#i feel like i need to write their game story before i branch off too much

[littlemourningstarr]

I have been doing some serious thinking about Sekh, Astarion, and kids- and I think I've finally decided where they end up 👀

This is ridiculous to think about as I'm writing the Gauntlet of Shar and feel so far from any post game joy for them.

[sebsgirl71479]

Forever My Love

Steve Rogers x Curvy Female Reader

Other characters: Bucky Barnes, Wanda Maximoff, Clint Barton

Warnings: As much fluff as your heart can handle, (later chapter, smut, unprotected sex, dry humping.)

A/N: I had this originally as a Chris Evans story but the climate surrounding him I didn't feel comfortable writing it. Maybe when things calm down I'll go back to writing Chris stories. In the meantime I hope you enjoy this little story. This is Part 1. Again please comment and reblog, they make me happy.

You wouldn’t necessarily call yourself an outcast, You had friends, you went out and had fun but you pretty much stayed to yourself. Your best friends were Wanda and Clint. You were pretty much the 3 musketeers. All 3 of you lived in the same cul de sac as well as 2 other families, the Barnes’ and Rogers’. You always saw them hanging out together but the 3 of you never really hung out that much with them. Them being Bucky and Steve. 

You were so shy, that when Wanda and Clint came to ask you to play when you were kids you almost ran home too afraid to say hello. After a few more attempts to ask you to play, your mother talked to you and just told you to give them a chance because they seemed like nice kids. Since that day you have never looked back and thank your mother for pushing you to the 2 best friends you’ll ever have. And now here you are senior year at Howard Stark High School, named after the famed inventor from your hometown. Summer had been great, you and Wanda both worked at the local ice cream shop called May’s while Clint worked right next door at Hawk archery store. Before the first day of school you told wanda that you wanted a little bit of a change for senior year. So she came over and had a day of beauty and went over what you wanted to change. 

You always wore simple clothes not really being too much into fashion like wanda but you wanted to branch out. Being a bit of a thicker gal it was always hard to find cute clothes that fit you, so you both headed out of your small town to the next one over and found some great clothes to help in your little change you wanted. When you got back Clint was a little butt hurt that he wasn’t asked to join so you let him come over and gave him a facial and manicure which he didn't mind. What you didn't notice was when you got back from the shops, Steve was watching you from his front yard as he was mowing it. He was shy like you but you never noticed it because you always thought he was as confident as Bucky. When in reality he was an awkward teen and didn't know how to talk to girls, especially ones he really liked, like you. He really wanted to ask you out but was afraid of you turning him down. He didn’t want any other girls, he wanted you. 

After you went in your house he finished his work and went inside his house and took a shower to get the summer heat and sweat off him before he walked over to Bucky’s house. He needed advice and the only person who could give him that was Bucky. Walking over to Bucky’s house he just lets himself in with a small knock on the door announcing himself. “Hey Buck, it’s me where are you?” Bucky peeked his head around the corner scaring the crap out of Steve. “Right here buddy, what's up!”

“Oh jesus christ buck don't do that.”

“Sorry about that. Come on, let's go play video games before our brains start to melt with school work soon.” Steve just shakes his head in disbelief. Bucky may say he doesn’t like school but he has some of the best grades in the school. 

“Actually Bucky, I need your help with something.” Seeing the seriousness on his face Bucky knew he really had to hear him out. “What’s up?” With a hefty sigh Steve got to the point.

“You know y/n across the street? I want to ask her out, but I don't know how to approach her. I think she is just pretty and I'm afraid I’ll say the wrong thing.”

“Alright pal, first of all have you ever talked to her?” Looking down at his hands he shakes his head no.

“Look I know you’re a bit shy but we have to try and get past that so you can get the girl, because you don't want to lose her to someone else.”

“God buck, she’s so damn pretty I don't know how I'm going to do this. Plus, I don't know how I will get her alone. Clint and Wanda are always with her like a shield.”

“Hey don’t worry about that. They are like us always together looking after each other. I can see it. I'm sure they are just protective of the other.” Soon enough Bucky was giving Steve the right way to speak to you and hopefully try and ask you out on a date. 

The next day was the first day of school and you were a little nervous about your outfit. Wanda assured you that it looked great on you and to not overthink it. So you stepped out of your house with Wanda and Clint waiting for you in Clint's car. You're wearing a cute brown sundress with a jean jacket and low top sneakers. As you walk, Clint starts blasting Cherry pie by Warrant and they both start whistling as you walk towards the car. You just shake your head at your two dorky friends and get in the back seat. “Y/N you look fantastic no one at school is going to believe it’s you.” Wanda was beaming like a proud mamma. “If you weren’t my best friend I'd ask you out.”

“Clint that’s very sweet but you’re like my brother that would be weird.” While all this was happening Steve watched you drive off with your friends as he was getting in his car with Bucky. He was driving too fast to see you in the back but he couldn't wait to see you at school.

“Hey lover-boy, let's get going or we’ll be late.”

“Shut up Bucky and get in the car.” 

Steve starts the car and backs out of his driveway and heads down the road towards school. The parking lot was chaotic with students milling around or standing by their cars showing off what they did to them during the summer. As Steve drove into the lot he saw you and your friends standing by Clint's car and there so happened to be an empty spot next to it. He carefully parked next to you and shut the engine off. You turned around when you saw a car park next to you and your friends and saw it was Steve and Bucky. When Steve stepped out of his car he looked amazing, wearing dark wash jeans, a white t-shirt and brown leather jacket. 

Wow, was he always this good looking?  Was your inner thoughts. He looked right at you as soon as he closed his door and gave you a lopsided smile. You returned his smile with one of your own and a small wave. You then felt warmth on your face and ducked your face down and looked away. 

Oh my god she looks like a goddess in that dress. That is what Steve was telling himself as he saw you standing by the car. The smile he gave you was a shot in the dark in hopes you would return it and you did. He felt his heart flutter when you smiled back, he’s really glad his asthma is under control now otherwise he would be having an attack right now. When you turned back to talk to your friends Bucky grabbed Steve by the shoulders as if to say ‘that's a good first start’ They both headed into the building to get their schedules and a quick bagel from the cafeteria. 

When you get to your 1st hour, you’re a little bummed that your friends aren't in this class with you but you do see a familiar face, Steve Rogers. This was honors biology and so everyone was sat 2 at a lab table, since you didn't know anyone else you start walking towards Steve. Steve looks up to see you enter the classroom looking for a place to sit. When you spot him you start walking to him almost hesitantly.

“Um, is th-this seat taken?” He looks at you like you just gave him the hardest equation known to man, when you ask again he shakes himself from his stupor and smiles up at you.

“Oh, no go ahead, it'd be a pleasure to have you sit with me.” ‘Smooth Rogers, real smooth’ You giggled at his response and sat down next to him. Steve throws caution to the wind and decides to speak first. Come on you dork you can do it.

“You know we’ve lived in the same cul de sac since we were kids and we’ve never really talked to each other?”

“I think that has to do with Clint and Wanda taking up all my free time.” You both laugh a little bit, then your laughter stops as soon as your teacher enters the room.

“Okay class welcome back for another great school year” He said a little sarcastically. “So just to let you know, I hope you like where you are sitting because the person next to you will be your lab partner for the remainder of the school year.” You and Steve look at each other with wide eyes but smile in the end. Your teacher goes over the basic safety procedures for the lab and most of the projects that you all will be doing during the year. 

The last 5 mins of class the teacher gives everyone time to get to know their partner. All you and Steve can do is smile and laugh at pretty much nothing, then the bell rings. You gather your things and put them in your backpack and Steve does the same.

“So what class do you have next?” You look at your schedule and see what you have next.

“Um, I have financial algebra next.”

“Really? So do I.” and he shows you his schedule and sees that you have the next 2 classes together.

“Oh wow, what a coincidence.”

“Can I walk with you to class?” Steve asks nervously.

“I’d Like that a lot” You walk towards the door and he lets you pass first like a gentleman and you head down the hall and to the right towards algebra. Entering the class you see both Wanda and Bucky sitting in the same row but 2 desks separating them. 

They see you both come in and wave at their respected friends. Steve lets you walk ahead of him and you sit to Wanda’s right and Steve to Bucky’s left. Wanda starts talking first.

“So what was that about?”

“What, we had the first hour together and found out that we have the 1st 3 classes together so he walked me here.” While you're talking to Wanda, Bucky starts asking Steve a million questions.

“So did you ask her out yet? Why did you walk her to class? Do you think she likes you, because I saw the way she looked at you before she sat down?”

“Bucky slow down man. Well she came into 1st hour and asked to sit next to me. Turns out we’re gonna be lab partners all year. We went to leave class and I asked what her next call was because I didn't want to leave her side and we have 3 classes together.”

“Steve, I think being able to ask her out is going to be easier than you thought huh?” 

Steve looks over at you and smiles, you look over your shoulder at the same time and smile back at him with a blush. He turns back to Bucky with a big grin on his face. “I’m gonna try my hardest to ask her out real soon and treat her like the goddess she is.”  Wanda looks back at you after you turn back around and gives you a look.

“What?” “What do you mean, what? Since when are you and Steve so friendly and that little smile he gave you?”

“It was just friendly. I don't think it meant anything.”

“Well whatever it was, don't lose it because I think he might be into you.” You weren’t a girl that the guys ever went for but seeing the way Steve was smiling at you and wanting to walk you to class stirred something in you. 

Your next class with Steve was advanced studio painting. Knowing you and Steve loved art was something unexpected but refreshing. Again you two sat close to each other in the class, looking at the other when the other wasn’t paying attention. This new thing between you and Steve almost felt natural like you were meant to connect now for some reason. Clint sat behind you guys and noticed this new development, he would bring it up to you later at lunch. When class ended it was time for lunch so you headed out towards the parking lot to meet Wanda at Clint’s car. Steve caught up with you while you were walking. 

“So, um what are you doing for lunch?”

“Oh, uh Wanda, Clint and I head down the street to the sub shop and hang there. It's sort of a tradition for us.” “Oh.” You could see disappointment in his eyes.

“Would you like to join us? The more the merrier, I mean if you want to?” He gave you the biggest, brightest smile that could light up a room.

“Yeah that would be great let me just go tell Bucky and we can meet you there?”

“That sounds great, can’t wait to see you.” And just like that Steve runs to find Bucky to tell him their lunch plans. You laugh at his eagerness and begin your trek to the car. Clint and Wanda are already waiting by the car when you walk up. “Hey guys, um do you mind if someone joins us for lunch, they’ll meet us there?”

“Is it Steve?” Clint is the first to pipe up.

“How do you know?”

“Please y/n i was sitting behind you guys in art class, i could see the looks you were giving each other.”

“They did the same thing in algebra this morning.” You look away in embarrassment but you know your friends mean well. “Yes it's Steve, is that okay with you guys?”

“Sure, we have no problem right Clint?” Wanda gives him a pointed look. He’s like a big brother so he can be protective. “Yeah sure, let's get going before all the good spots are gone.”       

Steve had such a supportive friend in Bucky. When he told him about lunch and being able to hang out with you, Bucky was on board anything to get his buddy the girl of his dreams. They arrived at the shop just as you had parked and got out of the car. You gave Clint your order and leant on the car waiting. You guys loved this place. It had great food and always 80s and 90s music blasting from the speakers. Steve walked up to you as Bucky went to put his and Steve’s orders in.

“Hey there.” “Hey yourself. Have you ever been here?”

“A few times.” “Yeah we love this place, it just feels nostalgic.” You both just stare at the other like you’re the only two people around. While this is happening Bucky is standing behind Wanda and Clint in line. This gave Clint the opportunity to ask Bucky what’s been on his mind since class. 

“Hey Bucky, I have to ask. Is Steve really into y/n or this some sick joke to play on her? Because she’s really shy and has never had a guy be interested in her like I see Steve being. I don't want her to get hurt. She's like a sister to me and I don't want her heart to get broken by the first guy that's interested in her.”

“Hey Clint i get it, i know we’ve pretty much known each other since we were kids but don't know much about the other. But what I do know is Steve is completely into her and wants to treat her right. He’s just as shy as she is and this is a big step for him to talk to a girl he likes. So no this is not a joke he really is into her 100%.”

“Okay then, let’s get our two shy, socially awkward friends together then.” 

Soon enough, you both are pulled from your little bubble by your friends coming back with your lunches. You spend the rest of lunch talking and getting to know one another. Living in the same cul de sac for so long the 5 of you hardly know much about the others. When it's just about time to head back to campus you go to open the back passenger door when you're stopped by a hand on your elbow. You turn around to see Steve smiling down at you and moving his hand lower to your hand. You feel goosebumps and tingles all the way down your arm to your tummy. 

“I was really hoping that this wouldn’t end.”

“Me too, I enjoyed our time together.”

“Then let me take you out this friday night?” You almost can't believe it, Steve Rogers is asking you out on a date. He has a twinkle in his eyes of hopefulness.

“I’d really like that Steve, But I've never been on a date before. I don't want to disappoint you.”

“You could never disappoint me, so what do you say? Friday night 6pm?”

“Sounds great, you know where I live.” He takes your hand in his and lifts it up to his lips and kisses your knuckles. The butterflies in your heart travel to your stomach in a tornado. In Steve’s car Bucky is punching the air in victory for his friend. Wanda is happily clapping her hands and Clint is looking on like a proud brother. 

Getting in the car you are on cloud 9, not even paying attention to Wanda talking to you about what you're going to wear on your date. Steve is so happy he is practically speeding towards school making Bucky hold on for dear life. When you got back to school you really didn’t pay much attention to your last 3 classes, thinking too much about Steve. Steve was no better himself. Practically daydreaming in class, that Bucky had to smack him on the back of the head when the teacher asked him a question in world history class. When the final bell rang, everyone ran out of their classes to get out and head home or to their after school jobs. 

When you guys were driving home you could see Steve and Bucky behind you heading their way home. When you turned around to see you smiled and Steve could see you so he waved back. Clint parked in his family's driveway and you all got out to head to your own homes. Wanda ran to her house dropping off her backpack and headed over to your house. She had to talk to you about what happened today. She practically busted through your front door yelling.

“HI MRS. Y/L/N! I JUST CAME TO TALK TO Y/N!” Your mom almost jumped out of her shoes.

“Oh my goodness Wanda, what is the hurry?”

“No time to talk, gotta get to y/n’s room.” Your mom just shook her head and went back to getting dinner ready. 

As you’re putting your jacket in your closet you can hear your best friend barreling her way into your house. You just laugh and wait for her to bust into your room.

“Okay girl, we have to figure out what you’re going to wear on your date with Steve.”

“Hey calm down, I haven't even told my mom yet.”

“Well let's put an outfit together then I’ll come down with you so you can tell your mom. She’s going to be so excited for you.” Wanda heads into your closet and searches for a few outfits for friday. After about an hour of mixing matching clothes you find the right outfit. Heading out of your room, you find your mom in the living room relaxing a bit. You’re a little bit nervous to tell her about this date. 

“Um, mom, there's something I want to tell you. Now before I do,I want you to know I'm really excited about this and I hope you will be too.” 

“Alright sweetie whatever it is, I'll be happy for you.” With a big sigh you get to it. 

“I have my first ever date friday night.” 

“Oh my gosh, my baby has a date. Who is it with sweetie? Is he a nice boy?” 

“Oh mom, he is so sweet and such a nice guy. It’s Steve Rogers from across the street.”

“The shy young man with the blonde hair?” 

“Yes mom, I'm really excited for this and I hope you will let me go?”

“Of course baby, I don’t see any problem with you going out with Steve. He’s such a nice boy, I hope you have fun and tell me everything afterwards, okay?”

“I will mom, thank you so much.” 

“Alright dinner will be ready soon, Wanda are you staying to eat?” 

“Oh I have to get home to help my mom with our dinner but maybe another night. Y/N I will talk to you later.”

“Okay Wanda, talk to you later.”

After you finished dinner you went to your room and cleaned up the mess you and Wanda made with the clothes. Out of the corner of your eye you see movement from your window. You go over and lift up the window and see Clint in his room rocking out to some music. Since you were kids you and Clint tied a rope between your windows and put a bell to let the other know you wanted to talk. When you hear the song fade out you tug on the rope and the bell starts to ring. He turns around and sees you laughing at him and goes to open his window. 

“Hey buttercup, whatcha want?”

“I just wanted to see how you were doing? You’ve been kind of quiet since I told you guys about Steve asking me out and I wanted to know if you’re okay with it?”

“Buttercup, you're like a sister to me and I just want to see you happy. But I will say this, I'm sure he won't do it but if he hurts you I will hurt him.” He looks at you trying to look serious. All you can do is laugh when he breaks out into a big smile.

“I knew I could count on you Clint, thank you for being there for me.” “Anything for you buttercup, now let me get back to my personal concert and I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight Bro.” With that you close your window and get ready for bed. 

Across the street it’s pretty much the same at Steve’s house. His mom and dad were very happy for him. He couldn’t stop talking about you at dinner. Steve’s mom was worried he wouldn’t come out of his shell, but now knowing he was able to ask a sweet, pretty girl who he says is the girl of his dreams, she couldn’t be happier for him. And of course his dad gave him ‘the talk’ to which Steve had a deep blush on his face the whole time.

“Dad, I’m a gentleman, I’m not going to do anything like that on the first date. I’m just hoping for a kiss, that's all”

“Well son, I just want to make sure you’re prepared for when the time comes. I know we taught you well and have good manners.”

“I know dad, I just want to treat her right. I know it seems soon and I’m young and all but, she’s it for me dad. I can see her with me for the rest of my life.”

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself son, take it one day at a time.”

"I will dad, don’t worry.” After helping his mom clean up the dishes from dinner he went upstairs to get ready for bed. He got under the covers ready to sleep but all he could do was stare at the ceiling and think of you and see you tomorrow at school. With a big smile on his face he turned over and fell asleep with your face on his mind. 

The rest of the school week went like the first day. You and Steve talking more and being flirtatious to each other. When Friday came you were a ball of nerves, so was Steve. When you got home from school Clint and Wanda came over to help you out with getting ready, even though Clint didn't do much but sit at your desk and talk about what not to do on the date. That big brother mentality he has around you. Bucky was laying on Steve’s bed exasperated because he was overthinking what to wear on your date.

“Steve, bud go simple. Wear that light blue button up and jeans. Don't go fancy unless you’re taking her somewhere fancy, just go with that shirt.”

“Yeah you’re right. Ugh I’m so nervous man. What if i fuck up and i never see her again?”

“That's impossible, you’re the human equivalent of a golden retriever. Chicks dig that, besides you are the nicest guy i know she’ll like whatever you do.” 

Before you knew it, it was 6pm and Your doorbell rang. Wanda let out an excited squeal and made sure to check your make-up to see if it was still good and ran towards the door as your mom opened it. As soon as you went to your door, Clint stopped you.

“Y/N look i want you to know, I’m happy for you. And if he tries to pull anything during the date you call me, but I have a feeling you won’t because he’s a good guy.”  You gave Clint a quick hug and left your room. You got to the living room where your mom was talking to Steve. When they heard your shoes clicking on the floor, they turned around at the same time. Your mom had a big smile on her face. Steve looked like his eyes were about to pop out of his head. 

“Sweetie, you look wonderful.” Your mom beamed with pride. Steve stood up and walked over to you still he hadn’t said anything until he was about 2 feet away from you. He grabbed your hand and brought it up to his lips and kissed the back of your hand.

“You look absolutely beautiful.” You wore a long sleeve bodysuit with an orange skirt and thigh high boots.

"Thank you Steve, you look very handsome, that shirt really brings out your eyes.” You both were blushing with each other's compliments.

“Well if you’re ready your chariot awaits.” With a small giggle, Steve intertwined his hand with yours and walked towards the front door. You turned around and said bye to your mom and 2 best friends. He actually drove his car from across the street where his house was to yours instead of walking over. His car was a dream, a 1971 Chevy Chevelle plus it was a convertible that sold you.

“Have I ever told you I really like your car?”

“No you haven’t but I'm glad you do. Most girls aren't into cars nowadays.” He opened the passenger door for you and didn't let go of your hand until you were seated and then closed your door. He ran over to his side and got in. 

You both drove off in comfortable silence just enjoying each other's presence. He drove you to a local diner that everyone in town really enjoyed, Ben’s Diner. He found a parking space and turned off the engine, before you could reach for the handle he stopped you.”

You stay there I’ll get the door for you.” You blushed a little bit at his gentleman-like behavior. He got out and came to your door and as he opened it he stretched out his hand for you to take. Closing the door he brings your hand into the crook of his elbow and walks you towards the diner. Then you kind of paused a bit and this caught Steve’s attention. In your head you're thinking, are there people from school here if they are, are they going to make comments about you being here with Steve? 

“Hey is everything okay?”

“I just got nervous all of a sudden. What if there are kids from school here? What if they think I shouldn't be with you?”

It was no secret that Steve was a very good looking guy, well built, beautiful blue eyes you can get lost in. “Who cares what they say. I’m here with you. Can I tell you a secret?”

You nod your head for him to continue. “This is actually my first date. You're the only girl I've ever wanted to ask out. There’s been no one else I have ever wanted to be with than you.” You look at him with wide eyes. You thought Steve would have had girls before you, boy were you wrong. And to tell you he’s been wanting to ask you out for a long while now makes your heart skip a beat.

“I didn't know you have been wanting to ask me out for so long. Okay let’s go in.” With big smiles you both enter the diner. When you go in you see May, your old boss from the ice cream shop behind the counter helping out. Her nephew Peter is bussing tables as well. “Y/N sweetheart, i feel like i haven't seen you in forever, come here and give me a hug.” May was like another mom to you and Wanda. She walks from behind the counter and gives you a bone crushing hug. 

“May, it’s so great to see you. Oh, May this is Steve Rogers, Steve this is May Parker my old boss at the ice cream shop.”

“Ma’am it's nice to meet you.” He tries to shake her hand but she’s a hugger so she wraps her arms around he middle giving him the same bone crushing hug.

“Oh please we don't shake hands, we are huggers. And please call me May, ma’am makes me feel old. So what brings you two here tonight?”

“Actually May, this is Steve and I’s first date.” The biggest smile appears on her face. “Well then let me show you my special spot just for tonight.” She grabs a few menus and leads you both over to a quiet corner of the diner.

“Ben usually uses this when he wants a quiet place to finish doing the books for the diner and shop but this is the perfect spot for a date this special.” “Thank you so much, you’re the best.” You sit opposite of each other in the booth and start looking at the menu. Dinner went great, you talked, you laughed and you noticed that no one was really paying attention to the two of you. Just before the check came, Peter came over to grab your plates from the table and chatted with you for a bit. He was a junior at your high school and it seemed that he and Steve had a lot in common.  

Steve paid the bill and you were both off and out of the diner, full and happy. You both waved to Ben who was in the kitchen and May who was manning the counter. Walking hand in hand back to Steve’s car, again he opened your door and led you inside.

“So where are we going next?” “That my beautiful angel is a surprise.” You blushed at the pet name he just gave you.

“Hey, why don’t you show me what this car can do Stevie?” “Wow, you just got way hotter y/n"

With that he pulls out of the parking lot and heads down the road and notices there are hardly any cars on the street. So he looks over at you and then starts shifting gears to get the car up to speed and then punches it into 4th gear and you’re loving it. Steve sees the pure joy on your face and he knows then and there, you're it for him and he hasn't even kissed you yet. When Steve sees the road he has to take he slows down and turns off the main road. As he is driving he pushes the button to let the top down on the car. In a few minutes you come to a clearing and park it over a small lookout. Steve shut off the car but keeps the music playing on the stereo. 

“Oh Steve, this is beautiful. I don't think I've ever been here before.”  “Yeah Bucky told me about this place and I thought it would be a great place for our date, plus we can stargaze.”

That’s when you look up and see how clear the night is and see every star and constellation. Just then Steve grabs a blanket from the back seat and lays it over both your laps. You look over at him and slide over closer to him. He wraps his arm around your shoulders and you both lean back and watch the stars twinkle in the sky. Every few seconds Steve rubs your shoulder and arms to keep you warm. You look over at Steve who is already staring at you with a small grin on his face. He brings up his other hand to your cheek and caresses it, then he moves it to the back of your neck into your hair. Your breath hitches, thinking to yourself ‘oh god is he going to kiss me now?’ You’ve never kissed a boy before and you’re worried you’ll be bad. 

“You’re so beautiful, I've been waiting so long to ask you this. Can I kiss you?” Feeling breathless you answer him.

“Yes. But I should tell you, this is my first kiss and I don't want to disappoint you.” 

“This is my first kiss too, and I'm glad it’s with you.” He brings your face towards his and you close your eyes when you feel his breath on your lips. He closes the gap more and he gently presses his lips to yours. It’s sweet and slow but still passionate. After a few seconds he gets bold and swipes his tongue into your mouth and you grant him entrance. You bring your hands to his chest and move them to his hair. His hands are now on your hips and he grabs them tight and moves you closer to him, if that’s possible. He wants to feel all of you. After you have the need to breathe, you break away from the kiss but just a little so you’re still close to his lips.

“That’s the best first kiss ever.” “Yeah, I never thought it would be that good Steve.” 

Steve gives you one more peck on the lips and you lay your head on his shoulder and enjoy the rest of your time together. When it's almost 10pm, Steve starts up the car to head back into town and drives you home. When he turns into your street, you start to dread the end of your date. He parks in front of your house and you can see the light in your living room still on. Most likely your mom is waiting for you. You start to play with your fingers nervously not knowing what to do. Steve gets out of the car and opens your door and walks you to your door. You start to fish out your keys to keep your mind busy.

“I had a really great time Steve, thank you.” “Me too. I really want to see you again.”

“Really?” “Yeah, I know this is fast but, you’re it y/n. There’s no one else I want in this world.”

“Oh Steve, I feel the same way.” He wraps his arms around your waist and lifts you up a little bit and kisses you breathless. He puts you back on your feet and kisses your forehead, before loosening his grip on you.

“Good night Steve.”

“Goodnight y/n. I’ll text you okay.”

“Okay.” With a big smile on his face he runs to his car and drives across the street to his house and heads into his house. 

While you and Steve were having your moment, all of your friends were each looking out their windows wanting to see how the date went. Wanda clapped and squealed from her bedroom, Clint was in the garage repairing his arrows shaking his head seeing how happy you were, and Bucky was sitting in his living room punching the air when Steve gave you that kiss.

Steve really wanted to get ready for bed but he was too excited to. He looked out his window and saw that the light was on in your room. So he jumps out of bed and slips out of his house as quietly as possible to run over to your house. He taps on your window so lightly you almost miss it. You cautiously walk over to your window and pull back the curtain and see Steve at your window. You open the window to see why he’s at your house at this hour.

“Steve, what are you doing here? Are you still in your pj’s?” “I couldn’t sleep and I saw your light was still on so I took a risk and came over. I can't stop thinking about you. Can I come in?”  You begin to think about it, hoping you don't get caught and nod your head. Steve then brings his leg over the window sill and jumps in. You laugh at his eagerness getting into your room.

When he finally gets his bearings, he brings you into his arms and kisses you. He never wants to stop kissing, he feels like this is heaven and you're the angel that brought him there. After a few minutes he breaks the kiss and places his forehead to yours. "I hope it was okay that I came over?” “It was more than okay.”

Part 2

(I hope you enjoyed this first part. If you want to be notified about the next part let know in the comments.)

[maxisanangrywell]

Review & Rant Concerning MW3 Reboot

**This has Spoilers for MW3. If you have not played the full game and care about spoilers, please do not read.**

To preface this, hi!! I'm Max is a Well, and I am a writer. I have not published any novels, but I do have one in the works. I have written for plenty of people, including some pretty big fanfiction authors [past tense] (not as impressive as most, but I quite enjoyed it), and I have written my fair share of fan artworks, and then a few half published WIPs are floating around the internet somewhere. I've been writing since I was like, 12 years old. I've done it for the better part of my life now, and I've turned some heads with my writing. If circumstances were better where I could pursue this passion for full-time, I'd probably be really well off by now. All this to say, I'm very much someone who knows a lot about writing, story pacing, emotions dramatics and the whole 9 yards.

I love playing games and immersing myself within what's happening in game, and I got that feeling from MW1 & 2, but 3 was just, a little rough feeling. I can't quite explain it, but it just didn't have the same vibe as the first or second. I enjoyed the narrative although, again really rough story telling. (You're gonna get that in games like this that are essentially propaganda for a certain cause or organization, so I disregard most of it. It's the "look this is cool guys! You wanna do this," kind of thing.)

Then, Price didn't let Soap kill Makarov. Standing from a narrative point of view, we were told this guy 1, is extremely dangerous extremist, and threatening to bring WW3 onto humanity. 2, Brass is worried about this, and if they're worried about it, than we need to be too. (This solidifies that the man is a genuine threat, and that he needs to be treated as such. Often this means, a straight up get rid of this guy.) 3, Price and the 141 have some history with Makarov. Then, to build off this, in the previous game, MW2, we literally were on a to-kill mission for Hassan. So if Makarov is an even bigger threat than Hassan, (and Hassan had MISSILES), then, shouldn't we have killed Makarov when given the chance?

Also to build off this, they are all within the SAS, or have passed SAS selection. They are, narratively speaking, the best of the best within their specific branch. They are more than well trained and specialists when it comes to Counter-Terrorism, which with that would come with knowing things like how to properly debilitate your enemy, knock them out, etc. They would have had done interrogations to get specific information and you can't just bring someone awake to a location to be interrogated. You would have to knock them out or debilitate them prior before moving. Yet, they didn't do any of that. Just, knocked his ass to the ground after a stab to the shoulder.

None of it past a certain point makes any sense narratively, and me as a writer is so fucking pissed. They made Makarov a fucking badass and BBEG for the century, yet they kill off arguably one of the best liked characters? Especially after Neil did so much advertising for the fans and even doing the corny Christmas thing that was all over COD TikTok for a few good weeks afterwards. People were going WILD over the Scot, and Ghost.

One thing you learn pretty quickly when creating content, whether it be games, art, comics, novels, etc... is that you got to feed your fanbase from time to time. You give them an inch, and you'll get a mile. No one needed to die within the third game, especially when it felt so rushed. If they really needed the suspense, then they could have easily injured Soap, and kept us wondering if he was alive, and then revealed him okay within the fourth installment. That would have made people buy the game just to see if their favorite was still around, and who knows, maybe they'd actually enjoy the story and decide to play the rest of the game.

What really pissed me off other than the weird pacing of the stretch of the game is the way they reacted to Soap's death. Now, they didn't have to be horribly torn up at it like Price in the original series, in fact, that would be horribly unrealistic. My mother is a hospice nurse, so she's gotten close to a lot of patients that have passed. Some being really traumatic and saddening ways. She can't cry anymore, but she does grieve, and she grieves hard when it's a patient she's had for a while and gotten close to. You can't look me in the eyes, and tell me these three men who have just spent a year and some change chasing down Hassan, and now Makarov, wouldn't show no emotion when it came to one of their own dying?

Soldiers are friends but more. There's a whole reason there's the saying "brothers in arms" exists. They go through hell and back together, they definitely did in Las Almas, and during Chicago in the second game. So to have barely 2 minutes worth of a cutscene to pay homage to a character that they all bonded so deeply with? I genuinely thought people were seriously joking about it, and then I saw it with my own two eyes and I'm appalled on how they thought that was a good send off both emotionally and narratively. It did nothing. It didn't comfort you, it didn't sound like they were grieving too terribly, it was just, flat. Monotonous. There was hardly any emotion in the lines, and the guys didn't have to be crying, but at least put some emotion in it.

Ghost and Gaz arguably in the reboot are the closest to Soap, so some sort of emotion, like Ghost being just a little choked up on his "Rest in Peace, Johnny" would have been just top tier. You would have been able to gauge so much off of that, and it would have fed the Ghost and Soap fangirls so much. (I know some COD players don't like to hear that, but the fandom shifting is a normal thing to happen, and the new people within the fandom are buying the games to play them just to understand the story and that is absolutely helping the studio and the games preform better. To put it simply, they are now also apart of the integral part of keeping COD alive and well.) Or, Gaz instead of just saying the most generic army farewell thing in the world, instead make a personal promise to bring Makarov to his knees himself. Again, it would gauge so much with his character, how he's feeling, what this death is doing to him, and what his personal goals are moving forwards.

They absolutely, from a narrative position could have done so much better. There are always going to be bugs and glitches in games, especially shooters, but the thing that draws people in and keeps them coming back, is the story and the characters. At the end of the day, this was not only a horrible story decision, but also is probably going to hurt them a lot when concerning the next game release. The newer crowd hardly has a reason to come back to see the new game. If Soap, a beloved character was treated this way, how are they going to treat Price, Gaz or Ghost if they die? I'm incredibly disappointed, they had an amazing story, amazing VA's, amazing graphics and design. The COD fandom was seriously getting a much needed breath of fresh air, new life was coming in, and they just tossed everything out the window.

TL;DR:: As a writer, the decision to kill off Soap was extremely horrible from both a monetary and narrative standpoint. It didn't move the story forwards, create any friction, and he didn't even have a decent send off. This is probably going to kill the new growth the COD fandom was experiencing, which in turn is definitely going to hit the studio's pockets. How much is yet to be seen, but I've seen a lot of new-blood say they weren't satisfied and aren't looking at purchasing the next game. Me included.

[steamberrystudio]

03/12/2023

Hey everyone! Time for the bi-weekly tumblr update for Steamberry stuffs!

Summary

Finished editing Chapter 5 (WSC)

Decided an additional chapter was needed to fix pacing/plot stuff.

Received some new BG art (WSC)

Worked on the GS lore book including adding profiles and short stories

Ramble

Okay so in my last update I was in the middle of editing chapter 5 and was nearly to the start of chapter six in editing Asher's route. I finished up chapter 5...

At that point when I was looking ahead, I started feeling like I wanted to add in a transition scene to move between Chapter 5 and Chapter 6.

As I started plotting out this scene, one of my ideas took on a life of its own and I realised that it might be better to interject a new, fleshed out story incident that would allow me to slow the pacing as well as flesh out the setting and universe a little more. This incident would also let me tie into some earlier events and connect them to something that occurs in chapter 6, also foreshadowing the chapter 6 incident.

 Ultimately, this became too much to call a "scene" and I decided to branch it off into a supplementary chapter (IE a chapter a bit shorter than the others and meant to be released along with another chapter.

That is what I've been working on since the last update.

This chapter has now served to set up multiple important things.

And is currently 17000 words long (it's going to end up closer to 25k by the end I think. There is a pretty significant story branch that happens at this point based on a specific player choice (That is or is not available based on other factors). If the choice is available and if the player makes that choice, it leads to an entirely different flow of events for a substantial portion of the chapter. That's what I'm currently working on writing.

I have it plotted out in a very detailed way and just have to write it.

Chapters with heavy branching are always a bit of a doozy to write and the WSC chapters are pretty long in general (the longest chapter is 62,000 words right now). So yeah.

Adding new content is still a part of editing I suppose. At least sometimes. I was so excited to cut 4000 words of content in chapter 5. 

Then I added 17000+ more. So.....

That sounds accurate for me. 😱

I've been having a lot of health struggles the last couple of weeks mostly related to chronic fatigue and pain. That, in addition to some really irritating "real life" stuff. But things are still moving forward.

Current word count is 440,000 words.

Regarding the GS lore book - I've been adding character profiles to a "people" section and have also been working on some of the short stories/drabbles. It's close to 300 pages at this point. 💪

Other Stuff:

As usual, I have received a completed BG and sketch, acquiring the game environments at a steady pace.

Upcoming Weeks:

This is getting into a busy time of year so I have a lot of real life distractions even apart from HEALTH. ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹 Progress always slows a little for me during this period since we have a lot going on.

But here is the plan.

Try to finish adding the profiles to the lore book. (Noooot sure I will. There are still a lot to go and the formatting for them is tricky. And I'm alternating between adding profiles and finishing writing a few side stories I've had ideas for for a while)

Try to finish chapter 5.5 for WSC

That's all for this week. There should be on more update here before the end of the year. See you then! 💪💪

[this-acuteneurosis]

Can I just say how much I appreciate the fact you don't stray much from the movies?

It's just so refreshing to see a fic that is built on a clear, unbiased and simple canon base. This way, as you demonstrated, a writer not only has the ability to further explore the main themes and ideas introduced in the source material, but they can also go ahead and naturally develop their own by branching out on those fundamentals. They can offer their perspective by using the source material to their advantage, instead of working against it or even worse, trying to include all contradicting canon aspects. Part of writing a fic is kind of like offering your input in a conversation/disagreement. You have to listen carefully to what the other person is saying in order to form your answer...If you're listening to a thousand different people who are all saying a different thing (in this case, The clone wars, legends, novels, comics ect), you won't be able to give an answer that makes sense, much less give a structured and stable opinion.

I love how you were like "I know star wars is entering an era of a shit ton of spin off content with seemingly no end and most star wars fans know shit like who chewie lost his virginity to and what the kessel run is but screw this. The movies and maybe some late night wiki research is enough."

And you were right.

It's so funny, because I feel like I do ultimately stray pretty far from the movies. Not in terms of events I guess, but especially the prequels, I reject some of the underlying assumptions of what is said on screen and just treat it like fallible people strongly asserting opinions that no one calls them on. See: everything I ever assert about the Force/Anakin's "destiny."

I do think it helped me to stick with limited material. And it wasn't even because I saw all of this new SW content coming. I've mentioned this before, but when I started writing Don't Look Back (when it was just Like Fire and I naively believed I was gonna be done in 200k words, lol, rip past me) I hesitated a lot because as far as I was concerned, I wasn't a Star Wars Fan.

I'd watched the OT and PT multiple times. I knew that novels and games and cartoons existed, I knew people had consumed them all. I had been reading some SW fic because @mylongsufferingroommate had been sending me stuff they were enjoying and I was having fun with it. But like, I would never have called myself a Fan. I got goaded into writing this fic by people who knew me too well and really wanted a political thriller. I wouldn't have called them Star Wars Fans either.

Limiting myself to the six movies I had watched was a preemptive defense mechanism against a fan base I wasn't sure would want to accept me. My thin skin is my own problem, but every time I think about writing in a new fandom the same sort of nerves take me: what if my fanon is "wrong" and people are mean?

I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you so much to everyone who gave me a chance and encouraged me and were excited and shared that excitement.

And please, for the love of all the sky and stars DON'T GATEKEEP FANDOMS.

Don't tell people their canon is too big (@blue-sunshine-mauve-morning and @chancecraz have amazing fics that are much more compliant than mine to the broader canon, as a quick example), and definitely don't tell people their canon is too small. Walk away if you aren't enjoying something. Give compliments when you like something that is unique in a fandom you're familiar with. Be patient with people, be kind.

I could easily have given this story up if people hadn't been patient with me. I got comments as early as my first chapter from people who were angry with a single thing that I said and felt the need to tell me I was wrong. I could have left. I could have stopped.

I'm glad I didn't. But I wonder how many other people have.

[wishful-seeker]

My simplified story of my CRPS and experience with ketamine.

I've had crps for 5 years now. I developed it at 18 years old after completing a triathlon and getting tendinitis in my knee, which became crps. Over the course of 2 years it spread to both knees, both elbows, and both wrists. For the past 3 years i have been mostly bedridden. I couldn't walk for more than 3 minutes and even when i did it was excruciating, i couldn't touch a computer, any video games, i couldn't write anymore, i could barely make art anymore, i had to stop writing in my journal and had to keep it on my phone because of my pain. I cannot even sit in chairs or drive or run or jump. I use a wheelchair when i leave the house. When it was its worse it felt like i was being burned alive. I remember days when feeling okay lasted literal seconds and then it was gone. I remember days being in so much pain i couldn't pick up my phone and my mom had to spoon feed me. Days where all i could do was lay in bed and think. I remember days when i desperately wanted to go outside and feel the sun, when i walked outside i would count to 10. I would soak up everything i could in those 10 seconds, the colors of the sky and the fresh air. When the time was up i went back to bed and couldn't do that again for another few days.

I started ketamine infusions a year ago, i was diagnosed last year. I had infusions before i was diagnosed. First we did a 2 hour infusion. It worked wonders, for six weeks i actually jumped on a trampoline for a few minutes almost everyday, i even climbed the low branch of a tree and sat on it. Then we did a 4 hour infusion. The results were not the same. I tried four more 4 hour infusions every six weeks, but there was no relief. I was devastated. I thought the universe was cruel to even give me such hope. Then i got diagnosed and i was told of a place in Clearwater Florida with dr. Hanna that did infusions differently. I went there and met him, he prescribed a 4 hour infusion every day for 10 days, 5 days, the weekend off, then 5 more days, he also prescribed oral ketamine, 30mg 3 times a day on the weekend, one at night on infusion days. I did that. It was the hardest thing I've ever been through. It felt like dying a thousand times. I almost gave up and left early because i hate the experience of ketamine so much. But after the fifth day my dad noticed me bouncing my leg when i was sitting, something i did all my life up until crps which made it too painful. Thats when we realized, since the second infusion, i was in ZERO pain, none at all. That continued until i got home and i had a flair. I always get a flair after infusions, this is very normal for me, but it was scary. I worried the hardest thing i had ever done wasn't worth it. The flair ended, and i tried playing minecraft, my favorite game I've been unable to play for years. I had a system: play for 20 minutes, rest for 20 minutes, and repeat. I played for HOURS. I tried again the next day and it was the same, and the day after that, and the day after that. Six weeks after Clearwater i had whats called a booster infusion, which was 2 days of 4 hour infusions. Then i went two MONTHS until needing my next infusions, which i had two weeks ago.

Here is what my life looks like now: im still in bed most of the time, but i do not think of the pain, it doesn't distract me. It used to be 7-10/10 now its 3-6/10. I play minecraft with my best friend almost everyday often all day. Last week i painted a dresser. I have a garden i lightly care for each day. After the infusions before this one i had a day where i was completely able bodied, i baked a pie, went to the park, transplanted plants and played minecraft. Not only this, but even when the infusions wear off it still has permanent beneficial effects. In the past, no ketamine meant i was taking 4 scolding hot baths a day to soothe the pain in my knees. Now no ketamine means bath some days, maybe 2.

It's over. I made it. I made it to a life i thought was impossible and its not even done getting better. I am happy. I am not suffering. I am regaining freedom. It. Is. Over.

[alitgblog]

volume XI thoughts

I did in fact have access to this on Tuesday and started to play but then got distracted and didn't finish until like 2am when I couldn't sleep anyway (this was a mistake I was so tired at work)

movie night!!! And fun movie night titles!! ofc MC doesn't get her own custom one bc everyone's got different names but my MC is named Maya and with how things have been going I'm pretending her movie title is Messy Messy Maya 🤭

Emel and Oakley both being unfaithful in casa but finding (forcing?) their way back to each other and forgiving each other feels very much like something in the show so I appreciate that storyline tbh

Felicity is too beautiful of a sprite to waste as a Casa girl that only shows up for movie night.

Sienna going "I don't care if it's egotistical, pick my movies" because no one else is gonna care to pick hers 😬😬 id feel bad for her if she wasn't so mean

Hari and Hazel are so cute together but it seems like it's gonna die out soon 🥲 Like I see why if Hazel is panicking and Hari isn't the most reassuring guy and also not completely over MC but aghhh he's gonna fumble Hazel to LIAM. Hazel, not LIAM plsss

Absolutely awful that Liam is so funny bc he's such a piece of shit (awful in the best way, like he's so Messy Mitch from LI UK s10 coded and while I don't like him I appreciate the fun he brings). Saw someone suggest that he could be a late game LI and if he evolves and changes, sure, but a lot is gonna need to happen, otherwise give him a last minute jokey option like Hamish.

I think the thing stopping me from going full in on this Claudia route is she keeps going back to Theo, and not like she has to be pursuing MC 100% for me to pick her but I'm just getting mixed signals with her trying to save her relationship with Theo when they clearly aren't into each other anymore but there are plenty other people around.

Not on a Theo route and haven't talked to him but ngl his little video clip was cute like I almost jumped ship to be messy but nahh. I wonder how that's like if you're actually pursuing him though like does it feel like pay off or shock or reassurance or anything.

very nice they had Jin spell it out to Sienna in front of everyone. like kind of mean, but if it was gonna happen at any time, Movie night is definitely the time to do it.

Like even MC's movie clip playing, first of all was just if she slept with someone in casa I think (which, it's fair enough considering the game's limitations but I was missing all the other times she hoed around). So for my MC it was with Claudia, and Claudia barely has a response to it. And so I'm kinda just going towards the character actively pursuing and paying attention at this moment and it's Jin.

I guess MC was honest to Jin so he didn't mind the movie night thank God but also I want to replay to see the drama unfold. but in my head for some reason he'd be shocked it was Claudia bc she didn't say anything and like it'd be one thing if it was someone she just met like Max who she's been friendzoning ever since but another thing for it to be her best friend in the Villa. but alas, that is a large amount of branching and coding and dialogue to write so I'll let it slide.

a recoupling so soon after?? it's not like the season feels too rushed, but like I mentioned before, the pack in so many things in each volume you don't get much of a chance to chill out with the characters and pretend it's a vacation for your character lol

the problem with me playing early is I'm so curious how everyone else's game went. like is it only your OG LI or Casa Boy that can pick you?? And the chat you have with your partner after, does that lock your route because after this I feel there was a little bit less attention on MC from the other LI's (which I don't mind, so they can have their own stories now, but I wanna knowwww)

Shower scene, Sienna throwing another fit one last time for good measure

But now MC is back with Jin and they have all the cutesy interactions again yay

And then we have no rest in the morning, just straight into a DAYTIME heart rate challenge??? I just think this challenge should always happen at night idk

I forked over the gems for the cowgirl outfit (partly bc the mermaid dress was awful and bc my MC has red hair so I wasn't gonna make her dress like Ariel) but i wish there was a costume that was free instead of just your partywear dress? Like it can be a shitty costume but I understand people not wanting to pay gems for one outfit for one night of the game.

Hazel's outfit though 🥵

Such a minor detail, but I do love that despite her being so awful to MC, that Sienna canonically is a very conservative dresser. like we all see her churchy outfits. and I think maybe she's a little insecure about her body and stuff. that being said, the dialogue she has when she's in costume about feeling confident, and her costume isn't super revealing, and the girls being shocked at her dance, is all very good to have. like it's nice to have that type of character around and the fact that she's also the villain rn? she contains multitudes (or I'm reading into it too hard 😂)

mentioned briefly before but Hazel and Liam??? tf??

And now Claudia and Bea flirting with each other? Okayyy I mean my fingers are crossed so here's hoping they find each other if not MC. and they have a lot in common but feel like different characters so like pls let them be together (I say this as someone every few months posting about how it shouldve been Cora and Angie not friendzoned Oliver and Angie in the s4 finale)

ok but his entrance feels so overshadowed by other things going on though like I feel like he didn't get a chance to really bombshell to the point where I think he should've been introduced next volume instead. like have him have a normal bombshell entrance with dates or smth, then maybe when they're all chilling the next day and getting to know him someone brings up he missed heart rate challenge and they suggest he dances for the characters he's most interested in, if we really wanted to get his messy entrance in.

Two unfortunate things are true in my mind: Logan is very attractive (at least when he's got the hat on) and also he looks like Liam 🫣

depending on how this goes my MC may be hoeing around one last time

cliffhanger being the challenge results is lame

am i,,,, actually excited to replay this season 🫣

[ideahat-universe]

4chan strikes when you least suspect it

So have you seen this video?

I knew about Goodbye Volcano high when people reacted to the trailer but I forgot about it after that.

Next thing I know I see this video and learn about Snoot game. This is probably a very rare example of a fan fix and there's a lot to learn from it. For starters, Goodbye Volcano High simultaneously bit off more than it can chew while having no ambition. In a David Cage like manner it opted to turn what is essentially a short film or a novel into a video game experience via a lot of game elements that are accepted but never fun (the only time someone found QTE events fun was when the animation it correlated with was batshit crazy but maybe they felt like their little dinosaur game was more important than it needed to be.

Not to put too fine a point on it but a LGBT project that was supposedly being partially funded by the Canadian government would explain why it was a feature at a triple A trailer reel despite being a Renpy visual novel. A lot of good PR would have been obtained had the game been a huge success, good for the LGBT community and Sony and Canada pats themselves on the back for supporting a minority group.

Everyone wins. IF THE GAME IS GOOD. Everybody would have won if the game was good. But the game wasn't good. You could say when a notable member of the staff was kicked off the project and it had to be re-written was the point where the game's success was lost. You could say that 4chan sabotaging the game by creating a parody that ended up stealing the thunder of the original game was when the game's success was lost.

But the reality is that, similar to the phrase "every battle is won before it is fought." by Sun Tzu, The reality is that systematically Goodbye Volcano High was never prepared for success. Despite all the shortcomings the trailer is still completely in line with the game. Goodbye Volcano High was no Doki Doki Literature Club. There was no secret meta defying layer to the story. It wasn't Slay the Princess where it simply opted to work within the limitations of being a story driven game and focus on an extreme amount of player guided writing.

It was always going to be about Fang and her friends discovering themselves while also facing obliteration from the meteor. It was linear and simple from the very beginning.

And that is the point where the game failed and let its community down. It put too much hope on making the game almost a cinematic experience and it almost feels like this game wanted to function more like Life is Strange but the team working on the game don't know how to handle a robust game engine and it shows as the programming mistakes made in Goodbye Volcano High are quite damning when you know how straight forward the Renpy game engine is.

So the question is, how could Goodbye Volcano High been saved?

Well the first step would be to dial back everything it showed off in the trailer. No animation beyond a GIF, no QTEs, and instead add branching paths with endings and choices that matter. That's all Snoot game did to be successful. Well, they had one more trick.

4chan utilized it's own identity to craft a narrative to work with. The main character in Snoot game is 4chan personified and the story of Snoot Game in a very meta way is about how 4chan observed Fang and by extension the basic premise and the world of Volcano High. At first it was the general loathing that you come to expect but based on your choices you can actually develop quite a fondness for the characters and the setting.

You fall in love. Quite romantic for a website that's under constant surveillance from the FBI for, well you know the reasons.

Maybe instead of the meteor being ignored until it lands it's the driving narrative. Sure, Fang still has identity and self confidence issues but on top of that she has to deal with also the thought of dying, but what if, she found a way to stop it, or at the very least survive it?

If the Dinosaurs are basically a modern society but dinos then they would have seen the Meteor months ago. The player playing as Fang could be tasked with finding some way to survive the meteor. She could befriend the 1% who are going to hide in their bunker. Doing this she would possibly have to suck up to nasty individuals and betray good friends.

Maybe you could spend the play through making enough money to buy a car and the money you have decides how many of your friends you can rescue (you can even have it to where some of your friends don't want to leave and you have to save them against their own will).

Lets get really crazy, lets say there was a Laser gun being developed to zap the meteor but it was abandoned when the government realized that it would still do a huge amount across pangea as opposed to having most of the damage in just one place but if you zap the meteor you can save your town specifically from being obliterated.

The story then becomes you breaking into the facility and dealing with the fact that while your town will consider what you did a moral good, you'll go to jail, possibly for the rest of your life and everyone affected by the fragments of the meteor will want you dead.

Lets get even crazier and say that the meteor can be destroyed completely with magic but in order to use this magic you'll have to specifically sacrifice people who are close to you. Maybe that means killing your best friends or it means becoming good friends with bad people just so you can kill them instead.

Every choice would have life changing consequences and shape the kind of character who Fang is and it would make the player very involved in the story and in Fang's development. With all those paths there's still sit around and wait death. Why not?

Renpy is a story telling tool but it functions best as a choose your own adventure novel and that's what Goodbye Volcano High should have been.

Before we wrap things up we need to talk about zoomers underestimating the wily nature of 4chan.

Keyan Carlie who is a very good content creator made his video about the forgotten failed Gravity Falls theories and during the video he didn't understand why 4chan would latch onto Gravity Falls given the nature of the show and ya know. 4chan is a den of evil white supremacy.

Yes. 4chan is crazy, dangerous even. The people on that website have gone on to ruin more than a few lives (most white) for very little other than because it amused them but 4chan is also where a lot of popular culture mutates and turns into a meme.

As a result, this concoction of crazy anonymous people who have nothing but time will find the time to obsess over anything, that includes a children show. If 4chan can obsess over Deltarune and Undertale it's not going to find any reason to hands off on Gravity Falls.

Ahh, I should lay off the lad, Carlie is just a boy in his echo chamber. Not everyone grew up knowing that 4chan could strike at any moment, from any place, and for any reason.

Goodbye Volcano High devs had to learn that lesson the hard way. Are you next?

[moomkin77]

Fic Author Q&A

@ussjellyfish Thanks for tagging me!

1. Why do you write fanfic?

So, I publish under the same name as my tumblr profile (Moomkin_77!) and I honestly haven’t done that many fics. I’ve had ideas in the past for sure, but I’m a prose writer first and foremost and work on my own content, so funnily enough fanfics feel a little daunting to me. I think it’s because when I want to write a good fic, I want the characters to feel in-character (unless the goal is the opposite of course), which can be harder compared to creating my own characters who I already know the inner workings of. But mainly I started writing fanfiction because I love Moomin Valley, and I wanted to translate more of that wholesome happiness it brings me into something I’ve created and can then share with other people.

2. Which of your posted stories do you think about the most, even though the story is "finished"?

I’m bad at finishing things lol, but the Moomin Valley fic I’ve started is one I think about frequently. Chapter 2 is nearly done and I’m excited to share it!

3. If you could give yourself fic advice from when you first started writing fic, what would that advice be?

Just have fun with it. Take your time. I started writing my fic because I wanted something that made me happy with no pressure attached, so don’t pressure yourself. If you fall in writer’s block, you’ll find the inspiration you need in time. Just keep that love that got you to start the fic in the back of your mind and you’ll be alright. People that really love you and your writing will find the patience they need too.

4. What's your relationship to fic stats?

Uhhh, I honestly don’t pay attention to them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

5. Is there a pairing or scenario or friendship you miss writing? If so, why? If not, why not?

Moomintroll/Snufkin are my beloveds, and if I ever find the inspiration and courage, I’d love to write Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson as well.

6. Why do you write for the fandom(s) that you write for?

Like I said before, Moominvalley makes me happy. It’s sweet and fun and full of so much kindness, whether it’s the comics, the cartoons, the video game, or the newer show from 2019. There’s a sort of whimsy to it that nothing else I’ve encountered captures and it brings me unspeakable joy. It’s that feeling in my chest that I want to keep, so how better to do that then write about it?

7. If you're stuck writing a WIP, what do you do?

Go watch the content material again, or read other fanfics in that fandom. One of my favorite Moominvalley fics is The Quest for Snufkin’s Memories by DigitalThespian and the writing is just so beautiful and the story so perfect for the fandom that it brings me joy every time I go back and read it.

And sometimes you just gotta take a break if you’re stuck. Don’t stress yourself out over it, give yourself a chance to breathe and think about what you wanna do.

8. What do you wish people knew about comments?

So, for me comments are the absolute. Even just a heart emoji. As an author, peer workshop classes were where you got to hear all the feedback from your classmates, and I always had a great time hearing what my friends thought of my writing as I worked to improve it. Comments that I leave on fics are where I pour my heart out when I read something that I really loved, so seeing people return that always makes me happy.

9. Maybe there's a question you wish had been on here. What's that questions (and answer)?

Question: As an author who doesn’t veer much into writing fanfiction (I’d rather just read it lol) what do you enjoy most about fanfiction as a media separate from regular prose?

Answer. I think what I enjoy the most is that it takes books, shows, movies, etc. we already know and love, and explores more about them. It creates more stories to love out of stories we already love, branching off in ways that the original author might never have considered. It’s just so fun and creative, and when I finally manage to publish my own novels, I think what I’m probably most excited for is to see what sort of fanfiction people will (hopefully) write about my own works 🩵

Thanks for this! It was fun 🥰

@steddieasshegoes @thetriggeredhappy @justakittenatheart

[faydingrain]

20 Questions for Fic Writers Game

Got tagged again by @caelumsnuff! Thank you for the taggeroony toony~

I've never spoken to them before, but I see them around a lot and happen to know they have a tumblr, so I tag @aroseandacross if you want to do this! And anyone else that stumbles across it, I tag you too! :p

1 - How many works do you have on AO3?

37...oh wow

2 - What's your total AO3 word count?

147,476?! Good night!

3 - What fandoms do you write for?

Redacted Audio, Owari no Seraph, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Funamusea Universe, Hollow_ VA, Tokyo Ghoul, and D.Gray-Man by technicality though that oneshot isn't done or posted yet, lol. The ones I write for on the regular honestly vary depending on my mood and current devotion to the series, including the possible spite I feel towards that series, lmao. There are way more brief fic sparks I get for other series, but just never get the inspiration to go through with and end up forgetting.

4 - What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5: A Quiet, Peaceful Night 4: Vice Versa 3: A Little Help from P[izza]-chan (which literally rose to my top 3 practically overnight because the Guy fans escaped containment I guess, lmfao) 2: Branch, Like a Tree 1: Yours in Eternity, My Dearest All for Redacted Audio

5 - Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! I love giving love back to the love I recieve! Admittedly though, the only comments I haven't responded to seemed more like musing aloud, and I genuinely wasn't sure how to respond, lol. Now I feel like it's too late, so I feel awkward trying to respond now, but I feel bad not doing so all the same....

6 - What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Inversion: Another Story considering all the death and bad things it leaves off on, lol.

7 -What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

To Date a Vampire, though it's more like...reader-self-insert-y I guess? But is basically pure fluff, lol.

8 - Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet! I expected to get more hate for how many OC and OC/Canon fics I write, but my fics don't tend to garner much attention over all anyways I think, so it can't reach the loud haters, lol.

9 - Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nope!! I hate writing smut, I don't like reading smut that much either. I'm a fade-to-black type writer. The closest thing I'll get to writing smut is maybe writing brief instances of the off-screen smut, and there'll be a graphic sexual assault scene later in EIC (y'know, for the therapeutic aspect).

10 - Do you write crossovers?

...Technically? Lmfao. Though unfinished, Our Solemn Hour is a crossover with Tsubasa and X/1999, with many of the X characters appearing in it mostly as cameos. Embers of an Iridescent Cage is maybe a crossover between stories? Though, Decem: Anges et Demons does exist now. Burning Wings is a crossover-ish with characters from Tsubasa in a setting inspired by The Last of Us, though I didn't crosstag it in the latter fandom since the only similarity is literally just the setting. And that's all.

11 - Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I better fucking not. (No one wants my trash lmfao.)

12 - Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but that would actually be incredible if it happened.

13 - Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, I am a selfish, haughty bastard and I need full reign over my stories, lmfao. Unless the other person was a similar writer with very similar ideas to me, it would never work. (Plus...I write about my FCs so often, so, lol. I personally find it very difficult to write stories about characters that aren't my own, hence the large volume of OC fic.)

14 - What's your all time favorite ship?

That's a great question. (It honestly varies depending on my mood. Mostly OC/Canon ships probably. I do still adore SuzuFeri.)

15 - What's a WIP that you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Don't make me call myself out like this-

16 - What are your writing strengths?

Hell, I don't know...I've been told I'm humorous

17 - What are your writing weaknesses?

I've been told I'm bad at making characters not suffer, lmfaooo

18 - Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I mean, if you know the language or do your research, go for it! Maybe add a footnote mentioning what was said for non-speakers if it wasn't brought up in the fic? (I don't personally ever plan for this myself for fics, but it is a small thing I plan on doing research for in my novel series, and I feel the same about original work too.)

19 - First fandom you wrote for?

OKAY SO, I think my actual first fanfic ever was a Kingdom Hearts fanfic, but the first one I posted on ao3 was for Owari no Seraph.

20 - Favorite fic you've written?

Probably Yours in Eternity, My Dearest!! I'm not saying Kalila is totally 100% a self-insert, but I mayyyy or may not have written that series just because I want to feel like Will was writing fancy love letters to me 💕

[ontowanderlust]

Of Part time Jobs and Hidden Feelings

SYPNOSIS. You'd think that with all those part time jobs, she'd be used to making her feelings be part time too. Alternatively, she who jumps from one part time job onto another, she should include hiding her feelings into that roster as well.

PROMPT. Can feelings be part time too?

TROPES. S2F2L. “She fell first, he fell harder”

WC. 1.9k words. (Super haba kasi if isahang post so hehe)

WARNINGS. Use of profanities. Lots of them. Sorry guys. Masyado pong pasmado ang bibig ko kaya nadala sa fanfics.

TAGS. Part-timers; Alternating point of views;

NOTES. I’ve always always wanted to write this prompt kasi matagal na siyang stuck sa utak ko. Like siguro months din ang duration ng stay nito sa utak ko omg. This was supposed to be a spin off story from my commissioned piece kaya lang I thought na it’s best to leave it be and just branch this out as something else. Hence, being a svt fanfic.

MORE NOTES. This is a mixture of smau and written fic pero mas prominent yung written. And since this is a mix of different perspectives, point oh's are Jeon's point of view. And originally, I planned on posting this as one shot kaya lang super haba na niya and I fear that sa sobrang haba, pati kayo mawalan ng gana in the middle of it so chop natin into parts. Wag na rin kayong umasa na tapos na siya kasi to be honest, ang tagal na nito sa drafts ko and ngayon ko lang naisipang i-drop dito. Don't worry naman, tinutuloy ko siya... kapag may time and energy ako. Kaya lang super tagal na kahit ako, di alam kung kailan ko matatapos. lmao.

🏷️: @moonwonuu

One point Oh.

The sound of Lee Seokmin's voice had Wonwoo pausing from reaching the doorknob as he blinked while his eyebrows scrunched for a moment.

Did he hear it right? Lee Seokmin, at a convenience store at- he looked back at the wall clock behind him- two in the morning?

He knew he shouldn't judge. For all he knew, the boy could be pulling an all nighter for an exam the next day, or perhaps playing video games as a way of destressing... or whatever it is people do in the middle of the night.

After all, there isn't really a rule that says this boy can't come to a convenience store at this hour, right? Not when those who come in here had either: gotten their hearts broken, needed some sobering up before they go home, perhaps needing a solace for their raging minds, perhaps just needed to eat- or in his case, working.

And for what he knew about Lee Seokmin was: one, he's the type to wing examinations and hope for the best (he was really amazed at this boy's confidence at that one class they shared), and two, he sucked at video games (he vowed that he will never team up with him again).

So. What's his reason why he visited this convenience store of all places?

At the sound of a female voice, he had found his answer. Heaving out a sigh, he then walked out of the break room only to be greeted by the sight of his co-worker conversing with Lee Seokmin at the counter, her eyes straying to meet his before he averted and went straight towards the furthest aisle from the counter.

So he had been right, it was Lee Seokmin but... how did his co-worker knew him again?

Right. 'They belong in the same circle of friends,' he recalled, hearing the teasing tone Seokmin was using. Trying hard not to listen in as he began listing the inventory for tonight, he found that with this boy, it's quite impossible to do so. “Alam ba nito ang meaning ng indoor voice?” he muttered underneath his breath. And yet, despite the annoyance, he could feel himself smiling as he heard the duo in the front bantering with the familiarity of close friends.

‘Cute,’ he mused as he overheard her threatening her friend as silence engulfed the entire store. ‘Gaano ba 'to katapang at napapasunod niya si Seokmin sa kanya?’ Furrowing his eyebrows, he shook his head in disbelief. It's not his place to know, right? 

He is, after all, just a co-worker to her, and she to him. Aside from this graveyard shift, wala naman talaga silang connection sa isa’t isa and while she seems interesting to befriend, he’d rather not. 

Girls like her are nothing but trouble, and if what Seokmin said is true-bakit nga ba magtatrabaho ang isang tulad niya? Di ba well off ang mga Yoons? Well, di niya naman talaga kilala sila pero he heard from his roommates that they were well off… somehow.

Sighing, he found himself shaking his head before retrieving the cloth to remove dust from the items, a smile unconsciously flashing across his lips when he heard the boy bid his adieu to his friend. 

Despite her tough exterior, he could tell she’s not that bad- not when Lee Seokmin treats her fondly that is. And yet, there’s just something that had him hesitating to approach her, perhaps because she seemed intimidating? What was it that Mingyu had told him again? The Yoons may look like they can destroy you with their stare but they’re really one of the kindest people out there. 

Pero kahit na. Di naman niya kilala sila personally, di ba? You can never really tell with people nowadays na rin naman. ‘Yan dapat ang mentality,’ he nodded once he’s satisfied with his task, moving on towards the next one— stocking. ‘It’s better to have few people in your life, the ones you truly trust rather than let them in only to be disappointed in the end.’

Kaya ayan, rather than getting to know each other, both of them found themselves working in complete silence, one genuinely basking in it while the other simmered in anxiousness.

Looking at her reflection, he couldn’t help but reach out. ‘Mukhang bored na nga siya,’ he couldn’t help but notice. ‘Wala naman mawawala right?’ Before his subconscious could even internalize his musings, his mouth opened, testing the waters.

“Gusto mo ba ako naman dyan sa cashier?”

He could tell she was startled. For someone who looked intimidating, her emotions are easily readable from her face that he couldn’t help but think— is she the type to wear her heart out on her sleeve? If so, then how come she doesn’t have friends outside of her circle? 

“Kung gusto mo lang naman,” he backtracked as he watched her expressions change. “Cause kanina ka pa dyan nakatayo.”

Chuckling at her answer, he couldn’t help but tease her as she struggled to form the correct response, face flushed as she tried to compose herself. ‘Cute,’ he shook his head as they changed stations- him, manning the counter while she made her way towards the beverage section, his eyes following her every move. 

From the way she moved, he could easily tell she’s not the type to work in jobs like these. She’s clumsy and lacking. Yet, she still persisted and worked hard. And while he hates the extra work he had to do, still he appreciated her efforts when it comes to her work. 

Thus, cute.

Should he make an effort, then? Have a conversation with her at least? Should he reach out to-

The sound of running cut his train of thoughts, turning towards the door only to see masked men making their way to the convenience store.

Ha.

Mechanically, he found himself raising his arms just as the men entered the store with declaration of robbery. 

‘Gusto ko lang naman ng mapayapang buhay,’ he groaned internally, regretting his decision to come in for his shift instead of staying in and calling in sick. ‘Gusto ko lang din naman ng mapayapang shift, bakit parang ang hirap naman i-achieve?’

Heart thumping wildly in his chest, he was about to reach for the cash drawer when he saw something flew from his companion’s direction. 

Eyes widening, he turned towards her in astonishment as he saw the initial shock on her face vanish as she continued throwing beverages at the men. ‘Anak ng tipaklong naman, Rianne, wag kang padalos-’ 

Just before he could even move a muscle, he watched her hurling herself at one of the guys, hitting him with a soda. ‘Oh my god.’ “Yoon Rianne-” he found himself calling out, earning her glare, sending shivers down his spine.  

“Get help!” She shouted, making him jump as he reached for his phone. Sino naman tatawagan nya? Pulis, right? 

Scrolling down, he could see his hands trembling as he struggled to find the right contact. ‘Ah to hell with this, kahit sino na nga lang. Right now, this crazy girl needs me.’ he thought as he took one glance at the scene before him. He dialed the first person he saw as he fidgeted, sighing in relief once he heard the other side picked up. 

Not wasting a single minute, he relayed what happened, going as fast as he can (baka in another life, isa siyang magaling na rapper), not caring if the person on the other side can understand him coherently. 

He made sure to emphasize on the convenience store’s name and the current situation before hanging up, attempting to join the madness so as to help her only to slip on the spilled soda on the floor. ‘Aba'y putangina nga naman, Jeon.’

Everything happened so fast that the next thing he knew, there’s a stinging pain on the bridge of his nose, a ringing in his ears aggravated by the familiar shriek of their boss, and a stray yogurt rolling towards just above his eyes. 

Ah. What the fuck indeed.

He couldn’t decide which is worse: the fact that they all ended up in the ER at this hour, the fact that he might lose his job, or the blossoming black blue bruise on his co-worker’s face. 

He knew he should pay attention to their manager who’s now spouting about damages and whatnot but he couldn’t help but feel guilty as he stared ahead, hands fidgeting with the same yogurt that had rolled next to his face. 

‘Kung di lang ako nagfreeze, eh di sana di siya yung nakipagaway? Kung di ako nadulas eh di sana wala siya nyan no?’ Was there something about this time of the night (morning) that made all inner demons to come out and play? 

Usually, he can keep these thoughts at bay naman. Kaya lang, looking at her right now made him wish he could’ve done something useful. Was it his pride talking? He doubts it. Was it pity? He’s not really the type to feel that. 

So why? 

Steeling himself back to the conversation, he could tell she felt guilty for making him lose his job but with what she had done? ‘Parang di rin naman makatarungan that I get to keep my job when I did nothing,’ he bitterly thought as he spoke up, cutting his companion off in the middle of her sentence. 

He knew they were surprised. Sino ba namang hindi when they all knew the manager had checked the CCTV footage before he went to check up on them. He knew that technically, he’s not part of the ones who caused damages pero it really didn’t sit well with him to keep the job while she lost hers, di ba?

He could tell these two have so many questions dancing on the tip of their tongues. He knew there are so many thoughts they wanted to voice out loud and he knew that any minute now, may hindi makakatiis at magtatanong pa rin sila. And so he did what he always do whenever he doesn't want anyone prying into his business: putting up his best poker face.

True enough, his manager simply shrugged it off while his companion simply looked at him with interest behind her eyes. Knowing her, she'd still ask after their manager leave them be. ‘Mukhang hindi siya natatakot sakin ah. That's a first.’ he noticed as their manager explained the compensation for his store and the repercussions for their actions to which he simply sighed at. May magagawa pa ba siya eh tapos na?

Looking at his companion and the bruise decorating her eyes, he still couldn't shake off the guilty feeling lingering. Siguro kasi babae siya at grabe na lang ang guilt na nararamdaman niya? Kasi hindi man lang niya napagtanggol siya when he had the means to?

And siguro kaya na rin siya napabitaw ng ganoong promise kasi despite not being close with each other, there's just this feeling of protectiveness towards her. Na para bang kailangan siyang alagaan at dapat di siya nasasaktan? Pero bakit nga ba, Jeon Wonwoo? His subconscious wanted to pry. Ah basta, he shook his head as he watched her fought the smile on her lips.

As he heard her friends' voice from afar, he knew his time with her had come to an end. Is it weird for him to feel something akin to disappointment when he heard Lee Seokmin's voice again? Well.

Standing up, he paused for a moment as he decided to take a leap of courage as he placed the yogurt on her hands, bidding her goodbye.

And as he walked away from her comes with a silent vow to himself.

He'll do better. Just for her.

[piggybankstomfoolery]

It just occurred to me today that I had more fun yesterday playing The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog than I did playing Sonic Frontiers.

No joke: this game was just about everything I've wanted to see from Sonic for years. I didn't even watch the trailer for the game before playing: I saw the title and immediately went to the Steam page to download it, and in less than 30 seconds I was playing the game. I can't remember the last time a game hooked me that fast, let alone a Sonic game.

The Sonic IP is jam-packed with fantastic characters, and to see them finally tell a story in a game which puts a lot of them front-and-center and lets them just bounce off each other in a setup that doesn't spend its entire run with the usual looming threat of Eggman taking over the world and Sonic needing to fight the monster of the week and collecting the emeralds and going super and rinse and repeat is just...

man, this was so nice. You don't even spend most of this game with Sonic, you instead spend most of it with Tails! Tails!!!!!!!!!! I think if 10 year old me saw this game when he was a big Tails fan, he would have loved this game to pieces.

I feel relieved to see Sega of America and other branches of the IP filling with more people who do seem to care about trying to make Sonic a name equivalent with quality and fun again. This also felt like a much smarter game for marketing to produce than Big's Big Adventure 3, with a more focused scope and less of a desire to lean on one joke for the whole game. it felt like a lot of good lessons were learned.

Also, I've drawn a lot of silly light-hearted things with Sonic over the years where I've tried to capture a child-like quality to him and his world, but @thefantastician has always done a way better job on that front than I have. his work is incredible and a hoot and I love it, and you probably do too if you've played this game and loved his writing. It's all seriously wonderful stuff, and I'm glad to see him becoming more able to bring his imaginative whimsy to the world of Sonic.

Anyway, just wanted to scribble my thoughts down somewhere as I usually don't get to tell people what I think about games I play, lol. This wasn't a big ol' multi-million dollar extravaganza, but for what it's worth coming from me, I would still happily pay money to play smaller, lower-budget Sonic games like this one. They've definitely sold me on this concept. fingers crossed we can maybe get some more like it! 💖

[owlixx]

CoD Notes: BO2 Beat

Got this game done start to finish in record time so it’s all a bit of a blur, but I’ll jot down my overall impressions before going level by level.

Overall, I like this game a lot. I think it’s not a hot take to say it is mechanically stronger than Black Ops, but narratively weaker. Finally getting hit markers and class customization in the campaign is a godsend, and I’d rank them at the top of the list of new features. Somewhere in the middle would be the “branching paths” story decisions, and towards the bottom would be the strike force missions. Oh, also I do like the campaign mission challenges too.

Now, the class loadout system did just turn into me using a threat finder scope on an LMG towards the end, but I appreciate that I got to choose that for myself. And I like certain gear being unlocked from challenges to encourage replaying. If I had played this on the 360 where I got games much less frequently, I likely would’ve replayed this campaign tons, but I got this on PC after becoming a PC gamer and having a zillion games to play.

To elaborate on the Strike Force missions, I simply do not like them. I only did the tutorial one and I barely survived. I had a lot more patience for these as a kid but I just wasn’t feeling it. Maybe it’s just because I’m in a rush to get to the next game, but I just want an objective and some guys to kill. I also think this would’ve made more sense as a take on MW3’s Survival mode, with the option to purchase troops between waves and using each multiplayer map.

The split narrative of this game is another “new feature” I suppose, and it’s just…fine. I like having an entire second set of weapons to play with, but this felt very unnecessary. It makes me wonder if they already had some of these levels or story bests designed before deciding to go futuristic. I don’t think anything they said about Mason/Woods really needed to be said, and I may have preferred to have kept the action focused in either 2025 or 1985.

For that matter, a lot of the “high tech” sci fi stuff like the wing suit, grippy globes, spider drone, etc. feel a little shoe horned and unnecessary.

I wanna say this is also the first of these games to just start making up entirely fictional weaponry, which makes sense given the setting but still kind of contributed to the franchise’s identity going forward.

Raul Menendez is just an okay villain. In theory, he’s more complex than previous villains because of his dead sister, but that doesn’t really connect to his weird cult or dark knight joker antics, it just feels like they needed a reason for him to hate Woods. He comes across as a kind of…wannabe villain. Sure, the Black Ops 1 villains are just standard evil Russians, but somehow that felt more believable than “a cartel guy from the 80’s becomes the leader of a billion person cult in 2025 just to really screw with one singular guy”. They never even really explore the implication of his cult having 1-2 billion members. Also I’m already misremembering some of the details of Raul with some of the details of Hades from Advanced Warfare.

This is already starting to take up a bit of time to write out so I’ll just rattle off some mission thoughts from memory rather than pull up the list of every mission.

The hotel resort mission - kind of a cool concept and decent in execution.

Driving a car that one time - I really fumbled with it, and weird that it lets you pick whether to do the car or the drone.

Opening mission - seems weird to open with basically a Black Ops 1 epilogue but it’s fine enough.

President saving/Final mission - a little toasty in terms of difficulty, but fine.

Also it’s so funny to me any time they transition to Woods by saying “hey remember that one time my uncle told us about a story?”

Oh btw I got the worst ending possible.

The mission where you play as Raul is so silly to me because he has a ton of health and a melee attack but I died anyways so my version of events is Raul huffing and puffing and being very mad about his sister dying but still carefully popping out of cover with a scoped rifle.

I wanna say this is kind of the beginning of a lot of grey hallways being a go to for the series.

I do really like that the HUD is different between the 80s and 2020s even down to the hit marker visual.

Oh, and I did really enjoy the one 80s sniping mission.

And the scene where Woods is tricked into shooting Mason is a lot of fun! …but it’s no Black Ops 1.

Finally, I did play a singular match of Town on zombies. Managed to find a guy online! He didn’t know English well but we still managed to interact a small bit and got to round 18 or so before I blew it and brought us both down. Got a ray gun on my first try at the box! Well, my third try, but the first try where all I wanted was a ray gun. Okay, fourth try because I had gotten monkeys on my actual first try.

Also couldn’t find a match in game so I hopped on Plutonium (fan server add on) and played one match. I mean, it’s not bad, but I don’t think I feel the urge to revisit the multiplayer of this era as badly as I thought I would. It is hilarious seeing just how much I used the pump shotgun in this game online and nothing else nearly as much in my career record.

In the rankings, hmm…probably below BO1/MW2 but above MW1/3

[innsyn]

Powerclash is a steampunk world-building and writing project that's open to anyone. There are no stupid questions, so today we're looking at:

What is steampunk?

Why pick steampunk for this project.

So... I've heard the word before, but what exactly is steampunk?

That’s a good question, because not everybody means the same thing.

Some people consider steampunk to be a ‘literary genre’ - often described as “Victorian Science Fiction” - and while the Victorian era and early sci-fi are certainly big influences, that doesn’t really cover it.

Film played just as large a role in the development of steampunk as literature, and it's now a label covering games, fashion and music. It's definitely not just a literary genre.

There are plenty of steampunk works set before and after the Victorian era - or in parts of the Earth (or entirely fictional worlds) where Victoria’s reign was irrelevant.

Loads of iconic steampunk works have more in common with fantasy than sci-fi

Other people get hung-up on the specific words - it’s not real steampunk unless it’s got steam-technology on it, or it’s not proper steampunk unless it’s got a punk ethos behind it. But the name has always been catchy branding - riffing off cyberpunk - rather than a particularly appropriate descriptor. Neither steam nor punk are actually essential. 

Attempts to try and define it further by narrow time periods and type of technology - dieselpunk, atompunk, gaslamp fantasy, etc - miss the point that steampunk is about remixing history AND science AND fantasy into something new. You don’t need a different label for each new combination - they’re all flavours of steampunk.

I like the definition outlined by the Steampunk Scholar (Mike Perschon). He argues convincingly that steampunk is more akin to a style than a genre, which is why it has translated to films, games and fashion so successfully.

Perschon highlights the three hallmarks of the steampunk style:

Hyper-vintage (evocative of the pre-digital but post-Renaissance past in broad and fanciful ways)

Techno-Fantasy (looks like science but works like magic)

Retrofuturism (how we imagine the past imagining the future)

If a story ticks two of those three boxes, it can probably be called steampunk. That doesn’t mean it can’t be called other things too, of course. Steampunk is an adjective you can tag onto anything. Steampunk adventure. Steampunk romance. Steampunk RPG. Steampunk hat.

Powerclash is a steampunk project.

Why pick steampunk for this project?

I didn’t sit down at the start of this project and specifically decide to create a steampunk world.

The idea of the overarching plot - a global battle royale with superpowers - came first.

The part about the secret alien symbiotes who were behind it all - that landed second.

Third was the concept that this was an alt-history version of Earth, with multiple branching points - from Pangea breaking up differently, through to the outbreak of the choke epidemic.

At this stage, it didn’t feel very steampunk - I’d have said it was a sci-fi concept.

I was tempted to set it in the far future, but because advanced technology would offer solutions similar to some of our character’s superpowers, it felt like there’d be less influence associated with the powers and it would be too easy for civilians to take control of the Powerclash.

I didn’t want to set it in a modern world, because the project is already focused on characters with unique individual superpowers - a modern setting would make it far too derivative of the contemporary Marvel/DC estates. 

Similarly, I didn’t want to set it too far in the past, such as the mediaeval or renaissance period, because I wasn’t aiming for a classic sword and sorcery fantasy.

That landed me in the appropriate time period bracket for steampunk; post-renaissance, but pre-digital. And because it’s an alternative timeline Earth, where we’re free to mess-around with any sense of historical accuracy - it fits neatly into this concept of ‘hyper-vintage’.

At this point we get to technology. I wanted this to be a global story, with characters drawn from all corners of the planet, but they needed to get close and interact for drama to happen. So I needed to give them easy access to means of travelling around the world relatively quickly. I needed boats, trains and flying machines - staples of the steampunk aesthetic. 

Thinking of alt-history vehicles and machines really sparked my imagination. What if an outside force (such as our secret aliens) stopped these humans from taming electricity, or refining oil? How might other technologies have been refined if they weren’t replaced? It quickly became an essential part of the project. I was seeing beautifully mad clockwork and steam contraptions, many of which would need a helping hand to defy physics. I didn’t want to lean too far into outright techno-fantasy: no creating magical new energy sources or implausible materials - this is still supposed to be a realistic-adjacent alternative Earth. But we can certainly lean into that gap of what makes it ‘alternative’ and imagine geological, biological and cultural variations which could result in different resources for these people to work with. It may be a bit subtler than aether powered flapters, or adamantium claws, but it’s still an excuse for why X which wouldn’t work on our Earth, work here. It’s still techno-fantasy.

Having hit two of the three hallmarks, I had to admit that Powerclash was now a steampunk project.

But was it retrofuturist? Had I completed the steampunk clean sweep?

So far - no. Neither the overall concept, nor the worldbuilding as developed to date, are concerned with how the people of a specific time imagined the future. But that’s not to say that individual stories written within the Powerclash universe couldn’t tick that final box one day!

I didn't pick steampunk for the project - I just set about developing the concept, and then one day it stood up and told me that it was steampunk now - and I couldn't be prouder.

[corvidcrybaby]

12, 22, 69 (lol) for the fanfic ask game 👀

SCREEEEEEEEE HERE WE GO

12. Do you outline your fics?  If yes, how detailed are your outlines?  How far do you stray from them?

It's an even fifty-fifty. I outline my fics when I begin to have a lot of plot elements, narrative threads or allegorical references I want to work into it - if I don't, I'm liable to forget something relatively important and have to either shoehorn that thread in later, or do the Edit Of Shame where I go back and include something as a throwaway line. If you're curious as to what they look like, here's an example from when I was working on Formulas Fatal To the Flesh:

Some of these beats ended up in the final cut, while others didn't. I usually try to break it down based on "okay, what is The Moment I want Character X and Character Y to have together" and from there I build backwards and forwards. How they got there and where it takes them - I'll often keep a "scrap heap" of ideas or lines of dialogue (especially with Zemi since I entertain the fuck outta myself with writing her inane bullshit one-liners) on a spare sheet somewhere that I will pull from to weave into the story. This does look a bit like a mad scientist's scrawlings, and I like it that way! My trick is to outline and be thorough about it but not get too rigid. This is why I typically only plan fics in chunks at a time, with general ideas of where I want the story to go. Stories morph and evolve as one writes them, and I am the type who KNOWS that if I make the outline too demanding and rigid I'll get all up my own ass about it. Outlining too hard and trying too viciously to stick to it tends to shoot me in the foot so I avoid it.

Additionally, I particularly enjoy structuring stories based on conversations. Dialogue is often the first thing I write, and the rest comes after that. This comes from my background studying theatre - a thespian scholar bitch like me knows better than anybody that you can build a whole world around little more than a few words between two characters, so I like to let the rest of the work bloom from that organically. Not always, but these are common methods I use.

22. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process?  How do you come up with titles?

Fuck yeah so glad somebody asked this one. I develop titles for chapters after I'm done writing them. I make it a point to title pretty much EVERY CHAPTER I WRITE for everything I've written publicly so far based on the title of a death metal track or album. I'll branch out into other genres like black metal and whatnot but I try to stick to death metal specifically. This mostly comes from my personal annoyance that there's so little decent media content based on extreme metal. Part of why I love Hellsing so much is just based on the fact I think it gets the closest to the aesthetic of the deepest bowels of extreme metal in its art style, themes, visuals, and so on. So when I need a new title, I deadass will just leaf through my music catalogue and pick a title I think fits the themes of the chapter in some allegorical sense - ditto for the little lyrical blurbs I put at the front of each chapter. Is it corny? Fuck yeah, man, but so am I. Sometimes I just say "fuck it, I'll put TWO songs names in the title, who will stop me?" When it comes to the entire fic titles, I put more thought into it and play process of elimination until I settle on one I think rolls off the tongue best. See: Formulas Fatal to the Flesh (Morbid Angel), Lesions of A Different Kind (Undeath), etc.

69. What are your favorite fics at the moment?

Aw shit man, puttin' me on the spot as I've been off my fic reading game for a minute but I'll plug what I can remember!

First off, shout out to the homie @neet0 with their work Revelations. Absolutely love this piece, I reread chapters from it a lot and feel like I learn something new about writing every time.

I'm also really into this My Hero Academia fic, In The End (We Are Left Bereft). Only halfway through, and some of the elements may not be for me personally, but first of all, anything that examines Bakugo as a closeted trans woman is gonna make me come running because I just ADORE that as a concept. Second, the issues this take on Bakugo deals with regarding identity and belonging, being touch-starved and alienated, etc? A bitch relates, what can I say. Good MHA fics are so hard to find in my experience so this one has been a delight to read thus far.

I also eat up almost everything that BirdOfHermes ever does. Because, listen mate, sometimes a bitch just wants that sweet, sweet cheesy wish fulfillment with fictional men. That, and their writing is so easy to read for me that it hooks me into stories about characters from series I haven't even watched or read. Never thought Harry Dresden would be hot to me, but, oops, they made it happen. Also, forever awaiting the glorious day they decide to finish Tame. One of my favorite Alucard/Reader fics of all time, I've reread it probably a dozen times by now.

Beyond this, I've been in a bit of a fic rut as of late, so if you got recs, send them my way!

Thank you so much for the ask it made my day for real <3

[waywardsalt]

23, 27, and 31 for the fanfic ask game! 🌟

hi! Thanks for the ask!

23: Best writing advice for other writers?

I’m not too sure what kind of advice I’m qualified to give… when I write, a lot of the time I just go with what feels right, so… some advice I suppose I can give is to pay a bit of special attention to dialogue. In my experience, if dialogue feels just a bit off or comes off as straight up unnatural, it can kill a scene for me. When writing dialogue, I’d recommend imagining the conversation or sentence being said out loud, or even say it out loud. 

It comes fairly easily to me, so I’m not sure how easy it is for others to pick up on dialogue that’s just a bit off, but a good way to make dialogue feel natural is to just think… if you heard the conversation you’re writing in real life, would you think it sounds strange? Not context-wise, but in flow or wording. Again, for me at least, unnatural dialogue can kill a scene for me, so I recommend really taking some time to make sure that it’s natural, unless you’re trying to make it sound unnatural. This can be hard if you’re trying to slip in some exposition via dialogue, but just pay a little extra mind to it and make sure every part of the conversation reasonable connects in some way. 

I could go on a little more about this, but for me at least, it just comes down to imagining it as a real conversation and not just information between characters.

27: What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

I’ll start with my least favorite… editing, probably? Writing can get boring and even stagnant for me at times, but I don’t really dislike it unless I’m not interested in what I’m writing. Soy least favorite parts are probably going back and editing (mostly) and writing something or some part I’m not all that excited about.

As for my favorite, probably writing character moments and conveying information about characters. It feels like a sort of puzzle, figuring out what information you want to convey, how to naturally do it, and what purpose that information serves. I love… characters. Some more than others, but I like piecing together what makes them themselves and then using and communicating that through the story, even though my own writing skills are still on the rough side overall.

31: Do you start with the characters or the plot when writing?

Carrying over from the last question… I start with the characters! As far back as I can remember in my writing ‘career’, I’ve always started with character before plot. When writing fanfiction, if it’s something like an in-universe fic, I will usually want to use that fic to explore something with certain characters or have certain characters do something, and once that’s been established, the plot is created from that. 

With aus that I write and plan to write, specifically in Zelda fics (and I’m pretty sure I mentioned this in my other fanfiction asks post) every au always starts with the idea of ‘hey what if Linebeck was in this specific situation’ or some variation of that. It’s incredibly rare that he’s not the root of all of my aus and wilder fic ideas. Most of my plots are based around him, at least at the start, then I need to branch out and obscure my very obvious favoritism.

Even outside of fanfiction, the characters come before the plot; all of my current original ideas stemmed from the creation of its main characters. My oldest idea started with a fun concept for a character. I have a story that is inspired by and is about two old dungeons and dragons characters of mine. That snippet of original writing I posted a bit ago (this) I started with a vague idea of a character made from a handful of inspirations. 

Since I’m big on characters and enjoy writing them, I put a lot of importance on my characters and then create worlds and plots around them for me to use them to their full potential, or to explore and expand a specific trait or concept related to them.