#it was fun to just completely make this design up since we have no idea what she looks like in dragon form

[viridializard]

cosmere inktober 20: dragon

[mirohlayo]

CUTE, PRETTY AND PERFECT

( lando was ready to confess his feelings to you, but a misunderstanding changed everything. )

warning : fluff, so much fluff, lando being adorable

note : i want this boy guys. also probably my fav fic, it's just all cute omgg

word count : 3k

He was finally ready. He had finally gathered all his courage. Sure, he was stressed, but after months of hiding his deep feelings, he was determined to do it. Lando was ready to confess his feelings to you.

McLaren and their two drivers are now in Bahrain to test the cars for the pre-season. It starts in few days but they already started to work hard, especially on their new garage design.

As a friend of Lando Norris himself, he bought you a ticket plane for you to fly to Bahrain and spend some time with him, even though it was not the most exciting thing because you would just be around the paddock and the track, not doing anything special or funny. But still, you agreed to come because you couldn't spend a lot of time with him during the winter break. Turns out this man had fun traveling around the world.

But Lando had others plans. Of course, he dragged you and his others friends there to spend time with you, but he also wanted to do something. He thought about it a lot, also stressed about it a lot, but now he knows he's more than ready to confess to you.

This boy was already absolutely obsessed with you since the first time you met. Your smile, your laugh, your shyness... Every single thing you do only makes the situation worse and he feels himself falling more and more.

He's the type of guy to be confident to pick up girls and he has no problem to go for them. He is confident and shows no signs of weakness. If he likes a girl then he won't hesitate to show it to her. But with you it's totally different.

The so confident and flirty Lando finds himself so weak when it comes to you. His usual way of flirting no longer exists when he's with you. And you're the only girl he's ever met who makes him change his behavior like that. He is extremely shy around you. He's hesitant, he doesn't know if he's doing the right thing because he's too nervous about making you uncomfortable.

He is also no longer touchy at all. Usually he likes to be tactile with the girl he likes, but you are completely different. You have such an effect on him that he becomes clumsy. This is why when you touch each other suddenly, even for a short second, his whole being becomes alarmed. He blushes so quickly and hard, his heart beats so hard that he's sure we can hear it on the other side of the world.

Even his friends don't recognize him when he's with you. This is the first time he's been so shy and cautious with a girl.

This is why it was at first hard for him to get the guts to finally confess to you. But it's soon the start of the new season, so he thought confessing now would be a great idea. Because then if you reject him he'll be able focus on the races and get over it faster.

And the day finally comes. He starts to feel stressed. His heart is beating a miles but he tries to ignore it. He knows you're here, around the paddock, so he goes to looking for you. His thoughts have been the same for a few days: he hopes that you love him in return. He already spent five minutes looking for you, but it looks like you're missing. He was about to take the stairs to leave the McLaren building when he heard several voices coming from a room.

He cautiously approaches where the noise is coming from, and then presses his ear to the door. He listens carefully, and now he's hearing two voices. And he's sure your voice is one of the two. He would recognize it in seconds. He perfectly knows how your voice sounds. But soon the conversation you have with your interlocutor is breaking his heart in pieces.

"I already love him. God he's so cute !" You say in a excited way. He hears a girl's laughter. "Y/N, you haven't gone out with him yet." "I know but i can't wait. I think i'll go out with him in like two days or something like that" You reply.

Lando's heart misses a beat. Are you planning to leave him alone for another boy ? Are you serious ? Do you actually hate spending time with Lando ? He keeps listening, but he can't repress this feeling of pain.

"You're already in love with him right ?" The girl ask you. "Oh definitely. He's perfect. And he's so pretty too, look at him !" He assumes that you are showing a photo of this man to your friend, since there is a short moment of silence before you giggle. "Yeah, he's cute. I'm so happy for you Y/N" "I love him so much you know..." You keep saying.

That's enough for Lando. He doesn't know if he feels angry or sad right now, but he doesn't wait another second to leave the place, his breath heavy and jerky. So he spent all those months being so in love with you just to find out you're head over heels for another man ?

Jealousy runs in his blood. His feelings were always so deep and strong when it comes to you, so this jealousy is obviously hurting him. It breaks him, and his heart. His mind can't think properly. He wanted to confess to you, but your plan was to leave Bahrain and him in few days to go out with a man he doesn't know about his existence.

But he knows he can't blame you. After all, we don't decide who we want to love. Feelings can't be controlled. He fell so hard in love with you and it's not his fault, so he can't blame you for loving someone else. It's your feelings. But still, he's so in pain. The sadness is quickly taking hold of him. Because he realizes you won't be his girlfriend. And it sucks.

It's been two hours since he found out. He didn't want to think about this horrible new, so instead he went over his race team and started to work on the cars with the engineers. But his mind keeps playing again and again your so affectionate words that you said about this man he already hates with all his being.

He's talking with Oscar about the cars' grip when he hears a voice behind him. "Hello guys !". You walk over and you're now standing in front of the two drivers. Oscar greets you with a smile. "Y/N, it's good to see you here. I guess you missed Lando" the Australian grins at you, and gives his teammate a blow in the ribs.

But he doesn't move, and keeps a straight face. "I wanted to spend time with him but turns out he worked hard with you these two past hours. You steal him and our precious time." You points out to Oscar to tease him and he leaves his hands in the air, ridding himself of any accusation.

You feel Lando stiffen and he doesn't even dare to look at you. His jaw tenses and his arms are crossed over his chest. You frown. What's wrong with him ? "You prefer spending time with your so cute and perfect man huh..." He rumbled in such a low voice that you didn't understand what he just said. "What did you say ?" "Nothing. Just leave me alone, I am working" He turns back and walk away, leaving you alone with the aussie next to you.

You're so confused. Why he's like that ? Did you do something wrong ? Do you bothered him or what ? You send a look of confusion to the blonde guy next to you, and he too seems lost. He shrugs. "I don't know why his behavior is so aggressive towards you. When he arrived two hours ago, he didn't say a word and he seemed quite angry."

"Angry ?" "Yeah, well he wasn't too focused and sometimes I felt like he was about to cry". This is insane. You don't know what happened to him but it worries you. He was always so kind and caring with you, never getting angry at you. But it's so different today. It feels like he hates you.

Oscar pats your shoulder, gives you a small smile before leaving you here, thinking about everything that happened during those 2 hours.

-

He felt guilty. So guilty. Of course, it was the first time that he get angry at you. He was always trying his best to give you the best of himself but that day it wasn't the case. After speaking to you for the last time, it got worse. He couldn't stop thinking about what he told you. It was stupid of him.

But today was also not the day too. He's been ignoring you for two days now. He passed you a few times around the paddock but he always looked away quickly. He didn't really want to spend time with you anymore. And that got on your nerves.

He remembered that today you have to leave Bahrain and him to go out on a date with your man. Maybe your boyfriend even ? But you didn't warn him, so he wonders if you're really gone. Despite this thought, he didn't try to ask you and just figured you left without telling anyone. But as he walks towards the mclaren garage, your voice come from behind him. "Lando, wait !!"

He frozens. Are you really here ? His heart starts to beat faster and he turns around to see if you are there. His eyes dart out when he finds you standing here, in front of him. You look like you ran a marathon because of your messy hair on your face and your red cheeks. He clears his throat and tries to put himself together. "Are you... okay ?" You ask carefully. He seems surprised at first, but quickly get back to his straight face.

"Yes, I'm good." You feel like he was lying. "It doesn't look like though" His gaze shifts to the right. He avoids your gaze. "Why ?" He asks. "I don't know... You've been ignoring me for two days. You haven't spoken to me once since you asked me to leave you alone. I don't know if I did something wrong but I need to know Lando..." Your voice is about to crack and he notices it. He realizes he must had pain you. And it breaks him in pieces.

But he avoids whatever you're saying. "And you ?" His question make you lift your head up to cross his eyes. "Why are you still here ? You should be with your boyfriend on your date right now." He looks down at the floor, because now sadness and pain fill his whole heart. "What boyfriend ?"

Your question and your confused tone surprise him. His head lift up and for a moment your eyes meet, confusion can be read in both of your looks. No. He's sure he heard it right last time. "I heard you say you were going out on a date with a man today" You frown. "I don't have anything planned today. I don't even have a boyfriend or a man, Lan" You don't know where that comes from but it's just stupid. You are single, and if you should have a boyfriend of course you would choose Lando without hesitation.

After all, you fell in love with him too.

He's relieved. His heart slows down and he finally manages to relax. Now his whole being is relieved because it means he still has a chance to confess to you. "I know it's bad Y/N, but last time I listened to your conversation with your friend and you talked about a perfect and super handsome guy, who you were planning to go on a date with..." You were about to say something but he cuts you off. "So i thought you had someone you loved." His voice becomes quieter.

But now you understand. You start to laugh because you realized that he misunderstood everything. He looks at you, confused. "Lando, that day I wasn't talking about a human. But about a puppy. I'm going to adopt a puppy" You say between two laughters. His eyes dart out and his face looks so surprised.

Oh poor boy. He feels so dumb and stupid right now. How could he make such a fool of himself and distort your words? He has misunderstood every single word you said. And he feels even more foolish when he realized he was so fucking jealous of a puppy. A little puppy.

He blushes so hard now. Such a blushing mess. Not just his cheeks but his whole face is all reddish now, shame eats away at him. It's so embarrassing. But your cute laugh soothes him a bit. "Today was the day I had to pick him up and "go out" with him. But I was worried about you so I postponed the meeting" You explain and he feels even more embarrassed.

"I'm so sorry Y/N. No really, i misunderstood everything and i apologize for that. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have ignore you. I'm so stupid" He doesn't stop rumbling and apologizing for all this stuff he created. "Hey Lando, it's okay. I am not mad at you. You didn't have the context so there's no point in apologizing." You put your hands on his shoulders and the touch gives him goosebumps.

It's not fair how you manage to have a hold on him. He's so desperate for you. "But I'm really sorry..." You stay silent for a moment. "But it was really a problem if I went on this date with a man ?". Everything goes into panic inside him. He can't confess, not now. Not after what just happened. "N-no, you can have a boyfriend and go out with whoever you want but... I mean, it's..."

He sighs and pulls backward. "Sorry. It's just that... I don't know how to forgive myself" he reveals. He nervously plays with his fingers and you can't stand this sad picture of Lando. That's why you got an idea. You smile to him. "Maybe you could come with me to pick up my puppy?" A grin takes place on your face.

And soon a grin comes out from his face too. He can't stop smiling like a child. "I'd love to".

-

"You can come". The old lady waves at you and the driver. You get up from your seats and enter the room where several puppies are playing around. You can't help but giggle. You love so much puppies and dogs. And so does Lando. He too looks in heaven. "Here's your little puppy." The lady hands you a cute brown puppy with big doe eyes.

You take him in your arms and without waiting another second, you attack him with kisses. You let out in between some giggles, while Lando stands there, looking at you with heart-eyes. But the more he looks at you and the puppy, the more he got jealous.

You kiss and hug the puppy like there's only you two in the room. All your attention is on the cute brown animal in your arms and you don't even look at the driver anymore.

Twice. It's the second time he got so jealous of a damn puppy. "What's wrong with me ?" he thought. But he can't help it. He desperately wants to be the puppy. To be the one who receives your kisses, your hugs, your attention. It's not fair. "You want to hold him ? I need to get the papers and stuff done" you ask to him and then right after he got the fluffy ball in his big arms.

Lando also has a dog. Of course he loves animals too. But here it's different. With a smile, you encourage him to wait for you outside while you finish to sign the papers for the adoption. So he waits some minutes, staring at the puppy. Or more like glaring at him. "You love stealing my girl from me huh ?" He asks to the fluffy ball, and he looks like he's about to pout.

But then you appear, a big smile on your face. You join Lando, too happy to notice the cute pout on his face. "Oh my baby, you're so cute" You take the little puppy back in your arms and kiss him again. "And me ?" Lando suddenly said softly, but you heard him.

"You ?" You ask surprised. Why he's suddenly like that ? You look at him with with a questioning look. "Am I cute too ?" He asks, still pouting. He doesn't think about what he's saying anymore, now he just needs you. You don't know what to say. But indeed yeah, his cute behavior melts your heart. "Am I pretty and perfect too ? Arghh fuck !!" He lets out a cry of frustration. "I can't get jealous of a puppy, that's so childish"

"Lando, what are you saying ?" You don't understand at all his behavior. He sighs and finally meets your gaze. "What I'm trying to say is that I'm such a child to be jealous of a puppy. Like... Like I want to be him so bad. I also want your kisses, your cuddles, your attention. I also want to be the reason of your giggles. I so want to be this puppy to receive your love too" You bite back a smile, but that's impossible.

You take a step closer. "You're cute too. So cute. And you're such a pretty and perfect boy too Lan." You grin to him. He didn't expect that. At all. But it genuinely melts his heart. He looks at you with adoration now, and he needs to fight the urge to kiss you. "I guess my jealous boy wants his kiss huh ?" You tease him. He blushes hard, and like a cute puppy he nods quickly. You don't wait a second to press your lips on his ones.

He smiles against your lips, and deepen the kiss by pulling you closer to him. His arms hold you tight, but he makes sure he doesn't crush the puppy between you two. The kiss is so sweet, Lando is savoring every seconds of it. You pull back, and rest yours foreheads together. "I'm so in love with you Lando. Maybe I love you more than our puppy" You laugh softly. He smiles with all his teeth, and press a kiss on your cheek. "I hope so, baby. I'm already tired of him stealing my girl away from me".

You let out a laugh, and like that, he presses a cute and small kiss on the puppy. His beloved puppy.

[catskets]

A more in-depth guide for creating visual novels, especially in the horror, horror-romance, etc circles

Some of you have seen my previous, smaller post on crafting visual novels, especially in this little space of Tumblr that a lot of us have found themselves in. Since that post took off, I've wanted to create a longer guide to help touch on some points I've thought about for the past few months.

In case you've never heard of me, I'm Kat, also known as catsket. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Game Design. I've been making games for nearly 5 years, and I've been doing visual novels more "professionally" for 2. You may know me for Art Without Blood, 10:16, God is in the Radio, or Fatal Focus. I'm here to help you make your first visual novel.

Please note that my advice does not fit everyone, and you may disagree with what I say. That's okay! It doesn't work for all. That's why there's thousands of resources out there.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER MADE A GAME

So, you have an idea for a huge visual novel. Horror, a shady and obsessive love interest, a little bit of woo-hooing. 100k words. Maybe a million. What is this, the 07th Expansion?

I notice a lot of people getting into visual novels are artists first. That's okay! I wanted to do art for games before I realized how much I enjoyed writing. And even less of you have probably touched Visual Studio. Again, perfectly okay. We all start somewhere.

My number one piece of advice? Make shitty games.

What does that mean?! My recommendation to those who have never done games is to make a bunch of shitty ones. Think of a theme, or hell, even join a game jam, where you make a game that fits a theme in a short amount of time. Spend about a week on your game. Focus on making something polished. Polish your mechanics. Polish your output.

I recommend, if you can, to make at least 4-6, if not more, kind of shitty games before hopping into longer projects. Making a game is a skill, just like art, just like writing. And game development is combining ALL of these together into one big soup being stirred by a skeleton hand puppet. You'll get into the rhythm and see what works for you.

It also helps you learn, perhaps, the second most important thing here: do you even like making games? There are cases out there where people have created video games (not saying visual novels) just for clout. That's no fun for you, that's no fun for your players. And you might go through this process and find that you don't like making games. That's completely okay! It's not for everyone.

Also, you can use these shittier games to gather an audience. I've built my audience because, for the past few years, I've been releasing games that slowly give me growing fields of eyes every day. A success story overnight is a rare one. It takes time. It's like building a brand, but you aren't a brand, you're an artist.

REV UP YOUR ENGINES!

Ren'py is the number one engine you will be recommended. It is very beginner-friendly, with lots of tutorials, assets on itch.io to use and download, and support. The engine comes with a few tutorials in the form of games, whose code you can freely browse. This is the engine I use most often. Most visual novels you see are made in this engine.

Twine is a text-based engine that most people use for interactive fiction. You can add images and audio, though, if you don't mind messing with HTML. I use Twine for text games and for outlining for my larger games. Ever played Degrees of Lewdity? Yeah, I know you have. Don't ask why. That game was made in Twine.

RPG Maker has multiple versions and has been used for exclusively VNs if you don't mind fucking around with plugins. It can definitely give your game a super unique feel. I recommend RPG Maker MV, since it has the most resources. This line of engines usually costs money, but it often goes on sale for under $5-$15.

People will recommend TyranoBuilder, but as a user and player, the lack of options and the format the games often come in is just...not fun to navigate. It advertises itself as little to no code, but it's often evident in the final results. Some good games have been made in it, though, so if you want to use it for prototyping/practice, you can. I'm not a fan, but that doesn't mean that fans don't exist! This engine costs money.

Not an engine, but check out Ink! Super useful scripting language that's used for more professional projects.

DEMOS, DEMOS, DEMOS

You've got an idea for a long-term project, and now you want to show it to the world! But wait, wait, don't do that yet!

When should I start advertising my game? This is a personal opinion, but I say that you should not start advertising your game until 50-60% of your demo is complete. Why? As I've discussed with some fans of indie VNs, they can name quite a few projects that have been in the "working on the demo" age for 1-2+ years. I've been in the Kickstarter MMO circles. If you, making a single-player experience with little mechanics to balance and polish (aka a visual novel), are taking that long on a demo, I am going to assume the game is not coming out. There are some games I have seen out here that have been in "working on the demo" phase where I haven't seen a single ounce of what the project will look like.

What should I put in my demo? The purpose of a demo is to showcase the mechanics and the vibes and the mechanics of your game. It's a demonstration. In my last post, I pointed to the Dead Space 2 demo that was showcased at E3 (RIP), that takes place about 2 hours into the story and shows how enemies are defeated, some animations, bits of the story, etc. Usually, because it's less about mechanics and more about vibes, visual novel demos showcase a certain percentage of the full thing (5-10%.) Can you showcase the vibe of the game here and what players should expect? If not, show off another portion.

How long should I work on my demo? Before, I said 3-4 months. That can be true, that can also not be true. Think about how long the demo takes you in proportion to how long the actual game should take you. Don't put too much effort. The demo is to showcase the vibe. It's to see how much the public and fans may enjoy the game.

My game is 18+, what should I do? Make a splash screen when the game is downloaded to let players know your game is 18+. If it's going to contain sexual content, you can hide it with itch.io's adult content filter. Write it on the page itself that your game is for adults only. Don't put your demo behind a paywall. This is genuinely ridiculous. The purpose of a demo is to showcase what a game is like before a player purchases it. That defeats the point of a demo. I've seen this happen, and it discourages players from approaching, especially because most demos never make it past the demo phase. So...I'm paying you $10 for 2-3k words of a game that may never come out?

Should I make a social media for my game? YES! Go for it. These anchors are how people will find your game. Make a Tumblr and open that ask box. Make a Twitter. Go to BluSky. Advertising is not bad. Some YouTubers even take e-mail suggestions from developers. Feel free to shoot your shot. The worst they can do is not respond.

HOW TO SET UP YOUR ITCH.IO PAGE:

Getting your itch.io to a presentable state can be very challenging! There's many ways to do it. I highly recommend using this page image guide for learning how to size your images to make your page pop!

Itch.io themselves has suggested to not publish a page until the game or demo is released. You can make the page and keep it as a draft, but do not publish it until you're ready!

Your cover image is the image that will appear in the search of the website, on any front pages, in collections, and on your profile. What have I seen that works? Key art of one of the characters up close and the title of the game! If you can make it a .GIF, do it! Bitches love .GIFs!

Itch.io recommends 3-5 screenshots on your page. I recommend 1 of these 5 be a .GIF that shows how gameplay feels. This is effective, even for visual novels!

Write a 3-5 sentence summary about your game for the description. What is your story about? What is the draw?

DO NOT BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO IS GOING TO SAY "This is not like other visual novels. It doesn't have that cheesy this or that or-" No one cares. Genuinely. You're putting down other games in your genre and elevating yourself to the pompous level.

TAG YOUR GAME! itch.io gives you a list of tags to choose from when you go to tag. DON'T USE THIS! Try to go for more specific tags. Arimia has a very good guide on how to use itch.io's tagging system to your advantage.

GENERAL GAME MAKING ADVICE

SCOPE KNIFE IS SUPER USEFUL! Everyone makes games that are way over their workload. It's okay to cut out features and add them later. Prioritize making a finished game before hitting those stretch goals.

PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! Writing outlines is super helpful. I use Twine for my outlines, because you can connect your passages together and make really well-thought webs.

IT'S OKAY TO ASK FOR HELP! Whether it's from friends, professionals, or anything in-between. They can help with assets, editing, etc.

HONE YOUR SKILLS OUTSIDE OF GAMES! Write some poetry. Do some sketches everyday. Improve on your craft to improve your games

MUSIC IS HARD. THERE ARE RESOURCES. Most of us aren't musicians. That's okay. Make sure the music you get for your game is allowed to be used. You can use anything non-commercial if your game will not cost money or donations. I try to do songs in the public domain or free to use overall with credit if I don't have a musician. Consult the Creative Commons website if you're unsure how you're supposed to use a certain piece of music. If you don't use the right stuff, not only can it put you in legal trouble, but it can put streamers in hot water if they play your game and they can't upload the video because music is copyrighted.

PLEASE, DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR UI. Wanna know an easy way to get your game to look more professional? Edit the damn UI for your game. Make a new textbox, even if it's just a black box. Change the font. Eventually, players recognize the defaults and patterns of games made in certain engines and may attribute a lack of UI changes to a developer being lazy. It doesn't take very long to change the colors around and move text! Please do it to add a little pop to your game.

DEADLINES ARE AWESOME. Not everyone works well under pressure, but if you give yourself an infinite amount of time to make something, it'll never get done. Set goals for yourself for how much you can work on something.

IF YOU HAVE TO GIVE UP, GIVE UP. Making things is hard, especially long-term. Emergencies happen, jobs happen, life happens. Let your fans know that a project isn't happening anymore. Don't leave them in the dark. You don't need to tell strangers your medical history or anything, but transparency + honesty are really hot traits. You should use those in your creative work. This is one reason why I advocate for not publishing or advertising things until you know it's stable.

SHOWCASING YOUR CONTENT

People love to see WIPs for games! This is what the devlog is good for! A devlog is a post where a developer talks about and showcases some things happening in the game? What can you add to your dev log?

PERCENTAGES! How much of the artwork is done? How much of this character's route is done?

SNEAK PEEKS AT ARTWORK AND SPRITES!

GIFS! GIRLS LOVE GIFS!

Anything else to showcase your game's content! Posting consistent updates retains and even gains a fan's attention for your work.

RUNNING YOUR TUMBLR

You've joined us, and you've made a Tumblr for your blog! Link it on the itch.io page, so people can come find you after playing your awesome demo!

Do I have to respond to every ask? No. It's your blog. Delete whatever asks you want.

I got a hate comment! What do I do? Delete it and move on. I have a more detailed section on hate below.

I want to interact with [blog]! How do I do that? Reach out to the devs for silly little collabs. If you come onto a developer slightly headstrong, they might feel you are being abrasive or using them for content.

If people make fan content, interact with it! Encourage it! Reblog it. Show your love.

OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS

PROFESSIONALISM IS KEY. These may be pet projects, but you want to appear some level of professional on your actual itch.io page.

Being dismissive of player and fan complaints or criticisms will make you appear childish.

If your game is broken, fix it. I have been told by some amateur developers to ignore game-breaking bugs. It does not make me, a player, want to engage with your content. It seems messy and unfinished.

With the above point, it's 100% okay to have bugs and errors upon release. Every developer and their brood mother has. To decrease these issues, get playtesters. Friends can play your games, spot any errors, and help you point out things that can be improved upon. I recommend having playtesters at every stage of development.

Make sure your game runs before you publish it. Please.

You can still be silly and giddy! There's no reason to not be, especially when you get positive comments! The point of this is to not be outright rude to potential players and fans.

IGNORE HATE COMMENTS. In this case, a hate comment is a statement that contains no constructive criticism and are only here to be insulting or malicious. People are going to leave you with actual piles of dog shit in your ask box. They are trying to provoke you. Giving hate comments any attention, even if you're there to "clap back" proves that they got to you, even if you don't take the hate to heart. They will continue to pester you. Delete any hate comments and ignore them completely. Laugh about them with friends in a private setting, sure.

THINK BEFORE YOU REFERENCE! I know one big thing in this community is adding references to other games in yours, such as plushies of other characters or putting them on posters. The best thing you can do it ask the developer before adding this. How would you feel if some random person you've never met put your character in a video game? Most of us would feel weird and potentially violated. Open communication with devs is awesome. I am usually okay with it as long as someone asks for permission.

As a complete aside, I prefer more tasteful references to other games as opposed to 523482346 plushies and posters. These have been slightly overdone. Why not theme a candy after another game's character? Maybe your characters know each other.

OTHER RESOURCES I RECOMMEND

Devtalk is a server dedicated to independent visual novel creators. You can find jobs, resources, advice, talks, and, like, everything there! Devtalk is super useful. Everyone in there is so cool. They have a really great and comprehensive list of resources that I could not even begin to cover.

Visual Novel Design is a great YouTuber. No other words, check the guy out!

Ren'py and whatever other engine you're using has documentation that's super useful to follow.

Arimia not only has amazing VN resources, especially for marketing, but she also just has? Amazing games that you should check out?

And for a shameless self plug, I'm the lead of Sacred Veins, a collective of devs creating narrative games, whether it be horror, humor, romance, or everything in-between. Come hang out with us!

[north-noire]

I just had an urge to make my own designs/redesigns on TSE charlie and henry (ofc it's them), so feel free to read my notes/general character designs I had about them! (a little messy, but whatever)

also thought that drawing them with my designs from Hidden Hands AU would be a fun little compare and contrast!! (as my FNAF AU is more game-universe adjacent but still have a few of the novel elements such as Aunt Jen = Jennifer Emily, etc. Tbh I generally treat the FNAF novels and games as NOT the same universes at all, they're completely separate universes in my mind, I feel like it makes the fandom's interpretations a lot more creative/interesting in my opinion since there's really "no canon" universe, I mean we have THREE canons to work with now come on xD)

TSE Character Design notes and my own ramblings below the cut! I mostly just relied on the book descriptions of them and nothing much else other than my own inspiration gathering from 2000s fashion/horror games/media.

TSE charlie character design notes: in the novels' description, TSE charlie had frizzy hair and it was light brown. I found it strange that the graphic novel design overlooked that, so I had to add that in (nothing wrong with charlie's design, I actually quite like TFC Charlie). anyway, my TSE charlie design wears a patchwork denim because I thought it'd give her a little bit more character (and I like the symbolism of patchwork for her - being a person that Henry stitched up together with memories, etc etc. Although I don't like the TSE Charlie = robot twist, it just kinda grew on me) I also wanted her to have a 2000s horror protagonist vibe - although most of the characters I looked at for reference/inspiration had short skirts, so I did a "skirt-like" vibe with her tying TSE henry's flannel to her waist. I like the idea that she kept something of a memento from her father's stuff with her :]

TSE henry notes: his pants are pajamas. man is the ABSOLUTE face of depression. also wanted him to have not seen better days and really look like he's just wallowing in his basement with greying hairs and wrinkles and eyebags and definitely hasn't gone out in weeks, probably a month or so. also thought that glasses would suit him nicely - and I thought him having a long-sleeved flannel and his fit makes him look pretty much from the 2000s/Y2K era. Personally I feel like TSE Henry looked too plain and a problem I had that I had while reading the graphic novel is that they tended to make William and Henry look similar (I straight up thought that one William scene with Elizabeth's memory was Henry. That's how ungodly confused I was) which made it really look uninteresting to me, so I tried my best to make his design describe him a little better.

If you've read this far, thanks so much for reading this! It's just a little fun character design exercise I did and it was really fun having some creative freedom with these two characters!

[naturesapphic]

Pumpkin patch

Natasha Romanoff x fem!reader

Warnings: cussing, fluff, and smut ;)

“Come on natty!” You quickly said as you pull your girlfriend over to the team as you were a few minutes late getting to the designated location. It was a corn maze with a haunted house by it, they also had a festival near by as well. You never been to a haunted house or haunted corn maze before and you are ecstatic about it. You have your girlfriend and the whole team with you, so you will be fine and completely safe.

“Hey guys!” Wanda said as she waved you guys over to them and everyone waved too. Tony, Steve, Bucky, Wanda, Peter, mj, Bruce, pietro, yelena, Thor, Clint, Maria, and kate were there and you were so glad that they could make it. You and nat went into the line of the haunted house with the team and Natasha had a strong arm wrapped around you waist as she was behind you. You knew nat was going to be very protective over you, even if it was a little harmless little haunted house.

Everyone was dressed up kinda nicely. The guys had casual stuff on and some of the girls too but you wanted to wear your favorite flower dress on since it was kinda hot and you didn’t want to sweat in jeans and plus…you wanted to tease nat with it too. Nat had the same idea about teasing you too because she has on a black strawberry dress that fits her right and her breast pushed up which made you drool at the sight. She knew this would get you going so after the haunted house, she would get you alone in the maze and finally have some alone time.

“Next!” A loud voice boomed, letting us go to the entrance of the house and you looked up at nat scared “don’t you dare leave my side romanoff or no sex for 5 months.” You said sternly and she look at you bewildered. “Baby! What the fuck! I would never ever leave you out of my sight!” She said quickly and you giggled at her. “I’m just kidding natty! But I swear to God if you do leave me I’m using your widow bites on your ass.” You said again sternly and nat nodded quickly in understanding. “SIMP!” Tony coughed out and nat glared at him as she punches him in his stomach which made him bend over groaning “okay…got it romanoff. No jokes.” Tony said and slowly walking in with the rest of y’all.

Natasha was behind you holding your body against hers as y’all walked into the haunted house with the team. A clown jumped out at you and you screamed loudly which made nat jump a little. You slowly walked with the rest of the team as they were jumping and screaming as actors upon actors keep jumping out at them. There was a zombie on the floor which grabbed Tony’s and Steve’s foot and they screamed at the top of their lungs like little girls. You quickly went over the zombies with nat still behind you and you were basically sprinting out of the house. Soon enough, with some of y’all’s pants wet and y’all’s throats sore, the haunted house was finally over. “I never want to do that again.” Peter said and Kate, Steve, Tony, Bruce, pietro, and Thor agreed. “I had no problem. That was fun! Let’s do it again!” Yelena exclaimed as Maria agreed along with Bucky. “FUCK NO!” The rest of the team said, including you.

“I hated that with every fiber in my body.” You grumbled and you heard nat chuckle and you glared at her. She put her hands up “okay okay I’m sorry. But hey! At least I didn’t leave ya did I now dekta?” She explained and you rolled your eyes playfully as you nodded in agreement. “That’s true. You did stay glued to me the entire time.” You admitted and she smiled triumphantly. Kate and yelena walked up to you and gave you sad smiles. “I’m sorry but we are gonna go ahead and go…Kate had an accident and she’s not speaking to me since I made her go in there. So we are going to go ahead and head home.” Lena explained and you gave Kate an apologetic look and she gave you one back. “Let me know when y’all get home.” You said to them and they both nodded in agreement as they walked back to their car.

Some of the other team members decided to go ahead and take their leave but some still stayed like Tony, Bucky, Maria, Thor, Bruce, and clint. Bruce and Thor went to go paint their faces as Tony went to take some pictures with some fans. “Hey babygirl. There’s a corn maze! Do you wanna go in? It’s not scary I don’t think.” Nat explained and you gave her a questionable look but nodded in agreement nonetheless. “Sure why not.” You said while clint, Maria, and Bucky agreed to join y’all. The five of y’all went to the front entrance of the maze and took off. Some of them made bets to see which person could make it to the middle of the maze first, but you and nat didn’t partake in the bet, just wanting to enjoy the scenery.

The three avengers went sprinting off, eager to win while you and nat stayed behind and started walking wherever. Nat grasped your hand gently in hers and smiled down at you, showing off her beautiful smile and her green eyes sparkling. “You’re so pretty natty.” You said sighing with a love struck smile on your face. Natasha felt her cheeks get warm and she looked away and you giggled. “Hey look…that looks like a little hideout.” Natasha pointed out and the both of you looked at each other and shrugged, going into the little passageway. The room was just made out of hay and didn’t have anything else in it. “This must be a little hideout for the scarers so they can jump out at people.” You explained and nat nodded in agreement. You sat down on one of the hay bales as nat sat down beside you.

“You know…I’ve been wanting to get you alone for some time now dekta…” Natasha said with a sultry voice which made you close your thighs together and nat noticed which made her smirk. You got on her lap slowly and had your legs on either side of her. “I hope you know that I’m not wearing a bra right now.” You whispered in her ear and you heard her growl under her breath. “Show me.” She demanded and you smiled innocently which always got her going. You pulled down both dress straps slowly until your breast were free and bare. Her calloused hands slowly went up your waist, to your torso, and up to your breast. “You have such pretty tits babygirl. I love them…all mine to play with…” nat stated and she leaned down to take one of your pink buds into her mouth. You gasped out and your hands immediately went onto her head so you can hold on to something.

Nat switched to your other nipple and you felt yourself getting soaked. Natasha pulled away from your chest and laid back on the hay bale with you on top of her. You smiled down at her and felt her hands on your legs, going up your dress to cup your ass. “I love this pretty ass too…” she confessed and you blushed bright red at her words. She kept kneading the flesh until her hands went under your panties and started kneading your ass again. She finally had enough of your underwear getting in the way and pulled your panties down your legs until they fell to the ground. “I want that pretty little pussy on my face.” She demanded and you felt yourself moan out at her confession. You crawled up to her face and hovered it to tease her and she gave you a stern look.

You slowly sat down on her face and was rewarded with her mouth immediately latching onto your lips and start sucking. You moan out her name loudly and felt her tongue enter your pulsating walls and start tongue fucking you. You swear the whole corn maze can hear how loud you are moaning but you really give a shit right now. Natasha kept her tongue into your throbbing hole as she used her left hand to grope your breast and her right hand to abuse your clit. “N-natty…m’gonna cum!” You moaned out and she squeezed your breast twice which meant it was okay to let go and you sure did. You came all over your girlfriends pretty face and she licked you clean.

You got off her face and laid beside her, trying to catch your breath as well as nats. “F-fuck natty…” you breathed out and she looked over at you and gave you a love sick smile. You gave her one back and leaned back over to capture her lips in another kiss. She gladly accepted and pulled you closer to her as she loves being to close to you. Your hands went up to her full breast and started massaging the flesh in your small hands which made nat gasp a little against your mouth and you took the opportunity to invite your tongue into her mouth but you didn’t dominate it for long. Nat won and soon she was sucking on your tongue so she can taste more of you and you were getting deep into subspace.

As y’all were making out, Clint, Maria, and Thor were looking for the both of you and was getting nowhere. “Where the fuck are they? The park is about to close and I’m not staying in this weird ass place.” Maria commented and Clint chuckled at her. “Don’t worry, they definitely didnt go far.” Clint reassured everyone and they kept looking and calling out y’all’s names. You stopped kissing nat which made her whine and you shushed her quietly, trying to hear what was making some sort of sound. “NAT! Y/N!” Clint screamed out and you gave nat a hurried look and immediately went to get your panties to put back on as nat was trying to fix herself and wipe away your cum off her face.

You took nats hand and y’all quickly got out of the hidden room and were met with Thor, Clint, and Maria who were looking at y’all pissed. “Where the fuck have y’all been! We thought you were kidnapped! Or worse! Left us here!” Clint said as he waved his arms in the air. You gave them a apologetic look “I’m sorry guys…me and nat found this cool hidden room and well…we got occupied…” you said with a blush creeping up on your face and the three of them gave you both a disgusted look. “Okay EW! I did not need to know that!” Clint and Maria stated and Thor just stared in disbelief. Nat rolled her eyes “okay guys shut up and let’s go. The both of us are tired and I’m sure that y’all are too so get your asses in gear.” Natasha demanded and everyone grumbled as the five of y’all went back to the car and drove back to the compound as Natasha promised you when the two of you get back that she wasn’t done with you quite yet.

A/n: holy shit 1990 words! Also shout-out to whoever drew that amazing photo! Also I apologize this request was for fall and Halloween but I’ve been pretty busy so I’m sorry. But Christmas/winter requests are still open! Also remember to stay hydrated and to rest! I love y’all!

[karoochui]

What im hearing is:

Little crow feet outside my window bcs im feeding them- that’s besides the point!

Is there magic??? His shovel looks magic and they look magic

And do give me every detail you are thinking of for the series even if its in the distant future or not that relevant but you want to share

Crows!! Cute!! Also sorry i didnt get to this sooner my laptop BROKE (still broken but usable) and my mom and i have been looking for someone to fix it. Ive been drawing with it sparingly to be careful.

YES there is magic. Of course im still working on this storywise but im getting characters designs n whatnot done right now. Dynamics n stuff. BUT i do have some refs i made before my laptop broke.

I like to draw out certain stuff so that it helps with descriptions in the future; i have the worst memory so it helps to be able to do so. (More beneath cut)

Im so excited for moon's shadow form. Oh my god. Its probably my favorite thing right now.

Fun thing about it is that in this form he can touch you but you cant touch him. Something something you can be cast in shadow but you cant take it off yk? He's still light sensitive like this though, so if the area hes in isn't dark enough or he's hit with anything too bright he just reverts back. At that point he'd just have to rely on normal hand to hand stuff and his sand lol. The shadow form is just better for sneaking and speed. Really, he's some amalgamative idea of the sandman and boogieman. I thought it fit well with his whole "naptime attendant gone wrong" thing.

Sun's design, however, is more like if you mixed a cowboy, wizard, and gravedigger together. I made it a while ago on a whim with no intention behind it but then i ended up thinking "ykw would be so awesome".

The hat dips to cover the crescent side of his face (not intentional on his part) to symbolize his resentment towards moon and how he basically damned him to an hourglass. His eyes are easier to see bc of this which could seem more trusting (eyes are the window to the soul or whatever), but the thing is thats not normal for him (as we know) so it's meant to make him look suspicious and looming to 4th wall viewers. There's also the fact that i just thought it was cool too.

He also doesn't get a second form. Moon's sneaky and weird so i thought it would fit to give him some freaky thing iykwim. Sun, however, is a pretty "in your face" kinda guy, so his look and fight style is more extravagant and boisterous. Lots of swinging amd yelling and boom bang zap! Despite the showiness he's actually a longer range fighter. Mainly because unlike moon, thousands of years ago, he wasn't often one to get violent with his hands. His weapon is just obnoxiously large too though.

They are still one animatronic and their transformation is still triggered by light. Instead of an AI chip though (which is still in there but long dead), they live through the work of a soul. They're still physically inorganic but as far as spiritually they're as close as they're gonna get to being human. Their life and functionailty is derived from the magic itself, not the machinery. Like if for some reason they lost all their magic they'd just drop dead from a battery life long since drained.

The hourglass has a carousel-like design to it purely as reference to moon's level in Help Wanted 2.

Sorry for rambling so much but this is what i've got for you so far! I have a general idea for the plot but im tryna to make it more than what it is rn, so i dont wanna share too much of that just yet in case i change or completely toss away an idea.

[oleanderscorner]

I offer you, the highest of my ideas

Yandere Twst X Overblot Yuu.

Vibes? IMMACULATE

Everyone’s like “oooh overblot twst so hooot” NO! I WANT THEM TO DO THAT. FOR ME. IN THE WORST WAYS POSSIBLE.

fuck the calculation n’ clever shit. I want them to run onto scene and go 👀👀

(Specifically if you wanna: Dorm leaders + Leech twins + Ace + Deuce.)

I think I can do this in more of a series—but I’ll do this in this more analysis-like format…let’s start with Vil because I think he would be the most fun.

Yandere!Vil x OB!Yuu

TW: manipulative behavior, obsessing, toxic and abusive themes, self harm—YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Vil Schoenheit

I think everyone can agree that Vil is often an incredibly misrepresented character—whether or not they know or believe their own interpretation to be completely correct. There’s a lot to his character that doesn’t get represented because it’s hard to represent all of him when he’s incredibly adaptable to his surroundings…

But before we get to him any more—let’s look at Yuu.

Yuu can’t OB in canon but without magic, but a personal theory I’ve had for a long time is that Yuu will gain magic somehow—because like everything else they’re now a part of this world, and while they don’t belong “currently” after saving so many people they’re bound to become part of the world they’re living in, and gain some level of magic or be someone part of the universe who has no magic—which is a little less likely considering where Yuu is placed within this universe.

Yuu’s UM is likely to be more similar to Ruggie’s in that they likely will have some level of control over people and surroundings, however, with the ghost theme of the dorm—it’s better to assume that Yuu’s UM may be to become invisible like a ghost to help in battle same way they always kind of had in game.

An OB would likely be quick as Yuu begins to miss home and just wants to disappear and have everyone forget them—have the world forget them—so that maybe they can go home as they no longer have any remnant of themselves in the universe. Homesickness is a real thing, and if we look at some of the manga Yuus we do know that there is families back home for Yuu to go to, and possibly friends too. It can hit hard after awhile, especially if we go by the year and we don’t know how time there works—which can host so many accidents where Yuu won’t see their family again and as much as Yuu would miss their friends here—home could hit a lot worse.

When not invisible, I’d imagine them covered in cloth similar to a sheet ghost and with ink between the folds and sheets, and nearly translucent—just for the fun of a design.

Now onto the actual OB!YuuxVil

(Might switch Yuu and you because Yuu is the reader, if I say they know that means reader/Yuu)

Vil is observant—he may send Rook or Epel to spy on you or make judgements of character—but he is observant of Yuu and their actions leading up to the overblot. He wanted to prepare for it himself—and hopefully actually stop it. In most instances he would—he knows how to take preventive measures—but…this time he didn’t.

As we know from chapter 5 and his vignettes, Vil is one to get back up again after every failed attempt—and is by far the most adaptable character when it comes to needing to work with a loss. He couldn’t prevent it? Fine—it’s not like anyone else was truly helping (they were), he’ll just have to take extreme measures instead.

He locks you up so you cannot be a danger to yourself and others—likely using something to get you to a secure location (his home if he could help it—it’s incredibly reinforced, his dad and he have crazy fans I’m sure) since Ramshackle would definitely be destroyed and Pomefiore has a ridiculous amount of glass to get you hurt. He normally isn’t the kidnapping type but this situation is incredibly dire, so he has to live up to that role.

Vil struggles with identity and selfishness—he is strict and wants to keep everyone in line, and knows how to battle each person who comes his way with tact and grace to keep people in line. However this is for the betterment of others more than for simple order. This is one of the things where he has to come off as the bad guy in order for people to be better versions of themselves and be better people. He is incredibly used to this role even if he hates it and loathes everything. It’s an identity he doesn’t want but it’s one he’s always going to be stuck with, making it hard to do truly selfish things unless it contributes to his image—something he cares way more about than himself.

All of this is to say that he is certain to try and manage your overblot—and to get you out of it—even if it means he has to be the bad guy and keep you away from things. Even if it means having to use magic spray you can’t hurt yourself and others. Even if it means afterwards you hate him.

Yet there will be times where he calls you beautiful, times where he tells you that you look lovely this way—times where he just praises you. Some of it he believes, but some of it is out of what little selfishness he can manage for himself to not completely be the villain in your eyes. It’s ever so slightly manipulative, but telling him that will only make things worse.

He tries to get you to eat so at least there’s things feeding this magical energy. Some of it is laced with potions to help do just that—because he is incredibly scared that stunting it will kill you or harm you. So he wants to just make sure you don’t completely use it all up.

Vil is determined—but if anything Yuu is the best at breaking his resolve.

Constant egging on about him keeping you here, about him using his magic against you—trying to hurt him for so long. Eventually it can get to be too much—but if Yuu mixes it in with any knowledge they knew of his previous obsession for them. How he wished so dearly to make them the best version of themselves and how he wishes to be a part of the life they had here. How he kept worried eyes on them and made sure more money was slipped into their account for food. Even the jealousy he had to hide constantly around those who also showed interest, and his own plans to outdo them that he constantly overthought and looked over. Or especially how Vil had failed to prevent this overblot? Well, that might just break it.

He’d use his own curses against him to make himself better. Give himself timeframes yo complete things or if there was a certain amount of insults or hits a day something would happen. Pain in his legs—turning old for a few days—a nasty illness—whatever worked to force him to get through to the real you.

Even if he overblot once—he can overblot again—and trust me, it’ll be far worse than it ever was before.

This is a quick take! I’d love to do a full in depth analysis of Vil and how I perceive him, and what I think so many people shove onto him that’s completely unfair of them to do—but I truly hope this does him justice. I’ll probably get to the other dorm leaders and maybe more soon depending on how I feel about an OB Yuu.

Thank you for reading!!

[1-800-deactivatednearu]

woag character design notes

[i.d.: a drawn line up of the half life vr ai characters, from left to right, gordon, dr. coomer, tommy, bubby, gman, and benrey. /end i.d.]

yeah i skipped some guys , i dont draw some of them enough to have much unique designs and some of them are a png of a dog

trust me i am just surprised as the rest of yall that i am doing hlvrai art . design notes below (very long, mind your step)

gordon:

wow this guy dont got no head

i didnt want to give gordon a face because of how unexact the person is as the fandom engages with it. is it wayne rtvs? (well as presented to an audience, yes) is it gordon freeman? (well as seen from an in game perspective, yes) is it a whole new guy entirely? (well as

i cut the confusion and took it a whole new direction: guillotine

hlvrai being treated as a very broken game is fun to me as a design perspective, so if you (the audience) are not supposed to see his face, what happens when you see it anyways? missing texture time

there are eyes drawn over because i did not have confidence in my expressions at first and then it grew on me

i think if i were to draw (and i have drawn) an actual person under the mask i would still censor the eyes because that is where the vr headset sits!!

(i do not like putting an actual flesh to gordon though)

though i really like seeing how other people interpret gordon hlvrai it is not . my gordon ? we are talking about the same guy . but this is my gordo . i made this one . this guy my guy . maybe i should draw other gordon designs

i can draw the hev suit from memory and it is also the entire reason why i can render metal confidently

i liked how people changed the lambda to read ai :] i also have no clue if i wrote the lambda correctly

(i did, i just checked)

dr coomer:

as much as i draw/drew him i find it more fun to not stick to one set design :)

so a lot of my takes on dr coomer tend to jump from idea to idea, especially from what other people are doing, though they could be fitted to the left and right designs!

the left design is mainly based off what i saw in fandom spaces

we see rounder shapes, making for a more friendly and welcoming appearance

i think of this as straying from the more professional uniform of the actual scientist models

enter swimming shorts and bright yellow socks, for some reason

so now he kind of looks like a cool science teacher :)

it might be the lab coat

the right design is mainly based off thumbnails for hlvrai itself

these use a more angular appearance

i want to push how comically buff he is because of strength he shows at times, especially since his left design seems to completely down play it as a comically not buff man who is still very strong

the shadows on right design coomer get so much more harsh and exaggerated because i have comic books on the mind :)

he really does look like a dehydrated comic book character huh

tommy:

stick bug (he gets it from his dad) (this thought process is explained at gman section)

i pushed a lot of the saturation of colours in her design because i think tommy gets to be a little silly with it

fun art story of the day! when you color, try messing with hue! you might notice you can get away with a lot as long as your values are about right

i like pushing this with white because you can get away with a lot of things reading as “off white”

old faithful for me is cool shadows with a warm transition colour to keep things visually interesting

i keep making white objects the trans flag

happy pride

tommys design looks a little like a school boy, with the tucked in button up shirt+suspenders+shorts+jacket tied around the waist . and the primary colours . but like it is really fun to dress up so brightly

i actually was strongly inspired by medieval babies if that is a weird descriptor? i wanted him to both be a middle aged man but also a young adult

do not be like tommy, who has their finger on the trigger of the gun while not even looking at where it is pointing and good god he is squeezing the trigger . top ten firearm safety of all time

bubby:

the absurd part is that i think bubby is tall . he is just between tommy and gman who are exaggeratedly lanky .

i wanted to make bubby a pointy kinda guy, so he is the only one actually wearing the lab coat proper . and the only one actually wearing dress socks but not even wearing dress shoes

i wanted to give him a novelty tie but i was running low on ideas and running high on boreds so we dont get a tie

he does have crocs though!! in attack mode!!

i do think we all kind of saw his model and collectively decided it works for him because i have honestly not seen major divergences from his model?

gman:

stick bug

i wanted to stress the more spooky and unknowable nature of him and took it in the dark souls direction of “make bigger than player character”

maked too bigger

he cannot walk through any doorways but you will have to crane your neck to look up at him

in the opposite direction of tommy, i pulled a lot of the saturation in gmans design

it feels important to make them both not fully match the rest of the slightly less broken npcs because there was so much work to make them look cool so i have to respect that

actually a lot of gmans and tommys designs are made in opposite to one another

gman has a largely stationary face and very stiff line work

while tommy is pushed to expressive as possible

thats pretty fun, way to go me

benrey:

benrey also has two designs

and in both of these i keep getting too lazy to use a reference so  the vests are super plain (forgetting the badge and black mesa logo) . i think the helmet is supposed to be darker actually .

the design ethos of benrey was “built like a brick shithouse”

a friend of mine took this cooler and interpreted it as a shield/wall/barrier as a physical (and narrative) obstacle

again the first uses fandom designs

most notably the overcast shadow (seen in video thumbnails but i never noticed it or understood why so many people did it until someone pointed it out to me)

i think hlvrai is such a great medium because it acknowledges it is a game and is able to play into that to great effect! i think the shadow is fun to imagine as solid black as a small reminder of the impossibility of the space :]

benrey is a smug cat in the body of a human . to be honest . and this is the full range of emotion i have ever drawn him with

the second was mostly because as fun as taking creative liberties are, i just really wanted to see benrey as is: the half life security guard model in all its slight wonk :]

i actually do prefer this design . it is a little more uncanny because i choose the worst translations of the model . i like it because it is a little more uncanny !

that can be said for like . every single design in this line up huh .

[bitchin-tubs]

Very insignificant complaint

[clothed nsfw & petty bitching ahead]

I’m so sorry but this keychain BOTHERS me so much ever since I found it for the Sallie Mae pin-up post

First glance I was aw cute & fun but then I saw it properly and it just makes me mad and not because of the content itself

It’s the posing and design that’s got me heated

It’s like they gave the artist a 480p screenshot of her design to work with and then they drew the posing as they liked but someone told them to have her crotch facing forwards with no regards of anatomy whatsoever

Like y’all see that right? How her hips are forward but her stomach facing down? That’s not very… anatomy…

Also something about the head was bothering me the others also have a giant head but the way it’s posed really pronounces the “no neck” artstyle and it looks odd in my opinion (and the side bang taking 80% of the space in her face)

So that’s been bothering me ever since and I decided to redraw it

First one I made was this one because I thought her upper body was leading more than her legs and this position is pretty cute I think but notice how if her chest is leading forwards, anatomically speaking, her crotch would be covered by the skirt since it’s OVER her front

Then I thought ok what if we came back to the original idea? Chest and crotch for a pin-up after all. First I repositioned the head because the previous one bothered me, I fixed most of her design flaws and lastly but most importantly, pushed the right leg forward and the left back so she has room to show her crotch with her left hand supporting her body since it’s still leaning forwards and with no support she’d look as if she was magically floating

Then I completed it bc I liked it and want it to see it clean

I KNOW this is a really unimportant redraw [it’s literally just a pin up keychain] but hey this blog wouldn’t be called bitching-tubs if I find bitch and moan once in a while

[invisibletoothpasteman]

Something that is completely unserious but I just need to get off my chest is how people mistake complicated family dynamics as something inherently bad and therefore gravitate towards something completely stripped of any real complexity.

While I know this applies to lots of fandoms, I'm thinking specifically in regards to Batman comics.

With the rise in popularity of comics over the past little while since their decline in popularity in the 2000s there has naturally become an increase in their fandom as well, especially for Batman and the batfam. Don't get me wrong, this is great news. The comic industry NEEDS all the readers it can get and the renaissance of sorts it's been going through really shows hope for the future of comics. And with a growing fandom comes more people introduced to these characters through the fandom itself rather than the source material, which again, is a good thing.

What grinds my gears is how throughout this fandom theres been this whole idea spread that in the comics Bruce Wayne is always a shitty parent, the batfam is hardly a family, that the fanon version of him is what we deserve and is the "superior" version of him.

This fanon version of bruce (and the batfam as a whole) is perfect. He's not perfect in the sense that he's perfectly characterized. He's not perfect in the sense that he never makes mistakes. No, he's perfect in the sense that when he makes a mistake, he can flawlessly atone for it. There's conflict sure, but whenever there is some amazing therapist-approved communication is put right into play, the batfam talks about their feelings, and boom everyone is happy.

The thing is in reality that's just not how things work. Relationships are messy, especially family. Resolving conflict is messy. This is all especially true when you apply it to a family of messed-up vigilantes that go through incredibly stressful, emotional, and just plain crazy things on the daily.

The lack of always perfectly solved conflict is what makes stuff interesting. It allows for nuance in characters and situations that there isn't normally room for if everything is designed to be wrapped up in a sweet little bow.

I feel like a lot of people see the comics solely as batman being shitty and the rest of the batfam not really being a family and just overall poor story choices. While I can't deny that sometimes there are really poor or ooc choices made (such is the nature when so many different creators get to work on the same group of characters) for the most part batman in the comics is portrayed as he should be: well meaning, but far from perfect. The rest of the batfam is similarly flawed. Their relationships with each other are far from perfect but such is the nature of family. It's messy, it's imperfect but going through all of that makes it more compelling.

While I still definitely enjoy the simplified version of the batfam from time to time and am glad so many others do too, I think it's a disservice to say its the better version of them. as much fun as wfa or the like can be, they're not able to portray the same complexity as the stories that have the batfam with their flaws and all. It's still possible to tell heartwarming and fun stories in comics where everyone is heavily flawed and nuanced.

That being said really i'm glad people are able to enjoy these characters no matter how they're presented. Goodness knows that everyone should absolutely be indulging in little things in life even if that is ooc batfam. Just consider if you're still new to batman and only familiar with the fandom getting out there and reading some comics because they're pretty great.

(sorry this whole thing was written in a sleep deprived rant state, don't take it too seriously)

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Remember where you wrote a fic about reader being the creator of huggy wuggy? What if we have a continuation of that (huggy still being much alive) where we basically save the smaller huggies from mommy long legs? Cause if Huggy Wuggy is my creation then these little critters are my grandbabies :D

YES YES GOD I WAS WAITING FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS!!! <3

(The other fic is here if yall wanna read it)

....

"Next up..Whack-A-Wuggy. Hm, wonder which toy this one’s about.”

Huggy tilted his head, looking confused as he pointed to himself. You just sighed. “That’s what we call sarcasm, bud.”

He blinked for a moment, before nodding in understanding (despite not fully getting your sarcasm). Then he ducked his head as you both headed down to the next game, which was inspired by whack-a-mole. You wondered how your Grabpack was going to come into play.

Surprisingly, your beloved creation gone rogue remained totally docile, even in the presence of Poppy and Mommy Long Legs. Though he seemed distrustful of the little red-haired doll, and was clearly annoyed that Mommy forced both of you to play these games, with him acting like a “proctor”.

It’s not like you had any choice. But luckily she didn’t try to persuade him into joining her side. So at least you weren’t alone.

“I’ve been thinking..if you’re technically my son, then are these Huggies my grandkids?” You half-joke as you gestured to the Huggy Buddies painted on the walls, seeing Huggy smile and chirp. “Yeah. I thought so. C’mon. Maybe if they see you they’ll calm down.”

Holding your hand, he followed you inside the arena, looking around at the old paint, sandy pit, and giant holes all over the walls. He was incapable of frowning and yet..felt sad.

This place looked so dark and miserable...nothing like it used to be.

His fur became bristled as the shutter suddenly slammed down, locking you both inside. “It’s okay, Hugs.” You hushed, pointing to a corner. “Just observe me from there and I’ll handle this.”

Huggy shuffled to that spot, curling up on the floor while you directed your attention to the television, which played a tape explaining the game’s rules:

“Welcome to Whack-A-Wuggy. This advanced test is designed to assess the extent of your reactionary abilities. A dual-palm Grabpack will be provided to you for this test. Around you are 18 sizeable holes. An adorable Huggy Wuggy toy could appear out of any one of these holes. If one comes out, hit it with your Grabpack. That’s all. Good luck.”

'Thanks..I’m still alive ‘cause of pure luck at this point.’ You huffed, looking up to see Mommy at the observation window. 

Right on schedule.

“The toys in this game used to have strings attached to them..so they could be pulled back when they got too close to the children.” She spoke in a dull, monotone voice, still annoyed that you’ve won the last game. “Hmm..”

Your eyes widened as you saw a bundle of white strings in her grasp, dropping them to the floor. “Have fun~”

That bitch. She was cheating again!

“..oh you little-”

The lights dimmed, and you heard movement coming from within the walls, readying yourself. You’ll get your chance to yell at her later on. For now you had to focus on surviving this game.

The Buddies started crawling out one by one, their fur colored blue, red, yellow, and green. They looked filthy, bristled, and feral. You had no idea how many there actually were. Hell, you completely forgot these guys even existed. 

You can forgive the company for making Kissy due to your creation’s rising popularity--but you thought these tiny versions were just one big cash grab to bring people into the Game Station by using Huggy’s face. They even had their own merchandise.

You never paid much attention to them before, though now you obviously had to. And if it weren’t for the fact they were likely trying to kill you...they seemed awfully cute.

You felt bad for hitting them back into the holes, especially since their taller counterpart was sitting in the corner watching everything, but you knew they could very well pounce on you if ignored for too long. 

You weren’t about to find out if they had sharp jagged teeth like he did.

Fortunately this game went surprisingly better than Musical Memory, and you won as the lights turned back on and you heard slow applause from Mommy.

“Oh, you did it....huh.....hooray! Mommy is soooo proud of you~!” 

“Whatever,” You scowled up at the pink toy, not knowing why she bothered keeping up the cheery act. “Just give me the code.”

“Okay, as Mommy promised..here’s another hint.” She snaked her arm through a nearby vent that opened up, holding a piece of paper. You took the code and looked at it as she retracted her arm. “Only one more game left to play. Sad, Mommy was hoping you’d stay here forever. Though..it’s never too late to change your mind. What if he wanted you to stay?”

Huggy blinked at him being mentioned, growling at her.

“Leave him out of this.” You huffed. “See you at the next game.”

“Of course~! It’s going to be so much fun!” She giggled as she left the room.

Finally you were allowed to leave the arena, though Huggy seemed hesitant to go, wanting to check up on the Buddies. But at your insistence, he followed you through the tunnels.

Shortly after that, however, his hearing picked up something that you didn’t quite catch. And suddenly you saw him sprinting back to that area. “Wait! Where are you going?!” Letting go of the grappling bar, you chased after him, confused. “That’s the wrong way, Huggy! We can’t-!!”

Nothing could’ve prepared you for the horrific sounds of crashing and terrified screeching you heard. And you both eventually stumbled upon a terrible sight in the middle of Whack-A-Wuggy:

It was Mommy, throwing one of the red Buddies against the wall, before snatching a green one out from a hole, strangling the poor thing. Nearby, a blue and yellow one were ensnared in a cobweb, their fur all bloodied and matted as they struggled.

You were shocked.

Was she..punishing them for failing to get rid of you?

“You disappointed me so much, especially you four!! I EXPECTED BETTER FROM ALL OF YOU!!” She screamed, choking the life out of the green Buddy. “Do you want Mommy to string you up by your NECKS?!! Maybe Mommy will do that and leave you there until you learn to be-!!!”

Suddenly she heard a much louder screech and turned just in time to see Huggy tackle her, catching the green Buddy and scooping up the red one. You realized what he was doing and immediately rescued the other two from the web, cradling them in your arms.

Mommy coughed as sand got into her mouth and eyes, recovering just in time to see you and Huggy fleeing the area. She didn’t follow, though, instead laying there fuming. 

She never thought Huggy, of all toys, would stick by you. Poppy was only expected, but him?

Curious, she’ll just watch and wait for the moment he betrayed you. Maybe with the Buddies joining you they’ll turn on you, too, and devour you whole.

That thought made her giggle.

Surely the beast within him will reawaken soon enough.

.............

As soon as you felt like you were far away from the game, you stopped to catch your breath, shrugging off the Grabpack. “God..what the hell was that about?” You knelt down to set the yellow and blue Buddies on the floor.

Was Mommy seriously mad about you winning a game that she rigged? And why would she take it out on the toys? 

‘Did she do the same to Bunzo?’ You recalled hearing stuff being thrown around and cymbals clashing as you left Musical Memory, but elected to ignore it.

Maybe you shouldn’t have.

Regardless, you felt better knowing you at least helped these guys despite them trying to kill you minutes ago. You believed Mommy was using them since there was nobody else around.

Sighing, you watched as the two Buddies flocked to Huggy, whimpering and whining as they hugged him alongside the green and red ones. He chirped softly to calm them down, and for a moment...you thought you saw tears in his glossy plastic eyes.

As heartbreaking as the scene was, it also warmed your heart a little to know he wasn’t a mindless monster chasing you through vents anymore. He could still love. 

All those scientists who claimed he couldn’t feel such things anymore were wrong about him. Their experiments might have broken his mind, but you came back here to heal his broken heart. And that made you smile.

You were much too tired to get up from the floor at the moment, so you were surprised as all four Buddies ran back to you and hugged you. Their small chirps indicated they were sorry for attacking you before.

"It’s okay, little fellas. You’re safe with us now.” Gathering them into your arms, you squeezed them, feeling like a kid again. “Nothing’s gonna hurt you.”

Huggy simply watched with joy, glad that you’re finally reconnecting with his family.

He hasn’t felt this happy in years.

[cooliogirl101]

WTL Deleted Scene

The bar had been closed for an hour and Mitsuo was in the process of cleaning up when he noticed the woman standing by the door. It was raining hard outside but she didn’t seem to notice or care, looking completely lost in thought.

Mitsuo hesitated for a moment before making his way towards the front.

“Can I help you?” He asked politely. The woman jolted slightly, before staring up at him with wide, startled eyes.

“No,” she said after a brief pause. “No, it’s okay. I shouldn’t have come. Sorry for disturbing you.”

She turned to walk away and before he could think better of it, Mitsuo reached out one hand to grab her shoulder. She went alarmingly stiff under his touch and he hastily let her go.

“I apologize, I didn’t mean to startle you. It’s just that, well.” He took in her drenched clothes, the lack of umbrella, the water droplets running down her face. “You look like you could use a place to warm up.”

She glanced at the very blatant ‘Closed’ sign on the door before looking back at him.

“I think we have time for one more customer,” he said, answering her unspoken question, and stepped aside to allow her in.

~~

“So that bad, huh?” The woman, who had introduced herself as ‘Hana,’ asked casually. Mitsuo raised an eyebrow at her.

“What do you mean?” He asked, sliding a cup of tea over to her.

“The way I look.” Her lips quirked up slightly, a touch of humor entering her eyes. “I figure it has to be bad if strangers are taking pity on me and allowing me to take shelter for free after hours. Be honest, on a scale of drowned rat to drenched owl, how bad are we talking?”

He took in her shoulder length sopping-wet brown hair, brown eyes, brown coat. She did look a bit like a bedraggled animal, actually.

“Hmm, more along the lines of wet cat, to be frank,” Mitsuo said, smiling. “How’s the tea?”

She took a sip, then drew back, surprised. “This-- ”

“Not bad, right?” Mitsuo chuckled.

“Well. The standards of tea have certainly improved since the last time I’ve been in Inuzuri,” Hana remarked. “Must mean this place is doing pretty well, right?”

“You could say that.” They certainly weren’t lacking money anyway. “I think we have some food leftover in the back. Let me see if I can scrounge up something.”

“You don’t have to,” Hana protested. “Seriously, you’ve done more than enough.”

“It’s no trouble.” Mitsuo smiled briefly. “Besides, it’d hardly be polite to let a lady go hungry. Why don’t you take a look at a menu and see if anything catches your eye?”

“Absolutely not, I’m not going to—wait, who came up with the names of these drinks?” She asked incredulously.

“Ah yes, I’m afraid my brother had quite a bit of fun coming up with them.” Mitsuo grinned, suppressing a chuckle. “My sister, she was of the belief that we should be trying to attract a more diverse clientele and suggested that creating cocktails designed to cater to both men and women might be a good idea. Kazuki—my brother—thought it was ridiculous and was deeply upset at the idea of serving ‘girly’ drinks in his bar. Unfortunately for him, he was unanimously outvoted. The compromise was that he would be allowed to name the drinks.”

“And K—and they approved these?” Hana’s lips twitched as she scanned the list. “The Red-Hot Pineapple Monkey? Oh dear, the person who inspired that one must be a…character.”

Mitsuo hummed his agreement, hiding his surprise. It wasn’t often that newcomers guessed the cocktail names were inspired by actual people, and that one was a comparatively less obvious one.

“Maybe I’ll try something after all. This one sounds promising—the Flower Power Glower.” She laughed. “I’m sorry, it’s just that one…I mean, I would have loved to—” Her voice trailed off, shoulders slumping slightly. “But I guess that’s not possible anymore.”

Hana glanced up at Mitsuo, a wry twist to her mouth.

“Maybe alcohol isn’t such a good idea tonight.”

“Maybe not,” Mitsuo agreed gently. “And for what it’s worth, I understand. I’ve lost people too. If there’s anything I can do to help, I’d be glad to give it a try.”

“Thank you, that’s very kind of you.” She hesitated. “There is one thing. I just—your family.” Hana looked down at her hands, fiddling with her mug. “They sound like…like an amazing group of people. Would you tell me about them?” There was an odd urgency to her voice now, words coming out just a touch too fast. “Please?”

Mitsuo paused. By all means, he should decline her request. It wasn’t exactly a secret that two highly-ranked Shinigami came from their household and although neither Rukia nor Renji visited frequently these days, it wasn’t unfeasible that someone could come seeking information to use against them. And yet, he couldn’t help but instinctively trust that this woman meant him and his family no harm.

He hadn’t lived this long by ignoring his instincts.

“What do you want to know?” He asked.

~~

They ended up talking for hours. Honestly, they probably could have ended up talking for longer had Kazuki not stormed in, shaking droplets of rain out of his hair.

“There you are! The bar closed hours ago, where the hell have you—who the hell is she?” Kazuki drew up short at the sight of Hana and Mitsuo sitting across from each other at the bar, halfway through their second pot of tea. Hana looked at him with the same wide-eyed look she’d greeted Mitsuo with.

“Manners, Kazuki,” Mitsuo said dryly.

“Shut up, this ain’t the goddamned Seireitei,” Kazuki retorted without taking his eyes off Hana. “So who is she?”

“She is able to hear you,” Hana said, a touch sardonically. “You can call me Hana.”

“Just Hana, huh? No last name?” Kazuki asked, eyes narrowing slightly.

“You’re hardly one to talk, given that you haven’t provided either of yours,” she retorted without missing a beat. He blinked, then grinned.

“Fair enough. You can call me Kazuki then.” His eyes fell onto the mostly-empty plate of gyoza on the table. “Aw man, I was hoping to eat those later.”

“Don’t worry, we saved the smallest one for you,” she replied, tongue-in-cheek. Mitsuo blinked. That had almost sounded like—

“I mean, thank you for the drinks and the food,” Hana said hastily, interrupting his thoughts. “How much do I owe you? And don’t tell me it’s on the house again, I mean the real cost.”

“How much do you want to pay?” At her uncomprehending look, Kazuki smirked. “We operate on a donation-only system here. You pay what you want, and if you don’t want to pay anything, that’s perfectly fine too.” He looked her over. “Actually on second thought, I second what Mitsuo said. It’s on the house—please use any money you have to buy an umbrella.”

“That doesn’t seem like a viable way to run a business,” Hana pointed out.

“Don’t worry about that. Anything that isn’t covered by donations just gets added to Hisana’s tab,” Kazuki shrugged.

There was a pause.

“Hisana’s tab?” Hana questioned. Her voice was very small.

“It’s a system we set up in honor of our late sister,” Mitsuo explained quietly. “Well, us and her fiancé at the time. Anyone who comes to this bar only needs to ask in order to be fed.”

It had been Kuchiki Byakuya’s idea. The amount of money he donated on a yearly basis could feed more hungry orphans than existed in all of Inuzuri.

“Oh.” Hana swallowed. “That’s—that’s a really nice thing to do. I’m sure your sister would have loved that.” She stood up and bowed. “I’ve taken up enough of your time. Thank you for your kindness—I can’t tell you how much it means to me.” 

“You have a place to stay?” Mitsuo asked, concerned.

“Of course. You don’t have to worry about me,” she smiled. “I’ll be fine.”

Mitsuo pursed his lips, studying her closely. There was something oddly familiar about her, something that had been bothering him all evening. Not her features—no, Mitsuo was quite certain he’d never seen this woman before in his life—but in her tone of voice, the way she tilted her chin up—

He shook off the sense of déjà vu and smiled at her.

“In that case, please feel free to come back at any time. You’re always welcome,” he said sincerely. “I hope to see you again.” 

Her smile softened into something a little more genuine.

“As do I,” she murmured. “Take care, Mitsuo, Kazuki.”

“So. Hana, huh?” Kazuki commented as soon as the door shut behind her. “Someone you know?”

“Not at all. I’ve never seen her before tonight,” Mitsuo replied honestly. “Why?”

He shrugged, staring off into the same direction Hana had left.

“Nothing. Just feel like I’ve met her before.”

~~

Hisana: “You don’t have to worry about me, I’ll be fine” while very much the opposite of fine

Mitsuo and Kazuki, immediately: wait why does this girl seem so familiar

Deleted this scene because I decided Hisana wouldn't risk going back to her family until Aizen was no longer a threat, no matter how much she missed them. But I figured I'd share this snippet anyway, hope you guys enjoy!

[smorbee]

iBook Pyramid Behind the scenes!

This is a long one. Also keep in mind we made this a year ago so were going completely off of memory at this point BUT we do have the files. Unfortunately we didn't save specific versions of it really early into its creation so all the blender files close to being finished.

We have an intense appreciation for funky old computers. People correctly identified inspiration from the Thinkpad 701C. Less obvious in the final design but something that almost certainly influenced us as well was the 12-inch powerbook g4.

There is something very satisfying about nearly-square shaped laptops.

Others mentioned the JVC 3100R pyramid TV which, you'll be surprised to learn, we had never actually seen until after working on this project. The resemblance is uncanny and yet, entirely coincidental. Honestly if we had seen this thing, it probably would have had an effect on our design because the way that hinge is set up is beautiful. Our thought process was simply just comically emulating the form factor of a modern laptop but with a giant CRT.

We're pretty sure the idea started out as simply wanting to design a full profile keyboard into a macbook-like laptop because funny, and at some point the butterfly keyboard came to mind and we said Screw it and implemented that into it as well. Heres the keyboard separated into the different sections.

Sorry to say that the keyboard does not actually contain any switches. (You'll see that this computer was modeled to be viewed a limited angle)

Heres the keyboard from the top.

Once we got going with it, the whole thing was turned into a big joke of course, clashing many different eras of technology into one. Such as this massive beige tank of a "laptop" having a single USB C port as its main I/O.

And same with the software. This is the texture for the display, Which was taken from our real (unfortunately not crt based) macbook setup at the time. Except not quite, as the original screenshot was 16:10. We simply edited the image to make it 4:3. This is running mac os 12 with a majority of the icons changed to early osx equivalents.

We'll be real and admit the animation is not very intricate, theres no real "rig" for the model, parts are just parented together because we did all this in about 2 days. That said, we had loads of fun animating it still, trying to imitate the motion of someone struggling to lift the heavy top up before it swings open with an inaudible, but easily imaginable "Thud". Making the whole body shake and the trackball jump slightly was the finishing touch to make it complete.

The wire for the trackball was made using a circle with the screw modifier and then applied to a curve. Here's what it looks like with each modifier applied sequentially.

And then making the trackball itself a handle for the curve, we can have the cable be dynamic. (Yes, we notice that the trackball in fact has no mouse buttons. No good explanation for that, I think we just forgot lmao.)

For the screen, we make use of a location transform on the UV mapping for the satisfying detail of the screen distorting from the impact, which we swear we've seen before but no matter how hard we (safely) bumped our CRT monitor we weren't able to recreate it. Nonetheless even if its not entirely realistic we wouldn't remove it for anything.

speaking of which, an utterly useless detail considering the resolution and distortion of the final renders and yet we added anyways just for our own amusement is that the display has a shadowmask, simply done by just multiplying it over the base screen texture.

Combined with a glass material over the inner part of the screen, it utterly destroys low sample count renders of the screen and makes the project at least 3x as prone to crashing so thats cool! (it crashed on us while we were writing this section)

We've learned since in future projects that trying to optimize polygon count and materials is still very important even for offline rendered content. We can never be truly free from the constraints of memory limitations 😔

the final step was getting a more authentic less "polished" look in the compositing. This step can get very complicated based on the specific look were going for, but for this render its really just basic color correction and some blurring and sharpening steps. We used the default fake jitter node in blender at the time, though in more recent stuff we use the non-denoised image with filters applied to it instead, so its less uniform between images and more uniquely degraded looking.

Though we'd do a number of things differently now were still pleased with the final result. especially in animated form.

Heres an overview of the scene:

This is the bezeled apple logo in polygon form. Its simply an alpha texture with a normal map:

Thats all for now! Thank you for reading!

[gaycrittercentral]

YESS WE WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE FANKIDS ‼️

Hhhhdhdgshgd I’m very shy abt them but I’m gonna be brave since a couple of y’all were curious!! :’> here they are!!

There’s four of em and their names are Maisie, Lacey (short for Shoelace), Crowbar and Junior. They were born tiny, hairless and wrinkly and developed the ability to zoom around and track smells before they managed to open their eyes so they start terrorizing Jimmy Two Teeth before they can even see him, they’re like a horrible mix of naked mole rats and piranhas lmaoooo

Also here is the first drawing I ever did of them :’)

When I was designing them I felt like there were already so many fankids out there that are a really perfect fusion of both of Sam and Max’s looks, and I wasn’t crazy about trying to do it myself so I just made an army of little maxlets. The Maxlings, if you will! But I did give them longer tails in later drawings and Crowbar has floppy ears like Sam, so they didn’t completely skip his genes jfkhsgs ^^; I have planned out how they came to be but I’ll probably put that in a different post (maybe I’ll even write a little thing for it teehee that might be fun). But I can describe them a little here!!

Maisie is the oldest (as in the first one to be found, they weren’t really born in the traditional sense so \_:p_/) and she just really loves sharp objects lmao. She is mostly non-verbal, but in kind of a Ferb way where she’ll occasionally throw out a cryptic one-liner and mostly remain silent with kind of an ominous stare. Her sisters and brother are completely unfazed by this and have absolutely no fear of her, but she loves being scary to everyone else. She constantly seems like she’s about to commit an act of incredible violence but she doesn’t like to be caught doing it, so it’s all off-screen. She feels like it’s scarier that way. Max is very proud of her.

Lacey (Shoelace, because she used one as a teething toy as a baby which is baffling because neither of her dads wear shoes where did it come from??) is one of the middle kids. She likes dressing up and bounces around between masc and femme and both and neither. She also likes chatting a mile a minute with Crowbar, and she’s less of a twig than her sisters. Later in life she might try and get a lil buff like Sam. She mostly likes to go along with her sisters’ ideas because her head is pretty empty a lot of the time, and she’s slightly less inclined to jump to violence than they are. But only slightly. She also maybe picks up Sam’s habit of grabbing random items.

Crowbar is the other middle kid and fairly precocious. She’s the first one to unlock language capabilities (I have a comic about that I can post later!), and she loves trying to imitate Sam’s vocabulary. Not that she’s, like, good at it yet, but she’s trying lmao. She’s always very cheerful and bouncy and probably the most likely to cry a little if something goes wrong, but also frequently swings back around to bouncy happy and tends to forget whatever upset her immediately. She swings violently back and forth between having zero thoughts and being head full many thoughts that she has to babble loudly all at once.

And Junior is the youngest, the smallest, the baby of the family. He’s very shy and sensitive, and his sisters are like his own personal bodyguards lmao. He has a lot of sensory issues that his dads make sure to help him with, like getting him soft clothes and a noise cancelling beanie (bc he ears not really suited to headphones) and shooting out overhead lights when they’re too bright for him hdkdhshs. He also likes napping in Sam’s pockets and under his hat and Max loves carrying him around like the baby he is. He’s also a creative little dude and he likes drawing (and also eating the crayons afterward).

All four of them are little goblins who have no concept of morality (like even Junior, he may be skittish but he still condones violence and chaos hdkdhshs) and will eat almost anything. They are truly their fathers’ children shjfjjdgdjshsh, and speaking of which Sam and Max are thrilled to have them around and completely obsessed with them hehe. They pretty much just carry on with their cases like usual except now they have a small pack of land piranhas that they can sic on difficult suspects lmaoooo

And I have some more sketches of them I can post, too!! So I’ll probably bounce back and forth between that and the virtues for a bit hehe :>

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for locking an ex-friend out of a long-time gaming account?

[Context]

I (F16) had a friend, who we'll call V (F30s). We met on an online chat game, with the main focus being decorating rooms and playing mini-games with other players. She had been playing for well over ten years at that point, while I was still pretty new (about a year or two, in comparison). I had a pretty large friend group on that game, and when I met her, I kind of brought her into this group.

Several months (6+ ish) later, the group and I decided to create a knock-off room of some of the most popular rooms on the server. We had mostly all met in these popular rooms and just wanted one of our own for the friend group and others like us. This was largely my idea, along with my best friend, R (16M). R contributed the most in terms of financial support, and we both took on designing the room. Everyone else pitched in ideas, but were largely unhelpful in the grand scheme of things. V was the most unhelpful, as she would get pissy about small things that didnt go her way, even when she wasn't contributing to the creation of this room.

Eventually, the room was completed how R and I wanted it, with some input from the others. V did a 180 and was soooo happy with how everything turned out. Everything was back to normal with her.

Now, our room was not successful. We did not end up one of the popular ones. While a little disappointing, it was fine because we were still hanging out with our friends and having fun. About a month or two in, I got a message from R telling me to log on quick, bc the room was in disarray.

I logged in and people were telling me V had trashed it (all of us in the main group had complete access to the room, so could make changes as needed). While it wasn't "trashed" per se, it was a mess and it did take me a couple hours to fix everything.

Friends filled me in and told me V had apparently been secretly making her own room (another knock-off like ours, but worse) with a guy who had said some disgusting things about me, and several friends joined her in tarnishing ours before leaving to be with her.

This was an utter betrayal as I loved them all and had trusted them with something R and I worked very hard on for all of us. There was never any indication that V was unhappy with anything, as we spoke every day and she was always saying how much she loved our group and how we were definitely gonna be the most successful eventually and blah blah. I mean, I recognized that she was just saying what I wanted to hear, but still. I thought of her like a big sister.

[End Context]

A few days went by, and R and I were talking about everything that had happened. I was finally over the shock, and I was just angry. R said he wished there were some way we could get back at her. I remembered that V had given me her password months prior for an event she couldn't complete, and I had logged in and done it for her. I told him that she said it was the only password she'd ever used, since she was young, and I bet she hadn't changed it.

I was wrong, she HAD changed it, but she had also given me her email for the login information, so I tried the password on her email. I got in. So I changed her game password through her email and logged in.

She had been online, but this game would kick you off if someone else logged in while you were online, so I knew I had precious little time before she'd change the password back and I'd be kicked off.

So I went into her room, mass-banned everyone in there (including some of my former friends, one was the gross guy I hated), destroyed the room as much as possible, and then privated it so no one could enter (idk why I didn't just delete the room, wasn't thinking clearly ig). I then typed in as many censored words as I could so the auto-filter would flag her and get her account suspended.

Her account DID get suspended (and the game team was notorious for having the worst support ever. Once your account was suspended/banned, you almost never got it back), and I was auto-logged out. I logged back into my personal account, and R and I freaked out, just super giddy. V used an alt account to confront us, and ofc we denied having any involvement, but laughed at her anyways.

She did eventually (a month or two later) get her main account back, but before that she had lost all of her stuff, so she couldn't reopen her room. I was pretty satisfied with this, but some of the former friends who sided with her told me it had taken a toll on her mental health. I told them that all of their betrayals had taken a toll on MY mental health, so why should I be bothered, especially when I hadn't DONE anything (wink).

All in all, I felt justified, and she did eventually get her main account back, and I stopped playing not too long after that, but I'd still like to know what other people think.

AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[grampstaxidermy87]

Are you able to write about poly lost boys x male reader who has bipolar? Maybe he's going through a depressive episode or something?

I’m here

An:Hello my lovelies! I’m back after my sudden hiatus, I am sorry this took me so long but life had gotten pretty hectic, all good things I promise! Anyways I do hope you like it! ❤️

Warning: Bipolar!Reader, Male pronouns used, poor mental health, Suicidal thoughts, Swearing.

It was hard to pinpoint an exact reason why my body suddenly refused to move, and yet my mind was racing. That voice that was usually in the back of my mind now took up all of my brain, telling me I wasn’t good enough,that I should just wither away because everyone hates me.

The stress was the worst part, making me feel ashamed for having emotions,that maybe I wouldn’t be feeling like this if I wasn’t so weak…if I were stronger I would be happy.

The blankets felt suffocating around me, but I felt nauseous of the idea of building up the energy to kick them off. Looking up with heavy eyes I saw my clock flashing ‘8:50’ which meant my boys were probably already at the boardwalk waiting for me while I laid here being useless.

That voice spoke louder,they were better off without me dragging them down, they would have more fun now that they didn’t have to worry about me.

Tears filled my eyes as I hugged my stuffed bear tighter, it was a gift from David after he had caught me staring at it and the next day I woke up to it sitting on my bedside table staring at me.

Of course the stoic leader denied having any idea of what I was talking about when I thanked him, but I could see the way his beautiful blue eyes softened when he thought I wasn’t looking.

It still smelled like them, to the point where I was pretty sure they each rubbed their scent on it just so I would end up smelling like them.

That thought brought a small hint of a smile to my face, I really missed them...

A sudden knock on the window beside my bed made me jump, "Babe? You sleeping?" Marko...

"Come on Doll, we know you're awake." David said sliding the window up and slipping inside, they didn't need permission to enter, I gave it to them so long ago that they just waltzed right in whenever they wanted.

"Aww look at our mate wrapped up like a cute little burrito!" Paul cooed hopping in and laying down behind me, I didn't bother moving over since he was just going to tangle himself around me anyways.

He had no idea how much comfort such a simple act brought me right now, the pressure helping to keep me grounded and not get lost in my spiraling mentality.

"Hey Baby boy, we missed you at the boardwalk. Are you feeling sick?" Dwayne's concerned eyes stared into mine as he knelt down beside the bed, reaching up to brush my matted hair out of my face.

"Physically yes..." David sat on his designated chair at my desk, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Is it happening again? Doll you should have called Max, he would have told us earlier so you didn't have to be alone." David scolded lightly, knowing I wasn't exactly thinking rationally when I was like this.

"I didn't want to bother anyone, I shouldn't need a babysitter anytime I feel a little sad." I huffed forcing myself to sit up, Paul fallowed and brought me back into his chest as he gently hugged me.

"Baby, this isn't just you being a little sad. We love you and want to be here for you, what kind of mates would we be if we can't help you with these kinds of things." Marko sat on the bed and took one of my hands, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles in soothing circles.

Despite how soft they were being with me I just felt so angry, defeated. I didn’t know how much longer I could deal with this stupid disorder.

“I love you guys too…I just wish I didn’t feel like this! I don’t even remember what triggered it this time…” I hadn’t even realized I was crying until Dwayne was wiping the tears off my cheeks.

“It’s okay to be upset my handsome prince, Your feelings are completely valid. But bottling it all up isn’t healthy,you’ll only end up hurting yourself. That’s why we want you to rely on us too.” The others voiced their agreements and I looked up as David approached and cupped my chin,making me shiver from the intensity of those striking blue eyes of his.

“You’re not going to scare us away,if that’s what you’re afraid of. We are immortal vampires who kill to survive, you being Bipolar isn’t going to make us change the fact that we love you more than you’ll ever know. We have killed for you,Ripped bastards apart for even looking at you the wrong way.” He said leaned down until our faces were inches apart.

“Isn’t that enough to prove our complete and utter devotion to you?” My breath hitched in my throat and he smirked when he heard my heart skip a beat.

“Such a romantic Davey.” Paul teased earning a smack up the head from Marko for ruining the moment,”Shut up Paul.”

They started arguing but stopped once hearing the quiet chuckle that passed my lips as i tiredly rubbed at my cheeks, “I love you guys, I’m so-“ ,”(Y/n), if the next two words out of you mouth are ‘I’m sorry’ I will smack you.” Dwayne warned successfully shutting me up.

“You have nothing to apologize for babe, You’re allowed to have emotions. And yea sometimes they really suck ass, but you’re not alone.” Paul cooed cuddling into me and pressing a kiss on my neck.

Marko moved to press a kiss to my cheek and sat back with a smile,“He’s right love, you’re stuck with us.” A teasing smile tugged at my lips and I playfully rolled my eyes, “Lucky me…”

The terror twins immediately tackled me back into bed, with feral grins and merciless fingers that tickled all the spots they knew by heart.

Dwayne and David stood off to the side, smiling at the three of us softly. They were happy to hear my laughter, no matter how far into my own head I got they would always be there to bring me back or offer a listening ear.

Because we were family, one big messy family.