#took some creative liberties on the actual design bc like

[piopon]

Team horsetress 2

[gracebethartacc]

I’ve been seeing ppl when making their HMS designs usually point out design details and I didn’t initially do that w mine when I posted them so uh better late than never ig!

Gonna repost the designs here just for reference: 

Ok on to the notes!:

Heart: 

-circles/round shapes 

-fluffy/poofy hair 

-more casual/comfy clothes (almost like a pajama look?) 

-black as a accent color to act as a call back to that originally being his color 

-lots of heart shapes (the sides of his shoes, shoe laces being loopy rather than the X shape I usually do to make a heart style shape, the tie on his sweatpants etc etc)

-stitches/rag doll aesthetic (nod to the “tore me at the seams” line, also just because I personally associate stitches with hearts?? No reason idk just an unconscious thing ? Maybe it can be seen as a foil to mind being robotic and heart being “soft”? Idk there’s definitely symbolism to it I’m just too stupid to articulate it sorry lol 

-blindfold is expressive/works as an emoter/has sonic eyes logic, just bc I think it’s really fun to draw, he can be cartoony, as a treat.

-eyes start like the others (white w black/dark iris) but after going blind the colors inverse (black with white iris) (OMG LIKE IN FNAF!???!?🤯)

-purple heart shaped pupils 

-wings optional I’m still debating on them BUT I’m definitely making it be so him and mind get a angel and devil on the shoulder theme (plus the added thing about heart playing the victim “perfect little angel who can do no wrong” and how he vilifies and (quite literally in this case) demonizes Mind) 

-bleed from chest

Mind:

-square shapes

-hair slicked back rather than in his face like the others

-collared shirt under sweater to give a more presentable vibe

-platform boots to make him taller/give him the superiority complex (plus they look cool that too lol) 

-necklace is a brain because …you know…. mind (made my designs before the Q&A revealed what the necklace actually was, so jus’ took creative liberty, plus so him being the representation of the mind was more visually shown considering how heavily I plastered hearts and eyes on Heart and Soul lol (I’m just gonna say the irl/drum stick necklace can be part of my CJ/Whole design instead)) 

-YOU UNDERSTAND MECHANICAL HANDS ARE THE RULER OF EVERYTHING ok but seriously: robotic design just in general, I really like his split on the top head I’m proud of that idea lol (actually if it’s not obvious but I tried to give all of them some form of… something going on with their faces!! So hearts stitches minds bolts and souls half and half you get it) 

-blue square pupils, it’s hard to make out unless you zoom in but I give him android style eyes (those lines going from the corners of his pupil to his iris, kinda like how portal does it?? I don’t remember oof but that almost like— camera zooming in kind of look? That, I was going for that)) 

-like heart, his old color (white) acts as an accent color 

-would have bat wings as previously mentioned to insinuate demon motif 

-bleed from head

Soul:

-triangles/sharp/pointed shapes 

-combo of both half and half and gray colors 

-almost like?? Punk style clothing? 

-patches on jacket (a crown, upside down cross, eye, eclipse, trident, and heart respectively) (the cross was semi a nod to hokum all ye faithful just bc I like that cover a lot personally lol) 

-messier hair

-halo intended to resemble rope/noose but idk how obvious I made it idk ??

-shadow half of face to reference the CCCC cover art and their appearance in light/night 

-the extra eyes are optional/at will 

-more a lore thing but I HC the “shadowy form” was originally an at will thing when he became mad, but after some particularly bad day it ends up getting stuck like that

-gets a more biblically accurate angle style appearance (eye motif/body horror/halo etc) Soul is the god to Heart and Minds shoulder angel and devil if you get what I mean (both to nod to the general concept of the soul being rooted heavily in religion as well as two wuv and the soul electric) 

-red ring shaped pupil to insinuate a halo shape

-half and half wings 

-bleed from eye (eyes are the windows to the soul/angle motif/soul always watching and having to keep an eye on H&M) 

Whole: 

Wasn’t going to mention him considering I literally just… drew Chonny from TMR and that’s it lmao?? But eh might as well mention him while I’m here

-regular shaped pupils (static colored)

-tally hall color nail polish (nod to the CCCC cover art)

-hair is more naturally drawn rather than stylized/shaped 

-white sweater to act as an inverse to HMS all having black/dark colored sweaters

-similar shoes to Heart, half and half jacket to match Soul, necklace to match Mind (not in ref but will be added later probably)

Extra/general stuff/small details:

-Their hair frizz bits are all matching their previously mentioned shape language (and lack there of in Whole’s case)

-eyes:

-the before (haha get it) they fully formed/gained consciousness designs keep to same general shape language idea, and gray specifically has a mouth as a nod to how Soul was the first one properly shown/we were shown their lips while the other two still were kept as the white and black heads for a bit before they inevitably got shown properly in TME

-the pre night/light designs I also don’t really feel the need to mention just bc they are pretty straight forward n snagged from TME/just their regular designs but missing the added layers n jackets n stuff ? Plus ig the added detail they are much more humanoid at the start I think is neat :3

uhhhh ig that’s it ?? Yeah sorry idk how to end this post just wanted an excuse to talk about my designs lol 

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

Gory Podcast Recommends

Hi there! This is just a self indulgent post for those who are looking for gory podcasts. I think of it kind of like the opposite of ASMR- horrible sounds that give you the good adrenaline rushing chills. Note: I lean towards queer podcasts, so with a few exceptions, you can trust these are predominantly full of gays. 

Top 3 that I have listened to and finished=

Blood Crow Stories: My introduction to audio drama horror and I stand by that it has some of the most convincing foley work. Sometimes in strict audio dramas without a narrator, it’s hard to tell what’s going on, but there’s not much confusion in BCS. Season 1 is found footage, seasons 2 & 3 are strongest in terms of physical/supernatural action. There hasn’t been much in season 4 yet, but I can tell it’s getting there. Also, if you want a giant cast of interesting gays in slasher horror, this is it. Tumblr: @thebloodcrowstories

Darkest Night: This is basically if you strapped in a VR headset to witness all the action. Season 1 & 2 are set in reality and you can, for the most part, actually feel every stab, every slice, every crash, every body or body part that flies over your head, and more. And I meant it when I say “feel” the action, instead of hear. Season 1 also has the benefit of taking creative liberties on horror twists/action. Note: There are only 2 canon gay characters out of all 3 seasons & 1 of them die, but I headcanon some others to be queer-coded.

Archive 81: It’s mostly speculative horror, so it’s not grounded in reality, but there is a lot of delicious body horror and sound design that’s unique and brings you into its version of (un)reality throughout the entire show. Also, all the voice actors sound unique and nice to me, without relying on “character voices/accents” that Blood Crow Stories relies on. Tumblr: @archive81

And now here’s some other shows, some horror, some not, but have some amazing horror sound design & foley work:

AM Archives: Out of the 3 Bright Universe podcasts, I think this one had the best fight SFX and my favorite voice acting, especially revolving one of the deaths (I relisten to that episode way more than is healthy).

Bright Sessions: the one fight scene it had was AMAZING, even though most of the tension was built up by dialogue instead. Interestingly, I think some of Bright Session’s best action scenes are when the action is silent. 

Dark Dice: This is the only D&D podcast I’ve been able to listen to, and I think it’s cause the monster SFX and horror elements are real gross and enjoyable.

The Deep Vault: Made by the same creators of Archive81, the sound design is just as good and is more grounded in reality. Unfortunately, it’s a little busy and no matter how much I relisten, I can’t understand what the whole vat/door situation is. 

Dining in the Void: The show’s sound design definitely getting better (and the music is great), but there are moments in season 1 where it struggles with silence. Where this podcast excels though, is audio drama storytelling with no narrator and I’ve been desperately searching for all gays in horror that do this. 

Dos After You: Ok so admittedly the sound is a bit rough, but there is this one scene that really leans into how sexy horror SFX can be.

How I Died: This is like Darkest Night, except with a canon queer main character and we hear the actual victims, instead of their final moments. There’s minimal action, but still a lovely amount of corpse squishiness. Trigger warning that it touches upon sexual & child assault multiple times. 

Mabel: This is like horror ASMR if feral bloodcurdling screams were ASMR.

Malevolent: It took a while for me to get into it, and because of the episode release timing, it’s hard for me to remember plot moments. But HOLY COW the foley work is realistic, gross, and super immersive. All made & voiced by 1 guy as well!

Null/Void: More quippy gays in horror and action! The action doesn’t kick in until later, but it has some of my favorite kidnapping/snooping around audio scenes.

Omen: Oh MAN i love love a lot of the attack and distress noises, and many of the fight SFX is quite “realistic”.

Oh Asphalt Bones: It’s very rare, but there are a few episodes who some very lovely squishy body gore.

The Orphans: This came before Dining in the Void and is more like survival/Lost, than an Escape room/station/Clue. I think my favorite scene is still in the beginning ocean scene. 

The Penumbra Podcast (Juno Steel): If you’re on tumblr, you probably already hear a lot of people praise it for the queerness and storytelling, but it also a lot of fight scenes, several horror-adjacent scenes, and a surprising amount of murder. The ending of season 2 does suffer from audio confusion (along with an unreliable narrator).

The Penumbra Podcast (Second Citadel): Even though its the same sound designer/editor, the sound effects (including creatures) in this story is a lot more immersive and convincing, with the bonus of having no narrator. 

Primordial deep: Has good amount of body squish and creature noises, but can sometimes be confusing. Has a “anyone can die” vibe with it. No one is explicitly queer, but several characters flirt with multiple genders.

Quiet Part Loud: It’s a Jordan Peele production’s take on weird horror and while I can’t stand the main character, I think this is the only “mainstream” audio drama that I found actually creative and geared towards an audio-focused medium, utilizing Archive 81/Skillset-style audio “monsters” in a cool way.

Remainder: This has some GOOD fight, torture, and body illness horror scenes. There’s also several good explosions. However, there was a major scene that should’ve had an epic battlefield soundscape + epic explosion, but completely missed out on it. There’s no canon queer characters at all.

Skillset: The fights are like Electromancy meets Stranger Things meets Valence meets Archive81. And next to Archive81, I think this is one of the most creative audio drama “monsters”/fight sound design I’ve heard in a while. Many audio dramas use generic monster noises or fight SFX, but Archive81 and Skillset, creatively use sound distortion as “monsters”. This is still a very visual action story, but it uses the advantages of a sound medium where possible. 

The Two Princes: What?! This is a completely family friendly story, like think Disney if it was actually gay. However, like Pixar, there’s actually a few moments that are real scary: season 1 finale, the S2 hydra scene, and the last 2 episodes of season 3. 

Vampires of Whitechapel: Despite advertising itself as sexy vampires no more, some of those bloodcurdling screams? Still pretty sexy. 

WOE.BEGONE: The first 2 seasons were more descriptive gory than SFX gory, but now, we get a improved SFX and lots and lots of pain noises. If you wanna hear someone in pain, listen to this. Fun fact: if you stick around for the outro bloopers, you can hear the creator’s cat being worried that the creator is in real pain LOL.

[rowdeyclown]

i finally finished playing spirit tracks and my life has changed for the better anyway here’s some link and zelda as i imagine them to be when they’re older or like an au redesign i guess. they’re both 16 in this drawing because the thought of link possibly being 12 years old and a licensed train engineer fills me with unspeakable dread. notes and other thoughts under the cut! 

im sorry i love talking abt my designs but i dont wanna make this post too lengthy. anyway as for choices i made 

first of all the actual redesigns are kinda based on my disappointment with how the spirit tracks link and zelda share the designs of ww/ph link and zelda like i know the game was recycled from its predecessor but zelda here is so unique i think she deserves a more distinct design! this extends to minish cap as well btw since that design is also the same but i digress

so for zelda im disappointed in myself for giving up on that little uhh banner? on her skirt like the actual design is very nice and complex but i am very unskilled when it comes to fine details and spending any long amounts of time trying to redo the details would have killed me emotionally so we’re left with a shitty looking half assed piece of cloth. why am i posting this again? 

of course link is easy to explain, its just his engineer outfit which i absolutely adore. for the body coloring of both of them i tried to imagine how their hair and skin might change as they age. since link’s train is open to the outside world i gave him a tan and slightly lighter sunbleached hair. zelda most likely spends most of her time in the castle and thus is slightly more pale, however i took some creative liberties and decided that following the whole being a ghost and also having her body be host to the literal devil it had some side effects on her appearance. shes permanently a little more pale and her hair straight up turns white. the hair color change i mostly made just to differentiate between link and zelda more since they’re almost often both blondes and i wanted to mix up the formula 

a lot of zeldas outfit is a bit simplified but i made her belt have triangular shapes to mimic the design of the actual spirit tracks bc uhhhh i think think that would be cool 

alright i think thats all i have to say. if anyone actually read this tangent uhhhh thank u that was very kind! anyway stan spirit tracks goodbye

[danyka-fendyr]

Closer

Okay so I’m still working on a good idea for the Spencer Reid sick!fic but in the meantime, I thought I’d get this out. It’s...pretty much exactly what the title makes it sound like. Reader and Spencer find all the ways they can possibly casually touch each other without actually admitting they feel anything. Why? Because I think it’s cute. 

Warnings: Mentions of death and drug use. If you hate kids either don’t read on or pretend you like kids I’m taking some creative liberty with the concept of a reader insert because I don’t actually like this format and I’m only writing this way bc I’ve never seen a oneshot with an oc before lol 

Wordcount: 2348

The worst part of a case would always be the briefings. You hated the briefings because it meant that inevitably, there would be dead people. Dead people you hadn’t saved, dead people you hadn’t even known about. Who had died wishing someone would come to save them, wishing you would come to save them, and you hadn’t delivered.

This case was particularly hard because it involved kids. You had a major soft spot for kids, and any case involving them was hard on you, but this one... Gosh, it was so messed up. Penelope was having difficulty presenting without crying, it was that bad. Eventually, Derek took pity on her and took over.

You yourself were having some difficulty not crying. You had seen some pretty messed up things, but you didn’t think you were ever going to be able to talk about this case again after you finished it. You rubbed at your eyes, trying to keep it together, and felt a hand on your shoulder. You looked up to see it was a solemn Reid, offering you a soft, comforting smile. 

At this point, you hadn’t been at the BAU that long. You had joined around the same time as Emily and you two had bonded over the fact that you were fresh blood. The other person you had bonded with fairly quickly was Dr. Reid, not that he was hard to be friends with. Really all you had to do was listen, and that was easy for you. You found the doctor fascinating, riveted by all of his knowledge. You were convinced he knew everything, and you were surprised that he was now trying to comfort you.

You smiled back at him. Part of you wanted to reach up, place your hand over his, but you wondered if that would be too forward. You had noticed that often he didn’t even shake hands. You were pretty sure he didn’t want you touching him like...ever. Much though you liked Reid, he struck you as the sort of person who was more likely to bathe in hand sanitizer then willingly get too close to you, so this was...a pleasant surprise.

You returned his smile, grateful for the moment. Maybe you were imagining it, but it seemed like this would just be the start of you getting closer with Dr. Spencer Reid.

You remembered vividly what it had been like when you and the team had found Reid after Tobias Hankel kidnapped him. It wasn’t hard, since it had only been a few weeks ago. It had only been a few weeks since Reid had hugged you so tight that you might have told him you couldn’t breathe if you hadn’t been so focused on holding him just as tightly. You had apologized over and over, and he had, of course, told you it wasn’t your fault.

The weeks after that had been harder though. You had seen the haunted look in your eyes, and you knew that no matter how hard you tried it was sometimes reflected in your eyes. You never told him, but you had nightmares about it. About watching him die. Only in your dreams, he didn’t come back.

Eventually though, after a night out with the team where you were declared designated driver, you were forced to confront it. You were dropping him off at his place when he invited you in, and you couldn’t bring yourself to say no. You just wanted to prolong this...peacefulness, before the night terrors came for you.

“It’s not much,” he apologized, ushering you into a home that seemed to mostly be filled with books.

“I think you have 8 different sets of encyclopedias just in this room alone,” you laughed.

“12, actually,” he corrected.

You turned to him, smiling. “’Not much.’ Seems like plenty to me. I’d kill to live surrounded by this many books.”

He laughed nervously, and you two ended up sitting on the couch a good healthy 6 inches apart. You hated it. Hated that you were just close enough to imagine that you could feel his body heat, but that you couldn’t, not really, and that distracting urge to just lean over and rest your head on his shoulder. It was infuriating. So, when you got up to use the bathroom, you might have sat back down just slightly closer than your original starting point. 

After a few more moments of staring numbly at the screen and noticing that Reid also wasn’t paying attention, you spoke.

“You’re not really watching this, are you?”

He jolted. “What? No, of course I am. The social hierarchies of the Chacma baboon are actually quite fascinating-”

“Reid,” you interrupted. “They stopped talking about the Chacma baboon 20 minutes ago. We’re onto the Cape Sugarbird now.”

“Oh. Right.”

You two trailed off into an awkward silence before you spoke again.

“Spencer...you know you can talk to me, right?”

“I-I’m fine.”

“If you were fine, I would be more worried about you than I am right now, Spence. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but something is making those dark circles under your eyes darker than usual.”

“Like you’re one to talk.” His tone strained to sound light. “You’ve been looking more and more sleep-deprived lately. The rest of the team hasn’t noticed I don’t think, but if anyone is worrying, it’s me. What’s on your mind?”

“You’re deflecting,” you deflected.

“So are you.”

Damn profilers.

“Okay. I tell you what keeps me up and night and you tell me if you’re comfortable with that?”

It’s quiet for a minute while he thinks about it. 

“Yeah, okay.”

“I’ve been having nightmares. You know how everyone has a nightmare that’s like, the nightmare? Mine used to be finding the body of this teenage girl. Now it’s just you. Watching you die over and over again, except in this version-” Your voice breaks, and you take a deep breath to steady yourself. “In this version, I’m right there next to you, but there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”

There is silence for a long moment.

“I’m an addict. Tobias drugged me with Dilaudid and I keep craving it. I’m trying...I’m trying not to use, but it’s hard. It’s so, so hard.”

“Spence.” It’s a soft sound, breathless. “You could have told me.”

You didn’t ask why he didn’t.

“I could have. But it’s embarrassing. I should be able to beat this. I have an IQ higher than Einstein’s and I can’t beat basic drug addiction?”

“Well, if you have an IQ higher than Einstein’s than you should be smart enough to know. You can’t beat drug addiction by yourself.” Not able to stop yourself anymore, you rested your head on his shoulder. “And now you don’t have to.”

He doesn’t say thank you. Doesn’t acknowledge the offer at all, except to say one thing.

“Do you want to sleep here tonight? It might help with your nightmares, and even if it doesn’t, seeing me alive when you wake up might make you feel better.”

“Yeah. I think that could be nice.”

You tugged a strand of Spencer’s long brown hair. 

“You’re really growing this out, huh?” you said, setting a coffee down on his desk over his shoulder.

“It’s not that long.” He frowned, and you giggled.

“Yeah, it kind of is, Spence. This is the longest I’ve ever seen it.”

“Well, I haven’t exactly been hobbling into the barbers on my crutches. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” you said, sitting on his desk. “I like it. Makes you look like a cool professor.”

He frowned again.

“That was a compliment.”

“You two are weird!” Garcia lovingly gave her input as she passed by.

“Love you too Penny!” you shout.

“You didn’t buy yourself coffee today,” he noticed.

“Nope. Wasn’t in the mood.”

“But you bought me one. From your favorite cafe. Is there something going on today?”

“Nope. I’m just nice like that.” 

You pretend not to notice when, in reaching for the coffee, Spencer’s knuckles graze your thigh. You’re sure it’s just a coincidence that he’s getting closer.

“Oh my gosh!” Your scream gets the entire team looking your way.

“Did you join a boyband?” Hotch asks.

Reid, with newly shorn hair, looks confused. “No?”

He sits down, ready for briefing, but you are not done yet.

“Your hair! Your beautiful hair!” Your mourning is short-lived though, once you notice the new hair, and you gasp. “Oh my goodness, it looks so fluffy and soft. Can I touch it? I’m going to touch it.”

You cross the room to run your fingers through his hair. It’s not the first time you’ve thought about doing it, but your surprise at his new style emboldens you. It’s exactly as soft and silky as it looks. You could run your fingers through it all day. You are so entranced by his hair that you don’t even notice Spencer closing his eyes, gently leaning back into your touch.

“We do have work to do, you know,” Rossi reminds.

“Okay, okay, I’m going and sitting down.” You beam at Spencer as you take your place. “Love the hair.”

You think it might be the first time you’ve ever seen the pretty boy speechless.

When Spencer walks in with even shorter hair, you can’t help your gasp. You also can’t deny it anymore. You’ve tried to fight it for the last 4 years, but sometimes the truth slaps you in the face like a large fish (don’t ask). You were attracted to Spencer Reid. Which wouldn’t so much be a problem, except for the fact that you were also in love with him. That part? That was definitely a problem.

“You good?” 

Emily raises an eyebrow at you, and you just nod dumbly. You can’t take your eyes off of him. He looks...hot.

“You don’t seem good.” Out of all the team, Emily was the one most likely to suspect your...predicament.

“I’m fine. Fine. Totally fine.”

“Uh huh. So you gonna tell me what you were thinking when Spencer walked through that door, or am I just going to have to profile you?”

“You wouldn’t dare.” This gets your attention, and you glare at her from your seat next to her.

“Oh, I would.”

You aren’t stupid enough to doubt her.

“Wow. I was thinking, ‘wow’.”

“Well, maybe you should tell him that.” She smirks.

“Or maybe I won’t.” You laugh nervously, glaring at her, and you think that’s the end of it.

That’s not the end of it.

Somehow, and you would never figure out how, Emily had gotten you and Spencer locked in a broom closet. You couldn’t prove it was her, but you were sure. Just as sure as you were that she had not foreseen the fact that, nervous at your close proximity, Spencer would start spouting facts about small spaces, claustrophobia, and anything at all related.

“Spencer,” you tried interrupting since he was making you nervous. “Spencer. Spence!”

You reached out, grabbing him by the lapels of his jacket forcefully. Unfortunately, you had forgotten the fact that you were in a broom closet, and now it was safe to say that if you two had been close before, that was nothing compared to how close you were now. Your mouths were just inches away from each other, and you cursed yourself for all the thoughts you were having.

Spencer didn’t seem to have the same inhibitions though. Slowly, he trailed a finger down your shoulder and down your side, making you catch your breath. Eventually, his hand stopped right around your waist where, eyes focused on that point, his hand settled, wrapped around the bend in your waist to pull you even closer. You swore you couldn’t breathe.

“I was umm...I was wondering what you thought of the new haircut,” Spencer said.

“I like it.” You weren’t sure why you were whispering.

“Yeah? Emily said...she said you really liked it, but I wasn’t sure.”

You were never telling Emily anything again.

“Yeah, I do. I really, really like it. It’s super hot and-” 

Shoot. He had made you nervous, which made you ramble, and now you were going to have to change your name to Bathilda and move to Southern France because you had not meant to say that.

“You think it’s hot?” Wide, startled chocolate brown eyes stare into yours.

“Umm...” Was there even any use denying it? “Yeah. Yeah, I do. Actually, I think you’re hot. You are very, very attractive to me. And also I’m in love with you but that’s probably just an oxytocin thing because ever since you almost died I’ve been sleeping over at your place a lot and you know you’re a sleep cuddler and so somehow we always end up cuddling and so there’s the oxytocin and-”

He was kissing you. Spencer Reid was kissing you. And he was really, really good at it. Like, stupid good at it for a guy who was not known for his romantic conquests. You briefly wanted to know who taught him how to kiss like this so you could find them and punch their lights out, but then you were too busy kissing him to worry about that.

Both of his hands were on you now, one on your waist, the other cupping your face as he kissed you. Your right hand gripped the lapel of his jacket even harder as your left came up to get play with the much shorter hair at the nape of his neck. You were just about to pass out from lack of air a very, very happy girl when conveniently someone opened the closet door.

“Oh my gosh. Wait till I tell Derek! He owes me $50 now, and Rossi owes me $200 that smug jerk!” Penelope did not waste time going to collect her money.

“So...” you said, blushing.

“So...” He was rocking back and forth nervously on his feet. “You wanna go out on a date?”

“Yes. Yes, I do.”

[brianna-lei]

Butterfly Soup Asks #16

This time including the squad as DnD characters, Liz facts, Noelle getting her yaoi education, and more

I’ve only played Dungeons & Dragons once (1) in my life so I’m no expert! I’d consider my thoughts suggestions (like with my takes on the charaters’ MBTI types, which I’m not an expert of either): 

Noelle as a Wizard sounds right, since she definitely can’t do anything reliant on physical strength. She would be an asshole and attempt things like building a Clone Army

AKARSHA THE BARD. Rogue sounds too cool for her

Diya: I actually want to say she’s a Ranger because the Wiki on 5th edition says “The Beast Master archetype forges a connection between civilization and beasts, allowing the character to interact with animals in certain ways including gaining an animal companion to control.“ Fighter and Knight also sound plausible though! 

Min: Barbarian with high Strength and no Intelligence and Wisdom

I don’t want to say too much because I want to save things for the sequel, but here’s some stuff:

She actually played against Diya in youth leagues before she transitioned. That’s why she recognizes Diya+specifically approached her to sign the baseball club form while Diya doesn’t recognize her. At the first club meeting Liz tells her “I was at one of your games when you were little” -- This is purposefully ambiguous/misleading (sounds like Liz was just watching) because she passes and doesn’t want to out herself to a bunch of club members she doesn’t know well

After transitioning she quit baseball and switched to softball. It was weird being the one trans girl on a team of cis dudes, and additionally when she was younger she sort of felt like she had to prove she was a girl; she naturally has feminine taste, but she’d overperform it by 25%. It wasn’t until she got close to Chryssa and found out she also liked baseball that she reclaimed her interest in it

She has a nice resting face so strangers tend to ask her for directions 

Sunburns easily

Yesss check the FAQ guys! Fangames are fine as long as you explicitly say it’s a fangame!! 

I’m almost mad I didn’t think of this myself. I’m one of those people who overuses “spoopy” 

All art in the game (including the title screen) can be downloaded here!

NO!!! 

Noelle. The day the others find out will be the End of her

Akarsha was reading some yaoi so it came up in conversation, and since Noelle had never heard of it Akarsha gleefully educated her (to Noelle’s horror). Noelle was extremely scandalized that Akarsha kept sending her inappropriate images, and Akarsha was like “i’m doing this out of the kindness of my heart! it’s for ur education!! me: Master Teacher. call me sensei”  

Following this Akarsha changed her chat name to YAOI SEME as seen at the beginning of the game 

Diya and Noelle: Never tried it

Min: Has tried it 

Akarsha: She constantly makes weed jokes but actually only does it rarely 

Yes, I’m planning on exploring this more in the sequel! 

Diya; Dee-ya. Rhymes with “See ya”

Min-seo: Korean way, but most characters like Diya pronounce it like Min-so, with the “Min” rhyming with “win” (not like “mean”). The “so” is one syllable (not like “see oh”)  

Akarsha: uh-KAR-sha

Noelle: No L 

I was planning on making the sprites blink! I’m still a bit sad I didn’t end up doing it

It’s supposed to be fall 2008 when they’re in high school, but I took a LOT of artistic liberties when it came to the references. For example, Akarsha makes a Durarara reference even though the anime didn’t come out until 2010, and there’s a lot of modern memes that ended up in there too...I couldn’t hold back...

The IGF trailer video is especially modern-day meme-wise -- since it broke the 4th wall, it was like, all bets are off. Don’t think too hard about it!

I wanted to put a lot of 90s and early 00s hits in the game for the nostalgia factor, like Complicated, Rock Your Body, Dilemma, etc. I think it would’ve made the experience even more surreal for players who are around my age!

I don’t own the rights to all the music so I can’t distribute it around for people to download! Here’s where you can find everything:

Thought Projection by Ketsa

Holding Your Breath by Ketsa

Thoughts of You by Ketsa

2011-13 by Ketsa

Miyauchi Yuri/110515 (miltata remix) by Miltata

Night Tourist by Miltata

Sound413_Images(short) by Miltata

Sound429_Floating Cloud (draft) by Miltata

Side by Side by Miltata

Blooming by Miltata

Romaras by Miltata

Little Circle by Miltata

Daydream by Miltata

Calling Project 2 by .que

Flame of Love by YOSHI

Valar Morghulis by Bloodgod

Overflowing by Tatsuya Kato

My Heart Will Go On - Recorder By Candlelight by Matt Mulholland

At one point Diya finds out what it means on her own. After she finds out, she uses it for the actual meaning :) (added this to the FAQ now) 

I can totally relate to all of them, but I’d say Diya! (added this to the FAQ now) 

that sounds a bit alarming

(I added this to the FAQ page now, thanks for reminding me)  I’m fine with people shipping whatever!! The only thing I can think of that’d make me uncomfortable is incest and shipping Diya and Min with male characters – other than that, go nuts

Oh noo im sorry, that must’ve been stressful! For those who don’t know, I chatted about my game for a few minutes last week with MEGA (a USC club I used to be in!). I’ve adapted them here with what I assume what the questions were: 

1. Is that your cat on your Skype icon? 

yeah it is!! it's burrito 

(people think it’s a cute name) 

LOL glad you guys approve

2. Was the game made in Renpy? What do you think of Renpy vs. Twine? 

yep! it's made in renpy! I actually started out in twine -- twine is impossible if your game is like longer than an hour and is image heavy. the engine started lagging so bad it would take 30 secs to do anything

2. Would you eat a tiny 2 inch man for $100 million?

LOL it's hard..it's a lot of money. I don't think I would

(but you could use that money to save many more lives! utilitarianism) 

it's a real dude tho! i'd feel awful for him haha it's hard when you have to physically do it LOL

3. How long did it take for you to make Butterfly Soup? 

FOREVER. I thought of it in my junior year over winter break

4. Was it for school (like an assignment)? 

nah! just on my own

(people saying that’s impressive) 

yeah!! self motivation

5. What’s your favorite part of the game? 

hmmmmM I like the "date" with min in the dream. it's so fun, with the dog park

6. Which character do you relate to the most? 

diya!! social anxiety queen, so relatable

(people comment on how she runs around when anxious) 

i really did that before my sat once, ran 2 miles at the school's track

7. Are you from the San Francisco Bay Area

yeah i'm from the bay! east bay

8. Which year did you first come up with Butterfly Soup? 

winter 2014 i think

(people trying to calculate which year was my junior year) 

i graduated a year early so junior year was also senior year

9. Are you making a sequel? 

yes!! once ihave more time. i have a lot of ideas for stuff that goes after

10. Was this a prequel to Pom Gets Wi-Fi? Or maybe spiritual successor?

this is a prequel. i dunno about spiritual successor tho, they're a bit differnt

11. Any tips on how to balance schoolwork and working on personal projects? 

hmm...i honestly sucked at this and could only work on it on breaks lol...if you can try to work it into your school projects, like some bit of it...

other than that i cant think of anything LOL it's hard

12. How did you organize yourself making such a long game? Any tips? 

it was SUPER hard to organize, i was really lost until i split it into 4 sections with each character. so if you're planning on making a game this big definitely think about forcing yourself into sections like that

the art was the most confusing to do bc of how many assets there were. i was going to say "have consistent naming conventions" but that's literally impossible LOL it'll always become inconsistent no matter how hard u try

13. What part of the game took the longest (writing? art?) 

writing, actually, despite how much i complain about art assets. it's really hard making sure the structure and themes come across correctly. like pacing is so hard. art is like #2 biggest time sink

14. How early in did you write the Akarsha/Min skateboard scene?

that came pretty late haha i put it in at last second

15. Are the characters based on real people? 

they're all inspired by combinations of ppl i know! i wouldn't say based on them, tho. for example min is like a combination of 3 friends i have, strategically arranged to play her part in the story

character design is design so u still gotta be deliberate about it

16. Who’s the other cat on the computer? (they’re referring to the cat on my desktop wallpaper) 

that one's maru! he's a famous japaense cat. he's super photogenic

(people speculating that he’s the “tube one”) 

the tube one? probably. he's famous for going into stuff

17. What was your favorite aspect of working on the game? 

definitely getting to put specific Asian-American experiences into it

i was like HAHOH i can do this and no one can stop me! it was really fun getting to do this without any creative direction from like, a studio or anything. so i could just go bonkers. i hate pitching stuff so

18. Any writing advice? 

definitely have other people beta your writing as soon as possible! they always catch stuff you missed. also this is like a cheat, make your characters really extreme. like find one aspect of yourself, and turn it up to 11 and make it into a character. that way they'll be relatable and memorable at the same time. i think most people don't make their characters extreme enough so they're all kinda samey

19. (I can’t remember what they asked me here, sorry! They were asking if a specific meme was in the game)

LMAO nah it's not. i did briefly think about it though, i will admit

20. Would you eat a Gusher the size of your hand? 

that would be pretty cool. i don't think i could eat it all at once tho...i would try to save it. like half

You’re welcome, I’m really happy to hear it helped the game feel relatable!!  

Thank you! I hope you have a good day too!!

haha I feel like my game is almost propaganda bc so many people wish they had girlfriends after playing it! the agenda...Thank you for waiting for the sequel, it makes me super happy to hear people are looking forward to it! 

You’re welcome!! I’ll do my best!!! 

You’re welcome!!!! :>

You’re welcome!!! 

same I’m really happy so many people find them relatable! you’re welcome!! 

You’re welcome!! my kids can never get enough love im very happy 

I’m glad you liked it! Thanks for the support! TT_TT

[elddansurin]

there’s a pretty good character development questionnaire going around my dash right now, so i took the liberties of filling the entire thing out on my own time, because buddy, you gotta make your own destiny.

1. Who’s the oldest character of yours that you still use? I had to give this one some thought bc my gut reaction was to say Tuo, but it turns out the answer is Falshavo, because I can explicitly remember drawing him in the hazy, far gone year of early 2006 when I was taking a drivers ed course. He started out as either some bastard of a Silent Hill fanchar, or a heavily SH-"inspired" character, and I think he could have at best been called a demon? I was like 16 when I made him, cut me some slack. In any case, Fal has changed very much over the years, most recently into an original species that can best be described as something visually between a satyr and a manticore, but is actually neither of those things. For quite a while he was based out of my one world, Undecim, but recently I decided he and his ilk would be better suited to my OTHER world, Aphelion. As far as motivations go, he's swapped from evil/crazy/malevolent to a much more nap-based personality. Two things that haven't changed since I've made him, though, are that he's blind in one eye and doesn't talk very much. So there's that.

2. Who’s the oldest character of yours, defunct or not? That honor goes to Jonathan, who was definitely and absolutely a FF7 fan character back when that game was new and I was still in my larval stage. He morphed into a mental illness coping mechanism as my childhood went on and he's just had a whole lot of interesting/embarrassing iterations, but I guess that's to be expected of a character I made in fucking 1997. That said, I retired him a few years ago. Tried briefly to bring him back, but I just wasn't feeling 2.0, so I didn't force it.

3. Has creating a character ever made you realize something about yourself? I was GONNA say no, but then it just dawned on me how much time I spent creating gay male characters in my early teen years before THAT realization caught up with the rest of me. I'm not going to say the characters themselves were involved in the inevitable personal revelation (they weren't), but more than anything I just think it's proof that pieces of my brain do not always work as a cohesive whole. I knew before I knew, so to speak, and it showed up in my characters.

4. Any minor characters that have either taken over or branched off into their own stories? UHHHH Your Boy Kolja was initially a primary antagonist in Mikhail's storyline, back before I decided to fundamentally retool a lot of things about Mik's whole deal. But I'm nothing if not predictable, and I'm a guy who loves a good villain, so I ended up making Kolja FAR more fleshed out and engaging than the actual protagonist of the story. Same thing kind of happened with Anzo, who was initially kind of an offshoot wildcard character in the horrible and confusing political landscape of that entire bed of storylines. But uhhh, that didn't last.

5. Do you prefer to make human, animal, monster, or _____ characters? Why? My characters are all unambiguously human/humanoid. Even the monsters are going to have recognizably human faces because I have a hard time getting emotionally invested in a character otherwise. I'm really not sure the reasons for this. There's a few exceptions, ofc, but not many. Peeling off for a sec, in regards to making characters in TES settings, I definitely am biased toward the elven races because if I wanted to make a human character, I'd do so in own properties. Also the human races in the elder scrolls are kind of... underwhelming...

6. When creating a character, do you come up with the visual concept or the written concept first? Written concept, almost every time. The rare exception is usually with minor and/or lore-based characters, like gods or monsters, since I rarely explore those characters as deeply as I do the regular types. But if I'm making Just Some Dude, I'm probably going to have a full written concept drafted out months to years before I ever get a concrete idea (much less an actual depiction) of what he looks like.

7. Do you have characters that you know you’ll never use, but can’t bear to get rid of/recycle? I'm going to have to go ahead and call back on Jon for this one, largely based in both his history and his significance to me and my own development. He was my primary, go-to character for such a long time, I don't think it'd do him justice to ever properly put him out to pasture or recycle (and I'm a chronic recycler, so that's saying something). He kind of exists in a creative limbo, and that's where he's gonna stay.

8. Is there a character that embodies your good traits, or traits you wish you had? Good traits? In all seriousness, probably. Nothing I am consciously aware of, so cop-out answer on this one. I'm also not really one for wish-fulfillment characters, so that's a no on "person I wish I was" aspect, sorry.

9. Is there a character that embodies your bad traits? Several characters? Which ones and what traits? HAHAHA hoo boy. Gavriil is the embodiment of my general shiftlessness and crippling self doubt, Tuo embodies my crushing depression and self-destructive tendencies, Ludo represents my reoccuring fear that I’m stuck in circumstances so far beyond my control that I ought not bother to try and change, and I'm not even gonna TOUCH on which of my boys were created as blatant outlets for trauma. There's a fun little game for you, try and figure that one out yourself.

10. Is there a character that explores your interests or fetishes (orrrr is that just all of you characters)? Uh, flat no on the "fetishes" part, but yeah, most of my characters tap on my significant interests in some way or another. Most concrete example I think is Desoto, who I designed (or, well, redesigned if we're getting technical) when my interest in astronomy was at its peak, back before I realized physics is something I'm terrible at and makes me cry/change my major in college. I still love astronomy and astrophysics on a conceptual level, but the second you break out equations, I'm gone. My Boy Desoto, though, I have designed to be significantly more likely than me to do math, so good for him. Funny enough? I've never made a character who's into geology. You know, my actual field. Go figure.

11. If you have characters that embody certain traits of yours—good or bad—has writing them changed how you view those traits? Has it affected you in any way? Not really, at least I don't think so. I might wake up in the middle of the night with a better answer screaming to my forebrain, but my gut reaction is a no. I tend to go into writing something with fixed views, and I can't recall an instance of me suddenly deciding "hey, actually this thing is good/bad and I never thought of it this way." I've definitely started viewing the characters themselves differently after starting a project, but never really the traits they personify.

12.   Do you fantasize about being any of your characters, or are you more detached? Definitely the latter. I'm not shy about putting pieces of myself into the characters I make, but at the same time, I really do not see myself in them, nor do I wish to. There's a firm level of detachment in that these are my creations, and rarely do I mold the sort of character where I can in good conscience think "yeah, that's who I want to be." A big part of this is that my character creation/world building habits are and always have been rooted in maladaptive daydreaming (and I have only recently figured out the terminology for a phenomenon I was otherwise well aware of, funny how that works), and that has always been based in me trying to distance myself from who I was (and at times, am). I don't want to put myself into new shoes, I want to focus on someone who isn't me, but has weird, tenuous connections to me. If that doesn't make any sense, pretend that it does.

13. Do you create playlists for your characters? No, and that's based mostly in the sad reality that I stopped seeking out new music years ago. That, and I've never been much of an audiophile, so there'd just be so much overlap in any playlists I created that honestly, why bother. That said, I will occasionally listen to something and think "holy shit, this is ___". First example that comes to mind is Motorhead's Dust and Glass, which is very much the anthem for Ludo. Do me a favor and listen to that song, and you will know everything you need to know about Ludo. Also, I’ve got a handful of songs that make me think very much of Gav, but most recently, I decided that Gerry Rafferty’s Baker Street is a good song for him. Like, also for me? But mostly Gavriil. It can be both.

14. When writing for specific characters, is there anything you have to do to get into the right mindset? I've gotta be in the right mood, and that's all it comes down to. I'm still trying to figure out the secret to writing something that's counterintuitive to my mood, but I'm not there yet. I know the answer is "just fucking do it," but here's an idea: shut up? I dunno. I'm a very flaky content creator.

15. Which character is your guilty pleasure? Right now, it is absolutely Gavriil. For a long time I had such an issue with allowing myself to have characters based out of properties that weren't my own, so I started out feeling very self-conscious about putting so much time and thought into Gav. I have since made like eight or nine more TES-based characters in his wake, but some residual sentiment still lingers! See also: I still am too self-conscious to publically share the story I've been writing with him. I'm not sure if that's rooted in me playing in somebody else's sandbox, or if the story itself is coming out of a place of extreme personal vulnerability (I wrote the bulk of it during my recent Complete Mental Breakdown™). Or maybe I'm just self-conscious about my writing in general. Who knows! But at the end of the day I absolutely love Gav and I'm having so much fun working with him. Before him was Kolja for many years, and Tuo before that. Don't get me wrong, I still adore the both of those guys, I just have a new focus for the time being.

16. Is there a character of yours who’s a real struggle to write/draw? Why do you think that is? Right now, definitely Anzo. He started out very different from what he's become, and at the end of the day, I'm still not sure what exactly I'm trying to do with him. I was/am trying to write him in a story, but it's been proving very difficult because I'm just not sure what I'm trying to accomplish with him. Initially, his core concept was based very deeply in a revenge fantasy that had gotten out of control (I mean, it was a justified revenge fantasy, but that still doesn't make it healthy, my dude, my guy). but then I started thinking a bit more about the major events in his life, and if I was making him react believably enough to what he'd endured. That, and by this time I was in some genuine, bonified darkness in my own life, and that started leaking out into the character and story very much. Now I'm stepping back and wondering, is this where I want it to go? If the answer is no, then where SHOULD it be going? I don't have an answer to that yet. So he's a hard character to write, at least for now.

17. Which character is the easiest to draw/write? I wanted to say Kolja, based in how enthusiastic I was for him for such a long time. I could tell you his story from birth to death, and there's only a few small threads that are still unclear in my mind. Unfortunately, this level of enthusiasm has left me with the understandably daunting task of, you know, actually writing it down. There's SO MUCH to sift through, and it's like scaling a damn mountain. It's all there, I can see the whole thing, but fuck me if I'm not in for a climb. I started in on it late last year before retreating to work on something on a bit... smaller of a scale. Gotta work my way up to that. That said, the actual easiest character to write right now is, again, Gavriil. Part of it is that enthusiasm I have for him right now, and another part of it is that his story is based on the main quest of Skyrim which, lets be honest, is an underwhelming plot on the whole. So the plot has already been written out by someone else; I don't have to worry about that. Neither do I have to worry about actually depicting the entirity of said plot, because it's not actually an interesting one. And honestly why are you reading a story of a character from Bad Game Skyrim if you don't at least have some cursory knowledge of how that game's plot goes? The interesting part- to me, at least- is the effect it has on my character. That's what I've been focusing on, and it's been fun.

18. Is there anything you really wish you could do, character-design-wise, that you feel is outside your current skillset? A concept that you wish you could pull off but are uncertain about? Visually? A lot. There's a lot that's outside my skillset, because I don't know how to fucking draw. That's why I shy away from drawing characters who, say, I imagine to have unnecessarily complex tattoo designs. Not only do I not feel like putting in the time to actually depict that, but I also lack the talent to properly do so. It also kind of neuters what I can pull off for some of my more outlandish designs, namely gods and monsters. Kjelchaikhan is the only one of the gods I've drawn so far, and not coincidentally, he also has the easiest design to deal with. I started in on trying to draw Tsenmaer before I realized holy shit, the way I picture her in my head is so far beyond what I'm capable of actually doing. I'm not even going to fucking touch on Archaeos, because that design is going to be... even harder!! Conceptually, not so much. It sometimes happens on a small scale, such as how I've designed Ludo to be a boxer when I know little about boxing and I don't honestly care to learn. But at the same time? His story is based far, far more heavily in the shitty circumstances of his life and how he's trying to worm his way out of that than in the actual "punching dudes in the head for money" thing. That was more a tool to tie him in with the questionable, shady shit that I needed him to be shackled to. "Underground boxing circuit" just sounded like as good of an idea as any, so I figured why not. That aside, most anything I want to write about ends up being something I'm either familiar with based on personal experience, or at the very least am interested in researching for story purposes.

19. What’s more important to you: visual design, unique personality, a trendy character aesthetic, etc? If you’re not sure, then what’s the first thing you usually nail down in a character? Definitely the personality and basic concept. I very much enjoy crafting characters that are fleshed out and generally believable, and I am very much terrible at designing them on a visual scale. Do all my characters end up looking the same? Yes. Does this bother me? No. If it did, I'd fucking do something about it. What's important to me is who a character is when you boil away all the set dressing. Who is he on a conceptual level? What are his motivations? His basic structure? My character creation process is me sitting down and saying "I want to make a character who embodies these basic traits, and is based on this core concept," then building from there. Visual design is always, always an afterthought.

20. Do you ever plan to do anything (comic, animation, etc) with your characters? Or are you just happy to have them? For the most part: Nope! My characters exist primarily to make me happy and give me something to think about when I'm tired of thinking about myself and my life. There's a few that I'm working very much to translate into stories, but even then I hem and haw over whether or not to actually share the content I produce. Part of it is I'm much more self-conscious about my writing than my art. Used to very much be the other way around, up until I stopped considering myself an artist. Now I just kind of shit drawings out from time to time, and if people think they're terrible, that's because they are and I put no effort into what I do. It's the other way around with writing. I very much put effort, care and detail into my stories. More than bad reception, I fear no reception, which is to say that I'd put so much effort into something, put it out there, and go completely ignored. I have no issues with "you suck/your work sucks," but absolute indifference cuts me pretty deep on matters like this. So yeah, that's a significant obstacle between me and content sharing. That, and assuming I did find any degree of an audience, putting my work out for someone else's scrutiny makes it SIGNIFICANTLY harder to go back and retcon. And boy oh boy, I am a notorious an unrelenting retconner.