#I COMPLETED EVERY OTHER FOUR STAR OUTFIT IN THE BANNER TRYING TO GET IT

[genevieve-and-nikki]

FINALLY I'VE GOTTEN A MAID OUTFIT AND NOW I CAN LEAVE THE BASE ANIMAL GROOMING OUTFIT BEHIND!!!!!!!

[dailyrandomwriter]

Day 807

As playing Infinity Nikki has become part of my (weird) bedtime routine, I was thinking about what I would do next in Infinity Nikki while in the shower. Due to me catching up on all the side quests that I had let fester, I had earned a generous amount of diamonds and was considering tonight to try a few pulls for items.

I’ve mentioned when I first started writing about Infinity Nikki that I don’t normally like free to play games that use the gacha system. In part because I had played games with such a system over a decade ago when I was younger and more foolish, but more importantly I’ve watched how predatory that system has become.

A gacha system after all, is a lottery system, a raffle, a game of chance, and in a digital format there’s a lot of chances for the developer to put the odds against the player. Now most “good” gacha systems will have what is known as a pity system, where if you pull a certain number of times you’re guaranteed a rare item.

Now the way Infinity Nikki does it, may have to do with the fact that full outfits come in pieces, so if you want a full outfit you need to pull every single piece. Combined with the fact that all four and five star outfits can be evolved into a different colouration if you have a duplicate of the outfit, it may have incentivised the developers to make a generous gacha system so the players don’t feel jilted. 

Granted, that has never stopped certain games with a gacha system before, so give Nikki where credit is due, and the coding is fascinating.

On the basic level, Infinity Nikki, most of the time will guarantee a four star or higher item after every ten pulls. I say most of the time, because when Daughter of the Lake and Pink Ribbon Waltz was released, they each were given their own banner where every five pulls guaranteed a four star or higher item.

And I can't begin to describe how generous this setup was, and not just because they cut the required number of pulls in half. See, the other thing about Infinity Nikki is that for four and five star outfits, you are guaranteed to not get duplicates of an outfit item until you have completed the outfit.

Once you complete an outfit, you can then get a single duplicate of every single item until you complete the outfit again. And then the process repeats itself again.

This meant, due to the fact those outfits had their own separate banner, which made them the only four star outfit in that gacha banner, a player could earn a whole outfit in 80 pulls or less. I think both @wereah and I managed to get the Daughter of the Lake within 40-50 pulls.

Which sounds like a lot (it is) but the game is also very, very generous with their diamonds. Assuming you haven’t blasted through all the content (and your diamonds) by the time those banners came up, you most likely could earn enough diamonds to get one of those outfits without paying a cent.

The most interesting part about that, is that it doesn’t even account for the other systems in Infinity Nikki to give you a better chance at getting the items you want.

[aetheternity]

I promised a post about Mika and how Hoyoverse fucked him up forever ago but I was trying to finish like fifty other wips. I'm nearly done with one at the time of writing this so here's the Mika post absolutely no one asked for.

Let me start off by saying I think this little munchkin is adorable. He definitely has the same kind of things going for him as every other playable character up until this point. A lot of random accessories like tassels, belts etc. And the symbols on his clothes feel very Mondstadt. I enjoy characters the most when they have very aesthetically pleasing outfits. (Venti and Aether are the best examples of this for me). So Mika's outfit was automatically very eye catching for me.

However I do believe he does not look like he belongs in this game. I've noticed other people saying it too but for me personally he just feels so oddly disconnected from the other PC's (I'm just gonna write PC's for playable character instead of spelling the whole thing out over and over and over again.)

Like every PC is automatically noticeable and obvious if you stand them in a group of NPC's but for Mika he's got this brighter color scheme that clashes with character's like Jean and Kaeya who when he stands next to them have darker colors on their outfits. So he stands out more than they do. Maybe if he stood next to like Venti it'd be less noticeable. His hair also is so so bright and most Mondstadters have darker hair or natural looking hair colors except for Sucrose, Klee and Diona (even perhaps Bennett and Razor.)

Like seriously look at him in comparison to everyone else in this shot. He's almost more of an eye sore than Traveler. I'd actually argue that he is more of an eye sore than Traveler. But to be fair Traveler's outfit has gotten two years of time to get used to in comparison. But you know what enough about that let's discuss why Hoyo fucking hates him.

Not only did they give Mika the Scaramouche treatment. Which btw is far far worse for Mika seeing as he is the second to last introduced Mondstadter. He was also dropped right in the middle of: Cyno's first banner (a character people have been excited for for two years). The second part of the Sumeru archon quest, Scaramouche's reintroduction and backstory drop and in an event that already had so many beloved characters that we are already extremely accustomed to/love!

This event will also be gone in a couple more weeks (at the time of writing this.) So people who start playing after 3.1 aren't even going to completely understand how egregiously Hoyo fucked this poor baby up. He's had no mentions literally anywhere before this and was thrust upon us with no warning in the worst way possible. Funny that a post I made like a month or two ago is relevant again. The part where I said Hoyo screws their four stars with shitty writing tactics.

He's supposedly a character that was on Eula's exploration team and they made him feel like he was just created a couple weeks before the update dropped. Why has Eula never mentioned him before???? In fact no character has mentioned him before now. They threw in some random voicelines for him from a couple of the knights and called it a day.

Idk maybe this wasn't their fault and they were forced to include him for some behind the scenes reason but this is the worst character introduction they've had so far.

The worst part for me is that he has nothing to even stand out now that he does exist. He's a cryo polearm apparently so he's gonna automatically be outshined by Rosaria game play wise. Not to mention we one hundred percent didn't need another polearm user.

They gave him far too little screen time to really judge his personality which means we've gotta wait till he shows up again and lord knows when we're gonna get another Mondstadt event. Because I highly doubt they're going to drop him into any story quests any time soon. And who knows if/when he's getting a hangout because the Sumeru four stars are definitely getting their's first. This is definitely the most frustrated I've been at a character introduction in this game.

Also I had no idea where to put this. But his weird little ponytail thing annoys me a little. It reminds me of when I was in high-school and a girl would offer to put a boy's hair in a pony tail. But his hair would always be too short so she'd tug the tiny near nonexistent strands into a hair tie and it'd end up looking similarly to that.

Like it's so stupid just cut that part off or let those hairs roam free it's so weird looking 😬 anyway. I'm done ranting if you read this far I'm kind of shocked actually but regardless thank you. This is such a random post but I needed everyone to know how frustrating Mika is to me.

I still want him though. I just wish Hoyo didn't fuck him up like this.

[sturchling]

Turn the Page-Part 2

Part One      Next Part

Here is part two to Turn the Page. 

Marinette has started her own fashion brand, what will happen now?

Hope you like it!

Things moved very quickly after that. Within a few hours, they had a website set up for Marinette. The website showed some of Marinette’s previous work, such as Jagged’s glasses and the hat that won the Agreste contest. The group decided that Marinette should work under a pseudonym, that way Lila wouldn’t target her work. So, from now on Marinette would be known as MDC in the fashion world. Chloe convinced Marinette even reached out to Jagged to try and get a review to post online. With in a few minutes of messaging the rock star, he called Marinette back. “You started a website?! That is rock’in! I can’t wait to order more pieces from you! You are my favorite, rock’in designer!” He kept yelling praises for a while longer. He was yelling so loud, that Nino and the others could hear as well. They were snickering at the conversation. Eventually, Penny took the phone from Jagged. “Of course we will help. We will type up a review for you and send it to you.” With that settled, the group of friends sat back and relaxed for a bit.

 -------------------

About an hour later, Marinette received an email from Jagged. Chloe took the review from the email and went to add it to the website. What they were not expecting was to see that Marinette already had a few requests for commissions. “What?! How did people already find my website? What is going on?” They looked at the requests. two were from Jagged, one from Clara, but the one that stood out was a request from Bruce Wayne. “How did Bruce Wayne hear about me?!” Chloe was just as shocked; she was looking at her phone. “Well, if I had to guess, I would say Jagged probably had something to do with it.” Nino looked at her with a confused look. “What do you mean Chloe?” Chloe replied, “Well, Jagged tweeted about you and your website already.” “He did what?!” Marinette whipped around to face Chloe. Chloe turned her phone, so Marinette could see. On the screen was a tweet sent out by Jagged about 30 minutes ago.

@rock’instone: My favorite designer MDC has opened a website for commission! Can’t wait to get a whole new wardrobe for my next tour!

Marinette stared at the screen in shock. She whipped out her phone and called Jagged’s number. He picked up, “What’s up little rock’in designer? Did you get my commission request?” “Jagged, what did you do?” “What? The tweet? I had to spread the news about you.” Marinette was happy that he loved her work that much. “Thanks for that Jagged, but would have been nice if you warned me! By the way, are you the reason Bruce Wayne sent me a request?” “Yes, we are mates. I have performed at some of his charity galas.” Well, that explained it. After the call, Marinette was still in shock. She was excited of course, but she had not expected this to already be doing so well. Eventually she worked through the shock and actually looked at the requests. Jagged had asked for a new ‘rock’in outfit for himself and penny for their next tv interview in three weeks. Luckily, Marinette had previously drawn some designs for them, so now she just had to make them. Clara was looking for a new dress to wear at an awards show in two months. Finally, Marinette opened the request from Bruce Wayne. He was asking for new suits. Not just for him, but for all of his sons as well. Attached to the request were the measurements for him and his four sons. He asked for them to be completed in time for the annual Wayne gala which will be held in December. That gave Marinette a little over 4 months to complete the job.

  -------------------

Marinette immediately got to work on all of the requests. With her friends help, she was able to complete Jagged’s requests in a little over a week. Marinette really was glad that she had already completed some designs. It saved her some time, which was a precious thing right now. By the end of the month Marinette had also completed Clara’s request and was almost done with Mr. Wayne’s as well. As time went by, she gained more and more requests from her website. Mr. Wayne became a frequent customer after his first order was so wonderfully done. And finished in so quick a time. MDC quickly became a big name in the fashion industry. One of the big draws of MDC was the mystery. Marinette had yet to reveal her identity, so she still had some protection from Lila messing with her business. Marinette’s classmates were still angry with her. They couldn’t understand why Marinette hadn’t changed her behavior yet. Lila kept reporting that Marinette was antagonizing her daily. Lila being a sweetheart didn’t want to report it to the school. She didn’t want to get Marinette in trouble. The class was still saying rude things to Marinette every chance they got. The class’ way of defending their sweet friend Lila. But they still asked Marinette for banners and stuff. Mostly though, Marinette told them no because she was to busy with her commission work. Mrs. Bustier had tried to pressure Marinette into agreeing to the classes demands. But thanks to Chloe, Marinette was able to tell her no and stand her ground.

  -------------------

The months went by and Marinette’s business continued to thrive. The class was now in their final year of lycée. It wasn’t long before MDC was a household name. Marinette couldn’t believe how well things were going. Unfortunately, this had caused a new problem. Lila had started to lie about her alter ego. Marinette came into class one day and heard Lila say, “Oh yes I know MDC! I am close friends with her. I am the one who introduced her to Jagged Stone when he dropped his last designer.” As she said this, she looked at Marinette with a smirk on her face. “Jagged didn’t want to work with a bully for his designer.” The whole class snickered at Marinette, who just ignored the jab and walked to the back of the room. Alya turned to Lila and asked, “Hey do you think you could introduce me to MDC? It would be awesome to score the first interview with her. I would of course keep her identity a secret if she wants.” “I will ask her. But as you know, she is very secretive. She is hiding her identity because she has an ex-boyfriend she is trying to hide from.” Marinette just rolled her eyes at the sheer stupidity of that lie. But, of course, the class bought the lie.

  -------------------

While the class continued to fawn over Lila, Marinette and Chloe talked quietly about the newest commission. Bruce Wayne had sent in another request. By now, Mr. Wayne had earned her trust, and he knew her true identity. Of course, he would have found out anyway when she had to go to Gotham to make a last-minute repair to one of her suits. Somehow, the suit had been slashed, almost like they were attacked by a blade. Marinette just chalked it up to an attack from a Gotham Rogue and didn’t ask questions. Mr. Wayne had asked for another set of suits. His annual gala was coming up again. Ever since he first commissioned her for suits, he asked for a new set for every gala. Chloe and Marinette were reading over the email from Mr. Wayne again.

Dear Ms. Dupain-Cheng

As usual, I would like to ask for a new set of suits for the upcoming Wayne gala. This time however, I wanted to extend an invitation to you. If you would like, I would like to invite you to the Wayne gala this year. I know you prefer to keep your identity a secret, but I thought I would ask. I know you had also discussed eventually revealing your identity, since you are about to graduate. If that is something you want to do, I would be happy to help with that as well. Just let me know if you wish to attend the gala. Have a good day.

Sincerely,

Bruce Wayne

  -------------------

Marinette and Chloe looked at each other. “Well, what do you think Marinette? Are you going to accept the invitation?” “I can’t Chloe. You know that. We kept the whole secret identity thing to keep Lila off my back. If I reveal myself, then she will make me miserable.” “But think about it. Mr. Wayne is right. We are about to graduate, so Lila is about to be inconsequential. I say go for it. What better way to introduce yourself to the world as MDC, then at the Wayne gala? Plus, the red-carpet entrance will be televised. The class is planning on watching the red-carpet, so you could put an end to Lila and rub it in the face of the class right before we all leave. It would be good karma.” Marinette thought about it. It would be nice to finally reveal everything. And she had to admit, it was tempting when she realized it could end Lila’s lying career. A grin spread across her face. “Well, I am going to need a new dress, won’t I?” Chloe grinned back at Marinette. “Yes, you will. Shall I respond to Mr. Wayne saying we would love to attend?” Marinette chuckled at that. “We? You want to come too?” “Of course! I am not letting you go to Gotham alone. Plus, you need someone to keep you from tripping at the red-carpet.” Both girls laughed, while Chloe wrote out the response to Mr. Wayne and asking if it would be alright if she came with Marinette. The rest of the class heard the two girls laughing and Lila said, “What is so funny you two? Something we should know?” The two girls rolled their eyes. Marinette plastered a fake smile on her face and said, “No, nothing for you to worry about. You will find out some other time.” Lila looked irritated that she wasn’t in the loop, but didn’t push it. She knew she wouldn’t win that argument and it may make her look bad. Marinette turned back to Chloe. “So, what kind of dress do you want to wear?”

[trrriple-rrr]

Thorin Advent (01. - 08.12.)

Today is the last day of the second part of the Advent Calendar stories and the end of the story starring the lovely Michael. I hope you enjoyed reading the story. It was so much fun to write. Here you can (re-)read the earlier parts of the story before it’s the handsome Luke Marsden’s turn starting tomorrow:

09.12. * 10.12. * 11.12. * 12.12. * 13.12. * 14.12. * 15.12.

***

DEC 16th

***

The sight of his smile stays with you. In the next few hours, the next few days. It’s there when you wake up and it’s there when you go to sleep. It’s there when you get a text from him and when you send him a photo of Mickey playing in the park.

And it’s definitely there on the day when you realise you don’t feel lonely anymore. There’s a light snoring coming from beside you and a wet nose pressed against your arm but you don’t mind. You let your fingers run through your dog’s black fur. He’s sleeping on the couch next to you while you think about the last few days.

The walks you took with him.

Michael.

The talks you had. The little touches and smiles. The more you learned about him the more intrigued you became by him. You keep wanting to know more. You’re falling for him. There is no other way to describe what you are feeling. You’re falling for his smart humour, for his way to see the world around him, his gentleness and patience with the animals, his handsome face that only looks more beautiful when he laughs, his broad shoulders in his leather jacket that he even wears in the cold winter weather, his long legs and his determined stride next to you.

Your heart is beating quicker as you realize just how much you like him and you grab your phone before you can change your mind.

“Do you want to come over?” The words tumble from your lips the moment he picks up.

“Yes.” His voice. You even love the sound of his voice. It’s the only word he says and then he ends the call.

You swallow hard and startle Mickey when you suddenly jump up to run into the bathroom. Brush your teeth, comb your hair, check your outfit….maybe you should have thought this through more?

But then there’s a knock on your door and he’s there and you don’t give a fuck about anything else anymore.

You pull open the door, feeling breathless and excited, all at once.

His hands frame your face and he holds your gaze for one moment before you both close the distance between you.

His lips are soft but the kiss his hard and fast and just the right amount of dirty. You groan quietly as he licks along your bottom lip and nips it quickly before his tongue finds yours.

You move together. Pull him into your arms. Your hands sliding over his shoulders, his broad back. He holds you tightly, kisses you harder.

You moan his name and he pulls away for just one moment. But it’s enough time to pull him into your hallway and to kick the door shut behind him.

He presses you against the next wall and licks into your mouth.

“Bedroom.” You manage to get out before your tongue curls around his again. And suddenly the hallway wall doesn’t seem like such a bad place anymore.

His entire body is pressed against yours. You can feel his thighs pushing yours apart. You pull on his clothes.

He groans and gets rid of the layers between you right then and there. His jacket. His shirt.

His skin feels soft and incredibly warm underneath your hands. Your palms cover his chest, feel his muscles twitch and his nipples harden. You rub them and gasps into your mouth.

“Need to… please…” He murmurs and sucks on your bottom lip.

Yes. You need it too.

Your clothes fall to the floor next. Your jumper. Your bra.

You take his hand, his entire body pushes up against your back, his hand covering your breast as you stumble into the next room. His thumbs find your nipples and his lips kiss your neck. Your head falls back and you nearly crash into the doorframe.

This stupid… fuck.

Finally you can fall down onto your bed and he follows you immediately. He kneels above you, breathes hard. His face his flushed and his eyes are gleaming.

You lean upwards and kiss his chest. He moans, his eyes sliding shut. His hands slide through your hair, along your jaw and shoulders.

You suck on his skin. Leave a mark. It makes you happy to see it. To hear his low moan. He whispers your name and pulls you closer again. His lips find yours while you blindly try your best to get his trousers open and off.

It doesn’t take long till you feel dizzy and breathless and triumphant when you can push your hand into his boxer briefs.

He hisses and thrusts his hips into your touch. You feel his hard and hot length. He feels so good already.

He groans when you squeeze his cock and start moving your hand.

“Please…. More.” He manages to get out and moves away to get rid of the rest of the clothes.

You quickly follow him, get undressed in record time.

His eyes wander over your body. His gaze filled with want and admiration.

“I just…”

“I know.” You murmur and pull him close again. “I feel the same.” You spread your legs and he falls between them. His hard cock nudging against your thigh.

He licks and kisses along your neck as you fumble with the drawer of your night stand. Your eyes roll back when his fingers slide between your legs. His sure touch makes you still. He spreads you open, slides into you. Deeply. You press against him. Move with him. Feel the wet trail his cock leaves on your skin and suddenly remember what you were looking for.

You nearly sob with relief as your fingers close around the condom wrapper and you can press it into his hands.

He sits back and puts it on. You watch him. You can’t get enough.

His hands slide up your thighs and you spread them wider for him.

He mumbles a curse and slides forwards. The tip of his cock breaches you. Thrusts into you. Smoothly. Yes. Your body holds him. Takes him in. Completely.

He stills. Buries his head against your shoulder.

Your fingers slide through the short hair on his neck and he whispers your name. You breathe him in. Kiss him gently. Time seems to stand still.

You feel him. He feels so fucking good.

Your inner walls clench around him and cause him to moan loudly. His hips start thrusting. Pushing. Pulling. He fucks you. Long and slow thrusts. His lips finding yours again and again. Your tongue in his mouth. His cock inside of you. You move together, wrap your arms around him. Hold him tight.

You don’t ever want to let him go.

He shudders in your arms as if he knows. He presses his forehead against yours as if he feels the same.

His hips start to lose their rhythm. Go harder. Faster. Deeper.

You lift your hips and meet his every thrust. Please. Yes.

You can feel your toes curling, your muscles tensing, pleasure rising. It’s too much and not enough till he rolls his hips, pushes forward, his cock hitting the right spot, pulsing, coming, his warmth filling the condom and you, his hot breath puffing against your skin, your name falling from his lips in a flood of deep moans that make your skin tingle and your every thought black out blissfully.

You come.

Soar high with him. Drowning in lust for a few glorious trembling moments. Till you cling to him. Gasping. Your skin tingling, your eyes shining. Your lips are swollen. Your entire body feels too sensitive to touch.

But then he kisses along your jaw. Your eyebrows. Your nose. So gentle.

His eyes meet yours and he slowly pulls away and lies down next to you. He looks happy.

“I’m about to say something incredibly cheesy. Could you please not look at me while I do that?” He murmurs and you laugh quietly but turn to look up to your bedroom ceiling.

“I’m glad you came to the shelter. I’m glad I met you. I was lonely. Now I’m not.”

You bite your lip and reach over to take his hand still not looking at him. You just let his words seep into your heart and soul.

“I’m not feeling lonely either. Not anymore.”

*

Bye, Michael. I’ll miss you. But I am sure we’ll meet again in the next few days... ;)

@atoffandhisbobby: You are soooo close to finding out! It’s one of the four on your list (as much as I love Disney I refuse to make that huge amount of space in my heart for Mickey Mouse)! Which Mickey will be your final guess?

The incredible banner was made by the wonderful @once-upon-a-mystrade. Thanks, hon!

[ask-the-party-god]

SIEG! His name was sieg, I just remembered. -HNK Anon

hi hnk anon! im using this second ask of yours because its shorter, and putting your other one under the readmore to answer more extensively! X)

Okay. So I just got through the prologue, and I have a few things to say.

1. I’ve only had mash kyrielight for a day and a half, but if anything happened to her I would kill everyone in this and then myself!

youre absolutely RIGHT shes such a good girl! i love her and she only gets better and better as the same goes on! speaking of ‘better’ as it goes on, the game starts kind of slow? okay, so- the company that started fgo unsupervised, and they were making a cash-grabby game with less effort than it deserved... around the fourth singularity, though, nasu, the owner of the ip, saw the state of the game, stepped in and went like “nope, youre making this good, or youre not making it, period”, so... yeah he stepped in, put quality standards, lowered the saint quartz cost, added third skills to a lot of lower-star servants that didnt have them, reworked some other servants... also every milestone they include a quality of life change! earlier this year they increased the saint quartz you got from daily missions, then a retroactive change to interludes that gave me like, 100 pieces of it all of sudden... its good, i actually really appreciate them for that X)

2. The leveling up is a bit confusing for me.

yeah, the levelling up is, gacha levelling up, it was a bit weird at first, buuuut:

there are a few different things with exp in the game! you have your mystic code (your clothes, which have special skills), and your master level, both of which increase by just, doing any quest at all! master level determines your ap point limit, how many friends you can have, how many servants and ces you can have in your team at a time, etc... the mystic code level increases the effectivity of your mystic codes skills

theres bond level! this is how ‘close’ you are with your servant, and you raise it by fighting with those servants in your team! levels 1 through 5 unlock new information about them and new flavor text while theyre in your room! levels 6 through 9 give you rewards, like extra saint quartz, apples, etc... and if you get to level 10, you get a specific craft essence! some are like, “as long as the servant has it equipped, everyone in the team gets a buster buff”, but theres specific effects like, heracles gets a stack of 3 guts- which is insaaaaane

theres craft essences! theyre basically ‘buffs’, and levelling them up gives you some extra hp or attack, but ultimately theyre proooobably the least like, necessary thing to level up? still, you get spare craft essences out the wazoo so you probably want to feed the ones with effects you use a lot... anything with default np charge is GREAT for example, as it lets you charge up nukes all that much easier

and finally we get to servants! so you have the normal servant level up, THIS is what youd consider the classic ‘rpg level up’, but instead of levelling them up by fighting, you need items! specially, embers... feeding a servant embers and other spare servants you dont want (low rarity, pls dont feed people gold servants-), you level them up! this is a basic increase of all stats, but theres a level LIMIT! once they reach the level limit, you can ‘ascend them’ to their next stage, usually accompanied with unlocking new skills, and new cool outfits! you can ascend them up to four times, and once theyre at max ascension and max level, you CAN technically feed them holy grails (palingenesis), to break that max level limit to eventually reach 100... this is mostly unnecessary? but if theres a lower-rarity servant you REALLY like, that can put them on par with 4-stars, for example, or giving them a well needed extra boost to hp and attack

finally you have np and skills! skills are just that, servant-specific abilities! evades, healing, debuffs, buffs... levelling up skills reduces their cooldown at level 6 and 10, and generally increases their effect! np level up needs you to have multiple copies of the same servant, you can boost their np to be more damaging or to give you stronger buffs, depending on what it is

so basically, fighting will increase your master and mystic code exp, and your bond level! to actually level up servants, you have to feed them embers (you can farm them in the chaldea gate quests, or simply get them from story missions and free rolls)! to ascend them or level up their skills, you need special materials, which can drop in some free quests in singularities, be sold/drop during events, or drop from other chaldea gate free quests! not all materials are available from the beginning, so i suggest just, going through the story and upgrading your characters as you can, rather than obsessively farming to get them super high up before continuing with it

3. What’s the deal with the unregistered spirit origin currency? Because they are blocking me from getting the servants I want. That leads me to—

oh yeah no, dont worry about that, you are never, ever EVER going to use that X) basically, if you get 5 copies of the SAME 5-star, that is, if you get them to np level 5, and you get a SIXTH copy, which, again... insane odds? you will be given an unregistered spirit origin currency! basically its the way the game has of saying “sorry you keep getting this same servant so much, here, you can CHOOSE which one you want instead”

basically, insurance so you can never get a useless extra 5-star after fully upgrading a previous version of them

you gotta roll the gacha to get servants! its random! there is NO ensuring which one you will get, you just gotta try! well- there ARE occasionally events, like, twice a year, where you get to PICK a free 4-star actually

4. There are currently six servants that I want, everyone else doesn’t matter at the moment. The first is mash (so that’s one down) the second is artotia, third is Jeanne d'ark. Fourth is Jeanne alter, and firth Lancelot! And sixth- I SAW A MAID ALTER WITH A SNIPER RIFLE- WHAT? THATS COOL/FUNNY AS SHIT! I WANT THAT! (Maybe astolfo and uhhh... what was his name with the gray hair, he’s a caster- but that’s for later, the ones I listed are top priority,

lets see, six servants you want! believe me, you WILL get attached to more, but...

mash is obviously in your possession!

artoria is always, by default, in the summoning pool! theres occasionally ‘rate up’ banners, which give certain characters more weight, but ultimately, every saint quartz roll you do always has a chance of summoning her... specially right now, the more of the game you complete, the more servants you will unlock in the summoning pool, so technically shes at her highest drop rate right now

same with jeanne, shes part of the default summoning pool

jeanne ALTER is limited though! she does not appear normally, she can only be summoned when shes on a rate-up banner! i am not sure if she will be on rate-up before this, but the next banner i know she will for SURE be in is in may! oh! but- if you dont get her, there IS a 4-star, summer version that will be FREE this next summer, if you complete the summer event!

i think lancelot is also in the default summon pool!

maid alter is the summer outfit version of artoria X) i am unsure when she is available again honestly :o we had her event rerun not that long ago, so she may not be available for a while...

astolfo is in the default summoning pool AND theyre going to get a 5-star version this next year i believe! so, double stolfo!

sieg is, the free servant you get for the apocrypha event! it happened earlier this year, so i think that means theres a rerun of it still pending! eventually though, they will add a thing where you can replay events you missed and get the free servants from them, so while ideally youd wanna be playing while the event is up, theres a contingency in case you missed someone you REALLY want!

5. Please tell me how the start system works- I’m very new to this and I wanna be invested. Please help-

-HNK Anon

i think thats pretty much all there is! you get saint quartz through the story, by doing interludes, bond-levelling servants, through rewards, etc, as well as summon tickets, and you use those to roll the gacha! free friend currency only gives 3-star and under servants, while saint quartz can give you pretty much anything

theres almost always a ‘banner’ up, which offers ‘rate-up’ servants! the normal summoning pool has all the default servants and the story-locked ones you have unlocked, but the rate-ups can bypass the locks entirely! some servants are limited, so if they seem cool in a banner, you may wanna try to roll!

even if you dont get the servants you want- and believe me... it WILL happen... you WILL get more and more and more cool servants so, dont worry about that X) also a lot of lower-rarity servants are actually really good and can be used for a lot of things, so if you have a favorite, do not be afraid to level them up!

but yeah thats kind of the loop? you do stuff, get sq... roll the gacha for characters you like, level them up, do events... i honestly play mostly for the story, the main story gets really good, and the events are all charming and nice, but id be lying if i said i didnt want some specific servants... most of which are alter egos-

yeah sorry im rambling X) just... ask me anything else you may need! :D

[grailacademy]

Welcome To Grail Academy - Chapter Eight: A Real Hero

“A little bit to your left!” Napier made a frame in front of his eyeline with his thumbs and forefingers as he watched another student wobble on the top of a ladder, trying to pin up the end of a long purple banner. “No, your other left!”

It was finally here, the day of the Prom. Many others were preparing for the celebration, putting together their best outfits, fixing their hair, working up the courage to ask certain friends to accompany them as dates, the usual awkward teenage shenanigans that would fling kids into fits of anxiety. Everyone except the teams that were to do battle in the tournament. Those who applied for the competition portion had the duty of setting up the ballroom before the festivities. Beau reeled her arm back and took aim before shouting “GO LONG!” to Deacon, on the other side of the repurposed training hall, and throwing a roll of streamers over the series of pipes that ran across the ceiling. Deacon caught the roll, tore a portion of the paper, and took a turn at throwing the decoration back to her. He pushed his hair out of his face and grumbled “I still don’t see how making the only people who are going to fight do all the work setting up is fair.” The boy on the ladder who was still struggling to maintain balance, Inigo of team SPIA, retorted, “That’s because it’s not. The teachers should be the ones doing this! Or the janitors, or….lunch ladies or something, at least!”

While Alora hobbled to the snack table with a giant tub of fruit punch, sloshing around as she waddled from the weight of it hanging on her arms, Vert was asleep with a comic book on his face, on the bleachers that were in the process of being folded up and put away by the rest of team SPIA. “And BRSQ isn’t even here to pitch in or help at all….” Iris huffed to herself while she assembled sound equipment on a makeshift stage with Rowan, who was trying to put together the microphones like he was trying to finish a puzzle. In fact, he spoke out in anguish after giving up on the complex design of his current nemesis (Mister Microphone), carping “Yeah! Not to mention half of EBNY isn’t even here. I mean, Bernard, what have you even done to help!?” The weaselish hunter accused. Without looking up from his diligent work, Bernard, who was sitting against the wall near the door, gestured to the mountain of origami suns and moons waiting to be hung on the ceiling. Then he pointed with a pair of scrapbooking scissors to the walls that were embellished with detailed paper shapes of stars, and the purple banner he had painted that read “A Night Under The Stars” in gold lettering, and finally directed Rowans attention to the beautifully crafted doilies that sat on the tables near the bleachers. “....Oh.”

Team PWTR sat near Bernard’s crafts, the four of them all admiring the paper handiwork in silence, with dramatic expressions. Though Bernard himself didn’t mind, the rest of the students new little to nothing about the team they would soon be fighting, and they were a bit put off. This is not to say that anyone feared the members of PWTR, but the only reason they had no idea what they would be up against is because this group of hunters never said a word about themselves. Literally. Another reason one might be upset by team PWTR would be for the black and white facepaint, red noses, and lace gloves they all wore. As they all mimed an invisible box around the origami pile, their leader, Puce, made a complex gesture meant to represent him folding his own creation. To be completely candid with the audience, the only reason that the other students knew these hunters’ names was because Ms.Madehold had announced them when assembling teams in their initial year at the academy.

Nico was standing on the shoulders of Sal, who held his friends ankles firmly so he wouldn’t fall, as the precocious boy constructed the rig that would hold a large disco ball over the center of the dance floor. Then, with his free hand, he hung the glittery orb with ease (accidentally brushing a bit of the decorative glitter off on the tips of his hair as he hopped down from Sal’s back). “Rowan’s right though. Where’s our backup?”

Yorick turned the plastic blue flower over in his hand, looking over the petals and ribbons. Was the bow big enough? No….no, it could definitely be bigger. It needed something extra. Maybe more sparkles. With a sigh he placed it back in its container and clamped the lid shut, looking up to see Esmerelda in their bathroom. She was leaning on the rim of the sink, inching closer to the mirror as she did her makeup. She looked so resolved, quiet. He had seen his partner like this a few times before, getting herself ready and presentable, but every time it felt like he was risking to steal a glance into a sacred ritual, something private she wouldn’t usually share with the rest of her team. When she was done, she smacked her lips and swankered out into the room. Yorick began to twiddle his thumbs, stuttering out “S-so, you wanted to talk?”

“I did.” Esmerelda sat down on the edge of her bed, looking on at Yorick standing stiffly against the wall. “Have I done something to upset you?” Her question confused him.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“It feels like you’re avoiding me. The whole team, in fact. I understand if it’s just anxiety or schoolwork, but….it’s been weeks, Yorick, and I haven’t seen you at lunch or dinner. You’re getting back to the dorm later than Nico! Is there something going on?”

The truth was, Yorick was training into the wee hours of the night, not just to prepare for Prom and get Nico off his back, but for his own personal benefit. And he was starting to feel the toll of sleep loss and overworking himself weigh on him. But he couldn’t tell Esmerelda that, she’d try to stop him from fighting in the tournament! So, he did what any logical person would do in his situation: he lied. “Of course not! I would never do that, Esme. You’re my friend….there’s a lot on my plate right now. So much is happening, and so fast.”

“Darling, I’m worried. Are you sure you’re alright? You seem so distant during combat class, and now with the Prom coming up, I can’t lose you. I just don’t want you falling back on smoking.”

The room fell still. A strange kind of silence settled on the two of them while Yorick clenched his hands. That set him off. “What? How did you even-”

“Bernard told me.”

“HE TOLD YOU!?” He was suddenly shouting, he didn’t even realize it. He threw his hands up in the air, pacing the room. “The ONE thing I wanted to keep to myself, and he just--and now YOU’RE playing the pity card! This was my one thing! This was all I had!”

Esmerelda stood up quickly, grabbing him by the elbow and trying to keep him in place long enough for him to listen. “Calm down, darling! It’s not a big deal, I simply-” but he interrupted again. “Oh, ENOUGH with the darling shtick!” He yanked his arm back, and out from his pocket fell the wrinkled box of cigarettes. The pair looked down at the container on the floor, any number of thoughts rushing through both their minds in the abrupt hush. Yorick exhaled and grabbed the box, a single butt falling from the package as he stuffed it back into his pocket.

“....Esmerelda, this is my one thing. The only thing that keeps me from breaking down every day. I need you to respect this part of me, okay?”

“Sure, sure…”

“I have to go meet someone. We’ll talk later.” He split in a huff, leaving Esmerelda to fester in the shock and anger that she didn’t get the chance to express to him before. It was the strangest thing, all the time he was fuming, she thought as though she could see steam rising off him. She made a mental note to not forget this feeling, the rawness of her state, and to savor it and keep it bottled up for later, to use. She picked up the butt off the ground, holding it up to her eye level. When she got a better look at the cigarette, she noticed the remnants of a glittering shine, light reflecting off unexpected fragments, a strange hue of color, all in the contents that were rolled in the paper. Esmerelda was tired.

Yorick pushed the argument to the back of his mind, trying to walk with a little more confidence down the hallway. Even though he had been attending the school for a little over a month, the building’s layout still stumped him. It had gotten to the point where he had to make a mental map using landmarks, going over it in his head during his free time. Take a right at the leaky water fountain, follow the hallway with the unfinished mural that was started 10 years ago, stop at the door that had a mysterious stain in the grain of the wood. He took a deep breath, sucking the air through his teeth. The sudden coldness of the hall made him shiver. Or maybe the cool temperature was from his clammy hands, or his forehead that broke out in a cold sweat. His stomach hurt. His knees locked in place. Was the room spinning? Oh no, he could feel himself shaking as he raised his hand up to knock on the door. Just do it. Just do it. Just do it.

“I don’t see what the big deal is.” Scarlet sallied, laying on his bed so his head was hanging off the side, making it look like Queenie’s furious pacing was taking place on the ceiling. “I’ve seen the other teams in action, there’s not much competition. It’ll be a piece of cake!” His tail swished behind him as he offered a coy smile to his partner, who was looking over a new dress in the mirror. If someone had offered a guess that Rettah couldn’t possibly fit any more bows and ribbons on her person, they would be sorely mistaken. She held the lace monstrosity against her body, doing a little twirl in the mirror and shaking a few sequins onto the floor in the process. Queenie was unamused. She crossed her arms and stood over the redhead, glaring daggers at him. “Our goal isn’t to win the tournament, remember. The mission is set on Yorick. Sable wants him alive, and articulate.” Scarlet blew a buff of air to move a strand of hair out of his face. “You’re no fun today.”

Queenie was an experienced fighter, she wasn’t worried about their chances against the others. When she lifted her arm to run her hand over her shaved head, the muscles in her bicep rippled under her dark skin. “Buck, can you knock some sense into him?” She turned around to address the pale boy hunched over a desk, tinkering away at something. His stark white hair was shaped in a bowl cut, so his bangs were easily out of the way as he funneled some kind of dark sand into a cylinder. He pulled his heavy, striped scarf up to cover his nose and mouth before he shaped a pile of the material into a thin line on a small piece of parchment. When he spoke, the thick fabric muffled his monotone voice. “No Yorick means no intel. No intel means no profit. No profit means Sable gets mad. Sable getting mad means we get hung by our toenails.”

There was a knock at the door, silencing their conversation. On the other side, Yorick talked through the crack between the frame. “Rettah? Are you in there? It’s Yorick, I, uh….I w-wanted to ask you something.” Everyone turned their attention to the blue haired girl, who stared at the door in confusion. Rettah was quick at thinking on her feet, so she hollered back to him, “One minute! I’m getting dressed!” She shushed her teammates and pushed them into the bathroom and shut the door, frantically fixing her hair.

As the door creaked open, Rettah pushed her head out to fit snugly between the frame and the door. “Well hellooooo there!” The second he made eye contact with her, Yorick melted where he stood. He stuttered, desperate for words that refused to leave his mouth. In a final bid, he just closed his eyes and thrusted the corsage in the plastic box out in front of him. He kept his head down when Rettah took it, curiously. “Oh….is this for me?”

He nodded quickly.

“You….want to take me to the dance?”

He nodded again.

“....Okay! Cool!” She smiled brightly and let the door open all the way, slipping the flower onto her wrist. Yorick looked up in surprise, quirking a brow. For a moment he thought it was a joke. “Wait, seriously?”

Rettah’s grin was infectious, forcing the boy in front of her to lighten his expression. “I would love to”, she said. They both giggled and exchanged shy jokes until Yorick waved goodbye. When she closed the door and called out to her friends to tell them to come out, Rettah held up her arm to show off the tacky accessory and smirked. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head, Queenie. I have a whole new way into Yorick Navyn.”

The arena that the festival was being held in was the same that Nico and Yorick had been training in for weeks prior. It was strange to the two of them to see the building all lit up and full of people, banners hanging on the walls where there weren’t any before. As everyone took their seats on the cement bleachers, Miss Pearl strutted out into the center of the ring. She looked smaller now since the actual field was 10 feet lower than the first row of seats. She clicked her heels and stopped dead center under the skylight. A microphone hanging from a connected electrical chord lowered down from the ceiling into her hand. She tapped the speaker with her finger to test the audio and the crowd went mute.

“Dear students, fellow professors and faculty, it is my honor and pleasure to introduce the 6th annual Grail Academy Prom! I know that you’re all excited for the dance, and how hard this year’s competitors have trained for this night. But before we start, a quick rundown of the rules. I’m sure you all know how this works, all the teams that are competing separate into pairs of two, each participant will take part in 2 rounds of 4 person fights in the preliminaries, then separate again for single fights in the finals. Whoever is left standing’s team wins the Prom, and will be crowned Kings and Queens!” She raised her fist in the air with enthusiasm, and the audience of students cheered and clapped. Miss Pearl chuckled, “Settle down now. Let’s see our first entrants of the night….” A short man with a bushy mustache and a green suit, a teacher most of the hunters know as Mr.Kismet, stepped into the arena carrying a glass bowl filled with slips of paper. Reaching into it, Miss Pearl pulled out two sheets and thanked Mr.Kismet. A hush fell over the crowd, everyone was waiting anxiously on the edge of their seats for her to read the names.

“....Oh my! This ought to be interesting, team BRVI and team SPIA! Choose the pairs you want to represent your teams, and come on down to the field!” The onlookers fell into an uproar of cheers and hoots, sending some feedback to the microphone as it was wheeled back up to the ceiling. A few students sitting in the row behind him grabbed Vert by the shoulders excitedly and ruffled his hair, which annoyed him a little, but not enough to take away from the surge of pride he and Beau felt entering the ring.

Standing on the other side of the arena was Inigo and his partner, Aliz, who were psyching each other up by slapping each other in the face. They were raring to go, Inigo loosening the handkerchief tied around his neck and Aliz pushing his hair back with a headband. It looked like Beau and Vert were in for a fight. “You ready, big guy?” She looked up at her partner, who had already unclipped his weapons from his belt and was holding two metal, spherical canisters in his hands. Vert narrowed his eyes at their opponents, and Beau could already see the outcome of the fight. He would throw them off with a couple of smoke bombs, giving her enough cover to rush Inigo with her shephard scythe, the two of them would clash for a bit and Aliz would knock her down with a sweep of the legs. She would bounce back up, Vert would catch Inigo before he could make another move and set off another bomb to blow him sky-high out of the ring, then they would team up to corner Aliz and claim the first match as theirs. And that is exactly what happened. Miss Pearl shouted from the sidelines, and the crowd joined in until the countdown resonated in their chests.

“3….2….1….FIGHT!”

[samwrights]

The Game // [1]

Summary: Tom Holland, Harrison Osterfield, and Jacob Batalon started a game back when they first began filming Spider-Man: Homecoming—to sleep with as many different extras as possible before the movie premiered. Their current targets are the ladies of the band Navy Skies, a ragtag group of young adults that were blessed with the opportunity to play in the homecoming dance scene. Fed up with the boys’ sick game, Laura and Zendaya are taking bets on who gets their heart broken first.

Pairing: fuckboy!Tom x OC, fuckboy!Harrison x OC, fuckboy!Jacob x OC, hints of TomDaya

Words: 2643

Inspo: Kick It // Neck Deep

Disclaimer: Lyric graphics were created by me, y’all. I’m not saying don’t steal it cause they’re not that impressive tbh but like don’t steal them.

Life was a pretty simple concept. Some people really wanted to complicate things and find deeper meanings within it, but at the end of the day, all there really was to it was to ensure you were living your best life. Dream big, work hard, and don’t allow anybody to take that from you. At least, this was the mentality that Cameron Lucia had adopted at a young age. She never let things like friends and family keep her planted in one spot. If they were truly family, they would never hold Cam back from chasing her dreams.

Or best case scenario, they came with her wherever she went; entirely inspired from her nomadic, carefree spirit. That was the situation she was currently in, anyway. At the ripe age of twenty four, Cameron and three of her closest friends she had met at her day job ended up packing up with her and moving out of state. It wasn’t that far fetched, or so she believed. The four of them had formed a band on top of their friendship and collectively decided they were going to move closer towards the music scene in Nashville, Tennessee in hopes of getting their big break. But after long debates about cost of living and not wanting to lose their city charm, the four of them settled on living in a northern suburb just outside of Atlanta.

The four of them had been living in their spacious, two bedroom apartment for the last six months and were still loving every second of it. Cameron always thought it was funny that people assumed they would be tearing out each others hair being in a band, living, and working together. With all of their different personality harmonizing, she knew they would prove everybody wrong.

The youngest of the group was Malachi, or Mac as he preferred, was freshly twenty one. Though lazy, he was the star socialite of the bunch. His charisma made their lives easier when it came to booking shows and just being the go-to person to have a one on one talk with. Ruby was the second youngest, but also held a very mature composure due to growing up way too soon—taking on the role of ‘Momma Bear’. Her incredible work ethic helped put all of Cameron’s dreams into motion. Danielle, or Dani, was a mere week younger than Cam and always focused on getting shit done, but they never held her back from being the life of the party. Cam was clearly the dreamer—always comping up or collaborating with her group of friends on proposing new insane schemes.

Together they supported each other in any which way they could, whether it be financially or trying to rationalize whatever impossible dream came to Cameron’s mind. They always started off crazy, like when she started booking their band at every single bar that she could possibly find in downtown Atlanta. They always ended up working out in mysterious ways, like when booking agents and producers wanted to feature Navy Skies in an upcoming unknown film right here in Atlanta. They couldn’t pass the opportunity up.

That chance brought them to where they were today, sitting in make up getting their hair done for their brief cameo on this unknown film project. Cam, Ruby, and Dani did their own make up at their own request. Since Mac had a buzz cut and the girls were only getting their hair done, he took the liberty to get his make up done, enjoying getting pampered with the miniscule amount of make up they gave him. “It feels like a facial that I so desperately need.” He laughed, causing his friends to laugh with him.

The band was called to set, and they followed a stagehand down the hallway of the school they were filming in, and entered the gymnasium. Heads turned upon the group entering—everybody was dressed in semi-formal attire while a banner that read ‘Homecoming’ hung behind the stage. That explained why the outfit selection they were all given were all dresses and dress pants.

“So for you guys, we don’t need anything super directive.” The stagehand said. “Think of this as a recording session, we’ll ring an alarm when we need you to kill the sound completely.” He explained that the amplifiers were going to be kept to a minimum; just loud enough to be ambient noise but not enough to overpower any dialogue. They were only required to do a half hour set, and none of the band mates didn’t have to talk throughout the set as they normally would have for a show.

“Okay, cool. Let’s get set up.” Said Ruby as they got on stage and unloaded their instruments. Cam set up all the microphones while Dani assembled her drum kit, and Mac and Ruby tuned their bass and guitars respectively. The gymnasium was packed with unknown people pretending to be students. If anyone would have known any of them, it would have been Malachi. But the only one he had recognized in the crowd was Zendaya, which was enough to leave Mac the slightest bit starstruck.

The experience was actually pretty cool and almost felt like a real show to the band. The fake students bopped along and some even danced with each other. When cameras weren’t zoomed in on actors, whom Navy Skies assumed to be major characters of the film, said actors were dancing amongst themselves and just being goofy. Zendaya was swinging along with the people she had grown close to over the duration of them film—Harrison, Jacob, and Laura. “Hey, these guys are pretty good.” Z said as she danced with Harrison. The students in the crowd were yelling along and cheering on the band, nearly forgetting they were extras in a film. Jacob and Harrison were no exceptions to Navy Skies’ hypnotism as they paused their movements for a brief moment. Jacob nudged Harrison, a knowing look in his eyes with a devilish smirk on his lips.

“Who you calling dibs on, mate?” Haz asked, reciprocating his friends now wicked features.

“I like the little blonde one on drums.”

“Perfect, I’m digging the guitarist.” He said, staring at the girl with a curly pixie cut. Harrison’s eyes were immediately drawn to the tattoos that covered both arms from shoulder to wrist. Zendaya and Laura rolled both of their eyes.

“Are you guys playing your stupid game again?” Laura asked. The boys just grinned in affirmation. See, since the beginning of the filming Spider-Man: Homecoming, Jacob, Harrison, and Tom started an unnamed game to see which of them could sleep with the most extras from the set. Right now, Harrison was the front runner, despite being an extra himself.

“I’m going to laugh so hard when this stupid game blows up in your face.” Zendaya sneered, a sly grin on her face at the mere thought.

“How do you figure?” Jacob asked. “They’re extras, they’re here for like a day and then it’s like it never even happened.”

“One of you guys are going to fall for your flings, and then she’s going to find out she was just a part of some stupid game and hopefully she puts your asses in place.” Laura added, taking a firm stance with Zendaya that what they were doing was wrong on so many levels. “You guys need a reality check.”

“Nah, that won’t happen.” Both Harrison and Jacob said in unison, their eyes focused on their targets. No, it wouldn’t happen.

Navy skies finished their half hour set with the alarm buzzing within in the gymnasium, signaling that sounded needed to cease. After setting down their instruments, the band mates took a seat off the edge of their stage, taking a drink from the water bottles provided from the film crew. Each of them were panting slightly, covered in a thin film of sweat from having to continuously perform. “I think we sounded pretty great.” Cam said as she tried to catch her breath. The band talked amongst themselves, only pausing when they noticed the same stagehand from before walking up to them. Behind him stood Zendaya and the people she was dancing with earlier in the scene, plus one more that none of them recognized.

“Hey guys, everything sounded amazing! But the cast was wondering if you could play an encore show? We’ll make it worth your while.”

“Keep talkin’.” Dani said, immediately switching to hardball mode despite being the smallest member of the band.

“We were thinking of tossing you guys an extra grand?”

“What?! Hell yes!” Mac screeched before the band could discuss it. Which, in any other circumstance would have angered the girls, it weren’t for the fact that they just earned five grand off of a show that didn’t require them to put a down payment for the venue. There was no argument to even be had.

“I guess that’s a yes.” Cam laughed. “But can we get a couple minutes to cool off?”

“Oh yes, of course. Take a breather, you guys can go change back into your street clothes if you want. I’ll let you guys know when you go on and you can treat it like a real show this time—no cameras.” The stagehand walked away, leaving the band to head off in the direction of the dressing room they had used earlier to change back into more comfortable clothes.

While the cast waited by the stage, Harrison and Jacob got Tom up to speed, letting him know who claimed who so far. “I guess that leaves me with the singer, is it?” He asked, staring at the girl with incredibly long brunette hair as the band returned to the gymnasium. Even in a simple baseball tee and ripped jean shorts, the front woman’s tattoos were the most noticeable features about her. They covered every visible inch of her arms and hands, even up her neck. He wondered what other parts of her body were tattooed. Tom, unfortunately, had been filming a different scene and didn’t get to see the band play. But judging from Harrison and Jacob’s infatuation with them, they must have left some kind of impression. With a couple of strings being pulled, Tom was able to get them to put on an encore show.

The band returned to the stage, trading in their dresses for ripped jeans and solid tees and looking much more relaxed. The cast walked up towards the stage, Zendaya being the first to break the ice and introduced herself to the band. “Hey, guys. We just wanted to say how much we all loved hearing you guys play and hope you don’t mind that we asked the film crew to have you guys play an encore.” She said, gesturing to herself and Laura and the boys. “I’m Zendaya, and this is Laura.”

“Oh, party. Mac, I’m the bassist.” The only male member shook both of the ladies’ hands firmly.

“Ruby, guitar.” She gave a slight wave to everyone. Harrison’s mouth twitched with the slightest smile as his target introduced herself.

“Dani, drums.” The petite blonde gave an awkward wave.

“And I’m Cameron.” One by one, the boys learned their prey’s names. It was officially game on now.

“I’m Tom, lovely to meet you, darling. I play Spider-Man.” He held his hand out to Cam, awaiting for her to shake it. Instead, the band all looked at each other before letting out a collective laugh. Tom looked at them confusedly, retracting his still empty hand. “What’s so funny?”

“We’ve been trying to figure out what movie we were going to be in for the last month.” Ruby said, still chuckling. The collective group shared a laugh briefly. As they waited around for the encore show to start, the group chatted amongst themselves, the boys buttering up their marks while Mac, Z, and Laura hung out.

“So, Spider-Man, is it?” Cam asked, her natural teasing tone coming through as she spoke to Tom.  “How did you land that role?” He laughed, answering with charm that he usually reserved for interviews. Cam was nodding along, showing she was listening.

“How long have you lot been in a band?” Tom fired back, his British accent resurfacing as he pulled himself out of character for the day. He knew he needed to keep his questions as innocent as possible to earn the trust of his prey before he could corner her and go in for the kill. Though she had answered, he hadn’t quite heard it due to focusing on his own thoughts more than their conversation.

The stagehand came back, clipboard in hand along with four sealed envelopes that he distributed to each of them. “You all ready to go?” He asked, looking at Navy Skies. They all nodded before hopping back up from their seats on the stage, getting ready for round two. By now, all of the actors, main crew and extras, gathered around.

“Ready guys?” Cam asked into the microphone while looking at her band mates.

“Let’s kick it!” Malachi enthused, signaling their start to a newer alternative set list that they had been working on in recent months. Cheers amongst the crowd erupted as heavy, fast paced chords blared along the amplifiers—this time at full volume. The cast took immediate notice to their stage presence, seeing how Mac and Ruby were in six with little head bangs as Cameron walked the length of the stage. She crouching real low to be face to face with the front row that was made up of Laura, Harrison, Jacob, Zendaya, and Tom before walking up beside Ruby. As she wrapped an arm around her guitarist, harmonizing their siren song as they sang out their next verse.

Cameron took back center stage, opening her arms wide while her bassist and guitarist joined in for the last line. The final words lingered before rapidly moving onto their next song. It was no help that Zendaya and Laura were looking at the boys, each of them unknowingly jumping along to foreshadowing words.

“Do you think they’ve realized?” Laura asked, yelling into her friends ear to be heard over the music. Zendaya shook her head.

“Definitely not. These girls don’t even know them and they’re calling their shit out.”

“Wanna make a little wager?” Zendaya raised her eyebrows, giving Laura an intrigued smile. “I’m betting all of them are going to fall for their targets. Whoever loses has to be the one to tell the girls they’re just another name to add to their list.”

“I’m betting Harrison falls for his.” She replied with a deep set smirk on her lips. Honestly, it didn’t really matter who won this bet—Z was just excited to see someone break it to them that they couldn’t just run around doing this to poor, unsuspecting girls. They had learned to tune out Laura and herself after the game had been established.

“Harrison? He’s the one winning their stupid thing!” Laura said in disbelief.

“Well, let’s get real, Jacob’s girl seems like she would only go for a one night stand.” At Zendaya’s statement, their eyes turned to the drummer. “And I could see Harrison falling for a girl like her. He’s the only one who’s got a real chance of being heartbroken.” She said, discreetly pointing to Ruby.

“What about Tom?” Laura asked.

“Please, Tom may be a participant in this silly game, but he’s in dead last and he would never fall for a girl like that.” There was the slightest sneer in Z’s tone as they glanced at the lead singer. “Besides, we all know I’m the one he falls asleep with at night.”

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[toasttz]

How to Make Games: Gacha Games

Hey, do you wanna make more money than several member nations of the EU?! I know I sure did, so when I was 12 my sister and I set up a lemonade stand that made several times the value of Greece's GDP when you consider that negatives cancel each other out. Hey, do you want to make MEANINGFUL amounts of money and have zero moral compunctions that might inhibit your success even though the road to the top is steep and lined with unethical business practices? Well, just insert $29.99 (397.48 Canadian dollars) and I'll teach you how to make some fuckin' gacha games! Gacha games, games inspired by a terrifying Japanese tradition known as "Seppuku" where you shoot pinballs in order to undress a girl carrying a bowl of ramen - before I go any further I feel that my understanding of Japanese culture may be a little out of date, so apologies where necessary - and something else happens, blah, blah, blah, and you get some toys or some shit. When it was discovered that Android and iOS can be programmed in such a simple and fast way that typewriters and some house plants with high RAM amounts can run the code, the market soon became flooded, but not saturated, with gacha games. Why hasn't the market hit saturation point despite the fact I can't scroll further than a gnat's dick in winter's length on the Google Play Store without hitting one? Because, as the wise Chinese philanderer, Aristotle, posited, "The difference in hardcore pr0n and gacha is a string bikini and $39.99 USD, but the amount of shame is equal in both," So, the games are retardedly easy to code and the only decision you'll spend one afternoon making is if you want to spend 2 hours making it a fully-automated RPG, 5 hours to make it a complex battler with some meaningful gimmicks, or 15 minutes copying Puzzles & Dragons. These options have totally not been done to death, so feel no worry if you can't be arsed to innovate. Once you have done the easy part, the next part is to locate someone with artistic talent and ask them to draw girls. Lots and lots of girls. Unlike H-games, the theme here can be as broad or narrow or as obtuse as you want. In fact, you can use multiple themes or just do what most of these games do and just steal from history and myth and make them all girls! It literally doesn't matter how deep or nuanced your story or gameplay are if the 2D waifus are cute enough. Lots of girls are necessary - tall girls, short girls, thicc girls, lean girls, brown girls, bunny girls... just don't stop making girls. Ever. You'll be expected to actually update about every two weeks or so, but that's getting ahead of ourselves. Lastly, for each summoning banner, place four characters on them in varied, dynamic poses and outfits in the ratio of 3 girls and 1 guy. "Guys?" I hear you ask incredulously. Yes, I recently read a very scientific study that said girls sometimes use the internet now and, so, to compensate for this possible oversight, each banner needs one shirtless guy, but unlike girls, never vary their body types. Just watch a few Marvel movies for their shirtless stud scenes and copy that - that's all you'll have to do! And sometimes give them different hats, so they know they're different guys. What? Sound design? Pffft. Don't be ridiculous. Everyone's going to be playing this game at their jobs when they can't play their real game libraries, so they're just going to mute them. Those that don't will be the creepy weirdos just listening to their waifu of choice's voice actress anyway. Besides, Wendee Lee is gonna do 85% of the voices anyway. You can just skip this part. The core of any gacha game, as it was foretold in the Japanese romcom, The Art of War & Peace, by Leo Toystore, is their summoning mechanic. You need some kind of in-game currency to exchange in order to summon heroes to make up your party. Sure, you'll give the players some generic filler heroes, but they'll all be bottom-tier and Worst Waifus(TM) with no real potential for growth, but that way no one can call foul on your game design. The real draw will be summoning, so make your orbs or your gems or whatever, just be sure that they're artificially inflated like nations that no longer rely on the gold and silver standards, because just like those nations that no longer rely on the gold and silver standards your imaginary currency is backed by fucking nothing other than your insistence that, yes, 300 platinum gems totally costs $49.99, stop asking so many questions! The second-most pivotal point is that your exchange between currencies and summons is completely irrational. Anything from 5 to 150 is acceptable, just so long as it's never, ever 1:1. That would make it easy for your fans to deduce the true value of your currencies and that's literally the last thing you want. You can set aside special vouchers for people who acquire enough "Good Boy Points" by making the game a habit rather than a game in the requisite "Daily Login Bonus" category. But those are entirely secondary and should still have the same low, low rates of drawing heroes anyone gives a shit about. About once a year you can hand them 5-Star Summon Vouchers, if they have enough Good Boy Points and throw them a bone to keep them in the dopamine loop. So, once the game is on market, just rotate your banners every two weeks, usually in the pattern of "Useless, Fanservicey" Banner twice, then "Mechanically Powerful Characters" Banner once, then repeat. That way players are inclined to waste their currencies on bathing suit beauties or Valentine's Day honeys instead of the St. Patrick's Day themed Hero who has S Ranks in Strength and Defense. This will incentivize players to routinely pay up like the good little whales they're meant to be. Err, I mean... it will encourage players to contribute to your work economy, so your studio can keep the lights on... like the good little whales they're meant to be! There we go, much better. Now just slap on a campaign mode and a crap-ton of side missions - preferably one or more for each hero you make in order to pad out the game length - and then slap a Stamina Bar on top of that! Make sure they can't do more than 10 missions in a day's time at the highest possible levels, so they don't blast through your paper-thin experience and keep ponying up properly. This will also tie back into the "make the game a habit" goal we talked about earlier. Once you have enough starving artists ball-n-chained to their writer desks churning out waifus, that's pretty much it! You have a sustainable game in the same way a drug cartel overlord does! Now make another following the above and enjoy double the money, ad infinitum! Also, one last bit of writing advice: never actually finish the story. Just keep adding new 'twists' and 'complications' no matter how hackneyed they may be! If they're getting bi-weekly banners, they aren't complaining that the story only updates every financial quarter when the investors start asking questions! Bonus points for making your characters aware of the events as they come and go and reference past banners - this will add the illusion of depth to your writing and characters. Congrats! You're contributing to the blight on the Earth's surface known as cell phone games. When the aliens find us and we try to rationalize all the good we've done, yours will be one among many sins that cause us to get vaporized to make way for a cosmic-scale McDonalds. But, hey, you can't take all that shit-ton of money you'll make with you when you go anyway. You're welcome.

[filmforthought]

Avengers: Infinity War

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pratt and Scarlett Johansson

Rating: ★½

“Eh, that was okay I guess,” is what I said on my way out of Avengers: Infinity War. Behind me I heard, “what’d you say?”

I turned around and there it was: an angry mob of Marvel comic devotees shocked to hear such foul words leave the mouth of someone who isn’t up-to-date with the complete Marvel Cinematic Universe. Then, I looked straight ahead and picked up the pace, but so did the mob.

Ten seconds later, I sprinted out of the theater to my car as the mob chased me down. Luckily, I managed to hop in my car and swerve out of the parking lot as dozens of disgruntled fans yelled, “don’t EVER say that about Marvel movies AGAIN!”

Ok, maybe I wasn’t chased out of a movie theater by salty Marvel fans, but I did receive some backlash from fans who lectured me and shot some interesting texts my way. There’s no doubt Infinity War is solely enjoyable for the many diehard fans. However, it feels like an average over-hyped superhero movie for anyone who hasn’t watched every Marvel feature leading up to this one.

In the third feature of the Avengers franchise, all the Marvel superheroes unite to take down Thanos, whose goal is to obtain all six infinity stones which can wipe out half of the world’s population.

Before we delve in, I’d like to say it’s understandable for fans to be upset about my opinion. I’ve seen a handful of the Marvel movies, so this one wasn’t hard to follow. You’ve got to be pretty dumb if you can’t follow this plot. However, it’s incredible to think this movie was ten years in the making, so for someone to come along and have an unfavorable view towards it is sure going to tug on some capes.

Although Infinity War has excellent special effects behind its $300 million budget, an incredible cast and a story with consequences (for once), there’s a little too much going with blase action, constant transitions and poor dialogue.

One of the many issues with Marvel features is the predictability of each one. No matter what superhero the flick is about, we all know he or she will beat the villain and continue to do so in the next twenty installments in his or her franchise. The formula isn’t super anymore.

Then finally, seventeen movies later, Infinity War brings all the characters together and knocks some off. While it may sound good for some characters to meet their reckoning, they aren’t the ones detrimental to the cinematic universe.

Infinity War has consequences for about four characters who aren’t essential to the big Marvel flicks. The characters who feel the wrath Thanos don’t matter in the grand scheme of the cinematic universe, so while there are repercussions, it’s only for the small players. Quite frankly, when these handful of characters were eliminated I felt nothing.

Its ending is surprising and something worthy to applaud, but we all know it’s too good to be true. Marvel needs to make their money by churning out a bunch of movies each year, so it’s obvious that the characters people actually care about will not go away forever.

The outcomes for some characters are good along with the special effects. At this point for Marvel, this one is a given.

Whether you like Marvel movies or not, you can always get a kick out of the effects. They don’t particularly shine bright in battle, but they serve as a strong component to the production design of different planets.

Infinity War’s starpower goes unmatched as well. There are so many huge names that it feels like this is the red carpet event leading up to the Oscars. This cast is one of the greatest ever assembled in film history, but jumping from scene to scene seeing all these people gets too tiring.

Infinity War feels like Meanwhile: The Movie. There’s such a gargantuan cast that directors Anthony and Joe Russo have no choice but to constantly cut from different planets and solar systems. After a while, it becomes confusing as to who is doing what and why certain characters are needed.

By jumping around so much, there’s hardly any excitement within the first hour and fifty minutes. More than half of the movie consists of superhero drama with a bunch of overly dramatic and poorly written dialogue scenes.

Understandably, fans don’t go to Marvel flicks for the writing, but when there’s a jarring amount of talking, some of the lines will make you wish to have the ability to disappear out of the theater. The screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely is over-the-top and hardly funny.

Although there’s more drama than action, the dramatic conversations consist of the cliches we’ve all heard of. For example, the relationship between Vision and Scarlet Witch is made up of the usual, “never leave me” and “no, no, no! Don’t go! Whyyyyyy!”

Oh, please. There’s a romance written much better in the theater next door playing Ready Player One and that’s saying something.

Usually Marvel flicks are good for some laughs, but this only managed to squeeze one laugh out of me. All of the characters attempt to be funny, but each joke fails to lift off the ground.

This is especially surprising for Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., who is known for his quips over the past seven other features he’s starred in. Stark still has the arrogant attitude, but his rebuttals aren’t creative. Stark’s better off hiding in his red suit rather than trying to crack a joke.

While the writing is far from heroic, so are the action scenes. By the hour and fifty minute point where we finally get fighting, it’s a complete let down. Each action scene is the same thing over and over again. A hero and a villain are fighting against each other, the villain pins down the hero, and just at the moment where you think the hero is going to die, another hero comes out of nowhere and saves the hero in distress.

This attitude toward action scenes is set in the first couple minutes, where the Hulk suddenly appears and saves Thor. Out of all the heroes, how does the Hulk stealthily save someone? I mean, it’s the Hulk! He’s the size of a building and Shrek green! Thanos might become the most powerful person in the world, but he needs to get his eyes checked.

Other than the repetitive situations heroes find themselves in during these action sequences, all the battling is dull because it’s heavy with CGI. Most of the combat is handled by animated characters or people in front of green screens, so it’s hard to get invested in the fights.

Compared to the fighting in John Wick or Atomic Blonde, Infinity War is a snooze fest. The action in the other two features consist of the main actors participating in real hand-to-hand combat, their own stunt work, and innovative choreography that’ll make you say “ouch” with every thump and punch they endure.

Alternatively, in Infinity War, there’s just a bunch of people flying around in front of a green screen who, at the end of each fighting sequence, don’t have a scratch on their face. The combat is much more computer generated in contrast to other features who put their best effort into making the action feel as real as possible.

As one who hasn’t invested my time suffering through all seventeen Marvel movies to reach this point, I didn’t feel much after leaving Infinity War, other than feeling tired when that mob chased me out. While the fanboys will gush over the new missiles featured in Iron Man’s new outfit or giggle when Bruce Banner comes up short on turning into the Hulk, regular moviegoers will gain the super power to sleep for a nice two hours and forty minutes.

Again, I’m sorry to bust all of your Infinity Stones. With the bland battle scenes, cheesy dialogue and boring jokes, you’d rather have Thor knock you over the head with his hammer than sit through this.

[deannesen]

A Fair In City Four

"Where the hell is she?"

She stretched out her neck to look for Angie among the crowds surrounding them. She spotted a tiny girl barreling towards them from the ticket scanners, decked out in a silver bodysuit. The blonde wig and giant purple goggles nearly made her unrecognizable, but she would know that bouncy gait anywhere.

"Heyyyyy!"

Angie tried to slow down, but ended up knocking into Sakura. She caught her before they both went flying. Sakura flicked her forehead. Her face scrunched up in mock pain.

"Isn't someone fashionably late?"

"Sorry," she chuckled. "This outfit took forever to smooth out. Plus I had to figure out what to bring," she said, and held out her arm to show a large folded up object hanging from her wrist.

"What's that?"

"It's my folding suitcase," said Angie, ushering them towards the train. She looked at her in confusion.

"You're bringing a suitcase?"

"Duh," said Angie, tapping her head. "Who knows how much stuff I'm gonna get. It's easy to bring this along just in case. See, I'm a smart girl."

She knocked Angie's head lightly with her finger. Sakura smoothed out her pristine white lab coat that she wore over a sturdy armor top. She and Angie both dressed up as characters from Defcon Zero. They both enjoyed the fun of dressing up as someone completely different, trying it out whenever they went to fairs and conventions.

Yukika was already sitting in her seat by the time they both came in. She was staring out of the window. She was dressed a lot more mundanely, in a royal blue tank top and white shorts. The simple outfit managed to enhance her long legs and pale skin. Sakura stared for a moment in jealousy.  Angie pulled her to their seats.

The train started. She watched them leave the grassy towns of City Nine. She wiped down the touchscreen in front of her. There was an episode of Star Hearts she hadn't seen before. Angie leaned over to watch it with her. They turned on the massage mode and seat warmers before sitting back to watch the show. The time flew by as their eyes were glued onto the screen. The train slowed down just as the final line played.

"I will never let you feel lonely again. It doesn't matter what I lose. None of it will compare to losing you."

They were sniffling at the end of the episode. A robot cleaner rolling through the aisle offered a pack of tissues to them. They paid it 25 Unicents and it rolled away, clinking within its tracks. Angie wiped away her tears. They had arrived at their destination.

Sakura looked out of the window. Colourful banners and signs greeted them, with more cosplayers milling about. They both hurried out of the train to check it out, with Yukika trailing behind. A woman with a brightly painted face edged towards them and displayed a flyer from her Screenpod.

"City Four's happy t'see you!" she chirped in a strong City Four accent. "You aren from 'round here, ye?"

"We're from City Nine," she replied. Sakura scanned the details of the display. There was a giant manga sale in the fair they were heading to. She pointed it out to Angie and she nodded. Their focus was disrupted by the woman's tinkling laugh.

"Dat little village city, so charmeen." Her tone was saccharine. She wanted to frown, but stopped herself. The painted woman clicked off the Screenpod and walked towards other visitors. She waved them goodbye. "Enjoy your time 'ere!"

"That woman is off."

They both yelped. Yukika was standing right behind them. Her eyes followed the woman before roaming around to take in the colours. She held two giant chocolate milkshakes in her hand. Yukika held them out to them. They glared at her and took the milkshakes. Her lips seemed to struggle to not form a smile.

After returning their tickets, they weaved their arms together to walk towards the fair. It was a silly sight, two tiny girls holding onto a white-haired beanpole. Outside of the train station, City Four was even more vividly iridescent in the sun. There were festivities and stalls all around them. The sticky sweet chocolate was soothing and energizing in the hot day.

They stopped every dozen steps to check out trinkets and tantalizing food. Sakura picked up some caramelbean muffins and three volumes of manga. Angie took a talking wooden doll, a first edition of a book published a few centuries ago, a vintage handheld and a whole collection of manga volumes.

"Hey!" someone called out as they were leaning over watching a half-finished snowman build itself. They turned and saw a lanky freckled guy waving to them, approaching slowly. He seemed familiar. "Are you the Lolitaholics?"

By the mention of the name, a memory of his face clicked. She nodded with Angie. They went by Lolitaholics when they joined competitions together. It added to the fun and merriness of it all.

"Yep, that's us. Nice to see you again, August."

August was a newbie organizer for gaming conventions. They had met a few times at conventions, and he had signed them onto a few notable competitions. He was a friendly guy, if a little stir crazy when it came to games. He smiled at them.

"Get your ass kicked-"

"-by the Lolitaholics!" they chorused, laughing. He pointed to their outfits.

"I like the cosplay. Rejna and Aegis are the best."

"Thanks!" they beamed. August pointed further away into the fair. They followed his finger and saw a blue dome surrounded by lots of people.

"Did you know that they're making new updates for Cosmos Fighter? You can test the levels out if you'd like. I think I can get you an early spot."

Her heartbeat raced. A new update? Hell yeah she wanted to check it out. Angie tugged on her sleeve and nodded frantically. She glanced towards Yukika. Her smile had totally disappeared in the presence of a stranger.

"Is that alright, do we have time?" she asked. Yukika nodded, and Angie fist-pumped. August clapped his hands together.

"Great! Come follow me."

They trailed after August, making their way around many costumed visitors and colorful City Four dwellers. There were normal dressed visitors as well, traditional garb wearers from City One, floatily dressed City Five folks, covered up people from City Eleven. She looked up and saw a sign for a history display. She noted that, hoping Yukika would like it.

Inside the dome were banners with Cosmic Fighter characters on them, Cosmic Fighter merchandise and holographic projections of characters. In the front were huge screens with scenes from the game playing on them. There were lots of cosplayers and geeks around, even though it looked like the dome had just been opened to the public.

"I'll stay right here," Yukika said, sitting down on the concrete near some others. She was worried that Yukika would be bored, but then she pulled out a book she bought out of her bag. She nodded and waved to her before August led them away to a space behind the screens.

There were a couple of people organizing the line for the testing. A few people looked offended as they made their way to the front.

"Hey, I'm just some schmuck with some friends who are super fans," he said, before pulling out his card. The neck strap dangled down. She stared at it before realizing that August was involved in the Cosmic Fighter organization as well. "Can they get an early turn for the testing?"

Sakura gave him her best puppy face. Angie followed her lead, looking like a chubby hamster girl. He laughed again and shook his head.

"Alright alright, I can't say no to these little ladies, especially such cute cosplayers. Say, folks," he spoke to the people at the front. "Spare a minute for these two, eh?"

They didn't seem to want to agree, but wanting to not be kicked out of the line, they stayed quiet. She almost felt bad, but then remembered that feeling bad for her opponents would make her a sucker.

They went inside separate booths. Sakura put on the goggles and took the controllers in each hand. The enemy roared. It was a mutant alien, large and spewing acid from what seemed to be many arms. It circled her. She watched it with bated breath. It ran towards her in full speed. She leaned back to dodge. It stopped in its tracks. She took the opportunity to shoot her gun.

The enemy produced a large area of effect where she suspected she would suffer burns from. She ran further away from it. The enemy charged up an attack while she ran, and she only just managed to avoid a hit at her current spot. She shot her gun again. It barely made a dent in its HP. She changed her bullets to lightning, then to fire. The fire bullets made much more damage.

So the duel began, with her firing as many times as she could and dodging each blow. She dealt her Ultimate several times, each time dealing more damage than the last as she wore down its armour. Finally, as it fell, a score flashed before her eyes.

Gar-gan-tuan defeated. Score : 679428/700000

She took off the goggles and placed the controllers aside. She went out to see Angie and August clapping. They were all handed a Cosmic Fighter T-shirt. They walked away from the line.

"That was so much fun!" said Angie.

"I should go manage the rest of this," August said, looking someone trying to grope a hologram. "But not bad, kid." He smiled at her before leaving.

They looked for Yukika, but couldn't find her anywhere in the dome. They went outside and heard a commotion. There was a crowd gathered in the middle of the fair. They were shouting in lots of different tones and languages. They ran over to see.

Rows after rows of the crowd began to fall silent. They searched and saw Yukika making her way through the crowd. With every row she passed, people went silent before leaving. She reached the middle of the crowd with little hesitation.

Two people were yelling at each other. They spoke in an odd tone, and she realised that they were speaking in an Ancient Language, not quite Forgotten, but not widely spoken. One was holding onto the collar of another. Yukika touched their shoulders. Her lips seemed to be saying something, but she couldn't figure out what. Their faces went blank. They gave each other a dazed stare and left. They hurried over to her.

"Yukika, are you okay?" Angie asked.

"I'm fine."

"Why did you come all the way here? What did you do?"

"Someone had to stop the fight. I told them police were coming." She shrugged. Sakura raised her eyebrows. She looked from side to side. Fair-goers met each gaze.

"You called the police?"

"No."

Yukika began walking away from them. It took them a few seconds to process the situation. Angie burst out laughing.

"She's a comedian for sure," said Angie between giggles. They caught up to her and Sakura led them to where the history display was. There were a few signs to guide them. They arrived at a large building with heavy double doors. There weren't that many people about. Yukika opened the door and they were greeted with artifacts on each side and lights leading the way.

It was dim in the display. The signs projecting information shone bright in contrast. Yukika quickly found a sign she was interested in. Sakura looked around and saw an ancient gun. It was rusty after all that time, and came with a barrel that could be opened to insert bullets. She imagined firing it while adventuring around in olden times.

There was an old sword beside it, dated only a few centuries ago. In its glass case, it showed that the laser blade could retract entirely within less than a second. She couldn't make out the decimals written below it, but it seemed to take far longer than it did now.

Angie watched a video further ahead. The other two walked towards her. It was an incredibly old video, taken about before the Great Destruction. The video showcased a woman writhing around in bed. Her veins rose above her skin, glowing red. A scanner showed that her spirit soul's powers were too much for her to handle.

"I'm glad that I don't have that problem," she murmured. Yukika watched passively.

The next video was taken in the midst of a Spirit Burst. She saw a commander giving orders far away from the battle, right in front of the protected area. Someone jumped down from a building. She landed with no more than a bump and blasted a spirit in the face with a green aura. Exhaustion ringed her eyes. A van careened through a corner with an open door. She jumped inside and it drove away.

A defense unit came and attacked advancing spirits with her shield. Sakura stared in awe as the shield itself caused the spirits to disappear. Another fighter used a flamethrower to burn all the spirits focused on attacking him. The fire funneled through the flamethrower seemed to come from nowhere else but his skin. He wore protective armour everywhere but his arms, which were shaved clean. The last spirit burned away, and all the fighters were triumphant.

"Woah..." they all said.

Near the videos was a section with replicas of weapons from the current era. They could each grab one as long as they didn't damage it. They grabbed a weapon and began to fight in a mock war. Sakura grabbed a shield. With a press of a button, it flashed a bright light. They fought for a few minutes until they devolved into giggles. They placed the weapons back and walked out of the display.

The sun was beginning to wane down. Sakura watched as birds came down to settle on trees above them. Yukika grabbed her hand. The coldness of her hand made her warm up.

"That was fun, wasn't it?" she asked. "Ready to go home?"

Angie and her nodded. They weaved their arms again and turned around to go back to the station. As soon as they settled into their seats, Angie fell asleep on her shoulder. She stared out of the window, watching the evening sun light up the dying colours of City Four. The train started, and she daydreamed of valiant battles.