#talking about all this has reminded me of HOW MUCH I LOVE COMICS; AAA

[edorazzi]

Happy birthday to the absolutely lovely @nai-xn!!! This is super late but hopefully worth it! 💕

We’ve talked a lot about DC Comics and the Batfamily lately and I’ve been loving it! Our joint fave Robin is Jason so naturally here he is.

( twitter | patreon | instagram )

[livesincerely]

it’s beginning to look a lot like...

Part 3 of the Domestic AU, found here: x

Also on Ao3

00000

The First Christmas

“Jack!” There’s an excited shout, tiny hands slapping excitedly at his shoulders. “Jack, wake up, it’s Christmas!”

Jack jolts awake. The room is shadowed in blues and grays, the air cool and crisp the way it only is in the very early hours of the morning. Tony is kneeling on the mattress next to him, tugging insistently at Jack’s shirt sleeve.

“Wake up, Jack! It’s Christmas!” Tony says again, eyes wild with joy, shaking Jack once more.

“Christmas!” Charlie echoes, crawling up onto Jack’s bed as well, his hair sticking up on one side from where he slept on it. “Christmas!”

“Alright, alright,” Jack says, stifling a yawn with the back of his hand. “I’m gettin’ up, give me a sec.”

Jack throws back the covers and swings his legs over the side, then lets the boys lead him into the hallway. Tony and Charlie hop and skip around him like the pair of tripping hazards they are, nearly breathless in their enthusiasm, stopping every now and then to throw Jack a pleading look or pull on his arm, urging him to move faster.

“Jack, are there presents? There are, right?” Charlie asks, his crutch knocking against the baseboards as he wiggles around.

“Or did you forget?” Tony cuts in, his face screwed up in the sort of perfect seriousness that only a six-year-old old can manage. “You can tell us if you forgot, we’ll still love you, promise.”

“I didn’t forget anything, numbskull,” Jack says, ruffling Tony’s hair. “I just knew better than to leave your presents layin’ around ‘cause you’d find ‘em an’ open ‘em early.

Jack wanders over to the cupboard and pulls out a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter, then goes over to the fridge and grabs a jar of jelly. Behind him he hears Charlie hiss, “See, I told you there was presents!”

“So, where are they?” Tony eagerly asks, looking at Jack like he might whip a couple of gifts out of his pockets.

“Hey, breakfast first, then presents,” Jack says, popping a few slices of bread into the toaster and pulling the lever down. “Don’tcha know ya can’t open Christmas presents on an empty stomach?”

For a moment it looks like Tony might argue, but he obediently climbs up to sit next to Charlie at the kitchen table, kicking his legs impatiently back and forth as he waits.

“Charlie, do you want jelly or peanut butter on your toast?” Jack asks.

“Can I have one jelly an’ one peanut butter?” Charlie says.

“Sure, bud.”

“I jus’ want peanut butter,” Tony announces, like this is new information. “Jus’  peanut butter.”

“I know, Tony,” Jack says with a chuckle. “Don’t worry, I won’t let any jelly touch your toast.”

Jack makes quick work of fixing the boys’ food, then reaches into a drawer and grabs a few napkins for them to use, making a mental note to swing by the McDonald’s up the block and grab some more, and maybe a few extra sleeves of plastic silverware while he’s at it.

“What do we think boys?” Jack asks, turning on the tap. “Red cups or blue cups?”

“Don’t we got any juice?” Tony asks. “I want juice.”

“We only have two juice boxes left,” Jack says. “You can have yours now if you want, but then you won’t be able to have any juice with dinner.”

Tony considers this conundrum very carefully. “Yeah, okay. Red cup, then.”

“Red cup for Tony,” Jack repeats, filling up a plastic cup with water and setting it next to him. “How ‘bout you Charlie?”

“Red, please!” Charlie chirps, just as Jack knew he would.

“And a red cup for Charlie,” Jack says, placing a second cup next to him.

Jack fills his own glass, then pops two more pieces of bread in the toaster for himself, leaning with a hip against the counter as he waits for it to finish. Tony and Charlie scarf down their toast like they’re starving for it, clearly eager to get to presents, and Jack calls, “Hey, slow down over there, you’re s’pposed to chew your food before you swallow it.”

“Jack,” Tony whines out the moment he chokes down his last bite. Both sides of his mouth are coated in crumbs and smudges of peanut butter. “Can we open presents  now? ”

“Wipe your face,” Jack reminds him, adding a smear of jelly to his own slices of toast. “And your hands.”

“But can we?” Charlie asks, rubbing at his mouth with a napkin too. “Can we, can we, can we?”

“Well, I dunno...” Jack says, pretending to think it over. “Maybe we should wait a few more hours, make sure the Christmas spirit’s really sunk in…”

“Jack!”

“Okay, hold your horses,” Jack says, laughing. “We’ll open presents, just give me a second to grab them.”

He takes a step, then reconsiders. “Hey, close your eyes,” Jack instructs. “Shut ‘em really tight, okay? Peekers don’t get presents.”

Jack waits for them both to cover their eyes, then lifts up on his toes and grabs the boxes from where he’d tucked them into the cabinets above the refrigerator. He pushes Tony and Charlie’s empty plates to the corner of the table, safely out of the way, then places a present in front of each of them. “Okay, go ahead.”

Eyes fly open, then twin gasps of excitement.

The presents are pretty underwhelming to look at, just objectively speaking, if Jack’s being honest. Two boxes wrapped as neatly as Jack could manage in old newspaper—it took several Sundays worth of papers to get enough ‘Comics’ pages to cover both of them—and taped at the corners. But Tony and Charlie seem happy enough with Jack’s mediocre attempts at wrapping and really, it don’t matter what the outsides look like as long as they enjoy what’s inside, right?

Charlie blinks up at him with big, awestruck eyes while Tony shakes his box back and forth, giggling when he hears the contents rattle around inside. “What are ya waitin’ for?” Jack asks, waving a hand. “Go on, open ‘em up!”

Scraps of paper fly in every direction as the boys tear into their gifts.

“Oh, wow!” Tony exclaims, unearthing a toy racetrack and a set of cars from it’s packaging. “This looks like the one on the TV! It’s got the cars and the track with the loop-de-loop and—”

“Thomas the Tank Engine!” Charlie screeches, practically vibrating in excitement. “Jack, Jack, it’s Thomas the Tank Engine—”

“—and the cars have the little lightning bolts on the sides! Look, Jack,  look at the lightning bolts!  Ooh, and it even—”

“—and he  talks!  Jack, didja hear? Listen,  Thomas talks, you just hit the button and—”

“—stickers! Jack, didja see the stickers? Look you can put ‘em anywhere you want—”

“—it makes the noise too! Listen, listen! Jack are you listening? See, there’s a switch—”

Jack’s grin feels like it’s all but splitting his face apart. He’s been more than a little nervous the last few months trying to work everything out, worrying about what toys to get the boys, sneaking singles and bits of change out of Snyder’s booze fund on top of setting aside his own portion of the grocery money this month to pay for them, swinging by the dollar store at peak hours one Sunday and using the crowds to hide the AAA batteries stuffed into his pockets, and finding time to wrap and hide both presents. So to see his brothers so completely overjoyed… the anxious flutter in his stomach soothes and settles.

“So I guess you like the toys, huh?” Jack says when the flurry of chatter quiets down enough for him to get a word in. “Here, give me a sec to get the dishes taken care of an’ I’ll help you get it all open and set up—”

“Jack?” Tony asks, his voice suddenly taking on a strange tone, placing his toy gently on the table. The tiniest hint of a frown is starting to form between his eyes. “Did… Did Santa bring us anything for Christmas?”

Jack freezes. “Santa?”

“He did, right?” Tony says, his eyes bright with fragile hope. Charlie perks up at the mention of Santa, turning to look at Jack as well, and there’s so much trust in his expression. So much faith. Jack feels like the floor has fallen out from underneath him. “‘Cause I was really good this year. Charlie was too. So he musta left presents, right?”

Tony looks around, then seems to realize that there aren’t extra-special Santa presents hidden in any nooks and crannies.

“Well, I thought we was really good. I thought….” Tony’s expression dims. “But, Mr. S says lazy, ungrateful, good-for-nothins don’t get presents from Santa, so I guess—”

“No!” Jack blurts, unable to watch Tony’s face fall any further. “No, Santa did come by, baby, and he left somethin’ extra special for you both. Even better than presents.”

“Better than presents?” Charlie asks, caught somewhere between disbelief and wonder. “What is it?”

“It’s… Well, ya see, it’s... “ Jack’s mind races, fueled by an explosive mixture of buzzing adrenaline, icy panic, and a fundamental need to  fix. “Last night, while youse were asleep, I was up gettin’ a drink and I saw Santa.”

Tony’s eyes go wide. “You saw Santa?” he gasps.

“I sure did,” Jack says, nodding sagely, making it all up on the spot. “And you what else? Santa gave me a message.”

“A message from Santa?” Charlie squeaks.

“That’s right,” Jack says. “Santa wanted me to tell you that he’s been keepin’ a close eye on you both an’ that he’s real proud of how good you’ve been all year. He said that you’re right at tippity tip-top of the nice list and that Snyder is just jealous ‘cause he’s got a permanent spot on the naughty list for bein’ a mean old grouch.”

This earns a flurry of giggles. “What else?” Tony demands. “What else did Santa say?”

“Santa said that, since you and Charlie were so good this year, he wanted to give you something extra super secret and special. Something that only the two of you get to have, out of all the kids in the whole, entire world," Jack says, keeping his voice in a dramatic hush. 

“What is it?” Charlie asks, and he’s whispering too, thoroughly caught up in the story. “Jack, what is it?”

“Santa gave you…” Jack pauses for effect. "Permission to break the rules.”

Jack gets a pair of blank stares in response. He hurriedly continues, “See, ‘cause other kids have to be on their best behavior on Christmas day: they gotta put on their itchy sweaters and, and their collared shirts and pose for a million photos until their faces feel like they’re gonna fall off. And they got to sit at the table and eat dinner all polite like while the grown ups tell boring stories about taxes and stuff. ‘Cause that’s what Christmas is supposed to be like, when you have to follow the rules.”

“But, see, for us? We gets to be  rulebreakers,” Jack explains. “Santa himself said so! So that means we’s gonna stay in our pajamas all day, and watch movies on the TV and eat cookies and chips and, and just do whatever we want to. We don’t have to do any chores, don’t have to clean up at all for the whole day!” 

There's another pair of excited gasps, Tony and Charlie both starting to respond to the narrative Jack’s spinning. “I’ll get your toys set up for you and you can play with ‘em as long as you want, as loud as you want—Snyder ain’t here!” 

And then it hits Jack, something he can do for the boys that’s special, using the limited items at his disposal. “And the first thing we’re gonna do is make a Christmas pillow fort.”

“What’s a Christmas pillow fort?” Tony asks eagerly.

“It’s like a regular pillow fort but even better, ‘cause it gets to stay up all day and all night and it’s giant—we’ll have to push the couch outta the way, that’s how big it’s gonna be—and ‘cause you only get to have one if Santa himself gives you permission,” Jack says. “Which is very hard to come by, 'cause Christmas pillow forts are a trade secret, ya know? Very hush-hush.”

“We can keep a secret!” Tony promises. “Right, Charlie?”

“Yeah, it’sa secret!” Charlie agrees, miming locking his lips and throwing away the key.

“First things first, we gotta gather our fort making supplies,” Jack says, relieved that this makeshift plan seems to be working. “Tony, you’re gonna grab all the blankets and sheets off our beds, okay? And Charlie, you’re gonna get all the pillows and stack ‘em up for me, okay?”

The boys race away to do as instructed, talking and giggling as they go. Jack uses the brief reprieve to let out a sigh of relief, then starts pushing furniture out of the way to clear a large space in the middle of the living room floor: smack dab in front of the TV and close, but not too close, to the radiator. He turns the couch to face the other way, thinking that they can use the back of it to hold the fort up, then snatches up all the couch cushions and places them to the side.

He squeezes past Charlie and Tony in the hallway—Charlie’s got two pillows tucked beneath his arm, another two looped through the spaces in his crutch, and you can just barely see Tony’s head from underneath the mountain of bedding he’s carrying, the tail end of a sheet dragging along the floor behind him. Jack eases his mattress off its bedframe and lugs it into the living room, going back twice more for Tony and Charlie’s mattresses. Then, they get to work constructing their fort.

Tony and Charlie can only help so much since they’re just munchkins, but they seem to get a kick out of telling Jack how drape the sheets  just exactly right , deciding where all the pillows should go, and testing out if they want to sit on the mattresses or use them as fort walls. Jack finishes the whole thing off with a box of string lights he’d picked up back before he realized that Snyder wasn’t gonna let them have a Christmas tree, and it all looks… nice. Really nice, actually, all cozy and festive and fun.

“Great job boys,” Jack praises, giving Tony and Charlie a round of high-fives. “And now, the snacks!”

They’ve got two family sized bags of doritos and an unopened box of oreos with the red holiday filling in the pantry. He lets Tony carry their glasses over to the designated ‘Drink Spot’ Jack created to help prevent spills—”One at a time, Tones,” Jack reminds him—and soon enough they’re all pilling into their first ever Christmas Pillow Fort.

It’s a little snug, but in the best possible way. Jack’s got a kid on each side of him, one tucked under each arm, sharing blankets and food and laughs. Charlie finds them a rerun of the original, animated, ‘Dr. Seuss’, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!’ to watch, Thomas the Tank Engine perched in a place of honor next to him, while Jack helps Tony get his racetrack set up and running. 

Jack already knows he’s gonna have a hell of a time getting all the crumbs swept up later and it looks like tomorrow’s gonna have to be a laundry day, now that all the linens are dirty, but he lets all of those worries go for now, just trying to relax and enjoy the holiday. Because it’s Christmas, and Tony and Charlie deserve to have the best day Jack can give them. As long as they’re happy… it’s all worth it.

“Merry Christmas, guys,” Jack says.

“Merry Christmas, Jack!” his brothers chirp back.

00000

Chapter two here.

Tag List: @yahfancyclamwiththepurlinside

[ts-daydream-au-fanartfunart]

Daydream AU Chronological Master-post

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           listenherebuddypalBecause I thought it might be helpful. Under the cut, so it’s easily updatable. (unless marked with ‘text post’ or ‘writing’ all of these are comics/art)

Initial Post/AU description.

Chrono link

notes: Related asks are nested within each other between page-breaks and/or ‘parent’ asks will have ‘child’ asks linked underneath indicated by a ‘->’. Newer content is un-bolded (other than w/in Concept Art). There will be occasional movement/duplication of asks that I’m unsure how to categorize (for that I apologize). Other than that, have fun and tell me if there’s any way I can make this master-post better/easier to read.

Concept Art:

Dragon Virgil

Dragon Patton/Stuffed animal hoard (mostly here because I used the Dragon Virgil design. ...and it’s cute, come on.)

Deceit’s Design

Thomas’s Design

-colored pics of Dragon V, Unicorn P, Fairy L, Roman & Thomas in one post.

Backstory:

Fairy Ring -Patton & Logan meet: 1 -- 2 -- 3

Patton- First Shapeshift (ask answer) -- Poachers ( ask answer, semi-prequel/sequel to First Shapeshift) -- HOOVES (ask answer, First Shapeshift sequel) --

Roman- Chase !!Manipulative Deceit!! (writing & ask answer)

Logan- Introductions (ask answer) -- Torn Wing !!Injury & Crying!! (ask answers -also found in Story Asks-): 1 -- 2 -- 3 (textpost) -- 4

Virgil- Dragons & Knights !!Death & Injury!!: 1 -- 2 -- 3 -- 4 (Virgil & Patton meet)

Main Story:

A Little Daydream (writing) -covers from the initial post to the first two comics.

“Please don’t turn me into a frog” -Roman meets a fairy.

“TADA”-Patton & Logan reunite.

Fireside (writing)

“MY SASH” -The reason Ro doesn’t have his sash.

Roman’s Reaction to meeting Virgil (ask answer)

Time to Meet Virgil

“Virgil if you-”

Light Logan ---(colored final panel)

Jam

Virgil’s got a human form? (ask answer)

“You look normal enough” -Roman brings his various magical friends into a village.

Homesickness

Home is... -- 1 -- 2 -- 3 -- 4 -- 5 -- 6 -- 7 -- 8 -- 9 -- 10

Non-Plot:

Sleepy Adventurers

“Hey, we’ve got the same glasses!” (text-post)

Roman & Thomas

Fairy!Logan doodles

Fire-breathing Virgil 

Worldbuilding Asks:

Ages! (anon)

Virgil’s voice (anon)

Does Virgil have a tail? (anastasialestina)

Why was Logan hesitant on giving Patton his name? Text-post (anon)

How small/big can Logan get? (ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2)

How big can Virgil grow to be? (ifthecrownfitswearit)

Do things like Ghosts, Demons & Angels exist in this au? Text-post (puffthetrex)

If they’re traveling where do they sleep at night and where do they find food? And is Virgil a carnivore? Text-post (anon)

Does Virgil hunt? Text-post (anons)

So I’m guessing Logan’s of the Seelie court? Text-post (anon)

Aren’t faeries dangerous? Text-post (listenherebuddypal)

How does Two-headed Dee work? Text-post (artisticdragonwitch)

Had Roman ever seen a dragon before Virgil?  Text-post (anon)

Story Asks:

Is Logan aware size-shifting isn’t very scientific? -this is the ask that caused a whole slew of theories that explained it... (justanotherpurplebutterfly)

How do Patton & Virgil meet? Text-post (anon)

3 questions- how did everyone meet, how did they react to Roman, & how did everyone react to Virgil’s human form? Text-post (anon)

Why does Patton Shapeshift into a Fairy & Roman as a form of transport (anon)

Logan’s reaction to Pat’s shapeshifting & how does Patton learn to control it? (anon)

You’re telling me Logan went a long time thinking Patton was captured by humans? Text-post (anon)

Where're Virgil & Logan’s families? (Dragons & Knights foreshadowing) (anon)

Do the others know about Virgil's past? (anon)

Art-Reply “Concerned Virgil”- asks in relation:

[What is logan's peripheral vision when standing on Virgil’s nose? (anon)

Patton can shapeshift that small -does he join along with Logan to see what he sees? (anon)

I just imagine Roman trying to join in on the fun, clinging to Virgil for dear life (anon)

Patton is Fairy Godmom Confirmed (fluidityandgiggles)

Why’s Virgil concerned? Text-post (anon) >> Technically aren’t they all small to Virgil? Text-post (anon)]

Seeing how Logan immediately examined virgil when he showed his human form... Text-post (anon)

Patton Dragon Shapeshift? (yamihatarou & anon)

Patton, have you ever shapeshifted into someone/smth female? (anon)

Gift-Ask (yoursdearesttravin)

Roman’s New Sash (the-cartoon-shwarma)

Who’s the most powerful one out of them? (anon)

-> How do you all describe power then? (enby-phoenix)

Does Virgil miss his mom? & Do the others comfort him? (reupload) (anon)

Do you miss home Roman? (justanotherpurplebutterfly)

-> Why is it Thomas’s fault you’re out here Roman? (anon)

Has Patton Shapeshifted into the same kind of appearance that Virgil’s human form is? (enby-phoenix)

-> Poor pat, did that hurt?  (anon)

How does Virgil sleep in his human form? (reupload) (anon)

Will Virgil tell Roman what happened to his mom? (artisticdragonwitch & deafgirl-and-hercoven)

Patton, what’s your favorite thing about your friends?  (deafgirl-and-hercoven)

Patton should get some saddle bags! (anon)

Explanations of saddlebags for Pat (thatrandomautist & anon) 

Is Virgil ever without his cloak? (anon)

Did Virgil have a father? (anon)

Dragon Purrito & Can dragon’s purr? (this-is-ske)

Can Virgil purr as a human? text-post (anon)

Does Virgil’s human form look similar to Roman like it does w/ Patton? (anon)

Why did Logan stop wearing the fairy dresses? (anon)

-> Would Logan wear a dress again if Patton, Roman or Virgil made him one? (anon)

->> Would Logan be shy if wore a dress again? What if Patton made a dress for him? (anon)

You can’t live in the forest forever Roman. What’s your plan? (anon)

-> Well the first thing you need to do.... (anon)

Has Virgil given the others a ride on his back while flying? (ebony-wolf)

Ro, do the others know you ran away?... (the-cartoon-shawarma)

Do Roman & Virgil comfort each-other when homesick?--answered through “Homesickness” (the-cartoon-shawarma)

-> Roman, do you want to know what happened to Virgil’s mom? (deafgirl-and-hercoven)

->> So I guess Roman knows what happened to Virgil’s mom now? What does he think of that? (anon)

->>> Roman shouldn’t be supprised (anon)

What if (angsty idea)... (anon)

Does Roman ever get to see Thomas again? Is anyone looking for him? Does Thomas miss him too? (sher-soc-the-famder)

Hey Thomas! How are you? (pastel-anonymous)

-> A little stressed? Why not a lot?

(bromaster20)

You will find him, Thomas (anon)

Thomas do you know what happened to Roman? (deafgirl-and-hercoven)

-> Why not believe the kidnap unicorn part? (bromaster20)

->> Hate to break it to you but all stories have some truth to them.. (bromaster20)

Don’t worry Thomas, Roman’s on an Adventure! (anon)

Did logan ever get stuck on anything? (anon)

->> Lets Rephrase, Logan have you ever gotten stuck IN anything? (justanotherpurplebutterfly, coldmusiccollectorblog, & anons)

Hey Thomas, I’m sure he’s fine! (deafgirl-and-hercoven)

Would you mind talking about you and Roman, Thomas? Has something like this happened before? (sher-soc-the-famder)

Patton, what’s your favorite things to shapeshift into? (anon)

Joan, How’s that list Thomas gave you going? (anon)

Thomas are you worried about Roman, or are you mad? (anon)

-> Thomas how could you doubt Roman!? (anon)

Does Patton’s human form ever remind Roman of Thomas? (ajh-aaa)

Thomas don’t worry Roman’s fine! (the-cartoon-shawarma & anon)

-> Yeah, Roman’s homesick because he doesn’t think he can come home (anon)

Logan, how/when did you meet Virgil? (anon)

Thomas chill (anon)

Roman, do you think maybe Thomas is looking for you not for Treason, but because you’re his brother? (the-cartoon-shawarma)

Pat didn’t kidnap Roman (thatrandomautist & anon)

Joan, how do you feel about the fact that someone pretended to be you by shapeshifting? (anon)

Deceit, why did you drive Roman away from the castle? (anon)

Virgil, there’s no denying you’re adorable, I mean, at least Roman believes you’re handsome, right? (anon)

Logan and Virgil are adorable and Logan is small and huggable. Patton is just a dad, Deceit...he’s cool. 2 heads are better then one sometimes, and Roman.... (yoursdearesttravin)

-> Roman it ok!!!!!! (fangirltothefullest, coldmusiccollectorblog, demigod-in-tha-house, the-cartoon-sharwarma, & many anons)

->> Virgil! Patton! Quick, group hug! (bromaster20)

Wait. Did you imply that Deceit was Virgil’s dad? textpost (anachronistic-cat)

-> Is Deceit his brother? (the-doctor-demigod-wizard & anons)

->> Did they get along when they met? How old were they and how well does virgil remember him? (anon)

Has Logan ever torn/broken a wing? (anon)

-> oh no Logan what happened? (hiddendreamer67 & anons)

->> So I’m guessing Logan’s of the Seelie court? Text-post (anon)

->>> Did Logan’s wing get torn ‘cause he was thrown out of the court? (beyondthestacks, fangirltothefullest, & anons)

->>>> When Logan gets sad how do the others help him? (anon)

->>>>> “They shouldn’t have to make me choose...” did the Seelie court exile Logan because he befriended Patton? text-post (listenherebuddypal, fangirltothefullest, & anons)

Submission Posts:

A Logan Size-Shifting Theory (yoursdearesttravin)

Art Asks:

(includes any of the random non-story stuff. Ex: ask game art requests, most “Let Eat ...” Marco asks, most compliment asks, ect.)

I live for the Daydream AU (deafgirl-and-hercoven)

Baby Virgil, Logan, Patton & Roman (anon)

Dragon Virgil !!blood-lookalike warning!! (forrestwyrm)

Dragon Virgil ‘Look at him. He’s got Anxiety’ (anon)

Shy Fairy Logan (pendulumtess)

Soft Fairy Logan Reaction Doodle (anon)

Dragon Virgil w/kiddo (deafgirl-and-hercoven)

I gotta say Virgil looks hecka cool (anon)

Oh my gosh Virgil is adorable (enby-phoenix)

Love you, Virgil! (nexon-pandorlin-2034)

[Actually, Virgil is quite Dangerous- (bromaster20)

-> Thank you for the compliment! (bromaster20)

->> I’m sensing you are confused... (bromaster20)]

Patton you’re adorable and I love you (karmels-stuff)

Virge you’re adorable no matter how much you deny it (anon)

Virgil’s a fierce and handsome dragon... (pastel-anonymous)

Virgil is "Adorably Dangerous” (puffthetrex & the-doctor-demigod-wizard)

Patton, you’re adorkable (anon)

I noticed Roman’s shorter than the other’s when in human size/forms...(enby-phoenix)

Nah Logan, you’re precious (justanotherpurplebutterfly)

The purrito is the most adorable... (anon)

[Roman if it helps.... Virgil I do not agree with you just being adorable...(bromaster20)

... you are still an adorably dangerous noodle (bromaster20)]

HUGS (the-cartoon-shawarma)

Would his royal gayness like some tea & cookies? (pastel-anonymous)

-> What kind of cookies would you like? (pastel-anonymous)

Can we see more of that horse? aka: “Let Eat Cape?” (karmels-stuff)

Let Eat Shoe (anon)

->Hey Marco did you enjoy that shoe? (karmels-stuff)

Omg At least Roman can say Patton’s never tried to eat his sash (anon)

Logan I like your boots! (enby-phoinex)

Pure drago babe. Big Love. (anon)

So I was imagining where this could go..... (karmels-stuff)

Hey Roman! Do your socks have holes in them? (thatrandomautist)

*gives hugs and affection to Fairy Logan because he deserves it* (anon)

Other/Related Discussion:

[Incomplete asks (Anons) -1 (textpost) -2 (daydream AU Thomas Lineart) - 3 (Logan v TS sketch) - 4 (textpost)-]

I just saw the post with Logan comforting Roman and I’m like “Logan is now another older brother.... textpost (the-cartoon-shawarma)

Also people keep calling Virgil adorable..... textpost (fangirltothefullest)

Fantastic Fanart & the Like:

(inktober) Guarded - @whitewinery 

Colored Virgil & Patton hug (Virgi’s got a human form?) - @ask-the-universe-travlers

Fairy!Logan - @maya-tl

Unicorn Patton in Last Unicorn Style - @fangirltothefullest

Patton, Virgil & Lo  - @mad-as-moriarty

“Look at me, my name is Roman” Virgil - @sandersscribbles

(Secret Sanders) Merry Chirstmas Mom (Virgil) - @birdybabybird

Dragon Virgil - @owlwitch104

Fairy!Logan - @red--cosplays

Fairy!Logan - @dailypattondoodle

Exiled from Seelie Court - @listenherebuddypal

@nightmarejasmine came up with the name for the Daydream AU!! Which I am eternally grateful for! Thanks so much!

-note- if I missed something or didn’t link it right, feel free to bug me about it.

[impossiblecoin]

Peter Moore’s Drumline Ghost

Hey all it’s Tegan here at Impossible Coin!  Check out Brian’s hottake about EA’s 2017 E3 conference under the cut. 

Superficially, Electronic Arts didn’t have much incentive today to take risks. They have two sports franchises, Madden and FIFA, which form the cornerstone of their profitability with incremental improvement. They have a multi-year, multi-game ironclad exclusivity deal with Disney for utilization of the Star Wars IP in games and after some time adrift with its fanbase last year Battlefield 1 restored core audience faith and established the title as a regular positive performer in NPD sales data. EA didn’t need to take chances. So they largely didn’t.

EA cuts without warning from a gaudy pink splash screen to their stage and the screen on stage is filled with a brief countdown clock. Three. Two. One. I am reminded of something that will be missing. Peter Moore. Peter Moore, something of a legend in the game industry, with a long and storied career in games spent the last several years at EA. Some of that time in the role of “Chief Competition Officer”. It sounds like the kind of made-up title that gave them the continued excuse to employ Peter Moore.

The countdown expires and a drumline pours out in front of the stage pounding their drums, decked out in New England Patriots gear. Their faces are frozen in excitement. I wonder; is this how you fill the void left by the departure of one of the game industry’s most beloved faces? Without Peter Moore we’ll get drums. Andrew Wilson emerges. EA has chosen to lead with their CEO. He speaks with soaring rhetoric about the aspirations of games and games as the highest art and games as a unifier of culture and people. For most companies, that would simply have come off as disingenuous bullshit. EA’s history, its pedigree, makes it sting a bit here. EA was founded by Trip Hawkins and once, decades ago, was a company with laudable ideals and shamelessly optimistic goals. Wilson’s brief speech felt the same way as whenever someone trots out the corpse of the Polaroid brand or Atari.

After his rah-rah moment House Tells us that we can expect to see eight distinct experiences today. He sounded like Jacob Marley telling us what we can expect during the course of A Christmas Carol. I merely catch upon the word experiences. I feel like he's hedging his language in such a way to disguise the fact that there won't be eight games discussed but instead a mixture of games and DLC.The lights go down and the trailer for an upcoming DLC package for Battlefield 1 plays.This immediately validates my suspicion.Their presentation on Battlefield is riddled with clips of streamers and little moments where influencers are imposed on the corner of my screen. EA is all in on co-opting streaming culture.

After Battlefield the presentation winds its way to Madden and FIFA. The level of nuance and subtlety brought to these games seem almost overwhelming to somebody who is outside looking in at the sports genre. If you haven't been playing Madden or FIFA for years there was no evidence provided that these games will provide any kind of entry point for access to those with casual interest. What was additionally interesting about these two games is the level of attention devoted to describing their single-player story-driven campaigns.There is a recurring theme in discussing the progression of AAA video games which is that eventually all games will be RPGs.Seeing the implementation here provides no evidence dispute that.

The audience seems weirdly muted. One can assume that some social media director or event coordinator gave instructions to the audience asking them to only offer up polite golf claps after each announcement or some sound engineer carved out the sound made by an excited crowd when mixing the audio. But it became more pronounced when EA sent two British YouTube comics to the stage to yuk it up about FIFA. It felt like a moment inserted to whisper to the people not there for the sports games to hang in there. There will be stuff for you later.

A trailer begins for the new Need for Speed. It prompts the most mixed of mixed reactions. On one hand the game is obviously and nakedly stealing themes and presentation from The Fast and The Furious.On the other hand it is cribbing from industry mainstay Burnout giving the proceedings a welcome arcade feeling that if executed correctly could make an open world feel like a playground. My enthusiasm is tempered by the knowledge that these borrowed influences don't come from a place of love but come from focus testing and a desire to turn this franchise into the same kind of well-oiled machine that their sports properties are.

When I said at the beginning EA didn't have much reason to take risks or go out on limbs I meant it but it doesn't mean that they shied away from that entirely.The next game they showed was risky in design philosophy, mechanics and presentation. Emerging from their overly quiet EA Partners program came A Way Out. It is a game about escaping from prison. Solely playable as a co-op experience and ideally played as a split-screen couch experience. Lead developer, Josef Fares, oozed enthusiasm and infectious joy when talking about the project. He bragged about a series of features that even now would probably be called bad design ideas but in this context and in this game sound compelling. One such case, mechanics would be introduced and used once only to never be repeated. It made me think about the way Activision tried to sell us Destiny years ago. Into their original presentations on that game they hung their messaging on the idea that you would have experiences that would result in unforgettable moments. What the gaming community discovered was that no matter how snappy and tight the shooting was if it was repeated ad nauseam it was no longer memorable. By creating a co-op experience which discards the ability to drop in or drop out as a primary objective and then embraces infrequently used mechanics Hazelight gambles they will be able to create memories and advocates for their unusual approach to co-op. I didn't expect to come out of EA's press conference really curious about anything but I found myself not only curious about this but downright enthusiastic.

Following this unexpected and completely pleasant surprise EA shifted back to sports but also a place they’re vulnerable. EA has a troubled relationship with basketball. The past several iterations of NBA Live have been failures. Unequivocally. NBA Elite, a game whose development was complete, had been shipped to stores, was recalled when footage showed how broken it was. EA found themselves in the position needing to make the case for their continued presence in this market. Talk of NBA Live included focus on the presence of pro-am leagues, historical or notorious street courts and the presence of a story driven single-player campaign.The thing that stood out the most was that EA will be offering a demo that will allow for progress to carry over into saves for the final game. It was implicit admission that they don't have anyone's trust in the basketball space and acknowledgment that that trust needs to be earned back. Offering players the chance to try for free and then allow save data carry over is a good token gesture but alternately won't be meaningful if the work has not been done to make NBA Live more representative of what players are actually interested in.

EA then offered up a cinematic teaser for a new game from BioWare, Anthem. Their presentation was free of any real detail on Anthem except for two things; the game is optimized for Project Scorpio and there will be more information about the game at Microsoft's press conference. This may ultimately say more about Microsoft then it does about EA. There was some question as to whether or not Microsoft would increase or double down on internal development efforts to make the case for their platform. Or, would they continue to lean on third party marketing deals to shore up their lineup.While this one announcement is certainly not entirely representative of what Microsoft has planned it is representative enough to let us know Microsoft will still to some degree rely on these third-party marketing relationships. In the parlance of Impossible Coin Will Ferrell lives.

Finally, EA closed out their presentation by talking about Star Wars At length.The primary focuses of the presentation was in acknowledgment that Star Wars Battlefront has been pretty disappointing to a significant percentage of their user base. I will never celebrate a company acknowledging they made a bad, unfinished game. The expectation should be that those don’t get out the door. For this new Battlefront there was increased attention on the heroes, classes and multistage objectives. I don't want to pick up apart their presentation on Star Wars for too much; it will almost certainly be the thing that most podcast and pundits focus on. The thing I did want to mention is that the presentation on Star Wars ran for a full half hour and by the time it was done I was grateful.

It was a press conference that left me curious about the direction of the company. Will they be the company that manages to find a way to make Star Wars overstay its welcome? Will they be the house built by Madden and FIFA? Will they carve out market share as an alternative in the basketball space? Will they further embrace new IP from their EA Originals partners and in house studios? And will they deliver on the promise of those new IPs?

Turns out a drumline didn’t replace Peter Moore. Unanswered questions did. 

[chozobill]

Switching Gears: 2017 and Why Video Games Worry People

My oldest son the first time he turned on Mario by himself.

Nintendo games have been a part of my life for most of what I remember of it. One of the first things I remember is playing Super Mario Brothers with my dad.  I had to have been ...3? 4 at the oldest?  I jokingly told a friend while we were discussing our most impactful Christmas & Birthday presents that the introduction of the NES altered the trajectory of my life forever from that point forward, but that isn't a joke.  

There are people that contend that games rot your mind.  This isn't true for me, and wasn't true for my friends growing up.  I was friends with "the smart kids" all through my school years.  I identified as "smart." My friends and I all played games to some extent.  I admit that my desire and capacity to obtain and consume new games far outstripped many of my peers.

Nintendo's presentation of its new console, the Switch, has me at a crossroads. For the first time I've found myself considering the implications of continuing down the road I've been on literally as long as I can remember.  It's not the quality of Nintendo's offering that has me thinking, but the stage of life I currently find myself occupying.

Video games have changed a lot since the 80's.  Big budget AAA games have become an arms race of who can push the envelope even closer to photo-realism in both appearance and in actual interactions between the player and the game world.  Games exist today that surpass 8-year-old  Bill's wildest dreams. But instead of being filled with wonder, there is an undercurrent of obligation.  

When I was 14 years old, a game that boasted hundreds of hours of gameplay would have blown me away.  I would scramble to get a copy and play blissfully for hours and hours.  And such a game would be rare.  Today games are designed to be services that last as long as you are interested in them.  Games like World of Warcraft, Destiny, Monster Hunter, Call of Duty, mobile Skinner-box style games, and even evolutions of old games like the latest Pokemon have systems in place to keep you coming back to that specific game.  Player retention is a huge metric.  While I may have played the games of my teenage years multiple times, it felt like re-reading a favorite book, or re-watching a favorite movie.  Games today are more like years long spanning soap operas that give you just enough progress in each play session to keep you coming back again day after day after day.

Developers are getting really good at making you want to stick around! There's so much to fuss over that if I am really into an addicting game, I find myself thinking about it in the shower, sneaking some time searching a wiki or FAQ between meetings, and spending time away from the game planning what I want to do during my next play session.  I used to think of this as a great feature of modern games.  Today, one game  can be so complicated that you could spend literally hundreds of hours on a single purchase.  There was so much to do and think about that I didn't need to buy new games as often, generally spent less money on other forms of entertainment, and often could put the console to play these games (3DS, phone) in my bag and take it wherever I want to go.  

Catching Pokemon with my daughter the day of the Pokemon Go launch

Then I started growing my family.  Adopting my daughter when she was nine years old didn't do much to change my habits, and we often played games together.  She could already make her own cereal and knew not to stick her finger in an electrical outlet.  Adding two more boys to the mix really put some things in perspective that I didn't understand when I was a kid.

I have a handful of personal goals that I want to achieve sometime in my life.  Some of them are far off dreams, but require daily practice to manifest anything worthwhile.  Sometimes it is studying Japanese.  Lately, it has been reconnecting with drawing and art.  Every piece of advice I read on how to improve is to prioritize daily practice and keep pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.  

Once you have a handful of kids, your days get pretty crazy.  After volleyball, music class, dinner, bath time, and story time, bed time, you're left with 1-2 hours a day of personal time to accomplish everything you must and want to accomplish.   After cleaning up the messes of the toddlers (and the now teenagers), you're usually talking an hour tops.

So how do you spend that hour?  Obviously you could play games, and that hour would go by really fast.  But what about that nagging voice that says "hey, didn't you want to put out another comic?" or "how long has it been since you studied new Kanji?"  This feeling shows up in quiet moments alone: the shower, long drives, standing in line, or waiting to fall asleep. I've found that you can ignore the voice for awhile with new games or tv shows, but eventually the gentle reminder becomes a deafening chorus.  Cynicism seeps into your entire outlook and makes everything you do feel like a futile, pointless waste of hours you will never get back. When I get bored of a super complicated game, I start to beat myself up for obsessing over something “trivial” and ignoring all the other development I said I wanted to pursue.  

My youngest son rocking the PS4 gear

Now, let me go on record: games are not “bad.”  I love games.  I will never stop playing games. But I recognize that when I am actively playing games, my brain focuses on every minute detail of every system to crowd out the unease I feel about not making progress towards dreams I've had my whole life.  Having kids wakes you up to the fact that "the rest of your life" is finite and very short. My youngest is one, and he was only a little new born baby for the first few months of his existence.  He's already starting to piece a few words together.  In a few months he will be more himself, more independent, and that 1-year-old toddler will never be the same again.  Today matters.  And if enough todays go by without change you will continue on the same path "for the rest of your life."

I love my family and want to be an active part of it, but I still have my own personal ambitions.  That means, if they’re awake, I try not play games unless they're playing too.  It also means that  if I want to continue to grow my personal dreams and ambitions outside of family, I have to do it when they're asleep, while also getting enough rest myself that I don't get fired at work.  I'm starting to wrap my head around the idea that, in the long term, I beat myself up less if I use that spare hour every day towards my dreams and ambitions instead of retrieving magical rocks for characters inside computer simulations.

All that said, I pre-ordered a Switch because I know that my kids and I are going to have a blast with Super Mario Odyssey, or 1-2-Switch, or, when they're old enough, Zelda.  Just like playing with my dad in the late 80’s/early 90’s, Nintendo time is family time.  But I have become increasingly critical of purchasing new games that only I will play.  It's not that games are a waste of time, it's that if I ever want to create the things I've told myself I will make time for someday, someday must be today, or it will never happen.  The last year slipped through my fingers faster than I ever thought possible.  I vividly remember moments from 18 months ago that feel like yesterday.  Playing games by myself in my free time accelerates the pace of time slipping by.  If I don't use my time now, today, in a way that directs me towards the future I want, it will never happen.  In 2017, my goal is to slowly course correct the ship that is my career, goals, and ambitions, even if it’s only an hour at a time.

[tumblunni]

Mannnnn I just cannot get over how many great well-developed relationships there are within the Rune Factory 4 cast! Its just great how much all the different love interests interact with each other outside of their romance route, and how all the non-romanceable characters are still an equally big presence by being family/mentors/employers/best friends/etc to the love interests and to each other and everyone has a job role in the town and they have so many great interactions and just GAHHHH its so great!! Its like one big family made of families made of families then you marry into the family and the family and also the family perhaps. THEN YOU HAVE A CUTE CHILD. aaaaaa

Anyway.. umm.. lol... Yeah THIS IS BUNNI JUST FLAILING AT HOW GREAT THE GAME IS

ALL THE FAMS:

Ventuswill the mentor lady best friend/team mum/LITERALLY THE GOD OF THIS COUNTRY AND A GIANT DRAGON man i just cry forever for her aaaa Everybody’s own unique love for her, and how she kinda unites us all as a family aaaa The butler family coworker trio who met each other because of her! I really like to see it as clorica and vishnal having a brother sister relationship, they dont get any particular big scenes together but they just seem to be such cute friends who never have any of the rivalry you’d expect when theyre both competing as volkanon’s students. VOLKANON IS LIKE YOUR GRANDPA AND HE IS THE BEST CHARACTER The whole restaurant fam! You get to see it expand as the story goes on! And aaaa its just so heartwarming that porcoline adopts all these random homeless people and aaaa!!! DYLAS LEARNED TO COOK. THEY ALL LOVE THEIR STUPID TWIRLY GOOFBALL DAD. And its so nice that these very different personalities end up coming together and being like siblings when they probably wouldnt have befriended each other if not for this random stroke of chance. Its just so cute seeing margaret looking out for her new brothers, and dylas being so polite and formal to arthur, and arthur just being all ‘haha i dont know anything about having a loving family what a rare novelty’ *constantly crying inside* And they bicker sometimes and when they team up theyre a super powerful force, and theyre all like the parents to porcoline’s childishness and aaaaa super talented restaurant fam, super colourful quartet of hugs aaaa THEY ARE MY FAVOURITE OKAY And Forte + Kiel adorable siblings with the unique plot and semi tragic aspect of living alone together at a young age and each trying to take the place of their deceased parents and protect each other And then Bado is like their weird adoptive uncle who’s lived next door since back when their parents were alive, and promised to keep them safe. but he’s kind of a wreck of a man who’s perpetually messing up his silly get rich quick schemes but DEEP AT HEART HE CAAAAARES! but still he is kind of a mess and would probably turn up drunk on their couch half the time. i love him he reminds me of sirius black if he ate del boy from Only Fools And Horses to absorb his strength And then there’s Illuminata who’s like Bado’s evil twin kinda?? They should have more interactions, theyre the bad influence grownups duo XD And I just love the underrated relationship between her and her ‘sidekick’ amber, and how she’s kinda like a big sister who doesnt wanna be called one. I totally only have you here to serve my nefarious purposes! Umm, I mean, my purposes of justice!! And then she’s often playing the cool big sis to all the various female characters in the town, even though at the same time she’s also part of the ‘adults who need a mom friend’ group XD I think margaret and forte actually win the crowd of the true mom friends even though theyre not the oldest (I also like that they have an unlikelu friendship together, though i wish if margaret is allowed to have a canonical gay crush then why isnt she allowed to be a gay marriage option...) And then Lin Fa and Xiao Mei kinda dont stand out as much cos theyre more of a very normal mother and daughter, beyond Lin Fa just being this spacey super nice but super clumsy person. She’s not quite the funny parent-child like porco and co, but she’s funny in her own way cos of how cheerful and positive she is about all her failures. Xiao Mei got all the common sense! Its also nice and cute how Xiao Mei is physically clumsy but super competant and mature, while her mum is perfectly elegant yet completely scatterbrained. And they’re both totally huggable, Xiao Mei dont be jealous that everyone has crushes on your mum! I feel so bad when she’s all ‘i’ll never succeed cos i cant be cute in the same way as her’, as if there’s only one definition of feminine beauty or whatever. CAN YOU NOT SEE YOUR MUM HAS FLAWS TOO. you are powerful togetherrrrrr! i am just so envious seeing these characters with supportive mums that’re like their best friend and they can talk about everything together ^_^ And then there’s the doctor family with the super lovey dovey married couple of funnyness and mushy mush, and they adopt some orphans too~! EVERYONE ADOPTS EVERYBODY: THE GAME. I love seeing the cold and distant Dolce warm up to them and regain her faith that she wont be hurt if she loves someone again. Also Pico is very cute and hilarious! Even if again I get very annoyed at this game having so much queerbaiting, lol. I kinda laughed at the wiki saying dolce and pico were ‘like sister’, i mean seriously?? Pico is like your typical ‘looks like a child but is really 100′ love interest and dolce is the poor harem show protagonist who never asked for this XD I do like though that even if it seems dolce very much doesnt requite pico’s feelings, theyre still best friends either way. Pico’s super comedic flirting attempts seem to come off like she’s completely aware that dolce doesnt love her back, and she just wants to make some humour out of the situation to let dolce know she still cares about her even if they’re never gonna date. Its nice, we dont often see relationships like that in fiction, a childhood friend who confess a crush, gets turned down, and it actually ends positively and they remain friends. Its just a shame it had to be like... one of the few openly LGBTQ characters in the game, and nobody is ever allowed to date anybody or have a happy ending or be a romance route or even mention the word gay, even as theyre constantly being incredibly vocal about how its canon these characters have crushes on each other. gahhhhh. I mean we literally have doug and dylas proposing to each other and confessing their love but LOL HA its just a ~wacky misunderstanding~ but btw lets just rub it in that they are VERY MUCH intended to be seen as gay by the audience but theyre not ~really~ gay even when we say they are and GAHHH okay sorry im getting offtopic now :P Anyway its really sad that Pico is stuck as the same unchanging ghost child while her best friend grows up and marries someone else. And man, she had to spend all those years guarding monster form dolce until someone was able to free her, and we dont even know how pico died so her life could have even more tragedy in it. After all that I guess its a relief that she can be this comic relief jerk-with-a-heart-of-gold manzai duo partner to dolce and also like the freeloading friend on her metahphorical ghost couch. And its nice how much the doctor couple completely accept ‘dolce’s friend’ and are some of the few people who never remotely worry about her haunting the town. And then AAAAA there’s the four guardians themselves who’re like a family cos they were all people who were like family to ventuswill in different time periods, and then met each other for the first time when they were purified from their monster forms and bonded over how much they all love the same friend. And theyre such a badass quartet of cool monsterfolks!! And I like that they have lil relationships inside the quartet, like how dolce and amber are polar opposite sunshine and grumpiness but dolce secretly likes her a lot more than she lets on, and how leon likes to tease dylas but also kinda be his wingman. And I like how leon takes this role to a lot of the other batchelors too, he’s this totally shameless frat boy big brother figure XD “HEY PROTAGONIST DO YOU WANNA HEAR ABOUT DOUG’S SEX LIFE” And then aaaa doug and granny blossom AAAAAA granny blossom is probably the character who gets the least scenes, backstory, and general focus, but I still love her a lot. And they have a good dynamic together! I like that it starts off seeming like just a completely normal grandma granson relationship, but then you learn later that he’s adopted, and that he actually began as a spy for the evil empire who realized the error of his ways after infiltrating the town and finding so much love inside it. And then he’s just so scared cos blossom’s illness might bring her to an early grave, and he’s always being disobedient and rebellious because he wants to do anything to protect her even if she tells him not to put himself at risk and AAAAAA

why are there so many amazing fams and theres even so many small hints of characters who maybe only interact once or twice and then there’s room to headcanon even more fams and AAAAAA and the protagonist’s place in the complex web of fams is up to you to decide!! ITS LIKE EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED IN A GAME

oh and randomly I liked that xiao mei’s father isnt a major character in the game, but there’s not any tragic reason or anything. he’s just a travelling merchant and lin fa is very accepting of her husband being gone off on trips for long periods of time, she has every confidence he will never stray away from her and she supports him pursuing his travelling dreams! and also it was funny how his one brief appearance has him with the generic traveller 3d model, to point out how much he isnt a main character compared to his wife XD and it was just really cute how happy everyone was when he visited, and how the player accidentally helps improve their family business! and aaa the backstory story about arthur’s mother is SO DAMN SAD, and dolce’s biological parents who she left behind when she sacrificed her life, and just AAAAA even the tiny one-line-only minor fams are such quality fams FAMS GAME REVENGE OF THE FAMS