#because i got sidetracked with dishonored

[nocek]

Turns out I have quite a lot of unfinished drawings with Yori :) (perks of having shitty memory, you ALWAYS surprise yourself not always positively surprise tho)

[shaniahnoel]

Buttercup Pt 2/?

A/N: I’m not sure how long this will go on, but I’ll keep writing as long as ideas keep flowing. I’m sorry there hasn’t been a lot of great Sweet Pea interaction, but it’s coming, I promise! I got a little sidetracked fleshing out protective cousin Fangs and making sure there’s more to this tale than the two of them!

Let me know what you think! 

Warnings: N/A

Word Count: 1985ish

Part One / Part Three

“But yeah, I just became an official Serpent this past summer. Mom was a little nervous after dad went to jail. Of course, that wasn’t his fault, his buddy had one too many strikes so dad took the heat. She still worries a bit now because we do stupid stuff, but she trusts the brotherhood.”

Sophia was absolutely absorbed with Fangs’ tale. It was nothing she expected from a gang, especially not from the South Side. It was like icy water dousing out all of her mom’s lies as she realized how stupid she’d been. The Serpents sounded like a family. A family that wasn’t as breakable as hers. Hair on the back of her neck stood up and she turned to find herself staring into Sweet Pea’s chocolate eyes.  Somehow, she felt that he’d been staring at her the whole time Fang had been talking. When he said nothing, she turned back towards Fangs. As she did the serpent peeking out from P’s leather collar caught her eye.  

“Where’s your tattoo?”

Fang lifted his shirt in response. Over his heart coiled the serpent.  

“Any reason you chose the neck?”

Silence greeted her question.

“Y’know,” she started as she began turning back to face him again, “instead of SP, I think I’ll go with ST…for Silent Treatment.”

Sweet Pea’s lip twitched, but he didn’t say a word until Sophia let out a huff of air.

“What do you care, Northsider?”

Poor Fang looked to be between a rock and a hard place. Sweet Pea had been on super polite mode at his house, but his Aunt had pushed him to his limits. It became quickly apparent that the bottled Northsider rage was slowly seeping out at his cousin. Plus, Sophia was her own spitfire. Annoyed by his growing unpleasantries, she resorted to her specialty: sassiness.

“Well, Fangs is my cousin. I like hanging out with him. He likes hanging out with the Serpents. Odds are, I’ll get to hang out with him more if his friends like me. So, call me crazy, but I’m attempting to be your friend.”

“Yeah, yeah. That was a great speech at Fangs’ but how long slumming it ‘til you’re tired of your little Northsider rebellion and go running home to mommy about the stupid Serpents. Wouldn’t want your GPA to drop, Ivy League.”

“Yo, P, that’s not cool.” Fangs interjected, stepping between him and Sophia. “That’s my cousin you’re talking to.”

Sweet Pea stared at Fangs for a hard second. Before either could say another word, Sophia spoke up.

“It’s whatever, honestly. If he doesn’t want me around that’s fine. I wanted to spend time with your mom any way.”

She sauntered off without a backwards glance. If high society had taught her anything, it was to never let them see you cry. Fang rammed his elbow into Sweet Pea’s side, glaring at him. To his credit Sweet Pea looked slightly abashed.

The next morning began a little awkwardly. Sophia had been pretending to be asleep in his bed when he got back, so he crashed on the couch. In the morning, she carefully avoided being alone with him until finally his mom sent them both to prepare lunch. Immediately he tried to apologize, but Sophia held up a hand.

“Look, that was a crappy thing. But, it wasn’t your crappy thing. If he wants to hate me for being a Northsider, it’s whatever. His loss.”

“That’s not fair. You’re different.”

Sophia snorted. “Am I? It took me a solid two years to muster up the courage to convince mom to get over here again. Why? Because I just accepted everything she told me. By P’s standards that probably makes me even worse… I rejected my family on the Southside.”

Fangs mouth opened and closed as he tried to find the proper words. It was crazy to him how she already understood Sweet Pea, almost like she was in the bushes when they talked the night before. Seeing that she had hit a glimpse of the truth, Sophia pressed on.

“I gotta make it up to you guys. Maybe that’ll fix his issue, maybe it won’t. I’m just worried about my family. If things are good with you, then I’m good.”

Fangs gave her a relieved smile and they moved on with the day. He chose not to go out with the Serpents and so the three spent the day inside playing board games and talking about old times. They were in tears laughing when a solid knock came at the door. With the other two incapacitated, Sophia ran to open the door.

“Hi!” Sophia said brightly, startling the girl in the doorway.

“You must be Sophia,” the girl responded, looking her up and down appraisingly.

“Right-o. And you?”

“That, dear cousin, is the marvelous Toni Topaz.” Fangs said cheerfully from the doorway. He came over and gave the pink haired girl a brotherly hug. Sophia could hear Rachel scrambling to get up in the living room. Clearly, Toni was a favorite. Hopefully easier to please than Sweet Pea, Sophia thought to herself.

“Great to meet you, Toni. I’m currently kicking butt in Uno, feel free to join in if you’d like yours handed to you as well. He’s already lost twice.” Sophia nodded her head toward Fangs who immediately perked up.

“I did not lose twice. You cheated twice. It’s completely different.”

“Uh huh, suuuure.”

Toni chuckled at the display before her. The person Sweet Pea painted, didn’t seem to be the one standing before her. Or laying before her might be the more accurate term as the cousins were currently engaged in some sort of wrestling match.

“Y’know, I thought you two may have matured by now.”

“Can Fangs and maturity exist together?” The two girls questioned Rachel in unison. The three women burst into laughter as Fangs tried to glare.

“You’re alright, Northside.”

Sophia gave Toni a small smile. She recognized the word as nickname, not slur. Maybe it wasn’t acceptance, but it was steps further than her relationship with the other Serpent. Toni accepted the invite to play and they went a few rounds, laughing together.

That evening, Fangs went out with the Serpents and Rachel took Sophia home. The two of them sang along to every song on the radio, laughing at some of the ridiculous commercials. Sophia was feeling lighter and more carefree than she had in months. That is until they reached the end of her driveway. Her car was pulled out of the driveway, sitting in front of the house. Dozens of boxes sat in and around it. Judging by the slightly damp feel of some they’d been out in the night. Thankfully, it hadn’t rained. Sealed tightly in a plastic bag under the wiper was a note:

               Sophia,

I’m so glad that I went to dinner with my sister. It led to a great revelation. I realized that I needed to cut all ties to the South Side. I tried to tell you, but you didn’t listen. You’ve chosen the South Side. I want nothing to do with someone who would bring such dishonor to a name I worked hard to protect. The locks are changed, all that you may keep is given to you. As an act of kindness, I will allow you to take the car as well. You’ll need it if you have any hopes of future plans, as I cannot trust college funds to someone so reckless. I’m sure my sister will be more than willing to help yet another lost cause.

Sophia read through the note twice, trying to make some sense of the words she was reading. Her aunt came to her side and read over her shoulder. When she got to the end, she put her arms around Sophia who quickly shrugged her off. Glancing up at the house, she saw a curtain flutter. Never let them see you cry, she reminded herself.

“Well…” she began, “Are you taking in anymore lost causes?”

The words were shallow with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. There were so many words Rachel wanted to say in that moment, and so many objects she wanted to throw through the windows of the estate behind her. However, none seemed just right. With watery eyes she nodded at her niece and began loading some of the straggling boxes into her car as well. She stroked Sophia’s cheek before getting in and heading back to the South Side. She couldn’t help but glance continually back at the convertible behind her, marveling at how strong her niece was acting in the moment.

Generally a Saturday would have made moving things along impossible, but Serpents weren’t without their connections. It was established that Sophia’s mother had cut off all ties, and the letter basically declared her abandoned. They started on the paperwork for Rachel to become her legal guardian, but would need to wait until the work week to put it all through. The same was true for her school registration. It took several rounds of fighting before Rachel realized she wouldn’t budge about wanting to transfer to South Side High and so she promised to start on that first thing on Monday.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to get Fangs home?” Rachel asked as they moved boxes into the empty room on the second floor.

“Nah, he’s with the Serpent’s, right? I don’t feel like becoming the North Side sob story right now. I’ll just surprise them all in school. It’ll be a good laugh.”

“Soph, you’re taking this really well. Too well.”

“I’m fine. I told you, I’m just happy to have family that cares about me for me. It’s a relief not to have her expectations looming over.”

“Okay,” Rachel responded, “Dinner’ll be ready in about an hour.”

Sophia could tell her aunt wasn’t convinced but was trying to give her space to process. She waited until the door clicked behind her to collapse onto the worn mattress in the middle of the room. She bit her fist to stifle her cries. The sobs shuddered through her body as she drowned in her sorrows. So intent was she in keeping the meltdown quiet that she didn’t hear the quiet steps up the stairs or the soft creak of the door.

The smell of pine filled her nose as Fangs arms wrapped around her. Rachel must have called him anyway. It’d been years, but this wasn’t the first time her cousin had seen her go through the panic attacks. He held her firmly, yet loosely. Letting her sob freely into his shirt. He murmured words that meant nothing, just providing a comforting rhythm. When her frantic breathing slowed, Fangs pushed himself back slowly to look her in the eyes.

“You good?” he asked, his voice tense. Sophia could tell it’d been awhile since he’d dealt with someone crying.

“Yeah, I’m good. Just got a little overwhelmed is all.”

“It’s okay to not be okay, Soph.”

“Your mom blames herself. She thinks if she’d bit her tongue at dinner we coulda avoided all of this. I don’t want her to feel any worse about it.”

“And you think she buys your fake I-don’t-care-attitude?”

“No… but, they do say ‘fake it ‘til you make it.’”

“Alright, I’ll give you that. So what’s the game plan there, Buttercup?”

Sophia rolled her eyes. “Blossom was the leader, idiot. But, I was planning to come and visit more anyways. So I just cut out the travel time. I’m going to go to South Side High, and hopefully no one steals my convertible.”

“Wait,” Fangs began, eyes huge, “You’re coming to South Side. What about your prep place?”

Sophia didn’t answer at first, weighing her words.

“I guess…I guess I don’t want to end up like her. I don’t want to be spoiled North Sider anymore. I want to get to actually know people for who they are, and I wanna do my future my way.”

A/N: Obviously I don’t own any of the Riverdale characters, but Sophia and her relationship with our beloved Sweet Pea are my personal creation as well as the plot lines herein. There may be some basis on events currently happening in Riverdale, but not necessarily.

[hollyplays]

Survival and Crafting with Horizon Zero Dawn

In the last several years, there’s been a huge rush in open world, survival/crafting games, many of which are multiplayer. You know the ones: DayZ, Rust, Ark Survival Evolved, 7 Days to Die, indie legend Unturned, Conan Exiles (although Conan has the distinction of being a genital physics simulator). Even the $40 dollar PR disaster No Man’s Sky fits the bill in a lot of ways. I tend to not enjoy these games, if I’m being totally honest. The problem (and it is a problem with me and not the genre) is that after a few days, they start to feel like work.

Minecraft avoids this for me by being charming and colorful and /easy/. I can play Minecraft on creative for a few weeks, build my dream home, and then not play it for three months. Ark, for example, required much more of me- I only ever got as far as building a lean-to before I bit off way more than I could chew on started over. Ark’s system of binding recipes to character post death made it more rewarding than other games of it’s type, but after a death or two I found I just wasn’t having fun.

I was worried, then, about Horizon Zero Dawn. i knew it had open world and crafting elements, and I’d been burned on these games before. I also knew it had giant robot dinosaurs to hunt and climb, so I was hoping for more of a Shadow of the Colossus type game. That is not what I got, and I am so glad.

Horizon Zero Dawn is a beautiful game. It’s sprawling meadows and craggly peaks are gorgeous even without the PS4 Pro, and the human models look incredible. I often found myself struck by the actual, genuine beauty of protagonist Aloy and her father figure Rost. They’re animations are natural and smooth, and they look like real people. The voice acting is incredible as well, and these make dialogue seem natural and realistic. With exceptions where a few places the faces and the dialogue didn’t match up perfectly, the dialogue flows excellently.

I want to avoid spoilers, so I will summarize the story as such: centuries (millenia?) after civilization has fallen, mankind lives on in large specialized tribes. Players take on the role of Aloy, once outcast, as she struggles to unravel the conspiracy of her birth and who created the massive and terrible machines which coat the land.

I want to sidetrack for a second to talk about 2016′s Inside. Inside is an example of a game I honestly consider to be perfect- if I ever write up a full review for it, it will definitely have a 10. The veritable Nick Robinson talked about Inside in his video of top 5 games of 2016, and he mentioned that Inside is so good and well designed that it seems like it couldn’t have been made- Inside had to have been birthed into the world fully formed. Of course, this isn’t true- Inside had an intense and incredible dev team (who went so far as to play the game’s audio inside a human skull to get the effects right).

Horizon Zero Dawn feels the opposite, to me. Where Inside is so cohesive an experience it feels more like a life event than a game, Horizon Zero Dawn is meticulously crafted. Every part of it’s design- from the soundtrack to the stealth systems to the menu overlays to the crafting recipes - feels lovingly handcrafted and designed. It’s hard to imagine anything but an extensive and strenuous design process, and it pays off- Horizon Zero Dawn is near perfect.

Most open world RPG’s have similar mechanics- every one who played Skyrim can remember getting a side quest to check out some ruins or another and discovering they’d already done it. Most of these situations are awkward at best and clunky at worst. In the beginning of Horizon Zero Dawn, Rost gave me a mission to go check on Odd Grata, an elderly outcast who needed my help. I forgot to do it until well into the game’s story mode. Imagine my surprise that not only had Guerilla Games anticipated this, they had written special, heart-breaking dialogue for if you waited to do the quest! This is one of many moments in HZD wherein the love GG had for their game shines through. In my twenty plus hours of gameplay, I have yet to see anything I could describe as an oversight.

The combat system is robust and satisfying. The focus on stealth is heavy- you’ll find none of Dishonored’s run-and-gun option here. During my time so far, I attempted a few bandit camps with all-out fire and was very quickly decimated. This is just as well, as stealth feels good- getting Silent Strikes on snipers and tossing rocks to bring enemies within Aloy’s grasp is inherently pleasant.

The main appeal of HZD is obviously it’s machines, and there are plenty of them. From the velociraptor-like Watcher to the giant cargo crab the Shell-Walker, the amount of work and care put into the models for HZD’s wildlife is asatounding. Each machine has different components, and each components have different weaknesses, and figuring out how to tackle each machine to get the most benefit is a puzzle well worth your time. I cannot remember the last time I felt as invigorated during a video game as I did fighting HZD’s first Sawtooth- even knowing this was intended to be a tutorial fight.

The story for Horizon Zero Dawn is as enthralling as it is unique. Each character feels whole and unique in a genre where so many characters end up feeling like cardboard cut-outs with voice boxes.

I have a single complaint with Horizon Zero Dawn. I occasionally found myself frustrated with long stealth missions- bandit camps in particular- because of the game’s lack of a meaningful checkpoint system. Dying during a stealth mission is commonplace, but the bandit camps are sprawling and deadly environments. More than once I killed twenty bandits before I was discovered by one of the remaining five, died, and had to start all over. A quick save option would be perfect for moments like this. If this seems like a nitpicky, nothing complaint, it is! Horizon Zero Dawn is such a wonderful and excellent game that it’s singular flaws stand out.

Final score: 9.75/10. I hope and pray that it’s proximity to the Switch launch doesn’t overshadow Horizon Zero Dawn. Guerilla Games have sloughed off the Killzone name and created a masterpiece which deserves your time and attention.

[flufflynuggets3-blog]

North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Copy+paste rest of the lyrics here.

That ends summer. And a internet-less way to end it. Whole lot of catching up to do. Started off helping Lili move into her new apartment she’s renting with a couple others who are living away from home and off campus. A couple people out from BC, a newfie, and someone from Taiwan. I get the newfie, the person from Taiwan, but BC? You got UBC to go to. Why all the way across the country? Anyway, Canada, being the crapshoot of telecom it is, they either had Rogers or Bell. They went with Bell - the package they found was slightly cheaper than Rogers. However, they didn’t set up their service until Wednesday, despite ordering service a week prior. Why? Because Bell. That’s all I could gather. 

Then Fan Expo Canada happened, went to that over the weekend. Got some free stuff, however, it was surprisingly little. EB Games/Gamestop/whatever you call them, handed out Dishonored 2 balaclavas. I’m not one for crime, so I declined. If you missed it, cards was there. Giving out apologies for mundane stuff. 501st was also prominently there, splitting crowds to march... To some place, dunno where. Also met DestinyBlue, that was a definite highlight. Got a print, obviously. Also have to follow her tumblr, since I now know she has one. To say I enjoy her use of blue would be a little... Redundant. It features prominently on many of her works, so....

I also, finally, finished seconds season of Konosuba. I was doing that than updating this... And the other prep I should have done for university.  So many series I’ve started and not finished because of getting sidetracked with something, and telling myself I’ll watch later. I never do. Unless I binge it, I might not see it through to the end, even series that I get enthralled in, I just won’t seek out the endings to them. Partially because of procrastination, partly because I don’t have a crunchyroll account, yet, anyway. So I have to find illegal streams, and some of my friends have gotten malware and trojans on their machines from sites they once thought credible. Ah well, at least I finished one of the dozens.

Here’s hoping first day back blows over.