#EVERY SINGLE THING I LIKE. GAMES? AWFUL AT THEM. ART? NOT THAT GOOD AT IT. ENLGISH? SHIT AT IT. JAPANESE? NOT GOOD AT IT

[nightfallsystem]

tw stupid vent in tags

[vexwerewolf]

why is it that we only have like two licenses from any mech producer that’s a good guy? For a game where like there are clear good and bad guys (even if who you play isn’t necessarily linked to that) it seems strange to me that the only loot and XP you get is… more benefits from the bad guys

I can tell you the answer, but to do so, we're gonna have to talk about a completely different TTRPG.

If you've read @makapatag's truly excellent Filipino martial arts TTRPG Gubat Banwa (and if you haven't, here it is), you may notice that every single character class description (with one notable exception) ends with one of these babies:

I am not Makapatag, and I cannot write with quite as much grace and eloquence as he can, but I will try:

If you choose to become a Lancer, ask yourself why you mock the name of peace with these weapons of war. You call yourself a saviour, but your steed was forged from the murder of a world. You stride across the sky in a colossus built in your own image, so why are you too cowardly to give it your face? Why do you believe these machines of death can preserve life?

It is important to note that the admonitions in Gubat Banwa are not just there to make you feel bad; they are there as legitimate questions. The Sword Isles have seen so much blood, death and tragedy. Wars are not glorious and killing is not a game. So, knowing all of that, why have you taken up this discipline - no matter how noble and virtuous it might claim to be - to shed more blood, to bring more death, to write more tragedy? What could possibly drive you to this? What need is so great that you must kill?

The thing with Gubat Banwa is that there are legitimate answers to these questions! There are bad people doing bad things, and some of them will not be stopped with words or kindness. Sometimes, as sorrowful as it is, killing is the correct choice to prevent greater suffering and deeper tragedy - but adding less misery and death to the world is still adding some amount of it. Even the most necessary wars will drench the ground in the blood of the innocent.

A sword is a tool meant to kill humans; while it can be used for other things, it is not well-suited to anything other than this. A mech is, in its most basic essence, just a very complicated sword: it's usually used on things larger than a person, but it's still a tool built to kill.

So why have you taken up this path? Humanity was saved from the brink of extinction and has created wondrous technologies like printers, cold fusion and mind-machine interface, and yet you use them to play soldier in a giant metal man. Why do you choose to take up this machine of death, built by the greedy and pitiless? Why do you think these machines can ever make things right?

Because sometimes, despite everything, they can.

Warhammer 40K shows an awful world full of monsters and monstrosity, and in the darkest moments of its history, Lancer's world looked just as bleak, but Lancer's world differs in one crucial way. Warhammer's world has long given up trying to be better, but Lancer's world never did. Lancer's world kept insisting a better world is possible, and it used what tools it had to make it so.

Sometimes the correct choice, no matter how bitter it may seem, is to kill someone. When you need to do this, a sword is a perfectly good choice for the job.

If you find yourself discomforted by the fact that all the people you can buy mechs from are corrupt and immoral - good! You have correctly engaged with the text. You have understood that the sort of people who would make giant walking death machines and sell them for profit are not good people. But you still have a job to do, and you need the correct tools, and those people have them.

Lancer is not a game about a perfect world - it is a game about a deeply flawed and imperfect one that does not let its imperfection stop it from trying. You have to try to make a better world, even with imperfect tools made by unpleasant people.

[superficialdomina]

Fray (Into Submission, Part 4)

Part 3: Lost

Series masterlist

AN: An Avengers training session gives you a chance to show Loki how fun it would be to let you win.

As always, an enormous thank you to @acidcasualties for making this whole series happen. Special thanks to @lokisgoodgirl for checking the accuracy of my swordplay!

Word count: 2.1k

Warnings: 18+; minors DNI. Thirsty with some reminiscing, but nothing explicit in this one. Inaccurate descriptions of combat training. Mostly just lurid descriptions of Loki's smoking hot bod in workout wear, with a touch of plot development.

Days. You hadn’t seen him in days.

There were hints of him; you knew he was still in the Tower. You’d heard his voice a couple of times, and yesterday when you’d stepped into the elevator you could smell that he’d been there minutes before. But he’d upped his avoidance game. It made you sad, and a little afraid.

The look of anguish he’d worn as he’d cast you out of his apartment remained etched in your memory, leaving the subtle ache of guilt in your chest. Had you gone too far?

You mulled it over as you pulled on your gym gear. Loki might still refuse to talk to you this morning, but you were confident that you would at least see him. After several of your coworkers had missed Saturday afternoon’s impromptu training session, Rogers had rescheduled for first thing Monday morning, with strongly worded insistence that everyone be in attendance. His WhatsApp message didn’t quite single Loki out by name, but none of you was in any doubt about its intended target.

The spacious training hall gleamed with the sunlight that streamed through the large 26th story windows, casting a warm glow on the polished mats. The luxury of the Tower was as prominent here as on every other floor. The gym was loaded with state-of-the-art equipment and comprehensive accessories, all meticulously maintained - as though getting your arse kicked by a handful of superheroes would hurt less because there wasn’t a speck of dust on the yoga mats, you thought wryly. You peered hopefully around the room as you entered. I just need to know that he’s OK, you told yourself.

Loki and Thor were sparring hand-to-hand in the open rink, the soft thudding of their bare feet resonating as they moved around one another. Occasional grunts carried as one of the pair landed a strike. Despite Thor’s size advantage, they were evenly matched; Loki was always a fraction faster, seeming to know exactly where Thor would move next, as though each step were choreographed and practiced to perfection. Observing them was like watching an ancient dance. Which is exactly what it is, you thought, momentarily awed. A fierce, millennium-old dance.

Thor’s bare chest, though impressive, was still somehow less appealing than Loki’s lithe form, clad in workout wear that clung tightly to his broad back. You let your eyes blatantly traverse him. His elegant ankles smoothed into perfectly sculpted calf muscles; his Godly hamstrings flexed under the hem of his training shorts, which in turn restrained his flawlessly rounded glutes. His body was utterly splendid. A delight of form and function, forged by centuries of practice and power. A work of art.

If he would just put that phenomenal dedication and discipline to good use in service to you…

“Time!” Rogers called loudly, and the brothers stepped back, arms lowered, chests heaving. Thor clapped Loki on the back amicably, and for the briefest moment, you saw Loki wince. The small movement made your blood run hot.

Pain.

“Three minutes, everyone!” Rogers continued, before consulting the pairs listed in the complicated run sheet on his ridiculous clipboard. “Two and eight,” he began. “Three and twelve. Four and… Sixteen.”

You groaned inwardly, pushing thoughts of your recalcitrant conquest from your mind. The Black Widow. Not exactly a leisurely start to the morning, then.

“Come on, sixteen,” Natasha laughed. “Show me what you’ve got.”

The room filled with the sounds of Avengers in practice: thudding boots, wordless shouts, the familiar hum of mutual respect and collective, focused power. As you sparred, you began to relax into the collaborative energy, muscle memory activating as your training partner led with her familiar fighting style. Nat feinted here, and you responded there; the two of you were strong, and graceful, and -

Thump. You landed flat on your back on the hard mat. Again. At least this time you’d seen it coming. Your body just… didn’t move that way. Or that fast.

“You’re getting better,” Nat insisted as she hauled you to your feet. “You almost avoided that one.”

“I saw what you were doing,” you agreed, somewhat reluctantly. “I just couldn’t do anything to stop you.”

“They rarely can,” she winked, as Steve’s obnoxious whistle sounded again.

“Drinks!” he shouted, “then re-pair for weapons.” He returned to his spreadsheet, muttering numbers to himself, as you reached for your water bottle and your thoughts – and eyes – returned to Loki.

He was sauntering towards the group with Bucky, shoulders thrown back in haughty masculinity, animatedly wiping sweat from his brow with his sinewy forearm. Whore, you thought lustily. They looked almost amicable. You gazed at him, curious; confused. He seemed… fine? Loki caught you watching him and gave you a wink. A wink. Almost like…

Like old times, you thought. What is going on?

You turned away, chugging water, then wiping your mouth with the back of your hand. He seems fine. Was it real? If he was truly so nonchalant, why the vanishing act over the past few days?

You were still standing there, bemused, when the team began to pair off again. In your distracted state, you’d missed the next call. Who…?

Only one person remained by your side, and his imperious gaze left you in no doubt as to your next partner.

Loki.

You moved together to one end of the training mats. This close, you could see the fine trails of fresh sweat across his bare shoulders; smell the sweet scent of it heavy around you when he raised his arms to pull his curls back into a messy plait. You imagined the saltiness of it gathered in the valleys of his muscular, sinewy body, with which you had so recently become better acquainted; the way it would pool and concentrate in the deep hollow of his jugular notch.

I could make you sweat like that.

He continued to smirk at you mischievously as he moved into position, as grandiose and egomaniacal as ever. “Short swords, Agent?” he drawled, a short, thick blade appearing in each hand with a flicker of green.

“Just one, Laufeyson!” Rogers shouted, before you could respond. Loki raised an eyebrow at you, flirting with the idea of arguing; but he wordlessly vanished the weapon on his left.

“You didn’t want to lend that to me?”

“Darling, they are hundreds of years old,” he drawled coolly. “I don’t lend them to anyone.” Turning to fetch a training sword, you hid a smile at his words. Had he forgiven you?

Or he’s just feeling cocky.

The gym’s practice swords were hung neatly at the far wall. You tried to pick one that was long enough to be effective, but not so long as to be cumbersome. It was highly irrelevant; he was faster, stronger, and infinitely more skilful than you. You selected a narrow doge sword that at least felt comfortable in your grip.

The gym echoed with the ring of steel on steel as your peers sparred. How many rounds had it been? Each time you lasted barely a minute before he outdid you, the sharp edges of his blade finding their mark at your shoulder, your thigh, and once, your collar bone. Despite your budding fatigue, you found yourself mesmerised by him. He wielded the ancient sword with harmony and fluidity, so fluent was he in its unwritten language, so familiar with its little quirks. Like an old lover, you thought madly, as you struggled to steady the vibrations of the blade with each parry and clash.

His weapon whistled again; this time the flat of his blade struck your hand, and you dropped your own sword. He stepped back to patiently wait for you to ready yourself again.

His fitness was phenomenal - you were breathing hard, your arms burning, and he barely seemed to have slowed. The smirk he’d given you earlier was once again pasted across his beautiful, pretentious face. Patient, but smug.

“Where have you been, Loki?” you asked as you retrieved your weapon, buying time to catch your breath. Dammit, your knuckles stung; you hoped it wasn’t obvious.

“Here and there,” he replied easily. No denial this time. “Are you ready?”

“I was worried about you.”

“If you mean that you feared for my safety, I am most able to defend myself.”

“That’s not what I meant.” For a second you thought you saw a flicker of vulnerability return to his features. If you did, it was quickly swallowed by his traditional haughty confidence. “I just… Well, as long as you’re OK.” Ready, you lifted your blade - and a thought occurred to you.

The timing had to be perfect; if he hadn’t been looking directly at your mouth, he might have missed it. Provocatively raking your eyes down over his long body, you bit your lower lip, and gave a tiny, breathy moan.

It was horribly overdone, but it worked. Loki hesitated for a fraction of a second, his eyes widening, and you took advantage of his momentary distraction to slip below his guard; the steel of your sword captured his, and you pushed - hard. There was the harsh sing of metal-on-metal as you slid down the blade, checking his weapon against his chest. His move was forfeit. He stepped backwards off the edge of the mat, losing his balance - and you pinned him against the wall.

You pressed your body into his, your mediocre blade below his chin, and carefully assessed his face. Was he irritated by your trick? If anything, he seemed… amused.

“That,” he said lightly, looking down at you over his long, regal nose, “was an interesting tactic.”

“You know what they say,” you muttered, still breathing hard. “If you can’t beat them…”

“I dare say it would not be widely effective,” he added.

“More than you think, perhaps.”

And then you noticed it: the slight flush to his cheeks, which could be excused by the workout. The twitch of a muscle at the corner of his jaw. The feel of his perfect cock swelling slowly under his training shorts.

Not amused… Aroused.

Loki knew the moment you’d realised his state of mind. Or rather, state of body.

You’d opened your mouth in mock astonishment, your eyes bright with barely contained glee.

“Are you enjoying this?” you had asked, quietly delighted. The crossed swords had still been pressed unrelentingly against his chest, his blade locked tight under yours. It made his pulse quicken pleasantly.

Loki had given a small, wordless huff, but he didn’t trust himself to speak. In truth, he’d found it highly enjoyable; your control, your audacity, your erotically mischievous little decoy. His own powerlessness. But how could he admit that to you?

The sounds of water splashing off bathroom tile brought him back to the present. Gingerly, he stepped under the heavy jets; steam enveloped him. Lathered soap formed clouds of bubbles that washed away the training-hall grime, the sticky salt that clung to his skin like a fragrance. The precious soreness that assured him that he had worked for this. That he had earned it.

How could he admit that to you? The question turned over in his mind like the soap in his hands, slippery and fraught. It should be simple, really; the evidence was laid bare before him, stripped of illusion and ego in the privacy of his mind. The chamber. The Genuflexa. The young man, beautifully bound. The way your body had risen in his mind's eye to bring him undone, not just then but so many times since…

He let the water run through his long hair, raking his fingernails to help it penetrate all the way to his scalp. He liked the way their sharpness felt on the sensitive skin.

… And in counterpoint, the betrayals of his youth. The early memories of hurt and rejection that had sown the seeds of distrust. The expectations of masculinity and dominance, and the familiarity of the long-worn mask.

Loki lifted his chin to shake the heavy, saturated mass of slick curls out behind him, squeezing the last of the water from it. He thought of you; of how much he would like to tend to your sore muscles, to soothe the bruises you would surely have sustained in combat today. To gently run his fingertips over your scalp, and hear you sigh with contentment.

There was only one sensible question, he decided as he stepped from the lustrous shower recess. Steam was clearing to reveal his glistening face in the bathroom mirror. Did he trust you?

He dried his hands, and picked up his cell phone.

Alright, Agent. Prove me wrong.

Almost immediately, he received your reply. The tone of it sent a little shiver down Loki’s spine.

9pm, my apartment. Be punctual.

Before he could interrogate his feelings about it, his phone gave another gentle ping.

Wear your cape.

Tags: @lokisgoodgirl @acidcasualties @infinitystoner @lady-rose-moon @coldnique @thomase1 @kats72 @holymultiplefandomsbatman @tomlugirl @lokisninerealms @missmushroomsstuff @ladyloki3 @fandxmslxt69 @sinsandguilt @sarahscribbles @lunarnights95 @meowmeow-motherfucker @simplyholl @divine-knight-hand @gigglingtiggerv2 @eleniblue @loz-3 @redfoxwritesstuff @wolfsmom1 @beksib @nyx2021 @lokischambermaid

[vultures-and-scavengers]

okay i have SO many thoughts on the blorbo cullen but my biggest ones are that i wish inquisition showed him In Withdrawal more. like this is terrible but pls make him shaky and unable to eat and like,,, coping with being the leader of the military but physically unable to fight. does this make sense?? 😭

it ENTIRELY makes sense. have you seen his concept art? the bags under his eyes are so big, if he tried to fly on an airline, they'd charge him for each one. he's super gaunt looking. he looks awful. its fantastic.

and then in game he's just pretty boy.

(this got way long, putting the rest under a cut)

and honestly, inquisition did not do a very good job of making the military an actual military? it's very hand-waved, running off the vague pop culture ideas of fantasy militaries, but like. irl, you do not have the #1 boss out on the field. that's not a thing that happens.

and cullen is the equivalent of like. the american joint chiefs of staff. he is in charge of everything. his decisions are going to be bigger than punishing individual soldiers, handling any one units requisitions, etc. he should also definitely have an actual staff. like a small herd of people who can advise and inform and gatekeep anyone who comes to him with questions.

and running the inquisition military alone SHOULD be overwhelming and awful and the sort of stress that ages you by 10 years each week. but nah, he just. is fine. signs some papers. swings a sword around. like, i want to know what your rations look like. what about your supply lines. how are you feeding/outfitting/housing/paying an entire army?

AND THEN they just hand-wave lyrium symptoms, so YEAH, i want to know more. chronic pain, temper, joint issues-- i feel like we can sort of somewhat see those in-game in. you know. the single cutscene we get where he gets into why he's doing this and how its affecting him.

and then he's fine in every other cutscene. and he acts like he's fit to fight and he'll go out into the field, in arbor wilds and shrine of dumat. so whats up, baby girl? whats going on?

so its like this mess of them not reading even a single wikipedia page on militaries (or trebuchets. they have a max effective range of around 350 meters. haven cutscene, i just want to talk.), and then giving us no clear answer on what lyrium does to those trying to get off it, but then since the player might tell him to get back on, permanently or temporarily, the player might not even talk to him, or the player will tell him to stay off it, like, you might have to write four different sets of dialogue afterwards, thinking about how the battles are going?

AUGH.

he's so inconsistent. and some of that is just DAI being a video game, which inherently limits what you can do. but some of it is just like. can we get one or two other people on this story?

and i think his writer was given an impossible task, which ive spoken some with @fenrisisms about: how the hell do you handle emotional fallout from torture, participation in an oppressive system that is encouraged and glorified by the main dominant cultural force in thedas AND was the system that oppressed those that also tortured him, drug addiction and withdrawals, and leading a military that he's 100% not qualified to lead (which i have so many thoughts on) in half a dozen cutscenes? and then add a romance? someone say a prayer for his writer.

and so we get this dude who we're told is suffering from withdrawal because he's trying to quit a substance that has killed or driven mad everyone else that's tried to get off, and he's... fine? outside the one cutscene? while also taking on a monstrously difficult task he's not qualified for (and then succeeds at)?

UGH.

DAI my beloved, you could have been even more.

[open-sketchbook]

on satire

that satire requires clarity of purpose thing fucking broke some people's brains i swear

like i know why it exists, its because some people will use 'its satire' as a blanket defence against criticism, but the problem here is you're having the wrong argument. you shouldn't be trying to say 'no, its not satire', because that is accepting the framing that if it were satire, then holding shitty positions would be acceptable, when the reality is that satire which holds shitty positions still fucking sucks!

but on the other side, like, you can in fact satirize or critique shitty positions through portraying them, its a normal thing that fiction does, there is no such thing as art which can perfectly convey its meaning to everyone because everyone is such a huge fucking category and, get this, people have different views about things

so often, if you portray an accurate vision of a bad thing to show why it is bad, the people who like the bad thing will like it because it portrays the thing they like, and the think the negative consequences of the thing are actually good, even when everyone not them understands it is not

and there's no way to write a thing that will get around that! its not how humans work!

a really good example of this is helldivers 2; the vast majority of normal people understand that the game portrays a fascist state, and does so because the nature of the gameplay involves dying a lot in silly ways, so they made you play unsympathetic idiot assholes so when it happens to you its funny

fascists like super-earth not because they didn't do a good enough job showing how awful super-earth is (it is a constant and blatant theme woven into basically every single mission, tutorial, and line of dialog) but because the things about super earth that are awful are things that they like

there's no clarity of purpose that defeats "i know you are showing me a bad thing, but i am a bad person who likes bad things", or, similarly "i know you are showing me the negative consequences of the thing i like, but i will simply ignore that part"

similarly, if you portray misogyny in something, and your portrayal of misogyny is accurate, misogynists will like it! this is not a flaw of the work, its a flaw of the misogynists!

the idea that this isn't true relies on the delusion that the reason people are fascists or misogynists is because they are ignorant of the consequences, and if shown the consequences, they will stop being fascists and misogynists. this is liberal garbage; they like the consequences.

misogynists think that men making women suffer is good, because it means that men have the unrestricted power over women to make them suffer, and they are in favour of having unrestricted power over women. you cannot portray it bad enough that they go 'oh i get it now'

fascists think that dying stupidly for their country is good, because it means their country is properly engaging in the never-ending darwinistic struggle between people groups they believe in and is unafraid of the consequences, and they are in favour of the never-ending darwinistic struggle because it appeals to their aesthetic sensibilities. you cannot portray it bad enough that they go 'oh i get it now'

portraying either of those things so that normal people understand what it looks like and can have discussions about it is still a valid thing that media can do! like, why the fuck are you allowing various strains of bigots final say in deciding if something acceptably portrays them?

[phoenixcatch7]

I'd love to see a time travel/ng+ fic where all the phantom thieves plus the royal/strikers thieves PLUS all the confidants travel back to when the game starts. Everyone's utterly bewildered.

The core phantoms and kasumi, being already physically close, figure it out pretty quick and regroup, but the rest are left confused and floundering until joker gets there and starts reaching out. But with so many people and everyone so lost and upset, he starts delegating and introducing people to each other so they have more options to reach out in case of emergency and to solidify his own web of connections, and for the better efficiency collaboration brings.

And yes I want to see all the confidants become friends or at least co-conspirators in a grand scheme sharing knowing smiles. I want to see normal people struggling with the reality of having lost a year or two of their lives, the surge of hope or fear as they realise they get to do it all again, feeling confused and alone and with the other confidants and plenty of soul searching build up an eclectic support network with others who share the same goal. As a group they could be so much more, and so many would benefit from joker putting them in touch with each other.

But I mostly want to see people coming to the dawning realisation that the scope of joker's reach he's built up is absolutely insane.

Just about every single named character in this huge game is a tarot confidant. Outside of palace rulers, the (hilariously but sadly rare) acquaintances of friends, and occasional mission target, EVERYONE is a secret member of joker's web. He's got the wildest, 'how did you guys even meet' people in his pocket too.

He's got a sentient AI. He's got a politician. He's got a yakuza guy who sells fake weapons who once took out 50 gang members. He's got a secretly talking cat. He's got a high class lawyer. He's got an underground doctor with like 5 PhDs she got revoked who does human experimentation. He's got a government agent. He's got a fortune teller. He's got a guy running his website and managing public missions for no pay. He's got an up and coming teen model. He's got the second detective prince. He's got a world famous wanted hacker. He's got a ten year old. He's got the REACH baby.

It's so funny. He's got like literally 30 odd people with maxed bonds who all think they're one of very very few who know the secret of the phantom thieves and who would break literal laws for this kid. I just think if they all worked together they'd rule the world. And they'd have a huge support group.

Fortune teller: yeah so then I managed to escape the cult, but it's just been so hard to discover who I am outside of that, you know? And they still want me back, it terrifies me.

Reporter lady: *drunk* girl that's absolutely awful you deserve like sooooo much better listen if I see them sniffing around I'll let you know. You shouldn't have to deal with those guys alone, I know allllllllll about making those kinds of guys sweat.

/Ex yakuza fake gun seller: you remind me of my son. He's a good kid, you'd like him. I can set you up?

10yo gun arcade player: oooh do these have real mechanisms? They look so realistic!

Ex yakuza: joker said you could both do with someone your own age - PUT THAT DOWN-

/Shoji player and art kid (yusuke) from the same school: *sitting in silence doing their own thing during school break, having a fantastic time*

/Akechi: *having a breakdown*

Sae, having hustled him off to an empty room for privacy: you know I can't believe I ever bought your nice act. Anyway do you think I could make a case for getting custody of you?

Akechi, stunned out of his attack: ????? Your sister would murder me.

Sae: yeah but it'd annoy shido and my boss so bad.

Akechi:.... I'll consider it.

/sojiro: I admit it's nice to have an adult to talk to about this... Sometimes I still can't believe it's the kids I know that go out and change the world like this.

Government agent: YEAH even with my own persona it's an absolute Ride. You should be proud. Also your coffee is delicious.

/Government agents daughter and mishima: *having an absolute BLAST designing merch*

The list goes ON its just so many under utilised possible relationships!!! Post games the meta verse is gone and most problems are solved (or dead) but if we put them all together in joker's biggest melting pot it'd be such a ride. All of them just low key scared of how many high ranking connections he has.

Like he just texts someone 'hi I think I know someone you'd like to know. I'm sending them to meet you.' and you're like okay??? I guess we'll see why?? And you round the corner and there's a politician and a previously famous missing teen detective waiting for you and they're here to help you get a restraining order on your stalker if you help predict a lottery number or two. And it just keeps happening. Sometimes you're the 'I know a guy' sent to meet people. Like how does joker even know this many people???? He's just moved here!!

[he11swinter]

hello ,u said u wanted to try doing oneshots so I thought reader x Royce were the reader releases royce from the cage and asks him to help her scare some teens ho are bullying her and they end up having a date and it's mostly pretty lovey dovey maybe they paly baseball...u choose

“A Game of Baseball.” The Torn Prince x Reader

Warnings: brief language, plot holes

You thought you’d be safe from your bullies in the middle of nowhere, but they followed you. Your chest ached for lack of breath, and your feet slipped on the pedals of your bike, bashing your shin, but you had to keep going.

Those horrible boys—you could hear their cackling, their whistling. You refused to look back, trying to keep your eyes on the road ahead. It was dark, though. The only thing you had to light your way was the dying light on your phone, which filled you with panic. You couldn’t slow, and you couldn’t stop to check its reception. You had no idea where you were.

“This ain’t the way home, honey. Your turn’s wayyy back there!” There was no concern in the eldest boy’s pointing of it out, only mocking.

“Leave me along!” Ignoring them did no good—neither did talking back.

You knew they were close. They never seemed to tire. You swore under your gasping breaths and gripped your handlebars tighter, but your wheel hit a pot hole and your tire gave out with a pop! The rim ground on the pavement, and you hit the dirt. The boys braked and you scrambled up before they could grab you—veering off the road, on foot. Your elbows were bleeding, as were your knees beneath your pants.

Hope arose when you glimpsed a light shining from behind the trees ahead: the light of a single house. It was one of those modern art types of houses, erected as seemingly more of a statement than practical housing. It was huge and made of glass and turning gears, shining like a beacon.

You ran for it. As you neared the door, there was no need to throw yourself against it—it opened automatically. Then, it shut behind you; it left the boys banging on the glass, its panels holding solid as steel, and you feeling both relieved and unnerved at the same time.

It seemed you were alone inside. “Hello?” You called out, and were met with an empty echo. “Aw, crap…”

Desperate to get out of the boys’ sight, you took off down the hall, looking for signs of life. Every once in a while you announced yourself again—that you were lost, needed help, and didn’t want to catch anyone off guard, but that you had nowhere else to go.

Through every corner you turned, it all looked the same; through every corner you turned back from, you couldn’t find where you’d come. Your panic was rising.

That’s when you saw the steps downstairs and descended.

…

Royce spent much of his time dozing against the corner of his glass prison. It was your voice who stirred him, made him think at first he was dreaming. But ghosts didn’t really dream, just lay dormant, daydreaming if they dared.

He was already standing when your face, for the first time, emerged from the shadows: eyes wide, shaken. You stopped. At first he Royce thought you had seen him, only to remember the living could not see the dead unassisted.

You turned to go.

“Wait!” He hissed. “Pssst, over here.”

You jumped and glanced back around. “Someone there?”

But that didn’t mean the living couldn’t hear the dead. Royce grinned. “Yes. Yes, over here. Behind the glass.

He put his hands up against it, grinning more wickedly as you approached. He could see your breath, but not his own.

“You stuck in here, too?” he asked.

“Where are you?”

“I’ll tell ya what,” Royce purred, “go get the glasses off the wall there and look again.” You hesitated, and Royce knew you were deeply confused. He soon drifted into an awkward silence, staring around the other glass cages. Reassurance wasn’t something he normally did, or did well. “Nothing’s normal around here. Just trust me on this one. You help me, I’ll help you.”

“What is this place?” You looked for the glasses. Sure enough, there they were.

“A death trap. If, of course, you’re not already dead… In that case, I’ve no idea what’s in store for us.”

He barely realised he was thinking aloud, but you didn’t ask. You raised the glasses to your face and, through their soft blue light, gazed upon Royce for the first time.

“You’re a ghost.” Was it a question, or a statement? Either way, it was true.

“Yes.”

He thought you’d look more frightened. Instead, you looked in awe and concern. “Who did that to you?”

The good side of his face twitched. He knew how he looked: flesh and clothes torn from his body, eternally bloodied and burned and bruised. He wasn’t used to girls looking at him the way you were—after all, he used to be quite handsome.

The ghost shrugged his shoulders. "You look like you had a bit of a drag yourself.”

He watched you look over yourself and nod. “Fell off my bike. A bunch of creeps are chasing me.”

His glower dropped. He didn’t have much time to feel bad for you in return, but for a moment, he let himself; he spoke softer. “There’s a switch down here somewhere. It’s got the same symbol as the one on my door.” He gestured and you examined it. “Hit it, and only it, then I’ll take care of those bullies for you.”

You nodded. You spared a glance around you as four other ghosts wailed to be set free. But Royce didn’t trust them and urged you to go.

“That’s not fair,” the prom queen hissed at him. “Selfish bastard!”

Royce smirked and leaned back, weighing his baseball bat in hand.

…

You were frightened of leaving the ghost more than you were of him, as it meant you were alone again. The walls felt increasingly claustrophobic in the maze-like basement. Luckily, just as he said you would, you found the control room. His symbol was burned into your mind, so you had little trouble finding the right lever.

You reached for it, but hesitated. What if the ghost was trying to trick you? Surely there must have been a solid reason why he was locked up. It made your head spin just thinking about it. But those jerks were still outside...and without someone on your side, there was no chance you were getting home tonight. So—

You pulled it.

The silence was broken by the sound of gears turning, grinding, and glass panels shifting. You stared in surprise as your path from where you came closed before you. You dashed for it, but there was no way you’d make it through before it closed. Your hands just slapped against it, hard.

The ghost appeared to you again, now free of his container. He carried a baseball bat across his shoulders, and on his face, a smug little grin. He must’ve noticed your staring once again, for he shook his head adamantly. “Don’t look at me like that! Sheesh. Beating a girl up was never on my list of ways to say ‘thanks’ for freeing me. Hell nah. This is for your admirers upstairs, as promised.”

He knew the way up. You followed with some relief. “You’re not going to hurt them, are you?”

“Hurt them, or hurt them bad?”

Somehow that made you chuckle despite dabbing the wetness from your eyes. You pursed your lips, a little ashamed. “I thought you meant to just…scare them.”

The ghost, twirling his bat lazily, shrugged. “Whatever. I didn’t have an elaborate plan. I won’t hurt them more than necessary.”

You trailed off and avoided his gaze. For a moment, he looked a little helpless.

A moment passed. He asked you out of the blue: "What's your name?"

You told him. "And what about you?"

“It’s Royce.”

“Thank you for helping me, Royce.”

A flicker of light came to his face, and a smile--not the cunning, sarcastic kind as before, but a look of ease. You figured it must've been a long time since anyone spoke to him kindly, or even much at all.

...

He was a high school student himself...last he was alive...and was no stranger to the cruelty students could show each other. Most often teasing was reserved for the scrawny boys and the ugly girls and Royce stood by and barely batted an eye. You didn't fit those descriptions, however.

The ghost was eager to show you he could handle your bullies. He told himself he was just doing his end of the bargain, but truth be told, it had been a long time since he'd cared to impress a girl--and right now, he wanted to impress you.

He heard the boys before he saw them: mumbling lowly, footsteps light. The glass doors opened, allowing them inside, and when you realised this, Royce felt you tense beside him.

Your bullies called your name between ugly giggles. "Heeerrreee, girly... We're not here for your games of hide and seek, you know..."

His hand tightened on his bat. Royce stepped forward, and you let him. He crept up beside the boys and hissed, "Psst."

Confused, the leader snapped at one of his lackeys. "What?"

"Huh? I didn't say anything."

"Then shut the fuck up."

…

If you weren't so tense, you could have laughed. It was then you remembered the glasses you wore--allowing you to see Royce, and you alone as he rolled his eyes.

The next thing you knew—

WHAM! Royce’s bat struck the glass so hard next to the leader that sparks flew, and he yelled. The sound sent everyone scrambling, shouting “What was that?”

Royce grappled one of the boys. You removed your glasses to witness the way it looked as an invisible force slammed the teen against the glass and punched him, all while the others went white in the face. You soon let the glasses drop back onto the bridge of your nose. Royce reappeared.

You didn’t expect it, but that’s when the leader saw you. He rushed at you, veins popping in his temples. He thought you were doing this, somehow, and cried out for war.

“Royce!” You cried out in panic. The ghost was busy, but he heard you. He tossed his baseball bat across the floor, and it rolled to your feet. You thought you noticed a flash of a smile from him, daring you to pick it up, to use it, to play too.

And you did. You swung it at your bully, but he caught it and tried to wrestle it free. Like a flash of lightning, Royce was on top of him. The boy in the back scrambled to his feet and out of the house in terror. The others followed, leaving their leader to cry out after them: “Guys! No! Get back here right now!”

You caught eyes with Royce as he reached for his bat from you. Concerned, you held onto it. You said, “I think that’s all he needs.”

He considered, then let the leader go too, who fled faster than you’d ever seen anyone. You expected him to look disappointed, but he laughed.

You looked to the open doorway. You had no way to know if or when it would open again. It was your only exit right in front of you, but for a moment, it didn’t matter. You reached out and your hand wrapped—successfully—around Royce’s hand.

He looked surprised. “What are you doing?”

You blushed. “I can touch you.”

“Yeah? So?”

“I thought your hand was supposed to go through a ghost.”

The statement caught him off guard, like it was the first time her ever thought about it. He stared at your hand, lost in thought.

It was daring, sure, but you stretched up to place a quick peck on his cheek. Your face felt burning red as he tilted his head to look at you. “A thank you,” you said.

“Don’t…don’t mention it.” He turned his face, but you knew he was smiling. He stood and let his bat hang loosely in his fingers. Then, he smirked and said, “You know…you’ve got a good swing, but you clearly don’t know how to hold a bat.”

“I didn’t realise it was such a delicate stance,” you shot back, with a chuckle of your own. “Why don’t you give me a lesson?”

Royce jerked his head to the door. “Let’s get the hell outta here, and that lesson’s all yours.”

[nomsfaultau]

Important PR Response to the Wilbur Soot scandal:

    Abuse in any form is abhorrent, and I condemn Wilbur’s actions. Previously I had established the division between people and personas in my work. I failed to reiterate the stance during the course of Fault, and would like rectify this now. I work with characters and not creators.

No works will be deleted. I will be continuing to use Wilbur Soot as a character only in preexisting works. Fault, Mandatory Family Reunion, and back burner projects will continue. The preplanned plot lines will not be altered greatly, so don’t expect sudden deaths, character assassination, name changes*, etc. However, I am not certain about Lighting Lanterns to Bring You Home as it is Wilbur-centric so it may be abandoned.

The current plans for this blog’s future are as follows:

- My characters be tagged as ‘Noms Wilbur’ or ‘SCP Wilbur’ for people who want to block tags. If cc comes up, he'll be tagged.

- I will not be financially supporting Wilbur in any way. I believe this is an important component in any Death/Disavowal of the Author situation. My fics are unlikely to contribute to further monetary/platform support that facilitates the further harm of the victim/s.

- No new AUs will involve Wilbur, so as projects finish he will be phased out more and more. Though keep in mind Fault is an extremely long term project.

- For those who wish to disconnect from the fandom entirely and stop following this blog, I wish you the best. Genuinely. This is a rough situation.

If anyone has any respectful and reasonable questions/comments, the ask box is always open. Please do not engage in bad faith; I am trying to do my best here. Below the cut I discuss my personal justifications and philosophies upon the matter. I’m not trying to force them on anyone, so please return the same courtesy.

    My reasonings: As I said after Technoblade’s death, I’ve poured a little too much of my soul into this to stop. I fully understand the people who have walked away, because I also feel sick and angry and sad and just— betrayed that this person I admired and enjoyed was abusing the people around him. But I am not going to let Wilbur’s vile actions poison the pride in the art I’ve made. And the fandom? We built it, not him. These are our stories and our drawings and our joy. So many other wonderful creators and fans poured so much effort into this community. To me, it feels like a betrayal to Technoblade’s legacy to let everything be tarnished. And I’m just not ready to lose this fandom that has meant so much to me for 4 years.

    I’m going to try for a little nuance here, a dangerous game on Tumblr I know. But part of the betrayal that I’m sure many of us are feeling is the thought we were tricked into liking a bad person. I have a friend who has been pouring over all of Wilbur’s content the last few days, desperate to find all the red flags they missed, painting every single thing he’s ever done with the knowledge of the things we couldn’t have known. And it’s not healthy for them, or anyone. In many stories we like to have a clear cut good and bad guy, because it’s easier if it’s true. The abuser becomes a cartoonishly evil caricature that makes it harder to recognize them in real life, and it makes real victims seem stupid for being hurt when shouldn’t it be so easy to tell? But it’s not, it’s messy, and complicated, and awful. Because in real life, abusers are people, and they can do good things like charity streams and making you laugh when you’re having a bad day and fostering wonderful communities of creative, amazing fans. They seem generous, and kind, because…they are. And they’re also abusive. And it’s really hard to hold both truths at the same time, which is why people prefer jump to extremes of defending and demonization. We like to believe the people we like are good people.

    Truthfully, I don’t believe in ‘bad people’ which is probably evident in much of my writing. I find it a category that too often used to discourage growth, remove culpability, and dismantle nuance. The moment people become monsters there is no question of rehabilitative justice, no question of what conditions and structures enabled this that need to be mended, revised, or replaced. The question becomes how do we destroy the monster instead of how do we protect future victims. Remove support from Wilbur, yes, but the next step is to give that support to Shubble. Mobs are fun. They feel right. But monsters don’t exist, people do, and people are complicated and abuse is complicated and their solutions must be accordingly nuanced. Sticking one guy’s head on a pike might ‘save’ the victim (which: Shubble saved herself), but it doesn’t support them in the long run. And it certainly doesn’t address the underlying personal, mental, and societal problems that caused someone to be abusive and allowed them to be undetected. And if anything, when put in a corner most people only get more desperate and dangerous to others and themselves. Justice requires far more effort than monster hunting, which is why it is often rare. And like we already discussed, people are often bad at detecting when someone is abusive. I’m not saying Wilbur is innocent, obviously. I’m saying demonization is a dangerous game and most people have done good and bad.

    But also, most people aren’t abusive pieces of shit.

    I don’t want to demonize Wilbur, but also I’m not going to wipe my hands of it by throwing my hands up, claiming there’s too much nuance blah blah morals are complicated, and then not actually hold him accountable. Wilbur does not deserve a platform with which to perpetuate his harmful actions. In reaction to this, we need to build systems and communities that don’t enable abuse, to support victims, and to help abusers become better without giving them the opportunity to hurt other people or themselves. Which, you know, is *slightly* outside the scope of one SBI fanblog, but I’ll do my best and pray others choose the same.

    I understand people who want to raze everything he’s ever touched, to delete all their fan works and eviscerate their love for anything involving him. I really, really do. I feel nauseous every time I try to write. But I’m trying to not throw the baby out with the bathwater, because I’ve found a lot of good here and I refuse to abandon it. My enjoyment of the story and community Wilbur helped inspire does not condone the bad he’s done, nor do I support him financially or emotionally. It’s a really difficult line to walk, but this is where my morals fall at least. I want to reclaim the joy I used to have.

    I hope Shubble is able to recover and heal from the harm done to her. She’s a wonderful person and is lucky to have friends and a community that have supported her in this time. I’m glad that the fandom has (mostly) collectively disavowed her abuser instead of exploding into controversy and a ‘he said-she said’ toxic mess a la Dream style, even if it hurts knowing much of the community we’ve built has been destroyed. Lastly, I pray Wilbur will become a better person. I would like to believe anyone has the capacity for redemption, but that is a decision entirely within his hands alone at this point. As for me, I will simply do what I think reduces harm and uplifts joy.  I may be wrong, but I will continue to do my best.   

Again, if anyone has any respectful and reasonable questions/comments, the ask box is always open.

[qedmirage]

Chapter 14 awaits! Let's go go go!!! As ever, gameplay thoughts first and then story thoughts below the cut. Which means...first off, disappointment!

Up until 13-5 instead of new mechanics you're dealing with Londinium Second Defence Artillery again, my least favorite arc 2 mechanic! At least I have a lot of practice dealing with it now. It was just kinda disappointing to see it come back...in my head I know it allows for a few interesting ways to handle things as you deliberately cause blue-on-blue incidents (for them) but I've never liked how it seems like the targeting can switch last second because a single scrimblo touched your defender. Once past that though we get a new mechanic, centered around these guys:

Bloodborn Spawn and Blood Ambers are hilariously tuned to be countered by Hoederer exactly. But enjoyably there's a bunch of ways past them. For those not familiar, the spawn deal arts damage and lifesteal; they also deal increased damage the more of them a single target is blocking. That makes them really good at chewing through defenders and really awful at fighting Crushers exactly; their enormous HP pools mean they're the best at tanking these guys. When defeated, Spawn turn into Ambers, which have enormous defences (3k Def, 90 Res) and negative taunt. If they're within the range of a Bloodcalling Altar, they'll die and spawn a Bloodborn Spawn at the altar when it activates its skill (every 20 seconds). So, many stages revolve around managing this endless tide of respawning arts-damage scrubs. And enjoyably, there's a ton of ways to deal with them! Some examples: - Hoederer's True damage to burn down Ambers - Virtuosa S3 to necrosis-> True damage Ambers - Ceobe S2 Mod3; with 3k defence she does enormous damage to Ambers - Manticore + Ascalon, who can infinitely stall the respawning horde - Pushers or Pullers to shove Spawn into holes, preventing respawning And I'm sure there's more. This was also the first episode I played entirely on its Hard (Adverse) mode, and it was a fun experience, with only 2 or 3 stages (13-5,13-15,13-21) giving me enough trouble that I felt the need to refer to a guide for ideas. The TF2 bomb-pushing mechanic is incredibly funny ('so then I rammed a VBIED into him') and gives Marksmen a day in the sun as the game's gradually inflating defences slowly leaves them behind. I suspect Exusiai would actually be good at killing phase 2 of the episode boss, if you could time it so her skill activates after a bomb hits him. The other new enemies are interesting enough; special mention to the Fluxcaster, which slowly grinds down my Ambusher Stall strat; and the Boneguard Torturer, who gets you thinking about splitting enemies up or using truly insane numbers of DPS. The Welfare op, Delphine, is cool and one of the few I've leveled, though I'm a known Mystic Caster partisan. I wish her last talent was just an anti-sarkaz one instead of a chapter 13 only one, but alas. Her animations and art are great though, 6* levels of glam on a free 5*. On to the story below the cut. Spoilers abound!

There's a lot that happens in this one, so much that it's kinda hard to pull out a specific overarching thread - it's an ensemble story alright - but I'm gonna be my boring self and start with the milhist portion. Which is, the Victorian Dukes get owned. This whole chapter is a gradually escalating military disaster that will be taught in Columbian war colleges to illustrate the perils of divided command.

For four goddamn years the Dukes have been locked in a stalemate with the KMC and each other. In that time they failed to stop enemy resupply, they failed to exert tactical and strategic pressure on their foe, and they failed to even begin to understand their opponent's strategic and political goals. In the earlier conversations the dukes and their staff are focused mostly on their future wars with each other, not the present war with the Sarkaz. They underestimated their foe and they paid dearly for it; because they gave Theresis time, time enough to build an airship that could blow them up at his leisure, time enough to construct the Shard, time enough to organize and then transport the Nachzeherer Legions via the Lifebone. This isn't actually unrealistic, imo, there are plenty of people IRL who have been way dumber - look up the battle of Bien Dien Phu. But it's striking how much their political infighting cripples them. Even with Caster's intelligence network penetrating Londinium, the Victorian Dukes didn't grasp that Theresis was going to go on the offensive and had the capability to do so. They didn't manage to find the Lifebone and its logistic network before an entire legion had appeared past their interdiction. They didn't even grasp the tactics of the Sarkaz military, until after Theresis's offensive started. The time factor is also truly unforgiveable when you keep in mind a remark that 75% of their armies are conscripts. For people who aren't huge nerds, that means they've been redlining their economies to support field armies full of workers who go and sit in trenches and stare at the Sarkaz while fields and factories go untended back home. For four years! Meanwhile Theresis has been conserving his strength, and only pulls a full mobilization of his best soldiers from Kazdel when he's ready for the decisive moment. And when that decisive moment comes at the end of the chapter, he commits all his forces in a singular thrust. If the Victorian Dukes had done the same at any point in the preceding four years, they'd have taken heavy losses, they may have lost their lives to the next duke to roll in - but they'd been able to win, instead of ceding the strategic initiative to Theresis and letting him choose to fight only when he's sure he can succeed.

They should have listened to Windmere. Anyways, on to other things - the Lifebone!

I love The Lifebone. It's kinda funny how each arc 2 chapter seems to have Theresis get a new mystical superweapon, but in a fun break from pattern the focus for this chapter is... a logistics vessel! It's weird and fantastical and somebody cared about logistics, I love it. Skeleton whale that dives through history to teleport cargo? fuck yeah. Other story bits... It's cool to see Siege step up and become a leader, though it's kinda sad to see the Self-Salvation Corps implode to make room for her to do so. Still, the Exemplars are cool and it's nice to see them fight. I like Amiya's final showdown with the Sanguinarch:

That's our king! She's very fierce!!

I also love the Logos Trans moment ('I thought all banshees were supposed to be girls?' 'correct.' 'oh ok'). But don't forget that in the same scene, Logos flashes back to the first time he used his bone whistle to mark a passing - for himself, and for the old identity of the Sarkaz, just before he left home. Symbolism!

The lives of the Brentwood civilians under occupation, and the Sarkaz officer's attempts to make it better, really ring to historical incidents for me. Alas, the KMC was not aiming for occupation so much as annihilation. The Reunion stuff this chapter was good to see too, their focus on being an all-hands liberation movement really gets to the core of the story past all the wizard nonsense. Not sure what Nowell's doing with them, I guess we'll deal with him later.

[quillkiller]

*crawls up to you* please, spare and effie and barty for a starving man.. they taste so good i need more..please

-🐌

LISTEN!!!!!! i’ve been thinking about them the entire day. been at work and they’re just slowly rotating in my mind driving me to insanity

in the pool boy au living in my mind effie invites him into the house whenever fleamont isn’t home. he lounges around, making himself comfortable, determined to contamining every single space with his presence so effie will always think of him……… the first time they sleep together in monty and effies bed he turns their wedding photo down while looking her directly in the eye…… she’s smirking and forgets to fix it and fleamont sees it before bed and he’s all ’what happened to our picture?’ and effie just shrugs and says it must’ve fallen over. barty texts her that night asking if she’s thinking of what they did in her marital bed when she’s next to monty. she sends back a ’yes’.

barty is at her absolute beck and call he’ll do whatever she wants he wants to give her everything she’s been to afraid to demand from someone else. he’s up for everything and she’s not shy with him at all. she’s touching herself by the pool watching barty and he’s so caught off guard when he sees her that he falls into the pool. ’oh no!! lets go into the pool house and dry you off’ and as soon as the door closes he’s straddling her on the bed. effie LOVES it when he straddles her……….. she manhandles him into every position she wants him and he just LETS HER. goes along like whatever you say gorgeous

they talk about litterature and art and music and whenever they’re all snuggled up and smelling of sex they end up talking for well over an hour. he loves impressing her. he’s top of his class after all and he wants her to know. he wants to be enough for her and he wants to be more interesting than her boring ass husband. they get high together when monty is away at some business trip. he stays the night and they’re giggling and making out lazily and fucking and barty even left his phone at home. none of his friends know where he is and my mans does NOT care. effie thinks he’s so sweet and charming and yeah he looks cool and dangerous but then its 2 in the morning and he’s telling her about his upbringing or about his hopes and dreams or he’s telling her what her eyes makes him think of and she’s so fucking charmed. hes so fucking sweet when he wants to be and he so raaaaaarely wants to be!!!!!!!!! at first it was a silly little game to barty just flirting with a hot milf and maybe even sleeping with her but now he’s captivated body and soul and he would probably kill monty if she asked him to……. he dreams about it and them running away together

he tells her about all his tattoos and how most of them are stupid and he just did them because he simply wanted to and effie kisses each one when he tells her. they’re naked the entire weekend they spend together and oh no!!!!! monty is home early!!!!! barty has to jump from the window and make it out of there!!!!!! effie gives him a nasty snog when he’s hanging from the window and bites his lip and when he’s home she texts him that she’s already bored without him

THATS THE THING. THEY’RE BOTH BORED AND END UP IN THIS MESSY NASTY AFFAIR AND HAVING SO MUCH FUN TOGETHER AND ITS BEAUTIFUL AND STRANGE AND AWFUL BUT THEY’RE PULLED TOWARDS EACH OTHER LIKE MAGNETS………..

[thekingofwinterblog]

Ok so, having seen the Gameplay trailer that Bioware pulled out of their ass in the aftermath of possibly the worst videogame trailer in history, i have to say im not impressed... But i almost am.

Because they ALMOST got it right. Like all the building blocks are there, but it's always just one step off from being great.

Like the character models dont look anything the like the complete joke that was the fortnite DA trailer... But while you can tell the animators put their heart and soul into the models, they still look awful.

And it's ALL the lighting and coloring's fault.

The thing is, the models and enviornment doesnt look terrible in a vacuum... but the problem is that it ALL blends together. It's all just a mixmatch of colors and shades that makes the entire thing look like an uncoordinated mess with no rhyme or reason behind it.

Take this shot of minarathous. It's not just grey, on top of grey, but it sure looks like it. The colors, rather than contrast and embolden everything to make it look striking, instead makes it one, big, sloppy looking mess.

Here is one, single shot from Inquisition to illustrate the poiny. Notice how everything is very grey here too, but the way the lighting is, you can easily differentiate between everything, every character sticks out so much better and looks infinitly more interesting and memorablr just by virtue of not looking like they're part of the background.

It's not a coincidence that the only part of this gameplay showcase that looks absolutely stunning is Solas, because he is the only character who actually has the lighting to stand out, both when illuminated by the blue magical energy withouth the purple, white and blue mess that is now how magical energy looks, but also in the shots where he's illuminated by the veil.

I can tell you why it looks like this too.

The lighting and colorists of the development team was trying so, so very hard to make the concept art lighting translate to 3d models and enviornments... And it just doesnt work.

Maybe there is a way to make these pieces work in 3d, but this sure aint it.

Maybe the enviornments that are set in the daylight will look better, but i can tell you, that with this engine and style, every single nightshot is going to look absolutely atrocious, regardless of wheter the models look better than that horrible fortnite trailer.

Then there is the dialogue.

Now there are a lot of complaits that a lot of the dialogue is the usual by now terrible Marvel "banter" that the MCU unfortunately popularized.

You know, the quirky, dont take itself too seriously style of writing that almost never works outside the MCU pre Endgame.

But that's actually not my main vomplaint with it.

My complaint is how... Lifeless the voice actors sounds.

I just listened to these lines, and the thing that struck me is not that they're bad, but how i KNOW both Varric and Solas Voice actors are so much better than this.

"People are dying right now! You need to listen!" "People are always dying. It is what they do."

Like... These lines SHOULD work.

I know the common joke is that this is the usual terrible dialogue in the vein of "My face is tired from dealing with you", but the fact is that it's actually good on paper.

Varric here should sound like he's pleading, making one, last, final plea to his old friend Solas, reminding him that people are fucking dying all around them(Though the rest of the scene dont exactly convey that).

A plea to his humanity.

And solas throws back that he knows. He KNOWS people are dying. That's what they always do.

For anyone who knows Solas at all, this is such a good line. You dont need him to go into a spiel about how his entire reason for doing this is so that people no longer have to die all the time, that the entire reason they do die is because of him...

It should work... but it doesnt.

Solas Actor is NOT giving it his A-Game. At all. And neither is Varric's.

He doesnt sound like the emotional Solas we saw in Inquisition, and frankly neither does Varric. Any and all charisma both had are seemingly gone, replaced by two actors who make the characters sound like themselves, but eithouth the emotion that made them work.

Just hearing Solas telling Varric that this story does NOT end with his downfall just makes me think that the actor either didn't give a shit, or was bored... Which was just hammered in further when Solas just gives a pathethic scream of "Noooooo!" When his big plan is foiled.

Maybe it's that the rest of the writing is just so bad that they just gave up, or they had the same level of quality for their voice director that george lucas gave his actors during the prequel triology filming.

Either way, this really just hammered in the point for me of kind of game we're getting here... And i didnt even touch the gameplay in this post.

[oneefin]

i beat world of goo 2 last weekend. phenomenal experience! absolutely worth the hype and my $30

i took a far-from-exhaustive set of screenshots of some standout times from my playthrough that left me in awe (all relatively spoiler free)

so i'm no video game reviewer, but i'll spill out some thoughts i have. spoiler warning from here on out!

world of goo 2 thoughts

this really doesn't need saying, because it's self-evident, but the game is gorgeous. literally oozing with completely unique and original art on every screen, including all the insane reflections and goo shapes and typography and artstyle shifts. i spent the start of every level just panning around admiring what i was looking at

on top of that, it sounds amazing. the game is about 6 hours if you go quick, but it's set to a score with a combined length of almost 2 hours. the sheer density of music in this game is breathtaking already, and the fact that it's absolutely world-class is the bonus on top

the level design is everything i expected from this team - a series of elegant, concept-driven scenarios that bounce rapidly from mechanic to mechanic without being afraid of underdeveloping any of them, in a way that feels exceptionally hand-crafted and curated. i felt so much care placed in every individual level, even if that meant there weren't so many of them

the emphasis on fluid simulation was especially cool - and i don't mean that in a "oh it's very technical and innovative and etc", as lots of programmer-y graphics-y gameplay elements tend to present themselves. the design does a really really good job at reigning in the inherent chaos of liquid physics and making it do a single, elegant thing that's exactly what you expect in every situation

the story of world of goo 2 is very windy and adventurous, but it's still cohesive! one of my worries going into this was that the story was going to lean more abstract / unresolutive, similar to past tomorrow corporation games, but for this they managed to craft a story arc that makes sense while still being fundamentally unpredictable - you can never tell what will happen next or in what direction things are going

chapter 4 was definitely a risky move! it panned out for me specifically but i can understand people not appreciating the tonal shift and/or the detective noir stuff. i thought the noir levels ran a risk of being too slow-paced relative to the other levels, but the payoff of the chapter finale really sold the whole thing for me - that was extremely cool. (i suspect they actually cut a set of levels from the chapter - ones corresponding to world of goo 6, mentioned in the finale level. now i'm just curious what it was...)

i think calling it "chapter 5" rather than "epilogue" in this game ran a risk of bad expectation setting, where people might be disappointed to see a chapter with only 4 levels, rather than a dozen and a half. i personally saw this coming so i wasn't bothered, although i felt the levels could have stepped it up challenge-wise, to feel like more fitting send-offs

i haven't hunted ocds seriously yet, but i expect to give it a spin sometime! maybe after more people upload videos of their crazy strategies. going for ocds lengthens the runtime of the game significantly - they're not trivial!

excellent sequel overall. it's great if you're going into it expecting exactly what world of goo 1 was, just with different, more 2020s ideas - it doesn't overdeliver or underdeliver compared to that.

[althaiareads]

Hiya, I'm normally way too anxious to pop into someone's asks but I love the selection of Joel and Tommy Miller fics you have. Do you have any authors you would recommend for either of them and any fics you'd recommend? Thank you <3

Aaaahhhhh! Thank you so much for sending an ask! It means the world to me that you enjoy my carefully curated (not at all) blog. You are so lovely!!

As for recs... I recently responded an ask with outbreak day themed fics, and I wholeheartedly recommend their work. They are amazing writers.

Here you have some more recs.

For authors, a.k.a. please read their entire masterlists:

@ay0nha is just an amazing writer, seriously. Their work is absolutely incredible. I would recommend Dead Man Walking and Violent Delights, Violent Ends, both are Tommy Miller fics that are unbelievable! I am currently in a brain rot over VDVE Tommy, it's so good.

@inej-ruination-ghafa again, because I just love her so much. I am in the process of devouring her entire masterlist. I would recommend Bloody Hands for Tommy Miller, absolutely amazing! As for Joel I would go with Mine it's just so cute, absolutely incredible.

@pedgeitopascal just read her entire masterlist. Please. Vee is an amazing writer, everything she writes is gold. If I had to rec some of her work, I would go with To do the right thing (which she's turning into a full out series and I'm so excited about it) and A safe haven an ongoing series that I love so much. But seriously, go through her entire masterlist, I did, and wow.

@inklore I mean, Laur is a must when talking fic recs. Her work is amazing, she's in hiatus right now, but she has posted some of the most delicious smut I have read in my life, and I say this as a non smut girly. My fav would have to be Folly it has the angsty edge I love. It is part of the wicked game series, and I love it.

@nexusnyx Nyx, the absolute love of my life. Her writing is straight up poetry, I love it. I melt in compliments whenever she posts. My favs from her are the series Journey to Kintsugi, and this drabble, both are for Joel Miller. Again, please check out her entire masterlist.

@kteague have I recc'd them yet? I don't know, but they are astonishing! Their work is art in every single way. My fav has got to be A Future Together, I promise there's the most twisted unexpected twist halfway through the series that'll make you question your life!

@guess-my-next-obsession is absolutely incredible! I would rec Elementary a series set pre outbreak, and all the drabbles she's put out in that universe.

For one-shots or short series, a.k.a. people that I have not yet had the time to read all their work, but they are absolutely amazing:

Tommy Miller

It will come back by @moonlight-prose the softest hottest smut you'll read in your life, I promise. One of the first Tommy fics I read, I think, and it made me fall for the man.

The best thank you by @augustghosts it's domestic, established relationship with Tommy, and it's so cute. Tommy is a little shit sometimes, but that's okay, he makes up for it.

You are the reason by @angsty-twihardxx it's a three part series, and omg did I suffer reading it! Angsty as fuck, and absolutely beautiful, I loved the ending so much.

Apple of my eye by @gtgbabie0 is just so me, you know? It's set in Jackson, and it is just the cutest.

But then I found her by @iraot right so. I cried. A lot. So, I think you should too. That's all I'm gonna say. Please check it out, it's amazing.

Joel Miller

Safe & Sound by @pagesfromthevoid Cress is an amazing writer! And I wholeheartedly recommend all of her work. This is her first Joel Miller series and is just so good? Two chapters out, and I am eating this shit up!

Why She Spared Me by @colonelarr0w spoilers for the game TLO2, so careful, love. But... I sobbed like a baby reading this. It hurt, it broke my heart, it was awful, I loved it.

This one by @forever-rogue wing woman Ellie for the win. Joel being all nervous, Jackson being the safe place it is. It's such a cute and fun read, amazing!

Unexpected by @typingcorgi okay, this one is HOT! But also, soft, it is a lovely relationship between the two of them and I love it so much. I am eagerly waiting for the last part <3

Ughh, I feel like I'm forgetting many talented writers, and I've come back like 20 times already, but that's all I have for now :(

Please if anyone has more recs, do add them! 🫶🏻🩷🫶🏻

Happy reading, love <3

[ryuichirou]

Replies

Alright, a couple of regular replies, and then some about Jade!

eh-nonnie-mouse asked:

I'm so nervous to de anon but your newest comic of Floyd/Idia comic is too cute! I'm sure Floyd totally doesn't have any ulterior motives once he realizes what position they are in.

This is such a silly thing to be nervous about since I write problematic content (mostly incest) and enjoy your Shroudcest stuff a lot. You have such a beautiful art style and I am so happy my anon blurbs (the Seb/Ceil and Fin/Ciel and some other NSFW stuff) make you two somewhat happy 😊. I know I don't interact with a lot but I hope to drop more chats in non anon.

Thank you so much! We really appreciate it <3

Floyd is super invested in that game he’s playing, but once they’re in this very convenient position, he’ll show Idia how much of a multitasker he can be >:3c He’ll impress him for sure.

And even though it’s going off-anon is an anxious thing to do, it’s good to see a person behind all those asks :) Nice to meet you!

Anonymous asked:

(Referring to your fem twst art) I absolutely NEED to see fem!Silver in Aurora’s 1959 commoner outfit! She would look so pretty!!! 🥺😍🥺😍

Ahh SHE WOULD, ANON, SHE REALLY WOULD!! And honestly this is my favourite outfit of Aurora.

I don’t have anything to show right now, but I really hope to draw fem!Silver in this dress. Even though she probably spent the majority of her time wearing pants…

Btw thank you for loving my fem!Silver, it means a lot ;w;

Anonymous asked:

In this household we love Jade ❤️

In all seriousness the fandom doesn't give him enough love, Jade is always the other woman when it comes to ships and worst of all it's always Floyd his own twin brother that gets the girl anyways. Make a donation to save Jade from second male lead syndrome 😢/j.

Ahh, poor Jade. Always a bridesmaid, never the bride… I can picture him sobbing quietly and wiping his tears with a tiny little handkerchief… :”(

To be fair, I think Jade finds his position quite advantageous: if everyone always pays attention to Floyd, he gets to not only act as if he isn’t the same when it comes to being chaotic and dangerous, but also have this element of surprise!

He also doesn’t flirt as obviously and as often as Floyd does, so we can blame Jade’s sneaky ways to collect his bottoms lol

Anonymous asked:

by chance, do you think Jade would like using idia as a lab rat? aka feeding him all kinds of mushrooms to test their effects and inevitably doing the affection +100 nighttime-activities command with a very drugged up idia

Anonymous asked:

I wonder if Jade being the awful guy he is (lovingly) would test out every single kink from A-Z on Idia?

Those are two different asks, but I feel like they are kind of connected because in my head to Jade testing out kinks and using someone as a lab rat are pretty much the same thing lol And to answer both of them: YES, Jade would absolutely do that if he had an opportunity. I guess the second option is more possible because it seems less dangerous, and I wanted to say that it would come first, but…. Honestly? With Jade it could go either way.

He could either start experimenting on Idia and it’d turn out sexual, or he’d start having sex with Idia, but then they’d end up experimenting somehow.

I don’t know what needs to happen for Idia to get stuck with Jade-the-shroom-guru and his tests, but Jade would be very excited. I mentioned it our other Jade/Idia posts, but: he would love to see if some mushrooms would change the colour of his hair or the way it burns. In this way, Idia is the most perfect lab rat ever – it’s so much fun! Not to mention how helpless Idia becomes when he’s drugged up… even more-so than he is usually~

[sasaranurude]

Coly, the company behind Mahoyaku and Stand My Heroes, have announced a new game. Some friends and I realized that despite looking somewhat generic at first glance, it's got a handful of intriguing things going on with it! So here's a quick kind of long introduction to/my thoughts on Break My Case!

First: the website! The music on the site is really good! Go listen while you read this post!! There are 12 people listed as composers in the credits page, and it seems most every VA involved has at least a bit of experience with singing or music projects. The tone is a bit dark for a rhythm game (though I'm not ruling that out entirely), but otherwise it seems like there's gonna be a music focus. Cool! As far as other staff goes--the main scenario writer is also the writer of Stand My Heroes, and the character designer is Utako Yukihiro, who also did some work for B-Project.

The story concerns a cafe with a myriad of eccentric employees that runs an after-hours service where they solve problems. The exact nature of all this is left pretty vague.

And the draw for a game like this: The characters! Interestingly, they're divided into different departments at the cafe. What exactly those departments do isn't clear yet. As for the characters themselves--the more we looked at them, the more we liked them, lol. Quick summaries about what intrigued us about each guy. Note that these are not translations, none of us are fluent in Japanese (we all know just enough to get by with the google+jisho combo lol), and this should all be taken with a grain of salt.

The Main Office, consisting of Ai Kosaka, Yuzuru Kise, and Roka Suoh. (Names are listed in western given-family order because that's what the site uses for romanized names.) Roka is the one who owns the cafe, is the oldest character in the bunch at 36, and is that fun "mysterious guy with unknown backstory and an endless amount of weird acquaintances, who acts incompetent but might actually be hypercompetent" type of trope.

On account of the whole acting-incompetent thing, Ai and Yuzuru run the actual cafe business. And normally I won't be including fullbody character art in this post but I have to make an exception just this once.

Anyways.

Tumblr won't let me put four images in a row. Come on man. I wanna maintain the BMC's site style. Why are you mean to me. Anyways. The Simulation Department, consisting of Kou Ayato, Mao Ukyo, Akehoshi Hinomiya, and Yuragi Kanno. "Simulation" is its English name given on the site, but the Japanese given would probably read more like "relationship department".

Kou is a footloose playboy and Mao is a serious intellectual type, but apparently Kou will ask Mao to pretend to be his girlfriend so that he can avoid trouble with women. That's gay. I love that. (Mao is a guy [as far as we know], he just likes makeup--he's not the only one in that cast who does, either!) We all want Mao's outfit.

Akehoshi was a sleeper hit in the group chat, because his bio has a sentence about how he's the most normal-looking-yet-dangerous employee at the cafe, and also explicitly describes him as being like a dog, and naturally we all went crazy for the silly puppy as soon as we realized that he was in fact a silly puppy. Yuragi, on the other hand, likes cats. Such a classic for his character design trope, lmao.

The Administrative Department, consisting of Taiga Tsukimoto, Haruhi Ichikawa, and Sei Okiya. Taiga looks cool but if you look at his fullbody he's wearing awful sweatpants and apparently he cries while watching anime. I love this for him. Haruhi is a streamer because that's like an obligatory character trope now I guess. Sei was very popular in the group chat for being the single most suspicious character in the cast. What's his problem.

The Watchdog Department (or enforcement department, if you translate the jpn) consists of Shizuka Fushimi, Takeru Mikado, Soyogu Shinkai, and Shinobu Aizawa.

My friend described Shizuka as a "wet looking glasshole" and yeah. ok. unfortunately he does look like that. But it's ok he's allowed because his bio says he prefers quiet, orderly places with plants and no people and keeps to himself in common spaces but his own room is a complete mess. AKA he's an autism king. So I like him.

Takeru was obviously a hit because look at them. Takeru and Mao talk about makeup together, apparently. CUTE! Shinobu is the most fashionable guy in the cast and his bio says he has a few screws loose, which is amazing. Good for him. I have nothing to say about Soyogu I think I forgot he existed until I was putting this post together and I only looked at these all guys a few hours ago

The Negotiation Department, with Kiho Arima, Kyoya Shido, and Riku Tateshina. I described this group as "grandma, grandpa, and Columbo" and then the group chat couldn't call any of them anything else. And I do mean grandma. Because. ok. another fullbody. Because oh my god we have to look at Kiho.

GIRL. WHAT. IS. THAT. YOU'RE WEARING A CARPET. YOU'RE WEARING A COUCH. kiho is apparently a fortune teller and my friend acted as if this excused the outfit but i DONT agree i don't think anything excuses this. WHAT IS THAAAAAT

Kyoya is an artist and Riku is a psychologist so honestly this is a really fun bunch of jobs going on in this department. Riku is described as someone who falls in love easily, and he's most interested in Ai (from the Main Office, the very first guy in this post). We couldn't tell if the implication there is that he's in love with Ai, or if he falls in love with random people and yet his true attention always drifts back to Ai. Both of these options are gay.

The ST (special tasks) Department, with Yomose Onda, Yu Nina, Kamiya, and Urara Manami.

Yu had his life saved by Tomose and has now dedicated himself to him, to the point of being ready to die for him. YOU GOTTA LOVE THAT. INCREDIBLE TROPE. UNBEATABLE. GAY AS HELL. All we know from Tomose's side is that he's "fond" of Yu. That's fine I'm sure you can learn to love him. Or learn to hate him. Whatever's more entertaining.

Kamiya has no memory, hence the singular name. I'm sure whatever's going on there is weird and interesting. Urara is the youngest character, at 20. THAT'S RIGHT. THE YOUNGEST CHARACTER IS 20. THERE ARE ZERO TEENAGERS! THE AVERAGE CHARACTER AGE IS AROUND 26. THIS SHOULDN'T BE AS NOTABLE AS IT IS BUT THAT'S GACHA GAMES FOR YOU. Anyways I like Urara because I think he looks like an angry kitty.

Anyways, that's the gist of what we know about BMC--or BreMai, if you wanna go for something closer to the jpn abbreviation--right now. More info might drop at/around Animate Girls Fest, since they seem to be giving out game beta codes there. I don't know if I'm completely sold on it just yet--coly did just have a detective-themed gacha game fail a few months ago with &0. But we're not even completely sure it is a gacha yet, or what kind of gameplay it might have otherwise, so... there's a bit of hope. Maybe it'll be a weird cool dark rhythm game! Who knows!!!

[themuskrater]

I just played and finished Gotham Knights for the first time

And I have a LOT of thoughts. I might go in depth on certain things in other posts, but I want to kinda go over my general thoughts and feelings about this game. Spoilers ahead for:

First things first, if you want this to be "Arkham: Gotham Knights", you are going to leave very disappointed. The game's reception was hurt pretty bad by comparisons it to the Arkham series. Arkham is a masterpiece. Gotham Knights is very good at what it wants to accomplish, but comparing it to Arkham feels unfair. I mean...I'm gonna do it anyways, but I'll compare them with the intention that the Arkham games and Gotham Knights set out to accomplish two different things

The Good:

•By far, the best aspect of this game is the scripted moments between the Batfamily. This game features Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Red Hood (Jason Todd), Robin (Tim Drake), and Alfred. It's very clear this is the aspect the developers put the most focus into and it really pays off. It gives me the same feeling as reading "Batman: Wayne Family Adventures". If you just want to see the Batfamily interact and support each other, you're gonna love this game

•While it took me a while to get used to, I really fell in love with the art direction of this game. The skyline of Gotham City is gorgeous. I love the way the bright neon signs illuminate the low hanging fog giving everything a sort of colorful haze. And while I don't love every suit design, I think the customization let's me really like most of them. Batman especially looks really great in this game. His suit in this game is inspired by his look in the Rebirth comics and it translates beautiful

The Bad:

• I'm genuinely confused by the characterization of Mr. Freeze in this game. His motivations are all over the place to the point that I wonder if WB Montréal decided to combine Victor and Nora Fries into one character. At the beginning of the Mr. Freeze side mission, it's explained that Mr. Freeze had given up crime because Batman had promised to help develop a cure for his condition, but now that Batman is gone, he's back at it. Victor doesn't normally care about his own illness, he just wants a cure for Nora. But Nora is never mentioned in this game. Even weirder, nothing he does in the story is ever to cure his condition. SO WHY DID HE STOP CRIME IN THE FIRST PLACE IF HE DOESN'T EVEN CARE ABOUT FINDING A CURE AND HE JUST WANTS TO FREEZE GOTHAM!? It's just a weird creative decision to take

•Yeah so this one isn't a big deal, but at one point in the story, a cat sneaks into The Belfry and the Batfamily just kind of adopt it. It stays there for the rest of the game. You can't pet the cat. I know this isn't important, but it actually made me genuinely sad when I found this out

The Ugly:

•To call this game underdeveloped would be a compliment. I wouldn't call it unpolished, because the game runs perfectly as intended in my experience. I didn't encounter a single bug or crash. But the story and the gameplay feel half-baked, which really sucks considering those are the two main aspects of a video game

•In the gameplay department, combat is passable but the skill ceiling is REALLY low. It reallys very restrictive in what you're actually able to do, but the combat by itself isn't so bad that it isn't fun.

Traversal on the other hand is awful. All the characters use a grapple to get around, but there's no momentum, so you feel like you're barely moving. You stop and lose all momentum between grapples. Arkham also has a grapple gun but it allowed you to string multiple grapple points and keep your momentum through them so they'd be more fluid and you keep your speed going

The Batcylce is also not great. It's REALLY slow and despite the added movement lines around the screen to provide the illusion of speed, you're barely moving faster than the cars on the road. Again, compare this to the Batmobile in Arkham Knight. I did not love the Batmobile in Arkham Knight, and I outright hated the Riddler races, but it was fast and you could really feel the speed in it

Finally you don't actually unlock the ability to glide or any of the other weird traversal abilities if you're playing as anyone other than Nightwing or Batgirl until you complete the Knighthood challenges. Locking an essential traversal ability behind an option set of challenges is weird to say the least. I don't have much to say about gliding, it controls fine but feels slow compared to Arkham

•Lastly, the story of this game isn't bad for what is is, but is disappointing when you realize it had the potential to be so much better by including two characters who are absent from this game: Kate Kane Batwoman and Damian Wayne Robin. The game is set up as a sort of gang war between the The League of Assassins lead by Talia Al Ghul and The Court of Owls lead by Jacob Kane. Both of their child are members of the batfamily, but were weirdly excluded from this game. Including them as playable characters could have made the conflict more personal and interesting.

Additionally, Catherine Kane, Kate Kane's step-mother, is the current anti-vigilante Commissioner of the GCPD. Her daughter being Batwoman would be great character drama that goes completely unexplored. As is, Catherine is a one dimensional, underdeveloped character. And Damian could be shown as torn between the recent death of his father and the re-emergence of his mother in Gotham City. These characters feel like obvious inclusions for the story of this game but are missing without any explanation

In Conclusion:

This game has a lot working against it. I couldn't even fit half of my thoughts into this already way too long rant. The game is just average in the gameplay, mediocre in the story, but absolutely phenomenal in the inter-character relationships. I compared it to Wayne Family Adventures earlier, and if you love stuff like that and want more of the Batfamily being supportive and wholesome to each other, you'll love this game. And I think that's genuinely the main appeal of Gotham Knights. But if you're not interested in the characters and just want a Batman action game, it's passable, but you'd be better off playing any of the Arkham games