#and a perspective thing in it literally pissed me off so bad i couldn't draw for like months lmao

[hurlyburlytopsyturvy]

when you get engulfed by a space-time anomaly and it forces you into therapy for the greater good

[watchyourdigits]

Falloutober Day One:

War Never Changes

I'm a little late to the party, but here's what I've got for day number one of Falloutober! The main fic for these two is Danse-centric, so I thought it'd be a fun challenge to rewrite the opening scene from Frankie's perspective this time. Enjoy~

Word count: 1.3k

Warnings: mild sexual language, canon typical violence

Ship: Paldadin Danse x male Sole Survivor

"What's the plan here?"

Frankie rolled his eyes behind his gas mask, barely suppressing a groan. His newly acquired commanding officer had been, up until that very moment, the one calling the shots.

Why would Danse, an otherwise by-the-book kind of man, hand him the reins without warning? The question served as an obvious test; it wasn't as if this so-called 'Paladin' had been anything but wary of him thus far.

Now, facing down an unknown number of super mutants, he was suddenly leaving Frankie to figure out the best course of action.

He wouldn't know subtlety if it smacked him clean across his stupid, perfect face.

Frankie peered above the bushes they were squatting behind to get a better look at the camp. He did a quick visual scan of the place before pulling his head back down behind cover.

"I see three, but there's definitely more."

He tried to explain that his preferred method of sneak-attack wouldn't be as effective with super mutants as it would with human enemies, but the Paladin cut him off.

Typical.

Frankie tapped his fingers against his thigh impatiently as he was, once again, chastised for his manner of dress.

"You'd see better if you weren't wearing that ridiculous thing."

That tone of his was enough to make Frankie grimace. Despite his disarming good looks, Danse was proving no different than the military officials he served before the whole world went to shit. Society was functionally nonexistent and all Danse could seem to think about was arbitrary uniform codes.

Maybe you should just, I dunno, show him your ugly fuckin' mug? Then he'd get it.

He knew that was never truly an option, but it was nonetheless entertaining to imagine Danse's reaction to the grand reveal that he'd been on the receiving end of an unsightly facial disfigurement.

Deathclaws and power armor... Bad combo. Should probably warn him about that...

Frankie opted to ignore him, a momentous exercise of restraint on his behalf, the likes of which the Paladin would probably never be able to appreciate.

"It's not my favorite idea, but how's about you provide covering fire and I'll go in guns blazing?" he said confidently.

"I suppose it's not the worst plan in the world," Danse replied, shrugging his hulking, metal-clad shoulders, drawing an unseen smirk from Frankie at the sight of it. "You point, I shoot."

It was all too obvious that Danse didn't think he'd succeed. Frankie wasn't one to take such a challenge lightly. Hell, if a deathclaw and the literal end of the world couldn't take him down, he was practically invincible, right?

Frankie gave a smug smile behind his mask, clapping Danse on the shoulder.

"Good man. I'll see you on the other side."

He gave a quick two-finger salute, knowing damn well it was sure to piss Danse off to no end since it wasn't the classic Brotherhood salute he'd been taught. Just before he slid down the side of the hill, he caught a glimpse of Danse's face as expression changed to that of a man questioning his life choices.

He sure is somethin'... Guess this shit ain't so different from how it used to be, though. Murderin' everythin' in sight, dealing with annoying military bullshit… Annoying commanding officers with big ole cow eyes. Tryin' not to think about how good said commanding officer would look on his knees…

Frankie shook his head, trying to reel himself back in. He could dwell on his perversions later. Right now, he had to prove he was all he claimed and then some.

God, if you can hear me, just know that I think you're a real sick sonuvabitch.

"Two-hundred years on ice and a fella still can't catch a fuckin' break," he mumbled to himself.

He loaded his shotgun as he approached the first mutie he saw guarding the entrance to the camp. He noticed Frankie far too late.

Before the lumbering abomination could open his mouth to alert the others in his company, a laser fired from the hillside hit him square in the chest. He stumbled a little and Frankie finished him off with two shots to the head, whistling low.

He's a phenomenal shot, I'll give him that. Good timing, too.

Frankie took great delight in the easy flow of the battle. The mutants were slow to react, giving him ample time to sort out his strategy as he went. He made his way through the camp, drawing out his enemies toward the chaos and systematically taking them down, ducking behind cover to reload as Danse provided covering fire from above.

When things finally settled and the last of the super mutants fell, he allowed himself a moment to relish in the silence that rang in his ears. Frankie pulled up his mask just enough to spit on the ground, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

The mask fell back into place as he reached the entrance of the camp, giving a thumbs up in Danse's general direction. The Paladin was down the hill and standing before him within seconds.

"Great work up there," Frankie commended. He understood better than most the value in having a trained set of eyes looking out. "Good to know you've got my back."

Danse began removing the helmet of his power armor. Frankie felt a tug in his gut, firmly aware of the way his jaw hung open like an idiot upon watching him run a hand through that thick, dark hair of his. His mind began to wander as Danse's mouth moved, Frankie only barely hearing the words he spoke.

"Same to you, soldier. It's been a while since I've seen potential like that."

Danse sounded genuine about it, too. For half a second, Frankie found himself delusional enough to believe that perhaps he was flirting. With a subordinate, no less.

Just keep it casual, for once in your goddamn life. No sudden advances.

"I told you I had military experience," Frankie replied jokingly, testing the waters. "Did you think I was lyin'?" he asked, leaning himself against one of the rotting wooden fences, paying no mind to the super mutant blood that now called it home.

"No. However, your secrecy leaves you with a lot to prove."

There it is. Damn… Audacious prick.

"Is that so?" Frankie drawled, huffing a little through his nose. "Remind me to tell Elder Maxson that he should give you a promotion."

Danse raised an eyebrow. Of course it was the one with the scar through it. Frankie felt heat traveling up his neck, choking him.

He wanted nothing more than to grab him by those stupid handles of his power armor, pull him down to his level, and-

"Why is that?" Danse asked curiously, cocking his head.

"Because I'll be the best damn thing that's happened to the Brotherhood yet," Frankie answered without missing a beat.

"That's a bold claim. I admire your ambition."

Danse sounded amused, much to Frankie's dismay.

He kept bringing the conversation to the brink of what could constitute flirting. It was maddening, especially as Frankie's body continued to relax, muscles melting under his skin as the adrenaline faded away.

"Bold? I've earned my ego, pal."

Frankie pushed off the fence and had to look away from Danse, growing increasingly concerned that his impulses might cause him to do something idiotic. Like give him a right hook. Or kiss him. Maybe both.

"Maybe one day you'll get it through that thick skull of yours..." Frankie continued bitterly, "I'm not your average wastelander."

He turned on his heel and stalked away into the camp to loot it for all it was worth. A good enough distraction as any, he figured.

The backhanded compliments, the unsolicited commentary on his attire, and the fact that Danse was the most delicious thing he'd laid his eyes on… Frankie knew he was in for a hell of a time working with the Brotherhood of Steel.

Despite all his tense irritation, there was the undeniable feeling of 'home' that came with working with Danse.

It was all so familiar, comforting in a sentimental way. And Frankie was a sentimental bastard, if there ever was one.

Yeah, nothin's changed a lick.

[mummified-game-review]

Changeling: A Review

Hey remember Twilight, remember when we were all about those fairytale creature boys.

Yeah. They were good times and bad times.

Welcome back to another video game review here on Mummified Games. I'm Tony and today we’re going to be looking at the visual novel Changeling by Steamberry Studio.

Okay so visual novel, it's just a slideshow of narration and conversation. Gameplay isn't there. You just click over and over again and read the story. There isn't much to do in these games. every once in a while an option will come up and you can pick an option to come up and you can pick to say nothing or push the conversation, Just as an example.

So the only thing to talk about with this is the story, music, and the art work.

Let's get the artwork out of the way real quick. And I want to start by saying that art is a subjective thing and our feelings and opinions can differ and that's okay.

The backgrounds in this game look great in my opinion. The art that comes up while the characters are talking looks detailed and well crafted, the scenes are full and have a rich tone to them. Items and locations look real and lived in.

The character art is something different. They’re clearly designed to invoke curtain feelings from some. One might quickly write this off as teenage fantasy drawings. But that's still too reductive and not fair to the artist and the story trying to be told here. Just because every character in this game looks super pretty and has that air of they were made to look this way. Doesn't mean that the art doesn't have value and...

Alright this is clearly trying for something here but it's just not for me ya know.

All the boys have elven features, clean soft skin, wavy hair, and pouty lips, even the dad and that's super weird. Wardrobes fresh off the runway. And after learning more about the story, I'm already seeing where these characters' stories are going.

Let's talk about the story then while we're here and before we go too far talking about the characters and why they might look the way they do.

So the story is told from the first person perspective of Nora, a 17 year old girl who moves back to the town she used to live in when she was younger so her dad could help take care of her Grandpa. A town that her family ran away from 5 years ago. They ran away from the town because of a weird turn of events. So one day Nora went missing, she got lost in the woods, and then 5 days later showed up randomly and walked out of the forest. Her twin brother had run into the woods to go find her but somehow when he found her he lost sight in his right eye.

He claimed that his sister Nora was a monster and that she had attacked him. Okay weird. Even weirder she doesn't remember any of this. She lost all memory while she was lost in the woods. And only got her memories back shortly before she was found again, but after her brother lost sight in his one eye.

Mmmmmm okay, I have my thoughts about what that could be a sign of what really happened.

Oh and the reason they moved away is because everyone was not sure it was a simple case of a lost child and that there might have been other motives at play. Her brother after this is never nice to her again. And treats her like garbage.

And so Nora and her family move back to the town and her parents are worried about her getting lost in the woods again. But Nora is a real nature feely type. She is explained to us the reader as the kind of girl who likes fantasy stories and nature. Notice a fairy ring in their yard and think about times when they would sit in the middle of it and pretend to see fairies flutter around.

After you get the lowdown on the family dynamic, the dads are nice, the mom can be bossy, and the brother is the worst. Then we get to run though all the meet cutes that happen and were introduced to the boys that are all part of this what i'm going to asume will be Harem of boys that are part of her story.

I don't know, I just have a feeling that this is going to be another one of those kinds of Visual Novels.

So Nora, goes to school and says hi to her old friend and an old enemy, meets more boys and as i'm reading things i'm slowly picking up the little cues from the writing.

The literature class is reading A Midsummer Night's Dream. Ah you don't say.

The boy who says he was up all night long, says Nora looks pale and malnourished. Eating some food is good for your blood. HUGE FLAG!

The brother says Nora isn't even his real sister. And the game is literally called CHANGELING. Okay I see where this is going.

Her old friend says she wants Nora to join her after school club.

Oh Does she now!

There aren't a lot of girls in it and having Nora there would make her feel better having more girls.

MMMMMMMM AND I WONDER WHAT TYPE OF CLUB THIS MIGHT BE! What could it be? Sewing? Web Design and admin? You all working on getting AWS certified in this club maybe?

“It's a paranormal research club”

WOWWWWW WHO WOULD'VE GUESSED THAT WAS GOING TO BE THE CASE!

Some of you who have watched my old videos might have noticed that I no longer read the storepage at the start of the video. I stopped reading them in the video about the same time I stopped reading them before going into a game. I feel like I can appreciate the game more if I'm just going in blind. So I had no idea this was going to be a paranormal fantasy thing. Until the story started dropping not so subtle hints about what might be coming up.

The music is fine, nothing crazy notable about the music in the story. The one complaint is that it might be flowing well with the story and then the change back to this other song. I couldn't explain what song it was but the song always starts at what feels like the beginning and it gives this feeling of not getting anywhere in the story.

I still have no sense of an opinion when it comes to visual novels, and if this one is good or not. The last one I played was that terrible one that I don't want to talk about. And right now there is another one that I've got on the back burner that I'm making my way through. I want to give that one a fair shake because it has some people attached to it that I'm fans of their work.

So what if i'm giving favortisum to another game. I want to fully experience it and give it a full run down.

This story, Changeling, I've got nothing going on with it. I'm not attached and I played it for a good 2 hours to get really into the story. But unfortunately the store page says it has 4-6 hours of gameplay per branch of the story... well piss.

I don't know what to say about this one folks. I've got two games to base my opinion of this on. And that's it.

All I can say is that if you like Visual novels and you want to read one that has a fantasy element to it. Then sure, go take a look.

But like I said Visual novels aren’t my cup of tea so I probably wouldn't have played this if it wasn't for the Racial Justice bundle and the huge pile of games that came with it.

If you played this game let me know what you thought of it. Is it a good visual novel? Does the story really pop off after the second day of school? I'm interested to hear what it is that people like about visual novel games.

If you haven't played this game. Is there a Really good Visual Novel out there? Or are there other games that you want me to check out. Let me know in the comments.

IN THE MEANTIME! I'm going to try to not become a creature of the night. It's 3am and I'm going to go hit the hay.

You all do the youtube dance, like sub, bell, comment down below, and tell someone you know about the show.

And as always friends keep digging and we’ll make it out some day

See you in the next one.