#and i wanted to run a fun high level combat for everyone even though i absolutely hateeeee combat

[theresa-draws]

veilguard spoilers review

Part 1 of review (up to mid Act 2)

6.5/10 - it'll be a fine, even fun, game for newcomers but for old dragon age players who want some actual dragon age in their veilguard? if you squint a bit at some codex entries, and only focus on the dread wolf part of the story.

and i AM LOOKING (then the artbook killed me thanks matt rhodes)

so any way......

1/ Rook and Companions

i really wanted to love the new cast but the characters were not clicking for me (or my rook). idk if it's because we can't initiate convos like we could in dai but it really felt like rook was looking in at the companions from outside. everyone else is having fun existing in thedas but rook is an outsider (unless that's the writer's intent? parallels with how solas COULDN'T MAKE FRIENDS FOR 1000s OF YEARS.............

In DAI, we could argue and banter when quizzy initiate convo about various topics back in haven or skyhold. the companions banter and argue about things they disagree with. In VG, WE DON'T. the closest i felt we could get a bit of that was when my rook told neve to get off my back about minrathous (because they did not regret a thing but i couldn't tell her that). Or certain sass/pragmatic dialogue options with solas, e.g. my rook consistently shared nothing with solas (or as much as i could avoid), and solas dropped the line about oh but you have varric WHICH KILLED ME.

2/ Evanuris & Titans

We had some world-shattering revelations in this game, that I wanted yes, but the companions or the world don't.......... really........ react to it. No POV of the chantry(s) imploding at the lore implications, no civilians going we must raze the chantry to the ground, no elves looking at Elgar'nan and going yes that's our All-father coming to burn you humans for everything you did. (Although the party did ask the elves, Bellara + Davrin + Rook, about the spirit revelation.)

I know Isen (my city elf/veil jumper rook) was shaken during Blood of Arlathan, they would be genuinely tempted by offers of uplifting elves to greatness because the alternative is slavery or alienages. But nada.

Blood of Arlathan Elgar'nan you will always be my fav!!! Because if you were expecting more after that, I'm sorry, man's on a downward spiral since he lost his sister. We had to put old peepaw down.

BTW Maybe check out the tree in the crossroads to eavesdrop on Ghilly and Elgar, because the game doesn't give us any other way to find out who the remaining two Evanuris are besides codex entries. :(

---

The Titans were covered only in Solas' murals and Harding's personal quest, which takes us to a corner of Kal-Sharok once then never letting us visit again. I had to read the artbook for the actual genesis of the world stuff about the Titans and what that was about. That was only alluded to in the game itself.

3/ Combat Scaling

Combat took a bit to take to, but it was fun. I played a Spellblade because that was the closest to Knight Enchanter/melee mage. The mini-bosses were difficult since you can run into them severely under-levelled on the regular maps. The high dragons were easy because they ALL had the same attack pattern, just had a lot of health to chip away at. Even Mythal Dragon. Which made the fight with Ghilain'nain and Elgar'nan underwhelming as hell, when they took less time to kill than the mini-bosses.

4/ Romance (Bellara)

i can only talk about Bellara's romance since i've only finished hers, even though I flirted with Davrin and Lucanis all through act 2. she's a very awkward character, and her response to the flirt options reads as ACE to me, but the romance culminates in sex.

okay so, most of the flirt options are quite platonic in tone like encouraging her to talk about her research or telling her you like to spend time with her. things like "i trust you know what you're doing" makes her...... fall in love..... with rook.......... even though rook's the mediator and therapist of the whole veilguard. i don't understand but i went with it, although i was having more fun watching rook banter and flirt with Davrin.

she's had past (failed) relationships but her reference for sex/romantic relationships is fiction/serials to be exact. you see where i'm going here???

then the romance scene after rook comes back from the fade plays out and i'm like??????????? i love her vow of love in elven, nice touch, but ummm i don't have the option to not want sex? i didn't even think she was interested in any of that in the first place!

Then that was it, we don't get a proper send-off to the veilguard romance just one line in the credits scene. Even BG3 gets an afterparty set up by Withers, buggy as it is, but still a nice touching wrap to the entire adventure.

5/ Bugs & Glitches

I was lucky I didn't get any major game-breaking stuff, just a couple of clipping issues through the game.

then, I reached the FINAL SCENE OF THE ENTIRE GAME for the first time. my inquisitor arrived with the wrong face model and vallaslin that was not supposed to be there.............. at least they got her hair colour right? By the time I finished the game, and the marvel-esque credits rolled, I wanted to murder. Then I loaded the game to fight Solas just to feel something. Adios Asshole.

6/ Factions

What else can I say about factions that everyone else have already touched upon? They're very shallow insights into the world of Thedas for returning players, there aren't enough of Dragon Age in Dragon Age.

I do like Arlathan, very Annihilation-Shimmer kind of horror happening in there. I have some questions about the Veil Jumpers taking in non-elves and them being around Arlathan/elven history though............. we're just letting anyone join the Dalish now or???

Also Hossberg became my fav when I finished Davrin's quest. There was a despair demon that I ran into in the Ice/Fire dragon area, and it became a spirit of compassion/hope (?) again after the Isseya quest and the flowers return. The small things that turn utter despair into hope and will to keep going got me..........

AND THEN the Treviso/Minrathous choice. It was too easy playing as a Elf Mage, because the venatori-run Minrathous was more aligned to the Tevinter that I know it was from past games. In fact, I was actively sabotaging Minrathous every chance I got RPing my elf rook who was a Tevinter slave before joining the dalish.............. Not that it matters, since Elgar'nan obliterated the magisterium and the venatori and probably the entire city with blight by the end.

7/ Identity Crisis

You can tell from the writing and breadth of the game, Veilguard has been through development hell and back. Looking at the stuff from the artbook only confirms that for me. Ideas were played around for Veilguard to be an actual sequel to Inquisition, since the hook for this game was Trespasser. But now, there's some disconnect.

The Inquisitor's (disbanded or not) presence and relevance is severely diminished in-game, it's especially glaring during the final battle sequence. All the factions + Morrigan are fighting but Quizzy is nowhere to be found. A romanced Lavellan even less so, since the Mythal option is the same with a friendly Inquisitor, and the only thing that change is whether Solas is alone in the end. (Love that for my Miha but ummm..... she's a cameo in a story that she's heavily involved in.)

There's barely any substantial connective tissue between Veilguard and the rest of Dragon Age and this is how they're sending off this storyline that started in DAO? Before trying to move on beyond towards the Devouring Storm and Executors bullshit? I'm mentally exhausted just trying to connect the pieces we actually got to the rest of Thedas and you're telling me this shit doesn't matter anyway............................ could have given me the Tear Down the Veil option since we're doing that with the writing.

So when the marvel style credits scene started playing, like woah look at the dreadwolf vs lusacan over some modern song/music, i just about died. Solas and Elgar'nan was barely in the game about them, a huge chunk of the quests were about the companions and factions. The most interesting part of the game was Blood of Arlathan when the gorls were fighting in my head, because it was fun trying to figure out what were lies and what really happened with Solas & the Evanuris. They were both appealing to Rook to see their POV and join their side, throwing allies into the blender when it suits them, it's so fascinating they have the same methods and the same goal: bringing back Elvhenan. Just different motivations for doing so. Elgar'nan saw Solas as the hypocrite he is (I love him, he's fascinating) and Solas sees Elgar'nan as a dark mirror. I'm on board! Where's the rest of it???????

Because there's no rest of it. The next time they meet, Solas kills the Archdemon >> goes haha elgar you're mortal now pls die >>> Elgar dies, leaving Solas the actual last standing Evanuris.

(I'll leave the Mythal stuff for later, I've drafted another post talking about her.)

In Conclusion/

There were some great moments that survived the development hell like Solas' inevitable betrayal(s), some companion questlines, bits of Evanuris lore, the actual Dread Wolf, and.... the regret theme surrounding all the companions, Rook, Solas and to some extent, the Evanuris. You'll have a better and fun time crying going through the artbook, but none of those are technically canon since they're just concepts during the development phase.

The combat was fun, but Dragon Age was an RPG not an action-RPG. The writing is more important, even if this game has beautiful locales and hair physics. Music was boring, but did appreciate the return of the Lost Elf motif for the ending. Makes me want to go back and play Inquisition instead :Db

P.S. Tearstone Island was so mind-numbingly boring, but was redeemed by the Fade Prison Betrayal that followed. (My Rook doesn't regret all those choices though, sorry I thought we all knew the risks when we signed up for this :T) I endured the boring act 3 to give my daughter her ending, and the inquisitor doesn't even react to the DREAD WOLF outside her window................ I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING MYSELF AROUND HERE.

[rainofaugustsith]

I've not had a lot of new things to to with Rigel Viri in FFXIV - no desire to finish that final DT trial; and no real path to do much else. Two friends and I have been slowly working through the Eden raid - I could solo the first two segments but after that, LOL NO so far, and it's been nice to have company. 

With the Moogles event happening, some of the things I still need to do have been on the list for tomes. So a few days ago I queued up for Cinder Drift/Ruby Weapon (which I'd tried unsuccessfully to solo). I was able to solo the Emerald Weapon, and then queued again for Cloud Deck to finish it. 

Yesterday I saw someone doing a Party Finder for Copied Factory, which I have not even been able to try solo because it's an Alliance raid. The story was so intriguing that I ended up queuing for the second and third parts of that series to finish the story arc (or not, given the ending). 

I died a lot in the raid, but I also stayed on my feet a lot. And it was fine. I finished what I needed for the combat section and got a ton of delicious story out of it. I still have like four raid series that are either too high level for me to solo or have a player minimum for entry (Void Ark, the Garlean theater thing in Stormblood, Pandaemonium and the other EW one I won't mention by name because it could be a spoiler), one dungeon (Smileton) and two Variant dungeons I can't solo, so there's stuff to do now. 

Rigel and Suvia have gotten through the MSQ with a little help from their friends - generally, either running the dungeons with duty support or a friend unsynced if that's not possible, and doing the trials unsynced with a friend or two. The only trials I've had to actually queue for have been the post-EW ones and the post-EW Hildebrand ones. And the dungeon requred 

I'm definitely still not a huge fan of grouping up for stuff; I'd far rather solo anything I can. I still have a huge issue seeing what's going on when there are so many players and actions happening simultaneously on screen. I'll wait to be able to solo a raid or do it with a friend or two. 

If I can't, though? Queuing for it isn't out of the question, if I want the story. 

What strikes me is just how unheard of that would have been for me in SWTOR. 

In SWTOR I pointedly tried to stay away from other players. So many of my posts on the game were about that. I didn't even want to run into them on the Fleet, much less voluntarily go into playable content with them, because so many of my interactions were negative. So there was a considerable amount of content in SWTOR I just never did, because I would have had to group for a raid or dungeon that wasn't soloable. I left several storylines dangling because the only way to do them was to group, and that was anathema to me. Going through those with a lot of other people would have been like chewing glass.

In hindsight, I chalk that up to my own introversion, but also very much the fact that a lot of SWTOR players I encountered were absolutely horrible. If you're introverted and people are acting like assholes, you do tend to pull yourself into your shell even more. I do, anyway.

What's the difference? People in FFXIV are nice. Nicer, I'll say, since we know there are jerks everywhere, but there's a real difference.  People play the content they want to play and everyone's definition of fun and what they'd like to get out of their games varies. However it absolutely makes a hell of a difference when a game has a climate that is more welcoming and intimidating than hostile and elitist in getting people to try new things or do them occasionally. The fact that Rigel Viri is currently in a queue speaks to that.

[three--rings]

So I finished playing Avowed.

Started it, played it, mostly stuck to it alone, finished it. Which rarely happens.

I don't know why this game got such a bad time when it came out. Other than gamers and game media are toxic. It's a very solid 7 or 8/10 game.

It's super pretty, runs great with almost no bugs from launch, the combat is fun and feels good, the world is GREAT.

Like this is the BEST game for exploration I've played in a LONG time. It's like the antidote for proceddural generation because the environment feel lovingly hand-crafted. You see a little ledge on a rock that you think you could get to? You CAN get there and you are MEANT to get there and there's a little reward there for you going there. I think in the entire game there was only one time I went off-path somewhere and didn't find a reward waiting for me.

Plus the music is so pretty and relaxing it is just great to wander around in. Very much fills that Skyrim place in your heart. To be fair, I played on easy (second of five difficulty levels) for the sake of my arthritic hands, but it was really a RELAXING game experience. Sure occasionally I got into something tougher but mostly it was fun but not annoying.

Plus I like the Pillars of Eternity world, even though I never finished POE 2 because my laptop tried to set on fire when I played it. So it was nice to revisit.

As for the story, it was decent? Like it was POE-esque, it's all about Gods and humans relationships with them. I really liked the companion characters, I thought they were three dimensional and had their own things going on. And well-voiced!

Some of the plot sorta fell apart towards the end because the game gives you a lot of choices towards the end where none of the options are really good. Like yeah I get it there's upsides and downsides of everything, but they literally just have two part members for side A and two party members for side B and no matter what you choose someone is going to yell at you for it. And there's going to be bad consequences. I wouldn't even know I made the right choice for one of them (IMO) except I looked it up and the other option had a WORSE outcome.

And the final decision I made was A BAD ONE but that wasn't clear until the very end. Oops. Like, it's interesting, I like that it was an option, but I wish I had more to judge by. It feels like this game really wants to make you feel guilty no matter what. Though there definitely are better versions of the epilogue than others, it's just not really clear when you're choosing.

The game is not super long, about 50 hours for me, and it started feeling a little over its welcome at the end, but I had two other games locked and loaded I wanted to get into, so... Definitely worth a pick up on sale or if you (like me) have Gamepass (which with Oblivion and Expedition 33 is like the best $20 I've spent this month.)

So overall I think I enjoyed this more than The Outer Worlds. It has more heart and the exploration is LOADS better. There are some signs of rush/redesign from MMO. But what this really makes me excited for is for Obsidian to hopefully continue this franchise. Because an Avowed 2 could really be something special if they keep the good parts (combat, exploration) and polish some of the rough spots.

And I've now moved on to Expedition 33, which is just as impressive as everyone is saying. But it's pretty damn stressful to play. Tactical turn based combat, but the difficulty is HIGH due almost entirely to the dodging and parrying system.

Like really all the difficulty is in whether you can hit a button at the right time. So it's like Persona mixed with Elden Ring a bit. (Not SMT because it's not really the tactics that is so hard, it's just the damn freaking QTE.) BUT the tactical combat stuff is actually SUPER FUN I just wish I could enjoy it instead of being TENSE all the time in case I have to HIT B suddenly. (I'm getting better at it, but I have limped away from some boss battles y'all.) And there's only 3 difficulty modes when it feels like there should really be 5. Like I did try it on Story and that was SO easy it was pointless. Like damage being dealt to me went from 80 points to 8 per hit. So I'm glad it's there for people who really don't want a challenge at all, but I'd like something a little easier actually. Or the ability to turn off dodge or add a visual cue or SOMETHING, like they have the ability to turn off Offensive QTEs.

Cause some of us don't play Fromsoft games for a reason and that reason is our hands suck and hurt and also it's too stressful. Anyway.

It's a great game, I'm really eager to get further because I hear such AMAZING things from people getting close to the end, but yeah. It's gonna be a struggle. I can only manage to play for a short time each day. If I try to marathon as much as I might like, I get worse and worse at the combat as I get tired.

[ostentenacity]

silly raids roundup: stormblood edition

One of my favorite XIV pastimes is to do old unsynced raids with the wrong number of people. Running through the Coils with a sprout in tow is always fun for the story and the spectacle, but you don't really get to do a lot of actual boss fighting that way since level 50 is so far below current maximum power levels. So I'm on a (very low-key) mission to find raids that provide an interesting challenge to an undersized, high-level group.

I'm planning on writing a couple of posts picking apart my favorite finds from Stormblood, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker. Things are going to change next week with the addition of new raid gear, so I wanted to write a diary entry of sorts documenting what my favorite small-group raids feel like at ilvl 730 before we get another tier's worth of strength and all the combat jobs get rebalanced.

Stormblood is the lowest level at which boss fights don't just fall over when faced with a level 100 party. The 8-player fights tend to be either very easy, because they die super fast, or nearly impossible, because they have mechanics that can't be skipped or cheesed. Here are my favorites from level 70:

Alphascape V4.0 (Savage)

Number of players required: 2 (1 tank and 1 DPS or 2 DPS)

This one is a little tricky to do in a small group because you have to have a lot of damage to make the first phase possible. With two people, you'll want to save buffs for after the boss splits in half.

For phase 1, we burned the boss(es) as hard as possible after the split in an attempt to skip the limit cut mechanic. If you don't skip it, a tank must invuln the limit cut as it does lethal damage even at level 100 when not solved correctly with eight players. The DPS will die, but that's okay because there's a checkpoint! Once Final Omega has been tagged, the tank can jump off to reset. After that it's fairly straightforward: as long as you don't break your tether right before the tankbuster in Patch, nothing will really threaten you. During our trial run, my buddy and I cleared pretty comfortably during Hello World.

The Orbonne Monastery

Number of players required: 3 (at least 1 tank and 1 healer; WAR or PLD + WHM recommended)

The hardest boss here was a bit of a surprise. You'd think it would be Thunder God Cid or Ultima the High Seraph since they come later in the raid, but the standout was actually Agrias! It turns out that her crystal/doom jail intermission phase does lethal damage to the players outside the doom jail if you have fewer than 8 players out, and the DPS check to escape the doom jail is not trivial on a support job. Once you've survived that, the rest of the fight is not too bad, though if your sole survivor isn't a healer, red mage, or summoner, the second half is going to take a little while.

Thunder God Cid opens with a heal-to-cleanse doom, meaning that either everyone needs to be a warrior or paladin, or you need a real healer. We found that red mage is not able to full heal itself fast enough without really good crit RNG, unfortunately! In order to enter the raid at all, you need at least one party member in all three alliances - which means if you do this with three people, your healer will not be in party with anyone and won't be able to use AoE healing spells. For this reason, we found white mage to be the best option since Benediction is a get-out-of-doom-free card. A warrior or paladin is a good option for tank since they have their own healing, freeing up your healer to focus on your third group member if they are a DPS, gunbreaker, or dark knight.

[elftwink]

so this is from someone who also actively plays in and dms campaigns with other systems but personally i love dnd partly because i like the number of arcane rules. i think part of what it is, is my table experiences have been so combat-lite that for me the system has just become tools for solving puzzles and situations. encounters are so few and far between with my usual dm that they become very intense and scary when they do happen, and you can maybe say well that's dnd guy cope to say that this combat sim is better without the combat, and that probably is true. the best version of dnd for me like if i were writing 6e would be to shift the game's mechanical focus away from combat, increase the prominence of utility/ roleplay oriented spells and skills, and encourage DMs not to rely on combat to fill space in the game

yes!! ik im being a hater in my posts rn but i also love dnd, and especially the magic and spell system. it's not perfect obviously, but i have yet to find a ttrpg whose magic system is as engaging to me personally as dnd is. idk it's like exactly the right amount of rules to feel very bound by them while still leaving wiggle room for creative magic choices (either by way of flavour which is whatever you make of it, or by way of doing something that is Technically covered by the spell but probably not intended, which almost always fucks extremely hard).

& also i agree that dnd is kind of too combat focused, and i actually do think it would be better with less (although i suspect that given theres a pretty large contingent of dnd players who play mostly or solely combat, i dont think this is a universal opinion lol), or at the very least if it didn't feel like it dominated the meta decisions you have to make. like when i take new spells i often have to deliberate between the cool utility spell i actually want to take that has no damage component, and the damage based spell that will keep me viable in combat. i wish often these choices were less at odds with each other, or at least if you had a character who needed to be carried through combat that they would have more utility in non-combat scenarios instead of just kind of feeling like dead weight (now i sound like someone who should try another system, lol. but its more varied spells in the existing dnd system that i want!)

also i kind of think dnd has a problem esp at the mid level with keeping combat high stakes and genuinely scary, which is a whole other post where i could ramble lol, but honestly in terms of per table solutions "do combat a lot less" sounds like actually an extremely good way to deal with it. the worst thing in dnd is when combat starts to feel repetitive and like a slog. if it happens rarely it just so so so much easier to avoid that. i could say much more about this but ive already been typing this ask for a gazillion years but the point is i'm stealing your dms tactics for next time i run a game

also to contextualize my baseless haterism posts, i just want to clarify that i don't care in any way if someone plays only 5e/dnd and refuses to play other systems. this is whatever. what annoys me is when such people insist this is because every other game on earth is worse than dnd at everything, somehow, even though they do not know the full rules of dnd and are not super interested in learning. there's a lot to be found there in dnd but you have to like, engage with it. your dm cant read it for you. & its always more fun to be at a table where everyone knows wtf is going on than with players who barely know enough to scrape by and treat the DM like a rules dispensing machine

anyway. your 6e ideas sound awesome, especially more utility spells pleaseeee wotc. life could be so beautiful

[frybolg]

Probably once a month I think back to one dnd game I dm'd where the party (not the players, please let me clarify) had an orgy before they went to fight a literal world ending construct and that maybe resulted in the Gith becoming eggnant?

The delirious dnd we play at 2am is undefeatable.

[dmsden]

Fighting the Fizzle - What to do when you felt a session fell flat

Hullo, Gentle Readers. Let's face it - not all game sessions are created equal. You have intense sessions where it feels like everyone's engaged, you're on top of your game, and the atmosphere is electric. And then you have sessions where it feels like you're going through the motions, no one's paying attention, and you wonder why you do this to yourself. Those are the times I call the Fizzle.

The Fizzle is different from DM Burnout. A Fizzle can happen when you're feeling at the height of your game, and they can take you by total surprise. They come accompanied with the feeling that maybe you're not that great a DM after all, and they can legitimately make you question your commitment to the craft.

And the Fizzle can happen to anyone. I've been DMing for 43 years, and it hit me just this last Thursday. I had all my notes in order, and I was ready to go. I had a rough day at work, but I didn't want to cancel, because I knew we wouldn't play the following week due to Thanksgiving. I knew a tough combat was coming up, and I figured that would be the main focus of the session. We got through the first part okay, with some good description I thought, but then the combat started, and everything just seemed to fall apart.

I knew I wasn't feeling the normal sense of fun and excitement I get when I throw a monster at the PCs they haven't faced before. The monsters stunned half the group in the first round, and they did a scary amount of damage. But then things dragged on, with several people out of the fight, more or less, coming in and out of it as saves were made and the attack is repeated. They won, and we wrapped a little early.

After the combat, I realized that I hadn't fully reviewed my notes (prepared several weeks ago). I had some things prepared to give interesting visions to those who were stunned, to make the effect of being stunned slightly less awful and make the encounter more interesting and unique. I had descriptive text of the monsters I'd completely failed to say when they were close to characters with high perceptions. I just didn't follow my own narrative at all, and I felt the game had suffered for it. I'd made a couple of bad rules calls, I felt, and I'd kind of snapped at one player. I woke up the next day just feeling like it had been a terrible session.

I sent an email to one player making sure we were on the same page as far as a complicated ruling I'd had to make (9th level spells get wacky), emailed another player apologizing for snapping, and emailed the whole group apologizing for the overall poor quality of the session. To my surprise, three players emailed back telling me they thought it was a great session, the player with the rules question was 100% on board with my ruling, and the player I'd snapped at not only accepted my apology but apologized for the behavior that had set me off.

It turned out I was being my own worst critic, which I think it often the case with DMs. I still don't think it was a great session, but it reminded me of a few things to do when I feel that way. With this in mind, I wanted to offer some advice to DMs experiencing similar feelings.

First, step away from the game itself for a while, at least overnight. Do something totally different. I jumped on Lord of the Rings Online and did a few simple, repeatable missions to clear my head out. Then I got a good night's sleep, got up, and worked for a few hours before I shot off those emails on my break.

Second, talk to your players. In my case, they were emails, but I took the time to address the fact that I thought it went badly to the group. I talked about when our next game would be, and I addressed specific issues privately with a few players. I made sure they knew that, just because I wasn't happy with how the game went, I was still committed to running the next game and making it better...even though they didn't seem unhappy with it. After all, they didn't know what I'd had planned...they just knew I'd run a combat that most folks had had fun with.

Third, look at your notes for the next session. Are there things you'd missed that you wanted to make sure got out there? Is there something you can change or improve to make sure the same thing doesn't happen next time? Do you want to add something to throw events last session into a different light? Add those to your notes, and maybe call them out with some highlighting so you put it out there and don't forget it.

Maybe some of your players will agree with you that it wasn't a good session. That was true with one of mine. In that case, I encourage you to do what I did...talk to them. See what it was they felt wasn't great, think about how you can improve it for the future, and assure them you intend to do better.

The most important thing to know is that Fizzles happen, they happen to everyone, and they aren't the end of the world. With some good communication, you can make sure everyone's okay with what happened, reassure those who weren't, and plan to do better next time. No one's perfect every session, and you shouldn't expect to be.

[aggromango]

Concept for a Sonic Metal Virus Game:

In the comics everyone gets infected with a „Metal Virus“, created by Dr Eggman. It spreads with physical contact and turns every living organism infected with it into metallic husks with no ability of complex thinking, kinda like Zombies. For simplicities‘ sake, they’re called „Zombots“. Sonic gets infected fairly early but discovers a way to fight off the infection by going high speeds. It doesn’t completely heal him though, but it’s enough to help civilians (by fighting off Zombot Herds, not carrying the civilians, he STILL can spread the virus, even if he isn’t fully transformed yet). He is forced to maintain this high speed to not get fully transformed, which in turn makes it harder again for him to help civilians, which often causes a dilemma. Risk getting transformed but helping more people, or getting cleaner himself but risking losing more innocent people?

Now to the actual game:

Sonic will be infected right off the start in a cutscene for narrative purposes. That means in the gameplay he will be in the constant state of infection. This would be visualized by a Metallic texture slowly covering Sonic’s model. To fight off the infection the player is required to go a certain speed or surpass it. If not, the infection will takeover, the slower you go, the faster you get transformed. If you get fully taken over you die. Basic premise for this is basically „GO FAST“.

Now comes the fun part, STRATEGY

In the comics, each contact with an infected person will speed up Sonic’s infection process, forcing him to be rather careful with how he approaches combat and evacuation of the people.

In Gameplay this could be done via an infection counter or multiplier. The more enemies you attack the faster the infection spreads. This would force the player to strategize.

For the sake of this staying a high speed platformer and not a tower defense game, the dilemma I talked about earlier will be altered into „Do I attack and keep moving or slow down and find another path“.

This means that in a stage, the player will have to strategize to what the optimal option is.

A: Keep running the route you‘re on and tank a hit on your multiplier, which in return gives you less time to breath if you slow down, or

B: Risk slowing down and finding an alternate path around the Zombots.

This incentives the player to not only train reaction speed and thinking, but also incentives learning the level layout and enemy placement. Ideal for a game of Sonic’s nature, meant to replayed multiple times.

Maybe I‘ll get into multiple playable characters later if I have the motivation to do so.

Just wanted to get into detail to what my ideal Metal Virus game would look like 👍 . Matthasnocuts (a Youtuber) mentioned smth like this, and now that the comics are canon to the games I wanted to flesh it out a bit.

(Nobody‘s gonna read this LMAO)

[dauntless-gothamite]

Prove Them Wrong [2/?]

Fandom: Divergent Pairing: Eric Coulter x Fem! Reader Summary: Y/N is a Dauntless transfer from Erudite, and she has a drive, an ambition that sets her apart--it always has, even back in Erudite. She brings her perseverance (and need to prove others wrong) to Dauntless when she transfers, and she uses her mind to make her way through the initiation process. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies, and she finds herself comfortable around the man most people in Dauntless avoid at all costs: Eric Coulter. A/N: it seems this may be a little bit of a slow burn, based on the pacing and where I am in chapter three right now... Enjoy!

You woke up to the sound of metal clanging together, an unpleasant alarm if you’d ever heard one. “Get up, get dressed, and be in the training room in two minutes,” Four said, banging the metal together one last time before leaving the room. 

Everyone scrambled to get dressed in their new black Dauntless clothes, and as people entered the training area, they began to form a semicircle around Four and Eric. “Ok, let’s get started,” Four said, clapping his hands together. “There are two stages of training. The first is physical, you will push your bodies to the breaking point and you will master the methods of combat. The second is mental, again breaking point. You’ll face your worst fears and conquer them--unless they get you first. You’ll be trained separately from the Dauntless-born, but you’ll be ranked together. After initiations, rankings will determine what jobs you move into: leadership, guarding the fence, or keeping the factionless from killing each other.”

“The rankings will also determine who gets cut,” Eric cut in, rising from where he sat on a concrete slab. An uneasy whisper spread throughout the initiates. No one knew about this, and you had to admit, you were getting a bit nervous yourself. “At the end of each stage of training, the lowest-ranking initiates will be leaving us,” Eric continued. 

“To do what?” asked Al.

“Well, you can’t go home to your families, so you’ll be factionless.”

Another wave of murmurs rippled through the crowd of initiates, but it was quickly silenced by Eric’s glare. “Someone should have told us,” Christina said.

“Why? Would you have chosen differently? Out of fear?” Eric replied challengingly. “I mean, if that’s the case, you might as well get out now. If you’re really one of us, it won’t matter to you that you might fail, alright? You chose us. Now, we get to choose you.” Eric looked at each initiate, his blue eyes challenging each person to look away. Some people did, others didn’t. You didn’t. 

Instead, you held his intense gaze as the itch to prove others wrong that had been inside you since the day you were born rose up, ready to be set free. What Eric said was scary, but it didn’t matter--all your years of studying the faction system told you that they would try to scare the initiates, and while you hadn’t expected this, you had known it wouldn’t be easy. But you had worked your ass off for years to be top of the class in Erudite, and you’d be damned if you weren’t going to do the same here, in your new faction. 

--

“Everyone, get some water before we move into the next segment of training,” Four called out. It took everything in you not to bend over as some others were doing; you knew standing up straight, getting fresh air in your lungs, would make the cramp in your abdomen go away faster, even if it hurt more now. 

“Tris, stand up straight,” you whispered to your friend, who was red-faced after running twenty laps around the room, which was everyone’s warm-up for the day. 

“Just so you know, tomorrow we won’t just be running laps,” Four said, surveying all the tired initiates. “So get used to this.” 

You sighed, mentally thanking yourself for joining a small workout group in Erudite. It was fairly new, and it was only created because studies showed that after some physical activity, the brain was better equipped to come back to problems it struggled with earlier and continue working whereas remaining stagnant was more likely to result in burnout and fatigue. The workouts were nothing like this, but you were still appreciative of them.

“Alright, everyone find a punching bag and start hitting. Eric and I will be walking around correcting your form, but it’s on you to put our advice into practice. Go,” Four announced after barely even a minute of the “break” had gone by. 

Turning on your heel, you walked over to the nearest punching bag and lined yourself up. Feet spread evenly about as wide as your shoulders, then step the left foot forward just a bit. Knees bent slightly, fists raised high. Then, you get to punching. 

After what felt like an hour of hearing Four quietly critiquing other students between Eric’s shouts of disappointment at other initiates, the two trainers finally got to your area of the training room. Out of the corner of your eye you caught Four walking up to Tris, slightly adjusting her position and giving helpful tips. Another set of footsteps came to a stop behind you, which meant Eric would be the one helping you. Your shoulders tensed for a moment, but you quickly forced yourself into a more relaxed position and continued punching. Just pretend he isn’t there, you told yourself. After hitting the punching bag six times, called out “Stop” from behind you. He walked over to your side and took a fighting stance. “Make sure your hips are square, like this, so when you throw a punch with the hand that is further back, you can twist your hips and use core strength to put more power into it,” he said stoically, and you did your best to mimic his stance. “No, like this,” he said, grabbing your hips and twisting them, holding you firmly in place for a second before letting go. “Try it now,” he said. You started throwing punches again, and he nodded before silently walking away. When you paused to readjust your stance, you heard Eric yell “Did I say you could stop, Y/N? No, I did not; keep going!” You took a deep breath and began the next onslaught of punches as the room fell quiet save for the sound of fists hitting punching bags, a rhythmic thumping sound. 

“First jumper!” Eric called out, disrupting the steady beat and sense of calmness in the room. “In the ring.” Beside him, Four sighed and looked down at his feet, and you had a bad feeling about whatever was about to happen. “Last jumper,” he continued, looking at a girl with dark hair--you think you may have heard her friends call her Molly, but you aren’t entirely sure. “Time to fight.”

Tris and the girl stepped up to the ring. “How long do we fight for?” the girl asked.

“Until one of you can’t continue,” Eric said in response. 

“Or one of you concedes,” Four interjected, stepping forward. 

“According to the old rules,” Eric corrected. “With the new rules, no one concedes.”

“You really want to lose someone in their first fight?”

“Well, a brave man never surrenders.” 

“Lucky for you, those weren’t the rules when we fought.”

Eric clenched his jaw, irritated, before saying “You’ll be scored on this, so fight hard.” Tris and the other girl squared up and began to circle each other, but Eric was getting impatient. “Go!” he barked. 

After nearly falling off the mat, Tris lunged, but the other girl dodged, twisted, and retaliated with a swing of her own, landing a punch to Tris’ face. As Tris retreated, the other girl pressed her advantage, catching Tris’ waist, bending her over, and punching her stomach a few times before Tris managed to break free of her hold. Just as she reached the end of the mat and turned, Tris was met with another punch to the face, sending her to the floor. The other girl--Molly--glanced at Eric since Tris was down, and he nodded, signaling Molly to send one last blow Tris’ way, knocking her out. As you watched the fight, you felt bad for your friend; she was much smaller than Molly, and part of you wanted to speak up about the cruelty that the trainers were showing, but you shoved it down. There was no need to compromise your position right now. 

“Next,” Eric yelled, pointing to a girl named Selene and a former Candor named Peter who had made fun of Tris, calling her a Stiff several times. You secretly hoped Selene would kick his ass, but it was unlikely, he was tall and strong, plus he was willing to fight dirty--he’d admitted as much in the dorm area. Guess he still couldn’t keep his mouth shut, even though he’d left Candor.

Selene was tough; what she lacked in strength she made up for in endurance, but after a few rounds of dodging Peter’s punches, he finally landed one to her solar plexus, stunning her, allowing him to sweep her legs out from underneath her and kick her as she lay on the ground. You clenched your jaw as he did so, feeling anger rise up inside of you. Selene was unable to fight, that was the stopping point of the fights, but Peter was still kicking her. And Eric, the emotionless person that he was, didn’t do anything. 

“Peter,” you said, “stop it.” Peter turned towards you and smirked.

“What are you going to do if I don’t?” he taunted. You considered for a second before turning to Eric. 

Looking up at him, you steeled yourself. “I know we don’t get to determine the fighting order, or who we fight, but I would like to fight Peter. Now,” you said, sure to keep your voice level and maintain eye contact with the leader. 

He raised an eyebrow at you curiously, and thankfully, Peter had stopped kicking Selene when you started speaking to Eric. Selene scooted to the edge of the mat, but that was as far as she could move without assistance. “You two,” Eric yelled at two initiates, “help Four get this one,” he pointed at Selene, “to the infirmary.” Then he turned back to you. “What are you waiting for, initiate? Get up there.” For a moment you were stunned, you didn’t actually think you would end up fighting Peter, and you knew that both Eric and Peter were expecting you to lose quickly. You caught Four’s eye as he carried Selene out with the help of two initiates, and you looked around to see Christina, Tris, Will, Al, Edward, Molly, and a few other initiates staring at you like you were mad. Maybe you were, but it was too late to back out now. You stood in a low, sturdy fighting stance, just like Eric had shown you. Peter did the same. For a moment, the room was dead silent as your eyes locked with his, and then both of you whipped into action. 

Peter went right for the face punch, but you quickly blocked upward and threw a low roundhouse kick at his knee, making him wobble. He recovered quickly, and he quickly used his height to his advantage, moving to grab your shoulder and slam you into the ground. You were smart though, and you let him move you slightly before turning the downwards motion into momentum that allowed you to do a somersault, twisting his arm and landing on your feet. As he was turning around to face you, you sent a snap kick right to the back of his knee, making it buckle. You moved quickly to his other side, ready to send a few punches to his face and knock him out, but he sprung forward, wrapping strong hands around your neck and squeezing. For a moment you panicked, hitting his arms, but they didn’t move. Everyone was sure that was it for you, but you had another trick up your sleeve--Peter was overly confident this would weaken you and in the process of squeezing, he had left his own body defenseless. So you kicked him in the groin. Hard. He called out and released you, and as he leaned over in an instinctual reaction to pain, you kicked his forehead with your knee, shoved him to the side, knocking him over, and kicked him again, this time in the solar plexus. You stood there, stone-faced, and when Peter didn’t make a move to fight back, you turned to Eric, who nodded, and you jumped down from the mat. 

You landed next to Will, Tris, and Christina, all of whom were staring at you in a mixture of horror and admiration. You blushed in embarrassment and looked at the ground, thinking to yourself, What the hell did I just do? You were so lost in thought that you didn’t realize the next two initiates were on the mat and fighting, and you only came back to yourself when Eric yyelled, “Hey! Are you deaf, initiate? I said go grab some ice for your neck, I don’t want to hear complaints about it tomorrow!” 

You nodded to your friends and said “I’ll be back in a minute,” shocked at how hoarse your voice was. “Just going to… yeah,” you trailed off before walking quickly towards the infirmary. 

A/N: can you tell I love writing fight scenes? also I do martial arts and have played sports my whole life, so I love when I get to use my knowledge of anatomy and physiology two write action scenes :)

Tag List: @shykoolaid

[nukapind]

Just found your writing and I am obsessed! I loved your "Mother Knows Best" work! I thought a similar one with Shinsou Hitoshi would be funny, except it's like Aizawa and Eri trying to play the wingman/woman/child, I'm a sucker for the EraserMic family to be honest! Sorry if this is too specific, have a nice day xx

Little Bird (Shinsou x Reader)

I know its been a very long while since I’ve posted anything, I am in a bit of a rut and haven’t written in months but I was able to get a little bit of inspiration today!

In the meantime, requests are open and this was crossposted to my AO3.

(g/n reader, gender is not specified)

__

“Your cheeks are red.” “I’m just cold, it’s fine.” Hitoshi grumbled, shuffling Eri in his arms to knock his free hand against the door of the Class 1A dormhouse. Eri looked down at her sweater before shyly back up at Hitoshi with her wide eyes. “Do you want my sweater?” He held back a snort at the thought before shaking his head. “I think I’ll be fine, thank you though.” A small hum left her, and he shuffled her in his arms slightly. It was a miracle to Shinsou how far Eri had come under Aizawa’s watch. She used to be terrified of Hitoshi at the beginning, not that he blamed her.

And funnily enough, now she seemed to prefer him over Mirio or Izuku.

The door opened to reveal Izuku, Uraraka, and Tsuyu with wide smiles. “Eri! I’m so glad to see you again!” At the sound of Deku’s voice, Eri’s grip on Hitoshi’s shirt instantly tightened.

Here we go again.

“Eri, you gotta let go, I have to go practice with Aizawa.” “I can go with you, please?” Sighing through his nose, he shook his head. “C’mon, what if I drop by the store and get some apples?” She seemed to ponder it for a second, before shaking her head. This little clingy stage she was going through was simultaneously his most and least favorite.

“Well aren’t you a good big brother?”

He immediately stiffened at the cooing that came from behind the trio, your voice making his cheeks burn slightly. “Hitoshi and Mr. Aizawa took me to the park, and he pushed me on the swings. I went so high, it was fun!” Eri grinned, the feeling of your eyes focused intently on him made him cringe.

But then again, your attention on him didn’t feel terrible. He hadn’t felt this watched since the sports festival, with all the audience and cameras watching him— even then that did seem less stressful than your eyes focused on him.

“Toshi, you’re red again.” Eri innocently mentioned, patting his cheeks slightly. Taking advantage of the distraction, he quickly set her down with a sigh before crouching down to her level. “I’ll pick you up in a couple of hours. Get Midoriya to call if anything happens, okay?” She immediately nodded with a smile.

“Aw c’mon Shinsou, do you not trust us?” Your smile was bright as your fingers combed through Eri’s hair gently, and until that moment he’d never been this jealous over a child. “I know better than to trust you guys, don’t get her into any trouble.” He kept his voice flat despite the anxiousness in his chest. “I’ll make sure she stays out of trouble.” Reluctantly he nodded, getting up from his crouch, nudging Eri inside.

“Don’t forget my apples!” He sighed, smiling slightly as the door shut in front of him. Eri really had come so far these last few months, already becoming much more vocal with her wants than she had ever been since he’d met her.

If only he could be the same.

—

Practice was brutal: hand to hand combat was never his favorite and Aizawa was definitely exploiting his lack of speed. With practice and running off campus to get the promised fruit, the sun was already setting and the only sound was the buzzing of the lights. 

UA was peaceful for once, his mind itself was peaceful for once. He’d been promised his spot in the hero course, he had a mentor teaching him, and he had Eri to bring some brightness in his life. Then again, it wasn’t quite everything he wanted.

Everything he was wanting was sitting right there on the steps of the 1A dormhouse, holding onto a sleeping Eri tightly.

“You two should be inside, you know better L/n.” He hoped his voice hid the excitement he felt as you stood up, his arms instantly taking Eri into his own arms, her head resting on his shoulders. “Well I would have waited inside, but you were running late and she got worried about you.” He softened ever so slightly, a grunt leaving him in acknowledgment. “So why is it you out here instead of Midoriya?” “Would it be bad to say I wanted to see you?” That got the flush back on his face and neck, mouth pressed into a thin line at that. 

Would it be so bad if he liked that answer? Would it be bad to say he wanted to see you as well?

“Do what you want, I have to get Eri home.” He regretted the words as soon as he said them, but they didn’t seem to deter you all that much— seeing as you were already following right behind him as he started to make his way to the teachers’ dorms. “I’ll come with!” Was everyone in 1A this friendly? 

Of course, he didn’t mind it all too much when it was you tagging along with him.

A comfortable silence washed over the two of you, the only interruption being the sound of Eri’s quiet snoring as she snoozed away. Footsteps on the concrete and the light breeze rolling in only made his inner anxieties quell. “You know… Eri really adores you, you’re all she’d talk about today.” You hummed, eyes darting over to take in the sight of Shinsou holding the girl he practically thought of as a little sister. If you’d known better, it almost seemed like he was taking on a more fatherly role than just a caretaker. 

“She’s not good at keeping secrets you know.” You cheekily added, making him nearly stop in his tracks. He had no secrets, or at least no secrets that he’d told Eri. His own eyes glanced at you quickly before focusing back on the path before him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He lamely mumbled, ignoring the feeling of you watching him.

“Well… a little bird told me that you like it when I’m around, and that’s the reason you drop her off every Sunday.” Hitoshi grimaced, in hindsight maybe he shouldn’t have always jumped at the opportunity to go to the 1A dorms, and he especially should have hidden it more from Eri.

But he didn’t, and now he had two options: tell the truth, or ruin any chance he had with you.

“What about it?” He could feel the grin on your face, your hand carefully linking around his arm as to not interrupt his hold on Eri. “I like spending time with you too Shinsou.” His corner of his lips quirked up slightly as your body pressed into his side.

“Good to know.”

Being late was worth the scolding he’d gotten from Aizawa.

Masterlist

[nikibogwater]

What did you think of Nari's characterization in ROTT?

Disliked it, as with most of the other things in the movie.

The short version of it is this: In Wizards, Nari's primary character traits were empathy and compassion for others. In Rise of the Titans, her primary character traits seem to be just a general lack of awareness for what's happening around her, and a tendency to make light of very serious situations.

Now before I get into the long-form answer, I will preface by saying that the writers of RotT were at a severe disadvantage when writing for characters who were introduced in Wizards because Wizards was still in production at the time. So I understand why Nari ended up feeling like a completely different character in the movie, and I am not shaming anyone for it. But the fact of the matter is that I found her characterization in Wizards to be much more appealing, and if that characterization had carried over to Rise of the Titans, I think I would've had slightly warmer feelings towards the movie. But let's get down to brass tacks now, because I've actually been dying to talk about this. This is gonna be a loooooong boi, so I've put everything under the cut to avoid clogging people's queues (I'm just really passionate about this bean goddess, okay? 😅)

When Nari is introduced to us in Wizards, she is quietly watching the arrival of our heroes at the castle. She doesn't make herself known to them, but it is clear she is very interested in what's happening. She does not make any other appearance until the Arcane Order launches their assault on Camelot.

Nari's first spoken words are, "Merlin! This is all my fault!" and as one would expect after hearing this, she is very obviously distressed and feeling guilty for putting everyone in danger. Merlin tells her they need to escape to the past, and that he needs her help in order to do it. Nari's response is to begin charging her magic as she says "I will do what I can."

After our main characters are thrown back in time, we're introduced to Nari as she was in the past. Although she is allied with the Arcane Order in their war against humanity, it's clear that she displays the least amount of malice out of the three. In fact, it's revealed that Nari has always been rather fond of humans, and has even reached out to them in friendship a number of times. After resurrecting Morgana, Nari is the one who does most of the explaining and introductions, showing a bit of a playful/mischievous side as she pokes fun at Bellroc and Skrael. ("I told you she would, Skrael! So old, and they still haven't learned manners.")

During the Battle of Killahead, we see Nari watching the war from a distance, and it's clear from the expression on her face that she is not liking any of this. Though she does briefly aid her siblings when they join in the battle, she reveals afterwards that she can sense the pain and suffering they have inflicted on others--and she doesn't believe the Order's ambitions are worth that. She abandons the Order, presumably spending the next 900 years in hiding, before seeking Merlin's protection.

Once our heroes have returned to the present, Nari becomes a bit more involved in the plot. She expresses genuine sorrow over the destruction of Arcadia Oaks High ("Your beautiful school-home was crushed!") and is clearly distressed by Jim's agony as the shard in his chest begins to work its dark magic. ("Poor soul! Your corruption...I feel it worsening.") After Jim is taken by the Order, we can see her comforting Toby in the background. She continues to show great concern and empathy for the people around her, and is still eager to help wherever she can, though her magic doesn't seem to be combat-oriented. She is also shown to be somewhat timid, hiding behind Merlin or Claire during confrontations with the Order--she is very clearly terrified of her old allies, and seems to want to avoid direct contact with them. When Douxie is struck down by the Order and is falling to his death, it is Nari who runs to try to save him before anyone else--apparently, if someone is in need, Nari's first instinct is to rush to their aid.

So, from all of that, we can gather that Nari, as she was characterized in Wizards, is intelligent, curious, cautious, gentle, empathetic, and very aware of what's going on around her. She is also a little playful and wild, but never to the point of disregarding what's happening or how others are feeling.

In Rise of the Titans, Nari remains consistent with this characterization for all of...seven minutes.

Initially, Nari is still very much herself in this scene (though I wish we could've been told what exactly made her want to stop running and face the Order head-on. Again, in Wizards, it was abundantly clear that that was the one thing she did NOT want to do). When Douxie expresses his anxiety about the situation, she takes him by the hand, offers him a reassuring smile, and says, gently but firmly, "No. No more running, Douxie." Excellent interaction. 10/10. Five stars. That's also the only time in the movie where Nari displays any level of awareness regarding Douxie's (or anyone's) feelings/wellbeing.

The body-swap scene is when Nari's character just completely swings in the opposite direction, and she becomes near-unrecognizable as being the same character from Wizards. Douxie, being our favorite Self-Sacrificing Idiot, swaps bodies with her at the last possible second, causing the Order to take him instead. Nari, now stuck inside Douxie's body, seemingly doesn't think much of this development at all. In fact, her first response is to giggle playfully. UM, NARI. NARI, SWEETIE, YOUR BIG BROTHER IS IN THE CLUTCHES THE MOST EVIL BEINGS KNOWN TO MANKIND. LIKE, THEY LITERALLY KILLED HIM THE LAST TIME HE RESCUED YOU FROM THEM, WHY ARE YOU NOT MORE WORRIED ABOUT THIS?! Up until this point, Nari has never been shown to underestimate the Arcane Order--she seems all too aware of the kind of violence and destruction they are capable of, which explains why she was so terrified of them in Wizards. But in Rise of the Titans she seems to just....not really care anymore? The entire time she is in Douxie's body, she doesn't express the slightest amount of concern for him, or for anyone around her. She just keeps doing...cutesy forest gremlin things, like singing to her flower, batting at a light fixture, and antagonizing Archie (she's definitely not the only character who was severely lacking in empathy in this movie, but this is an essay about Nari, so I'm not going to bother touching on everyone else). This is a direct contradiction to her characterization in Wizards, where she was shown to care deeply for the people around her, and displayed genuine distress whenever they were in danger or suffering.

Nari also persists in being pointlessly cryptic for the entirety of the movie because....reasons. Before the Order breaks Douxie's body-swap spell, she tells Jim, "Trollhunter make ninth configuration--the Kronosphere will make right." Which, of course, doesn't help him in the slightest. And when they finally succeed in rescuing Nari, she doesn't elaborate or explain this at all. She just says it again. Listen, I can get behind Nari being Insanely Ancient, and maybe a little out of touch with modern trends, but I'm fairly certain that Wizards Nari at least knew how to communicate. She never showed any inclination towards being cryptic or mysterious on purpose, at least. We're never given any explanation for Nari's sudden lack of clarity, so I guess it was just there for plot reasons. Which makes it that much more infuriating.

Also I don't know why, but the little "Hehe!" Nari does when Douxie pulls her into a hug kind of grinds my gears, because Nari, love, this is a really serious moment, you were just snapped out of mind control and your siblings are currently rampaging across globe in giant magical mechs, why are you giggling like a four-year-old and not, idk, SOBBING IN A MIXTURE OF RELIEF AND HORROR BECAUSE YOU WERE ALMOST PART OF WHAT DESTROYS THE EARTH?! AS THAT WOULD BE A MORE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO WHAT JUST HAPPENED????!!!!! But that's just a stupid little nitpick.

Now this is not me saying that Nari's characterization in the movie is objectively bad. Actually, it's kind of fitting for the Tales of Arcadia brand of humor--Super ancient demigoddess who houses the power to completely destroy the earth is also kind of a clueless ditz and needs to be babysat like a toddler. If she had not been introduced in Wizards, I would've been fine with this. But, much like the rest of the movie, Nari's vastly different characterization felt a tiny bit like a betrayal, and it consistently bothered me in every single one of her scenes. It also kept me from feeling the full impact of her death--seriously, I didn't cry at all when she was killed. Which....yeah, I'm just as surprised as you are.

So anyways, if you've made it this far, thank you so much for the ask, Non! Normally I have a bit more self control than to just....essay-dump like this, but honestly I've been thinking about this for way too long, and I had to get it out of my system. 🥴 And to anyone who really liked Nari's characterization in RotT--that's totally valid! Again, I don't think it was a bad characterization. It was just very inconsistent with her character as she was introduced to us in Wizards. And I just happen to prefer Wizards Nari over RotT Nari. 🌿✨

[mediocre--writing]

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeknnubu/

I think I can send links but- I just saw this Pre K teacher tiktok & now all I can think of is a future AU where Steve takes like maybe a younger cousin or maybe a friends kid to school (or even his own kid??) and he walks in on fucking bad boy Billy Hargrove, still rocking his leather jacket and combat boots, seated on the carpet doing this with a bunch of Pre K kids as their teacher. Just this big mean badass dude sitting with a bunch of kids, being the best, most sweet teacher in the world

Bonus points for him having a battle jacket of some sort that he lets them add too and play with the dulled down spikes and studs on. And he has a class where the kids all make a patch one big patch for him to add to his jacket because he loves them so much

AND even more points if he just says his whole nice personality is “fake and for work only because it was the first job he got” but It’s actually real, and he really just likes being with the kids all day because their fun & they unconditionally love him, especially on his bad days where he’s sad & less motivated. I just crave soft emotional stuff 😔

steve, for as kind a fellow as he is, really should have thought twice about offering to take his nephew to pre-k every day.

jill, his older sister, had to be at work by 6 every morning during the week and had no means to take her son, patrick, to school every day.

and steve offered because what else was there to do? he worked two jobs that both started later in the day and jill offered to give him gas money to do it, so why not?

plus, patrick really was a sweetheart, he was just an energetic kid. steve preferred older kids. the younger ones tested his patience too much.

but imagine his surprise when he walks into the building, going to patrick’s classroom, turning into the doorway to see billy hargrove, same as he was when they were in high school, sitting on a colorful, patterned rug, animatedly talking to children.

“biwwy!” patrick yelled as he ran from steve’s side to his... teacher... and hugged him super tight.

“hey, patrick, my buddy!”

steve felt like this may be a dream. there is no way that billy hargrove, mullet and all, was patrick’s pre-k teacher.

billy looked to the door, where steve was still standing, and offered a smile. patrick looked to where billy was looking, excitedly telling him about how his super fun uncle was driving him to school now.

billy was engaging with the kids. he talked along with them and was able to balance all the kids at once. he looked happy, steve realized.

steve left a few moments later, making sure patrick was ok and staring at billy for a while longer.

it’s not until the day before winter break that billy and steve actually interact again.

the class is having a holiday party and parents are encouraged to come and bring food, drink, or just general supervision.

steve had made tons of cookies, enjoying his fattening hobby of baking, and they were all decorated with fun santa’s or snowflakes or christmas trees.

he was even told to make a few blank cookies and bring spare icing for kids to decorate during their party stations.

when steve got to the classroom closer to the afternoon, it was still nap time for the 15 kids in the class, all curled up on small cots and bundled in blankets.

when he came in, billy was sitting at a table near the door, organizing strings by color and had stacks of paper and boxes of markers organized the same way.

“hargrove,” steve greeted, “i made cookies, didn’t know if there were any allergies, so they’re pretty plain, no chocolate or anything. and i didn’t decorate a few, like you asked,”

“thanks,” billy didn’t look up to him, still hunched over the table detangling strings. “‘can set ‘em over there,” billy vaguely gestured.

steve went to set them on a table with a fun, winter themed cover over it.

he came back to sit by billy at the craft table because he didn’t know what else to do. plus, he didn’t want to wake any sleeping children.

“so, why are you a pre-k teacher?” steve asked.

“getting straight to the point, huh?”

“well, you look like that,” steve gestured to his embellished leather jacket, the mullet, the tight jeans (not as tight anymore, he did have to get up and down off the floor), and the hefty black boots that could probably crush a kid’s tiny fingers. “and i haven’t heard about you going through a brain reset or something, so what’s up?”

“it’s the only thing i could find,” billy grunted, not liking this conversation.

“don’t teachers have to go to college like everyone else? and have to have like a specific thing that says they’re qualified to be a teacher? seems like an awful lot of work for this to be the only thing you could find,”

“well, i can boss four year olds around all day, who wouldn’t like that job?” billy countered.

steve went to respond when there was a creak heard from behind him. one of the kids, a young girl with a wild head of hair, was walking over to billy with her blanket still wrapped over her shoulders.

“hey, jeanie, what’s wrong, doll?” billy asked, drawing his eyes away from the tangled string, which he didn’t do when talking to steve. he was giving the girl— jeanie— his full attention.

“i woke up,” jeanie said as she made her way closer to billy, “i got nightmares,”

billy’s face turned sympathetic as he put his arms out for jeanie, allowing her to crawl into his lap and rest her head on his chest while he wrapped her tight in his arms.

“wanna tell me what it was about?” billy asked, but only got a shake of her head in return, “that’s ok, you can sleep for another 10 minutes, doll. you’re safe,”

she was cuddled up in his arms, poking at the dull spikes on his shoulders and the silver buttons around the jacket. she looked utterly peaceful as she started to doze off again.

billy was so gentle with the little girl, adjusting her in his arms, making sure she was stable in his lap, before moving one arm back to the string, as if doing it one armed would be easier than before.

“i can do it,” steve offered in a hushed tone, “the string. i can untangle it for you,”

billy slid the string ball over to steve’s side of the table and let him take a crack at it while he started rubbing jeanie’s back.

steve had managed to get the string ball undone in the 10 minutes of nap time they had left. the boys didn’t talk through those 10 minutes, but steve would sneak glances over at billy often.

billy, for someone who tried to run a group of kids over once upon a time, was really great with younger kids. he was able to keep jeanie asleep, even when he moved an arm or straightened his back, something steve couldn’t do with patrick.

another parent showed up right when nap time was going to end, carrying bags of board games and such.

two more parents showed after the kids had woken up, and soon the party was in full swing. the kids were having a delightful time, half of them covered in glitter and icing, but nothing a good bath won’t fix.

billy was thriving in the chaos of four year olds, making sure they were following directions but still having fun, keeping the morale up and excitement high.

the parents seemed to love him, from what steve heard. one parent, wendy, even said that she didn’t like billy to begin with, thought he would be irresponsible and mean, but her kid loves him.

billy, for as much of a big guy as he was, didn’t seem to tower over kids menacingly when standing at full height. and it didn’t seem taunting when he would crouch down. he was on their level, in many ways.

once parents started taking kids home at the end of the day, billy, steve, and patrick were left to help clean up, though patrick was knocked out on the multicolored rug, he’d used up a lot of energy that afternoon.

“so, what do you want me to do?” steve asked, watching billy sweep the floors.

“you can leave if you want, i’ve got it. plus, pat seems to be knocked out, huh?”

“he’s already sleeping, and i feel really bad leaving you to clean everything.”

billy sighed, looking around at the disaster that was his room, “could you start wiping down tables? clorox and paper towels are in the far right cabinet, second shelf,”

they got to work and the whole classroom was clean within the hour. billy was throwing his bag over his shoulder and steve was carrying patrick in his arms as they walked out to their cars.

“do you mind opening my door?” steve asked after many attempts to get patrick adjusted in his arms to move and open the back door.

billy moved over to open the back door of steve’s car before walking back over to his car, the same car he’d been driving since high school.

i guess people really never change, steve thought.

once he got patrick settled into his car seat and got the car running to warm it up before he drove home, steve stood and talked to billy for a few minutes. just casual conversation, a thanks from billy for steve’s help.

“would you, maybe, wanna go get a drink or something some time?” steve asked, awkward as ever.

the rest was history, steve and billy would see each other for a date every weekend and they’d wave to the other in the mornings and afternoons.

they had a similar situation when the spring party came, steve bringing decorated and undecorated cookies for the kids and showing up during their nap time.

but steve had something in his bag that he wouldn’t let billy see.

through the party, steve would bring the mystery item to each kid, making extra sure that billy never saw it.

even at their date that weekend, billy couldn’t get it out of steve to find out what it was.

at the very end of the year, they have another party (and steve does not remember his pre-k days, but he doesn’t think they had this many parties).

billy has been weird the past week, finally realizing that he’s not gonna see these kids often, if at all, anymore. he’d grown very attached.

but, in true billy manner, he refused to let anyone know he was upset about a bunch of toddlers.

that’s where steve’s secret came in handy.

you see, on that day of the spring party, steve had gotten a piece of paper and has each kid sign it in a different color. he’d brought it to a small shop and they’d been able to transfer it onto a patch, one for billy’s jacket.

it was scaled down to be the size of an index card, but all the names were still legible.

when they’d given it to billy at the end of the day, before kids went home, billy almost cried.

he loved the kids so much and loved the connection and impact they have had on him without him knowing. he’s gonna miss rocking jeanie to sleep three times a week because she can never stay asleep alone.

he’s gonna miss the chaos that this group of children, specifically, brought. they made his day great, even if he was feeling especially shitty.

they helped him feel good about himself. kids don’t lie, that’s for sure, and billy created such a strong bond with them that all their thanks and love will be forever ingrained onto his heart.

[vecnawrites]

Hypnotic Suggestions, Chapter 1

Pyrrha Nikos loved her partner, Joan Arc. Practically everybody but the blonde knew that. She also wanted nothing more than for the blonde to see in herself, what the redhead saw in her. Could hypnosis help her bring the blonde out of her shell? Or would it simply bring about the redhead’s own fall?

Pyrrha adored her partner, Joan Arc. The bubbly blonde’s personality was so honest, so earnest, kind and caring, that it was a wonder that only she seemed to be interested in her romantically...although she was also grateful for that on some level, since she hadn’t been able to confess to the precious blonde yet.

But despite Joan’s loving qualities, she had several faults as well, mainly ones relating to how she felt towards herself. She didn’t know how she had such low self-worth and self-esteem, but she took it upon herself to help her, just like she was helping her in her combat training.

But most of the normal methods had failed so far. Positive reinforcement had actually been working somewhat, but when it seemed like everyone and the teacher (damn you, Goodwitch!) went out of their way to cut you down, the positive reinforcement of three meant nothing, sadly.

She was desperate by this point. Joan was a wonderful woman, she just needed to be able to see it for herself! Flipping through through several articles on her scroll while her teammates were asleep, she paused as something came up across her screen.

‘Hypnosis?’ she looked at the screen, snorting slightly after a moment and about to back out and go to another page, but she hesitated, something staying her hand for one reason or another. ‘It...it couldn’t hurt to just look, could it?’ she asked herself, glancing at her sleeping crush, seeing the peaceful look on her sleeping face, the slight smile on those plump lips...one she would give most anything to make sure stayed there.

Squaring her shoulders, Pyrrha clicked the link, emerald eyes roaming the page of information that emerged, seeing the testimonials that she could click on. One was a smoker, who had been smoking for twenty years and stopped immediately; another was of a drinker who had been drinking profusely daily who now hated the taste of alcohol; and the last, which truly caught her attention, was that of someone with self-esteem and self-worth issues. Opening the page, she read their testimonial.

“I was always a very quiet and unassuming individual. The one no one looked at. A complete and utter wallflower that no one thought twice of. I spent most of my time being teased and tormented by my peers, crying in my bed most nights and dreading the next day.”

Pyrrha blinked, sucking in a sharp breath. That sounded like Joan to a tee, down to dreading the next day of school. She knew that Cardin’s team still bothered her, even if the head oaf himself didn’t. She glanced at her sleeping partner, who despite her restful sleep and the smile on her lips, had slightly puffed eyes, telling Pyrrha that she had been crying when she had taken her shower before crawling into bed.

Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest and she felt fury swim through her blood, hating that people considered Joan’s kind and loving heart a weakness to make fun of. It wasn’t her fault her parents hadn’t let her train! She was advancing fast enough that Pyrrha was sure that if she had gotten the training she had wanted when she was younger, she would be on par with herself! She would ensure it!

Shaking her head, she took a deep breath to calm herself, having been trembling from emotion and turned herself back to the testimonial, intent on getting as much information as she could from it, as well as what to do to help the girl she so loved.

“I never thought that I would be able to live a normal life, to be able to walk with my head held high and just be happy. But through hypnosis, I became so much happier! Through several sessions, I was slowly helped to learn that none of these opinions mattered, that I should be proud and happy of my body, and of who I was! With these sessions of hypnosis, I was able to wear nicer clothes that showed off my body, confess to my crush, and am now married and pregnant with our first child! The only thing I regret...is that I didn’t do this sooner.” -Katarina Bronzewater

Pyrrha’s heart thumped heavily in her chest, feeling as though Joan’s issues had been lived by another person, and that person had been helped by hypnosis...would it help Joan just as much? Without thinking, her fingers danced along her scroll pad, applying for it through a dummy email account she had set up and having the information sent to her. Her heart beat faster. This was it! She had a good feeling about this! All she had to do was look over the information and convince Joan!

The Next Day

Thankfully, it was a Sunday, because the moment that the hypnosis lessons arrived, Pyrrha had started reading and hadn’t stopped, not even noticing the time passing by, not until she notice the light peeking through the blinds and the warning of her alarm about to go off on her scroll.

Quickly shutting it off, Pyrrha sighed and rubbed her face, knowing that today would likely suck, but considering what she had learned, she couldn’t complain. Thankfully, as it was a Sunday, so she could just crash early tonight. But firstly, she was going to convince Joan to undergo hypnosis and let her help her. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be too difficult. But first, a shower.

“Hmm, hmm…ahhhh~” Pyrrha hummed happily as the steaming water washed over her body, running through her hair, down her chest and over her breasts, flowing down her back and stomach, over her rear and between her legs, placing a hand on the wall, Pyrrha’s eyes drifted shut as her free hand slipped over her cock and palming as she began to participate in her normal morning ritual, Joan fantasizing. It was a wonderful way to relax before she started the stress of her day.

~x~x~

“Pyrrha, are you sure? We could get caught!” Joan squeaked out as she slipped her hand under her skirt under the desk in Port’s class. Pyrrha only smiled at her lover, knowing that all of their fellow classmates weren’t paying attention at all, either asleep or bored to death by the portly man’s droning.

“Not if you keep quiet~” she purred into the blonde’s ear, her fingers slipping into her precious partner’s underwear and running them over her wet folds. “If you fear you’ll make a sound, feel free to bury your face into my chest~” Pyrrha teased, watching as her beloved’s eyes rolled up as her fingers began to delve into her slick core, slowly and gently thrusting into her.

She watched with glee as Joan squirmed and shifted in her seat, biting her lower lip in an attempt to stifle her pleasured moans. Pyrrha liked that, it only gave her more reason to thrust her fingers harder, fast, deeper into the blonde’s flexing core.

“P-P-Pyrrha, p-please…” the blonde whined, doing as she had teasingly offered earlier and burying her face into her ample bosom (although nowhere near as ample as Joan’s wonderful chest) and looking up pleadingly.

Pyrrha smirked, leaning down and brushing her nose against Joan’s. “Cum~” she purred, feeling the blonde’s walls flexing and clenching around her fingers as the precious blonde buried her face into her cleavage and squealed as she gushed over her fingers and on her chair.

~x~x~

Pyrrha shuddered, biting down harshly on her lip as she came hard, cock spurting hard and spraying her thick cum on the shower floor in thick streaks of fluid, forming puddles that slowly were diluted by the water and dragged down the drain.

The redheaded champion panted happily, relaxing as the endorphins slowly ebbed away, her cock softening in her hand. Normally, she would have a second go and enjoy another fantasy, but she knew that this morning she would need to talk to Joan and convince her to let her do the hypnotic treatment. She hoped it wasn’t difficult, but...the beautiful blonde was worth it.

~x~x~

Joan blinked once. Twice. Then three times as she registered Pyrrha’s words. Tilting her head and almost tasting the words in her head. “H-Hypnosis?” she repeated, wondering if she had heard wrong. However, Pyrrha’s fast, and almost eager nod told her she wasn’t mistaking it for something else.

“I’ve noticed that positive reinforcement is working, but there is the fact that you still are too hard on yourself for things that aren’t your fault.” Joan flushed a bit as Pyrrha reached out and took her hand between both of her own, giving her a warm feeling. She opened her mouth to speak, but Pyrrha cut her off. “I know what people say about hypnotism, Joan...but please...trust me.” the naked plea in Pyrrha’s voice hurt, because she knew that she too had felt that sort of plea, when she had told Pyrrha about how little training she had gotten and begged for help.

Swallowing, Joan looked at her partner. “You...you...you’ll take care of me if this works, right?” she didn’t want to be callous and ask, “you won’t take advantage of me, right?” that the fear in the back of her mind was giving her. But...she knew Pyrrha! There was no way that she would take advantage if it worked and make her do something embarrassing!

Pyrrha smiled at Joan softly, rubbing her hand gently. “I promise, Joan...nothing bad will happen to you...I swear it.” she was almost there, almost had gotten her to agree. She just needed that one final push. “I mean, you have nothing to lose trying this, right? Please, let me help.”

Pyrrha fought the urge to dance in joy when Joan nodded to her. Finally! It had taken long minutes of intense negotiation for her to agree to this!

“Okay, Joan...I want you take a comfortable position and close your eyes for me…” she could see Joan hesitating, so she squeezed the blonde’s hand again. “Trust. Me.” she knew she was asking a lot, but she wanted nothing more than to help the blonde she loved. Swallowing, Joan nodded, leaning back comfortably in her chair and closing her eyes.

Pyrrha took a deep breath and swallowed. She knew that she had to be careful about this, the last thing she wanted was to make her precious partner unnerved or frightened.

“Joan...take slow, deep breaths...listen to my voice...focus on it, and only it...you’re drifting into a wonderful, relaxing void, where you feel safe...where nothing can hurt you…” Pyrrha began, seeing Joan slowly begin to relax in her seat. “I’m going to slowly count down backwards, from ten to zero. With each number, you will fall deeper and deeper into the trance. Upon reaching zero, I will snap my fingers and you will be fully immersed and unable to wake without me snapping my fingers again. Ten...nine...eight...seven...six...five...four...three...two...one...zero.” Snap!

Joan slumped in her seat, her head lolling gently as though she was asleep. “Joan, if you can hear me, I want you to open your eyes and look at me.” she waited with bated breath to see if this would work. Her heart leapt as Joan immediately raised her head, her eyes open, hazy and almost foggy, like she was half asleep, rather than the clear cerulean blue she normally saw.

Now came the test. Pyrrha wasn’t just going to go on how her eyes looked to believe she was under hypnotic trance. An experiment first, then. Something that Joan wouldn’t normally do before anyone else. Then, she would place the subconscious commands that would help Joan. “Joan, stick out your tongue.”

Immediately, Joan stuck out the pink muscle and wiggled it about, making Pyrrha swallow and her cock twitch in her compression underwear, her mind going immediately to how that swaying bit of flesh could be put to better use making her cock feel good. She banished those thoughts to the back of her mind; that could happen in her next fantasy when she showered, or better yet, it could happen when she got Joan as her girlfriend. The thought made her giddy, but she pushed that away too. Now was time to help Joan.

“Joan, you can hear me, correct?” she asked, seeing Joan pull her tongue back in and nod, her head bobbing almost drunkenly. “...yes…” her voice made Pyrrha’s cock throb. It was almost a moan, and whispered promises of what she might sound like underneath her, in her bed as they made love.

A hard shake of the head this time. She was so close to helping Joan! Now wasn’t the time for her fantasies! “I want you to listen carefully to me okay? Everything I tell you is the truth.” she watched as Joan nodded her head again. Taking a deep breath, Pyrrha began her work.

“Joan, you aren’t going to belittle yourself anymore...you have grown so much since you came Beacon, you’re already above all of Team Cardinal, and quickly rising the ranks even more! You. Are. Growing.” she took another breath. “Nod if you understand me.” another nod from Joan, her eyes hazy and breathing steady.

“There is no need to look down on yourself because of other people’s words. Don’t let their words about your schooling, your fighting ability, bother you. The only person you have to worry about is yourself...as long as you are happy, that’s all that matters. Okay?” another nod followed, and Pyrrha was glad that she showed no hesitance at all so far.

“The same for your body. There is nothing to be ashamed of about it, Joan...I’m not saying you need a new wardrobe, but when in the locker rooms, you need to stop hiding yourself away. That actually brings more attention to you…” Pyrrha could see Joan twitching, making her frown. She knew that was a sign that Joan was fighting the command. “Joan!” she said sharply, before continuing with a softer tone. “I’m not saying that you need to show off to everyone like Yang!” the blonde from RWBY had no shame whatsoever, taking her time topless to do other things as slowly as possible.

Joan calmed and relaxed again, making Pyrrha breathe a sigh of relief. “Joan, you need to ignore the opinions of other people about your body. The only person who’s opinion matters besides your own is the person you love and are dating. Nod to me if you understand.” there was a moment of long, terrifying silence, before Joan nodded firmly, making her breathe a sigh of immense relief. “Okay, Joan...I’m going to count backwards from ten to zero, and when I snap my fingers you will awaken. Ten...nine...eight…seven...six...five...four...three...two...one...zero!” Snap!

Joan gasped, jolting awake as it felt like she had been half asleep. She had vaguely heard Pyrrha talking to her, but couldn’t for the life of her remember what she had said. “D-Did it work?” she asked, her voice slightly groggy.

Pyrrha smiled. “We won’t know until tomorrow...but I will tell you this, you were a wonderful hypnotic subject. Thank you for trusting me…” she smiled, reaching forwards and brushing Joan’s loose blonde locks out of her face. “Now, what do you say we relax and watch a movie together?” it would be the perfect excuse to cuddle Joan, after all. Seeing Joan’s expression brighten, she knew she had the right idea.

As the pair curled up together on Pyrrha’s bed, the redhead honestly thought things couldn’t be more perfect right now.

Monday

Joan was shocked that today had gone fine! She had gone to classes and despite certain people mocking or ribbing her in Doctor Oobleck’s class (Weiss and Yang, mostly), it..it hadn’t bothered her like it normally did. It hadn’t bothered her at all, as a matter of fact. It was odd.

The same happened in Goodwitch’s class. Her critical responses simply flowed off her, not anywhere near as cutting as they had been during her previous classes. Instead of panic, fear, and shame, she felt a sense of calm as her teacher berated her for not being as strong as the students that had been trained for years. She had simply listened, nodded, and returned to her seat next to Pyrrha. That sent the cogs in her head turning.

It was when they went to the locker rooms for their after class showers that she realized, being that she was disrobing in front of her locker rather than scurrying away to hide in a corner, and she wasn’t feeling nauseated or shamed about her body, even when Weiss made snide comments about how the nutrients for her brain must have gone to her chest.

As she entered the shower and stood under the hot spray, washing off the sweat and grime from Combat Class, it struck her what was different about today. ‘The Hypnosis!’ her heart skipped a beat from joy. It had worked! She hadn’t honestly believed that all her problems could be solved by hypnosis, but...she bit back an excited squee, knowing that she would have to do something wonderful for Pyrrha in the future. But first...she knew that hypnosis was stronger in those that had multiple sessions. She was more than willing to go through them if they ensured she always felt this good about herself!

After drying and dressing back in their uniforms, Joan walked silently back to the dorms next to Pyrrha, Nora having dragged Ren off somewhere. The blonde loved the bubbly Valkyrie like a sister, but she didn’t know how Ren handled her some days!

Upon reaching the dorm and entering, Joan couldn’t hold back anymore, grabbing Pyrrha in a tight hug and sniffling. She felt her partner’s arms wrap around her. “Joan? Is something wrong?” the blonde managed to shake her head. “Thank you…” she murmured.

Pyrrha tilted her head. She had a good idea what she was being thanked for. Smiling, she hugged her partner close. “You’re welcome, Joan. I’m glad you’re happy…” she hummed.

The pair was quiet and comfortable in each other’s arms for several moments, before Joan finally gathered the courage to speak. “C-Can you hypnotize me again? Reinforce it? I...I don’t want to lose this feeling...I feel...I feel good.”

Pyrrha smiled. “Sure, Joan. Let’s get comfortable first.” she was overjoyed that it not only was working, Joan was actively seeking out another treatment to reinforce it.

The pair took their positions that they had been in yesterday, and slowly, Pyrrha slipped Joan back into hypnosis, waiting for her head to slump and her eyes to grow hazy again.

“Joan, today was a good day, wasn’t it, sweetie?” she asked, smiling as the blonde immediately nodded. “You want to feel that more, right?” Joan nodded again. “Yes…” she said softly. Pyrrha nodded. “Then we can do that. I want you to think about how you felt today, how nothing bothered you...think on those feelings, Joan. Remember the orders that I gave you yesterday...remember them.” Joan nodded drunkenly at Pyrrha’s words.

Pyrrha was about to lift the hypnosis, but a traitorous thought came from the back of her mind. She could easily learn how Joan felt about her...even make her forget the question, so there would be no harm done. None at all. Biting her lower lip, she swallowed, before blurting out, “Joan, answer honestly, please. How do you feel about me?”

She waited with baited breath, hoping beyond hope that Joan would tell her what she wished. Her heart rose as Joan opened her mouth-

“I see you as a very close friend, practically another sister.”

-only to plummet down below her stomach, her face screwed up in despair. Why? Why!? Why had the one girl she honestly ever treated her normally, ever loved, see her only as a good friend, another sister?! What had she done wrong?

Her emotions were swelling within her, love, sadness, despair, even anger as she thought about what to do, her breath hitched and palms became sweaty as she clenched her fists. Before she knew it, she was blurting out, “Joan, you will forget seeing me as a sister, instead, you feel deeply for me, but you aren’t sure whether its sibling like or romance like. Nod if you understand me.”

Pyrrha’s eyes widened even as Joan nodded, registering what she had said. Guilt flooded through her, she had sworn not to take advantage of Joan, and here she did. ‘Well, at least she has the chance to choose her feelings…I could have just forced her to love me...’ she thought.

She raised her hands to lift the hypnosis, feeling as if she had done enough damage, but another urge, a big one that made her cock twitch in her underwear, reared its ugly head. She knew that Joan might not see her as she wanted...even with the ‘reset’. So this shouldn’t hurt either, right? “Joan…” she swallowed hard, staring at the blonde intensely. “Joan, take off your top and binder…” she hated herself at that moment, but she knew that if Joan didn’t see her as lover potential, she would never see her like this.

She swallowed, her mouth going dry as Joan unbuttoned her blouse in a clinical fashion, revealing the black binder wrap she wore around her torso to flatten her breasts and make her seem flatter than she really was.

Her cock throbbed angrily as Joan reached behind her in practiced motions and unlatched the binder, which fell off and landed on the floor before the bed, her breasts almost exploding outwards.

Pyrrha drooled. Joan breasts were utterly out of this world, seemingly as big as her own head and capped with puffy, inverted nipples. She licked her lips, knowing those must be sensitive. She didn’t know how big they were but that was easily solved. “Joan, how big are your breasts?” she asked, her voice a sensual groan. The blonde spoke, her voice hazy, “..I’m an H-Cup…” she murmured.

Pyrrha groaned, her cock throbbing hard. “Joan, stay still and let me explore a bit, okay? I won’t be long.” she didn’t even wait for the nod before she moved forwards and cupped the blonde’s breasts, groaning again as her fingers outright sank into the heavenly softness. Leaning forwards she buried her face into the massive mammaries, sighing and beginning to kiss all over the soft flesh, inhaling the scent of vanilla. Her kisses and squeezes became more frantic, sucking on the flesh inside her cleavage, nipping the skin gently as she moved down and around the beautiful swells. Chancing a look up at Joan, she saw that her cheeks were flushed a deep red and she could feel her heart beating fast through her fingertips and see her breathing moving faster. She could have done this all day, were it not for a complete buzzkill happening. A beep from her scroll told her that it was almost dinnertime.

Pyrrha huffed, backing away and looking at Joan’s flushed form, her massive breasts pink from the attentions of her fingers and her lips, her nipples swollen but otherwise still hidden in their little slits. She licked her lips. She wanted nothing more than to taste those large buds, but now wasn’t the time. For one, she knew that if Joan was this responsive under hypnosis, how responsive would she be if she wasn’t? For another, she didn’t know when their teammates would come back after all, since they had agreed to bring dinner for them. “Joan, sweetie? I need you to redress for me, love.”

Immediately, the stacked blonde began to redress, grabbing her binder and placing it on, with some difficulty, flattening and hiding her breasts from the world, and Pyrrha’s appreciative eyes. Part of the redhead kicked herself for not taking pictures, but the more logical part of her knew that was entirely too dangerous. If her scroll was hacked or, Gods forbid, Nora grabbed her scroll and opened it without asking, it would immediately become apparent that she had done more than ‘help’ Joan in these sessions.

As Joan pulled back on her blouse and buttoned it up, Pyrrha smiled. “Okay, sweetie...I want you to forget the last few minutes that happened, okay? You will forget that I asked you to take off your shirt and binder, and that I played with your wonderful breasts...that information will just stress you, so anything odd, your mind will just explain away...so you don’t need to worry, okay?” she watched as the hazy-eyed blonde’s head bobbed up and down several times, a small smile on her face. “The last thing you remember is me reinforcing your self-esteem...and you will subconsciously remember to give me the chance to be seen as a lover in your eyes, rather than be seen as a sibling...when I snap my fingers, you will wake up, feeling thoroughly refreshed.” she raised her hand, thumb and middle finger pressed together, “One, two, three…” snap!

Joan blinked several times as she was pulled out of the warm, comforting haze, feeling content and comfortable with herself once more. Overcome with emotion, she opened her arms and lurched forwards, grabbing her shocked partner in a hug. “Thank you so much, Pyrrha!” she cried out, squeezing the redhead tightly. She found herself blushing, a deep warmth, so much different than it had been filling her as Pyrrha’s arms wrapped around her, hugging her gently.

She shivered in Pyrrha’s arms, her breasts felt funny, like they had been played with, but she knew that wasn’t possible. They must be feeling so sensitive due to her binder. Maybe she was outgrowing it again, or the fibers were wearing thin? Either way, she might need a new one.

Pyrrha was shocked as Joan lunged at her, a jolt of fear making her believe that the hypnosis had failed and she knew what she had done, but upon hearing her gasped thanks and tight hug, relief flooded through her. She smiled softly, wrapping her arms around Joan’s torso and tugging her close. “There’s no need to thank me, Joan...I’d do anything for you…”

As the beautiful blonde turned away, Pyrrha saw with delight that there was a blush on her cheeks and her looking away, so much like how Nora acted around Ren. That meant the command was working! Any lingering guilt faded, since Joan wasn’t immediately declaring her love she was sure that there was no issue with her commands. Hopefully, though...hopefully soon she would have a wonderful blonde girlfriend to call her own?

[agoldengalaxy]

What It Means to Be a Friend

read on Ao3

It’s getting late, and Kyoko is expecting Makoto to return home soon. But what she isn’t expecting is to receive a call from her drunk friends, Makoto among them.

--

Kyoko sometimes wished she didn’t have a phone. It was a distraction, and one she certainly didn’t need; but then again, the only times it ever rang or received messages was when it was important. Tonight was no exception, it seemed.

It was nearing one in the morning, but she was still working; partly because a detective always had work to do, and partly because Makoto had not returned home yet. It wasn’t like she was worried, though. Despite his open nature and naïvety, he was tougher than he looked. It was something she loved about him, among a lot of other things that she wouldn’t be caught dead admitting out loud.

As she was about to reach for her phone to check the time, it began ringing, buzzing loudly against her wooden desk. Picking it up with a frown, she saw a name across the top. Aoi Asahina. About a hundred different possibilities as to why she could be calling swirled around Kyoko’s mind, and she didn’t like the way fear gripped at her heart even if her face stayed blank. She hated the way that she always just expected the worst, but how could she not?

Exhaling slowly, she pressed a gloved finger to the answer button, lifting the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“Kyokoooo!” Hina exclaimed, much too loudly for her liking. “Yay, you answered!”

Kyoko felt a headache coming on. She was...way more energetic than usual. “Hina. Are you drunk?”

A beat passed, and then she giggled. “Awww, man, you guessed it! Guess that’s expected of the Ultimate - hic! - Detective!”

A loud voice, distant but still recognizable, most likely stood right beside her. “Ha, Byakuya said you wouldn’t answer, we proved ‘em wrong! Nice!” A slapping sound that could have only been a high five, and a triumphant, slurring Yasuhiro on the end of it.

It wouldn’t even take a detective for her to realize why they had called in the first place. “Let me speak to Makoto.”

“Yeah, okay, just -” She was greeted with a lot of rustling as Hina no doubt struggled with the phone she was holding. “Crap! Okay, Makoto, sit up, c’mon! Be nice to your girlfriend or she won’t take us home!”

Just as she’d assumed. Kyoko closed her eyes for a moment, bracing herself. More rustling. And then an overexcited voice. “Kyoko? Is that you?!” he asked, hope lacing his tone.

“Yes, it’s me. You don’t have to put the receiver so close to your mouth, Makoto.” She wasn’t one to use pet names often, and she’d certainly rather not do it now, in case Hiro and Hina were listening; but then again, it’s not like they’d remember come morning. “Where’s Byakuya?”

“Uh…” he droned on for a few moments while he most likely looked around for him.

“Hate to break it to ya, but he’s also had a little bit of fun!” Hina exclaimed, giggling to herself, joined by Hiro, who laughed as she continued. “Been sitting at the bar all this time and ignoring us. He’s still so mean, I thought he’d at least hang out with us now!”

“Yeah, well, I think he’s been trying to drown out Toko...come to think of it, where is -”

“She’s over there,” Makoto said matter-of-factly, and the three of them fell silent for a moment.

Kyoko blinked, still processing the beginning of this call. “What? What happened?”

“She’s passed out next to him,” Hina explained, words long and dragged out as if to get the message across clearer. There was silence for a moment, and then she huffed. “Can you please come pick us up, Kyoko? Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top?!”

Before she could respond, there was more rustling. “Please come, I don’t wanna be stuck here all night. I miss you,” Makoto whined, still much too close to the speaker, but even so, Kyoko wasn’t bothered. Her heart fluttered in the way that only Makoto Naegi could accomplish.

Letting out a long sigh, she stood up from her desk. “Fine. Send me your location.” And with that, she hung up before she could receive a response. After throwing on her jacket and grabbing her keys, she was on the road.

Gloved hands gripped the steering wheel as she stared straight ahead at the street. It wasn’t like she was inhuman; she certainly wasn’t going to trust Byakuya to get them home safely if he’d also been drinking, and thanks to a certain hopeful individual, she...considered them all to be her friends. Together they had escaped Hope’s Peak, and together they were still working to combat despair.

But this was why she couldn’t trust them on their own. She was surprised about Byakuya, but not about the rest of them. Maybe it had been a hard day at the Foundation? Well then, it must’ve been a bad time for her to have a day off.

What was done was done, though, she supposed. Nothing could change it, and perhaps she’d get some solid answers tomorrow. For now, she thought, as she pulled into the parking lot, she had to focus on getting her friends home to sleep off their intoxication. She braced herself, got out of the car, and headed inside.

The bar was one she didn’t recognize, but it was brightly lit and quite loud, as expected. She would never understand the appeal of a place full of sweaty, intoxicated people with anger issues, but then again, she was different from a lot of people and not what one would consider to be ‘normal.’ Of course, it didn’t take long for her to find who she had come for; after all, they didn’t exactly fit in with everyone else, so to speak. “Kyoko!” She turned to look, only to have the wind almost knocked out of her as someone ran into her - someone with familiar messy brown hair, face pressed into her neck, his arms tight around her torso. “I missed you so much!”

Despite the fact that she should be annoyed that she had to come and pick all of them up at one in the morning, she had to fight to keep the smile off of her face as she returned the hug lightly. “It’s only been a few hours, Makoto.”

“I don’t care,” he said, pulling away enough to look up at her. His eyes were almost completely dilated, and he was looking at her like she was an ethereal being...and if she was being honest, that wasn’t too far off from how he looked at her when he was sober, too. As much as she hated to admit it, he always filled her stomach with butterflies. “I never want you to have a day off again!”

He was slurring his words, and she knew he didn’t mean it in the way that sentence would normally be implied. All she could do now was be patient. “...We’re together now, right? So there’s no need to be upset, dear.” The name...sort of slipped out. Luckily it seemed to make Makoto feel a lot better, and no one had heard her quiet voice. Perhaps his luck had rubbed off on her.

Reaching down, he took her hand and walked alongside her; once again, she was lucky that he was able to walk straight, though his hand gripped hers like iron. Her scars no longer hurt, so she was just grateful he was walking on his own. As for the  others, she could only hope Makoto’s luck had rubbed off on them, too. Anything to make this as smooth as possible.

Hina and Hiro were excitedly playing a game of ping pong, but they were doing terribly; slow reaction time, missing the ball by many inches, and stumbling against the table itself. Definitely drunk. She raised her voice. “Hey. Let’s go.”

“Kyoko!” Hina exclaimed, as the ball bounced up and bonked Hiro on the head, who let out a very loud profanity. “Sorry, sorry!” She dropped the paddle and sauntered up to her friend, beaming. “I knew you’d come! I knew it, I knew it!”

“Of course I came,” she responded calmly, her voice completely level and the total opposite of the rest of her friends. “It’s time to go.”

Hiro groaned, rubbing his head as he came to stand beside Hina. “Do we hafta…?” Upon receiving a cold glare from the detective, he gulped. “O-Okay, okay!”

Looking at Makoto, she exhaled slowly. “Where are Byakuya and Toko?”

Frowning, glazed eyes scanned the bar, then he pointed with his free hand. “There.”

Sure enough, sitting with his cheek in his hand and a glass (presumably now filled with water, considering the messy hair and rosy cheeks - the bartender must have cut him off) was Byakuya, and beside him was Toko, her arms folded on the bar and her head buried within them. This was where things would get difficult. Unwittingly, she squeezed Makoto’s hand and the four of them walked over.

Straightening up, she frowned down at Byakuya, who was inspecting the ice in his glass. “Let’s go.”

He blinked, unfocused eyes looking up to hers, glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose. “So you did show up,” he scoffed, though his tone wasn’t as terribly frustrating as it normally was. “I’m surprised.”

“I’m not here to make conversation. You’re drunk. Let’s go.”

“So, Kyoko’s in charge now, hm?” he sneered, trying to get to his feet. He stumbled and had to use the bar for support, which took away any sort of credibility from his threat. This time, she didn’t bother trying to hide her smirk.

“Yes, I am, because you’re too drunk to stand. Let’s go.” The progeny grumbled something under his breath but didn’t protest. With the hard part out of the way, she walked over to Toko, shaking her shoulders gently. “Hey. Wake up, we’re leaving.”

The girl groaned, but opened her eyes anyway. Immediately, she frowned. “Kyoko…?” Dazedly, she sat up, managing to glare at Makoto. “D-Don’t stare at me like that…!”

“Be quiet. Let’s get going,” Byakuya huffed, and immediately Toko fell silent.

Just as Kyoko had hoped. It had been difficult, but she knew her friends well enough, and it seemed her luck hadn’t completely run out just yet. Although some stumbled and tripped over their own feet, everyone was able to walk themselves to Kyoko’s car. Makoto, though, still held onto her hand.

After a bit of difficulty, everyone crammed themselves into the backseat. Makoto sat in the passenger’s seat alongside her, and after checking her mirror, she pulled out onto the road. She drowned out the arguing coming from the backseat and checked the time blinking red against her radio. Two a.m. already. The last thing she wanted to do was drive around for another hour and drop everyone else off. They’d have to make themselves comfortable in hers and Makoto’s small apartment.

She glanced toward him as she stopped at a red light, taking in his features. His cheeks were pinker than usual, he looked tired, and he’d been trying to hide very obvious glances toward her throughout the whole car ride. She’d always called him ‘foolishly open’, and while she still agreed with that statement...she no longer felt it was such a bad thing. Keeping one hand on the wheel, she reached to take his hand with her other hand, returning her gaze to the road before she could see the expression on his face.

Finally, she pulled the car up to their building, and even she couldn’t help but let out a quiet sigh of relief. “You’re all staying here tonight,” she explained, making it clear that this was not a request. No one seemed to be too upset by the idea, thankfully, and she carefully got out to go unlock the door. As she turned, she noticed her friends slowly making their way to the door, stumbling around like mindless zombies.

“Ow! You stepped on my foot!” Toko hissed.

Hiro laughed, perhaps a bit too loudly. “Sorry, my bad!”

“Would you two shut up?”

“You don’t have to be so mean all the time, Byakuya!” Hina hushed, then immediately stopped in her tracks.

“Hina? You okay?” Makoto asked, and everyone else stopped as well.

The swimmer paled, then ran toward the nearest bush, doubling over to vomit all the alcohol she had consumed.

“Eugh! Gross!”

“Oh, come on, Hiro, we all do it!”

Kyoko sighed quietly, opening the door and nudging it open further with her hip. At least Hina hadn’t gotten it all over her wooden floors. “Come on, let’s leave her alone for now.” Without waiting for a response, she headed inside, expecting them to follow, and went to the couch. There was a pull out bed, but it was certainly not big enough for four people. That, though, wasn’t really her problem; after all, they were the ones who got drunk beyond any of their inhibitions. She pulled it out, then turned to the others, who were staring blankly. “Figure it out for yourselves. I’ll go get some blankets.”

As she gathered a couple of their extra blankets, she heard some arguments, but none of them were heated. As she expected, they were certainly getting tired and no longer had any energy to fight with each other. When she came back to the living room, she found Hiro already sprawled out, snoring on the floor, Byakuya sitting on the edge of the bed, and Toko curled up on the floor, too. She wasn’t going to ask how they came to this conclusion, and instead just walked forward, covering Hiro with one of the blankets and handing one to both Byakuya and Toko.

And then she realized Makoto was missing.

She sighed and walked to the door, peering outside. Her hunch had been correct; he was crouching beside Hina, who was now on all fours in the grass and shaking a little. He was definitely talking to her, trying to help her through it. A while ago, she might have been jealous by the sight, but...that was just her Makoto. That was how he was. He cared too much, even when he himself was just as drunk as Hina was.

Crossing the yard, Kyoko crouched down on the other side of Hina. “Are you finished?”

Pale and sweaty, she lifted her face to look up at her, then nodded slightly. “I-I think so.”

“Good. Let’s get you to bed.” Taking her arm gently, she pulled her to her feet, glancing at Makoto, who had a small smile on his face. Kyoko ignored it for the time being and guided Hina inside. Together they stepped over Hiro. “Byakuya. Move over.”

“What? No, I -”

“Move.” He grumbled and scooted over a little. With that, Kyoko sat Hina down on the other side of the bed. “I’m sorry this is all we have.”

Hina nodded, giving a small, guilty smile. “Thanks, Kyoko. Really. I’m sorry about all this.”

“It’s fine,” she assured her, surprising even herself with her gentle tone. “Just get some sleep.” Nodding, the swimmer slowly lay down, and Kyoko glanced toward Makoto, who looked like he was about to fall asleep standing up. She smiled to herself now, knowing nobody was looking, and walked over to him. “Come on.”

Together they walked to their bedroom, with him stumbling a couple times and her easily catching him. She figured it would be pointless for him to try changing his clothes, so she just let him lay down while she went to get ready for bed. Of course, by the time she emerged from the bathroom, he was already fast asleep - or so she thought. She turned off the light and crawled into bed beside him, nestling close. He was always warm, and it was always a comfort to her.

“Mm...Kyoko,” he mumbled, surprising her. She looked up, seeing his eyes still closed, just barely holding onto consciousness.

“Yes?”

He moved to pull her close, and she didn’t protest. “Thanks. You’re amazing.”

She smiled against his chest, closing her eyes. “Of course.”

With the alcohol in his system, it didn’t long for him to drift off. And surprisingly for her, she wasn’t very far behind.

[lakemojave]

Supergiant Games: Same Bones, Different Skeletons

I just finished a retrospective of all 4 games by Supergiant on my twitch channel, and I have a few thoughts I wanna connect and questions I wanna explore. My love for these games is real strong and i could write a whole essay just gushing about them, but I wanna give some thought to what makes them so compelling: not just to me, but to damn near everyone I’ve talked to on their discord who feels the same. I myself rank Bastion among my favorite games ever, and Hades is climbing that list at a clip. And even though I could take or leave Transistor or Pyre, they keep pulling me back.

But I could talk a whole lot about each game’s appeal and waste a lot of time. I’ve gushed enough to my friends about how Bastion and Pyre’s rugged, apocalyptic atmospheres draw me in with their incredible vibrance to contrast. I could talk about how Ashley Barrett’s vocal tracks carry Transistor on their shoulders, or what makes Hades so much goddamn fun that the game doesn’t really need to be much else. But I realize that if the Supergiant library is so universally appealing to me, there must be some sort of connective tissue between them--some sort of fundamental similarity that makes them work. After thinking about it for more than five minutes, it turns out there are many; some are pretty obvious, and some less so. This brings me to the conclusion that the Supergiant library, with its four wildly distinct and different games, still follow a noticeable formula--one that is flexible enough to allow such completely different games.

Game Design

The Supergiant library are all essentially top down action rpgs, Transistor having the most elements of the genre. This is still a pretty weak connection, given how different they all play from each other. The only two that have much overlap in the most basic sense are Bastion and Hades, with the same general fast paced, real time combat. On closer examination, the two games have enough differences in the variety of mechanics at play, (Bastion with its multiple weapon slots and a shield, Hades with its sheer number of commands) that even they are hard to compare.

There are, however, several mechanics that the library loves to use. The first that comes to mind are the difficulty conditions: idols in Bastion, limiters in Transistor, titan stars in Pyre, and the pact of punishment--and arguably Chaos boons as well--in Hades. Their function is simple: increase your challenge for a little extra reward. Bastion and Pyre go the extra mile by fixing in world building elements to this mechanic; Bastion’s idols inform about the game’s pantheon, while Pyre informs about its, well, evil pantheon. The use of these conditions is indicative of Supergiant’s game design philosophy as a whole--you, the player, can make the game as hard or easy as it takes for you to have fun. The inclusion of infinite lives in Bastion or god mode or hell mode in Hades further builds on this point. This library is designed for all sorts of audiences, whether they want to be challenged by their games or simply immersed in the story.

Another repeating mechanic in these games are the use of challenge rooms, which started in Bastion as the training grounds and, to a lesser extent, Who Knows Where. In Transistor they are the sandbox test rooms, and in Pyre they are the beyonder crystal’s scribe trials. They appear in Hades a little more ambiguously; the infernal troves or Erebus rooms are not quite the same, but they serve a similar function. This function is a momentary break from the gameplay loop for a little extra reward, much like the previously discussed conditions. Transistor and Hades’ challenge rooms offer relatively negligible rewards; the sandbox rooms simply offer xp and unlock tracks for the jukebox, while the Erebus tiles offer double the reward for any normal tile. Bastion and Pyre go the extra mile by giving specific, long term rewards for their challenges. In Bastion’s training grounds, the Kid earns weapon specific abilities that are among the game’s most powerful; in Pyre’s scribe trials, exiles can earn character specific talismans that feed their specialization. For the most part, these rooms give the player a low stakes opportunity to practice, hone their preferred playstyle, and reward the effort, all while being completely optional.

Akin to these breaks in the game loop are designated resting areas/hub worlds. The Bastion, the Sandbox, the Blackwagon, and the House of Hades each offer a moment to interact with characters and lore, goof around with the environment, buy permanent upgrades, or just take a break. Transistor utilizes this function the least of the library, since it never once requires the player to enter the space. Pyre utilizes it the most since it has the most breaks in both frequency and number. In a way, this decision is both a game design and storytelling choice. Between all four games, perhaps excluding Transistor, this is where the majority of story beats take place. It is where the player can read up on some fresh lore or meet the ever growing cast of characters, and eventually grow to cherish them (as I often do playing this library). Without little breaks like these, the climactic or world/story shaking events that take place out in the actual playable space have no impact or narrative weight. The fact that all these sort of interactions are completely voluntary also rewards the player in the storytelling sense; by choosing to engage with the figures of the story rather than having that choice decided for them, the player feels as though they themselves have agency in the story unfolding.

Style

Perhaps the most distinct part of the Supergiant library, (and perhaps what I personally love most about it) is its aesthetics. There are few games that look, feel, and sound the way these games do. Yet, the four of them hardly resemble each other. Bastion is a rugged, frontier-esque sci fi apocalypse, Transistor is a sleek, cyberpunk apocalypse, Pyre is a high fantasy purgatory space, and Hades is simply stylized Greek mythology. It is a shock to remember, then, that these four games are all designed by the same artistic team.

I confess I don’t know much about art, so I don’t have anything too profound to say about Jen Zee’s art style, besides that I like it a lot. It is also worth noting that despite her spearheading art and character design for the whole library, each game still looks visually distinct, and not just in their overall aesthetics. Take the character design of the library, for instance. Bastion’s human figures tend to be short, stocky, with exaggerated facial features. Their colors are highly saturated, with a soft, almost blurry quality that gives a level of warmth to the fatalistic atmosphere. Transistor’s characters, barring Red, tend to be based around palettes centered around a single color, such as the Camerata red and the spectrum of the function character profiles. Pyre is the first of the library to use talking portraits, which contrast robed figures with stark color palettes and simple designs with unrobed figures with much noisier details. Hades is easily the most distinct of all four, using simple colors and thick outlines on all its characters. The most consistent feature of all their designs, as usual, is how wildly different they are. For Hades, Zee makes sure that characters only look alike in any way if they have some relation to each other, such as the Furies, Achilles and Patroclus, or Zagreus and his parents. On the whole, the versatility and variety in the character design is impeccable.

What I most enjoy about these games is Darren Korb’s soundtracks, which continue to vary wildly. From the closet-recorded Bastion soundtrack to the whole two and a half Hades score, Korb’s scoring keeps improving and changing in the 10 years Supergiant has operated. His music, which adds and changes motifs as each game progresses, contributes to the atmosphere just as much as the visuals do. Whenever he teams up with Ashley Barret to add vocal tracks to certain parts of the game, they always manage to place them at critical narrative or emotional beats, turning them into the games’ most memorable moments. The team goes one step further every game by incorporating a musician or source of music into each game, giving the music just as much character as the one performing it. It also sneaks its way into the aforementioned hub worlds by providing the player a means to play their favorite tracks whenever they want (except in Hades, where they have to pay in game for that privilege). In essence, Korb makes sure to give each game a distinct feel through its music, but familiar enough to connect the library in the player’s mind.

Just as Supergiant gets so much mileage from Korb and Zee alike, they also manage time and time again to make use of Logan Cunningham’s top notch voice over work. Originally the sole voice actor at Supergiant Games, Cunningham continued on from famously narrating Bastion as Rucks to remaining a ubiquitous voice throughout the library. His role as the Transistor in the game proper drives the emotional core of that game, and his role as the Voice/Archjustice proves to be a solidly effective, yet distant antagonist. In Hades, his roles are somewhat overshadowed by Korb’s performance as Zagreus, (which I’m still blown away he still had time to do) but his performance as Lord Hades is still excellent. Supergiant also uses Cunningham in Hades to sort of satirize how often he narrates for them by casting him as the narrating Old Man, then allowing Zagreus to break the fourth wall and acknowledge him. It is as if the team at Supergiant knows how much they use the same stylistic team, then mocking that same choice.

To other studios: learn from Supergiant

I’m running out of things to say and my ball of yarn that connects all these newspapers and polaroids on my wall is running thin. I would talk more about Supergiant really knows how to end a game and frequently does so in similar ways, or that their library is a masterclass in character-driven stories, but this little essay is long enough.

Instead, I wanna talk about how Supergiant does something right which so many AAA developers and publishers don’t seem to understand. To contrast with the Supergiant library, consider Assassin’s Creed, another franchise I have spent an embarrassing amount of time playing. This franchise releases a game almost every year, and in my experience, when a company does this, you tend to get the same pig with a different paint. From the original Assassin’s Creed to their most recent release, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, the differences seem to be night and day. Combat and free running are far more complex than they once were, rpg elements to story and gameplay have been introduced, composers, writers, voice actors, and cast members have changed with each release, and the sheer size of the game has become staggering. Yet, in the 13 years and 11 main releases in the game’s history, (plus spinoffs) any change has not only felt incremental over time, but fundamentally insignificant to the skeleton of the game. Assassin’s Creed 1 and 2 play and feel differently, but the differences are subtle. The bones are different, but every year they assemble to form a vaguely Assassin’s Creed shaped thing. People who play games tend to hate this and frequently berate companies for this practice; Bethesda and GameFreak receive the same criticism that their games are so formulaic that their new releases might as well be carbon copies of the ones before it.

Yet, Supergiant Games, with its four games over ten years, has used essentially the same team and building blocks to make games that can hardly be considered interchangeable. Whether its the passion of this humble little indie studio or the sheer talent of this team, Supergiant takes the same pile of bones and assembles them in a different shape each time with care and attention. They are proof that a formula doesn’t need to be tweaked or altered or given a different coat of paint in order to be accepted; instead the formula needs versatility, the means to produce a fresh result each time. It also works best when we adore the result every time.

[sixx02]

One More

“Arc… Arc… vs Arc… and Nikos… ugh… why are there three of you?”  The combat professor scratched his head as he stared at the names on the board.  “Whatever…”  

Jaune did not like where this was going, they had only been here for a few weeks but he’d seen just how good Pyrrha was.  Okay, well he could tell right away after her first fight with Nora.  He just kind of hoped they’d be together… ‘Not together together!  Just on the same team… right that’s what I meant!’  Yep he definitely didn’t think she was super darn awesome, or really pretty, or super badass or anything like that!  He also didn’t notice her well toned arms and legs when they were training, nope!  He’d never pay attention to things like that.

Of course… he couldn’t help but pass glances to her now and again, she was really awesome.  Though… he doubted he’d have a chance, and honestly he needed to concentrate on himself… right… he didn’t want a repeat of before.  Turning towards the professor he waited for the actual teams. 

“Ugh, whatever, boys versus girls.”

Both Lie and him stopped, “Uh… sir, could we uh… could you reconsider?”  

“No!  Now get your stuff and get up there!”  

Both boys turned towards one another, “Oh no.”  

Lie and him weren’t terrible by any means, heck they were in the upper half of the class!  But, well… Nora and Pyrrha were at the very top constantly competing for first place.  And there was talk about Pyrrha actually competing in the upcoming tournaments!  The trio had opted out of it, they didn’t really want the attention and honestly speaking they didn’t want to be in front of a crowd.  

“Hurry up!”  Both boys sighed, relenting to their future domination. That was till they were both pulled into a powerful hug.

“Yes!  I can’t wait to fight!  It’s going to be a ton of fun!”  

Jaune loved Nora, she was his wonderful sister after all.  But, well… he wasn’t sure he could agree with that last bit.  Though he didn’t really have the heart to deny her answer as she continued to squeeze the two boys together.  

“Nora I think they get the point.”  Pyrrha’s gentle tone caught his ears.

“Okie dokie!”  Nora let them go at the behest of her, in her own words, besty better than the resty forever!  Honestly despite his obvious… not so obvious, crush on her, he was just happy that she got along with Nora.  Like he said he loved Nora, but she had a lot of energy, a lot of energy that caused a lot of people to think she was stupid or dumb, well they always got what was coming to them.  

“Still, this should be a grand fight!”  

“Right right!  Grand.”  

“Yes… Grand.”  Lie’s response was far less enthusiastic than his own.  Both boys however gave way, once they gathered their things adjourning at the arena.  The girls had already been prepared, Pyrrha had her own specially made weapon.  “It seems they’re taking us seriously.”

“Yep… I wish they wouldn’t!”  Jaune didn’t like where this was going!  He had seriously thought about how they’d handle the dynamic duo, but every single idea and thought was always just crushed by overwhelming prowess and might.  “Well nothing left but to do it then ya?”  

Lie simply nodded, they would have to take this one step at a time after all.  

The moment they lined up with the girls the professor started the count down.  

“Alright!  3...2...1… GO!”  

Hopefully this wouldn’t be too terrible.

“This is terrible…”  

A week earlier.

Charles couldn’t believe what they’d run into, he was starting to truly and fully believe that him and his wife were harbingers of doom… or at the very least ones that came in the aftermath of great destruction.

“Who would do this?  This wasn’t a grimm attack… they don’t just set fires to homes!”  Jeanne didn’t like this, not at all… they’d been on a mission when they’d seen the smoke rise into the air.  When they got to the small farm they’d found the home razed to the ground, if only they’d gotten here sooner!  She clenched her fist as the air around her began to warp, her aura flared wildly, the ground cracking beneath her feet.  

“WAAAAAAAAAH!”  

In an instant she cooled off, “Did you hear that?!”  

“Yes!”  Both husband and wife turned towards one another, in an instant they were off, the ground cracking beneath their feet as they made their way towards the sound. 

In an instant they found themselves in front of a Cellar, wasting no time they dug through the debris blocking their way.  

“What…”  Once they’d opened the doors they’d found a young boy who appeared to be the same age as their twins.  “Oh god…”  Jeanne winced at the terrible wounds on his chest rising up to his neck.  

“No… not again.  What do we do?”  Her husband’s words sunk in.

“We...  we have to take him… see if he has family?  Find out who he is…”  

“P...please… help him…”  Their eyes snapped towards a younger woman.  They hadn’t noticed her before, but… but she wasn’t going to make it.  The clear indications of severe wounds present on her body, scars and gnashes… the seasoned hunters almost looked away.  “Please… he has… no one else…”  

“Hold on don’t ta…”  Charles stopped as he drew closer, “...She’s dead.”  

Once more they let the silence seep in, “We… we have to take him.”

Her husband stood there for a moment, “Alright…”  

They would bury the woman, and they would take the young boy home with them.  The young man who they would later learn the name as Oscar Pines, the young man that would later be known as Oscar Pines Arc.

Jaune had been wrong, he had been terribly terribly wrong!  This was worse than terrible!  This had gone downright ugly!  

His legs buckled at Nora’s powerful swing, the arena beneath his feet cracked.  “SERIOUSLY?!”  He knew that these things were supposed to be made of sturdier stuff, and he knew that if he hadn’t been pumping aura into this metal sheet of a shield it would have caved right in.  

“AHAHAHAH!”  Her body was surging with dangerously high levels of electricity.

“Your semblance is so unfair!”  

“Says the walking living aura generator!  Now on your knees my favorite minion!”  

“NOPE NOPE NOPE!  LIE!”  In an instant Lie pulled himself away from trying to defend from Pyrrha, pumping his aura into his legs he dashed over towards his manic sister, his palm colliding with her waist sending her flying.  Unfortunately she was able to stop herself from getting ringed out by smashing her hammer into the ground beneath them.

Jaune’s hand swiped past Lie as he continued after Nora, in a single burst he’d filled his brother’s Aura up once more.  WIth a burst of strength his own Aura began to refill, only to stop a Pyrrha peppered him with dust rounds.  

“Really Pyrrha?!”  

“Sorry!  But I can’t let you do that!”  She was ever the fighter after all, so he knew she wouldn’t just let him recharge.  

“Fine!”  Putting up his shield he dashed forward, allowing the bullets to graze past it or hit less important targets, like not his head.  

Upon reaching her, he did what he did best, he attempted to ram his shield into her face.  Only for her to deftly avoid him, his shield flashed black as she attempted to nudge it away.  

Ever since her fight with Nora, she’d apparently been using her semblance a lot more, taking the time to really practice with it.  Or at least that’s what she’d told them anyways.  Which was great and everything!  But it made her really frustrating to fight, so he did what he knew he could.  Pumping more aura into the shield he was able to overpower her attempt at control.

“You really do have a lot of aura!”  He would have blushed at the comment if not for her shield attempting to ram him into the face.  

He didn’t have many options, he couldn’t really avoid it, he wasn’t exactly the fastest person, so once more he did what he thought he could.  “ACHA!”  With a might slam he hit her shield straight on with his empowered forehead causing her to pull back in surprise.

“Jaune!?”  Her worried tone was apparently warranted as that blow nearly knocked his lights out.  Aura could do a lot of things, but when he messed up, well sometimes his brain couldn’t really handle the rumbling.

“I’m okay!”  Straightening himself he attempted to swipe at her midsection, only for her to parry the blow using her blade.  

“Good!”  In that moment he felt her aura wrap around his blade disarming him as her knee hit him straight in the gut.  Thankfully his Aura protected him, but that hadn’t been her goal.  In the moment that he instinctively buckled over she’d applied her aura instantly onto his shield and pushed him straight out of the ring.  “Sorry!”  

To his surprise Lie had already been there waiting for him.  “Did she golf swing you?”

“She golf swung me…”  

“Nikos and Arc win!”  

The boys could hear the cheering from the crowd, their own egos slightly wounded as no one really had expected them to win, not even themselves!  

But, well that didn’t matter in the end, “YOU GUYS DID AMAZING!”  

Pink and Sapphire eyes glanced upwards, meeting emerald and turquoise.  

“She’s right you know.  You had gotten our aura’s rather low.”  

Both boys turned towards the monitor at the same time, they’d managed to get both Pyrrha and Nora down to about 60 percent.  That may have seemed like nothing, but well, when most people couldn’t drop them even a single percent?  It wasn’t a bad thing.  “Huh!  Hey look at that, we got you guys down another 2 percent this time.”  A part of him did want to have a little snark though.

“That we did.”

“Yeah!  You guys are improving!”  Nora pulled everyone into a tight hug, her arms wrapped affectionately around her family, Pyrrha included.

“I agree you’re both improving at a remarkable rate.”

Neither of the boys could really deny it, while it felt bad to lose, well… well at least they knew they were getting better and that wasn’t a bad thing.

“Alright… well how bout… we go get cleaned up and then we can go to Saph’s house.  We could have a sleep over?”  He turned towards Pyrrha, “If you can come of course!”

“Oh!  Yes, my parents should be fine with it.  They quite like your sister.”  Pyrrha’s warm smile caused his chest to feel oddly pained.  Right, gotta concentrate on getting better.  

Pyrrha parted ways with them wanting to get ready and prepared for the oncoming sleepover.

Once they’d gotten home after getting ready, they’d noticed extra sounds coming from the living room.  “Saph?”

“MY BABIES!”  In an instant the three Arc siblings were pulled into one powerful hug.

“MOM!”  Nora was the only one to return the powerful hug meeting one with equal strength.

“Hey kids… we got something to tell you.”  As their mom dropped them they eyed a small figure behind them.  “Meet Oscar… Oscar Pine Arc, he’s your new little brother.”