#Something about these series are really easy to mesh

[ghost-on-mars1]

soc Gk au

Can't stop thinking about Ogata and Inkarmat with a Kaz an Nina dynamic. They hardly interacted in the original series but as designated fox and cat I kinda wish they had. Kaz and Nina have something akin to a sibling dynamic where they aggressively annoy each other. They could have been annoying let them be annoying.

And I haven't actually watched the SaB show but I have seen clips from season 2 where Nina gets a flash of Kaz'a past when she touches his hand. Now imagine that but Inkarmat and Ogata. Where Inkarmats probably trying to use her ability to heal him (because Ogata doesn't really have anything that makes him panic like that) or just mad at him which is also understandable, and catches a glimpse of a figure just barely in her vision. She flinches but nobody is there when she turns.

The crew doesn't have a member that gets called Wraith like the crows (sorry Koito no scary nickname for you), there is an honorary seventh that one believes might actually be a wraith.

[fleur-a-whump]

Overloaded (#1)

Preventative Measures

so like. this is a thing. been toying with this little guy in my head for a few weeks and like, almost nothing is concrete but I'm hoping I'll turn it into a series.

content: ex-villain whumpee, hero/leader whumper, manipulative whumper, just like a LOT of manipulation, collars/collaring, referenced electrocution, low self esteem, subtle threats, guilt trips

I've never done this before, let me know if I missed something!!

masterlist | next

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Villain has finally been given a chance. A chance to prove he's more than what the whole city has always thought of him, more than what his father raised him to be. He wanted to do good in the world. The heroes were finally giving him a chance to be more than they've always thought of him. 

...or so he thought.

He gulps as he stares at the shock collar in Team Leaders hands. It's a small thing, sleek and unassuming. But he knows exactly what it is because Team Leader had shown him how it worked.  The man is currently speaking to him nonchalantly. Villain should really be listening to the hero that holds the key to a better life. But that collar... shakes Villain's faith in Team Leader. Just a little.

"Villain," the man says shortly. Impatiently. Shit.

Villain jumped to attention, nerves only growing worse. 

"Sorry, sorry! I'm just-just a little confused. I thought... I was a part of the team..." He tries to keep the heartbreak out of his voice. He doesn't quite succeed. 

"If you'd listen..." the Team Leader sighed deeply. Villain was going to throw up. 

Team Leader began again, speaking slowly as if to a child. Or a stupid person. Villain thinks he fell into the latter column. "I was just saying this will help you better mesh with the team. I'm sure you've noticed people are a little nervous with you around."

Hostile. Villain would use the word hostile.

"Given your past, everything you've done," the man drawled. Villain can't hold back a wince. 

"So, to ease their worries, and allow them to see how great I know you can be, this is just a little precautionary measure. A bit of a show."

Ryan swallowed thickly.

"So... It wouldn't be used..."

He tries to keep himself from thinking about electricity burning the sensitive skin of his throat as it shoots down his spine and into his skull to paralyze him. He's familiar enough with the feeling; he doesn't need to imagine it.

Team Leader gives him an easy smile. "As long as there are no issues, of course not."

"...Issues?"

"Oh, stuff that'll never happen. Just breaking any of the rules."

Villain arched his brow, slightly dubious. "Rules.”

"Yeah, like, follow orders, don't fraternize with any of your old contacts, don't leave our level, don't work unsupervised, don't harm the team. Stuff you've been doing this whole time."

"Wait, don't leave the level?

"I mean, that's pretty obvious, bud. If we can't see you, we can't know that you're following the rest of the rules."

He nods mutely, gaze wandering. this whole thing just. He didn't know. It hurt.

Team Leader gently tilted his head up. "Villain, I'm only doing this because I trust you. I know you'd never do anything that could jeopardize your place here."

He doesn't trust that Villain is a hero though, obviously. That he's good. Because Villain could never be good. Not now. Not after all he's done. 

No, he can only hope to do good. And the only way he'll be able to do that is with the team. If this is what it takes to ease his team into working with him, if this is what it takes for him to stay, then he'll do it.

"O-okay."

"Atta boy, Villain! I knew you could do it, man."

Villain nods, trying to give him a smile.

Team Leader moves towards him all too quickly, and he can't help the flinch. The man doesn't seem to notice—or at least he doesn't acknowledge it—and is soon once again gently tilting Villain's chin up from where it had fallen. 

Villain fights the urge to lean into the touch.

While he's distracted, Team Leader swiftly brings the collar, already disengaged and bent open at the hinges, and presses it to Villain's skin. 

Villain jolts at the cold metal and fights to swallow as it's closed around his neck.

The locking mechanism clicks right up against his spine. He can't help the shudder that trickles down his back at the finality of the sound.

"I'm so proud of you, bud," Team Leader says with a big smile and a ruffle of Villain's shaggy curls.

The tightness in his chest eases, just a little. A little part of him flares in anger at how easily he's comforted. He doesn't deserve the comfort.

But he's trying. The collar now fit snuggly around his neck, like it was made for him, is proof of that.

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ps ex-villain whumpee on the hero team but whumped by the hero team is my all-time favorite trope and it is so hard to find I have finally hit the point of needing to produce my own story to scratch the itch

[theresattrpgforthat]

Mint Plays Games: What Pre-Generated Characters Can Do For You.

From July to October of 2024, the Dice Exploder Discord Server ran the Pregens Game Jam, a game jam all about using characters that have been created for a specific table, or that have been created to streamline the process of learning a game.

Incidentally, at the same time, I was setting up the playtest server for Protect the Child, and, primarily inspired by Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast, I decided to run my play-tests using a pre-gen format: I’d run a series of sessions using pre-generated characters, that could be picked up by various players depending on what games fit their schedules. I did this out of necessity - my hours are all over the place, and I can’t consistently run games at the same times on the same days.

As we started play testing, I noted some interesting things happening among my players. The first thing I noticed was that the players latched onto the pre-generated characters fairly easily - and their attachment caught them off guard. More than one person told me that they were surprised that they could care so much about a character they didn’t write themselves.

The second thing that I noticed is that players were really excited to take ownership over a character. Certain character story-lines or backgrounds resonated with them, and as a result some of my play-testers are making a real effort to come back so they can see the next chapter of their character’s story. It’s really gratifying, knowing that there’s something in these pre-gens that has them coming back for more - it feels kind of like having a favourite character in a tv show or book. Since I’m the one who wrote those pre-gens, I won’t deny it does a good thing for the ego!

For folks in the Dice Exploder server, this might not come as a surprise, as I’m sure experiences in games like Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine and Eat the Reich have both been hot topics in the ttrpg podcast sphere recently. These kinds of games are likely one of the reasons why the pre-gen game jam was such a hot event.

However, I think there’s some more potential that could be pulled out of this. I think embracing pre-gens can do a number of really interesting things for your ttrpg experience, both in one-shots, as well as in longer campaigns - and I’m going to digress about that, after I talk about four games that I used as experiments over the past month.

Lady Blackbird

I ran Lady Blackbird for the Open Hearth this past month. It’s a game that is exquisitely designed, because it makes the on-ramp for new players so easy. The characters written for the game are well-defined, with explicit personalities and goals that are designed to mesh well together and give the group reasons to both work together and engage in character friction. It’s also got some really stellar advice on improv, which was invaluable to me back when I was a first-time GM.

So much of the game asks you to turn to the players to build on the world around them. How does Captain Vance feel when Natasha talks about her pirate lover? Is Snargle intimidated or enthralled by Naomi? What kind of jail is the group stuck in, and why does Kale know a way out? From the get-go, the players are encouraged to throw in bits and pieces of the world, and the GM can then pick up on those bits and pieces and turn them back on the players, making the world relevant to the pieces that the players are interested in.

The group who ran it was great: everyone was willing to add to the world, and riff off of what had already been built. The characters sought out connections with each-other, and I found it rather easy to work in the elements that folks had indicated they were interested in - primarily butch lesbians, magical mishaps, and rebel activity.

The players also have a lot of creative control over their characters. You don’t have to stick with any of your characters’ pre-written goals: Natasha can give up on the search for her lover, Naomi can forego her quest for vengeance, and Snargle can choose to stop their witty banter whenever they like. As a reward for a big change in personality, the player immediately gains access to a new goal that tells us what they prioritize, and still rewards them for leaning into it. Every time I run Lady Blackbird, the players’ interpretations of their characters is different, and that’s what makes the game so re-playable for me.

Subway Runners

I also ran Subway Runners on the Open Hearth. Similar to Lady Blackbird, Subway Runners uses pre-generated characters, but these characters are randomly generated: their motivations, skills and equipment can be used to develop a personality, but those personalities aren’t customized with the narrative in mind. Of course, the narrative isn’t really planned ahead of time either - your characters will always go on missions in the subway tunnels and come across strange critters or magical problems, but the details of any given foray are also randomly generated.

This doesn’t really stop the players from making some really strong choices. One player noticed that both his character and another were looking to find the cure for immortality, so they turned it into a rivalry. Another player noticed that his character had been given a spider-silk suit, and made it a key part of their character’s presentation. The randomly generated mission told me that it would involve a bunch of raccoons in a Death cult, so I wove that together with the monster description to make the monster the raccoon’s interpretation of Death.

Overall, the pre-generated nature of Subway Runners is incredibly useful in making it a no-prep, easy-start game. I don’t think I’d recommend it as a first-time game in the same way I’d rec Lady Blackbird, primarily because I think the GM needs to have a strong understanding of Forged-in-the-Dark rules to keep the game running smoothly. However, I think Subway Runners definitely solves the time problem - you don’t spend precious game time creating a character, and a busy GM can still have an adventure put together in five minutes.

Blades in the Dark

I wrote up some pre-gen characters in Blades for my home group, pre-selecting the Smugglers crew, and taking a one-page mission out of Hour of Chains, a series of unofficial Scores written by A Couple of Drakes. The players showed up, chose a character from a pile, and wrote in their name, background, look, and a few pips. Their core stats, connections, and abilities were all chosen for them, and I told them that while they had to start at Brisco’s Noodle Palace, they could decide why.

The players had a lot of fun coming up with shenanigans, but at the end of the session, one player told me that they would have appreciated a fully-created character, complete with backstory. Another player told me that they weren't sure whether or not they were “allowed” to do something with the lore, as Blades has some lore built into the setting, and it’s hard to parse what is immutable and what is up to interpretation. I personally love coming up with the canon on the spot, but for folks who are new to this style of play, it seems that having some of that lore pre-defined might give them some confidence when it comes to determining what their character “would do”.

Compared to Lady Blackbird, I think this observation makes sense. Since Blades uses playbooks, I think the choices when it comes to motivations are made when the player choose a playbook. I had the ability to select the playbooks that I thought made the most sense for the Score I chose, but there were still enough playbooks available that all of the players had multiple options to choose from. Out of all of the sessions I ran with this experiment, I think that Blades was the weakest, and I think the reason for that is because I left so many pieces of the set-up undefined.

Apocalypse World

For Apocalypse World, I wrote up a very specific setting, and designed the characters using the Mad Max series and the Silo series as primary inspirations. The post-apocalyptic settlement was an underground bunker with levels sectioned off for various jobs. I chose a series of playbooks that resonated with the setting I had in mind, and pre-selected gear, followers, stats and abilities. I also wrote up three threats, with loose ties to at least two playbooks each, with the expectation that I could pick up whichever threat made sense for the playbooks my players decided to engage with.

In short, I did exactly the opposite of what the Bakers recommend in the game: I planned nearly the entire thing beforehand.

That being said, I think the session was a really strong one. The players were quite happy to pick up the characters and play into the conceits I’d designed into them, for the most part, although one person did a bit of toggling with their gear to more suit the character they wanted to play. It took a little bit for folks to warm up to the confrontation mechanics, but when they realized how much the game encouraged turning on each-other, we were off to the races.

We ended the game with scenes that pointed to a snapshot of a larger story, which felt fitting despite the fact that I typically see PbtA systems as games that really reward you if you stick with them for a multi-session campaign. However, I went into the session expecting to play a one-shot, and we got a really fruitful experience out of it.

The Takeaway.

While I can still see the merits of creating your own character, and I certainly won’t stop running games using that format, I think that I’ve developed a newfound appreciation for pre-generated characters, whether they are built into the game, or they’re made to make the game easier to learn.

Pre-gens also solve a lot of problems that can be common in new tables: your characters already have a reason for working together, you can learn how to play the game using a template that’s built to work well, you have more time actually spent playing together, and you can engage with a story that your character is designed to be relevant to.

Pre-gens also give the GM a chance to build their own desires and boundaries into the story from base one: in Lily’s Angels, a pre-gen setting for Protect the Child, I was able to bake in the themes about transphobia, religious violence and state violence into both the setting and the characters. The people who sat down at that table sat down because of those themes, not in spite of them. In all of my one-shot games, regardless of how much of the character was written beforehand, the nature of the game meant that the players still had agency over who their characters were and what they did. The background was a jumping off point - it gave everyone a base to work from, and as time went on, they found their own reasons for engaging with the story as it was presented.

Additionally, in all of the games where the characters had strong backstories and well-defined personalities written into them, the players found reasons to really care about what was put there on purpose. A player who picks up Cyrus Vance in Lady Blackbird might pick them up precisely because they’re in love with Natasha, and a player who picks up Sal in Yazeba’s B&B probably wants to engage with the artist’s struggle to find his signature style.

If you go the extra mile, I think you can use this set-up regardless of the game. In Apocalypse World, the work is a little more than normal, but I don’t think it’s terribly much. In Rotted Capes, World of Darkness, or Call of Cthulhu, I think that it’s a substantially bigger ask, but traditional games are also very likely to have pre-gens as part of the book, built for starting adventures - it’s just a question of whether that starting adventure is actually right for the kind of game you want out of that rule-set.

When it comes to my own game, Protect the Child - I made the pre-generated settings primarily to make play-testing easier, but I think I’ve stumbled on a little goldmine by accident. Using setting packs for a new table takes away a significant amount of set-up for the GM, and gives new players concrete characters that communicate the goals of the game without having to struggle through a series of character choices first.

Oh, and I also wrote a setting for the Pre-Gens game jam: Protect the Child: Digital Glitch. It’s a game designed to talk about disability, corporate subscription models, and questions of ownership, and I think it’s pretty rad.

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.236 thoughts

[These Hearts of Ours Are Burning Red! Their Loud Cry Tells Us to Enjoy Life!]

(Topics: reaction - praise, character analysis - Soul/Sun/Luna/Andy, speculation - Luna/Ruin/epilogue)

Man, what a finale! I've read countless Jump manga over the past twenty years or so, most of which were cut down prematurely, but even among the small handful that successfully made it to their intended conclusions, this might just be the best climax I've seen from any of them

Of course it remains to be seen how well the epilogue really ties it all together, but as far as final battles go at least, this may well become, for me, the gold standard for capping off a series' themes and throughlines. Everything comes together here: the romance, the battles, the power system, the character arcs, the message...it all meshes so well that it's actually difficult for me to come up with anything to say!

Andy and Fuuko so blatantly call back to all of the story's ideas and themes that the chapter really does speak for itself, and my analyses all feel like a rote recitation of the events of the chapter. What can I possibly say that will add to this chapter or make it more impactful for folks?

Still, it'd be a shame to just be silent after such an excellent chapter, and I'd hate to break tradition right at the end! Though, I suppose in a way that's exactly what this chapter is about, huh?

We've Got New Rules

This week's chapter opens by reworking Soul's final line from last week, this time opting to translate it as unfamiliarity with Love being a Rule rather than being a meaningless concept to him. This changes the context of his objection from being that Soul himself is a loveless being to Soul (and by extension, Sun) rejecting the notion that humanity is capable of creating their own Rules

I said last week that it was the role of the Gods to create Rules and the role of humanity to interpret them, but the very existence of Love as a Rule challenges that idea. The Gods didn't create it, humanity did, and as it took out a fusion of every extant antagonistic UMA, it's proving superior to all of the Rules that came before

In other words, in no longer simply negating the Rules, but creating them, humanity has reached the Gods, the end goal of Sun and Luna's game. The Negators are about to beat the game not simply by brute-forcing the final boss, but by proving the boss is no longer needed and humanity can look after itself

The lingering question now that Sun is defeated, though, is what's going to happen to Luna?

Where Do We Go From Here?

Luna spent this chapter looking pretty nervous, and while it'll probably become clear in the epilogue exactly why, for now I think there's a lot of ways to read into that

Considering that she's about to watch Sun die, I think it's easy to look at it as the situation finally sinking in: that this eons-long game is finally about to end, and the status quo will be permanently changed. Whatever Luna's opinion on Sun is, whether she liked him or considered him a bitter rival, the two of them have been together for eternity, and that time is now definitely coming to an end. Even if it's what she wanted, Luna may have never thought it would actually get to this point, or at the very least she was never emotionally prepared for it. She may now, only now, finally be realizing that she does, in fact, understand love, she just didn't know she had it until the moment when she's about to lose it, just like Victor back in L100

Alternatively, it may be because of her attachment to her players. She's been the Game Master almost as long as she and Sun have been in this world, so if she's capable of loving Sun, it stands to reason that she feels something for the Union as well. Now that the end is here, she may not want to see them go - the sadistic choice she built into The Heart for her own entertainment backfiring and forcing her to watch the love she built up being lost while the Union throws their own around with a smile

Or, it could just be self-preservation. As she says, all of the UMA, Artifacts and Negator abilities are going to disappear, but if that's true, then what purpose does she even have? Can she even exist in a world without Sun? If Andy is going to "die" without Fuuko, and Luna may love Sun, then doesn't that mean without Sun, Luna is going to die as well?

If she does, what happens to her? The Rules won't exist anymore, so it stands to reason that Subspace, where souls go after death, won't exist anymore either, right? Unless that wasn't an aspect of the Rule of Souls and was itself simply a characteristic of the greater universe, but in that case, does that mean that Sun, Luna and the UMA will actually keep existing?

And what about the UMA that are friendly? Are you telling me that Clothy betrayed and helped defeat God just to be erased? No happy ending for Clothy? And poor Ruin, he's going to lose the only family he has in Blood and Shadow?

No. No, I don't like that. Ruin hasn't even come back from space yet, and you're telling me he's supposed to reform after having everything taken from him? I don't buy it, and in fact, I think that's the very reason Ruin hasn't come back yet: Tozuka doesn't like that plan either

In a Perfect World

A few weeks ago, I mentioned I had an idea for how Ruin would play into the aftermath of defeating Sun, but I neglected to go into detail because I didn't want to divert too hard from what was happening in the moment. Now that we're seeing the possibility for an ending that explicitly leaves out one of our most beloved cast members, though, I think the time has come for me to share what I came up with

Ruin's belief is that the world that God created is inherently perfect, that the status quo is correct and deviation from it is wrong. This is why is birthmark in L100 and scar in L101 never faded after becoming Unruin, because he believed that his suffering was part of God's plan, and therefore was already perfect: unruined

However, because he believed that God's will was perfect, he also never made any attempt to reinterpret Unruin as an ability; why would he? It's perfect the way God made it. It doesn't need to change, and there's nothing anyone can meaningfully do to ruin God's world in the first place anyway, so why bother doing something so superfluous as externalizing Unruin?

With this chapter, we realize that the answer to that question is the same as the answer to every other question: for Love, of course

Ruin loves the world as it is. He loves God and the Rules, he wants a world of order, one that makes sense. In L100, Ruin believed that the Rules created by humans were arbitrary and imbalanced, and there may well be some truth to that: as I said, the Love that humanity has just used to slay God is condemning the UMAs that weren't fighting on God's behalf. Is humanity's Love reserved for humans?

If so, then no matter how limitless it is as a power source, Love is inherently flawed, imperfect...

Ruinous

Ruin cannot possibly abide by such an unfair world that would go out of its way to make everyone happy except for him and the one demographic that he actually cares about, so it would only make sense that his capstone would be to negate the ruin of the world as God made it

Originally, my thinking was that Ruin would externalize Unruin specifically to fix the physical damage that Sun is doing to the Earth, as the very continents are currently being shattered by his attacks, but with the revelation that the UMA are set to simply be deleted, I think it's also likely that, like him, they'll be given a second chance in the final, validated iteration of the world

I don't know how this will manifest in every case, but I imagine that the majority of UMA will actually reincarnate as humans. Monsterous UMA like Spring would still be large and imposing folks, but he'd be able to play games without scaring off everyone who sees his face. The more humanoid UMAs like the Superior Rules would retain the majority of their designs, and would likely end up in parts of society that allow them to continue to live as they please

It's funny to think about UMA getting jobs, but just imagine Change becoming an actress, being able to become a new person every day, never stagnating as any one thing. Maybe she'll even star opposite Sean, with expert makeup artist Gina perfectly transforming both of them as they're seen by all

There's a happy ending in there for everyone if you look hard enough, and I just don't see Tozuka leaving us with the bittersweet aftertaste that would come with sacrificing Clothy of all characters, so I have to assume that Ruin's notable absence is meant to facilitate a workaround to that oversight

If I'm wrong though and Tozuka just...didn't really consider how upsetting that would be, at the very least Tozuka has kept the focus on the most important thing: Andy and Fuuko's relationship

Together Forever

Before dealing the final blow, Andy thanks Fuuko for giving him a way to die: being forgotten by Fuuko. I suggested a few weeks ago that this logic was going to be how Andy saved her, externalizing Undead to protect Fuuko's memories, but instead Andy's accepting that he's going to die with Fuuko

I thought that was kind of an odd thing for him to say at first, since a) in a literal sense he'll still be alive, and b) it definitely doesn't fit the idea of the Greatest Death Ever, but then Andy kept going. He says that if/when he and Fuuko meet again, he'll revive

It may be obvious to say, but this isn't the death that Andy wants, and he has no intention of letting it be what takes him out. It's going to hurt, it's going to be hard, and it'll feel like dying, but after it's all over, their life together can truly begin

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[yuriskies]

Fishing Yuri vs Reproductive Fascism

Issui Ogawa's Twinstar Cyclone Runaway novel series caught my attention the moment I learned about it. A gay marriage allegory in a weird sci-fi setting? Sign me right the fuck up. I've always found explicitly political sci-fi interesting, and well, Ogawa is not exactly a small name in Japanese sci-fi. However, a Japanese hard sci-fi novel is not going to have an easy time finding a good translation to English, much less a fanbase. So I was really excited to see that it was getting a manga adaptation, and from what it has adapted so far (~half of the first of three novels in an ongoing series), it's really living up to my feeling of hype.

There is a general setting summary after the break, and then a section where I talk a bit about the most recent chapter (8), and how it really makes a cogent argument extractive economic systems are reinforced by patriarchal norms.

The plot centers around Terra Intercontinental Endeavor, a woman who has inherited her family's fishing boat. The fishing boat requires two people to operate, a job which is performed by straight couples as a form of marriage contract. The use of married couples is understandable, given that the fishing boat transformable rocket plane that descends from orbit to operate in the skies of a gas giant, an operating environment which requires almost preternatural communication skills between the pilot and the person transforming the ship. The fish that swim around in the gas giant's skies are special: they're made of a kind of clay that can be molded by thought. The catch forms the backbone of the planetary economy; otherwise, the planetary system is so resource-starved that humanity cannot sustain itself without something to offer through galactic trade networks. Terra is highly gifted at producing complex transformations of the ship, but cannot communicate well with the male pilots she is interviewing for marriage. Part of this is because her way of describing things is a little kooky, but the majority is because the patriarchal culture she lives in has produced a lot of condescending, sexist guys who Obviously Know Better.

Fresh off a round of failed marriage interviews, Terra is desperate to find anyone who can pilot the boat. In steps a mysterious girl named Diode, who proves herself to be an exceptionally talented pilot whose skills mesh well with Terra's. So far, the story has alternated between Terra's experiences within the stifling cultural life of her home, and the moments of dizzying freedom and connection that Terra and Diode find when they're out fishing.

(Spoilers from here on out, so stop here if you would prefer to read more on your own. )

As far as the broader world of Twinstar Cyclone Runaway is concerned, the first seven manga chapters have largely focused on how badly Terra fits in with the surrounding culture. She has a reputation around the port, mostly as a person who creates absurdly complicated fishing gear and makes up weird stories. Her aunt and uncle both want to see her happily married so she can fulfill her dream of fishing, but tend to push their preferences onto her. She works as a video distributor in the clan's dilapidated cultural archives, and appears to be one of the few people interested in the world of her clan's space station. In part, this is due to the conservatism of the culture - most people are strictly utilitarian and seem happy to accept the world as it is. There's also sexism. Woo boy is there sexism.

The first few chapters alternate between life on the station, where Terra is exposed to a constant stream of sexism. The chapters dealing with station culture are almost an exercise in masochism, but provided the set dressing for a chapter which does a really decent job at describing the organizing thought processes behind anti-LGBTQ lawmaking. In it, Terra and Diode's activities have drawn the attention of the authorities, who are none too happy that they're fishing together (and effectively presenting themselves as common law wives in the process).

They're both summoned to the clan council, where the clan chief immediately begins lecturing Terra (and belittling her with backhanded complements) before ordering her to surrender her family's fishing boat to someone else. During his lecture, he highlights the 'freedom' enjoyed by their clan compared to the even more stifling culture of the clan Diode hails from. He attributes that freedom to the strong sense of "culture and tradition" of the clan, and the work of those with "superior bloodlines" who support and perpetuate it by passing that sense of identity on to the next generation while countering the clan's slowly shrinking population. Under this logic, allowing Terra to participate in a same-sex marriage is considered tantamount to enabling a cultural collapse.

It is, from just about any perspective, a fascist perspective on gender roles. Women are valued not for their ability to contribute to the culture but for their service as reproductive cogs in the economic machine. Culture and tradition are interpreted as something transmitted through blood, not community. Terra's work in maintaining the cultural archives are viewed as useless make-work, as to the leadership, a woman who does not reproduce is preventing the transmission of culture. The stability and economic productivity of the clan is the organizing principle of society, highlighted by the fact that the roles of clan chief (political leader) and head fisherman (economic leader) are held by the same person. In this framework, the backbone of society is understood to be its captains of industry, those working in economically-prestigious jobs, and their social role is to maintain the economic prestige and exclusivity of the fishing class.

The chapter ends with Diode (having initially been begrudgingly convinced to allow Terra to do the talking) exploding at how the clan chief has been talking down to the both of them. She points out the hollowness of the underlying rhetoric - although it portrays culture as something shaped by struggle and ability to assert one's will, it systematically denies most people from the attempt. While pointing this out, she also mocks the clan chief's skills, clearly relying on the offense to his masculinity to provide the opening for herself and Terra to prove themselves. While the gambit works, the clan chief is clearly setting the terms of a challenge to make them prove themselves exceptional, a task which carries a high likelihood of death.

By the way, the art does a lot of the heavy lifting here. Despite Ahiru Tanaka's slightly cartoony style, he is incredibly skilled at getting the point across through composition. Terra's workplace in the cultural archives is dingy, cramped, and literally disintegrating, and Tanaka's line work reflects this - dense, imprecise, and messy. It really sells the apparent lack of maintenance since the archives were constructed. By contrast, the clan council's chambers is airy, bright, and characterized by cleaner, more precise line work. The difference is night and day, and I think it really helps sell the Endeavor Clan's underlying thinking of exactly where "culture and tradition" are transmitted.

Anyway, I just had to gush a little bit about this chapter, in what is quickly becoming one of the manga releases I most anticipate reading every month.

[gottagetshiver]

Shiver's Fics of 2024

As inspired by Scoops, I'm rating all the fics I've written this year from least favourite to most favourite :) I'm not counting cowritten fics, so Sexmas isn't on the list.

A lot of this year was tied up in writing two novel length fics that have yet to be posted, so it's been predominantly short oneshots out of me but hopefully that's set to change in the next couple months!

In 9th place: A Phantom's Touch. I don't dislike it, not at all, but I was writing it alongside several other fics at the time and basically just got to a point where I was writing it just to finish it. I still like the basic concept and wish I'd have the foresight to give it the time it deserved because I think it could have been really, really fun.

8th place: Peace In My Ear. This was written based on an old prompt from my and Neuro's unholy doc of smutty ideas. Again a fun write, but because I was writing it with a deadline and I am so, so terrible with deadlines, it got rushed and looking back on it now, I would do parts of it differently.

7th place: Faulty Wires. This is the fic that reminded me why I don't like writing phone sex lmao. I went right from writing Peace In My Ear to this, which is just a heck of a lot of e-sex to write in the span of a few weeks. That said, I rated this one higher because I think the idea is both more fun, and my writing feels like it flows a bit better to me.

6th place: Levels Of Detail. I reread this fic as I'm making this list because honestly? I didn't remember it whatsoever. I think it's a fun idea and the first 3/4 are lovely, but I wish I'd developed the ending more. I think I fell into the classic "I just need to get this thing finished" trap I tend to with it and should've taken a break to recharge before writing the ending.

5th place: In Safety There Is Bravery. Now this is a fic I really look back on and enjoy. I had a blast exploring a version of Dream whose size kink leads him to want to be the smaller one between him and his partner. I've not written him that way before and it was fun. This was also a fic in which I explored some insecurity for the first time through writing, and it was an important stepping stone for me as a writer that I'm now using in other works that are yet to be posted.

4th place: Illuminated. Here it is, the sequel to the fic that nearly killed me dead. I never thought I'd touch the Golden Roots, Yellow Velvet universe again, but Sam fit so perfectly into it that I just had to let him have his moment in the cuck chair spotlight. It ended up being some of the most fun I've had writing this year, and I do have plans to continue the breeding bench series!

3rd place: The Games We Play. Something about this fic changed me on an atomic level to write I think. It was just one of those ones that sort of possessed me while I was writing it, you know? Everything about it felt like it fell together naturally in my mind and the words were easy to find. George's brattiness, Dream's desperation, all of it meshed together into something I'm really proud of and that's why it's earned the top spot of my shorter oneshots for the year.

2nd place: September Blossoms. I wrote this fic while I was going through a pretty hard time, and I credit it with helping me to keep looking forward at the time. Flexing my creative muscles to create my own little version of omegaverse courting rituals was a delight, and then putting them into practice was even more so. I don't know exactly what all clicked together for me on this one, but I feel like it's some of the best writing I've done to date.

Winner winner chicken dinner: Honeysuckle Jam. C'mon, how could 1st place go to anything other than HJ? It's a big, big turning point for me as a writer as the first novel length work I've written, and the first big project I've managed to complete. Writing a novel has been my dream since I was a little kid, and for those who don't know, I had given up on it a decade ago when I lost all my functional reading and writing skills due to a health problem. Back then, I would have been fucking thrilled to write something that was 1k and mostly coherent, and now here I am, having completed and posted a 70k fic and with two more on the go that'll be even longer and more complex. HJ healed something within me very dear to my heart and for that, I think it may always hold the number one spot for me.

[lewdcookies]

After reading the Cities of Sigmar 2e battletome I feel that the faction lost something in the switch over to 3rd edition.

The 2e execution stumbles. A lot. There's so much stuff that could've been written less jankily. Or less "We have this model, and by Sigmar are we going to squeeze out every drop of it in the lore".

But, at the same time there's a nice sense of unity present in the book that got lost the moment it turned human centric in their revamp.

The short stories in the book for each city goes to great length to show just how many different people are working together to stave off the darkness together..

I get why it happened, since the entire faction was just a mishmash of old Warhammer Fantasy units in plastic. But at the same time it was also a great way of showing just how many people worked together under Sigmar's banner for a better future.

And then all that got thrown away and it's all about humans fighting, and the elves and dwarves just got relegated to being a sideshow pretty much.

Which is kind of sad in a way.

Like the faction needed a revamp, no doubt about that. The WHFB design's doesn't fully mesh with the Mortal Realms design language. But undercutting the supposed unity between multiple groups fighting for a similar cause is disappointing.

Like I know there's rumors about dwarves finally getting back into the faction, but I never really take much stock in warhammer rumors. Far too easy to just spout off random stuff and go "Just trust me bro". Seen that happen plenty of time already.

Also, it's kind of weird to realize that GW dunked hard on Josh Reynolds. Like he wrote all of the short stories in the book, not to mention the Eight Lamentations series. Then all that got kind of swept under the rug in a sense when CoS got redone for 3rd edition.

[witchofthesouls]

Ayoooooo, Primeval Anon here, to respond to your response (don't worry too much about how long you took to answer, it was worth the wait)!

Omfg, you had me hooked in when you mentioned Bloodborne-influenced lore. I love the hell out of Bloodborne, and just in general From Software's Dark Fantasy settings. And I love that premise. It definitely fits in with the Quintessons clearly aquatically-influenced nature.

I also enjoy the idea of the Primes balancing each other out with their different natures. As well as the idea that the Quintessons kinda... cannibalized him... fucking gnarly lol.

Just imagine, post-occupation, there's these series skirmishes, perhaps even smaller-scale wars, between the og Prime worshipping groups and the the emerging sects of Quintesson-influenced cultists. Something like

Priest from Kaon: For it is said that in his wisdom, Megatronus- Priest from [SETTLEMENT NAME REDACTED]: You mean Mortilus? Priest from Kaon: :| *The settlement of [NAME REDACTED] was procedurally, systematically decimated in their war with the Kaonites*

Now, I don't know about other continuities they've featured in, like Aligned, but in G1 they definitely had some sort of caste system. Only ranking I can immediately think of are the "Judges", which would be the ones people generally think of when it comes to the Quintessons, there were a few other variants if I'm remembering it right. There was a video that I saw that talked about this, I'll have to go and re-watch it.

Anyways yeah, maybe the castes are made up of different sub-species within the Quintessons genus? And then under them come the Sharkticons and Allicons (Those weird croc-like dudes who nab Kup and Hotrod after they end up on Quintessa). Maybe they were at one point Cybertronian Wilders who were abducted by the Quintessons during the occupation and, through a mix of selective breeding and genetic modification, were able to turn them in their own obedient, self-replenishing army, that whenever the Quintessons aren't enacting some campaign of destruction or conquest, just kinda vibe in the oceans of Quintessa alongside the local fauna of the planet.

Y'know... now that I think about it, since the Quintessons would clearly inherit Quintus' unhinged daydreamer work ethic, do you think they'd also fuck with the wildlife of their homeworld, perhaps even the planet itself??? Gods, I hate how the Quintessons are so underdeveloped because they exist in the same universe as the Transformers.

Yeah, I'm really disappointed how the Quintessons as a whole are really underutilized as characters and background lore.

I mean, the shit is right there!

Me, if given the chance to sit down with a new Transformers team to talk about leveraging the connection between Cybertron, Earth, and Quintessa with supernatural elements:

Personally, I'm more of the "Quintessons fucked with their own planet" camp. Don't get me wrong, the Quintessons had established a massive empire to command resources, including bodies, but the Allicons and Sharkticons seem to be directly from Quintessa. Both fit the aquatic theme going on. Plus, sharks are natural predators of cephalopods and attack injured or sick whales (another predator of squids). While alligators don't usually eat cephalopods, they are an apex predator that does go on land and will eat just about anything. Soooo, easy clean up as well as population control on campaign?

I totally believe it's within character for the highest castes of Quintessons to be cyborgs/techno-organic instead of full mechanoid because of certain kinds of resistances and the way they control their fully mechanical populations. And they would totally be in genetic modification, selective breeding, and terraforming as a whole because 1) absolute control, 2) meshes Quintus' own special interests with the Quintessons' military and economic might, and 3) sustainability, what's that!?

The last point is the kicker because it's what really cements their own origins via Quintus Prime. That particular Prime truly believed that life should flourish at all costs. The problem? Environments can only support so much before nature sets up its own checks and balances, or the entire thing ends up collapsing.

Well, Quintus bypassed nature's complex and fragile systems and would have shown his organic creations how to overcome their own limitations: biological, physical, and environmental. He's like the guy that would successfully crossbreed potato and kudzu because the resulting crop would feed millions upon millions... at the astronomical cost of arable land, soil health, decline of biodiversity, and property management due to accumulated damages.

Quintus doesn't worry about that because it's part of the process! He's collecting data for future reference and starts working on fertilizers to support the crossbreeds immense nutritional demands, animal husbandry so herbivores can chomp down on the remains, and construction materials/architectural designs resistant to plant growth damage.

Quintus, you crazy scientist of a dreamer, that's not the fucking point!

So yeah, because Quintus didn't have his siblings to kick his ass about sustainable measures (because everything from medicinal to food to construction had to come some somewhere), Quintessa got overharvested or destroyed. Because of the immense deprivation, Quintessons went colonial on their planetary neighbors. Because they succeeded with their neighbors and never thought to change their way of life because of yummy resources, they went on campaign into distant systems where they cut their teeth against mechanical species and subjugated them.

And because the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie pattern would take way too long to get to my point: the Quintessons literally built their way to conquered Cybertron, fuck that planet and its indigenous people and fauna over in the spectacular fashion they did to Quintessa, got kicked off as their empire almost collapsed, but literally had a direct hand to the civil war between Autobots and Decepticons that lead to the final stand off on Earth.

(Funny enough, the civil war was on a scale so massive that it encompassed galaxies and disrupted the current rendition of the Quintesson Pan Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere. They literally built the greatest threats to their own empires. Who would have thought?!)

Religious tensions after the Quintessons been kicked off would have been an interesting direction to explore. Even life during the occupation as the Thirteen would have been symbols of rebellion versus the Quintessons' rabid methods to obfuscate their own origins as well as tactics to break the cultural roots and ties of new subjugated planets.

Because old names become illegal, new epitaphs or names are given to undermine the regime and eventually become the new cultural practice. Then, there's the cultural blend between the natives and the colonial powers as well as the generations purposely raised in a certain cultural mindset. Since the Quintessons took control of the Well, it's a safe bet that they also took control of the institutional pillars of the society: religion, science, and law.

Primes are still titanic figures on post-occupation Cybertron, so perhaps Quintessons had only limited success in destroying mythic tales and religious traditions. Because the newer generations took on the Quintessons' distaste towards beasts and untouched nature as well as kept Quintessons' way of social hierarchy that they knew.

Quintessons emphasized function as Cybertronians (and other mechanoids) are machines compared to them. All machines have certain functions, no? Some machines are meant for certain roles, no? Machines are only capable as much as programmed, but Quintessons are far more advanced because they overcame their limitations with their own creative endeavors!

Quintessons basically treated Cybertronians as living appliances, gadgets, and animals. To them, a Cybertronian was a more fun and dynamic Siri or Alexa than a real person. Sure, a Quint could bond and form an emotional attachment, but it's still not truly 'alive.' And they codified that into their own laws.

Basically, Quintessons would have been okay with Prima and his Guiding Hand. They would have propped up his specific actions on how civilization should be (cement more tensions between city-states and Wilder tribes and unregulated environmental policies), switch up or change key mythology (Prima and Megatronus being split-spark twins that rule together into Prima being the sole Sun and Megatronus becoming a late brother that became the Great Evil that became jealous of the Sun and destroyed Life.), and straight up destroyed or damaged historic and culturally significant items and practices that deem it otherwise (the Well of Allsparks; removing the golden horns of fully-trained doctors that pay tribute to Liege Maximo's ties to medicine; the removal of various sigils of specific Primes and associated groupings, Onyx's Mask removed from stages as it functioned as Comedy and Tragedy masks).

[spinningbuster98]

Metroid Zero Mission Part 1: Deja vu

Zero Mission is quite the special little game isn’t it?

It was the last Metroid game made by Nintendo R&D1, who had previously made every 2D Metroid game, and it was the last 2D game period until 2017, yikes!

I have quite a long history with this game, as it might just be my second most replayed game in the series after Super (though Dread is steadily catching up)

There’s a LOT to talk about with this game, but I wanted ti start with something simple: the controls!

With Fusion the series did away with Super’s run button, item select, wall jump and made the jump slightly less floaty, all in a way to make Samus feel more responsive and less loose, even if at the cost of all the cool stuff you could pull off in Super

Zero Mission both takes a step further with this approach while also trying to recapture Super’s moveset

Jumping is anything but floaty here: Samus is very heavy now and drops to the ground very quickly. I have mixed feelings on this: on the one hand it makes platforming much more precise than it was in Super, you should never have an awkward time jumping on small platforms like you would in old Tourian in that game. On the other hand however this also feels like an overcorrection to me, because a jump so short feels unsatisfying in some ways, while also being awkward in its own way depending on the circumstance. For example when it comes to wall jumping: it’s great to see this technique back, and it’s certainly put to good use several times...but man does it feel like shit to use! I will never understand why so many people shit on Super’s wall jump while also giving ZM’s a free pass: Super’s has a visual indication to tell you when you should perform it in the form of Samus preparing to kick the wall. The timing of the jump itself, while precise, isn’t really pixel perfect and, due to the floaty physics, you could reach some crazy heights with it. Here, with Samus feeling so heavy, you gain very little height with each wall jump, forcing you to perform several of them in quick succession to get some real height. There’s no visual indication for when to perform the jump, and the timing is borderline pixel perfect due to how briefly Samus will actually keep contact with the wall before falling down, which means that you’ll have to draw your thumb from one end of the D pad to the other super quickly, with a high risk that you’ll accidentaly press either up or down, which will cause Samus to stop somersaulting thus failing the wall jump. It’s taken me 10+ years for me to master this thing and it STILL feels like a total nut cruncher whenever I input the controls!

On the flipside though Infinite Bomb jumping is awesome here! I’ve always hated it in Super due to how long it took for the bombs to blow up, but here they blow up quickly enough for the player to get a consistent and quick rythm, which also makes diagonal bomb jumping surprisingly easy!

One thing I will say is that, if nothing else, the heavier jump mostly gells well with the level design and with Samus’ overall ground speed: Zero Mission’s level design skeleton is still based on the original Metroid’s, meaning it’s 75% composed of mostly straight horizontal hallways that are rather narrow in height and are heavy on the platforming. Samus is the fastest she’s ever been when running, so having a jump that will quickly put you back on your feet to keep on running helps keep the fast pace going, which in turn meshes well with the more horizontal level design. Had this game used Super’s physics, or even Fusion’s, with their floatier jumps, the game would have felt weirdly slow and the act of traversing the world unnatural

[bluerosesburnblue]

@oveliagirlhaditright I'm putting my Missing Link thoughts in another post because it would be too long, and honestly I have SO MANY thoughts about why the basic premise of KHML was a bad idea (completely separate from my own distaste for the "Ephemer is Xehanort's ancestor" stuff that might be in it)

Because you're right to mention Pokemon Go and it really, REALLY feels to me like it's just trying to ride the hype from the mobile ARG boom that started with Pokemon Go a whole eight years ago. Because KHML as a concept doesn't even seem to be utilizing any of the unique features of an ARG that make them appealing

There's two real franchise-based mobile ARGs that I ever remember hearing about: Pokemon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite*. These two projects do make sense to me, as opposed to KHML because of the way that both franchises make use of the central concept of the augmented reality feature. They're additions to reality, which both series already played around with. HP takes place in our reality, but with a "what if magic was real and just hidden" premise, so it's insanely easy to make an ARG that's just "yeah, you're one of the people in on the secret magical society that always existed in the real world." Pokemon takes place in an alternate version of our world; every location in Pokemon is based on a real-world location. So that's also a natural progression for it, and it's easy to pretend that the "reality" you see in the ARG is just the Pokemon world. Other than location names and the presence of Pokemon, the Pokemon world is practically identical to reality

That is literally the central concept of an ARG. To make the game part of reality. And that just doesn't work with KH, a game about flying through space to reach Disney worlds. Sure, some of us might have wanted to pretend to be Keyblade wielders as kids, but did we want to be wielders in our small backyards? Not even imagining that they were another location, but the yards as they were? No! We wanted to be in the Disney worlds! Or Traverse Town! The central facet of ARG gameplay doesn't mesh with the functionality of a story-based canonical title. And so what do they do to force it to work? Complicate the lore with the Astral Planes, which completely take the "reality" out of Augmented Reality aside from... a map? Like, it might have worked with Quadratum depending on how much of "our reality" that ends up being, but that's not at all what they're doing

Additionally, ARGs are not conducive to story-heavy games! You're supposed to play them while walking around town, maybe stopping for a few minutes to take a break. Or you play them on work/school breaks. You need to be able to pick them up, play a bit for 10 minutes, and put them down. The typical gameplay cycle for most ARG players does not include 20 minutes just to watch cutscenes to get the Exclusive Lore before being able to do anything, and the people who like KH for the story aren't going to want to wait all the time for their mobile game energy to recharge before they can get their cutscenes (a thing that even KHUx did away with for story chapters after some time!)

The entire decision to make KHML an ARG, to me, feels like corporate checking off a box of "style of game that got popular in recent memory" and trying to copy it rather than thinking of the gameplay as a medium in and of itself to tell a story. Nothing about the ARG concept works with what KH is at its core, and I honestly feel like they unintentionally admitted that when it was announced that you'd be able to play it without leaving home. What is the point of making it an ARG at all if you're going to remove literally the only benefit that it has as a medium, as opposed to something that could benefit the story you're trying to tell? We are a long way from the days of TWEWY making revolutionary use of the DS technology to have its gameplay tell a significant part of its story

In an ideal world, I think that KHML should have been an MMO like we thought KHx was going to be back when it was announced. They wouldn't have to mess with the lore to make it work, other players running around would help to "populate" Scala ad Caelum in a natural way, people could form "families" with their friends to further the bloodlines narrative, and MMOs can function on the drip-fed narrative style that they wanted. It doesn't even have to be a big-budget MMO like FF14, because I actually do like KH3's artstyle and KHML's simpler usage of it (it manages to be distinctive and colorful, working in hallmarks of Nomura's hand-drawn style while still being more detailed than the PS2-era). It could just be... basically what it is now, but they add in new Disney worlds every couple of months to keep the story going

And now here we are, with a game that was supposed to be out by the end of 2023 still missing (lol) and only having had two betas by the near-midpoint of 2024 because they're having developmental issues that I would personally guess have to do with the game's self-defeating nature. I find it very frustrating

*Adding in, Wizards Unite literally ran for less than three years (June 2019 - Jan 2022) before shutting down so even being tied to a big-name franchise couldn't save it. I have a strong hunch that the Covid-19 lockdowns played a huge part in killing the ARG boom so it's doubly insane to me why Square Enix thought trying to bring it back was a good idea

[leafs-lover]

Too Far Gone - Part Fifty Four

Warnings: I didn't really proofread this so there's that, swearing, smut - oral (m & f recieving), p in v, I think that's it?

Series Masterlist

Word Count: 4,500

For the first time in a long time, Auston’s hockey game was completely uneventful. Aryne found Tia almost instantly. She was bouncing Jace in one arm and had a glass of wine in the other, she was quick to give her a hug and “officially welcome her to the family” but she made sure to point out she was a part of the Leafs family long before then.

Aryne then told Tia Auston paid her WAG fee, something Tia knew nothing about, but apparently it was used to cover events like baby or bridal showers, birthdays, and the WAG jacket, something else Tia was unaware of. Aryne explained what they were, and given Tia was a designer said she would love to get some input from her. Audrey overheard the conversation and being a stylist, she too wanted to be included in the process, and Steph being Steph had to be included. The four of them made plans to get lunch during the Leafs upcoming road trip to start planning.

Like every game before, Tia and Taylour ventured down to the glass during warmups and the second Auston saw her he knew he was going to have to talk to her. There is no way he can concentrate on hockey for the next three hours while she looks like that. Her pants were so tight they had to of been painted on. If at all possible, her bodysuit is tighter but it’s mesh, pure black mesh, and it leaves the lacey bralette she had on underneath fully on display. She had pulled her hair back into a high pony, and had put bright red lip gloss on, his favourite. He tapped on the glass and waved to Taylour, then took a deep gulp. He hated how good she looked, but even more when she winked at him, he hated that she knew how good she looked.

All game Taylour was grinning from ear to ear and could barely sit in his seat for more than ten seconds. He had a slice of pizza, chicken nuggets, popcorn, two chocolate milks, she didn’t know how he managed to eat so much. He was dancing and cheering and when Carlton the bear came by, he gave him a high-five, then got Tia to take a picture of them, all while wearing his new jersey with Matthews stitched in the back.

Maybe it was because every part of the evening was easy or maybe it was because it was the first time she wasn’t going just for Taylour but also herself, but Tia genuinely had a good time.

When Auston walked out of the dressing room with his tie shoved into a pocket and the top few buttons of his dress shirt left purposely undone, he expected to find Tia tucked off to the side with a sleeping toddler on her shoulder. Instead, he hears his sons small but joyful voice followed by the sound of little feet pattering in his direction. Auston crouches down and catches Taylour mid jump and brings him in for a warm embrace.

“You were so good Daddy!” Taylour cheers in his ear.

“Thanks Tay.” He places a kiss on his cheek and stands upright.

“Yeah daddy! You had so many shots and…and you got a goal!”

“Mhm,” Auston grins. “I did. I’m surprised you’re not sleeping.”

“I’m not tired,” he protests, even though his eyes are red and heavy.

With a soft laugh, Auston kisses his temple and scans the crowded hall until he finds Tia, a few feet away, and somehow, she looks better than before. When she spots him, her heart flutters and butterflies swarm her stomach. This anxious energy is new for her, but the smile and twinkle in his sandy brown eyes instantly put her at ease. He always had that effect on her. Walking over to him, Auston shifts Taylour to one of his hips and opens his arm to let her in.

“Hey T,” he smiles, holding her tight to his chest.

“Good game Aus.”

Auston already got her post-game text, but nothing beats hearing her say it in person. “Thanks babe.”

Tia leans into Auston and they kiss, except it wasn’t a quick, good game, lets go home and put our kid to bed kind of kiss. He wraps his arms around her waist and smiles when a sound escapes her lips. It took every ounce of strength to not back her up against a wall and slot a knee between her thighs. People were around and Taylour was rambling about something that happened during the game, but God he wanted to back her up against the wall and slot his knee between her thighs.

As his tongue worked with hers all he could think of was what he was going to do once they got home, how he couldn’t wait until he got her home, that it sucked they were going to her place because she lived farther away, but he couldn’t stop kissing her. He didn’t know if he ever could.

“Sorry Matts, I got to talk to your girl.” A hand finds his shoulder and begins to force them apart.

“Wha-“

“Mitch!” Taylour holds a fist out for him.

“Hey Taylour!” Mitch ignores the daggers coming from Auston and gives Taylour a fist bump. “You have fun tonight?”

“Mhm.” He is quick to nod. “Can I come visit Zeus?”

All three of them laugh, but Tia see’s a light ignite behind Auston’s eye. She’ll have to remember to ask him about it later.

“Obviously!” Mitch shares Taylour’s enthusiasm. “You can see him any day!”

“Daddy, I go see Zeus now.”

“It’s almost your bedtime, but how about tomorrow?” Auston asks not only Taylour, but Mitch, who smiles and nods. - they do have an off day before the LA road trip.

“Okay, I’m going to visit him tomorrow, Mitch!”

“Sounds good.” The two of them fist bump again. “I gotta talk to your mom real quick.” He then turns his attention to Tia and throws an arm over her shoulder trying to tug her free from Auston’s embrace. “So, T…I can I call you T, right?”

Tia doesn’t even have to look to Auston to tell his nostrils are flaring and face is contorting with disgust. She also doesn’t need to speak because Auston is quick to step in. “No. Only I get to call her T,” he growls out and pulls her back into him.

He has no idea what his friend is doing, ever since he found out they were dating, Mitch instantly said he had to talk to Tia, but never gave any hint as to what it’s about. It has only been about six hours, but Mitch brought it up countless times, always with a devious grin to accompany it. Mitch knew he was getting under Auston’s skin by the pulsing vein or hairs pricking along his neck, and that only added to his enjoyment over the situation.

“Private conversation.” Mitch hisses. Keeping a heavy glare directed at Auston, he tugs on Tia’s shoulder trying to draw her away from Auston. This time Tia takes a step away from Auston, which causes a cocky grin to form on Mitch’s face. “He is so nosy,” Mitch says as the two of them take a step, earning a dramatic eye roll from Auston. “But I got to talk to you.”

 “So, T –“ he tries again.

“No.” She quickly brings up her hand and shuts him down. “Only he gets to call me that.” Mitch’s entire face crinkles. Auston raises his eyebrow in an ‘I told you so’ kind of way as the smug expression returns to his face.

“Fine, Tia,” Mitch huffs in displeasure. “I’m sure you know this, but you’re wildly out his league and I don’t want him to get hurt, so just, take it easy on him kay?”

Mitch smiles directly at Auston in almost patronizing way, and Auston responds by just shaking his head. He can’t believe he spent the entire day worrying and this is what Mitch wanted to talk about.

Tia chuckles softly. Peeling her gaze from Auston she turns to Mitch, and her pony swings over her shoulder. She drops her voice to just above a whisper, but she ensures its loud enough for Auston to hear. “What if he doesn’t want me to take it easy? What if he likes it rough?”

If it were anyone else Tia would have had a different response, but something about Mitch’s child-like energy makes this more enjoyable. Mitch’s Adams apple bobs as he takes a deep gulp. His cheeks burn hot with embarrassment and his cobalt blue eyes pop out of his skull before he drops them to the ground, unable to make eye contact with Tia, his friend or anyone in this moment.

“I uh…I,” he stutters out and shifts uncomfortably on his heels. “I’m gonna go.”

“Have a good night, Mitch,” Tia calls out as he scurries over to Steph.

“Are you done torturing my friends?” Auston just shakes his head as he welcomes his girlfriend back into his arms. “Probably scarred him for life.”

“He’ll be fine.”

**

Not surprising to anyone, Taylour was asleep in the first five minutes of the drive. The radio played quietly and Auston held Tia’s hand over the console. The two of them talked over the hum of the heater, Auston periodically squeezing her hand as he maneuvered the dark Toronto streets. He parked in the garage, gave Tia a kiss, then unbuckled Taylour from his car seat. Once up in her condo, he stripped Taylour of his jersey and jeans, then put a pair of pajamas on, and gave him a kiss goodnight.

The lamp on the Tia’s bedside table casts a warm shadow on the wall as she sits with her knees bent, backs of her thighs on her heels and legs purposely spread wide open. As if the mesh top didn’t make his dick throb, the navy blue set she replaced it with certainly does. The colour compliments her skin tone perfectly and the bra pushes her breasts up, making them appear bigger and rounder than normal. The small lace underwear hugs her curves, revealing more than it covers.

Auston drops his duffle and garment bag at the door, and it lands with a loud thud. Tia crawls toward him on the bed then reaches out for his wrist, dragging him closer  – not that he needed much guidance.

“Good game baby.” She kisses his necks and lets her hand travel over his chest and under his jacket, pressing it off his broad shoulders to the floor.

“Thanks T.” Auston reactively tilts his head and allows her more space as his hands quickly land on her hips, toying with the lace hem.

Tia’s hands slide around his body, and she works at the tiny buttons of his dress shirt, slowly revealing more and more of his chest. He lets her take the lead, moaning and groaning as her lips find the newly exposed skin. Tia makes quick work of his belt buckle, and Auston curses when her palm nudges his growing erection.

Once all his clothes are in a pile on the floor, Tia guides him to the mattress then adjusts herself between his legs. He watches her lick her lips and listens to her uneasy breath when she sees the excitement that is waiting for her. One of her hands finds his thigh and she gently rakes her nails up and down and the other wraps around his length, giving him a few tugs until his cock has fully hardened in her grip.

Auston gasps when Tia licks the angry vein on the underside. He shivers when she swirls her tongue around his throbbing tip to clean up precum. She begins to bob on his length, taking more and more with each stroke but still using her hand to cover the remainder. He fists at the duvet from the pleasure of her tongue, then hisses as she massages his balls. Her hand and mouth work in tandem, stroking him closer to completion.  Following a deep groan, one that Auston feels vibrate around his cock, the two of them make eye contact.

Her nails dig into the skin of his exposed thighs as she sucks his cock. Warm tears coat her pupils as she smirks over his length, she always knew what he liked. Her pace remains steady and deep, and it doesn’t take long before he twitches against her tongue, and she knows he is close. Mere seconds from his release.

Tia moans as his salty release fills her mouth. She remembers a time when she didn’t think she’d like it, but she loves the taste of him, missed the taste of him, and if she is being honest a wave of disappointment came when the final drop hit her tongue.

Auston pulls Tia on top, her knees landing on either side of his waist. His hand is in her hair, and tongue is down her throat, and she grinds down on his hips, the thin cloth all that separates them.

Auston reaches around to release the clasp and her breasts spring free, then works to massage it, his thumb rolling and tweaking her nipple. A deep moan catches in her throat which makes Auston grin, and he can feel wet against his abs.

“Come’ere,” Auston mumbles through a kiss.

“I am here,” Tia whispers, a breathy moan catching in her throat as he works at her breast.

“Up here,” Auston kisses her again, harder this time. “Take a seat.

“Oh my god.” Tia pulls away and lets out a laugh.

“Do you not want to?” Auston asks, a playful smirk tugging on his lips.

“No, I do,” she laughs again. “I just can’t believe you said that.”

“Then get up here.”

The heat on her cheeks doesn’t subside, but she shimmies out of her underwear and climbs up into position. She can feel his exhale to the inside of her thighs, and she shudders while slowly lowering herself down. And its too slow for Auston’s liking, he roughly grabs at her hips until her heat is pressing on his lips.

He gets to work.

Her entire body jolts when he licks a stripe up her slit, tongue flat against her. He nuzzles his nose against her freshly waxed skin and Tia’s body falls forward, one hard tangling into his curls, the other finding the wall for additional stability. He flicks his tongue over and over her clit before eventually splitting her folds and shoving himself deep inside.

His breath is warm as he flicks his tongue in and out. The scruff on his jaw burns against her thighs while she claws at his dark curls. He can’t pull away long enough for anything more than a grunt to come fumbling out. He suckles at her clit just how she likes it, how he knows she likes it, and she’s crying out in no time.

As much as Auston loves her soft moans, shaky breaths, and the way she cries his name in pleasure, his favourite part was always when that stopped because it meant she was close. She presses her heat down onto Auston’s face and he let out a soft chuckle but doesn’t let up. He kept flicking and sucking on her clit, sliding his tongue between her folds, doing all the things he knows she loves until he felt her walls start to quiver.

He keeps at it, sucking at her clit to draw her orgasm out. When her walls are no longer fluttering, he leaves open mouthed kisses along her inner thigh. Once she has settled enough, he grabs at her hips and flips her onto her back, chuckling at the squeal she releases.

“My favourite thing is when you eat me out.”

“It’s one of my favourites too.” As Auston climbs over her, Tia sees how hard he is just from eating her out.

“One of?”

“I also love fucking you.” He grabs the box of condoms from the bedside drawer and dumps one single foil wrapper on the bed.

“I love that too.”

“Going to have to start buying these at Costco,” he jokes. Lowering himself for a sloppy kiss, his tongue is still drenched in her flavour. “I plan on fucking you a lot.”

Tia giggles in response, watching as he brings the foil to his lips, He bites down and starts to tear into the wrapper with is teeth. “You know I’m on birth control, right?”

“I’m getting DeJa’Vu.” They both laugh. “But seriously, I feel like it was four years ago to the day you last told me that, and we both know how that worked out.”

“I know,” Tia laughs again and gently tucks some of his sweaty curls behind his ear. “It’s a different method, a better one.”

Placing a soft kiss to her lips, he lets his forehead fall to hers. “I don’t want you to get pregnant.”

Auston pulls his wallet out and shoves a $50 into her chest. “Get yourself the morning after pill,” Auston hisses through gritted teeth, “I don’t want more kids with you.”

Tia is transported back to that Vegas hotel room and shudders at the thought. She can feel his hatred, hear the vitriol in his words. She hates how real it is, how she is trapped in one of the foulest moments they shared, the worst part is somehow her heart hurts more than that June morning.

“T?” Auston probes. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” She shakes her head, and adjusts under him, spreading her legs in preparation.

Her face tightened and body froze. Her lower lip quivered ever so slightly, and she tried to shake it off, but Auston saw it all. “What just happened? You went somewhere?”

Tia shakes her head as if she is about to deny it, but she knows she can’t. Apart from him being able to read her like a book, she wants this to work, and the only way for that to happen is for her to be honest. It’s not like having no more kids would be a deal breaker for her, but does he still feel that way? That having kids with her is the worst thing imaginable?

“Do you want more kids?”

“Obv-“

“I need you to be honest, even if it will hurt.”

“Where is this coming from. I’ve always wanted kids with you.”

“That’s not what you said in Vegas.”

Auston drops his head to look away while regret creeps in. Long ago Auston blocked that morning out, he couldn’t bear to think about it because the pain was too much. Even now it paralyzes him.

“I was mad.”

“I know that. But you said -”

“Tia, we both said things we didn’t mean.” Auston rolls off her, not because he wants space, this conversation deserves more than sex looming over them, and it’s difficult to do that with his rock-hard dick pressing into her thigh. “If I could go back, I’d do so many things differently.” Tia nods, wishing for the same thing. “But we can only go forward. I thought you knew I didn’t mean what I said.”

Tia blinks and thinks over what he is saying, wanting to get her own words right before she speaks. A part of her always knew there was no truth in what he said that morning because there was zero truth to what she said. Unfortunately, he said it more than once, and that adds more to her hesitation.

“At Christmas you said you didn’t want more, that felt genuine.” Her voice keeps sounding more and more hurt.

Tia watches a crease form on his forehead and prepares herself for the inevitable. He clears his throat, trying to muster up some courage. Then, like ripping off a band-aid he starts.” “After Zurich, it took me a bit to even think of what my life would be beyond hockey. I was so angry and upset I told myself I wouldn’t let myself go there with anyone. After some time, I started to consider that maybe one day I’d the woman I’d have kids with, but she always remained nameless and faceless, I told myself that it would take some time. Then you came back, and I got to see you be the mother I always knew you would be and, I don’t know, I just knew nobody else would ever compare.” Auston doesn’t know when, but at some point, when he was talking Tia started to cry. Slow tears are rolling down her cheeks and every time she opened her mouth to speak it would shut, no words seemed to be enough.

She slides closer, into his embrace while he gently tucks a few hairs behind her ears then pecks the tip of her nose and can taste the saltiness of her tears. He holds her for a minute, waiting for those tears to dry. Tia cracks a half smile while struggling to find the words. Not actually. Three words quickly land on her tongue, but she bites down hard on her lower lip, hard enough to draw blood. She can’t say them this fast, can she? But it’s not fast, she’s known him years, they have a child together, have said it countless times before, most importantly both have been flooded with the feeling more than once recently. It’s not too soon, and yet she can’t say it.

He smiles at her. “I knew very quickly into meeting you; I wanted kids with, that still holds true.”

She returns the smile, visibly relieved. “How’d I get so lucky?”

“Our rental house didn’t come with a coffee maker,” Auston jokes, bringing a gentle smile to her face. He moves to cup her face and grins back at her. “I know you love Taylour, but your life would have been so much easier if you didn’t get pregnant when you did, when we have the next one, I want it to be on your timetable.”

“You’re pretty incredible, you know that?” She sighs against his lips.

“So are you T.” Auston whispers against hers before giving her a soft kiss.

It’s slow and lazy with her sweet sighs filling the air. Unlike the heat and fury from before, they take their time, slowly working their tongue into the others mouth, swallowing every single moan they could.

Tia shifts to be more on her back and Auston positions himself on top, arms on either side of her face. Tia softly rolls her hips and can feel his cock start to reharden, a deep guttural groan coming through. One of her hands slides around and wraps around his cock, giving it a few gentle tugs to encourage him to grow.

Tia brings her leg over his hip to draw him closer. Auston brings his hand down and runs it along the outside of her thigh, softly caressing her skin. Now fully hard, his tip nudges her folds, still soaked from before.

“So, uh,” Auston’s head drops against hers. “Tell me about this birth control.”

Tia feels heat on her cheeks. “It’s a tiny device, the most effective method there is, nothing can affect it.”

“Nothing?” His cock twitches in her hand.

“Absolutely nothing.”

It’s not that he doesn’t want to, fuck, he wants too]so bad. It might have been years ago, and he may have been drunk, but that feeling of nothing separating them is something he never forgot no matter how much he wanted to. Now he has the opportunity to do it again, feel her again, but the only way he is doing it again is if she is absolutely positive.

“You’re sure?”

“100%,” she breathes out. “But babe, if you’re not then we don’t have to.”

That’s all Auston needed to hear, if Tia is certain than so is he. His hand replaces hers and she guides his length between her folds. The two of them sigh in unison. It feels so good, they always did feel good together, but this brought them back to Helsinki. The very first time they shared their love and themselves with one another.

He keeps her leg hooked over his hip and pulls out slowly, but he’s even slower sliding back inside. His eyes don’t leave her; he gets satisfaction in watching the way her face contorts and shifts as he fills her up. He pulls her hands above her head and pins them to the mattress. Staring down into her milk chocolate eyes. It takes all his willpower not to spill everything inside her tight cunt in that moment.

“I want more babies with you, we can have as many as you want.” Tia smiles at that. Her breath hitches in her throat as Auston continues to move inside her “One more, six more, doesn’t matter to me.”

Tia giggles. “I don’t want six more.”

“Okay,” Auston says, continuing to move inside her. “So less that seven kids.”

“Two.” Tia moans. “Maybe three more.”

“Can’t wait to see you all big and round with a baby.”

“Our baby,” she growls out.

“Can’t wait to hear their heartbeat, feel ‘em kick. We’ll have a little girl and she’ll look just like you, be full of sass and fire, constantly telling me my shirt doesn’t look good, or it doesn’t match my shoes.”

Tia lets out a laugh but a lump catches in her throat at the thought of their children. All she every wanted was this, for them to have a big house full of children and laughter, but up until now it felt like it was out of reach. Not anymore.

They continue to move in unison, but instead of talking they kiss and kiss and kiss until both of them are out of breath, then they kissed some more. Auston kept his pace and Tia gently scratched her nails down his back and across his broad shoulders. Auston knew Tia was close and Tia knew Auston was close.

It didn’t take much longer. A few shallow thrusts and her walls were tightening around his cock, and he was shooting everything deep inside. A loud grunt fell from his lips, he never forgot how good it felt to let himself loose inside her, but it certainly was better than he remembered.

Her leg drops and he collapses on top, the two of them a sweaty mess of limbs. A mixture of warm fluids slowly spill out around his cock, but he keeps himself buried a little bit longer, reveling in the way she feels. Not the physical feeling of his slowly softening cock in her heat, but the feeling of them together, the start of their forever.

Taglist: If you are in this list you have expressed interest in the series (either through likes/reblogs or by asking). If it’s crossed out your tag didn’t work. If you would like to be removed or added to the list send me an ask:

@youtxbemusic @nicoleloveshockey @emsully2002 @hockeypuckspottspot @ashleymarine @albal321 @b34ut1fulb4st4rds @biznastysloneshift12 @burkylover @c-tangerine @canadian-girl87 @crazzyfann @dana-hqy @delighttfulll @evawest5 @every-beautifulthing-thereis @greendragonzz @heatherawoowoo @hockeybabe87 @hockeyinaussie @hockeyisit @hockeypuckedmeup @je-ne-regrette-rien @jakekisska @partypoison00 @princesscameston @puccbunni @queenmarvel21 @sixmapleleafs @starswin @trashforbarzal @0kikina0 @1-fuzzy-squirrels @janeydeaux @stuff4me2do @callsign-denmark @monnbc @simpgirl-lat @huneyjojo221 @idfan21 @elly-dx @samanthasgone @holyalfalfasprout @lwstuff

[riding-with-the-wild-hunt]

your tolkien edits are always so lovely, do you have graphics editors that inspire you?

hey anon.. would you perhaps want to join me in a small and tumbledown cliff-side castle by the shining sea within whose shelter we can spend the rest of our days. circle yes or no

anyways!! tumblr is the school of athens and i am but a humble student sitting at the feet of greater talents, so here are a few of my biggest editing inspirations for your happy perusal:

@himemiyaaah / @tarninausta - probably my original editing inspiration back when i took my first waddling steps into making graphics myself! rosie just has such an amazing command of color, style, balance, etc.. her edits are so beautiful and harmonious, and i love her expressive use of text.

@miriel-therindes - also someone i discovered early on! i swear there isn't a form lyndeth hasn't tried her hand at and succeeded with in high style. her incredible sense and editing of colors and creative typography are just !!!

@arwenindomiel /@edwinas - the enormously talented mastermind behind tolkien south asian week! her edits are striking and have a real cinematic feel with bold, gorgeously cohesive color palettes (her dramatic shadows are spectacular) as well as innovative use of text and other graphic elements that just tie it all together each time.

@emyn-arnens - save me atlas of arda series atlas of arda series save me !! whenever i need inspiration on how to make dynamic edits that don't include people, i go to this master of her craft. her colors mesh so well together, her formatting is creative and refreshing, and her photo choices are on point. whence does her power flow.

@aredhels - so elegant and sleek! sari is so good at using all the parts of her edits to evoke the desired mood--for lack of a better word, everything she makes is just so aesthetic. i love her understated, low-text style and how she can make incredibly compelling edits just with her impeccable image choices and color editing. and besides all that she singlehandedly gave me the confidence to experiment with the eight-image picspam format yayay

@tilions - legendary user of non-text elements! i honestly have no idea how emily comes out with some of the image layering that they do. her edits feel professional-grade (hoping tentatively that this is a comparison that makes sense but who knows). she makes such bold color choices! it's easy to be scared off by bright palettes but apparently emily is immune to aesthetic fear. she also concocts these amazing silhouette edits that are like those 70s nasa posters and it's. so cool.

@russingon - i want to imbibe mayim's delicious color palettes into myself for real. something about them is so distinctive and pleasing! how much punch he can pack into a two-image edit never ceases to astound. i'm especially fond of their family/house edits (i love seeing their great faceclaim choices all together)!

@brighter-arda - toi is so endlessly committed to making the tolkien fandom a more diverse, inclusive, and accepting space, and i really admire all the work she puts in to uplift other creators. her own edits have really interesting and creative themes and formatting, and it's wonderful how she always incorporates meaningful elements of the character's culture.

@someoneinthestars - their use of darker colors is so evocative, and i love their latine tolkien series! they often align text to elements within the image, which takes such precision (i've only done it once, i think!), but when they do it it always comes out gorgeously.. awuagh.

@outofangband - the attention and research nelyo puts into their environmental edits could power three mid-size cities and i have nothing but respect for them and their dedication. honestly i think they know more about the ecology of middle earth than tolkien himself did when he made it (and he also never made edits about it, so another point to nelyo)!

anyways, this is only a cross-section of the plethora of amazing and talented people i get to share this community with, but i hope it was what you were looking for anon! many many thanks for giving me the ever-welcomed opportunity to kvell a little over some of my favorite creators, and as always, many many thanks to those creators themselves for sharing their spectacular works ♡♡♡

[natlacentral]

Ian Ousley

Ian Ousley recalls sitting on his parents’ bed, switching on the television, and completely transporting to a different, magical land: the land of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Like many other early 20-something-year-olds, he grew up with the show. “Avatar was one of the things that pushed me into wanting to do martial arts,” he reflects, “My parents were so sick of me pretending that I could bend stuff [laughs].” 

Some years later, Ousley received the news that he would be a part of the live-action rendition of the now highly-rated Netflix series — a very full-circle moment for the young actor that he describes as emotional. But this time around, viewers are given a glimpse of the Avatar universe through a new light. Departing from the original animated form, the actors in this new iteration all faced the challenge of translating these quirky characters to real life.

“Luckily enough for me, I had tons to pull from based on the animated version. Asking and answering those questions for Sokka was really important to me. Like, what was my relationship with my dad before he left? What was my relationship with my mom like? I dove into some things that the animation doesn't explore all the way,” he expands, “Music and costumes were great access points for me as well. Putting on that costume while I'm listening to music was really helpful. I would journal a lot as Sokka every morning too.” 

As a kid, Ousley reflects that he would actually mimic the actions of Prince Zuko, the anti-hero of the fictional series. He laughs when thinking of the irony of pretending to be Zuko but ending up playing Sokka, one of the less intimidating and more misunderstood characters on the show. “He wants to be a warrior so bad. And he wants to be valued so badly. He wants to have something to offer, but sometimes he doesn't always feel like he has the physical capabilities for that,” he continues, “So there's a really beautiful story there, I think with him finding ways to be helpful to his friends and the mission of saving the world — without having to be the muscle, even though he so badly wants to be.” 

In many ways, Ousley found it easy to shapeshift into Sokka for this project. “His sarcasm really brings things together. He's so complex and so funny. I joke a lot too, especially to deflect things. So I feel very tied with Sokka in that way,” he shares. But there were surely some challenges to channeling this character, like maintaining his air of comedic relief, as the threshold for comedy in animated television is much higher. Characters can launch off of cliffs or battle with larger-than-life villainous creatures, with little to no consequences. “Everything's weightier in our show because it's real. You're looking at a real little 12-year-old dealing with saving the world. You're looking at a real Katara and a real Sokka. But I was very passionate about keeping the comedy on set.”

While on set, Ousley and his castmates fostered a family bond not unlike the bond of all of the young characters in the series. “We feel so lucky to mesh with each other as a family unit. I think it came really easy 'cause we spent so much time together, on set, but also off,” he expresses, “Gordon is just like Aang in real life. He's just an energy ball and you feel like he's gonna save the world in real life too. Kiawentiio is just such a force in her own way. And then you have all the guest stars too, which I could go on and on about, but I just feel really blessed. I also shadowed a lot of the directors while I was on set because that's something that I am passionate about wanting to get into.” Ousley even lived with his castmate, Dallas Liu, for the duration of filming, sharing that the two fostered a close-knit brotherly bond.

When Ousley isn’t on set, he taps into another form of self-expression through fashion and design. During the SAG-AFTRA strike this past year, he joined forces with two of his friends, Ryan Sullivan and Hunter Baker, to help with the design and creative direction strategy for their vintage-inspired brand Kalo Soil. But this medium of artistry isn’t a novel one for the young actor; he’s been into sketching and designing for years now. “I started a clothing brand when I was 15 and was just making hoodies and embroidering stuff in the fashion district of DTLA. I had fashion internships with a professor from FIDM, so it's been a passion of mine forever,” he reflects. When he isn’t filming or feeding his interests in the realm of fashion, he flexes other creative muscles, sharing that writing or journaling provide moments of decompression for the 21-year-old who has been moving in the fast lane since he moved to LA as a teenager.

Between his diverse roles, Taekwondo, and creative outlets, Ousley has a pretty full plate. But he carves out the necessary time to unwind and take it all in. “I've always needed a creative outlet, so I'm constantly sketching and designing stuff just for fun. I've been doing that since I was 15 and it feels effortless at this point. I can always channel whatever I'm feeling into those things. I also love writing, so I try to stay consistent with that — songwriting, poetry, and essays — all of it. I journal a lot too. I spend time with God. I just try to stay rooted in the things that I can control with so many different things going on.” 

Staying rooted in his life is important to the multi-talented actor, but he still looks ahead in the hopes that his career in Hollywood will continue to flourish. A smile flashed across his face when alluding to directing, a skill he’d like to hone in the coming years, but he maintains that his heart really does lie with the current project that he spent the last year dedicating himself to. “The thing that I'm looking most forward to is to continue the show. We all love the show so much, so season two and hopefully season three would be the goal. Sometimes in busy cities like New York or LA, people want to move on quickly. But I think that we all have found a really fun home here, so I would like to enjoy that for a little bit.”

Just before concluding our Zoom call, Ousley indulged us by answering the hard-hitting questions — I mean, it felt almost unnatural not to ask. “[Laughs] My favorite character from Avatar is Apa. There's no other answer that should be allowed.” And though he masters Sokka’s playful humor and personal intricacies, he shared that if given a chance to occupy the grand Avatar: The Last Airbender universe, he’d definitely be a part of the water tribe. “That’s a hard question,” he posited, “Gliding on the ice and playing around with water powers looked so fun in the animated show — so I’d go with that.” 

Netflix’s highly-anticipated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender is now streaming, and has been renewed for another two seasons.

[palant1r]

Why do you think Matsuda was grinning when he offered to make the eye deal in Death Note? For that matter, what do you think would have happened if he had? How could it happen? What would happen differently if Matsuda died and Soichiro lived? Honestly, I just really want to know about this AU, and you seem like the fandom Matsuda expert!

hehehe i LOVE this question!!!

matsuda is someone who desperately wants to be useful. far from this being something he learns to deal with through the series, it's a need that gets exacerbated as the story goes on. he has a deep-seated anxiety about being useless, and this fuels a lot of his actions. theres a reason his Yotsuba Shenanigans were prompted by him being brushed off repeatedly by L and told to just do menial tasks. he wants to be important to the investigation, and at first, he's just kinda stupid about it — willing to put himself in danger to be useful, but it seems more like just recklessness than deliberate self-sacrifice. like he doesn't really understand the stakes

this...changes, after the timeskip. matsuda still gladly puts himself in danger, but there's a tint of desperation to it. like he better understands the danger, but that doesn't change anything. one standout example is when matsuda tells soichiro to tell mello that matsuda is L — it's very clear that this puts matsuda in massive danger, but he does it anyway. and, crucially, soichiro goes along with it. there's a new degree of trust there — the task force knows now that matsuda is gonna pull this shit and there's nothing they can do to stop him. and of course light picks up on it.

like, the thing about matsuda volunteering to take the eyes is that it's not an out of nowhere thing like the Yotsuba Shenanigans were. light was surprised by that. but five years later, he knows matsuda a lot better — enough to know he'll volunteer to take the eyes.

venturing into the realm of conjecture and hc, i think there's a few things going on here. i think that matsuda is someone who really keenly feels the danger they're in, and is most afraid when he's helpless. to him, that fear goes away when he's Doing Something About It. and i think this meshes well with my h/c that matsuda was on a riot unit prior to the NPA. while everyone else is a thinker and investigator, matsuda is a doer. he feels a lot of anxiety when he's just sitting around, and feels useless because he's not much help in the more cerebral parts of the investigation. but then something Must Be Done and Action Must Be Taken, and matsuda is in his element — he doesn't hesitate to come forward, and feels a rush of relief as he finally has some degree of control over the situation. so i kinda read his happiness as him finally having a way he can be useful and something he can do to catch kira.

as for what would have happened if he did take the eyes...well, it's not a happy story, and there's a damn good reason that light planned for him to take them. matsuda absolutely would have killed mello. wouldn't have even let him open his mouth. he doesn't have the same hangups around the death note that soichiro does — hell, after the chief's death, he was willing to let near use the death note to kill mello, though it's hard to know just how much of that was motivated by mello basically killing soichiro. light would have then used matsuda to prove the 13-day rule by killing him after he didn't write any names for 13 days. it would have been SO easy to convince matsuda's self-sacrificing ass that it was better for him to die than to live by killing criminals with the death note or something.

....though, well, there is a chance that, riding the high of the raid, light would have taken a risk. after all, he already thought matsuda understood him, and matsuda killing mello would only prove that further. why not have matsuda kill a death row criminal every 13 days? why not eventually escalate it to matsuda killing an escaped death row criminal? you see where i'm going with this. it would be a crack to open up, to start to let kira's ideology infiltrate the task force.

that could potentially work if soichiro died — it's pretty heavily implied that he would have only lived a few days after the raid if he didn't take the eyes anyway. but if soichiro lived, i don't think matsuda could have been convinced to use the death note after the raid, even to save his own life. matsuda's moral compass for much of the series is the chief, after all

[mwolf0epsilon]

Pls pls pls tell us how do you think clones react to trauma PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

Full disclaimer, this is probably a lot of projection on my part in regards to coping with my own trauma and just seeing subtle things in media that helps me process a lot of thoughts I've had in regards to past negative experiences.

I am not an expert on trauma, and I am missing a lot of tcw lore because I haven't watched the full series, but I figure maybe I'm onto something on some aspects...

Anywho:

The clones are traumatized. That much is a given, considering their entire existence and undying loyalty is based on a set education/training/indoctrination regiment that's undoubtedly traumatizing.

They live and die for a government and people that don't really care for them (we've seen so many subtle and not so subtle instances of it, with the most recent additions to the roster being the clone veteran on Daiyo, and Riyo Chuchi fighting for the rights of the clones during the rise of the Empire) And the clones are essentially forced to understand and accept this wholeheartedly from an early age.

They have no basic rights, citizenship or even an actual home/lifestyle/traditions to return to once the war is done. Everything that is "theirs" is borrowed from someone else (Kamino, the Mandalorian ways they learned from their trainers, and what other bits and pieces they meshed together to to form into their own culture from the natborns they have limited contact with). Not even their lives, their bodies, are technically theirs. They are property in every sense of the word, and being forced to accept that so willingly and unquestioningly is not easy on the mind or heart. It could break a lesser being really...

But it's all they know. And that's one of the cores of certain types of trauma, and the basis of how you react to said trauma. Because is it really torment if you're born into it? If you don't know anything else? How do you want better if you don't know there IS better?

As someone who's been put through the grinder myself, I recognize reactions that are definitely born out of trauma. I'm most familiar with two very specific reactions that I do often write about: Silent complacency (which is a more passive defense mechanism in situations of stress) and outbursts of irrational anger (which is a more active defense mechanism in situations of stress). These are things I do on a daily basis that I can't help doing...

Most clones fall on the former over the latter, with just a few actually reacting in true anger when they are challenged in ways they can't really explain away, process, or deal with cleanly. Even so, silent complacency does have subcategories, so they way clones deal with their trauma is really up to which subcategory they fall into.

Rex for example, is complacent to a certain degree but not enough so that he isn't rebellious when things go sour. Even so he makes it his goal to try to fix things in the least disagreeable way possible (finding makeshift solutions to problems, trying to find the middle ground even if he doesn't entirely agree with how things are, generally trying to maintain the order of things by making himself useful in some way), even if it means sacrificing others's respect of him and risking going against his own moral compass (Krell, I'm talking about Krell here).

Echo is paradoxical in both being complacent to how things are (letting TBB do nothing for far too long, and sticking around in this sort of stupor of denial and uncertainty of how to proceed, because he honestly went through way too much and hasn't had much time to process), but also being rather obviously angry about how things currently are, and wanting to use that anger constructively (eventually leaving to fight for a cause he can believe in).

Dogma was truly complacent, submitting to the will of his superiors without question because he was taught that this was how you survive long enough to make a difference in war (I won't call it cowardice like I've seen some people do, Dogma was not a coward, far from it, but he was too blinded by his own dogmatic thinking and misplaced loyalty). He was a clear product of upbringing and trauma, and survived by the means that were provided for him since his very birth. The veil was only lifted when things got so bad that there was just no going back... And he still accepted it. He accepted his own death with open arms.

Slick was absolutely enraged by his and the others's unlucky lot in life because, for some inexplicable reason, he was able to see past everything he and the others were taught was their life's mission. Their unquestionable right. And it sucks that we don't know much about him besides what we got, so we don't really know what pushed him to rebel so furiously and so impulsively (endangering the lives of hundreds of clones and the Jedi WAS an irrational thing, but the reason behind it was not), but the fact of the matter is that Slick saw that there was something better than what he and his brothers got, and he was ultimately disgusted by how little their lives mattered in the grand scheme of things. Slick didn't want to die for the republic, didn't accept that he was going to die for the republic, and still died for the republic. There was no way around it. It NEVER mattered whether or not he fought against his set destiny.

There's others who react in different ways to their trauma as well.

We have Cody who's coping mechanism is a sort of nihilistic acceptance that clone lives don't matter in the grand scheme of things. Not 100% blind to the fact their entire existence is a bit of a sham, but also not 100% ready to accept they are now part of the problem until he stops to fully evaluate it. He can't fight the injustice so he accepts it for as long as he can manage. Even if it hurts to live with the fact there's no real better tomorrow for them, and that they're forced to make very difficult choices that are not morally correct. The best he can do is think there's a better tomorrow for the galaxy instead, that his service counts for at least those he serves and protects... He'll float along but never really want for more. At least not for himself.

We also have Wolffe, who eventually becomes so paranoid that he risked losing the one thing he still had: The respect of his brothers. He's lost everything and he's too scared to lose everything all over again, so he protects it tooth and nail without relenting. Protects others from themselves, because he's seen what's beyond the veil of lies and he's unwilling to have anyone else see the rot that has crushed his very soul. He's afraid and angry. Most of all, he's terribly tired of conflict that he'd rather run away from if it means his remaining family lives...

We have outliers like Gregor who have so many reasons to be resentful, but who instead take every given day like it's a blessing. Even if everything goes to hell tomorrow, he still smiles and jokes and deals with everything one step at a time. He is protective of others, that much is clear, and he can get a little lost in his impulsivity, but he doesn't let the trauma rule him or his emotions. Not entirely at least. He's got way too much on his plate to stop and think about existential horror and the injustice of a cruel apathetic galaxy.

We also have the entitled (TBB) who make their trauma everyone else's problem rather than deal with it like adults. Why be altruistic and mindful of your own faults when you can point the finger at your perceived enemies? They're traumatized just like every other clone, but they don't try to process it or even sympathize or empathize with others. They're even apathetic enough that they do many things that undermine one of their own (Echo). In their own eyes they have suffered more (false) and deserve to be regarded as more worthy of praise because they are different.

Just... The clones being traumatized from day one. Behaving based on their traumatization.

Instinctively striving for minimal forms of control through naming themselves, altering their appearance and the paint on their kits. Never really knowing that there's better in life than that which they all intimately know. Never even really getting to thrive because that was never in the cards. Not even when they had someone fighting for them...

There's so much to talk about...

And it might just me reaching hard and empathizing with characters that are undoubtedly tragic, but I just... I donno. I want things to end well for them. Even if I know that's not the conclusion they'll get.

[aotopmha]

I beat Sonic Generations.

This game has some absolutely fantastic level design.

There were completely distinct routes I found in these stages I didn't ever remember seeing despite having played the game to bits around the time of its initial release.

I'm super impressed with the lower routes in particular. Some of them are incredibly elaborate.

I think Modern Sonic's Sky Sanctuary, Seaside Hill and City Escape stood out to me/impressed me the most.

Among several Sonic games I've played recently, I've also played a lot of Sonic Adventure 2 and as much as I adore the speed stages in that game, the "alternate routes" in those stages are often just really satisfying shortcuts to take (which Generations also has); the lower and higher routes in Sky Sanctuary Act 2 for example, however, are straight-up distinct sections of the level.

The lower route is a moderately difficult platforming challenge and the higher route is a reaction-based shortcut, which is a pretty common reward for the mastery of Generations' controls.

It's in these latter instances where you feel the flaws of the 3D controls the most, though.

Eventhough I felt they were better than I remembered, they still were not quite there when it came to precision.

Now that I have both fresh in mind, I think SA2 and Sonic Gens really do sort of have opposite issues when it comes to controls.

SA2 has an incredibly messy moveset. The homing attack often doesn't target accurately and the moveset mapping itself caused many of my deaths, as some moves are assigned to the same button, yet trigger at the wrong time.

Wanted to Lightspeed Dash? Bounce to your death instead!

While in comparison, I think Sonic Gens doesn't have as responsive base movement. Jumping and boosting have a very specific delay added to inputs at high speeds especially; precise movements at higher speeds are much harder to make because of the slippery nature of higher speed controls, as well.

It "makes sense" for higher speed to be harder to control, but the lower and higher speed controls do not mesh as well as I think they should, either. You're either pretty slow or immediately moving on ice skates.

Despite these flaws, unlike many truly bad games with truly broken controls, these two have a certain consistency and a strong foundation to them that I think is satisfying to learn/master and this is where a massive part of the fun of Sonic games comes in: mastering/perfecting the stages.

My initial goal going into the game was to get S-ranks in all main stages, rival battles and bosses. I managed it with all except two: Planet Wisp Modern and the Silver rival battle.

Planet Wisp Act 2 is just tedious and I didn't feel like replaying it to get the S-rank as of now.

The Silver battle, however, has a very particular issue to me: I can't seem to be able to close in on him during his 2D car attack no matter what I do, which means I have to wait for a very long time to get a hit in, which in turn cost me ranks.

I don't know if it's a bug, but I've seen literally no footage of Silver not being able to be attacked in the 2D section. Boosting and homing attacking should work, but it just doesn't seem to for me.

Other than these two, the S-ranks in Generations are incredibly easy. 90% of the time just not dying will get you the S-rank and I'm kind of underwhelmed they're earned so easily.

I've spent hours upon hours trying to A rank the stages in SA2 and when you finally get one in that game, it really feels like an achievement, something you've truly earned; I really hope they'll go back to that philosophy of a really difficult top rank because of it feeling so earned because as said above, that kind of struggle to perfect stages is a big part of the fun in these games.

Since I've recently also played the Sonic Advance series, I want to bring up Classic Sonic, as well, although, this is very much also related to my above point about Modern Sonic level design in that I'm really grateful most of the time failure leads to tougher gameplay sections rather than bottomless pits.

Bottomless pits and cheap enemy and hazard placement took a lot of enjoyment out of Sonic Advance 2 and 3 for me because it simply really undermined the satisfaction of mastery. With bad level design you do poorly for reasons not in your control.

And the Classic Sonic stages in this game are a great example of 2D Sonic level design because of this.

They are much more linear/set and a lot less sprawling than most actual Classic Sonic stages, but the 2D platforming within that linearity is still really fun to do and varying paths still exist within that linearity.

It also helps the stages have some really cool/fun set pieces.

The clock tower with the actual clock in Rooftop Run? The goalpost taken away by the torando in Crisis City? The truck in City Escape?

Classic Sonic is also pretty far from classic game control, but is still really fun in its own right with its super-power spindash and its own version of badnik bouncing.

Next, I want to bring up the bosses.

I'm torn between Egg Dragoon and Perfect Chaos being my favourite boss fights in Generations. The former is just a great Eggman fight, with very little downtime and satisfying hits and the latter is just a great reimagining of an iconic fight which originally basically had no substance; Generations turns a basically glorified cutscene into a full-fledged, substantial platforming stage and it's really cool.

Just like the (popularly) obvious Planet Wisp stages are the worst stages in the game, Time Eater is the obvious worst boss in the game; in fact I think probably worst level because at least you did something in all of the other stages while you mostly just sit around doing nothing for most of the Time Eater fight.

I'm so happy I S-ranked it on my first go, since I now have very little reason, if any, to revisit it.

In general, I really did enjoy all of the bosses outside of Time Eater, the rival battles especially were much more substantive than the usual homing attack spam fights you tend to have in the earlier 3D games, even if they still were fairly straight-forward.

To sum it up, Sonic Generations is still as great as I remember it being; I might even like it better now because the level design is just that good; this extends to all of the boss fights.

The controls are imperfect, but not to the point they start ruining the fun.

As I got deeper into the game I did encounter a few bugs here and there (like a possible strange one with the Silver fight), but in a bigger picture sense, Sonic Generations is also a fairly polished game.

I left out music, graphics and story above because I feel like I don't have much substantive to say about them. I think the environments look great, most of the remixes/music pieces are wonderful (except Planet Wisp Classic, that one doesn't sound that great to me) and I'm fairly indifferent to any story changes outside of a couple of lines coming across as strange.

Do I recommend it?

Yes! And I think I would recommend it to anyone who likes platformers (or even doesn't and just generally likes games). I think it's a great way to see if you'd like the series.

Now, looking forward to the Shadow part of Sonic X Shadow Generations (really awkward naming, as many have also pointed out). It plain just looks really good in terms of gameplay from the footage.