#getting pretty close to the recent stuff now heh

[directdogman]

Hi, I hope you're having a decent day! I'm sorry if this is an invasive set of questions - feel free not to answer - but do you still actively like DSaF as your own creation, or is it more of a "it was fun while it lasted but i outgrew it and it's for the best to leave it behind" kind of project? Do you ever regret making the games? If you knew they would get so popular, is there anything you would have changed about them? Is there anywhere I could read more of your writing.

It fluctuates a bit. These last couple of years, I've really just been sorta nostalgic for it. I've seen a lot of people discuss those games being a source of comfort during bad times in their lives, people talking about how much the characters mean to them and it's hard not to smile when you see that.

It's a funny thing for close friends of yours to see people WITH fanmade DSaF merch out in the wild, or to watch a random youtube video and being hit with a DSaF reference outta nowhere. It happens from time to time, even today. On a few occasions, I've even had a person reference my work to me in real life and not realize who they were talking to, believe it or not. It's really fun to play dumb and get someone to explain your work to you like you don't know what it is.

I certainly didn't think any of that would happen when I first made the series, or even during development. I think the normal assumption would be to look at DSaF as it exists now and assume its release was a peak for it, but believe it or not, the official discord only had 30 people in it shortly before 3 dropped! The archive listing of the series (reposted to a single page after the series ended) is now sitting at over 1.1 MILLION downloads.

People kinda assume the true heyday of something is when it's new, when it's fresh and novel. For instance, some people look back at when FNaF itself was new and see that time as its peak because it had a lot of internet cultural relevance as big new indie thing on the block. But, raw numbers don't lie. The series has been continually growing since its conception and that growth has similarly bled over to its fan projects. This explains why DSaF, despite not having a new series release in almost 6 years, seems to be inexplicably growing.

Just recently, I saw someone post footage of a scene from DSaF 2 on Twitter, which got over 16k likes. People praised its writing and largely celebrated the scene. The ironic thing about that particular scene is that I remembered being unsure if it was good or not, so I showed it off in one of the FNaF community hubs. The response was broadly lukewarm to negative. Now, it's held up as one of the best scenes in those games. That's kind of the point I'm trying to make, my thoughts on the series have certainly changed with everyone's else with years of hindsight.

Heh. I'm not sure if I've talked about this in a long time, but y'know, the very first scene I implemented in-game was actually the very first Phone Guy scene in DSaF 1, more or less exactly how it appears in-game today. This was before I'd even written the bulk of the game. I was pretty unfamiliar with visual novels as a whole, pretty unsure if something like this would be palatable to a fandom that was really just used to sit 'n' survive stuff that were far more gameplay than text. I mean, there wasn't any FNaF fangames really LIKE DSaF before that point. Closest was FNaFb, a jokey turn based RPG made in the same engine.

The engine I made the game in is also not exactly fit for VNs out of the box either, and I wasn't 100% sure the idea would actually work. But, the very first time I added the image of the prize corner, Phone Guy, the audio of that iconic cheesy stock track and booted up a test screen, I had a little moment where I said "Oh. I think I'm onto something interesting here." I kinda remembering instantly realizing in that single moment how much potential the idea had. Over 8 years later, I still remember that moment like it was yesterday.

I think lately, that's the sort of stuff I think of when I see people coming to me and asking about the series. Yes, it's really rough around the edges, yes, there's jokes that've aged poorly. But, it is a source of comfort for people and entertains tens of thousands of people each month. And that's gotta count for something, right?

[nextinline-if]

I’ve seen people ask authors who they’d ship their characters with, but I’m curious which ROs, from other WIPs, are your favorite? Is there any specific reason?

I absolutely love your story so much! You’re wonderful!

I'm unsure if both of these asks are yours, but I'm sorry it took so long to answer (like months RIP). Screenshot one was recent the other is older. Also thank you anon for your sweet words. <3

I appreciate your no-choice-patience <3 This is such a fun question. I read it wrong for about 4 months and kept stressing about which ROs to ship with mine. My brain was NOT working.

I'm being fucking serious, unfortunately. Please laugh at me in the comments. </3

Here are some of my favorite ROs from other WIPs:

Seven - @infamous-if; I can write a paragraph about why I like Seven but does anyone really want that? Heh. When the game first started, I was SO ready to be like "f you Seven, you jerk!" And then we find out that Seven still has that tattoo. Okay, interest peaked. Well, played. You got me f'ed up. I like to play tropes where it's from ex - to enemies - to lovers. Juicy stuff right there.

Ari - @theoperativeif; There's something really enticing about not just a slow burn but a slow burn that has the extra burn because of the obstacles in the relationship that prevent you from reaching each other. Ouch. I normally don't like slowwwww burns. Like, a little slow is good cause it's realistic but like where I ONLY get to imagine them in my MC's head or in memories? Got me f'ed up. (Again). I think I like this because of the trauma the two characters have faced together. Is trauma bond a tope? Don't know but let's go with that.

Blade - @shepherds-of-haven; On a surface level, you get a character who fights for those he cares for, has strong convictions, and is hard to get close to. I'm a sucker for those. But on a deeper level, I really enjoy the way his story is written and told. Unearthing Blade's past and trying to weave your MC into this complex character's heart. Not sure what trope is going on here but I'll take it all.

Sol - @theabyssal; Yeah, my Death is pretty pissed at Sol right now...but you're telling me that literal sunshine fell for Death? The Abyssal has A+ writing as is, but adding an incredible love story like that really hooks my soppy lil heart. The complexities...THE COMPLEXITIES. I'm on the edge of my f-ing seat here people. I want Sol to suffer and beg my Death for forgiveness. And my Death will make Sol suffer emotionally and then accept the forgiveness :') (she's a weak betch)

Dara - @ataleofcrowns; I mean, I LOVE forbidden/let's romance my general type of vibe. But Dara is an exquisitely written character. The whole game is beautiful but the characters are so full of depth. There's always another layer. Plus, I normally play a shier MC but I like catching Dara off guard. It's so enjoyable. Got me giggling and shit.

There are plenty of other lovely ROs from amazing IFs that I like but these came to the top of my mind and I didn't want to make this too long. I like tropes that f me up emotionally. More tears = better. Rip my heart out. Maybe put it back in. Maybe leave is on the ground. Author's choice.

That said, I go for a lot of different tropes and try to do multiple playthroughs to romance all or most of the cast. I think every character can offer something different and I don't want to miss out <3

[farharbour]

soooo as i suspected i was too busy to do anything fun for my babygirl (jesse) for his birthday (TODAY!!!) and i won't have any time today to do much either since it's cookie baking day BUT i still wanted to share some fun character progress & development stuff w/ him from the last 5-ish years 💞

my first ever art of him (2018) -> baby's first cingefail re-design (2019) -> another re-design, pretty close to what i settled on (2022) -> another re-design (mid-2023) -> the same thing only without the scar because i didn't like it & the one i'm sticking with because i love it and i love him (late 2023)

he was originally named james and was my self-insert cis-sona LOL and i already made a post recently about how developing him helped me not be so scared and come into my identity as a trans man (and i made jess trans later on too as a radical act of self-love or whatever) so i won't go into that again. he is my favouritest guy ever truly

i changed his name in 2019 and was workshopping his design until this year actually, i was never really happy with how he looked until recently. i'd never say he's truly a self-insert these days even though i joke about it still hehe.. he's his own guy now but i still like to put a lot of myself in him for old times' sake (my mental illness, love of cooking, etc.). i took a little inspiration for his personality from some of my favourite books; 'white noise' in particular helped me develop this idea of how powerful a narrative it could be for him to have this almost obsessive preoccupation with death.

i want to talk a little bit about 2022 jesse too because he is so very special to me but it's less relevant to who he is as a fallout character. i wanted a death stranding oc and just decided to slot him into that uni too NGJGHFDFG i'll put this bit under a cut since i'm sure not a lot of you are particularly interested in that.

anywayyy thanks for letting me share my guy with you all and thanks for appreciating him <3 and if you don't idk why you read this post but that's fine too i guess 🐜🎒

ok SO his 2022 re-design came from adapting him into the ds universe and even tho this is under a cut it's still SO self-indulgent so i won't get too deep into it. he was like. "evil" i guess? he was with the demens and i paired him off with higgs (they met when they were teens after jess accidentally killed his brother and ran off from his family's preper shelter) but he was still not really into the killing and the terrorism stuff. but. when you love someone and it's toxic yaoi sometimes you overlook things like murder y'know

he and higgs were linked by a set of chiral rings that higgs made for him. they gave him a sort of healing ability that basically boiled down to him shaving time off of his own life to give to someone else in the form of healing wounds, restoring blood, etc. and that transfer was done thru chiralium. or something. i never really gave that bit too much thought LOL what was most important to me was that he died mid-way through the story of the game and he never crossed the seam because higgs, in some desperate attempt to control death, crudely mummified his body with tar so his body never decomposed or became a bt. so he was kind of. stranded (heh). on the beach. and the pair of them link up again after higgs gets exiled.

maybe i'll share a bit more of this when ds2 comes out and i get to think about him & that world some more but for now that's it ok cool

[catgrump]

'' you kissed me first. '' '' i definitely didn't. '' and '' can we do it again? '' with dabihawks

It’s a Tattoo Artist/Flower Shop AU! No quirks! No bad stuff! Woohoo!

Also I never got to include this detail in the writing but imagine Hawks’ wings are a large back piece thank you

🌻🌻🌻

Dabi glanced at the clock as he pinned a ribbon on one of the last boutonnières for this weekend’s wedding. The clock was right over the door and said it was 10 minutes until closing.

And of course the door opened. “Hey, we’re about to close—“ Dabi began, but paused upon seeing a familiar face walk in.

“Heyo. My shop just closed up and I wanted to see how your newest piece was healing up.”

Dabi’s most recent tattoo artist walked in through the door. The blonde one who licked his lips while he concentrated on line work. The hot one who laughed at his dry jokes. A pleasant surprise in some aspects, sure— especially him remembering where Dabi works— but he couldn’t have come while Dabi was actually willing to talk to customers? “You could’ve just DMed me, you know,” Dabi remarked as he adjusted the angle of the boutonnière’s rosebud.

“That feels so impersonal, dontcha think?” Of course he had some sort of quippy reply.

“You’re lucky I don’t have any customers right now—“

“Who’s to say I’m not also a customer?”

“Really?” Dabi played along, “You got someone to get flowers for?”

The tattoo artist made his way toward Dabi, resting his arms on the counter, “Can’t a guy get some flowers for himself?”

“I guess—“

“Seriously, man, I’ll at least patronize the shop so I’m not loitering,” he smirked, “But I do wanna see the piece.”

Dabi sighed, put the flowers down, and rolled up the sleeve of his sweatshirt so it went above his elbow, “You into looking at peeling skin or something?” Dabi teased.

The guy’s hot. He’s hot as shit. This is a weird request but god damn is the guy hot, so Dabi will at least humor him. His left arm’s tattoos were revealed, including the black work rhododendron under his elbow that was just done a few days ago.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” They made eye contact and the tattoo artist raised his eyebrows. He’s flirting.

He gestured at Dabi’s arm and asked, “May I?” Seeking permission to touch to inspect further.

“Yeah, uh—“ Dabi is just now realizing he doesn’t know this guy’s name. He contacted the studio with the tattoo request and they gave said request to this guy, and he didn’t bother to ask his name during the session.

“Hawks.”

“Hawks?”

“Everyone calls me that.”

At least he spared Dabi the embarrassment.

Hawks carefully took Dabi’s arm and brushed his fingers across the inked skin… he wasn’t just looking at his own work, was he?

Dabi watched Hawks study him and felt every single stroke of Hawks’ fingers. The tenderness was intimate and sexy. “Hm,” Hawks paused by Dabi’s wrist, grazing his palm with his fingertips, “Do the numerals mean anything?”

Dabi knew which tattoos he was referring to.

VIII XXIII

XII VI

VII I

I VI

They were in a column down his wrist. “They’re uh,” he’s almost sheepish admitting it, “They’re family birthdays. The family that matters, anyway.”

Hawks didn’t stop brushing his skin, “That’s sweet, actually.”

“Yeah?”

Hawks moved his hand further up Dabi’s palm, “Really. It’s subtle and genuinely nice.”

“That’s kind of you to say.”

“Well I wanna be nice to someone so pretty,” Did… did he just wink?

Dabi took a shot in the dark and gently laced his tattooed fingers between Hawks’. “Pretty?” He playfully asked for clarification— or more compliments.

Their eyes met and Dabi could feel the tension in the air like a sudden gust of wind. Hawks wasn’t retracting his hand. “I know we don’t really know each other or anything like that,” Hawks began, going back and forth between looking at Dabi’s eyes and hand, “But I got a confession.”

“Yeah?”

“I thought this would be a better way to get your number instead of combing through the network of clients.”

“Really now?” Dabi smirked.

“Heh, yeah,” Hawks, still holding Dabi’s hand, sheepishly admitted, “You’ve been running through my mind the past few days. You were quite a challenge for me to ink, you know?”

“Was I now?” No artist has ever complained about Dabi during sessions in the past.

“Took a lot for me to focus on the work instead of you,” Hawks flirted.

Dabi smirked again, leaning closer over the counter, “I’m honored.”

It was quiet for a bit as they held the other’s hand and just looked at each other. They were both holding their breath.

Hawks kept glancing at Dabi’s lips.

Was he really going to do this? The signs are all here. They barely know each other, though, as Hawks just said a few moments ago… but that doesn’t necessarily mean this is wrong.

In a flash, their lips were together. They were both leaning over the counter, keeping the sparks flying even as their backs strained.

There’s something so enticing about sharing a passionate kiss with someone you barely know.

There’s something so electrifying about having to climb on furniture to get a better angle-- that’s what Hawks was doing as he maneuvered himself on the counter to be on his knees, gaining some sort of higher ground as he took Dabi’s face in his hands, bringing them together once more with a devilish smirk.

Hands were in hair and gripping to the cotton of t-shirts and hums of pleasure were muffled against the other until Hawks pushed a bit too hard, nearly collapsing into Dabi. Dabi’s got decent reflexes, though, and caught Hawks, hands under his thighs, gripping the denim to keep him secure, and Hawks instinctively wrapped his legs around Dabi’s hips.

“Heh,” Dabi smirked himself, pondering the possibilities in his mind like he was playing a game of chess, “I haven’t even taken you out to dinner.”

“Hey, you kissed me first,” Hawks teased.

“I definitely didn’t,” Dabi teased back, meeting Hawks’ amber eyes.

There was silence for a few seconds. They could feel the heat from each other in the small gap that separated their lips. Hawks broke the tension by shyly asking “Can we do it again?”

“Absolutely.”

Dabi agreed with no hesitation, gripping Hawks’ legs again, making him push into Dabi again, their bodies flush as they continued to kiss… and kiss… and kiss…

[yayforocs]

Tape #3

Click.

“Figured I might as well go ahead and start talkin’ about these, since this stuff happened more recently and it’s fresher on my mind. I can go back and talk about village stuff later.”

“So. This was… a couple few weeks back, I don’t remember exactly when, but I was out flyin’ one day, just gettin’ fresh air ‘n having fun. I went out in an area I hadn’t really been in before and- it was neutral ground, I made sure of that, I don’t- wanna-” Cough. “I learned that lesson a while ago, to not get too close to Rivals territory. Unless it’s like- an order or something. But I wouldn’t be by myself if it was, and- …I’m getting sidetracked.”

“Ok so! I was out and about and there was this cliff thing that just kinda. Jutted up outta nowhere. So I’m like ‘huh, alright, let’s look at that’ and somethin’ caught my eye when I flew over it. I thought maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me or something, but nope. I landed and went to go look and see and sure enough, I had seen right. There was this… little cabin just- out in the middle of the woods on top of this cliff. There’s this little spring by it, too, and it’s just… such a nice little place. I’ve said it before, but it’s the kinda place where if I lived there, since it’s so isolated ‘n- an’ calm ‘n everything, you could forget a war was even happening.”

“And then someone starts callin’ out asking if anyone’s there. Turns out the cabin’s still got someone living there- a blind hunter named Sytri. And yes, a blind. Hunter. He- it’s pretty impressive, honestly, he uses hearing and such to sorta ‘see’ everything and he hunts that way. Also he’s got a raven that stays with him called Anton, and he’s his own character on his own, heh.”

“Oh yeah, birds. So we kinda talk, exchange names ‘n pleasantries ‘n all that, and he somehow figured out I was a Resistance member, I still don’t know how. Again, impressive. But yeah after that he asks if I wanna help him feed the birds. So I’m like ‘awh yeah I’d like to feed some birds that sounds nice’ and tell him yeah sure, and he opens his door and all of these- crows start pouring out of the house; they were so thick I couldn’t hardly see through ‘em to the inside, and they just like. Swarm him. I almost thought they were attacking him for a second, honestly. But they didn’t, even though one of ‘em managed to cut his lip with a talon or something- and he pulls out raw meat and tosses it on the ground and they all swarm that instead. Tell you what, I’ve never really been all that scared around birds, but seein’ how they tore into that sure did make me a little nervous. And then he gives me a slice of the meat, still bloody ‘n everything, and boy I dropped that thing so fast.”

“But yeah, then we went inside and it was really nice. Cozy. I like it, I really do. His gun had somethin’ wrong with it- kept jamming- so I fixed it and we talked. He’s got the slightest hint of an accent, and it’s absolutely great. I like hearing him talk, though it was mostly him askin’ me questions, so I did a lotta the talking. He’s really nice. Honestly now I’d probably say he’s a close friend. That accidental visit started a thing, and I go visit him now every few days and we just sit and talk. About whatever. It’s relaxing, and it’s a nice- it’s a nice way to forget about the war for just a little bit, y’know?” A small sigh, but it’s a happy one. And when the voice resumes, it’s quiet mutterings.

“…Should I cut it off here or keep going…? Eh, I’ll cut it here.” And then back up to full volume. “So yeah! That’s when I met Sytri. Still visiting him ‘n such- it’s pretty great.”

“…Yup.”

Click.

[robotnik-mun]

leam1983 replied to your post “What’s in a Name?”

In the meantime, I'm still intrigued by the least-discussed part of Ivo's development, which is how he went from his tiny, dark pencilstache as seen in the earlier flashbacks, to his gravity-defying facial hairdo.  Did his research into prosthetics include something as vain as capillary enhancements or prosthetics? If so, which gonzo shades could he have tried and abandoned before settling on red?

Heh, well, the Doylist explanation for that one simply would be that he has a dark mustache when he’s younger because it was a fact established back in the ‘gag’ days of the book in Issue #17.

You gotta wonder what was going on in Nate Morgan’s mind when he chose to take Julian on as an assistant even in the face of the “King Gong” incident...

Anyway, point of order! The Sonic book could be weirdly continuity heavy even when it came to stuff from the book’s earlier years, and as such... Julian has a small, dark mustache and that’s just how it worked for him.

Plus its possible that, in a small way, this might have been retconned by Tales of the Great War, which depicted Julian’s younger self have a more, shall we say, appropriate ‘stache-

Watsonian explanation? Well, I read somewhere that in the recent Sonic movies, Robotnik actually dyed his hair and mustache black, so hey, maybe for whatever reason Julian decided to dye his own mustache black before letting it revert to its natural colors and growing out to what it is now. As to why it is that way? Well... both his ancestor Brutus and grandfather sported similarly ginormous mustaches, and even his dad had a pretty impressive set of facial hair.

I would note that Ivo’s mustache, much like Julian’s, was also dark colored.

So hey, how about this- both the Kintobor and Robotnik bloodline contains a trait for Absolutely Massive Mustaches and Julian hit the jackpot there. And just as some people can start off blonde before their hair darkens out to brown as they get older, maybe something similar happened with Julian in that his facial hair started out dark colored before naturally changing to orange as he started to hit his middle years, and he decided to purposely grow out it once more to more closely resemble his grandfather. It’d be consistent with this theme of him wanting to emulate the guy, after all. And then there’s the fact that Robotnik technically isn’t a human but an Overlander/Human hybrid (which honestly is probably redundant). Given that, it may be down to it being a quirk of Overlander biology.

Though at the end of it? There comes a point where the Cartoon Logic must be taken at face value, and so, Julian starts life with a small, thin pencil stache ala Walt Disney before it grows out into being a cluster of pipe cleaners glued to his upper lip, and that’s just how it worked out for him.

[yesyourstalker]

Warabi: holy shit. He's getting canceled all over squitter right now... It's so funny! Apparently you got caught being shitty to his boyfriend and was dining and dashing. He was yelling at him?!

Mahi: from other people's perspectives it kind of looks like that but Neta told me that he just said some fucked up stuff and left......He told me he was okay but............. I'm trying to talk him into putting him on blast on Inkstagram and squitter and have actually get him canceled canceled.

Mizole: heh couldn't be us babe.

Mahi: of course not we're an amazing couple. You're an amazing boyfriend!

Warabi: That's debatable

Neta: Mahi! We need to have a talk about something come to the back!

Warabi: ooooooo looks like someone got caught making out in the store

Mahi: oh cod.... hope I'm not trouble....... If this is about me making out in front of the camera I wasn't aware I was in front of the camera and I'm sorry

Neta: ........................ I'm choosing to ignore that.....*sigh* ok Mahi...... So I've been thinking a lot recently about your work ethics and your contribution to the store and I'm really impressed. You know the ins and outs of the store. You know how to open and close. You ran the store successfully without me being there and you trained Warabi to do the same. I am proud to say that I am promoting you to the store manager.

Mahi: aw nice! What do I do when I'm a store manager?

Neta: with this title I also need to be trained in some of my work that involves counting the money, hiring people, making schedules, ordering supplies from vendors..... It sounds difficult to do but really once you get used to it it's easy....... Plus you get to decide what you want in the store which is pretty cool. You know if you want to sell a certain band you can order that.... You're also in charge of making promotions as well. It will be fun. Trust me.

Mahi: I can put any music and any type of band merch I want. I just have to order it.... I get to make that choice. I get to choose what type clothing we sell anything?

Neta: yes.... I have to approve it first. So don't go fucking crazy all right, this isn't 2010. You don't need to buy checkered belts in bulk okay..... Check what people are buying. If people are buying a lot of '1nk 55' stuff order more '1nk 55' it'll come to you trust me

Mahi: ok..... wow so much power..... Am I able to hire my friends if they want a job?

Neta: I can....i can afford more employees....yeah as long as they do their job and they do it well, you can hire anyone except for your boyfriend

Mahi: He doesn't want to work here anyway

Neta: good..............*sigh* I guess I have to tell this to you eventually........ I'm planning on opening a second store. In arowana Mall and I'm moving to cepha city

Mahi: you're leaving?!? Nooooo... Can I redecorate the store

Neta:.................................... you can change the layout of the merchandise but the color palette and overall setup and design will not change.

Mahi: damn......... So when when are you leaving? Also what if I need you? What if I need your help with something?

Neta: Don't worry, we have three years until the store officially opens. You have three years to learn everything and adjust to your manager role............. by the time I leave you won't need me. You'll be like what? 27 or 28. Almost 30 ha! you old fuck!.....hahahaha. Don't call me when you're back starts hurting after picking up a box

Mahi: you'll be borderline 40! You'd break your hip if you bend the wrong way!!

Neta: hehehe..... well ...... what ever..... Congratulations mahi. You're the manager. Don't fuck this up. I'm counting on you. Okay, this store is like my second child all right. I work too hard for this to go under.

Mahi: All right I won't fuck it up I promis............... my own store....... holy shit

Neta: okay let's go I have to announce the employee of the month.......... ok. Hello everyone, It's the first of the month meaning that it is time to announce employee of the month!

Mahi: I don't even see the point of this. It's always me...

Neta: The employee of the month is going to beeee...............fuck it...... ........Warabi............. Congratulations

Mahi: what

Warabi: Oh my god! I'm so honored! I'm so touched! I can't believe he chose me to be employee the month! When we first met you hated me and now you actually like me...... You like me enough to make me employee of the month in your store!!....*sniff*.... You truly grew as a person

Neta:.......................... Sure. I guess.......... I don't hate you........ stand here so I can take a picture.

Mahi: did ikkan get you to do this?

Neta: no, of course not. This was all my idea. I truly think that he is a good employee

Mahi: I like to remind you that your tentacles are short now.

Neta: huh?

Mahi: I can see your hickey

Neta: Mahi oh my Cod stop being so petty you've been employee of the month how many times??? you're pissed because you're not employee of the month this time?? This is just like the incident with Phoebe, you need to calm down.......... You want to get demoted??

Mahi: I just feel like this one is not fair He had outside help

Warabi: what are whispering about?

Neta: nothing important

Mhai: well it's the-

Neta: If you say it's the principal I'm going to fire you

Mahi: you know I'm right

Neta: ......mahi please

Mahi: He dropped several figures and broke them

Neta: it was just baribari merch nobody buys that shit except for that one kid that smells like eggs...... Come on. Isn't he your best friend? Let him have this.

Mahi: fine......*huff*

Warabi: be honest..... Neta did I actually earn employee of the month or.....

Neta: Yes you did earn employee of the month all by yourself. I hate to admit it but you know I actually........ Have grown to........... like you

Warabi:...* Gasp*.......... ikkan doesn't have to know about use

Neta: I didn't mean it like that

Warabi: It's okay, it'll be our secret. It'll be our own forbidden love ...... kiss me

Neta: hehehe get off me..... I don't know what you have.....hehehehe

Warabi... just one.... just- hold still!..... Just one peck...........just one.......little kiss.... All I want is just- uh- you let taka do worse. What do you have??..... I just want a single kis-[kiss] .....see wasn't so bad!....

Neta:........... Heh... See, now. I'm contaminated... Get back to work

Mahi belongs to @fish-at-fish-fish-resort

[scorpiolight-madd]

Trick or Treat? 🦇

Oooh happy Halloween!! ✨

Here’s a treat! 🍬 It's a little scene from SB:U that miiiight end up scrapped? It takes place after Manic is reunited with his siblings and they have to flee the island, but the relaxed vibe of the scene kinda removes the urgency from the story arc :( But I really like this scene, so I wanna share it!

 Manic rhythmically knocks on the wall of the cave, twirling on his heel as he casually saunters further in. He can see Shadow’s shadow from around the corner, very obviously trying to ignore him.

“Yo man, you ignorin’ me?” He calls, rounding the corner. Shadow stands leaning against the wall, arms folded, staring out at nothing. Manic waves his hand in front of his face, making him grunt and pin him with a glare.

“Get out,” He snaps, turning away to walk further into the cave.

“Come on man,” Manic laughs, close on his heels. “You brought me here first. You, like, can’t get mad I’m here.”

“I can be mad at you for trying to convince me to leave. I don’t want to be seen with any of those fools.”

“Good thing we’re probably gonna be doing our best not to be seen, then.”

Shadow just glares at him again before turning back to face the wall and continuing his brooding silence. Manic sighs. “Look, man. I’m not trying to convince you to come with us. I just…” He shrugs, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I guess I’d just like it if you did.”

Shadow laughs at that, a sharp, incredulous bark of laughter. “Please,” He spits, “As if anyone in your stupid little group would want me around.”

“I do.”

Shadow freezes, whipping around to stare at him in confusion.

“I want you around.” Manic continues, awkwardly running his fingers through his quills. “I like you, man. I figured that was obvious by now.”

“You’re just saying that because I rescued you.”

“I mean, sure? I guess that’s the reason for it, yeah, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like you.” Shadow’s quiet, just staring at him, his expression unreadable. Manic shrugs again. “I’m not forcing you, man. If you really don’t wanna come, I’ll get out of your quills-“

“Wait.”

Manic stops in his tracks, turning to look back at Shadow. His brows are furrowed, eyes fixed somewhere on Manic’s torso, thinking.

“…Your bandages are coming loose.” He finally says, looking away. Manic glances down to confirm that yes, they have come loose, dirt and dried blood caked on them.

“Oh. Heh, guess I should probably take care of that-“ He’s cut off mid-sentence when Shadow grabs onto his wrist, pulling him across the room and tossing him into the beanbag chair. “Dude! At least take me out to dinner first!” He snarks, watching Shadow needlessly teleport around the room to grab a roll of bandages. He teleports back to his side, kneeling down to remove the old ones. Manic bounces his leg nervously, drumming his fingers on the scratchy fabric of the chair.

“I…” Shadow starts, before clearing his throat and glancing away. “Even if… You want me to go with you…” Manic winces as he tightens the fresh bandage around his arm. “The others… Don’t care for me.”

“I assumed that fight was just a misunderstanding.”

“We’ve fought before.”

“… How recently? Is that why you’re bleeding?”

Shadow blinks in surprise. “You noticed?” His blood is black, nearly impossible to see against his fur.

“Hey man, after ten years of looking at pretty much nothing else, you pick up on some stuff.”

“… Did you just say you stared at me for ten years straight?”

“What else was I supposed to look at, dude? Robuttnik? Sleet and Dingo’s ugly mugs? The wall?”

The puff of breath Shadow lets out could almost be mistaken for a laugh, the corners of his mouth curled upwards in amusement. Manic grins, proud of his achievement.

The medallion around his neck grows warm, signaling that his siblings were starting to grow impatient. Honestly, he was surprised it took this long. “I gotta head back,” he sighs, pushing himself up to his feet. They were inches apart now and Manic had to crane his neck upwards to look Shadow in the eyes. “You don’t have to come with if you want,” He continues, sidestepping around him, heading back to the entrance of the cave. “But I really hope you do.”

[offthedeeepend]

SSR Cater Bloom Birthday

Happy Birthday 1

[part 2] [part 3]

Heartslabyul Dorm – Birthday Party Venue

Cater: Ah, it’s almost time for the interview to begin. Let me just check that my hat’s on at the right angle one last time… Alrighty, it’s A-OK.

Cater: Since the interviewer is chosen by the “magical pendulum…” I wonder who it will be this year~

Floyd: Heya, sea bream. Hap’ birth~

Cater: Whoa! You came in so suddenly, you startled me. Floyd, could it be you’re the interviewer?

Floyd: Mmhmm. So, let’s get this interview started.

Cater: In a rush, aren’t we?! Well, I don’t mind~ No matter the question, I’ll answer it the best I can!

Floyd: First question…

Floyd: “If you could fly on a broom to anywhere you wanted, where would you choose to go?”

Floyd: They mean you don’t have to consider stuff like the amount of magic power needed and such.

Cater: A broom flight, huh… Oh! I’d love to go to this waterfall that’s been a hot topic on Magicam recently!

Cater: The water falls from so high up it turns to mist on the way, and when the light hits it just right, it creates a rainbow…

Cater: And if you’re lucky, you might even see a double or triple rainbow, which’d really be cute.

Cater: I was browsing this waterfall’s tag on Magicam, and there are tons of posts with tens of thousands of likes.

Cater: If I also went there and took photos or a video, there’s no way it wouldn’t go viral!

Floyd: But a lot of other folks have already covered it, so wouldn’t it be better not to imitate them? You won’t be posting anything people haven’t seen before.

Cater: Good eye, Floyd~ But of course, I’ve already got a plan for that, too.

Cater: The waterfall that’s so popular right now is completely inaccessible on foot.

Cater: It’s so hard to get to that you have to book an expensive tour and take photos via helicopter…

Cater: The tour helicopters only take a predetermined course, so no matter how close in you get, everyone’s footage will look pretty similar.

Cater: But, since a broomstick’s way smaller than a helicopter, I could fly pretty much wherever I wanted, right?

Floyd: Ohh, gotcha. With a different route you could take snaps from new angles and basically pick out whatever shots you wanted, huh.

Cater: Exactly! If I flew there on a broom I could go behind the waterfall or even go right to its base…

Cater: I could get into tight spots where you can’t fit a helicopter, or even film myself passing under a rainbow on a broomstick; it’d definitely go viral!

Floyd: Heh~ So you’d go to all that trouble to take good pictures.

Cater: I often look up good shooting locations. I plan out places where I think “I’d like to take this kind of picture here.”

Cater: So far, I haven’t been able to put any of them into practice though~ By the time I get to go to those places, the fads will probably be over.

Floyd: Won’t it be better to take photos after the fad is over and the places are deserted?

Cater: But as a Magicammer, I’d really like to go viral, y’see…

Cater: If everyone’s bored of seeing it then it’s not as compelling to shoot there.

Floyd: Hmmm. So if your goal is to go viral, the location could be anywhere…

Floyd: Then next time, why don’t I take you to the Coral Sea. I’ll guide you to a hidden spot th’ land folks don’t know about.

Cater: That’d be… a super rare opportunity! Let’s go, Floyd!

Floyd: Then it’s settled. I think you’ll definitely have a blast~

Floyd: Oh, I almost forgot to mention. Sharks might attack you along the way.

Floyd: But, eh, as long as you get there safely, you’ll definitely go viral, so it’s fine, right?

Cater: Sh-SHARKS?! Could it be the reason land people don’t go there is ‘cause it’s underwater?!

Cater: …I’ll have to pass after all. My phone might break…

[inkofamethyst]

May 8, 2023

LAST WEEK.  ONE FINAL WEEK OF UNDERGRAD.  

Heh so remember the way I was supposed to do nothing this summer?  Well, that lasted absolutely no time at all because I’ve accepted a TA gig for a few weeks out of the summer.  Now, look, I’ve TA’d for this class twice before at this point, so it shouldn’t take up too much mental space.  The gig is short enough that commuting and paying at the meter is less than half the price of a parking pass.  Plus, my lease doesn’t end until the last day of the gig, should I need to use my apartment.  And, most importantly, teaching has been fun for me!  Getting more experience with it will be thoroughly welcomed!  Besides, I’d’ve grown terribly bored doing nothing this summer anyway.

I have a lot of.. stuff to go through before moving.  I need to figure out exactly what I want to bring with me to a place where I could be living for six or seven years.  Beyond clothes and cookware, there’s books and my sewing stuff and honestly just figuring out what I should throw away from the past several years of living in or close to my home.  And now that I don’t need to save notes from high school for my sibling (she never found them particularly useful anyway), I suppose those should go.  Just... a lot of things I’ve been needlessly holding on to.

Preliminary summer goals: healthy haircare, sewing like a maniac, selling and donating and trashing things I don’t need anymore, packing, identifying strategies and systems for grad school success, binging a ton of shows, reading a ton of books.  And resting.  I thought I was maybe going to try to learn bass guitar this summer, but I think the transition to grad school is going to take up enough active brainpower that I might save that musical exploration for some other time.  Maybe the summer after I finish classes/comps.  When I shift into full-time research, I’m going to need to delineate work and home pretty clearly to manage my mental health, I’d imagine.

I’ve been thinking about high school a little bit recently, and I randomly remembered this one girl who auditioned for every musical and every play every single year and didn’t make the cut until her final year.  I, honestly, want to be a lot more like her.  That’s resilience.  That’s knowing what you want.  That’s weathering shame and disappointment repeatedly and not letting it affect you personally.  That’s not basing your self-worth on someone else’s opinion.  

Part of the reason I decided not to pursue theatre (I considered it with intermediate interest) was because I didn’t think it would be beneficial to my mental state to exist in an industry where my ability was constantly judged and compared (yes yes yes I know I know academia is quite similar in that regard, but my ~intelligence~ is separate from my “creative ability” in my mind, and while I value them both, I am more insecure in my identity as a creative).  I knew myself quite well, and I don’t think I had(/have) what it took to survive (maybe one day).  But knowing who you are and valuing yourself independent of what others have to say?  I’m workin on it.

Granted.  There is merit to knowing when an opportunity is simply not for you.  The limit of unsuccessful attempts is different for everyone, but if the attempts aren’t harmful to your life in any way, I don’t see a reason why that limit cannot be extraordinarily large.

Also, the group project went well in stats.  We got above the minimum grade I needed, so that’s one more A on the resume :)  now I just need to worry about cell bio’s group project :/ (I’ve done my part, just waiting on others at this point [edit, a few days later: we submitted but it’s honestly not up to the standard I was hoping for and pushing for.  literally if we’d met online for fifteen minutes synchronously I think we could’ve elevated the project significantly, but whatever, guess I’ve gotta wait and see])

Today I’m thankful for the pink lemonade I had today from the engineering building :)  I don’t ever go in the engineering building (it’s nice up in there tho), but my photo-friend was right about this.  It’s insanely sweet and I’m now suffering from a sugar-induced headache but they put their whole foot in that lemonade so I can’t be too mad.

[lianailia]

Now that I have good news I can post an update. I got disability benefits approved!!!! I'm so happy. I still can't believe it. The judge went "You convinced me" during the interview. Luckily he was a nice guy and in favor for approving. Thanks to my lawyer and to my friend/trainer for being there. Really helped with my nerves. She wasn't even needed! But she would have helped. Been with her for 9 years, which is crazy. Feels like it's been longer. I went the Friday before the hearing to go over everything. Then it was so windy, I opened the car door and it slammed on my shin. Still have the bruise. I wasn't in all the way and putting stuff on other seat. Did not hold onto the door. Oops. But then Wed was the hearing. It was funny because the receptionist put the judge on hold to get the lawyer. Then he tried to put him on speaker by hanging up the phone. He hung up on the judge! Luckily he called back right away and understood. It was a phone hearing, btw. I was a little nervous, but just went in and told the truth. That I couldn't work a normal job. Yes, I'm pet sitting but that's the bare minimum of what I can do. I had ten plus years of retail and did not go back after the movie theater. My back got so bad. Then the nerve stuff with my neck. So that added to it. Luckily I can make some income, but I didn't have a job all Apr and most of May so far until the end.

My friend from the nature center contacted me on FB. She has 2 kitties. She also lives pretty close to me, so that works. It will be good to see her again. Yuki had to go to the vet today. She just had some eye discharge that wasn't clearing up. So my cousin (her vet) wiped them and also gave her the vaccines. So that's mostly my payment from this month. Heh But I love her and she's doing well otherwise. She's curled up right now. I don't know how she'll be when I move out and am in an apartment. She hides if someone comes and stays upstairs, since she stays downstairs. I'm sure she'll get used to it. But one thing at a time.

But that's all that's been happening. I did see the Spy Family movie which was great. I like the dubbed a lot. Been watching more dubbed anime recently since then I can draw. Dungeon Meshi and Frieren are the other 2 dubbed that I like a lot. And Lisa Ortiz is in Frieren! So that was cool. I am seeing the Gundam movie next month. And watching Spice and Wolf. The new one. Anyways, will update sooner next time.

[michaels-office-hours]

So… I recently found a streamer called F1nnster? And that guy is making me think way too much about things.

(I wouldn’t be tying him into this post if it weren’t for the fact he’s funny and I think needs more recognition.)

Gonna put under the cut cause man alive this is a long rant and I’m gonna be rambling.

Keep scrolling! Enjoy your day! Go get some hot coco! Hope you know you’re loved.🫰🏻

Ok. Now onto my existential crisis.

So… he started by cross dressing as a joke. Small at first. Then it became “girl month”. Then it be a,e people paying him donos to meet the goal to keep girlmonth going. Then it became all the time. Then it became him quietly taking HRT. And now he’s out as Gender-fluid (I’m still using he/him cause he said he still feels like majority “boy” which I feel that man)

How does this tie into me? Well……

Jewels in the latter half of 2022 started wearing more button up shirts, and jeans and belts. Kinda business casual… but also really masc. and a lot of hoodies. I’ll admit? That was me XD. She didn’t know about us at that point, so Olivia and I were getting a bit desperate to get her attention. She’d literally go from full on dress and cutesie, to hoodie and looking masc one second later. It was hilarious.

Me and Olivia still do that between ourselves.

I’ve been host for a while now… and the way I dress really shows it. I have short hair, Jewels used to have it down to her waste. Haven’t had that for nearly two years. I legit have MatPat hair most of the time! lol.

People will walk up and say sir if I keep my mouth shut. My voice is pretty much the only thing that gives it away.

Which is why F1nnster and all makes me think too much.

Since I’ve been online, I see the trans community, and it itches my brain. I’m not a man. I’m just a guy. I got over the manly man thing before I joined the system XD. But… I do get body dysphoria. I freak out at the sound of my own voice, because it really is a woman’s, no mistaking that no matter what I try.

But… this body also isn’t mine. Or… if you wanna get specific? It’s not only mine.

I share it. With both Olivia and Jewels. Both of which are fem presenting, or VERY feminine.

Jewels has issues with her voice because of bullying… but doesn’t want to change it that much, or her body.

Olivia’s voice is Jewels’ but pitched up even higher, and with a more feminine flair. And she sometimes gets a bit of dysphoria the other direction, because we aren’t the most curvy or conventionally pretty girl… (I beg to differ. And in fact most people rave about how we’re gorgeous if Olivia picks the outfit… soooo. With the long hair people thought we were a celebrity or something.)

In both cases? I’d rather die than take something from either of them.

Because of messed up alter stuff? I know what it’s like to have someone else running you like a puppet, and you have no control over your own body. I hate that I’m even host sometimes, robbing Jewels of her own body, I couldn’t imagine trying to make it more comfortable just because I’m a little uncomfortable.

And I’ve heard voices on T? They aren’t really what I want. I want the extra deep, smooth, voice. … I doubt I could get that from the starting point I have. And I would hate to never hear Olivia’s voice again… that’s some of the reason I’m still here… cause she said one thing. I couldn’t do that.

Btw. This isn’t an anti trans post in the slightest.

It’s more of a … “y’all make it look so nice, I wish I could. But it’d mean giving up things that means so much to people really close to me so I can’t. I’m so interested in it. But man it makes brain itch in weird ways I don’t need to think about”

I hope y’all can live your dreams. I- can’t. Heh.

Am I screaming into the void in a vague attempt that someone will tell me I can have my cake and eat it too? No nooooo not at all/sarcasm drools on the floor in a desperate attempt to sound normal

I love my fellow headmates too much to make them give something up for my two second, three years, or even life of glory. Cause either won’t be host all the time. Things change. And I know how much this hurts. I’d rather take that pain forever than ever give it to my girls.

Ok so I’ve been rambling a while. Gonna shut up and actually get something to eat and stop beating myself up and daydreaming about the impossible now XD

[mysteriaqueen]

The Traveler's Journal

Day 1 Part Four | <Prev • Next> | Word Count: 718 words

After defeating the slime the pair followed Amber, their new guide to Mondstadt.

They saw a chest and went to open it. Amber struck up a conversation.

“So, suspicious travelers. What are you doing in Mondstadt?”

She really just- wow.

“Jaylenth got separated from her brother during a really, really long journey. Paimon is her travel buddy, helping her to find her brother.” “Oh, looking for your family… Huh.”

The conversation dipped as Amber thought for a moment.

“Ah…”

What about that statement is so puzzling?

“Okay! Let me finish my other stuff first, and then I can help you put up posters around the city…” “What exactly is it you need to finish doing first?” Paimon asked, “It’s simple. You’ll understand in a bit.”

Amber led the pair to the location of her objective. Jaylenth saw an interesting statue and reached out for it only for it to float higher and glow blue instead of red. She then took a few steps away from it as if she had done nothing.

“Ah! A hilichurl!” Paimon warned. “So that’s what those are called,” Jaylenth noted. “Quick! Get it!” Amber yelled, jumping on the defensive.

Amber saw one approach and another behind it. Jaylenth summoned her sword but Amber shook her head. She placed a short but large bunny that looked similar to her on the ground. She then stepped away as the closer hilichurl proceeded to attack it. She ended the other hilicurl with her bow, from afar. As she did her small bunny exploded setting fire to the ground and majorly damaging the hilichurl attacking it.

Daaaaamnnnnn. Wait, is that fire on the grass? Is she not worried about that? I mean last I checked fire spreads so-

With a swift shot from her bow the final hilichurl was defeated. She smiled at her victory and then gestured for the pair to follow her.

“These monsters have been getting too close to the city recently.” Jaylenth grimaced, “Yikes.” “So, my task this time is to clear out their camp.” “Want some help?” Jaylenth offered. “No need, though I won't stop you if you do.”

They reached the site of the hilichurl camp and Jaylenth scanned the area. She looked to Amber, who was aiming for the hilichurl atop a tower. Once she shot (and hit a head shot) the rest of the hilichurls ran towards them. Amber immediately started firing more arrows and Jaylenth summoned her sword.

After the hilichurls were defeated the three stopped for a conversation.

“Heh, nothing to it,” Amber said. “Mhm. Ain’t nothin to it but to do it,” Jaylenth replied. “Though I’ve gotta say, you surprised me a little with your moves there…” “Hah, just tryna help out.” “Thanks for the backup. How’d it feel?” “Pretty good honestly” “Now that you mention it, how is it the hilichurls ended up here?” Paimon asked. “Good question.” Jaylenth looked at Amber. “These creatures don’t seem like the type to set up camp so close to cities like this,” Paimon pointed out. "Exactly. It’s more normal for them to be much further out in the wilderness. Bet because the dragon--Stormterror--had been around a lot more recently, or orchards have been destroyed and the local market has been affected as well.”

The pair looked at each other, concerned.

“When the storms hit we usually end up with at least a few injuries, so the Knights of Favonies have been tied up doing the best they can to defend the area.” “So these annoying creatures have been getting closer and closer to the city?” Paimon asked. “Exactly. That said, clearing this camp helped make the area a little safer.” “That’s good to hear. I’m glad I could help,” Jaylenth told Amber. “Thank you. Now come with me! A responsible knight must make sure to see you to the city safely.”

Jaylenth looked around the camp they just cleared out.

“Actually, could we look around here a bit first?” “Sure. But try to be quick about it, we want to get back to Mondstadt as soon as possible.”

Jaylenth did attempt to be swift. She opened a chest, broke through some boxes and barrels, and found some apples and a strange fruit she hadn’t heard of before. There was also the occasional radish.

“Okay. I’m ready.” “Then off we go!” Amber said and began to lead the way.

[starlight-starwings]

The Adventure Zone: Ethersea, Dust 2, and live shows quotes:

• Trees don't grow on trees!

• - Look at this stuff isnt it neat?

  - Yes I think that your collection is complete now.

• - What I will also give you with a nat 20 is... harmarbahbahbahbah

  - Excuse me what? I missed that last part

  - Harnarbarbarbarbar.

  - I dont see how that helps us but, thank you?

• - Zis has nothing to do wiz us!

  - Okay. Tel me why. Then you explain it.

  - Okay zo the magic coming from the zingularity, that we are going to collect, with, with this crystal, yes? Zis worm, uhh is not, by its nature, ze zingularity! Yes?

- Right but its probably got magic... all over it.

- No! No Ze water... zis water dat we are in, right? It is... it is... Okay. Zink if it like this: Imagina a glass of water. And you drop some uh, coloring into it. Some dye in it. Yes?

- Alright. Alright.

- So zen you are going to put objects into this water, yes? Zey will um, become covered in ze dye. Because it is in the water, yes? Now if zey are zings that abzorb things, if they are different colors when zey go in, ze differences between the objects will make ze dye in ze water affect zem differently. Yes? Zis is how ze Ether, in the Ethersea works.

- Riiiiight.... so he should just try talking to it-

- No! Zey worm is just zoaked in ze magic! And so

- Whys the worm here then?

- Why are- why are we here?!

- Whoa... whoa... that may be... might be even beyond my-

- No iz cause we fell into ze clam! That waz not a metaphysical question! We are here because we vell into ze clam. Listen. Listen. I know this is weird right? Giant worm! An uh, we're very small, and we're looking for the giant, ya know zing that makes things small and giant, right? But zis is not it! Zis building is not it, zose screw things are not it, ze worm is not it. Zey have all just been affected by ze same magic we are trying to find, but zat magic is not here. I have studied magic literally all my life. And zis is not it. Uh zis is like- Amber, I would not tell you how to uh punch a shark with your uh uh furious fists; Zoox, I would not tell you how to swim with the farts that come out of your feet. So I need you to trust me that I know that zis- the only thing that can happen here, is that zis worm sees us, as food like it sees zese, uh, things in ze wall, and eats us and poops us out as this white uh, tree gross stuff that comes out of its butt. Right? So...

- Ah yea that's fair.

- I love it when he's compelling.

• - Uhh it's a 6 and a 9 dude, heh heh heh

  - Oh I get it.

  - (fake laughter)

  - Yea so if it-

  - Dad um, theres uh... sex number, uhhhh I guess. Sorry its so (unintelligable) young thing for us young bucks

  - I think it was invented in like 2005

  - Yea thats pretty recent. We just came up with it. Hey dad if you try to follow up on this gag at all, I will hang up

  - (loud, real laughter)

  - This is not a "yes, and" situation

  - No no no no

- It's not a "yes and" it's a "no thanks."

- I'll just open another window, lemme see

- Im about to close all the windows on my computer, and then...

- (gasp) oh my god

- (laughter)

• The problem with being lied to and manipulated iz that now, in retrospect I can not tell what waz a good day and what seemed like a good day because zis is how you wanted me to feel. Zis is the problem that I have. It iz not that I hate chu, it iz that I do not know what iz me, and what iz you. And what is ze church, and what it is that I want. Because for so long, you and the other teachers only saw me as a vessel to be filled with your ideas, and your beliefs. And you would do anything to have me accept those. I am afraid of every other feeling because I do not know if they are yours or if they are mine, but my resentment is my own. And zis is the anger I will keep coming back to, to understand who I am. And what fuels me is knowing that I am not you. As- I do not want to be only resentment, yes? But when I see your face and the symbol, and the church, it's all that I am. Pleasure doing business with you.

• - Amber who is zis fellow over here? He seems... I dont know, important? Weird?

  - lemme think about it (out of character) do I know him?

  - Roll uhh an investigation check.

  - Kay. Sixteen.

  - Plus anything?

  - Nuh clean.

  - Um they look familiar but you can't quite put your finger on it.

  - (back in character) Well they look familiar but I cant quite put my finger on it. Ah well!

• You might be different, ah but uh different is not bad. It just means that you will have other strengths and other challenges along ze way. But I have seen you handle yourself very well in several different um, absolutely difficult and terrifying situations. And I think the only thing that is wrong with you is the same thing zat is wrong with everybody else, which is we are all just trying to understand ourselves, and understand who we are and uh what we are doing.

• - It's one of the jobs that was offered to you

  - noooo which one? Was it one of the good ones?

  - Make uhhh

  - Perception?

  - Yea perception or investigation, she just flashed it at you real quick.

  - That's uhh wow a natural 1 I dont even know if that's paper. Hey! Whats with that banana you got!

• - Well is it coloquial or is it irrelevant?

  -  It's actually pronounced the cloaca, is where hes at

• - Do you have a jacket zat I could have? Zis is unrelate-

  - They will cover your whole body

  - No its unrelated, I just needed a new jacket

  - Umm no! What are you talking about?

  - I just thought that I would ask

  - Have I ever come to your domicile and said like "hey! Selling any pants today?" That's a wild thing to do!

  - Oh I did not say selling I was hoping you would just give it to me.

  - Have I ever showed up at your domicile and said "gimme pants! Its me ya pal uncle Joshie gimme pants today!"

  - We haven't known each other this long.

  - No we haven't! Thats exactly right! We wicked have not!

• We don't want your boomerang dude

• (in deep voice) I agree, lets continue on our sacred mission

  - Oh shit, Optimus Prime is here?!

  - Autobots, transform!!

  - Sam Witwicky

  - Sam Witwicky!

  - Sam Witwicky!!

• - Sam Witwicky did you bring the robot weed?

• - You know hes kinda squiggly and uhhhh wiggly... he is an octo- holy shit.

  - What?

  - Squiggles was ze smiley face!

  - What?

  - Squiggle- Squiggles- Squiggles! Skittles! Was ze smiley face!

  - Travis is broken!

  - Squiddly diddly?!

  - Skittles? Squiggles.... was ze smiley face avatar at ze auction.

• Griffin trying out different voices for Nermal made me laugh. It doesnt really work to do in text because he does the same line multiple times in increasingly ridiculous voices.

• I could being your face down to a steak, cut it into nice strips for my brood

• - Im going to throw the uh, chance lance at the laser eye

  - Okay. You didn't say it was an eye, but I like that. Thats cool.

  - Well it is!

  - Where else is it gonna go its not a laser belly button

  - Well wait wait wait a minute! Im the one that came up with it, so I oughta say what it is.

- Yea what is it?

- It's a laser eye! Were you not listening?

• - Tell me about its smooth endoplasmic reticulum, Travis

  - It's sexy as fuck!

• Point at the face that looks like your face. For pain I mean.

• Shrets not reaaaal. Its just a naaaame.

• -  I got an 8

  - I got a rock

• You can not call it a gift if it was not asked for or offered. You imposed this on us. This is not how a gift works. And second; your understanding that strengths come from- through suffering? This is not the way. This is not an acceptable... pathway for us to move forward.

• - Thats a 10!

  - Yea... no

  - How much defense could a chain have??

  - It's not about defense-

  - He makes a good point, Griffin

  - It's not about defense! Its about you threading a chain-link with a crossbow bolt that you have tied a rope onto! There is no universe in which this-

  - Well when you say it like that, Griffin, it sounds wild!

  - Yea! It is wild! You see- Cambria laughs at you! The big worm monster laughs at you!

  - Wait a minute wait! Wait a minute. Now when you make an attack roll youre rolling again somebodys armor class, correct?

(All talking over each other now)

  - Did- you- dad-

  - Now wait, wait a minute-

  - Objection! The- the judges

  - Can we talk about this?

  - I don't wanna talk about anything else!

  - All the jury members stand up and shout objection! At the same time.

  - I don't have to win over a judge- a jury

  - And the judge is like this isn't how court works, but I agree! Ob-

  - I just have to win over you!

- Yea you're not gonna do that! Ive made my position perfectly clear. You can say you rolled a 10, what you did was you rolled a 2 plus 8. No way!

  - Alright

  - I wanna hear dad out!

  - Yea!

  - No no, let him speak

  - Okay no no! Make your impashioned armor class argument.

  - Now I'm just a simple fantasy lawyer, but my client

• stop rolling thunderclap damage!

• Herosim isn't some title that you earn for yourself and then you get to trot around. Its a thing that you do.

• If TAZ has a unifying theme, I've had a lot of thoughts about it, and if TAZ- The Tazmasphere- has a unifying theme, it is bullying people in administration positions.

• - If you have one of these, its called a map, and it will show you how to get to ze parlor, hmm?

  - Uh okay. And she goes over to uh a- a desk, a small sort of information desk, and picks up a piece of paper and jots something on it and then hands it to you and its just a note that says "just fucking follow me!"

•  - His name? Franz....ch.

   - Franged?

   - Frenched

   - Sorry, Franche? 

  - Can you guys not make a big deal out of it everytime?? Im trying to- I don't have a billion names written time this time!

• - The more you lose, the more important it is to protect what you still have, you pessimistic asshole. Because there are children that are in Founders Wake that have never seen a fucking polar bear! And we have ze chance to save things so that- maybe you dont care right now. But maybe they will! Huh?? Maybe its not about you, you selfish piece of shit!

• You zink you are very special because you feel this way. You zink that you have a big picture kind of mentality and that you see things in a clear way that no one else. But I'm going to tell you a secret, Sir. I grew up surrounded by people like you. People who live their life and make their decisions because of some promise of a better zing coming right? And zat everyzing they do now is all worth it because of whats to come, right? But ze problem is when you are looking at ze big picture, ze the things that you often miss, right, iz ze little things. And so you become so focused on the big picture and working towards ze next thing, zat you lose focus on how you are affecting the world you are in now. You think the world will be better huh? The next one. Do you know how it got to be like that?? Because of assholes like you who focused on "better" and ze next thing. And growing and taking more and being more and having more and instead, maybe if you focused a little bit more on what was going on now, we wouldn't be in ze fucking predicament here under the ocean, surrounded by polluted water, zat we are. Did you ever think about this??

• But with her many arms she rips sun from sky and boils all the water-  misbehavior

• That's why Gary Gygax used to say "this is my little nephew, Matt Mercer"

• It's a good point, but not relevant.

• I've always had the sneaking suspicion that when people aren't with us, theyre not really doing much of anything. Have you guys felt that ever?

• - Nah we, me and Dylan can handle it

  - Whos dylan??

  - Sorry??

  - Uh, from- from deeper in the ship, the- the door to the bridge opens up, and you all see just this skeezy waistoid of a dude walk in and hes like "Hey what's up? What's going on?"

  - Sorry who are you?

  - Who is Dylan??

  - This is my friend Dylan.

(Laughter)

• I- no! I don't think so at all! Im not with them. No I'm- I- Im- I like the mortal world! I like the- the I like the oceans, I like the- most of the people Ive met and I like all the creatures Ive met. I- I dont know why anybody would want to... get rid of this! I... I understand that people have lives and memories and- and all these things about the past, but, you know I recently learned that I'm not gonna live in it. I- I don't have that past to live in. So I don't wanna tunnel into... whatever Nirvanna or whatever these people wanna do. I just... I wanna enjoy this beautiful world that we have; this existence we have! I wanna appreciate it! I don't- I don't see any sense in trying to go somewhere else. Im! Not! With! Them!

• - My will

  - What?

  - My will

  - Oh okay.

  - Oh he did it in a scary voice. I hated that.

  -Yea idk why..

  - Like the devil-

  - I can't hear it on my end, hows it sound?

  - It sounds fucking scary man

  - It sounds terrible

  - It's the scariest-

  - I'm trying to turn it off so please- please ignore me (demonic laugh)

  - The volumes are too low and I tried to change this one slider and now I sound like this!

  - It's wonderful to me that you got this fun new sound board in our penultimate episode.

  - It's not- Ive had it for a little bit but I don't normally have these.

•  - Your mind reels with a question as you blink away tears: where the shit am I? To which your own mind answers: I do not know

  - Okay Griffin, but whats happening in the game??

• Yes! He's gained the power of literacy, and now he's unstoppable!

•  - You have thwarted me again, Springfield

  - Im walking away, I cant hear you actually Im walking away

  - Wait

  - Nope. Im not gonna! Im gonna walk away!

  - Okay. I wish-a you wouldn't.

  - Okay I'll see ya around. Bye!

  - That's a weird thing to say after you said that cool shit about Siren

  - I know but you keep talking to me and now its weird!

  - You're not walking away!

  - I want to though!

  - You keep responding

  - Okay now I'm definitely gonna walk away

  - Doesn't sound like it

  - Aw man.

  -(Quieter) Okay I'm walking away

  - Hey wait come back!

  - Yea?

  - What are you still doing here, man?

  - God dammit!

• -You ask a fucking lot of questions. I get it, that its like-

  - It's my whole deal!

  - Yea but even so... it's... it's... tiring.

  - What else would you have me dooo?

  - You could just chill.

  - I'm not The Statementer! Like I don't come when youre doing your job I don't-

  - I've got a question for you.

  - What is it?

  - What did birds evolve from? (Out of character) and then I go

  - Well the science-

  - (dinosaur screeches) And a bunch of-

  - No you didn't let me answer!

  - Velociraptors jump through the windows!

 

• - Do you have a spectral pen, um?

  - A regular pen that he can hold? When he's not-

  - Yes it's fine I can man-manifest myself into a corporeal form. Please excuse me for just a second.

  - Hang on just a second-

  (Very loud obnoxious screaming from Justin)

• - Mr. Parsons? It seems a missive has come for you.

  - Shhh. I hate this part.

• My name is Augustus Parsons; and I'm totally nuts.

• - That was a NICE ectoplasmic blast

  - That's what she said!

[ask-beast-o-tonicko]

i mean go off HERE. talk about it with US.

KO sits there for a couple minutes, gathering every single thought of his. A short time later, he is now ready for some venting. He inhales and then, this.

"I just... ever since I started coming to the group therapy that other mes go to, when I first met D--" He catches himself, nearly on the verge of saying DK!TKO's nickname, making a clearly audible shudder sound from his mouth.

"...first met 'mister nightmare'... I used to think he was okay for another version of TKO. That he was fine to be around with... to talk to... At the beginning, when he first started hanging out with Mercury, I thought that maybe... maybe that's bad. And then a little later great. Great that he'd live in his universe to be with... I also thought it was good because he'd be the only person that would finally keep his parasite stuff under control... maybe cancel out his imposter-y words, thoughts and actions even... I was... totally okay with these two coming to therapy together... but... ever since Mercury's Baby Teeth gave him that parasite, things about him started changing... and not in a good way..."

He takes a pause to teleport a water bottle in his free hands to drink from. Once that's done, he closes it and pushed it to the side, ready to continue.

"Things were taking a bad turn... it went from that one session where the therapist KO's Combo Breaker was there... he.. encouraged him to stab people... I got mad at mister nightmare... and told him off about how that wasn't okay... and he pointed a knife at me... telling me 'I WaSn't mAkInG MySeLf lEsS StAbBaBlE!3!!3!3!!!' Ugh... I hated that, but I thought that was a parasite influenced thing that made him say that, so I thought okay, maybe he had no control saying and thinking and doing that. And then there was a couple time where he just... attacks the regular therapist whenever he gets mad at Mercury for doing and saying something horrible and just... blindly and stupidly defends him for that. Like, c'mon, that's really not nice, trying to attack a version of me that has a mental health professional job even though he's not that great at it. Like geez louise, are you trying to go imposter on the poor guy by trying to kill him? Cob... And speaking of that, there was stuff that... started escalating ever since that road trip to the mall where he..." He grabs at the collar of his throat and gulps. "...was with Mercury and killed somebody completely innocent inside... with poor Shiny seeing that... And honestly?" His laugh is trauma filled and pretty stressed. "I got pretty angry at him for it too... And as bad as it is, I still am..." Purple sparks quickly coil around both his arms.

"I guess... it was at that week that... I'm starting to question why he still tags along with his... partner-in-crime, heh. Why Shiny should've been smarter to keep his distance from him since that day, Heheh...!" His hair gets only slightly messy in a subtle response to everything KO is recollecting so far.

"And just... j-just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, they actually did...! Like him and his... his messed up trauma making pal recently doing this... sick... disgusting... unhealthy... eating each other CRAP!! I couldn't believe how... horrified and upset I was at the fact that both of their parasites would make them... go this low to be doing that... Who knows, they're.... they're probably still doing that sick sh-t while I'm away...!" Again, KO sparks a little more. You can pretty much tell that these PTSD inducing memories are starting to engulf him to a steadily rising degree.

"And the stabbing spree they did... and that star eyed stupid dope... hurting Crux too... He never said sorry for that... at all..."

"And can I... can I tell you the ONE THING that jerk did that finally made me lose it? That was the last straw? That-that-that made decide that he's now officially one of the top two worst TKOs in existence?? That made me know once and for all that he's not cool anymore?"

As soon as he utters the question, images of MKO's second most and recent devastating injury swim around his mind. Silence fills the break room. And yes, Rad and Enid have been watching and listening to him the entire time off-screen. They're deafingly silent, and exchange concerned looks at each other, then down at KO.

KO facepalms with a groan. "The EYE thing! That thing he did to him!! I-I-I... Cob, I don't even like him anymore. I... I don't like the screwed up parasite pair hanging out anymore, they got SO BAD for each other now..." He clutches with face with both hands, letting out a strained, distressed noise, sparking even more. "I... I..." An unhinged, wide smile grows on him.

"Hah... hahaha... heheheheheh... hehehehgggh..."

[mysteryshoptls]

SR Deuce Spade New Year's Attire Personal Story: Part 1

"Ready, set... Go!"

Part 1 (Part 2)

[Mister S's Mystery Shop]

Deuce: Thank you very much for your patronage! Please come again!

Kalim: …Whew! We somehow got through today with no issues!

Deuce: Alright, then let's close up shop and go home.

Sam: Ｈｅｙ, Little Imps! Before you go home, let's have a little strategy meeting.

Deuce: Strategy meeting…?

Sam: Yup. Thanks to the two of you, Ｓａｍ’ｓ　Ｎｅｗ　Ｙｅａｒ　Ｓａｌｅ was a huge success.

Sam: Only, it would be a shame to be satisfied with just this much.

Sam: I'd like to have more of the Little Imps come to visit our little shop.

Sam: So that's why… I'd like it for you both to present an idea that could attract more customers.

Kalim: Us? Isn't that something you'd better at doing, Sam?

Sam: I thought that since the two of you can think from a student's perspective, maybe you'd be able to come up with something that could hook your classmates better.

Sam: And there's no need for it to be a well thought-out idea from the get go.

Sam: Even a small inkling of an idea from a chat you've had recently or something from your memories.

Deuce: Something from my memories…

Deuce: Ah, then maybe…!

[Main Street]

―A few days later…

[background chatter]

Ace: Wow～ It's a super long line, as usual.

Epel: There's a lot more people than there was last time I came. I wonder if they're all here for the "All-you-can-grab for 500 madol Candy Corner"?

Heartslabyul Student: Did you hear? Apparently, there was a guy who was able to stuff their bag with over 40 pieces of candy. I'll do the same―!

Epel: That's amazing! Let's hurry and try it too!

Deuce: The waiting line for the all-you-can-grab candy is over here! If you are hoping for Mystery Bags, please head to the other line!

Deuce: Oh, if it isn't Ace and Epel. You guys came again.

Epel: Yeah, I wanted to try out the sweets challenge.

Epel: By the way, Deuce-kun, what is that box in your hands? It seems kinda heavy…

Deuce: In addition to keeping the different lines in order, I'm also selling hot drinks. Especially because when the lines get long, some people end up waiting for over an hour.

Deuce: And it's super tough to wait forever like this in this cold weather. Also, I'm handing these out to those waiting in line to stave off boredom.

Ace: What is this, a leaflet?

Deuce: It's a summary of our special on-sale items. If you look over this now, then you won't find yourself missing any of our best bargains.

Octavinelle Student: Excuse me! I'd like a drink.

Deuce: Of course, I'll be right there!

Deuce: Alright, you two, I'll talk to you later!

Ace: …Doesn't it kinda seem like somehow he's become a really experienced salesman?

Epel: Yeah. He seems really upbeat and it looks like he's having fun…

[Mister S's Mystery Shop]

Ace: Haaah, we finally were able to enter the shop… It seriously took about an hour.

Epel: Ace-kun, isn't that it over there? The all-you-can-grab candy corner.

Ace: Ooh, looks like everyone's really lively over there.

Deuce: Oh, you two. Looks like you guys finally made it inside.

Ace: Huh? Weren't you just outside minding the lines earlier?

Epel: You were handing out leaflets and selling drinks too, this job must be pretty difficult despite it just being a seasonal part-time job.

Deuce: I guess. Right now, I've left the Mystery Bag sales to Asim-senpai, and I'm focusing on this.

Epel: Ah, the highest record of the amount of candy snagged is posted over there… Eh, 43 pieces!?

Ace: Is that so～ Then I'll aim for 50. The bag should be big enough, so I bet I can do that much!

Deuce: Heh, I wonder?

Deuce: Alright, then first, I'll take your 500 madol. Okay, let's begin. Ready, set… Go!

Deuce: ….And, stop!

Deuce: The score is… Ace got 30 pieces, and Epel got 22.

Ace: MAN, THAT'S DEFINITELY IMPOSSIBLE!!!!

Deuce: What is?

Ace: That top record, duh!

Ace: Even with 30 pieces this bag is already so full, so 43 is just…

Ace: …Aah, I get it. I see what it is. You just inflated the number to try to get everyone hooked.

Deuce: What!? No, that record is…

Ace: Haaah, suddenly I'm already exhausted this new year. Eh, I guess since I got what I came here for, I'll just head back. Bye～

Deuce: Hey! …Ugh, fricken Ace. He just left without listening to a word I have to say.

Epel: I also don't know how I feel about you exaggerating the record. I was so excited to try to break the record too…

Deuce: Wha…! Epel, you don't believe me either!?

Deuce: …Fine. If you're going to say that… I'll teach you the secret!

Epel: Eh…?

Part 1 (Part 2)

Requested by @cloverkisser.