruesome things and skim over all else haaah.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT DANIEL - He is a masochist. Whenever he gets injured, it tends to take three times as long to heal as it should because he picks and scratches and makes things worse. He also self harms on his upper arms for this reason, to watch it bleed and heal (though, I’m certain a warped idea of atonement for his guilt also plays into the action). - Before meeting Poet, he’d been watching him from a far for two years. Not exactly stalking, he doesn’t go out of his way, but they’re in the same small town school; he stares at him from across the cafeteria at lunch and glances at him when they have classes together and listens extra hard when he hears people talk about Poet. - He works at a small cafe that doesn’t get a lot of traffic. - He sleepwalks and has really vivid dreams. Sometimes he self-induces insomnia to avoid them but that tends to have bad side effects. - He really enjoys his hair being played with/petted/pulled.

Poet is seemingly perfect. He’s one of the top students, with exceptional grades in all of his classes. He’s the president of the student council and he’s well liked by most of the student body because he’s humble and, though hard working and busy, he tries to treat everyone kindly and make good impressions. The only thing he could be considered average in is sports, but he stays active by gardening and hiking. He takes to positions of leadership well, he’s good at improvising, and speaks eloquently. All of his hard work is contributing to his career goal of becoming a medical doctor or surgeon.

However, he has the same morbid fascinations as Daniel. Though, while Daniel is exposed to creative sources like fiction and paintings depicting violence or gore, Poet is more grounded in reality. He uses medical textbooks and pays a lot of attention to real life surgery photos. There was a point where, with the mental excuse that he would need to be comfortable with the grotesque, that he would look for dead things in order to do mock autopsies. He’s killed animals before but always with his version of a justification; to end something’s suffering or in self defence. He rarely kills animals because of this need for a proper explanation. In the old draft of Bad Seeds, his and Daniel’s meeting is him trying to explain that he killed a wild dog that had backed him into an alley and struggling to come up with a reason for why Daniel found him elbow deep in its guts.

HE’S SUCH A BAD DUDE HONESTLY i hate him. Especially with Daniel, after they acknowledge one another’s fucked up impulses, Poet becomes really attached to Daniel but in a messed up abusive and jealous way. He begins to manipulate and gaslight Daniel, whose already isolated, to become even more isolated and only trust Poet and lets himself get talked into a lot by Poet. Well, they talk each other into things. Poet, at the beginning of their relationship, is still extremely preoccupied with appearances and knows what they’re doing is wrong as tempting as it is to have a willing participant and gives Daniel a lot of chances to say no to things. But the more Daniel says yes, the more of a power trip Poet goes on and god, they just make each other so much worse over time and it’s awful and unhealthy and i hate that I’m absolutely into this kinda psychological shit (ONLY FICTIONALLY THO i hate that i need to specify that; if this happened in real life, id fucking call the cops in a heartbeat).

But yea, if he and Daniel never met, they’d both be way better off in the long run honestly haha.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT POET - Probably goes without saying, but he is a sadist. Like, he likes to think he is clinically scientific about everything he does, but when he gets the chance to act out fantasies with Daniel, he starts paying a lot of attention to expression and reaction when he does things. - I mentioned he enjoys gardening but he really likes gardening! He does all the gardening and maintenance of his parent’s home during the warm months, and keeps a lot of plants inside too. - I usually draw him with black hair, but at some point he dies his hair silver/white. - He has a fluffy medium sized dog named Styx, not sure about the breed. Probably a mutt but lots of collie. - Poet existed before Bad Seeds, as a character in Love and Evan’s story! He was still kind of awful but more harmless. He wound up having a crush on Evan while tutoring him in English, but Evan wasn’t interested and also is dating Love. Love had a small crush on Poet cuz he’s lowkey poly and super into intellect/glasses/charisma, which he talked over with Evan. Evan accepts it as part of him but personally wouldn’t be comfortable dating him if he were dating others, so Love compromises because hot damn he loves Evan. ANYWAYS Poet is still awful because, even after Evan says no, he pines and obsesses and tries to monopolize his time as a “””friend”””” (thankfully tho, Evan is not susceptible to his bullshit - which sadly makes Poet like him that much more criesssss)

Ray is a bit of an enigma. He’s technically in his senior year with both Daniel and Poet, but he’s actually two years older and is only back at the school to complete his high school diploma. But no one really remembers him as attending their school? Despite this though, he settles into the school atmosphere well. Even though he’s 19, he’s generally mistaken for younger. He has classes he does well in and classes he skips, but his passion is for music. He’s a skilled, adaptable guitarist who gets called into a few bars and clubs when a band is short and was practically adopted by the school band the moment they found out his skill level. Thing is, he’s also very lazy and wants to avoid things that feel like work, usually causing them to send the drummer to kidnap him in order to get him to attend practice.

He gives off an air of being laid back and aloof, but he’s rather observant. Ray is probably the closest thing to a friend that Daniel has, because Ray noticed he was a bit of a black sheep and decided to keep him company. At first, out of concern that he was being bullied, but after some time it was a little more personal because he realized that Daniel had a crush on another boy (since this story is set in a small town during late 90s early 2000s, repression and institutionalized homophobia are a concern but not really the focus). Personal because he is actually gay and trans and he becomes a little protective over Daniel, having figured this out. Though, his protectiveness doesn’t stop him from teasing Daniel (about having a crush, not about being gay of course).

Ray is also a little eccentric. He refuses to sit in seats properly, he wanders around the streets at like 3am and during rainstorms, and always packs a lunch but never eats it, usually giving it away to Daniel or some first year. He comes off pretty confident and he’s decent at improvising but overall he has no shame and no idea what he’s doing.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT RAY - He has an ex who I haven’t developed but he’s also important, he’s a coworker of Daniel’s. Ray’s ex is actually a decent and understanding dude, but Ray broke up with him because he wanted to get rid of things that reminded him about being “Rachel” (his deadname). - He shares a basement apartment with like, five other lgbt people, but he doesn’t spend much time there and has a tendency to fall asleep where ever. - He’s an orphan. Dad died when he was young, and his mom was a police officer who died in the line of duty during the time he had disappeared. He has an older sister who’s moved a fair distance away. - Daniel thinks of him as a weird mom. Ray considers himself something of a big brother, since he can be a bit of an asshole. - Ray is driven by spite. His hair at the beginning of Bad Seeds is the fluffy mullet he has, influenced by other guitarists cuz he’s a nerd, but when he meets his ex again and his ex tells him his hair looks cute, he gets an undercut immediately after.

STAINED is a project I used to be passionate about but honestly, it’s kind of abandoned. It had something to do with tattoos and corrupt hierarchical systems and someone unknowingly supporting the status quo before learning how fucked up and inhumane it is and trying to change the way the world works. I think I was reading a lot of dystopian things that influenced my ideas. Some of the characters from this project will probably be redesigned and put somewhere else but this project itself is kinda dead to me.

ALSO, ITS GONNA BE JARRING HOW SHORT THINGS GET FROM HERE ON like, the rest of these characters are not as developed/ I don’t care about them enough anymore to try to adapt their personalities elsewhere criessss

Marz was what I considered one of the most complex characters at one point. Bare bones, he goes from being sheltered but curious to really vindictive and dark following his best friend/lover being martyred. At the moment though, he’s very much a blank slate and, even though he was the main character, a lot of the initiative and plot was driven by his lover. I... literally have very little to say about Marz anymore IM SORRY MARZ, I LOVED YOU ONCE MABY ILL LOVE YOU AGAIN.

Stone is a happy dude. He was in the same universe as Marz, working on the outskirts of the city palace town, dealing black market potions and magic in a shop he inherited from Iris (who is dead in that universe - probably another reason i don’t like Marz’s story anymore). In his current canon, he still works at a shop dealing in occult things, but alongside Iris. Prior to their meeting, Stone was a very proper, uptight man, overly concerned with etiquette and very polite. However, he was also really tired of denying what he enjoys (he is bisexual and more feminine than his posh family find acceptable). One day, he decides to explore the grimier parts of the city and ends up cornered in an alley cuz pretty boy doesn’t think ahead that walking around looking clean and expensive in a sketchy part of town will get him into trouble.

Thankfully though, he’s saved by Iris and, to repay her, he works at her shop. Stone is a quick learner and finds his niche in the dark arts that Iris teaches him. He’s happiest when he can sneak over and help and, eventually, stops going home. He and Iris are in a relationship but they’re not exactly monogamous; Iris loves him but also knows that he’s bi and has been sheltered his entire life. She wants him to be able to explore his interests and not feel restricted by his attachment to her, especially since she’s had so much more time to love and be loved. So essentially, an open relationship.

Stone is laboured with a lot of learned prejudice and a concept of tradition that Iris helps him identify, understand, and either overcome or work on in the means of becoming less toxic. He finds Iris fascinating and loves to learn from her, both about the occult and about himself (because most of the time, he feels like she knows him more than he does himself).

EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT STONE - After a few years of working with and knowing Iris, Stone accidentally blinds himself trying to make a difficult potion. This is the version of him I draw the most. Before the accident, his eye colour was hazel. - Eventually, he and Iris get married. - Following the accident, he’s immortal. Nowadays, I focus on him during his days with Iris, but in the past I focused on his life after her death as he becomes slightly deranged. She grows quite old and dies of natural causes and he tends to pretend that she didn’t, keeping her skeleton around and lovingly talking about his wife with his customers.

Iris is a very ambitious woman. She doesn’t have much of a history at this moment, but she runs her own business, fends for herself, and has developed some very powerful connections. People that know about her but don’t know her personally tend to call her a witch and a sorceress and sometimes she plays it up to scare kids away from the dangerous area that she’s located. She’s intelligent and very down to earth, growing an indoor garden with plenty of plants that have magical properties.

She can be brash and spontaneous sometimes though. She’s had some close calls with death by picking the wrong fights and mixing the wrong ingredients while experimenting. She mellows out a bit when she has Stone to focus on, but she can disappear for weeks on end with only a last minute notice for him to take care of the shop while she runs her errand. There are a couple of times that she lets him tag along but he’s really not in his element with fast action and near death stunts so he stops asking and just wishes for her safety.

MISC is OCs that I’ve always had but have never really settled into their own world. I honestly have tons like this oh man. But these three are ones that show up a lot.

Cinnamon and Chowder are two gay gals I started drawing way back. They’re both alien pop stars who came to earth and no one knows they’re actually aliens. Cinnamon is much shyer than Chowder, self conscious of her height and general... everything, but Chowder is super supportive and smitten and protective. Cinnamon is an alien from a planet where her entire species “identifies” as male; its a toxic, hyper masculine planet and, when she met Chowder, her entire world kind of expanded and she decided to escape with her somewhere that they wouldn’t be found. They found earth and made their place in the fashion and music industry.

I drew a comic for class once, where Cinnamon tells Chowder that she feels ugly, but like, she knows she doesn’t look ugly, but she feels the anxiety like an itch and can’t get over it. And Chowder’s like “Oh! Like a Kiwi right? See, they’re all fuzzy and brown and probably feel ugly? But look at how nice and bright and lovely they are inside!” and then they eat a kiwi together PFFF yea that’s the extent of how much development I’ve put into them.

Liko is my baby. He is a chinchilla hybrid human and was created purely for self indulgent things. His personality for the most part is mischievous and absolutely hates clothing. For how much I draw him, he is embarrassingly underdeveloped as a character. I began to think of him as a splicing experiment that escapes from a lab somewhere but not super deeply... Honestly, his purpose is art trades, requests, and commissions. He’s the only oc I usually ask for art of because I like his design haaah

AND YEA THOSE ARE MY BELOVED OCS i honestly love you if you read through all this or even a little, please talk to me about your own ocs !!! I’m more than happy to do OC art trades and bounce world talks anytime !!

#korvo draws #oc #EVERYONE #i... wrote so much omfg you dont have to read if you dont want BUT ID APPRECIATE IT criesss #skip Bad Seeds if you arent about gore and psychological horror but maaan #i forgot how much i loved my ocs #PLEASE TALK TO ME ABOUT MY OCS and about your own ocs because fuck #i love ocs and i dont have any friends that consistently do oc shit aaaaaaaaaa

5 notes · View notes

of-another-broken-heart · 8 years ago

Note

heyy! idk if u even want to talk abt this? but tbh u put my thoughts into words with the M guy thing perfectly. Also like idk what kinda made me uneasy was how like persuasive? manipulative? he seemed in the video? Like he's knowingly trying to make u believe him?

I stay out of the tags these days (I use “m dude” so any followers who don’t like Mark/plier have an additional way to block my posts while I also spare myself the White Knights of Mark/plier(TM) onslaught) but yeah...

gonna slap the rest behind a cut because I ended up rambling =x

Mark is very, VERY aware of the power of his sincere blogs (relies on them to diffuse situations that he lets escalate too long w/o address; relies on them to rally his fan base for big events like fundraisers and twitter shitpost extravaganzas...) and is also very, VERY aware of how blindly loyal a lot of his fans are (he’s made several vlogs and blog posts even criticizing his devout extremist fans). I’m with you 100% on the fact the he knows the effectiveness of these sorts of videos.

I don’t know that he’s being malicious in this video, but as always, impact is far more important than intent. I think Mark is blinded by his ideals, and that his use/understanding of words like “respect” are very much insufficient compared to their greater use in the realms of social justice, bigotry, etc. In other words, I personally believe his persuasion/manipulation comes from a place of ignorant idealism, and not malicious intent.

Previous “drama” with him (aka, folks pointing out some bigoted or shady things he’s done in the past, which his White Knight fans perceived as an All Out Attack on their Holy Idol) has resulted in similar somber, serious posts. But not before his White Knights got to fully exercise their extremism, to the detriment of his critics’ mental (and sometimes physical) well-being.

(CW: suicide mention ahead) Like the transmisogyny situation almost 2 years ago - multiple trans women and nonbinary fans (and even some cis allies) were forced to delete/change blogs, leave tumblr entirely, and some were even rumored to have attempted suicide because people were so vicious in response to the existence of criticism of Mark and his “jokes.”

Some details about this vlog are different, and don’t fit with his usual behavior. Mark’s not responding to criticism of himself or his own actions this time. Like before, he’s waited until things have hit some point of extremism. (I guess the “dehumanizing” comments were his tipping point - not the “joke” that an entire subset of humans should die, nooo, but calling bigots “trash” is Just Going Too Far, I guess) This time, he’s taking it upon himself to use that observable serious effect he has, and it’s very much for his own personal reasons.

Admittedly, that’s what he does - and that’s not inherently wrong - but usually it actually aligns with his “Make the world a better place” slogan. Or, it lines up a hell of a lot more than defending someone (like Felix) who’s repeatedly “punched down” with shitty, bigoted “humor”. Demanding that even bigoted jokes go without consequence, implying that an apology dissolves you of responsibility for your actions, and insisting that everyone deserves respect, regardless of their actions and beliefs towards others?? That doesn’t line up with the “better place” narrative, that’s for damn sure.

I’m a bit refreshed to see that there is a LOT of push-back this time, though. Previously, critics were a lot harder to find. I can only assume the current political climate of the US/world (fascism on the rise, anti-semitic and islamophobic ideologies and violence more and more evident, etc) has helped push people to actually put their foot down instead of passively sitting on the fence. I’m glad there’s more critical thinking and solidarity for actual acceptance/progress/betterment, in that regard.

#m dude #asks and answers #butterflieswith puncturedwings

4 notes · View notes

daleisgreat · 8 years ago

Text

Dale’s Top 11 Videogame Experiences of 2016

Greetings! It has been awhile since I did one of these top 10 of the year lists. It felt right to place my list on my long dormant Giant Bomb blog where a few of my past lists reside and because I always enjoy the wealthy amount of game of the year content from the Giant Bomb crew each year. This is not a ‘Top 10 games of 2016,’ but more of a ‘Top 10 Experiences’ of 2016.

As you will see, a lot of my games listed will be from prior years. Also you will definitely notice I cheated on most of my entries and included multiple games on most entries. I tried to make each number on my list a theme for each experience, so I hope that suffices for you. If you take a liking my ramblings, please check out my movie blog where I recently ran down my favorite and worst movies from the past few years. I may post this on my movie blog as well since I have a ‘Top 10’ label there too, so if you are reading this blog there, greetings again! *Edit* I saw after I finished editing this I screwed up my numbering and actually had 11 items, not 10, but it is too late now to remove an item after working on this for so long, so onward with my top 11 experiences of 2016! 11) Finally acquiring current gen consoles Yes, that is right, three years they debuted I finally picked up both PS4 and Xbox One. My gaming backlog grew out of control because I do not have nearly enough time to game as I use to so I wanted a few years to get caught before I got the current systems. I first jumped on the Xbox One shortly after they released the S model in September and caught a good sale on the 2 TB version that knocked off $100. It took me six weeks though to get around to hooking it up and playing it however, but I have gamed a fair amount on it since.

The PS4 I got a couple months later on Black Friday weekend when retailers were having big sales on the Uncharted 4 500gb bundle, and I was able to stack a couple other discounts to get it for $190. An awesome friend gifted me a 2 TB hard drive for Christmas shortly thereafter. I have since hooked it up and got all my cross buy games from PS3 and Vita transferred over, but have yet to find any time to play a single game on it because of all the other games I am trying to catch up on. I think one of these weekends I should do nothing but binge on Uncharted 4 because it is one of my favorite franchises and it is a crime that I have yet to play the latest installment. I also want to squeeze in here two other platforms that kind of meet the criteria of this subject: the Retron 5 and the NES Classic. The games I have tested out on the Retron 5 have worked great on my HDTV, and results in my classic games running flawlessly in HD, with none of the fuzziness that would result from hooking up my classic systems with RCA/composite cables into an HDTV. Like everyone else, I hate the Retron 5 controller, but am thankful the Retron 5 is compatible and works well with my classic controllers. The NES Classic I lucked into getting one morning right when a retailer opened and I was not even looking for it, but happened to hear the store had them. I brought it over to play with the family after Thanksgiving dinner and it was a big hit that night. My brother-in-law kicked my ass in Tecmo Bowl that evening. Later on I let my six year-old niece, and eight year-old nephew play the system for a bit and took in their reactions to experiencing classics like Bubble Bobble and Super Mario Bros. 3 for the first time. I have since busted out the NES Classic a couple more times with my nephew and we made a lot of progress in Bubble Bobble since, and have also had good times playing the original Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong with him. My nephew loves Minecraft and other tablet games, and I feared him playing these older games I grew up with would not jive with him, and I was delighted he took a liking to many of them. 10) Arcade Racers! I love me some arcade racing games! Racing and pinball games are the perfect way to start off a gaming session. I like to invest about 30-45 minutes and knock off a few races from a career mode before moving on to whatever game I am working on in my backlog. Going through my gaming journal I realized I have invested significant time into five racing games in 2016, and have completed the career modes in three of them. I first finished off Blaze Rush, an excellent downloadable racing game that is essentially the old school Micro Machines games, but with crazy weapons. The career mode is filled with a ton of variety, and while I had a few hair pulling moments trying to win certain races, I very much enjoyed my time with it.

Toybox Turbo is from Codemasters, the same people who made the aforementioned Micro Machines games and this is a contemporary follow up to them from a couple years ago. You still race in crazy environments like kitchen tables and workbenches, and the racing is still as quick and fun as the 8-bit classics. The third career mode I finished in 2016 went to Dirt Showdown, also from Codemasters. This is an arcade spinoff from the sim-heavy Dirt rally racing games, and Showdown is more of demo-derby racer in similar fashion to Destruction Derby and Flatout. I love that style of racers, and they do not make enough of them! Dirt Showdown is a welcomed addition to the genre, and I had a blast doing both races and last man standing demolition derbies! It is pretty fun, but not quite perfect, but establishes a good foundation I hope Codemasters builds on with future sequels. Road Redemption is the contemporary take on Road Rash I have wanted EA to make for many years. These guys are getting it right, but it is still in Early Access on Steam so the developers are constantly building upon it. It controls how I would imagine a Road Rash game would evolve into today, and they thankfully took out having to run out back to your cycle so you can get back into the race quicker. I had some friends over for four player couch play, and we had a blast and it convinced them to get it too. If you have played old school Road Rash give it a look! Mantis Burn Racing is another Steam game I put a decent amount of time into that offers up a similar isometric perspective and has a good arcade/sim hybrid feel to it complete with drifts and turbos. It recently hit consoles so give it a look there too. Finally, I have lately been making a lot of progress into Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed. Sega really stepped up their game with their second kart-style racer a few years back. I really dig how the karts morph into planes and hovercrafts during the race and how some tracks transform during the race to keep me on my feet. The roster features a ton of Sega favorites and the racing feels great and is right up there with Mario Kart! 9) Pinball!

Anyone who knows my gaming habits knows I am a pinball nut. Ever since Pinball FX on 360 I have spend countless hours on various pinball games. As I stated in the previous entry this is another one of my go to games to start off gaming sessions with. In 2016 I played a lot of Pinball Arcade, Zen Pinball 2 and a little known indie game on Steam called Hyperspace Pinball. I love nearly the entire Zen 2 roster of tables and spent a good chunk of the year trying to replay each table on my PS3 at least a couple of times. I am all caught up now with the exception of the recently released Bethesda pack that offers up tables based on their Doom, Skyrim and Fallout properties. Alternatively, the real life translations in Pinball Arcade are also up my alley, and I always find myself coming back to tables in attempts to best previous high scores and knock off all the preset goals for each table. I recently busted out the spinoff Stern Pinball Arcade disc on Xbox One, which offers up a couple exclusive tables that are not yet in the standalone Pinball Arcade hub and have been eating that up a lot too. Hyperspace Pinball is an under-the-radar game that got buried in the plethora of indie games on Steam and it is unfortunate that it has gone ignored for this long. It features simple-yet-groovy futuristic graphics and a very fitting soundtrack. The primary mode is like a addicting version of pinball-meets-Asteroids and every several levels there are unique boss battles to vanquish. It took several runs before I got use to the physics of this pinball game, but once I did I was glad I mixed Hyperspace Pinball into my rotation. 8) Road Trip gaming!

This past October I went on a week long road trip to hit up some attractions I have always wanted to see and hang out with some friends who have moved out of town over the years. I visited my friend, Dick in the Twin Cities. We have a history of playing many hours of our favorite wrestling game, WWF No Mercy together and we could not resist busting it out again. We had some intense matches where we teamed up against the computer on expert difficulty, and then a few more grueling one-on-one encounters. Later that day, we checked out an game shop that had an arcade machine with a ton of games built in and one of them was for a Japan-exclusive sequel to Saturday Night Slam Masters I had no idea existed until that point. Slam Masters was Capcom’s take on wrestling meets Street Fighter II, but the sequel, Ring of Destruction, is a straight up fighting game that plays as good as any Capcom fighter back in the day. After that, we traversed to a recently opened arcade in the Cities called Up/Down, which is an arcade bar loaded with arcade and pinball games and has a full service bar. All the hits from 80s and 90s I grew up with were there such as classic brawlers like TMNT, X-Men and Simpsons to the hits Midway dominated the 90s with like NBA Jam, Mortal Kombat I-4 and NFL Blitz. There was even old school Nintendo games like Excitebike, Donkey Kong and a version of Fix-It Felix straight out of Wreck-It Ralph I had no idea was a thing until I saw it with my own eyes. There was also around a dozen pinball tables there, with a good mix of classics like Funhouse, Terminator 2 and Adams Family to more recent Stern releases like Ghostbusters and Metallica. I guess this is a slowly expanding chain, so if you happen to run across one, make sure to check it out as you will be guaranteed hours of fun.

The next destination on my road trip was to visit my brother in a smaller town a couple hours outside of the Twin Cities. I had a great time hanging out with him, and like my friend in the Cities, we also have a history of beating the tar out of each other in WWF No Mercy. After telling my brother about experiencing the awesomeness of taking on expert level AI opponents in tag mode and proceeding to have another close match with the AI where we emerged victorious, we proceeded to take on each other in about 15 one-on-one matches. I consider myself a pretty darn good No Mercy player and can hold my own with any other seasoned player, but for whatever reason my brother has always had my number and is the only one I know that can outplay me (that link is a clip of us squaring off in a tournament final from several years ago for proof!). Of the roughly 15 matches we played, I only had one victory out of them all, and I made sure to savor every moment of it! 7) Awesome Local Coop! This is where I will give a shoutout to my local friends in town, Ryan, Derek and Brooke! Last few years we have had recurring couch multiplayer game nights every several weeks! I always look forward to them, and we are constantly rotating in old favorites like Mario Kart: Double Dash, Mario Party and TimeSplitters: Future Perfect with newer games for a constant fresh variety of multiplayer goodness. I will give props to some of my favorite moments I had with them this year. One awesome early multiplayer night in 2016 involved a NES theme night, and me busting out my four player adaptor which led to many hours of Gauntlet II and Super Off-Road fun.

For a couple weeks we were into slaughtering zombies and we played through a couple levels of Left 4 Dead 2. I forgot how awesome and frustrating that game is as I experienced both soaring highs when our teamwork was flawless and devastating lows when we ran into trouble a couple of times. Either way, it was still a blast re-experiencing Left 4 Dead 2 for the first time in years. That led us to a couple days of long sessions of Dying Light. I loved the first Dead Island and this game is from the same developers and plays just like it, but mixes in an awesome parkour system. That resulted in all kinds of crazy running dropkicks and being on the lookout for next great weapon that would turn up in our endless piles of loot. Just a few weeks ago we had another great session where we played Drawful and Fibbage out of the Jackbox Party Pack. Both are awesome social party/trivia games from the same people who made the also-excellent You Don’t Know Jack. These games make great use of cell phones as controllers so anyone could play, and we had way too much fun guessing at what the heck we were drawing in Drawful. It brought back classic memories of staying up all night in another similar multiplayer game on the DS, LOL!

We followed that game up with a random game I got for Xbox One since I heard so much good buzz about it online called Overcooked. This simple four player Root Beer Tapper-meets-cooking game featured some of the most fun I have ever had in a multiplayer game. When your teamwork is firing on all cylinders it is a blast, when it is not it led to us playfully shouting at each other until one point a few of us had to drop the controllers because we were uncontrollably laughing so hard. It was a moment I will never forget. There was one other multiplayer night between us that usurped these moments, but I will save it for later. 6) Extra Life 2016 Extra Life is the annual 24 hour gaming event where we game for a day straight in order to raise funds for our local children’s hospital! These last two years I traveled down to my friends, Chris and Lyzz’s house to game for 24 hours straight. I always attempt to beat WWF No Mercy’s 100-man Survival mode, and just like all previous attempts, I failed about halfway through. There were two main takeaways from Extra Life 2016. One of them was binging through Gears of War 4’s campaign from start to finish during the 24 hours. I love me some Gears, and Extra Life happened not to long after I picked up my Xbox One, so Gears 4 ended up being one of the first games I played on it. I had to take a break halfway through Gears 4 because I signed up to run a local 10k in the area, which was actually a nice breather to get out of the house and get some exercise and fresh air! I came back revitalized and had a great time playing nonstop until I finished. Chris and Lyzz were playing their own Gears 4 campaign in split-screen coop and we both did our best to look away from each other to avoid spoilers. Turns out you cannot have a split screen system team up online with another player on their own, but we found a way to get through it on our own without spoilers! Gears 4 turned out awesome as expected, and was a return to form after the experimental game in the series that was Gears Judgment.

The other game I played later on in Extra Life I want to make sure to recognize is Mega Man 2 off the Xbox One Mega Man Legacy Collection. I never gave a Mega Man game a serious chance before. I recall trying to play the first one a couple times long ago and getting frustrated many times and not beating a single stage. In the Legacy Collection however, it has save states which I made sure to exploit to the fullest. I was saving every screen or two in Mega Man 2. I decided to start on that one since I usually hear that is the best, and it had a firm, but fair challenge level to it. I died many times, but wanted to try out different techniques in order to progress and beat each boss. I did not finish the game, but did complete three stages, which will go down as the first three levels I ever finished in a Mega Man game! One day I will return to at least finish Mega Man 2, mark my words! 5) Firewatch After finishing Dear Esther and Gone Home a couple years ago, I have become a huge fan of the genre that has become known as the walking simulator! Firewatch hit out of nowhere early in 2016 and became a much talked about indie game throughout the year. I finally played it towards the end of the summer, and relished every hour of the six or seven hours it took me to finish. The graphics are superb and perfectly capture the solitude and beauty of being a fire ranger in the vast wilderness. I could get lost out there forever, and spent many moments just pausing in the game and taking in the sublime surroundings. The score is not always present, but knows when to kick in to amplify the moments that need it.

I could not help but get immersed in the narrative between the two fire rangers, and the mystery that the two found themselves in as the summer unraveled. Reading other game of the year reactions in recent weeks I found myself in the minority that liked the twist towards the end and was not thrown for a loop by it. I really loved the final days in the game, and it all culminated in an impactful moment for me when I could tell my summer with Firewatch was coming to an end. I got lucky and managed to get in on the Limited Run release of the physical copy of the game on PS4, and look forward to replaying it sooner than later with the newly added developer commentary. 4) Objection, dedicated handheld gaming is here to stay!

I try to dedicate a couple hours a week to traditional handheld gaming. I am not talking smartphone games, but good old fashioned DS/Vita/3DS gaming! I grew up playing a ton of my various versions of the GameBoy and still try to cram in a little bit of the current stuff too. I am a huge Ace Attorney fan and spent a good chunk of my 2016 handheld gaming getting caught up in the series. I finished off Ace Attorney Investigation: Miles Edgeworth early on in the year, and spent a good chunk of 2016 gradually chipping away at the first 3DS entry in the series, Dual Destinies. The last couple weeks I finally put my first few hours in the most recent release in the series, Spirits of Justice. If you have played one Ace Attorney game before you know what to expect, and that is a ton of crazy over-the-top characters you meet investigating crime scenes and cross examine on the witness stand as you try and clear innocent names from murder cases. There is a ton of reading involved in these games which is why they take forever to get through at my rate, but they are worth it in the long run to me since I find myself craving what kind of adventures the Wright Anything Agency are getting themselves into next.

There was one other non-Ace Attorney game I snuck into for a few hours at a time in-between my travels in and out of the court room. That game was the PSone version of Final Fantasy VII on the Vita. I have started FFVII a couple times before, but never made serious progress in it, and I guess I did not make a ton of progress in it this year either, but barely set a new record for time and progress! I originally was trying to keep up with Game Informer when FFVII was a part of their Game Club feature, but quickly fell behind. I came back around to FFVII in December for a few more hours, and am glad to say that I finally got out of Midgar and into the overworld for the first time in FFVII! I went on to get through the portion of the game in the village of Kalm, and then failed a few times at trying to kill off that big serpent by the Chocobo farm outside of Kalm. I think I need to grind by there for a bit in order to proceed. While I know I am nowhere close to finishing the game, I plan to periodically pick it up and eventually beat it in 10-15 years! 3) Nintendo Sixty-Fourrrrrrr!!!! If you have somehow stuck with me through this dreadfully long top 10 blog, you might recall that I stated I had one other awesome local coop gaming night I wanted to elucidate on later. That brings us here to where my brother was visiting from out of town and he joined me, Derek and Ryan for an N64 themed night of gaming. I knew Derek and Ryan had a bunch of N64 games, and I brought a bunch of my favorites to play also. I was a little taken aback when Derek asked me to bring the N64 wrestling game I loved so much because I did not associate Derek and Ryan to be much of wrestling game fans before. Turned out that WWE 2K16 was a recent Xbox Live Games for Gold free game of the month and both of them spent a bit of time suplexing and powerbombing the heck out of each other in recent weeks and wanted to give the N64 game I raved about the most a whirl as a result. Derek and Ryan picked up the controls for WWF No Mercy in no time and we spent at least a good hour tearing each other up in intense tag team and Royal Rumble matches. I am still befuddled that Derek and Ryan had a legit good time playing wrestling games that night, and it will probably be the only night that will ever happen with them, but I will forever remember it! The night did not end there because we went on to spend hours in other four-player hits like NBA Hangtime and New Tetris. I was surprised New Tetris went over as well as it did, but the timeless puzzle game was the right breather we all needed after some heated rounds of basketball and wrestling. It would not be an N64 night if we did not bust out the Giant Bomb favorite, Mario Party 2, and we proceed to complete a 20 turn game where everybody won!

The highlight of the night however was breaking out the original console FPS multiplayer hit, Goldeneye 007. I have read many times online how this game does not hold up in modern times, but I beg to differ! Play it on a big TV and play for at least 10 minutes, and trust me, you will be conditioned to like it was 1997 all over again! That is what happened to us that night. Sure the graphics are obviously last-century, and there is a bit of slowdown in four-player split screen when the explosions start rolling, but if you are on a big screen TV after about 10 minutes, you get use to it because the core gameplay is still that damn good. We played all kinds of variants including old favorites such as Grenade Launchers in the Temple, Rocket Launchers in the Complex, Proximity Mines in the Archives and a random map incarnation of Slappers Only with Golden Gun rules so that each slap meant instant sweet death! These five games for about five-to-six hours that magical night combined for nonstop greatness and hands down my favorite multiplayer game night 2016! 2) MGS 2/3/Peace Walker Since the fall of 2015 when Metal Gear Solid V released. I swore to myself I will get around to playing through all the Metal Gear Solid games in order. Up until that point I only finished MGS4 and gave up on MGS2 after just a couple hours. I somehow have found myself still determined to meet this goal as I plugged away and finished The Twin Snakes GameCube remake of the original MGS by the end of 2015. Throughout 2016 I managed to finish MGS2 and MGS3 and got through around the first 15 story missions of Peace Walker off the HD Collection on PS3. I even dabbled a bit with the first hour of Portable Ops through backwards compatibility on the Vita, but decided to stick to playing on consoles and moved on to Peace Walker instead. So what do I make of the series thusfar? I have absolutely enjoyed the core three games immensely so far. I am probably playing these games completely wrong, but I played through all three MGS games on very easy difficulty. I have no shame, but for what it is worth I try to play stealthy, and if I blow my cover and fail to retreat that is when I bust out the AK-47 and go guns blazing. That works OK most of the time for me in very easy. In Peace Walker there is no difficulty setting so that involves a bit more trial and error, but thankfully that game’s missions are shorter since it was originally designed for the PSP so failure does not mean a ton of backtracking there.

I really enjoyed my time with the first MGS, and the updated graphics on the GCN made it much more pleasant on the eyes. By the time I finished it, even all these years after its release I could tell I finished something special. Playing as Raiden did not bother me in the sequel….unless it came to saving which sometimes resulted in a few raised eyebrows. It still had the same unique, great gameplay as the original, and managed to tell another memorable chapter in the MGS universe. That said, I still rank it at the bottom of the core trilogy I liked the least, but not by as much one may think. I am probably going to give the slight edge to MGS3 to being my favorite so far. The gameplay seemed to have hit its stride there by finally giving the ability to move and shoot simultaneously, and I actually did not mind the healing/wound treatment system in MGS3 either. The Cold War-era story is probably what I will give the nudge to me liking MGS3 the most. Each MGS game got to gradually become more bonkers in nature, and wrapping the Cold War narrative around it seemed like a perfect fit. I also loved the boss battles the most in MGS3, especially the final battle with ‘The Boss’ and the beauty with how it is presented in MGS3 will easily rank as one of my favorite moments in videogames. 1) Oxenfree When it came down to it, I only finished three games in 2016 that were released that calendar year, and Oxenfree was one of them. It is a walking simulator like Firewatch, and also like that game the small development team at Night School Studios has members that worked on the critically acclaimed first season of The Walking Dead from Telltale Games. Unlike Firewatch though, Oxenfree has far simpler 2D graphics that are watercolor-esque in nature. Do not let these simple looks deceive you, because the narrative that surrounds these four coming-of-age teens out for a night of fun on an island quickly transforms into a night of sci-fi spookiness that I will never forget and left me wanting a sequel ASAP. I am heads over heels for the script and dialogue that unloads throughout Oxenfree. One moment the cast is trying to come together to figure out the grand mystery of this island, then the next they are taking quick asides to find out more about their personal lives that encapsulates the everyday life of teenage drama. Night School Studios make tremendous use of certain camera tricks and jump cuts that do not necessarily equal out to jump scares, but sure as hell something close that had my skin crawling with goosebumps as the adventure played out.

There are several pivotal decisions that will affect gameplay, so naturally I had to play the game a second time telling myself no matter what I am going to play the game differently. A lot of the dialogue choices in the game have positive, neutral and snarky response options so I spent a good chunk of my second playthrough being a snarky jerk and it was fascinating seeing the responses I would get in return. When it came down to bite the bullet in the end and make one of the big game-changing decisions, I had to pause the game and step away from it for a few minutes to think it over. Even after doing that, I could not go back on my natural instincts and I went with my original decision in one of the most frantic moments I had in playing videogames. Shortly after I finished Oxenfree a second time I was caught off guard by the developers patching in a remixed mode for people who have finished the game that offers up a slightly new gameplay experience. These changes were minor, but they did add a few new wrinkles throughout gameplay and the dialogue would unexpectedly change at random intervals to keep me constantly alert to see what tricks Oxenfree had up its sleeve next. I think it goes without saying if a game can manage to convince me to finish it three times within a year, especially at a time when I have just a fraction of the time to game than what I use to, then Oxenfree easily walks away from 2016 as my favorite videogame experience of the year! Limited Run has a physical release for PS4 set for later this month, and you can bet your booty that I will be attempting to pick up a copy and experience this game a fourth time!

0 notes