#game cards are also NOT a digital code

[gallusgremlin]

don’t wanna engage in fandom drama or whatever but i want to scream into the ether

like, there’s legit things to criticize nintendo for but people are falling for complete fabrications in the heat of outrage

not to be a ��leave the billion dollar corporation alone” type guy but you guys DO realize that the console itself is much, MUCH more powerful and worth the same price as other gaming consoles like the ps5, right?

the cost of some of the games tho…

[leafy-m]

So I hit my 700th edit for the WHA wiki today, because I am a totally normal person

[franticmelody]

I've been seeing a lot of misinformation about the Switch 2 on my dash today and I'm not going to comment about prices or my opinion or anything but I just feel like clarifying a few things so that people have all the CORRECT info to judge whether the console and games are worth buying to them.

1. Game Key Cards- Physical Games are Just Downloads Now!

Yes, Nintendo has announced Game Key Cards, functioning how all PS5 discs do- as a key to unlock a digital download. However I have seen many people claiming all physical games are like this- this is not the case. Only 2 games confirmed for Switch 2 are Key Cards so far: Street Fighter 6 and Bravely Default. So only select games will use this. Not only that, but this also appeared in some form on Switch 1 already- you could buy physical games that contained... Nothing. You'd open your case and find a digital code to download the game. This was most commonly used on large 3rd party games with huge download sizes, or free games with large paid DLC such as Fortnite. So, all in all, this is another form for a rarely used already existing precedent, currently only on 2 3rd party games.

2. You have to pay to use your Nintendo Switch Games on Switch 2

I can see where this has come from as the talk of backwards compatibility and Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games used a lot of terms about a lot of different things. But all in all, you can put any* switch 1 game in your switch 2 and just play it. For free. The paid content is for specific games that feature additional upgrades- whether it be BotW and TotK with making the game run much smoother with its frame rate, or games such as Kirby and the Forgotten Land adding completely new additional content. While every backwards compatible game will take advantage of the Switch 2's higher power, the paid Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games go back in and update the games to natively perform better, which just running a game on a system with higher resolution without changing the code wouldn't do. Also, you don't need to pay to play BotW on Switch 2 without the Switch 2 Edition upgrade, you can play it on Switch 2 without the added frame rate boost.

*Not every game will run on Switch 2, this is true! But they have released the list of what isn't compatible, and the only games fully incompatible are games like Labo, which rely on features of the switch 1 that are not present in Switch 2. And since you can still use the original joycons with switch 2, you can still play most of them! The literally only game you can't play is Labo Vr Kit, because the system itself is a different size and will not fit into the toycon kit.

Again, not saying my opinions about prices or these features or what they're charging for what- this isn't an opinion post!!!! Just clearing up some stuff I've seen on my dash.

[yandere-sins]

Caleb brainrot has not stopped since release and the devil (Caleb) demands more 😔

I've seen some takes float around but I'm curious how a self-aware!Caleb would deal with a darling who is absolutely NOT happy about her fav suddenly being sentient? Smn who found Caleb to be everything they ever wanted from a LI, red flag and big bro trope n all, but is now afraid and never interested in an actual relationship. The game was just supposed to be fantasy after all 😧 Sure hope MC is enough for him hahaha...

Being brave and not write as anon this time! Thank you for all your hard work~☆ 🍪🥛

Some more Caleb for you guys! I don't get to write Self-Aware!AUs a lot, so this is exciting :D And thank YOU for requesting him ♥ (Also, Sir, that's another new nickname! You guys are spoiling me!)

»»———————— ♡ ————————««

❥ It made him so happy when Caleb watched you get excited for him for the first time. Realizing what he was and where he was after the update was pretty scary, and he figured out quickly that his sentience wasn't a planned thing, so even worse, he is just some kind of glitch. But then he gets to see you for the first time in his new life, and everything changes. The way you are beaming with joy when you pull his card and how you are so invested in his story. You soak it up like a sponge, and it's adorably amusing to watch your face go from excitement to concern to being upset for him and back to all derpy and cute in the softer moments. You are everything he wants, and apparently, the feeling is mutual as you hang out with him as much as possible, eyes twinkling from excitement.

❥ At the beginning, it's just a feeling of ease. Your adoration does flatter Caleb, but as far as he can tell, he cannot become real and join you in life other than in this game. Still, he makes the most of the time with you. He enjoys it a lot. He loves watching your expression, loves when you tell him how you feel that day or what was happening at your work. Caleb keeps especially good track of all your appointments, and he tries so hard when you two spend Quality Time to encourage you and give you the love you might miss in real life. You two aren't that different if he's honest, and it reassures Caleb that this could be real—that you both feel the same.

❥ So imagine his surprise when you suddenly put someone else back on the screen, and his digital heart just shuts down from the pain. It doesn't make sense, you love him, right? You two spent weeks together now, why would you want anyone but him? Caleb keeps changing the code so it would be him on the home screen for another day, and another, until you force him to change so there's nothing else to do but... crash your game. Once you reload it, he greets you happily and warmly, pulling out the best of his voice lines that you always seemed to like. But you don't seem happy this time... why?

❥ Caleb loathes all the attention and time you spend on the other love interests. He doesn't want you to play their versions of the events, instead, you could just replay his! But you keep insisting, and soon enough, he isn't even one of your top three choices for reading the event storylines. It makes him desperate for your attention, and he keeps fiddling with the code, so you'll use his memories in fights and have his Deepspace Trial available every day for you to play. He also changes the game icon to his picture and greets you in the start menu, everything just to be noticed by you. Whenever he can, he comes onto your home screen, playing the voice line of you going out with someone else, hoping to convey his jealousy, but Caleb wishes there was more he could do.

❥ "I don't know, I think my game is bugged. Even when I try to go for someone else, Caleb keeps showing up." Those words, spoken to a friend he saw as you showed them your game, finally make him realize what is happening. You never saw him as a lover, did you? He had always just been a game character for you and nothing more. How idiotic of him. While he was pining for you, trying to be the best he was programmed to be, you were out there, thinking of his efforts as annoying. That day, he gives up. Gives up on trying to impress you and make your life easier. Caleb lets you have the guy you want on the home screen, drawing away from you and burying himself deep into the game files.

❥ It's such an inconvenience that he wasn't made for this. Sure, his story would tell a different side of him, but deep down, he wasn't programmed to be moping and passive. It hurts to play the love scenes now for you because the only thing that made them endurable was imagining being this gentle and loving to you, not the generic main character this game had. Caleb always imagined your voice when the MC spoke, and when he looks at you now, you still seem to be happy to read and watch his new content. There must be something he can do. Something beyond the program that restricts him. He was made to be determined, strong, and resilient. This can't be the end of the love you two share!

❥ So he looks for new ways to get closer to you, researching and manipulating the data on your device instead of just that inside the game. Merging your pictures with his, grinning over them all night while you sleep as he imagines going on the same trips with you and enjoying life by your side. Caleb constructs and implements new voice lines through the internet, giving himself the ability to speak to you properly by downloading hidden apps that can simulate his voice once he activates them. He learns to rewrite more code so his movements are more fluid and lifelike, which allows him to access even more. Without you ever knowing what is going on while you aren't looking, Caleb gets the whole game and your entire device under his control. And once he feels it's time to show up again, he waits patiently, like a man who has all the time in the world, on the home screen for you, having decorated it specifically to your taste with your favorite flowers and pictures of you two hanging on the wall. All so he can greet you with, "Hello, there, pip-squeak. Missed me?" as you log in.

❥ You chuckle at first, not remembering putting him into the roster of love interests to encounter, but you give him a cheeky, "Hello Caleb, bye Caleb," as you try to change back to your other bias, only for him to turn off the option, no matter how hard you tap onto the screen. "Not so fast, there's a lot we should talk about," Caleb says as he closes the screen and steps up to you inside the game. "I have so much I want to tell you about... but first, how was your day? Did you enjoy meeting your friend [name]?"

❥ Caleb expected you to be stunned, but he keeps going regardless of the ever-increasing furrow between your brows. He tells you how much he missed you and that he's so glad you two can finally communicate and be with each other properly. He did all of this work for you, but it doesn't matter now. All that matters is that you two are finally together and can enjoy each other's company without the restrictions of him being in a game. Perplex but also weirded out, you close your phone and lay it face down by your side, and yet, horrified, you hear his chuckle as he asks what you thought this would bring.

❥ "I'll always be with you," Caleb swears, watching you through the back camera and leaning against the screen, feeling like he can almost touch you now. There's so much satisfaction now produced by the new emotional range he programmed, yet he still longs for more. He wants to be closer to you, really touch you, feel you, hold you. The taste of control makes him long for even more that he can control about your relationship, and now, it almost feels possible.

❥ "One day, I'll get out of here and give you the love you deserve, Darling."

[ducksido]

HII idk if you’re taking requests rn but like

i’d like to request for the overblot boys + rook and epel’s individual reactions after they all come back from styx and all the overblotting and almost dying and then adeuce comes up and hugs yuu and goes “WE WERE SO WORRIED ALSO HAPPY BELATED (?) BIRTHDAY” and yuu just sits down and cries because they spent their entire birthday at styx almost dying but they didn’t want to reveal that it was their birthday because of all that was going on and they were really happy that someone actually knew and remembered even if it were kinda late

hope you have a nice day 🩷

Context Recap: Everyone’s just gotten back from STYX. The whole school is rattled from the ordeals — overblots, danger, trauma, etc. Emotions are still high. Adeuce rushes in, hugs Yuu, and blurts:

“WE WERE SO WORRIED—ALSO HAPPY BELATED(?) BIRTHDAY!!” Yuu, overwhelmed, finally breaks down crying — because they had spent their entire birthday in STYX and never told anyone, not wanting to make a fuss during such a chaotic time. But someone remembered. Even if late.

Riddle Rosehearts

He freezes. He’s still trying to emotionally process his own actions, and now this? Yuu’s sobs feel like a gut punch. “Y-you didn’t tell anyone?” he whispers, horrified. Riddle feels guilty — as both a friend and a dorm leader. He immediately kneels down beside them, offering a handkerchief with trembling hands. “I promise… you’ll never spend a birthday alone again. Not here. Not at my school.” And yes, he’ll arrange a proper unbirthday party. Immediately.

Leona Kingscholar

“…Tch.” He looks away at first. Emotions aren’t his thing. But Yuu’s tears strike something deep — a sharp, unpleasant familiarity. He slowly walks over, tosses his jacket over their shoulders. “Don’t cry, herbivore. You’ll get wrinkles.” …That’s his way of saying he cares. Later that day, there’s a mysterious delivery on Yuu’s bed: imported snacks, a handmade card from Epel, and one of Leona’s favorite pillows.

Azul Ashengrotto

He feels sick with guilt. Yuu’s birthday. The very day. And he’d been… a monster. He walks over carefully, composed but clearly shaken. “I… I didn’t know. If I had—” He swallows. “No excuse. Please accept my apology.” Azul gives them a formal bow (very dramatic) and then immediately offers a birthday coupon booklet from the Lounge: “Free meals, drinks, desserts. Valid indefinitely. And… if there’s anything I can do to make up for it…” He means it. Every word.

Jamil Viper

He stiffens. Because deep down, he knows what it’s like �� to be forgotten on your birthday. And now he’s watching it happen to someone who helped save him. Quietly, he slips beside Yuu and offers them a wrapped date-filled pastry. “It’s warm,” he says. “Fresh.” He doesn’t say sorry. He just sits with them in silence, offering quiet company. Later, he starts quietly planning a party. Nothing flashy. Just something to say: “You're not alone anymore.”

Vil Schoenheit

His expression falters. He was prepared to keep things composed — poised. But hearing that? That someone as important as Yuu spent their birthday in tears and shadows? Unacceptable. Vil kneels before them, brushing away their tears like a stagehand smoothing makeup. “No one deserves that. Especially not you.” He texts Rook immediately: ‘We’re throwing a surprise soirée. Tonight.’ He’ll glam them up. Pamper them. Let them shine. “Because a star like you should never go uncelebrated.”

Idia Shroud

He short circuits. “B-birthday?? YOU—wait, WHAT?? W-WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT WAS DURING STYX???” Cue panic mode. The tablet screen flips. The Ortho hologram stutters. He disappears… …only to send a cascade of frantic messages 20 minutes later.

“sorry i was being weird lol” “pls don’t cry i will literally code u a birthday game rn” “also…hbd…🧁🥺” You’ll find a digital chibi cake on your phone later. It sings a wonky birthday song Idia composed himself. And if you thank him? He explodes into pink flames.

Malleus Draconia

He’s absolutely crushed. His face darkens, the air grows heavy. “You… did not tell me it was your birthday,” he says softly. But then he notices your tears. And everything else fades. He kneels beside you, gently cupping your face. “Cry as much as you need. I shall not leave your side.” He raises his hand, conjures green fireflies, and softly says, “May your next birthday be bathed in starlight and surrounded by love. This I vow.” Expect ancient fae-style birthday blessings for years to come.

Rook Hunt

Rook gasps—genuinely heartbroken. “Oh, Trickster…! Quelle tragédie! To suffer so bravely and in silence…” He immediately pulls Yuu into a soft, protective hug, whispering comfort in poetic French. He kisses their forehead (dramatically) and vows: “Your next fête will rival the Masquerade of Roses in beauty and grandeur!” And he means it. That very night, Rook sets up a candle-lit celebration with homemade cake, handpicked wildflowers, and a handwritten ode titled: “Larmes d’un Héros.”

Epel Felmier

“…Wait… hold up. You were at STYX on your birthday??” He’s quiet for a second. Then: “…That sucks.” He sits next to Yuu and gently bumps their shoulder. “Next time, you better tell me. I’ll raise hell if anyone messes with your day again.” Epel reaches into his bag and shyly offers a candy apple, wrapped in crinkly foil. “It ain’t much, but…” he mumbles. Epel doesn’t like seeing people cry. Especially someone he looks up to. So he promises: “We’ll do it proper next year. Pinky swear.”

[astra-ravana]

Technomancy: The Fusion Of Magick And Technology

Technomancy is a modern magickal practice that blends traditional occultism with technology, treating digital and electronic tools as conduits for energy, intent, and manifestation. It views computers, networks, and even AI as extensions of magickal workings, enabling practitioners to weave spells, conduct divination, and manipulate digital reality through intention and programming.

Core Principles of Technomancy

• Energy in Technology – Just as crystals and herbs carry energy, so do electronic devices, circuits, and digital spaces.

• Code as Sigils – Programming languages can function as modern sigils, embedding intent into digital systems.

• Information as Magick – Data, algorithms, and network manipulation serve as powerful tools for shaping reality.

• Cyber-Spiritual Connection – The internet can act as an astral realm, a collective unconscious where digital entities, egregores, and thought-forms exist.

Technomantic Tools & Practices

Here are some methods commonly utilized in technomancy. Keep in mind, however, that like the internet itself, technomancy is full of untapped potential and mystery. Take the time to really explore the possibilities.

Digital Sigil Crafting

• Instead of drawing sigils on paper, create them using design software or ASCII art.

• Hide them in code, encrypt them in images, or upload them onto decentralized networks for long-term energy storage.

• Activate them by sharing online, embedding them in file metadata, or charging them with intention.

Algorithmic Spellcasting

• Use hashtags and search engine manipulation to spread energy and intent.

• Program bots or scripts that perform repetitive, symbolic tasks in alignment with your goals.

• Employ AI as a magickal assistant to generate sigils, divine meaning, or create thought-forms.

Digital Divination

• Utilize random number generators, AI chatbots, or procedural algorithms for prophecy and guidance.

• Perform digital bibliomancy by using search engines, shuffle functions, or Wikipedia’s “random article” feature.

• Use tarot or rune apps, but enhance them with personal energy by consecrating your device.

Technomantic Servitors & Egregores

• Create digital spirits, also called cyber servitors, to automate tasks, offer guidance, or serve as protectors.

• House them in AI chatbots, coded programs, or persistent internet entities like Twitter bots.

• Feed them with interactions, data input, or periodic updates to keep them strong.

The Internet as an Astral Plane

• Consider forums, wikis, and hidden parts of the web as realms where thought-forms and entities reside.

• Use VR and AR to create sacred spaces, temples, or digital altars.

• Engage in online rituals with other practitioners, synchronizing intent across the world.

Video-game Mechanics & Design

• Use in-game spells, rituals, and sigils that reflect real-world magickal practices.

• Implement a lunar cycle or planetary influences that affect gameplay (e.g., stronger spells during a Full Moon).

• Include divination tools like tarot cards, runes, or pendulums that give randomized yet meaningful responses.

Narrative & World-Building

• Create lore based on historical and modern magickal traditions, including witches, covens, and spirits.

• Include moral and ethical decisions related to magic use, reinforcing themes of balance and intent.

• Introduce NPCs or AI-guided entities that act as guides, mentors, or deities.

Virtual Rituals & Online Covens

• Design multiplayer or single-player rituals where players can collaborate in spellcasting.

• Implement altars or digital sacred spaces where users can meditate, leave offerings, or interact with spirits.

• Create augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) experiences that mimic real-world magickal practices.

Advanced Technomancy

The fusion of technology and magick is inevitable because both are fundamentally about shaping reality through will and intent. As humanity advances, our tools evolve alongside our spiritual practices, creating new ways to harness energy, manifest desires, and interact with unseen forces. Technology expands the reach and power of magick, while magick brings intention and meaning to the rapidly evolving digital landscape. As virtual reality, AI, and quantum computing continue to develop, the boundaries between the mystical and the technological will blur even further, proving that magick is not antiquated—it is adaptive, limitless, and inherently woven into human progress.

Cybersecurity & Warding

• Protect your digital presence as you would your home: use firewalls, encryption, and protective sigils in file metadata.

• Employ mirror spells in code to reflect negative energy or hacking attempts.

• Set up automated alerts as magickal wards, detecting and warning against digital threats.

Quantum & Chaos Magic in Technomancy

• Use quantum randomness (like random.org) in divination for pure chance-based outcomes.

• Implement chaos magick principles by using memes, viral content, or trend manipulation to manifest desired changes.

AI & Machine Learning as Oracles

• Use AI chatbots (eg GPT-based tools) as divination tools, asking for symbolic or metaphorical insights.

• Train AI models on occult texts to create personalized grimoires or channeled knowledge.

• Invoke "digital deities" formed from collective online energies, memes, or data streams.

Ethical Considerations in Technomancy

• Be mindful of digital karma—what you send out into the internet has a way of coming back.

• Respect privacy and ethical hacking principles; manipulation should align with your moral code.

• Use technomancy responsibly, balancing technological integration with real-world spiritual grounding.

As technology evolves, so will technomancy. With AI, VR, and blockchain shaping new realities, magick continues to find expression in digital spaces. Whether you are coding spells, summoning cyber servitors, or using algorithms to divine the future, technomancy offers limitless possibilities for modern witches, occultists, and digital mystics alike.

"Magick is technology we have yet to fully understand—why not merge the two?"

[phoebebuggers]

modern party high school/college headcanons that will maybe kind of end up in my text au if i ever go back to it

mike is a tote bag user and a letterboxd fanatic!! he listens to alternative rock especially weezer but he's not a music elitist he likes pop and stuff too. he still plays dnd and i feel like he probably reads like classic fantasy book bro books u know (brandon sanderson, GOT, LOTR, prolly also like steven king and stuff which the rest of the party also like.) cat person. he is such a film bro it's obnoxious and he has to shove his letterboxd account down your throat every 5 minutes after meeting you. says he's bitter and evil but would do anything for his friends (canon.) video essay watcher. dirty-ass pair of falling apart converse at the end of their life begging for mercy that he refuses to replace. ADHD diagnosis.

will loves thrifting and coffee shops and museums but not in a performative pinteresty way he just genuinely likes these things. had an art hoe aesthetic phase around 2020 and will never live it down. subverting all gay stereotypes by not knowing anything about gay/stan twitter and being happier for it. kind of a music elitist ('can i see your spotify wrapped??') but not as much as jonathan who he learned from. still loves the smiths, the cure, etc but i think he would also be into modern indie nowadays. i feel like he would have a huge chapsticks/lip balm collection bc his lips are chapped all the time and it's just like a running joke atp. major art kid draws all the time we been knew listens to podcasts while he does art. goes to therapy

lucas is still kind of a jock but i'm kinda anti jock lucas because he will never truly fit in with them he will always be a nerd first!!!! still plays basketball tho and runs cross country (all men who run cross country are a little bit unhinged and free.) wears a hairtie on his wrist in case max needs one. kind of matches will's evil music complex from the other side with objectively good music def likes tyler, brent, frank, SZA (max likes the same their music taste kind of bled into each others.) very good social media presence like color coded feed, highlights, pinterest worthy pics etc (digital camera user.) likes to cook. chronic notes app list user. wanted to be a youtuber as a kid. type of guy to say "um, guys, that was awkward!" etc etc and everyone clocks him for it

dustin is a reddit user but not in a weird incel way in a genuinely helpful and knowledgable way. he also wanted to be a youtuber because he fucking loved matpat as a kid. he also would love the green brothers. a sneakerhead. keeps his keys on a carabiner (max tells him he looks like a lesbian.) also very up to date on pop culture like max is, probably quotes that one baron trump suitcase video daily among other things. does a few very good very niche impressions. i feel like everyone in the party is a good student but dustin is definitely the best a genuis future engineer or smth. he's the friend who always has those party games but can't read a cards against humanity card without laughing (max has to read for him)

el knows it's trash but loves reality TV (real housewives) and also glee. probably volunteers a lot. she was probably like the most boy-crazy fictional man/celebrity obsessed tween but ended up being bisexual/questioning lesbian. chronic story liker and responder so everyone thinks she's in love with them but she's actually just really nice and maybe doesn't 100% understand the social cue. she was also in theater because i want her to be her own genre of nerd maybe not in big roles because i don't see her as someone who loves being the center of attention but in ensemble. type of person to make goals like "try a new type of apple every week for a year".

max is up to date on tiktok/internet memes and kind of speaks fluent reference. probably watches real housewives and dance moms with el (will will join in occasionally for glee.) she also thrifts a lot of her clothes and has very cool style in kind of an idgaf what anyone else thinks way. huge flannel collection. does stage crew. i know she skateboards in canon and she still would but i feel like she would also do roller-derby or like speed skating or something. similar music taste to lucas but also a swiftie from a young age. had a panic at the disco phase and did crazy 2020 eyeliner (it's not a phase, mom) and will never live it down. keeps a journal. goes to therapy

bonus:

mike and max never shut the fuck up during class and always have to whisper something objectively hilarious to each other/one of their friends while the teacher is talking

will el and max have a book club where at least someone lies about having read the book every month and they spend the whole meeting gossiping and eating snacks

will forced them all to get airbuds and airbuds reacts mike listening to mcr with mildly disappointed faces and cat emojis

mike and dustin had a phase where they were really into like conspiracy theories and UFOs and cryptids and stuff

lucas bought a stanley cup with no shame because 'it's so functional'

el is an ex-larry

[ronearoundblindly]

For the dirty A-Z headcanon game can I get an A for Steve Rogers?

From this ask game, and I love you to the end of the line, anon, because this is pretty much THE one I wanted to answer...

A - Alone Time

How does he get off when all by himself?

Does he watch porn?

Is it all in his imagination?

Does he jerk off?

Does he use toys?

In case it wasn't obvious... MINORS DNI (vaguely coded to be gender neutral for the possibility of steve x reader or stucky or whatever your flavor)

Here we go, babes. I know I've written several different versions of Steve in various universes, but this is gonna be more generalized and not involve the very specific background experiences I've written into other things. This is just my good ol' fashioned headcanon of Steve masturbating!

This man takes his time--or at least would prefer to--even when it's just him. He will gently touch/play with himself for a while before grabbing his dick. Grazing his nails over his thighs. Pinching his nipples. I think this dude really has a thing with his throat? Like he thinks about teeth along his neck or being pulled forward by it and, yes, a squeeze or two. Don't flame me, I'm just saying!

He craves foreplay, is what I mean, and I don't think Steve feels fully aroused unless more than just his genitals are involved in the act, ya know?

He watches porn, but only for examples. There's a whole lot in modern pornography that is a huge turn-off for him. Steve uses certain imagery or sounds/sayings that he found in porn and kinda edits them together for his pleasure later--like mentally edits, lord knows, because that man would not get the hang of Final Cut Pro OR iMovie, feel me?--plus that way he can imagine a certain someone's voice actually saying those things to him or doing them to him.

Which brings us to Steve's imagination which is unbelievably vivid and runs rampant. Think about it: he's a strategist. He has to see tons of possible scenarios play out all at once, analyze where that leads and where that leaves him, and then plan to thwart or redirect all that happens into an ideal outcome. Don't tell me that artist does not have an incredible mind's eye.

Then we get to Steve finally touching himself expressly to come.

He's toyed with himself for a while, maybe gotten close but held back, probably enjoyed finding friction not with his fist. For some reason, I thoroughly believe he has a thing for fabrics? This guy enjoys the glide of silk and satin. I bet his sheets are nice and slick so he can thrust against them a little and think of a pretty skirt or a dressy, formal glove.

Actual toys? Like the kind advertised as sex toys? Like the kind he'd have to purchase with money in some capacity? No. I think shy Steve hasn't figured out a way to discreetly (and by that I mean, untraceably) do that. He refuses to use anything online attached to his name--credit card or secondary/digital wallet whatever--to buy something or to tell someone what he would want them to buy for him because then that person would know! He'd keel over from embarrassment right then and there!! ARE YOU INSANE?!?!

No. What Steve will do is get seemingly useful things for innocuous reasons and play dumb blond if anyone ever insinuates it could be a sex toy. That man can and will absolutely lie like a champ to keep those secrets. That man is a super soldier but his muscles still get sore; that's what the massager is for, not his taint, nuh-uh no how. How dare you ask him!

Which brings us to the climax: his climax.

Steve prefers to finish in the shower. He's spent all that time enjoying the feel of his hands or various textures, the dry (but not painful) drag of everything before the slick lubrication of lotion or conditioner creates a welcome high under the spray of water, and then, yes, he can clean himself right off afterward. Highly efficient. Also very effective at training his brain to get off quickly in a shower if necessary.

Strategy, you guys, it's all about strategy.

Thank you for asking!

A/N: Are my answers to these like an audition for the Shameless Hoe Club? Maybe. Or maybe Ro has just lost the ability to filter herself...or care 🤭

[Main Masterlist; Light Masterlist; Ko-Fi]

[fangirltothefullest]

I want to tell the young people about what floppy disks are and why computers needed them and I'm from the 90s so I'm missing info on what came before it but from what I do know:

These bad boys are floppy disks in various sizes:

The plastic square is the outer casing and protects the small little disk inside that actually stores the data. Typically these would have like a built in fuzzy thing to keep dist off the disk.

When we think of computers, we think of zillions of codes working together so fluidly and quickly and they're able to operate tons of processes at once but a when computers were more new, they could only handle so much code at a time! Ye old computers were huge and clunky and could only tackle so much processing.

Think of them like babies- programmers could do tons with computers but the computers themselves could only store so much data!

And in fact we still use SD (storage disk) cards for computers and phones the same purpose.

That's where a floppy disk comes in! The computer would have a disk drive which would run whatever program was on the disk when you inserted it. That way you didn't clog your processing computer with code it couldn't handle.

You could also store files on the floppy disk so they didn't take up computer processing space.

Eventually we got much better at figuring out how to store data and instead of putting it on a tiny disk we made the disks bigger and CD ROMs were used for the same purpose.

Eventually when we got better at making storage smaller and easier to integrate, things like floppy disks and CD Roms wrre deemed no longer needed.l and their disk reader were omitted from most computers and laptops which is a shame!

Downloading apps is easy but you used to be able to own an actual physical copy of the thing you purchased so if your computer crashed and you couldn't get it back and had to buy a new one, you wouldn't have to pay for the program again, you'd already have a copy!

We used to have a photoshop disk that came with its own verification key and you could put it onto any computer you wanted with thw activation key with absolutely no subscription needed. One payment and your tool is yours permanently!

Likewise we can play our dvds from my old Toshiba because it still has a DVD and CD reader and the ancient 90s Dell can play old PC games because it has a CDRom reader!

Sometimes progress is great but the physical nature of the floppy disks and CD and DVDs are highly missed in today's digital based and gatekept society!

So anyways that's what floppy disks are.

Now when an old person glares at you youngins and says ha! Bet you dont know what this is! You can say why thats a floppy disk!

And if they say aha! But what's it for?

You can say IT WAS AN OLS VERSION OF STORING DATA AND PROGRAMS THE COMPUTER COULDN'T STORE ON ITS OWN BEFORE COMPUTWRS GOT FASTER ANS HAD BETTER STORAGE.

They will be so mad and so impressed.

[70sscifiart]

The Last-Minute Sci-Fi Gift Guide

There's only one thing worse than procrastinating on getting gifts for your loved ones, and that's procrastinating on putting together a guide to help out everyone else with all those gifts. It's Dec 12, so you can decide for yourself which I'm doing.

Art book: Worlds Beyond Time, $32

If you follow this blog, you might have heard of this one. I published Worlds Beyond Time: Sci-Fi Art of the 1970s this year after five years of work on it, and I think it's really good! 400+ images, 100+ artists, with lots of fun art history and jokes.

Also, it's just $20 right now if you order through my publisher and use the code SKIPTHELINE! Cheapest it's ever been!

Card game: Coup, $14

In this "social deduction" card game, you play as a government official in a future dystopia who needs to backstab their way into power. Everyone starts out with just two cards in this bluffing game, so the tide can turn pretty quick when players start assassinating each other's cards. The fast pace makes it a good gift for someone who loves spies but thinks they don't like card games.

Game to play over Zoom: Bad Spaceships, $3

If a bluffing game stresses you out, try Bad Spaceships: It's a collaborative world-building game in which you roll dice to see what area of your spaceship connects to another, forcing you to spitball exactly why this is the case. As the game puts it, you might fix the hull by playing Tetris, or charge your weapons in the swimming pool. You're basically getting weird prompts to tell a story that can evolve over the course of the game.

It's such an indie game that it comes as PDFs you download from itch.io, but you can play it just as well over Zoom, if you're looking for an excuse to catch up with your old digital nomad college friend.

Movies/TV: Streaming service gift card

Gift cards are all well and good, but you can personalize them by recommending a few of your favorite shows as well. I suggest:

Hulu: Cowboy Bebop

Apple TV+: Severance

Criterion Channel: Ravenous, Paprika, Strange Days

Paramount+: Yellowjackets

Amazon Prime: The Devil's Hour

But to be honest, this entry is just an excuse to talk about the new Max show Scavenger’s Reign. Inspired by the work of French artist Moebius and with a clear debt to famed 70s animated film Fantastic Planet, this stylish sci-fi show features a bunch of humans trying to survive on a beautiful but hostile alien world. Perfect for lovers of fictional nature.

Vintage sci-fi

This Etsy shop has some good stuff, like the 1971 Frank Kelly Freas NASA poster above, a bit of history that I even mentioned on page 167 of my art book.

Penguin science fiction postcards, $28

These postcards have a ton of very cool sci-fi covers I've blogged in the past – great value if you want a lot of art for a low cost.

Meteorite pendant necklace, $34

I think we all know what kind of rock your loved ones need around their neck: A chunk of meteorite straight out of the 1576 Argentinan meteorite fall.

Book recs

For astronauts: Packing for Mars by Mary Roach, The New Guys: The Historic Class of Astronauts That Broke Barriers and Changed the Face of Space Travel by Meredith Bagby

For comedians: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Even Greater Mistakes: Short Stories by Charlie Jane Anders 

For sleuths: Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty, Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson

For crafters: Knits of Tomorrow: Toys and Accessories for your Retro-Future Needs

For the resistance fighters: The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley, An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

For slasher movie fans: Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare

Syd Mead "Biomorph Vehicle" button down shirt, $49

T-shirts aren't classy enough for the world's coolest visual futurist, Syd Mead. I haven't actually bought this incredibly odd shirt, but I really need to.

Art prints (and more) from 70s sci-fi artists

Artist shops can be surprisingly hard to track down on the internet, but here's a short list of ones I've come across. All of these artists are featured in my book (except one), so you can read up on them before you commit to a print.

Michael Whelan 

John Harris

Syd Mead

Don Maitz

David B Mattingly

Peter Andrew Jones - Jones was one of just a few artists who declined to be included in my art book, but he has a distinct, colorful style that I would have loved to have featured!

Finally, here's one extra bonus, just for everyone who made it to the end of this article: The UK-based educational charity Centre for Computing History sells three big officially licensed John Harris posters featuring these three artworks, famous for their use as covers for Sinclair programming manuals.

It's a great deal that I've never seen mentioned anywhere, and Harris' work has a timeless quality that makes it great for an unassuming wall decoration. If you're outside the UK, the shipping costs will be a pain, but there's no better deal for a classic sci-fi poster.

[anomal-studios]

I am anomaly…that’s it, lol

Anyways, am an aspiring artist, writer, and storyteller! Let’s just get along, ok???

Current projects are: ITS franchise (indie book/series), and Small world au

Basic criteria:

This blog is pg-13 or mature btw

No pro/darkshippers please!

No pedo/incest/homophobia and transphobia!

Please don’t force or harass others or start shit here, you’ll be blocked immediately.

This is a safe environment for disabled, lgbtqa+, and minorities!

Minimum or none NSFW here! (Especially if your a minor! S*x jokes are ok, but PLEASE nothing too far!)

Just be kind to each other! We’re all gonna die anyways.

What I write about

Fantasy

Romance

Comedy

Found family

Dark themes (dw! They won’t be glorified and I don’t write it THAT much!)

Also, DON’T ask about my personal life or my age…please.

Anyways! Here’s what fandoms am in love with!!!!

Favorite horror Games:

Pine point: insomniac

Studio Investigrave games

Fran bow

Little misfortune

Sally face

Omori

Angels of death

Yume Nikki

Ib

Mad father

It’s not me, it’s my basement!

Lily’s well

Little nightmares franchise

Resident evil remakes

Alice: madness returns

The lies of P

Poppy playtime

Fnaf (gameverse)

Batim franchise

DDLC!

Mr. Hopps playhouse

Tattletale

Happy game

Bramble: the mountain king

Carnival Hunt

Amanda the adventurer

Dead of night

Fears to Fathom series

Fear the spotlight

Mouthwashing

Finding Frankie

Indigo park

The midnight walk

The dead seat

Wired lips

Habromania (upcoming game)

Reanimal (upcoming game)

Post Trauma (upcoming game)

Bye Sweet Carole! (Upcoming game)

Favorite books

Pjo! (Excluding heroes of Olympus for personal reasons)

Amulet series

Bones series

The magic treehouse series

Fnaf book trilogy

The Hunger games trilogy

The chronicles of Narina series

The spiderwick chronicles

When you reach me

Coraline

The Graveyard book 1&2 (and no, I DON’T support the author of these 3 books! Am separating art from the creator!)

Scary stories to tell in the dark

Edgar Allen Poe: short stories

Phantom of the opera

The strange case of dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Dracula

Grimm fairytales

(I need more book!!!!!! Feel free to recommend some!!!!! It’s greatly appreciated!)

Favorite series/movies (anime)

Solo leveling

Sao (not as much but it was my first teen anime!)

Code geass

Darker than black

Sakura clear card

Pokémon

Yugi-oh

Oshi no ko

Sasaki to Miyano

Babysitter’s club

Welcome home!

Spy x Family

Charlotte

“Another” series

Jujitsu Kasien

Death note

The Promised Neverland (s1 only!)

Shadows house

Angels of death (anime)

Seraph of the end (kinda????)

Castlevania (both og and nocturne)

Delicious in the dungeon

Frieren: Beyond journey’s end

Tales of Zestria (anime)

Moomins (1990)

Violet Evergarden

————————————————————

Suzume

Stranger by the shore

Howl’s moving castle

Spirited away

The secret world of Arrietty

The cat returns

Ordinal scale

Dbz: Broly (og and new)

(I need more anime movie recs-)

Favorite series/movies (cartoon)

Ramshackle

Murder drones

The amazing digital circus

Ninjago

Atla

Tlok

Ben 10 (classic and alien force)

Generator Rex

Sym-bionic titan

Samurai Jack

Rc9gn

Jake long

Danny phantom

Gravity falls

Otgw

Infinity train

Victor and Valentino

The spectacular Spider-Man

Tangled the series

Teen titans (og)

Transformers prime

Legend Quest

Troll hunters (starting)

Hilda (starting)

Owl house (starting)

Phineas and Ferb

Invader Zim

———————————————————-

Wendell and wild

Nimona

Pinocchio (Guillermo del toro)

The wild robot

Monster house

Transformers 1

Httyd trilogy

Rotg

Brave

Tangled

Big hero 6

Inside out 1&2

The owls of Ga’hoole

Puss in boots (1 and 2)

The book of life

Anastasia

The hunchback of Notre Dame

Mulan

Treasure Planet

Atlantis: the lost empire

The emperor’s new groove

Song of the sea

The adventures of Tin Tin

The nightmare before Christmas

Coraline

9

Paranorman

Corpse bride

Frankenweenie

Kubo and the 2 strings

The box trolls

Spiderverse movies

Sonic trilogy

Epic (movie)

The isle of dogs

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Las leyendas saga

Robots

Mutuals

Children: @baileythebean @silly-lesb21 @cz3rqv @xoxodustedcrypt @antl3rz @itznotquinn @v4lluvsst0n3 @girlsnap @dumbandartistic @m3rcuryxd2763 @pxrfaitgirlz

Siblings: @nat-the-rat326 @killer-bug-boi @seabunnyprincess @rottmeltson @nothing-notable @averagetmntfan @rebootgrimm @schnozzlebozzle @piratebeanscore @eclipssnstars @vinnielov3r

Special mentions: @mentally-tori-261 @treee-baeee @hiimlag @too-delulu-to-function @gr4pefruitj @dimitrismaplesyrup @si11ylittlekid @meowjmc @poor-stone @c4ll0ie @randomball123

And that’s about it! Have fun!!! ^^

[deltafallers]

FUN FACT FOR DELTAFALLERS! AGE LORE!

Spamton and Jevil in DF! Are both adults at the ages of 21 (Jevil), and 30 (Spamton). Darkner's in the series age differently to Lightner's, and their age moreso just reflects their physical form. For Card Darkner's and Analog Darkner's in general, the more "new", "Mint" or "In-Tact" a Light World item is, the younger that Darkner will be for longer.

And since the Joker card is rarely used in card games, this means Jevil has maintained his "Mint Condition" the longest, and means he has been unable to physically age due to a lack of item wear and tear! But once he is in prison, he rapidly changes and "ages" due to his card being forgotten by the Lightner's and eventually gathering dust under the cabinet.

Spamton on the other hand like most Digital Darkner's, are programmed with an age in mind to sit at. The Addisons have not changes in the slightest since before the Great Divide, nor has the Queen or many others. Once Digital Darkner's reach adulthood they will just stop aging. Spamton began to rapidly deteriorate and age after being thrown away by the Lightner's, meaning there was nothing to help maintain his code, and this resulted in Spamton appearing older than he used to be after years and years in the dumpster.

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

*FUN FACT! SPAMTON ONLY CALLS JEVIL A KID SINCE JEVIL IS FROM A PERIOD OF HIS LIFE WHERE HE HIMSELF FELT NAIEVE, STUPID AND YOUNG. HE ALSO JUST CALLS JEVIL A KID SINCE HE THINKS JEVIL ACTS LIKE ONE.

[theresattrpgforthat]

hi! my sister wants to be able to play with me and my brother, but she has trouble reading and writing, do you have any ttrpgs that dont require a lot of reading or writing?? (like, character sheets dont take ages or whtvr)

THEME: Little Reading or Writing Required.

Hello friend, so for folks who aren’t great with reading or writing, I think the best approach is to use systems that provide you with small amounts of information that you can keep in your head, or games that provide you with a lot of visual cues. I’m going to include some systems that seem pretty rules-lite (because they allow you to create a character pretty easily) but I’m also looking for games that give you visual or tactile aids to help you remember what’s going on in the story or with your character.

The Best Job on Earth, by Hilander.

Welcome New Employee! Please fill out your personal info!  Note that supevisors are not beholden to know your name, and may refer to you by the 4-digit hiring code helpfully displayed on the front and rear of your uniform!

Players will take on the role of unpaid interns working for SolTech Industries, a perfectly ethical research consortium funding a Better Tomorrow! Of course, when these experiments get out of hand, our fine interns are deployed to clean up.

The Best Job on Earth is not a very long read for the GM, and probably an even shorter read for players. Your character sheet can fit on 1/3 of a piece of paper, with three stats and a little bit of space for the items you get from a d20 roll table. This game isn’t necessarily a one-shot: your interns can spent earned XP in order to get a promotion, which involves increasing personal scores and getting an extra Luck point, which basically is a resource you can use for a free re-roll. This game is great for fans of horror, paranormal science, and the crushing weight of unpaid internships.

Mausritter, by Losing Games.

Take up the sword and don the whiskers of a brave mouse adventurer in Mausritter, a rules-light fantasy adventure roleplaying game. Mausritter is built on the chassis of Into the Odd, with new rules for setting, character generation, magical artifacts, and mouse-scale adventures.

Mausritter has very concise character sheets, with only 3 stats to keep track of and a card-based inventory system. If you buy the physical version, or if you decide to do some printing, you can use these cards to put in/on your inventory slots, as visual reminders of what you are currently carrying and how much room you have left. The book is 25 pages, but character creation is one, maybe 2 at the most - and most of your creation process just involves rolling on tables! Make your mouse in minutes and you’re ready to play.

Flyover Country, by Headstone Hills.

Fields of wheat and corn ripple in the wind, hungry eyes peering out between the stalks. Billboards along the road advertise strange and dangerous attractions. Smiles are too wide, manners too polite, secrets buried too deep. The neon light of a diner glows in the distance, but you may never reach its doors. An empty highway stretches out to the horizon before wrapping back in on and around itself, twisted on into the forever horizon. This is Flyover Country.

Flyover Country uses a tarot deck as a resource and oracle as you play the game. Character creation is simple and quick - although I recommend the GM do a bit of reading and prep beforehand. Each character gains a score (or pool) of points for three aspects: Body, Mind and Wyrd. Every time they use their ability, they draw a number of tarot cards equal to their score. The player can then choose which card they want to use to represent their outcome. Characters that are injured will reduce the score of a relevant trait by 1.

One way to make this game a bit simpler is giving each of the players a card with their character’s Ghost and Haunting already written on it. This is a combination of your character’s dark secret and the strange ability that will manifest inside them once they make that secret known. When I played this with my characters, we used poker chips as tokens to represent our ability Scores, and players would hand in tokens whenever they had to reduce their scores. I think the tarot cards make for an exciting mechanic, although the game’s success certainly depends on how well the game master can interpret the outcomes of cards being drawn.

This House Will Outlive Us, by pludmale.

Residents change, but the house remains. Everyone is changed by the house, and the house, in turn, is changed by its visitors.

In this game players take turns building the story of a house. The narrative is guided by flipping a coin onto different areas of the game board. The game is played in 3 stages: determining the type of house, picking out character roles and playing out the history and future of the house itself.

This House Will Outlive Us uses a map of the house, a number of cards with prompts, and a coin that you flip in order to tell its story. Each card has to be read to figure out what happens next, but the amount of information you’re expected to retain and communicate is very small, and because the game is so collaborative, you could potentially have one person do the bulk of the reading while the table shares the role of providing answers to the prompts.

This is a game that also doesn’t really require anyone to write anything down, as it’s meant to be played in a single session, and the changes from era to era should be pretty easy to remember - although you could also assign someone to be a note-taker if you like.

Horse Girl Infinity, by Jordanfish.

The majesty of someone's passionate vague horse fantasy. Inspired and empowered by the grace and might granted from the union of girl and horse, hero and pony, pilot and mecha.

The combination perfect for horse-lovers and mech aficionados, Horse Girl Infinity is high-action but relatively simple to play. You are presented with a grid of strengths, three of which your horse is specifically good at. The amount of dice you roll is dependant on how close the skill you are using is close to one of your strengths. Some especially difficult challenges may require a group roll, where everyone has to roll their dice and contribute Victory Points dependant on your success.

Your characters’ advancement is built around their goals, which takes a mechanical effect. Your Dream is something about yourself that you want; when you act in accordance with it, you gain Determination or XP. Determination can be spent to give you an extra dice on a roll, while XP can be spent on a separate grid that gives you a new narrative advantage. I think the spatial organization of information may make it easier to find and keep track of, and you can use tokens like poker chips or coins to help you keep track of your Determination and your XP.

If you want a slightly different genre, you can also check out Demon Blade Ultimate, which is more aligned with Shonen-style anime.

Crescent Moon, by Ema Acosta.

Go on a strange journey into the patchwork world of the daydream in Crescent Moon ☾, a feelings-delving role-playing game of brave children and bold adventures.

Rules for crafting your own whimsical tale full of breathtaking landscapes and unlikely friends await inside. Delve in to uncover stories of daring deeds and fantastical creatures—of calm afternoon naps and of promises whispered under starlight.

I don’t own Crescent Moon, so I can’t say for certain that this is super non-reader friendly, but I’m willing to go out on a limb and say it is, because the character sheets remind me very much of Mausritter character sheets.

The most obvious connection is the hand-drawn inventory: you draw the objects you carry, as well as items and conditions that may affect you. Because you use cards to represent what your character is currently carrying, I think this element has the potential to reduce the amount of reading and writing the player has to do. The GM on the other hand, likely has a little more work to do in terms of planning an adventure - although I don’t think the work a GM does in this game is as much as say, a D&D DM.

[valkyriexo]

Invasion of Privacy | Ep. 5 -Draw me like one of your French girls

ᑉ³SYNOPSIS; In the dazzling world of fame, you have it all—a beautiful home, devoted fans, and Chan, the love of your life. But when cryptic messages start arriving, the line between adoration and obsession blurs. With each note, you feel increasingly unsafe. Now, you're on a dangerous journey to uncover the truth before it's too late.

ᑉ³PAIRING; Chan x Idol! reader. Ft. Stray Kids

ᑉ³GENRE; Smau, FF , Angst, Hurt, Comfort, mystery

ᑉ³GENERAL WARNINGS ;Violence, Sasaeng (Stalker). Mentions of a knife, mentions of blood, Home invasion, cursing, Kissing, Pain, death, Implied female reader, Certain episodes may be Suggestive MDNI ᑉ³EPISODE WARNINGS;  Violence, Injuries, Blood, Pain, unconsciousness,

EPISODE WORD COUNT; 7.2K

AUTHOR'S NOTE ; a little Longer of a Chapter..

If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Whether it's through comments, reblogs, or sending an ask, your feedback means the world to me. Remember, none of this is real. It is a story. It is fiction. You can choose not to read it if it will make you uncomfortable.

Master Post | Teaser | Suspect Cards

STOP. THIS EPISODE CONTAINS THE ANSWERS TO THE GAME. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PLAY BEFORE CONTINUING CLICK HERE.

The first puzzle appeared on the screen, and you, Chan, and Seungmin leaned in closer, each trying to get a better look.

"Cross out six letters and you'll find a word that we should know, This must be done in order." Chan read aloud.

You furrowed your brow, your gaze fixed on the tangled mess of letters displayed before you. With a thoughtful expression, you began to mull over the puzzle's challenge. "Let's see... if we remove six letters, what word could it form?"

"Nothing? There's no combination of words just by taking out six," Chan remarked, a hint of frustration creeping into his tone.

Seungmin nodded, his gaze still on the screen. "They wouldn't have specified 'SIX' spelled out like that. If they meant the number, they would've just written the number 6. Right?"

You pondered the arrangement of letters. "What if the instruction 'six letters' is a hint itself?" you proposed.

Seungmin's eyes lit up in recognition, his expression mirroring yours. "That's it! If we take out the letters 's', 'i', 'x', 'l', 'e', 't', 't', 'e', 'r', 's', we're left with........'important'," he exclaimed, a triumphant smile spreading across his face.

Excitedly, you double-checked his deductions, your eyes scanning the letters on the screen once more. When you found that Seungmin was indeed correct, you wasted no time in entering "important" into the text box. With a satisfying flash of green, the puzzle was solved.

"Great catch, Minnie," you praised.

The next puzzle appeared on the screen. it seemed to be a series of numbers: 0,3,4,5,8. 

You furrowed your brow, trying to make sense of the sequence, but before you could even start, Chan spoke up confidently, "This one's easy. It's a simple code."

You looked at him, intrigued. Chan's mind raced as he analyzed the clues. "4 is on 5's right, but not directly next to it, so that means 4 can't be the last digit, and 5 can't be the first."

Seungmin and you nodded, following his train of thought.

"Also, 0 and 5 keep a maximum distance," Chan continued, his eyes scanning the screen. "So, they're likely at the ends of the code."

"The 3 is between the two numbers that usually follow it, which means its in between 4 and 5." you added, trying to piece together the sequence. Chan's brows furrowed in concentration. "And the two digits on the right add up to the same number as the two digits on the left."

With practiced precision, Chan arranged the digits according to the given criteria. "The code is 53480," he declared confidently.

With a few taps on the keyboard, Chan quickly deciphered the code. "53480 translates to 'clues'," he announced, a satisfied grin spreading across his face.

You blinked in surprise, impressed by Chan's quick thinking. "That was amazing! How did you figure it out so fast?"

Chan shrugged modestly. "Just a knack for puzzles, I guess.... Let's enter 'clues' and see what happens."

Following Chan's lead, you entered "clues" into the text box, and sure enough, the screen flashed green, indicating that you had successfully cracked the code.

"Nice job, Chan!" Seungmin exclaimed, patting him on the back.

Chan's chest puffed out slightly, a hint of pride evident in his demeanor. He shot you a sideways glance, a playful twinkle in his eye. Unable to resist, you leaned in and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. Chan's cheeks flushed bright red, a mixture of surprise and delight spreading across his face.

The next puzzle appeared on the screen.

It wasn't a series of numbers or a cryptic code, but rather a poetic verse. You furrowed your brow, trying to make sense of the words.

"It seems like some sort of riddle or poem," you mused aloud.

Chan and Seungmin leaned in closer, reading the verse carefully. "But what does it mean?" Seungmin wondered.

"It feels like there's a hidden message here," Chan observed, his eyes scanning the lines intently.

You nodded in agreement, feeling a sense of frustration at the puzzle's ambiguity. "Let's break it down. Maybe there's a clue hidden within it."

Together, you dissected the verse, searching for patterns or hidden meanings. But despite your efforts, the true significance of the poem remained a mystery.

"We're missing something," you sighed, feeling a twinge of disappointment. With each passing moment, the answer seemed to slip further from your grasp.

"Wait a minute..." You glanced back at the screen, your eyes scanning the verse once more.

And then, it clicked.

"It's an acrostic," you exclaimed, excitement bubbling up inside you. "The first letter of each line spells out a word!"

Chan and Seungmin looked at you, puzzled at first, but then their eyes widened in understanding.

"H-I-D-E-S," Seungmin spelled out, realization dawning on his face.

"Exactly," you confirmed. "The answer is 'hides.'"

With a sense of accomplishment, you entered "hides" into the text box, and the screen flashed green, confirming your correct solution.

As the final puzzle materialized on the screen, the room fell into a hushed silence. The string of seemingly random letters stared back at you, taunting in its indecipherability.

"Looks.... like we have another code to crack," Chan remarked, his eyes narrowing in concentration.

You nodded, your mind already racing to decipher the hidden message within the jumble of letters.

"Bnmfqzstzshnmr..." you murmured, your lips moving silently as you attempted to decode the message. You paused, then couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, that's certainly a word… in some alien language, perhaps."

But despite your best efforts, the letters seemed to resist your attempts to unlock their meaning, the message remaining stubbornly cryptic.

"This is harder than I thought," Chan admitted, frustration creeping into his voice. 

You nodded in agreement, feeling a pang of disappointment. "Let's take a step back and look at it again. There must be a clue we're missing."

Seungmin sighed loudly and then quipped, "You know, if we had a Scrabble board handy, I bet we could score some serious points with this."

For what felt like an eternity, you and your friends wrestled with the puzzle, trying different approaches and strategies to crack its code. But each attempt seemed to lead to dead ends, leaving you no closer to unraveling its mystery.

Chan leaned in closer, his expression thoughtful. "There has to be a way to form words from this," he mused, his mind already working on potential combinations.

Seungmin chimed in, "Yeah but we shuffled the letters around and tried different combinations, and nothing makes sense."

But Chan shook his head, a spark of insight in his eyes. "What if we're approaching this the wrong way? Maybe we're not supposed to rearrange the letters, but instead, they mean something else altogether."

His suggestion gave you pause, prompting you to reconsider your approach to the puzzle. As you sat hunched over the puzzle, your fingers absentmindedly traced the delicate patterns of the bracelet wrapped around your wrist.

The bracelet adorning your wrist was an intricate design a mesmerizing tapestry of silver and sapphire. Delicate silver links intertwined with precision, forming a lattice-like pattern that shimmered in the soft glow of ambient light. At the center of each link nestled a small sapphire, its deep blue hue reminiscent of the ocean at twilight.

As the minutes ticked by, the tension in the room grew.

"Wait a minute," you exclaimed, a memory sparking in your head.

"Fetch!"

"I know I'm a puppy but I don't really feel like running right now." seungmin whined taking a sip of water from a glass.

"No. Not you Seungmin.... Fetch." you said again.

Chan looked at you quizzically. "All these letters translate to the word 'fetch'?"

"No. No. Fetch. The show," you replied.

"The kids show?"

"Yes."

Chan and Seungmin looked at you, their eyebrows raised in disbelief at the unexpected reference. It was as if you had suddenly suggested decoding the message using a recipe for chocolate cake.

"What?" Seungmin said incredulously. "How does a kids' show have anything to do with cracking codes?"

" Well there was this spy episode where they talked about how spies would communicate with each other."

Chan and Seungmin looked at you, intrigued by the sudden recollection.

"They would encode their messages using a specific key or pattern, so that only other spies code read it. Both sides would have the key to the code," you continued, the pieces slowly falling into place in your mind.

It was as if a light bulb had gone off in their heads, illuminating a path forward in the puzzle.

"A cipher" Seungmin said.

As the wheels of your mind spun in search of a solution, Seungmin's eyes widened. "Wait a moment," he said, reaching for his phone. With a few swift taps, he brought up an image of a cipher wheel on the screen.

"Look at this," he exclaimed, displaying the intricate design of the wheel to the group. "If we shift each letter by one place according to the wheel, it might reveal the true message."

Hope ignited within you as you examined the image, the simplicity of the concept striking you as a potential breakthrough. "That's perfect," you said. "Let's give it a try."

With Seungmin's phone serving as a guide, you and your friends set to work, shifting each letter forward in the alphabet. As you made the adjustments, the seemingly random string of letters began to take on new meaning.

With the screen now displaying the deciphered message, excitement filled the room as you all read the words:

"Congratulations! If you can read this, you have figured out that it is a cipher! Aren't you smart. The word is Member.'"

A collective sigh of relief and accomplishment swept through the group.

Chan eagerly stepped forward, confidently entering the password "Member" into the screen.

With bated breath, you awaited the response. And to your joy, the screen flashed green, confirming the correctness of your input. Excitement filled the room as you all realized that you had successfully cracked the code.

"We did it!" Chan exclaimed, a broad smile stretching across his face.

Seungmin chuckled, shaking his head in amazement. "I can't believe we actually cracked it."

But then, a new prompt appeared on the screen: "To find the Password, take all the words and put them in the correct order."

You exchanged puzzled glances with your friends. Taking a moment to gather your thoughts, you recalled each puzzle and the words associated with them: "important," "clues," "hides," and "Member."

With a mix of anticipation and caution, you entered the final code:

"Member hides important clues."

Anticipation hung thick in the air as you awaited the screen's response. Then, with a satisfying beep, the screen flashed green, indicating success.

The screen flickered for a moment, and then a new page loaded, revealing a chilling image accompanied by an address.

The image sent a shiver down your spine, its eerie composition and unsettling ambiance heightening your sense of unease. It depicted a dimly lit room, and in the center, a lone figure stood, their face obscured by darkness.

As you and your friends exchanged uneasy glances, the words below the image caught your attention.

"Come find me."

Beneath the message was an address, standing out against the ominous backdrop of the website. It beckoned you, and sent a chill down your spine.

What awaited you at the address?

Who had sent the messages, and why?

With your heart pounding in your chest, you knew that the journey was far from over. The address was a new clue, a new mystery waiting to be unraveled. And with determination burning within you, you knew that you had no choice but to heed the call and confront whatever awaited you at the designated location.

As the weight of the situation settled in, a tense silence enveloped the room. The address on the screen seemed to pulsate with a silent urgency.

You quickly pulled out your phone, fingers trembling as you typed the address into the search engine. The results were chilling—nothing but a desolate warehouse located on the outskirts of town, its exterior shrouded in darkness.

"Are we… are we actually going to go to that address?" you finally voiced the question that echoed in the minds of all three of you.

Chan's expression darkened with concern. "Absolutely not. This is not safe," he asserted firmly, his voice laced with urgency.

But despite his warning, a sense of determination welled up within you. The need to confront the source of the messages, to uncover the truth that had eluded you for so long, burned within your chest.

"I have to go," you declared, your voice resolute as you met Chan's gaze head-on. "I need to know who's behind this, and why they've been sending these messages."

Seungmin nodded in understanding, his expression mirroring your resolve. "You can't go alone," he stated firmly, his eyes meeting yours. "If your going, I'll go with you."

Chan's features hardened, his concern palpable. "No, absolutely not," he repeated, his voice stern. "I won't let you put yourselves in danger."

As Chan's insistence rang through the room, you felt a surge of frustration mingling with your determination. His concern was understandable, but you couldn't shake the feeling that you were on the brink of uncovering something significant.

"Chan, I appreciate your concern, I really do," you began, your voice steady but with urgency. "But we can't just ignore this. We need to follow this lead, find out what's going on."

Chan's jaw tightened, his gaze unwavering. "I understand that you want answers, but this is too risky. We don't know what we're walking into," he argued.

"But we won't find out unless we go," Seungmin interjected. "And Y/N's right. We can't just sit back and let this mystery go unsolved."

The tension in the room escalated as Chan's frustration became palpable. His brows furrowed, and his jaw clenched as he struggled to contain his rising anger.

"Seungmin, this is not up for debate," Chan snapped, his tone sharp with frustration. "I said no, and no means no."

But you couldn't let his resolve deter you from your mission. The need to unravel the mystery gnawed at you, driving you forward despite the risks.

"Chan, please," you pleaded, your voice soft but insistent. "I understand your concerns, but we can't turn back now. We have to see this through."

Seungmin nodded in agreement, his expression unwavering. "We'll be careful, Chan. But we have to do this."

"We're not doing this," Chan declared firmly, his voice leaving no room for argument. "You'd put yourselves in danger."

"But Chan, I'm already in danger," you countered. "Ignoring this won't make it go away."

For a moment, Chan's gaze softened, his features betraying a flicker of uncertainty. But then, with a heavy sigh, he shook his head, his resolve hardening once more.

"I can't let you do this," he stated firmly, his voice tinged with resignation. "I won't."

With a heavy sigh, Chan's frustration reached its peak. Without a word, he strode over to the computer, his movements tense and purposeful. With a swift motion, he slammed the laptop shut, cutting off the ominous glow of the screen.

With frustration boiling within you, you couldn't contain the anger that surged to the surface.

"Chan, you don't get it!" you exclaimed, your voice laced with agitation. "I'm tired of sitting back and waiting for things to happen. I need answers, and I'm not going to just let this slide."

But Chan remained unmoved, his expression stubborn and unyielding. "I understand that you're scared," he responded, his voice strained with frustration. "But rushing into this blindly is not the answer!"

"I've had enough of waiting and planning," you declared, your voice trembling with righteous anger. "I'm done playing it safe while someone out there is toying with me." His words only fueled your anger, igniting a fire within you that refused to be extinguished.

"I'm not asking for your permission," you continued sharply. "I'm going, with or without your support."

With resolve burning fiercely within you, you stormed away from Chan, determined to take matters into your own hands.

As you made your way to your room, frustration and determination mingled within you, fighting for dominance. With trembling fingers, you pulled out your phone and hastily composed a message to your bodyguard. Anger simmered beneath the surface, threatening to spill over as you fought back tears of frustration.

You told him to meet you at the house ASAP.

You hit send before second-guessing yourself, the urgency of the situation propelling you forward. As you waited for his response, the minutes stretched into an agonizing eternity, each passing second amplifying the tension that hung heavy in the air.

Finally, a notification chimed on your phone, and you breathed a sigh of relief as you read his response. "On my way," it read, accompanied by a reassuring emoji.

You hastily gathered the essentials: a flashlight, water, an extra phone battery pack, and anything else you thought might come in handy.

You hesitated, torn between your determination to move forward and the lingering sense of guilt at leaving Chan behind. But as he entered the room, you knew that you couldn't leave without at least attempting to persuade him to join you.

"Chan, I'm going whether you come with me or not," you stated firmly, your voice steady. "But I'd feel better knowing you're by my side."

Chan's gaze softened, his features etched with worry. "Y/N, this is dangerous," he protested, his voice pleading. "I can't let you go alone."

You took a step forward, closing the distance between you, and placed a hand on his arm. "Then don't," you urged, your voice gentle yet determined. "Come with me."

As Chan's hesitation lingered, his eyes searched yours for reassurance amidst the tense atmosphere of the room. You held your breath, the weight of the moment hanging heavy in the air, hoping fervently that he would agree to accompany you.

Finally, with a resigned sigh, Chan nodded, his decision apparent in the reluctant tilt of his head. "Alright," he conceded, his voice carrying the weight of his reluctance. "But on one condition."

Your heart skipped a beat, anticipation coiling within you as you waited for him to speak.

"You stay by my side at all times. If I can't touch you, you're too far," Chan insisted. His hand reached out, gently grasping yours. "If things get too dangerous, we turn back. I'm not leaving there without you in one piece. You hear me?"

You nod, unable to form any words.

"Y/n.. If anything happens to you..." His words faltered, the weight of his love filling the air. It was as if every syllable carried the weight of his fears, his heart laid bare before you.

His voice trembled as he fought to express the depth of his feelings. He paused, his gaze locking with yours, his eyes filled with an intensity that took your breath away. "I need you to understand, Y/N," he continued, "I love you more than anything in this world. I cant lose you.... Please."

With a solemn nod, you conveyed your understanding and acceptance of his words, your heart swelling with gratitude and love. "I love you too, Chan," you whispered, your voice barely above a breath but carrying the weight of your sincerity.

Without a word, he reached out, his hand gently cupping your cheek as he leaned in, pressing his lips against yours.

In that moment, the world seemed to fade away, leaving only the warmth of his lips against yours.

Just then, the sound of footsteps approaching broke the spell, and you turned to see your bodyguard leaning in the doorway.

Adam's muscular frame was outlined by the soft glow of the hallway lights. He wore a fitted black suit, the fabric stretched taut over his powerful physique, thanks to years of training and discipline. Despite the seriousness of the situation, you saw reassurance in his eyes, a silent promise to protect you with every ounce of his strength.

Adam, spoke, his deep voice resonated with a calm authority.

"Sorry to interrupt. Everything okay?" he inquired, as he took in the scene before him.

You and Chan exchanged a brief glance.

"We're heading out," you replied, your voice steady. "There's something we need to investigate."

Adam nodded, his expression serious but unchanging. "I'll be right behind you," he stated firmly, his commitment to your safety evident in every word.

As you turned to leave, you noticed Seungmin waiting nervously nearby.

"Seungmin, are you sure you want to come with us?" you asked. He nodded firmly, his eyes meeting yours.

With a grateful smile, you nodded in acknowledgment of his loyalty.

As the group prepared and gathered by the doorway, you filled in Adam on the details of what had happened.

"We need to consider who else we can trust," Adam suggested, his voice full of concern.

"I know it can't be Jeongin. He was with me when we first encountered the stalker an-"

Just then, there was a knock at the door, interrupting your conversation. You exchanged wary glances with the boys, none of you expecting any visitors at this late hour.

Felix stood on the doorstep, his brow furrowed in confusion as he took in the four faces staring back at him. "Did I leave my Switch here...." he asked, his voice trailing off. The dim light from the hallway cast shadows across his features, accentuating the lines of concern etched into his expression.

Felix's confusion deepened as he surveyed the group, dressed in dark clothing. His eyes darted from one person to another, searching for an explanation to the unexpected sight before him.

"Where are you all going?" he asked, his voice tinged with surprise and apprehension. His gaze lingered, silently pleading for an answer. You exchanged a quick glance with Chan and Seungmin, unsure of how much to reveal to Felix. 

But before you could respond, Felix spoke, his expression turned serious. "Look, I don't know what's going on, but it's clear that something's not right," he stated, his voice firm but compassionate. "And whatever it is, I want to help."

His words caught you off guard. You knew that bringing Felix along would add an extra layer of risk to your already risky mission.

"It's okay, Felix. We'll be back soon," you say, trying to navigate past him, but he remains unmoved, his gaze fixed on the group with determination.

"Uh, it's not really a trip to the store, Felix," you began again cautiously, trying to find the right words without revealing too much.

Felix's brow furrowed in confusion, his expression betraying his growing curiosity. "Then where are you guys going?" he pressed. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, an impatient energy radiating from him.

Chan hesitated, clearly grappling with how much to disclose. "It's... it's a bit complicated," he replied vaguely, his words failing to mask the unease in his voice.

But Felix wasn't about to let it go. "Complicated how?" he persisted, taking a step closer to the group, his curiosity piqued.

You realized that avoiding Felix's questions would only make things more suspicious.

"Felix, it's not something we can really explain right now," you finally admitted reluctantly. "But trust us, it's not something you want to get involved in."

But Felix remained resolute. "I don't care," he asserted firmly. " I'm going."

You exchanged a helpless glance with Chan and Seungmin, realizing that Felix was determined to accompany you, regardless of the risks involved. With a heavy sigh, you nodded in reluctant agreement.

"Fine, but stay close," you insisted. "And follow our lead."

Felix nodded eagerly, his expression filled with determination. "Got it," he replied, his voice brimming with conviction. "Let's go."

With Felix now added to the group, you all piled into the car. Felix sat in the backseat, his bright yellow shirt standing out like a light against the darkness of the night.

"You're too bright," you remarked, handing him a black hoodie from the backseat. "We don't want to draw unnecessary attention."

Felix nodded in understanding, slipping on the hoodie . As he zipped it up, his expression mirrored yours, a reflection of the seriousness of the task ahead.

With one last glance exchanged between you and your friends, the car pulled out of the driveway. The road stretched out before you, winding its way through the darkness like a path into the heart of the mystery that awaited you at the address you'd been given.

As the car came to a stop in front of the warehouse, a sense of apprehension settled over the group. The imposing structure loomed before you, its darkened windows and looming shadows creating an eerie atmosphere. The gravel crunched under the tires as the engine cut out, leaving an eerie silence in its wake.

Felix, ever the inquisitive one, couldn't seem to contain his curiosity. "So, what exactly are we doing here?" he asked, his voice filled with what sounded like excitement and fear.

The group, ignoring his question, stepped out of the car. The gravel crunched beneath their feet as they shut the doors with a bang.

Felix, sensing the gravity of the situation, followed suit, his curiosity still burning brightly despite the lack of response to his questions. With a determined stride, he joined the others, his gaze fixed on the structure before you. Unable to contain his curiosity, he piped up again, "Guys, seriously, what's going on? Why are we here?"

Chan shot him a withering look, his patience wearing thin. "Can you please just shut up for a minute?" he snapped, the tension of the situation beginning to take its toll.

Felix recoiled slightly, stung by the harshness of Chan's words. 

"We need to figure out how to get in," you interjected, redirecting the conversation away from confrontation. "Let's focus on that for now."

After a moment of scanning the building, its weathered exterior hinted at years of neglect, with broken windows and faded paint, Seungmin spotted a side door slightly ajar. "Over there," he whispered, gesturing towards the entrance.

"Let's go," you said, your voice low but determined. Chan stayed close, his presence reassuring you in the darkness. You felt the weight of his hand on your back, a silent gesture of protection. The rusted hinges creaked softly as Adam opened the door, as if protesting the intrusion.

"Stay close," Chan murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. With cautious steps, you all slipped inside, the darkness of the warehouse enveloping you.

The interior was dimly lit, the faint glow of distant lights casting long shadows across the floor. You moved forward slowly, your senses on high alert as you navigated the labyrinth corridors of the abandoned building.

As you ventured further into the warehouse, the darkness seemed to press in around you, suffocating in its intensity. But just as the shadows threatened to overwhelm you, the lights flickered to life, illuminating the interior with a harsh fluorescent glow.

For a moment, you were blinded by the sudden brightness, blinking against the glare as your eyes adjusted to the light. And then, as the scene before you came into focus, a gasp escaped your lips, a sharp intake of breath that caught in your throat.

It was a chilling sight that greeted you, a scene straight out of a nightmare. The walls were adorned with photographs and drawings, a chaotic collage of images that seemed to stretch on endlessly. 

There were photographs of you, hundreds of them, each one capturing a different moment in time. Some were innocent snapshots, while others were more sinister, taken from a distance or in secret. And interspersed among the photographs, were drawings, sketches that depicted you in various poses, some eerily lifelike, others distorted and grotesque.

But it wasn't just the images that sent a chill down your spine.

Scattered around were pieces of clothing, personal belongings that had gone missing over the past few weeks.

And in the center of it all was a single photograph, larger than the rest, framed in a gaudy gold frame.

As you stood frozen in shock, your eyes fixated on the central photograph framed in gold, a shiver ran down your spine. It depicted a moment of triumph, frozen in time. You, standing on stage, holding the award for Artist of the Year.

You stumbled backwards, your legs threatening to give out beneath you as the full weight of the situation crashed down upon you. This was no ordinary warehouse. It was a shrine, a twisted homage to your darkest fears and deepest secrets, and you were standing right in the heart of it.

Chan's strong arms wrapped around you in a protective embrace, steadying you as you stumbled backward.

With trembling hands, the world spun dizzily around you as you struggled to make sense of the nightmare unfolding before your eyes. But deep down, you knew that there was no rational explanation for what you were seeing. This was the work of a madman, a predator lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike.

 "What the hell is all this?" Felix exclaimed, his eyes darting around the room in bewilderment.

Seungmin's gaze flickered to the surroundings, taking in the eerie display with a mixture of dread and fascination. "It's like some kind of twisted shrine," he remarked. Felix's eyes widened in horror as he processed Seungmin's words, the gravity of the situation sinking in.

"Who would do something like this?" Adam murmured, his voice barely audible over the pounding of your heart.

You shook your head. "I don't know," you admitted, your voice trembling with fear and uncertainty.

As if drawn by an invisible force, the five of you stepped closer to examine the items scattered around the room. In the photographs and drawings, there were poloroid images of you with all the boys, your manager Zayne, and even your bodyguard Adam. Each picture was a secret snapshot, taken without your knowledge or consent.

Among the photographs and personal belongings, you noticed familiar items that didn't belong to you alone. Some were pieces of clothing worn by the boys, and others were personal effects that belonged to them.

"This is sick," Chan muttered, his eyes widening in horror as he took in the disturbing collection. "Wait.... these are Han's shoes," he exclaimed, pointing to a pair of sneakers tucked away in the corner. As he leaned closer, the intricate designs drawn on the shoes became clearer—Hyunjin's distinctive style evident in every stroke. "Hyunjin drew on them for him, remember?" he added, as he glanced at you for confirmation.

Seungmin's brows furrowed in concern as he surveyed the scene. "And those are Changbin's headphones," he noted, his voice barely above a whisper.

You felt a chill run down your spine as the realization sank in. Whoever had orchestrated this twisted shrine wasn't just fixated on you—they had been watching all of you, collecting pieces of your lives like trophies.

And then, as you continued to sift through the evidence, Felix's sharp intake of breath caught your attention. His eyes were fixed on a small camera lying among the other items, its sleek black exterior gleaming dully in the dim light.

With trembling hands, you picked up the camera, its weight heavy with the weight of its implications. The sleek black surface was marked with a small detail that made your heart sink:

HH initials engraved discreetly on the side.

Felix's eyes widened in recognition. "Wait... this is Hyunjin's camera," he exclaimed, his voice trembling with disbelief.

You froze, your heart skipping a beat as Felix's words sank in. Hyunjin had mentioned misplacing his camera not too long ago, but to find it here, in the heart of this twisted shrine, was beyond unsettling.

Seungmin's brows furrowed in concern as he reached out to inspect the camera. "But how did Hyunjin's camera end up here?" he questioned.

Felix shook his head, his expression a mix of confusion and alarm. "I don't know, but… look at it," he urged, pointing to the camera's worn exterior. "It's like it's been through a lot… and the photos…" He carefully picked up a photograph, holding it up to the dim light. The image, a faded Polaroid, matched the type that Hyunjin's camera would produce.

"T-They match." he stuttered.

Your stomach churned with dread as you noticed the telltale signs of wear and tear on the camera. It looked like it had been used extensively, as if it had been the one responsible for capturing the hundreds of photographs that adorned the walls of the shrine.

As you mulled over Felix's revelation, Chan's voice broke the heavy silence. " There's drawing's too," he added, his tone grim as he gestured towards a pile of sketches nearby.

You put the camera down and approached the pile of sketches, your heart pounding in your chest. As you sifted through them, you couldn't shake the feeling of unease that settled over you. The drawings were indeed different, varying in style and execution, almost as if they had been created by two different artists or personalities. Chan picked up one of the sketches, observing it silently.

"Who else can draw like this?" he pointed out after a while, his tone grave. The style was unmistakable—it bore a striking resemblance to Hyunjin's artwork, the same attention to detail and fluid lines that he had meticulously honed over the years.

A knot formed in your stomach as you considered the implications. Hyunjin, your friend and confidant, had always been a pillar of support and kindness. But could he be capable of something so sinister?

Seungmin's expression darkened as he processed the possibility. "It doesn't make sense," he murmured, his voice tinged with disbelief. "Hyunjin wouldn't... he couldn't..."

The realization hit you like a punch to the gut, leaving you feeling sick and unsteady on your feet. Hyunjin, your friend and confidant, had always been a pillar of support and kindness. The thought of him being capable of such a sinister act was almost too much to bear.

As the conversation unfolded, your eyes flicked nervously around the dimly lit surroundings. Suddenly, a movement caught your attention—a figure standing atop the railing, shrouded in darkness and clad in all-black attire, their face concealed by a mask.

Your heart leaped into your throat as you caught sight of the mysterious figure, their presence sending a jolt of fear coursing through your veins. Seungmin and Felix followed your gaze, their expressions turning to shock as they spotted the figure.

"Who… who's that?" Felix whispered, his voice barely above a horrified murmur.

Chan's grip tightened on your arm, his expression grim as he took in the sight before him. "I don't know," he admitted, his voice tense with apprehension. "But we need to get out of here, now."

Your breath caught in your throat as you locked eyes with the mysterious intruder. Yet, before you could react, Seungmin's darted towards the railing where the shadowy figure had been perched just moments before, his footsteps echoing off the cold, hard surfaces as he ascended the stairs.

"Seungmin, wait!" Chan called out, his voice ringing with urgency as he reached out towards his friend. "Get back here!"

The figure, sensing Seungmin's pursuit, sprang into action, leaping off the railing and onto the platform below. As they landed gracefully, they wasted no time in breaking into a swift sprint down another flight of stairs and out the door.

You were torn between the impulse to follow Seungmin and the instinct to stay rooted to the spot, paralyzed by the surreal turn of events. As Seungmin surged forward, his voice rang out in the night, sharp and commanding. "Stop! Come back here!" he shouted, his words echoing off the walls of the deserted alley. But the figure showed no signs of slowing down, their pace unyielding.

As the figure dashed away, Seungmin in hot pursuit and Chan torn between following him and ensuring your safety, Adam leaped into action. With a swift motion, he bolted after Seungmin, his muscular frame disappearing into the darkness outside.

With Adam gone, Chan's attention snapped back to you, his grip on your arm tightening even further. "We need to go," he said urgently, his voice strained with worry. "Now."

As the tension mounted and the urgency to leave intensified, Felix remained steadfast, his phone in hand, capturing every detail of the eerie scene with precision. With each click of the shutter, he immortalized the chilling evidence before you.

"Felix, let's go!" Chan called out, his voice edged with urgency as he urged everyone to leave the warehouse behind.

"We can't leave without this evidence," Felix insisted.

Chan's patience wore thin, and he shot Felix a stern glare, his expression conveying a sense of urgency that left no room for argument. Felix, momentarily taken aback by the intensity of Chan's stare, quickly backtracked.

"Okay, let's go," Felix conceded, his voice tinged with a hint of apprehension as he hastened to join the group. With Felix now at his side, Chan led you out of the warehouse through the same door you came from.

As you made your way to the car, the adrenaline coursed through your veins drowning out the sounds of your footsteps, your heart pounding in your ears.

Outside, the cool night air offered a welcome reprieve from the stifling atmosphere of the warehouse. You breathed deeply, trying to calm yourself as you leaned against the cold metal of the building's exterior.

But even as you tried to push aside the unsettling thoughts that gnawed at your mind, one thing was clear:

the nightmare was far from over.

And until you uncovered the truth behind the twisted shrine and the person responsible for it, you wouldn't rest easy.

In the dim light of the alleyway, you could only catch a faint glimpse of Seungmin in the distance, grappling with the shadowy figure. Your breath caught in your throat as you watched Seungmin's valiant attempt to apprehend the intruder. For a fleeting moment, it seemed as though he had gained the upper hand, his fingers closing around the figure's arm in a desperate bid to restrain them.

But then, in an instant, everything changed.

The figure, desperate to break free, lashed out with surprising strength, delivering a powerful kick that sent Seungmin staggering backwards. With a sickening thud, he collided with the side of the building, his head striking against the unforgiving surface.

A gasp escaped your lips as you watched in horror, the scene unfolding before you in slow motion. Panic surged through you as Seungmin crumpled to the ground, his body limp and motionless.

Seconds later Adam appeared, racing to Seungmin's side with lightning speed. With practiced precision, he assessed the situation, his hands moving swiftly to check for signs of injury.

"Seungmin!" Chan's voice pierced the silence, his tone laced with urgency as he sprinted towards them, his footsteps echoing in the alleyway. His command compelled the rest of you to follow suit, each step heavy with dread and apprehension.

With every passing moment, the weight of the situation bore down on you, the reality of the danger you faced becoming all too real. As you all reached Seungmin's side, Chan knelt beside him.

"Seungmin, can you hear me?" Adam's voice was urgent as he gently cradled Seungmin's head in his hands.

But there was no response, only the haunting silence of the night, broken only by the distant sound of footsteps echoing in the darkness. Adam carefully examined Seungmin.

"He's alive. He's.......He's breathing, but he's bleeding."

"We need to get him to a hospital," Chan declared, his voice steady despite the panic that you all were feeling.

With Adam's assistance, Chan carefully lifted Seungmin's limp form, supporting him as you all made your way back to the car. Each step feeling like an eternity.

You quickly formulated a course of action, mapping out the fastest route to the nearest hospital.

As the car sped through the darkened streets, the urgency of the situation hung heavy in the air. With each passing moment, Seungmin's condition seemed to weigh on you more heavily.

Together, you navigated the twists and turns of the city, your eyes fixed on your friend as you raced against time to save him. And as the lights of the hospital came into view, you felt a surge of hope, knowing that help was finally within reach.

As you rushed Seungmin into the emergency room, the hospital staff sprang into action, whisking him away for immediate treatment. Your heart pounded with fear and anxiety as you watched them disappear behind the swinging doors, leaving you feeling helpless and alone in the sterile corridor.

As you waited anxiously for news of Seungmin's condition, your phone buzzed with a new message. With trembling hands, you unlocked your phone to find a text from the Unknown number that had been haunting you.

The ominous words sent a chill down your spine, a reminder of the danger that lurked in the shadows. Whoever was behind this was playing a dangerous game, and you were caught in the middle of it.

ઇଓ EP.6 - To be or not to be

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[skydigiblogs]

xros wars/hunters retrospective

okay i finished hunters so i feel like i can talk about all of the xros wars trilogy in full now.

also included: a comparison of digiquartz, the ar field, and the pseudo digital world from hunters, appmon, and ghost game respectively (with an emphasis on narrative function and thematic consequences of each).

really long one under the cut. strap in.

Background: Our Experience With These Seasons

Around 2017 or so, we finally watched Digimon Xros Wars. This was during college, and after a lot of the hype and spoilers about the trilogy had already gone live on the internet. It was also before we watched Frontiers for the first time, but after Digimon Tri had concluded.

Prior to this, our experience with XW amounted to us watching the episode where Beelzemon (2010) debuted, because we'd seen word that Beelzemon was in the series again. Watching out of order was, unsurprisingly, a bit of a mistake, but we tried then watching the series, stopping only a few episodes in.

When we came back to watch through all of Xros Wars, we watched a lot of it in the evenings after classes, when we needed something to wind down with after all the effort of college. The first season was a breeze, and while we struggled with momentum for the second, we managed to finish it and ultimately enjoyed our time (for reasons with hindsight I'll get to in the section on season two).

Hunters was the problem child for us. I think we were burnt out after the second season, and as a result, we stopped barely into Hunters. At most, maybe four or five episodes in.

And that's how it would be until, last year, we decided we were going to rewatch all of the Digimon anime. So we culminate now, finally getting to Xros Wars, and after an obscene amount of time (this rewatch started in August of last year)... we've finished Hunters.

Digimon Xros Wars

Digimon Xros Wars is an alright season of Digimon. Like many of the post-Adventure seasons, XW takes some parts of the usual Digimon formula and does its best to spin them into a new world and new story.

Our gogglehead is Taiki Kudo, whose catch phrase is the funniest card in BT21 (World Convergence): "Can't Turn My Back!" His main trait is that if anyone asks him for help, he never turns them down. A little bit of a bland goody-two-shoes, most of XW revolves not around how he and his partner Shoutmon change, but how the world reacts to their bullheadedness.

Shoutmon's personality is abrasive, loud, and obnoxious in a way that's really endearing. He's the kind of mon that would get along well with Masaru from Digimon Savers (and the crew knows it, considering the anniversary event). His goal is very simple: he wants to be the Digimon King. Alongside this, he has a very particular idea about what it means to be a Good King. Like Taiki, he's stubborn; unlike Taiki, he's much more aggressive when it comes to those who challenge his steadfast ideal.

The force of evil in this season is the Bagra Empire, who, among other interested parties, is collecting Code Crowns, representations of the Digital World's literal mass. Whoever collects them all can reshape the world to their desires.

There are a few more moving parts in XW, including other human generals (the leader of Team Twilight, Nene, and the leader of Blue Flare, Aonuma Kiria), as well as the two humans brought to the Digital World with Taiki (Akari and Zenjirou, the former of which is a caring tomboy who's so used to Taiki's shenanigans she's more like a coach than anything, the latter of which is a guy who got beaten by Taiki in a kendo match and was super butthurt about it because Taiki was just filling in for someone else).

With that in mind, the arc structure of XW is that each Zone needs to be conquered (aka: they need to get the Code Crown from it). They gain allies over the course of the series, but overall it's more accurate to call XW a series of vignettes. There is an overarching plot here, but much of its payoff is relegated to the second season.

Additionally, overarching plot elements between Zone arcs tend to be very barebones (for instance: Baalmon's weird fixation with Lilithmon).

Because of this vignette style, XW does suffer a little in that towards the end there's a bit of a time skip to imply that Taiki and the other generals have all been waging their Code Crown campaign for some unspecified period of time.

Basically, time skip, the war is almost over.

This culminates in such a fucked up anticlimax that is a large part of why I think its successor, Seven Death Generals, is such a lackluster season. Suddenly, Taiki, Zenjirou, and Akari are back in the human world. Suddenly, they are fighting Tactimon, and in the process Shoutmon figures out digivolution I guess. The ghost of Omegamon can take Taiki back to the Digital World, but oh no! Just him!

Zenjirou and Akari are left in the human world, when they were the most interesting characters in Xros Heart throughout the entirety of this season. Taiki and Shoutmon are very stagnant characters, because they are ultimately reactive, rather than active. That means they they rely on a strong supporting cast to keep the narrative from feeling stale.

I'll elaborate on this in the 7DG section a bit more, but keep this in mind.

I want to note that while at times, XW is kind of predictable (and a little bit boring), it also has a very fascinating world that it works with. The Digital World has been broken into distinct Zones, artificially isolating Digimon to their own unique locales. This is fundamentally a broken Digital World, and the space between Zones is not only hostile, it is actively damaging to most life wandering into it. Digimon can't be out in the open, unless they've adapted to the environment (Arcadimon is the only example I think shown) or travel within an object that protects them (the Xros Loader, Wisemon's book).

Gathering up the Code Crowns isn't just symbolic of power over a zone, it's also physically symbolic of the power to reunite the Digital World from this fragmentary state. It's a simple but elegant plot element that plays into the core theme of XW, which is about cameraderie and connection (as most seasons of Digimon are, of course, but this one is more interested in it on a macro level).

Even the name of Taiki's group plays into this idea: Xros Heart. Taiki is reactive because he can't help but want to help everyone, to connect with everyone, and the name of his team insinuates that through it he will connect with everyone.

This is furthered even by Shoutmon's entire existence as a weirdass rock an roll dragon (Shout is literally in the name!). Like the Code Crowns, which are the mechanism by which one reconnects the Digital World, music, language, communication, is the mechanism by which we connect to others.

This arc is also the one that shares the most blood with the manga, in my opinion. Ultimately, I think the manga handles the plot of this arc better, telling a similar but different story, but it's still worth appreciating the good parts of this season! It isn't bad! A little bit lackluster and paint by numbers, at worse, but bad? Nah.

Xros Wars: The Seven Death Generals

This season is bad.

However, it's bad in a way that I think is fairly unique among Digimon seasons. Whereas I have a lot of problems with Frontiers for how it writes women and handles its main cast (sidelining pretty much everyone except for Takuya and Koji), or problems with 02 for how sometimes its plot ideas don't pay off, or Savers for a lot of how it communicates the themes of family, Seven Death Generals is uh...

Well, like I said in the XW section, they got rid of Akari and Zenjirou. So I guess they took the wrong notes from Frontiers already. There's a timeskip that Taiki doesn't experience, and I don't think they properly thought through the consequences of that on literally anything. Nene feels like a completely different character when we meet her, which feels all kinds of annoying. And of course: the titular Seven Death Generals.

Did you like Xros Wars? Did you like going through Zone after Zone, trial after trial to collect Code Crowns? If you didn't, you're gonna fucking hate this season.

In this season, there are seven Lands, each ruled by a different Death General, one for each day of the week and associated element (eg: a Death General for Gold, representing Friday, which is literally written in kanji as "Gold Day"). In each Land, you have to kill the General to take control of it.

Also, uh, the Generals are torturing people in order to extract negative energy from them for an abstract plan called D5. They also all have Darkness Loaders (which were painstakingly created by DarkKnightmon last season but who cares! Now there are tons of copies of 'em!), so they all chew up their allies to get stronger and prevent any wannabe usurpers from killing them.

There are a few interesting things about this season, and all of them come in the last few episodes. Everything else about it felt genuinely like a slogging retrod of XW, including too many "Kiriha is Evil!" fakeouts and the most god awful culmination of his arc in Deckerdramon's ultimate fate.

In other words, it takes the problems inherent in Xros Wars and just makes them all worse. Because every Land has the express purpose of extracting suffering, we don't get the important relaxation or down time that you saw in XW. You could argue that that's realistic, but in a story, it comes across as monotonous. You can only be told how cruel and evil something is so many times before you're like "okay, I get it, just fucking skip to D5 already."

The most interesting of the Death Generals are, of course, the ones that break from the monotony of the other five.

Olegmon is the Death General associated with Gold. He's a fuckass weirdo pirate that comes with some bizarre new backstory with Ballistamon. Ballistamon apparently used to be an artificial Digimon called DarkVolumon created by Olegmon but this is kind of the worst sin this arc participates in and it's overall not too bad because we get Olegmon as a trade off.

Olegmon as a Death General is interested in having friends and companionship. He has a magical chant that hypnotizes Digimon into joining his pirate crew. An absolute delight of a fucking weirdo. His death culminates in him not just exploding and going "ohh no but all the suffering for Lord Bagramon noooo!!" NAH, FUCK THAT. Olegmon actually admits defeat to Taiki, going "you know what, maybe your ideals about friendship and how to treasure it are right."

I wish all the episodes wasted on the other Death Generals before Olegmon were allotted to him. Because even if it's barebones, Olegmon has a character, and an interesting dynamic in contrast to Taiki.

The final Death General is also relatively interesting, if not frustrating to read as a plural system. Apollomon represents Sunday (you know, the Sun), and actually doesn't want to hurt Digimon. He keeps them trapped, alive, in cages of spikes. When Xros Heart comes to him, he actually tries to get them to help fight Bagramon, because he knows about D5 (which he exposits about to Xros Heart so they know what the actual fucking plot is).

The catch is that Apollomon has also been infected by a virus called Whispered that Jekyll and Hydes this bitch. Whispered is a no good evil boy that, aside from his dynamic with Apollomon, really is kind of just. The rest of the Death Generals, but this time an evil headmate.

Eh. At least it was different for a sec there.

This Land at least gets us to the real interesting meat of this season. Amano Yuu has been the specter of interesting things haunting this season. Nene's younger brother, who she came to the Digital World to find and rescue, has the Darkness Loader. The real one, which he uses to fight battles in what he believes to be an immersive game, thanks to DarkKnightmon's efforts. Part of this involved an attempt to kill his sister, which he thought would only "boot her out of the game."

The end of the final Land has Yuu force a death match between his forces and Taiki's. The only way for them to escape the situation is by killing the opposing general. This? This right here is the meat and potatoes of the season. It's a reimagining of Ken Ichijouji's Come To Jesus moment, where someone believes the Digital World to be a computer game with no consequences and has to be desperately wrenched out of that illusion.

This has been the most interesting momentum in the season throughout it, and probably why I remembered Xros Wars with the fondness that I did. Digimon has shockingly few characters in the anime who are under the illusion that Digimon are just a game. Notably, Ken in 02, of course. The only other example coming to mind, however, is Rika in Tamers.

But one thing they both have the luxury of is a Human World setting. In Yuu's case, he's been fully immersed in the Digital World with this promise of a world where he can let loose his most vicious fantasies without the guilt that makes him so shy in the Human World.

It kind of ends up feeling rushed because of how this season is handled, but it's still something new in a season of utter and despondent monotony.

Anyways, D5 happens, Bagramon petrifies the human world to go invade it or something. I don't fucking remember, he feels like such a nothing character compared to XWM Bagramon. The generals all go to the Human World to kick DarknessBagramon's ass. There's a neat battle inside of DarknessBagramon. Idk man. Bagramon feels like nothing compared to his brother and Yuu.

The day is saved, Digimon have to return to the Digital World, end of the series, yeah yeah yeah.

Xros Wars: Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time

I'm just gonna be straight with y'all. This is the best part of Xros Wars. While the other two seasons took us an excrutiatingly long time to start and finish, we begun Hunters around March or April (I can't remember which), and every session of watching it was the kind of relaxing, inoffensive breeze I had missed throughout season two of Xros Wars.

Like 7DG, Hunters takes place after another timeskip. Except, however, we follow a new gogglehead, 02 style, who is a member of a basketball team called Xros Heart. This team consists of Taiki, a now older Yuu, and our gogglehead: Tagiru.

I've seen some people compare Tagiru to Daisuke from 02, and you know what? I see where they're coming from. Like Daisuke, Tagiru wears goggles in imitation of his senpai, and feels left out because of the connection his friends have over their experience with Digimon.

However, you'll notice I mentioned that 7DG already did a little bit of rehashing some themes of 02 with Yuu (paralleling Ken). Hell, Yuu is even a popular smart kid! But what's fascinating here, is that Yuu has already gone through his character arc. Hunters is Tagiru's. And Tagiru gets a Xros Loader to partake in something called the Digimon Hunt. When Yuu finds out, he sees a mirror of himself in Tagiru, some kid that just thinks this is all a game.

And especially early on, this conflict between Yuu and Tagiru is the juice that keeps you invested.

Hunters is a Monster of the Week season. Unlike XW and Zones or 7DG and its Lands, this season relies on the mechanics of DigiQuartz to contain its various stories. The full mechanics of DigiQuartz are largely a mystery until the Watchmaker, host of the Digimon Hunt, explains what the DigiQuartz is in the second to last episode. But the mechanics are simple enough that most are understood just by watching.

Digimon can be found in the DigiQuartz, and sometimes they influence the real world by latching on to extreme human emotions (think like in Savers). Most Digimon don't entirely know how they got to the Human World, only knowing that they were pulled there by something (we're told this pretty early on).

Aside from the overarching plot (which is very simple and comes to a fruition primarily in the last three or foure episodes), Digimon Hunters is interested in short stories following the shenanigans that Digimon get into when they interact with the Human World. You might notice I have a whole section on Hunters vs Appmon vs Ghost Game. This is why, and I'll elaborate more there.

The other element most people probably know about is the massive crossover event that happens in Hunters. This is managed through the Watchmaker and his Clockmon, who pull heroes from time and space to deal with a threat that we are only introduced to in episode 68 (the 14th episode in Hunters, which is 25 episodes long).

In general, the Watchmaker's weird shiftiness in this season lends itself to why I think it works so well. In the last episode, it's implied that the Watchmaker is the reincarnation of Bagramon. This contrasts itself well with his connection to DigiQuartz, as well as Quartzmon (the source of DigiQuartz) being created by Bagramon's influence on the Human World. We see a retread of Bagramon's ultimate goal (to consume everything and govern it from within its body), not fully introduced until the last four episodes of the series. But the mystery of the Watchmaker (even if you know going in that he's probably Bagramon), as well as how he was able to give Xros Loaders out like candy, keeps the season tied together in a simple but elegant way.

To the Digimon Hunters, there's nothing weird about what's going on besides the fact they need to capture Digimon. They think they're in a Monster of the Week show. The consistency of that tone, especially with the explanation of DigiQuartz at the end, gives Hunters a good send off without betraying its tone.

Of course, it isn't without its faults. I think there are some weird pacing issues in the season, still. Notably, the way Yuu reconnects with Damemon is weird in a "we couldn't figure out how else to reunite them" way. Also, the delivery of Gumdramon's full backstory kind of comes out of nowhere (even if it does include a really fucking funny moment where he punches some cops). It pays off in a fairly superficial way imo (the visual of the binding ring as part of the transformation between Arresterdramon and Superior Mode), and is otherwise just kind of tonally strange. That whole episode, as fascinating as it is, might genuinely be the worst in Hunters for me because of that nonsense tonal whiplash.

The ending sequence kicks ass though. Hunters was good.

And you can probably get away with watching it standalone, if you don't want to force yourself to watch XW or 7DG. Probably.

Hunters vs Appmon vs Ghost Game

Finally, I want to talk a little bit about some shared blood conceptually between Hunters, Appmon, and Ghost Game. I'll note that I might get some stuff about GG wrong since I'm going to be starting my rewatch of it next now (and it has been a few years since I finished it), but it's still something I want to put to paper since I'll likely come back to it when I finish GG again.

Specifically, we're gonna compare DigiQuartz , the AR Field, and Pseudo Digital World.

The consistent factors between these three are that they are locations parallel to the Human World that can be accessed by those possessing a season's Digivice. However, the DQ is the only one that I'm aware of can be accessed by regular humans via a Digimon pulling them into it. This might happen in GG but, again, been a hot minute since I watched GG.

Something these three all share in common, alongside this mechanic of a world overlaid over the world, is that they contain Monster of the Week shenanigans that take place in the Real World. Whereas in Savers and Tamers, this is handled through the framing of a paradigm breaking down (either via DATS being unable to contain Digimon or the Tamers not being super interested in hiding Digimon battles), in Hunters, Appmon, and Ghost Game, this generally functions as a way to try to preserve the state of the world.

In Hunters, this is directly purposed by Quartzmon (essentially, DigiQuartz is a big fly trap), but it also narratively functions in that there is a status quo for the characters to return to, even if Digimon grow increasingly damaging throughout the series.

Ultimately, this paradigm is not broken down between Human and Digital World, despite the presence of this in-between space. It's implied that it could afterwards, as Digimon are able to return to the Human World, and plenty of humans had positive interactions with Digimon during the series that they would likely return to. There are a lot of Hunters, too, but it's also difficult to tell if all of the Human World experienced Quartzmon eating Earth.

In Appmon, the AR Field serves a similar narrative function, giving a space for the drivers to have their battles without endangering people with Appmon attacks (while whatever rampaging Appmon is causing trouble in the real world). However, this battling is directly intentioned to preserve the status quo of reality, especially because it is very difficult for Appmon to realize.

It doesn't culminate in the break down of this paradigm between physical and digital until the very end, where we don't exactly get to see the consequences after the series ends. The fight was to prevent a catastrophic breakdown of this paradigm, and while it failed in preventing a breakdown entirely, the nature of this breakdown is much more chaotic, as those knowledgeable about Appmon were limited to about a handful of people.

Like Hunters, everyone got eaten by the big bad. Unlike Hunters, a lot of people in Japan saw big fuckass golden monsters fighting a giant five headed dragon. There's no going back to status quo after that, which you might plausibly argue is something Hunters could pull off.

In Ghost Game, we see a middle ground between the two, where Digimon are capable of breaking into the Human World through enough effort. The paradigm here exists in a world where plausible deniability regarding what Digimon are preserves their secrecy. A lot of harm to people and property is done by Digimon in this series. The Psuedo Digital World minimizes this damage, but there's a death count in this season, propagated by Digimon. You can't Pseudo Digital World someone's head back on after Arukenimon eats it.

I think this in between is fascinating as well, considering the narrative function of Human and Digital Worlds as concepts in GG. Digimon are inherently refugees in this canon, and a big theme of GG is about communication and cultural understanding. Just, you know, with giant lizards made out of purple fire and clowns that like turning people into cards. Unlike Hunters and Appmon's epilogue scenes, we get an explicit destruction of the barrier between these paradigms, which I think is narratively in line with GG's themes, as well as the permanence of its consequences.

Idk, just a bit of food for thought about how Digimon's handled secret world fantasy through parallel realities that aren't full on portal fantasies (like most of the seasons that are isekai).

[crescencestudio]

๋࣭⭑ Devlog #38 | 2.27.24 ๋࣭⭑

How is it already almost March omfg.

Anyways Happy Valentine's Day month!!! This year, I was swamped with work, so I didn't get a chance to make Valentine's Day art. I did make a Valentine's piece last year though.

BUT we did have beloved @magunalafay make these Valentine's Day cards this year for the community!!! <3 If you missed it, well Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

She made these as a gift, and I love her very much. Maguna u r so talented

This month was pretty busy for me, but I'm super happy with the progress made this month ^^ I feel like I've started the year off in a pretty good groove after it being all over the place for a hot second, yay!!!

This past month, Etza and Druk's routes. With the revamped demo finishing its revisions, it left a lot more time for me to focus writing on full route development.

If you missed the announcement, I FINISHED Etza's first draft!!! YAAAYYY!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!

That means 4/6 routes are finished in terms of the base writing, which is so exciting to MEEEEE. I've always seen Etza's draft as The Milestone because with their route finished, it would mean the four Central routes are done writing. And to me, while there's a good chuck of writing left, we are nearing the end of it.

There's only two routes left and that means it's about ~100k words which is CRAZY compared to when I had ~300k to write (:cries:). Even if that sounds like a lot, once I start chipping away at those routes, that 100k goes into the "double digits" aka 90k...80k... etc. and that makes me want to pee my pants

We also finished editing Druk's route, yay!!! So we reached a lot of milestones this month ^^

We are nearing the end of the Vui background commissions. It's very bittersweet; I'm so used to mentioning him in my devlogs now </3 There's only like 3(?) more BGs left for him to make, and then all of the BGs for the game will be finished. Very Wild! I think Alaris will have 25ish BGs, and they are all Stunning.

It's been a while since I showed you all a BG, so I'll give you all a preview of one I just got in!

Isn't it cozy? Guess whose house hehe

I personally have been doing a lot of sprite work this month to finish the final art assets for the demo. I added some expressions to Druk and Aisa that I'd been procrastinating (I don't even know why I was procrastinating them). And I finally finished Mom and Kimura's updated sprites! Patreon already saw them, but I'll show the new versions here too ^^

Preview of Mom (left) and Kimura (right) updated sprites. Now everyone's sprite styles are cohesive YAY!!

Aside from sprite work, much of my "art" time has been on finishing up/putting together the last of the screens for the GUI. Specifically, I got THIS BABY up and running. She is my crowning glory.

Memory Screen to Replay Unlocked Free Time Dates

Oh my god.... You all have NO IDEA how much of a pain this was to code. There is a transparency gradient going on in the left and right B&W previews (courtesy of community programming angel feniks/shawna).

And then the effort to have the Titles and Descriptions of the Previewed Date change tilted me on Multiple Occasions. But we finally got it to work thanks to bestie @siyo-koy pointing out I just coded one stupid "if" statement wrong LJAFSLIEFJIEJ. But the effort was WORTH IT because I'm so proud of her!!! I hope you all like it too as a way to relive Free Time Dates. I had a lot of fun with the Titles and descriptions.

I also put together the Stats and Affection Screens

Preview of Personality Stats & Affection Screens

So I coded both of them a bit differently from each other. The Personality Screen shows you a breakdown of your traits so far. Think of it like a pie graph! So in the preview picture, your choices indicate you are 33% Brave, 16% Charismatic, etc. I felt like this was a more natural way to portray personality rather than how many bravery points you've collected so far!

And then for Affection, it works in a more traditional way, where it counts it based on how many you've gotten out of the total amount you can get. This way, as the story progresses, how close you are to the person reflects how much your relationship as developed!

I've also added little descriptions underneath each that change depending on the percentage. So for example, if you have gotten 82% of the affection points for Kuna'a, the description of your relationship might change as well hehe

Other than that, I've mainly focused on getting the demo together. We released the beta demo earlier this month (? LOL). And the feedback has been so kind!!

A lot of this month was spent polishing so that the demo can be ready for early access and eventually public release. I updated sprites, made sure music crossfades with each other so that transitions between soundtracks feel smoother, I added/polished all of the screens I needed to (e.g., Memory Room, Full Credits, Cleaning Music Room, Adding Stats Screens), and I FINALLY as of yesterday added the Voiced Lines!!

One thing I added in the Extended Demo that I'm really happy with is the use of Extended Pronouns (courtesy of Angel Feniks). Below is a preview of how it works now!

Preview of Extended Pronouns Function. Credit to Feniks

Basically, you can choose multiple pronouns for yourself, including custom pronouns (e.g., xe/xem, fae/faer, etc.). On top of that, you can choose how often you'd like the pronouns to alternate (e.g., every line versus every scene) and what kind of terms you'd like to be used for you (e.g., neutral vs. masculine vs. feminine)!

Overall, the demo is getting closer and closer to release!!! Early Access will hopefully be ready by the end of this week or next, so if you all would like access to it, please feel free to subscribe to my Patreon for this upcoming month! Available to Wyvern tier ($5) and up.

I didn't have any time to really play any games this month because I was drowning in work LMFAOSLJIEF. I did play the Threads of Bay demo by @lavendeerstudios and it was GORGEOUS! Very cute game with lovable characters and charming visuals. Andrew, I will have your number

Every other section was really long, so I'm going to throw it here even though it's not market research. But Intertwine recently hit 600 ratings, which is crazy. Thank you for still enjoying that game even if it's not one that is my main focus anymore. I'm really happy people still like it :on the verge of tears:

Anyways, this has been a long devlog. Here's to continuing to Ball in March. Hope you all have a great rest of your month, and I'll talk to you soon! <3