#since the outline is still in progress and bits might change

[froizetta]

Since it's WIP Wednesday, I've decided to post an excerpt from a longer WIP to motivate myself to write it! If it's technically on the internet, I can't just not finish it, can I? Right??? Fingers crossed I can make this a regular thing with other WIPs...

So anyway, here's part of chapter 1 from my early-career superbat identity porn fic!

“The thing you’ve gotta remember,” Jimmy said firmly with a slightly overenthusiastic wave of his jack and coke. A little bit of liquid sloshed out onto the countertop. “The thing you gotta remember. Is.” He blinked. “Ah, cripes. What was it again?”

Clark absently took a sip of his own drink. The whisky was at least a pleasant burn in his throat, even if it wasn’t exactly his favorite flavor. “Gee, I don’t think I can help you with that, Jim.”

Jimmy beamed. “Oh yeah! The thing you’ve gotta remember is, that there’re plenty of fish in the sea.”

Clark couldn’t quite suppress the wry quirk to his smile. “Wow. That’s some original advice right there.”

“No, but for real though!” Jimmy insisted, slamming an emphatic fist on the table. “Just. So many fish. A whole ocean! Of women! And, uh, also not women!”

“That does sound like a lot of people.”

“Exactly,” Jimmy said, nodding sagely. “You’ve just gotta widen your net, is all. To more than, like, one fish-woman.”

Ah, yes. Clark was honestly a little surprised it had taken him five drinks to bring it up. Apparently, Jimmy had needed some Dutch courage before embarking on the ‘romance advice’ portion of the evening.

Clark could humor him on it, at least. “You mean Lois?” he asked.

“Yeah I mean Lois! Don’t get me wrong, Lois is great. But she’s just one fish,” Jimmy said emphatically. “Like, sure, maybe she’s a really cool fish. Like… Like koi or something. Koi are actually pretty amazing, did you know they—” He paused and then shook his head. “Wait, no, this isn’t the time for fun fish facts. What I mean is, just because koi are cool, doesn’t mean there aren’t equally cool salmon. Or tuna. Don’t let the koi blind you to all the…the really hot tuna around you. You know?”

Jimmy looked concerningly pleased with his increasingly labored metaphor. Clark charitably chose to blame this on the alcohol rather than Jimmy’s abilities as a writer. “Maybe you’re right, Jim. I guess it’s pretty silly to be so stuck on her, huh?”

Jimmy frowned. “Well, I wouldn’t say that. I think you guys would be great together, you know that.”

“I’m not sure her new fella would agree with you,” he said. Embarrassingly, the glumness in his tone wasn’t entirely feigned.

“Don’t be so pessimistic,” Jimmy said insistently. “We don’t know that it’s like that. Maybe it’s just a pity date?”

It wasn’t just a pity date, Clark was pretty sure about that. Lois had been wearing the perfume she wore whenever she wanted to impress someone. And yes, that was a creepy thing to notice, but he couldn’t help it, okay? Super-senses make a lot of things really hard to ignore.

He shrugged. “Maybe. But it’s none of my business anyway. I know she doesn’t see me that way, and that’s fine.” And it was. He knew that to Lois, he was just a coworker – and a bumbling, awkward, country bumpkin of one at that. Even though he definitely hammed up the act to create distance between Clark Kent and Superman, the real Clark Kent still wasn’t the kind of guy who would appeal to someone like Lois. She’d want someone classy and sophisticated. Someone like her.

Probably someone like whatever guy she was on a date with right now, in fact.

“And, I mean… it's Lois,” he added, as neutrally as he could manage. “She’s out of most people’s leagues. It’s not— I mean, I never really thought I had a shot with her, you know? So I’m not about to get all bent out of shape because of one date. Honest.”

Apparently, this wasn’t what Jimmy had wanted to hear, at least judging by the way his face fell. “What? No no no, that’s not what I— Look, I’m not trying to say you don’t have a chance there. In fact, I think she’d be lucky to date you. But what I mean is, it’s not the end of the world if she doesn’t see that. You’re an awesome dude! I just think you deserve to be happy, with or without Lois.”

“Oh,” Clark said, then blinked and ducked his head, taken aback by how hard that had hit him. Jimmy really was a great friend. He suddenly felt guilty for spending their evening together daydreaming about eating pizza on his couch. “Shucks, Jim, that’s…that’s real nice of you to say.”

“I’m not being ‘nice’, I’m being honest. Listen veeery closely, Clark.” Jimmy set his glass down and grasped Clark around the shoulders, looking him straight in the eye.

Clark tensed. “Um. What’s happening.”

“Shush,” Jimmy said. “You’re listening.”

“I am?”

“You are. Now focus and take this in. Really internalize it.” His gaze was a little unsteady, but still intense and undoubtedly sincere. “You – Clark Kent – are a bona fide catch.”

Clark couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter. It would be easier to take Jimmy seriously if he wasn’t starting to slur his words. “A ‘catch’? Are we still on the fish metaphor?”

Jimmy blinked. “What? No, no. Look, you’re smart, you’re a successful reporter. You’re probably the nicest guy I know. And you’re tall, like…what, 6’1”? 6’2”?”

“Something like that,” Clark half-lied with an easy smile.

“Yeah, so. Tall. Trust me, as a short guy, that’s a big plus. Everyone loves tall guys. You’re, you know, the tall, dark and handsome type. Like Superman!”

His smile froze. “Oh?”

“Yeah! Chicks love Superman. Not saying you look much like him, of course—”

“Of course,” Clark agreed.

“—but you’ve got, like. A similar appeal.” He squinted up at Clark. “You know, I’m not the best judge for this type’a thing, but if I feel like you’d clean up real nice if you made the effort.”

“Hm. I dunno, Jim…”

Jimmy was insistent. “You could change up your style, maybe. You ever tried contacts?”

“I’m afraid they don’t really agree with me,” Clark said apologetically. Which was true, in a sense. The glasses were pretty integral to the whole secret identity thing, after all.

“Shame,” Jimmy said, finally letting go of Clark to lean back. But as he did, something over Clark’s shoulder caught his eye. He grinned. “Oh, hey, my first piece of evidence that you’re a catch: I’m 90% sure that guy is checking you out right now.”

“What?” Clark said and made to look behind him.

Before he could turn, Jimmy grabbed his face in both hands. “Shhhhh!” Jimmy said urgently, even though Clark wasn’t saying anything. “You can’t just look. That’s waaay too obvious.”

Clark was pretty sure Jimmy was being more obvious than looking himself would have been, but he stayed obligingly still while Jimmy peered over his shoulder at the mystery man.

“Okay,” Jimmy said eventually. “So I’m not great at telling when guys are hot, but I’m pretty sure this guy is hot. And, again, definitely into you. I’m 95% sure.”

“I thought it was 90%?”

“Sure, but I’ve accumulula… accumama…” He frowned and shook his head. “I’ve got more evidence since then, see? So I’m surer now!”

In retrospect, he probably should have insisted on Jimmy eating something more substantial than bar snacks over the last couple hours. “Sure, Jim,” he said gently. “It’s, uh, getting pretty late, though. Maybe we should head home soon?”

“It’s—” Jimmy squinted his watch and balked. “It’s only 10:30, so no way! I’ve got a new mission now, and it’s to wingman you with this probably hot guy. Trust me, I’m a great wingman.”

Clark raised an eyebrow. “Are you? What would you even do?”

“You know, the usual. Hey, have you met my friend Clark? He’s like 6’2” and a hotshot reporter at a big newspaper. And then I just slide out—” he made a slow swoop with his hand “—and just like that, bam! Take that, Lois! Clark’s got a hot date of his own!”

Clark raised the other eyebrow. “That’s…not particularly subtle.”

“Well, subtlety isn’t a part of the Olsen Wingman Experience. But it works!” Jimmy said brightly. “I even managed to wingman my ex-girlfriend while we were still dating, although that was mostly an accident. But it was still very effective. Thanks to that, I know for sure it works.”

“Oh!” Clark said. And then frowned. “Oh. I’m, uh. I’m sorry to hear that. Do you wanna talk about—”

“Nope,” Jimmy said firmly, decisively. “Tonight isn’t about my borderline traumatizing romantic history, tonight is about you. You and this totally hot guy who I’m, like, 99% sure is into you.”

“Mm. I see you’ve accumulated more evidence.”

“Yeah, actually! I—” Jimmy’s eyes widened. “Okay, crap. It’s 100% now. He’s coming over here.”

Clark blinked. He’d been half-convinced Jimmy had just been imagining things, but… “He is?”

“He is! Just be cool, okay?”

“Jim,” he began in protest, but before he could say anything else there was a presence at his back. Clark turned to greet the stranger. And stared. Because— Huh. Huh?

Either those whiskies had been a lot more effective on him than he’d thought, or that was Bruce Wayne leaning ever-so-casually against the bar next to him.

[mischievous-piltovan]

The Undying Oath (NSFW)

Chapter 5: In Dim Carcosa (SFW)

Pairing: Viktor x fem!Reader

Summary: Reader navigates troubled waters. The Herald is no longer Viktor, he’s merely wearing her late lover’s visage. Yet, she can’t leave him - the guilt of her past betrayal and her duty to the denizens of Zaun keep her bound to the Emberlift Alley Workshop. But not all is lost.

A/N: I had the outline for a way longer chapter, but the more I worked on top of it, the longer it became. So I decided to chop it off in two chapters. Bad news: this might be a harder read, a bit morose with no immediate pay-off. The good news: the next chapter is gonna come much quicker since I not only already have an outline, I also have it fairly written. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this one. 

Warnings: Major Character Death. Loss of a loved one. He came back wrong. Angsty. War.

Word Count: 5.2K

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 (In Progress)

Also on AO3

Somewhere far away, embedded deep into the veil of the Cosmos, the stars were cackling. At least, they must have been. Because whatever the celestials had planned for her was undoubtedly a joke. And a bad one at that.

After the fiasco that was their moment of intimacy, Viktor explained the origin of his lack of feelings. The procedure Dr. Raveck performed - a mixture of open-chest surgery and chemical infusion -, although resulting in his successful recovery, came with a side-effect: the complete removal of his capacity to feel.

“And what about all this metal?” She asked, motioning at his artificial limbs. “Was this the Doctor too?”

“No, these are my doing,” Viktor responded calmly. “I got rid of the hexcorized tissues in favor of parts I had control over.” 

Yet, the cosmic punchline was in the bittersweetness of it all.

There was no doubt in her mind that she was glad Viktor was alive. A part of her was thrilled to be by his side again, to be able to watch him use his intellectual prowess to aid those in need. Like he always dreamed of. After all those months beside him, watching him decay bit by bit every day. After mourning his loss for weeks, engulfed in guilt imagining his last days all alone. This opportunity to be with him again felt like a blessing.

But something wasn't right, he wasn't right. He miraculously came back from the dead. But he came back wrong. 

Viktor was not the man she loved anymore, just an echo of who he once was. An uncanny simulacrum, not completely different, but an ill-imitation of the original.

Like a song she knew by heart, but every now and then he changed the lyrics, sang off-key, outpaced the tempo. In every exchange, every act, no matter how mundane, something was always frustratingly wrong.

It was in the way he walked, still impaired and aided by a cane, but it lacked the grace of before, being replaced by an almost robotic stride. It was in the way he was built, still thin with long and lanky limbs, but he was now rigid, standing artificially straight. It was in the way he spoke, with his still low and accented voice, but with a new dull lint of his speech, tempered and softened, lacking the once alluring sharp edges 

And all of it seemed to mock her. 

In this new form, Viktor was both her persecutor and warden - his very presence tormented her, made her acutely aware of her love for his old self and the fact he was forever gone. But it also kept her in place, for she couldn't leave him. She had no right to.

Not when she had done it once already. Not when he needed her help again. She just had to endure, to bear the cross of her own mistakes in spite of her feelings. And so she did.

—--

Luckily, he kept his mask on throughout the day, blocking out the world from his remaining humanity, and unknowingly shielding her from excess torment, albeit a little. In his full herald garb, the girl could pretend he was someone else entirely, his accented voice was the only hint of his old self, and even that was attenuated by the modulation of the mask.

She started to use his metallic veneer as a tool to help her envision him as someone else entirely. While masked, he wasn't her once fianceé Viktor, but the transhumanist scientist known as the Herald. By clinging to the difference on these labels, she was able to keep some semblance of sanity.

The schedule around the Emberlift Alley Workshop was divided in three blocks. The mornings were  designated for new patients, people whose issues were yet to be assessed and properly diagnosed. It was also when Viktor took their measurements in order to build them their prosthesis. Around noon came those whose synthetic limbs were already built and just had to be attached, as well as those in need of maintenance. The evenings were devoted to building the prosthesis based on the measurements taken in the morning. She only needed to be present for the afternoon appointments, when her healing was necessary.

And she'd take every opportunity available to not be present in the same room as him. To avoid unnecessary feelings and ruminations from clouding her mind. To keep her focus on her work.

Instead of remaining idle, she started to organize the rest of the house bit by bit during her free time, trying to bring back some of the home aspect to the place. The busy work kept her from dwelling on the stalemate, preventing her from spiraling into dark thoughts. The people of Zaun needed her in topnotch condition, there wasn't room to come undone. Viktor didn't comment on it, but noticed the effort - the organized space brought him further clarity of mind.

One evening as she was sweeping the floor in the living-room, a familiar voice called her name from behind her. It belonged to Ralph.

“Long time no see, Ralph!” She greeted him, turning around. “Are you here for mainte- what's all that?”

Ralph grinned as he approached her, a small wooden crate in his arms filled to the brim with… Junk?

“It's material for the prostheses!”

“No offense, but,” her hand delicately plucked a corroded rusty screw from the crate, rolling it between her index finger and her thumb. “I don't think these can be used.”

Before Ralph could respond, an accented modular voice rang from behind them.

“They can,” its sound alone sent a shiver down her spine, inching her dangerously close to the precipice of her own mind. “Ralph brought these for me at my request.”

That day she learned just how Viktor was able to keep providing people with prosthetic limbs even under the shortage of resources the conflict between the two cities was causing.

Stricken by curiosity, she followed him as he took the crate down to the workshop below. He placed it on the desk next to the HexCore, its pulsating cold light casting ghastly flickering shadows over the stone walls of the basement. She watched as the Herald pressed various keys on the machinery the HexCore sat atop before the runic matrix reacted, spinning faster than before. Her breathing hitched when an energy beam erupted from the core, elevating the material from the crate and amalgamating its contents together - sorting it by material, no less. In the next moment, all the contents inside the crate were gone, and sheets of different types of material rested on the desk next to it.

An almost inaudible ‘amazing’ escaped from her lips. She swore the Herald chuckled before continuing.

“Those I've helped come bearing whatever form of scraps they find as a show of gratitude,” he explains. “Although the sentiment is unnecessary, the gesture allows me to help more people in the long run.”

Ralph is one of those who often visits with scraps, and in the days that follow is the one person tethering her to some semblance of lucidity. Whenever he comes, he makes sure to stay a while, a warm smile always on his face.

“Your situation is so unique, I'm not sure I have the words necessary to help you,” Ralph relented during one of his visits. They both sat across from each other at the recently uncluttered dinner table. “But I need to encourage you to cut yourself some slack.”

A chuckle escaped her lips.

“I cut myself some slack when I betrayed his trust, didnt I?,” she murmured with a long exhale. “I don't think I should be allowed to do so ever again.”

Ralph rolled his eyes, exhaling loudly in mock annoyance.

“You know what, you actually shouldn't. You are the worst person to ever step foot in Runeterra, and your sins could never be forgiven,” he conceded, looking away from her. “For instance, leaving your gilded life in Piltover to come to the Fissures just because you refused to build weapons to be used against us. What a crime.”

She arched an eyebrow in a knowing look. “Ralph…”

“Not to mention all the years in the Academy, fighting to bring positive change to the Undercity!” He turned back to her, crossing his arms. “And spending all her energy healing our sick after getting her shiny new arm? What a monster!”

His words held good intentions, but failed to truly reach her. Every moment interacted with Viktor was a dire reminder of her mistakes, a memento of her subsequent loss, and an omen of her guilt.

She woke up one day in the middle of the night in full alert. Sitting up on the bed and quickly scanning her surroundings proved there was nothing to worry about, it was just another rough night for a troubled mind. On instinct, her eyes landed on the bed on the other side of the room, and she was graced with Viktor's sleeping form.

It was a rare sight, one she subconsciously tried avoiding by opting to always go to bed before him. The Herald had a habit to stay up late tinkering away at the workshop downstairs, which gave her ample time to get ready for bed and be fast asleep before he was even in the room. The last thing she needed was being further damaged by the sight of him stripped down from his Herald form to something more akin to the man she once knew.

And that was the right call, because seeing him now with his face bare, lips slightly parted, and a peaceful look on his face was… Blissfully painful. 

And dangerously magnetic.

Her limbs moved on their own as she slowly rose from her bed, tiptoeing her way to his side, eyes locked on him, committing this Viktor to mind as much as possible. She sat on the floor next to his bed, resting her head over one arm atop the mattress. 

She watched him sleep, his chest rising and falling with each breath. The same sharp jaw, now framed by metal, the thin cracked lips, moles dotting the area above his upper lip, just under his eye, and the twins at the side of his neck.

This was not the Herald. This was Viktor. 

Her eyes landed on his hand closest to her and she dared to snake her marbled hand towards it, stopping right before touching it. One marbled pinky curled around his and something akin to elation blossomed inside her chest. 

Her eyes fluttered close. In the dark behind her eyelids, she could almost pretend they were back at their shared bedroom in Piltover. His scent and the ongoing soft sounds of his breathing lulled her into a false sense of security, and before she could do anything, sleep claimed her.

When next she woke, the clarity of the day lit up the room from the window. Lifting her head up from her arms, she winced as the stiffness of her neck made itself known. Massaging the region, her eyes searched for Viktor but found an unsurprisingly empty bed.

With a groan, she rose to her feet while mentally chastising herself for falling asleep on the floor. Not to mention having Viktor waking up to her sleeping creepily at his side like an obsessed lunatic. She dreaded what he'll have to say about it.

A glance at her own bed proved she wouldn't have to wait to find out. On top of the mattress rested a vial - filled with a clear liquid she recognized as the calming concoction Viktor offered upon their first meeting - and a note. She picked it up and read it ‘Drink it whenever you feel restless’.

Apart from that, he never mentioned that night again. And she wasn’t sure what to make of it.

—--

The day she dreaded came earlier than anticipated. After nudging a frame on the wall to the side and back, rotating it ever so slightly clockwise and counterclockwise for the ninth time, she exhaled in resignation - the frame was fine as it was the first time, she was merely stalling. Stalling from recognizing her work was done, the whole house had been thoroughly organized. 

Which meant her only excuse to be absent from the workshop outside of the afternoon hours was no more. 

She exhaled once more, trying to weigh her options. On one hand, she could keep on being present only when the prosthesis were being attached, she'd just have to find other things to do around the workshop in the meantime - sitting idly with her thoughts was an easy way to slip into spiraling. There was the option of going out and finding purpose somewhere else, maybe going back to the Firelights Hideout to be a part-time inhouse healer. But then again, there was a conflict happening out there, and exposing herself to being caught by enforcers or in the crossfire of a shooting just because she didn't want to spend more time with the Herald than necessary was… Stupid. On the other hand, being present during assessment could prove useful - getting to know the patients and their woes beforehand could give her more insights and perhaps make her work better. She could even heal them beforehand in case they had wounds still open, or even aid them with stuff completely unrelated to the prosthesis whatsoever.

She glanced at the wall clock and felt a chill run down her spine - it was still mid-morning. She could do this, couldn't she? They say consistent exposure to a trigger tends to dull its effects on a person. She already spends a lot of time in his presence daily, a little more couldn't make such a big difference. Let's not think about the different circumstances each part of the day schedule entailed, with the afternoon time being more busy work and her being able to ignore Viktor's presence entirely, while the morning period would consist of observing and learning on her part. Just. Don't. Think. About. It.

With a resolute exhale, before resolve could escape her, she patted the remainders of dust off of her clothes and made her way down to the basement.

Viktor was sitting at the HexCore desk, noting something down on a parchment paper. She fought the icicle in the pit of her stomach signaling her to run.

“Greetings, sit on the table. I'll be there in a moment” he spoke without facing her, the orange glow of his mask kept firmly at the paper before him.

“No, uhm… it's actually me” She greeted shyly. He turned to her upon hearing her response.

“Oh,” he interjected. “There's still a couple hours before the afternoon appointments start.”

“I know, it's just… “ She could feel her resolve faltering, but pressed on nonetheless. “I was thinking about being present during the morning assessments as well, to learn of your methods and perhaps lending a helping hand where I could.”

A pause befall the two and suddenly the air was thicker. Her eyes kept away from him, fixated in the glow of the rune matrix beside him. The icicle in the pit of her stomach evolved into a dagger and was risking becoming a sword each second that passed between them. 

She started deliberating being torn asunder from the inside or just bolting out of the door, not to set foot in the workshop again, when Viktor spoke. “I believe your contributions could be valuable. You may stay.”

Before she could respond, the creaking of the wooden stairs behind them announced the arrival of a patient. She turned around and was greeted with a familiar face.

“Hey, Miss Architect! Long time no see!” A middle-aged man with an athletic build and thinning gray hair stood leaning on a crutch, his left leg missing from the knee down.

“Yo-you're Wenn, right? The courier?” Memories of the countless times she visited the Undercity for data gathering flooded her mind, his face a constant presence. But once the words left her mouth, her eyes did a double take at his missing limb. “Oh… “

“Yeah, I know… “ Wenn jested coily. “But Mister Herald here is gonna make me all good, isn't he?”

“Correct,” Viktor agreed curtly. “Please sit on the table so I can get your measurements.”

Wenn did as commanded while Viktor prepared the tools. The girl stood by the HexCore desk, crossing her arms. “So, what happened to you?”

“Same as everyone else, Enforcers,” Wenn answered nonchalantly. “Was doing my rounds in a permitted area and was still met with a landmine. I was darn lucky it only got my leg.”

“Please, hold still.” Viktor’s robotic voice cut through. 

“I wish I could say a mine buried in a permitted area surprised me, but I'd be lying…“ she commented dryly. Enforcers brutality against Zaunites was already a well-known reality often overlooked by the Piltovan state, but ever since the conflict broke out, it felt like it had been cranked up to eleven. The Enforcers filled Zaun with barricades and checkpoints, stipulating permitted areas for passage. Unfortunately, it looked like they didn't keep the bombs solemnly in prohibited territory.

“Tell me about it… “ Wenn sighed. “This whole situation was bad enough before, my radius of operation had shrunk significantly because of it, losing my leg was the cherry on top of this shitcake.”

“We'll solve that part at least.” She assured him.

Viktor turned around and was about to rise from his chair when she stopped him. “I can note down his measurements for you.”

“That would be helpful, I appreciate it.” Viktor acknowledged it, turning back to Wenn after informing her the number. 

The girl diligently grabbed a pen on the desk and started writing down what Viktor was telling her when something grabbed her attention - the schematics she was scribbling on. Something was off, the schematics was for a standard prosthesis, something that he usually builds for the common folk. A courier like Wenn, who spends his whole day on foot, walking around the uneven stone pathways of Zaun needed something more sturdy, with more padding. Viktor certainly had something like that designed, didn't he?

“Is this the right schematic?” She prodded. 

“It's the leg one, correct?” He retorted.

“it is.”

“Then it is correct.”

Did Viktor really only have one-size-fits all for each single prosthesis? 

She shook her head slightly, brows knitted as the gears turned inside her head. She could see where Viktor was coming from, by working with standard models he could attend to a larger number of people in less time. Tailoring each design individually was simply not time-efficient, despite the boost in quality for each piece. Not to mention, to most people the standard design would suffice. 

But how about these edge cases such as Wenn's? If they give him the standard module, he'd be back in two weeks or less for maintenance, or replacement altogether. Sure, they'd be making his life better, but only slightly. Wouldn't this be considered inefficient?

Her eyes traveled back to Viktor, and something clicked. Viktor and Jayce were brilliant scientists whose sharp minds worked meticulously to solve complex problems. But she noticed early on in their partnership that they more often than not lacked the ability to perceive what the problems were in the first place. 

“We were analyzing some of your data and we came across the fact that the average commute time for those who come topside to work varies from two to three hours during rush,” Jayce began, running his index over the papers in front of him. It had been a couple of months since the partnership between the Undercity Development Section and the HexTech Research Division began, the Ventilation System project was already underway. The pair of scientists had pulled the architect aside as soon as she arrived at the lab that morning, seemingly eager to show her how serious they were. At least that's the vibe she was getting from Jayce. “And we were brainstorming some ideas for a faster and more robust Public Transportation System using HexTech.”

Jayce rolled out a parchment paper in front of them with a map of the Undercity. On top of it, he placed a translucent sheet of butter paper. Then, he grabbed a marker and started sketching on top of it. The girl leaned in closer.

“We noticed that the existing lift's engine is rather old, and demanded that the ascension was done as horizontally as possible,” Viktor chimed in as his partner sketched. Her eyes met his golden ones for a brief second before  returning to the paper before them in a fluster. She was still digesting why the leaner scientist had such an effect on her. “This resulted in a longer route between the Undercity Terminal and the Topside Terminal. And that in itself already largely adds to the commute time. So we moved the whole system to a location in which the distance between the terminals is the shortest, since building the new lift vertically is not a problem anymore.”

She studied Jayce's croquis on the translucent paper for a second, before calmly bringing her index finger to it and tapping on a location on the map. “This district right here has historically been formed by people who go to work Topside. It grew organically around the terminal,” she spoke calmly. “These are the people we'd be affecting by tackling this problem. If we move the system to the other side, even if technologically and logistically seems more efficient, we're failing to address the practical effect of such a change.”

She took a marker from Jayce and began scribbling on the paper as she spoke.

“Nowadays, the people start gathering at the Terminal around 4 am. They leave their houses and are promptly met with a line to get to the lift,” she wrote down ‘4 am’ and ‘house -> terminal’. “If we move the system here, all these people would have to find a way to go from their houses to the terminal, adding time and fatigue to the commute. Especially to those carrying wares, goods and tools with them. We'd need to address that.”

She finished writing down all points on the paper, before setting the pen aside. Then, she leaned back where she sat, meeting the scientist's gaze. “Your plan might be the most efficient time-wise, but it wouldn't be solving the problem. I'd suggest building the new system near that district, even if that means sacrificing some of its efficiency. The problem was not simply shortening travel time between Topside and the Undercity, but rather bringing more quality to the existing commute.”

She sighed at the memory, a little twinge of longing constricting her chest. She quickly shook it off, this wasn't the time for sentimentality. Her gaze lingered on the schematics a bit, before turning to the Herald with newfound resolution. If the goal was to aid the people of Zaun, then the magic in her marbled arm was not the only tool at her disposal. She needed to address his methods as an academic peer.

When Wenn left the Workshop, she pounced without hesitation.

“He's gonna be back here in need of maintenance in a couple of days,” she spat, looking down at the schematics.

The Herald stopped in his tracks. She felt the glow of his eyes on her, but didn’t turn to him. “How would you know that?”

“Didn't you hear? He's a courier,” she retorted. “The exertion of his line of work is bound to damage the structure of the prosthesis. Rather quickly even, I'd wager.”

The Herald didn't respond right away. Instead, he slowly made his way to her side. His focus on the schematics in front of her.

“In the assessments, are you taking into consideration the lives of who you help?”

“I don't pry much outside of the measurements,” he stated calmly, almost in a whisper. “I see what you are suggesting, but working with a template is far more efficient than tailoring each piece individually.”

“I don't disagree with that on a theoretical level, but do we have data on returning patients? Those with need for maintenance or replacement altogether?”

The Herald paused. “No.”

She finally turned to him, arching an eyebrow. “Then we don't know at what rate we're helping new people compared to returning ones,” she concluded. “Nor do we have data regarding what caused certain types of damage in returning patient's prosthesis, I presume?”

Another beat. “Correct.”

The silence lingered between them. She kept her eyes on him expectantly. With the mask, it was impossible to read him. 

“I was focused solemnly in helping the largest number of people in the most efficient way possible,” he stated finally. “I failed to acknowledge those points.”

Although spoken in a dull, flattened manner, his words spoke of regret. She could almost hear Viktor instead of the Herald. Her hand reached for the metal on his shoulder on instinct.

“You were doing what you thought best,” her words were soft. “Besides, it doesn't matter how big that brain of yours is. You're still a single person who tasked himself with this gargantuar endeavor of helping the people of Zaun. Something was bound to slip past you.”

He finally faced her and she thanked the gods for his mask. She'd unravel where she stood if she was to meet his face bare at this proximity. She quickly cleared her throat.

“I was thinking we could pinpoint the most prominent use cases and expand our line of templates,” she proposed. “That way we avoid having to tailor each prosthesis we make from scratch while also addressing the issue at hand. It's not perfect, but I believe it's a good improvement. I might not have the documents here, but I have some information of the average Zaunite jobs and occupation as well as geological differences from when I worked at the UDS.”

“Perhaps I've… forgotten the benefits of intellectual collaboration,” the Herald contemplated. “That is a truly elegant solution.”

“Glad I could help, I'll jot down the information I can recall and I'll get you the notes later,” she responded, taking a step back. “I'll go get some water before the afternoon patients start rolling in.”

In truth, she needed some breather from the whole interaction. The Herald was dangerously close to becoming Viktor and she couldn't allow herself to spiral. She was at the foot of the staircase when the Herald spoke again.

“I was hoping you would join me later tonight so we can design the new templates,” he proposed. “Work together, as we once did.”

She froze in place, her back turned to him. Her marbled arm pulsated with warmth with the rhythm of her heartbeat. The interval between them getting shorter as his words registered. She was already pushing her limits by taking the morning assessments with him, - doubling the amount of time she spent in his presence - and that alone was already taking its toll. Working with him at night would triple it. She couldn't possibly do it.

“Yeah, I think that's reasonable.”

Her words betrayed her. 

—--

If she was asked to describe at least one of the patients that passed through the workshop that afternoon, she wouldn't be able to do it. She went through the motions absentmindedly, completely engulfed inside her own mind, dreading the last third of the day. 

Why would she agree to his proposal? Was it another facet of the guilt she felt at his betrayal? Was it the sense of duty to the Zaunites in need? Was a product of the self-loathing she harbored throughout all the months she believed he was dead? Was it a combination of all of that?

Or better yet, was it a foolish hope of rekindling something between them through intellectually collaborating on a project, like it happened the first time? Even though he is not capable of feeling anymore?

Whatever the reason behind it was, her fate was sealed. 

Despite that, she still took all means necessary to stall her return to the basement. As soon as the last afternoon patient was gone, she excused herself to freshen up. After splashing water on her face more times than necessary, she made a quick detour to the kitchen to brew some coffee. Only then, holding a mug in each hand, did she finally make her way back down.

She found the Herald where she left him - sitting in front of his desk, bathed in the purplish glow of the HexCore. With a long exhale, she made her way towards him.

“Here, unbearably sweet,” she said, placing one of the coffee mugs in front of him. “Just the way you like it.’

The Herald turned to her and her heart sank when golden pupils swimming in dark scleras met her gaze. She had failed to notice his metal mask sitting next to the core on the desk. 

“Thank you, although I’d rather have it black,” Viktor spoke in his own accented voice. “Sugar adds nothing but empty calories.”

This was still the Herald. He was just wearing Viktor's skin. 

She stood rigidly beside him, putting as much distance from him as possible at the current setting. She kept her eyes low, opting to focus on the schematics in front of him instead of his face. But the space between them felt heavy, his very presence pulled her in and pushed her away simultaneously. It made the coffee she sipped go down like sandpaper. This was not going to work.

“You spoke earlier of information on the average jobs and occupations of the denizens of Zaun,” the Herald spoke without looking at her.

“Ah,” She gasped, snapping out of her thoughts. “That's right.” 

Her eyes quickly scanned the desk, spotting a blank piece of paper and dragging it to the space between them. Next, she grabbed a pen, uncapped it, and leaned the tip onto the paper. “Okay, so this is what I remember.”

She started narrating everything she could recollect, annotating it as she went. She scrambled her brain for information, and for each piece recalled, the neural path to the next one unfolded. In her head she could picture the Zaun of another time, when it still was simply known as Piltover's Undercity. The hum of the machinery and pipework vastly drowned out by the cacophony of everyday life. The thick air laced with the smells of the fishery, combined with the fumes of the factories and the sickly-sweet aroma of chemicals. The brief amounts of sunlight hitting the underground at noon when the sun was at its zenith, passing through like an eclipse. The neon artificial lights flooding the streets for the remainder of the day. 

Each new canvas her mind painted brought forth a description of how the citizens lived, how each human was a product of their environment. And how they molded it and were molded by it. 

It was chaos. Flawed. In dire need of quality for its resident’s life. But oh, so beautiful.

“I have forgotten how elucidative you could be when explaining your craft,” the Herald's voice brought her back to reality. The dim light of the Workshop felt more oppressive as her surroundings came back into focus. 

“I uh- Thank you,” she responded sheepishly. 

“I am serious. My mind is already brimming with a handful of design solutions from your explanation alone,” he continued. “Although I believe it is rather late and I’d like to let those ideas simmer down as I sleep.”

“Late?” She glanced at the wall clock and silently gasped. No less than three hours had passed since she began her lecture. Any semblance of the worries from before, gone. 

Maybe this could work after all.

-----

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 (In Progress)

Also on AO3

[delugyu]

i wanna see your wips 😁😁 show me your wips 😁😁

astrology anon can you tell i have free time now? lol

i could never say no to u bae

i have literally like 20 drabble wips so i’m gonna focus on my actual fic wips instead LOL also so many of these are beomgyu fics, forgive me my bias is showing

okay so obviously there’s spider-man yeonjun!!!! i still need to post an official teaser for this LOL but it’ll be my next fic to release. it’s also a college au, so basically jjun’s balancing being a hero to the city on top of being a star student on top of being lowkey in love with mc. quick plot run through: mc ends up inviting yeonjun to some party, they start getting closer, cue some action (the fighting kind), then mc gets kind of involved in the spider-man shenanigans and they get even closer and cue some more action (the smutty kind). LMAO i have a billion scenes i wish i could share but i’ll go with these two

hehe i love yeonjun and mc and this whole fic so much im so excited to write some more this weekend

i had a vampire gyu wip that i mentioned back in like january but tbh i think im gonna rework the plot and change the member to soobin…. so basically soobin’s part of this like rich vampire family lol and mc lives there as a servant. soobin and mc are super flirty with each other and have these little stolen moments where they just get to romancing a bit. soobin’s parents ask mc to retrieve a bloodthirst relieving potion from some witch, and soobin decides to tag along just for fun. then at the witch’s abode the two of them are alone for some time anddddd you can put two and two together! i might write this one more in the fall cause vampires are fitting for that time of year.

speaking of wips to come out in the fall, i had this idea for a halloween fic where mc’s a scientist and she wants to revive a dead person with full success. i have it titled as “frankenstein au” in my docs lmao so picture it kinda like that. she gets her hands on some corpse (which of course is beomgyu) and brings him back to life, which she’s so excited about, until she realizes that he’s retained like no personal information of himself at all. so she considers her mission a failure and is pretty much ready to move on to trial #2 with a new corpse. she still keeps beomgyu around cause it feels a little cruel to kill him again, so he just helps out in the lab. he’s like sooo infatuated with her tho, she’s all he knows and he just wants her attention so bad. he’s kind of bratty and sulky cause he doesn’t want mc moving on from him. this will be a dark fic cause gyu goes off his rocker and is really uninhibited as the fic goes on lol

another wip i mentioned back in january is the academic rivals taehyun one. i haven’t made any progress on it since last mentioning it tho LMAO. then there’s the virgin!gyu + virgin!mc one i mentioned, but i probably won’t work on that one for a while cause of the drabble series im working on rn being a little too similar

then we have robot!gyu hehe i’ll probably work on this next after spidey!jjun. ack i just wanna attach the whole plot outline but im holding back… the outline is long asf tho so it’ll probably have to be two or three parts. anyway mc moves into her own house alone after having some issues with her ex. soobin is her brother, and he works as a developer for an AI company, so he suggests that mc gets a robot to just protect her bc he’s worried about her. mc’s hesitant but agrees, and in comes robot gyu hehe. she kinda keeps away from him at first, but eventually warms up to him a little and talks to him more. she talks to soobin abt her convos with beomgyu, and soobin tells her that it’s all just mimicry of human behavior, not actual consciousness. after that it gets super weird and i can’t spoil it but there’s a clear divide between believing beomgyu vs believing soobin. it’s definitely a mindfuck and it’s all in mc’s pov so we have no clue who’s right. this would be a psychological thriller, and it gets more and more crazy as it goes on. super super excited to write this lol

aaaaand that’s all! spewed out everything in my google docs, this is how much i love u. i’m glad u have free time now agh i’m jealous cause i’ve got exams and essays left and right from now until the end of the semester 😭 also while i was writing this i realized, idk who UR bias is in txt?!?!? something in my gut says soobin, but my judgment is highly clouded cause it’s only bc u were team soobin for c3 LMFAO

[cyraclove]

sunshine, blue eyes [Rated M]

Eddie unexpectedly comes to Chrissy’s rescue when Jason and his friends decide to pull a mean prank on her at the pool.

dirty work [Rated E]

A middle-aged Chrissy and Eddie make good use of their empty house while their teenaged children are gone. Chrissy takes advantage of Eddie being handy around the house.

scratching at the outlines of you [Rated E]

A direct sequel to mixing drinks and messages. Eddie and Chrissy navigate their new situationship turned relationship. Chrissy runs into a familiar face at Eddie’s bar.

still awake, playing chase with the sunrise [Rated T]

The Party hunkers down at Eddie's trailer to map out their battle plan. Max witnesses Eddie and Chrissy share a moment in the kitchen while everyone else is asleep.

the feeling in it [Rated E]

Eddie and Chrissy are in their 40s, watching their two teenagers go to prom and wondering where the time went.

lick the fuzz right off the peach [Rated E]

Chrissy asks Eddie about a certain activity they've yet to try. His head explodes.

mixing drinks and messages [Rated E]

At Robin and Nancy's suggestion, Chrissy tries her hand at Tinder after dumping Jason for the sole purpose of having a one night stand. When her date stands her up, the Chicago Transit Authority takes fate into its own hands.

honeycomb [Rated E]

Chrissy stumbles upon Eddie and another classmate alone in the woods. She knows she shouldn't, but she can't help but stay and watch.

and all my ghosts are with me [Rated M]

Chrissy copes with her grief after Eddie sacrifices himself to help The Party defeat Vecna. El and Max show up on the day of his funeral with news that no one can believe.

wishing, wanting, yours for the taking [Rated E]

After following doctor's orders for six weeks, Chrissy starts getting antsy about getting back into bed with Eddie after having their first baby. An unexpected change sparks something new for the both of them.

small hours [Rated E]

Eddie never thought that he could be a morning person until moving in with Chrissy. There's just something magical about Chrissy in the morning...

dénouement [Rated E, In-Progress]

It’s 1998 and Chrissy is starting her second year as a professor at Indiana State University. An unexpected connection with a new transfer student taking her Eroticism in Literary Fiction class throws her for a loop.

my little bit of something blue [Rated E, Complete]

Chrissy and Eddie reconnect after graduating from high school when asked to be members of Jonathan and Nancy's wedding party.

angels in the architecture [Rated E, Complete]

Since falling in love in high school, Chrissy and Eddie’s paths have diverged and they’ve been living very separate lives. Ten years later, they meet again by chance at a Christmas party thrown by a notable Chicago socialite, the choices that they’ve made coming along with them.

the light, the heat [Rated E, Complete]

What might have happened if Chrissy had lived and the Hawkins crew had to drive to Nevada to find El. One getaway motel mix-up later, Chrissy and Eddie come face to face with the feelings they've been trying to ignore.

[studentbyday]

oops! i did it again. lessons from this school year...

Hey, you remember that post I made about my winter term priorities? HAHAHAHAHahaha ha ha. That plan totally went to shit, but it's all part of the journey, right? 😅 (Tbh, it's quite difficult to make a conscious effort to change yourself when the default response to being and feeling busy is to go on autopilot -> all the unconscious habits, even if unhealthy, take control, and bc it's unconscious, you don't realize it until it gets quite bad! anyway! no more! my future plans make it so this will be impossible to do while still retaining some sense of sanity. so to prep, we're gonna slowly implement little changes so hopefully it's not so overwhelming that i give up)

🧘🏻‍♀️ comparing mindsets in fall and winter term

Fall term was not that bad bc I had 2 STEM subjects I really really loved and was interested in (biochem and mol bio 💕), and despite their difficulty, that love and interest and the feeling that "I am in the right field for me" kept me positive. There were times I thought I would feel burnout symptoms if I wasn't careful, but I really think that positivity protected me from the worst of it.

Winter term, however...I had one favorite subject: moral philosophy, which led to me wistfully dreaming about an AU in which I double majored in philosophy and piano performance, lol. After the highs of biochem and mol bio and the natural ease with which the bits of info flowed together in those subjects, I did not enjoy pharmacology or the 2nd half of psyc as much -> loss of interest -> negativity and feeling like I'm in the wrong field bc how dare I not like pharmacology (or psychology) as much as the other life science-y subjects when it's really so important for us to survive and thrive! 😅 I mean, there were times I could get that spark from pharmacology or psyc, but it wasn't often enough or intense enough to keep me consistently inspired throughout the semester. The feeling of "maybe I don't have what it takes and I'm in the wrong field" was compounded by the re-realization that there's sm to know of bioinformatics and I struggle to know any of it! Persevering is important, but it's harder to persevere with a negative mindset.

😤 what went wrong this school year and what i learned from it

I still struggle with perfectionism (and bc of it, procrastination). While it might not be as bad as it was in high school, I still spent too long on assignments that weren't worth much and during finals season, was so scared of getting less than 90% just to keep up my A+ streak. Like, I'm pretty sure no one who cares to know your GPA cares about whether you have an A+ streak or not. I have too high a threshold for what is a "disappointing" grade. I also struggle with deep regret about how I haven't mastered everything they throw at us in each course... definitely an unrealistic expectation, especially as the proportion of new info to absorb increases with each course. I did what I could using what I knew to do, so it is what it is. I may find ways to make improvements and learn more, but I won't beat myself up for not having known to do those things in the past.

Did not use effective study methods. Since first year, my problem has been keeping up with the readings and my solution has been to just use typed outline notes. It worked for the first few years when it was mostly review from previous courses with a few new concepts in between. But as I progress through my degree, the proportion of completely new info is increasing. This notetaking method won't work anymore bc it just causes cognitive overload, especially during exam season (when I've mostly forgotten the details of everything that isn't smth I've already known for years). E.g. for pharmacology, I got so bogged down by the details of all the drug classes that I didn't see the big picture and so didn't organize the info according to it. This made it hard to see patterns and better chunk the info. I was so stressed during finals season bc of this (and the sheer amount of notes that I had to read for psyc 😭). What makes it feel like even more of a problem is that the cognitive overload problem from my notetaking method has been a thing for all other uni courses thus far, it's just that pharmacology was the first time I needed to create a stronger connecting thread between the otherwise disparate pieces of info (drug classes). In all other courses, that thread was part of the nature of the topic being studied so I eventually understood it as I kept going and mentally re-organized it in my brain...but even then it was hodge-podge and so my depth of mastery was and is so flimsy, and every semester I leave feeling drained and like I wasted the opportunity to maximize my learning. (How dramatic I get about this is also probably tied to my perfectionism, but I still think it would greatly benefit future me to change my notetaking style.)

🎓 advice for future me

Look at the academic calendar, specifically the faculty course descriptions. Look at how many hours they say you should expect to spend on each activity in the course. Try to use those learning hours as a guide for your schedule so that you don't spend too long on an item that isn't worth much. If there isn't such a breakdown, assume one based on whatever they give you or other courses and adjust from there.

Be a more efficient reader by skimming the text first so you can map the flow of info in a way that best creates ease of understanding/synthesis/memory (e.g. via an outline, tree diagram, flowchart, mind map, or simple drawings - and noticing when a list/outline will NOT be helpful bc it'll just be too overwhelming and not easy to compare/contrast info and see patterns). I knowww you've survived thus far without doing it this way and done well, BUT with this many courses, the increasing complexity of each subject, and the overload of info in each, you WILL need to do this to make quicker work of the readings, save you sooo much stress during exam seasons, and improve how much you learn while in school which is the real goal you've wanted to achieve all this time. Don't repeat the mistake you made in pharmacology. And it really doesn't have to be aesthetic and you definitely should NOT get caught up with it if you really wanna learn. You could just use one color for everything and a highlighter and just basic shapes/lines - that alone can be way more effective than boring paragraphs/lists or a colorful, overly complex diagram that'll just distract you from the main point.

Create a realistic daily routine (wake-up and sleep times, start and end times for schoolwork) and be strict about following it. Set your non-negotiables for personal goals to keep up with alongside your schoolwork bc academics aren't everything. Remember how you regretted not devoting more time to extra-curriculars and other skills in high school which would've rounded you out as a person. You can try theming the parts of the day so that you don't have to think about what task you should do first after study breaks and keep up the momentum (e.g. mornings for readings and notes, afternoons for active recall/homework). Then you can live the rest of the day after school as structured or unstructured as you wish. If this strategy doesn't work for you, you don't have to use it.

Take advantage of interleaving so you don't get bored. Whether by following the theming strategy or just switching subjects every hour, idc if you aren't done yet, you better switch bc the second consecutive hour of the same thing is never as effective as the first.

[petra-creat0r]

Annual Update 2025

Hooooo boy. Howdy Creative Creators. Okay, as of writing this, I just got back from a 10 day trip from Washington, and it's December 30th, of 2024. Just a couples days until 2025, so I guess let's try to review.

Most of the time, I try to make these annual updates as a sort of promise of what I'm gonna try to get done in the upcoming year (or at least what I WANT to try and get done) but... Well, looking at the state of my comic, I think it best to just, stop trying to promise anything. Between college and the huge shake up that's about to happen in my life in the upcoming months... Yeah, I don't quite see it getting done soon. I had like, one bought of wanting to work on it sometime in the beginning of December and then had to work on Christmas stuff or preparing for the trip.

So, instead, I'm gonna try and outline some personal goals for myself here. I can already tell that 2025 is gonna be a turbulent year so, I might as well have some sort of list to keep me on track. I'm gonna leave them under the cut, but if anyone wants to read them be my guest.

Hope you have a Happy New Years, Creative Creators, and I'll see you in 2025.

Graduate college with my associates degree.

Personally, I would like to go for a bachelor's but... I think that might have to wait for a while. With the change that's happening, my main source of tuition payment (my dad) will be in another state and even if I'll still qualify for in-state tuition... Stuff's gonna be hectic enough. I'm already close to being done with the associates for my current major, and could already apply for one for my previous major so, best I try and wrap that up as soon as possible. I'd already have to at some point anyways to make it easier to transfer colleges later on.

2. Get a job

Something I've been struggling with for... a while. I think I should be able to get one I can hold for longer once I'm out of college, but even before then, I really need to find something. I need a job history, I need an income, the sooner I can get to be more independent and able to pay for my own life, the better. And sadly my fanbase is a bunch of broke teens/young adults, so commissions will get me no where.

3. Make progress/finish on my Deltarune Chapter takes before Chapters 3 and 4 come out sometime this year.

We (or at least those of us active in the fandom) all know that the next chapters are coming out 2025, it's unclear WHEN in 2025 they're coming out, but Toby has confirmed they're 100000000000% coming out this year. And while I am beyond excited to FINALLY get to play through more of this story... I also want to get my personal chapter takes done before then. At the least figure out more of the characters and locations for both my chapter 3 and 4 takes before all my ideas get influenced by the canon. Bitsy, Elymas, and Veratus will always exist in my AU, mostly as it's an AU that I know is diverging from the canon, but I'm worried about aspects of my take inevitably getting influenced by the canon when it comes out. Call me silly if you want, but I want to get my takes down before the actual chapters release.

4. Enjoy and play Deltarune Chapters 3 and 4 once they release

That being said with my own takes, like I said I am excited to get to play the next chapters once they do release. I'm going to make sure I save a bit of money specifically to be able to purchase the game once it comes out. I will likely stream in on my Discord Server once I'm able to buy and play it.

5. Continue Fool's Fate

I still need to finish the Chapter 2 roleplay of Fool's Fate, and come up with more characters. I think I sorta got caught up in stuff, but at least Fool's Fate I don't have to continue or finish before the next chapters of Deltarune proper come out since it's story won't be influenced directly by Chapters 3 and 4's release.

6. Hopefully finally be able to continue AtDFF

It should be easier once I've graduated college, but I DO want to get back to work on the comic. At this point I've redesigned and reworked things AGAIN for AtDFF, and I don't think that AYC is going to be continuing. At least not in the same form it was prior. Like I mentioned, I did have a bought of comic inspiration and motivation early December, before getting caught up in other stuff, so it's not that I don't want to work on it, it's just always been a matter of time and motivation. Ideally, I'd be able to get to point where I can consistently work on it there's just... so many factors from backgrounds to scripts, thumbnails, boards, actually drawing the thing, other stuff in my life. I technically have a small team to work on this with me (mainly my girlfriend and another friend), but I would like to, I don't know, pay them? For their work and help with it? That get's difficult when again, my fanbase is as broke as I am.

7. Get to work on my other projects

Dragon Riders, POW-R, my Fakemon region, Kinder Eyes, etc. I have no doubt I'll develop them more a bit over the upcoming year, (mostly as my hyper fixations shift), but I'd also like to be able to post about them. Preferably get asks about them (whenever I decide to turn back on asks)? Undertale/Deltarune might be my main thing, but's it's never been my ONLY thing, and I want to be able to share my other projects more as well.

[its-wabby-stuff]

Camera Flash

“Alright everyone, huddle up, this deserves a spot in my archives,” Donnie chimed. Where am I? “Ready, 3-2-1, Bam! Good one fam.” A bright flash of light. Everything froze. Like my mind wanted me to remember this.

How could I forget it?

The dusty, abandoned subway station we had just moved into. Boxes piled up against the walls of all the remaining things we could find from the rubble in the sewer lair. Our new home, since the Shredder destroyed our last one. The artificial light still stung warm, and the metallic smell in the air was just starting to grow familiar. I remember Mikey’s work in progress graffiti outlined on the walls. The fumes of burning metal coming from Donnie’s lab. Dad’s hums and embarrassing booty shakes as he cleared through some boxes, reminiscing good times.

I remember my room. Messy, unkempt.

Most importantly, I remember that day. The day I lost the key.

“I don’t see what the big deal is, Raph.” Idiot. Dad had only just left the room. “We’ll get that weird tiki totem looking thing back. The foot clan isn’t going to use it right away.” I waved it off. “Their last plan took what? 6- maybe 7 months to complete? Even then the worst that happened was Shreddie. Who, may I remind you, we beat. What could be worse than that?” So much.

“Errr,” Raph growled, his knuckles going white.

“Can we please move the discussion point off of Leo’s mistake,” Donnie remarked, trying to air out the tension. “We wouldn’t want Papa to come back.” Mikey was sticking close to him. Raph took a deep breath.

“I’ll let it go after he apologizes,” Raph gritted.

“What!?” Mikey yelped, putting his hand over his mouth trying not to draw too much attention. Donnie sighed.

“An apology, that’s what you want? Ahohoho, okay.” My brothers looked surprised. I put my arms down, and laid them on Raph’s shoulders, looking completely, dramatically, sincere. “Raph, I’m sorry,” pause for effect, “for stealing the spotlight. It’s not my fault brother, it just naturally gravitates toward me. Like a flame to a moth.”

Donnie smacked his forehead.

“Leeeoooooo.” Raph just about grabbed me by the throat, but I backed away cackling. I was cackling.

A loud, musical melody filled the air. “What the hec- oh, it’s April,” Donnie tapped the icon on his wrist band, “you are conversing with-“

“DONNIE!” She screamed.

“Tis I.”

“I’VE GOT HUGE NEWS.”

“I am ecstatic,” Donnie spoke without a hint of inflection.

“I was,,, in the lab,,, all this,, wild stuff,, I stole,,, a professor's badge,,,and” April spoke between labored breaths. Was she running? “It’s crazy. I almost,,, forgot to call you.”

“Loud gasp.” He pressed his hand to his chest. “How dare you.”

“Hey April!” I reached over Donnie’s shoulder and tilted the screen toward me, before bolting away using Donnie as a backboard for a flip turn as Raph, yet again, tried to pound me.

“April,” Mikey appeared panicked, “send help! Raph is going to kill-“ Mikey’s words were drowned out as Donnie slowly pushed Mikey off of him and out of frame.

“Uh,,, hey boys,” April smiled a bit. “Should I,,, be worried?”

“Angelo’s got it under control,” Donnie said, looking back at, fists at the ready, side to side, boxing match me, Mikey with one arm out towards each of us, in a frantic state, and Mr. Rampaging Raph about to charge me.

“Oh we’re gonna be in so much trouble,” Mikey whined.

“See,” Donnie went back to April.

“Whatever you say. Listen,,,,I’m on my way over,,,I’ve got samples and video,,, This story is gonna blow the lid off Big Chem!”

“You got samples? Of a herbicidal deforestation bomb! Oh my shell, it’s finally happening. The day my two passions collide; Botany and explosives.”

“And it might,,,,land me my first gig,,, as a real journalist!” She jumped a little, “Down with the patriarchy, baby!” She lifted one arm up and the video view changed before she readjusted the camera, keeping both hands toward the screen.

“Are you calling from your laptop?” I asked, looking over Donnie’s shoulder, backing into him and away from Raph. Mikey clinged to the big guy’s arm, trying to drag him down very unsuccessfully. His whole body was wrapped around Raph’s arm. He looked like a helpless koala.

“Yeah,” April’s breath got heavier, “My phone broke outside the school.”

“My condolences,” Donnie said, “I shall have a replacement ready upon your arrival.”

“Really!? Thanks De.”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about it. Arrivederci,” Donnie went to end the call, I called out quickly.

“Don’t drop your laptop in the sewers! The rats will break it down for parts!” The call ended.

Donnie whacked me over the head.

“Ow.” I rubbed the spot.

“It’s ‘like a moth to a flame,’” Donnie corrected, turning toward his lab. Raph smirked, looking satisfied.

“Mikey,” Raph looked down, “get off me.”

“No!” Mikey shook his head, his eyes sealed shut.

“Miiikey,” Raph shook his arm up and down.

“Nooo,” Mikey yelled as his grip slipped and he went flying toward me, ducking into his shell. I slid back as he landed square in my chest, knocking me over. His legs popped out around my head, kicking me in the face.

“Has everyone had a turn causing Leo pain, or is there still a line?” I mumbled with a foot pressed to my cheek.

Raph sighed. “We’re not done talking about this, Leo. We still have a serious problem, whether you see it or not.”

“Yeah, yeah, your Raph chasm is becoming a real distraction to the team.” I stood up, dusting myself off.

Raph’s growl hummed through the air, but he managed to take a deep breath. “Meet in Donnie’s lab when April gets here. You can do that, right Leo?” Raph left the area in a huff.

I mimicked his command orders with my hands. Blah, blah, blah. “You can do that, right Leo? He’s so bossy. He can’t tell me what to do, I’m the leader now. Yeah. I can’t believe this-“ I walked over to my room, a massive hole torn straight through the train car. Comics and what little figurines survived scattered around. Sheesh, what a mess.

“Leo,” Mikey called, walking closer. Oh, not this again.

“Oh, mi hermanito, mind helping me patch this little hole up?” I charged away to find a rod, and he followed.

“Lee,” Mikey caught up, “that was a pretty heated fight. Do you, maybe, wanna talk about it?”

“That’s gonna be a no.”

“It always helps to get it off your chest.”

“Look, Mikey,” I put my hands on his shoulders, “you don’t need to worry about me and Raph, alright? We always work it out. In our own, unique, way. We’re brothers,” I shrugged, “we’ve got each other's shells.”

Mikey paused as I began to dig through some scrap metal. I was looking for something long enough to stretch across the tear in the train car, and maybe hang a curtain or blanket across. At least get a little privacy where I can.

“But-“ Mikey chimed in, “it hasn’t stopped yet. You guys have been at each other's throats for months. Ever since pops named you-“

“Hey, he’s just jealous because I’m a better leader than him.”

“That’s not true, Leo,” Mikey defended. It struck a nerve, “Raph did a great job when he was leader.” Mikey dug around in the scrap too, getting to my level. “If you're- nervous- about something, Raph would understand. You just need to talk to him.”

“Psh, I’m not nervous about anything. I’ve got this.” Even then it sounded like a lie. Mikey stared off, a little uneasy. This hadn’t gone the way he wanted it too. I hate seeing my brothers defeated. “I’ll talk to Raph,” I relented and Mikey cheered up.

“And you’ll work it out?” Mikey asked.

“I’ll work it out,” I shrugged it off, but a hard stare from Dr. Delicate Touch had me reconsider. “ I promise, okay?”

“Okay!” Mikey smiled. I’m terrible at keeping promises.

“Aha!” I lifted up a long metal rod, “I think this’ll do. Let’s go.”

“Alright, fearless leader,” Mikey laughed. Fearless, huh? “I’ll take this side,” Mikey suggested as we once again returned to the scene of the crime.

“Are you sure you can reach up there?”

“Hey, I’m not that short!” Mikey pouted with his still very baby looking face. So round. Mikey had always been very strong, and very talented, but he’d never been very tall. He struggled to get the rod up to Raph height. Luckily, he had a creative solution. He bounced around, on top of some boxes and railings and landed on top of the train car. “Hand it up to me,” Mikey said proudly.

“That’s one way to make yourself a bigger person.” He slid it into place, and an oversized old blue curtain was hung over the rod.

“Teamwork makes the dream work, baby,” Mikey yelled, jumping down in a series of flips and cartwheels

“Good as new,” I inspected our work, “we’re really starting to wear the new place down.”

“Pretty soon, it’ll feel just like home!” Mikey cheered.

A loud crash echoed through the tunnels. Me and Mikey raced toward it, and were met with a family reunion. “I thought I told you boys to be quiet!” Master Splinter yelled from the other room.

“Hey, y’all,” April waved from the floor amongst the tipped over and open boxes she had attempted to pass through. “Have these always been here?”

“Only since yesterday,” Raph went over and picked her out of the mess, “we moved some stuff around when Mikey and De found a foos-ball table in the dump.”

“Nasty.”

“Only mildly,” Donnie chimed in, “quite honestly, it was a steal. A true treasure amongst trash. And thoroughly cleaned since its discardment.”

“Now we can all take a turn defeating Donnie,” I remarked.

“Ignoring that,” Donnie groaned, “I believe we have prior arrangements regarding science! The lab is all prepped and ready, Pril.”

“And I got your samples right here,” April pulled out a glass tube filled with a mysterious glowy blue liquid.

“Pretty,” I said.

Mikey got up close to it, “Ooooooo what does it do?”

“Careful, it’s dangerous,” April pulled it away, “probably.”

“That is what we shall discover,” Donnie led the march to the lab, “Personally, I hope it’s deadly.”

“Not a good way to start, De.” I followed behind.

[becausebuckley]

Always up for encouraging words, let me know if you need other emojis :)

🪄 🪄 🪄 🪄 🪄

thank you, that's so kind <3 i'm pretty pleased with the progress i've made on these fics thanks to this ask game. i'm nearing the end of the asks i've received, but i'll keep the game up for a little longer, in case you or anyone else wants to send some more!

also fun fact, this is the first bit of this fic i've written in aaages. like, the version history of the doc tells me i haven't edited it since july last year. i can definitely tell that my fic writing habits have changed, because i like to work with a relatively detailed outline these days, and this one definitely does not have that lmao.

send me emojis and make me write!

🪄 - magic buck fic

Hen finds out on a Wednesday.

They’re halfway through a twenty-four hour shift. It had been normal, at first. Some medical calls, a small kitchen fire that was already extinguished when they arrived on the scene. Not quite a q-word shift, but close enough. 

Then they’d been called out for a cliff rescue. A car had swerved off the road, down the cliff, and was teetering on the edge of falling into a ravine, father and two kids still inside. Buck had been allowed to go down, Bobby manning the ropes. Sure, he’d done rescues like this before, but usually with Chimney next to him. This was the first time Buck was allowed to go down on his own. He’d practically glowed with pride when Bobby gave that order. He might still be on probation, but it feels like his team trusts him more and more each day.

Well. Trusted him more and more each day. Buck thinks he might have caused a bit of a setback there when he’d unclipped his harness and attached it to one of the kids instead so they could be rescued faster. Maybe.

[sweethibiscustea82]

can I ask about ur au? :33

of course!! All under the cut and stuff, all of this is just bits and pieces of stuff because there’s not a super clear like outline of events and stuff but here’s some basic thoughts and ideas and stuff lol. Uh warning its very long, very rambley and kind of just jumps from one thought to another sorry 😭

Okay so basically this isn’t a very nice au to Steven sadly (I do it out of love for the character 💗💗), when I first got back into Steven universe I kept rewatching the diamond days episodes and I really enjoyed them. So basically this au is called diamond years, where Steven ends up staying for a very long time (about I wanna say year and a half) on home world pretending to be pink diamond so that he can change the diamonds ways.

This takes a while though, he’s failed again and again at trying to talk to white, so end he focuses on trying to change blue and yellow’s minds first, on not hurting defenceless planets and trying to stand up to white (they never take him up on standing up to white until about the last year). At first he is completely put off and ignored just like in the show but the longer he stays there the more they begin to listen to him. But despite how well Steven is doing at changing homeworld from the inside, it’s been taking a toll on him.

He finds himself questioning his identity more than ever before, and it really stresses him out. He also feels bad for bringing the gems into this plan with him, he feels like he’s forced them back into their homeworld lives and it makes him feel horribly guilty a lot of the time. In my head it’s like all of this fighting in the rebellion just to end back up here serving diamonds and it sort of starts to make Steven feel like a disgusting person. Like pearl doesn’t belong to him and amethyst shouldn’t have to wear limb inhancers but like whenever he like debates it with blue or yellow they chastise him.

I think eventually he’s permitted to go visit beach city, as a gift for his good behaviour since he came back and it makes him so happy that he finally gets to be Steven again, but whenever he’s there the moments are sort of bittersweet because he knows that if he messes up at all on homeworld, he might lose getting to see his friends on earth. So he throws himself even more into the pink diamond role.

When the first year finally passes and he’s made a significant amount of progress (not enough in his mind) he’s never Steven in public. Only when no one else but his family is around does he consider himself actually Steven, yellow got on him about his pearl calling him Steven still after a year of being on home world officially. They offer to help like recondition her but he refuse’s absolutely. So now pearl calls him pink in public, which sets it in stone in his mind that oh right now I’m not Steven.

When Steven turns 16, is when he not only updates his pink diamond outfit to something newer and slightly different, but his eyes look like pinks and it doesn’t go away even after he stops living on homeworld. Pearl is the first one to notice it and tell him and he’s horrified. The next days when some of the other gems starts to see his eyes, he can tell they’re a little shocked, a little uncomfortable. None of them bring it up besides amethyst who’s like woah cool eyes Steven cause she’s trying to be jokey. It doesn’t work but he laughs.

All this time he’s seen white maybe a dozen times and she’s barely even talked to him. He’s making changes, blue and yellow are more merciful but it’s still not enough. So around the end of the second year blue and yellow finally actually help him go confront white, and he has relief all of this all of this horrible pain and issues and pink diamond stuff wasn’t for nothing and so when they go confront her it starts the yk white diamond confrontation in the show except she’s like oh starlight you’ve been doing so good, why did you have to mess it up now. And this is the first time in so long that he’s protested about being pink, he’s Steven and he gets punished for it with white pulling his gem out to prove that pinks still there and that he isn’t.

It plays out mostly the same as the actual show except what happened in like the third episode of the diamond days arc, happened 2 years after the first episode of the diamond days arc lol.

And so now after that huge fight stuff he’s free, he’s Steven. But he still has the lingering feelings of being pink for so long. When he steps into his house for the first time he doesn’t even know what to do really. He hasn’t seen some of his favourite foods besides the things Connie sneaks in for him, he hasn’t watched tv in so long. he hasn’t seen almost all of his friends on earth. They all celebrate him coming back, he’s fixed everything but why does he still feel so just empty, like he’s living someone else’s life. It’s horrible, that’s how he felt when he first had to act like pink and now he feels like that for his own life.

His friends tell him he doesn’t have to act so formal around them when they’re out in public. People don’t greet him by saluting their diamond. And he doesn’t miss it at all, he’s happy that he’s finally home but it takes so long for him to get used to being himself again.

Anyways sorry for like dumping a pile of random thoughts on you lol, I hope you find it good. I don’t know how good the ideas are at all, it just started from my fascination with characters pretending to be someone and then the lines blurring between them and the person they’re impersonating

oh and uh here’s an official reference for DY!Steven

[euclideanstars]

Euclidean Stars AU

Introduction

Euclidean Stars is a Sun and Moon Show alternate universe with primarily an alpha/beta/omega (aka omegaverse) twist. It's also a little bit of a fix-it AU, though I'll be playing fast and loose with the timeline, most major plot events will be the same, and if not they'll be covered in a fic.

Euclidean Stars is a VERY NSFW (not safe for work) story. It is primarily smut and relationship drama with some fun story sprinkled in there. So, it is only intended for 18+ audiences. If you're under 18, I can't stop you from consuming any content for it (and I'd be a huge hypocrite if I tried since I read plenty of nsfw content as a teen) but I ask that you respect the fact that I am a 30+ year old man and don't engage with me about it. If you do, I will block you.

This AU has no 'main character', everyone will get their own stories, though some will get more focus than others (mostly because I absolutely play favorites lmao). The characters that could potentially be considered 'main' at this point are Eclipse, Sun, and Solar, but that's just because all of them currently have at least two fics planned that center around them.

The AU will be comprised of multiple fics in a collection on Ao3, there is currently only 1 installment, and I will warn you all, my writing motivation is extremely fickle so updates will be unpredictable, but eventually I will be adding more. I already have a few stories outlined.

This AU is incredibly self-indulgent and I'm making it simply because I want to lol AKA it's all just for fun.

-----α-β-Ω-----

WARNINGS

This AU includes: - Rape/non-con - Attempted rape/non-con - Robot incest - Forced pregnancy - Miscarriage/Abortion - Oviposition - Physical violence - Domestic abuse - Abuse - Kidnapping - Rebooting/death of major characters - Torture - (This list subject to change as the story progresses)

If any of these topics bother you, I suggest you steer clear. Of course each individual fic will be tagged as needed and not all warnings will apply to all of them, so read at your own discretion.

-----α-β-Ω-----

Current Installments

Restraint Was Never Their Forte

-----α-β-Ω-----

Current character list

Omegas: - Sun - Eclipse - Jack - Nix (Moonrise) - Flora (Sunflower)

Alphas: - Nexus (New Moon) - Solar - Lunar - Kill Code - Bloodmoon - Moon (Old Moon) - Soleil (Dark Sun) - Arcturus (Sundrop) - Carnage (Kill Code) - Monty

Betas: - Solar Flare - Earth - Fenrir (Lune)

Other: - Equinox (Ruin) - Dazzle

Some basic explanations for characters that will be expanded upon in the AU: Nix/Moonrise is the Moon from Solar's dimension Arcturus/Sundrop is the Sun from Solar's dimension Carnage is the Kill Code from Solar's dimension

Flora/Sunflower is the Sun from the 'Lonely Sun' dimension, aka the dimension where Moon never existed

Fenrir/Lune is the Moon from Soleil/Dark Sun's dimension

Equinox is the new name I'm giving Ruin because the idea of just calling him Ruin after learning how he got that name hurts my heart, so he gets a new name lol Equinox is also both an alpha and an omega. It'll be explained more in other posts as well as the story itself, but he's a mix of the two and can go into both heats and ruts.

Dazzle is a child who hasn't hit puberty so she doesn't have a designation yet.

Characters that may show up in the future: - Lord Eclipse - Servant Sun - Puppet - Blood Solar - Horror Trio - Moon Killer Sun - Lord Lunar - Servant Eclipse - Fem Sun - Fem Moon

-----α-β-Ω-----

Quick 'Meet the Author'

Hey there, I'm the creator and author of the AU Euclidean Stars AaronAmpora! You can call me Aaron. I'm a 31 year old trans-masc demiboy, I'm polysexual with a strong lean towards masculinity, and I might be aromantic?? Still not 100% sure on that one lmao

I've been writing for many years, I think the first fic I can remember writing was back when I was around 14, it was a SasuNaru smut fic and I wrote it in my notebooks at school. XD I've also been drawing since before I can remember. I tend to lean more towards animals than people/humanoids, but being in the Sun and Moon fandom for the last few years, I've slowly gotten a hold of more humanoid anatomy, and I'm still improving!

I'm officially diagnosed with ADHD and unofficially diagnosed with autism, and while I'm medicated now, my ability to focus on things like writing and drawing still comes and goes with the whims of my brain. So I often go through droughts of creativity and instead focus on other things, like minecraft or irl craft projects.

I'm generally friendly and love chatting with people, but I struggle to hold conversation sometimes, so if I ever don't reply, please don't be offended, I just suck at socializing lol.

-----α-β-Ω-----

And I think that's all for now! I'm happy to answer questions, so feel free to shoot some my way.

Also, I'm working on character designs/profiles right now, so hopefully I'll be able to start posting those before too long.

[pumpkin-spike18]

✨Weekly Progress 2024 #18-21✨

oh... shit, it's been a month since the last update huh 💦

Well, I hope it's very obvious why that is! In the few weeks before the announcement, I was preparing marketing posts and promo arts so I didn't want to ruin the surprise via a devlog!

Weekly Progress #18

Programmed SYVNH gallery

Made a programming to do list

Updated variables

[Fan project] Planning

Tested SYVNH main game, Side B

Programmed cheat codes

Programmed choice jumping

Made marketing plan and sketches

Updated SYVNH Guide

Drafted Post Mortem

Refined countdown sketches

(SYVNH as a whole project was finished at this point)

Weekly Progress #19

Fin 4 Promo art

Generated 14 SFB BGs

Tested SFB shading methods

Rendered Avia SFB sprite

Play tested for Canvas Menagerie

Scheduled SYVNH announcements and promo posts

Rendered Raven SFB base sprite

Wrote 981 words for KHP

(SYVNH full game release announcement was made at this point)

Weekly Progress #20

Rendered Raven SFB sprite

[Fan Project] flat color (x4)

Worked on [BL RPG] world building & outline

Sketched [BL RPG] chibis

Revised SYVNH Guide/Post Mortem

Sketched [BL RPG] faces

Weekly Progress #21

Drafted SYVNH game page updates

Finished Dove SFB sprite

Evaluated SFB fight scenes

Finished 4/4 [fan project] illustrations

Started P^3 designs

Released SYVNH!! 🎉🎉🎉

I'm sure everyone knows with how often I've been saying it, buuuut!!

The full version of Stuck in a Yandere Visual Novel...HELP!! is now released and available to play for free!!

Itch is currently down for me so I hope that link I copied from previous posts will work once it goes back up.

At 2.5 years of work, this has been my longest creative project yet. I think I've said everything I could in the post-mortem for the project. It has been a huge mountain for me to climb and I'm glad I finally got through it. A lot of things have changed since I started working on this project, some good, some bad, most of which I can't really discuss. But it is over and I am proud of myself for it.

I'm also really relieved that folks have been enjoying the ending! I was definitely very worried that I did not drop enough hints and it would come way too out of left field.

So once again, thank you everyone for giving my project a chance and sticking with me for 2.5 years to reach the ending. Thank you so much!! 🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️ This is more than I've ever dreamed for and I hope I can continue to bring good stories for folks to enjoy!

A Sky of Falling Birds

Once I was done with SYVNH, I got to work on my next big project because I can't sit still. I haven't a marketing plan for SFB yet. It's a very different story and vibe from SYVNH. I think the only similarity are the length of the main character's bangs.

I'm tentatively aiming to release SFB for BAF VN Jam.

(Ad break!

Do you like shounen manga?? Do you like making VNs?? Consider joining Battle Action Fantasy Visual Novel Jam 2024! We're hosting a game jam focused on action stories with our beloved shounen tropes!! Join today!!)

Oh god that was terrible, don't put me on the spot like that, me.

Anyways, A Sky of Falling Birds is a yuri-ish visual novel about depression, finding a will to live, and the end of the world.

It's yuri-ish because you have two "love interests" who aren't lovey-dovey to you at all. In fact, one of them might murder you before the game ends. The main portion of the script has been finished at about 20k+ words and the sprites are done. It's time I made a proper roadmap for creation of this VN('s demo).

(Oh, what's that? Does one of their silhouette look familiar? I wonder...)

A Variety of Unnamed BL Projects

+ a named not-BL project

Although SFB is closer to being finished, I can't help but be tempted by these new ideas I have... and start designing for them.

Last time I talked about P^3, I finished the outline. There is still no title. But I worked on some potential designs for the MC and the two LIs.

I am both unhappy and un-done with LI2's outfit. They're actually a bit plain compared to my other designs, but this story's a historical (Victorian) fantasy and only LI2 is close to the upper crust of society that would wear flowing dress... shirts with lots of ribbons.

I'm still working on how to best summarize this story. But perhaps it's a little more "what would you do for family" than love story.

The other BL project, which I've named [BL RPG] is a story set in a modern fantasy society. There is turn based gameplay for this project. I had their designs finished a while back, but I finally put colors to the remainder of the cast for Part 1.

(Oh, this will be a long one, my friends...)

The outline isn't done yet.

This is a story about kissing boys, taming punks, and maybe over throwing the government.

The last of my "projects I worked on mindlessly now that SYVNH is done" I worked on this past... month is Killer Hiding Place (KHP). This is the next entry into the Kill Series and something I had outlined since last year. I kept trying to start writing it, but I keep running into trouble on how I want to tell the story. I originally intended to do another manga-esque format like that of Exorcist Killing Lie, but this protagonist tends to monologue a lot, making it difficult to put in manga form.

Other...!

I finished 4 images for a fan project, and I'm still behind on another part of that project 😢 That'll be my focus for this week...

I also did some playtesting for @arimiadev's upcoming BL visual novel Canvas Menagerie!! It's a soft and comfy SoL BL story about the struggles of being an actor.

It also has one of the best lines I've ever read in a visual novel.

You can play the Canvas Menagerie demo for free on itch!

Whew! That was a long one!

But that's all the info I got for this... month. Look forward to... next week...??? Let's go with the positive expectation that I will be able to make weekly devlogs again ahaha...

Bye-bye, Pumpkin out!

[baggebythesea]

Tips for outlining and plotting?

That is such a good question. The short answer is that I still figure it out myself, but here are some ideas.

Wow, my answer turned out to be a bit meandering. Here is an TLDR

Outlines are a tool for structuring your plotting. If any part of the outlining turns out to be too much work, skip it

There is huge individual variation in how writers work with this from "not at all" to "plots the story extensively before writing starts". Figure out what works for you.

Start as simple as you can and work from there

Think in terms of story progression and narrative arc. What do you want to tell the readers, and why?

Never hesitates to change your outline if it no longer serves your story needs.

First and most important - writer's have very different approaches to plotting, so you need to figure out what works for you and discard everything else. This is true for all writing, but it seems to be even more true when it comes to how to structure the story. Sometimes we talk about Explores and Planners (which, like all dichotomies, might be helpful in some context but never captures the whole truth)

Explorers Explorers are writers who like to figure it all out on the fly. Some have some kind of plan, some go in completely blind. I have met writer's who utterly refuse to think of the story further than they have written it, in fear of "spoiling" themselves and thus losing motivation. I've also met writer's who happily follow any new idea that pops into their head and have no problem with the story meandering to the subplot of the day. Some explorers writes in strictly chronological order, some jumps between parts of the story.

Planners Planners like to plan. Some are happy with a rough outline of chapter titles, other want a complete bullet list of plot points and a diagram of the dramatic curve for each chapters. Sometimes this sidetracks into endless worldbuilding, but sometimes it focuses on the story.

The trouble for explorers is to know what to include and not to include and the trouble for planners is to know when to stop planning and start writing. Often writers cycle between the stages - make a rough outline, write a bit, change the outline and so on, leaning more towards the one or the other process depending on their own temperament.

What is the story? For me, this is the central question - what is the central idea your story is built around. It can be a trope description. "Enemies to lovers while trapped on a monster island." It can be setting. "Airship pirates". It can be characters "Bratty princess meets punk cat". It can be genra, it can be mood or a lot of other things. But somewhere is a central idea you build around, and somewhere throughout the writing process you discover what that is. The central idea of the story is where you'll find the emotional climax, the dramatic arc. The moment when the readers tense in fear or sigh in relief. And since there is usually a lot of stuff going on, it helps to know where the focus is. Is the story, when it comes down to it, truly about stopping the space dictator or is it about getting the girl? Or is it perhaps about growing the sort of person who can deal with that

Getting started So, it might be helpful if you have a vague idea of where you fall on the Explorer-Planner spectrum and have some sort of idea of what the central idea of your story is. All that said, here are some more specific tools for outlining and plotting. Again, this is not a one-size-fits-all. Pick and chose what suits you. Also, only the most ardent planners do everything below before they actually start writing, so go between writing and outlining as works best for you.

THAT scene You know the one, the one that popped into your head as soon as you thought of the idea. The tearful drama. The badass moment. That one line that makes the readers go 'ooooooh!'. Write that. Doesn't matter that it comes towards the end of the story and you have no idea of the buildup. Write it, you can fix it later. This IS the center of your story (at leat for now), the one you build from.

First outline Write the most bare-bone but complete outline you possibly could, as a bullet point list. Something like

Character A and B are friends(?) in an evil army

Character A gets a call to adventure and leaves Character B behind.

They fight like bitter enemies but never get over their attraction

They reconcile and kick the butt of some space jerk or something (also kissing!!!)

Plot your scenes Now add the scenes you really want in there. Not the scenes you feel the story needs, but the scenes you are itching to write. Put them in proper order and expand the outline as needed.

Add a list of elements This is very straight forward. Just a few bullet points lists. Characters. Settings. Themes. World building elements. Just an inventory of your toolbox. Now, sometimes you want to go overboard with character sheets and concept art. Only do this if you know it actually works for you, otherwise you'll just get lost in worldbuilding rather than storytelling (now, if that's what you WANT to do - go nuts, and sometimes you really should do that instead of trying to press it into the framework of writing a story. Just know what you are doing).

Connect your scenes For each of your scenes above, ask yourself the following questions: What does this scene need to work in terms of backstory or buildup. What characters need to be introduced? What worldbuilding need to be introduced? Add to your lists of elements. If you think of new cool scenes, add them.

Write a synopsis At this point, you probably have a decend idea of what you want the story to be about. Write it down in a few sentences. Find someone to gush about your story with. Figure out for yourself what parts you are most excited about.

Figure out the end (NOTE! A lot of writers only figure this part out long into the writing process, so skip this part if you want to. Also, even if you figure out an ending, don't get too attached to it, it might end). This is less about "what's the last chapter about" and more "what is the climactic end to the story". Where are you going? How do you, in fact, know that you are finished? Add it to your outline and update your list of elements.

Figure out the start Where is your jumping-in-point of the story. Do you already have a cool jumping-on-point in mind? Who is your point-of-view-character? Where does the story start for them? Do you have a part of the setting you really want to show off? Is there a part of the lore or central story you really want to introduce. Don't overthink it at this point. You'll figure it out if you haven't already. If you can't think of THE starting point, just pick ONE starting point. Like, Star Wars could just as well have started at the canteena with Han Solo as in space with Leia or with Luke on the farm thinking deep thoughts about power convertors. Add your start point to the outline and update your list of elements.

Plot your dramatic curve This sounds very formulaic, and for some writers it really helps to plot your outline after the a prescribed act structure, but I'd start with just going on gut feeling. Telll your story out loud from your outline. Does it feel right? Does it feel like something is missing. Are some parts rushed? Do some parts drag? What is missing? Find a friend to gush with. Modify your outline.

Too long or too short? This is my own biasis talking, but as a rule I think most stories can be shorter. If you feel the need to fill out a chapter you don't really care about because "it should be there", see what happens if you cut it and tell those plot points in dialoge in a later chapter or something. At the very least, don't look at your outline and stress about its missing stuff. Go back and update it during the writing process if (when) you figure out something you absolutely want to include.

Nested plots? What about parts of the story, like different acts, or parts of a journey? A long enough story might be useful to divide into story arcs. This is very clear in a road movie. First we go to Bree and then to Rivendell and then to Moria and then to Lothlorien and then to… My advice is to make an outline for the entire story so you have any clue of the the whole thing, and then a separate outline for the first arc and work from there. Again, it depends a lot on if you prefer to write chronologically or jump between parts of the story.

My method for plotting and outlining Since the subject is so huge, and with so much variation, a lot of the above is pretty vague. So to compensate, here is my method. It may or may not fit for you.

Plotting and outlining of a short story Most of the time I have a pretty good idea of where I want to go from the idea alone. Do I want two specific characters to do kissy-time? Do I want a specific vibe ("steampunk winter cozyness")? Do I want a specific gena/plot? ("high fantasy locked room mystery"). The outline can then be a three bullet point list: Beginning - Dramatic Climax - End (Inspection of scene of crime - must get to witness before murderer strikes again - parlour scene) or two bulletpoint list: Conflict-Resolution ("There's ony one bed - argument reveals mutual attraction, they decide to share"). Most of the time, I don't need a formal outline but simply dot down some notes in chronological order in my document

Plotting and outlining of a long story I usually use the chapter titles as my bullet points. I write in scrivner, so it's easy to have one document for each chapter and seem them in order in the margin. So, my working chapter titles read like a victorian novel.

Chapter 1 - where the protagonists first meet

Chapter 2 - where we get some backstory

Chapter 3 - Where the call to adventure occurs Apart from this, I have a few separate documents with lists of characters, places to visit, an idea of the dramatic arc and so on. I go back and forth betwen writing and plotting, so I constantly update my chapter list.

The hardest part for me is to decide how much screentime I want to spend on each arc. Like, in my current story the big emotional climax is about two thirds into the story, but there is a lot of plot to wrap up afterwards and I worry it will be too much (but then I remember that Tolkien put all of the the scouring of the Shire after the ring was destroyed, and I feel better about it).

Wow, yeah, that was a whole lot of words to say "I dunno, it depends 🤷". Hopefully you got something useful from it.

What are your favourite tips for outlining and plotting?

[zero-body]

1/100 days of productivity

Hello everyone! Finally decided to properly do the studyblr blog thing and try out 100 days of productivity.

It's the start of a new semester for me, and I wanted to try out posting about it for a change to keep myself accountable.

Despite having only a weekend off between this semester and last, I can't wait to start the new one.

For this semester, roughly outlined by the 100 days, I need to step my game up a bit. I've been falling behind my peers for a while now, being in a constant state of burnout for more or less two years, but it's finally starting to lessen. So this is my checklist of major things to get done this time around:

pass my second year subjects - I've been dragging a lot of them behind me for a while now, and have really struggled with them, but im making progress and am finally trying out this studying regularly thing

pass my third year electives - obvious, I wanna be a regular student

start enjoying college again - I've been stuck in a loop of self hate for a while so I'm trying out a couple of new things this time around

finally get my driver's licence - halfway there, just got the first aid and a couple of hours of driving to go through

And so, here's my checklist to get there:

get my schedule in order - this one is the main one and controlling all the others, the only way to stay accountable is to have something to follow

stop neglecting basic care of physical health - start exercising again, it's been a long while since I've done that, so far my plan is to run a couple times a week, but that might change to something else based on my schedule

get my sleep under control - I always sacrifice it when studying, gotta get that sorted out

So, what have I done today?

attended two classes, spent most of my day on that

asked one of the professors for class rules since I've joined it halfway through and the rules have changed this year

tried making a class schedule - the college still didn't publish it so we're going in blind, the first week is always rough

hung out with my partner! - its their last day in town for a while so we're making the most of it (playing retro Nintendo games together)

also sorry for no pictures today for the first day, it was a long and hectic one

[sanddusted-wisteria]

An update on my fics

hey wow it's been 4 months

Nearly six months on both longfics lmao. I've been busy and will continue to be busy, unfortunately. Grad school is a different beast entirely to undergrad (be careful taking 3 grad classes in a semester. 2 heavy ones can really make you regret it), I need to prepare for job interviews and PhD program applications, and this summer I've been wrangling an internship and research work.

Even so tho, my MTAS brainrot is far from dead. It takes a lot of time and effort, but I still have a lot I want to do with the My Time verse and my OCs, both art and fic. So here's a quick update on where I am and what the plan is with my fics and fic series going forward, and some previews of what I have so far (on a separate post bc this one's already too long lmao)!

TL;DR: busy, but still writing! WIP snippets on the next post.

[Long post and rambling belowwwwww]

Earth and Sky

Currently my primary focus. E&S has evolved a TON since I decided to rewrite it. How much? Well...

[Drafting = first draft is in progress; Revising = draft is plot-complete, set aside for future editing passes]

In fact, I haven't even outlined the ending chapters since I recently had a change of heart in the kind of resolution I wanted. I got stuck on it enough that I decided to forego outlining anything for now and playing that one more by ear. I think any more time I spend tweaking these outlines might put me off this fic altogether :P

As someone that started writing with nameless/generic builders, writing for an OC is a different kind of challenge. I'm working to try and strike a good balance of focus on Wis vs Qi vs them together, and making Wis a very human, if not enjoyable character. Still, I think that this is one of those projects that if I can get right, it will be VERY right. It'll just take a bit to get there first :>

At minimum, I'll wait until most if not all of the chapters in the first third/quarter are done (chapters 1-16) to start posting, though hopefully I'll also have a solid idea for how some of the later chapters will go as well. Those are the really (internal) conflict-heavy chapters and I want to make sure it won't come out as shallow :P But I am excited to show you what I've got cooking!

A Cosmic Garden

This is the broader series for Wis and Qi. E&S will be the biggest fic, but it only goes up to a little beyond MTAS's Act 2. Beyond that, my plan is to write some side stories that go into Wis's Lore(tm), namely her origins as an Old World clone and her interactions with other Wis clones around the Alliance.

Why side stories? Well, a) any plot involving Wis as a clone is relatively spread out across the timeline of MTAS's story, since it's actually not that closely tied to her "main" storyline (being the first clone I made when the clone story was just kind of just a bullet point on their lore descriptions, it's less involved), b) it therefore doesn't really affect the story of how she and Qi get together, and c) I know that people might be far more interested in just the romance story with Qi (which is totally okay! I understand, I'm pretty much in the same camp with OC-centric stories a lot :P)

As for the equivalent of MTAS's Act 3, this won't be one cohesive fic, but a small series of smaller stories, since I don't really have too many ideas for a fully fleshed out telling of Act 3 that doesn't just walk through the main missions without much deviating from that. Some of those stories include:

A series of conversations between Qi and Miguel post Act 2

A Nia/Mi-an story

A silly little oneshot of Qi and Rosie interacting (tentative)

The original idea that Strangeness and Charm sprouted from; Wis and Qi conducting a methodical study on non-sexual intimacy (tentative)

The finale of the MTAS main story

A Builder, a Researcher, and a Rooftop

Currently on pause. For now, there's just too much OC brainrot for fics and on OTAS that I just need to get out. Don't worry! I'm absolutely not abandoning this one. I just can only really focus on one big project at a time lol. We're close to the end of this story's act 2, though not much of the remainder is written. In fact, chapter 34 is already done, but not chapter 33, so I can't quite post it yet. I think after I get the first part of E&S done (or I suppose whenever I feel like picking it up), I'll switch gears to at least get to the end of Act 2. Act 3 will need some reevaluation...I've hemmed and hawed over it forever, but I do want to finalize the plot for that one, and also potentially get started on that as well.

Others

To the...5 people that read my Grace/Wis miniseries, I really do still want to get that done a;sdlasdralsdrkj It's been hard since my thoughts on how Grace and Wis interact after Act 2 have changed a lot. But even so, I hate to leave it hanging there, so I've started working on it again. It's already outlined, I just need to get it filled in.

Someday I should come back to Quiet Moments in Sandrock... My art's gotten a ton better since then and there's a few ideas I still have leftover that I never got to. Unfortunately I need to make room for it somewhere in the 13438525 other art ideas I have that I can only do like 1 per week at MOST asdlrkasdasdrjksdrj

Sitting on the back burner forever in my writing folder is a fusion of Junji Ito's Uzumaki and MTAS... An MTAS version of Uzumaki's story works SURPRISINGLY well, and Wis and Qi I think make for stronger protagonists in this setting than Kirie and Shuichi in theirs if I do say so myself lol. It's fully outlined and everything, but that's gonna forever be on the back burner until either my longfics get done or I figure out how to write horror, whichever comes first 😂

So all in all...still cooking! Thank you if you read all this, and thank you for your patience, especially if you've been closely following any of my in progress fics. Hopefully once the interview and application cycle is out of the way this fall, I'll have more brain capacity to really plug away at all these and share with you all! :>

[another-lost-mc]

Hiii, I’m new to your page and I’m already obsessed with your work. I love how you write the characters and I absolutely love your O/Cs. I was just wondering if you ever planned on continuing your O/C’s stories? Specifically Feathered Friends and A Roll of the Dice.

Feel free to totally ignore this, I was just curious and I’m absolutely feral for Karasu!!

I'm so glad you enjoy my writing and the OCs. <3

I don't mind talking about upcoming plans for the OCs' stories so I'm happy you asked!

The next few chapters of Karasu's story are outlined. Part Four involves MC's tentative pact with Mammon and how that affects their developing relationship with Karasu. It goes into a bit of Karasu's backstory with Mammon and some insight into Karasu's opinions of pacts in general. I play a bit fast and loose with the canon story and pact order after that. I've mentioned this before, but Levi's pact is a long way off. That being said, the Dogi Maji game shenanigans in Lesson 10 becomes a critical turning point in their relationship progression. 👀

Karasu's Nightbringer story is being re-written now that I have the entire past plot to work with. I'm leaving the existing ficlets as they are since I wrote them for fun and like them as their own standalone thing. I do have an outline in the works that follows the NB canon right up to Lesson 40. It's going to be a longer one-shot rather than a multi-chapter fic.

The outline for Azra's entire S1 AU is practically done. It focuses less on canon events and more on the significant milestones in their relationship while MC is in the Devildom. I thought about re-writing Part Two's premise but now I'm not sure if I want to do that either. The original idea was a bit corny but also hilarious? I might keep it the way it is.

And since I'm already talking about OC stuff, let's cover the others too:

I have some brief ideas outlined for Zee's AU but nothing post-ready yet, which is why I'm trying to include him in the multi-character OC posts so he can still get some love. There are certain tropes/scenarios I haven't written about for other characters public sex period sex that apply to Zee, so at least I have some stuff to write about in the meantime.

I have the first part of Tenebris's AU outlined, but it needs some tweaking to reflect additions/changes I've made to his character and story (I originally wrote that outline like, a year ago). His SFW/NSFW Alphabets are in the works too.

Most of my focus for Metatron lately has been fleshing out his past and current standing in the Celestial Realm. I've had a lot of fun writing about his volatile history with Azra and how that will eventually tie into whatever present-day AU I write for him. In the meantime, he'll pop up in some of the Celestial Realm-based writing (he's already made a couple cameos and he's very good at making the other angels jealous lol).

[lskamil27]

what was your inspiration to create your game? how was the creation process?

all the best, and good luck with the game! :D

OOO I CAN DEFINITELY ANSWER THIS!!

My inspiration for Weeping Rosemary was? a bit varied throughout it's creation, since I had first conceptualized it in 2018. I don't recall what led me to it, but I remember first creating Ophelia and drawing her around this time.

Weeping Rosemary was originally a webcomic series, since it was what I knew best and what was easier for me around this time, even though I always imagined it as a game in my heart. However, uni came along and made me too busy to continue it - which, to be honest, might have been a blessing in disguise LMAO

The story of Weeping Rosemary was... not well written at all. Coming out of the hands of a teen who's main consumption of media was edgy horror manga, or really outdated harem anime; the writing of it was so juvenile and cringe ( and not in a 'but free' way! )

As I got older, and my interests expanded, as well as my own growth within myself - it affected a lot of how Weeping Rosemary has changed and developed.

Now, for what inspired - a lot of it is the gothic! And not gothic as in like, the fashion & makeup, etc. ( though I still like these elements a lot ); but the books of gothic novellas! The books that mainly inspired me being:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

And then of course, movies such as Crimson Peak, directed by Guillermo del Toro, and the series Penny Dreadful. They are other media I like as well that have inspired me, but I can't comment solidly as I only know them from an outside POV ( for now ), like Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, and Bram Stoker's Dracula, for example.

I really like sensual ( sexy? ) horror, that does a nice balance of blending in elements of sexuality with terror - and I feel that gothic novellas do a nice balance of this; which is what I plan ( and hopefully succeed ) in with Weeping Rosemary's full game. It's also why WR's horror is not, like, a loud jumpscare horror, moreso than a subtle horror.

As for the creation process - The game production had commenced around February of this year, as it was my final semester as a art student. I had to do a thesis and all I knew was that I realllllly wanted to make a game, but I was unsure of what. I decided to revise and redo Weeping Rosemary, my webcomic, because I felt confident that I could not only give it the writing it deserved, but make into the game I always imagined!

My dear friend & classmate had the program, and she gave me hers, and so I got to work! Weeping Rosemary became my thesis, and I had completed the demo game around?? April 30th?

I'll show in the images below, but I had done a lot of writing; around almost 30 pages of script writing and 5 page outline to hand to my professor so he could see my plan. And then a lot of thumbnail planning and art to make for the CG and sprites! As well as see what art style would suit the game best.

Some progress shots, to show the general gist: