#i also have a doc with all the element combos

[majykk-hat]

Me yesterday: oh element swapped archons would be cute, a nice little redesign exercise

Me, 24hrs later: *has an Anemo!Inazuma au google doc with things renamed, recolored, and Raiden redesigned with plans to start Geo!Mondstadt tomorrow* wait

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

To a Festival on a Summer Evening (夏の宵に縁日へ) Alt. Stream

Reference images here. If you like this, then you can see similar content on this Google doc.

Rei: Hyottoko mask. A mask of a male character, as opposed to the female otafuku. The character plays the role of a clown (fitting for a member of DH). Apparently named as such because the mouth looks like it’s breathing fire.

Ichiro: Kitsune mask. Kitsune have various connotations in Japan, but outside the festival setting, this one’s a bit of an odd choice, since Sasara has more fox connotations than Ichiro (Sasara has what are called kitsune no me).

Ramuda: Rabbit mask. A pretty uncommon type of mask, in comparison to the kitsune, hyottoko and otafuku masks. Also cute, childish and pink to go with his colour scheme. (Update: Also harmless-seeming, as well as going with his "pyon pyon pyon!" - most notably from Drops - and his calling of "Usa-pyon" to Jyuto.)

At first, I thought Rei's was the only mask of particular note (particularly because Rei's speaker has a phoenix, which is represented by fire), but there are also some interesting connotations with Ichiro's kitsune mask - some kitsune can breathe fire, there is the concept of kitsunebi (fox fire) and some festivals have special fires.

The toffee apple in Ramuda's hand also has a fire element - through the melted sugar which comprises the toffee - and...well, it's red.

BB's theme colour is red and red is usually the colour used to represent fire (see: the ancient Chinese 5 element theory behind Saburo's 3rd solo). Also, red and yellow - BB and FP's theme colours respectively - make orange, or DH's theme colour.

On top of that, within ARB, all 3 of these characters were present during the fireworks event which is featured during this Alt. Stream (across both parts) and in the manga, Ramuda's senpai of sorts is called Hanabi. (Although the kanji used for Hanabi's name are roughly "flower light/lamp" - the second character of which can be read tomoshibi in other contexts, like the MTR song - the usual kanji for "fireworks" literally translates to "flower fire".)

(Sidenote: In terms of words, the word meaning "festival" (縁日) includes the character 縁 (enishi), which is the name of a DH song. Indeed, this kanji combo is read ennichi.)

(Then again, this fanart reminded me Hitoya also has fox associations, since he was possessed by the nine tailed fox in one of the soul swaps...)

[klunkcat]

tagged by @goodlucktai <3333

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

45 lol but i have I think. 30 wips that exist somewhere on my computer at any given moment. alas.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

701,032

which..... is like far too many words per fic actually imo

3. What fandoms do you write for?

honestly whatever currently grabs my brain stem changes a lot but i think my top ones are tmnt and stranger things (what a wild combo actually). Actively atm I have a trigun wip and a tmnt one

4. Top five fics by kudos?

A Kiss is a Kiss (But it's never like this) - 6,528

(something happens and I'm) head over heels - 3,518

Green with Envy - 1,880

Forget the mess I'm in - 1,791

Weak Point - 1,366

5. Do you respond to comments?

literally I am the WORST for remembering to reply I'm so sorry. I must say that I do read all of them in my email and screenshot them and cry

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

angsty endings are too much 4 me I believe so strongly in hurt/comfort but....

Impossible Things and the Tin Can I think is the most like, conceptually tragic series I've written

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Comfort is a requirement but I think but like Stepping over the line is basically just an extended meet cute so nothing really sad happens at all lol?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Actually genuinely have never gotten a rude comment in my life I did once get someone being hyper pushy about new chaps when I was like.... 19? Sometimes comments veer I think towards misunderstanding unreliable narrator elements and can be a little intense as a result

9. Do you write smut?

ehhhhhh closest I've ever gotten was dancing around the topic lol

10. Craziest crossover?

omg me and tai have gone down some rabbit holes and made a tangled/good omens fusion among other things, which was cute 2 me

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that I know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I've gotten some requests, not sure if they got uploaded anywhere?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I did once many years ago but we didn't end up finishing it from what I remember!

14. All time favourite ship?

oh god I mean. ineffable husbands and wangxian invented romance. big mckirk and vashwood fan despite what my published fics would tell you. stsg ruined my life this year. I'm really big on platonic friendships though personally

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

My google docs are a cesspit of fics I will never finish. Once made a wangxian softball fic that will never see the light of day but I think of it fondly

16. What are your writing strengths?

Might actually be a weakness and not a strength but boy do I love prosey metaphor nonsense. Sometimes I think it works other times who's 2 say.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Fighting scenes man, combat is hard as hell.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

in general I dooooon't write it too much just because I don't speak anything beyond like. grade 2 level spanish so.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

tmnt :' )

20. Favourite fic you've written?

Oh tricky. Stealing tai's idea of a top 5

Forget-Me-Nots - :') big ol love u to tai for this

Both the Sweet and the Bitter - so sorry to anyone who follows me for ST fics because I'm probably never going to write for it ever again or finish this but a dear friend of mine helped me with this story and it means a lot 2 me as a result. The flower metaphors were fun to research.

Plain White Beach Houses - also same as the above but idk pacific rim au....house metaphors.... I love this series a lot

change up, high inside - wanted to write a softball fic for my whole life basically and this is more or less me just waxing poetic about the sport if I'm honest

Feedback Loop - this fic was actually insane like. took me I think a full year to write out? There's a lot of stuff in this that I lol cannot reread anymore for reasons but damn if it wasn't a learning experience to write all around

Tagging @eternalglitch @byrdybyrd02 @jinbugs if u want to besties!

[georgieluz]

hi ive just seen that you assigned your friends pacific characters could you do the same with band of brothers characters

thx

that i can! this went slightly off the rails, so apologies if it's a mess, i cannot be trusted

@footprintsinthesxnd → a mix between winters and doc roe!! safe space avenue is your address 🤍 however!! you're not escaping the shifty element bc there's definitely some shifty in there too!!

@im-chinese-believe-it-or-not → lipton and buck!! bc you have all of lip's kind and caring tendencies but you're also fun like buck (pre-the-breaking-point) and you're genuinely so loved within the fandom, so yup, lip with some buck mixed in!

@theflyingfin → buck compton and doc roe!! sorry i've given you the characters who suffer again i swear it's not intentional but i feel like you and doc roe would have similar reactions/thought processes and i feel like buck is both fun and serious

@lamialamia → a hoobler and tab combo for sure!! this makes so much sense to me in my brain and i love it!!

@lewis-winters → a harry welsh and lewis nixon combination!! i feel like i need to add an element of chuck grant in there too though!

@hellofanidea → the rare nixon x winters type!! seemingly contradictory but actually not! smart and slightly chaotic like nix but with winters' awareness of himself and others around him!!

@blvestxr → i'm assigning you your man alton more!! keep pushing the alton agenda!! i do think you have similar vibes though even if he wasn't your fave! i'm giving you a bit of penkala as well though!

@hxad-ovxr-hxart → babe and winters combination!!

@ep6bastogne → skip muck vibes for sure!!! i could definitely imagine him on the internet in 2023 posting exactly like you fasdkljhf but i'm chucking in some babe as well for the chaos of it all!

@trenchenjoyer → malarkey but some muck as well and maybe some webster too? but just a tiny smidge to balance things out a bit

@cchickki → joe toye!!

@thewayisset → winters mixed with webster (super skilful like winters and creatively minded like web)

@liptonwashere → a mix of lip and muck!! bc you seem really lovely but i also feel like you could drop a witty quip out of nowhere too! also a bit of webster because your edits are so aesthetic and it just gives web vibes. but yeah, you get a neat little trio hybrid, go you!

@sir-mr-dr-roe → doc roe but with a little bit of miller mixed in!

@just-beyond-ecoust → liebgott with a side of harry for silly but smart purposes!

[starlit-hopes-and-dreams]

Hey do you have any story/blog recs? 👀

Hey Anon! I uh... wow, no one ever sends me asks outside of an ask game, I don't know what to do with myself *fans face*

Recs, huh. I haven't done a rec post bc my recs are so similar to some of my mutuals, but I'll give this a shot.

In general, I like oc fantasy stories that read like a book, and end happily, or at least somewhat happily. This applies to most of my recs, exceptions will be noted :)

Here's a link to my likes, bc they obviously play into what I would rec, and I figured that might be helpful to know going into a rec list.

Anna's Recs

@i-can-even-burn-salad

This is a combo writing/whump blog. With her you get it all. Like the trifecta of whump, gore, fluff with a side of angsty love story :D Elli has 6 oc fantasy stories linked on her pinned post, and I will rec every one of them. I honestly feel like I need a whole separate post just to do them justice <3 For brevity's sake, I will link the stories and you can check out the intros :) Nuisance, Heal My Wounds (also available as ebook), Undeserved (also available as ebook), Glass Shards, Fancy Boots Thorns and Jasmine is the only one I haven't read (i just started) but I love Elli's writing and would rec anything she writes sight unseen.

@littleperilstories

Also a combo writing/whump blog. The Prince of Thieves Also writes beautifully <3, which is why I'm reading an non-fantasy robinhood-esque novel form whump story right now. You should also read it :D

@alittlewhump

Unbidden Novel form fantasy whump. While you don't need to know Diablo 2 (the story's setting) to read, uhhhh, if you have played Diablo, it's an experience. I literally feel like I'm in the game while reading. This is an in-progress read, but it's incredible. Also, I want to shake some sense into Morgan.

@verkja

Eternally Untitled 😂 Novel form fantasy whump. I've only read the prologue so far, but it was chock full of torture (poor Mures) and so well-written. Can't wait to get around to the main story <3

@whumpflash

Never Some seriously creative knife use. Some seriously sadistic Peter Pan. Some seriously good fucking story :D

Adding a cut, bc this is getting long. Noncon story recs under, plus my blogs that post gifsets recs <3

@whumpcereal

The Kennel (google docs masterlist) Closer to pet whump than I'd normally go for, and in a modern setting. But Kay writes her character's emotional reactions so masterfully, and I'm all for a well-written character-driven story :D Sometimes posts in a nonlinear fashion, bw recovery and main story. Noncon warning.

@burntcoffeewhump

Under the earth (link to pinned post, Everett has 2 stories, I haven't read the other) Modern setting with fantasy elements, mythical creatures, etc. Heavy noncon warning (like every chapter so far lol). Love me some Jackie, so delightfully defiant :)

@sableflynn

Out Unseen Posts snippets on tumblr, story is on ao3, as is the story summary. Fantasy whump with painful magical healing and heavy noncon elements. Author has warned it takes some time bw new installments of the story, but frankly, it's fucking worth it :D

@salomeslashes

Their stories are over on @erotichorror. These are on the shorter side, probably bc they usually end in gruesome, gory death 😅 Part whump, part noncon, wholly horrifying (which considering they write horror, is appropriate lol) I've read In the Devil's Details (part 1 linked), and holy hell 😶 (go ahead and snicker, Salome lolol)

Special mention to the blogs I follow for whumpy gifsets!

@aceofwhump, @whumpypepsigal, @uuuhshiny

[writing-with-olive]

Alright so i switched over not too long ago to using firefox + duckduckgo + adblocker ultimate

And let me tell you: it is so SO much better than my previous combo of chrome + ecosia + some other adblocker

WHY?

firefox:

really easy to set up

firefox actually cares about not tracking your every movement on the internet

firefox (like chrome) puts the tabs on top of the search bar as opposed to under it (like safari. safari is stupid because of this. i know this is an odd take to have but I don't much care. why would you break apart the label of a page from the page itself with the labels for different pages??? why???)

doesn't use the same process for different tabs (makes you a harder target for people hacking, also means that if a site is using more cpu than you want killing the offending process in task manager only crashes one tab)

very easy to customize

duckduckgo:

doesn't track your searches

tells you how well a site will honor your privacy and adds some protection

pretty good as a search engine just generally

adblocker ultimate

blocks fuckin everything.

I mean everything. ads. pop ups. cryptomining. known phishing links and online scams. malware. all kinds of trackers (google is a huge offender surprise surprise). anything that you ask it to by clicking "hide element" and then clicking on the thing you want it to hide

doesn't have "pre-whitelisted ads" which are basically ads that companies pay adblockers to whitelist so you still see them

free. you can donate, but it costs no money

tells you how many things it's blocked both lifetime and on a site since you opened it (i usually get a count on google docs of about 230 in 30 minutes yay trackers!)

i have not seen an ad i didn't consent to since I got it

https://adblockultimate.net/ (scroll down for the extension)

[penname-artist]

Cars on the Road - Some Thoughts

Saw a bunch of people leaving their thoughts about the trailer sooo I figured I would do the same, I have some stuff that I want to discuss.

Easily the first thing that hit me about the series upon the drop of its trailer is the QUALITY. They outdid their first film with a television series, that is insane! They look fluid and smooth, their lighting and reflections are amazing, and they truly spare no detail in making every last one of these characters fluid and expressive. Pixar you animation gods, you’ve done it again. 13/10, I hope these animators did not hurt themselves trying to design this series.

Okay okay now I want to talk about the thing that had me most interested. Can we talk about the GHOST CARS please???

I will not lie to you, this section of these ghost cars coming to life, and dancing with McQueen in this big room is just, the coolest shit here, I am so psyched for this part of the series. And I’ve got so many questions! Is this Cars haunted mansion, are we going to see elements from the Haunted Mansion ride in Disney put onto this presumed hotel? How did all of these ghost cars come to haunt this place? How did they DIE?

Fanfic wise this could open up a whole new ballgame of things, such as Lightning trying to cope with seeing this after Doc’s passing (if any of you guys have the taste for some strong angst). And on the...*cough* less PG-13 rated side of the spectrum, car possession is now available to be played with as friskily as dared. I’ve already got friends screaming at me not to do it and I legit just might only for shits and giggles. XD

There’s a few things that kinda concern me, too, at least from what we see in the trailer. Here’s just what I’ve asked since I’ve watched it, uh like...like five times-

-Where are so many characters, including and not limited to Mack, Cruz, all the dudes from Rust-eze, all the other racers, and literally anyone from Cars 2??

-Why exactly are Lightning and Mater going on this road trip alone? Is Mack missing because he’s doing something else somewhere? Or Lightning decided that it was going to be a more relaxing and interesting trip if it wasn’t in a trailer the whole time? We know this is Mater’s trip mainly since he’s going to see his sister for her wedding but wouldn’t Lightning want to be the helpful friend and offer a faster ride if they needed it?

(also very important side note, I am so happy that this series is going to be a COMBO and not more Mater’s Tall Tales. Lightning is himself, and he’s being allowed to be kinda open and bubbly and excited to be on this trip with Mater as a team, not just him getting roped into every weird adventure by force and being confused about it. He has a natural desire to actually be here, which is great)

The depiction really reminds me of what they tried to do for Cars 2, but failed at slightly because of the fact that Lightning and Mater were doing separate things and sharing spotlight was getting difficult. But it’s also more than the occasional one-liners that they reduced Mater down to in Cars 3. I hope the balance of the trailer actually does play out into the series, and it’s consistent.

By the way, I combed and combed and combed and at NO POINT did it appear that there was any indicators of the Planes crew being nearby, which has me concerned and rattled. If they aren’t in there after they promised us they would be, I swear to Chrysler I’m gonna make it myself.

(By the way, friends and I are already screaming about the possibility of a season 2 and the chance that rather than going east, they could go west into northern California to an unspecified national park and run into a certain fire and rescue team *intensely waggling eyebrows* We need it so damn bad, Pixar PLEEEEEASE, adopt the late Disneytoon Studio’s orphaned children!!!)

Unorganized additional thoughts:

McQueen having a love of dinosaurs is the fucking cutest thing ever and you cannot tell me otherwise. I will be implementing this into future fics thank you vert much.

Is that monster truck just Cruz? I think that monster truck is just Cruz-

WHY do I have the feeling that the end of this road trip will be met with disaster? We’ve got a clear destination and I have a sinking feeling that when they get there it’s not going to be at all like it was planned.

Okay that’s all we have time for fans and freaks, take care my lovely weirdos, til the morrow, byeeeeee-

[shyrose57]

Ooo, yes! I love the idea of the server as a living thing with its own intelligence that's learning as it goes. Like, at first it mostly focused the corruption on Grian since he worked with it most, then shifted it to Tubbo when he tried to get rid of it. Now, it's keeping it more spread out from the start, working more subtly. Will definitely be tougher to root it all out in the end.

Man, just imagine being Ranboo in that situation. Your friends are missing, again, as are the only people who might know more about why and how. And when you're at your wit's end, grasping at straws, you happen to go through a portal, and it feels like you blink and then you're somewhere else. And you've finally found your friends, but they don't know you, and they don't know each other. They only know the rules of this game that'll get them all killed. So you team up with some near-strangers because at least they're in the same boat as you. Also, you now have even more mysterious ancestry than you did before and a bucket of new instincts to grapple with! Stressful day, to be sure.

Man, that is delightfully angsty to think about. Ren and Doc hop through the End portal together and only Doc comes out. Impulse, Scar, and Mumbo drop through the Boatem Hole and just don't respawn. Joel vanishes on a quick trip to the Nether, as does Lizzie when she goes to investigate, and it's only Gem and Pearl's update from Hermitcraft that convinces them it wasn't Xornoth's doing.

Ranboo and Lizzie are the Fae Royalty combo we didn't know we needed! Fun bit of irony, the Ocean Queen and the enderman ending up together in the shadows, but they're definitely the better for it. With all the other fae running around the server now, it's good to have a court backing you, even if it's only a court of 2 or 3. Lizzie, Ranboo, and Ren do sound like a genuinely delightful trio. Very strategic and clever, actually.

Tubbo would be awesome in Magic Mountain, aw man. You thought it was hard to keep the enchanting table away from Scar before? Now he can roll up with a deal and a speech while Tubbo makes off through the backdoor before you even realize you've been stolen from. Especially if he's underestimated early on, as a yellow life, he can probably convince a couple people to part with some souls. Not to mention the incredible combination of a red life base, a very corrupted yellow, and Mr. 7-Lives sitting up on a mountain together. No way that can end badly! Especially if Tubbo does have a little secret alliance with Grian.

If Tommy's with the Southlands as well, maybe Eret can go with Cleo, then! To keep the DSMPers more spread out, that leaves her with Cleo or BEST, though Cleo and Eret does sound like a super interesting combo. Maybe they ran into each other really early on, before Cleo and BigB made their alliance? The rest of this paragraph is a spoiler for Cleo's session 4: maybe after BigB killed her, when she leaves the Fairy Fort, she goes back to Eret instead of to Pearl and Scott? Or if she does turn die to Joel's trap, Eret brings her back up to yellow and they team up from there! Between Eret's diplomacy and Cleo's intimidation, I feel like they'd be quite a strong duo.

For Tommy, I kind of want to give him the same wolf/dog thing Ren's got going on? It seems to fit his vibe. Or maybe some kind of harpy or griffon, to give him wings but with a fantastic element. I think Martyn's got some kind of mature spirit thing from Yogscast, and Tango and Impulse both lean a bit demony. So maybe one of those could fit Puffy, though I'm a little behind on her content.

Oh, Lizzie's boogey session could be so jarring to the newcomers. I wonder if she'd tell Ranboo, at least; she didn't tell her allies. A shock to Pearl either way, so I imagine all the newcomers had a lot to talk about once she was cured. If nothing else, insight into the boogey curse.

Four for Ranboo, six for Tommy sounds good! And Tubbo's got his two because corruption. Depending on how often Eret and Puffy get targeted, and how willing they are to trade lives, maybe 3-4 for them? Puffy could do on 3, I think, as a pretty strong PvPer.

In 3rd Life, they were it's end. And in Last Life, they'll be it's enforcers.

Ranboo and the rest of the Newbies are just going through it. He was just getting the grasp on this whole Enderwalk thing, and now, he doesn't even know if he's an Endermen at all anymore, because this server has spared no one of it's changes. Sure, it's really cool to be able to touch water without protection now, and there's a lot of other neat things-but there's just as many downsides. Lying actually stings now, and he has to watch his every word, and the almost-apathy he feels towards the people he knows less is...concerning, to say the least.

Oh, that second one?? God, that'd be absolutely terrifying. Vanishing through portals is one thing, but just not seemingly respawning at all? I love it.

These three are some of the most regal, polite people you've ever met at first glance, but the moment you look away, they're all dorks. Regardless of that though, they can be a very dangerous trio. Ren's loyalty is all but unmatched, and the fae are not known for taking lightly to slights-even if they only really just became fae. Combined with all of their skills(Ranboo's mining, Lizzie's trickery, ect), they're a powerful force.

Yes! A red-life wizard at the bottom, and two demons dwelling near the top. Tubbo lives in between the two, in the center of the mountain-the heart, if you will. He keeps friendly and 'trusting' of Joel even after he goes red, and keeps an eye on Scar as well, making use of their shared species as a bonding point(not that Scar really trust him either, but eh. He expected no less from him). Tubbo has an in with the reds even before Grian becomes one.

Eret with Cleo and BigB in the Castle alliance, fantastic! Do we let Cleo stay red, and add her to the powderkeg that is Magical Mountain and the Reds? Or do we let Eret save her and see a amazing team up between those two, and a little scene where they give her a life, or meet her from her respawn at BigB's hands and gain a stronger bond with her? Choices, choices, it's so hard to choose.

Wolf Tommy or Griffin Tommy? Both would be fiercely protective of their group, and look very awesome so who's to say. Wolf Tommy could also have a possible connection with Ren though, which could lead to a connection between him and the Fairy Alliance later on, so that would be interesting. As a Griffin-I'm not too sure. Griffins guard treasure, so maybe something with that, tying him to something?

Demon Puffy, or nature spirit Puffy, hm. Nature spirit could have an interesting tie with the fae, again, and other's like her. But demon Puffy would be really cool too. Either way, she gets to go feral-as a treat. We're just gonna let her loose on anyone who decides to mess with her group.

It absolutely would. I feel like she wouldn't, but maybe Ranboo just kind of has this...feeling...that something's off. Just little things. She tells him to stay in the fort, and there's something about the way she does, the way she leaves, swift and sharp, that makes him uncertain. But the only prior experience he's had with the Bogeyman so far was indirect, so he doesn't realize what it means until Pearl's death message fills the chat, and Lizzie comes back covered in blood.

Three for Puffy then, and. Hm. For Eret, four would mean they have a life to spare, but three would mean they kind of don't, and still are offering one up to Cleo, so I don't know!

[magicofthepen]

Tell us about Making Out Is Not a Healthy Coping Mechanism and Aro Solidarity: That Platonic Fake Married Fic, please?

Send me a WIP doc title (list here) and I’ll talk about it!

I love that you asked about these two because they’re both Romana and Narvin fics, but quite different takes on their relationship!

The quick explanations (I’m gonna put the long ramble-y ones under a cut):

Making Out Is Not a Healthy Coping Mechanism: Narvin/Romana, post-Devil You Know. Stressed, grieving Time Lords are trying to run the CIA in the middle of a war, there are the added factors of Narvin’s exhausted anger and Romana’s exhausted guilt around Leela’s mission, everyone is very bad at talking about anything. They end up kissing rather by accident, and it’s very emotionally fraught and no one wants to think about or discuss the implications. 

Aro Solidarity: That Platonic Fake Married Fic: Narvin & Romana, set shortly after Enemy Lines, a combo of "accidentally getting stuck in a fake married situation apparently counts as workplace bonding?” “I don’t typically headcanon Romana as aro but I could totally see it and I really want to write about it!” and “I don’t typically headcanon Narvin as aro but I could totally see it and I really want to write about it!”

The (very) long ramble-y versions: 

Making Out Is Not a Healthy Coping Mechanism

I love exploring time gaps in Romana and Narvin’s relationship (that nine month gap between Forever and Emancipation where they’re on their own as President and Chancellor! that Enemy Lines to Time War gap where they clearly build a really great partnership in the CIA together!), but one of the gaps I haven’t written a fic about yet is the time between The Devil You Know and Desperate Measures (I’ve referenced that time frame in my Time War 3 fic, but I haven’t actually Gotten Into It).

Because the ending of The Devil You Know is extremely tense, and we never really see that immediate interpersonal fallout? So I want to write something set in this time frame, when they’re both stressed and terrified for Leela, but they can’t really lean on each other because Narvin’s angry at Romana for pushing for the mission and Romana’s blaming herself for pushing for the mission (“What have I done?”), but they’re both putting up a We Have a Job To Do front and pretending they’re okay at work and.....yeah.

There’s also been a certain degree of unspoken romantic attraction between them for a while (perhaps they haven’t even admitted it to themselves) because navigating their professional and personal relationship is complicated enough as it is without introducing another element. Also they’re both very good at “let’s shove feelings down and not talk about them.” (I have so many takes on Romana and Narvin’s relationship, but during Time War I get such simultaneous “old married couple” and “haven’t actually admitted to feelings” vibes from them, and I want to write about that.) 

So they’re both very isolated and hurting in their own ways and there’s this background unaddressed Thing between them, and eventually everything just comes to a head. And I haven’t actually written this fic yet, I just have notes and keep playing through this scene in my head in different ways, so I don’t know the details about what will happen? Not sure if there’s going to be a proper fight, if they’re actually going to get into the blame question around Leela’s disappearance, not sure how much of that grief they’re actually going to show? 

The bottom line is: they end up crossing paths in Leela’s rooms (where they both occasionally go to have an emotional breakdown), they’re exhausted and every emotional boundary they need to keep up because they work together is crumbling away, and they end up kissing. But it’s not exactly a positive development, more of a “this is easier than talking” sort of thing. Also I haven’t decided what their exact relationships with Leela were (in the context of this fic), but either they were each in a relationship with Leela or they each have feelings for Leela but never admitted it? But regardless, they both Know that the other has feelings for Leela, and so there’s an added dynamic of them both thinking “obviously this means nothing to you because it’s not me you’re interested in, and you’re only doing this because you’re missing her, and so obviously I’m going to pretend it means nothing to me, too.” So it’s just poor communication bad times all around!

I don’t actually know how/if this resolves? I don’t think they’d have a proper conversation at this point in the audios, but I’m not sure if I’m just going to end this fic on “welp that happened” or if there’s going to be some kind of emotional shift/release of tension somehow? (There will probably need to be because their relationship in Desperate Measures and TW2 is quite good overall, so I probably won’t leave things in this tense place?) But again, this fic isn’t written yet, so everything is pretty up in the air. 

Aro Solidarity: That Platonic Fake Married Fic

Arguably, this is more of a concept than an actual wip, but even though I may never actually write it, I do love it dearly? 

I’ve been wanting to write something with aromantic Romana for a while - and this might sound strange coming from me, aka someone who’s written a variety of shippy Romana fic and can very easily interpret her feelings and relationships with other characters as romantic, but I so often have multiple contradictory headcanons for characters that live in different pockets of my brainspace. 

My aro Romana thoughts are mainly fueled by series 4, because whenever marriage/romance comes up around alternate versions of herself, she’s always fairly surprised and baffled and gives the impression that it’s not something she’s ever considered? And in general, she’s kinda awkward and uncomfortable whenever there’s flirting happening (which could just be the circumstances or her personality, but could also be interpreted as her not clicking with romantic gestures). And of course while fandom ships her with many characters in the dw universe, she’s never stated to be romantically interested in anyone (well. I suppose that depends on your thoughts about how canon the Prime computer ads are, but putting that aside.......). Not that there has to be overt evidence for headcanons, but I do think there’s a solid canon-based argument for aro Romana, you know? 

And part of me really likes the interpreting Romana’s friendships as totally platonic because the intense Friendship-as-Love-Story journey is there already, that’s what the audios are giving us! And I don’t really see that kind of centering of deep, spend-the-rest-of-my-life-with-you friendship in media and it’s so good! (Related point (I know I say this a lot, but it bears repeating): I do very much ship the ot3, but am also very much into reading all of the main trio’s relationships as totally platonic – and I never actually want those relationships to be romantic in the audios themselves.) And I’ve had Thoughts for a while about how for Romana the big important line is between professional and personal relationships, and whether the personal relationship is romantic or platonic is probably less significant. So I could see her as someone who either doesn’t experience romantic attraction at all or just doesn’t distinguish between romantic and platonic attraction. What’s important is the distinction between professional relationships and intimate personal relationships – separating out the nature of that personal intimacy isn’t really something she does?

So anyways, I’ve been wanting to write something that explores Romana being aromantic, but for a while, I didn’t really have a vision for what kind of fic I wanted to write? 

Separately, I’ve had the “platonic fake married” idea kicking around in my head for a while. The “post-Enemy Lines” time period is so fascinating to me when it comes to Romana and Narvin’s relationship because somehow they go from “Romana’s just swooped in and taken Narvin’s job that he’s worked hard for his entire life” to the genuinely solid friendship and team dynamic we see in the Time War audios? So I’m fascinated by that journey from things probably being very emotionally fraught and a lot of tension and stepping on each others’ toes to working really well together. And somehow, at some point, my brain went: what if new CIA Coordinator Romana and Deputy Coordinator Narvin who aren’t getting along very well accidentally end up in an off-world situation where they have to pretend to be married? (My brain also went: I’m not sure I could handle writing the secondhand embarrassment of this situation, but also I’m very into the idea of a Narvin & Romana platonic fake married fic that ends up functioning as a “how do we save our friendship?” story.)

And then more recently, I realized I also really wanted to write something with aromantic Narvin. There aren’t necessarily specific moments fueling this headcanon (as much as with Romana), but it definitely comes from a similar “I really like interpreting Narvin’s friendships as totally platonic because the intense Friendship-as-Love-Story journey is there already!” place. 

You know that “I have feelings for you” / “The feeling was “friendship” but neither had ever experienced it” quote? Yeah, that pretty accurately captures my thought process when it comes to aro Narvin. He genuinely doesn’t seem to have experienced friendship before Romana and Leela, so it’s very plausible to me that he assumed he was experiencing romantic attraction at some point but nope, he just really loves his friends and is experiencing really intense platonic affection for the first time. (This is also me going ‘I know this is a wildly unpopular opinion, but I’m totally down to interpret Erasure as platonic.’)

Anyways, at some point recently all three things fused together in my brain, and I went: what if new CIA Coordinator Romana and Deputy Coordinator Narvin who aren’t getting along very well end up in a situation where they have to pretend to be married.....and also they’re both aromantic? Writing a fic like this feels like an excellent opportunity to actually sit down and have a think about ‘what are the cultural associations and expectations around romance on Gallifrey?’ (‘what does being aromantic mean by Gallifreyan standards?’) And ‘what are romantic associations and expectations on whatever planet they’re on?’ And the potential bonding experience of two aromantic people trying to navigate those layers of expectation, while also grappling with the interpersonal tension in their friendship and slowly learning to communicate better in the process....this is a very interesting story to me!

No, I have not actually figured out the details of the off-world diplomatic situation/mission they would accidentally end up in that would require this, and thus I probably won’t get around to it for a while. Also this would probably be a longfic and I’m trying to stick to a ‘one big project at a time!’ rule, and my current big project is the post-Time War fic, and then fantasy au has been waiting its turn for so long (and actually has, y’know, plot points). But I simply love this concept, and so I’m keeping the doc in case I maybe figure out a way to keep the fic short, or get a particularly good idea and decide that I really want to write it? (But also – if someone else wants to run with this concept, please do!)

This has been such a long answer to your ask, whoops, but thank you so much for giving me the excuse to ramble on about all of these things!!

[penpalswithhaley]

Pre-Novel-Writing Checklist

Ready to write your novel? Make sure you check these things off first.

When after hours of worldbuilding my fantasy continent and deciding what my characters want and what they look like and mapping a plot that kinda/sorta makes sense and I’m finally ready to knock out 50k words, I go through this little checklist to make sure my first-draft bases are covered:

Who/Why (Characters)

When/Where (Worldbuilding)

What/How (Plot)

Who/Why (Characters)

You really can’t write your first draft without having a solid idea of who your characters are. This means not only mapping out your protagonist’s needs, wants, and basic character arc, but also figuring out who your secondary/minor characters are and how they’re related to your main. 

Once you have those basic points mapped out, you also want to make sure you have a handle on your main cast’s motivations and voice. 

Understanding everyone’s motivations will make the plot flow better; each character will be making decisions that make sense for them, not just for the plot. Why are they doing what they’re doing? How will their actions conflict with or agree with the motivations of other characters?

Nailing their voice makes them feel like recognizable people that we look forward to seeing and hearing from. For me, this not only means what their actual dialogue sounds like, but what goes on inside of their heads, their instinctual reactions to certain events or people, and what they physically look like. 

So, first things first on the checklist: CHARACTERS.

Where (Worldbuilding)

Next on the am-I-ready-for-a-first-draft checklist is figuring out worldbuilding (literally my favorite part of any story). There’s no need to do a crazy deep dive and map out a full five-century history for your world, but it’s good to cover a couple of key points:

Geography - Where does the story take place? Try to have a map, so you have an idea of the location and how long it’ll take your characters to get from place to place in the story. What’s the weather like when your story begins? What sort of environment/terrain does the story take place in? 

Culture - What’s the culture of this world life and how does it factor into your story? Think of political and societal structure, religion, economics, arts, architecture, etc. Anything that shapes the world of your story that your characters are immersed in culturally. There’s no need to write a whole book on it; just figure out enough details to help make your world feel lived-in.

Plot Markers - Then, there’s what I like to call “plot markers.” These are elements of worldbuilding that are directly related to the pain plot of your story. Is there a certain relic that your protagonist is searching for? Map out the history of that relic, what it’s abilities are, and who else might be looking for it.

So, second on the list: WORLDBUILDING.

What/How (Plot)

Next on the list, we’ve got the big one: plot. Now, honestly, on my first draft, I don’t do a full story-mode breakdown. I like to hash it out into these major plot points (I pulled these from a ton of different writing sources; here’s a combo that works for me):

Inciting Incident - What action/event happens to start the story rolling?

Main Quest - What’s the main quest/plot/pull of the story? What kind of journey is the protagonist on?

A New World - What’s the “new world” the protagonist steps in from Act One to Act Two? 

Fun & Games / Investigation - The actual elements of the main quest/plot/mystery that drives the story along.

Bad Guys Closing In - Antagonist forces closing in and beating our protagonist time & time again

How it Ends - How the story actual ends, how character arcs conclude, and any loose ends

Obviously, these aren’t all of the plot points you need for the story to make sense, but these are the points I like to start with. Once I know what these are, it makes it easier for me to fill in the blanks. 

For draft one, I like to have some creative wiggle room to discover the plot as it unfolds. It’s totally cool to map it out in a different way. However you like to outline, make sure you have enough to go on to push you through an initial draft. 

Third on the pre-novel-writing checklist: PLOTTING / OUTLINE.

Double-Check the Checklist

Ok, so you’re ready to write your first draft! Do you have:

Characters & their motivations? [Yes / No]

Worldbuilding basics [Yes / No]

Basic plot outline [Yes / No]

If you answered “No” to any of the above → back to your Scrivener doc for some more brainstorming and planning!

If you answered “Yes” to all three, then congratulations → you’re well on your way to knocking out that first draft.

Let’s get writing.

[sapphireshineauthor]

Puzzle and Dragons X theory regarding Lance and the Star Fragment

Okay, I have rewatched several episodes of the Puzzle and Dragons X anime show. The one I always go to as one of my favorites is Episode 82 where Lance and Devi make a reappearance since Lance being freed from his Reversion state.

The episode had a funny dream sequence and cute moments between the two. However, when I go back to watch the episode, one thing always stuck out.

Lance's ability to turn heal drops into dark drops.

This was a small detail when he was trying to heal Devi. After feeding him dark drops didn't work, he tried to use heal drops, only for them to turn into dark drops right before he pairs them.

Us PAD players know that this is a skill shared among the Vampire Lord evolutions and certain Devil/Balance types.

Attack Stance - Dark

Why is Lance able to do this? And considering his expression, he's never done it before. Unlike other cases, he wasn't using a monster or had any soul armor equipped. Dragon Callers are able to manipulate drops, but usually only the monsters have the ability to change the drop elements.

What does this mean? Why hasn't the show gone deeper into it?

It may be a detail everyone decided to skip over, put it in for more drama effect and Lance literally needs to find a way to save Devi's life.

So, here's my theory. What if he wasn't completely free from the Star Fragment? That despite being shattered still remained with him. It already turned his body into something similar to a monster. A dragonoid-monster hybrid much like Sonia. He just doesn't realize it. If this is the case, that means the Star Fragment affected him more than just brainwashing him to follow Jest's orders. He's not just any monster hybrid though, he is specifically a half-devil monster now. I now currently own both Ace and Ana from their respective Decended Dungeons (I just got Ana today). The trait both of them share is that they are both Balance types. If Lance was an obtainable unit in the game, no doubt he would also be a Balance type if the patterns stays. And which monsters again use the skill Attack Stance - Dark? Devil/Balance types.

That might be the reason why Fertility Deity, Holy Ceres didn't want him near her healing fountain. She knew that he was now a half-devil, not to mention a half-devil dark monster. The specifics of how elements affect each other in the world are still a bit vague, but for all we know, dark element/devil types sometimes have opposite effects on healing, a monster I own is a dark/wood, and has the ability to create poison drops. If a similar trait among the elements would affect them like this, it makes sense why Ceres didn't want Lance near the fountain, because there was a chance he could unintentionally taint the waters and weaken her powers.

The anime ended in the summer of last year, but so did everything else with it. I've already started more stories for the fandom in my docs than there are stories in the published fanfic archives. This is a mystery that deserves more attention and how that effects would lingers from the Star Fragment. Jest didn't question it, nor did Lance use this new ability during the fight against Jest. So was it just something the creators threw in for drama? Probably, and that makes me sad. I still feel like it could have been used for something more. I tried doing animation briefly and I know how many frames can make up a single shot, so to take time and energy to actually change the heal drops to dark feels like it should've been used for something more. Considering points in the show looked a little janky animation wise and the drops wouldn't even have their symbols in some occassions. Making this frame, and putting the symbols on the drops feels like a lot of effort for something that ended up as just drama effect. I also checked, it was a smooth, slow transition. It wasn't a glitch in the animation, so the drop transformation was intentional.

So, could this sudden monster ability Lance possesses be a part of the Star Fragment that refused to leave him? When Ace shattered that crystal, we saw it spurt out, we know it was exposed from Lance's body, but what if not all of it left? What if some of the shards went back into Lance? It's not enough to turn him into a state like he was, but just enough to change him physically. Just enough to affect his being so he is now half-devil.

I have a story utilizing this theory/headcanon a lot. Believing the Star Fragment was much more than it lead on and that Lance is now a dragonoid-devil/demon hybrid. I have binged all 89 episodes of the series and it was never brought up again. Lance was probably too worried about Devi's wellbeing to concern himself with the ability. Devi never saw it, nor did anyone else. So while it makes sense why it was never brought up by others and even forgotten by Lance, considering how it was activated, it would've happened sometime during the fight with Jest, going to Ace, or even doing the drop combos for the Terra Dragon. He didn't control that ability, and considering how much battling he was doing during the span of the last episodes, it should've occurred.

[fatmandd1]

Spiderman for the PS4 is an incredible experience. It’s way different than any spiderman game out there. This game is the beginning of the next evolution of marvel turning their comic series into video games. This is what I wanted from Marvel the entire time; for them to create an incredible spiderman game that immerses you in story, fighting skills, and the best combos you have ever seen. It may take something from the Arkham series but it adds its own nuance and amazing web-slinging fun, and that’s what people want from Spider-Man. Web-slinging fun, taking villains seriously and, having the best villains. When you fight Shocker, when you fight the Sinister Six, and Mr. Negative (and find out who Mr. Negative is), everything comes together. If you are the type of person that’s not spoiled by trailers or don’t even watch a trailer or watch one second of a teaser, Spider-Man immerses you in an entire world full of ass-kicking, web-slinging, amazing characters and the story is just full of immerse-ness. You can grab onto the Spider-Man story and relate to every single comic, and there’s more mysteries within Spider-Man. There’s more that leads up to the stories of Spider-Man. When you’re going on a mission to collect back-pack pieces, everything for the back-pack, everything that he lost when he was in his younger years, has a story within it that you find. Including, a capsule that holds Sandman and that’s crazy and beautiful. It holds the essence and it holds Sandman. It may be a hint to other future games coming out from Insomniac games. This is the best moment for these characters and for the amazing Spider-Man himself, not just dealing with silver-sable, not just dealing with the backlash from kingpin. It’s the story coming out of there that’s incredible. Especially after the buildup of Doc Ock becoming evil and Spider-Man defeating him, as well as Peter’s relationship with Mary Jane and them getting back together. After playing Spider-Man and seeing the Spider-Verse, seeing characters, and finding out where they’re going next, you kind of get the connection between the two (game and movie). They’re amazing because you can see the suits, the costumes, and you get a bit of the story of Spiderman and Mary Jane. But, Peter in his adulthood trying to adult, and trying to hold down a job and pay his bills and his mortgage, it’s kind of hard to see him still struggle. It’s different seeing him going from the Daily Bugle to being a scientist and doing what he loves to do, something we don’t see often for his character. We also find out that his relationships with people are also kind of diminishing. I think in real life, we all go through the same struggles but this never makes Spider-Man selfish. Peter Parker is never selfish. And when they introduce Miles Morales, the selfishness is never displayed, it’s always “defend the people,” “for the people,” “do what’s right” and “don’t be selfish with anything.” That’s incredible coming from such an amazing character as Peter. And seeing the growth of Miles Morales before he loses his father in the game is even better because we’re taking a different look from the ultimate comic universe, in the video game. We get to see Miles, his hacking skills, and his relationship with his family. We see everything from the character up until the moment Mr. Negative attacks the town hall meeting with mayor Osbourne—and Miles’s dad dies. That is one of the hardest moments, because even Peter gets knocked out and we get to play as Miles for a moment and you get to use hacking scenarios with him. We also get to run from the rhino with Miles, and that is incredible. And then we also get to fight and punch up some guys with Miles for the first time. As the Spider-Man story progresses we see the growth of Miles when he gets his spider bite, we see the growth of the relationship between Peter and Doc Ock and how that relationship has failed, which is scary. We saw Doc Ock turning into a monster and turning into someone that was fueled by anger, deceit, destruction, and even when that deadly gas hit, Peter could have saved his aunt but he didn’t. And he had let his aunt die to save others. This is the most grueling part of the game, where Peter’s aunt passes away and now he has to take the mantle of an adult, he has to grow even further, he lost his aunt May and uncle Ben, and the only one he has left is Mary Jane by his side. Just going further in the story, finding out that Harry Osbourne is not on a trip in Europe, and he’s actually been held (willingly) in Oz Corp. behind secret doors. In the scene where MJ gets scared by a spider, Harry Osbourne is behind secret lab doors and at the end of the game, seeing that he’s surrounded by the venom symbiote, we get an aspect of the story that’s incredible because Norman Osbourne is using the symbiote to maybe try to cure Harry of the same disease his mother had, which is very emotional. The story layered is incredible and Insomniac games has pushed the envelope of what a Marvel and Spider-man game is. People say that there are many Spider-man games that have done the same thing. Not like this. Not story elements, not cinematic elements, nothing. From fighting all the enemies, to the story, to the hunts and the quests, you can never get bored with this game. You can never ever get bored with an incredible Spider-man game. There’s so many quests, there’s so many hunts, and there’s DLC that’s already out. If you haven’t played it, silver sable, hammerhead, black cat; 3 incredible DLC’s that are already out and people can’t wait for what’s next with the game, if there is anything. People can’t wait for part two. I can’t wait for part two. And that’s the thing, because we all want to know what’s gonna happen next. I hope they introduce Kraven the hunter and the Chameleon. I hope they introduce more aspects of Spider-man’s rouge gallery. And that’s another part about Spider-man that’s amazing. You can never stop wondering what they are gonna hint about in the comic, what comic are they going to hint, what movie are they going to hint to, what comics are they going to just throw out there, like “this is from this comic and that is from this issue.” As a Spider-man fan and a comic fan, anyone that buys this game knows there’s a lot of heart and soul that went into this. I thank the creators, I thank the producers, I thank the voice actors, I thank everyone that did every visual thing on this game, to the audience in New York City. I wish they had dialogue DLC so the dialogue could change up for the character and the emotes. But the web-slinging is incredible, the diving is amazing, the combat is smooth and sick and crazy. And the best part about taking pictures in New York City is that you can see Avengers Tower, you can explore and, the missions are just amazing. This is a solid Spider-man game, and whenever part two comes out, I hope it beats this one in sales and everything. And also that we get to choose from as many suits as possible. People love this game for the suits. If you’re a Spider-man fan, you should grab this game. You should cherish it forever, if you got the PS4, hold on to it. If you got the statue, you’re awesome. People may have invested a lot into this but it’s worth it. Every investment into a video game is worth it. Shout-out to the studios, thank you so much for creating an incredible game. I loved it. I can never stop playing it. I platinumed it and beat it, and I want the second one to be so hard that I can’t even reach a platinum. So, thank you Insomniac studios, thank you to the entire crew that worked on this game. So much awesomeness. A. Ringling

[devilmaycry5games-blog]

Devil May Cry 5 Download

The Legend Of Cry Woman's Bridge

Have you ever wondered the least expensive and quickest way to resolve issues? Jason King, former OL 1994-1998. Now in his 6th season as a member of the MHS Blue Devil coaching employees. COLLEGE: Valdosta State. 3 year starter. 2001 - All-Gulf South Conference Very first Group and 4 various All-American Teams. He was a First how to download devil may cry 5 Group choice on the Daktronics, Inc., Don Hansen Weekly Football Gazette, , and AP Little All-American teams, respectively. Finally, he was a named to the East Squad for the 2001 Cactus Bowl, the Division II All-Star Game in Kingsville, Texas, in which he led the East Squad to victory.

As the action starts the city already seems half destroyed, and is infested with insect-like creatures and grim reaper variety enemies. The basic combat is equivalent to Devil Might Cry four, with the ability to use guns, Nero's sword the Red Queen (which can nonetheless be revved like the throttle on a motorbike), and a Devil Breaker move. The latter is tied to Nero's major new gimmick: a series of detachable hands that imbue distinct Devil May Cry 5 download specific skills and which can carry out an even more strong attack that also destroys them. You commence off with four and lots a lot more can be located lying about the game globe - even though it is unclear how considerably of that was purely for the purposes of the demo.

It feels so excellent to have Capcom's golden youngster back and ready to kick some ass. Trusted Evaluations has compiled every thing you require where i can download devil may cry 5 to know about Devil May possibly Cry five like all the latest news, trailers, gameplay preview and more.

Devil May Cry five (2019) runs on the RE Engine game engine. Devil Could Cry five (2019) requires a Radeon R9 380 graphics card with a Core i7-4770 4-Core three.4GHz or Ryzen R5 1500X processor to attain the suggested specs, attaining higher Devil May Cry 5 download graphics setting on 1080p. Also your Computer wants eight GB RAM to meet the rec specs and run at 60 frames. Minimum RAM specifications are 8 GB technique memory. Your graphics card will require to be capable of operating DirectX 11.

The Devil May Cry series is 1 of the most iconic franchises in the action genre. The freeform action encourages improvisation, and the ranking program pushes players to discover how to evade enemies, while creatively sustaining their combos. The $59.99 Devil May Cry five Devil May Cry 5 download, the upcoming series entry, streamlines beloved elements from prior games and adds new mechanics to master. We played Devil May Cry five on Xbox One, but Capcom is also releasing it as a Pc game It's searching really excellent.

How to download and install the complete version of Devil Might Cry five on your computer?

MO: So, I feel from the senior producer viewpoint I think we can all say and agree that a single of Capcom's strengths is action, correct? And so we do have men and women up best that are like, ‘Hey, we need to adhere to this trend, or we should comply where i can download devil may cry 5 with that trend'. And from my viewpoint I also think about it from the method of, ‘Well appear, if we adhere to this trend then we all of a sudden have to fight and compete with all of these distinct firms and all of these incredible games'.

Ten years after the debut of Devil Could Cry 4, Nero is back in the driver's seat and he's by no means looked far better. It's not just the haircut, either - Devil Might Cry 5 runs on the RE Engine built for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard , and Capcom's objective how to download devil may cry 5 is to construct a photorealistic game filled with gooey demons, witty 1-liners and flashy combos. The title's initial hands-on demo at Gamescom 2018 highlights these exact elements and wraps all of it up in an ichor-crusted, gorgeous package.

With the phenomenal success of videogame Devil Could Cry 4, the white-haired demon hunter Dante was in a lot more demand than ever. Even so, parent company Capcom and Ninja Theory felt the original Dante's trademark attitude had grown stale. So they went back to the drawing board and came up with an even more Devil May Cry 5 Download intense game: DmC: Devil May Cry. Does DmC Dante reside up to the game's hype? Read on.

Given that then the game has been re-invented a number of instances and is accessible a cross a huge number of platforms. The game series is identified for its crisp action gameplay, fantastic soundtracks and effectively Devil May Cry 5 Download presented cutscenes. The games are also identified for their high difficulty level producing it a fantastic game for men and women interested in a challenge.

I came up with the style doc for this and it was like, ‘You know what? What I wanna do is I wanna make it, very first priority, make a game, a sequel, that any individual who's played Devil Could Cry four or DmC Devil May Cry will get pleasure from. And then, of course, ideally, also make anything, as a secondary target… anything how to download devil may cry 5 that a wider group of people will be in a position to take pleasure in. But that's just some thing I imposed on myself for, ‘If I am gonna make this game, that is what I ought to be carrying out. These are the folks I should be thinking about'.

[itsbenedict]

No Driver’s License: Session 27

No Driver’s License is a Madoka Magica game I’m running for five players, using a homebrew of Yaruki Zero’s Magical Burst system. It follows five magical girls as they deal with an upheaval in the world’s magic system caused by some strange new three-eyed Incubators. They have to figure out what’s going on, who to trust, and how to put a stop to the cycle of despair.

I post session logs and omakes weekly sporadically, both as a reference for the players and for anyone who wants to follow along with the party’s misadventures.

[adventure log- read from the beginning]

[session 26]

Last time on No Driver’s License: the party hashed out an agreement with the Devil, with regard to how the contracting system might be ended and the Devil’s ultimate aims satisfied, in a sort of win-win situation. One useful thing that the Devil told them... well, remember when Sakura and Makoto spent Hope bursts to keep the Hell Engine from crashing into the planet?

They elect to use both bursts to repair the Hell Engine, such that it lands on Earth completely intact- and such that it somehow is improved or fixed in some nonspecific way at my discretion.

And that nonspecific way- which they were until now unaware of- is that the Hell Engine has been converted into a massive, near-bottomless Grief Sink that they can use to dump all their Trauma whenever they want. This is... needless to say, a game-changer. Particularly because it allows them to do very expensive magic-item crafting more or less for free- I had to come up with special rules to determine how all this was going to work. 

And so... this session was entirely devoted to crafting. No mining, though.

someday..............

So, first: the Artificing rules! I’ll paste them directly from the doc:

You now have functionally infinite magic to spend on Sorcery artificing! Congratulations. Of course, now we need to figure out how this is going to work mechanically.

Contrary to what some of you seem to be assuming, you cannot spend ridiculous amounts of Overcharge to perform ultra-sorceries above 3OC. You may have infinite mana, but your underlying stat is still the same- you can only produce so potent an effect at once. That’s a big reason this artificing stuff is necessary- because storing up magical power in artifacts that can be used in tandem with each other lets you get away with more than just a Sorcery can do.

Artificing will involve a few different rolls, on which you can fail/barely succeed/succeed/crit as usual. If you get an unfavorable roll on crafting something, that doesn’t mean you can just try again- the results of these rolls represent the outcomes of a concerted attempt to get what you want, and if you fail, that becomes a retroactive limitation of how your attempt to create something like that can turn out. No do-overs.

You can craft magic items using your Domains. Domains are categories of thing you’re capable of using your power to smith- for instance, Ibara isn’t going to be bringing anything to life, and Makoto isn’t going to be making anything out of candy.

Gomu Sakura:

Candy (substrate): Candycraft allows Sakura to generate material. Physical objects of arbitrary size and complexity are allowed, making it versatile- but they will lack motive force, and dissolve in water. They can’t do stuff unless wielded or powered somehow.

Armor: Sakura can create objects which protect things, shielding them against interference or damage in various ways. Except from water.

Blocking: Related to armor, Sakura can create effects that prevent movement. Like her taffy ties things up, and like her carrier blocks teleportation, her artifacts can impose restrictions on physical movement.

Tsutsui Makoto:

Animals (substrate): Makoto can create living things with intelligences. They’re simple, and incapable of speaking to anyone but her, but are versatile- things she creates can be alive.

Earth (substrate): Makoto can make objects out of stone, dirt, clay, etc. Physical objects of arbitrary size and complexity are allowed, but are rigid and easily broken by magical levels of force.

Attention: Items that apply mental effects that manipulate the attention of their user or their target.

Takamine Seina:

Flowers (substrate): Seina’s items are restricted to plantlike forms. They can be alive and move, but only according to very simple conditional instructions. They are fragile and susceptible to flame.

Empathy: Seina’s items can… non-permanently move feelings around. They can make people feel things that other people are feeling, or maybe do some weird shit with Trauma Tracks and Important emotional mechanics.

Healing: Consumables or passive regen equips- or more complicated stuff, potentially, as long as it involves moving hit points around.

Kazama Ibara:

Friction: Friction is pretty versatile, as an “element” that really defines an abstraction used to deal with molecular integrity. Ibara’s stuff can interact with physics in weird ways, changing the physical properties of their surfaces (or the surfaces of their targets) on a microscopic level.

Visibility: Subtly different from attention magic, Ibara’s items can do stuff with what is seen. Hearing and other senses are generally unaffected.

Overdrive: Sometimes you just need to buff your damage output, and it doesn’t matter what you give up to do it. Ibara can make weapons or tools that increase damage output at some kind of cost or risk.

Kotono Yukari:

Time: Yeah, no, Zero, you can’t just arbitrarily time travel. Slows, stops, haste, predictions, all manner of temporal party tricks are available to Yukari’s items, but I’m gonna be really vigilant for funny business.

Guns (substrate): Yukari can make all sorts of conventional firearms- with whatever complex firing mechanisms she can devise.

Sound (substrate): Yukari’s musical items can manipulate sound, hearing, and vibrations. Items of this sort typically produce music as a side effect of whatever they’re doing. The music also lends itself to bard-style support effects. ...Wait, when has this ever been a thing with Yukari?

Creating/Enchanting/Combining

To craft an item, you’ll describe what you’re intending to make, and then negotiate something fair with the GM. You’ll then make two rolls to determine the outcome. (The GM may apply bonuses or penalties to these rolls depending on how simple or complex what you’re going for is.)

The first step of artificing is using your raw Magic stat to create your item’s form. You want a gun that shoots rainbows? Okay, well, you gotta make the gun first. You’re summoning matter into existence in a particular form, and preparing it to be occupied by an enchantment. Laying the groundwork for what you want it to actually do.

A summoned item must match a Domain with the (substrate) tag. That is, Sakura can make candy, Yukari can make guns and musical instruments, Makoto can make animals and rock, and Seina can make plants. Note that Ibara lacks any Domains with the (substrate) tag, and therefore cannot perform this step. When enchanting a mundane object, you must use a mundane object as the base for an enchanted item, treating the creating roll as an automatic 8-10.

Roll 2d6!+Magic.

On a 7 or less, the form of your item is badly broken or warped somehow, and is incapable of serving the purpose its shape implies- though if the enchantment in step 2 doesn’t rely on the form, this might just mean that the enchantment ends up weak.

On an 8-10, or when using a mundane base, your item comes out pretty much as intended, with some small flaw that keeps it from reaching its full potential. Whatever you intended the magic to do, it’ll do something closely related but in some way lesser.

On an 11-14, your item has no physical flaws, and is ready to accept the magic you’re about to pour into it without causing any problems.

On a 15+, you go a little overboard, and- while the strength of the subsequent enchantment is either unaffected or increased- something goes wrong that’ll mean the enchantment does something more than you meant it to on top of its intended effect.

The second step is enchanting the item, shaping the magic you poured into it to have the effect you described. Depending on whether the effect is intended to support your team or hurt an enemy, roll either Heart or Fury. This roll cannot be Boosted.

Roll 2d6!+Heart or 2d6!+Fury.

On a 7 or less, your effect comes out wrong, and comes with a costly drawback or complication that means it’s almost certainly not practical to use, unless you do some work to make it useful even with the drawback.

On an 8-10, the effect is correct, but not as potent as you’d like, having a limitation that makes it unreliable or just less effective than it could be.

On an 11-14, the effect is exactly as negotiated before rolls were made. Congrats!

On a 15+, the effect is way too much- it causes some kind of collateral damage or endangers those nearby when used. It can be used for its intended purpose, as long as you’re prepared to deal with the fallout.

Normally, this is the point where you’re done. But… what if you want to combine your Domains to make something really useful? Unfortunately, magic isn’t that simple- while it can abstract away a lot of the implementation details when you’re exercising your own magic, it doesn’t play nice with others. There’s no combo magic (unless you’ve developed a power for it, or used a Hope burst).

This doesn’t mean you can’t do it, though- it just means you have to get creative. Maybe Yukari can’t make a gun that shoots entangling vines, but if she makes a gun that accelerates time for its bullets, and Seina makes seeds that grow into entangling vines, you can load one into the other for a similar effect. You need to actually figure out how distinct parts can interact to produce the effect you’re interested in.

All players involved roll 2d6+Real, and pick the preferred result.

On a 7 or less, there’s some irritating incompatibility with the way one of your items functions that scraps the whole plan. Your parts might have some utility on their own, but can’t be combined.

On an 8-10, it’s kind of a kludge, but it works- though there’s something that makes the resulting assembly unstable or difficult to use without ensuring certain conditions are met.

On an 11+, you’re golden. Nice work.

(This roll of course assumes that your combo idea is not incredibly stupid, and actually stands some chance of working, even if magic has to smooth over some of the cracks in the plan.)

So... with that said, here’s what they ended up crafting!

Sakura tries to create a jetpack using the same principle as her moon rocket- mentos-and-diet-coke rocketry. Unfortunately, she gets an 8-10 on both rolls, so the effect is limited- in this case, by fuel requirements. 

Next up: Ibara’s got plans.

So, the idea with her Casey Bats was supposed to be like, high-risk, high-reward- increase the miss chance for bonus damage. But, uh, we couldn’t really balance the numbers on that to be worth it, so what we ended up with was:

Yukari tries to make Synapse Bullets, thingies that give you extra actions when you attack with them, in hopes of producing a combo-hit chain reaction to oneshot her foes. She does not succeed- but what she makes is still pretty sick.

Next up: Sakura and Seina try to work together to create a combo armor that regenerates over time. Unfortunately, Sakura fails her substrate roll, and her armor comes out so brittle that it shatters in a single hit. The end result is a breastplate that can absorb one attack- after which it shatters. However, the regen part from Seina works fine- so the armor will knit itself back together in two turns, unless the wearer takes a second hit before it regenerates. If that happens, the cracked armor is completely destroyed and does not regenerate.

Undaunted, she goes for another combo- this time with Makoto. They’ve got an idea apparently inspired by something from Dungeon Meshi- a suit of autonomous armor, piloted by a bunch of weird flat mollusk creatures that act as musculature. Makoto’s Animals domain makes the pilots, and Sakura’s candy and armor domains make the armor. There’s some complications in the rolls, though:

Makoto then does some stuff of her own- particularly, she wants to create a guard for Yoshe, so the team isn’t forced to rely on their unreliable allies or else leave a member of the team behind all the time. She decides to create a gorilla with stone powers, which can earthbend stone restraints around Yoshe that’ll keep her from killing herself to escape.

So- her other roll is just fine, so it does what she wants, which is nonlethally incapacitate Yoshe- but the limitation is that the gorilla can’t create stone or anything, which means if they use the ability, they need to pull stone out of the ground and crush the cat carrier they’re using to block Kimiko from teleport-rescuing Yoshe. As a failsafe, it’s one-use and pretty risky. Still- big gorilla with earthbending powers, not bad in combat.

Then Seina makes Leech Seed, and it comes out perfect. Just use a support action, and an enemy is tagged with a 1hp/turn health drain. Bam.

Makoto’s turn again- and she wants to make a castle. Like, castles are made of stone, right? And she has earth powers? That counts? It’s... there’s high penalties on the roll, but she manages to nail them both, and the result is a little seed thing that can be deployed to grow an instant mini-castle across two zones, which acts like her old Labyrinth ability- blocks ranged attacks. And also it’s a castle. It’s pretty sick.

Lastly, Yukari decides that it’s Guns Time, and does some combo work with Sakura and Ibara. The combo with Sakura is a gun that can allow anyone to use her taffy ability- though because the rolls go a little overboard, the gun’s got hella recoil and pushes back the user one zone.

With Ibara... oh boy. They decide to just make a Very Big Very Strong Gun, Stronger Than Any Other Gun, Ever. Yukari’s rolls:

Ibara gets an auto 8-10 on the substrate, and:

And they combine just fine, but... oh boy. They deliberately tried to make an Overkill Gun, and then they crit on every single roll, for maximum overkill. 

So, the thing with this sniper rifle, the Dis Astranagant... 

Yeah. You want overkill, you get overkill. You’re welcome.

So, first artificing session, let’s review! (item counts are higher than they were at the end of this session, since they’ve had time to make more since then, and the doc was updated directly.)

Plus the Dis Astranagant. 

Uh- by the way, before doing this, Seina tripped her Overcharge Fallout, and rolled on the random tables to get a change of some kind- which in fiction we had as the result of overusing magic during crafting. And it landed on, uh...

Yyyyyyyeahp. This is a thing that happened!

Anyway, after all this... the plot shows up again! Hatsu-chan- just some random incubator, kinda sleepy-sounding- shows up to deliver a message, much like the nameless one (”Nagato-chan”, nicknamed by Sakura) did to invite them to ride Seelenfaust to the Hell Engine.

So- they follow, more confident this time because of their arsenal and small army of minions. What could go wrong?

Makoto summons a fleet of sea turtles to ride across the bay to the city, and the team follows Hatsu-chan to where Nishi invited them to help out. Makoto’s Amulets of Somebody Else’s Problem (from the original artificing session) make this a little easier.

And there, next to a witch barrier the size of a city block, the exterior of which looks like a giant oven... they find Akagi Anzu. (The little terrified girl, if you recall.)

Anzu- fighting back panic- explains that Nishi also invited her to help with this witch, but that- while Nishi went inside to deal with it- Anzu was too afraid to follow, and has been sticking around outside out of shame and indecisiveness. With some good Heart rolls, the party is able to calm her down, more or less, and she accepts a gift of one of the now-cheap Somebody Else’s Problem amulets, which is kind of a godsend for her.

Except... she doesn’t quite trust the party, and uses Sense Magic on the amulet to make sure it’s not trapped. And... she gets a crit. On a crit with Sense Magic, your magic sense is detected and you draw unwanted attention somehow.

Now, I was planning this anyway, but- remember Sokokoko Sokoko? The feral cannibal girl who the team defeated as a witch, and frozen temporarily by Tama-chan, but which would eventually regenerate if they didn’t deal with permanently?

Anzu runs like hell, the team prepares for combat, and that’s where we leave off. Next time: A rematch against TRIGGERED??, and the oven witch barrier.

[freyayuki]

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan 6th Anniversary Free Relic Draws Results

The Japanese version of the Final Fantasy Record Keeper (#ad) (FFRK) mobile game is currently celebrating its 6th Anniversary. As part of the festivities, players get a 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket every time they log in. 

These Tickets can be used to pull on the 6th Anniversary Banner where you’re guaranteed to get at least one 5-star item.

This post details the results of my Ticket pulls.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 1 Results

My first Ticket gave me 4 new relics. The first 2 were nothing more than Legend Materia Relics (LMR) so I didn’t even bother to check who they belonged to. The only thing I knew was that they weren’t owned by the chars that I’m currently using. So it’s likely I don’t have anything else for these chars, which means there was no way I’d be adding them to my team anytime soon, not if all they have was their LMR.

The 3rd relic was an Ultra Soul Break, which was certainly more useful than a mere LMR. Nevertheless, getting it didn’t really please me so, again, I didn’t bother checking who it belonged to. The 4th relic was an Awakening Soul Break, which was definitely nice to get since Awakenings were currently the second best kind of Soul Break in the game.

What I got was Impact Claws (VIII), a 6-star rarity, Fist-type relic that contained Zell Dincht’s (from Final Fantasy VIII) Awakened Arcane Soul Break (AASB), My Final Punch. 

It’s a fire-type Soul Break, which kind of dampens the excitement of having obtained an Awakening from this draw. The reason is because fire is my best element. Most of my relics already deal fire damage, so I would have preferred to get Soul Breaks for other elements. Also, considering this is my first relic for Zell, there’s no way he’s replacing any of the current members of my fire party.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 2 Results

This draw was absolutely horrible, especially when compared to the first one where I got 4 new relics. This time, I only got 1 gold. Sure, it’s new, but it’s completely useless to me. 

I ended up with Dark Knight's Guise (X), a 6-star rarity,  Light Armor-type relic that gave me Paine’s (from Final Fantasy X) Glint+ Soul Break, Bring the Pain. This doesn’t even deal damage, and it’s my first relic for Paine. Ugh. What a crappy pull. I hope the next one’s better than this. 

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 3 Results

Thankfully, Ticket 3 was way better than Ticket 2. Got 3 new golds - 2 Ultras and 1 Arcane Overstrike Soul Break (AOSB). It’s nice to get new stuff, but, to be honest, this didn’t really excite me, so I didn’t bother to check who owns these new relics or even what they do. Whoever these chars are, I don’t think I’ll be using these new stuff anytime soon.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 4 Results

Ticket 4 gave me only one gold. This turned out to be Professor's Robe (VI), a 6-star rarity, Robe-type relic that gave me Strago Magus’s (from Final Fantasy VI) Chain Soul Break, Blue Field. It’s for the water element.

Chains are great since they can help boost the damage of your DPS. So, yeah, it’s nice to get this relic. The only problem is that I won’t be able to use this anytime soon since, IIRC, I don’t have any water DPS. I’m also certain that I have more physical-based chars as opposed to magic-based ones.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 5 Results

The results of Ticket number 5 were actually pretty good. I got 3 golds and all were new. One of them was Paine’s (from Final Fantasy X-2) Awakened Arcane Soul Break, YRP Combo!, which came from Full Throttle Edge (X), a 6-star rarity, Sword-type relic.

I also got one of Vincent Valentine’s (from Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus) Ultra Soul Breaks, Lucrecia's Lament. This came from Cerberus (VII-DoC), a 6-star rarity, Gun-type relic.

The third gold was a Burst Soul Break that I think belongs to one of the Final Fantasy Type-0 characters. Bursts have been horribly powercrept by now, and getting this one didn’t really excite me, so I didn’t bother to check who owns it. After all, it’s highly unlikely that I’ll be adding this char to my team unless I have some of their other, not to mention better, Soul Breaks.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 6 Results

Ticket 6 gave me 4 golds, all of which were new. Unfortunately, quantity doesn’t always equal quality, and that definitely applies to this pull. One of the golds was nothing more than a 5-star Legend Materia Relic. The other 2 golds were Ultra Soul Breaks while the featured one was Adelbert Steiner’s (from Final Fantasy IX) Arcane Overstrike Soul Break (AOSB).

Arcanes are pretty strong, but they cost 3 gauges to activate and they can only be used once. So they’re more of a finisher, and they won’t make a char usable. AFAIK, this is my first relic for Steiner so, yeah, this has not earned him a spot in any of my teams. And I didn’t bother checking who owns the other golds I just got since I highly doubt they belong to chars I’m already using or who I have more than one Soul Break for.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 7 Results

The results of Ticket number 7 were meh, to say the least. It’s terrible. I hate it. Truly one of the worst pulls ever. Only 1 gold showed up. Yeah, it’s new, but it’s nothing more than a Glint+ Soul Break for a char that I have no other relics for. 

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 8 Results

The results of Ticket 8 were only a little bit better than Ticket 7. It’s still bad since only 1 gold showed up, but at least it’s new. It’s also an Ultra Soul Break so it can be used as many times as you want as long as you have the required 2 bars to do so. Nevertheless, this pull didn’t really excite me, so I didn’t bother checking who owns this relic or what it does. I find that I just don’t care.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 9 Results

The results of Ticket 9 were pretty good. All the golds that showed up were new. One of them was nothing more than a 5-star Glint Soul Break though. The second gold was Tifa Lockhart’s (from Final Fantasy VII) Ultra Soul Break, Meteodrive. It came from Premium Heart (VII), a 6-star rarity, Fist-type relic. 

I can’t remember if this is my first Soul Break for Tifa or not. Maybe it is. She’s not a part of my usual team, but that’s only because my usual team’s element is fire. Tifa’s primary element is earth and, AFAIK, I don’t really have a lot of earth type relics in this account. I do know for sure that I have Tifa’s Awakened Arcane Soul Break, but that’s in my English or Global account.

Anyway, the last gold I got was Inferno Claws (IX), a 6-star rarity, Fist-type relic. This gave me Amarant Coral’s (from Final Fantasy IX) Awakened Arcane Soul Break, Hidden Vocation. This is definitely my first relic for Amarant. I was surprised to find out that this is a fire Awakening. Too bad that won’t be enough to get me to use Amarant. I’m gonna need more of his relics before even thinking of adding him to my party. After all, although Awakenings are powerful, they can only be used once per battle unless you hone them, in which case they can be used twice. Honing costs lots of hard to get resources though.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 10 Results

Ticket number 10 brings us back to crappy draw results. Only 1 gold showed up. Sure, it’s new and it’s 6-star. But it’s also nothing more than an Overstrike Soul Break (OSB). Ugh, I can’t believe Overstrikes are 6-stars. Bleh. These have been horribly powercrept by now. Although Arcane Overstrikes cost more gauges, they’re still way better and more powerful than mere Overstrikes.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 11 Results

Ticket 11 gave me 2 golds, which already makes it way better than the results of Ticket 10. Too bad both golds were nothing more than Ultra Soul Breaks. Of course, they’re way better than getting 5-stars like Glints or LMRs, especially for chars who I have no other relic for. Still, I couldn’t help but wish I had gotten an Awakening or Synchro Arcane Soul Break (SASB) instead. 

Syncs are currently the best kind of Soul Break in the game. Naturally, they’re rare and hard to get. Now I wonder if Syncs can even drop from these free draws. Or maybe I’m just really unlucky since most of the results of my pulls were all trash.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 12 Results

I thought the pulls wherein I got only 1 gold were bad. But they’re nothing compared to the results of Ticket number 12. Not only did this pull give me only 1 gold, it also gave me nothing more than a 5-star Burst Soul Break. Ugh. This might be the worst pull ever. At least the draws where I got only 1 gold gave me 6-star relics. This one’s just plain horrid, and there’s no way I’m gonna use this relic over an Awakening or Sync or Ultra. 

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 13 Results

Ticket 13 also gave me only 1 gold. Well, at least it’s a 6-star. Unfortunately, it’s just a Glint+ Soul Break. To make matters worse, it doesn’t even belong to a char I’m currently using. Sigh.  

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 14 Results

Ticket 14 is also the last of these Final Fantasy Record Keeper 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Tickets. This one gave me 3 golds. They were all 6-stars. However, 2 were nothing more than Glint+ Soul Breaks. At least the third gold was actually pretty decent.

Mirage Morion (V) is a 6-star rarity, Hat-type relic that gave me Gogo’s (from Final Fantasy V) Chain Soul Break, Secret Revelation. It’s for the water element. Aside from increasing the water damage of the party, it also temporarily raises their Magic. This would have been a lot better if I didn’t already have a water Chain and if I had some water DPS who could benefit from this. 

Conclusion

Overall, I didn’t really like the results of all these draws. Sure, I got a few good ones like Chains and Awakenings, but most of what I got were crappy and/or useless. None of these relics excited me even if they were new. I can’t even use most, if not all, of these thanks to not having anything else for the chars in question. Meh. Ah, well. At least these draws were all free and we got a lot of them.

So, what about you? What did you get from your Final Fantasy Record Keeper 6th Anniversary Relic Draw Tickets? Feel free to share your pull results by leaving a comment below or replying to this post.

Notes:

pics are from Amazon.com; links shown above

screenshots are from my Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japanese game account

[android-for-life]

"Web Creator Spotlight | Abby Mills"

“Where did she find that outfit?!” is something you’ll probably think within minutes of meeting Abby Mills, the blogger behind the vintage fashion and lifestyle blog Clothes & Pizza. The next thing that pops into your head might be “she literally has the coolest tattoos I’ve ever seen.” 

Abby Mills is a style icon, but that’s only part of the picture. She’s also a CEO, photographer, model, copywriter, accountant and salesperson all rolled into one.

Which is really just to say … she’s a web creator. But exactly how does one person do all that stuff and still have time for anything else? Read our interview with Abby to see how she turned a passion for vintage finds and deep-dish delights into a thriving life on the web.

What does your average day look like?

No two days are the same, but they are generally a mix of unglamorous behind-the-scenes work like answering emails, shooting photos, writing for my blog and real-time sharing on Instagram stories and elsewhere throughout the day). Most of the time I am in sweats (especially these days), writing or planning future work. But my content is a pretty authentic reflection of my life, so I show the unglamorous casual stuff too.

Right now, I wear all the hats: I’m the CEO, photographer, copywriter, accountant, head of client services, salesperson, and janitor. Which is great because I don’t have to answer to anyone but myself. But it’s bad when I can’t blame Susan for drinking the last cup of coffee without putting another pot on.

After all the nuts-and-bolts business stuff, how do you get into the flow creatively? 

The more I stay off the internet, the better. I find it hard to focus on my own creative process if I spend too much time looking at what other people are doing. There are so many talented folks out there doing really unique and creative things. And while that can certainly be inspiring, I think it can also lead to a lot of second guessing, or copycatting, if you aren’t careful. 

I don’t approach content creation from a purely *creative* standpoint, I actually think about it more from the standpoint of the function it serves. I.e., what problem does this piece of content solve? How does it answer a question, or alleviate a pain point, or unlock a new idea for my community?

So I usually start with the problem, and then build the content around the best way to answer that problem. For example, if my community is having trouble styling graphic T-shirts, I create a styling video that shows three unique ways to style a graphic tee.

The bag really ties it all together. So, how did you get here?

A few years ago I celebrated a bunch of big life milestones in a span of a few weeks—I turned 30, got married, and started a new job in a new industry. I had wanted to start a blog for years (like a decade). And I figured I might as well tack another big thing onto a series of big things. 

It was important to me to have a blog outside of social media. A place on the internet that I own outright. So I started my website and my Instagram account at the same time. 

I went into this industry pretty naive and inexperienced in the content creation world. It took me a few years to feel like I found my niche, and start to hit my stride. This industry changes really fast. There’s no blueprint for how to be successful, and no one way to “do it right.” Which is awesome because it means there’s room for lots of people and lots of viewpoints. But it’s also challenging 

I have really enjoyed learning how this industry works, at the same time that the industry is coming into itself. We are definitely building the plane while we’re flying it, but it’s a fun ride.

If there was one product or service that could make your life easier, what would it be?

I love the idea of a web-based place to share ephemeral content. Or a place to take ephemeral content (like from Instagram stories) and make it into something else. Or even have the ability to archive it for public access. I can’t tell you how many DMs I’ve gotten that are questions related to expired IG stories!

On that note, what Google products/services do you already use?

All the things. I would not be able to manage my business without the combo of Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs/Sheets, and Google Drive. I maintain my content calendar and track my deadlines in Google Calendar. I manage my outreach, contacts and finances in Sheets. And store/deliver my deliverables in Drive. I’ve found Docs to be a great way to collaborate with my clients as they can add edits, comments or approvals directly to my content before it goes live, without a lot of friction.

What’s the best part of your job? What about the worst part?

[The best part is] being my own boss, having my own autonomy to work on whatever I want (try new forms on content, experiment with different creative outlets) and only work with clients/brands who I believe in. I never have to take on a project that I’m not 110 percent stoked on. The worst part is probably turning off, or unplugging. Because my content is an extension of my life, it’s sometimes challenging to draw a hard separation. There are of course many things about my life that I don’t share with my online community—I keep my family and friends private, for the most part. But I genuinely love connecting with my community over all sorts of things. Setting boundaries at any job is difficult, but it’s especially difficult when part of your job is sharing your life and being a resource to people. 

At the end of the day, what is the ultimate goal of your work?

This is so cheesy, but it’s probably helping people. I see my content as helpful to both my community (individuals who follow me) as well as the brands I work with. I tend to seek out new/small/indie brands, and really love sharing them with my community and being a part of growing their customer base. As an entrepreneur, working with other entrepreneurs is really inspiring for me.

I have always had unusual and particular taste—I love finding the best unique things, and discovering new brands who are really changing their respective industries. Sharing these brands with my community feels like a win-win-win to me. 

I’m passionate about mentorship and advocacy in all areas of my life. And my digital presence is an extension of that passion. I really love supporting other creators, helping them recognize the value of their work, and ultimately sharing how they can monetize their business. I really enjoy giving back to the blogging community—and sharing things I wish I had known back when I started. For example, I do donation-based mentorship sessions, where all the money goes to organizations supporting civil rights and social justice initiatives. 

What is something that inspires you every day about the web or in general?

I’m really inspired by all the different formats of technology that people use to connect with creators and communities—it’s pretty endless. Longform video, shortform video, podcasts, blogs, ephemeral content, etc etc. I’m at the point in my content creator “career” where I don’t feel pressure to jump onto every new format (I never did Snapchat or TikTok). I focus on doing a few things well, and not spreading myself too thin.

I also love learning about new brands who are using technology to change the fashion industry. For example, I’ve recently discovered this shoe company called Hilos—they 3D print the soles of each shoe (no gluing or nailing multiple parts together) which ultimately produces less waste and lowers their carbon footprint (pun intended). 

What advice would you give someone just getting started? Or, what would you go back and tell yourself having learned all you’ve learned so far? 

Maybe this is the same answer for both questions, but I think a lot of people go into the creator space without knowing what they’re doing, which makes sense because it’s a relatively new industry, and creative people usually just want to *create*. So they look at all these other people who seem to be super successful and they think “Oh, I have to be like that person. I have to take photos like them, or emulate that kind of style.” I feel like I did that as well, and it took me a while to figure out my unique perspective, and my approach, and my own style of content. So if I could go back, I’d want to just embrace who I am more and my unique point of view, what really makes me me. And I would just go with that right from the start. 

The creator space I work in, the fashion space, is very saturated so the more you can embrace what makes you different the more successful you will be. Just you being you will give you an element of uniqueness (and authenticity) and people will connect to that.

Source : The Official Google Blog via Source information