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mechatiqe · 11 months ago

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“U… u-uh…” The mechanic couldn’t stop his face from heating up even if he tried, eyes jerking back and forth between the princess and her hands on his own. He didn’t even mind that her hands were coated with flour and other questionable substances, his heart doing a little happy dance regardless, before a wave of guilt followed it as it often did, nowadays. Dang it, feelings — he was supposed to be moving on, not falling harder!

“There’s… a-a lot of shops you can buy tools from, online,” he explained, trying not to sound too as flustered as he felt. “Or if that’ll take too long, I know a bunch of local shops that sells these kind of stuff. I can um, fix anything that can be fixed, too, so there’s that.” Although, kitchen appliances were admittedly his least favorite kind of things to fix. It might just be because he has bitter memories associated with them… or, well, a grudge against them, but that didn’t mean he can’t fix them if asked to.

“Sixth attempt…” His eyes scanned over the kitchen, an odd kind of awe striking him again. It took some real skill to mess up this badly after a sixth try. He pressed his lips together into a thin line so he wouldn’t accidentally blurt that out loud. It seemed like the princess was genuinely upset about this, after all.

“…D-don’t give up yet, Sonia-san! Maybe you just… need someone to help you follow the recipe, is all!” Determined, he grabbed the nearest towel and started cleaning up what he could of the mess. “M-maybe if we both work together with whatever is left of the ingredients, we can make something good! Something awesome, even!!” He hurriedly cleaned the towel with water from the sink, before squeezing the excess water out and resuming his cleaning. There was… a huge ass mess, but as long as he makes the kitchen clean enough to work in, maybe the princess will consider trying one last time…

“I think if we, like, try to make something simpler, it might work out,” he muttered, although his preffered kind of simple would be the putting-jam-in-a-sandwich kind of simple. “I’m not… er, great, at cooking either…” Which is to say, he was downright godawful at it, but he knew how to make some basic stuff… which he only achieved through a long period of trial and error. “…But!! I think we can cook something decent if we put our minds to it! Just… let’s give it one more try, M—… S-Sonia-san. You don’t want to get some store-bought cookies, right?” he asked, then chuckled sheepishly. “…This kind of reminds me of that time in the cafe. Maybe ‘cause it um, you kind of look like how I did back then… O-oh, wait.” With an almost impressive speed, he quickly grabbed another towel and held it out to the princess. “H-here. Sorry, I should’ve probably offered this way earlier…”

After all, she helped him clean up back then, too.

Kazuichi seemed like there was little truly wrong with her current predicament, but Sonia wasn't so sure. Considering the boy's various mechanical projects and her lack of faith that they went right one hundred percent of the time, she was not in a place where she could trust him fully. Not to mention, as much as she desperately wished for him to regard her as a real person, imperfect and messy and human, this hadn't been the way she'd wanted to convey such sentiments. A skinned knee or a spilled drink bottle would have been acceptable: not something that anyone could do with relative ease. The simplest Christmas cookies, the sorts filled with sugar and covered in icing and sprinkles.

"But how does one acquire tools!?" She cried, her panicked nerves leaving no room for rational thought. "Is there some sort of tools shop? And however would one find a tools shop or know what to request?" It was her way of admitting not only did she spend little time in the kitchens at home, but appliances, ingredients, and food itself all seemed to materialize for Sonia and her family with little concern on their part, beyond selecting appropriate menus with the head chef. Everything was planned, ordered, prepared, served, and cleaned without the royal family needing to decide much else beyond which dishes to serve when. And when that choice wasn't too important, they could defer to the head chef for such decisions.

She sighed, reaching up with flour-covered fingers to wipe some of the tears away that had formed at the corners of her eyes. She didn't dare reach for her own handkerchief: she'd get it messy even before she brought it to her face. At least it would fit right in with the rest of the dormitory kitchen. And Sonia herself, considering she'd just smeared more flour onto her face. She collapsed into one of the tall bar stools set up beside the kitchen counter, ideal for both preparing and serving a casual group meal and for refuge when even the easiest recipes went wrong. Sonia took to them often for the latter, as much as the school would allow anyway: they'd find a way to lock her out of all Hope's Peak kitchens after this, she felt sure of it.

How embarrassing. But it would have nothing on what Kazuichi would do next. Only his decision to reach for one of the charcoal bricks Sonia dared to call cookies and pop it in his mouth took her out of her own melancholy thoughts and back to the disaster at hand. "Soda-san, maybe you should-" Sonia had begun, but it was too late. All she could do was watch him chew and swallow, the contorted look of pain and disgust on his face.

When she'd envisioned Kazuichi Soda ceasing his stalking of her, Sonia Nevermind had imagined it involving her private security detail and, if needed, a restraining order. She hadn't imagined several friendly, if not deep, conversations and the Ultimate Mechanic, without hesitation, trying the charred mess she'd tried to call sweets. Either way, she would be indirectly sending him to the hospital regardless of the scenario if he kept this up.

"Please, please stop!" She cried, jumping to her feet and doing the first thing that came to her mind: placing her hands over Kazuichi's, filled with her poor attempt at cookies, to keep him from bringing them to his mouth. "This is not food. My terrible culinary skills saw to that, it is far more than just a little overcooked. This is my sixth attempt at this in the past few days actually and I think I am out of ingredients and-"

Sonia realized she'd been rambling on, trying to make her mistakes look a little less lethal and failing horribly. But through it all, she'd continued to hold his hands, or at least prevent them from eating more of her failures. She hadn't intended to grab onto him nor hold him for this long, so she quickly let go, a soft blush flooding her cheeks. "I am sorry, I should not have grabbed you like that. But I will still need cookies to bring: at this point, it may be best just..." Another sigh, this one of defeat. "...to purchase them pre-made. But somewhere good, even if it will be clear I did not make them myself."

#⠀thread | more-than-a-princess #/ he definitely thinks it’s worth it #their ‘last try’ will probably end up in a fire in the kitchen and Maybe a mediocre set of cookies #kaz can’t cook for shit either

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seal-writes-stuff · 2 years ago

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Hi Seal!! When you’re feeling up for it, may I request some headcanons about the reader surprising Dani for her birthday since it’s that time of year? :) Thank you much!!

Celebrating Dani’s birthday would include…

Word count: 1k

Warnings: one kinda NSFWish allusion? Otherwise pure fluff galore

Summary: All in the title!

A/N: Oooh, I like the way you think! Also please ignore that I’ve let this ask marinate for the whole summer lol, I'm very thankful for your request. Hope you enjoy nevertheless!

To start off, when it comes to your birthday, Dani goes all out. Even if she doesn’t have much time during the day or even when the money is tight, she manages to figure something out, get something special ready just for you. She’s the most caring, thoughtful partner you’ve ever had – and you’ll always be grateful for her.

So naturally, you want to return the favor when it’s her turn. You start preparing a few weeks in advance; this is the first time you’re celebrating Dani’s birthday together as a couple, so you want to make it extra special. And although this certainly won’t be the last time, you want to make it perfect nevertheless. Not because you have to, simply because you want to. Simply because nothing would make you happier than seeing her happy.

To your surprise, Dani reminds you that her birthday is coming a few days beforehand, which just confuses you at first. Of course you remember! Who wouldn't remember something like that? Are you supposed to forget about your beloved girlfriend’s birthday? Absolutely not.

You tell her exactly that and it actually makes her tear up a little. You don’t want to press Dani any further, but you think you might just know where that’s coming from.

On a completely unrelated note, you've never felt the urge to scream into your pillow and punch things quite this strong. Goddamn it.

You play it as cool as you can with Dani trying to convince you that it’s not a big deal. She doesn’t need a celebration, she tells you, not really. Thing is, it’s not about whether she does or doesn’t need it – she deserves it. Doesn’t matter if it’s the biggest party ever or just relaxing at home all day. All you want is to make Dani feel wonderful, special and appreciated – because she is.

Speaking of big parties, this option goes out of the window pretty much immediately. You know Dani feels overwhelmed with grand gestures and even more overwhelmed in huge crowds, so you don’t want to make her uncomfortable. It’s her day after all.

There’s no birthday without a cake though, so you get onto that fairly quickly. You’ve thought about getting her a store-bought cake at first, but with Dani always taking the time out of her day to cook something for you… You just want to do the same for her. So through trial and error (and a lot of YouTube tutorials) you finally figure out the perfect formula. You remind yourself to thank Terri later - she's agreed to distract her sister for you so many times that it might qualify as a full-time job at this point.

On Dani's actual birthday, you wake up a few hours before her – which is a task in and of itself, considering how much of an early riser she is. You manage to finish all the preparations just in time to greet Dani with a breakfast tray and a sweet kiss. The cake is just a cherry on top.

You try to hold off on giving her the presents before the evening comes around, but end up doing it anyway. Several psychology books Dani’s been eyeing for a while, a soft sweater that would fit her perfectly and a bottle of her favorite perfume that’s been out of stock recently. Admittedly, some of those things were harder to find than the others, but at no point did it feel like a burden. Of course you’d get all of this stuff for her. You’d do anything for her.

Besides, the look of happiness and adoration on Dani’s face is one hundred percent worth it. You’d do it all over again just to see it more often.

At some point you catch a glimpse of your reflection in a bedroom mirror and realize that you have a smudge of frosting across your jaw. Well… Let’s just say it’s not staying there much longer. You have a seriously hard time convincing yourself to get out of bed after that.

You take her to the small café later, the one where you used to hang out back at the beginning of your relationship. You remember spending hours upon hours there: brainstorming homework, complaining about the small inconveniences of life or simply enjoying each others’ presence in comfortable silence. It’s where you fell deeper and deeper in love with Dani – just as you still do every day.

You also remember her order in perfect detail, even after all that time. Dani thinks it’s the most romantic thing ever. After all, what could be more romantic than knowing each other deeply?

During your date Dani keeps getting calls and texts from her friends and family, all giving her birthday wishes. She’s super apologetic that she keeps getting distracted, but you don’t mind in the slightest. All it means is that she’s happy and she’s loved. Never in a million years would you have anything against it.

You finish the day cuddled up close, watching Dani’s favorite movie – the one you’ve seen so often that every line is now memorized. But even then, she can’t stop herself from rambling with a big smile on her face. Thanking you for everything you did for her. Telling you how much she loves you. How you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to her. How you didn’t have to do all of that and how-

You accept it with a laugh, kissing her everywhere you can reach. You joke how you should be the one saying all of that – she’s the birthday girl, after all. Dani doesn’t respond, tracing your features with a smile. She doesn’t need any praise from you, she thinks.

Because at the end of the day, Dani knows that you love her and it's more than enough.

#dani ardor #dani ardor x reader #dani ardor imagine #florence pugh x reader #florence pugh imagine #midsommar #seal writes

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fanwright · 4 years ago

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Gladiator: 200th Chapter Celebration

Tagging: @kigozula @seyaryminamoto

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Seyary, this is a great milestone for you. Just want to let you know that I’m happy for you and impressed by the work that you have done over the long years of writing this story. You’ve inspired others to get into Sokkla as well as to have fun with the ship. Its been a great pleasure!

When I first picked up this story, I was still in college and rediscovering ATLA. Gladiator, as well as your other stories (which I recommend that others read as well) really cemented my liking for this ship. Years later, I’m still here, though all the ups and downs.

Now, despite me liking Gladiator a whole lot, I’ve admittedly fallen behind on catching up with it, chapter by chapter. That said, I do want to read it at my own pace and as I read more I still find myself loving the story, as there is much to enjoy.

So, to that end, I’ll be commenting on the parts of the story I have been caught up with, Chapters 1 to 100. I hope that’s okay.

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1.) Favorite Character: Sokka

Now, this doesn’t mean I don’t like Azula. Of course not. And choosing one over the other is such a hard call to make that I would rather have them both occupy the same spot. But I decided Sokka in this case for a number of reasons. Others have commented on Azula in their own posts, so I thought giving my reasons for Sokka seemed only fair.

We’ve seen Sokka change a lot over the course of the story and I seeing him morph into the character he is now is such a stark contrast to the one we saw at the very beginning. He hated the Fire Nation and was unwilling to cooperate with Azula. And yet, after trial and error and harsh circumstance, we have seen become a great warrior in his own right and the closest companion Azula has ever had, being her secret lover. It has been such a treat seeing him change and adapt and grow in this story. And as someone who really does like him as much as Azula, it was (and still is) a thill to see him get an all-star treatment in a story.

And yet there are lingering complexities within him in this story, as far as I have gotten in it. There is still that awareness within him of who he serves and what he is doing, along with a nagging feeling of inadequacy that has hounded him at every turn. Bit by bit, either by his own efforts or with a little help, he is clawing his way forward internally to find some reconciliation. And I find that very compelling.

And also its fun to see him thrash gladiators.

2.) Least Favorite Most Dreaded Character: Ozai

Well, that’s not true really. I don’t dislike any of the reoccurring characters actually.

The best way to describe this particular choice is “Most Dreaded Character”. I chose Ozai for this one because I dread the moment in when he finds out Azula and Sokka’s little affair. Now, again, I’m only on Chapter 100, so things could have changed by now. Yet, I believe still that if Ozai finds about about all this... a lot is going to change for Azula, Sokka, and even the Fire Nation. He will be a consequential character in the chapters to come and dread to see the his wrath and what that will mean for everyone else. It will not be pretty.

3.) Favorite “Antagonist”: Toph

When I first picked up this story and saw Toph introduced as an adversary, I was hyped. Like, you have no idea how hyped and pumped up I was for them to brawl. And I was not disappointed.

See, for me, Toph represented more than just a metaphorical torn in both Sokka’s and Azula’s side for a good chunk of this story. She is at times a very compelling mini-villain, as if she is straight out of a Disney movie. She loves what she does and enjoys it, and knows just how powerful she is. And flaunts it in spectacular display. She has such a simple yet understandable motivation and was a very real threat to Sokka’s own life in the very first fight they were in. And despite both Sokka and Toph eventually learning to respect and even befriend each other, there was always the nagging thought that they would eventually fight again, and each one knew they wanted to win that rematch. Toph provided Sokka and Azula a reoccurring adversary to strive toward beating. Even as other gladiators came and went, they always knew Toph would be their biggest obstacle. So much build up was focused on training for that eventuality. And all of it was compelling enough to paint Toph as this great rival to them. Her being a part-time ally in some cases and even being a friend didn’t really change that until after they had fought a second time.

Its because of this that I now believe firmly that Toph should be used as an antagonist more, if a story needs one. She is just so fun and so good as villain that hope others come to use her as one in AUs.

As I read more, I’m sure this might change in time. But, even with all the fights Sokka has had, I firmly maintain that Toph was his greatest adversary on many levels.

4.) Favorite OC: Rui Shi

Honestly, I think this guy is a sprit animal to someone out there. He’s just a guard trying to do his job right and the person he protects consistently makes that job harder for him in the most ridiculous ways. “Oh great, my princess is in an affair with her Gladiator and that won’t stop fucking like rabbits. Joy.”

Honestly, this man needs a vacation. A long one. And Seyary hasn’t given it to him, because she likes to make his life hard. Rude.

For the longest time, I actually thought Rui Shi was much older than he actually is in the story. So until a picture of him was finally made, I pictured him as a 40 year old veteran with a graying mustache and beard. Even with how he actually looks, I wouldn’t be surprised if his job made him grow gray hair from all the stress.

Good OC, one of a few I like.

5.) Favorite Suitor: Zhao

Should probably be no surprise. Where I am at right now, he’s essentially the suitor to beat as well as having the ultimate Gladiator for Sokka and Azula to defeat. Azula even admired him at some point. Though that has changed, I feel that Zhao has his eyes set on courting Azula further. Its a move that Ozai would likely not object to, provided Zhao pulls off something grand to earn that honor. And although every suitor has made Sokka angry, I feel Zhao would anger him on a deeper level as his interest in Azula grows.

I look forward to seeing him more.

6.) Favorite Gladiator(s): Jet and Suki (For Chapters 1-100)

Jet being a brainwashed Gladiator highlighted a dark aspect to the games. He was also a brutal berserker when in the ring and one of Sokka’s most bitter adversaries. Suki to me was an interesting contrast to Sokka his situation with Azula. She was to me a kind of noble gladiator, an Amazon in the ring put gentle when out of it. Putting the canon characters in as Gladiators was always a treat for me and actually lends itself to some world-building.

7.) Favorite Gladiator-Canon Pairing: Sokka/Azula

This should not be a surprise :P

I could go on and on about it, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll keep things short. This should not be surprise because the driving force and the very soul of this entire story is about a warrior-princess falling in love with a tribal gladiator. Their differences and how they reconcile them, their fears and pain, their passion and drive, all propel this story forward. Things have changed in this story because of them and they themselves have changed because fate brought them together.

If that isn’t enough to make them my favorite, then I’m sorry I don’t know what else to say to convince you XD

8.) Favorite Arc(s): Rough Rhinos Arcs

Two arcs hit me hard on an emotional level - The end of the introductory arc and the Rough Rhino’s arc. They literally crawl out of quagmire, find a dragon in the process, and have one of the most touching and sincere heart-to-hearts in the story thus far. It was one of my favorite arcs to read and the emotional stakes were high. As I read more and continue, this might change, but for now I maintain this is one of my favorite arcs.

9.) Favorite Places/Locations: To Be Determine

This is the down side of having to catch up. There are a lot of locations in the story and in the ATLA universe that I like, and its always a hard choice for me to decide. I am a big fan of settings for a story and when I find a setting I like I usually latch onto it in all its locations. So for now, I will not decide on a solid choice.

... however, in any AU it might show up in, Bs Sing Se is my first choice by biased default. I just love that city and I always appreciate when a story fleshes it out in little ways. Gladiator being set for a fraction of its time in the city was great for me as I got to read more about the city I like so much.

10.) I wish to see Sokkla in...: More tender, couple-like moments

Surprising, I know. But I what I mean is this - moments where they refrain from arguing, don’t bicker, and just enjoy being around each other, doing small things together. And its hard for them, they have to train they, have to keep their relationship a secret, they can only be a true couple for fleeting moments because of how dangerous and vulnerable it will leave them. And it claws at my heart every time. So I cherish the moments they have when they can be themselves around one another, fleeting as they sometimes are.

11.) I believe Sokka and Azula’s relationship will be revealed when/like/because of...:

... when they get careless. When they feel that they are safe in their secrecy, complacaent in their routines for keeping their relationship hidden, that’s when it will be revealed. Its a kind of Hubris of sorts.

And when its revealed, it will lead to something bad and irreversible for the both of them. You can only hide something like this for so long. Even historical royal affairs were never as secret as theirs. And they have taken painful precautions to keep it all under wraps.

So when it finally does, it will change everything. And that’s going to be quite the wild ride.

12.) I believe at the end of Part 3...:

... that a sacrifice will be made. A death or a relinquishment of something. Sokka and Azula will be together, but something will have to be given up, and it will test them for the final time.

I can’t say what it will be, but I’m going to enjoy finding out.

#Sokkla #Sokka #Azula #Gladiator Chapter Celebration

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lee-donghun · 5 years ago

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I feel like i should die, but then my friends would be sad. But, i just feel like i don't belong in the world. Life would go on. They'd survive. But.. I don't want to hurt them. Ik i might not feel like this forever, but i can't remember the last time I've felt genuinely happy... It feels endless.

This is something I definitely have experience with.

Let me tell you something about myself. I spent an entire year feeling exactly the same. For me, feeling numb was a good thing because at least numb didn't mean intense pain. I can't tell you why it began, or how it really stopped. But you know? This past month it had stopped.

Now I do have the odd day- and I don't admittedly don't expect not to fall under again. I have always been pessimistic after all. But I will say this, progress is far from linear and even just staying alive for your friends is a step in the right direction.

If you can rationalize that your friends will be upset- then you realize that there are people who care about you. While the end goal should always be staying alive because *you* want to for *you*- if doing it for your friends is where you are at right now, then that's okay.

I can tell you "it gets better" all I want- but everyone has heard this. It doesn't really help much. Hearing other people's success stories may, but it also could make you feel worse because you wonder "when will I get my success story? Will I ever?". For me, it helps as long as I have a connection to that person.

So really, what I want you to keep in mind, is that while days that would feel like ant hills to some people may feel like Mountain to you-

You aren't walking that mountain alone. Even if people don't realize it's your mountain, they aren't leaving you behind. Eventually, with enough support, you will heal (there's that "it get's better" but I didn't know what else to use there) but it's okay if that takes time.

Because as worthless as you feel, as pointless as your life feels, as tired of you are of not being happy; you aren't worthless, your life isn't pointless and once you realize this, that spark of life will come back. That being said though, it isn't easy. You will fall and fall again. You may feel worse than before at times. There's no point sugar coating that though. Like I said, progress isn't linear and nor does it have a direct timeline.

For now, focus on your friends love for you. Focus on the fact that if you were even half as horrible as you feel, your friends wouldn't be your friends as they are now. Focus on trying to find even small spurts of joy; wether it be a book, movie or something else. Don't worry about the end goal and feeling completely better. All that does is make you think you should be there already. Instead, keep your kind on the individual steps you take.

And just because something works for one person, don't feel bad if it doesn't work for you. When it comes to healing, all you have is trial and error. Things that once helped, won't always either and that's okay.

Most of all, just keep thinking about your friends, alright? Because if they are keeping you afloat, then so be it. One day you will swim on your own but there's no shame in having assistance until then.

I'd say ask about antidepressants because pharmacy bought seratonin is very helpful to some people, but unless you feel up to talking to a therapist about it then I can't force you. I couldn't even force myself, but if you are willing- then that could be a major help. Other than that, I don't really have that much else to say without specifics about your feelings.

PS- don't be afraid to message me again. I know that sometimes talking to people who know your name is a lot harder than people do don't know a single thing about you.

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hey-malarkey · 6 years ago

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One Thing Left

Word Count: 4738

Warnings: NON-CON as fuck!! billstanwich- revenge torture porn, basically. Stan and Ford torture a bill without powers. Body horror (Bill’s), Implied/Referenced eye horror. stancest, tentacles.

I think that hits all the warnings.

Summary: Post-Weirdmageddon Ford found Bill powerless, still in his physical form- well, mostly powerless.. he discovers through trial and error that Bill’s only power left is reconstitution that he has no control over. And Ford uses that to his advantage..

“Where’s the tough guy? You afraid he wouldn’t let you keep your little pet if he knew what you were doing, down here? Think he’d be too disgusted by you, Sixer? Being such a freak, to get hard at all the time you spend with me instead of him?”

Bill tries taunting Ford today. It’s true, he hasn’t told Stanley what he does down here, but that was more to protect his brother from overwhelming his mind immediately after Weirdmageddon. He didn’t want the immediate memories he recovered to be of the torture inflicted at Bill’s command.

But it had been a few months, now, and still Ford was coming down here. Bill’s words sunk into his mind, and he knew Bill’s intent was to be let go, but Bill didn’t know his brother. Bill didn’t know what Stan was capable of, was always underestimating his brother. The kids told him that Bill had entered Stan’s mind during the summer, but had no more mastery over it than they had.

Bill didn’t know what he’d just unleashed on himself. But for the moment-

“You’re right, Bill. How selfish of me, to keep this to myself. I’ll go inform him at once.” Ford gave a hard half-smile at Bill, who watched him with hate and just the slightest amount of fear. Ford felt a thrill run through him every time he knew he inspired that look in his former enemy. He patted one of bill’s angles patronizingly and left without another word, despite Bill’s voice being thrown at his back.

Ford told Stanley what he’d been doing in the basement. The secret he’s kept. Stan was a little taken aback, but for none of the reasons one might think. Tentatively, hesitant in a way that Ford still couldn’t fully associate with the brother he used to know, Stan asked if he could join. At the very least watch, but…

“But we should do this together,” he’d said, determination and something darker glinting in Stan’s eyes. Ford was sure his expression matched it. He leaned in for a kiss and for a moment the two of them disregarded any thought of Bill in favor for being caught up in each other.

Bill heard two sets of footsteps approaching his table. He stirred out of the daze he’d let himself settle into. He was itchy all over as his body did the one thing it was still good for, and stitched itself back together. It was uncomfortable and it didn’t dispel the soot or debris or dried blood off of him. He was just knitted back into his physical form, minus the cosmic power. It was miserable, undignified, and too dam itchy. He liked plotting how he’d get his revenge on Six-Fingers for all of this, followed by that insufferable salamander. Then the rest of this dimension. Then-

“Hello there,” a voice interrupted his musings. Bill focused his eye upward and was seeing double. No, wait, he’d heard both of them coming. Stanford and his meatbag brother. Stan had been the one to speak. Bill glared up at him balefully, not responding.

“Hey now, it’s only polite to speak to your special guest, Bill. Say something,” Ford placed his hand beside Bill, leaning closer, staring steadily at him. Bill saw the same hard glint that Ford always had. The hate. Bill loved knowing he still had that amount of control over Sixer, having the ability to make him hate him.

On the other hand, Ford thought he had all the power, now. And admittedly, he wasn’t entirely wrong. But one day, I’LL be master of the worlds again, and WHEN THAT DAY COMES, THEY’LL BE IN FOR IT. WEIRDMAGEDDON WILL LOOK LIKE A WARM UP COMPARED TO WHAT I PLAN ON DOING TO THEM, THEN!

Bill is pulled out of his mind once more as Ford strikes a match and lowers it over his eye, threateningly. Bill quickly turns it to his mouth. He’d had enough of that, earlier.

“Heya, Fish. Come to join the party?”

The flame was extinguished and Bill tried to hide his relief as he switched his eye back out. He’d tried to sound like talking was all his own idea, but his position made it pretty clear who was pulling the strings, currently.

Stan cocked his head, arms crossed, studying Bill. Bill couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Not like it ever seemed like Fish thought of much, but still. It was almost unnerving, if he weren’t previously an all-powerful being, on his way to becoming one again.

“So what do ya wanna do, Ford?” Fish turns away, not even looking at him, not talking to him, ignoring him for Ford. Ford, who was still staring at Bill with an unreadable expression.

“I thought you could take the lead if you wanted, Stan. Or I could start, and you join as you feel comfortable.”

Stan nodded, circling the table, going around just beyond Bill’s line of sight.

“I remember readin’ a lot of your notes, Ford. I know you thought I never found your study, up top, but I did. Didn’t think too much about some of the side research you did into certain shapes at the time, but I think I care a little more now.”

Ford nods to Stan’s words. Bill is trying to stay stock still and not rise to the bait. If they wanted to talk to him, he’d wait for them to speak to him first.

“I seem to remember some—ah, correct me if I’m wrong, memory’s not what it was, for some reason,” Stan starts, and Ford raps his fingers against the table one at a time, slowly. “But I think there were one or two diagrams that were particularly helpful to a situation like this. Think they’re still viable, Ford?”

He feels a small whoosh of air, and assumes Stan is gesturing just behind him. Ford’s eyes flicker up to Stan and back down to Bill. Ford’s smile grows into a snarl directed at Bill. He feels a slight tremor go through him, but tries not to shake.

That’s when the first fingers brush his top vertices. They run down his sides, then curve around his bottom angles, to his lower line. Still he refuses to talk to them first. He doesn’t pull against the unnecessary restraints. He stays still and lets the hate show in his eye.

Stan’s fingers pause on his bottom edge, in the space between his legs. He didn’t honestly think—oh, shit. Bill didn’t think this body could—he’s powerless, he doesn’t have his previous form changing powers, how come he can feel—shit—the human phrase is the only one that makes sense to his mind right now. He feels something stirring within his body, parts of him he thought locked and dead in this new form.

Stan is rubbing lightly, but starting to get more vigorous. Bill feels his bricks softening and then splitting seamlessly.

“Hmm, looks like that diagram is still spot on, Ford. Not bad for over thirty years since I saw ‘em, huh?” Stan hooks a finger in the hole he’d made and Bill bites back his reactions. He can’t control how his form is pulsing low yellow light and heat as his breathing gets rougher, but it’s also hopeless to think neither have noticed. Ford is staring, still drumming his fingers on the table, eyes fixed to Stan’s hand movements.

Stan wiggles his thick finger in there, making Bill’s passage even wider, edging his other index finger on the other side, leaning on the table with his elbows so he bracketed Bill, face over his body. He pulled the hole further, like an oval, and Bill couldn’t help the yelp that tore from his throat.

He cursed himself for the momentary weakness, though it finally got Stan to stop pulling. Just for a moment though. With Stan over him, he could see the feral grin on Stan’s face. He could see a plan forming between them but not what it was.

Well, Bill could guess, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to vaporize both of them and shred them of their bodies, molecule by painful molecule. In due time.

Stan abruptly started tugging and trying to stick more fingers inside of him. Bill shuddered and tried to close his knees, but the stupid unicorn hair kept him locked in place. He struggled against it, but it was no use.

Stan laughed over him, a low chuckle filled with dark promise. “Oh, now he’s starting to get it. You need something, Bill? A pillow?” Stan succeeds in stuffing two more fingers inside of him, waggling them around inside, still stretching his bricks back. Bill couldn’t help the whimper, but he turned it into a growl.

“Let me outta these! I’ll show you both what happens when you mess with mE!” Bill let out a high strangled yelp as Stan hit one of them. Stan didn’t seem to realize what he’d touched, though.

“Whaddaya say, Sixer?”

Ford shook his head slightly. “Later.”

Stan nodded, tugging Bill wider and wider. “Have at it, bro,” Stan said, having worked the rest of his fingers into the hole and now holding Bill open like his hands were clamps, fingernails digging into his softer inner brick structure, not quite hitting what he’s made of inside. Ford, however, has a straight shot to those. And the look in his eye is remembering what else is inside of Bill, and wondering if it was still true in this form.

Ford leans down and he doesn’t go one at a time. He shoves his hand in, only able to get a few fingers around where Stan is still tugging back his edges. He rams his hand in and has to thrust in and out in order for Bill’s body to accept the intrusion. Bill yelled, and then yelled again as Ford tore straight through to them and when his fingernails scraped down their sides and he managed to wiggle over them Bill was crying out, helplessly bound, overstimulated and the men over him were barely getting started.

“Whatcha hit, Sixer?” Stan asks, pressing harder as he pulls Bill open around Ford’s hand. Bill can’t stop cursing but he hears them speak over him.

Ford grins, knowing exactly what he’s hit. On his next pass inside Bill’s body he manages to push his thumb in, despite the resistance, and he uses it to grab one of them. Bill screams and cool fire erupts inside of him. Slick and blue it flows around Ford’s fingers as Ford pulls them out.

Before he was reduced to this pitiful state, Bill had control over his body, to shapeshifting abilities to growing extra arms or tentacles. It came from his inner core, the extra parts. Bill thought with his reduction in powers, that he’d lost them. And he had, in a way. Now, they were locked inside of him, and were reacting to stimulus. They were hyper-sensitive and starting to wriggle on their own as Stan cracked him open and Ford dug in.

And it hurt. It was pain and fire and good and the worst and Bill didn’t know what to do. Sixer had been burning him and chewing him and putting him through a hundred different tortures, but that was all on the surface. This was his inner core, and he could feel every single piece of pain as separate and as a whole and they weren’t letting up.

Bill was screaming under Ford’s hands and it only made him grin wider. He was glad he’d waited until Stanley joined him for this. He was glad his brother took the lead so naturally, and was open to including him in his plans. He was glad Bill Cipher was just powerful enough for his form to heal itself after every indignity suffered, but not control anything else.

He was grinning as he felt that slick blue fluid run over his fingers as he punched his way into Bill’s body. As Stan dug his hands into the grooves surrounding the split in the bricks he’d found. He’d wondered if Bill still had the inner-workings he’d once had. For one of his days, he’d considered turning Bill inside out, breaking his body apart and ripping him from every angle. To see how long it’d take him to heal from that. But this blind exploration was better, to hear Bill cursing him, voice cracking, as he slammed into Bill’s body again and again.

He felt a few stabs of heat pool in his gut as Bill’s screams grew shriller. As Stan made eye contact with him and winked, a matching grin on his brother’s face.

“I seem to have discovered that he does, in fact, still retain portions of his former self, buried within,” Ford said calmly, even as he punched with frenzy into Bill, tearing and cracking his innards, grasping his tentacles and pulling as far as they’d go. He hadn’t been able to tear them outside of Bill’s body, but hopefully soon.

“Oh, like the extra hands? Or the tentacles? Is that what I hit on, earlier? Felt something little fishy down in there, I think.”

“Yes, Stanley, I believe you did. Would you like to try?”

Ford lets go of the tentacle and spreads his fingers wide as he rips his hands from Bill’s hole. He waves Stan over, and Stan lets go, moving around the table to stand next to Ford. For a moment Ford looks at the slick blue substance sliding over his hands. Like the fire Bill controlled in his former life, it was hot, but it did not burn him. It was more liquid than fire.

Stan held one hand up to rub it between his first two fingers. Ford looked down where Bill was heaving, back arching off the platform from the ferocity of his breaths. His hole was ragged and open, pulsing a little at the edges. One of the tentacles was slowly reeling itself back into his body.

Ford nudges Stan, tilting his head down at Bill, encouraging him silently to try.

Stan looks over Bill. He whistles one long, low note. “Wow, we’ve really started doing a number on you, huh, Bill?”

Bill doesn’t answer, eye shut tightly and hateful, angry tears leaking out the side.

“What, cat got your tongue? Nothing left to say after that big fit you just threw?” Stan laughs as he leans down a little closer. Bill still refuses to answer, body trembling slightly, his fists still clenched.

Stan, with no preamble, punches into Bill, despite the resistance, and Bill bucks and curses loudly. Stan buries his hand as far as he can, spreading his fingers out and weaving them around and between the earlier discussed tentacles. Bill squirms and Stan pushes his arm in even further.

Ford watches Stan’s face change into a fascinated disgust as he pushes deeper. He hears Bill’s pants and abortive groans and he relishes each one.

“Oh, I think I feel ‘em now,” Stan says, twisting his arm around inside of him. Stan does something and Bill howls.

Ford feels the heat start pooling in his belly, can feel himself start to grow hard. Beside him Stan is thrusting deeper, causing Bill to begin struggling again, making the demon scream.

“What happens if I rip your pretty little insides out, huh? Or if I fuck every hole you’ve got? Are ya gonna cry for me, Bill? Gonna cry pretty little tears for me?”

“NO, NO NO NO NOOOOOOOO!!” are the only discernable words within the demon’s screams, twisting raggedly and being caught by the ropes, trying so hard to shut out the invading force to his body.

Ford feels another jolt of pleasure shoot through him and he brings one hand up to hold himself on Stan’s shoulder, leaning into him. He can feel the muscles in Stan’s shoulder and arm work as he punches into Bill. It’s so hot, so unbelievably arousing, he thinks he could come just from watching this.

But that’s not everything he hoped for, coming down here. Bill is still twisting and screaming, Stan throwing taunts as he leans closer over Bill.

“Untie him,” Ford commands, voice tight. He palms himself through his pants, staring hungrily down at Bill.

Stan looks up, takes in just how aroused his brother is, and smiles wide. “Sure thing, Sixer. Let me just—“

His arm flexes and he pistons his arm out of Bill, dragging the tentacles behind him, fast as a whip. So fast, he finally manages to tear one, even as his hand slides off the others, the warm blue-liquid-fire making Bill too slick to grasp properly.

But the tentacle that tore off, Bill clenches his hands into tight fists, voice shooting up an octave in the purest concentration of pain so far. Stan shakes his hand out, little droplets hitting Bill in the open eye, the table, parts of their shirts.

“Hope that comes out later,” he mutters as he undoes the bindings on Bill one by one. As soon as each appendage is free, Bill curls in on himself, trying to hold his ragged hole shut, panting and finally crying those pretty little tears Stan had mocked him over.

His entire form was trembling, and it only made Ford hotter. His greatest enemy, the being that tortured him for thirty years, that claimed almighty powers and invaded his mind and body, brought low before him. Reduced to nothing but a plaything for him and Stan to do as they saw fit. Always knitting himself back together for another session. It was the greatest gift Ford had ever been given.

“Bill, Billy, turn over. I want to see you.”

Bill keeps rocking slightly, trembling, trying to hunch further into himself.

“That’s not very sportsmanlike, Bill. I thought you wanted me to bring Stan down here. Don’t you want to see where the evening takes us? Answer me, Billy.”

“N-no,” Bill answers in a different voice. It’s not his usual scream, nor his cocky future-dreaming voice.

Stan makes a clicking noise with his tongue. “Don’t tell me he’s broken already? I barely got to see him at all.”

Ford draws himself around the table, leaving Stan’s side so he can get a better view of Bill. “He’ll knit back together, good as new, by tomorrow. But why fix what isn’t broken enough? Let’s see the limits of how far he can go, shall we?” he says, shooting out his hands to drag Bill back along the table by his arms.

Bill struggles weakly, trying to keep holding his bottom edge, but Ford is stronger than him.

“Open wide, Bill,” Ford says, tapping his closed eyelid.

Bill cracks his eye open, squinting at Ford with tears still pouring out.

“No. Open your mouth.”

“Sixer, come o—AHHHHH!” Bill barely had Ford’s nickname out before Stan rushed forward, slapping his ragged hole so hard his whole body shook. Bill screamed as Stan’s hand punched through him again, grasping the tentacles and squeezing so tight, he thought he’d die.

“You don’t get to call him that anymore, Bill,” he snarls. He lets go as quick as he latched on, tearing back out of Bill, making sure to drag his knuckles over his walls on the way out.

His eye had flipped automatically to a mouth in the time it took to yell as Stan tore through him, so Ford took advantage of that change after Stan had said his piece.

“Was that so hard?” he asks condescendingly as he sticks his hand inside Bill’s mouth. Bill’s body still makes no logical sense, Ford can reach in and down and keep going further, hitting and moving Bill’s throat around. But he’ll never quite hit the tentacles. His body is like a series of pocket dimensions made entirely of living material that are all hypersensitive. Maybe he should actually study his now permanent physical form, in the future.

That is to be mused on later. For now, he chokes Bill with a fist pressed down.

“I find it interesting that you do not have the teeth you so loved to bite and tear with, Billy. But it really makes these proceedings so much simpler, knowing you have no readily available recourse of revenge for these actions. That I can stick whatever I want down your gullet and you have to take it.”

Ford draws his hand back, pushing Bill’s lips apart with just his index and thumb. “Stay nice and wide for me, Billy, or else,” he warns, drawing his hand back to his jeans, unbuttoning himself and pushing his pants down around his thighs.

Stan lets out a low whistle, winking at Ford when he looks up. Ford smiles in turn but soon brings his attention down to Bill. He really did leave his mouth wide open, just as Ford suggested. He could see on the other end of the table where the blue fiery liquid still leaked out of him.

Ford stroked himself a few times, giving himself a small sense of relief after holding himself back for so long. It nearly hurt how badly he wanted to pound into Bill, wanted to see him cry and beg and curl in on himself leaking Ford’s cum.

He drags Bill closer, bending his top vertice over the edge of the table so he can have Bill’s mouth in the easiest accessible position for him.

And without any further words, he sticks his dick in and pistons his hips forward. The new position allows him to feel his dick bumping the back of Bill’s throat where it’s pressed against the table. He hears Bill trying to speak, and despite his words coming from somewhere else within him, he has trouble vocalizing when a human man is shoving a dick down his throat.

Fascinating.

“Suck it in, Billy, you know you like it rough,” Ford pants as he slams in harder, feeling the bended point of Bill’s top corner trying to bend back up into a straight angle. He spreads his legs slightly, allowing it to flex up, just barely rubbing over his balls as he fucks Bill.

It feels like there’s layers to Bill’s throat, sucking Ford in deeper, ridged but not painful to slide over. Folds of those pocket dimensions, perhaps, overlapping each other and letting Ford touch every single part of Bill in some way. Ford grabs onto the tops of Bill’s legs for a better grip, holding them apart and mushing them to the table so he can lean over and thrust his hips with abandon. He can feel his release building with every gargled scream pushing through Bill’s throat.

“Who do you scream for, demon?” Ford grunts out as he pushes in deeper. He can feel a slight warmth emanating from Bill’s body, like he’s got a fever, as he pulses with color even though his screams are muffled. He loves the power trip that comes with forcing these reactions from Bill. He knows he’s so dam close, but he never wants this moment to end.

“Scream for me, Bill. I’m the only god you have left!” Ford shouts as he thrusts deep and feels the material of Bill’s throat ripple and shift, rubbing against him just right and he finally comes, shooting his load deep into Bill.

Bill’s gurgling, now, and even though it makes no sense, his anatomy is a cosmic joke, it fills Ford with pride that he did this to Bill. He pulls out, stroking himself letting the last bit of his seed splatter on Bill’s front. He pushes Bill onto the table, standing back to lean on the desk behind him, recapturing his breath.

Bill is crying again, curling in around himself, weeping blue fiery tears and actual tears intermittently. His bricks have all gone soft as he rocks himself slightly. Ford catches his breath and stuffs himself back into his pants, pulling them up to button, rounding the table to stand beside Stan again.

“How long have you been saving that line, Sixer?” Stan asks, an easy smile on his face as he appraises Ford. He takes in the red face and sweat that gathered on his temples and pushes Ford’s glasses back into place, dropping that hand to Ford’s shoulder, turning himself slightly away from Bill.

Ford let out a puff of air loudly. He glanced at Bill, then back to Stan.

“I’ve still got some things to work out, it seems. Fortunately we have plenty of time.”

It’s quiet for a moment, save Bill’s whimpers. Ford curls his arms around Stan’s waist and Stan plays with a little curl of hair at the back of Ford’s neck.

“Yeah, good thing.” Stan shuffles a little closer, pulling Ford to him. He kisses his brother, a little hungrily, and Ford realizes that Stan hasn’t gotten off yet. He pushes them back against the table, Stan nearly sitting on it, Ford sliding his hands down over Stan’s ass and slipping them into Stan’s jeans.

“Tell me what you want, Stanley,” Ford murmurs against Stan, barely pulling back to be heard, more intent on getting his brother off than effective communication.

Stan chuckles and pulls Ford in tighter, fingers tightening their grasp in his hair. He rubs against Ford and Ford fishes his hands around in Stan’s jeans, rubbing until he comes around to Stan’s dick. He starts stroking fast, whisked away by another hungry kiss. For a moment they’re two men rubbing against each other and the next moment Stan’s grunting as he comes in Ford’s hand.

Stan lays his head on Ford’s shoulder for a moment, breathing heavy, and Ford strokes him as he comes down, making sure he’s taken care of.

“Thanks,” Stan grunts out once he’s taken a moment or two, after he’s tucked back into his jeans.

Ford reaches back behind Stan and wipes his hand off on Bill’s outer bricks, getting the sticky white mess on him instead of his hand. Bill makes a few small sounds of protest, but he’s still shaking too much to actually fend the quick wipe. Ford looks back at Stan now that his hand is mostly cleaned off.

“Any time,” he says, smiling back at Stan.

“Let’s blow this basement. My show’s gonna come on soon,” Stan kisses Ford on the cheek, patting him on the ass as he allows his hands to drop down. He stretches, cracking his neck on each side, turning to the door.

Ford looks back at Bill on the table, and he feels a shiver spike through him. Stan glances back and rolls his eyes.

“C’mon, Sixer. We’ll be back tomorrow. When he’s put back together, right? We can have more fun tomorrow.”

Stan grabs the unicorn hair bindings and flips Bill onto what should be his stomach. He pulls the arms behind his back and the legs up into the air. He hogties Bill, the colorful rainbow threads glittering in the dim light of the basement. He ignores Bill’s renewed complaints and threats, throwing the extra length of rope up on a low-hanging beam in the spare room. Bill Cipher is suspended mid-air, blue fiery liquid leaking slightly from him as he struggles and wiggles and curses.

Ford watches all of this with a look of intrigue and something darker. His glasses catch the light for a moment and his eyes are unreadable, hidden.

Stan finishes tying Bill up, tapping him lightly, sending him spinning wildly.

“Ha! Perfect. Let’s go. I can tell ya about this idea I got watching earlier,” Stan says, dragging Ford out by the elbow. Ford turns and leaves happily with his brother, discussing Stan’s ideas for whenever Bill’s body next healed itself.

Bill was alone, feeling broken, stuttering curses and feeling that dam itch again as his body did the one thing it was still good for in that cursed physical form: heal. Heal for another fresh wave of horrors to be submitted to. He passed his time plotting how he’d get his revenge on Ford, Stan, that stupid salamander, the whole dimension one day!

He didn’t think about how his mouth still tasted like Ford’s cum. He didn’t think about how much he dreaded that flavor disappearing as his body reconstituted itself. He didn’t know if he hated himself or Ford more when he felt disappointment as it did.

#billstanwich #lemon #grapefruit #whichever one is worse #heylark writes #older than they thought they'd be #it's some dark shift guys #heavy heavy:#billford

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s2he-gamewalkthrough · 6 years ago

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Part 12: In the Clouds

The part of the game where Tensho has to complete some finicky and very specific game requirements to progress the story.

If you don’t know what this is about, please refer to this previous post.

[Any new comments by me will be designated by brackets.]

[Oof, this chapter’s one of the messier ones... I’ve cleaned it up a lot from the original LiveJournal post, but it still jumps around a lot in places. Apologies for that.]

Before I get on with the plot of the game, I found some upgrades!

Tensho:

Lv 2 --> 3:

Tenka:

Second listed item, Lv 1 --> 2

Youzen's:

First listed item, Lv 1 --> 2

First listed item, Lv 2 --> 3

Second item listed, Lv 1 --> 2

Second item listed, Lv 2 --> 3

[I uh. Really hope these combinations are still correct as I am unable to test them out in the old saved game I have. I highly recommend upgrading paopei/weapons whenever you can because it helps to make all future battles significantly easier.]

Oh, I forgot to mention before, but you should have gotten a few equipable items by now. Those are marked with stars (in the item description) in the inventory menu:

You can equip them to characters by selecting the third “word” in the menu screen:

Some equipment items affect certain stats, while some I guess negate status ailments. If you don't know Japanese, then finding out the effects pretty much comes down to trial and error. (I won't be listing the specific effects of all the equipable items--Sorry!)

Cavechan was nice enough to translate the character stat screen for us in part 1, so that should be a big help when you're messing around with equipment. (Thank you again to Cavechan!)

In the end, I had to equip Tenka with an item to boost his attack because it was pathetically weak.

Also, I've recently found out that you can't use HP-restoring potions on doushi/senin. I have no idea why this happens. This means that if you want to heal these characters while in a dungeon, you have to use a character that has a healing move. Man, that's going to be annoying in a pinch.

Anyway, time for more level grinding in the Houshindai!

I will only be unlocking two senins in the Houshindai today because the monsters on the lower floor are getting harder and harder to beat.

Another of the Juunisen, and In Hon's master. His name's Seki Seishi. (Also, he apparently talks A LOT.)

I also unlocked In Cho's master! (Kou Seishi)

Their bonus is:

They both sell things for something other than cash. One seems to sell potions while the other just sells combo upgrades. I suppose it’s decently useful?

While training in the Houshindai, I messed around with some of Youzen’s new moves.

After having beaten Chou Koumei (yet again), Youzen can now transform into him (4th move, second option.)

Sadly, you only have one attack Chou Koumei (a whip-like attack) and it frankly sucks because it does such a small amount of damage. I think this form is balanced out with all the supporting moves you have at your disposal, though I admittedly never utilized Chou Koumei’s form much.

And oooh, the 60 EP move (unlocked from the cutscene between Youzen and Gyokutei) allows Youzen to go into yokai form!

His ultimate attack (costing 40 EP) does A TON of damage.

(For reference, I was only doing about 1000 points of damage with Tensho and Tenka at this stage in the game.)

Anyway, time to head to the new location, finally. It looks to be someplace up in the clouds?

Hmm, that kid looks familiar...

Hey, it's kid-Tensho!

...Wait, what?

Yeah, this is actually all just an illusion. Those treasure chests scattered about are actually real, but you’ll have to find a way to get to them yourself because... Well, you’ll see why soon enough.

After the short convo, kid-Tensho beckons you to follow him, and he’ll move a few steps along some kind of invisible path. You have to follow kid-Tensho’s steps EXACTLY. Otherwise you'll fall off the clouds (Hitou saves you from falling to your death) and have to re-do the path all over again. This “invisible path” is ridiculously long, which is why they included a guide in the form of kid-Tensho. You have to follow him about six times. You can save at any time in this area; so if you're the type that has trouble following an exact path, then you might want to save in the middle so you don’t have to keep restarting all the way at the beginning if you make a mistake.

Also, don't follow too closely behind kid-Tensho, otherwise you might accidentally walk ahead too far when he turns. This happened to me many, many times. [I’m not going to give a guide on how to grab any of the treasure chests in this area, because honestly; I haven’t been able to figure out how to grab most of the chests myself.]

After all of that trouble, Tensho finds himself in a quant little village in the clouds. (It's actually a small village on top of a very high mountain, if you've read the manga.)

I'm going to just say this now for lack of a better place to bring it up: when you exit, you'll immediately leave the place. (You won't have to go through the invisble path in reverse or anything.) But you'll have to do the walkway “puzzle” again every time you try to visit the village. Really quite annoying. The next time you arrive, you'll be given three options on how to do the puzzle--slow, medium, or fast. This refers to how quickly kid-Tensho walks along the path. If you have amazing memory and want to save time, then you can choose the medium or fast option. I always go with slow, because it's the turns that get me...

The cameos in this village include:

The Village Chief guy with a strong aura.

And surprisingly, an un-possessed Chuu Ou. I have no idea how he got here or even what he’s doing here, but I get the feeling Shinkyohyo had a hand in this somehow.

And of course, there’s Taijou Roukun (a.k.a. Roushi) sleeping amongst the sheep.

[Alright, this part... You’re supposed to talk to Taijou Roukun but he’s not an easy guy to get in contact with, as he’s almost always asleep. Even now I still don’t know the EXACT requirements on how you activate the next part of the game’s plot, but I have figured out a rough guideline... sorta.

Talk to EVERYONE in this location ONCE.

Yes, even the sheep. But ONLY once. If you talk to the same sheep twice by accident, the next cutscene won’t activate. This is an extremely specific set of requirements, I know.]

After having talked to everyone and every sheep ONCE, go up to Taikou Roukun and try talking to him. After the usual sleeping noises Roushi makes, Tensho will say something.

I "think" after doing EVERYTHING you possibly can do, Tensho figures it out and does the same thing Taikoubou did to talk to Roushi... Sleep.

No BGM plays in this mini-cutscene. That means important stuff. Too bad I can't read Japanese. You're given two different dialogue choices in a row. I don't think it really has much effect on the storyline, but I don’t have any real way of confirming that (due to my lack of Japanese language knowledge).

[I have no idea what this says but it’s probably important.]

In case you're wondering, I just went with the first choices for both “choose your dialogue” moment in the convo with Roushi. In this game, the first choice tends to be the better one, it seems.

After that mini-cutscene...

Hey, you're--!

Nentou Doujin! (By the way, his BGM is AWESOME.) Talk to him, and you’ll get treated to a loooong conversation. After that, leave Taijou Roukun’s place. The dot over Mount Kongrong’s location should be flashing, and all your party members will be gone. Don’t worry--this is only a temporary thing.

To continue the plot of the game, you'll have to bring Soushou along to the village in the clouds. (His room is the back right one, on the first floor.) Then head back to talk to Nentou. I can’t remember if it was ever officially confirmed (or if I’ve already mentioned it in this guide), but Nentou is Soushou’s master.

After another long convo, Soushou stays behind, I guess to train under Nentou. You get the rest of your party members back here.

Like master, like disciple.

BONUS MATERIAL TIME (a.k.a. some extra stuff that I didn’t know where to put so it’s going in this post whoop whoop)

At this point in the game, some locations on the overworld have changed a bit. If you go back to the water cave area (the one with all the arrows), you'll find Sengyoku and Dokouson there now.

I have NO idea why they're even standing here. Maybe to guard the place? Maybe because Sengyoku thinks that it's a romantic spot?

Anyway, if you want to initiate a rather humorous scene; first have youzen transform into this:

Second, talk to Dokouson.

In case you're wondering who Youzen just transformed into, it's Hekiun, one of Ryuukitsu's disciples.

Dokouson starts drooling over her and his wifey gets mad.

There’s some pounding noises and the screen shakes.

You can also now find Mokutaku and Kintaku at the old battlefield area.

It took me a long time to figure this out, but Tenka’s “action button” allows him to bust through certain walls:

Apparently the one-off “Tenka as a construction worker” joke from the manga was so funny to the game creators that they included a special face portrait of Tenka in a hardhat.

Anyway, if you head back to Tensho’s hometown after finishing the Taijou Roukun cutscene, you’ll be given a lot of dialogue choices if you talk to the villagers. This doesn’t seem to do anything too important.

But if you choose the second dialogue option on one of the old men, he begins frantically running around the whole town. It's... somewhat amusing in a morbid kind of way.

The old dude freaking runs at the speed of light. I had to block him like this to get a screenshot of him.

Going back to Genshitenson's place briefly...

A grave has been built for him. I think Hakutsuru built it?

Inside Geishitenson's hut, if you look at the right pot at the back of the room, Hitou will say something. THIS IS IMPORTANT. He doesn't do it when you look at the other pot (on the left) so you know something's up. We will return here later.

[That’s all for this post. I hope you guys enjoyed it, despite it being a bit of a mess.]

To be continued.

#Houshin Engi #Hoshin Engi #senkaiden 2 walkthrough

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rkhyeri · 7 years ago

Photo

⁽ we’ll be each other’s company, oh, company ₎

august eval ♥ with @rkzyx ♬ insp.

when yixing had originally presented her with his song choice for the evaluation, admittedly, hyeri hadn’t hesitated a second before agreeing to it. she trusted her partner well enough to make a suitable choice for them without her input and he had. however, on second thought, the dancer thinks the song might have been a little too suitable for them.

it’s not until hyeri’s alone at home, earbuds plugged in and foot lazily tapping out the rhythm to the beat that she notices it: the utter familiarity of the lyrics compared to her and yixing’s current relationship. she could have pegged it down to coincidence ( after all, most people liked the biebs’ music even if they couldn’t stand the artist himself ) but, once hyeri had gotten the idea in her head -- that these lyrics hit way too close to home -- she simply couldn’t abandon it afterwards. only two months had passed since yixing asked her out to the restaurant to talk and hyeri still remembered the deadened look in his eyes as they spoke about those personal things. love troubles, where they’d been, where they’d been going; above all, hyeri remembered the tone of yixing’s voice and how well it’d matched her own depressing one once myungsoo had left her ( again. )

they really had been each other’s company. ‘just wanna have a conversation/forget about the obligations.’ biebs’ voice crooned through the studio’s speakers and hyeri couldn’t shake away the similarity, even during a rehearsal when she should be focusing on the choreography instead. yixing teaches it to her himself, improvising moves from his own imagination and asking for her opinion every now and then during the partnered movements. hyeri does her best during all of that, forcing a smile and then smiling for real whenever the male catches her fake act in a moment of attention. she’s not immune to his worried glances every now and then but hyeri’s too much of a liar to let him know the thoughts that continually plague her.

sometimes ‘just friends’ is complicated, too. “what do you think of--” “no, raise your leg more there--” “are you sure about--?” “spin out here--” “you take my hand and, no, wait, let’s do this--”

it takes trial and error, bumps and bruises, lots of laughs and painful nights before hyeri feels like she’s ready for the performance. yixing’s choreography is fun, playful, and the dancer can’t believe how utterly a contrast it is to the very real problems that keep her up awake at night. she still worries about yixing, hopes that his troubles have lessened in the last four weeks, but there’s guilt, too, that hyeri has only added on to his personal burdens with this dance. And afterwards… when this performance is done and over, they’ll have to go back to friends with no obligations. ones who talk only when an ear and a shoulder is needed for the other to cry on. it’s an unsettling, bittersweet reality.

“kt’s laugh grenade, lee hyeri, here to dance!” the girl announces cheerfully on the day of the performance. she salutes the judges with a wave of her hand and her dancer coach rolls his eyes dramatically-- a bit too used to this particular trainee’s antics. “just get on with it,” the male coach growls and hyeri grins in response, afterwards tugging at yixing’s arm excitedly.

“he’s a fan of us already, i know it,” she whispers in her partner’s ear. hyeri reaches up to adjust the collar of the flannel shirt yixing wears, smoothing it out with the palms of her hands and glancing up at him with a warm smile. “i’m your fan, too, you know? let’s do this, chicken-lover zhang yixing,” she teases. her own costume is just as casual as his: ragged denim shorts and an oversized flannel shirt to cover a simple graphic tee underneath. the couple’s fashion is subtle but unmistakable, designating her and yixing as a unit as they take their starting positions on the floor.

yixing had been adamant about giving hyeri enough parts in the choreography to show off her own skills and she agreed to take advantage of every single one of them, starting at the very beginning. when the music starts, she’s already in character, gifting her dance partner with a flirty smile as she struts forward to the center. she’s the flame and yixing is her willing moth, coming towards hyeri and complimenting her movements with his graceful ease. once the choreography had been nailed down, fostering the chemistry between the two dancers had come next. that, of course, had been the easy part.

You ain't gotta be my lover For you to call me baby Never been about no pressure Ain't that serious

they separate and dance together, limbs extending and feet moving in sync with one another. it is rare that hyeri gets to dance with a male on par to her skill ( taemin being the only one for a long time ) and she still feels the headiness on stage of getting to dance freely, without having to be too thoughtful of making her companion look weaker in comparison. yixing could hold his own against her, so well as to make her worry about what she’d look like beside him-- a novel sensation. that kind of challenge drives her -- inspires her to work harder and to dance even better than before.

Can we, we keep Keep each other company? Maybe we, can be Be each other's company Oh company

every touch of yixing’s hand feels like fire against her skin and clothing. this man represents comfort to her, a reliable partner whose very touch lets her know that he’s there, ready to catch her. hyeri trusts him to do just that, relaxing her slim frame and letting him twist and drop her in the elegant flow of the routine. his grip around her waist is strong and supportive, and her answering smile is all too real as hyeri looks up at yixing once more. he drifts away to dance his solo part and she can’t look away from him even if she wanted to. yixing’s charisma is magnetic, too attractive for someone like her to want to run away from.

( she’d be outright lying to say her heart didn’t flutter at moments like this. )

she rises with the tips of his fingers beneath her chin. hyeri’s lips part around quickened breaths and she effortlessly transitions back into their couple’s dance. together, apart, his hands on her hips and her eyes on the audience, dancing feels like a dream when it’s this easy with one another. it also lets hyeri forgets all her thoughts except those that matter in the moment: where to put what foot where, at what beat. where the hands go.

the other thoughts she can leave for later.

#rkzyx #rkaug17eval #kt:eval

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cookinguptales · 8 years ago

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So one thing I get a lot when I’m using my cane is people asking me why I don’t just switch hands when things get awkward for me. (Like if the railing is on the right side or I need to shake hands or something.) I use my right hand to use my cane. I only use my right hand to use my cane.

Wanna know why? Because you have to train your body to use a cane. The muscles on my left side are entirely different from the ones on my right side. Like you can see the difference just by looking at my arms. Right arm has cane muscles, left arm has muscles because I use it for literally everything else. Groceries, books/purse, doors, etc. Believe me, my back/neck/leg muscles are different on each side, too. Years of conditioning have done that.

I started using my cane when I was about 20 years old, so ~7 years ago. I should’ve started long before then, but, well, cure culture. Most of my family and friends were not supportive of me coming to think of myself as disabled rather than, idk, temporarily inconvenienced by an incurable disease. (I have a lot of thoughts on how doctors (at least used to) mislead POTS patients on the likelihood of getting better, but that’s another rant.) So I finally ended up just buying a cane myself along with a manual wheelchair (well, the cane I bought on my own; I worked with my parents to get the wheelchair -- they’re super expensive) and I started the agonizing journey of learning to use them on my own.

‘Coz here’s what they don’t tell you: it hurts. Holy fuck, it hurts. The day after the first time I used a manual wheelchair on my own, I was literally bedridden. My hands were frozen into gnarled claws. Like I literally could not unbend my fingers. It hurt so badly. And the cane training wasn’t quite as bad, but still truly painful. You have to train a lot of muscles that your body just isn’t used to using. It’s not just getting used to balancing a certain way, which is hard enough on its own; it’s specialized conditioning of muscles. Like admittedly I have a lot of chronic pain anyway, but I was shocked by how much it hurt. No one warned me. No one knew, I guess.

So not only did no one warn me about the immense amount of pain involved with this training, no one helped me with it. I don’t just mean, like, fetching me ice and heating pads. I mean, no one taught me how to change a cane’s height or how high it should be relative to your body or how wearing gloves helped when it came to using a wheelchair. I just bought a cane at random; I didn’t know about the different kinds of grips or tips or the best way to replace them. No one even taught me about the different places you can buy canes, I just ended up searching on Amazon.

Like. Think about this for a second. Think about how fucked up this is. My cane is something I use in daily life. Before I started using it, I couldn’t go anywhere or do anything alone because I fell and/or fainted so often. Using a cane gives me the ability to stand up on my own, rest on my own, change positions without fear -- like it’s an utter necessity. And no one even thought to recommend I try one. They recommended pills and other medical attempts at a cure, sure! But no one, not my family, friends, or the legions of doctors, tried to teach me how to live my life to its fullest using assistive devices. I had to do all that research, all that trial and error, on my own. I have the scars to prove it.

Honestly, I think a lot of people with injuries/disabilities could benefit from learning how to use assistive devices. I think we have this ingrained idea that you have to reach a certain level of disability before you’re “disabled enough” to use things like canes or wheelchairs or hearing aids or any other assistive device. I thought that way for a long time, but my life has improved exponentially since I learned to just accept that these devices make things easier, and that’s enough reason right there to start using them. I think we need to remove the stigma behind using assistive devices, we need to make it easier to get them, and goddamn we have to teach people how to use them. I shudder to think about what it was like pre-internet. (And jfc, stop saying things like “wheelchair-bound”, that only adds to the stigma and misinformation surrounding assistive devices.)

Like all we’re doing is making it even harder for people with disabilities -- and believe me, that shit’s hard enough on its own. Societally-speaking, we really seem to have this horrible, detrimental idea that assistive devices should only be used by, idk, the ~worst of the worst~, and when you give in and start using one, you’ve basically “given up”. It’s a terrible way to think about lifesaving, life-changing technology. Would you think about glasses or contact lenses the same way you think about a wheelchair? Of course not. Glasses have become utterly normalized even though they’re assistive devices just like the rest. So hey, let’s normalize the rest of them, too. Make it easier to get and use these things, and maybe change some lives for the better.

#also would you just remove a stranger's glasses? no!! so stop taking my fucking cane #ableism #just me

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osvgr · 8 years ago

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Wrestlemania X8

Wrestlemania 33 is in the history books now, it’s finished, Wrestlemania season is over for another year. Let’s celebrate it late with a spectacular entry into video game history with Wrestlemania X8 on the Gamecube. When I was younger I wanted every single wrestling game I could get my hands on. After I got No Mercy for the Nintendo 64 I was sold, it was (and still is) the greatest wrestling game that ever happened. Eventually the Nintendo 64 gave way to the Nintendo Gamecube, and I eagerly awaited the upgrade in wrestling games. I couldn’t wait to see what was next, how they would improve on perfection. That was the time when I learned that most people can’t improve on perfection, so they just don’t bother.

Put bluntly, Wrestlemania X8 on the Gamecube is terrible. It’s just a terrible game, especially compared with what just came previously (the aforementioned No Mercy). Let’s look at the plus points first maybe. Ok. So there’s a pretty good, updated roster. Not a perfect roster, but pretty good. Ok, so that’s the positives out of the way, let’s swing our way over to the negatives.

Released early into the Gamecube’s lifetime, the company who developed Wrestlemania X8 (Yukes) was not the same as the company that developed No Mercy (AKI) and that should have been the first noticeable problem. Instead of working off an existing and very well designed system, the whole thing was restarted and recreated by a different company, and so we get ourselves a completely different wrestling game. The problem with this is ease of control and enjoyment, basically. If you were to pick up and play No Mercy without having played it before, you can pretty much figure your way through it through trial and error. With Wrestlemania X8 it’s a little harder, with some movements mapped to two buttons inexplicably. It means you’ll have to check the manual a lot if its your first time playing. I picked it up again recently for the purposes of this review and found it difficult to figure out what I was doing. Admittedly, once you pick it up its easy enough to figure out, but the double button inputs will always get away from you.

Characters during entrances often look jerky and strange. Entrances are split into four or five different sections, and characters freeze as they reach the end of one section and it transitions into the next one. It looks pretty weird, and it takes forever. Most people don’t watch the entrances anyway, and obviously the people in this game knew that as they didn’t bother coding it that well. Some of the entrances don’t look so bad, some of them do. Watch Kane walk out to the ring, he looks very imposing. Then watch Lance Storm walk to the ring and watch how they didn’t bother motion capturing for Lance Storm.

Graphically it looks strange. It looks as if it wants to look realistic and gritty, and to their credit they try their hardest. The problem is, this game came out early in the Gamecube’s lifespan and so they maybe hadn’t it figured out properly. The sequel to this game (Wrestlemania XIX) tones down the graphics and makes it look a little brighter, a little more arcade-y, and that look works. This game tries to go for realism and cool, but it doesn’t quite nail it. Kudos for trying though, I guess.

Physics wise the characters all move around the ring, but they all seem a bit floaty. There’s no real sense of weight and the character models push each other out of the way frequently as they try to do moves or get themselves into position. It looks a bit weird. To be completely fair to this game, you can chain moves together and it looks very smooth (setting aside the prior flaws I just mentioned) and for a small part of the match you can make it look like a real wrestling match, chaining moves together smoothly. That doesn’t last long. Opponents are either super easy or super cheap, reversing every one of your moves.

So the controls are a bit wonky, graphics are a bit wonky, but lets play some wrestling! Exhibition mode has a decent array of game modes. Tables matches, ladder matches, etc. Not the greatest collection of game modes, but decent enough for a first try. Ladder matches turn into a debacle quickly enough. In No Mercy when you climb a ladder you have to mash the A button to grab the belt, giving your opponent a chance to stop you and make a counter, extending the match length and tension. In Wrestlemania X8, if you can make it to the top of the ladder you’ve pretty much won the match. It’s that simple. You feel a little cheated out of something great, and it stings in multiplayer to not have a real authentic kind of match.

And now for the worst part of it all: the story content. You can pick from an exhibition match, which is standard for nearly all wrestling games, Path of a Champion and Battle for the Belts. Battle for the Belts gives you over 50 designs of different championship belts you can fight for. So you pick your character, select which belt you wish to challenge for, and then the game simply picks 5-6 different wrestlers and match types for you to fight through in a row. No storyline, no cutscenes, no anything, just fighting matches for some weird looking belts. Path of a Champion lets you challenge for any of the existing (at the time) championships, to fight the respective champion at the end for the belt. However this is exactly the same as Battle for the Belts, in that the game just picks some opponents and match types, and you fight 5-6 random people before challenging for the belt you selected. No storylines, no cutscenes, nothing. Both game modes are pretty much identical, and because they’re all random, expect to find yourself fighting Stephanie McMahon in a Tables Ladders and Chairs match as you fight your way towards the World Heavyweight Championship. None of it makes sense and you never feel like you’re making progress, you’re always just doing the same thing every time, and that soon gets very boring very quickly.

Wrestlemania X8 is a real disappointment, a game that seems to have been rushed to market to capitalise on the wrestling boom. Unfortunately this seems to have fizzled out just before the WWE itself found itself in a lull, the boom having ended with a splutter. This game feels like it didn’t have time to be great, and while the sequel had more time, it didn’t fix a lot of the problems that this game does. Basically when you read a review of a wrestling game here, expect it to be compared to No Mercy, but this being the wrestling game released directly after No Mercy, such a comparison was necessary, and it really couldn’t deliver. Ill timed and ill fated.

#wwe #wrestlemania x8 #gamecube

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ashnadir · 7 years ago

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thisbrutalbelle:

“Over-producing items for Antoinette’s, over staffing the place, not having a business plan for it beyond opening, I don’t know, it feels like I made a lot of really big mistakes,” Bellamy listed momentarily before merely settling in the fact that there were mistakes. Definitely she had more of them, focused there but some at Erzebet’s too. Erzebet’s was merely fortunate that it had been something new and different.

“I could fail,” she reasoned with a little laugh. It wouldn’t be quite as straight forward as getting her GED she suspected. Not that it had been particularly easy but it was clear how to learn what she needed to get it. “But whether or not I do, yeah, I think I’ll get something out of it.”

Bellamy frowned at him when he said he was doing it by the skin of his teeth. “Maybe Freddie is doing a whole lot of things, and employees are sort of a must to function, but I think you bring a lot to the table,” she assured him, even if he didn’t need something like that. “You’re always so creative, and I suspect a whole lot more relatable to employees than Freddie,” Bella continued.

Remaining inside Bellamy pushed up the floorboards gently with her fingers, not lifting them exactly but trying to work out what was actually beneath them. She’d never been around when construction was going on and was curious as to what was beneath them. When Iann came back and directed her what to do it was a whole lot clearer. Though what was beneath was, for the moment, mostly not very interesting and predominantly just quite dirty.

“Haven’t thought that far ahead,” she admitted as they worked, Bellamy moving once in a while to placed the pulled up wood in the next room. This was more in the processes of creativity currently than actual execution. There was no point working out how to make the alcohol if making it was not going to be a fruitful and innovative concept. She smiled when he made his joke referencing Ephram though, not exactly laughing but just a fondness. “I like it. I think our sheriff’s department has come around.”

“I guess we shall see,” Bellamy answered allowing the topic to fade away, focusing on the prying up of the floorboards.

Bellamy laughed, shaking her head a little. “More like the effects of alcohol on my wallet. Whenever I want to get drunk it’s just…such a waste of money. I have to drink so much so quickly that it takes me a hundred bucks just to get there and then even more to stay there,” she explained. Holidays definitely would have made sense though and admittedly Bellamy had been drinking more over the season, so long as she was not around Miles.

“This is actually harder than I imagined,” she said as another floorboard came up, figuring it would have just been ripping them up but it was not quite so simple.

"Learning curve, trial and error," Iann said with a wave of his hand, but he laughed and scratched his chin anyway. "Well, anyway. I suppose it's all how you look at it." To Iann it didn't seem like big mistakes since she managed to keep the business afloat - and no amount of throwing oodles of money at a failing business will stop it from failing, just prolong its demise. But if Bellamy saw them that way, that was her prerogative. It was her business after all, so she could view it however she chose.

Another dismissive wave and an 'ahhhhh' noise at the back of Iann's throat, when Bellamy tried to tell him he brought a lot to the table. In a way, Iann almost didn't want to know how useful he was to the business. He didn't mind carrying it out, but for some reason saying in words meant acknowledging that responsibility. And even if Iann could be accountable in his actions, didn't meant he wanted to hear it being said. It was an irrational way of looking at things, but then Iann tended to be highly irrational about himself (which was why he tended to avoid topics of himself. He annoyed himself.)

"Ahhhhh, yeah and I can imagine how much werewolves or vampires drink too. Ah..." Iann recalled Bellamy with Miles at a couple parties. He couldn't quite remember which ones, but he remembered Bellamy keeping Miles plied...on the softer drinks. Maybe? There was only one way to find out: "Does Miles drink at all?" Not that Iann thought Bellamy would stop drinking for Miles. But then again, if the circumstances were right, maybe she would? Iann was curious (mildly).

"It's kind of fun," Iann said with a grin. "It'd be even more fun if we just got to demo. Sometimes doing a little constructive smashy-smashy can feel so cathartic," Iann said, wrapping his gloved hands around some boards and kicking at the bottom to loosen it from the floor joists.

"This is a pretty good looking frame, good structure in the house. You bought a good one, Belle," Iann grunted. As they pulled out the last bit in the southwest corner of the area, a puff of grey dust erupted from under the pulled-up floorboards, enough to make Iann cough, then have a sneezing fit.

tooth faerie

#bellamyjbarnes

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entergamingxp · 4 years ago

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20 years after its release, it’s time to play Daikatana • Eurogamer.net

John Romero and Ion Storm’s FPS Daikatana was released 20 years ago and it’s regarded as one of the biggest failures in video game history. Nowadays, we remember its infamous advertisement warning us that “John Romero’s about to make you his bitch,” its delays and its poor reviews. Maybe we also remember the controversies surrounding Ion Storm itself.

We remember its myth, but we don’t remember Daikatana. While Ion Storm expected to sell more than 2 million copies, Daikatana is a game few people actually played. For its 20th anniversary, it’s time to see what Daikatana has to offer now, beyond legends and prejudices.

In Daikatana three characters travel through time thanks to (and because of) the powers of a magic sword, and they fight to stop an evil corporation. The game features 24 levels split into four episodes set in different ages: a cyberpunk Tokyo, a mythical Ancient Greece inspired by Ray Harryhausen’s movies, a zombie-plagued Medieval Europe and San Francisco in 2030. Each era surprises players with its own environments, soundtrack, enemies and weapons, and almost every weapon (there are 25 in total) tries to do something different with an ingenuity more common at the time but usually lost nowadays. Not everything is equally brilliant, but from ricocheting energy orbs to a demon-summoning staff, from melee silver claws designed to kill Medieval werewolves to sci-fi freezing guns, there’s a lot of variety and distinctiveness that’s carried over to its multiplayer. It’s a massive experience that sometimes feels like four different games collected together.

Playing Daikatana now means rediscovering a forgotten relic from an experimental and transitional period at the end of the previous millennium. Visually, it’s reminiscent of 90s American comics books influenced by Japanese manga. Like 90s FPSs, it mixes enemies with hit-scan immediate attacks and enemies that shoot dodgeable projectiles. It’s frantic, especially in its multiplayer modes, and it’s filled with secrets that ask you to understand its levels as interconnected spaces. But it also has cutscenes, missions and objectives, and its level design is less abstract (and so less gameplay-driven) than Doom’s and Quake’s. Moreover, it tried to innovate its genre adding RPG elements and, above all, the sidekicks, two AI companions who follow the player during part of their adventure and fight by their side.

Sidekicks were one of Daikatana’s most advertised features and became the most criticised element of the game, because they often get stuck in the environment and they desperately throw themselves to their death. Since their defeat means an instant game over (and till its 1.1 patch Daikatana had limited saves), players mostly had to carefully babysit them and drag them alive to the end of each level. As Romero explained, sidekicks were designed to be a burden, and while the execution was tragically flawed and buggy, the concept was (and still is) brave: creating buddies who were not mere gameplay tools but digital people with their needs. Sidekicks need medikits, armors, weapons and ammunition and they were coded to act, run, crawl, climb and jump as a human player would do: a fake life we must live together with.

But the technology was not there yet.

Daikatana was the most tangible sign of the difference between the technology-driven id Software and the design-focused Ion Storm, and while its idealistic vision (“Design is Law” was Ion Storm’s credo) gave life to Deus Ex, it didn’t properly work with Daikatana, which looks like a child who has overgrown their clothes, the Quake 2 engine.

“Back in 2000 [Daikatana] was pushing the limits of [what] the Quake 2 engine was capable of and the knowledge of the programmers” tells us Daikatana modder Frank Sapone via email. Sapone played Daikatana at launch and he “liked it a lot,” so years later he started modding it to solve a few known bugs and crashes. “Once those things were resolved I became eager to fix as many bugs as I can to make it more enjoyable to a wider audience” he says, and so he went on working at a massive homebrew patch with other modders. The 1.3 patch makes Daikatana run on Mac and Linux, it makes sidekicks invincible on easy difficulty, increases their health, improves their AI and allows us to disable them entirely, plus it adds support for widescreen resolutions and improves online multiplayer.

Thanks to these modders, Daikatana is a totally playable game now. But, admittedly, the first impact is still awful. The opening cutscene is boring, unintentionally ludicrous and it lasts for ten minutes. It’s followed by the worst episode of the game, and I fear that many players got discouraged and never completed those early areas filled with unavoidable damage and tiny greenish enemies that you can’t distinguish in the green and brown environments. It’s hard and there’s a lot of frustrating trial and error. So, just use a cheat code and skip to the second episode: it’s probably the best part of Daikatana and it brings us to a totally imagined and unhistorical Ancient Athens with big levels, backtracking and throwing disks that bounce off walls before flying back to us Xena-style.

“The multiplayer […] is probably even more underrated” tells us u/dama__, moderator for the Daikatana subreddit. “It’s not as balanced as Quake 3 because of the many gimmicky weapons from the single player. […] It’s also harder to make a comeback compared to other arena FPSs because you gain experience points when you frag someone, leaving the other player(s) at a disadvantage. However it’s very fun. The movement is kind of like Quake 3 with more air control, and when you upgrade your speed you can really zoom around the maps.”

Daikatana was a failed experiment, but with its new patch you can actually enjoy what remains of its ambitious vision and, though it’s not an underrated gem or something like that, it has a lot to offer. You can buy it on Steam and GOG and you can find its 1.3 patch here (at the moment, I suggest you to use the more stable 32 bit version). If you want to play its multiplayer, you can either look for opponents in its dedicated Steam community or grab a couple of friends and try the campaign in coop mode.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/05/20-years-after-its-release-its-time-to-play-daikatana-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=20-years-after-its-release-its-time-to-play-daikatana-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

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