#i know you’ve been wanting to play fallout and i have the entire collection. hope you love fallout 4 as much as i did

[min3nc]

love is stored in the steam library sharing

[realisaonum]

book meme

thank you, jen @det395​ !! i feel like this meme got away from me a bit, but no shame! i love talking about books and writing so onward ~under the cut~

1- how many books are too many books in a series? 

mhmmmmm i guess it depends on the objective of the series, right? is the plan to have x number of books in the series and if so, when we finally get to the end will it be satisfying considering all the books we’ve read leading up to it? OR is the objective of the premise / characters just to exist doing whatever? both can be done well. i would say a lot rides on how much i trust the author.

2- what do you think about cliffhangers?

so this is meant for cliffhangers in a series like between books? i don’t really care if there’s a cliffhanger as long as i have the next book sitting right next to me. otherwise uh, only if the wait between books is tolerable, because at that point you need to know that the author can clear this mess up, right? there’s this other thing, like you know how if the entire series was already written, then they might release the books a month apart or a quarter apart - that could be alright too. but years in between? not especially a fan. is anyone a fan?

3- hardback or paperback?

jen, you and me are complete opposites here. paperbacks stress me out. i will go out of my way to buy a used hardcover if given the choice. of course, there are some publications i don’t mind in paperback —thinking poetry and super indie books that don’t have a hardcover release OR books where the spines are thin enough they won’t break and i won’t be holding them long enough for them to wear. hardcovers are sturdy and i don’t have to worry i’ll accidentally bend the cover in some damaging way. I am invested in keeping my books nice to the point that i create covers for my books out of kraft paper or brown grocery bags while i am reading them. this is something i started when i was in college and didn’t want these books i was hoping to probably resell get thrashed coming in and out of my bag for all these classes. My home library is probs more half and half paperback/hardcover but if given a choice usually it’s hardcover.

4- least favourite book?

i think it’s good to at least attempt to meet a book on its level. there are lots of books i didn’t like, but i wasn’t meeting them on their level and i know that so we’re ignoring those. i do however have a shelf on my goodreads dedicated to books that i have beef with so i’ll just go off on two of them.....

tana french’s the likeness for being plagiaristic shit. it is essentially poorly concealed alternate universe OC insert fic of the secret history. you’ve got french’s dublin murder squad folks and then this group they are investigating who bear a STRIKING resemblance to the greek students in tsh 🤔. this would be one thing. it is pretty well acknowledged that nothing is original and there are enough changes to The Likeness that MAYBE i could let it slide if not for this other thing: french’s book, the likeness, has lines that are just basically reworded quotes from the secret history and french positions these lines so they are said by the counterpart (essentially same!) character that gave them original life in tsh. i cannot stress this enough: you can HEAR how similar the sentences are and their core intent is always the same. it’s thinly veiled theft! it astounds me that French hasn’t been sued frankly. it is one thing to want to capture some of the genius that tartt’s debut novel holds, but it is completely lazy and disgusting theft to go about it in the way French did with this book. and YES the secret history was published before french’s book. if i could stomach how fucking goddamn boring the likeness was to read it a second time and cite every one of these offenses i would, but that’s yet a third strike against it—it’s too boring to be worth it. 

T. Kingfisher’s second book of the Clocktuar War duology : The Wonder Engine. this is a book that i feel violated the contract between writer and reader. the first book feels almost like a YA book. the stakes while described as very high are treated, as actions unfold, as very low. nothing truly irreparable happens until the climax of the second book and the fallout of that action is so off-tone of everything that came before i felt deeply betrayed. no, like, completely betrayed as in it ruined the rest of my afternoon, i am still viscerally angry eight months later, and i will never trust this author again. sure, maybe none of those actions that led to the climax were out-of-character, but there was nothing NOTHING in the proceeding action that even came close to that level of consequence. it’s a pity because right up till that point i was having a really good time. the entire vibe of the rising action to the climax of book one all the way through the rising action of book two was just a quippy fun version of roadtrip/quest - it felt like a comfort read. the abrupt tone shift had all the subtlety of dropping a graphically, brutal murder into Blue’s Clues. you don’t do that - this is a basic tenet of a writer / reader relationship. i’m not touching this bitch’s shit again.

5- Love Triangle, yes or no?

not so much. i like jen before me will scream ‘just be poly.’ love triangles that lead into poly relationships? yes, awesome will be glad i read. but i am at a stage in my life where your standard will-they-won’t-they-love-triangle is just fucking pointlessly frustrating to me. an example: i read a Nic Stone’s book Odd One Out a couple years ago and something about the synopsis or the hype made me think that it would resolve the love triangle that way, so when that did not happen i was incredibly frustrated and immediately wanted to resell the book. it’s the potential of the thing. stone’s book could have been the perfect vehicle for opening up the concept of polyamory to a ya audience but instead just really squandered that potential with weak floundering — in my opinion!

6- the most recent book you just couldn’t finish

uhhhhh i’ve got two and i’m not sure i’ve entirely given up quite yet buuuuuuuut 

fucking dune. i got really pissed off with this book. So just…setting aside the whole vaguing at a pedophilically inclined queer coded villain - it’s done so poorly, that it's almost funny? like it doesn’t (as of half way through) actually have any consequence on…anything at all and is tacked on like an afterthought to the end of his scenes. honestly it all could just be cut out entirely with no recourse to the larger story. So my actual beef with this book is the pacing is ATROCIOUS. like yo, not only do you expect me to give a shit about these Atreides cunts, when we just met them and we spend the same amount of time with them IF NOT MORE with the antagonist? but you also expect me to believe Paul was able to just convince the leader of the Arrakis people —the leader of an entire planet!!— with a single fucking sentence??? yeah, not so much. it was not set up for me to believe that Paul could do that! maybe if Kynes hadn’t died immediately after—or at least not died at that moment? baring the fact I thought he was by far the most interesting character, IF he had been convinced by Paul in that scene, it would have been great to see some actual work done around that - with a transfer or a liaise of power between Kynes and Paul and the Fremen. By not having any substantive scene that does it - it begs the question of what the fuck was the point of the character in the first place? unplumbed potential!!! over all there seem to be some key scenes missing to get the reader to where the narrative expects us to be? but the choices made of the characters we spend time with and the moments we see with them, the benefit to the larger story…is not always there. hey herbert, these words you have written aren’t doing what you want them to?? i feel like i should finish it but i reaaaaallly don’t want to :) the only thing i can say is it looks like from the trailer, villeneueve is giving space to these moments so that the viewer can foster a genuine connection with the characters? radical concept.

our lady of perpetual hunger - i started this one optimistically bc i like chef memoirs, but i am at the point where she has just given birth to her son and honestly DON’T CARE. i still haven’t officially given up on it yet since i actually fucking bought it like a dope. i certainly would not have if i knew how much NOT about working the line this was gonna be

7- book you are currently reading

Aside from the failures mentioned above, I am working on the second book in B. Catling’s Vorrh trilogy, The Erstwhile. Also very close to finally finishing Iain Sinclair’s The Last London - there’s a review of his work from the LA Times that goes “One of Sinclair’s greatest skills has always been his ability to take diverse if not chaotic source material and refashion it in a way that sometimes seems downright alchemical” which captures some of the wonder I experience when reading his work. His style and how he creates atmosphere and setting is just unique and astounding.

8- last book you recommended to someone

The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Before that I told my brother to read Eat a Peach, as we both love Anthony Bourdain and David Chang talks about him a bit here, plus it’s just a fucking great book. any book that gives insight into Chang’s methodology and paradigm is worth a shot.

9- oldest book you read

I think it might have to be Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (which apparently according to wiki premiered on the stage a whole four months before Hamlet so that’s what we’re going with) and if plays don’t count, I don’t care. I think they count and that’s what we’re going with.

10- the most recent book you read ?

Given the previous question, the most recently published book, right? It’s gotta be the one I just finished: The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic - Revised and Expanded edt., which like just came out this summer. I watched Jessica Hopper’s promo zoom, curtesy of my local indie bookstore, and went ahead and bought it. This was a great decision! It was just what I needed to read these last couple of weeks. i love there’s lots of short pieces that made the read quick and the fact that it’s non-fiction so there was no pressure of a plot or the emotional weight of character investment when I had a lot of big stressors dragging me down irl -it was such a relief. Hopper’s criticism is fun to read and there’s some real art in her appreciation of music here.

11- favourite author?

These are the top in a kind of order but not really: Donna Tartt, Jeff VanderMeer, Megan Whalen Turner, Flannery O’Conner, Chuck Palahniuk, Anthony Bourdain

Other faves very much worth mentioning: Emily O’Neill, Richard Siken, Brandon Sanderson, Warren Ellis, Nathan Englander, Stephen King, Eddie Huang, Carl Hiaassen, Anne Carson, and Iain Sinclair.

12- buying books or borrowing books?

Depends on if my library has it, of course! I nearly always see if my library has a copy first if i have never read it or the author before. If i’ve read the book before or trust the author, I’ll buy it. Like I’ll straight out buy new stuff from Jeff VanderMeer even though with him it’s either this-hits-exactly-and-is-my-new-fave or i-really-disliked-this-but-admire-the-boundaries-you’re-pushing-my-dude - so it’s always a gamble but a worthy one.

12- a book you dislike that everyone else seems to love

a little life (just bc it's torture porn elevated to art doesn’t negate the fact that it’s torture porn. Yanagihara’s project here is repugnant and the fact that this book is lauded as moving lgbt fiction makes my skin crawl)

sharp objects (good writing, compelling story, BUT typographical scarification doesn't work like that - i am not going to get into it but i know from first hand experience how Flynn described it is not accurate)

nesbø’s the snowman (what kinda dumbass detective would think THAT when a woman finds her missing father’s corpse? absolute idiocy - so obviously reverse engineered with that end in mind)

the raven cycle (fuck ronan lynch to start and then fuck him to end as well - there’s some other stuff but mostly he’s a total CUNT and if i don’t say that once a day i have probably died)

14 - bookmarks or dogears?

Bookmarks and sticky notes. Then I can place it pointing directly to the paragraph I last stopped on.

15- The book you can always reread?

This is my question because I reread all the time. ALL THE TIME. Books I reread often: The Secret History, Medium Raw (especially chapter 17 The Fury), Crooked Kingdom, The Violent Bear It Away, and The Goldfinch. Every year like clockwork (since it came out apparently) I will reread Stephen King’s The Outsider.

Other books I feel the urge to reread: VanderMeer’s Acceptance, Englander’s Dinner at the Center of the Earth, Frazier’s Nightwoods, Fresh Off the Boat, the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, the Peter Grant Series (which is queued up for another go here soon I think), any of the stories from A Good Man is Hard to Find, Sanderson’s Wax and Wayne Mistborn books, simon vs the homosapiens’ agenda, and there are two of Alan Morinis’ books on Mussar that I am technically always revisiting—when i need a reminder, i’ll jump around and read specific sections to get centered again.

16- can you read while listening to music?

Yes, but only ambient or near ambient (only usually one track on repeat) or a soundtrack I am extremely familiar with. No new music. I do usually need some audio stimulation or my mind will wander terribly.

17- one POV or multi POV?

Multi pov can certainly be done well (looking at the soc duaology and VanderMeer’s Acceptance) but working a multi-pov means there are more plates spinning, it’s more of a challenge, and some authors pull it off better than others.

18- do you read book in one sitting or in multiple days?

I don’t really do this anymore. that might have something to do with me picking up thicker books? but also i have a full time job now and let’s be real the book has to be hella good if i don’t want to put it down. the last book i attempted to shotgun was the final installment of my favorite series and it still took me two days so....i can get through a lot of books but none of them are ever in one sitting anymore.

19- who to tag:

@sybilius​ @mouth-rainboy​ @iwonderifthatisart​ @phereinnike​ @magnificentmoose​ @wambsgangs​ @moriarteaparty​ and anyone else if you feel so inclined!

Bonus Question: What’s on your to-read shelf? 

As for me, I am excited about one i just picked up, Danforth’s Plain Bad Heroines, which i might start tomorrow and I will be taking Paul Madonna’s Come to Light on my trip to see my brother this coming weekend. 

[the-mercurial-star-o-vesper]

1, 2, 3, 4, and Jaaaam~!

As time of writing, I’ve faced off and beaten 1010 on Normal. Wooo~!

So, more 1010 stuffz!

Either through updates or I've merely been watching play throughs with turned down graphics; Having now played the section, the 1010 battle and cutscene sprites now have their eyes the proper matching color. However, at this point, I ain't gonna discount or discourage the "White Eyes Synch" HC.

   Turns out, according to Kliff’s brief, Neon J had been a Captain of the Cruiser. Now I don’t know about the time frames of the Royal Malaysian Navy, but for US Navy, it takes a collective of 21-23 years (at an estimate) to get to rank of Captain [No idea if this means starting at the rank of Seaman Recruit or starting as an O1; either way this dude was a full eagle].    Means, Neon J was in the military for a loooong time.

   So, when you destroy a member of 1010, they leave remains behind that can be transformed to face off against other members of 1010 or as something benefitial for the PCs.    Fanfic Writers, do with this as you may.

So only White (Rin) and Red (Zimelu) have parry attacks. Meaning they're the guys our PCs are more likely to go after first (The designated Leader; and the persumed more combative or warlike 1010 member / Bad Boy).

   Barraca Mansion also has those five colored portraits.

   The section of Metro Division leading up to the Boss Fight is just covered in dance-dance games.

According to the NSR-Post, type 4 Battledroids are still in service, and do in fact have background memories to hold in combat. In a previous post, I've already speculated that 1010 may have Neon J's memories...

Consider what it took to actually get to the boss fight. That's not just one limo, that's an entire floating fuckin escort with god damn canons. And not all of them were cars, half of em were akin to the Battleship Limo. Basically, Neon J didn't just command one ship, he had an entire fuckin Fleet.

   Part of Neon J’s voicelines do call 1010 “robots”.

I know the section was mean to play for laughs, as a break from the character driven plot, but really reeeeally look at this level: - When you defeat a body of 1010, you can transform the remains to go against the other members. - You are actively being photographed / recorded fighting and doing all this damage to 1010. - The fact that Neon J acknowledge Yinu and had an entire escort, means he already knew you were coming and was actively preparing to face you - Which is probably why he had his factory out. Let's face it, 1010 are Battledroids with weapons included, and most folks don't even come to their stomachs in height. Unless a fan is wearing full Halo MJOLNIR power armor and wielding a Fallout Fatman, you don't need to break out an entire robot factory if anything happens. Plus, shields. Neon J knew that BBJ were coming, and prepared accordingly, hell, 1010 was actively waiting on you (even though none of it was enough) - Consider everything. Neon J was a captain who faced what might've been some pretty historically bloody and brutal wars, and while he did break out weapons... ... None of these weapons do ANY personal or permanent harm to you / BBJ. Not even the sawblades or the missiles. ... Hell, consider the jump over. Nearly none of the other boss security levels have flash when you fall off edges, you just sorta pop back up, but 1010's? There's a red flash that pops up when you fall off, as if something was actively teleporting you back on to the car platforms. ... Think there might be a chance that, while Neon J knew you were arriving, he might have had more sympathies for BBJ than previously considered? ... Consider 1010. A Mohawk (Red) is, after all, a very Rock based Hairstyle. And Yellow? Its a pompadour, a "Rockabilly" hairstyle. How bout Blue's Lennon Specs (The Beatles were a Rock Band)... And the biggest boy bands of the 60s were Rock Band. ... Neon J goes over the top with his loyalties to NSR, like, uber over the top. And even the game acknowledges that he's paranoid. Its almost like he's playing a Role...

Time.    According to descriptions found by playing Zuke, NSR (at least) takes place after the 90s.    While for Neon J, he has fought since the 60s (68; It sounds like he might’ve just gotten out of basic training, the way he talks).    This leaves a 30-40 year time frame to consider.    Take into consideration, however, that this world has flying battleship cars, robots, a virtual idol that isn’t holographic glass, and folks have duper supernatural powers.    This could be in the 2100s or more for all we know.

A Change of Pace, HEADCANON TIME!

White is the Default Droid. Not so much in 1010, but in battledroid standards. You program in what you want the bot to be or do after the fact, and the color will indicate such. All battledroids have combative abilities, but their out of combat jobs are: - Red    - Maintenance. (Believe it or not, a saw is pretty useful on a ship) - Blue   - Parade (?). I mean, batons? - Green  - Grenadier is kinda hard to find outside of the niche combat, but consider Fallout GOAT. Probably does a lot of background jobs, like laundry. - Yellow - Missiles. Probably a Bridge stationed bot, and does a lot of calculations. Missiles are a calculated effort to aim and launch. They're not Grenades where you pull the pin, and hope that it only goes off at the designated 5 seconds (and not sooner). - White  - Default, and as we've seen with Rin, probably the kind that commands or acts as VIs (Virtual Intelligence, basically a smart interface).

1010 = Superhero fighting squad Oh please, a bunch of "young men" with color coded appearances and color coded weaponry, lead by a Captain with a Factory that actively replaces their bodies? And you're telling me they're ONLY a boy band? These dudes are fighting crimes like the god damn Power Rangers with all that equipment.

Neon J supported BBJ Consider all the above suggested. The Dude knew full feckin well that NSR wasn't the greatest of the great, and half the 1010 level proved that he was pretty much prepared for your arrival, and possible his own defeat. Let's face it, the dude was a Captain for a long damn time, and like commanded a small fleet in that time (not unlike the 1010 Level). You don't do stuff like that without some major strategy and awareness, ESPECIALLY, if you've survived entire wars and terrifying / inhuman conditions.  Plus consider his over exaggerated speech. With all the evidence in mind, and all the visuals, the dude was definitely playing up his NSR schtick. There was nothing stopping him from just unleashing an entire army of invulnerable and shielded 1010 bots to root you out and stomp on you mercilessly. Believe me, this dude had the resources, the weapons, and the experience, to put out two brat indie bandmates.

He threw the fuckin fight.

... Though I'm pretty sure he didn't like the Breaking Yinu's Piano Part. At least for everyone else it was either a justified humiliation or just... unplugging stuff, not outright destroying priceless heirlooms. Notice how that's the only thing he mentions, and he's the only Megastar to take into account another Megastar (and that's excluding Tatiana).

1010 Memories The dance, the shared voice, the synchronization; oh yeah, 1010 probably had a share of Neon J's memories (though likely not all of them).

This goes hand in hand with the popular Fanon that 1010 were based on former Squadmates of Neon J's.

ITS CYAN Sorry, but we've seen the direct difference in Sayu's fight with the Glowsticks and we see Purl-Hew's bright cyan blue next to an actual neon Blue. Purl-Hew is Bright Cyan Blue, he's not Regular Blue. ... So you see, I like color theory and have a set and unbreakable idea of color patterns.

Rin's weapons I believe Rin's capabilities is Synchronization with his bandmates, and the capacity to use Shields. Remember that there is no Rin phase for the Factory, and the shields fall out of the fight immediately after Rin is perma-defeated. Plus, the quasi-Purple-Magenta color matches Rin's poster seen in both the fight and on Barraca Mansion.

[currentfandomkick]

JL confronts Marinette

From bio!dad Strange au, where they made her kryptonian to keep her alive. This is post-Hawkmoth (debating using a random and revamping Gabriel altogether tbh)

“Don’t.” Marinette was tired of heroes, tired of being one. She had to handle hawkmoth’s fallout, keeping so many secret identities (hers, JL, miraculus team, her gotham family’s) and she just wanted to sleep.

Flash found her first, but Superman grabbed her and put her in the air for a ‘talk’.

“Don’t what?” She knew superman wasnt a detective. She knew he was a reporter though and she could see baiting and needling just under the surface. He’s an interrigator then, she decided.

“Don’t come in and try to fix what the miraculous team already handled. Paris was abbadonned by your league.”

She figured this was about Ladybug. Paris is always going off the the miraculous holders and ladybugs were always deemed the defacto leaders. She liked that Daesuqa (Talia) took over leading long term missions for the most part, handled meetings and politics so her and Chat and the others could be more like the teens they are in theory.

And everyone knew Marinette was Chat Noir’s favorite after she got how many akumatized people to release their akuma on their own? And that she supplied mirauclous users with kwami food (though it was common for many other civilians). It was common knowledge to all, but Hawkmoth apparently, that if Chat or his miraculous team or the entire team was needed, you went to Marinette.

Superman furrowed his brow at that though. “I didn’t know there was an active team here.”

So it wasn’t about the miraculous or years of magic terrorism her city endured?

“Been here for years. Hawkmoth’s sentencing is in a few hours.”

She hoped it was the kwami’s choice. Tikki murmured that people were surprised by what they could live through, and she is thw kwami of life. Tikki would make him wish he was dead routinely. He deserved it for regualrly slaughtering the city.

“No, that’s...” superman shook his head. “I came here to talk to you about...” he gestures to her then. She didn’t get it until she realized she was floating on her own.

When did he let her go?

“I know you’re Princess.”

Marinette’s blood stopped then. No. He can’t. They can’t.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I know Chloe changed my handle to Princess of Paris a few years ago but indont think heroes can stalk teens for that.”

Good, play into that. Distract until someone you trust can come. She hit an alert on her phone while he wasnt looking.

Pegasus should be here soon.

“I know you know it only as the Chimera project.”

Wrong. It was the surgery that kept her alive.

“And i know you’ve been poisoning yourself to stay hidden.”

Antidotes came from venom. It was fone to ise the stickers, they kept her human. The crystals were for emergencies only.

“What I don’t get is why.”

Why would she want him to kidnap, or abduct her? Take her from her family? Her life?

Don’t show that you’re who he thinks, anvocie whispered. Keep being the Paris Marinette from social media. The savage who snarled Weredad into submission.

“I really think you have the wrong girl. Its listed under my file as a volunteer flyer that i’m a flying meta, like most of the flyers.” Good, keep it up.

“And superman, if I had to guess why some girl that i look like would supress their powers, its becuase this is France and until the Miraculous team came clean about some being meta, you were imprisoned on suspicions of being meta, even infants were, are in the rest of France. Paris is the only place you arent imprisoned for it.”

Superman paled at that. “I. I wasn’t aware.”

“why would you be?”

Superman did respond to that.

“And if this Princess of yours is still hiding, she might be protecting her loved ones. Or maybe she thinks you’d steal her away from her life and home? Everyone knows about the fortress of solitude and i dont think anyone besides you would like living there, especially so far from people.”

Marinette watched him process. As long as Red Robin didnt see her, didnt confirm her identity, she was in the clear.

“Now if you’d excuse me, I’m needed to finish filling out a report on the final battle.”

That had superman’s attention.

“Final battle.”

“Yes, we just took down Hawkmoth a week ago.”

“He already has his trial, in a week.” Disbelief. Not worng either.

“It took the citizens of paris a week to finish voting. Finally tallies come in tonight if we try him as humans or if the kwami—gods of various concepts—are the ones to try him for his crimes. Afterall, he enslaved one kwami and abused another.”

Superman was not doing well, far too pale. Shock? No, they sent so many videos before the JL banned them.

Guilt. Regret, too. Probably.

“Now can you put me down somewhere? I’m not out as a meta and indont plan on being out anytime soon. Any supporting the miraculous teams do have their enemies too, and i dont want to be targetted.”

Superman nodded. Numb? Possible.

She let hersef be taken down.

Pegasus was there, Flash on his way. Another person who could make her.

She had to move fast.

“I hope I cleared things up?”

Superman nodded.

Max was ready to fight, glaring at the blue boyscout.

“Ready to go Miss DC?”

Marinette nodded, letting him guide her to the portal.

Flash didnt make it in, but he didnt see her face either. She’s take the narrow victory.

They exited in the Paris Grande Hotel. The Mayor had Batman and Red Robin with him. Crap.

“Is this...”

“Our civilian contact, Miss DC,” Pegasus stated almost too professionally. Great, now Red would know they know each other as friends. batman too.

“Batman, Red Robin, correct?”

“Yes. We, we just found your heroes videos and came to help. I see we’re too late too.”

Marientte nodded, avioding eye contact with Red. She wasnt sure if he learned to act infront of Batman yet, and wasnt risking it.

“I heard you came up with many of the emergency procedures and built the comms system with Pegasus.”

“As a flyer, yes. As Miss DC I just make sure the team stays fed and Chat doesnt forget to sleep.”

Batman shot Red Robin a look as he said, “I know the feeling.”

Marinette didnt fight the smile then. Yes, that was her Hero Stalker Tim alright.

“Would you two be interested in helping the league develop a better system to sort incoming messages?”

Pegasus moved first. “If we do, Miss DC is to be left alone. Her mother is very atrict about her not getting involved in science, and refuses to believe that her daughter has been actively helping the miraculous team.”

Batman turned his attention to Marinette then. “Is that so?”

Marinette nodded. “My birth father and her left on... terms i never got the jist of. He and his friends teach me in secret. Mama,” not maman, she forced herself to say, “she said something about it being destructive and dangerous, so she wants me to stick to the arts instead.”

Batman nodded. “Experiments can be, but that doesnt undercut the good you’ve done. I’ll tell the league you will work off-site should you accept.”

Marinette nodded along. “I can help where Pegasus gets stuck, and be contacted through him but otherwise would prefer not to be contacted by the League. I’m a civilian, and no offense, but there ahve been leaks before.”

“Understandable. The league thanks you for your help, and apoligizes for what you went through.”

Marinette could feel the hole Red Robin was burning into her. He earings. And the fox miraculous. Shit. He knew.

Marinette wanted to punch the league in their face collectively.

“All May i go now, i have a meeting to get to.”

“Of course.”

Pegasus opened the portal and escorted her out.

They both waited five minites, Max feeding Kaalki, for the call.

“So why didnt you tell me?” Tim was pissed.

“Media blackout. Any time i tried to call it was blocked.”

Tim swore. “Alfred!”

“You are so lucky Pegasus doesnt know anything about gotham.”

“He’s there?”

“I work with him alot.”

“So when you visited Gotham...”

“French government would know. Not hard to connect the dots of girl leaves to see gotham fmaily and suddenly the league shows up after banning all of Paris from contact.”

“I. When did it happen?”

“Before Chrismas. I would have had Nonna tell you but she didnt know either until after the fact and they said if she told anyone itd be me going to jail for her.”

“That’s. What hellscape do you live in?”

“I died so many times i don’t even know now.” She stopped keeping track after she got into the eighties. That wasn’t even a full year into being Ladybug.

“That’s not comforting.”

“Please tell me that you’re not outing me to Bats. I just got two leaguers off my tail.”

“I won’t tell him, but if the new Robin does i’m not stopping him.”

She almost forgot Talia’s son was a Robin. She didnt see him in uniform yet—as Damian (not wayne but damian who was mourning lost family, damian who didnt know how to talk to people his age). She knows he’s a bit thick with social cues, and his detective skills need work in her opinion but he’s skeptical and has good insticts. He might make her as Marinette if he’s there.

“Is he...”

“He’s with the Titans now, but theyre debating coming here to yell at the league.”

“Videoing it?”

“Obviously. Want a copy?”

“Ill make popcorn before watching.”

“Rkc are doing well by the way—stopped a human trafficking ring and i think they took the victims.”

“Harley’s working with them,” marientte got he update earlier. “Hood and zsasz took out the lower and mid tier that woudlnt snitch. The case should be smooth sailing—the sirens put out a blanket hit on anyone trying to touch the witnesses.”

“So managing two teams this whole time,” red murmured, almost... bitter, or disapointed in something—no someone. Himself?

“Just tweaking things. Daesuqa handles most the team since she found me and Chat. Apparently she was compatible enough to do a lot of the non-fighting work. I still did battle strategy and all but,” Marinette shrugged.

“She focused in survival aspects here, and long term stability for Gotham. Daesuqa has handled most of non-kwami work here outside of kwami and candidates,” Max added. “On top of her work as a student and designer and inventor.”

Red Robin groaned. “When do you sleep?”

Marinette hummed. “I have meds to make me. And angry family to make me take them.”

“Her... what are we calling him now?” Mac was asking about Felix, adiren’s gremlin cousin who’s mom isntryign to adopt her. Also a fellow reverse theif and possessive friend.

“Uh, gremlin.”

“Her gremlin calls to let is know if she does get rest on the weekends and we trade off on weekdays.”

Red robin hummed into the phone. “So staying to the shadows?”

Trixx and Tikki looked up at Marinette at that. tikki wanted her to be the Ladybug, the be seen and everywhere and she...

Trixx knew why Marinette liked the shadows and background. Trix understood that bit.

“Yeah, i’ll still play in between and have some kwami things for life now.” She and Chat were working out gaurdian duties still.

She wasnt interested in the JL.

@emeraldpuffguide @ilovefluffbutsmutisalsogreat @mystery-5-5 @weird-pale-blonde-person @dast218

[falseroar]

Is This Your Card? Part 16: Alone with the Seer

((The table quickly turns on the District Attorney, but Celine proposes an idea, a way that the attorney could help her discover what’s really going on in this house. Despite some objections from the others, Y/N decides to take her up on her offer if it means possibly getting to the truth.

(This part contains a couple of references to Silent Watch, and changes up the relationship between the DA and the Seer from canon.)

Here’s a link to the masterlist for the whole au and to the most recent part.))

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall

Watch as I betray them all”

The words on the card had an immediate effect on the table, and feebly you said, “I don’t…This isn’t—”

“Isn’t what?” Celine asked when you hesitated, and you swore you could hear the taunt in her voice.

But you couldn’t answer her, couldn’t just admit that your card was the bloodstained one lying in the middle of the table, the word “werewolf” an accusation and condemnation all in one.

“You’ve been awfully quiet this whole time, Y/N,” Celine pressed further, and you could feel the energy ripple around the table, the accusing stares that you met one by one as the others piled on.

“With those beady little eyes,” Chef said, his gaze going to your bruised eye in particular.

“And wearing those rags?” Benjamin scoffed, leaving you to fight the urge to look down at your wrinkled and disheveled clothes from last night’s party.

Your gaze went to Abe next, saw his eyes flicker over you before he said, “Maybe I shouldn’t have trusted someone so god damn gorgeous.”

Wait, what?

In between you and him, the Colonel seemed to realize that it was his turn to speak up, but he only waved a hand and said, “I’ll pass.”

On your other side, Damien remained silent and tense, his eyes on the card in front of you. You couldn’t be sure what was going through his mind, whether he would have spoken up for you if he knew a way to do so without causing more trouble—or if his sister wasn’t here.

“This card doesn’t mean anything,” you said. “It sounds more like a taunt than an accusation, doesn’t it?”

“…True,” Celine said, surprising you. “It’s as though someone singled you out, to observe what’s happened here this weekend. As I suggested earlier, I believe this is just one part of a bigger story, and I sense that you have a far greater role to play in all of this. I trust you can help me find an answer, Y/N. Will you help me?”

“…I want to know what happened to Mark, the same as everyone else at this table,” you answered, and she smiled.

“Perfect. Come with me.”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Abe said, before she could rise from her chair. “How exactly do you expect them to ‘help’ you?”

“There are ways to find the answers we seek. I am a practiced seer, and with that comes experience with the arcane arts. Believe me when I say that I have seen things that you could not possibly begin to understand,” Celine said, drawing herself up to her full height to better glare down at him.

“Try me,” Abe muttered under his breath, before raising his voice again as he stood. “So what, you’re going to drag my partner off to do some ritual that will most likely lead to their death?”

“No one said anything about dying,” you said, ignoring the way the butler and the chef both looked at the “Death” card lying right in front of you.

“This isn’t up for debate, partner,” Abe said without looking at you, his eyes still locked on Celine.

Partner. Abe’s second card was just barely visible underneath his “Hermit” card, but you didn’t have to see it to remember the long list of names typed on it.

Before you could think of anything reassuring to say to him in front of everyone else, the Colonel stood as well, both hands flat on the table.

“Well, I trust Celine with all my heart! I don’t see any reason why anyone should doubt her!”

While Abe and the Colonel glared at each other, Benjamin raised a finger and said, “Well, I have to agree with our hunter. This just doesn’t seem natural.”

“Yeah, like any of this is ‘natural,’” Chef countered. “We might be dealing with a werewolf, have you all forgotten that?”

You wished you could forget, same as you wished half the table wouldn’t look at you when he said it.

“If it makes you feel better, you guys can stand watch outside the door,” Celine said. “But my work cannot be interrupted.”

“Oh, believe you me, I’ll be keeping a close eye on every single one of you.” Abe stared around the table. “Doesn’t matter how natural or not all of this is, I’m sure I’ve dealt with worse.”

That apparently settled, Celine gestured for you to follow her and walked out of the room, but you weren’t the only one to rise from the table.

Damien, who had been silent this entire time, passed you at the door frame and caught up to Celine at the foot of the stairs with a cry of, “Celine, wait!”

“Yes, Damien?” Celine asked curtly, her tone suggesting that she only stopped because her twin brother had blocked the way up the stairs.

“Are you alright? I know this news can’t be settling well with you.”

Celine brushed past him, her voice empty of emotion as she said, “I’m fine for now.”

You and Damien locked eyes, briefly.

Celine had been Mark’s wife, up until the fallout earlier this year. You didn’t know the details, you doubted anyone outside of the couple and perhaps Damien did. Even the tabloids had failed to pick up anything beyond baseless rumors and swirling gossip as Mark retreated away from the world at the same time. You’d barely seen him after the divorce.

Of course, you had barely seen him before the divorce, too.

Leaving it up to Damien to chase after Celine and try again, saying as he went up the stairs, “But all of this talk of the occult, I thought you had—”

“Given it up after I married Mark?” Celine answered as she paused at the top of the stairs.

“Well, yes,” Damien said. “I just thought…you wouldn’t become wrapped up in all of this. We don’t know what’s going on here, Celine, someone sent those cards, they knew us and they mur—Mark is dead.”

“There’s more to this world than you could ever hope to imagine. I just had my eyes opened to a small portion of it, and I can’t just close them now, little brother,” Celine said. “Especially not now, when it could help us find out who killed Mark.”

She turned and continued on down the hall without waiting for a response, and after a moment to sigh and run his hand through his hair, Damien called after her, “Just be careful!”

You reached the top of the stairs and glanced at Damien, who failed to meet your eyes. You could have asked him why his sister would be here, or if he knew why Mark’s card said what it did. You could have asked him why he had said nothing at the table, when everyone else turned against you.

But you didn’t ask, and he didn’t offer any answers.

Instead, he just added softly, “You too.”

Like you would follow Celine into yet another small room that you had never seen before or shut the door behind you if you were trying to be careful.

“It has been a while, hasn’t it, Y/N?” Celine asked as she opened a black leather bag and began placing a series of items on top of the small table in between you, starting with a tattered, square piece of fabric whose corners hung down over the side of the table. “Since we had a chance to talk alone like this.”

“Couldn’t have anything to do with what you said you would do if I ever set foot in this house again, would it?” you asked. “Something about a fur rug, wasn’t it?”

Celine gave a fond smile at the memory as she lit the last of several candles, which did little to break the darkness in the room. The flickering flames caught her eyes and sent a shadow over her face as she said, “Well, it certainly didn’t stop you, now did it?”

“I didn’t think you’d care, all things considered. Why should it bother you who your ex-husband chooses to invite to some party?” You crossed your arms and sat back in your chair, fighting to appear calm and collected even though every hair on your body felt as though it were standing on its end.

“What bothers me is that I warned you, I warned you something like this would happen when I told you to stay away from Mark and my brother,” Celine said, her voice rising slightly before she regained control of herself. “And you didn’t listen to me.”

There were more items on the table now, besides the candles. A large crystal ball, several strange, wooden shapes covered in markings you couldn’t understand, a couple of dark, pitted stones that seemed to absorb the light from the candles. And, clenched tight in her right hand, a silver amulet.

“I had nothing to do with Mark’s death—”

“Oh, and it’s just a coincidence that he had your cards on him, just before he took a silver bullet to the chest?” Celine asked. “I knew, as soon as I saw you for what you were, that you would mean nothing but pain and ruin for Mark and Damien if I didn’t—”

“What does Damien have to do with this?” you interrupted, your own hands clenched tight to fight back the urge to change, to get out of this room.

“What do you think would have happened, if someone had found that werewolf card on you? If your little secret left this house?” Celine asked, her voice lowered and trembling. “The district attorney, friend to Mark Iplier and the mayor himself, revealed to all the world to be a werewolf. And suddenly everyone’s wondering how much they knew, if Damien was simply ignorant of the true nature of the monster he backed and helped put into office, or if he knew. Everything he worked so hard for, ruined in a single weekend because he just wouldn’t listen to me.”

“You told him to stay away from me, too,” you said. It wasn’t a surprise, just another confirmation of how much the Seer hated you.

“For all the good it did,” Celine muttered. “Instead, he just went and offered to hide you away in his own home every full moon. Like keeping you safe was the problem here.”

“…What about Mark?” you asked. “Did you ever…?”

“Tell him you were a werewolf?” Celine laughed without a trace of humor. “No, it never came up. His work kept him busy enough that he didn’t have time for anyone else, so that was never a problem.”

Was that a trace of bitterness in her voice? Or maybe you just imagined it.

Your eyes ran over her fingers again, noting that there wasn’t even a line to mark her missing wedding ring anymore.

“Why are you here, Celine?”

Celine paused and then sighed, her breath nearly extinguishing one of the candles closest to her before she opened her eyes again and met your stare.

“I couldn’t shake the feeling I had about this party, ever since I heard about it. I felt, I knew that something terrible would happen this weekend, I tried to warn...But it happened anyways, and I don’t think it’s stopped happening, not yet.” She ran her hand over the two cards in front of her, and with a start you recognized the bloodstained cards Abe had placed on the table earlier. “You can feel it, can’t you? There is something at work here, a presence that…that reminds me of you.”

“What?”

She pointed at your chest with the hand still holding the silver amulet and said, “That curse that clings to you, it reeks of the same darkness that lurks in these walls. It’s how I knew there was something wrong with you, the moment I met you.”

You reached up and gripped your shirt, remembering that night in the woods. Those solid black eyes that had taken your friend, the silver touch that left you reeling until the moonlight changed your life forever. The night you learned that there were things out there, entities that would do anything to enter this world, cruel beings that didn’t care who they hurt along the way to whatever goal they set their sight on.

There was something that clung to the air of this house, that pressed down at every moment, leaving you with the itch in the back of your spine that screamed it wasn’t safe, that left you feeling so close to changing at every moment. If there was even a chance that Celine was right, that there could be something like that in this house…

“What do you think we could do?” you asked. “To stop it?”

Celine tapped the crystal ball with her finger and said, “To start with, we need to know what we’re dealing with. I believe that your curse means that you already have a connection with things not of our world—”

She cut you off before you could protest and continued, “Whether we like it or not, you’re the best option we have right now. I’ll do what I can to help, but I need you to concentrate and tell me what you see.”

She waited until you reluctantly nodded and then spread her hands out over the cards, the silver amulet still tucked between two fingers as she closed her eyes. Her lips moved, but you couldn’t hear any words, only feel the darkness begin to gather in the corners of the room, threatening to snuff out the light of the candles, whose sputtering flames illuminated the swirling mists within the crystal ball at the center of the table.

You found your eyes drawn to the crystal ball, to the images that flickered within the mists inside echoed by the shifting shadows in the corners of your eyes.

The images grew stronger the longer you looked, until it was like you were there again, standing in the foyer looking up the stairs as Mark spoke to the small gathering with his drink in hand.

“—surrounded by such close and trusted friends—”

His eyes met yours, his words twisted and broken by the memory of his body on the floor until you wondered if they had always sounded so hollow and bitter.

“I locked the door to your room once I was sure you were safe and sound in bed,” Damien’s voice said in your head, contradicting the image in your mind of reaching the open bedroom door just as the butler rounded the corner, tray in hand.

The next image that floated up was Damien and Abe arguing in your bedroom, their voices muffled and distant. You watched in confusion, wondering when this happened until Abe’s voice swam into focus and you heard him say, “—have a little voice in the back of your head that whispers every time you’re around the attorney that maybe today’s the day they—”

His words drifted back into the muffled haze that surrounded you, leaving only another layer to the sick and twisted ache in the center of your chest and you shut your eyes, not wanting to see the words on his lips or Damien’s response.

You stepped back and found yourself looking down at the Colonel, seated on the bench outside with his eyes hidden behind his glasses, his smile wistful as he said, “I guess we both needed someone to keep us this side of sane. I had hoped she would help me—”

You saw the Chef, knife in hand as he spoke of his failed restaurant, heard Benjamin’s lament about a partner who betrayed him, too many voices swirling together until, suddenly, you found yourself standing outside again, this time in darkness.

You could hear a voice, muffled and going in and out too much to make out any individual words, only the rise and fall of the speech of a man you had never seen before, leaning on a shovel as he spoke to you and Abe and the Chef, his eyes alight with urgency. Something important, something…

You blinked, the room returning to focus as you whispered, “The gardener.”

“The what?” Celine asked, her biting voice cutting through the mist that still seemed to fill your head. “Did you see something? Someone? Tell me!”

“The gardener, he’s seen this before,” you said softly, dreamily as though you were still half-asleep, but you felt certain you were right about this. The gardener would know what to do.

Celine, on the other hand, only seemed to grow angrier at the sound of your words, like you hadn’t given her the answer she was looking for. “Is that it?! No, you need to go back, there has to be more—”

It must have been the remaining haze in your mind, that made you ignore the obvious presence in the room growing stronger with her every word, how the darkness in the corners had left the flames of the candles like pale echoes of any real light, that made you think now was an okay time to ask your next question.

“The Colonel’s Lovers card. Who else knew you two were having an affair, besides Mark?”

There was only a moment, barely a second to register the surprise on the seer’s face, before it quickly turned to rage.

((End of Part 16. In Celine’s defense, she genuinely wants to do what she believes is best for the people in her life. The DA just...doesn’t line up with her idea of “what’s best” though.

Link to Part 17: The Groundskeeper.

Tagging: @silver-owl413 @skyewardlight @withjust-a-bite @blackaquokat @catgirlwarrior @neverisadork @luna1350 @oh-so-creepy @weirdfoxalley @95fangirl @lilalovesinternet-l @thepoolofthedead @a-bit-dapper @randomartdudette @geekymushroom @cactipresident @hotcocoachia @purple-anxiety-blog @shyinspiredartist @avispate @missksketch))

[thisyearingaming]

1997 - This Year in Gaming

Muggins here was born in ‘97, and can’t really remember much of it, natch. But there were some good things released this year - I’ve played every one of these, and have missed so many more.

Diablo - Windows, January 3rd

We start with dungeon-crawl-em-up and well-loved out of season April Fool’s Joke, Diablo. I’ll be totally honest - I don’t like Diablo that much. It’s absolutely fine, I just can’t get into it. The writing, setting and characters are all very good especially since this year only marks the beginning of games being seen as a bit more adult and intelligent. Check out this gameplay from Hour of Oblivion on YouTube, and marvel at the faux-Scottish accent on Griswold the blacksmith.

Mario Kart 64 - Nintendo 64, February 10th

Compared to its more recent versions, Mario Kart 64 is a veritable bloody relic of the past - solid controls and a quirky style mean it’s still a crowd pleaser to this day, but you’d be hard pressed to find anyone right now that would die on the hill of it being their favourite single-player racing experience. It’s also got some of the deepest, impenetrable lore in any medium known to the human race - why exactly is Marty the Thwomp locked up here?

Blast Corps - Nintendo 64, February 28th

February’s position as most boring month of the year is shaken up a bit by having a uniquely designed Rare game slammed into its 28-day long face. Blast Corps is the puzzle-action game where you take control of several vehicles to destroy homes and buildings in order to prevent a nuclear warhead exploding in the coolest incarnation of Cold War politicking ever seen in a video game. Calling Blast Corps a “hidden gem” these days is like calling Celeste a hidden gem - it impresses nobody and makes you look like a dick. 

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter - Nintendo 64, March 4th 

The N64 was home to a surprisingly large number of above-average shooters despite its muddy graphics and small cartridge space - Turok is one of these, a great FPS game where you shoot the SHIT out of dinosaurs. Brett Atwood of Billboard said it was like Doom and Tomb Raider mixed - Doom Raider, if you will. I say it isn’t - there’s no demons, and there’s no polygonal breasts to poke dinosaurs’ eyes out with! 

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Sony PlayStation, March 20th

What is a retrospective? A miserable little pile of opinions. I’ve only recently played through SotN for the very first time on a TOTALLY LEGITIMATE copy with a CRT filter. Bloody good (geddit?) game, that takes the repetition of its predecessors, improves on it in basically every conceivable way, and combines it with special effects and graphics that even 23 years later had me going “ooh, that looks quite good!” Symphony’s music and audio design are wonderfully paired with a deeply enjoyable experience that’ll have you saying “mm, maybe just one more room?”

Tekken 3 - Sony PlayStation, March 20th

Also releasing from the Land of the Rising Sun that day was Tekken 3, which many believe is still one of the best fighters ever made. Tekken 3′s combat is so fast and responsive that it’s better than some games made today. T3 is also the best and easiest way to knock seven shades of absolute shite out of your friends without risking a massive head injury or a trip to the headmaster’s office... where you could also challenge him, but only if he plays as my favourite Not-Guile-or-Ken character in gaming, Paul. 

Sonic Jam - Sega Saturn, June 20th

The moment Sega realised that re-packaging old Mega Drive games would net them serious cash - although unlike later collections, this is a strictly Sonic affair, and has a neat little 3D world to run around in as a sort of hub world. Sonic X-Treme proved that Sonic Team would have to work hard at getting the fastest thing alive into 3D space properly: Jam is the sort of test ground for it too. It features some genuinely good emulation work for 1997, although it’s basically the gaming equivalent of going round to your grandparents at Christmas only for them to give you the exact same gifts you got in 1991, 1992 and 1994 but wrapped in a bow to make you think it’s different. What are you lookin’ at, you little blue devil?

Star Fox 64 - Nintendo 64, June 30th

So there’s this German company, right, called StarVox. Nintendo look at Europe and say “shit, we don’t want another lawsuit... after all, we’ve done three this year!”. So they give us in the PAL region the exciting title of Lylat Wars which as far as I know means absolutely fucking nothing in the context of the game. They’re still called Star Fox in-game too so what was the point? Anyway, fun 3D shooter with graphics that’ll make you do a barrel roll off the sofa and onto the power button to make the brown and green blurs a little easier on the eyes. Hello 2007, I’ve come back to make old references with you!

Carmageddon - Windows, July 30th

The game so scary it was BANNED in the UK! More like the game so fucking shit it was banned. Carmageddon is so deeply boring to play on PC that I can only imagine that Stainless Games made it tasteless by 90s standards simply to ramp up demand - much like another game we’ll be covering soon. 

Herc’s Adventures - Sony PlayStation, July 31st

“And they said Kratos was the best hero? Shish... they got it wrong, sister! Hercules is clearly better... he even has a coconut weapon.” A surprisingly fun overhead action game that most people only know for... well, I’ll just embed it.

Mega Man X4 - Sony Playstation, August 1st

A few years ago I tried playing every Mega Man game there is - I gave up at X3 because I was getting bored. Even still, Mega Man bores me - but at least the level design is good. Stay away from the Windows port. Pictured: me in the background yawning.

GoldenEye 007 - Nintendo 64, August 25th 

The name’s Intro. Overused intro which I also managed to fuck up twice through the deeply editable medium of text. GoldenEye is like the Seinfeld of console shooters - playing it nowadays you’re unlikely to be amazed but holy shit there’s some absolute greatness in this game. Every sound and every piece of music in GoldenEye is permanently seared into my brain - sometimes I’ll just hear Facility or Frigate in my head alongside the door opening sound and the gentle PEW of the PP7. I mean come on, fucking listen to this and tell me Grant Kirkhope isn’t cool as all hell.

LEGO Island - Windows, September 26th

The first open world experience I ever had was LEGO Island. It’s still quite good today, utterly deranged animation from the likes of the Infomaniac and Brickster - a cautionary tale for children that giving pizza to high-profile criminals is disastrous for the human LEGO race. 

Fallout - Windows, October 10th

War never changes, but franchises do. Fallout’s legendary status in the industry is exemplified in how different it feels. Yes, we had the game Wasteland nine years prior, but until September 97 there was nothing quite like Fallout. From the chilling introduction sequence showing the ruins of the United States to the tragic ending, Fallout is an exercise in pure human misery with the brightest spots of hope it can possibly muster thrown in for good measure. What begins as a tedious isometric point-and-click RPG ends as a minigun-wielding power fantasy, before your entire worth is stripped from you at the finish line. You have 500 days to find a water chip before it’s too late, but you’re constantly being fought by terrifying Super Mutants, irradiated animals, and the biggest monster of all - humanity. See what I did there? If anything, humanity in Fallout’s setting would be the greatest unifying force possible against the horror of the outside world. But how is it? It’s dull, it’s sluggish, and it’s really hard to get into even if you’re already a fan - but push through that and it’s worthwhile to see exactly how far the series got before Todd Howard said “eh fuck it” and had the whole thing dipped into an FEV vat.

Grand Theft Auto - Sony PlayStation, October 21st

To put it simply, the first in the GTA series is now nothing but a novelty. It has an irritating camera, wonky controls, poor graphics and deeply repetitive gameplay. But thank fuck it exists, because without it the Rockstar story may have been very different indeed. It’s quintessential cops and robbers gameplay, spanning across Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas in one game, but with maps so far removed from their modern incarnations they may as well be named “Not New York, Possibly Bristol and Orange Town”. People really fucking hated Hare Krishnas in the 20th Century, didn’t they?

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - Sony PlayStation, October 31

A hard one to talk about, honestly - it’s more Crash and better than the first one. It looks great, and Crash controls so well compared to his first outing. It’ll also keep you playing for 100%, fiendishly addictive and unashamedly difficult. Had a weird cover that moved with your head. 

PaRappa the Rapper - Sony PlayStation, November 17th

Type type type the words into the box! (Type, type, type - uh oh - the box?)

PaRappa is a gorgeously stylised rhythm game about rapping to steal the heart of the girl of your dreams - which involves learning karate, getting your driver’s license, selling bottle caps and frogs, making a cake, desperately trying not to shit yourself, and finally performing live on stage. Every one of its segments is so well-produced that they’d genuinely sell like ghost cookies in this era of shite rap. Notable for producing the greatest Jay-Z backing track ever made.

Sonic R - Sega Saturn, November 18th

Sonic R is absolutely FINE with vibrant textures, interesting levels, neat gimmicks and decent controls. But I’m gonna talk about its fucking AWESOME soundtrack by Richard Jacques and T.J. Davis, an eclectic mix of Europop and New Jack Swing - even thinking about it is bringing tears of absolute joy to my eyes hearing Super Sonic Racing in my head. You’ve got the main theme, Living in the City, Can You Feel the Sunshine, Back in Time, Diamond in the Sky, Work It Out and Number One - all of these are absolute club bangers and genuinely wouldn’t be out of place in a 90s disco. 

Tomb Raider II - Sony PlayStation, November 18th

Lara Croft returns to single-handedly endanger every species on Earth. TR2 is really good, the exploration and puzzle-solving aspects of the first game expanded upon here and the gunplay remaining just as punchy. Lara’s got a fully-functioning ponytail which absolutely boggles the fucking mind - a lot of work went into Lara’s hair for the 2013 reboot, so I can’t imagine the amount of man hours it took to get fluid(ish, come on, it’s the PS1 we’re talking about) hair movements in 1997. 

And really, that’s all I played from 1997. I’ve left out big hitters like Quake II, Gran Turismo and Diddy Kong Racing, but I simply haven’t formed an opinion on them yet. Maybe in a future post. 

Thanks for reading.

[queen-scribbles]

Splinter

For @pillarspromptsweekly 105: Twin. This was fun, and a chance to play with something I’ve headcanon-ed for a long, long time. There’s some reference to another Emiri fic, Souls, but I think you could read this one on its own

---

Ironically, they didn’t put the pieces together until it was all but inconsequential. Despite the years of friendship, despite their close bond, despite everything, realization didn’t dawn until Ukaizo was behind them and the Wheel a shattered ruin.

Stars twinkled overhead, crisply visible in a for-once cloudless sky, and Emiri lost herself in their glittering beauty. Better that than dwelling on... the day’s events and their fallout. She’d done enough recently; the gods could give her one night to gather her thoughts before the world plunged into whatever would come from the Wheel’s destruction. One night to rest was all she asked, one night of quiet with her friends--old and new. So far, they’d granted her that faint kindness.

Emiri sighed and leaned her head back as she traced her gaze along Rìasco’s constellation, found Tìadra and her sisters(which brought wistful thoughts of Kana and Maia), followed the zigzag of the Hound’s Fangs...  Last of all she found the Twins, still shining bright and cheery. According to the legend Kana had told her, that meant the souls of Tala and Averin were still alive and well somewhere in Eora. Did they help create the Wheel? Emiri wondered, fiddling idly with her adra-green bracelet. Is that what made their souls bond so closely? Or was it truly just how much they cared for one another? In her experience, the gods demanded much and gave little, so the thought of them rewarding a pair of kith just for loving each other enough was nigh unbelievable. However it happened, I hope they’re happy this time ‘round, since it might be their last...

“May I join you?”

She pulled her gaze from the sky and her thoughts from the thread they had started following to instead smile at her prospective company. “Always,” she said emphatically, patting the boards beside her. “I’ll warn you, it’s not the most comfortable seat, but well worth the trade for a better view of the sky on a night so clear.”

“I wondered,” Aloth said with a smile as he sat next to her, so close their shoulders almost brushed, and pulled his knees into his chest as he leaned back against the mast. “I know how much you love the stars, but wasn’t sure if you wanted to be alone with those thoughts racing in your eyes.”

“Were that the case, I’d’ve stayed in my cabin,” Emiri assured him with a quiet chuckle. “Open deck’s no place to try and be alone. But even if I were wanting solitude, I always have time for you.”

“I appreciate that, but you are allowed time by yourself,” he murmured.

“Between Ondra and Berath, I’m not entirely sure that’s true,” she said wryly.

“Aye, well then fuck them!” Aloth shook his head to push Iselmyr back, then rolled his eyes at Emiri’s threatening smile. “Don’t encourage her, please. She’s been more restless than usual the past few days as it is.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Emiri said, leaning her head back against the mast again. “Did you need something, or just want my company?”

He hesitated a moment before answering. “...A little of both, in a sense. I wanted to make sure you were alright after... everything.”

“As I can be,” Emiri sighed, letting her eyes drift closed a moment. Everything covered a lot, but she knew what he meant. When she opened them, the Twins were front and center, shining bright, and she smiled. “I said I was half-tempted to let Eothas do as he planned, and it looks like I got my wish. I’ll worry about what that means tomorrow; I’m too tired to do it now.”

“I’m sure I don’t know why,” Aloth said dryly, arching a brow. “It’s not as if you’ve been running yourself ragged trying to save the world from one catastrophe after another--not to mention your friends from a variety of messes--for months on end. If anyone deserves a chance to rest, it’s you.”

“Thank you.” Emiri lightly nudged his shoulder. “A night with my friends and the best view I think I’ve ever had of the stars will go a long way.”

“They do keep drawing your eye,” he smiled. “Any particular favorites you can see from this part of the world?”

“The Twins,” she said after the barest pause, nodding toward the stars in question. “According to legend--well, Kana--they’re for a pair of Glanfathan scholars who bonded so closely the gods made them the first soul twins, and then later were so impressed with their persistence finding each other life after life, they hung those stars in their honor.”

“Magnanimous view of the gods,” he muttered, “And how soul twins came to be.”

“Guess it does sound nicer than being drawn to someone because your souls are splintered pieces of a whole...” Emiri murmured, still staring up at the stars. “Much nicer than how it played out for Hiravias, anyway. And it’s an inspiring story, however much or little of it is actually true. The world needs all the stories of determination paying off it can get these days.” She picked absently at a hangnail. “To give kith hope.”

Aloth shrugged and made a non-committal noise as his gaze followed hers. “I rather think it will be kith like you who inspire people more than myths and legends.”

She shot him a grateful look that was interrupted as the Mercy hit a swell and jostled them from their positions. Aloth hissed sharply midway through resuming his seat and jerked his arm away from the mast.

Emiri spun toward him, her concerned ‘What?’ dying halfway past her lips when she saw the nasty splinter dug into the back of his bicep. “Hold still,” she directed instead. It was a big enough splinter she could likely just pull it out, but only if she was careful and he didn’t flinch.

Aloth froze, biting his lip, and glanced at her over his shoulder.

Emiri gently curled one hand around his arm to support and hold it still. She was, for once, grateful for the soft glow emitted by her crescent growth. As predicted, the splinter came out easily enough, even if Aloth did suck in a sharp, pained breath as she pulled it free. There was no blood, which was a relief, just a small, angry red spot. She lightly ran her thumb over it to ensure it wouldn’t start to bleed, and he flinched.

“No need to fuss-”

His words were swallowed by the silver-purple buzz of something from the distant past pressing itself into her thoughts. “it’s not that bad.”

“That’s what you said about your cold from last month,” another new voice chuckled, “remember how that ended?”

“You worry too much,” the dwarven man mumbled, shaking out the sting of his allegedly minor injury. “I’ll be fine.”

The vision--memory-whatever--was gone as abruptly as it had come, and it took Emiri a minute to collect her thoughts. She’d recognized that dwarf; he’d been one of the earliest kith when she first glimpsed the lives associated with the Twins.

Odd those lives would poke through now, she mused. Maybe because the Wheel’s destroyed...? Her attempt to explain it died a quick, graceless death when she looked up and found Aloth staring at her with wide eyes.

He’d seen it, too.

But even with being a Watcher, even with her cipher abilities, the only time she’d ever shared a memory with someone was when they were closely tied to the soul in question. Related, in fact. Between that vision coming out of the blue and Aloth sharing it, she had to wonder...

“What did you do?” he whispered hoarsely after a long, breathless moment of staring at each other.

“Nothing,” Emiri whispered back, letting go of his arm. “It just came. You saw...?”

He nodded.

Emiri looked up toward the Twins.

“What?” Aloth asked.

“I’ve seen that dwarf before,” she said softly.

He frowned and cocked his head. “It wasn’t a dwarf, though maybe that was the other voice, it was an orlan, with dark hair. Sort of reminded me of you...”

Emiri shook her head and explained about the night star-gazing with Kana when she’d essentially Watched the souls she assumed inspired the Twins. A dwarf and an orlan. Best friends or lovers, souls so strong she’d been able to read them even after so many years. “Apparently there’s at least a little truth to their legend. I think... I think they might be us. For that memory to surface now and us both to see it...”

“I don’t think soul twins work that way, Emiri,” Aloth protested. “Aren’t they from souls that break as they travel the Wheel?”

“That’s the thing, though,” she countered. “Not much is known about how soul twins do work, and I can’t think of any other reason for that specific memory to surface, especially since we shared it. I can’t normally conduct memories like that without trying to very hard.”

“So you think because we both saw it...”

“We were both there,” Emiri finished. “In... that life. Soul twins.” The words hung in the air as she let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding.

Aloth’s expression went carefully blank as he sat back, rubbing his arm. “Well. That’s... a lot.”

Emiri couldn’t agree more. She’d known they were close, but this... It did explain some things--starting with the way meeting him had eased an ache in her chest before they’d exchanged three words or known anything about one another beyond both being stuck in Gilded Vale. At the time she’d chalked it up to relief at not being alone, which was still probably part of the reason, but it had been deeper than that. This revelation was indeed a lot, though, enough to keep them both lost in thought until they turned in for the evening with barely a mumbled goodnight.

---

They didn’t speak for the rest of the three days it took to bring Neketaka into view. Emiri was sure it wasn’t intentional; Aloth was a private person to begin with, and drew back into himself even further when confronted with... earth-shattering information like this. She let him have the time to think, until they were less than an hour out from port. Whatever was about to come when they met with the queen and other leaders, she wanted to be sure he was alright before it hit. 

So she dragged him into her cabin and shut the door before settling them both on the window seat. “What’s bothering you?”

Aloth snorted softly and ran an agitated hand through his hair. “What do you think?”

“Us being soul twin?”

He nodded stiffly, picking at a hangnail. “Though it does figure, I suppose.”

Emiri frowned at his disgruntled tone. “How do you mean?”

Something almost immeasurably sad flickered in his eyes as he took a deep breath and met her gaze. “You are the first person in my life who has cared about me so.. so unreservedly, with no ulterior motive. The first real friendship I’ve had that was a matter of choice on both parts. A better friend than I ever dreamed of having, really, and that’s something I’ve treasured every day since we met. Now...” He sighed and looked out the window. “It all makes sense. I knew it was too good to be true; that there had to be some twist to it.”

“What?” She frowned for a moment, then it hit her. “Aloth...” She took his hands, squeezed them gently. “You think the only reason I’m friends with you, that I care about you, is because we’re soul twins?”

He lifted one shoulder in a reluctant half-shrug. Emiri rolled her eyes and tugged his hand to encourage him to look at her. “Leaving aside that I fail to see how our souls being bonded in any way detracts from our friendship or cheapens it or whatever, I care because, well, caring is who I am and you deserve to have someone care about you. And I’m your friend b’cause I like you. Your trust and support and presence are all things I cherish deeply, and our souls being halves of a whole doesn’t change that.” She tugged him further forward, into a hug, hoping the gesture would reassure him even if her words couldn’t. “All our being soul twins means for me is this is not the first time we’ve been best friends.” She loosened the hug but left her hands resting on his arms as she caught his eye. “I care about you and you matter to me, apart from any soul-bond we might share. Is that clear enough?”

Aloth nodded, a wry smile curling his lips. “You’ve made your point.”

“Good.” Emiri pulled him in for another hug. This one he returned, and they sat there for a moment before Emiri let out an amused chuckle and sat back.

“What?” Aloth arched a brow in curiosity.

“Just... As if being godlike, a cipher, a Watcher, and having an Awakened soul didn’t make me special enough, now I have a soul twin, too,” she giggled.

“Don’t forget Berath’s Herald,” Aloth said dryly. 

“Oh, right, that too. Though I think They might be done with me now...” She shook her head. “I hope my next life gets to live in blissful ignorance of all this mess.” She snorted softly. “Except you. They could remember you without it traumatizing them.”

“They likely will, assuming that legend you shared has any truth to it,” he pointed out.

“Mm. And assuming there is a next life; this whole realization is basically moot if there’s no Wheel or something equivalent...”

“True.”

They were quiet a moment at the thought, watching the ocean waves pass by outside the ship.

“Aloth?” Emiri finally murmured.

“Hm?”

“Look at it this way, if we are soul twins, we’re the pair where it’s not because one splintered off the other, but rather because two kith were so close not even a silly thing like death could keep them apart.”

He laughed. “That does sound very much like us.” Beodul hollered down they’d reached the harbor, cutting off any further discussion. Aloth shot her an encouraging smile. “Ready to deal with the potential slow end of the world?”

Emiri laughed and squeezed his hand, tugging him with her as she moved toward the door. “I’m pretty sure together we can handle anything.”

Soul twins or no, they’d have each other’s backs and they both knew it. They were bonded by choice and friendship and that was really all that mattered.

[dolantmego]

The Fallout

Summary: You've got the chance of a lifetime. Directing the Broadway premiere of an original script. But your two lead actors throw you for a loop. Especially when Ethan Dolan shows up and just about makes your knees go weak. Professional integrity and family drama? What could go wrong?

Warnings: None really. Mention of an impure thought and some family trauma. Not graphic!

A/N: So this is the first part of a series I’m considering, or maybe its just a one shot. I’m not sure. I was feeling inspired. I hope you all like it? (also this is like 10 pages in Word that is CrAZy) The lines are POV changes? I hope that reads?? I didn’t want to write it in, I was hoping it would come across. We’ll see I guess.

Another opnin’...another show…

Slowly the space begins to fill with people. Some are running around in various states of dress, multiple men are swinging around swords, sounds of tools echo through the expansive area, carts and flats are being pushed from side to side and getting tucked away in corners. You take a deep breath try to expel the morning out of your body, the smell of hairspray, wood, and coffee was usually a comforting one. Usually.

A small girl brushes past you--chased by a small boy who almost knocks you over. And slowly the well oiled machine around you begins to fall apart. The children dash under racks of clothes, crew members are swerving around them with furniture, dancers trip and fall, all while the two children continue dashing around maddeningly.

“Edith! Parker! Slow down!” The resident stage mom, chases after the two children with their mic packs. Usually you’d laugh and enjoy watching the older woman try to wrangle the two kids together. But today? Today you definitely weren’t having it.

You look over to your stage manager--LJ--and your lips press into a hard line. The woman, thank god, already has her lips on the god mic. Her booming voice comes through the speakers in the theatre and everything comes to a halt. Except for you, stepping through the crowd to come to the front of the stage.

“Parker and Edith Dolan to the front of the stage please. Parker and Edith Dolan.” 

You turn around and give a thumbs up to LJ in the back of the theatre who nods back. She goes straight back into her conversation with the lighting designer who is pointing around and making angry gestures at the catwalk. A brief sense of relief fills you, yes your producer fucked your morning up, but LJ dealt with more crap in a day than you think you could ever handle.

The two children appear next to you suddenly, both already in costume. Edith has her arms crossed over her chest and a grumpy expression over her face. Parker is smirking not so subtly. The two shared the same dark hair and pretty eyes, both were beautiful kids. But their attitudes were really starting to grate at your nerves. Just as you open your mouth to settle the situation, the stage mom comes running up along with your assistant--who looks like a deer in headlights as always.

“I am so sorry Y/N. It won’t happen again. They got away from me and I’ve already called their mother, but she is out of town so their father is on his way but he lives in New Jersey so it is going to take some time. The two brats are fighting again.” She gives them a hard look, “Not that they ever aren’t being awful. Couple of spoiled monsters who can’t control themselves if you ask me.” The children look off to opposite sides of the room and you wrinkle your eyebrows. This really wasn’t what you were in the mood for today. And the glorified babysitter seemed to only be getting worse at her job. You hold up a hand so that nobody else talks and turn back around to call to LJ again.

“LJ! Can you draft up this young woman’s severance papers. Her voice is starting to get on my nerves.” LJ doesn’t even look up from her cue book and gives you another thumbs up. You turn back around and move your ‘shut up’ hand into the woman’s face, who has already begun spluttering. Your assistant hands you your phone and you smile at her, “Thank you. If you could go work with LJ on her schedule for today that would be great.” Your assistant--is it bad that you couldn’t remember her name? The poor thing barely ever spoke--nods and takes off toward the back of the theatre. You put your hand in front of the woman’s face back around the cup of coffee you’re carrying and take the moment of silence to take a small sip of the warm drink. Your eyes never leave her’s, though you know the entire company is staring at the two of you.

“Why are you still here?” You ask with a raised eyebrow.

“You can’t just fire me! My voice isn’t a good reason! I could sue!” She sneers the last word and tries to get up in your face, but you take this opportunity to take another sip of your coffee. The cup goes up in the air between the two of you and she stumbles back like you’ve hit her. Ah ever the undiscovered actress.

You motion to the two kids behind the woman, who both look enraptured with the scene unfolding in front of them. The argument they were having before clearly forgotten as Parker steps in front of his sister. The kids had turned on a dime, one minute they were acting like the 7 and 11 year old you knew them to be, and the next they looked like they’d seen war. Though both of them were in show business, so they probably had. At least you hoped that’s what it was. Haunted looks in children’s eyes were somehow always 1,000 times worse than in anyone else’s.

“You can’t keep an eye on two children. You’re constantly seeking attention and causing issues. You’re a distraction. And I just witnessed you calling them names. Collect your things. Children with me please.” And with that you turned and headed into the audience to the table set up for you to take notes at. Parker takes his sister’s hand and follows behind you quietly. They stand on the opposite side of the table and watch as you sit down and lay out your notebooks and papers for the day.

“We didn’t know she called our parents.” Parker says. His voice was strong for someone so young and you nod, motioning for him to continue talking. “Edith and I were just playing. She told us we weren’t aloud to leave our dressing room at all. But we’ve been here since 8.”

“We were bored.” Edith speaks for the first time and you nod at her. That woman should have been fired weeks ago. You refrain from dragging a hand over your face, the kids hadn’t done anything wrong. Not really. Well they had, but after seeing who had been ‘taking care of them’ in action, you really couldn’t blame them for acting up. You fold your hands in front of you and lean over the table.

“I understand. I’m sure it is very boring for the both of you right now. However, I don’t believe in treating my younger actors like babies. We keep a stage hand with you both so that you don’t get injured around the others. I expect you to listen to them. Running around like you both were isn’t safe. It puts you in danger. The other actors. All the tech people. I know you both are better than that.” You raise an eyebrow and they both nod. The kids were fantastic actors, which was why you had cast them as leads, but they were some of the most curious, adventure-seeking, accident prone kids you’d ever met. “Okay. Now that we’ve got that over with I want to talk to you both about the end of act two? The scene wh--” You’re cut off by the sound of theatre doors behind you flying open.

The kids lean around you and their eyes go wide. A tall man comes stalking down the aisle toward the three of you. LJ stands and rushes over, your assistant scrambles to him as well, and you recognise him as the father you’d met a handful of times. The two women slow his descent toward you considerably, giving you enough time to stand and right yourself.

“Mr. Dolan. I’m sorry about calling you away from work, your children--” He cuts you off as he gets closer.

“Parker. Edith. Lobby. Now.” The kids give you a sheepish look as they brush past you and down the aisle.

“Excuse me Mr. Dolan, I’m LJ the stage manager. We’ve met a couple of times. Of course you remember the director, Y/N. I understand they are your children, but we are about to start rehearsal. You can’t just--” He cuts LJ off with a dark look. And she shuts her mouth immediately. He’s tall, dark, and definitely intimidating. She looks straight to you and you shake your head, motioning that you’ve got this. She throws her hands up in the air and huffs before walking off back to her station at the back of the auditorium. Edith and Parker have halted about halfway up the aisle, curious as ever. Now the man turns his wrath on you.

“Y/N, right? The voice message I was left by you all was completely unfounded. How dare you? They’re just kids! Of course they’re going to get bored. You’re supposed to keep an eye on them. Their contract--” You hold up your hand to cut him off like you had done earlier and his eyes blaze with furry. They were the same eyes that the children had. It would have made you smile, if the eyes across from you now didn’t hold so much hatred.

“Mr. Dolan--” you start

“Ethan.”

“Ethan.” You put your hand down and try a soft smile. “I’m sorry to hear that the phone call you were given was so inappropriate. That staff member has been taken care of. But I will ask you kindly not to use that tone with my stage manager or I. We, like your children, haven’t done anything wrong. The situation is being sorted out. The children are fine, and I’m sure would like to stay for the rehearsal.” You wave at the children up the row who are both nodding and look to your assistant. “Take them backstage and get them fitted for their mics.” She nods and smiles warmly at the children, who follow her quickly.

Ethan settles a bit and looks around awkwardly. You motion for him to take a seat next to where you had been sitting with the children. You didn’t want an angry parent leaving the building, god forbid you give your producer something else to bitch about. He taps his foot nervously and you wonder where the cool, confident man you’d spoken to over the phone multiple times had gone.

“Your children are very talented.” You offer casually, feeling the uncomfortable silence seeping into your skin. He seemed frazzled at about at his wits end, so you’d let him start the serious conversation if he felt the need.

“My children?” The confusion in his voice throws you off. Realization dawns on his handsome face. “No they aren’t mine. Eadie and Parks are my niece and nephew.” Your face screws up in momentary confusion. They look just like him. “They’re my twin brother Grayson’s kids.” He clarifies with a small smile, “They’re great, sadly not mine.”

That made sense, you could see the differences between the men now. The other Mr. Dolan was a bit bigger than the one in front of you, he had a darker tan too. But Ethan had a sort of genuine air about him that his brother lacked when speaking to you. Grayson had been cool and suave in front of you, a goofy dad with his kids--loud as fuck, but the demeanor Grayson had flashed in front of your eyes wasn’t one that held your interest for long. Not that both of them men weren’t handsome, bit you felt yourself getting far more attached to Ethan than you ever were with his brother. It felt like small tethers had formed in the air between the two of you and had slowly began connecting the longer you stood close.

Despite his wistful smile about the children, Ethan carried a small sadness behind his eyes and it makes your heart ache. How such a beautiful man wasn’t already snached up in the 2.5 kids, white picket fence, american dream you had no idea. Suddenly you’re sucked into the thought of what that would look like with the man sitting across from you, and you don’t know it, but he’s thinking the same thing. Would they have Ethan’s eyes? Yours? What would he look like holding such a small baby in his large arms? What would it feel like to be held in his large arms?

You shake that last thought off quickly. It had been too long since you’d been out, you’d definitely let this production take over far too much of your life. Quickly you stand and he does the same, both of you now standing awkwardly in the middle of the theatre.

“Well. It was nice to meet you Mr. Dolan. But I have to be off to start rehearsal.” You hold out your hand for him to shake and he engulfs your small hand in his large one. The warmth and slight roughness to his skin makes you feel things that were definitely not appropriate for this moment in time. Electricity charges between the two of you, and it is Ethan who pulls away quickly this time. Your eyes widen and you rub your hands on your pants nervously. He has got to go. Now.

Right?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ethan hadn’t planned on all of this for the day. He had to cancel his meetings after assuming that he’d have to pull the children out of the entire production and drag their asses back to New Jersey. Luckily he’d even been in town today otherwise he didn’t know what he would have done. Not that he told the woman on the phone that. The ‘I have to drive all the way from New Jersey’ card usually got him intimidation points from other adults. He learned that early on with the two kids.

He didn’t expect the phone call, but what he certainly didn’t expect was to run into the gorgeous director his brother had told him about, Y/N. Grayson had flirted with you on many occasions according to what he told Ethan, but ‘the woman is an ice wall bro.’ Ice wall was far from what Ethan was getting from the beautiful woman. You were hard and strong, sure. And Grayson always liked the sweet women. Ethan liked all women to an extent, but the ones that kept him interested the longest--more than a couple of hours--were the ones he knew could hold their own. And you most definitely had. He was sure he look terrifying barreling down the aisle like a barbaric wall of muscle. The thought almost makes him flush, but he knew he’d do anything for those kids.

He watches you carefully when you stand, ready to rush off away from him he’s sure. Ethan opens his mouth to say goodbye, but stops when he has a better idea. For some reason he’s suddenly very attached to the idea of spending more time with you. And luckily his guardianship of the munchkins currently backstage provided him the perfect opportunity to do so. Besides, if what you’d done earlier when ordering people around with that cool, strong-- and dare he say it--sexy as fuck tone was gonna happen again? Well he really wanted to be around for that.

“Actually. I’m already in the city, and traffic is going to be hell to get out by now. I was wondering if I could stay and watch the kids?” He smiles his most charming smile and hopes it works, because if he could stay, then you would have to take a lunch break at some point right?

“I’m sorry, but these are closed rehearsals.” A voice sounds off behind him and Ethan whips around to see the short woman dressed in all black with her hands on her hips. Shes got 2 pencils in her hair and a headset around her neck, along with the fury of god in her eyes. Ethan turns back around to you quickly and softens his eyes a bit, hoping the look of hope will bring your pity out.

And oh does it work.

“LJ I’m sure it’s not too much trouble. Right? If Mr. Dolan sits in the back? He did have to come in all the way from New Jersey?” Ethan catches the look you give to the other woman, LJ, who rolls her eyes and throws her hands up again like she did before.

“Whatever! God forbid I have control over my own fucking rehearsal.” She mumbles before halting off to the stage to get actors into places. Ethan tenses up a bit, but when he notices the amusement on your face it’s an instant relaxer. The small smile on your lips and sly look in your eyes made his chest tighten, from the leader, to flustered, to the little minx you’re being now, he was sure he wanted to see what you were like all the time. Everyday.

Fuck. Where did that come from?

Ethan usually likes to shake off thoughts like that. After seeing what Grayson and his wife went through, he was far from interested in getting caught up in the same thing. His little brother, his twin, Ethan’s real other half, had suffered so much dealing with that relationship. Neither of the boys ever said her name, the children only vaguely remembered her. Thank god. He’d never forget the call he’d gotten from Grayson. All the looks their little family had gotten afterword. But Grayson was finally starting to get his groove back, Ethan, Cam, and their mom were helping with the kids, and Parker and Edith seemed to be recovering. They were doing their best.

Standing in front of you made Ethan almost giddy. Watching Gray fall apart like he did kept Ethan far from wanting any woman for more than a night or two. If that. It had been 5 years since everything had gone down. He hadn’t been interested in anybody really. Women had tried, and Ethan was no saint. But committing to more than a night sounded like a suicide mission.  But, he felt drawn to you in ways he’d never felt with anyone before. He found himself desiring to make you smile. To play with your hair. To see what you look like in the morning. Under him. On top of him.

His thoughts were getting out of hand.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why in the hell had you asked LJ to let him stay? You want to kick yourself, but the hopeful look on his face brings butterflies to your stomach. He does look really sweet. Exhausted and frazzled, but sweet.

“You can sit anywhere you’d like as long as you’re quiet.” You offer him a small smile, and instead of opting to sit in another row he sits right back down in the seat next to yours. You stiffen slightly before holding back a laugh, and take your spot next to him. It felt very fitting. LJ comes walking back downstage and gives you a thumbs up, you grab your notebook and return the gesture, pen in hand.

The lights in the theatre blink to notify the designers to sit and you settle back, comforted in the moments of peace before the show starts. You’d always loved this moment. The room goes quiet and there is a hint of promise in the air for what is to come. It was one of the things that connects you to your job. The idea that everything happens right there before everyone’s eyes, you get one shot. One chance. That’s it. Holding what becomes your baby up for everybody to see is terrifying, which was part of the reason why you kept such a hard ass persona on. It helped gain you respect and get you where you are today.

LJ calls for go, actors enter, and you are instantly scribbling notes down on paper. Frantically writing while trying not to look away from the action onstage. Usually your assistant took your notes, but you had sent her backstage to keep an eye on the children. So you were back to the messy scribbles you’d have to decipher at the end of the day.

During the stumble through, designers come up to you and there are discussions about costumes and lights, sound and sets. You peak over at Ethan and watch him react to the show, but he must notice that you’re looking at him because he turns to you openly and smiles. Just as you’re about to open your mouth to ask what  he thinks, the costume designer taps on your shoulder and starts talking wigs on Edith at the same time the sound designer is asking your thoughts on a crash box vs a recording. You hold up a hand to the costumer and turn to answer the other designer, and Ethan snorts. It almost breaks your cool for a moment. Almost.

A while later you all have finally stumbled through to intermission, and that marks lunch break. You sigh back into your chair tiredly. This was one of the most stressful productions you’ve worked on. You’d never done a premiere before. So here you had nothing to go off of other than your own thought baby. Which at times was great, other times you found yourself overwhelmed and exhausted.

“That was amazing.” Ethan says, you turn and look at him underneath the hand that had floated to cover your eyes. You smile at him tiredly, it really was a great show. You had no doubts. You’d worked hard, but you had rules about talking to other people about the work you’d done. Always give everyone else credit before yourself.

“Everyone is doing a really great job. It’s a fantastic crew of people. If you’ll excuse me for a moment I have notes to give before we release for lunch.” You give a hand signal to LJ who has her crew round up the actors. You smile at Ethan before hoping up with your notebook and strutting through the theatre like you owned the place.

The extra sway to your hips may or may not have been on purpose.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ethan watches as you sashay away from him and up onstage. He sits back in his seat and grins. The way you move so confidently just screamed sex to him. He stops. Again. Not an appropriate thought you dickwad. He holds back a groan when you start snapping at some of the actors for fooling around. He watches as you go through things and explain things to people, almost like a teacher fantasy come to life.

What the hell.

When did he turn back into a horny 19 year old kid? Everything you did just made him want to grab you, or let you grab him? Fuck he really wasn’t sure. He decides to focus on his phone instead of you up onstage, do to the impending possibility of a poorly placed boner.

12 missed calls from Grayson

37 texts from Grayson

Fuck. Ethan quickly opens his phone to texts from his brother freaking out about the kids. Ethan hadn’t texted him back after he’d called Gray to explain that he probably had to go remove the kids from the premises. Just as Ethan starts to text, he gets an incoming call from his brother.

“Hello?” Ethan whispers quietly.

“Hello? HELLO? THAT’S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY TO ME RIGHT NOW ETHAN? WHERE THE HELL ARE MY KIDS? WHY DIDN’T YOU CALL? YOU SAID YOU WOULD CALL.” Grayson got like this a lot with Edith and Parker. Not that Ethan could blame him. He winces at the sound of his brother’s voice cracking on the other end. He’d really been messed up waiting to hear from Ethan.

“I’m sorry! I’m in the theatre right now. It was a misunderstanding. They let me stay to watch the kids perform dude. I’m sorry I didn’t call. They’re okay.” Ethan quickly pulls his phone away from his ear to snap a picture of the two of them for his brother. Right at the moment where Y/N is bending down next to them. Ethan almost groans. You’re beautiful. Strong. And you’re perfect with the two little lights of his life? Fuck fuck fuck.

Ethan can practically hear the tension slip out of Grayson’s body over the phone when the picture sends. He gets up and slips into the lobby as to not disturb the rest of the rehearsal. He doesn’t tell Grayson, but he saves that picture too. The three of you were smiling at each other and the kids looked enraptured with you, somehow Ethan already knew how they felt.

“You should see them up there Gray. They look great.” Ethan can finally talk at a normal level in the lobby, and he straightens to get some walking in after sitting for so long. Grayson sighs on the other end of the line.

“I’m not sure if that was a dig at my ability as a father or a genuine statement Ethan.” He says quietly. Ethan looks down at his feet, truthfully it had been both. But he’d never tell Grayson that. The kids didn’t want to leave New Jersey and Gray was running the  LA branch of their production company. It wasn’t like he’d run off, but still. You could see that they missed their dad.

“No Gray,” Ethan takes a deep breath to hold back the tight feeling in his chest. How had they gotten here? “I just wanted to tell you how wonderful they’re doing. Everyone here loves them. Y/N thinks they’re fantastic actors.” When Grayson responds Ethan can hear the emotion in his voice, he misses his kids. But Grayson was the one with the contacts and the ��in’ in LA. Ethan had tried, but his branch and contacts were here. Thriving at opposite ends of the country was hard enough for the twins, but Grayson also lost his kids in the mix.

“They are great kids.” Grayson comes through the line quietly and Ethan nods even though his brother can’t see him. They had more tense conversations like this one than not these days. Both taking out their frustration with the separation and distance on each other. Ethan knows things will be more normal when Gray comes back into town for a visit, but the tried look never really leaves his brother’s eyes.

Its at that moment when the double doors to the theatre bust open and a two kids pop out from the other side, making a mad dash for Ethan.

“Uncle E! You stayed to watch!”

“Did you like it E-tee?”

“Did you see me in the air? With the thing and I went woosh?”

“Can you hold me?”

The last one had come from Edith, also occasionally dubbed E, after her uncle. Ethan brightens instantly when the kids bombard him and scoops up Edith in his arms, letting Parker attach to his other side. They looked so much like Grayson to Ethan, but Gray saw so much of their mother sometimes it hurt.

“Hey! There are my monsters, my little loves! Guess who's on the phone and wants to hear all about today?” He nuzzles Edith’s face and she squeals, Parker instantly reaches up for the phone and grabs it out of Ethan’s hand.

“DAD!” Parker yells into the phone, and Edith is already squirming out of his arms and running over to her brother--who’s already got his dad on facetime.

“Guys! Share!” Ethan shakes his head as they continue to argue over the phone, before Edith finally wrestles it out of her brother’s hands and takes a seat on one of the lobby chairs. Parker huffs and squeezes in beside her while she rambles on about something that happened earlier.

“You seem to get them pretty well,” a voice from Ethan’s dreams rings behind him and he smiles before even turning around.

“I was there when they were born. I’ve been here ever since. They have a special place in my heart.” He shrugs and turns to face you, “Thanks for walking them out. What time do they have to be back from lunch?”

“They get a long break right now while the adult actors come back for the knife training. Which none of us are needed for. So I was actually wondering if I might join you all?” Ethan smiles even brighter at your question, which makes you smile back. Your smile makes his chest feel weird, but not the same way that the conversation with his brother had. This was different, warmer. And it warms him even more when you blush lightly.

“Lunch it is.”

[sunshineandfangs]

Klarosummer - Quote || Abhang Samsāra

Quote: “Farmers markets aren’t just for hippies.”

@klarosummerbingo​

Caroline suppressed a groan, feeling the start of a headache merrily pounding away behind her temples and brow. And she wondered what she had done in a past life to deserve this.

I’ve gone native, she thought wryly, amused despite herself, for she knew exactly what she had done in her past lives. And quite frankly she didn’t think she deserved this dudebro lingering in her space, having been attempting to flirt and talk himself up (both badly) at the same time for what had to be almost 30 minutes now.

“-thought hippies were more wild,” he sneered, apparently finally catching on that she hadn’t been paying even a lick of attention.

Caroline blinked, honestly not sure what he was even talking about or if it was somehow supposed to be an insult. She barely refrained from rubbing her forehead as she started to respond, staring him dead in the eye so he could properly appreciate just how few fucks she gave about him.

“Look, I’m not sure what logic you’re attempting here, but it sucks. First of all, farmers markets aren’t just for hippies. They’re a way for smaller producers to advertise and sell products, and they’re good for the local community.” She watched with rightful schadenfreude as his eyes started to glaze over. “Secondly, whether they do or do not attract a larger than average population of hippies has nothing to do with your success or rather lack thereof with getting a girl to hop on your tiny dick.” Caroline let herself smirk as his jaw dropped in shock, an angry and embarrassed flush creeping up his face.

He spluttered, trying to defend himself, but she just talked over him. Karma, really. “Finally, those “wild, free-spirited hippies” or however you’re stereotyping them probably have even less time for your bullshit. So, do yourself a favor and just go home before someone less tolerant than me decides to shut you up.” She waved him off, turning to the next customer, “You have a nice day now.”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the boy open and close his mouth like a dying fish, outraged but too dumbstruck to know how to react. The man she had shifted to greet apparently lost his own patience as he turned to face the boy.

“Off you go,” he mocked. 

And she rose an eyebrow at the docile obedience, sensing the light flare of power. A vampire? How interesting.

He pivoted back to face her with a charming grin to hide the hunting expression in his eyes.

“Quite the sharp tongue you have, love.”

She wondered what he wanted, sensing he wasn’t seeking something as basic as blood. Her ponderings were expertly masked though as she simply raised an eyebrow in response.

“Hmm, and my tolerance has already been worn down, so please buy something or leave.” Her smile was bland, even as she watched barely concealed ire enter his eyes.

---

Klaus wasn’t sure if he wanted to admire the young blonde’s audacity or choke it out of her. It had certainly been a long time since someone dared speak to him with such dismissal. 

She hardly knew his identity though and he’d rather she stayed precisely where she was. So, he turned up the charm, letting his smile deepen the dimples on his face. Cocked his head just so, to draw her eyes down the smooth lines of his neck, across the open collar of his Henley.

“Of course, sweetheart, I’m sure your time is valuable.”

---

He was good. 

The dimples, the accent, the seemingly innocent head tilt. Even his apparent polite concession after she had been more rude than not. Had she truly been just the 22 year old she appeared to be, he would have likely gotten her hook, line, and sinker.

Unfortunately for him, she wasn’t.

Thus, her reaction was perfectly polite, but distant as she gestured with her arm toward her collection of binned produce. “Please, take your pick then.”

---

Klaus made a show of rifling through the various baskets of fruits, subtly flirting all the while. He was both impressed and offended when she didn’t respond at all, maintaining a polite façade, but no more. 

Thanks to his minions he knew she was at least partially attracted to men, probably entirely based on her dating history, so it wasn’t that. Not that he needed her to like him, but it would certainly make it less suspicious to linger. And considering everything that was at stake he was hardly going to leave such a task up to the help.

He decided to make a more blatant pass, peered up at her through his lashes, slightly bent over a crate of strawberries. Ensured his accent was a bit deeper when he spoke.

“Ah, apologies, I realize I haven’t introduced myself. Please, call me Klaus. May I have the name of my lovely, sharp-tongued vendor?”

---

Internally, Caroline marveled at her luck. Realized he must have been what drew her soul to Mystic Falls. Not every life had dramatic purpose or whatever one wanted to call it, but it was rare she would appear somewhere so obscure without the hand of destiny being at work.

And now Klaus of The Sun and Moon Curse was at her metaphorical door. Well then, she might as well catch him off guard now, while the effort to mass compel people would hopefully be more work than he wanted to exert.

“Klaus,” she repeated, rolling the syllables across her tongue, wondering how things were about to change. “If even half the rumors I’ve heard of you are true, I’m quite certain you already know it. After all someone like you wouldn’t be lingering if not for a purpose, am I right?”

---

Klaus’ expression instantly hardened, his mind racing at this unexpected reveal. None of the reports he had received indicated the girl was at all aware of the supernatural, let alone informed enough to have heard of him. 

Of course, he knew about the so-called council, with their sworn duties to protect the town against vampires. But the good sheriff showed no indication she had ever told her daughter a thing. And the girl herself had seemed as ordinary as they come, a bit overachieving perhaps being on a startling number of committees, but normal. Too human even, seeing as she returned from college to take care of her sick mother.

“I must admit it’s been a long time since someone surprised me, Caroline.” As he spoke he let menace seep into his voice, hoping she wasn’t going to make him chase her.

It would be troublesome to deal with the fallout of such a spectacle, but he would if she pushed him. This chance would not slip through his fingers.

---

Caroline’s wariness spiked as she caught the look in his eyes. She’d have to be more careful. Whatever had brought him here must be more important than she thought, if it put such a dangerous glint in his eyes.

“Well,” she started carefully, “I have to admit to my own surprise. I wouldn’t think a tiny town like this one would be of any interest to you.”

He chuckled darkly. “Oh, you’re quite correct about that, sweetheart. I could not care less about this place.”

It was a warning and threat all rolled into one, daring her to test his resolve. Caroline wasn’t particularly attached to this place, but she did love her mother. And she wasn’t so cruel as to go out of her way to condemn the residents to be the gruesome aftermath of an immortal’s rage.

She pursed her lips. “You’ve made your point, Klaus, I won’t make a scene. Just tell me what your want. I’m not going to indulge in some kind of sick game with you.”

“Good thing I’m not playing, sweetheart. Now, you’ll make your excuses to leave, and then you’ll come with me. If I catch even a hint of duplicity your mother will be the first to suffer my wrath.” His smirk was a monstrous thing to behold. “Obey me and I’ll permit you to visit her under my careful watch.”

She already knew she would go with him, quite assured he’d carry through with his threats, though she was also quite confused. What use was she to him? Had he learned the truth of her, wanted to use her knowledge for something?

Caroline nodded to him, hurried to excuse herself from the market and felt his gaze burning a hole in her back as she did so. When she returned to his side, a warning hand settled on the small of her back. The two of them appearing as some happy couple rather than abductor and captive.

“What do you want from me, Klaus?” She whispered as he helped her into his car. The manners seeming ridiculous considering everything.

He didn’t respond immediately, situating himself in the driver’s seat and backing out of the space. He stayed silent as he drove and she figured he wasn’t going to answer when he finally did.

“There’s a rather pesky curse I want to break, love. Several years ago I thought my chances were ruined, but as it turns out,” he glanced over at her a covetous expression on his face, “you’re my missing piece.”

Understanding flooded her. She had heard that The Sun and Moon Curse required a Doppelgänger, creatures born of Silas’ and Amara’s tampering. Her circumstances were different though, and never had she cursed her consistent appearance more. Not even when it had caused immense trouble during the times she had been born to parents that looked nothing like her.

See, despite the surface level similarities she was not a Doppelgänger. Her blood didn’t carry the magic he needed.

Caroline suppressed a ragged sigh. She was going to have to be the one to inform him of his mistake. Not something she was looking forward to. What had she done to deserve this again?

She closed her eyes, deciding to wait until they were out of a multi-ton moving vehicle to be the barer of bad news. ...Still, what did a being such as her fear of death? Innumerable millennia and innumerable lives, even Klaus was nothing in the face of that. 

---

Author’s note: The title today is Hindi/Sanskrit for “Unbroken Cycle.” Admittedly it doesn’t have much connection to India beyond the utilization of the ideas of reincarnation, which while not exclusive to Hinduism and Buddhism, are obviously very prevalent. Meanwhile the word Samsāra in and of itself is quite tied to the idea of reincarnation.

[artificialqueens]

A Clownfish & A Mermaid (5/?): Snatched! (Biadore) - doctor bitchcraftt

Anonymous request from AQ: “I love your fic of Bianca playing Adore for snatch game on bots, could you write one where Adore surprises Bianca by coming out as her? Maybe Bianca is being the host and doesn’t know till Adore appears.”

A/N: Keeping it non-AU by having it take place before Adore left for AS2, because as far as I remember she did have Bianca as her backup character for Snatch Game. And oh how I wish we’d been able to see that…  A little bittersweet, because we know Adore didn’t stay for Snatch Game.

Regarding Bianca’s waist measurement: her dress form is a 12, which has a 29-30 inch waist; additionally, it’s quoted as 28 in an article from years ago and she looks to be about the same size now.  Xoxoxoxo, bitchcraftt

********

“Show me what else you’ve got?”

Bianca lounged on the couch surrounded by piles of drag and half-packed suitcases.  Still in drag after hosting a show, she’d ignored the stare from the Uber driver (typical) and his awkward attempts at flirting (not typical), and blown through the door at full force to find Adore already spreading her chaos across every available surface.

NDA or not, Danny’s excited call a couple of days ago about accepting All Stars 2 made it clear that the planning had to include Bianca.  Roy kept his mouth shut at the objections he desperately wanted to voice - fallout from Danny' losing his dad, amongst other things - and promised his support in any way possible.

They’d spent the better part of the last two hours going through Adore’s drag, matching items to the list as best as they could and trying to guess what the challenges might entail.  Vintage shopping yesterday netted a gorgeous purple sequined shift that would go wonderfully with her crimped lavender wig, and they’d agreed on a half dozen other looks already before test driving for Snatch Game.  Adore’s Snatch Game needed to be strong, even stronger than her season six Anna Nicole Smith if possible.  Without Bianca and DeLa giving her a run for her money, she should be a standout.  Her first choice seemed decent, but having a backup option was always a good idea.

Danny had briefly complained about having to go into full drag and face for each look, but there was no way to get a complete opinion otherwise.  Because of that, she’d insisted that Bianca not watch her prep so that she would be able to give advice on the final product.  

Bianca was prepared to loan her anything she needed, and tried to guess what the character would be based on Adore banging around her closet and cursing.  After twenty minutes, Adore’s voice drifted around the corner.

“Close your eyes!”

“Really?"  Bianca rolled them instead.

"I want it to be a surprise!”  

She’d teased that it was another queen, and Bianca tried to picture her dressed as Alyssa or Laganja in things garnered from her own extensive wardrobe.  Although, Adore did have a wicked DeLa voice…

“Fine, they’re closed.”

The sound of heels clicking nervously on the hardwood heralded Adore’s arrival, tapping to a stop on the carpet in front of the couch.

“ ‘Kay, you can open them.”

Bianca blinked a few times, shook her head in disbelief, and tried to find her voice.

“You like it?"  

Adore had borrowed a pair of Bianca’s platform pumps covered in jet black rhinestones, and her nude fishnets showed where she held the weighted hem up.  Above that, she was corseted tighter than ever before over actual padding, clad in a fitted black velvet cowl-neck sleeveless gown with oversized sequin flowers pinned at the shoulder and hair piled up to ridiculous heights.  Was that five wigs? An assortment of sparkly bangles and large bracelets worked their way up from her wrists to almost the elbows on both arms.  To top it off, Adore had picked Bianca’s most obnoxious chandelier earrings to accompany the exaggerated eyes and what had to be eight pairs of lashes.

She clutched a throw pillow in front of herself, cocked a hip, and grinned before schooling her face into a disapproving frown.  

"NOT TODAY SATAN!"

Bianca opened and closed her mouth a few times, before starting at the floor and making her way up with a critical eye. The silence stretched between them, broken only by the clink of bangles as Adore fidgeted.  

"Well fuck me,” Bianca managed at last.

”…was that a good fuck me?”

As she watched nervously, Bianca’s blank expression transformed into a howl of laughter, raspy cackle filling the room.  Unable to speak through it, she flailed wildly.  Adore’s smile drooped a bit on the edges, face gone anxious.  Her posture melted into a slouch, vaguely ridiculous given the silhouette of her outfit.

”…okay, I get it.  I look fucking stupid, and I’ll -“

Bianca pushed off the couch, catching her hand before she could do more than turn.  

“N- no!  Don’t!  It’s…fucking…hee hehehe hee hee- oh my fuck it’s perfect!”

“Yeah?”

“Lemme hear what you’ve got planned."  This should be something else.

Adore scowled, dropping her voice and rolling her eyes.  "I ain’t got time for this.  Beat it queen!  Need help packin’ ?”

”Fuck you bitch, I do not sound like that!  You sound like you’re gargling gravel in there.”  After a night of yelling at a crowd her own voice was scratchy and rough, and Bianca couldn’t hold a straight face.  “All right fine, maybe I do.”

She pulled her into the drag room to stand side by side in the mirror, ignoring how the usually neat racks of dresses looked like a tornado touched down.  Without her own heels on she was the better part of a foot shorter than Adore, but together they looked like Bianca standing next to some of the more accurate fan art.  Seeing her own signature evening gown on Adore’s body set her off again.

”Adore Del Rio,” she giggled, dabbing at her eyes, “this might be the best fucking thing I’ve ever seen.  Including Anna Nicole.”

“Really?“  

"Not when you stand with your mouth open like that,” Bianca teased, nearly losing it again when Adore stuck her tongue out.  

“Put your hand on your hip.  No, like this,” Bianca repositioned Adore’s arm and tugged her knee until her right leg crossed in front of the left, bent slightly.  “Emphasizes the hips, it looks more feminine like that.”

“We won’t be doing runway like this, I’ll fucking trip over the hem.  I hope?"  

“You wanna be prepared.  And you’re taller so it won’t hit the floor…Visage is going to love that."    

The sequined flower was perfect and she didn’t need a necklace, but… “Here.”  She pulled the bracelets off and dug back into the jewelry drawers, discarding some and adding others to the pile.  She slipped them back onto Adore’s wrist sorted by color, switching the smaller beads for chunkier ones.  “Exaggerated but still detail oriented.”  

A second pair of less garish earrings followed, Bianca’s signature hoops with colored beads.  “In case you wanna use them for something else.  Now sit.”  She nudged her down in front of the vanity, picking up eyeshadow.  "Gotta get you beyond clown."

Frowning in concentration, she gripped Adore’s chin gently to hold her steady and reached for a lipliner.  "Your lips are full enough, don’t overdraw, just make the Cupid’s bow curved right here."  Adore had done a good job reproducing her eyes, although the liner was a bit more winged than Bianca would wear it.   Punk rock style or not, Danny was a talented makeup artist and the Bianca face only needed a little bit of adjustment.  “Raccoon territory next.  You need to avoid too much color on the lids.”  With a few deft strokes, she painted even darker eyes and added more white to the bottom lids before making the beauty mark bigger.

Once satisfied that the face was right, Bianca collected a few items - two shades of gloss, new packages of lashes - and zipped them into a cosmetic bag with the earrings for Adore to pack.  "Stack them fresh, you don’t want to wear someone else’s lashes, who knows-”

“Yes mom."  Her tone of voice implied that this was yet another lecture.  "I know, but they’re yours so…"  She wilted a little under Bianca’s unimpressed stare.  "Okay fine, but it’s not like I’m gonna get eye herpes from them.”

Moving up from the face, Bianca studied the auburn curls tenuously balanced on her head.  Frowning, she pulled it apart to set three of the five wigs aside, teased and re-pinned, then nodded decisively.

“Forget you trying to do this in the workroom.  Let me style you a full wig so it’s ready to go.”

Adore nodded and stood, leaning on the table for support.  Bianca narrowed her eyes when she noticed that she seemed to be slightly out of breath.

”Can you breathe in that?”

”Yeah?”

“That shouldn’t be a question.  You need to be able to sit for an hour, you remember what it was like.  Show me how you’re cinched.”  When Adore seemed reluctant, Bianca bent to hike up the skirt of the gown, waiting until Adore took the fabric from her before peeling the dress up her midsection (thank goodness for stretch velvet) to reveal the corset.  

"Adore.” The gently chiding tone was worse than annoyance.  “You’re not Chachki for fuck’s sake.  We can get rid of some of that padding and loosen it up."  While she spoke, Bianca turned Adore around to untie the laces before unzipping the front to reveal angry red welts where the boning strained around her waist.  Sighing, she pulled the tights down enough to work the pads out from underneath.  

"But…” Adore protested, “your waist is so small!”

“It’s about proportion.  You’ve got enough to cinch in without the pads. Just make your tits a little bigger, squeezing down to this isn’t going to even show when you’re sitting behind a table."  Bianca searched on the side table for a tape measure, wrapping it around her own waist.  "I’m 29 corsetted, 30 with the gown.  I only take two inches off.”

“I wanna get it right."

The muttered comment seemed more weighted than just a corset disagreement and Bianca paused with her hands on Adore’s hips.  "Pussyface?

"It’s…” Adore met her eyes, more serious than she’d been the entire night.  “I don’t want to disappoint you.  What if I fuck this up?"

"Hey."  Even with the heels, Bianca still needed to tip Adore’s chin up to make eye contact.  "You’re gonna be amazing, you hear me?  They’re lucky to have you, and it doesn’t matter what happens on some reality tv show filmed in RuPaul’s basement.  You could go home the first week and I’d still be proud of you for going back in to that fucking shark pit.”

Adore was silent while Bianca zipped her back up and smoothed the dress back down.  Bianca turned her to face the mirror again, and was relieved to see the small smile.  

“Really, pussyface,” she felt the need to repeat, “I’m so proud of you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

[pokesception]

Whelp, started playing pokemon sword.  Have complained quite a bit here about dexit & related issues, and honestly I would have skipped at least the initial versions of these games entirely, or at least held off on purchasing them until we could see just how egregious pokemon home will be.  But my brother got shield, and my problems with sword and shield are not so severe that I’m going to refuse to play a game with family.

Thoughts so far?  Setting dexit entirely aside it’s... another pokemon game, for better and worse.  Largely for the better.  The new monsters, at least those I’ve encountered so far, are fun and good.  Music is nice.  Tone is bright and cheerful.  I love my team, and my protagonist.  It’s been nice.

As expected going to a more powerful console, it looks better, but it’s not a huge jump from the 3ds games, not least because lot of the visuals of this game are ported over directly from those games, and the stuff that is new has been made so as to not clash aesthetically with the older stuff.  If you’ve seen mods of usum that display the games at higher res and without the black outlines, it’s very much like that.  Closer to that even than to the let’s go games in ways that I find difficult to articulate.  In and of itself that’s not a complaint, really, the game looks plenty good enough for a pokemon tame.  It’s just not a major leap forward in presentation like the leap from gen 5 to gen 6 was.

Gameplay is mostly what you might expect.  Tall grass battles are an interesting mix of pokemon you can see on the field and engage or avoid as you wish and random battles that appear in the grass.  The random fights appear as a rustling in the grass that again can be pursued or avoided, you just can’t tell what they’ll be before you bump into them.  Finding rarer pokemon in a route is often a matter of sneaking or dashing between the new pokemon to get to the random fight, then crossing your fingers and hoping for the pokemon you want.  I’m not sure if there’s deeper levels to it, like chaining or whatever.  At the surface level it’s engaging enough.

The new pokemon are great so far.  There’s a bunch early on that you won’t have seen if you avoided leaks, and that was really excited.  I went into gen 7 knowing every new pokemon and with a particular desired team all worked out in advance.  This time around I’ve avoided spoilers, and gamefreaks official previews have kept a lot more hidden, so it’s been really fun to meet a lot of cool new faces early on.

The game does let you skip some early tutorials, but still frustrates to no end by stopping you every three seconds for another unnecessary explanation or detour, so it’s still pokemon in that unfortunate regard.  Routes are, if anything, more linear than ever before, at least early on, with the exception of an early expedition through the wild area which... I’ll talk about later.

Experience share is always on and cannot be turned off.  It scales shared xp based on the level of the pokemon, with lower level pokemon getting a higher portion, but not by enough so it’s still a pain to keep everything in the same level range, and you’ll still probably be wildly over leveled from very early on with nary a challenge to be seen even if you try to avoid grinding.

You can access the box from anywhere, which can be used to help overcome both the maintaining-a-level-range and over leveling problems of the experience share, but it’s a hassle to do, and wouldn’t be necessary if you could just toggle off shared exp in the options menu.  And on another level it makes the game even easier, since attrition is much less of a problem when you can swap in fresh pokemon whenever you feel like.

The online functionality is... kind of bad.  Maybe it’s just my internet, but being online in the wild area causes all sorts of slowdown.  Worse, there’s no equivalent to the pss functionality from gen 6.  No way to just see which of your switch friends are online and directly offer to trade or battle with them.  No instead you have to contact them *outside of the game* to share a 4 digit password, and then hope that nobody else happens to be using the same password as you when you try to connect with each other.  Raid battles are neat, but infuriatingly use the same password hassle.  You can’t just have easy friend-only raids from within the game itself.

It’s marginally better then gen 7′s festival plaza, but it remains miles and miles behind gen 6′s pss system that was simple and intuitive, and just centuries ahead of anything that came before or after.

Apart from raid battles, the wild area is... interesting?  Not all that different from having just a really big route with subareas of various level ranges.  Not bad, but not as big a departure as I had made it out to be in my head.  An idea with some potential that future games might expand into something great but that, knowing this series, will just be dropped after a single generation instead.  I’m still pretty early in the game, so my opinion on it might change after returning to it later.

The biggest frustration of the wild area, and something that brings it down tremendously, is that while you can encounter, and with some effort defeat, pokemon there, you cannot catch them at all if they’re above an arbitrary level range set by your number of gym badges.  This runs so completely counter to everything almost good about the wild area that I basically swore the whole thing off until I get to the end of the game, and frankly they might as well have just made it a post game area at that rate.

It’s extra frustrating because the problem of a player getting access to a pokemon too strong for the game too early on is one that the pokemon games already solved infinitely more elegantly all the way back in gen 1!  Just make pokemon that you acquire at too high a level uncontrollable, exactly like traded pokemon, so you can catch that over leveled onyx or whatever, but can’t use it until you’ve progressed far enough in the game for it not to be over leveled anymore.  How hard is that?  And who cares if a player gets an over powered pokemon early and steam rolls the game?  If that’s how the player wants to play, why is it a problem?  It’s not like the main game is challenging to begin with, thanks to always on exp share its almost impossible not to have over leveled pokemon anyway, what does it matter if it’s because you caught them that way or because they just outleveled the game curve?  A better exp scaling system would fix all those problems anyway.

Pokemon games not only failing to progress and solve problems that return game after game, but also repeatedly forgetting solutions that the series has already implemented is the longest running and most frustrating and most justified complaint to level at the entire series.  Of course, in the past pokemon as a series always had one core feature that none of the other - often more innovative - monster hunting games that sprang up in its shadow could replicate.  Backwards compatibility, the ability to maintain your collection in full going forward from generation to generation in a chain unbroken since gen 3 on game boy advance.  And that’s where dexit puts a sour note on the whole business.

The last several pokemon generations have failed to significantly improve on the core gameplay of a nearly two decade old franchise, but for many that has been largely forgiven because each new generation could easily be viewed not as stand alone games but rather as major expansions to the same existing game.  Dexit breaks from that, and forces the new games to be viewed as stand alone games and... well they aren’t pad at all.  They’re still cute.  I’m having fun so far.  Sword and Shield is no Anthem, no Fallout 76, no singular disaster to turn an otherwise largely positive track record on its head, and the extreme negativity directed against the game has been way overstated, even probably by myself.  In particular any vitriol directed at the devs is almost certainly unwarranted, the problems that have been growing in the pokemon series generation after generation almost certainly come down to corporate decisionmaking way above the heads of anyone who actually *worked* on the game.

Still, now that gamefreak’s pattern of cutting progressively more and more corners has reached the point of cutting actual pokemon, it’s shouldn’t be surprising that a lot of people who had been giving all those issues a pass suddenly aren’t anymore.

And while pokemon sword and shield isn’t a bad game, it’s hard to compare it to something like oras or usum and say it’s worth 50% more up front cost AND an added monthly subscription to access features like GTS that used to be just part of the game to begin with.

The dex cuts would have been more forgivable if the games had been a major leap forward, whether in graphics or gameplay.  Monster Hunter World, for instance, had /dramatically/ less content in terms of sheer quantity than the games that came right before it, but it also completely overhauled the visuals, heavily revised and updated the core gameplay, and completely changed how the area maps worked.

Alternatively, I think all the people currently complaining about models and trees and balance would have been fine with ‘just another pokemon game’ if it had maintained the backwards compatibility, just as they’ve been alright with ‘just another pokemon game’ for game after game after game until now.  Imagine if gamefreak had announced sword and shield as the last main line games to maintain all previous pokemon instead of the first games not to.  Then at least everybody’s personal faves would have had the chance to see play on a home system, and sword and shield could advertise themselves as the biggest pokemon games ever and actually mean it, and players would have time to adjust to what was coming.

I’m reminded of a scene from the Gravity Falls Halloween episode in season one.  Mabel & Dipper had always trick or treated together, but this year dipper decided to ditch mabel to try and go to a teen party, arguing that they were getting too old for trick or treating.  To which Mabel says something along the lines of “I knew some Halloween would be our last, but I didn’t realize it had already happened.”

And that’s the feeling I have with pokemon right now, the wet blanket draped over all the bright colors and fun new characters and monsters in sword and shield.  I knew eventually pokemon games wouldn’t be able to keep supporting all the pokemon, I knew eventually my collection would be left behind.  But I didn’t think it had already happened.  And to find out that gen 7 of all games was the last ‘complete’ pokemon?  That’s just kind of sad to realize.  And while I am on balance enjoying sword and shield, it’s a realization that keeps coming back uninvited to sour the experience.

[satchaccuss]

SWJFO sure FEELS short at least.

This, like much of everything else I spew, is a rant. Sry.

Oh and there will be spoilers ahead for the game, so: sry.

Finished Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order yesterday (2019-12-01) and am now in the regular post-playthrough depression that always hits when finishing a game with no replay-value. Ooooh! Yeah I know some are gonna be mad at that, but it’s MY truth! The fact that the game doesn’t even have a new game or new game plus mode really drags. I bought it 2019-11-18, but because I was busy it wasn’t fully downloaded until 2019-11-22 and then I didn’t start playing until the next day and let’s say I then played maybe 3 hrs per day, let’s say everyday...then the game is around the 25 hrs mark, however: did I feel like it was time well spent? No. Did I feel satisfied with the ending? No.

Did I want to keep playing? For no reason? F*ck No! I mean I already got every secret and collectible before the final mission, so there is literally no reason to keep playing! This is the reason why dark souls has new game and new game plus modes, there is nothing to explore and do if you have already done it all! But if you get to play the game again, while keeping all outfits and weapons: you get some damn fine looking shots of your character looking awesome during boring-ass scenes you’ve already seen before! Honestly, the story was kind of meh in the end and the outfits were too few and the ponchos didn’t make any sense and the fact you don’t get to customize the colour of “you know what” until basically the end of the game just sucked all in all! Why wouldn’t you implement a “new game” mode in a game like this?! (I’m pretty sure the first one is just called “new game” and then the one after that is called “new game plus”, I think that was how dark souls did it at least, I can’t speak for the other games in the series tho it could have changed).

Seeing Cal wearing the outfit I chose and using the lightsaber I customized throughout the entire games cutscenes would be a much needed alleviation of a moderately boring story honestly... (But why can’t I change Cere’s saber piece on the other side?! I had to pick her piece for the other side too to make it look cohesive, and I didn’t like that, I didn’t want that, but it looks dumb otherwise!)

Yeah yeah, it isn’t as short as a usual indie-title, but it isn’t a Fallout game for sure, I mean I am still playing Fallout 4 every now and then because of all the shit you can do and all the different perks that can change your playstyle too... and because you can customize your character to look how you want and say kind of what you want and have it kind of matter and... *sigh*. 

Why is this Star Wars game so good but so bad at the same time?

I liked that you could change the buttons... I didn’t like that you couldn’t re-bind all things to new buttons. I mean having the shoulder button be block/parry only works in dark souls where the shield actually felt like it was there and oh it’s hard to explain, but it didn’t work for me in this game, so I re-bound it to the B-button and made dodge the Y-button. However, I didn’t know that the game f*cked itself and took away the “drop ledge”-button as well when I changed B. Luckily I, through my massive brain’s incredible problem-solving skills, managed to figure out I could manually re-bind the drop-button to my dodge-button (Y). I did google it first tho and got no useful information: instead I got a f*ck-ton of same-y sounding whining about pc-keybindings, which, for a console-user like myself: is f*cking useless! Apparently not a single other soul had had my issue! In the end, like I said, I figured it out, but still: The fact that the game didn’t warn me that I had consequently un-bound another command as well when changing the dodge-button was really shitty. Oh well. ...the game making X and B (because of my changed buttons no doubt, but still), the way to do double saber attacks was f*cking hilariously dumb tho and the fact that I couldn’t change that attack to other buttons really irked me let me tell you! I had to release the camera and steer sticks both during the fight that the game wants you to do it to push both X and B at the same time to perform the stupid attack! I literally could never do it again after because it was a hassle to let go of the left stick to awkwardly hold the controller somehow and push X and B down at the same time, my word! A useless attack since I could never do it smoothly. Not really the games fault, but still. Anyway...

...why was Cal a ginger?! You can’t have a ginger wear a red or pink outfit! It clashes! Couldn’t they at least have made his hair more of a brow-ish shade to ensure it would go with most colour-schemes. Ginger doesn’t go with red or orange because it is red-ish or orange! Then again: colour-wise most of the ponchos didn’t work with the under-outfits either so, gah! Who designed the cosmetics in this game!? It never quite looked right to me. 

...why was Anakin in it? I fail to imagine Anakin letting the empire murder children for no reason, yeah yeah: he murdered the kids in the temple that one time, but... he came back to his senses to rescue his son in the end tho right, so... Yeah ok, maybe not, but... I just don’t understand how torturing the kids make them inquisitors either, wouldn’t they just kill themselves right when they had the chance instead of actually doing the empires bidding after all they’d been through because of it? If Trilla was so angry at Cere for letting her get captured at all by giving up her potential location, why did she join and why did she stay? She could’ve killed her at practically any point, but didn’t and then she ended up dying in the end while kind of maybe kind of “forgiving” Cere anyway... I am confused as to how murdering force-users and kidnapping them and torturing them is even a viable plan at all, but then again I ain’t evil so... Sure sure, less potential jedi and all, but if one can turn to “the dark side” at any point then you can get off of it too at any point can’t ya? and if the kid was tortured to join you and stay, wouldn’t they be more likely to just f*ck off your “dark side”-shenanigans the moment you are out of earshot? Yeah, they make it sound hard, but I have no idea how this shit is supposed to work in the first place so what the heck do I know! Why is the “dark side” a thing in the first place? I thought the force was an all powerful omnipresent-kind-of-thing that moves through everyone and everything, why/how does it have a “dark side” if it is everywhere at all times? Technically, wouldn’t the ppl NOT force-sensitive and the ppl NOT using the force be the ones on the “dark side” of the force? They are the ones that don’t affiliate with it and can’t “feel” it after all... Technically the ppl on the “dark side” aren’t actually on a “side” of anything, they are just happening to use the force for evil. I can perhaps understand why the idiots in charge want something to blame, like our religious ppl inventing the devil, but the ppl that actually feel the force would know that there’s no such thing as a “dark side” of the force, right? And yet everyone, even Luke in that second new movie was all like “Oh my gawd Ray, you went immediately to the dark side, whine whine whine!” But the whole thing with you Luke was that you embraced balance, right? I mean you were all: green lightsaber but all black outfit and was so badass when ya rescued Han! It wasn’t Anakin that brought balance to the force like the prophecy Obi had had said: it was his son that managed it, right? Or was that retconned? ...anyway.

I feel like swjfo was so short and for the amount I paid for it, it sure as shit doesn’t feel worth it in the end. I mean, I was so shocked when I started up the game and was gonna load my save and saw that we were 54% or something through the game and the main story had barely picked up any pace!

This definitely felt more like a prequel to another, better, more story-rich and exploratory game. 

I hope that they are making the next installment where we as Cal explore balancing the force and get to use force-lightning! (I was so disappointed you never got to learn that in this game, it would have been cool... if the game was longer and there was more to do and more things to fight and such!) The fact that Merrin joined so late in the story was dumb, but a hope that they will make the next installment where we together with her and the other crew get a bigger cooler ship and get to explore the world to get rid of the empire together and learn about the force and such too together and maybe romance her or something too I guess, but a male option for the rest of us that don’t want to see that straight shit would be nice too of course. But if their story progresses nicely and their chemistry grows naturally, I wouldn’t necessarily mind in the end if they go steady with each other. 

Seriously tho, a warning from the game that there would be no more perks to be unlocked when I’d unlocked all of them would’ve been nice! At least an option to sink the extra points you could still get into health or force-meter or lightsaber attack strength, (kind of like in Asscreed Ori where ya could add points into increased arrow-damage or melee-damage of a small percentage indefinitely almost. I was literally expecting that to be the case with this game but nope!). Anyway, the second game should focus on us and the crew expanding our operation of defeating the empire by: gathering allies and tools and experience too I suppose and it should also focus on Cal beginning to research mastering all aspects of the force, maybe together with Merrin. Merrin herself should learn about the world and also learn it really wasn’t the jedi that were the cause of her loss and pain and grow as a person and grow closer to the og crew too. Not sure how to end that game tho.

The third and last installment should be one where we actually get to eradicate the empire and actually rebuild the world and potentially the order too. One where we get to actually find balance and get to use a red lightsaber and use force-lightning too without being evil! (That might be more of an end-game goal for the second game tho: Cal masters some of the many aspects of the force and gets to use force-lightning, but not enough to satisfy us maybe, so there’ll be a reason to play the third one or something lol). So: use a red lighsaber and more cool force powers including force-lightning and “master the force”, all the while also working to finish eradicate the empire. Maybe some world-building choices where we decide if or how the new jedi order should be and we become a council member and do council business and such. It could end with the entire world open too us, with little quests of minor significance but it’s something to do scattered around the planets and places on the planets, we get to “build bridges” with the ppl were are to protect as part of the new jedi order and heck, let me decide what should happen and then you just make the game for me yeah Respawn?

...anyway, final thoughts:

I am done with the game and have no reason to keep playing it. This makes me kind of sad, but in the end: the story was unsatisfyingly short and uninteresting and the ending left much to be desired. But! There is very minimal hope (knowing EA) that there will be more to come. Let us hope.

End of rant.

[misssophiachase]

With or Without You

Part 2 (you can read Part 1 HERE)

Gold on 27 Bar: Burj Al Arab Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai UAE - 1:03am local time

“You made me change and come down here in the middle of the night so the least you could do is actually speak,” Liam uttered. He’d usually feel more calm and in control but she had a certain effect on him he couldn’t shake, even more so right now.  

Yes, it was Fallon Carrington, someone he’d hoped would knock on his door again but her inability to converse was messing with his patience and composure.

“I’m just trying to articulate my thoughts,” she murmured, placing her tumbler of straight vodka on the table. 

Liam had never seen her so vulnerable before or so beautiful. She’d insisted they meet downstairs after changing out of her wedding attire in her room. Now dressed more casually in a white, Prada t-shirt and dark jeans, her face without a trace of make-up she looked absolutely breathtaking. It was as if she was laid bare in front of him and Liam couldn’t wait to finally have an honest conversation.

Liam had always been so open about his feelings but Fallon had shut down emotionally at every opportunity and even when she phoned him to say she’d chosen Culhane, her tone was telling him something entirely different. But Liam had to respect her choice, even if he didn’t agree.

“Well, I suppose we could start with why you ran out on your wedding with...”

“Don’t say his name,” she bit out, reaching for her glass and downing the remnants in one shot. 

“Fine,” he agreed. “But that doesn’t explain why you’re here?”

“I needed to get away and collect my thoughts.”

“In Dubai, of all places?”

“I heard it was nice this time of year,” she murmured unconvincingly, gesturing to the waiter for another drink. 

“You know for once it would be nice to hear the truth, Fallon. After all, I think it’s the least I deserve after you showed up on my doorstep after running away.” 

“I didn’t run away.”

“Well, you could have fooled me.” Liam regarded her curiously, noting her downcast gaze and sharp intake of breath. He didn’t want to hurt her but his curiosity was getting the better of him.But it wasn’t her voice he heard next.

“And boy what a surprise she got.” Sam interrupted. “No wonder she insisted on taking this chat to the bar given how your basically naked appearance was messing with her...”

“Sam,” she growled. “Not helping.”

“I don’t know, maybe we’re finally getting to the crux of the issue,” Liam said. “At least Sam is talking and not procrastinating.”

“Sam can’t stop talking or offering his opinion,” she huffed. “Why exactly are you here?”

“I came to give you this,” he gestured to her cell then placed it into her palm. “I never got this many messages on Grinder and we all know how adorable I am.”

“I turned that off for a reason,” Fallon mumbled, not wanting any memories of what she left behind and the subsequent fallout.  

“She’s in denial,” Sam mouthed to Liam. 

“I heard that.”

“Kind of difficult when I mouthed it, sis,” he shot back, much to her chagrin. “But you’re going to have to face the fallout sooner rather than later not hide out in Dubai with this Van Kirk hottie.”

“I’m not sure whether to be upset or pleased you think I’m hot?”

“Blame Fallon’s little plan to set us up at her first wedding to her cousin,” Sam reminisced as the barman stared at them curiously from afar. “I’ve never really stopped thinking you’re gorgeous...”

“Says the guy married to my brother?” Fallon growled. “Get your own...”

“Get your own what?” Liam shot back, his lips curving into a knowing smile. “I’m all for possessive Fallon as long as you mean it.”

“This is all your fault,” she hissed at Sam. “You throw all these feelings out into the ether because you miss Stephen and...”

“Here you are,” a lone voice inquired. She was stunning at first glance. All long, tanned legs and blonde waves cascading down her back and poured into a black, satin, night gown. “I was wondering where you go to Li Li.”

“Li Li?” Sam responded, his eyebrows shooting upwards. “And I thought I’d heard everything.”

“Sophia, now isn’t really the best time.”

“Funny that,” Fallon hissed. “This is so unbelievable! I flee my wedding to come and pour out my heart only to find out you are already engaged with this blonde hussy, I really should have known...”

“That is so rich,” he groaned not bothering to address her allegations. “You’ve barely said a word to me in the past hour. I’m pretty certain you wouldn’t know how to pour out your heart if you tried.” 

“Obviously this was a mistake,” Fallon muttered. “I’ll know better next time.” She’d fled the room before any of them had a chance to really register her absence. 

“I assume that was Fallon,” Sophia offered, arms crossed over her chest. “She’s even feistier than you mentioned.”

“Says the hussy,” Sam replied protectively before turning away himself. 

“Wait, Sam.”

“And why should I?”

"Because I’m not a hussy, just playing a part for my idiot cousin,” Sophia shared without being prompted. Liam didn’t even care about Sophia revealing her true identity, just Fallon as usual. “Don’t judge me.”

"Look, Fallon is in danger," he murmured knowingly not acknowledging his cousin's outburst. "You need to get her as far away as possible.

“But why?”

“It’s best you don’t ask questions and get her back to Atlanta immediately.” Liam grabbed Sophia’s arm and steered her towards the lift without a backwards glance trying to block out all the feelings Fallon had resurrected in such a short period of time.

He shook his head determined to get her out of his head if it killed him. That would be better than her facing the same fate. The sooner he left Dubai the better.

Next stop...Paris

[thelittlesushithatcould]

Fallout Meme!

I saw this on @courierspikeee and I noticed one of the tags was anyone who thought ED-E was the goodest boy, and i am 100% in that camp, so I hope nobody minds if I do this ;) Rules:

1. Choose an OC.

2. Answer them as that OC.

3. Tag 5 people to do the same.

1. What is your name?

"Doctor Wanda Thompson, of the Institute!” She laughs “oh, don’t give me that look”

2. How old are you?

"well that’s what we call a ‘complication’ . In reality I’m somewhere around 245? Give or take a few years. Being flash frozen really does a number on your sense of time”

3. What do you look like?

"Me? Oh, you know...curly brown hair, tan complexion, I’ve gotten a little softer as I’ve gotten older, more curves than in my youth.” She rubs her hand “I’ve also gotten some radiation burns during the course of my research. My hands, particularly, and a bit over my lip” She laughs “I like to think I look like a proper scientist, as well as a mother”

4. Where are you from? Where do you live now?

Wanda thinks for a moment, a small smile on her lips that catches on her scar, turning it a little lopsided “I was born on the cape. Over by Hyannis.” She pauses “I moved to Boston after that, to attend the Institute.” She shakes her head “i still live in Boston. just...under it, I suppose”

5. What was your childhood like?

“Wonderful” She laughs, and claps her hands together with a jovial grin “Simply wonderful! I spent more days than I could count out there on the sandy beaches, collecting samples of sea critters and studying them in their natural habitats” She leans on her hand , smiling “I can still smell the salt in the air, when I really think about it”

6. What groups are you friendly with? Are you allied with any factions?

“The Institute” She says without missing a beat “I’m their Director after all.” She waves her gloved fingers dismissively "I took the liberty of changing our standards and practices away from Playing God and into actually helping someone for a change.” “As for allies...well. I met this nice man who claims to have been a courier once. Rules Vegas now, he says. We hit it off fairly well.. and heavens... I suppose there’s the woman who took over Pittsburgh from those slavers...”

7. Tell me about your best friend.

“Nick? He’s fantastic” She points “I’ve never met a finer detective in my life. Even if he refuses to let me help mend his synthskin. Stubborn old bastard”

8. Do you have a family? Tell me about them!

“My husband. He died when we were all frozen, but...there were some strange circumstances involving Institute tech that helped us find one another through the barrier of life and death” She pauses, and frowns slightly “ah. And we had a son. but he turned out to be...well. We don’t like to talk about him”

9. What about a partner or partners?

“Curie! My beloved!” She hugs herself with an ear to ear smile “the cutest robot I’ve ever met in my entire life. I helped her get a body, you know. And for the longest time it was just me and her in the wasteland! Now Thomas, Curie and I all intermingle in a lovely little poly amorous triangle”

10. Who are your enemies, and why?

“oh hoho...” She covers her mouth “Bandits. The Gunners. the Enclave. The Brotherhood of Steel. Covenant. Rogue Institute Personnel..Honestly I’m probably forgetting a few”

11. Have you ever heard of The Brotherhood of Steel? What do you think about them?

“They call me the Bane of Steel for a reason” She smiles,  though there’s something almost vicious in it “When they tried to ‘help’ the Commonwealth by killing anything they wished and hoarding tech...” She mimes shooting into the sky “My one regret is that I didn’t keep their airship. Oh well”

12. What about The Enclave?

“HAH!” she laughs out loud, clapping her hands together again “Terrible! The worst idea I’ve ever heard! America fell, you old loons, rebuild it as something new instead of rehashing the same mistakes all over again”

13. How do you feel about Super Mutants?

“Fascinating creatures. I only wish I could meet the ones from the early West Coast. They’re a real testament to the FEV. If only they’d stop trying to fill me with holes long enough for a proper interview..”

14. What’s the craziest fight you’ve ever been in?

“oh...” she sighed “the time my friends and I destroyed the BoS?” She shrugs slightly “I went up into their blimp, and walked right up to that pompous ass who called himself their leader, before vaporizing him. I did manage to preserve his coat” She smiles slightly “Then we had to fight our way out of a sea of trained soldiers to get back to the ground and organize the destruction of their funny little blimp”

15. Have you ever fought a Deathclaw?

“Heavens yes, and I wish I hadn’t. They’re too gorgeous to kill!”

16. Do you like fighting?

“not really” She folds her fingers together with a sad look in her eyes “It’s always sad to have to harm someone or something. And to take a life is always a weight on the soul” She closes her eyes “but to fix the world, you have to survive...”

17. What’s your weapon of choice?

“Energy Weapons” She says with a bright smile “nothing like holding a buzzing laser rifle in your hands and feeling the raw INNOVATION that went into it” She shook her head “i also have a serrated revolutionary war sword I hooked a battery onto that i’m fond of”

18. How do you survive? Your wits, your charm, your skills, brute force, some combination? (a.k.a. what’s your S.P.E.C.I.A.L?)

“Intelligence” She said , holding up her hand “with a side helping of Charisma. You need to have a keen mind in the field of science. To analyze, theorize and know how to convince others to put those theories into practice...” She tapped her head “that’s the key to changing the world”

19. Have you ever been in a vault? What do you think about them?

“I’ve always hated Vault Tec. They invited me to join their little experiment, but I declined in favor of continuing my research into radiation and mutation. And then the damned bastards froze me!”

20. How do you beat all the radiation around here? Has it affected you?

“I wrote several studies on the effects of radiation exposure on the human body! hah, so I have some ideas on how to prevent it. Some lead lining in the clothes, lots of Rad-x and Radaway transfusions....building decontamination arches over all my doors. The usual stuff”

21. What’s your favorite wasteland critter?

“I love those funny little geckos” She smiled “They’re just so precious!”

22. What’s your least favorite wasteland critter?

“Cazadors” She frowned “i knew the idiot who made them back in the day. Hated him then. Damned fool made a flying plague”

23. How do you feel about robots?

“I ADORE robots” She says with almost girlish glee “I’ve always found them so interesting! While I’m a biologist by trade, I’ve always appreciated the sheer science of a robot. That glowing chrome...that hydraulic power...” She looks like she’s going to go on about this for a distressingly long time.

24. How many caps do you have on you right now?

“More than enough to fix the Commonwealth”

25. Nuka Cola or Sunset Sarsaparilla?

"Nuka Cola is absolute swill” She sniffs “ I’m a Sunset Sarsaparilla girl, myself. and just a little side note from one of my studies: Nuka Cola can melt a crab. A whole crab. Just saying!

26. Do you do chems?

“Mentats, Sometimes. I hate the damned things, but damn were they useful during particularly long and stressful studies”

27. Do you ever think about the Pre-War world?

“All the time. I remember it in all it’s glory...in all it’s faults. It was a flawed society built upon fear...but it was also peaceful, and comfortable... a place full of friends I’ll never see again...” She bites her lip gently “...I’ll help the Wasteland become something better... the Old World without it’s flaws..”

28. What’s your deepest regret? What would you do differently?

“Everything. I would have spoken up about the ethical issues I saw in the Institute before the war even began. I would have found another way to survive that wasn’t Vault Tec and it’s Trap. The ...the synth project maybe. I don’t know. I can’t dwell on this question too long without regretting almost everything I’ve done prior to my choice to change the Institute and fix the wasteland”

29. What’s your biggest achievement? Or what do you hope to achieve?

“Which leads us into this.. hah. When my son passed away, he left the Institute to me. in my hands. He trusted I’d keep us on the course he chose...but he was wrong. The Synths were an exercise in needless cruelty. A species created, given sentience and then called slaves and tools. I ...reorganized...the head committee, and demanded a stop to the hunting and production of synths. No more bodysnatching. no more ‘property retrieval’ . No more. There were those who fought me...and there were those who tried to remove me. But I’m stronger than I seem.” She smiled grimly “I got them to see things my way eventually. And with that, the Institute’s copious resources could be turned outward...and used to help the Commonwealth at large”

30. What do you want for the future? For yourself? Your friends? The world? ”I want...” She looks into the middle distance for a moment in thought “A world where we can all live in peaceful co-existence. Ghouls. Synths. Super Mutants, humans, true robots, and anyone else in that great wide world...I want a world where we can all work towards a mutual understanding and betterment of this wonderful Second Chance we’ve all been given”  And now for the tagging <3 @queenofblackcrows @spookdoggy @corpsewyrm @ all those who think Curie is a sweetheart @ all fallout fans who may see this? idk <3

[doylebuus03-blog]

What to Expect From Fallout 76?

Then, you'll be asked to pay the balance of your order at the shop. Each number corresponds with the utmost amount of card points that could be stacked underneath. Some balance changes also have been included. Survival is a critical goal in 76, as you should eat and drink as a way to remain alive and fit. Nuclear codes don't work unless you've got the complete key, which means you'll have to collect several. To get perks you need to open a perk pack that has cards you'll be able to equip to have skills. Many will also be hoping that the little number of supported players will cause less technical troubles. Players might have to devote a varying amount of points on cards, dependent on initial price. Players that are near the identical level will inflict complete damage with no restrictions. Attempting to recoup a part of the net profits would have been even harder. Being in the center of nowhere, hiking towards one of the borders of the map, deficiency of resources became an actual issue. Among the positives of obtaining a PS4 in 2017 might be the whole notion that the shelf life of the console will last the gamer more than simply a couple of months. If you're really inclined to receive your ex back, don't be afraid to demonstrate interest in rekindling the relationship. At the same time that you can help build the Earth, it is also possible to destroy it. Seems like a lovely moment. So whenever your neighborhood becomes irradiated, you're going to be able to begin someplace new. Regardless, the simple fact that Bethesda is banning people for actions associated with Fallout 76's developer room usually means that we're not likely to share how to go into the room or encourage anybody to find that information out unless they are ready to handle the consequences. Trust us, it's well worth deleting stuff to earn room. Power Armor Although now unavailable to pre order, it's well worth mentioning there is a Power Armor edition of the game, including the Tricentennial variant of the game, together with a complete scale, wearable Power Armor Helmet. The player is going to have to determine if it's worth finding. The quick version is that you want to first preorder the game, and after that locate the redemption code on your receipt or email confirmation. You have to know the Serial Number before downloading a proper edition. Users might have to claim the offer prior to the end of the month. Users have been in a position to discover their way to a distinctive developer room that has access to each item in the game. The wastelands of West Virginia in the game might feel lifeless since there are simply not a lot of folks playing at the moment. There are not many solo-player Charisma cards, since the majority are created for team play. To find the rest of the codes, they can obtain them in a similar fashion around the map or may be able to find them in the possession of another player that theyall encounter. It's possible to take a look at the bundle below. At the close of the trailer, the base was incinerated by means of a nuke. It's simple to set up and configure the controller. Here's What I Know About Fallout 76 Fallout 76 will be entirely online. Fallout 76 does not mark the conclusion of Fallout as a run of single-player games tuned to provide everybody who plays a distinctive personalised adventure. So Fallout 76 isn't exactly off to a good start. In order to prevent griefing, you can't be killed by another player until you get to level 5, giving you some opportunity to accustom yourself to the gameplay. While the trailer features a whole lot of exaggeration, normal players will mostly encounter other gamers who wish to construct bases together. Shame, since it's one of my favourite portions of the game. Kotaku has said they hear the game is likely to feature an internet component, though that's unconfirmed by Bethesda. At length, if you prefer to continue to keep your Fallout experiences to yourself, you may still play solo. Yes, Into the Fire quest is just one of The Responders faction quests you will see in Fallout 76. You may use the workbenches here in order to scrap any junk you've picked up on your short trek to date, and to fix your armour and weapons in case you have the crucial materials. Unlocking items to build is also quite slow. Later on, you're going to receive advanced lasers, Space Marine-esque power weapons and possibly even mini-nukes. Naturally, you cannot deny the substantial success of Elder Scrolls Online, so it's only fitting that Bethesda tries the same manner with different franchises. It could be getting influence from these mods, and looking for ways to introduce them as part of the game experience. To that end, it sought to develop an endgame that would not only satisfy high-level players, but also be repeatable, with the proper incentive to revisit it. Ownership of physical games has ever been straight-forward. The other major item of news to come from the brief Fallout 76 showing is that there is going to be a Fallout 76 Xbox One X Bundle as soon as the game launches. Players looking to have the absolute most out of this sandbox adventure will want to be both patient and forgiving. Fraud, Deceptions, and Downright Lies About Fallout 76 Exposed

[missdreawrites]

Far Cry 5, and How I Feel a Week after Beating It

@weekend-writer, here we go. Hold on to your butts.

I just recently finished Far Cry 5, and mid-way through the playthrough, someone asked if I thought it was worth the 60$ USD and I had originally said yes. Now, having completed the game, I’m rethinking that stance. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sorry I bought the game for full price, but I’m definitely a bit - sad over it. So I’m going to go through the game point by point, in a somewhat blistering, disappointed review.

Obviously, beyond the cut, there are SPOILERS ahead.

Let me start this out by saying I enjoyed seventy-five percent of this game. The graphics were amazing, the outposts were all unique, the characters were priceless (fucking Hurk Jr, man, I love him so much and dude, I ran around with a bear named Cheeseburger). The music was fantastic. I loved the theme, and the battle music, and even the scary uber-Christian hymns that played on Eden’s Gate Radio.

Now, for those of you who are looking for a bit of a rundown, the game is about a Rookie Deputy Sheriff - hereby known as Rook for the rest of this review. You play the Rook who goes to Eden’s Gate, an uber Christian cult in the middle of Hope County, Montana. You, Deputy Hudson, Deputy Pratt, and a US Marshall go to arrest the leader of this cult, Joseph Seed.

Like in Far Cry 4, you have a choice in the very beginning of the game. You can choose not to arrest Joseph - though you have to loiter for ten minutes or so as your partners and boss get increasingly angry with you, but eventually the Sheriff decides you’re right, this is not a battle we want to fight, let’s just go. Credits.

However, if you actually want to play the game, you have arrest Joseph and bring him to your chopper, wherein all hell breaks loose, and you crash because of course you do. Joseph Seed tells you that arresting him was breaking the first “seal” and anyone who has watched Supernatural within the last thirteen years knows what that means.

The rest of the events in the game are not all that important to this review, only that Joseph Seed has several siblings that you have to defeat to get to him after you escape and are set loose on the region.

There’s John Seed, a torturer who has Deputy Hudson. He’s obsessed with cleansing people of their sins. There’s Jacob Seed, a war veteran who has so many PTSD issues I can’t actually list them all, and he’s a manipulator who believes the weak should be culled from the herd. He brainwashes you a la Bioshock, only he uses a song to do it. Then there’s Faith Seed, and she’s not actually related to them. She was a junkie who came to Joseph for help, and ended up helping him create Bliss, this hallucinogenic drug that stretches the bounds of reality just a bit too much.

There. Now.

You have to liberate each region (John, Jacob, and Faith respectively) in order to unlock the final confrontation with Joseph. Each region has a bar that has little bubbles on it, once reach those bubbles, those are essentially check points of “pissing off a Seed sibling” and they send Hunters out after you.

1. Mechanic I hate number the first one: the Hunting Party

So you’ve pissed off a Seed sibling! They send a Hunting Party after you. The party arrives - even if you fast travelled to a different region, or even the other side of the map. Or like me, you’re a stealthy snipery jerkface and you kill the entire party undetected as they yell about finding me and “use the Bliss Bullets, John/Jacob/Faith wants ‘em alive!”

I kill all eight of the hunting party, and breathe a sigh of relief. There are no more red markers, Boomer says no one else is around. I venture out of cover.

Blam.

Screen goes wavery, then sparkly. Then Rook falls unconscious. Despite having killed the party, or left the party or hidden, these are scripted events, so I literally can do nothing to save myself. I have to get kidnapped by the Seed sibling, for Plot Reasons.

Annoying but manageable.

2. Mechanic I hate number the second one: The Rook

Unlike in the rest of the Far Cry series, you are not a person. By which I mean, you’re not like Jason Brody or Ajay Ghale, or even Jack. You’re still the Rook, of course but you’re not voiced, you have no personality. You can be male or female, and the only person in the entire game that mentioned my gender as female was freakin’ Hurk.

Your character makes noise - when you’re hurt or falling, you grunt and groan and cry out, but you don’t talk. You don’t emote. You are just a blank canvas. What’s worse, is they didn’t bother recording two sets of dialogue like Bethesda did in Fallout 4.

So all the cultists just call you by a gender neutral sound. “Get ‘em!”/”I saw ‘em over there!”/”I got eyes on the sinner!”

Y’all. Y’all come on.

This is especially hard to stomach when the characters are spewing just the most ridiculous nonsense at you. There’s a moment after you get kidnapped by Jacob, and Joseph is there. He goes on this - truly awful and ridiculous monologue about how he used to be a different person, he was married, a baby on the way. How happy he was. Then there was an accident. His wife died, and the doctors saved the baby but the baby was sick, probably premature, and they said he had to be strong for his baby daughter.

TW: he is not strong for his baby daughter.

The rook doesn’t say a damn thing to this horrible man who admits he killed his baby daughter instead of taking care of her. The rook just watches him, from behind bars. Yo, I was livid. I was like WHAT THE FUCK YOU MURDERER HOW DARE YOU PREACH PEACE but nope. My character was totally silent.

Y’ALL.

3. Mechanic that I hate number the third one: the Ending (collectively)

WARNING: Here be spoilers. If you don’t care about me spoiling the entire ending confrontation with Joseph, keep on reading. Otherwise, feel free to skip down to the conclusion, which I’ve helpfully put in bold.

SO THE ENDING.

After you liberate each region, gather all your Roster, finish your side quests and helping each person you find, Joseph Seed contacts you - he offers to open up his compound so you two can finally have it out. Now, I’ll take this moment to say that I put it off for a bit. I ignored Joseph so I could finish side quests, and my partner, who beat the game two days before I did told me no, go do it, you won’t want to keep playing after. Why waste that time?

I was thoroughly alarmed by that statement. So even though it was almost seven in the morning and I’d stayed up all night to play it, I drove my ass to Joseph’s compound and in a mirror of the very beginning, walked up to the church.

Immediately, I am placed in a cut scene. This has happened a few times throughout the game, Whenever John Seed implored you to say “yes” to whatever tortures he wanted bestow on you, to talking with your allies. However, the length of this cutscene dragged on, until Joseph is done preaching at you.

He says he’ll give you an offer. That despite all you’ve done, despite the fact that you’ve killed his flock and family, he’s going to offer you peace. He’s going to do the “right thing” and offer you peace. You hear something behind you - still in a cutscene - and turn around to see all your friends. The roster you helped out, minus the animals, all Blissed out of their minds (as noted by the glowing cloud around their faces) and leading tied up people into the compound. They aim their guns at Deputy Pratt, Deputy Hudson and the Sheriff, all of whom have been recaptured by the people you thought were your friends. Joseph tells you if you resist, if you don’t choose peace, then you can kiss your friends goodbye.

Then you’re given the ability to choose two options: Resist or Accept.

IF YOU CHOOSE RESIST:

He knocks over some Bliss barrels, and everything gets all kinds of fucked up, and your friends attack Pratt, Hudson and the Sheriff. After you fight off Joseph for a second or two, you’re able to revive them (not a new mechanic, you can revive anyone during the rest of the game) and all four of you start fighting Joseph. You have to fight your roster as well, but once they go down, you’re able to revive them as well - which puts them back on your side. However, Joseph will also try to revive them, which leaves them your enemy.

I guess “killing them” and reviving them is like cognitive recalibration? Either way, once all your roster-friends are revived an on your side, you turn your attention to Joseph and shoot the fuck out of him. It’s real cathartic… until you beat him and are immediately locked into another cutscene.

While Joseph monologues at you, the Sheriff (your boss, essentially) comes up behind him, declares him under arrest, and handcuffs him. Joseph proclaims that another seal has broken, and then the entire screen shakes with some kind of impact. The cutscene shows you, Hudson, Pratt, and the Sheriff a giant mushroom cloud, not too far away from where you are, across the lake.

There’s a moment of shock, and Joseph declares it the end of the world, just like he predicted. He was right, and the end is upon us, etc, etc yadda.

We all run toward a car, with Joseph in tow, and then you’re given control back just long enough to drive helter skelter away from the shockwave, as shit is getting set on fire, until you’re suddenly locked in another cutscene just in time to slam into a falling tree.

The screen goes black and red, as you come to, realizing that Pratt, Hudson and the Sheriff are dead. The car door opens and you fall out, blacking back out. When you wake up again, you’re in a bunker - the same bunker you woke up in before being set loose on the county after the prologue, and who should be with you?

Joseph. Seed.

He tells you that everyone in Hope County is dead, and it’s all your fault, why couldn’t you have just picked peace? But hey, it doesn’t matter - we’re family now and one day, we’ll walk through Eden’s Gate together.

“I am your Father,” Joseph Seed says, leaning back in his seat, and staring at you with those wide eyes. “And you are my Child.” He locks eyes with you, never blinking, as the screen fades to black.

Credits.

I was in fucking shock. According to my partner who was awake on the couch and watching me play through this, I kept clicking my mouse like I was trying to pull my guns to shoot him. Why couldn’t I just shoot him?

Now, I’m willing to admit that a lot that might have been a hallucination - the cutscenes make use of the Bliss (which is hallucinogenic) a lot - even though when you aren’t in a cutscene the drug only behaves that way in the most minorest of ways. I’ve been running through fields of Bliss for ages, and all you get is weird sparkling on the corners of your screen. Sometimes you hallucinate Faith Seed, or animals that aren’t there.

However, ultimately, whether or not it was a hallucination doesn’t matter. Because the credits roll and the game is over. Hope County is gone, your friends, your allies, they’re gone. Your only companion is the man you failed to kill, the man you failed to arrest, and you’ve lost.

You lost.

So, utterly livid, I reloaded my save just before choosing Resist, and instead chose the other option.

IF YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT PEACE:

Joseph lets you go. He monologues a bit more, but he lets you, Hudson and Pratt, the Sheriff, he lets everyone go. You retreat to the edge of the Compound, get into the same truck you’d get into if you chose to resist, and start driving away. The Sheriff talks to you a little and ultimately what he says isn’t important, because the radio turns on, as you drive away.

Remember how I said Jacob Seed brainwashed you.... With a song?

The screen goes red as your character starts screaming, and then the screen goes black.

Roll credits.

The game is over. The last time that song played, when you did Jacob’s Region, you killed one of your allies because he brainwashed you into doing it. The entire lead up to killing Jacob is one big brainwashing suckfest, and you do things you don’t think you’re doing until it’s over.

It’s very, very clear that you’ll kill everyone in that car with you.

You lose. Everyone in that car knows how bad Joseph Seed is, they’re your survivors, your witnesses. The people who could have helped you get more manpower to come back and get rid of Joseph with more than a song and a prayer.

But you kill them. You lose.

Both of these endings mean that the ninety hours I spent playing were useless. Nothing I did mattered. Either the world fucking ends, or you murder the people you spent the whole game trying to save. Nothing you did matter, you made no difference, and you lose.

I have nothing against games where you don’t win. I have nothing against games where the ending message is you lose. I have serious issues with being plot railroaded via cutscene into endings I don’t want. Why couldn’t I shoot Joseph? I shot Faith, and Jacob and John. Clearly due process wasn’t important THEN, so why are we arresting Joseph? He’s a dangerous man who knows how to use a dangerous drug to mind control people - but yeah sure, let’s arrest him.

CONCLUSION:

Am I disappointed I bought the game? No, not really. I’m glad I played.

However, I was left with this - bad taste in my mouth, a little. The endings were lackluster, I feel like a require closure to move on with my life - especially because I beat it a week ago, and I’m still stewing over the ending.

Like the original ending of Mass Effect 3, where I was left in shock, I hope that Ubisoft hears how disappointing those endings were and gives us a miniature DLC (to go along with the three weird ones they already have) that gives us a better option.

To the anon who asked me if it was worth the 60$ USD, I originally answered your ask saying yes, because I loved the game.

I hope you see this, and note that my answer has changed. If you’re a hardcore fan of the series, like me, sure - spend the 60. But if you’re not? If you’re a casual player who just liked the idea of the plot - give it a miss, until the next Steam Summer Sale or Xbox Gold Give Away.

This is a little disjointed, I started it while I was at work and then slept before finishing it but I am free and available for any questions via ask/message system. Anon hate about loving the endings will be added to the fire and will fuel the heating for my house. Ain’t nobody got time for that.