#chattering sparrow

[erstwhilesparrow]

vsmp drabble: Drift still cares about her old job, still tries to investigate crimes, still tries to help people. Scott does not respect this.

“You never want to hang out anymore.”

Shelby, who’d been making sad eyes at Drift, turns to Scott and says, softly admonishing, “We talked about this.”

Scott sighs, drawing Shelby to his side, squeezing briefly without looking away from Drift. “I feel like you never want to hang out anymore.”

Drift wants to shut the door, keep the neighbours from hearing. “I want to! I do, I just— This client, her kid’s missing—”

“You always say you want to but you never do.”

“I’ll try to be home soon,” Drift promises uselessly. Steps outside, lip bloody where she sliced it.

[erstwhilesparrow]

vsmp drable: Cleo complaining that none of these vampires are keeping to the code and that's why everything's going wrong.

Standing there at Oakhurst’s edge, before the longest fifty years of Drift’s un-life, Cleo says, sidelong, “I could keep you.”

Drift shuffles apologetically. “I promised Shelby. We’re gonna see the world together.”

“They don’t know anything,” Cleo says, soft like distant, violent waves. “You don’t know anything. Without the code, you’re just going to keep getting into trouble.” They shake out their long hair, riverine, and sigh. “You’ll always be welcome back. But try not to bring too much mayhem with you when you come, all right?”

Which is why Drift doesn’t return for that half century. She’s with Scott.

[erstwhilesparrow]

You watched the starter base challenge thingy?? What'd you think of it :3cc

i watched jojo's pov of it, yeah :D!! and then like half of drift's but now i'm sleepy and doing Mindless Scrolling about it instead of . watching. it made me desperately miss haunted winter and misadventures smp.... i find these people so so charming and i especially enjoy drift and jojo's voices and ~[tendencies in social interaction] and i would love to get to see them+others like taneesha and lizzie collide with each other in fun and interesting ways in a longer-term server... you can see it, right? one video of less than an hour but i was immediately into taneesha and jojo's casual capable partnership deal, and drift and shelby are so funny and particular with each other, and i dunno, i feel like drift and jojo could have Such relationships in a slightly more roleplay-heavy server, i so badly want to see what they'd do because i have So few prior examples, but the only thing they're on right now is like . the flight. and i can't watch those streams sorry. i mean jojo's on lifesteal but there's still the issue of The Fucking Streams. They Never End. i bring up haunted winter specifically because while i deeply love drift's tendency to just fling herself wholeheartedly into the roleplay and she sure was doing that in haunted winter, at some point it became extremely grating to me how much the trope at work was [hysterical women seeing things vs stoic knowledgeable men trying to stay level-headed and lead the way]. [assorted redacted ocd spirals about gender whatever whatever] and it's just . so many ~types of relationship i might otherwise find unpleasant could be fun if there were . no men involved. i just. would like to experience/witness those, yknow. bweh. week-long smp that results in one single video from each participant and that's all it takes to make me start having visions of a beautiful beautiful world i will never have where lizzie/jojo can be real and drift has her pick of non-men to do her [latch onto a person and say utterly bizarre and compelling things at them] routine. [more redacted spirals about [NOPE THAT'S EXTRA SUPER REDACTED]]

[erstwhilesparrow]

hiiii sparrow you should know that saturns orbit is one my favorite vsmp fics everrrr and also i just recently finished revolutionary girl utena which ik you are a fan of!! When I first saw it in episode 25 (? ish?) the whole horrible terrible evil anthy utena akio living situation was soooo nyc trio to me.., especially regarding how u portray them in your fic <3 anyways idt either shelby or drift are Specifically anthy or utena coded in particular but!! The end of the fic with the not-memory is very drift-as-utena and shelby-as-anthy and. well. obviously scott as akio. #myparallels!! There’s also all of utena’s, like, “akio is so smart and knowledgeable about the world and a wonderful role model :D” stuff which is rlly shelby -> scott, to me. + just the like general lesbian tension between both pairs of girls. um anyways. Toxic roommates where one wields an uncomfortable amount of power over the other two who are locked in torturous gay codependence with eachother 👍👍👍

(pretty sure u know who i am already just by virtue of both having recently become rgupilled + having always been vshelbypilled but it’s candle btw alaksjsdh)

hi candle :D!! i have wonderful news for you: i originally thought i'd have something more explicit/elaborated-on for that not-memory and then i specifically remembered that one series of shots of anthy on the couch :) your parallels are real and beautiful

drift ALSO extremely has the "he is so cool and smart and a role model" thing about scott, which is fascinating and does add some points in the [drift-utena parallels??] bucket to me but broadly yeah... many ways in which they are like utenanthy and many ways in which they are not

[erstwhilesparrow]

hiii in that case. you should write something about abolish. perhaps related to those redacted footnotes? or if not, some sort of scenario where he’s covered in blood

Abolish’s eyes gleam unnaturally in the evening light behind the doctor’s clinic.

“Oh,” Cleo says. “You mean that kind of problem.”

Abolish is tense like a thing straining against its leash. In this case, the leash is Legs’s arm. Legs clutches the collar of Abolish’s bloodied shirt, keeps Abolish in place with grim unhappiness.

“You know more about this than me,” Legs says. “I thought you might know how to… help. Without causing further panic.”

Cleo laughs, feeling unaccountable. There’s a dribble of crimson coming from the corner of Abolish’s mouth. Abolish is unspeaking, trembling hopelessly. Working breed, like her.

[erstwhilesparrow]

Okay, so, I can't extrapolate as far as I'd normally feel the urge to (I cannot shut up, hi <3) given my getting-ready-to-go-to-work-ness,, but I've got a fair few games I'd call my favorite for numerous reasons. Minecraft has been my Home since I was more or less capable of consciousness,, Dredge has unbeatable atmosphere and chill-inducing flavortext, Bloodborne is Bloodborne,, Balatro is literally just An Addiction, etc etc etc

But I've not been able to shake Slay the Princess out of my head since I played it the first time. It is also, unfortunately, one of the few games I feel is genuinely worth going into mostly blind, so I'm somewhat obligated to not spoil Everything,, but it's a psychological horror visual novel about perspective, choice, change, understanding, and two not-quite-people beating the ever-loving Fuck out of one another in a time loop and falling in love through Acts of Incredible Violence (there's,, a lot to it. The ways in which assumption can change how people behave. The effects of trauma. The fear of death and change. Agency in the face of horrifying circumstance. Divinity and mortality. What it means to seek happiness. Gestures vaguely. It's a good game, and I've spent ages going through the variations on different routes, because even slightly different choices result in different dialogue later on. Also,, the presence of women who would turn me into a bloody pulp is usually a great selling point for me, so,,,,)

- 🕷️

!!! beautiful, i'm so glad i asked :D of the five you mention here, i have played One (1) of them. (do you want to guess. do you want to take a wild guess which one :P) but i've heard tell of them all and am offering you the official sparrowlark stamp of approval for your good taste. (completely meaningless stamp. on account of not having played most of these games. but perhaps you will derive some amusement from knowing you have it.)

i HAVE especially heard that slay the princess is really good!! and been told it's probably up my alley. and encouraged to, if not play it, at least seek out a playthrough. a shame about my various torments and so forth. but i am happily kicking my feet listening to (reading) you talk about it :3

[erstwhilesparrow]

ooh ooh vsmp drabble request: Owen carrying something important in his mouth

When they pry Owen’s jaws apart, they find the elongated canines Avid’s expecting. But then Apo notices something and says, sharp, What’s that?

Legs recognizes it first. It’s disconcerting, to see one so stripped of flesh that it looks like a diagram out of a medical textbook.

What was he doing with a finger bone in his mouth? Pearl asks.

Dark rituals? Martyn proposes. Blood magic?

Legs shuts his eyes, briefly dizzy. A parent carrying the corpse of their babe. A hand locked around an ankle, holding tight even in death. Owen, mouth shut grimly against the town’s raised stakes.

[erstwhilesparrow]

Calling him by scott's name OUHHHHGH i dont think owen would flinch but go super still indtead an shelby mumbles something about white hair looking all the same in a tone that sounds like an apology and dragging owen down beside her and the arm that goes around them could be something like forgiveness maybe.

and he can't!! tell her!! that when he puts his face in her hair he's thinking about louis!! unspoken festering wound about how bad you wish it was someone else here with you!! for both of them!!!!