#things get simplified and streamlined all the time

[judasalicent]

my predictions for aegon ii's death in hotd. spoilers for f&b obviously.

i believe that aegon is going to kill himself, and i think alicent's role in his death will be indirect (i.e., she is not the one who comes up with the idea of poisoning him).

why does aegon want to die? as of right now, i believe aegon's s3 plot will revolve around his time hidden on dragonstone and getting acquainted with the smallfolk, learning to live freely outside the chains of duty. aegon's fun comes to an end when sunfyre arrives on the island, and aegon is called back to duty. additionally, aegon will at some point learn of his mother's betrayal, exacerbating his sense of worthlessness. aegon became king because alicent said so, he fought in this war because alicent said so, he's been broken and burned because alicent said so. and then he wins his crown back only to discover that alicent is in love with rhaenyra and never wanted him to be king, and aegon will think all he's lost was for nothing. ultimately, he will see an escape from duty in death.

what will be the role of larys in aegon's death? to begin, let's talk about aegon's death in f&b. i believe that larys's role in the fall of dragonstone/riots of king's landing/the moon of the three kings will be greatly simplified. with such a low episode count, i imagine s4 will skip most of aegon's reign. to streamline this plot, i believe larys will support aegon throughout the entirety of the story. in f&b, larys and orwyle are implicated in aegon’s death, orwyle providing the poison and larys orchestrating. simultaneously, s2 establishes that orwyle and larys care for aegon. accordingly, i think these two will accede to aegon's plea to die out of a sense of mercy.

how will alicent be involved in aegon's death? when aegon finally decides it's time to die, he will ask to go to the sept with alicent, carrying the poisoned wine with him. in f&b, it is said that aegon is often ashamed of himself and his desires during his reign, which would possibly give him the idea to go to the sept to be "forgiven," in the eyes of the gods, but really, in this eyes of his mother. f&b further supports this theory of seeking forgiveness with this quotation from eustace "perhaps he sensed his end was near I…] and wished to pray for forgiveness for his sins." basically, aegon wants to be with his mother in the sept, referencing alicent's "i find this is a way to be with my mother," in 1x02 and aegon's "i want my mother," in 1x09. also, aegon as king is "born" in the sept in 1×09 (imagery is very explicit), and it would make sense for him want to seek out alicent there while he dies.

so, in the litter on the way to the sept, aegon will have alicent help him take a sip of the poisoned wine, meaning that alicent indirectly kills aegon. the poison will act quicker than what aegon expected, and he will die before reaching the sept to be "forgiven."

simultaneously, aegon's death will obviously be relevant to alicent. alicent will witness the death of her last living child, totally free from duty, the final link in the chain broken. i do not believe that alicent will want to kill aegon. it is one thing to sacrifice him before the war has really begun, but it another thing to murder your ailing son after the bloodiest parts of the conflict have passed. yes, alicent will resent aegon for killing rhaenyra, but the worst thing she can do to him to get that idea across is not to kill him, but to keep him alive and constantly remind him that she loved rhaenyra more than him.

[kahluah]

Bro, the original storyboard are still up. Chelsea being Nerissa was a last minute change , which is why the twist doesn't make much sense. If you watch directors interviews you'll find that they intended Chelsea to be a Regina George mean-girl. Also they describe the twist as fun lmao.

Look, I understand there are storyboards. I also understand that stories can change while they are in production. I'm not doubting the storyboards exist and that an initial draft of the movie at some point had them as two characters.

There are interviews where they discuss how the story was still open for input, so, you know, suggestions, changes, alterations, all that good work currently in production stuff, when the studio opened back up with the hybrid set up about half way through the development. Just because some of the storyboards in the beginning had something does not mean it will always be there in the final product. Things change. "You'll find they intended Chelsea to be a Regina George mean-girl" fine, but it obviously didn't stay that way. And, as I've said before, there is enough information in the movie for the reveal to be guessable. I'll say once again, I figured it out when "plan get the Trident" was suggested by Chelsea. I'm sorry if you feel it makes no sense, but like I've talked to multiple people that were able to predict the twist so idk what to tell you there.

But, I am also just dubious of how you guys keep pushing this whole "last minute" change thing. In the storyboards I saw, even as separate people, Chelsea is still evil and turning into a giant fucking mermaid to enact revenge. Other than the name of the character, and a portion of her motivation being that she was avenging her mom (with the whole other bit still being the whole "becoming ruler of the ocean and taking over everything" thing), the overall reason for the end fight is the same. Chelsea would have still been manipulating Ruby for that goal of getting the Trident, killing the krakens, and becoming Queen herself. The only thing that would really truly change with these storyboards is her age, so to me it sounds like this "it's a last minute storyboard change that makes no sense!" is some form of excuse/denial so that people feel alright to ship them again and write good end fix it fics.

Also to be a bit more snarky here...

If you watch the directors interviews, you'll find that they say that Ruby is a character "stuck between really strong women; amazingly strong women... and a lot of people have a lot of ideas about how she should be living her life, and this journey she goes on is figuring out how she wants to... because her heart's in the right place in every frame of the film; she has no ulterior motive, and she's so empathetic to her friends and everyone around her. I think that was really the sweet spot that we, working with the animators and with Lana - You know we love that you're doing that because that was really the goal in an idea about this coming of age story." Gee that kind of sounds like what I've been saying this movie is about; her relationship with these women. Multiple other interviews also put emphasis on the relationship between Ruby and her mom, Her mom and Grand Mama, Ruby and Grand Mama, Ruby and Chelsea. You know, the people I've mentioned in my other posts. It's clear that by the time production was wrapping up that this was the direction and intention of the movie.

To be fair I've also seen where they describe Chelsea as a Regina George type mean girl, and it really fits the high schooler vibe she has going on, but it's clear that not all of that stayed through till the end of production.

I can also imagine a version or original idea for this movie being one where the kraken family and the mermaid family were supposed to be foils of each other, but to be fully fleshed out we would have needed more world building and the plot would have had more focus on the war itself since that would have been the ideal point to sure how these two families diverged from each other. They would both have the starting point of the end of the war, and a broken relationship between mother and daughter (one because the mother was killed and the other because Agatha left). But from the multiple interviews I've seen where they wanted the focus of the movie to be on Ruby herself and how she interacts with the other women in her life during this coming of age story, that plot wouldn't do it justice. There is too much background information that you would have to supply to showcase both sides of the story and Ruby's personal journey would suffer for it.

When talking about production of the film, multiple interviews also talk about how they developed the feel for land/the town vs under the water, the humans vs the sea creature, and some of the actual character design elements like Nerissa's water hair. I haven't seen one where they talk about the lore of the war and how they fleshed out how the under the sea politics work and how those were a super important part of developing the story and production direction of the movie... At this point who knows how much of that they had ideas for, we would have to wait for more storyboards or an art book, but my point is that it isn't what they wanted the focus of the end product to be about.

Those storyboards were ultimately changed and by combining Chelsea with Nerissa and having her be an adult, it tightened up the core of the movie being Ruby and her relationships with women in her life (since one was no longer a peer). The story of Ruby growing into her own was able to have the sole spotlight rather than having to split it between two different family stories.

A lot of people who work on and promote things in interviews will describe it as fun. It is a very easy way to get across "I enjoy and approve of this thing we did". What do you want them to do? Break the flow of the interview and take up all the remaining time by explaining in exacting detail when and why the change happened during the development, and their exact thought process in doing it, and who exactly suggested it, and who supported it, and how much of the story that they had at that point in time of production was changed by it? Like I'll admit I'm curious to when it changed, but when I'm watching a 10-20 minute interview on YouTube I would rather they cover more than just one little thing.

[phantomarine]

Clam's Quick Tips for Starting Your Very First Webcomic

Howdy! Here are the three bits of advice I tend to give people who ask me about getting into webcomic-making. Maybe they can help you jump into the fray with a little less fear.

1) Make Your First Chapter a Pilot Episode

You will be told by webcomic veterans to start with a short, simple comic idea first - which is wise - but if all you can think about is your big magnum opus, then you might as well hop in, right? Otherwise you'll just be glancing back at the other cooler project forever.

But if you can't start with a small simple story, start on a small, simple part of that larger story. Your first chapter should be a snapshot of the main conflict - show us a simple scene with few characters, ease us in slowly, keep things clear and focus on emotion/impact/clarity. Get the audience to care by offering something easily digested, but full of promise.

Once you're done with that 'pilot' chapter, and you're feeling more comfortable with the whole comic process, you can open the gates and show us the larger world. At that point, you'll be way more ready.

2) Simplify Your Art Style For Your Own Sanity

Always try to make your webcomic's art style as simple as possible - the standard rule is to use only 75% of your artistic skill for every comic page you make. Otherwise you will burn out quickly and terribly.

But you also need to be PROUD of your art style. If you're really feeling itchy, add a couple bells and whistles to your style so you can look at the finished page and say "Yeah, looks cool." You'll find the right balance the more you draw.

Also, don't be afraid to change your art style as you go along. Ultimate consistency is often impossible in webcomics anyway - so embrace your desire to try new things, streamline your work, whatever you feel needs to happen to be happiest. Sometimes the coolest part of reading a webcomic is noticing that style change - so don't hesitate to embrace it!

3) Resist the Reboot! RESIST!

The curse/blessing of drawing the same things over and over is that you'll inevitably get better at drawing those things. The trouble comes when you look back at old stuff and start thinking "Damn, I could draw that way better now."

You must recognize that this feeling never goes away. Not after a hundred pages. Not after three hundred. Not after a thousand.

I think everyone should be allowed one soft reboot for their first webcomic. Redraw some panels that bother you. Change up some dialogue if it doesn't make sense with your new story ideas. Do maintenance, basically. One of the beauties of webcomics is that they can be easily edited, without reprinting a whole book or remaking a whole game.

But if the ultimate purpose of a webcomic is to tell a story, then constant reboots will just be retelling the same story - slightly better each time, but the same at its core. We've heard it before. Most audiences would rather you save your strength and just keep going, rather than circling back year after year and going "Wait wait wait! I'll do it better this time."

Reboot early, not often, and only when you absolutely must! You're a storyteller, and you're constantly getting better at telling your story. Don't be ashamed of it - look back how much ground you've covered, and keep walking!

---

That's a good start. Happy webcomicking - don't be afraid to jump in, but be prepared to learn a lot very quickly. And if this advice doesn't work for you or adhere to how you did it, that's absolutely fine - webcomics are diverse by nature, and so are their creation processes. Feel out what works best for you, and good luck!

[imsobadatnicknames2]

Hi! I recently started playing dnd 5e and realized that all of ur complaints about it are absolutely true, do u have recommendations for some other ttrpg games that arent TOO complicated for beginners

If you want something that's on the same vein as D&D but a lot more beginner-friendly I can't recommend The Black Hack enough. It's like a super-streamlined version of D&D, which simplifies most mechanics while still maintaining compatibility with most D&D materials (mostly old-school D&D but I'm sure you could also convert most modern D&D stuff to it without much effort). The entirety of The Black Hack 1e fits in 20 pages (The Black Hack 2e clocks in at 120-ish pages but most of those are tables and random generators).

In terms of mechanics, it uses the same six-stat array as D&D, but does away entirely with ability bonuses and skills, instead turning all checks into d20 roll-under rolls vs a relevant ability score (e.g if you're trying to do something that involves Strength and your strength score is 13, you roll a d20, you succeed if you roll 13 or less, and fail if you roll more than 13). This extends to combat, you use a Strength or Dexterity roll to attack (depending on if it's a Melee or Ranged attack) and a Dexterity roll to dodge enemy attacks.

It also simplifies keeping track of consumable and stackable items such as arrows with the concept of usage dice (basically, you assign a die to the stack of items, every time you use them you roll that die, on a 1-2 you reduce it to the next smallest die size, and once it's at d4, a roll of 1-2 means you run out)

It also uses my favorite simplified initiative system: when combat starts, the whole party rolls a dexterity roll. Everyone who succeeds gets to act before the enemy group, everyone who fails acts after the enemies.

It has no races and only uses the four "original" D&D classes (Fighter, Thief, Magic user, Cleric), but if you miss those things, fanmade supplements like The Class Hack and The Race Hack add in some of the races and classes from AD&D and modern D&D)

Another game that might be a good fit is Knave. A lot of what I've said about The Black Hack with regards to compatibility with D&D material applies to it too, although it's mechanically different from TBH. It instead does away with ability scores and uses only ability bonuses, and it's more like a classless system where characters are defined by their equipment rather than their class features.

[starksinthenorth]

GRRM is Right and Ryan Condal is Lazy

by now most of the HOTD / ASOIAF internet has seen GRRM’s lambasting of Ryan Condal. It’s silly to expect every moment to be adapted perfectly. It’s impossible to do so with HOTD because the source material has purposeful contradictions. But at the same time, Ryan Condal’s arguments for why the changes made were made will likely not make sense (if he responded at all).

“But the Budget!”

If HBO had budget and time for Aegon to have three friends who have lines, costumes, multiple scenes, and a C-plot, it had enough budget for a third small child in a blond wig to be on screen for all of 5 minutes.

“The Story Needed to Be Simplified!”

Simplification is removing offensive or irrelevant C-plots, like Mushroom or the gratuitous rape of a character. It’s finding similar characters and combining them.

The benefit of the medium is expanding upon the original work. Removing Maelor (or Nettles RIP) doesn’t streamline things. If they really needed one less dragon rider, Ulf and Hugh could’ve been combined so easily it’s not funny.

Expansions and Changes Can Improve the Story but not at the Source’s Expense

Condal can and has added material that expands on GRRM’s work with a benefit to the overall story. While originally they lived on Dragonstone, I really enjoyed the build up and background given to Ulf and Hugh. The tension between Aegon and his advisors was interesting and added depth. Aemond setting the town on fire was good foreshadowing of his actions in the Riverlands. Even Aegon’s friends were interesting enough!

These parts of the story, canon only to HOTD, are interesting and expansions that serve the story and Condal’s interpretation on it. Some changes that were made also serve the story and format.

for example, Rhaenyra opening up the dragon seeds search to bastards helps to build up Jace’s personal internal conflict and his desire to prove himself. This becomes pivotal in the Battle of the Gullet. In the books, he’s the one who suggests that but it makes sense to change it that way.

while controversial in the fan base, I personally loved the added conflict of Alicent and Rhaenyra being childhood friends. My only critique of it initially (and still) was that Alicent should’ve remained older when Rhaenyra was aged up, so it was a friend / big sister role. While that choice gets blamed for the lack of ambition shown by Alicent, I think they’re ultimately separate.

but it’s the other choices - like removing key players (Maelor, Nettles) - that leads to the crumbling of the story.

[lurkingshan]

Notes on Unknown (and Da Ge)

Oh man, I love this show. They are absolutely nailing the dynamics for this trope. The bond between Qian and Yuan is palpable, and the way they interact with each other and with Lili feels very lived in. You can feel the shared history between this little family in every scene.

We got our Sam Lin cameo in episode 3, and I was so happy to see him. We also got a couple additional flashbacks to Qian's history with his mother, so CW again for child abuse this week (you should probably just assume there will be at least mentions of it in every episode of this show). I also liked getting to see some more of Qian's work story with the H.O.T. team, and how Yuan is able to help him.

A note on the adaptation: I have been reading Da Ge this week, the original Priest novel the drama is adapted from, and I'm about halfway through. The major thing to note is that the show has significantly condensed the story. The novel is chronological and their childhoods are more than half the story, but the show has changed the structure to focus on the time when they are adults and Yuan begins to pursue Qian, streamlining their pasts into a two episode backstory. They did this primarily by cutting and combining side characters, blending arcs together, and simplifying a lot of the relationships. I think it's quite well done, and it has affirmed for me that the creators of this show know the story they want to tell. They are making use of the rich material in the novel with some smart changes to make it all work as a 12 episode series.

Notable changes so far from the source material:

They have softened Qian's characterization quite a bit. He's much harsher and more tsundere with his siblings in the novel. There are aspects of his roughness in the show, but it feels gentler.

The whole sequence in episode one where Yuan is kidnapped, Qian fights to get him back, and they have that touching brotherly love moment is original to the show. "If I lose you, I would have nothing left" is the kind of nakedly emotional sentiment you would never hear from the Qian in the novel (though we have enough hints about how he thinks to know he does in fact feel that way). The show adapted a plot that was much more cerebral (in Priest's usual fashion) to give us this more romantic take. They're using some shorthand here to make sure we understand how deep the love between them already runs, and I think it's very effective.

Qian's abuse at the hands of his mother, and the trauma it causes for him, is much more present in the show. I haven't gotten to the adult years yet in the novel, so maybe it will ramp up then, but he doesn't think about her nearly this much throughout his childhood.

In the novel Lili's paternal grandmother is part of the family unit, Qian and San Pang have another friend in the building named Ma Zi, and there are multiple gangster types that Qian gets involved with. The show cut grandma and Ma Zi entirely and blended all these gangsters into one, which I think was the right call.

[moonsinkfoxgirl]

kind of hate that they simplified the weapon upgrade system in ds2 so much, that bloated nonsense they had in ds1 with all these ridiculous colored chunks and how you had to get them from specific areas and how you had to find the right blacksmiths to work with them was soooo good.

like yes the streamlined method of just imbuing weapons that all upgrade down the normal path is like a far more convenient and easy to understand experience, but when it comes to things like this being interesting and weird trumps convenience every time imo...

like there's this whole system you get to learn about and you get to wonder and think about all of these strange materials and what exactly they do, and meet all these different npcs and see their reaction to embers, and plan around which weapons you want to long term do what with, there is so much FUN there

in comparison 'oh I found a poison stone, guess I can add poison to any weapon I want now at the one blacksmith who does everything' is so nothing

(obligatory disclaimer that ds2 is an extremely good and excellent game that is a worthy successory to the first)

[linkspooky]

What’s your thoughts on teen titans 2005 blackfire?

This is actually a complicated question to answer because I do love the Blackfire we get from the Teen Titans cartoon, but it isn't really my favorite adaptation of her character. Part of the problem is she's only in two episodes. If Starfire got her own season then Blackfire would probably have to be fleshed out more just by necessity.

I guess my main issue boils down to the difference between personality and character depth. Which is something I just made up on the spot but, a character can have a lot of personality but not be a particularly deep character and vise versa. More under the cut.

Cartoon Blackfire is so overflowing with personality that she's an incredibly memorable character despite only appearing in two episodes. The cartoon adaptation does a good job in general of streamlining the more complicated comic book versions into easily recognizable personalities that fit into the animated adaptation, where you still get the gist of the original.

Robin is trying too hard to be Batman, reflective of early Teen Titans Dick Grayson's habit of overworking himself and his insecurity as leader. Starfire's personality focuses on her fish out of water aspects which was a big conflict for her originally. Cyborg's portrayal leans into the disability representation aspect of his narrative and how like an ablest society has taught him to hate himself or think of himself as less than human for his cybernetic prosthetics.

The show communicates these deep ideas in more simplified personalities compared to the comic book counterparts (they have to it's a 20 minute cartoon versus a new teen titans run with over a hundred issues).

Then we get to Blackfire who also has a strong personality that immediately communicates a lot about her character. Number one she is the archetypal big sister who makes her little sister feel inferior about everything, it's like being in middle school when your sister is a high scholer. From Starfire's perspective Blackfire has always been cooler, stronger, more adult. That's something the audience can understand pretty easily because they most likely have big sisters too who seem cool and untouchable.

On top of that though as the episode progresses we learn that Blackfire isn't just making Starfire jealous on accident. Like it could have been an accident sometimes you hang out with a new group of friends and immediately grab the attention away but it's just a misunderstanding you're just trying to integrate yourself into the group and newer people tend to attract more attention. Borrowing your sisters clothes, hanging out with their friends and taking attention away, those could all just be a normal sibling conflict.

Then you find out that Blackfire's doing this on purpose, she's just trying to edge out Starfire and steal her place with her friends. It's not just because she wants to hide out from under the law and stick Starfire with the blame to get the police off her tail, no this is something she constantly does in every interaction with Starfire. She's always insisting that she's the better sister. She's reinforcing this sibling rivalry and always trying to come out on top.

Blackfire constantly antagonizes Starfire and turns everything into a competition, whereas Starfire doesn't see things that way she just sees them as sister. There are times where Blackfire is mentioned offhand and Starfire tells stories of her growing up like (Oh, my sister went through puberty and she turned purple for three days). So the rivalry thing is also pretty clearly one-sided on Blackfire's side. Even Blackfire's attempt to conquer tamaran and marry Starfire off to some ugly alien, it's a pretty clear attempt to just hurl egg in her sister's face.

Blackfire personality-wise also has that bad girl thing going to her. She's the quintessential mean girl to Starfire's naive nice girl. Her introduction episode where she immediately takes away the attention of all of Star's friends by coming off as a cooler version of Starfire, and the night club scene where she's wearing Starfire's clothes, and dancing also calls to mind Faith, Hope and Trick, the BTVS episode where Faith the other slayer is introduced to serve as the main character Buffy's darker foil. The "Bad Slayer" to Buffy's "Good Slayer."

This is what Blackfire is set up to be, she's not only a rival / antagonistic sibling she's supposed to be the "bad sister" to Starfire's "good sister". It's a pretty shallow role but Blackfire has so much personality that she plays it really well.

The show itself doesn't really dig any deeper than the sibling rivalry and the good sister / bad sister aspect, though. Which isn't true for the comics. Which is why I consider cartoon Blackfire a good adaptation of her PERSONALITY, but one lacking in character depth.

What makes comics Blackfire such a fascinating character to me is that she and Starfire are a pretty nuanced breakdown of the golden child / scapegoat dynamic. It's something a lot of adaptations miss out on. Even the debatably canonical Teen Titans GO! spinoff Comic of the show that ran at the same time the show was running kind of misses out on this element in their origins.

"Starfire was more liked because she was kinder and prettier..." this oversimplification that their parents did love all their children equally, Blackfire was just a bad seed / bad child who was unpleasant and hateful from the start. THe archetypal jealous older sister / cain to Starfire's Abel.

That's not how it is in the comics! Blackfire is disabled in the comics, and because of that Starfire's parents heavily favor their abled child. Blackfire's narrative is a disability narrative, she's unable to fly in her world so her parents strip her of her rightful inheritance and treat her far worse than her abled children, for no other reason than she can't fly.

I'm going to borrow heavily from another post about a character with a similiar disability narrative, where they are actively abused by their ableist parent: Toya Todoroki from My Hero Academia.

Touya, as a kid, is undergoing this painful disability, and rather than acknowledge his hand in that - because Endeavor brought him into this world for selfish reasons, without thought or care to the possibility of the Incompatible Outcome - Endeavor just turns him away and refuses to see his pain. He doesn't try to accommodate or mitigate or treat the disability, just pushes the disabled child aside and minimizes how severe the disability is. [...] Endeavor then keeps attempting to have "non disabled" children to "make up for" the disabled one. [...] Touya, however, in all of his grief and his anger, can only see that once again, he is not seen, his suffering didn't matter to his father. His disability is made to be his fault and his failure, which Endeavor, despite having a shrine to him, has cleanly wiped his hands of it. This new child is not disabled; this child is perfect. This is similar to how disabled older siblings may initially fail to emotionally connect to their abled baby siblings, and fail to see the way their parents may hurt or otherwise not nurture them; resentment at what is, real or perceived, better treatment and more displays of love, care, attention, etc builds inside.

Blackfire is born with a disability, and rather than try to accomodate for her, her parents just turn away from her refuse to see her pain and then push her aside for their "non-disabled" children. Starfire is not disabled, Starfire is perfect, and Blackfire knows that their parents treat the two of them differently.

Which is why in her pain and desperation for her parent's attention Blackfire has never truly connected or noticed Starfire, because she's incapable of seeing Starfire as anything other than the "abled" sibling in the household and the "favorite." Which isn't Blackfire or Starfire's fault, it's a conflict that's forced upon them by their parents. If Blackfire's parents had just treated her like a normal child instead of scapegoating her for her disability, Blackfire would have no reason to compete with Starfire.

However, there's an added element to this which makes the Blackfire and Starfire dynamic so good, is that Starfire does not understand that she's the golden child. She thinks their parents are perfectly normal, loving parents, and that Blackfire is the problem. Starfire refuses to ever see that Blackfire was abused and from the start believes that Blackfire just came out of the womb petty and jealous.

To be fair Blackfire does commit sibling abuse when she's younger, and even eventually ends up selling out their entire planet, and her sister to her the enemy. If Starfire resents Blackfire for her actions she's justified, but Starfire reduces Blackfire in her mind to a mustache twirling villain.

It's like if Starfire saw a pair of parents abusing their child in a wheelchair, screaming at him for not being able to walk, Idk, pushing him down the stairs she'd get angry and think they're horrible parents, but she can't see that the behavior is bad in her own parents.

Once again Starfire is a victim of Blackfire's lashing out, but at the same time imagine it from Blackfire's perspective. Imagine knowing that your parents are abusing you, and having no one to confide in because even if you told your sister how you'd felt she'd take her parents side and say "it's your fault, why don't you just try behaving better?"

In the comics themselves Blackfire's intense rivalry with Starfire is really her attempt to "earn" back the love of her parents by making up for the disability she was born with.

It's also sort of ironic - many disabled children (physical, intellectual, mental etc) often continue pushing themselves to achieve their parents dreams- whether it's sports, academics, work, etc - as a way to garner attention or praise or love or "make up" for being a burden/disabled until they collapse in some way - mental health crisis, irreversible body damage, etc.

Blackfire becomes violent, obsessed with strength, because her parents have taught her that there is something wrong with her that she needs up to make up for her inherent weakness by being strong. Blackfire is who she is in reaction to an inherently Ableist society that demonizes her for her disability, and parents who punish her and a sister who (cluelessly) joins in on that.

It's a good golden child and scapegoat dynamic because as awful as Blackfire is as an adult, she didn't have to become that way. She was pointlessly scapegoated as a child, pushed, pushed, and pushed because apparently it was just too hard for her parents to love a disabled child. It's also probably one that a lot of readers don't understand because it's a little hard to swallow the idea that some parents will just treat children as subhuman for having some disability, but then be perfectly capable of loving their abled children.

What makes it such a great one though is that it eventually breaks free from assigning Starfire the hero role, and Blackfire the villain role. One thing I hate about most "Good sibling vs Bad sibling" conflicts is that they'll make the bad sibling the one who got abused. Like, wow the abused sibling that didn't get any outside help is angry and violent... no duh.

As the comic goes on they break out of their roles because Blackfire becomes a much deeper character than she initially was. She's no longer just a power hungry dictator trying to grab a throne that wasn't hers out of jealousy, she eventually wins the throne of Tamaran because she is a better ruler than either Starfire or either of her parents. We learn that the reason she's so motivated isn't because she came out of the womb a little hater, but a genuine patriot.

She's violent and ruthless not because she has to be, but because she genuinely believes it is the only way to accomplish her goals of a better Tamaran. It is really the extreme end of what her parents did to her as children. Blackfire became violent, volatile, and determined because she wanted to earn back the love from her parents. Blackfire decides she has to be strong, cold and a killer because she has to work hard to earn the love of her planet.

Her backstory all ties into these goals, and through that we can see why Blackfire treats Starfire that way. It's not just that Blackfire is jealous of Starfire, but also that Blackfire represses her need for love. Her parents never loved her, so why would Starfire? She spent her entire childhood trying to earn that love and never got it, so she tried to deny that she ever wanted love in the first place.

Blackfire is actively killing off the part of her that desires love from people, that wants a family, because she believes it will make her lose sight of her goals. If that means she ends up turning against her family and fighting Starfire, well, oh well then she never had a family in the first place.

However, she's never completely able to get rid of her desire for familial love which is why she has this weird obsession with Starfire in the first place. Starfire's basically the only one who tried to love Blackfire and have a connection with her, even if Blackfire didn't reciprocate. Which is why Blackfire is simultaneously always trying to put Starfire down, but at the same time she can't let go of Starfire either. I think Blackfire desires that relationship with her sister too, but one it's hard not to be jealous when you see your more abled sibling receiving the love and care you want, and number two Starfire has consistently all their lives sided with Blackfire's abusers over her.

Which is why instead of the sibling relationship they both want, which is to just be normal sisters and equals they're constantly forced to fight against each other. Neither of them actually wants this, it's their parents, it's outside circumstances, and it's their own inability to overcome their emotional flaws that makes them constantly fight. Which is just sad because Starfire has no connection with her younger brother, and her parents are just as ready to sell her out as they were Blackfire so the only person in her biological family who loves her is Blackfire... albeit in a twisted way.

They both miss out on the chance to have a close connection with a person who they grew up with, and will understand a lot of their lives especially because Blackfire and Starfire are actually pretty similiar (the same person in two different fonts) because neither of them can get over this conflict.

It's tragic. They miss out on the chance for a loving sibling relationship that they both want because they can't overcome the cycle of abuse that started with their parents.

Anyway, if you want a show that dissects the golden child and scapegoat dynamic between the two of them better you can watch Season 3 of the HBOMAX TItans Adaptation. Their Starfire and Blackfire are fantastic and the season actually shows the two of them reconciling.

[lady-bess]

Fallout - Chapter 8 "Back to Basics"

Jack Daniels x F!Reader Explicit/18+ (Minors DNI please) Chapter Word Count: 6.4k Chapter Tags: Trauma response, description of training, description of weaponry, use of a gun, PTSD/Trauma flashbacks, traumatic reaction, grounding, slight intimacy, description of wounds/scars, beginning of a friendship, drinking, eluding to being drunk at times (sensibly).

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<- Previous Chapter (Ch. 7 - "An Encounter")

Training Jack proved to be somewhat difficult - especially when he finally had a weapon placed back in his hands.

A/N: Thinking of changing the artwork for this series...thoughts? Also I'm officially scrapping an upload schedule. I started this as an every Wednesday idea, but I've found it too restrictive. I'm now just going to upload whenever I had a chapter ready! It'll still be regularly that this series gets updated, but that just gives me a bit more freedom!

Your time spent in the bar after work was somewhat different to how you first imagined it to be. Rather than the tipsy affair you had in your head, instead you opted for nursing a whiskey while plotting what training you could offer Jack. You swilled the contents of the glass around briefly as you contemplated what you had planned, your eyes scanning over scrawled notes littering the book you’d been using, before you were joined by a familiar southern drawl. 

“How’s it coming along?” Tequila had asked as he slid into the booth with you, a cold beer in hand. He took a swig of the drink as he got himself settled in next to you as you both awaited the rest of your party to join.

“I think I’ve got it nailed down. Here,” you pushed your notepad over towards Tequila, “have a look and see what you think?”. 

Tequila took another swig from his bottle before setting it down on a coaster and turning his attention to the book you’d been jotting down notes in all evening. Although your meeting with Jack was brief, combined with what Tequila had already told you about his rehabilitation after Jack had left had given you a good framework to start plotting with. You knew before Tex had given you more information that this would have to be a very different training plan, but you hadn’t anticipated just how different. 

Time. That was going to be the main difference - even in spite of the fact Jack had been a very well respected, and highly trained, agent for so many years, there was not an element of this that you could rush. Normally your goal was to get recruits to a high standard as fast as possible, and as you only ever dealt with the weapons training it was simple for you to streamline the process. All your training could be simplified as the more you practise, the better you get.

But Jack would have to be different. The kind of trauma he had faced over his life, totally unchecked too, made you take a different approach. You wouldn’t even dare put a weapon in his hands for a few weeks at least, and only would on the advice of Loretta. 

Tequila nodded slowly as he read over your notes, following the words with his finger - an endearing trait about Tex you’d picked up on when he told you about his dyslexia, and the struggles he sometimes had when it came to the admin side of his job. He’d found ways to make it work for him, and never didn’t turn in his reports, but there were still times you’d see him struggle. Your handwriting probably didn’t help, either…

“Looks good, London,” he said, smiling as he handed you the book back, “are you gonna start training him right away?” he asked. You nodded, placing your ribbon page marker into the book before closing the cover and tucking the book back in your bag. 

“No point delaying things. I imagine Jack’ll want to get going soon anyway. Sounds like he’s been itching to get back out there,” you said, returning to nursing your drink. Tequila chuckled as he took a sip of his drink. 

“You’re not wrong there. For months he was fine, and didn’t want to really think about it. But these last few weeks he’s turned a corner and there’s been a huge shift in him - and for the better, too. He’ll be pleased to know you’ll want to start immediately.” 

You smiled at Tex, finishing the last of your drink. 

“It’s good to have you back. I missed you; we all did,” you said. He pulled you in for a side hug, squeezing you tight into his solid frame. He planted a soft kiss in your hair, then released you. 

“I missed you too, kid.”

You’d spent the rest of that evening catching up with Tequila, finding out about his life in the UK with Astrid, who when she joined the table the two of you both almost broke down in tears after finally being reunited. She coddled you in her arms and it was like no time had passed at all - suddenly it was over two years ago,  the night before you found out where you were being stationed, and the two of you were drunkenly hugging like your lives depended on it. 

Tequila and Astrid would be staying States-side for a while, but that didn’t stop the two of you treating that night like you’d never see each other again. By the time the morning rolled around, and you peeled yourself off your bed, you cursed the fact you’d let Astrid talk you into three rounds of shots to finish the night off. Getting up to brew a pot of coffee, you thanked your lucky stars you’d told Jack to not meet you until the afternoon, and opted to type up his training plan from your work laptop at home so you could at the very least nurse your hangover in the comfort of your sweatpants and no bra. 

Jack’s training plan was a solid one, and this was probably the most thought you’d ever put into a recruit’s programme. Which sounded bad, given that for over a year it had been your job to train the next generation of recruits - but Jack was complicated, he wasn’t a fresh slate like so many who walked in through the doors of your office. There were so many adjustments you needed to make before you could confidently loosen the reins with him like your other students, even if he did technically have more experience than you in this line of work. 

The major adjustment you’d had to make with him was significantly dialling back on the combat and weapons side of things. Having spoken to both Tex and Loretta to get an idea of the kind of rehab programme he’d been undertaking, it was clear that the very last thing you should consider was putting a weapon in his hand. Which was something you knew anyway, but after re-reading his therapy notes once the caffeine hit your system that morning, you thought twice about also getting him involved in physical combat. 

That afternoon, once you’d made yourself look somewhat presentable, you’d started at ground level with Jack, and so began the next two months of you being his 1-on-1 trainer. Meeting at your office, he’d then been given a tour to the site as if he were a fresh-faced twenty-something who had been poached by Statesman, with no prior secret service training under his belt. He’d met all his new colleagues, some of whom he already knew , and learnt about all the recent developments that had happened since he’d been taken off active duty. 

Then, the admin work. How you didn’t pull your hair out with him you’d never quite understand - for a man who had been in a job literally engulfed with technology for the best part of two decades, it was like watching a fawn how to walk on ice when it came to him getting to grips with the new system and the way in which things were filed. Long gone were the days of brown envelopes containing classified information, a system he was so comfortable with, and in with digital. 

After the twelfth consecutive training day of getting him used to the system, you almost lost your rag at him. You were behind on your own paperwork now, with Jack’s training slowly becoming to the detriment of your own cases. At just turned four o’clock one afternoon, with your head in your hands, you grumbled at him. 

“How did you manage before?” you’d asked, genuinely curious how he’d gotten by if he was this shit with technology. He’d just shrugged, wiping his hands across his face in equal frustration at the fact he couldn’t grasp it. 

“I’d had assistants for years! I never needed to worry about any of this shit,” he’d said, which suddenly answered a lot of your questions. 

Jack was the biggest pain in your ass you’d ever known. You thought that for someone who had been given a second chance at life that he might be a little more grateful to the training you were giving him – and in the discreet manner in which you were giving it. Jack didn’t make it easy for you; for as much as you were happy with the cover story that he was brand new to Statesman, the former senior agent spent a fair bit of his time out chatting to other colleagues in a way where it was very obvious he clearly had a past with the company.

But still, you persevered. Sticking to your word, you didn’t tell anyone who he really was, even when you were asked about it. Schmidt had enquired about him on a few occasions.

“Tex says he’s new, but I’m not convinced y’know. Is there more to it?” he’d asked one afternoon you’d gone to get coffees. You’d just shrugged it off, answering with a non-committal, “Not that I’ve been told”.

But in spite of how much you wanted to ring his fucking neck some days, Jack gradually got the hand of it. He saw how much effort you’d put in, and when he’d noticed you not leaving your office one night just to catch up on your own work, he’d seen the sacrifice you were making to your own caseload just to make sure that he was getting the training he’d needed. 

Filled with guilt, he’d brought you a latte that next morning ( with an extra shot of espresso) , and had started pulling extra hours himself to make sure he had it nailed. He would repeat anything he didn’t understand time and time again until he cracked it. You found him one night cooped up in the library by himself in the corner, desperately typing away on a laptop. The smallest quip of a grin could be seen on his face, and you slinked away that evening with a sense of pride that he’d finally started getting it. 

After that night, spending time with Jack slowly got more tolerable. You’d be lying if you said that the two of you hadn’t got off to a rocky start - he was someone who had been so used to getting any privileges handed to him on a silver platter, and now for the first time in years he was actually having to work for it. It had obviously ground his gears, and he’d resented you somewhat while he was getting to grips with everything anew. As his training officer, you became the face of all his misfortune, in his mind you were the reason that he wasn’t progressing faster. 

But once he got over himself and let his ego calm down, he started to see that none of this was your fault, and instead you were doing everything in your power to help speed this along. In a way he started to admire you - how you held yourself, how kind you were, and how far you had come with Statesman in such a short amount of time. The two of you might have still butted heads from time to time, but on the whole it was getting to be a much more amicable relationship the two of you had. 

Finally, Jack started making progress in leaps and bounds. Not only was he finally getting the hand of filing the paperwork, and making record time for some of it now after hours of practice, but Loretta had finally cleared him for using firearms. 

“There ain’t a guarantee he’s totally ready. There never will be, child. But his sessions have been the most positive since I met the guy. I’d say it’s worth a try ,” she’d said. 

You were nervous about the prospect of Jack handling a weapon - you’d read his file and knew what a marksman he used to be, and how he could handle himself in seemingly any situation. Of all the agents who were serving with the organisation at the time of his accident, Jack had suffered the fewest injuries across the entire team, even in spite of how long he had worked here. There was a part of you who worried that he’d try and relive his glory days, and go too far too soon, and you wouldn’t be able to stop him. 

But you trusted Loretta, and if she said his sessions were becoming more positive, and that this was worth trialling, you had no reason to not believe her. She was an honest woman, worth her weight in salt, and would never suggest Jack do something if she didn’t think he was ready to take on the challenge from a mental standpoint. 

So, just over two months after your formal introduction, you were finally in the weapons department. Jack marvelled at how the room had changed since his time in here last - even though this is where the two of you had met, he hadn’t really paid much attention to what this room was like. His focus had more so been pinned on the woman in a waistcoat who was to be his training officer for the foreseeable future… 

There were so many safety features installed here in comparison to when he was last in here for official training duties. He swallowed a lump in his throat as he took in the dozens of additional locks and biometric keypads that now covered the cases of weapons and internal doors to the weapons room, a clear indicator of what went wrong with him. 

You let him have a session just getting used to the feel of the weapons room now - even if Loretta had said he could try the weapons, you were in no hurry to put a gun in his hand on the first day. You’d been strict about it, locking away all bullets and magazines behind a biometric lock tailored to you before his session had even begun, just to make sure that he couldn’t suddenly flip a switch and go all trigger-happy. 

But to your great relief, he didn’t. He happily took in his new surroundings, made notes as to the newer weapons that had come in since his time, as well as just get a feel for what a gun felt like again. 

Jack smiled taut down at the small silver revolver, engraved with Statesman’s ‘S’ on the leather handle. It was not all too dissimilar to the kind of pistols he once carried. It was almost bittersweet to handle them once again, and you stood back and watched how he reacted to having them in his grasp once more. 

“You alright?” you’d asked him. Jack had simply nodded, caressing the metal with his thumb gently, before putting them back in their allocated holder. 

“Yes, ma’am. With your permission, I think I’d be ready for us to start using them in training, if you saw fit,” he’d said. 

Truthfully, you no longer had a reason to say no. Loretta had cleared him, and after a couple of sessions where any and all ammunition had been under lock and key, you were satisfied that he was as ready as he could be to start that part of the training now. 

So, you agreed. 

But when it came to those sessions, you were instantly regretting your decisions. For the first time in weeks you were seeing the cockier side of Jack again, the side you’d come to learn  would come out in a situation when he thought he was the only person who could know the answer. It wasn’t very often he would drag up his prior stint with the agency in a session with you, mainly due to the risk of someone overhearing who was not meant to know anything about his former moniker. But also because he’d agreed, along with yourself, Champ, and Loretta, that he’d likely fare better if he didn’t focus on what once was, and instead only looked forward to what would be. 

You weren’t sure what exactly got into him this morning to make him such a colossal ass , but you had no fucking patience for it anymore. You were almost ready to call the session to an early close, but after making him wait for so long to give this a go, you figured you owed it to your student to at least let him have a go. 

That didn’t mean he remotely appreciated your generosity. 

“I know how to hold a fuckin’ gun, Mimosa,” Jack said, anger evident in his tone and an annoyance seeping in. You rolled your eyes ( for the fifteenth time this session, you might add ) and sighed as Jack gripped the handle on the pistol. 

“You used to know, Seltzer,” you said, earning you a disapproving grunt from the former senior agent. You knew it pissed him off no end to be called by anything other than Jack, or Whiskey, but that was a title his own stupidity has forfeited. You’d happily remind him of that whenever he so needed it - it helped to bring him down a little bit, you found. Normally you’d call him Jack, but today you couldn’t be fucking bothered with his childish attitude. 

“Stop callin’ me that,” Jack murmured under his breath as he started loading the pistol for the first round of shots. He had hoped you wouldn’t notice, but unfortunately for him your hearing was significantly sharper than what he gave you credit for.

“Seltzer, I’ll have less of that,” you said. Jack’s eyes darted up to meet yours, a flush creeping up his neck and onto his cheeks as he realised he’d been made. You couldn’t help but chuckle under your breath as you caught the agent, virtually red handed, embarrassed that he’d been found out. 

Or slightly angry. You weren’t sure. 

“Sorry,” he said coyly, breaking eye contact. He rolled his shoulders back, warming up his muscles to get into position and start firing the pistol at the target.

You furrowed your brow as you watched how he held himself, lining his body up for the shot. The muscles in his shoulders tensed all wrong, his arms weren’t bent properly, and his feet were far too close together. You leant back against the bench at the back of the room, lined with weapons and ammunition, and crossed your arms across your chest. Jack wouldn’t hurt himself if he took a shot like this, so you didn’t need to intervene from a health and safety point of view. But you wondered if he took a shot like this, which would inevitably be off-target, it might make him realise he needed more help than he imagined. 

Jack got into position, albeit the wrong one, and inhaled sharply. He knew something wasn’t right, he could feel it. The gun felt too heavy, his arms were locked up, and his body felt like it was twisting in a manner that was now foreign to him. This was something he’d done day in, day out, for over two decades. He plainly refused to accept that he’d forgotten this ability, and instead of doing the sensible thing and asking for a correction, he carried on.

Like an angry bull going after a bull rider.  

He inhaled sharply and squeezed the trigger, releasing a bullet from the barrel, his breath never exhaling as he took the shot. The sensation of the bullet flying out the barrel careered up Jack’s arms and left a shaking feeling coursing round his body, his muscles still locked up and not releasing even once the bullet was out from the barrel. Time seemed to slow down as he watched the bullet fly out across the room, and avoid the target completely. 

Jack sighed at the miss, but what frightened him more than the disappointment that he’d failed was the feeling he was left with after. Not anger, not frustration - but anxiety. Even long after the sound from the shot firing had ceased ricocheting around the bunker the two of you were in, the noise continued to ring in his ear. 

The pitch of the bullet ringing around in his head got louder and more high pitched with every passing moment, and he screwed up his eyes to try and make it go away. It felt like the beginning of a sharp migraine piercing through his skull, and he’d not felt pain like this in a long time. It all concentrated near his temple, where the scar from his accident stood prevalent. 

A few seconds after the failed shot, you looked to Jack and saw that he wasn’t making any effort to move. Not just to get into a better position, but to do anything. He wasn’t reloading the gun, he looked as though he was barely breathing; the only thing that was moving was his face, which was painted with a pained expression. 

“Seltzer?” you said, pushing off the bench to step closer to him. He still held his position, but you could see that something else was taking over control over his body. 

He didn’t respond to your voice. Truthfully, he didn’t hear it. The ringing of the gunshot ran around his head, bouncing off the sides of his mind and sending a piercing shriek through him. Jack grunted, faltering on his stance, and fumbled with his weapon slightly as he tried not to drop it from the pain the noise brought him. He panted, quickly flicking the gun to have its safety mechanism on, before dropping it to the ground in a panic. 

“ Jack ?!” you said, now actually worried. At the use of his real name he seemed to snap out of whatever haze he was in, and his eyes darted around to meet yours. Your heart shattered as you looked in them, and all you could see reflected back was fear. 

“I- that’s never- I don’t know-,” he stammered, his mouth dry and making it almost impossible for him to form a coherent sentence. You unfurled your arms from across your chest and went up to him, reaching out and gently placing your hands around his trigger hand to comfort him. 

Jack shook throughout his body, and beneath your palms you felt every nervous quake which ran down through to his fingers. You gently applied some pressure, trying your best to ground him, employing techniques you’d picked up at MI5 for trauma responses within your colleagues. You’d all seen some shit in your time, and it had become rather useful you’d found. 

Jack closed his eyes, his ears still ringing and the world around him spinning while he stood in place. His heart thudded in his chest and he could hear every beat as blood rushed through his ears. He found himself clinging to you like a lifeline, finding that your touch was the only thing keeping him from completely spiralling. 

With your other hand, you softly interlocked your fingers with his which rested by his side. His hand gripped yours tighter and you watched as he screwed up his eyes to try and calm himself, his breaths deep and steady. With a gentle voice, and getting closer so that you could speak in just a whisper, you spoke. 

“You’re alright, Jack. I’ve got you,” you said. He had no reason to trust you yet on a deeper level, aside from the fact you’d kept the secret about his identity for over two years. But in this one act alone he learned more about you than he perhaps knew about some of his colleagues whom he’d been working with for several years. He’d spiralled a few times over these last two years, and had to learn on his own how best to bring himself back to square one - but perhaps with you by his side, that might be easier. He never imagined that somebody else might be able to quell his troubled mind in any way, let alone how he so desperately needed. 

Slowly, the grip Jack had on you began to loosen, and his eyes opened. You smiled softly up at him, never once letting go of him as he regulated his breathing and began to calm down. He shot you a watery smile once he was calm anew, and you felt him trying to retract from your grip. You let him, pulling your hands away. 

“You alright?” you asked, letting his hands slide out from yours. Jack nodded. 

“Yeah, I- I think so. I’m sorry, ‘bout that…,” he said, looking almost perplexed as to what had just happened. You smiled softly and tipped your head towards a bench at the side of the training room, notioning for him to join you. He followed you to the bench and watched you remove your Stetson, setting it down on the seat to your left, before beckoning for him to take the one on your left. 

“When did you last fire a gun, Jack?” you asked. He shrugged, then sighed. He took his own hat off now, revealing the head of thick brown hair beneath it - albeit slightly more grey at the roots than what you recall from seeing in that photograph of him just over a decade ago. 

“On the day I got injured. One of the last things I heard was gunfire, before I-,” he sighed, again, “-yeah…”. 

“I’m sorry, Jack. Tequila eventually gave me the details of what happened that day,” you said, looking up at him. It was then, without his hat on and so close to you, that you saw the scar on his temple. You gently raised your hand and brushed your fingertips over the scar, and Jack grimaced as you did. Deep down he didn’t hate how the feeling of your soft touch was on his skin, but he couldn’t show such weakness. Not when he was trying all he could to appear tough. 

He sighed solemnly, letting his tough facade slowly fade from view. Of all people, there was no point hiding this side of himself from you - you needed to know as much about how he was doing in order to help him, and he’d be damned if he was about to face setbacks all because he didn’t want his pride to get damaged. 

You retracted your hand from his scar, not wanting to draw too much attention to the area, and instead reached over to take Jack’s hand in yours. Your fingers softly slid between his, but it was Jack who responded with a tightening grip. 

He smiled faintly down at your intertwined hands, the feeling now so foreign to him. It had been a long time since anyone had shown Jack physical affection, and even longer since that affection felt like it came from a place of love and care. After his wife passed he’d not wanted anything with women beyond meaningless hookups, and the second things began to feel more intimate, he’d shut things down. On a couple of occasions he’d entertained the idea, but those relationships never lasted longer than a few months, and as soon as he felt as though she cared more for him than he felt he deserved , he ended things. 

So something as simple as having his hand held, while completely clothed, was almost bizarre. But he noted, as he watched your fingers softly curl around his, and your thumb caress the back of his, that he didn’t hate the way this felt. 

“Thank you, Mimosa,” he said softly, “You’re a credit to this organisation, you know?”.

“Yeah?” you asked, turning to now look at Jack. He turned his head and smiled at you, a pair of deep brown eyes boring into you and making you feel warm and comforted from the inside. Even though it was you who was helping him right now, you yourself took comfort in the gentleness that was reflected back at you. 

“Yes. Tequila really undersold you,” he chuckled. You rolled your eyes, not remotely surprised. 

“Oh jeez, do I want to know what he said about me though?” you giggled, and Jack laughed with you now. 

“Only good things, Mimosa. I promise!” he explained. 

“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about,” you snorted. 

“Oh, stop,” Jack chuckled, his hand gripping yours tighter, “I very much got the impression that the two of you enjoy winding each other up. So for him to still be able to sing your praises? Yeah, I trusted that he meant every word. And he wasn’t wrong; not about a single thing.” 

“Thank you, Jack. That means a lot to hear,” you smiled. 

Jack nodded, then cleared his throat and loosened his grip on your hand. He’d calmed down enough now that he felt as though he could clear up in here for the day, and didn’t want to burden you any longer with his feeling of not being alright. He’d make a point to go and see Loretta after your session, he thought, and as you let him retract his hand from yours, both of you grabbed your stetsons and stood up. 

“You feelin’ better?” you asked, and Jack nodded, putting his hat back on his head. 

“Yes, ma’am. I’m gonna head and see Loretta before our next session, just to go over today. But I think for now I’m gonna have to throw the towel in,” he smiled. “Sorry.”

“No need to apologise,” you said, shaking your head. “This was always going to be a strange adjustment, and a big step to take. See Loretta, and perhaps next session we’ll do more work in weapons that don’t involve guns.” 

“Sounds like a plan. Got anything in mind?” he asked. You grinned, looking over to one of the wall panels which was filled with ropes and lassos. 

“I might have some ideas cooking up, yeah,” you chuckled. 

Jack followed your gaze to the cabinet, and he would be lying if he said he didn’t get a twinge of excitement at the thought of gripping a lasso again. It was one of the parts of his job that he missed the most, the power that came from being so nimble with a whip or lasso. 

He noticed, as he turned back to look at you, the way your fingers danced over the handle of your own whip. He’d seen it before, but he grinned as he watched you fiddle with it, he noticed it was a very similar model to the one he once owned. The way the small switch stood out on the end, signifying yours would turn electric at a moment’s notice, had a buzz go through Jack at the thought of you using it. 

He’d been wanting to ask for a few weeks why you chose that weapon - it wasn’t exactly conventional when he made the choice, and with the amount of technological advancements that had come along since his time he very much doubted that it was any more preferable now. You turned back to look at him and were greeted with a cheeky grin, a far cry to the face of the man who you had just seen almost broken not ten minutes before you. You furrowed your eyebrows in curiosity, and folded your arms across your chest in defence.

“What made you decide to have a whip as your signature weapon, by the way?” he asked, that playful smirk never diminishing. 

Ah, fuck. Busted. 

You cleared your throat, a warmth dancing across your cheeks at the reality you were now faced with. You knew that your decision to carry this weapon out of slight admiration was bound to come up one day, but you had hoped it would be much further down the line than this. You began trying to pace away from Jack, your feet moving towards the door. 

But something stopped you. 

Jack reached out and placed his hand on your arm, effectively stopping you in your tracks. Now you were really done for. You dared to make eye contact with the cowboy again, and butterflies swirled in your stomach as you did. 

“Well? Come on, don’t keep me waitin’. I don’t know many that would choose such a weapon. Colour me intrigued!” he said. 

You rolled your eyes, but chuckled to yourself. You figured there was no better time than the present to rip this bandaid off, anyway…

“Fine, fine! Twist my arm, why don’t you,” you began, clearing your throat and inhaling sharply before continuing. 

“I read your file before I knew about you from Tequila, and your stats impressed me immensely. Your success rate, how little you got injured, and the kind of missions you were involved with. From a professional standpoint, I admired the work you did,” you said. “And then I finally got the chance to speak to Tex about you. He told me so much about you, but one detail that always stood out was your choice of weapon. I’ll admit, I was intrigued.”

“Really?!” Jack said, dropping his hand from your arm and replacing playful smirk for a smile of genuine joy. You chuckled as you watched him, slightly giddy, at the prospect that you might have for a second been inspired by him.  

“Yes, really . I couldn’t get my head around the benefit of a weapon like this,” you gestured to the whip by tapping the handle that was hooked to your hip, “But I was interested in finding out. So, on the downlow, I had my training officer show me the way with one”. 

“Who was your T.O?” Jack asked, the two of you now heading towards the exit. 

“Eve. She’s just got back from a prolonged, and well deserved, break. Have you ever worked with her?” you asked. Jack smiled and nodded.

“Yes, I’ve had the pleasure. Does explain a whole lot about you and your training style though, given she shaped you into an agent.”

“She’s the best. I’ve missed her these last couple of months, but it’s been nice to not be worried about her getting injured recently,” you said. Jack shrugged before opening the door for you, allowing you to step out of the weapons room, then followed by him. 

“I wouldn’t be so sure. From what I recall Eve seemed to have a knack for getting herself into a pickle even when she wasn’t working!”. 

You laughed to yourself as you locked the weapons room door behind the two of you, turning the key in the lock and then entering the code 719002 into the door. He wasn’t wrong about Eve - even if he hadn’t worked with her for a couple of years, his assessment was alarmingly accurate. She was the best agent you’d ever worked with, but her ability to get caught up in minor self-inflicted accidents was almost comical. 

“You’re not wrong, I’ve seen her trip over thin air before,” you said, still giggling. Jack laughed with you, and then softened as you turned to look at him. 

“Thank you, for today. And for your patience in general. I know I haven’t been the easiest agent to train,” Jack said. You chuckled. 

“You can say that again,” you told him, winking playfully as you tucked the key to the weapons room in the inner pocket of your jacket. 

“Sorry,” he winced. 

“It’s nothing, Jack. You’re a pain in my ass, but… I’m coming to like having to deal with your… quirks ,” you chuckled. 

“ Quirks ?!” he said, not able to hold back a laugh. 

“Yes, quirks! You’re bloody impossible sometimes!”. 

Jack laughed with you, then shook his head in amusement. He knew you weren’t wrong, and that he had been reluctant to some of the changes which had been made recently, but every day he was grateful for the attention and devotion you showed him. 

“Okay, okay, fine . I’ll admit it!” he said, raising his hands as though he was in surrender. You giggled, playfully patting the side of his right rib cage gently as a physical way of telling him to knock it off. 

Jack smiled down at you, feeling totally relaxed in your presence. There hadn’t been many instances in the last two years where he’d felt like he was genuinely calm, or at peace. But something about this friendship that was blossoming between the two of you made him feel like nothing had ever gone awry, and that life wasn’t perfect. 

He had to drop his arms down to his sides fairly quickly, as he found the longer he stayed fooling around with you like this, the more he had the urge to pull you in for a huge hug. Something told him that you might not be totally against that, given the fact you’d already not shied away from using physical touch with him where needed, but that was a line he knew he shouldn’t cross. 

“Go see Loretta, Jack. And have tomorrow off, or use it for database study. I don’t want to overwhelm you given today,” you said. Jack nodded. 

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll let you know when I’ve had my session,” he said. 

“Thank you. I’ll liaise with Champ and Tequila, and let them know about this too. You just get yourself some rest,” you insisted. 

“Thank you, Mimosa. I’ll see you soon,” he smiled, and then the two of you parted ways, heading off into respective parts of the building for the rest of the afternoon.

Even in spite of the drawback Jack had faced today, he was able to walk away optimistic, and with a spring in his step. He knew he still had a long way to go, and the hours he’d need to put into it would be nothing short of monumental. But with you as his T.O, he could actually begin to imagine his life after this was over. 

A second chance. Not one he ever thought he’d deserved, but one he was slowly beginning to earn. 

Series Masterlist | A03 Link | Tumblr Masterlist

Next Chapter (Ch. 9 - "Collision") ->

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[foundry-fabrications]

Happy Halloween everyone! It's that time of the year again and that means it's spooky project time! Those who have been with me for a while know that every year for Halloween I put out some big thematic project for my favorite holiday. For this year, I wanted to keep the rework train going and rework a previous year's project. And that project is my Corpseweaver class!

Before we get started I just want to take a second to shout-out @dm-clockwork-dragon and his Necroficer class, which helped inspire many aspects of my own take on the "Frankenstein-ing" monsters together concept.

I also want to mention that I still have a huge GDrive folder of 100+ creepy creatures and malign monsters pulled from across the internet to inspire your own amalgams!

In a way I got lucky this year. I started reworking my corpseweaver MONTHS ago so I already had a lot of it done. I was hoping to have the basics done in time for a campaign I was going to be in but time got away from me and I ended up playing something else so I've just been slowly working on it over time. Before October even began the entire base class and one of the subclasses were mechanically done, which left only two more subclasses to finish and I needed to rewrite all the fluff text which was honestly pretty cringeworthy in my opinion.

So what are all the changes? IT'S A LOT! I reworked how the class collects resources and the amalgam creation system completely from the ground up. The old systems were overly complicated and REALLY bookkeepy so I simplified them. Now you get Flesh, Bone, and Exotic from creatures and you use those in specified amounts to make amalgams and make alterations. The system for doing so has been greatly streamlined. Now you have a dedicated stat block that all amalgams are based on and that gets modified throughout the creation process.

Another major change is that the base class is no longer a spellcaster, so all those features have been moved to a subclass of their own, the Skaab Scribe. I didn't like how based in normal magic the old class was as I always wanted it to be more focused on mad science, alchemical formulas, and occult ritual.

And one of the last huge changes is that the Soma Smith has been removed from the class completely and will likely never return, though the name does live on as the Fleshwarper has been renamed. As much as I liked the idea of the old soma smith, I felt that it didn't fit the class upon further examination. Its whole deal was about creating new life basically from scratch and that's not what I want this class to be about. That's actually a theme that I kept seeing in the flavor text throughout the class as I've been working on it, creating new life, and it's a goal of mine to remove it wherever possible. The class does not create life, it reanimates the dead, and in my mind those are very different things.

So yeah, on that note those are the biggest changes but obviously everything got touched in some way. As with many of my reworks, this one is an overhaul on a grand scale, and one I'm honestly quite proud of.

As for the updated aesthetics, however, I have mixed feelings. Overall I think they fit the class much better than the default theme I was using before but there's a lot of visual jank that I'm not a fan of. I also would have liked to use better artwork but I had so little time to finish this as it is. I was also forced into using GM Binder for this project instead of Homebrewery because the theme I chose doesn't work with HB very well so that was less than ideal. For smaller projects it's not a big deal but for something this huge all the weird little issues I have with GMB start to compound and get frustrating. It's not a system I like but it has its uses sometimes.

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[voidlingduck]

Redesigning Jester

I've been working on trying to pull my story about Kings Court into something coherent and presentable, and as I've been going through that process I've been realising that I need to redesign some of the characters!

The first character I've been reworking is my beloved Jester! Here is their original design:

I did really enjoy this design! But as time has gone on there have become certain pain points, and as the story has developed there are things I want to incorporate more strongly into the design. You can see a detailed breakdown of the re-design goals and process below the cut!

The mask - it needs to be a feature, not an afterthought.

As much skin as possible should be hidden, I want to play into the Jester as an anonymous and mysterious entity.

Simplify - the four tail coats are far too unweildy, and the pants proved annoyingly intricate with repeated drawing.

Ensure that the design is fun and exciting to draw in motion! Jester flops around a lot.

Incorporate an additional motif to reflect role in the court.

I began the process by looking for inspiration and reference material, particularly for the mask. I collected a variety of reference images onto a pinterest board to use for inspiration and then got to sketching! Here are some of the initial exploratory sketches.

After the sketching process, I started working on some more finalised concepts taking what I had explored in the sketches, exploring the ways to combine shape and colour, and also getting feedback from friends.

I then did a set of concepts all next to each other taking some of the ideas I had liked from these concepts as well as trying to add in some new things.

Silhouette was a major consideration throughout these concepts - as well as experimenting with the mask design. The first and second designs proved the most popular, and also worked as my favourites. And so moving forward I decided to combine elements from them both. Namely:

Collar shape from design 1 - it's dynamic, fun, and interesting!

Hood based design from 2 - I like the framing of the hood.

Two pronged vs Three Pronged design from 1 - Easier to draw repeatedly and manipulate in dynamic ways, I think it gives a more dynamic flow to the design as opposed to the triple prong potentially being a bit more static.

Thigh high boots from 2 - my friends like them and I like the way they make the legs look long.

I also knew that I wanted to make sure that the design I came up with fit with the design of another character - Jack, and also play with poses to see it in motion, so for the next tests, I decided to work on them both simultaneously and have some fun drawing them interacting!

As you can see, I had settles fairly well on the overall shape of the design, but still made some minor tweaks between images - mostly to do with the placement of the colour blocking. I also changed the mask design here from the previous iterations as they felt too cluttered and overpowered, and I also really enjoyed the design from the makeup Jester had in his original design, and realised it could transfer effectively to the mask design! Another thing that changed is I removed the crown motif I had started to develop, and tried to focus more strongly on incorporating an eye motif. This was a change made as I sat and considered the lore and symbolic implications, and I ultimately decided it worked best if Jester had the eyes and Jack had the crowns. King and Queen will likely have both when I get around to redesigning them! I still have some more playing around to do to settle into the final design before I make a proper reference sheet, as I'm definitley finding drawing the design in context helpful to get a sense of how it operates in practice and streamlining. I'm currently working on a mini PMV project featuring Jester which will hopefully help me solidify the design! But I'm feeling pretty happy with it so far.

I want to do more discussions of my design/redesign process in future as I find it really helpful and interesting to organise my thoughts like this. It's also exciting to see the progression all laid out, I'll probably do a similar thing for Jack soon!

[prismaticstreams]

How to balance all your interests when you have multiple passions?

I’ve been pondering how to balance all my different passions, interests, and side hustles, as I’m the kind of person who tends to love variety and easily gets excited about new projects. It’s often the completion part that I struggle with! This is a fairly common conundrum for certain personality types, and can also be related to conditions like ADHD. It can be really hard to know how to streamline and simplify things to make it more manageable and less chaotic.

Chronic illness can be a factor here too, as I often start a new project in a high energy period, but then may not have the physical energy to easily complete it. It can be hard to know how to handle this sometimes, as I can’t predict how I’ll feel from day to day or week to week. Sometimes I just have to let something go for a while, and accept that I will come back to it later. I also accept that there’s some projects I will abandon, and I don’t see it as a major problem as long as there’s no financial investment.

So how do you handle this tendency? 

I personally find it’s best to embrace it, and find ways to work around it rather than trying to pigeonhole myself into only one project, passion or interest at a time. However, if you’re trying to make money, earn an income or build a business - and you need to pay the bills with it to survive - then you will probably need to narrow down to one thing at a time for work. You can still allow yourself freedom to explore in your free time, though.

For example, I love borrowing a wide range of books from the library, and reading about a bunch of different topics at once. Switching from one book to another works for me and I find it stimulating. The great thing is that the books all get returned to the library, so they don't create long-term clutter. I also enjoy writing blog posts about a range of different topics, rather than sticking to one particular subject.

Same goes for my art - I have one style that I sell commercially, and then do whatever I want in the rest of my spare time as it captures my fancy. I find creating different IG/Tumblr accounts for particular art styles/niches works well. If it becomes popular and sells it's a cool bonus, but I don't worry too much about it making money. Digital art is great because it doesn't take up storage space, so I'm shifting from doing large pieces on canvas to doing more digital art.

Having said all that, I do have a bunch of blogs and Tumblr accounts floating around on the internet that I've forgotten about and largely abandoned. Same with old creative projects in storage. But it's okay, because I enjoyed exploring that idea/hobby/style for a brief period of time. Sometimes I go back and integrate creative stuff from the past into my current projects (for example, taking an old blog post and updating it for my current blog).

It can become a problem if you waste a lot of money on hobbies you forget about or business ideas that never get off the ground, so I’d recommend finding ways to avoid spending too much money to begin with. Ideally, it’s best to spend no money and find free activities, but obviously this is not always possible. My post about Decluttering My Fantasy Self may be relevant if this is you.

If you're multipassionate, I don't think there's one right or wrong way to manage your interests and hobbies. Some people like to focus intensely on one hobby at a time, then move on to something else. Others enjoy moving between different interests simultaneously to keep them stimulated. I've done both at different times in my life. Emilie Wapnick has a great book about this called How to Be Everything which is more focused on career, but you can apply the same principles to hobbies and side hustles as well.

[mauesartetc]

Since your an animator, when does the details on the character become too much to animate? When do you have to simplify it to make it work?

Probably the most glaring sign there's too much detail is when viewers don't know where to look, and this applies to 2D and 3D animation. When the screen is filled with clashing colors, patterns, and textures, the eye bounces all over the place trying to take it all in. It gets overwhelming and distracts from the story. If you ever saw sparkledogs on DeviantArt back in the day, you'll know what this looks like. Just WAY too many different colors, patterns, accessories, and so on.

Maximalism is fine for home decor if it makes you feel cozy and content, but if you're designing for a wider audience who will see your characters moving on screen for prolonged time periods, you won't want to give them headaches.

As far as hand-drawn animation on its own, judging when a design's too detailed will depend on deadlines and the production's budget. Time truly is money: The more time it takes to animate a character, the more it will cost. Line mileage is a big factor in determining timetables, though if a show's art style leans toward realism, with lots of interior lines for hair and cloth (and shading to match), the animators can compensate for that with limited movement. Castlevania's a great example of this, with characters only making subtle movements most of the time (mouths, hands, eyes, head tilts, weight shifts, etc), allotting the most time and budget for the mind-blowing action scenes. It's all about knowing where your priorities are.

If you're animating in your spare time with no deadlines, I suppose it's a matter of figuring out the sort of workload you can tolerate. If you want to animate something majestic and complex with a ton of layers, go for it! Just understand that it'll take a long time to finish, so you'll want to be sure you have the passion and patience for that kind of thing.

In general, I'd recommend starting with a simple design and adding story-related detail as needed. If it doesn't say anything about the character, leave it off. It's far more preferable to have a streamlined design than a cluttered mess.

[shinra33459]

Some ways that I would change Helluva Boss as a writer

I've made my fair share of criticisms of Helluva Boss, but one thing that I wanted to do was see what I could do with the characters, the world, and the overall plot of the story. This is mainly just a collection of the things that I would do in regard to the show, that I feel would deliver a far superior product, at least on the writing front.

1.) Ditch Some of the Longtime Arcs

At least in my view, some of the longtime arcs that the show has are what's currently holding the show back. Mainly due to the fact that a lot of the arcs that we get presented with hardly ever get fleshed out and just end up giving us a lot of loose ends. Needless to say, the way that the show currently handles longer arcs is rather messy and makes us feel as if we are drowning in excess.

The best thing about the more serious cartoons of old like Teen Titans, was that it approached one arc at a time, and rarely, if ever, did multiple serious arcs at once. How Teen Titans handled longtime arcs was immaculate and quite honestly, some of the best writing in cartoon history. Helluva Boss on the other hand, its longtime arcs aren't handled well at all, and has a problem with introducing too much too fast.

Overall, Helluva Boss would benefit greatly from simplifying things a great deal. Vivziepop has admitted herself in the past that she isn't a good writer, which is the perfect reason to simplify things. Each season should have its own arc with one particular villain or group, with IMP dealing with said villain or group by the end of the season. Or better yet, it is possible for the show to deal with serious and complex themes around an episodic format while still having its lighthearted moments, like Star Trek: The Original Series.

2.) Less focus on romantic relationships

While many in the fanbase love and adore the borderline hyperfixation the show has on romantic relationships, it is one of the show's weakest elements, due to the fact that everything feels forced. Blitzo and Stolas's relationship doesn't feel natural in its progression, and key elements of their relationship never get shown, and if they are, it isn't handled well at all (just look at the text scene).

With something as important as mending their relationship after a massive falling out, you'd think that it would be shown on screen properly, and not haphazardly thrown in the worst way possible. This was some major character development that should have been an actual full-on episode, yet it was a half a second scene.

The entirety of the Stolitz arc in the show is quite honestly, at least in my opinion, the weakest element in the story. Focusing on it to the degree that Vivziepop has is not telling us a good story. In fact, as many have said before in the critical space, it feels like fanfiction of itself. It's clear that Vivziepop has difficulties in showcasing proper romantic relationships and how they progress, even unhealthy and toxic ones. The show would benefit greatly if the focus on romantic relationships was reduced, if not removed entirely from the show.

3.) Simplify, streamline, and explain the lore and worldbuilding properly

To say that the lore and worldbuilding of Helluva Boss is a mess is quite honestly one of the biggest understatements you can say about the show. Things are introduced that are supposed to be important but never brought up again, such as Asmodean crystals. Things don't make sense on what a character can do or not, such as Stolas being able to intervene with the DHORKS, but apparently not with his own daughter. Even though, he didn't need the Grimoire the first time, apparently, he needed it that time.

Things just don't make sense with the worldbuilding. One minute characters can do something that is vital to the story, and the next, suddenly their abilities do nothing, or they become completely inept for the sake of story progression. Nothing is streamlined, and nothing is ever explained properly and coherently. Everything has devolved into plot-hole after plot-hole.

It would do Vivziepop good to reel back a lot of the worldbuilding that has been done and take it back to the drawing board. Like I said earlier, things keep getting introduced too much too fast. To be completely honest, I'm a firm believer that media should have to speak for itself. You don't need a stream, a 10-page essay, or a 30-minute YouTube video to explain what is going on in the world that you have created. People should be able to get whatever context they need from the media itself.

Conclusion

At this point in time, I believe that the best thing that Helluva Boss as a show could do is to reboot the series and start over from scratch. I'd reboot it with a new vision for what the show should be and go from there. The story isn't nuanced, nor is it complex: it's messy. The show is holding itself back through all of this. The show has gotten too messy and convoluted for it to really continue as it is. If the show were to reboot and not try to pretend that it's more than it actually is (which is goofy demons killing people and saying edgy humor), it would be a far better product than what it is.

[crowkip]

hi there!! i came across your art recently and love how you simplify forms for your style!! Do you have any tips on what you did to learn art and develop your current style? Did you take figure drawing lessons or just hyperfixate on an anime?? Any materials/exercises that were particularly helpful for learning how to draw humans? Thanks for your time!

thank u so much!!! i do have some handy info but im gonna put it under the cut so it doesnt clog up ppl's feeds bc it's gonna get a little long, hope this helps out!! ꉂ(ˊᗜˋ*)

ok so!! my top tip is to try out some life drawing classes! you'll often be expected to capture a full body gesture in 5-15 minutes which really helps you learn break the body down into its simplest forms since you wont have time to work on all the details. i only ever did a few sessions since they were part of a design course i was taking but even that alone definitely helped me streamline my process when it comes to planning out poses and making sure things arent looking too stiff

as for developing a style i honestly dont have a super clear answer bc i still find that i feel like my art is vERY very inconsistent, but even with that being said i do still have a few things that've helped personally!! easiest place to start is finding the tools you enjoy working with, for me i have a handful of brushes in csp that i tend to default to which helps form a little bit of consistency across my drawings (ofc dont be scared to branch out!! it's just handy to know what brushes work best for you). the other thing that's influenced my style is reading lots of comics and spending a lot of time looking at other artists' sketches, if you see a specific feature you like in their work try giving it a go yourself!! i remember noticing the contrast of soft and hard shadows in old oil paintings a few years ago n thinking 'ooh ive gotta try that' and ive been using it on my own art ever since. in the end your own style is greatly just a reflection of little things you've loved seeing in other peoples art and once you combine all those you end up with smth uniquely yours which i just think is awesome tbh

and as for shows n stuff that got me drawing, i dont have the coolest answer but as a kid i got super into drawing my friends as my little pony characters lmao i would spend every minute between classes drawing these stupid little rainbow horses and it actually really got me into picking out colour palettes and helped me build up that muscle memory which was what led into me drawing things that were a little more challenging. even if whatever motivates you to draw is considered kind childish or 'cringy' or whatever, dont stop drawing what you enjoy!! i wouldnt be drawing now without the years of pony doodles on homework as a kid and im glad i embraced it. i hope this can be helpful to you, so sorry for the long read but thanks for getting through it all!! good luck as dont be scared to dm me if you ever have any questions, i'll always do my best to help out :D

[doublefreegames]

Travel Devil - better the devil you know!

There's less than a week left of judging for the Spooktober Visual Novel Jam and it's been a fantastic experience for us so far! Travel Devil has received such wonderful feedback and critiques. We take on board everything that is written to us so we can make better games every time!

So today I'm going to give a little insight into how and why Travel Devil came to be.

Do you wanna know how Travel Devil came to exist?

Originally we put together a game idea for a spooky pet adoptions agency. The game would take place on Halloween and have six pets (3 unlocked and 3 locked) to play with. Each pet was going to have a unique story and minigame associated with it. It was codenamed "Spoopy Pets" and it was far too much for the me and Robert to take on and complete in the Spooktober VN Jam timeframe. We worked on it for the first two days of the jam before we were flagging problems up, so we changed trajectory. It's not a dead idea though, it's in the list of rainy day ideas.

Speaking of the rainy day ideas list, that's where Travel Devil comes in. We thought this up a while ago but just put it on the back burner as there was no time to work on it. The concept was simple - a demon escapes hell and starts a travel log. Then the servants of hell follow in its wake starting the apocalypse march on humanity. When Spoopy Pets became too big we had a look at what we had to play with and Travel Devil just sort of fell into place. Robert started writing and I started drawing.

Character design went pretty smoothly. I went for a mix of cartoon styles, drawing inspiration from things like Dead End, Gravity Falls, The Simpsons and Garfield.

Traditionally, visual novels use anime and manga style design but truth be told, I'm not very good at that style. It takes me ages to make characters look good when I try to draw like that. Hats off to all the wonderful artists in this jam who made beautiful, scintillating characters. I'm so impressed by their dedication to fantastic character art.

One of the first pitfalls I encountered was background art. I like to use sites like Pixabay to get backgrounds but recently it's been flooded with AI artworks. The game jam expressly forbids AI use in your game so we had to get creative.

Fortunately this game revolves around travel vlog creation in Paris and we found loads of creative commons photos of the famous tourist destination. Seriously there are so many fantastic photographers out there and it was a complete life and time saver for the jam. All I had to do was add a translucent white filter to the top of the photos to make the characters pop out and we had our backgrounds!

Development went well once we got on the right track. Travel Devil was made using Ren'py which is a joy to develop with. We did have to wind back our ideas at one point as both Robert and I got sick with a nasty bug but we made it. We stripped back some choices and streamlined the game to make sure we could get finished. Originally, we wanted the player to be able to unlock multiple hidden scenes in one playthrough. As the deadline loomed we simplified it so that the player would only see one of three potential side stories that were growing due to the activities of our main character Tornacense per playthrough. We included 7 unlockable scenes and also 6 unlockable images in our gallery.

There's also a nifty guide to finding all the unlockables right here if you want a more relaxing time while playing.

If you've had a chance to play Travel Devil you may have noticed that we planted some seeds in our side stories that will be big plot points as we go forward. Travel Devil is going to be a series of five games travelling around Europe making video journals and outrunning the underworld.

Tornacense and Kirby will grow, we'll meet lots of new strange and devastating people and love could be just around the corner! Who knows? That choice will be yours.

If you want to check out the first installment of Travel Devil you can nab a pentagram portal and find it right here.

Travel Devil was made for the 5th Annual Spooktober Visual Novel Jam in under 30 days. The next one will be made with a lot more time dedicated to it!

Thanks for stopping by!

DoubleFree - Artist and coder for Travel Devil