#indies against the machine

[friday-tea]

Queer Food Foundation's 2024 gift guide is live today, and you maaaaay see a familiar face on page 34!

[asharaks]

CRITICALLY UNACCLAIMED FAR CRY 5 MENTION???? how many letters in asharaks ATE!! it’s nice to see another fc5 lover in the wild. the grip that game has on me (it could be so good if it was good could be so ) if you ever feel like talking about it i would love to hear any thought you have 💛

i’m gonna be 100% honest with you boss i read this message and was like To Be Honest i think this one’s beyond redemption — the far cry games are fundamentally about killing people in increasingly horrifying ways and numbers, for such deserving crimes as: being Drugged; being Brainwashed; being Foreign; and being Over There. far cry 5 is a muddled mess of a game without a clear message or storyline, and clearly exists for ubisoft to show off their super sick combat mechanics, WHICH, it must be said, are super sick. i love you wingsuit.

then i thought. hey ash. aren’t you right neow in the process of writing a far cry 5 fic in which faith survives. isn’t it a core tenet of your playthroughs that faith survives. and the answer to that is a resounding Yes.

SO: my far cry 5 beautiful vision. first, as mentioned above, faith lives. we find out more about her, about the position of Faith Seed; her terror of joseph is explored, her past as a heroin addict, the transition from rachel jessop to faith seed. the scared girl who was groomed by these men into their weird fucked up babydoll toy, the feminine face of the apocalypse — why do the brothers need a Faith, why do they need to seemingly recruit vulnerable women into this position of simultaneous power and dependence? is rachel jessop still in there, and what would it take to bring her home? so, we keep faith; instead of gunning her down, we save her, we bring her out of the bliss and into a place where she is — if not safe, because no one here is safe — at least advocated for, looked after, part of a community.

second: the deputy. i love my dep; i am at all times rotating them in my mind palace. but i would give them more intentionality: this person is a sheriff’s deputy with a capacity for incredible violence, who doesn’t bat an eyelid at being told to gun down local citizens en masse. ten minutes into the game, you’re hurling dynamite from a moving car while driving down the road. i’d lean hard into the nonverbal protagonist aspect, make ‘em more fucked up: more nightmares, more depersonalisation. why are they so vulnerable to the cult’s brainwashing? well, that’s because they’re already fucked in the head; their boundaries are eroded to nothing almost right away, their capacity to see other humans as people, their us-vs-them mentality: i want to see all of this explored properly, with more personal quests, more ambient dialogue, more to root the deputy as a person who lived in this town before it all went to shit and to explain why their first instinct in any situation is murder. also how they do that thing with their bones (break every single one then get up and walk it off).

if i was doing a serious rewrite of the game, i’d want to see, more than anything, more focus. i want to see thematic resonance, the bones of which are there but completely missed in the original. the ideas about pack mentality, about depersonalisation, dehumanisation, weaponisation — all those good -ations — with the deputy, with the thousands of same-faced enemies in the same outfits with the same hair. i’d make that more intentional, too: make it clear that the deputy is not right in the head, that these people they’re gunning down are a product of their own worldview. maybe half of them aren’t even real; by the time jacob gets done fucking with you, who knows! lean into that sense of heavy paranoia, the gaslighting, the impossibility of knowing who’s a friend and who’s an enemy: i’d make it much much harder to tell where reality ends and the deputy’s bloodlust begins, give the player more consequences for killing civilians and non-combatants, and a lot more fucked up dream/bliss sequences.

also, let the deputy experience feelings about the way they’re used. they’re turned into a weapon, put through incredible torture, brainwashing, abuse: they’re drugged, tattooed, flayed, exploded, set on fire, made to kill their friends. all of this should take a toll, and i want to see more of that. make it harder to tell enemies from a distance, slap friendly npc’s faces on some of those hundreds of bodies you mow down: lean into the horror of it all, emphasise the scale of the violence that the deputy commits. acknowledge that the deputy does all this because they’re told to, not because they choose to: they’re made into a weapon of war, and turned against people who used to be their townspeople, who they should have protected. and yes, as a cop that’s a tenuous thread but let’s be real ubisoft aren’t doing acab here.

the themes i personally see most clearly in fc5 are like… yeah the depersonalisation of it all. the dehumanisation. jacob’s brainwashing literally has you fighting faceless opponents, people with bags over their heads; more of that, even outside the red rooms, even outside the bliss: eliminate any sense of safety or control, any faith you might have in your perception of reality.

also, in an ideal world, the companions would have more depth and development, and more personal quest stuff; at the risk of turning this action game into a story based rpg, i think it would have benefited from having more relationship mechanics. not romance, but, like… companions react to the things you do. i shouldn’t be able to shoot a civilian in the head and have my companions shrug it off. the plot of the game itself is pretty weak, but frankly, no-one’s here for the plot: i don’t really have much i’d change there, except the absolute bastard of a final battle with joseph — i don’t hate the endings, but they don’t have much resonance for me, as the culmination of a game that was largely about exploration and doing mass murder in inventive ways. i think the deputy should die at the end, is my hot take; that guy needs to be put down like a sick dog.

i'd keep the seed brothers being psychosexually obsessed w you, bc otherwise what are we even doing here; i still think you should get to kill them, ideally with your bare hands, just to make it gayer and hotter.

[alanaisalive]

Random advice from an old person to young people, especially in their teens and 20s: listen to a lot of music. Listen broadly across genres and styles. Don't get locked into just one type of music. Go ahead and have favorites, but keep a very open mind.

The music you listen to between about 14 and 30 is the music that will latch onto your soul and become your comfort music when you get old. Make sure you have plenty to choose from.

[dovebuffy92]

Florence + The Machine 30-Day Song Challenge

Day 30

All-Time Favorite Song

I love too many FATM songs to have one all-time favorite, but I will list one of the fave songs that I have not already named in this challenge.

Girls Against God

[chaosincurate]

My Month in Music - November 2023

Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee (relisten)

Slint - Spiderland

IAN SWEET - Sucker (new)

Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good!

Spiritual Cramp - Spiritual Cramp (new)

Fugazi - 13 Songs

Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine

Sampha - Lahai (relisten)

Nina Simone - Pastel Blues (relisten)

Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade

Wire - Pink Flag

Hüsker Dü - Warehouse: Songs and Stories

underscores - fishmonger

Olivia Rodrigo - SOUR (relisten)

yeule - softscars (relisten)

Pulp - Different Class (relisten)

Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loveliest Time (new) (relisten)

Paramore - This Is Why (relisten)

The Strokes - Room On Fire (relisten)

Fugazi - Repeater & 3 Songs

The Strokes - The New Abnormal (relisten)

Samara Joy - Linger Awhile

Shame - Food For Worms (relisten)

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

Alvvays - Alvvays (relisten)

Alvvays - Antisocialites (relisten)

Alvvays - Blue Rev (relisten)

Jane Remover - Census Designated (new)

Playlist link

Write-ups below

Fugazi - 13 Songs

Fugazi is an exceptional punk band in all the ways you'd expect: power in every single instrument, simplicity that doesn't get boring, and a heavy focus on societal ills. But there's more than just that. I feel like the thing that makes them not just exceptional, but unique, is that the lyrics strike an incredible balance between an interesting level of obfuscation and that crucial bluntness that ensures that the message doesn't actually get lost.

Naturally, the fact that this is a combination of EPs and not an album all its own makes the sequencing a little awkward, but as a collection of songs, this is some of the best punk I've ever heard.

Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine

Oh boy am I late to this one!

I was only familiar with Killing In the Name (and only in fairly passive contexts) before listening to this album so I wasn't really sure what to expect, and whether it'd be a case of the album having one standout track and the rest just being filler. Well, Killing In the Name definitely stands out, but the rest of the album definitely isn't filler.

While I complimented Fugazi's balance of thought-provoking poetry and pure politics on 13 Songs, I have to say RATM makes pure bluntness come across too sincere to dismiss om the grounds of simplicity. Every single line is delivered with such potent anger, and it really got me whipped up in the emotion of it, at least on a second listen.

Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade

Zero expectation listens to punk-adjacent albums is a theme on this post, and a theme that Zen Arcade is contributing to. All I knew was that Hüsker Dü's reputation seemed good. My lack of expectation meant that 1. I only found out that apparently it's a story album after listening to it, and 2. I was absolutely blindsided by the album's more experimental flourishes.

One of my favourite flourishes came with Pink Turns to Blue, which takes punk and filters it through a noise-pop/shoegaze sort of sound to great effect. That is probably the most noteworthy example, but compared to some more repetitive punk albums I've heard, an album feeling so ceaselessly experimental it seemed disjointed by punk standards was honestly more to the albums benefit than it's detriment.

underscores - fishmonger

I'm very new to the hyperpop sphere, but I don't think I could ask for a better gateway to it than underscores. The blend of that indie rock sound with the eternally online stylings of hyperpop is a personal cheat code for pleasure for me, particularly on their new album Wallsocket, which you will listen to if you know what's good for you. After listening to her other projects, though, I can very happily say that they are scratching the same itch (if not quite as well).

I've written before about how the unique concepts of the tracks off the new album were a highlight, and, again, that extends to a lesser degree to her older work, which has been fantastic, and where the interesting concepts are comparatively limited, the execution makes up for it.

Given a few more releases of this sort of quality, underscores could well become one of my favourite music acts I just love this style so much.

Fugazi - Repeater & 3 Songs

Basically everything that I said about 13 Songs applies here, but there are a few differences that make this worthwhile to talk about on it's own. One of those differences is that this essentially plays like a regular album with three bonus tracks, which means that my one noted criticism of 13 Songs doesn't apply here. The other key difference that comes to mind is that it feels to me as if there is more aggression in this album. It's grittier and angrier, and while it does throw off the balance that I liked so much on the other album, I also appreciate that it makes it a unique listening experience while also not changing enough to make it clearly worse.

The Strokes - The New Abnormal

The Strokes were so back with this one. They happen to have left again shortly after, not having released anything in over three years, but they were so back for a second there.

This album brought back everything that made The Strokes great in those first few albums and occasional singles thereafter, and kept kept it all stripped back to it's bare essentials so they could really be heard. Their ability to have a musical composition in which everything (bass, guitar, drums, other guitar, synth...) both shines on it's own and comes together in this glorious tapestry is only arguably matched by Radiohead, and specifically during their In Rainbows era. And that talent is here on full force on The New Abnormal.

Also present is a tasteful experimentation with synths and electronics, which don't just justify themselves, but improve the songs they are on. They are used to great effect on At the Door, for example, where the sawed synths create a potent feeling of fear and harshness that makes it unlike any song The Strokes have ever made.

Between the outstanding mixing, versatility of sound, and the back-to-their-best Strokes songcrafting, this is the best Strokes album hands down for my money, but you guys aren't ready for that discussion yet, so I'll just leave it at "album good" until you are.

Samara Joy - Linger Awhile

I can't pretend that I actually have much to say about this, because I'm still pretty new to jazz, but Samara Joy is a very charismatic vocalist and the album is a great one for a chill vibe so I thought it deserved to be highlighted more than just putting it in the playlist. If you're looking for a modern in for jazz, I found this one very enjoyable.

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

The second album of the post where I should have gotten to it way earlier. Pure dance music just never really appealed to me, nor do songs without vocals, generally, and I was under the impression that Daft Punk were entirely that. Clearly I was wrong, although I'm still unsure as to what degree.

In any case, I loved this album. Instant Crush is a massive highlight just on the basis of it's super satisfying pop sound and just-novel-enough concept. Giorgio By Moroder is also a great love letter to artistry, if a strage one to consider a highlight on account of the spoken word vocals. And of course it goes without saying that the Nile Rodgers and Pharrell Williams backed Lose Yourself to Dance and Get Lucky are amazing, funky, and infectious bops that keep you engaged for every second of their runtime.

It's a classic album for a reason, and I apologize to music for not listening to it earlier.

[netripper]

everybody raise your hands to the sky and give goku your energy i need to write cyberpunk shit with my bf again

[cyarsk52-20]

Rage Against the Machine Share Statement on Rock Hall 2023 Induction

Rage Against the Machine, February 1993 (Gie Knaeps/Getty Images)

This morning, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fameannounced its class of 2023, which includes Rage Against the Machine. Now, the band has shared a statement thanking the Rock Hall for the induction, and recounting the long, radical journey that led up to the honor. “It is a surprising trajectory for us to be welcomed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” Rage Against the Machine wrote. “In 1991 four people in Los Angeles formed a musical group to stand where sound and and solidarity intersect. We called ourselves Rage Against the Machine.”

The group continued: “A band who is as well known for our albums as we are for our fierce opposition to the US war machine, white supremacy and exploitation. A band whose songs drove alternative radio to new heights while right wing media companies tried to purge every song we ever wrote from the airwaves.” Find Rage Against the Machine’s full statement below.

Rage Against the Machine were nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame a total of five times. They have been inducted alongside Kate Bush, Missy Elliott, Sheryl Crow, George Michael, Willie Nelson, and the Spinners. The 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on Friday, November 3, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Trending Now

Jack Harlow Rates Eminem, Country Music and Los Angeles

Last July, Rage Against the Machine set out on their first tour in over a decade, which was scheduled to run well into 2023. Unfortunately, vocalist Zack de la Rocha sustained a leg injury during their second concert in Chicago. By August, the band had canceled the European stint of the reunion tour, followed by the October cancellation of their 2023 trek across North America. The band revealed that the decision was due to de la Rocha’s leg injury—a tear in his left Achilles tendon.

Rage Against the Machine: Rage Against the Machine:

It is a surprising trajectory for us to be welcomed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1991 four people in Los Angeles formed a musical group to stand where sound and and solidarity intersect. We called ourselves Rage Against the Machine.

A band who is as well known for our albums as we are for our fierce opposition to the US war machine, white supremacy and exploitation

A band whose songs drove alternative radio to new heights while right wing media companies tried to purge every song we ever wrote from the airwaves

A band who shut down the NY Stock Exchange for the first time in its history

A band who was targeted by police organizations who attempted to ban us from sold out arenas for raising our voices to free Mumia Abu Jamal, Leonard Peltier and other political prisoners

A band who sued the US State Department for their fascist practice of using our music to torture innocent men in Guantanamo Bay

A band who wrote rebel songs in an abandoned, industrial warehouse in the valley that would later dethrone Simon Cowell’s X Factor pop monopoly to occupy the number 1 spot on the UK charts and have the most downloaded song in UK history

A band who funded and organized delegations to stand with Mexican rebel Zapatista communities to expose the Mexican government’s war on indigenous people

A band whose experimentation in fusing punk, rock and hip hop became a genre of its own

Many thanks to the Hall of Fame for recognizing the music and the mission of Rage Against the Machine. We are grateful to all of the passionate fans, the many talented co-conspirators we’ve worked with and all the activists, organizers, rebels and revolutionaries past, present and future who have inspired our art.

-Brad, Tim, Tom, & Zack

Sent from my iPhone

[izhunny]

Magazine

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[necromancy-enthusiast]

To help everyone understand the gravity of the situation with Unity's recent bullshit, here are some games made in unity:

Cult of the Lamb

Bendy and the Ink Machine

Untitled Goose Game

Road 96

Cuphead

Power Wash Simulator

Genshin Impact

Getting Over It

Inside

Tem Tem

Kerbal Space Program 1

Kerbal Space Program 2

Rust

Rimworld

Outer Wilds

Dream Daddy

Thomas Was Alone

I Am Setsuna

Tunic

Night in the Woods

Pony Island

Return of the Obra Dinn

Among Us

Pokemon Go

Hollow Knight

Ori and the Blind Forest

Ori and the Willow of the Wisps

Vampire Survivors

Two Point Hospital

City Skylines

The Long Dark

Firewatch

Oxenfree

Subnautica

Subnautica: Below Zero

Fall Guys

Many, MANY MORE

Unless you only play tRIpLE A titles this will most likely affect a game you like. Hell, it can even affect really big games like Pokemon Go.

For a long time, starting years and years back, a lot of people have been talking about the preservation of games and being against moving to digital only games for reasons like this, and how the greed of various big companies in the game industry will negatively impact access to games and their preservation. It's happening. This will impact games that are already out. This will impact games being made. This will impact games made in the future. So if you care even a teensy tiny bit about a single game made in unity, or you care about the future of game development period, I suggest you pay very close attention.

A good article from an indie developer detailing the changes and exactly how it screws devs over:

[lackadaisycats]

I'm not trying to bug you with this, and you don't have to answer this if you don't wanna, but I heard a lot of people were against moving to Bluesky because apparently it's rampant with Nazis, but I haven't really found any proof of that.

Just wanted to share. Maybe inquire if you knew anything about that?

I have not personally encountered any Nazis there. Bluesky isn't perfect, but the noise machine of bots, trolls, disinfo accounts, and the aura of extreme negativity just really isn't present in the way it is on Twitter. So being there is just....nice. I'm sure there are some unsavory people there, and many who will try to make inroads as the platform grows, but for now, the people interested in making Bluesky a good place to be seem to vastly outnumber the bad actors. Also, Bluesky's block function is more robust and thorough, and you can block entire curated lists of people you want nothing to do with, if you so choose. (Be warned that who you have blocked is public information, though, if someone should go and check the repository.)

On a more pleasant note, there are also entire lists ("starter packs") of people to follow - indie creators, comic artists, illustrators, activists, journalists, writers of different genres, etc. You can also follow specific feeds of topics that interest you, and you can make your own feeds.

As an added blessing, posts that include outside links are not (currently) throttled like they are on other platforms. It's hard to overstate how meaningful that is for creators trying to get eyes on their portfolios and other work that can't be shared directly within a post.

[txttletale]

I'm speaking as an artist in the animation industry here, it's hard not to be reactionary about AI image generation when it's already taking jobs from artists. Sure, for now it's indie gigs on book covers or backgrounds on one Netflix short, but how long until it'll be responsible for layoffs en-masse? These conversations can't be had in a vacuum. As long as tools like these are used as a way for companies to not pay artists, we cannot support them, give them attention, do anything but fight their implementation in our industry. It doesn't matter if they're art. They cannot be given a platform in any capacity until regulation around their use in the entertainment industry is established. If it takes billions of people refusing to call AI image generation "art" and immediately refusing to support anything that features it, then that's what it takes. Complacency is choosing AI over living artists who are losing jobs.

Call me a luddite but I'll die on this hill. Artists with degrees and 20+ years in the industry are getting laid off, the industry is already in shambles. If given the chance, no matter how vapid, shallow, or visibly generated the content is, if it's content that rakes in cash, companies will opt for it over meaningful art made by a person, every time. Again, this isn't a debate that can be had in a vacuum. Until universal basic income is a reality, until we can all create what we want in our spare time and aren't crippled under capitalism, I'm condemning AI image generation because I'd like to keep my job and not be homeless. It has to be a black and white issue until we have protections in place for it to not be.

you can condemn the technology all you like but it's not going to save you. the only thing that can actually address these concerns is unionization in the short term and total transformation of our economic system in the long term. you are a luddite in the most literal classical sense & just like the luddites as long as you target the machines and not the system that implements them you will lose just like every single battle against new immiserating technology has been lost since the invention of the steam loom.

[hazelvrr]

Hazel Callahan Headcannons

Cute little hazel headcannons <3

❥Hazel! Who definitely has a camera that she brings with everywhere, taking pictures of everything she sees and prints them out for her scrapbook

❥Hazel! Who loves to crochet, is always making you things to wear like scarves and shirts and feels super proud when she sees you wearing them

❥Hazel! Who gets super frustrated on claw machines but refuses to give up until she's won you a stuffed animal

❥Hazel! Who loves dinosaurs and has at least 3 pairs of boxers with dinos on them

❥Hazel! Who has a scrapbook and spends hours making a page after every time the fight club does something together, using way too many stickers from her massive sticker collection

❥Hazel! Who loves Adam Sandler movies and forces you to watch them with her as she watches you to make sure you're laughing at all the right parts

❥Hazel! Who listens to niche indie bands nobody has ever heard of

❥Hazel! Who's favorite shirt is a teenage mutant ninja turtles shirt that she wears as pajamas and you're always wearing it when u stay round her house

❥Hazel! Who loves making beaded bracelets for people and made matching fight club bracelets for everyone

Nsfw 18+ headcannons

❥Hazel! Who really loves fucking you in your cheer skirt, just something about seeing it flowing up and down as you bounce on her strap really turns her on

❥Hazel! Who is a service top and really loves to talk through it, her main priority being making sure that you feel good

❥Hazel! Who grips your ass so hard while eating you out that you always have finger shaped bruises the next day

❥Hazel! Who's loves bending you over while you stand face pressed against the wall, helpless as she bucks into you with her strap

❥Hazel! Who loves it when you sit on her face, the bump in her nose grinding on your clit as she eats you out like she's starved, your juices dripping down her chin

❥Hazel! Who loves to kiss you after you eat her out, tasting herself on your tongue

❥Hazel! Who always texts you and let's you know when she's jerking off to pictures of you, letting you know how much she wishes it was your fingers inside of her

❥Hazel! Who carries her strap around in her backpack at all times just incase you decide to fuck in the backseat of her car

❥Hazel! Who loves it when you give her hickeys, always wearing a shirt that shows them off like it's a mf trophy

[hanasnx]

hi indy, ily 🖤

if it piques your interest, may i humbly request your thoughts on a jealous j'onn j'onzz? i was so excited to see him on your list. maybe oliver or barry got a little too close for comfort, did something thats innocent by human standards but maybe is considered intimate for martians, idk about the setup i just want that sexy green alien to ravish me and show his possessive side 😫

i've tried my hand at some martian manhunter smut if you want more inspo, but I think the world needs more of your version. no one does it like you. that one post you did of him forever ago still lives rent free in my head. i reread it more often than im comfortable admitting.

xoxo sid

ps: sorry if this shows up twice, the first time I submitted it it said it failed

MINORS DNI 18+

NOTES: DC is for December Event! — request DC characters.

You don’t know what you’re doing—honest. It just so happened that your lover J’ONN J’ONZZ was busy with his responsibilities, and they were taking a little longer than expected. So you hang around, make some small talk. Barry Allen had grown pretty fond of your face on the Watchtower, going as far as to keep you company next to the coffee machine while you wait. “Two sugars, right?” he asks, stirring the warm caffeine in the paper cup. You nod, and thank him when he hands it to you.

He was debriefing you on his latest successful mission when another friendly face shows up. “Here you go, champ.” Oliver Queen tosses up a breakfast bar, and out of muscle memory you reach to snatch it. “Can’t have coffee on an empty stomach.” he says, but you know he couldn’t care less, he was just trying to unload these nasty League brand protein bars on you.

“Thanks, Ollie, always lookin’ out for me.” you quip, and when you spot Barry eyeing up the bar, you offer it to him. His super-metabolism is no secret. While he tears into it, Oliver rests his tailbone against the table next to you, crossing his arms across his broad chest.

“You waitin’ up for the Jolly Green Giant again?” he inquires, glancing down and subtly scanning your figure. You notice how close he is to you.

“Yeah, J’onn just wanted to finish something up. Barry’s been taking good care of me though.” you explain, looking to Barry before you take a sip of the coffee he made for you.

Barry, with a cheek of granola, smacks it to the side and responds to the conversation, muffled by a full mouth, “I was just tellin’ her about that thing with Mirror Master, you were there for that, weren’t you?” There’s a discrete tone to his voice you can’t deduce, narrowing your eyes as you watch him enclose on your space. His gloved hand rests against the table next to your hip, and he inclines toward you and Oliver. Suddenly, things are a little hotter.

“Well, who do you think took him down? You were too busy looking at your reflection.” Oliver jokes, but there’s more of that underlying passive aggression, and your brows furrow as you switch your attention to him. You’re not really sure why your two friends are talking like this, as if they’re in a fight.

“Excuse me, guys—“ you begin, toeing out of their way while they speak over you. A voice alerts all three of you, snapping up to J’onn.

“My love.” he greets. “You waited on me.” The statement is tight-lipped—more so than usual for your J’onn. It piles on your confusion, and you step out from the two men.

“Of course I did.” you tell him, and muster a smile, approaching him. Only then do you notice how his hands hide behind the cascade of his cape, and how they’re clenched into fists.

It’s not until you’re able to retreat to privacy in his quarters do you understand what went on, and it takes the coaxing of intertwined bodies to get him to open up.

“I told you that I would only be a short while. Could you not entertain yourself with better things?” he asks, planting a heated kiss under your ear as he rocks into you. Your legs folded up on either side of him, clutching onto his neck, you can feel the reverb of his voice against your chest.

“What?” you gasp. Hands slide up your thighs to meet the crooks of your knees, hooking the webs of his thumbs to fold you over yourself as he raises himself. The new angle has your eyes fluttering and rolling into the back of your head, biting your lip to ground yourself. His ribbed cock strokes the roof of your insides, and they pulse around him in response.

“You are being coy. Is this one of your games I don’t understand?” he wonders aloud, husky and curious. “Two men duel for you, in front of you, and you don’t address it.”

“‘Duel?’” you parrot dumbly, breaking you out of your lust-driven trance for a second before you fall limp again as soon as his tip brushes that spongy spot inside you. “J’onn, what is this about? Is this really the… best time for it?” you whisper, your hands seeking out his to overlay them for some sense of closeness.

His grip on you tightens, and he alters his pace. It’s stronger, more purposeful, and you hiss. “They flaunt their achievements,” he speaks through gritted teeth, “they offer you acts of kindness, and when I enter, you act as though you’ve been caught. Well, I earned you, and I prove it now.”

The walls of his quarters in the Watchtower are not sound-proof, and it seems as though this is the first time this reserved Martian is grateful for that.

[the-artist-grimm]

stopping by to say a few things. one, i love your crimson angel au. it's a fun and different take on how things work with canon and how things can be changed accordingly. two, love your art style. i can't explain it, but i just really like the way everyone's drawn. three. AWWWW short lamb! no worries anthea, i'm short myself, so you have good company! four. has anyone challenged anthea, nona or narinder to a cook off? five. fave type of music for everyone? like ballads, etc/ have a good day!

First off, thank you so much!!!!!!! I'm glad you're enjoying my stuff :D And hehehe-the idea of someone super short taking on and winning against 5 massive gods is just very funny for me, I like tiny but mighty protagonists

Now hm a cook off-I think no one would dare trying to face off against Nona-cooking is her domain. Probably only Heket eventually would try, and even then lose to the old lady's might.

Music (Just doing the cats and the lamb for simplicity's sake XD. Also adding links so people can you know...check out all the reallyyyyy good songs hehehe):

The Lamb, Anthea: Indie-Folk (Anything Crane Wives (Never Love an Anchor, Allies or Enemies) Alternate/Indie Pop (Live Cinema, Espresso, Cabo, Snow) Vocaloid-y? Like the kind of depressing/sad-ish tracks you come across in vocaloid type songs (Kokoronashi, Rest in Peace, Soundless Voice) Narinder: Progressive Metal and Rock. I personally think he'd love Sleep Token with how heavy their lyrics are, Euclid, Atlantic, and Alkaline would likely be some of his favs. The band Starset too with Perfect Machine, Alchemy, and Die for You. Aym and Baal: Nightcore and especially Vocaloid. They're 11 year olds that's like starting middle school age, there's a reason they were Rin and Len for Halloween XD . When I was in middle school I'd just discovered Youtube and was recording those songs onto my 3Ds via the camera to listen on car- trips since I didn't have an MP3 LOL. For specifics: -Aym: Leans to more edgy/loud tracks but sometimes the sillier ones too. Tokyo Teddy Bear, Matryoshka, Death Should Not Have Taken Thee, Ghost Rule -Baal: Leans to more happy and energetic tracks. Popipo, The Snow White Princess , Tell Your World, Drop Pop Candy

...I definitely didn't just give them all my music tastes what are you talking about (trips and falls over playlists)

Anyhoo...have a good day to you as well! (and my apologies for the delay KEKW)

[h3artw0rms]

I made a Silco Spotify playlist

This playlist is... Well... it’s about Silco. It’s his journey in four acts that captures his rise, fall, and everything in between. It's more like a character study.

Act 1: Dreams of Freedom (Song 1-15)

This is Silco in his idealist phase. He and Vander? Brothers in arms, ready to free Zaun from Piltover’s grip. It’s all about hope, ambition, and the kind of camaraderie that makes betrayal hit even harder later. Think melancholic indie vibes, bittersweet anthems, and a lot of “we’re gonna change the world” energy.

This act feels like standing at the edge of something great, fueled by hope and belief in a brighter future. The songs are bittersweet, with an undercurrent of yearning. It’s Silco and Vander, side by side, dreaming of a free Zaun. You can feel the weight of their shared ideals and the brotherhood that binds them. There’s ambition, camaraderie, and the promise of change. But there’s also a lingering fragility, a hint of the storm to come.

Recommended tracks:

Heroes - David Bowie

Blackbird - Alter Bridge

Brother - Kodaline

Nothing to No One - Gin Wigmore

Act 2: Betrayal and Ruin (Song 16-30)

Ouch. Vander stabs Silco (literally) in the back, and our guy starts spiraling. This act is about pain, anger, and a growing hunger for revenge. The songs here are dark, emotionally raw, and just a little unhinged. You’ll feel Silco’s heartbreak and the fire it fuels.

This is the act where everything breaks. The vibe is dark and emotionally heavy, like the moment you realize the person you trusted most has turned against you. It’s about drowning in betrayal, losing everything you believed in, and trying to claw your way out of the wreckage. Each track feels like a dagger to the heart, leaving a scar that never truly heals. Just like Silco's.

Recommended tracks:

Where did you Sleep Last Night - Nirvana

Snuff - Slipknot

Excite Vilify - Fizzy Black

Act 3: Transformation and Resolve (Song 31-45)

This is Silco 2.0. Betrayed but not broken, he becomes the ruler Zaun needs. It’s all about power, sacrifice, and doing whatever it takes to get the job done.

This is where Silco rebuilds himself, but not as the man he was, as someone stronger, colder, and more determined. The songs capture his inner conflict, the echoes of his past, and the ruthless resolve that defines his future. There’s a mix of regret and ambition here, as Silco accepts the sacrifices he must make to rise above the ruins.

Recommended tracks:

Dirty Paws - Of Monsters and Men

Wrong - Depeche Mode

Medicine - Daughter (very much recommend this one!)

I am Dust - Gary Numan

Act 4: Power and Legacy (Song 46- 60)

The Silco we know and fear. He’s ruthless, confident, and the master of Zaun’s underworld. This act is filled with brooding anthems and tracks that scream “power comes at a price.” It’s dark, dramatic, and unapologetically bold, just like Silco.

It feels like stepping into the shadows of Zaun itself, dangerous, brooding, and commanding. The songs exude power, control, and an air of inevitability, as Silco cements his role as Zaun’s leader. But underneath the strength, there’s a sense of weight, the burden of sacrifice, the cost of ambition, and the ghosts of what could have been.

Recommended tracks:

Seven Devils - Florence+ The Machine

Blood in the Water - Joanna Jones

Errasuriz - Kiltro

Shallow - Porcupine Tree

If you have any questions, why did I choose a certain song or whatever, feel free to reach out! I hope you like the playlist 👀✨

[anim-ttrpgs]

Songs for Eureka Sessions: Foot Chases

Masterpost of Eureka song lists & how to choose good music for any TTRPG session.

Breach and Escape - Entropy Zero 2

The Night Prowler - Gost

Half Machine, Half Pussy - Hardcore Henry

Abraision Resistant - Monrella

Cuba Chase – 007: No Time To Die

Police Chase Music – The Bourne Identity

Highway Chase – The Matrix Reloaded

To the Top – Hotline Miami

Cerberus – Resident Evil 2 Remake

Hide E Seek – Resident Evil 2 Remake

Conflagration – Resident Evil 2 Remake

Conflagration 2 – Resident Evil 2 Remake

Expansion – Resident Evil 2 Remake

Archetype – Castle Crashers

Looming Dread – Resident Evil 2 Remake

Chase 01 – L.A. Noire

Vengeance – The Guest

Chase 06 – L.A. Noire

Chase 08 – L.A. Noire

Kelso’s Escape – L.A. Noire

A Day – The Guest

Elegantly designed and thoroughly playtested, Eureka represents the culmination of three years of near-daily work from our team, as well as a lot of our own money. If you’re just now reading this and learning about Eureka for the first time, you missed the crowdfunding window unfortunately, but you can still check out the public beta on itch.io to learn more about what Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy actually is, as that is where we have all the fancy art assets, the animated trailer, links to video reviews by podcasts and youtubers, etc.!

You can also follow updates on our Kickstarter page where we post regular updates on the status of our progress finishing the game and getting it ready for final release.

Beta Copies through the Patreon

If you want more, you can download regularly updated playable beta versions of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy earlier, plus extra content such as adventure modules by subscribing to our Patreon at the $5 tier or higher. Subscribing to our patreon also grants you access to our patreon discord server where you can talk to us directly and offer valuable feedback on our progress and projects.

The A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club

If you would like to meet the A.N.I.M. team and even have a chance to play Eureka with us, you can join the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club discord server. It’s also just a great place to talk and discuss TTRPGs, so there is no schedule obligation, but the main purpose of it is to nominate, vote on, then read, discuss, and play different indie TTRPGs. We put playgroups together based on scheduling compatibility, so it’s all extremely flexible. This is a free discord server, separate from our patreon exclusive one. https://discord.gg/7jdP8FBPes

Other Stuff

We also have a ko-fi and merchandise if you just wanna give us more money for any reason.

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.