#griffin and marion

[griffinswitch]

Griffin is canonically bi… whichever it is lol

[darkpoisonouslove]

I am not taking criticisms.

[oldsardens]

Marion Griffin - Untitled (Blues Trio)

[folkloristico]

Some Daphne & CoL (& Bloom) headcanons that have been haunting me nonstop lately

So I’m sharing them here.

A key factor of my understanding of Daphne is that she was homeschooled and as a result grew up mostly sheltered from the outside world (courtesy of the war as well), being more familiar with (formal) adults than her own peers. As a result, she developed a strong relationship with all CoL members.

Oritel

Daphne is totally a daddy’s girl. Sometimes when she’s still in her early teens and life is calmer, she knows how to tug at his affection to get what she wants. She isn’t spoiled, exactly, but Domino prides itself of being one of the most ancient and powerful monarchies (though most of them do, really; they aren’t rich and powerful for no reason) and Daphne herself isn’t immune to this.

Daphne often ditches her royal maids (the three we see in the second movie) and goes searching for her father, usually finding him busy in his office. Once she unlocks her basic fairy form and is free to soar into the sky it’s over for them. Oritel does admonish her (sometimes), but he’s too fond of her to send her away and so they end up spending lots of time together like this.

They can go on for hours playing strategic games together.

He teaches her sword-fighting. Sometimes he lets her win, but Daphne points it out to him that she doesn’t like it and so Oritel stops.

He also teaches her how to play the piano—it’s the only artistic talent he has, Marion being the true artistic soul of the family. (And Bloom, too, later on.)

Marion

Moments of intimacy between Daphne and Marion are rare because Marion does the majority of the traveling on behalf of the kingdom. She is better at handling people than Oritel is, and being the one born into the royal family comes with a fair amount of advantages. (Slightly unrelated to Daphne but still worth mentioning—they both know it’s how most people see them and it’s something that makes them uncomfortable, for different reasons, but they soon grow to ignore it.)

As a young princess (late teens-early 20s), Marion would sometimes name-drop the Dragon Flame just to see how people would react. It was the little power she was granted over them, and she isn’t proud of that now. What she is proud of is seeing Daphne is much more wary with the DF than Marion herself ever was.

Soon the word spreads that the young princess is an amazing Guardian and Marion takes it upon herself to teach Daphne everything she can.

Both Marion and Oritel are very protective of Daphne because of reasons that stem from their childhood/families, and they try so hard to keep Daphne safe that it sometimes backfires.

Like during the war, they start drifting apart. That is because Marion and Oritel are so determined to protect Daphne while she’s still a teen that they don’t tell her many things, and Daphne, who is incredibly receptive, isn’t to be fooled.

She grows to think they don’t trust her as much as thought they did. There’s still an insane amount of love between them, but sometimes it feels like it’s not enough. Especially on Daphne’s part.

Hagen

He’s been around since Daphne can remember, and he’s as close to an uncle as he can get.

Most people find Hagen’s presence to be uncomfortable because he speaks ever so rarely that they don’t know what to do with him, especially in a climate where people are always meddling and poking their noses around—Downton Abbey kind of thing, where no one, from servants to royalty, knows how to shut the fuck up, ever.

Oritel doesn’t have much time to take Daphne to the stalls and just hang out, so Hagen takes it upon himself to teach Daphne how to properly take care of her horse—which Oritel and Marion gave her as a gift. (In a world of technology and magic, of course, there are countless ways of traveling that are indeed faster, but people in the Magic Dimension are still attached to traditions.)

Ironically, the longest conversations Daphne ever has with Hagen happen when she asks him questions about subjects he’s interested in—mostly sword-fighting and sword making, occasionally battle strategy and tactics.

Saladin

He’s the kind of guy who gets along well with everyone.

People who meet him might think he’s naïve, but despite having an easy-going personality, he’s wary of the people he can trust. His kindness shouldn’t be mistaken for foolishness.

Because of this, Daphne is quick to warm up to him.

She has a lot of questions about… anything, really, and he makes sure to respond to them as best as he can. Marion and Oritel are often too busy to spend a lot of time with him when he’s visiting. Hagen and Faragonda only half-listen to him rumbling about this or that, and eventually they get tired of it, but both are too considerate of his feelings to let him know.

Saladin knows this, and sometimes uses these occasions to make fun of them.

Daphne, on the other hand, can never get enough. She grows particularly fascinated with Andros because of some similarities the planet shares with Domino (and because it’s the home planet of Sirenix), and it just so happens that Saladin has some acquaintances from the planet, in part thanks to his work at Red Fountain.

He brings Daphne gifts whenever he can; she has a whole shelf dedicated to them. With time, she feels she should reciprocate somehow, so she starts meddling about the palace trying to find anything that could interest Saladin.

Because he knows so much already, surprising him is hard, but still Daphne does her best. Eventually, even Marion and Oritel fall into this routine and whenever they find something of interest, they make a mental note of mentioning it to Daphne. But she’s the Biggest Nerd Ever™️ and usually knows about that stuff already.

More related to Marion but still worth mentioning, Saladin is Marion’s favorite person to have around when she has to attend royal business meetings/parties. He’s fun to be around and has a knack for always steering the conversation in the right direction, which comes particularly in handy when they’re in the company of someone who Marion doesn’t like. (She’s too polite to say it to their faces, but there are some people she just can’t stand.)

Faragonda

Faragonda is the kind of person you go to when you want to have a sincere and mature conversation about something.

She’s a powerful fairy and, like Saladin, has a kinship for academics. But she favors interacting with people over researching, and so she doesn’t have extensive knowledge on everything.

But being the only fairy of CoL outside of Marion, there are things Daphne prefers asking her rather than Saladin. Like when Daphne first considers the idea of studying to become a Nymph, Faragonda is the person she goes to.

During the quietest years of the war, Daphne spends some months at Alfea and they get closer than ever. (Though it was partly because Oritel asked Faragonda to keep an eye on her. He thinks Daphne doesn’t know this much, but she does.)

Because Faragonda knows Daphne has a kinship for the academics, she offers Daphne to help out at Alfea after the Sirenix Curse is broken.

Griffin

Griffin joining the Company goes opposite from smooth and so Daphne is kept at a distance from her. Oritel in particular is wary of her and doesn’t want Griffin nowhere near his daughter. 

Marion is of a slightly different opinion. At first, she doesn’t trust Griffin more than Oritel does, but she’s too preoccupied with the war and everything else to even consider the idea of Daphne developing a relationship with Griffin.

Because the truth is, none of them believe this allianceship will evolve into something deeper. But slowly—very slowly—they fall into a new routine and Griffin goes from serious threat to someone who’s just there to someone they can actually trust.

While there isn’t any active form of discrimination against witches by the time Daphne is born, anti-witch sentiment is still very real. Because of that, Daphne has never met many witches before. Griffin is the first chance she’s got at interacting with one, and she’s mesmerized by Griffin’s extensive knowledge. It doesn’t go as far as Saladin does but rather limits to certain aspects of magic for which they both share an interest.

Daphne is weirded out by her, but in a strange, almost funny way. It’s like there’s this person who just came out of nowhere and everyone just accepted it. Well, not everyone, exactly—half the palace wants her dead, but she has the approval of the queen and—reluctantly—the king, and so no one dares to say anything.

It’s only later that Griffin grows comfortable enough to tease Oritel about it, who, for his part, always looks on the verge of a stroke everytime he’s reminded how close Daphne has gotten to Griffin. Which only sets Griffin for even more teasing.

Marion has since longer abandoned her prejudices and isn’t worried about their relationship. 

Griffin will never admit to it, but she enjoys Daphne’s company in the library as much as she enjoys Faragonda’s.

Only sometimes does Daphne cross the line and ask questions Griffin doesn’t know how to respond to—mostly about the war, or if Daphne is feeling particularly bold,  Griffin’s past affiliation with the Coven and Valtor. Daphne is barely in her early 20s by the time Domino is wiped away; she isn’t a child anymore, but Marion and Oritel are protective of her to a fault and don’t want her to get involved.

Bloom

Bloom and Daphne’s relationship from before the destruction of Domino is almost non-existent because Bloom was still a baby when the planet was attacked. 

But Daphne, for her part, loved her, deeply and devotedly. She always wanted to have a little sister, and just when she thought it would never happen, her mother was pregnant. But months later, Marion suffered a spontaneous abortion, and she and Oritel stopped trying after that.

That is why the news of Bloom comes both as a blessing and a curse. It’s everything they’ve ever wanted, but the timing is so wrong that Marion wonders if it wouldn’t be for the better if she lost  this child as well. But she doesn’t, and when Bloom is born, Daphne swears on her life that she will never let anything bad happen to her.

Suffice to say that once Domino is restored, they all love Bloom—because how couldn’t they? She’s the lost princess who saved them all. But their own understanding of her only goes as far as the vague idea they have of her, and in reality Bloom is struggling an awful lot to fill the shoes of the person they want her to be.

Daphne knows exactly what it feels like, and as she, too, is struggling after having basically come back from the dead, she makes sure Bloom knows she can count on her anytime. Bloom feels like a burden to her, but she doesn’t realize how much she is helping Daphne in return.

Their relationship is smoother than the one Bloom has with Marion and Oritel. They’ve all gone through an insane amount of trauma, and they’re all trying their best. The fact is that Bloom never felt like she needed to meet her biological parents because she always had parents, still has them, and they’re the best pair you could ever ask for. Whenever she’s with Marion and Oritel, Bloom feels like she’s somehow betraying Vanessa and Mike.

Daphne is a whole different deal. Bloom never had a sister but always wished she had one, and in that sense, Daphne has sort of dropped from the sky. Not to mention that during the three years Bloom spent at Alfea, Daphne was always there for her whenever she could—when she was strong enough to reach Bloom in her dreams, that is—and helped her get through some tough moments.

It’s both easy and weird for them to be around each other. For Daphne, because the baby sister she once held in her arms is now but a few years younger than she is. For Bloom, because she’d gotten so used to the idea of being an only child, and of being able to only talk to Daphne in her dreams, that having her in front of her very eyes is unsettling.

Bloom often feels that now that Daphne—the princess the kingdom has known for more than twenty years—is back, she won’t be ‘needed’ anymore. She doesn’t realize just how much Daphne loves her. Because to her, it’s like the mere fact of Bloom having survived the war is proof enough that she’s succeeded in keeping her promise to keep her little sister safe.

[crazy-queen-winx]

Your aunt told you everything there is to know about forbidden magic. Magic that gave her scars and turned her skin green. The kind that brings death. The kind that even she is afraid of.

Your mother warned you about sacrifices. She doesn't want you to follow in her footsteps. She never let you know the details of her own sacrifice, but you can see that it still haunts her.

They told you everything about consequences, but not much about the reasons. It turns out that consequences are not that important when your sibling's life is in danger. This small child that has no one else to protect her.

If the destiny of her family is to die, then she cannot accept it. So she does what her family warned her against. Consequences be damned.

[beezonia]

My brain wants me to write a fic where it’s all the winx parents in their college years

Would you guys wanna see that?

Like How Oritel and Marion fell in love same with Luna and Radius but with the addition of how they sort of fell out of love

I just wanna explore the adult characters a bit more

Especially Griselda, Griffin and Faragonda! They’d be fun to write about!

[writingisartdarling]

I just plain and simple wanted to write down some of my headcanons for Winx Club, because as I've said before I have had a very big obsession with it (well at least some of the characters) as of late.

So, here we have some of my Winx Club hc's:

Headmistress Griffin's past with Valtor: I've seen a few of these as I've scrolled on Tiktok, Tumblr and ff.net but I wanted to explain how I see it. So as it is in the actual show, Griffin was fighting alongside Valtor and the Ancestral Witches, but Griffin and Valtor also had a relationship. To put it short, they were lovers. It was lust. Perhaps it was partly just a way to make people jealous and get more powerful, at least in the beginning, because Griffin was quite young when it all happened. Over time she started realizing the weight of her decision and because of that she wanted out of it. Away from him. I could also imagine their relationship becoming toxic over time, which also prompts Griffin to escape. How she managed it was because of her old friend Faragonda, who Griffin had obviously parted with when she joined Valtor. Faragonda always wants to help when she can and she never believed Griffin truly was as evil as she made herself look by turning against the entire magic dimension. So Faragonda was quite happy to be able to be of help to Griffin and help her return to the light and persuading the others to let Griffin join the Company of Light even if it was very difficult. When Valtor found out about all this, he was obviously angry and felt betrayed and thus he always held Griffin accountable for their misfortune and would count days until he could break her like she did his heart. Of course, Griffin was heartbroken too, when she made the choice to part with Valtor but she keeps telling herself she doesn't and will never truly regret it. I imagine when Valtor tried taking over the magical dimension in season 3, Griffin took it almost personally. She was afraid of what he'd do to her when he found her or what she'd do if she saw him again , and she tried her best to seek shelter from/with Faragonda, who offered it more than gladly, knowing it would be extremely hard on Griffin to have Valtor return. This is too, in addition to her close friendship with Griffin, why Faragonda was so worried about Valtor having done something to Griffin when she and Valtor fought in season 3.

Why Faragonda has no wings: This is also one I've seen here on Tumblr I think, but I do love it so here we are. I headcanon that during the Company of Light's fight against the Ancestral Witches on Domino the witches tore off Faragonda's wings. Yes, the worst thing to happen to a fairy. When it happened, I like to imagine, it was probably Marion who only barely managed to save Faragonda from the witches but she didn't make it in time to save the fairy from getting her wings torn off. And the queen still blames herself for Faragonda losing her wings. Now, if a fairy is strong and experienced enough, they could fly without wings but it would take a lot of practice and skill. It took Faragonda a while to recover and then learn the art of flying with no wings, but she did learn it and now does it without problem. She does not hold her friend accountable for losing her wings and will forever remain thankful to Marion for saving her life.

Faragonda and Marion's friendship: I already mentioned in the first one that Faragonda and Griffin are very good friends but I like to think that Faragonda was quite close with Marion too before she was supposedly killed by the Ancestral Witches on Domino and then they rekindled the friendship after the Winx saved Domino and Oritel and Marion. I think they went to school at Alfea together and when they got older and Marion married Oritel, Faragonda remained Marion's friend and avid supporter. After tens of years of not seeing each and thinking they never would again, the two women were very relieved to be able to call the other their friend still and they now go on walks in Alfea's gardens when Marion is visiting and she, vice versa, invites Faragonda for tea sometimes. Marion is especially grateful to Faragonda for being there for Bloom when she herself couldn't. Faragonda simply tells she would have dlne the same if the roles were reversed.

The fact that Darcy looks almost identical to young Griffin: Yes, they look alike and yes they are related. At least in my headcanon they are! In the first hc I talked about Valtor and Griffin's relationship but I did not mention that I also think that during her time with Valtor, as his lover, Griffin fell pregnant with his child. When she found out, she realized what a grave danger it would be to both her and the child. At this point Griffin was already thinking of parting with Valtor. So, in her panicked state she goes to Faragonda to see her in secret from Valtor and everyone else. When she tells Faragonda, she is, knowing Faragonda, met with support but also dissappointment. She asks for Faragonda's advice but she doesn't know how they could keep the baby a secret and that Griffin wouldn't have to get rid of it or give it up. But Faragonda promises Griffin that she will meet her soon and in the meanwhile come up with a plan or at least try to. When they meet again, Faragonda tells Griffin about an ancient spell that could possibly speed the pregnancy so that Griffin could have the baby now and then they would figure out where to hide the baby. (I know, a terrible and weird explanation, it sounded a lot better in my head.) It takes some convincing but Griffin agrees. So they barely manage to do the spell but luckily in the end they succeed and then Griffin basically has the baby about 7-8 months before it's actual due date. The problem is now that they have to figure a way to keep the baby a secret. Griffin spents the following days trying to figure out how and when she eventually comes up with a solution, she presents it to Faragonda. A forgetting potion, which when drank makes the drinker forget of a certain thing forever. She wants Faragonda to drink it so that she would forget Griffin's pregnancy and the baby completely. Faragonda doesn't like the idea and thinks it would be too dangerous. But Griffin is adamant, because she knows that if Valtor were to somehow find out (of course she doesn't doubt Faragonda but she knows how cruel the man can be) she would never be able to part with him and the baby would not have a life she wants for her. But Griffin can't bring herself to forget the wee baby, not her own daughter. She would take the secret to her grave if needed. So Faragonda promises to drink the potion and it is only many, many years later that Griffin confides the secret to her. Meanwhile, Griffin has to watch her daughter succumb to evil and darkness and make wrong choice after another without there truly being a way of saving her without telling revealing truth.

Oop. These got super long and tedious and probably make very little sense, but hopefully not! Let me know if you want more because I think I might have some left still and I would be more than happy to share them with you.

[solisvia]

Marion, Griffin and Valtor for the character bingo

Oooh, excellent choices 🙏

Let the screaming commence

Marion

Marion can be on screen for five seconds and I won't shut up about it for five years. When I watched Winx as a child, I hadn't seen the light, but now Marion is one of my faves <3

Canon gives us so little that practically everything I like about her is headcanon, but what we do get is honestly pretty interesting? The Fall of Domino is told through so many different versions during the course of the show, but I think it's fair to say that Marion chose to seal herself in Oritel's sword, unwilling to lose him, despite there being no confirmation of Daphne and Bloom's deaths.

I characterize Marion as a pretty imperfect mother. She's warm and loving, but she's fought tooth and nail to become that way. I imagine that as Queen Regnant of a war-torn realm, who also carries a godly power, she would have been under immense pressure, intensely aware of the danger of her status, which affected how she raised her child. Daphne grew up with that same experience, creating a source of tension in their relationship. After Domino's restoration, it takes time and effort to heal and rebuild. It takes time for Marion to confront the mistakes she made, and to be a more attentive mother, to both Daphne and Bloom.

Was that a tangent? That was a tangent. Anyways, Marion rules.

Griffin

THIS DAME HAS SUCH A GREAT DESIGN I adore everything about it from her silhouette, her color scheme, her collar, her sleeves and gloves to her necklace and hair that looks like a witchy hat and-

Ahem. Young Griffin looks pretty cool too.

Just as it was with Marion, I only started appreciating Griffin when I got older. Out of everyone in the Company of Light, she has the most compelling storyline and arc, I think. I'm always a sucker for characters who undergo paradigm shifts, especially when that results in changes to allegiances. 🤗 Introspection, angst, shifting character dynamics and self-actualization are all things I never get tired of. I would have liked to see more of her in canon, especially in S3, but meh, she's not the protagonist, so I can't be too mad about her untapped potential.

Most people are sleeping on her and that's criminal, but the good thing about liking a character like that is that the bad takes are few and far in between. ;)

Valtor

Nearly made it to a quadruple bingo, damn.

I'm of the opinion that you have to love your villains, at least if you're planning on telling a story. You have to know them inside and out, what drives them, what they love, what they hate and what they fear. You have to make them human, otherwise you're left with a boring sack of nothing.

... Which is why I have a treasury's worth of headcanons about this bastard. Valtor was my favorite Winx villain growing up, and no one else has come close to dethroning him - especially now that my interest leans more into the CoL era. I don't want to see him succeed, but damn if the journey isn't fun. He's my anti-blorbo, if you will.

Unfortunately, as a popular villain he has his fair share of gross misinterpretations. I'm keeping my man away from everyone until they learn to hate him correctly, thank you.

Canon dropped the ball with him too. I wouldn't like him nearly as much as I do without the groundwork done by the writers, but the S3 finale was disappointing.

I've never watched S8 in full, and from what I've heard, he's not treated any better there :/ In either case, Valtor deserved a better send-off than what he got.

[stillaslavetothisdream]

The New Adventures of Robin Hood S4E12 - Day after Day. aka The Longest kissing scene ever, or that one time Robin and Marion used a spell to make out like horny teenagers in front of a whole village. Gifs are mine, footage taken from the lovely YoutubeChannel Matthew Porretta

[griffinswitch]

Don't even ask why.

[darkpoisonouslove]

I have made another chart. As a treat.

[fdmlovesfashion]

CATCHING UP: HAMPTONS Happening 2023

Catching up: It’s mid summer ya’ll! and the Hamptons summer season is in full swing with outdoor events and fundraisers so far. One of our memorable social events this season was the The Annual Hamptons Happening 2023. 300+ guests came to support the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation’s 19th Annual Hamptons Happening. The fundraising event held at the Bridgehampton estate of hosts Kenneth…

[folkloristico]

Spoiler!

I was responding by explaining how I reimagined the Dragon Flame lore, but it was turning out to be a terribly long info-dump, so I just had to cut that part out—and I still ended up writing a lot. Sorry about that!

Basically, roughly 1200 years prior Bloom’s birth, a civil war forced the Court of Domino to find another way but childbirth to pass on the Dragon Flame to another guardian.

They succeed, but the ritual they come up with is complicated. That is because, when transmitted naturally, the Dragon Flame grows with its guardian, but to inject such an amount of power into a person all at once would kill them.

The solution is to seal the Dragon Flame under many locks; there isn’t a precise number, it mostly depends on the situation. Based on how many locks you intend to create, there are people—I haven’t figured out their names yet—who help the current guardian to keep the power under check while it’s being transmitted to the next one.

Nobody has ever succeeded to pass it on at will alone.

Until Daphne.

The war is particularly hard on her. On one hand, she is the guardian of the Dragon Flame—Marion still has fire magic and shares a link to the Dragon Flame, but what remains in the past guardians is just a trace, a faint glimpse of it. Daphne feels it should be her, more than anyone else, to be fighting Valtor and the Coven. But on the other hand, she knows Marion and Oritel won’t let that happen.

Having both been raised by strict parents (Marion’s mother and Oritel’s father were especially shitty), Marion and Oritel try to not make the same mistakes. As a result, they tend to overcompensate, and Daphne can sense that. She’s a smart, receptive child. She doesn’t want to see her parents more hurt than they already are, so she always tries her best to not let them down. She tends to keep everything bottled inside of her. She almost never fights back, never complains.

But she knows to her bones that the war is getting close with each passing day, and she cannot let the Dragon Flame fall into the wrong hands. She starts researching any other way she may pass on the Dragon Flame to someone else (her newborn sister is her first guess) should anything happen, and she tells no one. (Griffin suspects something, and in the first draft I have Daphne openly asking her for help, but I’m considering whether I should cut that part out.)

The Coven attacks, and Daphne actually manages to pass on the Dragon Flame to her sister. Then Domino is destroyed, Bloom gets sent on Earth—you know how it goes.

When Domino is revived, everybody is happy and ready to party, but the sentiment doesn’t last long as reality soon kicks in. Daphne is made corporeal soon after that thanks to Bloom and Griffin, but Marion and Oritel find her… changed. She’s tired, both physically and mentally.

She and Oritel get into a fight when Oritel says something condescending and he’s literally shocked at Daphne’s response, she’s never acted like this. Like—Oritel realizes—a young woman her age.

Returning to life is hard on anyone, of course, but Daphne seems to be suffering in a different way than any of them. She has missed so much, like anyone from Domino has, but it’s not only that. She feels incredibly old and young at the same time.

When Oritel discovers how exactly she was able to pass on the Dragon Flame to Bloom, he is… many things. Shocked. Incredulous. That’s what their fight is about, and it’s like the pressure of constantly keeping any emotion under control snaps in Daphne all at once. 

Marion’s role in their conflict is complicated. Upon being revived, she barely feels like herself. It’s like she’s constantly on the edge of breaking into a million pieces, much like Daphne (and Oritel, too) is. Daphne’s current status is worse than she’d thought and she’s devastated. She feels like she has failed Daphne. It scares the hell out of Marion to think that she has tried so hard not to follow her mother’s example, only to retrace her footsteps backward to the same result—building a wall between her and her daughter.

Of course, having the Bloom situation to figure out doesn’t help. Instead of one, Marion is left with two daughters whom she can’t understand.

All of this happens around the same time Marion has offered Bloom to invite Mike and Vanessa to Domino, but it was before Oritel and Daphne’s fight, when Marion thought things were starting to settle down. There’s a lot of angst, but also some degree of second hand-embarrassment because they’re just standing there like 🧍

(I was actually planning to have Bloom walk in the middle of the fight, but having Marion being the one who does is even better. I love how the second part of my SotLK rewrite is basically family drama and suffering.)

[hummingbird-games]

2023 In Review (Indie Games)

Last year's! | 2021

I apologize in advance for how long this might be. As a reminder, I don't bash games here so even if I hated something with every fiber of my being...I ain't sharing. As a second reminder, my more in depth reviews and live blogging has moved to Gem's Game Gems so I don't clutter the HBG's main blog. Okay. ON WITH THE REVIEW!!

DEMOS

Diffraction (Demo)- A rainy day otome indeed. I love the quiet gentleness of this game, the two romance options, and the fact that our MC is a photographer and struggling with her art and stack of life "failures" (because...SAME!!)

Alaris - I was asleep and now I am awake: I came late for the advertised fae and dragon lore, stayed seated and waiting for Fenir zjgjdf. Oh, and I guess the mystery surrounding our MC's abilities LOL.

The Summit Library - When I say I was maaaaaad when I realized I blew through chapter 1 and would have to go back to waiting for more content??? LOL, I was very miffed. Anyhoo, check out this title for the gorgeous art, another intriguing mystery (like what is *up* with the magic in the poor library?? who or what is to blame?? 👀) and of course the lovely characters we've been introduced to thus far.

Of Sense and Soul - I'm a regency romance girl. Like after you strip away the other stuff, I am but a poor woman with simple needs: a good ass love story 🤧💛 It's about the yearning and the slow burn and the will they/won't they/PLEASEEE they...I've never been so charmed by a demo, and the full game is going to be amazing I just know it!

Made Marion - This project is a game I've been keeping tabs on for a hot minute but hadn't taken the time to sit and properly enjoy the demo. I'M SO GLAD I DID!!! It's in early access now, so I'm hoping eventually I'll be able to carve out some time to play, but guysss Velvet Cupcake is doing the Thing?!? No idea which love interest I'll go for first, but I had a fun time meeting the Nottingham peeps in the demo.

Herotome (Super Demo) - Oh gosh. Oh gosh oh gosh oh my GOSHHH. Where do I even began?? (Really the question is where the hell do I end because this is one of those projects I talk about a lot/think about a lot and surprisingly haven't run out of things to say zkjfksjd). Another game I've been following for a while, it 100% lives up to the superhero genre in its aesthetic, the characters you interact with, the music and sound design, and of course the slowly unfurling story. Jade and Mia had come out as my top faves, Warden is still there, like hovering in the backgroud, shhhh but I have a special place in my heart for Griffin too (that conversation we have with her?? I have so many screenshots just so I can go back and reread and sear the words in my brain. Like a weirdo. Yup.)

Celestial Crowns - Stats building, celestial royalty, dating sim where you fuck around and find out your choices directly affect your MC's personality?? I'm sat. I supported the Kickstarter and now I try to practice patience for the full game's release siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighh.

OTOME/JOSEI JAM

Please note this is a SUPER abridged list for my sanity and I fell a little more in love with these 2 jams with each entry I played...

Intertwine - As embarrassing as it sounds, I've never given much thought to the "red string" thing, and I consume more than enough romance media LOL!! But Van is suuuuuch a beautiful man, the UI for this game is so interactive and lovely, the music is ALSO lovely, just lovely-love all the way around teehee. (Also this game encourages replayabillity so like, do with that info what you will.)

Spring Boy [Demo] - I believe this game is going through a complete rehaul, so my thoughts and feelings refer to the original jam entry I played. The art is bright and cute and it's a super super short demo, but I was intrigued by the other student we meet on our mission to plead with our professor about our bombed exam lol!

Assignment Due: Project Blue - IRl group projects??? Suck absolute ass. Group projects with a guy name Asher?? Suddenly it's my new favorite thing in the world 😁

Cryptid Campaign Manager [DEMO] - Remember the last time I looked over a cryptid dating sim??? Remember how I was SUCH a fool?? Good thing I didn't make that mistake again!! The prologue is such a tease but you get an idea of what the full game is gonna be like, and I'm excited to see where my career involving love (and politics) goes!

Heart Cage [Demo] - Yoooooo I stay my ass far far far away from yanderes (could never get into the trope or the character type). WELP. Guess I just needed to keep searching because I really downloaded this off a whim--well, the whim being one of my fellow dev peers playing and rating-- and proceeded to get sucked in 🤧I thought being a detective would be the highlight, but I guuuueeesssss I was more into the romance options than I thought. Oops.

Evernight - I tried to explain what this game meant to me on the side blog, but words failed me. I still don't know what to say other than I loved it?? Which is like ummm I say I love everything, and yeah I'm easy to please BUT Y'ALLLLLL if you play no other game, play this one. Please. Date a werewolf. Or a vampire. Or a fae. Plz. Also figuring out the mystery of your MC's abilities and past is just delightful, ugh.

Bright Oak (demo) - Anotha one I wrote about on the side blog!!! Play this one!!! The writing is lush and atmospheric and the characters are all delightful and it's another game with a mystery to untangle!

The Faithfulness of the Universe- This one gets the award for most unique all around entry that I played. Theeeeee prettiest pixel art to bless my eyeballs, and this tasty mystery concerning Fate and witch Faustina's future (or lack thereof 👀) and what it all means. As a player I very much want to know what it all means!

A Cup For All Seasons - Another game that needs its flowers y'all. It's short but super healing and super cozy and the voice acting and music really tie the gaming experience together???

The Working Woman's Guide to Burning Bridges - DEMO - It's the way I played the demo twice and I've been thinking about it ever since 😭😭😭🙃 obviously life happens and things come up, plus this was a demo. But. BUT!!! I am on my hands and knees prayinnggg the team gets together again to finish the game. I love playing as a stressed, lowkey bitter hot mess who doesn't have her life together 😂somehow the fictional version is soooo much more entertaining!!!

Keyframes (Spring Demo) - After the game College Craze, this is legit THE college, slice of life visual novel of my dreams. I cannot wait for the updated demo next year, and the Kickstarter whenever that rolls around. And now that the developer is on Tumblr, I've definitely been stalking the account and reading each new post like it's my day/night/weekend job 🤧

Hello Counsel 💋 - Okay I take it back, Evernight is like a 20/10 but Hello Counsel is like an 100/10 👁️👄👁️ This game is necessary for my mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health, alright? The banter ✅ the character designs ✅ the music ✅ the sizzling chemistry between Poise and Salem ✅ I wish this game had more buzz because IT'S SO GOOD!!! (also the dev, Miseri, is who I wanna be when I grow up. I've made it through almost their whole backlog of games and there are no misses and EVERY game is different from the rest and it makes it hard for a toodler dev--ME--to cope LOL)

Candied Hearts - Isekaied into a candy themed game?? Sign me TF UP!!! (Peppermint I love you dearly, you must understand.)

Fully Released & Played (at least 1 playthrough)

The Knight's Dilemma - I don't even know how I originally stumbled upon this??? I just know it had been in my backlog for a hot minute and I was intrigued enough to save it way back when. Y'ALL WHY DIDN'T I PLAY SOONER SKJFHFJFH! There's a couple different endings, I loved the voice direction, AND it's such a simple concept of a game that was just executed beautifully.

Trouble Comes Twice - If I had to make a top 5 list of romance VNs, guess who makes the list?? Guess. Guess guess guess. Have you guessed yet??? LOL! I have been in love with TCT since it's development days and with each passing month, waiting in anticipation, playing the Pateron beta builds, screaming on the main blog about every single thought I had about Jace and Hazel (shoutout to Jace for helping me figure out *me*) Lol if you're curious about said thoughts, those posts are on this blog and not the side blog.

Aelfric the Wondrous - 10/10 would love to forget my first play through JUST to have that experience fresh again 😭😭💛Cute and funny and a wonderful parody type game all around.

A Summer's End - Hong Kong 1986 - Goodness, there's no excuse for why this took me years to finish but anyhoo, I finished, I loved it, I recommend it! It's romantic and achingly authentic and the art is soooo gorgeous I literally can't stand it 😭

The Things You Do For Love - Unhinged yandere manages to entertain and garner sympathy and laughter from Gemini. And that poly ending is chef's kiss too????

Band Camp Boyfriend - There are a handful of games I found and loved before I began my game development journey, and this is one of them. BCB is so dear to me, because of the story and characters but also because of the Dynamic Duo creators and their team behind the scenes. I was never a band kid I was a chorus kid but just as the band geeks loved this game to pieces, us normal folks do too!! Even the boys who I didn't like I STILL managed to find joy in playing their routes (still have a few more to finish at the time of this posting lol, GOTTA GET THE FINAL ROUTE YO). Anyway, this game more than delivered for me and I hope more people keep discovering it!!

Belle Automata: Chronicle I [RELEASED] - While only Chronicle 1 is out at the time of this posting, I already know that the 2nd and 3rd parts are going to be just as amazing???? I wrote about this one on the side blog, so here's my copypaste that still rings true:  

I love TNP (The Nightmare Prince) but Victor’s route hit the sweet spot for me. Maybe it’s the slow(er) burn nature of this route, maybe it’s the reserved nature of Victor and watching him slowly start to care (AND NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THOSE FEELINGS TEEHEE) for me.

A Date with Death - I wrote about this on the side blog--again--. The demo. And then right after finishing a route. And then again where I was fully awake and still managed to sound deranged. No copypaste for that, I shall be nice. But yeah!! Another game where I was screaming at the sky about how much I love it and how I'll never know peace as long as I live.

Our Life: Baxter DLC - I need to offer an official apology to both Cove and Derek because falling head over heels, down the stairs, crashing into the parking lot, falling again but down a manhole for Baxter's infuriating ass was NOT on my 2023 bingo board??? HELLO???? I bought his DLC just to complete my OL collection. Was not expecting to love it this much. Was not expecting to be called to write fanfic and abandon all responsibilities to do this. WHILE DOWN WITH COVID TOO. Allow me to play the song of my people. *Send in the Clowns plays*

Our Cinderella - (this is so funny I'm taking about a side game before the main game LOLOLOLOL) Guys. Guysss. You guyyyysss 🥹if you're looking for a cozy, hilarious, equally oddly and wonderfully sweet short game, this is the one!! You may have your personal favorite Iggy ship (like me) but all the pairings are so amazing and just make sense lol!

Wylde Flowers - This is the only non visual novel game on here but it gets the spotlight because I did NOT spend 90+ hours on this game to gatekeep this beauty. No. It the coziest, the funniest, the funnest, the most addictive Switch game (after Teacup) I've ever played.

Fully Released (& still on 1st playthrough)

Garden of Seif: Chronicles of an Assassin - Life kicked my butt and then sat on me SO while I finally got my grubby hands on the full copy, I still have only played the entirety of the demo. But. We will return to this in 2024 and hopefully I'll have a full review for the next wrap up!

Our Wonderland - I looked back at the side blog and I can't believe it was only THIS year that I started OW??? Because I'd known of the game and the dev for longer than that??? So basically what I'm saying is that I was chicken shit for longer than I've been in love with this world that Developer Carrot has created kjzhhshggj. But OMG to get me, who is scared oh so easily to get hella invested in this clearly labeled horror game??????????????? And even with shit gets super absurd and hella disturbing, I cannot stop playing. At the time of this post, I'm only in Act 4, hence the category above, but it's only because I play each act in a sitting and lose track of space and time and myself. That's a compliment btw.

...

Okie!! That's 2023 in a nutshell! I played a looooot of really good games this year and while I would have liked to talk about them all, I think this list provides a nice overview.

Let me know if we share any favorites!

- Gemini 💛