#and I don't want to play that game? At all? It's legitimately faster to give up on it than to give it a shot

[jaythelay]

"Oh I'm interested in this video"

Title has an arbitrary opinion in it

"Well not now, I'd just be supporting a stupid thought."

[something-tofightfor]

On Deck Part 4: Starting Line-Up

Pairing: Jack Daniels x Female Reader Baseball AU

Word Count: 10,185

Rating: M - language, some mentions of past sexual situations, pining (but is it mutual?)

Summary: In the days following Jack's first visit to your place, you're forced to think through just about every possible future scenario. And when he makes an offer you're not expecting, you start to believe that there might be just a little more to it than sex for him.

Author’s notes: 

I absolutely love this chapter. If you skip ahead to the end, there's a picture included to describe the type of view Reader has. I know not everyone is familiar with baseball stadiums and the opportunities they offer for seating, but I also don't want to ruin it too early.

This chapter ALSO features Jack wearing the uniform in this artwork - and is the entire reason this AU was started.

(On Deck universe masterlist for all the extras!)

While there are a lot of baseball references within this story, you only need to know the basics to enjoy it and understand what's going on - we're not getting overly technical here.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out.

The starting line-up is the official list of players who participate from the beginning of the game onward. This may change throughout the season, as players leave due to or return from an injury. Starters are usually the team's best players at their respective positions, and as a result, being a starter often comes with notoriety A spot in the starting line-up is hard-earned. 

You didn’t hear from Jack the following day, but you didn’t expect to. 

Not because you thought he’d used you, but because you knew how busy he’d be between driving to meet with the team in Louisville and then heading back to The Cavalry and playing in that night’s game. 

All day, though, you thought about him - and about the previous day… and night.

Your experience with Jack was different than those you’d read about online, or heard about at games. He’d treated you as an equal, giving you a legitimate explanation as to why he did and didn’t do or want certain things in bed. He hadn’t flaunted his status or reputation throughout the night, and his interaction with the girl at the ice cream parlor proved that Jack was focused on giving kids a good experience when they met him no matter where he was. It’s not just when he’s in uniform. 

You opted to work instead of taking the day off like you’d planned, and he was on your mind as you did so. The memory of his voice rasping in your ear and the feeling of his mouth on your bare skin sent shivers through you while you were poring over spreadsheets and drafting emails, and it made the day go much faster. By the time you were done for the night, you were almost vibrating, the truth of what had happened settling in. 

You’d slept with Jack Daniels. 

You’d met him for something he’d clarified wasn’t a date, and invited him back to your place without a second thought. He’d been nothing but kind to you, and you hadn’t felt that he thought less of you for being so forward. There was a small part of you that wondered if he thought you were easy. But he’s known for being a flirt. He’s been with a lot of people throughout his career, and … 

There was no way to know for sure what was going to happen until you heard from Jack again. You’d need to see how he acted the next time you spoke before you could assume anything - though with Jack, you figured it wasn’t safe to assume at all. 

You wanted to tell Erin what had happened. You wanted her to know everything, because in reality, it was thanks to Caleb that you were even in the position to meet Jack in the first place. But it felt wrong to talk about the not-date, and even more wrong to kiss and tell… so you held off.

And when you woke up on Tuesday morning to a text message from Jack, you were glad that you’d kept quiet. 

Check my Instagram. 

Before even sitting up, you did, groaning at the sight of his newest picture - a promotional shot for that weekend’s games, featuring a close up of his nickname on the back of a bright yellow jersey, the tip of his black bat’s barrel visible where it rested on his shoulder.

When do I get to see the whole thing? 

You double tapped the picture after replying, and didn’t expect a response. But Jack started typing back immediately, his message a completely unexpected one. 

Friday, if you come to the game. 

“Is that an invitation?” Blinking at your phone, you chewed on your lower lip. It seemed like it. It seemed like Jack was making good on his promise that you’d see each other again because he wanted to. But this time, it wasn’t to meet for ice cream. Instead, it was a personal invitation to his first game back with The Statesman. 

This weekend has been sold out for weeks, Jack. I’ll need to find a ticket, but I’ll see what I can do. 

You didn’t have a chance to open a search for tickets before your phone was ringing, Jack’s name on the screen. What the fuck? Why is he calling me? Taking a few seconds to compose yourself, you took a deep breath before answering. “Hello?” 

“‘Morning, sunshine.” He laughed and then scoffed. “That was real cheesy, right?”

“A little.” But you were laughing, too. “You’re up early.” 

“Have to stay on schedule during the season.” He paused and cleared his throat. “And I’ve got some packing to do before I come back to Louisville.” So he’s cleared. “I’ll be back for Friday night for sure.” 

“That’s great, Jack.” You rubbed at your eye with one hand. “Bet you’re happy.”

“I am. I miss my bed.” You didn’t know how to answer him, but he spoke again before the silence stretched for too long. “And about a ticket … I can get you in on Friday.” What? “Actually…” He trailed off, and a few seconds later, Jack sighed. “Do you think your friend and her brother would want to come with you?”

“I can see. I’m not sure. It’s a Friday night, so she’s probably going to be with her boyfriend, but -”

“Invite him too.” Jack said your name. “Give me a couple hours, and I’ll let you know for sure, but four of you shouldn’t be a problem.” 

“You don’t have to do that, Jack.” Sitting up straight, you held your phone tightly with one hand. “It’s -”

“I know.” You could tell that he was smiling, and when Jack spoke again, you heard the laughter in his voice. “I want to.” You didn’t argue, lifting your free hand and biting down on one knuckle. I want you to, too. “I know you’ve gotta work today, but can I call you back later? I need to make sure I’ve got tickets, and -”

“Of course. I’ve got a meeting at 11:30, but aside from that, I’ll be able to answer all day.” 

You hung up soon after that, Jack telling you to have a good morning and you repeating the same back to him. But you didn’t get out of bed right away, instead lowering your phone and staring at the ceiling in shock. What the fuck did I get myself into? 

— 

He called back a little after 1 PM, his cheerful voice loud in your ear. “Tickets are yours. All you’ll have to do is go to Will Call and give ‘em your name and they’ll be able to help you.” 

“Four of them?” He confirmed. “Thank you, Jack. I wasn’t… I didn’t think you’d…” 

“Well I did. And you’re welcome. I hardly ever ask for anything, and the ticket lady the players talk to loves me, so this was easy.” But the confirmation that you had tickets raised an issue for you - and it required you to explain it to Jack. 

“Erin’s going to ask how I got them.” Leaning back in your chair, you stared up at the ceiling. “And I don’t want to lie to her.” 

“So don’t.” His tone was matter of fact, Jack’s next words shocking you. “Tell her I got them for you.” But that will bring up what happened the other day. “Didn’t you tell her you were goin’ out with me last weekend?”

“No. I didn’t tell anyone.” He was silent in response, which surprised you a little. Why is that a shock to him? Did he really think I’d tell people? “That’s not my style, Jack.” 

“I appreciate that, darlin’.” It made you smile again, especially with the way his voice dropped as he spoke the word. “But you tell her whatever you need to. You don’t need to keep me a secret.” 

“I don’t think I need to tell her everything to offer her tickets to a game, but I’ll keep that in mind.” He laughed at you, the sound turning into a groan - and you savored the sound of it, biting your lip before you continued. “I’ll let you know for sure after I talk to her, but I’ll definitely be there on Friday even if they’re not.” 

“Good. That’s real good.” Jack cleared his throat. “I’m gettin’ ready to go to the stadium now, so if I don’t answer, that’s why.” He doesn’t need to explain himself to me. I don’t… why is he doing this? “Talk to you soon?”

“Sure.” Your smile widened, and when the two of you hung up a few seconds later, you tossed your phone down onto your desk. Shit. 

Things were escalating quickly, thanks to Jack taking the initiative - and it stunned you. He hadn’t mentioned seeing you again, though, which gave you pause. But he’s going to be busy before Friday, and then he’s got games all weekend, so there might not be time. Maybe that’s why he didn’t suggest it.

A quick check of the schedule told you that the team was leaving for a short road trip on Sunday afternoon, which meant that he’d be on the go almost immediately. So it makes sense. I’ll just see him from the seats. 

It was somewhat disappointing, there was no way around it. But the fact that he’d invited you in the first place cheered you up enough that you reached for your phone again, opening your messages with Erin. 

Hey, got something to ask you. Call me when you’re done with work? 

— 

Her phone call came just after 5 that day, Erin’s greeting friendly but curious before she jumped right in. “You usually don’t ask to ask me things. Why today?” 

“What are you doing Friday?” Tilting your head back, you closed your eyes and enjoyed the heat of the sun on your face. “Friday night, I mean. After work?” 

“Troy and I were going to go to dinner, but that’s about it.” Perfect. “Why? What are you doing on Friday?” 

“Do you want to go to the Statesman game?” You paused, opening your eyes and looking out at your yard. “You and Troy and Caleb?” She was quiet for a few seconds and you were too, waiting. “I’ve got four tickets, and -”

“Isn’t it Players Weekend? I thought it was sold out. Caleb’s been talking about it for like a month.” 

“It is. And yeah, it’s sold out. But I was offered tickets. Free tickets.” 

“From where?” There it is. “Did they reach out because they saw your post about Caleb and Jack?” You thought of Jack’s words - of him telling you to tell Erin, of his assurances that it was alright for you to talk about knowing him. I’m still not going to tell her everything, but … 

“No. It wasn’t the team, Erin. It was Jack.” You heard her intake of breath, but before she could say anything, you continued. “He messaged me after he saw it the other day, and we ended up going out on Sunday night for -”

“You what?!” She screeched the words in your ear and then laughed. “Shut the fuck up.” 

“We went and got ice cream. He was up here to work out with the team and to take pictures for next weekend, and had no plans, so…” 

“So you went out with him. Fuck me, that’s wild. I told you making that post was worth it. So you went out on a date and then he offered you tickets for another game? Why four? Why not just -”

“I’m not sure.” Standing, you stepped out onto the grass, the blades of it cool against your feet. “But he called me this morning and suggested it. He specifically mentioned you and Caleb, but I have no idea where the tickets are, so I can’t promise anything.” 

“He called you? He must like you.” She laughed, the sound turning into a hum. “What else happened Sunday aside from the ice cream?” She was teasing you - and there was no concrete reason for you to answer her, but you did anyway. 

“He came back here for a little while.” Curling your toes, you let out a long sigh. “He didn’t stay the night, though. So -”

“Good for you.” She said your name, waiting until you were quiet to say anything else. “And now he’s offering you tickets. You definitely made an impression.” Your mind wandered back to the time you’d spent with him - to the way his mouth felt as it met yours and the way his hands skated over your skin as they explored your body. He definitely left an impression on me. “I don’t think we should tell Caleb where the tickets are coming from, because he’ll never let you hear the end of it.” She hummed, the woman clearly thinking on her end of the line. “But we’ll go on Friday. It sounds fun.”

“We can take one car. I’ll pick you up.” Walking back to your patio, you paused at the edge of it. “And … Erin? Maybe don’t tell Troy either. Jack said that I could tell you that they’re from him, but I don’t … I don’t know what’s going on, so -”

“My lips are sealed.” She laughed again. “I do have one question, though.” I can already tell this is going to be a doozy. “What’s he like? He handsy? Does he talk a lot? How does he kiss?”

“He’s … thorough.” Your cheeks heated as you spoke, your fingers curling around your phone. Very thorough. “And I would very much like to kiss him again.” A lot. Erin snorted at your reply, muttering the words I knew it under her breath. “He’s nice, Erin. Confident and a little cocky, but not insufferable about it. A little girl interrupted us while we were eating, and he didn’t get mad. He took a couple minutes to talk to her about baseball, and it was just …a relief, I guess? I don’t know. I’m glad he’s not an asshole.” 

“I am too. That would be really disappointing.” It would. “But I’m going to drive home now. Work kicked my ass today, and I need to eat.” She let you know that she’d get ahold of you after she talked to Troy and Caleb, and then you hung up, deciding to go back inside so that you could start dinner, too. 

While you cooked, you sent a message to Jack, giving him an update. You kept it simple, giving yourself no time to overthink your words. 

Erin’s in. Looks like it’ll be all four of us Friday. 

You figured he wouldn’t reply, but your phone vibrated a few minutes later with his answer. 

Real happy to hear that. It’s gonna be a good game. 

You thought that was it, but moments later another message came through - and there was a picture attached to it. Second to last time I’m putting on this uniform.

It was slightly blurry and off-center, but it was of Jack. He was dressed in his uniform and missing his hat, the grin on his face wide. You looked closer, seeing that he was standing in front of his locker, and realized that he’d likely taken the photo only moments before sending it. That means it was for me, and… “Shit.” 

If he’d sent you a photo, that meant he was probably waiting for a reply. You didn’t keep him waiting, sending back a winking emoji along with the text: Looking good, Jack - DAMN. But I think I prefer your other uniform. 

It was just flirty enough to let him know you appreciated it, and not over the top the point he’d think you were being clingy. But after a few minutes, you saw that the message had been delivered - and unread … which meant he’d see it after the game. And that means I have a few hours to relax. 

But you didn’t relax. Instead, you ate dinner on the couch and tried not to think too hard about the Friday night game. 

— 

You were a few minutes early to Erin’s on Friday, and Caleb was already waiting in the front yard when you pulled up. 

You heard him yelling for Erin and Troy, even with the windows shut. By the time he was reaching for the door handle, you were laughing, head tilted down and one palm flat against your forehead. “Hey, Caleb. Let me guess… you’re excited.” 

“Of course I am.” He settled into the back seat, buckling in. “Aren’t you? Won’t be as cool as what happened the last game, but my mom gave me money to buy a new jersey.” Well, for me, it’s even more cool, but you don’t know that.

“Oh yeah?” You caught his eye in the rearview mirror, grinning. “Whose are you gonna get?” The look on his face was answer enough, just like you’d assumed. “Jack, then. Hopefully they have one in your size.” 

Erin and Troy approached the car, the woman letting him pass her so that he could sit in the back with Caleb while she took her place next to you. But it was him that spoke first, greeting you and reaching forward to squeeze your shoulder before he was fully situated. “Thank you for driving. And thanks for the tickets.” 

“Yeah, thank you!” Caleb joined in, nodding enthusiastically. “Mom also said we’re supposed to -”

“My mother,” Erin interjected, reaching for the volume knob to twist the radio’s sound lower. “She said we’re supposed to buy you dinner tonight, as a thank you.” 

“It’s not necessary.” Heading down the street, you shrugged. “It’s not like I paid for these tickets, so if we split parking, it’s even.” 

“Still.” She elbowed you. “We’re going to buy you dinner and maybe a drink or two.” I might need those.

The four of you made small talk on the drive downtown, though the closer you got to the stadium, the quieter you got while they kept things going. Why am I nervous? It’s not like I’m going to run into him. 

But there was a chance you’d see him, and that Jack would see you. It seemed inevitable that Caleb would want to go back down closer to the field in an attempt to meet the man a second time. And if that happened, you couldn’t just hang back with Erin, letting Troy sit with the boy. No. I’d have to go, otherwise it looks like I’m avoiding him after he did something nice for us today. 

You were early enough that there was still available parking in the attached garage, and before you could do anything about it, Troy stuck his hand out the window, debit card held firmly between his fingers. 

Erin laughed about it as you pulled away to park, but all you managed was a tiny smile and quiet thank you before slipping into a space. Here goes nothing. 

The four of you joined the slow trickle of other fans heading toward the elevators. After getting on, Caleb inserted himself between Erin and Troy while you leaned against the far wall, chewing on your lower lip. 

“We have to go to Will Call first.” You looked at the preteen, raising a brow. “We can’t just run to get in line like last time.” 

He grumbled back that he knew, and you laughed, your mood lightening considerably. And as your group exited the elevator and turned toward where the ticketing windows were, you stayed that way. Troy offered to wait with Caleb so you weren’t all crowding the line, and you agreed, thankful for a few minutes of time alone with your friend. 

“He’s going to want to go and meet the players.” She spoke quietly, leaning closer to you. “What happens when you see -”

“Nothing.” You shrugged, taking a breath. “Or, nothing weird, I hope. He seems like the kind of guy that wouldn’t make a big deal of what happened.” 

“What about you?” You stepped forward, only a few people between you and the windows. “Can you be cool about it?”

“I’d hope so.” You looked over at her, grinning. “It wasn’t awkward when he left, so I think I did pretty well there.” She didn’t say anything else until it was your turn, Erin stepping forward with you and waiting to see what you’d say. “Hi. I’m supposed to have some tickets waiting for me. I think I’m on a list?” 

The man behind the glass nodded. “I’ll need to see your ID.” Reaching into your bag, you pulled your wallet out and then handed the thin card over, sliding it through the opening. He took it and started typing, his eyes on the computer screen in front of him. “Oh.” He hummed, tipping his head to the side, and then reached for the phone beside the device. “Hey, we need to send someone from SL down to ticketing to pick up a group.” 

You glanced over at Erin, confused, but her expression was the same as yours. SL? What’s that? Turning your head, you looked over at Caleb and Troy, the little boy seated on a stone wall while he looked up to talk to the man. Why do we need to be picked up? The sound of your name got your attention, and you looked back at the window, sucking in a breath. “Yeah? Sorry. I -”

“If you and your group will step off to the side by the door,” he pointed, still smiling. “Someone will be down in a few minutes to escort you in.” He slid your ID back to you. “Have a good night.” You thanked him, somewhat dazed, and turned toward the door, Erin close behind you. 

“We didn’t get tickets? What happens now? What did -” 

“Fuck if I know, Erin. I have no idea what’s going on.” She waved her brother and fiance over, the two of them meeting you moments later. 

“What’s going on? Where are the tickets?” Troy looked between you, frowning. “Do we need to -”

“Someone’s coming to get us.” You stuffed your hands into the pockets of your shorts. “I know nothing else.” Jack had seemed certain that he had tickets available for you, so you weren’t worried about getting into the stadium, but as to whatever else happened, you were clueless. Maybe it’s one of the lower sections. Maybe it’s the club section and we need wristbands or something. 

No one had anything else to say, and by the time the door opened a minute or so later, you were even more confused. But the woman - who introduced herself as Mary - put you at ease. “Welcome to Players Weekend.” She opened the door fully, greeting you by name. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to your seats for the game.” Sneaking a look at your friends after you thanked her, you caught Erin’s eye, the woman’s gleaming with intrigue. “It’s a little busy tonight, so make sure you stay close.” 

You did - following Mary as she led you down a short hallway and then through another set of doors and onto the lower concourse. You felt better one you were inside with the crowd, the thought that since you were in the stadium, that was all that mattered crossing your mind. 

But your thoughts blanked as she led the four of you toward a third set of doors and used a badge hanging from her belt to unlock them. “Where are we going?” Caleb broke the silence, the boy pushing forward to stand next to you. “I’ve never been in here before.” 

“This is the entrance to the dugout suites.” Mary looked down at him, her smile gentle. “Not many people have been in them before.” The dugout suites? Freezing at her words, your mouth dropped open. Jack, what did you do? “Come on. Yours is one of the cozier ones, but it’s one of my personal favorites.” A fucking suite? 

You walked down another hallway, the space curving to follow the shape of the stadium, and you realized that you were heading toward the Statesman’s dugout. Your head whipped to the side and you saw that Troy had put that together, too, his eyes wide and his grin threatening to split his face. “A suite? Right by where the players are?” Caleb was next to Mary, the boy’s voice loud. “Why are we -” 

“I don’t know.” She stopped in front of a door that had the words CHAMPAGNE LOUNGE engraved onto a golden plaque next to the team’s logo before reaching for the keycard again “But I do know that you’re going to have an amazing time.” She swiped the card and the light turned green. “Go ahead. Open the door.” Caleb looked back at you and you nodded, lips pressed together in a thin line. 

He opened the door and cautiously peeked inside, but as soon as he saw something, he darted in, leaving the rest of you standing in the hallway. Erin called after him, rushing forward and following him inside, but Mary only laughed, pushing the door all the way open and gesturing for you to follow. 

“The view is incredible, I don’t blame him for being excited.” 

She wasn’t lying. The entire back wall of the suite was windows so that the field stretched out in front of you, a cluster of seats on a small porch visible through the tinted glass. Caleb was busy pulling the door open to get to where they were, but you stopped just inside of the room, shaking your head. “This is too much, I just …” 

“My advice?” Mary looked at you, raising her eyebrow. “Enjoy it.” I will, but… “This is the Champagne Lounge.” 

“As in the team owner?” Troy stepped forward, arms crossed. “That Champagne?”

“Yes.” Mary nodded, giving you a wink. “He chose the decor, so that’s not on us, but …” You really looked around for the first time and had to bite back a laugh at the way it was decorated. I mean it makes sense, but … 

Everything was rustic and warm, the countertops and table surfaces made from gleaming wood. The floor looked a little rougher and worn, and you saw a few small area rugs scattered throughout the space, which made it more inviting. “You have a full menu available to you.” She moved toward the counter, picking up a small binder. “There are snacks and drinks along the back wall,” she pointed with one hand, flipping the pages open. “Left fridge is water and soda. The other is filled with beer, and there are a couple bottles of the Statesman/Whiskey collaboration for you to use.” He shield the binder up. “But if you want other kinds of mixed drinks, they’re all in here and you can order them to be delivered. Same with the food options.”

“How much -”

“Everything is complimentary.” Her smile was soft. “You’ll have an attendant that will come and check on you once I’ve let them know you’re in here, and they’ll be available whenever you need them through the tablet on the counter. But anything in this menu is fair game.” 

It made your head spin. You’d assumed that you’d have tickets somewhere decent - maybe in the lower level - but hadn’t ever even dreamed that Jack would get you a suite, much less Champ’s suite. 

“There’s also something for you in that box over there.” Mary gestured toward a white, rectangular box that was sitting on a small side table. What the hell is that? “There’s a bathroom back here,” she pointed at the side wall, and then put her hand on her hip. “The door does lock if you go out into the hallway, so once all of you leave the suite, you can’t get back in.” 

“Ok.” You nodded, blinking slowly. “It’s taking me a little while to catch up. This is … I wasn’t expecting these seats, and …” She laughed, asking if there was anything else you needed, and when you said no, she turned away and headed for the door, letting you know that someone else would be in a few minutes later. 

And once she was gone, you finally exhaled, covering your face with both hands. “You must have done something right. This is fucking insane!” Erin put her hands on your shoulders, saying your name. “How did -”

“I don’t know.” Biting your lip, you shook your head rapidly. “I have no fucking idea, this is …” 

“Are you guys coming out here?” Caleb poked his head in, his eyes bulging. “You can see the whole place. We’re right next to the dugout. I can see the steps where the players walk out onto the field!” Troy took a few steps forward and Erin followed, looking back at you. 

“Give me a second.” You could tell she was worried, but she still went, leaving you alone in the interior of the suite. After spinning slowly around to take everything in, you reached for your phone, fingers shaking as you opened your text with Jack. The last message was from him, sent hours earlier - and telling you to enjoy the game. 

You didn’t know what to think. You wanted to let him know you were grateful, but didn’t trust your voice not to waver in a voice message. So you settled for raising the device and taking a selfie, the suite and field visible behind you. 

This is too much, Jack. But thank you. I don’t even know what else to say. 

He was likely getting ready in the locker room - and you didn’t know if he’d even see the message before taking the field. But he’ll see it later. And he’ll see what time I sent it. You were just getting ready to put your phone away and join your friends when a message popped up on the screen. 

You’re welcome. But where’s your jersey? 

“What jersey?” You hadn’t ever told him that you owned one, but when your eyes flicked over to the white box again, your stomach dropped. He didn’t. Leaving your phone on the counter, you approached the box, dimly aware of the sounds of your friends talking through the open door. Using both hands, you lifted the lid, swearing as the contents came into view. “Jesus, Jack. What the fuck.” 

There was a note sitting atop the bright yellow fabric, and with unsteady hands you reached for it, heart pounding while you read the words. 

(Note text: Couldn’t start the game dirty. Thought you might want this though. JD)

You lifted it out of the box, holding it up in front of you. Immediately, your eyes were drawn to a black smudge on one shoulder, and you laughed as you realized what it was from. He’s worn this. 

It was the jersey he’d worn in the promo shots, and the smudge was from the bat where it had rested on his shoulder. And I get to keep it? 

Before you could second guess yourself, you pulled the jersey on over the clothing you wore, leaving it unbuttoned. Shivering at the thought that the last person to have worn it was him, you leaned back over and grabbed your phone before heading outside. 

Erin’s eyes widened at the sight of you, and Troy also looked surprised, but after a swift shake of the head from your friend, he stayed quiet. Please do. I don’t want to talk about this right now. 

Caleb was standing on one of the seats, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the ledge in front of him. Instead of saying anything to your friends, you focused on him, calling out his name. “We got a pretty good view, hmm?”

“Yeah. The on deck circle is right there. Theres a net in the way, but it doesn’t matter. We’ll get to watch everyone while they wait to hit.” What? You crossed the small space and stood next to him, also resting your elbows on the ledge. “Do you think I can take pictures of the batters?”

“I don’t see why not.” You eyed the ground in front of you, the Statesman logo almost mocking you. It’s so close. He’s going to be right there before he bats. “Just make sure the flash is off. I feel like it would be pretty distracting otherwise.” He agreed with you, nodding. 

“Hey, take a picture of us.” Erin leaned forward, holding her phone out. “We’ll send it to my mom.” You did as she asked, taking a few of the three of them standing in front of the netting. It was only then that Caleb saw what you were wearing, the boy asking you question after question that you answered with partial truths. 

You didn’t want to lie to him, but knew Erin was right; telling Caleb that you and Jack were in contact wasn’t a good idea. Not yet. Not until I know more about what this is. But seeing your jersey brought up the fact that if you couldn’t get back into the suite after leaving, there was no way for Caleb to get his. 

He was disappointed until the suite attendant appeared a few minutes later to take your food order - and then asked if there was anything else she could do for you. “Is there any way he could go and buy a jersey? We didn’t know we’d be in a suite, so we didn’t stop on the way, and he’s -”

“Of course.” She looked down at Caleb, grinning. “I can take you, or one of the adults here can come with us.” She pointed. “There’s a team shop right above where we are.”

‘I’ll go with you, buddy.” Troy stepped forward, reaching out to ruffle Caleb’s hair. “Might want to get one of my own.” He looked over at you and winked, and it took everything in you not to groan. Smooth, Troy. 

They left you and Erin moments later, and as soon as the door shut behind them, she whirled to face you, her eyes wide. 

“We’re in the owner’s suite. He gave you the fucking jersey he wore to do promo shots for this weekend.” She scoffed, raising her voice. “Fuck, that’s probably the first Statesman uniform he’s had on since he got hurt, and now it’s yours.” She paused, gesturing toward the field. “You must have been amazing in bed, because -”

“Erin.” Holding both hands up, you shook your head. “I’m just as confused as you are. He said he wanted to see me again, but when he asked about tickets for this weekend, he didn’t mention anything after, just… this.” You used one hand to indicate the suite you were in. “And by this I mean tickets. I had no idea it was going to be a suite. It’s too much.” 

“Maybe he’s hoping for a really nice ‘thank you’ blowj-”

“I don’t think so.” You cut her off, sinking into one of the chairs and crossing your arms. “I asked if I could the other night, and he said no, because we didn’t know each other well enough. And I don’t think that’s changed.” 

You didn’t want to admit that the same thought had crossed your mind - that Jack was being so generous because he expected something in return. But he didn’t hesitate to ask for things in bed. If it happens again, he’d just tell me what he wanted so that I could either say yes or no. 

“You’re joking.” She sat next to you, crossing her legs and leaning closer. I’m not. “Did … did you even have sex? Because if you didn’t, and he’s doing this? Then -”

“We did.” It was a relief to admit it, even though you hated the idea of spreading personal details. “And it was good, Erin. Like, really fucking good. But there’s no way it was this good, especially for him. You’ve seen the same things online that I have about him. No one’s ever … people would talk about him doing this for them. And no one has.”

“So maybe they lied.” She shrugged. “Maybe they said he wasn’t attentive or interested in more than one night because it was their way of dealing with the fact that he never called them again.” She bit her lip. “Maybe it was them wanting to get the last word in and make it harder for him to do the same in the future.” She reached out, taking your hand and squeezing it. “And maybe the ones that he did this stuff for, if he has in the past? Maybe they respected him enough to keep it quiet.” 

She’s probably right. You swallowed hard, turning your head to look through the netting and at the field. For everyone that had said something negative about their experience with Jack online, there had to be others with good experiences that had kept their mouths shut. And I’m one of those. “What would I do without you?” Squeezing her hand before you let go, you stood again and went back inside of the suite, Erin following closely. “Want a drink? We can open these bottles of Statesman, according to Mary.” 

She did - and by the time Caleb, Troy and the attendant came back a little while later, the two of you were laughing over your drinks, a few of the bags of snacks open on the table between you. Both guys had bought jerseys - Caleb’s was a smaller version of yours, while Troy was wearing one of the Statesman home blues, Jack’s last name and number on the back. 

The food arrived shortly after, and once each of you had made a plate, you headed back outside to sit in the seats and watch the on-field activity, Caleb narrating around mouthfuls of chicken tenders and french fries. 

You relaxed the longer you sat with your friends, and by the time the players started to come onto the field for warm-ups, you’d talked yourself into a state of calm. 

Sort of. 

You were fine until Jack took the field, a chorus of cheers coming from further down the third base line - the same as it had been when you and Caleb had seen him the previous week. Erin shot you a look but you ignored it, instead watching as he began his stretches, the same dark-haired woman supervising each movement. 

He looked good, and even though it had only been a little over a week since you’d seen him play, you could tell that he was stronger, too. “He looks better, right Caleb?” You nudged the boy, smiling at him. “Less hesitation when he -”

“He’s really stretching out those calves, hmm?” Erin cleared her throat. “He’s very flexible.” You glared at her and she wrinkled her nose and winked, but didn’t say anything else, even as Troy snorted into his drink. She’s not wrong, though. 

“Sorry we won’t get to meet the players today, kiddo.” Leaning forward, you propped your elbow up on the ledge in front of you before resting your chin on your hand. “I know how much you wanted to do that.”

“Are you kidding?” He turned to look at you, rolling his eyes. “This is way better. We get to see everyone up close.” You agreed - and so did Troy, and for the next few minutes, the four of you watched the players in silence, though your attention was specifically on Jack and his trainer. 

When he stepped out of view to talk to fans in the stands, you decided to go back inside and make yourself a second drink - the last one you were planning on having, since you had to drive home. Once it was mixed you lifted the cup to your lips, your other hand on the bottle. Just enjoy tonight. It doesn’t have to be more than this. You swiped your thumb slowly over where his signature was etched into the glass and took a deep breath before turning to head back outside. 

But when you reached the door, you paused, sucking in a breath at the sight of Jack crouched down in front of the netting and talking to Caleb, Erin and Troy. He must have caught your movement in his peripheral, because he looked up and nodded, his grin widening. “There she is.” 

“Hello, Whiskey.” You raised your glass, giving him a genuine smile, even as your heart pounded. “Welcome back to Louisville.” 

“It’s good to be here.” His lips twitched, one hand lifting to pull his hat off before he repositioned it on his head, never breaking eye contact. “You got the good seats tonight.” 

“We do. The good liquor, too.” That got a laugh out of him, Jack rising to his feet and straightening his shoulders as you brought the drink to your lips. 

“Enjoy yourselves. I’ve gotta get goin’.” He turned away and paused, putting a hand on his hip before he spun back to face all of you. What are you going to say, Jack? “Nice jersey, by the way.” You nearly choked on the liquid in your mouth at his words, and if Jack’s quiet laugh was any indication, he was very aware of it. You jackass. 

You caught his wink and then he did disappear, heading down the stairs and into the dugout. Ok, that could have gone worse. It could have gone better, too, but at least you hadn’t made a fool of yourself in front of him - which was the important thing.

The sound of Caleb talking about how Jack remembered him faded as you went back inside, setting your drink down on the counter and then gripping the edge of it, head lowered. The hard part’s over. He saw me and he knows I’m here, and he saw me in the - 

“He likes you.” Troy was right behind you, and even though you jumped at the sound of his voice, you recovered quickly, spinning to look at him. What? “He walked over and immediately said hi to Caleb, but he looked around and he seemed disappointed. And then you came outside and his mood changed.” Troy’s smile widened, and he stuck his tongue into his cheek briefly before saying anything else. “And if he looked for you, that means he knew you were going to be here, and -”

Shit. Is it that obvious? “I’m not going to confirm or deny a goddamn thing.”

“You just did.” Troy laughed, reaching out with one hand to squeeze your arm. “Good for you, though. He seems like fun.” You have no idea. “We should go back out there. The game’s going to start.” 

Wordlessly, you followed Troy back out and into the seating area - just as the request to rise for the National Anthem blared out through the loudspeakers.

— 

By the sixth inning, you weren’t worried about what was going on between you and Jack anymore. Instead, you were upset, because The Statesman were losing. 

It was no fault of Jack’s, though - he’d gotten a single and walked in his two at bats, the crowd giving him a standing ovation each time he headed to home plate. He’d also made a few really good plays at third - one of them throwing out someone at home as the other team tried to bunt in a run. 

The rest of the team was the problem, with errors made in the outfield, a dropped ball by the shortstop and three really bad pitches that had resulted in six total runs scored. There was still time for a comeback, and even though chances were growing slimmer by the minute, a three run deficit wasn’t too much to overcome. 

When Jack took his place in the on-deck circle, there were two men on and only one out. You stayed in the position that you’d been in for most of the game - arms crossed and elbows resting on the wall in front of you, leaning as close to the action as you could get. 

Watching him up close was special, and you’d snapped a few pictures in his earlier at bats of him bending over and adding the weights to the bat before he swung, as well as of him with it perched on his shoulder and in motion. It wasn’t just Jack that you photographed, but you paid more attention to him than the others. 

You were so close that you could hear the players grunting and groaning as they took their practice swings, as well as some of the things they yelled back to the other players in the dugout and on the field, and Jack was vocal. It didn’t surprise you after the time you’d spent with him, but if you’d said that the way he was on-field and with his teammates and the ump crew wasn’t a turn on, it would have been a lie. 

Because if the fans got into the game, Jack was on another level. 

He paused in his swings to watch the at bat in front of him, and after one particularly bad call, you heard his disdain for the ump - the man’s shout of “That wasn’t a damn strike even in a little league game!” clearly audible, as was the way he ducked his head toward the ground and kicked the dirt in a side-to-side motion with one cleat while he repeated the word “bullshit” under his breath. 

During a visit to the mound by the catcher, Jack looked over at where you were, locking eyes with you and rolling his, mouthing the word “bullshit” again. You laughed in return, mouthing the words I know, before shaking your head. It was easier than you’d thought it would be to interact with him, and part of you wondered if it was because it was pointed but not personal, and that he wasn’t hiding his actions.

The entire stadium groaned when the batter popped out and the runners couldn’t advance, but those groans turned into cheers when Jack’s walk up music started, and your breath caught in your throat again when he looked over at your suite before he headed to the plate, smirking and giving you a quick wink. 

“He changed his song!” Erin leaned over, elbowing you a few times. “This is my favorite one!” It was yours, too - and you’d always thought that it was a little inappropriate for an MLB stadium filled with kids - but that day, you didn’t care. 

He strutted toward the batter’s box as Pony blared through the speakers, and you didn’t look away for a second. And neither did any of the other women in this stadium if those cheers are anything to go by. 

He stepped into the box and then got ready, kicking at the dirt and using one hand to tug on the front of his jersey, making sure that the chain he wore was resting flush against his chest, and not on top of the material. He took a few practice swings and then tapped the bat against the plate, releasing a breath and nodding before settling the lumber back on his shoulder. 

“C’mon Jack!” You yelled the words and smacked your palm on the wall a few times, shaking your head. “Bring ‘em home!” Erin laughed next to you, but she also cheered, and then Caleb joined in, the three of you going silent just before the pitcher set and threw. 

It was a ball - so far inside that it almost hit Jack, but he stayed in place, cocking his head to the side as he lifted the bat and took another swing before settling it back in place. 

The crowd was loud - roaring out his name when Jack swung at the next pitch and made contact. The noise increased until it hooked foul, everyone wincing and groaning. He didn’t even run, though. He knew it wasn’t fair. Jack adjusted his gloves and then stepped back into the box, getting situated just in time for another pitch - that one ball two. 

“A single scores one.” Troy reached up, linking his fingers through the netting as he leaned closer. “A double will score both, and -” Jack swung and missed, and you lowered your head, swearing. Fuck. “Come on Daniels!” Troy let go of the fence and clapped his hands. “Just wait for your pitch!” 

He didn’t swing the next time and as the count ran full, the atmosphere in the stadium changed considerably. If no one scores here, the game’s over. It was a nervous energy that coursed through you, but when you looked back at Jack, you saw that he was still calm, his grip on the bat handle loose as he stepped out of the batter’s box and looked around the stadium. 

“He’s going to strike out.” Troy sat back, shaking his head. “This pitcher’s been too good today.” 

“No, he’s not.” Caleb scowled at the man, phone in hand. “He’s going to get a hit.” He jumped up and down a few times. “He has to.” 

“Whatever happens, it needs to happen now because I feel sick to my stomach.” You mumbled the words, lowering your head and groaning. “Come on, Jack.” You wet your lips and looked back at him, watching as he rocked back and forth, awaiting the pitch. 

You knew as soon as he swung that bat that he’d make contact - and when, moments later, the crack of the connection reached your ears, you knew it was gone. And so did Jack, the man keeping his eye on the ball as he headed to first, and then throwing both hands up into the air and cheering as he rounded the base.

“Fuck yeah, Jack!” You jumped up and down and then turned to hug Erin, the woman squealing in your ear before she let go and reached for Troy, who was shaking Caleb back and forth in celebration, the boy yelling in excitement. 

You focused back on the field - where the two men that had been on base were waiting at home plate for Jack. When he rounded 3rd, you cheered louder, clapping your hands and yelling out his name. There was little chance that he could hear you over the others in the stadium, and when he got to home and stomped on the base, the other two engulfing him in celebration and knocking his hat off, you wished that you’d had your camera out - and had gotten the moment on video. 

The three of them headed back in your direction, Jack at the center of the group, and even though it was fast, you didn’t miss his glance at your suite, or the tiny nod and smirk he gave you when you grinned up at him, biting down on the inside of your lip. Oh, shit. 

“That was awesome!” Caleb’s voice broke the moment, and when you looked over, you saw that he was following the three men with his phone. “And I got it all on video!” He lowered the device and then beamed up at you and his sister. “If I send it to you, will you post it?”

“That’s a long video to post, buddy.” Troy settled back into his seat, scrubbing a hand over his face as the next batter swung and missed. “But it’s really cool that you got it all.” He looked sad but agreed, and when Caleb looked at you again, you raised a brow. 

“You can still send it to me if you want, though. I’d love to watch it.” And to see if he got that smirk in there, because… damn. 

He told you he would once you were out of the stadium, and then Caleb tucked his phone away and returned his attention to the field, where the batter had just struck out, ending the inning. But they’re tied now, and that’s all that matters.  

For the next two and a half innings, neither team scored, which meant that it all came down to the bottom of the ninth. Jack was due to bat third, which meant you’d get to see him once more that night. And that might be it for a while. 

You’d taken advantage of the suite during the game, getting more to eat and drink, ordering ice cream sundaes that were delivered by your attendant, and watching a few at bats on the TV mounted to one wall instead of live in front of you. It was an experience that you’d never forget, and you’d heard your friends say the same throughout the night. 

Neither Erin or Troy had said anything about Jack’s wink or the nod, but you knew that they’d seen both. She wouldn’t spill your secrets to him, but you knew he’d likely ask, and part of you wondered what would happen if things continued between you and Jack, even on just a friendly basis. I’d have to tell them then.

The attendant told you that both bottles of Statesman were yours to take, and so between the 8th and 9th innings, you’d packed them up into the provided boxes and then tucked them into a bag that she’d left for you, along with the partially eaten candy and popcorn - figuring that they were just going to toss it anyway if you left it behind. 

And when the Statesman came up to bat for the final time, you rushed back out into the seats, standing between Erin and the left wall of the suite and drumming your fingers nervously against the concrete. 

That time, Jack paid no attention to the crowds while he waited to hit, instead crossing his legs at the ankle and leaning against the end of his bat, eyes on his teammate. “Just get on base.” You whispered the words, looking toward home. “Give Jack a chance.” 

The game meant very little in the grand scheme of things. 

The Statesman weren’t close to leading in the standings, and it would have taken a lot to get them to a contending position for the playoffs. But you still wanted them to win, if for no other reason than to top off Jack’s return. He did his part, though. He tied it up. 

And the man at the plate did his part, too, knocking a single between second and third, which meant that Jack got to the plate with one on and nobody out, his walk up song back to the one he’d used for his first two at bats. 

Caleb was nearly vibrating with excitement, his phone out and aimed at Jack once more - and you decided to do the same. Fuck it, you thought, pressing the record button. I’m just a fan right now. He took the first pitch - a called strike - and you watched him shake his head in disagreement, though he didn’t argue for too long. 

The second pitch slipped from the pitcher’s hand and veered downward, and even though Jack moved quickly, he couldn’t get out of the way. It hit the ankle guard he wore and bounced away, and for a few horrifying seconds, you worried that his return to the team would be short lived. 

The entire stadium booed, but the sound turned to a cheer when Jack bent over and pulled the protection off, tossing it to the side along with his batting helmet, and jogged to first. His trainer was close behind, the woman’s arms crossed over her chest as she assessed his condition and finally gave him the go-ahead to stay in. 

The game continued once she’d jogged back across the field and into the dugout, and you - along with thousands of others - watched anxiously, waiting. 

You didn’t have long to wait. On the third pitch of the at bat, he blooped a hit into shallow right, the ball hitting the ground and then skipping through the legs of the outfielder. 

The entire stadium roared, and the four of you did, too, cheering and clapping as the winning run crossed the plate. Erin wrapped you in her arms in celebration, but you kept your eyes on the field. I don’t want to miss this. Jack didn’t even finish rounding the bases and instead cut across the infield and headed for home, both arms out in front of him as he clapped and cheered. 

He’d lost his hat again as he hurried in, and by the time he was hugging his teammate, all of them jumping up and down, his hair had curled over his forehead - one lock hanging between his eyes. He got swallowed up in the crowd of people and you turned away, pulling free from Erin’s hold. 

“Hell yeah!” Troy pumped his fist in the air. “What a win.” It took a few seconds, but all of you managed to calm down and look back at the field, watching as the teams did their congratulatory handshakes and then broke for the dugouts and locker rooms. 

Jack got pulled for an interview, but you could barely see it, and so the four of you began to pack up, heading back inside after one final look at the field. The attendant was back, and she asked if you wanted a group photo before you left - something that Caleb agreed to for all of you. 

But once those were taken on all four phones, you had no reason to stay in the suite. She led you back down the hallway and to the main concourse, thanking you for coming and telling you to have a safe drive home before saying goodbye.

It was strange to be around so many people again after having no crowd to deal with for the entire night, but the mood was cheerful, and that hadn’t changed after walking back to the car and putting everything you carried into the trunk. 

You hoped you wouldn’t have to sit in traffic for very long. Because you’d gotten to the game so early and were on one of the lower garage floors, you got your wish. Only ten minutes later, you were out of the garage and on your way home. Caleb and Troy were having an intense conversation in the back seat, and Erin was leaning against her window, head propped up on one hand. 

“That was really cool.” You nodded, keeping your eyes on the road. “Make sure you thank the person that got those tickets for us.” You knew what she was doing - but refused to take the bait. “Or I can, if -”

“I’ll text when I get home.” You narrowed your eyes and looked over at her. “I promise.” You heard Troy snort in the back seat, but Erin thankfully didn’t say anything else. 

Caleb was the first one out of the car as soon as you parked, the boy yelling a ‘thank you’ at you before he sprinted toward the front door, bursting to tell his parents about the game. Troy and Erin hung back, and you were surprised to hear him speak first, after leaning forward to slot himself between the seats. 

“That was really fucking cool. Please, make sure you tell Jack that we appreciated tonight.” You assured him you would, and when Erin reached over to squeeze your knee, you cleared your throat. 

“Thank both of you for being … discreet.” Shrugging, you gripped the wheel with both hands. “I don’t want to make too much of -” You were cut off when your phone rang, and thanks to the fact that it was connected to your car via Bluetooth, they were both able to see exactly who was calling: Jack. “Not a word from either of you.” 

Erin laughed, but as you reached for the screen to answer the phone, she opened the door and got out, Troy not far behind. Your finger hovered for a second and then you answered, closing your eyes and taking a deep breath. “Hey, Jack.” 

“I’m not interruptin’, am I?” 

“No, I just dropped everyone off, and I’m getting ready to go home.” Backing out of the driveway, you turned in the direction of your place. “What are -”

“Come over.” You sucked in a breath, looking away from the road and toward the display. What? “I mean, if you’re not busy, and want to, you can come over tonight. You should come over.”

“I don’t know where you live.” You glanced down, realizing that you were still wearing your clothes from the game. “And I need to go home and change, I’m -”

“You still wearin’ my jersey?” Confirming that you were, you were relieved to hear his groan, Jack’s continued words spoken in a much softer tone than he’d been using before. “Then you definitely don’t need to go home. I’d sure like to see you in that without a net between us.” 

You stopped at a light, pressing your fingertips to your mouth and thinking. You wanted to see him again. You wanted to spend more time with him. And if he’d called you immediately after arriving home from a walk off win, he obviously wanted to spend more time with you, too. Fuck it. Why not? 

“Alright, Jack. Send me your address and I’ll be there soon.” 

—

Sample dugout suite view:

Alternate Players Weekend photo (thank you @stealyourblorbos):

[theamityelf]

What's your take on polytagonist/naehinahara? I just feel like they'd be really cute 'cause they're unconfident boys who would definitely support and be there for each other <3

Also just the thought of them tag teaming in each class trial is really appealing to me............ but how would that even work? maybe in an au where Monokuma gathers all the past killing game survivors for one last killing game? but ough that's just so tragic............ but at the same time can you imagine them taking turns in pairing up together?? investigating together?? 🥹

First of all, of course I love them as a ship! I already like Hinaegi and Naehara separately, and Hinahara would also be a fun combination, with Hajime's steady abrasiveness and Shuichi's more precise, infrequent abrasiveness in-between bouts of malleability.

As for that specific scenario:

Oh my gosh, first of all, I'm going to say for this AU that despite the 77th class all having been brought back after SDR2, only the survivors of that game are in this new killing game. For V3 I'm going to say that was also a simulation, specifically so Kaito and Kokichi can get pulled in on some technicality about their case being inconclusive.

Now, you may look at this as me very specifically targeting the trauma of the THH cast, since they're the only ones whose entire friend group is in the killing game.

Anyway, I'm also going to say everyone's memory is erased except the protags, because whoever set this up is doing it as a specific torture of them. This means we have pre-character development Maki, Fuyuhiko, Byakuya, etc. in play, and if the protagonists try to impress upon them that they're already friends, they just get extremely suspicious and defensive.

Naturally, this means the protagonists all huddle up together right away.

"Alright, who's doing this one?" Makoto wonders.

"I don't know," Hajime says.

"You don't know?" Shuichi repeats in dismay. "You're from the Future Foundation and you're from Ultimate Despair. I thought one of you would have some idea."

"Whoever it is, we're not in a simulation right now," Hajime says.

"You're sure?" Makoto says.

"Positive."

"That's...worse, but...we know our friends. Whoever let us keep our memories did it to hurt us, but we know our friends."

(Hajime levels a sympathetic look on Makoto.)

"Knowing someone doesn't help you stop them from killing, if they feel they have a reason," Shuichi says quietly, thinking of Maki. "And the mastermind is in charge of giving people reasons."

"I probably could have re-befriended my friends the slow way, if I'd caught on faster that they didn't remember me," Makoto sighs. "Now, I weirded them out, and it'll be a lot harder."

"That's okay. You can actually branch out," Hajime suggests. "You should talk to Fuyuhiko and...Yumeno. Those are good matches for you. Once you've gotten to know them, I think Hagakure is also still an option; he's more interested in your seemingly supernatural insights than anything, though aligning yourself with him might not legitimize you in the eyes of Kirigiri, Togami, or Fukawa. I can reason with those three. Shuichi should spend time with Akane and Asahina."

"Then, what about Sonia, Kaito, Maki, Kazuichi, and Kokichi?" Makoto asks.

"Focus on your two for now, okay?"

It is a good idea, and they do mesh well with those groupings, but of course things don't go entirely to plan.

And of course, whenever something terrible happens, they retreat to each other's arms. They're all protective of each other, and they're all protective of their own friends, and the potential for hurt/comfort is matched only by the potential for messiness when some of them have to prioritize who they most want to protect.

Hajime's many talents are, of course, an asset, but if he knows multiple people are in danger at once and he can't save all of them, he's prioritizing his friends (which include Makoto and Shuichi) over their friends and might even have to do a trolley-problem-style switcheroo where Toko dies in Sonia's stead or something of the sort. He wasn't the one to kill her, but he decided who he was more willing to lose.

Shuichi would be willing to lie in the trials, and Kokichi would notice, and Kyoko would probably also notice. Hajime would back up Shuichi's lies when he knows he can get away with it and contradict them when he knows he can't. Makoto would not lie because he finds it really important that everyone is able to trust each other.

Kaito might punch Fuyuhiko in the face at some point. That would go really poorly. Or maybe he tries to punch Fuyuhiko in the face but Makoto's in the way and gets punched instead, solidifying Fuyuhiko's bond with Makoto because now he's got to teach this guy a lesson for effing with both of them! (Kaito is sorry, but like...not sorry enough?)

And Makoto (who passes out on impact, btw; his character development didn't involve not passing out when he gets punched in the face) is just like "No, you don't have to do anything to Kaito!" while Fuyuhiko is all "Sit down and let me handle this."

Makoto realizes, over the course of calming his friend down, that Hajime set both him and Shuichi up with people who could and would protect them from physical threats. He always thought of it as Hajime trusting him to keep Fuyuhiko out of trouble and trusting Shuichi to keep Akane out of trouble, but in a way, he's also trusting his friends to keep Makoto and Shuichi safe.

The day Maki dies or gets executed (I'm sorry, there's no way she sruvives this one.), Shuichi sleeps in Makoto's bed, crying into his chest. Hajime intuits where they both are and brings them food. He wants to curl up on Makoto's other side, but he has to keep watch over the school. There are too many people they can't afford to lose.

(A version of this same AU where it is a simulation is also on the table. In that case, Hajime wouldn't have any Kamukura Project stuff in his head and also motives like Despair Disease could happen.)

[falciesystemessays]

Can I make a confession?

I hate thinking about my future.

(I promise this is related to video games.)

It could just be something in my brain.

It could be that, the way school has always led to more school, I'd always felt like my life was being decided for me.

It could be that, as a suicidal trans kid living on a dying rock, I never felt like I had a future.

But I had never in my life considered I would get this far, and at this point I have to grapple with the fact that I'm only getting older.

I need to move out eventually. I need to make a living. And I need to keep myself alive and healthy.

But something in me just hates thinking about that.

Of course, I notice this in the games I play too. I love tactics games like Fire Emblem, but the superficially similar Advance Wars could never grip me. While Fire Emblem gives me all of my chess pieces and makes me use them accordingly, Advance Wars makes me think several turns ahead and choose which units to create. Advance Wars is a much more long-term game, and I can't help but hate that.

I've been thinking for years about the prospect of using games to teach me what I don't know. Surely, if a game can finally make me understand long-term thinking, then I will be fixed. And I hate that framing, "fixed." These issues are very likely caused by ADHD, and the brain is just more complicated than any platitude can solve. But I also know that I do have to start thinking long-term, or I will suffer.

I've always hated brushing my teeth. When I was a kid, I would pretend to brush them to make my mom happy, but I just don't like having to put some stick of goo in my mouth, and even now that I do it regularly it doesn't feel good. I thought things would be okay forever, until I started having dental problems. Any individual day where I don't brush my teeth honestly doesn't make that big of a difference. But these choices in aggregate across years can have disastrous effects.

I started thinking about this as I replayed FTL recently. FTL: Faster Than Light is the first game released by Subset Games. Their second game, Into the Breach, is one of my favorite video games of all time. But crucially, everything I like about Into the Breach was an explicit response to something I didn't like about FTL. FTL has too much randomness, so ITB removes a bunch of randomness. FTL has too much hidden information, so ITB shows you exactly what enemies are going to do next. And in a game of Into the Breach, everything you need to think about is right in front of you. In FTL, you have to think ahead.

There's a few design choices in FTL I chafe against. Upgrading your ship is pretty expensive, and I never know how much it's worth saving up until it's too late. Your ship taking damage is unavoidable, and that damage sticks around between battles. Nearly every action costs some kind of resource that I don't know if I'll get back. It's a game that demands you think about it on a large scale, and after years of trying and failing, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get good at this game.

Do I just not have the brain for it?

But you know, it's not just lack of understanding that makes me put the short-term first. I've gotten into feuds with my parents about dieting before, as their legitimate concerns about health combined with unchecked fatphobia to leave me feeling like they just wanted control over my body. And while I recognize it's immature, these days I'll often eat something unhealthy on purpose out of spite. Making myself some dumplings, using all the salt and butter I could ever want, feels good, and tastes good too. But it was only today when, at a checkup about hormones, I agreed to weigh myself, and didn't like what I saw.

There are some games that provide delayed gratification. Games like Animal Crossing and Pokemon that use real-world time for game mechanics. In Animal Crossing, it's not enough to simply grow a tree, you have to plant it, and then water it for days. In Pokemon Shining Pearl, you have to wait until Friday to catch a Drifloon. These games treat the passage of time as a game mechanic in itself.

...Or at least, they do in theory. In practice, these games are awash with time travelers, changing the system clock to skip the wait.

I wish I had the answers, but I don't. I don't know how to teach myself this vital skill, and I'm searching still for a game that can help with that. Maybe I'll be the one to make it.

But I guess what I do want to say is that, if you also hate thinking about the future, whether that's in games or in life...

I understand.

[libertarian-druid-ny-separatist]

So like, there's this awesome game with a fuckload of potential with servers named after Celtic and other pagan gods. It's called Pax Dei. It got review bombed so hard by players in early access, but it was a game that is still in development as early access games should be. Like, it currently sits as an mmo, with no currency whatsoever, but players still trade and value goods, resources, and materials differently enough to facilitate trade.

For example, I traded a bunch of tier 2 logs for a massive crate of beer.

It's incredibly grindy if you're a builder, smith, or basically any sort of tradesperson. As a result, the game remains somewhat pvp focused, especially with that being the best resource gathering area which holds the best magic items as well, which are items used to craft magical armor, weapons, etc, which allow you to cast magic or have magical properties. It's honestly confusing as hell if you go in blind, which is why I've stayed out of magic entirely which is why I'm an armorsmith (and have put 92 hours into a game that came out last month and only meeting my clan last week in a [currently] very clan driven game).

It's genuinely great without currency, and they're adding a (supposedly) hard currency in the coming updates. Supposedly silver, which is going to be limited in quantity with a very high starting spawn. So the combat experts that currently exist in game that gather together for pvp are going to make a mint facilitating trade between pvp zones, especially if they also hire out as guides for travelers without a pre-planned route. Clans typically consist of like 5-10 people (again, for like the 10th time, currently, I expect a whole fuckload to change as the game develops, like lore doesn't even really exist in game yet). I genuinely think this game is gonna outdo WoW in our lifetime as a gaming phenomenon if people legitimately give it a chance while keeping in mind that it's literally playable in development on UE5 and you're seeing a legitimately incomplete product.

I honestly don't care who all plays, currently, the server I'm at is at max pop, meaning no new characters can be put on it, yet. I just want the game to get fuckhuge, and the only way that's gonna happen is if it gets a lot of players. I can say this in earnest, don't look at what it is right now, look at what it is a week from when you start playing, a month, however long. When roleplay servers expand, which they very well may considering it was filled by people trying to get away from the survival servers because the rp servers are legitimately better since the roleplayers generally take pride in whatever craft they choose, and as a result get better at it faster since they're willing to trade for or gather buttloads of resources.

It's not free, but it's $40 for the base edition, which if you're not planning on leading a clan, is all you really need. Servers are likely to expand if they get the funding, and by that I mean grow in player count and number. If you are planning on leading a clan, then you'll need an additional $50, because you'll want the extra plots and maybe the additional furniture and structures (which are purely decorative). Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of pay to win features, and this would seem like one, if the build height limit wasn't crazy tall and the height of most practical crafting stuff wasn't usually pretty short. It's vanity and expansionism only, but everyone gets a plot, from which you can use it to expand your clan's land, or for a little home, or a shop even, or really, whatever, maybe a combination of them. I used two of mine to build a temple and one for a watchtower/kitchen/brewry/tiny forge/charcoal kiln. And it's only up to the third floor in a 4x3 floor area.

Seriously, it's awesome as long as you're not trying to play up some high fantasy stuff and can be and act like a human. There's plans for map wipes during development, which may reset characters for all I know, on top of that, their alpha only had one server per available region, and that went up to (I believe but don't feel like checking for an already too long game review) 6. Most players have 1-2 characters, and as a result, the rp and survival communities are kind of intertwined, but not really. I have one character I play. I've only played the game for about a week with any sort of effort or real daily time to speak of, and I've unwittingly put 92 hours into it. When I say it's a legitimately good game that got shit tier early reviews from some idiots that didn't understand what early access is supposed to be and when it's being used as it's intended, I mean it. The grindyness of it has been significantly reduced in the last couple weeks, and the game came out last month. The stack sizes of a lot of items went up this week. It's legitimately being worked on regularly, with patches coming up regularly and big ones coming up occasionally. Like I said earlier, there's expansions planned that add massive, literally game changing, features. Honestly, the devs are likely going to reorganize the server layouts to favor roleplayers more than survival gamers because it's working itself out to be a top tier mmorpg.

Get in early, figure the game out, and if characters aren't deleted ever, maybe even get yourself maxxed out in everything and be massively OP when it exits early access. I legitimately feel like it's going to be a hit if people review it with the knowledge it's legitimately using the term early access properly, while already being awesome.

[abubblingcandle]

Personal life bitch so putting it under the cut

I adore playing flag football. It's the perfect sport for me. It's quick bursts of pace not endurance, it's cerebral and being athletic helps but you can make up for not being athletic with strategy, it's also relatively unknown so I can legitimately say I play for the 4th best team in the country and have tried out to represent my country. It keeps me fit, it gives me friends I actually see in real life. This is my 6th year playing women's, and I am on a break from playing in the mixed 2nd tier.

However I am now 80% sure the women's captain is fatphobic (the 20% doubt might just be that she hates me personally as I am the only overweight person on the team). She refuses to play me consistently and will not (or can not) justify why not and if there was another nearby women's team I would quit.

Evidence:

She won't play me in the position I like playing even if there is literally no one else - For those of you who know American Football, for three years I played QB. The starting QB on this team is better than me I will freely admit that. But even when the usual starter isn't there it's like I'm not in contention. And her excuse was "you perform better without stress and I thought QB stressed you out". I wouldn't have kept asking to play it if it stressed me out. The reason why she thought it stressed me out was because I had a panic attack at a game day because one of my own players shouted at me that I was shit and I would cost the team games if I was that shit, during a warm up when I had not thrown a football in 8 months and I slightly over threw her 🤷 Today starting QB, back up QB, rookie QB all not at training. Coach asked who wanted to throw, I said me. I threw in the drills. Game time - she picked someone who didn't want to play QB with a fucking rotator cuff injury over me, citing that she needed me to get some practice at receiver. I then played 15 plays at most (12 or so minutes out of 1hr playing). Last game day the only QB went down injured m, I lept in saying I'll do it! Gave the ball to someone who hadn't played the position before.

When I ask why she isn't playing me she gives bullshit excuses - "you need to practice at that position" I've been playing it for a year, "you haven't been at training" I've been at training more than you have even though it takes me an hour and a bit to get there over it taking her 5 minutes, "be confident and understand all positions" I have played all positions in competitive matches and am a qualified coach, "it's a tactical decision" so what's the point of me being here then

She can't ever come up with anything I can do to improve - every time I ask for advice to improve the response is either "you did well" or "don't worry about it". Which makes me think she can't see a way for me to be better or she doesn't want to say lose weight and get faster because she knows that is a shit thing. Like if you think I'm a weak link and the only thing I can do is be faster then fucking tell me and I'll fuck off

The problem is that she is a coach and is the long term partner of the head coach. So I can't bitch to him about it.

I really don't want to quit but I think if it's the same this season (likely going to be worse as we have more players) then this might be my last season as a flag player which breaks my heart

EDIT - Can't believe I forgot about this. We're installing a new defence and this was my first play in that defence. Fact that you need for this to make sense we have a player called Laura and a player called Lauren, it'll be relevant later. I asked for clarification on what I should do and she said "stay in the middle and get in the way", sure I can do that. That is actually my fave place to be on defence. Play starts, Lauren cuts and runs into the middle. I drop back to get in the throwing lane and get in the way of Lauren. As I do that Person Who Hates Me shouts "cover Laura" who was going late out wide. I had already committed to Lauren and was so confused as I couldn't tell if she said Laura or Lauren and so stuck with Lauren in the middle. Ball went to someone who was open deep. Soon as the play is over she comes over and shouts "in that sort of play you should have stayed and then gone wide with Laura". My response, "ok, my bad next time I'll go with the runner across late". Another player comes in to debrief about why the player that caught was open and Person Who Hates Me just kept repeating, "I should have been on her but I had to go with Laura because Candle was in the wrong place!" over and over and it made me feel so shit. Like I acknowledged that at my first time of doing something I did the wrong thing (despite it being clearly the right option based on what I was told to do) so there's no need to be such a bitch about it

Ok I'm done now

[strawberista]

⚅ — Reasons I'm Not Writing — ⚅

{I realized that sometimes I try to be on and then just can't be, or I am on and try to get something done but I struggle with it. And rather than writing up every single time what's going on with me, it might help to just give you guys a list of reasons I might not be writing.}

{I'm making a list, but just know that any of these things could be happening at the same time or one thing can be happening because of another. It's really a mix-and-match sort of scenario most of the time.}

⚀ I'm on mobile - A lot of the time when I'm not around, it's because I'm stuck only being on mobile and don't feel like struggling with it. I can still write when I'm using the app, technically, but it is a real hassle because of all the steps I have to take to cut it. So unless I'm super hype and want to finish that reply as soon as humanly possible, or unless I just don't have anything else to do, legitimately, I usually don't even mess with it. You can find me on Discord instead, usually.

⚀ I'm on Discord - Sometimes my discord is more active than my Tumblr, or that is to say, I'm getting replies here faster than Tumblr. Sometimes I may be on mobile so it's more convenient. Or sometimes I don't have the energy to struggle with Tumblr, but I'm alright dealing with discord. In any case, it's worth it to shoot me a message if you want to write with me there. I rp over disc, so I'm sure we can still have a lot of fun.

⚀ My family needs me - Whether it be for errands, emotional support, board games, or whathaveyou, sometimes my family just needs my attention and I can't be on, mobile or otherwise. I usually don't get a chance to warn anyone ahead of time so I can just disappear for a while, sometimes even the whole day if it's a big thing.

⚀ I'm asleep - Whether It's past my bedtime and I've gone to sleep for the night, or it's because I didn't get enough sleep and need more, or because sometimes I'm sick and need extra, I will from time to time just sleep. There's not much I can do about that one, honestly.

⚀ I'm sick or in pain - Similar to just being asleep, sometimes get sick or I'm just in a lot of pain and physically can't be in any sort of position that makes it easy to be on, mobile or otherwise.

⚀ My brain is playing Dial-up tones - Sometimes I'm on and actually looking through things, but I can't concentrate enough to get anything done. If something is playing beside me or people are talking around me, I'll get overstimulated or there will be too much to focus on at once and I have a hard time processing thoughts or anything. So I end up just sitting there staring at the screen for long periods of time.

⚀ I'm in an Unfriendly Environment - Similar to the above reason, sometimes I might end up having a panic/anxiety attack or the folks in my house will start arguing and making the environment feel too unsafe to work. That is to say, I don't feel like I can operate without having some sort of attack, not that I'm in actual danger. Situations like this can come on suddenly so I might not have time to say goodbye before I disappear.

⚀ IRL life has me very busy - Sometimes I have to dedicate the day to chores or groceries or something and I can't split that attention with mobile if I want to get everything done, so I have to give up writing to maintain my irl responsibilities.

⚀ I'm making graphics or art - Sometimes I'll take a break from writing to work on icons or banners or art instead. I try to multitask but there are times when it just doesn't work out that way. I might become more active as I finish my work, but I might just have to wait until the next day.

⚀ I'm focusing on playing video games - I usually can't split myself into doing everything I want to do. If I'm doing chores, I absolutely can't play video games and write as well. So sometimes I'll choose to replace writing with video games, or spend that time doing something else. I'm not trying to ignore anyone, I'm just trying to enjoy my other hobbies.

⚀ I'm on a different blog - Sometimes it might seem like I'm not writing, but I am just on a different blog. I run 5 main blogs and two side blogs, and even though some are lower activity than others, I do try to spend some time on all of them. If you don't see me in one place, I might just be somewhere else. I can also get into this funk of replying to like 4 different threads at the same time and get nothing done because I'm working on all of them at once.

{No matter what's going on, however, just know that I haven't forgotten about you. I might even be feeling a little bit of stess over making everyone wait when I probably could be writing instead. I'll get to everything as soon as I can, though. I just wanted you guys to know that I haven't forgotten you.}

[maximuswolf]

An argument for playing Alien: Isolation if you're interested but scared

An argument for playing Alien: Isolation if you're interested, but scared Please disagree if you've played and think, "Yeah, no. This is 10,000% full of shit. Nice try, Xenomorph." But at least on NORMAL difficulty, I really think this game is on your side and wants you to beat it. Some games make you have fun via good storytelling and great dialogue. Other games make you have fun by throwing lots of action and enemies at you and putting you in a flow state. I think this game makes you have fun by TERRIFYING you, but not in a frustrating, or time-wasting way. I realized this (or convinced myself of this) like 45% of the way through my recent first playthrough. And once I realized it, I moved swiftly through the remaining 55% and I sincerely, absolutely loved it. I didn't rush the second half or anything, but the first 45% took me a very long time, and I would spend each play-session kind of procrastinating booting the game up. I felt so much dread and anxiety just looking at the main menu with the GIANT face of Jupiter staring at you lol.You constantly see Jupiter throughout the game, always reminding you of how small or helpless you are.But I think a big part of my dread actually came from the save system. You can't save whenever you want. You have to do it at certain checkpoints. And that whole concept just made me very tense, and I loathed the idea of losing good progress. But this idea that "the game is on your side" occurred to me when I came across a checkpoint, then struggled through a 15-minute tense chunk of the map, and then came to another save point. I thought, "Huh. That was like a quick, self-contained section." And then I realized that the whole game is sort of structured that way. You have 19 main missions, but I think each mission can be broken apart into lots of tiny sections. Each save point is like the beginning of a mini-chapter. When you die, it can feel devastating. But then you realize that you never really lose that much progress. They are very generous with the save points. And so I think the game makes a double-edged agreement with you. It agrees to let you save a lot, but in return you have to be ok with getting REALLY fucking scared lmao. If the game was bullshitty, I think the save points would be like 30-minutes apart. And then if the alien grabbed you from above, it would feel super frustrating and stupid and more annoying than scary. But the way it works in actuality, if you die, it only takes like a minute or two to get back to where you were. You move much faster the second (or third, or sixth...) time around because like half the battle is being lost and not knowing the map. So the game can kill you in all sorts of horrifying ways--"THE XENOMORPH CAN DO THAT!?!??!"--but because it doesn't waste your time, you're having FUN being scared, and aren't loathing having to replay large sections. This makes it even more effective because you lean in and cooperate with the experience of being scared. You aren't pulled away from the experience because you're dreading having to replay long sections. I really don't think this game wants you to give up. It is also strangely therapeutic to face all of this anxiety and fear head-on, and slooowly make relentless forward progress through it all. You can hide in a locker as long as you want, but eventually, you have to get out and press forward. I think anyone with a normal tolerance for fear can have a great time with Alien: Isolation. (But for people who actually suffer from high anxiety, it might be too much. The game is legitimately scary.) BUT IT'S ON YOUR SIDE! (But your neck will hurt because your shoulders will constantly be up by your ears.) BUT IT WANTS YOU TO BEAT IT! Buy pampers and have a great time. It's a tremendous game. Graphically and cinematically beautiful, too. Submitted November 25, 2024 at 01:04PM by sweepwrestler https://ift.tt/Shpxsvu via /r/gaming

[xansmenagerie]

Spirited

Not dead, just brain full between work and autumn and non-Tumblr writing. In the meantime, here's one of the rare bits of background writing I did for my other tabletop game; I play a kandra (a corpse-eating shapeshifting spy) in a Mistborn game, and this was a 5+1 I wrote for them for fun after they hit the point where they can legitimately get Preservation to roll for them occasionally.

If you've read Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series then this crew is out and causing trouble a couple of centuries before Vin's born; if you haven't, and you like dark-but-hopeful fantasy with solid magic systems, you might want to give the books a go.

RanVeer's pronouns are deliberately Yes, before anyone asks.

The mistwraith doesn't think as such; it can feel though, and those feelings could almost be thoughts at times. This is one of those times; something is nudging it, softening the fear of being out in daylight, making it want to crawl to a specific place.

"You're a brave one, aren't you?" The noises make no sense, mere vibration on the mistwraith's skin, but it can feel the footsteps coming closer through its contact with the floor. "You'll do nicely."

Sudden sharp pressure on its skin, two points digging in; the urge to recoil and flee damped down as something close to a thought shows it how to draw the metal in, to wrap around it like that-

The kandra called RanVeer wakes up, disorientated but very much capable of thought; so busy thinking, in fact, they don't feel the other presence withdraw.

---

"Why are you in there?" NolToun asks the barely open chest exasperatedly, hands on hips. The lid bucks a little in mute response.

"RanVeer, I mean it. Come out of there at once, child."

The chest is only big enough for a full-grown person if the person in question isn't concerned with little things like joints; RanVeer pops them back into place as she unfolds, her skin turning a warm brown to hide the shimmering purple bones of her True Body as she does so.

NolToun passes her the soft wrap she had managed to drag over the chest for extra cover on her way in with a fond if still exasperated smile. "You're getting better at that RanVeer. Faster, more accurate. Now, explain to me why you were hiding in there in the first place."

"I was practising stealth," RanVeer mutters as she ties the wrap in place.

NolToun raises an eyebrow, waiting patiently.

RanVeer deflates, fight already burnt up. "EleDaar was teasing me again. I just…I don't see why we have to go out on Contract, given what the nobles ask us to do." She sounds close to tears. "I hate knowing you're going to go out there as soon as they decide I don't need you to teach me any more, and I never want to go."

NolToun hands her out of the chest solemnly; once she's clear, he closes the lid and sits on it, patting the space next to him and inviting her to join him. RanVeer perches, primly and sullenly; NolToun puts his arm around her shoulders and she leans into him.

"They're not all so bad, little bit," he says softly. "Some of them are, never doubt that, but…the ones I'm not supposed to tell you about, like the man who hired me purely to make sure that no other kandra was in his household to keep his family safe? Those ones can be kinder than people here in the Homeland, rare though they are."

"So why can't Father only allow the kind ones to hire us? Or better yet, not make us have to go on Contract at all?"

NolToun smiles sadly at the hitch in her voice. "Because he needs us to watch the bad ones more than he needs us to watch the kind ones. But that doesn't mean, for all the Seconds will tell you otherwise, that the kind ones don't exist."

You should listen urges the voice at the back of RanVeer's soul, the soundless words soothing away the scepticism of the young. Don't hate them all

"I'll see if there's space for you in the Archives, alright?" NolToun asks her gently. "You won't have to go out on Contract, and I know you enjoy reading the histories."

RanVeer drops her head down to his shoulder. "Okay," she replies, not entirely sure who she's replying to, feeling approval both within and without.

---

TaarPell spreads their hands, a carefully neutral expression of sympathy on their face. "I don't know what to tell you, RanVeer," they say, maintaining the polite façade, "The Seconds have made the wishes of the First known, and part of that is that you are no longer being considered as a potential parent."

"It is…unexpected, certainly," RanVeer replies, placing the words carefully. She's learnt that same polite neutrality through long practice, applying the skill in watching and learning behaviours to her own people instead of those she would replace if on Contract. "Are there any other messages that might concern me?"

TaarPell shakes their head. "No, only that you are to remain in service to the Archives until further notice."

"Thank you," RanVeer says, courteous even in her disappointment. "I shan't take any more of your time."

It should be a comfort, being told to stay in the Archives. It's safe, it's quiet, even with the turnaround of Contracts it's not all that much work to keep on top of, and yet.

Either she knows more than TaarPell or else the older kandra was being reserved as a kandra should be. She's heard the murmurs, and she knows what some of the older generations think of NolToun; a maverick who speaks of peace between the kandra and the surface, even friendship, and while she feels that might be going a bit too far she can see the appeal in his idealism.

Which would explain why she's no longer allowed to nurture and teach the next generation, in case she passes along the taint to which she has succumbed.

She would complain to NolToun - politely - but there's a problem; NolToun has dropped out of contact, even allowing for his notoriously poor report sending skills, to the point that some of those murmurs are suggesting that he's betrayed Father somehow, or even been taken by Ruin.

RanVeer just knows that whatever has happened, she misses him horribly.

Her route to the Histories happens to take her past the branching for Reports and Contracts. It's truly quiet for once; she can't feel anyone else moving around in this part of the Archives.

You could look, tickles a feeling at the back of her mind.

RanVeer pauses. She knows that as the most junior Archivist by some way she's not meant to enter Reports and Contracts without someone more senior keeping an eye on her - they are meant to be sealed after all, not for any eyes to see - but she could, if she was willing to take a risk, find NolToun's last Contract fairly easily. It's the same organisational system after all and she does have a reputation for very fast look-ups.

If you knew where he went, you could find him

Of course, it would mean having to arrange to be on Contract wherever he last was, and then…hoping she could somehow find a kandra who was older and far more experienced than her who was currently so well hidden no one else knew where he was.

Still.

NolToun is her parent, after all. She owes him the trying, at the very least.

She walks into Reports and Contracts with the measured walk of someone meant to be in there, the feeling of being urged forwards strengthening her resolve.

---

Rust and Ruin, he hates days like today.

Strictly speaking, Jedal has done nothing that breaks the Contract. And, strictly speaking, it makes sense for the gang boss, after a job gone wrong, to take out that considerable anger on the one person in his crew that he can't easily kill.

That doesn't mean that RanVeer appreciates being beaten to a bloody pulp on the flimsiest excuse. Jedal was in a fine enough temper on this occasion to borrow a heavy staff when fists and feet weren't enough; RanVeer had enough bones broken that being thrown at a fresh corpse and being told to 'get on with it' was its own peculiar form of agony, working around splinters and bruising until he could shed the old shape and start on the new.

He will heal fully, of course, is already in far better shape than any other member of the gang would be in a mere day later. But right now, holding himself upright and together on sheer willpower alone, he's struggling not to admit defeat and find a barrel to hide in until his Contract is up.

So, of course, Jedal wants him at this meeting, scoping out the potential competition. Not to replace them, not yet, but to get a feel for their strengths and weaknesses. Jedal isn't here - he's too important for mere business, or so he thinks, but RanVeer knows that his lieutenant will tell tales if a certain gang member isn't present to serve drinks.

He keeps his head down, keeps as much of an eye as he can on the room around his jostled bruises, keeps up the mannerisms of the locals while still erring on the side of politeness.

Look harder

In a room mostly of men, the scattering of women stand out - and this one stands out even more by virtue of looking completely harmless. Smaller, older, dressed conservatively but cleanly, she's dealing with the hulking brutes around her through wit, direct talking, and playing the matron card when it looks like it will work. RanVeer marks her as both the most interesting person in the room and the most dangerous to his current employer on principle.

He continues his circuit of the room, not settling on any person in particular for longer than necessary to dispense drinks or answer the occasional question. When his route takes him to the group the woman is currently part of, he's distracted trying to get the measure of her; one of her companions decides to be 'funny' and deliberately trips him up.

To RanVeer's surprise and embarrassment it's the woman who helps him up while the others laugh; he catches her eye by accident and sees the carefully banked anger that flares slightly as the collar of his shirt slips long enough for a bruise he hadn't had the energy to hide to peek out.

Remember

---

Ash and rain falling at the same time is fairly high on the list of reasons he wants to go back to the Homeland, RanVeer decides as he makes his way back to where he left his current 'gang member' set of bones. Rain had sounded so romantic in some of the histories from before the Deepness, but combined with ash…ugh. He's going to have to have to clean the house guard's uniform before it stains; Klem might be a raggy sort who wouldn't notice the smudge and smut, but Artur certainly would and more importantly so would his employers in House Wardwick.

He walks into the tavern boldly, just another punter on a night out, and wastes some time on an uncomfortable stool at a sticky table drinking some admittedly not terrible ale while waiting to see if anyone's followed him. He's pretty sure he's in the clear; all he's doing at Wardwick is observing, nothing exciting as of yet, nothing to arouse suspicion that a fourth cousin sent up from the south might not be exactly what they seem. After a suitable interval he goes to exercise some perfectly normal behaviours against a convenient alley wall, then slips unobserved through a little-used door to the dusty storeroom where he left his bones. He's perhaps a little less cautious than he should be, but he's been using this storeroom for weeks now and in all that time there's been no sign of use.

"I'm not sure if I should be concerned or pleased that I apparently think something like a legend."

RanVeer starts violently, stepping back into the closed door.

It's the woman from the business meeting some months back, perched primly on one of the crates - the only place in the room where the dust has been obviously disturbed so she's not sitting in it, although now he's looking he can see the route where someone less agile than him has cleaned their traces up behind them.

"I, I don't know what you mean, ma'am," he stammers, inwardly cursing himself for not having done his research and thus not knowing whether the woman before him would qualify for a ma'am from someone of his station. On the plus side, Artur would have no excuse to know either. "I just thought I heard something in here, and thought I'd check-"

"Please don't lie to me." The tone is polite and pleasant, but RanVeer shrinks away from it all the same, too close to some of the elders to be comfortable. Something around the woman's eyes softens, just a little. "You're not in trouble with me, and I have no reason to get you in trouble with your current employer even assuming I could find them. I simply wish to talk, that's all."

RanVeer forces himself to nod, then slides down the door until he's sitting leant against it. At the very least he might be able to feel or hear anyone who gets too close through the thin wood.

Once he's settled, the woman leans forward and continues. "When one of my occasional employees said that she'd smelt something off - something like vomit, in her words - when checking the rooms here for business reasons, it would have meant nothing to me if I hadn't also heard a couple of young," a brief pause, "gentlemen boasting about how easily they would find out if a kandra had entered their households."

RanVeer winces. "I'm not certain if I should apologise for proving them right, ma'am," he ventures; this earns him a fraction of a widening of the serene smile, and he hopes it counts as approval.

"Now, I'm also aware from their chatter that you and yours are for hire, correct?" the woman asks lightly, although the way she's pinning him to the door with her eyes suggests she has rather more interest than that. "What I'm not sure of is how one goes about organising the hire, especially if one…well. If one does not have the backing of a noble House, shall we say?"

It would be so easy for RanVeer to say anything, just to get her to go away and leave him to his work - and yet…

Trust her

It's not that long until his current Contract is up, and he has been trying to work out what future opportunities might lie in Urteau. And it's not as if the skaa can't hire a kandra, it's just made prohibitively difficult in both means and cost.

Trust

Her

If nothing else, she doesn't look like she can administer much of a beating - and, when it comes down to it, she's already shown more small kindnesses in two brief meetings than RanVeer has experienced in his entire time outside of the Homeland, and isn't that a depressing thought?

He clears his throat. "It will cost, ma'am, but I think I can help to make the arrangements on your behalf, if that would be amenable?"

It feels like an Age before the woman nods back, the movement small and quick. RanVeer feels a smile rise to his lips and lets it. "Now, you're going to need a bead of Atium…"

---

It feels like forever, but they did it. RanVeer leans down, gives their sleeping parent a chaste kiss on the forehead - something they'd seen parents do to their children amongst the local skaa - and tucks in the blankets around NolToun. NolToun, quiet and not raving for the moment, shifts a little in her sleep, but that's all.

RanVeer retreats back quietly to the chair in the corner where they can keep watch over her during the night. They have a little grace period, for now - Jan won't allow them to mope or to shirk for too long, but they feel their owner understands how important this is to them.

They're not the sort to pray. They never have been, for all that they know about the powerful forces that govern Scadriel and their own existence. Tonight though…

'I don't know how much of this is your doing, Preservation', RanVeer thinks, solemnity and gratitude entwined, 'But thank you'.

There's no answering nudge, no response at all that they can detect. It's okay. All that matters is that NolToun is physically safe, and that RanVeer knows where to look to fix her soul.

They doze off in the chair, feeling safe for the first time in a long time; on the very edge of sleep they feel more than hear, You're welcome

[theancientdarkbeauty]

Update On This Bitch Ass MF

Alright, my brain is short circuiting, and I'm just screaming into the void rn so, update ahead, enter if you dare (update under cut cause it's a little liggity long)

So, you didn't know unless you were there during the "My computer didn't fucking work" era that started my big ol' hiatus, but I got a new computer (woo hoo! :D) and it was working perfectly. Emphasis on WAS. Turns out, living in the country, I'm too close to town to get to get rural wifi, which is fast as shit, and too far away to get town wifi, which is somehow even faster? Anyways, I knew of this problem when I moved into the house, but it's my family's homestead, I moved here when I was in highschool, yadiyadaya, no need for fast wifi just a couple years ago. HOWEVER! Now that I have a crazy good computer (I'm talking liquid cooled, built it myself, named it TheBeast) I need at least alright wifi, right? Well RECENTLY it's gotten WORSE! Somehow, it got worse than it already was! Which means, and keep in mind, I got petty enough to time it, but this delay in wifi has caused me to wait up to 14. WHOLE. MINUTES. Yes, you read that right: 1. 4. Obviously I'm not gonna just deal with that without, you know, being a little bitch. I have a new wifi provider that I'm going to be testing soon. Hopefully, cross your finger dear reader, I can stop waiting 14 minutes for my college work to load. Oh yeah, I got college stuff to do, specifically taking a creative class because I thought I was out of practice in writing. It's actually really helped! But, the topic, wifi, is that the new router should be here by Wednesday, and I should be able to test it out, maybe fix some errors and stuff that have been happening due to slow wifi.

So, wifi segment over. If you read this far, thanks. I really only made this because I'm frustrated af rn, so reading me type out my rage is something you didn't need to do, so thanks. BUT WAIT! THERE'S FUCKING MORE! (At least in the bad new segment, good news is at the very end, sorry!)

PAYDAY. 3. Hot topic right now, right? Well I had been tying to sign in for A FULL WEEK! SEVEN FUCKING DAYS! I did everything, like, legitimately everything, but caved at 4 days, and contacted the Nebula help line thing. Everyone was very nice, the costumer service was great, a tiny bit slow towards the end, but they had a good reason. I told them what was going on, they were very nice, accidently gave them the wrong Nebula Starbreeze account at first because I'm dyslexic as fuck, still very nice, much better than my conversation with like, the EA or Epic helplines (very long story), and eventually they got to the root of the problem. My problem was that it kept giving me a Nebula Data Configuration Error, every time I booted up the game. Tried everything, like I said earlier. They get to me 3 days after I told them all my special information and all the steps I took to try and troubleshoot on my own. You wanna know what they told me? Of course you do you've read this far. Let me preface this with the fact that I am just mad, and they were very polite about this, and the team is doing the best I can I'm absolutely sure, BUT THEY TOLD ME IT WAS SUCH A SPECIALIZED ERROR THEY NEEDED TO PATCH IT IN THE NEXT UPDATE! Now, I don't know if this was intentional, but they gave me the rough date for the update, but I don't know if it's the real big one everyone's waiting for, so I'm not going to tell you guys because I value their mysteriousness and don't want leak something that starbreeze was only telling me to let me know when to try and play the game again so that I can contact them if it didn't work. I don't know, it'd probably be super cool to be known as the user who knew when the update would come out, but it feels wrong to leak something like that if it is the correct date for the big update and stuff. So now I'm stuck, just listening to Gustavo Coutinho's fucking banner music for Payday 3 from youtube and not being able to watch the gameplay and stuff. And I heard there were cutscenes? CUTSCENES?! I am so excited to see those. WHEN I CAN PLAY THE GAME. (I feel like that one Fair Odd Parents meme omg)

Final update: Fun stuff!

Working on redesigning EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. That has ever left the recesses of my mind for an upcoming comic I'm gonna try and make, once the whole wifi situation is fixed. Working on the new chapter of The Golden Tempest (I almost posted this with it's "inside name" hehe, too bad you'll never know what the files are called), and working on From the Eyes of the Payday Gang, or at least trying to. I'm thinking of doing a grocery store worker at the grocery store the Payday gang all has to take turns going to the store but whole store knows that they're all like a family or some shit because they are all idiots and all use the same car because it's not in the fucking budget to get another car, so they have the escape van and the "family car" and that's it. Holy shit that was a weird lore tangent, but anyways, comic maybe coming, Payday related content definitely coming, some more surprises and goodies in the works, so expect this account to be much more active. Today is the first day off I've in I don't know how long, but a long time, and so just expect some text stuff from me, since my computer can't apparently handle doing anything on CSP because of the wifi situation. Sorry for the long post, have a wonderful day!

Real quick: SHOUT OUT TO THE MUTUAL DECPACEETOES! I DO NOT THINK I SPELLED THAT RIGHT! ALWAYS GOT MY BACK MAN!

(Bonus, if I do anything that involves my person life, I'll add the tag "You're creature speakith", so if you wanna see more of this in the future, follow the tag. Don't like it, never want to see it again, block that shit, I totally understand either way. All my funny or creative prompts will have my signature turtle smile on them. You know, this guy: :} Which is perhaps an homage to the TMNT fandom, or perhaps my herpetology nerd shining through, you will never know, will you?)

[gothoffspring]

gothoffspring's long a** mod list (last updated 2/22/22)

hiya simblr! so the amazing @kouzeesim saw me linking some mods in my legacy posts, and asked if I'd be willing to make a more expansive list of my favorite mods!

I've actually been wanting to do this for a minute, as mods truly make this game playable to me and I am so appreciative of the amazing modders we have in the community. This post includes over 35 links to my favorite CAS (not clothes but mods that effect CAS in general) and Gameplay mods! Put under a cut because I talk... way too much sorry!

GAMEPLAY MODS:

MC Command Center by Deaderpool- this one should be obvious. The MOST expansive mod when it comes to changing the way the game works. I have used this mod for over 5 years now. I can NOT imagine playing the game without it, as it just lets you customize SO many aspects of the game, and adds legitimate story progression. I use this to set up my legacy settings as far as story progression goes, and it's amazing in every single way. I can not rave about this mod enough honestly

Wonderful Whims by TURBODRIVER- Attraction system. Fertility and mensuration. Birth Control. What else can I say? I love this mod so much.

Slice Of Life by KawaiiStacie- I ONLY use the My Social Life module and Drunk Buffs, so I can only speak on those, but they are both GREAT.

Functional Photo Frames by peanutbutterjelly02- THIS MOD. It's SO GOOD for making sure your homes are filled with photos of your sims. So MANY frame options. It's great! It's not as heavy of a gameplay mod as the first two but this mod is GREAT okay.

Phone Call Overhaul by lotharihoe- This drastically cuts down on the calls your sim gets, super useful. I also use this in combination with Random Texts and Calls by Kuttoe, which gives your sims more unique and cool calls!

Delayed Invitations by lotharihoe- Another EXTREMELY useful mod. I always hated when sims would get invited somewhere when their needs were low and you had to reject. This fixes that problem! You now get some time between the invitaiton and the actual event.

Sim Spawn Overhaul by lotharihoe- (can you tell I really like their mods?) This one changes the way sims spawn in the world arounnd you. Makes it much more realistic in my opinion.

Whim Overhaul by Bienchen- Remember how whims are a thing, and EA just decided to give up on them and they aren't even enabled by default anymore? Well, not all of us have forgotten. This mod reduces whims to buy new stuff and increases the chances of getting family based whims.

While we're talking about them, I might as well just recommend all of Bienchen's Mods- So many amazing autonomy, tuning and gameplay mods here! 10/10!

Gameplay mods continued below, but I had to make a whole new section for littlemssam's mods because I use so many.

LITTLEMSSAM:

Find all LMS mods HERE. I can not link you to all of the mods I use by them because there are just too many. So here's a list of all the ones I saw in my game mod folder that I know I use on a very regular basis (asterisk means it's VERY important to my gameplay and I love it, ive also linked all of the asterisk ones below):

Advanced Birth Certificate

Automatic Stereo/Thermostat*

Better Autonomous Homework*

Calm Bees

Choose your Roomates (great for DU)

Dog Walker and Go for a Walk with Cats

Faster Homework

Improved Spa Day tablet* (AMAZING for parties and going to bars, you can get any drink at any time with this and I love it!)

Kids go for a Walk with Dogs

Let friends Age Up* (No more worrying about your sim kids losing all their friends when it's time to age up!)

More Woodworks* (This is integral to my current legacy as Jet makes all of her money selling woodworks and this adds a lot more wooden items to the woodworking station! You can now craft wooden beds and the like when your skill gets high enough and sell them for quite a bit)

No Restaurant Bill when Invited

Online Learning System (THIS MOD. I don't use it all of the time because it really makes skill boosting go soooo much quicker but when I'm just trying to have my sims level up as fast as possible I'll absolutely use it)

School Holidays* (So amazing! I also use the version that is a holiday tradition sometimes so you can set up your own summer break!)

Social Activities

Random Small Mods (so many of these lol)

RVSN:

Another truly amazing modder in the community. Here's my favorite RVSN mods that I use:

Ultimutt Indoor Potty Pads- integral for having dogs in apartments imo, can't even imagine how I used to have dogs in apartment buildings

A-Dough-Able Cupcake Machine- this mod erases the need for that bulky cupcake machine that comes with the game by default

ISO Love Photos- this is a FULLY CONTROLLABLE CAMERA, need I say more

Llamazon Marketplace - I don't care if this one is kind of cheaty, sometimes you've been looking for a last item or collectible you need for AGES and can't find it, now you can get anything you've ever needed in one place.

Modern Family Portrait- Generates a posed family portrait of the family you're playing for their wall!

No Fig Deal Complete Garden Care System- LOVE LOVE LOVE. Taking care of crops is so hard in this game and sometimes I don't want it to be so difficult. I will say I do not use this with my legacy family because it basically means your sim doesn't have to do anything to get perfect crops, and I'm trying to play more realistically. But I LOVE THIS MOD OKAY I CAN NOT RECOMMEND IT ENOUGH

Photographic Memory 2.0- more custom photo options! I LOVE the calendar and the polaroids!

No Mosaic- I like taking artsy bath screenshots sometimes, so this is necessary

Whew, okay, hope I didn't tire you out too much. time for CAS mods now! These are not general CAS mods such as hair, accessories, clothes. These are CAS mods that effect CAS itself, or EA items, if that makes sense.

CAS MODS:

More CAS Columns by Weerbesu- MUST HAVE FOR CAS!!!! Can not imagine using CAS without at least 4 columns now. I have a tiny computer screen so I have to adjust the AI every time in order to be able to use 4 columns but it's so worth it when you're like me and have over 20 GB of CAS CC.

Tidy Details/Tattoos by Sparrow's CC- I actually just downloaded this one about two weeks ago and I can't imagine how I coped without it? If you're like me and use WAY TOO MANY skin details and have so much CAS CC you're always losing track of what section you're in, this is for you! They show up at the beginning of each sub category, making it so much easier to know what skin details and accessories you can layer!

No Makeup and Accessories on randomized sims by SimplyAnjuta- FINALLY NO MORE EYEBALL RING ON EVERYONE!

City Light CAS Lighting by SimplyAnjuta- can't imagine CAS without this lighting now, I love it

Wear more Costumes by MizoreYukii- What's the point of having spooky day if you can't have more fun costumes?

EP08 and 09 Resized peircings by Simkoos- becasue they were comically large and I wanted to be able to actually use them.

That's it for now! Wow, it took me a whiiile to link all of this. If I linked anything wrong, please let me know. I want to say thank you again to all of these modders. My game would not be the same without you and I am so grateful! I highly recommend every mod I've linked here today, and I will strive to update this list as I find more useful mods that I use regularly! Thank you for reading and I hope I could help at least one person find some new, useful mods for their game! :)

[vickyvicarious]

I originally just saved these lines because... well, because yikes, Juror No. 2! But on further thought, I think this line brings up a really interesting theme and storytelling device that TGAA* uses.

*(Here is where I'm gonna disclaim that I've only played the first game, Adventures, so far. There are thorough spoilers for the first game in this, but I can't speak to what's done in Resolve yet.)

Namely, the usage of class differences - both in terms of social status, and wealth. It's utilized both to create the underdog situation that AA games rely upon, even in a far more legally egalitarian situation, and to dig into storylines of corruption/trust. I'm gonna split this meta up to talk about each one in turn, to keep things a little more organized.

.

Underdog Power Imbalance

From the start of the games as a parody of Japan's unfair legal system favoring the prosecution, this dynamic has been present throughout the entire franchise. In the very first game, there was even a ton of corrupt prosecutors and police, and eventually they introduce other concepts like the 'Dark Age of the Law', or the even more extreme system in place in Khura'in, where defense attorneys share the death penalty with their clients when they (inevitably, until Phoenix comes along) lose.

But the legal system alone is clearly set up in favor of the prosecution, and heavily so. The accelerated pace of the investigations and only three days in trial mean that defense has little time to craft a case, and often might not have any real context at all until the trial itself. They aren't supposed to be allowed into crime scenes, and usually have to sneak or beg their way in to look around. The prosecution preps all the witnesses, and the defense rarely or never gets to call in their own. There is no jury, and the judge always gives the prosecution far more leeway than the defense. It's a constant struggle to keep him from passing a verdict in their favor. Unsubstantiated objections often result in penalties; meanwhile the prosecution gets free reign to literally attack people with whips, coffee mugs, prayer beads, a hawk, etc.

This whole setup is obviously not a good legal system, but it makes for a challenging gameplay experience. The player is always the underdog by virtue of the world itself, which provides for a lot of clever skin-of-your-teeth strategies, narrative tension and room for all the crazy shenanigans the franchise is known for. There's a reason the Mason system wasn't implemented in Dual Destinies; it's much easier from a gameplay perspective to not actually develop this legal system any further in terms of leveling the playing field between defense and prosecution.

But TGAA is a different setting, with different rules. They have a jury system, at least in Britain. (I'm pretty sure there was some dialogue about it being adopted soon in Japan as well, so maybe there will be such a case in the second part.) And in Barok van Zieks, we get a rival prosecutor who for the most part seems to legitimately care about discovering the truth. There are a couple of times that he makes witnesses stick around longer and give testimony the defense has requested, which probably isn't helpful to his own case. And even before we get to this point, the investigation and trial aren't under a time limit. Now, functionally, they don't really seem to want the trials to get dragged out, so we still only have a certain amount of time (usually a day or so) before the trial begins, but it's still true that in-world, there is more time to both investigate and carry on the trial if needed.

But this would be too easy, right? Where's the classic AA underdog storyline? Well, they do a little bit to rush you by saying that the courts are very busy and trying to get through cases very quickly. This leads to a faster turnaround and less investigation time. It's still not a straight-up law stopping you, but there's enough reason to keep the gameplay on a schedule.

But more importantly, TGAA leverages societal power against you. Where in other games, it was legal, here it's social. Ryunosuke is always the underdog, and usually his client is too.

Case 1 - Ryunosuke is arrested. As defendant, his word is less trustworthy. But that isn't enough; the victim is British, and there is intense pressure from above to get a swift resolution to the case, in a way that won't anger Japan's ally nation. The fact that the culprit is a noble British lady provides not only linguistic challenges, but also makes it diplomatically difficult to accuse her without strong proof - the burden of which is on Ryunosuke to provide, since he is all around the easier option.

Case 2 - Ryunosuke is the suspect, once again. This case is unusual in that it never actually reaches a courtroom, but he still has to prove himself innocent or else he will be arrested and sent back home. The main way he's an underdog in this one is because he's already breaking the law: by smuggling himself onboard, he's instantly less trustworthy, and the consequences for him will be all the worse if he can't prove his innocence.

Case 3 - The pressure here stems from a few different sources. Firstly, Ryunosuke has been informed that if he doesn't win this trial, he will be sent home and be unable to continue Kazuma's work. That's an internal pressure, but there's external ones too. Namely, the British jury tend to be bigoted if not xenophobic. There's several instances where people scoff at this 'mere Eastern student'. Adding to this, Ryunosuke is new to law at all, and even newer to British law. He's unfamiliar, uncertain since it's his first trial and he's not really a lawyer yet, desperate to succeed for Kazuma's sake... plenty of pressure. His client is a wealthy, well-respected man, though he's Irish instead of British.

Case 4 - The close of the previous trial adds to the internal tension on this case. But the real pressure comes more from the bigoted jury - made worse by former witnesses you've angered coming back as jurists. Once again, there are some pretty rude stuff said about Natsume. And because he is poor and foreign, he can't afford to defend himself well. He's also looked down upon, and Ryunosuke has to convince people not only that Natsume isn't the only one who could have done the deed, but also that he's not just inherently suspicious even though he's simply a reclusive scholar.

Case 5 - This is the most extreme case yet. Ryunosuke's client is, as Juror 2 says above, "gutter trash". Gina's a pickpocket who lives on the streets, and the respectable society looks down on her and believes her far more likely to commit a crime (and more deserving of harsh punishment) for that alone. Then when you add in the classified government secrets, you get the police actively working to convict her even if they know she's likely innocent, simply they want to protect the secrets over her. Gina also is very distrusting of people who claim to want to help, which is the reason she ended up being involved in the case at all; if she'd trusted Herlock then she would never have broken into the shop in the first place.

There's always an element of illegality, government interference, or social status involved. And the function is always the same: to make it harder for Ryunosuke to win.

Even once he starts defending other people, his clients get less and less 'respectable' each case. From rich and 'philanthropic' Irishman, to moody and poor Nipponese, to distrusting thief who's seen as 'scum'.

It's just a really clever way, on a meta level, of making Ryunosuke face the same level of difficulties as Phoenix and the rest, even in a legal system that is theoretically much more fair.

.

Power Corrupts / Who To Trust

I probably won't linger as long on this part, but I didn't want to leave it unsaid. The other function of this element of classism ties in really well to the focus on trust. Both trusting yourself and, through that, putting your faith in others.

There are various social strata represented throughout the game. The British and Japanese governments, nobility, military, police, the rich, common but respectable people, and finally criminals.

Government - In both the first and last case, each respective government are far more concerned with their own 'big picture' to care about their individual citizens facing dire consequences. Whether it means maintaining an important alliance, or protecting government secrets, they'll happily throw innocent people under the bus in favor of their own concerns.

Nobility - There isn't a lot of this outright, but it pervades the game on a more subtle level. First, van Zieks is a nobleman. And even if he is more willing to consider the defense's points, this alone (plus his reputation) inherently sets up a power imbalance in court. Other 'gentlefolk' involve probably the Judge, Stronghart, Jezaille Brett. All in positions of power, with people sucking up to them left and right. This is kind of shown with Gregson and Iris too, the way he calls her 'Ladyship' and bows to the power she has over his reputation. It's not solely due to her status, but he still uses that particular language to grovel. Miss Brett is the one who wields her status as a direct weapon the most; for the rest, it's more implicit in their power.

Military - this doesn't show up a lot, but there are two military-affiliated witnesses. Both are really defined by belonging to that group, even when one is retired. Both get this kind of generic respect for that alone, but both turn out to be hiding an embarrassing secret.

Police - the noble profession of the London bobby! I mean, once again, the institution is highly valued, and any insinuation against even a single individual in that group is taken as a major offense - at least when suggested by someone lower-class like Ryunosuke. Even though it's later proved that Roly Beate was lying, and Gregson outright lies on the stand and colludes with a criminal. They don't go so far as making them have evil motives, exactly, but they certainly don't live up to the stainless reputation they're afforded.

Rich - this is a major focus in England. Between McGilded wielding so much power despite his relatively low-class beginnings, and Graydon being so obsessed with gaining power of his own in the same way, we get a pretty clear picture of money's corrupting influence. Or at least, the lust for it above all else leading people down a pretty dark path. At the same time, until their crimes are revealed, they generally have good reputations and are more likely to be trusted. The money brings with it at least the image of nobility (with McGilded, of the character sort; with Graydon, the social class sort), and there's according status.

Respectable Commoners - The witnesses who don't have any particular institution backing them, but are still looked upon well enough. In general, they're seen more as the status quo. There's a pretty wide range amongst what I'm calling this group from more 'gentlemanly' characters like that banker guy, to those desperately clinging to keep their status like the Garridebs, to more poor but honest workers like the Beates or, initially, the cabby driver. I'd put foreigners here too, more at the lower end (at least in London).

Criminals - people like Gina and the Skulkin brothers. Poorest for sure. Deeply mistrusted, looked down upon, and dismissed as 'gutter trash'. There are linguistic differences too, with the Cockney accents. Basically, it's very clear to everyone that they are the lowest class. They're pretty much seen as scum.

There are good and bad people in every group, sure. But in general, we are drawn more and more to the lower side of things by virtue of the cases Ryunosuke takes and his own status as a foreigner. I'm certain that Susato is from a very respectable family (nobility), and Ryunosuke is an upper-leaning 'respectable commoner' back home, but in London they are slid down to nearly the bottom automatically. Herlock is a gentleman, but his antics tend to garner a little less respect since they don't match any of the institutions.

The institutions (government, police, military) on the whole are clearly flawed and not innately trustworthy. The nobility hold power over our characters - and wield it against them. The people who really put an emphasis on money are uniformly untrustworthy. As for the last few categories, there's much more individual diversity. Still liars, still thieves among them, but in general they aren't incredibly evil and they don't have enough power to do massive harm even if they meant to (which they generally don't).

Despite the general sense that the higher social stratas should be more trustworthy, the story almost trends in the opposite direction. Certainly the unquestioning distrust aimed at people like Gina is shown to be wrong, and damaging besides.

In addition, everyone who wants to climb the social ladder finds themselves worse off. The people obsessed with their own status do bad things to maintain or better it (you can't be at the top of the ladder if no one is beneath you, after all. Look at the juror up top - she serves someone else, but at least she's respectable, she isn't like that gutter trash). You have the Garridebs, restructuring their whole lives around maintaining a facade of greater wealth than they actually have on one end. And then, at the other extreme, you've got Ashley Graydon. He got involved in treason because the stigma of being a poor, low-class criminal terrified him so much. He completely rewrote himself as this posh upper-class dandy, not caring how many people he hurt along the way. And then when his father (more honorable even if lower class) was killed, he turned his hatred onto McGilded, in doing so becoming the very type of monster he claimed to hate.

McGilded himself shows a very cunning understanding of the kind of power that money and a good public image can gain him. He knows how to wield it to cover up his own bad deeds. He knows, too, that people like Gina don't have enough power to fight back against him, and that he can use them for his own ends pretty easily. No one was going to believe her over him, and even if they did he could have her killed; it's why she testified for him in the first place.

All of this plays into the themes of trust, and where you place it. Clearly, just following the usual societal standards of "what type of person is trustworthy" isn't going to get you anywhere. You have to be more discerning, and at the same time more open-minded to all sorts of people. Ryunosuke and Gina both eventually learn to trust again - him in himself, her in others. They know that there's a risk you can be let down, but that taking the risk is important, and incredibly rewarding when it pays off and your trust is returned. Nonetheless, there's no greater trust in the system. Even Susato distrusts the very legal system she loves enough that she felt the need to tamper with a crime scene. Individual trust, irrespective of social class, is the winner at the end of the day.

On the other end of the scale, you've got van Zieks, who clearly has little trust in anyone. He outright states that he hates people who use their riches in order to cheat others, as well as people who betray him. Despite being a firmly entrenched member of the upper classes/the legal authorities, he seems to have little inherent faith in the systems he upholds. However, he doesn't balance that out with faith in individuals either, not like our heroes do. At least, not disregarding social class; he'll distrust the larger systems (the top rungs), but still buy into social stigmas like that Gina's totally untrustworthy and Roly Beate as a bobby is automatically more trustworthy. Still, he seems to trust no one but himself fully. So yeah, he'll make witnesses stay and testify for the defense, even very important ones... but he'll also be very suspicious of all Japanese people just because someone who was Japanese betrayed his trust in the past. He feels the need to see everything proved to him; until then he's not willing to give his trust. He's more like where Gina started out... except unlike her, he wields a lot of power, so the consequences of his distrust could be quite severe.

I just think the way all these more stratified social groups plays into the themes of the game are really interesting, and work really well. I'm really eager to see how this plays out in the second part. Especially if (as I strongly suspect) Mael Stronghart turns out to be a villain. He's probably the character who most exemplifies maintaining order and keeping to certain roles, what with his clockwork obsession. Also the most powerful individual we've met so far. Definitely could continue this theme.

[nekomasmanager]

Tanaka Ryūnosuke × Reader

I'm extremely late to posting this even though I had it all written out beforehand. But oh well（￣︶￣）↗

Here is one of my personal favorites, cause I absolutely adore Tanaka, he resonated with me, ever since his first appearance.

You can find the ao3 post about this fic here: ao3 post

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Pairing: Tanaka Ryūnosuke & Reader Word Count: 3137 Fandom: Haikyuu!! Original Post Date on ao3: 03/03/2021

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You always knew Tanaka-San had a crush on Kiyoko. You already knew that. But you couldn't not fall for his charm, his sense of humor, and his skills on the court. You were also sure that he doesn't even know who you are.

You were just a member of the girls volleyball team. Sure you may have your special moments when you spike a ball the right way to score a point, but other than that, you're just a regular volleyball player. So when Tanaka came to you for advice, you were legitimately surprised.

At first you didn't answer him right away, thinking it was a prank, and looking for your teammates because they discovered your crush on the fellow spiker. But when you couldn't find any of them, you gladly accepted to help him. And well, you wished you asked him what kind of advice he needed. Because you weren't prepared for the devastating feeling you got when he told you he needed help asking Kiyoko out.

Not letting your unrequited feelings get in the way, you managed a weak smile and nodded, saying you'll help him however you can. "Sweet! Thanks Y/N!" "You're wel... wait you know my name?" "Well yeah of course I do! I would never forget the name of the girl whose spikes are out of this world!" He moves closer. "And well I couldn't forget the girl who always sneaks around to check out the boys volleyball practice." With that last statement, you blush profusely, mutter a quick flustered good bye and run away, listening to Tanaka's laughs behind you.

You couldn't believe it. He noticed you sneaking by the gym to see their practice. He even saw how you spike. Damn now you're going to be self-conscious whenever you're going for a spike in practice or in a match. "But how did he know I come to watch him and his team practice? I always try to stay hidden and not bother them, so how?" you mutter to yourself, not looking where you're going, and you just bump into someone. You quickly excuse yourself, but you're still thinking and don't notice who you bumped into, so you just continue on your way.

"Y/N?" You look up quickly and look around, searching for the source of the voice. There's only Nishinoya, and of course it's not him who called you, right? How would he know your name? But as you keep looking around, you heard him snicker, and you blush. "Y/N are you okay?" "Wait. You're talking to me?" "Well yes. There's no one else around, as I'm sure you noticed while looking around." "But how do you know my name?" "All of our team knows who you are, dummy! You're famous amongst us!" Horror struck your face, and you start panicking. What did he mean you're famous? Famous how? Did you make a fool out of myself in front of them and didn't notice? What are you going to do?

"Y/N calm down. It's nothing like that! Don't worry! It's my fault I should've been clearer. You're famous because we all know you watch us practice and watch us play our matches. And well whenever you're around Tanaka-San is always on top of his game! So thank you for that!" he said with a big smile on his face.

You could only look at him in shock. Were you that obvious with your sneaking around? You always try to make it to their matches to cheer them on, and you always go to watch them practice because they were just so cool to watch. Whenever you practiced with your team, you tried to incorporate what you saw with what you already know, but it would always turn into a hot mess and ruins everything. But you still tried to make them work.

But now that the entire boys team knows you're watching them, how can you face them? How can you face Ryūnosuke and help him get the girl he likes? And what did Nishinoya mean by Tanaka always playing better when they know you're watching? You had way too many questions on your mind and you had to blow off some steam. "I.. um.. I have to go now, I gotta practice or something. Bye Nishinoya-San!" He chuckles, amused by your flustered self, "Bye Y/N! See you at next practice!" You couldn't even answer, you just turned red and ran away, almost falling because of your own feet. Hitting yourself mentally, you get away even faster.

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You make way towards the school's gym, making sure no one is around, and you just start practicing. As you shoot your serves, you're thinking "What would Kiyoko-San enjoy as a gesture or present? What would be cool enough and not cringey at the same time? Why am I even helping him, I don't know Kiyoko that much! Sure I greet her in the hallways, and help her with minute tasks but that's it. Ugh I dug this hole myself, might as well make the most of it."

You try to focus again on your serves, but there's one thought that keeps gnawing in your mind, what did Nishinoya mean by Tanaka being on top of his game when you were watching? Shrugging off the questions from your mind, you went to pick up another ball from the pit, and that's when you realise you were not alone in the gym.

Before checking who the mysterious person was by the ball pit, you let out a high scream, scared for you life. "Quit your screaming Y/N!! It's me Tanaka. What are you even doing here all alone? I was looking for you everywhere!" "Tanaka-San? How did you know where to find me? And why were you looking for me?"

"Well I saw you talking to Nishinoya while looking for you, and as I was about to come greet you, you got all flustered and left him, almost stumbling to the ground." You hit yourself mentally, damn you made a fool out of yourself in front your crush, this day cannot get any worse. "I went up to Nishinoya to ask him where you went, and he told me you came here to practice. But before coming here I had to pick up something to show it to you. So close your eyes please." Sceptical about all this, you still closed your eyes, trying to calm down your excitement, Tanaka wanted to show you something!! You felt something a bit heavy being placed in your extended hands, and hear Tanaka telling you to open you eyes.

Looking down, you're faced with a box of chocolates and tiny teddy bear to match. You look up to the boy in front of you, questioning him with your eyes, trying to hide your blush. "This is a gift I picked out for Kiyoko-San. I wanted to see if she'll like it or not. So I thought showing it to you first and getting your opinion would be better, before I do something stupid."

"Oh." "You don't like it?" asking you with a hurt look in his eyes, mixed with something you couldn't quite place your finger on. "No no nothing like that. I think it's actually really sweet that you got this for Kiyoko. I'm sure she'll really love it. I was just surprised that's all! Don't worry!" He sighs, relief washing over him. "I also think that this gift paired with what I had in mind for a confession would be perfect. Since Kiyoko stays until the end of practice, you could ask her to wait up for you when you're done. You get her the gift. You look sweetly into her eyes, and say 'I really like you, and it's been a while since I do. I guess you might have noticed before, but now I wanted to say it more seriously. So please accept my gift. I would also be really happy if you returned my feelings.' And I guess that's about it, you should be ready for a confe-"

You stop in the middle of your sentence, because Ryūnosuke was standing really close to you, seriousness radiating from him. He gently raises his hand, and wipes under your eyes. You did not notice you were crying. Embarrassed, you give him back his gift, and worked quickly at wiping those tears away. "Ah I must have felt emotional and happy for you. I'm glad I gave you my idea, even if you don't use it in the end, I was happy to help. Do tell me what happens after that confession. I'll wait up after your practice to know all the details! I have to go now. See you soon!"

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You spilled all those words out, wanting to get away from him, in fear that your tears will flow down even faster. You left him without letting him speak. You just had to get away. Your cheek still tingles where he touched you to get rid of that singular tear. His hand felt so warm and you just wanted to snuggle, close your eyes and enjoy that closeness. But no you couldn't do that, he'll soon be someone else's boyfriend, and you just couldn't do that. You were running, as fast as you can. Your vision was blurry. You were crying again. You had to stop.

Seeing a nearby school building where no one actually comes here, you lean up on one of its walls, and just break down. Sliding down, you sit on the grass, and start sobbing. You hear the bell ringing calling student back to their classroom, but you couldn't care less. Your heart was aching and breaking, because you loved someone who doesn't love you back. Your body was shaking. You wanted to hit yourself for falling for someone you knew could never be yours. After a few minutes of crying your eyes out, you slowly calm yourself, still sniffling with the occasional hiccup.

You look up to the bright blue sky , and decided to tread back to your classroom, not caring if you were late. After a quick bathroom break to wash your face, you walk slowly back to your shared classroom with your crush and his teammate. Keeping your head down, you open the classroom door, and you can feel the stares on you. Apologizing for being late, the teacher lets you in with a warning and you promise to not be late again. You go to sit down at your designated window seat, and start staring at the field and nature outside, filtering out the words your teacher was saying. While staring outside, you failed to notice one particular boy who keeps on glancing at you, worried about you, with his heart aching and thumping loudly in his ears because of you.

Classes are finally over, but you stayed seated, wanting to copy down the notes you missed. You saw a shadow blocking your light, so you look up and see Nishinoya next to you. "Oh! Hi Noya. What brings you here? You need something? Don't you have practice?" "I just wanted to make sure you were okay Y/N. You never come late to your classes. And when Tanaka told me what happened, I was even more worried than him. Well no that's not true, he was scared shitless about where you were and why you were late. And when you came in late, with puffy and a downcast expression on your face, I knew you were crying. Want to tell me why?" You never knew Nishinoya was this observant. Feeling shy, you grab one strand of your hair while trying to explain yourself. "I just fell down while running back to class, and I hurt myself, so I cried like an idiot, and took some time to wash off the dirt in the bathroom. You don't have to worry about me!" Mustering a sad smile, you can see that he wasn't convinced by your fake story, but decided not to pressure you into telling him. "Well I'm glad you're better. But now come on! We have to go to practice!" You knew you couldn't argue with him, so you just quickly picked up your things and followed him out towards the gym.

Getting to the gym, you stop by the bench under the window and seat yourself, while Noya changes his shoes and enters the gym. As you're sitting down, trying to be comfortable, the libero player comes back out and starts looking from left to right, and when he sees you, he comes up to you. "What are you doing still out there? Come on in!" "But but I always stay out here so I don't distract you and I also study a bit!" "None of that! Come on. The whole team wants to finally meet you properly!"

You take your bag, change your shoes, and come in, shyly standing behind Noya. As you enter, all eyes turn to you, and you can feel yourself blushing like crazy. "Nice to meet you all, I'm Y/N. Sorry for the intrusion during your volleyball practice." "No intrusion at all. We were waiting for you to join us!" You turn and see that it was Coach Ukai that just spoke to you. Beaming to finally be able to speak to the famous coach of the boys volleyball team, you couldn't contain your excitement, and gave him a big hug, and realise way too late that everyone was looking at you.

With firetruck-red cheeks, you let go of the coach and scratch your neck, looking sheepish. When the initial shock wears off, you hear the coach's laugh and you feel him patting you on the head. "I like you already. You recognize talent when you see it." Smiling, you nod at his words. You go sit down on one chair and take out your books to study a bit. But you see yourself glancing every once and a while towards a certain player wanting to see him practice. Whenever he spikes a ball really well, your heart swells, but that quickly dies down when you see him looking at Kiyoko to view her reaction.

With an aching heart, you go back to your solving of mathematical equations. The end of practice soon comes around. You gather your supplies while saying good bye to the other players, having enjoyed watching them practice. Nishinoya comes up to you, and you both exit the gym quickly, cause you knew what's going to happen soon. You take your time putting on your shoes, telling Noya to leave before you so he won't be late.

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Being alone, you wait up, sitting down on a bench. To your surprise Kiyoko exits the gym soon after you and wears her shoes, preparing to go home. You go up to her and ask: "Wait. Where are you going? Where's Tanaka-San?" "Oh. He's inside, he told me to call you in when I got out." Confused, you wave her good bye and enter the gym again. It was all empty, except for the boy you liked standing in the middle of the court.

"Tanaka? What are you doing? And why didn't say anything to Kiyoko? She was right there! Did she reject you before you got the chance to give her your gift?" You're met with silence. You come closer to him, touching his shoulder gently. He turns around, and just engulfs you in a hug. Shocked, you slowly hug him back. You felt him relax when you wrapped your arms around him. "What's wrong? Did Kiyoko let you down? Tell me." You couldn't stand him not talking to you. You stop your questions when you hear him mumbling.

"What is it? I can't hear you properly." "It was never about Kiyoko-San. Sure she's pretty and cute, but she's nowhere close to you. When you didn't come to class, I was freaking out. Asking myself if it was my fault you came in late. And when I saw your puffy eyes and sad expression, my heart broke. I never want to see you like that. I know now what I asked of you was really unfair, but I wanted to know the best way for me to confess my feelings to you, but I ended up hurting you and making you cry. I'm such an idiot to make you go through all that. Please forgive me, I couldn't forgive myself for causing you so much pain. I like you so much. I can even say that I fell in love with you. I love you."

You were at a loss for words. While Ryū was squeezing you in his arms, the same words kept repeating in your head.

It was never about Kiyoko-San. I love you. It was never about Kiyoko-San. I love you. It was never about Kiyoko-San. I love you. It was never about Kiyoko-San. I love you.

You slowly get out of the hug, looking up at Ryū's face. Hopeful look in your eyes. "Do you really love me?" "Yes. I love you so much Y/N. Ever since I noticed you coming to watch us practice, I found myself seeking you out, whether in class, or for your help in a fake matter, that I regret doing so much. I started loving everything about you." Blushing like crazy, you buried your head in his chest. Slightly laughing, he wraps his arms around you in a loose hug.

You muster up your courage, stand on your tiptoes, and whisper in his ear. "I love you too, Ryū." Not being able to contain his excitement, he picks you up and twirls you around, laughing and being so happy that you love him back. When he puts you down, you grab his cheeks gently and bring him down to face you. You kiss him sweetly, humming when he kisses you back, wrapping his arms around your waist.

"So.." Tanaka asks still encircling you with his arms. "Does that mean we're officially a couple?" Lightly hitting him in the arm, "Of course we are you dummy." "Yes! Everyone will definitely be jealous of this hot couple. They can only dream of being like us." Laughing together at his adorableness, you stay in each other's arms, content with everything in your lives, and that you finally found each other.

Nishinoya was definitely there during the whole exchange, knowing from the beginning how you both felt about each other. He's the best third-wheel you'll ever encounter. He'll definitely brag about you two and how he helped bringing you both together, even though he didn't really do that much to help. But you still love him both, he's definitely a great friend. You'll never tell him that, but you also tell people that it was him that brought you both together.

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Yay! My fanfic about Tanaka is finally up! I hope you enjoy reading it!

The next one is the longest I've written until now and it's with Tsukishima Kei!

[atissi]

What advice would you give someone who wants to play Pathologic but is also terrified of screwing up really badly because I've played just enough of it to feel like there's no way I can succeed without looking stuff up but I don't want to do that! Just basic tips and/or reassurances if you have any?

Updated: Feb. 27 2021 (since I've finished and am replaying P2)

See, the thing about Pathologic is that it’s not possible to “succeed” like you do in other video games. There’s no happy ending for everyone. In the same sense, you can’t really fail. The game accommodates a wide variety of deaths and mistakes—even in Pathologic Classic HD, you can get a character's ending if you hoard enough medicine by the end of the 12 days, no matter how many people get sick or die. In Pathologic 2, everyone can die, but you’ll still be able to get an ending. Even some of the "bad" endings are fun in their own right. Sometimes, the game will reward you with more content because you failed in the first place.

All that being said, I totally relate to your fears. I’ll start by talking about Pathologic 2 first, since I’m more familiar with it. Then there will be some tips on playing Pathologic Classic HD.

Pathologic 2 is incredibly punishing, both emotionally and mechanically. I’ve seen people adapt to this through 3 different playstyles. I’ll rank them in terms of “least close to the intended gaming experience” to “most close”.

1. Just cheat.

“wrt cheating, as a notorious cheater, id recommend trying to do the game as legitimately as possible regardless! if there are some aspects that you absolutely do not vibe with, even with reduced difficulty (for me that's hunger mechanics), i would say that you can load in items to mitigate this aspect. and, tying in with the second point, if you complete a run this way you can always go back and try it legitimately since you've (sort of) gotten an understanding of the mechanic.” - Onion

If you have really bad anxiety, or just dont have the time available to do the other playstyles, cheating is a way to engage with Pathologic 2′s excellent story. Fiddling with the difficulty controls is allowed. Spawning in endless food for yourself is possible. I can even get you in touch with someone who uses cheat codes in the game regularly to get game assets. If changing the game is what it takes for you to get through it, I think it’s better than nothing. But I’d personally at least encourage you to try an Imago playthrough first. Decide if it’s too difficult for you after that. And again: Pathologic 2 is constantly trying to trip you up. It’s meant to be difficult. Sometimes you’ll fail and the game won’t tell you if you could have prevented it. Just keep going. But like Onion said, cheating works as a supplement.

2. Replay, replay, and replay, until you get it right.

“You can always replay. You have more time than they do. Also save states are your friend.” - Alex

“reload as much as possible, do NOT look things up. your first playthru WILL be bad, and thats good!!! experience it fully yourself first. [and] “reload as much as possible” meaning like: [it] isnt a crime, you can do it as many times as possible. but dont get stressed about doing everything perfectly. its an experience!!!” - Zee

There’s no penalty for using your save states. If you get stuck in a death loop, go back as far as you need to in order to get things right. Hopefully this means starting a day over and using your time more effectively. Personally, I got to Day 7 before realizing I had to restart from Day 1, because I was doing that badly. Trust me, if you’ve gotten one miracle cure and 10 bottles of water by then, you’ll be doing better than I was. My friend Bee had trouble too, and took 92 hours to finish their first playthrough. A replay playstyle takes a LOT of time. But Pathologic 2 is so rich in content that replaying isn’t even as annoying as it could be. And this is also the best way to complete as many quests and save as many people as you want. Whenever you’re scared, just remember: you can always go back on your choices! (Other than the theatre’s death penalties. But nothing can help you with those.)

3. Just go through it.

Again. You’re not supposed to succeed in Pathologic. In the words of the lead translator Kevin Snow, “…I know [Pathologic 2’s] script and this is different from other games: there’s so much story locked behind failure and death. You’ll die, and you can’t save everyone. That doesn’t gate you from story; it gives you more. Resist, survive, but continue.” It’s only when you’re suffering that you experience the story so viscerally. That’s when the choices mean something. Sacrificing your own health or the health of others–saving tinctures for yourself, breaking into houses, killing people, choosing not to help people because you just don’t have time–these are impactful because you’re experiencing the mechanical repercussions of your actions. You are not a removed arbiter of the Town’s suffering. Everyone in Pathologic is having the worst 12 days of their life, and you’re dying right alongside them. Spoilers for Day 4, but I don’t think visiting the Rod and seeing the Tragedians would have affected me so deeply if I wasn’t actively starving for the entire sequence. It served as a reminder that I wasn’t the only one in pain; it was heart-breaking and heart-warming. Which I think is Pathologic at its core.

Try to see your failures in the game as another form of success. You’re experiencing the game as it’s meant to be played. And when you feel bad about all the people you’ve failed, remember that this is all a play. The game knows it’s artificial. You can replay the game after you finish–and feel free to use cheats or lowered difficulties on a replay–in order to get everything right. Your mistakes aren’t permanent! But on a first playthrough, try to tough through the hardships. You’ll have a more fulfilling time.

Other tips

You can use these 3 playstyles in combination if you need to. I let myself die when I feel like I deserved the punishment, or reload when I feel like I don’t. Bee managed to finish Day 11 by lowering the game difficulty in the final stretch. Just approximate the intended gaming experience as much as you can.

As for gameplay guides, I don’t think anyone I’ve met recommends it (at least for Pathologic 2). The game does interesting things with when and where it reveals information to you, often in ways that are deliberately inconveniencing. You want to experience that on your own. I also think Pathologic 2 is relatively good at telegraphing mechanics or quests. compared to Patho Classic. That said, I do have tips that I wish I knew before playing:

Sprint everywhere. I know the town is beautiful. But you’re on a hell of a time crunch. If you finish your quests early you can forage or trade for more resources, or just bottom out your exhaustion bar. Sprinting does not make your exhaustion go up faster, and water is plentiful in the first few days. Just do it! Save your own time!

Save a lot. Even if you’re not gonna die on your way in and out of the Broken Heart, this game is chock-full of choices, down to the resource management. If you waste a swig of twyrine, you’ll want a good save point to reload at. You can load any save point in your timeline, so save as often as you want. Keep track of where clocks are on the map--the game tags these in the building descriptions. (For that matter, keep track of where beds are. I didn’t realize I could sleep at Vlad Sr.’s place, which made me waste SO much time travelling between the Shelter and the Lair.)

Learn the trading economy. Everyone holds items at different values. Even the kids value certain nuts over others. There are also some interesting conversion rates between items, like peanuts to soap to pemmican. Make the most of the items you’re bartering. And for that matter, try to build up a cache of items valuable to little girls, in case you find one with a schmowder. The kid’s caches are valuable for trading too: twyrine can show you the locations.

This is also a good spoiler-free guide to Pathologic 2′s mechanics.

For Pathologic Classic HD, I haven’t personally played it, but I’m under the impression that it’s easier than Pathologic 2 because there are less character perma-deaths and no death penalties. The advice about reloading still applies. Here’s what Ally says:

“id recommend using a spoiler free guide (Bachelor, Haruspex, and Changeling guides) but other than that read the diary and letters carefully and try to keep track of npcs that could be affiliated with quests. also! some quests have different options for endings so there could be multiple ways to complete them. stock up on food on the earlier days, and after the inquisitor arrives because the prices drop. try to stealth kill with melee weapons when you can, and also reserve your bullets. …also make sure to trade with the children a lot! hold onto objects like the hooks and flowers [to get schmowders. Like I said before, to win the game you only need enough cures to heal the Bound.] …another tip is to keep a pen and paper around to take notes. like when i got the tincture recipes instead of keeping them in my inventory i just wrote them down.”

And that’s it! If you need specific advice or clarification, feel free to DM me! I love talking about this game. I can also get you in touch with anyone mentioned in this post (except Kevin Snow LMAO). Pathologic has an amazing story and I want everyone to experience it!!!

[boobiemom]

It's nice how air strikes clear all enemy bullets, very useful against bosses. Torpedoes do a lot(I mean I can do like 8000 damage with one point-blank use), but battleship shots seem rather weak(at least they seem to be more accurate). But this all also means that because I played event I don't plat campaign and I'm already overleveled for few next worlds(world 4 is about on A-1 or A-2 level I think?). Also drop only ships is real problem, like how much time I will need to spend for Akagi alone

You need to spend that time. It’s actually extremely recommended you do because Akagi and Kaga are, to this day, still the STRONGEST carriers in the game when paired together.

I do recommend that you also do the main campaign maps as much as possible because it’s worth it. It’ll level you faster and it’ll give you a taste for higher level stuff.

But yes, Battleships are still quite useful, it’s extra shelling that do good damage should you have the good equipment for it. Casual reminder that, unlike Kancolle, this game’s equipment actually makes a MASSIVE difference. While Kancolle’s basically have some dumb arbitrary formulas that did little to nothing for you, Azur Lane’s equipment setups are legitimately VITAL to DPS, Defensive stats, and general stats all around. They can dictate how fast you shoot, how many times you do, what ammo types you fire, the range of the shots, and how fast the airstrikes and bombardments reload. 

This Equip list is extremely useful as to what you’ll want to equip on which ship you use and the tier of each item. This link here will take you to the wiki page for the equipment to see their stats.

[bardock1991]

Wait, that's now how the first creation went.

They specifically asked to make a Penny Body who's just like the robot, thus leaving the soul on his hands. Since he can't destroy it, he had to find a way to keep the soul alive in a sense, but Ruby & the others didn't directly tell him to give her a human body (If they DID directly ask Ambrosius to do that, then Penny's human body would've disappeared after the portals were made instead of the android body). In lame man's terms, Team RWBY took a gamble... A HUGE gamble at that, it was kind of a miracle that it actually worked out the way it did (Penny getting killed off 5 minutes later anyways not withstanding).

If Ambrosius wanted to, say... Make Penny a Faunus or have her look completely different... He theoretically could've done that since he wasn't specifically told to make a human body for Penny's soul, his orders was to create a body with the exact same robot parts as the one she had. As for the Soul... He basically had to make a vessel for it on his own since as I've stated prior, he couldn't get rid of it. The fact that this gamble worked on the heroes' favor is a literal miracle cause if Ambrosius wanted to, he could've screwed with them or done something different & get away with it due to how specific his orders were. In his own words, "I'm going to create exactly what you ask of me & you better not complain if you don't like the results"... Or something along those lines, i can't remember the actual line.

Also, "Gravity Dust effects the flow of time?"... What? Okay, first of all: how does gravity effect time, let alone artificial gravity that comes from Gravity Dust? That doesn't make any sense. Gravity effects weight & mass, not freaking time.

Second: wasn't Weiss' Time Dialation Glyphs mainly used with Lightning Dust instead? Or at least, some specific combination with Lightning Dust? & Even then, all it did was make the user who knows how much faster, so even then, it's rather limited.

Not to mention how it's literally the only example of any kind of legit time manipulation ability we have in the series so far, so it's kinda limited. Not helped by how the Schnees are the only ones who can use this ability (as far as we know, anyways), making it less sense for Salem & Watts to find a way to use it or study it. It's not like they captured a Schnee & experimented on them to study the actual specifics of Time Dialation Glyphs... Well, i hope so, anyways.

As for the secrecy thing, mainly from Salem's end... I kinda call bullshit personally speaking. I find it VERY hard to believe that she sat on her ass doing nothing for the last thousands of years or so (if the Maidens are indeed thousands of years old as Glynda stated back in V3) & only NOW has she decided to finally act & try to do... Whatever the hell her true goals are at the moment.

Heck, why didn't she act at the end of The Great War 80 years ago? All 4 nations were weakened by that point & the relics were all gathered in a single place back then, so why didn't she act there? Why is she suddenly acting now of all times? Considering she's literally immortal, you'd assume she'd have many chances to try & screw over the world, so why play the long secret game when she doesn't need to? I hope this is actually explained in canon, cause this is one question i struggle to find a legitimate answer for myself.

Cinder: So now that you have the staff of creation. What will be the first thi-

Salem: *Actives the staff and when Ambrosius Instantly holds out a rolled up scroll.* I want you to make this.

Ambrosius: Hmm. Straight to the point I see. Alright. Lets take a look at what you want me to built. *Takes the scroll as they make a pair of glasses to look over it.* Hmm Small yet very very details and complex. 

Salem: Can you make it?

Ambrosius: Of course. Just one moment. *The blue being claps his hands together and with a few swith motions creates a chambers.*

Cinder: What is this? *She asked as Salem places the lamp inside and turns a dial on it.* You had him make a vault?

Salem: Don’t be silly Cinder. I had him make a time chamber.

Cinder: A… Time chamber?

Ambrosius: Yes. according to these blue prints  anything place in the chamber will go forward of backward in time. In this case your… Mother?

Salem: Teacher for now. 

Ambrosius: Right. Teacher, is fast forearding the time for the lamp by a hundred years.

Cinder: Oh I see. *Watchs Salem remove the lamp and holds it up.*

Salem: Jinn. 

Jinn: *Jinn forms out of the lamp* MMMMm. My My That was a quick hundred years. Oh Hello again Ambrosius.

Ambrosius: Greetings to you as well.

Jinn: I assume you helped in my speed nap? *Before the blue man could answer the blue woman Salem cleared her throat.* Exucse me. I am Jin and I will answer three of your-

Salem: Has Cinder kill Ruby Rose in her failed attempt to disobey me once again?

Cinder: Wh-What? My queen I told you that- *Cinder began before her grimm arm grabbed her throat and started to squeeze.*

Salem: You lied to me about you mute friend killing Ruby and Watts fate, which I am willing to over look do to the remaining kingdoms won’t be in Watts’ area of expertise. However, I will not have that silver eyes girl interfere with my plans again because of your inability to follow simple instructions. *Turns back to Jin.* Continue please.

Jinn: … Ruby Rose… Is no longer in this world.

Salem: And yet that isn’t a yes or no.

Jinn: *Jinn smirked.* Clever girl. No. Ruby Rose is still alive but not in this world.

Ambrosius: I warned them not to fall.

Salem: I see. Is there a possibility of her returning?

Jinn: It is slim but yes.

Salem: Interesting. One last question, *Salem smiled as she lifted a finger summoning grimm arms to bind Cinder.* Since I will have to teach my dear Cinder a learn in honesty, *Salem steps closer to Cinder and gently strokes unscarred cheek* How long will Cinder need to be submerge in the pools of grimm to make her into my new hound?