#I'm sure it's from the console version at least

[look-is-iconic-my-ibs-is-chronic]

Just finished reading all of original Higurashi. Found this Banger in the game files.

[literalgrill]

Do NOT Support Hard Drive On Patreon

You might see friends today suggesting you support Hard Drive on Patreon today. You know, the funny video games version of The Onion? As a journalist, I will firmly tell you DO NOT GIVE THEM A DIME.

The CEO has pushed out all former staff that have built the site up to its current greatness and has been pushing the use of AI. The staff begged to have a Patreon before basically all being pushed out, but the idea was refused until now, when it will only line the pockets of a single person instead of hard working writers.

I know they might have provided laughs before, but Hard Drive is a shell of what it was once. Let it die and support the people who actually made those moments of joy possible. Don't believe me? Check out what former employees are saying below:

Kevin Podas: Okay you know what, I would feel bad saying nothing about this, so here goes:🚨SAVE YOUR MONEY🚨

We passionately advocated for a Patreon at Hard Drive & were aggressively shot down. The talent & people who built the site were pushed out. To see this now is beyond upsetting. For the past few years or so I put a lot of myself into this website. I pitched a ton of jokes, got over 120 articles published, & met a lot of great people. I'm sure if you've been following me for some time you could easily see this.

However, there is a lot of misinformation. I was eventually promoted to Managing Editor of the site & was ecstatic. Grateful for the opportunity. Felt like all of my hard work in the comedy mines was finally paying off. But things took a turn for the worst, & each day there were new surprises that affected our livelihoods. These were all very avoidable surprises, mind you.

A patreon was going to be our hail mary, but alas, for some reason, the power that be did not want it. Causing us to leave a dream job behind. "At least we did all we could," we consoled ourselves afterwards. I put a lot of myself into this project. I pitched all sorts of ideas that could have helped-- we all did. Merch collaborations, Patreon-integrated YouTube content, so much more. And most of them were shot down out of sheer stubbornness and nothing more. To see lie after lie spread, and multiple big publications and YouTubers that I am a fan of promote this Patreon under these pretenses is incredibly upsetting. There are so many receipts.

Please share this and consider pulling out if you've already put money into this. On Hard Drive using AI, also from Kevin Podas: I can't personally confirm that part aside from some of the recent header images for articles on both Hard Drive and Hard Times are being made with AI. As far as writing, it's been mentioned in the past, but I personally do not know. Maybe others do, maybe not. MORE From Kevin Podas suggesting the owner denying a Patreon being set up earlier cost an artist a job that was replaced by AI: We had a social media person who was awesome! He made the images until this AI implementation. He had to leave because ad revenue was low and a Patreon was aggressively refused.

Luca Fisher: at the risk of burning some bridges, i have to back up kevin here. i've only been part-time, in-and-out of hard drive since i got in last year, but i can corroborate that management doubled and tripled down about not hosting a patreon/crowdfunding and that many other suggestions and ideas, including mine (and ones much smarter than mine!), were shot down in really long, apocalyptic threads of everyone left on deck desperately trying to come up with ways to keep the lights on. managerially it has been messy and sad

i've written for multiple publications that have long since died, ones that were in the process of dying, and ones that, in this case, are soon to be put in the ground. it is sad and sucks every time. i don't know what could have been done differently, but i do know that a lot of great writers and content creators were left shorthanded and unhappy by the way things have gone. and it is sort of puzzling to see the sudden championing of patreon after we were all told plenty of times that it couldn't work and we should move on also, just to add my own personal two cents here, i was really disappointed by the shuttering of many different article sections on the site over the past 6-8 months. i understand cutting corners in a deficit, and i know it had to be done. that said…

all in all, i'm really sad to see this all happen. i don't fault anyone, if only because i don't really know enough about how this all can happen to make sense of it. games journalism is in a sad, sorry state, and will likely no longer be a thing in the next decade

VideoSealMan: I'm gonna say this because I think I deserve to. For months, MONTHS on end I was bugging Hard Drive management about a Patreon. Often I got ignored for a week+, but when I actually got a response I was encouraged to - of all things, write up a Google Doc pitching the concept I did it regardless. I wasn't the only one trying to sway management on a Patreon, but so fiercely was I fighting for it that last night, I was accused of making this comment directly by the CEO! With no evidence whatsoever! After I'd been gone for over a month.

I vouched so hard for Patreon because I wanted all the writers and creatives working with Hard Drive including myself to get paid better. When I actually got a response, the idea was often shut down. Eventually due to the state of my company, my pay was cut for a second time I confronted management alongside a couple other important figureheads at the org and told them that if we couldn't do a Patreon - I could no longer financially justify staying there. The answer was still no, so I left. Baffled at the decision, but whatever.

It is unendingly frustrating to know that myself and many other people who put their soul into Hard Drive LEFT because of management's absolute refusal to compromise on a Patreon, to then see them launch one anyway a month later and get over 1000 people pledging money. I'm seeing a lot of things float around about greed and people being fired. No one was fired. Everyone who left, left because they were sick of management's decision-making. And honestly, management is a lot of things but I would not call them greedy. (From my experience.) They did genuinely make an effort to pay people as much as possible. I found the pay very fair for a while. I am not disputing that I was paid what I was owed - yet management frequently feels the need to remind critics of that. Lmao, yes. I was paid what I was owed. No one is disputing payment. You did the bare minimum a business owner should do and paid everyone their due, very well done. I make no allegations of greed, cheating or foul play. I make allegations of poor management and incompetence that has fucked over other people.

Basically the only people left at Hard Drive have been there for about 2 months. They will reap the rewards of this successful Patreon I and so many others passionately fought for for so long. We will not see a dime.

I do not know the new people at Hard Drive, But I feel bad for them. They were haphazardly thrust into Hard Drive's workplace with little to no explanation on how anything works, or given any context on the state of the place. Even now managements feeds them half-truths and misinformation about other people's grievances. I am broke and have been for a while. I had to move out of my flat in Reading and back with my family because of how little money I was making. This has basically doomed my flatmate to moving back in with abusive parents, which is something I feel guilty about every day. If we had gone with the Patreon I worked myself hoarse over back then, this could have been avoided. Some of my other good pals could also not have been fucked over.

It was a bad judgment call, but it's not a crime. It's just management getting it wrong.

So should you give to the Hard Drive Patreon? I don't know! I don't think any of the new people working there to patch up the holes left by the recent mass exodus have any bad intentions. Maybe they deserve it! But it is not the same site you knew a year ago, or even a month ago. Myself and many people who were there far longer than me and did far more for it than I did are all gone now because we could not deal with management's terrible decision-making and dogass communication any longer. That's what you should know, imo

I had an agreement in place with management that I would receive the next 8 months of revenue from the Hard Drive YT channel from my leaving in November. This was a deal I appreciated, and thought was very fair on management's behalf. So far, the deal has been honoured for 2 months. However as of last night I was removed from the Hard Drive Slack without warning, and as an editor for the YouTube channel. This means I no longer have any way of verifying how much I am owed, I just have to take their word for it. I'm sure management will make their own statements full of half-truths and weird language on the many cases being brought against them - I'd take everything they say with a pinch of salt if some of the screenshots I've seen of them talking about me are any indication lol

To management; I do not want to talk to you. I want you to DM me a screenshot of how much I'm owed every month and then send me the money per our agreement until June, then we can go our separate ways. Do that and admit to your mistakes, and maybe you can recover your reputation! That's it from me, lol. If they pull out of the deal and fuck me over I'll have more to say, but most of what I know is other people's stories of incompetence and poor decision-making, lol. I genuinely get no pleasure out of doing this; I do not think management is evil - I just think they're really bad at what they do and it's cost other, more talented people, lol. You should believe the writers imo

One last thing I wanna say btw, management did often stress that no one should try to make Hard Drive a full time thing. They were transparent about that, and that is fair. I was working on it because at a few points, I was lead to believe we actually were doing a Patreon. Many other ppl have similar stories of being strung along by management changing their minds and stop-starting shit every 2 weeks. We all made the fatal mistake of overestimating our manager - who would tell you one thing one day and something totally opposite the next week lol

Hunter R. Thompson:

I'm not your dad, but speaking as a Hard Drive writer, I don't know that funding Hard Drive on Patreon is worth it

The driving talent on the back end—behind the kickass site I joined in 2019—have peaced out over the years as the site's been (in our view) increasingly mismanaged. Mismanagement like, not setting up crowdfunding before the ship sank and all its best crew failed; or publishing a screenshot of Andy Ngo pedojacketing a trans writer, complete with her deadname; or a disgruntled ex-writer getting falsely accused of shit-talk, by actual staff. I'm grateful for the writing I've gotten to produce for HD (and will forever be kicking myself for not writing even more, in the four years I've had to do it!! i'm a dumbass!!!) but it is very much no longer the site I signed up for.

I don't want to resign as a contributor altogether, because I'm open to the idea of the site recovering and bad practices being retired as finances level out-- it would just be dishonest for potential backers to not be Aware Of The Circumstances, I think.

Jeremy Kaplowitz: i truly don't want to start shit, but feel compelled to say: i want to see Hard Drive succeed w/o resorting to throwing former writers & editors, myself included, under the bus. surely there's a way to save the site without building it over the corpses of those who left. my $0.02 i don't blame anyone who wants to sign up for the HD patreon and i support the website, but that includes those who worked on it for years, have complaints, and don't deserve to be treated like bitter assholes like this kind of stuff is just objectively true, meanwhile there's these new writers who joined the site after i left (meaning, in the last ~3 months) claiming people are liars. decide for yourself if you care, but this is what happened! [Quotes this Tweet]

Seth Finkelstein: Writing for Hard Drive has been a privilege the past few years, and it makes me so angry to see people I looked up to get jerked around behind the scenes. The amount of grenades the editors jumped on our behalf is immense, and I don't think the way they're being treated is right.

Other Bits On AI: We do know for sure however that AI art has been used by the site. Its fucking owner confirms it here:https://twitter.com/MattSaincome/status/1743040541603123622. Seems the owner pushed AI written articles as well! TayFabe: My vaguetweet is making the rounds & these made me apoplectic. - owner regularly lobbied using ai. Once he tested it & said ai was writing better satire than 25% of the HT/HD writers. - ai images were used on the site & socials w/o consulting the team or disclosing it publicly I found the ai bit relevant to include bc 1) it illuminates a stark change in HD's current direction & leadership, 2) ai images have previously been used on the site and (since deleted) ig posts, 3) ai content fucking sucks, and repeatedly pushing to use it is a telling quality The "handful of writers who chose to leave" includes 2 editors-in-chief (both cofounders who wrote a combined total of >1,000 articles & defined the voice of HD), & at least 3 other editors. These guys put in WORK since 2017, so cool to be corrected by ppl who joined in Nov 2023 [Link to mentioned vague tweet from post.] More from TayFabe: owner continuously lobbied for using ai in every possible way. No one else wanted to do it, but he kept on, saying ai was writing better satire than 25% of the HT/HD writers. Also, ai images were used on the site & socials without public disclosure or consulting the team.

The owner has responded now multiple times in a private discord... Thank you for people sharing screenshots! First Screenshot:

Kevin's Response: He banned me from the server for speaking out, so no, I didn't see it. And he gave no indication of a timeline, it was just "we'll do one when *I* say so" and gave every inclination he was totally against it. It bred an environment that pushed our hands to have to leave. Screenshot Round Two:

Kevin's Response: "Starting one in 3 months" is an absolute lie. He denied it, I have screenshots and others who can confirm. No timeline was given. Just "this is what it is now" and like, I couldn't live off of that. I wanted to do more but he was allergic to good ideas from others around him.

Matt, owner of Hard Drive, responds publicly on Twitter.

Matt: Kevin, the patreon launch was delayed because I didn't think it would work. Everyone is happy that it did work. Everyone who left the site because we didn't have money to pay for creative content which didn't revenue is welcome to return home. But unclear why the hostility.

Hard Drive paid out literally every dollar it had, then a bunch more, to creative people who worked on the site. When we ran out of money, we couldn't pay anymore. We did our best.

Kevin: Right, and my point of this thread was that it was completely and totally avoidable. This is reasonable to be upset about. How could I have been any more clear?

Matt: If we knew with 100% certainly that the community would have supported us via patreon, we would have done that. We didn't know. We had tried 4 years ago and got no support. We were wrong this time. We did our best to figure it out. We paid all the money we could.

Kevin: So you knew with 100% certainty this time? Or you took a leap of faith?

Matt: It was a last gasp panic effort after ad rates got cut in half on january 1st due to seasonal spending changes. We didn't know it would work. We were embarrassed to ask for support. We wanted to figure it out.

Kevin: Every site has a Patreon. Every YouTuber, comedy group, etc. But you insisted that nobody cared about Hard Drive. Which is wildly untrue. I know you see that now, but again, I think you can see why I and many others are pretty upset. A last ditch panic effort was long overdue. A couple more things from Matt:

It was about the size of the hole we needed plugged budget wise, the time I had left of personal resources, and the past data I had about us trying a patreon (which turned out to be a bad indicator). I didn't think the Patreon would help us fast enough. I made a bad estimation

aka "if we make $1000 more dollars a month via patreon, which would be 10x what we got last time, we will not solve any of our problems. If instead we try to plow down path B, we might make it out in time." That was the thinking. I chose the wrong path, but didn't mean to Kevin also retweeted this comment from the user Matt was responding to: So you're saying that you're bad at running the business, didn't listen to any of your employees until after they were forced to leave their jobs, and now you're going to get more of the money from the Patreon that was their idea in the first place? Matt's Response: Respectfully, I made a mistake delaying the patreon decision. But keeping a comedy site alive for 9 years is not easy, there are lots of potential ideas, and think overall we've done a good and honorable job. Will leave this thread in peace now to allow people their space.

Sorry for linking to Elon's hellsite (derogatory), but sources need links so...

[strawberrystepmom]

nsfw - minors/ageless dni, i will hard block you. narumi x f!reader. they are online dating. gen is so cringe fail loser online boyfriend coded to me and i'm utterly obsessed enamored in love with him. back and forth, mentions of mutual masturbation and sending nudes, suggestive conversation, open ended to write more about them. | divider thanks to cafekitsune, wc 1.7k

Gen’s phone pings with a notification on this desk. His eyes widen despite the fact he is mid digital conflict, tossing fireballs at the final boss of the latest game he’s managed to master and beat in roughly three days, muttering to himself while clicking the direction pad with one hand and sliding his phone haphazardly into his lap with the other. 

A tiny piece of him is hoping that the notification is thanks to new results showing up under his saved search for Captain Narumi though he isn’t angry at what he does see on the screen when he looks down at it for the briefest moment, ignoring his handheld boss battle. 

fallingstarwishes: you are always online at the strangest times…

The little icon of a cartoon version of you, the character you play in the game where the two of you originally became friends, next to the message stirs a little warmth in his face. He presses his lips together to hide a smile and turns back to the fireballs being hurled at the titular hero of the game, dodging them expertly, inevitably going to win this battle just as he wins all of the rest. 

Another ping distracts him, at least momentarily, and the screen in lap lights up. 

“Shit, just give me a minute,” he mutters impatiently toward his phone, red eyes flicking down to see another message from you. 

fallingstarwishes: don’t you ever sleep? it’s so late (early?), silly.

It may be 4 am for him and roughly 2 pm for you but what you don’t know is that an hour ago he was spearing through the technicolor core of a kaiju four times his size that leveled three city blocks with just the sound of its roar using just his bayonet. He can’t leave blanks about who he is and what he does for much longer. As badly as he’s wanted to boldly brag to you about his prowess, he has always known it can make or break the two of you when the truth comes out. 

The right time to mention the whole life threatening and dangerous job thing hasn’t quite come up yet, though. You know he’s in the military although he has never been entirely forthcoming about what that entails and you’ve never asked.

He thinks about how fresh things still are between the two of you. Less than a year of knowing one another, a chance meeting in a large server for a big title slice of life game that came out last year, that has since turned into late nights (for you) messaging, gaming, and eventually voice chatting and giggling together until one of you is forced to go - either to bed or work. 

He fires off a few more fireballs at the boss, dodging the weakly tossed few they return, and the screen goes into the cutscene that effectively declares yet another victory for him. Smiling, he sets the handheld console aside, and curls his fingers around his phone. The screen fills with the conversation between the two of you, messages sent all hours of the day every day, the last one a picture of you laying in bed last night in a suggestive position claiming to be thinking of him. 

His gaze fixates on the photos for a moment, greedily looking at what he was only able to glance at before he left for his mission. He slides down to the chat bar and smirks, seeing your status go from idle to online when you notice he’s typing back to you.

captaincool: Aren’t you at work right now?

You grin from miles away, discreetly looking around the office to make sure nobody can see you using a messaging app that is very obviously not work related during your paid hours. It’s not like you’re in danger of getting caught but there is something particularly delicious about having your own little love affair nobody else has to know about. It’s just the two of you, always, in a world (or worlds, when you consider how many hours the two of you have spent across games) you’ve created to enjoy together.

Tapping out a message, you furrow your brow and jiggle one of your ankles where it’s crossed over the other. 

fallingstarwishes: stop answering my questions with new ones of your own!

Gen smiles down at the screen, thumbs tapping the edges of his phone, anxiously waiting to see what you’ll say next. 

fallingstarwishes: now, what are you doing up? 

fallingstarwishes: bored? 

fallingstarwishes: lonely? 

fallingstarwishes: need me to sing you to sleep?

Chuckling at the singing suggestion, he scrolls back up enough to see that pretty picture you sent him and hisses to himself, his adrenaline finally coming down to a normal enough level he can focus on something else besides the rapid beating of his heart and the thrill of the battle.

captaincool: A song? Just for me? Aren’t you sweet

Raising a brow while firing off his message, he wonders what the two of you actually are. There are times he absolutely considers you his girlfriend or something like it. You’ve discussed crossing the ocean to come and see him more than once though the concept of actually having a girlfriend makes him unexpectedly anxious. Someone to remember birthdays and anniversaries for. Someone who wants you where she wants you when she wants you there. Someone with demands, a comically large pair of scissors to cut his wings and keep him from being himself.

Although you’ve never given him any indication you’d want to do that, it’s something he has to reflect on. His feelings are real but so are the ties that come with them if he were to act on them.

fallingstarwishes: that isn’t even the sweetest i’ve been to you this week. did you forget last wednesday night already?

Damn, you make it hard for him to not act. 

captaincool: How are you going to tell me to sleep and then remind me of that?

Of course he remembers Wednesday evening for you (early in the day on Thursday for him). He remained locked inside of his room for an hour while your soft moans of his name filled his headphones over video chat. Begging him please, telling him how badly you wished it was him instead of your short fingers…he remembers every last moment.

He remembers most of all the sound of his name from your mouth. It’s what sends him over the edge every single time the two of you are able to sneak in a session of mutual masturbation from all these miles and hours away. It also is what he cums to when he’s simply listening back to videos and voice notes or his own imagination.

fallingstarwishes: :) <3 just making sure you remembered who you’re dealing with. you didn’t even react to the picture i sent! 

Gen scrolls back up to glance at the photo, sliding downward in his chair, thighs spreading instinctively. He places his phone down on his desk and slides his hand beneath the waistband of his sweatpants, pulling them down enough that his half hard cock pops over his underwear. Reaching for his phone, he positions it so that the camera captures just the cut of his Adonis belt and the barely visible crown of him, snapping a picture to send back to you. He holds the phone back from his face and smirks appreciatively at his own artistic ability, happy with the subtle gleam of his arousal beginning to flow and bead on the tip of his dick. 

The photo is fired off with an accompanying cheeky message.

captaincool: Is this confirmation enough that I liked it?

Your eyes widen when the photo comes through, hands shaking slightly. He isn’t the only one who recalls the sound of a name from a pair of lips they wanna feel on every inch of their body in this scenario, now is he?

fallingstarwishes: you should have spoilered that! what if my boss would’ve walked up?

Gen chuckles at your response, pulling down his underwear and letting his now fully erect cock spring free. He’ll handle this and then he’ll be more than ready to pass out although he wishes he could stay up all through the day just to talk to you. He throbs, needy and wanting for a fist that he knows would grip him just right that sadly exists an ocean away and only in his mind. He taps out a message with his free hand, rubbing the thumb of his opposite hand over his slit and moaning low in his throat.

captaincool: Then you would have to explain why you are on your phone during work anyway.

Giggling to yourself, you know he’s right. You spare a few more seconds to glance at the pretty picture on your screen, thinking about your attachment to the man and his penis both, wondering if there will indeed be a day where you are faced with them both in person. Your thumb swipes across the screen, a small gesture that is full of longing while your heart beats in time with your rapid thoughts, and you finally respond.

fallingstarwishes: handle that and then get some sleep. i’ll be around tonight and hope we can spend some time together. sweet dreams gen ♥️

His fist works up and down his shaft and he reads the message with a satisfied half smile, discarding his phone to focus on how good he feels imagining bouncing you up and down on his cock. He’s powerful and strong, more than you could even imagine, and he’d make quick work of you if he were to have his hands on you.

God, he needs his hands on you. He whimpers and shuts his eyes tightly, the slick sound of his motions bouncing off of the clutter and boxes in his room that he’ll eventually get to clearing out. It doesn’t ever take him long when he pictures you, his balls tightening, threatening to spill across his fingers in damn near record time compared to how long he likes to make himself wait when the two of you are doing this together.

But don’t worry, when he finishes, he’ll make sure that you see his pearly release all over his knuckles with a message promising he’ll have sweet dreams because you will be in them.

[desperateknot]

A bit cringy, but I will do it again.

Swap Ishqueg/LCB Queequeg AU.

Seven Assoc. South Section 4 ID uptie story:

Heathcliff: So, you see, if it was the doing of a high level member of a Finger, there is nothing we can do. A shame, really, since they promised to pay so much for the post-contract management...Hey are you even listening?

The other child doesn't even lift her face from the paper to respond.

She took another sip of the coffee, totally absorbed by the details of this new case.

She indeed didn't hear a word of what her senior said.

Queequeg: Hmm no.

She spoke slowly, but with confidence.

Queequeg: Not the Middle. This one. Copy cat.

A rare smile formed at the corner of her lips. It is truly unusual for her to be in such high spirit.

Heathcliff: What? Are you sure?

Queequeg: Sure.

Queequeg: Get uniform. We go now.

Queequeg: Get him before the Middle...For his sake too.

Confused and a bit angry, but the other child did oblige.

He decided to have faith in her deduction, after all, when the Director of South Section 6 transferred her to their department, she said.

Outis: She might be frugal with her words, but do heed them. Her insight will undoubtedly prove to be valuable.

It's totally not because he wants that bonus, no.

Either way, he believes there must be a good reason for someone like her to be accepted among their ranks.

Queequeg: Lucky you.

The culprit: Mocking me now? You caught me. What is lucky about that?

Indeed. In contrast to this child's, the body of the man at the other end of her sword has not even a speck of tattoo. He is really not a member of the Middle.

Queequeg: The Middle's retribution would not have been...

With a simple motion, she pierced her sword through the man's stomach.

Queequeg: So swift and merciful.

Queequeg: Impersonating Big Brother. Grave sin.

The child let out a long sigh. And the melancholy returned to her again.

She could never truly escape them. The Middle never forgets.

However, if her knowledge about them could be of use, she would not hesitate to leverage it to live her new life.

That is the least she could do. That is the least she could have done to fulfill her end of the promise made under the setting sun.

Heathcliff: Uh...so there seems to be a really good restaurant near here-

Queequeg: No. I go back now.

Heathcliff: Huh? Aren't you hungry?

It seems like the other child's attempt at consolation flew right over his junior's head.

Queequeg: Miss Faust's tea already. Coffee...yucky.

Personal notes:

The anatomy here is kind of...atrocious. At first, I even got her eye colour, which I hastily fixed in this version. Well, my anatomy from newer pieces is still terrible, but not as terrible, I guess.

You may notice that I am not a native English speaker, so the way I phrased things and wrote things is a bit weird. I'm not good at writing in my native tongue either. I say I'm bilingual, but I'm actually just illiterate in two different languages.

This is not my proudest work, but I do still like the idea a lot.

I first thought of the idea of Seven Association Fixer Queequeg because I want to give her glasses, as I like to do with every of my favourite characters, but then I realised she would probably be good at investigating crimes (like murders) because she did some before? Especially crimes related to the Fingers. Her personal experiences would be helpful, I think.

[putrid-sex-machine]

KiNKTOBER DAY 28 ❀ LEON

PROMPT: fucking machine, sex pollen & dub-con

WARNINGS/TAGS: smut (obv), dub-con (typical sex pollen stuff), sex pollen, monster fucking, plant monster, leon is a bottom idk what to tell u

A/N: what can i say, i love torturing leon kennedy<3. I'll be honest, the first version got away from me a little... This is how the fic was originally planned to go, i'm not sure how i got so side tracked lol. anyways, hope you enjoy!! (^_^) art is by @citrine-elephant (lmk if u dont want me using ur art here)

check out the alternative version of this fic here

this fic has nsft content. you have been warned.

Leon's only consolation was that he didn't do this to himself. Not this time at least. He was pushed into this. Tackled, really, by a B.O.W. with more limbs than he'd care to count. Or vines he supposes.

And to think things were going smoothly.

He'd been tasked with the investigation of what was rumored to be a Neo-Umbrella lab, and Leon had been too quick to assume safety, assume the place was empty as it seemed. It was open, empty, and the electricity miraculously still worked – practically a cakewalk. Aside from the absurd amount of plant growth that is.

Thinking this would be easy, though, turned out to be his first mistake.

Now he finds himself strapped into what (uncomfortably enough) seems to be a birthing chair, his legs forceably pulled apart to expose him. He'd be more bothered had he not been drunk off his ass on whatever unknown pollen-like substance fills the strange glass capsule hes now trapped in. Worse yet is his body's response to it all. He's hard, unbearably so. He'd find it humorous if the situation weren't so humiliating. He hasn't had a proper hard on in ages, (he can thank whiskey for that) yet this of all things has managed to do it for him. Pathetic.

A robotic female voice rings out, "Stage One completed. Stand clear of the Containment Area and prepare for Stage Two."

Whatever that means, Leon has no interest in staying to find out. He tries to jerk his arms free of the metal cuffs holding him, but its so hard to think, so hard to move, restraints aside. His body feels heavy and hot, betraying his mind and refusing to obey him. Still, Leon refuses to give in. He continues struggling against his binds, searching for some loose piece, something he can take advantage of. Nothing

"Stage Two activated," says the uncannily monotone voice. As if on cue (which, yeah, it probably is) a loud beep fills the capsule, followed by another wave of the intoxicating pollen. Leon hisses, steadying himself. He's already been exposed to the gas -- or whatever this is, he doesn't need anymore. He draws in several fast breaths, rapidly as he can. He then takes as deep a breath as he can manage, starting from his diaphragm to fill his stomach before letting it expand in his chest. He holds it, starting a mental count. He's trained with holding his breath for extended periods before, a useful skill to have in this line of work, but holding your breath on land is a lot harder than underwater. Without the diving reflex to slow his heartbeat plus his lack of preparation time, Leon estimates he has only about 3 minutes left.

But the machine seemingly had other ideas. Two large metal clamps slam down on his ribs, forcing the breath out of him and securing him further to the chair. He's given no choice but to inhale, coughing and sputtering as he fights to take a lungful of air with his chest unable to fully expand.

"Stage Two completed. Beginning Stage Three," Leon distantly hears, suddenly too dizzy to think. All he can focus on is the intoxicating sweetness of the pollen filling his nose, on how painfully hard hes become, on how restricting and hot his clothes are. As if on command, cool metal of the machine dips down to his stomach, running a blade along the cloth and graciously freeing his erection. He groans, hips instinctively tilting upwards as far as Leon can manage, desperate for friction.

Again, the machine seemingly hears his internal pleas, a small whirl ringing out before he's met with an incredible vibrating warmth around his cock, the sensation alone almost enough to make him cum.

"O-oh fuck--" Leon whines, unable to stop himself. His hips jerk up, gasping as he inhales more of that delicious pollen.

There's another whirl, this time followed by a slick, cold prodding sensation against his ass. He whines, allowing his legs to be spread even further by the machine as the artificial cock slides in. When it begins to vibrate Leon knows hes done for, crying out as he cums, barely registering the high-tech flesh-light sucking every last drop up. Even then it doesn't stop, the dildo continuing to pound into him lazily as it's vibrations intensify. It doesn't stop when he cums again either, it doesn't stop when he's crying, screaming and thrashing against his restraints, brows pulled taught as he whines uselessly in over stimulation. His hips continue to jerk up in time with the flesh-light, body betraying him as he fights to escape the overwhelming pleasure.

Every time he thinks he's finished, that he can't possibly cum again he does, that wonderful pollen filling his lungs and hardening his cock with ease. Gradually Leon finds himself drifting off, having lost track of how many orgasms he's had forced out of him, of how long he's been here. He's stopped caring too. He has no thoughts anymore. No perception of time. No worries. Getting out of here doesn't seem important anymore. This is good. This is right. Leon was made for this.

This is his new home.

[ofstarsandvibranium]

My You-niverse: Poe Dameron

Fandom: Oscar Isaac

Pairing: Poe Dameron x F!Reader, throughout the series: Marc Spector x F!Reader, Steven Grant x F!Reader

Summary: You and America get stuck portal jumping until you reach your universe again. In the meantime, you meet various versions of your husband.

A/N: one more chapter after this! eek!

Series Masterlist

You gasp as your eyes shoot open. You sit up and you're in the medbay.

"Hey, honey, it's okay. It's okay, relax." you turn to the voice and see...

"Poe?"

He smiles, "Yeah, that's me, baby. You okay?" he sits at the edge of the bed you're in, "You scared me."

"What happened?" you ask him, brows furrowed in confusion.

"I'm not sure. I brought you your afternoon caf like usual. We were just chatting and then you fainted. You hit your head on the console on the way down. Scared the fodder outta me."

You hiss in pain as your head begins to throb. Suddenly, you're getting flashes. Different versions of Poe-no. Not Poe. Someone...someone else. You see a necklace and a wedding ring.

The medbay opens and in walks Leia.

You straighten up, "General Organa."

She makes her way to you with a soft smile, "Glad to see you're awake. How are you?"

"My head still hurts. I'm-I'm getting these weird visions. I don't know what's going on," confusion and fear is laced in your tone.

The older woman sighs, "Well, oddly enough, when you fainted, some unexpected visitors appeared on base. They've been asking for you and one of them looks like your flyboy," she points to Poe.

You look at Poe and he nods, "Yeah, it-it's weird. He's me, but not me. Said he's from some other universe and they've been looking for you for some time now. They want to bring you back with them."

The throbbing sensation continues. You wince and close your eyes for a moment. Flashes again. You see a certificate...a wedding certificate. There's your name and another...

"Sweetheart?" Poe takes hold of your hand, the other on your shoulder to steady you.

"Marc."

Poe is taken back, "Huh?"

"His name is Marc, right? Marc Spector?"

"Yeah. I-Wait. Is this real? Are you actually from wherever or whatever universe he's from?"

"Yes. No. I think? I don't know," you pull your hand away from Poe's and cradle your head, "It hurts so bad. I don't know what to do." You look up at Leia with tears in your eyes, "Please, help me."

She nods, "I'll bring them here."

Poe didn't like that one bit, "What?! No! You're not bringing them here!"

"They seem to be the only people who knows what's going on, Poe," she tries to reason with him.

He shakes his head, "They're going to take her away! I just got her back!"

Leia puts a reassuring hand on Poe's shoulder, "We'll make sure that doesn't happen. But look at her, Poe. She's in pain. That Doctor Weird guy could help her. We need to take this chance."

Poe looks back at you and you're still cradling your head and you've begun mumbling things he couldn't quite hear. He sighs, "Fine."

___________________________

America watches Marc pace back and forth. She and Stephen has both decided to sit down and wait for someone to come back to get them. Stephen is...meditating? She doesn't really know, but all she knows is that Marc's pacing is starting to irritate her.

"Dude, just sit down, alright? I'm sure Y/N's fine."

"We were so close. She was right there and then she ouched the necklace," he stops the pacing to face Stephen, "Why did that happen anyway?"

Stephens eyes open and he responds, "I'm not sure."

Marc rolled his eyes, "For being this almighty sorcerer, you sure don't know a lot about all this, do ya?"

"The multiverse is very complicated. There's a lot that we don't understand, masters of the mystics arts included," he floats up onto his feet, "At least we're in the same universe as Y/N."

"I hope she's okay," America says with worry, "That blast was strong, like, stronger than the one's I've done."

"Strange, can't you magic your way out of here?"

"Yes, but that could put Y/N at risk. We don't know what these people are capable of so it's best we remain here until someone comes to see us again."

Suddenly, the doors slide open and Leia walks in, eyes staring directly at Stephen, "Y/N needs your help."

Marc is suddenly chest to chest to Leia, "Where is she? Huh?! What did you do to her?!" America pulls him back with a sorry expression on her face.

Leia chuckles, "You look like Poe, you sound like Poe, you even have his temper. Interesting."

Stephen walks forward, "What's wrong with Y/N?"

_____________________

Poe is laying on the bed, holding your curled up form. His cheek is resting on your head. You're still mumbling but he's catching a few things, "Marc", "Nathan", "Leto", "Bud". Names, he thinks. You name off more and then you repeat them, along with other things he can't really hear.

The doors to the medbay open again and Leia enters with Stephen, America, and Marc.

Marc frowns at the sight before him, "Get your hands off my wife."

Stephen shoots him a glare and Marc huffs, moving close to your bed, but still a distance away.

"Y/N?" Stephen says your name cautiously.

You slowly raise your head and you look at him, "Stephen?"

"Yes. That's me, do you know who they are?" He points to Marc and America.

"America and Marc. Marc's my husband. I'm-I'm from your world?"

"Our universe," Stephen corrects you.

"I don't understand," you shake your head.

Stephen sighs, "It's complicated, but we need to take you back with us."

"Like hell you are!" Poe retorts, wrapping his arm around you tighter.

Stephen rolls his eyes, "Listen, she can't stay here. This isn't her universe. The longer she's away, the worse she'll feel. She needs to get back and we're taking her."

"Listen, here, I've spent a long time without Y/N by my side. I just got her back. There's no way I'm letting you-" Stephen threw a blast of magic at Poe and he fell back onto the bed. He was completely knocked out.

"Poe!" you cried out.

"He'll be fine. Just made him sleep for a bit." Stephen says, making Marc snort.

"Serves him right," Marc mutters, arms crossed over his chest.

Stephen turns to Leia, "You must understand, for Y/N's sake, we need to take her back home with us."

"And when you do, what happens here?"

"Best case scenario, this all gets back to how everything was. You don't remember a thing or us. Worst case scenario, this Y/N never comes back."

Leia sighs and nods, "Y/N, I care about her a lot. She's like a daughter to me and all a mother ever wants is her child to be safe and happy."

"So you'll let us take her with no problem?" Marc asks hopefully.

"I will."

Marc immediately rushes to you, helping you out of the bed, "Let's go home, baby."

"Wait," you turn back to the unconscious Poe and place a kiss to his lips, "Good bye. I-I know your bond with this Y/N is strong. Continue to love her and keep her safe," you whisper, hoping he'll hear you in his slumber.

Stephen gives a nod of thanks to Leia and then looks at America, "Go ahead."

She widens her stance, holds up her fists, and closes her eyes. She takes a deep breath and when she opens them, they're a bright white. She punches forward and a bright white star shaped portal appears.

Marc, your hand in his, gives you a little tug, "Come on, baby." You let him pull you towards the portal, your other hand shielding your eyes from the bright light. When you walk through, you land in the Sanctum Sanctorum. You turn to see America and then Stephen walk through. The portal immediately closes behind them.

Your head is suddenly pounding and you stagger into Marc.

"Y/N? What's wrong?"

Your eyes flutter shut and you feel yourself falling, the last thing you hear is Marc calling your name.

[foone]

Oh wow. I was watching a compilation of the Game Grumps playing horse games, and they get to one called "The Unicorn Princess".

I'm looking at the game and it has no shadows and big empty landscapes and a font that's way too small, and I'm thinking "oh, this is some mid-2000s PC game that got a wii port, and not a very good one". Like clearly this is a port of an old PC game onto an underpowered console, so it would be hard to make it look good, and they didn't try. (I should have realized it's too high res for the Wii)

So I look the game up and discover two weird things:

1. The game is from 2019. TWENTY FUCKING NINETEEN, not 2004 like I suspected.

2. It's available on PC, Xbox One, Switch, and PS4... And it doesn't look like this. At least, according to their screenshots.

See? They've got lens flares for the sun, proper shadows, a bit of depth-of-field going on there.

Also, that tree is a full 3D model. I'm pretty sure the ones in the Game Grumps video are billboards... Okay they're billboards until you get close. Ugly LoD going on.

Also I just discovered another almost weird thing: the original video isn't on the game grumps channel anymore. The compilation I was watching got the video from a re-upload. Reportedly this happened because the original video had some flashing lights that could cause epilepsy issues.

Anyway now I'm wondering how this game got made and released on all the major platforms in 2019. Like, this peak Unity era, you could have easily made the game look better without sacrificing performance. (I haven't looked inside the game (yet) but the fact it's on all the platforms despite looking like this makes me pretty sure this is unity).

Like, the switch is underpowered sure, but it's not THIS underpowered!

Although, I'm noticing that the screenshots on all the storefronts look the same. I wonder if they cranked up the options on the PC version, then turned them down for the console releases, then used screenshots of the PC version everywhere?

[shares-a-vest]

Robin and Dustin fight for the passenger door as Eddie pops in the back, scoffing and slamming the door.

"Hey, hey!" Steve yells, leaning over the console to open the door himself.

"Steve! Make him stop!" Robin demands, voice shrill as she squishes her grocery bag up against the door so she can't free up her hands to playfully slap-fight Dustin.

"Jesus Christ," Eddie curses.

Steve hears the unmistakable sound of a can opening in the back and he rolls his eyes. Eddie promised he wouldn't buy beer or whatever soda it is he's obsessing over this week.

Robin knocks Dustin's signature hat off and he screeches.

"Stop!" Steve begs, attempting to move over further but his seatbelt yanks him back. "Robin gets shotgun!"

The duo outside pauses. Robin pokes her tongue out and follows up with a childish gaffaw. The pair stand in silence, glaring at each other until Dustin snatches away the grocery bag.

Robin scrambles into the car, clips in her seatbelt and manually locks her door in one fluid motion.

"You do realise you waste time every single day with this?" Eddie says as Dustin hops in the back and slaps his baseball cap back on.

"Robin has been shotgun all week!" Dustin shoots back.

Can no one excerise any volume control in this car!

Steve shoots Robin a disapproving look as he fires up the engine. There's a crinkling of the grocery bag and Steve looks in the rear vision mirror but he can't quite see what Dustin and Eddie are clambering for.

"Starting next week, I'm making a schedule that everyone will follow. No exceptions."

"What if it's an emergency?" Robin asks, tenting her fingers like it's the most obvious follow up question.

"I reeeeefuse to sit in the back with Mike, Lucas and Henderson all stinking up the car after school," Eddie so helpfully adds.

"Hey!" Dustin whines, moving the bag away from Eddie.

There's more rustling and crinkling, followed by loud chewing.

"Yeah," Robin agrees, reaching in the back. "I agree on that one."

"Hey!"

"I'll figure it out!" Steve snaps, waving his hand as of to wave away the endless mitigating factors these idiots will surely conjure up of he doesn't stop them.

He looks over to his best friend, tinkling the foil back on a god damn Easter egg before shoving it into her mouth. She gags.

"Ew! This chocolate is awful, Eddie!"

"No it isn't."

Steve does a double take.

"Wait, did I send you three into the grocery store with a clear and organised list, only for you to buy Easter eggs!"

"I also bought beer," Eddie clarifies, belching.

"I mean, pretty much," Dustin shrugs, opening a packet of crisps.

"A weekend of nothing but junk food then?" Steve asks.

Although he doesn't know why he's bothering. This is what he gets for trying to assign errands.

He looks at Robin, so annoyed that he feels like his eyes are going to pop out of his skull.

"Did you get something for me to make for dinner, at the every least, Robs?"

"I don't do vegetables," Eddie chimes, again not helping.

This is what he gets for expecting his boyfriend to just automatically back him up in the face of Robin and Dustin being the most annoying versions of themselves.

He turns a corner into the main road of Loch Nora and hears the distinct sound of liquid dripping on the floor.

"Oops," Eddie mumbles.

Okay yeah, he's just as annoying as the other two.

"Can't we get pizza?" Dustin asks, jostling Robin's seat enough that she lazily slaps at the brim of his hat, threatening to knock it off again.

"I promised Claudia I wouldn't just feed you junk all weekend."

"But pizza has vegetables!" he argues.

"Technically Henderson is correct, there, Steve-o," Robin adds.

And for the first time this afternoon, the pair agree on something... They both nod.

"I could go for pizza," Eddie wonders aloud. "Pepperoni. No vegetables in sight!"

He leans forward and chomps the last word directly into Steve's ear, retreating with a giggle.

"Trust me," Steve begins, making sure to catch Eddie's eye in the rearview mirror and of course, he's grinning like an idiot. "You get your serving of vegetables."

A silence promptly falls over the Beemer.

Robin stifles a laugh, Eddie blushes scarlet and Dustin leans into the front cabin, eyebrows raised sky-high.

Dear god, that isn't what he meant.

"I sneak vegetables into Eddie's food!" he insists, shrugging.

"What!" Eddie screams so loud Steve almost swerves off the road mere seconds from his driveway.

[soaps-mohawk]

Oh no! Thinking about the ask of Omega’s going into distress. Did that happen to reader's mom when she was taken away? With reader's dad being an asshole, I'm sure he didn't comfort her. Does he even love her?🤨🧐 because it seems like he hates Omegas in general. Is reader's mom safe? Is she alright?🥺😭

Ugh I want to answer these so badly 😭 But I'll console you with: you will find out later in the fic. Pretty much all of these questions will be answered eventually.

I will say, though, that reader's dad did love her mom in a way. Think of the traditional alpha movement as a version of the sort of incel/trade wife movement. Traditional alphas view omegas as property and more of a vessel to give them a lot of pups for bragging rights and to make them look good, basically. Alphas that ascribe to the traditional movement are not good people, though that's pretty obvious from what we've learned. So yes, in a way, reader's dad does not like omegas very much. Hate might be a strong word for it, but he definitely considers them the least of the three statuses. He definitely set an unrealistic belief that his pups all had to present as alphas because then they'd be worth something in his eyes. He would not only have the bragging rights of the fact he has eight pups, but having them all be alphas? That's like the traditional alpha's wet dream.

[freetobeeyouandme]

The Columbia House, Sims 4 version

So, a while ago @codename-adler made a post asking people to drop their hcs for what the house in Columbia looks like, and since I was in the mood to play the Sims that day, I figured it would be a fun exercise to try and build what I picture in the game. It took me forever to finish it once I had figured out what I what I basically wanted it to look like, but here it is:

Before sitting down to work on this I roughly scoured the books for what scant descriptions there are to be as accurate as possible, and this is what I found: There is a downstairs bathroom and it has a window (specifically between the shower and the sink), the twins' rooms are upstairs on opposite sides of the hall, Nicky is downstairs past the stairs (as seen from the living room), the living room and kitchen are connected, and there is both a living room and a den. Also there has been no mention of a formal dining room afaik but there is a table in the kitchen, so that is what I went with. Also no garage, just a driveway.

Further I figured the house was pretty blandly suburban, probably a little older and smaller to make it cheap, so that is stylistically what I went with. The living room is open to the hallway and split level, half because of the age thing, and it also influenced the way I went about furnishing the house. I figured Nicky and the twins had probably sourced most of their furniture either from cheap stores (like ikea) or got older stuff for cheap from yard sales and the like, and otherwise I tried to capture an early 2000s vibe. So, here's the floorplan:

A more detailed house tour (and a lot of me rambling) below 👇

First the downstairs hallway. Not much to be said about it: There's a small console to the side for keys and mail and a mat by the door for shoes, plus some plants to make it look a little nicer. Imagine there are family pictures in the frames over the stairs. (I gotta say I do love love the retro vibes of the door though.)

Next up is the den. While half the reason the living room is open concept is the imagined age of the house, this room is the other half. Before I started this, I wasn't sure if there was a difference between a living room and a den, so when Neil heads to the den to sleep at the end of tfc I imagined him heading to some sort of living room space - and then thought it would be nice if there was a direct line of sight to the front door where Andrew was on the porch, keeping an eye on the others, so that Neil isn't fully removing himself from the small family moment they're all having. But since I wanted to be accurate I googled it, and turns out I'm wrong. However, since the den is at the front of the house you kind of have a view on the driveway from the recliners, so the hc is somewhat intact ;)

Also the octagonal shape of the room half killed me because it made the roof all weird and that influenced the upstairs bathroom and it was a whole thing. But I was looking around the game neighborhood for inspiration for the outside and saw this octagonal front room and fell in love, so I had do it. For the furniture it's canon that there are at least two recliners, and I imagined it to be this smaller secondary family room/computer room, hence the small, old TV and desk. The computer is probably a little older than would be realistic, but I couldn't bring myself to give them the imo even more unrealistic tower with a flatscreen monitor, so it is what it is. The Sims 4, despite not being that new, is pretty bad with 2000s era furniture.

Then we have the infamous downstairs bathroom and the probably most detailed description of anything in the house. The window sits between the shower and the sink and is frosted. Unfortunately that isn't an option in the sims, so I put up some shades. But otherwise it's a pretty small and simple room.

The living room was a lot of fun. I tried to make it colorful because I feel like Nicky would try to make it look cheerful, and it's also where we have some of the biggest mixing of aesthetics. On the one hand there's an old cabinet, but then we also have some Billy bookshelves and a very cluttered Lack coffee table (side note why tf do I know all of these Ikea names?) and the most 2000s standing lamp in the back (I swear we had one of these). The armchairs I feel like are something picked up from a yard sale while the couch is more new. The fireplace is original to the house. And then of course there is a hi-fi system in the back. In game that's just a record player, I think, but realistically they would have at the very least a cd and casette player on top of that.

Next is the kitchen, which in my original draft was included in the open living plan, but that felt too open, so I changed it to an archway (in addition to changing the layout some). The cabinets are very old, the fridge and stove very basic and clunky, and I feel like that sort of glass dining table is a very 2000s thing (although I may be wrong about that). Now looking at the screenshots I think the chairs might be a little too contemporary, but I'm not about to go back and change anything. It's a very yellow room, but it fits with the generall blue/green/yellow color scheme I mostly went for with the house. Cheerful but in a pretty inoffensive way. This room is also the only one where I used some CC, because I just had to have a wall phone and the Sims 4 just does not have older technology.

And for the last downstairs room we have Nicky's bedroom. This is one of my favorite rooms in the whole house, and it came together so easily once I had the bed picked out, it was really fun. This is the most color in all of the house, which I felt fits Nicky, and then I went for this sort of hybrid adult/teen aesthetic because he's sort of caught in that transition phase. On the one hand we have a cleaner look, a framed painting, centered bed, nothing too messy despite the loud colors, but then in the corner we just have the pride flag and some posters taped to the wall in a way that looks very leftovers from a teen/young adult phase. Also please imagine there is a picture of Erik in the photo frame in that corner.

Then we're moving upstaris with a very uninspiring first look at the hallway. Nothing really here, a hall closet and a plant but otherwise not much effort put in here. I do wanna say that in reall life the measurements of the house would be a lot different and so this space would probably be smaller (i tried to make it so with the closet, but it still feels a little big)

The upstairs bathroom(s) unfortunately suffered from the roof that sits around it, making it take up more space than I wanted it to. I think realistically it would all be one big room, with the laundry next to the showertub combo and the toilet beside the double sink, but because that would have been too little going on for the size the room would have taken up in game, I split it up into a separate toilet, laundry in the hallway extension, and then the bathroom with the tub and the double sink. I do like the decals in the toilet room, I think either those are leftover from previous owners of the house and Nicky refused to take them down or he put them up in order to make the room look a little less boring and the twins absolutely hate them. I also really like the brown color scheme of the tiles, it looks very old fashioned and I like that.

And lastly the twins' bedrooms. First up, Aaron: I picked green and black for the color scheme and then the very light wood color that all of this very basic Ikea furniture comes in to lighten up the room somewhat. The layout is also very open, so that the black doesn't come across as too oppressive. Here we also again have like on the one hand some framed prints to seem a little more sophisticated mixed with just posters put up over the desk. I went with a gamer theme for those, which given the canon presence of a gaming console (not pictured in the living room) felt right. Like obviously it belongs to all of them, probably, but also if I had to pick who uses it the most that's Aaron. Also making these rooms I developed this hc that the beanbags in the dorm are just taken from the twins' rooms, so I made sure to give each of them one.

And last but not least, probably my favorite room in the house because I'm biased af: Andrew. I legit got a little emotional furnishing this because I love him and it was so fun to imagine what his room would look like. The main color is obviously black, and the basic furniture is all the same as in Aaron's room, just in a black swatch. The whole thing imo teeters between cozy and overwhelming, and the layout certainly adds to that with the Kalax separating the room instead of being shoved to the side. But when I put the furniture down before moving it to its intended places I sort of just had it standing there and it felt right. I'm not sure if in actuality Andrew would dislike not being able to see the door or if he would prefer having an obstacle like that between the bed and door, but I do like the effect it creates. Then we got this punching bag which I also felt he probably would appreciate, and lastly in my head the red wall is because Nicky put his foot down on painting the whole room black and so Andrew picked the most aggressive, terrible red just to be contrarian (but it does match with some of the posters and the punching bag and everything). Also over both of the twins' beds is the closest the game has to glow in the dark stars, which I imagine Nicky put up and while they complain that they're not little kids they actually do love those a lot.

And finally some close ups of some areas/details that I loved putting together:

And that's it. This has been a long post so I hope you enjoyed the pictures and all of my thoughts. I had a lot of fun building this, anyway, and this is the Columbia house in my head now lol.

[piracytheorist]

So with that out of the way, I'll share some screenshots and my experience from the little I played from the Spy x Family game.

Note/reminder that I openly don't recommend buying the game for a computer, as the controls are clunky, and since that version is half-baked it's not worth your money, even if you plan on using a controller. Different case if you buy it for a console, though.

So the graphics are actually pretty cute, and I think they translate the feeling of the 2D characters into a 3D game environment pretty well! The music stands between an inspiration from the original anime soundtrack and typical day-in-the-life simulation game soundtrack, though mostly the latter. I wasn't impressed that much but it wasn't something that annoyed me. It's just a bit of a pity because they could definitely get some inspiration from the original soundtrack, but oh well.

Playing the game, Anya starts at Eden College, and you get a tutorial showing you how to move and interact with other characters and objects. First it instructs you to talk to Becky, then to Damian.

And as I saw that I was like "... Do I have to?" XD Luckily, he wasn't annoying that time, just distant.

Then Anya comes back home to tell her parents about her Diary project, and I had her explore the house a bit.

In the manga and anime there's this small separate space on the hall right by the entrance, and I actually just realized that, but in the game's version of the house that area doesn't exist.

From what I remember, in the game there is just a wall where the opening to this space is. Since this space is rarely used in the manga/anime and it would have taken memory space, I understand why they didn't add it. From the little I played Anya could only move around the main spaces, kitchen, dining/living area and hall, but those parts were pretty accurate.

And according to my post about the Forgers' kitchen, here it looks accurate to the anime, though with a two-door fridge instead.

I mostly took this because I found it funny how atrocious his posture was XD he's probably tired, the poor man.

One of the few minigames I tried was bowling. I like how each characters game traits actually fit their characters XD

Like, Yor is Strong™ but with the least dexterity, Anya is the luckiest but also the weakest, Loid is the most dexterous... and also the unluckiest. I'm telling you, I can find opportunities for angst like it's my job.

Anyway, that minigame was actually nice, it took me a bit to get the hang of the curveballs but I'm sure I could get better at it if I trained more. I played as Loid, too XD

I liked the characters' responses to their throws, either going like "This is hard" or "This is harder than it looks" (even Loid, lmao, with me controlling him he actually became bad at something) if they threw only a few pins. Funny thing is, when Loid was first about to throw his ball, he said something like "Child's play" but then because it was me controlling him he only threw a couple pins and was like "This is hard" 😂 Poor Yor said "Was this good?" a few times right after throwing her ball, then Anya did a strike, and Yor and I as Loid did a spare (when you throw the remaining pins on your second go). For each of those, the other characters cheered for the one doing the strike or spare, and that was cute. Funniest responses was when a throw wouldn't get a single pin, Anya did her "Shock" face, Yor looked embarrassed, and Loid cringed back with a drop of cold sweat on his face (I was the reason for that, sorry man XD) Loid ended up winning and even though he had missed a couple of throws, at the end he was once again like "Child's play" like, my MAN, stop embarrassing yourself and me.

Anyway. Back to the story. There were some cute moments of banter, I feel they captured the characters pretty accurately!

Then I could go into character customization and. Some interesting choices there.

"Just going to work". Yes. That work XD

And then this... item.

MAXIMUM CHARISMA

I'm still laughing about it XD

Then it was ooting time, and I actually really loved the loading screens!

They have a cute feel to them :)

One of the few pictures I took for Anya's album. Whatever is happening on that Spy Wars issue Anya was reading, it must be interesting!

Anya later mentioned she'd sleep with Agent Penguinman that night, and Bond did not like that XD

When I FINALLY managed to hit the required score for Yor's fruit chopping minigame, Anya looked very smug about it 😁

As I mentioned, it took me a lot of times to get the gist of when exactly to swing to cut the vegetables, and every time Yor missed a vegetable she would say something... but there were no subtitles for those lines XD judging by a few lines I've picked up from the anime, I think she was just saying things like "I missed" or an exclamation of disappointment, and one single "I'm sorry, Anya-san". I wanted to hug her!

Then it was back to school the next day.

I'm right there with ya, girl XD

Then Anya asked Yor to train her, and Yor started giving her some advice on how to throw punches... and then Loid slipped in and was like uhm wut O_o

This next part was a little weird, because Anya was supposed to be drawing (like she did in Episode 3 in the museum kids room) and Loid was going like "Oh this is Bondman and a princess, right? That part is a little graphic, though" but... she wasn't drawing? Loid was just standing in the kitchen and I approached him to talk to him and they just said lines similar to the scene I mentioned above from episode 3. It didn't seem like it fit, and only added it so they could have Anya do that expression, which, okay, fair enough XD

This was Anya's expression when she realized Loid had completely misjudged what she was drawing and her powers weren't at risk of being exposed XD

A quick Handler cameo!

That was the intro for a minigame of Twilight sneaking into an art gallery and having to swap paintings for forgeries. I just found her appearance quite cool!

... This, however, was the minigame that proved this game doesn't work well with a keyboard. Controlling the character AND the camera with keyboard buttons is very tricky, and while I could manage moving Anya around, I had a lot of trouble moving Twilight around while I was on a timer and I had to avoid the guards seeing him.

So yeah. It could have been fun but for a computer user it can be frustrating. I tried twice and failed to complete the minigame, and at that point I was tired; it was more stressful than satisfying that way, so I just quit the game, uninstalled it and had it refunded.

Anyway, as I said, it looks like a fun game, but one that can only be appreciated through a console that already includes controllers with joysticks. Computer users shouldn't have to need external controllers to enjoy a game for the computer, so I definitely don't recommend buying it for the PC, if nothing else, for the moral of it. They could have optimized it to move the camera with the mouse, which is how the grand majority of such games work, but they half-assed it and as such I don't think they deserve anyone's money, especially at the price it's at (50 euros for us to need an external controller? no thanks).

[beckiducki]

.;* TUTORIAL: Black Backgrounds *;.

@infinityvalkariel asked me how I made images like the one above so I thought I'd put together a tutorial post!

Inspiration & Credit

First of all, I wanna give credit to (@)mallowwyyy on TikTok for the idea! I saw their video initially showing off the effect, and they mentioned in the video that they had a tutorial on their account - but I didn't have my phone at hand when I had the game open and wanted to try it, so I ended up reverse engineering the effect.

I went back and found their tutorial video, so you can follow that if you'd like! My version is pretty much the same, but they got a nice, softer effect - click / tap here to see mallowwyyy's tutorial video

My Tutorial

Step 1: Unlock Lighting!

So, the first step is to make sure you upgrade your camera lighting to about level 5 at least, to unlock the hue lighting. Personally my lighting is currently at level 7. Higher levels unlock more lighting options to play around with for this effect!

To upgrade your camera, open the in-game camera - then there should be an option in the top right that looks like a camera with tools inside (idk if the placement might be different on other devices, but it should be somewhere on your screen at least). If you select that, it opens the menu to upgrade your camera for new lighting/poses/filters using the materials you get from the expedition handbook photography stamp challenge.

Step 2: Get Into Position

The beauty of this effect is location really doesn't matter since we're basically erasing the background, but bright lights and effects can sometimes peak through so that's worth bearing in mind. Below I'm just in a random location in the woods and I've set up the pose and camera placement where I want it.

Step 3: Make Everything Pitch Black

Next, using the Adjustment Box, turn the Vignette all the way to the maximum then move the following options all the way to the lowest: Soft Light Intensity, Soft Light Range, Brightness, Exposure, Highlights, and Shadows.

You'll end up with something like the image below - very much an 'it gets worse before it gets better' situation - but, as you can see, the background is black!

Step 4: Add the Magic

Now it's time for the lighting to shine! Go to the Lighting section of the Adjustment Box and add the natural, default lighting for a softer touch or the unlocked hue lighting for a more colourful, saturated effect - and remember, you can adjust the intensity of the lighting! I've found max lighting then doing Step 5 below tends to work best, but you can play around with it.

Step 5: Final Tweaks

From here you just play around with the settings until you get a result you're personally happy with - whatever works best for your outfit and the vibe you wanna go for.

Black & White Effect: Turn Saturation & Natural Saturation all the way to the lowest

Make Colours Pop: Increase the Saturation & Natural Saturation (play around with the different levels of these two settings)

Make Nikki Brighter: Increase the Brightness, and also play around with the Highlights

More Intense Highlights & Shadows: Increase the Contrast

Soft Glow: Turn the Soft Light Intensity to maximum then increase the Soft Light Range until you're happy with it

This isn't an exhaustive list by any means - have fun playing around with the settings to see what interesting effects might come out of it!

Step 6: Playstation -> Phone Shenanigans

This final step is just for people playing on Playstation 5, like me - or for people who want to add an extra something to their images.

To get images off the Playstation and onto your phone so you can share them on social media and such, you have to download them from the game to the console, from the console to the Playstation app, then from the Playstation app to your phone - and somewhere along that process, I've found it tends to screw up the saturation and make the images more washed out. I do think it may just be an issue with the colour settings on my TV, but I don't know for sure.

Exhibit A: Photo of my TV screen taken by my phone camera vs image downloaded from the Playstation app:

Now, you might like how this looks and I often do lol, but when I want to fix the saturation and make it closer to how it actually looks on my TV screen, I play around with the default photo editor on my phone - there's usually a filter that brings it at least very close to how it looked on my TV, usually one or a combination of the following filters depending on the image: Honey, Clay, Metro, or Bazaar - filter options do vary depending on your device, I have a Google Pixel 6a. The filter previews are the main thing to go off of to see which filters will give the desired effect.

Exhibit B: Playstation app image vs edited image

...aaand that's it! I hope you enjoy playing around with this effect <3

(also, I made this post on my phone, so if there are any formatting issues do let me know and I'll see if I can fix it once I'm back from work and can edit this post on my laptop)

[thankskenpenders]

I feel like a recent years have shown that fan reaction has influenced the way Sega handles Sonic in some ways. Frontiers for example in a lot of ways feels like a reaction to complain. So a lot of fans have had about mainline Sonic games.

With that said what do you think about Sega making a multi-character 3D action game Sonic and then slapping it on a platform that has some of the least amount of player reach despite being a mainline platform?

I would be very curious to know more about the development behind Dream Team for sure, but as far as I'm aware the game was more than likely made specifically for Apple Arcade from the very start with heavy involvement from Apple, rather than being a project Sega was shopping around that just so happened to end up as an Apple exclusive.

I have to assume that this game would not exist at all if it wasn't an Apple Arcade project. Hardlight is very much Sega's mobile game division first and foremost, so it's unlikely (if not impossible) that Sega would've had them working on a 3D Sonic platformer for consoles and PC when that's Sonic Team's job. And Apple Arcade's subscription revenue is basically the only home for mobile games that aren't chock full of ads, microtransactions, and wait timers these days. So while it could theoretically get ported elsewhere in the future, it's unlikely that Dream Team ever would've gotten made for any other platform.

Like, there are already two Sonic games on Apple Arcade. Sonic Racing (based off of TSR) was one of the earliest releases for the service and has always been heavily promoted as one of Apple Arcade's flagship games. Later they also did Sonic Dash+, a version of the existing endless runner game with the ads and microtransactions stripped out. I have to assume that these games have done well on Apple Arcade, and Apple simply looked at that and went "Hey, what if we got them to make us an ORIGINAL Sonic game?" Apple Arcade also appeals pretty heavily to parents who want their kids to have something to play on their iPads that isn't cram full of microtransactions, and Sonic remains extremely popular with kids.

But beyond that, why they landed on a full 3D platformer with SIX playable characters, some amount of story, and a new style of level design that takes some influence from skate parks? Who knows. Maybe some folks at Sega Hardlight were just dying to make something like that, and the Apple gig was their opportunity to make it happen after so many years being stuck working on glorified Skinner boxes. Or maybe Apple thought a 3D platformer would be good to diversify their portfolio. Again, I'd be very curious to learn more

(Also, honestly, as annoyed as I am that I have to play Dream Team on my iPad instead of my PC or a console, I do find the talking point that "no one will be able to play it" extremely silly. There are billions of iPhones, iPads, Mac computers, and to a lesser extent Apple TVs out there. Billions. With a B. Apple Arcade reportedly had over 100 million users last year. That's quadruple the number of subscribers Game Pass had, even though if you asked the average gamer they'd probably assume Game Pass was the more popular one! Exclusivity is always frustrating, and I sympathize with folks annoyed that they don't have any devices that can play it, but the fandom deciding that "only six people will be able to play this" is completely divorced from reality.)

[hyouta]

Dream Drop Distance might be my favourite KH game overall (so far at least).

(I mainly made this post separate because I had a question about the next set of games/movies - at the end of the post)

I finished my replay this evening and I'm still heart eyes over this game. Besides my personal bias of it coming out around the time I was going through a medical scare, no one can convince me that it's a bad game (or a bad Kingdom Hearts game).

This is only my second playthrough but I've still NEVER had an issue with the drop mechanic. Maybe it's because I only play on standard, but it never got in the way of any boss fights.

I think the other arguments I see is regarding the time travel plot and honestly it doesn't bother me, especially after experiencing the series properly. I don't know how much was actually planned, what was retconned etcetera but it didn't feel that out of place in the series.

Then there was something about how you can exploit the dream eaters affinity links and brother I just do not care to consider exploits when considering if a game is good or not. Honestly how many people are even going to discover exploits naturally? Other Kingdom Hearts games had exploits too but that's never brought them down.

ANYWAY, some notes I made playing (I literally stopped tweeting and just opened up my notes up for these posts):

The 3DS version of the opening is surperior

I'm a short hair Riku truther (also on that note, a cyan blue eye colour truther, even though I hate that so many characters have blue eyes - I saw people colour Terra's eyes brown and Ven's eyes green and I like that a lot)

I had to get used the the command system d-pad again, but honestly it didn't take that long, I only get stressed when I need cure.

I do miss donald and goofy... it was nice when they helped in re:coded hollow bastion (though it kinda sucks that dream eaters as party members is limited to one game)

I swear I got dual audio in the first flowmotion tutorial because I don't think it was supposed to sound like that

Do people see the χ-blade subtitle in real life because I don't know how they make the distinction

I have ZERO memory of flick rush to the point where I don't think I played it (and didn't play it this time either oops, maybe if I'm trophy hunting later)

I actually understand Sora's connection to Tron now so the Tron world makes a tiny bit more sense... the movie story however... still clueless

I remember when I originally played DDD that Rinzler was more difficult for me than Gigabyte Mantis, but this time it was reversed... if only because I forgot to lock-on and kept triggering flowmotion

"Me at every line of dialogue: how can I make this about akusai" lol I mean, I don't think I realised the parallels until more recently (or I just forgot)

I accidentally played out of order and I realised they... don't actually account for this; DDD can have one flaw, as a treat

Tries not getting my hopes up re: seeing TWEWY (or Neo TWEWY) characters in KH4

Symphony of Sorcery is top 3 worlds for me... maybe even number one, I just wish it wasn't so short...

Translating the reality shifts (and dream eater mini games) from handheld to console is a bit awkward but they made it work I guess

"Pain" ah yes, the husbands reunited lol Not sure if I missed it or if it was talked about elsewhere but I hope they had the decency to make Saïx a nobody again when he was still unconscious... I wanna know about all these blank periods!! (or do I)

Finally I understand how Goofy and Donald got there to save the crew

Honestly playing the games in order has added so much clarity, where I had only a basic understanding. Kingdom Hearts definitely rising the ranks of my favourite video game series'.

I can't even hate the plot and how complex it is because I'm a fan of Tsubasa Chronicles lmao

I'll try and finish art or post wips for my next post so this isn't so boring to go through but I appreciate those who took the time to read my nothing rambles (again, none of my twitter mutuals play KH so it was kind of lonely). Maybe if anyone who got to the end wanna suggest a KH character to doodle? No promises but I'll see!!

And finally my question:

I'm going through a suggested play order and it counts χ (Chi) separate, but I was under the impression it was the original Union Cross? I tried googling it but it's not clear enough if it has story unique for its own viewing or not... (also it means I have 10.8 hours of cutscenes to watch before I get to 0.2, woof)

[thesimquarter]

Any headcanons regarding the roommate NPCs in Bustin Out? Or even the vital NPCs that don't reappear in later games?

Hi! Thank you for the ask! Admittedly, I think about The Sims Bustin' Out less than the later GBA Sims games. But here's what I could think of:

I mentioned on here that I'm pretty sure Vera Vex is supposed to have divorced parents, which is how she's a 'step-cousin' of Bella Goth.

I also tend to view Ava Cadavra from The Sims 2 (GBA/DS) as her ex (... despite Vera specifically saying 'She doesn't date drummers.' Or maybe Ava is the reason why she doesn't... but I assume Ava was in the Germinators after The Sims Bustin' Out).

I view Daschell Swank as at least being in his late fourties-ish, although he looks a bit younger. He's also not fond of kids at all.

Random, but the fact that Daschell DOES buy paintings off of you regardless of their quality is something that I've always found rather interesting. I guess there are more than masterpieces in his art collection.

Also, although the game itself is intentionally cagey about how Uncle Hayseed is related to the player is related to Uncle Hayseed, I like to think that he's actually the brother of Mom Landgrabb. Due to the connectivity of the GBA and the Gamecube, the main character of the Console version of The Sims Bustin' Out and the Handheld version can be seen as being essentially the same character. Therefore, Uncle Hayseed and Mom are kinda canonically related. Having them be siblings is just a way to simplify that and connect more handheld characters to the greater Sims narrative (... even if Mom is probably older than Uncle Hayseed).

[gotstabbedbyapen]

Hyacinthus Iceberg Meme EXPLAIN (P2)

Part 1 ✿ Part 2 ✿ Part 3 ✿ Part 4 ✿ Part 5

It's time for me to answer your questions about this Hyacinthus iceberg meme. There is a lot to tackle, so I'll divide it into 5 parts for the sake of my sanity.

Quick disclaimer: I am NOT an expert in Greek mythology, just a fan of Hyacinthus who wants to learn about him and anyone related to him. Most of the things I'm about to discuss are just theories and speculations of a passerby on the Internet, so do not take them as valid facts!

Apollo x Hyacinthus x Cyparissus

This OT3 has one painting made by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, but it's enough to convince me they are canon.

What's interesting about Hyacinthus and Cyparissus is that they are also pursued by Zephyrus, and the flower/tree they transform into after death represents mourning and sorrow.

"A young Lakonian [Hyakinthos] shook Zephyros; but he died, and the amorous Wind found young Cyparissus a consolation for Amyklaian Hyakinthos." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca

"[Apollo to Cyparissus] And the God, groaning with sorrow, said, 'You shall be mourned sincerely by me, surely as you mourn for others, and forever you shall stand in grief, where others grieve.'" - Ovid, "Metamorphoses"

Apollo x Hyacinthus x Boreas

I used to talk about this OT3 before. It's interesting because, unlike Zephyrus, Boreas seems fine with Hyacinthus dating Apollo and even dated Apollo before.

There aren't any paintings or ancient literature written explicitly about their relationship. It's more of an "if you think about it" thought.

(I won't discuss Apollo & Boreas because we will get off track, but there is a post about them for anyone interested!)

Hyacinthus' death symbolizes the vegetation wilted under the summer heat

Since Hyacinthus is assumed to be a pre-Hellenic nature god, and Apollo is the god of sunlight, we can piece together that Hyacinthus dying by Apollo is the metaphor of the plants dying under the scorching sun. This is why I said in Part 1 that Zephyrus killing Hyacinthus is a later version, and I'll say his present will ruin the myth. Having Zephyrus (the wind) as the "real" culprit will erase the original symbolism of the sun killing the plants.

(Sorry for hating you all this time, Zeph. You are in the clear now.)

Back to the main point.

Georg Friedrich Schömann seems to coin this theory in his book "Griechische Alterthümer" (1855), or he's only popularizing an existing theory. At least, that is the reference I get from the two of the sources I read.

(Hellenica World, "Hyacinthia")

(Michael Pettersson, "Cults of Apollo at Sparta: The Hyakinthia, the Gymnopaidai, and the Karneia")

Pettersson's essay also mentions G. F. Unger, another author who supports the theory.

Or we can take a step further and say this myth is about one god usurping another. As I said, Hyacinthus is a god worshipped in Amyclae long before the arrival of Apollo, so it's not a stretch to say his death at Apollo's hands also metaphorizes his cult getting replaced by Apollo's cult. It's the same as Apollo killing and replacing the Python as the patron of Delphi.

(Damian Pierzak, "The Case of Apollo and Hyacinth in the 'Second Tetralogy' Attributed to Antiphon")

However, there is one thing that I haven't understood.

In the myths, once Apollo killed the Python, he took over the Delphin temple for good. But in the case of Hyacinthus, Apollo is said to mourn Hyacinthus greatly and later revive him from death. He even shared the Hyacinthia festival and Amyclean shrine with Hyacinthus, with his statue built on top of Hyacinthus' tomb)

Is there a historical event that made the people worship both gods together instead of replacing one with another? Or are Apollo and Hyacinthus' joint worship an eventual thing? We'll never know for sure.

Hyacinthus is resurrected + Hyacinthus represents the death and rebirth cycle of nature

Hyacinthus' resurrection is like the hidden ending most people are unaware of, but it's a thing. No, we are not making it up because there are legit records and studies about it.

(Pausanias, "Description of Greece")

(Nonnus, "Dionysiaca")

(Angeliki Petropoulou, "Hyakinthos and Apollo of Amyklai: Identities and Cults A Reconsideration of the Written Evidence")

From here, we can assume that Hyacinthus' death and resurrection is the allegory for the cycle of plant life and death, like how Persephone descending to and ascending from the Underworld is the allegory for season change.

However, I only draw this conclusion from mythology blogs. Few ancient poets and professional scholars seem to talk about this theme of Hyacinthus.

As of now, I've only got these two sources that slightly discuss it:

(Ovid, "Metamorphoses")

Ovid's version is debatable because Hyacinthus still remains dead in his story. We can argue that Hyacinthus still "lives on" in the form of the flower, but it won't align with Hyacinthus' resurrection in the myths.

(Damian Pierzak, "The Case of Apollo and Hyacinth in the 'Second Tetralogy' Attributed to Antiphon")

Again, Mr. Pierzak cites Ovid's retelling when he mentions the "Hyacinthus is connected to nature's rebirth" theory.

I'm still looking for more accounts (both from ancient Greek and scholarly research) where Hyacinthus is fully revived and symbolizes the plants' cycle. If anyone has anything, please let me know! I would love to read more!

The Hyacinthia festival

The Hyacinthia festival is confirmed not only in mythology but also in history.

(Michael Pettersson, "Cults of Apollo at Sparta: The Hyakinthia, the Gymnopaidai, and the Karneia")

(Pausanias, "Description of Greece")

Until now, people are still studying about this ancient festival.

(Angeliki Petropoulou, "Hyakinthos and Apollo of Amyklai: Identities and Cults A Reconsideration of the Written Evidence")

I will talk about the Hyacinthia's rituals, practices, history, etc., but then we'll be here until next summer. So, I recommend everyone check out this post made by a Paganist for a deeper study.

TO BE CONTINUED