#I suppose it mainly sums up to 'things it would be pretty silly to just talk about for a bit'

[twilightarcade]

whaj twould u draw comic abt

well like everything ever. And other stuff of the sort.

Tangent but like comics specifically because. I suck at writing. It's great! Pretty cool! But I'll never achieve the required eloquence I want. I can pour my heart out on a page all day but that will never be telling a story like I'd like it to be, at least ast long as its short.. also I love visual media especially. Something a teacher would call a visual learner. Both mediums obviously require a lot of care but with comics it feels more like I can skip right to the "meat" (as an english teacher would call it) of the story? Like alright we have some guys they're doing some stuff and I don't have to sit here agonizing over how to describe this guy and what they're doing, I can just.... beam it directly into your brain. How cool is that. And you can add like.... whatever the hell you want. Want a giant rainbow going through half the page? BAM you got it. With writing you can't really do that

Tangent OVER. Honestly anything I can't write really (literally everything). Though, to narrow it down a bit, small scenes that a can't quite capture in writing regardless of how much I try. I don't think I would ever like... make a whole comic series or anything. Moreso use it to capture super specific emotions in a way that doesn't just feel like I'm pouring my heart out on a page with no real motive (but secretly is). I suppose the goal here is to make my feelings consumable or whatever. Capture them into a neat little page that other people can read and go haha at

[dw-flagler]

Great to see a bg3/worm combo fan like myself. Which party members do you think are the undersider’s favorites?

bit of a tough question for me. See, your problem is that you should have asked someone smart or perhaps literate. Long, boring, and almost completely incorrect Post below. Don't read this.

Let's say all the undersiders are playing the video game baldur's gate 3. Who's their favorite companion?

-Taylor's is likely Wyll, since he is pretty similar to her, with his highly self-sacrificing nature and focus on Doing Good. Everything wyll wants to do in-game or does in his backstory is pretty much what she would have done in his place. I think she wouldn't really dislike any of the companions except for Astarion, just because they're supposed to be likeable. She would be ambivalent about shadowheart. She would dislike minthara but she never realizes you can recruit her.

-Rachel would not play Baldur's Gate 3. Straight up, you couldn't make her. Even if you somehow did, she would quit before the prologue ended.

-Brian would like... Lae'zel? We know how much he loves women that beat the shit out of people. Lae'zel does in fact beat the shit out of people. I don't feel he would particularly like most of the party in bg3. He's normal. He's so normal guys. All the companions have quirks or something silly just be normal. Brian wouldn't really care a ton about the story, I don't think. He'd follow the greater plot beats of what's happening, but like he would not follow or care about Lenore's story, for instance. He would enjoy the turn based combat though, I think.

Lisa would probably like Jaheira the most? I'm mainly guessing here (see above). as a video game, she would likely only ever see it as a video game, and wouldn't really be able to look past its writing. Lisa would probably just see a mess of dialogue triggers and path outcomes, and never really see it as more than the sum of its parts. I would wonder what she does for fun after she gets her powers but i somehow doubt Lisa does things for fun anymore. She might enjoy doing exploits to do like a million damage, but I can't imagine her liking a video game much. Anyway she'd probably like some of jaheira's jokes.

Alec. I, um. I'm gonna be honest. I have no idea. I feel like he'd probably find Astarion's quips funny (though not super funny). I don't think he'd like karlach much, because I think he'd see that the game clearly writes her to be likeable and he would find that annoying, in a don't tell me what to do sort of way? He probably wouldn't care much about the story, and he wouldn't really care for the gameplay? He doesn't particularly strike me as a Turn Based Strategy fan. Alec probably plays the game for like 5 hours, gets bored, realizes he can't refund it, uninstalls it, and then plays something else.

Aisha. I am in a similar position with Aisha as I am with Alec. The characters I understand the least (and I don't understand the others very well to begin with). I think she'd romance Astarion but Ironically. I don't think she'd like him but she'd romance him because he's popular and then she would kick him in the nuts in a complex gambit for postmodern ironicism. As for the video game, she'd probably enjoy the combat in a "makes overpowered multiclass combos" sort of way.

Let's say all the undersiders are in the video game baldur's gate 3, as in they are tav. Who's their favorite companion then?

Taylor's opinions turn right around, probably. Shadowheart goes from a mildly annoying but helpful cleric to a dangerous follower of an evil god. Astarion becomes a shifty dangerous rogue (not that she ever likes him much). She immediately dislikes and distrusts wyll, and says a bunch of insane shit about his pact with a devil. probably compares it to a drug addiction at least once. Once he explains, if he explains, she'd probably come around to him, but it's a big if. Taylor's paranoid. She can't trust any of these people. Her party would probably end up being gale, wyll (because he's at least better than the others), and karlach, just because she can't/won't trust any of the others, not enough to watch her (non insect covered in this reality!) back.

Brian would dislike everyone in the party significantly more. Lae'zel would still be his favorite member, but he would very much disapprove of a lot of her decisions. Like guys, can't we do all this important stuff about vlaakith or shar or whatever after we stop the parasites from eating our brains? It's kind of important.

Lisa would probably have an aneurism. You basically have to talk every member of the party off a ledge at some point in the game. She would not like Gale because he does insinuate that the player is dumb a few times and she hates being called dumb. She takes one (1) look at karlach and her eyes start bleeding.

Rachel hates all these people, with the exception of Karlach, who is straightforward and--I don't want to say "simple" because that implies things about her intelligence and karlach isn't stupid. But karlach is simple! she's not lying about anything, she never hides her opinions, she's never coy. She tells em how she sees em, full stop. Rachel would appreciate that. She would probably begrudgingly respect Wyll because of how he's so consistently fucked over by a smug fast-talking asshole. On the other side, she'd hate Gale. Even though he's genuine pretty often, he's very much the smug type. She would tolerate him, though. She again begrudgingly tolerates Shadowheart. Lae'zel is straightforward but also calls you stupid and fights you several times. If Rachel romances any of the companions it's probably lae'zel. She kills Astarion. Note: by endgame she probably likes all the companions significantly more.

My gut feeling is that Alec wouldn't like most of the companions. He'd sympathize with Astarion if nothing else. Similar backstory squad. I feel like Astarion would secretly resent Alec for "having it easier" because alec is significantly younger than Astarion.

Aisha's opinion of Astarion would probably turn around if he was real to her. She would actually like him, though she definitely wouldn't date him.

How would the undersiders react to some of the major moral choices in the game? (provided that they were actually in the game and not playing it)

Taylor would do all the "good" choices, because for the most part there aren't hard moral choices in BG3 (that don't have some secret third "good" option). The main thing is that she'd probably encourage wyll to sign his soul away to save duke ravenguard. Similarly with Shadowheart and her parents. A little self sacrifice never hurt anyone (that taylor doesn't want to suffer). She becomes a mind flayer to beat the netherbrain. Duh.

Brian is an interesting case here. He would not care one lick about the plight of the tieflings or the grove, he would just want the parasite out by any means possible. Oddly, I think Brian would probably be the "evilest" potential replacement for tav. Like, he would want nothing more than to get the parasite out and then just leave. He skips almost all the side quests in acts 1 and 2 because he literally just wants to go home. He probably skips a lot of the ones in act 3. He's got a goal and he's sticking to it. Who gives a shit about the necromancy of thay? While he'd vastly prefer to just let the emperor do it, He might be forced into freeing orpheus just to appease lae'zel. In which case he's not turning into a mindflayer. He spent weeks (tendays i mean) specifically avoiding this, he's not gonna do it now.

Lisa would play both sides every time. Like. She'd start the raid on the druid grove but switch sides at the last minute. I do think she'd ultimately do the "good" choices (because there's not a lot of moral depth to BG3's plot) in the end, but she would be absolutely inscrutable literally 24/7. Betraying people just for sheer love of the game. (she gets a kick out of seemingly siding with gortash, and then destroying all the steel watchers). I cannot imagine her becoming a mindflayer. She probably would free orpheus and make him do it though. She would not appreciate the emperor taking the form of like her dead brother or something. If we say she's a wizard (see below), then I could see maybe a 50/50 shot on her becoming a god with the crown of karsus (is that even possible? I mean, is gale the only one that can do that or can a player-character also do it if they're a wizard? I didn't play a wizard because we already have gale).

Rachel is a little similar to Brian, maybe. She's not the kind to do stuff out of compassion for her fellow man. She might side with the druids in act 1, just because the goblins of act 1 abuse animals pretty regularly. I mean, worm rachel is only really compassionate for specifically dogs though, and worgs are kind of like wolves. I don't think she'd ever actively side with the goblins, though. They're dickheads. She would definitely kill that woman who abused the dogs at the mail carrier in rivington, though. Probably take all the dogs herself. Torch the building. She would not save orpheus, would just let the emperor take care of it, and would destroy the netherbrain. (she might save orpheus if she romances lae'zel. Though if she went to the creche she would get the whole party killed).

Canonically, in Worm, Alec found the person he believed to have the strongest moral compass and basically just said "yeah that sounds cool" to like her every decision. An autistic woman is speaking, listen and learn. He might try something similar here. Hey, Shadowheart. You seem like you know what morality is. You're in charge now. (much like canonical worm, he chose poorly (still better than taylor though))

I'm not sure what aisha would do. Game aisha would be easy. She'd just do whatever was the funniest option every time. Blow up the monastery, let the gondian hostages all trip and die, fuck and then kill minthara. But if it was real to her? She's hard to pin down, I think. She might just stick around for the ride, without any strong feelings one way or the other? I mean, she wouldn't become a mindflayer, but the other stuff? She'd probably do mostly good stuff, with the occasional exception, because, again, BG3 is pretty black-and-white. Do you do the good thing or the bad thing? etcetera.

And a final little bonus: what DND class best represents each Undersider? Just for a little hit of the lamest nerd shit anyone could ever do.

Taylor, I would probably say is a bladesinging wizard? I might also say necromancer. My reasoning is primarily that taylor is the most bookish of the undersiders, the most studious, and she's the most versatile. Wizard is the most versatile magic class in Dungeon Dragon. I said bladesinging wizard, because a big thing about taylor in any fight is that the taylor within the swarm is also dangerous. She uses her baton to great effect, cloaking herself within the swarm for surprise attacks. Bladesinging wizard is the only wizard subclass that even can use melee weapons. (it also helps that by all accounts wizards shouldn't do melee combat, they're supposed to be bad at it, but randomly a bladesinging wizard isn't, and that's taylor being The One Master Cape that actually fistfights people) Of course, this runs into a minor problem which is that a big thing about taylor's power is that it's offputting. Unsettling. she's extremely good at scaring people, to the point she often does it practically by accident. This might be why necromancer might be better, since necromancy is seen as disgusting or offputting. But then you lose the taylor within the swarm part. So i guess it's a matter of which you think is more important to her as a character. There's also swarmkeeper ranger, but ranger kind of sucks, and plus taylor barely ever uses her gun, to the point i don't think she even reloads a gun during the course of the entire book.

Lisa is a tough one. Nothing fits her well, but a lot of things fit her kind of well. Here's 2 options, each with advantages and disadvantages. (Lore bard is also a possibility, but I think it is a bad one)

Inquisitive Rogue. You may think Mastermind rogue, since she's a mastermind cape, but mastermind rogue focuses more on the lying than the detecting lies, so inquisitive. It fits pretty well mechanically, especially that inquisitive rogues can just immediately detect illusions or shapeshifters, but the thing that I don't like about it is that rogues primarily use dexterity, with intelligence being secondary, and charisma usually being a dump stat. Additionally, rogues focus heavily on combat with weapons, which is not lisa's Thing. She does have her gun, but she doesn't really use it that often, preferring her words instead.

Divination Wizard. For one thing, (most) wizards are terrible in melee combat and have low health, which is a better fit for lisa "i work best not fistfighting glory girl but end up doing it half the time anyway" wilbourn. Additionally, wizards have intelligence as their primary stat, which is better for lisa. The large variety of spells does allow Lisa a much less limited amount of perception, though the "sees the future" thing is not her power. Whatever. Look, it's not too far off. This is the best I have, okay?

Rachel is pretty simple. you might be tempted to say she's a beastmaster ranger, though I don't think it's a good fit. For one thing, rangers kind of suck. The beastmaster also has the problem of only having one beast to master, as opposed to rachel's many many beasts. Additionally, rachel does not usually fight people directly, usually using her dogs instead (since that's her power). I think a shepherd druid could be a better fit for her. It gives her the innate ability to basically speak with animals, druids tend not to really interact with or like people, and she can summon and empower many more creatures than a beastmaster's 1. Of course, this has problems of its own. Rachel lindt is not capable of turning into a bear in the web novel Worm. She also can't do that in Ward.

Brian is probably the easiest. shadow monk. He's a hand-to-hand fighter who loves doing crazy ass stunts in service of cold clocking 12 year olds, who also has abilities that work very well to aid him in stealth or surprise attacks. Within the lore, shadow monks also often work as mercenaries. It's Literally Him. Also as a little fun fact, Shadow monks have an ability that is literally exactly his echidna clone's power (teleporting through shadows). They are also immune to the effects of radiation*, which also is a thing Brian can do. This is the only slam dunk conversion for any of these little bastards, to be honest. He's a shadow monk. We're done here.

Alec is probably a great old one warlock, since that's the class focused the most on controlling others, with a greater focus on incapacitation as opposed to mind control. It's closer to his shaker-like power. (to my knowledge there is no spell that allows you to straight up control somebody forever in dungeons and dragons). You could make a case for enchantment wizard, but there's too many wizards here already. You can also link a warlock power thematically to his connection to his father, something that doesn't really care about him very much but he draws power from (even if he resents it). great old one warlocks also have resistance to psychic damage, and like that's one of his major characteristics, what with him being highly resistant to emotional master powers and all.

Aisha is hard. Nothing fits aisha. Her ability to make people forget about her existence is hard to replicate. The closest thing I know of is that enchantment wizards get an ability to make people forget they were charmed by said wizard's magic, but that's, like, it. I was hoping that somewhere there existed a subclass I didn't know about that was like all about making people forget stuff, but tough shit I guess. thief rogue(the best one for sneaking). fuck you, gary gygax.

Bonus:

Sabah could be a creation bard, since creation bards can animate objects and use them to like hit people and stuff. But this is much more limited than her power, and it's not quite the powerful summons that I was hoping for. That being said, i've lowered my standards significantly because nothing works ever.

Lily could be a fighter but none of the fighter subclasses let you make a random object invulnerable. It's a real problem. About as close as I can get is the arcane archer, which allows the fighter to imbue projectiles with a power, but not the "instantly kills anything and pierces any defense" power, for some reason. Strange. And none of this covers her other powers.

Extra bonus:

Amy is a divine soul sorcerer. She only ever uses healing spells (or sometimes buff spells) even though she's got a level six disintegrate just like sitting in the chamber. Mocking her.

[unclefungusthegoat]

New Dawn Review- MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD

So, I’ve been screaming a lot in tags, but haven’t really summed up my emotions about New Dawn... so here we go. Under the cut because it’s pretty long and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. But what I can say is:

Hmmmmm.

Also this totally turns into a rant at the end hahaha

If you have decided to brave my waffling, welcome.

Well, let’s start by saying, I have mixed emotions. It’s fluctuating from very positive, because I genuinely did enjoy the game, to retrospectively being exceptionally annoyed with it. And so here are my thoughts. 

FYI this looks really unbalanced because the negatives are a lot longer than the positives, but again, I reiterate, I did enjoy this game!

POSITIVES

The game looked GORGEOUS. Absolutely fantastic. The graffiti everywhere was awesome, the flowers were beautiful, the colours glorious and Prosperity was fab. A+ job guys!

I LOVED the twins and wanted so much more of them, especially Lou, who I felt was really sidelined in favour of Mickey. Cara and Leslie did a fantastic job playing them, but five or six cutscenes to get to know both of them was nowhere near enough, especially when you think each of the Seeds got that individually. I get it was a shorter game, but still... I loved their designs, their ‘rabbit’ catchphrase, the skull crushing helmet, the scene with their mum... they were just brilliant.

I thought some of the story missions were awesome, mainly the ones where you infiltrate the Highwaymen- the fighting pit idea was cool, as was the Derby, and returning to the jail was great! And let’s not forget collecting the Word, and then going to see Joseph in his sanctuary!

I generally really liked all of the new characters, particularly Carmina and the Judge. Timber and Horatio were adorable and the homages to Boomer and Cheeseburger were sweet. There was ONE however, who I fucking HATED, who I will discuss momentarily... three guesses who hahahaha

Prosperity upgrading system was nice.

Fun outfits for the Captain.

The photography challenge was heartbreaking and I loved it.

Speaking of that, seeing Fall’s End, John’s Gate and other recognisable places in such a state was gut-wrenching (especially the Spread Eagle and hearing about Mary May, holy shit), but it’s really nice that it had that effect on me. Makes me realise just how much I cared. (Also totally glad the giant cow was still there OH AND THE YES SIGN AT THE DERBY ARENA)

I prefer FC5′s soundtrack, it feels more like ‘home’, if you know what I mean, but I have been listening to this one a lot on Spotify and it’s so good! Definitely worth a listen if you haven’t already!

NEGATIVES

Ethan. Holy shit, what a whiny bitch. Kylo Ren type ungrateful children of previous lead characters always really annoy me and he was no different. ‘What have you ever sacrificed’ was an absolute knife to the heart. I get he had his purpose in the story, but ugh. And I think we’re all in agreement that there is no fucking way that he’s Joseph’s actual son, because NO.

Come to think of it, something about the whole New Eden being a sort of caveman colony now just doesn’t sit right with me. I get the whole ‘casting off society’ angle, but I’d rather they’d have been more recognisable as the cult from the last game. Even if it was just them wearing the sweaters or having a couple of banners up hahaha. They didn’t feel churchy enough.

Only one GFH at a time... *cries*.

Details missing, just small things. Sharky and Hurk’s tattoos. Joseph’s rosary around his hand. Tiny things, but things that could have easily been in it.

No cult songs. Period.

No explanation (as of yet, someone may yet find something) about Jess, Tammy and Wheaty’s fates. (I take it Garrett Barnes was no relation to Tammy???) Can’t say I think it’s a coincidence that they’re all Jacob’s region characters and that’s the region that has been ignored the most by the developers.

Also real talk, in my initial hopes for the game post, I wrote something like ‘I’m hoping for Mary May, Tracey and Wheaty’ to be in the game. Like that was an actual sentence I wrote.

Basically, just... don’t be a character I root for, because YOU WILL DIE.

The ending. I like that you can spare Joseph and Mickey, but I dunno, it just felt... underwhelming? Like either way you chose, it didn’t make much difference. And the Ethan transforming into the beast thing didn’t do it for me. It felt silly. Unrealistic, and yeah, I get that FC5 wasn’t exactly realistic, and it was supposed to be about unclean souls and being unworthy and whatever, but this felt a step too far? Magic sacred fruit? I’m with the Highwaymen on this one I’m afraid. Like, keep the Eden and apple reference, just do it in a different way???

AND HERE IT IS FOLKS, HERE’S WHAT REALLY BROKE MY HEART AND FROM WHAT I’VE BEEN READING YOUR HEARTS TOO-

I made no secret in my ‘Hopes for New Dawn’ post I put together when the trailer first came out, that I, like many others, was here for the Seeds. Yes, I knew that John, Jacob and Faith weren’t going to be in it. They’re dead.

BUT.

I wanted something.

Ubisoft, how could you practically ignore your most popular characters like that?

JOSEPH DIDN’T EVEN SAY THEIR NAMES.

‘My family is ash’ is fucking heartbreaking, but not enough buddy.

No songs, no shrines, no saint like murals, barely any NPC dialogue or notes, and I liked Thomas Rush, but don’t even get me started on how pissed I felt that he got a grave, and our Heralds didn’t. Not even at Eden’s Pyre, which is where is would have made logical sense???? No Affirmation wreckage, or challenges to collect personal effects like Jacob’s knife, or the ghostly laugh of Faith still echoing at times. You couldn’t even explore Jacob’s region very much.

Like those three had such an effect on the people of Hope County’s lives, and we don’t even get any reflection about them by the characters?

I feel cheated.

Like, Ubisoft know. They have to. All those tweets they get from us. They know how much we love the Heralds.

And yet????

I love that we have this game, but I would have happily waited another year or six months or something if it had meant more detail and more content. And instead of quenching my thirst for more of these characters and this setting and this Hope County universe, it’s just made me want even more because I feel so unsatisfied.

I’ve been posing the question ‘where is our live action mini series’ on here for a while now because we are being cheated of Seed content, and I am in such a mood after this game that I might just sit down and fucking write it myself, because if that’s the only way we’re getting it, I will write that shit and fly to Canada to hand it to Ubisoft personally.

*flips table*

Thank you all for coming to my TED talk hahahaha

[hysterialevi]

When the Devil Cries pt. 12

From Arthur’s POV

THE NEXT MORNING

KAMASSA RIVER

Well, here we were. Two lost souls on the run from God knows what as we rode across this “civilized” country, searchin’ for a freedom that I wasn’t even sure existed.

I mean, Dutch always described our gang as a community of free men and women, and yet the only thing I saw was a group of fugitives constantly bein’ forced to evade the law. I supposed it was better than actually being caught by them, but...I still had to wonder what we was truly chasing here. ‘Cause I sure as hell knew what was chasin’ us.

Despite how tense our situation was though, I had to admit: it did feel good to get away from that dreadful cesspit of a city. Walking around Saint Denis always made me feel like I was strangling myself, and half the time, I wanted to strangle the people around me even more.

And things weren’t that much merrier back at camp neither. There was always a pair o’ fools arguing with each other -- whether it was about Dutch’s so-called plan, or how bland Pearson’s stew was that day -- and it drove me halfway to insanity.  

But now that it was just me and Eddie -- surviving in the wilderness and ridin’ in the open country -- I felt like I could finally breathe again.

It was nothin’ but endless miles of lush grass and exuberant flowers out here. And we also had a more-than-magnificent view of the purple mountains in the distance, making me and Eddie feel like ants.

It was certainly a treat to be around nature again. And as strange as it sounded, I was almost excited to return to the humid town of Rhodes where I was pretty sure everyone was related in some way.

Hell, I even missed the mud-ridden streets of Valentine -- along with that rowdy saloon where I received quite the welcoming.

It just felt nice to be back in the wilds, despite how chaotic it could become sometimes. But I supposed that was the beauty of it.

There were no lawmen out here to restrain us, or ridiculous mannerisms that we had to hide behind. It was simply survival, and the things we did to achieve it.

I only prayed we could avoid the assassins for long enough. Things got risky enough back at the gala, and we had Dutch and Hosea helpin’ us out. If them bastards tracked us down out here -- where we was all by ourselves -- well, we’d have one hell of a fight on our hands. And I intended to be prepared for it.

Splashing water onto my face, I scrubbed all the dried blood off and ran my canteen through the cool river, filling it to the brim before returning to my horse as I chose a new shirt to wear.

So far, things appeared calm enough. And we had yet to run into any other people, except the occasional passerby. For once, things actually seemed to be goin’ according to plan. And it made me uneasy.

I knew I should’ve been grateful for gettin’ outta Saint Denis alive -- and I was -- but part of me just couldn’t shake the feeling that these men weren’t gonna let Eddie go so easily. I mean, if they was willin’ to send that many assassins after him alone, Lord only knew what they’d do once they figured out he wasn’t by himself no more.

Well...I supposed we would find out sooner or later. After all, these men certainly weren’t holdin’ back, and I had no doubts we would encounter ‘em again.

All I could do now was make sure Eddie was prepared for the next fight.

“You all cleaned up?” I asked the boy, pulling on my favorite blue shirt. He stood up from the river.

“Yeah,” Eddie replied, wiping some droplets off his face. “What about you?”

“Oh, I’m good,” I answered, sifting through my saddlebag for another shirt before handing it to him. “Here. Put this on. It ain’t nothin’ fancy, but you can wear it until we get to Rhodes. Or keep it, if you want. I don’t care.”

“Thanks.” He said, taking the piece of clothing in his grasp. It was a simple white French Dress shirt; just somethin’ I bought from the tailor in an attempt to fit in with the “good” folks of Saint Denis. Though, I was pretty sure it made me stand out even more.

“You got any money on you?” I checked, earning a nod from Eddie.

“Some. Only a little, though.”

I closed my saddlebag, patting my horse while she took a generous gulp of water from the river. “Only a little should be enough. The stuff in Rhodes ain’t as expensive as what they sell Saint Denis. And we can always make more.”

Eddie quirked a brow, removing his bloodstained shirt. “How?”

I took a moment to look at our options, doing my absolute best not to stare directly at him.

“Well...there ain’t no shortage of fools in this area. I’m sure we could easily rob someone. Jump a stagecoach or two.”

The pianist froze.

“...What?”

A boisterous laugh escaped me. “Ha! Relax, kid. I’m only playin’ with you. Nah...if we wanna make some real cash, our best bet is pickin’ up a bounty at the Sheriff’s office. Now -- don’t worry. It ain’t as intimidating as it sounds. Some o’ these outlaws are no joke, but the ones with a smaller bounty can be plain idiots sometimes. Easy money.”

Eddie slipped into the shirt I gave him, clearly still a bit unsure about our plan as he adjusted to his new clothes. “...If you think that’s best.”

I grinned at him, finally placing my prized hat back on as the two of us prepared to leave. Lord, did it feel good to be wearin’ this thing again.

“Well, to quote my good friend Tacitus Kilgore,” I playfully punched his shoulder, strolling over to my mount, “...have some faith, Eddie.”

A WHILE LATER

RHODES

Riding under the white-hot sun as puffs of red dust billowed around us, Eddie and I finally arrived at the Rhodes Train Station, slowly bringing the rest of the town into view the further we walked.

Things seemed lazy ‘round here as usual. Most of the locals was either drunk or asleep, and the ones who weren’t were doin’ their absolute best to get there. To be honest, it hadn’t changed that much since I was last here, and frankly, I didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing.

I guessed we would see for ourselves soon enough.

“Welp, here we are...” I said, slowly coming to a halt. “...Rhodes. It ain’t no Saint Denis, but this town’ll leave a mark on your memory in its own way, for sure. What d’you think?”

To my surprise, Eddie appeared to be fond of the place.

“It’s...much prettier than I was expecting,” he confessed, admiring the quaint stores scattered around. “And you can actually breathe the air around here.”

I chuckled. “Sure, but I’m afraid the people are just as rotten. Only difference is they’re honest about it here. Most o’ the time, anyway...”

Eddie glanced around. “So, what do we do now?”

I gestured to the side. “The general store’s right over there. Why don’t you head in and buy yourself some proper clothes? Also some provisions. We still got a ways to go till we reach Valentine, and I doubt we’ll see another saloon for a while.”

He softly tugged on the reins, getting ready to divert our paths.

“Very well. What about you?”

I pointed a bit further down the road. “I’mma head to the Sheriff’s office. See if they got any bounties posted. I’ll meet you outside when I’m done.”

Eddie nodded. “Sounds good.”

“Oh -- and make sure the clothes you get blend in somewhat. The folk ‘round here don’t take kindly to outsiders. Or ‘yankees’ as they call ‘em.”

The pianist smirked jokingly, trotting towards the general store as he waved a temporary goodbye.

“Of course. I’ll look like a proper cowboy once I’m done.”

I went in my own direction, rollin’ my eyes at the boy. “We ain’t cowboys, you silly fool.”

Eddie snickered, enjoying my annoyance far too much.

“Whatever you say, Mister Morgan.”

THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE

Hitching my horse to a nearby post, I quickly made my way into the Sheriff’s office and tried my utmost to look civilized, admittedly not too eager to present myself to an officer of the law.

After all, even though we was mainly concerned about the assassins on our tail, I couldn’t forget about the money-hungry bounty hunters after my own head, as well as the Pinkertons flippin’ this country over just to find me.

I let out a guilt-ridden sigh at the thought, my eyes stuck to the floor as I climbed the small steps to the Sheriff’s office.

Eddie still didn’t know who I truly was.

Sure, I was being a “good man” and helpin’ him survive out here, but the boy didn’t even know I was an outlaw, let alone that I had five thousand dollars on my head. Hell, maybe I shoulda just let him turn me in. Then he’d have more money than he would know what to do with.

I just...couldn’t bring myself to tell him. I mean, what the hell would he think? Would he even trust me anymore? I doubted it. Eddie had a hard enough time trusting people in general. If he learned about who I was -- or even “Mister Kilgore’s” identity -- I was willin’ to wager that our relationship would be over. Along with...whatever else was goin’ on between us.

...I supposed I would have to confess at some point if I wanted to gain Eddie’s full trust. I just weren’t too sure that now was a good time. We was already busy enough runnin’ away from Rose’s men. The last thing he needed was to learn that his only friend happened to be an outlaw himself.

Well...whatever happened next, now wasn’t the time to feel guilty.

Eddie and I had a job to do, and we didn’t have very long to do it. If I wanted to get him outta this alive, I would have to focus...no matter how much it pained me to keep all these secrets from him.

I just hoped he would learn the truth from me, and not someone else.

Pushing the office’s door open, I waltzed in with a casual-enough temperament as the Sheriff’s head perked up from his desk, his eyes flicking towards me upon my arrival.

“Afternoon, mister,” he greeted. “You a bounty hunter? I haven’t seen you in town before.”

“Yes, sir.” I replied.

The Sheriff stood up from his chair. “Well, you’re in luck. We got a couple o’ bounties available at the moment. Quite a hefty sum on both their heads. Why don’t you take a look at the posters?”

Following the Sheriff’s line of sight, I wandered over to a nearby wall and examined the pair of posters, thinkin’ about which one would be easiest for me and Eddie to catch.

The first one had a portrait of a feller who looked to be near my age. The upper part of his face had been mostly covered by wide, black hat but the parts I could see weren’t that much prettier anyway.

He had a mean set of features. His face seemed to be stuck in a permanent scowl, and he had a built, structured nose along with a deep cleft chin. There was also a rather nasty-looking scar crossing over the right side of his mouth, forming some kind of a forced, lopsided frown. Who was this sad son-of-a-bitch?

“That’s Archibald Hill,” the Sheriff explained, noticing my interest. “He used to run with the Lemoyne Raiders, but became somewhat of a lone wolf a few months ago. Now, he terrorizes Lemoyne’s countryside, robbin’ and murderin’ anything that moves. It’d be preferable if you brought him in alive, but I won’t protest if you kill him neither.”

I brought my attention to the second poster, listening to the Sheriff talk while I observed the portrait.

This one actually had two outlaws displayed on it -- a  man and a woman -- and both of them had a deranged look their eyes. The woman hid her tangled, messy hair under a pinned-up hat and wore a loose, casual shirt along with a bandolier slung over her shoulder. Her face was long and sharp, and her wild eyes seemed to be stuck in a permanent twitch.

As for the man, he had a head of extremely short, ruffled hair that kind looked like it had been cut from all different directions, and there was a rather thick, graying goatee decorating his chin. His eyes shared the same devilish glint as his partner, and just like before, he had a constant glower creasing his face.

Jesus. I didn’t even wanna think about what I looked like in my wanted poster.

“Ah, the Arlington Twins,” the Sheriff introduced. “Minnie and Jesse. They’re a pair o’ bandits been murderin’ their way across this country for years now. Plenty have gone after them, but so far, none have come back. And to make things trickier, they’re wanted alive. Think you can handle it?”

I considered it for a second, devising multiple plans in my head on how we could capture them as the Sheriff waited for a response.

Goin’ after Hill was probably the easier and safer option, but these Arlington Twins had quite the bounty on their head -- a hundred dollars, to be exact -- and I was pretty confident that Eddie and I could corner them without too much trouble.

I folded the poster and slipped it into my satchel, giving the Sheriff an agreeing nod.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

He sat back down at his desk, giving me a wary look.

“Alright, then. Last I heard, they were spotted somewhere near Dewberry Creek. I’d start lookin’ around there. Careful, though. Them Arlington Twins aren’t the only dangers lurkin’ in that area.”

I opened the door, making my way out of the office. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Well, good luck to you, then.”

Taking my leave, I stepped back into the scorching weather of Rhodes and wandered over to a nearby bench, having a seat while I waited for Eddie to finish up his business.

Thankfully, the Sheriff didn’t seem to realize who I was, and judging by the lack of alarm in the town, I assumed no one else had their eyebrows raised just yet either.

Instead, they simply carried on with their daily lives and strolled sluggishly through the cloudy streets, doing their best to ignore the one-legged veteran hollerin’ outside the general store.

It weren’t exactly the most eventful day, but...I didn’t need it to be. I had already gotten my fair share of action this week, and I certainly wasn’t looking for more trouble right now.

Trouble always seemed to have a habit of findin’ me anyways, and I had no doubts it’d come ‘round to me again eventually. I only prayed that, unlike before, it would at least have the courtesy of lettin’ me train Eddie some more.

If we was to get caught in the middle of another shitstorm, I didn’t just wanna be ready. I wanted to have the upper hand.

Halting my train of thought, I suddenly heard the man himself calling out to me from a distance as I glanced to my side, only to be greeted by one hell of a sight.

Even though Eddie’s new clothes weren’t particularly flamboyant or flashy in any way, the boy still managed to look better than the entire town combined. Includin’ me.

In addition to the shirt I gave him, Eddie had bought a navy-blue vest to go over it, a black frock coat, and a matching Nevada hat along with a simple tie. Was it even possible for this boy to be ugly?

“Well, look at you,” I said with a grin, rising from the bench. “Ain’t you a handsome devil.”

Eddie returned the grin, shrugging casually. “I do my best. So, did you find any bounties?”

I showed him the posters. “Two. Minnie and Jesse Arlington. Apparently, they’re twin bandits been raisin’ hell in these parts recently. Wanted alive for a hundred dollars.”

The pianist examined the portraits. “Any idea where to start?”

“Well, the Sheriff said they were last seen near Dewberry Creek, so my guess is they’re probably targeting the railroad that crosses into New Hanover.”

Eddie quirked a brow. “What makes you say that?”

“Lots of wagons with valuable goods pass through there,” I explained. “Not to mention the weakly-guarded trains that also make the occasional appearance. Good money for people like them.”

“Makes sense. Have you got a plan on how to catch them?”

I nodded, putting away the posters. “Yeah, but we’ll focus on that later. At the moment, I’d feel better if you knew how to handle a larger gun. Like a rifle. You still got Middleton’s old weapons on your mount?”

Eddie peered in Bullet’s direction. “Fortunately, yes.”

I whistled for my own horse. “Then let’s you and I find a place out in the wilds where we can shoot in peace. Them assassins ain’t gonna shoot at us with handguns, and I wouldn’t want you to be usin’ one neither. Besides, I think it’s time you got in some more practice. You ain’t a bad shot, but you’re still a bit slow.”

The boy smirked at me, mounting Bullet before following me outta town. “For now.”

I chuckled, the two of us galloping away just as the sun began to sink in the sky.

“For now.”

THAT EVENING

CLEMENS POINT

Riding all over Lemoyne’s vast countryside, Eddie and I spent the rest of the day shooting, hunting, fishing, exploring...and I even taught him a few new tricks with his revolver.

The boy had certainly improved since the last time I showed him how to shoot a gun, and to make things even better, Thatcher left behind quite an impressive arsenal of weapons.

The Lancaster, in particular, was an especially beautiful gun. It was decorated with a sleek ebony varnish, blackened steel, and on the frame, there was a golden engraving of what looked like a side-view portrait of a little boy’s face. The gun was also in pretty good condition, considering how much Thatcher must’ve used it, and to my surprise, Eddie couldn’t seem to get enough of it.

Heh. Maybe I’d make a gunslinger outta him yet.

With a powerful bang, Eddie took another shot at the bottles I had set out for him, getting more and more used to the rifle with every bullet he fired. There was a certain look in his eyes -- the same one he had when the two of us killed Middleton -- and part of me couldn’t believe this was the boy I ran into outside the Bastille.

Nowadays, Eddie appeared more adamant. Determined. Unafraid to fight back. Certainly not the scared, frightened kid Atticus Rose probably still had in mind. And I was gonna do my damnedest to make sure he didn’t know about this Eddie until it was too late.

After all, if I had learned anythin’ from my time with Dutch, it was that underestimating your enemy was as good as giving them a victory before the fight even started. And Lord knew we needed an advantage.

“Remember to press the stock against your shoulder,” I reminded Eddie, standing closely beside him. “Make sure there ain’t a gap. Otherwise, the recoil will send that stock flyin’ straight back at you, and it’ll leave quite a nasty bruise.”

I readjusted Eddie’s posture slightly, pushing him forward just a bit. “Also remember to lean in And...as always...”

“...Fire on the exhale.” He finished. I smiled proudly at him.

“Exactly.”

Pulling the trigger, Eddie almost effortlessly blasted one of the bottles right off the stand, smoke now gliding through the air. I patted his shoulder in praise.

“See? You ain’t so terrible, after all.”

He lowered the rifle, chuckling in response. “Perhaps not.”

Placing the Lancaster against a nearby tree, the pianist switched back to his more familiar, timid tone as his eyes softly gazed at me, watching with a certain affection.

“...Thank you for showing me that, Arthur. The amount of things you’ve taught me this past week -- I feel like a changed man.”

I took a seat next to the campfire I’d built for us earlier, quoting one of Hosea’s favorite philosophies.

“Well, maybe you ain’t changin’ at all,” I suggested. “Just getting closer to the man you always was.”

Eddie sat down next to me, his expression glowing with endearment.

“I never thought about it that way. Maybe you’re right, though. I just wish I could’ve started changing sooner. Would’ve done me and my family a whole lot of favors.”

I let out an understanding sigh, lazily staring at the sparks dancing above the fire.

“Don’t we all. But...ain’t no point in regrets. ‘Cept learning from them.”

Eddie took his hat off and placed it in his lap, running a gentle hand through his loosened hair.

“Do you have any regrets, Arthur?”

I nodded subtly, tryin’ to hide the sorrowful frown that threatened to creep on my face.

“Oh, I’ve got plenty o’ regrets, I’m afraid. And even more mistakes.”

“Like what?” He questioned. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

I gazed upwards at the violet sky, sifting through all my godforsaken memories as the hypnotic fire crackled softly in front of us.

A despondent breath escaped me. “...I’ve loved all the wrong people. Killed the right ones. All in the name of greed.”

I furrowed my brow and leaned slightly towards the campfire, mindlessly speaking my thoughts as they came along.

“Money...money’s a strange thing, y’know,” I muttered. “I’ve barely got any of it and yet, it’s the thing affectin’ me most. Makes me wonder who I’d be if money didn’t exist. If such a world is even possible.”

I paused for a moment, bringing my attention to Eddie.

“...But I’ll tell you one thing I don’t regret,” I gently grabbed the pianist’s hand, holding it securely. “Meetin’ you. I know I don’t really talk ‘bout this sorta thing often, but...you mean a lot to me, Eddie. A whole lot. ...My only regret is that you had to end up with a man like me.”

Eddie almost appeared upset at that comment and he quickly placed a hand on my cheek, gently turning my head so that I was facing him.

“What are you on about? I’m happy to be with you, Arthur. I know you see yourself as the devil, but...you’re the only reason I’m still alive. The only reason I actually have a fighting chance against Atticus. So stop beating yourself up all the damn time, and realize that, to some people out there, you’re an angel. Because you certainly are in mine.”

My gaze fell to the ground. “You’d be the only one.”

Eddie leaned in, resting the bridge of his nose against mine. “Sometimes, you only need one.”

Pressing a short kiss to my lips, Eddie lingered for a second before separating it, only to be pulled right back in when I wrapped my arms around him, bringing the musician into a tight embrace.

Despite the gesture being somewhat sudden, Eddie warmed up to it soon enough and welcomed the kiss, practically melting in my arms as the sky darkened above us.

I had no idea what the hell I was doing, and I could hear my own mind screamin’ at itself...but at the moment, I didn’t care. Right now, all I cared about was Eddie. And regardless of how wrong this mighta been, or how foolish I was acting...it just felt right. It felt like somethin’ I needed to do. And I was powerless to resist it.

Deepening the kiss, Eddie began caressing the sides of my face before pulling me closer, both of us completely lost in our own thoughts.

It was almost as if I’d forgotten about all my troubles. About all the shit we was runnin’ from, and runnin’ towards. Like the outside world didn’t even exist no more, and we were free to live our lives.

But the longer we stayed like this, the more I found myself growing addicted to that feeling...and it frightened me. It was just as dangerous as it was thrilling, and regardless of how much I wanted to continue, I knew I couldn’t.

I hurriedly forced myself to stop and broke the kiss before I could get too carried away, backing up from Eddie as much as it pained me to do so.

I turned back towards the campfire, shamefully looking away from the pianist.

“Erm -- we should...” I cleared my throat, “...we should get some rest. Got a busy day ahead of us.”

Eddie looked at me in a manner that said he could tell somethin’ was wrong, but he decided not to say anything on the subject anyway. He knew me, after all. And he knew I’d tell him when I was ready.

So, instead, the boy simply agreed and stood up from the fire, tiredly walking over to his bedroll as the stars began to twinkle around the rising moon.

Eddie glanced at me over his shoulder, saying a brief goodnight.

“Well...I suppose I’ll see you in the morning, then. Goodnight, Arthur. And thank you. For everything. You really do have a heart of gold.”

I remained at the fire for a while longer, tryin’ to process everything that just happened as the flames began to die down.

“So do you,” I replied. “...Just not the same kind.”

[happymeishappylife]

So I finally beat KH3

As many of you know, I’ve spent my time delaying beating the game mainly because I didn’t have tons of time with work and studying for an exam to play, but also after waiting for 17 years to play the game, I didn’t want to rush through it. Especially because I had a fun time doing all the extra/silly quests in the game and exploring the worlds. But once it got very grindy and I learned the secret reports could only be done after beating the story (hate that mechanic), I decided to finally finish the story. And now I want to provide my critique on the game based on my initial experience.

And in case any of you have extended out your playthrough, I’ll leave spoilers below and warn you here. So SPOILERS!

Story:

Everyone whether they have played Kingdom Hearts or not, knew before this game started that the storyline has become complicated and ridiculous, but its part of the charm. I think there was some hesitation to see the storyline finish out, but I’m glad that this game did what it promised and at least closed the Xehanort chapter. However, it was not satisfying to see him “die.”

I mean this dude has been fucking EVERYONE over for decades. And has always been one step ahead, so of course finishing him off was the best thing the game could give you. But then they wanted to go through the whole game picturing him as a little kid, lost in fantasies and theories of light and dark and so at the end as a magical ghost version of Master Eraqus appears and forgives him for literally destroying everything, we’re (the player) supposed to be okay with him turning back into an innocent little kid and just disappearing? I hated it. I don’t have any sympathy for this dude and the fact that they tried to make him sympathetic, made me mad. And that also had to do for the very unsatisfactory battles and “deaths” of the new organization 13 crew because other than Vanitas and Terra-Xehanort, I didn’t care about any of them, though we’ll dive in deeper to the more problematic ones in a second. So to conclude, I’m glad that this chapter is closed.

Okay, so when I say problematic Organization members, let’s talk about the ones who have more history than the game. Not the ones who apparently just love to die over and over again (and yes I’m aware that those battles weren’t deaths, that these people are going to be real again, but that’s even more of a let down to be honest, but that could just be me.) So let’s start with a focus on Young Xehanort. Now that he’s gone back to his time knowing that his ultimate plan is failing, does history just play out? Does he forget everything? That’s the only loose end, I’m cautious about and don’t trust that the game designers will leave alone. Then again when I think of great moments of potentially great storyline the game designers just blink an eye at, so hopefully I’m wrong. Next, Xion. How exactly did she get to be there again? I’m assuming a replica, but all of a sudden she was there again with no pomp and circumstance. Which seems odd because I thought she was part of Sora… Especially since she is connected to Kairi still… But okay, cool she’s back and that magically made Roxas appear? Yay! But how? Replica? Not? I don’t know. He just magically appeared. Let’s move on, like the game designers did.

Now for the main two members I’m interested in. Thanks to completing the secret reports, I’m very intrigued about this storyline of this missing girl, Isa, and Lea. Mainly because this girl means something to them, but supposedly she means nothing to no one, so what’s the story there? I hope that gets explored somewhere. The second is Xigbar/Luxu because why did he have to be the important one. He’s super annoying! But apparently that means there might be more of him in the future… Boo! But of course we need more plot for more games, so lets see what happens. Especially since he ties in to the teased storyline of the black box. I mean I totally forgot about it, Maleficent, or Pete until that ending scene so it will be interesting to see where it goes from there.

Now let’s focus on the main group of characters. Beginning with the trio who to me has had so much potential, so many unanswered questions, and a completely heartfelt, but at the same time lackluster ending. Aqua, Ventus, and Terra are finally reunited and then practically forgotten at the end of the game. It’s so disappointing. I mean Aqua and Terra are some of the strongest and most kickass characters and they get reduced to just orphan children which sucks. I mean I hope they get peace now, but I also hope they come back super strong, if they come back at all.

Alright, unpopular opinion ahead, you’ve been warned…

I’m surprised the game designers decided to “murder” Kairi. I mean technically they did send Sora to the afterworld, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, but beyond my surprise that’s the only emotion I felt. I used to love her, but really… Kairi’s a useless character. She barely fights, she has no other conviction other than she is a princess of light and a constant light to Sora, and her dialogue is so vapid and unimportant when its meant to be sincere. To be honest, I was glad when Xemnas took her. I mean, she made Sora look weak, when he’s not at all, and I was glad she was gone. But then that brings me to the biggest let down of the game and that’s the end.

I don’t get Kairi and Sora’s link anymore. They’ve spent way more time a part then together at this point, how are they still in love? They don’t really act like it either. So I was devastated when Sora goes on this journey to find her and the end scene shows her alive and well and him just disappearing? Fuck that noise! At least the secret ending eluded to the fact he’s not dead and also that he’s reunited with his boyfriend, because I’m sorry, he and Riku are the ones who should be in a relationship. It’s made sense for so long and their relationship has depth. But for some reason the game designers are scared to commit to it, so instead they want you to believe the whole, well if Kairi is with Sora, then Namine must be with Riku even though that’s semi creepy since Namine and Kairi are somewhat the same. It’s like saying both boys are into the same girl, when really they are into each other, duh…

This also is because I adore Sora to death. I’ve always called him my monkey boy, and he’s an idiot most of the time and naïve, but he grew a lot in this game so I’m sad to see him be forced to go pining after Kairi just because this game gave him so much more maturity.

So we’ll see where things go. I hope the secret ending is an illusion to the next game, but if that means Sora’s in the real world, that’s a bizarre thought. At least he learned selfie tricks to help him get by in today’s day and age.

As I mentioned I didn’t like some of the storyline directions. I mean they did a great job of working with the worlds, but then there were weird moments like when we come across Vanitas the first time and Donald, Goofy, and Sora are just like, that’s weird, but he must be crazy. Not the psycho dark side of Ven they’ve been told about. Instead, let’s just forget they ran into him for a bit. Okay… Then when you have Sora on his knees, crying about the death of his friends, how do you make him so cheerful to learn he’s essentially dead as he reached the Final World and wants to come back to visit Chirithy? Okay… It all really comes to a head when you have to have Woody pretty much say what we’re all thinking to Young Xehanort which is essentially “I don’t know where you are going with this, but I don’t care” to sum up the problems with the storyline.

Now beyond this, I love the moments in the worlds and how the true essence of the game was captured as Sora, Donald, and Goofy just stumble into worlds, don’t understand a thing, and yet somehow make friends. Pirates was the best example of this because all the main characters pretended they didn’t exist. It was hilarious. I was just sad there weren’t more worlds. I mean what they did was great, but they could have had more and added more depth.

Also one of the best moments gets a shoutout, because having Yen Sid be awesome at the end was such a thrill!

Gameplay:

Overall, really, really fun! I loved that they brought together all the elements of the games, like forms, focus drive, links, and magic into the game and then added the ridiculous elements of the attraction based attacks, wall running, and parkour moves into this addition. It made for fast paced, action packed, awesome flow during fight scenes with silly consequences thanks to all the keyblade forms. I also loved the uniqueness to all the blades and the overall attention to detail they gave each and everyone of them. Especially how they interacted in other worlds. It was fantastic!

I loved that instead of journal, we got a phone. I loved that you could take pictures and get new selfie poses (though why that’s when most of the game is over, I don’t understand). Heck half the fun was taking pictures of random people just because you could. It was fun! I also loved the Classic Kingdom Games because they were well thought out to play off the old school arcade games. The keyblade you get for collecting all of them is silly but powerful which is great! The only thing I didn’t like, like I mentioned above, was that the secret reports you can’t even collect until after beating the game. I would have rather gotten everything and then beaten it, but it forced my hand. Sigh…

I loved cooking with Remy! That may have been my favorite part! It’s just a sweet way to include Ratatouille and not diminish the whole point of that story and you get to see Sora be a terrible cook, because he is. The keyblade you get for helping Remy is also my favorite one in the game. I want to make it so badly and cosplay with it. Plus there was something satisfying at the end by trying to defeat Xehanort with a frying pan and screaming, “Flambe his Ass!” that added to the mood.

I loved travelling through the worlds, I loved the openness of the maps, even though they still guided you places. I loved the aesthetic and the Unreal Engine made everything gorgeous. It got annoying after a while to hear Goofy and Donald talk about finding nearby ingredients, but helpful when looking for all the damn emblems! I loved their costumes and the way they treated the design for Toy Story and Monsters Inc. I’m in love with Sora’s Pirate’s costume, I want to also make that and cosplay in that! Maybe a mix between the that costume and keyblade? Could be fun!

The gummiship was a nice mix between 1 and 2’s style, though the fights were ridiculous and hurt my hands from trying to beat the missions. I loved the idea of constellations, but why were the designs so random? I also love the ‘Treasure Planets’ though can we have an actual Treasure Planet World? That would be amazing!!

There’s two main things about the gameplay I didn’t like though. First, the boss battles were too easy. I mean except for not protecting my pirate ship, which was bullshit, I never once died. All the cutscenes where Sora’s heavy breathing or on the ground defeated, I was like, this is crap because this was so easy. I want a challenge! So I’ll play again on Proud mode and see if it’s better. I mean not even the secret battles were hard, but admittedly I was battling them around level 70 by that point so that could be why…

And I wish they had done the fights with the Organization members better. I mean it was so jaunting to fight three enemies and kill one just to have a pause in the fight where everyone let so-and-so have their last words. Thoughtful, I guess, but dumb and if you want each death to be meaningful you could have done it so much better. Because I could have felt more for Larxene, if Marluxia wasn’t about to Axe me, ten seconds later. What I thought would have been cool is one-on-one battles and playing as all the different keyblade wielders. I mean, don’t tease me by letting me play as Riku a couple times, and Aqua once, if you won’t let me play with them at the end! That’s so not fair! I mean I love Sora, and he’s powerful, but there would have been so much more sweet justice getting to fight certain members as the other characters. Like Roxas for example. How badass would that have been to come back and beat down on Saix and Xemnas? But they didn’t let me!!!! Sad day…

Overall Rating: 8/10 Because ultimately, I did have fun. I will play it again despite the issues I had, and it still is one of my all time series.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

[shapeshifting-arch-mage]

12/04/2018

Raver Temmie and I fly on our broom to the Island. When was the last time we were here? We've come here again because we need to buy some glowsticks to pass out to the partygoers who've agreed to come to our private rave party. The one that we never got around to having because we went to Baku's rave over at Port Town's dance club. Now that was an experience.

"hey tem?"

"ya, hooman?"

"wen we get back, were gonna rite Baku a nice thank yu lettr, okay?"

"ooo, yaya!! thank u letr!! dats a grate idea!!1!" We fly our broom to the seaside store, which, unbeknownst to us, now has a new owner...

Raver Temmie and I fly our broom to the seaside store, where we'd last browsed for glowsticks. We dismount our broom, put it back inside our hat, and open the door. "i hope dis time i can find some-"

...The store looks different. We do not remember the store looking like this when we were last here. We step inside and close the door behind us. "h-hooman...?"

"yea?"

"wat happend to da store??"

"i dunno, its been a wile since we wer here. maybe sum1 redecorated it?"

We haven't seen who that someone is just yet, but if he were to look at the one who'd just entered his store, he'd see a bipedal Temmie in a pointy hat who appeared to be having a conversation with herself, as if she were two people.

"ok, but who did it?"

"i dunno." Our eyes look left and right as we take turns talking out of the same mouth.

[Salandit] The lizard frowned a little, holding the sandwich in its mouth. So... he could take random trash he didn't want, give it to this person, and they'd give him sandwiches...? ...He'd have to remember that, then. His tail flicked once more, and... before Jevil even finished his sentence, he was out the door- running at full speed towards... somewhere.

[Jevil] Jevil exhaled happily, tail wagging a bit. From his perspective, it had worked. It now knew the basics of capitalism. He laughed a little, having been greatly amused with the creature. Now though, he had a new priority. His small pointed ears shot up at the sound of the entrance bell and his attention was drawn to the newcomer: some sort of anthropomorphic white cat/dog. Them holding a conversation with themself was slightly off-putting to Jevil, but he wouldn't judge! Well at least he wouldn't let himself be too nervous, he had to serve this creature after all!

"Hello, hello to you, you! You come seeking wares is that true, true? Well, well tell me what you're looking for and I'll see what I can do, do!" Jevil wore his iconic joyous grin, mitten covered hands tucked beneath his chin as he awaited an answer.

[Rave Witch Temmie] Whoa! What was that that just darted by?! We flinch a little as the Salandit runs out the door. Once the door closes again, we turn back towards the counter and...

...Oh dear lord, what the heck is HE doing here?! He's not supposed to be out of his cell! We flinch again when he greets us, and begin to shiver, a look of dread forming on our face as he talks. After he finishes, our shivering culminates in a shudder as we cry out, "w-w-waaaaah!" We then hide our face behind our front paws.

[Jevil] He blinked once at the flinching reaction, deciding that it was only due to how loud he can become and often is to counteract the quieting nature of the shop's fabric walls. His voice would trail off somewhat as he noticed the shaking and expression. Maybe if he was quieter when he next spoke, this customer would be more comfortable here. The shudder and tears truly did distress the imp-like being, causing him to recoil a bit and spend a bit trying to figure out what he had said to cause such a reaction. Or maybe this person had very recently heard the rumors he had spread in his own world. He tensed a bit, taking in a breath, holding his hands out in front of him in the universal sign of harmlessness.

"H-hey calm down, calm down I say! There is no need for tears and no need for fears, I promise you won't be hurt, dears!" He had mainly pluralized it for the sake of rhyming rather than any knowledge of the newcomer's state.

[Rave Witch Temmie] Eugh, that voice... our shivering subsides somewhat, but not entirely. And did he just call us dears? Nnnngh...

We gingerly lower our paws from our face. They feel a bit moist... did we stain them with a tear or two? Oh geez, I didn't even notice- now that I think about it, our eyes do feel a little wet. How embarrassing...

"w-w-w-w-wat'd yu do to da store???"

[Jevil] "Just a little bit of renovation. I added a little things here and there to create what i saw in my imagination! Uee hee hee, and what a creation i've worked to see, see! No harm either considering the shop belongs to me, me!" He couldn't help but smile at the sensation of pride that whirled around in his stomach and warmed his chest. Jevil knew that there could have been countless others who sought this job and store, so he couldn't help but pride himself in the fact that the higher-ups, whoever they might be, had chosen him as the shopkeeper. No matter the poor experiences he has had so far, the bird-based robbery and the assault via spaghetti, he couldn't help but be happy and excited for all the new faces he'll be able to bring smiles to. His T ended tail swayed gently as he stared off into the distance at the thoughts.

Jevil was somewhat embarrassed when he emerged from his little day-dream. "Well, well now that you know my little slice of the resort, may I ask what wares you seek with some importe?"

[Rave Witch Temmie] "i... uh... um..." Oh geez, the little snot's gone and taken over the place, has he? Well, isn't that just faaaaan-tastic!

"human, whys a scary clown guy in da store??" Temmie thinks to me.

"Er, um, well, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure he's actually a jester." I think back. 

"watsa jester??"

"It's just what it sounds like- someone who jests."

"wats that mean??"

"You know... they tell jokes, and act silly..."

"u mean liek a clown??"

"Er..."

...Well, she's got a point there. I suppose if you think of it that way, they are kind of the same thing. Anyway, back to answering said clown/jester/whatever's question. We glance to the side, unable to bring ourselves to make eye contact with him.

"i was, uh... i was g-gonna hav a hapy fun rave party... a-and i-i needa get some stuff..."

"Glowsticks." I remind her mentally.

"o-oh ya!1! glowsticks!!" We say, looking at Jevil briefly before averting our gaze once more, "i needa glowsticks for my friends at da party... i came hear to buy sum befor but dere werent none..."

[Jevil] "Glowsticks, glowsticks..." He echoes in thought, mentally running through his stock, trying to determine if he would have them. For a while he didn't think so until he recalled their wide colour variety and knew where he would have stored them. Her perks up with excitement and giggles.

"Yes, yes I think I have a set in the back, I wouldn't think glowsticks would be something we would lack, lack! Wait here a second and I'll return with the items, I reckon!" With that, the leapt down from his chair, landing with a small thud and symphony of bell jingles. He remained in a crouching position for a second, showing just how small the once-court jester was, before he bounded into the back, passing through the fabric flaps that had matched seamlessly into the wall. A series of bells and other noises emitted from the back room as Jevil scurried about to find the glowsticks he was increasingly certain he had. He remembered having some in his old shop and had brought along many of his unsold wares from there when he moved his base of operations to the island. Where, oh where, though?

Jevil leaned backwards, holding himself up with his tail as he looked through the massive selection of colorful items, a few dozen pinwheels, plastic flowers, ball-pit balls, glow- There they were! He grabbed the glass jar filled with the unused tubes of chemicals and bounced out from the back.

"I return, return with the items you yearn! I have about twenty four glowsticks as you can see here, here now, lean in close, lend an ear: 2 of whatever you have for money each, it's a rather fine deal I preach!"

[Rave Witch Temmie] Once he goes to the back room and out of our sight, Temmie whispers to me, "whys he so scaryyyy...??"

"uh, cuz of his creepy face an' his creepy voice an' his, uh, "chaos chaos" thing, or sumthin?" I whisper back.

"wats dat???" She asks.

"i dunno, youd have to ask him!" I reply.

...Wait, I shouldn't have said that. I don't want us to ask him- oh no, he's back. Wait, are those... Hey, look at that, he does have glowsticks! Who would have thought?

"...Lean in close and lend an ear? ...Really?" I think, "Hardee har har. Just because we have four ears doesn't mean we're lending that creep any of 'em!"

"uh... o-okay, y-ya, ill buy em all..." We nervously approach the counter and pay 24 credits.

[Jevil] He giggled slightly, eyeing the 24 credits.

"I believe you miscounted, miscounted! 24 credits is only enough for half of the glowsticks, not all of them, them!" He seemed rather amused by the situation though, holding onto the product a little while longer as he waited to see if they will accept only half or seek out the remaining 24 credits to pay. He thankfully seemed to be rather patient, his tail wagging slightly as he hoped up onto his chair, putting the jar of glowsticks on the counter.

"Now now, would you like to pay the full price for all of them, them, or pay what you've already paid and take only half of them, them?"

"awawawa!!1 oh nooo!1 im sorry!11! heres da rest!1!"

We quickly put 24 more credits on the counter and then take a few steps back. Geez Louise, what is with us tonight? We already embarrassed ourselves in front of this guy once; we just had to go and do it again, didn't we! Sheesh...

[Rave Witch Temmie] ...Oh, wait- the glowsticks. We can't pick them up from over here. We'll need to walk back toward him to get them- actually, no, we won't! That's right! We're a Temmie! We stick our arms out in front of us and stretch them towards the jar of glowsticks.

[Jevil] He gave an amused laugh, happily accepting the payment and pushing the jar forwards towards them, blinking as they backed away. Frankly Jevil really wasn't sure what to make of this person, he was completely unfamiliar with Temmies after all.

"It's alright, alright! You can take the glowsticks whenever you'd li-" He was taken aback by the way the customer's arms seemed to just burst forward towards him. He looked absolutely horrified for a moment, recoiling as far back as he could, taking in these rapid, quick breaths. He had his eyes squeezed shut, not opening them up again until he thought it was safe. He pressed a gloved hand into his chest. Nothing happened. He was ok. He was ok. Seam didn't come back for revenge. It's ok. He's fine. Jevil took in a deep, shaky breath.

"Sorry I... I wasn't expecting that, that..."

[Rave Witch Temmie] Whoa, hold on... we scared HIM? Are we seeing this right? Did he just dart back behind the curtains again when we reached for the jar? You've got to be kidding... He's the creepy one, not us! What's so scary about us stretching our arms out, we wonder? Maybe being in this body for so long has made me forget that Temmies can be off-putting to those who aren't used to being around them...

We grasp the jar between our paws and then retract them towards us.

"uh... y-yu ok??" We call out.

[Jevil] "Y-yes, yes! I'm ok! Just- just shaken is all, all..." He emerged still looking very much unnerved. He fidgeted with his thumbs almost as if trying to distract himself from something, yellow eye-dots tiny in residual fear. He glanced off, making sure not to look at the creature's arms, part of him terrified they'll come after him again if he looks.

"Just shaken..." He repeats, taking in a deep breath. He tries to shake himself out of the fear, forcing a small smile until it became genuine. "But don't worry about that now, now, if there anything else you want or shall we say ciao?"

[Rave Witch Temmie] "is dere, uh..." Temmie remembers something she wanted to ask him. The thing I didn't want her to ask him.

"Temmie, no! Don't-"

"w-wats ur "chaos, chaos" thing?? human dint want me to- mmf!"

Since both our paws are full, I press the jar against our mouth to silence her.

[Jevil] "My chaos, chaos thing?" He seems confused for a moment, wondering what they could be referring to. Perhaps a combination of his repetition and his shop's title perhaps?

"Well if you're asking about the shop's name, that's easy, easy! It's important, so important not to fall into routine or it could suck up all your glee, glee! So I made a little shop back home just like this one, one where people can come and buy the things they need while also having a little fun, fun!" He giggles happily, tail wagging, mind seemingly off whatever had him so terrified before.

"As for saying things twice, twice, well I'm just following my own advice! Keep things fun, keep things nice, and life is sure to entice, entice!"

[Rave Witch Temmie] Sigh... why'd she have to ask him that...? Thanks to her, we had to listen to him yap at us in that spooky voice again! Though, on the other hand, I'm now very confused by his answer. We were not talking about this store, or his quirky speech patterns, at all. I had wanted to leave as soon as we'd bought our glowsticks, but now, I'm curious as to why he didn't seem to know what we were really referring to.

I decide to take control of our mouth from Temmie for a moment, and ask, "yu had anothr store? wat yu mean?? what happend to da cat guy??"

[Jevil] His mood shifted to discomfort at the mention of "da cat guy". Well, there was another question in there so he could ignore that part for longer.

"Yes, yes, I had another store, store. I opened it myself after the King decided he didn't want a court jester anymore, anymore. I could have done anything, anything indeed, but I thought that a shop of fun is what the kingdom would need. Then, then just recently, I got a letter in the mail, mail asking if I would be interested in coming here to do sale! I took it, took it I did, and that's why the island I now work amid!"

[Rave Witch Temmie] We shiver a little again as we listen to his creepy, singsong rhyming.

"yea, but, wat about dat cat guy, da one wit da button eye?"

Oh geez, now he's got us rhyming, too! Curses!

"i thot he was suppost to hav a store!1"

[Jevil] Oh god they really were talking about him. Jevil's pupils started to shrink again, seeming to grow panicked again. He seemed to grab onto his tail for comfort.

"I know who you're talking about but not what. Seam went mad years, years ago, it was very unfortunate... I just hope that now that his life in done, he isn't insane in heaven." He seems to be shaking a bit, really not wanting to recall those memories. That battle. That grin. By god, that grin. He tried squeezing it out of his mind, pressing his eyes shut and holding his head. That grin. That grin. It persisted even as Jevil had watched Seam rip his arm half-off to use as a weapon. He let loose a whine, shivering.

[Rave Witch Temmie] Our face goes blank. "...hes ded??"

[Jevil] Jevil nodded, trying to return to reality the best he could. Trying to pry himself away from the memories. Away from that battle. Jevil had technically won, but that did nothing to help his conscious. He held onto his tail tightly.

"Yes... Yes the once magician is gone, gone like the rain, only I, the once jester, remain."

[Rave Witch Temmie] Our jar of glowsticks in hand, we take several more steps back, uneasy at the thought of Seam being dead. Or at least I am. Temmie doesn't know who he is. While Jevil laments his loss, we back out the door with our purchase.

[bow-down-im-your-queen-now]

Guess who’s still alive

It me, I’m back!

So I guess I owe an explanation

Hi, okay so it has been a while, actually, it's been longer than a while it been two years. A lot has happened in that time period and I personally have grown so much as a person and have changed but all for the better. When I started posting my writing on this blog and began reaching out to other people it was amazing. It was great coming in to contact with people with similar interest as my own and it was such an eye-opening experience. It made me realize how much I enjoyed writing as a hobby and how much fun it was to interact with people with similar interest.

I started this blog as a source of entertainment but also an escape. I was still in high school during the time that I was posting frequently and I was dealing with a lot of personal issues. Stress with school and getting ready for college, issues at home, my own personal problems that I had to face, as a naïve and easily stressed 17-year-old it was more than I could handle. I was juggling too much with school, working, maintaining a social life, and also up keeping on things that made me happy like writing among other things. I had to take a step back from this blog simply because I had to prioritize other things in life and in doing so what was simply supposed to be a small breakaway turned into a prolonged absence. That pretty much sums up the reason for my absence. While I was away I lot of exciting things happened though, I graduated high school and was accepted into my dream university and that has been what I have mainly been focusing on in recent history.

I am extremely happy with life, I'm in love with school (even though the broke college student life is a real and unforgiving bitch), I'm happy with my job, I've gotten the chance to meet so many interesting people and socially have challenged myself to face all fears and simply live happily. But in focusing so much on those things I haven't really prioritized the things in life that I used to love doing. Art is a big part of my life but recently it has been something I have been doing less and less for personal indulgence and instead has been for a grade or money and writing was also something I used to love as a way to express myself and be creative. As silly as it may seem to some writing fanfiction is such a relaxing and enjoyable was to indulge in a topic that you might already love. People who also love writing will get it and so will those so may simply enjoy just reading it, it's fun. I want to go back to doing things that I love and posting on this blog is one of them, I have missed writing so much and I have been wanting to pick it back up for a long time now I just haven't had the courage or motivation to do it. But enough is enough there is no point in putting something off if I have the means to do it and it makes me happy.

How often will I be posting here gaining? I have no idea.

Will another hiatus happen again? More likely than not yes, I only hope that now I can at least start giving a heads up.

While I was away I was still writing here and there, mainly in the notes on my phones so I'm sure you can imagine just how awful some of the fics I put together were but two years is a long time, some of the things I tried to piece together I have moved over to my laptop and have turned into actual full lengths fics that are ready to be posted. In the time that I was gone I also got the chance to watch so many TV shows and movies, things I want to start writing fic for, in fact, some of the fic I have already done and ready to post have nothing to do with Divergent, the Fandom this blog has been mostly based on. I have some fics for Divergent, all centered on my love Eric of course, but I hope everyone who is still following this blog for that content can understand that I feel my interest have grown and expanded and that as I start back up posting on here the content I will create will reflect that.

The fandoms I want to focus this blog on are:

-Divergent

-Walking dead

-Supernatural

-DCEU

   • Justice League

   • Suicide squad

-Sons of Anarchy

-Marvel EU

   • Black Panther

   • Guardians of the Galaxy

That’s all of it for now maybe I will add to it or maybe there are some fandoms on the list above that I will never write fics for. I don’t know, I'm just going to take things as they come. I think this will be a fun journey and appreciate that so many of you have stuck around as long as you have When I stopped post on this blog we had just hit 500 and after almost two years of absence that number is now at 753! For those of you that followed while I was gone just a quick introduction, Hi my name is Lauren and I really really like writing fanfiction even though I'm kind of lazy and inconsistent with posting. I'm sorry for the lack of content but now that is hopefully going to change.

I currently have eight fics that are done and ready to be posted.

   • 'A match made in…' (Divergent, Eric x reader, 1.4k)

   • Eric x reader Drabble (Divergent)

   • Dean x Reader Drabble (Supernatural)

   • The New Sam (Supernatural, Soulless!sam x reader, 7k)

   • Unnamed (Justice League, Barry Allen x reader, 3k)

   • Happy face (Sons of Anarchy, Happy x reader, 1.5k)

   • Unnamed (Sons of Anarchy, Happy x reader. 3k)

   • Erik x reader drabble (Black Panther)

I would say I have about ten other fics all across the fandoms that need to be finished or are in the process of being edited. I wanted to wait before I made this announcement until I had a crazy amount of fics stockpiled and ready to be posted just to make sure that I could post more consistently but you know what I'm ready to come back so here we are.

The Divergent Eric x reader drabble is short but something I am going to post either tonight or tomorrow evening so look out for that.

I just want to say thank you again to everyone who stuck around and two all the people who sent sweet messages checking to see if I was okay, I saw them I'm sorry I didn’t respond I just needed to take a break from the blog. I'm excited for all that’s to come on this new version of this blog and I have even been thinking about changing my URL to commemorate the fact that this is a new chapter!

I'll talk to you all soon!

-L

[sp00kworm]

Abashed The Devil Stood (Chapter 1)

Archive Link

Notes: I edited the first draft some more and discovered I hated how it flowed and it was not going where I originally planned, so for some better continuity, I edited the end to make sure it was better put together, sorry for the awful first attempt!

Summary: Reaper76 Angel AU. Jack Morrison a recently discharged military officer has never been reglious, but suddenly finds himself faced with the Archangel Gabriel and a prospect of war, a war he really does not want to get involved in.

Jack was never one to believe much in God. The whole aspect of religion was quite lost on him, but he still attended church like a good citizen each and every Sunday. But as he grew older, and he moved out from his parent's home, Jack stopped attending church, and started sleeping in, or running. His brain had filed religion, and attending a mass he had no real interest in, less worthy of his attention and energy, and so, they stopped seeing Jack at the church, though no one really noticed all too much- people came and went in the military housing. His parents weren't too impressed with his lack of effort to attend the church mass, but they soon dropped the subject when he attended and finished college before joining the military.

The blond haired, blue eyed man had an affinity, or rather, a talent, for physical tasks. On tests he easily wiped the floor with the records, and his hand-eye coordination was like something the military had never seen. Some soldiers called him a miracle, others called him a suck up, but it was down to a raw innate talent, and hours of exercise a day that Jack swooped through the training and landed himself a hefty rank. Serving abroad was where he broke. Days spent being hunted in the deserts and watching soldiers step on land mines and be blown into pieces was more than enough for anyone to see in a lifetime, never mind the sentient robots they had fought later on. That was why he left, with a hefty wage and compensation, to live a more stable, normal life out in the country, away from the crowds and bustle of everyday life that he wanted to avoid.

The Indiana fields were mainly corn filled, but Jack wasn't a farmer, as much as many would like to believe with his golden corn coloured hair. He'd made quite the sum of money in the army, but he worked off hand as a mechanic for the farmers around and dabbled in this and that to get himself through. A desk job filing reports in the military had proved to be far too much of an issue for him to handle, the stress getting to him after merely a week. At least as a part time mechanic he had enough solitude and quiet to ease his easily frazzled nerves.

Sighing, Jack wiped the sweat from his forehead, streaking oil across the top of his brow, before he placed aside the spanner he had been using to tighten a bolt in the engine of the combine harvester.

“There you go Finn, should work a treat now. The fuel tank pipping was just a little lose which was causing the leak.” Jack grabbed a rag from his tool box and wiped the grime from his hands with a smile.

“Thanks again Jack. I thought old Shelly was busted for good this time. I'll go get you the cash, and a slice of pie for your trouble. Susan just baked a cherry one if you'd like a slice to take with you?” Finn smacked the combine's wheel and smiled, twirling a stalk of grass with his tongue.

“Sure, that'd be nice. Thanks Finn.” With a warm piece of pie and a nice sum of money, Jack waved once and backed his truck out of the gravel drive before heading home.

The little two floored cottage had a modest amount of land with it. Although he lived amongst farmers, Jack didn't do much of his own farming. The only thing he actually grew was vegetables in a patch in his garden and collected fruits from the tiny array of trees he had towards the back of the land surrounding the cottage. It was rustically built, being made of stone and plaster, and Jack had put plenty of time, effort and labour into making it liveable and warm. It was a definite labour of love, and Jack, although not too good at interior design, had a knack for being able to do DIY and had easily added things to the former old lady's cottage. Now it was a home worthy of being lived in, and was actually capable of being warm for longer than an hour with both the heating and a fire going. He'd originally spent as long as he could by the fire, and slept with at least three blanket over his duvet in the winter and a good pair of wool socks on his feet at all time. Jack was glad those days were far behind him now.

Stepping through the front door, he toed his work boots off and tucked them neatly onto the rack by the doormat before opening the cupboard and placing his tool box inside, though not before carefully removing the cooling pie from it. Josie his loud silly Golden Retriever met him by the door at the smell of food, and Jack leant down to pat her head gently before nudging her aside and making his way to the kitchen. Jack smiled as he caught a whiff of the pie's sweet scent, and he quickly shed his work coveralls in the bathroom and briskly showered. After dressing in some soft sweat pants and t-shirt, Jack heated the slice of pie in the microwave and tucked in, considering making himself some actual dinner later on in the afternoon when he was famished, not just a little hungry. Placing his plate in front of him on the coffee table, Jack rummaged around for the hollo-screen remote, and quickly found it under a pillow, before flicking on the news channel, Josie laid by his feet with a whine and Jack quickly let her up on the couch, his other hand threading into the fur behind her ears.

More murders and more famine, it never seemed to be anything different. Jack supposed he was lucky, but it still made him curl his nose and his heart ache. No one deserved anything like the horrors it was showing. The leaders of the new Republic of Russia had recently been found out to have been fire bombing the homes of some civilians. The horrors were met with sanctions from the rest of the world and little else with the apparent 'lack of evidence'. It seemed pretty clear to Jack that the culprits were the ones sat on the screen, in the parliament having a meeting. Shaking his head, Jack flicked his fingers along the remote for another channel. A mindless soap opera came on and Jack rolled his eyes but settled in for a good hour and a half of mindless numb watching.

He got more invested in the dramatised adaptation of life than he would have liked. It turned out that the poor woman's son had been diagnosed with cancer, and Jack had watched four episodes by the time he managed to peer through the darkness at the wall clock. It was now eight o'clock, and he'd invested far too much of his time in the terrible show, probably much more than was probably good for him. His stomach growled in annoyance, and Jack sighed, patting his belly before hauling himself off the couch and into the kitchen, debating what he could possibly make. Josie followed on his heels, her tongue lolled out the left side of her mouth as she sat by her bowl near the back door. The Golden Retriever barked when Jack pulled out her biscuits and sat patiently, watching as her master put away the bag for the signal to eat. Jack held up his hand and waited a few moments.

“Go on, get it.” He chuckled as Josie immediately stuck her face into her food bowl, wolfing down the biscuits noisily. Jack tugged the pasta down from the cupboard and whistled as he took out a ceramic dish. Hopefully pasta bake would be enough to keep his stomach at bay.

With a steaming hot bowl of pasta bake in hand, Jack made his way out onto his porch on the back of the cottage. The cool night air had set in, and Jack blew out a hot breath of air, before sitting at the small table he had on the decking. The moon loomed overhead, crisp as the clouds finally rolled over it, revealing it to be full. The beams illuminated the gaps in the leaves of the fruit trees. Jack let out a long breath, chewing his tomato flavoured pasta thoughtfully. The grass rustled with the breeze, and Jack peered down at Josie, who had laid under his chair, a single ear perked, listening for anything that stirred in the night. Scratching his dog on top of her head, Jack gazed up at the stars, taking another mouthful of pasta with his other free hand. The stars twinkled and winked back at him, easy to see in the clear sky due to the barrenness of the place in which Jack lived. Softly, Jack hummed to himself, counting the constellations he could see, enjoying the peace which he had been granted. Not to say, at times, he did feel lonely.

People were something that were far and few between, and the farmers were accommodating but not the company he was looking for. His mother would sometimes ring and often bang on about his life, and his lack of partner. It was a little bit hard, however, to find someone to be interested in out in the middle of nowhere. The city was just too much for him to handle, and Jack snorted at the thought of any sort of farmer being remotely interested in him, not to mention nearly all of them were at least forty. Well out of the age bracket he was looking for, and most of them well out of the looks. His mother called him finicky, picky, but Jack called it standards. He wasn't too fond on the idea of dating a forty year old greying man in dungarees. The blond cringed at the thought. But, he did wonder if there was any hope of him meeting someone out in the fields. Chuckling, he finished the last of his pasta and patted Josie's head as he got up, signalling for her to follow. Fat chance he'd find anyone that not only met his standards, but could deal with his issues. It seemed impossible.

The light in the kitchen flickered as he closed the door, and Jack sighed looking up at the old light fixture. He needed to buy a new one anyway. Taking his bowl, Jack quickly cleaned it off along with his utensils and slowly dried them on a towel, looking out of the window in front of the sink. Stars winked back at him for a moment, and a cloud rolled over the moon. The light flickered again, blinking violently before the wires inside split and the bulb exploded. Jack frowned as the glass shattered noisily and clattered against the floor. Placing his knife and fork away, Jack reached into his pocket for his phone and clicked it open, tapping at the old holo-screen, before opening the torch icon. The screen lit up intensely and Jack manoeuvred his way to the cupboard, shooing Josie from the room to make sure she didn't cut her feet on the small shards of thin glass.

Bending down, Jack swept the shards aside and carefully placed them in a bag to throw away later. Snapping the switch off at the wall, he sighed and muttered, placing his broom away back in its place in the cupboard. That was when the whole room lit up in white light. Jack winced, and closed his eyes as the brilliant white light erupted in the sky. Jack ran over to the window and peered up at the sky, watching as the stars dimmed and a bright streak shot down across the darkness. Jack grabbed the counter as tremors rumbled under foot and he was shot off balance. The meteor was gone in a blink of an eye, and a rumbling thunder sounded as something made contact with the ground. Jack rushed in the kitchen to find his coat, in disbelief of what he had just seen. Shoving his feet into his shoes, he wrestled the door open and whistled for Josie as he ran out into the fields next to his house.

The corn a way in was on fire, and Jack steered himself and Josie around the flames, holding his hand to his face as he sprinted towards the smoke that had erupted around the crash site. Josie barked loudly and ran off ahead.

“Josie! No, heel girl, heel!” He picked up his pace to catch up with the Golden Retriever, and huffed as he abruptly reached the edge of a crater. Bits of rock skittered down the incline as his feet teetered precariously on the edge of the sheer drop. Josie was already in the bottom of the pit, and whined at the dark figure in the middle. Jack's heart halted for a minute, and he was soon sliding down the side of the crater towards his dog. He grappled her by the collar before she could attack the figure, and watched as the shadowed thing stood up. Jack's heart stopped.

Great feathered white wings erupted from their sides, wide and strong, blazing in the moonlight, brilliant and pure. A few feathers dropped from them as they were beat twice in quick succession. Jack shielded his face as dust and pebbles were swept away in the great gusts of wind. The wings extended from the creature's shoulder blades, each at least two metres in length, covered in smooth sheer feathers, the flight feathers having to be at least sixty centimetres in length to even hold the creature up in the air. Slowly, after shaking their wings out, the figure turned around. Jack's mouth gaped at the figure. His body was human, well built and tall, thick with muscles, especially the shoulders. With the tanned skin of a Latino and the gorgeous curly black hair to go with it, Jack's mouth dropped open. The curls fell down to the stranger's mid back and he was instantly shoving them out of his eyes as he noticed Jack stood in the crater. Dark chocolate eyes glittered and a smile pulled back a love heart mouth to reveal white teeth. The circle of beard around his mouth was flattering, and emphasised the large grin.

That wasn't what made Jack flush in embarrassment. The man was completely nude. Jack tossed his arms up in front of his face and scowled.

“Jesus Christ man! Don't you have clothes in the sky?!” Jack's eyes almost betrayed him, and slowly tried to gaze through the gaps between his fingers.

The man chuckled, a low rumbling noise, “Clothes aren't generally a requirement. But I guess I can rustle something up...” A strange breeze picked up before the stranger rustled his feathered wings, “You can look now blondie.” He chuckled again as Jack cautiously peered between his fingers, and then revealed his flushed cheeks. The man had donned a pair of tight dress trousers, white shirt and long black leather trench coat.

A tense moment of silence occurred until Jack coughed, “Well, I guess if you're okay, then I'll just...” Jack gestured vaguely and turned around, dragging a resisting Josie by her collar.

“Wait.” Jack turned around to face the stranger with a raised eyebrow, “Michael?” The man moved closer, his wings fluttering curiously as he took two long strides closer to Jack, “Where the hell have you been?! Wait, I mean, forget the hell part. But just... where have you been?!”

Jack flinched away as the man took hold of his arm, as though he had been burnt, and scowled, “Whoever you're looking for, I'm not him. My name's Jack for a start buddy.” He then turned away and continued to pull Josie up the banking before heaving her up into his arms, and setting his foot against the loose rubble edge.

“Have you lost it Michael? Jack, really? You think you can fool me?...” The stranger looked into Jack's blue eyes in that moment and frowned, “Why can I see a soul in your eyes? How...Do you not remember me?”

Jack scowled angrily, heaving Josie up onto the edge of the crater, “For the last time! I don't know who the fuck you are bird brain!” He struggled to get himself up and over the edge, before finally pulling himself up with a heave of effort. The man frowned behind him, and spread his wings before, with one great flap, rocketing out of the pit to Jack's side.

“Look at me, Michael.” Jack reared backwards as the man's hand shot out and grappled him by the jacket, “Gabriel, does that ring a bell?” He stared intently, searching Jack's face for a sign of recognition.

“No...wait a minute! As in you're the angel Gabriel?!” Jack jerked backwards trying to escape the iron grip of the confused heavenly creature.

“It took you this long to catch on?” Gabriel shook his head, “Never mind that now. How on earth did you lock yourself away in a mortal....” He began babbling to himself, still holding Jack in a vice grip by the front of his jacket. Jack scrambled for a moment before huffing and raising his fist before socking it against the angel's jaw.

The fist connected with a thwack and Jack cringed a little as his knuckles popped with the contact. Gabriel's head shot to the side and he let go of Jack before placing a hand against his face.

“How did you make that hurt? No mortal has ever hurt me before...” The dark eyes glared at him, and Jack shuddered beneath the gaze before breaking into a sprint. Josie barked behind him, hot on his heels as he weaved between the corn rows back towards his house.

“What the fuck was that? What the fuck was that?!” Jack cursed as he panted, finally making it to his door, throwing it open before dead-bolting it behind him. Heaving, he ran through to the lounge and froze at the angel perched on the back of his wooden rocking chair. Innocently, Gabriel tossed his curls over his shoulder and snapped shut the bible he had in his hand. He was perfectly balanced on the thin back of the chair, his wings all but gone, slits in his coat the only evidence they had ever existed. Jack scrambled back against the wall, eyes wide with fright and annoyance.

“Why can't you just leave me alone?!” The blond felt behind him for anything to use to defend himself, and grasped a fire poker from its rack. Gabriel's head tilted before he closed his eyes, seemingly focusing for a moment, before opening them again. The dark brown irises were gone, and the entirety of his eyes were black, glistening scarily in the yellow light of the bulb in the ceiling.

“Angels were never granted souls, essences of life, those were only granted to God's image, to the humans. Thus, the windows to the soul are something we do not have, they are black, nothing can be seen in them. Humans have eyes in various colours, shapes and sizes to reflect their soul. Somehow, Jack, Michael, you've created yourself a soul. You've made yourself human, and I need you to be an angel.”

Jack held the poker in his right hand, ready to swing it as Gabriel elegantly leaped off the back of the rocking chair and strode across the room.

“What do you need from me, why do you need me of all people?” He held out a hand, and Gabriel pushed against the palm of it, his chest pressing into the skin. Gabriel placed his hand over Jack's against his chest and leant forwards, smiling, his eyes infinite pools of swirling night sky.

“I need you, Jackie, to fight a war. I need you to be the angel you were created as. Michael, the leader of God's army.” Gabriel pressed his thumbs to the top of Jack's cheek bones, his fingers against his jaw. There wasn't a pulse, no heart beat, nothing. Whatever Gabriel was, he wasn't truly alive, he just, existed. Jack recoiled from the cool touch and watched as Gabriel sauntered over to the couch.

“And that, Jack, is why I'm here to help. God sent me to retrieve you, and so it seems, I've got to help you retrieve your memories.” He smiled and whipped around, his coat flying around the back of his legs. Jack let the poker fall from his hands and he opened his mouth to protest.

“No arguing Jack, we've got work to be doing.” Gabriel tugged Jack's hand.

Recovering himself, Jack pulled his hand free with a scowl, and scrambled for the poker he had dropped with a clatter to the floor.

“Look you freak, I don't care what sort of crusade you say you're coming to prevent or whatever, I am not, repeat, not getting involved with whatever bull shit you're trying to swing. Nice magic act but I'm not biting. Now I suggest you get out of my house before I call nine one one and have your ass forcibly removed and press charges.” Jack's eyes blazed with fury, and he held the poker like a spear, ready to launch it at the supposed angel across from him. Gabriel's eyebrows raised, his shoulders twitching as though his wings were fluttering behind him.

“Are you threatening me?” He grinned and moved forwards, his hands tucked into his coat pockets, hair falling over his dark eyes.

The blond moved around the edge of the couch and levelled the poker at him, “To me it seems like you're the one threatening here. Claiming all this shit about angels.” Jack slowly edged his way around to the phone, one hand grabbing for his phone, which he had placed on the kitchen side. Gabriel eyed the device and snorted, before turning around, heading towards the door.

Jack stopped and watched as the angel sauntered over to the door,

“There's no need. I'll see myself out.” Gabriel waved a hand, tossing his hair over his shoulder, and out of his eyes, “I'll show you who you truly are though, Jack, don't you worry.” A gust of cool breeze through the cottage signalled that he had left. Jack peered around the corner and sighed before realising he was shaking. His hands were shaking around the poker and he dropped it to the floor with a shaky breath. He didn't need this stress, he didn't need another war. No self acclaimed angel of god was going to convince him otherwise.

“What the fuck was that? An angel?” Jack shook his head, panting as he shook his head. It was ridiculous. He chuckled and placed the poker back on its rack. It was a good con he'd give the idiot that. Locking the door, he headed up to bed, and collapsed into the lavender scented sheets.

Gabriel huffed out a breath as he perched on the top of the roof, wings resting gracefully against shoulders, wrapped around his sides against the cool chill of the night. He watched as the lights of the house turn off as Jack went to sleep and shifted his legs as he positioned himself comfortably on the roof, intending to find a place to hunker down for the night. Swooping down off the roof, Gabriel landed in the orchard at the back of Jack's home and found a large apple tree. Beating his wings once, he leaped up into the branches and perched in the arch of the trunk, tucking his wings around his arms and up over his shoulders, to his jaw line. With a final sigh, he crooked his neck, tucking his head close to his shoulder, under his wing. He'd convince Jack tomorrow, somehow.

[omgpengwens]

I’ve been saying I’ll do it for a while, but at last I managed to do a Hyper Japan for the whole weekend! (well, a whole weekend with a break on Saturday evening for Band Maid because, y’know, everyone co-ordinated so well with their organisation. See the post about the Band Maid gig here). If you don’t know what Hyper Japan is, see my previous posts on it here, here and here. I’ve decided to split this down by the days this time, so one post for each day. I guess you’ll just have to skip the bits that don’t interest you? So without further a-waffle, lets kick this off with Day 1!

This was the Friday session, starting at 12 midday. I must say the organisation this time was kind of confusing initially and a bit odd. So on arrival, we were in a kind of giant shelter away from the venue where the tickets were checked and wristbands given. It took me a while to even find where I was going because of the poor directions I was given by the staff. In the end, I checked the website again to find out where I was supposed to be. Once priority entre had gone, we were then herded into the next queuing bit where we were checked for wristbands/offered wristbands(?!) So what was the point of the first bit?!

After the faff-fest that was the entry into the venue, we were searched and sniffed by the passive search dog. I thought this was a good thing. Its unfortunate that its needed but its good that they’ve thought of this to keep people safe. One thing I noticed when I got in to the venue was that it was smaller than summer (in the summer we queued in this room!) and it was hard to tell because the venue was different but also I think smaller than the last Christmas event. This time it was entirely on one floor as well, the balcony wasn’t in use. I was quite surprised by the layout and the fact that the live stage wasn’t in its own room as it generally is. The zones were set out relatively logically and I liked how they were named this time (such as the gaming/anime zone being Akihabara and the kawaii zone being Harajuku).

The first thing I often do is have a cursory wander around just to see what is where. As it was lunchtime and the food smelled soooooo good, I decided to get myself something to eat. There weren’t many food stalls this time around and I thought that it was kind of cheeky having the venue’s cafes open. Surely that defeated the object? I decided to indulge in a bubble waffle. It was tasty and super messy to eat, but oh so worth it. I think I’m in love.

After greeting my friend and getting her fed, we re-visited the stalls and did a spot of shopping. See my day 1 haul photos in the paragraph below!

I was pleased to see some new exhibitors as well as some of the classics. I saw that Maz’s Boutique was there which was awesome. Some of you may recall I first encountered Maz’s Boutique at Em-Con earlier this year. The bows I bought then are still regularly worn as part of my outfit as I often refer to as “toddler chic”. I invested in some more bows and a choker this time. I also bought some chokers from another stall, Jane Nevermore. Not only are these chokers awesome, but as I tried one and it was a bit on the small side, she put me in some extra links right then and there! I bought 2 to go with my 2 purple cyberlox sets. And what trip to Hyper Japan would be complete without a visit to he Fuzzballs stall?! I invested in some stationary (that I probably didn’t need) and a tote bag (which I needed by the end to put my shopping in….)

One of the main reasons I go to Hyper Japan is to watch the musical acts. Not only do I get to see bands I already know about and enjoy, I also get to discover new bands that I like. Some acts I go to see just out of curiosity because hey sound like they’d be interesting. I also like to watch some of the other performances. The set out of the Hyper Live stage area was just plain weird this time. There were several rows of chairs approximately halfway back which just appeared to be in a random place. There are some acts you see that you just don’t sit down to watch. It would be just plain silly, but if you stand you want to be at the front, but if you do that you’re in the way of the people sitting down, although they can watch the screens. This dilemma first became apparent when I (out of morbid curiosity) went to see Banzai Japan. This is an all-girl idol group. I know what you’re thinking, not at all my style, and you’d be right, but I’m nothing if not adventurous. So we entered the audience area and were handed folding fans that were part red, part white (in line with the girls’ outfits). As we approached the front of the standing crowd and looked around, I suppose we shouldn’t have been suppose that we were surrounded on all sides by middle aged men. Yep, that’s right. Middle. Aged. Men. I had a similar experience watching Band Maid last year. Fair enough if they are into that music but you would generally expect this portion of the audience to be teenage or pre-teen girls. Well, that’s my expectation anyway (like when I was younger). I’m not one to judge and I know that you get the same effect but the opposite way round at visual kei gigs.. Although the music can be heavy, and you may expect some males, its predominantly females watching the show. What was entertaining was the crazy fanboying that was screamed loudly in our ears, presumably from the die-hard fans or from their hyper team or whatever. I found this hilariously funny and was reminded of Gintama (if anyone has seen that anime). I can’t even describe why, but it really did tickle me. They were certainly a fun performance with a lot of energy. Describing them as having “spirit” was pretty accurate I must say. They tirelessly performed a number of songs with well-choreographed dance routines. I was exhausted just watching them.

An interesting performance in the form of DJ Takaki and Hibiki Ichikawa (a shamisen player) was the next one I watched. A combination you wouldn’t expect to work so well, but I could listen to this for days. Both incredibly skilled performers in their own right, but when you put them together, something just clicked. It was Gestalt. The sum of the pats became greater than the whole. Its these types of performance that are just one reason this festival is awesome. You just don’t see it everyday.

  Next I saw Xmas Eileen. They were described as a “Mysterious J-Rock band”. Again, they weren’t technically wrong. Initially it said on the schedule that only 4 members would be present but it seemed all of them made it over. I don’t even know the best way to describe these guys….I’d say maybe a mix between Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and some hint of Slipknot with the masks, the visual performance and the fact I’m not sure what half the members really do (and I say that as a long-time Slipknot fan). There’s definitely some fun and silliness and the fact that no-one in the band has a name and they have one guy referred to as “the performer” who literally just dances and hypes the audience. I don’t even….For this, we were all stood up, I ended up right at the front, which is an intense place to be when you don’t know what’s expected of you. Thankfully I appeared to be next to a super fan who showed me what to do. I haven’t laughed this much in a while, it was a really fun performance (laughing mainly at my own ineptness at dancing and following directions). The band also like being close to the front of the stage, which always makes me a bit “wha!” out of discomfort. That’s the best way to describe the emotion it makes me feel…The band are relatively newly formed but they didn’t seem to let that impact their performance. Their MC was a mix of English and Japanese, but they were merciful and kept the Japanese relatively simple. I decided to save my meet and greet with these guys until Sunday as I wanted to see Mutant Monster (with missing them the Saturday for Band Maid). So I remained at the front and centre.

I saw Mutant Monster at last year’s Christmas Hyper Japan. A 3 piece female punk band, inspired by old school British punk. These awesome ladies have so much stage presence and personality on stage that its hard to not get swept away by their utterly infectious brand of music. Each donning a Mutant Monster shirt dress and paid of well-worn classic Doc Martens, they truly showed everyone exactly how its done. Their set list was a mix of older songs plus a taste of their new album Nekokaburi. After their performance, the meet and greet queue filled up insanely quickly and fans had to be turned away (many of whom argued the decision with the queue controller). I just managed to get in to get my CD signed but the queue for photos was crazy long so we decided against it. And that concluded my day! My feet were tired and worn out already!

A full weekend of Hype! Part 1 I've been saying I'll do it for a while, but at last I managed to do a Hyper Japan for the whole weekend!