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joffyworld · 3 months ago

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Happy Joffy Day!

Today marks a day of tremendous change here at JoffyWorld! To start, it's my birthday! I am officially 21, which is apparently a milestone to most people? Weird!

As a celebration, I've got a few things lined up for you all! First and foremost, I will be launching 4, that's right 4, new blogs each with a distinct theme or purpose! I also have what I have coined a "Wall of Mutual Appreciation" which you'll see later in the day, as well as a competition to announce with (albeit sort of small) cash prizes!

So, read on if you're interested!

The New Blogs:

@joffykingdom

This blog exists specifically to house my personal writing! This is where my poems and anthologies (other than my COTL au, more on that later) will be kept from now on! I've realised my poetry has always kind of gotten buried under stuff. Hopefully, this will remedy that! So, if you like my more personal poems, head on over!

@joffycourt

This is the blog I'm most excited about! This is a group project I've been working on for a while with some friends I hold dear! This blog will be a group-run blog designed to spread joy through reblogs, comments and posts just as I do here on JoffyWorld, but on a grander scale! I've seen, and been told personally by many, just how uplifting and helpful my time here has been, and I want to continue that going forward! So, I've gathered some of my most joyful friends, and we've decided to try and spread it even more together! Joining me there so far as the newest Joffy's of the court will be @loullipopx, @bash-js, @yotomazu and @littleperson404! Hopefully, this will only keep growing in time to help me spread the joy I feel from everyone even further! Only time will tell :D

@joffydungeon

This will become the new home for my NSFW reblogs, the more risqué or deranged posts. Basically, in the most simple way, this will be the 18+ blog from now on. Minors DNI, adults more than welcome!

@cult-of-the-anthology

Finally, this blog will be the home of my COTL au and it's respective series! I have plans to do side-by-side series all based within the same au, all told through alternative storytelling such as poetry, songs and whatnot, the type of stuff you've already possibly seen from my au's Ballad of the Bishops Series so far! If you want to keep up with the au, here's the place to do it!

The Wall of Mutual Appreciation:

My aim with this is to help spread one long list of appreciation for all the friends I've made here so far and help spread them with what audience I've collected so far. Each person I'm mutuals with will have a tagged entry into the wall, with a brief explanation of what I find so riveting about their specific artworks and skills! I thought it'd be a fun way to give back a little, and also possibly promote people a tiny bit! Of course, if you're uncomfortable with being on it and see yourself get tagged, let me know and I'll take your name down immediately, no questions asked! It's supposed to be a nice, fun thing, no negativity involved!

And now, the contest!

The Contest:

I will be hosting a writing contest! Cash prizes will be awarded (preferably through Ko-Fi, although PayPal can also be done) to the top three places at the end of the contest! The prizes are: £15 for 1st place, £10 for 2nd and £5 for 3rd, or their local equivalent in your own currencies!

The prompt will be announced by the 15th, and all formats of writing are welcome! I would, however, encourage everyone to try their hand at poetry! I know it's not a popular medium and other forms are welcome of course, but I'd like personally to see people try their hand at something new (and of course, since I'm the poetry guy in my friend groups lmao). I won't however be awarding "bonus points" for poems versus long-form writing for example, all pieces will be judged fairly!

... And that's all!

Thank you so much for everything you've all given me over my time here. It's not even been a year and we're already approaching 300 friends gathered! It's a wonder every day I wake up and talk to you all or even just see what you've been up to. You're all wonderful and I'm honoured to have gotten to know you.

Thank you, you have my endless loyalty, love and support.

Good luck and take care of yourselves,

The Original Joffy™

#JoffyAnnouncements #Joffy Day™

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zluckychap · 8 days ago

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"dunk tank" behind the scenes

part 2: the writing & art

can't start drawing the comic without thumbnails!

anyway

i started writing this thing in february at the same time as For Science Part 2. this comic was originally going to be called For Science Part 3, since it has the same 4th-wall-breaking elements as that series. but navi’s not in it, and it’s not really a continuation of 1 and 2, so i wanted to think of something else (cont)

i was gonna call it “the big update” or something based on whatever the update name turned out to be (at the time i didn’t know it was called “worth the wait”) but both of those still seemed too on-the-nose.

but then, the thoughts of the fandom being so entertained by painter’s demise got me envisioning the poor guy stuck in a carnival dunk tank, forever suffering by our hands in our unending quest for video game completion. how morbid is that

the way we so casually talk about his upcoming demise is in a way that would freak anyone out if it was about THEIR death. we talk about it so innocently and it's arguably creepier than going “MUAHAHA!! HE’S GONNA DIE SOON!!”

it's interesting that until now, painter had protection. not in the form of a sealed safe room, or any kind of shields whatsoever, but rather the mere fact that killing him wasn’t yet an option for us. now that protection’s disappearing and there’s nothing he can do about it

when the first draft of the script was done, i realized that if sebastian knew about painter’s fate, and if he truly cared, he might let painter chill in a safe room and protect him there. they’d lose the turrets and whatnot but painter would be fine

so i decided that in the story, there’s something keeping painter in place. an anti-tampering system of sorts built just for him, that either kills him, the tamperer, or both, serving as another obstacle for sebastian to figure out if he really wants to save his buddy

it makes sense in-universe for this to exist too, since there were urbanshade employees psycho enough to track down and kill a guy in cold blood just to get their hands on painter. urbanshade likely wouldn’t want a repeat of that with any other employees

as many of you figured out, YES the colors have meaning!

i didn’t used to like writing, i’ve always largely been a math person. before i really learned to enjoy it, i used to think that details like these in stories were unnecessary, and i’d make fun of them. what a chump i was

colors can have multiple meanings depending on the context. the way they are framed in the “colors” series is definitely not the only way they can be interpreted. i’ll let people draw their own conclusions about it :)

my google doc's script format isn't very formal at all. when i outline a scene i basically put just enough information in for myself to understand what the scene will look like, even if i haven't figured out what the dialogue will be yet

whenever i can’t make up my mind on how a character says something, i write down all the possibilities i come up with and then pick one later. some of the most simple lines go through so many iterations before i find something i’m happy with

before i knew that they were confirmed to have a brotherly relationship, in march i wrote an analysis on sebastian and painter’s roles in the story. i was then informed on tumblr that they see canonically each other as brothers

i later posted on twitter about it, because i could not find where zeal had confirmed this anywhere. so of course Wil randomly pops out of the bushes at that moment to confirm it themselves. thanks wil

these scenes were originally going to play out the exact same way, except they’d take place in the present with seb & painter. after learning this new information about their relationship, i decided to turn them into flashbacks. a decision that paid off IMMENSELY

i always figured sebastian had some amount of fourth-wall awareness as an explanation to how he knows about our multiple runs, can be in several places at once, and is even aware of when we go back into the blacksite after having won the game entirely.

i still have no damn clue what role mr lopee will have in the canon story, but i headcanon that he has something to do with sebastian’s omniscience.

i deliberately kept the update day in the comic ambiguous since we didn’t know when it would be, and still don’t. it’s definitely for the best that it comes out later, we gotta give the devs time to cook but also time to rest.

i changed the script of this page at the last second. i thought it would be interesting to have NSIF praise sebastian for being a good friend, which would have him feeling more guilty. but seb was already showered with praise from painter on the last page, so i switched it up.

then there’s the player’s face on page 12. they were originally going to look very eager to destroy painter. i figured that wouldn’t really work for someone who technically… doesn’t want to be doing what they’re doing. (also congrats to those who noticed which jumpsuit that is)

the future for sebastian and painter’s roles in the story is very uncertain. there are things that are set in stone, and other things that we’re not yet spoiled on, and all of us pretty much have more questions than answers

and even if the plot of this comic didn’t really GO anywhere, that’s okay. sometimes what the characters need is a quiet, calm moment to be in each other’s company… before the storm starts. well, have fun getting the badges, everyone! :P

thanks for following this story for the past month and a half! it's been a journey. it'll probably be a while before the next big story since i have irl stuff to attend to, but i have 5 more stories in the works and i'm excited to show more of what i have planned eventually!

OK THANKS FOR READING BYE

#pressure #pressure roblox #sebastian solace #pressure painter #pressure comic

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signedkoko · 1 year ago

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You are such a sweetie! Since your requests are open, if you feel inspired and motivated by this (otherwise you can 100% ignore it, writing is hard - I know), could I request a one-shot for Vox who falls in love with a imp!reader? Would love to see how you write their "forbidden" love, how would Vox feel and what if the other Vee's found out about it. It doesn't have to be a story, you can do it in headcannon format if you feel like it suits better! Just try to have fun ♡ -Nia

Intern [Romantic]

In which the techy overlord falls for one of his new hellborn employees, much to his dismay. Reader is genderneutral.

Song - Break My Heart by Dua Lipa

Any hellborn would die for the opportunity that graced you. Well, graced was not the right word; you fought for months against many candidates, beefed up your resume, and pulled some strings to get an unpaid internship for the Vee's. More specifically, a three-month internship at VoxTek with the potential to be hired in immediately after.

It was a position people could only dream of, especially hellborn. Sinner-based companies had a tendency to place sinners above hellborns, but you knew that and used it to your advantage. You couldn't go in as equal; you had to know you were less and make up for it.

The job itself wasn't all that bad, either. It was a lot of unpaid hours, from the crack of dawn to the dip of the sun or later, but it mostly involved the small details. Coffee, sorting, and delivering mail between sections were hard to mess up.

There was the rare extra task where someone messed up and they needed someone to cover quickly.

Today was one of those days. You were at the right place at the right time, sitting by the coffee machine, grabbing yourself your first cup of the day.

That was when he entered, his shoes tapping on the floor with confident clicks, and when he spoke it commanded attention.

Mostly because he spoke through every speaker in the building at once.

"Who here can follow me? No questions asked."

Before anyone could chime in, his monitor did a full rotation of the room, his eyes narrowing when they landed on you.

Your ear piece buzzed to life.

"You, follow me. Now." The overlord spoke directly into your ear using the device, and knowing this may be an opportunity of a lifetime, you followed.

There was no question about who it was: a monitor for a head, control of all technology, and a towering seven feet tall. Vox was the top of the top, and it was hard to believe you were allowed to so much as stand next to him.

It was hard to keep up with his speed-walking pace, but he eventually led you into the mail elevator, hitting the twelfth floor while he muttered something about incompetence amongst hires and how he always had to take control of every production if he wanted it done right.

With a ding and the slow release of the elevator doors, he took the lead once more, though this time he was walking slower and backwards, navigating with ease despite looking directly at you.

"Alrighty intern, ready for your shot at becoming something more? Because our previous voiceover person just walked out on us, and now you'll be covering for them." He stopped with his back against a door, grabbing the handle and awaiting your reply.

"But I only just spoke to..."

"You're cute, you know that? How many videos do you think are out there with your voice? I listened to them all the moment I saw you." Vox only smiled wider when his words sunk in; he saw the usual flash of embarrassment as you pondered what he might have seen. Without waiting any longer, he pushed the door open, spinning so he was finally walking normally.

It was a recording studio, and there were several other employees waiting, mostly those handling the recording equipment and some holding papers.

Vox sat himself in a comfortable rolling chair in front of the glass window that overlooked the recording studio, spinning to hand you some papers that he took from a demon next to him.

"Here is your script; all you have to do is read. Make it sound exciting! Something new, something beyond anyone's imagination, is now available to the public!" He put on a voice as he continued, demonstrating what he hoped you could manage. Someone ushered you into the booth and plopped some headphones over your ears.

"From the top! 3...2..."

The whole process was a thrill, but you managed to run over the script in three separate recordings, of which Vox cited them all as 'stunning' or 'absolutely perfect!', though the producer claimed to need multiple for any potential recording malfunctions.

For an overlord, he had been oddly kind and encouraging throughout the process, and he walked you out himself when everything wrapped up.

Vox continued to speak about what the script was for and how excited he was for the launch, all while leading you through parts of the building you had never been to before. You thought after that he would have sent you back down and forgotten everything, but eventually you found yourself in front of your supervisor.

"Vox! Sir- oh no, had our intern upset you?"

"No, no, not at all. Sorry, what was your name again? Ally? Yeah, listen, Ally, I need you to handle the paperwork they were assigned. Oh! And I want them promoted to my personal studio for tomorrow, too."

Before you or the sinner could ask questions, Vox was already out of there, chipper as ever.

That evening, you went home with an upgraded badge and access card, along with details on your new position and expectations. It was a lot to get through, but you felt extremely proud of yourself for doing so well. Hell, you met THE Vox, and he wanted you to be the voice of VoxTek?

While flipping through the pile of information, the most surprising aspect was the six-figure salary you were about to get started on.

. . .

Surrounded by monitors, Vox watched various camera feeds as they traced your steps home. Vox saw you smile from several angles, the electricity between his antennae flickering. Each monitor had some kind of file or piece of information on you, and he was only pulled out of his trance when he got a call from Velvette.

"Hello there, Velvette! What can I help you with today?" Leaning back in his chair, the overlord flicked his wrist, which shot the call from his monitor onto one of the many others displaying you.

"I need your guys for a sh- wait. Vox, what the fuck is all of that?" While the fashionista originally had her eyes elsewhere, her gaze quickly fixed on his background, which was quickly followed by all the screens going blank with his logo.

"That? Oh, oh no, its nothing at a-"

"That's the imp you were talking about last week! The one you were trying to get to apply to VoxTek!"

"Well, maybe, but-"

Once again, she cut him off with a gurgling groan.

"Listen, I don't care who or what you fuck; just get your camera crew here and we'll talk about this later. Kay? Kisses!" Before she abruptly hung up on him, he could have sworn he heard a small 'at least they're hot' before the call disconnected.

Tensed from the interaction, Vox could only groan and dramatically fall back into his chair, tapping his claws along the armrest.

So what if he scouted you out? You didn't know that, and you were happy about it anyway! One by one, each monitor opened back up on your data, the overlord grinning.

It was better this way; everyone would think it was the intern going after him, so nobody knew one of the top overlords in hell was dotting on some helpless imp.

Author's Note - I love Vox so much...hes so obsessive but he denies every accusation (its the same w Alastor lmao) like its going to hurt him! But thank you so much for the request Nia, I hope this interests you 🖤

Word Count - 1,219

#koko writez #hazbin hotel #helluva boss #hazbin hotel x reader #helluva boss x reader #reader insert #x reader #vox #vox x reader

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skimmingmilk · 2 months ago

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Can I pry ur mind for any headcannons u have between the unbreakable bond? Maybe even ones u've yet to include in ur fics?

Ooh, I'd be happy to! I'm just so bad at listing out headcanons without fics to sandwich them in xD I know I have a ton that I haven't had a chance to write about yet, but it's like they're sorted in filing cabinets that only open when a relevant fic needs them, lol.

But let's see…

Tails doesn't actually have a curfew. Sonic will give him a look if he catches him up in the middle of the night, but he's well-aware the kid's a bit of insomniac. As long as it isn't hurting him or putting him in danger by being too sleep-deprived, then Sonic doesn't force him to bed. It’s not like he can’t sleep in or anything anyway. If he's already dozing off at his desk, then Sonic'll put him to bed, sure, but that's just to make him more comfortable. If he's alert and in the middle of a project, Sonic leaves him to it. He'll even keep him company sometimes, because no way does Sonic have a curfew either! If he gets sleepy later in the day, he figures he can always just take a nap.

They like to go skydiving together, taking turns flying and jumping off the Tornado. When Tails installs an autopilot on her, they're able to jump at the same time and do tricks in the air to one-up each other or practice mid-air saves with style~

Their tastes in video games vary: Sonic prefers classic side scrollers, racing games, and fighting games. Tails likes exploratory puzzle games with open worlds where he can explore and craft and he’s also really good at first-person shooters. They do both enjoy playing with each other still, regardless of the format, that's just what they tend to prefer when solo-gaming. Sonic will absolutely play something like Minecraft or Lethal Company with Tails (and die a lot xD) and Tails loves getting to beat Sonic's button mashing technique in a fighting game. I also think they both like to team up for anomaly hunting games, I feel like that's something they'd both find fun for a couple rounds while they wind down after an adventure. Sonic's quick reflexes would help him catch anomalies as they're happening and Tails likes analyzing the scenes for subtle differences. They can only go a couple rounds though before it puts Sonic to sleep, lol.

They’ve both picked up on some of their species-specific behaviors unintentionally. Like Tails sometimes curls into a hedgehog ball with his fur fluffed out to feel safe and he’ll make huffy, snuffly hedgehog sounds from time to time. Sonic's tail will wag a little when he's happy, since hedgehogs typically only wag their tails when they sense danger. I know it's a cute headcanon many people have for him expressing happiness in general, and I love to see it, but this is just my headcanon for why he’ll do that sometimes, and it’s pretty unique to him as far as hedgehogs go and completely involuntary.

When Sonic's around, he cooks pretty much all their meals, though Tails will sometimes want to experiment with a new recipe or cook something for Sonic. He likes cooking for other people. When Tails is left to his own devices while Sonic's traveling, however, his eating habits suffer. He loses track of time and ends up subsiding solely on snacks throughout the day instead, like his veggie chips or roasted chickpeas or mint candy. If he does make something, it's always fast and simple like a bowl of cereal or a peanut butter sandwich. Sometimes Big will stop by with some fish stew to share with him and Sonic usually makes sure to bring a hefty bag of takeout back with him, just in case it's been a while since Tails's last substantial meal.

In return, Tails is the one who keeps pretty much every other aspect of his and Sonic's lives on track xD He keeps a calendar for him and reminds him of things like friends' birthdays or events he promised to go to. Any paperwork involving Sonic is taken care of by Tails. Upkeep on the workshops and the planes are also Tails's responsibility. He also does all the shopping and inventory of household supplies in the workshop. Tails is very good at scheduling most things into his day, eating is just not one of them.

Tails has a few pieces of Sonic merchandise he picked up when he was younger - when it wasn't as embarrassing to say his big brother was his hero. They're kept in his room, mostly out of sight, but he's got a Sonic plushie that he keeps wrapped in one of Sonic's gloves so it'll smell a little like him and he'll sleep with it whenever he's feeling particularly lonely. It's part of why he gets into the habit of working late into the night; it's hard to lie awake in bed in a quiet, dark house by himself. With only his thoughts and nothing to drown them out. He's not afraid of the dark or being alone, but it's the stillness and the emptiness (the void) that encourages him to stay up until he physically can't keep his eyes open any more. Sometimes having the Sonic plush helps with that (not that anyone knows).

Those are just some of the headcanons I have that I don't think have played very major roles in any fics yet. I've got a few WIPs that incorporate a couple of them, but I'm not sure if they'll ever get to become full-fledged fics.

Thanks for the ask! <3

#skimming asks #sonic headcanons #sonic and tails #unbreakable bond #the picket fence timeline #ps: sonic does know about the sonic plush but he also knows better than to say anything about it #also he wouldn't have a clue how to approach it without sounding like he was teasing and then he knows tails will stop using it for comfort

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obae-me · 5 months ago

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Folks... *clap*.

I'm all done with the Nightbringer story. And for whatever reason, I feel the need to share my opinions on it as a whole. So, to simplify the churning spaghetti mess of thoughts in my brain, I'll be following a Great, Good, Bad, Ugly sort of format.

Disclaimer: I'm not a professional game designer or writer or...anything really. I just write a lot and play a lot of games. This is purely my opinion after being hooked on Obey Me for... five years? Jeez....

Is this really analytical? Not really. This is quite literally me just saying what I did and did not like in such a way that I hope makes me sound somewhat smart.

Let's get into it!

Warning: Spoilers for Nightbringer ahead!

Music Design:

The Great- Some of the songs are so good unironically! Most of them fit the characters so well. I remember when they first were coming out, so many people wanted Satan to have a heavy metal song, and when his song was one of the softest ones, I remember the entire fandom cried. "We also judged him based on just his anger when he's so much more!" the people wailed. I know, I was there, I was one of them. Do not cite the deep magic to me, witch.

The Good- Some cringe and heavy autotune aside, I can tell they all improved every time a new song was released. They are just so fun, and I can tell that most of them had fun singing them. It's just a good vibe all around. There's something especially fun about the holiday ones... If only it had been around long enough to maybe do a Valentines....

The Bad- This one and the Ugly opinion kind of tie into each other, but I feel like there's a lot of missed potential here. I've played a few rhythm games here and there, so I wouldn't call myself the most knowledgeable about them, but I'm so surprised they only relied on new songs. Meaning character songs and the like. Some of the OST slaps! I don't understand why they didn't take some of the already existing songs and remix them into playable levels? Maybe the songs just couldn't transform into something catchy enough? And mentioning that, I'm going to immediately lean into the Ugly.

The Ugly- Oh....my god...it gets so repetitive after a while. Not even a while, it gets repetitive FAST. And maybe this is mostly just a 'Me' issue, because even with other rhythm games, I usually only have about an hour in me before I have to move onto something else. There's no way to pick the song you'd rather listen to, and like I said before, they ONLY use the character songs, nothing else. Some lessons have three or four of the same song... I love them, and I often have my songs I listen to on repeat for hours, but even I have my limits. I've played each song so much, I kid you not sometimes I can play with NO music on, and be able to tell which song is playing just based on the level.

Overall: The songs? So cute, even if a little cringe. And for something that used to literally just be tapping game sprites after a few seconds to "battle", making a whole rhythm game is such a step up. And for the VAs to not only work on voice lines for the game, but also work on podcasts and songs at the same time? I can only hope they are paid better than... most VAs here at the moment. And because for some reason I love ranking things? Obey Me Nightbringer's music gets a 6/10. I subtracted one point because I CAN'T FIND the OST for that very specific one music box background song!

Game Design:

The Great- I thought the UI looked so much nicer in Nightbringer! Moving around, even just basic swiping felt a lot more fluid. They added a lot more shortcuts to get to places faster. The chats looked better. The little details and the backgrounds were so cute! (Although my one stipulation is that for a while I thought the Ruri-Chan backgrounds correlated what was happening in the lessons and I was very disappointed when that was... not the case). I loved that some of the cards had moving wallpapers for the app. The moving background for Akuzon? Mwah, love. Aesthetic is very important to me, and they pulled off demonic but modern well in my opinion. The design team, may your pillows stay cold.

The Good- If I remember the first game compared to this one, I think Nightbringer had more chats and phone calls in total? Which I enjoy (let's not talk about the 30 dollar one). I love little flavor texts, it makes the world feel a bit more alive, and helps add to characterization. The addition of the occasional audio message? So good! I wish there were more chats that we as MC could participate in, but that's just a personal preference. The new emojis/stickers are also so cute! It's just a damn shame they came out shortly before the game wasn't going to have anything new. I wanted to see and use so much more of those...

The Bad- Now, some of these complaints of mine are based on my experiences with other otome games. Which, I realize, is quite like comparing apples to oranges. But....seeing that it's all I have since I've never played any of the other Solomare games, we'll have to make do. The Gatcha aspect is SO expensive, in my opinion. I'm used to other games where there's some kind of pity system for pulls? To my knowledge, there's no eventual guarantee for the one you want? Well, until they added in the ticket system, but that came so late in the game... If I recall, 100 tickets allows you to pick the card you want. 100 feels like SO much in Nightbringer. A lot of the best bundles are hidden behind VIP, you don't get a lot of bang for your buck, and a lot of times 50 bucks only really gets you like 30 pulls (don't quote me on that). Yes, that's part of the gambling, and I recognize that, but other games seem a little more forgiving. Even if only by a little. And if I'm totally wrong with the pity thing, that's my bad. I don't ever really see anyone talking about it, only ever if they got the character card they wanted or not.

The Ugly- Now, this might sound spoiled of me. But... there's just... not a lot to do? Yes, it's a rhythm game, so most of it is music levels, but like I mentioned before, it doesn't feel like a full rhythm game. Farming the hard levels is... sometimes torture. So, then they added that minigame for farming for card materials. It was cute the first five times I played it, and then I never touched it again... The Fab Snap videos? Cute for the first few days, and then I haven't touched it since, and I haven't even seen anyone else talk about it. The Wanderer Whatever (I forget the name) cute for a while and then hardly touched it. At some point too I think the game just...stopped adding those as well. I haven't seen a notification for it for ages. Not to mention most of the events/interactions are locked behind a paywall. Normally like...four to five American dollars for a 45 second scene. Extra calls and chats and 3D model scenes are stuck in cards behind skill levels, and with chats especially, they don't even always talk to you! If I spend extra Grimm and materials leveling up the skill just to get to a chat and it's one I can't even make a chat option in?? What are we doing here, am I not the Main Character? Sometimes it feels that way. Although that particular take is nuanced, and one I will dive deeper into with this next one... my white whale...

Oh, but rating first, I give the overall Game Design a 4/10. Looks super nice, lacks a bit of substance. I could've given it a 5, but based off of other games I've played, it needed some more substance to keep me around more as a player.

Writing Design:

This one is gonna be a doozy, folks.

The Great- I'm gonna be honest here. Most- if not all- of my praise is directed towards the first season. Was the writing perfect? No, of course not. Was it revolutionary? I would not say so. Did it keep me engaged? OH yeah. I sat there every week or so waiting for the new lesson to launch like I was waiting on the next episode of my favorite anime. It had me kicking my feet and giggling. It had drama, it had love, it had curses, magic shenanigans, goofs, gaffs, but most of all- what do we say, class? It had, yep, that's right, commitment. I'll explain that more in detail when we descend into the ugly, but just to give you my favorite examples. Lesson 12, when MC was affected by the curse of the reapers cave or wherever that was, after Lucifer attacked us because of the grimoire. That whole scenario was SO good. Finding out we were human, Belphie and Solomon being angry at each other, running away, all of it! And then again when Lucifer was taken prisoner and brought down into Cocytus, bound in chains away from his family. That is what I came here to see!

The Good- I love that a few characters had very distinct differences being that far back in time. Satan being so new and sounding so... clumsy and confused. Barbatos just having some absolute vitriol towards Solomon. Seeing Solomon having a lot more jealousy and anger and vulnerability than we had seen before. Diavolo needing much more validation and guidance than usual. Wonderful, I love it, it's not very often in media that we get to see character development devolve. I only wish they would've played around with that a liiittle more, and maybe for all the characters. But what we got was good! Good delicious characterization soup.

The Bad- Alright... let's start to crack this bad boy open a little, huh? This is just the bad and not the ugly yet, so we'll just go over my surface level complaints, along with some acknowledgement of why I assume most things are the way they are. I get that translation might be an issue. I get that censorship might also be an issue. Even sheer workload, pumping out lessons and cards and events oh my. Which is what I will be covering in The Bad... the events. Now, don't get me wrong, I know there was a lot to fully be desired in the first game when it came to the events. I remember the Paw Panic and the Halloween Mask event really sticking out to me, and then the rest... I doubt I could even pick one out and describe it. When you have SO many events to make, ideas start to sometimes run low. Some of Obey Me's events sounded like some sort of plot a Mad Lib would come up with. (YET WE STILL NEVER GOT A MERMAID EVENT). So, unfortunately, a lot of events fell short. Just a little pause of entertainment we got to have while we tried to grind for those beautiful cards.

The Ugly- Quickly moving into the ugly category, it's time to get into the meat and potatoes of what I'm really here to talk about. That's right. All of what you probably skimmed through before was just the last minute free ramble I put together to essentially throw a bit of spackle and glitter on this rant I'm about to go on. Why am I so keyed up about this? I don't know, life has been hard lately and it feels good to channel some irritation and anger into something I'm passionate about. Because clearly I love Obey Me, right? The characters feel like old time friends and even after my many hiatuses (hiatai? Hiatusees?) opening the game feels like coming to a comfortable old home.

That being said, there seems to be plenty of cracks in this old home that no amount of caulk will fix.

Let's start with my first problem. The length get your mind out of the gutter. It felt as if every event got shorter and more pointless. I would do one, sometimes two, rhythm courses, only to get five or so lines of dialogue before it ended. Let's play a game. One of these two scenarios is from an actual in game event that workers got paid for, while the other I came up with in two minutes. Guess which one is which, okay?

Leviathan: Wait, you can't sing?

Belphegor: Sounds like a cry for attention if you ask me.

Mammon: I swear! Why would I lie about somethin' like this?!

MC: >Are you okay, Mammon?

Because you lie about everything.

Mammon: MC is the only one who cares! Take notes, ya jerks!

Lucifer: I'm assuming this must have been something to do with the light we saw earlier.

Leviathan: His throat started to glow when he wrote down his song on the form, right?

Which means...

(End Scene)

Satan: This is...

Asmodeus: A boutique! I get to sit down and buy outfits?! This must be the hidden paradise after all!

Satan: Hold on, we don't know if it's safe yet. He's already gone...

Simeon: Ahaha!

MC: We were scammed!

>What are you laughing at?

Simeon: No matter what my expectations are, the Devildom continues to catch me by surprise.

The map leading us to a secret store is so simple, I can't help but laugh a little. Ahaha!

Satan: I'm not so sure we can write this off as simple just yet...

???: Eeeeeeeek!

(End Scene)

Place your bets, folks! Put in your entries now for the scenario you think is the real deal? Ready for the answer?

The correct answer is A!

Scenario A is from the Marine event, while B I came up with on my own.

For the record I reeeeally wanted to pull a B99 "they're both your locker" on everyone, but then I was curious to see if I had what it takes to come up with something so similar it might fool people. Well, did you win? If you picked my scenario B, you are tasked with letting me know in the reblogs or replies that I would make a good Obey Me writer, thank you /j

I also spent a well earned LD Ticket to find that scene, thank you very much.

Anyway, I hope that helps emphasize my point. It can take up to sometimes 4 minutes to get to a scene like that! And then it ends! And you have to play more rhythm levels! I think honestly this particular problem exacerbates the feeling of repetitiveness that I mentioned earlier. It takes longer to wait to skip an ad on YouTube than some of these scenes last. Nightbringer is a rhythm game, yes, but it's supposed to predominately be a visual novel. So when you have what feels like only part of a rhythm game and only part of a visual novel, you get overall a game that feels incomplete as a whole.

I didn't feel that way in season 1. Only with the events, which I ended up mostly skipping or skimming anyway. I didn't really notice it.

But then when Season 2 came?...

Boy howdy...

What is the best way I can describe my feelings towards Season 2 of Nightbringer?

Season 2 of Nightbringer was some of the worst padded infuriating nonsensical filler I've seen from a game in a long time.

And with the announcement of Nightbringer ending, I can tell from Season 2 that they've been planning on ending the game for a while now. It's the written equivalent of "we lock the doors in five minutes, start closing now!"

I got over the brothers not knowing that MC had disappeared to the past. I sighed but shrugged my shoulders when they started the Science Fair Festival thing. I had a twinge of hope when it seemed focused on Simeon turning into a demon.

And then the lessons kept going.... and going.... and going... and... nothing was really happening.

And I started to notice a pattern. One that really- UGH. Sorry... I am zen, I swear.

Let me ask you this? How many times did you notice the lesson ending on a cliffhanger, only for it to immediately be resolved by the beginning of the next lesson? Some of the time we didn't even get to experience it happening, the game had to tell us. Because I noticed it. And it happened A LOT. One of these that I noticed made me so frustrated, I had to put my phone down for a bit. It's the very end of lesson 56 going into 57.

We're supposed to be at some real juicy story. Raphael can't handle that Simeon is turning into a demon. He disappears. Everyone gets sucked into Babel. We find him, and he starts having such a mental breakdown, Babel is collapsing. Lucifer calls out MC's name frantically!... Then to wait for lesson 57.

Yes! Lesson 57 is here! Time to get back into the action! A small recap. Everything is about to crumble. We call out Raphael's name. We reach out!

Then get sucked into a vision? One of Raphael and everyone in the Celestial Realm, leaving one by one till he is all alone. In the back of our mind, we hear someone trying to call out our name...

"MC, thank goodness you are awake. Do you not remember what happened? You fell out of the tower as it collapsed."

Then wacky music starts playing as the brothers with wings complain about carrying everyone else.

Huh?

The action and drama? Over in an instant. Flattened.

Raphael isn't freaking out anymore and I think we find him standing off alone somewhere away from the group and convince him he isn't alone. I can't remember, it didn't feel very meaningful or memorable.

And that right there is my biggest issue! Remember what I said before? What was the word? Commitment. It felt like every single plot that was created had no satisfying follow through, if it even had a follow through at all! Nightbringer? Who is he?! Why did we get sucked back into the past? I don't know! Simeon turning into a demon? He decided for himself he wasn't ready to leave the Celestial Realm yet so Levi helped make a potion that drew out some sort of chromosome so he could become fully human again so maybe he could be an angel again in the future. And that's really how Season 2 ended!

And something about the moon crashing down but us trying to stop it and shield the whole Devildom but it didn't work and one of the brothers of our choosing falls into a coma but suddenly he wakes up again and the moon is fine and the exchange program is ending hurray!

All in like two lessons, just so you all know. It was so random and quick it made my head spin, and was over with so fast I didn't even have time to maybe be upset that my favorite brother was in a coma.

My biggest issue with Obey Me is the lack of follow through, and even in the first game I've always felt like we are more observers than like an actual character in the game? The first and second season of the last game and the first season of this one felt involved. This other one? We didn't really do a whole lot. And I know that's a personal preference. I know people in this fandom can get really upset when something happens to MC because they don't like that. Me? I want to be in the action! I want things in the world to happen to ME too. Even in the events, it's always like, "oh no, I guess because I'm a human, the curse only affected you guys? And Solomon? Well because he's a unique human, it affected him too". That's why lesson 12 stuck with me so much. We were finally affected by the world! Instead of having some sort of godly plot armor.

I don't even know what else to say, really. Only that I hope they end up making another game? Maybe the rhythm game aspect couldn't be sustainable for too much longer and so they're setting something else up? If they aren't working on this particular story anymore, it's very unfulfilling. And I understand that sometimes circumstances force things like this to end before they would like to? Maybe if I'm filled with enough stifled rage, I'll write an alternative ending to this like when I wrote The Reunion we Deserved?

Closing Remarks?

My biggest pet peeve I see in bad writing is commitment. The "it happened in your head", "it was a dream", "do you not remember", "they didn't actually die" (revival or fake deaths can be done properly, but it's difficult to pull off) loophole is so cheap, and it makes me so sad. Because then it softens the blow of what you just spent time to build up.

Nightbringer season 2 had good moments, it's just that the good moments were so abrupt, cut off by ending a scene really quick or interrupting it with something wacky. And trust me, I love wacky shenanigans, but there's a time and a place! I loved Diavolo catching MC when they fell off the train, but nearly as soon as he caught them, the scene ended! I loved Simeon getting mad at Lucifer, Solomon, and Diavolo. It only lasted for three little scenes, and the three of them doing something so dangerous for something with very little threat felt very out of character.

Somehow the story went in about a hundred different directions, and then ended up really going nowhere.

Again, these are my personal rants. If I were smarter, I'd probably be able to critique this in a much more clever and enlightened manner, but I'm just a fanfic writer writing all of this at 2 am running on fumes and a weird amount of spite.

Writing rating? Season One gets a 7/10. Docked one point for denying us hugs and tears when we got back to our own timeline. "oh, it'll destroy the timelin--" ITS FICTION. Get that out of my face and give me my hurt/comfort!

Season two: 3/10. Maybe harsh, I know. I struggled getting through it, especially when the first season had set those really good expectations.

I still love the characters. Love the world. Love this fandom. The brainrot is still real, who knows if it will ever let me go.

If you read this whole thing, wow! Why?... Genuinely impressed. Take a Happy Mammon as your gold star!

#obey me #obey me nightbringer #mara rambles #nightbringer spoilers

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traveler-at-heart · 2 years ago

Text

The Tooth Fairy

Summary: Your daughter gets a generous visit.

Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader

A/N: Sorry for the weird format, I’m on my phone. Also, fun game, drink everytime you find the word fairy in this fic 🧚

“Mom!”

Your daughhter’s scream puts you immediately on edge.

Her voice is quivering, as if she’s not sure she should be crying over what’s happening.

“What is it, sweetie?” you kneel next to her on the playground, mentally counting all her fingers and checking for injuries. You have to stay calm for her sake.

“My tooth fell off” Anya says, showing it to you. “Does this mean that I can’t eat chocolate anymore?”

“No, sweetheart, it’s fine” you pick her up and carry her to the park bench. “These are called baby teeth. They’ll fall off and then you’ll get your new ones. And those are for good.”

“Promise?”

“Well, yes. Unless you eat too much chocolate. Then you’ll get cavities”

Anya keeps looking at the tooth in her hand and then offers it to you. Closing one eye, you examine it as if it were a diamond.

“The tooth fairy is gonna be real happy with this one”

“There’s a fairy?” Anya perks up and you smile.

“Oh, yes. You have to leave it under your pillow with a small note and then they’ll pick it up. Leave you a dollar or two if they think it’s a good tooth”

“I wanna write the note, can we go home now?”

“Yes, sweetie” you carry her, relieved now that Anya seems happier.

—-

It’s not an easy task, but you persuade Anya to wait for her other mom to write the note. You’re sure Natasha wouldn’t wanna miss it.

After all, this is the same woman that almost cried when she was away on a mission and your daughter sneezed for the first time.

“I’m home” you hear the door open and close. Anya smiles, eager to tell her mom about the highlight of the day.

“Mama” she jumps to her arms, wavy red hair flying as Natasha catches her.

“Someone is very happy to see me”

“I’m happy to see you too” you say, leaning forward and giving her a quick kiss.

“Then why aren’t you jumping into my arms?”

“Mama, I’m going to meet the tooth fairy!” Anya interrupts you, pulling her tooth from the pocket of her pants.

“Your first tooth? And I missed it?”

Damn it, she’s gonna cry again. You can’t have that.

“Baby, you didn’t miss it. Anya still has to write a letter. She’s been waiting for you”

“Yeah, come on” Anya bounces on her arms, encouraging Natasha to go to the living room.

“I’ll work on dinner while you two do that, ok?” you kiss Natasha’s cheek and let her enjoy the time with Anya.

From your spot on the kitchen, you can hear Anya asking all sorts of questions about the fairy lore.

She’s a smart kid, so all Natasha does is hand her the crayons she requests. Anya falls silent, and then begins to write the letter.

“All done?” your wife says and Anya covers the sheet of paper with her tiny hands.

“This is a secret letter”

Natasha looks at you, both struggling to hold your smiles.

“Dinner’s ready” you announce, serving pasta.

Anya giggles when the spaguetti goes through the whole her tooth left.

“Baby, don’t play with your food like that” you scold. Then you turn to Natasha for support, only to find her creating a spaguetti mustache that leaves her face full of sauce. “Honestly, Natalia”

“Mama is in trouble” Anya laughs.

“She’s doing the dishes, that’s for sure” you agree.

After dinner, Natasha prepares a bath for Anya while you clean the kitchen. You both know you’re too obsessive to leave the cleaning to anyone else.

You go to the study to write a small thank you note for Anya from the tooth fairy. You even add some glitter for extra flare.

Tucking it in the back of your pocket, you walk into your daughter’s room to wish her goodnight.

“Is it under your pillow?” you check and she nods, yawning.

“I wanna wait for them”

“Oh, the fairy only shows up when you’re asleep, darling. Like Santa”

“Are they friends?” Anya says, quickly falling asleep.

“Yeah, you could say they’re practically the same person” Natasha whispers and you nudge her with your elbow. Anya is already asleep, so it doesn’t really matter if she heard that last part.

Quietly, you take the letter from under her bed and place yours instead.

“Why are your hands all shiny?” Natasha asks as you’re getting ready for bed.

“Welll, I am a fairy, baby. Haven’t you heard?” you tap the tip of her nose, leaving some glitter on it.

“I’m happy I was here for this” Natasha says against your shoulder as you cuddle.

“Me too” you say, your eyelids heavy. “Oh, crap. I forgot to leave the money under Anya’s pillow”

“That’s ok, I’ll do it”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. You’re the stealthy spy here” you smile when Natasha kisses your neck and leaves the bed. You’re so tired you fall asleep before she comes back.

—

The smell of coffee wakes you up.

Coffee and pancakes. Stretching, you get out of bed, feeling relaxed and happy.

“Hey, baby” you greet your wife, admiring her toned arm muscles accentuated by the white tank top.

“Morning, detka” she smiles, adding more pancakes to the plate next to the stove. “Breakfast is ready”

“I’m hungry for other things” you lift the edge of her tank top, scratching Natasha’s abs with your nails. She follows your lead, tilting her head and parting her lips to let your tongue explore her mouth.

“Mom, mama!” Anya says, running out of her room. You sigh against Natasha’s lips and step away. “They were here! I woke up and there was a letter with some glitter”

“That’s awesome, sweetie” you smile, pouring yourself a cup of coffee. You turn to your daughter as you take a sip.

“And look! She left me this!”

Anya waves a hundred dollar bill in front of you, making you choke on your coffee.

“Wow, that fairy won the lottery since the last time I saw her” you catch your breath.

“Is this enough to buy a pony?”

“No, darling. Go set the table, I’ll bring you some juice and pancakes, ok?”

“Can I watch tv while having breakfast?”

“Fine” Natasha answers and you wait for your daughter to be out of earshot to talk to her. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Uh, baby, did you leave all that money for Anya?”

“Yes, I didn’t know how much to put and you were asleep”

“Ok, for future reference, five bucks is more than fine” you smile, placing your hands on her shoulders.

“I’m sorry” she looks defeated and you try to cheer her up.

“Don’t be, it’s fine. We’ll use the savings we have for the rest of the teeh and then send her to community college”

“Stop!” Natasha rolls her eyes.

“Come on, it’s ok” you kiss her softly. “We’ll tell her that the fairy had to pay her mortgage and is broke. I’ll even add less glitter on the next letter”

“You’re taking this glitter thing too seriously”

“Well, we have to rely on Alexei to play Santa. At least I get to have some fun with this”

—

Later that day, as your friends get together for a barbecue, Anya shows everyone the place where her tooth once was; luckily, she left the money at home.

That doesn’t stop Billy and Tommy from finding out. Pretty soon, they’re asking their mom about the tooth fairy and if there’s a special deal for twins.

“They left 100 dollars for Anya” Billy shouts and everyone falls silent.

“Oh, wow. Maybe the fairy can visit me as well” Sam smiles. You kick him under the table.

Unfortunately for Natasha, you have to explain everything when Wanda convinces the twins to go back to play.

“Don’t sweat it, Red. Everything’s so expensive nowadays, it’s only fair Anya starts saving now”

“Oh, you’re one to talk” Pepper points at Tony. “He left a blank check under Morgan’s pillow the first time she lost a tooth”

Everyone laughs at that, Tony adjusting in his seat.

“Would you like to adopt me?” Sam asks after a minute.

—

“I got the door” you whisper. Natasha is carrying Anya to her room. It was a fun afternoon of playing with friends and then doing the math on how many plushies she could get with all that money.

She’s fast asleep, and you wait by the door as Natasha tucks her in.

“You ok?” you want to double check, knowing she can be insecure about motherhood.

“I just wish I knew everything”

“Well, so do I. I wish I knew how to stay calm. Remember last week when she hurt her hand with the stove? I thought I was going to throw up and you handled it while I panicked”

“It’s nothing”

“It’s a lot, Tasha. We love you. And we need you” you kiss her softly and she smiles against your lips.

“Wanna read the letter?” you offer once you’re settled in bed. Your wife nods and you take it out of your nighstand. “Dear Miss Fairy - very formal. This is my tooth, it felll off while I was playing. Mom told me you take them and leave some money. My Mama helped me draw this. I love my moms and I want to buy them ice cream and chocolate with the money you give me. Hugs, Anya Romanoff”

“She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You both are” Natasha says as you cuddle, kissing her neck.

“We love you”

“So, what do we do next time?”

“We tell her the fairy is getting heer a car at 16 and hopefully she’ll forget about it by then” you smile, confident.

Of course, she doesn’t.

#natasha romanoflf x you #soft natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x y/n #natasha romanoff x reader

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iamnmbr3 · 3 months ago

Note

Hey! I remember a while ago you said you were working on a sort of funny sort of serious drarry letter writing fic or something like that? Are you still writing it and if so could we see a little bit of it?

Hi anon! I am in fact still working on that fic. The premise is that basically a few years after the war Harry, who hasn't seen Draco since the trials, gets annoyed with Rita Skeeter asking him questions about whether he spoke at Draco's trial because there was some secret enemies-to-lovers thing going on and sarcastically agrees...not thinking about the fact that sarcasm doesn't translate well in print (especially when Rita has NO incentive to explain the context). Draco owls him about it and they start writing back and forth. Just a fun little cracky scenario I entertained myself with. I am still working on it though I've never published a fic before and idk if I'll actually post this.

If you like you can see a tiny excerpt from towards the beginning below the cut. Tho obviously it's still in draft form and in order to publish I'd need a beta to help me remove any egregious americanisms since I learned American English and also to figure out how to get it to format properly on AO3.

Potter,

Thank you for your reply.

Frankly I am shocked that the quote is genuine. I had assumed it entirely fabricated or misreported by an unreliable secondary source. Do you mean to tell me you actually answered a question from Rita Skeeter of all people with the words “Yeah, that’s right. Everyone who thought we hated each other in school just couldn’t recognize the obvious romantic tension”? You actually said that? To Rita Skeeter.

You needn’t worry about forcing the Prophet to issue a retraction on my account. As I said, it’s not my (less than sterling) reputation that’s being besmirched by this story. I am happy to let the story die on its own if you are. (Personally, I vastly prefer this coverage to the last time I was of interest to the press.). Do whatever you think is best.

For your convenience I have attached a blank scroll since clearly you must be desperately short on stationary. Why else would anyone send back a response written on the back of the original message?

Sincerely,

D. M.

P.S. It was five years, not six.

***

Yes. I really said it. No “unreliable secondary source” (like you in fourth year you mean?) necessary. I was being sarcastic! It’s not my fault she left out the context! I probably should've seen it coming, but what was I supposed to do? Hermione made me promise not to hex any more reporters.

I have a question though. If you didn’t think the quote was real and you don’t want me to stop the rumors, why did you write to me in the first place?

By the way, I forgot to say in the last letter. Tell your mum sorry about the reporters outside the Manor. Has she considered using the Fidelius Charm to hide the location? Or the location of your flat, for that matter. That’s what I do to keep them away from my house.

Also, Hermione says wasting paper is bad. There is plenty of room on the back of this scroll so I don’t see why I shouldn’t use it.

Harry

P.S. Five years? So is nose breaking supposed to be a secret Pureblood friendship ritual or something?

***

Potter,

One does not write letters on the back of other correspondence. It is simply not the done thing. Furthermore, as we can use magic, we can simply replicate an existing piece of paper indefinitely, thus preventing waste. The need to conserve and recycle paper is a purely muggle concept, though an ingenious one. I still don’t really understand how they can turn certain used materials into new objects without magic, though my neighbors have tried to explain it to me.

Yes, just like me in fourth year (something I hope you know is included on the long list of things I deeply and sincerely regret about my past).

If you must know, I wrote to you because I thought you might suspect I’d planted the story for my own purposes. Clearly I vastly overestimated your ability to handle reporters. For future reference, silence is a wonderful way to prevent unfortunate quotes from appearing in print.

Our previous correspondence two years ago made it clear to me you wouldn’t welcome further contact (I don’t mean to accuse you; I wouldn’t have wanted to associate with me either) but I didn’t think you would believe me if I simply denied it directly, and I was eager to avoid the impression that I would repay you for your forbearance with the same petty duplicity you had come to expect from me. I apologize if I’ve done the wrong thing.

Unfortunately, both my mother and I are forbidden from concealing our residences with the Fidelius Charm until our respective five year Ministry-ordered probationary periods have expired.

I will pass along your apologies next time I see her, though they are hardly necessary.

Yours,

P.S. I only meant that the incident on the train was about more than misguided feelings of rivalry. I blamed you (unfairly) for my father’s imprisonment and for my family’s sudden fall from grace both in mainstream wizarding society and among the ranks of the Death Eaters, and for the task that subsequently fell on me as a result of my father’s failure. It was my first true experience with any kind of hardship and I handled it extremely poorly. A better person would have questioned the ideologies and actions that led them to that point, but instead I sank further into the darkness that will now overshadow the rest of my life.

#asks #Harry Potter #Draco Malfoy #my fic #drarry #hpdm

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contritecactite · 5 months ago

Text

Since @fandomtrumpshate starts up again soon, I thought I would babble a bit about my experience last year! Specifically, let's chat about podficcing. A nice and arbitrary 9 reasons to do the thing below the cut!

Thing 1: It's so much fun! I am bouncing up and down at the prospect of doing it again. In fact, I am planning to offer a slot for any fandom this year rather than just ones I'm familiar with!

Thing 2: Nobody was bothered by how amateurish my readings are, how basic my recordings were, or by the extra whistle and sibilance and mouth sounds that sneaked in. Nobody was annoyed that I don't do accents or intense voicework/character voices. It's something I want to improve in the future, but it's really not necessary—reading a fanwork aloud is first and foremost about making it accessible in a new format. Anything else is just icing!

Thing 3: People who want their works read are going to be communicative! The folks I worked with last year were happy to go back and forth until we decided which works were the best fit for me, and they were happy to answer my questions about how to read/interpret certain lines, etc. It was so much fun to toss around idea with them (even if we didn't end up using them all)!

Thing 4: This is a zero-entry-cost hobby (assuming you already have a device of some sort to read fic in the first place). You don't need fancy equipment and software. You can get the job done with an inbuilt audio recording app on your phone, and if you're in a quiet and non-echoey place, it can sound just as good as something made with a dedicated mic and such. Don't let "but I don't have a recording space" hold you back! Sit in your favorite chair and put your phone by your face while you read me a story. That's really all you gotta do.

Thing 5: In direct contrast... it is a good excuse to dip a toe into gear and software. There are lots of fairly cheap suitable microphones, and Audacity is free. I recorded one short fic via three different methods just to troubleshoot for fun!

Thing 6: You don't have to get it right the first time! (Or second or third or...) I save outtakes (profanity warning!) for the creators whose work I read. Sometimes a cat walked in and told me a mournful tale at top volume. Sometimes the neighbors turned on a leaf blower. You can even get silly with it on purpose if you need to warm yourself up! I do a lot of yelling "this is so silly and I am so embarrassed!" into the mic before I try a serious read.

Thing 7: You get to spend so much time with a work and its characters! You're gonna read that thing so many times to make decisions and to alert yourself to what's coming next. You'll be able to recite it around a campfire and it'll feel cozy and familiar (or, you know, extra painful if it's heavily angsty).

Thing 8: If you play things back and tweak them as often as I did, it goes a long way toward getting past hating the sound of your own voice or feeling disconnected from recordings of yourself. I've always been so so shy and hesitant to speak aloud in real-life conversations. I won't claim that I'm completely over any of those things, but spending time getting familiar with what I sound like in an objective, task-oriented setting has helped me learn to listen for my own vocal cues when I'm feeling too overwhelmed to process other kinds of feedback. I'm much more aware of what my uncertainty sounds like, for example, and am better able to cover for it now.

Thing 9: If you're also a writer as I am, it helps you look at your own writing through a new lens! I have been known to write 50+-word sentences, but now I (sometimes) stop to consider the punctuation breaks. How readable is this paragraph? Where would I take a breath if I were reading? Where would the emphasis naturally end up and how do I change that of it's not what I wanted?

I think people who are Better At Things might not necessarily have all the same experiences I shared here, but personally, I'm grateful for the opportunity, and I look forward to doing it again!

Here are the works I read for FTH last year:

Evil Plans by Sodium_Azide

The Night The World Didn't End by Aethelflaed

and the one that belongs to the earlier outtakes:

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear by my dear friend QuothTheMaiden, who still seems to like me just fine even though there's a terrible whine behind the whole thing (this was the troubleshooting fic btw. Software updated and defaulted to the wrong device, but I picked the better read over the better sound quality in the end).

#fandom trumps hate #podfic #my podfic #good omens #cactus chatter

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justin-chapmanswers · 10 months ago

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AAAA THE SILVER SPOON EXIT IS FANTASTIC!!! You guys always do such a good job with the Exit Interviews. They're super fun videos that also add juuust that little extra amount of characterization that makes them even better to watch.

What inspires you guys to add the little mini-stories in each interview? Do you usually have an idea of what direction you want it to go beforehand, or do specific questions give you inspiration?

Thank you so much!!! Had so much fun working on that one. And looooove the question. Partly cause I'm like "idk if anyone cares that I do this, but it's fun, anyway!"

When writing any Exit Interview (I've been sole-writing or co-writing all from Box's-and-on, but might not for Balloon's?), I always want to be writing with some sort of angle. Sometimes it's a story for the contestant (TK, Cabby #1, Paintbrush, Silver) , sometimes for the interviewer (Box, Clover), sometimes both (Goo). Sometimes it allows us to hit on an angle on a character that we haven't already, sometimes it gives us some time to show off how far a character has come. Sometimes something that affects the whole interview, sometimes something that'll pop up towards the end that we can hint at earlier. But we tend to try for at least a little-something! We like presenting new narratives wherever we can. The tale is never quite done with these pals!

As for how we plan it out, I'll often go into an interview knowing exactly what angle I want to come in with, and how much that angle'll need to weigh on the characters. I knew I wanted to tell a narrative about Paintbrush wrapping up their three-season-journey and expecting a hyper-dramatic interview to express every facet of their emotional experience... only to receive a bunch of nonsense questions that leaves their final wrap-up feeling empty. So I noted to the audience that we'd love silly questions. I knew that for Silver's Exit we were going to explore the anxieties around criticism, so I made sure to write in the question prompt that Silver would love to hear some compliments- so that we could then receive a bunch of complimentary questions for him to appreciate (but not enough to make a deep impact), and inevitably we received some negative too- which I could then use to show how hard one mean comment can hit for the guy.

For Cabby we wanted to prep for her eventual return by sewing in her current troubled state of mind without tying things up to cleanly in a bow. Clover we wanted to flip it around and have her help an interviewer down on his luck. With Bot we needed to let them reflect on what they've been through but also think on some of the elements of their existence that are still feeling complicated. In Yin-Yang's we knew we wanted to make sure we were following through on their tricky feelings regarding their experience Candle, while also demonstrating their growth as a fun lil duo. Etc.

Occasionally I'll need some inspiration, so I'll ask for the questions first and see if that sparks any particular ideas. When we received a bunch of motherly-oriented characters for Tea Kettle I was left to ponder "how would she feel about this?" With Goo's Exit a couple Cheer Factory questions popped up and I started to think about the fun juxtaposition of matching Goo with someone serious who expects Goo to be a legitimate entrepreneur. Since then we've enjoyed leaning into pairing contestants with very different-vibe interviewers when possible.

And the mindset of writing with an angle all stems to working on Inanimate Answers. Not sure how many people have seen that, since the newest ep predates Invitational, but there we had a very very similar format. It's sorta like the unintentional test-run of Exit Interviews, with some personal conflicts for the contestant, and some for Justin. I'd loooove to make more of those, but they were being made at a point in time where I didn't have a non-II full-time job, and II wasn't focused much on episode production. So finding the time has been tough. We did make a mini version for the Inanimate Direct which was fun (although funnily some of my favorite on-camera work I've done for the channel was in that same video but the Patreon-information segment- which no one will ever watch again cause the Patreon no longer exists haha). And I have an old Yin-Yang Inanimate Answers 5 script that would need to be pretty heavily reworked now that season 3 exists for YY, if I were to try at them again. Maybe there's room for IA in the future. Lots to figure out with the channel! But I'm glad we've had Exits to take on the legacy of some bonus viewer-interaction-based-storytelling.

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carnalhaus · 5 months ago

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I know people usually ask about your art, but I've fell in love with your writing ngl, whenever I see bits of it on here and tiktok. It's as if I'm reading extracts from some famous author, it sounds so professional. I guess it would be a harder question to answer but do you have any tips on how to improve storytelling/writing?

you caught me at a good time because i’ve been working on the second draft of long bright dark like a madman.

first of all, thank you berry much. that’s pretty surprising honestly because i always thought my writing came off pretty rushed and awkward, but i think everybody is their own worst critic.

now i’m probably the worst person to ask because nothing i ever do is about improving, but i can try and talk a little bit about what helps me generally. something i discovered relatively recently was that making friends with other writers helps a lot. i’m very reclusive so i was a bit nervous about it, but it’s a lot of fun. it’s good to surround yourself with people who inspire you and motivate you. it’s like parallel play, almost. bounce ideas around, send snippets and blurbs, talk. i read the first two chapters of my friends novel last night and it was like i took a shot of meth, and now it’s four in the morning and i’m still writing.

i would also say don’t be afraid to let it marinate. step away, stop looking at it for a little, and go look at other things instead. read other things, watch stuff, listen to music, go places. strings of words that’ve come to me while doing other things have ended up being some of my best lines. if you look at what you’re doing for too long, it gets all funhouse-y. while you’re reading other things, try not to compare either. structure, prose, and stylization is unique from person to person just like any other kind of art. have fun and play around with what you see instead, incorporate elements you find interesting and see how it fits in for you. literally just play.

don’t be afraid to rewrite things completely. i think most people think of this as draft 1 vs draft 2 etc etc, but i think it can really apply anywhere in the process. if i find myself getting stuck on a particular paragraph, i open up something completely new and start the portion from scratch, keeping in mind the lines that i liked, and trying to reword things that bothered me. i tend to get distracted with so many things on a page at once, and end up not being able to tell what’s irritating me when i’m stuck. working through it from the beginning without jumping around, but still having that original there to refer back to, makes it much easier to sort through.

this is a fun one, but the music you listen to while you write might be fucking you up. just the other day a friend of mine mentioned how she tends to listen to music without lyrics while she writes, because lyrics end up distracting her. turns out i focus much better when i don’t have words in my ears. i’m not that disciplined so i don’t stick to it always, but it definitely helps me focus.

similarly, i think your environment in general can really help. i tend to draft things on my phone because ideas come to me very quick and scrambled, and it’s the best way to get them out. i’ve started to sit down with a drink at my computer and transfer it into a proper document to sort of descramble. even silly stuff like the colors and format of the page can help. make it look fun. i like sitting down at my desktop when im able because i think my pink fancy keyboard helps me feel more professional.

if you have questions about anything specific, i can always try and answer. here’s an unedited lbd passage.

#asks #writing

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girlfriendsofthegalaxy · 1 month ago

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tuesday again 5/20/2025

in this week’s lesbian romance, she saves her love interest from a BEAR which is the buchest thing i can possibly imagine, aside from like. maybe historical calvary reenactment?

listening

American Psycho by Double Standard. this is a fairly standard indie rock girl group single but it shouts out the iliac crest which i have NEVER seen mentioned outside of fic. not even at the literal doctor’s office!

reading

this week we have Whitewater Rendezvous: Danger, Destiny, and Romance on the River, the third book by Kim Baldwin, who wrote two very respectable thrillers we read earlier this year. 2006, Bold Strokes Books, 233p, normal glossy cover perfect bound paperback.

Danger, destiny, and romance on the river.A wilderness kayak adventure brings together two very different women—Chaz Herrick, a laid-back outdoorswoman, and Megan Maxwell, a workaholic news executive. As they battle the challenges of nature for survival, they discover that true love may be nothing at all like they imagined.

very interesting little foreword: not surprising she’s branching out from thrillers a little bit bc all her authors bios are basically “i like living in michigan with my wife and being outside :)” and she was a journalist for 20 years before semi-retiring to write so the TV news exec aspect of one of the love interests is kind of fun. the girls’ friend group (Broads in Broadcasting) that drags love interest Megan out to Alaska to go kayaking feels like a real life club the author is in lol

had a chat with my bestie about love interest names in romance novels and we would love to have a chat with ms baldwin about her continued use of traditionally male names for her lesbian novels. i would really love to know if any of her love interests would be transmasc if she were writing them today. i understand that trans masculinity and butch culture are sort of blurry in places and more of a continuum, and im very curious if a transmasc love interest was just like. not economically viable as a novel? or if the state of the discourse wasn’t where it would need to be for that to be published by a lesbian press in 2006? many questions.

im hesitant to call this the girls adventure counterpart to the boys adventure books: i feel like traditional early 20th century pulp boys adventure generally has an element of unsanctioned political operation about it? there is no scheme to thwart here really. nobody is a staunch citizen soldier patriot on vacation. it is simply a normal vacation and a nice little travelogue/outdoorswoman novel.

i did like the emotional development here: there was a genuine barrier to them getting together in the beginning, and there was a genuine feeling to slowly beginning to trust each other beyond a professional client-guide partnership where it would look back if someone was killed on this fun trip. this one felt more, i want to say fanficcy? than most of the lesbian romances ive read. but that’s not quite what i mean when i say they both get put into Situations. there are a limited number of tents. there is a bear. there is a head injury necessitating Megan needs to get gently held and secured by Chaz as they raft to a helicopter extraction point to medevac her out of the Alaskan wilderness. i think baldwin was having a little trouble doing something that wasn’t a thriller and getting them to the next point, but this is a fairly picky nitpick compared to the absolute dreck we’ve been wading through where sometimes not even correct formatting is guaranteed!

it does the misunderstanding bc of a kiss thing (annoying) and then solves it early in the next chapter (annoying bc a nosy coworker breaks this news. Refreshing that it’s not the misunderstanding on which the plot hinges and doesn’t actually solve anything. bc both of them are so emotionally constipated that even this vulnerability is not the breakthrough). it is of course a happy ending romance, and has a very neat solution to the long-distance problem of one person having to give up everything she loves about life to be with the other person. there’s also a very funny (for 2025) discussion about 2006 webcams.

sex scenes are fine. nothing truly awful, nothing truly outstanding. i think this is better geared towards someone with normal hips and joints who really really loves scissoring. there is a truly wild scene where Megan gets VERY pushy and eventually backs off that i don’t think ive ever seen in another romance, gay or straight.

watching

apparently i have gone basically my entire life conflating the mission impossible and bourne series bc last thursday i put on the first mission impossible (1996) movie fully expecting the first bourne movie. i had never seen this fucking thing. i had a lot of thoughts about how the plot seemed stapled together in order to get you to the next stunt, and then read the wiki page and discovered that was in fact how they wrote and made the fucking movie. cruise’s preferred way to make a movie???? insane.

i have seen topkapi (where mission impossible gets its guy on a wire vertical heist scene from, down to nearly setting off the floor sensors) but it was wild to watch MI and realize that’s what all modern heist movies are copying.

playing

fallow week. nothing interesting to report in genshin

making

i have had three different paint by numbers at 95% completion in my dining room table for months bc i wasn’t quite happy with any of them. so i turned this one into new vegas fanart through the time honored method of “tracing the logo by using a tablet as a lightbox and then transferring the outline by going over it real hard with a pencil”. i would like to think it does look very in-universe, like someone clearly found some pre-war signage and sold it to gomorrah who slapped their logo on top. it will live next to my nuka cola cap sign in my home office.

#tuesday again #Tuesday again no problem #Spotify

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kingsdee · 4 months ago

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Warriors au. Originally had a whole explanation but tumblrs a bitch and deleted my entire draft so this will be quick! [ I was typing. For 40 minutes. ] first time posting in this fandom,, please be kind I haven't actually interacted with the fandom before

[ renamed whitewing to Darksun because a. Fun b. Theme of odd sky events c. It feels like a protagonist name trust. Also all white cats are boring let me have my fun ]

Au where Firestar dies from the dogs instead of bluestar which leads to a chain reaction where thunderclan and windclan get kicked out, the moonstone gets shattered, and everything sucks!!! Cloudtail is Cloudtsar in this au after becoming bluestar's deputy, however he still has 1 life and is an atheist because... no more moonstone. Deadfoot is also dead star because he deserves it and tallstar probably died in the battle since they lost let's be real.

Since fireheart is dead, I yoinked two of the cloud x bright kits and said "you're the new Squirrelflight and Leafpool I don't care how late you're canonically born" and they serve generally the same purpose, mind powers and all! Runningbrook is the only other cat on the journey other than Ambermoon [ Amberpaw at the time ] , and acts as the reasonable one among the two, and also gets to be our sort-of feathertail. She is a real cat I promise you she was there.

Star flower is their StarClan guide, being the only StarClan cat to find them after the moonstone was shattered [ since this also scattered the spirits ]. She's morally dubious at best and is definitely lying about what's going on, at least to some extent. She pretends to know far more than she does all the time too. This gives Runningbrook a general distrust towards StarClan cats. Starflower seemed somewhat good in legends---did cats change that much in StarClan?

But yeah everything goes bad for these cats. More about this au will be revealed as I make more for it and just write about it in general---feel free to send asks about it! I intend to have everything about the au posted at some point. I actually have stuff done behind the scenes, I just don't feel like formatting it for tumblr atm I am lazy.

Time to do the thing I see a lot of people doing that I suppose I'll join in the bandwagon on; feel free to reblog if interested I suppose! No pressure though ofc LMAO I don't truly care too much, I'd just like to share my silly warriors au with others

ALSO this eeems more canon divergent than it actually is. It isn't all that much if you can look past the very dead fireheart

#warrior cats #erin hunter warriors #warriors fanart #warriors designs #wc #wc art #wc designs #art #artwork #digital artwork #digital drawing #drawing #Dee's spleen's #warriors au #au

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orangeearlgrey · 15 days ago

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A Story Made True: A Mini Essay on Reading and Storytelling in Black Butler

Black Butler is, in itself, a story about people who are telling stories about themselves, either to keep up a charade in public or to get themselves through the day. However, an interesting idea that Black Butler constantly works through is whether you can make the stories about yourself true. All of the residents of Phantomhive manor are, sure, playing at being an Earl and an Earl's servants, but through both sheer force of will and action they kind of are, at the end of the day, what they claim to be. One way that Black Butler explores this idea is through the lens of Ciel being a massive fan of reading and stories.

Historical Context of "Bad Reading" and Literacy in the Victorian Era

The Victorian Era saw a massive rise in both the literacy rate and in the rate of publishing both newspapers and serialized novels. The former is important to Black Butler because it cracked open the possibility of more tabloid leaning newspapers to sensationalize and build up their own narratives to what we'd now refer to as true crime, the best example of this and the one, again, most relevant to Black Butler being the way the newspapers heightened the Jack the Ripper murders. (An excellent source on this is Lucy Worsley's episode of Lucy Worsley investigates on Jack the Ripper- it gives a really interesting account of the newspaper industry at the time.)

Novel reading is important to this exploration of Black Butler too in that while novels were being read and printed more than had ever been seen previously, there were still lingering attitudes from the early 19th century's conception of novel reading. When the novel was a new form of literature around the turn of the century, it was viewed by many as a dangerous and sensationalized form of literature that would lead its readers- especially female ones- to believe the stories in novels were true and try to emulate them in their real lives. (Many good nonfiction sources on this I don't feel like linking bc this is a summary of a lot a lot of graduate work I did on this subject and I'm just writing this for some fun consideration, but a fictional source that handles this I'm sure a lot of you are at least familiar with is Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.) So in many cases, while the types of published novels in the Victorian Era started to expand out of the purely educational sort of fiction, there was still kind of the prevailing attitude that at the end of the day reading should be improving you socially and morally and that "good" readers weren't taking sensationalized ideas from fiction and trying to unrealistically trying to apply them to their socially regimented lives.

How This (Kind of) Applies to Ciel as a Reader:

Ciel is an interesting case because he kind of counts as one of those "bad" readers. Which isn't to say that *all* of Ciel's issues and/or characterization stem from his reading habits but there is a certain fairy tale quality to the life he has chosen for himself.

He does what he wants, he gets from Sebastian everything he wants, he names his baby after a book character and imagines him in the character's likeness, effectively making Finny feel like he can be whoever he wants too if he emulates and draws inspiration from that character.

In another vein, Ciel is supposed to like mysteries and he's fashioned himself into a detective of sorts like The fictional detective originated in the Victorian Era- Sherlock Holmes. (Although per the Book of Murder arc, in this universe Sir Arthur Conan Doyle hadn't made the full leap into detective fiction yet, but more on that in a bit.)

Why the Anime's Old 'Book of-' Titles Matter and How Ciel in Wonderland Recontextualizes Ciel as a Character

When the Black Butler anime returned in 2014, this time with the intention of following the manga more closely than before, the Circus arc was accompanied with the title Book of Circus. This title format was applied to the next two arcs, respectively Book of Murder and Book of the Atlantic. Putting this specification on the title specifically orients the viewer to the idea that this is just a story we are being told. (And not in a duh this is fictional kind of way.) See also the way the most recent anime season framed Sebastian's words here as a 'dull end to our story'.

Going back in time a little bit, the season 2 OVA Ciel in Wonderland is perfectly representative of several of the points I am attempting here. Not only does this three episode arc place Ciel explicitly as a well known book character, it also very interestingly and indicatively shows that when Ciel has lost his way here (per the death and memory loss) his first unconscious instinct is to place himself in the shoes of a familiar character. Through following Alice's (almost) exact footsteps, Ciel is able to find his way back to himself again which circles back to my point about emulating novels and using them as a form of self identification. Reading here, for Ciel, represents not only finding solace in stories (Sebastian is literally reading the book to him like a bedtime story in the end, like it's something that's a part of their everyday life.) but also, pretty significantly, represents Ciel making himself Ciel Phantomhive through fiction.

Also interestingly this edition of Alice from around the time Black Butler takes place depicts Alice explicitly as a reader. (And one of the books I did for my graduate research had such an interesting chapter on Alice being an example of a "bad" overimaginative reader and I am currently having trouble finding it without access to my old school account so if I find it I will drop the title here eventually even if this post is more for fandom fun anyways and not necessarily I am publishing this thing without citing that person etc.) (Something else I would like to link here too when I find it again is one of the radio interviews Daisuke Ono and Maaya Sakamoto did for the Public School Arc last summer where Maaya said that during the filming of the first few Black Butler seasons she'd always be off by herself reading a book and that's so Ciel of her that I know that was somewhere in her portrayal of him.)

Conclusion

I don't know if this is something a lot of the fandom on here would care to read especially since it's so niche to my own extensive research but I did feel like writing something like this for a while now and it was fun to write an essay kind of thing I wouldn't be getting graded on regardless of how many notes it gets dhdjf. I am planning on revisiting the Blue Memory arc and writing a post like this about how the stuff I wrote about here kind of portends to Ciel's version of events, the fact that the Undertaker is literally producing people with false stories about themselves in their heads, and what this all may mean for the end of the story. But this will take a little bit- I have even had this in my drafts for weeks.

#kuroshitsuji #black butler #ciel #ciel phantomhive

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