#i know a few but i feel waaay put of the loop now

[thepinkcar]

Hey guys 👋🏾 Who are some of your favorite fanfic/imagine writers? Especially ones who write about T too

[kalaluchi]

chapter 04: Best Friends

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When Marinette was a kid, she’d once heard someone say that having a boyfriend is just like having a best friend, but with added perks.

And while she couldn’t relate with the statement (at the moment), she could see that, in a similar sense, there was a fine line between things you do with someone because they’re your best friend and you’re just that close; and things you do with someone because you like them and want to get closer… and them showing the same interest in doing those things miiight mean they could like you, too.

Marinette was beginning to think she’d been using this fine line as a jump rope these past few weeks.

In theory, she should have no problem doing best-friend-stuff.

Chatting till early in the morning? Daily routine for her and Alya, especially when the latter got her hands on the latest scoop.

Video calls while doing homework? Marinette forgot what it was like to work without the face of her best friend, her face mirroring Marinette’s own tiredness.

Movie nights with the full package: face masks, popcorn, and 5 different types of candy? Every Saturday, starting at 9pm sharp.

But for some reason, when it came to doing those things with Adrien Agreste, she would just… freeze up and start overthinking every little thing. She has no idea why.

(Absolutely a lie. She knows exactly why.)

She was not one to deny her obvious crush on the blond-haired boy. Most times, her day is made by just one smile sent her way. But other times, when she’s actually able to hold a conversation with him (over chat, of course; she could never not stutter if it were face-to-face), it feels… normal. The talks are casual, like they’ve known each other forever. The butterflies in her stomach are quieter than usual, and she can say, with absolute certainty, that the famous model feels nothing special for the simple baker’s daughter, because Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste are destined to be the best of friends and nothing more. (Sadly, in her opinion.)

And then. He goes and surprises her with a, “Hey, are you free Friday night? I was wondering if you wanted to go to the movie theater with me. They’re playing reruns of episodes from that show we were talking about the other week.”

Marinette collapsed on her bed with a groan. She checked the clock on her wall: 6:19pm. She’s supposed to meet Adrien in front of the bakery in a little over half an hour, but she still has no idea what to wear. Curse that beautiful, gorgeous boy. He never told her what the occasion was. Should she wear something casual, like a nice sweater and jeans? Something more dressy, like a cute skirt and flats? She gasps to herself. He doesn’t expect her to be fancy and show up in a cocktail dress and heels, right? He’s a model after all, that might be what he’s used too… what if it’s something even fancier than that-- how can she pull together an outfit like that at the drop of a hat--

You’re spiraling, she chided herself. She was tempted to call her best friend, but she knew what the brunette would say.

“Obviously, dress to impress! The knee-length dress you bought for my birthday party, I can lend you pearl earrings and a necklace, a little bit of lip gloss, and a purse to match. Pair it with flats so you don't look too eager.”

Marinette laughed quietly, imagining Alya giving that whole spiel.

Maybe she could just text Adrien to ask what he’s wearing.

The thought of him replying, “Just a shirt and jeans. This is just a chill movie-with-a-friend date after all. Why, did you think it meant anything more?” was enough to make her chicken out (even though he’d never actually say that), so she decided to just wear a shirt, skirt, sneakers, and the cardigan he made for her.

If he asks, I can just say I always dress like this going out with my friends!

This was going to be a disaster.

.

.

.

“Oh. Wow. You look.” Adrien cleared his throat. “You look very nice, Marinette.”

At 7:05pm, she found him standing outside their bakery, as discussed. She waved shyly as she pulled the door shut, trying to ignore the not-so-subtle spying her parents were trying to from behind the bakery’s counter.

“You look quite nice yourself,” she managed to say. Even though her brain wanted to scream how beautiful he looked in his black polo and jeans. (At least she’d been right to dress half-dressy half-casual.)

“Shall we?” he said jokingly, holding out his arm expectantly. She laughed nervously, and looped her arm through his after a pause..

Best friends definitely link arms as they walk to the theater...right?

“Hm, it’s a little chilly, isn’t it?” she said as they made their way down the street. In truth, though, her cheeks were burning from the close contact.

“Yeah, good thing you wore a cardigan. Should we get popcorn?”

“For sure. Butter at the bottom, in the middle, and on top is the way to go.”

“No way! Cheese is totally better. Whoever thought of putting it on popcorn was brie-lliant.”

Marinette groaned. “That was even cornier than popcorn,” she complained.

“Well, I’m no Swiss master,” Adrien quipped, “sorry if my jokes are full of holes. Is it enough to make you feel bleu?”

There it is again, Marinette thought, as the friendly banter continued until they were in their seats. While she found his puns unusually endearing, the butterflies were quiet and her heart wasn't racing like she’d thought it would be.

Annoyingly, they came right back as she sat back, studying his profile while the show’s theme song played in the background.

Miraculous, the luckiest!

Her heart gave a little squeeze as he mouthed the words, bouncing in his seat excitedly, all his attention on the big screen.

Damn, he’s so cute. The thought flew through her head before she could stop it, and that was when she knew for sure.

The power of love, always so strong!

What started out as a little crush had leveled up into something waaay more, though it was too early -- far too early -- to call it love.

After the reruns, they decided to grab ice cream and sit at one of the park benches before heading back.

“What did you think of that last episode?” Adrien asked, licking the mint gelato on a cone.

Marinette looked down at her own strawberry-flavored one. “I think… the main characters were too dumb. I mean, they just… fit so well, you know? Why prolong getting together?” She grinned at him and pointed the cone in his direction. “The ending made up for it though. They were so berry cute in that last scene.”

Adrien was unable to respond for a second, shocked that Marinette had made a pun.

(She thought she could see a blush starting to form, too, but she told herself it was just the lighting of the park.)

He recovered in a heartbeat, though. “You’re right. They were definitely mint to be.”

“Okay, that was probably the corniest one this entire night,” she giggled, playfully rolling her eyes. (It was actually cute and surprisingly funny, though, and she had to bite her lip to suppress a smile.)

Adrien held a hand to his heart. “I’m offended! That wasn’t very cool of you.”

Marinette frowned, though she knew he was joking. She opened her mouth to protest but the sound of his laugh stopped her. Her retort died in her throat as her heart did a little skip.

There was a pause as she felt the blush spread across her cheeks. It was long enough for Adrien to turn to her, an eyebrow raised, silently wondering about the sudden silence.

For half a second, Marinette considered saying something crazy.

‘You’re cute’? ‘I love how your eyes sparkle when you laugh’?

“Sorry for dissing your pun,” she muttered lamely instead, turning away.

He chuckled lightly and stood. “Let’s head back,” he suggested, smiling.

She simply nodded, thinking of a million things she wants to say.

They made their way back to the bakery silently, breathing in the night air, gazing up at the stars. Once back at her door, Marinette faced Adrien and stuck her hand out for a friendly shake. “Thank you for tonight,” she said, back to her awkward self somewhat.

He smiled, remembering how their second meeting went something like this. He took her hand, but instead of shaking it, he chose to press a kiss to the back of it. “Thank you for tonight,” he echoed. “I had a lot of fun.” He waved, and walked to his car.

He turned back for a final wave, and then entered the back. The car pulled away, leaving Marinette all alone in front of the bakery, still reeling from the kiss.

Marinette wanted to scream. The fine line she’d been jump roping with was now blurred together completely, and she wasn’t sure the butterflies in her stomach would ever go away.

And surprisingly, she found that she was completely okay with that.

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[run-down-that-dream]

yay, i'm excited too! it looks like we have some similar musical interests, and you also like some things i'd like to listen to more, so i'll be asking you LOTS of questions :p to start out, what are your top ten bands and artists? i can definitely guess a few of them but i'm curious about what your list would be :) 💚❤️💚❤️ -Santa

I'm so glad we share the same taste!! Bring on the questions lol!! It took a minute (ok much longer than a minute) but I think I decided on my current list:

1. Tom Petty (I'm sure you guessed this but of course I'll put the obvious as #1 😂) and that goes for literally all his stuff - heartbreakers, solo, mudcrutch, collaborations with other artists - I'll listen to it all this man takes up waaay too much of my time if I'm being honest haha

2. George Harrison - I'm actually in the process of going back and listening to all his albums so he's taking up a ton of my time right now too 😂

3. The Beatles - my 3rd top artist of the year according to spotify, I'd say that makes a lot of sense. peace, love, and yellow submarines ���

4. Bob Dylan - another of my top artists I fully agree with. Great storytelling!

5. The Traveling Wilburys (are we seeing a trend 👀😂) they're probably my #1 comfort band - it's a group full of my favorite guys, what could be better than that

6. Stevie Nicks - I blame her for keeping me interested in classic rock for so long. if you were to ask my top ten like 5 years ago you'd get a completely different list but she's stayed consistent (plus I blame her for getting me into tom petty so there's that too lol) - and she's probably part of the reason I'm so witchy (feel free to ask about that too if you're interested in that stuff at all 👀 I could ramble about my crystals and things forever)

7. Jeff Lynne (solo and with elo) I feel like I should put him higher on the list because his stuff is SO GOOD but I don't listen to it as much as I'd like to (I really like the way he produces for some reason too - it's like everything he touches has an extra bit of happiness sprinkled in)

8. Myles Kennedy - this man's VOICE is unbelievable. I fell in love with his music and his band Alter Bridge about 5 years ago while I was in a much "harder" phase of rock. I stopped listening for a while because my tastes have changed so much but he's put out two solo albums since then. Those albums are definitely more my speed right now. I've fallen absolutely in love with his music again

9. Fleetwood Mac (while they had Stevie and Lindsey specifically) I've been listening to the album Tusk pretty consistently for YEARS

10. now lastly I have a really bad habit of looping songs. with that said, I'm gonna tie the Rolling Stones and Queen as #10 in my list - not because I've heard a lot of their songs but because I've heard a few of their songs A LOT of times 😂

Do you mind if I ask which things you'd like to listen to more 👀 I could totally give you some song recs or something if you're interested!! Also which bands/artists do you like? I'd love to know which ones we have in common, and there might even be something we have in common that I didn't think to list!!

[chrisrainicorn]

Fair Game Week Day 6: Atlas Ball

Posting a little late than usual but it’s for a good reason!

Ok so, my original plan for this was to make a comic of a short scene that I had in my mind, but when I was typing out the dialogue to plan it, I realized wow this is going to be so big and a pain to draw in just a few days, I wish I could just write it instead :/

And then I realized there’s nothing stopping me from doing exactly that lmao. So yeah, I wrote it, and it allowed me to go waaay further than I would go with the comic! So you can read that short fic under the cut (warning for extremely cheesy fluff bellow):

The music coming from the ballroom was dulled by the passing breeze flowing through the spacious balcony. It brought him an immediate feeling of relief, he was already getting sick of the same lifeless background waltz playing in an endless loop anyway. 

Qrow leaned his elbows against the marble rails, it felt cold to the touch and he appreciated the sensation. He had ditched the coat on his way up already, and now away from being surrounded by Atlas elite, fake laughs, boring music and trays of expensive drinks, he had to have some serious self-control to not jump off the railing and fly away from there.

He didn’t though. His nieces had been so excited about the ball and helping him pick his clothes, not being there when they would want to leave would break their hearts. And it’s not like the event was that bad, but he could only cause a certain number of waiters to stumble and see nearby couples stepping on each other's feet during their dance for so long before feeling like he needed to get out of there.

Yet it seemed he wasn’t going to be alone for long.

“Getting some fresh air?” He had heard the footsteps approach, only turning to look at the newcomer after the question. Clover stopped by his side, leaning against the railing in a position similar to his.

“Yeah, you could say that.” His lips curled up as he spoke. “This kind of thing can get boring real quick.”

“Tell me about it.” He let out a sigh, throwing his head back. His hairdo was slightly messier than usual, a few strands of his bangs refusing to stay up like the others, maybe he had been dancing… Qrow diverted his eyes away the moment Clover spoke up again. “The kids seem to be having fun though.”

“Yeah.” He chuckled lightly. Before leaving the main area, he had caught a glimpse of Yang and Blake on the dance floor and he would bet they would stay there for a while. Jaune, Oscar and Nora had been obsessing over the huge chocolate fountain, and it didn’t take long for them to drag poor Ren into their taste testing. Ruby had been by Weiss’ side, trying to distract her partner from being that close to people she previously was associated with - she also needed some support to walk on her stupid lady stilts so guess Weiss was there for that too. “It’s good to see them loosing up a bit.”

Clover didn’t say anything for a moment, Qrow looked over at him, finding him staring in that way that made the bottom of his stomach cold. “Don't you think that you should be trying to loosen up yourself?”

“I am-” No he wasn’t, if the way he had already had messed with his hair, taken off his coat and rolled his sleeves up, and he still felt like he needed to escape from something meant anything. “These events aren’t really my style.” Not a lie. “What about you? shouldn't you be charming the guest down there instead of acting like you're on patrol duty?”

“Ah, well...” Clover took his eyes off him a bit too quickly. And it took Qrow one more second for him to realize he had just used the word charming to describe his ways. “You can only put up polite smiles for so long before you need a break. And it's not like there's a lot to do…” He drummed his fingers on the marble for a moment before continuing, “I'm not much of a dancer.”

“Really?” He raised an eyebrow, sending him a sideways glance. He could honestly imagine him as being a guy who would sweep people off their feet on a dance floor…

“Yeah.” Clover let out a bashful chuckle. “Good luck can get me to not trip on anyone's foot, but it doesn't make me good at it.”

“Well, that's hard to believe.” He scoffed. 

“Why?” Clover gave him a lopsided grin. “Want me to prove it to you?”

“Hm, what.” He snapped his head back to his direction, Clover stepped away from the railing.

"C'mon, we don't need to go on the dance floor though, it would be a disaster." He chuckled as he took his arm in a swift gesture, turning him away from the snowy landscape beyond the balcony. And Qrow followed without a word, without thinking, without resistance, just blinking as he was led towards the middle of the open space.

The music was still muffled by how far they were from the actual ballroom, and the sudden thudding inside his ears didn't help. They stopped in the center of the balcony, only a few feet apart, Clover switched the grip he had on his wrist for an offered open palm, and he waited. 

Only when he started to look unsure because of his lack of response, Qrow's brain decided to respond - after all, it was pretty rare to see the lucky charm himself to act unsure about something.

Clearing his throat, he adjusted his hand over the one that had taken his arm. Clover's smile brightened up in such a way it almost caused him to choke on his works before they even came out. Still, Qrow managed to speak up. "It sounds like it will be a disaster one way or another…” He grinned with an eyebrow tilt, as if he was just exchanging playful jabber before a mission instead of being pulled close for a dance. “I don't have any luck stopping me from stepping on your feet."

"Well, you'll have to endure my terrible rhythm.” His tone was light as his laugh as Clover watched his own hand settle against Qrow’s side. Their eyes met then. “So I guess we are equal."

Equal. He said it with the same tone as his lucky you at the mines - he could tell because that single line had bounced inside his head for too long. And, of course, he ended this sentence with a wink as well.

“We’ll see about that, Lucky Charm.” He managed to splurt before it got too awkwardly late to add something to the conversation, diverting his gaze down at the same second, watching their feet so he could at least try to avoid stomping on his shoes as they tentatively started to move to the rhythm of the far-away music.

"Let's not turn this into a contest for who will do worse, okay?" He laughed lightly, and Qrow lifted his gaze up instinctively just to watch. "With my luck, I might win that one." 

"Of course." Qrow rolled his eyes. And in that second, they tripped on each other's feet, the weird thing was that he wasn't sure who was the cause of it.

"Sorry." Clover scrunched his shoulders, giving his hand an apologetic squeeze.

"It's alright." He brushed it off with a lazy shrug. Just some time ago, he would have said something like it wasn't your fault, or any other comment about his semblance instead. But he knew his dance partner would probably lecture him if he did that, so he just let it slide - they were both not perfect dancers, so it happens.

"Let's just try again then." They tried to match the rhythm of the waltz one more time. He was warm, Qrow noted. Or he was the one too cold from his time outside enjoying the Atlas icy wind. The contrast was jarring nonetheless, there was still an inch of space between their bodies but he could more than well feel the heat coming from the proximity - the touch he had on Clover's shoulder and palm might as well be burning.

Every time he took his eyes off their feet there was some kind of misstep, followed by apologizing chuckles and quiet affirmations about them being okay. He had imagined Clover being the type of person to charm people away on the dance floor, yes, but he hasn't actually considered he would do that with him. Well… he had, because he was the one imagining those kinds of things in the first place, but he didn't take it seriously! And he would have never guessed clumsy waltzing and sheepishly smiles as being part of his routine.

But here they were, not even on a dance floor but in an empty balcony just for themselves instead, taking overly careful steps while completely ignoring the beats of the background music, after a quick conversation that had consisted in, as his nieces would have put, a lot of gross flirting.

This was stupid. Because he had to admit those noisy brats were right. He couldn't deny anymore that that had been flirting. He couldn't pretend to not notice Clover's attempts to be closer. He couldn't just not say there was some real interest in there.

Especially with how he could feel Clover’s eyes locked on his face as they danced. He didn't know why he had been so hesitant from looking up from their shoes to meet them - they were adults for gods' sake! He was sure he was acting like a teenager right now.

Yet they were doing a slightly better job at keeping up with the music, until the point when it picked up as it arrived close to its end. Their steps became wider, and he was sure he was about to cause them both to fall when Clover decided to be risky and pulled him along for a swift spin. 

He only noticed he had been holding his breath and had his eyes wide when they resumed to slow and steady side to side steps as the final and calmer seconds of waltz reached his ears. 

"Looks like we're doing pretty good." Clover tilted his head knowingly, and Qrow finally relaxed and looked back at him. 

He opened his mouth to respond, just to immediately trip on air and step on the edge of his shoe, making his leg bent in a weird way and bringing him down, exactly on the final note of the music.

He held back a curse as Clover held him in place, letting go of his hands to hold him by the waist with both his arms, pulling him closer and pressing their chests together as Qrow's hands instinctively acted to get a firmer grip, lacing themselves around his shoulders. The music in the ballroom faintly continued its endless loop. He let out a huff. "What were you saying?"

Clover dared to chuckle, and now they were too close, being able to watch the way his eyes curved with his smile and feel the puffs of air from his breathing. "I still think it went well."

"Hm, I didn't know stepping on feet and falling were part of a good dance now." His voice came out raspy and he had to clear his throat. They relaxed their position a bit, allowing Qrow to fully recover his footing, yet neither of them made a move to restore the previous distance they had between them. Clover’s arms were still around his waist and Qrow maintained his own around his shoulders, as if they had done this numerous times before.

"You know… I prefer that over any boring dance I just managed to go through it because of luck." Clover started, pausing for a second to run his tongue over his lips. “I had fun… with you. Can’t remember the last time I felt that way.”

Qrow let the single note escape after a moment of silence. “Oh.” 

He had nothing else to say, because the implications from Clover’s words weren’t lost by him. He preferred a waltz full of missteps over a perfect one, he preferred to be with him. 

“I… I had fun too.” He didn’t like how quiet he had sounded, so Qrow let go of a breath, letting out a chuckle before continuing. “Can’t remember the last time someone endured a full dance with me.”

“That’s a shame… You’re a good dancer, Qrow.”

“You have some messed up standards.” He had to hold back an incredulous laugh. “But, hm- Thanks, for all that.”

He had expected Clover to smile at his words, but not the way he had beamed, brightening up the entire balcony and making his heart skip a beat.

“Hm, what?” He was definitely not used to people staring at him like that, or holding him like that, or talking at him like that - just being with him like that. Gods, how long they had been flirting while hugging?

“You’re not dodging compliments anymore...” Clover’s words came out in a quiet breath, his eyes flickering all over his face.

“Ah.” He swallowed dry, he hadn’t even noticed… “Well- I guess... I know I would be up for a lecture if I did, so… yeah.”

“Good.” Clover’s smile was too close to a smirk now. “Because that means I can do that more often.”

Qrow just blinked, squinting at the smug, too confident, handsome bastard he had his arms around. He opened his mouth to speak. Nothing. Tried again right after, success. “... Why are you like this?”

“Like what?” He diverted his eyes for a second, Qrow could see he was holding back a bigger smile.

“You know-” He could feel his face burning.

“I don’t.”

“Clover...” It almost came out as a hiss.

“Qrow.” He bit his lip to contain a laugh.

“For gods’ sake- Just...” He let out a growl of frustration, bringing a hand to rub over his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

“Yes?” Clover was having fun by seeing him get flustered, he could tell that very well.

“Just-” Stop? Keep going? What could he want?

What do I want? 

He had the answer to that. 

Taking his hand off his own burning face, he returned it to the back of Clover’s shoulder, sent a last challenging stare at the green eyes that shined a bit too mischievously for his liking, before closing his own, and pulling him in.

Clover kissed him back. Without even a split second of hesitation, not even giving a chance for Qrow to second guess his decision. And even if he knew that was probably the most probable outcome considering Clover's actions, it still blew his mind in the best way possible. It started just as clumsy as their dance. Maybe because he wasn't used to kissing someone who was smiling so much. What was the last time he did that anyway? What was the last time he was sober for it?

He only wondered that for less than a second, because that wasn't the time for it. And he didn't care. He was warm, Qrow noted. And he also sighed against his lips, and pulled him even closer, and breathed him in and tasted like mint and pineapples, he recognized the taste from the non-alcoholic beverages they had served downstairs.

They only pulled away when breathing became extremely necessary. Qrow kept his eyes shut for some lingering moments, he would think he was dreaming if he couldn't feel the warm puffs of air hitting his skin as Clover recovered his breathing.

And when he did open his eyes, he was rewarded by Clover's own staring back at him, with that softness that had taken him a good while to get used to, and now he didn't want to live without it.

"So, hm- another dance?" Qrow blurted. Because he didn't know what else to say in moments like these. Yet what he did know, is that he didn't want it to end.

Clover let out a quiet laugh, resting his forehead on his, the sound light and lively, just like the stare he had on him. "Thought you would never ask."

They got better as they went, there were still some missteps here and there. Yet, they paid no mind. That was what made their dances perfect, and they wouldn't have it any other way.

***

Hope you liked it! I might actually post this on ao3 later after I have more time to do some revising without having to worry about the deadline lol. So if while reading you found some awkward sentences, feel free to let me know! English is not my first language so it helps a ton! :D

[alydiarackham]

(cover by me)

How to Be a Hero Like a Villain by Alydia Rackham

Introduction

I’m Basically a Geek

                 Hi. Yeah, so, it’s true. I’m a geek. Have been forever. I really had no shot at being otherwise. My mom raised my brother and I on musicals and Star Wars and Star Trek and Disney. Growing up, I read loads of YA sci-fi novels—again, lots of Star Wars—and then when Marvel started making movies, I got into X-Men and then Iron Man, Thor (my major crush on Loki still remains alive), Captain America, then Batman; all that jazz. I’m also a Disney fanatic and a theatre nerd.

I was an English major in college, am in love with Tolkien and Austen and Dickens and Doyle, and adore all things Victorian. My friend Jaicee introduced me to Vampire Diaries and Originals (which are both compelling studies in heroics and villainy, let me tell you). I’ve written tons of fanfiction, in addition to loads of original novels. I write in all genres, mostly because I get hooked on a good story, good characters, no matter the setting—though I do have a weakness for an epic story arc, flawed heroes and of course, powerful villains. Right now, I’m on the 5th book in my fairy tale retellings series. So far, I’ve retold “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Snow Queen,” “The Little Mermaid,”—and then I did a totally-original one about a Curse-Maker, from the POV of…yep, the villain! At the moment, I’m working on a retelling of the legend of King Arthur, called “Excalibor.” It’s a blast.

               As you might imagine, I am intrigued most of all by character. I enjoy reading about the great ones, and inhabiting the interesting ones in my own writing. Flat romantic interests and motivation-less villains drive me nuts. I’m fascinated by a character’s inner workings, his history, his motivation, his mannerisms, his relationships, his skills, his style, the way he presents himself to the world. My brother and I love analyzing plot holes and devices and flaws and symbolism and insights. (Our after-movie discussions can get very animated, and last for hours.)

               Often, we find ourselves yelling things at the Hero on the screen like “For crying out loud, don’t do that! Don’t go in there! Stop wasting your time! Watch out—don’t you know what’s in there?” We easily see the choices that the Hero makes that are flawed, impulsive, or just plain stupid.

               But very rarely do we notice such things about the Villain. A good one, anyway.

               The Villain takes us by surprise. He startles us. He’s two steps ahead. He already has the device, he’s laid the trap, he’s captured the girlfriend, he’s destroyed the evidence. (Cancer Man in X-Files makes me absolutely want to scream because of this stuff.)

               Why is that? How did he know? How is he doing this?? It drives us crazy—and yet, we reluctantly have to admire the greats for being such awesome masterminds.

               So…how are the Villains so successful? Sure, we could shrug it off and say, “Well, he’s a super-genius, what do you expect?” But that’s too easy, and frankly, it’s doing a great disservice to our Evil Neighborhood Menace. In fact, with everything we see, and with the Hero making such rash and stupid decisions, oftentimes it’s a wonder that the Hero even lives, let alone triumphs in the end.

               And actually, in real life, that’s often true. The Hero does die or fail, and the Villain lives and prospers. Why?

               What is it that the Villain is doing that the Hero is not doing, which makes him successful? Again, the easy and lazy answer is “He kills people to get what he wants, he lies, he steals.” Okay, sure. What you’re describing is a garden-variety thug. Somebody who gets caught in Spiderman’s webs every weekend.

You are not describing a Super-Villain.

There’s something about a Super-Villain—a really great one—that keeps him in the game, that makes him a serious threat to the Hero, even after being beaten over and over again. What is it about Lex Luthor—who has no powers—that keeps him alive, and makes him a continuous, serious threat against Superman, the most powerful being on the planet?

How is it that a Villain keeps coming back, when similar failures and losses would crush a Hero and send him home forever, never again to don the super suit?

Could it be that a Villain’s methods, his mindset, his approach, are vastly different from a Hero’s?

And, if a Hero could learn to take these qualities and mesh them with his own already-existing awesomeness, could he perhaps avoid a devastating loss, a crushing defeat?

Is that…in fact…what does make the Hero succeed in the end??

That’s what this book is about. Examining what truly is awesome about a great Villain, and showing YOU how you can put those qualities to use in your own life to do a great deal of good, instead of great evil.

Be a great Hero. Take a few tips from the Villains.

-Alydia Rackham

         P.S. I’m going to refer to both the Hero and Villain in this book as “he.” I’m doing that because it’s waaay easier than saying “he or she” all the time. Not because I don’t believe that women can be awesome Heroes, or terribly wicked Villains.

Because I totally do.

 Chapter One

What Makes A Hero or a Villain?

                 So, what is it that makes a person a Hero, instead of a Villain? We’re talking the foundation, here. What are the qualities he or she possesses deep down inside that distinguish, that draw the line, that clearly state to the world: “Nope, this is a good guy, this is a bad guy”? This can be confusing. Especially when we look at two characters, say Loki and Bucky Barnes. Both of them have been all over the map with both good and evil deeds. Both have been called Villains, and both could be Heroes.

               What is it that makes us decide where someone stands?

               I would say that it all comes down to one thing: CHOICES.

               It can’t be anything else. You can’t say it’s kindness, or love, gentleness, trust, honesty, bravery, self-sacrifice, or self-respect. Many Heroes and Villains alike struggle with self-respect. Many Villains sacrifice themselves for a person, or a cause. Villains are almost always exceptionally brave. Villains probably are honest with at least one person, or have been in the past. They also have trusted someone, been gentle with someone or something. Most certainly, the best Villains have loved very, very deeply, and tried their best to be kind to that person or animal.

               However, something went wrong. Very wrong. And with every Villain, it can be traced back to Choice.

               Sometimes, it’s a single choice. Many times, it’s several choices in a row. And eventually, they all decide that “the ends justify the means.” They opt for self-preservation, for the removal of liberty for other people, for the arrogant assertion of their own will. Over and over again, until it poisons them.

               A Hero is someone who does not do this. Who chooses, even if it is wrenchingly difficult, to stand by what is right, no matter the consequences. No matter if he loses everything. He will not betray his honor. Even if no one else would see or know—he would know. And he will not do it.

               In the end, this is what makes the Hero stronger than a Villain. The climax, and the defeat of the Villain, comes when the Villain’s weaknesses are exposed, and the Hero takes all his own strengths, combines them with the strengths of the Villain, and declares victory.

               A Hero guards his or her good conscience fiercely. It’s pretty well summed up in this quote from Captain America:

               “Whatever happens tomorrow, you must promise me one thing. That you will stay who you are: not a perfect soldier, but a good man.”  

 Chapter Two

Good Guys Can Be Stupid

                 We all know it’s true. When we’re in the movie theatre, we mutter under our breath, shake our heads.

When we’re at home, we scream at the TV.

               “Nooooo! What are you thinking? Don’t go that way, go the other way!”

               “You moron, don’t go off by yourself! Never leave the group! Especially in the dark!”

               “What, you jumped in there but you had no way of getting out?”

               “Don’t ignore her calls, she’s trying to save your life!”

               Yep, we’ve all been there. So what are some bad traits that Heroes tend to display that we ought to try to avoid ourselves?

  Stupid Impulsiveness

               Sure, impulsiveness can be good on a date, or at a restaurant trying some new dish.

It’s not good when you’re, I dunno, jumping off a ten story building. Following a noise into a dark forest. Or deciding to stop a bank robbery two days after you discovered your powers. Bad planning, or none at all. Not even thinking about what could happen in the next five minutes, let alone preparing for it.

For us regular folks, this can be translated into deciding to go for a drive in the snow with no 4-wheel drive, jumping off something that’s too high, going on a trip without enough money, walking down a dark alley in New York City…

               Yeah, you get the idea.

Not Keeping Family and Friends in the Loop

               We’ve seen it a lot: Heroes thinking they need to conquer alone—deal with all their problems, and protect their family members. However, all that ends up causing is major trouble. Sometimes life-threatening, sometimes not, but it’s never good. One that comes to mind is Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. If she had told her sisters about what was going on with Darcy, and especially the drama with Mr. Wickham, she might have saved her sister Lydia from being entrapped by the Villain. Pretty much every single story about a superhero contains this type of lament: “If I had only just told them the truth!”  

               Heroes fall into the trap of thinking that they’re protecting their loved ones by keeping secrets. By not trusting their friends or their family with what’s going on in their lives. When in fact, this only puts their loved ones in danger, and puts serious stress and pressure on the Hero, which can lead to exhaustion, panic, stretched resources, missed opportunities, and giving the loved ones the feeling that they’re being neglected and forgotten.

  Discouragement

           So many times, the Hero just doesn’t have the tools to do what he needs to do. He’s isolated himself, he’s gone without sleep, he’s fighting an uphill battle every day. And then, one major thing goes the wrong way, and he’s broken. He collapses, he throws things, he cries, he’s in despair. He thinks there’s no possible way for him to do this, to keep going.

               He dwells on the failure. It almost swallows him. He loses all confidence, all belief in himself. He might even lose faith in the cause itself, in the people and things he’s been fighting so hard for. And if someone doesn’t come along and convince him otherwise, he’ll never put on that Hero cape again, or pick up that shield, or that sword.

Read this book: https://www.amazon.com/How-Hero-Like-Villain-Villainous-ebook/dp/B07NMVGCHP/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=how+to+be+a+hero+like+a+villain+alydia+rackham&qid=1572901986&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

[tkl-tee]

We’ve All Got Our Quirks (KiriBaku)

We’ve All Got Our Quirks (Kirishima x Bakugou from Boku no Hero Academia)

A/N: Hello and thank you so much for sending a prompt! Sorry this took so long rip. I need to say for future reference (and I’ve updated my bio) that I probably won’t write NSFW because I am confused about the new rules regarding NSFW content? So I am nervous to post anything like that aha.

So, this is SFW. Sorry for any confusion and thanks again for sending the prompt!

Disclaimer: This is a tickle fic.

Summary: Kirishima has something he’s been wanting to reveal to his boyfriend, Bakugou. When the perfect opportunity presents itself, Bakugou once again finds himself at his partner’s mercy. Kirishima confesses, Bakugou learns something new, and together they grow… and laugh!

Word Count: 1772

Kirishima was pretty comfortable with himself. He didn’t worry too much about his body or his clothes or his personality, and he sure didn’t worry about what his boyfriend Bakugou thought of him. He wasn’t cocky or arrogant, just comfortable. That being said, there was one thing nagging at him lately.

He was trying to work up the courage to tell Bakugou about a certain interest of his. He… liked tickling. Really, he loved it. He’d always known that there was something about it.

He enjoyed being tickled, but what he really craved was to be the one doing the teasing and drawing helpless laughs from his partner. He liked being the cause of his squirming and his special smile and his empty threats voiced around breathless giggles. These were sights and sounds saved only for him, and Kirishima craved them more often than he cared to admit.

He’d just recently discovered that Bakugou was ticklish, and he found himself taking advantage of every opportunity that presented itself: Pokes to Bakugou’s sides while they did homework; hugging the blond from behind and using both hands to dig into his stomach and sides; soft, tickly touches to his neck and collar bones when they made out; using his foot to tickle the other’s feet and legs when they laid down at night. It never seemed to be enough, however.

Part of him was nervous Bakugou would catch on to why he tickled him so often and part of him honestly hoped he would, just to get it out in the open. He’d been wanting to talk to Bakugou about it, to explain it. He was going to! He was just waiting for the right time and the right way to get it out.

He apparently wouldn’t have to wait much longer. The opportunity presented itself just a couple weeks after he had begun wrestling with himself about the whole thing. Bakugou’s parents had gone out of town so Kirishima was spending the weekend with him.

That first night they were sitting on the couch after dinner, telling each other about their days. Bakugou was reclining against the left side of the couch with his arm around Kirishima’s shoulders. Kirishima sat leaning against his side with his arm looped around his waist.

“-And that’s why that damn dragon lady said I had to stay home! Like it was my fault the dumb neighbor kid’s skateboard crashed into me…” Bakugou finished explaining that his mom got mad at him for breaking the skateboard, so he was made to stay home. Kirishima could only chuckle softly at him.

“You shouldn’t talk about your mom like that… and I kinda feel bad for that kid! But hey, at least you get to be here with me now!” he replied happily, tilting his head back and smiling at the blond.

“Yeah…” Bakugou still seemed annoyed but there was a softer look on his face. Kirishima rolled his eyes and laid his head back against his chest, feeling it rise and fall as he breathed. His eyes began to droop and he yawned lazily.

“Hey, turn on the light, m’falling asleep” he mumbled, poking Bakugou in the side. The latter jumped slightly but said nothing as he leaned to the side and reached for the lamp. Kirishima smirked to himself and squeezed his still-vulnerable side once the light was on.

“Sh-shit, noo,” Bakugou squirmed, squeezing his arm back against his side.

“Mmm, I don’t think so. You’re all Mr. Grumpypants tonight,” Kirishima replied, sitting up to better squeeze up and down both of his sides. Bakugou started to squirm and push at Kirishima’s arms. Kirishima already felt a bit giddy at the other’s reactions.

“Eijirou, I swear to god- EIJI-HI-ROU�� Kirishima had shoved his hands under Bakugous tank top and was now squeezing at his ribs. Restrained giggles began to fall from Bakugou’s lips as he shot up, attempting to push Kirishima away from him.

“Katsuki, it’s not good to swear! A true man is too honorable to do that!” he said in mock-irritation. The smile on his face did little to sell it. He adored the sound of Bakugou’s laughter and the sight of his uncharacteristic smile.

“Stohohop, you shihihiiiit” Kirishima was unrelenting as Bakugou attempted to pry his hands away. He shifted so that he was laying on Bakugou, pushing him back against the arm of the couch.

“Your words say stop but your laugh says keep going,” Kirishima teased, wiggling his eyebrows. He crawled his fingers up to tickle the upper parts of Bakugou’s ribs, back, and chest. The latter was now grasping at Kirishima’s arms and laughing freely.

“Fuhuhuck ohohohoff aHAHA” Bakugou’s laughter increased a bit in pitch and his eyes were squeezed shut. His face seemed happy and carefree, and Kirishima couldn’t help but blush at the beautiful, flustered, laughing mess beneath him.

He felt butterflies in his stomach as he thought about the fact that this was the most he’d properly tickled his boyfriend. His attack on Bakugou’s sides slowed as he flushed a bit in embarrassment.

This hesitation was enough for Bakugou to finally break free from Kirishima’s attack. He pushed him away enough that he was able to slide off the couch. He sat on the floor with his back against the couch, leaning his head back against the cushion.

Kirishima righted himself in the middle of the couch and sat criss-cross applesauce. They sat in silence for a few moments as Bakugou caught his breath and Kirishima collected his thoughts. Bakugou gave a final sigh and cleared his throat.

“Jesus, ever since you found out I was sensitive you’ve been a huge pain in the ass!” Bakugou said in his usual “angry” voice as he frowned up at Kirishima.

“Haha, yeah… sorry about that man,” he apologized, avoiding his boyfriend’s eyes. He was still a little embarrassed, and he understood if Bakugou was going to get mad at him.

“Tell me something embarrassing about yourself." Kirishima blinked a few times, confused. He turned his gaze towards Bakugou who was staring back at him.

“You heard me, Shitty Hair! It’s not fair that you know something embarrassing about me, so you have to tell me something too!” Bakugou explained, his tone almost threatening. Kirishima was used to that by now, though. He was, however, nervous about what was being asked of him.

“I-I, well I…” Kirishima stammered, trying to figure out how to respond. This could be the moment he was waiting for, he could lay everything out on the table right now. But he was still nervous what Bakugou would think of it.

“What is it? I know there’s something, just tell me! Or I’ll have to beat it out of you,” Bakugou said, holding up a tired fist. Kirishima scoffed and rolled his eyes. At least the mood wasn’t super serious right now… he was gonna go for it!

“Well… there is something, but…” he trailed off, still working up the courage to get it out. His heart rate increased slightly and he could feel his face turning a bit red.

“But, what?”

“I’m just nervous you’ll think it’s weird!” Kirishima replied, furrowing his brows and biting his lip. At this, Bakugou got up and moved to sit next to him on the couch, looking at him curiously.

“Of course you’re weird, but who gives a shit. I still put up with you, don’t I?” Kirishima lightly snorted at his. For a big jerk, Bakugou was pretty good at making him feel better.

“Okay, so… well, I’ve actually been wanting to say something about this. Actually it kind of has to do with, um- I know I’ve kinda been t-tickling you a lot, but it’s because I… like… it. Doing it. To you.” Kirishima groaned and put his face in his hands out of embarrassment. “I know, it’s weird!”

There was a pause that seemed a lot longer to Kirishima than it probably was, before Bakugou responded.

“That’s it? I thought you were going to say you were into cross-dressing or something,” Bakugou said nonchalantly, leaning back against the back of the couch. Kirishima thought over what was just said for a moment, before letting out a sigh of relief and punching Bakugou in the shoulder softly.

“So what if I was?” he said jokingly, a small smile on his face. “So you’re really okay with it? You’re not going to break up with me or anything?” Bakugou scoffed and rolled his eyes at that.

“I wouldn’t break up with you for such a shit reason. And I don’t think you’re a freak. Is it like, a thing?” Bakugou asked, not judgemental, just wondering.

“No! I mean, yeah? I don’t know, honestly. I’ve never really been in this position, so I’m still unsure about some things.” Kirishima answered honestly. Bakugou nodded, understood.

“That’s fine, and I’m fine with it,” Bakugou smirked as he continued. “But I’m not just going to let you tickle me all the time with no consequences.” Bakugou made a point to crack his knuckles. Kirishima returned the smirk and held up his hand, hardening his arm.

“You can try, but this might be a fight that I beat you in! Plus you’re waaay more sensitive than I am,” Kirishima grinned as Bakugou launched at him, knocking them off the couch.

Bakugou landed on top of Kirishima and straddled his waist, immediately digging into his stomach. Kirishima didn’t even hold back his laughter as he squirmed and pushed at Bakugou’s hands.

He allowed this to go on for a few moments before he used his quirk to harden his torso against the attack. He then focused his efforts on attacking Bakugou’s armpits.

“Thahahat’s buhullshihihihit!” Bakugou twisted and jerked as he attempted to both pin his arms against his sides and pull Kirishima’s hands away at the same time. Kirishima kept up the attack as he sat up, leaning close to Bakugou.

“All is fair in love in war,” he said with a teasing voice, before giving him a quick kiss. He then moved down and blew a raspberry where the blond’s neck met his shoulder’s. His laughter spiked for a moment as he attempted to scrunch his shoulder and the side of his head together.

“You son of ahahaHAHAHA” Kirishima had moved one hand down to squeeze Bakugou’s hip repeatedly while leaving one to tickle under his arm. He hardly resisted as Kirishima pushed him back and reversed their positions.

Needless to say, it was an eventful weekend filled with much laughter- primarily a hot-headed blond’s- and Kirishima couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

[stelloids]

1  🍎 Do you prefer making up a new name for your villager, or using your own name? I love giving my towns a bit of a story, and making up names & personalities for my villagers is part of that!

2 🍊 Do you use the first map you’re given, or do you reset for layouts? I never reset for maps before New Leaf, but now... yeah, I really really do, lmao. I don’t think I want to for New Horizons, though! I’d like to play the game a little more naturally.

3 🍐 Do you use the face you’re given, or do you wait for guides and choose your favourite? I only used the face I was given the very first few times I played, waaay back in Population Growing. Now I always use a guide. Seems like I won’t need to bother in New Horizons, though!! I cannot wait to see the new customization options we’ll be getting!

4 🍑 Favourite town/island name? Have you a name picked out for your town/island? The name Fairword has had a special place in my heart since I first came up with it. Nonsense and Hollow are also town names I like, mostly just because I really loved the towns they grew to be though!! I don’t have any particular names in mind for my New Horizons island yet.

5 🍒 Will you be sharing with friends/family, or is your island going to be all your own? I live alone so my Switch and everything on it is just for me <3 My boyfriend and I will definitely be visiting each others’ towns a lot though!

6 🍎 What’s a new feature you’re excited about? UHH all of them. lmao no but I think I’m most excited about 1) the ability to choose our skintones rather than having to painstakingly maintain the exact right level of tan if you or your character are anything other than pale as hell, and 2) the ability to help villagers decide where to put their houses!! Those were my two biggest gripes with the previous games, so having them both changed for New Horizons is super exciting.

7 🍊 Favourite fruit? Lemons!! I know they’re not a native fruit but they’re just really cute ok

8 🍐 Least favourite fruit? I always had pears as my town fruit in Population Growing, so I kind of hold a grudge against them. For the longest time I didn’t even know you could have any other kind of fruit tree without planting it yourself!! I kind of think of pears as the “boring starter fruit,” even though I know that’s not true lol.

9 🍑 Favourite area? The town tree/fountain acre in Population Growing always gives me calm yet energizing vibes... probably all the morning aerobics I literally woke up early for as a child, lmao. I’m still really fond of that area!

10 🍒 Where do you like to like to put your house? Do you like that level of customization, or do you prefer to have some things decided, like in older entries? I love being able to choose where my house is! I usually put it tucked away somewhere kinda cute, like in a nice loop/curve of the river or a little pocket along the cliffs.

11 🍎 Favourite grass pattern? Circles!!

12 🍊 Least favourite grass pattern? Squares I guess?

13 🍐 Favourite villager/s? Oh gosh, there are too many villagers I love for me to be able to pick any specific favorites.

14 🍑 Least favourite villager/s? I went to look at a list of all the villagers, and I actually dislike a lot of the mice lmao??? 

15 🍒 Did you like doing Tom Nook’s chores, or did you find those to be a pain? I’ve always thought they were really cute!

16 🍎 Favourite NPC/s? Isabelle my bby............ also old Phyllis, back when she was a genuine bitch, cause that was hilarious as a child lmao. Ooh, and Blanca!!

17 🍊 Least favourite NPC/s? go away lyle nobody wants to hear your bad opinions

18 🍐 Do you use paths? Are you excited about the new path tool? Yes and YES!!

19 🍑 Favourite feature from an older entry? I liked the town tree/fountain in Population Growing telling me which acres needed a little TLC! I also miss the morning aerobics event from that game, and being able to kick balls around.

20 🍒 What was your first Animal Crossing game? Population Growing!

21 🍎 Favourite activity? Catching bugs and designing patterns!

22 🍊 Least favourite activity? Uhhh I feel like fishing is the most tedious, I guess??

[double-danganronpa-lost-faith]

DDR:LF Progress Log

Hi everyone! Welcome to the first progress log.

It’s a post where I put all the things I’ve done for the fanganronpa so far that I haven’t posted anywhere; most of them are WIPs or Betas. It also works for me as a way to keep track of how far I’ve come.

Today’s post contains the following:

Character Bios (previously only available in the DR amino) and FAQ

4 WIPs of important CGs (well... more like 2)

3 Different types of Animation Tests

WIP/Beta of the GUI Design

Next objectives

If you’re interested in checking this post, keep reading it down below!

By the way, feel free to join the fangan’s discord server by going to this link https://discordapp.com/invite/aSd6PN4 ^^ with that being said, let’s begin the post~!

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Character Bios and FAQ

To start this blog AND this post on a right note, I’m finally posting on tumblr the character bios, which means you can now access to the information from each member of the cast of DDR:LF, which was previously only available in amino. You can find them in this post.

As for the other part, I wrote a FAQ with the main sort of questions there could be about the fangan. Feel free to give it a read here if you want to know about some basic stuff about the project, and if you still have doubts, please do send an ask! I’ll gladly answer it ^^

WIPs of CGs

You didn’t think that the only drawing I was working on were sprites, right?

In today’s post, here are some CGs WIPs that I didn’t get around to finish yet (since their priority is below the character sprites, but it’s a nice change instead of doing sprites 24/7).

First, the pre-trial CGs!

There are some expressions/positions that I might be willing to change, although that’ll come in later when I gotta sit down to finish these. But yeah, later. (Also, just to be clear, I drew these waaay back, so the designs might not match the current ones).

In a trial, depending the type of chapter, the 1st CG and 3rd one will switch places. The one that appears last will be the one that contains the protagonist whose POV we are witnessing.

Second, one of every prologue’s main CGs. “The killing game has begun!”

Looks of doubt and deceith are flying across the room! Who will make it through the end of the day? And who’ll be left behind~?

It might seem pretty basic without them being colored, but hopefully it’ll look better in the future!

Animation Tests

Man, this was a lot of fun to work on, and it was all worth it! I hope you all enjoy these as much as I did while trying to materialize these concepts!

#1 - Prologue Title Card

Every chapter of this story has a title card, just like the original danganronpa games. In the case of DDR:LF, this is more or less what each card will look like.

It’s kinda basic; elements being added to the screen here and there, as well as some silhouettes appearing.

What are these silhouettes, you might ask? It’s none other than the cast of the fangan, but it’s not just anybody who’s randomly picked. The silhouettes belong to the victims and the murderers of the current chapter, so for example, chapter 1 will have the silhouette of the 1st victim and the 1st murderer, but it’ll be modified enough for the silhouette to not be easily recognizable; nobody wants to get spoiled the deaths right at the start of the chapter, right?

Of course, the prologue is an exception... maybe.

A bit of the BGM was done by me, while some other elements of it were taken off from royalty free sound effects/melodies websites.

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

#2 - Pixel Execution

As you all know, there’s always a pixel animation that starts off an execution. I have that too, of course! and in order to avoid spoilers + show you what I was able to do, I put myself in the place of the culprit. (I swear I didn’t kill off anyone yet... only after the fangan has started I’ll be considered guilty).

The background music was also composed entirely by me, although in the future it might change- but I don’t really know for certain, so get used to this for now :)

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

#3 - Execution style test

I’ve recently downloaded the program Live2D, and what for? For executions, no less! After trying it for a while, I’ve concluded that it’d simplify my job a lot more than if I used sony vegas for animating the executions (not to mention it looks smoother with this new one).

For this test, I’ve used Seiji as my puppet. It might be simple, but it was to test out the limits of the program. It turned out really good imo! So I’ve decided to use Live2D to animate the executions (or at least, do most parts of them with it). I learnt some stuff while experimenting around with the program, so next time I’ll finish these sort of things even faster probably.

Also I put it on loop because a 2 second video is rather sad.

GUI Design

Now, I'll admit that I'm not the best at GUI design, but I tried my best to come up with my own design for the fanganronpa's interface, which I made based on a water-ish looking theme. The (not final) result of that is the picture below.

In case that you’re wondering, no, this isn’t any sort of canon conversation. It’s just the phrase I could come up with.

And yes, the background is from V3; I don't have any backgrounds at all for the project yet lol.

The sun and the fish on the top right corner will change depending on the time of day; but that's something that I'll keep to myself until the moment I start posting the story.

I have conflicted feelings with this GUI though, I don't know if I like it or not. It looks somewhat good but still off at the same time? Although it might just be me. If anyone has any feedback or suggestion for the GUI's design, the inbox is always open to receive such help!

So what's next?

Currently, I have loads of assignments at college, so it's kinda hard to make a balance between the project, social life and college work. However, the project is something that won’t stop.

The fangan has only one member, which is me of course; that means it’s going at a slow pace. I'm willing to make a recruitment for help, but that’ll be later once I have the basics to let someone else help me. If you’re willing to volunteer for this project, keep heads eyes up for the day I call out for help.

In the past, I tried to learn how to program with unity, but it’s hard to follow it up when the free tutorials are scattered here and there. When I have free time and everything art-related has been set up, I might try to pick it up again. I say might because I’m gonna start a tiny course for unreal engine at college. Maybe with the basics that they teach there, I’ll be able to do a better/quicker job than if I did it with unity (which I have 0 experience with). But the future is uncertain, so I’ll be the judge of that once I’m done with that course!

With that being said... as of now, the next objectives for the project (not ordered by priority) are the following:

Finishing Default Sprites.

I only have 7 default sprites done out of the 16 students, and I’m already working on the 8th. Half-way there?

Concept Art for each Room/Place.

While I have written down all the places in each dome, there are some that I need to draw the concept of the place, since the idea in my mind keeps changing them, I should settle them down.

Finishing Writing the Prologue and the Basics of Chapter 1.

I mean I already have like a half of these two things or more, but since I keep changing it, they never get any actual progress. Maybe I should learn to let it be as it is lol.

Creating 3D Assets.

Of course, I’ll make the 3D models for the rooms and props... well, I might do them; that is if I can’t find anyone that can make them. Pros of this is that I can do things exactly how I want them; cons are that it takes time and I’m not an expert in 3D modeling.

Trial GUI.

Class trials in danganronpa have a different GUI than the one used outside of them. We have a beta for the general GUI up there, now we need one for the class trial’s as well!

Concept Art for... a Trial Thing.

It’s no surprise that there are special things in fanganronpas, such as making changes to certain game mechanics, or creating completely new ones. The one I’m refering to in this case is a change to an already existing mechanic in the DR games. Can you guess which one it is~?

Splash Art.

During the first year of birthdays, I drew some sketches for the characters; those are the base for their future splash art.

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

And last (and currently least important)

Recruiting Volunteers for the Project.

Obviously, I can’t do everything in this project by myself. In the future, once I have made a base for every ground of the project, I’ll recruit people that can work from there. Artists (GUI,CG and Sprite), Compositors, and 3D modelers are the ones that I’ll be looking for in this recruitment. In an even-later recruitment, I’ll make a casting call for voice actors as well. Please be patient though!

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

I suppose that’s it for this very long post. It took more days than expected to put everything together, but at last I can release it now!

Now, June and July are pretty busy months at college, so unfortunatelly the progress will slow down a lot more than usual for the next few weeks. Thanks for sticking around this project despite the long road it has ahead! ^^

See you all in the next post! And if you read this entire thing, thank you for your interest in the fangan! <3

[loki-subterfuge]

Irked

Title: Irked Author: lokilover9 Chapter: #19 Notes: Movie ~ What Women Want with Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt Rating:Teen Twenty minutes after Shandis initial panic, coffee was finally brewing in the kitchen as Nat watched her pace back and forth from the table. “Sit, woman. You're making me dizzy.” “I can't believe Loki left his phone here. He’s to have it with him at all times. And why isn't Clint answering his? Where are they?” “Stop worrying, I'm sure they're together. Why would Loki go out in this storm alone? Clint probably left his phone in the truck. It's a habit. Shandi poured equal amounts of cream and coffee in her mug, then added three spoonfuls of sugar. “I'm Cactus sitting, responsible for him at all times. Couldn't he have left a note or something? What if Tony calls? Oh man.” Nat smirked, as she paced again. “Maybe coffee isn't the best option, for you.” “I'm worried.” “No shit.” Shandi then downed her coffee, went to look out the front windows, returned and paced yet again. “Final warning.” Said Nat. “You've about three seconds to halt, or be tied to something.” “If he thought I was upset last night, that was nothing. You wait, Natskies.” “The spanking paddle might be handy. Unless he runs.” Nats comment fell on deaf ears, then Shandi stopped abruptly. “I should go clean my room, make my bed and shit? Yep. Maybe that’ll help me relax.” She darted upstairs and Nat sipped her coffee. “I’m staying down here.” Another twenty minutes past and she heard Shandi shower quickly, run down the front stairs, grapple with something amidst a closet, run back up and start the Central Vac. Two minutes later, Loki and Clint returned. “I can't believe you convinced me to drive in this. You're a manic, Cactus.” “And you're a whiner.” Loki teased. “How does Kroshka even tolerate such nonsense?” “Bite me and you're now in debt another coconut cake.” “Shall I decorate it with candied nipple clamps?” “Go for it.” Nat suggested as they entered the kitchen. “Hardy har.” Said Clint. “Mind if I use your bathroom, to shower? I need more sleep too.” “Certainly baby cakes and again, thanks for the escort.” Clint started up the stairs. “Maniac!” “He was tanked last nigh, Cactust. How did you get him up so early?” “I threatened to tattoo ‘Porn Bitch,’ on his forehead. When ignored, I handed him a mirror.” Said Loki. “Baby cakes would have sufficed, but good choice.” Nat kept smiling, observing Loki organize what sat upon the island. “Something on your mind?” He asked. “Care to know why Shandi loves those movies, I mentioned?” “I do.” “Both are about men who fall for women, in ways they could never fathom. In the beginning, they mess up, then become determined to make amends.” “I see. I gather Shandi spoke of my deceit?” “Yes and you and I never had this conversation.” Said Nat. “I understand.” “Considering the subject, I convinced her you meant well, but may I offer more friendly advice?” “Of course.” “A beautiful heart, doesn't mean a weak soul, Loki. Disrespect her personal choices and she'll toss you to the curb.” He nodded in acknowledgement. “Duly noted, Kroshka. Anything else?” “Yes. The next time you go anywhere without informing her, remember your phone or consider leaving behind a horse tranquilizer?” “Whatever for?” Nat explained and he laughed. “My bad. As we’re on the subject, what did I miss from that scene in What Women Want, which captivates her?” “When they're dancing in the bedroom?” “Yes.” “Watch it on YouTube, Cactus. You’ll figure it out.” Shandi was toiling away in her room when the vacuum stopped and Nat entered. “I wasn't done with that.” “Yes you are, they're back.” “She flopped onto the bed with her arms stretched out. "Thank heavens.” Nat pulled her up. “Come on drama queen. There's something you need to see.” As they entered the kitchen Shandis mouth fell ajar. “What? He actually did this?” There on the island, sat everything Loki hadn't purchased during their shop, including her two boxes of Fruit Loops. “Yes beautiful. He went out in that storm, to make things right with you.” Nat smirked as Shandi blinked at her, misty eyed. “Are you just going to stand here like a love sick puppy, or go talk to him?” Loki had retreated to the library, closed the door and searched that movie scene on his laptop. It was very evident the love and adoration the male actor portrayed towards the female, as though she meant everything to him. ‘Do you seek such affections, Pet?’ Someone knocked then and he closed the app. “You may enter the God of Mischiefs lair.” Shandi peeked in and smirked. “Is it safe?” “For now.” Loki kidded. She leaned against the doorframe, in momentary silence. ‘Damn him when he looks at me like that.’ “I noticed you went shopping..in the storm. You didn't have to do that. I mean, I could've waited until tomorrow. Regardless, it was very kind. Thank you.” “You're quite welcome, Shandi. I apologize for my deceit.” A warm smile, overtook her. “I accept. Nat and I thought to watch another movie. You're welcome to join us.” Loki recalled Nats fantasy from the previous night, Shandis pleasured response and hesitated. ‘I've only presently escaped trouble. Perhaps I shouldn't lead myself into temptation.’ He cleared his throat. “You ladies enjoy. I've still some research on Shamus's hobbies to do." Two movies later, Clint woke and everyone except Nat, had some drinks. They stayed until late evening, Shandi disappeared for a few minutes, then brought some food from the entertainment room, to help tidy up. Loki noticed the booze had gotten to her and swiftly took action. Shandi returned from a second trip and found the drink she'd left behind, replaced by a water bottle. “Seriously Loki? Yur doin’ this again? Where's my drink?” She politely, asked. “Pardon me. I thought you were done and emptied the remaining contents.” “You should've assed.” ‘Assed? Good thing I didn't.’ “Next time, I'll be sure to.” He changed the subject. “I thought we'd visit Carters Bakery tomorrow, but may I take you someplace first?” “Where?” “It's a surprise.” “K.” She slid her hands into her pockets. “So’s this sorta’ like a..mini date kinda thing?” Loki smirked. “Would you like it to be?” Before she could answer, odd squeaky noises and the washing machine lid rattling, caught her attention. She darted down the hall and Loki followed, just in time to see bubbles overflowing from beneath the lid and her slip on soapy water, leaking out the bottom. She landed on her ass, legs spread on the floor and cursed. “Oh fur fuck sakes.” He burst into laughter, helped to her feet and turned the machine off. “Generous with the detergent, were you?” “The model hasn't a soap dispenser. You gotta pour it on yur clothes.” She lifted the lid and saw nothing beyond the bubbles. “Maybe I was too generous. Still, it must be broken if…” She faltered again and as Loki moved to balance her, she slid into him, grasping at the front of his shirt. Loki smirked and gently placed a hand on her back. “Welcome to my personal space.” ‘Oh lord.’ “Sorry.” “It's alright. I did say welcome.” ‘Stay a while.’ Shandis heart raced as she gazed between his lips and eyes, contemplating a kiss, when an uncomfortable sensation stopped her. “My butt feels soapy an’ wet.” He noted her rapid pulse, the sudden softness in her tone and how her hands spread open on his chest. ‘Please, Pet. Feel away.' “Norns, what a predicament you're in.” “Yeah..an’ now I've a melvin.” “And what pray tell, is a melvin darling?” Shandi slowly backed towards the door, shifting her hips and tugging at the back of her shorts. “It's kinda like..where your panties creep waaay too far into places ya wish they didn't.” Loki smirked. “I see.” “Let me go change, come back an’ clean all this up.” She left and he chuckled under his breath. ‘And risk yourself an injury? I think not.’ Magic fixed the problem and when she didn't return, he found her passed out in bed. ‘Might I assume, lack of sleep caught up with you? What a shame.’ She was sprawled out on her back, naked beneath a robe, with one leg folded and part of her hoo ha exposed. ‘I would've enjoyed watching you clean up in this attire.’ He resolved her impending hangover and licked his lips. ‘Time to occupy myself elsewhere.’ ***** Back at the Tower, Tony had just finished tinkering with one of his suits, when his phone rang and he put it on speaker. “Hey Cactus. Everything alright?” “Everything's fine.” “Oh. Where's Shandi?” “Sleeping.” Silence fell and Tony thought it odd. “Cactus? Are we still in the same dimension?” “We are and I've been thinking.” Tony's eyes closed and fists clenched. ‘If you're backing out of this, I'll call you a taxi for the fucking BiFrost.’ “About?” “Events, since my return.” His eyes opened as Pepper came up beside him and placed a finger to her lips. Loki then spoke of regret for the immense responsibility, Odin had placed upon Tony and apologized for all the hardships his presence, had brought each Avenger. He expressed remorse for being the reason Tony feared for Peppers life, the person he loved most and also expressed gratitude for every minute kindness, they'd shown him. Then he asked a question, Tony least expected. “Has requiring me for this job, weighted your concerns?” “It has.” “Remember my given word in the truck, regarding everything?" Asked Loki. "Yes." "Understand, it was genuine and I intend no malice. If Shamus is involved, I will learn of it and help resolve this problem to the best of my ability. Alright?” Tony was utterly astonished. “Uhhh..well, hey. Alright, Cactus and...thanks for all that other stuff too.” “Your welcome Tin Man. Goodnight.” The call ended and Tony looked at Pepper. “Do you think he's gotten into some spooky broccoli?” “And what would you know of it?” She asked. “Nothing..pshh..I..did that just happen? Can you pinch me?” Pepper obliged and he yelped. “Bully!” She rolled her eyes. “I think he meant it.” “You do?” “Yes. He's changed. A lot, recently. Are you coming to bed?” Tony picked up his phone. “You're asking all sexied up in your pajamas? Why wouldn't I?” They were halfway up the winding staircase, when Peppers bottom lip began quivering as tears filled her eyes. Tony stopped her. “Pepper?” She sobbed then and leaned into his chest. “I'm sorry, Tony.” After they sat for a moment, he lifted her chin. “For what?” Her sobs suddenly worsened. “I was worried because you were so worried..about this mission and..sending Loki and then..what else Obadiah might have done...I..feared adding to it.” Tony’s heart hurt, having never seen her so distraught. “Adding to it? Virginia, what's going on? Talk to me. Whatever it is baby, we’ll get through it.” “That's what it is. A..a baby, Tony. I'm pregnant.” At first his mouth fell open, then he beamed, cupped her cheeks and repeatedly kissed her face. “Ha! Tony Stark is gonna be a father! Well holy shitballs!" Then what she’d said struck and he became serious again. This is what you're sorry for?” “Yes. I haven't missed..a day of my new birth control, but it must've failed. I've known for two weeks, but..couldn't bring myself to tell you.” “Oh Virginia, please don't cry?” He sighed and wiped her tears. “Out of concern for my well being, you withheld this? We're in this relationship together and how selfish of ‘me’ for not grasping your distress. You're the other half of my logic, my serenity and often my sanity. By causing your inability to share such a significant moment in our lives, I've obviously taken that for granted. 'I'm' sorry.’ “That's untrue, Tony. You were stressed, you're human. Hearing Loki brought such relief, I just couldn't hold it anymore." “My point is, you shouldn't have felt required to.” He placed a soft kiss to her lips. "Baby, listen. Now that there's to be three of us, it's imperative you ‘never,’ forget this. I don't give a rats ass what I'm stressed about. If you need me, then come to me and I mean it. Always Virginia. Promise?" She nodded. "Promise. I love you, Tony." "And I you. How far along are we anyway?" "Eight weeks." "Whaaat? Who else knows?" "I'd never tell anyone, before you." "Perfect. To keep you safer, we only inform your family and close friends. Then when you get bigger, I'll buy you a porta potty for the limo.” “Tony!” He chuckled and scooped her into his arms. “Two months means a lot of celebrating we're behind on. Let's play catch up. Jarvis, please bring some champagne and whipped cream to our room?” “Whipped cream?” Asked Pepper. “I'm not sayin’ what that's for. You'll have to wait.” “I beg your pardon, Sir?” “I should fire him for not having legs.” Minutes later, Tony laid Pepper on their bed and was about to kiss her. “What is ‘whipped cream,’ Sir?” “Yep. He's definitely fired.” Pepper smiled. “Privacy please, Jarvis?” Tony kissed beneath her lobe. “Now that we're alone, Iron Man has something special just for you.”

[megacircuit9universe]

Mistrial

SAT FEB 01 2020

So, the question and answer phase of the impeachment trial went on for two days... Wednesday and Thursday... with the typical back and forth that we expected. 

The prosecution provided well spoken, logical answers to the questions directed at them, and used the opportunity to restate the case for witnesses over and over, from different angles, always coming back to the fact that without witnesses and documents... it’s not really a trial.  It’s just a performative hearing.

The defense... did in a few places actually scrape up some hyper technical excuses for why Trump didn’t obstruct Congress... cuz they didn’t initiate the impeachment inquiry with a full house vote... which is bullshit because the executive branch doesn’t tell Congress how to do impeachments, but anyway, they were trying at least... in a few places.

Dershowitz, however, destroyed any credibility for the defense when he launched into a freestyle rant, in the well of the Senate, about how nothing a President does to get reelected is impeachable, because in the President’s mind, it’s for the public good, or some crazy bullshit like that.

And this, from Dershowitz, went viral the same day, really pissing off the electorate who, by this point, were up to 78% in favor of hearing from witnesses such as Bolton.  That was up from 70% earlier in the week!  And again... 78% public agreement on anything in this era is flabbergastingly rare.

Then, Dershowitz doubled down on a mainstream cable show the next night, ranting that the liberal media had taken him out of context and that he never said any of those things (even though it’s all on video and happened live), because in the full context, he was not talking about the facts of the trial at all, but just posing a hypothetical that really didn’t have to do with anything, but also was true!  But he never said it!  Just let me explain!!!

In other words... he was barking like an agitated dementia patient, and that too went viral.

The other insane thing that happened during those two days of Q&A was that when Chief Justice Roberts received a written question from Rand Paul to read aloud... he refused to read it, because it was an attempt to name and expose the whistleblower.  

This refusal to read the question caused Rand Paul to bolt up out of his seat and run out of the chamber, so that he could scream to reporters about how unjustly he was just treated by Roberts... and when the reporters refused also to air the footage and expose the whistleblower... Rand Paul went on twitter to complain about it, and expose the whistleblower on that platform.

Still, over those two days, Wednesday 29, and Thursday 30, no new bombshell hit the airwaves from outside the Senate... no new revelations from Bolton, or FOIA requests, or the like.

And Dershowitz’ demented melt down, and Rand Paul’s felony fit of pique were not enough to shake the rest of the GOP Senators... who, by this point... had been brought back into line by McConnell.

Last I wrote, that needle had been shaking... at least on the matter of witnesses, but after McConnell raised the hue and cried publicly that he hadn’t enough votes to prevent them... Fox News and other right wing fringe media did their jobs and went into intimidation overdrive... and McConnell himself doubled down on the threats of nobody getting any super-pac money for their campaigns if they dared to stray from the prescribed vote.

That was enough to do the trick, and on Friday, January 31st, when it came time to vote for witnesses and documents to be allowed into the trial, all votes split exactly 51/49 against... with two Republican Senators, Mitt Romney (Utah) and Susan Collins (Maine) voting with the Democrats.

So... no witnesses.

But, the stupid thing was, that the very same day... more news broke from both Bolton and from Lev Parnas... that was very damning for Trump.  Where was this stuff two days earlier?  Who knows?  

From Bolton, he shared that Trump told him first hand that Ukraine was not going to get the military assistance until they agreed to announce an investigation into the Bidens... and that Pat Cipollone was in the room with him at the time.

Now, Pat Cipollone was then and is now, White House Council, and has been the very man in charge of the entire impeachment defense team.  So... hey!  Trump is definitely super guilty, and Cipollone is a lying sack of shit with huge conflicts of interest that should have forced him to recuse from ever heading up the defense in the Senate.

Meanwhile, through his lawyer, on Cable TV, Parnas, among other revelations, named everybody he knew to be in the loop about the Ukraine extortion scheme, and it not only included Mike Pence, and Devin Nunes... but also our old friend, Senator Lindsey Graham!

Where were these bombshells in the two days before the witness vote?  Who knows?  But when they hit the airwaves, that vote had already been taken, so it was too late.

Myself, I would say, these latest revelations, along with the stunt by Rand Paul, and the breakdown by Dershowitz, all add up to a mistrial.  

Why?..  Okay, first you have the head of the defense, Cipallone being a first hand witness to Trump’s confession of guilt.  He should have recused from the impeachment trial, but didn’t, and now should be disbarred.  That alone is grounds for a mistrial.

But you also have a scholarly adviser to the defense, Dershowitz, clearly mentally unstable, and ranting nonsense on the Senate floor that he would publicly attempt to deny later on TV.

Third, we have two Senators (in this case Jurors) who should be ejected from the hearing; Rand Paul, for violating his oath by attempting to out the whistleblower three times in one day, while trial was in session (outing whistleblowers is a felony).  And Lindsey Graham, for failing to inform the managers that he was in fact a witness, involved in the matter being adjudicated, and therefore too biased to be a juror.

But Chief Justice Roberts lacks the courage to honor his own oath to defend the Constitution by declaring this a mistrial, because he’s doesn’t want people to say he chose sides... cuz he’s an unelected official (that was his statement in session for why he would not break a tie vote, if one were to come).

But hey!.. Roberts!... Founding fathers put the Supreme Court Justice in charge of the fucking trial for a reason! If Senators are clearly attempting to commit felonies on the floor (Paul) or hiding their involvement in the corruption (Graham) and if the President’s defense is headed by another guy involved in the corruption (Cipollone) then it’s your fucking Constitutional duty to declare a mistrial, at the very least!

Still... with all that said, the fat lady has not yet sung...

Though Congress will be off Sunday 2, they will reconvene for some final procedural arguments and such through Monday 3, and Tuesday 4, with the final vote on the fate of President Trump, not slated to happen until Wednesday the 5th.

Now, at this point, everybody else in the country believes that Trump’s acquittal this Wednesday is a foregone conclusion... now that witnesses have been voted down.  And hey!... they’re probably right.

But, I’m an optimist, so... I’d like to point out that we do still have three long days, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday... for things to continue shifting and changing.

And these will not be three ordinary days.

Tomorrow, Sunday 2, is the Superbowl... one of the most supercharged events of the year, for people to get together with their friends, get drunk, and vent their spleens about politics, if it happens to be an election year.

The next day, Monday 3, is the Iowa Caucuses... another super-duper-charged political event, that will kick off the 2020 primaries, and election season.

The day after that, Tuesday 4, will be the State of the Union Address, in which Trump will appear before a joint session of congress... his impeachment trial not yet completed.  Himself... not yet acquitted.

Given that nearly 80% of the public already feel that the impeachment trial thus far should be declared a mistrial at this point*... and given the high emotions that are gonna flare nonstop over the next three days.... I would say there is a non-zero chance, that come Wednesday... something other than what’s planned will take place.

Clearly, I’d like that something to be a flash removal from office... just a blindsiding, out of blue unanimous vote to remove Trump, from all 100 Senators.

You know, like... the public gets all torqued up on Superbowl Sunday, and polls suddenly say that 90% of them are calling for heads to roll, and it’s trending on all social media platforms and freaking everybody out...

Then like... Bernie Sanders blows everybody out of the water in Iowa the next day, signaling that a populist movement to counter that of Trump is fully underway.

Then like... Trump, all shook and angry, goes before Congress and the nation on TV the next day and just... fucking loses it like he’s never lost it before... full dictator mode, threatening everybody, threatening nuclear war, just frothing at the mouth.

All of that might make for a Wednesday the 5th where the minds of those GOP Senators are in very different places than McConnell put them... waaay back on Friday the 30th when it seemed like the immediate threat of just one manuscript leak had blown over.

You never know.

Even if they do acquit him, as everybody seems to accept, well, the damage to Trump is done...

...at least this round of injurious damage to Trump and his Junta is done, but far more damage is coming soon, and will keep coming daily... all this long year ahead.

The damage, as I’ve said in earlier entries, of the impeachment stigma alone, is radioactive, but now the House prosecution has had time to spell out an extremely damning case to the public, with everybody listening intently, and the defense, meanwhile, has been not only pathetic, but now, with the Cipallone revelation, discredited completely.

The GOP Senate also, has been exposed for the frauds they are, beholden to pac money over all else and, at least in Graham’s case**, conspiring to short circuit the trial to save himself from going to prison for his part in the criminal conspiracy.

Thanks also, to Trump’s nearly starting a war... every voter from 18 to 25 has been mobilized against him like we haven’t seen since VietNam.  And their sudden, but now dedicated levels of political activism are inspiring those 25 to 55 to get off their butts too and stop this maniac in 2020.

Bolton’s book, meanwhile...will come out.

The House will continue to hold oversight hearings.

Lev Parnas, with all of his insider receipts, will be heard.

FOIA requests, Court judgements, yet unknown whistleblowers, all... coming in the weeks and months to follow.

Pandora’s box has been opened.  The genie is out of the bottle. The train has left the station.

From the air, this is a simple number’s game.  The vast majority of the voting public is Democratic and left wing in their values.  So, in a situation where every one of them, from 18 to 98, is up on their toes, eyes wide open to the mutually existential threat, that is Trumpism... it will be exterminated at the polls.

Even if every last magical thinking, low information, Nazi fringe, authoritarian wing nut also gets out to vote.

Because they are the minority.  

They are 30% of the public, on their best day, when all the wishy-washy old school conservatives are siding with them.

They can be beat... and in a year like this they will be, because we let them have the reigns for four years, and they didn’t just do a poor job... they shit all over everybody and everything, hissing with spite the whole time.

Okay... that’s enough for this entry.

I’m going to bed.

*At the time of writing, I am the only person I know using the term, mistrial.  The press and public are still too dazed and demoralized by the vote to bar all witnesses to be thinking this way, but my guess is they will come around in the near future. 

Most people are calling it a sham trial, or something other, but in very legal terms, it is, and should be recognized as a mistrial. 

** If Lindsey Graham was in the loop, as far as the Ukraine extortion scheme to get dirt on Biden...  you can bet your ass other Senators were as well. My guess is McConnell himself is among them. 

Time will bear this out, I suspect.

[chellyfishing]

ok i finished kona so as promised my lil* post on walking simulators i’ve played. (*it’s not lil.)

first things first: a lot of these give off a creepy vibe because it involves you investigating a deserted place piecing together What Happened. i don’t personally consider them scary, as such, but i guess some people might? with minimal spoilers, i can say that unless noted there are no jump scares or battles and you can’t get a game over at any point. none of these except flower and maybe gone home are exactly the cheeriest of games, they’re not total downers and you can take away a lot from each of them, but there’s almost always death involved. also these are all short games, many can easily be completed in a few hours, some you might want to spread out over a couple days.

i’m a little hesitant to put gone home on here bc i haven’t actually played it myself, but i did watch a full LP. i don’t think it’s a spoiler at this point to say that there was a bit of a bait-and-switch with advertising and it’s not a horror game. it is actually a very sweet, heartfelt coming-of-age story about a teenage girl who left behind notes for her visiting sister. while this might be a bit of a spoiler, i saw a review that called it “a lesbian scavenger hunt,” which i think is pm all anybody needs to know to decide to play it.

the vanishing of ethan carter is the first one i played and probably still my favorite. i played through it possibly half a dozen times that first week, and it’s not necessarily that sort of game. at the risk of overselling here, i can’t tell you how much this had an effect on me. you play a detective who’s come to a small seemingly deserted town at the behest of a young boy (ethan). what follows are a series of visions, stories, and light puzzle-solving to get to the bottom of what happened to ethan carter. as the story unfolds things get pretty disturbing and there is some blood (stain variety, not gushing). there’s nothing that would, i think, rate more than a PG-13 though. i could go in-depth but just play it okay.

dear esther is credited with being the first walking simulator. you can hear about its humble beginnings as a mod for some other game i forget by listening to the audio commentary, which you have to do for one of the trophies. dear esther is, the most out of these, not what it appears. it’s almost more of a poem than a story, and there is a lot left abstract and open-ended; death of the author is encouraged. it’s probably got the slowest start, but i like the peacefulness of it. it has a sequence that is the most beautiful and transformative thing which then leads up to the climax, and by then you are definitely in a different game than you started. no puzzle-solving, you don’t pick up or interact with any items, no keys or secret passages to suss out. you just walk and look and listen. definitely melancholy, but then, the whole thing is what you make of it. also apparently there are loads are little background details that can change randomly each time you play it, if you’re into that.

firewatch is another one that seems creepy, but (i’m sorry to spoil, i just want people to be okay when they play!!) i promise you, if you can handle some sadness and bittersweetness, you’ll be fine. this game is a little treasure. i saw someone complain about the graphics and i like??? couldn’t disagree more? i mean first of all what do you expect but second all it’s got more of a painted feel to it than a hundred laboriously-created computer models. there are some views and areas that are just beyond lovely. anyway you play as henry, who’s come to sit alone in a tower in the middle of the wilderness for summer 1989? to watch for fires. henry’s a bit snarky and sad and would probably be played by paul giamatti. the other man character is his boss, delilah. the rapport the two develop is probably the high point of the game tbh. their banter is topnotch. while firewatch seems a little overwhelming in scope but it’s actually not. there’s not much gained by extraneously exploring but you’re welcome to it if you want. it’s mostly just a lot of walking with very easily navigable roads and rappelling and such while around you all this weird shit starts happening. henry and delilah discuss what it all means and what to do about it. all questions are answered by the end, except for the ones any good story leaves open for you to decide.

beyond eyes... i don’t quite want to say that i wished i never paid for or touched this game, because my reasons for my violent rejection of it are very personal. so, here it is neutrally. it seems like a colorful, peaceful game about a blind girl, rae, looking for her lost cat, nani. the catch is that rae is blind, and so you have to sort of “fill out” the world by walking around (laboriously slowly, bring patience). it really is lovely, kind of painterly-feeling with so many vibrant colors, and i was very pleased with it for a long while. and again, i don’t want to spoil it, but the ending caught me so off-guard, threw me for such a loop, and triggered me so unexpectedly that i immediately turned it off and deleted it from my system. suffice it to say the tone is a bit different from the rest of the game. so, i won’t tell anyone not to check it out. it is pretty and simple and it seems like the kind of game people might want to support financially. just... not me. it made me disproportionately angry and upset and ruined my day. if someone has played or does end up doing so, my reaction might seem a little extreme, but it was one of those things that struck hard without any warning and it was just not what i needed at the time.

i tried to wait for what remains of edith finch to go on sale and i failed. while i’m not convinced it has $20 worth of content (it’s possibly even shorter than dear esther but i’d have to check), it’s also gorgeous, so i guess we all make sacrifices. anyway i’m still sort of processing my feelings for this game. most of it is completely genius. it’s about a girl, edith, who’s returning to her family home for the first time in years. she’s the last finch left alive; they have a habit of dying young, most not even making it to adulthood. you find out the story of each finch and each is interactive in a different way, one you’re different animals, another it’s in the format of a comic book, it’s all really neat how it’s done. anyway, obviously this game talks about death a lot but never shows it; in fact, some of the sequences are so abstract you have to interpret them yourselves to decide what even happened. my main continuing reservation is... i don’t know what it’s trying to say. i don’t know what it’s all supposed to mean. i mean maybe it’s some crap about the value of life no matter how short or idk, but for the most part at the end i was kinda like, “ok.” i keep thinking i must be missing something, but i’ve no idea what. it’s kind of just a collection of interesting stories whose only discernible thread is they all happened to the same unfortunate family for some reason. it’s the kind of “open to interpretation” that makes me feel like something is lacking.  anyway i still loved it and do recommend.

kona. oh kona. let me start off by saying you can die in this one. they’re not that ubiquitous but there are creatures that can and will kill you, and sometimes they might startle you as well, and of course there’s the cold, which can also kill you. i kept getting pissed off at that fucking inventory because it was JUST BARELY too small and you never knew when you were going to need something. now that i actually do know it’ll probably be waaay less infuriating. there’s also a final boss, but the “fight” is basically you going “jesus christ it’s a lion get in the car.” it’s very intense, but i wouldn’t really call it scary. you don’t even have to do anything offensive at all to win, just run like hell. a couple more words about the gameplay: i mentioned the better coat. you actually can find the components you need for that early on and possibly go straight and get it? like i’m not sure if the game lets you but if it does, it makes exploration SO much easier. you still have to be careful but like. type b careful rather than type a. anyway it’s pretty much a must. um, you probably want to take your car for the sake of convenience, and also you can get a snowmobile later! there are a number of little achievements to earn, some of which make this game a lot more involved than any other on this list. like, it’s a very big area with poor visibility and you’re looking for very very small things WITH A CHEAP-ASS SWEATER CARL. anyway, as for what it’s actually about: you’re a detective again, come to québec in 1970 to find some seriously fucked up shit. this game isn’t really horror, it’s mostly just what the hell is going on this is so fucking bizarre. there narrative has a lot of stuff about colonialism and racism and a lot of Cree culture and lore driving it. it was funded by kickstarter btw. so yeah, a little too game-y, most intense and involved of the bunch, unsettled even me at times, but not meant to invoke terror or keep you up at night, only make you think about the circumstances that created this event.

flower is your friend. i’ve only played a little bit of it but honestly that’s all you need. you can just go back and do that bit as many times as you want cause this is a game that’s all about being a petal on the wind. it’s cute, it’s playful, both the score and visuals are charming and lovely. this is the game you play after running for your life in kona. recommended to have in your library if for no other reason than to know it’s always there when you need something simple and beautiful and andy dwyer is unavailable.

[freelydelicioushideout]

MH Fanfic Part 2

So part 2 was sitting in notepad for months! Here is part 1

https://freelydelicioushideout.tumblr.com/post/153931132050/mh-fanfic-part-1

Enjoy! it’s been awhile, so where’s my groove? Gotta go find it!

It was cold. So cold. What happens when you put a snake man and an ancient Egyptian Princess outside during the fall? Two VERY cold monsters! Deuce focused on what Gob had said. Gob was his bro, a cool bro, but he was so food motivated that it took Deuce hours to convince the gelatinous friend that he could not go on their date with them. Deuce glanced over at Cleo, she hadn’t said a word since they left. The castle that was now Monster High was vanishing from view behind them. Cleo’s face was looking straight forward, eyes lidded bu focused. She was so beautiful, Deuce wondered what she was thinking.

I’m cold, I’m cold, I’m cold, I’m cold, I’m cold! Cleo was focusing as hard as she could to appear content. Egypt was hot, sunny and sandy. How did Dracula and Draculaura stand this!? Vampires aren’t warm creatures so maybe it’s the heat they can’t stand? And what about Deuce? Cleo was no stranger to snakes, and she knew Deuce had to be struggling, right? Gorgons weren’t that different from snakes? Cleo quickly grabbed her phone from her pocket. Temperature: 58 F. Logically this wasn’t freezing, but to the two cold hating monsters, it was. Cleo heard a loud snap from somewhere in the woods that shrouded their school. Normies didn’t come this way because of the monster rumors, but maybe a daredevil or two snuck out.

Cleo looked up at Deuce, he too was searching for the source of the noise. This wouldn’t be good. they were disguised as normies and blended in well, however their disguises had them...stuck. Cleo couldn’t extend her wraps like this, she could try her piercing mummy scream but that only stunned people for awhile. it wouldn’t be enough. Deuce’s goggles were meant to not leave his head, so stoning people wouldn’t be an easy feat. Luckily he had his Gorgon strength, Cleo witnessed first hand how tough he was when he fell from the ladder.

“Probably a squirrel.” Deuce’s voice was muffled from the scarf. “Did uh..did you have squirrels in Egypt?”

“No...” Cleo said slowly as she continued forward, but she appreciated his attempt to break the silence.

“Right. So uhm, I know I’ve said it like a thousand times but I’m really, uh, sorry for stoning you waaay back when.” He said sheepishly.

“You mean a month ago?” Cleo mused with a sly look.

“...yes.” He slightly kicked a leaf.

“It was only for a few minutes. I’m no stranger to being entombed. Minutes compared to a lifetime is-” Cleo stopped herself. Why was she talking about that to him? Oh my Ra not even the Ghouls know about that. And they never will! Nope! Not having that conversation. No one needed to know the Great Cleo’s history of being stuck in a tomb for thousands of years, against her will. How she only had her father’s constant preaching and how Nefera would switch between kindness and cruelty. And wondering where her mother was, or if she was even alive. All of this for thousands of years...

Deuce heard the shift in her voice. Her eyes were down at her phone again, she was browsing the monster web. Whatever happened, it made her not want to talk anymore. For Cleo to end her monologues, it had to be bad. So he took the initiative. “Being trapped in a pyramid? Got to be rough, but like, at least your safe there. From the people who hate you anyways. I’m happy you got out.”

Cleo’s heart fluttered slightly. She looked up from her phone again with an expression that Deuce could stare at all day. “I guess I was safe there. Can’t exactly say from people who hate me. I’ve got the older sister who, oh my Ra, could make the dark seem inviting!”

“The dark?” Deuce asked.

“Uh well, y-you know pyramids aren’t the best places for light and after the first 2 thousand years we ran out of torches and oil. The sun doesn’t reach every room either! So sometimes there were just pitch black rooms.” Cleo stumbled on her words, trying to explain to Deuce that she wasn’t afraid of the dark. She could enjoy nighttime, but not dark rooms, but who had to know that? Not him! So why did she tell him? Where had her royal composure gone.

Deuce wasn’t the fastest snake in the grass, but he heard Cleo better than she thought. He gathered that she had been stuck in the pyramid for a very, very long time, that her older sister was a pain, and that Cleo didn’t like that dark. Deuce looked up at the sky. Stupid goggles. He could see that it was still light out, would Cleo be alright? What could he do for her?

“Alright! You keep drilling me for my past,” I have? Deuce wondered as Cleo’s accusatory finger held in the air “so I’ll tell you all about the fantastic history of my life.”

The silence was gone as Cleo rambled on, careful to obscure any information she didn’t want him to know. Deuce listened to her every word, her voice floating through the crisp, fall air.

Silence resumed when the two got to town. It wasn’t a far walk, but Deuce wondered how Gob did it. Gob hated exercise more than anyone Deuce knew, while true to his Grecian heritage, Deuce trained like an Olympian. It felt colder, he could tell he was starting to slow down. He worried more than ever about their cover being blown. He’d be useless to Cleo if he got any colder. Cleo’s eyes roamed the normies wandering about. There was slight fear, mixed with excitement. She didn’t want to be caught, she looked up to Deuce as she followed him. He’s slowing down. Worry and regret took over. What happens if they do get caught? Why had Cleo agreed to this when it was so cold? Ra! How could she have had such an oversight? a brightly lit window next to her caught her eye. “Cafe. HOT drinks.” She looped an arm through Deuce’s, his hands shoved into his hoodie’s pocket. He stopped, startled. He could feel his snakes move from the jolt of surprise.

“I’ve changed my mind, we’ll enjoy ourselves here.”

“Whoa. Alright, are you sure?” Deuce asked, silently begging her to confirm. The HOT drinks were needed, badly.

“Deuce, I am always sure about everything I do.” She said with an air of elegance. Deuce obliged, holding the door open for her. The warm air flowed outside, the two monsters in disguise were grateful for it.

Inside, was crowded. there was a line, people seated at nearly every table. Cleo was not impressed with the decor. Though beggars can’t be choosers, a DeNile can be whatever they want.

“You should go sit down and get yourself warmed up. I’ll order for us.” Deuce said, his voice was gentle and soothing. Much unlike this retro, outdated 50′s styled cafe.

“I want a Saiidi tea. That’s black tea. Extra spoons of cane sugar in addition to the norm, 1 spoon of whole milk.” She said, an angelic smile on her face as she waited for confirmation from Deuce. He took too long. “You won’t forget?”

“Nope! I got it, foods and drinks aren’t something I ever forget.” He raised his face out of his scarf to smile at her. A gesture she appreciated for a moment before yanking the scarf back up to cover his exposed fangs. A chuckle escaped from Cleo, shaking her head she turned to find a table.

But I don’t want to. They’re grimy, outdated, yellow stains on what were obviously white tables! Cracks in these leather seats...there’s duct tape on that one! Oh my RA! Deuce had better be fast, I can’t be caught undead in this place. Cleo looked back at him where he took his spot in line. Deuce was looking at her, he waved shyly. Well, it won’t be too bad. it’s just for awhile anyways. Cleo mustered up her confidence and walked to an empty table, away from the window. She noticed the eyes of Normie boys on her as she walked, so did Deuce. His snakes hissed slightly. Those bros wouldn’t know how to handle her if they dared try to speak with her, even a hello would steam roll them. Deuce felt eyes boring into his back. He turned around slowly, and looked down. A small boy was staring up at him, eyes as wide as saucers. The two stared at each other for awhile before the child spoke.

“Did your hat just move and hiss?” He asked quietly.

Oh boy. That’s not good. I’ve got to come up with a good reason, something this kid will believe. If he doesn’t drop this, people will notice, then Cleo and I will be in trouble. I’ve got to answer him. “No.” Deuce said and turned around.

Cleo cringed when the seat puffed its musty air upwards as she sat. She pulled out her phone to give the Ghouls back home an update. She glanced up periodically, keeping an eyes on Deuce. He was ordering now, finally. She resumed her texting frenzy. Frankie was the worrywart. Draculaura wanted updates in extreme detail, Clawdeen kept giving advice on how to take care of herself if the normies found out but it was mostly to tease Frankie, Lagoona was extremely interested in the tea Cleo had ordered. All of the Ghouls were such great help, but none of them could warn Cleo about the dark figure who stood by the table. Sensing their presence, Cleo looked up. She could see their face. They were completely covered in dark clothing, not even a hair to be seen. Cleo’s hair, stood up on the back of her neck. She considered screaming for Deuce, something was wrong.

The figure spoke. Cleo could tell they were making their voice deeper and gravely on purpose. “Aren’t you Cleo DeNile?”

“Of course!” She said smugly. Oh my Ra no. No, no! I shouldn’t have confirmed it. Who are they?

She saw teeth, smiling. She saw the fangs, the dead skin and illuminated eyes. She finally heard the Hispanic accent, but it was too late.

“Monsters!! Help!” Moanica screamed at the top of her lungs as her long nails ripped Cleo’s shirt, exposing her mummy wraps.

[finefigure]

The Best-Laid Plans...

Here is one of the many things about being a self-supporting, independently-definitely-non-wealthy adult athlete that most kids who are athletes don’t have to deal with:

Gainful employment.

Now, I (mostly) love my jobs. I’m a freelance translator, editor, proofreader, and copywriter, and I also teach skating at CU Boulder. If I had a 9-to-5-type job, it would be next to impossible for me to train as much as I do. I am deeply grateful for that.

Having said that... man, does work get in the way sometimes.

Take this past seven-day period. Last week at about this time, I got a bunch of projects. That was fantastic: money is good. I estimated the time it would take for me to do them, then doubled the estimate (because my time estimation skills are... how shall I put this... on a par with my current paragraph loop skills), and got down to work.

Yeah... should have tripled the time estimate. Because I was up all night long.

That was a Wednesday night/Thursday morning. I finally got the work done, got some sleep, and practiced on Thursday afternoon for Friday patch class and my lesson. Didn’t even feel too dizzy and out-of-body. And class and my lesson were great: they were the first ones I’d been to in a month, because my coach had been out of town, and I was super happy that she was back! :) 

I got a good night’s sleep on Friday, but unfortunately, I’d done the damage to myself on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. I always feel the sleep deprivation worst on the third day. So I spent a large portion of Saturday sleeping, another large portion of it staring at the wall because sleep deprivation hangover causes me to experience depression symptoms, and a smaller portion working on my next set of projects. No practice.

On Sunday, I felt great. I got up early, worked a little, and had breakfast with one of my awesome students, and then we went to practice together. I spent some time teaching her and some time practicing.

Then I went home to work. And... yeah, the time estimate problem again. Because I worked almost all night. Again. This time because stupid little things that I couldn’t have foreseen kept going wrong. I’d been counting on going to the 7 a.m. practice on Monday, but had to scrap that. There was another session from 10 to noon, and I managed to get there, woozy and irritable, at 10:30... just in time for the three half-hour lessons I had to teach. I would have had no practice time at all, but my first student was a no-show. 

Teaching cheered me up, as it almost always does. I ran some errands after that, since I had almost run out of food during the work blitz of the past few days. It was gorgeous outside, so I soaked up some sun while doing it. Hopefully, that will at least somewhat offset the depression I know is coming tomorrow again.

But, given the rink schedule, there’s nothing I can do about the fact that I’m going into today’s lesson with only about an hour and a half of practice since my last lesson, which just irritates and frustrates me. Luckily, I stored up a ton of questions and little tiny problems while Nancy was away that we didn’t have time to get to on Friday, so at least there’s that.

I swear: I really have been getting better at the time estimation stuff. I’ve cut my number of sleep-deprived days waaay down from even a year ago. I just happened to really mess it up twice in a row this week. 

Anyway, this is just a minor example of how adulting can mess with training. And a lot of people my age have a ton more stuff on their plates than I do, like kids or a significant other or a dog or a big house or aging parents who need ongoing assistance, or that 9-to-5 job I mentioned. So to those of you who are trying to be an athlete while dealing with all those things: all I can say is, never doubt that you have superpowers.

[tinymixtapes]

Feature: 2017: Favorite 50 Songs

NOTE: Each day this week, we will share a new 10-track mix, which together represent 50 of our favorite songs from 2017. Today’s theme is “GYM,” mixed by Corrigan B. I have a reputation for being ruthlessly optimistic, which is why I typically hate this kind of shit: yearly ritual lamentations on things like racist soap commercials and weird presidential takedowns of professional football players; in retrospectives like this, it seems like we always group our collective grievances in odd numbers, truncating our listing of injustices for brevity and politeness. This approach — of remembering and marking a year like we’re scratching off days on a culturally misappropriated doom calendar — has always struck me as insincere and offensive, but then it ends, and it’s weird looking back at what we went through and what got us through. Another arbitrary amount of time has passed, and yet it really does feel heavy. Death is real. Words fail. Mask on. Fuck it, mask off! So we pick a song and close our eyes and turn it up. And what were we blaring this year that warped time’s mundane and oppressive rhythms? What mutterings slowed us down when we were spinning out of control? What sounds launched us through uncertainty and landed us somewhere a little more familiar, if even for just a few minutes? There was no high canon guiding our self-care other than what we needed, and aren’t we all a little less particular about what kind of noise lifts us up when we’re fumbling through our first yoga class at the GYM, screaming obscenities into the glowing rectangular VOID, remembering love and loss on the brisk face of the CLIFF, shuffling home through the ALLEY at night, driving away from it all in the COUPE? We don’t have EVERYTHING listed here, but for us, a lot of these tracks were EVERYTHING this year. So, in that spirit of dissolving hierarchies of taste, this list is not ranked; instead, here are five themed mixes of our Favorite Songs of 2017. How you interact with them is your choice: you can nod along, you can face the noise stoically, you can dance, you can laugh at some of our choices, and most importantly, no matter what anybody tells you, it’s okay to cry. It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay. However you remember 2017, just know that you’re not alone, and don’t let a crotchety optimist like me tell you to smile through it all. Just pick a song and close your eyes and turn it up. You’ll know what to do when you hear it. –Jazz Scott --- PART 1: “GYM” mixed by Corrigan B --- Joe “Tail Lift” [Hessle Audio] Given its title, it was unsurprising that Joe’s “Tail Lift” was concerned with momentum. Like the piece of machinery it’s named after, “Tail Lift” was always pushing things upwards. Over the course of its nearly six-minute runtime, the track shook and shimmied, balancing chirps, whistles, chimes, and bells over an insistent, doubled beat that was constantly falling over and into itself. These propulsive movements were adorned, interrupted, and joined along the way by fellow sonic travelers drawn to the upbeat procession — children’s voices, glassy keys, miniature melodies — suffusing the track with a caffeinated, off-kilter mien. Dalliances with the weird were frequent here; cartoonish pops, drums, and squeaks bursting into view as the track underwent one of several mini-implosions, its parts falling to the ground before being picked up again, their order jumbled, soldered-together edges overflowing with molten metal. “Tail Lift” was the sonic embodiment of this aleatory backyard readymade: equal parts humorous, conceptual, and functional; archly constructed and strangely satisfying. –Rafael Lubner --- Lil B “Wasup Jojo” [BasedWorld] Feels like a track might be the wrong kind of unit for looking at something by Lil B. Like, look at scales of magnitudes, not at atoms. But on the other hand, everything in the universe is literally in everything else. And I mean that — all of the BasedWorld is in everything Lil B does, and when Black Ken, in its nostalgic Bay Area references, seemed like it was doing something out of reverence for “ancient history,” it turns out that those things were sucked into Lil B’s ambit too. He’s not referring to them; they refer to him from now on: “Wasup JoJo” — it’s a NODE, the busiest in the switchover. –Michael J --- Fever Ray “To the Moon and Back” [Mute] Fever Ray’s Karin Dreijer is so notorious for her enigmatic identity and arresting visuals that we often forget just how gifted a songwriter she is. “Hey, remember me/ I’ve been busy working like crazy,” she reminded us on “To the Moon and Back,” her first song of new music since 2009. A bouncy synth-pop jam more reminiscent of the playful Deep Cuts-era Knife material than Dreijer’s previous output under the Fever Ray alias, the song was crafted from a series of expertly layered synth lines that built to a orgasmic release, a tantalizing taste of what we had been missing. –Jeff Miller --- Nídia “Puro Tarraxo” [Príncipe Discos] I don’t get into aerobics, but half of Nídia’s kuduro beats could function as Zumba fodder. If you threw on “Puro Tarraxo” though, you were plain fucked. There was the semblance of slowed-down reggaeton in there, but it was too slow to follow properly; besides, every rhythmic element was either tripping on its time signatures or moshing with the others. It was the sound of getting down on the yoga mat for about 20 seconds before realizing you were waaay too out of shape for this, but holy shit everyone else is doing it so you’ve gotta keep going gotta keep going gotta keep going gotta keep *faints* –Baldr Eldursson --- FOOZOOL “AZAT” [Club Chai] Club Chai, a collective whose mission is to “[centre] diasporic narratives, women and trans artists, DJs, and producers,” is important. Club Chai Vol. 1, their first major release, put the Oakland-based label on the map, and co-founder FOOZOOL’s track “AZAT” was a diamond among its many gems. Effortlessly mixing an opera-backing sample with a gritty guitar lead, the track exemplified what Club Chai Vol. 1 is all about: dance tracks full of “how the hell did they think of that” moments. We’re already chomping on our nails in anticipation for volume 2. –Sam Tornow --- Kelly Lee Owens “Anxi.” (ft. Jenny Hval) [Smalltown Supersound] Have you ever wondered where those joggers go? You know, the ones you see every day on a routine? Oh, sure, they go in a loop: From start to end, a simple route with clearly defined points of direction. No deviation. No direction. But are they going somewhere? Do they even see anything on their path, observe the world around them? Are they even there? I think not. Joggers mechanize. They aren’t going anywhere. They’re fulfilling maintenance that has no bearing, no effect in the long term. They’ll break down eventually. What meaning will they have then? –Ze Pequeno --- DJ Hell “I Want U” [International Deejay Gigolo] Taken from Zukunftsmusik (the title of which is German for “music of the future”), DJ Hell’s “I Want U” is a song about fucking. Specifically, as is obvious from the track’s associated artwork lifted from legendary homoerotic fetish artist Touko Laaksonen (a.k.a. Tom of Finland), it’s about huge, strong men fucking, but the instrumental worked for anyone with genitals. This face-blast of industrial techno pumped harder than Louis C.K. in front of an aspiring female comic, but unlike Louis, this track won’t make you feel disgusting inside after the experience. “I Want U” was an affirmation, an ode to the bears among us. It fed all kinds of muscles. –Alan Ranta --- Lorde “Supercut” [Republic/Lava] Drunk as shit. Tumble, starfish, curl. In bed, not in love. Not in love, not in love. Say it without opening Instagram. Too late. Illuminated by neon at the dive. Rose light. Obsessed with it. And you, fuck. Remember yelling along to our favorite songs all summer while driving the hell out of town? Remember glittering my eyelids before the party? Remember wearing backless velvet? I tried getting over it. Promised I would. Hated it. Shit, we were radiant. Magic. I forget why it ended. The crush, the rush. The energy. I would do anything. Text me? Please? –Caroline Rayner --- Ariel Pink “Time to Live” [Mexican Summer] He’s one part Bowie, one part nonsense-babbling toddler; he has arguably released more #1 smash hits than anyone in history, but in a dearly departed genre. Here, Ariel Pink returned to the cassette-left-on-the-dashboard production style of his early work, fording two and a half minutes of wind tunnels and monsters before his Trump-era call to arms gained full force. There was a layer of absurdist comedy to his divinations and absolutist pronouncements, but he committed 110% — as we all must. He turned into Princess Ariel for the watery coda and headed home with another W. –water --- POBBLES “POBBLES” [PC Music] I’m still not sure what a POBBLE is, but I think I want to eat one. The hyperactive Tomagatchi/marshmallow hybrid was offensively PC Music and also possibly the end to human despair. Accompanied by a video that must have been a nightmare to animate, the collaboration between A. G. Cook and Always & Forever Computer Entertainment had enough juice to fry a battery. Where can I buy a POBBLE? Are they like pets? Should I water it? Whatever it is, I’m sure my dentist advises against it. –Sam Tornow Come back tomorrow for the “VOID” mix. http://j.mp/2nMtfLK