#The Worst Coterie in New York

[themarginalthinker]

for @berd-alert a little something to get you through the day. a half-finished scene based on potential events that may happen in our current vtm campaign. based off that goofy ship scene in Treasure Planet. Enjoy, darling.

-

Dean peers around the corner.

The grand hall of the Met was empty this time of night - of humans. His eyes flickered to and fro, from dark corner to the railings of the galleries above. They hadn't had an issue getting in, as one lonely ghouled door guard made for pretty piss-poor security, but simply not seeing anyone didn't mean no-one was there.

Nosferatu weren't the only ones with Obfuscate, and disappearing was the least the ability could do.

Still, Dean reasons, if anyone was going to jump them to keep them from going further, they'd have done it by now. He waves his hand.

"Alright, you know the plan. I'm going to try and get to the offices up there, you-"

"Go for the cameras! I know, Dean!"

Dean hisses as Rigby's voice bounces out across the wide open of the grand hall, accusing, miffed, and above all else, loud. He swings about and lands a hand on the smaller vampire's face, palm smack over his mouth.

"Does the word 'stealth' mean anything to you?" He grits out between elongated fangs.

What he gets for his troubles is a hand wet with cold, pink Kindred spit.

"No one around," Rigby says when Dean's taken back his arm and is furiously wiping it on his shirt.

"That we know of," Dean sighs. "Look, as much as...we have to trust that she's got her reasons for doing this, Parthena is still technically going against her sect here."

"Stolen books for stolen magic from stolen blood," Rigby nods.

Something like that. If they were going to get anything, it was going to be from the Tremere and it wasn't going to be easy. Parthena had told them Sturbridge had made that more than clear, as intrigued as she was by the (totally hypothetical) notion of something like Sammy.

Dean casts a last look out at the room, just in case something had changed, which after a minute it appeared it hadn't, and then nods to Rigby.

Like a baggy-coated flash of light, the Malkavian was off, making for the stairs that would lead down to the security offices and other electronic control centers for the building. As much as the art was kept under so much lock and key, Dean knew there was other, more precious things to be had that employed defenses far more effective than a simple magnetic strip lock on the door. Keeping the mundane authorities away for even a few minutes could mean the difference between finally getting some answers, and. Well.

Dean just wouldn't think of the possibility of failure.

-

"One door, two door, grey door...more grey door..." Rigby hummed to himself as he trawled the labyrinth of corridors and hallways. The building above was much nicer, with much more natural lighting. Everything looked the same.

Floor one, exit. Stairwell, emergency exit. Exibibits 1-5.

Rigby blinked at the words as they cast their shadows and seared lines into his vision. Could mean anything. Could mean nothing.

"One wire, and no stress, wire me a line, 'cause I've got a ticket to ri-ide..." he sighs, rounding another corner.

A sound reaches his ears, and Rigby is suddenly still as the living dead. They won't see him if he doesn't move, and Rigby has no intentions to. Eyes sweep from side to side. to his destination - nothing. To the hallway just past - nothing there.

Like a strobe in front of his eyes, green and red and electric and leaving trails in his vision, Exit. Exit. Exit. E x it x. T iTexit EEEEEExiExtii-

"Soon," Rigby says to the sign in the reflection of the shiny floor.

It settles it enough to find the door he needs.

Unlocking it, and pulling it open, he is face to face with a room of circuit breakers in metal cages of chain-link. Dimly lit, thankfully, just a few halogen security bulbs keeping the place only just navigable by mortal eyes, casting long, orange streaks between the shadows. The floor was concrete and bare, cables snaking here and there (all in orderly fashion, of course.)

Rigby steps in an closes the door behind him.

Exhibits 1-5, Exhibits 6-11, EEEEEExhibits 12-13-

Ah.

Rigby pauses in his wandering and reading. His foot just above taking another step.

On the ground before him, in possibly the darkest shadow yet, was something....something. It gleamed wetly, slugishly. Long lines, fading away into the concrete ground in rounds and shapes. Rigby blinked hard, and Looked.

Those long lines now formed an even wider shape, with even more inside. A circle. Drawn in dark, thick, old vitae.

Rigby tilts his head.

He bites his thumb, cold blood rising in a dot to the surface, and he reaches out.

-

Dean had been told where he'd find what the head of the Chantrey wanted, but it seemed finding that was going to be its own adventure. He darted from corner to corner, using his passcard as often as he was able. The offices of the Met were as lovingly (and expensively) decorated as the rest of the place, and Dean more than suspected that some of the art that likely should have been out on show or kept in the archives was in fact adorning the walls and hallways of the desk drudgery of people with too much time and money on their hands.

He was no Indiana Jones, though. It was all technically in a museum, and he didn't really care either way. Not what he was concerned about.

Finally, he came to a door. This door was just like any other door in the winding mess of office space, save for one, tiny detail he'd been told to look for.

Near the bottom, almost touching the floor, scratched into the wood of the door, was a little symbol.

A half-circle, the open end of it facing down, and from that a cross.

A little, line-art ankh.

If he could breath, he'd have huffed out a relieved puff. Good. The Tremere hadn't lied. Yet.

Dean reaches out and grasps the handle of the door, lifting his keycard to open it, when something,

happens.

All of a sudden, it's like all the air in the building is gone. No, it's - it's like it's inverted, like Dean is breathing backwards rather than even as his dead body still can, and, in each, the taste of blood - Kindred blood - coats his mouth.

Almost as quickly as it had happened, it stops. Dean blinks, but

then something else.

He's in the air. He's suddenly unmoored from the bounds of gravity, as though it had simply stopped working. Dean flails, a cry at his lips he barely suppresses as he writhes in the air, only managing to flip himself around. Around him, nothing else has changed, it's just him, though, as he watches, a potted plant in the corner begins to, before his eyes, wither and die, and the leaves crumble to dead, dried dust.

And just as before, suddenly, it stops.

Dean does let out a too-hearty "fuck!" as he's suddenly dropped five feet back to the floor, landing almost on his own head.

Growling, he stands, panic felt in every follicle of hair and every nerve end.

"That crazy fucking Malk is gonna get us-"

Dean doesn't have half a moment before there's long, steel-enforced, bony claws smashing into the wood where his head had been less than a second before, the both of them inhumanly fast.

Dean whips around, fangs out, reflexes on edge and powered by his own blood as he rounds on his attacker.

They're a woman -at least, he thinks so - who stands hunched and glaring at him. She's wearing clothing that one could call 'streets-chic' as having known Rigby, this is a rich man's imitation of the fashions of those without means to buy clothing often. Fitted black hoodie, long dark cowl hood that frames choppy, short blond hair, jeans that look like their pockets and belts might pack a bit more heat if the kevlar vest she was also wearing was anything to go by.

One arm, the one she'd extended to attempt to impale his head with, retreated and he could see the massive, hooked claws that sunk back into the skin. The knuckles of that hand were adorned with metal claws to match.

Her eyes, narrowed in rage at her miss, were slitted and green.

Cat. Animal.

Dean didn't have a chance to rattle off anything scathing about a Gangrel playing housecat to the Camarilla before something

happened.

Suddenly, the world was black. A humming, dark abyss that surrounds them both, that eats the world. If there is anything beyond this, it's impossible to tell. And from the sounds of it, the harsh cry almost lost in the living void around them, the Gangrel woman is feeling this too.

-

"Not that, oh bad Rigby! DON'T WORRY DEAN I GOT IT!" Rigby shouts to himself as he Sees beyond Seeing in order to even find the circle again in the Oblivion he'd accidentally inflicted upon the building, biting his hand for the third time and starts re-re-writing what he'd changed.

-

Dean wonders if this is what it's like to see for the first time when the endless, choking darkness was suddenly gone as though it had never been there, because shit, even the office hallway looked like the light of fucking God after that.

For a moment, Dean and the Gangrel can only blink stupidly at each other.

Dean then turns, and with all the quickening that's left in his body, runs.

[mydysfunctionalvampirefamily]

Neil being so awkward and avoiding Britta at all cost while talking about Pendragon.

Neil immediately asking if Nara is there and okay. Take notes, Nara!!! <.<

It's interesting that Miles and Neil now say camarilllllla instead of camarilla. (I'm a camarilllllla girl myself)

Wowowow Neil you're coming in with biiiiiig snitch energy, buddy!

Miles chasing Neil away with an uncomfortable question for Britta. 😂 So sweet.

"If you can convince him to do that." No Britta, if YOU can convince him to do that.

"I don't think I can talk to him again."😂😂 with all the fighting I would almost forget that this is the same night as that phone call.

Lmaoooo Neil!! Such snitch energy. Classic little brother! I saw Britta with a Boy!

Miles giving Neil shit. 🥰

Dad: I told you not to do this!!

Son: But dad! Britta did it much worse!

Wow and after all this Britta learns that Elsa wanted her to stay away from Pendragon. Damn, as if her feelings weren't already complicated enough.

"we'll see???" Neil!! You can't just casually drop that shit! That is creepy! Do you want to force her not to??

Ohhh Neil's memory loss, he has that quite a lot. With the dog tagging and his time in Baghdad, with his sire and all this. That must be very scary especially if you alrwady have anxiety because memory loss makes you feel even less in control.

Aww Johnny, that is sweet, and also very reasonable.

Okay Johnny thinking you can just defeat the sabat and all might be a tad unreasonable. But on the other hand this coterie needs some positivity.

There are lots of similarities between Neil and Britta that are really floating up to the surface right now, the memory loss, not in control of their own actions.

Sorry, Britta we will never be able not to laugh at you hitting Pendragon with a coffeemaker.

Wynn and Miles being forced on the same side because they're little shitheads laughing at pendragon. 😂

An fucking utter shitshow, really apt description of the past few days, Johnny.

You sure did try the apology thing, it did work out. 😏😏

Neil, buddy, what's going on. You're very probing with Britta and Pendragon??

Miles is just hoping Vitell is the mole so he could kill him.

Oh no Neil thinking Miles was serious about giving an ordeal. Poor Neil and poor Miles. They often like to think the worst of him.

Neil, what is going on, why would Miles not have you in the new haven???

Uhoh.... Neil insane laughter. Oh thank god that it was some weird shit and not Neil actually being so creepy.

Wait what why are they fighting in new York all of a sudden? A fucking dragon again???

Yes! Wynn and Miles talk! 👀

If he had known how upset Wynn would be he might not have gone through with it. 🥺

The Marcos reference. 😭

This talk is really good! I like it when mom and dad argue a little, but a fight like this isn't good. I'm glad they're communicating.

Miles just wanting to protect the people he has left. 😭

At least they can bond about hating tremere.

[arcann]

so funny to see the reviews for the last part of the coteries of new york trilogy and both the positive and negative ones are like "the first one was average, the second one was also mid/slightly better, this one is the worst/ok." damned by faint praise. and actual negative opinions.

[del-uxie]

oc pinned post

get to know my gay bitches (last updated: 02/01/24)

tony barone camarilla brujah merc/bodyguard just in: updated with less slutty art :) ANYWAY hes just a puppyboy former ghoul. he likes beating people up blood and the power of friendship and true love. hes just a straight up nice guy if you forget the killer part. very slightly dumb but its ok ♥ he would never know obtenebration

dusty hayes "camarilla" salubri miserable courier

sad eggy tgirl widow who is Struggling to get by amidst being hunted by both clan tremere and (apparently) hunters too :) its all going so well for her :) and she hasnt even had The Realisation yet :)

montague "monty" lafayette camarilla nosferatu casanova generally hes a very confident flirtatious person though he can be a bit petty and arrogant at times, especially towards people that scorned him in the past. he likes playing the guitar ghouling rats and being a whore

jack bailey former ghoul hunter w/psychometry very sad gay old man. former ghoul of the nosferatu primogen, vernon, a very sleazy guy. he escaped during a hunter raid on his haven and got taken in by a hunter cell shortly after. currently hes living off extremely embezzled camarilla funds with his new boyfriend ingo. hes the only one in the cell who doesnt literally talk to deities so hes a bit bummed about that. not sure what it says about him

his hobbies are being a reeptionist/accountant, sending emails, and crying. also its pretty funny but literally every time hes tried to do a hunter thing so far hes failed ❤ hes only good at imagining scenarios

cassandra vane anarch true brujah baroness

shes a cool-headed baron in charleston, west virginia, who the coterie found torporous in an old nuclear bunker. shes a bad bitch and also an autistic shawty with no ulterior motives whatsoever. she loves her catholic priest husband/childe and is indifferent to pretty much everything else

audric moore camarilla toreador-maeghar prince

pretty much just a flamboyantly gay dandy without a very good grasp of morals. he got beheaded by the coterie for using presence on them one time (among other things). before his embrace, he was a satyr, and he got embraced by a hater sabbat bitch like ages ago. he likes having pets, his gigantic family, and begging his ex husband to take him back. also hes permabanned from new york city.

claire lake silent strider theurge

the daughter of one of the players! she came to charleston while on break from college in australia to meet her biological father for the first time. she had her first change at the worst time possible but is getting on well enough with the local sept. shes cheerful if a bit of a worrywart. she's studying journalism and is a hobbyist photographer!

okay these are just my vtm/WoD characters for now. i dont feel like adding any more for a bit...

here are some blorbo playlists! i assume you care if you made it this far <3

[thedemiseofdj]

Coteries of New York Rant That’s Way Too Late (spoilers)

I wanna preface this by saying that it’s been at least six months since I’ve played the game and I never played the sequel

To me, the reveal of Thomas Arturo being the big twist villain is such horseshit because you only interact with him maybe twice throughout the whole game. The reveal gives off way more of a “Wait…it’s that guy?” vibe than anything else.

Arturo could’ve worked as the villain if he was given more screen time and a lot more hints as to his true nature. He needed more time to flesh out his character instead of a long ass exposition dump during the ending.

The worst part about it is that they had a much better twist villain right there.

Kaiser.

Kaiser is a much more prominent character than Arturo with a clear motivation and personality that didn’t need to be shoehorned in at the last minute.

It could’ve been that Kaiser was stringing Sophie along just to get as much info out of her as he could before killing her or something

You could also justify him not just killing the player by having him take a liking to the player

[mekanikaltrifle]

well, since you asked lol

me and my tabletop group (who is my romantic partner and four of our mutual friends lol) have...I think four(?) different rps/ storylines going on for vtm lol

the ttrp we have is 'The Worst Coterie in New York', consisting of a totally-not-caitiff brujah couch baron, a logophilic malkavian, a 200 year old toreador with eyes on the Princehood, and a kindred courier whos clan is yet a mystery, and a fledgling...who appears to be All Clans Combined.

The second project is my own, non-ttrp, fic/conlang project for a Nosferatu warren, which is forcusing much less on the global kindred politics, and just the everyday life of this partocular warren, with emphasis on culture and language development (I am creating NTS, Nosferatu Tactile Sign language) This is the most involved of the projects and has the first chapter out already.

The other two are less developed - one is only two characters for a Sabbat game/story, a Nos and a Tzimisce making their way across the world to find a place for the Tzim woman to carry out her goal of having a child, and the other is two kindred, a Nos and a Lasombra, teaming up to poach off the local college campus while pretending to be Kine, titled 'College Bytes'. (and you tell I like nossies the best? lol)

anyway, that's it :> thanks for taking the time!

DAMN that's a lot. Impressive though! Where do I even start?? Okay I love the strangeness at play here, really fucking with the edges of the lore and the vibes. Just pure chaos. (also what the fuck a fledgling who is a bit of everything????? how does one even do that) (how do they get along with an ancilla??? DAMN guys that may actually be the 'worst coterie in new york' if only down to really stretching the bounds of what one could consider a coterie!) also a conlang??? incredible. What got you onto making that???

[styxnbones]

4 for all for cass except for sects, for that one do 3!

ty for the ask! i always appreciate how much you like to hype up other ppl's oc

Essentials 4: not being in v5 they don't have any set predator type- but, since their Grip of the Damned means their kiss offers nothing but pain, they tend towards alley cat and sandman by necessity.

Life 4: in life, Cass already had the arrogance and controlling nature that would become their Malkavian madness, though before that point its debatable whether it was a straight up personality disorder. As for vices and addictions, Cass's vice has always and continues to be reckless overconfidence. She's always loved the rush of doing something she by all rights shouldn't be able to, defying expectations, and generally putting herself into and then escaping from dangerous scenarios- hence her nature as a Thrill-Seeker. She also had something of a recreational drug habit that has stuck with her in seeking out prey that is high, both for pleasure and for the sake of convenience.

Death 4: in LA she never had much of a coterie to speak of, but gained one when she left for New Orleans (aka the chronicle I played her in started)- who she rejoiced in inflicting her habit of giving shitty patronizing nicknames. Her favourite was Kristos aka Dirt Nap/Captain America, a gangrel fledgling who had been torpored since the civil war. He was directionless and gullible so she had lots of fun pushing him around. There was also Marcus (9-5/Marie O' Net), a stereotypically stuffy ventrue who had the audacity to have one dot in dominate and therefore earned Cass's ire for stepping on her toes. Clair ("Covergirl") was a mysterious and dangerous (read: hot) Tremere sent from New York to look into setting up a chantry, who Cass spent way too much downtime trying to find dirt on. And then there was Jean ("Socks-in-Crocs") a *very* rural gangrel who had literally the worst luck with frenzy rolls I have ever seen to this day and who consequently was held at arm's length from Cass. Broadly speaking she saw herself as the leader of this group, though she was happy to deflect blame for any fuckups onto Marcus since he was so keen to take charge. Other than that she was pretty buddy-buddy with a local Nos named Avery, though mostly in a 'keeping the competition close' kind of way, and towards where the chronicle dropped off she was making some contacts with a sabbat pack in the area.

Sects 3: which brings us to her opinion of the sabbat- which is largely dependent on who in the sabbat we're talking about. she was pretty chill with the pack she was getting to know- she admired how little they gave a fuck about mortals and how few roadblocks they put up for themselves in getting what they want (unlike many other kindred, especially in a cam city like New Orleans, who just love to make up secret rules) but she was also very aware that these guys were peons in the grand scheme of the sabbat and she held contempt for their lack of ambition (even if it made them more useful to her). As a whole, Cass doesn't buy the whole Gehenna-War-End-Of-The-World thing, but admires it as a tactic for keeping the masses in control. I think that she'd be unlikely to join the sabbat unless she got to jump in pretty high up the ranks, though she doesn't particularly like the idea of tying her loyalty to any one group. The thing that intrigues her most about the sabbat, though, is the idea of Paths of Enlightenment. Her sense of morality was already pretty deviated from the human norm even before the embrace, and since then attempting to cling to humanity has been thankless work (and largely pure luck- by all rights she should be way lower than Humanity 6 with the number of tests I had to roll) so shifting her mindset towards something else entirely probably wouldn't be too hard a leap.

Clans 4: Clan Hecata in interesting, since its something that has developed since her embrace. She had done some research on the Giovanni when she recognized her Kiss was similar to theirs, and found the history pretty fascinating. She generally appreciates the existence of the Hecata if only for the cover they lend her in lieu of any actual connection to them.

[robotslenderman]

*is predictable* Sascha and/or Ilias!

Sascha:

First impression

"Okay so this is the total fucking monster of the VTM universe, which is SAYING something."

Impression now

Woobie, destroyer of worlds

Favorite moment

I think anything that involves them being completely chilled out and snarky while everyone around them is losing their shit is very sexy of them.

Also "stop harassing the kine, Beckett."

Idea for a story

I really need to figure out what happens when they and Nastasya can't ignore each other in New York any more...

Unpopular opinion

There is no way in hell they didn't try to kill Ilias a few times post-Dracon, in the total and utter conviction that someone was imitating their lover at first. Ilias would be their Berserk Button, and they'd be totally convinced he's dead because they FELT him die. and then, later, out of sheer denial because they didn't want to admit that the real Ilias ever saw them as they have become.

Eventually they get over it, but in their darkest moments the paranoia comes back.

Favorite relationship

So this isn't a specific one but I love how in my headcanon the worst person in the world of darkness seems to surround themselves with the warmest and fuzziest ones.

Favorite headcanon

They are drawn to warm and fuzzy characters because they outsource their morals. They have none whatsoever nor do they want to, but they like the feeling of balance and stability that it brings them to hang around people who whack them with a rolled up newspaper every time they try to torture somebody.

Ilias cel Frumos

First impression

"Aww, he seems lovely - oh god he fucked WHO?? AAAAA HE MUST BE SECRETLY EVIL."

Impression now

Is not secretly evil.

Favorite moment

Any that involve him walking around naked and upsetting visitors.

Idea for a story

Never wrote this, but one for him trying to get in touch with Sascha's bloodline and finding them all wanting, until runs into the Vykosoviches and decides, "them. I like them."

Unpopular opinion

I REALLY don't know how to answer this without sounding like I'm Grimdarkifying him, but I'll try my best.

He was over a century old when he died, IIRC? No way he hasn't got some cunning or some ability to fight dirty. I don't mean that in the sense of going "he's secretly evil!" but like, dude spent some time with some quite notable Tzimisce back in the night. I see him as a sunny person who is much nicer than the average Kindred, sure. If you leave him alone he'll leave you alone.

But I also think he'd have to have considerable skill in how to get rid of people who DON'T leave him alone. I really don't think he'd be so innocent as to be totally useless if someone tries to mess with him, even before his death, otherwise he wouldn't have survived long enough to meet Sascha.

So basically - he's influential enough in New York that no doubt people HAVE tried to mess with him, and he absolutely keeps his ear to the ground enough that whenever anyone tries, he grabs them by the balls and twists, then smiles nicely and goes back to whatever he was doing before they bothered him. So long as they back off, they won't have a problem with him.

I just love the idea of someone with a crazy amount of power simply making the choice not to abuse it, but also not being afraid to rely on it if he has to.

Favorite relationship

I mean, their relationship with Sascha goes without saying, but I also haven't seen enough of him interacting with other people either as I didn't finish the novel. I do love seeing him with his "brother", though. Just whacking him with a rolled up newspaper for disemboweling Beckett that one time.

Favorite headcanon

Him now being a Methuselah who could curbstomp everyone and take New York whenever he wanted to, but simply chooses not to because he'd rather make his jewellery and antagonise Aisling Sturbridge than be in charge of anything ever in his life.

Also I like him being a fairy godmother figure to my Tzimisce coterie because they're descendants of Sascha who are much less psychopathic than the rest.

[norcani]

I watched a bunch of losers best games of 2020 videos and decided I can do that too

except I don’t play recent releases so only a few of these are 2020 releases and out of those all of them are vns.....I did play these in 2020 though..I think... 

10. Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Miotsukushi-hen

I also read  Yoigoshi and Tokihogushi but they fucking sucked! The rest of the console arcs I had played beforehand. What to say about this? It’s been a real mixed bag and by this I mean its been a pile of shit but in the middle of a shit there is this puzzle piece that you needed for a puzzle you completed the rest of 10 years ago and you grab the shit covered piece and go “holy shit! look at this! I’ve been looking for this all along!” but of course it’s still covered in shit and you’re not even sure it’s quite the right piece, it’s not made by the original puzzle maker but with some cleaning wiggling it fits into the puzzle perfectly and you can finally rest assured that the stupid puzzle you thought would never work out is completed. (And then the puzzle maker is like, hey here are a bunch of new pieces and drops gou on you but irrelevant) . Anyway this got translated this year so I say it counts as a 2020 game. 

9. Witcher 3

wow i played this game this year apparently! Or at least, steam tells me so. Honestly I never had any intention of playing this game because people are annoying about it but I somehow ended up playing it anyway....and it was...fine? I liked it, especially the blood and wine dlc. I like geralt as a protag a lot. And I somehow spend 100 hours on this thing. So you know, I liked it. People are still annoying about it though. The best part of finishing it is that I can now call it overrated with the confidence of someone who played and even enjoyed it! 

8. oneshot I got this one from the bundle of racial justice though it was on my radar for quite a while. In this one, you are god, and there is a cute cat child that talks to you directly, which rules. 

fuck yeah!!!!!  (there is also a huge light bulb in this, for the moths in the audience)

7. the ghost of you

This is a text based vn with minimal visuals. A uh.. lesbian horror survival romance story? Is that too many genres. I was utterly obsessed with this for a short while. The gore and body horror stuff in this were top notch but towards the end it got a bit too over the top campy and silly for me, though still enjoyable I mainly wasn’t expecting it to go that route. I also thought ironically the romance was by far the weakest part. The villains were super fun though I still think about them...

6. iwaihime 

i really thought i would end up disliking it until about halfway through but afterwards it was really good except when it was kinda fucked up to the point of I made a cw list for the vn. This is like a shameless mishmash of half of ryukishis previous works and the worst part is it *works* and i love it. I ended up being suprisingly attached to the cast even though they seemed super generic at first glance. Also at some point someone puts the actual yugioh shisha sosei(monster reborn) card in someones coffin so yeah you know..... this one was actually released in 2020 too so goty 

5. Cyberpunk2077 Dry Drowning

another one from the bundle. This is a cyberpunk noir detective mystery / sorta political drama? One of the rare games I replayed immediately after finishing, Great setting, solid plot and cases, great art, kinda generic characters but they grew on me. My fave was a cool trans lesbian character but the circumstances surrounding her were a bit *vague hand gestures* . Definitely a shame not more people know about this one! 

4. Vampire the Masquerade: Shadows of New York

first of all incredible art and music! 2nd of all.... its just a really well written vtm story with a goth girl in a toxic lesbian relationship of course I love it. This vn also justifies coteries of new yorks existence which is a great accomplishment since that vn itself just felt like a introductory course to vtm. Also another 2020 release! No one can criticize my list now. 

3. Fire Emblem 3 houses

I’m still playing this one but I put 60 hours in already so I think I can include this here. This is the main thing I’m playing the past few weeks and  as with all my favorite games I could complain about it for ages , However its really fun and compelling in a way I can’t quite articulate and also Rhea and Sothis I love you both

2. Assassins Creed Vallhalla Expeditions: Viking

this fucking ruled!!! Solid 40 hours or so of solid story and characters that ends exactly when it should. really unique protag a lot of different ways to “win” would. Also one of the few rpgs where the evil choices make just as much sense as the good ones. Would have replayed immediately if my switch hadnt arrived just when i finished my first run. I wish the cast had more lines but at the end of the day Roskva is adorable as is.  10/10 would tell my enemies to not fucking talk to me again.  1. Demon’s Souls Dark Souls 2 

(I coudln’t find any decent screenshots I took for this so enjoy this meme. Trust me my character was really cute. )

 I’ve been playing this for 2 fucking years and i was somehow still sad that it was over....I played for around 140 hours and approximately died every 6 minutes. If you do the math you might notice I’m not very good at this game. I also don’t know what the fuck the story is even about. But hitting things is fun, and I beat fume knight twice which was great. Too bad I will never play the other games since steam never puts them on FUCKING sale. 

[spellscarred]

COTERIES OF NEW YORK: A SUPERNATURAL HORROR RPG — coming to a discord server near you.

It’s a strange sensation to walk the crowded streets, same as you have so many times before, but feeling so disconnected. All these people… you’re not one of them. Not anymore. You’re a vampire, Kindred, and you need to carve your own path in this strange new existence, one way or another.

In some other town, the sidewalks would be deserted this time of night. In NYC, there are plenty of passersby going about their business. It’s easy to be paranoid when you’re a vampire surrounded by a crowd of humans. The Kindred have many enemies, and all those enemies have one trait in common: they’re invisible, indistinguishable from normal humanity. Other vampires, hunters, all look like people.

Is that old man just a tired restaurant worker or a Kindred thrall tailing your movements? Are the officers idly waiting in a patrol car ordinary cops or Second Inquisition specialists looking to end undead threats?

This kind of thinking leads to madness, but you can’t shake the feeling that someone is watching you. It’s not the first time you’ve felt like this. Whatever this is, it’s probably something you have to take care of. Best case, someone is tailing you. Worst case, you’ll be attacked and killed.

Unfortunately, being undead has its limitations. The sun is coming up soon and you’ll burn to a crisp if you stay on the streets.

[themarginalthinker]

Sammy: Ugh...I can't eat, I can't sleep...maybe I'm coming down with a something...

Dean: Oh ho...I know what you've got.. the L word

Rigby: Yeah...leprosy!

Dean: No, no. It's a four letter word, starts with L, ends with E.

Rigby: ....aHA! Lice!

Dean: NO-

[mydysfunctionalvampirefamily]

The title makes me very worried!

Lmao not me being confused that parents come to pick up their kids at night when Lex says there are vans outside the school. 😂😂 I'm so stupid.

This underworld storm sounds very bad and really gross.

Something that is dormant, but does not sleep. One of those Zantosa house gross antedeluvians?

I forgot about the raven feathers.

Lmao Wynn keeps forgetting she is an archon now and people respect her.😂

Red death?? 😂 I'm sorry, it's judt so funny that they get to pick their own names and they pick them like they're edgy 13 year old gamer boys.

Why the fuck would they go to hell house?!?

Wynn just casually throwing out weird ass occult names.

Wow. Justicar Lucinde being well not kind but practical, giving guidance and not being unnecessarily cruel. I didn't think she had it in her.

Wynn is a necromancer??? I feel so stupid, how did I not know this? Or is this Wynn's ghost stuff?

NO!!! Noooooooooo!!!! Lex, don't do it!!! Not the bloodbond 3 please! 🙏😭

Fucking lady lucinde farquad.

Fuck the camarilla.

What??? It's still the same fucking night???? These nights are endless!!!! But I'm relieved! There still is a chance. 😭

The masquerade is failing in new York where they are fighting and diablerising in the streets? Oh no. Who could have for seen this unlikely turn of events...

Lol pendragon being scared of getting diablerised.😂

I know Wynn hates this, but it sounds like she's doing a good job at being an archon. Fighting ghost stuff and being a badass is kind of her thing.

The sabbat doing their weird fire ritual stuff? Yuk.

Serpentine? Is he a settite??

A nun? FLAYED OFF FACE???? what the fuck. 😭 (the painted bone with flowers and stuff is kind of cool, but very gross)

Well I guess this explains the desecration of graves cw.

Archon Cabot. Sounds kind of hot, sorry not sorry. 🤷 Wynn having someone reach out to keep the coterie updated is much appreciated.

I totally forgot they hadn't talked about the ritual yet. 😂

Zofiel is being channeled by Pendragon??? This sounds like the worst idea I've ever heard.😂

So either Zofiel has taken over Pendragon, or Pendragon is fleeing diablerie?? Either way he is facing some deserved consequences of his own actions. 😂😂

Britta tiny voice: I stepped into the circle and kissed him. Lmao

Johnny is cracking me up this episode. First with the phone and now with the mirror and Britta. He doesn't give a shit.

Johnny 😂😂 gping full dad! 😂😂😂 So angry, yelling he's turning this combat suv around.

Miles just so tired and annoyed, and no one is listening to him.

Lil baby Neil needs Wynn with him. 🥺 I grt yiu baby Neil, I also need powerful Wynn with me to protect me with her claws of doom!

13 levels of damage? That seems like a lot???

So if corpses are running around eating people, I'm assuming the masquerade is also breached in new haven?

No not Rufio and his dogs 😂😂 I know this is all super serious but I cannot take anything seriously when they are around.

Wait why do they need to heal? Am I forgetting something?

Not me thinking my phone broke but it is just sound editing week of nightmares effect. 😂😂

Also yaaay Wynn!!!! Is this part of Neil's new power he got for ascending?? Dope af.

Oh no. Lex saying Miles, Miles Miles Miles in that specific tone cannot be good.

Zofiel? He sounds kind of scared or smth? Wheres your fucking power when we need it?

He's hitting Rufio with his sword and it's like killing a child, he's just a teenager pretending to be a badass but he's actually just got 3 down hairs on his lip and doesn't know how to properly smoke.

Tim rolling a lot of dice! Yay!

Wow sword bisected and torpored though, nice job Miles. That sword is badass.

Whoooo baby, Johnny omg. You're so badass. I need to fan myself like Al middle aged Southern woman on a hot day.

We can say all we want about Neil, he might not be the raw damage dealer that the others are, but he got Wynn here, and his hiding stuff is clutch!! Also I know it's been a while but remember when he made it easier for Johnny to resist frenzying for like 3 months. That was clutch! (I know there's no point in me defending Neil here, we all love him, I'm preaching to the choir)

Oh no. Lex is letting them have freebies, I don't trust it. Bad stuff is coming. If not this fight then the next one.

Weeping bear???? Wtf. I'm almost there on my relisten too. 😂

Beserker merit? Reduce by 3??!!!?? Holy freaking fuck. That is so good!!!

Ohhh we're basically getting canary mode? Damn. So cool.

The blood is so bad it hurts the special armour? That's not Good.

The bullets are consumed by an en tropic field??? They're just freaking dusted like in endgame? Damn that is not great.

He feels sick??? No! Not my baby sweating!!! Hell have to throw away that suit!!!! 😔

They fight so well together now! Like it's almost instinctual. Love that for them, hopefully it will keep them alive.

I feel like I don't know enough about combat and vtm lore to know how bad this fight is. Because honestly it doesn't seem that bad, they keep killing folks, they're all laughing and it doesn't sound like the panicked hysterical laughter yet (I could be wrong though) but then we have them running and throwing dead bodies at a nun with an entropy shield, and that sounds very bad??

Okay that is a lie, I know it has to be bad, but the vibe isn't that bad!!

That no did sound very panicked. And bone rafting has to be bad right??? Isn't that what Vito did??

Fuck yeah Wynn!!!!

They were all so good!!! 😍😍😍 (Neil did his best, you guys!)

Lmaooo I clearly didn't understand how bad this fight was until the after credit scene. 😂😂😂 Holy hell!!! "Are you touching your weapon to her?!?" it would just be gone??? That's crazy! He hardly got to swing it at all!!!

I know he's going into torpor within 24 hours but it feels like a fair trade.

[arcann]

Would be good to specify that the only time race becomes present in coteries of new york (and womanhood in the ventrue's case) is when a physically old white anarch leader is being either sexist or racist to you. He will beat you up.

I've been planning to make a review when a week after release has passed because I feel deeply about certain themes in the storyline and how they decided to bring the absolute worst parts of what V5 has to offer, possibly sacrificing interesting ideas in favor of its mediocrity in an attempt to provoke.

It was an obstacle for enjoyment at times

[kontextmaschine]

am i imagining it or is there a bit less anger towards the left from you about the death of 90s Culture recently? Not that you’re not still melancholy about it, but it seems like in recent months you’ve moved from “Horny 90s Secular Culture was my rightful birthright that was DESTROYED by Gawkerites” to “Horny 90s Secular Culture is worth mourning but it collapsed under its own contradictions that have only become visible in the wake of a lot of Internet Feminist Discourse.”

>  [same “less anger toward the left” anon] Even more speculatively, it seems like you’re less sympathetic toward the Right than you were, set, a year or so ago, less in the sense that you now back the actual agenda of the Left than that you briefly expected that the Right’s pushback would take a form more compatible with your own preferences than it has. Any of this onto something? [2/2]

You’re seeing something real but you’re not seeing it right.

If I’m more sanguine about the culture wars lately it’s because the wave already broke. In 2015 I was saying the other side walked off a cliff and just hadn’t looked down yet, well by now they’ve looked down.

And on the one hand meep meep, motherfucker, on the other hand this means the dumbest and gone-too-far stuff is gonna be coming in the other direction now as the backlash sets in.

Like, what’s the last time the cultural “left” tried to sieze new territory, and not just struggle to hold the line? MeToo? At the time I called it as feminism biting the hand that fed/off more than it could chew, and yeah, by all reports the “targets” there are being welcomed back and people notice that they were still viable all along, meanwhile the supporters are getting blackballed as risks.

(Meanwhile, the Republican supremes are expected to rule that no, protections against sex discrimination do not just imply protections for sexual/gender minorities, and wouldn’t you know it most “sexual harassment” law is leveraged out from similar implications.)

The next step in the culture war is just to make people realize this is already happening, the woke order’s plummeting, and all the stuff that’s been growing underground poised to benefit from their fall is going the other way.

I point out Stupidpol stuff to draw attention to how the new young avant garde in pretty much every subculture - even explicitly leftist ones - is increasingly anti-woke, and the invention of a typology - “radlib”, “wokescold” – by which their rivals don’t even have to be refuted, just identified, mocked, and dismissed.

I point out how all the woke take factories are exhausting their funders’ patience, pivoting to video and selling out to Bryan Goldberg (who made his name by founding a women’s vertical that wasn’t shrill feminist, an online Cosmo when everyone was trying to build an online Sassy), and how meanwhile the hot rising thing is a bro site with an editorial line somewhere between rape culture-tolerant and -positive.

I point out how not so much opposed but underneath consent culture there’s a flourishing ecosystem of Fsub kink as lifestyle (which was the other side in the ‘80s feminist sex wars, after all) and the rising smartphone generation grew up with “catering to the male pornographic gaze” as a popular hobby.

And I’m not just wishcasting here, even the perceptive people on the “other side” have noticed this – Sady Doyle’s looking back over ’00-’10s internet feminism and wondering if it even changed anything deeper than superficial fashion that will cycle back before too long (subtext here is she was a half-step behind the Marcotte/Valenti/McEwan coterie and tbh a better writer/thinker/intersectionalist but now she’s in upstate New York scrambling for enough child care to crank out work for lower-and-lower-profile outlets; if you’ve read her work long enough you know she’s acutely aware of how in the 80s second-wave feminism and radical feminists weren’t so much defeated as just… gave up on and left to wither.)

Like, “this too shall pass”, y’know? It’s passing. Which doesn’t mean the stuff that takes it down or replaces it won’t be dumb and fucked up. To the extent I had identified with the “cultural left” to begin with it was cause I came of age in the 90s after the ‘80s backlash had run through and the reigning “cultural right” was pretty dumb and fucked up. Weirdly sour in a sunny time, in retrospect I realize they were trying to drive a stake through the ‘70s so hard it never got up again and that excess probably did buy me some more time of comfort, but could get counterproductive too, you know if these are the guys trying to maintain their hegemony through suppressing left voices…

Plus honestly yeah I was invested in the fun-for-all ideal of Horny 90s Secular Culture as it portrayed itself, and if more modern revelations are that it was premised on hierarchies of power… Well, at some level I’m “ohhh, hierarchies of power, so THAT’S how you create the good times, they should’ve told us, no wonder we’ve been fucking it up”. But I’m still eagerly receptive to plans to bring things closer to the ideal, or at least avoid some of the worst failure modes and rig the hierarchies right by going in eyes-open.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

#5yrsago Shambling Guide to New York City

Mur Lafferty is one of the worst-kept secrets in science fiction and fantasy publishing. "Secret" in that her fiction has not been widely published (until now). "Worst-kept" in that she has been such a force of nature -- the podcaster's podcaster, author of a huge corpus of excellent self-published work, and a skilled editor currently running Escape Pod -- that anyone who's been paying attention has known that there were great things coming from her.

Great things have come from her. The Shambling Guide to New York City is the first volume in a new series of books about Zoe Norris, a book editor who stumbles into a job editing a line of travel guides for monsters, demons, golem-makers, sprites, death-gods and other supernatural members of the coterie, a hidden-in-plain-sight secret society of the supernatural.

The volume opens with a desperate, out-of-work Zoe prowling the streets of New York, looking for a publishing job -- any publishing job. She finds herself chasing down a mysterious advertisement for an editor for Underground Press, which turns out to be the hobby-business of an ancient vampire with a modern idea. Phil, the owner, wants to produce the first-ever line of tour-guides for travelling coterie. And it just so happens that Zoe's last job was editing a successful line of (human) travel guides, a gig she excelled at and would have held still save for her philandering boss, who neglected to mention that he was married (to a psycho police chief!) before he seduced her.

After being rebuffed, Zoe bulls her way into the job, only to discover that she has bitten off more than she can chew -- or rather, that several monsters are vying for chance to bite off a rather large chunk of her. Chief among them is a sleazy incubus who is fixated on having sex with her and feeding off her sexual energy (workplace harassment is complicated in the coterie).

From this, the story is off and running, and it never pauses for breath -- there's love, war, humor and a lot of heart, and by the time it's done, you know exactly why so many writers have been buzzing about Mur Lafferty for so many years. It's as strong a debut as I can remember reading, and I can't wait for the follow-on volumes.

The Shambling Guide to New York City

https://boingboing.net/2013/05/28/shambling-guide-to-new-york-ci.html

[classyfoxdestiny]

Tokyo Olympics Live Updates: U.S. Women Defeat Serbia in Basketball Semifinal

Tokyo Olympics Live Updates: U.S. Women Defeat Serbia in Basketball Semifinal

Current time in Tokyo: Aug. 6, 4:22 p.m.

Here’s what you need to know:

Breanna Stewart scored 12 points against Serbia.Credit…Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

TOKYO — The U.S. women’s basketball juggernaut rolled over Serbia, 79-59, and will make its 11th appearance in an Olympic final against either France or Japan on Sunday.

Brittney Griner led the Americans with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Chelsea Gray added 14 points and Breanna Stewart 12.

The United States, with a coterie of W.N.B.A. stars, had advanced undefeated past Nigeria, Japan, France and, in a quarterfinal game, Australia, always with comfortable margins.

Basketball:

Women’s

Semifinal

Final

T

Serbia

12 11 16 20 59

United States

25 16 17 21 79

With an Olympic winning streak of 54 consecutive games since 1992, the U.S. women are favored to win their ninth gold, and it hasn’t looked as if teams have an answer for their versatile offense and defense. They lead the tournament in scoring, assists and field goal percentage — and also in star power with the likes of Sue Bird, A’ja Wilson and Diana Taurasi.

Serbia, though, was not considered a doormat. The reigning European champion, it had a comeback win over China in the quarterfinals. Yvonne Anderson, a U.S.-born player with Serbian citizenship, had 15 points against the United States. Anderson played in college at Texas. Her father, Mike, is the men’s coach at St. John’s.

Latest

Medal

Count  ›

Total

United States

30 35 27 92

China

34 24 16 74

Russian Olympic Committee

16 23 21 60

Britain

16 18 18 52

Japan

22 10 15 47

April Ross, left, and Alix Klineman of the United States won the gold medal match against Australia on Friday.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

TOKYO — Just four years after making the transition to beach volleyball, Alix Klineman of the United States won the gold medal on Friday with her partner April Ross, who took home her third Olympic medal.

The Americans won, 21-15, 21-16 over Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy of Australia on a blisteringly hot day at Shiokaze Park. The Australians particularly struggled to win points on their serve: An American dig, set and spike always seemed to be waiting for them.

Australia

–

United States

–

When Ross won her last Olympic medal with Kerri Walsh Jennings in 2016, Klineman didn’t even play beach volleyball.

She was a professional indoor volleyball player, playing internationally for teams in Italy and Brazil. In 2017, Klineman envisioned a future in beach volleyball and dreamed of the Olympics. She began to study the craft.

Ross, a two-time Olympic medalist, was watching. She saw potential with Klineman, 31, citing a list of attributes: her physicality, work ethic, intelligence and intensity, to start.

“Alix did study the game more than anyone else I’ve ever known,” said Ross, 39. “She’d go home and watch a ton of video, and I’d be like, ‘Well, I’ve got to go home and watch video, too.’”

Without fans in the stands in Tokyo, it was easier to catch the pair’s enthusiasm and communication in the stadium. If there was no cheering, they would make up for it by encouraging each other even louder on their way to the gold.

“I just can’t believe it,” Klineman said minutes after they earned their spot in the final. “It’s the most amazing feeling. You know, we dreamed of this, and this is what we worked for every single day. But just because you work for it, and just because you do everything you can, doesn’t mean that it happens.”

They had an extraordinary run at the Tokyo Olympics, winning gold without dropping a set in any of their four matches in sweltering heat. The dominance was the payoff for Klineman’s transition to a new sport and Ross’s bet on a new player.

“When you’re working for something like this, you need someone who is going to work their butt off every day,” Ross said. “And I knew she was coming out to the beach to make the Olympics. And I knew taking such a risk for herself was a motivating factor.”

“It all held up,” she said, looking up to Klineman, who is 6 feet 5 inches tall.

For Ross, the gold medal is the culmination of a career that at times was lost in the long shadow of the greatest U.S. beach volleyball players, Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor, the gold medalists in 2004, 2008 and 2012.

In her first Olympic trip, Ross won silver in 2012 with Jennifer Kessy, losing the final to the legendary duo. When May-Treanor retired, Ross joined forces with Walsh Jennings to win bronze in 2016.

Now she has the full set.

A semifinal heat for the women’s 4×100-meter relay on Thursday.Credit…James Hill for The New York Times

TOKYO — The American women’s basketball and volleyball teams have advanced to the semifinals. And standing in the way of gold medal chances for both teams on Friday is Serbia. The volleyball semifinal starts at 1 p.m. Tokyo time (midnight Eastern), with the basketball game 40 minutes later.

On the track, the races include the women’s 400 meters and 1,500 meters — with Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands continuing her bid for a 1,500-5,000-10,000 triple — and the men’s 5,000 on Friday night (Friday morning U.S. time). The finals of both 4×100-meter relays will also be run. While the U.S. women made the final, the men missed out, again, because of poor baton-passing in the heats.

The women’s soccer gold medal game on Friday morning (Thursday night in the U.S.) pits Sweden against Canada.

And the 50-kilometer race walkers will get their start at 5:30 a.m. Tokyo time, to avoid the worst of the heat.

The Canadian women’s soccer team after defeating the United States on Monday to advance to the gold medal match against Sweden on Friday.Credit…Emily Rhyne/The New York Times

An action-packed Friday evening in Tokyo (Friday morning in the United States) includes broadcast coverage of the culmination of the women’s soccer tournament and the men’s bronze medal game. In a busy track and field schedule, the sprinter Allyson Felix will try to match or surpass Carl Lewis as the most decorated American track and field athlete. All times are Eastern and are subject to network changes.

SOCCER A replay of the women’s bronze medal game between the United States and Australia is on NBCSN at 1:30 a.m. The men’s bronze medal game, between Mexico and Japan, starts at 5 a.m. on USA, Telemundo and Universo. Then at 8 a.m., Canada and Sweden meet in the women’s gold medal game on USA.

WATER POLO Greece and Hungary meet in a men’s semifinal match at 2:30 a.m. on CNBC.

TRACK AND FIELD Coverage of the women’s 20-kilometer race walk starts at 3:30 a.m. on NBCSN. Later, coverage on NBCOlympics.com will include Felix’s bid for a 10th Olympic medal in the women’s 400-meter final (8:35 a.m.), along with finals in the women’s 4×100-meter relay (9:30 a.m.), the women’s 1,500 meters (8:50 a.m.), the men’s 5,000 meters (8 a.m.), the men’s 4×100-meter relay (9:50 a.m.) and the women’s javelin throw (7:50 a.m.). Round 1 of the men’s 4×400-meter relay will also air on NBCOlympics.com, at 7:25 a.m.

DIVING The men’s platform finals continue through 4:30 a.m. on USA.

RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS The qualifying round airs on USA at 4:30 a.m.

HANDBALL France faces Sweden in a women’s semifinal at 5:15 a.m. on NBCSN.

WRESTLING Starting at 5:15 a.m., the Olympic Channel has medal matches in the 74- and 125-kilogram classes of the men’s freestyle and the 53-kilogram class of the women’s freestyle, plus semifinal matches in three other divisions. A replay starts at 9 a.m., also on the Olympic Channel.

BASKETBALL Japan and France face off in a women’s semifinal at 7 a.m. on NBCSN.

CYCLING Coverage starting at 7 a.m. on USA includes the women’s Madison finals and the men’s and women’s sprints.

VOLLEYBALL Brazil and South Korea meet in a women’s semifinal at 9 a.m. on NBCSN.

FIELD HOCKEY The women’s gold medal game between the Netherlands and Argentina airs at 10 a.m. on USA.

The Belarusian sprinter Kristina Timanovskaya was offered asylum in Poland after resisting attempts by her coaches to force her back to her home country.Credit…Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters

TOKYO — Two coaches involved in the attempt to force an Olympic athlete home to Belarus against her will have been stripped of their credentials and expelled from the Olympic Village, Games organizers said Friday.

The case of the 200-meter specialist Kristina Timanovskaya, 24, briefly turned the Tokyo Games into the center of a major diplomatic conflict when Timanovskaya sought sanctuary from the police at Narita International Airport. Timanovskaya, who is now in Poland, said she had been “kidnapped” after writing an Instagram post criticizing the Belarusian athletic federation’s preparations for the Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee had come under pressure over the slow progress of its investigation into the matter until, on Friday, the organization announced in a Twitter post that it had asked the coaches, Artur Shimak and Yuri Moisevich, to leave the Olympic Games. “They will be offered an opportunity to be heard,” the post said, noting that the investigation was continuing.

Timanovskaya complained in her video that her coaches had registered her for an event she hadn’t trained for, the 4×400-meter relay, because they had failed to conduct enough antidoping tests on other athletes.

In an interview with The New York Times this week, Timanovskaya named Moisevich, the head coach of the Belarusian national team, and Shimak, the deputy director of the Belarusian Republican Track and Field Training Center, as central players in the attempt to remove her from Tokyo.

She said the two men had come to her room at the Olympic Village to persuade her to recant the complaints she had made in her Instagram post and to go home. The order, they said, came from higher-ranking officials.

“Put aside your pride,” Moisevich can be heard saying on a partial recording Timanovskaya made of the conversation. “Your pride will tell you: ‘Don’t do it. You’ve got to be kidding.’ And it will start pulling you into the devil’s vortex and twisting you.”

He adds, “That’s how suicide cases end up, unfortunately.”

Timanovskaya can be heard crying on the tape. At other times she sounds defiant, refusing to believe that if she were to acquiesce and return home, she would be able to continue her athletic career.

The chairman of the Belarus Olympic committee is the eldest son of Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, the strongman leader who has held power in the country for 27 years. He has long sought to stifle any dissent, through measures including a brutal crackdown that began a year ago after a disputed presidential election. Targets of the crackdown also included a number of athletes, leading to the I.O.C.’s decision in December to bar the Lukashenkos from attending the Tokyo Games.

“They helped me follow my dream,” Abderrahman Samba, who grew up in Saudi Arabia, said of Qatar, his adopted country. Credit…Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

TOKYO — There is a lot of sand in Qatar but not a lot of beach parties. At least, not the kind of revelry that tends to draw beach volleyball players, in their bikinis and short shorts.

A lack of tradition, though, has not stopped Qatar from assembling a top-flight beach volleyball team. On Saturday, Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan will fight for bronze in the Olympic men’s beach volleyball competition, having defeated Italy, the 2016 silver medalists, along the way.

“Everyone now knows Qatar in beach volleyball,” Mr. Younousse said. “It’s on the map.”

Armed with cash, coaches and state-of-the-art training facilities, Qatar has been trying to assemble an athletic force worthy of the host of the 2022 soccer World Cup, not to mention other high-profile sporting events that the small Gulf state is eager to attract.

In Tokyo, Qatar has fielded 16 competitors — 13 men and three women — most of whom were drafted from other countries. They include athletes originally from Mauritania, Egypt, Sudan and Morocco. To represent Qatar, where Arabic names are common, many have shed their original names for purposes of competition. But they earn salaries and opportunities that would be impossible in their countries of origin.

“We are one of the best countries to support sports, the government supporting us to achieve things,” said Abderrahman Samba, a 400-meter hurdler who placed fifth in the finals in Tokyo. “I don’t think I can tell you now all the support, it will take days to tell.”

Mr. Samba grew up in Saudi Arabia but ran for Mauritania, his parents’ homeland, before turning up as a Qatari competitor in 2016, about a year after moving there.

“They helped me follow my dream,” he said. “They give me everything.”

Tariq Panja contributed reporting.

Allyson Felix shares the distinction of most decorated female Olympian in track and field with the Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey. She may achieve new milestones at the Tokyo Games.Credit…Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

At a Summer Olympics where almost nothing is recognizable, Allyson Felix’s presence feels especially familiar, almost comforting.

It’s the Summer Games, so of course Felix is running for a gold medal on the track.

She made her debut as an 18-year-old representing the United States at the 2004 Athens Games and has barely stepped off the gas since: She took home one medal from Athens, two from Beijing in 2008, three from London in 2012 and three from Rio de Janeiro in 2016. She also has 19 world championship medals.

Felix’s nine Olympic medals (six golds and three silvers) have her tied with the Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey as the most decorated female Olympian in track and field.

Should she bring home a 10th Olympic medal on Friday in the 400-meter final — and even an 11th on Saturday in the 4×400-meter relay — she would match or surpass Carl Lewis, who has 10, as the most decorated American athlete in track and field. (Paavo Nurmi of Finland, with 12, has the most Olympic medals in the sport overall.)

For a time, there was no guarantee that Felix, 35, would get to the start line for these Games.

In November 2018, she gave birth to her daughter, Camryn, in an emergency cesarean section at 32 weeks. Felix had severe pre-eclampsia, which put her and her daughter’s lives at risk. Camryn remained in the neonatal intensive care unit for weeks.

“There are a lot of moments where I was doubtful,” Felix said after qualifying for Friday’s 400-meter final, coming in second behind Stephenie Ann McPherson of Jamaica for automatic qualification.

Felix’s fight to get to these Games included a visit to Congress and a break with her sponsor.

Her fight hasn’t wavered. She arrived in Tokyo with the same hunger she has had since she first appeared on the global stage. But now she is also a mother, an activist and an entrepreneur who just started her own shoe brand, Saysh.

Another 29 people connected to the Games tested positive for the coronavirus, Tokyo 2020 organizers reported on Friday.

At least 387 people with Olympic credentials have tested positive in Tokyo since July 1, including 32 athletes, according to organizers. Most of the infections have occurred among Japanese nationals, including contractors and others working at Olympic venues.

While a tightly controlled bubble has kept the virus from derailing the Games, infections are spiraling across Japan. Health officials reported 5,042 new cases in Tokyo and 14,211 nationwide on Thursday, both daily records.

Athletes who have tested positive for the coronavirus

Scientists say that positive tests are expected with daily testing programs, even among the vaccinated. Some athletes who have tested positive have not been publicly identified, and some who tested positive were later cleared to participate in the Games.

Aug. 4

Anna Chernysheva

Russian Olympic Committee

Karate

Russian Olympic Committee

Aug. 3

Walid Bidani

Weightlifting

Algeria

July 30

Sparkle McKnight

Track and field

Trinidad and Tobago

Paula Reto

Golf

South Africa

Andwuelle Wright

Track and field

Trinidad and Tobago

July 29

Germán Chiaraviglio

Track and field

Argentina

Sam Kendricks

Track and field

United States

July 28

Bruno Rosetti

Rowing

Italy

July 27

Mohammed Fardj

Wrestling

Algeria

Evangelia Platanioti

Artistic swimming

Greece

July 26

Jean-Julien Rojer

Tennis

Netherlands

July 25

Samy Colman

Equestrian

Morocco

Jon Rahm

Golf

Spain

Djamel Sedjati

Track and field

Algeria

Bilal Tabti

Track and field

Algeria

July 24

Bryson DeChambeau

Golf

United States

July 23

Finn Florijn

Rowing

Netherlands

Jelle Geens

Triathlon

Belgium

Simon Geschke

Road cycling

Germany

Frederico Morais

Surfing

Portugal

July 22

Taylor Crabb

Beach volleyball

United States

Reshmie Oogink

Taekwondo

Netherlands

Michal Schlegel

Road cycling

Czech Republic

Marketa Slukova

Beach volleyball

Czech Republic

July 21

Fernanda Aguirre

Taekwondo

Chile

Ilya Borodin

Russian Olympic Committee

Swimming

Russian Olympic Committee

Amber Hill

Shooting

Britain

Candy Jacobs

Skateboarding

Netherlands

Youcef Reguigui

Road cycling

Algeria

Pavel Sirucek

Table tennis

Czech Republic

July 20

Sammy Solís

Baseball

Mexico

Sonja Vasic

Basketball

Serbia

Hector Velazquez

Baseball

Mexico

July 19

Kara Eaker

Gymnastics

United States

Ondrej Perusic

Beach volleyball

Czech Republic

Katie Lou Samuelson

Three-on-three basketball

United States

July 18

Coco Gauff

Tennis

United States

Kamohelo Mahlatsi

Soccer

South Africa

Thabiso Monyane

Soccer

South Africa

July 16

Dan Craven

Road cycling

Namibia

Alex de Minaur

Tennis

Australia

July 14

Dan Evans

Tennis

Britain

July 13

Johanna Konta

Tennis

Britain

July 3

Milos Vasic

Rowing

Serbia

July 2

Hideki Matsuyama

Golf

Japan

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The U.S. team entered a mostly empty Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

In NBCUniversal’s stewardship of the Tokyo Olympics broadcast, the coronavirus pandemic has been the greatest challenge for the company, which paid more than $1 billion to run 7,000 hours of Games coverage across two broadcast networks, six cable channels and a fledgling streaming platform, Peacock.

The ratings have been a disappointment, averaging 16.8 million viewers a night through Tuesday, a steep drop from the 29 million who tuned in through the same day of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016. NBCUniversal has offered to make up for the smaller-than-expected television audience by offering free ads to some companies that bought commercial time during the Games, according to four people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss negotiations.

The opening ceremony set a downbeat tone. Instead of the usual pageant of athletes smiling and waving to the crowd, there was a procession of participants walking through a mostly empty Tokyo Olympic Stadium, all wearing masks to protect against the spread of Covid-19 as a new variant raged. The live morning broadcast and prime-time replay drew the lowest ratings for an opening ceremony in 33 years, with just under 17 million viewers. The high came Sunday, July 25, when a little more than 20 million people tuned in.

The absence or early exits of popular athletes from some events, including the gymnast Simone Biles, the runner Sha’Carri Richardson, the tennis champion Naomi Osaka and the basketball star LeBron James, further dimmed expectations. And in a constant reminder of the coronavirus, on-air correspondents have been masked as they keep their distance from athletes.

“We turn to the Olympics as an escape, as this fun, uplifting experience, and certainly there have been moments like that,” said Jen Chaney, a television critic for Vulture. “But more than anything, watching this year has shown the wounds that we’re dealing with.”

The United States celebrated after Megan Rapinoe scored in what might have been her final game in a major tournament.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

KASHIMA, Japan — It could not, even at the end, even when they were nearly across the line, be easy. Not this year.

The U.S. women’s soccer team came to Japan in search of gold. It is the prize the team always expects, the one it always believes it deserves.

This time, though, the opponents were better, the connections weren’t there, and neither were the results. Until Thursday, when they needed one last win, one last stand, in the bronze medal game to make something out of what could have been nothing.

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Australia

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United States

The medal arrived in due course, delivered with a 4-3 victory powered by two of the team’s oldest players, Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd, who both scored two goals in what might have been their final game in a major tournament.

“It’s obviously not the type of medal we wanted,” Rapinoe had said. But she made sure they got it anyway.

The Americans had expected to win gold in this tournament, but they said they would play hard for bronze.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

Even at the end, it did not go easily. Australia proved to be a determined opponent and made the United States fight to the last minute, scoring twice in the final 40 minutes after falling behind 4-1. The Americans even played the final four minutes with 10 players, out of substitutes and having watched Alex Morgan limp off after a collision.

But the job got done.

“You can’t win them all,” Lloyd had said after a semifinal defeat ended her team’s hope for another Olympic championship. “This was my eighth tournament, and they’ve all had a different story line. They’ve all started and finished in a different fashion. Some have been pretty, some have been ugly, some we’ve just scraped by. This one we didn’t get by.”

TOKYO — On the track, the low point for the United States on Thursday was bungling a handoff in the men’s 4×100 relay and failing to qualify for the finals. It was the fourth straight Olympics that the men’s team has had baton problems; it hasn’t won a medal in the event since 2004 or a gold since 2000.

Katie Nageotte of the United States won the gold medal in the women’s pole vault, and Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas won the men’s 400 meters.

In the 110-meter high hurdles, Hansle Parchment of Jamaica upset the world champion Grant Holloway of the United States. The shot-put ended with the same three medalists in the same order as in 2016: Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs of the United States and Tom Walsh of New Zealand.

The U.S. men’s basketball team trailed at the half but blew open the game in the third quarter to beat Australia, 97-78, and advance to the final. Kevin Durant had 23 points.

The U.S. women’s soccer team rebounded from a semifinal disappointment with a 4-3 victory over Australia in the bronze medal game. Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd had two goals each in what might have been their final game in a major tournament. The gold medal match between Canada and Sweden was rescheduled to Friday evening in Yokohama from Friday morning in Tokyo after teams expressed concerns about the heat and the condition of the playing surface at the Olympic Stadium, which had hosted field events like javelin and discus all week.

Nevin Harrison, 19, was the only American sprint canoer or kayaker to qualify for the Games, but she won the gold medal in the 200 meters.

David Taylor won the second gold medal in wrestling for the United States at these Games. Florian Wellbrock of Germany won the marathon swim event, in a hot, murky, polluted bay.

The U.S. baseball team beat South Korea, 7-2, and advances to go for gold against Japan.

Hugues Fabrice Zango jumped 17.47 meters in the men’s triple jump finals on Thursday, coming in third place.Credit…Aleksandra Szmigiel/Reuters

Nearly half a century ago, Burkina Faso began competing at the Summer Games, never once bringing home a medal.

Its wait is finally over.

Hugues Fabrice Zango jumped 17.47 meters in the men’s triple jump finals on Thursday, coming in third place and earning the bronze medal. Portugal claimed gold, while China took home silver.

President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré of Burkina Faso applauded Zango on Twitter, saying he had “followed the magnificent performance of our great champion from start to finish.”

“Thank you Hugues for this bronze medal,” Mr. Kaboré wrote. “We are all proud of you.”

Zango, who in addition to his athletics is pursuing a doctorate in electrical engineering in France, was also one of the Burkina Faso’s flag-bearers in the opening ceremony. In an Instagram post leading up to his departure to Japan, Zango wrote that he promised to “represent the country with dignity.”

Zango first stepped onto the Olympic stage at the 2016 Rio Games, but his triple jump there, at 15.99 meters, landed him in 17th place.

Portugal

China

Burkina Faso

At the 2019 World Athletics Championship in Doha, Qatar, Zango won his first international medal, recording a triple jump of 17.66 meters to earn the bronze. He set his hopes to win a medal for his country on an even bigger stage.

“I would like to win an Olympic medal for Burkina Faso. We’ve never won an Olympic medal. We are not far,” he said in an April 2020 interview on the Olympics website.

Burkina Faso has appeared in 10 Olympic Games so far, including Tokyo. It made its debut at the 1972 Olympics, when the country was known as Upper Volta. Its sole athlete at the time was André Bicaba, who competed in the 100-meter sprint, according to the Tokyo Olympics website. The country’s next appearance was not until the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, when it competed as Burkina Faso.

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