#ps I did this in mobile

[cchaoticc]

HEARTBREAK HIGH | Season 1, Episode 5

was it love? yeah, sure was. 

[jmin]

oh no first time I logged on tumblr’s desktop version in years and I realized my mobile theme looks so bad in it 😩

[astrxealis]

hi i’ll actually start playing nier replicant now so uh yeah fuck yeah <33

while i’m (mostly) gone please search up nier reincarnation and granblue fantasy and final fantasy xiv (fourteen) free trial !! fav games. best games ever (real)

[britneyshakespeare]

Me when I was a teenager and one of my older relatives would comment on something I wrote on Facebook: aw man this is a little embarrassing... idk how to respond to this and look cool

Me in my 20s about the same situation: omgggg hiiiii Auntie how are you doing <333 hope you're feeling well I love you I miss you kiss the kitty cat for me xoxoxox

[ao3topshipsbracket]

honestly I'm kinda disappointed all the popular/well known ships are gone/eliminated

the semis look kinda boring now tbh

(ps: I don't mean to hate on the ships winning. I'm sure they're winning for a reason. it's just they're all kinda unknown/not mainstream)

We're definitely surprised to see some of the highly seeded ships go down early, but personally, I think that makes the remaining matches more exciting, not less! Who doesn't love an upset, after all? But of course, with Bubbline in one half and Destiel in the other, there are definitely some significant heavy hitters still in the running!

That being said, we know we have some underdog semifinalists that people are less familiar with, so here's a brief primer on each of them!

Hualian comes from the Chinese novel Tian Guan Ci Fu, or Heaven Official's Blessing. If you've heard of Wangxian of Mo Dao Zu Shi/The Untamed fame, TGCF comes from the same author. It is a xianxia love story about ghost kings and fallen gods. Here's the plot synopsis from IMDB:

Eight hundred years ago, Xie Lian was the Crown Prince of the Xian Le kingdom. He was loved by his citizens and was considered the darling of the world. He ascended to the Heavens at a young age; however, due to unfortunate circumstances, was quickly banished back to the mortal realm. Years later, he ascends again, only to be banished again a few minutes after his ascension. Now, eight hundred years later, Xie Lian ascends to the Heavens for the third time as the laughing stock among all three realms. On his first task as a god thrice ascended, he meets a mysterious demon who rules the ghosts and terrifies the Heavens, yet, unbeknownst to Xie Lian, this demon king has been paying attention to him for a very, very long time.

At #58 in the Tumblr 2023 top ship list, they're solidly middle of the pack in terms of seeding, but they did take down Buddie at #10, and Davekat of Homestuck infamy: a very impressive showing!

Sulemio hails from the latest installment in the Mobile Suit Gundam anime franchise, The Witch from Mercury; as with all Gundam series, it is a sci-fi military drama featuring giant robots and space warfare. This one happens to also feature heavy inspiration from Revolutionary Girl Utena. Official synopses seem a bit lacking, and I unfortunately don't know enough about the series to summarize it myself, but I'll link this very helpful guide that someone left in our notes!

They're the lowest seeded of our semifinalists, ranking #59 on Tumblr's 2023 top ship list, so the fact that they've taken out the top seed is truly a feat; having a rallying force with @demilypyro has certainly helped their cause (and our very busy activity feed 😅) a great deal!

Regardless of who wins the next rounds, there are very fun underdog journeys present on both sides of the bracket. Plus, it's always good to remember that polls like these are not meant to be indicators of popularity, but of passion.

[sgiandubh]

Chocolate Sunday, too

Despite rabid - eh, not really - speculation about some top secret getaway à deux on the Isle of Mull, habemus a GLA backyard latergram, gangsta thirst trap style, rings on top:

And consistent online activity during at least those last 3 to 4 hours, which would mean it started this Sunday around 1 to 2 pm, local time.

So long for the Isle of Mull cheap fanfic. Place is notorious for difficult mobile phone access:

(this page does not deal in sources for people who never traveled outside of the US, but in confirmed data: https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Mull)

Also, his last Instagram follow is, this time, particularly pertinent and from today:

Dubbed as a 'compact community cocktail bar', on Victoria Road, in GLA and actively organizing week-end events, such as this recent one:

I am also insistently told (thank you, you both know who you are 😘) Scottish Xena unfollowed her rather inconveniently insistent Bavarian paramour (or whatever the Lederhosen he is, really) this week-end, too. You know, from Mull's waterfront, with no mobile phone coverage either:

Yet, to keep the innuendo alive, she's just back with a story and a no strings attached offer to join her virtual fitness hole in the wall. Of course. Looking more orange than ever and nowhere remotely close to S.

Show must go on, I suppose. To a selected, more and more rarefied audience, though.

PS: Gangsta neck chain and Gypsy patriarch (slainte, @bat-cat-reader!) rings, but still vanilla AF and a good man (She said so). Go figure 🤷‍♀️🤣

[Later edit:] Herr Lederhosen obviously did not get the memo:

[solar-tl-27]

Stella’s charmix!

Hi omg an art post from me?! Been a while!

I honestly can’t tell currently if i can finish the charmix designs in the current style because i have been kinda experimenting and that’s made the progress a bit slow because i’m also working on other stuff. So no daily posts yet BUT FOR NOW

Stella!

(Ps oh god ibis paint has a watermark now???)

Will give more info and lore bellow the drawing

STELLA’S CHARMIX

Now ofcourse because i did enchantix before charmix there are some bits to explain

-where did stella’s heterochromia go?

With stella’s enchantix i wanted her to truly emphasize both the sun and moon in her design so i made her eyes represent that

She doesn’t have it in her charmix form due to her not yet having full control over her powers!

I want stella’s charmix to represent her not fully being aware of what her identity is so her form is more cutesy

I also see her as one of the weaker fairies at the start so i see her scepter kind of as a mobility aid that once she gains enchantix she doesn’t need anymore (as an explanation to why the scepter got scrapped)

Her hair would also be a lot straighter in the first seasons idk why but for me a large part of stella’s development in my rewrite also corresponds to her hair

With it going from straight to wavy during season 1-5 and short and wavy at the end of season 6

Furthermore i still wanted to keep her fashionable because she’s a girl of fashion

I love stella she’s great

That’s all for now

Enjoy the speedpaint too

Byeee for nowwwww

[salminide-letale]

Time for theories

1 - I'm pretty sure Brooklyn isn't dead. They all think she is but they'll find out the truth at the end of the season. They change the Kenji's voice actor, they can change for Brook (and save her life. They can't let Wenesday kill her so easily)

2 - I think Yaz and Sammy are still together but they're facing some couple trouble. Maybe related to Sammy who quit college to go work on a dinosaur fair ? (it look like a fair to me on the trailer) The season will show how they fix their relachionship and how much they love each others.

3 - Maybe Brooklyn told something important to the nublar's five. Something they're in danger for.

4 - I think it's Biosyn who is after them. They trap and collect dinosaure for the Alpes Reserve (from Dominion) and Kenji saw Dodgson in Camp Cretaceous.

5 - I think Kenji blame Darius for Brooklyn's death. They were like brothers, they were best friend and one of them live in a cabin in the wood and the other one in a mobile home. Plus, the trailer show that only Ben is speaking to Kenji when the three of them meet. I think their relachionship is one of the issues of the season.

Ps : Not english speaker here. I did my best.

[inquisitorius-sin-bin]

2D Digital Artists of Tumblr!

I'm curious! I personally really like CSP, but don't love that it is moving to a subscription-based model (and already is a monthly fee for mobile devices). I used PS a lot as a student, and have noticed it's basically the industry standard. If you do use PS, is it because you are in the field, or just have a preference for it overall? I did find certain aspects of it better/easier to use than CSP (masks, patterns, transformations, and filters for example), but I like the brush settings and asset management in CSP better. I've also seen a lot of folks moving to Procreate!

Reblogs are encouraged!

[smokingasters]

A detail about the Peacebreakers in Providence. (translated + spoilers)

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Overseas Research Department Field Survey Team/Peace Breaker Official activity period: 2098/04~2113/04

A unit that obtains and manipulates information useful to Japan from other countries. Its main mission is to enter other countries, gather information, carry out sabotage operations, and provide weapons and operational support to anti-government organizations who support the Japanese government. Regarding anti-government support operations, operations were carried out through domestic third-party organizations

(Example 1). It has been confirmed that it was provided to and expanded to the government and rebel forces of the former Southeast Asian Union (commonly known as SEAUN) (see corresponding data 04231 for details). Through "monitoring"derived from [...] The members were selected from among the soldiers who belonged to the Special Forces of the National Defense Force, based on the Sibyl System's advanced decisions, and from among them, those who had a particularly strong sense of national pride were selected. Establishment: Wave After its establishment, the company did some original work. Main strategies and execution records. 2099_Conflict within the Union of Southeast Asia

2111_Rebellion in the Republic of South Asia 2112_Operation Footstamp 2113_Kona Island independence group reduced cropping Involved in etc. For details, see 67721 data

In June 2118, the decision was made to dismantle the unit, and in the same month, the whereabouts of the unit commander and training staff went missing.

In October 2118, independent activity was confirmed, and it was completely destroyed. To this day, it is said that its range has expanded to include Japan, Northern Russia, and the Russian Federation. Tonami is said to have been the general manager since the company's founding.

■ PB2098 type TUSIMA PS (Peacebreaker Armor) A powered suit that is standard equipment for the Peace Breaker Corps. It covers the head, upper body, and lower body, and is equipped with heavy armor and assist functions in each part. Increases the wearer's mobility by 1.25 times. Visibility is ensured by using cameras in front and behind the head to project images directly onto the eyes using internal scale projection sensors. It is also equipped with an infrared sensor and 3D prediction function MS2 as an option. It is possible to carry out operations without securing visibility even under conditions of poor visibility. Multi-type labeling function installed on the front of the waist

***

Sibyl itself is promoting conflicts to expand itself, and then denying asylum to the refugees which is why they're confined to Dejima/Kyushu. Sibyl lets MFA do the dirty work and it's obvious that Sibyl just turns a blind eye to this because it benefits their colonisation approach. I wonder what Kogami's thoughts will be when he comes to realise that his "democratisation" in Siam Reap (Psycho Pass Movie) was just a part of Sibyl's grand plan. Also Kona Island? Didn't Rutaganda and his mercenaries live on an island? The knowledge that Sibyl would let the world suffer, after having seen the true effects of it in his journey abroad and that probably every person he met or lost on his journey (including the people that Tenzing lost) was suffering due to Sibyl's duplicity. In Case 3 Novel, Frederica is investigating the Peacebreakers in Tibet-Himalaya and Garcia by extension. Honestly, Kogami Shinya seeing the horrors of war, trying to help people and then returning to become a cog in the System is a tragic enough ending for me. I guess this was the meaning of that painting in that room. (The Abyss, I assume?)

Anyhow, I'm on my fourth rewatch (first time with subs so thank god I can follow the dialogues), and Sibyl has a knack of grinding my gears (pun intended), I've come to despise the System as much as Kogami. I'll delve into a proper review later, for now just accept my ramblings. I have 10,000 thoughts on Akane too, who in this movie punched me right in the heart, honestly I don't know how Akane-chan is so strong. I admire her grit.

[galactiquest]

Hi call me blueberry anon or just blue!

I was hopin to ask with Vash and Knives with an Angel!reader g/n.

Like you know when Vash and Knives show their true selves and reader dont give a shit because they literally have giant ass wings and multiple eyes yknow like one of those biblical accurate angel but more human.

If its too specific just ignore this JDJKDKDKDK (ps when i said show their true selves i immediately thought of those wolf alpha vids on tiktok)

Hello Blueberry Anon~ I'm sorry that this took longer than usual to get to, I promise I wasn't ignoring or forgetting this request! College woes... (´Д｀)

I think this is a super cute idea and I'm always a sucker for a chaotic angel or devil or any sort of creature really. (Probably why I enjoy writing about Vash and Knives being little beasts so much LOL)

Vash and Knives x Angel!Reader: Heaven

Content warnings: None, but the descriptions of multiple eyes/wings might be offputting to some. Otherwise just fluff!

Vash

I take Vash as someone who's really accepting of everyone else's differences--even to the point where he'll feel a sort of disdain towards his own differences because of it.

But when he learns about your otherworldly nature? He's immediately curious. He really can't help himself.

He wants to ask a lot of questions. How do you hide your wings? Are humans afraid of you? Do you have any sorts of powers? Does this mean you're immortal--wait, are you here on a mission?!

Whether you indulge him or not in answers is up to you. He won't pry (but he might whine a little if you tell him it's a secret).

Now that he knows you're different, he wants to embrace it as much as possible. He's always trying to compliment how soft your wings are, how radiant and sparkling your eyes are, etc.

I think this especially goes for the '98 iteration of Vash--the "did it hurt when you fell from Heaven" pickup line. Feel free to respond with "yeah, actually, a lot" to get him sputtering and scrambling to apologize.

Knives

When you explain it to him, he's very quiet at first, running all possible responses through his head. What he doesn't say (but is thinking) is that he's thankful you're not human (because admitting he loves a human is an utterly impossible feat!).

He also hopes, deep down, that since you're inhuman, you might better understand his intentions for a world without humans. (Of course, if you're the kind of angel who's sent to help humans, this goes against your direct orders... cue troubles!)

He has a deep respect for your otherworldly self, being not of the planet himself, so he takes a lot of time to study and understand you to the fullest.

He's especially intrigued if you have repeating features--multiple eyes, pairs of wings, floating motes of flame, spinning golden rings, that kind of stuff. He really enjoys symmetry and repetition. (Vash does, too, but he'll appreciate from afar.)

He encourages you to take your "natural" form more often, rather than sculpting yourself into a more humanoid form. If this more "natural" form is imperceptible/cosmically incomprehensible to him, he won't mind. (Okay, he might be a little sad if he can't see you in all your blazing glory, but he won't make it obvious.)

I think there's definitely a case here for a "fallen angel" type deal--you've fallen from the sins of humanity, and now you've joined up with Knives in order to restore what should have been. Or maybe you find more worth in each other...

End notes: I finished this up on mobile so the formatting might be off. I promise I'll fix it tomorrow!

[pachix]

https://www.geoguessr.com/vgp/3163

Ps. BE CAREFUL OF DOING IT ON MOBILE 🤣

[authorspirit]

🐾🐾 Boop! Boop! 🐾🐾

I'd love to know what simmer has got you hooked right now! Please share what you're binge-reading on Simblr!

Share this with other simmers to get some recommendations on who to follow! Let's keep spreading some love! 💚

This list is going to be long. :') SORRY BUT NOT SORRY. And I'm sure I'll be missing people here.

There are a lot of stories I have started reading in the middle of it and intend to catch up the beginning of them. But I can instantly get hooked on so many stories, as long as someone puts "previous | next" buttons, I'm in danger of falling into a story's universe. (I also have the hardest time to follow everyone but I try to.)

@matchalovertrait (OF COURSE YOU) I still need to catch up before I met sassy toddler Dulce. I can't believe she's a preteen now. I do enjoy following people's legacy challenges and I like how I forget that it's one with how you really create your own storylines around the base requirements.

@ice-creamforbreakfast I'm not going to lie, I came for the CC, I stayed for the BACC challenge and I am now following the Romano legacy.

@gooretrait I really do love following legacy challenges. Also, console player?? It's also a good reminder of all the fun you can get without cc and mods, just very inspiring imagination-wise.

@eurosimmer breaks the fourth wall in her captions and it's hilarious to me. It's also a legacy challenge, but oh boy I forget it everytime.

@pleasanttaleswithkaityb completely changed my way of playing! (and also of sharing content on tumblr) I also have a soft spot for taking townies as a base, because we kind of all know the backstories for them a bit. (I say that and I never played Sims 2, just binge-watched Sims lore videos.) I love how people change their stories.

@ruthplaysthesims Talking about appropriating Sims townies and make them evolve, I LOVE Kaori's story. In TS4 we all know the lore is meh (with it being on supposedly another timeline etc). The Mt. Komorebi storyline is SO interesting, I really have to play in that world someday without ruining them all. And somehow, Ruth made it even more interesting! Like I already wanted to know more about them, now I'm looking for any little bit of detail referencing their childhood or something. Anyway I highly recommend, I love all the new stories she put out as well (Raina 💖)

@kamiiri Back to other Sims lore game, I LOVE Strange! I watched a LP of Sims 2 on PS very recently and somehow found Strange at the same time... The setting, the weaving of all the storylines together, continuing all of them together... I love it. It's also very cinematic I'd say? There's something in those screenshots, I love it.

@holocene-sims One day I saw a notification of them and next thing you know I was trying to read everything about Grant from the start on mobile (but it's hard to read on mobile so I have A LOT to catch up). So now I'm catching up the recent story posts! But as I'm writing this post, I know I have a lot to catch up already.

@cinamun Add it to the list of "I should really read the beginning of it but for now I'll just keep on trying to catch any post they make", Things Fall Apart's universe has really sucked me in and I really like how cinamun interacts with everyone! (I admit I am a lurker but I want to try this lemon pepper wings recipe someday and share them with all the readers.) Reading TFA really gives me the vibes of watching a daily evening TV show with my family: we did not necessarily watch since the beginning, we just one day started watching all together, and now we're eating dinner in front of it every night. (And of course sharing our reactions)

@havenroyals If you like some spice and love messy stuffs, you'll be served. I also really like the Gossip queen edits it's just such an interesting way to add variation to tell stories.

@theroyalsims In the same vein of the Gossip Queen edits, I really like how we follow the story of the royal families with articles about them and not from their direct point of view. (I'm also currently trying to guess who is getting married soon because I know there is a royal wedding soon among those sims.)

OK small pause because we've entered the royal simblrs that I follow. There are a lot, it's how I found the simblr community in the first place. One thing I have to say is that I love all the collabs people do, the way so many stories are interconnected through everyone's sim and I genuinely think it's a lovely community (even if I'm not part of it myself as I'm just a reader).

@sosa-royals is the first royal simblr I came across and read everything. The drama? I LOVED it.

@officalroyalsofpierreland After meeting child Maria Aisha I had to learn more about her family. I was not disappointed.

@funkyllama this inevitably led me to want to learn more about the Ionian Union and I really like the world building in general? Also those last edits? I love it.

@empiredesimparte of course there is the complete Europeansim on my list. I particularly enjoy reading in French sometimes when my mind just wants to rest from reading in English. I also love Hortense and everytime I see a big event in the story I would be like: "oh J'AI LA REF ! It really looks like in real life." (you are very talented at building). And in general, I really recommend the worldbuilding tag? Because I love it?

@anachrosims' @prydainroyals Talking about someone talented at building? Yeah, I still have to catch up from the beginning. But this one should be feasible as it is more recent? (I don't know, you're also a good writer, PLEASE tell me what you can't do.)

@nexility-sims Among stories that are easy to start digging in someone's universe, I would recommend reading 1992. Eventually I'll read the story it's a spin-off of and @/armoricaroyalty's story, but yeah. My list of stories to catch up is already long for now.

@trentonsimblr and @ardeney-sims I'm putting both of them in the same bullet point because I've been wanting to enjoy their stories for a while and only decided to fully commit when Between A Rock and A Hard Place started. Similarly to 1992, it can be enjoyed without having the whole back story but yeah. I'll definitely enjoy reading the back stories of main characters and "side" characters (which you see glimpses of in BRHP).

@thegrimalldis Very similarly to the previous bullet points, I started reading with a "spinoff", the prequel "Maximilian" rather than the main story after seeing the username a lot of times. I have since caught up the main story I believe, but I may have to reread to be sure. I also have to read the story of succession (because it's complete and I like complete stories).

@theroyalthornoliachronicles and if we have to go back in time, I would highly suggest Ali's story! Though I can't wait to see modern Thornolian generations? 👀 Also, I'm a reader from after Ali lost her blog and I would say now is the best time to start reading if you're like me and have a massive TBR pile, since we're at chapter one!

OK I think I had most of my currently followed stories. I'm 100% missing people but I will try to reblog more of people's stories so you all can see what I'm reading at the moment!

Did this post take me two hours because I'm catching up on reading WHILE answering? Yes.

[fictionkinfessions]

I suggest you start considering that some people are autistic and don't understand your silly neurotypical person hints! And just a thought but maybe don't mock them online for being neurodivergent.

- Callum

No where and no when did you state you are neurodivergent, so it's really embarrassing for you to pull that card out now. I too am neurodivergent. I too dislike convoluted bullshit. Those were not hints. I am outright giving you links to the information you need. I have made them for that purpose. That does not stop a person, ND or not, from figuring out what links, text posts, and blog pages are. Many of us are capable of using mobile browsers and apps, and reading to some degree. Idk what to tell you. I don't know what app or browser you have. I don't know why links don't work for you. I cannot do tech support for you. Only you can, by contacting tumblr support. And I know you can. Please read the pages. You are able to. I have my entire faith placed in you. This is not a joke. I am rooting for you. We all are.

ps Thanks for assuming I'm normal, I work very hard on my capitalism-sona. I love america.

[beaker1636]

Caught - Vinny Mauro Request

Above is the request and below is the story! Thank you to @motionlessindoubt and @tearfallpixie for helping me by providing your input as I worked on this one, and thank you for the request!

There is another Vinny request coming, A chris request and a Rick request on its way! I’m not sure if I’ll get much posted the next week because it’s both my birthday and our wedding anniversary so I’ll be busy but I will try :) thank you for reading!

PS sorry if the formatting is funky, I had to do this on my phone because we still don’t have WiFi and I know tumblr mobile can be a bitch for formatting sometimes…. Enjoy!!

“Think that I can win you that stuffed animal I see you eyeing?” Vinny asks you with a crooked smile gracing his face, his hand moving to point at it with the hand you are currently holding.

“I don’t know, it’s basketball so I feel like you might be able to. You don’t have to, we all know that these games are rigged Vin,” you answer with a giggle, watching his face as he turns to look at you with a frown.

“Are you doubting my skills here, woman? Now I have to, come on,” he drags you over towards the carnival game with a laugh.

He knows that these games are made difficult, he knows that he probably won’t win you the big animal he noticed you eyeing, but he also noticed that you have been really relaxed tonight, that you are having fun and that is exactly what you need. He knows how stressed you have been with work and your family right now, so when he heard there was a carnival coming to town he knew he had to drag you and let your inner child out, help you have fun. As his boyfriend he feels like it is his duty to help you with things like this.

He pays the man before looking towards you first. “Can I have a good luck kiss?”

You roll your eyes and quickly give him a short peck, not wanting to do much else being in a public space with a bunch of kids, but that was enough to make him happy.

“Thank you babe,” he says softly before turning to take his first shot.

Somehow he made the first one, and then next thing you know he made the second basket. By now he is on his last one and you are watching him with a smile on your face, one that he can tell is genuine.

“One more good luck kiss baby, please?” He asks you sweetly, which you happily give him. Amazed he is doing as well as he has, because not many people stand a chance at any of these games.

When he sinks in his final shot and wins the game he turns and looks at you with a smirk on his face. “Told you that you are my good luck charm.”

You blush, glancing at your feet for a moment while Vinny tells the guy the prize that he wants, thrusting the stuffed owl in your hands when it was handed to him before the two of you walk away towards the next activity that you both had your eyes on.

“Thank you Vin,” you say softly, a little embarrassed but also really happy that you have something. When he leaves in a couple weeks for the next tour it’ll be a good reminder of your boyfriend when you miss him, which is inevitable to happen.

“You’re welcome, all that we have left that we mentioned wanting to do is the ferris wheel. Do you want to go take our ride on it before we leave?” He asks you, both of you slowly walking towards it.

“Sure, and thank you for tonight. I really needed this date Vin, I have had a blast.” You say, continuing to walk with him. Your hand laced in his while your other one holds the stuffy to your chest.

“I know you did, that is why I chose something like this. Sometimes you just need some fun, we all do. I know you’ve been stuck in your head lately,” he admits, both of you getting in line for the final ride of the night.

While you wait a group of a couple girls walk up towards the two of you, one of them wearing a motionless shirt, before she asks you already know what she is going to ask and you let go of Vinny’s hand, backing away a little bit. The two of you have been together for almost a year now but have been very careful to not out yourselves publicly. You both appreciate your privacy and being able to feel unpressured in your relationship so you have done your best to keep quiet. Doing this is so you hope that she doesn’t notice you and ask too many questions.

“Hi Vinny, I’m sorry to interrupt you but can we get a picture with you, we are big fans,” one of the girls say, a big smile on her face as she glances at the two of you.

He looks at you for a moment and when you nod, letting him know that you are okay with this he agrees, saying that you would be willing to take it for them so everyone could be in it, getting you thanks from several of the group. Glad that nobody is asking the dreaded question that you know is probably coming.

“Not to sound rude, but are you his girlfriend or something? The two of you are really cute together by the way, and thank you for taking our picture,” one of the girls asked, watching you closely to gauge your reaction.

Before you can answer Vinny does, “Oh, she’s nobody. we’re just old friends that are catching up. Anyway, it was nice meeting you,” he responds, ending the conversation so that they walk away from the two of you. Wanting to end it before things are said that he shouldn’t, before people spread the news that the two of you have done well at keeping private.

The two of you wind up at the front of the line, sitting in your seat on the ride as it begins to slowly move up. Taking in the sights and sounds of the carnival now that it is dark, but you never regrab his hand, honestly you keep a little bit of a distance between the two of you which has him confused but he doesn’t want to ask you about it. He doesn’t want to ruin the night, and doesn’t realize that what he has already said has ruined your mood.

When you reach the top and it stops for a moment he looks towards you, leaning in to give you a quick kiss and that is when he realizes based on how you didn’t really respond back to him that something has upset you, that he needs to fix whatever is going on.

“Y/N, I’m sorry that we got interrupted on our date. I didn’t expect that and I should have just said no to taking the photo with them,” he says gently, moving to grab your hand as the ride slowly begins to move again.

“That’s fine, I mean it is going to happen Vin,” you say with a sigh, trying not to share your annoyance with him but failing, he can tell.

“Then what is wrong? I can tell something is bothering you now, are you worried they are going to out us or something? I think they believed what I said,” he says, trying to get you to look at him but you don’t.

In fact the two of you are back on the ground now and you get off, starting to walk and let go of his hand in the process.

“Please, if I did something I want to know, I want to fix it,” he asks, walking beside you as you make your way back towards the parking lot, watching you concerned.

“Why do you care, I’m nobody to you,” you spit back, letting your anger finally come out in your words as you pull the passenger door open on the car when you finally make it to the car.

“That is what this is all about? I was just trying to cover for us, keep them from spreading shit around so that we can continue to enjoy our relationship without people butting in. You've seen all the shit the others get, the rude comments and hate. I don’t want that for you,” he says, now getting equally as annoyed. Both of you have said in the past that you want to keep things private, that you don’t want the fans involved in your relationship.

When you don’t respond he lets out a puff of air before putting the car in drive and making his way towards your apartment, reaching for your hand and getting upset when you won’t let him have it. You never reject his affection like this, it is clearly really bothering you.

“Do you want me to go public with us?” He asks you, wondering if that is what this is about, if you want him to tell people that you are together. He always thought that you didn’t want that, which is why he never posted anything about you on his public profiles, why only close friends and family know about your relationship.

“No, god Vincenzo, that is not what this is fucking about. It’s about how you made it clear that you are ashamed of me, that you don’t want anyone to know anything because I am nobody, I don’t mean anything to you. If it was that easy for you to say that I am nobody, then maybe that is how you actually feel,” you say, now sounding more upset and hurt than angry with him. He can hear the remorse in your voice, how your voice cracks slightly when you insinuate that maybe he actually feels that way about you.

“Babe, you know that you are important to me, that is why I tried not to bring any attention to us. I didn’t mean to make you feel like I don’t care about you because I do, I’m sorry.” He says softly, he suddenly feels guilty about his words, he didn’t think they would upset you this much.

“You realize this was going to happen eventually, I knew it would and that it would get out and I can live with that. But you brushed me off like I was nothing, just disposable and unneeded and that I am not okay with,” you say, now getting really upset.

He pulls into the parking lot of your apartment building and you turn to look at him, giving him a light kiss on the cheek before reaching for your door handle tonight. “I’ll be fine in the morning, good night Vin, I love you.”

Before he can respond you exit the car, not letting him have a chance to speak. He sits there watching you walk towards the building with tears on your face, debating if he should follow you but he decides that he should just give you your space and let you settle yourself down some. If he pushes you too much tonight he will just make things worse so he starts the drive home.

When he gets home he sends you a message saying goodnight, that he hopes you sleep well and that he loves you. He waits for a couple minutes and eventually it says that you have read it, but you never respond, letting him know that he hurt you more than what he realized.

The next morning he wakes up and sees that you have sent him the link to a tweet, no words included in it, just the link. When he checks it he sees that the girls from last night posted the photo of them with him but also posted one of the two of you kissing during the basketball game. Clearly you are still upset by the fact that you didn’t have any comments about the tweet, just the tweet. He clicks it and reads it.

“We met @chenzomauro at the fair last night! He was there with someone but when we asked about it he told us she was nobody, but she sure doesn’t seem like nobody…”

He sighs, seeing how many comments and reblogs are on it, people clearly are aware of it and it is making its rounds. Does he comment on it? Respond to the tweets? Or is it best he just ignores it and lets it run its course? What do you want him to do? He sends you a text asking you what you want him to do about this but you just tell him to do what he feels is best… so clearly you are still upset with him for what he said last night, but he is starting to understand why you are upset. He deserves it honestly, he can understand why it made you feel like he is ashamed of you.

He decides for now that he will just ignore it, let it blow over and hopefully during his scheduled stream later nobody brings it up. He doesn’t want to be forced to bring up the relationship, he knows the hate that many of the girlfriends have faced through the years and he is worried it’ll happen to you. Make you more insecure and aware of what people think of you when he knows you already struggle with that sometimes. He lets out a sigh and pulls up the website of the local flower shop, ordering you a bouquet to send to you at work with an apology on the card, hoping it’ll help your mood somewhat and make you feel better. You have always loved when he has sent them to you before.

He gets the stream all set up and waits for people to join and get settled, noticing right away that all the comments are about the photo, the two of you. He internally groans and tries to ignore it as the viewer numbers grow.

“Hullo?” He says into the mic. After the 5 second delay, only for a moment, the chat is filled with hellos and greetings from his fans but soon it filters back into questions about you. “Ok, guys. Today, we are going to play some wow, we’re going to jam to some music, it's going to be fun, it's going to be chill. Capeesh?” There was some excitement and he nodded, hoping the excitement was dying off.

“Perfect. Let me grab some food and I’ll be right with you.”

He stepped back from the computer and went to his kitchen to grab the baked potato that he had been cooking prior to streaming to see it nice and toasty. As he was plating it up he saw a picture of you sitting on the counter, one he had taken on one of the nights you stayed over. You had been sleeping so peacefully in his arms and he thought you looked adorable so he had snapped a couple of photos. It was at that moment he realizes he can’t just ignore it, he has to speak on what had happened and hope you don’t get upset. He grabbed his plate and went back to the office to see the twitch chat just jabbering on with each other.

“Okay, there is something I have to address. I will explain because everyone keeps asking and you guys won’t let it go until I do. Yes, I have a girlfriend, I have for about 9 months now. I lied last night because we have so far agreed to keep our relationship private, I figured saying she was nobody would help prevent it from spreading around online but I was wrong. I just wanted to respect her privacy which is why we haven’t come out with our relationship, I didn’t want her getting hurt from comments or anything, so while I lied it was to try and protect one of the people who is most important to me,” he answers, glancing away from the camera. “I messed up but I won't be lying about her anymore because I love her and you will just have to accept that. I won’t be talking any more on this topic.”

People keep flooding the chat with more questions, but he ignores them and starts playing his game that he intended to, not wanting to continue the conversation. He doesn’t need to out you any more than he already did, especially when he doesn’t know how much you want people to know about you. He gets distracted with his game, which is much needed because he doesn’t want to sit there and worry about you while you are at work and can’t talk to him. He just hopes when you find out that he did comment on it that you won’t be too upset with him, but he doesn’t want to dwell on that. A couple hours later he hears a knock on his door. and pauses the steam.

“One moment guys. I’ll be right back.” He mutes the mic to go and answer the door, shocked when he finds you standing on the other side, hoping that he will let you in.

“I-I heard about your stream, someone tweeted a clip of you talking about us and I wanted to say sorry. I should have understood that you didn’t mean that I was nobody but was just trying to hide us to protect me…. I’m sorry I overreacted.” You whisper. “And thank you for the flowers and for just … everything,” you say softly, glancing away from him nervously. Hoping that he isn’t too angry with you.

“Thank you for being patient with me, and I’m sorry I never should have said that you are nobody. Let me go close the stream down because it is still going and then we can order dinner or something and talk about all of this, how much we want to share,” he says, moving to let you step in his house. You instantly throw yourself into his arms. He wrapped his around you tightly, intending to never let you go again. He pulled back and went back to his office real quick unmuting the mic.

“Hey guys, my girl decided to stop by so I’m going to end early to spend some quality time with her. I’ll be back next week. Sorry to leave so abruptly.” He waited a few minutes to see the messages flood in with their goodbyes and supporting messages and smiled before clicking end.

He went back into the living room and found you curled in his favorite blanket on the couch and grinned. You were right where you were supposed to be and he wasn’t going to jeopardize that again. He sat down next to you and pulled you into his arms, kissing your temple softly, both of you curling into each other as you sat quietly, waiting for one of you to speak up first.

“First, I love you and second, at least now we don’t have to worry about hiding completely anymore,” you start to speak softly. “That is one less thing to stress over now I guess.”

“What are you okay with people knowing, am I allowed to post pictures when we are together? Or like mention you sometimes? Or would you rather I just not bring you up, because it is all what you are most comfortable with. I don’t care what they know or don’t know honestly,” Vinny says, moving a hand to play with a strand of your hair that has fallen out of your bun.

“I’m fine with you sharing some basic stuff, but for the most part I think I want to stay private. I don’t want them to find out about my job or anything but if you ever shared my first name, or like something I said or whatever and photos, I can be alright with that… if that makes any sense?” You shift yourself closer to him, resting your head in the crook of his neck like you always do when you crave his comfort.

“I get what you are saying, that sounds great to me. Now, what do you want to order for dinner?” He asks you, running a hand along your back in soothing circles to allow you to rest. Glad that you two are in a good place now, that you are back where you belong, with him.

Now if only his attempts to get you to move in with him will finally go over and you will agree.

[windchimesgames]

End of Year Recap + Plans for 2024

Hey everyone!

Belated Happy New Year to everyone! I know this is a very late end of year recap 😂Unfortunately, the past week ended up much busier for me than expected, so I could only get around to doing this now that things have calmed down a little.

This is a crosspost of a public post I made on Patreon a few days ago, so if you prefer the formatting there, you can read the post at this link:

PS: I do free monthly devlogs / posts there on Patreon, so consider joining the free tier of the Patreon even if you aren't interested in the paid tiers!

For those who'd rather read the post here, I'll leave the extraordinarily long ramble in a Read More cut below!

Let's start with a quick recap of the highlights / achievements accomplished in 2023!

Okay, this one may be slightly cheating. While Emberfate only launched on Steam in Jan 2023 so the 92 positive reviews came in in the year of 2023, it was up on Itch.io since mid 2022, so not all 383 Itch.io ratings came in in 2023.

Still, I'm pretty proud of these stats! Perhaps the numbers are nothing compared to some other amazing games' out there, but it's still something I'm proud of. It makes me happy that my silly experimental nostalgic little game struck a chord in so many players — much more than I expected given how niche the topic was!

Now, unfortunately, I could not get Emberfate's DLC for Potato's route out by end of 2023 like I had hoped. Porting the game to mobile also ended up much more difficult than I expected because of just how much of the UI I'm going to have to redesign — and hence, programming to be redone — if I wanted to make the game fit a small mobile screen. So both plans are going to have to be postponed to 2024.

The other notable highlight of 2023 is that both Lyrissa's and Kierdan's routes for Reanimation Scheme were released for beta access! That put the game at 3/5 routes complete, with a total of 431,786 words for the script.

I recruited a handful of beta testers to test the three completed routes a few months ago, and so far, the feedback has been positive overall. That's been a huge relief and lifted a massive weight off my chest — due to the controversial reception of the demo, I've been extremely anxious that the game would be hated by the players, and I've done so many rounds of editing and honestly perhaps somewhat unnecessary and obsessive rewriting of the script, but none of it felt good enough 😂 So hearing the positive comments has been a huge motivation / morale booster. Perhaps I should have done beta testing sooner… LOL

There are two more achievements unrelated to a specific game project that I'd like to mention:

2023 is the year that I became more interested in and better at Ren'Py programming! Most of it is thanks to my amazing programmer friend and Ren'Py wizard, Feniks (whom you may know as the programmer for Our Life series), who sparked my interest in programming and helped teach me a LOT. While I'm by no means a professional now at coding, I feel much more comfortable navigating around Ren'Py code and setting up what I need to in the backend of the games I'm developing, which opens up new doors for me for future projects in terms of what kind of features (big or small) that I may be able to include! Though the side effect of that is I looked back at the code I did for Reanimation Scheme from previous years and was immediately horrified by how ugly and inefficient it was. 😂I did redo the backend code of the Gallery and Achievements system a bit, but the rest will just have to stay for now.

I made quite a few new connections within the indie VN dev sphere in 2023! I made a shocking discovery that there's enough number of indie VN developers from Hong Kong to fill half a minibus, and I was lucky enough to connect with them and share our experiences and learn from each other! Due to new project commissions I took on for $$$ (real life financial needs suck), as well as a couple of small game jam projects I joined as programmer to buff up my programming portfolio, I also made some new VN dev friends unexpectedly. It's been really nice, because honestly, solo dev can be a really lonely and isolating endeavor sometimes. I'm super grateful for the new connections I found myself making in 2023!

Looking Ahead: 2024

Okay, that was a lot of rambling for the recap. More than I thought I would write. Now let's move forward to what the future will look like for this studio in 2024 and what goals I'm setting for myself this year!

Priority #1: Finishing Reanimation Scheme

Of course it's Reanimation Scheme. As mentioned above, we're currently at 3 out of 5 routes completed (sans partial voice acting). So the biggest goal for 2024 will be to get the game done. and out. Finally.

I won't be giving a concrete release date until we're like, literally in beta phase for all 5 routes, just so I won't have to announce a delay and let people down. But given the current progress and pace of work, I'd say probably around mid-year — maybe Q3 latest.

I'll be keeping up with the episodic updates of Reanimation Scheme's beta build on Patreon (and Kickstarter) from this month onwards, beginning with Jori's route and then followed by Sebastien's.

The remaining Kickstarter rewards may take a little longer — but ideally, all of them (artbook / lorebook / short stories collections, etc.) will be done by end of the year as well.

Priority #2: Potato's Route DLC for Emberfate

Potato, poor Potato. His DLC had to be put on the sidelines until Reanimation Scheme is done.

Half of the art has already been commissioned and completed by the amazing Remnantation — we're just missing his selfie CG & his MMO character sprite! So the next step would be the script and then the voice acting for the calls part. I won't be able to start on the script until mid-2024 earliest, but given the fact that his route won't be that long if it's parallel in length compared to the existing three routes, it probably won't take too long to do. Perhaps 2-3 months for the development process of the DLC?

I'll likely be releasing his DLC early on Patreon, potentially also episodically as it's completed, like I did with Emberfate. So if you're interested, keep an eye out for it when the time comes!

Something Secretly Brewing in the Shadows?

If you're pledged to this Patreon on $10 tier or above, you'll probably already know what I'm alluding to.

I won't be announcing or talking much about this for now, since I don't know when I'll be able to start working on this project properly (i.e. I need to meet my above two goals first). For all I know, it might end up being not a 2024 thing but a 2025 thing. So I'll only tease it slightly for now here.

Bonus Goal: Market, for the Love of God

If you follow Wind Chimes Games on either Twitter or Tumblr, you'll probably have noticed the sorry state of my social media. I… really do not like marketing or posting on social media. I never know what to post or say. I'm too unfunny and uncreative to meme or write humorous captions that get engagement. 😂It kind of feels like I'm shouting into the void, and nobody really cares about what I have to say on my projects when there's so many cooler and more interesting things out there. So I always try for a brief period of time, and then I give up 😭

This year though, I really really need to take marketing more seriously. With two releases planned for 2024, marketing is going to be important if I want the games to sell more than like 20 copies LOL

So I guess, uh, hold me to it and call me out if I don't start posting regularly after all 🥹

Conclusion

If you've made it this far on this post, thank you so much for listening to me ramble. 🥹 2024 is going to be a very busy year, but hopefully, a productive one that will end with me meeting all of the above listed goals.

Thank you so much for joining me on the wild and bumpy journey that was 2023, and I hope you'll stick around for the exciting things to come this year too! Here's to a great year ahead of all of us!