#There is one big choice in the game that literally pissed me off so much I almost get a migraine thinking about it

[finchmarie]

yea idk. i generally liked datv, combat/exploring in particular was for me extremely fun. did a mage on underdog. The game ran flawlessly on launch day with a mid gaming rig, which is unfortunately not the fucking norm anymore. I personally think it was quite pretty, and did see stylization that tied it backwards to other games.

the game has many flaws in culture, characterization, writing, but i can recognize that, be critical of it, and still enjoy it. cause it's a just a fucking video game at the end of the day. I almost wish it wasn't a dragon age game cause it just brings so much fucking baggage along side it.

I will say, that not enough of you are prepared for what private equity/corporate money will continue to do to the quality of games from big studios. I am going to enjoy this bit of representation, even if flawed, for now because the american apocalypse is on the immediate horizon and I doubt we'll see a big studio in this country with an NB character at the forefront in the next decade.

[hustlerose]

as i slowly exit my "bethesda's writing and design are literally satan" era, i find myself less angry about their many missteps, and more melancholy about what might have been. fallout 3's pre-broken-steel ending, for example

everyone makes fun of that one moment. your super mutant buddy you just met tells you "we all have our own destinies, and yours culminates here. i would not rob you of that." like sorry player 1, you have to die here for no good reason because it's dramatically satisfying

i submit this ending pissed people off not because it's bad, but because it's the wrong ending for fallout 3. fallout 1 and 2 had endings and they felt just fine, but fallout 3 is not a narrative-driven game like those ones. it's a big fun sandbox that you play in to your heart's content. a bittersweet ending with hints of destiny is unwelcome here. even ending the game at the climax is a mistake. the only sensible ending to a bethesda game is "play til you stop having fun." so they did that ending instead, as dlc

what pisses ME off about the ending is that it's so inspiring. i can't help but wish i'd played the game that matched that ending. imagine a version of fallout 3 where all the characters talked like that. imagine the chosen one narrative was dialed up to 11, where every moment of narrative was suffused with tragedy and inevitability. imagine if more characters talked metatextually, musing on your role as player and protagonist. think about all the cool foreshadowing that could have been done to set up a tragic ending where you make the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good. you could wring so much moral complexity out of this moment, as it could force you to reflect on your charcter's choices. you are the most important character in this world. fate bends around your story. what if the other characters could tell, and had opinions on that fact?

i want to read that story god dammit! sometimes i think it's up to me. maybe i have to rip that great ending right out of fallout 3 and stitch up a whole new story around it. one that actually supports fawkes' dialog as its central theme

[eccentricallygothic]

YOU KNOW PARTY GIRL? The fix you wrote with ari? 😭😭 it was SOO good OML..

I was wondering if you could make a tiny little imagine if that version of ari caught you running away to get out of punishment 🤭🤭

First of all, thank you so much for reading and enjoying Party Girl, I appreciate you popping in here to give me your sweet feedback! Now, of course I can do that. Punishment and bratting are my top kinks! I am aware this is rather late but I really hope you still enjoy!

Sorry Brat

Warning(s): Ddlg, power imbalance, Daddy!Ari, Baby!You, m!dom, f!sub, couple tussling, running kink, chase kink, minor spanking, allusions to corporal punishment, manhandling, Ari is a giant, age gap, pet names.

.

"Oh, yes" much to your horror, Ari took your phone out from his other pocket now. "Your phone, how could I forget?" Unlocking the screen showing a picture of you two cuddled up on a camping trip, Ari tapped on your Snapchat app. "I am so proud of you for following all your rules and studying hard yesterday, baby" he said as he tapped through your many stories from last night before swiping to story settings to find him crossed out.  

You tried to speak but no words came out. How could they? When you had just been caught red handed like this? Ari wasn't stupid and the evidence of your delinquency laid right there in his huge palm.

So you did the only thing your mind deemed appropriate in the moment.

Wordlessly spinning towards the first route of escape you could calculate in this moment, it being the space between the large couch -that he was seated on- and the single seater placed beside it in a L shaped fashion, you pushed away the arm he had around your waist before you took off. 

Ari chuckled softly at your unrelenting audacity before he spread his muscular legs as he leaned back against the cushion after placing your phone on the coffee table. He turned his face in the direction you had dashed in, snaking his fingers through his luscious brown locks before he called out to you.  

“Really?” The male pushed the silky hair away from his face. “Let’s see how far you can get this time around, little bunny” yes, this wasn't the first time you had pulled this stunt. It was stupid. Because you already knew it was a futile attempt; a losing game before it had even begun. 

The first time you had done this, Ari had told you that he was inevitable before he had made you cry on his knee. With each spank he has assured you that you could never escape him. 

Not really. 

Ari sighed as he pushed his giant form off the couch and stood up to his full height, which was only a few inches shy of 7’. “Now that you have chosen to go about it like this, you better make sure I never find you, little girl” if not for the hellfire that was sure to be unleashed on your scared little ass upon getting caught, his words would have excited you.

Your heart thumped in your chest as you slowly peeked with one eye to see where he was. The apartment wasn't too big and your roommates' rooms were occupied. So that left you with the kitchen that was opposite of the little hallway where your rooms were and on the other side of the living room. 

As you saw Ari's huge form move about the main room with faux ignorance of your whereabouts, you felt like kicking yourself. You were such an idiot. First you had pissed him off by breaking his rules and then had lied about it, next you had chosen to away from him only to do so in a direction from where you couldn't even move anywhere else.

You facepalmed at your own stupidity before you scrambled forwards when he went to the kitchen just for the fun of it and looked there. That allowed you the time to hurriedly crawled to the couches and hide behind one. Ari had literally seen you run to your room, so staying there just wasn't an option anymore. As a result, you had no choice but come into the heart of the danger; the living room.

“Here, little bunny, come out, come out wherever you are~” Ari loved it when you put up a bratty little fight. That was why he was enjoying this. Because crushing and beating that rebellious resolve out of you -or rather, your ass- when he finally caught you was the best part for him. And Ari always caught you. So this useless little revolt from you made the catharsis of his rage even more satisfying.

It was like hunting game for slaughter. 

You had to press your palm to your mouth to mute your panting when he returned to the living room, a devilish smirk on his face as he walked with a slow and heavy foot, ripped arms held behind his back.

“Maybe she's here…” He ducked under a table and swished away the net drape that covered it. A cruel, deep chuckle left him when he didn't find you there. “Or… maybe here!” You jumped from the force he used to push the coats hanging on the livingroom coat hanger away. His shoulders shook in silent mirth when he didn't find you there as well.

The more Ari moved around the room, the more you followed suit from behind the couches, watching him with risky peeks every now and then to make sure you were still undetected.

“Ah!” Ari exclaimed when he approached the beginning of the hallway leading to your room. “That must be it!” You felt momentary relief wash over you as you lowered yourself behind the couch from where you were raised on your haunches. Placing a hand over your erratic heart, you sighed as quietly as you could manage and wiped your forehead with the back of your hand.

Taking a quick glance in the direction of the kitchen, you willed your tired mind to work. Ari had already checked it. So perhaps you could hide in there. And just maybe, by some miracle, the next time you’d see Ari some of his anger would have subsided. 

Yes, it couldn't be denied due to ample proof that doing stuff like this only sunk you into more trouble, but the almighty what if was a comfort in times of your self-inflicted anxieties.

Eyeing the kitchen, you raised yourself back up and placed your palm against the back of the couch to peek behind him one last time before you'd make your move. That was it. That was how you were going to make it out of this. Yes. It was a decent plan if you said so yourself.

But then…

“Hi” Ari's grin was nothing short of pure evil and your eyes widened as you gasped loudly when you finally looked only to come face to face with your pursuer. His huge form was hunched over the couch, causing him to appear as a cunning hawk, and you realized just now that he had become quiet– too quiet a short while ago. Your body went flying backwards in a defensive shock, everything went in slow motion, you spun around once more as a last ditch effort but alas! 

There was only so much luck a little girl could have.

“Oh, no!” Your smaller legs kicked furiously in the air as Ari scooped you up from behind by your underarms and effortlessly brought you to himself over the couch. Everything clicked back into motion in the present moment, breaking your mental state of slow motion. 

“Oh, yes” mock laced his tone as he sat down and threw you over his lap, giving you an initiating spank to get you to buck up.

You had a long day ahead of you.

[anisespice]

“ headshot ” || tokyo rev. 

synopsis: how the bonten execs. would react to a gun being pointed at you/your head. 

pairing: bonten x fem!reader

warnings: mature language, gun violence, reader cries in some, mentions of bodily harm (only on the antags), and i think that��s it

notes: thought of this while on a car ride, staring at trees…not sure what that says about me, but here she is lol i’m a little iffy on mikey’s since i think his was the shortest, but i liked keeping some of these open-ended. hope you enjoy!

manjiro ッ 

Wouldn’t react much on the outside, but on the inside that man could probably melt a building with his rage alone. It occurred during a small gathering amongst investors, corrupt and all. You had been by his side throughout the whole night until you left to go to the bathroom…that was several minutes ago. He’s already a paranoid man, so the moment the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, he gave Sanzu a pointed look—Find her.  

However, that wouldn’t be necessary. 

Before the cotton candy-haired gangster even had time to get excited about the potential hunt, some bootlicker came barreling through the crowd with you in a headlock, and a gun pressed into your temple. Both of you looked disheveled, no doubt your doing from putting up a good fight, he proudly noted. The fucker probably ambushed you in the bathroom, taking his opportunity when you left Mikey’s side—Pussy-ass bitch. He didn’t know if the guy was bold or just plain stupid standing smack-dab in the lion’s den, threatening the only life Mikey found precious. 

“Nobody moves! Or I’ll blow her goddamn brains out!”  

Didn’t matter, though. He’d surely pay with his. 

sanzu ッ

Over a game of poker, some guy whose luck just wasn’t on his side decided he deserved retribution—And you were unfortunately the one to pay it forward. You were perched on Sanzu’s lap, sitting prettily as you laughed at the silly men crying after taking a heavy loss from your man. For him, it was like nails on a chalkboard hearing you mock the table alongside that crackhead, his inferiority complex spewing venomous thoughts in his head that you needed to be taken down a couple notches. 

A death wish. That dumbass had a death wish. 

He abruptly stood, knocked the table over and aimed his sorry excuse of a gun right at you, rendering everyone else speechless. Sanzu barely reacted but felt you startle, cooing softly in your ear as he lovingly tapped you on the thigh in reassurance. You relaxed instantly, eyeing down the barrel of the gun with mirth as the guy began to shake. Blame it on the alcohol, blame it on the heat of the moment, or even the bottomless debt he just put himself in, but one thing was for certain—He fucked up big time, no rush. 

You couldn’t see it, but Sanzu had murderous intent hidden behind his calm exterior. And everyone at that table knew it as they scattered from the scene. Probably wasn't the smartest choice to bet his luck against yours, though. For someone who was already absolute dogshit at poker, Sanzu figured he’d be doing this guy a favor anyways. 

“How ballsy of you. Guess I’d better cut ‘em off.”

ran ッ

Not gonna lie, whoever decided to test his gangsta like that would surely need to evaporate IMMEDIATELY after because there’s absolutely no SHOT of them, they mama, they second cousin, or even that one neighbor who used to live by them, surviving this man’s wrath.

Especially if they tried it in his own home.

The poor guy didn’t even get to make his demands, Ran was on him so quick he damn near broke the laws of physics. You’d never seen a grown man beg for mercy to the point of literally pissing himself before, but it definitely lightened your mood. You even pointed and laughed, despite the tears still falling down your face from the unpleasant experience. Ran merely grinned adoringly at you as he twisted the assailant’s arm in three different ways.

“There’s my favorite smile ♡. I’ll make sure this fucker suffers for almost taking it away from me, angel.”

rindou ッ

It’s always the younger siblings that are the more unhinged. He already don’t play that bullshit when it comes to you, your safety becoming one of his main priorities the moment you agreed to be with him. Anyone who dared to compromise that would fuck around and find out.

And eventually, someone did.

To be fair, the guy who pulled the gun on you didn’t know any better. As far as he was concerned, he was doing his job in making sure unauthorized civilians in the building were to be eradicated immediately. Especially those who claim to know anyone from Bonten without some sort of proof.

Because your relationship was hush-hush to most, if not all staff, it was no wonder homie didn’t believe you. But, it didn’t matter. As soon as Rindou found out the commotion going on in the lobby had to do with you, and some dumbass subordinate holding a gun to your head???

That walking mullet made that guy’s trigger finger into a necklace and forced him to wear it as a reminder.

kakucho ッ

A wild card, truly. He can’t afford to be anything but mr. calm and collected, especially in hostile situations. On one hand, he knows that getting worked up will do neither of you any good. And on the other hand…

When he got the video of you being held for ransom by some backstreet lowlife, gun pressed to your temple as you’re forced to read out their petty demands, Kakucho wanted to set the whole city on fire. His entire being vibrated, teeth clenched so hard you’d need a crowbar to unhinge it. Even Mikey eyed him sideways for a moment before reassuring him that you would be found, and that those amateurs would be handled. Kakucho growled lowly, dual-colored eyes piercing through the souls of every subordinate in the room.

“If she doesn’t make it out of this alive, none of you will.”

© 2022-2023 anisespice ッ all rights reserved. likes, comments & reblogs much appreciated!

[pastxlscorp]

Palia Character Characterizations/Impres.

(impres. is short for impressions btw! also big ass rambling)

I started Palia the other day and I'm amazed it's free. Aside from some obvious glitches, the game is pretty good and it's on par with some games that charge money. I've been doing some quests but I'm not too far into the story, but I have some strong feelings about some characters. This might not have a big fanbase but if there is only one fan, I am one! I'm just gonna give some first impressions and how I headcanon some characters personality wise based on other impressions of them from the villagers n shit. You should try it out if you already haven't!

Nai'O:

STARTING OFF WITH MY ANNOYANCE FOR THIS MAN. I know a big controversy with him is that he's in a monogamous relationship with another villager (spoilers: Kenyatta) yet he is still a romancable character. Although in his culture it is normal to have poly relationships, he has some pretty inconsistent writing (im gonna get into this more later with Reth). He argues that Reth flirts with everyone, which he clearly is annoyed by, but if he falls in love with the player, he actually is fine dating both you and Kenyatta depending on your dialogue choices. Seems inconsistent that he would get pissed at Reth while he was over here flirting with the player. ALSO— Kenyatta literally calls Reth hot, so she’s not even fully loyal to him either. He seems aware of this, since it honestly sounds like his disliking of Reth is more jealousy than anything. I personally don’t see the significance of having the two of them date monogamously if they’re clearly open to poly or having an open relationship. Aside from that, he's a very sweet villager who I knew I was gonna like from the start. Farm boy himbo that knows what he's doing until it comes to social cues. Romance him if you wish! He's a sweet boy who wants what's best for his family but aside from that, he's a fairly simple character. As far as I've explored the world and quests, I haven't found any deeper nuance or lore with him since his family is pretty wholesome. Nothing wrong with simplicity, but I love characters with a little more complexity and nuance since there is so much more to dive into, analyze, and admire.

Reth:

my boyfriend First impression was how this man was a flirt. It's pretty heavily implied imo that Reth is a womanizer and sleeps around. His boss, Ashura, mentions something about Reth likes having his nights free and Nai'O blatantly just says this man flirts with everyone in proximity. I find the beef between him and Nai'O interesting, as it implies either Reth is jealous of him or dislikes him because he considers him cowardly for hiding his relationship with Kenyatta. When Nai'O sends you off on a quest to deliver something to Reth, he calls Reth "loverboy" and he calls out him and Kenyatta for sneaking around and also Hassian's love poems. This is kinda reiteriated when he makes a comment about Hassian's love letters being not-so-secret. He's aware how he's an obvious flirt, which I find admirable. He does not give a fuck about how anyone perceives him and is open about it, which is why he shames the other two for sneaking around with their romance lives. In another quest, he makes another comment about stealing Nai'O's muscles. Initially I thought he was interested in Kenyatta but I think him flirting with her is more of a rivalry between him and Nai’O. Amongst the villagers, they are the two canonically best looking, which is an interesting dynamic. It makes sense why Nai’O would then be pissed off Reth was flirting with Kenyatta, as he knows she does find him attractive. I headcanon that Reth is one of the few characters that would be romantically interested in the player even if they didn’t romance him because of his voicelines. Some of them are like “uh oh, gotta go uh…” and he’ll make up an excuse to leave sounding flustered. Reth, to me, is one of the more complex characters because of how much shit goes unsaid with him. He comes off as very easygoing because he's stressed because he has a hard time saying no and ends up lying, which gets him into a load of shit. His small talk is really sweet though, I like to headcanon he's flirty so the (spoilers) cartel can’t tell who he’s close with. I'm currently romancing him and one other man! I really find it cute how he sweet he is to his sister. Bold move to abandon the family careerline (especially since he is I think the only dude in the village who is not carrying family tradition) and he knows all eyes are on Tish (his sister) because of it. It's cute that he only cares about how people talk about him when it impacts his sister. I assume this is why he usually takes all the shit the other villagers give him because he knows it would go on his sister otherwise. I felt so bad bc I actually didn’t cover for him in one of his friendship quests because I thought ashura would’ve figured I was lying. In Reth’s letter, he writes if you covered for him or didn’t and says there’s no hard feelings and that he was using the free time he got to spend with his sister. I’m sorry pookie 🥹

Hassian:

Really liked him at first, but he became unlikable really fast. He's super attractive if you're looking for a black cat boyfriend or a tsundere, but it gets old quick. He comes out rude even when he's trying to be nice and in real life this shit would be so toxic. In game reasonably it's more tolerated but it just is not my cup of tea. I'm usually a sucker for dudes with this archetype too since it's just nice to see people soften up and get comfortable, but Hassian just can be overbearing. I was leveling up my friendship with him and he sent a letter saying "You'll probably freeze to death without my help, so take this. You'll thank me for it later." like lil bro fuck u. Jokes aside, I'm not a fan of the fact he's romancable mainly because it's revealed later on (spoilers) that he is in love with another villager, Tamala. It's lowkey fucked up because there is a whole quest where you have to deliver one of his letters to her and if you deliver it to her on the first try, she laughs at his letter, showing it's clearly not reciprocal, at least anymore. On his romance quests (I searched it up bc I got curious) she admits she led Hassian on because she wanted a fling and he wanted marriage. I felt so bad for bro but lowkey he brought this shit on himself. Tamala affirms what I'm arguing because she explains they broke up b/c of his "sour" demeanor. Again, cute on paper, but if you don't write any development it gets old fast. It kind of even feels like you're a rebound for Tamala. I do like that the villagers know he has a soft spot for Auni (one of the 2 children villagers) because he always plays with him. This could have been a great premise for character development but unfortunately it just does not go anywhere. I know there's a reddit thread complaining about Hassian's lack of development and another for Nai'O being in a relationship and romanceable-- if anyone's is interested in reading more.

Hodari:

First impression: dilf. I'm not crossing that out I'm being honest. I instantly wanted to romance Hodari but honestly as I kept playing he lowkey came off as such a dad and then I realized bro is in fact a father. If you want a dilf, go for it. But if you have daddy issues like me, you're gonna look at bro in a different light when you get to know his character. His lore is pretty fucked up but it's sweet he's trying to look out for his kid, just the way he goes about it is not the best. I did really like one dialogue in idle chat with him that he admits he knows his daughter sneaks out and he doesn't say anything about it because he knows he can be a helicopter dad sometimes. I'm still debating as of now if I'm gonna romance him or not but I haven't seen any red flags with Hodari as of yet, just that he's reasonably a little closed in and dry, but he's not nearly as hostile as Hassian.

Jel:

bros side profile is immaculate. my HUSBAND. Loud and proud bro. At first I genuinely did not fuck with him because he was so mean initially. He made it sound like you were a peasant. He develops quickly through small talk though and it's so cute, like he easily became my favorite. He goes on night walks and enjoys the beauty of literally everything: some of his favorite gifts are insects and shells. He finds everything potential of beauty. He's a little corny when he's greeting you (he'll talk abt how you brighten his loneliness bc he's so dramatic) but I adore it. Also call me odd but I find that when a man has a girl best friend, immediate green flag. His relationship with Tish reminds me a lot of me and my best friend I adore it SOOO much. I'm in the process of romancing him and BRO I found out through youtube tutorials that if you're romancing him and someone else he comes to your house and tells you "If you were trying to keep this from me because you thought it would affect things between you and I, you're wrong. I'm a big boy. I know how to share." WHAT? WHAT? WHAT. Anyways I would 100% recommend romancing him I see no flags if they are any, red is my favorite color. goodnight.

[fizzigigsimmer]

I am in a moody place, and as usual writing soothes me. I have no idea if there will be more of this, but have some broody post apocalyptic King!Steve.

The King Unbroken.

Jonathan was right. They must have crossed the border into what used to be California some time ago. Steve stared down at the old sign, half lodged in the dirt against a pile of twisted tree limbs. An old sign, more rust now than interstate green, nearly unreadable with vine cover. He could still just make out the faded off white letters that read: Little Valley. Five miles.

Sneering, Steve nudged aside the sign with the toe of his boot, revealing the dark opening of a small narrow room hallowed out in the stump of a once great tree - now dead, like so much else. He took one final sniff, spine tensing as he caught that faint whiff of salt that had followed him since they’d veered off route eighty. Maybe it was just sea air, carried in by the rain they had earlier that week. Or maybe it was something worse - like Hargrove.

He saw again, sharp blue eyes peering at him from behind the holes of a wooden mask - no doubt lifted from some museum - white paint highlighting the strange swirls and embellishments carved across the smooth surface of the wood, with brightly colored plumes of feathers jutting out from the top, more frightening than beautiful. It should have been cheesy - a jumped up kid with blood colored handprints staining his skin, trying to invoke fear by wearing the relics of some tribe long gone.

It wasn’t.

Hargrove’s reputation for brutality spoke for itself. And those eyes, that had been so focused in their hunger and unapologetic in Hargrove’s base desire to watch something weaker than himself squirm, had said the rest. Billy Hargrove had scared the piss out of Steve and that was saying something, given that between a choice of being handed over to a savage alpha in exchange for safe trade passages, or facing the flesh eating faceless monsters that roamed freely outside of the compound; Steve had chosen the monsters.

Fuck Billy Hargrove. Fuck his dad too. If the apocalypse had taught Steve anything, it was his value. He wasn’t good for much, but he could be a damn good shield for others. Funny it took the world ending for that to sink in. Because it didn’t matter anymore what his grades were or that he’d never been ‘the best’ at anything besides making others feel small while he stumbled down the path laid for him by his family status and his father’s money. None of it mattered because life was now a brutal game of survival, may the biggest asshole win, and even before the monsters gave him a reason everyone said that Steve Harrington was king asshole.

It wasn’t like Steve had gone through any great big revaluation or soul change. Turning over a new leaf had been literally as simple as turning over in his bunk the first night in the compound and accepting that none of the petty shit he used to care about mattered. Only, in the morning he’d still be alive while better people were dead, so either it was swallow the gun still resting on his nightstand or try and find a little good to do. That’s it. All he was living for. The chance to save a few better people and protect them for as long as he could. Maybe if humanity was lucky, one of those people might be the one to figure out how to deal with the monsters for good.

Everyone in the pack was in awe of the omega who carried a bat full of metal teeth and led raids against grey-dog hives, enemy packs and everything in between, like death couldn’t touch him and his heart was made of stone. There were plenty of people who would swear that Steve was heartless - even some of the ones he’d saved from the outside and brought into the pack himself - but he wasn’t. Not really. He kind of thought that if there ever was a moment that he felt safe enough to really think about everything he had been through since Day One, and everything he had done in between to survive, he’d probably lose it. It might break him, and then he truly would have been just a waste of space.

Which was precisely why he shoved it all down and never thought about it for too long. What was the point? Crying about the dead wasn’t going to bring them back. Neither would feeling guilty over the lives he’d taken. The kind of use the pack had for a soft sentimental omega, one who couldn’t or wouldn’t kill to survive was the stuff of nightmares. He’d seen it happen to most of the other omegas in his life. To his own mother. Only the strong survived here. Nothing was given for free. Anything of value on the other hand could always be taken, or traded.

Steve had proven that he could be more useful than just as a source of amusement and slick. That he could soldier with the best of them. He could get hit, kicked, knocked down, clawed full of holes, and drag himself back up every time. Since their first raid together his team had lost the fewest members and they still had the highest success rate of any party in the pack. Steve had carefully selected each member, because he’d always been good at surrounding himself with people stronger and smarter than himself, and convincing them somehow to care for him.

It was his one skill, besides hitting things. But by god he’d earned the right to say he’d proven he could make good use of what he had. He hadn’t survived watching those beasts tear apart his friends, seeing his mother passed around like a party favor for oil, just to end up sharing her fate. Traded off to a savage alpha to be bred and brutalized in an endless circle of hell until he died.

Fuck that!

Pushing the memory of the alpha aside, Steve knelt down onto his hands and knees and crawled inside, backward, tugging the heavy sign back into place after himself, and plummeting the den into darkness.

Breathing deep, the scent of dirt and rot filled his nose, and Steve Harrington breathed his first sigh of relief in days. It was stupid to think he would - no matter how much his dad complained about having to negotiate with a kid, it wasn’t Hargrove that needed them - but if there were any chance that Billy was following him, he wouldn’t be able to find Steve now.

Dead or not, the walls of the oak were thick. The natural scents of decay overpowered those of an unwashed human body. Even one of an omega flushed with heat and damp from exertion. Feeling around in the dark Steve’s fingers found the strap of the backpack with supplies that Robin had stashed there for him. It wasn’t much: a ratty old blanket (cheap in this warm climate). A water bottle (expensive anywhere). And a little plastic packet of Advil (worth more than gold these days).

But it’s more than most people have. Steve had always had more than what most people have. Even before the monsters came and civilization as he knew it crumbled around him. It wasn’t fair maybe, but life wasn’t fair. If it was, shitheads like him would have been the first to go in the apocalypse; the base of their power destroyed and unable to adapt to whatever new society emerged from the rubble. But that wasn’t what happened when the world as he knew it ended.

What happened was rich guys like his dad who survived long enough after the first appearance of the monsters, bought up resources while they fled to whatever approximation of safety money could buy them. They threw even more money at stocks and whatever else they hoped would make them richer once the danger was passed, and the smart ones stockpiled what they knew would become better than money in the event that the danger never did.

It hadn’t. Steve’s highschool, the stock market, and just about everything else from his old life was gone.

A few pockets of civilization still clung to life in a sea of monsters. Each colony ruled by whatever alphas had proven themselves better survivors than the rest, followed by those who hoped to be protected from a worse fate. Billy Hargrove was said to be one of the strongest alphas in the west.

He’d slaughtered the pack and taken over the territory that once had been their primary source of trade with the east. Steve’s father had offered him a king's ransom in goods for the promise to reopen trade. But Hargrove had only seemed to want one thing. The heartless omega he’d apparently heard so much about.

Curling up tighter in the small space, Steve brought the blanket over himself and shivered, despite the temperature he could feel climbing with each passing minute. His heat could not have come at a worse time but mercifully he’d made it to the den. With Jonathan and the others keeping a watch on the area he could be relatively confident that nothing would disturb him for a few days while he rode it out.

And when his heat was over, Steve had a new mission. Another chance to prove to his father that he had made a mistake, trading him to Hargrove.

Steve closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, trying to drift off to sleep to conserve his energy before the worst of the heat arrived. The faintest whisper of the sea tickled in the back of his nose, more memory than real. Haunting him. Steve gritted his teeth and silently renewed his vow.

He was going to bring his father back Billy’s head, along with the territory that came with it. And when he did no one would ever question again why he’d survived this long, unchained and unbroken.

[achillvs]

one thing that i'm fucking tired of is that when i tell people i'm playing bg3, they usually go "who are you romancing?", as expected, and i usually start with "well, astarion for now" and the way they answer excitedly is also understandable, but it's important to me that i am looking forward to properly romancing wyll on my next run and the difference in people's reactions pisses me off. "oh, i don't care about him," "eh, he's boring" or "wyll completely didn't grasp me"

to each their own, of course, but the difference with which people respond to you saying you like wyll vs someone like karlach or gale, is staggering. if someone isn't keen on romancing karlach or shadowheart or anyone else but wyll, they will generally jump into conversation with "i personally went with xyz, but karlach is so cute/shadowheart is my goth princess/gale is so funny" etc. i get nothing when i bring up how tragically heroic wyll is or how sweetly supportive no matter the circumstances (breaking up with wyll on the aforementioned astarion run fully made me inconsolable for the whole day. i didnt deserve him)

i don't think all the people who say that are racist, i would like not to think that at least, so i cant help but put the blame on the developers. they created a perfect companion's backstory that has ties to ALL the major locations of ALL 3 acts, something that off the top of my head no other companion has (wyll has personal business in the grove, the moonrise towers/ketheric's prisons and is literally "the pride of the gate") and yet the depth of his characterization was just fumbled so massively. i saw a comparison between the arcs of astarion's and wyll's and how astarion gets to make a big choice for himself where wyll doesn't - and that it makes sense, because the narrative itself doesn't give wyll the information that would lead to make different choices. he doesn't get to know important things from his own story. he exists mostly mechanically and to bring big bad bosses into the game. the game doesn't care about him as a character and as much as it irks me, it's not hard to see why players don't either

[anonymous-eggy]

your leander analysis was soooo spot on !! it's the first one that made sense to me !! i was always like ?? why would he try to mess with you ?? it just didn't make sense to me ?? you're so big brain

exactlyyyy!

i think my point didnt really get across because i said it in a very dramatic manner, but the point is there.

at the end of the day, Leander wants to manipulate you into trusting him. for what reason? we don't know yet. To take down the senobium? for selfish reasons? both?

no matter the reason, he's cunning and manipulative. he's not prone to outbursts and immediate revenge from what we've seen in the demo. he didn't become the trusted and adored leader of a huge gang by having childish outbursts and taking his frustration out on others for not trusting him or not wanting to be around him. he's like a wolf. he will play the long game if he really has to. if it becomes a game of stamina, he'll keep chasing you until you dont want to or cant run anywhere but into his arms. into his maw of fangs that he's conditioned you to believe is home so he can finally snap his jaw shut on you.

He is the safehouse, the leader. everyone follows him eventually. he just likes to make you feel like it was your choice all along and not something he was steering you towards since the very beginning.

this is literally what makes him such an attractive character. we know in the back of our minds (whether or not we realize it) that this is what he's doing. its so bad, but it so good at the same time. he has secrets and depth to his character and we want to know them.

honestly, if anything, he grabbed mc's hand when they choose to hesitate out of desperation to prove he can handle it and gain that huge leap of trust in Mc.

which caused mc a moment of panic and surprise, thus causing their curse to flare up. the same way i assume mhin's curse would flare up to protect them. this flare up was more than what leander had planned for, so he has a moment where he has to bat away the curse with whatever stupid powerful magic he's gotten ahold of.

once again, he wants you to trust him. this is obviously a bad situation where there's only two believable and sucky ways to play it off. the truth, or a prank. so he has to pick the lesser of two bad choices and play it off like he was just messing around. like it was just jokes and everything was fine all along!!! i think theres a small crack in his facade when he says something along the lines of Mc's curse being some serious stuff he's never seen before. this is a true statement buried in false ones. its easy to breeze over. he's successfully fooled you and won if he can get you to believe he was genuinely just fucking with you.

but yeah, sure Mc could have gotten pissed with him, but isnt a moment of Mc being pissed at a joke better than them not trusting him with their curse? the trust broken from a prank is MUCH easier to repair than trust broken from a curse that almost slipped through his magical protections.

Leander wants Mc alive, safe, and trusting him COMPLETELY. He (i assume unknowingly) hints at this anytime he talks about how he shouldn't have let you leave his side. he is that one "the illusion of choice" meme.

My ending statement will be this: i am OBSESSED with characters that have a true personality hidden under a different one. the little phrases that slip out and give insight into the truth are my JAM. characters that dangle a shiny charming personality like an angler fish. maybe its because of my trauma, but we dont have to talk about that.

[sweatandwoe]

bioware da:v stuff

Ohhhhhhh, I forgot about it being multiplayer originally urrrggHHGGG nightmare nightmare

EA/BIOWARE execs I hate your flaccid brains.

They do claim to "have a mastery of the frostbite engine now" but an RPG should never have to be forced into that FIFA engine! It looks so "bloomy" & waxy, the camera jerks around to be "immersive" when the character runs. It feels like they were told to keep adding post processing effects so some suit could say he punched it up.

I still hope the gameplay will be fun/wellmade but I have to admit I personally don't care about how heavily the story is going in on elves as the one important™️ race to the world setting.

I'm playing BG3 & DOS2, trying to tell myself I can't compare Bioware to Larian as they are very different styles of RPG studio but oogh more time passes & the more I enjoy the way Larian does it. As an ancient Bioware game fan, it stings.

BIOWARE CRITICAL (I ranted more than I thought)

Frostbite Engine is probably why we also got an art direction change, that feels closer to Fifa. It wouldn't surprise me if that's also where the hair physics comes in, as Fifa does have that. It doesn't look bad to me, however, I saw someone describe it as Pixar-lite and I can never unsee it. Also, the Megamind Qunari was certainly... a choice.

Also Frostbite used mostly for multiplayer games and the scrapped live service/multiplayer DA game, also got used here. From just a lot of elements that I don't wanna go into here (this post is already very long)

I think the combat actually looks fun but I've seen people call it CRPG still and no, it's an action RPG. I wouldn't expect anyone to go and expect BG3 combat (Or story elements). I do wonder if it'll get old quickly though, and also that the monster designs aren't scary at all and look really goofy. The Ui/hud stuff during fights is also pretty messy and I hope they have options to remove things from it at launch.

Putting the rest under a readmore, I went in depth lmao

Elves are taking certain front, but also it feels like in a weird direction. We're in Tevinter, Dwarves have strong relations with Tevinter but there isn't even a faction related to them? Also, we have a high focus on the elves, which is to be expected with the plot of the last game.

But also we're in Tevinter and I haven't seen, ya know, any mention of the slavery, which elves are a major portion of. Like none of the ads talk about it (which could make sense). No articles I see mention it. It feels... weird. Especially given we're seeing Solas' backstory in this game, and how he freed slaves was important to his character but yeah little to no mention of it

That being said I also have heard nothing about the story spoilers, besides what some people posted on Twitter, and it was scraps. A lot of people who just played the first 7 hours, are releasing their reviews and say the story is good, but won't go into details because of spoilers? Make a spoiler video, I'll watch it, but I wonder if Bioware/EA didn't allow the mention of any story elements to preserve "their surprise choices" (and any story elements hardcore fans would get pissed at)

FOLLOWING IS A SMALL SPOILER (TWO LINES) FOR VEILGUARD, I think it's important to see before you buy it but BE WARNED

God this line pisses me off so much

Solas should have negative traits, actually, and make huge mistakes, like he was known to do in the last DLC released, a decade ago. No matter how many plans he has, he usually fucks it up by going too big.

He literally was chumming it up with Mythal, "she was the best of them", yet here he is pointing at (probably) her and Elgar'nan as they become Gods. I think making him fully against the system from the start and not someone who once enjoyed some benefits of the system, even if he didn't engage in the slavery aspect of it, to become friends/rivalry with the Evanuris but as they grew in power, and eventually murdered the only one of them he considered actually good, the light bulb went off in his head, is like, really a big character retcon to me.

Despite how bad they were, Solas didn't want to lock them away. He despised and loved them. He never killed them, he couldn't, either do to his limited power or due to his friendship with them. He loved his People, that he would cast everything he loves, all away for their freedom.

And when he returns, he doesn't even see the Dalish as elves. He think he's failed them and wouldn't care if they all died, if he could bring back the power to restore his People, even if it means bringing back the Evanuris. And if they go "well he was going to break the veil without trying to actually awake/unlock them", that is dumb writing. He understands that they are the consequences that he will unleash onto the world at the end of DAI and that he thinks life with magic is better to bring back the People, even at the cost of the world itself or the People's freedom at that. The People who he doesn't even consider are modern elves. He doesn't give two shits about modern elves, only the ancient ones he's lost. He seems them as his failures and instead of, ya know, actually trying to help them regain their lost cultures and lands he jumps to "actually you all are horrifying, you can die while I regain my own world"

The Elf!Inquisitor is the only elf he truly sees as a person, the potential to be a member of the People in his eyes. Everyone else is a fool or a tool to him.

BG3 and DSO2 are such healing things for the RPG fantatic soul. They have their problems, but the quality is so much higher than I ever expected to see. The way choices actually matter and have direct consequences in the one game vs having to wait until the sequel to see if collecting ten bear asses for that one dwarf lady gets you a special dialogue option.

Larian has got my support always, they made DSO2 so good, that I pre-ordered BG3 all the way back in Oct 2020. I have no desire to ever pre-order another Bioware game, except maybe some remasters.

[aztarion]

Happy Valentine’s Day, lovely person 🌹

It’s been wonderful to see your art! I really love how you draw Mason and your style in general and am looking forward to seeing more of your art!

Here’s a romance-themed OC question for any OC(s) of your choosing (no pressure to answer on Valentine’s day itself, or at all):

What combination of random objects would your OC use to describe their LI? What do they represent? Bonus question: What would their LI use to describe them?

AND HAPPY belated VALENTINES TO YOU 🥹

im sorry i didnt get to this earlier, i was waiting to be more awake but im literally getting worse LOL. but it made me so happy ;_; thank you thank you thank you, for being far too kind abt my art 😭 im so fuckingglad i finally got a tablet during my crazy ass wayhaven renaissance because there could not be a sweeter group of people to share stuff with 🫂♥️

for the oc ask… well i just gotta do dev/mason theyre in my minds microwave 24/7 rn (hope the ceiling fan falls on them btw)

some of this is a bit more association than true description of character bc i could go on forever listing stuff for both of them.. but for dev w mason it would be two big things at their current standstill:

- marlboro reds; her favourite — she is in the middle of quitting smoking in book 1 so him constantly lighting up with her cigs of choice, as well as just being rude and grating on her already thin nerves, drove her barking mad insane. by book 2 she is floundering hard and asks for one after he shows up at the station. when he says no and that she’s supposed to be quitting she gets a bit pissed and makes him put out smokes anytime thereafter out of pettiness. also reds…… strong, numbingly intense, addictive, etc. sums up the early stages of their arrangement :D

- definitely the wolf cub from the carnival game! deva is hugely sentimental (to a concerning degree — she is a hoarder yay disaster apartment option) though would never admit to it. she still keeps raggedy decades old stuffed animals from when rook was around that she just cannot say goodbye to 🤦‍♀️ and she refuses to let herself get attached to mason on any meaningful emotional level so those budding feelings in book 3 kind of manifest on the wolf cub without her realizing it (i was so glad there’s a little part abt the detective saving their carnival prize after the apartment gets flooded because Very Deva, that thang is her whole support network) (plus when mason inevitably bails during the night she has smth to cuddle because objects dont leave no sir . Rebecca get this girl a therapist)

- and one smaller thing im still playing w is red jasper crystal 🙇🏻‍♀️

maybe she sees them in the crystal store. I colour pick from these when i draw him LOL

for mason wrt deva — not an object but just straight up chaos tbh. at where they are in book 3 i imagine every time he sees the detective his brain is going question mark question mark. and hes definitely not sentimental in the way Dev is that certain objects would have any sort of emotional stir in reminding him of her. mason definitely goes more on how she makes him feel; really fucking good, really fucking confused, really fucking messy (like her apartment which he HAAAAATES), and on a few occasions now… weirdly serene. cant make sense of it; doesnt even understand why hes bothering TRYING to make sense of it but here he is and it’s happening and it has never happened before and THAT is probably the best way he could encapsulate her at this point in their relationship… other than, yknow, encapsulating in other ways 🫢

ty so much for sending this and sorry for sleepy rambling!!!! AND COME OFF ANON LET ME DRAW SMTH FOR YOU♥️♥️♥️

[chaeinedup]

We meet AGAIN

You and Beomgyu are finally on speaking terms again. Not that you guys ever actually fight, you just yell at one another until someone makes a good point. Which him showing concern for you and your feelings was more than enough. But as you said nothing was going to happen. You take the word "crush" very lightly.

Wooyoung on the other end was fighting for his life trying to make Yeonjun see something was up. It's surprising how oblivious he can be. In his head no one ever sees him that way, but statistics say other wise. So the plan, the very simple plan that Wooyoung made up and dragged Changbin into, was to make you two reunite. There's no way in hell this could go sideways.

It's yet again 6pm, what day?? how would you know, they're all the same, they start to blend together. But if there's a way of knowing is the type of clients. So far it's been the usual students who come for the cheap coffee and your indifference for how long they stay, and the truck drivers who stop to have a not so homy meal. But a meal nonetheless.

And that's exactly when you spotted three guys making their way in laughing, you knew your death sentence was approaching. As they scanned the place to choose where to sit, Beomgyu was giving you the nastiest look ever.

"See what did ?"

"What the fuck?? I didn't do anything!! Maybe he's here cause he liked to see you in this uniform. Red really is your colour.", you said sarcasticly.

"Shut up."

Clearly he wasn't the biggest fan of what was going down. He got up knowing his fate and you knowing yours. Lily gave you a slight smile, hinting at what she was thinking. She looked at the cherries and back at you. You couldn't hold your smile and decided to throw her the cleaning rag as a "stop it".

It's not like miraculously your attraction for Yeonjun went away, but you for sure knew it wouldn't be welcome, by Beomgyu at least. You know he loves you and you love him as well, you respect him so if you could avoid looking at Yeonjun that way... then you will... try your very best.

"Hey, earth calls y/n??!!"

"Stop waving your hand, I can see you. What's the order?"

"Three milkshakes, two vanilla, one chocolate."

"Work your magic girl."

You look back startled by Jeongin's sudden appearance.

"So two are in my favor and one is against me? are the odds in my favor?"

You have no intentions of pissing off your best friend again, so after saying those words you gave him a playful smile to ease his mind.

As you were making the drinks you had all eyes on you. Wooyoung was trying his very best to try and see you making their order while annoying Changbin for not staying still.

Yeonjun was on his phone completely unaware of the entire situation. You couldn't help but notice his outfit. A black stripped button up shirt with some grey shorts, and the literal cherry on top, black framed glasses. He wasn't wearing them before so you know it was a stylistic choice.

You got so deep in your thoughts Jeongin had to intervine.

"So are you done ooor...?"

"Yeah Beomgyu can go serve them."

"He went to the bathroom."

"Okay so you take them."

"Strictly kitchen duty sorry, and Lily has other tables to attend to. Tough luck my friend."

You knew he was doing this on purpose, some kind of mind game to see how much self control you actually had. You decide to be a big girl and serve them I mean just how hard could it be ?? You do this every day.

But not every day you have clients like Wooyoung, masking your life harder.

"Y/n right?! I just have a question! So which one of us do you think is the cutest?"

You almost dropped your tray. You love a good straight foward sincere person, but not when they put you on the spot like this.

"All three of you are very cute. Why the question?"

"Then how come Yeonjun always gets two cherries?"

"That's a great question! That I would love to answer if I wasn't so busy. Now if you'll excuse me. Enjoy your drinks!"

You practically ran out of there, fearing Wooyoung's sharp observations would disrupt your "cool and composed" façade. He knew you were lying through your pearly white teeth, the place was dead. Yeonjun tried to reason with him explaining they might have work to do in the back, while Changbin just outflat told him he was being annoying.

He was going to get to the bottom of this, either you wanted it or not. He was on a mission, a quest and he was going to need to do some digging. Task A - stir shit up.

Before leaving he made sure to give you a napkin with his number and a little note.

"Text me when you can, it's important :D."

previous// //next

[Taglist: @suzirumas ]

[ac-liveblogs]

I remember that, before Fontaine came out, a lot of people theorized that Traveler and Childe would somehow go to prison together. This could've been a much better plot where Traveler gets to learn more about Childe and grow closer to him. The Childe backstory dump could've happened more naturally, we could've actually SEEN them become besties, and they could've been sent to prison for reasons that actually show the justice system as corrupt.

Instead, act 2 insisted on having Traveler and Navia figure out absolutely everything that happened with the missing girls case. It wasted most of act 1 and all of act 2 on a case whose only importance to the plot is the existence of primordial water and it's effects on Fontainians.

And so, for act 3, the writers had to come up with another reason for Traveler and Paimon to end up in prison. Arlecchino's first in-game appearance is a tea party flashback because she told Furina and Neuvillette that she needs to know how Childe's doing, but suddenly Neuvillette feels like Wriothesly won't let him enter the prison even though literally everything says otherwise and instead sends Traveler and Paimon down there.

And narratively, there's no need to stay after we've seen how Childe is doing, so he's missing now! And the important info about his disappearance is stuff that you can't just find out, so Traveler gets dreams from his vision! But also we want to establish that the prison is amazing and we need stuff for them to do during the day, so here are a bunch of filler npc mysteries!

But also, the twins are here????? Which would negatively effect their magician careers that they use to be Fatui spies????????? Because, actually, Arlecchino wants to investigate the Primordial Sea, and even though the domain to the Narwhal boss fight is literally a hole in the ocean floor and there's literally a playable diver that's her child who was shown sinking with the Narwhal creeping up on him in The Final Feast trailer, the best way to investigate it is through the prison.

But also, we need to make Wriothesley, Sigwinne, and Clorinde look good, so act 4 is mainly about screwing the House of Hearth kids over with primordial water (Freminet), dumbing them down so they get caught even though they're professional spies (Lynette), and pissing them off before they can do anything else (Lyney). Oh and it's also about the forbidden zone I guess.

Act 5...I don't even want to touch it. Childe's role in the story was to introduce Skirk, just for Skirk to spend 95% of her screen time talking about her master, a new important male character. She's talking like her role in the story will be to introduce us to him. Are you fucking kidding me. Also her design is even worse than her beta designs.

Arlecchino might as well have not existed. She wasn't even in the saving Fontainians cutscene. Traveler and Paimon had no reaction to the fact that they were working with the Fatui. If I go on this will get way too long so I'll stop here. Sorry that it's so long lol

No, it's cool! I agree there's a lot of bizarre choices made in Fontaine, as always.

The one thing, minor as it may be, that I keep returning to is "if Act 3 was going to have Lyney and Lynette faking crimes to get into Meropide, why did the writers go to all the effort of having Lyney accused of murder?"

Because if Lyney and co. want to go there anyway, it seems like a waste of time that they're the ones we successfully defended in court. Why was it treated like such a big deal that we save him? Sure, you can logic-chain it out into "Lyney didn't know he needed to go there yet" but the real feeling I get is just "okay, so why did I bother?"

Or like. Why is it that we have no idea why or how Childe was arrested on the count of murdering those women? Especially after Lyney's trial, the Fontaine court knows that the real perpetrators are trying to frame the Fatui, isn't it kind of important that we know how that even happened? Why did Childe infodump everything on us in Act 1 when we could have actually defended HIM in court and spoken to him like a normal person once we both got arrested or something? (as you say)

How come so much emphasis was put on Court Duellists and we never got to duel? How come Meropide has a boxing ring we're not allowed to compete in?

suddenly Neuvillette feels like Wriothesly won't let him enter the prison even though literally everything says otherwise and instead sends Traveler and Paimon down there.

I LOVE how Clorinde was in Meropide. I love how she was in Meropide because she doesn't work for Neuvillette somehow. And then in Act 5 she just calls him her boss. SO WHAT IS THE TRUTH, THEN

I also love we spent Act 3 on that stupid "Hidden Rules" subplot and spent most of it not even talking to Lyney. Who was there. That's cool and fun.

The House of Hearth and Meropide were transparently a waste of time that transparently had nothing to do except pad out the real story, which was the infodump in Act 5. I think the only thing /we/ actually accomplished was free Navia's father, whose entire trial was one of the stupidest subplots in the entire game.

Oh also

Wasn't there a plot thread about how a bunch of Oceanids weren't happy with Egeria's decision? Is that ever gonna be relevant, or

Actually, are the people being Oceanids gonna matter at ALL beyond Lyney going :o and that one NPC going "wow! anyway"

Fontaine being a city full of fake people play-acting at being human and their court being bullshit bonkers as a result would've been really fun. Shame we got this instead.

[seth-burroughs]

rain code rewatch (czynś pirsza) (chapter 0, up to the moment Yuma got on that train)

reminded on how much i liked shinigami's japanese voice over the english one...... the dub was surprisingly fine actually, it's just. you get me right.

when i first watched this game it was the japanese dub (because of course) but i forgor most of the voices they had over time. gonna get reminded of so much tonight lmao

i love how it just. the train folk all dying the death is this shocking plot twist nobody saw coming but the chapter title is literally. massacre on the amaterasu express. you know. massacre. defined indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of many people.... i love being clueless all the time i loooove not seeing literally anything coming ever. also the chapter title segments are cool i like them thumbs up emoji im on laptop

yuma's japanese va <<<<<<<< yuma's english va (also the audio from that guy's video is jumping a loooooot huh. i remember it got better later)

kokohead guy looking kinda cute i want to punch him till he falls over on the ground

i just wanted you to know that yuma completely stole from yomi's cool as fuck blue light up boots he did it FIRST and he did it BETTER this is truly a testament of how all the incarnations of Number One are so hellbent on pissing him off . they are obsessed. they are obsessed. (aren't they? i know ur listening i can feel u there. you agree eh?)

nevertheless, i can understand the choice. it is cool looking. yuma would be regarded as god if he came in to the average elementary school with those-

why do i whenever i see something looking mildly scared or miserable my first instinct is KICK THEM PUNCH THEM SMACK THEM AGAIN THE WALL MAKE THEM CRY HARDER START DRINKING THEIR BLOOD IN FRONT OF TH

awwwww. big guy is shivering too.

i still want to know the origin story behind the deliberate choice of naming this guy. kokohead. what deep meaning does this have that i do not get.........................

au where yuma did not get on that train in time . why did i not think of that earlier this is like one of the most obvious au ideas-

TIMESKIP SEQUENCE Okay, so.... Nearly a full day passed since Seweryn wrote this and he forgot to post it I guess. I'm back now (yes, me <333 have I been missed by the masses?) probably gonna continue in a minute-

[bigblueoctoling]

I still have a lot to say about Palette Colors so I'm saving that for another post, but before I go make that post [it'll be a long one] I gotta talk about the choices for the weapons themselves.

Pearl, Marina, 4, Callie, and Marie are all pretty much locked in place. Easy choices, they all track.

Why the fuck does Shiver have the tri-stringer and Frye have the splatana

They literally explicitly use splatana iconography around Shiver, it's what the attacks Master Mega does are based on. I don't like saying this kind of thing but it literally feels like they just Forgot that Shiver was the splatana one. Kinda ties in with them in general barely giving Deep Cut any attention in this game (I'm still gonna make a post about that, too). I would also argue Frye's combat style is more accurately represented by the tri-stringer, considering she fires multiple projectiles [the eels] at you.

Why does Big Man use a bucket? He's a caligrapher, shouldn't he use the paint brush? It's not like the paintbrush is an especially Sheldon-y weapon. For that matter I would argue the bucket suits Sheldon better, if only because he's a horseshoe crab (like a little bucket).

I suppose Octavio using a splatling makes sense from the angle that he tends to fixate on big oversized weapons. Murch getting the luna blaster feels like a very "we've got nothing else in particular in mind" sort of choice. Which is fine I guess but I have no strong feelings about it.

Eight's weapon being the Octoshot is stupid and genuinely pissed me off a lot. Like- from a strictly lore perspective, I would've given her a charger, it's the only weapon she explicitly mentions in the mem cakes and it's, you know, The Amiibo Weapon. In my mind Eight's main weapon will always be an E-Liter. That being said, gameplay wise, I understand not making it that because obviously Marie has to be the charger one.

But the fact that there are 11 palettes, one for each weapon, and they save the 12th, Eight's, for the veeeeery end, REALLY sets you up for disappointment. Like I would've figured it'd be like, you can make the palette yourself (main, sub, special, and colors), since it's (Your) palette. Or, to coincide with Eight's palette being Weird, that it would be a Random Weapon, maybe per run or even per floor. The latter would absolutely make it harder, but I think making it just A Second Splattershot is the most boring choice possible.

...All that being said, it bugs me a lot less than Shiver and Frye having swapped weapons. Like why even give shiver the sword motif if she uses a bow and frye uses a sword. Absurd.

[softlyfiercely]

So I’m a therapeutic nanny for an 8yo with autism and adhd right

Well today went like this

Arrive at 11:00 which is early but it’s because the family is dealing with a renovation at their house and staying in a hotel suite atm and the hotel needed them to move rooms today so the plan was for me to get him early so they could pack and move without kiddo underfoot.

When I get there though it turns out that the big computer oopsie poo has made it so the hotel can’t issue them a new key card so kiddo and I have to stay in the suite to let them in every time they come over with a new armful of stuff

In the meantime I decide to work with him on some summer homework that only I ever work with him on, and he is out of practice so has a big ol meltdown

Try to have a chat with the parents about an ongoing concern of mine; discover incidentally that they just decided to take him off his meds for Reasons. (This is actually unrelated to the specific ongoing concern which does not get addressed)

Ask him what he wants to do that day because we are working on independent choice. When he claims inability to think of literally anything to, dad suggests bowling. Kiddo immediately decides he wants to go bowling. Parents have been coached many times not to jump in and do the thinking for him…but I guess we’re going bowling? (We have never gone bowling before)

Finally get out of there and go to subway with him. He continues to struggle mightily to order his own sandwich at subway but with much coaching and strategic distance he manages. He also gets Dorito crumbs in his hair

Drive 30 minutes north to take him to his OT appointment

Go to the park for 30 minutes because we’re early for OT. Kiddo attempts to give himself head trauma with a tree branch while I nearly sit in dog poo. It’s incredibly hot out.

Attempt to discuss ongoing concern with OT; achieve discouraging clarity about source of the concern (it’s the OT)

Feel very upset and frustrated about the fact that the parents and the OT are not on the same page as me and effectively rendering much of my work useless and/or impossible. Send some pissed off texts to my friends and watch half an episode of television on a picnic blanket outside OT it is very very warm

Drive 30 minutes south to the closest bowling alley

Park in the world’s weirdest parking garage. It is so fucking hot out

Discover that the entire bowling alley is down because of the borked computer situation and there is no bowling to be done. Explain this to kiddo three times because he is straight up not listening - not like in denial or upset just unable to pay attention long enough to receive the information “we cannot do bowling” immediately after asking the question “so are we going to go bowling”

The arcade apparently does not run on cloud strike unlike the bowling so I get him some arcade credits, tell him he needs to budget them wisely

Play one game of basketball connect four before kiddo sees the air hockey table and wants to only play that. This is actually pretty fine with me bc I really like air hockey

Unfortunately that means I am also rather good at air hockey

Realize it is not even 3:30 and I need to keep kiddo occupied until at least 5:00 and I am not buying him any more arcade credits (the parents will reimburse me but I already told him he needed to budget them and it would not be therapeutic for him to get more)

Decide to start ensuring that the remaining credits worth of air hockey last as long as possible by trying not to score goals on him very quickly

However he keeps rapidly scoring goals on himself so this plan does not work

By about 4:30 his credits are done. However thanks to the magic of executive dysfunction he takes a while to on the prize machine cashing out his points because why would I hurry him or reorient him to the task, go at your own pace little buddy

Get back to the hotel. the computers are happier now so I can get a key from the front desk; parents not back yet so we do more of his homework. He has another mini meltdown but when properly incentivized is perfectly capable of completing the work

Then we read a chapter of a very very bad Star Wars novelization about Darth Vader until mom comes home

[kinopioa]

Welp, 65's out

So we start with...

Oh hey, Storm's actually treated like a valued member

And thankfully dialogue's short. They steal the relics, Knux fails in stopping them, and they get away

So then Knux goes to the Chaotix for help. Which is nice at first, but-

Seriously, when when was he this aggressively prideful?

And then forced shipping that has never been seen in games

Alright let's see how they list sus-

w-when di, I didn't skip a page, what?

Even more what, Eggman's back?

That makes the filler stories seem sillier in retrospect

And yeah, Eggman's right, this was their first choice?

Even ignoring that

-How did they know where his base was?

-When did Eggman set this up?

So Eggman's denying responsibility of course, though...

Several things

-Eggman has bothered to name specific units for robots/mechs

-Eggman directly oversaw the amount of Hyper Go-On canisters he made

-Eggman directly oversaw animal quality in Lost World

He absolutely would be finicky in riches. Riders 1 he was pissed to find he wasted resources for a flying carpet

Also

-Eggman literally hired the Babylon Rogues in Riders 1 (though the Heroes didn't know that)

-Eggman had Infinite

And lastly WHY even have the relic to begin with? I legit have no idea what Ian's planning for it

It's enough to dissuade the group, and they leave

"We haven't heard a peep, but he started a public recycling company, so uhh...somehow we missed that and not Eggman legit lying low"

Knux again is aggravated again, though it doesn't amount to much

Luckily Charmy and Espio find a lead, and they head off

We cut to Storm being a dumbass, and Jet being more impatient than canon

Honestly, the best Flynn ever wrote the trio, entirely cuz the story mostly doesn't focus on them, and them having actual competence

Sadly we just end as Jet notes cultural respect for Babylonian artifacts

The 2nd story surprisingly does take place in current day. The "date" Vector planned earlier actually is it!

Unfortunately ABT drew it, and Cream's one of his worse chars given how eyebrowy he does faces

So she runs out of butter, then leaves Cream to finish the other meals while she goes gets more from the store

Nearby Rough and Tumble- yes them- see Vanilla leave and assume the house is unguarded

Cream tends to cooking while Gemerl goes to place plates in the dining room. He-

Ok that table's like 3 m away from the door, spacing continuity much?

So you'd think he'd easily dispose of the two given how much of a jobber they are, right?

No, it weirdly stalls out, and then for drama this happens

:[

Cream is hapless again, yay...

This story is by Evan, and a rare case of actually being tied to the first story

Honestly like before, the fillery nature of these stories is...dull. the fact Ian made such a big deal of Eggman being disposed of in the Eggperial arc, only for him to return with barely any hurrah gets me

The games Eggman actually stirs shit, here he's...literally not doing anything. And they treated Eggperial like such a huge deal...

It's a little sad, IDW could've used filler before, but chopping the content in half and still being reliant on drama for entertainment blows. At least there are minimal hero OC refs here

Knux's side plot I have a feeling will just be messy fights with underwhelming climax

Meh. Fonseca seems to be legitimately back though

@beevean @randomthefox