Round Up: Press Start

[corpsebrigadier]

Finally, after spending almost all of 2021 having way to many things happen at and around me, my life finally calmed down enough that I could at long last partake of an exchange again. I had a ball with this year's Press Start, both in terms of getting a ton of cool stuff (The amount of quality Ultima fic on ao3 just increased by... a lot) and in terms of getting finally my groove back a bit as a creator.

My Gifts

"Blood, Ash, Fire" by FireEye (Ultima | The Avatar & Arcadion, Teen, Art): A neat piece of art featuring the Avatar "feeding" the magnificent jerk of a daemon that lives in her overpowered sword.

"Not to be Bound by Thy Fate" by FireEye (Ultima | The Avatar & Arcadion, Teen, 1.5K): More Avatar and Arcadion content, set in my favorite completely batshit Ultima dungeon. This piece just took the whole dynamic between these two in some directions I absolutely loved, and I'm probably going to be envisioning the characters differently as a result.

"PARANOiA ~Devil-Zukin mix~" by pirotess (Dance Dance Revolution | Devil-Zukin, General, Art): DDR ART! Combining one of my favorite songs and one of my favorite characters! This is spot on to the aesthetics of the series--thinking of using it as a cover for one of my DDR heavy workout playlists.

"A Test of Logic, Skill, and Luck" by FireEye (Ultima | The Avatar & Iolo & Shamino & Dupre, General, 100 words): A drabble about Ultima's core party members eating pizza and playing Minesweeper. XD

"Tiny Claws and Tailspines" by FireEye (Ultima | The Avatar & Iolo & Shamino & Dupre (& Arcadion), Teen, 100 words): Some delightful low stakes adventures with the Ultima crew encountering a very small manticore.

"The Trials of Heaven and Hell" by FireEye (Final Fantasy Tactics | Rafa & Malak, Teen, 1K): An understated but still completely heartbreaking series of snapshots in the Galthena siblings' travels after the destruction of their village.

"Strifeborn Shadows" by FireEye (Ultima | Astaroth & Faulinei & Nosfentor, Teen, Art): A dark, creepy take on the Shadowlords.

My Works

"Giants and Wyrms " (Final Fantasy Tactics | Beowulf/Reis, Gen, 3.5K) and "Beasts and Vagabonds" (Final Fantasy Tactics | Beowulf/Reis, Gen, Art), both for Lassarina: A post-canon story about Reis and Beowulf (and Mustadio and Worker 8) all returning to Lionel, as well as two art pieces I concocted while writing it. Contains unintentional reassurances from a robot.

"The Impossible Riddle" for atramento (Final Fantasy Tactics | Mustadio & Worker 8, Gen, Art): A goofy comic about Mustadio and Worker 8 trying to solve a captcha.

"The Planet, Pining for the Sun" for FireEye (Ultima | Chsheket, Gen, 1.1K): A drabble sequence about Chsheket and the other Martians from Martian Dreams attempting to adapt to life on Earth over the course of a century.

"Roses to Rule Me" for Suzume (Final Fantasy Tactics | Alma/Ovelia, Gen, 500 words): A short piece about Alma and Ovelia spending time together as girls at Orbonne and having a brush with some foreshadowing.

Other Cool Stuff

I'm still browsing the collection (last weekend was amazingly busy), but here are a few pieces that have caught my eye thus far!

"<3" by lilpocketninja (Final Fantasy VII: Remake | Cloud/Wedge, General, Art): A sweet comic about Cloud and Wedge sharing a moment under some streetlights.

"Fifty-Fifty" by weakinteraction (Minesweeper | General, 1.3K): A glorious exploration of one of the most frustrating events in any game of Minesweeper... told as a story about psychic dolphins!

"Gunmetal" by pirotess (Final Fantasy VII | Tseng, General, Art): Just a really sleek drawing of Tseng, looking like he crawled straight out of a 1997 doujinshi.

"At a time like this" by ovely (Final Fantasy VI | Celes/Sabin, General, 2.9K) : A very sweet fic full of banter and bonding; explores Celes and Sabin finding comfort in one another in that sliver of time where they're the entirety of your party.

Comments

[suzume]

Thanks again for that FFT piece! I was really surprised to receive an extra treat! (yet somehow I knew you were the likeliest writer, ha ha ha)

[lassarina]

So much good stuff in the collection this year! (I still have two things open to read because they are Large, but that's a good thing.)

Thank you again for the lovely lovely gifts ♥ I definitely got a bit into it and went "is this corpsebrigadier, I think I've seen this style before ♥"

[corpsebrigadier]

You're welcome again, and I'm glad you liked it! I'm also tickled to hear that I was a suspect prior to reveals. :)

[corpsebrigadier]

I'm glad again you dug my gifts--and yeah--I do have a bit of a distinct style :) I hope you enjoyed the rest of the collection. (I uh... still have some tabs open weeks later.)

[lassarina]

Uhhhh I mean I literally finished reading the last piece I wanted to from the collection this morning, so there's no judgment here.

[suzume]

Ha ha ha, yeah, I've read enough of your work to have that suspicion when you're involved!