It's been a blast so far.
So... I guess let's look at some statistics? Why not!
(I can hear all the happy groans of excitement and wonder!)
They cannot hear your sarcasm, snoot snoot.
Right! Of course.
Total number of Chapters this Year: 22
17 Reaper main-line chapters and 5 Chronicles chapters!
Chapters/Month: 1.09
I would love to see how the .09 posts count. Teehee, no but in all honesty I do feel bad for not really posting that much, and I should also factor in that I was radio-silent for several months at a time in the beginning as I had not broken off of Carl's Forum entirely. Next year I hope to see a higher number here. Hopefully.
Total Word Count: 85,019
Holy shit you guys, that's before I consider the edits/additions I've added onto the Blogger posts themselves - this number came from my rough drafts (!!!) in Google Docs.
Average Word Count/Chapter: 3,864.5
Yeah, that's right, there's a half a word somewhere in there... go find it.
Picture Count: 1,403
Eeps! 1403? Phew! No wonder it took me so long for some chapters... Right? Right? No. Lame excuse, I know. =P
Average Picture Count/Chapter: 63.77
If you can find that .77th of a picture... you win a cookie. Hehe =P
Number of Edited Pictures: 150
Do keep in mind that I only started editing pictures seriously during 1.13, technically. I'm still a noob at it all, but I am getting better!
Number of Poses Made: 277
Keep in mind I only started making poses during 1.12! Ode to awkward hand holding! I WAS JUST TOO DETERMINED.
Number of Passable Poses Made: Err... .01?
Why did I add this category? Heh. There's issues with all my poses.
Creative Angling. Creative angling everywhere.
Most Poses Made for a Single Chapter: 79
Waaaar chapter - (shivers just thinking about it) - it was a doozy.
No, I'm not still crying over it.
Maybe a little.
I'M SENSITIVE OK?
Most Viewed Post of All Time: 1.14: Into the Darkness
Not really surprised, but also kind of am. I'm betting like 100 of those views are my own... (eye roll). This is also my longest and most detailed chapter I've ever done too, coming in at a whooping 8,417 words in my first draft and 180 pictures, 85 of which were edited heavily.
Total Pageviews (for the entire blog): 9,326
I would make a heart with the keys but I have blogger set to read HTML codes I put in, so therefore it doesn't like me using the sideways carrots, but just know I love every single person reading this (and all those who contributed to it that aren't reading this).
Number of Scrapped Plots: 30
This is not a definite number, more of an estimate, but it's around this number, that's for sure. I've had overarching plots/bigger plots that I've had to scrap 30 times (waves flag of pride around).
Number of Nights Cried to Sleep over Scrapped Plots: Way More Than 30.
(Whispering to self) There there, it's ok. It's just one plot... one that you worked so goddamn hard on. Shh it's ok. Don't worry. There will be another plot we won't scrap... eventually... hopefully... please?
Number of Times the Madman has Choked Himself Out: Infinite.
Ok, so with those beautiful numbers out there, I'm not really sure what to do next... but I have a lot of stuff I'd like to do! I was hoping to have a chapter or something special for you to go up today that was relevant but... I just got over midterms, I'm planning a wedding to the man I love, and I've been under a lot of stress lately. A lot. Unfortunately writing had to take a backseat to that.
So... next I debated doing was some Author's "Real" Talk.
LET'S DO IT.
PREP YOUR BROWSERS, many tabs may be needed for full-effect.
Real Talk:
What the fuck is this? Well this is where I go through, skim all my chapters, and write funny little notes about what stupid, crazy, unusual things I was thinking. This could be fun, or it could be horrendously boring.
Well, it'll at least be fun for me, and IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL CRY IF I WANT TO.
(Ahem)
1.00:
Oh lord, this awkward first chapter. Posing was still awkward for me and I didn't have half of the tools I do today. (Cringes, looks away, yet looks back and sniffles) I'm still so damn proud of myself. Look at me breaking away from forum life. #breakingfree
Oh look it's Olivia of the I still couldn't decide what hairstyle to use for her and mods were still fairly new to me. Oh I was such an innocent babe in this world of stories.
Still am, to some degree. This is like watching me take my own first steps.
Not very many pictures... still used to forum limits of 25/post... (sniffles) it was a shaky set of steps... but they were mine.
Oh look, creative angling. How unique. Much Quaint. Heh.
1.01:
I was so stinking proud of Windwaker. I built that island and just wanted to be like LOOK HOW PRETTY IT IS. LOOK, BIRDS. LOOK AT THIS AIRY, TROPICAL BEAUTIFUL THING.
It was not practical.
I've since fixed Windwaker. Thank god for 1.05, that's all I have to say.
Oh Ezzie you poor child, what have I done to your hair and makeup. It's ok. I'll fix it later. Several times. You know, "passage of time" and all that jazz.
AKA ooh I found a new hair let's try it out.
Ahh, the days of shorter chapters... those were cute... and not to last.
1.02:
My first split chapter! I remember I got stuck on this one for a while because I couldn't figure out if it sounded professional enough on Agonin's end (eye roll). LET'S PUT A LOT OF GODS IN ONE ROOM WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?
Everything. Everything could.
I sneakily fixed Ezzie's makeup here. No more makeup experimentations for me. I think the first makeup was an experiment for Ezzie's artifact that's inside of her. I'd much rather go the edit-the-pictures-meself route on this one as it gives me more control. And opacity. Gotta love opacity.
HA I do remember this trial chapter. My let's cycle through all of my sitting-on-the-floor poses for Olivia chapter. Oh what fun. Good shots of Malice in here though. Gotta love my Bat-Boy. ;-)
1.03:
Oh this beautiful thing. My first day of let me try messing with a darker topic and we'll see what happens! I was so nervous stepping away from my "family friendly" roots. Teehee, I find this entirely amusing. I should say I don't think anything of anyone who does family friendly - this isn't a reflection of that at all! I'm just laughing at my own hesitation here because I was so timid about everything at first. Now I'm slapping out downright gruesome chapters without a second thought or warning...
Seeing as this predates my poses... these poses hurt me. I didn't do too terribly though, all things considered. Had to use some janky OMSP maneuvering for Agnes because I hadn't yet learned of the Pose Player Addon. Lifesavor. (heart) thaaaanks Blaaaaammmsss!
Blah, blah, blah, Song of the Nightingale name drop - that won a Golden Plumbob by the way, I don't think I announced that, but (confetti throws) back to the Reapers.
Ooh those fancy lightning things I was so proud of because I used Showtime's effects machine and lots of patience... lots... and lots of patience.
Is it me or is Thanatos looking at Olivia like a scientist examines an experiment? IRENA? I MAY HAVE FOUND ONE OF YOUR LONG LOST UNDERSTUDIES.
Ugh. Olivia's innocence and happiness came out and just got CRUSHED. Why did I ever ship her and Than? BAD idea. BAD.
WHOOPS I should not be spoiling this in case someone's not caught up but SPOILER ALERT, I guess?
IT WAS A BAD IDEA, OK, AND I FEEL BAD.
Goddamn Agonin your billowy jacket of floor-length-not-billowy-ness is TEARING DOWN THE MIDDLE.
1.04:
Short-haired Aggie. I swear I went back and forth over which of the 3 short hairstyles for women I had looked better on her. It needed the air of Ezzie isn't a hairstylist either because realism and I'm actually a hairstylist in real life and so I'm super stickler about my hair where I can be. You'll notice I try to keep the same hair texture throughout and I also try to show hair growing longer over time. SMALL DETAILS, YAY.
Oh Ezzie you poor child I'm so sorry. YOU SEE that hair is the first hairstyle I've ever used on my Ezzie and it was sentimental so I felt compelled to use it. The day did not come fast enough for me to switch though. Sentimental value only carries so far...
Blah, blah blah, books, poses. Agonin looking mighty dapper.
I swear I adore Olivia's freckles more than anything else.
Come ON Livvielove surely you've got more going on for this chapter. Think. THINK.
Oh! Yes! Fun fact: this chapter was rewritten not once, not twice, but FOUR times. Four. Freaking Thanatos. His fault. That's enough explanation, no?
No scratch that, it was five. I still have some of the old drafts stored away in my burn it with fire folder on Google Docs.
Ooh foreboding ending. I wonder what the writer meant by that? Must be some dark shit coming soon. (Munches popcorn).
1.05:
I am so lame you guys are probably not enjoying this at all.
THIS WAS THE CHAPTER THAT REVIVED ME. It helped me survive the first 10 chapter hump. There's this concept with stories where I firmly believe the first 10 chapters are some of the hardest to do. You have to not only establish your story, but you have to establish history, lore, and other characters as well as plot and NOTHING can go without being explained TEN TIMES. Not to mention characters don't just APPEAR out of thin air when you start the story, they need some continuity. So this was me throwing myself a bone.
Quinn and Ezzie were consuming my mind so I wrote them. Was it hasty? Yes. Was it stupid? Probably. Do I regret it? Hell no. I loved making this chapter.
MY FIRST BLOODY CHAPTER, YALL.
Oh gods did the 'yall's' just come out? DUCK AND COVER EVERYONE.
I went overboard on the gore. It was too much fun. It was freedom. BLOOD ON THIS WALL. BLOOD ON THAT WALL. NO ONE CAN TELL ME I SHOULDN'T USE BLOOD. BLOODY BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD YUM.
YOU also get to meet Adessa. She's secretly like my favorite Sim. She's too freaking pretty. I made the human version of her a couple months back and HOT DAMN she was pretty. I'm excited for an upcoming storyline with her. Just... gotta FINALLY get away from the War chapter.
(cries)
You guys have no freaking idea how hard it was to make Erik Darling attractive. It took ALL I HAD. And scars. And CHANGING HIS FACE somewhat. He was just a pile of goop. Unmoldable goop. I could do nothing with him.
AH and Ezzie magic. So much effort/screenshots went into getting that one just right. Predates my editing days. THIS WAS THE FIRST CHAPTER I ever put an edited photo in... (sniffles).
Other fun fact: I had to reload like 2-3 times because it was no longer night anymore, and I stupidly killed 6 Vampires and then tried to prevent the Grim Reaper from doing his thing so he kept trying to photobomb me and I would be like: NOPE.
... I was still so naive about the ways of the story telling.
QUIZZIE QUIZZIE QUIZZIE. That's all.
1.06:
Oh lordy. My poor Olivia. I just want to hug this beautiful character/child of mine. Mpart is a saint for putting up with me and my tweaking. SO MUCH TWEAKING.
Thanatos looks so mad during this chapter. Heh... oh PHIL the first introduction to Phil who never really got a chance to shiiiine before. He's got a history with the Keepers; I WON'T SPOIL THOUGH.
But honestly though...
*gushes about adorable Olivia*
Blah blah.
I fully intended this to be a temporary break for one chapter.
Me: This suspension will only last one chapter and I'll just come back right after the one.
My characters: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Me: What's so funny?
OLIVIA TRIES TO SASS the first time, oh my poor child. She's so not used to having freedom (chuckles that slowly turns to sobbing) WHY HAVE THEY HURT MY CHILD SO MUCH?
That's you.
Oh, right. (Wipes face)
Carry on.
Reason #29908752 why I needed to learn to make my own poses.
"I apologize for being a raging bitch." Reason #2958372983572985372 why I love Ezzie.
Oh... Olivia's first flashbacks. How cute... (sniffles). My poor baby.
SHE AND SHEO WRECK MY SOUL, OK? They've been through so much. Everytime Sheo breathes I find it adorable. I think I have a problem. WAIT we don't know who Sheo is yet. FORGET I SAID ANYTHING. I'm a new reader admiring my writing. Er. What?
1.07:
Myyyyyyy baaaaaaabyyyyyyyy. That's all I have to say about this chapter.
NOT really but somewhat. Olivia's pain huuurts me.
(Snorts) and we start out with Agnes's display of humor. "Yeah that is pretty tragic."
If there was ever a moment I doubted her and Tragic, it went away right then.
WAIT WHO IS THAT WE HAVEN'T MET HIM YET. IGNORE ME AND MY SPOILERS. Spoiler-tastic.
EZZIE drops the fantabulastic fact that she's got an artifact inside her. EDITED PICTURES came in later because herp derp editing was HARD then and later I figured my shit out. So I added that picture in later. It's the same picture, but with MAGIC now. So you didn't miss much. Woohoo. (Half-hearted party-horn blow).
ANOTHER joke by Agnes, yes it is quite morbid dear. Don't worry he's only mostly dead.
WHY DIDN'T I USE THAT JOKE?
Because I wasn't thinking of it. (Sigh)
EZZIE TATTOO DISPLAY.
(coughs)she was lying about her tattoo origins, Quinn's the only one who has a slave tattoo that blends in with his other tattoos. She figured it would help Agnes get the guts up to do something. She doesn't like sitting still very long, if that isn't obvious(coughs)
Another tweaked photo for more magic effects added after the fact.
So many Sims were required to get Tragic in the fucking ground. FUN FACT: Tragic was the "buried alive" gravestone/ghost!
What does that mean? That means I literally played him long enough to make him an acrobat, cheated him up to the right level and made him do the BURIED ALIVE trick until he DIED.
Which was hard, because MASTER CONTROLLER KEPT RESETTING HIM.
And the game crashed 4 times.
And it took me way too long to do this.
If anyone wants to know what it is to be a perfectionist author: this is it.
I literally did all that for two pictures of his gravestone. YES I could've just assigned the death by mod, but I'M TOO DAMN STUBBORN FOR THAT.
Oh and then when I was getting pictures for the following Tragnes sequence it resulted in me forgetting the pose I downloaded specifically for that scene and having to back out and do it all the loading screens a second time.
Other thing of note: if anyone was wondering what Tragic did or said to kill the Vampires, he was pushing them. Will learn about what that is in 1.10, so SHH don't tell me yet, I don't want to be spoiled.
This one is a long one but... other confession: I have since gone back to edit this chapter for an impending relationship. It will not matter to those of you who have already read it. Long story short, I shipped Olivia with Thanatos, then this chapter happened and Thanatos got rapey and I freaked the fuck out and NOPED Olivia the fuck out of that relationship. Ok? Ok.
Yes. THIS is the confirmation. ANYONE STILL HOLDING OUT HOPE FOR THANAVIA I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lead you on. He turned into someone I didn't recognize. He got dark and possessive and the madman certainly didn't like him. He never did but I kept waiting for him to warm up to Thanatos and he NEVER did. This chapter was all the proof he needed. Look at him forcing himself on Olivia. Look at him getting upset over her calling him "my lord." Look at him purposefully triggering her.
That last bit was the one that got me hardcore. Yes, Thanatos was faking being dazed. Yes. He was fully aware of what he was saying and knew it would trigger Olivia to panic. No, he didn't know Olivia would run away. He expected her to crumble and lean on him. She did not. She ran to her safe place.
She ran to the Madhouse.
SO This chapter was tweaked after the fact, fairly recently, to reflect how rapey Thanatos made me feel. Sorry, not sorry. I tried to ship them. I failed. I fixed it. I'm not proud of it, but I wasn't going to leave it like that. Hopefully that's understandable. One of these days I'll fully outline everything, but today is not that day.
TODAY IS A HAPPY DAY. SO BE HAPPY DAMMIT.
1.08:
OUR FIRST Tragnes conversation and our first experience with love charms. I tots intend to use more of them, I assure you. They were way too much fun. I knew I was going to love them then.
Blah blah, OH HAPPY KISSING. Hehe
FIRST meeting of the Keepers, my little insane bundles of wonderful.
Also first SHEOMANIA. (clutches chest) MY CHILDREN.
Oh these two... such adorableness. I present Mania the way I hoped you all would see her: an annoying, loud-mouthed, feisty girl. I wanted everyone to see the girl she had been when I did my chronicles.
MY HEART STOPS BEATING WHEN I SEE THESE TWO I SWEAR.
AND Liro for the wiiiin. Way to kill the moment.
SPEAKING OF: moments I wished I knew how to pose, right here too.
I WAS SO CLOSE though, I would start my posing journey in 1.12!
=)
ARGH remember the tweaked chapters bit - ANOTHER ONE HERE slightly tweaked. Not much needed tweaked. It's so sad to look at Olivia like this.
We learn of Jonathon this chapter. He's important. He'll come back around eventually.
Eventually.
*COUGHS*SPOILERS*COUGHS*
Didja like that, those who were brave to click the spoilers?
NEUGH Kefka hugs Olivia.
AGH SUCH A BEAUTIFUL MAJNUN FACE.
Annnnd Olivia's put to sleep again after begging to die.
Imma go cry in a corner now. My poor baby.
1.09:
Are you guys bored/sick of me yet? No? COOL. More commentary on chapters by me. CONFESSIONS and all that jazz.
CONFESSIONS: I first wrote this chapter trying so hard to redeem Thanatos. He could not be redeemed. I literally put my all into making him likeable and a good person for Olivia. I tried everything but I can't fix sociopathic tendencies and assholery so it was after this chapter I finally gave up.
Thanatos EMERGES well rested and happy and playing coy as ever. Olivia is missing? You're a god and you're telling me you didn't notice? Majnun can see all throughout the Madhouse even when he's NOT HOME. He knows everyone going in and out and you're telling me that you can't tell Olivia's not there?
I'M SORRY GET IT TOGETHER LIVVIELOVE.
Ok. Got it.
OH this was also the chapter Majnun made perfectly clear what he thought of Thanatos.
I was so in denial when I first wrote it. SORRY MADMAN.
That's up to Thanatos.
Such a nice way of putting she won't be safe when I take her back. THNX Majnun.
FUCKING MAJNUN YOU'RE SO BEAUTIFUL.
You're cursing an awful lot.
I'm getting excited, ok? I got to show off all of Majnun's face. TOOK SO MANY PICTURES. Like LOOK AT THE BEAUTIFUL MAN. He's the same as my original, just tweaked his nose slightly and changed his makeup BUT HE'S BEAUTIFUL. And ripped. Sooo ripped.
Mhm. His kids all inherited that from him. I have many pictures as proof. BUT I don't have all the children's pictures so I won't play favorites and post the ones I have.
WHAT THE HELL?
IT IS THE REAPER'S BIRTHDAY AFTER ALL.
HAVE IT ALL.
*SPOILERS IN THIS ONE THOUGH*
Anyways back to chaptering. Right, so Majnun is being all foreboding this chapter, and I'm, as usually, tots out of the loop when I write it. You think I'm joking but it literally goes something like this.
Majnun: "I ask no price, not now at least."
Me: "That sounds ominous, whatchu doin' old man?"
Majnun: (Chokes self out)
Me: "Uh...huh... fascinating. Right-eo.
THIS WAS THE CHAPTER. Oh I can't talk about this yet. This hasn't come into fruition yet. WHY HASN'T IT I SO WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT. I mean you should all sense it by now.
FINE HERE. I want to talk about it. Some of you like spoilers. SO LET'S HAVE A GAME.
THIS lead to THIS. Which made me rethink literally EVERYTHING after my revelation with THIS so I did research and discovered THIS and that it's ACTUALLY A THING. A REALLY BIG THING. Which then made me turn to THIS and THIS and THIS and eventually you'll see THIS|THIS|THIS.
sda;lgdjkadsgdl;ka
I cannot talk about the ending of this chapter.
You do not start kissing a woman who is suffering from PTSD like that without getting her help first. He seemed so bothered asking her if she wanted to talk about it.
Like (heaves sigh) I GUESS DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT THAT LITTLE THING BOTHERING YOU?
Oh you mean my PTSD from an event YOU TRIGGERED? Yeah not feeling it, thanks.
OK THEN KISS ME.
Me.
1.10:
Aka: I loved the title of this chapter. Traaaagic.
Aggiiiieeee.
THE NICKNAMES Oh these nicknames. Oh these two. Tragic was set from the first time he heard Agnes's name to call her Lamb.
I thought it was silly.
I swear I thought it was ridiculous and he's proven me it's adorable. I believe him.
l;kagjsa
TRAGIC and his CROOKED smile ladies and gents.
(Thumbs up)
FUNNY THING for this chapter I made Aggie and Tragic argue for the pictures and then I felt so terrible that I didn't save and reloaded the game to carry on. TRUE STORY.
FAVORITE PICTURE FAVORITE PICTURE.
Yessss Tragic. Yessss.
AH we learn about pushing here. Was new to me too as Tragic was telling me about the world's greatest liars.
DERPY Tragic face.
Name exchanges. This was just an all around beautiful chapter.
Solid reminders that I needed to learn how to pose. So many. UGH.
Ezzie is literally the bestest friend ever in regards to Olivia I swear. Well it goes both ways, but I DON'T ACKNOWLEDGE HOW WONDERFUL their friendship is enough.
MEETING THE KEEPER CHILDREN UP FRONT. ERMIGOD.
Ezzie's Quinn's wifey. Heh.
SHEO GETS TO MAKE HIS ADORABLE FACES AND ATTEMPT TO MAKE WURDS.
Sheo: M-Master?
Me: (swoons)
NO POSES YET. I was SO CLOSE. Urgh I had to use a laundry sheet for the DIVINATION cards (cringes) because I hadn't yet downloaded my CARDS and edited them to be BLANK.
YES I go through extremes to get this story up and running, ok? =P NOW YOU KNOW.
INTO the Land of the Dead they go. Prepping for the war chapter... (braces self) in... four chapters.
Painful, forced Thanavia at the end here. I was just coming out of denial and realizing it wasn't a good relationship for Olivia at all.
1.11:
We start this chapter getting to meet the NAME DROPS from Tragic's past - Damiana.
FUNNY that Sam's a racist considering I almost made him a Nymph's son.
His and Damiana's relationship is one of those things that I was writing like WHAT THE FUCK AM I WRITING AND WHY DOES THIS NOT BOTHER ME MORE?
(Shrugs)
(Goes with it)
Oh look now they're biting each other. Lovely.
This was the point I realized Damiana was too pretty.
Tragic: My Lamb is better anyways.
This chapter hurts. I needed to learn how to pose. I needed to learn it so bad.
Brain: NO Livvielove, we are NOT redoing these pictures with poses. NO. BAD. BAD. Stop thinking about it.
Me: I'M STILL THINKING ABOUT IT.
Brain: NOOO!
Ezzie = Adorable.
Quinn Name Drop.
FUN STUFF going on. More magic lore development. I was trying to work it in slowly.
OH LOOK Sheo and Mania came back.
Sheo did teleport all the Shades to the Madhouse. Deliro did blow up a wall. He did leave Kefka behind briefly to go grab Majnun.
He THEN remembered he left Kefka there and went back to be sure Kefka took care of the rest of the Shades.
FUN FACT: Kefka cannot use magic normally. Well you know this already, but it's true. He was born that way. Not able to use magic nor his vampiric abilities. It wasn't until he was bitten later
that his body fully accepted the transition to the semi-hybrid state he is now.
FUN FACT: Liro has Nymphen magic, but he hates using it so he uses bombs and potions instead.
BEAUTIFUL FACES.
These two... and their goddamn list. They've kept a list of every terrible idea they've ever had in order from worst to not so terrible. I believe it's... 28?... that was the pancake incident where Kefka made pancakes with flour they weren't entirely sure was flour and they both got horrendously sick.
SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
1.12:
Yes! My Tragnes chapter leading into BEAR.
Bear was such a crucial factor that I was excited to get him in... and now I'm remembering why I should've waited... it's hard to remember dogs when I'm writing. No idea why. It just is.
I find myself going OH YEAH THERE'S BEAR RIGHT; SORRY BEAR.
Agnes was so resilient to Tragic's charms at first.
It wouldn't last. He has this way of worming his way into everyone's heart.
It took summoning all the townies in Sunset Valley to make that park look busy. Still didn't look busy. (Sigh) I DID MY BEST.
FIRST POSE I EVER MADE FOR THIS STORY. POSES. I SUPPOSE. TWO OF THEM. LOOK.
I milked the shit out of that pose.
I was also doing the NaNoWriMo for Sims during this time. I ONLY GOT BRONZE I was so sad, but I wasn't going to hit the like... insane amount of updates required. MY LONG chapters did not count as more than one, but someone with only 1000 words would count towards it. (Harrumphs).
I wanted badly to actually do the mustachio scene.
Me: we still caaaan.
Brain: NO. GODDAMMIT WE WILL NOT SPEND HOURS EDITING PHOTOS FOR OLD CHAPTERS. WE MOVE FORWARD. THAT'S ALL. FORWARD. MUSH.
So instead have this glorious picture of adorable Tragic.
I MADE ALL THOSE TALKING POSES. LOOK at that.
Such awkward.
Much stiff.
I've gotten so much better at it... and I still suck in my book, so eyyyyy! At least I tried.
A for effort right?
Right?
....
Wrong.
LOOK AT HER HAND CLIPPING INTO HIS CHEEK. DAMMIT.
Dog poses are hard too. Brutally.
Brain: Remind me again why having an immortal dog in this story was a good idea?
Me: It's BEAR! You can't expect me to get rid of him; he's special.
Brain: Special... you try posing for dogs.
Me: LIMITED pictures for now until we get the hang of it.
1.13:
First up with my editing skillz. I was really trying to warm myself up for the War Chapter. That chapter... was freaking brutal.
OH you guys want to see a fun thing? DOCTORS WEAR GLOVES WHEN OPERATING.
AND he really TOOK THEM OFF.
Perfectionist author = extra time going in and out of CAS for little things like that.
MORE HANDMADE POSES.
Look at such stiff bodies.
Had not yet learned about the clavicle, children, that's what that scream.
Oh lord Tragic that looks like it hurts.
Such magic. Much effects.
TRAGIC LOVES HIS LAMB.
KEEP TRYING LIVVIE YOU CAN LEARN TO EDIT TOO.
Fun fact, had to rewrite Mania's section twice because I started with Olivia's perspective and SHE WAS KIND OF IN THE MIDDLE OF A CRISIS what with being STUCK WITH THANATOS BECAUSE HER WRITER IS HORRIBLE AND WAS FLAILING TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO WITH HER.
Ahem.
I'm not bitter.
Nor salty.
MOVING ON.
ADORABLE SHEO POSE.
THIS POSE took me HOURS for the FINGERS. SO LOOK AT IT. ADMIRE.
(coughs)Livvie you ok?(coughs)
I'M FINE THANKS.
I DON'T NEED HELP.
FUN FACT: Minha isn't all that bad, this is just Mania's perspective. I swear she's not that bad. At the very least she means well. Mania just loves giving her shit.
SHEOMANIA KISS.
HOLD ON MUST RESTART MY HEART.
(performs CPR on self)
(Sees picture again and dies again)
MAKER HELP ME I CANNOT BE.
DELIRO IS FEELING WHAT I AM.
FINALLY INDEED.
THOSE CARDS. Those white ones. I made those. I MADE THOSE. I found cards for the Sims 3 and I edited them to be blank. LET ME HAVE MY MOMENT OF GLORY HERE.
I then can edit pictures on them.
WIN. War chapter. Oh god. This one will be a doozy. SORRY.
NOT SORRY.
1.14:
Here we go. (Deep breath in):
That playlist... I slaved over finding just the right songs.
Charlotte.1-
Leliana's song was short and sweet and foreboding. Loved it. Fit. I wanted to use a CC umbrella and fancy poses but I couldn't find the right CC umbrella as an accessory, so I had to deal with regular walking shots. Poor Charlotte deserves better than that, my mama Keeper.
Deliro-
So this was really my first glimpse into Liro's mind. It was wonderful. He was peppy and super into music, which actually surprised me a little. Him, dancing, music and explosions.
He was my first section I got to mess with editing and making Shades.
True story, took me 2 days to work out Shades and make poses for them. They look something like this in Blender. So pretty, right?
REMEMBER what I said about Liro and his Nymph magic - Ice magic, just like his birth mother who was a Pure-Blooded Water Nymph. May she rest in pieces, the bitch.
Child Liro was seriously the most adorable child sim I had seen in a while.
Super. Adorable.
AGH my Kefka too. Oh my poor sweet Kefka goes head-to-head with those Shades.
My Keepers always get so carried away, even in times of war. I'm writing a war chapter and the first thing Liro does is play ball with Mania and have their fun interrupted by Majnun telling them THAT ONLY COUNTS AS ONE KILL EACH. Because you know... they're keeping COUNT.
But of course Liro doesn't keep track. He lives in the moment. Impulsive and... oh now he's trying to push Mania along. Heh.
I love this shot so much.
Tragic-
Aka I had no idea who to go next and I couldn't actually see myself writing him during the fighting. Agnes was far too scrambled. I couldn't dig into her thoughts. She wasn't prepared for the bloodbath. It would've been too scattered. Tragic, Olivia, and Ezzie all had experience with wars before in some manner. So they at least can explain what's going on. Hence why Agnes doesn't have a section in this chapter.
Also. Bear is adorable, and Olivia is only minorly traumatized by dogs yet she's doing... fairly well.
GOOD ON YOU BEAUTIFUL.
FIRST SET OF SERIOUS EDITS.
Kefka-
Ended up tweaking his chapter slightly after the fact, but he's too adorable.
His cooking mind is wonderful.
I need to think about cooking to survive this.
Or her.
(dies a little inside)
Charlotte.2-
This got thrown in last minute. It just felt right. I was originally going to try to keep Quizzie out of it but NOPE. That happened. Here it is.
And MAMA KEEPER volunteered to bring him in when I was putting Ezzie's life on the line.
Quinn doesn't like me putting Ezzie's life on the line.
He's also like 10000% a mess without her.
Olivia-
This one hurts me. I can't talk about it much because too many spoilers.
I had to edit all minus 1 picture for her section. It was... brutal.
Question I was asked: What exactly happened to Olivia?
Answer: Malice basically took her magic, reversed it back in on her and used it to attack her heart. Her magic is raw magic (unlike Majnun's/everyone else's using filtered, stable magic) because she's a "spirit." Long story short Olivia uses raw magic, so it reacts differently. If she had been using stable magic, she would've died. Instead her magic got jammed hardcore into her body in strange places and the pain caused her to lose consciousness.
Pain. Yes. She can feel pain.
And for the record, Spirits can feel pain too, people just don't like admitting it.
Phil-
Mpart gave me permission to write Phil for this section because I wanted to explain why there was a war with the Death Keepers. There's a lot of political strife going on because Thanatos stepped into power. The Death Keepers revolted. Phil's wife went missing/"died." Phil is the leader of the Death Keepers and usually he keeps that crazy crew under control, but they didn't trust Thanatos, while Phil just wanted to keep any eye on things.
THUS the Death Keepers found out something about the news of Daisy's death, and taunt Phil with it to bring him in deeper into the Land of the Dead.
You see there's 2 sects of Death Keepers going on - the ones just annoyed with Phil siding with Thanatos, and the ones who are pissed about Phil siding with Thanatos. The first want to make him see reason, the latter want to make him see the end of a blade. That will lead us to later.
NAME DROP in the note and in the chapter about Phil's Wife. Yes, this Daisy.
Ezzie-
Her song fit SO perfectly. SO perfectly.
There's not much going on here that's relevant. Quizzie stuff mostly. Oh and her worry for her FRIENDS. My Ezzie has been through so much.
ON VAMPIRE BITES: if you have a supernatural lifestate in you already, a Vampire Bite is fatal. Ezzie was never in any danger though because of the artifact imbedded in her that we discussed previously. It's a long story, but to be on the safe side and to prevent her serious pain, Charlotte sucked the venom out of her.
Vampire bites are a story for another day, and we're getting closer to that day. Much closer.
I LOVE YOU DROP.
(coughs)(tears up)
Mania-
Nope.
NOpe.
NOPE
NOPE
THis one hurts.
This one hurts me too much.
I had to tweak her section the first couple times I wrote it because the wounds did not feel SERIOUS enough. I joke about it with Blams and Mpart but it's the truth. Mania's practically the most powerful non-god in existence because of her position under Majnun. It's not easy to kill her. There had to be several wounds, an anti-magic poison and SEVERAL Shades to knock this child down.
All of her memories are things from the Glades.
One of them was a faked memory.
I will not say which. It should be obvious.
(coughs)Sheowouldneversaythattoher(coughs)
The blood is so meh. I did my very best and spent hours... I shit you not... hours working on one picture and then another and then another for a total of 8 hours for like 3 pictures.
After this point I was super burned out on editing images so poor Sheo's section got pretty lame-ducked. I WAS WORN OUT. The chapter is SIXTEEN PAGES.
Egads.
The countdown. You'll see this soon enough in her Chronicles, but the countdown was how many times she was lashed for [reason you'll discover soon enough].
Favorite edited image, even if it's not that good.
2 and a half hours on that.
Sheo-
Full disclosure: yes, Sheogorath has OCD. The actual, medical kind. Obsessions and compulsions. His obsessive thoughts are about cleanliness. His compulsions are to create messes. He gets stuck on a few things with an obsessive tick. His birth mother was convinced he was broken because he would repeat things over and over as a child, and as such she beat it out of him so now he hardly speaks at all. We're a long way off from digging into that story, but I thought it was one worth telling. It's why I get so protective of my baby Sheo.
His face kills me each time I pass it.
Dadwed enni.
Come back to me.
My heart...
In the home stretch! Here we go.
Rewrote this chapter 3 times. Struggled quite a bit but fully hammered it out eventually. Obviously.
Kefka's mismatched shoes. Ugh the story behind those.
That story is yet to be told too, but it is coming. Sooner than you think.
Lots of Nym and Agnes has no idea what's going on - see this is why I couldn't leave her as a narrator for very long. She's still struggling to keep herself together, let alone acknowledge the fact that there's crazy political stuff going on too.
“Dadwed enni.”
“Dadwed enni.”
Hey look that phrase looks familiar.
I tried a new editing technique for Olivia's dream sequence. It was... painstaking, to say the least. Several hand-made filters through gimp.
I FINALLY got to show Thanatos's true nature. It was relieving to say the least.
We also get introduced to Thanatos's pack. This is something we've had in mind for several chapters and it's not a new thing.
Olivia just never liked them much. We just... hoped she would be ok and get over it eventually...
HA. That's not even funny. NEVER again.
This chapter was my I need to get Olivia the fuck away from Thanatos before he kills her chapter.
TRAGIC lives.
And Thanatos offers to kill Mania.
Offers.
Pfft.
Tries, more like.
REAL GEM.
#I'msobitterbecauseIhadhighhopesforhim.
I love profiles of Sims. Don't ask why.
Charlotte knows everything. Period. MAMA Keeeepeeeer.
LAST ONE. Am I doing Chronicles? Nah. Just mainline. You've listened to me ramble MORE than enough. SORRY if this wasn't what you were hoping for...
I had fun at least.
Olivia is one of those gentle souls.
OH I should clear that up now, in case it wasn't clear.
Yes we share a name, we somewhat, kind of look alike? She was a simself a long time ago... in my Originals I used my Simself as a sort of means to talk to my Reaper family. When I converted the family I needed a similar presence, and by the end of my original draft Olivia had become her own entity. I fully fleshed her out and she's an entirely different person. I did TRY to change her name, but she was fond of the name, and I can't blame her. Besides, I go by Livvie, she goes by Olivia. Easy enough, no?
I know some of you won't believe me, but it's true; I honestly don't even associate myself with her in the least. So when I fawn over her appearance and how adorable she is it's really because she, as a character, stands out to me and she's been through so much. I'm protective of her. I won't let mean people (cough)(glares at Thanatos)(cough) TRY TO WIGGLE their sorry butts into destroying her life. So yeah. She gets spotlight for like all of this chapter.
I also felt bad that Thanatos changed so abruptly, so I added his segment in as a peace offering and apology. I just wanted people to see him the way I saw him. I tried so hard to make him good, but he refused. He didn't want it, and I wasn't going to leave Olivia in that situation.
Then... my new storyline came up and... well you'll just have to see.
Olivia's going to get a lot of development. I'm sorry if you don't like it, but I love her character and she's got an interesting storyline, while Agnes and Tragic are keen to keep moving slowly.
I figure this is at least better than me constantly skipping or just jumping ahead to marriage suddenly... and I'm having fun writing it. So...
We get a bit on Olivia's origins. We now have confirmation from this chapter that Olivia is human. This closes a lot of questions and opens quite a few more. Questions I certainly hope to answer and create more ongoing. I love living lores.
WE ALSO get a drop in on some Thralling.
That's a topic I could talk about for days, but we don't have time for that. I've been working on this all day and my day is literally almost up and then it won't be the year birthday anymore and this chapters relevance will not be much anymore.
Ah, we also have Olivia's offer to Agnes in this chapter too.
And Mama Keeper gets a proper introduction to Olivia.
OH LOOK is Kefka a vampire?
Didn't we talk about this? Partially yes? Something like that.
It's a long story.
I've also dropped hints to where things are going in this chapter.
It's going to be a long haul, but making these poses were fun. This chapter in general was fun to make.
Anyways... So there you have it. The Reapers is one years old and you get my take on what the year entailed.
Next year I'll try to have something a little more... coherent and wonderful ready to go? Well. I'll try.
I can't make any promises.
I hope you weren't bored half to death - or leaving this hating me because I spent more of it (than intended) hating on Than.
Just know that... it's been an amazing year.
Happy birthday, Reapers.
Lots of Love,
Livvielove.
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ReplyDeleteOK, so, it took me a while to get here lol but, I am so thankful I eventually did :-)
Can't speak for all the feels going on!!!