A Hidden Object Game, Also Called Hidden Picture Or Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure (HOPA), Is A Subgenre

A hidden object game, also called hidden picture or hidden object puzzle adventure (HOPA), is a subgenre of puzzle video games in which the player must find items from a list that are hidden within a scene.

“I’d kill for you. Please ask me to kill for you.” “No.” Is a top tier ship dynamic no I do not take criticism

Some 'screenshots' of the hidden object game I'm working on here and there. The first picture is of Zuzi and Funfetti at the very beginning of the game still in the train car, featuring Funfetti's journal and hint jack-in-the-box, and the second is the first hidden object section, where they're investigating the train conductor's area for clues as to where he went.

@hiddenobject-fanblog

I'm not banishing anybody when they're this hot

His Soul (Chapter 16)

Morals and Promises

Summary: After saving the abducted collectors, you were trusted with Curioso's box. What seems like a dangerous possession slowly turns into an opportunity to learn more about this creature and his curse. Can you earn his trust, and possibly, his affection?

Pairings: Curioso/Reader, Curioso/The Detective

--

“How did you get so good at magic?” 

The words inadvertently blurted out of your mouth while your eyes locked on the fire Curioso lit in your small fireplace. The rain that had been going on for a couple of days has gradually turned into a thunderstorm raging outside. Your town often dealt with this weather, so the harsh wind and hard drops on your roof wasn’t anything alarming - but it meant that your apartment was frigid. You weren’t comfortable running your heat all night, knowing your bill would skyrocket for the month. 

So, when you asked your jester assistant for help with starting a fire, you hadn’t expected one to magically catch on the wood you’d just placed behind the grate with a flick of Curioso’s wrist. 

He was lounging on your recliner with a book propped open in his lap. His attention was fully on you instead of the pages. “It’s the only thing I have to thank the Enchantress for. I used to steal her books and learn all I could from them. I had no clue I even had magic until I kept practicing my tricks for the show, and I learned I just naturally had the powers.” 

You stood from your crouching position and sat over on the couch, leaning over to pop open your bag of chips and throwing a couple in your mouth. The fire was lit seconds ago and it already made the room warm and comfortable. You assumed that was something purposefully done and not just a side effect of the magical embers. 

“You know, you have yet to tell me more about your ‘show’...”

This was when he returned his attention back to literature. “What is there to tell?” 

“I mean, what was it like? Did you have a lot of people there? What kind of tricks did you do?” You munched away on the junk food and pointed at him. “See? I have a lot of questions.” 

He shut the book with impatience and it disappeared into little blue and red particles. You were amazed each time he did something with his magic - it was fun having a magician around your home. Things constantly appeared and disappeared, and while sometimes you found it annoying, most of the time you were impressed and couldn’t help wondering where they went and came from. Having anything conjured up at your request wasn’t something you tried to make a habit of, but you couldn’t reject the convenience of it all. 

“It was a run-down carnival that barely cleaned the stage. The children there were always eating something that was sticky or buttery and some of them ALWAYS insisted on trying to touch me or the props.” You imagined him grimacing at the memory with the way he paused. “-But it was colorful. It was fun. And I made it one of the best side performances anyone could watch.” 

“Oh?” You crossed your legs and leaned forward, trying to imagine the pretty colors and music of a carnival, and Curioso’s voice in the midst of it all. It was a pretty captivating image. “How did your shows go?”

“Like I said, it was a puppet show. But because of me , it was so much more than that.” He mirrored your stance and bent his long legs, leaning forward to close the distance between you two. He sounded excited retelling this to you. “Sometimes, I was the puppeteer narrating the show, moving and bending the puppets to my will. Other times, I was among them - making the marionettes as real and big as the audience itself, with no strings attached..! That one was the most popular, I’ve been told.” 

“And you made them tell your jokes?” 

He spread his arms out theatrically. “I had a whole act full of jokes and tricks for them to see..! It was hard getting little children to sit through long performances, so I made many short ones that made them laugh and gasp in awe. My puppets would do the stunts all the professionals did - but I was able to do anything and everything. I conjured up my own fire, I broke the laws of physics, I did things my audience couldn’t fathom! When I was on stage, I was the life of the party.” 

“I could imagine,” Your smile was genuine, playing this out in your mind. He must’ve entertained many people, and delighted so many kids. If he put his powers to that use, you had no doubts he’d be an excellent performer and entertainer. 

He shrunk back on the cushion and suddenly looked away. “It was all great…except for when it wasn’t. I’d perform all night if I had the audience for it, but if any of my shows did badly, and I was taken in early... well .” 

Your eyes grew wide with worry. “Well… what? ” 

“She used the book, and I would have shackles and chains on me, to sit there and be gawked at by anyone passing by. It deterred my magic, so I couldn’t escape or do anything. It made my reputation hard to maintain, when kids would see me sitting there in time-out..! It was why my show was so good, and why I couldn’t be anything BUT the centerpiece of it all.” 

Your posture fell at this information. “Oh…I’m…I’m so sorry to hear that.” 

“It only happened a few times. I made sure of it.” His voice became determined and he soon shrugged. “Of course, I didn’t get a share of any of the money my shows made. She kept it all. She was always there, watching and making sure everything went well. Her deal with the circus must’ve been good because she had plenty of money after I started performing. Although I think she had a habit of gambling it all away, sometimes.” 

Your eyes lowered to the bag of chips and you gently put them aside. “You said the carnival business wasn’t great and you saw some things…might I ask about that?” 

Flames flashed in his eyes for a brief second. “A lot of the employees fixed their games and would steal from their customers. So many of them smoked and drank liquor, and I would watch them get carried away most nights and do.. deplorable things. Did you know there could be so much sex in a carnival?” 

Heat climbed to your face at the topic. “I - I mean-” 

“Disgusting, really. They never clean the floors and all the animals defecate everywhere…they must’ve gotten so many infections! Anyway,” He grinned at your embarrassment and you cleared your throat to regain your composure. “It wasn’t just her with a gambling problem. Many carnival lackeys did. People were always in debt to each other, and some weren’t as kind or patient with collecting their dues. My Enchantress was never in danger because of me, but I wish she could have been. If I had any choice, I would’ve seen to it that she was short on her payments.” 

“I’m sure you know that would’ve not been the right thing to do.”  

You weren’t defending her, but you knew how bad it would’ve been if that happened. Despite what she did to Curioso, you refused to feed his desires for chaos. The jester regarded you silently and shook his mask. 

“No, but It would’ve been fun to see. As you can imagine, I had a lot of bad things around me to observe. All I wanted was to see these people facing the harm their obsessions caused. I had such a fun view of the carnival when I was a little boy, but that quickly got ruined, and it hasn’t changed since.” 

“Huh, so I guess taking you to one isn’t an option…”

“I don’t want to step foot in another one ever again,” He confirmed. He seemed to think about something before asking, “Have you ever been to a carnival yourself, Detective?” 

“Yeah, when I was a kid. I used to get my face painted like a tiger.” You chuckled at the memory, recalling those colorful and sugary nights with your parents so many years ago. You couldn’t remember ever having a bad time at a carnival…but you could understand why Curioso had. “I mostly went to the fair, though. I was a bigger fan of rides than watching shows.” 

“Oh, what fun..! I’ve only ever been to an amusement park once in my life.” He jumped from the chair and into the seat beside you, getting close and comfortable beside you. “What was your favorite ride?” 

“Bumper cars.” You grinned. 

“A classic..! You can torment so many people in those..!” 

You had to agree with him. That was the point of it all, after all. You couldn’t get much enjoyment if you just rode around doing nothing. Bumping into others, cornering them, and laughing was what made it fun. And it made all the more sense why Curioso liked it as well. 

You realized you were smiling and allowed it to slowly fall. Despite his change of topic, you couldn’t stop thinking about what he just told you. Softly, you asked, “Did you ever like doing it, though? Performing for kids and for people, to see them laugh and smile during your show?”

“You’re asking if their enjoyment was worth the pain and imprisonment for when I failed them?” His tone was flat. You cursed yourself for asking such a stupid question. But then he shifted beside you to look into the fire from afar. “..Honestly, Detective, it was. If I couldn’t be happy as a child, then I had no problem fixing that problem for someone else.” 

The smile returned to your face. Without your permission, your hand landed on his knee, and Curioso’s mask whipped around to face you in surprise. You were only aware of it at the last second, but you didn’t retract your touch, and instead you squeezed it and leaned forward. 

“It’s good that you felt that way,” You affirmed. “I’m sure that happiness was far better than whatever vindication you got from torturing those poor collectors.”

He tsked and waved his finger at you. “Ah, but can’t two things be true at once? I have no reason to favor the fun that I have.” 

You grit your teeth. “You know what I mean.” 

“You’re trying to get me to be good.” 

It wasn’t even a question; he stated it like it was a fact. You withdrew your hand finally and returned it to your lap, looking away with a frown. He figured you out and it must’ve not been hard at all. It wasn’t like you’d been trying to hide it, but…to hear it stated aloud, and so emotionless from him...almost like it was a helpless cause? 

“I’m trying to get you to be better. To want better.” You sighed tiredly. “I wholly believe there’s good in you and you can use your powers for better things, rather than putting people on knife boards and trapping old women in burning photographs.” 

“When one is stripped of their humanity, it makes it easy to favor the madness you used to shy away from.” His tone turned to something wicked and it made your heart still in your chest. “Why would I want to live a boring life when I can have something so much better?” 

You quirked an eyebrow at him. “Then why choose a life where you’re a servant to a detective? My life isn’t that eventful.” 

Curioso sounded offended. “Don’t say that..! We found such delicious things on your last case together-” 

“-Finding dead bodies in a murderer’s home is not the fun I want!” You exclaimed. You tried to grasp words. “It’s part of my duty, to find and try those responsible for it. I don’t like seeing others suffer and I don’t think you do, either, after you suffered yourself. You should break the cycle rather than continuing it!” 

He was sitting back and looking at you like you were a different person. You supposed that outburst wasn’t much like you, and his reaction was sort of warranted. 

“What if I’m unchangeable?” He asked quietly, barely audible to your ears over the cracking of the fire.

“You aren’t. No one is. And I don’t care if you’re not human anymore - a magical jester giving me a figure of myself is still a gift, no matter how you want to look at it. And caring about someone else like that is always a sign of humanity.” 

Things were quiet for a long minute as you sat there dwelling on your thoughts. Then your tall friend huffed and sank in the pillow behind him, crossing his arms and muttering quietly. 

“You’re not very fun when you’re being preachy. Even when you have a point.” 

You smirked and flicked one of his bells, making it chime under your finger. He turned his mask to glare at you for such an action. 

“No matter how inhumane you were treated, you are still a person. You deserve to be respected, to be shown compassion, to be… loved. ” You hesitated with that last word, taking in a breath for far too long before letting it out. “Can you let me show these things to you?” 

He uncrossed his arms and laid there looking at you. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable but it made you squirm under his gaze. But it wasn’t like he was studying you. It felt like he was appreciating you. And that sort of attention made you feel… something . 

“If you are the only person in the world who would want to give me those things, then I suppose I can let you.” He whispered back. 

You were feeling vulnerable right now and decided to snap out of it. You sat up straight and held your chin high, placing a hand over your heart and holding up a flattened palm with the other. The smile couldn’t help finding its way on your lips as you did this. 

“Alright, then, I’m going to make you swear it.” 

He looked at you curiously. “Swear what?”

“That you’re only going to use your powers for good from now on.” 

“Haven’t I already been using them for good? Tell me when I’ve misbehaved, Detective.” 

“Hiding my keys and my wallet the other day when I needed to go to the grocery store wasn’t very kind of you.” 

“Oh, but it was so hilarious..! You were looking for nearly half an hour-”

“-Curioso, stop laughing and swear it! Rest one hand over your hear- your, ah , chest…and hold the other high, like this.”

“You look stupid.”

“Look stupid with me! Come on, then.” 

You had a feeling he’d be rolling his eyes right about now. He copied your stance and held his mechanical hands where you wanted them. You grinned at his compliance. None of this was really necessary, but having his word meant just as much to you as a promise. And you wanted him to take this seriously. 

“Repeat after me. I, Curioso, solemnly swear to use my powers for good and only good.” 

“You didn’t say ‘me’.” 

You lightly smacked his chest and he laughed again. At least he was feeling good. 

“I swear to use my powers for good.”

“...Good! That should, uh, do it, then.” 

“Do I get something for being such a good boy? Your car, perhaps?”

“No, but…” The excitement grew in your chest as you recalled something you’d been meaning to tell him. You must’ve gotten sidetracked with your questions about the carnival. What a turn this conversation had taken. “..I have some good news to tell you.” 

“You’re finally going to get a haircut? That’s wonderful, because I’ve been telling you-” 

“-No, it’s not that.”

You made him wait for a few seconds longer, snorting when he became visibly impatient and tapped the cushion with exaggeration. 

“...We’ve been put on a case.”

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