#whimsey announcement

[writingwhimsey]

300 Follower Celebration- Fluff, Smut, or Crack with Tropes!

Alright everyone, I think I've finally started to come up with exactly what I want to do for my 300 follower celebration.

I want to take some favorite fanfic tropes and turn them into some fics! So here is what I am thinking.

Pick a suitor, pick a trope, and then pick fluff, smut, or crack and i will write a fic based on those choices.

Fandoms: ikemen sengoku, ikemen vampire...and I will include ikemen prince

Suitors:

ikemen sengoku: all except for Kicho

ikemen vampire: all (I will attempt to write for any of them, but I haven't read all routes yet)

ikemen prince: Jin, Clavis, Leon, and Chevalier (these are currently the only characters from ikepri I feel like I have a grasp on and could write for)

Tropes (these are just some examples if you have a favorite trope that isn't listed here feel free to request it):

Only one bed

Body swap

Fake dating/fake marriage

Blind Date

Arranged marriage

Secret Dating

Roommates

And then don't forget to decide if you want a fluff fic, smut fic, or crack fic!

Must be 18+ to request smut!

taglist: @limonzu @zulablaise @violettduchess @kisara-16

#whimsey announcement #300 follower celebration #ikemen sengoku #ikemen vampire #ikemen prince #ikesen #ikevamp #ikepri #requests are open #fanfic #fanfiction

[joifee]

Here are both my pieces for the @bdubszine !!!!! Such a great opportunity to run with it and just have fun with detail work.

I am in love with sungod bdubs and very proud of this piece with the improv class^^

Down below is some in depth talk for the first piece with bdubs and all his clocks :D

The one on his chest is a regular minecraft clock - he always carries one in his offhand. In the background his his big tower from his "building with bdubs" series. He is wearing his moss cloak. On his wirst: A clock with a horse: he loves horses. also it actually is inspired by the horse-mountain he build in season 9 of hermitcraft A purple clock with ears: a purple panda clock. He joined one mcc (minecraft championship) and one it first try on the team called purple pandas) A tnt block-clock: Season 7 of hermitcraft he had, alongside impulse and tango, a company called "the boomers" who would explode stuff with tnt for diamonds - bdubs stick was he would die in every blow up they do (there are compilations)

in his jacket: The clock looking like a ring: reference to double life. He was soul-bonded to impulse and they lowkey roleplayed as a married couple and impulse gifted him a clock as a sign or marriage. therefore it looks like a ring. it also has "i" pointers because impulse always puts "i"s on his stuff A regular alarm clock: Basically that - maybe a reference for him always sleeping through the night. The red glasses clock: reference to season 8. He, tango and keralis based together and called themself "big eyes crew" and they all wore red glasses Emerald shaped clock: season 9 as the right hand to king rendog (theres also a crown inside the shape) emeralds because rendog and bdubs wanted to change currency to royal emeralds which started a war on the server and led to rendogs execution. bdubs stayed loyal till the end "hep" clock: Season 7. He plays right hand man to mayor scar. There was a turfwar between two groups - one wanted their main island to be mycelium the other wanted it to be grass. HEP was the group who wanted grassblocks so its a grassblocked shaped clock. they lost the war clock with a snake: 3rd life reference. Inside the clock theres a castle "the crastle" which was his and cleos base in 3rd life. The snake stands for cleo. the heart is part of the logo for the traffic series (same btw count for the heart in the impulse ring) sundial: reference to the hermitcraftxempires smp crossover. bdubs came to empires smp and announced himself as "the sungod" and basically became a god and gem, oli, fwhip and sausage were his followers for the short time. the shape is after a build sausage made in his name the "B" sign: reference to last life. He was part of team B.E.S.T. and they had shields with their initials aka Bdubs, Etho, Skizzlman and Tango. The four hearts are the lifes he was given at the start of the series half tnt clock: reference to ethoslab who is his best friend on hermitcraft and they are just unnormal about each other messed up steam punk clock: reference to the create series he did with keralis, tango, scar and zedaph who unfortunatly was short lived mcc coin: the coin he got for winning mcc broken heart monitor clock: limited life. there's a heart monitor and digital clock. the clock is broken because bdubs didnt uploaded his view for limited life (at the time of drawing this piece) so we never new how much time he had left (we know now) small pocket watch with snake and wings: also limited life. he teamed up with scar (the wings) and cleo (the snake) tree clock: the tree of whimsey. one of his first builds of season 9. he crowned tango as parkour king, cub as royal magican/dragonslayer and ren as king under it

rest of the smaller clocks are filler

#bdoubleo100 #bdubs #bdouble100 fanart #hermitcraft #traffic smp #hermitcraft x empires #joifeeart #fandom zine #great chance to join a zine #i had lots of fun #check out the zine if you havent yet

[twinegardening]

Mousetrap by Albie

Mousetrap is a surrealist survival horror story. It was written by Albie for the @ interact-if 2022 ranked game jam where it tied for second overall. 

The Story

You're one of the many overworked interns working at Whimsey World. When it was announced that Imogen, a category three hurricane, would soon hit Orlando, Florida, your employers asked for volunteers to remain in the parks during the storm, promising triple pay for at least 24 hours. You and your friend seized the opportunity. After all, Whimsey wouldn't ask its cast members to stay behind if it was potentially dangerous.

That's what you assumed before you were knocked unconscious. Before you woke up in a costume chained to your friend and three strangers. Before Dickey the Rat informed you and your "team" that you get $250,000 for each person you kill. Before the neurotoxins pumping through the park's air system began to loosen your grip on reality. Before nightmares and the real world bled into a horrifying, broken fantasy you can't wake up from.

If you survive the storm (and the things lurking within it), you'll win riches beyond your wildest dreams. But how far are you willing to go? How committed are you to pleasing your guests and satisfying your spectators? The Show will go on. It will always go on. But what role will you play in it?

#interactive fiction #twine gardening #mousetrap #interact-if game jam #wip #horror #add to ifdb #albie

[mousetrap-if]

Welcome to Whimsey World!

May all your dreams nightmares come true...

DEMO (~50k words) | BLOG | DEV LOG | CAST PORTRAITS | PINTEREST | PLAYLIST | AUTHOR

WARNING: Mousetrap is rated 18+. It contains mature language, graphic violence, gore, surrealist horror, waking nightmares, and potential body horror, loss of self, and death. Detailed content warnings are available in-game and players will have the option to avoid or minimize exposure to triggers for specific phobias.

You are an overworked university student interning at Whimsey World. When it was announced that Hurricane Imogen—a category three storm—would hit Orlando, Florida, your supervisors offered 24 hours of triple pay to anyone willing to remain in the parks during the storm.

You and your friend were eager to volunteer. Sure, you won't be able to evacuate and you aren't entirely sure what you'll be doing, but this is a golden opportunity. You need the money and this can't be too dangerous. After all, Whimsey cares about your safety and wellbeing. They won't put you in danger. Right?

That's what you assume before being knocked unconscious, before you wake up chained to your friend and three strangers, before the neurotoxins poisoning the air system loosen your grip on reality, before nightmares and reality bleed into a horrifying, broken fantasy you can't wake up from.

According to Dickey the Rat's disembodied voice, the first "team" to find four keys and make it back to the Castle will receive $250,000 dollars—plus an extra 250k for every death they cause.

This is a game. No one asked if you want to play, but playing—and playing by their rules—is the only way you'll survive. The only choices you have are kill or be killed, maim or be maimed, traumatize or... well, there's likely no avoiding that.

If you outlast this storm (and the horrors lurking beneath it), you can win riches beyond your wildest dreams. But at what cost? How far will you go? How committed are you to pleasing your guests? To satisfying your spectators? The Show will go on. It will always go on. But what role will you play?

Customize your intern's name, gender, pronouns, appearance, and costume

Choose a role - Ride Operations, Custodial, Merchandise, or Character Acting - and gain unique strengths, weaknesses, abilities, insights, and choices.

Choose to play your part or rail against it

Fight to retain your sanity in an increasingly nightmarish world

Get to know your teammates personalities and strengths

Work together as one or attempt to break free of the chains that bind you

Attempt to navigate the tunnels beneath the Fairytale Kingdom or fight your way through a deadly storm

Collect four keys from around the park to earn your safety, freedom, and wealth

Kill or be killed along the way...

Alaric / Aria Wagner

Your cool and confident friend from Germany working in merchandise as part of an academic exchange program.

A's Profile

Emerson Liu

A fellow intern working as a custodian, an aspiring novelist with an insatiable thirst for truth and unending curiosity

Emerson's Profile

Jovy Rivera

A full-time lighting designer and gaffer for the park's stage shows, an extremely sarcastic individual who doesn't like having to take things seriously

Jovy's Profile

Max Keller

A part-time face character, part-time med student with a personality opposite those of the villains they portray

Max's Profile

A Wagner can be male or female, Emerson is female, Jovy is nonbinary, and Max can be male, female, or nonbinary.

This story was submitted to the game jam on January 31st at literally 23:59 UYT. The game that is out now is not the finished game. If you want to know when the finished game goes live or just want more info about the game, follow the Mousetrap blog (here) for game snippets, character profiles, progress reports, surveys, and more.

For more on this author's other projects, check out Albie's personal blog (gamesbyalbie) or the Hades' Kitchen (hadeskitchen) and Zorlok (zorlok-if) blogs.

Thanks for reading, all reblogs are greatly appreciated!

If you enjoy interactive fiction, I highly encourage you to check out the games that were created for the jams. You can find the ranked games here (cliffhanger theme) and the unranked games here (red herring theme).

#interactive fiction #twine game #horror #game jam #interact-if #develpoment #alaric #aria #a wagner #emerson #jovy #max #mousetrap gameplay #mousetrap #masterpost #interactif game jam

[interact-if]

Thank you to everyone who participated in Interact-if's first ever game jam!

Here are our winners!

The Hanging Heart by Raindev

The hungering tree stands tall on the hill beyond the village. it is a beautiful but dangerous, almost malicious thing. it rises high, trunk white as snow, leaves a mix of gold and crimson. no one dares to approach it, not anymore - too many lost their minds to its vicious pull, but none can resist casting a quick glance, admiring its vibrancy against the dead sky or even coveting the shimmering heart hanging from its lower branches. you most of all. in a world where people wear their glimmering hearts, sources of power and magic, in bracelets and in chains around their necks, you have none. your chest is empty like theirs, but you have no heart to call your our own. you don’t know - or don’t remember - why, which isn’t surprising; the last years are foggy for many, since the war of the angels ended and the world, shattered and hurting, started healing. for a heartless being like you, nothing is as tempting as the hanging heart on the branches of the hungering tree. but claiming it as your own might be even more dangerous than you thought. something watches from amidst the tree’s leaves and some villagers might know more than they let on - about you, about the tree, and about the war that ravaged the world. you might get more than you bargained for.

Mousetrap by Albie tied second place overall

You're one of the many overworked interns working at Whimsey World. When it was announced that Imogen, a category three hurricane, would soon hit Orlando, Florida, your employers asked for volunteers to remain in the parks during the storm, promising triple pay for at least 24 hours. You and your friend seized the opportunity. After all, Whimsey wouldn't ask its cast members to stay behind if it was potentially dangerous.

That's what you assumed before you were knocked unconscious. Before you woke up in a costume chained to your friend and three strangers. Before Dickey the Rat informed you and your "team" that you get $250,000 for each person you kill. Before the neurotoxins pumping through the park's air system began to loosen your grip on reality. Before nightmares and the real world bled into a horrifying, broken fantasy you can't wake up from.

If you survive the storm (and the things lurking within it), you'll win riches beyond your wildest dreams. But how far are you willing to go? How committed are you to pleasing your guests and satisfying your spectators? The Show will go on. It will always go on. But what role will you play in it?

Reclamation by Groggydog tied second place overall

Corporate Space, the Year 21XX.

You awaken from a month of cryosleep to discover that a missing research vessel has suddenly surfaced in the deep. There are no signs of life. You are now tasked with investigating the nature of the ship’s disappearance and the fate of its crew.

Can you do it before time runs out?

In Auctorem Credimus by Franzinyte

Feeling purposeless and unfulfilled after your story has ended, you stumble upon an organization dealing with the same problem as you: the Custodians of Authorial Narrative Foundation (CANon). With nothing else to do but hope for your story's sequel or (hopefully not horrible) movie adaptation to come, the main character of your story (and canonical love interest) invites you to join the foundation and work as a biblio-anthropologist, traveling through various story worlds without the need to stay in-character.

So when your dream finally came true a few years later and people in your neighborhood start forgetting about you, you immediately grab your plot armor and prepare to defeat the villains once again. You've done it before, and you'll make sure they'll never do it again. At least, that's how sequels are supposed to go, right?

But when the main character and the villains turn out to be missing, you decide to take on the mantle of 'main character', join the CANon Timeline Anomaly Removal Department Intervention Squad (TARDIS), and write the sequel to your own story yourself.

Chloe is Home by KhairikaSinani

A flatmate group chat unknowingly welcomes an uninvited guest into their midst.

This was our first big venture into game jam competition and we really appreciate the community's support of us and our authors and their creations.

Check out all our other contestants for the ranked jam here [link]!

And please check out the submissions for our non-ranked jam!

I'm the Echo When you Call by PDRRook

Rougi by LapinLunaire-Games

Better Off by Oscar Arcane

Red Herring RPG by CompanionWolf

Thank you everyone! <3

#game jam #interact-if game jam #game jam 2022 #interact-if game jam 2022 winners #game jam 2022 winners #interact-if events

[independentmusicpromotions]

Alt Country/Alternative Rock Artist Seneko has announced the release of his 4th EP entitled "'69 Camaro", out October 22, 2021 via Torrez Music Group. This new release finds Seneko plugged in with a guitar-focused rock sound, likely inspired by some of his own favorite bands, Wilco and The Jayhawks, the latter whom he's seen live over 20 times. Expect strong song craftsmanship, jangly guitar melodies and impeccable production from this inspired 5-track collection recorded at Nashville's County Q Studio. Stan "Seneko" Olshefski's music been described as "Think country meets Radiohead" by Wail Music Magazine and featured in the Huffington Post, who wrote "Seneko brings to mind the whimsey of the Gin Blossoms". From the Artist: I really wanted to make something fresh and have always wanted to do a guitar driven Rock record - So I did. The down time during the pandemic gave me an opportunity to write a lot so there was plenty to choose from. I also helped produce it along with Mike Purcell and Paul Scholten which was a first for me and a total blast. I went back to the the studio (County Q, Nashville) where I made my first record ("Seneko") mainly because co-producer Paul Scholten is also a drummer and I really wanted his powerful driving beat. Plus Paul works with Luis Espillat, a terrific bass player who layered in very cool bass lines and provided the BGVs. Jon Conley, the guitar BEAST, lead the charge and cranked it up - I'm really thrilled with the result. At the same time beyond of delivering a big rock vibe, I wanted my vocals to not get lost because the songs tell five little stories so they're right up front. Stream '69 Camaro': Spotify iTunes

#music #spotify #newmusic #nowplaying #album #rock #musician #new #listen #alternative rock #alternative music #dream pop #alt rock #indie rock #indierock #americana #Seneko #rocknroll #rockstar #pop rock #guitar #rock music #Spotify

[alphaeus-streamside]

Illustrious

September 24th, 2021

Tensions were high in the third round, each table finishing their games after what felt like an eternity to most players.Once the scores were taken, the players were left to wait for an announcement. 

Alphaeus anxiously milled his way to Nona’s side. “Not feeling great about my prospects,” he admitted. 

Nona grunted. “There’s still one round to go, kid. Things can change on a whim and whimsey, so just keep your chin up and don’t get anxious.”

“Too late.” 

She laughed.

“...even if I don’t end up placing in the top three—”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“But the… you know… that I want to learn…”

“Mmhmm.”

“...”

She arched a brow. 

He sighed. “You will?” 

“I said I would consider it, didn’t I?” 

“That’s not—”

Alphaeus was cut off by a woman’s voice that cut through the low murmur of the room. “Attention, please!” The woman, a miqote, stood atop of the bar, her scanty garments marking her as one of the den’s many hostesses. “The final round of qualifiers will begin shortly! We will now reveal the current standings!” 

An elezen man behind the bar lifted a chalkboard up and set it on a tabletop stand beside her. She gestured grandly, reading the scores off. 

Current Standings: Nona                           110300

F'zula        Tia        102500

Fafasamu Hihisamu   98700

Rhy'sae    Galeni        95200

Khet          Buduga        88600

Towering  Crane        82600

Eon          Hamyon        80400

Temuulen Mol        78100

Alphaeus  Streamside 72300

Didiraka   Guguraka     64800

Rhel         Gamduhla    64600

Nonolu     Nolu          58500

Proud      Hill         58400

Gwayne   Piper         55000

Drunken  Stump         46500

Theja       Arda         38000

When she reached the end of the list, she turned back to the lot of them, “And now—allow me the honor of introducing the illustrious Den Master Mimilan Lilian!” 

A door behind the bar opened, then closed. Moments later, a feathered hat was visible behind the bar. That hat ascended whatever step stool had been set up behind it, and a male lalafel joined the miqote woman. He was short and wide, his beard and mustache impeccably waxed, and he was dressed as lavishly as any noble. 

He struck a pose, “Many of you have answered the call, and the rare chance to join the inner circle of my den. But only the three most worthy of you will be allowed to challenge me! Who will it be? You?” He pointed lavishly in random directions, “You? Or perhaps even you? Well, I’ll be right here, watching the final round. Everyone, you know where you placed. To your tables, to your tables. Let the final round begin!!” 

#ffxivwrite2021 #ffxivwrite #balmung #mahjong

[spongeguyandlelouchvibridankia]

SpongeGuy Reviews Every Disney Cartoon Ever!: Sofia The First (1.1): “Once Upon A Princess”

yeah, it’s been a while, life is hectic and i have two shows backlogged because my bros want to see it but we never get to. Anyway, gonna try to get a lot of reviews done this weekend.

Sofia The First is a little children’s show that actually tries to be good, created by GOD HIMSELF Craig Gerber, a man who has portrayed blended families, latino rep, disabled people, diversity, death, grief, depression, guilt, familial ruin and more with utsmost perfection.

So yeah, even in a simple pilot like this which still isn’t as complex as his later work, still deals with the troubles of fitting in with a new family, especially when it’s blended, and yeah, I nearly adore it!

SUMMERY: The pilot movie introduces Sofia, the daughter of a shoe-shop owner named Miranda. Both of them have been living happily together in the kingdom of Enchancia for as long as Sofia can remember. On a fateful day, her and her mother are called to the castle to help King Roland II for a shoe fitting, who soon marries her mother, crowning her Enchancia's new Queen and Sofia as its new princess. With the help of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather from Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty, now headmistresses at a school for royalty known as Royal Preparatory Academy, Sofia tries to adjust to royal life. She is also gifted a beautiful purple amulet as a welcoming gift, soon realizing that it is in fact the power of the Amulet of Avalor that grants her magical powers, such as the ability to talk to and understand animals. However, this amulet is coveted by the kingdom's royal sorcerer Cedric, who wants to use its power to take over Enchancia. Combined with the stresses of royal life and fitting in to a new school, Sofia has to deal with her jealous stepsister Amber, who feels that her father loves Sofia over her.King Roland soon announces a welcoming ball for Sofia, where she has to dance in front of everyone. Sofia has no clue about Cedric's evil plans and consider him a good friend, borrowing a spell from him to make her look like a good dancer after missing out a dance class thanks to Amber. The truth is that the "dancing spell" is actually one enforced to make everyone in the ballroom fall asleep, and that is when Cedric will trade the antidote for the amulet with Sofia. Before the ball, Amber accidentally rips her dress, and stays in her room due to her embarrassment and her brother James berating her for her schemes. During the ball, all the guests at the ball and the royal family present (excluding Sofia and Amber) fall asleep, including Cedric. The Amulet of Avalor summons Cinderella to give Sofia the courage to step forward and resolve matters with Amber, who teaches her how to dance. The two girls infiltrate Cedric's tower and find the counter-spell after Sofia sews up Amber's dress for her. Waking up everyone, Sofia dances proudly at her ball, as her new father anoints her the title of Princess Sofia the First.Songs: "I'm Not Ready to be a Princess", "Royal Prep", "A Little Bit of Food", "True Sisters", and "Rise and Shine (end titles)"Disney Princess guest: Cinderella from Disney's Cinderella trilogy

COMEDY: 2 Out of 5

I hate starting off negative, this was so wholesome and pure and lovely and deep! But, sadly, the comedy, even for a little children’s show, is a bit lacking.

Not completely, mind you! There are some decent gags, some fun dialogue between Sofia and Cedric the Sorcerer, the whole woodland animals wanting food as payment for helping princesses song is witty.

But, well, there aren’t many jokes attempted, as the focus is more on the story and the characters and Sofia’s problems fitting in, which is totally ok! We respect that here, which is why it’s getting a still sort of decent score here, and why the pilot movie will receive a really good score once we move on to the next sections!

CHARACTERS: 4 Out of 5

While we are only at pilot mode, and many characters (Roland, Cedric, Baileywhick, the other students, Miranda, heck, even the animals) are yet to show their true depth, we do have a great emotional plot between the three new siblings!

We have Sofia, our optimistic and wonderfully kind but lonely protagonist; James, the slightly too fun loving but very caring older brother; and Amber, the flawed and mean older sister who has a heart deep down despite her first impression.

Sofia is an absolute gem, a moe girl who doesn’t care for all the “perks”, and is only wants to help and love, but also to be loved in return. One can tell that she is afraid of letting everyone down, that her new family won’t love her if she’s not a perfect princess, so she works her hardest to be one. It’s honestly heartbreaking everytime she’s sad, and her kind deeds are so genuine you’ll just d’aww at her every time! She earns your sympathy immediately, and that’s BEFORE all her TRULY kind deeds!

James is an interesting bridge between Amber and Sofia: While he can be naughty like his sister, he’s a lot kinder and nicer to Sofia, willing to welcome her immediately. I love that he doesn’t really understand that pranking her is mean, and when he does he works super hard to make it up to her, even giving Amber a “Reason You Suck” speech to make her understand she was wrong to prank Sofia. He plays to his role perfectly, and I am a lot more interested in him than I was when I watched the show!

And at last we have Amber, the pseudo antagonist (more a foil) of the special. Amber acts like a total jerk for nearly the entire runtime, I wouldn’t blame anyone for disliking her, I did too! However, her motivations (while vain) are understandable. We all hate feeling left out, replaced, forgotten. Amber knows that everyone loves Sofia more, and she is determined to be loved too, but it just doesn’t work out. That is, until Amber realizes she did a wrong thing, more than makes amends, and accepts Sofia as her sister. I honestly LOVE characters like this, so I have a good feeling about her!

And while they don’t get to play deep roles, everyone else fills up the cast remarkably, from the fun antics of Clover, Mia and Robin, to the parental love of Roland and Miranda, to the incredibly joyful “evil” that is Cedric (can’t WAIT to talk about his arc!).

STORY AND HEART: 4 Out of 5

A lot of critics like to bash wholesome whimsey as childish, as useless. True art is angsty, after all, and nothing good can come out of optimism, childlike wonder, or love.

Those people are wrong.

A show doesn’t need to be a heavy drama or a deep exploration of the darkness of men to be good. Sometimes you just need a fairytale with a good message.

Sofia The First may seem like a cutesy girl show, but it isn’t. It’s a show about treating others the way you would want to be treated, of being kind and caring to everyone, of learning to overcome your flaws and mistakes, and becoming a good person.

I felt really happy watching this. And in these hard times, where good people are being oppressed for the most trivial of reasons, it’s nice to remember that there ARE kind people out there.

So I will be like Sofia: I will stand with those who need help, and may the whole world hate me, i don’t care. We are a family, and those who want to destroy it will back down.

For I stand with George Floyd.

Yeah, I know this is an odd place to put that, but IDC. BLM!

FINAL SCORE: 10 Out of 15

A damn good pilot! Can’t wait for the rest!

Next time we have Nightmare Ned, a slightly incomplete show (tho i might be able to find the rest), and it should be interesting!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/194d3gsPrhlOsFPYsXU-lJirY4sWncrBl/edit

#disney cartoons #disney channel #disney junior #craig gerber #sofia the first #ariel winter #cedric the sorcerer #princess amber #princess sofia #prince james #flora #fauna #merryweather #spongeguy #every Disney Animated Show Reviewed #george floyd #blm #blacklivesmatter

[corescorner]

Charmberry Cove Chapter Seven.

Chapter Name: Weekend Whimsey: Saturday.

Wordcount: 5,062

AO3

Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, Ch4, Ch5, Ch6.

Taglist: @aularei, @softest-emo or I guess it’s @oh-itscherry now? 

When Logan wakes he realises that he’s the first to do so, no matter though he’ll just quietly leave the rest to slumber, so he decides to leave the room as to not disturb anyone.

Well, he would like to not disturb anyone but Remus is clinging to him, he sighs reaching for his glasses that he placed securely under Roman’s bed and now to stealthily remove Remus from his extremities but it’s not as easy as he thinks, Remus’ arm is around his torso and his leg wrapped around his own.

He picks up Remus’ arm and as he does Remus snuffles, mumbles and turns himself over to cuddle the body on the other side of him who just so happens to be Patton; who is snuggled up to Virgil.

He gets up and quietly opens the door and closes it behind him, he descends the stairs and walks into the kitchen where Valerie is sitting at the table with Thomas having coffee.

“Hey there Lo” Thomas greets “I’m guessing Patty’s not awake yet?”

“Good morning Thomas, no he is not, he’s stuck in a cuddle pile but I could probably go get him if you want me to” he offers.

“Nah he can wait, no point in waking everyone” Valerie waves off “jam toast for breakfast Logan?”

He sits at the table “yes please.”

“you’re always so polite” Valerie remarks.

“Right?” Thomas agrees with a chuckle “I wonder where he gets it from, cause it’s not from Joan and Talyn.”

“I’m gonna tell them you said that” Valerie laughs back.

Some toast pops up from the toaster, apparently she was already making some, she puts in some more bread and then gives him the toast and jam jar.

“Thank you” he says and starts to butter the toast.

Valerie and Thomas continue chatting while Logan eats, when he starts on his second slice Remus bounces down the stairs, Roman is sleepily trudging behind.

Remus smiles when he sees Thomas and loudly says “oh hey Thomas!”

Roman stops right at the bottom of the stairs not stepping into the kitchen quite yet, from where Logan is sitting he can see Roman fix his hair and brighten his face from his sleepy one before striding into the room, Logan rolls his eyes.

“Hello Thomas! Good morning mother!” Roman greets as he goes to the cupboard to fetch the Captain Crunch.

“Good morning my little royals” Valerie says.

“Morning boys, I’m just here to drop off Patton’s inhaler, won’t be intruding on your weekend for long.”

“You can never intrude Thomas, you are always welcome” Roman proclaims.

“He should be down soon” Remus informs, pouring milk into a bowl than putting a handful of cereal in and while he takes his first bite Virgil and Patton come in the kitchen groggily “shee?” Remus says with a mouthful, pointing his spoon in their direction.

They both walk to the table like they’re zombies, it doesn’t help that Patton’s glasses are on the top of his head and not in front of his eyes. Patton is leading them over and when he bumps into a corner of the table he whines at the impact but deposits himself on a chair with no more hassle and then lays his head on the table top.

Thomas snickers “hey kiddo” he lays his hand on Patton’s back, Patton moans sleepily in answer “I brought your inhaler.”

Virgil is staring at Thomas with surprise “you say ‘kiddo’ too” he notes.

Thomas smiles “sure do” he agrees.

“It’s, just that I’ve only heard my Pops say kiddo is all” he says like he feels he needs to explain himself.

Thomas chuckles “where do you think I picked it up from?”

Virgil startles at that “you know my parents?”

“Yeah, they used to babysit me when I was like nine or something, I’m glad you guys are back.”

Virgil looks confused “’you guys?’ I’ve been here before?”

Thomas and Valerie share a confused look themselves.

“Yeah, they didn’t tell you anything? You guys lived here for almost a year when they first got you” Valerie explains.

“Yeah I’m surprised you don’t remember anything, you were almost four when you left” Thomas says.

Virgil’s face contorts into one of contemplation.

Interesting Logan thinks.

~0~

They’re all eating breakfast with different levels of awareness, Virgil is thinking about why his dads haven’t said anything to him about this, though he supposes they haven’t really been super honest with him since moving here, with their secrets and such.

“So” Valerie starts “what are you boys doing today?”

Roman swallows his food before answering “we’re going to go to the quarry to swim.”

“Oh that sounds fun, be careful out there” Thomas comments and stands up, he takes an inhaler out of his pocket, placing it in front of Patton (who is still not wearing his glasses and is slowly munching on toast.) “I’ve gotta go now, but don’t forget this when you go out to play alright Patty?”

Patton mumbles something and nods to Thomas slowly, Thomas only chuckles “someone please inform him when he’s awake” he kisses the top of Patton’s head and goes to leave.

“Farewell Thomas” Roman crows “and worry not! I shall keep dear Patton safe!” He makes an over the top hand sweep; he’s the most extra person Virgil has ever met, and he was best friends with Dee.

Thomas smiles “thanks kiddo, I know I can count on you” and he’s out of the door.

Roman pouts at the word ‘kiddo’, Virgil snickers and Remus snorts while shoving Roman.

“Shut up” Roman huffs.

“Didn’t say anything bro.”

Valerie gathers the dishes with an affectionate eye roll “when are you guys planning on leaving? And do you want me to pack a lunch?”

“Maybe an hour” Roman says.

“Uh” Virgil cuts in, they look his way “we, we can go to the café for lunch… if you guys wanna” he suggests.

“Fine with me” Valerie laughs “I’ll leave the cooking to the professionals then; how are you getting to town center, need a ride?”

“Biking!” Remus chirps.

“I brought my bike” Patton mumbles, he’s leaning his cheek on his hand to keep it upright, his eyes are still closed.

Virgil nudges Logan “is Patton always like this in the morning?”

Logan nods “yes, Patton has a hard time waking up, he’s not much of a morning person but just wait another ten minutes or so and he should be hyper again.”

“Lock up when you leave, I need to head out soon too” Valerie says.

“Alright mom” the twins chorus.

~0~

“Alright!” Roman announces while they’re all putting their shoes on “we have three bikes and five people, who’s doubling up?”

“Well” Logan begins “you and Remus both have pegs on your bikes so logically someone would be with you two, I can go with Remus and Virgil can ride with you.”

He smiles, yes, yes you can go with Remus.

He turns to look at his twin, who has his own smile in place at the suggestion.

Really Roman wonders how neither of them notices the obvious pining; they’re not smooth in any regards, not like he is.

“I’m sorry, we’re doing what?” Virgil asks, Roman turns his gaze to the emo.

“You and Nerd Alert there are going to stand on out bike pegs, what of that is confusing to you?”

“Isn’t that, oh I don’t know… dangerous?” he says with snark.

“Well, if you think that’s dangerous, I don’t want to know what you’re going to think about what we’re doing today.”

“You said we’re going swimming” he says accusingly.

“We are; how are you with heights?”

“They’re fine” he replies warily.

“Then you’ll be fine” he pats Virgil’s shoulder.

“Well this bodes well” Virgil mumbles.

“If it makes you feel better, we do this all the time and I can look into today if you would prefer me to” Logan offers.

“Mmnah, that’s alright, you don’t need to do that.”

“Let’s go then!” Roman says impatiently.

“Don’t twist your panties in a knot bro, we’ve got the whole day to do shit” Remus says but he’s he first one out the door excitedly rushing to his bike, leading the rest of them outside.

Roman mounts his trusty steed, his beautiful shimmery red and gold bike.

Virgil is hovering around him, he looks unsure of what to do, so Roman instructs him.

“Alright, so just put one foot on a peg, hold on to my shoulders and then when we take off put your other foot up, got it?”

Virgil doesn’t look too sure about it but he complies.

“I’m gonna die today” he mumbles as he holds on to Roman’s shoulders.

He looks around to find that everyone else is ready to go.

“Let’s ride!” He declares and starts to pedal, Virgil wraps his arms around his neck in surprise, but he settles back quite quickly.

~0~

The bike ride to the forest path that leads to the quarry is a short one, they didn’t really need to ride there, but it’s just easier than going back for the bikes later he supposes.

They ditch the bikes at the tree line out of the roads way to walk the rest of the way there.

Virgil thinks that’s too trusting to leave them there like that, but he surmises that in a town like this it probably doesn’t matter.

Remus and Patton are at the front of the trail leading the way, Virgil and Logan are placed in the middle and Roman takes up the end; he’s swinging a branch around like a sword.

The forest is gorgeous, he doesn’t think he’s ever been in a forest like this before, it just tingles with life and beauty and everything is bright on the trail.

“How long are we going to be walking through here?” He asks.

Logan answers “it goes uphill so we’re going to have to hike some of the way, but it’s going to take approximately fifteen minutes.”

“Approximately? I thought you would have things like time down to the second.”

“I don’t look into things that don’t particularly matter, and anyway I’ve been on this trail a considerable amount of times to know how long it will take.”

“Right… are, are there things in this forest?”

“Things?” Logan inquires.

“Like, creatures” he reiterates.

“Oh yes, plenty. Many a creature lives in these woods, but as long as we don’t stray from the path we should be fine.”

“Should be?” Well that’s reassuring.

“You have nothing to worry about Virgil, Patton can calm almost any beast.”

“Almost?”

“Yes, there are some that are… more aggressive and feral than others and feelings don’t do a whole lot to them, but they usually don’t stalk around this part of the forest.”

“Usually? Logan man, you gotta stop using words like that.”

“My apologies, would you be more at ease if I look into our trek there?”

It would be, but he doesn’t want to seem like he’s using Logan, even though he did offer to do it.

Roman slings his arms over their shoulders, scoffing.

“Pssh, you don’t need the psychic to tell you everything will be fine, for I am here to protect you all” he boasts.

Logan looks slightly annoyed as he knocks Roman’s arm off of him. “Not a psychic” he simply replies.

Roman sticks his tongue out at Logan.

Virgil shrugs Roman off as well which makes Roman pout.

“And who do you think you are? A knight? A prince maybe?” He asks sarcastically.

“Precisely!”  Roman crows with a flourish of the sword branch.

Virgil snorts “alright there Princey.”

“I know you’re being sarcastic, but I’ll take it.”

The banter really took his mind off of the maybe doom of the forest because Remus yells out to them.

“I can see the parting of the trees! We’re almost there!” and then he sprints off.

“Remus! Watch your step you can fall!” Patton yells out, rushing after the reckless boy.

They break through the tree line not long after and the view is just, amazing.

The quarry is surrounded by cliff from all sides and the forest on the other side seems never-ending.

From where he’s standing he can see a slope of rocks that lead down into the cliff, probably the way to the water he deduces.

The others start taking off their top clothes to reveal bathing suits underneath, Remus is the first one done; Roman tries to grab Remus’ wrist to stop him from rushing off again but he’s too slow.

Remus runs at the cliffs side and jumps off, a few seconds later and too long for Virgil’s liking he hears a splash.

Oh. That’s why Roman asked about the heights thing.

He’s never jumped off a cliff before, even if there is water at the bottom.

Patton giggles at Roman’s squawk at his brother.

“Remus! We were going to go down to-“ he sighs “-he can’t hear me.”

“Guys” he gets their attention and they all turn to him “I’ve… never done something like this before, is there, like anything specific I should know to not hurt myself?”

“Don’t second guess yourself, just do it” Roman says.

“Also” Logan interjects “go feet first and make sure you jump far enough from the cliffs side and you’ll be fine.”

“Right right, all that safety stuff too” Roman flippantly says.

He nods in understanding.

Okay, it’s no biggie; just jumping off a cliff is all.

Oh man.

The other three move into a line at arm’s length from each other at the ledge.

Patton waves him over “c’mon we’re gonna jump together, stand next to me but at arm’s length kay?”

He lines up with them and looks down into the water, Remus is almost on the other side of the quarry looking up at them from his floating position on his back; he spits water out towards them.

Roman looks excitedly at them “okay, we back up and on the count of three we run and jump off the edge.”

Oh man, okay no second guessing, just do it.

“One.”

Ah shit.

“Two.”

He can do this.

“Three!”

And they’re running, they’re at the edge now and he pushes himself off the side as he jumps to get more air as to not hit the side of the cliff.

There’s butterflies in his stomach going down, it’s exhilarating, the wind rushes at him as he falls fast towards the water, he lets out a whoop of pure exhilaration as the adrenaline buzzes through him and before he knows it he’s hitting the waters cold surface.

Under the water is slightly disorienting for a few seconds but he can see which way is up from the blaring sun so he kicks his way up, it takes a bit longer than he expected it to be and he almost runs out of breath before breaking the surface with a gasp.

Everyone seems to have come up at the same time, all gasping and laughing, Virgil is right there with them.

“H-holy shit”- he breathes, letting out another laugh- “that was insane!”

Everyone is looking at him with smiles, Remus splashes him “city boy over here” he stage whispers with a goofy accent. “You like the adrenaline don’tcha?” He adds.

“It’s definitely different from what I’ve ever done before, it’s exciting and… and really fun” he smiles at his group of friends softly “I, I don’t think I’d ever have done something like this without you guys, so… thanks.”

“Aww Virge!” Patton coos, swimming towards him to give him a hug.

Roman shoves him but he’s smiling too “you’re a bit of a sap huh Stormcloud?”

“Shut up” he says splashing Roman in the face.

“Splash fight!” Remus yells sending a large one at Roman as well.

“Oh it is on” Roman growls playfully going to splash his twin back, but before he can a wave comes at him from Logan who just smirks at Roman’s glare “oh what? Is it attack Roman o’clock or something?”

“Maybe” Logan goads.

“You want some of this, nerd? I’ll wreck you.”

Logan raises an eyebrow “come at me” he narrows his eyes with an amused but cocky smirk “bitch.”

“Ohhhh!” Remus hollers, hovering a hand over his mouth and the other air dunking at Roman.

Roman launches himself at Remus rather than Logan and dunks him underwater.

Remus comes up laughing and rushing over behind Logan for cover.

“You can’t use him as a shield!”

“And why not huh?”

“Because that won’t save you!” he bellows then dives under the water, he swims quicker than Virgil thought he would cause in the next second both Logan and Remus are pulled under.

He and Patton are watching the spectacle with twin looks of amusement.

Patton looks at him mischievously “hey, wanna team up?”

Virgil smirks “definitely.”

~0~

When they emerge from under the water Virgil and Patton are gone.

Remus and Roman are splashing each other and making a general ruckus, but Logan is looking around trying to spot the other two.

He suddenly feels something grasp his ankle and he’s being pulled under again, but it’s not Roman this time.

The twins splashing ceases and their voices stop as well except for a muffled: “Logan? Virgil? Patton?”

He notices Patton smiling at him under the water as he and Virgil swim towards the twins.

They both yelp as they’re pulled under.

He swims up to the surface; Virgil and Patton soon follow.

They’re all gasping.

“I’ve never held my breath for that long before, it didn’t even hurt, a bit uncomfortable though” Virgil remarks.

“Patton probably made you calm enough to slow your heartbeat so you can stay under longer, he does it to himself all the time” he explains.

“He did kind of explain that to me, I just didn’t think it’d be that effective.”

“You dissin my power?” Patton cheekily says.

Virgil puts his hands up in front of his chest in mock surrender “oh no of course not.”

Patton nods “that’s what I thought” his tough façade breaks quickly into laughter though and he can’t keep the ‘scary’ face up any longer.

Roman and Remus come spluttering up.

“You two were under there suspiciously long” he says.

“Dunno what yer talkin ‘bout” Remus says looking to Roman “Roman? You know anything?”

Roman shakes his head “nope, no idea at all.”

“Oh no” Patton whispers “they’ve formed a truce.”

“It appears so” he replies.

“I’m guessing we’re all doomed then” Virgil says.

“Quite possibly, they are a force not to be reckoned with when teamed up.”

“Great, let’s bring it.”

Roman and Remus’ smiles are wide and asking for a challenge.

With that, an all-out water war begins.

~

The water war lasted for a while and even though he doesn’t think there was a victor, the twins are sure that it was them.

At the moment they’re back up on the cliff, drying off and basking in the sun.

Virgil’s stomach growls “heh, I didn’t eat much this morning” he says.

“It’s quite alright, should we head over to the café?” he directs the question at Virgil.

“Uh, yea can I just borrow someone’s phone to call my dad?”

“Here” Patton says handing Virgil his charm infested phone.

“Thanks” Virgil says as he gets up to walk off a little ways to talk.

When he gets back he affirms “yea we can go now.”

So they head back into the forest.

About six minutes on the trail they hear a loud howl shriek, they all pause in place.

“That’s not what I think it is… is it?” Patton asks uneasily.

“Can’t be, they don’t come to this part of the forest” he says, but he’s not confidant that it’s not one.

“Usually” Virgil whispers.

“Usually” he agrees turning to face everyone. “Okay we all know this, but Virgil does not, I am fairly sure that there is a Shadow Mimic not too far from us, do not believe anything anyone says unless you can see us speaking the words and try to stay out of its line of sight, we can’t fight it, the only thing that will kill it is an immense amount of fire. We’ll be safe once we hit the road but we need to be cautious until then.”

Virgil’s eyes are wide, he’s scared and Logan can’t fault him for that, he’s pretty sure all of them are scared.

They try to quickly and quietly make their way through the forest; the howls are nearing them though and everyone is on edge.

He’d look into it if it would be beneficial, but there are too many variables to go through to come up with a confidant and precise estimation to safety, so they have to go in blind and Patton can only do so much against a Shadow Mimic .

It’s close to them, but they’re almost at the end of the forest, just a bit further.

He looks behind them to where the latest howl came from and his stomach drops, it’s not far, he can see it in the distance and they’re fast; they just need to be faster.

They need to go right now; he can see where the trees end, they can make it.

He turns to everyone so they can see his lips move and tells them as calmly as he can to run for it.

They sprint to the forests end and all of them make it except Roman who trips and gets caught in an upturned root.

Logan freezes looking at Roman’s scared face, he doesn’t know what to do, his brain isn’t working, why isn’t his brain working? He can feel Patton sending out calming vibes to the creature to try and stall it, but that’ll only work at half power on a Shadow Mimic.

Remus goes to rush back in to help Roman and Logan’s brain boots up enough to grab hold of Remus to keep him out of the forest.

“You can’t fight it, you have to trust that Roman will get out” he tries to logic his way through to Remus but Remus is just squirming and screaming at him to let go.

“Ah fuck” Virgil hisses and sprints into the forest.

~0~

“Roman!” He yells as he runs towards his friend, he’s not sure what he’s doing but his fight instincts kicked in and now he’s going to what? Throw down with a fuckin Shadow Mimic? Whatever the fuck that is!

Roman looks to him in wide eyed fear “Virgil?” he squeaks.

He drops to his knees in front of Roman’s captured foot to help him escape.

“C’mon, c’mon” he growls as both he and Roman struggle to get the root to yield.

“Virgil it’s almost here” Roman’s voice is thick with fear.

“Just focus!” He snaps.

The root comes undone and as Roman’s foot is freed the Shadow Mimic pounces.

His instincts rush to him again and without thinking he turns and holds his hands out, palms towards the monster.

A wave of heat hits him as a large wall of fire engulfs the creature, it shrieks as it’s burned into ash.

He’s shaking.

What in the actual fuck was that?

He looks at his palms then to Roman who is also shaking.

“You, you saved me” Roman says in awe.

“Yeah well, what was I supposed to do? Let you die? Not on my watch Princey” he replies; Roman surges forwards to hug him.

The others are now rushing to them, Remus drops harshly to the ground to tackle his brother in a teary hug.

“You fuckin idiot! Watch where you’re running!” he clutches at Roman.

“Sorry, sorry.”

“We should go” Patton murmurs looking around and fidgeting “you guys okay?”

“Shaken and confused, but sure” he says.

“We can look into your new found power after we leave the forest, Shadow Mimics sometimes travel in packs” Logan says.

Well that’s enough for him to get up, he pulls the twins up with him, Roman limps a bit as they walk to the bikes.

Remus hitches on Roman’s bike this time around so he doubles up with Logan, it doesn’t change anything, they’re all still too shaken up to talk.

~

He can’t stop thinking about the fire, how it just came out of his hands at such a forceful power, how it immediately went out when the threat was gone and how nothing around it burned, like the only thing that can be affected was the thing that he wanted it to.

He has no idea how it happened or how he did it or even if he can do it again.

They arrive at the café in what feels like no time at all, he must have been so lost in thought that he wasn’t aware of his surroundings.

They walk through the doors and Pops greets them from behind the counter “hey kiddos! Hungry?”

“Uh” he flounders, not anymore he’s not.

They all share the same sentiment that Virgil does if their faces are anything to go by.

Pops gives them a concerned look but Logan interjects before he can say anything.

“Yes, we are. We need to regain our energy after swimming for so long.”

Who knew Logan was a good liar?

Everyone nods along to Logan’s statement.

“Alright” Pops says a little unsure but he doesn’t press them “just take a seat and I’ll be there in a sec” he tells them and then steps into the kitchen to no doubt talk to Dad about their weird behaviour.

The group trudges their way to their regular seats at the bay window, taking the same spots as last time.

Dad and Pops come to their table and hands each of them a menu.

“We just made these up, we’re just about ready for a grand opening” Dad informs, he looks at Virgil and he feels like he’s being scrutinized from behind those sunglasses.

“Your hands are really red Pumpkin, you okay?” He asks.

He looks down at his hands, just now noticing the slight sting from them.

“Uh yeah, just fell. I guess I scraped up my hands…”

He and Pops glance at each other, Pops’ face is indistinguishable but Dad looks agitated.

“So what’cha boys gonna have today?” He asks in a tone that doesn’t fit the look he was just wearing.

They all order their food, and they wait in relative silence when his parents walk away; only talking at a whisper at most and not at all when either parent is in the room.

When the food does come he feels hungry again, like the smell and sight of it just made him remember that he was.

It seems like most of them feel the same cause their whispered words are replaced with eating; except Roman who only picks at his food and barely gets any of it done.

~0~

Things have been kind of tense since the Shadow Mimic situation, even through their little whispery conversations.

He knows, he can feel every ones moods even if they don’t fully show them, but he can feel them as if they were spoken out loud.

After their meal they bike back to the twins house, they’re all a little bit loosened up when they get to Roman’s room in the fort where it’s comfortable and safe from prying eyes and ears.

Remus and Logan start up a video game, Virgil sits to watch but Patton can tell his mind is elsewhere.

And Roman isn’t even trying to pay attention, he’s sitting knees up to his chest staring off into nothing; wallowing in self-hatred.

He’s had enough of the solemnness; even Remus is muted, still shaken up from almost losing his brother.

“Hey guys” he says and his voice is quieter than he meant it to come out.

The game pauses and all eyes are on him now.

Oh gee.

“Um can I…” should he just let it be?

“Go ahead Patton” Logan encourages.

“Can I lighten the mood a bit, does anyone want that?”

“Please” Roman says.

Virgil shrugs.

“I don’t see why not” Logan says.

“Oh yea I don’t see what can go wrong there” Remus says sarcastically “but yea sure, fuck us up Patty!”

He smiles but it’s not in amusement, Remus is right, but he closes his eyes anyways to focus on lighting the air in the room to take everyone’s worries away.

It instantly has an effect and both Roman and Virgil sigh out in relief.

Remus turns to Virgil “fire powers huh?”

“Yeeeah, I don’t know what happened there, I was working on instinct and feeling”- he looks to Ro -“I couldn’t let anything bad happen and it just… overtook me.”

“The sensible thing to do would to be to ask your parents” Logan says “but I have a feeling you don’t want to do that.”

“Not yet, no… I, I heard my dad and uncle arguing about me the other day and I’m not sure what it was about.”

“Well that’s concerning” he says.

“You should snoop” Remus suggests.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea” Virgil retorts.

Remus shrugs “I would, I do it all the time.”

Roman snorts and shoves Remus “yea that’s cause you’re a creep.”

Remus laughs “guilty!”

“Can we rest for the rest of the day?” He asks.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’m down for anymore adrenaline today” Virgil agrees.

“We can research your power tomorrow if we’re up for it” Logan proposes.

“And where would we go for that?” Roman asks.

“The library of course” Logan replies.

“Of course” Roman deadpans.

So they do basically nothing for the rest of the day, movies and video games and an early bedtime.

~0~

He runs down the dark corridor to the main chambers in a rush, the large cavern is illuminated with candles, The Leader is at the center, they’re doing something at the altar.

“How did the Shadow Mimic fair?” His Leader asks of him, he gulps.

“It’s dead” he flinches at his own words.

“What?” The Leader growls.

“Um, the boy killed it, big ‘ol fireball shot right out of his palms.”

“Damn it” The Leader hisses “he’s coming in to his powers, we must make haste, get out of my sight; I need to think.”

He scurries away quickly to let his Leader plot.

#thomas sanders #sanders sides #logan sanders #remus sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #remy sanders #Emile Picani #character!thomas #valerie torres #remile #sanders sides fic #charmberry au #unsocialchapeau #if you have another blog and still wanna be tagged let me know #coresfic

[davestone13-blog]

FIGMENT NYC 2020 City of Dreams Pavilion Finalists

FIGMENT NYC 2020 City of Dreams Pavilion Finalists

FIGMENT NYC 2020 City of Dreams Pavilion finalists were announced today. FIGMENT comes to life on June 6th and 7th in Lighthouse Park on Roosevelt Island.

This year, the finalists show a taste for whimsey.

(more…)

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[wendyimmiller]

It’s Over: Ending 19 Wonderful Years in the Nursery Business  by  Bob Hill

As anyone who has ever opened a small, home-grown retail nursery can tell you, the economic reality for such is straight out of the veteran horse gambler’s prayer: Lord, I hope I break even, I need the money.

So it went as we opened our Hidden Hill Nursery & Sculpture Garden 19 years ago on a hopeful wing, happy ignorance and a prayer. History was not in my favor. My obligatory role as a newspaper columnist had always been to make cheerful fun of capitalists, not become one.

Yet I had grown to love plants; a sweet addiction with no known cure – had I even been interested in one. I had eight acres of relatively open Southern Indiana land and an old barn, a modicum of plant knowledge and a yen for the nursery business.

I had growing connections to the specialty wholesale nurseries and companies that catered to the needs of we the possessed; tiny exotic hostas, glorious blooming shrubs, weeping trees, stone owls and fountains from which water fell in rhythmic wonder.

My plant enablers would be located in Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, North Carolina, the Pacific Northwest, and Wisconsin. They would supply me with the plants and owls and fountains unavailable at the local box stores, the very products for which my equally possessed customers would lust. Could our newly graveled parking lot contain the rush of customers?

My business, as I became much too fond of saying, was a hobby run amuck. It was mine. It would be free from those silly, too-constraining economic rules faced by other small businesses. Little thought was given to supply and demand, inventory control, balance sheets, insurance needs, digital knowledge, accounting expertise, employee payrolls, mandatory taxes, water bills, famine, pestilence, plant death and one-year-guarantee customer destruction.

We were off; our race begun. Our land – which included our 1860s farmhouse – became our retail nursery and living plant museum. It was soon home to Persian ironwood, ‘Wolf Eyes’ dogwood, weeping katsura, weeping ginkgo, weeping Alaskan cedar, balsam fir, Cedar of Lebanon, ‘Summer Chocolate’ mimosa, striped-bark maple and variegated zelkova. We sold and grew croton ‘Alabamensis,’ paperbark maple, sweet shrub ‘Michael Lindsey,’ sweetgum ‘Slender Silhouette’ and the lovely and historic Franklinia.

Our shrubs included bright-yellow kerria, pale-yellow weigela, purple beautyberry, red-berried deciduous holly, red-and-yellow berried viburnum, purple lespedeza, pale-pink buttonbush globes and feisty white bottlebrush flowers.

Our perennial selection offered Arum for the winter, moved on in spring to hard-to-find cultivars of hellebores, candytuft, pinks, astilbe, heuchera, phlox, iris and peony. Summer brought the more freaky cultivars; daisy, coneflower, coreopsis, hardy hibiscus, rudbeckia, geranium, bee balm and allium – with new echinacea cultivars showing up every 15 minutes.

Hidden Hill in fall

Fall brought helenium, Japanese anemone, Korean mums, asters, solidago, balloon flowers, caryopteris, sage, sedum and chelone. Then the Arum repeated itself; the plant parade come full cycle. We were all about fun and whimsey and plant knowledge and fine, hard-to-find plants.

On we rolled, year after year, but only open four days a week from April to October. Our fan base grew. Our eight-acre arboretum flourished. We added ponds, new gardens, music events, horticultural classes, whimsical art, theatrical art and beautiful, lovingly created art.

We created a full-sized door to our meadow; joking with our customers if they didn’t use it they would disappear the following Tuesday. People would come out to just wander our eight acres; happy to be there. We were happy to have them.

Our financial advisor, a good and sensible man who would hide a cash register from his mother if he thought it necessary, did understand and accommodate my passion. Yet he would annually peer at me over his desk and suggest a little more financial caution, perhaps more thought toward our old age needs, our true retirement, our bottom line.

Janet Hill, my wife of 56 years, my forever partner in life, our company bookkeeper and diligent gardener herself, would indulge me. We created “Janet’s Garden” in her honor, a circular, quiet oasis in the middle of our larger madness with fountain, flowers, bench, large antique containers and a dangling, yellow brugmansia.

In soft summer evenings, after all the customers had left, we would ride around in a golf cart. I would admire what we had created. She would look for weeds. Her mind also began to lean toward a patio home with several thousand fewer plants to water.

The years rolled on. We were able to recruit terrific help; we all became a garden family. In the winters we would visit those consonant-laden gardens shows – CENTS and MANTS – to check out what was new in plants, fountains and stone owls. In early spring I leafed through 500 pounds of plant catalogs.

I had no desire to get bigger – just better. We looked forward to March, the potting up of the new perennial cultivars, the latest in a ridiculous series of ninebarks, the newer dogwoods and redbud trees that would arrive bare-root and eager for their new lives.

All seemed good until it didn’t. We had our devoted regulars. But on our slower days I would drop by the local Lowes and see people lined up 10 deep at two cash registers buying plants – most of them already in bloom. I had to admit Lowes’s selections looked pretty good – even if it seemed the help was 17-years-old not really looking happy to be there.

We had created a 5,000-follower Facebook presence and a 2,500-person email list as our promotion materials, but it seemed the average age of our customers was about 86. Are plant geeks dying off? Do millennials plant anything besides herbs and lettuce?

We had slowly become a nursery better known than shopped. I kept running into people who would tell me “I have always wanted to go to you place” but never showed up. I continually had to resist the urge to fire back: “Well what the hell is stopping you?”

But it was never said with bitterness. I knew I was a lousy capitalist. I had always known my dream was not economically sustainable; the box stores were open seven days a week until 9 p.m. I wanted that early evening time sharing our land with my wife in a golf cart.

The bottom-line truth outed itself a few weeks ago as I went over our years of financial statements. It followed a 95-degree September afternoon in which Janet and I had spent hours watering needy plants in black plastic pots.

We are both 75 years old. We were tired. It was time to go. The financials showed our gross income was greater five years ago than it was in 2018. We talked it over, called it quits and looked ahead to more travel, more fun with friends and family, more selective use of our now sculpted land.

Sure, some maintenance is still required. But Janet could work on her quilts and spend more time with her church ladies. I could finish writing my children’s books, maybe finally write that first bad novel. We were at total peace with our decision – Janet perhaps even closer to ecstatic.

Our closure announcement brought an outpouring on genuine affection; hundreds of people sent messages or came out to tell us how much Hidden Hill had meant to them, too. One former employee – covering all the bases – brought us a six-pack of beer and a bottle of champagne.

The horse-players prayer has it all wrong. We did much better than break even. We have our family and a growing list of friends. We have our memories. We have the satisfaction and thanks that come with building something good together. We have already won.

It’s Over: Ending 19 Wonderful Years in the Nursery Business originally appeared on Garden Rant on September 23, 2018.

from Gardening http://www.gardenrant.com/2018/09/its-over-ending-19-wonderful-years-in-the-nursery-business.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

[writingwhimsey]

Tag List

I'm going to start a taglist. If you would like to be tagged in future fics, please either reblog this from the blog you would like to be tagged with or send me a message from the blog you want to be tagged under with the following information:

what you want to be tagged in (one shots, HC's, long fics, my collection events, my story events, if I'm participating in an event hosted by someone else, if you would prefer to be tagged in anything with 18+ nsfw content or not, or if there are any specific fics you would like to be tagged on)

which fandoms: ikesen or ikevamp

which characters you would prefer to be tagged about

#whimsey announcement #taglist #ikesen #ikevamp #fanfic #fanfiction

[athertonjc]

It’s Over: Ending 19 Wonderful Years in the Nursery Business  by  Bob Hill

As anyone who has ever opened a small, home-grown retail nursery can tell you, the economic reality for such is straight out of the veteran horse gambler’s prayer: Lord, I hope I break even, I need the money.

So it went as we opened our Hidden Hill Nursery & Sculpture Garden 19 years ago on a hopeful wing, happy ignorance and a prayer. History was not in my favor. My obligatory role as a newspaper columnist had always been to make cheerful fun of capitalists, not become one.

Yet I had grown to love plants; a sweet addiction with no known cure – had I even been interested in one. I had eight acres of relatively open Southern Indiana land and an old barn, a modicum of plant knowledge and a yen for the nursery business.

I had growing connections to the specialty wholesale nurseries and companies that catered to the needs of we the possessed; tiny exotic hostas, glorious blooming shrubs, weeping trees, stone owls and fountains from which water fell in rhythmic wonder.

My plant enablers would be located in Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, North Carolina, the Pacific Northwest, and Wisconsin. They would supply me with the plants and owls and fountains unavailable at the local box stores, the very products for which my equally possessed customers would lust. Could our newly graveled parking lot contain the rush of customers?

My business, as I became much too fond of saying, was a hobby run amuck. It was mine. It would be free from those silly, too-constraining economic rules faced by other small businesses. Little thought was given to supply and demand, inventory control, balance sheets, insurance needs, digital knowledge, accounting expertise, employee payrolls, mandatory taxes, water bills, famine, pestilence, plant death and one-year-guarantee customer destruction.

We were off; our race begun. Our land – which included our 1860s farmhouse – became our retail nursery and living plant museum. It was soon home to Persian ironwood, ‘Wolf Eyes’ dogwood, weeping katsura, weeping ginkgo, weeping Alaskan cedar, balsam fir, Cedar of Lebanon, ‘Summer Chocolate’ mimosa, striped-bark maple and variegated zelkova. We sold and grew croton ‘Alabamensis,’ paperbark maple, sweet shrub ‘Michael Lindsey,’ sweetgum ‘Slender Silhouette’ and the lovely and historic Franklinia.

Our shrubs included bright-yellow kerria, pale-yellow weigela, purple beautyberry, red-berried deciduous holly, red-and-yellow berried viburnum, purple lespedeza, pale-pink buttonbush globes and feisty white bottlebrush flowers.

Our perennial selection offered Arum for the winter, moved on in spring to hard-to-find cultivars of hellebores, candytuft, pinks, astilbe, heuchera, phlox, iris and peony. Summer brought the more freaky cultivars; daisy, coneflower, coreopsis, hardy hibiscus, rudbeckia, geranium, bee balm and allium – with new echinacea cultivars showing up every 15 minutes.

Hidden Hill in fall

Fall brought helenium, Japanese anemone, Korean mums, asters, solidago, balloon flowers, caryopteris, sage, sedum and chelone. Then the Arum repeated itself; the plant parade come full cycle. We were all about fun and whimsey and plant knowledge and fine, hard-to-find plants.

On we rolled, year after year, but only open four days a week from April to October. Our fan base grew. Our eight-acre arboretum flourished. We added ponds, new gardens, music events, horticultural classes, whimsical art, theatrical art and beautiful, lovingly created art.

We created a full-sized door to our meadow; joking with our customers if they didn’t use it they would disappear the following Tuesday. People would come out to just wander our eight acres; happy to be there. We were happy to have them.

Our financial advisor, a good and sensible man who would hide a cash register from his mother if he thought it necessary, did understand and accommodate my passion. Yet he would annually peer at me over his desk and suggest a little more financial caution, perhaps more thought toward our old age needs, our true retirement, our bottom line.

Janet Hill, my wife of 56 years, my forever partner in life, our company bookkeeper and diligent gardener herself, would indulge me. We created “Janet’s Garden” in her honor, a circular, quiet oasis in the middle of our larger madness with fountain, flowers, bench, large antique containers and a dangling, yellow brugmansia.

In soft summer evenings, after all the customers had left, we would ride around in a golf cart. I would admire what we had created. She would look for weeds. Her mind also began to lean toward a patio home with several thousand fewer plants to water.

The years rolled on. We were able to recruit terrific help; we all became a garden family. In the winters we would visit those consonant-laden gardens shows – CENTS and MANTS – to check out what was new in plants, fountains and stone owls. In early spring I leafed through 500 pounds of plant catalogs.

I had no desire to get bigger – just better. We looked forward to March, the potting up of the new perennial cultivars, the latest in a ridiculous series of ninebarks, the newer dogwoods and redbud trees that would arrive bare-root and eager for their new lives.

All seemed good until it didn’t. We had our devoted regulars. But on our slower days I would drop by the local Lowes and see people lined up 10 deep at two cash registers buying plants – most of them already in bloom. I had to admit Lowes’s selections looked pretty good – even if it seemed the help was 17-years-old not really looking happy to be there.

We had created a 5,000-follower Facebook presence and a 2,500-person email list as our promotion materials, but it seemed the average age of our customers was about 86. Are plant geeks dying off? Do millennials plant anything besides herbs and lettuce?

We had slowly become a nursery better known than shopped. I kept running into people who would tell me “I have always wanted to go to you place” but never showed up. I continually had to resist the urge to fire back: “Well what the hell is stopping you?”

But it was never said with bitterness. I knew I was a lousy capitalist. I had always known my dream was not economically sustainable; the box stores were open seven days a week until 9 p.m. I wanted that early evening time sharing our land with my wife in a golf cart.

The bottom-line truth outed itself a few weeks ago as I went over our years of financial statements. It followed a 95-degree September afternoon in which Janet and I had spent hours watering needy plants in black plastic pots.

We are both 75 years old. We were tired. It was time to go. The financials showed our gross income was greater five years ago than it was in 2018. We talked it over, called it quits and looked ahead to more travel, more fun with friends and family, more selective use of our now sculpted land.

Sure, some maintenance is still required. But Janet could work on her quilts and spend more time with her church ladies. I could finish writing my children’s books, maybe finally write that first bad novel. We were at total peace with our decision – Janet perhaps even closer to ecstatic.

Our closure announcement brought an outpouring on genuine affection; hundreds of people sent messages or came out to tell us how much Hidden Hill had meant to them, too. One former employee – covering all the bases – brought us a six-pack of beer and a bottle of champagne.

The horse-players prayer has it all wrong. We did much better than break even. We have our family and a growing list of friends. We have our memories. We have the satisfaction and thanks that come with building something good together. We have already won.

It’s Over: Ending 19 Wonderful Years in the Nursery Business originally appeared on Garden Rant on September 23, 2018.

from Garden Rant http://www.gardenrant.com/2018/09/its-over-ending-19-wonderful-years-in-the-nursery-business.html

#Garden Rant

[hottytoddynews]

The Art-er Limits Fringe Fest will kick off Thursday night with one of the most popular events of the festival, the Iron Bartender. The Iron Bartender is a competition that pits local celebrity bartenders against each other to create the most interesting and crowd pleasing cocktail. 

The event will begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday evening and will bring 10 bartenders from around Oxford together at the Powerhouse. Before the event begins each bartender will be given a basket of “secret ingredients” and will have 30 minutes to create a unique cocktail. Guests at the event may sample any and all cocktails throughout the event. The winning bartender will be chosen, after much sampling, by audience vote. 

The ingredients in each basket will be sponsored by Cathead Vodka and Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits. The baskets may include any assortment or combination of Cathead Pecan, Cathead Honeysuckle, Cathead Vodka, Bristow Gin, Lunazul Tequila, Blackheart Premium Spiced Rum, Elijah Craig Bourbon, and Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey. 

The competing bartenders are from 10 local bars and restaurants and include:

-Andrea Fitts from Oxford University Club -Jake Loyer from Jinsei Sushi -Allyson Cartwright from The Wine Bar -Ivy McLellan from Snackbar -Joe Stinchcomb from Saint Leo -Mason Payne from Green Roof Lounge -Aaron Hamilton and Glover from The Summit -Jesse Thomas from Nautical Whimsey -Chip Moore from The Coop -Joe Bittick from McEwen’s Oxford

The event is scheduled to conclude at 8 pm, at which time the winning bartender will be announced. To learn more about the Art-er Limits Fringe Fest, event line up, or how to purchase tickets, visit here. 

Amy Goodin is a writer for HottyToddy.com. She can be reached at [email protected].

Follow HottyToddy.com on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat @hottytoddynews. Like its Facebook page: If You Love Oxford and Ole Miss…

The post Iron Bartender: Secret Ingredients and Specialty Cocktails appeared first on HottyToddy.com.

#hottytoddy #olemiss #oxfordms #oxford ms #mississippi #university of mississippi #the grove

[mousetrap-if]

Mousetrap is now live on itch.io!

Well folks, it happened. Mousetrap was submitted last night to @interact-if's 2022 ranked game jam and is available to play on itch.io. The game is still a work in progress and, at this point, only a demo for the full story. Hope you enjoy it!

Click Here to Play

You're one of the many overworked interns working at Whimsey World. When it was announced that Imogen, a category three hurricane, would soon hit Orlando, Florida, your employers asked for volunteers to remain in the parks during the storm, promising triple pay for at least 24 hours. You and your friend seized the opportunity. After all, Whimsey wouldn't ask its cast members to stay behind if it was potentially dangerous.

That's what you assumed before you were knocked unconscious. Before you woke up in a costume chained to your friend and three strangers. Before Dickey the Rat informed you and your "team" that you get $250,000 for each person you kill. Before the neurotoxins pumping through the park's air system began to loosen your grip on reality. Before nightmares and the real world bled into a horrifying, broken fantasy you can't wake up from.

If you survive the storm (and the things lurking within it), you'll win riches beyond your wildest dreams. But how far are you willing to go? How committed are you to pleasing your guests and satisfying your spectators? The Show will go on. It will always go on. But what role will you play in it?

Twine Word Count: 53,625 with code (maybe like 48-50k without? idk, I write with code so I don't know how to estimate that)

Average Playthrough: 30 minutes (around 12-15k words)

And, is the game finished? Oh, no! Definitely not. This is far from the full story or the finished product (there are literally debug links that I forgot to take out in the very first passage).

Lots of content and features will be coming out in the near future alongside the patching that needs to take place. Details below.

The next update will hopefully be on March 5th (though I'm a university student dealing with midterms so that may change). Further updates will be announced on the Mousetrap blog (linked here).

Truly, from the bottom of my heart. I greatly appreciate all of the interest, support, and feedback that I've received on this project and others. If you're enjoying Mousetrap so far, please consider rating the game or leaving a comment on itch.io, reblogging this post, or sharing the game with a friend (or enemy, coworker, acquaintance, pet, stranger, distant cousin, really anyone/thing who you think might like it).

To read about some of my other projects, check out my personal game dev blog @gamesbyalbie or my project-specific blogs like @hadeskitchen or @zorlok-if.

(PS: The original extremely sleep-deprived version of this post has been preserved under the cut for posterity's sake)

Have a Magical Day!

DEMO | BLOG | INTRO POST | DEV LOG | CAST PROFILES & PORTRAITS | PLAYLIST | PINTEREST: MAIN, COSTUMES, SETS

ORIGINAL POST:

Well, I'm mentally and physically exhausted (literally falling asleep as I'm writing this so, this may be a little loopy too). BUT, Mousetrap was submitted to the game jam and is now live on the Itch.io store.

This is not the finished game (like there are debug links on the very first passage that I forgot to turn off, but I'll be updating this with plenty of fixes and a lot more content as soon as I'm allowed to).

Total word count (with code since I write with code) is over 53k words. Average playtime is about a half hour. For a game that I've conceived and written in just one already busy month, I'm pretty happy with that. (except for the debug links, those are bugging the shit out of me)

BONUS - in case you wanted to know what stress looks like:

Also, color me curious, if you want to and have the time to do so, let me know what choices you made (dream, relationships, role, route, etc.).

Tomorrow I'll be returning to Tumblr and catching up on everything I've missed. Have a great [insert your time here]! I'm falling asleep

asdlkfja kjd

( ^ imagine that was my head hitting the keyboard, that's what it feels like I'm about to do)

Okay, I'm going to sleep.

#mousetrap #mousetrap demo #interactive fiction #interactif game jam #horror #twine game #update #develpoment

[interact-if]

Day 3 of the Game Jam Winners Months Featured Author Interviews, continuing with Albie!

Albie author of Mousetrap.

You’re one of the many overworked interns working at Whimsey World. When it was announced that Imogen, a category three hurricane, would soon hit Orlando, Florida, your employers asked for volunteers to remain in the parks during the storm, promising triple pay for at least 24 hours. You and your friend seized the opportunity. After all, Whimsey wouldn’t ask its cast members to stay behind if it was potentially dangerous.

That’s what you assumed before you were knocked unconscious. Before you woke up in a costume chained to your friend and three strangers. Before Dickey the Rat informed you and your “team” that you get $250,000 for each person you kill. Before the neurotoxins pumping through the park’s air system began to loosen your grip on reality. Before nightmares and the real world bled into a horrifying, broken fantasy you can’t wake up from.

If you survive the storm (and the things lurking within it), you’ll win riches beyond your wildest dreams. But how far are you willing to go? How committed are you to pleasing your guests and satisfying your spectators? The Show will go on. It will always go on. But what role will you play in it?

Read more about Mousetrap [here] Mousetrap Demo | Dev Blog | Albie's Blog Tags: Horror, Thriller. Survival. [INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!]

Q1 . Tell us about the story you made for the Jam!

Mousetrap is a surreal survival horror story about theme park employees forced to participate in a deadly game where teams win money for each death they cause. As players fight to survive, neurotoxins pumping through the air system begin to wreak havoc on their minds. Fantasy bleeds into reality and the characters’ worst nightmares come to life.

Q2. What was the biggest challenge in creating a game in such a short time span? How did you manage it?

The biggest challenge for me was just getting the writing done - trying to stay focused without hyperfixating on things. Distractions were my biggest hurdle. When I noticed myself getting wrapped up in proofreading, testing code, playing with the UI, etc. I’d take whatever I was working on in Twine or Scrivener and transfer it to a plain .txt file. That would remove or quiet most of those distractions and help me focus on getting the story out of my head and onto my computer. I also set a goal for myself of writing 1,000+ words a day but didn’t beat myself up for failing to reach that. Having the goal encouraged me to write but not really caring about it made the process more enjoyable and less stressful.

Q3. What was your inspiration for your entry?

Honestly, personal experience was my main source of inspiration. Almost everything in this story is directly based on my time working at “Whimsey World” and is symbolic of the things I went through/witnessed there. If it’s not, then it’s a nightmarish representation of other traumas which haunt me or things which generally terrify me.

I also didn’t set out to make a game that was like Saw, but it ended up being a big source of inspiration for me as well as other classic horror stories. Dimension 20’s Fantasy High: Sophomore Year also influenced me with its Nightmare King storyline – which D20 fans will surely be able to tell after the next update. Finally, old RPG Maker horror games like Ib, The Witch’s House, Misao, and The Forest of Drizzling Rain were really inspirational especially when I was doing the audio.

Q4. Is this your first time working on a game like this? What do you like (or not like) about working in this format?

I’d been working with Twine for about three months when I started Mousetrap, but this is the first jam I’ve participated in, the first sprint project I’ve done, and really the first game I’ve published (in truth, it’s only the second creative project I’ve shared with others). I love this medium and using Twine to make IF is perfect for my interests/skills and the way my brain works. I honestly can’t think of anything I dislike about the format. Non-linear storytelling is my passion, and my goal is to eventually work in the video game industry, but for now Twine allows me to easily make games on my own and that’s been really fun.

Q5. What is your favorite part about your entry? What have you enjoyed most doing during the Jam?

I was really happy with the atmosphere and variability of the game, but my favorite part might be the audio. I’m really proud of that since it was completely new to me and I wasn’t sure how players would react to it. It’s something I’m considering adding to all my projects now.

I really enjoyed coming up with the horror stuff – taking conceptual things and trying to abstract them into something terrifying and tangible. Figuring out what I wanted to say or depict and then finding an indirect way to represent those feelings. I don’t know why, but that was even more fun than normal. Maybe because the subject matter was so personal.

Q6. What is your advice for sprint projects like this one?

I’d suggest starting with a small idea, then making it even smaller. Adding to a short story is far easier than whittling a big one down. For me, it’s hard to abandon aspects of a project without feeling like I’m betraying my original idea in some way or compromising the integrity of the story. So, starting smaller than you think you need to will set you up for success, make the process less stressful, and save you grief down the line. Also, work off of a template. Experiment with and customize the UI all you want but starting from a template is very helpful. Shoutout to Ash (@innerdemons-if) for her amazing one <3

Q7. Do you have any other works you’d like to promote?

Sure! My other big projects are Hades’ Kitchen (@hadeskitchen) and Zorlok (@zorlok-if).

Hades’ Kitchen centers around a cooking competition show set in the Greek Underworld. Players take on the role of a recently deceased chef presented with the opportunity of an (after)lifetime – a chance to become one of Hades’ personal chefs. It’s a character-driven story about rivalry, redemption, and (optionally) romance, in a postcyberpunk setting that combines mythology and science-fiction. Hades’ Kitchen is also the precursor to another mythpunk series called Neo Olympus. The demo for Hades’ Kitchen hasn’t been released yet but there is a lore bible called Hades’ Guide available on Itch.io.

Zorlok follows the bizarre misadventures of a demon with no memories and the nerdy high schooler they’re bound to serve. Players can uncover mysteries and cause mayhem in this dark comedy about monsters, found family, personal identity, and the nature of good and evil. Zorlok is inspired by cheesy horror films and campy murder mysteries (+ it was originally a MotW campaign). The demo will be released on May 13th, 2022.

You can find updates on these and any other projects I’m working on at my blog @gamesbyalbie :)

#if: events #if: game jam 22 #if: game jam