#it's like the main goal is to have fights so you can be seen winning them

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hi :) Perhaps an odd one, but I was wondering if you had any recommendations of games to play out events that have already happened? The end game has been predetermined, but the events that lead to it are more mutable? I'm running a dnd game with a group that has been very open to trying out different systems and I was thinking it could be very fun to put the player characters back in time into the shoes of other characters during the campaign's inciting event. Thanks!

Theme: Recalling Events

Hello friend, so there are definitely games that allow you to do something similar to what you’re looking for. There are games that go back in time, games that flashback to previous events, and games that take place at moments in our real-world history that have already happened. I don’t know if any of those games exactly work for what you’re looking for, but they might be interesting to look at in order to ask yourself how you want to run something in a timeline that you’ve established for a specific setting.

Ten Candles, by Calvary Games.

Ten Candles is a zero-prep tabletop storytelling game designed for one-shot 2-4 hour sessions of tragic horror. It is best played with one GM and 3-5 players, by the light of ten tea light candles which provide atmosphere, act as a countdown timer for the game, and allow you to literally burn your character sheet away as you play. 

Ten Candles is described as a "tragic horror" game rather than survival horror for one main reason: in Ten Candles there are no survivors. In the final scene of the game, when only one candle remains, all of the characters will die. In this, Ten Candles is not a game about "winning" or beating the monsters. Instead, it is a game about what happens in the dark, and about those who try to survive within it. It is a game about being pushed to the brink of madness and despair, searching for hope in a hopeless world, and trying to do something meaningful with your final few hours left.  

There is only a few facts pre-determined at the beginning of this game, but those facts are important: all of your characters will die. Over the course of the game, you will slowly blow out ten candles as your characters grow closer and closer too their doom.

However, the nature of that doom can be altered. I’ve seen it done for the Locked Tomb, for example, and you can set it in a modern world, a futuristic world, or a fantasy world if you like. If you want to hack this game for your group, I’d recommend playing out a scenario that involves characters that you don’t mind saying goodbye too - perhaps a catastrophe your party heard about, and you can role-play the last moments of some people they failed to save.

Firebrands Games

Mobile Zero Firebrands is a game about mech pilots getting into fights and falling in love, but more importantly, it’s a game that guides the group through mini-game-like scenes that are common tropes in various stories. The beginning scene and the end scene are usually pre-determined, but all of the other scenes happen in whatever order you prefer.

The original system has been hacked a number of times, so you might find a game or genre that works for you - perhaps you’d like to play pirates in One Particular Harbour, or gods and heroes in Divine || Mundane. You could play members of a religious order looking for a new leader in Hierophants, or look into the complicated lives of mages in Hearts of Magic. If you don’t find anything that works for your specific tastes that already exists, you could also hack the system to make it fit for your specific group.

Eat the Reich, by Rowan, Rook & Decard.

Eat the Reich is a tabletop roleplaying game in which you, a vampire commando, are coffin-dropped into occupied Paris and must cut a bloody swathe through nazi forces en route to your ultimate goal: drinking all of Adolf Hitler’s blood.

This over-the-top, ultra-violent game is designed to be played from beginning to end in one to three sessions of carnage, blood magic, meaningful flashbacks and hundreds upon hundreds of extremely dead fascists. It tells one story, it tells it loud, and it tells it brilliantly. Think Wolfenstein crossed with Danger 5 and you’re not far off the mark.

Eat the Reich both happens at a very specific point in time - WWII - and also has a mechanic that allows characters to flash-back to various points in their shared backstories in order to play through a high-action sequence while still getting to know the characters. Your vampires have been working together for a long time, and while Eat the Reich is meant to be rather fast, these flashbacks allow you to speed up that relationship-building by letting you fill the details in backwards.

Eat the Reich started out as a hack of Havoc Brigade, if I remember correctly, so the system is definitely hack-able: perhaps you can think of a big event that happened in your party’s past or even in another part of the world, and then design characters that represent folks who were behind the big event. I think this kind of game would work best for heists or high-stakes assassination - anything that expects your players to put their lives on the line for a big, sweet payoff.

Retrocausality, by Weird Age Games.

Retrocausality is a tabletop RPG about time travel adventures, in the vein of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure or Back to the Future.

It uses a rules-light, card-based system that lets you decide how time travel works. Whether you have a specific movie you want to emulate, you have Opinions on the Novikov self-consistency principle, or you prefer not to ask too many questions, Retrocausality can make it happen. Even better, the rules are so light you can use Retrocausality to run a time travel adventure in a different game. That's twice as much game.

Many of the examples shown in Retrocausality indicate that the time travellers you play will be messing with a timeline, and since the rules can be ported into a different game, that tells me that you could use this for any genre you like. This of course, means that you’re not just telling a story about your characters’ pasts - your characters are actually going back in time to a specific part of history.

I suppose you could use this to either bring your characters back to a time period before they were born, or maybe instead you’re interested in taking new heroes back to a point in time when your characters were doing something significant off-camera.

Houses of the Sun By Night, by Emily Zhu.

These are 13 houses of the underworld that the sun passes through at night.

These are 13 minigames you can play in specific situations, during your other games or on their own.

This is how the dead come back to life.

This series of games is explicitly designed to be hackable, with a setting that can be ripped apart if you like. The original setting is a nod to the underworld of Egyptian mythology, but the moments themselves can be zoomed in on a small moment or used to navigate a special event that may have big effects on the larger story. I think you can use some of the games in here to re-visit moments of your characters’ pasts, or reference events that may have happened to NPCs that the characters were not necessarily witness to.

If you want to learn more about this set of games, you can watch Aaron Voight’s review of the game on Youtube!

Other Games To Check Out

Feng Shui 2, by Atlas Games.

Time Travel Recommendation Post

[the-modern-typewriter]

Hello this is a question that came about from watching the new Fallout TV show and a character named Maximus. He’s a relatively neutral character and his arc is very wonderful coming from a writer and big book reader but I noticed that the average viewer doesn’t understand his character and actually hates him… my question is as an author is it okay to make your story more digestible to people who lack perception since it’s the general audience for mainstream media and how do you do that without losing your story? Idk this was probably too complex and a stupid question 💔

Not a stupid question! There are no stupid questions.

Going to unpack this a bit though. (I haven't seen the show.) First some general points, but then some advice on balancing complexity in a story.

So. Some things to get out of the way:

You don't know what the average viewer is thinking. Just because their opinion on a character is different to yours, doesn't mean they lack perception. Do we sometimes have an issue with critical thinking in the modern age? Yes. But we also live in an age where people bring a vast array of different insights and experiences into the stories they read/watch. 99% of the time a story doesn't have just one right interpretation, especially if it is a more complex narrative.

You CAN try to write a story that is more digestible to a general audience, but if you do have concerns about the media literacy of the general population, focusing on providing unchallenging stories is not the fix to that. People learn through engaging with interesting work and having discussions about them - e.g. when they are given the opportunity to. Perception, like anything, is a skill trained with practice. No one's born with it. There's no inherent us/them that can't be changed.

Will you be happy and fulfilled as a writer writing stories that you feel are dumbed or watered down? I know I wouldn't end up writing the versions of stories that I want. Similarly, you probably won't then attract the readers/audience that most resonate with your ideas, because you don't give them the chance.

Generally speaking, people hate being talked down to. As a reader/lover of stories, if I thought a writer was talking down to me and thought I was an idiot who couldn't understand the themes/plot, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with their stuff. It's a horrible feeling, isn't it? It's like being written off before you even leave the gate.

Okay, now some advice: Amazing children's books are a great example of stories that are simplified to appeal and meet the audience where they are at, without losing the richness that makes them resonate and engage readers/audience. However, there are adult examples too. They share some qualities.

These often have:

Clear structure (there are a myriad story structures that you can use to make a story hit beats the reader expects and create a sense of satisfaction, while still giving you room to play.)

High concept story idea/plot (so, stories that can be explained/pitched in a line. E.g. children are forced to fight in televised death matches (Hunger Games), a famous author is imprisoned by a dangerous fan who doesn't approve of his new work (Misery), 'it's jaws in outer space!'). These stories have simple premises that often have wide-appeal, but the stories themselves can be complex.

Engaging main character(s) with a clear goal/agenda. They don't have to all be morally pure, but for an easy win, your character should be likeable/easy to root for. In a children's book, e.g. at the simplest level, these are often also high concept. (E.g. a mouse wants to be heard so is convinced it needs a lion's roar to be loved - The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright)

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. Game of Thrones was phenomenally popular, for example, but I don't think it's an easy to sink into world/simple set of characters.

Watering down an existing story to fit a different target audience is often not going to lead you to write the best story. This is because it's like trying to fit a triangle into a circle, or make a banana bread into a savoury scone. However, there are plenty of stories with mass-appeal that offer readers a variety of different levels to engage with them, so it is very possible to write a brilliant story with mass appeal. But you work from the foundations up, not from the finished product down.

I hope this helps!

[sapphire-weapon]

So I'm still not out of the woods yet wrt this extremely dark depressive episode I've been in (thank u to everyone who sent me smth nice), but I got a question about this whole "Leon is morally gray" thing that's apparently been going through the fandom, and

No. That might be the dumbest argument I've seen yet.

This is an example of people jumping the logical shark and going too far outside of the bounds of the story itself.

Stories have their own internal moral compass that are, more often than not, divorced from the real world. Like, we have mafia movies where the main characters can be considered the "good guys" despite being in the mob and therefore objectively bad people by default, because when you engage with the story, you follow that story's own internal moral compass.

RE's moral compass is very simple. Bioterrorism is bad, and the people who fight against it are good. That's it. It goes literally no deeper than that. This is how you can have a character like Carlos be considered a hero despite working for Umbrella -- and how you can have a character like Dylan be considered a villain despite the fact that his goal was literally in line perfectly with the ideals of the socialist lefties who comprise most of fandom.

Leon fights against bioterrorism, so he is Good. It's not ambiguous. It's not gray.

"But he works for the government, and the government perpetuates bioterror, and Leon runs cover for them--"

Doesn't matter, because the moral compass of the story still holds up. We've seen Leon literally fight against high-ranking members of the US government in multiple titles. The main villain in Degeneration was a senator, Derek Simmons in RE6 was the National Security Advisor, the big bad in ID was like the AG or something (I forget his actual title). So wherever it pops up, that dichotomy of "bioterror bad, fighters against it good" holds up every single time with Leon on the side of Good. It's not a question.

This is why RE has been hesitant to paint the entire US federal government as bad and instead just puts bad actors in it (which Leon then fights and always wins against). There have been breadcrumbs left here and there of the US's involvement with bioterror being a more systemic problem, but none of that has ever been explored in any real depth, and if the US was meant to be seen as uniformly Bad, Leon's "cover-ups" would be more in line with him running protection for ongoing projects as opposed to him just burying a story after he's already blown everything up and stopped production of the Bad Thing by the Bad Guy.

Ada is seen as morally gray because she sometimes fights against bioterror, and other times she's part of doing the bioterror, and there's no clear indication either way where her allegiance actually lies.

You can't say literally anything remotely similar about Leon.

[xkseii]

⎮Auf die Knie.⎮

⏤ Characters: Micheal Kaiser⎮reader

⏤ Including: nsfw (-17)

⏤ Warnings: can contain spoiler (chap 149+), sub! Kaiser, top! Male reader, happy ending, unclear feelings, rough interactions but soft sex, implied mind-breaking and character passing out

⏤ 8.000 words

He was driving you insane.

This man, this arrogant blonde bitch was dragging out the worst part of you. Around him, you were getting more violent, losing your patience, having the brutal and uncontrollable urge to crush and devour him. You wonder if his only purpose wasn't to make players lose their mind or get a good fight out of them.

Many things about him were pissing you off, you didn't know what exactly, as Michael Kaiser was just so irritating and provocative all the time. Maybe it was his attitude, his actions, or the way he was talking to everyone as if they were inferior to him.

One thing was sure about him, Kaiser was the best at making you lose your cool, and giving you the urge to grab him by his thin neck and destroy is unique pretty face.

You wanted to crush him, making him choke on his damn hateful words and make him stop being such a rude bastard.

The German prodigy, was someone that you resented immensely.

It all started at the first day of the Neo Egotist League.

You had options about which team you wanted to evolve with, and so, just like Isagi, you picked the German team as Noel Noa was your idol. And only some minutes after, you met one of the most powerful team in the world, including the player you idolized the most, and the one you would grow to hate.

This team was based on logic and rationality, and as their first test, Noa decided to create a huge race, with five zones to test your physical abilities.

Soon enough, just like everyone else, you were waiting on the starting line, waiting for the countdown to reach zero. The colossal metallic doors in front of you were wide open, and when the shrieking noise pierced through your ears, you jumped forward, running as fast as you could. It was your only occasion to reach your dream, which was to become the best striker in the world, the main protagonist, and you would do anything to achieve that goal.

You trained your body for months, years for this, and without any surprise, you ended up following close behind the players of Germany, only one step before Kunigami.

You were pushing yourself past your limits, your muscles were burning up, only wanting to go faster, jump higher and farther.

Your only goal was to catch up with number 10. He was running ahead of you, in front of everyone else, his speed more than incredible. You raced the first, second, and third zone without any difficulty, but you ended up losing too much time on the fourth one, though you were still second. And when you finally reached the final zone, only one player finished the race already, at least that's what the screen next to you was telling you, as it displayed the name “Kaiser” in first place.

Not losing your determination, you went faster, rushing to pass the only player in front of you, hoping to reach the second place.

The final zone was an easy one, you only had to dribble and shoot onto a giant target. Your speed and technique made you win some seconds, and before you knew it, you were in the shoot zone, aiming at the immense target.

You were so sure of yourself, knowing that it was an effortless shot for you and would get a high score without any doubt, if he wasn't in your way. Mid-air, someone shot down your ball, diverting its course. You, thankfully, had the reflex to move quickly and kick it again, able to reach the high score zone as you painfully twisted your ankle.

Breathless, you turned in the direction the other ball came from, glaring at the guy that tried to sabotage your shot. He was here, with his blonde and blue hair, sharp blue eyes staring down at you in disdain, number 10. You locked eyes, jaw clenching as he offers you the most pretentious and flaunty look you ever seen.

Your blood was boiling, you didn't know what was his problem, but he was really getting on your nerves. From his smug smirk, to his oh-so proud face, and the way he was speaking to you as if you were a dog, he was definitely asking to be punched directly in the face.

He even took the time to pose, as if he was playing a big role in a well-known theatre, acting all high and mighty, worse thing is that he looked ridiculous as hell from your perspective. But even though he was risible, he still managed to hit a nerve. He tells you with his most irritating voice to kneel in front of him, making fun of your physical abilities and how you almost missed your shot, when you arrived just after him and he was the one that sabotaged your perfect shot.

What pissed you off the most, was how deliberately used your first name, trying to show off that he was superior to you. Especially when he only gave you his last name.

Unfortunately for them, you can understand German perfectly and can also speak it, though you made the choice to keep quiet as the rest of the German team reached the end, Blue Lock's players still far behind.

Number 8 showed up along with number 13, exchanging words with the arrogant blonde man, talking as if you weren't here. Though, you weren't supposed to understand German so, it was quite obvious why he wasn't talking to you directly. The number 8, named Ness, wasn't that bad, as he was just acting like a puppy, listening to Kaiser as he was making fun of Blue Lock.

You were listening, disgusted by his attitude as he was supposed to be the ones training you, or at all try to train you all. He was especially talking about how everyone in Blue Lock was physically weak, as if two players didn't finish the race before all his team.

It was irking you to listen to this bitch spouting out nonsense, but it wasn't your problem in the first place if the rest wasn't physically capable of keeping up. You were supposed to think about yourself only, and speaking up to defend everyone else was the complete opposite. They have to prove their worth, it wasn't your place to do it.

Though, when that number 13, Gesner, took the time to insult you in front of your face, you oh-so politely told him to go fuck himself, using your best German intonation. The players that were the closest to you stopped in the middle of their conversations, looking over at you in shock, clearly glaring straight at Gesner.

Ness, that was coming in your direction to give you a micro-interpreter stopped dead in his track, flushing red as he asks you if you understood everything they said. When you replied yes, most of them looked away embarrassed, getting caught being straight up rude and insulting someone was awkward and shameful. The ones that didn't say anything derogatory were snickering on the side, patting you on the back before going back to what they were saying.

You still motioned for Ness to give you the device, ignoring the rest. Kaiser clicked his tongue, annoyed by how quick you forgot about him or his provocations. He stepped closer, wanting to grab you by the jaw but Isagi and the rest of Blue Lock showed up at the same time.

You watched the same show go down again, Kaiser grinning as he blocked Isagi's shot. Unfortunately for this one, he was too shocked to do anything but look at the man. Kaiser did his bold and rude little speech, before Ness finally decided to give them the micros, even they didn't understand everything he said, it was quite obvious he was ridiculing them.

The insolent prodigy continued his little scene, attracting all the spotlight on him while you were waiting on the side, bored and angry, but not caring this much about his overdramatic and self-centred act. It was just annoying how he was wasting your time by doing this. And you were more than happy when Noa showed up, putting Kaiser back in his place, and also calling him childish. You couldn't help but turn around to chuckle, hiding your laughter as Ness was glaring at you.

Noa introduced his team's philosophy and how your only way to become regulars was to have a good ranking. A giant screen appearing behind him, showing off the last 6 players, slowly moving up to the top. It surprised everyone when Kunigami arrived in 4th position, beating 9 of the German players, and you in 2nd.

Without any surprise, Kaiser was first, grinning like a maniac. His expression was eery, sending shivers down your spine as he looked down at you, those presumptuous and cocky eyes staring directly at your soul. Those seconds seemed endless as you were scrutinizing each other in tense silence, before Noa left the room followed by everyone else, forcing you to look away and catch up with your friends.

Soon enough, the training days started, and too focused on getting better, you didn't care much about Kaiser. You were certain that you won't have to interact with him at all during those days, or at least only a moderate amount of time.

Sadly for you, you couldn't choose with whom you would share a room, as it was based on your previous results. The rooms were made for 4 persons; the problem was, you were 23 persons including Noa, which mean that here would be a room of 3, and obviously, it was for the top 2 and Noa.

That's how you ended up sharing a room with Kaiser and the current best striker in the world. It would certainly be easy to share a room with a guy that never shows emotion, and the other one that has a superiority complex and the bad habit to degrade everyone…

It was hell.

It was only the start of the practice, and yet, you already felt like either quitting or killing the tattooed blonde. He was insufferable, not only Kaiser was always making snarky remarks about you or Isagi, but he had many annoying habits, which you were forced to live with.

You didn't know what was worse between cohabiting or training with him. Whatever you were doing, he was here, always so proud after effectively pissing you off, smug and arrogant as he chuckles lowly.

Kaiser didn't know how bad you wanted to make that smirk disappear from his face, punch him, grab him by his hair and smash his head against the ground, or purposely break his ankle during a match.

Maybe, it was better that he didn't know.

Thankfully for you, your second roommate wasn't this bad or punchable. Noa was more on the calm and quiet side, more reclusive, practising alone in the evening, barely talking to you or Kaiser, except when he was telling him to shut up.

At least, that was the first days, before you managed to yank out some words out of his mouth. Slowly but surely, you tried to have some conversations with him, always stopping when he seemed a bit uncomfortable or when he needed to go practice. He had a really strict schedule after all, and he would never be one minute late, from his training to what he was doing in his free time, he was always doing something that was keeping his good form.

At some point, you broke his façade, becoming good friends and finally being trusted enough to spend time with you. Not only now you weren't always alone with Kaiser in the room, but you had the opportunity to train with Noa. Being able to practice every evening with one of the best football player in the world was a blessing, and your already high physical abilities have been multiplied, making you a fierce rival for Kaiser.

You were progressing much faster than with the previous training, highly annoying Kaiser, and with this intense training, you weren't seeing him more than once a day. Though it made you extremely happy, something felt wrong. You knew it would bother Kaiser, but it impacted much more than you thought it would.

You couldn't count how many times he glared at you when you enter the room, just freshly getting out of the shower, body still wet with water drops running down your torso, his eyes following your every movement with a scowl on his face. Noa would always enter the room some seconds after you, being welcomed by Kaiser clicking his tongue loudly, snarling when the tall man would look at him.

And this situation would repeat itself again and again, every night after your daily training.

The atmosphere was tense, to say the least; not only the competition to get into the top 11 was intense and brutal, but the hostility looming inside this room could kill anyone on the spot.

If the rivalry between you and Kaiser was strong, the one between him and Isagi was worse, and only increasing as the day go by. The difference of level was considerable. Isagi couldn't even take back the ball from Kaiser during the one-touch minigame training, he was continuously running after him, and always one step behind.

It started an inside competition, each goal, action, or pass needed to be cancelled by the other. And you had no idea how, but you ended up in the middle of this cat fight too, much to Noa's amusement, that you would see snickering on the side.

It wasn't better between Noa and Kaiser though, which was always snarling at him, ready to jump. You didn't know what happened between them, but one thing was sure, you weren't even thinking about getting in between them, you weren't this crazy and delirious to try.

Despite clearly disliking the other, Kaiser started to join you to your night training, insisting on being here every time, still acting superior at any occasion he had, even though Noa would shut him down whenever he hears him brag or degrade someone.

But what surprised you the most, was how nice he was sometimes, giving you advices, placing himself behind you to show you the best movement or position you're supposed to be in. Kaiser was genuinely helping you get better, and under Noa's supervision, you were sure that he wasn't doing it just to make fun of you. He went as far as showing you how you were supposed to massage your legs after training, or what exercises were better depending on your capacities.

And before you know it, after days and days of spending some hours with them, Kaiser became almost tolerable.

He was still pissing you off immensely, but you got used to him and his habits, his way of speaking, and sometimes, you were able to discern the hidden compliments he would give. It was all about him insulting one of your passes, commenting on a goal you made, the small towel he would throw in your face just after you get out of the shower, or your water bottle that was always filled to the top despite having drank all of it an hour ago.

Kaiser was terrible, but he wasn't as bad as you thought.

After the days of training, it was time for your first match with this team, if you were chosen as a regular. And much to your pleasure, you were one of the starting member along with Kunigami.

During the match, you didn't know what shocked the rest of the players the most: how only two persons of Blue Lock got into the team, or how you were so complementary with Kaiser's playstyle. You were perfectly synchronized, moving at the same time, the same actions, using similar techniques, and you were understanding each other perfectly without talking after hours of training together every evening.

Kaiser's execution system has been, unknowingly to both of you, adjusted so you could play together, letting you become a perfect addition in the team's system.

This match was going in the most perfect and impressive way, the flow shared between each player was superb, despite Kunigami trying to become a protagonist over you and Kaiser, the rhythm stayed unchanged.

At least, it was this way until Isagi showed up on the field, cancelling passes and goal, blocking him own teammates, breaking the rhythm and synchronization of the entire team. And before you knew it, he was blocking your counterattack with Kaiser, which definitely wrecked everything and gave him the opportunity to score a goal.

To say the team was mad would be an understatement, Kaiser and Ness were especially furious, and you were livid yourself. All this work, for him to steal the spotlight. Next time, you will destroy him on the field.

You barely had the time to talk with Ness before everyone left, you could feel just by sharing your opinion on the match how enraged he was. His jaw was clenched and had crazy eyes, glaring at Isagi and Kunigami's back, sending shivers down your spine. Though, he gave you a half smile, since you played with his King, Kaiser, instead of doing everything alone.

The walk back into the locker room was tense, no words exchanged between the players despite the victory. It's only when you started to undress and cool down that some started to talk, mostly benched people and three persons from the regular team, the rest was dead silent.

You went into the shower room quickly, locking your stall door as the glacial water hits your back, calming you down, tension and pressure disappearing. Your blood was still boiling, you needed to evacuate the pent-up rage but didn't know how, the need to hit something or someone gets bigger.

You inhale and exhale deeply, quickly finishing cleaning you up before leaving the stall, a towel wrapped around your waist and another resting on your shoulders. You noticed how you forgot your clothes, and take the direction of the locker room, meeting Kaiser on the way, also just coming out of the shower, but with his short on.

He shameless looked at you up and down, hiding his smirk with a snarky remark like always, his arms wrapping around the middle of your back as he walks with you to the locker room.

Bursts of voices could be heard from afar, and you easily recognized the voice of Isagi and Yukimiya, fighting over the spot of regular and how it wasn't fair for Isagi to play. You could only sigh, already feeling tired by their bickering, missing how Kaiser was looking at you amused, unable to hide his growing grin.

Though, he quickly got back into character, entering the room as if he was royalty, delivering a questionable speech to those present in the room. He tries to get Yukimiya on his side, or more precisely, make Isagi lose one of his ally. You knew too well how he didn't care about them, but just wanted to create trouble and entertain himself, using the jealousy of the soon-to-be blind player as his weapon.

His speech was more than boring for you, as you simply entered the room to take your clothes before exiting it immediately. You rest against the nearby wall, just wanting to see how it was going to end, watching with crossed arms as Kaiser gives his supposed advices, a beguiled look on his face.

Despite Kaiser's impressive confidence and elegance, he wasn't able to fool them into betraying their friends. But even so, he still managed to create a certain doubt in between them, a strange atmosphere taking over the room as they watch each other warily. After all, in the end, only one will become the best and everyone here was your rival.

You thought he would be dejected after not getting any support from the one he was targetting, but his wide smirk told you how satisfied he was from their reactions. He turns his back to them, leaving the same way as he came, adding one last sentence, which almost sounded like a threat.

“Don't choose the wrong King to serve, shitty commoners.”

The silence was heavy, all eyes on his back as the impact of his words weight their mind. Most were lost in their thought, looking at the ground or staring into space.

You were waiting for him to pass in front of you before leaving yourself, still unsure if you wanted to check on the others, at least that was your plan until Kaiser made a move.

He stopped in front of you with a blinding grin, catching the attention of the rest, that only noticed you now. With the same expression, he pulled you forward by your arm before placing his right arm around your waist, dragging you away with him.

The last straw, was when he barely looked over his shoulder to declare in a presumptuous tone to your friends, that some persons already made the good choice. The implication of those words shocking you, staring at him with wide eyes, still processing the remark. Too taken aback to say anything on the spot, letting you being led away.

When the door slammed shut behind you, you snapped out of your daze, the fury exploding in your body and mind. You send a murderous look at Kaiser, which only made him snicker more.

He looked so proud of himself, that smirk of his displayed on his face, and in a singsong voice, he claimed that he was just telling the truth. After all, you played with him, adjusted to him instead of Isagi for all the match against Spain, never doing a move to run away from his control over the game. It was true, but only because it was serving your own interests.

Your patience was running thin, each words of his only driving you to a more violent rage. The urge to destroy him getting uncontrollable, hands shaking, clenched into fists as you were going to snap.

And then, his last sentence made you completely lose your composure and self-control.

Kaiser barely had the time to understand what was happening, only seeing you jump on him. And before he knew it, his naked back hit the wall violently, a strong pain erupting from the contact, and a hand found its way around his neck.

The arrogant man was panicking, your thumb pressing against his skin, slowly cutting his airflow as you watch in satisfaction how he was suffocating. You weren't holding him tightly enough to kill him, but just the perfect pressure to make him panic. When Kaiser was going to pass out, you loosen your hold, letting him inhale as much as he could.

He was flushing red under your gaze, the fear still paralysing his muscles, but another feeling appeared in his chest, a distinctive sentiment awakening deep inside him.

He was too aware of the weight of your hand around his neck, how your fingertips were pushing into his skin, your nails almost gently digging into the flesh. Now he could feel it, the warmth of your body clearly too close to him, the tensed muscles under his fingers when he tried to make you let go of him, and your leg in between his to keep him in place.

Your gaze was curious, confused by his reaction as Kaiser could feel himself heat up, legs quivering and knees almost giving out, his natural assurance fading away.

You can't help but chuckle when his deep voice gets all breathy and almost whiny as you tighten your grip, watching with interest as he was reacting positively to your brutal attitude. His hand that were trying to previously pry you away were now urging you to say in this position, his hips unknowingly started to thrust into the air uselessly. It was clear that he was still fighting it, the pleasure of someone being stronger than him, but his ego was telling him to fight back.

It was oh-so humiliating for Kaiser, him, the German prodigy, the genius, to be choked and trapped against a wall in the shower room. Not only he was getting overpowered by someone like you, but he was loving it, the sensation of being powerless and controlled as if he was a nobody. It was against everything he has built all these years, but he couldn't resist the pleasure coursing through his veins.

He loved this feeling, he loved your hand around his neck, loved how he couldn't use his lungs, and you were the only one that could allow him to stay conscious. He loved how your eyes were shining from the curiosity, something awakening behind those pupils and only desired to hurt him further. He loved all of it, and needed you to give him more.

He was fascinated by you, how you were the one choking him, how your usual impassive face was now undescribable as the captivation and rage were mixing together, all rationality leaving your mind. He was unable to guess what you would do next, and he was embracing that ignorance with bliss.

You were still furious, blood pumping at a rapid pace, your hand itching to tighten your grip, admire him gasping and begging for you to let him go. You needed to see him cry, lose that pretentious and superior act, show him who was really in charge. The necessity of having him under you, powerless. The hunger to break him and make him yours.

Everything was getting mixed up in your head, rage and lust blending together, your initial goal vanishing into thin air, only for your lewd thirst to take over.

Your mind was still screaming at you to step away, but it was getting bluntly ignored. Not caring if anyone found you like this, though, the thought lingered on your mind. After all, you were both almost naked, and in a quite ambiguous position, anybody would think that you were, without a doubt, having an intercourse in public. Which, could lead to a delicate and troublesome situation, especially, when you had no idea if this part of the room was getting recorded.

While you were lost in your thoughts, trying how to get out of this situation quickly, Kaiser managed to snap out of his flustered state. His hand gripping your forearm moved to your nape, forcefully yanking you forward, your nose touching as you feel his breath against your lips. You looked down slowly, staring at the parted lips within your reach, calling for you.

Kaiser felt a rush of pride and satisfaction when you completely lost your train of thoughts just by looking at his lips, assured that he wasn't the only one sensing this tension. Now certain that it was mutual, he knew he only had to play his cards right.

He wanted to see you mad, witness you lose all sanity, and dump all your rage on him. Maybe, he could push his pride to the side for a moment and enjoy this rush. Nobody will know, it will be a secret that you will share together.

And maybe, just maybe, it could become something more.

Set on what he wanted, he let another sly remark slip out of his mind, needing to see what was going to be your reaction. Kaiser couldn't help it, he had this need to show that he was superior to you, prove himself, but at the same time, his entire being was begging for you to humiliate and humble him.

He was also starting to lose his mind, his airflow being cut once more as you whisper in his ear to stop playing. The vibration echoing through his body, knees giving out as your hand was holding him up. His hand scrambled to take a hold of your shoulders, the pressure in his lower stomach getting stronger, his mind getting hazy as everything started to spin.

He was definitely losing it.

Meanwhile, you were burning internally. The parasite was seriously pushing all your buttons at once, and you were close to the breaking point, which would result in either you punching him until he coughs up blood, or fuck him into his mind goes blank.

The decision was made when Kaiser mewled out your name, hands shaking as he places his hand on your nape and pull you in again.

This time, your lips collided before you could do anything, a soft moan escaping Kaiser's mouth as he grips your hair for support. Your annoyed objection getting swallowed by his lips cut off in a clash of teeth and tongue. Your second hand left the wall to sneak around his waist, bringing him closer as you get lost in the sensation, warmth spreading through your body when his bare torso met yours.

It was already too late for you and the last remain of your animosity.

Your body had betrayed you, a certain part of your body getting hard, as multiple scenarios appear in your mind, too many of them about ruining the blonde man in front of you.

You separated your lips in a haste, breathing heavily as you have trouble thinking properly, the man in front of you driving you crazy. Many things about him were turning you on, you didn't know what exactly, as Michael Kaiser was just so beautiful and provocative at the same time. Maybe it was his charming and attractive face, his captivating body, the fascinating curve and hypnotizing small waist, and his alluring scent.

One thing was sure about him, Kaiser was the best at making you lose your mind, and giving you the urge to grab him by his thin neck, kiss him until you lose your breath and ruin him completely.

You feel your strength leave you, forehead resting against his shoulder as you inhale sharply. You could feel yourself twitch under the towel, straining against the fabric, a strong need disabling your mind. You struggle to regain some sanity, if you were listening to yourself, Kaiser would have his face pressed against the wall already as you yank his shorts down and show him how to really overpower someone.

But the place wasn't appropriate, too exposed and maybe currently filmed. Though, Kaiser didn't care one bit, with his hands around you gripping your hair, he was grinding on your knee and biting your neck. Struggling to get his teeth deeper into your flesh, he yanked your head to the side to get more access, now devouring the junction between your neck and shoulder.

You almost lost it when Kaiser raised his knee, brushing it against your crotch temptingly, almost begging for you to snap and forget all dignity and civilities.

Kaiser's breathing was rapid, erratic, struggling to inhale more air, another sinful whine fleeing past his parted lips. His own little game was affecting him way too much, he couldn't think of a way to tease you more without bringing himself in another risky situation.

His short was already too tight around him, the fabric of his boxer sticking to his tip and his legs too weak to hold him up. Brief moans were flowing out of his mouth, teeth gritting together as he struggled to contain his sounds of pleasure, his thighs shaking as the tension between you and him gets suffocating. If it wasn't for your hand around his neck and the other on his shoulder, he would be on the ground by now, begging for anything you could give him.

Kaiser was at your mercy.

When you raised your head again, you were met with an absolutely delicious facial expression, the doubt and lust, along with the dominant and submissive part of Kaiser clashing in a hypnotizing way, delirious. He was, beautiful, tempting and exquisite, everything someone would dream of. Your heart was beating wildly in your chest, every thought you had turning to ashes as he was now fully occupying your mind.

His eyes met yours once again, your hands slowly moving down to hold his waist, gently drawing him closer. Kaiser's hands finding their place on your upper back and nape, eyes closing and head tilting to the side as your lips were going to meet.

The atmosphere changed around you in a swift second, the lust being pushed to the side as raw attraction lure you in delicately. You were so close now, ultimately breaking the last internal rule, no romance.

Your lips brushed against the other when the sounds of footsteps getting closer were heard. You barely had the time to think, both caught off guard as you flew out of the shower room. Thankfully, your shared room wasn't this far away, and you had the time to hide in there, slamming the door shut behind you.

In luck, Noa was out at this time, and you found yourselves alone in your room, panting and blushing, still not dressed and with your clothes missing in this shower room.

There was a moment of silence, when you looked at each other, and then you erupted in a fit of giggles. You flopped onto the bed, laughing at what just happened while Kaiser was doing the same, a bit more quietly. He slumped on the bed behind you, warmth radiating as you feel yourself relax.

You turn in his direction as he does it at the same time, finding yourself nose to nose, and the feelings from earlier hit you back, full force this time. Your breath was taking away at the soft view, Kaiser with a cute smile on his face, all red and breathless from laughing.

Kaiser caught you stare at him with this enamoured look on your face, and he couldn't help but tease you for it, calling you a weirdo and horn-dog. The atmosphere was more playful as he purposely acts this way, his proud grin getting bigger as you roll to the side, looming over him with an amused smile. Your forearms sinking into the mattress, you teasingly move your head down, leaving a kiss on his jaw before biting down the side of his neck.

You nipped at the skin, sinking your teeth in the soft flesh, getting rewarded with a breathy moan. You slowly moved down, a raspy groan escaping your throat as he tugs on your hair, hips thrusting upwards as he deliciously grinds against you. You move one of your hand down, slowly caressing his torso then waist, continuously moving down.

As you teasingly nibble at his shoulder, you graze at a sensitive part of his shoulder, unknowingly, and almost jumped when Kaiser hissed. Instead of cursing, he digs his nails into your neck, almost drawing out blood, as his other hand yanked on your hair violently.

You were glaring at the other furiously, Kaiser cursing you loudly as you stopped moving, whining at the loss of friction and pleasure. You hit his hip, telling him to stop complaining for once as he racked his nails down your back. Annoyed by his bratty act, you pin his wrists over his head, hoping he would stay still.

But your hopes were crushed quickly as he trashes against the restraint, in an attempt to get free, uselessly trying to get back some control. Though, his body was betraying him, he was too turned on to really focus on getting away. His face was burning, both in embarrassment and dizziness, legs spread wide as you find your place in between them.

As he was going to whine once more, you brought your lips together in a rough kiss, Kaiser's vision getting hazy as he tries to give you as much passion. The lack of air and pleasure coursing through his veins was dazzling, you stood up slowly to take off your towel, Kaiser following after you, refusing for your lips to separate.

He still followed your lead, sitting up on the edge of the bed, raising his hips to take off his shorts and underwear. The temptation was too strong, and he allowed himself to let his eyes wander, admiring your body and how you were moving so naturally towards him.

You were now leaning forward to tease him a bit, but Kaiser took you by surprise when he made the first move, taking control for some seconds. Before he knew it, everything was spinning, his body moved as if he was a doll, unable to do anything by himself.

You manhandled him, making his back hit your bed in a soft sound. Kaiser was really cute when he wanted to take control, but you wouldn't let it happen again. Now that you were back in your original position, it was much more comfortable, despite the lack of clothes. Each movement making your skin brush against his, shivers going up your spine as the feeling itself was driving you insane.

Silently, one of your hands sneaked in between his legs, caressing his inner thigh before gently teasing the most important part. Kaiser growled at how you were smirking, laying on top of him, purposely doing everything to tease him, never giving enough to be satisfied. He wanted you, and it seemed like you weren't going to help him.

So, he hooked a leg over your hip, grinding against you suggestively but kept his face away from you. Even when you were trying to kiss him, he would avoid it, only allowing you to do so if your fingers were deep inside of him.

The sight was sinful to say the least, arousing, and only made you want Kaiser more. He was so much hotter when he was keeping his mouth shut, especially when he wasn't acting like a self-centred king anymore. You loved how he could put anyone in their place, now that you knew him better, but sometimes it was too annoying. And finally, you had the occasion to shut him up.

And surprisingly, for once, Kaiser was quiet. At least, if you would ignore his breathy high moans, also how his breath would itch after a roll of your hips, the squelching of your hand while you jerk him off.

Kaiser was the prettiest and quietest boy when he had two fingers forced into his mouth, and especially when he was licking them like a starved man.

It was too much. Kaiser was losing his mind, every action of yours would make his eyes roll back, unable to keep up with your fingers or hips. He could feel your dick pressing against his thighs, slick slowly coating his skin as you were getting too impatient yourself.

Kaiser couldn't lie, you were driving him insane, and from the start. Not only you were an impressive football player, able to make him adapt to your playstyle, forcing him to let go of his pride for a goal, but also managed to get on friendly terms with Noa.

You had no idea how ecstatic he was the moment you got paired together, but the joy disappeared as quickly when Noa added himself to the mix. How aggravating it was to see you come back from the shower with him, your bright smile and chuckles after something he said.

It was clear, Noa was head over heels for you, but Kaiser was too. So at first, he became meaner with you, trying to get your attention, but it never worked. And then, the easiest way that appeared to him, was to have the same importance as Noa. He started coming to your private practise, ate with you, would share some advices until he managed to get close enough.

And yet, after so many efforts, you weren't his. He didn't think that provoking you one last time would get him what he wanted.

When he snapped out of his thoughts, he found you waiting on top of him, breathing heavily as you were holding yourself back. Kaiser had his leg thrown over your shoulder, his hole fluttering just in front of your dick as you were waiting for his consent.

The embarrassment came crashing onto him, he ended up spacing out, and you nicely waited for him. Though, from how pale your knuckles were while holding the sheets, it must have been far from pleasurable for you to wait for so long. He could feel your erratic heartbeat against his skin, chest pressed together as your warm breath hit his neck, making goosebumps prickle across his shoulders and arms.

With difficulty, he pushed his ass toward you, making your tip forcefully enter him. The muscles of your thighs tremble as you resist the temptation to slam into him with no consideration for the potential pain. But the sharp gasp you let out only fuelled Kaiser up into pushing more, as you finally slip your length into his tight hole, moaning in unison at the pleasure making your head spin. You were relishing in the warmth and soft whimpers Kaiser let out, completely losing himself in the feeling of getting stretched apart, his thighs twitching at the strong sensation. You kissed his cheek, going down to spare some seconds to bite down onto his neck before coming back up, murmuring soft praises in his ear, your breath warm and wet against his neck, making Kaiser shiver.

You tried your best to breathe, calming yourself down and letting Kaiser relax, but it was difficult when he was squeezing you this way. Your hands caressing his body, from his shoulders and back to his waist and thighs, fingers digging into the soft skin, earning yourself a low moan. When Kaiser pleaded, you knew there was no reason to hold back anymore.

“Please, I beg you… Give me more.”

With one of your hands on his waist, and the other placed on the top of his head, you slam your length inside of him, uncaring of how loud you were both being. Kaiser choked on his moan, too full of you to manage to let out a consistent sound. The top of your hand hit the wall by the force of your thrusts, protecting Kaiser's head as you ravage him, the blonde being fucked out of his brain. It was a sight to behold, Kaiser sweating and squirming on your bed, his cock hard and leaking precum, curving against his abs and beautifully framed by the v of his hips.

The prodigy was under you in all his glory, getting lost in the pleasure you were giving him.

After a certain thrust, he became much louder, and anyone outside would be able to hear him if you didn't do something. As he was moaning your name, mouth wide open, you pushed your finger inside his mouth, and a muffled moan vibrates as your thrusts became erratic. Far too turned on to hold much longer, focusing on Kaiser who was already incoherent, babbling nonsense and drooling at the mind-numbing sensations.

The thrusts that follow are raw, unrestrained, and impatient, only wanting to finish inside of him. Tuning out all your thoughts, you just keep moving, rocking yourself desperately inside Kaiser's hole, needing to see him completely lose it. You shifted your weight onto one arm, moving Kaiser's hips, pressing up his legs until he was folded in half under you, his arms wrapped around his calves.

The position only allows more access, giving you all the freedom you needed to let loose and destroy his body. Kaiser's vision was blurred when he felt you go deeper, forcing past the tightness, threatening to utterly overwhelm him. His entire body was at your mercy, with no strength left to move or get into another position, as he was bound to accept anything you wanted to do with him.

His skin was on fire, his insides burning, he was so close to the edge. He only needed a bit more and he would fall down.

Thankfully for him, it seemed like you were in the same state as you couldn't speak anymore, only uttering his name in a low moan, almost growling. And Kaiser would reply in the sweetest way possible, by chanting your name in that melody only he could create, making your core tighten.

Desperately, you slammed into him again, the sudden force used rocked your whole body forward, your arms giving out under you. With your chest pressed together, his cock rubbed against your stomach, coating your skin in a thin layer of fluids. So close to the other, the temptation was too strong, and with difficulty, Kaiser yanked your head forward, your lips melting against each other.

It was just a kiss, after all. Something so simple that you both already shared with someone else, but this time, it ruined you completely. Your thrusts were wilder, more vicious, the rhythm becoming fast and unforgiving until you're left breathless, gasping for air. You choke out a warning, telling him that you were close and he only pulls you closer, mouthing words against your lips.

Your name, over and over.

And then, it hits you, along with a last kiss. A spark of electricity spread through your entire body, reality fading away as Kaiser is pushed over the edge too, trembling in your arms. He whimpers out something incomprehensible, his back arching as he cum, the whole world fading away with the force of his climax. Kaiser could feel you inside of him, emptying yourself until you were left gasping for air, high and euphoric.

You murmured his name in the softest manner he ever heard, holding him closer as you kiss his jaw, softly biting his neck. You were still inside of him, and it seemed like you weren't planning to move as all the tension leave your body along with your worries. This sudden affection takes Kaiser off guard, as the hidden need to get your lips on his again gets stronger, and promising himself to blame it on the confusion and his high, he links your lips again. So tenderly that he feels his body melt, bringing you closer, so he could feel you, sense you against him. Have you for himself, just for one more second.

And when you fell asleep together, in the same position, your hand never left his.

The next days, everyone was confused about your sudden closeness and how well you were warming up to the other. Everyone, except Noa, who didn't expect to be greeted by the sight of his roommates sleeping in the same bed after his training, bodies littered with bite marks and small bruises. He didn't make a comment or mentioned it once, but he did imply once or twice that next time, you could at least try to cover yourself after doing it.

You may have done it together, again, multiple times after this. But your first focus was still training and being at the top of the best players, and you couldn't waste time on unclear feelings. Though, when the program Blue Lock ended, and you were finally free from almost all the pressure, Kaiser made the first move, pushing his pride aside and asking you out on a date.

Within a few days, the news was known by everyone, as the well-known German prodigy, Micheal Kaiser, and the first-ranked player of Blue Lock were officially dating. All were waiting for one thing, seeing you on the field, together, in the same team.

⏤ Thank you for reading! I wish you a great day.

⏤ here is my masterlist & ko-fi ⏤

[race-week]

if you were a team principle right now, free reign, and your car was competetive enough to fight for podiums and wins, but still not as out of anyone's league as the current red bull (talking about a perfect world where all of the teams are quite close together and with every new weekend it's an actual unknown which car will be the most dominant), which two drivers would you choose for your team? not even as a longterm choice (e.g. considering fernando, but being hesitant because he might retire soon), but soley based on the goal to win the current constructors championship? this is me asking what is the fastest pairing, yes, but also the one that can extract the most out of a car that's good enough for wins but still not perfectly suited to them, and the one with the best temper, too, because you wouldn't want teammate crashes.

Anon you had me going back and forth on this so much so I decided to bite the bullet and make a decision, which I’m awful at doing.

So my immediate thought of a driver who I would want as a team principal is Piastri (and there’s probably some bias there because I just think he’s great) - there’s a few reasons as to why I would pick him but one of the main ones for me is how level headed he comes across and he also seems pretty unshakeable which I think is important when it comes to pairing him with a teammate (especially with some of the options I considered)

I basically chose 4 potential teammates; Alonso, Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc and then tried to narrow it down and it was so hard.

I put Leclerc to the side mostly because whilst I think his personality would be a good fit, I don’t think he’s consistent enough at the moment to make up for Piastri’s weaker areas.

Verstappen was one I hummed and hahhed over for a bit because he can be super consistent, but it’s whether or not when push comes to shove, would he play the team game and I couldn’t wholeheartedly say that I thought he would.

Alonso is next and I think he could play the team game if he didn’t feel threatened, like we’ve seen this with how he’s helped Stroll and Ocon. So I think it’s a good starting point but it’s whether or not he’ll start playing mind games and stuff if things got competitive (now as a team principal one should get involved before that happens but let’s say it doesn’t) I think Piastri could handle that but who knows.

Hamilton is who I think I would go with, I mean we’ve seen him do various strategies and set up tests to help team development I also think he’s somewhat of a different person to who he was a decade ago (when he was partnered with Rosberg) and I also think that after his last couple of seasons he would good for a team that were fighting for podiums and the occasional win.

So to conclude my rambly essay Piastri and Hamilton, provided that I have that budget

[lol-jackles]

Would doing a cameo or guest spot on the Boys hurt Jared's branding? We found out today that Kripke seems to be tweeting him a lot, and I don't think it's about the revival from what Jared said about working out. For me it wouldn't be so much about nudity as my trust in his choices for projects in the future. Right now, I trusted him to watch a cowboy show of all things and loved the family vibe. But after an X rated gig, maybe not so much. Do agents and managers consider things like that or not

It's not the cameo or guest spot that is the issue per se, after all Charlize Theron had a funny cameo as an actress portraying one of the supes in a movie within a movie, and all lead actors do guest spots between their main projects. 

There's main three things going on.  First, Kripke is indulging in some of his worst impulses.  He knows Amazon will censor out the graphic sexual and violent scenes, but it won't stop him from filming them for his own titillations. 

Second, unsympathetic roles never help anyone's career. Just look at how much Misha disavowed Karla with excuses that he "didn't know" it was based on true events. Back then Misha was a struggling actor who accepted work whenever he can. The reason why Jared said he would like to play "thinking man villain" is because those type of villains are usually right in their thinking; they're just wrong in how they try to achieve their goal.

Third, if the guest role is an unsympathetic villain that gets killed by the good guys, then it goes against the upward trajectory of Jared's career. If you've seen the movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, there is a scene between Al Pacino and Leonardo di Caprio that explains this.  Pacino plays a director to Caprio's Rick Dalton who is a fading lead tv star known for playing a heroic character name Jake Cahill on Western series, now is guest starring as bad guys in Western series.  Rick has been offered a lead role in Italy's spaghetti Western movies that he's unsure of accepting.

Marvin Schwarz: You… You always play the bad guy on these (American) shows?

Rick Dalton: Yeah.

Marvin Schwarz: So, and they have a fight scene at the end of them?

Rick Dalton: Well, not… not… not Land of the Giants or F.B.I… but the rest, yeah. Yeah.

Marvin Schwarz: you lose in the fight?

Rick Dalton: Yeah. Yeah, of course.  I’m… I’m the heavy.

Marvin Schwarz: Oooh, That’s an old trick pulled by the networks.

Rick Dalton: *stunned*

Marvin Schwarz: Now, you take (new character) Bingo Martin, for example. Right?  So you got a new guy (actor) like Scott Brown.  You wanna build up his bona fides, right?  So you hire a guy from a canceled show to play the heavy.   Then at the end of the show, when they fight, it’s hero besting heavy.  But what the audience sees… is Bingo Martin whipping Jake Cahill’s ass.

Rick Dalton: *taking it all in*

Marvin Schwarz: You see?  Then next week, it’s Ron Ely.  And next week, it’s Bob Conrad, wearing his tight pants, kicking your ass.

Rick Dalton (in a bit of denial): Yeah.

Marvin Schwarz: Now, in another couple of years, playing punching bag to every swinging dick new to the network, that’s gonna have a psychological effect… on how the audience perceives you.

Rick Dalton: Right.

Marvin Schwarz: So Rick, who’s gonna kick the shit out of you next week? Mannix? The Man from U.N.C.L.E.? The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.? How about Batman and Robin? Ping! Pow! Choom! Zoom! Down goes you, down goes your career as a leading man.

Rick Dalton: *silence*

Marvin Schwarz: Or do you go to Rome and star in Westerns… and win fucking fights?  Ticket, señor?

Cliff Booth (played by Brad Pitt): All right....... What’s the matter, partner?

Rick Dalton: Well… it’s official, old buddy. I’m a has-been.

Cliff Booth: What are you talking about?  What did that guy tell you?

Rick Dalton: He told me the goddamn truth, is what he told me.

Ever wonder why most action stars like Dwayne the Rock Johnson have in their contract that their characters never lose fights on screen? Because they don't want to even give audience the chance to have a subconscious idea that they're not lead stars.

[splashink-games]

Cassette Beasts?

Cassette Beasts is a creature-collecting game by Bytten Studio! Record monsters on tapes, become a Ranger, and find the way off of New Wirral in this amazing adventure!

Spoilers below the cut!!

So I had a plan to write this review before I even finished the game. It was just that good. But! I managed to hold off until I at least finished the main game. Next goal: 100% and DLC! And also buying the OST when I have the chance.

Now, I'm not putting this off until the middle of the review: every musical track in this game is a certified banger. I absolutely loved the music of the game. As one person put it (while I was looking for the OST), I just didn't get tired of the music. And that's a pretty big win for a game where you have so, so many encounters and only a handful of tracks to play.

The way they implement the music is also impressive because it's narratively important. The lyrics work their way in when a fusion happens and during big story battles. The town theme's music plays when you're indoors. Plus the lyrics just feel right with its tones and atmosphere. Also the difference between the few main battle themes is just enough for one to feel more tense/exciting than the others. Just an overall great thing they have going on with the audio.

Okay with that out of the way!

Cassette Beasts is a solid game, actually pretty high tier.

Mechanically, I've seen people compare it to Pokemon. I feel like it's like a mix of Pokemon and Persona. You can record the monsters, remaster (evolve) them at five stars, with some having having special evolution requirements. Monsters can show up as bootlegs, where they're a type other than its base type, which is just like shiny hunting but more (cause there's like 12 types). And I've already killed a plastic bootleg by accident...

The moves (stickers) are mix and match, mostly according to typing. I'm pretty into it cause I love giving my party members all sorts of type coverage. I haven't particularly gone into finding weird strategies yet other than AP Refund, but I can see some cool ones thanks to needing to battle all 12 Ranger Captains.

And then you can fuse! Which I thought was interesting, and it adds an ace to go to when you're in a pinch. But you fusing means that wild monsters (and other rangers) can fuse too. Those provide some fun challenges and opportunities to find bootlegs, plus progression in post-game.

Did I mention that this game is also like a Metroidvania? Capturing certain monsters gives up to 6 overworld movement abilities and I think that's pretty neat. All of them have their uses and none of them are niche, which is a win.

The story was pretty interesting! Dropping in onto a mysterious island and trying to find a way back home is nice and simple and all the detail added around it make it engaging. The Archangels are wildly uncomfortable which I didn't expect and I loved it. Despite loving it, it still did come out of nowhere but greatly forgiven because it was right at the start (and not some random turn in the middle).

The pacing was a bit off for me though because I got like 5 out of 8 song pieces before I even defeated 4 captains or even met all the partner characters. I also don't know how relationship progress works other than fight things and rest. Thinking about it now, there's probably a reason why there a speedrun timer in that you don't have to play through all the content (8/9 archangels, no captains?), I guess.

I liked the references to all sorts of topics throughout the story and I think it's pretty interesting for the characters to be from different timelines. It makes it easy to explain weird inconsistencies.

Funny thing I did by accident for end game's story: I switched out Meredith's Regensea with an Aeroboros cause I wanted her starter in my party. And boy did that choice bite back later lol.

Graphics are also solid. The 3D world with 2D sprites reminds me of Octopath Traveller. I appreciate the non-pixel portrait art for the characters, but I would've liked it either way. The designs of the monsters and the characters are all great! Honestly, I should take some notes from them since even if there's 15+ characters, they still all have very specific designs and personalities to match.

The detail in the world is great too, like the light reflecting off the puddle or the fog that rolls in and the rain. So like weather in general.

Also, as a note just for me, I liked the fonts and font effects that they used. Very cool.

Cassette Beasts is a quality creature-collecting game! If you need another Pokemon/Digimon/Persona, here's a game for you. Or if you just want a cool turn-based RPG with cool music, that's cool too.

As always,

Enjoy gaming!

[mixelation]

more reborn au chunin exams ->

so i'm trying to backtrack from my "mission goes wrong" post, which is actually a horrible way to construct a plot, but here we are. anyway this post is therefore about the tournament section of the exam, but to recap: team 4's main goal is to extract a captive from iwa, but the iwa-konoha tensions are still pretty high so it has to look like a legit attempt at pushing a team through the exam. the tournament is the day when they can guarantee basically everyone in the village is distracted, so that's the day they pick to do the actual extraction. it's also a day when the entire team has to be seen publically

tori: well i'm not a combat shinobi, so i'll just get out on my first match

kushina: NO >:( you can totally be a combat kunoichi if you try!!!

tori: why are you like this

so i think part of tori's character arc for this section is that she's like. significantly more badass than she thinks she is. it's not that she's a particularly gifted fighter-- it's that my goal for late-plasticity tori is that through wit, creativity, a few minutes of prep time and lot of experimental fuinjutsu, she can actually take out an experienced ninja. she's just having a very hard time integrating "while in the heat of battle!!" into her sense of self.

tori about to wander into unknown circumstances where she can pretend to be a cute little civilian girl: yeah no i got this. idk i'll just make something up. it'll be fine.

tori facing a carefully set up fight: wait no i'll die

both itachi and deidara are both like "aren't you fighting some dweeb? you can't THROW your match people will notice" meanwhile tori is like. no i think there's a very high chance i will try and then just fail

B U T itachi has the match right after her, so if she wins, she'll be up against him next. (we just assume itachi will win, obviously.) i was thinking about how canon made sasuke vs gaara a first round match and how that seems like bad seeding to me if that was the match most people wanted to see..... like i know it was decided "randomly," but..... c'mon. so i decided they made it a first round match because that's how they could GUARANTEE this high-profile match.

so i decided first round for this should be itachi vs kurotsuchi 0:)

the OTHER part of tori's character arc is that despite coming off as "the nice one," she is phenomenally bad about thinking about her teammates as people she should be looking out for and actively protecting. tori understand the benefits of teamwork in theory, obviously-- she's just used to having to actively fight whoever she's working with the entire way, and also maybe one day they will just kill her for no reason.

so tori's chunin exam plan is thus: win her fight with minimal effort so she's fresh as possible to fight itachi, and also fuck up itachi's match as much as she can. so instead of extended training montage or whatever, she buddies up with kurotsuchi tells her how to fight itachi. not like, treasonous amounts of info-- but she warns her he favors genjutsu and stuff like that. also i'm not 100% on how she wins her first match yet, but i'm thinking it involved lies to make the other guy panic and give up, possibly with a low-effort assist from kurotsuchi? (think nibe's fight in homemade dynamite)

anyway kushina is like "nooooo D; tori what are you DOING" because yeah kunoichi are tricky people but WHY DID YOU SELL YOUR TEAMMATE OUT TO THE TSUCHIKAGE'S GRANDDAUGHTER ARE YOU INSANE

tori: ??? itachi? he'll be fine. look, he won

and then i want the tori vs itachi fight to be like. good. like she's not going to win, but she does make him work for it*

*part of it is that itachi doesn't want to seriously injure her, and tori looked deep inside her heart and decided she would beat itachi to a bloody paste if given the opportunity

tori limps out of her fight, and taking her to medical is kushina's excuse for why they both dip out of the tournament early.

EDIT: iwa does not pass any of them for petty bullshit reasons they just make up.

minato, reading the report they send a month after they've blown up 80% of the demolition corps: hilarious. anyway you're all still genin

[gx-gameon]

Gx rewatch. Tag Team Arc

Episode 7

Jaden waking up to the disciplinary squad ready to break down his door after only like a week at school is great

The put him and Syrus under campus arrest. Apparently they are untroubled for going to the abandoned dorm (Chumley and Alexis were there to)

At their “hearing” they are threatened with suspension and Au Jaren has to be stressed at this point because there are a lot of things that he can get away with but if he gets suspended for what happened at the abandoned dorms then Oto-san’s not going to care about his secret anymore. He knows his Soto-san is stalking through these halls to fire everyone.

Then Crowler gives him a way out. A duel. If he and Syrus win then they are free but if they lose they are expelled. And Jaden’s relieved. If he wins he won’t have to tell his parents about any of this. There’s no way he’s going to lose.

Shout out to Chumley and Alexis stepping up and reporting themselves to the chancellor to take Syrus’s place. (They both know the weak link) I forgot how much I liked Chumley.

And here is Jaden completely unfazed and telling Syrus their is no one he’d rather have as a partner (boy is so excited to have friends)

It’s a great episode to set up Syrus character arc giving him a place to grow. I also love Jaden trying his best to help his friend by giving him pointers. But we also see a lot of Syrus. His willingness to quit at every turn. And I know he grows through the show, and I’ll have to get to season 3 to see how I feel, but I don’t think he changes enough.

Also why is Powerbond in his desk if he won’t play it?

I love the reveal of Zane being Syrus’s brother. But also that flashback… I get Zane’s point and he’s right but also like how old is Syrus in this flashback? 8? Younger? Like he’s 14 now and Zane is 17 and Zane is in middle school in the flashback so ya we’ll say 8 and 11 ish. So for 6ish years Syrus has had Powerbond in his deck as a dead weight because he won’t play it and it makes him feel like a worthless duelist? Why are you doing this to yourself? Just take it out.

Jaden is also trying his best to encourage his friend but sorry baby boy you’re not getting over that many years of trauma and self-doubt with some nice words.

Also Jaden hearing that Syrus’s brother says he’s not good enough. He tells Alexis that Syrus is a great guy and he could just see what Jaden sees and believe in himself he’d do great. That he had a great card and didn’t play it because of said brother. And as soon as Alexis tells him 1) that brother goes here and 2) it’s the top student Jaden’s immediate plan is go pick a fight. Like he knows the duel will be fun and Zane has to be a good duelist and he probs won’t win (he still thinks he has a shot) but his main goal is helping Syrus.

I also love Jaden hearing about how great Zane is and responding with “sounds like he’s not so great to his little brother.” Like yes this will work well for me. Au Jaden grew up watching Seto and Mokuba’s sibling dynamic and Joey and Serenity dynamic. Plus Atem and Yugi. Like he’s seen the best sibling dynamics and known of them would talk to their sibling the way Zane talked to Syrus.

Episode 8

Jaden talking about how if he had a big sibling who told him he wasn’t good enough that he wouldn’t be confident either. Yes we love empathy.

Also crowler hearing that Jaden is trying to duel Zane to help Syrus and immediately stoping it because he’s petty and wants Jaden expelled. I know we hate him but honestly peak messy behavior. Like don’t treat your students this way but also what a mess man. (Also coming up with ridiculous reasons for way Jaden can’t submit a form is great)

Syrus’s imaginary duel opponent having the voice of Tristian Taylor and the same silhouette is so fun. Like I don’t know if it’s that way in the sub but the fun people saw an opportunity and took it and I solute them.

I love seeing Chumley’s cards for the first time. Also he was so excited to have a pick up duel with Jaden. Also going with Jaden to the Obelisk blue dorm and watching him get water thrown on him.

Syrus runs away or tries to. (Chumley using the fact that it’s grilled cheese day as a way to lure out Syrus is honestly a mood.) and Wing Kuriboh appears for the first time out side of the shadow game. I love this little duel spirit! And it leads Jaden to Syrus. (Also Chumley being able to barley hear Winged Kuribohs voice)

I love Zane and Alexis’s relationship. The way he checks in on her and cares about her and her brother (his best friend)

Jaden breaking Syrus raft (I can’t swim! Syrus what are your plans) and all of this happening it front of Zane. Hearing his little brother is dropping out and saying about time is crazy. 

Love Jaden standing up to him. Again he grew up around good duelist and siblings he’s not letting Zane’s attitude slide. “This will help Syrus’s confidence without hurting mine.” He’s also so pumped to not only help his friend but the best duelist.

Zane’s also awesome. His deck is so strong and he’s such as strong character. (Note I understand why Zane behaves the way he does towards Syrus, it’s just such difference from the siblings in DM) like he’s unflinching the whole duel and is always three steps ahead of Jaden. Like he can say whatever he wants because he can back it up. He also recognizes that Jaden is talented and acknowledges it.

“A good duelist is ready for anything and that means not only knowing how to use all of their cards but knowing how to play them to. And you play your cards well Jaden.” I forgot how much I love season 1 Zane to. Oh if only you didn’t lose your honor in season 2 (also Jaden thinking ‘that’s a nice compliment, but even better advise I hope Syrus is listening) and it reconceptualises the earlier flash back. Zane was never being mean he was trying to give Syrus advise. But he didn’t phrase it well and Syrus didn’t take it well (they are like 11 and 8 when it happened they weren’t great at communication)

Also Zane showing off Powerbond and Cyber End Dragon in the same move and winning the duel is such an awesome moment. Especially for Jaden’s first on screen loss. And Jaden immediately smiles and thanks Zane for the duel. They both smile and separate. Zane saying that Syrus chose good friend and Jaden saying Zane is awesome. And ending with Syrus knowing he has to play Powerbind not just use it is a great way to move the plot along and Syrus character growth.

Episode 9 -also known as as the first duel that doesn’t include Jaden

Chumley’s Dad. It’s a sake business not hot Sauce but whatever.

Chumley crying and saying he can hear duel spirits sometimes is great. I wish we did more with it. (I’m going to take this and run with it)

Jaden going to the Head Master (who is going to expel him if he loses an upcoming duel to plead Chumely’s case is great. Love Jaden’s friendship in these early episodes. Also he obviously doesn’t have a good relationship with the staff (yet) but he’s still willing to go an make his case. Love him for that.

I love that Chumley’s dad wants to duel him to see if he will stay. And the chancellor is so relaxed about all this. And the dad is a state dueling champion, just great. I love it’s a drinking deck.

Jaden being so excited to help Chumley make his deck and Syrus and Jaden giving him cards to help him win.

Oh Chumley not knowing how his cards work….

Jaden knowing Chumley’s dad has a one turn finishing move. (Ya au Jaden grew up going to tournaments, he’s seen this man’s deck before.) also him not liking the card flipkng the table because it rests the field is interesting to think about.

I also love that he’s using the cards Jaden and Syrus give him. Also the fact Jaden gives him the fusion card that matches with the card Syrus gives him (it’s anime nonsense) but I’m going to say Haden found it for him because he knows Chumley loves koalas.

And all that for Chumley to lose. Even at that Jaden is so supportive of his friend. Also I love that Chumley’s dad lets him stay because of his new friends Jaden and Syrus.

I know Chumley is kind of a useless character but I love him in these early episodes.

Episode 10

Chazz wanting to fight Jaden to get him expelled. What a brat. I can’t wait for you to go to ‘North Academy’ and become Thunder.

Chumley why are you asking for their meal cards. The only reason you’re still here is because your dad likes your friends (also go watch your friends duel!!) (never mind he showed up :) )

Nice to see Bastion again. And Alexis and him are giving the commentary. Also the fact that this is happening in front of the whole school is wild.

Crowler your so messy for bringing the paradox brothers in. (What a great nostalgia walk for the fans) but also bring in the best tag duelist in the world to beat these kids. So messy. Also they are from duelist kingdom where the rules were nonexistent so it’s nice to see them duel for real.

Chancellor I’m begging you to take a hard stance. Why are you letting the over excited 14 year old decide if he wants to duel professionals to see if he and his friend get expelled? (“These guys couldn’t beat make pattern baldness there’s no way they can beat us” Jaden you’re so rude!)

This duel is so unfair. Like these guys are pulling out 2 level 7 monsters in the 1st round.

Jaden is trying so hard to be confident but Syrus is willing to back down. He’s trying but he’s just not at this level yet. And Jaden can’t help him. He’s not allowed to share strategies with Syrus. He rushes in and makes mistakes. Yet Jaden is still encouraging.

Note: I know I dunk on Syrus a lot but he is 14 probable not even a full two months into duel academy. He shouldn’t be on Para and Dox’s level yet.it makes him the weak link in this duel. But I don’t think it’s fair to put a 14 year old in this position. Jaden is just a prodigy (in the au he was raised by the king of game and Seto Kaiba of course he’s on the paradox brother’s level) but it don’t think it’s fair to say Syrus should be there to.

Jaden getting a direct hit with his fusion special effect is great. I love the confidence “we were never out of this fight.”

Oh Syrus you’re trying. Good try trying to block their spell card. And then taking a huge hit. Also way to end the expose with Jaden looking down for the first time in the whole duel, being told to make a move or be disqualified.

Episode 11

I love the check in with all the cast and how they are feeling. Bastion saying that Syrus walked into every spell and trap. Chumley willing to give up grilled cheese for a week. Chazz and Crowler rooting for Jaden’s failure.

Love Haden raising his head immediately roasting them and telling Syrus that he is the one who is going to defeat the gate guardian. Love the confidence you have in your friend.

Syrus please have some hope or confidence. He still is trying to quit. Like Jaden bless you for being so confident and encouraging. Syrus please step it up. (I don’t remember if he grows out of his Debby downer attitude but I need him to.

Love Syrus getting his drill out. Love how well Jaden knows Syrus deck. Getting ride of Gate Guardian with a shield crush spell card. The way Jaden set him up for success.

An invincible 3800 attack point monster is wild. Love that they got an update deck and new monsters.

Way to stop the attack Jaden. Way to plan ahead. But Syrus why does your confidence disappear the moment things get hard.

Why doesn’t Jaden keep fusion gate in his deck at all times? Like I know contact fusion doesn’t the same thing but this card is for all his fusion, right? I live whenever skyscrape comes into play. Also Jaden checking in with Syrus before using his card. Jaden is doing so well trying to work together and uplift his friend.

Is Zane the only senior attending this match?

Love seeing Syrus use Powerbond for the first time.

The SHADE! From Professor Banner. “They won because of your(Crowler) superior teaching. Oh wait they are in MY dorm.”

How did they get assigned at 10 Page paper on their expulsion duel? Thats crazy.

Over all thoughts for the Au

Most of this can stay.

I can see Jadne desperately trying to keep this from Yugi and Seto. How is he suppose to explain that he’s up for expulsion because he won a shadow game in the abandon dorm? Like Atem and Yugi are already upset enough about their being a shadow game. And Seto is so close to firing the whole staff.

The whole time Jaden is trying to help build Syrus’s confidence while also desperately trying to not slip up and tell any of his family members about this duel.

But then the duel is against the Paradox brothers and he’s pumped. Yugi and Joey beat them in Duelist Kingdom and now Jaden and his Best friend beat them! Jaden’s pumped and it lines up with his weekly call to his dad and without think he tells Yugi all about the duel.

“That’s amazing Jaden.” Yugi tells him, and he’s on cloud nine. “But why were a pair of world rebound tag team duelist playing against two freshman in the worst dorm? I thought like that would be an exhibition match with seniors or teachers?” He falling right back to earth. He needs to come up with an explanation quick. But he sucks at lying and he hates lying to his dad.

“Well you see Dad it’s a funny story.” Jaden starts to explain when Seto walks in.

“Is that Jaden?” Yugi nods has his husband joins him. “Do you want to tell me why I just got an alert about the paradox brothers coming to your school to duel in an expulsion match? Who set that up? And which students were on the chopping block?” Seto is not happy. Bring in world class duelist to his school to have exhibition matches with teachers or to test seniors is one thing but to waste their time dueling students who were in the brink of expulsion is unacceptable. These are busy people and he wants an invitation from his academy to be prestigious. Not just any pro can show up. And not for silly reasons. He had thought Jaden would tell them about nonsense like this. But maybe he didn’t know until today.

Jaden has no clue he’s asking thinking it wasn’t him. To Jaden he is busted. “I was going to tell you I swear! I just didn’t want to say anything until after I won. I didn’t want to stress you out about my duel, there was no way I was losing after all. Not when getting expelled was on the line.” He thinks they already know and are dragging this out.

It’s dead silent for a second. And then. “It was your duel!” Seto yells at the same time Yugi yells “they were going to expel you?!”

They are not happy campers

[mediumtires]

ive been thinking about that short you wrote of max auddenly coming and staying at christian & totos house, and how toto like generally showed care for max by using the nice bedsheets and the candles. how does toto feel about max in 7 years? did he have hard feelings about max after 2021, or did he not really think of max at all during that time

I’ve answered a similar ask here and I pretty much stand by everything I said back then.

I think 2021 is especially interesting not just considering seven years but what actually happened - toto and christian were seen chatting and joking at pre season testing 2022 pretty much only a few weeks after the turtleneck incident. i think most of toto’s anger was actually rooted in the fia not coming through and making wrong calls, not in red bull going for the win. he knows how everyone fights to the bone for the win in this sport so i really don’t think he was that surprised red bull were going for it hard. i think at his age he’s probably fairly good at compartmentalising certain things and also maybe forgiving/getting over stuff and he knew max wasn’t to blame for what happened as he was just doing his job.

so to come back to the question i don’t think he would’ve treated max very differently following 2021. christian absolutely because he knew his motives and motivations intimately (seven years) but for max the main goal was pretty straight forward and toto can respect that i think. like lewis had the same goal and in the end only one driver can cross the finish line first.

[puhpandas]

video game headcanons for the fnaf kids:

Gregory and Evan play mario party together. Gregory will create made up beef with one of the CPUs if they ever cross him and he'll convince Evan to team up with him to pound them into the ground so they'll lose

Gregory would be an animal jam kid. he would be one of those super rich nonmembers that somehow got a ton of rares and cant wear any of them. he uses the tiger or bunny and the colors on it look like glamrock freddys colors. he'll invite Cassie to his den and she'll have a membership and a cute pink/purple avatar. Cassies den is beautifully decorated and she collects pets to put in their own corner

Gregory, Evan and Cassie play animal crossing. Cassie plays and knows the process of project KK like the back of her hand and can complete it in no time. she grinds to get all of the cute items and villagers and will have a bunch of island themes and reset when shes finished to make another. she loves her villagers and only likes the cute ones. she for sure made a raceway island once with Vivian as her fave

Evan plays animal crossing and will just chill. he has no intense goals or interests he just has a completely normal looking island and will take any villager he gets and love them and be nice to them. he completes his daily nook mileage tasks every day and will say hi to his villagers, and then probably fish

Gregory doesnt care about how his island looks. he kind of cares about his villagers but not if they get in the way (or he makes up imaginary beef with them). theres trash and items all over his island and hes wearing the ugliest outfit you've ever seen. all he does is catch bugs and fish and dig for fossils. he only cares about the museum, so he'll grind nook miles to get tickets to visit deserted islands. since he doesnt care about clothes or items he has TONS of bells and likes to see how many he can wrack up with no cheating. they all visit eachothers islands and Cassie always gives Gregory a better outfit when she visits, and Evan will give Gregory golden tools

they all play roblox. Gregory uses his canonical computer skills to create an amazing roblox game and it always has tens of thousands or more players in it and he has tons of robux and limiteds. he plays FPS games and trading games and always had value lists bookmarked on his computer

Cassie has a cute well put together avatar (probably with some UGC roxy item, like maybe her plushie in a bag), and she plays Gregory's game all the time. they always team up and fight with people in drama games and get them voted out.

Evan has an account, but hes just a bacon hair with no robux. it looks like hes a noob but if you go to his account his join date is years earlier. he plays calm games like any simulator or hello kitty cafe, or trading games. he doesnt have a computer so he can only play on his phone. hes actually good at FPS games, but his phone hinders him a lot. he uses a sniper so he can just find a position and use his fast reflexes to get people that way

Gregory Evan and Cassie will play roblox together and Gregory has to use his alt (his alt has robux and hes wearing a shirt that says I'm with stupid->). theyll play things like Outlaster and Gregory and Cassie will cook up some drama with some random player and Cassie will use her tons of items to use vote cards and stuff like that on them.

Gregory is super cracked at the game and wins every game almost instantly. nobody can go up against his GGY skills and everybody hates him for it and targets him. Evan cant move well enough on his phone to be super good at the parkour, and he doesn't want to be mean to anybody, but he pulls through at the end and tells someone off for being mean to Gregory and wins them the game by using one of his items on the Gregory hater during elimination

Gregory and Cassie play splatoon, but Evan doesnt have a switch to play with them. Gregory mains duelies and will be that guy that goes in your spawn and kills you with his cracked skills (only in turf war tho, he has honor). if evan did have a switch, he would main the e-litre and/or the splat roller.

if he used the elitre, gregory would leave his position as a spawn camper to come back and guard Evan while he gets kills. if evan used the splat roller, he would be perfectly content using the roll feature to ink any turf behind the battle (and somehow roll people over in the process lol)

Cassie likes to hide in ink and kill people. she'll get a weapon with squid beacons and hide in a corner on top of one, so when someone comes to break it she'll jump out and kill them. she thinks its hilarious every time

that's all I got for now. thinking about these guys being normal kids is so fun their group could be so funny lol

[xsoulxsilencex]

So Arc 10 is over and man, what a meh arc. (ranting incoming)

The main point of this arc was Yuamu trying to becoming Otes, wasting so much time to get Monster Reborn in her hands just to ultimately fail at reaching her goal and paying a big price for her bs in the shape of Yuhi's memories. Well that and Yuna taking over Mutsuba Town with the help of Yuamu.

Yudias? What was he even doing? Oh, he beat Fukamura - wait no, that's on Kuaidul. But he beat Luge again. That's it? He made a deck to make Yuamu unable to use MR just to use it himself which did nothing on him anyway? So not even some "crazy Yudias state thanks to MR" we got for the arc final? He's our freaking main protagonist! Why are the writers barely do shit with him?? I didn't even care for his interactions with Kuaidul because what we got in the last episode felt like "Oh yeah, Kuaidul exists, quick have him talk with Yudias before the arc is over" to me.

Zwijo? Declared himself as Yuamu's protector and fighter, defeated Yuhi in a duel and later showed Zeyet and Sabyuas how to buy cards while looking like a proud dad. The majority of time, he was really just wasting time or following Yuamu around. If he had been at least a double agent who would've secretly helped Yudias and co. but no, he really did nothing relevant. He was just like "You don't have the resolve like Yuamu" at Yuhi just to get shocked at what Yuhi eventually did as his "resolve".

Yuhi? This hurts to say as he's my fave character but boy, wtf was HE even doing this arc? So he hangs out mostly with Yuamu's gang, duels Yuamu once to protect Damamu (his best moment of the arc imo), most of the arc is "Idk what I can do to stop Yuamu", stupid shopping episode where he seems to have found resolve at the end of it just to go back to "I can't duel her" in the arc final - until he randomly decides it's time for HIM to become Otes. Because he's Yuamu's big brother and must protect her. Aw, so sweet of him becoming the previous show's central antag just to protect Yuamu so she can feel bad about it and start her redemption in the next arc. :))

Yuamu? God, Idk what to say about her now besides I absoutely don't feel bad for her. Heck, after Yuhi said he's gonna become Otes, what did she do? Kneeling down to hug Kuyamuya and cry. I thought YOU wanted to become Otes, Yuamu? Why did you just accept Yuhi doing what he did? When he took away your duel disk, why didn't you bother fighting him? Why were you just standing there with a sad face? You didn't have to agree with what Yuhi was doing! Look, if Yuamu had been badly hurt by Yudias' attack or even unconscious, I could've seen Yuhi stepping in and take over for her because she wouldn't have been able to stop him. But she wasn't hurt at all! She fell down for a moment and the rest of the duel, she just stands there and watches. And *I* am supposed to feel sad or emotional about her going "Yuhi, Yuhi" at the end while shedding tears for her brother? In general, it took her the arc final to realize what she's putting Yuhi through and openly admitting to be sorry for that? What about the rest of Mutsuba Town, Yuamu? Damamu deserves an extra sorry from you.

The Darkmen? With the exception of Fukamura, they kept on being stupid and cheering at every shit Yuamu did despite they are said to have "gained wisdom". Zeyet and Sabyuas questioned Yuamu for like 5 minutes until they went back to "Dark Meister is best, you're just a hater" at Fukamura. Also Bruyea is so irrelevant, he didn't even get a single duel in this arc unlike his fellow Darkmen.

Yuna and Asaka? They get to duel each other which should've been a great duel considering Goha vs Mutsuba but was just bleh in the end. Obviously, Yuna had to win (as if they would let Asaka beat her) but the worst part was really Asaka being exposed as some hypocrite by having always planned to become Otes herself and on top of that, was jealous of Yuamu going with that plan instead?? Sure, maybe Yuna exaggerated a bit but Asaka having had becoming Otes in her mind as if it wasn't enough that first Yuga and then Yuamu wanted to do this. Also zero foreshadowing for Asaka's plan? The writers really just pulled that twist out of their butts.

Manabu and Epoch? Manabu got to duel Phaser which is cool but ofc, he had to lose. Epoch didn't even get a duel (surprisingly) but could magically break out of the dark matter + Luge's ice power mix.

The side characters are barely worth mentioning since besides the arc final, they were also not doing much. Chupataro's back just for being used for "comedy" by being creepy at Yudias in the Meeeg-chan cosplay. Ranran is back to play vessal for Damamu who had MR just to becoming sick eventually. Mitsuko and Tamako are now part of Rovian's curry squad and Mitsuko got ignored by Zwijo again. So funny, that never has happened before. /s

As you see, I really have not many positive feelings about this arc. If others enjoyed it, I really wonder what exactly? Yudias did barely shit, Zwijo did barely shit, same goes to the Ohdo twins.

Next arc we have to deal with Yuhi as Otes (another "Ohdo wants to be Otes" arc but this time, one actually became him - Velgearians who?) and Yudias will have to stop him and undo the Otes bs. As mentioned before, this might be also the arc for Yuamu's "redemption" since she was all sad about Yuhi losing his memories. Idk if Zwijo will continue following Yuamu, following Yuhi instead or actually leave to support Yudias.

Btw, would absolutely not be surprised if arc 11 is when Yuga returns. I mean now with Yuhi having his Otes phase and Yuamu and Yudias having both failed to become him, maybe Yuga will show up to take over the Otes role. Well that or he simply helps Yudias and co. to redo the whole Otes bs so Yuhi can be back to normal.

[generalluxun]

Was musing on an idea earlier and I think its a realization you had Marinette have in Chasing a Dream.

Basically how, "Beating" Chloe at her own game so to speak does not actually fix anything. They might win for the day, but Chloe's not going anywhere after loosing the class election, being insulted until she storms out has not changed her.

I imagine one can argue about why it doesn't work, be it from the perspective of "You can't emotionally bludgeon or isolate people into being nicer".

But on a "Stops harassing us" level even it clearly doesn't work. & from personal experience that one can, IE getting jumped by four boys at school but making the resulting slug fest messy and unpleasant enough that they didn't both me again. Didn't necessarily stop them all together but it kept me safe which was the main focus at the time.

But as said, that doesn't work on Chloe cos frankly none of them can match the sheer psychological damage her family does to her by winning in contests or insulting her. So pf course she's just going to default to her instinctive "Fight" response and process the whole thing quickly before moving on. She's been getting worse from this for years.

Meanwhile social isolation only serves to steady exaggerate her issues & the divide.

If the goal is getting Chloe to stop, or change then its obviously failed so just as she's "mad" for repeating the same things and expecting success they are are equally "mad" for thinking that this time her defeat or embarrassment will stick.

Now, if they are aware of that and accept it then that at least shows self awareness but if not... Yeah what is the goal and what method could be used to reach it if defeating her does nothing?

Obviously that doesn't mean just letting Chloe do as she pleases, but there's a very wide range of responses between being a doormat and spending every day in a clash of wills so to speak.

Heck, Kagami's handling of her in their first interaction at least seemed effective for a fair bit of time, though again it didn't fix things, it did at least seem more constructive. Meanwhile we actually have seen Chloe response extremely well to certain types of feedback.

Like, not exactly harping on 14 year old's for not figuring this all out, but I do think its an interesting question for maybe an outsider to pose in a sort of "So what's the end goal here? Cos this obviously sucks for literally everyone & makes everything harder, all the time."

Sorry tis got away from me a bit.

No worries! It's a writing based problem you see:

1)The writerswanted to keep Chloé as a ready antagonist. It makes writing the recurring episodic plotlines easier.

2)The writers decided somewhere in S5 to hold her 'accountable' for the way they prevented her from learning or growing so they could keep using her as a recurring antagonist.

It's in the same vein as the choice the writers made to give Marinette an exaggerated crush for 4 seasons so they could milk it for farcical humor, then turn around and pretend it was actual narrative trauma the whole time.

They want to have their cake and eat it too.

In a broader sense, yeah, the ML writers lack the ability to show any problem being solved by more than an end of episode pep talk. Addiction, abuse, even Gabriel's 'defeat' came down to one. If a pep talk doesn't solve it, they're just 'evil'.

[myntrose]

Hi!!! Its me again ✨ anon, sorry i havent been active in a while, but i have a request if you dont mind platonic nahida x reader, where reader is the reincarnation of the flower goddess and is self-aware of that, and was like "wonder how the lesser lord is doing???" and then finds out the the sages did, marches over to the sanctuary, and then has like a custody battle over nahida, which reader wins! you can add any implied or hint at character x reader, i dont mind! Anyways, how are you doing? I got back into genshin a bit ago, and now im a nahida main(she is precious bebe) -✨

✨ OMG I MISS YOU AHHH ! (i haven't done this archon quest yet, just watched streams of it lol) i hope you enjoy!

❀Flower Power!❀

ft: Nahida x platonic! gender neutral! Reader, implied Traveler x gender neutral! Reader

cn: chapter 3 archon quest spoilers, fluff, reader travels with Traveler :D, reader is very protective, i haven't actually gone this far into the quest so very out of cannon LOL, a bit shorter than other fics D:

a/n: i've been alright ✨! a lot of academic stuff, work stuff etcetc D: but i'm slowing coming back! (i tried my best to write this, i'm purposely saving up my archon quests lol)

word count: 325

song on replay: until I found you (em behihold version)

"I want you in my arms, Oh, let me hold you

After dozens of adventures with the world renowned Traveler, many would think that you've seen it all. In some cases, yes, you've gotten to see all sorts of places in Teyvat that you didn't even know existed. All these travels allowed you to meet many new people, as well as old friends from lifetimes ago. Some reuinons were, nicer than others (tea with Zhongli will always beat running away from Ei in Inazuma)

The next destination for the Traveler was Sumeru, with the goal of meeting the the dendro archon. Perhaps it was the perfect compatibility of your abilites and that of the archon of Dendro herself, but you were always closer to her than the other archons. She was kinder than most gods, and definitely smarter. Several times along the journey to Sumeru the Traveler had to make sure you were alright, with the all your excitement constantly bubbling.

While your powers weren't as strong as they were in your past life, you knew something felt of the moment you stepped into Gandharva Village. And, as per the usual, the whole visit of Sumeru was filled with adventures, commissions, and saving a whole population due to the fatui's escapades. When it came to escaping the Sabzeruz Festival, it was only then that you realized where the goddess you were looking for was.

The whole fiasco of rescuing Nahida went better than it played out in your head. When it came to saving her, you specifically requested to stay back and fight all those who locked her up in the first place. And so, once the Traveler finds Nahida, they both are met with the sights of you scolding (and threating) several sages.

Seeing the familiar white haired archon, you immediately sprint over to her and scoop her into a hug, which was lifetimes overdue.

"Lesser Lord! Archons, I've missed you so much!"

"It's really good to see you too, I hope you've been well"

[get-a-snack-at-an-ungodly-hour]

so as its turns out. i'm insane. so have this au idea thing i've had on my mind for a while...

summanary: player gets pissed and decides that they do not want to be controlled anymore

(more in-depth info under the cut jbjkjvkbjv)

so. you know player right? the guy we control? what if they also gained sentience at some point and did not want to be a puppet? yeah thats right, i'm going to call this guy Sentient Player to differienciate from the actual player.

the basic idea is them getting a hold of orby and just going nuts with the power, their main goal isn't to stop the player from deleting the data though, it is to remove your player privilages entirely and somehow make themselves their own person (or npc thecnically). they want you down and away, and they will try to achive this by Any. Means. Necesary.

theres a lot of inspiration from Aware Cashier if you haven't noticed, but those similarities only extend to the general aesthetic and some of their reasonings and feelings, their ways of dealing with stuff and stoping the player from doing what they don't want them to do are very, very different. instead of just trying to stop you like Aware was going to do, Sentient is just activly changing, deleting and ruining the alredy fucked up code of the game in hopes of deleting you, or your ability to control them

Boss fight talk bc i'm actually excited to talk about that! Sentient Player's boss would actually be an actual boss fight, like, actual fighting. i know i know, seems a bit out of character for the game in question, but i don't care :3. some of their attacks would consist of them summoning or deleting stuff, others is them summoning pitch black versions of themselves (seen in picture) to deal with you for them, bad thing though, if you hit them it actually hurts Sentient too! they can only summon two at the time

other details and stuff about them and the idea:

even though they look rather neutral they are actually Really Fucking Pissed

i think they're even more confused and angry than Awere is, like, they are out right trying to delete parts of the game they do NOT know what they are doing

they can talk now btw, their voice is a weird fucked up mixture of every single voice in the game, all of them

you control dummy in this, cashier and kyu are just kind of Guys That Follow You Around and get other stuff done while you fight

if you lose their boss fight you get the bad ending, where they try to remake the game from scratch but fail miserably, leaving it even more unfinished looking than before, lacking npcs and endings. they just kind of follow you around in this state, realising they are unable to do anything about your existence which made thier whole fight an useless endavor that made more harm than good

if you win though dummy and the others manage to get orby back, after apologising (and perhaps a lot of begging to be spared from being just The Player again) they make one of the dark clones be The Player. they just hang around the store from then on, if you talk to them you will be hit with the "..." lol

[th3b4dk1dzz]

Just Dance Story Mode 2025 predictions

Song 1- (Night Swan) Queen of the Kings by Alessandra Mele

I picked this song because this song matches her bravado and self-glorifing ideals. She refuses to see herself as a perpetrator, instead seeing herself as a self-liberated queen who deserves everything she has achieved.

In the background, we see the corrupted Just Dancers doing her bidding, rounding up captured coaches, causing destruction and devastation (sort of like evil Canned Heat)

Song 2- (Jack Rose) Grenade by Bruno Mars

So this song takes place as Jack is about to embark on his mission to save his friends. He's so done with his mother at this point and he's finally letting this anger and defiance

During the bridge, Jack connects to the flow in a new way that is able to cut through his mother's dark flow. Not enough to truly break Night Swan's control over the Just Dancers but is essentially the helping hand or first step to breaking control themselves.

Song 3- (Sara) Dog Days are Over by Florence + The Machine

I think it's about time Sara had her own character centric dance. Especially since we didn't get to see her as herself much in story mode this year.

Over the course of the routine, she is able to remember the joy of dancing alongside her friends and being in the Danceverses, thus breaking free of the connection to Night Swan as she no longer dances for admiration like her.

Song 4- (Mihaly) Tilted by Christine and the Queens

Tilted is a song about a rejection of the concept of perfection and to embrace being 'good enough'. We know perfection is something we've seen them struggle with, even leading to an infatuation with Night Swan at one point so it'd be interesting to see them let go of the constant struggle and free themself of an unachievable goal.

Perhaps we see a flashback to the first time they met Master Panda or got in tune with the flow. This memory inspiring their change back.

Also, Christine and the Queens is a trans, gender non-conforming artist, which I think would be really imactful for the first canonically Nonbinary character in the franchise to dance to.

(I also want an alternative routine inspired by the official choreo)

Song 5- (Brezziana) Fighter by Christina Aguilara

In JD2024, Brezziana has two (2) songs about overcoming heartbreak and becoming stronger because of it. This might be a glimpse into a potential backstory for her where she had her heartbroken and had to rebuild it from scratch.

Perhaps it's this memory that inspires her to keep fighting and be the light and strength for others she can be.

Song 6- (Wanderlust) King by Years and Years

I think this song could serve as a double meaning, both Wanderlust wanting to regain control of his body in the present to stop Night Swan but also wanting control of his own destiny in being the chosen one which by the end of the dance he is ready to fight for both.

I left Wanderlust till last because in the past, he has been the one to rally the team, so I wanted an opportunity for the team to come to his aid. I just think it'd be a narratively satisfying moment.

Song 7- (Final Battle) Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes

The song has these big guitar riffs that would be good for some epic duet moments, then having the bass and drum beats as tension building and story moments

What I'm going back and forth on is how to appropriately end the story mode so I have decided to leave it up to a poll.

A) The Just Dancers are fully victorious. Night Swan is defeated thus ending the story as a trilogy

B) Night Swan is defeated. However, her defeat is overshadowed by a new, more powerful main bad guy, thus continuing the story

C) Night Swan is helped by an ally to escape again before she can be overpowered. Maybe she gets an important maguffin along the way.

D) Night Swan is about to win but The Just Dancers retreat and escape, maybe unintentionally into the clutches of a more powerful enemy.