#i love this game! it frustrates me. but it's so addictive! and very satisfying! and i love being a prowler!!!

[roukabi]

Happy 20th, Monster Hunter! After 200 hours into MH: Generations, I finally beat HR:8 Nakarkos! A healing-based Prowler is by no means the best play style, especially solo... but it still works!

[notori]

On a more genuine note from my previous post though: I do not think Imodna will go the same way as Vaxleth for a few reasons.

Vax's story was very personal to Liam. It always frustrates me when people act like the Raven Queen 'took Vax away' (and thus she is a bad goddess) when in fact she answered his prayer and granted his wish. Vax's story is about "Take me instead!" - not some kind of "Don't let Vex die!", and certainly not someone who was raised from the dead without their consent and bound like a puppet. Unless such an ending is expressly what Marisha wants for her character, I don't see it being narratively satisfying. Even if Laudna dies in sacrifice to save the others, because of the breadth of Delilah's power, it would be more of a general "I'm dying to save everyone" and less personal (and impactful) than Vax's trading his life for Vex's.

I joked about how this is Delilah Briarwood vs Laura Bailey again, so don't sweat it, but it's true! The players play their characters differently. Liam loves tragedy and plays it well; Laura loves romance and plays it well. Percy also had a dark streak with a hunger for power, and Vex would not let him go. I see more parallels with themes like: "I feel cruel, but in control." and "Take the mask off." Meanwhile, Imogen and Keyleth are different characters and their love interests have different relationships with death. In the end, the reason Keyleth could not do anything against the Raven Queen isn't because she's a god and Keyleth is not, but because Vax - as a paladin - chose to honour his faith and uphold his end of the deal. Imogen is not in that position because Laudna is not in that position. Laudna may see herself as just a puppet, or a risk, or a dead end - but we the audience, and Imogen, know that she is not (maybe a bit of a calculated risk). If anything, I see us on the precipice of an arc of Imogen inspiring Laudna to fight for her independence again and figuring out a way to do that (this is a world of magic after all).

And that theme of fighting for independence is something that has been there since the beginning. We have seen it both in analysis and confirmed on 4SD that Laudna's relationship with Delilah is in many ways similar to struggling with addiction. And now, into year three of C3, we are really seeing that take form when things get rough. When things get out of control, when you get desperate, that's when you grasp at anything to make it easier. It would be a real kick in the teeth to have her not overcome that struggle. Of course, there's the possibility that she does overcome that struggle by getting rid of Delilah and dying as a result. But out of game it has been referred to more in line with addiction that is constantly managed rather than addiction that is ended cold turkey - which for some people is the only way. I'll admit this one is more a personal preference but I do see it overall leaving a bad taste if Laudna were to die from Delilah in some way (again). Presuming they resolve issues with the solstice and resurrection spells, True Resurrection does exist and I'm certain the Hells would work off a 25k GP debt to bring Laudna back for good (which I see as more of a final episode/epilogue/post-game situation).

Regardless, it's a beautiful story and I'm sure that whatever happens will be what the players want. However, in this case I genuinely don't see them repeating something they have done before. Although we saw many parallels last night, there is still much which sets Imodna and Vaxleth apart narratively.

[fiber-optic-alligator]

I SEE THAT CROSSED OUT “AS A SNACK” IN YOUR LAST ASK 👀

Let’s say… hypothetically… Zuko would end up tasting the tiny he takes care of 👀 how would that happen?

MWSHRJENDJRNRJF LISTEN LISTEN ITS NOT WHAT YOU THINK

Okay yeah it is.

REMINDER TO ANYONE READING THIS THAT THIS IS STRICTLY SFW. DO NOT MAKE THIS WEIRD (not you Relic I promise lmao this is not aimed at you at all).

Once again, it would really depend on which season Zuko you’re dealing with. Because if you’re thinking of a more malicious fearplay perspective, season 1 Zuko would be the guy for that. I’d like to think the Fire Nation would consider tinies an exotic delicacy because why the fuck not, everything goes to shit when Ozai is in charge. But I’m not a fan of hard vore or digestion, so I’d consider this to be a situation where tinies are treated kinda like gum or legal drugs (sort of like your Tasty Au!). They’re delicious, they’re satisfying, and oh boy do they provide benders with a massive power up. Pretty soon tinies become staples of unlocking firebending capabilities: just gobble one up, tuck it away for a few hours, soak in that strength, and then spit it up for next time.

Maybe in regards to season 1, Zuko is gifted a tiny as a good luck charm by someone for his trip to hunt down the Avatar. Due to the fact that eating tinies is so normalized in the Fire Nation, he’d have no qualms with tasting you, and he’d definitely get addicted pretty quickly. It would be a power trip for him; he’s just been banished from his home, his father has mentally and physically scarred him, he feels completely lost, and besides Uncle Iroh, he has no one to turn to, and he won’t allow himself to turn to anyone. He’d take that anger and frustration out on you. He’d never hurt you-his honor won’t allow it-but he’ll scare you by holding you over his jaws, snapping his teeth at your kicking feet, playing games of cat and mouse by letting you run off only for him to slam his hand over you at the last moment and then toss you into his maw, etc, etc. I don’t see season 1 Zuko being a big licker or one who’d keep you in his mouth for long. He’s impatient and doesn’t have time for it. But he’ll make you fear him and he likes that because it gives him some sort of control in his out-of-control life.

Season 3 Zuko would be more for accidental fearplay and fluff. Protection vore would be up his alley and even then he’d never keep you within him for very long (unless you really beg him to. If you genuinely enjoy being in there, then he will reluctantly give in and admit he likes you being in there too). Much more gentle and focused on how you feel than season 1. More licking and time in his mouth too because being gentle with you gives him more of an opportunity to taste you to the full extent, and he just really likes holding you in his mouth because he likes how protected you are. There’s also huge potential for miscommunication and the classic “I need to protect you so I’m going to eat you but you won’t know it’s safe and I can’t tell you it’s safe right now so please don’t be scared of me I will comfort you when we are both safe” scenario,” which I love hehehehehee.

As you can see I’ve put a lot of thought into this and I don’t know whether I should be proud or ashamed. Thank you for indulging :D

[charcubed]

the problem with that man is that he's obsessed with two things: not explaining and not spoiling. so he just answers everything with the most surface level shit cause he has this "think for yourself" attitude. which i would love. if the internet wasn't filled with people averse to thinking and who love not connecting the dots on purpose. like yeah i know that ox are the first earthly pleasure which were followed by others. 95% of the internet doesn't. ON PURPOSE.

[ben-affleck-smoking.jpeg]

Honestly anon, I tip my hat to you because this helps me a little bit. Just a little bit, to fathom what the fuck he's on about and what his potential reasoning is for it. I mean, I'm still frustrated beyond belief by his whole shtick and think it's unnecessary/irresponsible, but I do appreciate you giving me a somewhat plausible explanation so I can have a posited reason for his behavior to wrap my head around.

The thing is, like... People are stupid.

And/or: people are, historically, so determined to project what they want onto a piece of media (while being hellbent on arguing their right to do so while arguing their "interpretations" should remain unencumbered and unexamined) that they're not interested in seeing what it's theoretically or probably actually doing.

So there are 2 ways this shit is gonna go at this point in my opinion (and it's only been a month since season 2 came out so this shit can probably get even more stark before season 3! Yippee!):

Aziraphale and Crowley DON'T fuck on screen. Neil Gaiman is in fact addicted to the praise of very online ace people and so he has internalized that he can't "ruin their rep." Oh, you say you saw subtext in HIS season 2? Surely not. There was/is no erotic or sexual subtext in Ba Sing Se. To be clear, this would be the cowardly homophobic option whether people think it is or not, in part because of the thematic relevance and subtext now attached to them as of season 2 that begs follow-through (which exists despite his pedantic carefully-worded tumblr posts right now), and in part because if we had to see Newt and Anathema fuck then there is no legitimate reason that Aziraphale and Crowley should not get to do the same in light of the subtext. Period. And media doesn't exist in a vacuum. Sorry not sorry.

Aziraphale and Crowley DO fuck on screen. All of the ace people who have read into Neil's several pedantic and carefully-worded posts and engagement for years then become loudly devastated and angry that "their rep" has been destroyed with "no warning." A new term of "acebaiting" probably enters the cultural lexicon. Extremely online carnage occurs, etc. And frankly? At this point I'd (already) be inclined to say Neil would not be entirely blameless for it because of the way he's now acting while needlessly engaging directly with some of the discourse. The majority of the onus would be on the people who assume that he is confirming or defending the unequivocal canonical validity of their ace readings, because he's technically done nothing of the sort. But while he looooves to post and engage in the manners of those technicalities, at this point he can't be oblivious to how legions of inane people end up being like "soooo true Mr. Gaiman, romance doesn't have to be sexual <3" and he just lets them think that constitutes a promise that these characters will never be openly sexual. So if they think that for years, and then the characters fuck (as they should)? Madness will descend, and part of it – not all of it by far, but part of it – will be on him. Because there's no point or purpose in him acting like this other than he gets a kick out of it. He is now openly playing stupid games post-season 2 and will win stupid prizes.

Secret third thing is that Aziraphale and Crowley ambiguously fuck – Schrödinger's fade-to-black potential sex that we just don't see, if you will – in an effort to satisfy all parties, but that is filed under a variation of version 1 in my opinion. It'll still be lowkey homophobic and purity-culture-coded at the end of the day if there's room for ambiguity and people can erase the fact that they fucked if they prefer to do so.

Anyway. The thing is that if he wants people to think for themselves and connect the dots on their own, then pretending as if the dots don't even exist by ignoring them through omission and acting deliberately obtuse with surface level responses does not inspire people to look for or continue to argue for those dots and their depth. But it sure as HELL inspires stupid people to make leaps of logic and say things like "ummm Neil Gaiman already said nothing is sexual about the ox scene soooo if you're arguing otherwise you're being aphobic." Which is exhausting and infuriating and, again, stupid lol.

And that's certainly not entirely Neil's fault! He's NOT responsible for people being stupid. But he is responsible for making things deliberately confusing because he feels clever and maybe wants to challenge everyone else to be clever without openly saying that in so many words – if that is indeed what he's doing.

And if he's not gonna explain anything sufficiently then he shouldn't be engaging with shit like this at all because people then take his deliberate selective lack of explanation as tacit evidence that there must be nothing to explain.

At the end of the day, I'm personally not interested in dissecting the tea leaves of his posts to guess at the fullness of what he truly thinks. I see the subtext and themes in his work, and either he placed them there and sees them too or he didn't/doesn't. If he sees them but doesn't want to talk about them on main for whatever reason then I have no qualms about saying that that's weird behavior. And I also have no qualms about saying that – based on season 2 – Aziraphale and Crowley should fuck in season 3. Ultimately, while his pedantic posts and the resulting discourse raise my blood pressure, I don't need his permission to know the truth of that.

[buccee]

This video is a part of the gameplay of Elden Ring. Elden Ring is an action role-playing game where the player character is a Tarnished, one of a group of exiles from the land, who fights demigods to claim Elden Ring and become Elden Lord. I got this game CD for my birthday gift. As soon as I played it, I fell in love with this game and got addicted.

This game, like many other games, encompasses many forms of art. This game combines architecture, armor and weapon design, the appearance of humans and creatures, music, story, and scenery. All these components were so beautiful and impressive. And the most fantastic part is that you can participate in the game as a character. I felt like I became tarnished, fought enormous god-like creatures, and became the lord.

I love Western European style designs like stone/metal architecture, which is magnificent and sophisticated, and metal armor, helm, sword, axe, and shields.

I love the story too. The character was expelled from the world, but now he's returning to get power and become a lord. Many guys would agree that this kind of mission boils your blood.

It also has excellent motion physics, which shows extreme martial arts, and gorgeous scenery, which displays sky and land. Sometimes it gets intense and horrible, bloody. But after the fight, it can be very calm, peaceful, and beautiful.

Ultimately, you beat the final god and become the Elden lord of the world. That feeling that I eventually beat all those crazy opponents and reached the top of the power pyramid is so amazing. The game's difficulty also gives me a lot of frustration but also makes me patient, think more about strategy, and gives me more satisfying rewards when I finally beat the opponent.

I cannot and should not do these kinds of journeys in real life, but it was in the game, so I really enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to participating in the next version of this art, Elden Ring.

[startselectscreen]

My Game of the Year 2022

10. Old World

From the developers of Civilization 4, comes this one which compassess how addictive and fun that game was and multiply the number of hours spent playing this game. It meets Civilization with Crusader Kings with its heritage tree, having some political aspect to it.

9. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet

Another Pokemon game that I’m interested in, its a shame that the framerate chugs throughout the game, performance wise but man I still love Pokemon. I do find it weird that the mount that they give us looks like a bike with a Pokemon living in it and Pokemon centers are like sizable kiosks that contain a center, a shop where you can buy items and ™ shop where you acquire crafting items from defeated Pokemon and League Points . Anyways, the UI like Archeus is clean and simple and the open world aspect is atmospheric. I do love that you can do gyms at any order since it scales with your level. Titan hunting and raid bases from Team Star is fine, each to its own right. These two new features at the start feels frustrating due to its difficulty with Titans and Raid bosses having life bars and with titans you live to defeat them twice, granted later on it's pretty easy to defeat them.  The terastablize feature is like from Sword which can use to empower your Pokemon but you can only use it once and it recharges when you go to the Pokecenter. 

8. Tunic

Tunic manages to exceed my expectations, the exploration and music does a great job to immerse yourself into this game. Even if there’s not much of a story, it just compels the player on its other aspects of enjoying this game. It may be an insult or compliment to compare this to Zelda or any Souls game but the spirit of this game is really Zelda-like and Tunic was once called “Zelda like a Fox” before the game came out. To that end, this game is a wonderful and enjoyable experience to had by all

7. WoW Wrath of the Lich King Classic

This expansion of a well-loved MMO is considered my favourite, it basically continues where we left off in Warcraft 3 and its expansion, The Frozen Throne and focuses on the Lich King and your journey to Northrend. The leveling can take awhile to cap but the quests and the scenarios as you progress with leveling is interesting and while you still get that same old pop culture reference that Blizzard’s been keen on doing, it is still enjoyable to the very least.

6. Pokemon Legends Arceus

Arceus is still an enjoyable game withstanding its core frustrations, the game is like a open world Safari Zone from its base games but no movement restrictions required. It’s fun trying to catch more Pokemon to achieve more research tasks and getting more stars that your Pokemon will obey you at any level. Being a standalone game, it feels like a breath of fresh air to just catch Pokemons like its slogan.

5. Persona 5 Royal (PC/XBS/X)

This port of a game that came out a few years ago is now on recent consoles is very fun indeed. You play as a character nicknamed Joker, part of the Phantom Thieves which is a group of students who steal hearts or change their ways by staging grand heists and taking their most prized treasures. As a JRPG, much like its previous game is fun, tons of Social Links/Confidants to Max out that will help level your Personas with its interesting parde of characters that you’ll get to love and enjoy.  The palaces where you infiltrate are kinda difficult with a lot of backtracking through simple puzzles tends to be annoying but its satisfying in its own right.

4. God of War Ragnarok

I wasn’t sure to add this on my list since I didn’t complete this game but the hours spent playing this warrant it. It just amazes me how fun this action game really is. I mean, sure there aren't many subtle changes since the previous game but it is still enjoyable with Kratos just hurting a bunch of his enemies. Just beating the living shit out of mythical creatures and Gods is so satisfying when played right.

3. Sifu

Sifu is basically a love-letter to movies featuring martial arts, it’s not intended on its accuracy on what it portrays, it's a kung-fu game that a French studio, Slowmo had made. The story starts as a simple revenge tale, your “sifu” (master) gets killed before your eyes and you get revenge by finding those who killed him. The certain vibe of this game feels cool through the techno beats of the club to the first stage and the museum level where it becomes that scene from “OldBoy”. It is a fun yet challenging beat-them-up that makes you think twice before playing. The combat is difficult and what keeps the momentum coming is how you learn from each mistake, everytime you either age up to giving up and doing it all over again. It sure is a love letter to kung -fu movies but disappointing is the voice acting not being authentic. It was also criticized by its Chinese aesthetic as some complained about its accuracy but it doesn’t seem intended to be it. Each level is unique in its own way and it just gives a vibrant and rich experience. 

2. Weird West

Coming from the makers of Dishonored, raised my eyebrow, as a top-down Wild West fantasy shooter. It was tempting at first to dismiss the game, it felt terrible and the controls and the camera felt flimsy at best but as I continued on playing it, I had a blast. This game is very underrated, few had played this game and talked about it but there’s alot to talk about with this game.

1. Triangle Strategy

Triangle Strategy plays out like a traditional tactics game, it lays out like a grid-based RPG that familiarizes a mix of tactical strategy and role playing aspects into a pretty aesthetic. To call this similar to Final Fantasy Tactics is a disservice to how unique a tactics game this is. To that end, it is nice to play another one of these games and plus its replayability entices you into playing it even after you have beaten the game which is 50 hours long. Fans of the genre should seriously get this game, whether you like Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem or any tactics game similar to this, the game mixes a grid, tactical base strategy with great roleplaying aspects provided to its fullest extent. Artdink really outdid themselves with this game, it is just incredible. Withstanding the visual graphics, it is recommended to everyone who is looking for a tactics game or any game at all that contains role-playing elements to it. Plus the game is basically Game of Thrones in a tactical, JRPG.

[novelmonger]

The World Ends with You - I'm not too surprised this one didn't win, because I feel like it's...kind of obscure? I mean, it can't be that obscure, because it's gotten a sequel and an anime adaptation (which is REALLY GOOD btw 8D). But I never hear anybody talking about it, which makes me think nobody's played it. Which should really change! It's such a good game. Really good story with great characters, many more twists than I was expecting, and an excellent art style inspired by graffiti. What with all the graffiti and skateboards and rap music and such, it feels like a throwback to the early 2000s, which does this millennial's heart good <3 It's an action RPG, where you attack using pins that require various kinds of motions with the stylus - for example, with one pin you tap the screen to shoot bullets, for another you swipe up to make spikes shoot out of the ground, with another you grab a piece of debris lying on the ground and move it around to hit enemies. It's unique and there's lots of ways you can customize your play style, and it's challenging without being too frustrating (except for maybe the final boss battle x.x). If any of this sounds interesting, do yourself a favor and find a way to play this game - or at least watch the anime, which is a very good adaptation (though it's much shorter than the game, so unfortunately some great stuff got cut).

Myst IV: Revelation - Aw, nobody voted for this :( I'm actually playing this right now with my sisters! Personally, I think this is where the series should have ended; it has a really satisfying conclusion to all the threads presented thus far, and still has that pre-rendered still images + live-action footage charm that makes Myst consistent, unlike the changes they made with Myst V. Some of the acting is a little disappointing (especially Yeesha) after Brad Dourif's stand-out performance in the previous game, but it's still really nice to see where this family has ended up after all you've done to help them over the years. Like any Myst game, there are some puzzles that make you want to just rip your hair out, but all the same I feel like I've been taking fewer notes in this playthrough. Maybe that's because we're following a walkthrough more closely, though ^^'

The Last Guardian - Oh. My. Word. I love this game so much <3 Made by the same people who made ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, this game is about a boy who befriends a huge gryphon-like creature called a trico, and together the two of them try to escape the ruins they're stuck in. I feel like this game combines all the best things in both of the other Fumito Ueda games: You spend a lot of time climbing around, both on crumbling stone and on the back of a huge animal, but also the whole point of the story is that two characters who are very unlike each other have to learn how to work together to survive, even though they can't communicate with each other in the same way. The game is beautiful, sometimes soft and other times epic, and through the process of playing the game, I feel like I really developed a bond with Trico. I've played the game twice, and both times the ending had me bawling like a baby - partly because of the bittersweet nature of the story, but also partly because I was saying goodbye to a friend. AAAAAHHHHHH, more people need to play this game, it's so good! T^T

Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Wow, this barely beat out Transistor! This one is actually probably my least-favorite Professor Layton game, if I'm being honest ^^' It's the first one they made, so I feel like they were still working out a few of the kinks, and the story wasn't quite as involved or interesting as some of the later installments. Still really cute and charming, and I always love Layton and Luke and their addiction to puzzles XD

The Path - Huh, this was the one I wasn't expecting anyone to have played, but I guess I was wrong! I was really excited to play this game, but ended up being kind of underwhelmed once I actually got around to it. It's a horror game that sort of plays on Little Red Riding Hood, where you have to lead several characters down a path to Grandma's cottage. You're warned not to stray from the path, but you unlock different endings if you stick to the path, or if you leave the path and explore the somewhat desolate forest. There's a subtle story told in the things you find, but I was expecting things to come together in a different way than they did. Still, a cool aesthetic and a cool way of telling a story.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End - Hands-down my favorite of the Uncharted series. The story is awesome, tying things up so satisfactorily, and including some really gut-wrenching and emotional scenes. Plus, I mean...this one is a story about brothers, so of course I'm going to like it XD Also, since this game was made for the PS4, the graphics are leaps and bounds ahead of the first three games. Also, the music was done by none other than Henry Jackman!!!!! I kept on noticing how both epic and emotional it was while I was playing it, and then I saw his name in the credits and was like, "Captain America, of course!"

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit - *sigh* Not surprised that no one voted for this, since it's an unnecessary spin-off of the Life Is Strange franchise. But it's really good - and it's free on Steam! It's a short little oneshot where you play as a kid and take him through his typical Saturday morning. It's starts out as just cute fun, a kid playing with his toys and using his imagination to its fullest potential. But then you start to detect a darker undercurrent to his life, one that really tugs at your heartstrings. The boy is a character who shows up in one chapter of Life Is Strange 2, but you really don't need to play any of the other games to understand this one. Also, mercifully, this game is a lot cleaner than the main ones, so I actually feel like I can recommend it to most people I know ^^'

Transistor - Almost won, but not quite! You know...this is one of those weird instances where I can say that a game is objectively good, but for some reason I just didn't like it that much. I'm not sure why - maybe I just played it at the wrong time or something? But I just couldn't get invested in the characters at all, and the gameplay was good, but not fun enough to make up for how little I cared about the story. The aesthetic of the game is really cool, though.

Arbitrarily-Chosen Video Game Tournament, Round 1.23

Welcome to the Arbitrarily-Chosen Video Game Tournament, where we will find out which of the games I've played is the best game of all time!

Why? Don't ask. Just vote and reblog!

[virginiabeachresidence]

War Robots is a multiplayer online battle arena game where you control a giant robot and fight against other players in various maps and modes. The game is available for Android and iOS devices, and it has decent 3D graphics, decent physics, and a huge variety of robots and weapons to choose from.

One of the War Robots maps

I have been playing War Robots for maybe 2 months now, and I have to say that it is a very addictive and enjoyable game. I love the mech genre and blasting away at the bad guys, using different strategies and tactics. The game also has a lot of customization options, allowing me to upgrade my robots and weapons, change their appearance (that’s expensive), and equip them with different modules and drones.

However, as much as I like War Robots, I also have to admit that it is a very frustrating game. The main reason for this is the game’s matchmaking system, which often pits me against players who have MUCH MUCH MUCH better equipment than me. These players have spent a lot of money on the game, buying premium currency, chests, passes, and bundles that give them access to the most powerful robots and weapons in the game. These items are very expensive, and they can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

As a result, these players have a huge advantage over me, and they can easily destroy me with one or two shots from across the map. I have no chance to fight back or even run away from them. They can also capture the beacons faster, deal more damage, and survive longer than me. This makes the game extremely unbalanced, and it is infuriating.

I never expect to murder everyone in the first week. That would be foolish. But I’ve been playing every sort of game for decades. I am usually a factor in almost every game. After weeks of spending for better gear, getting a feel for play, developing strategies and tuning gear, to see myself swatted around like cannon fodder is a little aggravating. 

Aerial view of one of the War Robots maps

I have tried to improve my performance by spending some money on the game myself, about $10 a week, but that is not enough to scratch these guys armor. I have also tried to play more often and complete the daily tasks and events, but that is also not enough to earn enough resources to get the good gear. The game is pay-to-win, and it rewards spending money on it, of course. But it’s the amount of money that kills it for me. I am not sure how people are spending thousands of dollars on coins and randomly spinning for gear and eventually getting these metal monsters. 

The game definitely is catering to people that spend LOTS of money. New gear comes out that is necessary to be on top. Then it’s nerfed. Then new gear that is neccessary comes out, costing more money. Then nerfed. Cycle after cycle.

I am sad to say that I am going have to stop playing War Robots. It is not worth it for me to continue playing a game that makes me feel angry and frustrated more than happy and satisfied. It is a shame, because War Robots is so fun when you’re not a fly in the spider web. If only it had a fairer matchmaking system and a more reasonable pricing model. I’m blowing too much time and money. 

You have a great game here Pixonic. I’ve played mech games over the years and this one is tops. I know you think the rare stuff should be rare, but I enjoy when talent helps me win. And I understand your business model is milk to big spenders so they can stay on top. 

I bid farewell to War Robots. It was great fun while it lasted. Well, maybe one more game…

[ratsalad]

love reading your house md thoughts. is there anything about the show you would change if you could?

the first thought that came to me: i'd change things so that wilson and cuddy weren't constantly trying to change house or tell him what to do re: his addiction when he so clearly wasn't ready to change.

this was a big issue for me throughout the show, because while i understand their frustration as people who love him and who don't want to see him suffer, they failed to see that the constant lecturing pushed house deeper into denial - as it often does to addicts when they're in the precontemplative stage.

what he really needed instead was support (not to be confused with enabling), acceptance and understanding of his choices - real understanding; the awareness that he is where he is right now and they can't change him. this doesn't mean they shouldn't speak up when he makes bad choices. frankly, they were fantastic friends - the only problem was that they didn't realize people don't come out of denial unless they realize it themselves.

but i can also see why wilson (if not cuddy - and only because i don't have as good a read on her as wilson) couldn't be this person for house - wilson's a fixer. he has to feel needed, so he gives people solutions to their problems - even problems they're not willing to admit to having.

house eventually did get out of precontemplative and into contemplative at the end of season 5 when he realized things were too far gone and he needed help - and good for him - but notice how he had to come to that realization himself. it really, really cannot work any other way. i speak from first hand experience.

i'm not sure if i can think of any Big Plot Things to change - the show's writing is far from perfect, but overall i'm satisfied with where they decided to go mostly. there are some things i'd change:

i wish cuddy respected house's disability more in earlier seasons;

i wish he wasn't referred to as an addict in earlier seasons when he was really just a guy in so much pain he developed a dependence (you can see how he might get defensive - and unwilling to recognize later on that he does have an addiction - when people were calling him an addict before he was even an addict);

the majority of season 8 felt like the equivalent of naruto filler episodes

while i do think house never got over the events of the season 7 finale i wish we'd seen him struggling with them at least a little while he was in prison. and i wish we'd seen cuddy at least once in season 8. at his funeral perhaps. feels wrong that she wasn't there

huddy in general. i don't know WHAT i'd change - maybe i wouldn't have teased the ship from, oh i don't know, SEASON 1 - i just know that it could've gone better. i'd have still broke them up, absolutely; but the way it ended (and even began, to an extent) in the show left me dissatisfied

lbr house escaping to some other country after running his car into huddy’s house was sort of ridiculous

house in actual band t-shirts

i'm not a fan of the whole selecting-my-employees-with-a-game-show format of season 4

more house wearing cozy-looking hoodies

my god they really ran out of plots for each episode around seasons 5/6/7. the medical stuff really dipped, too - i rewatched a few episodes from season 1 and the medicine was SO solid, leagues above the later seasons, not to mention other medical dramas: the nun with the copper T, the schizophrenic mom who wasn't schizophrenic at all, those were some of my favorite episodes, and they managed to simultaneously weave in those themes of human nature that's REALLY what this show's trying to get at. towards 5/6/7 i felt like these aspects got really messy.

more house chilling at home

that's kind of all i can think of right now! thanks for sending this in, it was very fun to answer. it's also very kind of you to say that about my house posts, especially because they (especially towards the end of the show) were more cyclic ruminations stemming from Real Actual worry/anxiety for house and some level of projection than true analysis. but thanks nevertheless, it's always gratifying to know that people have been reading them!

[atlas-of-a-human-soul]

Draw your swords, pt.9

Summary: Darkling’s secrets are soon to be unveiled, just in time for a trip to the Fold.

Warnings: angst, swearing, mentions of alcohol, implied sexual content

Part one // Part two // Part three // Part four // Part five // Part six // Part seven // Part eight  

=================================

The Darkling walked with a spring in his step. Residents of Little Palace have gotten used to his skulking in black keftas he wore like second skin. Never before had they seen him smile as much as he did on this particular day – as if he found the secret to happiness.

In truth, the Darkling refused to let himself hope for much. He simply hoped she’d allow him to kiss her now without receiving a death threat for it. It felt incredibly dangerous how foolishly addicted he is to his fickle wife. He never wanted anyone as much as he wanted her.

“General”, Fedyor joined him on his right, while Ivan silently took his left side. They both kept a reasonable distance from Kirigan, two steps behind at all times.

“What reason did you have to knock on my door this morning?” Kirigan’s voice is leveled, but his words are a death trap. There’s nothing more the general hates than his Grisha interrupting his private time – regardless if Y/N is with him or not. Unless there’s a burning issue at hand, he disliked being bothered unnecessarily.

“We’ve intercepted a few interesting stories you might like”, Ivan responds calmly, unafraid of his temperamental general. After all the years they’ve known each other, Ivan could read Kirigan’s mood easily. Despite his discontent, Kirigan is chipper for the first time in a long time. In fact, Ivan can’t even remember the last time his general was this happy...or happy at all.

“What kind?” Darkling asked, but his attention was undeniably divided as he caught sight of Y/N. 

She walked across the hallway with a purpose – determined to raise hell and he found it incredibly sexy. She paused for a moment, her gaze meeting his briefly. When she pursed her lips, his twitched at the corners – a smile starting to form.

“Sun Summoner kind”, Fedyor spoke in a hushed voice.

Kirigan’s smile falters, his eyes leaving Y/N’s. “Follow me”, he barked on order before walking in the opposite direction. 

All his life, the Darkling had been searching for the Sun Summoner. Every whisper of their existence turned out to be nothing but a fabrication, but something felt different now.

Once inside the map room, he leaned with his palms on the table. Kirigan didn’t say anything for a moment or ask for more information, but then his mouth moved on their own accord.

“Is it true?”

Glancing at each other, Ivan and Fedyor silently argued who should deliver the news.

“I asked you a question”, the general growled out, looking at them over his shoulder and the intensity of his glare had erased his earlier happiness.

“Nothing is confirmed yet, but we have quite a lot of accounts from the people surrounding the forest.” Ivan replied.

The Darkling made a sort of a grunting noise that Ivan didn’t know what to make of. The shadows covered the windows swiftly, engulfing the room in darkness as his left eye narrowed ever so slightly.

“The forest?”

Fedyor clears his throat, “Near the border.”

“Near the fold”, Ivan adds.

“I want”, he paused. Running his fingers through his hair, his shadows killed every source of outside light. “We need to prepare for a trip to the armies stationed at the fold.”

Nodding, Ivan looked to Fedyor and his deep-set frown.

“Are we to cross?” Fedyor asks.

The Darkling’s face is stone, his eyes unblinking. “Would it be a problem for you?”

Breath caught in his throat, Fedyor’s heart started to race. “No.”

“Good”, Kirigan remarked. “Prepare everything for departure in no more than a week.”

Sending them off, the Darkling sat in his chair. He wants so many things. His fingers graze his chin as he sighs – there would be no leaving without Y/N following. It’s not in her nature to do nothing and if she learns of the reasons behind his departure, he might lose her. The path of less resistance is to convince her the trip is to prove he’s honored his promise to her. He had sent the instructions yesterday and while she did force his hand on it, he didn’t hate her for it. If he’s bound for hell, at least it’s not a false one. She hates him, but she’s honest with him. He appreciated that.

Finding the Sun Summoner will change everything – for once, he will have a partner who can understand the weight of his past choices. He regrets too many things he’s done, but he was rarely given a choice. They broke the wrong parts of him, in the end, he showed them what happens when they laid a hand on those he cares for. That included Y/N now. If anything, she was a priority. Y/N is the only one he has left in this world.

While the Darkling pondered on the possibility of a Sun Summoner being true, Y/N sat in the library with a pile of books at each side.

The lingering effect of Aleksander’s gaze upon her and his devilish smirk had warmed her up in a way she least expected. For a moment, she couldn’t tell if time stopped or her heart did.

Shaking her head, she flipped the page in frustration. Her skin still burned bright from where he touched her. No amount of bathing can erase the fact she belonged to him now.

Swallowing thickly, she groaned. In all the books she had found, barely few had any information on the shadow summoner. Aside from Morozova creatures that serve as amplifiers, Y/N found mere mentions of a black heretic and the creation of the fold.

Her neck hurt, her eyes felt like they’re being pierced with needles and there was no saving her mind from all the theories she concocted. Leaning back in her chair, she huffed. Rubbing her eyes, she slammed the book closed before standing in frustration.

She didn’t want to love Aleksander, to risk her heart and life. She didn’t want to lay in bed, always afraid of what he might do if one day she’s not careful enough and he learns the truth. Naively, she hoped he’d either stand with her or just walk away but that’s not the Kirigan she knows. He wouldn’t forgive, it’s not in his nature.

Placing the books where she can find them in the morning, she headed to her room. Genya was kind enough to send a servant with lunch, but Y/N missed dinner entirely. Engrossed in books all day, she hardly felt any hunger.

At least not the kind of hunger food could satisfy.

Walking into the room, she hadn’t expected to find Aleksander sat at the bottom of their bed….shirtless.

Standing, he narrowed his eyes at her. “You weren’t at dinner.”

She raised a brow, “Wasn’t hungry.”

Kirigan crossed his arms over his bare chest, the movement making the muscles in his stomach flicker.

“Get dressed”, she quipped.

He smiled, “Do I make you uncomfortable?”

“I’m surprised you don’t have a mirror in every corner of this Palace, since you love yourself so much.”

He laughed wholeheartedly as she just turned away, clamping a hand over her mouth. She couldn’t let herself laugh with him. Every moment like this feels like the world is spinning, making her resolution fragile. She’s aching to let him in, but it would be a mistake. She feels it in his bones, he’s not honest with her.

Caring for a man like him is dangerous, like standing in the eye of a hurricane.

“We’ll leave Little Palace in a week”, Aleksander speaks, “Just as you asked of me.”

She stares at him, disbelief and joy colliding. And it’s the look in his eyes, the hopeful, terrified look in those dark skies that disarms her.

“Why do I feel like there’s a catch?”

Running the tip of his tongue along his lower lip, Aleksander takes a step closer. “You’ll ride with me.”

Pursing her lips, she nods without ever breaking eye contact. “And?”

A breathless chuckle passes his lips, “You’ll have to wear a special kefta. One that won’t let you get hurt easily.”

Taking a deep breath, she tilts her head up, “And?”

Suppressing a smile, he raises an eyebrow. “You’ll be equipped with a weapon of choice. I believe you’re more than familiar with guns as a soldier of the First army.”

Raising both eyebrows in response, she takes a step closer to him. “Swords”, she notes.

Humming, his eyes widen ever so slightly as he waits for her to continue.

“I prefer swords”, she touched his face gently with the back of her hand.

“Of course”, he breathes out. A soft smile spreads across his lips, “Draw your swords if you see an enemy in sight.”

“Even if it’s my husband?” Her lips remain parted, her eyes flickering to his chest where she raised her hand to.

“I don’t care, as long as you keep yourself safe.”

She held her breath as his words resonated with her mind. How can he be so callous one day and then offer up his life for her to take. No game had ever made her question every single word that left someone’s lips before. Sometimes she’d look at him and see through the mask he shows the world and other times she couldn’t see anything other than her own reflection in his eyes as if his soul didn’t exist at all.

“Since when do you care?” She frowns, gnawing on the inside of her cheek.

Letting out a heavy sigh, his eyes flicker to the hand she splayed against his bare chest. Just the simple touch of her hand made him want more. It was becoming too hard to pretend he hates her. What he truly hates is how human she is – what is he supposed to do when her hair turns grey and he’s still young? How will he survive when someone takes her to exact vengeance against him? Will he be too late to save her then?

When your world comes to a stop and the value of life is amplified by those dead before their time in gruesome ways, it feels like an earthquake shakes the very foundations life is built on. But when the walls start falling, past and future no longer exist, only the moment you’re in and the first person that comes to mind when those walls are gone is what your life is all about. For Aleksander, that person is Y/N.

Looking into her eyes, his hands cup her face, “Since I had to spend five days believing you’re dead.”

He wanted to wrap Y/N in his arms and tell her he would never let her walk away, not after he had a taste of what it means to be with her. He wanted to tell her his love is unconditional and that his soul is hers, even if she didn’t want to give him hers. He would wait, as patiently and as stubbornly as he did by now and that she will never lose him because even if he wished, he can’t scrub his heart clean of her. And he never wanted to.

“I thought you’d protect me?” She raised an eyebrow, teasing him.

She had become his heart, his reason to live. She lit a fire within, something he had lost over time and while she’s completely unaware of it, if the world tried to take her from him, the Darkling would wage war to make sure she remains by his side.

Blinking slow, a faint smile upon his lips, the Darkling tilts his head slightly to the left. “Would you allow it?”

There is nothing in the world he wanted more than to kiss her again, but this time around Aleksander decided to let her make the move. She is tender, but fierce. To understand a woman like her, one must realize that the former is who she is and the latter is what life demanded of her.

“Not likely”, she remarks and he throws his head back, chuckling.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she wets her lips in thought and he can’t help but think this is a well-designed trap for him to say the wrong thing and for her to use it as excuse to put distance between them rather than face her own desires and he was almost certain those desires included him.

“You want me”, he whispers in her ear as his fingertips slide up her spine and to the back of her neck, “And it’s killing you.”

“Physical attraction means nothing”, her voice is low, but unwavering.

Aleksander bites the inside of his lower lip in anticipation of her pushing him away and storming off, but even as he waits, he feels her hips press closer to him as if she’s telling him he won’t be left alone. Not again.

“Yet you’re here”, he grins. Tucking her hair behind her left ear, he admired how firm she stands in her opposition.

“So are you”, she quipped,. 

A cocky smile appears on his lips, tiny wrinkles forming around his dark eyes as he holds her gaze bravely, unwavering even when her gaze becomes a glare.

Biting her lower lip, contemplating the right move, Y/N could hardly fight her desire for him. Her head knew he it would be unwise, but her heart screamed at her to kiss him and those butterflies in her stomach felt more like killer bees as the need to feel him inside her had taken over every rational thought she generated.

One hand caressing his lean cheek, she gave into her primal instincts as she slammed her lips against his and Aleksander’s own heart leapt inside his chest. 

Their need for each other was urgent. Y/N grabbed a handful of flesh and muscle on Aleksander’s back. He gasped and laughed throatily at her haste. When her hands clawed at him again, he grasped both hands in one of his and held them over her head. She struggled to free herself, but he was too strong. When he entered her, she gasped, then moved her hips up to meet his.

He released her hands and she pulled him closer and closer to her. They made love quickly, almost harshly, before they found the sweet release they longed for. Aleksander collapsed on top of her, their bodies still joined as one when their minds gave in, slowly drifting to sleep.

Just like the previous morning, he remained in the bed, his arms wrapped around her tightly. 

She barely saw him during the day as the week progressed, but their nights were spent together – entangled mess of limbs, desperate moans and needy pleas neither held back. She’d close her eyes in his embrace and begin her day the same way.

“You don’t have much time”, Genya warned as Y/N dressed in haste. She decided to dress for the trip, it was the only way she could fit in a few hours in the library.

“I won’t be long”, she smiled at her friend.

Licking her lips, Genya took her by the hand. “What is it that you’re looking for?”

Y/N clenched her teeth, wondering if she should tell Genya. Something inside her warned against it – she didn’t tell anyone his name is Aleksander, feeling privileged to know such information. If she’s wrong and she can trust him, she didn’t want to poison anyone else with her doubt beforehand. A single book remained unread on her pile of very thick books she went through.

“Just trying to learn”, Y/N shrugged.

Nodding, Genya smiles, “In case we don’t see each other before you leave, I have to implore you to reconsider David as an ally.”

“I will”, Y/N promised and she would. Someone in Aleksander’s inner circle could be of use to her.

Going through the pages, she felt exhausted. Spending all her time in ancient books didn’t seem to be of use, but for once the text made sense. It spoke of the black heretic and the many names he’s been called in history.

“He walks the earth with a power only the saints could possess. They call him The Black Heretic, The Shadow King, The Starless Saint, Staski, Eryk, Leonid – numerous names that he exchanged for each lifetime he was given and by now it must be at least a few hundred lifetimes of darkness. His name – true name was lost throughout the centuries, occasionally heard as a whisper carried in the wind.”

Wide eyed, she read through the text of a scholar who described the Black Heretic and his powers, his entire lineage being his mother who remained unnamed and…him.

“He has no descendants?” Y/N’s lips quiver. If he has no descendants and his line begins and ends with him, how would Aleksander even exist?

Unless…

No.

It would be impossible, would it not?

“Numerous names that he exchanged for each lifetime he was given”, she reads aloud only to cover her own mouth in face of a startling epiphany. It was as she noticed the dark connection between the great mystery, the horrific realization set in.

“Pardon me, miss, but General Kirigan has sent for you”, a servant frightened her.

Taking the book in haste, Y/N stood on her shaky legs. Mouth dry, she pressed her lips in a thin line.

“Thank you”, she walked out so quickly, barely containing her quick and shallow breaths. Sweating profusely, she felt as if the black kefta she wore weighed down on her like battle armor.

Was it not her armor? Was this not a constant war she’s struggled with?

Aleksander…Kirigan…The Darkling…who is he?

“Are you ready?” Aleksander is waiting by the door with a small smile on his lips. His hand is opened for her to take, but she ignores it. If she took his hand, he’d feel the shakiness she’s trying so hard to steady.

Mounting his black stallion, she tucked the book safely inside her inner pocket.

“I’ll take the reins”, she informed him as he took his place behind her.

She heard him scoff, “I’m the general.” 

Is Aleksander even his real name?

Are the stories about him true? 

“On this side of the fold, so am I”, she gripped the reins and the stallion obeyed.

Riding a horse always helped her clear her mind, but this time it seemed impossible. 

When she married Kirigan, she believed she would marry an old, unattractive man…As it turns out, she got the old part right.

=============================

A/N - I’m not quite happy with this chapter, but I wanted to post today to keep my streak going. Also, i suck at writing a summary, like WHY IS THAT?! xD It’s Eid, so I’m tired and sleepy, forgive my grammar and prepare for things to heat up in the next chapters. Thank you all for sticking with the story and all the feedback, it honestly gives me life and will to keep writing. I also finally found the books in my native tongue, at least the Grisha trilogy and Six of crows duology and I’m really excited to dive into it and further my understanding of Darkling as a brilliantly written villain that is a multi-dimensional being with, let’s be honest, actually good points. I may not be happy about his willingness to commit mass murder, but I kinda see where he’s coming from and I really can’t wait to know more about the situation as it is in the books.  

Tags: @bruxa0007 @rangotangomango @kaitlyn2907 @thestoryofmylife9 @shelivesindaydreamswme @hxrgreeves @safetyhtom @kaqua @savannah-elliott @all-art-is-quite-useless  @azure23x @girlmadeofavocados @ashdab2611 @acciorudolphx @ladyblablabla @wckedheart @xceafh @sanna2020 @tarkanelima-blog @takethee @mellifluous-cosmos @marvel-ousnesss @tea-effect @starlightofsolaria @p3nny4urth0ught5 @blackbirddaredevil23 @sarcastic-and-cool @slytherinsbiggestproblem @within-thehollowcrown @notthatchhavi @musicconversedance @freakytillthemoon  @lgkoval @honeyofthegods @queenmalhinewahine @misselsbells06  @whatthefluffrichard @aami98 @britriestbr @itsfangirlmendes @padme-parker @readingsssssssss @runawayolives @thehighladyofasgard @emlynblack @keithseabrook27 @dailydoseofchoices @deceivedeer @olympiacosplay @pansysgirlfriend @extrakyloren  @daybleedsintonightfa11 @thoughts-and-funnies @weirdowithnobeardo @folkloresworld​

PART 10

[chronic-claire-universe]

Hey! Congrats on reaching 500, you deserve it ♡

I'd really like to take part in your milestone event so here I am, heh. I would like a tokyo revengers and jjk/haikyuu ( I can't decide the second tbh you can pick just something?) match up if possible. But you can also just ignore this ask if It's too much! Kisses anyway.

Uhm where do I start?

I'm an ENTP and bi with a preference for fictional man ( like everyone here)

I'm super pale with dark red and white hair mostly in two pigtail braids. I have a stick and poke tattoo from a friend on my leg(a moon). I mostly wear black and red and have a little Jewellery addiction - especially rings. I kid you not I own over 100 but I tend to gift them to random people at parties when I wear too much and get bored of them.

I'm blunt, sarcastic and come off as mean sometimes, but I actually just can't shut up and do/say what I want. I'm also very competitive and chaotic and for being a huge flirt. I'm a little dramatic and get bored easily. I start many things but lose interest fast ( people and activities ). Overall I'm pretty chill with everything and go with the flow. Most of the time I'm very outgoing and can start conversations/arguments with everyone. I can get super awkward with affection so my love language are mostly acts of service and gifts. I love bad puns and jokes, dark and dirty ones specifically. My humor is broken if I'm honest.

The things I love are Horror stories, Philosophy, the iliad ( old stories and epics in general ), cats, coffee and late night adventures.

Poppy it's time to prepare your ice cream and I'm really happy about it!!! First before matching you up, I have to say something, I had real fun reading your request and during these days I was impatient to arrive here and write it, also I think I'm in love with you after your appereance description 💜

Warnings: Smut, Pegging, Video, Male Sub, Sex Toys, Overstimulation, Minors DNI.

Tokyo Revengers: Hajime Kokonoi

I have to be frank in here, I thought of Ran hearing your description, not only for the braids but also for your personality, but I think that you would be a disaster couple together cause you're way too similar, so here I am matchin you with our favourite sugar daddy Koko!

Why do I choose him? Well he enjoys sarcathisc people and also your strong personality. Koko knows that you're a strong girl who doesn't need protection and that's why he loves you!

You find yourself bored easily but Koko has a remedy for it, your dates with him don't consist only in fancy restaurant but most of the time, last minute holiday on the other part of the world!

When you go on holiday you love to go around and discover the meaning of new places, I canon you being in New York in the top of Empire State Building while you explain the history of the art-deco building and Koko opens up a champagne and makes a toast for the view in front of you!

This sounds big right? But don't worry, you're not going to the other side of the world every weekend, infact most of the time you and Koko enjoy the warm of your house.

During your domestic dates he comes back with the takeaway of your favourite italian restaurant and you decide the wine to drink.

Despite dinner, I canon you cuddling the persian cat he gifted you, who stays calm in his/your lap.

You have the habit to play poker, do you bet? Of course! Money? Nah too boring, you enjoy betting sex, in particular ways.

He tried to let you win but the first time he did it, you got so angry that you didn't talk with him and got to bed alone, he had to pray for an hour before forgiving him, you're not a baby that he must protect!

Going back to the sex bet, most of time it involves domineering kinks, from both him and you.

You peg him, you overstimulated him with his personal vibrator, he did the same with you, but most of all you recorded your intercourse.

Both of you have a nude album of the other, but you also did a professional one together, everyone in Bonten knows about it!

Talking about Bonten, you never go to their hideout but the guys know you and respect you, during the poker nights it happened that they were invited.

In the beginning they tease you, most Sanzu and Haitani bros, in the end they respect you, to the point that Ran became one of your closest friend and always keep you updated about Koko's conditions.

The relationship with Koko sounds sophisticate but genuine, strong and powerful. Keep it tight cause most of the people don't understand each other like you do!

Haikyuu: Suguru Daishou

Please bear with me, it seems that I picture you with guys that have snake eyes 😂 but there is a reason: snake eyes remember me of people with a sassy and asshole attitude!

You and Daishou professionaly tease people together! You love joking about them to the point to result mean, but this is something that your friends can go through.

You love outdates especially to arcade where you challenge and most of the time you win! This annoy Suguru to hell that most of the time bring you shouting at home and throwing you to bed, he fucks the hell out of you.

No Suguru doesn't want you to be in charge, sex for him is important to establish who is the male in the couple, and you don't care about it cause this leave you completely satisfied.

Sex isn't everything in your relationship, you enjoy a lot going out to dinner with friends, you even became buddy with Kuroo and this annoys Suguru as fuck, but respecting Nekoma's captain he doesn't complain too much about it

When you stay at home you definitely watch horror movies, but most of the time he's really annoyed by it, he just does it cause he loves you.

You also play board games, but being this a bit calmer than arcade ends up with you just laughing and eating snack until you can't keep your eyes open and you both lay on the couc/bed with him spooning you.

Daishou is competitive, loosing a match brings him lot of frustration. It's canon that he really struggle facing this problem, but seeing you helping him and just doing simple things like welcoming him with a hug and preparing his favourite dinner helps him recover.

Acts of service mean: training with him, cooking for him. The time he lost against Nekoma he came back hom without saying a word, there beside his computer there was a dvd you prepared.

"Watch me" you written on it, and here he was tears flowing from his eyes. It was a compilation of all the points he score in the year and compliments from schoolmates and teammates but also others friends.

He watches it everytime he feels down and this is enough to help him improving his mood.

You're a meanie couple but when something happens, you're always there for the other and that's what makes you fantastic together!

Poppy I finished, I really hope that you like this cause I had lot of fun writing it, kisses 💜

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 5 Retrospective

Finished season 5 rewatch a few days ago. Season 5 was an eventful year for the show, on and off the screen. Off screen the show got cancelled on Fox, had a huge public outcry over the cancellation which included several celebrities, and then got picked up by NBC all in 48 hours. It was an exhilarating time as a B99 fan. Lot of stuff happened on screen as well, Jake and Rosa were in prison, team got them out, Jake and Amy got engaged, Rosa came out as bisexual to the precinct and her parents, Holt was in the running to be NYPD Commissioner, Amy became a Sergeant, and then Jake and Amy got married. Eventful season to say the least. Its also my favorite season of the show.

Honestly, this season is about as close to perfection I felt with a season. In other seasons there are at least an episode or two which I felt were meh or problematic. Season 5 is near flawless. I think Return to Skyfire is the weakest of the episodes but its still pretty fun. There are several episodes of season 5 that all rank in the top 10 B99 episodes in my opinion. The show also takes some risks with a couple of experimental episodes. There are episodes with a lot of heart, there are episodes that absolutely hilarious, there are ensemble episodes, there are two hander episode. some excellent new guest stars, and many great recurring stars.

I think the two prison episodes are pretty interesting. Tim Meadows as Caleb is absolutely amazing. He is so likable and low key hilarious that the fact that he's a cannibal who eats children always feels like a dark surprise. He and Andy Samberg make for a fun duo. The first of the two episodes is particularly fun. The show doesn't hesitate to show the danger of Jake being in the prison, especially the situation he finds himself by the end of the premiere. The show does connect one story to the next pretty seamlessly with the end of the Melanie Hawkins story connecting the the Seamus Murphy story which then connected to the Holt commissioner story. There are also a couple of really good experiments in experiments and story with The Box and Show Me Going. The Box is B99 at its most confident. Apart from Gina very briefly at the beginning and Boyle very briefly at the end, the entire episode really hinges on only three characters. Jake, Holt, and Sterling K. Brown's Dr. Davidson. Its a brilliant showcase for all three actors and all three characters. I believe Brown got a Guest Actor Emmy nomination for his performance and he's brilliant as the smarmy Dentist who really is in control for majority of the episode. Braugher and Samberg were old pros with their dynamic at this point and this is fantastic Jake and Holt episode because you completely get why Jake wants so badly to prove that he's right in front of Holt why being cast as the screw up and the idiot in the interrogation frustrates him so much because we know how much Holt's approval means to him. We also see why Terry call Jake his best detective back in season 1 because of how he riles up Davidson to get the confession at the end and getting the approval of Holt that he wanted. Its an incredibly satisfying episode and one of the show's best imo. Then there is also 'Show me Going' which is a surprisingly tense episode in which nothing tense actually happens on screen. The episode does a great job working with the fact that the only knowledge the squad has is that Rosa is on the scene of an active shooter situation. Basically we are in the same situation as the characters. Since all the characters are on edge, so are we. The show does a nice job balancing humor and recognize the danger of the situation.

The season has probably my favorite B99 episode and definitely by fav B99 Halloween episode with HalloVeen. Whereas the last three Halloween episodes were predictable or spoiled from the promos, this one actually threw a genuine surprise. I knew Jake and Amy would get engaged some point in the season, but I expected it to be on the much hyped 99th episode. Instead it can much earlier with HallowVeen and its a delight from start to finish. Its great to rewatch the episode because you pick up little signs that Jake was a bit more desperate to win than usual. First when he says that planning for the heist is what got him through prison time, and then when he says to Boyle that he has to win this time and this heist is way too important. On first watch, these details just slip by as regular overzealous Jake but they have additional poignancy on repeat. The actual proposal moment is handled beautifully in a very peraltiago way where it is both funny and romantic, with Charles' reaction being the cherry on top. There are quite a few strong related episodes that follow. The Venue being a fun return with the Vulture, Two Turkeys being a TWW reunion with Smits and Whitford returning as Amy and Jake's fathers. Its a better Thanksgiving episode than the previous season Smits appearance. Bachelor/ette party is another glorious episode with wild, fun shenanigans with Reginald VelJohnson appearing as himself. Jake & Amy is a very typical wedding episode where everything goes wrong but its perfect in all the right ways. Its heartwarming and sweet. You get more examples of how Jake and Amy are perfect for each other with Jake knowing the inside and outs of how Amy stresses out, and then ending on a wonderful B99 wedding with Fred Armisen returning to make a cameo appearance as Mlep(clay)nos. The episode was designed to work as a series finale since the potential for cancellation was there and while it leaves the season on a cliffhanger about Holt's job, its the sort of cliffhanger that we could have interpreted positively if the show hadn't gotten picked up by NBC.

The 99th and 100th episode of the show were also memorable. The creators chose to acknowledge the 99th episode in a way that most shows acknowledge the 100th episode, in true 99 style. Its a full ensemble episode barring the absence of Chelsea who would return on the 100th episode. Its a typical road trip episode which kickstarts the Holt commissioner storyline. It also is the episode where Rosa comes out as Bi to Charles. This was obviously a big story for Stephanie since she is bi as well and she championed this story. It gets explored in further depth next episode, but Stephanie Beatriz gets to do some of her best work in these two episodes, showing her vulnerability without losing her toughness. Game Night honestly feels very true to not just coming out as Bi to your parents but true to any child who has to confess something that would be against their conservatives parents' values. I think Game Night is a fantastically bittersweet episode and Danny Trejo is brilliantly cast as Rosa's father. The episode positions him as the parent whose reaction Rosa is most worried about and I love how they show that while its difficult for him to grasp the concept bisexuality, he comes around to accepting it and accepting Rosa. But the episode is still bittersweet with Rosa's mom not having come to terms with it. Its also an excellent Rosa and Jake episode where we see Jake endure incredibly uncomfortable situations to help Rosa. Its a characteristic that helps make Jake so endearing that he's willing to cross all limits for his friends.

There are lots of fun and hilarious episodes in between. Craig Robinson shows up as Doug Judy in The Negotiations which is another fun ep. Kevin and Jake get a great episode dealing with their dynamic in Safe House. Rosa and Amy have some fun in White Whale as the Sleuth Sisters. Pimento returns in Gray Star Mutual for some more crazy shenanigans. Gray Star Mutual also has my favorite cold open of all time with Jake leading a suspect lineup in a rendition of 'I got it that way', totally forgetting the crime that he's got the lineup for. Its pitch perfect and I've lost count of how many times I've seen that cold open on youtube. It basically has its own fanbase and introduced so many people to B99. We also get to see Naseem Pedrad as Jake's sister Katie and the end up having a cute dynamic. David Fumero shows up in The Puzzle Master. There are also pretty funny episodes dealing with some serious subject matter such Jake dealing with his own doubts in his ability to do his job after Prison in Kicks and Holt dealing with gambling addiction in Bad Beat. All handled very sensitively.

All in all, this was a fantastic season for the show. I had a blast rewatching it and it ended the Fox era in spectacular note. A 9.5/10. Now on to season 6.

'

[coracandy]

So. About that 6th wedding option.

Long post. Not sorry.

Trigger warning for #beemoovnegativity I guess. Probably throw that warning on everything I’ve posted since UL launched and everything I am likely to post for the foreseeable future because I hate beemoov. So much. I hate very nearly all of the writing choices that were made through LL, with everything surrounding Eric taking 2nd place on the worst story choices of the whole game list right behind the student falsely accuses their teacher of sexual assault plot. I just really hate cheating plots. I have also been obliquely accused of hating the Eric fans and I just want to clear up here and now that I only hate some of you. Most of you I am happy for. But man.. some of ya’ll have some utter garbage opinions and I’ve had a couple wine coolers today so I’m ready to no filter on all my own opinions about this whole mess. Click through if you want them.

Starting off.. Yeah, I said it would be funny if the wedding episode ended with Candy cheating on Eric and you know why I said that? Because if your Candy is with Eric in the first place it’s only because your Candy is a cheater. Canonically. In the real story of the real game. Not your fanfic version which we’ll get to in a bit, I promise, but in the actual game as it is actually written, if this is the path you chose then, canonically, your Candy is a cheater. She is selfish. She cares about no one and nothing but herself and what she wants in the moment. And, frankly, it seems like some of the players feel the same. I vividly recall many screen shot posts by Eric fans getting offended that their former love interests were angry about being cheated on. Citing that anger as justification for the cheating even. “This is how they react to the news? Ugh! I’m glad I cheated on them. They deserved it.” And that’s just.. reprehensible. Truly. Ya’ll remind me of beemoov, tbh. Treating someone’s anger at being stabbed in the back as a good enough reason to have stabbed them in the first place and an excuse to never have to apologize or even acknowledge the hurt.

So that’s Camp One of the Eric fans (probably the smallest camp tbh, but still very much one that exists) - the people who acknowledge the cheating aspect of the storyline but think it’s a good thing and yeah, I actually do just hate those people and their attitude. So to those people let me just say - 1) Monogamy isn’t sex negative. You’re ridiculous. 2) This storyline isn’t non-monogamous representation. It’s cheating. Those aren’t the same thing. 3)Betraying someone’s trust is always -always- a selfish, cruel, morally reprehensible thing to do. (And before anyone starts strawmanning at me about but what if that person was abusive - stop. That’s not what we’re talking about here, and you know it.)

So on to Camp Two of the Eric fans -  the drama addicts. The people that took the cheating route just because it was the first interesting thing to happen in the story in about 15 episodes. This is a camp I don’t hate but man oh man do I get frustrated by the way that all media and storytelling panders endlessly to them. This type of fan is the reason I can’t have nice things. The reason I can’t have a simply told story that builds to a narratively satisfying conclusion but instead get ass-pull twist endings that are exciting by dint of being unexpected but make no sense when you stop to think about them for five seconds. They’re the reason I get to be constantly frustrated by slow burn romances that last seven seasons and then end with the characters finally hooking up only for one of them to die two episodes later because happiness and contentment are boring. Heaven forbid a story ever slow down to focus on character development. If no one’s being killed, or cheated on, or getting pregnant without knowing which of three guys the father might be, or getting kidnapped, or diagnosed with a fatal disease, or lying to their best friend then there’s not even a story there. No tension. No drama. Why bother watching? Who wants to see characters being happy? I do. Please. For once. For more than a scene or two before something devastating happens to end it again. Just let me have nice things. For the most part this camp of players seems kinda meh about the idea of a wedding episode and would probably agree with me that Candy cheating on Eric during it would be funny. Feel like a lot of them meme on Eric as best LI because they like watching drama in the fandom as much as in the game. And I do genuinely hope they’re enjoying it while it unfolds. We have polar opposite tastes but I dream of someday living in a world where we can both have our own definition of nice things and both be happy.

And now on to Camp Three -  the people I think this wedding episode is mostly for. This is the camp I have nothing but sympathy for. These are the people who just genuinely liked the character. He simply clicked with them more than the other LIs, was closest to their idealized partner. So they ignore the way he was used in the story, headcanon away the cheating or write in their own version where the breakup happened before the sex scene, or the original LI was abusive, or maybe they were just never in another relationship through LL at all in their version of events. They just really like this character and want to have their Candy get a happy ending with him. And I have sympathy. I do. I would have loved for beemoov to give an option to end up with Eric without being dishonest. But they didn’t. That version of the story is just fanfiction. And it frustrates me when people get so invested in a fanfic version of a character or story that they start insisting the canon version is wrong and that people reacting to the canon version are misinterpreting it. I sympathize. I do. As a Lysander fangirl, I understand very well the emotional attachment one can develop to a character and story you mostly had to invent yourself because the source material never bothered to. But you can’t get offended at people being disappointed or even angry that the cheating route got a happy ending just because your personal fanfic version of the story didn’t include the cheating. The anger really isn’t being directed at you but at the canon story choices you probably also hated. I wish the story had been different for you. I really do. And hey, you all get the last laugh, in the end, as it seems the story is getting whitewashed or retconned or just generally is planning to ignore the ugly parts of what happened to give you the big white wedding of your dreams with your perfect man. And I’m happy for you. We should all have had that chance.

But we won’t. Because beemoov still doesn’t care about a lot of us. That’s where this anger mostly comes from. And it’s why I can’t agree, even slightly, with the people who are pointing to this decision and saying “Look! They’re listening to the players finally. Maybe things will get better.” Because they’re only listening to some players. Some of us have been begging to be heard for years now and they still won’t listen. And they never will. Much as I'd love to be wrong about that, I’m not wrong and you all know it. I’m happy for the people who are happy right now. But I’m warning y’all.. Don’t get comfortable. Don’t ever trust them. They’ll rip your heart out, tell you you should like it, and turn their backs on you forever while you bleed out. Don’t think it can’t happen again. It can, and knowing beemoov, it probably will.

[ozzdog12]

2020 Top 7 (and 1)

2020 am I right? We saw an insane amount of games come out and 2 brand new consoles. What a wild and weird year for gaming, and life in general. In case you are relatively new here, and to be honest that would be completely fair considering I don't post very often on Tumblr anymore, every year going on the last 4 years (on here) I have done a Top 7 (& 1) for my favorite videogames of the year. Check out 2019, 2018, & 2017. What’s wild, as I look back on my list of games that I’ve completed and played, only maybe 10 came out this year. 2020 was a huge backlog year. 

Lets get on with the ‘And 1!”

Favorite Game that Didn’t Come out in 2020: Control (PS4)

Control may very well have been my 2019 Game of the Year, had I played it in 2019. I LOVED Control. I wanted to play it in 2019, but initial reports that it was a little rough on base consoles put me off until it was fixed. And Holy smokes what an insanely fun and trippy game once I finally started it. I knew within the first 20 minutes this was going to be the shit when I went down a hall, walked into a room and talked to the “janitor” left out a door behind him and the entire building had shifted. I’ve always liked Remedy games, but from a distance. Max Payne 1&2 and Alan Wake all oozed with weirdness and intrigue, but never enough for me to finish them. I missed out on Quantum Break. The story is Control is just the right amount of mind f*!$ for me and builds a universe I didn’t know I needed. It take some time to piece everything together, then everything just clicks. The game does have a weird difficulty spike when fighting bosses and the checkpoints were too far apart at times, but those were later patched. I spent an insane amount of time within the Federal Bureau of Control building and even more time after that with the Foundation and AWE DLC and it STILL wasn’t enough. I wanted more. Outside of Prey, I can’t think of another game that stuck in my brain more after I’d finished it. Control is absolutely a MUST PLAY title. In a world where everything sort’ve feels similar, Control stands out of the crowd.

Number 7: Astro’s Playroom (PS5)

I never thought in my wildest dreams that a game I had almost zero interest in playing would end up on my list of favorite games this year. Astro’s Playroom is being labeled as a ‘Tech demo’ but that feels like an insult to what it is. It’s a full fledged game and its free! I’ve paid more for less. A charming little platformer that lives and breathes the history of the Playstation. So many cool Easter eggs and references. It certainly centers its gameplay around the DualSense controller and everything it can do, but at its core, its a completely approachable and forgiving 3D platformer. I played it just to see what it was about, next thing i knew I had completed all the levels and wanted to further explore all the nooks and crannies within the game. I wanted to see everything the game had to offer and I had an absolute blast doing so. Makes me kinda wish I’d played the previous game on PSVR (I’d have to have a PSVR too)

Number 6: Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5)

Another quality title, albeit a spin-off, from Insomniac to add to their Spider Man universe. Gameplay felt obviously like Spider-Man, but Miles has unique abilities that made the game feel different enough, especially the cloak and stealth. I enjoyed the fact that it was short and concise. The issue with most ‘open-world’ games is that they are entirely too bloated with unnecessary filler content (I’ll get to that in a later game), something I felt the first game suffered from, but I also understand why they are there. However I could’ve use one or two more story missions to help flesh out some characters, but it wasn’t required and didn’t change my opinion one way or the other. My one BIG gripe was with Miles himself. He is an extremely smart young kid, but so incredibly naïve. Peter Parker tells him the one thing he SHOULD NOT do is tell people he is Spider-Man. I get it, that’s part of his growth, but Miles thinks he can just solve his problems by revealing his identity and it almost certainly never works out. 

Number 5: The Last of Us: Part 2 (PS4)

The Last of Us Part 2 may be the most polarizing game in the history of the medium, but for the absolute wrong reasons. I’m in the minority that I very much enjoyed my experience with TLOU2, quite a bit actually. Its better in every single way over its predecessor, except the overall story. There are plenty of fair criticisms to be had about the story and various things within the game itself, but I thought the gameplay was so tight and crunchy. There were genuine moments of suspense and terror that I felt that no other game has ever given me. The entire hospital section (2nd time) was so susensful, I had to put my controller down to gther myself. Some of my favorite moments in the series I experienced with a character I wasn’t overly fond of. How many games can do that? The Last of Us Part 2 was meant to invoke emotion, not necessarily joy. I think that's what people lost along the way. Say what you will about the direction Naughty Dog has taken over the years, but you would be hard pressed to find a studio that makes games graphically better than they do. Yes, I know about their crunch culture, but this is not a place for that. I will say, the game was a tad bit too long, which is not something it typically say for a single player, narrative driven game. The pacing and the way the story was told wasn’t my favorite, but I respect what it was trying to do, even if it failed in some aspect of that, I finished the game within the week it was released. Something I RARELY ever do. I’m a father and I related with Joel a lot in TLOU, but I also recognized how wrong he was. There is a lesson to be learned. Your actions always have consequences and while he was doing what he thought was the right thing, it wasn’t his choice to make, and in doing so set up a series of events that were entirely avoidable, but again, that’s the point isn’t it?

Number 4: Grindstone (Switch)

I’m counting this as a 2020 game since it just came to the Switch this year ( less than a month ago) but its not the first time I’ve played it. Grindstone was the only reason I kept my Apple Arcade subscription and when I let it lapse, there was a void I just couldn’t fill. I bought Puzzle Quest on Switch but it just wasn't the same. Its THE perfect game for bite sized play, even though in its addictive nature, you’ll clear a few levels and an hour has passed before you know it. It has the perfect amount of depth that most ‘match’ games don't. You have different weapons, items, and outfits w/perks to use and experiment with to keep it fresh. I went months without playing my Switch and when this was announced in August, I couldn’t wait! Sadly, I had to wait 3 months, but since then I have spent so much time on the Switch. It gave me a reason to play it again. The art style and humour is great. The variety of enemies and challenge is just right. I can’t recommend it enough. Seriously, check this game out!

Number 3: Doom Eternal (Xbox One)

I will be the first to tell you, I did not like Doom (2016). I found it extremely boring and trite. I understood what Doom(2016) was doing and it succeeded, maybe too much. Nostalgia is a helluva thing. So in saying that, I was mildly interested in Doom Eternal. Doom Eternal is nothing like 2016 outside of it being a Doom game that connects to the rest of them (& also being a sequel to 2016). The mechanics are drastically different with more platforming (for better or worse). Eternal is challenging, at times very hard, especially early on. Eternal has no respect for its players, in a weirdly good way. It laughs at how you’ve played FPS before this one and WILL MAKE you play it its way, not your way. Yes, you point and shoot, but ammo is scare and you MUST use everything in your arsenal. No more using just 2 guns for the whole game. The enemies are relentless. Sometimes you have to pause and take a breath after a battle because you go a 100 mph for the whole fight. You have to continuously move or you die. There is an enticing rhythm to it. I categorize Eternal as ‘Blood Ballet’. Its a game where when your feeling it, much like a rhythm game, you get in the zone and there is no stopping demons from getting slayed. Surprisingly, unlike most games in the genre, it seemed to get easier (sans one extremely frustrating platforming section late in the game) the longer you played it. Was that a testament that I ‘learned’ the Eternal way or it truly did get easier? I don’t know, but the final Boss(es) were....easy.. I had more problems and deaths within the first 4 hours than I did the final 8-9 hours. The multiplayer was also surprisingly fun. The older I get, the less interested I am in multiplayer, but I found myself coming back for more for a good month or so. 

Number 2: Gears Tactics (Xbox One)

As 2020 comes to a close, I came to a stunning realization. I might be a bigger Gears of War fan than I had previously thought. Don’t get me wrong. I love Gears, but I seem to love Gears more than I thought. I'm way more invested into the lore than I recall. Anyways, Gears Tactics is everything XCOM 2 SHOULD’VE been. Not only does Gears Tactics utilize the Overwatch action, its makes it EXTREMELY important. The story revolves around the father of Kait Diaz, Gabe and a ragtag group of mostly random soldiers to take down Ukkon. Anyone who is remotely interested in the Gears universe will love the story and references. The gameplay is just so damn satisfying. The bosses are very challenging and different. I actually had to change my strategy to finish the final boss. I experimented with a totally different style of class and was rewarded for it. The post game stuff is also aplenty. This game scratched a VERY specific itch for me and I’m itchy to jump back in. I’m glad this came to Xbox One because I’m current computer could not run it.

Number 1: Ghost of Tsushima (PS4)

I have a very odd relationship with massive open world games. I love them, but I get very burnt out on them. They all have a relatively same-y formula and are often populated with bloat. GoT does have some of that but to its advantage, its not very populated, in a good way. One of the things that I really appreciated about GoT and its side quest is most of them felt meaningful. The thing that really stood out to me about GoT is the absolutely satisfying combat. It just feels SO GOOD. It requires timing and patience. There are different fighting styles for different enemies and even the armor you wear is more than just cosmetic. The combat is so fun and satisfying that I was immediately excited when they announced Legends, a multiplayer add on, for free. Its so much fun and is a blast to play with a group of friends. I’m sporadically still playing the Legends mode. I initially wanted to play the game in ‘Kurosawa’ mode but I am glad I didn’t because the game, even on the PS4 is stunning, and on the upgrade on PS5 is jaw-droppingly smooth. I did play the entire game in Japanese with English subtitles. I still don't know what Jin’s English voice sounds like. GoT does a good job a drip feeding you new abilities and things to keep things fresh. I love stealth and once I unlocked it, I spent the majority of every battle taking out as many enemies as I could while in stealth mode. Ghost of Tsushima does a lot of things very well, that the few things it doesn’t can be easily overlooked.

[sasa-writes-fandom-things]

Home alone - Part 2

Fandom: BNHA

Pairing: Shouta Aizawaxf!reader

Summary: After a steamy love making session you look forward to round 2 but quickly you realise that something changed.

Words: 2.2k+

Warnings: SMUT, explicit sexual content, fluff, established relationship

A/N: I never did a part 2 or anything but here we are. Thank you for sticking around! Hope you enjoy this. It made me so uwu and soft and Taylor Swifts new album helped so much.

Click here for part 1 > You could read this as a stand-alone if you wished tho.

The TV still flickered and bathed the lonely living room in cold white light. Faint light danced across the empty hallway indicating movements in the bathroom. The small room was filled with steam and the air felt pleasantly humid. The wetness stuck to you like a second skin, making you feel all sticky. But that wasn't the only reason you felt that way. Your tits were currently pressed against the fogged shower glass, leaving a nice and sexy print on the door. Shouta had told you to get cleaned up but the minute you stepped inside the shower you knew that he would follow you; ready for round 2. His stamina was something you were grateful for. Sex with him was satisfying to the very end. It happened every so often that your love game stretched out to the early hours of the morning.

One hand was wrapped around your neck holding you in place, as if you had any desire to move. His other hand gripped your hip to gave him more leverage. "Will you behave this time?," he murmured into your ear. You nodded your head and faced him; looking into his lust blown eyes. "I will be a good little slut." He squeezed your hip and started his haltered movements again. "We will see," he said sounding almost bored. Somehow his movements felt mechanic and you tried your best to blend it out, to focus on the delicious way his cock stretched your aching cunt. But after a while of monotone fucking you placed a hand on his lower belly, stopping him. "Is everything alright?," Concern was written over your face when you turned around, already missing the feeling of his dick inside you. Shouta avoided your questioning look as best as possible but given the narrow space it was a lost cause. He clicked his tongue in frustration and looked at you with a pained expression. "It's nothing," he tried to dismiss your concerns, already trying to turn you around again. You pressed your body into his and cupped his cheeks. "I am not blind or that needy, that I wouldn't notice the change," you reminded him playfully but your eyes stayed serious. A dry laugh escaped his lips and he reached behind you to open the shower door. He knew the mood was soured and that you wouldn’t take no for an answer.

While reaching for a towel to dry yourself off, you turned to your boyfriend once again. "Will you tell me what robbed me from a mind blowing orgasm?" Shouta stopped in his tracks and sighed heavily. You could feel his resistance crumble but he stayed silent. It made your heart clench. After all those years he still didn't trust you completely. "It's not that I don't trust you," he mumbled as if reading your mind. He walked past you in all his naked glory. "It's just... that I can't let you in."

You followed him into your shared bedroom where you caught him sitting - now dressed in a sweatpant - on the bed, face in both hands. You put on some clothes yourself and joined him. With caution you pried his hands off and the look in his eyes made your heart sink deep into your stomach. You felt tears prick the corners of your eyes but you blinked them away angrily. Now was not the time to get emotional. Shouta looked at you and you could see that he was deeply worried. "They are kids for crying out loud and I am their teacher. It is my duty to protect them. Not the other way around," he choked out lowley. He wasn't used to laying his heart open, all those years it was only him and that was okay. But now there was someone else beside him. You placed your hands around his broader body, your arms not reaching around fully but you hugged him tightly nevertheless. All those apathetic looks and the annoyed comments he made about his pupils couldn't fool you. Deep down he cared so much for them that it nearly broke him into pieces everytime one of them got hurt. But right now in the dark bedroom Shouta didn't feel like falling apart and with a baffled look he realized that it was because of you. Your warm embrace kept him together, made him whole again. Overcome with a rush of emotion he grabbed you and pressed you tightly against himself, littering your face with kisses in the motion.

After the initial shock over this outburst of affection you couldn't help but giggle. You stopped him littering kisses everywhere he could reach and just looked at him. Slowly you traced the scar under his right eye, scooping closer to give it a quick peck. Then you continued to trace his nose with your index finger and after that you gave his nose a quick peck. With an honest smile Shouta let you do your little trace and kiss thing. By this time you two were lying almost completely on the bed, wrapped up in each other's embrace. He caught your hand and placed a gentle kiss to your knuckles. And after a long and meaningful look in which he tried to lay every emotion he felt for you, he leaned in to capture your lips in a soft kiss.

There was no rush to the kisses you two shared. Lips were connecting and parting without haste. It was a tender moment, shared between two hearts realising that they were one. Hands were exploring without urgency. Words were whispered heavy with meaning and thick with love. Bodies were pressing against each other with care and attention.

"I love you so much," Shouta confessed without shame or reluctance. You carded your fingers through his loose locks and smiled up at him. "I love you too," you responded lovingly, kissing him for the umpteenth time. He deepened the kiss, letting his tongue dart out and licking over your bottom lip. With a sigh you let him in, his wet muscle found yours in an instant. The air started to feel hot around you and you had to break the kiss for those hot air. "You and your wicked tongue will be the death of me," you chuckled lightly. "I am told that I have a sharp one," he grinned back at you. Your eyes scanned his face but the looming thoughts seemed to be gone for now. All you could see in his beautiful eyes were love. The sincerity took your breath away, it was not often that your beloved let his emotions be so visible - so out in the open.

Again Shouta connected your lips with his, engaging your tongue in a heated battle. Although it was far from sweet and innocent it felt different. As if something changed, his kisses were demanding but giving at the same time. His hands roamed your body, groped your tender flesh but they also held you and caressed you with awe that you couldn't help but wonder what had happened to your boyfriend. "You know I am not one for sharing my feelings and I am not comfortable expressing them with words either," Shouta looked at you during two deep and mind-numbing kisses. "So please let me show you tonight what I realized. Let my body tell you how I truly feel." His honest gaze and confession brought tears to your eyes and all you could do was nod with a strangled sob.

The air was charged with desire and love, it was an addicting mixture. Your lips found his for another kiss and you felt drunk and high of all the emotions he showed you. You never thought that you would cry during sex, not in that way. But every touch and movement hold a new meaning, it was as if you two had just met. It felt new and exciting but yet so intimate and familiar. Shouta peppered your skin with soft kisses, nipping at your weak spots or letting his wicked tongue glide over your perked nipples. You were so overwhelmed that all you could do was lay there and let this man worship you. Another strangled sob tried to escape your throat but a tender touch on one of your weak spots turned it into a gasped moan. You could see a smile lingering on his lips and in his eyes when your boyfriend looked back up at you.

“Just like that, Shouta,” Your thighs squeezed even tighter around his hips. Holding him in place, you didn’t want him to move just now. All you wanted, was savouring the moment of him on top of you, his bare chest pressed to yours and his cock fully sheathed in your cunt. “You feel so good around me,” Shouta moaned out and buried his head in the crook of your neck. You nudged his cheek with your nose, whispering into his ear with a playful smile. “Likewise.” A muffled sound which sounded oddly like a laugh made its way to your ear and hearing the man you loved laugh made your chest swell with pride and more love - if that was even possible. “I need to move, kitten,” his voice rasped over your ear sending a shiver down your spine. You bucked your hips up in a sudden motion, making him groan out loud. “What was that about behaving?” You only shot him a cheeky look before kissing him again. He spread your legs wide, placing his hands on your beautiful thighs, holding you in place. Whenever he bottomed out fully, he made sure to capture your gaze. Those demanding and calculated eyes kept you pinned to the bed. His gaze burned you, seared over your heated skin and pierced right into your heart. You inhaled sharply unable to look away. The intensity only fueling your desire and pushing you close to the edge. “I - want - you - to - remember that - I - will - always - love - you,” he emphasized his words with long, deep snaps from his hips, making his head of his cock kiss your cervix every time. Your fingers travelled down your body, reaching for his hands on your thighs. Interlacing your fingers with his, you freed your thighs from his grip. Now you were able to meet his harsh thrusts with your hips in response to his words.

Just one more kiss, just one more push and you would tumble over the edge into pure bliss. Shouta was close too, you could feel his cock twitching inside of you. You couldn’t help but dig your nails into his shoulder, earning a guttural groan. Your name fell from his lips like a mantra, his movements becoming quicker. He was pounding into you with erratic thrusts now, dragging over your g-spot so deliciously. Every time his cock was hitting you so deep you could feel the coil tightening inside your belly, ready to snap any minute. You tried to match his pace and move your hips in rhythm with his harsh thrusts, but it was no use. He altered his pace every time you tried to coming up to meet him. It wasn’t fair, every roll, snap and thrust made you crazy. Tears pricked your eyes and you didn’t bother to wipe them away. His eyes were closed and his face showed signs that he was holding back his own release. A gentle smile curled your lips and you brought your fingers to his neck, pulling him to your face. You licked over his ear, knowing that it was one of his weak spots. “Cum for me, Shouta,” you purred next to his ear. This was all he needed, with a deep growl he emptied his balls deep inside of you. His body went tense, he tried his utmost not to crash on top of your body. His arms were placed on either side of your head, holding him up while he was coming down from his high. You enjoyed the feeling of his cum painting your walls. Seeing him come undone by just a few words from you, shot a new and thrilling shiver right to your core. You mewled under him and rolled your hips in dire need of release. Your soft whimpered “Please.”, didn’t went by unnoticed. Shouta chuckled at your neediness. “Always my needy little kitten.” His skilled hand found your pulsing clit and with a few flicks suddenly your vision were blurry, white lights were dancing in front of your eyes and static filled your ears. Your whole body went rigid and now it seemed that all strength had left you. Heavily panting you needed a few seconds to recover from that intense orgams. 

You could feel the bed dip and something wet was placed between your legs. Through your weary mind you registered that Shouta had cleaned you with a washcloth. Warmth were spreading through your body and the strength was returning to your limbs. The second time the bed dipped, your boyfriend layed next to you. His hair was tied into a loose bun and he was caressing your cheek. “Thank you,” he ushered lowley. You looked at him questioningly for a few seconds but then you understood. A smile reached your lips. You grabbed his chin and dragged his lips to yours. “Always and as many times as you need,” you whispered before sealing his lips with yours.

__________

Tagging: @enjifuckersupreme @yukiimanic @vaseshipghost @callmekda @karebear5118 @devilslittlebabygirl​ @bakatenshii

[neokad]

Touhou VI: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil - or my first journey into a bullet hell game

Touhou is that one pew pew game series with cute anime gals, right?

Source: https://pixiv.kurocore.com/illust/54033795

Just like what I think are many people, that’s pretty much all I knew about the franchise as a whole! And to be honest, for a long long time, I was AFRAID of going any closer to anything Touhou-related! Because of them being bullet hecks, they seemed like the most frustrating and unfun games I could possibly be playing! But then... time passed... Fast forward to somewhere in 2020: I was watching the biyearly Games Done Quick event, and one of the first runs showcased during it was none other than Touhou Luna Nights! But while the speedrun itself was very impressive, the thing that really captivated me was well... everything else! Even though this was only a Metroidvania fangame, IT LOOKED LIKE SO MUCH FUN! The graphics, the special effects, the mechanics... everything just seemed like a dream!  In spite of that, I only picked the game up and played it about a year later, thanks to a Steam sale! And to keep things short, I ADORED it. It was a bit too short, but everything else was spot on, and even better than I thought it would be from what I saw at GDQ! But that’s sadly a review for another time :(  Because I literally fell in love in this game, well... I thought “screw it, I’ve been morbidly curious for years now, let’s actually try a freakin’ Touhou game!” 

And so, after some research I’ve learned that the sixth game - the first one released on Windows PCs! - was the one that served as inspiration for Luna Nights as a whole - its characters, music, stage aesthetics and more! It just seemed natural to settle with this one~

How did it go? What did I think about it? Well, that’s why we’re here: those are my thoughts about Touhou VI: the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.

Now for a pointless history lesson: as I said earlier, Touhou 6 was the very first game published for Windows PCs, all the way back in 2002! The five previous games were actually exclusive to a Japan-only machine, the NEC PC-98, a line that prevailed strongly in Japan before Microsoft conquered the world. As such, it’s really the first game that’s still relatively accessible today, as PC-98 emulation is... not really a stable thing yet -_- So even though this wasn’t quite true, it’s as if I started my journey into Touhou with the original! And once I started playing, I was honestly surprised at one thing once I hit the title screen: this game actually has lots of options to make the experience easier or harder!

I know that being able to change your starting lives, starting bombs, choose your overall difficulty and such isn’t groundbreaking at all, but honestly? I didn’t expect things to be so customisable in a bullet heck game series - a genre that’s known for being merciless to players! I did decide to go on Normal to have the “intended” experience, but things aren’t as daunting as you may think!

This game also allows you to play as not only Reimu, the poster character of the franchise, but also Marisa! Both of these girls also boasts two different weapons each, with their own strengths, weaknesses and bomb attacks! Again, I genuinely did not expect so much breathing room even though looking back... I feel like I should have : P

Once I actually started playing the game itself, there’s yet another thing that surprised me: the difficulty curve... it’s... manageable??

Now granted, I’m a person that plays a *lot* of games, and on top of that, I play lots of action games as well, games that require quick reaction times, good pattern reading and so on so forth. So there’s a chance my judgement on the game’s difficulty might be wrong or biased... but to me? Embodiment of Scarlet Devil actually has a good difficulty curve! The first stage of the game has many enemies that can shoot many bullets, but they’re slow, predictable and relatively easy to avoid because you have lots of space to maneuver around! On that same train of thought, Rumia, the first stage’s boss, certainly doubles down on the number of bullets she can throw at you. But, their patterns are once again pretty slow and predictable, making things much more comfortable at the start of your adventure!

But hold on a minute here, how does this game actually plays? Well, this is where I need to let out a horrifying truth:

Touhou is actually really, REALLY fun.

At first it does seem like a pretty standard shooter: you shoot at things, dodge bullets, collect power ups to boost your weapon’s strength, and make sure you don’t die too much in order to reach the final boss in good shape. However, what I ended up loving about Touhou are its many, many mechanics that spice things up beautifully! The first one I wanna focus on is “Grazing” and it’s actually pretty simple: if you do your best to get close to a bullet or a laser without touching it with your (very small!) hitbox, you graze that bullet! Not only will a satisfying sound effect play out each time you graze something, you will also gain points each time you do this maneuver, making it essential for a high score, and especially, to gain extra lives faster!  Secondly, there’s bombing! I am totally repeating myself here, but while each character has a different kind of bomb to their disposal, they each function in relatively the same way: you get to launch a strong attack against your opponents, get invincibility frames, and on top of that, get rid of any bullets that are currently on the screen! I love bombs in this game because they create a great balance: you can totally use them for offensive purposes, buuuut they also serve as a great defensive clutch if you just find things too difficult at the moment.  Bombs even have two extra layers to them! When you will get hit and lose a life (and believe me, you will) your bombs will get refilled back to three, urging you to not hoard them too much even if you’d prefer to save them for a tougher part. Because if you die, you might just “waste” bombs in a way! However, here’s an advanced kicker: if you manage to hit the bomb button just as you are hit by a projectile (8 frames within death I think!) you not only are able to save yourself from losing a life, you also won’t lose a bomb at all, either! This is a very difficult trick, but a very cool and potentially important one if you plan things out in the heat of battle ^^

Then there’s a mechanic that, to my knowledge, got introduced in EOSD: the POC, as in Point Of Collection! Now, as you destroy the many enemies after Reimu or Marisa, they naturally drop many power ups and point icons, and because there’s many of these you’re bound to miss them. However, this is where the POC comes in: if you are at full weapon power, you will earn the ability to collect every icon on the screen! This makes sense and is actually very smart, because most players - myself included - tend to hug the bottom of the screen as bullets are more scarce and slower here. BUT reaching that POC close to the top of the screen is a great way to incentivise players to risk things in order to get a massive amount of points and gain extra lives way faster! And finally, as soon as you do reach that max power, the game will automatically wipe every single projectile off the screen, so it’s even possible to time when you’ll get your final power boost to make things easier on yourself!

All of those mechanics together make Touhou EOSD a pure joy to play! It’s simple on the surface but has such interesting mechanics and risk-reward elements that can push you out of your comfort zone, but never forces you to! And sure enough, I got addicted~

Even though I did say that the game had a good curve and started off not too difficult, it does not mean that your journey will be easy: even early game bosses such as Cirno and Meiling took me lots of practice to get consistent at, by studying their patterns and testing out which strategies worked the best for survival. And eventually, even Patchouli and Sayaka’s stages will test you out with lots of predictable-yet-deadly bullets to test out your screen reading skills and even reflexes.

Touhou may be more accessible than I thought, but do not be mistaken: on Normal, this game will still challenge you, and I absolutely love it for that <3 

Another thing that helps this game out is - please pretend to be surprised - the music. Touhou has always been known for bringing some very good tunes all around, but besides Luna Nights’s incredible soundtrack, I actually never got to listen to any of them besides Bad Apple and one fanime opening my bestie sent me one year ago. And well... it’s true!

The game uses some very artificial, even out-of-tune instruments for its music, but strangely enough, it REALLY works! It gives the music a very nostalgic, warm feeling that’s hard to describe, but it works so well at making those songs catchy as all heck! It also helps that the compositions themselves are pretty strong and surprisingly complex for its genre, too! I would pick a favourite theme to show off, but the soundtrack’s just really consistent and good all around!

Sadly, I mostly cannot say the same for the game’s presentation. This game is a PC app from 2002 and it sadly somewhat shows. I’ll even bring a special mention to the in-game portraits, which are hilariously HORRIBLE! Thankfully dedicated fans have made a patch to improve the game’s visuals so that they’re more in line with later titles, but at base it’s really not the prettiest gem visually...

...except for the spell cards, the bosses’s strongest attacks, which are genuinely gorgeous multicolored motives that will struck you in awe before you are inevitably destroyed by them, it’s great! My favourite is the one you get from Meiling’s mid stage encounter, pictured above!

Before wrapping up this long, long post, I do wanna add this: the game will unfortunately only give you the good ending only by playing on Normal and above, and only if you beat the game without using any continues. This is called a 1CC, or 1 Credit Clear. Even if I don’t think the bad ending’s actually that unsatisfactory, I did want to get better at the game! So I practiced for many hours a day for a couple of weeks, memorized each boss’s patterns, learned where to graze, when to optimally reach the POC to get as many points as possible... this game pushed me to get better with an incentive, a reward waiting at the end, on top of the satisfaction of simply cheesing what used to be so difficult at some point and... well, I think this is the proof of a well-crafted game right there. After many failed attempts, I finally managed to 1CC this game (pictures below!!) and it was, genuinely, one of the most satisfying moments in my gaming life <3 

So... yeah. I might be a Touhou fan now. Welp.

Touhou VI: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil was such a pleasant surprise for me: I expected a game I’d find somewhat boring at best and frustrating at worst, but I ended up having a very, very good time, and honestly? It’s not as hard as you’d think it is! You can beat a Touhou game, so long as you are interested in practicing and getting better, and I promise it’ll feel rewarding in the best of ways <3

I just wanna say thank you to Luna Nights and Team Ladybug, because without them, I would have never been curious and then surprised by how cool this game is. Thank you <3 

And many thanks to you, the reading, for staying until the end! Thank you for reading!