#mostly in the background doing their own things sometimes together sometimes separate

[tbaluver]

Hiii , can I ask for headcanons on how LaDs boys act around an introverted reader?

(´｡• ᵕ •｡) Hope you have a good day♡

When You're Introverted- The Love And DeepSpace Men

parings in order: Xavier x Reader, Zayne x Reader, Rafayel x Reader, Sylus x Reader genre: fluff fluff a/n: hihi anonnie ! i hope this was alright and you enjoy! have a good day/ night! ♡⸜(˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝ any likes and reblogs are always appreciated! enjoy!

⋆｡‧˚ʚ♡ɞ˚‧｡⋆

Xavier:

He enjoys spending quiet quality time together with you. Whether it's your shared activities or your own favorite separate activities. Overall he just adores spending time with you. He would find activities for the two of you to do. He'll try to learn about the things you take pleasure in.

He'll help you with things you weren't comfortable doing. He's always ready to speak for you. If you were nervous to order your own food or if your order was wrong then he would happily talk to the waiter and do everything for you. If you wanted to do anything outgoing, then he would gladly help you get comfortable doing so. He'll be right by your side the entire time.

He did not mind you were an introvert. Sometimes you two would sit in comfortable silence when you didn't have anything to talk about it and he would enjoy it. He'll mostly just drift off into sleep but you didn't take any offense to that because you know how sleepy he can be.

Some of your dates includes late night strolls with him or anywhere that isn't crowded. One of your favorites is watching the stars in the park at night. It would be peaceful and quiet especially since there wouldn't be that many people around. He would just love you for you and treat you as his equal.

Zayne:

As an introvert himself, he understood you pretty well. He doesn't mind it all either. When you're together, there's a peaceful, easy silence that feels just right. There's no pressure to talk between the two of you. Most of your dates are in quiet, less crowded places so you both can feel comfortable and relaxed.

Or if you don't want to go out in public then you both can spend time at home. He doesn't mind as long as he's with you. You both can spend the evening curled up on the couch reading something or watching a movie together while enjoying the peaceful atmosphere.

He would probably be the one to initiate anything intimate like hand holding. He would ask if you were okay with it or if you were comfortable. He would slowly intertwine his fingers with yours and finds your flustered face adorable. A small smile would slowly appear on his face. Or small affections like kissing you at the top of your head or cheek until your more comfortable to do more.

Your talks can range to a lot of topics. He's one of the best listeners ever and he'll listen intently to anything you have to say. The space that you two make in the relationship is very safe and understanding. He appreciates your thoughtful insights and enjoys having conversations with you.

Rafayel:

He has no problem if you were an introvert. He is patient to wait until you were comfortable around with him. He would start off by including you with activities or ask your opinions on things until the comfortable air starts to form between you two. He would respect your needs for space and alone time or if you needed to recharge your social battery.

At first it took you some time to open up to him but once you did, Rafayel was really happy about it. The misconceptions of introverts don't talk isn't true, it just depends on the right person so when talking with Rafayel it just seemed natural and it clicked. You can talk to him for hours and he was more than happy to listen and talk with you more. The times you would laugh at something, he would always comment that he loves hearing you laugh.

He loves that you're a great listener and he even enjoys quiet time together. While you do your own thing, he'll be right beside you painting or sketching while music is playing in the background.

He would invite you to his exhibitions and would stay by your side as he talks with the sponsors or directors. If you felt like you wanted to leave then he is more than happy to leave his own art exhibition with you and take you somewhere more quiet and peaceful. He'll deal with an upset Thomas later.

Sylus:

He doesn't mind if you were introverted one bit. He finds it to be quite adorable at times.

When you were comfortable enough, he loves to listen to you talk about anything you were interested in. He loved hearing you talk about your passions and anything you wanted to talk about. He would also respect it if you wanted some alone time until you were ready to hang out again.

He would stick by you if he invited you to any big event. He knows you can start to get nervous with all the people around you so he would either have his hand on your back and stroke it softly to calm you down or he would hold your hand and give it a gentle squeeze for reassurance. He knows that you don't like having attention drawn to you so he will happily take the lead in any conversation you don't want.

If you two were at a restaurant and you didn't receive your order right, he'll handle it for you. He'll be the one to call the waiter and ask if they can bring you the right order. He'll also be the one to order your food and happily pay for the purchases himself.

He takes care of everything calmly. Especially when any scenario could happen or if you felt uncomfortable. He will ask if you want him to do something about it.

[skyclan-funny-name-squad]

Im going to explain my au starclan now.

There is no Dark Forest in this version of Starclan, only the Seasonal Borders. For instance both Tigerstar and Bluestar are Starclan cats, but they would be different kinds of Starclan cats.

Starclan is divided by the four seasons, and how you performed in life determines which season you are assigned too. The season is determined both your own opinions of yourself and personal reasonings for why you did things, along with the actual actions.

Each area is a perfect encapsulation of the season, Newleaf is BEAUTIFUL with flowers, Leaf-Fall has so many colorful leaves, and Leafbare is picturesque with frozen lakes and glistening snowbanks.

Greenleaf is the closest to Starclan as we know it. All year long it is warm and the prey runs very well. It's also very much the default tier, you were a background cat your whole life and did nothing but be a background cat? Congrats you're getting into Greenleaf. Kits are also automatically placed into Greenleaf.

Newleaf is a lot like Greenleaf but not as perfect, you're more likely to get rain and colder days. These are the cats that tried to do what's right, but fell short in very reasonable ways. This is for cat's like Blackstar or Mudclaw who really did good things and did try very hard and genuinely believed they were doing the right thing, but still had some black stains on them they couldn't wash away. Comfortable, but not perfect.

Leaf-fall is more on the brisk side. Lots of rain, and while prey isn't the easiest to find, there is prey, a cat can be mostly comfortable here, even if it's not the nicest life. This is for the cats that had negative intentions, but didn't do enough harm to be considered irredeemable or had reasonings that are sympathetic enough. Cat's like Ashfur or Mapleshade who did a lot bad, and maybe can't be forgiven, but weren't the worst ever and honestly didn't even do more damage then an intense battle between clans could possibly have done.

Leafbare is covered in snow, it's actually quite beautiful. Prey is very scarce but not completely missing, it's hard to keep warm but cats wont suffer from things like frostbite or anything, so they're just cold. It snows often, and many Leafbare cats will stick together if they're compatible enough to keep warm. Rarely there will be a more warm day as well, it's livable. A cat won't be the most happy here, but they have enough to be content, especially once they get more used to the cold. This is cat's like Brokenstar and Tigerstar who knew full well they were doing immense amounts of war crimes and didn't even have a good reason for them.

Depending on your season will also show how easy it is to dream walk, a Greenleaf cat can do so with ease, but a Leafbare cat will have to work hard for a long time to slip into a dream even once.

Cats can cross the borders, but only going down and up to the original season. A Newleaf cat can never enter Greenleaf but both a Newleaf and Greenleaf cat can visit Leaf-fall. To prevent trouble though, kits can only cross borders going down further then Newleaf if accompanied by a Greenleaf cat. So cat's are constantly crossing the borders, perhaps a Newleaf cat misses snow and so they spend a few hours frolicking in Leafbare. Or maybe some kits want to see their morally questionable Leaf-fall parent so a Greenleaf cat supervises the meeting. This keeps cats from being permanently separated from each other, but also keeps it so cats who may be more fond of other seasons can actually still experience those seasons.

This establishes Starclan as less like heaven and more like a genuine place where dead cats can rest and explore. Sure it's not ideal to be in Leafbare, but there's still things to do and prey to hunt. Even cats in Leafbare have a say in things if all of Starclan is pulled into a meeting, after all sometimes to best understand how to tackle a threat is the observations from a previous threat.

Along with that cats will often bring gifts as they cross borders, like yeah if you're in Leafbare most cats might not like you but sometimes someone from another season will come with a huge mouse and give it to you so you make sure no one bothers them while they roll in snow. Or your mom brings you a thrush because even though you did bad things she's still your mom and she loves you. If anything, it encourages Leafbare cats to make connections and friends after death, helping them become more well rounded and less aggressive.

[onpointedfeetandbrokendreams]

Day 5 - Painland Week

Day 5 of Painland Week 2024: August 5th - August 11th by @painlandweek

I wanted to post the final day in time because it was the first fic I wrote for this event, but I do have 5 and 6 as well so I guess I'll still share them even if a bit late!

Prompt: Case Fic

Tags:  Post-canon, Established Relationship

TW: None

--

For all intents and purposes, Crystal was part of London’s supernatural community. Even before meeting Edwin and Charles she had some ghosts as friends, and obviously there was the whole dating a demon business. But she was surprised to find out that there were several gathering spots that other psychics and beings in general used to exchange information, trade, or generally hang out together.

What didn’t surprise her at all was that Charles loved going there, while Edwin looked like he would rather spend the evening stabbing his own arm with an iron knife.

“I just don’t see the point, if someone has a case for us to solve, they would know where to find us, otherwise we have no reason to talk to them.”

“We don’t have to think about work all the time, do we?” replied Charles, not without a fond smile on his face. Few things had changed between the two of them since they got officially together, at least in public - she didn’t want to think about what they did after she left in the evening, and luckily they never talked about it - except that they were both more relaxed, and sometimes they got lost in each other’s eyes.

She cleared her throat. “So we are going?”

Edwin grimaced, like he had just bitten something incredibly sour. “Fine.”

They had a new client, a young witch called Noora, who said random objects had started to disappear from her shop. She believed someone or something was trying to get her to close because they didn’t trust her, even if she had stopped practising magic for that exact reason, afraid that the power would eventually corrupt her like it happened to many witches. She had seemed honest enough, someone who just wanted to do some good selling herbs and artefacts, plus she had offered an open tab to collect ingredients as payment, which was too good an opportunity to pass on. So after doing some background checks on her - which had become mandatory after the ‘Case of the Asshole Jocks’ (as Crystal called it) in Port Townsend - they decided to accept.

They arrived at what looked like an ordinary pub, with some arcade games in one corner, darts and pools in another, and a counter, with separated menus for humans, vampires, and even ghosts.

“There is food that ghosts can eat?” Crystal asked, looking around curiously.

“It is mostly potions with mild effects,” Edwin explained, “they simulate the intoxication of alcohol, or other nonsense.”

Behind his back, Charles winked at her.

When the surprise faded, she started noticing something else, the barman had greeted them politely, but everyone else seemed to keep their distance from them, it was almost like they were scared of something. She tried to ignore the odd feeling for a while, but it was clear that it was not just an impression.

“Why are people afraid of us? Did something happen?” She asked, looking between the other two to study their faces.

“It’s a very funny story,” replied Charles, laughing, while Edwin grimaced.

“Please, Charles, there is no need to talk about this. I assure you it is nothing, Crystal, let us remain focused on the case.”

She was not deterred in the slightest by his patronising tone, she kept her gaze fixed on Charles until he relented.

“They are scared of Edwin,” Charles said in a lower voice.

“What? Why?”

For how much she and Edwin bickered, she knew he would never hurt anyone.

“It is not extremely common for a soul to escape Hell,” Edwin explained matter-of-factly, “and, as you well know, I have never exactly hidden the fact. There are many who think I somehow made a deal with Lucifer herself.”

“And it’s not only that,” continued Charles, “most of the incantations and rituals he uses shouldn’t be possible for a ghost because they require too much spiritual energy, so they don’t know exactly what he is capable of.” 

He said it proudly, and of course Crystal was impressed as well, but it was also a bit sad. From what she had gathered of Edwin’s life, he had been a bit isolated from his peers back then, and it seemed he still was, even if for different reasons. It was no wonder he didn’t like to come to these places.

“Maybe you should talk to some of them, if they get to know the real you, they will know you are actually a real softie.”

If looks could kill, Crystal’s head would surely have exploded in that moment. “I am NOT a softie.”

Charles was laughing so hard tears collected at the corner of his eyes. “You kind of are, love.”

She decided to go talk to some other people after that, wanting to give them some space. She had some basic self-preservation instinct after all.

Some people knew about Noora’s shop, but none of them seemed to have heard of the random disappearances, so it was a bit of a bust. She returned to the table Charles had claimed for them to figure out their next step, and she was still recounting what she had gathered, when someone approached them. Crystal wasn’t sure what kind of creature they were, but there was something about them that made her skin crawl.

“I’ve heard you talking about the witch,” they said, pronouncing the last word like it was a slur.

“Yes, we are trying to solve a mystery that occurred in her shop,” explained Edwin.

“You shouldn’t mess with her, she is a liar. I bet she gave you the ‘I’m just a good witch who stopped practising’ speech.”

Crystal noticed that every other being in the pub had stopped what they were doing to listen to the exchange. 

She had a sudden idea:

“Do you know who he is,” she said, pointing at Edwin and ignoring Charles’ panicked look of warning, “what he could do to you if you are involved in an act of discrimination against a poor girl who just wants to run a shop?”

“You shouldn’t believe everything you hear. Do you really think someone like him could escape Hell?” The way they snarled, almost made it seem like-

“You are a demon,” Edwin said, before she could reach that same conclusion.

The demon’s eyes glinted. “And what if I am, pretty boy?”

“Oi, leave him alone,” interjected Charles, moving in front of Edwin with his cricket bat ready.

“That witch is mine, you hear me, stay out of my way. I have great plans for her and her shop.”

Edwin started muttering something in Latin, probably a banishment spell, but he was startled by another patron binding him with a golden rope.

“Stop!” Crystal yelled at the ghost who cast the spell. “Don’t you see what this demon is doing? We are just trying to help!”

The distraction was enough to allow the demon to transform their hands in long claws and lock them around Charles’ throat.

“Charles!” Crystal and Edwin shouted at the same time, before Edwin turned to the ghost who was still binding him.

“I swear I mean no harm to any of you, but I can’t lose him, please let me go, allow me to save him.”

The tone of his voice tore Crystal’s heart in two. She knew they could handle the demon, but there were too many people there and if they started going against them, things might become dangerous. Other customers were approaching, looking between Edwin and the demon to decide which side to take.

“Edwin, I’m sorry,” she said. Then her eyes turned white and she sent a flow of images through everyone else’s minds, memories of Edwin saving her from a misery wraith, preventing her from drinking poison, she was careful to only choose moments that were not too personal, that he might feel uncomfortable sharing. “I know you’ve heard rumours, but I tell you we are just here to help!”

Charles didn’t technically need to breathe, but the claws scraping at his throat were making the skin black, grey smoke pouring from the cuts. He was desperately trying to swing his bat at them and hitting only empty space, the arms moving in every direction, disappearing and forming again without ever releasing their hold.

The moment the ghost retracted the binding spell, Edwin raised his hands and started the banishment incantation again. His eyes looked like they were on fire.

Other people recognized the type of spell he was casting and tried to help by confining the demon, until a red portal finally appeared to swallow them.

Edwin collapsed on a table from the exertion.

“Edwin!” Charles yelled in a raspy voice, moving to his side in an instant. “Love, are you okay? You shouldn’t have done that, I would have found a weakness in those stupid liquid arms and freed myself on my own.”

Edwin managed a smile. “No version of this where I didn’t protect you.”

“I hate you when you use that against me.”

“Sure you do,” Edwin replied, turning around to hug him, the relief evident in both their faces. 

While the two continued whispering reassurances and promising - again, as if it were needed - eternal devotion to one another, Crystal tried to explain what happened and apologised for using her psychic powers to the others still gathered around them.

“I am sorry for trying to stop you friend, I hope it didn’t cause too much damage,” the ghost said.

Finally, Edwin moved back, only a little flustered by the public display of affection. “What is important is that you freed me in time.”

“Still, I am sorry. I should know better than to listen to gossip like this.”

“Well, I guess the case is closed. We should still check the shop in case there is some of the demon’s magic left.” He said, more to himself than the others, but he did nod at Crystal and he looked more grateful than murderous, so she allowed a sigh of relief. She didn’t think she would get away from the scolding so easily this time.

[arithmonym]

20 questions for 20 writers!

thanks to @accidentallyadorable for tagging me! this was fun. :3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

30! only 20 are visible from my profile, though. my older fics and drabbles are quarantined to a separate account, and a few things are posted anonymously.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

113,190 words.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

it’s mostly the locked tomb these days. i also have a few old works for the penumbra podcast, the magnus archives, and the adventure zone—and a few even older works for harry potter and percy jackson, but those are on ff.net so i can pretend they don’t exist.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

it’s familiar (but not too familiar) - fluffy griddlehark time travel fic. this was my first attempt at writing them and i could definitely do a better job now, but the prose still holds up.

alive, barely breathing - post-canon griddlehark first time fic that’s fucked-up and sad. sometimes i look at the comments when i want to feel good about my writing. :3

bring your hunger - post-canon griddlehark grief/relationship study. also a WIP. (honestly, this one might go on anon for a bit—it’s vulnerable in ways i don’t want to explain, and i’m shying away from writing the next chapter because the Fear of Being Known got to me a little.)

it’s not unusual - fluffy modern AU where team 69 go to a bar and play catan. palamedes has an oral fixation, because of course he does. this one is campal with background griddlehark getting-together, but i might write a sequel from harrow’s POV someday.

bad idea right? - modern AU chatfic inspired by this post by eskildit. it’s about camilla dealing with the paldulcie situationship™️ & enduring so much dyke drama thanks to the nature of her friend group. it received a podfic recently, which is fun!

(… i also want to write a camdulcie sequel for this one. i’ve been rotating the idea frequently.)

5. Do you respond to comments?

almost always. there are a few scattered comments i haven’t replied to yet, but i like responding! it’s an excuse to drop more lore about the fic and the writing process, IMO.

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

the ace cam fic i haven’t finished yet, which will probably be posted on anon. (i feel like people are going to attack me for poor representation or something, but it’s inspired by my own experiences, so. can’t win them all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

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

something sweet is pure, uncomplicated fluff, so i guess i’ll go with that!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

not really. i’ve blocked a few people for being rude, but i haven’t gotten hate in years.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

occasionally. i’ve only posted 4 explicit fics, but so far it’s a pretty even mix of f/f, f/m, and other.

10. Do you write crossovers?

i have a tlt/w359 fusion AU i want to pick up again! i need to untangle some threads of the metaplot, though.

(also, the first fic i published on ff.net was a harry potter/rise of the guardians crossover. yes. it was cringe. yes, it’s probably still posted on the internet if you want to find it.)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

nope.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes, actually! a few of my old hp fics were translated into spanish or chinese.

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

i wrote a round-robin fic with the campal server once. i also started co-writing a fic with quinn a while ago (before we both got busy with school) that i’d like to return to at some point, because the concept still makes me vibrate with glee.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

i’m not sure that i have one, actually? i’m a multishipper to my core.

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

i have so many WIPs in my google docs that i’ll probably never finish.

i’d like to revisit my fic about necromancers & dysautonomia some day, but my writing style has changed so much since then. i might have to rewrite what i’ve posted.

16. What are your writing strengths?

i’m frequently complimented on my worldbuilding. i’m good at examining the implications of things that other people might not think about, so my plots are original even when i’m writing a fandom trope. (i can’t wait to post my harrow nova AU for this exact reason.)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

sigh. pacing. i write from very close POVs, but sometimes i get too far into the character’s head, and it drags the story down. i’m trying to write sharper prose, but i’m going through an awkward growth phase as a writer—i know the structure i want, but it’s a struggle to get there concisely.

also, i over-edit instead of writing new words, which does me no favors.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i guess it depends on context? i have a pretty good grasp on code-switching from being bilingual but not quite fluent, but the memory of that one klance fic haunts me.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

i mentioned my first published fic earlier, but the first fic i wrote was a percy jackson self-insert fic when i was twelve.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

indelible! cam and pal figure out that dulcinea isn’t who she says she is at the fifth’s anniversary party, but it doesn’t change anything. <3

///

tagging @harrowharkwife @friendamedes @cindthia @logicbutton @thewinterstale @sluggydrabbles & anyone else who wants to participate!

[emotelizardrambling]

Okay, so the idea was what if the BitterSweet Trio were friends as kids.

Because I have an all-consuming need to make things more complicated, my brain decided to come up with an entire alternate storyline to BitterSweet, where the roles are kind of reversed, and then build a childhood friends/rivals, to pining ot3, to lovers plotline...

This is the first part of it.

CW: mentioned domestic abuse, mentioned drastic personality change of romantic partner, mentioned (implied) mental illness requiring medication, cursing

Notes:

Background written up in a post here, but short version is:

SB was best friends with Seth and Frenemies with Alphonse when they were growing up.

SB was forced to leave without saying goodbye to Seth or Alphonse and remained separated from the two until sometime (less than a year) after Al's parents died, when they ran into Seth.

Shit with Derek didn't happen in this universe.

Seth and Al never worked for the gang in this universe and are still together after Al takes over the shop. (They still had some dealings with the gang and did meet Charlie through those.)

SB has an emotional support cat named Shade who is absolutely best boy and very smart.

While SB, Shade, and SB's partner are my brain children everyone else is from YuuriVoice's BitterSweet series. So all rights are his.

No beta we die like Derek did before he had a chance to fuck up the boys' lives in this universe.

End notes.

“Hello, this is the Corner Store.”

It's strange to hear a voice on the other end that sounds so much like Al's dad, but also clearly isn't. It sounds nothing like the boy they knew as a kid, but…

“Alphonse?” SB asked hesitantly, not certain they had even remembered the number correctly. 

“Speaking,” he responded, and SB was relieved for a moment, until he asked, “who ’s this?” 

“I…” SB suddenly realized they had no clue why they actually called the shop. What were they even hoping anyone could do for them? This whole mess had nothing to do with Al or Seth or anyone else, but at the same time SB couldn’t bring themself to just hang up. They searched for words, “I…. I’m sorry… I don’t,” SB was cut off by their own sob before they even realized they were crying. Shade rubbed against their foot trying to soothe his person. “I… he broke my phone… I … I don’t know any other numbers,” they tried to explain. 

“Okay, hey, it’s okay,” Alphonse spoke gently, “just take it slow, take a breath.” 

SB tried, but only managed a cough that made their cat urgently nudge their legs. 

“Slow breaths. In …. Hold…. Out… with me okay.”  Al talked them through enough breaths to ease their panic a little. They also crouched to pet Shade which helped.

“That’s it, can you tell me your name?” he asked more hesitantly this time. 

With their breath mostly back they couldn’t really control the torrent of words they let out. “Fuck. I’m sorry, I call you out of nowhere and I’m just crying like an idiot, standing in an old phone booth that smells like weed and piss, with my cat at… I don’t even know what time it is, and the only person I can even call is my childhood best friend’s boyfriend, ‘cause I never bothered to memorize anyone’s phone number and even if I did I…”

Alphonse cut them off. “Boo?” It had been years since they had been called that. You play the ghost dude a few times in Mario Kart… but they had to admit, right now, they welcomed the familiar nickname.

“I… yeah… it’s me. You can hang up if you want. I… fuck I don’t even know why I called to begin with. I mean even if Seth was there or something, what would either of you even do? I should have just waited till he calmed down, or, or left or something.” SB continued to ramble until Al cut in again. 

“Woah,  hey, Boo!” he called for their attention. “Hey, it’s okay, I’m not gonna hang up on ya, just… what the hell is goin’ on? ‘Cause what I’m hearing is that you’re hiding out from somebody in a phone booth with your cat.” 

“I… well… kind of, yeah. I’m not really hiding, I just,” they attempted to clarify but trailed off knowing it would sound bad. “How did it get to be such a mess?” they ask themself. They were still processing the last half hour or so in their head. Their partner had been off for weeks, his brother was fairly sure he stopped taking his medication, and when SB tried to ask him about it he would just insist they drop it. 

“Can you tell me what happened?” 

“I… I went a few blocks and this is like one of those phone boxes with a door, I figured I could put shade down without worrying about him running away or something. I had some change in my pocket but I couldn’t remember any phone numbers…”

“I mean, before that. Why are you in a phone booth with your cat? Are you hurt? Is someone trying to hurt you?” 

They took a few more breaths, They didn’t want to explain it all to Al, Seth had talked about how much Al had grown up since they were kids, so they didn’t really think that he would be an asshole about it, but they knew if it had to do with them, Al would tell Seth. Seth who, ever since elementary school, looked out for them as if they were family, who may well assume the worst case scenario, considering his own experiences. “I’m not hurt… or, well, not really…” They absently rubbed their arm. My partner… he isn't like this. He stopped taking his meds, and then, tonight, he saw that I was texting Seth and somehow he thought that meant I was cheating on him, even though I told him about Seth before, and even that you two were together.” 

“Did he try to hurt you?” 

“He… I don’t think he meant to, but I’ve never seen them like that before. There was yelling, and he threw my phone down. Then he grabbed my arm and I panicked, Shade scratched his leg and, before he could do anything else, I grabbed Shade and locked myself in the bathroom. I… I don’t do well when I feel trapped though, so I climbed out of the window and made it a couple blocks before I even stopped to think… I don’t even know if he realizes I left.” 

“Fuck, okay, look I’ll… shit it’ll take me at least half an hour to get there.” 

“What? No you don’t have to do anything I just…” 

“Even if you hung up right now I’d be heading into the city to look for ya, you shouldn't have to be alone after something like that.” he must have sensed they were about to argue, so he added, “And let’s not even mention what Seth would do if I told him and didn’t already have a plan for getting you out of there safely. He'd probably rather go get you himself, but I can’t imagine that cat of yours would enjoy riding a motorcycle.” 

“Look I appreciate it, but it really isn’t that big of a deal.” 

“Well if it isn’t a big deal I’ll just drive over there and check on you. Or,” Al’s tone wavered a little, “I mean, if this is about me being… well… me, I can get Seth to…”

“No!” SB cut him off. “I mean, it isn’t that. I don’t mind you. I just…” 

“Great, is there anywhere nearby where you could hang out for half an hour? Somewhere that maybe doesn’t smell like piss and weed? A public place, a coffee shop, or restaurant?” 

“I… I doubt it, and even then I have Shade, and I don’t have his harness or carrier or anything.” 

“Right, okay, where are you? 

“I… I’m near the corner of 8th and Kennedy drive.” 

“Okay, listen, I got a… well, I know a guy. Pretty sure he still lives around there and he… he’s kinda a rat bastard to be honest, but he’s harmless and scared shitless of me n’ Seth. He owes us a few favors too so, if you’re okay with it, I could call him to meet up with you. I don’t like the idea of you sitting alone for so long, and I can ask him to find something to keep your cat from running off so you aren't stuck in a phone booth.” 

The last part was the most enticing. It really did smell and SB didn't do great with really strong smells. “Yeah, okay. I mean you really don’t….” 

“I want to help. Hell, even if I didn’t owe you for all the dumb-ass shit I did when we were in school, you’re Seth’s best friend, and I know you deserve a lot better than all this. Now I'm gonna call my guy and let Seth know what’s up. I’ll be there in a little over half an hour. If that ‘partner’ of yours shows up you call the fucking cops on his ass or something. You hear me?” 

“I… Yeah. Thank you, Alphonse.” 

“No problem Boo. I’ll see ya soon alright?” 

“Yeah. I’ll see you soon.” 

—

[k1ranishf4]

Projecting my relationship with my four younger siblings onto the Brando brothers + general headcanons

(They’re judging Vanilla Ice and Pucci because the two of them are once again fighting about who’s the most loyal and therefore the favorite of Dio)

• Giorno takes random and mostly useless items and turns them into a small animal that comes to his mind in that moment and gives that as a gift to whoever of his brothers are at home or the closest to him in the mansion. Sometimes, he just makes a gift himself by making any kind of origami. He receives as useless things in return. (They expect each other to throw the items away but they all keep their ‘gifts’ and protect them with their lives)

• Ungalo has a shit ton of Disney trading cards and if he has one card multiple times, he’ll just give the other to one of his brothers. He always counts who he last gave a card to and then gives this card to the next one. For example, he gave Rikiel one last time, so Giorno gets the next one.

• Whenever Donatello prepares food or a smoothie for himself and his brothers decide to join him in the kitchen and ask him for the same thing, he flips them off or curses at them (or both) while preparing some for them too.

• Rikiel loves it when Giorno’s gently combing his fingers through his hair, he’ll fall asleep immediately because of how much it relaxes him.

• Giorno’s always being used as a pillow when his brothers are tired as he’s reading in the living room. He doesn’t know why, but supposes it must be an instinct since he’s the oldest son. Most of the time, Rikiel is the first one to rest his head on Giorno’s shoulder and doze off, followed by Ungalo on his other side and lastly, Donatello either on the floor while resting his back against Giorno’s legs or sprawled atop all of his brothers’ laps. Dio’s used to seeing one couch being occupied by his sons, by now, as opposed to D’Arby or Vanilla Ice.

• Ungalo always eats all the food before any of his brothers can even look at it. He always eats most of it while his brothers only get like one, maybe two plates if they’re lucky. Donatello and Rikiel have been fighting for a rule that Ungalo’s not allowed at the table until the rest of them at least have food on their plates, but to no avail. Giorno began asking D’Arby to separate some for him before he and Dio’s other servants bring everything to the dining room. Ungalo doesn’t even seem to care about Dio’s scolding, bro never stops eating once he likes a dish

• Donatello and Ungalo pick on Rikiel, mostly for being the middle child between them when Giorno’s not around but also because Rikiel never really fights back, unless they’ve really pissed him off.

• Because of Ungalo and Donatello, Dio had to explicitly forbid the four boys the use of their Stands in the mansion, even though it should’ve been common sense.

• Rikiel likes playing with Giorno’s hair and asks him if he can style it for him. In return, Giorno has learned how to retwist Rikiel’s locs and how to braid his hair accordingly.

• They chill in the living room together when they can’t sleep or when they’re generally feeling like staying awake until the early hours of the day. Usually, there’s a movie playing in the background while they’re either talking or just doing their own thing and enjoying each other’s presence.

• Ungalo will always find a random time during the day when he walks up to Giorno’s or Donatello’s rooms (depending on which one is inside or at home at all) and slams the door open, just to stand for a few seconds or to say something completely without context and then leave again without closing the door. Donatello is tired of his bull, while Giorno simply uses Requiem to close the door again without interrupting whatever he’s doing.

• Donatello and Rikiel freak out about spiders and cockroaches, while Ungalo just enjoys their misery and Giorno literally picks those fuckers up with his bare hands. Well, spiders, at least. He hates cockroaches as much as his brothers but doesn’t exactly fear them. They just disgust him.

• When they were younger, one of them got to decide what to eat for breakfast that day. For example, Giorno decided on one day, the next day, it was Donatello’s turn, after that came Rikiel and then Ungalo, and they would repeat that cycle. They still keep this tradition.

• Ungalo and Donatello tease Giorno because of his Princess Peach Lips™

• The younger three take Giorno’s fashion sense as a sort of inspiration and mix their own styles into it, but Donatello and Ungalo won’t ever be caught admitting it.

• There are rare times when Donatello asks Giorno to do his hair for him.

• Ungalo always manages to convince Rikiel and Donatello to spy on Giorno whenever he’s out on a date with Fugo. They’ve gotten caught once. Rikiel swears he can still feel the ants crawling all over him.

• Donatello, Rikiel and Ungalo always fight for the front seat, even though all of them know that Giorno always sits in the front. Not because he’s the oldest, but because he’s just smart enough to take the initiative while the others are fighting. The looks on his brothers’ faces amuse him every time.

• Whenever Giorno’s actually judging something or someone, the others stand behind him and look at what has gotten his negative attention. Usually, they end up judging with him.

• Ungalo loves pestering Dio when his brothers are nowhere to be found. (Dio loves his sons, he really does but sometimes—)

[writing-plurals]

for a bit of background, i have a lot of ocs who all exist together in the same universe, and im planning to turn them into animations as soon as i develop the skills for it. most of them, if not all, have some sort of childhood trauma, or at least have gone through crap as kids. this is because i love showing characters healing, and also i want to portray how different sorts of trauma can affect people and their futures.

in this universe, there are two plural characters. one of them im not struggling too much which - he isnt as developed as most of the others, but thats just because i havent had enough time for that, he does have a good story though and i feel like he'll be good rep :)

the other one, however.

they're a (paro/tulpa/trauma)genic system, depending on the watcher's interpretation. they come from an abusive family, their parents being Awful to them for as long as they can remember. they have around 5-6 headmates, though ive only focused a lot on 3, of them: their first host, a girl who formed Really early in their childhood, and Vlad. he used to act as their protector, and is also an anger holder, who can get quite aggressive sometimes. (fun fact, his name is inspired by Calma Vladimir by CDN :3 )

in the system's teens (13? or so), CPS take them out of their abusive home, and put them into a nicer one. yet, that's when Vlad's role starts becoming less useful than before, because he's still in survival mode - and out of fight or flight, he's definitely the Fight type. which will get him to act out, get into fights, break stuff... etc etc etc. the others are partially aware of this, and they let him do, because that's what they're used to ("there'll be consequences no matter what we do, why not let him have fun?", or something like that, they're all too used to their previous living situation for this ;w;)

now, in the universe, there is a pretty big... gang? mafia? criminal organization? something like that. it's directed by a man called Judas (it's not a religious reference on my side, he picked his own name and it makes sense he chose that one), who, ignoring the whole crimes thing, is a pretty great guy. he has a habit of taking in ppl going through hardships, mostly ones who are violent, and getting them to join him.

Judas has been seeing the system, mainly Vlad, for a long time. he picked up on how good at fighting they are, and how with a little bit of self-control, Vlad could make a good addition to his Whatever That Is. so one day, when they're 15, he approaches them and suggests they join him. Vlad accepts, and though it wasn't their original plan, everyone else ends up happy with it. so they move in with them, meet a bunch of people, get a found family with Judas and this one girl, yadda yadda happy ending.

besides.

the gang's main thing is killing people. they do it mostly to abusers, assholes, the ones who traumatized its members. it's like...their whole thing. which, yeah, makes sense i guess. but putting a system there feels like im pulling the whole "serial killer with multiple personality disorder" trope, which sucks ass.

they are a serial killer, they are a system, but both things just happen to be, no correlation between them. all the alters are aware of and ok with their current living situation, they'd probably pick it over any they've been in, and only bad people are dying anyways. it's not like Vlad is the only one doing that stuff, either - at the beginning he was, but not anymore.

i'll probably leave them this way, the whole storyline is already planned too, but is there any way to make it so it doesn't follow that one trope?

(pd, the other system does not join the gang, he actually escapes his shithole of a town and lives a pretty chill life with his friends. does this help separate being plural from being a criminal? since its 1/2 instead of both of them-)

I'm not sure you can actually have one not be the serial killer trope if they're literally in a murdering gang? But you are making an important balance by not having the second system be in that position. It at least makes an easier distinction between those two facts about the first system. Because theoretically, yeah! Those two things can coincide in a person, and it is possible to make an interesting story about it.

Something that that trope benefits(?) from here, is made less bad by, is that most of the times we see it in shows and movies, it's a one off, or we don't see how they got there, or it's been paired with another offensive trope (see also Split, with the body changing shape).

In the way you're framing it, it's softened by the other system being Not That, and the context as to how they got there. If it fits the characters, some remorse that it's part of their otherwise better life helps? But that's up to if you think that's something that would fit them.

I hope that was helpful

-Mod Tick Tock

[blackestnight]

ffxiv and magic traditions: a very self-indulgent and nonsensical “““essay“““

as a joke i said “haha what if i went off and described each of my oc’s magical abilities but in terms of pathfinder’s magic traditions,” but then no one stopped me, so it’s no longer a joke. anyway.

this will come as a shock, i’m sure, but i play a lot of tabletop rpgs, especially pathfinder 2e. as much as i love ffxiv’s armory system as a mechanic (getting to take multiple classes! one one character! with no penalties! it’s fantastic!) the inherent mechanical limits on each class as a result just…bore me, frankly, from a worldbuilding standpoint; i much prefer the inherent flexibility of ttrpgs, where even two characters with identical classes and ancestries can play entirely differently. hence i like to draw inspiration from ttrpgs when doing my own worldbuilding for my ffxiv characters.

some necessary background: when i say “magic traditions” i’m referring to pf2’s four traditions: arcane, divine, primal, and occult—you might also hear these referred to as “spell lists.” these are separate from the eight schools of magic that you see in a lot of ttrpgs (including pf2 and 5e), such as evocation, divination, necromancy, abjuration, etc. put simply, the school of magic dictates what a spell does, but the caster’s magic tradition dictates where the power to cast it comes from, which will make more sense in a second if it doesn’t already.

also, obligatory because-this-is-the-internet disclaimer: these are my personal headcanons and class interpretations, applied for my own worldbuilding purposes to my own interpretation of the game world, i am not trying to dictate how you should play the game or write your story, you do you, etc.

with that out of the way: HERE WE GO

i’m starting with haruki mostly because he…actually doesn’t do much magic in the way of spellcasting, but he definitely has magical abilities, being a not-quite-dragoon. (i like to call him “waterbender with a pointy stick.”) instead of drawing upon the power of his ~inner dragon~ (he doesn’t have one), his supernatural abilities are a blessing from the auspice seiryu, which makes him a classic example of a divine caster. the most common divine casters in a lot of systems would be clerics, but it really just means that a character’s magical abilities are given as blessings from some sort of divine entity. on his own, haruki is not capable of breathing underwater or summoning tidal waves, but he possesses the power to do those things because the power is on loan from seiryu. it’s also important to note that just because he has power from seiryu doesn’t mean he worships seiryu; it’s pretty standard fare in the pathfinder universe for characters to receive divine blessings unasked-for, and sometimes unwanted (this is, like, the entire premise of the oracle class, and i’d argue also fits pretty perfectly with the oracles of light and darkness in ffxiv as well, but that’s a subject for another post).

i’m lumping adelaine and sjanna together because, not only do they practice the same magic tradition, they both practiced multiple traditions over the course of their respective lives. addie, who was enrolled in the conjurer’s guild while growing up in the black shroud, and sjanna, who was raised a servant of the green word in golmore jungle, both started their journeys as magical practitioners of the primal tradition. not to be confused with ffxiv’s primals, the summoned entities, primal magic is drawn from nature and a connection to the natural world—druids would be the iconic primal casters in most game systems. the line between primal and divine casting can get a little fuzzy sometimes, especially once you get into things like the elementals (who are sentient nature spirits worshipped in their own rights), but i ultimately lumped addie and sjanna into the primal tradition because conjury, from what we’ve seen, is about drawing aether from the land itself (and the elementals are depicted as “voices of the land”). the green word as it appears in ffxiv, similarly, is close to the green faith as it appears in pathfinder: a code that demands respect, reverence, and preservation of the natural world. addie learned magic as a conjurer who drew power from the land around her, and sjanna learned magic as a keeper of the wood who revered the green word. later in life, addie (who had suffered emotional and medical abuse under the conjurers’ guild) and sjanna (who committed anathema to the green word by deliberately causing harm to the wood) stopped being practitioners of primal magic, although addie left it behind willingly while sjanna had her power stripped from her.

so both of them instead re-trained in the arcane magic tradition. arcane magic is like, your stereotypical locked-in-a-tower wizard who spends all their time poring over spellbooks—they make a study of magic and use logic and rationality to categorize and control magic. ffxiv’s arcanists are also (fittingly) a good example of arcane magic as it appears in pathfinder. the arcane tradition relies upon casting spells from constructs, like magical diagrams or matrices, which can be physical (like the arcanist’s grimoire, in addie’s case, as she goes on to become a scholar) or a mental construct (which sjanna prefers, being more of a staff-wielder than a book-toter). it’s also worth noting that, in the case of pathfinder (and as i’m using it here), arcane magic draws mostly on the caster’s reserves, rather than drawing on power from an external source like divine and primal magic. addie learned arcane magic as a means of retaining her power without giving up her agency to an elemental tradition that had harmed her; sjanna took it up to reclaim abilities that had been taken from her, but this time under her own power. i just think it’s neat.

and last but not least: hanami. if you’re wondering why she hasn’t come up before now, it’s because i am cracking open a refreshing cold can of my bullshit (drk theorycrafting). settle in.

“but cyan,” you say, “isn’t hanami’s whole thing that she keeps insisting she is not a damn mage?” yes it is. however, hanami is a filthy fucking liar. hanami, as a dark knight, is a practitioner of the occult magic tradition.

occult magic is definitely the least-understood of the four magic traditions, both in the in-universe pathfinder flavor text and on a meta level by the players. the word occult probably brings to mind, like, a circle of hooded figures with candles and weird rituals to summon some horrible tentacled creature from whatever great beyond, but per in-universe texts on occult magic, these practitioners are benefiting more from sheer dumb luck than an actual understanding of occult magic, which is best demonstrated by the iconic occult casters of pathfinder: bards.

occult magic draws its power from the concept of a shared narrative. practitioners at their finest use magic to invoke symbols commonly understood by its beneficiaries (or victims) that, in turn, causes some secondary effect—usually an emotional reaction (you see a lot of mental spells on the occult spell list). in the case of a bard, they will most typically use song, but dark knights as written in ffxiv do the exact same thing. per the lv 30 unlock quest, dark knights are fueled by fear, pain, and rage (and, as we oh-so-memorably learn in the 50-60 questline, all of these are superceded by love, kupo), but the flavor text of several of the drk abilities (back in ye olden days when we actually got flavor text) also include references to emotional manipulation. per enyclopedia eorzea’s description of Unleash (the starting aoe skill): “Releasing his pain and rage upon nearby foes, the dark knight manifests an inky black circle of spikes on the ground around him. All those caught in its thorns are struck by unreasoning terror, and an irresistible need to claw away at its source.” also from EE1, under the section dedicated to Dark Arts (the conceptual magical practice, not the skill, may she rest in peace): “Fueled by the darkness from within, the dark knight employs these techniques to lend an arcane edge to the blows of her greatsword. Though known for their disdain for shields, the fighting style of the earliest dark knights was nevertheless built upon mundane swordplay, and it was not until several centuries later that one of their order first unlocked the secrets of the dark arts.”

we know from the very start of the class questline that dark knights are something of a folktale to ishgardians; the npc who starts the unlock quest talks about dark arts practitioners, and even later in the lv 63 quest, an npc named Lowdy (you know, the waitress who poisoned you back in falcon’s nest like 3 patches ago) explicitly mentions being told stories about dark knights as a child. (based on the relevant npcs’ social stations, it probably varies whether the mythical dark knights are presented as folk heroes or bogeymen.) “but cyan,” you say, “can you get to the fucking point?”

yes i can. my theory—once again, i direct you to the ‘this is me playing in a sandbox’ disclaimer—is that the original dark knights didn’t use dark arts or magic because there was no narrative surrounding them. the first dark knights, being the founders of the discipline, didn’t have the benefit of a ready-made reputation to go with the greatsword and the heavy armor: by the modern day, when the warrior of light and sidurgu and fray take up the mantle, dark knight evokes a very specific image that instills fear, and pain, and rage—which they then harness for their own ends. dark knights use the shared narrative of ‘big fucking scary knight with big fucking scary forbidden magic’ to actually do that magic: the belief and the fear is the source of their power.

also just, one of these days i will go off about dark knights and akasa/dynamis, but this is already long and i’m already getting off-track, let me just put a pin in that.

so hanami, as an occult caster, uses Unleash and summons a big circle of spikes in the ground. scary! that image, which is pretty universally interpreted as threatening, achieves the effect of inducing terror in anyone caught in those spikes, because the magic is powered by the narrative of “big honkin’ thorns made of pure darkness = danger.” on the flipside, the dark knight also draws power from love—the specific example we see is the love a knight bears for their charge. (additional side-rant that folks like @starswornoaths and @autumnslance could do better than me: better paladin story than the paladin story.) what is The Blackest Night skill, if not a manifestation of that story of devotion and adoration?

…this definitely got off track and if you’re still here you get a medal. the medal is metaphorical though. ty for enjoying my rambling, if you’re interested in more information about the pathfinder magic traditions, i pulled a lot of the stuff above from the Secrets of Magic sourcebook, which contains a ton of cool worldbuilding about magic, including stuff about the traditions, the eight magic schools, and the four magical essences that i didn’t even get into here because they’re not immediately relevant, but they are cool. also: if this was fun enough that you want to incorporate the magical traditions into your own worldbuilding, obviously you can because i’m not a cop, but also tell me about it!!! show me your divine red mages or your arcane paladins or whatever cool and funky stuff you wanna do!!! talk multiclassing to me!!!

thank you for reading bye!!!

[dokidokitsuna]

Working on Magical Friends: Doki’s animation “pipeline”

…Since this is still an incredibly basic 1.5-man operation, it’s not much of a pipeline. ^^; But I wanted to put together a little thing to show the public how I do what I do, and if this sounds doable or interesting to you, I’m always on the lookout for more volunteers! dokianimara@gmail.com is my official ‘art business’ email, just FYI~

So let’s start by taking a look at this GIF preview of a finished scene:

I chose this sequence because it’s probably the longest and most complex one I’ve done so far. The character rotates, the scene pans up, I got some spinny light effects in there, lots of weird stuff I’ve never done before. (●u●;;) But it came out alright in the end, so let’s examine it.

So before I start thinking about animating, I refer to the work of my storyboard volunteer, Greytan. They actually gave me just one simple shot:

Which I extrapolated into…what I did. ^^; I don’t mean to ‘ignore’ their boards, and I hope they don’t feel slighted when I do things like this, it’s just that they are genuinely a much more skilled and more professional animator than I am, and our brains just don’t work the same way so sometimes I have to diverge a bit. :P Or, y’know, sometimes I come up with a great idea of my own that I really wanna try, which is probably what happened here.

Anyway, my first step after looking at boards is to grab a pencil and paper and draw the shot: a picture that lays out what the scene will look like, with either the starting frame or a key frame, and the background included. As you can see, I doodled some of my ideas for how the sequence would progress, which is good, because after drawing this I wouldn’t return to this shot for like 6 weeks. ^^;

When I finally did get back to it, I grabbed a second piece of paper for Step 2, which is the actual ‘animation’: using the shot as a base to draw the rest of the frames that will go into the sequence. This is where my lightbox comes in handy, although usually I can see through the paper well enough to just draw wherever. ^^ [Fun fact: in my early days, I would just scan the original shot, erase it, and replace it with the next frame, drawing each new frame on the exact same piece of paper. I am…very glad I don’t do this anymore]

Now, animation is mostly guesswork for me. ^^ I mean, my guesses are pretty good, but they’re still guesses, which is why I call myself an amateur. It’s not me downplaying my skills, it’s just me admitting that they aren’t based on solid expertise or experience (yet).

When I animate a shot, I try to make sure each frame looks like it has movement in it all by itself. Gesture drawing, dynamic posing; those are things I’m already good at, so when I animate I make ‘em work hard for me. >:3c

The end result comes out looking kind of like a sprite sheet:

And I do use these drawings kind of like assets; Step 3 is to scan them (along with the initial shot) and use them to ‘construct’ the frames that go into the video editor. This is the step that takes the longest, where I clean up the sketches and color them and paint the backgrounds (separately, if necessary). It’s not as difficult as Steps 1 and 2, but it’s a lot more tedious.

So naturally, sometimes I like to make sure my sprites actually work before I start all that…work. ^^ So I throw together a test animation based on what I have:

And this did help-- it assured me that the first half with Mago would probably look fine, although the second half with the magic light-thing probably needed to have a cleaner sense of direction and more frantic movement as it ascended. When you’re working with a low frame-rate, you generally want things to move a LOT or hardly at all; you don’t want any of that in-between stuff. So I took that into account when preparing the “finished” product. I put “finished” in quotes because I’ll probably adjust the timing of the frames a little when I move to the video editor (Step 4, which I’m not going to talk about here). But yeah, that’s pretty much it. ^^

Generally when I think about adding artists to the team, I’m thinking about them doing Step 1, Step 2, Steps 1 and 2, or Steps 1-3 (so basically, completing a full sequence of frames that I can just add in). For me to hand sketches to someone and expect them to do Step 3 alone would require a level of trust that I’ve never had in any fellow artist before…but idk, anything can happen in the future. ^^;

[kamiimiya]

TEEHEE 1, 3, 5, and 7 with kokonoi hajime >:D

THANK YOU LOVEBUG I APPRECIATE YOU SOSOSOSO MUCH ♡

ask game here

♡ If you have one, what's your ship name?

kokomiya !! just a silly basic little shipname cuz those are the ones i'm used to in most fandoms and i'm simply not creative enough to think of something unique and funny.

i honestly like the tag misconceptions more than i do the ship name, because i Thought about that for a little while even though its kinda basic so it doesn't even really seem like i did much thinking. but for a long time we didn't like each other, he thought i was wayyy too nice and just going to be used by everyone around me ( deadass projecting but go off koko dearest ) and i couldn't understand why he has such a grudge against me. we understand each other a little bit too well in some regards, despite each of us being on the opposite ends of The Horrors. sometimes he mentions that i would understand inupi more than i understand him, and he just doesn't understand why i'd choose someone like him when it's so obvious that he had the capability to hurt others. he's so blinded by his lack of self worth and inability to truly understand other people's depths that there's just a lot of miscommunication between the two of us for a really long time.

♡ What song would you duet for some chaotic late night karaoke?

umbrella by rihanna. is it because of that one scene with inupi where koko was hiding behind the umbrella and trying his best to act confident even when he was losing it a little bit ? yeah. maybe. who cares. it's also a BITCHING song and you can't look me in the eyes and tell me he doesn't know it by heart. and to be very clear, i'm not saying he's gonna be jay z and i'm rihanna. we alternate lines like how god intended. i will step out of the spotlight this one time and let him have the last little bit with the last few lines because i feel like he needs them a little bit. maybe it would do his psyche some good who knows.

in the tune of rihanna, also s&m is a very good choice. my minds eye can see him swaying his hips and doing a little dance and dammit he's feeling himself. gonna do that silly debby ryan thing where he pushes his hair behind his ears trying to be hot but its kokonoi hajime so it just works idk how to explain it. first verse is his and he'll sing it alone, i'll just sing the background vocals. we alternate the lines of the chorus & sing the post chorus ' come on, come on, come on ' part together at the same time. second verse is mine. if you see him blushing at the mention of whips and chains no for the love of god you do not.

♡ If you were dogs, what breeds would you be?

so he's definitely going to be something like a doodle or a golden doodle. something that looks pretty but actually may not be the best pets. i lived in a house with golden doodles and let me tell you they were wild and rowdy if not trained right and also practically impossible to kennel train at any point in time, and maybe it was just the dogs that the person had but they had the worst separation anxiety i've ever seen in dogs, and that's pretty much just koko. if you look at them from a distance you think that they're pretty and fancy looking and then you spend more than a minute in the same room with them and you realize that they're actually a handful, and i love koko for that.

for myself, i don't really have an in depth answer. i like pomeranians and also i too have a bark wayyy bigger than my entire bodyweight. they're like 3 apples tall and mostly fur, and have one of those super annoying barks that just simply don't shut up ever, and i'd like to think that's me going on and on and on about stuff that no one objectively really cares about. they're also extroverted but can get aggressive with dogs much bigger than their own size. and yeah that honestly just checks out with me i will body check a dog 4x my size because i don't like the way that it didn't look at me.

♡ Describe how your f/o smells, be absurdly specific.

oh boy he's expensive but also depressed. you can tell he's having one of those days where he just can't be half assed with anything because the cologne he wears will be sprayed so much that you can't smell anything else. he chooses savage from dior because it's one of those colognes that covers up everything else with just a little bit sprayed, but he'll still overspray it to the point it almost chokes you with the scent of it. if he's not wearing any cologne ( rare, but not impossible. i just have to catch him at the right time ) he probably smells like a mix between his lotion he wears and his body wash / exfoliant. he shops at bath and body works for lotions because he likes the deals and also has a thing for their candles.

if he's out doing ' business ' i think honestly he sweats wayyy more than he likes to let on especially since most uniforms are a jacket of some kind and they're actively fighting most of the time, so he has to use a pretty strong deodorant to hide it. definitely carries deodorant with him and he's so shameless about it. he definitely hops into the shower the moment he's home though.

sometimes, though, he smells like blood and a housefire, with the smell of smoke so thoroughly coated in his hair and blood underneath his fingernails, and i can't mention it because it's really not the important part going on right now. sometimes i just gotta pull him into the shower and wash his hair for him really well and fix dinner for him without mentioning it. tears or worried words from either one of us may break the fragile thread hanging on and it's just not worth it. i know he's okay, he knows that he's safe. it's,,, important that the nights we're together stay as normal for him as possible, especially on nights like those.

and anyways so i - ( gets shot )

[boymeetswerewolf]

I love your art! It’s so high quality. What program(s) do you use to achieve that effect? And what tips do you have for aspiring artists wanting to reach such levels themselves?

Hi Anon!

Thanks a lot for the lovely compliment.

I mostly create my art using a technique called overpainting where I paint over reference images. I have an art background (took art at school and at college), but it was focused on abstract art so my experience with realistic proportions is exceedingly terrible and I've just never had the patience or put in the time to learn proportions from scratch. I've always admired artists who put in the time and effort to learn how to do that!

As for what programs I use, I tend to stick with Photoshop since that's what I was trained on and am most familiar with. I use a combination of brushes, filters and textures to give my art the look that it has. I tend to work at a resolution of about 3000px for height or width (whichever is the largest for the layout I'm going with) and a fixed brush size so that I can add a lot of detail and that it looks consistent throughout the piece. I also use tons of layers so that the lining, shading, colouring and any extra adjustments are all separate from each other and easily changeable. My PSD file usually averages between 300mb to 400mb in size because of all the layers.

The tool I probably use most outside of Photoshop is Color Cop. I'm partially colourblind, so when I want to use specific colours I need the hex codes or RGB codes otherwise it takes me ages to get the colours to blend right.

Below are some progress examples (from the "Sacrifice" theme for Sterek Week '23) of how I usually start out when I'm creating something. I go hunting for images and make a collage/edit of what I'd more or less like the finished piece to look like. Usually during this part I also play a lot with different ideas to see what works best. (Sometimes the final result ends up looking how I wanted, sometimes it takes on a life of its own and goes in a completely different direction!) The "Sacrifice" piece is made up of a promo shot of Stiles from Season 6 and a screenshot of Derek from Season 3 (I think). The background is made up of official images from Stranger Things that I blended together and added colour filters to.

Once that's done I start painting with pencil brushes to get the lines, then follow up with texturing and shading. I like to use a soft neutral colour like a beige as a base canvas so that I can paint with black as well as white. Lastly I'll paint in the colours and then finish off the piece by cleaning up the linework and by adding filters to adjust contrast/balance or colouring. Occasionally I've worked "backwards" by roughing painting the shading and some of the colours out first before adding linework.

As for specific tips, I think mindset and believing in yourself is important. It's very easy to get overwhelmed in the beginning, so don't compare yourself to others. If your art makes you feel something, then you're on the right track. Regardless of whether or not you work professionally as an artist, if you express yourself creatively in a visual medium - whether it's an oil painting or making lewd doodles in a sketchbook - then, in my opinion, you are an artist.

Once you're over that hurdle, the next part is just to keep at it. I hate using the word "practice", so I'm rather going to say keep making art consistently, and - most importantly - have fun while you're doing it. If it's fun, you're more likely to stick with it and improve. If you're trying to go in a specific direction with your art, I think there are two important areas to focus on: expanding your creativity and your familiarity with the tools you use. The latter especially will make your life a lot easier.

For me, being familiar with Photoshop is what allows me to make digital art the way I do. I've used it for a long time so I know a lot of tricks and shortcuts to help me achieve what I'm going for. This goes for any program you choose to use, though. And you don't have to limit yourself to one. Play around with different tools and programs and see what works the best for you. The internet is also a fantastic (and often free) resource, and YouTube especially has a lot of tutorials that can help you get started or help you build on your existing skills.

To expand your creativity with regards to your art, I recommend studying other artists - and not just one specific kind of artist either. Look at the old masters, look at modern art, look at fan artists, look at photographers and cinematographers. (And, of course, Mother Nature - the greatest artist of all.) Look at how they use composition, how they use colour, how they use lighting and shading. Try and incorporate some of those aspects into your own work and see what works for you.

TL;DR - Experiment and play… and most importantly, have fun!

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

~ Bren

[honey-rye]

abt the dad au: 🏠💵🐱🫵(projecting)🧶😈?

abt barista by day, ninja by night: 😍🐱👹🍍(everyones)🍕? abt mamas boys: 💵(not lee and dee cuz big mama yk)🫵(projecting)🔥🔬🦸?

ooh, multiple au question.

Dad Au:

🏠 - What's the lair like?

I picture it kinda like the pre-shredder lair and the post-show lair combined. like it's the same abandoned train car/sewer area, but they've expanded it and made it more their own. it's like an apartment building in the sewers with your brothers and their partners. where they have their own space but they also have shared spaces where they do things together if that makes sense.

💵 - How do your turtles make money?

the boys are adults,, they have,, jobs,,,

Raph has an actual job. he personally rebrands the Hidden City Police, and makes sure they're running things right, and he gets paid for his good work. Mona also works there, though she works her own investigative unit.

Leo works in Jax's shop, and was barely able to negotiate shared ownership.

Mikey,, probably does art commissions or something on the side, and teaches mystic stuff for a living.

and Donnie? a mystery. he probably sells his designs, his tech, does something to earn as much as he does. it even baffles his partner

🐱 - Do any of your characters have pets?

Jax has a "cat" he calls KeKe. April has Mayhem if he qualifies. The kids definitely want pets but the parents are like "no way, at some point you have to draw a line and decide "what am I going to deal with today?" not this."

🫵 - Who do you project onto the most?

I don't think I project onto any of these dudes, not in the Dad Au at least

🧶 - Does Raph knit?

no, because fuck knitting. he crochets baby blankets for the twins tho, and little socks he'll hold onto forever because he's sentimental like that. I think every so often he'll make something for one of the kids birthdays.

😈 - Is Mikey a little shit?

he's definitely the most likely to spur the kids on or join in on the fun, but I wouldn't call him a little shit.

Barista By Day, Ninja By Night (Human/ Coffeeshop Au):

😍 - Are there any romances?

does a separated Lou Jitsu and Big Mama count? maybe some background flirting, maybe some April/Casey or Caprisun, or Casey/Raph,

🐱 - Pets?

I think. they should have a shop cat. for the coffeeshop. because yes.

👹 - Are there yokai/supernaturals in this universe?

no yokai, but if mystic stuff counts as supernaturals, then yes.

🍍- Who likes pineapple on pizza?

Leo. Mikey likes anything on pizza, anything.

🍕- Favourite pizza toppings?

Leo is a Hawaiian Pizza stan. Donnie likes the classic peperoni, and sometimes a build your own where he makes his brothers either question his sanity or question why they never thought of it. Mikey likes anything- Donnie thinks he's gross for some of his combos. Raph likes a good Brooklyn style, but he's also all about the meat lovers.

Mama's Boys Au:

💵- How do your turtles make money?

Mikey and Raph rely on the mysterious amount of money Splinter has in a rainy day funds box, usually reserved for groceries. Other than that, they scavenge. April being the only human means she can get a job, so she occasionally picks the boys up something nice.

🫵 - Who do you project onto?

I might actually project onto a couple of these dudes. Lee being non-verbal is mostly taken from my experience being non-verbal, and his stims are things that I do. Dee I think I project a lot of my internal annoyance and irritation onto. I put a lot of my creativity and crechurness in Mikey too.

🔥- Is Leo accident prone?

Lee is very careful, he learned early in his life that being clumsy wouldn't get him far, but there are times when Dee catches him being a Silly Goose. He also is allowed in the kitchen, it's Dee who isn't.

🔬- Is Donnie only interested in tech?

Dee loves technology, but he was exposed to mystics first. His favourite part of being interested in both is learning and experimenting with combining the two which- doesn't always pan out. But hat's the fun of it.

🦸- Is Casey a Vigilante?

Casey is part of the Foot Clan to start. She has a change of heart and loyalties... eventually.

Thanks for the many many questions Breeze! <3

[skyward-floored]

Skyward Sword - oneshot

Crossposted from ao3! I’m pretty sure this is truly the fluffiest fic I have ever written and I do not regret it in the least <3 I adore sksw zelink

————————————————————

Link felt a little bit like he was going to throw up.

Or faint. Possibly both.

Facing down hordes of bloodthirsty monsters, even Demise himself was nothing compared to this. It felt like there were thousands of eyes on him as he stood up at the altar next to Zelda, her hands in his as her father no doubt gave a wonderful speech about love and respect that he couldn’t manage to listen to a bit of.

He felt his stomach heave with nervousness as he considered again what exactly he was doing here, and his hands began to shake.

He was marrying Zelda.

He was getting married.

He’d waited for this moment for so long, dreamed of this day for years, and now that it was here all he could think about were the millions of ways he might mess it all up.

Zelda obviously picked up on his anxiety and gave his hands a reassuring squeeze, and Link met her eyes, soft and blue and full of love for him. He felt his nervousness fade a bit, and she gave him a warm smile, a flicker of her own nervousness showing in how bright it was.

The clearing around them went abruptly quiet, and Link startled as Zelda’s father stared intently at him.

“H-huh?”

Gaepora raised an eyebrow and several titters ran through the audience.

“I said, do you take Zelda, in sickness and in health, in bad times and good, to be your wife. Do you?” Gaepora repeated, and Link felt his cheeks redden as he nodded. He’d really been spacing out.

“I do,” he managed to say clearly, heart thudding.

Gaepora repeated the question for Zelda, and she responded with her own “I do” full of equal excitement and nerves.

Link found himself staring into her eyes again as her father continued with his speech, her irises a blue brighter than even her loftwing’s feathers, more beautiful then the sky itself, the shade incomparable to anything he could even think of.

His nervousness was finally shuffled to the background as he looked at her, and despite the sweat he could feel dripping down his neck, a sense of rightness settled into his heart.

He was exactly where he was meant to be.

“...by the power entrusted to me, and by the will of the goddess Hylia...”

Link was barely focusing on the words Zelda’s father was saying anymore, but his ears sharpened on that part, for he knew what was coming next.

Gaepora smiled. “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”

Zelda surged forward the same time as Link, and they pressed their lips together, his hand gently cupping her cheek.

Faintly Link registered Groose cheering at the top of his lungs as well as the rest of Skyloft, but he was mostly focused on the soft lips against his and the absolute flood of emotions pouring through him at the moment.

They’d fought so hard to get to this point. Through when their lives had changed forever, discovering their destinies as hero and goddess, being torn apart from each other than reunited then separated again in what seemed like an endless loop. They’d both almost died dozens of times, and lost friends along the way, somehow managing to come through it all alive.

And even after their lives were flipped upside down they still had to figure out how to live after everything, from working out how to move from Skyloft to the surface, to scars both visible and invisible plaguing them both sometimes endlessly.

Sometimes it had seemed impossible.

But they’d made it, through all the sleepless nights, the sobbed confessions, arguments and stress over things both pointless and not, and countless other trials they’d faced in their lives and relationship over the past few years.

They’d made it.

A single tear dripped down Link’s cheek as he and Zelda finally broke apart, and he wasn’t surprised to see a couple on her face as well, her blue eyes shiny as she looked at him.

He gently brushed his thumb across her cheek, and she smiled at him as he wiped her tears away, leaning into the touch. They simply looked at each other for a moment, blue against blue, the two communicating more with that gaze then most people could with an entire conversation.

Then they turned to face their friends and family, grinning at the applause and cheers still echoing up to the sky.

They began to walk past them all then, hands still clasped, and they’d barely made it back down the aisle before a loud joyful call caught Link’s attention. He looked up to see both his and Zelda’s loftwings streaming across the sky together, twisting in excited loops and flips as they drew near.

He smiled at the display, and Zelda laughed as their birds landed and immediately began to chirp ecstatically at their other halves, nibbling at their clothes and completely ruining their neatly done hair.

“Alright Crimson, alright!” Link laughed as his bird nearly knocked him over with excitement.

Zelda laughed as well, and Link was about to say something but was interrupted by a crushing grip suddenly squeezing the air out of him.

“Congratulations you two!” Groose cheered, suddenly materializing by Link and Zelda’s side and pulling them into a bone-crushing hug. “Ah, this has been a day long coming. The first marriage in Grooseland! What say we get some cake to celebrate huh?”

“Cake isn’t until later, Groose,” Zelda said with a fond eye roll, sounding a bit pressed for air. “And I’ve told you a dozen times we’re not calling the Surface Grooseland.”

Groose pouted, his arms still slung around their shoulders. “Well you still haven’t suggested anything supposedly “superior” I’d point out.”

“I don’t know why. Literally anything would be better then Grooseland,” Link commented cheekily, and Groose gasped in offense.

“I’ll give you a pass on that only because it’s your wedding day.”

Link just grinned at him, and Zelda laughed again, especially when Crimson gave Groose a firm rap on the head. Link turned to his wife, and on a whim pulled her into another kiss, this one shorter but no less sweet. The other guests had begun to filter towards where he and Zelda were sheltered a bit by their loftwings, but Link decided they could be ignored for the moment.

Groose, showing remarkable tact for once in his life, realized his presence was no longer being paid any attention to and slid off in the direction of the dessert table, Crimson watching him suspiciously.

That was fine with Link. They’d have to go talk to all their guests eventually, but a few moments more alone certainly couldn’t hurt.

He gently broke off the kiss and they grinned at each other, Zelda’s cheeks flushed with happiness. Link was sure his were the same, and he knew he had an absolutely ridiculous grin on his face, but he really didn’t care.

This was one of the happiest moments of his life. He figured he was entitled to a stupid facial expression.

“Can you believe it Zel?” he whispered, “we’re married. We’re actually married.”

Zelda laughed, the sound choked a bit with emotion as she pressed her forehead to his. “It almost doesn’t seem real.”

Link looked into her eyes for what must have been the hundredth time today, bright blue still wavering with emotion, and he toned his grin down to a more gentle smile.

“But it is. And now nothing can come between us, we’re stuck with each other,” he teased, and Zelda shook her head as she laughed again.

“You’re ridiculous Link.”

“And I’m all yours,” he grinned, and Zelda squeezed his hands, her smile as bright as the sun on her face.

“And so am I,” she whispered.

And they kissed again, arms wrapped tightly around each other.

[wild-aloof-rebel]

What shows do you think David binges? (Besides Downton Abbey) Patrick? I know a lot of fics have Patrick watching sports all the time but surely he must watch other things.

it's a good question, but i don't know that i really have an answer for you. i imagine that, like for most of us, it's a mix of things—some of what's popular, some old favorites, some that's comforting, some that's good background noise, some that they get invested in and have to watch every week rather than waiting to binge later. what we know of david's tastes in tv/film clearly covers ground both conventionally popular and artsy: downton abbey, romantic comedies, french dramas, etc. personally i feel like he isn't a fan of celebrity/rich people reality shows, like real housewives, etc., because the reminders of his old life probably aren't things he finds particularly entertaining (nor do i think patrick would like thinking about david living that kind of life either). and i think they both would prefer to watch things that aren't about people stuck being miserable or being awful to one another or whatever. but that still leaves lots of tv that they could enjoy, together or separately. i'm not the ideal person to come up with an answer beyond that though because i tend to rewatch things a lot rather than watching new stuff, so i don't have a great "library" of potential answers to pick from here, and also because i spend half the year watching almost nothing but baseball. but that brings me to a second discussion point...

i do think patrick watches other things, but i think it also should not be underestimated just how much sports there is to watch. in particular, i think most people who aren't baseball fans don't realize just how many games there are because no other team sports play as much or as often. each major league team plays 162 games over the course of 187 days, with games averaging a length of 3 hrs and 3 mins last season. so even if patrick only watches baseball and only really one team, that's still basically 6 months straight of 3 hours a night that is available to watch, and that's just the regular season; if a team is in the postseason and makes it all the way to the world series, you can add about a month more to that.

now, DOES patrick actually watch every one of those games? probably not. for one thing, some are day games while he's at work. but also the way that he and david discuss both the game itself and david's participation in watching it during "moira rosé" seems to indicate that it is not a frequent occurrence for david to be present during a game. they aren't entirely living together by then, but clearly they still spend enough time at patrick's place that david has clothes in a large section of the shelves in patrick's bedroom, so i think it would be safe to assume that they frequently spend evenings together but not watching games. i suppose david could be doing something else instead of paying attention (which is probably true at least sometimes), but for two people who really seem like they can't get enough of one another, it feels unlikely to me that they're spending half the year ignoring each other for several hours each night lol. therefore, my guess would be that patrick mostly just watches games on the nights that david doesn't spend at his place. but i do think it's perfectly valid if people want to say patrick watches sports all the time (especially if we're only talking about what he watches when he's on his own) because, as i said, there is a lot of it to watch.

[pentacentric]

Tell me about Playthings and Weapons please?!

so about half of these are stories in a stupidly large series that's is already partially published. Things That Can't Be Seen has 1 story completed (not listed) and 2 posted-but-in-progress (though they were on hiatus till now). canon-divergent (but not excessively) AU, wincest, powers/magic-adept sam, heavy on the world-building (there's a bit more backgound and an excerpt under the cut)

Playthings and Weapons is dean's story during the stanford years (there's a separate story for sam). sam and dean got together in the year before sam leaves for stanford, and it was messy when he left. this is dean holding it together with hedonistic, self-destructive spit and glue during that time

series background: the major world difference is that the hunting community is slightly more structured (though no less dysfunctional or dangerous, maybe more so) and that it includes dedicated magic users within it (though on the fringes and generally with a lot of reticence and, for some, active resistance). the magic and its systems are also somewhat different and much more developed than in the show. as far as the winchester family goes, john never bothers to hide hunting or the paranormal from either of them. sam starts showing signs of powers (and not necessarily demonic) from a young age. there's also a family ritual that involves painting sigils on one's body that is central to the story

the story: sam leaving was handled really poorly by both of them for various reasons (mostly trying to hide secrets from each other, surprise!). they hurt each other badly and are basically estranged for that time, most of this story takes place in the first 2 years sam's away. lots of dean falling into debauchery and recklessness to try and numb his feelings and shut down his thoughts. he's also dealing with john's increasing caginess and distance, which is leading to him hunting on his own more often. all while starting to make connections and a reputation in the hunting community (mixed results there, but mostly growing respect that's still overshadowed by being 'john's son' or 'the winchester boy')

and of course, being obsessed with sam the whole time

excerpt: takes place when dean decides to bury his grudge and go visit sam at stanford 2 years in. he finds out that sam's at a party from his roommate and decides to go find him and surprise him. instead, he stumbles on a surprise himself. sorry it's long but this is the shortest bit that works on its own

........

Dean breathes deep. He's got to get out of here. Go back to his motel, get something a little—no, a lot harder—than this watered down cheap kegger shit and sleep this bad dream off. Decide what to do in the morning.

Maybe, maybe he can still head over to the dorm and see Sam tomorrow. He doesn’t have to let on that he saw anything tonight, just, you know, stop in, check on his little brother. Take him out for a greasy breakfast. Be a good big brother and see if he needs anything. Feel things out.

Maybe Sam's just been looking for someone to pay attention to him. This guy said he's had it rough while he was here. Dean knows Sam can get real down sometimes, those black moods that used to scare Dean so much. Gets pretty lost when he’s like that. Talks himself into feeling all lonely and misunderstood and shit.

Brady just probably took advantage of that, stepped in and showed Sam a little affection, acted like he cared, and Sam ate it up.

And, sure, the way he acted like…like he owned Sam, the demeaning way he talked to him, that shit doesn't sit right with Dean. It didn’t seem like this fucker knows what Sam wants at all. Sam’s the most headstrong bitch Dean’s ever met. Fights for what he wants. Like all that shit with Gideon. Like the way he chafed and bit and spat whenever Dad tried to tell him what to do…

Dean pushes the thought aside. Sam's a big boy now, right? Can take care of himself, doesn’t need Dean. He’s said as much before. And Dean’s sure he’ll kick this asshole to the curb once he’s had enough of that controlling crap. Once he’s sick of…how had he put it?…his possessive, neanderthal, patriarchal bullshit.

Yeah, he’s said as much in regards to that before, too.

But other than that, what did they really do that was that bad? A little exhibitionism? Some...groping, sure, in a hallway? Dean would be a hypocrite if he judged Sam for that. He's had girls, guys, go down on him in the dimly lit corners and back rooms of certain types of clubs. Jerked himself off in a truck stop shower for fifty bucks, once. Plenty of road head, from Sam himself (he pushes those memories aside, too).

So what if usually shy Sam doesn’t mind anymore if anyone’s watching? It’s college, right? He’s supposed to be trying things out, figuring out what he doesn’t like, getting it all out of his system before he’s back in the real world, before he comes ba—

Yeah, yeah. They can work things out. Dean can show up, remind Sam what it feels like when someone really cares about you, when someone actually knows what’s best for you.

Yeah.

Dean's head jerks up when he hears loud, rowdy voices in the hallway. A group of guys, laughing and talking over each other. They sound like they've stopped right outside the room Dean's in. Shit.

Dean stands up silently, edges his way towards the crack in the door. Peers out.

There's a group of five guys, standing in a loose group in the hall. In front of the door Sam went in to. Four of them look like your typical frat douchebags: the same overpriced messy haircuts, expensive shoes, hats or shirts with ugly logos. They're all at least a little drunk. Loud.

The other one? Is Brady.

Dean's stomach sinks

[an-aussie-button-masher]

The Incredible Creativity Behind Classic Games

   Did you know that the original DOOM game wasn’t actually 3-D? Or the fact that the entire concept of video game difficulty curves started as an accident? You’d be amazed at some of the clever tricks old video game developers had to invent back in the day, mostly due to being limited by the technology of their time. From shortcuts to save space or hide background processing, to even happy hardware accidents that worked in the game’s favour and were kept in as features, early game developers had to get really creative to put the classics together. Many of these tricks are still in use today - some as callbacks to the old days, while others are just still as useful as before. Come back to the ancient history of the 90’s and beyond as we explore the creativity (and in some cases, plain luck) used by the earliest video game developers!

Clever Tricks    One thing to remember about old games is that they were tiny. The original Super Mario Bros., released back in 1985, had a file size of just 32KB. That screenshot above is 390KB, over ten times the size of the entire game. Even so, Nintendo had to cut corners to save space so the game could run on old arcade machines, and they came up with some subtle, clever ways to do so. See the clouds and the bushes in the image? Instead of two separate sprites, the artists simply reused the same sprite in a different colour. The game also didn’t have enough space to give Goombas a proper walking animation, so it’s really just a single sprite flipping itself back and forth. Meanwhile, Konami came up with their own tricks while developing the original Silent Hill in the 90’s. 3-D open maps were pushing technology to its absolute limits at the time, and so it had to load in piece by piece around the player. The developers didn’t want players seeing the map appear out of thin air before them, so they added in a layer of fog to hide the loading. The low-hanging fog added to the eerie atmosphere of Silent Hill, and is now an iconic visual feature of the series and is still used to hide slow-loading maps to this day!

Three-Dimensional Thinking    DOOM: a 1993 classic. The first first-person shooter. One of the earliest games with a 3-D explorable map…or was it? Despite appearances, the original DOOM was not actually 3-D, at least not in the same sense as modern 3-D games. Back then, technology couldn’t possibly handle actual 3-D models, so DOOM never actually used any. Behind the screen, DOOM is programmed as a modified representation of a 2-D, top-down shooter with a flat map. The method used to make the game look 3-D on your screen was an absolutely revolutionary invention by id Software dubbed “Binary Space Partitioning”. The game divides the map up into sectors and displays them at different points on the screen, appearing higher or lower despite the fact that they’re all technically on the same plane. That’s why you can’t look up or down in the game, or why you can hit enemies that seem much higher or lower than where your gun is pointed - there is no “up and down” or “higher and lower” in the game. It’s all a flat map that puts bits and pieces of it at different positions on the screen to look 3-D. When you walk up stairs, Doomguy is staying at the exact same “height” position while the rest of the screen just scrolls downwards around him!

Happy Accidents    While these deliberate clever shortcuts and tricks are all very impressive in their own right, sometimes the strange quirks of old hardware can lead to even more impressive accidents in game development. My favourite example of this has to be from one of the games that started it all: Space Invaders. Unlike other arcade games of its time, Space Invaders rendered each individual pixel instead of “seeing” them as larger sprites. That’s a lot of pixels, and it really slowed down the game. As the player clears out more enemies and gets rid of more pixels, it frees up processing space and allows the game to slowly return to intended speed. That’s right - not only was the game always meant to be as fast as the final enemy speed, but the entire concept of video game difficulty curves started out as an accident! That’s not the only development fluke that made history, either. In 1997, the original Grand Theft Auto game was initially just a bog-standard street racing game, and early playtesters found it incredibly dull. Police enemies were added, and a glitch made them pursue players too aggressively and slam into them. Playtesters had more fun battling the police than racing; the developers retooled that into a core mechanic, becoming a new kind of game that would evolve into the modern GTA we know today!

   Sneaky shortcuts, innovative techniques, and just plain luck - old games really had a lot of extra work going into them, didn’t they? Makes you wonder just what kind of fancy workarounds modern-day developers are trying out! I hope you enjoyed - reblogs and likes are much appreciated!

   Thanks for reading!