#anyway the combat is still confusing to me but it is fun

[bipedalseal]

so ive been playing pathfinder: wrath of the righteous for a few hours now and so far the premise has not really hooked me. compared to dos2 and bg3, the premise feels like generic christian-flavored fantasy "demons destroyed the city and i am chosen by heaven to save it". the companions not having a lot of overworld dialogue also threw me off (like i lead into the party in a room full of disfigured corpses and medieval torture devices and there was no reaction or insight whatsoever

[toyherb]

nioh 2 is so much fun but also it's very difficult and I kinda hate that. I would like it to be less difficult, I think it would be more fun.

[pomefioredove]

If you still take req for the event (if not ignore 🙏), could we pls get "I can't stop thinking about you." With Sebek

RARE SEBEK REQUEST 🙏🙏🙏

summary: "I can't stop thinking about you" type of post: short fic characters: sebek additional info: romantic, reader is gender neutral, reader is yuu

You are a problem.

Not because you're always getting yourself into trouble, not because of your poor temperament, not even because of that direbeast you carry around with you.

No. Sebek couldn't have cared less about all that.

If that's all it was, he could have tolerated you. What's one more bothersome human to him?

You would have been no different from the others.

If not for...

"Ah, young love," Lilia sighs. There's a dreamy current in the stream of his voice that makes Sebek stiffen.

"It is NOT... love,"

The elder fae chuckles. "Yes, I remember what that was like. Denial is the first stage, you know,"

"That's grief, father," Silver mutters, keeping his head down to avoid being dragged into the conversation.

"And what is grief if not love?"

"Again," Sebek is tense. "I am not interested in such things. I have already devoted my life and service to Malleus."

Silver and Lilia give each other a look.

"You know, Sebek, it's okay to have these kinds of thoughts. You're young! You have the rest of your life to guard Malleus. You should have some fun," Lilia says.

"Father is right. Maybe you'll loosen up a bit. You're too stressed,"

"YOU'RE NOT STRESSED ENOUGH!"

Lilia sighs that certain familiar sigh.

"I admire your focus, Sebek. If you really want to rid yourself of these feelings, the fastest way to do so is confessing. That way, you won't spend months toiling over them,"

Sebek's expression flips forthwith, and he beams. "Thank you for your wisdom!"

Silver raises an eyebrow, and Lilia dismisses him with a wave. It doesn't matter, anyway; Sebek takes his words to heart.

It's long past dark when he pounds on Ramshackle's door.

Nonetheless, you answer, bleary-eyed and sluggish, a thumb-sucking Grim tucked in your arms like an infant.

"Sebek?" you ask. "Is... everything alright? Are you okay? Did something happen to Malleus?"

Your words of concern are like an arrow through his heart. Worried for both him and his liege?

But also... worried for him...

He better get this over with fast.

"Malleus is well, do not worry about him. This concerns us,"

You stare in disbelief, as if you hadn't heard him right. "Us?"

"Did you mishear me? I am here because I cannot stop thinking about you!"

"...Oh!"

Oh?

"...Me?"

"Am I not speaking loud enough for you? I said, I CANNO-"

Your eyes widen. "No! No, I heard you! I'm just confused. What exactly does that mean?"

Sebek crosses his arms. Of course. Sigh...

"Lilia said I might overcome my feelings for you if I express them. So? What do you have to say for yourself?"

You blink. You're clearly still tired, he thinks, otherwise you would have understood, accepted his words, and been gone by now.

Right? Nothing more.

"Um... I don't know," you finally say. "Maybe I can come to training tomorrow?"

Hm. A strange response, but not an unwelcome one. Sebek grins.

"Finally taking up the offer? Of course. Anyone who spends time with Malleus should know the basics of combat,"

You hum, looking up at the sky behind him. "I wasn't really thinking about spending time with Malleus, but... okay. Tomorrow,"

"Tomorrow!"

And with that, he's gone, with a warm feeling in his chest that wasn't there before.

Lilia must have been right about confessing- he suddenly feels much better.

[sirellas]

post canon ds9 fic i won't write for real, in bullet points:

story starts with jake sisko, pondering and writing. he got a commission from some federation news service to do a fluff piece on "the soul of the klingon people" now that the war is over and they have a new chancellor, essentially a "look federation people, klingons are still chill. maybe chiller, even. so everybody be cool" deal (i'm imagining they have to do an article like this for every group of aliens that were a major combatant in the war) but jake takes it seriously and refuses to phone it in.

first he goes to alexander, who's visiting the station while between KDF assignments or something idk. but he says look buddy i wanna know what's up with klingons, you get me? alexander does not get him and also would like to know what's up with klingons, so he says hell yeah human friend let's figure this out.

then it becomes a series of vignettes of these two kind of out of touch young people learning about the klingon spirit and also themselves as they seek out someone who can tell them the secrets of life and honor etc etc. jake has a warped sense of normal from growing up on ds9 and alexander has never felt right in solely klingon or human spaces, so they have some gaps in their knowledge to fill.

i'm thinking they start with worf and martok, who are busy on qo'nos building their credibility and new government. worf isn't great at talking about feelings and martok's being pulled in a lot of different directions, so they're not much help. hanging around on qo'nos is interesting, but ultimately not what jake and alexander are looking for either.

then they start thinking outside the box. order isn't important but they start hitting up all relevant klingons and klingon adjacent folk: darok, sirella, ezri, nikolai, kurn, maybe a duras sisters cameo for equal representation of shitty klingons.

last we saw of kurn of course he had lost his memory but since this is my fic i'm not writing i'm gonna say bashir's not as great at brain reconfiguration as he thinks he is and it didn't take fully. so he's a little confused but getting the hang of it. a lot of "which one of you is my nephew again? i can't tell humans apart" kind of deal even though alexander is 3/4 klingon. he tells them what he's re-learned about klingons since he's been rebuilding his own identity.

nikolai also was essentially exiled but it's fine. he's got a gaggle of kids now and alexander and jake have to do the fake forehead thing to blend in while they talk to him. nikolai's got a lot of insight into worf as a brother but not much on klingons as a whole. alexander brings him some pierogi helena made.

alexander: "wow my foster uncle's wife looks a lot like your stepmom, isn't that funny?" jake: "nah i don't see the resemblance"

maybe at this point nog joins them because he's having his own identity crisis as the only ferengi in starfleet so he decides to just hop on board for jake and alexander's identity crisis.

they go see jeremy aster too, the kid from tng who became worf's brother through a whole thing, and he's got a pretty interesting view of klingons and the klingon spirit from an outsider/insider perspective.

sirella and darok are probably the least helpful but i think sirella baby-ing alexander would be fun. they're both trying to deny it and deny how much they like the attention (sirella at having a new-ish nephew-ish and one who wasn't raised klingon so she can do all the classic klingon things with him fresh, and alexander at having a(nother) mother figure to love him). jake is studiously taking notes in the corner while sirella tries to teach him how to skin a fresh kill or something like that.

anyway this whole journey ends with them finding kahless 2 (the clone of kahless) whose only occupation is thinking about the klingon spirit. but his wisdom boils down to "everyone's different and everyone has to figure shit out on their own, but together we can strive to be greater than yesterday" etc etc and jake gets his article. alexander reaffirms his grasp on his cultural identity and also gets to see a lot of his family so he's reminded that he's loved, even if everyone is doing their own thing. and nog develops a huge crush on sirella. everybody's happy.

[babiebom]

Hello!! Soooo I was reading your headcannons about Shane going with his S/O to the mines and that got me thinking. How would the Bachelors (and maybe also the Bachelorettes) react to a Gn S/O who kicks a slime or other monster in the face which kills it instantly? The Bachelors/Bachelorettes are either shocked or impressed as the S/O explains they just are really good at kicking and could probably break open a rock if they wanted to.

A/N: brother i do not remember writing that but I probably did and forgot bc let’s face it I forget things pretty easily. The bachelorettes will be a separate post because I’m taking too long posting this. Also sorry this is late. Also also my writing has gotten slower because I have taken up making music and have currently a couple songs that I’m working on including one from my farmers pov about Sebastian so y’know with that and work a lot of things are going on lmao. Pt.2 I have a cold again because of work.

Tw: violence, cursing, mentions of death, killing slimes lmao, lmk if I should tag anything else

Bc/Wc: maybe 3 for each. Maybe more? At least 100 words me thinks for each.

Stardew valley Masterlist

Sebastian

Literally just blinks and is like ….okay :|

It’s probably not surprising to him that you kicked a monster to death

Sticks to swinging a bat at them (I think he would have a bat or like a pipe or something) but thinks it’s cool that you have hand to hand…or monster to foot combat down.

Sebastian stares as you kick a duggy to death. It honestly was getting in the way of you digging for treasure and nipping at your ankles every time you weren’t paying attention. It only took one good kick for it to die and as you breathe out a puff of air in frustration, your boyfriend simply nods to himself and continues the search for anything you could donate to the museum.

“Are you gonna say anything?” You ask

He just shrugs in response, “no not really…”

In all honesty he figured you had to have a way to survive down here for hours. While kicking wasn’t the usual way, it did work and that’s all that really matters to him.

Sam

Probably did not realize at first and was like okay yeah cool it’s dead

Then realized and probably shouted VERY LOUDLY

Thinks it’s super cool because WHAT?

The stupid things take SO long to die. You kill them and they just come right back unless you blow it up…or give it a good kick to the face out of annoyance. Sam’s eyebrows raise for a second before he continues to break rocks, wanting to get this adventure over with.

Then comes the excited shouting. He’s holding you by your shoulders, shaking you and yelling words that don’t quite make it to your ears. “Sam, please!” You shout over him, the echoing sounds starting to hurt your head.

“I’m sorry,” he lets go of you but is still bouncing in place, “but that was so cool! I wanna kick things!”

Shane

Openly thinks it’s hot

Is very relieved because he never comes down into the mines and does at least want to know you’re safe

Steals your kicking strategy because it is quicker and more efficient

Do those things ever die? Can a skeleton die? How can a skeleton even be alive if not inside a per-okay they’re kicking it….and it’s dead. Wow.

Shane just stares in slight confusion as his mind races to catch up with the events that just unfolded in front of him. It was kinda fun taking out his feelings on monsters that were technically picking a fight first, but then thinking about the morality and the actual logic of it all distracted him until you actually kick a real life skeleton in the face causing it to finally permanently die. He says nothing to you, but does give you an amused smirk before adopting your strategy as his own. Kicking is way more fun than hitting rocks anyways.

Alex

Secretly thinks it’s hot

Would also try to kick things

Would want to do a playful contest to see how much stuff you two can damage honestly.

It thew Alex off when the rock he had hit with a pickaxe started moving. It threw him off even further when said rock pinched him with its apparent pincers that he didn’t even know it had. His brain completely left his skull when you kicked the thing to death with one good stomp because it had pinched him.

It didn’t even hurt that much because he wasn’t paying any attention to his wound and instead staring at you with what could only be described as adoration. Alex clears his throat and grind at you, “how ‘bout a kicking contest? Winner gets a prize”.

“What prize?” You ask, confused about his reaction. You thought he would be in a little pain at least.

“Whatever the winner decides I guess…” you shake his outstretched hand. This was going to go well for you. Now all there is left to do is think about what you want as your prize.

Harvey

Would be absolutely floored.

Like THIS IS NOT SAFE BUT OH MY GOD IMPRESSIVE

He is never coming into the mines again but at least his anxiety has gone down just a little bit (well went up then down so technically it is lower than previously).

The little thing on the ground wasn’t terrifying in the slightest, but your ferocity in destroying it made Harvey think that it was more serious than he understood it to be. Don’t get him wrong, all of the things in this mine could kill someone easily, but the monster that looked like a big ass worm didn’t really seem like a big deal compared to everything else you two had come across.

His mouth hung open as he stared at you as you glared at the stained spot where the worm thing used to be. “It would’ve turned into a monster that could fly.” You offer as soon as you turn to look at him. He nods and makes a mental note to get you muscle relaxers or something because your legs definitely have to be sore after this.

Elliott

Is MORTIFIED

like he was not expecting you to do that at ALL

The mines aren’t his favorite place and he’s glad you can defend yourself but it’s also TERRIFYING.

Probably will insert this into one of his novels where you’re already a character because it’s hot.

The bouncing little jelly things were more dangerous than Elliott had expected. Sure, he knew to some degree that you being tough was a fact because you were in these mines damn near every day for hours at a time. Whenever you came back home after a trip to the mines, covered in bruises and cuts after midnight, he always felt thankful that you had made it back home alive. But this was more than he expected. If something that looked this harmless could make him feel heavy and tired enough to wanna just lay down and die, how strong were the other monsters that lived in these mines?

Snapping out of his distracted thoughts, he watches as everything happens too quickly in front of him, rendering him unable to help because you got everything under control before he could even think to help. In one second you’re hissing in pain after a slime that you both had missed crashed into you, then the next your foot lifts up and then kicks the slime across the room. The thing splatters into goo on the wall as you check yourself for any serious injuries. Elliott calls out to you in shock, rushing over to also look over you because he wouldn’t be fully calm without checking you himself.

As you two stand in the now empty room, checking each other for any injuries that might make you leave early, Elliott can’t help but think that a sexy strong love interest in his novels is just what he needs to make his work skyrocket in popularity.

[zeephyre]

CRITICAL ROLE CAMPAIGN 3 EPISODE 85 SPOILERS

IM LITERALLY ABOUT TO LOSE MY MIND YALL

Where do I even ??? start ???

I haven't been posting c3 as the episodes dropped in...a while actually, like right before they went to the feywild. i have many thoughts and many feelings about so many things that have happened since then and I'll summarise them so I can get to THIS episode.

fearne and ashton - love their shard powers, they're literally royalty and terrifying, and i want them to make-out. i can't wait to see them go full primordial again in a real combat situation.

imogen - save her. literally save her. free her, even. i love everything about the call of ruidus when it comes to imogen on a narrative standpoint, but...God I get so worried that we're gonna lose her. I don't mean she's gonna betray the hells, but...ruidus could take her and then i would simply perish.

laudna - before i really get into wtf went down this episode with her and she who must not be named, i gotta say... im worried. very very worried. however, that fireball was objectively the best shit ever.

fcg - i can't even really remember anything stand out abt fcg except what Sam pulled last night so.

chetney - still the heart of the team, still my baby girl, still my favourite. love him to bits.

orym - i think laudna is going to beat his ass one of these days and im... even more concerned about that after this episode. his nana morri powers are cool as fuck tho... does that make him a warlock now? i know he isn't multi-classing but wouldn't that be cool

ANYWAY WE'RE ON THE FUCKING MOON AND WE GOT MOON LORE AND EVERYTHING WAS SHITTY THEN FUN THEN SHITTY THEN FUN AGAIN THEN REALLY FUCKING SAD THEN IT ALL WENT TO SHIT AGAIN.

the moment imogen reached out to ruidus and matt mentioned that she could sense where other ruidusborn were i fucking knew that otohan was high tailing it in their direction, and i thought they instinctively knew that too but they probably got so distracted.

we were travelling for hours and had a huge fight that almost got them captured (not to be confused with the OTHER two fights that almost got them captured) and I was begging and screaming and crying for them to get a long rest safely hidden away AND THEN THEY SPLIT THE PARTY WITH BARELY ANY SPELL SLOTS OR HIT POINTS AFTER BEING DRAINED FROM ANOTHER BATTLE WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM

(Sidenote, the willmaster really opened up the door to the further increase in moral pondering in a certain number of hellians. i do think using the harness is disgusting and hypocritical, but i don't condemn them for it, it just...makes me wanna vomit thinking abt what ludinus did with it. not to mention the HUNGER parallels between laudna and ludinus...its just not good yall. also??? objectively funny that fcg seemed weirded out by the idea of killing the willmaster, not just with the harness but in general, considering how many people they've killed up to this point)

idk if its just the inherent terror that an evil old hot lady can inspire that makes otohan so much more terrifying to me than ludinus. like, objectively, ludinus is a worse threat and could wipe them out EASILY but jesus otohan is like the damn reaper to me. it's the trauma from the laudna, fearne, orym massacre mixed with the underlying little drop from their uthodurn romp that let us know that resurrection spells are NOT working and idk if that got fixed bc of time passing or distance from the leylines but i really did not want to test that shit out in real time

thank...god that sam riegel is a damn genius player, that banishment of fcg and fearne was the ONLY reason fcg survived. and thank GOD FOR KEYLETH BECAUSE WITHOUT THAT CLOUD SPELL BELLS HELLS WOULD BE VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY DEAD RN.

God, "otohan has us. run." is going to haunt me just as much, if not more than the almost tpk. it just...shot me straight back to bassuras and the plan to run that just...immediately fell apart.

god fcg truly could have died there. and fearne would be captured. i know the hells would be too stupid and too brave and too loyal to leave fearne with otohan in their cloud form but can you imagine a world where fcg was gone, fearne was captured and the hells had to switch from recon to rescue... itd be stressful but pretty fun.

thankfully it didn't come to that and some good came from the shit.

ruidus is so beautiful. i was worried they'd end being trapped under ruidus while they explored (not that I wasn't on board with the detours, I wish this wasn't a time sensitive mission), but matt's imagery of the fossilized elven structure and garden made me sad but also happy that we got to see it.

i cannot believe that the stupid plan to shove fearne up a water hole happened AGAIN and it ended up with us FINDING A BACK HOLE TO RUIDUS GOD I LOVE THESE CHUCKLEFUCKS WHEN IS THE NEXT EPISODE MATT YOU CANNOT DO THIS TO ME. WHERE EVEN ARE THEY??? IS IT EVEN EXANDRIA???? WHAT DO WE DO IF IT IS EXANDRIA??? WHERE DID THIS HOLE EVEN COME FROM???? DOES IT CLOSE AND REOPEN??? IS IT STAGNANT?????? IS IT FUCKING STABLE?!?!?!?!?!

God...we could go back to keyleth and the others and actually invade ruidus without encountering the ruby vanguard. (that's if they're alright because otohan did go out onto the battlefield and we don't know what fhe fuck she did when the illusion fell through)

GOD. IS IT THURSDAY YET??? WE HAVENT EVEN FOUND THE RESISTANCE????

[primalsouls]

Inner Visions

can you tell what's happening?

nothing's ever what it seems

tighnari x gn!reader pt.2

theme: general

warnings: ooc Tighnari?, kinda heavy dialogues, not much but please lmk if you find anything triggering or need a warning for.

summary: Tighnari's life was safe but appreciation wasn't shown. Forgetting the new fungi, his attention moves on to an individual who claims they can see the future, which he finds to be impossible to do. No one can really see the future.

notes: outfit look because i suck at description lmao it took me a while to get this done lol. it is currently 2:00am and i work at 8am xD .... oh gosh. anyway, here is Inner Visions pt 2! would try to work on pt 3 this week or next. please enjoy and lmk what you think in the comments. the characters might be a bit ooc but that's due to me not playing the game for a long while haha. anyway, please have fun!

pt. 1

✿ some reader info ✿

has a third eye - uses to see future visions when activated, atm the third eye is ◉ᵕ◉.... third eye is the closed one haha...

a "deity" - doesn't have a region to rule nor followers to guide

third eye makes them lose energy, making them be tired easily, sleeps regains their energy/power back

wields a polearm mainly but can use more than one weapon - hand-to-hand combat mostly preferred

Kunishiko is the name I used for Wanderer haha.

more will be added once i remember haha

⌑ reblogs & feedback are appreciated here! ⌑

"That's impossible." Were the first words Tighnari spoke right after (Name) introduced themselves. The atmosphere felt thick but he wasn't sure if it was the horrendous smell of the fungi or the deep unsettling gut feeling built within the depths of his stomach. It was confusing. How was it possible for someone to see the future? What if they followed him here instead and lied about such nonsense? But if that were the case, he would have known by the sounds of their footsteps his long ears would have picked up or Iraj would have let him know there was someone behind him from the get go. Actually, how didn't his ears pick up any sound from them? Tighnari looked around. There wasn't any other entrance nearby other than the one he came from.

"I'm a light walker." (Name) answered without hearing the ranger's worried questions. Their voice caught his ears, his eyes snapped back on their figure. "You're thinking how I got here. I didn't follow you. I just saw in my visions that someone was going to die in this cave by eating a deadly mushroom. I was actually heading my way to Sumeru City. This place was just on my path there and before I could continue on, I got a flash of someone with fox-like features about to commit a stupid move."

Tighnari frowned, his bow lowered by his side. He still kept his stance up, not fully trusting (Name) yet. And they could see it in his eyes. Such pretty serious eyes. (Name) figured there was no use to continue staying in the cavern with the forest watcher. They had done their good deed for the day, there was no point in trying to prove themselves to someone. Especially when they had someone else in the city waiting for them.

"Believe me or not, take what you can from this encounter. It's not like I've expected for anyone to believe or know about me. Though, as much as I'd like to stay and chit chat with a pretty fox like you, I have to go." (Name) said as they turned on their heel, but they didn't miss the chance to see the light pink blush decorated the fox-hybrid's cheeks. Raising the hood over their head, the stranger began to walk away.

Tighnari stood there, watching their figure distances as they walked out of the cave. Bow in hands. His heart was still racing from the earlier attack—or in their case, help—(Name) caused by the use of their polearm. Letting his weapon disintegrate as he put it away behind him, Tighnari quickly climbed out of the cave. There were too many questions in his mind. The new fungi was long forgotten the moment he set his eyes on the other. Maybe they hadn't gotten too far. His ears stood on high alert for their footsteps but nothing was able to be picked up. When he reached the entrance of the cavern, Tighnari turned to Iraj.

"Iraj!" The ranger called out, hurriedly making his way towards the startled man.

"Oh, Master Tighnari! What's wrong? You looked as if you saw a ghost." Iraj said as he walked towards the dendro user. Tighnari glanced around the area for any sign of (Name).

"I hope I didn't." He said, panting under his breath. "Have you seen someone just walk out? A hooded individual with a trident?" Iraj shook his head, a look of confusion on his face.

"No, sir. No one has walked in nor walked out." The ranger said. Tighnari frowned. How was that possible? Then how was (Name) able to pass Iraj with being seen?

"I see…" His brain tried to wreck any other entrance of the cave. There was the first Southern opening just where Iraj guarded. Above them to the right was both the second southern entrance and the first northern one. But the northern opening belongs to another cavern just above the one they stood at. Maybe they came from the second way in. Though they would have been too late to stop him if they took that way in. "What are they?" He asked himself, looking back at the cave before he scanned his surroundings once more.

"Was someone in there, Master Tighnari?" Iraj asked, concern laced in his tone. The fox-hybrid scratched the back of his head, unsure what to say.

"No, um, forget it… I'm gonna leave my stuff behind there. Need to go to the city." He said. Before the ranger could say anything to stop him, Tighnari already headed on his way to Sumeru City. It was the destination they mentioned they needed to reach afterall. Who knows, maybe he would be able to catch them before they reach the city's walls.

"So, who are we meeting again, Nahida?" Paimon asked, looking down at the dendro archon with a tilt of her head. The duo were called by Nahida at the Sanctuary of Surasthana for a small meetup. They were notified by Katherine at the Guild when they went up to report their last commission. The small archon requested their presence at the sanctuary. And there they were, the archon catching them up with her latest commission.

Nahida smiled, looking up at the floating girl. "(Name). They are an old acquaintance of mine. I found out about them when I was searching for some more information about Aether's sister through memories in Irminsul Tree. There was a hidden ley line that held some unusual information about (Name). I figured with their help, maybe we could learn more about your sister." Nahida explained, turning her gaze on the puzzled traveler.

Help them learn more about his sister? Could this (Name) person have anything to do with Lumine? What could their relationship with his sister be? So many questions ran through his mind, but he won't let this opportunity slip away from his fingers. "I hope they can be of any help. Thank you, Nahida." Aether said, a kind smile crossing his face. Nahida beamed with a nod, turning her small body towards the door.

"Then let's go. They should arrive here in no time." Nahida said.

"Wait, what about Kunishiko?" Paimon asked.

Nahida giggled. "He's studying with someone right now."

The pair raised a brow. That was a first. Usually he wasn't the type to study with someone. Dismissing the whereabouts of the Wanderer, the trio descended their way to the entrance of Sumeru City. Nahida looked forward to meeting her old friend. She was grateful they managed to reach out. Hopefully there was no trouble heading their way. She didn't want anything to ruin their rekindle meeting and friendship.

Tighnari frowned. He stood at the entrance of Sumeru City but found no sight of (Name). Did they lie to him? Did they also see in the future that he was going to follow them? A scoff of a laugh left his lips. There was no such thing as future visions.

"Who would have known you would be a stalker." That alluring voice! Tighnari turned to the source. There they were, standing near the Guild with their arms crossed over their chest, the hood down to their shoulders. Registering the words from the other, Tighnari scoffed.

"I didn't stalk. I-I… I—well—I…" Why was it difficult to think of a lie? "I've… came to pick up some new materials. Yes, new materials. Since the ones I had were destroyed." Tighnari eyed the individual with a glare.

(Name) smirked, a shrug being delivered at the fennec fox. "Sounds like it could be partially true, but we both know why you came here, cutie." Their words made Tighnari do a double take, a huff leaving his lips. Another blush colored his cheeks from the endearment they used. Before he could continue the banter, another voice popped out.

"Tighnari!? What are you doing here?" Turning to the owner of the high-pitched voice, the young man noticed the traveler and the other two make their way to the Guild. Paimon flew over to him, standing between him and (Name). "Do you know them?" She asked, glancing between the two. Tighnari kept quiet, unsure what to say until Nahida took account of their behaviors.

She turned to the individual, a polite smile on her face. "You must be (Name), right?" She asked. Earning a nod, Nahida clapped her hands. "I don't know if you remember me but I'm Nahida! The dendro archon of Sumeru. It is a pleasure to meet up with you again, (Name)." The archon asked. Hearing her introduction, Tighnari frowned.

"I'm sorry but you guys know them?"

"Only Nahida does! We're just meeting them now, too. They're here to help Aether learn more about his sister's whereabouts." Paimon explained with a nod towards Tighnari. "Have you met them before, Tighnari?"

"We met at a cave today. Poor fox was about to meet the stars so soon." (Name) said with a cheeky smile. They received a glare from him.

"I've almost eaten a new mushroom found within the caves of Gandha Hill. Fortunately, (Name) was there to stop me." Tighnari admitted, a look of embarrassment on his face. (Name) chuckled.

Nahida looked at the vision user. "Why don't you join us then? We would love to have more extra hands to help, I'm sure (Name) wouldn't mind." She offered. They shook their head, silently agreeing they truly didn't mind his presence. Paimon and Aether agreed excitedly as well. It would be a good chance to catch up with Tighnari. The fennec fox hesitated in his answer, sparing a glance at (Name) who only sent him a wink. Huffing a sigh, Tighnari agreed to come along. With his positive response, Nahida guided the group to the Lambad's Tavern. Today's reunion meeting was going to be interesting.

[jjkamochoso]

The Perfect Fit

Story Overview: Levi Ackerman begrudgingly finds himself falling in love with the Survey Corps’ seamstress. Will they be able to own up to their feelings for each other? Or is their love doomed to fail before they discover the truths of each other’s hearts? This slow burn reader insert story will be filled with angst, yearning, and a bit of mystery as we slowly unravel the truths behind Y/N’s past… and explore her and Levi’s future!

Chapter 5

Series Masterlist

Chapter 4 linked here

Chapter 6 linked here

Levi Ackerman x female reader

Warnings: cussing

You easily settled into your new routine with the Scouts. You would wake up at the crack of dawn, get ready, eat breakfast, work on whatever clothes soldiers brought you, have lunch, keep working, eat dinner, get ready for bed. You were looking forward to spending more time with Hange since your offices were near each other, but they were too preoccupied with studying their captured titans. You were proud of the fact that you were part of the small team that put together the large net used to capture said titans, but you were still too scared to visit the product of your work. You believed Hange that Bean and Sonny were very interesting so you didn’t need to confirm it yourself. You and Levi had become closer and you figured that was mostly thanks to your friendship with Petra, a member of his special operations squad. You were normally great at making friends but when you first started eating at the dining hall, you were nervous to find a place to sit. Everyone seemed to have their own groups already. You, having no combat experience, felt like you wouldn’t be welcomed at any table full of soldiers so you made your peace with sitting alone. That didn’t last long, however, because a ginger haired woman eagerly made her way over to you one morning during breakfast.

“You’re Y/n L/n, right? I’m Petra,” she said. You shook her outstretched hand, a bit confused but happy to be having some interaction.

“Oh! Petra! I remember you. You came in the other day, right? You needed your shirt collar fixed?”

Her eyes lit up. “Yes! That’s me! You do such great work. I noticed you’ve been eating alone, do you want to sit with me and the squad today?” She gestured to a table filled with a few other people.

You nodded gratefully. “I would love that. Thank you.”

That day, you met Eld, Oluo, and Gunther. They were an eclectic group, but fun nonetheless. Ever since then, you found yourself in their company for most meals. You and Petra became extra close, being the only girls at the table and bonding outside of meal times as well. It was nice to finally have a sense of belonging for one of the first times in your life. It was even better when you felt that sense of belonging when Levi finally joined the group for dinner. The first time he saw you eating with his squad, he was surprised at the feeling of relief that washed over him when you weren’t alone for once. He figured he should’ve sat with you at least one of the times he saw you by yourself, but he could never bring himself to interrupt your peace and quiet. That didn’t matter now anyway. You were laughing at something Oluo had said when you spotted Levi observing the scene in front of him.

“Captain!” you had called out, “come join us!”

He thought that was awfully silly, you inviting him to eat with his squad, but it was still endearing. You fit in his group like you were a missing piece of the squad puzzle, making witty comebacks to anyone who dared to test you and thoughtfully contributing to the conversation.

From that day on, you always had a spot at Squad Levi’s table. Levi had enjoyed seeing you getting along with his most trusted comrades. It was perfect that you understood the trash talk and teasing was just their weird way of showing affection and the fact that you dished it back tenfold was the cherry on top for Levi. He liked that you laughed at his shit jokes and loved that you usually followed up with your own. Speaking of you and shit:

Shit. He needed to see you.

Winter had finally rolled around and Levi received a new pair of cold weather uniform pants. When he tried them on, he internally groaned. They were much too long, as he expected. He had skated by the past few years with wearing his perfectly sized old pair, but they were too beat up for any more use. Going to get things tailored was the bane of Levi’s existence. Forced proximity to people so they could get his measurements, hands going places where hands should never be. He also hated being seen in pants that he was swimming in. Not that he cared about his height, being short was fine and there’s nothing he could do about it anyway, but it was still a little embarrassing to be a grown man looking like a child who stole his father’s pants, even if only for a few moments. A blizzard was set to come in a few days so he knew he had to see you now. He departed his rarely occupied office and walked past the few doors that separated you two. He knocked gingerly on your door that was left ajar.

“Come in!” you replied. When you saw it was Levi, you had a big grin appear. “Now you’re a sight for sore eyes! What can I do for you?”

Levi rolled his eyes at the compliment. “I have these pants. The dumbasses at production only make them in size titan so I need you to tailor them for me. Please.” He added the adverb when you looked at him expectantly.

“Since you asked nicely, I have an opening right now. Change into the pants and I’ll get right to work.”

Levi disappeared behind the dressing screen. When he stepped back out, you couldn’t contain the laugh that slipped out and he glared at you.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, it’s not you, those pants are a ridiculous size. I should have Hange order a bunch more and we could have a titan fashion show. I mean, I get that they have to be long enough to fit soldiers of all sizes but I could make a whole other project out of the scraps I’ll have from these pants,” you said, grabbing your measuring tape and clipboard so you could start working. Levi was thoroughly enjoying watching you doing your task. It was a side of you he’d never yet seen; you were serious, calm and collected, and best of all, you made him relaxed. He should’ve felt awkward with your hands brushing over his legs but you made him feel at ease. It was over as fast as it started and he already missed the feeling of your ghostly touch.

“Alrighty! You can pop those off and leave ‘em to me. I know the blizzard’s coming in quick so I’ll definitely have them done before then. I know you’re not in your office much, is there somewhere else you want me to drop them off at?”

Levi felt his heart lurch at your words. How did you know that he wasn’t in his office often? Do you come looking for him? Does this mean you observe him in the same way that he does you?

“Levi? You get lost back there?” You chuckled at your own joke.

“What? No, and don’t laugh at your own jokes, idiot, that means they aren’t funny. I’ll pick them up here. You’re in the dining hall for every meal, I’ll get an update on their status when I get my tea. Deal?”

“Sounds good to me,” you replied. You heard some shuffling and Levi emerged from the dressing screen. You were already getting to work on making the marks to cut his pants and Levi knew he should leave, let you work, but something wasn’t letting him go just yet. He craved the feeling of your feather light touch, selfishly wanting to take up more of your precious time so he could shamelessly watch the way your hair moved with every measurement you took, how your e/c eyes washed over him, double checking you got all the information you needed. He was desperately trying to think of another clothing item he needed worked on but you paid him no mind. His presence wasn’t bothering you in the slightest; it was quite the opposite, actually. Levi brought a sense of comfort to you that you had never known before, and you weren’t sure why, but you weren’t complaining.

“If you wanna stay, feel free to. The other table is open if you have paperwork to do,” you said, a needle hanging out of your mouth.

Levi could’ve never predicted this. Sure, you guys were acquaintances, friends even, but you enjoyed his company enough to invite him to stay? He was never a particularly warm person, especially to you at first, yet you were treating him like you treat your closest friends.

“Why?” The words fell out of his mouth before he could stop them, but you weren’t fazed in the slightest, working while conversing.

“Why what? Invite you to stay? Levi, we’re friends, that’s what they do. Look, I like hanging out with you and being around you. You’re rough around the edges, sure, but you’ve got a big heart and that’s all that counts. I’m not asking you to marry me, I just offered you a place to take load off or get some work done. It gets lonely in here by myself and I enjoy your company. That’s all.”

You were met with silence and when you looked up, Levi was gone. You sighed. Did you say something wrong? He was a tough case to crack but you hoped your words got through to him. You may not have known him that long but you cared deeply for him. Of course you still found him insanely attractive but your friendship trumped that in an instant. You had gotten to know him better over the past few months as you learned that Hange was right when they told you Levi was gruff but extremely compassionate. If anything, you hoped Levi understood that you had his back no matter what he went through. Getting lost in your work, you didn’t notice the door opening until it shut again. You saw Levi come in with a stack of papers and a tea cup on top.

“There’s a chair under the stack of books over there. You can use that or sit on the bed. I don’t mind.”

“Drinking tea in bed? Do you think I’m some sort of animal?” he chided.

“I was thinking more royalty but they’re the same at the end of the day, aren’t they?” you joked, earning the slight raise of lips in his Levi way of laughing. There was a comfortable silence in the room as you were absorbed by your tasks. Levi felt lucky he had a quiet place to work like this. All of his other spots had been found out so he would constantly be bombarded throughout the day with questions and impromptu meetings, but here was like his own slice of heaven. He worked well with the background noise of scissors cutting and the purr of the sewing machine. As he reread a sentence in front of him for the third time, he yawned and felt his eyes start to close. He jolted himself awake. The effects of his insomnia were catching up to him. There was no way he’d fall asleep in your room, that would be… well, he wasn’t sure. Improper? Rude? What would you think of him, the man who insulted your work ethic the first time you met him, if he fell asleep in the middle of the work day? Your room was so warm on this chilly winter day and the repetitive noises you made were lulling him to sleep. That damn cup of tea certainly didn’t help, either. Levi was fully relaxed in a way he didn’t think possible. If only he had taken your advice and sat on the bed…

You hadn’t realized something was amiss with Levi until you heard soft snores coming from behind you. Was he asleep? You crept closer, investigating the scene in front of you. His cheek was resting on one of his forearms that was splayed out on the table while his other arm dangled to the side of his body. Strands of black hair had fallen over his face, giving him a more youthful look. You would’ve guessed that Levi would look tense even while sleeping but the man in front of you was anything but. He looked like the pinnacle of relaxation, even if he was hunched over in an odd position. You smiled softly, delighted that your workshop proved to be a much needed refuge for the overworked captain. Taking the blanket from your bed, you placed it over his shoulders, careful not to wake him.

“Sweet dreams, Levi,” you whispered, fighting the urge to kiss him on the forehead.

Chapter 6

[deusexlachina]

This game took fifteen hours to play and upset me! (good)

In Stars and Time probably wins for most upsetting video game I've played. It makes other games about depression feel like the fun roller coaster version of depression in comparison. Even Start Again, the game it's an extension of, looks extremely tame in comparison.

There's a number of things I've seen that are Trapped In A Time Loop. I don't think I've seen one this dark since Russian Doll. ISAT isn't as gritty as that, but it's as least as dark. It really puts the "trapped" in Trapped In A Time Loop, while still being fun. For me, not for the protagonist, Siffrin. He is not having fun.

One of the things that makes it work so well is that the characters (and to a lesser extent, the settings) are really lovingly made. I like Siffrin's party. If they were in a straight fantasy story, they'd work. That's what's missing most in a lot of Edgy Depression Games and cartoons - the sadness is real, but the joy is not. So it feels more hollow than sad. A good example is with magical girl shows: Madoka is a guilty pleasure and all the ripoffs are just execrable - you can feel them wanting to go straight to the torture, so they make characters just to be tortured, ensuring that not even the writer is invested in the cast.

ISAT, in contrast, showed me a cute, engaging adventure with terrific characters, and then forced me to watch as it all got stale and stagnant and twisted. With plenty of new parts scattered around, reminding you of what it's like to be curious and excited. At a certain point, I was skipping through dialogue less because I'd memorized it and more because it was painful to go through these tender scenes again, knowing they lost their impact on Siffrin long ago.

There's a few mechanics that didn't work for me. Having to fight monsters to loop forwards in time didn't feel necessary. Looping around is already monotonous; this mechanic doesn't add anything. As the game progresses, you end up looping forwards quite a bit, long after combat has ceased to be a challenge. Not being able to completely skip seen conversations - instead having to fast-forward through them - is also tedious but feels much more necessary to the story being told. The little animation you get of Siffrin nodding blankly as they metaphorically and literally mash through a conversation remained funny for me even to the end. Be sure to have dialogue speed set to instant and running set to always (why indie RPGs ever have a "walking" setting continues to confuse me).

Anyway, if you're looking for a game with great characters that's very sad without relying on a shitty ending, this is definitely worth checking out. Really not kidding about the heavy stuff, though. Caveat emptor, fuckers.

[bubbleteacat]

Welp, took a while eh? ^^ I swear I lost motivation at some point but after people commented/messaged me, asking for part 2, I somehow got the motivation back to write this. ALSO I just noticed that no one said a word in the last drabble... let's say the last one was just... character introduction... yeah. NOW HAVE FUN WITH PART 2

Trigger warnings: Stalkerish behavior, violence mention, yandere behavior

[ See here Part 1 ]

You slept in the next day, mostly because you could use the sleep, and didn't intended to stream that early. If the power was back on that is. You still had to get grocceries before though. So, after rolling around in bed for a few more minutes, you finally got up and immediately went to check if the energy was back. And as you had hoped, everything worked perfectly again! Seems like you will have no problems to get live later! While you poured yourself a bowl of cereals, and shoved some inside your mouth, you looked through the news to see if there was any information about the blackout from last night. To your surprise there wasn't really any information. Just some news that the cause of the blackout was not clear, so they just said it probably was a simple technical error. How annoying. A simple technical error was the reason you couldn't stream. Wonderful.

After finishing breakfast, you got dressed, and went outside to the groccery store. It wasn't to far away, so you saw no reason to take the bus. You also had no car, but why should you get one anyway? You could walk to your job, and to the groccery store, and if you needed to go further there were always busses or the subway you could take. Besides that, driving sure was exhausting in the city. You silently walked in the direction of the store, not really paying much attention to anything as you were thinking about what you could talk about with the stream later. But you were suddenly ripped from your thoughts as a somewhat... eerie feeling creeped up your back, and made you suddenly stop in your tracks. It's the same feeling from last night when you went home. Like someone was watching you. It honestly wasn't the first time you had noticed such a thing. People had watched you before, but mostly because they had recognized you from your streams. You guessed it was just the same now. Even if this feeling was more... intense than the times before. You looked around, trying to find the source of said feeling but... there was no one staring at you. None of the people you saw on the street were looking at you. And as soon as you had looked around, the eerie feeling had disappeared again. Perhaps you had just imagined it. So you shook your head a bit, and continued on your way to the store. Perhaps you were still tired... You should make some coffee before the stream.

Your trip to the store didn't took to long, and soon you were back on your way home. You have around an hour left until you decided to start the stream, so you had to hurry a bit if you still wanted to eat something before you start. On your walk back to your apartment something caught your eye though. A small group of people, around your age or slightly younger, stood around someone on the other side of the street. You could hear how energetic they spoke. Was there someone famous around or what? It certainly seemed like it by how excited those people were. You craned your neck, as you passed by them on the other side of the street, to see who they were talking to... and you immediately stopped in your tracks. Oh. My. God. That was a Hank cosplayer! From Madness Combat!

"Holy shit! They look amazing! Uh, I wish I could take a pic."

You mumbled to yourself as you eyed the man in the middle of the group, who looked a bit confused from one person to the other. Maybe they hadn't expected that so many people would recognize the character? But the cosplay was amazing! The googles, the coat, the sword on their back, and just everything was just like how they had made Hank look like in the trailer! That's one really determined cosplayer, in your opinion. But you sadly didn't had time to cross the street, and try to take a picture with them. It would take to long, especially with all the other people around who probably had the same idea like you. A shame, really. But perhaps you see them again at the next game convention! So you hurried along, but not without looking one last time at them... just to notice the 'cosplayer' was staring at you. It was kind of strange, but you didn't thought to much about it. Perhaps they knew you from your streams. So you simply smiled at them, before continuing on your way home.

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

You smiled at him. Hank immediately recognized you. The Player. His Player. Of course he would recognize you. He had stared for hours at the pictures of you that they had taken from the Auditor's office. And you simply smiling at him had the grunt rendered speechless. He could not move, not shout out to you. Everything around him disappeared, and the voices of the other people around him seemed suddenly so far away. You must have recognized him as well, otherwise you would have never granted him a smile like this, right? Maybe- Wait. Where did you go? The mercenary suddenly snapped from his dreamy state, and frantically looked around just to find no trace of you. Where had you gone? Why haven't you come to him? Roughly, he pushed some people, of the circle that had formed around him, out of the way, not caring for their complains, before making his way to the other side of the street where you had been standing a moment earlier. You couldn't have gone far. If he hurried up, he surely can reach you! And while he did choose the right direction in which you had walked off, you had already had disappeared into your apartment building... by which Hank rushed by, and down the street in a frantic attempt to find you again. But he couldn't find a trace of his player anymore... So he just decided to go back to Doc and the others to tell them about his encounter. Perhaps Doc has an idea how to find you again. So the mercenary returned to their new hideout in this world. The moment they had entered the world all of them had noticed that it was so different from Nevada. The colors, the residents. There were also beings in the sky, and also basically everywhere that they had never seen again. So, given that they were also very different from everyone, and everything here, they had decided to set up a base that is a bit more hidden. And they had immediately found something that should do the job. An old run down building. It had been boarded up, and it seemed like that no one had entered it since years. While it hadn't been perfect, it was fine for the time they stayed here. While they looked for you. The Auditor, and the other Employers, had entered this world as well. So they had to hurry finding you before they did.

Hank entered the building through the cellar door, that they had entered the place the first time, and went immediately to Doc's new office. Well, 'office' was perhaps a bit exaggerated. It was just a room with a few computers, some medical equipment (all that they had totally not stolen), and a few very old beds. Earlier when Hank had been here, everything had been still full of dust. Seems like they had tidied the place up pretty quickly. Surely with most of the help from Sanford. And the moment the mercenary had entered the room, Doc immediately started to lecture him. Ugh.

" Hank! Where the hell were you? I told you not to go out until we gathered more information! You- "

" I saw the player... "

That immediately made the other shut up, and just stare at Hank for a moment, before he found his voice again.

" WHAT??? Where?!? And why aren't they with you? "

He asks, fearing for the worst already. What if the Auditor had found you before they did? What if they-

" They saw me, smiled, and left... "

Wait, what? 2BDamned just stares at Hank for a long moment through the googles his mask. Confused but also relieved that nothing that he had imagined had happened. Apparently. Still, how could Hank have lost them so quickly? He was fast! Had he been sleeping or what? The 'doctor' let out a tired sigh, not even in the mood what kind of excuses Hank would make if he questioned him. At least they know now that the player was near. He was about to ask where the mercenary had seen you as Deimos and Sanford rushed into the room, with Deimos holding a laptop that he had snatched for himself.

" DOC!!! You need to see this! "

Deimos spoke, and shoved the laptop onto 2BD's desk, knocking over some things, but didn't seemed to care about that all to much. And as Doc came over to scold him, and be more careful... he stops in his tracks as he sees what was on the devices screen. A website was open. A streaming website. And there you were. Idly chatting with your chat, smiling, and apparently you were alright. Doc was taken aback given that it was the first time for him to see you move around, and not just in a picture. The others were also entranced, and did not say a word as they just stared at the screen, and listened to your voice. But Doc was the first one to rip his attention from the screen.

" Hank saw them earlier as well. "

" WHAT " " WHAT "

Deimos, and Sanford called out simultaneous, and looked at Hank who just huffed, and kept looking at you on the screen.

" Yes. He lost them, but at least we know now where they could be. The Player can't be to far from that place where he saw them. Deimos. Can you somehow hack into that system, and track where they are? "

The Hacker gave a sharp toothed smirk at that, and immediately sat down on the laptop to start to track your IP, and your exact location. Wouldn't be the first time he had done such a thing. But usually they killed the person he tracked.

" Sure, Doc. On it already! "

While Deimos worked on the laptop, they let the stream run on one of 2BD's screens. Though instead of doing anything productive, the others kept watching the stream, and you. Until the Hacker announced that he had successfully tracked your location. But instead planning about how to approach you, they kept watching your stream... until you went offline, and to bed. Just then they actually started to plan how to approach you... on the next day already. They really wanted to hurry up, and get to you first. If it was because they feared that the Employers got their hands on you first, or if it was just their own desire to finally meet you is debatable though.

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

You surely had a blast at the stream yesterday. Sure, you did apologize to your chat that you hadn't been online the previous day, but they were quick to reassure you that it hadn't been your fault. You had also a few very generous new followers. Funny though that one of them had a name that is obviously from Madness Combat. They did donate a very high amount which had made you almost cry. You surely are getting that cool new headset, that you got your eyes on for some time, with that money! You got a bit earlier up that usual this morning. You had to work this night again, and wanted to stream again later before you had to head out. As you walked into your kitchen, to make you once more a bowl of cereals... you noticed that you finshed the box yesterday, and forgot to buy new ones when you went to the supermarket. Great. You really wanted some cereals right now... Maybe a short trip to the store again won't hurt? So with an empty stomach, you got ready for your short trip, before leaving your apartment. Not knowing that your vessels had also already went out to finally meet you. They were approaching your place from the direction in which you walked to actually. From where you had seen Hank for the first time. You didn't noticed the group that slowly approached you, and suddenly halted in the tracks when they laid their eyes on you, because you were more paying attention to your phone. Until you were standing almost in front of them. Just then you also stopped, as you felt eyes on you, and looked up from your device... just to stare at them as well. None of you said anything. Them because they clearly had no idea what to say, and you because you were amazed to see such accurate cosplayers of your favorite madness combat characters. After a few seconds passed, you opened your mouth to say something... but suddenly flinch heavily when a black car stopped right next to you and the group with screeching tires.

Confused you looked at the car as the doors opened... and two men in suits got out... But something immediately seemed off about them... They had sunglass but.

Where are their nose? Or ears? Their skin was also weirdly gray? They really did remind you of these agents in-

And then they pull out some guns. You gasp in shock. And suddenly they open fire on the group, and you.

[libertineangel]

Hey Clashblr, check these out

Since there's a few of you around now that are still getting into some of the deeper cuts, I thought I'd put together a post highlighting some of the oft-forgotten obscure material for you to check out. Gonna stick it under a cut, 'cause there's a fair bit and Youtube links take up a lot of space on the dash.

Fasten your seatbelts, hold onto your hats, let's go yeah?

First up we have The Escapades of Futura 2000, lyrics by the man himself with music written & played by the Clash. Futura was the rapper on Overpowered By Funk, and also a graffiti artist who accompanied the band on the Combat Rock tour across the US painting stage backdrops live through the gigs. This particular upload is the 12" mix, which has a good extra minute over the version released last year on The People's Hall.

Here we've got the complete double-sided 12" 19-minute experience of This Is Radio Clash - the track we all know and love to open, then the more commonly remembered B-side Radio Clash (almost identical, not quite the same), then things get real funky with Outside Broadcast, and Radio Five ties it all together. Those last two have never seen a reissue on any compilation whatsoever, probably the most obscure tracks in their entire official discography.

This one's Robber Dub, a remix of Bankrobber from Mikey Dread (not to be confused with Rockers Galore, his other remix that actually features him on vocals). Featured on Super Black Market Clash but interestingly not in the "complete" Sound System box set, an omission that's always perplexed me.

Speaking of, I'd thoroughly recommend checking out both of the mentioned collections if you're not familiar, between Super Black Market & Sound System you've got every officially-released song other than those two Radio Clash extras - so, with that in mind, let's dive into the real offcuts that never even made it onto a record.

How's about seven and a half minutes of Topper playing around with a drumkit & piano to start us off? Some people still don't believe this is even The Clash, that someone scrounged up some random sounds and stuck it on a bootleg, but that's bollocks because I'm pretty sure bits of it ended up in Hell W10, their endearingly crap short film from '81 (watch it here, it's a 50-minute London crime drama). What people are wrong about is that it was ever going to be on Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg, because this is the real tracklist; relatedly, there's alternate mixes of most of those tracks around if you care to look for them, they're not hard to find, except for the high-quality acetate rip that surfaced two years ago that has been scrubbed off the face of the fucking internet, from the 20 minutes I just spent searching it seems even Internet Archive wasn't able to withstand the might of CBS. Anyway...

OK, so technically this one has made it to a record, but that record was the Vanilla Tapes bonus disc of the 2004 reissue of London Calling, it never actually got beyond demo stage. Honestly I doubt they ever really expected or intended it to, sounds to me like the band having fun in the studio, but fun it is. There's actually a few demo-only Vanilla Tapes tracks I could stick here, but this is long as fuck already so instead I will simply give you the lot to peruse at your leisure.

Sticking with demos that eventually got an obscure release, this one is from the Give 'Em Enough Rope sessions but wasn't heard until the On Broadway compilation in '91. It's a solid number of course, they hardly put a foot wrong, but it's nothing groundbreaking.

This is from that same compilation, from the same sessions, it's a cover of the classic soul tune and I like it. Understated, gentle but with that pained passion in the vocals Mick carries so well, and that nice subtle bass is a sweet touch.

Our last couple of tracks are live numbers, and this one's a special one-off performance with the great Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, from the 10th June date of their infamous Bond's residency. He wrote it specifically to perform with the band, six minutes of cantankerous complaining about just about any ideology you care to name while the band (and their sound man, gotta credit those perfectly-timed dub echoes) give a strident backing. Topper was on fucking fire for those gigs, just listen to that kick drum.

And finally let's close out where they began, way back in '76 with Keith Levene. This one's probably my favourite of their earliest offcuts, but personally I prefer an even earlier version of it that Youtube doesn't seem to have, from their third ever gig (and first known recording) at the classic Screen on the Green punk showcase. Five of the thirteen tracks on that setlist never made it to the studio, plus it includes the original lyrics to I'm So Bored With You, and it's all here.

[calebwittebane]

also, finished my new vegas campaign. Leigh Has Achieved Her Mission or at least the closest approximation of it that the game let me achieve, which of course is the independent ending with a full securitron army and the support of the followers of the apocalypse. the only thing is i Fackin Forgor to deal with the fiends so they caused some problems but well the trouble they caused was to the ncr so i kinda dgaf. also i was surprised some khans showed up to help me at hoover dam! i actually felt kinda bad about it like no no... ive got this... you guys have been thru enough... you shouldnt have to protect the ncr from Anyone even the legion... please oomfies stay safe....

i think some of the remnants died??? idk only cannibal johnson was still with me at the legates camp. did they die?? im so sorry arcade i think theyve died. idk how. they were in power armor shooting gods lightning at enemies. whyd they die but boone didnt. boone was with me the whole time partially because earlier he was helping me with the kimball speech mission (which btw was the most awkward thing ever. love the uncoordinated animations and the crowd of 5 people. the speech that was impossible to understand like wtf is that guy saying. topped off with every npc involved getting locked in combat/fleeing at the end. love it) and i thought hed have fun with this too. well he did and he also had fun picking up rifles off of every legionnaire corpse. why does he do that. i check on him see his carrying capacity looks weird and there he is holding 8 rifles. boy drop it. drop it. now.

anyway. i kind of dont understand what happened with the brotherhood of steel, i think i had confused the game badly. i became besties with them rather early on, i even convinced mcnamara to let me join them (which like. youd think thatd have some curious implications but again, Unfinished Game) but i never talked them into making a truce with the ncr or anything. but for some reason i told mr house i did? like right before i decided i would Not be Trying The Mr House Route after all, a decision i made specifically over his insistence that i eliminate the brotherhood actually. and then yes man also acted like the bos were gonna help the ncr at hoover dam. and mcnamara kept saying he couldnt believe he would be helping the ncr even though again the subject had not once been breached. i was like ok. and then they did not in fact help the ncr. they didnt show up. wtf was that about. lies and treachery. after all i did for you. after i fixed your air conditioning. oh im sorry, was it the robots. did you not like the robots? scared of them?

and not only that, the boomers also didnt show up even though they were supposed to. motherfucker... what did i get you bastards that airplane for... you people were so annoying and unkind and i still helped you. because i thought i could count on you. for everything i did for you. loyal i hope your solar arrays break immediately. that guy who works with loyal idr your name i hope your gf breaks up with you and then you explode. i hope all of you explode. i shouldve known. i shouldve known better.

like thats so funny. of all the factions that i had recruited the ones that actually showed up to help were 1. The Elderly Ex-Soldiers Of The Horrid American Regime 2. the great khans, Unexpected And Unannounced. oh well. we still mowed through those bastards. thats right. thats right. all you centurions and other creeps, you stood no chonce. no chonce against this hungry hungry woman. she ate caesar, shes gonna eat all of you. thats how you deal with enemies and opponents and adversaries.

as for legate lanius i fully buy into the Legate Lanius Isnt Real theory. i mean yes ostensibly theres a guy, whose name Allegedly is lanius, and hes a legate. but hes just a propaganda figure. legate lanius The Cruel Merciless Force Of Destiny Itself, The Devil, Unpredictable, Cares For Naught But Victory, with all those crazy stories of how he became part of the legion. well thats not real. hes just a tall guy in a scary mask and he doesnt really wanna be here. like the fact that you can just talk him into retreating. like hey man this campaign has already cost you your leader and youre gonna keep having a bad time around these parts. take that taste the pain. and hes just like Yeah ok Theres wisdom in what you say Youre a worthy opponent indeed. Goo Bye Bye. and sprints away. ok. scariest guy east of the colorado river you guys. had to stay holed up in the little baby camp away from any fighting until the last big battle and even then he didnt leave the aforementioned little baby camp. he wasnt leading anything or anyone. he was in his tent scared and fingering himself. scram.

felt kinda bad throwing general oliver off the dam. it was an impulsive decision and i was like man i shouldnt have done that. i barely knew the guy. kind of a gruesome way to go. sure he pissed me off and was overall a bad person but i shouldnt be doing shit like that. doesnt inspire others' confidence in my Collected Trustworthy Nature. i think.

im really glad about the good endings i got for all my companions. they just all got really chill ending slides. theyre all just kinda hanging around the mojave helping people and being cool. arcade status: chillinnnng 👍 boone status: chillinnnng 👍 cass status: chillinnnng 👍 lily status: chillinnnng 👍 raul status: ghost cowboy. veronica status: chillinnnng 👍

anyway. i had fun. and so, this concludes the epic tale of Leigh The Hungry... Leigh The Water Drinker... Leigh The Devourer Of Armies.... Leigh The Hacker.... Leigh The Dubious... Leigh The Thief.... Leigh The Sleeper, The Taker Of Naps. and what a journey it was. in a perfect world women like her would not exist. but this is not a perfect world.

[kroosluvr]

im too shy to come off anon (we're mutuals!) but i resonated a loooot with your rant post about how like ..'passion' is being equated to deranged and all that and just..feeling a little isolated in a friend space by being made fun of for this one single interest that means a lot (i hope u hang in there though!! i followed u recently and im loving ur persona art!) its also been like that with (oldsona especially) for me and i totally get it 💔 still, i hope you're enjoying p2ep!! Soso good it changed the trajectory of my life and several others

UEUEEU omg thankyou so much though ;w; im glad it resonated,,, vigorous handshake,, we're in this together!!!!!

im so glad you like my persona stuff UWAAAA i got back into it recently after a big hiatus and ive fallen 10x as harder for the franchise (ESPECIALLY WITH OLDSONA OMG p2 is infecting my brain... QwQ it just hits so many good notes for me aaauawuaw EVERYTHING IS SO GOOD) like i always said p5r was my fav persona game (having only known 345 before) bc my favs(royal trio) are there but p2 is like. fucken RACING UP THE RANKS LIKE CRAZY it might even be my fav now..?!?!?! I SHANT SPEAK TOO SOON BUT............

EP IS SO GOOOOOOOD WAUGH its hard to say where im at bc honestly im a little confused too. O_O UM UM we were just in the underwater cavern place and killed guido+chizuru and escaped with tatsuya... but then the video cycled back to elly's route(?) bc before that it was nate's route? which im actually enjoying sm ,,, i love u elly,,,, when naoya showed up i screamed and i didnt even look into p1 yet. LOOKS AROUND\

BUTYEAH aldsjkwe help. im someone who jumps from interest to interest like crazy and i get real obsessed and just draw it nonstop until the brainworms go away..... i hate feeling self conscious abt it but i think like!! creativity and passion is a blessing so i try to combat it that way.. QwQ if it motivates me to keep drawing then all's well in the world!!!!

ANYWAY SORRY THIS IS REALLY RAMBLY BUT TY FOR THE MESSAGE!!! QwQ IM SO GLAD YOU ENJOY MY WORK!!!!

[zhongrin]

Heyo. I started playing HSR a little after you posted that you started HSR, and I'm stuck in the first world too.

Holy heck, the quests. The quests to unlock things are a lot longer than I expected. In short, it took me almost a week to unlock daily commissions. I rely a lot on March 7th and Dan Heng and I'm having so much trouble in Belobog. I have died and continue to die multiple times. 😅

Also, I am bad with the combat system too. I'm like auto-farming Calyxes because my characters are not clearing content anymore.

I send this in solidarity, because HSR is kicking my butt too, despite the over like 8 - 10 hours of pure gameplay I've done so far. And I still don't think I'm anywhere close to the end.

Also, congrats on getting Robin!

Go go Meirin! You got this!

right. i haven't even glanced at the side quests orz

try pulling for the discounted standard banner whenever you can! who knows, you might get a good character from there! i got bronya which is apparently one of the best supports, especially for dan heng?

so far what i'm feeling is like hsr is... pretty ruthless to f2p players. i don't remember struggling as much with genshin. i can't imagine farming calyxes without the help of my friends' support characters (which are like, maxed out, lv wise). and tbh the mini bosses were giving me so many difficulties??? which is kinda wild. i kept dying at the boss BEFORE the final boss lol

i also observed you really need to have the right character and the right team comps, otherwise you can't win in battles, since elemental reactions doesn't exist. granted you could do it the hard way, but with march 7th being the only preservation character & natasha being the only abundance character & no ruan mei in my account…. ogh.... ugh..... orz

anyway, personally i don't enjoy the combat in hsr that much (as i don't with most turn-based-combat games) and i dread leveling up the equilibrium thingy, haha… i wish we can set the combat difficulty like in p5 but i know it'll never happen because then it'll invalidate the gacha part of the game.

story wise, i was confused at first because of all the foreign terms being thrown at us, unexplained. but when i got into more of belobog chapter, it's been quite an immersive experience! there were some hiccups here and there ofc, but it was fun to watch.

[sirellas]

rightful heir is insane for the Implications. okay so there's this guy who was cloned from leftover DNA of the real kahless (with you so far) but also he's got fuzzy memories of being the real kahless implanted into his brain (?? okay...?) and he was just woken up/brought into existence at the exact moment the priest guys needed him to appear (when worf shows up, the main character of klingons) so this is really his first moment of being a person and he's In It, he's ready to GO right away. no learning how to walk, no confusion, no "hey guys what's been going on since i died", and he's ready to overthrow the current government DAY ONE. nope don't tell him anything, he already knows your chancellor sucks and the klingon spirit is corrupted. and he knows about worf's childhood moses moment where he/kahless appeared to worf to tell him to sparkle on it's worf wednesday my dude (very specific memory) but he can't remember details of his famous stories (are we saying his worf-related memories are real because worf really was the believer who brought his spirit back? mixed in with some good old fashioned priest cloning)

BUT he's a shit fighter. i mean he's not terrible but he's not mythical godlike warrior levels, so he does have some physical adjustment stumbling, but only when pressed. his weakness should have been like. learning how to digest solid food. not advanced combat. i mean don't get me wrong that's a very klingon weakness but it still raises a lot of questions. and kahless 2 has ZERO questions about this whole scheme until he loses to gowron in a fight. if we go with the Implications and assume this is the spirit of the real kahless dropped into his clone's body, the rest of this guy's whole deal is wild!!! he's just vibing! he's having spiritual awakenings certain human religious figures could only dream of achieving. even if we DON'T buy into the true reincarnation aspect, he's still the genetic clone of the klingon people's greatest hero with all the knowledge of the klingon religion in his head. like a factory made condensed klingon heritage all in one guy. which has gotta be a fun time for him (not really). his personality is Honor and his occupation is Faith. and he is technically a BABY.

and then worf is like "look idk if i believe in reincarnation (maybe haha) but i do believe in causing problems, let's see where he's going with this" and makes him a figurehead emperor. and of course by this point 2 fast 2 kahless is starting his "maybe i really am a fake" journey (which should've happened when he first heard someone sneeze and freaked out) so he just goes along with it. anyway. maybe the real kahless was the Implications we didn't fully explore along the way.

[frauleinandry]

a persona 3 reload review

uuuuuuh so i was meant to post this like... two weeks ago, but then real life hit me in the head like a frying pan. now that i've had the time to edit this though, here are my thoughts on p3re! this is also a minato route review, as i played kotone's in P3P (i know it's not his canon name, but i don't want to use makoto due to P5 confusion).

on the whole, reload is a fantastic game. the gameplay easily rivals P5R, and surpasses it in some aspects. the new content is typically great. i also enjoyed minato as a character (well, as much of a character as persona protagonists are anyway), though that leads me to the main gripe i had with reload...

... and that's the lack of kotone's social links. to be precise, two of her social links, the absence of which greatly hurts the overall story.

don't get me wrong, i'd still rank reload a solid 8/10, but it could have been a 10/10 with the addition of those two links (plus one other spoiler thing), and I think that's a shame.

my in depth analysis is under the cut - note, it's very much not spoiler free.

okay, so, i'm gonna split this into 3.5 segments - the good, the mixed, and the bad (you'll find out what the 0.5 is later).

1. the good:

minato - while i'm still a kotone girlie at heart, he's not a bad protagonist at all! his dialogue options have a very distinct personality to them unlike joker and yu, and his character arc is one of the best of all of the persona main leads. an aloof, apathetic boy who learns to love the world/his friends so much he's willing to die for them... it's good!

koromaru - minor, but worth mentioning. you can pat him, and it's so cute. in fact, everything about him is perfect. from his all-out attack screen, to his animations, to... well, everything. no joke, if I needed to sell this game to a non-persona fan, i'd use him as the main draw.

hangout events - while I think being able to chat to everyone in the dorm already made SEES one of the more developed casts, having additional scenes really helped flesh out the party members who are less prominent in the plot (fuuka, pre-january aigis, ken). more things to do at night is also great, given there was nothing to do in the evening after maxing your social stats in the older versions. the perks they give you are great too, but i'll talk about that more later.

voice acting - not gonna lie, i generally don't like the persona dubs, and normally always play with the JP audio. given reload features some of my favourite voice actors though and was basically fully voiced, i decided to give it a chance this time. and i don't regret it! while some actors are definitely stronger than others, none of them were actively jarring, and quite frankly, they hard carried a lot of the social links. kudos to the cast!

strega - while they could have gone a bit further with it (jin needed a linked episode for sure), takaya finally got the development he sorely needed, and his and jin's final battles were actually interesting, instead of being annoying distractions from nyx. in fact, i'd say takaya's new content is easily the best of the new reload exclusive material. in portable, he made no impression on me whatsoever, but now, he finally gets to be the anti!minato he deserves to be.

1.5. the tartarus (aka good part 2, electric boogaloo):

i have so many things to gush about in terms of the new combat/exploration system, i decided it needed its own section! the glow-up tartarus got was massive. i was pretty disappointed when i heard they were keeping it randomly generated, but somehow, atlus pulled it off! i'll talk about individual things below.

collectables/monad doors - one issue with OG tartarus is that it's monotonous. breakable collectables make it much more entertaining to romp through though, as smashing things is Fun. the monad doors interspersed throughout are another good addition - if you want a break from roaming, you can challenge them, but if not, that's fine!

floor layout - another thing that makes tartatus more fresh to explore is that the HD graphics really make the differences between the blocks pop out. the generally smaller floors with more unique layouts really helps too.

shifting - it's baton pass, though without the ridiculous power/sp bonuses that made baton pass a little bit too gamebreaking in persona 5. in other words, perfect!

theurgy - out of all the battle-specific improvements, theurgy and the personality traits have got to be my favourites. showtimes were fun, but too random/gimmicky to be that useful, and ultimate skills tended to fluctuate between being absolutely gamebreaking or too SP intensive to be worth using. blending them into one feature with a content-specific gauge fixes all the problems with them while keeping everything that made showtimes/ultimate skills good.

ambush mechanics - this was one of the things i was most worried about before playing reload. ambushing in P5 is fun, but ambushing in the other persona games...? not so much. reload manages to fix this though by making the shadows less sensitive, which makes the early game a lot better, and but introducing dash-ambushes once the floors get bigger. if the persona 6 ambush system works like this, i'll be happy.

navigator skills - fuuka being retooled to work more like a playable character was an A+++ decision. making her skills player-activated but with an SP cost is so much more immersive than randomly getting a stat boost/enemy info.

unfortunately, while i think most of the tartarus additions were great, there were a few new mechanics which weren't... dreadful, per say, but could have been implemented better.

great clocks - they're better than nothing, but quite frankly, i would have preferred it if benched units got 50% exp instead. they incentivise you to drop two units for a period of time, which is annoying, given i want to use everyone on my first playthrough. late game, great clocks are also a pain to summon, for reasons i'll talk about below.

twilight fragments - i think they're a neat idea in theory, but they need to be easier/more reliable to farm. once you finish off the bulk of your social links/elizabeth's requests, replenishing them becomes a nightmare, which is annoying because you need them for great clocks.

2. the mixed:

while reload did a lot of things right, as per above, there were some things that didn't quite hit the mark.

linked episodes - i'm gonna be blunt. anyone who thinks these are better than social links is smoking something. one thing i like about party member social links is that it gives them a subplot outside of the main story, focusing more on their mundane struggles as opposed to their supernatural ones. half of the linked episodes just develop the main plot more though (and really should have just been included in it), meaning the linked episode exclusive subplots are underbaked.

another problem is that some of the linked episodes are just... kinda badly written. ryoji's completely lacks his existential dread, akihiko's comes off as a poor attempt to make his arena behaviour less OOC, while shinjiro's... it feels like persona 5 writing, in the worst way possible. it's like atlus completely forgot that subtext is a thing that's Good, actually.

while I have been fairly critical of them so far though, there are a couple of linked episodes i liked. koromaru's actually worked with the format, given he's a dog, but the real winner here was takaya. i loved all of his. if linked episodes appear again, i'd rather they be locked to antagonists like him.

art direction- i'll say right now - the UI is fabulous, the model shaders are great, and tartarus looks fantastic. the environmental design on the whole though is a bit iffy - a lot of the environments didn't translate to the super HD very well, and the lighting sucks in general. i needed to turn down the brightness it was so eye-searing. the animation of the 2D cutscenes is also pretty mediocre, and while the 3D cutscenes tend to look better, they're held back by some of the character models looking a bit goofy (mitsuru's is probably the biggest offender). i also think they were too scared of making the sprites 'ugly', and therefore on the whole they're slightly less emotive than the ones in the older versions of the game, which is a pity.

3. the bad:

minato's social links - the vast majority of the minato-exclusive social links are just flat-out not great. serious props to the voice actors here, since they hard carried them. quite frankly, they're just... bland, except for maya's and suemitsu's, which. uh. have problems. on the topic of social links, while i'm happy the romance isn't mandatory anymore, i don't like how half the girls explicitly confess to you. i much prefer the more subtle vibes of the P5/P4 romantic options, as yeah, most of them can lead naturally into romance, but they don't make the MC feel like a harem anime protagonist (derogatory). it kinda brings to mind this twitter post; sometimes, subtlety is simply better.

the absence of shinji and ryoji's social links - i can live without saori, rio, and most of the new and improved SEES member social links, but this is where i draw the line. while shinji dying is better storytelling, just like with chidori, having the option to save him is also important. lock it behind new game plus, yes... but keep it. also, him priming kotone to support akihiko one he's gone is far better than him just flat-out telling minato that he's dying. ryoji's missing social link though is infinitely worse. where is his slowly mounting horror as he starts poking holes in his backstory? his desperation to validate that he's actually real? that he exists?! like yeah, it's nice that the linked episode doubled down on his bisexuality, but i'd rather keep the psychological breakdown aspects of it, y'know?

the difficulty - i started playing reload normal - the level i'd typically use for a blind run of a persona game - aaaaand swapped to hard the second i unlocked theurgy. even then though, the game was a cakewalk until january hit. while i love theurgy, the game is absolutely not scaled around it, especially since you can charge/concentrate them. doing that, you can easily rack up thousands of damage without even going ham with fusion. unfortunately, reload is just... really easy.

the plot's too faithful to the original - while reload added new content, it pretty much left the story untouched outside of the beach scene. that's... not good, as persona 3's narrative had some pretty big problems. the biggest issue is the unchanged pacing - the strega storyline really needed to start a month earlier, and ryoji needed an extra month to integrate with the characters due to his lack of social link. this is one of the things i'm explicitly docking a point for - reload still doesn't kick off until the yakushima arc, which is well over a third into the game.

despite my criticisms, i do want to note that my experience with reload was predominately positive. it's (extremely) sad that you still need to play portable to experience the full persona 3 story, but p3re is still a fantastic game, and has a lot of gameplay features i'd be delighted to see in persona 6.

that's all i've got to say for now - until next time!