#am i attempting to do it on challenge mode? FUCK NO!

[fishareglorious]

holy shit. probably one of the most nerve-wracking stages i’ve ever played. took me several tries trying to perfect trying to stall frostnova, and several more from basically trying to get good rng and not get murdered with her ice spawns. as you can see at the bottom left, i was banking on texas being the only one who could deal damage and actually defeat her. was throwing down just about everyone trying to stall her while trying to wait out texas’ deployment cooldown until frostnova iced the entire middle damn lane and made it impossible to put down anyone there

[syluscrows]

Kitty cat [Sylus & reader]

Okay, so basically, you turn into a cat. That's the story. Oh and you get a sneak peak into how sweet Sylus can be.

Note: I hope this isn't a cringe fanfic, I was inspired by Sylus saying we would have to take care of Mephisto if he were to turn into a cat 😭😭 I haven't owned a cat in years, so I'm purely going off of how the few cats I've met act normally lol

Contents: pure fluff, humor, not proofread, quite a long fic

'Where am I??' You thought, looking around curiously. 'why do I feel so strange?' You had no idea how it happened, you were quite literally just sitting on your couch, looking at your phone, when your vision went white.. and when you came to, you felt so.. strange.

You tried to stand up, but.. why was that so difficult? It felt so strange, you slowly reached out, looking down, only to be met with two h/c paws?! You tried to speak, but you.. meowed? 'What the fuck!'

You're not sure how, but it's like your body went into panic mode, and somehow taught you how to use your new legs, as you ran to the mirror, only to be met with a fluffy cat staring back at you. 'How.. is this even possible?'

You jumped back up on the couch, relieved that your phone was still open. Who do I even call in this situation..? Sylus can't come all the way here for this.. 'Tara must be nearby!' You thought as you clumsily pawed at the screen, thankful that if you tried hard enough it picked up your touch. You smacked your paw down on the screen, hearing the dial tone begin .

"hey! What's up y/n?"

"meow meow! Meow! Meow!" Oh shoot. It completely slipped your mind, you're a cat! Of course you can't talk! You tried to paw at the hang up button, only to hear a loud shriek on the other side, making you physically feel your fur stand up in shock. "OMG! A cat?! Y/n, did you get a cat? Why aren't you talking?!" You felt defeated, knowing you couldn't possibly.. wait.. what if you sent her a picture? You pawed at the screen again, skillfully navigating to the camera app and taking a photo, of the ceiling, and again, of the ceiling, before finally capturing the top half of your face in the photo, pressing send rapidly. Much to your disappointment tara only responded with "aww! Y/n your cat is so cute! What's it's name?"

Unfortunately, you soon discovered your biggest challenge yet, typing. You attempted to type a message to Tara, sending it desperately, but seeing that you simply typed "hdjdcccgdsxxxxxd". Great. What were you going to do?! You knew if you turned up to Tara's apartment she would just cuddle you to death, she wouldn't catch on to the situation at all.. who was close by who you knew would be home.. who would potentially be able to catch on if you try hard enough..?

That's when it hit you. Your only option in this situation was sylus.. you knew Zayne would be busy, Rafayel is terrified of cats, and Xavier... Who knows where he would be right now? But sylus, he's the most likely to be at home right now, and if not, Luke and Kieran must be around!

You abandon your phone, Tara still on the line repeating your name, as you jump down, mentally thanking yourself for opening your window as you jump down. It's not that far, sylus's mansion, and honestly going through the n109 zone as a cat must be a million times safer than going as a human..

You make your way through the street, suddenly painfully aware of how terrifying it must be to function day to day as a cat, dodging dozens of feet swinging your way, the amount of cars shooting past you.. it's so intimidating! Everything is so much bigger than you, you feel like if you stopped for a moment you could get crushed. You decide to take a shortcut, hopping up on top of a building, which honestly you impress yourself by doing, as you jump roof to roof, heading towards the n109 zone.

You're surprised by how fast you get there, reaching his door, you feel a flood of relief. Surely he will know what to do.. but once again, you're faced with an obstacle. How the fuck were you planning to get inside? Does this man even open his windows..? You looked around the building for an entry point, relieved to see his bedroom window was open slightly. You mentally remind yourself to thank him later for that.

You hop inside, seeing nobody in sight. Now you have to be careful, you need to find him, avoiding Luke and Kieran.. although they may catch on faster than you think, they may also take advantage of the situation, or they may just be too dumb to realise, and you'll be stuck playing dress up or being taught tricks.. you physically shiver at the thought, pushing it away as you make your way to sylus's lounge.

You see him sitting there, reading a book, and you can't resist running over and jumping up on his lap.

"oh, hello there, who are you?" He says, his voice toothrottingly sweet, as his scarlet eyes peer down at you. "Meeow!" You put a paw up on his chest, looking at him, mentally chanting 'it's me! Please notice it's me!'. Sylus puts his book aside, and you see a huge, genuine smile spread across his face. "I haven't seen you before, aren't you cute? You don't have a collar.. are you a stray?" Oh my god. You were so going to tease him for this later. This was the most gentle you've ever seen him, even around you he is sweet, but he seems to unknowingly put up a protective barrier around his own pride, never letting himself get too sappy or clingy around you.

You suddenly feel his hand on your head, and oh my gosh. You realise why cats enjoy this so much! You feel instantly so relaxed, bowing your head as he scratches the top of it, in-between your ears. Before you know it, a persistent vibration rings throughout your body. You're purring. And oh boy does it make this feel 100x better. You find yourself completely letting go, laying down in his lap as he continues to pet your head. This can't possibly be what heaven is, right? It sure as hell feels close enough. You find yourself wishing you could always be a cat, with this attention. "What a good kitty you are" he says in a playful voice. No way did you just hear him put on a baby voice! The most feared man in the n109 zone, cooing at you..

You almost completely lost your original objective, suddenly breaking apart from the attention to jump over to his coffee table, sitting on it as you persistently meow at him. "What, do you want something to eat?" He says, his voice still so gentle and pure. "Don't worry, kitty, I'm always prepared, come along now" he says, letting out soft "pspsps"'s as he walks to his kitchen. Your mind was racing, you were in utter shock at how sweet he was being towards you. You knew he liked cats, but wow, this was a completely different side of him. You watched as he grabbed a bowl. Oh wow.. this man IS prepared, he has cat food, and cat bowls.. hes so welcoming to your presence, he must do this for a lot of cats.

You watch him prepare a meal for you, placing it down Infront of you as he crouches down. "Go on, you must be hungry kitty." Ew. No. No way. I'm not eating that brown sludge. As much as you appreciated it, you shook your head, which seemed to surprise Sylus. "Oh, you don't want it?" He said. You had to figure out a way to tell him it's you! As cute as it was to be pampered by him, you couldn't stay like this forever..

You jumped up on the dining table, meowing as you walked back and fourth, trying your best to communicate with him. "what are you trying to tell me, hm?" He said, once again with that dumb baby voice. You then had an idea, jumping down and meowing, kind of in an instructive tone, trying to make him follow you.

You lead him to his bedroom, as you remembered he had a photo of you in there, as you jumped up on the bedside table and pawed at it, knocking it flat but persisting as you smacked your paw up and down on it. "Hm? The photo..?" He said, grabbing it and looking at it. "You like this picture?" He looked at you, confused, but still with a sweet, soft expression. "Her name is y/n, I think she would like you. You'll have to come by when shes here, perhaps.". You flattened your ears, putting on an irritated face to the best of your ability, walking over to him and hitting his stomach with your paw, as you continued to meow. "Hm? What is it?" He looked at you confused, as he placed down the photo.

"Do you want me to pick you up?" He said again, and despite you meowing in protest, he did so. His arms were so warm, and you felt your body relax. Thats right, cats love warmth.. and they especially loved being wedged in small spaces. No, no, you shook away the relaxation, once again pressing down on his arm with your paws. "Oh, are you making biscuits?" If you could, you would absolutely face palm in this moment. You thought surely, Sylus would've noticed something by now.. you jumped out of his arms again, running towards the end table and desperately pawing at the photo. "You really do like that photo, huh?" Cmon sylus, you thought to yourself. You tried your best to mimick pointing at yourself with your paw, as you continued to meow. "I'm afraid I don't understand, kitty." He chuckled in a playful voice. He must've thought you were just being a silly cat.. "do you think she's pretty?" He said, catching you off guard. "Hm, we are very similar in our opinions then." He followed. It was so sweet, the way he spoke to you as a cat, and the way he spoke about you as a human..

You jumped to the bed, laying down as you thought of any other way you could tell him you're trapped in a cat's body.. but it seemed impossible. Everything you did, he just thought you were being silly.

He sat next to you, on the bed, petting your back as he looked at you with a gentle expression. You then had an idea, but you weren't sure if he would catch on. You started clawing at his pocket, the pocket that had his phone at it, meowing louder and louder, and he chuckled. "What's wrong, miss cat?" He looked down at you with a smile on his face. You had to resist scratching him at this point. "Hm? You want to lay on my phone? I guess cats do like the warmth." He said, placing his phone down on the bed. Ugh! So close! You thought to yourself, as you began to paw at the screen, cursing him mentally for having a lock screen password. "Oh, I know what you'll like!" You watched in anticipation as he opened his phone, scrolling through.

He has a fucking cat toy app on his phone. One of those apps where things fly across the screen for the cat to paw at. You stared at the screen, flicking your tail in annoyance as you attempted to spam the home button. Success! You thought as you landed on the home screen, but much to your disappointment, he chuckled and tapped on the game again. 'your love of cats will be the death of me, Sylus..'. you pressed the home screen again, and this time, he just watched curiously, with an amused expression. It frustrated you how hard it was to navigate a phone with your paws, since they took up much more space on the screen than your fingers would. You manage to press on the messages, tapping on your conversation.

Suddenly, Sylus grabbed his phone from the bed. Oh hell no. You let out an angry meow, which he raised his eyebrow at. "Hey now, calm down. I can't have you looking through my messages." He said, as he began typing, before you saw him angle the phone in your direction. Oh. He's taking a picture.

Despite your desperation, Sylus continued to not catch on. You had been here for hours at this point, and sylus has now left to go to the bathroom, getting ready to go to sleep. You felt so frustrated. How would you tell him?

You heard him come out of the bathroom, he was already in his nightwear, as he smiled at you. "You're still here, kitty cat?" He said, as he sat on the bed, petting you. You had to admit, seeing this side of him was so sweet, but you still felt frustrated that he hadn't caught on. He slipped under the covers, looking over at you. "You can stay here if you'd like." He said. You knew if this was any other cat, he would just be talking to himself at this point. It was quite sweet, knowing he was so oblivious...

You gave in, laying next to him, enjoying the feeling of his presence. You heard him open a book, mentally sighing as you realised he wasn't going to sleep yet. You always scolded him over text when he was up for hours on end, knowing he's one to pull many all nighters. Partially, you understood, he has to be on guard at all times. You made your way onto his lap, laying down as he continued to read his book. You felt so calm, just enjoying how relaxing it was to lay down like this, and realising how nice it feels to be a cat, absorbing a person's warmth and taking up their space.. no wonder they do it so often.

Sylus continued to read as you felt yourself dozing off, but a sudden tingling feeling came over you, and before you knew it, you were a human again.

You looked down at your hands, a wave of relief rushing over you, before you realized, you were still on Sylus' lap.

"I was wondering when you'd change back." He said with a smirk. "What?! You're kidding me! You knew?!", which drew a chuckle out of him. "I knew from the moment I saw you, kitty." You rolled your eyes, moving off of his lap. "Seriously, you could've said something.. the whole reason I came here is so you could figure out how to turn me back." "Well.. I was thinking of helping you until you scratched me." He said with an annoying smirk and a teasing tone. "You're such an asshole."

[annoyinglandmagazine]

First Time Reading Girl Genius Novels!

Airship City just arrived!!!! So just to clarify, I have read and am entirely up to date on the webcomic so don’t worry about spoiling anything! I’m also only really reacting to things that stick out to me while I’m reading the novels specifically, I already know the story. So without further ado let’s get into it:

Heterodyne Boys content! Hell yes!

Bill silently cleaning his weapons while Barry worries about him is so wholesome and sad at the same time. It is a tragedy that we never really get to see much of this sibling dynamic because it seems really sweet.

The thumbs up signal too, just a little snapshot of how they were before all this.

Damn the Other is terrifying, just picking all the main players off one by one until no one’s even being accused anymore because it’s so clearly something on another level.

‘It was the most Bill had spoken this week.’ This is just too depressing

It’s kind of weird to be reminded that the Heterodynes did actually win against the Other; the end to their story is just so far from triumphant it feels like a loss.

Actual descriptions of the way the locket and the Spark impacts Agatha’s mind!

The atmosphere of Beetleburg is really fleshed out which is nice.

‘Jägermonsters found everything amusing. Except when people tried to beg for mercy. That they found downright hilarious.’ Ha!

The implications that ordinary household appliances have kill modes installed that are only activated in the presence of a strong Mechanicsburg accent should surprise me more than it does

There is so much irony in Agatha hiding the fact she reads Heterodyne Boy novels from her adoptive parents Punch and Judy.

‘If a mad scientist wasn’t at war with at least two of his neighbours it was because he had his back to the sea and even then he had to watch out for an invasion of intelligent sea urchins.’ Europa really is just Like That

The fact the Heterodynes represented hope to the average people because they actually tried gives me so many emotions

Moloch’s narration is a lot more sympathetic than he comes across in the comic at the start.

The general populace automatically getting worried at Sparky tones even with no context is a nice touch

Jägers and their terrible pick up lines make a first appearance

Beetle was really very sweet to Agatha and meant well which I tend to forget because of the whole Hive Engine first impression

‘Glassvitch’s specialty was chemical engineering which minimised his experience with hysterically sobbing young ladies.’

Something, something, “science is better than emotions or people” is both extremely autistic and a very common take in Girl Genius which I love.

Klaus’ backstory is once again so depressing.

Also the fact no one took him seriously because he was an adventurer who let Bill and Barry take the spotlight and then he just came back out of nowhere, challenged anyone to try and take him on and ended up taking over a significant part of the continent, is kind of badass.

Oh Agatha, assassination attempts since he was revealed are nothing in the wide array of shit going on to make Gil the way he is; that is so far from the problem that to call it the tip of the iceberg would be assigning it too much importance

Boris being known and feared almost as much as the Baron, hell yes, that long suffering man deserves respect for his efforts.

‘He clutched the fishbowl to his chest protectively’ Gil, I love you

Klaus swinging an arm around Gil’s shoulder and patting it while smiling and calling him his son non critically might be the most affection we’ve ever seen him express.

Why do I feel like this is peak healthiness for their relationship, the bar is in the fucking basement

Klaus and Gil ‘eyed each other, as if each were embarrassed at the thought of speaking first. Finally the Baron cleared his throat and said, “Yes, Gil, what do you think of that?”

The description makes that already hilarious interaction so much better. Their whole role in this confrontation reads as second hand embarrassment at the poor planning of their enemies and awkwardness at being remotely associated with this disaster of an coup

‘Klaus looked disgusted’ yep that’s definitely it.

The Wulfenbach Empire understanding that most Sparks really only want praise, a space to work, something to challenge them and someone to make sure they eat is hilarious.

Worldbuilding in the form of universe specific bigotry is my jam. The way constructs get portrayed as comic relief in pop culture due to a culture of discrimination is ingenious. I also appreciate the touch that Klaus has strong and public opinions on this though I suppose it’s not that surprising considering he himself is one in some sense.

I think Lilith teaching music and dance is a new detail and it’s nice to flesh their lives out more, it fits what little we know about her really well.

They are such good parents and this is just adorable

That’s all for now, I’ll pick it up again later!

[whatever-you-can-give-me]

clarifying something in regards to my trigun meta, because i’m realizing finally why people get so tetchy with me about it.

tl;dr: can i please talk about canon events of consent violation as an entirely separate conversation from the fandom concept of a ship? i’m talking about what is, not what if.

cw: trigun spoilers, rape, incest. you know the drill.

also, because i made this mistake once before: if you use or interpret this post as some kind of tirade against kv shippers, or get morally righteous about icky fetishists in my notes: fuck off, you do not speak for me, i hate you, and this is exactly why we need to be able to separate analysis and shipping.

moving on.

okay but. people do understand. that rape is not necessarily about attraction or even about sex, right?

when i talk about the scenes i describe as sexual assault in trigun, i’m not saying that it means knives/vash is canon. i’m saying that there’s a deliberate construction to the narrative that makes knives’ violation of his siblings’ consent a driving force of the plot and what eventually screws him over.

i know this is a “yelling in the library and expecting not to be shushed” situation. you can’t take a piss in fandom without someone asking if you have a fetish.

but i really think we can stand to at least not keep putting square pegs in round holes, here.

yes, i know, you tag non-con with a slash too. but i’m not talking about shipping when i talk about knives violating the consent of vash and his sisters. those are two different modes of engaging with consent violation and relationships that involve it.

attraction and desire can be motives behind assault. but it’s not the only or even the most driving motivation. assault — violation of consent — is about power. having and exercising power over another. regardless of that’s to satisfy a personal desire or to force them to comply or just to hurt them.

(this is the same reason that using “pedophilia” as the catch-all it’s currently used as is rather than its actual definition is Fucking Stupid, but i digress)

when i discuss the metaphysical acts i refer to as analogous to rape, i am not saying that knives’ actions and his treatment of vash are driven by attraction (exclusively — that’s a conversation for another post) or that he fuses with his sisters to have an incestuous genocide orgy.

i’m saying that it’s extremely telling how knives treats his siblings, the acts of domination over them and the violation of their consent, their bodily autonomy, and their willpower, when his stated goal is to prevent humans from doing the same.

knives believes in power. that’s the only thing he believes in. and fundamentally, that’s why his attempts to “help” the dependent plants results in far more harm than good, and ultimately in failure.

he doesn’t understand freedom. he understands power. so for plants to be safe, in his eyes, there can be no humans that could hold power over them — the only one with the right to overpower them is him.

in vash’s case, the line blurs — vash is almost a whole, real person to him. he wants his cooperation, wants his company, he does desire him, in one way or another. but if vash won’t listen to him, won’t comply, won’t cede, won’t indulge in power for power’s sake [july incident, trimax] there’s no choice but to overpower him. consume him.

and the other reason i describe these events as assault, as rape — they are not just violations, not just acts of control. they have consequences. knives takes power from his siblings. keeps it, hoards it, so they have no way to challenge him. he literally consumes [trimax] and warps [stampede] his sisters’ bodies and destroys their homes. they cannot go back what they were before he raped them. and neither can vash — knives’ actions, nearly all of them, are designed to isolate vash. to make him terrified of his own body. to keep him from reaching out to humans. to give him nowhere to run but back to knives, knives who will stop hurting him, stop him from being hurt, if he’d just listen.

does knives love his siblings? yes. but when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. and when all you have are knives… well.

shipping is a what if. this is just what is.

[threeletterslife]

Update

TL;DR: below the keep reading, vote on my update schedule

Hey everyone :) It's been a while—five months since I've last posted on this account and nearly a year since I've posted the 35th chapter of LOD

First and foremost, I want to apologize for being gone much longer than expected, and I will apologize again for being unable to offer more clarity about my absence, for now and in the future. Thank you to everyone who sent kind asks/messages checking up on me and to everyone who was invested enough in LOD to inquire about an update schedule. I felt a lot of guilt for not being active and for not delivering or meeting expectations, so just wanted to send out my sincerest apologies :')

I will attempt to answer the three most commonly asked questions I've gotten during my hiatus in this post:

Will you be continuing LOD?

Yes. As I've said time and time again, I will never abandon a story that I've invested so much of my time into. Call it sunk cost fallacy or delusion but I will finish LOD if it's the last thing I ever fucking do lol. Updates will be slow, however. But I promise you now that I will never actually leave. If I do suddenly disappear for years, that honestly means that I've died lol

When will you be posting a new chapter?

This depends on you guys. In all honesty, I have chapters 36 to 39 "ready" to publish. I am not in the position to write at this moment in time, so this would mean after I post chapter 39, there's no telling when the next update will be :( I have two options for you guys:

OPTION 1: I can post all of the chapters I have written in one go

Pro: You'll have access to all of the existing (and finished) LOD content, which is very well-deserved, so you can binge-read to your heart’s content

Con: You'll probably have to wait over half a year for chapters 40 and beyond

OPTION 2: I can post one chapter monthly/bi-monthly on a consistent schedule

Pro: I'll be able to buy some time (it'll take 4-7 months to post the remaining chapters) to write so that by the time I post chapter 39 (later this year or early next year), I'll most likely have chapters 40+ ready so you won't be as much in the dark about my future update schedule

Con: You'll only get one chapter every ~1.5 months. I also can't guarantee I'll have chapters 40 and beyond ready to go after I finally publish chapter 39 but I'd try my best

Are you alive? How are you doing? Are you okay?

I'm managing, though it's been a while since I've felt like I've been living. I've been in survival mode constantly for the past year, and it's quite draining. But the good news is that I'll be graduating next year with my degrees, so I expect I'll be freer then. I'm currently taking classes and working at my internship so I'm constantly inundated with projects and exams

I have been writing, though. That's one thing in my life that will never change. College has been hard on me, though it has also been such a privileged, fun, and rewarding experience. It helped me grow up or maybe even devolve in some ways. I've met some diabolical people around here, and have had not-so-great experiences that definitely forced me to become less trusting and stern. Sometimes I miss my old self, but I also know that I've grown into someone who can be more tolerant of the complete BS that is occasionally adulthood LMAO

Anyway, I'm extremely oversaturated with STEM everywhere I go, which given my majors, is a no-brainer. But I find great reprieve in art, especially art that I create to heal myself. So I've slowly come to realize that the content that I want to create—and the content that makes me happy to create—is not well-aligned with LOD. Over the past year, I've been working on small side projects, such as an original collection of short stories that I feel really at peace with. I've said it before and I'm saying it again, but LOD has always been my challenge piece. I don't dabble often in fantasy, and I wanted to give it a go; I'll finish what I've started. But I would also hate to reduce what LOD is to a simple word like "fantasy," though that was my excuse to avoid writing it for months. I actually think LOD's a lot more than that. In a way, it's a character study; it's not purely about the magic systems. In fact, I don't even think I put that much emphasis on the magic systems in the first place. It's more about the characters, and what the people have to go through during a war, which I've also realized becomes increasingly pertinent given the political climate right now

I'm getting into ramble-town territory, so I'll stop for now. I think with all that being said, I'm doing okay. I'm exhausted, but I'm also an incredibly privileged person, so I should be grateful for where I am in life right now and the people who have helped me rise to this level (you included!)

I'm excited to graduate, and I'm excited to write every single day once I start my full-time job. My life goal is to publish a book, though I don't think it'll be a novel—either a novella or a collection of short stories. Anyway, if you've come this far, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will forever be grateful for this platform that I have and also be incredibly honored that people read what I put out here. I'll begin posting as soon as the poll is completed

Thank you for being patient with me, and I hope you stay happy and healthy <3

[forevergazingatstars]

Today I did something I thought I would never do

I beat The Last of Us Part 2 on grounded mode.

I started playing this game in 2022, about 5 months after I had beaten the first game. Both of these games have always been very close to my heart even before I had the chance to play them.

While I know part 2 is not nearly as beloved in the community as part 1 and, in my honest opinion, I definitely prefer the story of part 1 to part 2. However, ever since I beat part 2 for the first time, I've found myself drawn to it time and time again. I've played through this game on at least 5 separate occasions and spent over 100 hours in it. To put it bluntly, this game feels so good to play.

Maybe going agaist the intentions of the game makers, but shooting people has never felt as good as it feels here. People usually say they hate shooting on controller, but Naughty Dog did a phenomenal job at making the gun play actually feel responsive and good. Like as much as the story makes me want to rip my hair out, there's nothing quite as satisfying as getting to blow peoples heads off afterwards.

Now to get to the point, you might be asking "why'd you say you thought you'd never beat grounded?" to put it in simple terms, I am a level A coward :D just the idea of having to go through this 20 hour game without listening mode terrified me. I do not like dying nor getting spooked by an enemy popping out of nowhere. Also I was convinced that if I ever did make it all the way to the rat king that that would be it and I would be stuck there forever.

Well, what ended up happening was that in April of this year I beat the game on permadeath, which meant I had every single other achievement in the game and I thought "FUCK IT I'M GIVING GROUNDED A TRY" and then I failed miserably.... I ended up not even making it to Abby's section, I got stuck in the mall fight on Ellie day 3 and I just got so incredibly frustrated that I quit.

However, then a couple months passed, and I did have one trick up my sleeve. My first attempt of grounded had been on the normal version, not grounded+. I had wanted to not beat the game on grounded+ just to prove to myself that I could do it without the extra help, but sometimes you have to admit that you need help so again I tried with all my great guns and upgrades.

I will say, my thing about being afraid of not having listening mode proved to not be that much of an issue. The main emotion I felt while playing was not fear, but pure frustration and rage. God this game is so ANNOYING. Like you'd think the gap between survivor and grounded wouldn't be that bad, but it felt like night and day. I kept getting stuck and dying and my main strategy just ended up being to run for my life :D I know grounded isnt even near the hardest gaming challenges and maybe it was just a skill issue but man did I spend hours in some fights not making any progress at all.

Now you might be thinking, what about the rat king? I am happy to say that I BEAT THAT FUCKER FIRST TRY. I wish so badly that I had gotten it on video, because I have never been that locked in during my entire life. It felt like I had become Abby in that moment and I was channeling all my rage into killing that thing. Actually, I struggled wayyyyy more with Ellies bloater fight than the rat king, which was very surprising considering it's the other way around usually.

When I had beaten Abby in the final fight and I was watching the last few cutscenes, I got a bit emotional and teary eyed, which honestly surprised me a lot considering how many times I've played this game. Even during my first playthrough I only cried during the beginning when Ellie was going through Joels home. Maybe I was just happy the suffering would finally be over? I mean I do relate to Ellie on the level that I've also lost my father. Maybe my emotions were heightened because of the struggle and the 6 month journey it took me to get here.

To end this extremely long post I'd just like to say that if you ever think you can't do something, just try it anyway. Even if you end up failing, it's important to challenge yourself and besides, you can always try again. I know beating a video game isnt the coolest thing in the world but I am so proud of myself for not giving up.

[gaymer-hag-stan]

A Tekken 8 Review That Nobody Asked for From a Longtime Fan Who Has Been Playing for Ages But Is Not a Pro - That Title Is Too Long

Having spent a little over 24 hours playing the game on my PS5, I feel like it's an appropriate amount of time to share my first thoughts on it. I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum so just skip the "Story" section and you should be fine.

General Thoughts

A pretty healthy roster, overall happy with who we got. I do wish Anna and Christie were here, and I also miss Lucky Chloe. With Eddy already announced and Azucena taking over the "cooky dance-y character" I unfortunately don't see Christie or Chloe returning, but Anna better fucking do!

They all look great, even the ugly ones, they look satisfyingly ugly, if that makes any sense. The girls still suffer from the Madame Tussaud's wax figure syndrome that plagued the entirety of Tekken 7's roster, but, maybe I'm gaslighting myself, I do feel like they look a bit less plasticky than some of the initial teasers? Most of the redesigns are great, the hair (Lili's hair has never looked better), water and dirt physics all finally WORK and I love how all the clothing animates with the wind effect, the Fallen Destiny stage is a great one to illustrate all of the above. We can see Yoshimitsu's fingers after three decades! I'd love to know the thought process behind this redesign lmao

I love that they finally, after so many years of other fighting games having it but being inexplicably absent from Tekken, they finally added Player vs CPU matches! FINALLY! Finally I can pick my character and my opponent of choice, pick their costumes and set a stage for them to battle. I'm so happy for this even though it might not make any sense to anyone.

Combo Challenges! We finally have combo challenge in Tekken! Another common fighting game feature inexplicably missing up until now.

Gameplay feels a lot of fun. I wasn't sure about the heat mechanic but it's actually a lot more fun than I initially thought! I tried out all of the cast and am slowly completing both their story episodes and an Arcade run for good measure. I am obviously still maining Nina. They have decided to simplify a lot of her combo throws and I am having fun terrorizing people online with them by breaking their bones! I'm also using Arcade Quest to learn how to play as Lili and Azucena, some basic moves and combos and whatnot. I wanna also do Zafina, Jun, Jin, Hwoarang and Xiaoyu as well eventually. I think these eight will be my main squad for the time being. As a side note, King and Steve feel extremely fun to play, I haven't picked either in ages, but with King I was really close!

The netcode is, surprisingly functional??? We did recently switch to an optic fiber connection type, but I'm still on WiFi and I am having zero problems!

Jukebox is thankfully back again! I literally spent an hour or more before playing the game at all to decide which song goes where lol

Something that scares me regarding upcoming DLC, is that I do not see a season pass being sold anywhere except the Deluxe Edition bundle that costs 40€... I'm sorry but I don't give a fuck about owning 32 identical gold costumes or Tetsujin or whoever the fuck as my Arcade Quest avatar... I only want Eddy and the other three (one of them better be Anna!) thank you very much!

Story

"The Dark Awakens"

Believe it or not I haven't even finished the main story yet as I'm trying to pace myself through all the modes and enjoy them, savouring every moment. At the moment of typing this I am almost halfway through and I must say, even though I am still firmly in the "Drop the cinematic NRS style story modes" camp, and I would much rather have had either arcade mode with proper, canon endings back, or a revival and repurposing of the Tekken Force mode, in an SF6 World Tour mode type of way, out of all of Bandai Namco's attempts at a cinematic story mode, from SCV to Tekken 8, this has been the most satisfying attempt so far. I love that they are fully embracing the overdramatic nature of Tekken along with its campy side and it's present from the very beginning, with Jin throwing his bike at Kazuya's helicopter! "A Fate Decided by Fists" were we actually get to choose which fighters advance through the first round was the biggest highlight so far! I did not expect to fight Azazel again in 2024! I miss his Tekken 6 design though, he no longer glows according to his remaining health or has his limbs crumble away into scarabs according to which parts of him you're hitting. Also, I do understand why they felt the need to overemphasize how "Jin was a good guy all along and he's not like Kazuya" to redeem him and attempt to portray him as a more traditional hero, but I think they went way too far. Literally every single cast member, characters who've never met him before especially, makes a point of how good a person Jin is. Also, I do understand that there were a lot of people complaining that most of the cast were ignored in Tekken 7's story mode and I appreciate that they tried to include more of them this time, but it's so half assed and superficial. Like, Lili, Asuka, Hwoarang, Leo (who finds their missing father, a forgotten plot point from Tekken 6 of screen without a single explanation) Xiaoyu, PANDA offer absolutely nothing to the story so far other than to just be there and tell Jin what a good guy he is. And I say all that as someone who is firmly on Jin's side and despises Kazuya.

Character Episodes

Thank god they have more than one single fight this time! I would have liked it if they found a way to make each of them be canon. Like, I think every single one of the Arcade mode endings of SF6 is canon, if I'm not mistaken, and most of them seem to take place before the events of the main story, as a way to give us a clearer understanding of why each fighter fights. I think Guilty Gear does exactly that too. Nevertheless, I do appreciate that each fighter has fights specifically tailored to them, with specific opponents. It's not clear to me yet if they're completely non-canon or not, as in Nina's she seems to have been hired by Lee to sabotage G Corporation and Kazuya, I pray to God this is true and she's not actually, willingly working for that asshole, like, I'm still in complete denial that they threw her entire character development from Tekken 4 to Tekken 7 to the trash can just to go "NInA WiLl WoRK FoR WhOmEvEr"... She's also suspiciously missing from the actual story like, she simply just appeared in ONE scene so far and then left without doing literally anything. She also seems to only have special interactions with Steve and Lee so far when others get a lot more. Her handling story wise in this installment is insulting, considering she's the most popular female fighter in the series and one of the most popular in the genre...

Offline Modes

Arcade Quest

It's cute... It's certainly a cool way to mask your tutorial and the avatars are kinda cool, but they're nowhere near as good as what Capcom did with SF6 and World Tour. I must say I prefer Tag 2's Tekken Lab over this.

Super Ghost Battle

Ghost battle, after five attempts is finally fun! Tekken 7's was by far the worst attempt as the game would automatically pick opponents for you, matching you with much harder ones if you were winning too much and much lower ones if you were losing too much so that you wouldn't climb the ranks as fast and it would artificially increase playtime. Now that Tekken has actual single player modes other that the story there's no need for that, and they made it work. You simply choose from a list, and the ones that contain unlockable (useless) customisation options for specific characters are actually marked so that you can attempt to get the item you want.

Arcade Battle

I love that they still included a traditional eight battle long Arcade mode, even though they could have just had the character episodes and call it a day. My slight nitpick, again, is that they're still doing this thing that they've been doing since Tekken 5 or 6 where the first few battles are characters in their default costumes and then a horde of Namco's customized monstrosities attack your eyes... This is a huge pet peeve of mine, I understand it in the context of Ghost Battle, and Arcade Quest, but I do not want to see goofy customs in other, "serious" modes. On top of that, the ghosts you get seem to be from the Super Ghost Battle's catalogue of freaks, and are therefore higher difficulty than most, which in turn makes them actively harder than the mode's final boss which I think is kinda hilarious!

Tekken Ball

I will admit, I only played a single match and never touched it again. It is actually challenging, I'll give it that, but I don't see the appeal. I'd much rather have Tekken Bowl again back instead tbh. Also I wish that stage was playable in normal modes too.

Customization

Avatar customization is kinda whatever, but it works well enough for Arcade Quest and I don't really visit the Tekken Fight Lounge.

Character Customization however is where I have an issue. While I've seen lots of cool customs of various characters from other games and IPs, including Shimbori himself dressing up Super Battle ghosts as DOA characters!, I don't really care for the customization options? My only real use for Character Customization in Tekken so far was to recreate past / alternate outfits. Like, in Tekken 6 I would buy the schoolgirl outfit parts for all the teen girlies, in Tekken 7 I recreated Nina's 2P outfit from Tekken 4 using her Blood Vengeance catsuit as a base, stuff like that. In Tekken 8 all I'm getting is a huge catalogue of Zara's apparel... And all the unlockable outfits are either their default look with less clothes on, or weird cosplays of other characters. Why? Tekken Character Customization peaked in Tekken 6, where every single one of the 40 (41 if you count Panda, who I think had some different options from Kuma) characters had his own personal selection of outfits and items, matching their personality and look. I don't want to play as Nina dressed up as Ada Wong or in a business casual for a 9-5 desk job. They made everything way too generic and bland and, on top of that, we don't even have trademark pieces like Nina's purple catsuit, her ponytail, Hwoarang's taekwondo garb, Xiaoyu's Tekken 6 battle costume. The Tekken 5 veterans should have had their Tekken 5/6/TTT2 costumes and hairstyles on top of their Tekken 7 ones.

Overall, I am very very happy with this game! It seemingly does almost everything right and I am glad to see it improving on, literally, every single thing over Tekken 7.

Score: 9 / 10

[theharrowing]

Collateral: Namjoon POV Teaser

this snippet takes place in the Collateral universe during chapters 20 & 21.

summary: Desperate to find out what is going on with Yoongi, Namjoon devises a plan to go get him. But first he needs to tend to something with you.

teaser word count: 883

teaser warnings: Namjoon and mc have a sweet little chat. brief flashbacks & discussion of Yoongi's injury, mention blood.

notes: since mc is in this scene, she is referred to in 2nd person (you/yours.)

“Ugh, I’m gonna kill the mood,” Namjoon groans, feeling that the mood is already dead. 

You chuckle and shake your head, saying, “Never.” Sitting up further, you open your arms and say, “Come here, Joonbug.”

Namjoon gets onto his hands and begins to crawl, caging your hips and then ribs. And then he gently falls forward, taking you down with him in a tangle of arms and giggles. 

“I keep having flashbacks too,” Namjoon mutters, closing his eyes tight. Yoongi continues to bleed in his mind, but as your hands begin to play with his hair, he melts, pushing the image out. How could he have been so cold when your warmth is so healing?

He swallows again and continues, “I keep seeing Yoongi with his hands and cheek covered in blood. Head wounds…fuck, they bleed so much.” Your hands stop momentarily and then begin to move again. “So much more than you might expect. When Taehyung was stitching him up, it looked like a river had flowed down his chin and neck. I’m sorry for telling you this.”

You say nothing, making Namjoon nervous. “We’re both at fault for what happened,” he adds quietly, chest heavy with remorse. “So please don’t take all the blame. Don’t carry the full burden, okay?”

“Okay,” you utter softly at the same time your chest quakes. 

Namjoon knows before his eyes can lift in confirmation that you are crying. “Sweetheart—“ he begins, but you shake your head, cutting him off. 

“I’m so sorry you had to see that,” you half-whisper, tears flowing down your pretty cheeks. “That had to have been so scary.”

A humorless scoff works through Namjoon's chest. "To be honest, I was numb at the time. I go into a protection mode where, until I am sure that someone is okay, I do not react emotionally to the situation. It wasn't until we got home and I brought Yoongi up to shower while we contemplated coming to get you that everything became too much to bear. I completely fucking lost it."

"Why didn't you come get me?" you ask, and Namjoon loves you for it. He loves the way you challenge him, and how you do not leave any detail unaddressed. He turns his cheek to the side and buries it against your chest, listening to the steady beating of your heart while your hands sooth his head, neck, and shoulders. 

"Believe it or not, we were only home for about two hours before Taehyung came to bring you home, and as soon as we arrived, men started filing in for an emergency meeting that Yoongi had called; we didn't get to sleep at all. At that hour…when we first arrived to Taehyung's place…it took a little while for any staff to arrive to the property, and Yoongi insisted he tended to Jimin before him. We were in that fluorescent basement all fucking morning. I helped apply pressure to a rag against his face and dissociated quite a bit."

"I would have helped," you mutter, but Namjoon knows it is more for your own benefit than his. Even in the face of terror, you tend to put yourself before others, which is precisely why he prefers to keep you at a safe distance when possible. 

"How can I win your forgiveness?" Namjoon blurts, making an attempt to lift his head and torso enough to look at you. 

But you hold him in place, making your hands and arms heavy against his head and shoulders, sending a clear message that you already have him right where you want him. Your chest shakes and he imagines that you are quietly laughing, but he wishes he could see your face.

"Joonbug," you sigh, smile evident in your tone while your nails scratch against his scalp. "There is nothing to forgive. While I hate to be left out, all I needed was an explanation."

Namjoon feels guilty for his recent silence and all the space he created, thinking it was just as much for your own benefit as for his. He laments not just telling you how he feels. 

"I shut you out after Yoongi left," Namjoon mutters, staring at the dark blue curtains that hang against the wall, tracing over the rise and dip of each crease where they are bunched close. Although he feels at a loss for words, he attempts to at least get some of his thoughts out. "I didn't mean to, I'm just…I don't know. I'm not always good at all of this."

Blunt nails scratch just hard enough that Namjoon has to suppress a groan, fluttering his eyes closed. "At all of what?" you ask. 

"Being open, I suppose," Namjoon says, although he knows you are going to refute it. 

"I don't believe that to be true," you respond, proving him right. 

Namjoon chuckles, feeling affection swell behind his ribs. On the nightstand, his phone dings, indicating a message has come in, but he decides that whoever it is can wait just a moment longer. He wants to stay in this moment and consider his next words thoughtfully.

But then his phone dings again, and he thinks that maybe it could be Yoongi. And again it dings, and he worries that it could be Yoongi and that something could be wrong. 

This is a snippet for a POV Exclusive that you can unlock for $2 on Buy Me a Coffee. Exclusives for all 7 members will be written, and they will not become available to the public. While it is a monthly subscription site, you are encouraged to opt in and out as you wish!

Full exclusive word count: 7.3k

Full exclusive warnings: Namjoon spiraling quite a bit, a domestic flashback with Yoongi (more backstoryyy!!!), anxiety lying, a short but very sweet oral sex scene, brief flashbacks & discussion of Yoongi's injury, mention blood, mc and Namjoon are so fucking sweet to each other.

Shout out to @neoneunnajimin for beta reading! I appreciate you!

Collateral is copyright 2022-2023 theharrowing, all rights reserved.

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

Writing asks: 10, 11, 38

10: Top three favourite fic tropes

Transformations - Vampires, alien goo, zombification, demonic corruption, dragon mode, I eat this shit UP! Day fucking one my mom asks little 3 year old me what kinda imaginary story I wanna play and I am immediately transforming motherfuckers into various animals, monsters, and strange shapes. I've been on my freak with this since birth.

Omegaverse - I've only half written the one fic for it myself, but I find A/O/B very fun and extremely gender affirming. I could honestly rant about the appeals of this one for a while, but half of it would be NSFW and the other half would be railing against one specific anti-omegaverse argument that genuinely makes me want to fist fight people lol, so suffice to say, I do really like it.

Edgy Panic Button Powers - uhhh so idk what the proper name for this would be, but I'm talking like superpowers that are overwhelmingly powerful, but have some kind of cost that necessitates that it can only be pulled out in absolute emergencies, and I want that shit to be edgy as all hell. Ichigo's Hollow mask thingy is a good example of this. Rin from Blue Exorcist doing his demon thing is another great one. Alucard's control level zero (might be getting that name wrong??) from Helsing Ultimate OVA. Dante's Devil Trigger and Jason's All-Blades could be the same kinda sauce with the right tweaks. Bonus points if the Edgy Panic Button is a transformation.

...Just realized this one isn't exactly a fic trope, have another one

Only One Bed - something about this one strikes just the right balance between fools getting put in awkward scenarios against their will and character choice. The bed forces temptation, and it's up to the characters and their own foibles as to who breaks how. Have yet to write this one yet, but it will happen someday, mark my words.

11: Three tropes that are fine but overrated

continuing the trend of only half staying on topic, some of these are more like tropes of unknown rating that don't jive with me? I have a hard time saying something is getting undue praise, but I tried

Soulmate AUs - I think they're simultaneously underrated and overrated. They get treated like they're THE exemplar of romantic storytelling in fanfiction, especially in terms of talking about hating it and wanting it subverted into dust because it's supposedly this hollow hedgemonic whatever, when really like... It is not the core and pinnacle of pure romance, nor is it emblematic of what's wrong with the kids these days. It's just a trope, with narrative strengths and weaknesses the same as any other trope. It's fine.

coffee shop/flower shop/mundane job AUs - These are simply incompatible with me. I do not like normalcy; normalcy does not like me. I have a really hard time imagining my weirdo blorbos being so normal without exploding out of their own skins trying to find something more. Tim and Jason would attempt to throw hands with everyone and God in every world I think, but at the same time, maybe I kinda get why people like it? If I wrote the same kind of slice of life fic about Jason and Tim working together as assistants in a necromancer's lab I'd really like it. I can respect a trope that's comforting and has a routine that puts the characters in proximity with a craft they can mutually share and have passion over. Still feel like it's kinda over-done tho

Wing fics - I am way, way too anal retentive about speculative biology and speculative anthropology for 98% of these, which prefer to focus on using the wings as thematic and emotional indicators. I get why they're popular, they're cool and lend themselves well to dope ass art, but also they do sometimes make me want to scream about wingspan ratios and improper joint placements.

38: "This never happened" fix-it fics or "this happened but" fix-it fics?

"This happened but" all the way. I find taking the concepts that didn't work in comics execution and improving upon them to be a fun challenge. I firmly believe that with effort and care, you can make a good story out of nearly any starting concept, and there's a ton of advantages I have as a reader/fanfic writer that the original comic writers didn't have (like hindsight and a lack of executive demands), so idk I pretty much always feel like I can take the comic's basic beats and figure out a way to improve it.

I'm also just way more forgiving than a lot of other comic readers I think? Like I have gone on record as a defender of both Brothers in Blood and Pill Helmet Jason and some of my first comics ever were Lobdell's Red Hood and the Outlaws new 52 stuff and that somehow didn't turn me off of comics lmao, it takes a LOT to make me say "this is too garbage for me to want to use any of it". I enjoy going into comics looking for stuff that works or could work better if ___.

The only "this never happened"s I really go for are the ones that are like specifically in service to keeping a character's cool magic power or transformation curse or whatever intact. Like if the story's happily ever after involved the main character no longer turning into a sicknasty demon form when mad, I will hate that enough to pitch it out entirely lol

anyhow, thank you for the ask Laufire! I might send u some questions back as revenge :3

[sheepkebby]

Today I attempted to complete Dead Center on expert difficulty

This post is just gonna be screenshots of my pain and suffering, enjoy <3

Starting off, I almost immediately realized that I had modded the whole gang to be wearing pink themed outfits.

Except for Ellis ... who I had dressed in a DOOM shirt

This made me imagine that the whole team was like "yeah we're all gonna be coordinated for this challenge! we're all gonna wear pink!" and then forgot to tell Ellis. Whoops.

Anyways, the first map was fine.

The second map, however, was fucking nuts.

Nick died and was defibrillated TWICE, and then a tank appeared and incapped all the bots, so I had to 1v1 it (which I somehow succeeded in). Then we all made it to the saferoom, and by that point I was in black and white mode. I was hanging on by a thread bro lemme tell ya 😩😩😩😩

I then attempted to do the mall panic event several times, each time failing hilariously. I died to my own Molotov once.

During another attempt, a witch had us all trapped in this little room. Peed about it. (She ended up killing Nick, I swear that man's skin is as thin as toilet paper).

At that point I was complaining to my girlfriend, so she offered to jump in and help me out! So I quit out of the game to join a lobby with her.

(Before quitting out though I killed Nick just for giggles)

Don't look at the time this message was sent. Don't worry about it.

After a long struggle, gf and I managed to get back to the mall. We attempted the panic event once or twice and I eventually made it to the saferoom after she startled a witch and sacrificed herself for me <3 (She didn't INTEND to do that, still very romantic though)

Then came the finale,

And let me tell you,

You will never be more terrified than when you're trying to pour 13 gas cans into Jimmy Gibbs Jr.'s car while your partner tries to lead a tank away from you and you can hear it just a few feet away and the ground is shaking and OH GOD OH FUCK PLEASE GET IN THE FUCKING CAR AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

But, eventually, after two and half hours, we made it.

(RIP Coach he didn't survive the finale)

I am not an expert at this game. But I am absolutely going to force myself to play all the other campaigns on expert because I want the achievement and I love pain <3

(Edit) We've completed:

Dark Carnival | Swamp Fever | Hard Rain | The Parish

[twistsandtwizzles]

Stars on Mars: Episode 9

Previously, on Stars on Mars: Porsha put herself up for Base Commander, only to lose the vote to Cat; a challenge that left the crew wearing blackout face shields, and their inability to see resulted in Lance accidentally directing Marshawn to lightly bump into a parked rover and Marshawn was disproportionately angry about it; Andy was sent home by a vengeful Cat.

And since Adam is still on Mars, I am still here writing these recaps. Let’s do this.

It’s the morning of Sol Day 14. Ariel is the first one up and about, and she wanders into the kitchen, where the pantry door is open. She shuts it, only for it to swing open again. She closes it, then wanders to the sink . . . and the door opens again. 

“What the fuck is going on?” she asks, looking around. “Who is opening this door? Absolutely not!” She checks inside the pantry to make sure nothing is in the way of keeping it latched, closes the door again, and steps back uneasily. After a beat, the door opens again.

She jumps. Honestly, I would also be unsettled. “What the fuck is going on here? No, no, no. Absolutely not.” She pulls a chair over from the island and sets it in front of the door. “Now you can’t open,” she tells the door. “No.”

Ariel exits the kitchen, and the camera holds on the pantry door as it attempts to open one final time, bouncing against the chair.

In the bunkroom, Porsha is getting ready for the day. You may remember that she removed her wig at the end of last week’s episode - to Lance’s confusion - and is now rocking her short natural hair, which is stunning. She tells us that everyone's spirits need to be brought up and we do quick check-ins on the rest of the crew: Adam is apparently giving himself a Tarot reading (and I’m going to need to summon @tripleaxelrose here to see what the card he has already turned over in front of him means); Lance and Ariel awkwardly and silently eat breakfast on opposite ends of the kitchen; Tinashe is playing dominoes by herself. 

Tinasha has just knocked all her dominoes over and is setting them back up when she hears some banging in the ceiling. “I think there’s a bird in the vent,” she says, as Adam also looks up, a bit concerned.

In the other bunkroom, Marshawn wanders by as Lance is getting ready for his workout. “Beast mode!” Lance greets him. Marshawn flips him off. 

“You had one job,” Marshawn tells Lance, who seems genuinely confused, until it hits him: Marshawn is still mad about the rover. We see the “incident” again in flashback, and it is truly so funny that Marshawn is pissed about this: he was walking so slowly, and just barely bumped the rover. It barely slowed the team down, and they still completed the mission! The fact that this is what has severed the Marshawn/Lance alliance is so silly and also so perfectly fitting.

“You done now, brah,” Marshawn tells Lance.

“Okay, now, slow your roll,” Lance says. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m tired of you,” Marshawn replies, before leaving the room.

In his talking head, Lance is a bit perplexed: “It’s frustrating. And frankly, I was a bit surprised. I thought Marshawn and I were going to be friends forever.”

Porsha has on the black sports bra she wore for the last Base Commander vote, and tells us that leadership is one of her strengths and that she really wants to be Base Commander. She also says today she is going to play it a little more cool

“Good morning,” she greets Adam and Ariel, giving Adam a hug as she enters the kitchen.

“Are you in your Base Commander Hopeful bra again?” Adam asks.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Porsha says, as Adam laughs. “I have my own strategy.”

Porsha tells the camera that the competition is fierce so she wanted to have a fierce look. “Plus, I am channeling Uhura from Star Trek,” she says (though she says “Uhuru” but I’m just gonna give it to her), explaining that Uhura was the communications specialist on the Enterprise - which is basically what the Base Commander does.

Back in the kitchen, Adam tells Porsha, “Well you have my vote.”

“I’m not asking for it.”

“No, you’re begging for it,” Adam says, making everyone laugh. Adam tells us that he thinks it’s Porsha’s time to get the role.

Adam also takes this opportunity to ask Porsha for advice, because he’s tired of being in the bottom three. 

“It’s kind of like . . . you don’t do anything outside of what you’re told to do,” Porsha tells him, as Tinashe joins the group in the kitchen. She says that Adam needs to take more of an initiative to find another task when he finishes something, to go out of his way to ask his fellow crew members if he can assist them. 

“Because of Porsha and because of Tinashe, I have grown so much,” Adam says in his talking head. “I think that Porsha also sees that I’m a critical member to this team as a whole.”

Back in the kitchen, Adam says, “Remember when I said I wasn’t competitive?”

“LOL,” Tinashe replies, as she, Ariel, and Porsha giggle. 

Lance is using the foam roller in Cat’s base commander suite as she sits on the bed. These two have formed a fast and firm alliance. Another thump from the ceiling. “There’s the birds,” Lance says, explaining to Cat that the rest of the crew has been talking about noises all morning.

He and Cat get into a discussion about her knowing Oprah; she launches into a story about a time that Oprah called her and asked her to make dinner for Harry and Meghan with like two day’s notice. Lance seems weirdly surprised when Cat says that Harry and Meghan were nice.

Time for the Base Commander vote. Porsha greets everyone as they enter the command center and Adam teases, “Look at her campaigning.”

“No, I’m not!” Porsha protests. “I’m chilling.”

“Are you chilling, Stacey Abrams?” Adam asks. 

Laby AI tells them it’s time to choose a new base commander. “Choose a new Base Commander?!” Adam says, feigning shock.

“We’ve never had to do that before,” Ariel agrees. Everyone is looking at Porsha and grinning. 

“Oh, is it that time already?” she asks, faux-casually.

“Okay, who wants to be Base Commander?” Paul asks.

“I wonder!” says the group, almost at once, as every head turns back to Porsha.

“I mean, if you guys are wanting to put me up for it . . .” she says.

“I nominate Porsha,” Tinashe says. Adam seconds.

“I nominate Porsha too,” Marshawn says from his corner. (Growth!) 

“We all think it’s Porsha,” Cat says. “Porsha, you’ve got it.”

Porsha squeals with delight as everyone claps. “I wasn’t expecting this!”

We rotate through a series of talking heads as everyone says how glad they are to see Porsha as Base Commander. Lance points out what a good player she is: “Be careful with Porsha, she plays all sides. She’s sweet, but she knows the game.” He also notes that Ariel is tight with Porsha, and that is probably not a good thing when it comes to his safety this go-round.

Porsha - now sporting a zip up over her Base Commander Hopeful sports bra - informs the group that space command has issued a directive that today is “Mental Health Day.” People can either go outside and toss around a football, or stay inside and have a spa day. Porsha lets the group know that she will happily give anyone who wants one a face mask but she is not giving anyone a pedicure.

Marshawn and Paul throw the football around and Paul asks Marshawn what he can do to get out of the bottom three. Marshawn says that Paul needs to be mission specialist and that will take care of the problem. 

Inside, the noises in the air vents continue. Lance and Cat are working out, and Lance tells her that he thinks he’s going to go home today. He complains to her that decisions are beginning to be made not according to who does the best, but according to who is best liked on a personal level. Cat tells him that she agrees that this sucks, but in her confessional she notes that alliances are important to survival on Mars. She also predicts to Lance that Porsha’s mission specialist is either going to be Tinashe or Adam.

“We’ve got to ride or die together,” Cat tells Lance, as they leave the gym.

Ariel, Tinashe, Adam, and Porsha are getting the supplies ready for the spa. “Can I paint your face?” Tinashe asks Adam. 

“PLEASE!” he replies. Tinashe applies a facemask to Adam’s face. While she’s working, Adam asks Ariel how she’s doing.

Ariel admits that the social part of the game has been a challenge, and that she’s really struggling with the lingering animosity between her and Lance. Porsha assures her that she is among people who have her back and support her.

Lance wanders in. “Am I too late?” The group assures him that he is not, and Porsha gets to work applying his mask. “Am I going to look younger?” he asks. She tells him that his skin will never feel better than it will after he washes the mask off. He tells us in voiceover that he is bad at relaxing.

When Marshawn and Paul come inside, they immediately seek out Porsha. “So, we’ve decided that Paul’s going to be your mission specialist,” Marshawn says.

Porsha frowns, hands on her hips. “Paul, you want to step up?” She tells the camera that mission specialist is a very serious position, especially at this point in the game. 

“Absolutely,” Paul says. “I’m ready for it.” 

“I haven’t chosen yet,” Porsha tells them.

“If you don’t,” Marshawn says, “We’re going to get overthrown.”

Porsha asks, “What do you mean, ‘overthrown’? Is this an alliance?” She shakes her head and reiterates that she has not made any decisions yet.

The next morning, Marshawn discovers that the peanut butter has vanished. As he’s searching, another loud noise in the vents.

Tinashe hears it too, and points it out to Porsha, saying again that she thinks it is a bird. These people seem to be forgetting that there are not birds on Mars. But there would probably also not be cell phone service, and this also does not seem to bother them. 

Porsha notes that the noises are only coming from a particular part of the vents, and then tells Tinashe that she needs a mission specialist. “I mean, I’d be down,” Tinashe says. “I’m also good in the field. But I have experience so if that’s what you need . . .” Porsha doesn’t make any promises, but she seems much more receptive to this possibility than to the idea of Paul in the role.

Emergency! Shatner is here with this week’s mission. The radar systems have picked up someone - or something - in the hab with them. Their mission: locate and neutralize it, and if they can’t do so in the allotted time, they may be asked to vacate the hab. If they’re successful, they’ll get an “Adaptability” patch. Shatner also warns them to not let any aliens burst out of their chest, because he’s not sure that FOX has insurance for that. (Then, pretending to get a note from offscreen: “Oh, insurance does cover that!”) With that, Shatner’s out. 

Seriously, though, how much do we think Shatner is getting paid for his 60 seconds of screen time a week? 

Porsha picks Tinashe as her mission specialist. Paul is not thrilled. “But the thing is, I’m a newbie,” he says. “And a lot of things play a part in these decisions, including how long you’ve been here.” 

The mission parameters: the group will split up into three teams. Two pairs will enter the ducts and crawl through them until they find a fan that is blocking their path. There they will have to press a button that stops the fan, continue crawling, and locate the intruder. The remaining pair will be on the opposite end of the vent system, clearing out the exit path which is apparently full of “debris.” They have fifteen minutes.

Porsha decides on the teams: Marshawn and Paul, Cat and Adam, and Lance and Ariel. Porsha tells us she is doing this deliberately: “Lance and Ariel don’t really like each other, and I just want to bring people together.”

Tinashe informs the crew of their teams, and Marshawn can’t stop laughing about Ariel and Lance being paired up. “Damn I wish I could be a fly on that wall!”

Both Lance and Ariel’s talking heads basically are the same: there is a job to do, and they are going to do it, regardless of their feelings about the other person.

The clock starts, and the first step is to undo all the screws on the vents. The teams get to work, with Lance and Ariel the first ones to open their vents and crawl inside. Paul and Marshawn are next, and their vent is full of a bunch of cables, which they begin clearing out. Paul notes that he is too big to fit in the vents, so Marshawn has to do most of the work - you can tell Paul is already anticipating being in the bottom again.

Ariel and Lance reach their fan with 11:30 remaining on the clock, but they cannot find the button they are supposed to press anywhere.

With ten minutes remaining, Adam and Cat finally get their vent open. Ariel and Lance still haven’t found their button and Ariel is starting to freak out. With eight minutes on the clock, they discover a button that says “Fan” . . . on the other side of the fan, that they can’t reach.

Lady Hab Voice comes on and reminds the teams that this mission is about adaptability. “To stop your fan you must locate a second button found behind you.”

The group all scurries back from the way they came. There are now less than five minutes left. Finally, Adam decides to pull himself up to another set of vents - where he discovers the button. “I found it!” he yells into the comms. “Go up, go up!” He hits the button, and the fan he and Cat are responsible for stops.

“It was Mission: Impossible,” Adam says to us. “Only I made it Mission: Possible.” Followed by a patented Adam Rippon eyebrow raise.

Cat is able to run through and hit the button that stops Lance and Ariel’s fan. All four of them are now able to move toward the “intruder’s chamber.” Marshawn is waiting on the other side for them, ready to let them out. 

With two minutes left, they reach the chamber and discover nothing. Marshawn, watching them from the exit path, suggests they check the space above them. Lance does so with one minute on the clock, and discovers . . . another robot dog. I admit that I found this very anticlimactic, and so does the crew. Is it so wrong to hope for an actual alien?? Or even a bird?? For there to be real stakes to this game just once???

Marshawn opens the exit and they all scramble for it, and with three seconds left, the entire crew and the robot dog have made it out of the vents. Mission success!

As the crew catches their breath, Tinashe and Porsha deliberate, noting that Lance did some good work but has struggled socially since Ronda left. They also say that Ariel struggled to stay calm and was “very loud on the comms.” Adam tells us that being in the bottom three sucks but that he thinks he did very crucial work today, so he hopes that he won’t find himself in that spot again. 

Then it’s time to call in the Mission Critical crew. Porsha calls in the MVP first - Marshawn. “I just get shit done,” he says.

Adam is called in next. “I love Adam,” Porsha says to the camera. “Of course he wasn’t going to go.”

“I think I’m actually starting to believe that I can be really good on these missions,” Adam says in his confessional. He celebrates with Tinashe and Porsha.

Before calling in the next person, Porsha acknowledges that it was a very hard choice, especially since the size of the crew is getting so small. “So I’m just going to call in the next person . . . Cat.”

That leaves Ariel, Lance, and Paul in our bottom three. Ariel is upset and in her confessional she seems to blame Lance, for some reason; Paul seems resigned to his fate. “I probably had the lesser role of everybody,” he tells Porsha and Tinashe. “I did everything I could, but these two were phenomenal.” 

And I think maybe it was likely that Paul would have gone home - after all, we already know Tinashe is not a huge fan of what he brings to the table - but Lance throws a curveball. “Life on Mars is not easy,” he says. “You can’t throw twelve strangers in a room and expect everyone to get along. And that’s what I’m struggling with, and going forward that would be a liability not just for myself but for the team. And so, it’s been a hell of an honor, but I have decided to exit the project.”

Cat looks stunned and devastated. Paul is also surprised: “Lance, why’d you do that?” he asks, taking his comm out of his ear so that he can talk directly to Lance. “You’ve invested so much time.”

“Are you sure?” Ariel asks softly. “Do you really want to go?”

“Yeah,” Lance says. “I’m sure.”

Tinashe says in voiceover that she had been sure that the game was going to come down to her and Lance. “So the fact that he actually wants to leave . . . yeah, I’m surprised.”

No long goodbyes for Lance - he waves to everyone and books it out of the hab. Only Cat seems genuinely sad for him to go; the rest of the cast appears mostly dumbfounded. Cat notes that she had really been depending on partnering with Lance through this game, and you can already see her scrambling to reformulate her gameplan. 

“I know that from Lance’s point of view, it is the fourteenth day here,” Adam says to the group back in the command center. “And it’s really tough, emotionally and physically, to get to this point.”

In his exit interview, Lance says that he’s not a social person: “I didn’t have any expectations about being popular. But every minute or every day that I’ve been here, I’ve given one hundred percent.”

Adam finds Ariel and gives her a big hug. “That was crazy,” he says. 

Cat tells us that Lance leaving was a reminder that this is a social game. “I’m going to really have to adjust myself and start thinking about what I’m going to do to survive.”

She walks up to Paul. “If you want to be Base Commander tomorrow, I’ll nominate you,” she tells him. “And I’m gonna be your mission specialist.”

And I am fascinated by the way Lance’s departure has just shook up these hab dynamics. Technically, the Tinashe/Porsha/Adam/Ariel faction is now in the majority, but if Paul and Cat are calling the shots next week, that almost guarantees that one of those four will be headed home. Personally, I think Ariel might be the most vulnerable person in the hab right now . . . we’ll see what happens next week!

[gaogaigoatgrrl]

btw, here's an updated list of ttrpg projects i either have on the backburner or am working on in some way:

wheel breaker

this is kinda my main project rn, it's a game about martial arts and intrigue in a fantasy setting largely derived from various buddhist concepts. it is metaphysically buddhist but politically anarchist, as a direct result of my efforts to work through various apparent contradictions at the intersection of those belief systems. hopefully these internal tensions will give it spice!

it's built on a chassis loosely resembling pbta (most of these systems are), but it also has a dice bank system lifted from the japanese game kamigakari, and it's a bit gamier. it largely runs on the conceit that combat and dialogue are extensions of each other

it's kinda my effort to take things i like about systems like exalted and streamline them into something more playable, but it's also kind of a release valve so i don't infodump about buddhist stuff all the time. i do infodump to my friends and partners about the game itself, though, so ymmv on the effectiveness of that

cassette

cassette is supposed to be a horror game, influenced by films like videodrome and tetsuo: the iron man

it's supposed to be focusing on body horror, psychological horror, transformation, madness, and postmodern anxieties, but i'm a little uncertain of what direction exactly to take it in, so i'm putting it on the backburner for now

mechanically a lot of my ideas for it stem from my dissatisfaction with sanity mechanics in other games. i think modeling a character's mental state can be a really cool thing to do but if you want to do it well you kinda have to build the whole system around that purpose, and as someone with various mental health issues, the whole concept of mental hit points that make you roll on a table of dsm entries when you take damage really rubs me the wrong way

iron oracle

this is a mecha game. player characters are pilots with psychic powers, i haven't figured out much about the lore yet but the more i think about it the more i think i kinda wanna make it the anti-lancer. defend your planet from being re-colonized by the now-unrecognizable space empire that left it to its own devices centuries ago

mechanically i think a lot of what i want to do with this system is... i look at lancer and icon, and the way those systems have two separate modes of play for narrative and combat, and i do think that's a really cool design innovation with lots of benefits but also i see it and i want to immediately fuck with it by blurring those lines. part of my mindset here is "there are distinct benefits to having two separate modes of play, how can i smash that wall while keeping the benefits?" it's a personal design challenge

devil hunter: summoning software survivor

this is a reboot of an old project i was working on for years, called sword-swingin sworcery. originally it was my attempt at making a character action game in ttrpg form, so its setting and lore were very devil may cry-influenced, which i eventually tried spicing up by adding some shin megami tensei. it was a bloated mess, but the setting concept is still one that i want to work with

mechanically, i'm drastically simplifying from the system i had before, but this is another experiment in having a narrative/combat divide while bridging the gap. player characters fight using summoned demons, so they effectively have entirely separate stats and mechanics for combat. but there's interplay with their narrative mechanics, since there are several resources in narrative play that can also be used in combat. it's also an experiment in designing a gamier combat system that heavily focuses on things like damage types!

hell city hustle: a delinquent rpg

this is my newest project. a while back i was thinking "what if i took the general framework for social/combat mechanics in wheel breaker and put them in a totally mundane modern setting?" and then i realized that this would pretty much just be a beat-em-up rpg and i got excited. i extrapolated from that and now i'm making a game about being delinquents in a city full of wacky themed gangs like in the warriors

mechanically this is keeping the dice bank system from wheel breaker but now they're called heat dice. the dev soundtrack is just "double dragon neon ost - glad i am" on loop

[puttlesculpts]

Step 6: Build the skull mask, ruminate a lot. Blender pt 5

With the hood in a good enough place to move on, I wanted to see what it would look like if I used the premade skull mask I had found. As the existence of this post implies: it didn't looks very good!

Never even took a screenshot cuz I nixed that idea so quickly. Which was great, because it was a sign that I was getting more confident in what I could do and the sudden idea of making a mask from scratch was no longer daunting. So I mads a few references and set out to "trace" the model via a flat image and editing the primitive in the isometric views:

Took a screenshot as face-on as I could but still had to skew + mirror it in PS cus ya boy's face is pretty angled. At least the profile is easy to just rotate.

Anyway, here it is with the images placed for Optimal Isometric Modeling:

What you don't see here is the struggle to figure out the best way to actually trace things. Ya I could have watched a video, but at some point you just gotta play around with it on your own. So I ended up taking the woodcarving technique and moving all the vertices to where they needed to be at the most important angle. In this case, in Front View, where I moved everything to the exact place I needed it to be on the x/y-axis, which left most of the sculpting to happen on the z-axis.

This was ALSO the first time I ever deleted faces, something which I forgot I could do, and was much easier than my original plan of just sinking the unneeded surface into his face lol (should probably go back and do this for some of the boot parts)

The mask itself presented a pretty good set of challenges from the previous endeavors, especially with the more natural and rigid nature of bone. I feel like with the cloth of the pants/hood I was able to get away with a little less precision, as there is an inherent unpredictability to the way cloth falls which would not be too noticeable so long as I implied weight well enough (something I was conscious of and played around with :^) ), but the skull portion has a very distinct look with the shapes and shadows.

The mask also needs to be a balancing contrast to the otherwise soft nature of the surrounding cloth pieces. I am wary of my sculpts looking uncanny due to being too smooth and play doh-y (like how the Sims 3 sims looked lmaooo), which is where the skull would come in. I do plan/hope/am praying that brushes will help toward the end to give things a bit of a lived-in feel, and I know there's a way to add additional 3D textures similar to how you add 2D ones, but that was something I briefly tried to do in the past with no luck. In spite of that, I am confident I will be able to figure it out now that I've learned so much more about what I am actually doing in Blender.

With all that being said, the teeth killed me lmao

When I made the general shape of the mask, I thought about just using the mouth portion from the original model I was gonna use. However, that gave me a whole nest of problems on its own. Mainly these huge fucking clusters of vertices:

They made Blender super slow, hoping between edit/object mode was a nightmare, and applying a modifier was a guarantee like 5 minutes of no response. And I spent a good amount of time and troubleshooting trying to fix this (including decimating the geometry, attempting to remove this entire back side + extruding, mirroring, etc) but at the end of the day I just decided it wasn't worth it.

This was a major factor in my decision to started moving away from remixing existing models. I realized that I actually do care about the amount of control I have over them + with each successful part I made, it would make each borrowed one feel that much more out of place.

So major character development here: I am officially gonna axe any plans I had for borrowing models! Except for the skull pauldron, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there lol

Anyway, here are the steps I took trying to make the teeth work before decided to JUST include the teeth and do the rest of the sculpting post-print in epoxy.

I ended up using someone else's teeth tho cus I tried making my own via extrusion (looked bad, look like those lil square gums) and sculpting.

Turns out idk what teeth look like and I could not be bothered to do the entire reference process, especially when I KNOW someone out there probably made a perfectly good set of individual teeth. And someone did!

Anyway, I refined the mask further to give it more shape and will probably continue to work on the teeth as I progress onto other pieces. Who knows, maybe I will eventually gain the skills and confident to say fuck it and just make the entire mask in 3D too.

Up next: Additional head details, maybe the straps on his chest? Gloves pt 2? The BIG cloth wraps? tbd tbh

Sneak preview of the extra details + o ya I learned how to add simple colors cuz it was getting difficult to see all the different lil light gray pieces on his head, but then I got carried away and did the whole body

[mistertf2xreaderfluffballcake]

When you dodge their kiss as a joke/prank

So this is an idea that I took from the Wattpad app, there were a lot of boyfriend prompts about this so yeah I wanna try it out...on Tumblr this time :3.

Scout

He was about to kiss your cheek. Then! *dodge* !? What. Second attempt *dodge* Then you had a cheeky smile. OH~You are in big trouble s/o!! You guys run around the base until scout caught up and boom he pinned you down on the floor. I gotcha! *kiss* (YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY CAPTURED S/O LIPS. ) He had such a cheeky smile, your face was bright red, god damn it, he caught me...maybe I should do this again...

Soldier

He had just successfully beaten up the enemy team. He was about to give a victory kiss to s/o. But...*dodge* As soon as that happened he took that as a fucking challenge. OH HO OH! COME BACK HERE S/O!! yep, the challenge was ON. You guys run around but in the end, soldier rocket jumped and hugged you. VERY TIGHT. You were giggling. He found that adorable. He then kissed your lips. HAHAHA, DOUBLE VICTORY. That made you chuckle, soldier is such a big sweetheart honestly.

Pyro

ok. Just don't. Pyro will be sad. Just don't. But if you do...So yeah it was a normal day. They were about to give you a cheek boop with their mask, *dodge* *SHOCK* *sad noise under pyro mask* Oh! I am sorry pyro! I was just joking! You then gave them a million cheek boops. Pyro was back to happy :)).

Engineer

This is a sweet boy. He was worried he made you uncomfortable. It was a nice day, it was great weather. You were with him at his workplace just fixing stuff and chilling. He then came to the couch you were on once he finished repairing a few weapons. He was tired. He was about to give them a cheek kiss. *Dodge* Oh I am sorry sugar. Were you uncomfortable? I am so- He then saw your sneaky smile. ??? You were laughing. Oh sorry engi I hehe. I was only joking! OK here! Then you gave him a lip kiss. Oh! I-I w-was worried... He was bright red awwwwwww!! Such a red tomato~! (*^▽^*)

Heavy

Don't. Just don't. Give this big bear a kiss. Do not dodge. pls. So, you were both chilling on a heavys big bed. Papa bears big bed Anyway, he was reading you something, it was a great book! He was patting your head :) He then decided it was a perfect moment to kiss your forehead. *dodge* !!!! Oh, sorry s/o heavy don't want s/o umcomfor- you then cupped his face and gave him a lip kiss. hehe, sorry heavy that was just a joke! :) Oh...hehe cheeky s/o! :)))

Demoman

You both were on the couch just chilling the usual. He was about to give you a forehead kiss for passing the scrumpy (like a reward kiss) *dodge* !!!! He looked so confused that made you laugh. Your face haha I-Its priceless! haha! Oh you cheeky little!! He then got up and ran to you. He hugged you and picked you up. You can't escape now! *big sloppy kiss* You both were a giggling mess.

Sniper

You were at his van. Your head was in his chest just listening to nature. He was about to give you a little peck on the lips. BUT *dodge* !? Oh sorry love I- Instead of a little peck you gave him a big smooch. :)) You had such a cheeky smile! BANG! That definitely was a direct heart shot. He was a blushing mess. Oh~Sniper I was only joking sorry! Do you want an apology kiss~? W-Wot *Another kiss* He was now even redder! Awww this little tomato~

Medic

You DARE dodge his kiss? TWO TIMES! OH~BOY~! He was about to give you a sweet kiss he was in a good mood :). But then you dodged! >:( *Second attempt* Dodged. >>:( Then you both ran around the base, you were giggling. THEN! A dead-end! oh shit. He then pinned you against a wall. I caught you love~! He then AGGRESSIVELY kissed you. After the kiss, you were a blushing mess. How cute. That's what you get love~♡. Flirty medic mode: ON

Spy

You were chilling on his lap in the smoking room, the usual. He was about to kiss your cheek. THEN! *dodge* You had a smug face. Oh? Before you could say it was a prank. He took your chin and gave you a full romantic kiss. !! Wha-t! You were bright red. He now had a smug smile. Oh? Why is your heart beating so fast, I can hear it from here~♡. He found it absolutely cute how you looked down trying to avoid eye contact, and being bright red. Nice.

This was so fun writing this! Lol. In conclusion, guys don't dodge mercs's kisses :<. I am now going back to my cave and watching some nightmare kitchen. THE LAMB IS FUCKING RAW! lol anyway bye~!

[lihikainanea]

Just (delicious, thigh riding) thoughts

Now that I FINALLY have a few minutes and I am FINALLY in the one area that spurs the utmost of my creativity (the airport--seriously I write my best shit here), I am ready for this concept.

Let’s talk thigh riding, okay?

Okay.

Let’s talk thigh riding in a punishment context.

So tiger....does something. What does she do? She uses Jason, her trusty vibrator--which she allowed to use, as long as she asks Bill for permission. 

NO WAIT I HAVE A BETTER IDEA.

After the MET gala. Perhaps the whole bathroom rendezvous got interrupted, and Bill was never quite able to stake his claim--so he’s seething. This is after tiger sat with, and flirted exorbitantly with Alex the entire night (according to Bill.) After Bill had to sit at a separate table and watch--the whole goddamn night--watch his big brother make his girl laugh, make her practically spit wine out her nose, PICKED THE GREEN ONIONS OFF HER PLATE when she made a face at them. Tiger is dressed to the nines, she looks incredible, and all night Bill just didn’t feel like she was his.

And oh, oh that doesn’t work for Bill.

The night lasts forever. It just keeps going, and all Bill wants to do is drag tiger back to the hotel, throw her over his knee, punish her until she’s screaming for him. Until he feels like she’s rightfully his again.

And the best part is, tiger likes it when Bill gets a little jealous, you know? She likes to poke the bear when she sees her Big Dude getting a little possessive, a little territorial over her--she especially likes it when they are in a scenario where Bill can’t so fuck all about it. He can’t punish her here. In fact, he’s going to have to wait awhile before they’re allotted the privacy needed in order to punish her. And sometimes, sometimes tiger wants the punishment--so she baits him. She totally, absolutely goes into full brat mode and fucking baits him.

And it works. Every time.

So when she sees Bill glaring daggers at her, she ups the game. Puts her hand on Alex’s forearm, laughs a little louder. She lets Alex pick off her plate--tiger doesn’t ever fucking share food and Bill watches, his ears red with anger, as this happens--and then Alex eats a bite of his dessert and pushes it towards tiger, who devours it. He refills her wine glass. He rests an arm casually over the back of her chair.

And to his credit, Alex isn’t flirting. Alex is just flirtatious by nature and he’s always liked tiger, always considered her to be his second little sister, so he is completely oblivious to the dangerous game that her and Bill are playing.

And not a second too soon, the after-party begins to wind down. Alex is attempting to amass a crowd for an impromptu after-after-party, or at least a bite to eat, and quite a few people are trailing him already. Bill sidles up to tiger, stands right behind her, and bends down.

“You’re in big, big trouble kid,” he whispers in her ear. Tiger visibly jumps--she had no idea Bill was even there. She doesn’t turn around--the defiance sends a thrilling jolt down Bill’s spine.

“Cheeseburgers?” Alex suddenly appears and points to her, and right as she’s about to open her mouth--to say yes, no doubt--Bill interrupts.

“No thanks,” he says for both of them, “We’re going to head back.”

“Cheeseburgers sound delicious,” she says as she gives Bill a challenging look.

“It’s time to head back.”

“Surely we can spare like 10 minutes to--”

“Nope.”

And then he has her elbow, and he’s marching off at a quick pace. She can barely keep up in her heels, but every time she stumbles he just picks her up and rights her again. As they get to the door for outside, Bill turns to her.

“Go get in the fucking car,” he growls. He knows that when he opens the door, camera flashes will flood them. The SUV is waiting on the curb and there’s a side door that other guests can slip out of undetected. A staff member whisks tiger away, and Bill steps out to the flashing bulbs. He makes it to the car after a few minutes, stopping to sign a few autographs, and he folds into the backseat where tiger is.

He’s stoic, and suddenly tiger isn’t so brave when no one else is around, when she’s alone with her Big Dude and she can feel the possessive waves oozing off of him. He adjusts his suit coat, brushes some lint from his lapel.

“Billy--” she starts, but a quick look from him and she shrinks back.

“You,” he says pointedly, “Don’t get to talk.”

“But I--”

He raises his eyebrows, daring her to challenge him--but she forfeits. Shrinks back against her seat.

“That’s what I thought,” he says, arrogantly. The ride back to the hotel is short, but it’s tense--Bill doesn’t say a word, and tiger can just feel the dominant vibes, the authoritarian vibes, oozing off him. She presses her legs closer together to try and ease some of the tension, and it doesn’t go unnoticed by Bill. When the car pulls up to their hotel he steps out, gallantly holds his hand out to her, and walks calmly inside.

Once in the elevator though, he backs her into the wall--just gets right in her space, and leans down so his mouth is close to hers.

“You are in so much trouble kid,” he purrs lowly, “I hope you enjoyed your little game.”

Tiger gulps, her cheeks heating up.

“What game?” she tries, but Bill tuts her softly--and his small grin is terrifying.

“What game?” he mocks sweetly, “The dangerous little game you were so bravely playing all night with me, kid.”

She exhales a shaky sigh.

“I hope you had fun,” he continues, trailing a soft finger along her cheek, “Because you won’t be able to sit right for a week, tiger.”

The elevator dings and he grabs her hand, pulls her out and down the hall. Her heart is beating out of her chest as he swipes the key card, holds the door open for her. She won’t meet his eyes as she timidly walks by but he’s glaring at her, and she can feel it. Her breath hitches the minute the door clicks closed, and then he’s on her--a fist in her hair, turning her and slamming his lips to hers. Her surprised noise is muffled by his mouth, his groan as he presses into her further, and then all too soon--it’s done, and he shoves her away.

“On your knees,” he commands. And listen, tiger? Tiger likes it when he’s a little rough, when he’s a little angry. And tiger is still Queen Brat.

“Make me,” she challenges. Bill laughs, chuckles really, and it’s terrifying.

“We’ll try that one more time little one,” he threatens, “On. Your fucking. Knees.”

Tiger holds her hands out to her sides in challenge.

“Um, did I stutter?” she snaps, “No.”

Bill undoes his bow tie, sets it aside. He unclasps the first two buttons of his shirt, slides his suit jacket off and hangs it over the chair. Then he calmly places his hands in his pocket.

“How do you think this is going to play out?” he asks, and his tone is perfectly calm, “Do you think I tolerate brats?”

Tiger is silent, but god the knot in her stomach is tightening. He’s irresistible like this--strong, authoritative, in charge. Her body responds to it every time, despite how much she tries to hide it. Bill knows. It’s clear as day.

“Do you think I tolerate you flirting with my brother all night?” he continues, taking a step towards her. Tiger doesn’t move. “Trying to piss me off? Purposely pushing my buttons? Is that what good girls do?”

He’s in front of her now, dangerously close, and tiger is still standing her ground--allbeit a bit shakily now.

“Or is that what brats do?” he asks. Tiger is still silent, and Bill won’t tolerate that either. In a flash he has her by the shoulders, looping one long leg behind her knees and buckling them. She tumbles down to all fours with an oof, collapses in a heap on her knees, and Bill stands back. up straight.

“There we go,” he says pleasantly, “That’s better.”

“You haven’t been a very good girl, have you?” he asks, “And I think we need to do something about it.”

He sits on the nearby couch, his knees splayed wide, and he pats his thigh.

“Come here,” he commands.

Tiger wants to spit out a comeback, something bratty and angry, but god it’s getting heady in the hotel room. Bill like this, authoritative and commanding, tiger on her knees, the air changing and shifting around them--oof. It’s getting to her. Her mouth feels dry, her heart still pounding, the thrill of it all has her clenching her thighs together again. She kneels there, silent, and Bill makes a thoughtful noise.

“Better,” he says, “But that smart mouth still needs to be taught a lesson.”

And then he has her again, grabs her from under the shoulders and hauls her up as if she weighs nothing, then throws her across his lap as he sits back down. She falls ungracefully, tries to scramble up onto her elbows but he plants an arm across her back and holds her down. She whines, but before she could struggle more his hand lands on her ass--hard. She shrieks, and then she’s being manhandled again as he shoves her back upright onto her feet.

“Off,” he commands, gesturing to her dress, “All of it.”

She’s stunned, trying to get her wits about her as her ass stings.

“Tiger,” he snaps harshly, and she whimpers. She toes off her heels, and with shaky hands she pulls her nylons down, starts undoing some of the clasps. But her dress was a two-person job to get on, and now with unsteady, trembling fingers she doesn’t stand a chance. She whines a bit as she struggles.

“Help please,” she says meekly. Bill doesn’t move, he just watches her from the couch.

“Is that how we ask for things?”

Tiger eases back down on her knees slowly.

“I need your help with my dress please,” she says lowly. He stands.

“Better,” he says. He rips open the clasps none too gently, yanks it over her head and tosses it to the side. She stays on her knees as he unclasps her bra and throws that aside too, then sits on the couch and pats his lap again. She gets up timidly, comes forward and straddles his lap--but Bill just laughs sarcastically.

“Oh no no no tiger,” he chastises, “This is not for brats. Try again.”

Tiger rises, breathing heavily, and lies down across his lap with her ass up. She’s already small as hell, and the fact that she’s naked while he’s still fully clothed is playing on her mind as well. She feels so vulnerable, so at his mercy, nowhere near as brave as she was earlier.

“Much better,” he says, “This is what brats get.”

A hard spank lands on her ass and she jerks.

“You think it’s fun to taunt me? To test me?” he asks, and another hard spank lands on her ass. She jerks forward but he grabs her hips and pulls her back, pushes his forearm across her back to hold her there.

“You think I suffer brats?” another hard spank. She whimpers but he hushes her harshly, rubbing his palm over her ass to ease some of the sting.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” he taunts, rubbing his palm through her folds as she moans--and then another harsh slap lands stinging between her legs. Before she can react, his hand comes down on her ass again.

“Bad girls don’t get to enjoy this, they don’t get what they need,” he says, and another two slaps. She’s close to her limit, he knows, because he’s going pretty hard. Her fists are clenched around a cushion, her face buried into it to muffle her screams.

“Colour?” he asks gently.

“Green,” she chokes out.

“Two more,” he tells her, “Bite down on something.”

She does, and he winds up and lands the last two pretty hard. He gives her a second, and then he eases her off his lap and onto the floor in front of him, between his knees.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” he says. He keeps his tone harsh because she’s enjoying it and so is he, this whole power dynamic, being a little mean. Bill needed this tonight, needed to get a bit rough with her, and she needed that from him too.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbles through her sniffles.

“Are you?” he asks. And from his place on the couch he leans forward a bit, reaches his hand to pass through her folds. Her hips buck at the content, and he has to hold back his groan--she’s soaked, dripping for him. He grinds his palm into her a bit and she moans.

“Yes,” she says, and she tries to grab onto his forearm to keep it there but he pulls it back.

“Up,” he commands, leaning back on the couch. She stands slowly, her legs shaking, and he pats his thigh. “Here.”

Tiger hesitates. Those are nice dress pants--black dress pants. But hesitating is the wrong thing to do, and Bill goes to grab her. She scrambles forward, settling onto his thigh and he flicks her nose in warning.

He juts his chin at her.

“Move,” he commands.

“But I--”

another flick to her nose, a harsh spank to her ass.

“Move.”

Tiger does hesitantly. She slides her hips back a bit, her arousal leaving a wet patch on his pants. She whimpers when she sees it.

“Only good girls get what they need,” he says, stretching his arms on the back of the sofa as she rides his thigh, “Only good girls get to be filled up, stretched out how they need.”

She stops moving for just a second, tries to get control of her shaking thighs, but another harsh spank to her ass gets her moving again.

“Were you a good girl tonight?”

“No,” she stammers.

“No you weren’t,” he repeats, “And do you think you should get to come tonight?”

“Yes,” she whimpers, her hips speeding up. His thigh tenses under her and she moans. He gives a little bounce.

“Why?” he demands.

“I need it,” she whines, “Please Billy, I need it.”

He stays silent as she works up a rhythm, front and back. She drags her hips and he gives her another bounce, as her nails dig into his shoulders. She uses him for leverage, grinding her hips down. His pants are soaked, he can feel her arousal seeping through.

She whines, whimpers, moaning through it as she feels her impending release getting closer and closer.

“I know,” he soothes, “I know.”

He puts his hands on her hips, helping her drag down on him. She’s getting close.

“Please,” she begs, “Can I?”

“Can you what?”

“Please Billy,” she begs again, “Can I come?”

“Are you going to come sweet girl?” he coos to her, biting her neck, “Just like this?”

“Yes,” she stutters, moaning when it starts to feel good, “Please can I?”

“Okay sweet girl,” he tells her, grabbing onto a fistful of her hair and giving a solid yank, “You can have it.”

“Yes,” she moans, working her hips faster, “Oh god, yes--”

“Come,” he commands. And she does. Her nails dug into his shoulder, her thighs clamp around his leg and she throws her head back. She lets out a guttural moan, long and loud, as she keeps grinding down on his thigh to make it last. He lets her ride it out, runs his hands all over her as it washes over her, and then she collapses against his chest.

“Thank you,” she mumbles into his neck, “Thank you thank you thank you.”

“You’re welcome kid,” he says, “But you’re not my good girl yet.”

She whimpers at that, pulling back to see his face. He motions down to his lap, to where a rock hard bulge is between them.

“You got me all worked up kid,” he bumps his nose with hers, “God watching you come is fucking beautiful.”

She blushes, clambering off of him and settling to her knees in front of him. She reaches for his belt, gets his pants and his boxers off of him and he props a foot up on the table behind her.

“There’s my good girl,” he praises as she presses her mouth to him. He groans as she takes him down her throat.

“My very good girl.”

[katsuflossy]

BeatBox/Junebugg Challenge

Pairings: Shouto Todoroki x reader, Kastuki Bakugou x reader, Izuku Midoriya x reader, Eijirou Kirishima x reader, Hanta Sero x reader, Denki Kaminari x reader, Hitoshi Shinsou x reader, Tenya Iida x reader.

TW: just the regular obscenities

A/n: IK y’all may not know this trend but it’s funny af so this is the beatbox/junebugg challenge (sound by SpotemGottem) and yeah I hope y’all like my lil hc of the s/o doing it with the boys 💖💖

Taglist: @eharmonythotbot @lilsparkyswife @teddybearrx @angiebug101 @sesshomaruwaifu @blackweebtrash @minajkatsuki @cyans-bliss @myhoodacademia @mypimpademia @melanimed @peach-child @zombie-kun @xx-opaqued-xx @sunshineszn @prettybitch-ki @tsukkisukkii

🧊 He has the most aesthetically pleasing tiktok

🧊 There’s slime videos, drawing videos with lofi music in the back, your basic encouraging quotes

🧊 Who needs therapy when you got Shouto’s fyp? /j

🧊 He may be a lil...offbeat in your dance videos but he still tries. Thankfully this was an easy one to learn.

🧊 He out here thinking he got it until you buck at him.

🧊 You think he finna take that shit? He’s gonna buck TF back, on reflex, and scare the fuck out of you.

🧊 Immediately goes into protective boyfriend mode after seeing you flinch hard. You should expect a tight hug; he’s rubbing your back while the whole clip rolling.

🧊 “Love, I’m sorry but why did you move to hit me? I didn’t mean to scare you I’m sorry.”

🧊 “Baby, It’s okay that was the challenge.”

🧊 “Yes, but you looked so scared and it was my fault,” he wraps his arms tighter around you so you’re snuggled safely into his chest.

🧊 Post it with captions of what he said during the video and see all the comments talm bout “⚠️‼️WARNING‼️HAPPY COUPLE⚠️”

💥 It’s known Bakugou knows no fucking challenge on that app.

💥 Except for that buss it challenge. He’s keeping tabs on yo ass.

💥 His fyp is comprised of prisontok (thank mtha for this), mortalkombat edits, and recommendations for shoujo mangas DC comics.

💥 He already knows the drill, you teach him the dance, he does it with no care, you post it.

💥 This one is fairly easy… until you attempt to press him

💥 He runs up on you, chest puffed up, arms tense and hanging straight. That intimidation stance.

💥 “What you tryna do? We can tussle right now wassup.” Now you gotta deal with him pressing you as you finish the dance.

💥 When he realizes you’re laughing, he just sucks his teeth before lightly pushing you.

💥 “Why am I even dating you?”

💥 The biggest tsundere simp on the earth.

💥 He loves you so much but you always test him.

🥦 Umm All Might edits runs his fyp.

🥦 The occasional analytic reports on recent and past villain attacks are there too.

🥦 Only gets a smidge of alt tiktok so it ain’t that boring.

🥦 Doesn’t know the dance either but he’ll do it just for you <3

🥦 Never expects you to fucking buck at him tho.

🥦 Mans flinch mad hard omg.

🥦 He removes his hands from his face when he hears you laugh and continue the dance.

🥦 Now he stopped, looking at you with the saddest puppy eyes.

🥦 “Why did you flinch at me baby?” He’s just standing in the frame all pouty and shit.

🥦 “Prince(ss), please don’t do that again. You honestly scared me.” He walks off in the middle of the video, his fluffy duck house slippers squeaking with every step.

🥦 Go say you’re sorry right now 🧍🏽‍♀️

⛑ Crimson Riot edits duhh

⛑ But it’s a mixture of Bakugou’s and Todoroki’s with a sprinkle of popular dances down his stream.

⛑ Has Ski Mask edits as well

⛑ Still, he doesn’t know the dance at all

⛑ Baby boy is so sweet cause the second you buck at him...he just plants one straight on your lips thinking you went in for a kiss.

⛑ Shocked, bamboozled, frozen, he really kissed you as you tried to buck him?

⛑ Mans continued the dance like you’re not wide-mouthed behind him.

⛑ “Bro, I know you did not just kiss me when I tried to buck you.” The whole badman vibes just dissipate from the air, he smiling at you like it was cool.

⛑ “Babe,” he whined. “I thought you just wanted a smooch.”

⛑ Seeing you mad, he just grabs you up and launches more kisses on your face.

⛑ You tried to look hard for the video only for him to soften you up quickly.

⛑ At least you got cuddles after.

🩹 His tiktok is filled with funny ass videos

🩹 They always come up on his fyp before going famous. Hence why his comments be having 30k likes (they funny as well)

🩹 Has the best cooking tutorials in his favorites that he makes to impress you.

🩹 Already knows the dance so you don’t need to teach him.

🩹 Y’all both tried to press each other with giant smiles on your faces before starting a round of play fighting.

🩹 “Can’t fuck with you no mo.” He turns to you before continuing the dance.

🩹 Alternating lyrics and shii...being the baddest couple to step in the game.

🩹 He wraps his arms around you before throwing peace signs to the camera at the end.

🩹 The coolest boyfriend award goes to this king.

⚡️ How...how is he in every part of tiktok

⚡️ Straightok, alt tiktok, beantok, frogtok. You describe to him the video and he either knows it or he can find it in seconds.

⚡️ If Pandora’s Box opened and escaped into somebody’s account, it would most likely be Denki’s.

⚡️ He did the challenge with Bakugou before but it ended in flames...but he won’t decline to do it wit you

⚡️ Why y’all buck each other and ended up hitting your foreheads?

⚡️ Spent the rest of the video rubbing your forehead while Denki laughing.

⚡️ “Why tf your shit so hard? Built like damn cement” you glared at him as he laughed even harder.

⚡️ “I shock my own brain everyday. I think my skull hardened as a result”

⚡️ The next day, you’re seen walking around with your forehead on swole.

⚡️ On the bright side, you get forehead kisses every 5 minutes.

🔮 There ain’t no Eraserhead edits so he makes them himself.

🔮 All his fyp got some led light show going on. Every. Fucking. Video.

🔮 But they’re all good vibes, great music, and nice ass comment section

🔮 Occasional gaming videos come up because he follows some twitch streamers on there

🔮 Doesn’t know the beatbox/junebugg challenge. You woke him out of bed to do it.

🔮 You’re vibing in the video before you buck at him.

🔮 He didn’t budge. He stopped doing the dance altogether to stand up and just glare you down.

🔮 He out here in his cow print moo moo pants and you do this shit to him?

🔮 Now you’re nervous, flickering your eyes to him as you continued the video dancing.

🔮 The minute the sound ends he stalks off back to bed. Using all the sheets to cover him.

🔮 Have fun sleeping in the cold. Just kidding, he can’t sleep without cuddling you but just remember he is mad.

👓 ...you think he knows tiktok?

👓 Thought it was slang for the actual clock app.

👓 Got it to see what the hype was about but doesn’t even bother to make an actual account.

👓 It’s really just the generic shit on there.

👓 So he’s excited to do a dance with you even though he only knows the tinman.

👓 Umm...failed to do the actual dance. It gives 60-year-old white man on a tropical cruise.

👓 And then you buck at him.

👓 All movements stop. He justs staring at you, his glasses hiding his actual eyes.

👓 The air around you feels real cold. Your premonition telling you to electric slide out of the room but nah, you continue to dance. The man, who tried to commit murder at the age of 16, just staring at you stoned face.

👓 The second he opened his mouth, you DIPPED out of the room, leaving your phone running and Iida just standing confused.

👓 Turns out, he wasn’t trying to end your bloodline, he was just confused if that was a dance step he missed.