Niko

Someone constantly looking for new Interactive Fictions. (Please fuel my obsession 🙂) || Any Pronouns ||⚠️BEWARE FFXIV SPOILERS ⚠️|| Art Account: @en-the-forgotten

[beardedmrbean]

[hallabun]

aymeric de borel and the difficulty of being known (a 2am ramble)

there’s something very noble and admirable about how aymeric is so dedicated to his ideals and to improving ishgard, that he is willing to sculpt and immerse himself in a cut throat political game he doesn’t necessarily enjoy, all with the added scrutiny of being an adopted child and the rumored bastard son of the literal fucking pope. it is constantly drilled into him that duty should always be prioritized over sentiment, to the point that he’s convinced others (and probably even himself) that he’s a realist.

it doesn't help that whenever aymeric DOES take the risk to pursue sentiment over duty, it more often than not ends badly. for example and most notably, him attempting to talk down thordan to reveal the truth about the dragonsong war, and instead getting denounced and imprisoned for the attempt.

and yet, that idealism is never snuffed out, even at his worst.

there's an interesting comparison drawn between alphinaud and aymeric post heavensward where alphinaud (and by extension the warrior of light who winds up agreeing with alphinaud), despite his own struggles with the crystal braves, still hasn't given up on his idealism and is determined not to kill the possessed estinien. aymeric obviously struggles with his core idealism agreeing with this sentiment vs the duty that's been drilled into him for years. especially since it hasnt been long since he was "interrogated" as a result of him showing mercy to thordan.

and how wol's success with estinien, on top of being the one to believe in aymeric's reform and to fearlessly aid him when he was at his lowest-

very notably helped him realize his ideals weren't hopeless and that there was a place for both idealism AND duty. that it's always worth trying to find another, better way, and you don't always have to forsake who you are.

i think this is important because it establishes that the composed, pragmatic aymeric people usually see isn't necessarily the most authentic version of him.

but that's a WHOLE other essay and the takeaway from this side rant is this - so much of aymeric's appearances at first glance are tailored specifically for ishgardian society. he canonically masks the more idealistic and silly parts of himself. he never snuffs them out, per say. like he does pursue these idealistic goals by working his way up in ishgardian society.

but still - at his core, i think aymeric is lonely. and i think it's because of how much of himself he does have to mask to do this.

very few people know the actual him. very few get his fully honest self. he lost his parents who raised him, he was denounced by his birth father and never knew his birth mother. and iirc only lucia knew of him actually being thordan's son, as even people he was friends with, like estinien, mention only believing it to be a rumor created to besmirch his reputation.

(lucia herself is also a really funny topic, because what do you mean the only person he was able to be fully honest with before heavensward was the garlean spy he spared and didn't even know he could fully trust initially. and even then, while she is deeply loyal to him, and their friendship is very important to his character, i wouldn't call the two of them casual buddies in the conventional sense, if that makes sense?)

and i think this tangent about lucia actually illustrates the larger idea i'm getting at. even the people closest to aymeric don't always get the whole of him.

the point i'm working up to is this - underneath his cool confidence is a lonely (and imo ironically fairly extroverted) guy who wants genuine connections with others. and the real tragedy here is that he has spent so much of his life cultivating a persona that makes genuine connection difficult!!

when he finds someone he sees as like minded and detached from the ishgardian political machine as a whole, imo, he tends to cling to them. with varying results.

which is why i think his relationship with wol is so significant. he is not only inspired to pursue his idealistic dreams of reform once more because of them--

but he finds a kindred spirit he is able to be honest and totally unfiltered with.

and ultimately, i think this is what makes him so endearing! he's NOT mr. perfect, he's NOT as smooth as he seems. hell, he stumbles when asking them out to dinner and apparently yaps his steward's ear off about how much he's looking forward to it... and then proceeds to lament about it being cut short.

and i think what makes his friendship with wol so meaningful and ultimately reciprocal is that he is one of the very few characters in this game who treats wol as a person beneath the title. he wants to get to know that person.

and wol does the same for him. and i think this is because there's that mutual understanding going on, which is something rare, and beneficial, for them both! whether it be platonic or something else! it's that mutual respect!!

[dragon-in-a-fez]

personally I'm annoyed by the socioeconomic conditions that made words like "unalive" necessary but simultaneously impressed by the linguistic adaptations young people have made to continue talking about important things while subject to those conditions and I think if you can't hold both of those thoughts in your head you might just be old man yelling at cloud

[seaweed-official]

reblog if you're pro sexualization for pervert purposes in art

[largishcat]

i think the next completely unfaithful reimagining of the persephone myth should be a Taken-style action adventure where demeter viciously fights her way through the underworld to rescue her daughter

[largishcat]

we’ve made it sexy, we’ve made it romantic. now it’s time to give Demeter a shotgun

[rosieandthemoon]

I am cordially inviting all of you to post this in the comments/reblogs of any and every Al post you come across, on any platform. Especially useful for accounts who “teach” people how to use Al.

[1driedpersimmon]

Random assortment of doodles

[wholeheartedsuggestions]

whatever it is you need good luck for, i wish you good luck. tests, job, home life, social life, mental health, physical health, love life. you name it. this post is wishing you good luck on all of that.

[earthtodes]

I open and close this app like it’s the fucking fridge

[rene-elric]

Deerly beloved

[tokidokifish]

nero tol scaeva may not be my favorite ffxiv character but he's definitely one of the FUNNIEST ffxiv characters

highlights include:

killing the lights and fucking booking it when you defeat him, and then just straight up deserting the garlean army with absolutely no remorse or hesitation

leaving the praetorium and almost immediately posting up under a streetlight in a stupid outfit in revenant's toll like some kind of clown hooker, waiting to direct wol to the crystal tower questline JUST so he could involve himself, too

showing up in the middle of a major city not even slightly in disguise to walk up to a meeting of world leaders and say "now it's clear the problem you're having is that you haven't involved MEEEEEE"

accepting wearing an ironworks uniform but dying it red because #aesthetics

magical girl armor transformation

bonus: cid keeping his sunglasses and then just silently handing them back afterward as if they do this all the fucking time

getting attacked and injured but just refusing to tell anyone about it until he literally collapsed

sneaking out of the infirmary but not before forging cid's signature on his expense report

telling his fellow garleans that if all they were gonna do is whine and refuse any solutions to their problems they could just fucking die for all he cares

truly one of the characters of all time. he's like a horrible beetle man. i love him.

[lucky-fallen-angel]

Truthfully this is why I love the bastard man and probably why Cid deals with his shenanigans.

[mage-parivir]

It's been a while, huh?

A lot has happened since I last posted on Tumblr. I scrapped the majority of Book 2, and essentially rewrote the entire game from scratch. The project as it stands today is one I'm more confident about, and writing it has been a much smoother experience than the original. The current public demo stands at 586k words altogether, and covers events until well into Chapter 11, which will be Book 2's penultimate chapter.

If you've read the old demo, there will be a lot of familiar story beats--for example, we'll still be visiting locales such as Reglaire, Aulain, and Yotai, all of which are present in the old demo. However, the prose within these sections will have received a considerable overhaul, if not rewritten entirely.

The game also now spends plenty of time in Thulrum (as in the city itself, rather than the skycity of Arcadia), with the hope of making this new base of the mage's feel more lived-in, and give more concrete stakes to the choice between Param and Arcadia.

Click here to play Demo ver 2.0!

Current wordcount: 586k words.

I also intend to slowly return to answering asks on this blog, as well as reblog a lot of the (amazing, amazing) fanworks which have accumulated during my absence. I'm always floored and flattered by the support AMR receives, and I hope that the new demo will be worth the wait!

[sheepskin]

can you hear it?

[redridingheart]

I just feel the need to make my thoughts clear on this but do not trace art that people have commissioned from me. Do not trace artwork of my original characters. This especially goes for if you're taking commissions. I'd like to ask that you respect that the characters and designs belong to me and my clients. In the latter case, they're paying for these works to be done - I go out of my way to not upload content that I feel is susceptible to being stolen but I see this happening from people who have uploaded them to their socials. I just want to underline that the work is for their use only, and that neither my personal nor client works are free resources.

[wings-of-ink]

Early Access of Lab Rat is Go!

Hey everyone, I got a new demo served up on Patreon and Ko-fi if you'd like to sample it early. It weighs in at 66k words between the new prologue and Chapter 1.

It will be posted publicly at the end of August, but if you want to support me and line up to the buffet early, you are welcome to. You can sub for $4 USD at the Crow Tier to access it. If you don't want to sub, Patreon also sells just the post itself for the same flat price, but this does not give access to other posts.

The new demo is expanded, letting you experience the MC's rescue and parts of their recovery from their eyes, meet 2 out of the 3 new ROs (including one fine-smelling janitor), and learn new things about your world. And, if you take a shine to our frisky janitor, there's a spicy scene with him in there as well...

If you do decide to sub and have an interest in influencing the game, I am taking comments and opinions on how to implement the MC's personality from subscribers!

The original concept for Lab Rat is still available here.

[xalatath]

IMPORTANT

[midnight-bay-if]

You heard it here first, folks... you've got to be nice to Hunter today :)

[timewarp-if]

Time Warp is a retro-futuristic and sci-fi horror game inspired by The Thing and Alien. Play however and whomever you want.

Demo: https://timewhalespent.itch.io/time-warp

In the Northernmost part of Canada there is a facility operated by a research team of six scientists, yourself included. You are a medical doctor who specializes in ER medicine and surgery with a background in medical research, and all those years of experience are currently used to dissect cadavers of aliens. Yeah, turns out your mentor (Dr. Van Agteren, who you mentored under during med school) thought of you when she was involuntarily promoted to lead the research into the biology of the Hultur.

It’s not the worst job. It’s less stress than being in the ER was, but the isolation sucks about as much as everyone warned you it would. The screams outside from the Hultur in the water don’t help either. But, you’re not on the coast like a few other research stations are.

The Hultur came from a glacier that is around fifty kilometers from where you live full time at the facility, and they seem to prefer the ocean for the most part. All the other parts involve a lot of people killed. Not eaten; just killed. It’s unnerving to suddenly have another apex predator on the planet at best, and at worst it's near apocalyptic. The damn creatures make traps. And they're absolutely wrecking the ocean's arctic ecosystems. But you get to help cut them open with Dr. Van Agteren in the hope you can find something, anything, to get them the hell off of humanity's (and the entire ocean's) backs.

Things at the facility have turned for the worst lately, and a medical emergency combined with a job interview, leads to half the team leaving the base. The base is fully functional with one scientist, and you’re far enough from the coast to not require any military or security presence. It should be fine. Routine, even. Everyday is just like the last.

You wake up, eat breakfast, decontaminate, autopsy, analyze your findings, decontaminate, eat dinner with the rest of the crew, sleep.

Rinse and repeat.

Wake up, eat, decontaminate, science, decontaminate, eat, sleep. Wake up, eat, decontaminate, science, decontaminate, eat, sleep. Wake up, eat, decontaminate, science, decontaminate, eat, sleep. Wake up, eat, decontaminate, science, decontaminate, eat, sleep. Wake up, eat, decontaminate, science, decontaminate, eat, sleep. Wake up, eat, decontaminate, science, decontaminate, eat, sleep. Wake up, eat, decontaminate, science, decontaminate, eat, sleep. Wake up, eat, decontaminate, science, decontaminate, eat, sleep. Wake up, eat, decontaminate, science, decontaminate, eat, sleep. Wake up, eat, decontaminate, science, decontaminate, eat, sleep. Wake up, eat, decontaminate, science, decontaminate, eat, sleep. Wake up, eat, decontaminate, science, decontaminate, eat, sleep. Wake up, eat, decontaminate, science, decontaminate, eat, sleep. Wake up, eat, decontaminate, science, decontaminate, eat, sleep.

__________________________________________________________

(Optional) Romance Options:

Naima Kauri:

One of the researchers in the facility's engineering and maintenance sector. She's brash, kind, and has a mischievous streak. Before the Hultur she was on track to become an astronaut, and she has worked with the ESA and NASA in the past. She has the most training with isolation and is the unofficial leader of your skeleton crew. Mid thirties.

Danilo Ramos:

One of the researchers in the facility's geophysics and meteorology sector. He's distant and seemingly always too busy for conversation unless it's about work. Before the Hultur he worked in a physics lab and part time as a deep-sea search and recovery diver. Early thirties.

[timewarp-if]

@interact-if