#but it's been so fun meeting new and old characters!! the last game i played was so long ago and featured nero who definitely

[quietlyblooms]

she lets out a breath as the feline retreats to her master's side, watching her for another moment before looking to the man again with a prickle of irritation. so he was trying to scare her, though it's difficult to say whether it was a test or not. for the first time in a very long time, chiyo doesn't know what to expect from someone. the cynic in her says not to expect anything, but she has to have hope. she'll always be helpless otherwise.

she nearly jumps out of her skin, not at all expecting the bird that erupts from the man's back nor the booming voice and laughter at his expense. this guy loves humans? perhaps a select few. chiyo isn't quick to believe the bird's words as she is to note the way her neighbor sighs, clearly used to this sort of occurrence and seeing no point in entertaining an argument over it. no, he chooses to jab at her before she can make her own comment instead, and though chiyo doesn't fall prey to insults easily, she would be lying if she said his words did not sting.

" what i'm saying is i don't want to be useless, " chiyo retorts, tone even despite her annoyance. he draws closer, looking like some sort of angel of death with his jaguar and black bird accompanying him, and she again remains right where she is and keeps her mask on. she will not waver. she hasn't thus far, and she'll be damned if it's a man who finally makes her falter. she doesn't care if he towers over her, too close for comfort and eyes boring into her own. the prospect of death is much scarier.

" it'd be stupid if i let you walk away without asking for help. " there is a challenge in her smile now, gaze hardening. if it's a reaction he wants, she won't give it to him. " but i'm not stupid. so can you help me? teach me anything? " her brown eyes land on the bird on the man's shoulder then, and mirth softens her expression. " you must have some pointers for the humans you love so much. "

if she were non-human, the feline would have made easy pickings out of her by now. she may function on his command, but she very well hunts of her own volition as necessary, akin to an attack dog. without any further instructions and not a peep from the summoner, shadow withdraws to his side. the agency has never deployed rules to their devil hunters, all of it was fair game no matter the circumstance unless stated otherwise. V wasn't responsible for the pile of dead surrounding them more than he was an associated cause. that demon who was slain by him made a resourceful meal out of the victims, and by then his arrival have been much too late. if by some odds he was being paid extra and cautioned to avoid as many casualties as possible by request of the agency, then maybe - just maybe - some of them could have been spared rather than the singular woman before him; only some incredible force of luck may have spared her a premature death. she must know it, too.

cracked lips part for words, ready to entertain her query, up until a massive weight collects on his spine. it only burns for a second as another pattern of ink spills over him like water, enveloping the peaks of his shoulders. a pair of wings are the first to manifest as a new demon crawls out of his flesh. it's over. if he wanted to say anything prior to the avian's appearance, it doesn't matter. ❝ THE SCARE TACTICS ARE ALL FOR SHOW. THIS GUY LOOOVES HUMANS! ❞ while Griffon chokes up with laughter, a sigh is all V can give in response to the demon spewing such an ear-grating lie. he's used to it, but a stranger wouldn't know that unless it's painfully obvious in a lack of explanation. the man doesn't object to what is said, though. how could she believe that?

❝ so, what you’re saying is.. you’re useless, just like the dead ones behind me. ❞ pausing any further contempt and insult on the matter, he is now approaching her with minimal haste. the distance between them is closing with each step. now she is at arms length from the half-demon, the pair of familiars in close proximity; Griffon is perched on his left shoulder, Shadow close to his side as he moves. V's stature looms over her, dark eyes searching for a hint of emotion to devour. if he really wasn't going to kill and eat her, this is his only form of sustenance.

[caratheewriter]

Controversially Young ~ Matt Smith x fem! actress smau

Synopsis: You were recently cast as Bruce Wayne's love interest, which everyone adores, Selina Kyle. The age gap though, has some in a tizzy.

Warning(s): sexist comments, big age gap

Rating(s): NC-17

Word Count: 694

Actress Y/n L/n Cast alongside Matt Smith in upcoming Batman Movie

Here's what you need to know about Zack Snyder’s new project...

~~~

y/nl/n

now wait just a meowment...

are you going to see Batman (2024)?

see comments

charliebushnell y/n we've talked abt this

↪️ y/nl/n I couldn't help ittttt

user420 still have no idea how they could subject you to this

↪️ user2 subject her to what

↪️ user420 working with someone twice her age

hater2 be honest... whose d*ck did you suck to get this role?

↪️ hater34 probably Matt's

~~~

y/nl/n

Press paws and live in the meow!

trash007 if I were Matt, I'd hit

↪️ trash006 same

user360 y'all are gross up in these comments

↪️ trash56 if she didn't want these comments, she wouldn’t have auditioned for CATWOMAN

↪️ trash001 the sexist dc character to exist

user49 I could never work with someone twice my age, I'd be scared

↪️ user86 y/n's worked with Matt before I think she knows how he is

batman2024 we love our bat and cat

leahsavajefferies as purr-ty as a picture

↪️ charliebushnell no! no puns

↪️ diorgoodjohn these puns are hissterical

↪️ y/nl/n lol

~~~

Y/n L/n talks Catwoman, DC, and new interests

by Young Hollywood

Interviewer: Hello Readers! Today I am joined by one of these most known young actresses of our generation, Y/n L/n! Thank you for being here.

Y/n: Thank you for inviting me. I love doing interviews.

Interviewer: So, how have you been?

Y/n: I've been good. Doing a lot of filming for Batman, catching up with old friends, trying to up my instagram game. I've gotten into videography, shooting mini vlogs and cooking videos.

Interviewer: Sounds fun! I love that! Is there any insight into the movie that you can give us?

Y/n: Sure! If any of you were wondering, this is going to be very different from any portrayal of Batman and Catwoman that you've seen or read. Obviously because Selina Kyle is a lot younger than Bruce in this adaptation which is a plot within itself. This Selina, and because she is younger, her story has changed, is a street rat or stray cat. She lives on the streets, and her story in this, is similar to that of her portrayal in the show, Gotham. She meets Bruce as she is trying pickpocket off him out in the open. Then, it goes from there.

Interviewer: Wow! That certainly is a must-watch. Now, I hate to get deep all of a sudden, but have you seen the comments regarding your casting?

Y/n: Yes, I have actually. A lot of them are for disgusting middle-aged men, so I don't really bother with them. I knew what I was getting into when I auditioned.

Interviews: You also get to work with Matt Smith again. Did you know that he was casted as Bruce or did you find out after you got the call?

Y/n: You know what's funny? Zack told me that Matt told him not to tell me. So, I didn't know until our table read!

Interviewer: Oh my god! What?!

Y/n: Yeah! And I hadn't seen him in so long that I almost jumped across the table to hug him.

Interviews: Aw!

Y/n: A lot of people also would say that they felt bad for me because I'm the love interest to someone twice my age, but I've known Matt for a long time. He worked with my father in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I played young Rhaena in House of the Dragon. He's a family friend, a beloved friend. I trust him.

Y/n: I understand the public's concerns though. I did just turn 24 earlier this year. The age gap is big, but it is strictly for storytelling purposes.

Interviews: There you have it. I loved talking with you today.

Y/n: I always look forward to interviews with you. Big fan.

Interviewer: Big fan of you too! Any last words?

Y/n: Go see Batman in theaters near you coming this December!

fin.

I tried my best.

[chososcamgirl]

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆 - the old heads

—

—

m. list

background !

the five friends have been a close knitted group ever since highschool, and that didn’t change throughout college or after.

shoko graduated with valedictorian and top of the class and nanami was bitter about it for 3 days and didn’t talk to shoko at all. she completed her md and residency and now is an orthopaedic surgeon. choso and gojo both studied computer science in college however gojo just barely passed all his classes not because he wasn’t completing the work but because he was absent for almost half of them. satoru often takes advantage of the few skills he learnt in his classes and makes troll sites and leaks people’s ip on val after he loses (he shortly becomes semi-famous for this). choso, who actually paid attention in class, now works for a software company. nanami graduated with a degree in engineering and is planning to start his own company with the help of suguru who teaches with a degree in business and hospitality.

suguru, choso and satoru all live in a condo together and are all rather living pretty comfortably. whilst shoko and nanami choose to live separately and own a house each, they all live within the same block so if ever they need help, it’s just a 2 minute drive. upon graduating with a degree in business and hospitality, suguru opens up a new cafe. he has been planning this for the past year and nothing was stopping him now that he has all the expenses paid off. even though satoru is a trust fund baby and offered to give him all the money for it early on, suguru declined not because of his pride but because he needed to do this on his own for himself.

fun facts !

ᨘ໑▸ the characters included in this post are all aged 27-28 years old.

ᨘ໑▸ choso always scolds satoru about his digital footprint but that man does not GAF.

ᨘ໑▸ the whole group meets atleast once a week - which is usually friday nights at the condo in which they all eat dinner together - choso always ends up being the cook because not only does he volunteer but because he makes knows how to make a mean dish. the night usually ends in a board game which always ends up with gojo sulking and throwing a tantrum, accusing the winner (which is nanami most of the time) of cheating and then drinking until he forgets about the whole thing and starts dancing on the table.

ᨘ໑▸ due to satoru’s antics with trolling and doxxing and his new found fame, the whole group is blew up by association.

ᨘ໑▸ suguru adopted a stray black and white cat left on the side of the road. he called her ‘spring’. he loved her until her last breath up until she died 5 years later when he was 18. he cried for a week and gojo comforted him whole time. it was bittersweet but he knew she was in a better place. this was one of the reasons the cat cafe he’s opening is going to be home to multiple strays which will be up for adoption.

ᨘ໑▸ someone made a velocity thirst edit of choso after finding out about him through gojo and it’s now repeatedly played during dinner.

ᨘ໑▸ nanami and choso hated eachother in highschool because both of them claimed to be my chemical romance’s #1 fan

ᨘ໑▸ gojo was not joking in those tweets..

a/n: if i ever make typos plz do not make fun of me </3

#𝐂𝐀𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐅𝐄

synopsis ; the season of sun-kissed oceans and golden-hued moments is before you! however being a broke college student is not an ideal look to have, especially at your age. desperately seeking solace from financial woes, you and your bestfriend stumble upon an unexpected opportunity - a cat cafe. crafting lattes and pampering purring patrons seems easy enough, right? that fantasy lasts about one day before reality claws in.

🏷️taglist: @coquetteslvt @aliventboo @izakyun @luvvmae @tuihiatus @soonajeeme @ascybous @rotten1angel @catobsessedlady @myguumi @enhleui @viviennevianna @spacebaby1 @iheartlinds @haikyuu-tothetop @mua-for-now @waytootiredforthisss @j2upiters

[demonslayedher]

Today I went to the Zenshuuchuu-ten (Total Concentration Exhibition) for the Swordsmith Village and Hashira Training arcs today!

This is basically a chance for Ufotable to be like, "remember that cool thing we did?" and for we the fans to be like, "yup, sure do, that's why we're here."

It's not quite as extensive as other KnY events I've been to, and it doesn't particularly provide any new information, but it's fun to see some glimpses of the process from animation cells to finished clips. There's always a handful of fun displays to interact with, scrolls of character designs, and nice panels to display screenshots, especially centered around character arcs and impactful moments.

This time it was roughly as follows:

1. A room with large screen shots of Muzan the Upper Moons that appear in time with lines from the show and twangs of a biwa

2. A small room with a small swordsmithing game that they hurry everyone through. You need to strike the sword with just the right amount of force to get a ball into the middle of three slots, which I did, so I got handed a little piece of paper which is my certification as a master. I mentioned this to a friend afterword and her response was "of course you did."

3. A room in two parts dedicated to Muichiro's arc in SSV, with a hazy curtain you pass through sort of like Muichiro gaining his memories, and a model of his sword backlit in turquoise

4. A room dedicated to Mitsuri's arc in SSV, including a model of her sword which curves all the way across the room, and a little Mitsuri whom you could challenge to arm wrestling. She beat me pretty easily.

5. A Genya room of screenshots, and models of both his short little sword and his gun. Forgot to mention that their lines were playing overheard in each room!

6. A Gyokko and Hantengu room. A Gyokko only appeared over a model of the vase if you took a photo with flash, and there was a little Hantengu figure to look for, and if you found it, they'd give you a piece of origami paper on your way out of the gallery (pretty much everybody found it, but it was tiny).

8. The dedicated to Nezuko's mastery was not in-your-face triumph, but instead had a TV screen playing the Nezuko tribute music video version of her song, with the lyrics as scattered across the grey walls as the stream-of-consciousness lyrics.

9. Right after that, the staff ushers you in to the Hashira meeting, as though you were late.

Next to the meeting taking place, there is a model of Tanjiro's new old sword.

8. After that is a room dedicated to Giyuu's back story. I liked the design of the hanging screenshots in this one. Although the overall image is "water" because of the blue, the water design with light cast on the floor, and water droplet sounds mixed in with Giyuu's lines, the half-and-half effect was perhaps not intentional, but it was there. When you turn back to look through this room, the hanging screenshots--memories of Sabito and Tsutako--are all black.

9. The rest is a room dedicated to the different stages of Hashira training, with 3-D displays like riceballs, paper airplanes, pancakes with honeycomb and a ribbon, a board with ropes and sword cut marks (yikes), scuffed wooden swords, and a boulder you could push on. Along the tops of these displays were some eyeballs scoping everything out...

10. After that they put you in a theater room with three wide screens and headphones. At the last Zenshuuchuuten they did a reedit of the Akaza and Rengoku fight across three screens, so I figured this would have has plunging into the Infinity Fortress. After a preview review of Hashira Training highlights and Muzan's walk, yup, sure enough things got explosive and they plunged us in via the big screen, including some extra disorientation by zooming really closely in on some moving shots, or having multiple things happen at once across the screens.

11. Then they funnel you into a place with a TV playing the announcement for the Infinity Castle movies. No new content or news.

12. After that, these things tend to have a bright and happy Kimetsu Academy room! You could take photos, but there was a chalkboard with the voice actors have let their signatures and messages for the fans. I appreciated how they seemed to reflect their characters in their comments and handwriting, to some extent (certainly not Matsuoka (Inosuke) or none of it would be legible, but Hayami (Shinobu) has very legible, handwriting, and Hanae (Tanjiro) has comments like "I hope you'll feel like GUWAAA and GAAAAA!"). You could not take photos of the signatures, but you could take a photo of Mitsuri's art and figment of her imagination who says disparaging things to her (despite how she wants her art to make the world happy?? Oh, the irony):

13. The gallery concludes with a hall eyecatch illustrations, and a hall of Ufotable staff art paying homage to their favorite characters and scenes. Always treat seeing things in Ufotable style, but with individual craft and taste!

14. After that, you buy things. This is where they get ya.

Kind of thankfully, it's late enough in the exhibition's run that they've already run out of a lot of the smaller items I was intrigued by, so I behaved myself. I got the t-shirts I was planning on (I love the simplicity of them so so much, and really had to resist getting the paper airplane one too), a Daki ribbon item leftover from the last exhibition (though what I really wanted was Daki shoelaces), and an official pamphlet of the event. My friend got a couple Osaka-only badges,but since she got doubles of Zenitsuup the Umeda Sky Building, she gave one to me.

I really love that "nanikore" ("what the...?") design. It's so simple, and if you don’t know KnY, you might think they're just silly little circus dudes. But people who know will be like, "!!!" and their day will be a little brighter for having seen it.

Gonna do a quick self-reblog now with some extra photos!

[breekento]

Have you ever gone into possible hobbies that Nanami has vs Higuruma? I'm disappointed we never got to see his likes and hobbies 😭😭😭

Welcome back to another HiguNana analysis by Bree!

Unfortunately we don’t ever get to know very much about the personal interests and hobbies of Higuruma and Nanami throughout the show. They already have very little screen time and what we do see is usually pertaining only to the world of sorcery. But something that Higuruma and Nanami nation have decided is that both of these hunky men are wealthy and wealthy men have hobbies.

Like usual, these are my personal head-cannons please don’t be mad at me.

Hobbies that HiguNana have in common:

They are men of style and class, both wearing luxury suits and splurging on nice cars and watches. They adore shopping with you. They’ve worked hard in their careers to be able to afford their lifestyle and they both have the love language of gift giving. Those two things combined equals shopping trips for the two of you. They love dressing you up, watching you spin around for them. They can put their money where their mouth is. When you can’t decide which dress to buy for their work party, they say, “Just get both, darling. You can use one for a date night and one for the party.”

In a similar vein, they love traveling. And they love bringing you along. Even if it’s just a weekend getaway somewhere you’ve never been, they will book a last-minute trip and pack your bags for you. They already know your essentials and favorite outfits so you can expect your bag to be packed as soon as you get home.

Nanami’s hobbies:

Starting off with the most obvious, something we do know about Nanami is his love for reading. Before his death, he mentioned all of the books he never got around to reading. I like to think he has a home library and a wide range of taste in books from historical non-fiction to fiction fantasy books. In the mornings, he brews a cup of black coffee and sits outside, reading whatever current novel he is on before getting dressed and ready for work.

Something that we don’t have any clues for but is something that I can see fitting his character very well is a love for baking and cooking. He seems like the type of man to insist on cooking for holidays like Valentine’s Day, Christmas, and Thanksgiving. His love for pastries only signifies that he at some point has dabble in baking. Plus, he would look just adorable in an apron.

Maybe this is just me self-inserting myself but as an avid plant mother Nanami has the type of personality to be a loving plant father. He’s patient and gentle and would take the utmost care of a garden or home jungle. He could use his own fresh vegetables in his cooking!

Now, this might tie in to the shopping hobby but we all know Nanami is a man of funky ties. I could see him collecting fun ties. Shopping for other items and coming across a new pattern he has never seen before, he can’t help himself. He has a drawer only for his ties and picks them out for every occasion.

Nanami is a white collar man and who do all white collar man love? Golf. Nanami is a man of golf. It only makes sense that he would have a section of his closet dedicated to his golf attire. Many times, business deals and business meetings are done over a game of golf.

Higuruma’s hobbies:

Higuruma was much more difficult to identify some hobbies but after some deliberation, I think I’ve found a handful that I would coin. Maybe I will even write them into future Higuruma fanfics.

The first one would be poker. You can’t tell me you can’t imagine Higuruma, cigarette in mouth and whiskey on the table playing poker with a group of other lawyers in his firm. After a long and stressful day of being professional, they undo their ties and relax over a game of poker. They have enough money to make the stakes higher by adding bets and money on the line.

To me, Higuruma strikes me as a music type of guy. More specifically, old music. He has a collection of vinyls that he will pull out and show guests and more importantly, you. Weekend mornings, he heads down to the local record store and thumbs through the new albums they have in stock. He has a well up-kept vintage record player, only the finest machine to play his collection.

I honestly can’t remember if it was ever made evident in the manga that Higuruma smoked or if we all just collectively gave him that head cannon but Higuruma is a smoker. Not only a smoker but he collects cigars. Rarely does he smoke his fine cigars, only pulling them out for special occasions such as weddings or other important events.

Similarly, Higuruma is a bar hopper. Not in the same sense as a twenty-something college kid but as an established lawyer with a wealth behind him. He finds new and fun bars with good live music to sit and have a few drinks at. His favorite thing is bringing you along. He gets to hear about your day, listen to the smooth local band behind you and have a nice drink. It’s an excuse to see you dressed up in your shopping spree outfit.

[mirersc]

-imma have alone the title for now till the cover art is ready, oops-

« LoST SiGNaLs » || I ACT

SUMMARY

“Say, Sonic, how about you and I play a game? Think of it though as a tracking skills test! Bring me within a week the three pieces of the chaos pentagon and I will release your two friends. Refuse and they pay the price. Trick me and well, better for me not to indulge in what I will do in that predicament. Either scenario, I sti~ill win.”

~~~

When Tikal summons Sonic to Angel Island the hero would have never been able to imagine what would follow after. It is unbelievable to think that the guardian of the Master Emerald, Knuckles and the ultimate lifeform, Shadow are taken as hostages. As Eggman forces Sonic on a quest to retrieve an old artifact for him, entitled ”Chaos Pentagon”, the blue blur is to set after a journey with the aid of Rouge the Bat and E-123 Omega to find the three shards of the object in question.

For them to succeed they will all need to be on the same wavelength. Are they however? And what seems to be the deal with Sonic’s communicator? Secrets are lurking around yet no one bats an eye. Will the trio actually manage to get along in the end to save their friends from the mad scientist?

Set after Sonic Frontiers. Please meet the newly formed team of Lost Signals. Or not so new?

❗link to fic:: here!

Heya, guys! Myler’s here! And guess what? Yep, yep! I have been as well participating in the STH Big Bang 2024 event with all the amazing writers and artists you have seen so far! Today is the last posting day so everyone is hoping that you will still enjoy the third batch’s works.

I participated as a writer on the event and I came up with a work called “Lost Signals” featuring a story around Sonic, Rouge and Omega because I thought it would be an interesting team to search the bonds between them.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to produce all the work since I didn’t work well with my given time, but it had still been a blast to write as far as I got, successful managing to cover ACT 1!

Big thank you to the @sthbigbang for hosting this lovely event! You guys rock and without y’all this event wouldn’t have happened and none if all these works would have been made. We will always remember the fun times we had while contributing in the event and the friendships or acquaintances we made along the way. You better take the credit you are been given for you deserve them!

🥁

And now ladies and gens and creaturas, a big THANK YOU to all the wonderful artists that accompanied me in this journey, @rapidhighway @rohansoutsidemydoor @petitcanard and despite my incompetence and FUULL delay, heh, they saw it through and were as supportive as one could be! Truly I wouldn’t have made it without them.

Be sure to congratulate them and check their astonishing art pieces for they are sure captivating and pretty much describing without words the story for you all to listen to and imagine~

@rapidhighway :: art! → CH 1 “Spirit’s Worry” who doesn’t love a laid-back sonic the hedgehog? I truly adore sooo much this art piece! The calm before the storm *cough cough*. I specifically got drawn by the flowers– like c’mon! They are so pretty! And palm trees. The colours all so vibrant and for real Green Hill couldn’t have looked any better! Dare I say I envy him -only at the beginning :)), shh-

@petitcanard :: art! → CH 4 “Mirror, mirror on the Wall” this art piece finalized the outfits and accessories of the characters which they all rooock!!! You can all see perfectly well from this specific work how the interactions have between Sonic, Rouge and Omega. I love how Omega wants to fry Sonic! “A not-completely-functioning team” she described them, which is indeed right, hehe.

@rohansoutsidemydoor :: art! → CH 8 “Keep away. Don’t come closer. Danger! Stop!” this made me write chapter 8 faster than the speed of sound! The realization, the mystery, the agony. Breathtaking! The expressions of the characters do make me have chills running down my spine and the blazy environment of the art, is top. They did the specific moment justice! << SPOILERS >>

Another part of my gratitude certainly goes to my beta reader @lunesart who despite my inactiveness at some point she was sure to check up on me and helped me lots with her useful tips and guidance. The speech without her would have been very dry and more complicated in comparison to the final result. Sooo special kudos to her too ✨!

Also– before I wrap things up– HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🎂 SONIC 🌀💨 !

[callofdudes]

Dropping all my AU thoughts on you. (Lovingly) pt1??

Hunger Games AU: All of 141 bring previous victors from their games who find solace with each other in the capital. Would go through what they experienced in their individual games and how they won. But when the victors face off comes they all have to work together to end the games permanently.

Skyrim AU: Ghost works with the Dark Brotherhood. Johnny is 1000% a Companion. Gaz is a bard who is also attending the College of Winterhold to become a mage. Price is either a leader of the Companions, or he's a captain of the Imperial Guard. Don't exactly have a proper plot. And Gaz is obviously a redguard. Price is definitely a Nord. John is probably a mix of either Breton and Nord or something. It just makes sense. And Ghost is an Imperial. It just makes sense and I can't explain why!

Or, another Skyrim idea: Johnny as the dragonborn and Simon as a Daedric Prince of Akotosh who chooses to serve Johnny after doubting Alduin's reign.

Transformers AU: It could go either way, I envision it with Ghost as a Tranformer. He's the last of his squad who escaped captivity (I hope you catch on) and is sent to earth to protect Intel and find a place to stay. Runs into the annoying Scottish mechanic when his paint is dinged up. Or Simon as the angry mechanic who does not want to fix this alien thing that keeps yapping all day.

Rise of the Guardians AU: All the characters are there. If Y/n was present in this I'd make Ghost the angry easter Bunny who "hates his job". But if they weren't he's hands down Jack Frost. Sorry. Gaz can be Sandy (sandman) we all know who Price is, and Johnny can be the tooth fairy. If you know why, you know why.

Obviously a httyd AU: because everyone needs one. I'm already conjuring up things for Ghost's backstory it's insane.

Gaming AU: Price is a moderator for a large gaming community channel and streaming platform. He greenlights a lot of games that go through and plays them occasionally. RDR games and those likes. Johnny and Gaz definitely play the sims together. They'd play those games like Lethal Company and such. They try to play horror games but it doesn't always go well. Simon, (known to fans as Ghost) wears his mask or has one of those cool avatars. Plays horror games religiously and first person shooters which has attracted a glamorized following. Friends with Price and that's how he ended up getting together in the streaming group with Gaz and Johnny. They're annoying, but ok, they're cool.

Assassin's Creed AU: I've been working slowly on this for a while but Johnny as a sword/bow for hire whose work has slowed in the city he's at. So he packs up with friend Gaz who is going to a different city to study as a medic. Price is probably the king of said place. (I'm thinking of setting up in Greece or we're going to old Britain.) And Ghost is our famous assassin. And they meet and some stuff happens!

Not sure what to call this one (AU) As a young kid Johnny was diagnosed with ADHD and went to weekly day camp for kids like him. It wasn't particularly boring and Johnny had lots of fun. Until a new kid who is very socially awkward and reclusive starts coming. He's quiet and fidgety and doesn't make much eye contact. Johnny wants to be his friend. The story where Autistic Simon and ADHD Johnny become inseparable childhood friends.

Winged AU. I did a little thing on this a couple months ago. Some 30% of the popular are born with wings. Johnny is one of them. He's incredibly proud of his wings and it gives him some advantages and disadvantages in the military. Simon seems to hate Johnny for the sake of it. But every time Simon sees John's wings, he remembers the scars on his back and the pain of when his wings were torn off...

[fantasticstoryteller]

I just had this funny headcanon where Damian Wayne is a guy who obssessed with games and can't leave his room for 5 minutes until Danny decide to drags him out of his room.

Danny: Damian! It's afternoon, come out! DAMIAN!

Damian: (grumbles) Fenton! How many times do I have to tell you not to just burst in here! Now be quiet, I'm close to advancing Fuuka-chan's path!

Danny: Fuuka what?

(Danny then glancing at the screen; a teal-haired, pale girl was offering the player a homemade lunch)

How is it? (the girl on screen asked)

Damian: (grins) HA! The obvious answer is that it's delicious!

(Damian scrolled over the appropriate response, and was rewarded with a new message:) The Fuuka Yamagishi social link has reached level 4!

Damian: Yes! I finally did it! Now it's time for Yuk-

Danny: (drags Damian out) Okay dude, I'm gonna taking you out. No game for you!

The game would. Not. Die. Danny had deleted it. He'd "accidentally" destroyed the console it was on. He'd tried to give it to Technus!

Technus who had taken one look at the code for the game and then fled as fast as his corny self could go to the Zone, which--yeah, that really should have been Danny's first clue. Or maybe the fact that it mysteriously reuploaded itself with all the data intact.

Still, he'd thought it was a prank. He'd thought it was something Steph did. Or maybe Cass. (So many people didn't realize how much of a chaos gremlin Cass was.) Or maybe it was something that Ellie had found and given to Damian the last time she came through.

He should have investigated it more. He really should have. And now, he stood cursing himself for not having done that.

Standing beside Damian, in a Gotham Academy girl's uniform, was a girl with short, teal colored hair. She brushed some hair out of her face with a pale hand and looked up at Danny through her lashes. "Hi," she said.

"This," said Damian proudly as he put an arm around the girl. The girl who giggled and cuddled into Damian's side. "Is Fuuka Yamagishi."

"Hey, Fuuka!" said Dick. Dick didn't realize anything was wrong. Of course not; when Damian had started playing a dating sim, Dick had given the boy his space with vague comments about "learning about relationships" and "more emotionally mature than his old man." Dick grinned at the girl that Danny was trying, oh, so hard, not to attack.

She was not a ghost. Danny wasn't sure what she was, but she was not a ghost.

"Oh!" Steph appeared and Danny glared at the blond girl. This was her fault. He didn't know how, but this was her fault. Or maybe Cass. Or Ellie.

His suspect pool was too large for this.

"How'd ya meet?" asked Steph as she bounced off Dick's shoulder.

Fuuka laid her head against Damian's shoulder. "Damian saved me," she said with clear adoration in her voice.

"Aw!" cooed Steph. Both Steph and Dick ushered Damian and Fuuka inside.

Danny--Danny had to let them do it. What could he say, "No, this is a video game character, Damian why are you dating a video game character?"

"Yo, Danny," called Dick. "You coming?"

Inspiration struck and Danny pulled out his phone. "In a minute," he said as he searched his contact list. It couldn't have been that long since they'd been in contact, could it? "I need to make a phone call."

"I guess that means we'll just get a head start on learning about Damian's girlfriend," said Dick casually.

Danny bit back a scream as he finally found the contact. "Have fun," he said through grit teeth as he pressed the icon. "Please pick up," he chanted as the other phone rang through the line. He looked back at the manor that now housed six people, two ghosts, and one video game character. "Please pick up!"

[likelyamused]

My 𝐓𝐨𝐩 24 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬 from 2024 🥳

Thanks to @elderwisp, @lynzishell and @igotsnothing for tagging me in this!

I started on Tumblr in March of this year and then my own first post was on April 23rd. I've learned so much in the last few months, I'm sure this will be interesting. Most of all, I think I'm learning about appreciating the experience rather than focusing on the results. For someone who's struggled with performance anxiety most of my life, this shows how far I've come and I'm really proud of myself.

I tag @weirdosalike, @hashimasims, @onestormeynight. No stress, do it if you want to. I don't think I saw you do one of these yet.

I will be oversharing in this post. Feel free to skip, or not.

April

I started off with Max, a bit of gameplay, a bit of story. I had a vague idea of his story intertwined with Marco's and Celia's from another save I played them in. I was also learning to use poses and Reshade here.

May

In May, I started to get more serious about exploring these characters. I made character sheets where I fleshed them out and a story outline. Making a vision come to life was pretty exciting, but also quite a process. From storytelling, to planning the shots, to photo editing, I'm really happy about this chapter of all three characters coming together (sort of) and how it feels. This is also were I started to get creative with diverting poses from their original purposes. 👇

June

The Halloween party! That awkward moment when they meet for real and don't quite know what to talk about. I had a hard time with the lights on this one. I upped my Reshade game and figured it out. My game kept crashing, though, that was frustrating. Should have learned about decosims sooner, ig 🤦‍♀️

July

Marco's little origin story. I should revisit this at some point. Elena was fun to play with.

August

Their first "date" that was not a date. For those who are all caught up in the story: Max, the answer to all your doubts is right there☝️!

September

The first scene here gave me quite a headache. The light and scenery were beautiful, but there were quite a lot of continuity errors because of the leaves on the ground. I finally found a terrain paint to help with that and used broom poses (for spellcasters) to get the interaction shots. In the end, it looks great! The Bubble Tea shop scene was a dream. I just put everyone in position and moved around the scene. And that look between Max and Celia 💕 I just love the last one: I think it adds to them hiding what they're doing with half the shot in the dark.

October

I really like these dawn shots, I think it adds to the desperation of Max's situation, being homeless in a inhospitable climate. And Marco reuniting with his old friends 😭Jeannette is another one of those touchy feely people. All the intensity of her feelings are here in this touch : "I loved Elena. I'm grieving her loss. I'm happy you're here. I want to be here for you." She'll be back, and I can't wait ❤️

November

This house and that light👌A little glimpse of Max's past. That trailer: Marco being practical, Max getting overwhelmed and emotional (emotions?! I can't have those!), Magoo being the cutest dog ever!!!

December

I bought myself a new computer. In 41 years of life, this is my first ever new computer. I've always been fine with my husbands old gamer computers, but the last one was crashing all the time for minor things. It was getting really old. Since switching over to the new one, everything just flows.

I built this location taking inspiration from a punk concert hall that I used to go out to. I wanted that experience for these little pixels. I remember the walls of the narrow staircase being covered with homemade 90s flyers and posters, the floors being sticky and the unisex bathrooms having no doors and purple lights so no one could shoot up in there... And my mom and dad let me go there every week-end 😶 Those were the 90s.

The kiss. Finally. Through that kiss, I also wanted to show how much Max has been starved of real human affection and connection in his life. It's not just intense because they're horny teenagers.

And the last two are of things to come. The first one is part of the last post of 2024. I just love the light and the creaminess of it. The last one is a WIP. I'm learning pose making. Something I couldn't do with the old computer. And, of course, my first pose includes 2 rigs and an object (that I hid, because it would have been such a spoiler). Baby steps? Don't know what those are!

Enough ramblings! If you stayed with me until the end, thank you so much! I want to thank everyone that has given me support in this journey. I can't express how much this means to me. I wish you all a very merry Christmas! If you don't celebrate, I wish you an awesome day!

[kitkat-the-muffin]

Late screenshot dump/review for Cloutchase Vol 4!

Here are the previous three installments: [1][2][3]

Hey everybody! It's been a while, about 7 months since I've last been remotely active in this fanbase, but this past weekend I played Vol 4 with my friends and I am here to share my favorite screenshots! I will of course start this post off with some spoiler-free teasers to encourage others to play the game themselves!

And now it's time for the rambles!

This session was quite unique since I had two friends with me this time!

"Homestuck is too problematic lets to Danganronpa" oh I just know you guys put that in on purpose. I only ever saw the Danganronpa anime once but my friend immediately knew who they were going to dress up as and she was right haha

Honestly I love how Snapchat has a permanent dog filter on. My other friend who joined us today gave him the most perfect voice that I can barely attempt to describe. I called it "Irish-Canadian stoner" if that helps you imagine it

Backrooms reference *airhorns*!!!! It was kinda funny when TikTok just abandons the player in favor of egg theft, but what I think desperately needs to be talked about is the alleged missing lion man. Who is he? Where did he go? I have to know!

I spent a good 5 minutes rambling about Musical.ly's character design before I realized they're TikTok pre-transition. They look so fashionable tho! Can I get the raw files of these photos?

YOOOO VINE GETS NEW SPRITES!!!! I like how he's behind the times because he's been dead for a while haha

This is the best possible timeline I think

Tumblr looks FANTASTIC heck yeah

What did they mean by this?

Kinda love how Threads is a character and also kinda not a character. Design is peak tho

Get Gatsby'd! If I had a nickel for every time I was Gatsby'd this year I'd have two nickels-

Congrats on the gender! Genuinely though why did Twitter start looking infinitely more attractive to me after coming out as transfem? Like... she's so pretty now... but also exactly the same? Gender is a construct but holy cheese

I was literally trying to read the option choices and she cut me off ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff anyway hi Reddit. My friend had a surprisingly good Reddit voice (I'd describe it as incel meets gamer but less embarrassing somehow)

Old man Facebook! My friend had the WORST voice for Facebook... Imagine the creepiest old man asmr of your life

Kinda interesting that the Magical Girl sequence is part of the Bad Ending. My friends and I agreed that it was more of a Neutral End than a bad one. She looks great tho, I love the art in Instagram's route

Caught in 4k! This frame only appears for a split second haha

I really like how they characterized the creepy tracking of meta software this way. Instagram looks pleasant on the outside but underneath that top layer is a completely fake personality that covers another layer of invasive curiosity that covers another layer of genuine artistic enjoyment. That's so interesting! Anyway my friends and I started theorizing what the multicolored strings mean and we're stumped on the white bit between Amino and Kik-

I love Insta's photos, I like how they're physical polaroids. The logo on her bag is also the old Instagram logo! I need to see that full sized photo of Tumblr and Twitter tho-

Honestly didn't expect this ending but it's cute and I love it! Genuinely we should all be encouraged to post about our favorite simple pleasures rather than trying to appeal to the masses

Anyway before calling it a night we looked at some of the new bonus content (some of which is just stuff from the tumblr blog lol) and dang is Wikipedia so pretty in this screenshot

Actually my friend saw this next photo and said "he's just like me fr why don't I have that?" Honestly I can't wait for the Wikipedia route hahah

ANYWAY GET GATSBY'D FOR A THIRD TIME-

Or a second time if you aren't a Gravity Falls fan lol

Anyway, this volume was a lot of fun and I greatly enjoyed playing it! I like how TikTok's route had multiple activity choices and endings. It's kind of reminiscent of how much time you can accidentally waste on TikTok haha

Instagram's route being based on trying to maintain a level of perfection was interesting, as well as the Great Gatsby motifs. I laughed out loud when Waltz of the Flowers played because I'm hyperfixating on Princess Tutu rn and my friend is obsessed with Tchaikovsky so that was fun

Here's to the next volume! I can't wait to play it!

[thesoccerenthusiast]

Big, Long Video Game Review: I Played Sly Cooper 4: Thieves in Time...

One of my first-ever games I got on the PlayStation when I was a kid was Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves.

I can't remember if it was technically my game or my brother's game, but either way, that was one of the first games I had. Along with Jak and Daxter, my love for platforming was born from these games. When I got older — and got a PlayStation Now subscription as a full-fledged adult — I finally got a chance to play the other games: Sly 1 (Thievius Raccoonus), Sly 3 (Honor Among Thieves) and, finally, Sly 4 (Thieves in Time).

I had seen a lot of YouTube videos and reviews over the years of the infamous Sly 4. Of course, it didn't take a genius to figure out that a lot was different: the art style, the graphics, the mission-types and the developer.

The reviews were mainly negative about the game, but I'm the type of person that doesn't want to judge something unless I've played it myself. So I began to forget all of the reviews I read and jumped into the game.

Let's rip the band-aid off... I loved it.

I'm sure that may come as a shock to folks in the Sly Cooper Community, because a wide majority absolutely despise this game. But, I really enjoyed it. Of course, there are some things that are head-scratch worth (hi, Penelope and Murray's writing), but overall, I enjoyed the story, I absolutely adored the ancestors and the graphics were truly something to behold.

So, if you're intrigued, take a look at my favorite things, my not-so-favorite things and my overall thoughts on the game!

Thumbs Up: The Ancestors

In Sly 3, I didn't really care for the new playable characters. Nothing thrilled me about Penelope, up until her boss-battle with LeFwee, the Panda King's movement and firework controls were just annoying, the Guru was alright but the controls were kind of janky and Dimitri's missions were groan-worthy. But, in Sly 4, I really enjoyed playing as the ancestors.

The best ancestor, in my opinion, is Tennessee "Kid" Cooper. His gun mechanic is really good and actually pretty solid from a game-play point of view. The crack shot was a fun tool and I enjoyed the puzzles you had to do with it. My second favorite was Riochi Cooper. His moves were pretty standard and the special ninja jump move wasn't anything to write home about, but his lines were so good and I really enjoyed his stealth-slam technique with the ninja stars.

I'd give the next spot to Sir Galleth Cooper. I wish you got to use the sword more, but his high jump was fun when having to overcome the obstacles in the hub world and on missions. At the end of the game, Galleth's section where he has to get Tennessee's cane back was my favorite to play. Fourth, I'd give it to Bob Cooper. The ability to climb on ice was a lot of fun in the hub world. Although his movement was a bit heavy.

Last but not least, Salim Al-Kupar. His ability to speed-climb the poles wasn't super unique, because if you put the thief costume on Sly, he can climb up the poles with the ability to slow down time. The other costumes didn't give Sly the same abilities as the ancestors, so that knocks some points off Salim. Although his lines were great. "Ugh... again with the climbing?"

Go take a nap, Salim.

The best part about the ancestors is that they all have a personality. They're not stagnant. You have a hot-headed Galleth, a wise ninja with Riochi, a cocky know-it-all with Tennessee, a grumpy ol' Salim and an excited Bob.

How can you not love Riochi's conversation with Murray when they're at the Geisha house? Or Tennessee's first meeting with Sly, when he thinks the latter is 'funnin' on his family name? Or how about Bob's cutscenes where he's playing with Bentley's technology?

Their personalities are great, and I will not stand for any ancestor slander!

Thumbs Up: The Platforming

Gosh, I miss good-old-fashioned platformers. Sly Cooper has always been a game based on platforming. Of course, this was most evident in Sly 1. But, Sly 4 really returns to a big platforming focus. There isn't a lot of mini-games — sans the training segment with Bob Cooper.

It even seems like Bentley's hacking has been toned down a bit. You really increase the hacking missions when you want to 100 percent the game, as the masks are hidden in the 'arcade' machine.

Doing the platforming in Riochi's sushi shop, Madame Geisha's house, Tennessee's mission where he gets his gun back and Galleth's missions overall, were a lot of fun. My favorite hub-world to find masks was Galleth, as the different towers had a lot of platforming variants. It was a lot of fun.

Thumbs Up: The Clue Bottles and Treasures

They're back! I gotta be honest, the fact that this game has clue bottles and treasure immediately shoots it up on my Sly Cooper rankings — those are at the end, stay tuned!

The clue bottles were always my favorite part of Sly 2, and you have to get them in Sly 1 to get much-needed power ups for upcoming missions. Having them back in Sly 4 was a great decision by Sanzaru. And, they were hard to find! I remember really struggling in the Old West for it to be literally on top of a rock. Prehistoric times also provided a bit of a challenge, along with Arabia. Really well done by the creators to put them in tough spots.

And the treasures were awesome. I remember it taking me a while — i.e. merry ol' England — to figure out that you needed the Samurai suit to blast the doors. The fact that you have to go back and use the costumes to get the treasures is great, too. Really a nice touch for those who want to 100 percent the game.

The masks were a good addition too. I really didn't like that there were some in the arcade game, but at least it gave the game a purpose (unlike the random ping-pong table). I also just hated the Bentley missions where he was a shooter, so that might be a 'me' criticism. But, the masks were a good add, and I liked that they were in mission levels, too. Well done, Sanzaru.

Thumbs Up: The Costumes Have a Purpose

In Sly 3, you got costumes to basically walk in front of guards and then talk to them. First and foremost, I'm glad that this game got rid of the thought-bubble 'challenges' where you have to pick the next piece of dialogue. That was exhausting in Sly 3.

Anyway, the costumes have a real purpose in Sly 4. In Japan, you get a Samurai suit that is flame-resistant and can launch fireball attacks back. In the Old West, you get a jailbird costume that is probably lowest on my list: you get to walk on a ball and use the ball to move cages and stuff. In the Prehistoric times, you get a sabertooth tiger suit that allows you cyclone pounce on enemies. In England, you get an archer's outfit, equipped with a bow. Finally, in Arabia, you get a thief costume with a giant sword and the ability to slow down time.

My favorite costume is probably the archer costume, as it's the most practical. Going back to other time periods and finding buckets of arrows is a treat. We'll just ignore that it took me seven tries to get the bottle of Merlin's Magic with the shooting game.

Thumbs Up: Carmelita's Inclusion

OK, obviously the bellydancing mission wasn't the best — whoever thought of that should be stoned, frankly — but other than that, I really enjoyed Carmelita in this game.

Although, quick criticism out of the way: I didn't care for Grey DeLisle voicing Carmelita in this game. I love Grey, and am a huge fan of her performances as Azula in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Kimiko in Xiaolin Showdown and so many more, but her Carmelita was... meh. I would say it's better than Sly 2's performance, but not better than Sly 1 or Sly 3.

But anyway, I loved her inclusion. The mission where she had to take down the three-headed mechanical dragon was great, and the writing between her and Galleth was so smooth. I loved how Sly got jealous. I've seen a lot of people say that Sly calling Galleth "sir goof" was out of character, since he's always respected the ancestors. While that respect is true, I don't think it's out of character. He's the jealous type, our little thieving raccoon. Carmelita was pushing his buttons and gamers already saw that Sly had an annoyance with the hot-headed Galleth.

The mission where she teamed up with Tennessee to rescue the Cooper Gang out of prison was really good too. I liked the back-and-forth between Carmelita for the shooting and Tennessee for the platforming. *Chef's kiss*

The ending of the game had a scene where you can see how much Sly and Carmelita care for each other, and then when Carmelita does her own search for Sly? Man, it's so good. Carmelita's character was really solid in Sly 4, in my opinion.

Thumbs Up: The Animated Cut Scenes & Chapter Scenes

Were the comic-book style animations in Sly 1, 2 and 3 amazing? Absolutely. Was the animated scenes in Sly 4 also really good? Yes.

I loved the art style. I can understand if it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoyed it. The cut-scenes in the game were also really smooth. I thought some were unnecessary — take Riochi's sushi shop, where there's a cutscene when he opens the last door, you take a few steps and turn on the lights and then it's another cutscene — but for the most part, I thought they were done well.

And while the cutscenes in Murray and Riochi's mission inside Madame Geisha's house were funny — Riochi had the best facial expressions, as shown above — they interrupted the game play in the sense of buttons had to be hit as soon as a cutscene ended. Other than that, I loved it.

Thumbs Up: The Hub Worlds & Design In General

Gosh, this game is gorgeous. I mean, its graphics are really something. My favorite level is definitely Feudal Japan, with Medieval England being a close second. The way the moonlight shines enough for you to see details around the level, but also keep the stealthy-nighttime setting is perfection.

Even the daytime levels look great. The clean, sleekness of the Prehistoric times level is a nice touch and the Old West looks and feels like... the old West! Arabia is beautiful, with all the vibrant colors. Also, we can't forget the Paris rooftops. I love the continuity of keeping Paris in these games.

I'll also add the music in this section. Peter McConnell is back doing the soundtrack and I think he had a lot of fun with using different time periods and cultures for the music in these levels. The Medieval England soundtrack is definitely my favorite of the bunch.

*********

Alright, now it's time for the things I didn't particularly care for.

Thumbs Down: The F'ing Loading Screens

The waits with the loading screen were loooooooong. Coming from a Sly 1, 2 and 3 that didn't have this issue, this was a rough transition. Platformers of this time didn't have loading screens like this. Granted, I've never played Ratchet and Clank (that's next), but the Jak series never had these issues. It was a total shame to see Sly have such long, drawn out loading screens.

Thumbs Down: Murray's Character "Arc"

Sly and Bentley were characters that underwent some massive development in the first three games. But, out of everyone in the Cooper Gang, Murray had the best story in the trilogy.

He went from being the 'fat guy' of the bunch who only wanted snacks in Sly 1, and was generally a nuisance in that game, to being "The Murray" in Sly 2. Opening up Sly 2 with this newfound confidence was a big positive to Murray's character. You got to see that confidence throughout the entire game — even after being an experiment to the Contessa. At the end of the game, Murray helps Bentley. And moving to the third game, you see him leaving the gang and grappling with guilt over his friend's injury.

His journey in the third game is really special. He vows to live a peaceful life with meditation and training by his guru. However, Bentley gets hurt by Don Octavio, and 'The Murray' returns. "I'm going to floss my teeth with your spine." Murray is back and better than ever. In the third game, he really grows.

And in the fourth game? He's back to the 'fat guy' who loves snacks and can punch things. The Sanzaru writers give him this weird character arc, if you want to call it that. He can't climb up an ice wall... so they bring the ice-climbing Bob Cooper in. All of a sudden, Murray feels useless and is depressed — Bentley even tells him to come back for a snack at the safe house. At the end of the level, Murray is the hero, beating The Grizz all on his own. Everyone gives him praise. Murray says he's been a screw up. Bentley goes on this monologue about how everyone makes mistakes. Yawn.

Murray has the least exciting missions, in my opinion, in Sly 4, and that's really a shame considering how useful he was in Sly 3. Who can forget the mission where he gets his beloved van back? The Geisha mission was funny, don't get me wrong, but Murray seemed like the character that Sanzaru didn't know what to do with. That's a shame.

Thumbs Down: The Boss Fights

Talk about yawn. The boss fights weren't anything to write home about. In terms of difficulty, The Grizz was probably the toughest — and I only say that because of the ice blocks and the limited time you have to hit Grizz with them.

El Jefe was a fine boss fight but, again, not very tough. Toothpick was annoying, and everyone rolled their eyes by the second, third and fourth time he yelled, "Who turned on that blasted whistle!?" Grizz was already mentioned, but the whole 'I want to be a figure skater' was ... weird. It came out of nowhere. Penelope — uh, ahem, the Black Knight — was a snoozefest. Miss Decibel provided some challenge with the thief costume, but was otherwise another easy boss.

And don't even get me started on the joke that was the Le Paradox 'boss' fight at the end. Talk about easy.

The Bosses backstories were fun enough — particularly how Decibel was making fake lineage papers for Le Paradox, or how an Eastern European thug like Toothpick loved the old West — but the fights? Pretty darn lame.

Here's how I rank the boss fights in terms of difficulty: (1) The Grizz, (2) El Jefe, (3) Miss Decibel, (4) Penelope/The Black Knight, (5) Toothpick and (6) Le Paradox.

Thumbs Down: Penelope... To an Extent.

Penelope turning against the Cooper Gang isn't that shocking — and it wasn't a bad move by Sanzaru in Sly 4.

OK, let me give you a second to catch your breath.

Listen, Penelope is prone to doing this. She is a liar when you first meet her, after all. She claims to want to bring down the Black Barron and help the Cooper Gang, and then she's revealed to be the Black Barron. She ditches that life and joins the Cooper Gang. Eventually, she falls for Bentley and the rest is history.

Then, in Sly 4, you find out that Bentley and Penelope were making a time machine and suddenly, she disappeared. I don't mind this twist. It's a nice twist in the game and it sets you up for another betrayal by the RC specialist.

Before we get to the actual revelation of the betrayal, the game kind of spoils it that Penelope is the Black Knight. First off, "Black Barron" and "Black Knight" are pretty similar monikers. But also, during one of the load screens, it's shoved in your face that "Penelope once disguised herself as a the Black Barron." I don't know about anyone else, but i felt like I got this loading screen a bunch during the Medieval England level... before the revelation.

Now, let's talk about the revelation. The scene plays out that she hops out of the Black Knight machinery to get some air. Bentley, doing some maneuvering in the ceiling rafters, sees her. She goes into this ramble:

"If only Bentley hadn't been brainwashed by Cooper's 'honorable thief' nonsense, we could have made billions in weapon design! The two most brilliant minds on the planet working together? We could have owned the world! No matter. Once Cooper's out of the way, he'll see things my way. Poor Bentley, he's kinda cute when he's being dumb."

I don't hate this! This is actually really good! I've seen on Reddit that it's about a year between Sly 3 and Sly 4. Penelope probably had an idea in her head that she and Bentley were going to make a time machine and really cash in. That didn't happen. She got frustrated and she left. Not the way I would have done it, but it's not out of character for Penelope. She literally disguised herself as a grown man to get her way and be in a flying tournament.

But here's where the issue lies. When she and Bentley are speaking during the boss fight, there is a major contradiction. Take a look below.

The big issue: Bentley calls out Penelope for leaving him and joining Le Paradox for the money. And Penelope tells him, "No, you're not listening. He's just a means to an end." Uh... yeah, that's literally exactly what Bentley said. Le Paradox being a means to an end means that he is a cash cow to Penelope.

And Bentley hit it on the spot. Le Paradox was going to dump Penelope, whether she succeeded against the Cooper Gang or not. At the end, when Le Paradox describes the new machine he uses for time travel, he says, "Look at this, my marvelous contraption: The Time Tunnel. Something else I had your little friend Penelope develop before her unfortunate failure."

Cyrille Le Paradox only sees Penelope as someone who makes stuff for him. That's it. Who knows if he was even going to pay her.

Needless to say, the one line of dialogue about being a "means to an end" could have been taken out, and I wouldn't have hated this decision by Sanzaru. But, with the addition, it creates more headache than necessary.

Thumbs Down: The Never-Ending Talking

Some of the things that the characters say is pretty funny. I think there's a line where Tennessee says that getting in the thick of a fight is more fun than square-dancing with a donkey. But the talking is never-ending, even in the run of play. This is a game about stealth. It's not about listening to the characters talk every 10 seconds.

Also, let's add this note in this section: Sly is way too cocky in this game. And his lack of seriousness can get annoying. When he comes face-to-face with Le Paradox for the first time in Arabia, his first words to him are, "And may you always stay downwind."

There's been so much that has happened up until this point... and the first thing that Sly can do is make fun of Le Paradox for being a skunk?

Even in the boss fights, the talking is just too much. "I don't know what's scarier: El Jefe, or his bad jokes." "Hey Penelope! I think I saw some rust spots!" And let's not forget the 80 million times you hear this phrase: "Here comes the Grizz!"

Final Thoughts on Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

This game is not perfect, but I think a lot of things were done right with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time.

I really love the look of the game, from the graphics to the cutscenes to the designs of the ancestors and the locations. The story is pretty compelling for the most part and I love the idea of Cyrille Le Paradox wanting to erase the Cooper's from history because Sly's dad cucked his dad — thief-wise, that is.

The writing could use some work. Undoubtedly. But I'm playing Sly 4 for the game play and a compelling story, and I got that. I really enjoyed this game, despite the rough ending and lame Le Paradox boss fight.

I don't blame Sanzaru for the cliffhanger as Sony really screwed over franchises during the 2010s. Evidently the creators were expected to at least have a DLC to solve the 'Sly in Egypt' issue, but the promise was broken.

I enjoyed the game. I would definitely enjoy replaying it. I hope we do, one day, get a Sly 5 to figure out how to get our thieving Raccoon out of Egypt.

I would give Sly Cooper (4): Thieves in Time... a score of 4.5/5.

[tiramisusbakery]

The Auction pt. 1

Summary: Hidden Inventory Gojo and Geto play sorcerer save-a-ho {lol} a little too close to the sun and end up as love rivals to a girl from the Red Light. Leaving their little world of sorcery in the mountains, they sneak out to Tokyo, a city budding with a new thing called...quirks?

(no MHA characters btw just a slight universe clash)

So...the quirk thing is weird, but they're not asking questions, as long as they get in the club. Taking a dip into underworld affairs to test their luck, they are forced into a world of glitz, glam, and organized crime, sacrificing much more than money (but still a lot of fuckin money) to save the object of their affection from dire circumstances and win her love. MINORS DNI

#BLACKOC #jjk #Gojosatoru #Gojo #GetoSuguru #Geto #NSFW #MHAOC

Warnings: NSFW, Teens in adult situations (what else is new in jjk tbh), violence, cursing, underage alcohol consumption

OPTIONAL READ: Lore Recap for the world surrounding this fic; What started as a fun rebellious game of sneaking out from Jujutsu High to party (Gojo) and trying to do damage control as a result, only to get mixed up in the same world himself (Geto) turns into a sex addiction, a secret love affair, and a complicated set of Red Light District politics for our boys. On a night out meeting his favorite call girl, Tira, Gojo finds himself intrigued instead by her mentee, Angie, a mysterious escort with enormous wings (and something called a quirk?) Geto, looking for Gojo, found Angie first and shared a short...yet intimate...exchange with her before she sends him on his way back to JJH. Afterward, she shares a passionate night with her sensei and Geto's best friend, Gojo. Her first night as a fully fledged escort is a success! Yet, little does she know, she has become the object of the affection of the two strongest sorcerers alive.

Enjoy~

"I think i'm in love" Angie whispered aloud, more to herself than Tira, her sensei, who sat across from her at the bright makeup table.

Tira flinched, missing her nail, and sticky bright- red polish from the set she'd been working on dribbled down her index finger, dolloping onto the glossy vanity instead.

"Oh, hun."

"Why do you sound like I just told you my nana died?" Angie blinked at her from the chaise sofa that she had strewn herself across since returning from the meet and greet. 

Tira heaved a sigh, throwing her head back and letting her hair tumble down her shoulders to dust the floorboards. She met the girl's wide-eyed stare through heavy lids.

"She might as well have, babes. Please don't take this the wrong way, but you need to prioritize."

Angie avoided her gaze, and Tira felt an uncomfortable twinge in her chest for all of a second. She had a feeling she knew who it was, but what if…?

"Okay, i'll bite. Who are you in love with?"

The younger woman puffed her cheeks, prodding her pointer fingers together in quiet apprehension. "Suguru"

Tira straightened, attending to her drying manicure as if the twinge had never occured. She tried to remain neutral as she thanked her lucky stars.

"Mhmmm, Suguru." She hummed. "You mean the hot best friend of heartthrob Gojo Satoru, whom you fucked last week?"

Angie waited a beat before nodding. Tira didn't even wait to meet her eyes in the mirror before continuing.

"Suguru, whom you've fucked a total of one and a half times, only seen at night under neon lamps, and don't even know what he does for a living?"

"What was that slime monster?"

"Exactly."

"But they're just heroes! Really…weird heroes."

Tira tsked, and it was the first time Angie felt her age with the woman since they'd met. "What did I say about letting men play hero with you?"

"But he's not playing-"

"He's as serious as a 16 year old boy can be. Which, believe you me, is playing. Playing hero, noirette."

Tira felt as though she could hear Angie's heart break, and decided to change her approach.

"Little bird, when is he coming back?"

"Dunno." She muttered. Tira turned to find the girl's face in her hands, her newly defined curls curtaining her no doubt reddened complexion.

"Wanna see?"

Angie didn't react.

Whipping out her phone, Tira tapped a few keys. In just one ring came the bedroom voice of her favorite romp.

"Ye-llow~"

"Blue" she purred.

The phone went silent. Then a word, on a voice that wavered ever so slightly with boyish glee.

"Tira?" Satoru asked in disbelief.

"Its me. I need a favor."

"A-anything! Uh, well almost anything. Yes?"

"I need to know the next time you and your friend plan to come to the district together, a few days in advance. Is that alright?"

"Uh, sure. Why?"

"No questions. Just be sure to have some serious bread next time I see you. Tell your pal to empty his sock drawer. We're gonna play a little game."

Tira clapped the phone shut, and tossed it onto the counter.

Angie watched the device skitter until it stopped.

"Good. Now all we need is to choreograph"

"Choreograph? Wha-"

"Your mimic dance, of course. The one you'll do on Geto and Gojo when they bid on you."

"When they do WHAT?"

Tira was up from her chair in a moment, bouncing toward her charge with the glee of a girl half her age. 

"When they bid, my love! They're going to bid to claim you. Only one of them can, now, since they're best friends. The other will be forbidden from booking with you forever!” 

She paused.

“Or at least until you’re fully on the market and can choose your own clients, which won’t be for years. We'll see who is in love with who then~"

Angie's jaw dropped, her heart kicking in her chest at the sudden adrenaline that Tira had injected into her bloodstream.

"No. No! What if Geto can't out-bid Gojo?"

"He can and will."

"But Gojo has money. Like, old money. What if he screws him over?"

"He wouldn't do that if his friend was really in love with you"

"But what if he's not?"

"Aha! There it is."

Angie closed her wings around herself and hid in the bundle of feathers as if huddling against a strong wind. Her breathing softened to a light coo as she attempted to steady her anxious pulse.

Tira's heart skipped a beat at the sight of the scared girl. Hesitating, the woman dropped to her knees before her, and took her hands from beneath the plumage of her wings, massaging them in her own.

"Angie, baby?" She cocked her head to the side, her grin softening to one of sympathy. "You're scared, huh?"

"Yes." Her voice was muffled and small.

"Baby, this is an exercise in maturity. See this as a win win win. You get to find out if he shares your feelings without ever revealing your own, you get showered in cash, and you don't even have to show skin. Plus, nothing clears my head like a good auction."

Wait a minute, auction? Wasn't there a big one coming up? Screw the mimic dance, she might be able to make Angie a star. 

But was she ready?

"But if he loses he can't ever book with me again" the girl sniffled.

"If he loses, he'll just have to find a way to love you for free, Raven."

The girl parted her wings and a sliver of light danced in her wet, owlette-like eyes.

"You're so smart"

Tira rested her head in the girl's lap.

"I know."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the next three weeks, Tira strictly forbade Angie from contacting her boo-thang, and put her under rigorous training for her one shining moment as a prize between the two boys.

According to Tira, this was her first test in distinguishing work from play, where she would need to be okay being an ultimatum, a genuine variable to someone's life and limb. It was the pride and joy of geishas to move their audience beyond recognition with their art, and she needed to be worthy of that.

And beyond anything else, it was her duty to make him suffer, Tira had said- especially since he'd had the audacity to make her fall in love with him.

"These boys are brothers in arms. Why should you be what comes between them?" Tira snapped, tapping a closed fan sharply to her student's protruding hip.

This time, Angie was balancing a short stack of books on her head, atop them a teacup filled with hot tea. The steam wafted from the cup as she watched it in the full length mirror before her, reminding her of the imminent danger of dropping it.

"W-well"

"Don't hesitate. Why would one of them choose you over the other?"

"Because I am not a want."

"What are you?"

"A need"

"Yes." Tira clapped her fan and Angela posed in the second formation that had been taught to her, where she popped her chest and tucked her stomach, her fingers pinched delicately above her head and the heels of her feet raised up from the ground. She met her own eyes in the mirror, not spilling a drop of tea.

"Why should they spend their life savings, their allowance, the very last penny of their piggy bank on you?"

"Because it was never theirs, it was mine from the day they met me."

"Good!" She clapped her fan once more, and Angie adjusted in time with her command.

Tira clapped her fan, posing, adjusting, and instructing Angie until she was exhausted, and even beyond. She made the girl go days in heels until the blisters became part of her feet, and spoke to her with the kind of instruction an old madame might have given a disobedient upstart. 

And then came the choreography. Angie had been bent, bounced, and broken until she could execute every move to perfection. She was up practicing at dawn, and didn't stop until her shift every night.

Angie didn't know if she regretted telling the girl about her feelings, but if this didn't end soon, she thought she would take them back.

Angela laid flat on her back on her Sensei's plush mattress, much softer than her own last-minute sleeping arrangements, and absentmindedly addressed the burn marks in the ceiling above her as they wound the periphery of the room, looking desperately for a distraction from the stinging in her feet. She wasn't sure if Tira would be back from her last call of the night soon, and was worried to be found slacking, but the worry didn't overpower the exhaustion. 

"Ooooh what am I gonna do~" she moaned.

Her breasts were swollen in her loose grasp, having been heavy and burdened ever since she'd begun to tighten up about weaning Miku. She didn't know why she couldn't just keep letting her baby nurse- it felt better for both of them, anyway.

Well, that was a lie. She knew why, it was so she could finally move up the ranks from a rookie geisha to a full performer by her next birthday. It would make her and Miku more money, and she'd finally be able to rent her own place in the Playground. Her baby couldn't be attached to her the way she was now, or she'd be stuck until her daughter could talk.

Prodding delicately at her puffy nipples, she closed her eyes and pictured first holding Miku to them to relieve the pain, and then Geto. 

Geto could…help instead…she thought blearily, her eyes fluttering a few times before she finally drifted.

She didn't know that she'd fallen asleep until a light tap on her nose pulled her out of her stupor. Peering up into the lamp-lit halo above her, she saw her instructor's pursed, plum colored lips and arresting brown eyes, appraising her as if she were a curator and her charge a work of art.

"You're ready."

Angie's mouth snapped open and she sat up in the lush bed, holding the sheets to her chin. "How can you tell?"

Tira shrugged. It was the most juvenile movement Angie had seen her make in weeks. "I just can. Look at how you sat up, no haste. How you woke from your sleep, so graceful. Stand for me."

Angie did as she was told without a second thought, as if her body moved on its own. She swept up from the bed lightly, her posture tall, and floated to the space before Tira as if she materialized there.

Her feet hurt but her discipline had taught her to stand tall anyway. Tira circled her once, stood back, and hummed in approval.

"Yeah" Tira smiled, her eyes crinkling in the corners with a surprising melancholy. Angie wondered how much sleep she'd gotten herself over the span of her student's training. If she'd been suffering too, she hadn't let on even once. "You can feel it, too, right?" She murmured, "You're more womanly."

"I don't believe that I have changed that quickly-"

"Listen to you! I don't believe~" she held a petite hand to her lips and laughed breathily. "You sound like you have tea with the Emperor at 2pm. What do you say, shall we check in on the boys?"

"No. We shouldn't."

Tira nodded. She'd passed the test.

"Mmm there's a hot spring nearby. Let's celebrate with a late night dip, hm?" 

Angie felt a twinge in her stomach, then again, lower. Tira's eyes sparkled like pools of honey in the golden light of her candelabra as she waited for her response.

Angie let her eyes search her instructor's, tapping her cheek to draw out the moment before finally agreeing. 

"Yes, let's."

[NSFW YURI INCOMING]

The hot water felt like heaven on her weary limbs as she stretched her wings in the deep pool. She sank up to her shoulders in the delicious water, which had been mixed with a fragrant lavender oil at Tira's request. Her hair was free of her usual puffs, the coils tickling her shoulder blades as they soaked up the water.

She felt the urge to swim, but was scared to do anything that might make her seem juvenile enough to be put back in training. Instead, she dunked a cupped hand into the pool and ran it on her face and neck.

"Ahhhh~" she sighed, the last cool air of her lungs escaping into the humid room.

She was alone though, waiting anxiously for Tira to tie up her boundless hair in the changing room so that it wouldn't gain ten pounds in water weight the second she stepped into the pool. It made sense, but Angie watched the door for her anyway, trying her best to suppress the hammer in her chest when the woman finally revealed her naked form.

Her complexion like honey butter all the way down, with not a blemish to be seen, Angie watched Tira slink opposite her into the hottub, her supple curves slicing the water in two. Her large breasts buoyed themselves on the surface, and she stretched her arms above her head in languid yawn that was somehow both sensual and completely self indulgent.

Angie averted her gaze, realizing she'd been staring.

"So you do like women," Tira hummed.

Angie started.

"Yes."

"I love that you give me straight answers now," she smiled, and dimples pricked her cheeks. Did she always have dimples?

"Thank you, sensei"

"You're welcome, darling." The older woman leaned across the water, and her wet cleavage tilted toward her charge. "But I'm still just Tira. We're past all that, remember?"

Angie nodded and Tira slunk to her side, slinging an arm over her shoulder. 

"Although, I would like to call you imouto- chan, if that's okay?"

"It's okay," Angie was painfully aware of Tira's naked thigh pressing against her own under the water.

She refused to meet Tira's questioning gaze. A slow smile spread across the woman's lipstick- stained lips, a mischievous expression taking hold on her face.

"Or would you prefer something else?" 

Her arm dropped. A squeeze on Angie's upper thigh sent her heart racing. Her lungs tightened, and she couldn't breathe. None of it showed on her face.

Angie cut her eyes at the woman experimentally.

"Well, Onii- chan~" she paused, thinking. She took pleasure in Tira's widening eyes.

"Could you call me your pretty bird again?" She whispered after a beat, moving Tira's hand to her narrow waist. She couldn't believe her boldness, and couldn't believe how quickly she'd adapted either.

Tira faced her head on. 

Tira's heart shaped face was framed by long, silky tresses that stuck to her cheeks from the humidity, her large top bun crowning her head in its giant coil. Her long lashes were beaded with water, and her brown eyes glimmered like quartz. The whole image affirmed in Angie's head that her stage name "Empress" was no accident.

"Oh really, you want me to call you Pretty bird?" she sang. She leaned in, and when Angie didn't pull away, she placed a quick, wet kiss on Angie's lips. "Mmm" she licked her lips as if she'd tasted like candy. "Such a pretty bird, my imouto-chan is." She kissed her again. "My pretty, pretty…"

Another kiss, and this time Angie didn't let her pull away.

The women's bodies pressed together in the water, fitting together like the pieces of a puzzle. They drew together like magnets, their soft flesh spreading the oil along each other's skin in ferver as their tongues fought for control in each other's mouths. They haphazardly found their rhythm, Angie's core softening like molten lava at the feeling of Tira's slick treading her thigh.

"God yes~" Tira sighed against her ear as she massaged the girl's breasts on the pool's surface, taking special care around her sore nipples. "You've gotten so bold, noirette." She rubbed the mounds against her own.

Angie whimpered into the hollow of her neck as she licked and bit and kissed her as deep as she dared. She pressed the woman down onto her thigh and rocked, feeling her desire finally begin to flow.

"Onii-chan~" she whined at the feeling of Tira's fingers stroking the base of her wings. She arched her back in pleasure . "T-that feels so- ah!"

"Calling me that right now is dangerous, princess" the woman growled into her open mouth before assaulting it with her own, more hungry, more thirsty than before.

"Ah!" Angie gasped for air in the few gaps the kiss left her to breathe.

Tira ducked below the surface, slurping the girl's peaks into her mouth in one greedy gulp, never slowing her rhythm as she rode her thigh. Instead, she let her legs slide between her own, and let Angie borrow her friction. 

Angie cradled the woman's face in her hands as she suckled her, the pleasure sensors in her nipples sighing in sweet relief. She reached around to grab her ass, gripping the pillowy mounds against her as if for dear life. Tira watched her pupil's desperation build through lowered lashes.

"Brlrbrlm?"

"Hm?" Angie wondered if it was the water muffling Tira or her own thoughts.

Breaking the surface once more, she threw her arms around Angie's neck and pulled her close, letting the water help glide Tira back and forth against the girl's cunt.

"I said, do I feel like you imagined, sweetie?"

Tira peered into Angie's swimming gaze as the girl nodded dreamily. She giggled.

"Tira~" 

"Hm?"

"I'm g-gonna-"

"Awe, already?" She slowed, rolling her hips with the water. "I'm flattered."

She felt the girl shudder from the pleasure. A string of light curses escaped her delicate lips as she pressed Angie against the tub for more pressure, watching closely as her face contorted in desire. She felt the girl trying her best to hold out as she stroked her, and couldn't help but find it adorable.

Angie watched her back in awe with heavy lids as her teacher floated in her vision. Tracing Tira's figure with painstaking adoration, she reached up, tiredly, and thumbed the woman's nipples, lapping them with her tongue as she maintained what she knew would look like doe-eyed wonder. 

Tira's breath hitched, and Angie knew it worked when the woman bit her lip and leaned in to kiss her, deep. She pulled back, looking as though she wanted to devour her.

"God, Angie, is this why those boys are so crazy about you?" She punctuated the question with peck to her nose. "No wonder all these grown men want you. To take good care of you like this."

Pouting, Angie leaned up to graze her jaw with her lips. 

"You're better than any man," she sighed, planting kisses down her neck. She felt, more than heard, Tira moan.

"Awe, sweet baby~"

Smiling, Tira twirled two fingers on the surface of the murky water before using them to gently nudge her thighs aside and access her trimmed pussy.

Teasing her lips apart, Tira inserted them inside, laughing throatily as Angie sucked them in with ease.

"Ngah!" Angie sank down on the digits, rutting against them as they beckoned her forward. She couldn't understand her own thoughts outside of the coil of her teacher's fingers. Dribble poured from her mouth as Tira switched positions, spreading her mount to entrap both of Angie's thighs. 

"This makes you tighter, noirette" she hummed, as if it were a simple lesson in mathematics.

"And this-"

She bounced as she fingered her, the water pressure popping against Angie's clit as it splashed her opening. She cried out at the dual sensations.

"-is how you take advantage of your environment." She nuzzled her cheek, and began sucking on her earlobe.

"H-how are you fucking me with the water?" She gasped, throwing her head back until she saw the steamy ceiling floating above their lustful bubble.

"There's lots of things I can fuck you with, imouto-Chan" she giggled.

The giggle was choked off when Angie dipped forward and forced entry into her mouth, swallowing her lips with a ferver Tira hadn't known she'd had. For a moment they were both under the water, unable to breathe and barely caring. When they broke the surface again, Tira forced Angie to face the wall as she pressed into her ample ass, rebounding off of its ripples until pleasure throbbed in her core.

"Fu-uck!" Angie wailed, gripping the wall. Tira gasped in time with the laps of the water.

"Ah, ah, fuck, little bird…damn you feel like dough…"

With one hand holding her waist in place against her, Tira worked her hand around to Angie's slit, working her fingers in and out of her tightening hole. Angie leaned into her, her hand finding Tira's between the folds of her thighs. She forced her teacher deeper, coaxing a ripple of pleasure through her core.

"Unh~ Tira! " She whined, her cheek pressed flat against the side of the hottub. 

"Yeah?" Tira bit into her neck as she ground herself into her prodigy's plump ass.

Angie surrendered to the feeling of Tira using her body for her own pleasure, doubling over when she felt her teacher take hold of her hips.

"Fuck me, sensei" she whined, "Please?"

"You want me to fuck you baby? You want me to show you how to fuck a woman?" 

"Y-yes," she pleaded.

Angie craned her neck so that she could taste her lips one more time, and found Tira's mouth waiting eagerly for just that. Her teacher slowed, riding her ass in languid strokes as their tongues coiled into each other's mouths. Angie couldn't hold on another moment. She squeezed her thighs together, trapping their fingers, and squirting against her sensei's insistent touch. She gasped into her open mouth, and Tira held her there until she finished.

"Finger me," she purred, licking Angie's essence from her manicure. Angie quickly obliged.

Backing Angie to the wall, Tira rode her pupil's fingers on her own, bobbing in the water as she played with her own stiff peaks. 

As she bobbed, the water lapped across the tub, creating ripples that made the low-lights dance. Angie could see nothing but Tira's slender back, but felt her pleasure in every cell of her form.

Angie felt her own pussy contract again as Tira finally made herself come on her flexing fingers, casting a glance over her shoulder at her student's awed expression.

Tira slowed, holding the digits to her stiff clit as she pursued an even higher peak, forcing Angie to watch her get her nut. Angie couldn't look away.

She wailed as she came again, and again, her eyes rolling as she pinned Angie to the wall. 

"Gah!"

The woman heaved as she slid into the space between Angie's arms, finally resting in the crook of her neck as pleasure broke against their balmy skin. They let themselves stay there for a while, limbs tangled, before one of them finally spoke.

"Fuck." Angie murmured.

Tira pecked her cheek once, then twice. Lingering by her ear, she licked the crown playfully as if she was only getting started. That is, until she pulled away, and floated to the edge of the pool, giggling.

"Wow." Was all Angie could muster.

Tira smiled.

"Mmm. Indeed." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The night finally arrived. 

Gojo and Geto stood across from one another on the train as it sped them toward their instructed destination, the Tokyo City Concert Hall. The car was full of salarymen, no doubt on their way home for the night, completely oblivious to the threat that either boy posed to them, or the protection they provided- but what else was new.

The pair found themselves huddled in the farthest alcoves of the rounded train they could get, away from the bustling crowd that would likely ignore them anyway, hoping the sway of the carriage muffled their words.

"I feel like something is up tonight." Geto muttered, half to himself.

"You, me, and the whole dorm. I mean,"  Gojo motioned to the suits the pair had donned in preparation for the night, "who wears these to a booty call?"

Gojo had dressed sharply in a three piece black and alabaster suit, pressed, tailored, and detailed for the night at Tira’s request. He wore a black button down and blazer jacket that matched his hair, the lapels held in place on either breast with blue sapphire pins that had been awarded to him by the Gojo clan at his 16th birthday ritual, marking his maturity and blood connection to the clan. The material of the suit emphasized the bulk he usually obscured in his dark, boxy school uniforms, his broad shoulders and trim waist making the suit look more as if it were wearing him than vice versa. 

Besides the suit, he’d hidden his eyes behind a pair of dark shades a grade nicer than his usual pair, their construction made from carved wood rather than metal, stenciled on the sides with his initials. His cufflinks caught the mechanical light of the train and winked every time he moved, their ore immutable genuine silver. The same was true of the small blue gem he wore in one ear, which Geto had never seen him wear before that night. The only thing about the boy that was recognizable was the tuft of tussled cloud-white hair that sat atop his head.

“When did you get your ear pierced?”

Gojo muttered. 

“Huh?”

“...Mei said it would look good on me.”

Geto scoffed. “Well earrings are my thing so don’t you dare-”

“Dare what? Outdress you?”

The dark haired boy smirked. No way was Gojo outdressing him in that monkey suit.

Geto had cleaned up just as well, his own scarlet and charcoal suit ironed down to the creases the way his mother had shown him, crisped from the top collar to the cuffs of his sleeves. His red satin button down matched the pocket square (which he almost hadn’t found in time) in the lapel of his dark suit, and his black tie had been pinned into place beneath a gold clip with the emblem of a dragon- a gift from his grandfather, as if he’d known about his powers in advance. 

That night, he’d exchanged his usual metal ear gauges for a pair of onyx disks that he’d bought specially for the occasion, and they glinted from his ears with a subtle glossy depth that made him look mysterious. 

Rather than precious jewelry, he’d opted for a more down to earth vibe with black volcanic beads encircling either wrist, stacked around his favorite vintage watch. His black nails had been freshly cleaned, painted, and trimmed.

Finally, not knowing how he should do his hair, he’d opted for his usual clipped bun and bangs, sweeping them away from his face as neatly as he could muster.

“I’ll admit, you look clean, but you look like you’re going to prom.” Gojo shrugged, playfully.

“And you look like you're putting Nana Gojo to rest.”

This stop is Shinjuku City- I repeat, Shinjuku City. Please watch your step. 

The boys ducked under the low- hanging sign to the station’s entrance as they stepped onto the street. They looked left and right, trying their best to not look like fish out of water. 

“I don’t suppose you know how to get there?”

“You went on map quest, right?”

The boys blinked at each other, and face palmed.

This was gonna be a long night.

After a long trek through the darkening streets of Tokyo, as well as several sets of bad directions, Gojo and Geto finally found the grand old building that was to host the variety show that they'd anticipated since Tira's call. 

With the block out front as packed with tough customers as any club, the opera house stood to be used that evening as a cooperative territory for underworld-goers and their business. The boys watched the building light up just as the last light of the day fell, its red carpet unfurled in preparation for the guests that would be stepping through the door any minute.

The large windows of the modern relic stood tall and wide, propositioning onlookers to look into them as if they were the building's eyes. Beyond them was the shimmer of multiple chandeliers, golden wallpaper, and a ceiling painted to put the sistine chapel to shame.

Geto whistled in appreciation. This was where they were meeting them? His thoughts of the weeks before replayed in his mind, where he'd asked Angie on a date after they'd…. 

Well, if this was the first date, what would the second look like? Did this even count as a date?

"Satoru?"

"Yeah?"

"What exactly did your connection intend with us when she asked us to attend this event and- quote- 'bring all the cash in our sock drawer'? "

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"And why don't I get to meet her?"

"She said that she wasn't available to me tonight, but that she wanted to proposition me on something. I don't know. She plays games like this a lot, but this is the most elaborate one yet."

"And why was I involved?" Geto cocked his head, half concerned, half amused.

"Hm. Well she said something about a game that would take both of us? And she obviously knows who you are by name, although…not sure how…" he trailed off, realizing just how little he knew about what Tira had planned for them that night.

"Uhhhuh…and what's stopping me from getting back on the train, Satoru?"

"Because I know she'll be here tonight." Gojo smirked. 

Geto's face fell, and he rubbed the back of his neck. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, don't give me that,'' Gojo nudged him, "she hasn't responded for weeks again, but all of a sudden she did, right? And now you decide to step out with me, because you invited her, right? I'm not as stupid as my last final made me seem, Suguru."

"Well," the dark haired boy grimaced, rubbing his neck even more harshly as if trying to set it ablaze, "you're actually right, minus a few details…" 

"Suguru?"

Geto had stopped his 5am run to respond.

"Raven!"

"Hello! Sorry, can't talk long, or ill get caught. I know this is odd, but will you come to see me dance?"

"Yes! Of course, why would that be weird?"

"Because your friend with the glasses will be there too. The one you were looking for when you…found me"

"...oh. uh, sorry. Why?"

"Because it turns out that I… service him too…and my mentor is putting my services up for auction. Please be sure to win me. See you soon."

The conversation had raised more questions than answers, but after speaking to them both, Suguru knew that whatever the game was, he needed to win.

Geto's jaw muscles worked as he watched Gojo talk absentmindedly about how tight his blazer was on his shoulders. He watched the white haired boy closely, as if seeing him again for the first time.

Traitor.

Woah. Where had that come from?

Gojo turned and was caught off guard by the look in Geto's dark eyes. 

"Woah, man, you okay?"

Suguru averted his gaze. "Yeah, just nervous about seeing her, like you said."

"Well she better get here soon, we're about to head in."

The boys had finally made it to the front of the line, and knew from the moment they'd made eye contact with the doorman that they weren't getting in without a fight.

"Card carriers only" he sneered at the boys down his long, slender nose. 

"That's funny, I believe I carry a card,"

Smiling warmly, Gojo slid his fingers into the folds of his wallet, and withdrew two things- his fake ID, and a black coated metal credit card that weighed far too much for its size. Geto had never seen him use it for anything more than a status symbol, but had a sneaking suspicion that its credit limit was as infinite as its owner's technique.

The Maitre D's eyes sparkled at the sight of the card, and after flicking his eyes between the small rectangle of privilege and the boy wielding it with bright blue eyes, he shifted his gaze to Suguru.

"And you, sir?"

Geto blushed.

Before Gojo could claim him as his companion, the sound of dozens of pairs of clicking heels echoed down the sidewalk, and the boys- along with the other sidewalk dwellers, party-goers, and opera house connoisseurs- turned to see where the sound was coming from.

The first impression of the performers was that of walking art. They moved as one in shimmering outfits, their various props bobbing on their swaying hips and in their slender hands. They looked neither left, nor right, but straight ahead as they bypassed the line of patrons that gawked at their enormous presence.

"Ah, here are the ladies of the auction now."

"Auction?" Gojo questioned, the boys' eyes never leaving the parade of forest nymphs, water lillied- fairies, and exotic looking interpretive dancers.

And among them, they spotted her at once.

Raven wore a black diamond mask, her high cheekbones and lips dusted in a purple-black shade that made her look fierce and siren-like in her expression. Her wings, sprayed in a glittery sheen that made them look like a night sky full of stars, were on full display behind her, catching the attention of every onlooker that had dared to watch her. However, it wasn't just her anthropomorphic traits that had arrested attention.

The girl wore a shortened kimono that had been modified to her shapely body, the hem likely only extending an inch beyond her finger tips.

The thin veil of fabric was imprinted with white cranes and flowers throughout its tight coverage of her rounded hips and bust, rippling with extra fabric in places only to mimic waves on pitch-black water.

Further accentuating her figure was a large black- satin ribbon, encircling her torso and exploding in a bow off of her perky ass, with several strings of tinsel and black coins that protruded from it creating music in time with her walk.

And her walk; she strutted in time with the other dancers on her long, shapely legs, her more-sheer-than-sheer stockings making it look as though her thick thighs had been stuck with precious gems, embedded into her smooth mocha skin as if by magic. 

Her black heels clicked as she marched forward, her hands hidden in the long sleeves of the kimono- the only thing about it that was modest. 

In all her glory, Raven looked like a cross between a porcelain doll and a fallen angel, one that had been brought to life to seek revenge on her maker.

As if feeling their eyes on her, Angie's gaze flitted to the boys at the front of the line, just as she was about to enter the venue. They'd been frozen to the spot by her entrance.

Feeling a swell of pride, she continued to strut and avoid drinking in their looks- there would be time for that later.

That is, until she saw that the bouncer had stopped them at the door.

The girls turned at once to face the crowd, immediately catching the interest of everyone in line.

The parade of women clapped rhythmically three times, before raising their hands, and bowing deeply.

"Meshiagare!"

They repeated themselves in several languages for their foreign guests.

"Bon appetit! Please enjoy!"

And with that, they filed into the venue as fluidly as swans.

"Sir, these are my personal guests." Angie broke from the line of girls and approached the man as the rest of the performers entered, applause at their backs from the line of patrons that had watched their entrance.

Taking the maitre d's elbow in her taloned forefinger and thumb, she stood until the man brought his ear to her lips.

"Empress' request."

"Ah," the man nodded, infinitely more agreeable with her than he'd been with the two boys.

"Follow me." He said, " I have special instructions for you two."

Geto and Gojo shared a look of ultimate confusion, but- to Gojo's disappointment and Geto's painful chagrin- Raven had left in a plume of black ribbon and glitter without sparing them a second glance.

When the boys entered the venue on the trail of yet another host, they couldn't focus their eyes on anything ahead of them; all their attention was reserved for the ceiling, walls, and extremely lively crowd.

The crowd was made up of men and women from several countries and nearly all walks of life- human, half human, or otherwise. The cursed energy they felt wafting from the party goers was almost enough to make them defensive, but was still jovial enough to make them feel at home.

Men in blazers stood in huddles, exchanged business cards, and even played miniature croquette in one corner of the room; their female counterparts floated about on their arms, nodding in time with conversation and punctuating sentences with light laughter.

Before they'd gotten their barings, the host turned to them abruptly at the center of the room.

"Which of you is Suguru?"

The dark haired boy raised two fingers in acknowledgement.

"Raven would like to see you in the hall. And you must be Satoru," the host half asked, half asserted.

Gojo raised his snowy brows expectantly.

"You will be helped shortly. Enjoy the refreshments."

Before Geto could exit, Gojo placed a hand on his chest to stop him.

"Raven?" He asked without facing his friend head on. "That's the name of the girl you're in love with?"

Geto worked to keep his expression neutral. "You know her?"

Gojo didn't respond.

"Be right back" Geto just short of spat.

Gojo watched him go from behind the sheen of his dark shades. He was unsure of just how much Geto knew, but was suddenly very sure that he wouldn't fail this intuition test, when it came to finding out.

A waitress stepped into his line of vision.

"Champagne?"

He hesitated before picking up a long-stemmed flute. He didn't usually need the courage, but he would tonight.

~~~~~

"Mmph!" 

Geto exclaimed when he felt the girl's lips on his the second he stepped into the shadowy alcove off of the main hall.

Separating from his mouth with a small *pop* the girl dug around in her dress until she'd uncovered what she was looking for.

"Here, hurry, take this." Angie shoved a small note card into his hand, glossy and folded over so that he couldn't see what was in it until he opened it.

"I have to explain-"

"Yes. Please."

"Will you let me?"

Geto blinked, his dark eyes trained on nothing but her. His silent answer was loud and clear.

"Okay. Open the card."

He flipped it open. It was blank, save for one thing.

Taped inside the card was a small, black coin the size of a checkers piece. It was waxy and grooved, and opaque as far as he could tell.

"That is the Bidder's coin. Well, no one is supposed to know which of my coins are bidder's coins," she motioned to the remaining coins that encircled her waist and bow, "because not all of them are. There are only three."

Geto's brow crinkled.

"Wai-"

"Not done. No time. As I was saying, this is a bidder's coin." She tapped the card.  "It means that when the time comes, at the end of the night, only those with coins like yours will be allowed to bid for me. It's supposed to be a game of chance, but I need you to win, so I delivered one straight to you."

"Why?"

"Because if you don't-" Angie's eyes were large, round, and wet- "you won't be allowed to see me again."

~~~

In the next room, Gojo had successfully downed two and a half flutes of champagne, and a shot of cognac that had been offered to him by a French sailor. Apparently the French had the best cognac.

"Vous aimez?" The sailor asked, winking.

Gojo shook his head and shrugged.

"I speak Japanese, sorry" he responded, half wondering if the man had really spoken another language, or if he'd already succumbed to the alcohol.

The sailor made an 'aha' nod of the head, and motioned as if taking a swig. He then put his thumbs up and raised his brows in a questioning sort of way.

"Ohh you asked if I like it. Yeah, thanks. I-its strong."

The sailor laughed, clapping a hand on his back. Gojo hoped he'd been understood, but when he was handed another shot, his shoulders sagged. He didn't know if he could handle any more. He was already breaking the rules of his clan- the very rules that had made him an unfortunate lightweight in the first place- and needed to figure out how to say 'no' in French.

The tinkling of a glass quieted the room, and all attention was drawn to a balcony that Gojo hadn't previously noticed was there. A suited man with a long lapel on his jacket, and a slicked ponytail with shaved sides, was clinking his glass with a fork.

"Ah, esteemed guests!"

Gojo scanned the room. All of the guests looked well dressed, but some of them were hardly esteemed by his standards. Some of them looked like bodybuilders that had been painted into suits. And was that the dragon gang in the corner-?

"It is a pleasure to see you all on this hallowed night. As we finish welcoming members from outside, I thought it would be an excellent time to make a toast!"

He raised his glass, and the crowd followed suit.

"To the owners of this opera hall, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for allowing us to host our show- one of talent, valor, and prestige. 

To our girls, thank you for bringing us such a delectable assortment of entertainment to enjoy each year. You are truly the highlight of our dreary yearly toil. 

And to our donors, it is because of your generosity that we feast our eyes, stomachs, and souls on all that our little society offers.

Cheers!"

Gojo's jaw dropped. He would need to take some pointers from this man for his next public speaking class. 

He took a sip from the glass of cognac that had warmed in his clammy hand. At least, he thought he would take a sip, but the glass he drew back was empty. 

Ugh. I need to slow down.

"Now, for the rules of the night!" The man continued, his smile broadening as if the bubbles of his champagne had buoyed his spirit even higher than before.

~~~~~

"So here are the rules" Angie's tearful gaze had Suguru pinned to the wall.

Suguru swallowed fearfully. 

"Go on."

Angie gingerly grabbed at the coins looping her waist.

"These black coins will be distributed to the players on the floor. They are made of plastic and a special kind of wax."

~~~~~

"As the night progresses," the slick haired man boomed, " the wax will melt from the coin, and only plastic will remain. In order for it to melt, you must keep it warm in the palm of your hand."

~~~~~

"When the wax is gone, the other coins will be blank, but yours- and two others- will have a four leaf clover in the center when you hold it to the light."

Suguru held the opaque coin up, picturing the clover as if it had already been revealed.

~~~~~~ 

"And when it is revealed, at the appropriate time, you will ring a bell that will be stored beneath your seat. There will be three ringing bells tonight."

The man poured over the crowd with a sweeping gaze, languishing in the suspense.

"Then" he said finally, "and only then, will the bidding begin."

~~~~~

"And they will bid for me to serve them exclusively until the next game."

Geto felt like he was going to black out.

"Raven, what makes you think I can outbid anyone in there?"

"Because it's rigged. I'm not sure how besides this," she tapped the coin again, "but my sensei says that this is necessary for us to continue to see each other. I'm s-s-sorry-" Angie bit her lip.

"I promise it will be okay," she continued, "it's just that…well…I didn't know if you would do this for me."

Geto's stomach did a flip at the sight of the gorgeous girl on the verge of years.

"H-hey," he reached out a hand to sweep away one of her tears before it could streak her painstakingly applied makeup.

"Its gonna be okay. If this is what it takes, I'll do it. You did say that this was complicated for you, right? Let's make it uncomplicated."

He grabbed her hands in his and kissed them. 

"I'm gonna win. And when I do, you're gonna tell me your name, hm?"

The dark fae smiled.

"Deal."

~~~~~~~~

Gojo's attention was drawn to the door as it swung open to reveal Raven, but not his best friend. Raising a brow, he scanned the crowd to see if he could pick up his cursed energy, but it was nowhere to be found.

His eyes returned to Raven as she mingled with the crowd, the patrons bombarding her for a closer look, and eventually, a coin from her dress. She giggled as she swam her way through the thickening attention.

"Let her breathe!" The man called playfully from the balcony. "She still has to dance!"

Should I ask her where he went?

Still searching, he didn't realize he'd lost sight of the girl until she was tapping his shoulder.

"Gojo! You made it!"

He turned and looked down into her face, smiling.

"Angie!"

"Shhh! They can't know my real name here. Call me Raven."

Oh yeah, Raven.

"Want a coin?" She grinned, offering him a plastic disk from her dress.

"Uh, no, I don't think I'll be playing." He shook his head, making his vision blur for a moment. "I did want to ask you something though-"

“Are you Satoru?”

The pair turned to see yet another plain-vested host, this one with an odd birthmark in the middle of his forehead. 

“Uhh- why, yes, I am.”

“I have instructions to show you to your box ahead of the show.”

“Oh wow, box seats Gojo?” Raven’s eyes danced in delight. “You and your friend are gonna have some of the best seats in the house!”

Gojo’s brow furrowed, “Oh, wow. I didn’t even know I had those.”

The waiter shook his head. “Empress’ request.”

Damn, Tira, Gojo smirked, Little prince indeed.

“Oh, sure. Let me just get my friend-”

“Your friend has his own box.” The man quipped, matter-of-factly.

“Uh, oh, okay. Well, can I go find him anyway?”

“This will only take a moment, sir, then you can do as you wish.”

Raven nudged him. “I think Geto is in the alley just outside the back door, if you want to find him after. I have to go, but I really hope you guys enjoy!”

And with that, just like at the door, Raven disappeared with her ribbons streaming behind her.

Gojo grimaced. 

“Well, okay. Lead the way, my man.”

After several rounds of winding steps, Gojo was shown to a velvety box that already sat several other high-brow looking guests. Their chatter was light and stopped only when he entered. It was dark, so he couldn’t tell how many there were, but they all gawked at him as if he were the first entree of the night.

“Uh, hello.” He bowed.

He could tell by the chuckles that several of them weren’t japanese. A woman snapped open her fan and hid her face.

“Oookay.”

“Your seat, sir.” 

Gojo followed the tall, slender man to the banister that overlooked the venue, where a line of chairs waited. At the head of the line was a velvet chair, and on it sat an envelope with his name on it.

“Enjoy the show.” The host swept away.

Gojo scanned the chair before retrieving the card and turning it over. Attached to it was a small black coin, and a few words written in a gorgeous script that could only have been Tira’s.

“Fate finds those who do not choose their destiny, little prince.” he read aloud.

“Do with this what you will.”

[TO BE CONTINUED]

[team-avia]

Okay so my insomnia is really bad so I’m going to force you to listen to my raving and rambling about RL theories because I saw some old promotional stuff and now my mind is galaxy braining right now

SO HERE IT GOES

(Sorry if this has been brought up before btw and is old news)

Obvious potential spoilers!!! Beware everyone else!!!

This motherfucking promo image is the source of my thoughts, especially after playing Cass’s and Bella’s demo. Particularly the symbols used for every character:

Cassandra: obviously an prodigy actress and star of the department but the further we get into her demo we realize there’s more behind the diva persona than meets the eye— hence the symbol, while classic in theater, can also reflect her emotional state and her need to cover it up with smiles and arrogance. Her nightmares and sense of commitment to potential romantic lovers maybe be a symptom of a more deep reason.

Bela: THE HEART like bruh obviously it in reference to whatever Miranda did to her before the game started—being heartless and what not. And how she’ll eventually regain her ‘heart’ if we go down the route right.

Daniela: so far she’s seems normal, well adjusted, and tame in comparison to her sisters. Key world being SEEMS. There’s definitely something broiling beneath the surface with her and I bet it has to do with her family troubles and her always putting on a brave face. Hence the rose but the notable thorns beneath it. Every rose has its thorns and what not. Idk if it has anything to do with the rowdy crowd she associates with.

Angie: the doll obviously fitting her RE origin and over all her personality, sweet, kind, and maybe bombastic. But look closely—there’s a tear on the doll’s face. Like Cass (and maybe Dani) she has a mask—aka being a party animal and overall alcoholic. It may have something to do with being Donna’s niece and I’m assuming Claudia’s daughter. But where’s the latter???? I’m sensing a dark back story here and her maladapting to her mother’s death.

The last three are the hardest to theorize because we haven’t seen much of them in the Demos but I’ll slightly theorize here:

Donna: the recluse of the campus is pictured with a syringe. Could be a nod to her RE origin being with her pollen/hallucinations but could also have to do with why she’s so shy and introverted. Maybe in the similar vein to Angie’s, what with her sister and what not.

Alcina: Wine is an obvious choose to use for her. Bitch loves her red. Idk what else to pull from this. Again hard to speculate with no demo introducing her. It’s giving wine mom energy and not in the fun way.

Miranda: this bitch has some fucking powers or something—giving hag in the swamp vibes and doing shit to people. Bela with her heartlessness (and maybe Cass’s nightmares?). Also Mia being a witchy gal and giving Miranda a gift that’s warm? Hella sus. The Corvus skull is obvious to her RE origins but also a nod to witchcraft and supernatural things. Also a symbol of death. Bitch be brewing shit idk.

Anyways those are my thoughts. Idk how accurate this is and, based on how old the pic is, could be completely wrong. I’ve spent too many hours thinking on the Demo for it to be healthy so this was a long time coming.

Feel free to cuss me out for how wrong I am. I just needed to get my thoughts out there.

Make sure you take care of yourselves! Love you guys! Stay safe and healthy!

I DONT KNOW HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS WITHOUT SPOILING ANYTHING BUT

thank you for noticing the little details 😭 ❤️ ive been waiting for someone to notice HAHAHAHA

finch

[simplyskipper]

What Fallout Games Should I Play?

Hello! My name is Skipper, and the Fallout games has been a special interest of mine for a few years now. With the resurgance of the fandom, and new people coming from the shows, I figured I'd make a post helping people figure out what games to play!

This is going to be the main 6 games (1-4, 76, NV), though I may add more if I play some of the other games. Feel free to add on, ask questions, or generally interact with this! I'm always happy to help people get into the games and love talking Fallout with people. :)

This is going to be as spoiler-free as possible, though I may mention some game locations vaguely, so be warned if you think that may ruin the experience.

For further reading, I highly reccomend the Independent Fallout Wiki! A lot less ads in your way, and the people over there are lovely. However, be careful, as there are spoilers there!

TLDR; New Vegas for story, Fallout 4 for gameplay and introducing concepts, Fallout 1 for authenticity, and Fallout 76 for multiplayer but absolutely nothing else of value.

Table of Contents

Fallout 1

Fallout 2

Fallout 3

Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout 4

Fallout 76

Last Updated: April 22, 2024

Fallout 1

Released; 1997

Setting; Southern California, 2161

Wiki Page

Almost a hundred years after the bombs fell, Vault 13's water chip has broken, and the Vault Dweller was selected (through random chance) to venture out into the wasteland and save their vault.

Pros:

The Original Fallout Game!

One of my favourites, story-wise.

Harold!

The game is relatively short compared to the others, and the story isn't overly hard to digest, in my opinion.

The 'talking heads' animations are super cool (Aradesh, Harold, Etc Etc)

Later character who I won't name but once you meet them YOU'LL KNOW

There's no limit to how many companions you can have at a time

I generally love the setting.

Cons:

The graphics do not age well. Even for the time, they were a bit lacking. (For reference, Doom came out in 1993, 4 years earlier).

Bit of a learning curve! But once you get it, it's pretty easy to use. The turn-based combat was the hardest to get a handle on.

The game DOES NOT hold your hand. Later games have objective lists and markers, but this game just has a list and memory. Pretty fun, if you're into a more difficult game!

Combat and general survival is difficult. The experience is authentic - which means you can and will die during the first combat scenario. Again, once you get it it's not that bad, but combat will remain difficult. But for some this could be a pro!

Fallout 2

Released; 1998

Setting; Southern California, 2241

Wiki Page

80 years after the Vault Dweller's heroic rescue of their Vault, the village of Arroyo is suffering a severe drought. The Chosen One, a descendant of the Vault Dweller, has been sent to retrieve a G.E.C.K. to save their village.

Pros

The story again is very good!

A lot of the strengths of the previous game.

There's something melancholy about exploring the world of Fallout 1 with so many changes and losses. It's perfect for the setting.

Sergeant Dornan. You'll see when you meet him.

More Harold!

Cons

This was released only a year after Fallout 1, so a lot of the graphics & gameplay remain the same, if that's not something you're a fan of.

This is where the idea of "wacky vault experiments" is introduced, something I've never super loved, but that's subjective.

Fallout 3

Released; 2008

Setting; Capital Wasteland (Formerly Washington, D.C.), 2277

Wiki Page

200 years after the war, the 19-year-old Lone Wanderer's father has mysteriously left their home at Vault 101. It is up to the Lone Wanderer to track him down and figure out what's going on, all while navigating the dangerous Capital Wasteland.

Pros

Brought the Fallout series into the modern era!

Some pretty cool locations, like Megaton and Rivet City

Sort of a pro and con, a lot of the game is spent in the underground Metro system. This is cool, but I'm not a huge fan of interior spaces. Still - it feels like a real DC Wasteland!

Galaxy News Radio is introduced, which is great background noise - and I love Three Dog. He's so silly.

No sprint button. It's not felt super bad in this game compared to Vegas, but it still can be annoying.

It feels like a post-apocalypse. The whole world is this muddy, almost sickly green, grey, and brown colour. All of the sets are carefully designed, full of dirt and debris and trash. Buildings are crumbling or outright hollowed out, the ghouls look like walking corpses (as they should be), the mole rats are nasty and all of the creatures feel gross. As they should be! This is a post-apocolypse, everything should be gross and dirty!

Lots of good world-building. Because this is based in the Capital, we get to interact with a lot of old-world history, and see how similar and different it is from our own.

Cons

Story is... not great, in my opinion.

Some of those DLCs physically hurt me. They definitely lean into the 'silly' aspects of the games, but I feel it hurts the worldbuilding and realism.

NOT Bethany Esda's best work.

Leans more into the 'game' and less on the 'role-playing', which was a big part of Fallout 1 and 2. The protagonist is 19, their father is James, and we see a bit of what their childhood looked like. You can work around it, but it's not as fun as the other games.

Sometimes the npcs are annoying. There's collision in this game, but sometimes if you step on something it'll move and a npc will shout 'Watch where you're going' or something, which gets on my nerves. Also, if you so much as look at a locked container, you get a 'That's locked for a reason'. Probably minor, but annoying.

Fire ants.

Fallout: New Vegas

Released; 2010

Setting; Mojave Wasteland (Formerly Mojave Desert), 2281

Wiki Page

Courier Six, or just the Courier, is in the middle of a delivery when they are interrupted by Benny and shot in the head - though they make a miraculous recovery and now need to figure out exactly what kind of mess they've landed themselves in this time.

Pros

I mean, it's Fallout New Vegas. This is a lot of people's favourite, for good reason. Story is phenomenal, the entire world feels real and interactive. If you shoot someone, there's consequences, and the other npcs will acknowledge it.

THE BEST radio. All of the music slaps and helps you feel the setting. Plus, I love Mr. New Vegas, the radio host.

The characters are amazing.

The world is not too silly but still silly. Like yeah, this makes sense for a post-apocalypse. But it's also so objectively funny. Some of the best memes come from this game.

Yes Man.

As usual, I love the map design.

Instead of greens for Fallout 3, this game is bathed in oranges and brown - making it feel warm, perfectly capturing the desert setting, and dusty.

the DLCs are amazing!!

We love the companions in this house.

I love how morally grey it is. No one is perfect, no faction is outright good or outright bad (except the Legion, fuck those guys). It's up to you to pick which you think is the lesser evil, which is the best future for the Mojave. Or you can kill them all, up to you.

Cons

The development for this game was pretty famously rocky. It was outsourced to Obsidian, and they were given only 18 months to make it. Therefore, this game is very similar to Fallout 3, with some general improvements here and there.

There is still no sprint button, which is definitely felt here. A lot of the stuff is spread out, so thewre's a lot of wandering through desert, slowly making your way to your destination. It also feels more empty. The great city of New Vegas is sparsely populated, quiet, and desolate - despite it being such a big deal and supposedly so popular.

Honest Hearts DLC :////

Fallout 4

Released; 2015

Setting; The Commonwealth (Formerly Boston, MA), 2287

Wiki Page

In 2077, the Sole Survivor (default names Nate or Nora) is ready to start a family. In their little neighbourhood, with their white picket fence and infant son, it is a time of new beginnings - despite the war raging around them. Unfortunately, the war quickly catches up to them, and their family is forced to take shelter in Vault 111, where they are frozen in time for 210 years. They emerge following the kidnapping of their infant son, into a time so different to their own, battling this new world alongside the ghosts of the old.

Pros

The graphics have been updated, and it looks great! Mostly. Instead of washed-out greens and browns, this game is bright and vibrant.

Some more awesome companions. Honestly, I love them so much.

I really like the level-up system in this. I prefer 3/NV, but the tier system is fun and visually neat.

Better crafting system. And more crafting systems in general.

Settlements!!! This game introduces settlements, which basically means there's a bunch of set locations around the map that you can take over and build in! You get a lot of freedom and are responsible for meeting the needs for people in the settlement. You can get some mods for more freedom/flexibility, and you can mostly ignore it if you want.

Cons

The story is... also lacking. It feels almost... unfinished? Some beats are strange and it's just like. What.

Playing this before Fallout 3 pissed me off so much, because there's so much that is ripped off of Fallout 3. The Commonwealth is brought up, the radio music is the same, the vault numbers so similar, there's even an early version of Vault 111. It feels lazy. Fallout New Vegas was more creative, and they had a fraction of the time 4 has.

40-50% of the game is spent in loading screens.

Preston Garvey deserves so much better. "AnOtHeR sEtTlEmEnT nEeDs YoUr HeLp!"

Nick Valentine is non-romancable.

It's so easy to forget about the main objective, and hard to really care about it. This is a common problem I've heard, so it's not just me.

Radio host gets on my nerves :/

Nuka-World DLC is frustrating. But at least it's not. Sideyes Honest Hearts (Fo:NV).

Game is... easy. Too Easy. Deathclaws are supposed to be dangerous and difficult to kill.

Fallout 76

Released; 2018

Setting; Appalachia (Midwestern US mountain range), 2102-2104

Wiki Page

25 years after the bombs fell, all members of Vault 76 have been kicked out in order to rebuild society.

Pros

It's. Multiplayer? Kinda.

I made some friends on there, which was neat.

Return of item condition. So.

CAMPs are fun. Like the settlement but without NPCs to look after and allows location flexibility.

Has. Some new songs on the radio?

ALMOST HEAVEN. WEST VE-

Amazing map design! The outside is gorgeous and feels like Appalachia, for the most part.

Honestly, I prefer this version of VATS (the game's targeting system). In other games, VATS will pause and slow down combat to help with aim, and can be kind of annoying. Here, the combat speed is the same, you just spend some AP (stamina) for aim assist.

Cons

I prefer settlements tbh

What's not to mention? Story sucks, game sucks, etc etc. It's pretty famously bad.

I usually love the story, but checked out very fast and spent most of my time running around. But I honestly didn't last long even then.

The game is broken. Like, fundamentally broken. You are constantly subjected to crashes, bugs, etc etc. Fallout 4 is buggy, but this takes it to an extreme.

50-70% of the game is loading screens.

The interiors are huge, and there is no local map, so you very easily get lost.

Generally the story is so stupid.

Fallout 1st is a cash grab.

Unbalanced.

Bad.

Some videos I like about Fallout 76

Internet Historian's video on the history and release. I'm iffy on Internet Historian as a creator, but I do like the video. Let's just hope it's not plagiarised.

Joseph Anderson's video on the game at it's released state. Primarily focuses on how poorly the game plays and how broken it is. Super funny.

PrivateSession's video released in 2023, reviewing a more current version of the game. More focused on story.

PatricianTV's 4-part series released in 2023, reviewing a more current version of the game. More focused on the game and gameplay.

In conclusion; thank you for reading! As I mentioned, any criticism, questions, and suggestions are welcome! I hate/love fallout and am always happy to drag people down with me.

Also, would people be interested in a post discussing the story/setting/timeline? Like where I infodump further about the universe. To make it easier to digest and answer questions. Or give me a chance to infodump further about fallout.

[bloodgulchblog]

Alright fuck it, s2e1 liveblog.

I'm watching this with people later so the goal is just to get through it enough to sate my impatience, so I'm back to ye olde standby of watching it at high speed with subtitles on. (...Only I guess I'm gonna be slowed down by making comments, huh?)

Spoilers and uncharitable opinions and unfunny jokes will follow.

Not going to talk about stuff in the episode opener until it comes back bc there's not enough to say anything about.

5 minutes in and we're already doing whatever this is huh?

6:30 - Alright okay, fuck, Vannak took his spine pellet out and gets to have one (1) personality trait and it's animal facts and I kind of don't hate that. TV Chief is very unlikable but characters like Kai and Vannak playing the angle of having very youthful quirks bc having emotions is new is cute.

~10:00 - I have nothing to say yet about spooky shapes in the fog but I think this shot of Chief back to back with a marine is fun. Also I wonder if Corporal Perez (this character) will still matter 5 minutes from now.

Also looks like the foggy sword fight from the trailer is here, too difficult to get any kind of cap that doesn't suck out loud. I'm thinking about how I heard someone making a big deal about how Season 2 feels "less like a video game" (whatever that means), meanwhile "fog full of stealth sword guys trying to kill you" feels very very video game level.

~13:00 - Man, and I really thought that sword fighting stuff in the trailer was a solid indicator they were dragging Thel 'Vadamee into this mess. Hey guys look, Arbiter's in this season. 4,000 of him!

Additionally, if a bunch of people decide this is a ship the fandom owes me twenty dollars.

~15:00 - Congrats to Perez for surviving five minutes. Also, we're still doing whatever this is:

16 minutes in we finally get the show's opener. (It has the Halo in it now, I don't think it was there before but let's be perfectly honest it's not like I cared a lot.)

~17:30 or something, reminded once again that a lot of people are attracted to this actor

Also guess what, Keyes is an Admiral now I guess????

Do we think he still gets to get eaten by the Flood eventually? Do we think the Flood will even be in here? Place ur bets at the counter.

Anyway, they're basically diving into a big timeskip here where a bunch of planets have been glassed since last season (including Madrigal). This whole AU is weird to the bone in terms of how its timeline is shaking out.

Anyway anyway, aww here we go

"I'm not here to replace Dr Halsey, I'm here because I believe in you!"

Ohhhhh he knows all the Spartans' names already, ohhhhh they want the audience to like this mf so bad, they want it to be such a tweest that he sucks shit-

Moving right along, at 22:30 we have the Rubble having a crowd decide whether various refugees should be spaced or taken into indentured servitude, because of course we do.

tl;dw the nebbish redhead knows where Catherine Halsey is and there's a big bounty out for her and he's trying to use it as a bargaining chip to not die and everyone thinks that's very funny, also Soren is here. I guarantee he decides to go after her, but first we have to have a scene cut back to whatever TV Chief is doing.

Man I'm really noticing they haven't shown the weird ridged rubber tech suit yet this episode, I wonder if they decided to replace it.

Anyway here's Perez, I still think they want people to start shipping:

Then Jimmy Rings has a meeting with tv show's new guy they want you to like so bad.

Also he says "The O-N-I" like a complete tool. (This is how you know he sucks.)

And while I'm talking trash about him: Ackerson stop flirting, didn't they tell you nobody's allowed to be gay in Halo? Get your shit together.

Thus ends the dream of the funniest possible universe where we just had Cortana: The Show forever. Someone get the penny whistle. My heart will not go on. 😢

Fuck, I was doing timestamps, right? I'm like half an hour in.

THEY STILL WANT YOU TO THINK ACKERSON CARES, BY THE WAY, IN CASE YOU DID NOT NOTICE

They're laying this on so thick so fast there's no way he's not a shitweasel in this AU, but also that would be the funniest possible thing to me.

(If anyone ships this, the fandom owes me forty dollars and therapy.)

ANYWAY... Action figure time. (Remember to boycott Jazwares!)

Soren's kid is playing with a MASTER CHIEF ACTION FIGURE and being weird, meanwhile Soren's wife is calling him out on shit and reminding him that refugees being turned away is, you know, bad.

Congrats to Soren's wife for continuing to be the most unexpectedly sympathetic supporting character I guess, but they made Soren so unlikable off the 1st season it's hard for me to feel investment of any kind here.

35 minutes in: the Spartans are watching a space TV broadcast. They have Ca-ADMIRAL. Admiral. Admiral Keyes presenting the Colonial Cross to Corporal Perez for blah blah blah you saw the start of the episode. The shape of the ceremony and the hovering tv drone thing are obvious H2 references.

(Does this mean Perez is our Sergeant Johnson now? Vote with your phones.)

Get your face out of here, Ackerson, I know what you are.

Oh god there's another team of Spartans (Cobalt) and having adult Spartan-IIs call each other names like children is fucking weird.

Aaaaand tumblr is capping the number of images I can post here and I'm still only about half way done. Fuck. I am not doing this this way for Episode 2 I can promise you that.

(Also hey look the tech suit is back, I guess Silver Team doesn't use it so much anymore to show you they're more human now or whatever?)

[meowdred]

🖥️✏️🖋️❤️ aaand ‼️ :^)

finally got around to answering these, thank you so much for the ask L!!!

🖥️"what types of writing do you do?"

i've always intended my lideri series to be a series of indie games (developed by yours truly, a guy who doesn't know what he's doing). my plans for it are going to be RPGMaker, simply because i'm more familiar with it and i grew up with RPGMaker games as a kid. so i guess you could say video game writing?

although, i'm very new at it and still learning. i like to do some drabbles at the side for fun and i've been meaning to write a short story about percival's youth and how he first became a knight :') there's a lot more stories in the lideri universe i have planned too and i think an anthology of them would be cool, but i have to work on the main games first....

✏️"what are your current WIPs about?"

it's currently on my pinned! but there's some i skipped over and i can elaborate more here.

LidERi means life death rebirth and its a series essentially, atm there's like, 3 connected stories ---- Dalagang Bukid/DLGBK (tl. country maiden) a prequel of sorts. it's pre-apocalypse, dystopian, psychological horror with some sci fi elements. a young woman named angela is haunted by the death of a close friend, wrongfully concluded as a suicide. knowing there's more than meets the eye, her investigations lead her to an abandoned military base in the mountains. horrors ensue, and she gets tangled in a series of events that change the course of history forever inspired by PS2 horror games like resident evil and silent hill ---- LidERi: Revelations after the events of DLGBK, a world shattering phenomenon called the Rapture takes place, wherein the fabric of realities falls apart and demons start pouring through the world, eating and consuming everything they see. eventually, people started becoming one of them, kind of like a zombie apocalypse with a catholic flair. revelations takes place hundreds of years after. humanity nearly became extinct, but the portion that survived had to fight back in order to survive, leading to the rise of a groups of people known as hunters. reinhardt de leon, a mercenary hunter, goes through a series of adventures in order to find a cure for his ailing little sister, mayumi. he's joined by a mysterious doctor he met in the woods named orion, a quiet but ruthless aswang named eve, and a brash young sharpshooter named liezel. inspired by nier replicant, bloodborne, and berserk ---- LidERi: Paradise Lost a spinoff that takes place in an alternate timeline of Revelations. the majority of the human population succumbed to the illness known as ubok (ubo + bulok, meaning cough/rot). the last bastion of humanity where the remaining population lives is a fortress city known as linawasa, ruled by a man unanimously known as "the father" mordred nazareno, a vigilante traitor-knight, believes that "the father" is the root of all evil and goes on a revenge quest in order to kill him. sir percival de galles, his best friend, is on a seperate mission tasked by the lady ninian in order to find sir lancelot, one of the father's greatest knights long presumed to be dead, with the belief that he might be humanity's last hope through the threat of extinction. their stories are intertwined and are meant to be two sides of one coin inspired by paradise lost by john milton, perlesvaus, and nier automata

🖋️"what inspired you to write your WIPs?"

i've always had something in mind for mordred and percival but always went back and forth in the kind of setting i wanted. i actually had an old retelling idea and a bunch of character designs that i ditched, lol. you might be able to see them on my old blog

but for lideri? i came up with it after playing resident evil and getting into horror games. i liked resident evil 2 and zombies so much i thought the idea of a survival horror game was really cool and i came up with the "zombie apocalypse but make it catholic" concept. and then i played nier replicant and my life took a turn, it's probably the biggest inspiration on my work, alongside berserk and bloodborne. which, at the time, i also became obsessed with.

honestly i just want to create something that i like and i want to see and thats what lideri is. it's more than that too, i'm expressing a lot of thoughts and feelings into it. they're quite complex and heavy, some of it personal, some of it to do with politics and the state of the world, it's always been kind of like a mind palace for me and i needed a way to vent out my frustrations

so? in short: i wanted to create something i like and because i needed an outlet. i hope that answers that question!

❤️"what are your favorite scenes from your WIPs?"

there's a lot i could mention but it's really spoilery lol. i think one i could mention is when rein meets the doctor orion/orfiel for the first time and they end up having a lot of tension going on. another is percival's first meeting with mordred, he's the "angel" that percival first meets in the forest.

oh, and the intro to paradise lost's rebellion wherein mordred gets his arm cut off in a fight with galahad lol (that's how he gets his prosthetic)

‼️"what has stayed consistent across all drafts?"

doomed yaoi in different flavors. everyone just happens to be gay and miserable. people die in a myriad of horrifying ways. there's no such thing as a good ending or bad ending, but an ending nonetheless. it's always bittersweet. live laugh love.