#it also required new game to come out after DAI but that's a detail just 10 years of waiting it's fine I am fine I AM FINE

[veinereastath]

[petalruesimblr]

Hello and welcome back to my blog!

My fifth and final gift for the Petalruesimblr Advent Calendar is: Dermatology Career! This is my third full-time career that I've created for The Sims 3 and I'm so happy it is finally complete.

I just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope your holiday season is filled with joy and love! 💜

If you are interested, click on ’Keep Reading’ below for more information and pictures of the Dermatology Career.

Dermatology Career

Sim File Share

Ready to get under the skin of the most fascinating (and sometimes most frustrating) aspects of beauty? The world of dermatology is calling! Whether you’re performing cutting-edge laser treatments or giving pep talks to patients with the occasional outbreak, there’s never a dull moment in the world of skincare. And who knows? Maybe you’ll even land an internship under Dr. McSteamy himself - so apply now!

Career Type: Full Time Available for: Young Adults, Adults and Elders Available Languages: English Levels: 10 Rabbit Hole: DaySpa Does it have Carpool? Yes Does it have Uniforms? Yes (details under Final Notes) File Type: Package Min. Required Game Version: 1.42 Packs Needed: The Sims 3 📣All descriptions for the levels, tones and metrics as well as skills required, salary, uniforms and other details are provided on the pictures above. Right-click on a picture and select ’Open image in new tab’ for a clearer view.

NRAAS Careers Mod

Branches and Wages: I decided to focus on two branches for my Dermatology career, which branch out after level 5: Cosmetic Dermatology, focusing on non-surgical treatments and Cosmetic Dermatologic Surgery, which specializes in skin surgery. The two branches share the same skill and metric requirements, as they are both part of the medical field. The main difference lies in their salaries, with the Cosmetic Dermatologic Surgery branch offering a higher pay. I aimed to make the wages as realistic as possible however to compensate for the increased days off and decreased work hours as the level increases, I had to raise the hourly wages beyond the normal salary ranges for Levels 6-10 for both branches. Metrics and Books: This career is similar to the medical career in The Sims 3, particularly in terms of the logic skill and research as part of its metrics. However, I also included charisma, as I believe it’s a vital skill for patients to trust and feel comfortable with their doctors, especially when it comes to skin treatments. Opportunities and Uniforms: With a bit of experience in creating opportunities, I decided to add four this time, three of which are repeatable! All of them are relatively simple and offer bonuses, as well as salary increases for some as rewards upon completion. For uniforms, I’ve provided a picture above to highlight the differences between the levels by assigning different colors to the scrubs. There isn’t a general color assigned to dermatology uniforms, as hospitals usually decide the scrub colors for their various departments. As stated above, you will need NRAAS Careers Mod for these careers to show up in the game and as long as you have the latest version of it, it should work for higher patches. You can also read my #psa regarding these careers, click here. I’m not fluent in any other languages to translate so if anyone is interested in translating this career, please don’t hesitate to send me a message here, comment on this post or let me know in my Ask/Contact form (if you don’t have a Tumblr account) and will let you know the details. I have tested this career in my game, so far it is working and all scripts are showing up. All feedback is very welcome to help me learn and improve my skills so please let me know if you experience any problems on your end and I’ll do my best to sort it as soon as possible.

MissyHissy step-by-step tutorial Twallan for the Career Mod S3pe

[sleepyorchidmonster]

Genshin event where we temporarily work in Xilonen's workshop as assistants.

The event's main role is to take up and manage comissions from clients, a bit like the bartender event. Clients fill out the required forms, so their requests can either come with detailed blueprints or a general vibe of what they want and we must manage them.

Another feature would be a Xilonen mood bar that gets depleted with each new project she completes and requires time or limited events (such as naps and DJ sessions) to be restored (kinda like March 7th's Primaveral Blade Event in hsr).

There are four types of projects:

- Small projects with a detailed blueprint (-15 mood bar);

- Small projects with just a general idea of what they want (-30 mood bar) ;

- Big projects with detailed blueprints (-45 mood bar);

- Big projects with just a general idea of what they want (-60 mood bar).

And every day we also get a special visit from the other characters, mostly with requests or small stories, though those requests won't drain Xilonen's mood:

- Mavuika appears once a day, right before the workshop's closing time (she has way too much work and only gets time off at the end of the day). She will come with detailed blueprints and schematics of the craziest projects possible (a car, an helicopter, a jenga game, hair accessories for her flaming hair, etc), Xilonen will usually just say "no" and run away, though she did craft the jenga game and the hair accessories;

- Kachina, Mualani and Kinich will come and ask her to fix Turbo-Twirly (some bullies broke it). Xilonen fixes it right away, free of charge, but not before joining Mualani, Kinich and Traveler in a revenge quest (Mavuika was there too, but stayed to guard the workshop and cook some Saurus Crackers for Kachina);

- Citlali asks for a special comission related to a light novel she recently read (either an action figure or a replica of a weapon from the story);

- Ororon comes along requesting a way to protect his crops from harsh weather, which leads to a whole mini quest featuring a cameo of Ifa;

- Lyney shows up with a damaged Pers and a few of its schematics, though Lynette will appear the next day to retrieve the penguin and request a contraption that they can use for their magic shows, with the three siblings coming to thank Xiolonen the day after (Freminet got injured during a mission in Sumeru's desert, but since Sumeru is mostly Dottore's turf, the twins decided to regroup with Capitano's soldiers in Natlan. Lynette was guarding an unconscious Freminet while Lyney searched for a skilled craftsperson to repair Pers, since he's the extroverted one);

- Furina makes an appearance, with some ideas for stage props (Neuvillette can be seen in a nearby lake, chilling with the capybaras);

- Kaveh also makes a visit, curious about the use of phlogiston. He was visiting Natlan in the hopes of helping with rebuilding efforts and ended up meeting Mavuika. They chatted for a while about the nation's architecture, as well as possible future collaborations between Natlan and Sumeru and, when it was time for Mavuika's nightly visit to Xilonen's workshop, Kaveh decided to tag along, even helping the Traveler dissuade Mavuika from submitting one of her crazy blueprints (instead of a flying fortified hospital, Kaveh got a few fennec fox toys as a souvenir, Xilonen appreciates the help);

- Paimon and Little One also make an appearance, visiting the Traveler and requesting "a reminder of our journey through Natlan". We can choose what the Traveler will create, with the options being a small Tepetlisaur figurine, a metal plate with Paimon, Traveler and Little One or an accessory for the Traveler that matches Little One's scarf (a hairband for Aether or an earring for Lumine, maybe);

- In the last day, Nepecha will ask for a comission as well, presenting her own blueprints. It's just a toy, but Xilonen is super proud of her, and the blueprints can later be seen framing one of the workshop's walls, even after the event's end

Event rewards would include primos, a few teapot decorations and maybe a namecard, as well as a new sword (a gift from Xilonen and the best weapon for Traveler, it even allows them to immediately change elements, no Statue of the Seven required).

[cheesy09]

[CN] Kiro's In the Heart of Destiny Mind's Quest (1/3)

🌸 Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for a date that hasn't been released on the EN server yet! 🌸

[Note: This date was translated with the help of Google Translate :>]

Trigger Warning: This Mind's Quest explores mature sexual themes, themes of violence, and trauma. Avoid reading this date if you do not meet the game's required 17+ age rating.

I highly recommend reading the Main Story chapters (at least season 1), as well as Kiro's R&S: Top Experimental Subject before reading the Mind's Quest.

——*:･ﾟ✧——*:･ﾟ✧——

[CHAPTER 1]

MC: This year, each department has completed many important goals. So during the Spring Festival, everyone should have a good rest. See you all next year...

Before I finish my summary, there is a knock on the door of the conference room. An employee from the business department walks in with an excited look on his face and his voice is so high, it's almost out of tune.

Staff: Boss! We received an email from Ms. Sarah! She is willing to give us her new work to produce!

MC: Who?

Staff: Who else? The queen of suspense, Sarah Pellegrini!

-

MC: ......"I sincerely hope that you can come to P Island, and I will do my best to be your host here.

MC: I will also discuss with you the film and television adaptation of my new book, Flower House*."

MC: Woohoo, Kiro, did you hear that?

Kiro: I heard it...

Through the mobile phone, Kiro's voice blends with the sound of the ship starting in my ears, sounding almost unreal.

As I turn up the volume, Kiro on the other end of the video call also zooms in.

At this moment, the sun shines brightly outside the ship on my side, while a bright moon hangs high outside the window on his side.

He leans back on the sofa and loosens the collar of his costume.

Kiro: [sulking] Honestly, you don't even read the emails I write to you so eloquently.

Kiro pouts in feigned dissatisfaction, and I smile sheepishly.

MC: I'm just so happy... After all, this is Ms. Sarah, the queen of suspense!

MC: You have no idea how many film and television companies around the world are eyeing her new book...

Kiro: I know I know—

Kiro drags out the last syllable of his sentence, and his tone becomes even more resentful.

Kiro: Because Nafei Film and Television also sent her an invitation letter.

MC: Nafei? The world's largest streaming media company?

Kiro: Uh-huh, they wrote "Kiro will star as the lead", "an estimated investment of tens of millions of dollars", as well as "Hollywood's top production team"...

Kiro: I didn't expect them to get bested by your team. They must be so depressed right now.

MC: Pfft, it doesn’t matter. Even if Mr. Kiro can’t be the leading actor for Nafei Films, he can still be the leading actor of [MC's Company Name].

Kiro: The leading man of [MC's Company Name]...

MC: What, you don't want to be one?

Kiro: Of course I do.

Kiro answers without hesitation, his eyebrows curved.

Kiro: Looking at it this way, you've become very powerful.

MC: Huh? Why do you say that all of sudden?

Kiro: I don’t know, it's just something that occurred to me and I wanted to say it.

Kiro moves the camera a little closer, and I am granted a much clearer view of his bright blue eyes.

Kiro: It feels like it was just yesterday that you invited me to help you save the endangered "Miracle Finder".

Kiro: Today, you're competing with the world's leading film and television companies.

Kiro: [affectionately] I… I’m really happy for you.

MC: After all, I have an international superstar boyfriend. So of course I have to work hard and strive for a career that will make him my permanent leading man!

Kiro: [almost resentfully] Mm, you work so hard, you have to go on a business trip to talk about work until the Spring Festival...

MC: Hahaha, so that's what you've been sulking about~

Seeing that Kiro is about to pout again, I quickly raise my hand to make a promise.

MC: Five days! I will finish the discussion within five days and come back to celebrate the Spring Festival with you!

Kiro: It’s a deal. If you don’t finish the discussion within five days, I will come to P Island and arrest you myself.

Kiro: You have to compensate Kiro for his "missing you fee", "loss of sharing delicious food fee", and "loss of kissing and hugging each other fee"!

We exchange a few words, and then Savin's voice sounds from his side. Kiro nods towards the camera and then turns to look at me.

Kiro: Savin has asked me to get to the shoot. I will video chat with you later when I have time.

MC: Okay, I'll hang up then.

Kiro: ....Wait a minute.

Kiro suddenly calls out to me. He opens his mouth hesitantly, and his expression grows more serious.

Kiro: It suddenly occurred to me that Ms. Sarah lives near Sicily?

Kiro: There's been some unrest there lately. There may be mafia activity. Please be careful when you get there, and feel free to contact me if anything happens.

Unrest? But as far as I can remember, I haven't seen any recent news about public security here.

A trace of doubt flashes through my mind, but I still nod and assure Kiro. Then, he reluctantly hangs up the phone.

I put away my phone and walk out of the cabin.

Although winter has arrived, the Mediterranean climate makes everything remain pleasant and comfortable.

Brushing away my hair, I watch the bow of the ship quickly cut through the surface of the sea, the ripples churning, and head towards the small island ahead of me.

-

P Island is not large in area, with only one small town on the island. The reefs and mountains embrace the locally-styled red tiles and white walls, making it resemble a secluded paradise.

Several of my colleagues and I follow the tourists off the boat. As soon as we arrive at the dock, we hear a cheerful female voice.

??: Ciao, MC.

I turn around and see a red-haired lady in a black dress waving at me with a smile.

MC: Ms. Sarah?

Sarah: It's me. I think you've seen my picture on the flaps of some books.

MC: Of course I have, but you look much younger and more energetic than in those pictures.

Ms. Sarah is not a writer who is keen on being in the spotlight. In the collection of news and interviews of her, she always appears as melancholy as her writing.

But at this moment, she is as cheerful and amiable as the midday sunshine in southern Italy.

Sarah: Oh, writers come out transformed after they finish up the hell of writing.

MC: Haha, I totally agree. Every time I finish a show, I feel like I’m reborn…

MC: However, it is precisely this "life and death" training that has lead us to meet here.

Sarah bursts into laughter and holds out a black-gloved hand towards me.

Sarah: Then, as someone who has also been "reborn after going through hell", I welcome you to P island.

-

We walk and talk with Ms. Sarah, and under her guidance, we arrive at a manor in the depths of town.

The manor is full of lush greenery and scattered flowers; it is obvious that it is carefully cared for by the owner every day. I let my eyes roam around the place.

MC: Did you get the idea for "Flower House" while you were tending to your own flower house?

Sarah: Honey, you're so funny.

Sarah smiles and shakes her head, looking forward.

Sarah: The inspiration for "Flower House" actually stems from an experience in my childhood.

Sarah: That experience was painful and has been haunting me ever since.

Sarah: But I thought it was time to face it and write it down, something like a farewell to that old thing.

Her voice gradually lowers, as if she has swallowed a sigh. I realize that I've said something wrong and quickly apologise to her.

MC: Sorry, I shouldn't have made such a joke before reading the novel...

Sarah: It's okay, I really like your sense of humor.

Sarah: In a moment, you will be able to see the outline and manuscript of "Flower House". You're going to be its first reader.

MC: That's great!

-

I ask the other employees to settle in and adjust to the time difference, while I myself am unable to wait to follow Sarah to the study.

Sarah hands me the manuscript and thoughtfully makes a cup of coffee for me.

At first, I am still able to drink the coffee and smile while appreciating the exquisite diction in the novel and the humor hidden in the dialogues.

But gradually, the corners of my mouth could no longer curl up, and only my fingertips continue flipping the pages silently.

MC: "The gardener said that in order to grow more beautiful flowers in the greenhouse, inferior varieties weren't needed..."

MC: "And then the flowers withered. Only I remained."

As the new generation queen of suspense, Sarah's greatest strength is that she's able to make people empathize with all the emotions of her protagonist. The tension, sadness, happiness...

At the same time, she also likes bringing up a pair of dark hands lurking in the shadows whenever the readers and the protagonist breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that all the truth has come to light.

These hands will gather the fog again and cause the protagonist to fall back into his childhood nightmare.

And in "Flower House", all of this finally comes to an end.

MC: "...I picked up the gardener's hatchet and walked towards him. And towards myself."

MC: This story is... so sad.

I close the manuscript and sigh.

MC: I originally thought that everything would end once the protagonist successfully avenged his childhood self... Why did he end his own life in the end?

Sarah: Because the pain of being trapped in the Flower House can never be relieved, only avenged.

Sarah: Those who have fallen into darkness can never be saved. The only way out is through death.

Sarah lowers her eyes. Her tone is light, as if she is saying something that is completely justified.

Is it true that there can never be liberation and salvation?

My heart aches because of her words, and a bright golden color suddenly flashes through my mind—

What about him?

Does Kiro, who was once in a similar situation as the protagonist in the book, also suffer and struggle in the same way?

Did I really pull him out of that darkness?

Thinking of this, I frown and bite my lower lip. But Sarah seems to misunderstand my expression and quickly leans forward.

Sarah: Sorry, did my words affect you?

MC: No, no, I was just thinking of someone I know.

Sarah: Who?

MC: He is actually the actor I want to recommend to you, Kiro.

MC: He's had similar experiences as the protagonist and has also faced a lot of darkness.

MC: He should be able to fit into the role well when performing...

Sarah: Wait, the Kiro you mentioned, is that the Kiro from B.S. Entertainment?

I nod, and the curiosity on Sarah's face suddenly disappears. She twitches the corner of her mouth, revealing a subtle expression.

Sarah: If it's him, I refuse.

MC: Why? Do you think he is too young? But I can vouch for his acting skills, and his professionalism is second to none in the industry...

Sarah: It has nothing to do with Mr. Kiro, I just don't want artistes from B.S. Entertainment to act in my works.

Sarah: I have some issues with them.

Sarah: It was precisely because of this that I declined the first invitation from Nafei Film and Television.

MC: .......

I never expected Nafei Film and Television to miss the opportunity because of this. I am rendered speechless.

Could it be that talks of collaboration between B.S. Entertainment and Sarah fell through, and they have since been blacklisted by the Queen of Suspense? I mutter to myself.

The atmosphere starts to become a little awkward, so I simply change the subject.

MC: We can discuss the role selection later. It's getting late now, so why don't we...

Bang. Before I can finish my words, a noise comes from downstairs.

Sarah looks at me in confusion and stands up.

Sarah: Maybe something got blown down by the wind. I'll go check it out.

She only takes a few steps out of the study when she suddenly lets out a scream.

Sarah: Why... you all...?!

??: ....Because we're done waiting.

A vague and unfamiliar male voice comes from downstairs. My heart skips a beat and an ominous feeling spreads throughout my chest.

I quickly rush out of the study and go to Sarah.

-

Looking down the stairs, the scene in the living room immediately clogs my throat.

Several men are seated on the sofa, each of them holding a gun, their black muzzles pointing at Sarah and me.

One of the men looks at me and gives me an extremely evil smile.

Man: Buongiorno, Signora MC… Oh wait.

He grins and slowly changes his words.

Man: Queen of Black Swan.

——*:･ﾟ✧——*:･ﾟ✧——

[CHAPTER 2]

Queen.

This unexpected name makes my brain go blank for a few seconds, and I find myself frozen in place for a while.

Who are they?

I suddenly remember the last instructions Kiro gave me during our video call on the boat.

-[Flashback]-

Kiro: There's been some unrest there lately. There may be mafia activity. Please be careful when you get there, and feel free to contact me if anything happens.

-[End of Flashback]-

Could it be that the "unrest" he was referring to is because of these people?

But why is the Mafia calling me... Queen?

I suppress the pounding in my heart and try my best to keep my tone steady, as if I have experienced many storms before.

MC: Who are you.

Man: It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is who you are.

MC: Meaning what.

Man: We need you to do us a favor.

MC: How troublesome.

The man changes his sitting posture, but the muzzle of his gun remains trained to my head.

T/n: I really like the touch of having MC imitate Helios' way of speaking when talking to the mafia. Really shows how couples rub off on each other 🥹

Man: Call the Boss of BS over.

The boss of BS... Kiro? What do they want to do with Kiro?!

I knew it. This is the organization that has been causing Kiro trouble every day, preventing him from getting peace of mind!

I curse him fiercely in my heart, but try to remain calm on the surface.

Should I play dumb for now? Or just say something to deceive him? Or should I agree first and then find a chance to contact Kiro...?

All kinds of thoughts run through my mind over and over again.

Since the other party isn't directly using force and only threatening us, they must be concerned about something.

Deciding to test them again, I raise a sneer.

MC: How interesting. Is this your way of asking for help? What makes you think I can call over the Boss of BS....

Man: Of course you can. After all, you are responsible for the staff resting in the hotel right now, right?

MC: You!

These people are so despicable! I take a breath and speak hastily.

MC: My employees have nothing to do with any of this. If you are looking for someone from BS, then I'm standing right here!

Man: Alright.

The man unexpectedly agrees with me. He waves his hand and gives his men some instructions in Italian.

Man: As long as you are willing to cooperate, my men will not disturb their rest.

Man: As for you two ladies, how about you please come down and take a seat?

I turn my head to look at Sarah. Her face is as pale as snow and she looks quite frightened.

Things related to BS... should not involve these ordinary people.

I take a deep breath, squeeze Sarah's arm, and lead her down the stairs.

Under the threat of gunpoint, I slowly take out my cell phone and call Kiro.

Busy tone, busy tone, busy tone...

No one answers the phone for several consecutive times. The man on the other end of the phone starts to look impatient, but I am relieved.

During work, Kiro and I rarely make continuous calls like this — If there is an emergency, we'd also find other ways to communicate.

If he sees me calling continuously and persistently, he will definitely understand... I bite my lip.

Just as I am about to hang up the fifth call, that familiar voice suddenly sounds from the other end of the receiver.

Kiro: For miss MC to be in such a hurry to find me, is something wrong?

His tone at this moment is polite and distant, as if we are just ordinary business partners.

In an instant, my uneasy heart settles down.

—Even without any hints or opening remarks, he is always able to understand me and my situation.

I clench my phone and speak in the same tone as him.

MC: Hello, Mr. K, could you contact the boss of BS?

There is silence for a few seconds on the other end of the phone, followed by another polite laugh.

Kiro: Miss, you're really making things hard for me... How am I supposed to contact someone as elusive as the Boss?

MC: But I have something urgent to discuss with him. Could you please help me, Mr. K? Just tell him...

MC: Queen needs him.

Kiro: Then... I'll do my best.

Kiro "reluctantly" agrees and hangs up the phone. I shrug at the man.

MC: I've tried my best. As for whether the boss is willing to contact you, then...

Before I finish speaking, my phone rings. It's a video invite from an unknown number.

As soon as I press the connect button, the dark night of Loveland City splashes onto my screen like ink. A dazzling silver that cuts through the night leaps into my field of vision.

A cloud of white mist still lingers around Helios' lips, as if he has just rushed outside. There is undisguised worry in his eyes, but he speaks with arrogance.

Helios: Queen.

—Isn't this transformation way too quick?! The enemy will find out!

I secretly glare at Helios, but Helios pretends not to notice and speaks first with confidence.

Helios: You are the Queen, so of course all your actions are being monitored by BS.

Helios: Including the fact that you called Kiro five times for help.

MC: Stalker.

Helios: [indifferently] Thank you for the compliment.

The moment our eyes meet, I feel as if he has gently hooked my little finger, or planted a feather-light kiss on the corner of my mouth.

It's cunning, and provocative.

Sarah: You're the Boss of BS...?

An unexpected voice sounds, and I turn to look at Sarah in confusion.

The writer who has been immersed in fear ever since coming downstairs, seems to finally come to her senses. She looks at Helios in the video with slight disbelief.

Sarah: So young....

MC: What did you say?

Her sentence is slightly muffled and I'm unable to catch it. At this moment, the man on the sofa opposite me snatches away my phone at once. He stares straight at Helios, his mouth stretching into a grin, revealing his sharp white teeth. It's like he wants to tear Helios' flesh off.

Man: I believe that this young boss has already seen our hostage, so please come to P island alone within 48 hours.

Man: Or else, Sicily won't mind one more bloodbath.

With my back towards the phone, I am unable to see Helios' expression through the screen, but I hear a very lazy laugh.

Helios: It doesn't take that long. Maybe 24 hours.

Helios: If she loses even a hair, I don't mind having one more murder on my hands.

-

MC: ....Kiro should have boarded the plane to Europe by now.

I stare at the dark ceiling above my head and sigh silently.

After the negotiation, all communication devices belonging to Sarah and me are confiscated and we are placed under house arrest in our rooms on the second floor.

I am worried about Sarah, my employees - who are now caught in this mess - and Kiro, who is on the other side of the ocean.

He'll take care of everything. He's a superhero.

I repeat this to myself over and over again, but this self-comfort isn't able to soothe the restlessness in my chest.

For some reason, something about today's kidnapping feels off, but no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to figure out what exactly.

Finally, after turning over in bed for the ninth time, I resign myself to my fate and sit up and walk towards the window.

At this moment, everything outside the window is silent, with only the occasional sound of footsteps near the manor, announcing the fact that I'm still under their surveillance.

The night sky and the sea merge together, and the distant sea breeze stirs up the waves, beating them against the island over and over again.

I stare at the night for a long time. So long, that my eyes start to feel swollen and sore.

It doesn't matter. Once the sun rises, I'll be able to see him again.

MC: Kiro....

I cover my face, letting the moisture in the corners of my eyes melt into my palms as I murmur his name.

??: [chuckling] So this is how the Queen thinks of me.

MC: ?!

For a moment, I almost think myself to be hallucinating and raise my head from my palm in disbelief.

Through my tearful eyes, the man I have been thinking about appears before my eyes. He leans on the windowsill with one hand and reaches out to me with the other.

Helios: Won't you give me a hand?

Helios: This posture is rather uncomfortable, and you wouldn't want me to get discovered by the patrol outside, would you?

My body responds to his question faster than my brain does. I hold Helios's hand and feel his familiar warmth through our overlapping palms.

This isn't a hallucination, or a dream.

I am holding my lover's hand.

Due to inertia, I stagger back a few steps, pulling Helios into the room from the window sill, and the two of us tumble down to the floor together.

Although a layer of carpet separates us from the floor, the muffled sound of the impact still brings a dull pain to my shoulder blades.

But I have no time to care about my body's protests, because at this moment, my heart and eyes are solely focused on the person on top of me.

MC: Ki....

My breath is overpowered by Helios'.

His kiss still carries the dampness of a winter night, his lips cold, while his tongue, hot.

It is so hot, that it burns me inch by inch, from my lips to my ears.

Back and forth, on repeat.

Rather than being affectionate, it is more like we are using this awkward and urgent kiss to confirm each other's existence.

My grip on his clothes gets tighter and tighter, taking in the tension of his undulating muscles.

It is obvious that he is the one plundering me, yet I feel a certain greedy desire for him growing wildly in my mind.

MC: Kiro....

I whisper his name again.

Helios: I'm here.

Even though it is so dark in front of us that we can barely make out each other's outlines, our eyes stay fixed on the other.

A bit of moonlight shines through the clouds and seeps into his deep blue eyes.

Helios: I'm late.

MC: You big doofus.

MC: It's only been a few hours, and you're already here...

Helios: But you cried.

Helios' fingers gently stroke the red corners of my eyes.

Helios: If I had come earlier, you wouldn't have cried.

MC: You just want me to cry now.

My righteous complain makes Helios laugh out loud. He hums, leans over and presses my head into his shoulder.

Helios: [whispering] You can cry as much as you want, I will continue.

——*:･ﾟ✧——*:･ﾟ✧——

[CHAPTER 3]

We lay on the carpet hugging each other, quietly listening to each other's heartbeats.

Once my excitement finally subsides a little, I softly speak up.

MC: So how did you just... "pop up"?

Helios: I think you're the doofus, Miss Chips.

Helios helplessly pokes my forehead.

Helios: After knowing that you were being held hostage, how do you expect me to come rescue you in a "normal" way?

Helios: I found an Evolver with a teleportation Evol in BS, confirmed your location, and asked him to send me over.

I stick out my tongue. I did indeed forget that such a possibility existed.

Helios: As for the group of people that kidnapped you, I found out that they are the Ansoto family, a notorious mafia gang.

Helios: They were held responsible for a smuggling operation that got busted by BS and have been wanting to take revenge.

Helios: I reminded you to be careful because I had heard a report about this matter at a BS meeting. [Takes in a breath] I didn't expect it to be...

He pauses when he says this. When he speaks again, there is a hint of uncertainty in his tone.

Helios: But I do find this a bit strange. How did they know your identity, and where did they get your itinerary from?

Upon hearing his words, I finally realize why I felt something was wrong before.

MC: Yes, I was wondering about that too... And if they have a grudge against BS, why did they insist on you coming here alone?

Helios: Why else? They're overestimating themselves if they think they can handle BS.

Helios sneers. He lets go of me and helps me sit up.

Helios: I'll settle the score with them later. The most important thing now is to get you to safety.

I am about to nod, only to suddenly remember something important, and I quickly grab Helios' sleeve.

MC: Wait, they not only held me hostage, but also Ms. Sarah and the staff I brought with me. If they find out tomorrow that I'm missing...

Helios: Don't worry.

Helios reaches out and takes my hand in his.

Helios: I'm a superhero. I'll keep everyone safe.

-

Since we are unsure of how many mafia members are stationed here, we decide to act quietly.

The mafia guarding the corridor barely get any time to react before Helios quickly knocks them to the ground. After confirming that there is no surveillance on the second floor, we quickly come to the door of the room where Sarah is being held.

The door lock is a piece of cake for Helios. We wink at each other and I enter the room first.

As soon as the door is opened, a ray of light pours out from the crack of the door.

I take a light step inside, and the figure sitting by the bed quickly raises her head.

Sarah: MC? How are you--

I quickly make a shushing gesture to her and point to the door.

MC: Long story short, someone has come to rescue us.

I pull Sarah up from the bed as a look of confusion displays across her face. She looks over my shoulder and notices Helios standing behind me.

Sarah: You're BS's....

Helios: Mm. You must have seen me in that video call this morning.

Helios: Long story short, I'm here to rescue you.

Helios leans against the door frame and smiles, imitating my tone.

Sarah: ........

Despite his friendly tone, Sarah shudders all over and I blink in confusion.

MC: Ms. Sarah?

Sarah: I... I'm sorry, I was quite frightened.

She closes her eyes tightly twice, and after exhaling, her expression returns to the calmness it had during the day.

Sarah: Thank you, young boss of BS.

Helios: You're welcome. You and MC go to the dock and wait for help. I'll go and rescue the rest of your employees.

Sarah: If that's the case we could go through the gardens. There's a path leading from the estate to the town.

Sarah: You go ahead, I'll find the key to the garden and come down right away.

There is no time to waste. Helios nods and leaves the room.

I hesitate for a moment, but am still more worried about Helios' safety, so I nod towards Sarah and walk out of the room.

His fresh scent still seems to linger in the air. I walk along the corridor, carefully avoiding the mafia who have been knocked unconscious on the ground.

The closer I get to the stairs, the stronger the sickly-sweet smell becomes.

It's the smell of blood.

I can't help but hold my breath and gaze at the agile silhouette who is still in the midst of fighting.

Helios is like a cheetah hunting in the dark, silent and fluid as he maneuvers through several mafia members.

His movements aren't superfluous, while his fighting style is quick and decisive, as if he isn't on a small island in southern Italy, but on the set of an action movie.

These people don't even have time to scream before their sounds are stabbed back by the dagger he wields.

In less than a minute, the only sound that remains in the living room is that of slightly rapid breathing.

At this moment, Helios seems to sense my gaze and looks up at me. Although the light is dim, I can still see the corners of his mouth perk up.

Helios: Come on down, it's all over.

MC: [nervously] Kiro, you wouldn't have... done that to all of them, would you?

Helios: [chuckles] Which is?

I make a gesture of swiping my neck, eliciting a sneer out of him.

Helios: Oh, I didn't do "that" to them. It's just that when they wake up, some of their muscles and joints are gonna hurt so much that they'll want to die.

As he says this, Helios reaches out and pulls me into his arms, biting my lips in dissatisfaction.

Helios: [in a mischievously soft voice] As soon as you come down, you're only worried about whether I did "that" to them? Why not care about whether I'm hurt or not?

I wrinkle my nose in pain and softly protest.

MC: A bad guy who has time to bite people doesn't need me to... hiss.

Before I can finish my words, he grazes my ear again. His teeth grabs at the soft flesh, causing a slight sting.

Helios: [seductively whispers] ....I'll let you pay me back later.

While this guy is clearly threatening me, his husky voice carries a hint of Kiro's signature flirtatiousness, making him impossible to resist.

I am about to say something back when I am interrupted by footsteps coming from upstairs.

Sarah cautiously pokes her head out from the stairwell and sees Helios and I embracing.

Slightly embarrassed, I take a step away from Helios' arms.

MC: Did you find the key?

Sarah: Mm. Have you... dealt with those mafia folks?

Helios: It's probably just the three of us who are standing in this room right now.

Sarah parts her lips slightly, as if she wants to say something, but she swallows it back.

Sarah: Then let's leave quickly.

-

With Sarah's guidance, we bypass the mafia in the manor and soon arrive at the garden's back door. The iron gate is wrapped with several circles of heavy iron chains, and a somewhat mottled iron lock hangs on it.

Sarah hands the key to Helios. Helios is stunned for a moment, but still takes it and turns to the lock.

Dawn approaches, and in the far east, a subtle blue-gray light becomes visible in the distance.

The lock seems a little rusty and the key squeaks as it turns.

Sarah suddenly grabs my hand and takes a few steps back.

Sarah: MC, I'm sorry.

A little confused, I look at her, only to find that Sarah has already burst into tears. She suddenly raises her hands, holding something between her fingers.

It's a gun.

MC: ......?!

Sarah: Per i fiori appassiti nella serra (For the withered flowers in the greenhouse).

Her fingers tremble violently, and the moment she finishes speaking, she pulls the trigger without hesitation.

Bang--!

The sound of gunfire and the sound of the iron lock opening, rings out at the same time.

Screams ignite the rising sun, and blood awakens the silent island.

MC: Kiro!

Helios: .....!

The moment the gun goes off, Helios realizes something is wrong and instinctively dodges to the side, the bullet just grazing past his arm.

As soon as he stands firm, Sarah raises the gun again.

Sarah staggers, tears still welling up in her eyes, and an expression of near madness on her face.

Sarah: Both, the Ansoto family and BS should die together!

Before the second shot is fired, Helios jumps up and appears in front of Sarah like a ghost. With just one strike, the pistol flies out of the woman's hand and into his.

Click.

The tables are turned. Helios releases the safety and points his gun at Sarah. His blue eyes are as cold as ice, shining brightly in the night.

Helios: [voice menacingly low] Answer me, who are you?

Sarah: ......

Sarah painfully arches her back, but doesn't even articulate a groan.

??: Who's there!

A loud shout is heard near the garden, and it is clear that the gunshot has attracted the attention of the remaining mafia in the manor.

Seeing the large number of mafia beginning to approach the garden, Helios knows there's no time to interrogate Sarah.

He looks around, juts out his tongue, and makes a quick decision.

Helios: You go first, I'll take care of them.

MC: No, I want to stay with you...

My next words are interrupted by something he puts in my hand — a communicator.

His stands upright, his eyes not turned towards me, but towards the encirclement not far away, showing high alert.

Helios: I leave my back to you.

He never thinks of me as a burden, and superheroes should trust each other with everything.

I bite my lip and lean close to his ear.

MC: There's an abandoned lighthouse south of the pier. I'll wait for you there.

Helios nods slightly, and his eyes meet mine for a moment.

I turn around, push the door open, and run towards the path.

Bang——Foreign shouts and gunshots sound behind me, adding the final crazy melody to the chaos of this night.

Finally, once the manor is engulfed by the shadows of the trees, I can't help but turn my head to look back.

Helios is lost in the crowd, but Sarah does not join in the dispute and remains motionless.

In the distance, the morning light just begins to break, and she is dressed in a black dress, akin to a mourning crow.

——*:･ﾟ✧——*:･ﾟ✧——

Next: Part 2

*Note: The proper translation of Sarah's book title "花房" is actually "Greenhouse", but I left it as "Flower House" instead cause it sounds a lot cooler, in my opinion. But if you want, you can read it as "Greenhouse" instead :>

[artyandink]

amoralism | seventeen

SUMMARY: You and Dean Winchester are the top agents from Major Crimes. You’re also assigned as partners on the same case- a crime syndicate is running loose and buying out most of downtown New York. He hates you cause you hate him. You hate him cause you think he got in his position with his daddy’s influence. But this case is personal to one of you more than the other- and you may be getting too personal for comfort.

TW: Chuck. Short chapter.

Song Inspo: Feeling Good by Michael Bublé

SERIES MASTERLIST

egotism

Chuck Shurley liked to think of himself as a man of routine, a person of simple tastes despite the complicated world he occupied. Running a country wasn’t easy, but some things could be counted on to stay the same. Like breakfast. No one could mess with his breakfast.

He sat alone at the enormous dining table in his residence, wearing his favorite plaid bathrobe over a pair of faded pajama pants. A steaming mug of coffee sat beside his plate of toast, eggs, and bacon. Chuck always ate the same thing for breakfast. Not because he particularly loved it, but because it required no decision-making before the caffeine kicked in.

He reached for the toast, then paused to inspect the slight over-toasting of the edges. "Again with the burnt crusts," he muttered to himself, his eyebrows knitting together in mild disappointment. "I swear, they’re trying to ruin me one piece of toast at a time." He sighed and took a bite anyway, wincing slightly at the crunch. He'd have to have a word with the kitchen staff later. You’d think the President of the United States could get perfectly toasted bread, but no, that seemed to be asking for a miracle.

As he worked his way through the rest of his breakfast, Becky, his assistant, entered the room. Becky Rosen was efficient to a fault, carrying a clipboard like it was a weapon and wielding it with the precision of a fencing champion. She had a spark in her eyes that sometimes bordered on unsettling, but Chuck had learned to appreciate her, enthusiasm and all.

"Morning, Mr. President!" Becky said, almost too brightly, her smile like the sun peeking over the horizon. "Big day ahead! You ready to dive in?"

Chuck raised a single eyebrow at her cheerfulness, sipping his coffee. "Becky, it’s barely seven. How are you this chipper already? Did you have a breakfast of espresso beans and optimism again?"

She ignored his comment and plowed on, flipping through her clipboard with the kind of vigor reserved for game show hosts and emergency responders. "You’ve got a cabinet meeting at nine, then a briefing with the Joint Chiefs at ten-thirty. Lunch with the Belgian Prime Minister at noon—please don’t make any more jokes about waffles this time."

"Well, what else do they even do?" Chuck grumbled into his mug, muttering about syrup diplomacy. Becky gave him a look that managed to convey both exasperation and fondness.

"After that," she continued, "there’s the energy policy speech at two, then a fundraiser dinner at seven." She paused, her eyes flicking up from the clipboard to meet his. "And remember, sir, try to keep the jokes about solar panels to a minimum. Not everyone finds renewable energy as hilarious as you do."

Chuck leaned back in his chair, sighing dramatically. "It’s a crime against humanity that more people don’t appreciate my sense of humor. Do I have to wear a tie for all of this?"

"Absolutely," Becky said without missing a beat. "And don’t forget the photo op with the children’s charity this afternoon. You need to look like you care."

"Perfect," Chuck said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Kids. My favorite. Do they come pre-stickied, or do they just ooze jam on contact?"

Becky didn’t dignify that with a response, just handed him his schedule and turned on her heel, leaving Chuck to his now lukewarm coffee.

With breakfast done and his day outlined in painfully precise detail, Chuck made his way to his dressing room. The space was a cavernous expanse filled with suits that could have outfitted an entire department store. He stood there, hands on his hips, staring at the rows of ties like they were enemies that needed to be defeated in some twisted neckwear combat.

"Alright, which one of you will make me look like I’m competent today?" he muttered to himself. He finally settled on a navy suit and a maroon tie—classic, authoritative, but not too stuffy. As he buttoned up his crisp white shirt, he caught sight of his own reflection in the mirror. For a moment, he allowed a smirk to cross his face. "Looking good, Mr. President. Looking good."

Just as he was about to adjust his tie, his phone rang, the shrill sound cutting through the quiet of the room. Chuck’s brow furrowed as he reached for it. Very few people had this direct number, and even fewer had the gall to use it at this hour.

He glanced at the screen. The name simply read: Lucifer.

Chuck blinked, then rolled his eyes to the ceiling like he was looking for divine intervention. "Oh, great. Of course." He took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for whatever chaos was about to unfold, then hit the answer button.

“Lucy!” Chuck said, trying to keep his voice light. “What a surprise. How’s the underworld these days? Still hot and full of despair?”

There was a pause on the other end, then a smooth voice, dripping with amused malice, responded. “Chuck, my old friend. Still trying to play the role of the charming statesman, I see. You know, you’re not fooling anyone with that tie. Maroon? Really?”

Chuck forced a laugh, tightening his grip on the phone. “What can I say? Red’s a power color, and it hides the bloodstains when things get messy. So, what can I do for you, Lucifer? It’s not every day the Prince of Darkness gives me a ring.”

Lucifer’s voice was as smooth as silk and twice as dangerous. “Oh, nothing too major. Just a little business proposition, let’s call it. Something I think you’ll find… tempting.”

Chuck’s eyes narrowed slightly, though his tone remained light. “Tempting? Lucifer, you know that’s your whole brand, right? I mean, if it didn’t come with a side of betrayal and eternal damnation, you might’ve made a great salesman.”

There was a low chuckle on the other end of the line. “Flattery will get you nowhere, Chuck. But this is strictly business. I think you’ll want to hear what I have to say.”

Chuck’s playful demeanor slipped for a moment, replaced by something sharper, more calculating. He knew that tone, knew it all too well. Whatever Lucifer was about to propose, it wasn’t going to be simple. And it certainly wasn’t going to be good.

“Well, Lucifer,” Chuck said, his voice losing its casual edge, “you’ve got my attention. What kind of deal are we talking about?”

And just like that, in the space of a breath, Chuck Shurley’s morning went from a mundane blend of burnt toast and tie dilemmas to a potential crisis involving the literal devil. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, his tie half-knotted, and muttered under his breath, "Why can’t it ever just be about waffles?"

The line crackled with a hint of static, and Lucifer’s voice dripped through the receiver, smooth and menacing. “Oh, I think you’ll find this deal quite… devilishly delightful.”

Chuck rolled his eyes again, a half-sigh escaping his lips. “Oh, good. Puns. This is going to be one of those days, isn’t it?”

And with that, he braced himself for whatever nightmare Lucifer had in store, already lamenting the loss of his predictable, if slightly burnt, breakfast routine.

TAGLIST:

@goldngguk @sweetpeachbombshell @slut-for-stiles @staple-your-mouth @daddyscrimsstuff

@dob-4-life @marcis-mixtapez @nonoreas0n @gabrielasilva1510

@lucyholmes13 @pandadork-blog1 @nicolstancu @malusinhaaaa @dybalabandolero

@a-cup-of-nightshade @tomatoessoup @sh0rtcakee @fall-06 @mckaykay-fandoms

@b3th13

@demonxangelomegaverse @deanwinchestersgirl87 @capailluiscedove @i723l-interrupted2323 @niyomiii

@all-the-fan-fic @eviekinevie8 @sunflowerlover57

@1-800-dean-winchester

@darichvep @idk-usernme @supernaturalmarvel3000 @ega2025 @deanbrainrotwritings

@targaryenluvs @bucky-hydra-hoe-barnes @leigh70 @aintnowayboi @ripoffsteveharrington

@gleefulleve @sacrosankta

@riteofpassage77 @eevvvaa @thedevilortheangel @thorsballhair @barbienotdoll

@4e1h3r @wolfieblue03 @kianaleani @vicky199625 @sassyslut2003

@impyrz

@didisull @miwp @lastcallatrockysbar @rizlowwritessortof

@zepskies @angelbabyyy99

@autisticgothic

@yourgoldengirls @deansobsessedgirl @mrsjenniferwinchester

@aylacavebear @lailawinchesterr @brightlilith @arcanaa @hobby27

@lyarr24 @ximm19 @deanbrainrotwritings

@a-girl-who-loves-disney @jeneelsworld @deans-spinster-witch @deanspinsterwitchs-readinglist @kayleighwinchester

@k-slla @muhahaha303 @suckitands33

@dean-winchester-is-a-warrior

@katherineeekai @freefallthoughts @angzls @deans-baby-momma @syrma-sensei

@cheynovak

[entropy-game-dev]

Demo date announcement!

The most important information up front: The demo's release date will be the 27th of September, 2024!!

I don't think Steam notifies you even if you have followed/wishlisted the page, but still, every single follow and wishlist helps immensely. You can check the game out here, and this is also where you can grab the demo from once it's out.

The lore of the demo

A few months back, in late June, I had just come back from housesitting. One of my friends, Lucinius, mentioned that Steam was holding a space exploration festival on the 2nd of September, and suggested I get the demo ready for then. I thought this was a great idea and feverishly started working to finalize everything.

It took 6 days total to get my steam developer account up and running, including paying for the ability to put a game on Steam, getting the OK regarding tax details, etc. It takes 30 days from initial payment to when you are able to actually make the store page live. The process was quite overwhelming but this amazing guide here helped me through basically all of the process, and it was super accurate!!

About a week before the festival, I had everything ready and went to do the store pages and upload the game build. I thought uploading the build using the provided command line tool would be the hard part, and the store page would be the easy part. However, there are so many assets and variations thereof that Steam asks for that I had not prepared (about 20 in total with very specific size and design requirements), and so it took several days to complete this in a manner I was happy with.

It then also took about 5 days for the content to undergo review and for it to be approved (or not). The game page and demo build got approved, but the demo page did not as I didn't have "demo" on my assets that I had submitted for it, so it took another 5 days after correcting the page for it to be approved. This ended up being approved a few days after the space exploration fest had started, and so I thought I'd push the demo back for the next relevant festival - luckily a turn based rpg one - on the 1st of October.

However, a few days ago, I was sadly informed that my game (turn-based RPG, by the way) was not suitable for Steam's turn-based RPG festival after applying to enter it. I wasn't given a reason, even after reaching out to support, except a generic one that stated my game may not have been a good fit for it.

I honestly thought it would be a given I could take part, but that is obviously not the case! It was a bit disappointing hearing the news and the lack of feedback from Steam regarding the decision, but I'm not too fussed overall. That's because now I actually get to announce to you guys, and much earlier than I otherwise would have been able to, that the demo will be available the weekend before the festival starts!!

The date was strategically chosen, of course, to ensure I have enough time to finish polishing it, and that it wouldn't be lost among the sea of other RPG demos potentially (or not, I'm not sure) releasing during the festival!

In any case, the whole experience was seriously eye-opening. Probably not too interesting reading about it, but that's where my life has gone the past few months, and I'm actually super excited I'm finally finally allowed to mention the context surrounding my recent posts! Thanks for reading!

[pokemonheritageposts]

I have finally finished my complete pokedex run of Pokemon Crystal, capping off by catching Celebi in Ilex Forest.

This is such a weirdly emotional moment for me. Ignoring that this is the culmination of hundreds of hours of effort, requiring me to play through Gold and Silver as well as two seperate playthroughs of Yellow just to get everything not available in Crystal proper, I have a very personal attachment to Generation 2. I'm pretty sure that it's the game I've spent the most time playing across my life.

I've been here since the beginning, Red was my first game and I loved it to bits. But Gold version is infinitely more nostalgic to me. It's the first game I was ever excited for. There was almost a mysticism about seeing all the new details in magazines, about Togepi, about Marill, about Donphan, about the new starters, as more details started to trickle in.

Then one day in 2000, I got a gift. A pirated gameboy cartridge with 20 games on it - including the Japanese version of Pokemon Gold. I couldn't understand any of it, and it couldn't save, so I could only play through as much of it as could be done in one sitting, since the Game Boy Colour ran off of AA batteries and couldn't be left running indefinitely.

I must have played that almost every single day for like a year.

The furthest I could ever get in one go was Ice Path, so everything after that was no man's land to me until the English game dropped. April 6th, 2001 - I remember that date clearer than I remember most of my family's birthdays. I got it, and I played the hell out of it. And nothing could have prepared me for what would happen after I finally beat the Pokemon League - getting to play through Kanto again. Getting to fight Red.

I loved it to pieces. Later, I even bought Pokemon Silver and Pokemon Crystal, despite that I grew up poor and could only afford about two new games a year. I hold these games so dear to me. Even with HeartGold and SoulSilver offering many QoL improvements and additional content, I still find myself more drawn to them. (Also, Crystal actually has some improvements that were left out in HGSS - I'd still say it holds some significant merit even with the remakes as they are).

Sadly, my original copies of all the Gen 2 games mysteriously vanished (presumably stolen by my dipshit childhood friend), so I wasn't able to play them for a long time. But coming back to it as an adult, playing it all again, reliving everything I loved about them the first time - it's all been incredible. And finally having done the last thing that's left to do in it, seeing the last piece of content from these games that was never available until the Virtual Console release? It feels like the end to a grand journey for me.

[horrorknife]

I think Anya was already pregnant when they find out they're fired? it takes about a week after fertilization for a pregnancy test to show a positive, and since she first announces she's pregnant the day before the crash, the latest jimmy could've assaulted Anya resulting in pregnacy is a few days before the party.

and that's assuming, 1. Anya has access to a pregnancy test (doubtful, given how Pony Wxpress skimps on everything), 2. that jimmy only raped Anya the one time (possible, but it usually takes a few tries to get pregnant generally).

it's unfortunately much likelier that Anya was raped multiple times and got pregnant long enough before the events of the game to have missed at least one period by the time she realizes.

I'm sure jimmy did take his anger out on Anya one way or another after they got fired, but unfortunately their fates were already sealed.

okay—i understand where you’re coming from and i can respect your interpretation. everyone will take different things from canon. for me, though, this argument doesn’t have a lot of ground to stand on. it’s far too realistic for a narrative shrouded in metaphor. mouthwashing requires the person playing it to suspend LARGE amounts of disbelief (the seemingly perfect gravity on a spacecraft, anya’s pregnancy apparently lasting as long as it does, curly still being alive months after the crash…the list goes on).

as far as stories go, it would make little sense for this to be the case. curly breaking the news is the inciting incident in canon that puts things into motion. it is what really kickstarts jimmy’s spiral. rape does happen for no reason in real life all the time, yes, but in mouthwashing it occurs as a consequence of something, like most large plot beats should. we also don’t know what manner the rape was in. it’s entirely plausible that jimmy and anya could have messed around before/were messing around/etc and he took things too far. it could also be frightening and aggressive. we don’t know—all we know is that there was sexual force of some kind. on the back of the conversation jimmy and curly have regarding curly’s midlife crisis and then the firing, jimmy wanted a way to ruin curly’s reputation so he would be just as fucked over as the rest of them. he wants to take curly down with him. he says this in so many words when curly tries talking to him about the pregnancy. i think there’s always been that speck of resentment, absolutely, but i don’t think jim’s ever been driven as far as trying to ruin the dude’s life before. there would be very little reason for him to assault anya prior to this simply because it wouldn’t really make narrative sense. things shouldn’t just Happen For No Reason in a story.

like i said, i understand and respect your opinion!! but this is how i see it. i think there are a lot of viable opinions about it out there and it depends on how the player chooses to interpret things. for me this interpretation just makes more sense! i like my stories to be cohesive and i find it a little annoying to get bogged down in “real world” details, especially in a game as surreal and world-bending as mouthwashing.

[gay-jesus-probably]

So like, last night I stumbled upon your discussions of why a lot of TOTK’s whole… everything is messed up, and it had me thinking about it so much I had troubled sleeping afterwards. So uh, thanks for that lol (/lh). In all seriousness, your takes on how imperialist Hyrule is in this game, how much less like unique cultures the various towns feel like, Ganondorf being both completely flat and also seemingly not meant to be, and how weird it is that Zelda is back in power really put into words a lot of thoughts that had been nagging at me as I’ve been playing. Like, the amount to which the writing has suffered from BOTW is staggering when you actually lay out the problems. Out of curiosity, do you have any idea what the fuck happened? Like did the writing team change? The game had so much potential, as seen by the numerous fan theories/AUs etc. So what went wrong?

Honestly? I have no idea. I'm not usually that big on behind the scenes stuff anyways, and I'll be real here, I went into this game pretty much 100% blind - I didn't even watch any of the trailers, I knew NOTHING about TOTK except from a few details I absorbed from hearing other people talk about online (basically, I knew Ganondorf was going to show up as a talking corpse, Link would lose an arm, and the Master Sword would get rekt).

I rarely buy games as soon as they come out anyways tbh; I can only think of three games that I've actually gone out of my way to get as soon as possible after their release, and that was the 3DS remakes of Superstar Saga and Bowsers Inside Story (two of my favourite games ever, and Superstar Saga having literally been my first RPG), and I picked up the Mario 3D All Stars collection on launch day as a favour to my older sibling (who was stuck at work), and got one for myself in the process. The only reason I bought TOTK like a week after its release was because one of our dogs was literally days away from having a puppy, and so I knew that the next few weeks of my life would be entirely dedicated to keeping the other two dogs busy, assisting mom with the newborn puppy, and just generally being on call to provide literally anything mom needed as soon as she needed it. Which meant a lot of sitting around waiting to be required, and I'd need something to do that I could easily pause at a moments notice. So... new video game seemed a good way to fill the hang time.

And it was a good call, like I said, I've been having loads of fun with this game. There's a reason I've almost got 300 hours of gameplay, and it's not (just) because I haven't had anything better to do in between taking care of dog stuff (though that number is somewhat inflated due to me leaving it open and paused for hours at a time while busy with dog stuff). It's just that the story is a fucking mess.

As for what happened with the story... I have no idea. I've seen some people suggest that they might have been planning something a little more ambitious, and then technical limitations forced them to walk it back, so the story had to be hastily reworked to match. And I've heard that the abilities in TOTK were just ideas they had for BOTW that they couldn't fit in, which honestly I can see - the abilities are cool and all, but let's be real here, they aren't nearly as distinct as the BOTW runes. Magnesis, Cryonis, Stasis and Remote Bombs were unique powers with different uses in different areas; now the powerset is just Recall, Get Around Slightly Faster, Ultrahand, Ultrahand But In Your Inventory, and Ultrahand But Faster. But I don't know if that's actually the case.

But honestly, I really don't know why the writing is so awful. To be fair, some of it is definitely just the English translation team shitting the bed - like come on, they didn't need to have Sidon and Yona repeatedly exchange the exact same line about how he's scared she'll die like Mipha. They could have at least changed the fucking wording to make it sound more natural. And I know that other translation teams managed to inject some more nuance into the story - the French translation actually managed to call Rauru on his imperialist bullshit! For the throne room scene, they had Ganon refer to Rauru with 'vous', the formal form of 'you', but Rauru refers to Ganon with 'tu', the informal form of 'you'. 'Tu' is for use in casual settings or between friends, and if someone is using 'vous' for you, referring to them with 'tu' is a MASSIVE insult; it's very condescending, and implies that you have literally no respect for that person whatsoever, but they should continue treating you as a figure of great authority. To sort of translate that into an English equivalent, it'd be like if Ganon walked into that scene using formal language and referring to Rauru as a fellow King, and Rauru responded by treating Ganon like a small, dumb child. Hugely insulting. Also the vous/tu disparity has a History with French colonialism, so that adds some implications as to what Hyrule's really doing with their 'allies'. And in the scene where Ganon takes the secret stone, the French translation has him say Rauru tried to force him to submit, which is an outright accusation of imperialism (as opposed to the English saying Rauru wanted to control Ganon, which suggests the problem was Rauru thinking he could find a peaceful solution instead of just executing a foreign leader for thought crimes)

So the english translation definitely had the room to put some more nuance into things if the team had wanted to; honestly I kind of wish I knew Japanese so I could compare it to the original script and see if any of the problems I've been bitching about were part of the script from the start, or if the English translators were just particularly bad. But Nintendo is a very conservative company, and Japan is a very conservative country with a serious nationalism problem, so I kind of doubt it, especially since the game portrays Hyrule pretty much the exact same way that Japan is portrayed in propaganda justifying their own imperialism. That... does not suggest the English team went apeshit. That suggests that the awful shit was in the script from the start, and the English team was just totally on board with it.

As for the writing teams... I mean, to be fair it's been like seven years, of course the writing team isn't the exact same as BOTW. But honestly, the main issue is just that they've recycled a lot of old problems from the Zelda games, and somehow stripped them of what little nuance they had before. Like, Ganondorf trying to take over Hyrule because Evil has been an issue since Ocarina of Time (which this game was clearly heavily pulling from), but even though OoT never told us he had a deeper motive, the worldbuilding still showed exactly why he would have such an issue with Hyrule. We knew there had been a bloody civil war only about a decade before Ganon's takeover, we knew that the Gerudo were treated with disdain by Hyrule, and we saw that Hyrule's alliances with the Gorons and Zora were pretty flimsy, and neither race felt like Hyrule actually gave a damn about them. But most importantly of all, OoT gave us the Shadow Temple, a horrific prison meant to inflict unspeakable torture on its captives... all on orders from the Hylian royal family. Hyrule's hands were never clean. We weren't supposed to side with Ganon in OoT, but we were shown a long list of reasons for why he was so pissed off.

Someone else said that TOTK feels like a retelling of OoT that's just pro-Hyrule propaganda, and that's a pretty good summary. I don't know what the fuck Nintendo was thinking, but honestly it kind of seems like they're trying to stick to the formula of Zelda games at all costs, while also making the entire game just a huge 'gotcha' to all the fans that have spent the last 25 years seeing Ganondorf as a sympathetic character with depth and reasonable motivations. I find it ironic that they decided to include the Wind Waker boomerang and shield in the game, considering that the whole game feels like an attempt to get everyone to forget Wind Waker ever happened. That's still the most human we've ever gotten to see Ganondorf - he didn't have many lines in that game, but the ones he did have mattered. At the end of the day, WW Ganondorf wanted to have a better life for his people, and he knew Hyrule would never let that happen. But now apparently Ganon just wants to dropkick puppies into woodchippers, and he doesn't give the slightest hint of a fuck about trying to wipe out the Gerudo people entirely by attacking them with an endless sandstorm plus zombie apocalypse. His only character trait is Evil.

If I want to get really cynical for a minute here, I think it's basically just a cash grab. If your game prompts a moral debate, then it can offend people, which means they won't want to give you money for it. But if it's a simple black and white conflict with no nuance, the fans will love all the right characters in the right way, and everyone will love hyrule and want to see more of it! It's like the fucking MCU; they're not willing to tell a fresh story, or make any serious commentary. They just want something safe and formulaic that has been statistically proven to make money. Fucking cowards.

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Is Ortho a sort of artificial Kaiju in your AU ro is he a type of Kaiju with the ability to use surrounding materials as a sort of armour. Because his real form is too small.

That is a very good question! I’m gonna put this under a read more just in case since there is a bit of angst in here that might make people uncomfortable, but keep in mind that some ideas may change over time if something better comes to mind.

If I have to tag it a specific way, please let me know and I’ll do so! There’s also mostly spoilers for the secondary antagonist(s) in the story, but at some point I’ll see about doing a post for these antagonists…or I might introduce them in one of the later chapters~ >v>

I’m still fleshing out some of the details on him, but for the most part—much like his normal self in game—Ortho in this AU is artificial…and yet in the same breath, he isn’t.

In the early days, Ortho was a normal Kaiju just like his brother who grew up on the Isle of Woe and traveled to the Isle of Sages at some point when they (aka Idia) were in their early teens searching for a safe place to call home. Given how emotionally shut down Idia was even amongst the most anti-social Kaiju, one had to wonder: what exactly happened to the two, and why did Idia keep this mechanical version of his brother so close? If you were to ask, all you’d get from him would be two words:

The Precursors…

No one knows what these beings are or how they came to be. No one has even seen what they look like outside of their metal shells that closely resembled humans wearing masks and carrying electro staves. Yet one thing was for sure: they moved in synch, working together in such unison that it was as if they were one being. They behaved like…a hive mind. And they were dangerous.

Were you to ask the older Kaiju themselves, it might come as a shock to learn that they fear these smaller beings due to the terrible things that they can (and have) done to their Kaiju in the past. Were they originally the creators of these giant beasts? No one can say for sure as it had been so long since the Precursors have been seen, very few Kaiju remaining from that time that even remember the truth of their origins. However…there is no mistaking that the very experiments they did has left a very real horror that still lives on even in the younger generations.

A horror that would result in the appearance of phantom Kaiju.

So…what does this have to do with Ortho? Well, messing with the very DNA of Kaiju wasn’t the only thing that was happening. After all, how else would they figure out the resiliency of these massive titans? Or perhaps they wanted to see how a mechanical version of one of the Kaiju would be received by other Kaiju? We may never truly learn what their intentions were…

How Ortho’s mind managed to survive through this ordeal is difficult to say: natural Kaiju resiliency? Sheer determination? Or sheer force of will and spirit to not leave his big brother alone in the world? Who knows. Yet, somehow, he managed to hold on to that child/cub-like joy and innocence as he follows his older brother around the Isle of Sages, consuming a mixture of organic and inorganic materials to maintain his new form over the years and utilizing energy sources around the island to stay online.

In fact, Yuu manages to see him chowing down on some metal ships from afar, during the first chapter when they’re trying to figure out how to climb down from their mountain-view “home”! The metal that constitutes his body is considered to be “living metal”, which slowly regenerates with the nanites that the Precursors installed. Consuming pure metal or even metal ores from rocks can actually help speed up this recovery too by providing the nanites in his system the materials needed, hence why he doesn’t require maintenance to replace missing or broken parts.

Like I said, I’m still working out some of the finer details behind Ortho since it would be much harder for Idia to be tech savvy in this AU (though in a way they do have their own “tech”), but I can say for sure that he’s not completely mechanical nor is he completely organic anymore. He’s still the sweet, adorable bean we all know and love, just in Kaiju form and with trauma for him and Idia!

[zenkor123]

Journal of Peeta Mellark-out and about in District 13 WIP

October 3rd 75 ADD

Heres my account of Delly, the end of our decade long friendship was underwealming, maybe I should have seen the signs earlier. She seemed frustrated with me, then all that wiped away she saw me a coiple more times then the hospital told me she wasn't coming anymore it came as a shock. In the cafeteria even when I tried to greet her she ignored me, it was as if I never knew her. She treated me like I wasn't even there. I did alot of soul searching to find out what I did but I could not escape the obvious answer, that I already described in detail in my previous answer. It then dawned on me the full implications of this and many unsettling questions emerged. Who am I if not peeta? What will happen with me in the future? If Peeta Mellark died then could it have been prevented? If i had tried harder in treatment would Delly still have done what she had done? How did Peeta Mellark die? Their are memories that I repressed of my time in the capital that I review and live in. Even who was Peeta Mellark? These questions required more energy then the hunger games to answer. Under the guise of recuperating for work I laid in my bed alone(no one came to see me apparently coins orders) for several dies. Whatever emerges from the ruins of Peeta Mellark has to he capable of working, I can't be in the bed forever. Peeta Mellark has 17 years of experience so whatever emerges can recycle the rubble of the destroyed city that was Peeta.

Coin visits me in my hospital room as I get up. "Soldier Mellark how are you adjusting to District 13? I reply "I've been better madam president but looking forward!" "Great, we need you to do a job, we are preparing to Liberate Panem and the capital, as you were in the capital we need you to provide Intel starting this afternoon. "Always Madame president" I say "Great" Coin says and she leaves the room abruptly. Prim comes in next. I congratulate her on her nursing training. She tells me she does not approve of Coin's resource allocation I tell her I will manage. She asks me where I'm going to work, I first tell her about the Intel gathering then I gulp and tell her "I am also looking into morphling work." She makes a face, morphling work? She asks me I reply "you didn't think the people here were content to obey orders like drones?" I tell her "Plus I want to do something different then what I used to", "Something...New" . The time is now up, for visitors and she leaves and wishes me luck.

I continue discussions on working for the cartel of district 13 with salesman Brown. He shows me the various jobs of the cartel but he wants me to start light first to see if cartel work is for me. We start with exploring the tunnels of District 13. These are the tunnels, that move trash, and air from the surface, as well as move goods around. Fortunately the trash is in an enclosed pipe as is the bodily waste of 13. I won’t have to swim in that stuff. We start at the bottom most levels and work our way up. My climbing skills with the aid of ropes is adequate for the job. Their are windows to each room, I pass by Katniss’s bunk and involuntarily look down Katniss looks up at me eyes wide open. I proceed to the next level. Finnick says hi as I'm climbing I worry that I'm too noticeable. Salesperson Brown waves it off, he tells me that Coin approves of our hospital work and that the cartel is secret so it isn't tied to Coin. The tunnels have multiple layers the original tunnels built before the dark days was just ventilation. It was expanded after the dark days during the building projects of President Lucius Nero. The tunnels are uncomfortable but in the shadows I feel safer. I alone will chose when I'm in the open space now. It also goes straight to the woods. The ancient forests and grass of district 13 where most of the cartel's ancestors resided before the dark days. The forest bears the mark of the recent battle where the Capital just prior to the fall of the Nut sent 3,000 peacekeepers via hoovercraft to take 13's arsenal and win the war. The capital airforce was crippled I this attack and 13 mowed the peacekeepers down as they landed in their parachutes. The rest fell In heavy fighting in the forest itself. I remember the districts was locked down and my guard was tripled during that time. There are still bodies of peacekeepers that foresters are in the process of cleaning. This is my first time in the surface of 13, me and Ash also visit the lake. My reflection is so pale and white.

At night I visit the tunnels and drink some morphling but not enough that I completely escape so I can be aware while in the tunnels. I travel to the arboretum and see it at night. All of the cartel is up and is using the tunnels. Johanna is doing the same thing. She is drenched in morphling but gives me a cigarette, she is in no mood to talk so I leave her alone I will have plenty of opportunities to talk to her in the future. Katniss is sleeping and Haymitch is up but he does not notice me. I fall asleep in one of the chambers then wake up a few hours later and return to my room. I mostly remained in the same two levels of the tunnel system. In the morning my face turns white as people complain of a loud presence waking them up at night.

As Katniss reads this she remembers seeing Peeta's gaze, Peeta reminded her of a ghost, he looked Pale, and how she had noticed him at night as well pretending to be a sleep. Katniss had the unsettling thought that Peeta could kill her in her sleep Katniss’s attempts to appeal Coin's decision had failed. Was Peeta supposed to be in the tunnels? When she mentioned this to Coin the following morning Coin told her to mind her own business. She had not noticed the tunnel system before but a place of privacy like where Peeta was climbing appealed to her. Katniss tried to find the tunnels and in the following night, unable to find entrances she resorted to climbing to the ceiling but she could not get the hatch open. She could always recognize Peeta from the distinct thumping sound he made while climbing and later saw Peeta entering a hatch after lunch giving her access to Peeta's tunnels.

[spahhzy]

Pre-Grand Opening!

-

'MERRY MAIDENS PIZZA-Where fun, friendship and fairytales come to life!'

-

Jaune: *sigh* it's come to this, all this chasing, all this to finally stop you and make no mistake...I will stop you.

???: Mr. Knight! How good of us to finally meet!

A small, finely dressed man stepped out of the newly built establishment as he walked over to meet Jaune with a smile on his face.

Jaune: And you are?

???: Small details, but just know I am with Merry Maiden's corporate team, and I am here to just over see that the items you ordered from our catalog have been placed correctly to your liking.

Jaune: What about my co-worker who is helping me run the establishment?

???: You two will meet in due time, but enough of that come-come, let's take a look at your new 'wonderland'!

Jaune said nothing, just opting to look at the sign once more as the company man walked inside.

Jaune followed him.

-

???: And this is the main hall, where the magic comes to life!

Jaune scanned the area, tons of tables, a big ball pit (one that he would need to test out...for security reasons), a large stage capable of holding up to four Maiden-matronics (he would need to see if he can get a bigger stage) tons of coin operated attractions from ski-ball all the way down to virtual games.

???: A couple of games we'll soon be on the way, namely, uh...*checks notes* Cookie maze? Bumblebee riders?

Jaune nodded as he looked over some of the decorations mainly of a knight in rusty armor and a woman with a top hat with a mischievous smile.

???Ah, yes, all the decorations orderd are to your exact description, I must say I didn't know you had knowledge of 'The Rusted Knight and the Mad Hatter' that is very old Maiden-tale one that goes back to the old Diner days!

Jaune: Well, when it comes to a business dealing with kids, I'd like to do a little research, I hear this tale was very popular with kids and adults alike back then so why not bring it back.

???: Hmm, come to think of it, I wonder if one of the old establishments still has the 'Mad-Hatter' Maiden-matronic. Maybe we could find it and use it for parts?

Jaune: No, that won't be necessary, I'm sure your catalog will come in handy over the next few days.

???: Okay, if you insist, well I've shown you your main office, and everything is ready to open up, so I guess we can make your grand opening tomorrow!

Jaune nodded as he made his way into his office.

It was an average office, a computer and a tablet, on each side were two vents.

???: Buisness, such as daily tasks and such, can be done here while the restaurant is open. Your co-worker will explain more about the vents later on tonight.

Jaune: Tonight?

???: Yes, he is currently occupied with a few things but has advised you will hear from him tonight, when you perform, and I quote,'You're daily requirements listed in that of paragraph four subsection 8.'

Jaune just nodded, wondering what this meeting could hold with his co'-manager.

Jaune looked at the computer to see a small menu showing 4 separate tabs labeled: Tasks, Motion Detectors, Audio, and Vents.

Jaune: Motion-detectors?

???: A company safety measure for employees and customers, also your co-manager will explain in detail why and how to use these features during business hours should the need EVER arise.

Jaune raised an eyebrow on the emphasis the small gentleman put on the word but decided to leave it.

???: We'll Mr. Knight, what do you think? Does it meet your expectations?

Jaune: Yes, I thank you...

???: Just call me Orville.

Jaune: Thank you, sir.

Orville: Pleasure is all mine, Mr. Knight, now don't forget to finish up any task left over that the crew misses and meet with your co-manager after... then gets some rest cause you'll be in business tomorrow to put smiles everywhere! Oh, and those Maiden-matronics you sent to us for repair, The Valkyrie, The Amazon, and The Spiritualist, should be here and on stage set up before the doors open.

With that, the man, Orville, stepped out of the office and backed out into the main hall where he over saw the last of a few details before leaving the restaurant.

Jaune: Bring them all together.

Jaune sighed before he got set to finish up his own set of tasks...

8:00pm

Jaune wiped the sweat from his brow as he had finally finished the last of his tasks. Everyone else had gone home for the night in order to get ready for the big day tomorrow, to which Jaune was a little nervous.

What if this DIDN'T work?

What then?

Jaune shook his head. It wasn't the time to be thinking negatively.

They would come, he knew they would.

-buzzzz-

Jaune looked at his scroll to see he had received a text from an unknown number.

???: Please, come to the back room to fulfill your obligation listed in paragraph four, subsection eight.

Jaune: Who Is this?

???: Gepetto, your co-manager.

Jaune: Couldn't come meet me in my office in person?

Gepetto: Forgive me, I have been busy around the pizza place, making sure all is ready for our big day tomorrow.

Jaune couldn't knock the guy for doing his job stoutly.

Jaune: Alright, I'll be there in a minute.

Gepetto: Thank you.

Jaune put his scroll away before turning off his computer, closing the office door, as Jaune walked through the quiet main area of the pizza place.

It was time to fulfill his final task for the night.

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 25: Cairhien

A new chapter, a new city, a new chance for me to warn you all about spoilers. There are so many spoilers in this post. Spoilers for The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn and so on ad infinitum. Toss my invitation to read these spoilers right into the fire if you're not ready. Just be ready for the consequences.

A new chapter icon! The rising sun icon refers to events in Cairhien, usually just the city proper. It's not too complex in its meaning.

Fat ships and broad barges filled the river, and tall granaries sprawled along the far bank, but Cairhien seemed to be laid out in a precise grid behind its high, gray walls. Those walls themselves made a perfect square, with one side hard along the river. In just as exact a pattern, towers rose within the walls, soaring as much as twenty times the height of the wall, yet even from the hills Rand could see that each one ended in a jagged top.

Planned, grid cities are pretty new; they're relatively common in America because most of our cities were built up after the idea took off. Cairhien's grid is likely the result of their recent devastation. The towers all still being in such a state of disrepair is another sign of this, and another sign of the societal decay afflicting the subcontinent.

Many of the farmers were afraid to go back to their lands near the Spine of the World, and they all came here, near enough. That’s why Galldrian has the river full of grain barges up from Andor and Tear. There’s no crops coming from farms in the east because there aren’t any farms anymore.

Frankly, details like this make it seem as though, if events had continued on their current course, Cairhien would have been the next western nation to disappear. Food insecurity on such a massive scale would bankrupt any economy sooner or later, especially in the event of supernatural, unending winters keeping everyone starving.

“I fear Galldrian keeps his people quiet by entertaining them. He gives gleemen and musicians the King’s Gift, a bounty in silver, to perform here in the Foregate, and he sponsors horse races down by the river every day. There are fireworks many nights, too.” He sounded disgusted. “Elder Haman says Galldrian is a disgrace.”

Panem et circenses. Frankly, it's a miracle the whole affair has lasted Rand's lifetime; the treasury must be nearly emptied at this point.

And damn if Loial isn't pissed.

He had never seen fireworks elaborate enough to require even one Illuminator. He had heard they only left Tanchico to put on displays for rulers. It was a strange place he was coming to.

I'm going to guess that Rand's knowledge here is just outdated instead of being fully wrong. The chapter house is likely a necessity of keeping up with Galldrian's expectations.

“Well, they were tall enough to warrant the name, once. When the Aiel took Cairhien, about the time you were born, the towers burned, and cracked, and fell. I don’t see any Ogier among the stonemasons. No Ogier could like working here—the Cairhienin want what they want, without embellishment—but there were Ogier when I was here before.”

As subtle as a brick, this foreshadowing. But also:

The divide growing between the people's interests and the Ogier seems like something that will probably grow rather than be fully healed by the end of the age. Perhaps it's the seed of whatever leads to the Ogier taking off eventually.

He wanted to tell them he was not playing their Great Game, but instead he said, “We will take rooms in the city. We can go now?”

Poor Rand doesn't understand that just by being here he's playing it, same as everybody else. He also doesn't get that the best way to avoid attention is to be unremarkable and meet expectations. There's a reason he takes to disguising himself as a beggar later on.

He felt as if people were looking at him. He could not wait to get a good, plain coat again, and stop pretending to be what he was not.

Of course, Rand would attract attention in Cairhien even in a beggar's robes because he looks just like an Aielman for some reason.

checks notes

The reason is genetics.

The innkeeper was a plump, unctuous man with a single stripe of green across his dark gray coat.

You can tell he's a good guy both because he's fat and because he catches Rand up on the whole Aiel thing. That said he is a bit racist what with his inn sign being an Aiel being killed by a Cairhienien.

“We have to show these Cairhienin we know what’s right as well as they do, Lord Rand”

It's unfortunate for Rand that Hurin gets too caught up in the gravity of Rand's alleged lordship to be a better teacher about these things, because he's right but he's saying it in the way Rand will care about the least.

He often forgot that Loial had run away from home, in effect, to see the world. “What about you, Hurin? There’s music in the Foregate, and people laughing. I’ll wager no one is playing Daes Dae’mar there.”

Rand forgets that Loial is a baby runaway so often because as he aptly demonstrates, he's somehow even more naive. Of course people are playing the Game in the space immediately outside the city walls, where movements and actions are a little harder to track.

“Everyone by now, Lord Rand,” Hurin said quietly. He seemed to feel eyes watching, too. “The guards at the gate would not keep their mouths closed about an outland lord coming to Cairhien. The hostler, the innkeeper . . . everybody tells what they know where they think it will do them the most good, my Lord.”

I'm actually a little with Rand on this one. The gossip spreading this quickly is shocking as hell. He hasn't been here an hour yet!

You must answer any more invitations you receive, my Lord. Decline if you will—though they’ll read things into whose invitations you do decline. And into whose you accept. Of course, if you decline them all, or accept them all—

It really is a great joke on the Wheel's part to have Rand come to Cairhien without Moiraine when this would be the time she'd be a much better teacher to him. But perhaps she'd force Rand to play politics when in fact his solution proves to be the best: delay the issue until the breaking point and then accept the invitation that seems to matter.

A man standing in front of the guardhouse took note of him—his bright coat marked him out, as well as his height among the Cairhienin—and hurried inside, but Rand did not notice.

It's pretty unusual for the narration to point out stuff the POV doesn't know. Not sure what to make of it.

Memories of Thom were always sad. Thom had been a friend. A friend who had died for him. While I ran away and let him die.

This is foreshadowing both short and long term. The short should be obvious (guess who's back?) but the long is of course Rand's increasingly unhealthy obsession with blaming himself for the suffering of others. Back in Whitebridge there was nothing Rand could have done to stop Thom's "death" and Thom chose to die when he could have ditched the boys and left them to their fates unscathed.

He walked on in a daze, staring at the man bowing on the dais to the clapping of his listeners, cradling his harp in one arm and with the other spreading his patch-covered cloak as if to trap all the sound they made. He was a tall man, lanky and not young, with long mustaches as white as the hair on his head. And when he straightened and saw Rand, the eyes that widened were sharp and blue.

It's a good thing he didn't notice Rand mid-performance or he might have given something away.

Rand shook his head. To his surprise, Thom seemed disappointed.

Jordan is beating us over the head with the inevitable Moiraine/Thom pairing that surprised so many. I figured it out in junior high folks, it's not subtle!

Even if I could have reached the boat before it sailed, Domon and his whole crew would be spreading the tale all over Illian about how I was being chased by Trollocs.

Thom would love to know how dramatically ironic this claim is.

It's good to have you back, Thom!

Next time: Rand joins everyone's favorite chat program!

[xoteajays]

i want a hear abt the new aib oc! pretty please with sugar packets on top

introducing … her〜

did i just use this fc? yea and i’ll do it again.

her name is makina aguni (粟国 真希凪). she’s aguni’s sister and younger than him by 7 years, making her 25 in the live action and 19 in the manga oof. their father was an abusive alcoholic and their mother abandoned them when aguni was 10 and maki was 3. 2 years later, aguni took maki and ran away after an incident with their father. they spent 3 nights living on the streets until aguni could track down their maternal aunt.

their aunt didn’t really want them around, but let them stay and left aguni to be maki’s ‘parent’ for the most part. she didn’t have the easiest school life because of aguni’s (and danma/hatter’s) reputation as delinquent thugs after they beat up a street gang by themselves at 16. her classmates were too scared of aguni to be actively mean to her, and it resulted in them all just kind of avoiding her completely instead. so she didn’t really have any friends and it made her pretty clingy with aguni. she also grew up with danma, but they’re not close - they have a bit of a rivalry because they don’t like sharing aguni.

as an adult, maki has a job as a bookshop clerk. the bookshop is one she spent a lot of time at when she was younger and they hired her when she was 17, shortly before aguni joined the sdf. she has a rare day off that she’s spending with aguni and danma when the meteor hits.

her fic mostly centres around the founding and development of the beach, mixing canons from the live action and the manga, but there’s also a romance element there between maki and niragi, and briefly with chishiya. with niragi, it’s more genuine, developing over the course of their time at the beach; with chishiya, it’s complicated since he initially approaches her with self-serving intentions (plotting to steal the cards) but his feelings eventually start to change, especially during s2.

general notes!!

aguni’s first name, 'morizono' uses the kanji '杜' and '園' meaning ‘forest garden’. makina’s name kanji, '真希凪', mean ‘truth’, ‘hope’ and ‘calm’. their surname, 'aguni/粟国', means ‘grain country’.

aguni taught her self-defence and other fighting tactics starting in her mid-teens. he insists on her keeping up with training so she doesn’t get lazy. she’s not great with guns (and aguni doesn’t want her having one anyway), but uses various knives over the course of her time in the borderland.

she takes up a job as the beach’s notekeeper, taking down lists of members’ names and eventually making the teams, collecting and counting the cards at the end of games, marking down game arena locations on maps, and various other things.

she’s accidentally the cause for the beach’s ‘death to all traitors’ rule after she tells hatter about some missing cards.

she’s commented on as being the ‘most approachable’ of the beach’s executives, but it’s mainly just because she’s the only one willing to deal with the problems people tell her about. she mostly sticks to herself otherwise, typically in her hotel room, her office, or a secluded couch on the second floor of the main annex.

spades and clubs tend to be her best games. she’s very detail-oriented, but doesn’t have a lot of tact for diamond or heart games.

she has mild astigmatism requiring glasses, but loses her glasses during a game.

she’s acrophobic (fear of heights) and has to face this fear during multiple games.

her favourite alcohol is umeshu (japanese plum wine). though she rarely drinks due to her father’s alcholism, on rougher nights at the beach, she can be found drinking choya.

she has a lot of botanical knowledge from books she’d read at work. not enough to keep plants or a garden alive, but enough to be able to name specific species and list various facts.

she’s more on the tomboyish side and it comes out especially through her fashion. she wears a lot of baggy clothes and the most ‘typically feminine’ she gets is crop tops and painting her nails. a lot of the jewellery she wears is silver.

while not one-to-one, she and aguni are noted to have similarities, specifically in their eyes and ever-serious expressions. aguni claims maki looks like their mother, but she isn’t sure since she doesn’t remember her or have any pictures.

[satoshi-mochida]

Some thoughts and details on my last Gamefly rental, Opus Collection(Switch version).

Been a while since I last did one of these. ^^;

OPUS: The Day We Found Earth.

Far in the future, the crew of the OPUS, Lisa, Makoto and the helper robot Emeth, are searching for Earth. However, at some point, Emmeth was shut down, waking back up to find the ship empty and out of power. He decides to continue looking for Earth while the OPUS comes back online. The main gameplay is using the station's telescope to search the galaxy for Earth and other celestial bodies. These are done one by one, returning to the ship for a short scene before each objective. You are given hints for each, and if you get stuck for too long, an orange circle with a '?' will appear in the top right(and has a cooldown to use it again if needed), which you can press to get directions to where you need to look(on Normal Mode difficulty, at least; I'm guessing the Story Mode difficulty will have these right away). More of the ship, as well as a couple new upgrades to the telescope(two Filter options and a locator that sometimes won't activate depending on what you're searching for), become unlocked as the story progresses. Inside the ship, you can move the cursor around and press A to click on anything that can be interacted with to learn more about their expedition. Some will also give new locations to search for, though not always right away, so make sure to check them again later on if you're going for 100%, and make sure to be thorough, as some are tiny. The universe you have to search through is huge and important parts look really nice, with various large celestial bodies viewable as well as some other planets and the like that you'll find while looking for Earth. After finishing the game, you unlock Free Roam Mode, where some 'Mission Packs are unlocked for some more story, as well as a Behind the Scenes mode with several audio tracks from the game's staff about it's development(the second game has the latter, as well).

OPUS: Rocket of Whispers

Many years after a plague, John Mason and the 'witch' Fei Lin are scavenging an abandoned town to build rockets for space burials. John has been haunted by ghosts constantly for years, and it's believed that performing a space burial for them will make them finally leave him alone and pass on. The gameplay is different from the previous OPUS game; you control John as he searches around the town for supplies to use to build the rocket with, as well as materials to make equipment to explore further and gather more. Back at the OPUS Rocket Factory, you can have him or Fei do work, either on equipment or the rocket, respectively, once you have the required materials. John's work is instant, while Fei's take time, an in-game day or two. Time will pass as you search around, and John will pass out from the ghosts haunting him if he's out at night too long(at 20:00, you'll get a warning about them gathering) if he runs into reddish/orange spirits too much, or if you get negative results from too many events that can happen as you explore, though Fei will find him and bring him back, so there's no Game Over. A week will pass, but I don't think this actually effects anything? There's no actual time limit to finish the story itself, and only 1 ending. There is fast travel to 3 parts of the map to unlock as you find and repair the maps for each, though amusingly, the first area you can fast travel to takes less time to just walk there if you hurry(the area west of the Rocket Factory; time will pass by two hours if you use Fast Travel). ^^; Like the previous game, a free-roam mode opens up after finishing the story if you want to go for 100%. There's no guide for doing so at the moment, though, so you'll need to scour every inch of the map(which there isn't one you can view in-game, but there is one if you buy the digital artbook on Steam) for whatever is left.

Both games are great at atmosphere, the former with the vastness of space, and the latter with the large, abandoned and snow-covered town, and the music, or just lack thereof at times, for them. The art style is good, too, both having a few cutscenes and still images. The stories in both, without getting into spoilers, can also get pretty emotional, especially the second one.

There seems to be a lot of worldbuilding built into the games' backgrounds that you can find more of from looking around in the point and click parts as well as the collectables in the second game.

Neither of the games seem to have 100% guides, unfortunately, so that makes it a bit difficult to do so, moreso for the second game.

I liked these tow, will have to get to Echo of Starsong at some point.

Next game being sent is: Metroid Prime Remastered.

[findroleplay]

Space adventures: 3.0

Hello ladies, gents and fellow rpers. After having to take an unexpected but necessary break from the wonderful world of rping I’m ready to dive back into the waters of writing and make some amazing new stories with some new partners. I’ve been in the writing game for over ten years at this point and consider myself to be fairly experienced when it comes to rping. That being said, I do not require you to have decades of writing experience in order to rp with me. In fact all I ask for anyone thinking of reaching out to me is that:

-You write in third person past tense and have decent spelling and grammar. I’m not going to be put off by the occasional bout of typonese, but I’m definitely going to be put off by writing that I cannot read at all or noticeable mistakes that are left uncorrected.

-You are capable of writing at least three well fleshed out paragraphs per response (this might change depending on what is going on in the rp at the time) with at least seven or more lines. I want someone who is capable of matching the effort I put into my replies and isn’t afraid to spend time making something chock full of detail or go over the discord word limit when it comes to writing a response. One liners/very small or short paragraphs that lack detail are a very big no go for me.

-You can respond at least once or more per day. I do not mind what time during the day that response happens as life comes before rp and I do not want you skipping over important things just to get it done.

-You are 18+. I’m in my twenties and not comfortable rping with minors as my role plays contain NSFW themes and other mature content. Your characters are also required to be 18+ as well.

-You are comfortable with rping against (but not necessarily as) alien characters that aren’t technically just humans from other planets. I’m not looking to rp as a human main character regardless of what we end up doing so please keep this in mind.

-You are capable of bringing ideas to the table, love to worldbuild, adore talking about our characters and aren’t afraid to throw in a plot twist every now and then.

-You will let me know if you have any problems with the rp and work through them with me as well as let me know if you need to take a break or might be busy. I will make sure to do the same.

-You are looking for a long term rp. I want this to be something that spans for months, maybe even years. Not just a couple days or weeks.

-You are comfortable with both MxM and FxM romances. I have no preference as to which one we do.

-You have discord.

I also ask for you to please not godmod, control my characters or spam me with hey/are you there/when are you going to reply/etc.

I AM NOT THE RPER FOR YOU IF:

-You are looking for a fast paced/rapid fire/one liner/short term rp. These types of rp’s just do not hold my interest. I’m also not looking for anything that isn’t a 1x1 rp (group rp’s are just not my thing) and I do not double.

-You are not comfortable with rping with non-humanoid looking aliens. That means anything that may have/has fur, scales, fangs, claws, tails, feathers, the ability to walk on walls or climb ceilings, multiple limbs, etc. If you are not comfortable with aliens that may have one or more of the above traits then please do not reach out to me.

-You are not looking for a slow burn romance or you fade to black when it comes to smut. Slow burn romances are a requirement for all of my rp’s and I feel that skipping out on the smut means we miss the chance to write about very important moments occurring between the characters. To put it simply, smut is important to me. Neither romance or smut will take over the main story of course.

-You are looking for someone to play as a female main character. I only play male main characters and cannot be persuaded to do otherwise.

-You cannot reply more than a couple of times a week. I tend to lose interest/motivation if I don’t get a reply at least every other day.

-You don’t have discord. I rp only on discord because I like making servers to keep things organised, other platforms just don’t work for me.

-You are not interested in doing a sci-fi rp. I’m not looking to do anything that isn’t sci-fi so please do not waste my time by messaging me and asking if I’m interested in other genres. I am also not currently interested in doing anything that isn’t one of the ideas I have listed.

With that out of the way, let’s get onto the ideas! Down below are the ideas that I’ve been hoping to write with someone. I’m open to brainstorming or mixing them together to create something new. Nothing is set in stone and I’m hoping to keep whatever plot we decide to do/make mostly fluid or free flowing, meaning that the entire course of the story isn’t entirely planned out at the beginning and we let the actions of our characters determine what happens next whilst occasionally planning what they next major plot point of the story is when we decide it’s time to fill our characters lives with even more drama.

Taking over:

The lifespan of a captain could sometimes end up being tragically short. It was the captain who was supposed to be the first to jump into their starfighter and guide their crew to victory whenever their ship was under threat, It was the captain who was expected to always be able to know what decisions were the right ones to make in regards to the welfare of the crew and it was the captain who took an oath upon receiving the keys to their ship to never put their own life before someone else’s even when faced with the most difficult decision of all. When the much loved captain of the alliance ship Maelstrom loses their life after a mission gone wrong their second in command is the one who is chosen to take their place as the new captain despite the angry protests from some of the crew members. Will the new captain be able to follow in the footsteps of the one before them and lead the Maelstrom to success whilst earning the respect of the crew, or will the burden be too much to bear?

New recruit:

Whenever talks about potentially receiving some new crew members came around it wasn’t uncommon for people to get a little bit crazy. Not everyone hated the idea of seeing a new face or two running around given it meant that there could potentially be less tasks for them to do before they got to clock out for the day, but that didn’t mean they were exactly okay with the idea that their job was potentially at risk of being handed to someone else if the captain decided that they were no longer performing at the required standards. Many of the current crew members took great pleasure in reminding any newcomers about their place on the ship and weren’t afraid to use their rank to get away with a little less than friendly behaviour when it came to doing such things to the point where it was often an unspoken rule amongst the other crew mates to not interfere with the “initiation” process lest the wraith be turned upon them instead. When the “initiation” process itself stopped depended on when the captain finally cared enough to intervene. When a new recruit arrives in the form of a previous high ranked person who was stripped of their title for insubordination, chaos of an entirely different kind takes hold.

The mission:

Seven. Seven alliance ships had disappeared without a trace or been destroyed by unforeseen yet suspicious circumstances. Mining asteroid explosions, ambush attacks, ship failures, all unfortunate yet unpredictable occurrences that were happening far too frequently for anyone to be able to just comfortably sit back and go on with life. With tensions between the alien and human race at an all time high, the alliance itself was desperately trying to find a way to keep the peace without causing a panic. Eventually, a proposal was made. In an all time first since the end of the great alien/human wars, an alien would be chosen and sent to work onboard a human ship. This was considered to be a very large step given many planets were still hostile to one another and the rumours circulating about the missing ships were sparking some strong reactions from both sides but the alliance was desperate….and so was the alien they were planning to send onboard. For them, it was their last and only chance to start a new life and to put a difficult past behind them. Little did anyone know, the appearance of this newcomer was more than just the first step towards changing life as many knew it for the known galaxies.

(Important point of notice: I will be playing the new alien crew member who is sent to work aboard an alliance ship with a human captain and crew. You can play as anything from a regular crew member to the captain.)

One unit, one goal:

When someone was part of a team, it felt like the people who fought beside them were all that really mattered. They cried on each other’s shoulders. They cheered each other on. They were there for each other through thick and thin. Most of the pilots who served under the galactic alliance were pretty tight knit with one another, meaning the pain of loss was worsened whenever such a tragedy struck. When a member of one of the alliance’s top intergalactic defence force teams loses their life during a search and capture mission that had gone wrong a new pilot is sent in as a replacement. As they struggle to find their place amongst people that seem to have no intention of moving on from their loss, a new threat slowly begins to rise with the intention of causing chaos and destruction on a scale that no one has ever seen before.

(Important point of notice: I will be playing the new pilot. you will be playing as a member of the team they’re joining.)

No easy way out: It was very rare for those who believed that their sole purpose in life was to reign terror and destruction upon those who dwelled within the known galaxies to take prisoners, even more so when said prisoner actively tries to fight back against their captors rather than quietly submitting and accepting their fate, and allowing them to live despite the trouble they cause. When a lone spacer is attacked by a captain who leads a crew of fairly notorious criminals that have been seen on more than just a couple of ruined wanted posters they are given one of two options to choose from: serve alongside them as a part of their crew in exchange for being allowed to live, or be left to face the vast depths of space alone in a ship that would soon become their tomb due to the state of disrepair it was in. Will the spacer accept their fate? Or will they take their last stand right there and then?

(Important point of notice: I will be playing the captured spacer. You will be playing the captain of the criminals.)

Stowaway:

Life in the known galaxies was harder for some than it was for most. Whilst many people were able to live freely with little rules and regulations as to what they did, others were bound by law to follow a certain way of life. Most accepted their predetermined paths and did their best to stay out of trouble, whilst for others it was just that little bit harder to accept the way things were supposedly meant to be. Especially when things could go downhill very quickly if one happened to be on the wrong side of those laws. Whilst many people frowned upon ship jumping, the act of sneaking onboard a ship and hiding away from its occupants in order to travel, some people felt like it was the only way to reach their destinations when a fresh start to their life was in order. When a stowaway is caught trying to hijack a ship, will mercy be given? Or will they find themselves facing a new threat?

(Important point of notice: I will be playing the stowaway. You will be playing the ship’s captain.)

Enslaved:

imagine living the life of one of the most successful people on the run that could exist. Galaxies trembled at your name. You and your crew swam in wealth and the going was good. Mutiny, sadly and sometimes not sadly, exists on its own accord. One person in particular reflected on this as they were forced to their feet. A collar attached to a chain and electromagnetic handcuffs prevented their escape as they stood for all those who cared to glance as they walked by in the market to see. No one wants to have their only life’s purpose be to serve another……only sometimes people don’t get that choice.

(Important point of notice: I’ll be playing the slave/servant. You’ll be the master/mistress.)

Across a sea of stars: Although they’d abandoned their less than humble watery origins well before the first spaceship had even been invented, Pirates were believed to be one of the biggest threats that anyone could encounter within the known galaxies. Those who were brave enough to attempt to navigate through the vast starry seas of space without a small fleet rallied behind them would often meet their fate at the hands of the bloodthirsty buccaneers whose lust for wealth and power had completely overtaken their ability to feel remorse for their actions. Any twinges of guilt that did attempt to surface were often easily washed away by consuming vast amounts of alcohol and then drunkenly brawling with other members of the crew during the celebratory dinners that came after a successful day of looting or the claiming of another captain’s ship as their own. When a ship is captured by the most feared pirate of all after accidentally flying into their territory and the crew fearfully plea for their lives, fate decides to take matters into its own hands in a most unexpected way. (Important point of notice: I will be playing the pirate captain. You will be playing as a member of the crew they’ve captured.)

Last chance:

Criminals, ranging from wannabe thieves to true crime lords, have been around long before anyone had even thought of the idea of building a spaceship and go where no one had ever been before. They’re often cunning, tricky to catch and more often than not are clever at disguising themselves whenever those wanted posters come up. It takes true talent to be on the wrong side of the laws that had been made by those long gone and get away with it. When a criminal that has been giving the alliance a run for their money has finally been captured, they are given a second chance to redeem themselves by having to work alongside the crew of the ship that captured them and even aid them to defend the ship if the need arises. Will this be enough to encourage a change of heart, or will it be the downfall of the crew and the alliance itself?

(Important point of notice: I’ll be playing the criminal, you will be playing as one of the crew members or even the captain of the ship.)

Betrothed: Long before other planets had even been discovered, and for far longer than anyone could truly remember, there had always been arranged marriages. Arranged marriages, or betrothals as they were more often called, consisted of pairing two people together and making them get married regardless of how they felt about one another in order to secure ties to another land or another planet for what many hoped would be forever. Political marriages benefited everyone but the married pair it always seemed. After all, no one could possibly be happy being married to a complete and utter stranger, could they? How does one who is betrothed build a life of love and prosperity when the one who bears the rings of their union is not the one who also bears their heart?

To those who have made it this far, thank you for reading! If you are interested in rping with me please do not hesitate to reach out to me via email (I do not rp through email but I’m more than happy for it to be where we first introduce ourselves to one another before moving to discord) or discord. Please note that I am in the eastern australian time zone so it might be a while before I respond/accept any requests you send my way due to possibly being asleep or busy depending on what time zone you are in. When you reach out to me please tell me what idea you liked, why you liked it and any ideas you may have. Please also include a little introduction and tell me what your favourite food is so that I know you’ve read the whole ad. Anyone who simply sends “hey I saw your ad and was interested!” Or some variation of that without an introduction will be ignored, simply sending me your favourite food will not work either as I use introductions to not only get to know the person I’m writing with a little bit and see if we click but to help break the ice a little bit and get the conversation going. My contact information is down below:

My discord: tiberionwars

My Gmail: lleo52560@gmail.com

Can’t wait to rp with anyone interested!