#and yeah i Did think changing devs name would be cute...

[viibo]

i rlly adore @stringsbasement's swap au designs teehee... i hope u dont mind my takes on hazel and dev here ^^;

they literally have Polar opposite godparenting styles yet refuse to go solo and leave each others side hazels the usual Good influence parent who ofc wants peri to have fun but has to be a bit of a stickler for the rules to keep everything in line. including dev who thinks chaos is Awesome and enables peri's mischief constantly doesn't mean he doesn't care for or follow Da Rules however; they just make for an extra fun challenge to find any and every wish loophole possible

[fountainpenguin]

Riddle watches New Wish - Post #25

Fairy For a Day

FAIRY CON!!! Third appearance SWEEP!

Okay, now THIS is more useful to me in setting up a timeline. Definitely saving that.

"Cosmo and I look forward to this convention all year!" -> Yeah, you've gone 3 times since meeting Timmy; I bet you do.

I actually own a Cosmo Con button IRL and it's precious to me <3

?? So... "Cosmo Con" and this episode both went with godkids not being at Fairy Con, but we know from the Season 10 "Fairy Con" episode, Timmy's gone every year. Hmm.

If we see the same tents that appeared in both "Cosmo Con" and "Fairy Con," I'm gonna lose it.

Fairy Con is at the CASTLE?? Are they allowed to do that?? We never get to go inside the castle!! I wonder if the Fairy King is still implied to be either dead or abandoned his throne, or...?

Hey wtf, Jorgen put his office on top of the Castle?? I missed that, if that's come up before.

oh my gosh, I can't believe even in the spin-off, King Northiae and Prince Eastkal are still out of the picture... Lmao??

"Eastkal appear onscreen when he's not dying" challenge (Impossible)

Disclaimer, they don't have canon names. These names come from my 'fics where I've written them alive and interacting with people until the war, so these random background characters have significance to me <3

We did see the title Fairy King in "Jimmy-Timmy Power Hour 1," but he was mysteriously absent then and any other episode about Fairy World, and "Balance of Flour" (the episode this screenshot is from) confirms the people I'm talking about were important in Fairy society even if we didn't have their names.

slkdfjskdljf, they're still getting their tickets scanned. And everything goes off without a hitch?? Somewhere out there, Chloe - who lost her ticket and was banned - is staring into the void.

Hazel looking at her cosplay options: Hmm, what's my fairy vibe? :)

She's so cute.

I'm glad Cosmo and Wanda's friends just... have accepted their goofiness and it doesn't damage their friendship.

Hmm. Godkids were able to attend in previous years, but not this time. I have suspicions Hazel will run into another godkid even though she snuck in.

Presumably Dev, but this would be a fun place to reveal a new kid (or see nods to OG characters)

OMFG, I know these are probably meant to be candles, but I said in Post #5 that I've always used these interior decorations in worldbuilding as memorials and/or representations of the soul:

- and they're so important in Fairy culture that in Frayed Knots Chapter 27, Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Sanderson used their presence or absence to check which Fairy homes had been evacuated from the fire. So... I just find this very funny :'D For incredibly specific reasons.

(Hazel's little hand gripping the pole)

SDLKFJSDF. Memorial for people lost to magical back-up this year.

I mean... I didn't think it was that serious considering Cosmo and Wanda have survived exploding from magical back-up multiple times, but... Good to know sometimes you don't survive?

Holy flip, this makes the Fairies dropping H.P. and Sanderson on earth and forcing them to drive / bike home without using magic so much darker. hey wtf.

Technically I did headcanon Pixies as getting inspiration back-up if they didn't inspire people to innovate rather than the magical back-up route, but... basically the same thing.

I just saw the Musical ending to get this screenshot and ?? I'm so glad Flappy stayed long enough to see Gary and Betty take over and make changes to the Learnatorium? In my memory, he ditched them instantly, but I'm glad he was there to make sure they'd be okay without him <3

F in the chat for Betty toppling over from a heart attack and Gary freaking out in the background while Flappy is partying onstage. lol.

I wonder if this is how Fairies pass when they're old as well, like if whatever magic they have at that age becomes too much for their physical forms.

Hm. Okay, so is the canon we're going with for New Wish that Fairies leave confetti when they die? In the OG series, it's heavily implied Fairies turn to dust and that's why Jorgen freaks out when he finds glittery dust on Cosmo and Wanda's beds in "Fairy Idol," but I'll take it! That's clever, and it's close.

Interesting move considering one of the Season 1 episodes depicts Cosmo exploding from magical back-up, because it's not like it was buried randomly in Season 7 or something- It's one of the things that people are first likely to encounter.

But I'm not really picky; just noting it down as a reminder to myself that this show is a spin-off and AU and I shouldn't try to jump through hoops to see if it will fit in my canon-compliant-with-OG-series Cloudlands AU. It's still fun to watch and this is a creative spin on the OG magical back-up!

I'm glad we're still playing into "Fairies don't leave skeletons and all the skeletons we keep leaving in jails are fake." lmao. Iirc, the canon from "Wishology" was "Halloween party that never got cleaned up."

I think bones are just really freakin' scary to people who are elastic and turn to dust. Like, what the heck is a skeleton? A dead human?? omg. doin' me a frighten.

Oh, maybe confetti is for this death specifically and other deaths can still be dust. Yeah, I'm good with that.

I was totally prepared for some kind of familiar face to show up on the board, like Mama Cosma or Big Daddy or Juandissimo, but I'm glad it didn't. But Cosmo and Wanda are going to be in trouble, probably later this episode...

Presto, old manager from the diner? Gonna make a note.

I like this tent dedicated to sleight of hand.

skdjf, you get a close-up on this tent in a moment and this guy also has the Shakespeare for Mimes book that kids always have at school. Reused assets...

?? There was one tent in the background I saw that made me say "Huh, they didn't put any detail inside this one except some boxes that haven't been unpacked," but I like how we get a new angle on it and it's just called Mystery Crates. That's fantastic.

I am OBSESSED with the fact that we are in the Pink Castle courtyard, so of COURSE there are still crossed wand symbol tapestries hanging on the walls. I love how much thought was put into the location.

I like the tent that says [word]-Free Books. I wish I could see what that first word was. I hope it's something like Curse-Free Books.

I'm LOSING IT at Hazel once again reminding us she likes paperwork.

Oh, and Wanda backed me up on that! ... PLEASE let her meet the Pixies, I am begging.

Surely they're setting us up for that someday. There's an established species that does paperwork and writes contracts. It's right there... We even have the cube head model already in play! My favorite boys are so close, I can taste it... and yet, so far.

I will actually have a meltdown if I get to see H.P. again. It's such a foreign concept, I can't even imagine. I just really miss him... I watched "Oddlympics" recently and it made me sad.

I wonder if Hazel likes official documents because she likes researching rocks :) Girls only want one thing and it's wonderful

Wow. I can't believe it's that easy? You can just sign a paper and be a fairy? Lol.

???? This feels like such a dangerous plot thread to play with. There's a million ways you could swing this. Are some Fairies former humans who chose the magical life?

Where is Timmy. Did he find out about this? I'm stressin' out...

Actually, wait... Godkids aren't supposed to be here. It's probably fine.

Now that Hazel's made herself a fairy, she's gonna experience magical back-up if she's not careful.

Oh, I love her dark, sparkly purple hair.

Holy flip, batgirl-

That's not the direction I thought this episode was going??

Oh no... And right after Dev's gone looking for Anti-Fairy info? He's gonna flip... This spells trouble...

I'm delighted Lezah was born in a gray smoke cloud like Foop :>

?? I like that she has a snaggletooth. I personally gave Teen & Adult Foop a snaggletooth in my design for him, but I think I like Lezah's blatant "the rest of her teeth are flat and she only has this one fang" vibe better than what I went with for him.

I think I already said this in Irep's debut, but... If Anti-Cosmo shows up, is he going to debut with the name Osmoc; is that legit the direction we're going? Lol.

At this point, seeing as Irep's griping implies he didn't have a choice in changing his name, and Lezah is the 2nd Anti-Fairy to have a backwards name (With Hazel and us as audience only knowing these guys in New Wish), I feel like they HAVE to commit to Osmoc and Adnaw.

I feel like they're trying to make it easier to distinguish them or at least so they can have cool names or something, but I feel like that's actually harder on the audience?? At least without subtitles.

A lot of people headcanon Nega-Timmy as Timmy’s anti when they do fairy designs of him, so… Ymmit??

Anxiety girl...

Lezah: You're not cool and it's about time you knew. Hazel: If anyone already knew I wasn't cool, it was me.

oh no <3

Huh. That's a lot of blue structure. I like it.

I appreciate how Lezah, in traditional Anti-Fairy fashion, got bored in 2 seconds. I think that's the best part of Fairy-Pixie-Anti-Fairy dynamics to me:

- Fairies are nervous and jumpy, but they calm down when they have structure and rules. So the Pixies always take over by giving them new rules to follow and no one makes a fuss; Timmy always has to step in and rescue them because the Fairies (except Binky) just go along with it. - Anti-Fairies are super restless and bad at sitting still. They can't handle boredom, which means they can't focus on rules or plans. Even when they make plans, we know Anti-Cosmo gets so distracted that he switches pen colors throughout his notes, implying he leaves and comes back 4 or 5 times before completing one sheet of paper... which is probably why Anti-Cosmo defers to the Head Pixie, who gives off "knows what he's doing" vibes. lol. - Luckily for everyone, H.P., is always down to relinquish everything he took over for raves and soda <3

Shout-out to the totally real upcoming plot of Lezah kicking every rock she sees into the void because Hazel loves rocks

Saving Hazel's signature for my collection:

I like how Timmy and Hazel both sign fae contracts with only their first name. I hope this means H.P. would also call her Hazel at least sometimes... He used to call Timmy "Turner" most of the time, but he called him "Timmy" when he was prank-calling him <3

Holy flip, I can't believe Cosmo and Wanda touched butterfly nets so they could catch balloons. I think it would've been funny if they caught each other on accident.

Purple road gives me the same energy as Fairy World's purple grass in "Odd Squad."

Okay, so... the Big Wand is now inside the castle? Interesting.

??? I'm curious about what the logic is in designing Irep with a cube head. Lezah doesn't have one.

Me, who has an established square mutation in my 'fics, but it's for Pixies and not transferrable to Anti-Fairies :'D

Hm. Well, it is a kids' show. Maybe they weren't sure kids would recognize him without the cube head.

I'm sorry, I hate to be the one to say it, but... Since Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda were alone when Foop was born, do you think anyone ever thinks Foop has a Pixie parent? At this point, I'd be shocked if the Pixies didn't have square heads in this show, so ??

If A.C. and A.W. show up without cube heads when cube heads are established in this universe, I just feel like there would be questions of legitimacy??

Does Irep just look like that on purpose because he likes it? He WAS a cube for (implied) way longer than other anti-fairy babies, and the only other anti-fairy baby we've seen wasn't a cube but was of ambiguous age, so... Hmm. Is it just HIS biology? Does it run in his family? Huh. Well. Okay.

You want to give us pixies; you wanna reuse your cube head model for pixies so bad...

Them...

Those eyelash designs are super clever. Also, I like how the lightest parts of Hazel's sweater match the darkest parts of Lezah's shirt.

I'm really glad Fairy-Hazel is not immune to getting upset by her counterpart. I'm glad she's not trying to befriend Lezah; I'm not the biggest fan of counterparts getting along well. It's great. Give me weird complexity and bullied children <3

I was going to make a joke about how I couldn't believe Lezah had better magic when she was just born, but then she screwed up her magic and that's hilarious.

Hazel: I don't want more of me! I want less of you!

Brutal.

I like how we've been going the direction of "Hazel is a person who overthinks things." I'll definitely keep that in mind, because I didn't see that in the early episodes, but it seems to be a thing recently.

Lezah is 3 seconds away from dying. oh no.

She GONE!

..... I'm really uneasy about where the magical backup lore is going since it wasn't relevant in this episode. We've got a storm on the horizon, I'm sure. :'D Also that chip powering the Big Wand is definitely coming back.

I assume Lezah is a one-off character. I really like how much thought and detail was put into her design in spite of that.

Fingers crossed for Anti-Wanda to get a mild redesign (Ex: new clothes) if she ever shows up.

Me staring into the void: Hey, why were we shown the Hocus Poconos earlier in the season, and should I be worried that we're making new, detailed characters and ditching them?

slkdjf ?? Literally on the floor that King Northiae and Prince Eastkal have a second chance to indicate to me they're not totally dead, but we're not taking it. SKLDFJSDF.

I mean ?? I don't know what I expected since it's heavily implied the Fairies and Anti-Fairies called a truce to end the war after Eastkal's death, but...

Nobody cares about these background characters who appeared only once in a flashback in Season 7, but I care!! Eastkal, my baby!! D:

Stuck In My Head

For some reason, it's funny to me that Dev eats cafeteria food despite being rich and lactose intolerant.

I was going to make a joke about Winn being allowed to wear a hat in school, but I don't think I can when we had Timmy Turner.

I really enjoy these characters with new hair styles, especially after 3 notable characters with the same hair for so long (Timmy, Cosmo, Vicky, Anti-Cosmo). I always struggle drawing their hair and I'd like to draw some new guys :)

Dev has had some bad times lately, but he's SO ready for lunch.

Hazel, on the heels of the overthinking episode: I am once again overthinking myself into oblivion.

I love Hazel's parents. I love how Cosmo and Wanda are totally down to dance. They used to love dancing <3

I like how the Hazel museum has Hazel's drawings from past episodes.

Oh, I'm sad we can't treat everything here seriously. The fact she wants to be a comic book artist is likely true, but her inventing the sun... I don't think so.

I wonder if Hazel's going to learn something she doesn't even know about herself.

Oh no... Hazel's anxiety led her to try getting rid of stuff that embarrassed her by throwing it down the trapdoor she was warned to never, ever open... That’s so funny… She is 10.

The mind worm concept is funny and engaging. Nothing much to say except I enjoyed the bit with the bird and all of Hazel's negative thoughts.

Mind Worm: wow, what a loser thought you are. can't even exist outside a child's mind. lmao. cringefail.

Hazel loves and trusts her mom so much <3 She's saying things her mom's surely taught her.

Another good moral, and more fun Hazel lore. Hazel's got a good home life and we still get to see some messy parts of her, so I really enjoy that.

Winn and Jasmine adore Hazel and her creativity so much.

Mind the Gap

Uh-oh, Hazel's friends just made it clear they notice Hazel's tooth gap all the time...

Geez, Hazel was doing (mostly) fine in the early episodes of the season, and ever since her fight(s) with Dev, she's gone from 0 to 300 in the anxiety department. Girl, are you ok?

Crying, I love how Hazel's hiding spot is the janitor's closet. She's been going there ever since Episode 1. I'm so glad we get to see her struggle.

Tooth Fairy!!! I knew she'd be here for a tooth episode, and after Cupid's redesign, I was wondering if she'd change much. She looks the same and tbh, I enjoy that.

??? I was going to make a joke during Lezah's ep, I think, about how the DMV keeps coming up and it's always different. I should've made that joke. It clearly wasn't just me.

I'm disappointed they made a "Seal the deal" joke with the tooth exchange program and did not seal Hazel's tooth into her mouth with dentistry.

Jasmine: Did you get your gap filled? How'd you get a new tooth so fast? Hazel: Uh... the Internet?

slkdfj, oh no.

omg, H.P. and Sanderson would think Guzman is the coolest. I miss them so much...

I like how Hazel's mom was disappointed with her (Hazel's tooth) for booing her dad, but instead of snapping at her, she just gently suggested Hazel spend some time alone in her room. She's so good. I love her <3

I'm glad Cosmo and Wanda went to get their mail in human form again. They love mail so much.

skldfj, oh... They actually DO love mail.

If there's candy and soda at the tooth party, I'm going to lose it.

I am SO GLAD Jorgen is at the Tooth Fairy's gala! He supports his WIFE!!!!!!

SLKDFJSDLKF, there's soda at the party! Cosmo and Wanda are gonna get so drunk... They won't onscreen, but I'll know.

This is the final episode before season finale. I hope they get some good rest or they're gonna be hungover at a very bad time. oh no.

AAAH, it wasn't just coincidence! I was unsure since the gala was full of familiar models, but Jorgen IS here on purpose! He even dressed up nice for it!!

He loves his wife!!

[orginllazyblog]

Been playing AFK Journey and honestly...I'm loving it so far

So here we go with some headcanons and silly interactions

:D

The player, either male or female, can attract beautiful women or be beasties with them

With my player and with the interactions with the characters I meet so far, she is most fond of women

Haven't really thought of a name for my player, so I'm going with "Magister" even tho their name is Merlin. Plus, they forgot half of their memories

Meeting with Valen, the character who everyone falls in love with him. Yeah... I don't really see him that way 😅

Other people: "He is so fine 😏"

Me: "He's my beastie. If I die, he's dying with me, ain't no choice."

He's my emotional support friend

Also, I'm glad that there were characters from the Afk Arena such as Antandra, Satandra, Rowan, Niru, Brutus, Thoran, Lyca, Silvina, Arden, Lucius,Mirael, and Eironn I'm surprised how Lyca is playable but not her brother Lorsan 😭

There are only a few celestials and hypogeans in the game (so far)

The side quest I've completed, Romeo and Juliet, I find it quite funny as the group read the letter Romeo wanted to give tk Juliet. Yeah, it was a bit cringe, but luckily, Lorsan is the guy who knows romance 👍🏼

And with that, we become a trio: Valen, the friend everyone has a crush on. Lorsan, the friendly one, and me the player and the great mage everyone thinks but just a chaotic gremlin searching for treasure chest. And then there's Rowan, the rich friend.

I go straight to the npc monsters to get goodies and resources for my heroes. I make sure my team is at a higher level than them.

Yesterday, I just figured that you can interact with the animals like a cat or dog, and it was just...so cute. It show hearts and even sounds of them.

As for the guild party, I haven't decided on which one and more focus on the story mode.

Speaking of which, I actually got asked on a date by none other than...Mirael. Yeah, that got me by surprised 😮 Fun fact, Mirael was my first crush when I started playing afk arena bc she could wield fire, but that was when Lilith introduced Talene. So getting asked out by her was like... a dream to me 😌

But then she left 😭 like what did I do!?!?!? Did I choose the wrong answer? Don't leave 😢

Back to the story, the group has to sneak into the old man's mansion to investigate more of the grape situation, and that's where I left on bc I was playing late at night

It is such a beautiful game with the graphics, the weather changing, and new heroes. I'm very happy to be able to play when it got released for mobile. Also, I was wondering if the devs would add heroes from the Afk Arena

[soulgathered-archived]

alright time for the opinion post . I wanna start with a few things that won't need to be spoilered :

I strongly dislike the changes the graphical update did to mae & knew that would potentially sour the way I feel about dt & I was right. there were some angles that got me all "oh u know what I totally am on board with this!" & then the angle would change & I'd, in reallife, make a lil offended gasp bcs "ohh no. hate this ! hate this ! I want my wol back" this isn't in regards to mods. I just legit miss vanilla mae from pre-dt. miss their old lips (which are the biggest issue to me) miss their old eye shape, their face shape etc.

if you cannot handle someone critiquing something you love ( mind you that I love 14 too ) then this post is not for you. the amount of disgusting hate i saw towards people with legit critics of the expac is... baffling. the devs won't be able to grow if we just coddle them.

I still think ew should have been 2 expacs, to finish the arr-ew storyline better & set up the new one.

I have played with JP voices since HW because this was an actual advice back in the day. HW + its patches were not big enough yet to warrant having to listen to what ARR delivered. I also always watch at least one streamer play 14 with english VAs to get both experiences ! because yeah actually english gives you the proper feeling of scale & distance by having characters with accents. as far as I can tell right now I think all the DT voices are amazing

& from here on spoiler territory !

...you were warned if you are still here this is on you .

but I wanna start with stuff I liked / adored .

wu.k lam.at & ko.ana's family bond. I will forever be weak for chosen family bonds & they are soso cute. I love their personalities. I wanna see more of them.

In general the environmental story telling & the details they put into telling the stories of region was soso much better, loved it. I loved exploring the zones & noticing stuff or just talking to NPCs.

the end reveal with the key showing the az.em symbol made me giggle. I am sure it won't lead to a "oh so az.em fucked up" thing but it still amuses me to think they did.

happy kr.ile got character development, she really does deserve it & she is a lovely addition to the team.

erenvil.le, ko.ana & wu.k la.mat are among my faves now without a doubt.

the third & lvl 95 dungeon music slapped. actually when the music is good it's SO good.

t.uli.yollal is stunning, feels so lived in. I like spending time there & just zooming around. srsly the graphic update looks so good in environments & the DT ones are soso stunning. also best inn / tavern room we ever had. who needs housing i am staying in there !!!!

however a good base does not make a great game & overall the story was just. mid. it exists I guess. it feels so weirdly cut off from past expacs? like you tell me they didn't hear shit about anything ever? other continent or not how do you miss the final days I don't care if it was "contained to some places" that kinda stuff goes around.

I don't need the people to know the wo.l's name or look but come on you have heard of them + the sci.ons. I know ppl say "we don't need to always be the mc stop demanding that" ...sorry that in a game that I pay money for I want my character to be important. all our character does is nod sagely to give WL some confidence & half the time she isn't even looking. if i can write my character out within seconds & end up at pretty much the same point at the end then there was no point for us being there.

this legit felt a bit like them looking at what ppl adored at previous expa.cs, copying it & copying it worse. zone 6 ? this might be my biased but like changing it as we did? that should have been an amau.rot or elpi.s thing. at least that had impact. I only cared for one character in there & yes her memories being shut down was sad but like. kay.

...can we stop with fantasy races who love money btw? I am sure it was not meant that way but man did that make me feel uncomfy as a Jewish person. especially the whole 'they used to be slaves now they are merchants adoring money' GUESS WHY SO MANY JEWS WERE MERCHANTS !! guess what was one of the few things they were allowed to do esp when romans took em along as slaves.

However in the same sense I did love the tradition of remembering the dead because that way nobody is really gone. Again I doubt SE planned that they accidentally nailed Jewish philosophy but that was fun.

....zor.aal j.a was boring. I kept waiting for some big twist but no he's just another daddy issue guy. only that the story really wants me to believe his dad is great !! so caring !! ....can't fcking see his son's own issues. the guy who DEFINITELY knew about how fcked bless.ed siblings were & he can't see the strain that being called a "miracle" put on his kid? this is why i waited for some plottwist of ZJ having other plans all along.

also I am sorry "we had war 80 years ago people are too comfy with peace" ...that. that is within living memory especially with 14 races ! that was the worst motivation. at least stretch the time!!

sph.ene was actually fine I like her, it's just.............we had her. several times. hello there moe-fied as.cian ! hello there not-amau.rot. totally not. this is not copied homework. at all. it was just a narrated last dungeon once more telling us about how great things used to be until they weren't. it totally wasn't "person who was loved by their people got twisted to save them" this is all...so...new...

this is a nitpick & an amusing one but ere.nvilles accent just makes no sense anymore. they really just wrote smth & were like "screw established stuff from before" ( i don't remember if it's a quest detail or one of the extra published stories but they had to go back & rewrite smth bcs it contradicted DT )

which maybe is my biggest gripe with the story. unless they HAD to acknowledge smth from previous stuff they just. copied it - in a worse way, for me at least - or just ignored it which at times felt so insulting.

the scene with the sick kid? eh hello? fairly sure we fixed stuff like that. we can just go grab ali.saie later & bring ange.lo along--? i feel like in previous expacs wo.l at least would have mentioned that to sphe.ne but then stuff with ZJ goes wrong so it gets pushed aside (but it's at least on our mind & not a surprise when the solution appears randomly bcs I fear that just might happen)

....most of the scio.ns felt like they were forcefully written in just so we had full parties for trials.

minor dumb stuff that is very me specific: i don't like sol.ution 9. i don't like the aesthetic, the vibe. just i don't like it. didn't like the ending song either. felt very shou.nen isek.ai-ish it's just not my type of song.

...wu.k lam.at i love you but you are among the worst trust characters i ever encountered I am sobbing i dunno if this is supposed to reflect her personality or she is programmed that badly. I never struggled with a trust so much.

I don't mind the trope of "love & friendship will safe the day" but....again it was just done better in the past ( end of ew, drk story, stb why we went with ly.se & stuck by her, arr raids...just. it has been done better )

as much as this probably sounds like just hating in truth it was. absolutely an okay expac.........just very mid. we had better, we deserve better but this wasn't "the end of 14" like how some ppl act. it served its purpose & i so hope that as the story goes on we look back at it more fondly for setting stuff up. a severable start to a new story. probably. depends what the future brings. a 6/10 for me.

[arachnethebard]

Tonight on Sam Plays BG3 Durge Edition

We went back through the Underdark because Halsin said it would be safer than the mountain pass but tbh I think he's a lying mouthpiece for the devs to see more content.

I also saw Elminster while I was scanning the map on the mountain pass and was like "nah I'm not ready to ponder the orb bestie"

So we went back through the underdark.

Not after doing a murder of the Zhentarim

'Why does everyone always assume I'm here to murder them?'

And going to the underdark by way of their elevator. As ya do.

So we took care of the Myconoids and gutted Glut.

Wren felt warm to be named Peace-bringer by Spaw. What a friendly mushroom.

Speaking of mushrooms, got the noblestalk for Derryth and let her abusive husband die, because even if you don't remember the sins you've committed you still have to answer for them.

Which is going to be rough when Wren finds out what she is and what she's done.

Oh! And Blurg and Omelluum were there too.

I still say the fact that I can romance an Illithid and it's NOT Omelluum is one of the mid tier sins of this game. Not a deal breaker but God will I never stop being miffed about it.

We killed Nere after having one of those hallucinations of doing nothing to see what happens. It wasn't good. Fuck that guy. He objectively sucks. I get why aesthetically some people simp but I like nice people and he's not nice at all.

And all of this was done in Disguise self as Femme Drow just so I could be super cunty towards the drow men it was great

Because while its viability in a normal ass game of DnD is rough at best, playing BG3 as a Ranger kinda rules?

And back to my forever problem of not simping for Gale. While I'm a Gale simp perpetually, I'm worried that because of bugs I won't be able to pursue anything but a Galemance and that sucks.

Maybe I want to kiss Wyll this time idk.

Honestly I'm over having to compromise my morals for Astarions approval.

Just do the right thing.

It costs nothing to be kind.

Its like, "I got completely fucked over and am justifiably bitter, so fuck everyone else too" is a very...

Shit I'm gonna get flack for this but fuck it

It's a very angsty teen opinion to have and it isn't cute at all.

I'm here on the Wyll/Karlach pov. "I got completely fucked over and nO ONE ELSE SHOULD HAVE TO GO THROUGH WHAT I DID."

Grow through what you go through, Astarion.

I know he's Extra Traumatized on account of being the narratives (devs) favorite, but you have to grow.

It's only Act 1

Ok final thoughts

We did the Arcane Tower, I brought Karlach, Gale, and Shadowheart along because I've definitely been neglecting Shart this run (easy mode means why you need a healer?)

I did enjoy Gale, not being able to read Githyanki and then just being like "Ok but what if I could read Githyanki anyway?" Never change wizard man

And I remembered that I need Gale to get dead so I can revive him. And then LONG GAME see if I can revive him at the epilogue party

That's not the canon ending for Wren but idk what's going to happen to her

But I do need to hoarde that scroll

Just to see

So yeah

Next is grimforge and then backtracking up the maintain so i can run into Elminster and see the Mountain Pass way into the Shadowcursed Lands

Why do I only play this game for 7 hours straight or never?

Right

AuDHD

[weirdmarioenemies]

Rating all the Catified enemies in Bowser’s Fury!

With the release of Super Mario 3D World on Switch, we got a fantastic little game! Bowser’s Fury! It’s like a sequel to Mario Sunshine with 3D World mechanics, it’s a delight! it has the mod Sockop seal of approval! But that’s not why I’m here today, I’m here because this game gave us Cat versions of 3D world enemies! Complete with fur, tails and little cat ears! In this post, I’ll be rating these catified designs, as an excuse to show them all to you dear reader!

Name: Cat Biddybud

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

Starting off strong, Biddybuds are some of my fave Mario creatures, and this look fits them well, the paws and tail look natural on their spherical body! And the fur looks like a fine velvet!

9/10  Would pet.

Name: Cat Blockstepper

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

Blocksteppers are also already perfect, with their funny hats and their trumpet mouths. However, this cat form doesn’t give them fur, or paws or a tail at all! just some cat ears! Which I’m not even sure are part of their actual body! They could just be glued onto their hats, I hope it’s actually part of their bodies and they made little holes on the hats so they can poke them out.

4/10  Blocksteppers seem to have arrived too late at the Catification center, they only had spare cat ears left.

Name: Cat Bob-omb

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

Another one that got the short end of the stick! No fur, no paws, not even a tail! Just cat ears! Both Blocksteppers and Bob-ombs walk thanks to their wind-up keys, so perhaps they only get cat ears because these are not organic creatures! It still seems a bit unfair on the guys, just because they’re automated doesn’t mean they don’t deserve some fuzzy fur!

4/10  You deserve so much more Bob-omb.

Name: Cat Boomerang/Fire/Hammer Bros.

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

The ears don’t look bad at all! But it’s still a very lazy catification, sure, they get fur but it’s so short it might as well not be there.

2/10

Name: Cat Bullet Bill

Debut: Super Mario 3D World

This one’s an interesting case! They’re the only cat enemy not exclusive to Bowser’s Fury, as they appeared in the base 3D World game. Like Bob-ombs and Blocksteppers, they don’t get any fur, so this supports the inorganic creature hypothesis. However these guys DID get a tail! And they look so much better because of it! Why didn’t they give tails to Bob-ombs and Blocksteppers! I demand justice.

6/10  The tail almost makes up for the lack of fur.

Name: Cat Bully

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

Now THIS is a catification! Extremely long and luscious fur, you can TELL he grooms himself regularly! Cat Bullies also get a tail, ears, and paws, which fit in very well with their rotund body, as a matter of fact, their iconic horns got completely replaced by the cat ears! Which is a very bold move, but one I support wholeheartedly! Now, does this confirm Bullies are organic creatures? Even though they are clearly made of metal in their base forms? Perhaps the metal is an exoskeleton of sorts, as mod Chikako suggested, whatever the case, I’m glad they got the full fur treatment!

9/10 Fantastic ball of fur.

Name: Cat Cheep Cheep

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

This is a fishy, with fur and cat ears, not very hydrodynamic, fishies are bullet shaped for a reason, but this is ok because they at least look cute!

7/10 Pretty standard catification but it works well!

Name: Cat Coin Coffer

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

Ouggoough.... Coin Coffer my beloved.... I wanna pet him so badly now... I guess sticking cat ears and fur on an orbular character just works!! And look at those paws! This is a novelty coin purse if I’ve ever seen one!

8/10

Name: Cat Conkdor

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

Well, this is certainly something, I adore Conkdor, another mario creature very dear to my heart. Not sure I love this catification though, the tail looks good but the cat ears look very awkward, and it’s very unsettling to see a bird with fur instead of feathers. But don’t worry Conkdor you still look great, it’s just not your style y’know?

3/10

Name: Cat Flopter

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

I really like Flopters! they have a Bee-like body with Dragonfly-like goggles, and they fly like a helicopter! Very charming little dudes often forgotten.

The cat ears complement the goggles extremely well! They looked a bit too bald in their base forms. And I bet those paws make landing easier! Good for them.

8/10   Award winner for best use of Cat ears.

Name: Cat Fuzzler

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

Fuzzlers are already a delight, there’s not a lot you can do to improve perfection, and I guess the devs took that personally because this is a very light catification, I guess they couldn’t give them fur since they’re supposed to look spiky and not soft, but I still wish they did. They do have tails but they’re oddly short, more like a nub, they deserve longer tails! They’d look so good while rolling!

5/10  They don’t deserve a vestigial tail.

Name: Cat Fuzzy

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

Very lazy catification, their oily shinyness doesn’t play well with the cat ears and tail. I’m sorry little one...

2/10

Name: Cat Goomba (Brown)

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

You might be wondering why I put their color in parenthesis, well, this is not the first Cat Goomba we got, 3D World has an orange Cat Goomba that actually pounces like a cat. The implication seems to be that the orange one is a Goomba that used a Super Bell, while this brown one is just a Goomba that got Catified by whatever catification forces are present in Lake Lapcat. Back to the rating, I love their little white/brown color scheme! Fits them very well, and they get little whisker-like stripes too!

9/10  Good Kittycat.

Name: Cat Koopa Troopa

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

I really dislike this one, why are the cat ears on their cheeks? That looks like it would hurt? I don’t like looking at Cat Koopa for a long time, I think it would’ve been cuter if they put the cat ears on the shell! Maybe it wouldn’t make sense but it would certainly look nicer.

1/10  I can’t give out a 0 because look at that blessed smile...

Name: Cat Magikoopa

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

The ears look very odd, like they’re clipping out of the robe. Very lazy catification. Almost unnoticeable.

2/10

Name: Cat Piranha Plant/Creeper

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

I love these ones they look SO silly, just stick some ears on their orb heads and you got a great kittycat! The fur also doesn’t look unnatural, there are fuzzy plants in real life!

8/10  Would pet carefully.

Name: Cat Rammerhead

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

I also like this one quite a bit! The ears fit well with their already ridiculous head, they just look like rounder spikes! It’s like they were meant to have ears! The lavender fur looks very nice. The tail also looks very cute, completely replacing their caudal fin, how do you seem with that buddy?

8/10  Very wet kitty.

Name: Cat Skipsqueak

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

WOW!!! This one is basically perfect! This is the ONLY catification to change the colors of the base creature! And for the better! They’re now a very vivid electric blue instead of the dull light blue of their non-cat selves. This one’s also the only mammal enemy, so their cat features look completely natural and fitting!

10/10  Very cute fat catmouse.

Name: Cat Snow Pokey

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

Yeah this one’s arguably the laziest catification, their ears are barely visible too, but they still look cute and not unsettling! So I really can’t complain too much.

4/10

Name: Cat Spike

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

Spike always has such an expression of pure existential dread I can’t tear my eyes away from it... It looks like he’s not handling the catification too well... He probably feels very weird being suddenly covered in fur. They did get a cute little patch of white fur on their belly, which I think is an improvement to the design!

7/10  Hope you’re ok there buddy.

Name: Cat Splounder

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

YESSSSSSSS I LOVE SPLOUNDERS SO MUCH!!!! When I found out they got in the game I was SO happy, this catification is top notch as well! The cat ears fit in like they always belonged! And the salmon-colored fur is one heck of a look! They also got a long tail which hangs peacefully underwater, making them look like a cute comma!

10/10 Cat Splounder my beloved...

Name: Cat Stingby

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

As we already know, putting a tail and cat ears on a sphere looks really good! So this guy is a winner by default! I think the paws are slightly unsettling since they’re just hanging there... Never to be used. But it’s ok, I’m sure they don’t get in the way too much.

9/10 Fuzzy bees are always a win.

Name: Cat Seagull

Debut: Bowser’s Fury

To finish off this post! The most important introduction to the Mario universe by far! Cat Seagull!

This is positively delightful, they look so silly and mindless. They’re just vibing and I respect them so much for that. They probably don’t even know they have cat ears, but that doesn’t matter. Only thing that matters is existing and these guys are killing it at that!

10/10 I wanna live like you.

[rainofaugustsith]

SWTOR and Companion Death

So. Some thoughts about companion deaths in SWTOR in general.

I'm not a fan.

SPOILERS FOR KOTFE ONWARD.

I do know the name of the franchise is Star WARS, and people die in wars. It would probably be extremely unrealistic if we had a scenario where our characters spent literally 17 years of their lives (and counting...well, 12 if we don't count carbonite) fighting and nobody around them died.

However, in SWTOR I think that most of the deaths could been avoided. I don't think they benefit the story. I think that all they really do, in the end, is deprive the audience of a lot of interesting characters. 

I do think there are occasions when a player's character may wish to reject or kill a companion, but I also feel that there are ways to write so that it is an exception, and not commonplace.

And we have not even gotten to the NPC deaths. It has been a bloodbath for years with SWTOR and the writers show no signs of stopping it. Nathema - the body count from Nathema has taken almost twenty NPCs out of the main story. Onslaught? Yeah. Many more. It's become more unusual for an NPC to actually survive for the duration than to have a kill option.

I feel there are better ways to write than to take a Game of Thrones approach and kill everyone. When you eliminate everyone's beloved characters, and you leave the player with nothing more than a rotating cast of strangers, it's quite difficult to get into the story after a while.

Going through the companion deaths from KOTFE to Iokath:

Tanno Vik: The voiceover artist who played Tanno Vik died several years ago, and apparently the devs decided not to make the character recruitable in KOTFE because of that. I can understand this one. It seems that Tanno may die regardless of your choices, too. If you spare him during your meeting, he may not have survived the attack on Asylum, especially if the PC chose to use Valkorion's power.

HK-55: Yes, we get it, you wanted to show everyone that Arcann is a big old monster. The "thrown into carbonite," "slaughtering the Scions" “subjugating both the Republic and Empire” and "ruling as a harsh dictator" plot points didn't get it across quite enough. Dramatic. Yes. And they do bring HK-55 back

My objection to this death is not that they did it - because it actually does fit, even if it's a little extreme - is that they didn't make HK-55's return available to all in the actual main story of the game. I can understand making Shroud of Memory a bonus, because it's cute and funny but doesn't tie super directly into the main plot. But Arma Rasa? I think that should have been for everyone. Yes, I know you can buy it now - and I did - but I still think it should have been main story. If it were, we could have enjoyed HK-55's commentary in the rest of KOTFE and KOTET.

Kaliyo Djannis, Aric Jorgan: Fan service. But it makes no fucking sense. What exactly are you killing them for? They didn't listen, after they tried to compensate and salvage a mission that had gone south? They were left in the lurch because your PC was mission critical and went on a hallucinogenic hiking trip and didn't show up? There's literally nothing you can do to make the mission go right. It always fails, no matter who is in charge or what you tell them to do.

In Kaliyo's case, I really question why the devs thought that she, of all people, would be the character that most players would just love to spend an entire chapter with in one-on-one quality time in KOTFE. I think her kill option was a response to that - "yes, we forced you to play a chapter with this character but look, you can let her go now." Or perhaps it was a response to the frustration some players had with not being able to kill or reject her in the class story.

I think the class story could have sustained a branch where Kaliyo was asked to leave after the Wheezer incident. I think it's reasonable that a player's Agent may not have wanted to continue associating with her at that point. There were four other characters who could have taken her dialogue in the class story missions. But to do it years later? Eh.

In Aric's case, I have no idea what they were thinking. I've never had the feeling he's a character that is widely disliked. They needed to give an option to kill someone along with Kaliyo. I don't know. But it's weird and doesn't make sense IMHO.

Senya: So she's saved her boy. We get it. But considering that Senya also spent several chapters insisting that her children needed to be brought to justice, and was fully willing to engage Vaylin in combat if not kill her - the change of heart was confusing. I think Senya's fate was attached to Arcann's simply to give Arcann greater odds of survival. It seems that people like Senya even if they don't like Arcann. If the two had been separated, I really think less people would have saved Arcann.

Koth: Fan service. Nothing but fucking fan service. I'm sure it had nothing to do with Koth being a LGBTQ+ Black man who actually protested the player's actions and didn't let them off the hook. No, nothing to worry about here with that. That;s sarcasm in case I need to clarify. If things get to the point where Koth has left, your character literally works with him to save the ship and then can kill him while Lana stands there and watches and not a single person protests. After Koth has hijacked the ship and planted a bomb on it. The ship he adores. I can’t even. They could have done so much with this character and they just...did this instead. And then chose to completely ignore him even if he remained in the player's story. I still am salty, years later, that he didn't even get a cameo in the Nathema story. It's not as though the Gravestone's fate would have bothered him at all, amirite?

SCORPIO: One of the few kill options that actually might be justifiable, but the larger question is why she was trusted so much to begin with. And why the game feels it's light side to let her merge with a planet that keeps a necropolis of billions of organics it has slaughtered as research subjects.

Arcann: I feel Arcann should be handled and considered separately because he was not established first as a companion. He was framed and written as an adversary for all of KOTFE. But here we are forced to choose between "let Arcann live and become your new BFF who takes over Lana and Theron's place of trust with no punishment for his crimes" or "kill him on live television! I'm sure I'll be an Instagram Influencer now! Follow me at AllianceCommanderOdesssen uwu!"

Vette; Torian: Completely unnecessary. You have an Alliance that is so large that fighters are literally on the cliffs and in the trees helping you as you progress through the chapter. The Gravestone's taken to the skies. And yet nobody is available to swing by Torian or Vette's position to help them. You and Lana/Theron or Senya/Arcann are literally THE ONLY PEOPLE EVER who can do that. Oh, and the super-smart Hutt scientist in charge of your Research and Development team has given Vette an assault cannon for this huge battle against strong, skilled forces, despite the fact she's only operated an assault cannon...once? For a few minutes? *thumbs up, Oggurobb!*

I feel this was simply done to try to evoke emotion and to erase any sympathy the player may have had for Vaylin, since it immediately follows the Nathema sanitarium visit.

If they really felt the need to go with this, I feel they could have tied it to player actions earlier in the game. Did you do a lot of Alliance Alerts? Did you raise the Specialists' influence above 10? Did you do some of those veteran Star Fortresses and pick up a few extra companions? Then maybe you have enough extra personnel to save both. Quinn: More fan service, served up for those who would have liked to kill or reject Quinn all those years ago in the class story.

Just like Kaliyo - and Skadge, and Tanno Vik - I think the class story could have gone on without him if the Sith Warrior had been allowed to reject him after the Quinncident. I would have rejected him at that point. The writing in the class story could have sustained it. They could have given the healer role to one of the others. And then you'd get a branch where if Quinn was present, he'd show up on Iokath. If not, it would be someone else from the Sith class story, like one of the many Moffs the Warrior meets. Maybe the dude from Ilum, since he doesn't die. Or Hesker.

Theron: Now, here's the issue. The story sets up a scenario where asking Theron to leave because you no longer trust him is understandable. But I plead the case that it never should have gotten to that point. The entire betrayal story was completely unnecessary. Theron NEEDED to go undercover like that? He had a secret language he and Lana developed and just never used it to tip everyone off? He thought frying the Commander on Iokath or throwing her out the train window would be fun? After working so hard for peace, he literally sparked the next galactic war by tipping off everyone about Iokath and manipulating them all into going there so they could learn lots of fun new ways to kill each other?

Come. On. It doesn't make sense. Even in a spy game, I don't think Theron would have really thought that prodding the Empire and Republic to war with each other and the Alliance would have been worth it.

I feel like they could have done so many other things with the Order of Zildrog, and even had the same flashpoints, without making Theron appear to betray the Alliance. 

DS Jaesa: *sigh* So she saw the Commander on the Holonet, never thought of coming to Odessen and instead went to Iokath to slaughter Alliance troops. Oh, and threaten to kill Lana, who may be the player’s partner. Again, it sets up a scenario where it makes sense that a player might kill her, but why was that even necessary? The scenario itself doesn't make sense. If you have Master Ranos, she says that Jaesa was spotted hunting for artifacts, I think? Maybe just maybe they could have worked with that?

Xalek: You're killing Xalek for...um...terrorizing miners...and...yeah. Okay. Dude was in the class story for about five minutes so I don't think anyone knows what is going on here.

Broonmark: Yes, he's basically a cold-blooded killer. But he's going after this Wookiee senator because he's allying with the Republic? Or getting some Talz to be allies? The Talz already seem to be aligned Republic. He's a bit late to that party. Why is it that I don't think Broonmark would be into politics or watching the news and would not care about this?

Rusk: Um, yeah, Bey'wan, about that guy you wanted me to recruit, he's, um, dead. Because I decided to sell him out to a Black Sun gang leader. Don't be mad?

Skadge: One of the few kill options I think most could agree is...not that bad. Your mission with Rusk is to kill him. He was an adversary in the game. My headcanon for my bounty hunters is that he never gets on the ship after Belsavis. There’s no way they would have ever brought him along. Another case of correcting something from the class story?

[purplesurveys]

1264

Who are you subscribed to on YouTube?  Oh man, I’m probably subscribed to over a hundred, if not 200. I’ve subscribed to channels relevant to interests I’ve had over the years, and since it’s not my habit to do spring cleaning on my feeds, the subscriptions have just keep piling up even if I no longer keep up with literally like 98% of them.

Do you like to go to the farmer's market?  I don’t think I’ve ever been in one yet. They aren’t very common here and the ones we do have are pricey and mostly inaccessible to the everyday consumer, I’m sure.

What will (or was) the color of your wedding dress be?  I wouldn’t want any other color than white.

What's your favorite melon?  I don’t like fruits.

What was the name of the last pet of yours that died?  Arlee. Technically my family mostly considered her as just Nina’s pet, but the sting was felt all the same when we learned she died.

When was the last time you wished the day would just get over with?  Yesterday, because it was Friday. Pretty self-explanatory, I wanted to get to the weekend so I can finally let go of work for a couple of days.

Name one person you've never had a fight with:  Andi. I think we’re both afraid of pissing the other off, which works out for us lol.

What are you currently listening to?  I can just hear the really loud whirring of my electric fan because it’s a grossly humid day today.

What would you rather have: cat or dog?  Dogs.

Who is your least favorite person in real life?  I have a lot of uncles I just don’t like.

Do you ever watch anybody's live stream of... anything, really?  Technically, yeah. I will sometimes tune in to livestreams of lofi music on YouTube, but I do it to listen, not to watch. 

Does your house have security cameras?  No.

If you go grey as you age, would you dye your hair or let it be?  I think I might dye it for a certain period of time, but I also think I would eventually reach the point where I’ll just accept it and slowly let go of the dye.

What was the last establishment you stopped going to due to bad service? What happened?  I haven’t run into much bad service, but I’ll never forget how long my order and bill took for Mad Mark’s. I never really vowed per se to never go back there again and I definitely didn’t confront the staff, but I haven’t eaten there since that incident.

What soundtrack do you listen to the most?  Not a big soundtrack listener.

Was there a family secret you weren’t told about until you were an adult?  Nah, they’re kept from us until now. The biggest one I’ve heard about was having a kleptomaniac in the family but we were never told who it is.

Do you have an opinion most people you meet seem to disagree with you?  Yeah, my dislike for fruits.

What’s something you like to have many options to choose from?  Clothes, I guess, like bucket hats. I don’t shop a lot and clothes aren’t a priority in my budget, so when I do pick out clothes, it has to be exactly what I want so that I don’t feel it was a waste of money.

What’s the strangest decorative object you own?  We have several quirky, disconnected decor in the living room from gifts we’ve acquired over the years. One object I can tell you about is the polar bear glass figurine we have on the coffee table.

What’s a thing you couldn’t imagine doing with your life right now?  Dating around.

What’s been your proudest moment?  Managing to stay alive this year and turn my life around for the better when I thought there was no hope.

What’s the filthiest non-pornographic movie you’ve seen?  Eyes Wide Shut, probably.

Do you know anyone who doesn't seem to be fond of animals?  I don’t think so. Like any animal...? I would find that quite odd, honestly. And I wouldn’t want to be friends with them if we weren’t already close .

Are you planning any outings or trips anytime soon? Whereabouts?  No, nothing set in stone. I do want to fly out to South Korea soon, though.

Do you know anyone who has a phobia of a certain animal?  I know a few people who are afraid of dogs.

Is there a particular brand of technology/electronics that you prefer?  Yeah, Apple.

Is there a singer whose voice gives you goosebumps/chills?  Hayley Williams and Jin, especially when he’s belting; and I don’t listen to her much, but I find that Billie Eilish has a unique voice that sounds really nice.

And is there a singer whose voice you simply can't stand?  Selena Gomez for some of her songs, Meghan Trainor for most of her songs.

Are there any authors that are particularly dominant on your bookshelf?  No.

Have you seen any photographs or videos that made you smile today?  Sure.

Which item in your fridge are you most looking forward to consuming? My aunt sent over this gigantic-ass slab of salmon that I can’t wait to eat as sashimi. I already had a few pieces last night and it was hea ven ly.

Has anyone you know got into a new relationship lately?  Hmm, I don’t think so. I know my coworker Dev got into a relationship a few weeks ago but it fizzled out as soon as it started because the guy was shitty.

If you menstruate, do you experience much PMS prior to it?  Only on the emotional side; I rarely get physical symptoms. I usually feel down or emotionally heavy a few days before my period.

Have you ever had a tattoo covered up or added to?  No, I don’t have any tattoos. Can you remember the last time you had a sudden change of mind?  Hmm, like last night. I wanted to stay up to maximize the weekend, buuuut I decided against it and slept instead since I had been up since 2 in the morning.

When was the last time you did something on a whim?  Two weeks ago when I impulsively dropped a thousand bucks to have cheese tarts delivered to Angela and Reena, hahaha.

Were you raised by both of your parents? If not, then who raised you?  My mom, grandma, and one of my aunts were the main people who raised me. Dad works overseas, so he was never at home much.

Have you ever began a relationship with someone you knew for less than a week?  No, I wouldn’t do that.

Has one of your friends ever tried to ‘hook you up?’  Mik tried to pair me with one of his friends just days before I finally implied on social media that I was no longer in a relationship. It was a cool ego boost but I declined, since my emotions were still super turbulent then. Andi tried to initiate sex with me once too, but I also declined.

What is your card game of choice?  I hate card games; I can never seem to understand them lmao, though that’s really more of a me problem than anything else.

What is your favourite books series?  Growing up, I really loved the Septimus Heap series. But the thing about it was that I got into it while the series was still ongoing; and with how bad my attention span is, I always forgot the events/plot whenever the newest book came out. 

So whenever that happened I had to read the entire series from Book 1; eventually the number of books I had to reread/revisit became too many (it was a seven-part series) and I simply just lost the time to read and I never got to know about the conclusion.

Do you prefer landmarks or street names when being given directions?  Street names – more precise. Landmarks to me can be pretty subjective – a green building might look blue to me, and I could just end up being lost.

Do you read the prologues in the beginnings of books?  Sure.

What was your favourite gym class moment?  If I genuinely like or already play the sport that was being taught. That’s why PE table tennis was a lot of fun for me.

Do you think that ocean boardwalks are fun?  I’ve never been on one but I imagine they are fun, yeah.

Do you dread when people ask you to sign their yearbooks?  That’s not a tradition here.

Do you have a favourite Scooby-Doo movie?  No. I was too young for Scooby-Doo in a sense that I do remember watching the movies as a 3/4 year old as they were kept on in the background at home, but I didn’t get any of the plots/didn’t really appreciate the films.

Do you think it’s cute when toddlers try to run away and fall down?  Sometimes, yeah. If the fall looked nasty I would obviously be concerned.

Do you enjoy listening to your grandparents tell stories of their past?  Honestly, only one of my grandparents would be the type to do this but he’s been dead for six years now. It’s a big shame he passed before I could bond with him the way I had always wanted to. My three other grandparents are either too closed off or too quiet to share stories from their youth.

Do you have a crush on someone? Nah, nothing more than a celebrity crush.

If so... what does his/her name begin with? 

What attracts you to them? 

Do they know that you like them? 

If they don't know, why didn't you tell them? 

Name two people that you miss:  Angela and Laurice.

Have you ever seen Titanic?  More times than I can count. I’m sure I memorize like 80% of the script, too.

Have you ever swam with dolphins?  No. I’m not so sure if I’ve seen dolphins, either. Maybe I have? Or maybe I’m confusing it with whales...idrk.

When was the last time you had a stomachache?  Wednesday.

What's going to bed early for you?  11 PM or midnight.

Do you want to have a big family in the future?  I used to, but I don’t think that’s the future I want anymore. One or two kids should be okay.

What was the last thing you did that gave you a rush?  Technically speaking, an orgasm, I guess?? Lmao idk

Favorite Nicholas Cage movie?  I don’t think I have one.

Have you had your Covid vaccine yet? Which one, if you have?  Yeah, I’m fully dosed. Sinovac.

If you've had your vaccine, did you experience any side effects?  I was suuuuuuper tired right after my first dose and I wanted to be knocked the fuck out, but I went right back to work after the shot because I am allergic to filing leaves hahaha. Second dose went smoothly.

What's the next item of clothing that you intend to buy for yourself?  A bucket hat or maybe one of the Fila x BTS shirts because the collection is actually quite cute!

What Facebook groups have you found the most helpful?  I join Facebook groups to be entertained, not because I actively look for advice.

Do you like your butt? Why or why not?  Yeah. It...has a good form hahahahahaha.

Have you ever personally been a victim of homophobia?  Yes, a few years ago I went to a food park with my ex-girlfriend. I was already not feeling my best that day to begin with, so having to see an old woman stare daggers at us for what felt like years really stung. I felt small under her look and almost cried, but in the end I felt angry that I momentarily felt shame about my relationship. I decided to just piss the woman off on purpose and do PDA right in front of her.

Do you think you’d be happier if you had a pet? I have two dogs at present and I know they make me extremely happy.

Who was the last person you went on a date with?  Gabie.

Were you ever hospitalized as a little kid?  No. The first and only time I was hospitalized (other than being birthed), I was about 12, I think.

What’s your favorite way to curl your hair?  I don’t do that. I rarely style my hair.

At what age did you start swearing?  I was 11.

What is something you physically can’t do?  Ride a bike.

What do like better, apples or oranges?  I don’t like any fruits; but in terms of flavored stuff, I like orange-flavored food, especially chewy candy, slightly more.

Around the holidays, do you hope for snow?  Well, no.

What are your top two favorite bands?  Paramore and Against Me!

How many people do you 100% trust?  There are a handful. I generally trust easily just because I like to believe all people are kind and loyal – but I can also take it away in the snap of a finger.

Do you care what others think about you?  Not so much.

Has anyone ever called you a bitch?  Sure.

Did you watch Teletubbies when you were younger?  Yeah but just super super faint memories. It wasn’t one of my main shows.

Do you have any licenses other than your driver's license?  I don’t.

Could you live the rest of your life without eating meat?  I doubt it. I could try, but I think I’d get cranky and start looking for meat way earlier than I would like to admit.

Have you ever had a rolling backpack?  Yup, if you mean a stroller. I think I’ve answered this on a previous survey.

Did you make any money today?  No, because it’s a weekend. What was the highest place you've ever jumped from?  Nothing dramatically high. I’ve had acrophobia-themed nightmares in the past, so even though I don’t actually have a fear of heights, the idea of jumping from a high place still makes me antsy.

Have you ever gone swimming in a river?  Not that I can recall.

What was the last souvenir someone got you?  I dunno if it counts but Andi bought merch from the AEW shop but made sure to also get a CM Punk sticker set for me :(

Do you have a favorite remix of a song?  Remixes have never been my thing. What do you think is the most saddest sounding instrument?  Piano.

Do you really pay attention to the ratings on movies?  Yeah they can definitely affect the level of appreciation I hold towards a film. For instance, if I genuinely enjoyed a movie only to find out it has average to bad reviews, it invites me to think more critically about the movie.

Do you have a favorite species of wild cat (tiger/lion/cougar/etc.)?  No.

If you had $500,000, what would you do with it?  Give half to my parents and let them do whatever they wish it. With the remaining P12,500,000, I’d probably get myself my own condo and have it fully furnished, then get braces, then get a new phone and laptop. I’ll have a bunch of money still left, I’m pretty sure – the rest of it I’ll save.

Did the last person you touched lips with have a kid?  No. I mean, I have honestly no clue what’s going on in her life now, but I know she doesn’t want kids so this is very unlikely.

"First loves are never really over." Is this true for you?  It’s true in a sense that she left me a lot of trauma and self-esteem issues that will irrevocably always be a part of me now even though I’ve worked hard to resolved most of them by myself.

Did you like Michael Jackson before he died?  Yes, because he has always been my favorite singer’s role model.

What are some things that would make you break up with someone?  I don’t know how to answer this question, honestly. All the red flags were thrown and tossed and slapped into my face and down my throat for six years yet I never left. I don’t actually know what my limits are, and I believe it’s because my coping mechanism has to just accept things and suck them up no matter how bad they get. That’s what I’m trying to change for myself now.

What was the worst breakup you've ever had?  I’ve had two breakups with the same person, and the second one was worse.

[themagicinwords]

This is a gift fic for @readysetstarker because Dev is a sweet and talented and wonderful person who inspires me every day. Merry Christmas!

“Pepper’s got the Secret Santa hat.”

Peter’s head popped up over the wall of his cubicle, confirming Ned’s statement when he spotted the redhead halfway across the office with a black bowler hat in her hand. This was his first Christmas with the company, but Ned had explained to him all about the Secret Santa. And even though Peter had only been here six months, he already knew exactly who he wanted to get.

The two young men watched Pepper move from cubicle to cubicle, holding out the hat so everyone could pull out a piece of paper. There were different reactions scattered around the office as each person picked a name, from disappointed pouts to slightly evil, calculated grins. As she got closer, Peter could see that each paper had the name and the department of the gifter, probably for people like him who were newer and didn’t quite know everyone in the small company yet. But if he got his wish, all of that information would be irrelevant.

When the pretty redhead finally stopped at his desk, she smiled down at him and held out the hat. “Alright Parker, your turn.” Taking a deep breath, Peter closed his eyes and fished around for a second, then said a quick prayer and wrapped his fingers around a slip of paper. He pulled it out and kept it tucked into his fist, thanking Pepper quietly, who winked at him as she moved onto Ned.

It wasn’t until she walked away that he slowly opened his fingers to stare at the plain, folded up square of paper. Peter carefully picked it up and unfolded it, the entire time silently chanting please let it be him, please let it be him, please let it be-

This must be what a Christmas miracle felt like. Peter stared down at the paper, eyes wide, as a grin rapidly spread across his face. He spun around in his chair, grinning like a fool with both fists in the air. Next door, Ned was just leaning around the cubicle wall. “Hey, Peter, did you get-” But his question was easily answered by the excitement written all over his friend’s face. And it was confirmed when Peter stopped spinning to hold out the slip of paper.

Tony Stark, IT

Ned, being just as much of a dork as Peter, jumped out of his chair to grab Peter’s hands and jump a little in excitement. “Dude, you got him! Oh, and you can use this as an excuse to finally ask him out.”

Peter’s excitement turned to fear like someone had flipped a switch. “Ned, no. I absolutely cannot do that!” But the other man just rolled his eyes, still smiling. “Sure you can. Oh! Get him a funny gift and then put, like, a coupon in it for a free home cooked meal! You’ve seen the way that guy eats, and you’re a crazy good cook!” Leave it to Ned to be the cute, romantic type.

And as much as the idea of asking Tony out terrified him, Peter knew deep down that Ned was right. This would be the perfect chance for him to take the leap. If Tony turned him down, he could always quit and move out of state. That wouldn’t be overdramatic, right? “Ok, you’re right. I’m gonna do it.” When he looked up at Ned, his friend actually looked a little surprised. “Wait, I’m right? So you’re gonna do it? Way to go, Pete!” He clapped a hand on Peter’s shoulder, and then sat back down at his desk.

Peter turned back to his computer, set on finding the perfect gift for Tony. He knew MJ would (probably) help him with the personal aspect, but he wanted to find something fun that would make the older man smile. That’s all Tony had been doing since that very first phone call during Peter’s first month of work, making the younger man smile and laugh over and over.

“IT, Tony speaking. How can I help?”

“Hi, uh. This is Peter. Parker. Peter Parker. In marketing. My computer is doing something wonky?”

There’s a warm, deep chuckle that makes Peter melt a little inside. “Well, Peter Parker in marketing, I’m assuming you’re new?”

“Yeah, I’ve only been here a couple weeks.”

“New hires usually get the older rigs, no sense giving a newbie something shiny and new until they’re sure you’re going to stick. Marketing has a bit of a high turnover rate.”

“What am I supposed to do? I can’t do my work like this!”

“Easy, kid. You’re gonna explain the problem, and I’m gonna walk you through a fix. I promise I’ll get you back up and running in no time.”

“Sorry, I just.. need this job. I want this job to work out.”

“No harm, no foul, Pete. I think you’re gonna do just fine.”

Tony had spent the rest of the conversation teasing and wheedling Peter while they worked through a fix on his ancient computer, and by the time they were done, the younger man had felt calmer and lighter than he had in weeks. And every call between them that came after followed the same pattern: Peter would explain the newest problem, and Tony would tease and joke his way through the fix. It wasn’t until the younger man made it through his ninety day probation period that they actually met in person.

And Peter had nearly died when the man with salt and pepper hair and gorgeous brown eyes introduced himself as Tony when he brought up a brand new computer to replace the dinosaur Peter had been working with.

Since that initial meeting, what had started out as a crush on a faceless voice became what Ned liked to call an “adorable obsession.”  And his friend had been pushing Peter to ask Tony out for months. But he had never been able to work up the courage. Until now.

The whole Secret Santa confession needed to be perfect. And that required the perfect gift. Something that would make Tony laugh, because Peter wanted to wrap himself in that laugh and roll around in it. And there must have been Christmas magic on his side, because it didn’t take long for him to stumble on the exact right thing, a coffee mug that reminded Peter of one of his favorite, and more hilarious, conversations with Tony.

“Tony, exactly how much coffee have you had? Because you aren’t making any sense.”

“Coffee comes from beans, Peter. And do you know what beans are? Vegetables! So I’m just trying to get in my daily recommended servings of veggies.”

With his gift purchased, and the package itself personalized and wrapped with MJ’s help, it was agonizing to wait the couple of weeks still left until the company Christmas party. By the time the day arrived, Peter had nearly worked himself into a panic, making himself crazy wondering if he could really go through with it. Ultimately, he knew he would never hear the end of it from his friends if he chickened out now.

He waited until the party was in full swing, and everyone else had exchanged gifts, before approaching Tony with his own. His heart flipped over as the older man’s face seemed to light up at the sight of him. “Peter! I hadn’t seen you, so I was worried you hadn’t made it.” Blushing, Peter held out his gift, watching Tony’s eyes widen as he took it. “Merry Christmas, Tony.”

Tony grinned, and winked at Peter. “So you were the unlucky one who got stuck with me this year, huh?” As he started to unwrap the present, Peter shook his head. “Actually, I was um.. really excited when I pulled your name.” Surprised brown eyes met his own nervous gaze, and Tony’s cheeky grin softened into something sweeter. And then he laughed as he pulled out the mug and read what was printed on the side.

Peter’s nerves doubled when Tony spotted the slip of paper tucked inside the mug. This was it, the moment that determined whether he would have to leave the state and change his name or not. Oh god, he couldn’t look at Tony’s face, didn’t want to see the reaction as he read it.

“Peter.. is this.. um, is this.. are you offering to cook me dinner as.. as a date?”

Peter still couldn’t meet Tony’s eyes, nervously twisting his fingers together as he stared down at their shoes. “It.. it doesn’t have to be. I just, I know what your eating habits are like, and you deserve a home cooked meal once in a while, and I’m actually a really good cook, so it would be really good and-”

The sound of that deep, warm laugh that Peter had fallen a little bit in love with during that first call halted his rambling, and when he looked up, that soft smile was still on Tony’s face. “You know, I nearly choked on my own tongue when I saw you the first time, you were so damn cute." Peter's eyes grew comically wide. "Are you.. seriously? Me!?" Tony laughed again. "Yeah, you. And I thought surely there was no way you'd be interested in an old guy like me." Without thinking, Peter reached out to grip Tony’s hand in his. “Tony, you’re not old! Honestly, the silver really works for me.”

Tony’s smile grew, and he didn’t let go of Peter’s hand as he stepped closer. “That so?” Before he could respond, Peter felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He slipped it out, clicking it on just long enough to see a text from Ned that said look up! Peter looked across the room at Ned giving him two thumbs up, then glanced up, eyes widening when he saw the mistletoe hanging perfectly above their heads. When he looked back at Tony, the older man shrugged, smile turning just a little bit heated. “Well, we can’t break a Christmas tradition, now can we?”

The hand not holding onto Peter’s came up to curl around the back of his neck, and then Tony’s lips were on his and Peter lit up like a Christmas tree. He swayed closer, fingers tightening around Tony’s. The kiss was better than anything he could have ever imagined, and no other gift he got this year would compare. 

When Tony pulled back, Peter’s eyes remained closed, and he didn’t even care about how dopey he probably looked. He had gotten everything he wished for this Christmas.

“Hey Peter, in case you were still wondering? That’s a yes.”

[justahockeylover]

all my friends - j.hughes

author’s note // yay!! my first imagine, and many more yet to come! I honestly hope y’all enjoy this one, it’s loosely based off of this song. also, big thanks to @annalahey, for proofreading this part along with part of the second one! she was truly a blessing in this process, and I can’t thank her enough :)

word count: 1,631

-

All my friends are falling in love

All my friends are locking it up

But I can't seem to settle down

'Cause I'm waiting on you to come around

While all my friends are falling in love

You don’t know when it started, but you had started to feel like a part of you was missing. Maybe it was because your best friend, who you were so hopelessly in love with, was miles away from you in New Jersey. How he hasn’t realized it yet, you don’t know, but you also don’t mind. You’d rather die than tell him how you felt.

Hey just got done with training for today, wyd?

A smile appeared on your face as you read Jack’s message and typed a quick reply.

Not much, thinking about going skating later.

It’s true, you were thinking about going later, but with who? All of your friends have boyfriends, and they would gladly have a girls’ night with you, but you don’t want to feel like a burden.

Oh yeah? Without me?

You laughed, thinking about how his face his eyebrows are probably raised, his mouth upturned in a smirk.

Yeah, with my new best friend.

Catching your drift, he decided to play along.

You replaced me already? I’ve only been gone for a few weeks.

You let out a big sigh, debating on whether to send your next text or not.

Yeah, well, it’s a few weeks too long for my taste.

Deciding to send it, you leave your phone on your bed and get up to change your clothes. I mean, you were going ice skating after all. You heard your phone buzz a couple of times, but you waited until you were dressed to check them. Jack can wait a few seconds.

Same here, I miss you too. Wanna facetime?

You replied with a quick yes, and within seconds he was calling you. Answering it, you saw his smiling face appear on your screen.

“Hey rowdy, how’s Jersey been treating you?”

He laughs, rolling his eyes, ”Good, Y/N/N, I just miss everyone. I know I shouldn’t complain though. I mean, I just signed a contract to play in the NHL.”

You looked at him with sad eyes, and thought about how to respond.

“Jack, you might’ve just signed with the Devs, but that doesn’t mean you’re not human. And it sure as hell doesn’t mean you can’t complain, you still have a lot of time left in your career, and Jersey is just the starting point of it all. Sure you went first overall, but that doesn’t make you any less deserving of emotions,” You smiled at him through your screen, wishing you could give him a hug.

“I know, you’re the best at these talks, I wish you were here with me.”

Your heart swells at his words, it always does when he says something like that.

“I wish I was there with you too, and I’m sure Chelsea does as well. The rest of your support team wants to be right by your side through this,” you send him a tight-lipped smile.

He raises an eyebrow at this, and you hear another voice over the phone, easily recognizing it as his mom, who was close enough to you that she was practically your mom as well.

“Jack, is that Y/N? Let me say hi!”

Jack mouths a ‘sorry’ before handing the phone over to his mom, who smiles upon seeing you.

“Hey sweetie! How are you?”

“I’m good Ellen, just working on getting my summer readings done and whatnot. Just getting ready for school to start in August you know,” you replied with a tight smile, a sign that you were stressed. Knowing Ellen, she can easily tell when you were overworking yourself.

“I know what that’s like, hun. But I also know that you deserve to take breaks every once in a while. Please tell me you’ve eaten today.”

She looks at you with the regular mom glare and, even though she’s nowhere near you, you feel the effects of it anyway.

“Well, I kinda ate breakfast this morning,” You wearily smiled at her, ready for her to yell at you.

“Y/N Y/L/N! You need to eat so you don’t pass out!”

She was clearly worried, and you could hear Jack in the background, sounding just as (if not more) concerned.

“I know, but I just haven’t been getting out of the house much lately. With you guys being in Jersey, Quinn training for the upcoming season, and all of my friends hanging out with their boyfriends, I haven’t really had a reason to leave.”

It was true, you really hadn’t left the house much this summer. All of your friends were doing stuff with their boyfriends, you didn’t really have many people to hang out with. And while you would hang out with the other boys’ girlfriends, some weren’t the most fond of you.

“Darling, you need to eat. If I hear from Jack you’re still not eating in a couple of days, I will definitely be going to your mom,” She gave you a smile before saying goodbye and handing the phone back to Jack.

You both stared at each other for a few seconds, not really knowing what to say.

“Y/N, you need to eat. I’m going to text Quinn to tell him to bring you something.”

And before you could argue, he was already texting his brother, who then texted you asking what you want. You replied that anything was fine, as long as it wasn’t anything fried, since you felt like that was all you were living on for the past few weeks since your parents were visiting some extended family. 

“So, did you ever figure out who you’re going to go skating with? Quinn would probably be down to go with you,” he tilted his head, looking like a puppy, while giving you the chance to take cutest picture ever.

“Y/N did you just take a picture of me?”

You started laughing, which gave away your ploy to stay silent.

“Yes, maybe,” he glared at you, “you just looked so cute! And I’m not passing up the opportunity of another picture to post for your next birthday.”

Jack blushed and let out a frustrated groan as you looked towards your front door, hearing a knock.

“Come in!”

Quinn walked in, with two Panera Bread bags in his hand. You walked towards him, taking the bags and setting them on the counter, giving him a hug.

“I’m on facetime with Jack, if you want to say hi,” you hand him your phone while you take both of your food onto your counter, taking a seat at a barstool, and patting the one next to you so Quinn would sit down. He sat next to you, propping you phone up against something so you both could talk to Jack.

“How’s Jersey been, Jack?”

You and Quinn both began eating, letting Jack do all the talking for a second.

“I don’t know, Q. I was talking to Y/N earlier and I just miss you guys. And I’m getting so much attention on social media right now that it’s kind of overwhelming. I wish you or Y/N could be here with me right now to help. I have mom and dad here, and they’re trying their hardest to understand, but I wish I had you guys by my side”

He let out a big sigh, shoulders slumped, and you could just see how tired he was. You decided to steer away from the topic, knowing you would definitely be talking about it with him later.

“So, have you gotten the chance to talk to Chelsea while you’ve been there?”

You were genuinely curious, seeing as you and her don’t talk very often if it’s not about Jack.

“Um, not too much. I think we’ve both been so busy that whenever I can talk she can’t.”

“Aw, love, I’m sorry. I know that she misses you just as much as you do her. This is just a small obstacle in your relationship, I promise.”

You always called him love, and you have for years. It was just a cute pet name, and you called a lot of people ‘love’ or ‘babe’ out of habit. Which is why Jack should be used to it by now, but you swear you saw a little bit of a blush form on his cheeks.

“But what if I don’t really miss her?”

You and Quinn stopped right where you were, surprised. He almost spat out his drink, quickly stopping himself from getting water everywhere. Jack had seemed to really like Chelsea, and while you weren’t too fond of her, it seemed like their relationship was going pretty well.

“Jack, what do you mean? You and Chelsea have been together for a while, I thought you would want her right by your side,” you raised an eyebrow, watching out of your peripheral as Quinn excused himself to go to the bathroom.

Your best friend put his head in his hands, sighing again, “I know, and I should, but the only girl I want right next to me is you.”

“Jack, I-”

You didn’t know what to say. God, you had been in love with him for so long, and he’s just telling you this now? Guys really know when to choose their moments, huh?

“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t feel the same way. I know that it’s pretty out of the blue, but whenever I try to think about Chelsea, all I end up thinking about is you.”

You looked at him, shocked.

“Hey, I have to go. Me and a couple of the guys are going out for dinner tonight. Think about it, okay? I’ll call you later, to see how skating goes.”

You could barely get a word out before he hung up, leaving you with your own thoughts.

-

and there it is! I hope you liked it, I have a second part coming out sometime soon, it’s already at 500 words, so it should be up by tomorrow! at least, I hope. ahhh, I’m so excited to be writing again, who should be next? :)

[fountainpenguin]

Riddle watches New Wish - Post #11

Starting with Weird Science.

TWO people named Grey participated in this show?

Cosmo: Ooh, what a tasty-looking dinner! I love potatoes! Me: Cosmo, aren't you allergic to potato skins? Cosmo: /eats the lightbulb. Me: ... Carry on.

Really cool hallway angle! Also:

angry.

Those dance and voting posters have been up for quite a while, which seems unusual for a school. Did we really skip several weeks forward in time with Episode 3, then everything is crammed in tight after that? Where's that dang moon? I need it.

Seriously, Sneezy Hawkins dance has been up since Hazel arrived, and it's been many weeks since then.

Cosmo and Wanda altering the laws of science in order to make her science project work is hilarious. Of course they would.

How many music rooms does 1 school need?

Hazel's class is near the entrance of school, 2nd floor. If you look at the school's front, she's on the right-hand side.

JORGEN'S BACK!! Time to wreck Hazel for altering physics.

Basically Hazel, with no sense of self-preservation: Jorgen, I tried using magic to cheat a competition. Jorgen internally: I'm very mad and also disappointed.

Dev is the grumpiest little meditator. Doesn't even chant, smh. Why does his bag say "Mediocre," are we gonna talk about that?

Hazel's parents are so caring.

Mystery She Wished

Oh, noir? I was just thinking about noir earlier toda- WANING CRESCENT!

Hazel and her dad watching movies together is cute. She likes scary movies and he likes the paranormal- They're a perfect pair.

"I have to charge my ghost crystals" okay Dad.

Cracking up at Hazel interviewing Wanda for her mystery. Big "Where's Wanda?" vibes.

I was sitting here like "Why is she asking Wanda?" and then I was like "Oh yeah, she still lives here. She lives across the hall. She pays rent." I like that Hazel thinks she's on bad terms with the landlady.

I said in Post 10 that I was sad we hadn't seen more of Cosmo and Wanda's life in the apartment because I felt like we were missing opportunities to engage with the environment (and see them struggling to be human). This is exactly what I wanted.

Cosmo: Unless... I did it and framed Wanda?

Okay, now you're just being meta. I was gonna not tell readers that you're responsible for Wanda's disappearance in "Where's Wanda?" and that's why it's funny Hazel's interviewing you two, but... that's WAY funny they put that in there.

Those are some... weird stares. Why do they look different than the other characters? Is it the eyes? Also, this guy sounds like Daran Norris.

I like how Cosmo and Wanda still have their crowns while in pencil and notepad disguise.

Hazel talking about how she had to sleep to recover from the mystery "and also because I'm 10 and can't set my own bedtime."

Hazel is being so weird to this poor kid. That's her first introduction to him; that's hilarious. He's probably a twin since he doesn't recognize her on their second conversation.

OG series Elvis? MARK CHANG??

Hazel's parents: We're going to dinner with the new family. Hazel: They're cannibals and I'm gonna die.

/staring intensely: "We always follow social norms and blend in! :)" What the heck is wrong with this guy? These two are totally aliens. Is that why Mark's picture was on the conspiracy board?

I like how Hazel's stuck in mystery mode until she solves the mystery because she wished to be like SDFKJSDFISOKJD OH NO-

Okay. She wished to be like the detectives on TV, who didn't use magic to solve their mysteries, and I should really pause before typing, but in my mind I was like "There's literally no way they're going to put an Easter egg in this pantry."

... Oh. I 100% thought I spotted the aliens from "So Totally Spaced Out" who were defeated by eating them, but upon rewinding and pausing, that looks like a regular rabbit.

Now I'm disappointed.

Twins! I was right. Also, this is a really dark episode for a show that still, this many episodes in, refuses to give me the child abuse I'm craving.

This is how normal people eat with guests.

... The twist is that they're doomsday preppers? I thought that was obvious? They said they were preparing for the end of the world and they were stockpiling supplies for that. Maybe I'm too old for this episode- I didn't know that was unclear to Hazel sdfklj. The plot twist at the end is still going to be they're aliens, I'm sure of it.

(It was not; there was no twist, although the parents did dump all their food on the ground. I fear we will never know who was there.)

Prime Meridian Love

Hazel's into both manga and anime! Nice. We might've heard about the manga earlier, but I forgot.

Jasmine: Don't tell us the whole story! I want to be surprised when I read it. Me, liveblogging: Uh-oh.

Finally a school dance after all those posters since Episode 1! ... Not the same dance! I'm dying inside.

She's totally gonna wish her manga fish crush into reality. Question is... Are we about to get a "can't wish away true love" plot, or totally different drama?

omfg, he's dying because he's a fish. That's not the direction I thought this was going. I could've sworn his wall poster depicts him on a cliff? I'll have to review when we're back in her room.

Kennueth: I will not fall for your siren song >:(

Whoops. Also, confirmation that humans can't know about magic!

Oh no, he's going to be obsessed with his own book and try to see the ending? Is that it? ...... No? Hm. I guess he's fine with it.

I don't have anything to say about this screenshot, but it should be appreciated.

FAIRY WORLD! ... I don't love that we're skipping straight to it? And now we're montaging through it? This is her second onscreen time and her first was at the dreary DMV, assuming I'm watching in the correct order. We don't get to see her being wowed? I'm kinda disappointed.

Oh, we're back in her room. That makes me sad. Also... I guess it's more common for 10-year-olds to have crushes than I thought, considering Timmy had one too. I should really look this up.

-> Oh, it is. Maybe I need to re-tune my allo characters; I always assumed crushes come with puberty, but apparently not.

Oh boy, Dev's about to be annihilated by a tall fish guy. I enjoy his expressions and tiny hands. Also, I really like how we sometimes get to see his eyes over his glasses since we didn't get that with the Pixies.

He looks like he's wearing the necklace from the manga. Is he a fan of the series and is he going to attend Hazel's book club since her friends couldn't? Finally friend?? (I doubt it).

Oh wait, maybe he will.

Hazel: ?? Are you a Super Meridian-head? :) Dev at a school dance:

"Get off my back about it!!" okay, goof.

I like how Kennueth described Dev's robotic companions as "metallic birds."

sldkfjsdljf, hang on, pause pause pause. Is Kennueth spoiling plot points Hazel doesn't know about and we're going to loop back to how her friends didn't enjoy her spoiling the manga? That's great!

Wanda dog-ears books... Good to know. I'm glad she's still implied to be a terrible librarian. Cosmo won't even share his books.

Hazel: Our friendship is more important than any book club! Me, who saw Mikey Munroe weasel a speedboat out of Bunsen with very similar words: Are we being for real right now?

sdlkfj, Hazel hitting him with the "I think we work best just as friends. I'm only 10." Okay, that's hilarious.

Hazel did not get upset about spoilers and Dev did not come to book club :(

Hey, this is related to nothing as I get my snack, but what was Poof doing during his parents' 10k-year vacation? I assume he went with them. He was in boarding school during Season 10 and maybe he still is, but... hm. Where's my boy? I know he's still canon; his picture's in Episode 1.

I'm gettin' nervous. -> Me, unfortunately didn't get more than 3 episodes into "Fairly Odder" and doesn't know if he showed up there.

Okay, but... Cosmo and Wanda wouldn't leave behind their son who's faced multiple kidnapping attempts, including from Jorgen: the man who wanted to yoink Poof and not let him visit his parents for centuries... right?

They wouldn't take their son away from Timmy, the brother he grew up with, and then ALSO ditch their son. Right?

Please tell me we're not going to get Poof with issues. I know I was confused in Liveblog 10 about the lack of child trauma in this show, but I didn't mean him.

-> Has given Aged-Up Poof more issues than literally any other character in my fanfics.

[thewritingbliss]

Double Date. Saturday, 19:07

I wanted to write a double date for Cris and Joana and, well, the brief interaction in the last clip made it easier to decide who should join them. A bit of a random pairing but this is a fanfic so...oh well! :)

The pillows I was perched on were incredibly soft and I felt as if I could fall asleep peacefully were I to lay my head on them. But I couldn’t sleep now. Not when it felt like I was already in a nightmare. I sighed deeply, looking over to where my friends were sitting on the bed stunned into silence. The only thing separating us was a phone which lay in the middle of Cris’ bedroom floor.  

No-one said a word.

Eva and Nora had cackled when Cris told them about how she wanted Joana to meet the boy squad but was still worried about Hugo would react – she knew he’d be cool yet she didn’t want there to be any palpable tension given their brief history. She thought a double date would ensure that Hugo’s mind was distracted from her and that Joana would feel more comfortable meeting in a more lowkey manner as opposed to having our whole group throw question after question her way. The problem? It’s not as if Hugo can bag a date by himself so a pity one would have to do.

Nora got out of it by saying Alejandro had invited her to a party and Viri invited herself so of course she had to go look after our friend. Or more like save Alejandro from Viri’s heart eyes. Eva quickly chimed in by shyly sharing that Jorge wanted to show her his new game, a flimsy excuse to hide a clear hook up session. So, who else was left…

“No, no, no!” I repeated my assertion that I would not go on any kind of date with anyone that was not Dev Patel or Chris Hemsworth. “I refuse to have my first ever date with a guy who asked me whether Marrakesh was in Morocco.”

Cris jumped to his defence. “He’s bad at geography but, like, as long as he’s got the funds to book holidays then you’re good. You book the flights, he pays.” I narrow my eyes at her. “I’m joking, girl! Look, I just don’t want it to be awkward with Joana. I want her to meet everyone one by one so she’s not overwhelmed. I need for her to feel part of the group and not as if there’s history she’s unaware of. Plus I love Hugo but you know how can get overfamiliar sometimes. You can keep him in check!”

The way Cris gave me her puppy dog eyes, her voice catching when she spoke her girlfriend’s name, showed me how much this meant to her. She wanted Joana to get to know us one by one, to really vibe with our group and become our friend as opposed to just her girlfriend. And she would never ask if it didn’t mean a lot to her. I mean, yeah, she’d probably ask to embarrass me yet I didn’t think that was the case with the double date proposal.  

“This is so silly,” I grumbled, crossing my legs and leaning forward. “I do not agree to a date. I agree to a group hang. Why does it have to be labelled a date?”

Eva snorted. “For Hugo’s ego. And because you’ve been making that cute annoyed face since the word came up.”

I sighed. “Look, just call him before I change my mind.”

Without another word Cris was on the phone. “Ahhhh Hugo, picking up on the first ring! Get a hobby! Oh you were watching Netflix on your phone? Forget about that. You can watch something much more interesting,” she said slyly, shooting me a look as Nora patted my hand sympathetically. “Come on a double date with me and Joana…yeah, I know…no, you don’t have to get a date because I have one for you. My girl Amira, who else?!”

“IT’S NOT A DATE!” I shouted as Eva tackled me back on the bed. “IT’S NOT A…EVA, STOP HITTING ME!”

“NEVER!” Eva pinned me down and smiled at Nora taking photos of our fight for my dignity.

Turns out Eva was a lot stronger than I was.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Refresh my memory about why I’m doing this?” I inquired. I was sitting opposite Cris and Joana, scrolling down my phone and tapping my other hand on the table, which was quickly grabbing the attention of people sitting next to us despite the fact loud music was playing. Cris shot me a ‘Joana isn’t meant to know that I arranged this for her to feel comfortable’ look so I shut up. “Oh yes, Hugo’s so…interesting that’s why.”

“Even more reason to give him a chance,” Joana said, picking up Cris’ hand to play with it. “I died when Cris told me about your huge crush on him, like, so cute.”

I huffed out a breath angrily. But the truth was I wasn’t that mad because Cris had a huge smile and Joana’s tender stare warmed my heart. They looked so happy, as if they had found contentment in each other. Having seen how upset Cris had been when Joana was still with her ex-boyfriend, proclaiming she was a clown, and the tears she had been holding back…I could not believe that was the same Cris who sat in front of me now with rosy cheeks and bright eyes.

“Cris says a lot of things,” I said. “She also said John Legend has the best music. Can you believe that? When Rihanna exists!”

Joana kisses Cris’ hand and murmured against it so quietly that I wondered if I imagined it. “Oh did you now?”

I almost took their private moment as an excuse to leave but then, as I averted my eyes to give them time to just have their inside joke as well as talk myself out of running out the restaurant, I noticed someone at the entrance.

“Hugo is here,” I informed my friends as Joana strained her body around to get a good look with her eyes appraising his lanky frame.

“Poor guy,” Joana smacked her lips. “He doesn’t stand a chance.”

“Sorry I’m late,” he provided, taking a seat next to me and smiling at Joana. “So good to meet you finally. Cris won’t shut up about you.”

I spoke up. “Oh I can vouch for this. What was it the other day? Her hair is so soft, I wish she’d tell me what shampoo she uses.”

Hugo chimed in. “Feel my hair. Is it soft? I don’t her to feel my tangles…or do I?”

“Shut up!” Cris whined, turning red. “I didn’t say that.” She sat with her face in her palms, chunky rings adorning her fingers, and looked wistfully over to her girlfriend. 

“It’s okay, baby…” Joana said and I didn’t hear the end of her sentence because Hugo decided to whisper to me. 

“Alright, Amira? I think Cris will never forgive us for embarrassing her like that but so worth it.”

“I’m her best friend, I can get away with it. You? Oooooh you’re in trouble.”

He grinned. “Won’t you save me?”

“I saw that you booked a trip to Amsterdam with Lucas and Jorge.” I said quickly changing the subject to what I had seen on my Instagram feed because I had no smart reply for him. 

He chuckled. “Yeah. I would have invited you girls but I had a feeling you’d all say no,” he titled his head to the side to see my reaction. “Seems like a bit too much fun for you bores.”

I raised an eyebrow. 

“Your idea of a fun time is smoking weed in the toilets of a grubby club so you can’t talk. Remind me to buy you air freshener for your birthday with all the time you spend in there.”

“I feel like you want the dirty details of our guy chats in those toilets,” he knitted his eyebrows in slight dismay, like, he had only just realised going on holiday with us girls would have been tons better. “But I’m sure Lucas tells you all anyway.”

“Sure, Mr I’m Bad at Geography. First Oslo then Morocco? Do you not know the capital cities of anywhere?”

“Should we order before you decide to point out my flaws? I’m going to need food in me for this.”

He called over the waitress, who rushed over from the older couple telling her for not folding the napkins properly. Cris and Joana read off their orders and after I said mine, two things happened. 

My phone buzzed, immediately distracting me from the story about Cris crying when watching Finding Nemo and the debate of whether Shrek had a more impactful message. 

YOUSEF BAKKOUSH FOLLOWED YOU 

It was a distinct response my body had - my heart sped up and my hands had started to shake with a smile forming on my face. I wanted to follow him back and put up a cute photo so that he’d DM me, but I was still at the restaurant on a group hang. And it would have been rude to ask their opinion of what selfie was cute, right? But it’s not like I cared, Yousef was just my brother’s friend...a cute friend...

A hand slid a napkin in front of me, causing me to whip my head up. Cris was listing point after point on her fingers while Joana shook her head in disagreement and Hugo was suspiciously watching them with a supressed smile, as if he wasn’t actually laughing at them. I looked down at the napkin. 

Already the best pity date ever :) 

[bbs-backlog-challenge]

BB’s Games Of 2019

2019 as a year felt like it lasted two years, and a lot happened in my personal life. Got a new job, learned to drive, got my first car, moved out of the in-laws’ basement into our first real apartment, started my first long-term game of DnD (which in itself has involved a new relationship and an emotional breakdown)- and between it all I somehow managed to play 77 games. Backlog’s down to 35 titles, lads- at this rate, I’ll be down to zero by July 2020. (Not gonna happen.) In 2020, I’d like to explore the SNES catalogue a little more, but before that happens we have to review everything 2019 brought me, in a somewhat chronological order.

- Near A Tomato Carry-over from last year’s post since I was in the middle of playing it at the time. I definitely never quite got a handle on the combat and I think some of the themes went over my head, but I still had fun here, and the 9S hacking minigame never got old. It was a gift from an old friend who I miss. Was nice to reconnect. - SSBU With my new main Zelda, I cleared all of WoL and got every spirit on the Spirit Board. I never really used her before but she’s cute now! Really liked the attention to detail in the spirit encounters. Unfortunately, Cloud is still in the game. - Mega Mans 1 2 and 3 I actually spoke about my experiences with the Mega Men in my BBLC post for Mega Man Eggs, so you should read that right now. - Metroid Samus Returns It’s Good. Like, a solid Good. Never Great, never Bad, just Good. It’s nice to see one of the least accessible games in the series get a remaster, but it feels very disposable, if that makes sense. Like they just needed a Metroid to keep people busy while they reboot Prime 4 development. AM2R is vastly superior, go play that. One point of amusement- the game tells its story without narration, and also seems to pre-suppose you know Metroid lore. I was entertained by the thought of a newcomer to the series being completely mystified by the sudden space-dragon that comes out of nowhere to wreck you at the end of the game. - Khimera: Destroy All Monster Girls You can click here to download it, ‘cos it’s free, which is almost criminal. This is one of the higher tier games I’ve played this year. A little bit Mega Man, a bit Metroid, with hints of Touhou and Undertale, it’s pretty tough at times but never to ‘precision platformer’ levels. It’s a lot of fun and the dev deserves your support. - Steve And Ollie RPG Oh, I made this one. Making something else next year? Question mark? - Prof Layton 3 Feels like these are getting weaker as they go along. The story has always been absolute boohockey, but the puzzles feel like they’re degrading in quality too. With over 200 in each game, that’s not super surprising, and I’m glad they didn’t bulk it out with a load of the awful block-slider puzzles. Still, it’s Layton, if you liked any of the other games you’ll like this cos it’s the exact same thing. - Fault Milestone Two Yo, there ain’t a damned thing I can say about Fault, so go play the first one and then play this and you’ll understand. - Full Throttle I never bothered to finish it. The obtuse old Sierra puzzlers were hard enough to deal with back in the day, and just feel kind of inexcusable now. I don’t have the patience for it. - eXceed 3rd Slick and fun bullet hell with a nigh-incomprehensible story and great music. Touhou fans will like it. Music by SSH who is relatively well known in doujin circles. - ASAMU Finished it before writing my BBLC post! - Eternal Senia Everything I said in my post rings true- do your best to look past the wonky translation, because there’s a heartfelt story underneath it. Very accessible gameplay, by design. - Inivisble Inc You have never before been, nor will you ever again be, so aware of having left a door open. I fully expected to hate Invisible, but I got hooked pretty hard. Quite tempted to do another run of it once the backlog is clear. - Pyre GOTY. Supergiant’s best game so far, and that’s not an easy thing to say for this Bastion veteran. I sobbed by the end. I’m not being dramatic- literally sobbed. Please play it. Music and writing and, just, heart, are all top tier. All the Nightwings are the best, but Hedwyn is the best best. - Ellipsis Finished it before writing my BBLC post! - Just Cause 2 I found myself getting bored very quickly. The main missions are all identical (really, they are) and the side missions are very uninspired. Blitzing around in a jet or grappling around a mission target is a lot of fun but it feels very shallow. There’s a lot to do but not really any reason to do any of it. I dunno, it’s a kind of hollow experience, that I nonetheless had fun with. - LiEat It went over my head a little, but that’s more on me I think. These horror-esque, eccentric japanese RPG Maker games usually do. But, it’s neat, and short. If this sort of thing usually sticks on you, I think this is a good title. - Shantae Pirates Curse These games always felt non-essential to me; I’m not sure why they never stuck. They never really go below or above Good. Entirely enjoyable but I don’t feel like I’d have really missed anything if I hadn’t played them. It is, however, absolutely worth investing in for the utterly superb sprite work. That doesn’t sell a game by itself, I know, but Shantae is a pixel art masterclass. - FF5 I’d more or less finished it by the time I wrote my BBLC post, so I don’t have much to add. It’s a refreshingly goofy entry in a series known for taking itself too seriously, even compared to its predecessor. Look forward to my entry for this game in my Games Of 2020 post, having played the Four Job Fiesta! - Touhou 17 It’s mid-tier in the touhou hierarchy, IMO. Didn’t set my soul alight but I did enjoy it. Playing as Wolf Marisa makes the final boss too chaotic to really enjoy, but playing through again with Reimu made it more fun. I beat Extra on my third run through, which gave me false confidence that after 10 years I might actually be good at these games- to then be quickly humbled by attempting Th11’s Extra. Final Boss’ theme song has one of the greatest lead-ins of all time, especially given you start the fight by running away from her! Also really loved the Stage 4 theme as you barrel head-first into Hell (the real one this time), and the haunting, calm-before-the-storm serenity of Stage 5, overlooking the City Of Beasts. - HackNet + Labyrinths GOTY. (Yes, I know I already said Pyre was GOTY; it’s my post, I can have two GOTYs. Make your own damned post!) It’s hard to say what I loved about these games without spoiling too much- just know that they play very much like investigation games, and figuring out the puzzles feels great. Labyrinths technically takes place during the events of Hacknet, with a somewhat more Black Hat approach to things- despite this, play all of Hacknet first, and then play Labyrinths. The expansion introduces a lot of new stuff and much trickier challenges, such that going back to the base game afterwards to finish that would leave it a little hollow- a disservice to how great the ending is. - Mega Man X I said everything I wanted to say in my BBLC post, and anything I didn’t cover was better said by Egoraptor. - Octodad Finished it before my BBLC post! - Chroma Squad The final mission is disappointingly poor, but everything up to that point was pretty good. Huge variance and creativity in the bosses. However, the most fun I got from it was when I realised the game allowed me to customise my team name, transformation name, and other such terminology. Dave, Dayve, Davy, Davina, and Dehve shouting “It’s time to Chromatise, Chroma Squad!” very quickly became “It’s time to shit, you bunch of fucks!” and it was funny every single time. (Personal favourite bit of dialogue- “I tried to shit! It worked!”) - Pyrite Heart Finished it before my BBLC post! - Starfox 2 Finished it before my BBLC post! - Burly Men At Sea Finished it before my BBLC post! - Disc Room Finished it before my BBLC post! - Kokurase Finished it before my BBLC post! Should have broken these ones up a bit! - Metroid Rogue Dawn Very, very impressive romhack let down by a distinctly un-fun final section. They managed to fix so many of OG Metroid’s problems, I’m surprised the gauntlet of terribleness that is Tourian escaped with only a cosmetic change. Nonetheless, it’s free, and the other 95% of the game is superb, even from a purely technical standpoint. - Wuppo I dunno what happened here! I was full of praise for Wuppo when I played it, but somehow I just couldn’t stick with it and just never felt like playing it. It’s a very aimless game, and I wonder if that might be why? It’s a shame, I feel disappointed in myself for not seeing it through, but ultimately I play games to have fun and I just wasn’t quite there with Wuppo. - Super Mario Odyssey I loved it, obviously. I wrote my BBLC post towards the end of my time with Odyssey so most of that stands- I do want to add that the controls always felt a little loose, like I wasn’t quite as in-control as I was in Galaxy. Also Mario prioritises walljumping over ledge-grabbing and it’s super-hard to unlearn that instinct after 20 years. Finally- Long Journey’s End is just bullshit. - Secret Of Mana Dropped it pretty soon after Finning it. There’s some logic to the way the game works, some kind of hidden turn-order system, that I could not at all figure out. My AI companions (useless, btw) would hit an enemy which meant I couldn’t, except sometimes the hit would still register but only actually go through 3 seconds later, without any way to tell which way it was going to go. It takes like 7 months for your character to get back up after taking a hit. It’s just, wonky, and I couldn’t solve the puzzle of how to make the game do what I wanted to do. - Pokemon Shield Still working my way through it. It’s- yeah, it’s pokemon. Get a similar vibe to Sun/Moon with it that it’s kind of unfinished- lots of small (and some not so small) parts of the game just feel like there were bigger plans that couldn’t be realised in time. I’m still enjoying it! They did a great job of making the gym battles, and the whole process of 8-badges-then-champion, feel like a spectacle. I think only the anime has managed it to this degree before. - Earthbound Man, I really, really want to like this game, but the battle system is terrible. I need to play through the game again buffing my party up with cheats or something, because it’s so unbalanced and cheap. Everything else about the game is wonderful, but I got so frustrated with the fights! - Mario Kart 8 Didn’t play any of the single player this time, it was midgi’s christmas present so I just joined a couple of multiplayer games. Absolutely baffled that the game features F-Zero style anti-gravity courses, has Mute City and Big Blue, and even has the Blue Falcon as a selectable vehicle, but they haven’t put Captain Falcon in it. Like he’s ever going to get another game of his own? Let him have this! - Carmageddon 2 It’s pretty clunky by now, being 20 years old, but still plays well enough. The physics are super loose so you slide around like your tires have been buttered. It was more fun when they were zombies instead of just normal people. Missions are brutally hard and should be skipped with cheats. - Neopets After 15 years of playing, I finally got a Ghostkersword. The site as a whole has gone through a lot, and certainly its heyday is long gone, but there’s no other game quite like it. I’m playing the Food Club every day, still. - SIF New phone can’t run the actual gameplay section well enough, so I just log in occasionally to grab free scouts. Here’s another one whose golden years are behind it, sadly, but I certainly still have a lot of affection for SIF. - FF1 Mobile version, which fixes a lot of the bugs with the NES original. This year I completed a solo run with 1 Red Mage, a 4-black belts run, a low-level run, and a 4 White Mages run (which ended up being a lower-level run than the low-level run). I’m fairly comfortable in calling myself an expert in FF1, now. There’s still not really any other games like it- build a party as balanced or imbalanced as you like, and see how they fare. I’d like to build my own game in a similar style, one day. - Re: Live Gacha games and RPG just don’t mix! Both gacha and events do not gel with core RPG mechanics of your character(s) developing in strength as the game goes. It seems impossible to balance the game well- do you cater to the whales who spend and spend until they have the strongest teams possible, meaning the free players or the terminally unlucky can’t stand a chance, or do you cater to those players and give them no reason to spend for the more powerful characters? It’s a shame, because the anime was baffling but in that enjoyable way where you just kind of go with whatever it throws at you, and exploring that in a non-freemium game with a solid beginning middle and end would be really interesting. - Tiny Thief Mobile game that’s not available any more, I think my BBLC post covered it well enough. - F-Zero One of the criticisms most commonly levied against F-Zero is that it wont hold your attention for long. While that’s true, it’s not like you have to make a purchasing decision about it any more- it comes bundled in with the other games you’re buying, so the only investment is time. Ignoring that, it’s still fun to burn around the tracks, and the sense of speed hasn’t ever diminished. The music, too, is underappreciated, with Port Town being my personal fave. - F-Zero GX I can’t believe Nintendo hasn’t done anything with this ridiculous universe for 15 years now. The cutscenes are so hilariously overwrought, and the cast of characters is huge! It could so seamlessly intersect with the Starfox universe, too. There were rumours of a Starfox Racing title some time ago, and I really hope that’s the case. It’d work so well (by which I mean, a particularly enjoyable kind of awful). Anyway, the game still plays great, Story Mode is WAY too hard, Dr Stewart’s theme is a Tune. - Stratosphere This game is from 1998! Build a flying fortress, deck it out with fortifications and weapons and power supplies, then use it to destroy other fortresses. I only ever played the demo as a kid, never got the full game. Took some cajoling to get it to work on modern hardware, but eventually I got in and it wasn’t worth it at all. Wow, that performance, apparently it was designed to run at a terrible frame rate and it wasn’t just a result of my 1998 PC not being up to the task! A shame, but I guess it put one of my ghosts to rest. - DKC 2 The best of the three SNES games, despite the inclusion (and protagonism) of Diddy Kong. Lots to love here, but the OST is top notch. - DKC 3 Not as good as 2, but IMO better than 1. There was a much heavier emphasis on gimmick levels in 3, not all of which hit their target, but does provide a great deal of variety. Consensus is that 2 is better, but if someone claimed 3 was the best DKC, I’d let them get away with it. - King Arthur’s World (SNES) Speaking of putting ghosts to rest… We somehow always managed to get this game whenever we got a SNES, and kid!Beebs most certainly didn’t have the patience for it. Adult!Beebs barely does, either. It’s a very ambitious attempt at some sort of RTS/Puzzle hybrid, somewhat comparable to Lemmings? King Arthur must make his way from his starting position to the throne elsewhere in the map to claim it as his own, using the myriad abilities of his soldiers to get him there in one piece. I decided this year that I was finally going to play through the whole damn thing, start to finish, for the first time ever. With copious use of save states and rewinds, I was finally able to slay this demon. For as fiddly and frustrating as it is, I would still say people should check it out if they have the tools to do so- there’s not really anything else like it, on SNES or otherwise; you’re guaranteed a unique experience, if nothing else. - Oscar (SNES) Terrible. - Spanky’s Quest (SNES) With a name like that, how could I refuse? It’s a weird little puzzler, aping (wahey!) Bubble Bobble and Parasol Stars a little. You’re a monkey who can blow bubbles that stun enemies, but if you bounce the bubble on your head it gets progressively larger and can be burst to send a barrage of similarly-sized sports balls at your opponents to knock them out. You know, just like real life. - Addam’s Family (SNES) This easily-dismissible movie tie-in is actually a very competent platformer with some very, very light metroidvania exploration involved. Gomez has to go through Addams Mansion and rescue the members of his family who have been kidnapped by… something. There’s hidden secrets everywhere and the family can be rescued in any order you like. Genuine recommendation. - Panel DePon/Tetris Attack The only vs puzzler I enjoy (yep. Not even puyo puyo. I know.) I played the HECK out of this in my teenage years, and got crazy good at it. Tendonitis says I’m not allowed to do that any more, but once I shook the rust off I was still pretty strong! It was released as Panel DePon in Japan and was fairy themed, but for the western release they replaced all the fairies with Yoshi characters and renamed it Tetris Attack despite having nothing to do with Tetris at all. Up to you which you prefer- language isn't too much of a barrier here. Soundtrack is killer. - Subsurface Circular Finished it before my BBLC post. Still not decided if I liked the way it ended. - Master Of Orion 2 C’mon. After playing three other pretenders to MoO2’s throne, I had to give the real deal a couple of spins too. It’s Civ 5 in space. Customisable race builds. A whole galaxy to bring peace to, by whichever means you prefer. Would love for someone else to get into it. - Touhou 8 Last minute entry I just played yesterday ‘cos I wanted some Touhou and I haven’t played this entry in a long while. A Solo Marisa Normal Final B run, if you’re interested. Kaguya beast-mode tearing apart the Spell Of Imperishable Night at the end of the game is still an awesome moment, but it’s a shame you can miss the last couple of spells if you take some unlucky hits. - And here’s the list of Bins, which are all covered in their BBLC post: No Time To Explain MoO Skyborn Jumpjet Rex StH 4 Ballistick Munch’s Oddysee Outland Project CARS RiME Magicka Waking Mars Urban Chaos Divinity: Dragon Commander Strike Suit Zero Hell Yeah! Lambda Wars Beta Stranger’s Wrath MoO 3 XCOM Lots more Fins than Bins this year! Good to see!

[thecardsimagine]

Thoughts on The World (Upright)

Asra (Sadly I wrote them after playing the route so just what I remember)

ASRA GOT HIS LAST NAME WOOP - ALNAZAR IT IS

The book went by but that’s okay, story was great anyway

Loved how the writers got back to the time the magician challenged the mc to find who is the right Asra like, that was really cute because now the MC can undoubtedly tell just because Asra is Asra

The baker got a name and a cat, he has a damn good ending

Julian is now actively working in the palace I just, yeah babe there you go

THEY GOT INTO A HEIST????? The fuck Asra xD

And Salim actually asks if they pulled it off that is just... the tree and the apple

 Muriel looked after the shopppp, he’s such a good friend omg and he’s so happy about the wolf I can’t

Okay “There’s no place like home” - “The end” not exactly what I expected but okay. Would have been nice if it had maybe more to do with the story focus, though of course, it shows that Asra can finally settle and not has the urge to leave. That’s good, very good.

Nadia (From here, directly while playing the route)

I really liked the beginning here with the unselectable option and then the High Priestess genuinely setting down a foot and reminding us

Personally, I love the idea of ending it on a high note in the lazaret because I always felt that there should be even more attention on it. So having them go back and have the MC say that it holds no power of anyone anymore, is a place to remember not fear, that was amazing. Good MC-character-development

Death is just trying to be hip. Let Death be hip!!

But also, so far, Death was a very cool character. Didn’t see too much from him and I wish we had seen more of the other Arcana too, but it makes a lot of sense why and he played his part very well

“Back off, zombie!”

Now that I see the Devil’s Realm for the second time, I actually think it’s pretty fancy. He is one devil of a goat, but at least he has taste in architecture

Interesting to hear the Devil say he’s perfect

Urgh, such good character development for Nadia. Very important words. Anyone can change, well, except the devil.

Since the devil here too, neither changes nor dies (of course, turning to stone is the best option because he’s an Arcana and blah) still, I can’t help but be afraid of the future, will there ever be someone again to bind him? Or will he just come back and try the same again, this time maybe succeeding?

Sorry but Namar for best dad. He’s just happy he gets to visit

Natiqa’s “Then I’ll die happy and full of pie.” is my new life motto now.

Valerius got a winery? He’s a lucky guy

Really liked that CG, can’t lie. And that ending. Sweet.

WHERE IS THE WEDDING THO (Apparently they are already married?? Damn, we missed that? ): )

NOW FOR THE BEST THING (Hopefully)

Julian

“Believe in the impossible” is such a good quote. Makes me wonder if there’s still magic in the real world

Damn, the devs really let us carry Julian? Awesome, that’s what we wanted, thanks

I mean, the argument was not nice, but so far I enjoy all of the Julian/Portia interaction, I realize they may have come a little short before

Yes, yes. I still like the Devil’s ‘Palace’ and knowing it’s an open space, that’s rad.

I know it’s cliche but awwwwwwwwww Julian to the rescue, even if it hurts him he comes to us... I can’t... My heart... ♥

And then everyone comes aaaaaaaaah

I feel like that’s the most the devil put up a fight so far? Well, most i noticed. It’s good, fits the drama of Julian. Also, the first time that the MC said someone will come and bind him again if he ever comes back? Did I not notice it before? Maybe... But well, okay, figured as much lol

JULIAN OPENED A SHOP NEXT TO OURS AWWWWWWW

And there’s our drama king, I love him so much, my heart can’t take it, we can be dramatic together finally

Julian does not like to clean, noted lol

Julian’s favorite leech dealer is our favorite leech dealer, it’s canon and we will all accept that

uwu the fire salamander and Julian being friendly is everything

Malak looking smug, thank you for reading, I am done. Also, he lives with them now officially? From all the familiars I always felt like he was the one furthest away from everyone, this is adorable!

And so we have: Nadia x Portia being canon in one of the timelines wow

Guess we are sailing with the whole family, fancy :D

UHUHUHUHUUH THAT CG IS AHAHAHA YES, GOOD, THANK YOU CG DRAWING PERSON

Oh I am ready for another adventure, yes thank you, next

I mean, about this ending, I feel like Asra’s - it’s very much on Julian’s character development and that is good as it is, but less on the story somehow, it’s not as round as Nadia’s but it’s forgiven because it’s Julian

Where is my sexy pirate time 2?

Thanks for reading! Time to... do the.... reverse ones..... I guess...... Soon....... I’m scared

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Aphid

Debut: Real Life

Welcome to Funky Friday! This Friday is particularly special to me, you see, I get to talk about a creature I am very passionate about, if you know me outside of this blog, it should come to no surprise that Aphids are up there as one of my favorite earthlings ever! They’re part of my username, and hence, my internet persona, I even put little antennae on emoticons like this ==:) I’m obsessed! But I swear it’s all justified!

To protect the peace of those who may be afraid of bugs, I’ll be talking exclusively about Aphids in Videogames! They haven’t had the biggest presence, but in recent years they’ve made some lovely appearances!

Aphids. Just look at them! They’re very green, very round, and very small! They have very long antennae as well! Instantly checking off all the marks that make a perfect creature design!

Aphids are sap sucking insects, they just hang around in colonies sipping sap from plants, a very peaceful life, they’re incredibly good at just hanging out and slurping plant juice! So much so that they are sadly considered as pests by humans, but they’re just trying to get by! Like you and me, the way they’re vilified everywhere is really unfortunate, they deserve to live just like any other earthling, but whenever you google em you just get stuff on how to get rid of them, I believe their presence in art like movies and videogames can be very important to change this perception! 

Name: Aphid

Debut: Bee Swarm Simulator (Roblox)

Let’s start with the face of the post, Roblox aphid! Look at this simple model! Just a pea with 2 red orbs for peepers and sticks for antennae, I love the charm of such a simplified bug! 

Bee Swarm Simulator is a lovely little farm game that has you collect nectar and breed all kinds of bees! While out in the flower fields, you may find an aphid while collecting nectar. Like all bugs in this game, they will attack you, but to be fair, you are very tiny, so it makes sense a giant bug could damage you, even if they don’t do anything particularly dangerous!

When your bees defeat them they can drop rare items! And as such, aphid encounters are quite a blessing, matter of fact, they have rarity tiers! And they change their appearance accordingly, there’s Rage Aphids

Armored Aphids

and Diamond Aphids!

Overall very charming inclusion, aphids now come in new flavors! Every time I play this game I hope I get to encounter one of these sweet peas! Silly models of bugs are fantastic, so Roblox aphids make me very happy!

Name: Aphid

Debut: Bug Fables

Now THIS is my personal favorite fictional aphid appearance in media ever! In the world of Bug Fables, they are livestock! And you even get to go to an aphid farm! Here, they keep regular Aphids for their honeydew, Cochineals for their red pigment, and Woolly Aphids for their wool! That’s right! This game gave us representation for TWO kinds of real life aphids! It’s such a delight!

Everyone in the world of Bug Fables respects and loves aphids, people find them very cute! Some of them even keep them as casual pets! Could you imagine? A cat-sized aphid for you to hold? The people in Bug Fables are living my dream and I want in! I hope you can also agree they’re extremely cute, the artists nailed that sweet little drop-shaped face I adore so much! 

On April Fools, the Bug Fables devs released a short game all about aphids! Aphid Festival! Here you can train and breed your aphids! Which allows you to get all kinds of different color patterns for your aphids! Can you believe this? If you told me “In the year of 2021 there’s a videogame that’s completely centered around aphids.” I would’ve never believed you!

Name: Aphid Lurker

Debut: Jax and Daxter

Now I know what you may be thinking, “this is just a dog!” And yeah they’re definitely the doggiest bug I have ever seen, or is it the buggiest dog? Regardless of how you feel on the validity of their buggyness, you gotta admit it’s very impressive we have an aphid-based enemy in a game from 2001, most other aphid appearances I could find were very recent, was Jax and Daxter a trendsetter? Probably not, but maybe at least one kid out there saw Aphid Lurker and went “Woah aphid? What’s that?” googled them, and proceeded to fall in love with them! 

Regardless of their good impact for all of aphid-kind, they are very round, very green, and have antennae! So I really can’t dislike them, they even got spikes!! Which is something I like to see in my round creature designs sometimes, it just works!

Name: Aphid

Debut: Grounded

Returning to modern games, Grounded is a survival game that has you shrunk down to the size of an ant! So you gotta survive among the towering grass blades in the middle of a garden! Fortunately for us, this means you get to interact with tiny insects very up close! Including aphids!

Don’t be fooled by the fancy graphics and realistic aesthetics, aphids in Grounded are arguably the cartooniest creatures you can find! They almost look like a real aphid, but they have a vertebrate mouth! Perfect for opening in surprise when you get close to one, they’ll jump, chirp with an extremely cartoonish expression, and then flop into the ground, before scuttling away!

Now that’s a silly little mouth!

Aphids in this game are peaceful creatures, they’re a bit timid so they’ll run away from you but they will let you get close over time, they also drop honeydew, which you can use as food, so you really want to befriend and protect these little dudes if you can!

Name: Aphid

Debut: Scribblenauts

Scribblenauts is a game where you can type anything and it’ll come to life! So the devs really tried their best at including everything they thought a player could think of, and they thought of silly bug fans like me! People who would type “aphid” in hopes an unloved little bug they love could appear in the game with them, and instead of being met with the usual disappointment, were met with a cute little rendition of this sweet green bug!

Design-wise, I’m a bit sad they added a neck, they have no necks! They’re funny teardrop shaped bullets! But they DID add the cornicles! (The two little horns on their butt). Out of all the videogame aphids I’ve shown you, this is the ONLY one to include the cornicles! Not even Grounded who went with a semi realistic design got it! So thank you Scribblenauts, for considering the aphid, as well as giving them their anatomically correct defense organs.

Finally, I’d like to give a shoutout to Aphie from A Bug’s Life! Not a videogame aphid, but 100% one of the earliest aphid representations in media! And they’re very cute, just a little puppy! They got a puppy tongue and all, given ants herd and take care of aphids, having one of them keep one as a pet is a very cute way to humanize an ant!  Also Aphie has the cornicles!! Good on you Pixar, you did your research.

And that’s all for this special friday! Thank you reader for coming in this journey with me, here’s hoping there’ll be more aphid representation in the future! 

[softbookboi]

Lovesick Schoolgirl (a snowbaz fanfic) Chapter 3 (last one)

Summary: Baz is sitting in class and starts doodling all kinds of Snowbaz stuff in his notebook. When he’s snapped out of his musings and realises he’s doing it, he starts blushing. And then - curse his luck - the teacher calls on him to answer a question. He just starts blubbering and stammering and since Simon is there, its even worse. After class, he’s visited by Simon before he can sneak off to their room to take a nap and Simon insists of Baz telling what he was writing in his notebook because he thinks that Baz is plotting something. Baz refuses but Simon grabs it and before he’s able to open it, Baz lights it up on fire and then watches it burn to ashes. After Baz leaves, Simon becomes hell-bent on figuring out what was in that notebook.

Simon

I don't see Baz for the rest of the weekend.

If I had any doubts in the confirmation of my feelings for him, they're all gone now.

After not seeing him for 2 days and knowing that it's because of me, I know for sure that I really, really like Baz. (Not so much so that I think I love him, but I really like him.) (I considered the thought of loving him and it seems quite likely to me, but I don't think that I'm able to accept something so big in such a small matter of time.)

When I was looking over what he wr-drew. . . in my notebook, I guess I didn't hear the door opening or Baz standing there staring at me. And then, I just heard the door slam shut while I was looking over some words for my tombstone with Baz. I was quite far away from the door, but the sound was so loud that it felt like it had been slammed in my face.

And the loudness just led to me inferring that Baz was livid.

And I honestly don't blame him for that.

If I had been in his place, I would be mad too. Fucking indignant is what I would be.

But he didn't know the real reason I did that.

I looked at it from his point of view soon after the door shut and I admit that what I was doing was fucking hysterical. Honestly, who in Merlin's name does that kind of thing? I was acting like a freaking creep, just like in 5th Year.

But that was from his perspective. Not mine.

I'm not sure that what I did can still be forgiven, but I think that it can.

I mean, I had feelings for Agatha but they were never this strong. And I never had these moments with her where I just felt like she was so beautiful (actually, there were some, but they were all platonic) and I wanted to just snog the bloody hell out of her and also have her remain in my life as the most cherished person in my life.

I never wanted to brush away that one strand of hair that kept falling on her face. I never wanted to lose myself and swim in her eyes. (I never even thought her eyes were that pretty. At least, not as much as Baz's.) I never wanted to lie in her arms or have her lie in mine. I never wanted to protect her.

I never felt as hurt as I am right now when we were on breaks or when she was mad at me.

I was just. . . okay with it.

But right now, with Baz, this is different. I want to do all those things. And perilously.

These feelings are strong. And I'm not sure how to cope with them.

But I still feel like the world's smallest person. For doing that to Baz.

I don't know how long he felt this way, how long he wanted me (Dear Lord, that sounds so weird), and I can imagine that he desperately wanted to hide these feelings and I can't really blame him for being this mad at me.

I've done a terrible thing. Even I know it.

And why didn't I know about Baz? Am I that thick? How could I have not figured that out?

Penny was right. She said Baz might reciprocate my feelings and he does.

I'm not really sure how I feel about it, though. I mean, I love it. It's something that I could've imagined wanting for a despicably long time, but never having it.

But that's still something else.

To know that Baz has feelings for me is great, but it won't do me any good. (It might even make things worse between us.)

But to know that Baz reciprocates my feelings and gives me consent to be his boyfriend, to show him how much I like him and how much I want to be his and him mine, is the real thing.

Baz having feelings is nothing that amazing. But Baz willing to work on this weird relationship we currently have and changing it to one that boyfriends have, that's what's really marvellous.

That's what's really matters.

And that's what I have to get him to agree to.

I've spent the whole weekend trying to find him, but he's just. . .vanished. I've looked through the Catacombs, the Weeping Tower, our room, the dining hall (he isn't there for meals), the football pitch, the Wavering Woods, and literally everywhere else. He's nowhere.

I told Penny about what happened and what I saw, and she wasn't really that surprised. Sure, she was because hello, Baz, the super hot, nonchalant football player, making these cute and dorky doodles about someone else? Wow. But then, she did think that it was kind of expected. She confirmed that I was just oblivious, that Baz's feelings for me and mine for him were quite obvious.

I just think she's way too smart for a mage.

We've been looking for Baz together - we even cornered his friends (or rather, minions), Dev and Niall, but they just told us to bugger off - but we haven't found him. I'm getting really worried. I need to explain to Baz why I was doing what I was doing before he gets any wrong assumptions. (Though he probably already has them by now.)

I really just need to explain myself to Baz.

I have an actual chance at being with the person I've liked since most likely 4th or 5th Year. I'm not letting myself screw this up.

I spent the whole weekend discovering every nook and cranny of Watford (well, not every one, but quite a lot) but I hadn't found him.

I spent my Sunday restlessly. I kept squirming in the bedsheets because it was too hot and then I remembered that Baz wasn't here to complain about the window so I opened it but later on, it got too cold and I had to close it again. It went on and on like this all night. I barely got a wink of sleep, and even that was filled with Baz-related thoughts and his whereabouts.

Today, Monday morning at breakfast, I don't see him in the dining hall. I ponder over where he was staying when he wasn't even coming back to the room to sleep. Maybe he's with Dev or Niall. But they have roommates too, Baz can't just barge in on them like they're a motel.

Is he not going to come to class today? Baz has never missed or ditched a class before. Education is just way too important for him for him to pull something like that. If Baz doesn't show up for classes (which is proving to be more and more possible by the passing minute), then there's definitely something wrong. And by that, I mean that he seriously loathes me.

And if he seriously loathes me, then he certainly won't hear out my confession.

I start fidgeting, thinking about what it would be like if I somehow managed to mess this up. If I ruined my chance with Baz. I would definitely hate myself.

And I've probably made Baz hurt a lot too.

He probably thinks that I'm gonna out him to everyone else or make fun of him for having feelings since it's his perspective of me reacting to anything that's embarrassing for him.

My eyes are starting to sting thinking about it.

Baz is probably hating his life just like I am hating mine right now because he thinks that I don't like him. Even if Baz has a calm demeanour, that doesn't mean that he wouldn't get hurt by thinking his (Oh my God, it feels so good to say it) crush has rejected him. If I were in Baz's situation, I definitely would feel hurt.

And how long has he had feelings for me? Is it for as long as I have? If it is, then I simply am the smallest person in the world. (Even if he didn't, though, I would still be the smallest person in the world for doing that to him.)

Penny sees my unshed tears and takes my hand in hers, squeezing tightly. "We'll find him, Simon. Don't worry." she says.  

"Yeah, but would he even talk to me? He probably will hex me straight into tomorrow for invading his privacy. And it was one of the most private kind of privacies. How is he ever going to look at me, let alone listen to me?"

"Hey, just calm down. He might show up for class, you said yourself that he's never missed a class. He probably won't this time too. You just have to catch him at a good time when there are no distractions and just tell him that you have something really important to say," he shakes her head as I start to open my mouth to argue. "I know you think he won't talk to you, but anyone would listen to their crush. And he seems to really like you, depending on the sketches you mentioned. He'll listen, okay? Just stay calm."

I nod then, an finish my breakfast. I spend the whole breakfast like that, just sulking and Penny trying to cheer me up and it not working.

When the bell finally rings, I jump out of my seat to go to my first class. Baz and I have the first class together, and this will tell me whether he's coming back for Monday.

I almost leave Penny behind, but she runs too and catches up to my fast pace. I stand in front of the door of the room, taking in the fact that Baz could be sitting in there right now and that I could talk to him.

What is it doesn't go well? What if I make a fool out of myself? What if he rejects me for some reason? I keep thinking about the worst ways this could go, and those are the top 3. Penny finally nudges me again and I stumble into the room and look around, scanning the appearance of everyone in the crowd.

And there he is.

Baz.

Baz

I wasn't planning on coming to class on Monday, but then I realised that I can't just miss classes to avoid Snow. Education is too serious for me to do something like that and it was just ridiculous. How much longer was I going to hide from Snow? He was going to find me anyway.

I slept in this alcove in the Catacombs that wasn't really visible to someone who wasn't in it the past few nights. I had Dev and Niall bring me some food so I don't starve, and I worked off of those rats.

They were both certainly interested as to why I was sleeping there, but I told them that it was just important. That I had to do it for some kind of project for extra-credit. They told me about how Snow and Bunce cornered them multiple times and demanded that they tell them where I was. They said that Snow said he wanted to talk to me.

I'm not talking to him. I have nothing to say to him. Following me around in 5th Year was bad, but this is a whole other fucking kind of violating someone's privacy. I seriously can't believe he did something like that. I thought he was a heroic person, not a git who goes through other people's private matters.

He's probably asking for me so that he can reject me in person. And he probably wants to 'let me down easy'. He probably pities me so fucking much and that would be perfect way for him to do things: tell your arch-nemesis that you're supposed to kill, whom has deep feelings for you, that you're rejecting them, but do it nicely. Don't seem smug about it and make fun of them. Be the bigger person.

Honestly, that would be more humiliating than him just flat-out rejecting me, without caring about being too harsh or realistic.

I don't want that. I don't want his pity.

(I still want him, though. And that's what I hate the most about this situation. He did an abysmal thing. Even if it was his enemy, he violated someone's privacy. He went out of his goddamn way go make sure he knew what I was writing in that notebook in class. I hate that he did that. It was despicable. But I still love him. I'm still in love with him, nothing changed that. And it hurts. So much. I wish I could just wake up someday and not feel anything for Snow. Not even hatred. I would've actually enjoyed life. It would be better.)

He came looking for me several times in the Catacombs, but I always hid far back in my tiny little alcove and cast an invisible spell on myself. (We haven't learned those spells yet, so Snow wouldn't think about them.)

I didn't want to go to classes on Monday, but I knew I had to.

I couldn't just miss out on classes. That was just plain stupidity.

So I gathered up my courage and when it was breakfast, I sneaked into the room and got ready for classes.

It took precisely 25 minutes to get ready, since I only washed my hair in the shower.

I sneaked back downstairs, careful to avoid the pathways connected to the dining hall or anywhere Snow might be. (He would only be at breakfast at this time, though. He would never miss an opportunity to eat food.)

I was the first person to be in the my first class of the day, which just happened to include Snow and Bunce. I was terribly regretting my choice right about then to come to classes. Staying in that dark, decaying alcove would've been better.

As I waited, I took slow and deep breaths to try to calm myself down. I was gonna see Snow. I was gonna see his reaction. It was gonna be of pity. Such pity.

My heart was pounding. The great Basilton Pitch, blubbering and blushing before and feelings butterflies in his tummy due to some stupid beautiful boy whose rejection he could not take. Merlin and Morgana, what have I become?

I braced myself as I heard the bell ring, indicating that breakfast was over. I tried to calm myself down by breathing deep again as students start to pile in the classroom. I was half expecting them to laugh or snicker at me, but they didn't. There was a tiny part of me that really believed that Snow had told everyone and now I was ruined. But, turns out he didn't.

I kept my eyes on the door, searching for Snow (and Bunce, but just a little bit for her).

And finally, he came.

And now, I am here. Sitting on my desk, looking straight at Snow (and Bunce behind him) and feeling myself blush awkwardly. I abruptly look away from them, turning my attention to the window, suddenly very interested in the football pitch and the light breeze and cool weather outside. I refuse to look at Snow, even when he plops down right onto the seat beside me. I don't even acknowledge him, don't even pay attention to his awkward positioning of the chair to get comfortable, and the weird looks people are giving us since we switched seats for the first time this year in Watford.

I wait impatiently for the teacher to arrive and start the lesson, and when he does, I almost sigh in relief.

I spend the rest of the lecture ignoring Snow and focusing mainly on whatever the teacher's saying. And this time, when the teacher asks me a question, I actually respond with the correct answer in my casual demeanour.

Snow tries repeatedly to get my attention. To get anything from me. For instance, tapping his pen on his desk (which is something that he knows annoys me), dropping his notebook on the floor (which also annoys me) and sighing too loudly (and another thing that annoys me).

Just as the bell rings, I grab my bag and spring from my seat and am out the door before he even calls out to me, just stands there, watching me run away from him cowardly. I want to face him, but I don't have the guts. It already aches to know that I'm outed, I don't want Snow's pity rejection to make me feel even worse.

• • • • •

I skip lunch and just head down to the Catacombs to take a break from all the escaping Snow.

I've been dodging him and his questions and his insinuations that he wants to talk to me all day. I'm not sure if I can keep up with this forever, or at least until he forgets about it. (And something tells me that he won't ever forget about this.) I rest a little in the Catacombs, catching my breath.

Snow kept on sitting beside in all the classes we had together and people kept giving us weird looks. Even a few teachers raised a brow at us before continuing with their lecture. It was so troubling having to jump out of my seat and run across the room whenever the bell was sounded and I'm pretty sure I looked really weird and creepy to other people while doing that.

After the lunch-is-over bell sounded, I stand up and and run (once again) to my next class, which is with just Snow, not Bunce.

(Bunce isn't really helping him out with the cornering me thing, but I'm 100% sure that he told her. He can't keep anything from her. Maybe she decided to take mercy on me and thought it was fair that I only and to deal with one person. For now.)

This particular class is different than the others. It is Magic Words and me and Snow are already assigned seats together, so he doesn't need to switch seats with someone. And throughout the first half of the lecture, he doesn't fidget. He doesn't let out innuendos that he wants to talk to me. He doesn't do all those things that annoy me. At first, I'm suspicious. I think that he's going to pull something because Simon Snow does not give up that easily. (Or maybe he does when it comes to blood-sucking vampire roommates who have feelings for him.) I can't relax and properly comprehend the words Miss Possibelf is saying. And I'm tensed.

But as the period carries on, I start to relax. It's obviously good that Snow isn't doing those things. And I calm down.

Halfway along the period, he drops something, probably a pen. As he leans down to pick it up, I feel a slight tug on my bag whose straps I'm clutching in my hands. I ignore it.

But then it happens once again.

I ignore it then too.

When it happens for the third time, I tug a little on the straps. Big mistake.

He tugs more. And I tug back. Pretty soon, it's like we're playing Tug Of War.

We're both grabbing the bag and pulling on it desperately. And we're both above the desks now, so we're visible to everyone else.

Obviously, Miss Possibelf catches us.

"Mr. Snow and Mr. Pitch. Detention. I would really appreciate it if you don't have fist-fights in my class, or rather, any other class. Come back in this classroom after all classes for today are done."

I grit my teeth and snatch my bag from him, giving him a glare without meeting his eyes. The bastard is grinning widely. This was most certainly his plan.

I'm going to have to spend detention with him. A whole hour. In the same classroom. Probably alone. (Sometimes the teachers just leave students there with charms cast on the door while they go do whatever they want.)

I don't relax after that. I stay alert for the rest of the lecture though it seems pointless since he already got what he wanted.

I'm not gonna make conversation with him in detention. I won't talk to him. I'll just ignore him like I am doing now.

Once again, as the bell rings, I dash away. But this time, he doesn't call after me.

Simon  

I succeed in getting us both detention and I lay off him after that. I'll just talk to him in detention.

He seemed visibly pissed that I got us both detention, now that I think about it. And he knew that I was going to try talk to him so he ignored me even more and stayed tense for the rest of the lecture.

I feel bad about it but I needed something to ensure that I'll have a chance to be alone with him so I can try to talk to him.

I don't try to call after him or follow him after this lecture. I just let him go. I'll have my time with him in detention. (Unless he somehow manages to escape detention. I honestly won't be surprised if he does that.)

The rest of the lectures pass easily.

Bas tenses up when I sit beside him. (I don't really have to sit beside him now that I have a chance to talk to him, but I want to.) He stays tense the whole lecture. I don't fiddle like I normally do (well, just a bit). We remain civilised and don't fight or talk at all.

At last, the day ends and detention comes near.

After the last bell rings, Baz jolts up from his seat like he did the whole day (Honestly, isn't he getting tired of running around?), and dashes out of the room to the Magic Words classroom.

I trail behind him, trudging and trying to think of what I would say. Why didn't I think of that before? I hate that I do some things as an impulse which shouldn't be impulses.

I'll have to tell him how I feel. But when do I say that? How do I start the conversation? How do I reveal what I really think about him? Should I just blurt out that I like him? That seems wrong. If I need some time to adjust to my feelings for Baz, then he deserves to be informed of said feelings easily. He probably spent a lot of time thinking we couldn't be together, this would certainly shock him a lot. He doesn't deserve for me to just blurt it out.

I take a shaky breath as I enter the room and see Baz sitting in the far right corner in the back, and Miss Possibelf sitting on her desk, arranging some papers.

I knock on the door.

"Ahh, yes, Mr. Snow. You've arrived. Please sit down. You'll be here for about an hour. Please feel free to do anything while sitting in your seat and not causing any trouble that will land you in more detention with Mr. Pitch."

I nod and take a seat in the back, near to Baz but mot quite sitting next to him. I'm two seats away from him on his right. He's reading a book, some. . . gay romance? Yeah, that seems right. The title says Carry On by Rainbow Rowell.

I've heard of that book. It's about two boys who are wizards and secretly have feelings for each other, but they can't ever be together. Because of politicks.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say that those 2 boys were like me and Baz.

It looks like a good book, although I can't really believe that Baz reads romance. I shouldn't really be surprised, though. A lot of those doodles and sketches and pieces of writings were quite cliche and also cute.

Also, Rainbow? That's a weird name. Sigh, Normals.

I look up over to Baz and he's got his right pinkie in between his teeth. That means it's a good book. (Whenever Baz likes a book, he chews on his pinkie. He doesn't do it outside of our room though.)

He looks cute like this. His eyes are wide with anticipation and he's blinking really fast (although, I don't know why he's doing that). He's clutching the book really close to his face, as if it'll run away from him if he doesn't hold it tight enough. His eyebrows are drawn together, furrowed. (That means it's at a good part.) (Merlin, why had I not noticed my feelings for Baz?)

He so concentrated that he almost doesn't notice me staring.

He shifts a bit and catches my lovesick staring (but I don't think he knows that it's lovesick), meets my eyes and immediately drops his gaze while a pretty shade of pink starts dusting his pale cheeks.

I smile a little and turn back, thinking about how I could get to talk to him.

I figured that Miss Possibelf would be leaving us alone. A lot of the teachers do that, and quite frequently. But Miss Possibelf is just sitting on her desk and grading papers.

Fuck.

I guess I have to wait. I can't just start talking to Baz while she is here. We need privacy.

• • • • •

I'm freaking out right about now. We only have roughly 10 minutes left and I still haven't talked to Baz. He has a triumphant look on his face now, as if he figured out my plan to try and talk to him and now he knows that we're running out detention time and I haven't been able to get a moment of privacy so I can't talk.

I'm silently praying Miss Possibelf leaves us. Goes anywhere. Just anywhere. Even the bathroom, that'll have to do. But she isn't. And I'm panicking. I'm pretty sure my magic is leaking and that Baz and Miss Possibelf can smell it. (I was controlling it so well earlier, better than I ever had. I hope that I'll be able to do that again.)

Finally, as if Merlin has finally listened to my desperate pleas, she leaves 5 minutes before the time ends.

"Alright boys, I'm going to hand these papers over to Mr. Tribbiani, and I suspect that your detention will be over before I return. So please, remain seated and when the time is over, leave the classroom because I probably will return late. Maybe." she says as she grabs the stack of papers and her handbag and leaves.

As soon as she shuts the door, my mind goes haywire. What do I do now? I have to talk to Baz. But how? How do I start the conversation again?

I decide to just stop thinking and actually start talking.

I look over at him.

"Uhh, Baz?"

He pretends to be too engrossed in his book to notice me.

"Baz." I say, a little louder.

To my surprise, he answers.

"What, Snow?" His eyes never leave the book and he says this in a disinterested tone, but I can make out the hint of nervousness in it.

"I. . . I think we need to talk."

"About what?" Once again, eyes never stray; bored tone with a hint of nervousness.

"You know what, you git." Suddenly, I'm getting a deja vu. This conversation is all too familiar.

"I really don't, Snow."

"About-about the notebook."

He visibly tenses, shoulders stiffening, jaw clenching. It's hot.

"What is there to talk about? You already know what you so desperately wanted to know. What you searched up special spells for and actually controlled your fucking magic to find out." He spits out. He radiates bitterness off of him, and it's obvious he's still pissed at me. I gulp.

"Baz, I know I did a terrible thing. I shouldn't have-"

"'Shouldn't have'. Yes, that's correct. Why didn't you tell yourself that before you went nosing in my business?" He cuts in.

A part of me wants for him to just let me explain. Another part is really surprised that he's still talking to me.

"I was acting on impulse decisions and that was wrong of me. I was really desperate to find out what you written because-" I start once again, speaking fast, but he cuts me off again.

"Why, Snow? Because you thought I was plotting? Is that it? Couldn't you ever open your mind just this much to realise that maybe I had a life too. That I wasn't always plotting about your death?" He snaps, finally closing shut his book and looking at me with anger in his eyes. His last sentence makes me flinch, and he backs off a bit at that. I guess he feels bad.

"I-I. . . no." I answer quietly. "But, Baz, I have a reason why I was acting so impulsively. I was too scared-"

Once again, I get cut off. But this time, it's the little alarm clock that's on Miss Possibelf's desk, indicating that detention is over.

Baz starts to get up. No.

He grabs his bag and his book and starts stomping away.

And I act on an impulse decision.

"I like you too!" I shout.

He stills and doesn't look back at me but also doesn't continue walking.

"Baz, I. . . I was saying that I was so concentrated on  finding out what you were writing in that notebook because before, in the classroom, when Miss Possibelf called on you to answer the question and while you were getting flustered, you looked at me. And not like glares. Like actually looking at me. And I. . . liked it. I liked it when you looked at me like that. It made you look all soft and human. And I felt something for you. Something I recognised from when I felt it when I was crushing on Agatha. It-I liked you. Like that. I realised that in the classroom. And I was freaked out about it because I never noticed these feelings and they were so strong. It was so sudden. And I just realised that you could easily use this to your advantage. You could easily destroy me. So I had to know that - this is gonna sound ridiculous but didn't seem like that at the moment - you weren't making a plan to accidentally make me have feelings for you and then break my heart or something."

Baz laughs a little at that. Just a small chuckle, but I feel a whole lot lighter and I start to move closer to him while talking. He still hasn't turned around.

It never occurred to me that I was violating your privacy and crossing the line. I was just too scared. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. When I first saw what was in there, I was shocked. But then, I was happy. I was happy because we both feel the same way and can try to make it work. The politicks don't matter. And I was so angry at myself for not realising that this would obviously upset you or anyone else snd how wrong it was. I'm so, so sorry, Baz. Just don't be mad at me forever because of this."

I put my hand on his shoulder and turn him around. He's looking at the ground.

"Baz, look at me."

I put my finger under his chin and pull it up. He doesn't protest, just silently whispers, "Is this a prank, Snow? Is this your cruel idea of a joke?"

"No, Baz. It isn't. I would never do something like that."

My voice breaks a little because I don't want Baz to think that I would lie about something this serious to him, and his eyes widen at that.

"Simon," he sighs, and this time, my eyes widen. "I don't—I don't know what to say. I'm not sure I believe you." he says in a tiny voice.

He doesn't believe me? I would never lie about something like this. I'm not a terrible person. But. . . I can see why Baz would think I was joking.

Of course, he would think that I was joking. He's had feelings for someone for (I'm guessing) a long time. Someone who everyone indirectly says that he can't have. Someone who he's been mean to for years and then suddenly when that person finds out, he corners Baz and tells him that he likes him too.

Goodness gracious, why didn't I think of that?

I rack my brain for ways to tell him that I mean this. That I'm not playing some sick prank on him for fun.

And I find one.

"Baz?" I croak out.

He looks at me and my breath hitches.

The coral sunlight of the dipping Sun in the sky is scattered on his face. It makes his pale face glow beautifully. His eyebrows are furrowed once again, but this time in bemusement. His eyes are twinkling and I can see my reflection in them, crystal clear. His eyelashes are perfectly long, curved at the end, and I see a bit of eyeliner. He pulls it off, the handsome prick. His nose is long and slender and perfect too. And his lips. His lips look plump and soft and they look like they're just waiting for me.

So I do it.

I start to lean in a bit and Baz realises what I'm doing, and he sucks in a breath. He stays where he is.

I lean more slowly, giving him time to pull away if he wants to. But he doesn't. And I'm so glad.

As I close the final distance between us, he closes his eyes softly, before I do, and it's another thing that I love about him.

He does it slowly and gently, without applying pressure on his eyes. His eyes lashes flutter as he does it and I can see a little bit of the whites of his eyes as he closes them. Most people (Agatha) just shut them straight and clench. Baz doesn't do that.

It's such a small feature about him. And I love it. It's perfect.

My lips are moving against his tenderly. There's no rush. Nothing that makes us both speed up. Just deep admiration for each other.

The kiss is fuelled by our many different emotions finally erupting out in the open. I can feel Baz's affection for me in the way he lightly swipes his tongue on my bottom lip, asking for entrance. I grant him it. And I am sure he can feel my yearning for him through the way I'm letting my left hand go through his curtain of black hair and my right hand on his back, pressing him against me. I want him to know how much I like him, to know that I actually feel too strongly for him for this to be anything else other than love but am too scared to say it out loud, because this is all so new.

And when we break apart years later; when I rest my forehead against his forehead and we both breathe heavily, trying to catch our breath; when he lets out a soft laugh and smiles a tiny smile just barely conspicuous on his face, I know he knows.

I want to kiss him again. And I try to, but he doesn't let me.

"Wait, Simon," he starts, "I really, really want this. So badly. No less than how much you want it. But we can't.

I frown and drop my hand from his back.

"What?"

"We can't. Simon, you're. . . you have important things to do, like save the world. And no one would ever approve of this."

"And it's not just that," he adds when he sees that I'm about to protest. "Simon, I'm a monster. A. . . vampire. You don't wanna be with someone like me. It's too dangerous for you. And—and we're different. We hardly have the same opinion on things. We're fight all the time. Who's to say that this will actually work out?" he says, weakly.

"Baz, you're not a monster—"

"Yes, I am, Snow."

"Let me finish. You're not a monster. You've lived with me and slept in the same room as me for 7 years, Baz, and you never once tried to drain me. And it must've been so hard for you. But you never did it. You always kept yourself back. You're so brave, Baz.

He scoffs. "Me, brave? I think you're mistaken, Snow."

"'Simon'," I say, correcting him. "And yes, Baz, you are. You fight off your needs everyday and you still act like a git and a perfect human to everyone. And you've done this for years. And Baz, even if we're different from each other. We still need to try. There's still a chance that it could work out if we just try."

"Why, Simon? Why should we try?"

"Because. . . ," and I'm stumped.

It's the same question I asked myself the night I performed the spell, but I couldn't think of anything. Anything that might give a logical reason as to why we should try.

I'm racking my brain for one now, because I want to tell Baz that we should try. But why? He's right. Why should we try?

I've spent my whole life trying to figure out the meaning of the word 'love'. I never had any real family to love, to get loved. Even when I came to Watford and made Penny as a best friend, I still didn't know the real meaning of love. And it scares me. It scares me that I don't know it and that I want to know it. And it also scares me that someday, someone might break me so much that I will forget the meaning of love again. I've lost so many people in my life, people that have never even been in my life, so it scares me so much. It scared me when I was with Agatha, terrified me.

But even if this happens, I want to learn the meaning of love. With Baz.

Because. . . I deserve it.

"Because we deserve it, Baz," he looks taken aback by my sudden epiphany. "We both deserve it, Baz. I've spent my whole life in boys' homes and I never understood what loving someone felt like. Or having someone love you just as much as you love them. And I always felt scared of love, that I don't know what it means and if I do, then what if I break and forget it again. Who will remind me what it means? But now, I want to learn the meaning of love with you, Baz. I had such a shitty childhood and now I'm burdened with saving the world, it's like the universe has finally given me an opportunity. An opportunity to be happy. To actually live life wanting to. Not feeling obligated to. And I want to take it. And I know you feel the same way, Baz. This is an opportunity for you too. This is a chance for you to be truly happy and not fake it." I say with desperation in my voice.

Baz shakes his head at me.

"How, Simon? You don't even know me well enough to—" he gulps and I watch his Adam's apple bob up and down "—fall in love with me."

"Then let me know you," I say, looking into his pools of grey. "Let me know you well enough to fall in love with you."

His face neither hardens nor softens, and after a moment, he smashes his face into mine, kissing (rather snogging, actually) me with that desperation that was lacking in our first kiss.

He pushes and I push back. He nibbles at my bottom lip and I sigh into his mouth. It's all a huge mess of tongue, desperation and rawness. It feels like standing there naked, all our deepest desires and secrets and scars exposed, letting ourselves be defenceless and vulnerable to each other, willingly.

Finally, he breaks apart and says, "Okay."

Baz

We stay there snogging for what feels like hours and only seconds and the same time.

I'm sitting on a desk and Sn-Simon's slotted between my legs. My arms are around his neck and his are around my waist, gripping me possessively. We barely break apart an inch to catch our breaths before continuing.

I guess we're boyfriends now. Wow.

I don't really know what to say.

I don't really want to say anything.

I just want to cherish this. What we have right now.

Simon was right. We do have a chance now. To live happily.

I have chance to be with the boy I've been in love with since 1st Year. Wow.

I'm willing to try. Try to make ourselves compatible to each other.

We are quite different and it's hard to maintain a relationship that way. A lot of people have broken up this way. Majority of them. I stand by this point.

But what's different is that I'm willing to try and keep trying. For him. Simon Snow. My Simon Snow.

And he is too. I can tell.

I want to be with him. It will be hard. It won't be all sunshines and rainbows. There will be dark times, with the politicks and our personal relationship. But we'll fight against it. In those other relationships, it all went down to whether the couple loved each other enough to keep fighting against the world, and a lot of them gave up. It will be the same choice in this relationship. We both have the choice. To leave or stay and keep fighting together.

I choose fighting together.

And I have a feeling that Simon does as well.

chap 1, chap 2